South Africa: Health dismisses vaccine tender awarding unfairness allegations

The Department of Health says it is concerned about the allegations contained in an article published in Business Day about the unfair awarding of a medical products tender.

According to the Business Day article published on Wednesday, the department picked a cheaper supplier of vaccines - Cipla, over Biovac, which is partly owned by the South African government, to supply jabs to protect children against deadly pneumococcal diseases.

According to the publication, Cipla will now be the sole provider of 12.6 million doses of the 10-valent pneumococcal vaccine (PCV), which is believed will impend Biovacs expansion plans and jobs.

However, the department stressed that as a government procurer, it has an obligation to ensure that all procurement is aligned to the five pillars of procurement of goods and services.

These include value for money, open and effective competition, ethics and fair dealing, accountability and reporting, and equity.

It is the standard practice of the department to negotiate prices with all local manufacturers who submit responsive bids.

However, for this item, Biovac did not comply with some of the requirements and conditions of the contract and therefore made it impossible to enter into negotiations for price.

What complicated matters further was that Biovac's bid price was at least double the price of the competing company.

Contrary to what the article says, the department stated that Cipla has been in the country for many years contributing to local investment and job creation like any other company, in compliance with local labour laws.

While its true that Cipla has its parent company in India, the company has shown commitment to continuing investing in South Africa.

Even after its plant was destroyed during the July uprisings in 2021 in Durban, it has invested in rebuilding the plant and it is fully operational.

The department also said it could not ignore the benefits of savings from a company, which was offering quality vaccine products at half price.

According to the statement, this will make it possible to increase services in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), which allow the ability to tackle more vaccine-preventable diseases.

The department will always strive to look at practical ways to support local investment and production of medical products like vaccines, and it is also important to balance this with available financial resources within the prevailing legal procurement frameworks, the department added.

The department also explained that it has a long relationship with Biovac starting with a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement in 2003 to prioritise the local manufacture of vaccines.

This resulted in a supply agreement with Biovac as the sole supplier of all vaccines used in the EPI from 2003 until June 2020 when the supply agreement ended.

In 2009, the department explained that the pneumococcal-containing vaccine (PCV) was introduced in the EPI programme and sourced from Biovac in terms of the PPP.

At that time, in 2009, Biovac entered into a technology transfer agreement with Pfizer for the local manufacturing of PCV13.

At present, there are three pneumococcal-containing vaccines currently registered with SAHPRA [South African Health Products Regulatory Authority] containing the most prevalent serotypes that would be effective for use in South Africa, thus any suggestion that PCV10, as procured by the department, is not effective, is unfounded.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-04-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese, Gabonese presidents hold talks, decide to upgrade bilateral partnership

Xinhua) 08:10, April 20, 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two heads of state decided to upgrade the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership."

Xi called President Bongo "an old friend" of the Chinese people. Bongo is the first African head of state visiting China after Xi was reelected as the Chinese president. It fully demonstrates the importance and high level of China-Gabon relations, said Xi.

In recent years, under the leadership of President Bongo, Gabon has been exploring a development path tailored to its national conditions and pursuing national stability and economic diversification. Significant achievements have been made in national development, Xi said.

Xi commended that Gabon has also been promoting the regional integration process and mediating hotspot issues in Africa.

Gabon has held a successful One Forest Summit and taken over as the president of the Economic Community of Central African States not long ago, Xi said, noting that Gabon's influence in the region and beyond has grown markedly.

As a sincere friend of Gabon, China wishes the country still greater progress in all its endeavors and early realization of its strategic goal toward an Emerging Gabon, said the Chinese president.

President Xi noted the 50th anniversary of China-Gabon diplomatic relations to be celebrated next year. Over the last half-century, thanks to the commitment and guidance of generations of leaders on both sides, the China-Gabon friendship has stayed rock-firm as ever, Xi said.

In a world undergoing profound changes, China and Gabon have supported each other in advancing their shared interests and upholding international fairness and justice. The strong and sustained growth of the bilateral ties serves the long-term interests of both countries and has an exemplary role to play in building a community with a shared future for humanity, said Xi.

He said that China is willing to work with Gabon to strengthen experience-sharing on state governance, deepen strategic mutual trust, and firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns.

China firmly supports Gabon in pursuing a development path suited to its national realities and is willing to synergize strategies with Gabon and promote cooperation in infrastructure construction, forestry, fishery, the digital economy, and industrial park construction, Xi said.

He called on the two sides to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and strengthen cooperation in tourism, rural revitalization, poverty reduction, and agricultural development.

Xi also urged joint efforts in strategic cooperation in multilateral platforms, such as the United Nations, to safeguard global peace and development, international equity and justice, and the common interests of developing countries.

Regarding China-Africa cooperation, Xi said that China is willing to provide new opportunities to African countries through its own development and turn China-Africa practical cooperation into an example for South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa.

Bongo said Gabon firmly adheres to the one-China policy and supports important concepts proposed by President Xi, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Bongo said he appreciates China's valuable assistance in promoting Gabon's economic diversification and industrialization. He said that the two sides could further strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism.

Gabon looks forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China next year, consolidating and deepening friendly cooperation, and promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, said Bongo.

He added that Gabon is willing to enhance strategic coordination with China at multilateral level and push for better development and more achievements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and Africa-China relations.

After the talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents in fields such as investment, agriculture, housing and urban construction, and climate change.

A joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the People's Republic of China and the Gabonese Republic was published.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba and his wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba before the talks between Xi and Bongo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Singaporean man is scheduled to be hanged next week for abetting an attempt to smuggle cannabis into the island-state, in a resumption of executions after a half-year pause, activists said Thursday.

The family of Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was notified in a letter that he would be executed next Wednesday, anti-death penalty activist Kokila Annamalai said.

Tangaraju was detained in 2014 for drug consumption and failure to report for a drug test, according to another activist, Kirsten Han. He was later linked to two drug traffickers through a phone number used to coordinate the delivery of cannabis. The High Court found Tangaraju guilty of conspiring to traffic 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis and sentenced him to mandatory death in 2018, Han said.

The last execution carried out in Singapore was in October 2022. Death row prisoners, their family members and abolitionists have been holding our breath for the past six months, terrified of when the killing spree will begin again. We will fight for Tangaraju till the end, Annamalai said.

Singapore, which has harsh drug laws, executed 11 people last year for drug offenses. The hanging of one particular Malaysian sparked an international outcry because he was believed to be mentally disabled. It brought the country's capital punishment under deeper scrutiny, with rights groups slamming it as a blatant flouting of international human rights norms.

Both the activists said access to justice for Tangaraju was denied because he was questioned without a lawyer. Tangaraju also never handled the drugs he was accused of conspiring to traffic, they said. He had to represent himself in his appeal, which was rejected by the top court on Feb. 26 on the grounds that Tangaraju failed to show a miscarriage of justice, they said.

Annamalai said Tangarajus family is appealing to the public to protest his execution.

"The idea that a man might soon be hanged for abetting an attempt to traffic 1 kilo of cannabis  a plant-based substance thats being decriminalized or legalized in a growing number of jurisdictions  is, in and of itself, outrageous in the most horrifying way, Han said.

Critics say that Singapores death penalty has mostly snared low-level mules and done little to stop drug traffickers and organized syndicates. But Singapores government defends it as necessary to protect its citizens and says all those executed have been accorded full due process under the law.

Han said Singapore's harsh criminalization would only drive the drug trade underground and block people from accessing health care or harm reduction services that could help address the root causes of their use.

Harsh, uncompromising measures like the death penalty are not proven to have a deterrent effect. Not a single person who uses drugs is helped or supported by a hanging of another, likely from a minoritized or marginalized community. It is especially useless, pointless and heartless when it comes to a case as problematic as Tangarajus. she added.
Before Easter, three children and three adults were murdered in another mass school shooting; thereafter, Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson protested with constituents in legislative chambers and were ousted by their peers.

Though peaceful, Jones and Pearson violated decorum by protesting, by demanding common sense gun laws after Nashvillian families were torn apart by preventable violence.

Truth is stranger than fiction these days.

The intersecting forms of violence  bodily and political -- called me to book a flight.

Driving to the Capitol the day after Easter, I noticed remnants of egg hunts on church lawns.

A mall opened adjacent to the Capitol.

One man stood in the center draped with a One Love sign, eyes blindfolded like a tortured and returning messiah.

Holding solidarity signs -- "Nebraskans Standing In for Justin and Justin" and "Nebraskans against political and mass gun violence" -- felt relatively rational. Too obvious to be contentious.

Truth is stranger than fiction these days.

Others joined.

A young man, early 20s, drove from Atlanta.

His sign flashed Tennessee Three above democratic values and mass shootings statistics. His journey was personal, too. He was coming out despite expected oppressions from parents and government.

A Black American expat journalist, Louis Law, came from the Netherlands.

His tall stature, long dreads and silver-embroidered blazer conferred authority.

What am I supposed to tell the Dutch when they ask What is wrong with your country? Why do people stand by, watch senseless slaughter, and do nothing?"

The answer was multifold.

Creeping authoritarianism eroded democratic norms and values; fear and hate-stoking propaganda infected the citizenry; escalated fear, panic and trauma from pandemic and economic crises rose to fever pitches; inaccessibility to mental health care left the most hurting unsupported; white terrorists, again, were responsible, revealing a deep cultural pathology white culture wont meaningfully address; AR-15s were sold like candy; and the NRA and Big Pharma owned half or more of America's politicians.

All of it was worsened by a divisive and unresponsive government.

I just need a succinct, non-academic answer to give them, Law said.

I blinked.

I need to tell the Dutch why doing nothing is the American answer to continuous massacre. I need an answer from the heart and soul of Americans, Law insisted.

Americas heart and soul? I dont see it these days unless I'm doing human rights advocacy work with impacted Americans.

I attempted an allusion. Western Europe understands incomprehensible atrocities through World War II; how fearful and hate-filled bystanders and dysfunctional governments escalate it. Though incomplete, maybe the Dutch will understand that correlation."

Lunch with the Rev. Jesse Jacksons special assistant, Derek Van Voast, inspired further thinking about our nation's heart and soul.

Van Voast's life story as a Black man raised in the South, eventually ascending to national civil rights leadership alongside Jackson, was deeply traumatic, harrowing and inspiring.

Van Voast represented ailing Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition by serving as first responder to national tragedies. I am still processing how constantly he travels  an EMT for our nations heart and soul.

Truth is stranger than fiction these days.

After a few hours of storytelling at lunch, we met thousands to rally and march.

Representative Jones rejoined constituents, spoke in high-flying poetics, then swept away with a security entourage, akin to Martin Luther King Jr's.

Representative Pearson quietly appeared, flanked by an aid, behind the marching masses.

His kingly hair and triumphant smile lit the marchs conclusion.

A few feet from his majestic gravitas, I turned, fumbled for my camera

and witnessed our nation's heart and soul.

Definitively.

... where truth became more sublime than fiction.
Nebraska didnt see much population growth from 2021 to 2022, adding just 4,400 people. But what little growth there was occurred in Lancaster, Douglas and Sarpy counties, -- the state's urban areas dominated by Lincoln, Omaha and its suburbs.

In fact, the three counties accounted for a total increase of 4,931 people, 500 more than the state as a whole, evidence that while the urban areas continue grow, albeit slowly, rural Nebraska, save for the counties closest to Lincoln and Omaha, like Saline and Otoe, continue to depopulate.

The small growth, about half the typical annual gain during the 2010s, reflects people moving out of the state post-pandemic, largely for jobs  outmigration in the state correlates directly with the unemployment rate, now at a historically low 2%.

Creating desirable 21st century jobs to keep people here or bring others to Nebraska needs to be a state priority, addressed by the private and public sectors, and supported by the Legislature.

And the urban area growth, which seems likely to continue, also should be accounted for in the Legislature, which has been gerrymandered in favor of rural areas.

Put simply, until new districts are drawn after the 2030, senators representing rural areas in and around Lancaster, Douglas and Sarpy counties should attempt to give their urban and suburban constituents effective representation.

A drop into the green

Last week, Lincolns COVID-19 risk dial dropped back to green for the first time in nearly a year  indicating that the risk of the virus spreading in the community is low.

That drop in the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Departments COVID monitoring tool happened the day after the national and public health emergencies for COVID-19 officially ended, three years and a month after those emergencies were declared.

Together, the green risk dial and closing of the emergencies can be seen as the end of the pandemic that upended life for everyone.

And it should also be a time for reflection on the tireless efforts of doctors, nurses and other health care workers who endured stress, and possible exposure, to treat those who contracted the virus as well as the efforts of health care officials, led locally by Health Department Director Pat Lopez, to protect the community and stem the spread of the virus.

COVID hasnt disappeared. It will likely be with us indefinitely. So expect to get an annual shot, just like the flu.

But, to a large degree, we as a country, community, families and individuals have made it through the biggest health crisis in a century, allowing life to return to something like pre-COVID normal.
DALLAS (AP)  Crews scrambled Thursday to restore power to thousands of residents after tornadoes plowed through Oklahoma during another deadly spring storm in the U.S., killing at least three people and damaging dozens of homes.

A day after at least eight tornadoes spun through Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said authorities were still assessing the scale of destruction. He toured the aftermath in Shawnee, where nearly every building at Oklahoma Baptist University showed damage. A home improvement store was destroyed, but several people sheltering inside survived. Two long-term care facilities and a hospital in Shawnee were also damaged.

The damage is unbelievable when you walk through there, Stitt said after touring the city.

Stitt also visited the small town of Cole, where he said two people died and 50 to 100 homes were damaged. Authorities said a third person who was injured had also died, but it was not immediately clear where that person was injured.

There are definitely dozens of various injuries, from minor all the way up to fatalities, said Deputy Sheriff Scott Gibbons of McClain County, the county south of Oklahoma City where Cole is located.

Gibbons told television station KOCO that one victim in McClain County, where Cole is located, is a 66-year-old man.

Deadly storms this spring have killed dozens of people across a wide swath of country, including one in March that produced tornadoes and killed at least 32 people from Arkansas to Delaware. Days later, another tornado left five dead in Missouri.

Employees of a pizza restaurant in Shawnee said they took shelter in the walk-in freezer, and when they emerged, parts of the roof and shattered windows littered the parking lot.

There was a lot commotion. People were starting to get a little frantic," said Bekah Inman, general manager of a Papa Johns Pizza in Shawnee, speaking to Oklahoma television station KOCO.

At Oklahoma Baptist University, sophomore Kennedy Houchin hid in a storm shelter with about 30 other people. When she was finally able to safely leave after about two hours, she saw the devastation the tornadoes had left on campus and elsewhere in Shawnee: downed trees, flipped cars and buildings with gaping holes.

When she ran into her volleyball teammates on campus, they embraced. It was a good moment to see everyone and know everyone was OK, Houchin said.

Following the storms, Stitt declared a state of emergency in five counties: Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie.

At the peak of the storm, there were more than 34,000 power outages reported, but that number had dropped by Thursday evening to about 16,000, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Office of Homeland Security reported.

KFOR-TV reported that residents south of Oklahoma City said they were trapped in their underground shelters. In Cole, two people emerged unhurt after riding out the storm in a manhole, the television station reported.

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RACINE  An event scheduled for Saturday morning and hosted by local Black-led community organizations seeks to improve equity in public education.

A Call to Action: It Takes a Village  Transforming Education for Black Children, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Park High School auditorium, 1901 12th St.

A pressing educational crisis has been unfolding in our communitys public schools, particularly affecting Black students, necessitating immediate intervention and action, according to a news release.

The event will feature an interview with Umar Johnson about the state of Black children in public education.

Johnson is a doctor of clinical psychology and certified school psychologist who often speaks about the education and mental health of African and African-American children.

The event is a crucial call to action for parents and educators of Black children, as well as anyone committed to achieving educational equity and securing a brighter future for Black children and this community, according to a news release.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required at https://ittakesavillage.ticketbud.com/drumarjohnson. Doors will open at 10 a.m.

For more information, email infoeventdrumar@gmail.com or call 262-232-7730.

In photos: free haircuts for kids at the Racine NAACP center Zakee Darr Jace Mayfield Denim Hicks Jayden and Maggie Precision Timothy and Shaun
RACINE  Siena Catholic Schools of Racine has selected a new leader.

Susan Savaglio-Jarvis will take over as president starting July 1. She will replace Brenda White, who is retiring.

Savaglio-Jarvis has served as principal of St. Rita Catholic School in Caledonia since August 2021. Prior to that, she was superintendent of the Kenosha Unified School District.

Savaglio-Jarvis thanked White, the Siena Board of Trustees and Board of Directors and Jerome Listecki, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, who appointed her.

As a lifelong educator, I am honored to continue my time with Siena Catholic Schools as its next president, Savaglio-Jarvis said in a news release. In my time as principal at St. Rita, it was clear that our school families are passionate about faith formation, strong academics and the tight-knit community theyve cultivated. I am excited to work with the faculty, staff, parents and students of Sienas other six schools, continuing the good work that has been done to strengthen Catholic education in greater Racine.

A Kenosha native, Savaglio-Jarvis is also on the St. Joseph Catholic Academy of Kenosha Board. Earlier in her career, she was an educator in Tempe, Arizona.

We sought a leader who would continue the faith-based, forward-thinking leadership of Brenda White to carry Siena through its first decade and beyond, Robert Miller, chairperson of the Siena Catholic Schools of Racine Board of Directors, said in a news release. Sues firsthand knowledge of Siena Catholic Schools as a principal, as well as her vast wealth of experience as both a leader and an educator, will continue to strengthen and propel Siena forward.

Savaglio-Jarvis will lead the private school district that has six schools and will soon add a seventh.

St. Sebastian STEM Academy in Sturtevant is scheduled to open this fall and initially serve 3-year-old preschool through second grade.

White said she could not be more pleased with her successor.

While I knew that the transition would be bittersweet for me, I have full confidence that Siena will thrive under Sues presidency, White said in a news release. Siena Catholic Schools is in excellent, capable hands with Sues collaborative leadership style, incredible experience and her unfailing Catholic faith.

Another Fed rate hike: How high will auto loan rates get? Another Fed rate hike: How high will auto loan rates get? A series of hikes Auto loan rates will likely go up again When is the next interest rate hike? How high can auto loan rates get?
RACINE  City of Racine Mayor Cory Mason has been sworn in for his second full term as mayor.

An inauguration ceremony was held in the Common Council chamber of Racine City Hall, 730 Washington Ave., Tuesday night.

About 100 of Masons relatives and supporters were in attendance.

Mason was sworn in over his family Bible by Justice-Elect Janet Protasiewicz, who recently won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

I often say that serving as the Mayor of Racine is the greatest honor of my professional life, Mason said at the beginning of inaugural address. It is the hardest and best job I have ever been called to do.

In his address, Mason thanked his family, his children and his wife, Rebecca, for their patience and sacrifice.

Mason also praised the City of Racine, including its public schools and community.

Some naysayers would have you believe that Racines best days are behind us, that the challenges before us are too great to overcome, Mason said. Dont you for one second believe that. While we may have challenges in our community, I believe with all my heart that what is right and good in this city can solve the challenge before us and build on our success.

After the address, Mason swore in the new and incumbent alders.

Alder Terry McCarthy was elected council president by a unanimous vote.

Racine Mayor Cory Mason's election night watch party, in photos Mason speaks to media Mason speaks to attendees Cory Mason watches for election results Father rubs his eyes Mason rubs his eyes Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice election results on TV Cory and Rebecca Mason Cory and Rebecca Mason Acceptance speech
WIND POINT  The top administrative seat for the Village of Wind Point is again set to be vacant.

Brian Graziano is leaving his post as village administrator, clerk and treasurer after holding the position for about 13 months.

Graziano began working with the village on March 28, 2022 and his last day is set to be April 30.

He said in an emailed statement that he is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

The village will be in good hands with our great staff while a new administrator search is conducted, he wrote.

Graziano did not respond to follow-up questions asking what the other opportunities are and why hes leaving the village after only a year.

The administrator before Graziano, Casey Griffiths, held the post for almost three years before becoming the first city administrator for the City of Cudahy in Milwaukee County.

Before Griffiths, Mike Hawes held the Wind Point position for more than five years.

The Village Board approved Grazianos resignation at its April 13 meeting, which Graziano did not attend. The board met in a closed session before approval in open session.

Outgoing Village President Susan Sanabria's only comment about the situation was that, The board has accepted his resignation, and hes moving on.

Graziano, 38, grew up in Greenfield, graduated with a bachelors degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and received a masters degree in public administration from Southeast Missouri State University.

Before coming to Wind Point, Graziano served more than three years as town administrator for the Town of Burlington. Before that, he worked as administrative deputy for the Racine County Clerk of Courts for three years.

Racine County Communications Center dispatchers at work during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, in photos Jacqueline Bratz and Jody Howell Amanda Kopatich and David Kettinger Amanda Kopatich David Kettinger Wendi Hood-Madsen Chris Morin
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas  SpaceX's giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight Thursday and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Elon Musk's company was aiming to send the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship carried no people or satellites.

Keep scrolling for a photo gallery of the SpaceX launch

Images showed several of the 33 main engines were not firing as Starship climbed from the launch pad, reaching as high as 24 miles (39 kilometers). There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how many engines failed to ignite or shut down prematurely.

The booster was supposed to peel away from the spacecraft three minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen. Rather, the rocket with the spacecraft still attached began to tumble and then exploded, plummeting into the water.

Instead of a best-case-scenario 1 1/2-hour flight with the spacecraft taking a lap around the world, the whole thing lasted four minutes. It reached a maximum speed of about 1,300 mph (2,100 kph).

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As Starship lifted off with a thunderous roar, the crowd screamed: "Go, baby, go!"

Musk, in a tweet, called it "an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."

In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk gave 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit and not end up in what SpaceX calls a "rapid unscheduled disassembly." He said not blowing up the launch pad would be a win.

"You never know exactly what's going to happen," said SpaceX livestream commentator and engineer John Insprucker. "But as we promised, excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a rather spectacular end."

The company intends to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.

Despite the abbreviated flight, congratulations poured in from NASA chief Bill Nelson and others in the space industry. Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted, "Huge accomplishment, huge lessons, onwards to the next attempt."

"It fell somewhere between a small step and their hoped-for giant leap, but it still represents significant progress toward a reusable super-heavy lift rocket," University of Chicago's Jordan Bimm, a space historian, said in an email.

At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA's moon rockets  past, present and future. NASA successfully launched its new 322-foot (98-meter) moon rocket last November on a test flight, sending the empty Orion capsule around the moon.

The stainless steel Starship rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX's smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from this test flight, with the spacecraft  if all had gone well  aiming for a watery grave in the Pacific near Hawaii.

The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.

SpaceX has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for more test flight; the next set is almost ready to go. Musk wants to fire them off in quick succession, so he can start using Starships to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit and then put people on board.

It was the second launch attempt. Monday's try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

Jason and Lisa Flores drove down from Corpus Christi to watch the launch with their daughter, and noticed something was amiss.

Lisa Flores cried seeing the liftoff and then realized, "It's not working out the way it was supposed to."

Elizabeth Trujillo, 13, wearing a "Star Wars" shirt and carrying toy binoculars, skipped school to see the launch from the beach with her mother and other relatives. The crowd cheered when Starship cleared the tower.

Despite the failed attempt, "it was worth it," said Jessica Trujillo, Elizabeth's mother. "Just hearing and seeing the view, the excitement of the crowd, it was priceless."

"Practice makes perfect. They just got to practice some more," she added.

Photos: Scenes from the SpaceX Starship launch
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

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Photo: The Canadian Press

A U.S. activist investor says it will withhold support from all of Parkland Fuel Corp.'s incumbent directors at the company's upcoming annual meeting.

New York-based Engine Capital LP, which owns about a two per cent stake in Parkland, says the Calgary-based fuel supplier and marketer has been "unresponsive" to its calls for change at the company.

Engine sent a letter in March to the Parkland board criticizing the company for "underperformance" and urging the fuel retailer to consider selling or spinning off its Burnaby, B.C., refinery.

In its follow-up letter on Thursday, Engine said it has met with Parkland's CFO, but has not been offered a meeting with the company's board as requested.

Engine said it is also frustrated that Parkland has once again nominated 24-year tenured chair Jim Pantelidis to the board, despite adopting a 10-year term limit for directors.

Parkland's annual general meeting is set to take place May 4.
The Nest apartments in La Vista, privately funded and built by biotech company Streck, are intended to be a tool to help recruit and retain workers. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)

La Vista  For six years, Ashley Plack had a house. She also worked two jobs to pay the bills and, with the maintenance demands of a homeowner, had little time to herself.

Recently she sold the house, moved into a studio apartment in a residential complex built by her employer, Streck, and figures she has shaved expenses by up to $500 a month.

While the newly opened apartments, in Placks case, did not serve necessarily as a recruitment tool  shes been working for two years at the biotech company  it may very well be among the reasons she stays.

I actually have my weekends and evenings to do stuff, Plack said Wednesday during an open house event at Strecks newly built apartments, The Nest.

Plack is among the first wave of 15 Streck employees to move into the 84-unit affordable housing complex that Streck leaders built as a way to have an edge in talent recruitment and retention.

Streck leaders call the $15 million Nest project affordable  not because it was built with public funding or linked to a government subsidy (it was not)  but because they have pledged to discount rents for employees.

Officials say that such innovative ways to provide housing at affordable rates will have to become more of the norm if Nebraska is to tackle a problem that many say is hampering economic growth in communities across the state.

Its more expensive to attract employees these days, and companies are making bigger investments, said Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Particularly with larger companies, youll probably see more of this.

Their issues are right now

Slone said hes seen other examples of employers creating housing options for their workers, including back when Cabelas was involved with construction in Sydney.

Housing is only part of the solution to attracting and keeping workers, said Slone, adding that towns count challenges in obtaining child care and transportation as key reasons jobs go unfilled.

He sees a growing need for government, business and philanthropy to team up, and step it up.

But because businesses have immediate needs  their issues are right now  Slone said he expects to see more employer-initiated efforts.

Streck CEO Connie Ryan started to focus on the Nest housing development in 2021.

She said she knew that expansion of the company, which develops, manufactures and packages lab products, would require more employees. Not only was hiring getting more competitive, the companys operations are based in Sarpy County, which has some of the priciest housing in the state.

Streck owned vacant land next to its multimillion-dollar manufacturing and information technology addition in La Vista. After hearing about and discussing ideas with friends at Omahas Habitat for Humanity and developer Burlington Capital, the Nest notion was born. (The Nest name is a nod to the wise owl mascot on Streck facilities.)

Supporters and guests were invited to tour the complex Wednesday at 11623 Emiline St. Ryan said she was more than pleased with results so far.

She said she never considered seeking a public financial subsidy to help develop the project because she didnt want to cede any control.

I didnt want there to be rules and regulations on what I could do, said Ryan.

She wanted higher-end finishes, for example. And rent discounts are based on employee financial needs.

While the apartments were opened first to current employees, Ryan said housing will be advertised with new job postings (there are about 20 openings now). Eventually, apartments will open to the public at market rates, though Ryan expects some units to be reserved for out-of-town recruits who might need housing.

With over 278,000 square feet of production facilities in La Vista, Streck products are manufactured and delivered to some 13,000 labs in 65 countries. The company holds more than 40 patents on more than 20 products.

I can walk to work

Since the Nest project launched, Streck was acquired by Chicago-based Madison Industries. Ryan said the partnership allows for additional growth opportunities, and she envisions an ongoing demand for housing.

For Plack and a few co-workers who attended the open house, the apartments have made life easier.

Heidi Monce and her 11-year-old daughter moved into a two-bedroom apartment in February, paying about $1,100 a month for rent.

Its definitely more convenient, she said. I can walk to work.

Dave Zbylut has worked 19 years at Streck and wound up with newer and bigger Nest digs for the same rent he paid elsewhere.

Plack, who works in customer service, said she pays about $570 for her studio. A pool is under construction just outside the clubhouse.

Im going back to school now and saving money, she said.
Debate over a bill banning gender-affirming care has roiled the State Legislature this year, prompting a parade of filibusters. Here, a protester holds a transgender pride flag in front of the Nebraska State Capitol during a demonstration in March (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN  As a deadline approached for March 21 debate on a controversial bill to ban gender-affirming procedures for minors, a trio of members of the Nebraska Board of Health scrambled to draft a board statement to support passage of the bill.

According to emails and text messages reviewed by the Nebraska Examiner, the process had started after one of the boards members, Dr. Jaime Dodge, a Lincoln family physician, testified in favor of Legislative Bill 574, labeled as the Let Them Grow Act, on Feb. 8.

In an interview, State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, the main sponsor of the bill, said she had suggested to Dodge after the bill hearing that a statement of support for her proposal would be helpful. After all, she said, a similar ban in Florida began with a vote by the board of medicine in that state.

If you could get it for Mondays meeting so I can present it Tuesday that would be pretty amazing, Kauth wrote in a March 16 text message to Dodge. But I know thats going to be a tough, tough lift .

I will do my best, Dodge responded.

There was some urgency. The 17-member Nebraska Board of Health, composed of a wide array of health professionals appointed by the governor, was meeting March 20, one day before debate on LB 574 began.

The text messages and emails, obtained via a public records request, revealed the behind-the-scenes work to draft a statement supporting the bill and to make sure allies in the State Legislature received it before debate began.

Kauth said the statement was helpful to her, because it was a panel of medical professionals backing up her opinion that it is irresponsible and dangerous to allow surgeries or drug treatments for minors to change genders.

Motivated by politics

Critics of LB 574 viewed it differently  as something motivated by far-right politics, a departure from the Health Boards main responsibilities and another example of how politicians are overriding sound medical recommendations.

Principled, conservative wins on these big social issues are few and far between. This was a really heavy lift, and I think a significant victory.  former State Sen. John Kuehn, a veterinarian and a member of the Nebraska Board of Health

The Health Boards main role is to weigh in on scope of practice issues between the various health professions and to advise the state Department of Health and Human Services on public health issues.

It was definitely a politically driven, well-orchestrated effort, in collusion with the (bills) sponsor, to push a political position, said State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, an opponent of the bill who made the public records request for the communications among Health Board members.

Conrad, as well as the ACLU of Nebraska and a former state health director, also raised concerns that the boards statement runs counter to advice from leading physicians groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics. Those organizations oppose bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth and advocate for leaving the difficult decisions to families and physicians.

Out of their scope

Dr. Gregg Wright, who served as state health director under three Nebraska governors, said it would be different if pediatricians and other physicians were saying such procedures were terrible and should never been done, but that is not the case.

State Board of Health The State Board of Health is a 17-member board appointed by the governor with the consent of a majority of members of the Legislature. Members include: two individuals licensed to practice medicine and surgery; two nurses; one each dentist, optometrist, veterinarian, pharmacist, osteopath or osteopathic surgeon, podiatrist, chiropractor, physical therapist, professional engineer, hospital administrator and credentialed mental health professional; two laypersons interested in the health of the people of the state of Nebraska. The governor is an ex officio member of the board.

Instead, the statement provided a political statement, according to Wright, who is a retired pediatrician, and not one based on the best, recommended care involving a very complicated issue and a very high-risk group of kids.

What theyre saying is we dont want you following professional care, he said That seems way out of what their scope should be.

In a series of text messages, Kuehn, a political ally of former Gov. Pete Ricketts who appointed him to the Board of Health in 2020, defended the boards policy statement. Kuehn said the diverse body tracks pending legislation and regularly provides perspective on public health issues and takes positions on policy matters.

Certainly within role of board

A major responsibility of the Health Board, Kuehn and others said, is to provide recommendations on proposed scope of practice changes between health professionals, such as what a nurse anesthetist can do compared to an anesthesiologist.

Legislation that says what a medical professional can or cannot do is, by definition, a scope of practice issue and certainly one to be considered by the Board, wrote Kuehn, who emphasized that he was speaking for himself, and not the Board of Health.

Dodge, who has an office in Lincoln, did not return phone calls or an email seeking comment.

But texts and emails reviewed by the Examiner, which begin on March 9 and extend to March 21  the first day of debate on LB 574  provide a clear picture of how a trio of Health Board members, and eventually Sen. Kauth, were working to get a letter of support from the board.

Very rough draft

Dodge first provided a very rough draft of a policy statement in a March 9 email. Kuehn, in a March 14 response to Dodge and another board member, Dr. Doug Bauer, a Lincoln osteopath, offered a revised proposal.

Kuehn, who co-chaired the Ricketts-backed Smart Approaches to Marijuana committee that has opposed legalization of medical cannabis, sent the draft to three fellow board members to get their temperature on the proposal opposing irreversible surgical and hormonal manipulation of minors 

We will get a lot of pushback from DHHS staff so if were going to do it, we need to be unified, Kuehn wrote in a March 16 text.

The messages also revealed efforts to make sure supporters of such a statement would be present at the March 20 board meeting to vote. Other messages expressed a desire to make sure the statement got to Kauth prior to the debate and was seen by other legislators.

We need to just proactively make sure our allies in the Legislature receive a copy directly, Kuehn wrote on the evening of March 20, a few hours after the statement was approved by the Board of Health. He had expressed concern that senators would not see the statement if it was submitted by a typical route  sending an email to a legislative portal that assembles comments on legislation.

A big win

Later, Kuehn celebrated the adoption of the statement, which was approved on a 11-0 vote with one abstention, as a big win in a text to Dodge.

Principled, conservative wins on these big social issues are few and far between, Kuehn texted. This was a really heavy lift, and I think a significant victory.

Five years ago, or even just a couple of years ago for that matter, the Board of Health taking a position of this nature wouldve been unthinkable, he added.

The minutes of the March 20 Health Board meeting stated that the statement would be submitted as an online comment of LB 574. But printed copies were also delivered to state senators on the floor of the Legislature as they opened first-round debate on the bill.

Statement approved by Nebraska Board of Health The board affirms: The mental health of children is of critical importance to their long term health and well being. Evidence-based psychological management should take priority over irreversible medical or surgical interventions in minors. Children experiencing gender questioning and gender dysphoria are particularly vulnerable to exploitation by social media and influences outside of medical practice. The medical community has significant gaps in our knowledge at present as to which behavioral, medical, and surgical interventions are the most effective in both the short and long term to address minors with gender questioning/dysphoria. The long-term outcomes of many interventions, especially irreversible endocrine axis and surgical alterations, are at present unknown. At this time there is no standard approach to treatment of children experiencing gender dysphoria in the United States informed by long-term, well-designed studies. The preponderance of the evidence is anecdotal, short term, and uncontrolled. Patients, families and clinicians cannot make informed healthcare decisions without knowing the likely benefits and harms of the proposed interventions. The irreversibility of surgery and the long term impacts on future endocrine health and fertility are particularly problematic for children and minors. The Board recognizes the importance of mental health assessment and supports evidence based care of childrens mental health prior to any pharmaceutical or surgical interventions. The risk for suicide among children questioning their gender is of utmost importance. It is for that reason alone that caution, particularly with regard to permanent physiologic and physical alterations, be taken with minors unable to consent to these irreversible interventions. The Board supports and encourages continued research and study into clinically verifiable strategies to improve mental health and reduce the risk of suicide. Current data does not support the claim that suicide rates diminish among youth following surgical intervention. Therefore, the Nebraska Board of Health does not support irreversible surgical and hormonal manipulation of minors for the purposes of gender reassignment. The clinical focus for children and minors should be the social and emotional development of youth and their mental health. Further study on the long-term effects of medical and surgical interventions in consenting adults should form the basis of a robust body of medical knowledge regarding gender reassignment.

Conrad said she thought the Health Boards statement carried a lot of weight with a couple of lawmakers who were uncertain about LB 574. The bill advanced from first-round debate on a 30-17 vote after collecting the minimum votes needed, 33, to overcome a bill-blocking filibuster.

Conrad called it an example of how to weaponize even neutral and objective entities to engage in partisan, political lobbying.

Wright and former State Sen. Don Wesely, who served 14 years as chair of the Legislatures Health and Human Services Committee, both said that the main role of the Board of Health is to deal with disputes over scope of practice between health professions.

While the Department of Health and Human Services regularly takes positions on legislative bills, Wesely said he could not recall the Board of Health doing that. Wright said the Health Board does advise the DHHS on policy decisions.

During the Board of Healths March 20 meeting, Kuehn, as chair of its Public Health, Education and Legislation Subcommittee, did report that a letter would be submitted in support for motorcycle helmets on a proposal to drop the states requirement. Attempts by the Examiner Wednesday to confirm that such a letter was sent were unsuccessful.

The ACLU  of which Conrad is a former executive director  said its main concern was that lawmakers disregarded dozens of physicians who signed a letter opposing LB 574, as well as parents and trans youth themselves. Associations representing state physicians, psychologists, nurses, pediatricians, social workers and ob/gyns testified against the bill.

Fishing for a specific viewpoint and ignoring the vast majority of other perspectives is never a good approach to making law, said Jane Seu, the ACLUs legal and policy counsel.

At this point, LB 574 is in a holding pattern after a chaotic second-round debate that resulted in advancement of the bill, on a 33-16 vote, and a promise from Kauth to negotiate an amendment to resolve concerns of some senators.

Kauth, earlier this week, said those talks have resulted in some good discussions with the senators involved in the negotiations.

The senator said she hopes that a proposal can be reached by next week. LB 574 would have to be returned from final reading to second-round debate to attach any amendment.
KEARNEY  An 80-year-old woman died as a result of injuries sustained in a Kearney house fire.

At 4:17 a.m. Thursday, the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to a residential structure at 1420 West 20th Street in western Kearney.

Kearney Police Department officers and a CHI Health Good Samaritan ambulance also responded to the location. Firefighters and police officers found the fire was generally contained within one room of the home. An adult female, identified as 80-year-old Diana Hill, was located outside the home, being administered CPR by a family member.

Emergency crews administered first aid prior to Hill being transported to Good Samaritan Hospital as a result of injuries sustained from the fire and smoke.

Early this morning, investigators were notified Hill died at Good Samaritan Hospital as a result of injuries sustained from the fire. Preliminary investigation by the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office and Kearney Volunteer Fire Department indicate a cigarette may have been lit in close proximity to a medically prescribed oxygen delivery system.

Foul play is not suspected.

On behalf of the Kearney Police Department and the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department, our condolences are with the family, friends and neighbors impacted by this tragic fire. We appreciate the assistance from CHI Good Sam EMS and the Nebraska Fire Marshals Office, said KPD Chief Bryan D. Waugh.

This case remains under investigation by the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department and the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office. Members of the Kearney Police Department are also assisting as needed.
Greek artist Angeliki Angelidis poses with her painting "Dream," which references cherry blossoms of Korea and almond blossoms of Greece, at Keumsan Gallery in central Seoul, April 13. Angelidis's works combining Korean and Greek elements are on view at her exhibition "Climbing," which runs through May 9. Korea Times photo by Kwon Mee-yoo



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Greek Angeliki Angelidis's works are full of colorful flowers and symbolic representations of both Korea and Greece. Her fascination with Korean cultures has led Angelidis to incorporate Korean history and philosophy into her artwork, creating a fusion of the two cultures reflected in her vibrant and vivid paintings.



Angelidis holds her first exhibition in Korea titled "Climbing," under her artist name Cheonsa, which means "angel" in Korean, at Keumsan Gallery in central Seoul.



"Upon learning Korean, I found numbers to be a challenge, except for the number 1,004. My teacher informed me that in Korean, it is pronounced the same as the word for 'angel.' Given that my Greek name includes 'angel,' I felt a sense of fate and adopted it as my artist name," the artist told The Korea Times at the gallery, April 13.



The exhibit, the first for the artist in Asia, features 24 artworks, expressing Angelidis's thoughts on cultural diversity and energy through the object of flowers.



"In the exhibition you will not see the pale colors of Oriental art or women with traditional clothing and hairstyles that look toward the East," she said.



"I present stories, proverbs and sayings of Korea, as they were imprinted through my own Greek point of view. I have created works with elements of Korean history and culture, tied to corresponding Greek elements, and from this fusion, the colorful and vivid stories that I want to tell have emerged."



Angelidis, who originally worked in the field of management and marketing in the beauty industry, shifted her interest to visual art and Eastern philosophy and studied at Vakalo Art and Design College.



She discovered similarities between Korea and Greece, as both countries have experienced invasions by foreign powers.



"I fell in love with Korean culture even more deeply and wanted to know more about Korea, which serves as a passage between China and Japan. I started Korean philosophy, culture and language, with a particular focus on how the language can unlock the secrets of the culture," she said.



"My work represents Korea, but there are also Greek elements in it. Greece is a bright country with a lot of light and I found that light in Korea which reminded me of Greece."





Greek artist Angeliki Angelidis' works are on display at her exhibition "Climbing" at Keumsan Gallery in central Seoul. Courtesy of Keumsan Gallery
Dignitaries of the 2023 Global Peace Leadership Conference, including Hyunjin Preston Moon, fourth from left, chairman of Global Peace Foundation, pose during a high plenary session held in New Delhi, April 13. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation



Scholars, spiritual leaders gather in New Delhi to discuss shared global challenges



By Lee Hyo-jin



NEW DELHI, India  India is a land of spiritual heritage, with its dynamic history and culture dating back to the beginning of human civilization. The South Asian nation now has a population of more than 1.3 billion, earning the title of the largest democratic country in the world.



On the global stage, India is raising its presence as a bridging nation between various power states. Holding presidencies of both the G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) this year, much attention is paid to how the country will position itself as the leader of emerging and developing nations.



The rising geopolitical position of India served as a perfect background for the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), a Washington D.C.-based non-profit group, to host its 2023 Global Peace Leadership Conference in New Delhi, the capital of India. The forum was co-hosted with the Indian Council for International Cooperation, Manav Rachna University and Yuvsatta, a local civic group for the youth.



The event, which took place from April 11 to 13 at Le Meridien New Dehli, was held under the theme "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Vision for Advancing Human Consciousness and Peace." Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is a Sanskrit phrase that means "the world is one family," a mantra that provides a basis for global cooperation in resolving shared challenges and conflicts.



The three-day event brought together thousands of guests and delegates including spiritual gurus, scholars, civic activists, politicians and students from various countries including India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Kenya and Uganda.



Among some renowned guests were Markandey Rai, chairman of GPF India, Chidanand Saraswati, the president of the Parmath Niketan Ashram, a spiritual institution based in India, Marsudi Syuhud, vice general chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council and Daniel Juma, leader of GPF Kenya.



In his keynote speech, Hyunjin Preston Moon, the founder and chairman of GPF, highlighted the significance of hosting the conference in India, calling it "the cradle of ancient civilization in the heart of Asia."





Hyunjin Preston Moon, founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), delivers a keynote speech during the 2023 Global Peace Leadership Conference held at Le Meridien New Dehli, India, April 13. Courtesy of GPF



"The world is in crisis," he said. "There is an alarming cacophony of conflicting ideas about society and the human condition, from the nature of the state to individual identity and gender relations. The result has been widespread political and social instability, uncertainty, and moral confusion."



He added, "In the realm of geopolitics, we are witnessing the rise of assertive statist powers that are prepared to impose their will on their neighbors, reminiscent of the actions taken by totalitarian regimes of the last century that led to two World Wars and the Cold War."



Moon then highlighted the growing presence of India as a power state, saying, "This vast region will play a central role in determining the future direction of humanity and the prospects for peace and prosperity in the region. The tides of history are shifting from the Atlantic sphere to the Indo-Pacific."



Rai, chairman of GPF India and senior advisor of U.N.-Habitat, said that Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the innate spiritual tradition in India, resonates with the peacebuilding movements carried out by the foundation. The chairman also stressed the importance of non-violent mass movements rooted in universal values.





Markandey Rai, chairman of Global Peace Foundation (GPF) India, delivers a speech during the 2023 Global Peace Leadership Conference held at Le Meridien New Delhi, India, April 13. Courtesy of GPF



"The global peace foundation's mission  one family under God  is a very simple, yet powerful message that can unite the whole world and that is why I joined the movement from the beginning," he told The Korea Times, saying that he is one of the founding members of the GPF since its establishment in 2009.



Rai also said India and Korea share a special relationship dating back to the 13th century, as told in the tale of the marriage of Princess Suriratna from India with King Suro of the Gaya Kingdom.



The conference, which was divided into four tracks  youth empowerment, transforming education for the future, value-based peacebuilding and environmental conservation  offered the participants an opportunity to share ideas on feasible solutions to pending global issues.





Participants engage in discussions during a youth empowerment session at 2023 Global Peace Leadership Conference held at a Le Meridien New Delhi, India, April 12. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation
Hong Kong's Education Bureau requires students in government-run schools to be able to write in both Chinese and English and speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin. SCMP





David Feng, a 23-year-old bilingual student, embodies where government officials want Taiwan to be by 2030 to help boost the island's competitiveness internationally.



Feng can communicate fluidly with foreigners, enjoys smooth travels overseas and can read information that would be off limits to a large number of his compatriots.



"A bundle of valuable information uses English as the primary language, which allowed me to cultivate some specific knowledge vaguely known in Taiwan," said Feng, who will pursue a master's degree in Asian studies at George Washington University in the U.S. capital later this year.



Taiwan announced its plan to increase English proficiency in 2018 and in March rolled out a plan for NT$30 billion ($982 million) of spending over the next five years, as well as specific targets for compulsory education as it seeks to compete with the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore, India and the Philippines.



A boost in English in Taiwan, where Chinese is the official language, is expected to help domestic companies seek more business overseas, while also making the island more attractive to investors and tourists.



If government regulations, policies, tenders and websites can be found in "legally binding English", foreign businesses could save the trouble of translating documents into Chinese, said Freddie Hoeglund, chief executive officer of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan.



"The [chamber] welcomes the government's goal of becoming a bilingual nation as we believe it will help to improve Taiwan's attractiveness and competitiveness as an investment destination," Hoeglund added.



Hong Kong is already officially bilingual, with both Chinese and English widely used in the government and by the legal, professional and business sectors.





Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the TV operations launch of TaiwanPlus, in Taipei in this Oct. 3 file photo. SCMP



Taiwan depends largely on exports and hi-tech hardware makes up 30 per cent of the $829 billion economy, while it delivers 60 per cent of the world's chips.



English proficiency already affects the ways people "compete in the international market" and how companies screen for new hires with sufficient language skills to "convey what the company is doing" to outsiders, said National Taiwan University journalism graduate student Luo Ssu-han.



"The government's promotion of a bilingual policy is to prepare local people with an international level of English and raise by another step the competitiveness of Taiwanese talent and enterprises," Taiwan's cabinet said in a statement last month.



As components of the 2030 plan, 210 of the schools in Taipei should be bilingual by 2026 and all schools in New Taipei City  the island's largest municipality - will have a full English-plus-Chinese curriculum by 2030.





Taiwan's domestic workforce is expected to shrink as the island's overall population declined by 110,674 people last year, owing to a historically low number of births and the most deaths ever. AP-SCMP



Smaller cities have also been set goals for numbers of schools that should be equipped to operate in both languages within the next seven years.



The government has not mentioned translating official documents into English or using it as a legal language in venues such as courts or parliament, but it has called for raising the levels within the civil service.



The government's elevation of English could inspire more people to study it, according to Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies and associate professor of the International Political Economy within the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University.



Thailand's Ministry of Education set out a plan in 2016 to equip all primary schoolchildren with sufficient English by 2026 to handle everyday situations.



An official second-language effort in Thailand or Taiwan "could really open the gates to learning, self learning, and spillover effects for all kinds," Thitinan added.



Taiwanese people typically study English formally from as early as seven, but students often complain that teachers focus on preparation to pass written exams rather than fluency in speech or for the writing of documents.



A focus on reading and listening gives students enough English to pass classes, but leaves many afraid of speaking in public, Luo added.



Private so-called cram schools for English  used to train students to achieve particular goals  cost between NT$70,000 ($2,293) to NT$130,000 per semester, which is sometimes tough for middle-class families to afford.



Jason Hou, vice-president of the Kojen English Centres network of 27 private schools in Taiwan, said students normally reach a "set level" of proficiency by ages 13 to 15 with an aptitude for speaking  something not every peer in Asia is so able to attain.



Hou places Taiwan "in the middle" among regions in Asia, below the level of English of Hong Kong, Singapore or India, but ahead of most other places.



Feng finds that most standard English courses in Taiwan "focus on exams and specific questions" rather than everyday use and overall ability.



"What's worse is that most of the population in Taiwan doesn't even speak English, and students who learn the language lack the environment to practice with their family or friends," he said.



Taiwan's 2030 plan also covers English in higher education and through digital learning.



"Taiwan's next generation will be equipped with better international competitiveness by adding bilingual capabilities to their professional expertise," the government's National Development Council said.



Last year, mainland China finished behind the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines in global rankings for English proficiency.



The 2022 English Proficiency Index by EF Education First ranked China at 62, a "low proficiency" nation, down from a "moderate" ranking of 49 in 2021. The index does not cover Taiwan.



Last year, members of China's national legislature, the National People's Congress, suggested "increasing cultural confidence" and "reducing the proportion of English teaching" in public schools. The proposal was later rejected by the Education Ministry.





Strained relations between Beijing and Washington, cross-Strait tensions and America's high manufacturing costs are pushing Tawainese companies in new directions. SCMP
Nearly 1.35 billion doses of prescription medication were prescribed to Chippewa County residents in 2023.

In some cases, those prescription drugs may never have been taken and instead were left to expire on a shelf.

Unused prescription drugs are a threat to fall into the wrong hands or become targets for thieves.

A 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Mental Health found that close to 10 million Americans misuse controlled drugs and most users obtain the medications from family and friends.

This is one reason HSHS St. Josephs Hospital has partnered with the Chippewa Falls Police Department to provide a convenient and responsible medication disposal opportunity during National Drug Take Back Day on Saturday.

Chippewa Falls Police Department and HSHS St. Josephs Hospital arent alone in the efforts on Saturday, April 22.

More than 158 events, with 280 participating law enforcement agencies, are planned across Wisconsin this weekend to raise awareness and remind people to get rid of old meds.

We partner with St. Josephs Hospital and the goal is to get unneeded prescription medications safely disposed of. Thats done through these drug drop boxes, said Police Chief Matthew Kelm. Theres drug drop off boxes at every police department lobby and the sheriffs department lobby throughout Chippewa County that are available during business hours.

Kelm said anybody who has expired medications they no longer use should consider getting rid of the meds.

Dispose of them properly, Kelm said. We want to avoid people flushing them down the toilet because that contaminates our water system. And people say, Well whats a little tiny pill gonna do when you talk about hundreds of gallons of water? Well, theres a lot of prescription medications out there.

Over time, trace amounts of the medicines can leach into the ground and contaminate rivers and lakes, said HSHS St. Josephs Hospital Community Outreach specialist Melissa Ives.

Its important not to leave expired or unused medications in your home, Ives said. The substances can be stolen, misused, abused or accidentally ingested, which can lead to injury or addiction.

Attorney General Josh Kaul said now is a great time to clean out medicine cabinets and safely dispose of unwanted or expired medications.

Whether you dispose of unwanted medications at a Drug Take Back event or a permanent drug drop box near you, we can each do our part in the fight against the opioid epidemic.

Drug Take Back Day will take place locally between 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at HSHS St. Josephs Hospital main entrance at 2116 County Highway I, Chippewa Falls.

The following items will be accepted:

Prescription and over-the-counter medications

Ointments

Non-aerosol sprays

Patches

Inhalers

Creams

Vials

Pet medications

Vaping devices and cartridges  batteries will not be accepted

Community members are asked to follow safety protocols during the drive-thru event by remaining in a vehicle and blocking out personal identifying information non medication containers.
Photo: The Canadian Press Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville.

Quebec's education minister is moving forward with a promise to ban prayer rooms in schools.

Bernard Drainville issued a directive late Wednesday saying schools must ensure that none of their spaces are used for religious practices, including prayer.

The order comes after Drainville said earlier this month that he had learned of at least two Montreal-area schools permitting students to gather for prayer.

He says schools are not places of worship and the concept of prayer rooms runs counter to Quebec's policy of official secularism.

The directive notes that the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms recognizes freedom of religion but also the fundamental importance of secularism.

Drainville has said that he can't ban prayer altogether and that students who want to pray should do so discreetly and silently.
A 36-year-old La Crosse man will spend the next 2 years in state prison for the June 28, 2021, stabbing death of 33-year-old Cameron Baker.

La Crosse County Circuit Court Judge Ramona Gonzalez sentenced David A. Pearson Jr. to 4 years in prison and five years of extended supervision.

Pearson pleaded guilty to a single felony count of homicide by negligent handling of a dangerous weapon. He faced a maximum sentence of five years. The sentence handed down by Gonzalez gives Pearson credit for the nearly two years he already spent in the La Crosse County Jail.

Pearson entered a plea agreement in January that reduced the charge from second-degree reckless homicide to homicide by use of dangerous weapon. A felony count of bail jumping was dismissed. In addition, prosecutors dismissed 16 charges stemming from unrelated cases, including four felonies.

Before the hearing began, Pearson indicated he wanted to withdraw his plea, but Gonzalez convinced him to wait.

Its important to go through with the hearing, Gonzalez said. You negotiated a plea in this case, and its important to see how we got there.

She later told Pearson, When youre finished with your sentence, you dont have all these other cases to return to. You have a clean slate.

Pearson faced a maximum 20-year sentence on the second-degree homicide charge.

According to prosecutors, the stabbing occurred after Baker created a commotion at Houska Park in La Crosse, where the city was allowing the unsheltered population to camp without being ticketed.

A witness told police he was sitting next to Baker when Pearson took a knife from a man standing next to him. The witness said Baker then lunged at Pearson, who responded by stabbing Baker. Pearson left the scene on a bicycle and was arrested a short time later.

Assistant La Crosse County District Attorney Nick Passe argued for the maximum five years in prison on the amended charge. He said Pearson has yet to give a version of events that accepts responsibility.

We would not be here if not for (Pearson) escalating a fist fight into a homicide, Passe said.

Members of Bakers family also asked for the maximum sentence.

Cameron has two children he will never see grow into adults, said Bakers sister, Shontay Crawford.

Part of my heart will be missing forever. She then turned to Pearson and said, I hope you rot in jail.

Crawford also called Pearson a worthless piece of (expletive), which drew a rebuke from Gonzalez.

Pearsons defense lawyers argued that he acted in self-defense and that the prosecution never would have agreed to a lesser charge had the self-defense element not been present. Gonzalez agreed that the self-defense argument should be taken into account and said thats why she didnt impose the entire five-year sentence.

The prosecution and defense agreed that both Pearson and Baker suffered from mental illness. Gonzalez said the case exposed gaps in mental health treatment. She also criticized the citys policy of allowing the unsheltered to camp at a city park only to shoo them out of there when the good people want to use Houska Park.
A criminal complaint has been filed in La Crosse County Circuit Court against a 46-year-old La Crosse woman accused of felony fourth-offense drunken driving. Rochelle M. Quiroz also faces a felony count of fourth-offense operating with a prohibited blood-alcohol content.

According to the complaint, police observed a vehicle operated by Quiroz turn left at a flashing red light without stopping shortly after 3 a.m. in La Crosse. Police conducted a traffic stop in the parking lot of Festival Foods on Copeland Avenue. The complaint says police noticed Quiroz with slurred speech and the odor of alcohol. She reportedly told police she had consumed one beer earlier in the afternoon.
A third person has been arrested in connection with a Feb. 14 burglary of a camper parked at a La Crosse hotel.

John D. Rodgers, 48, of La Crosse was charged in La Crosse County Circuit Court with felony counts of burglary and bail jumping.

According to the criminal complaint, Rogers and Zachary E. Pupp, 41, of Houston, Minnesota, broke into camper parked at Motel 6 on Rose Street while Justin D. Neumann, 42, acted as a lookout. The victim reported missing a $500 Michael Kors jacket, a $300 Michael Kors bracelet, a $200 pair of Michael Kors shoes and a pair of carts. He also reported damage to the camper door and that the interior of the camper was in disarray.

Rogers, who also faces a separate misdemeanor theft case, was arrested April 13 and released on a $5,000 signature bond the following day. His next court date is a June 20 calendar call for both cases.

Neumann is free on a $10,000 signature bond. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing and has a pre-trial conference set for May 5.

Pupp is being held in the La Crosse County Jail on a probation hold. His next court date is an April 24 calendar call.
La Crosse County accepted grant money from the state to support the sheriffs department and those struggling with opioid abuse.

The County Board of Supervisors approved the grants Tuesday.

The first grant is a one-year grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to cover the room and board costs for people with opioid use disorder who are also Medicaid recipients. The $57,379 grant was unanimously approved by the board.

This is the second time the county has received this grant. Last year, the county got $65,000 from the department and was able to help 32 people with treatment facility room and board costs.

Anneliese Skoda, a substance abuse counselor at the county, said counselors in the community are aware of the grant money and refer patients to the program.

Other recipients of the funding might already be working with county counselors and are recommended through that avenue. Potential recipients are then assessed to determine the level of care needed.

The county has contracts with seven residential substance abuse facilities around the state, one of which is located in La Crosse County.

Were really fortunate that we have funding coming in to make sure that people arent experiencing these barriers to treatment that they need, Skoda said. We are happy to see additional funds coming into our community.

The states health services department is using $2.5 million from Wisconsins share of the National Prescription Opiate Litigation settlement funds to cover the room and board costs.

Since 2021, Wisconsin Medicaid has offered residential substance abuse benefits, but it excludes the cost of room and board. The grant money is intended to alleviate that gap.

The sheriffs department will receive $82,000 from the Safe Communities grant offered by the Wisconsin Department of Administration, which was unanimously supported by the board.

The funds are allocated to purchase up to 14 new mobile audio video systems and other equipment for squad cars.

The new mobile audio video systems will be in sync with the worn body cameras, which will help to alleviate any error in non-activation during an emergency situation, the resolution to accept the grant stated.

The board also approved a resolution that will allow the county to install solar panels on seven buildings, which make up over 70% of the countys energy use.

The project with Solar Connection will cost $1.2 million from the general fund balance.

Initially, the county planned to use American Rescue Plan Act funding for the solar installation, however using federal funding would disqualify the county from the federal tax credit for solar.

An energy grant and the tax credit helped bring the project costs down by about $600,000.

Panels will be installed on the Law Enforcement Center, Health and Human Services building, Lakeview Health Center, Goose Island Campground, the administrative building, the solid waste department and the Highway Shop in West Salem.
A new coalition of more than 100 Wisconsin arts organizations and businesses have called on the state Legislature to dedicate $100 million in state funds to fulfill the pledge made in a more than 20-year-old endowment foundation aimed at supporting economic development across the state.

Formally launched this week, the Wisconsins Creative Economy Coalition seeks to finish bipartisan efforts that started in 2001 with the creation of the Wisconsin Artistic Endowment Foundation. The foundation was recommended by a study committee and signed into the state budget in 2001 by former Republican Gov. Scott McCallum, but a funding mechanism was never established.

Patrick Rath, president of the United Performing Arts Fund, said state funding will be necessary in order for many of Wisconsins cultural institutions to survive.

The future for these organizations continues to be fragile as private funding alone cannot keep up with rising costs, Rath said in a statement. If we want these and all of Wisconsins creative hubs to be vibrant and here for future generations, investment needs to be made now before arts sector talent leaves our state.

The states arts and creative sector  which includes film and video, music, performing and visual arts, museums, heritage sites, venues, festivals and other cultural events  supports nearly 90,000 jobs and generates $10.8 billion in economic value, according to the coalition.

According to information provided by the coalition, Wisconsin spends just 14 cents per capita to fund state arts organizations, ranking last in the nation. Minnesota spends $7.34 per-capita, while Illinois spends $5.04.

Whats more, Wisconsins share of gross domestic product coming from arts and culture has dropped by 1.1% since 2002, compared to the national average of a 0.2% drop.

The transformative and connective power of creative industries acts as a catalyst for vibrant, engaged communities, said Adam Braatz, executive director of Imagine MKE, a Milwaukee-based arts and culture coalition. Further, the creative economy is a strategic driver of economic growth and fosters the development of marketable skills that will future-proof Wisconsins workforce.

The coalition is made up of more than 100 organizations from across Wisconsin, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Kids from Wisconsin, the UW-Madison Division of the Arts, and Dane Arts.

Lawmakers enter the budget session with a more than $7 billion estimated state surplus, with a good portion of that consisting of one-time funds.

Republicans, who control the states budget committee, have signaled plans to largely scrap Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed 2023-25 biennial budget proposal. The committee will begin crafting its version of the states next two-year spending plan in the weeks ahead.

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DALLAS (AP)  Crews scrambled Thursday to restore power to thousands of residents after tornadoes plowed through Oklahoma during another deadly spring storm in the U.S., killing at least three people and damaging dozens of homes.

A day after at least eight tornadoes spun through Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said authorities were still assessing the scale of destruction. He toured the aftermath in Shawnee, where nearly every building at Oklahoma Baptist University showed damage. A home improvement store was destroyed, but several people sheltering inside survived. Two long-term care facilities and a hospital in Shawnee were also damaged.

The damage is unbelievable when you walk through there, Stitt said after touring the city.

Stitt also visited the small town of Cole, where he said two people died and 50 to 100 homes were damaged. Authorities said a third person who was injured had also died, but it was not immediately clear where that person was injured.

There are definitely dozens of various injuries, from minor all the way up to fatalities, said Deputy Sheriff Scott Gibbons of McClain County, the county south of Oklahoma City where Cole is located.

Gibbons told television station KOCO that one victim in McClain County, where Cole is located, is a 66-year-old man.

Deadly storms this spring have killed dozens of people across a wide swath of country, including one in March that produced tornadoes and killed at least 32 people from Arkansas to Delaware. Days later, another tornado left five dead in Missouri.

Employees of a pizza restaurant in Shawnee said they took shelter in the walk-in freezer, and when they emerged, parts of the roof and shattered windows littered the parking lot.

There was a lot commotion. People were starting to get a little frantic," said Bekah Inman, general manager of a Papa Johns Pizza in Shawnee, speaking to Oklahoma television station KOCO.

At Oklahoma Baptist University, sophomore Kennedy Houchin hid in a storm shelter with about 30 other people. When she was finally able to safely leave after about two hours, she saw the devastation the tornadoes had left on campus and elsewhere in Shawnee: downed trees, flipped cars and buildings with gaping holes.

When she ran into her volleyball teammates on campus, they embraced. It was a good moment to see everyone and know everyone was OK, Houchin said.

Following the storms, Stitt declared a state of emergency in five counties: Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie.

At the peak of the storm, there were more than 34,000 power outages reported, but that number had dropped by Thursday evening to about 16,000, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Office of Homeland Security reported.

KFOR-TV reported that residents south of Oklahoma City said they were trapped in their underground shelters. In Cole, two people emerged unhurt after riding out the storm in a manhole, the television station reported.

-

Miller reported from Jonesboro, Arkansas. Associated Press journalist Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report.
Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News is being shut down as part of a cost-cutting drive by its corporate parent thats shedding about 15% of its entire staff, adding to layoffs made earlier this year.

In a memo sent to staff, Buzzfeed Inc. co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said Thursday that in addition to the news division, layoffs would take place in its business, content, tech and administrative teams. BuzzFeed is also considering making job cuts in international markets.

BuzzFeed has about 1,200 total employees, according to a recent regulatory filing, meaning about 180 people will be losing their jobs in the latest cuts.

Peretti said in his memo that he made the decision to overinvest in the news division, but failed to recognize early enough that the financial support needed to sustain operations was not there.

Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the profitability of major tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of layoffs have rolled through the tech industry and more are expected.

Ive learned from these mistakes, and the team moving forward has learned from them as well, Peretti wrote in the memo. We know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to building a better future.

The announcement comes just a few months after BuzzFeed said that it would be cutting 12% of its workforce, citing worsening economic conditions. Job cuts at were also announced in December.

Christian Baesler, the Buzzfeed Inc.'s chief operating officer, and Edgar Hernandez, its chief revenue officer, are also leaving after they assist with the restructuring.

The company will have one remaining news brand, HuffPost, Peretti wrote.

Journalists who previously worked at BuzzFeed News lamented its end.

Im heartsick about it, and proud of the great journalism we did when I was there and after I left, said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed News' editor from 2011 to 2020 and now editor in chief of Semafor.

Smith made the controversial decision in 2017 to publish a dossier of information about then-President Donald Trump, though many outlets avoided it as unreliable and even Buzzfeed said there were serious reasons to doubt the allegations. He wrote then that we have always erred on the side of publishing.

BuzzFeed News' shutdown really marks the end of the marriage between news and social media, said Smith, author of Traffic, a forthcoming history of that era.

BuzzFeed News won its first Pulitzer in 2021, in international reporting, for a series by Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek on the infrastructure built by the Chinese government for the mass detention of Muslims.

That same year, BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Journalists were finalists in that category for an expose on the global banking industrys role in money laundering. A former U.S. Treasury Department employee was sentenced to six months in prison this month for leaking the trove of confidential financial reports that served as the basis for the series.

BuzzFeed said Thursday that all of the news division's work will be preserved and available within the BuzzFeed network. The company is also working to make sure that any stories currently in progress will be published and promoted on BuzzFeed properties.

Associated Press Media Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.
TITLE: Around the Way Girl: A Memoir

AUTHOR: Taraji P. Henson

Taraji's parents were divorced because her father was abusive to her mother after five years of marriage. Despite Boris's flaws -- homeless, broke, an alcoholic, and physically and mentally abusive to her mother she kept a close relationship with her dad throughout her life. Boris was a Vietnam vet and she felt he never got the help he needed. Being an artist and a metal fabricator he made good money when he worked but his bad habits controlled him. How did he survive? Was there a brighter future for Boris?

Taraji always felt safe with her mother even when a purse snatcher attacked her mother twice. Taraji attended Catholic schools until she was13 and the money ran out so she then attended Friendship full of broken dreams and hate, lack of supplies and equipment, substandard curriculum and teachers who gave half-hearted efforts. Mrs. Hawkins saw potential in Taraji and that changed her life. How? Taraji often came in second in contests but she was okay with that.

After high school she attended Howard University and did well with screenplays. She had roles in "Dreamgirls" that took her to Hong Kong for two weeks and later in "Malcolm X" in New York. As her career was moving forward she was in a relationship with Mark off and on. Who was he? How did they meet? Was he a supportive father to their son Marcell? What kind of life did Marcell have? How was Mark killed? Why did Marcell place a large rubber band in the casket?

Because Taraji traveled a lot, Marcell lived with his grandmother and his behavior and mood changed drastically. What caused the big changes in his life? Was it because his mother was gone so much? Losing his dad and his grandpa?

Taraji shared many of their experiences in the memoir, stressing that trust and loyalty are a huge part in friendships as one lifts, respects, and protects another. As she received many awards in her career what was life like as an adult for Marcell as he moved from ridicule and criticism for being a Black student to a Black adult? Where did he attend college? What relationship did he have with his famous mother? Taraji and Marcell faced their fears with difficulty and yet became a success which is a lesson for others to follow.
The Lake Geneva Public Library will celebrate National Library Week from April 24-28.

First held in 1958, National Library Week celebrates and promotes the role of public libraries in the community.

This year, the librarys events include a conversation with Maggie Ginsberg, Wisconsin author of the novel Still True; foraging and calligraphy workshops; youth events; the debut of the librarys new MakerStation; and a chance to win a copy of a new book.

All week long, there will be a MakerStation Showcase, in which people can see the librarys new maker tools. People can also become a Library Advocate to pledge support to the library and receive a special Library Advocate button.

A novelist and senior editor of Madison Magazine, Ginsberg has received awards for her longform articles over the past 17 years, including honors from the National City & Regional Magazine Association, the Milwaukee Press Club and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Still True is Ginsbergs first work of fiction. It was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in September 2022 and is now in its second printing.

In the book, a secret past threatens to unravel a family living in small town Anthem, Wisconsin.

A Q&A session follows the talk with Ginsberg. Copies of her book will be available to purchase.

To enter the book prize drawing, place a hold on any book at anytime before April 28.

Following is the itinerary for National Library Week.

Monday, April 24  Refreshments in the lobby; and Japanese Film Series: Ikiru screening at 2 p.m.

Tuesday, April 25  Nintendo Switch Party, a youth program, at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, April 26  Refreshments in the Lobby, An Evening with Ginsberg, 6 p.m.

Thursday, April 27  Storytime, a youth program, at 10 a.m.; Japanese Calligraphy, registration required, at 1 p.m.; and A Foragers Year at 6 p.m.

Friday. April 28  Book Prize Drawing; and Mahjong Drop-in, 2 p.m.

National Library Week Events at the Lake Geneva Public Library are sponsored by KwikTrip and the Friends of the Lake Geneva Public Library.

The library is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

For more information on events at the Library, visit lglibrary.org.

Who's playing Elkhorn's DAS Fest USA this year? Red Hot Chilli Pipers Alex Meixner The Gebel Girls Ed Wagner Brass Band Jenny Hundt JFK the Band Copper Box The Happy Players Dirndolls Petty Union
One of the owners of a Trempealeau County timber company has been ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution to foreign workers after he was found guilty of illegally placing foreign workers and lying to federal officials.

Alfredo Aguilar, 52, pleaded guilty to related charges in January and was sentenced to 18 months in prison Monday. The Bruce resident co-owned the Wisconsin timber company Northwoods Forestry Inc. with his wife, Patricia Aguilar.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney Timothy OSheas office, Aguilar has paid the restitution money to the foreign workers and another $210,000 in fines associated with the case.

According to court records, between 2015 and the end of 2018, Aguilar recruited workers from Mexico and Central America to work in forestry through the H-2B work visa program. The program allows American employers to hire temporary workers from overseas to perform labor as long as the labor addresses one-time, seasonal, intermittent or peak needs.

However, Aguilar placed Northwoods Forestry foreign workers with non-forestry employers in industries such as meat packing, roofing, agriculture, construction, painting and fur processing.

Aguilar admitted to officials that he placed Northwoods Forestry foreign employees in positions he knew they were not legally authorized to work. Aguilar also admitted that Northwoods Forestry did not pay the workers the highest applicable wages and did not pay the workers overtime.

Aguilar failed to pay the required prevailing wages to the foreign workers he employed, said Irene Lindow, special agent-in-charge, Great Lakes Region, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.

Todays sentencing is an affirmation of our efforts, along with those of our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division, to pursue individuals who abuse the H-2B program for financial gain, Lindow said.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 263 workers were victimized by the scheme.
Re. Jenine Tespas letter Stop selling guns (Castanet, April 19)

I read Jenine's letter and had to give my head a shake.

I wonder if she realizes how different our gun laws are in comparison to our friends from south of the border (the U.S).

While yes, the U.S. has a serious issue with firearms crimes, that is due to their own laws and the second amendment of their constitution. I do not personally believe they could ever bring in a licensing system similar to our own as their laws are handled in many cases on a state to state basis, while ours are handled federally.

Take California and Nevada as examples. In California, they have incredibly tough laws around firearms, but a two-hour drive to Nevada yields different laws, which results in the patchwork of rules and regulations.

A person in Canada cannot just walk into a store or go online and order a gun. First, they have to take the firearms course through a registered instructor, pass both a written and practical exam, then fill out and send off forms that will take anywhere from two to nine months to be stamped and a license issued. During that time, members of the CFP (Canadian Firearms Program) will run the entirety of the applicants life through the system looking for anything that jumps out. In fact, the application itself asks for information on any previous job loses, relationships ending, mental health issues, etc.

At the point that the license is issued and received, they can indeed buy a gun, but the firearms store they buy from will still run a check on their license and that license is run on a daily basis by the Canadian Firearms Program to ensure no criminal charges pop up. If they do, the police can show up and remove any and all firearms from that person's possession.

Hunting and shooting not only represents $13.2 billion a year towards our GDP, but also accounts for a large portion of food being put onto tables across the country. I know a number of people who will go out, (kill) a deer or bear during hunting season and that will save them hundreds of dollars that could have been spent in a grocery store.

I would invite Jenine to look into the PAL course and our firearms laws to see just how many hoops the average Canadian has to jump through in order to buy a firearm right now.

Dan Shemley, Kelowna
China-Russia Economic Forum Breaks New Ground

April 19, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Chinese and Russian institutions and entrepreneurs turned out in force for The 2023 Sino-Russian Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum, held in Moscow on April 17. The three sponsors were the China Industrial Development Association, the Academic Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Russia-China General Chamber of Commerce. After the March 21-22 summit in Moscow of President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping, and last weeks Moscow Economic Forum session, headed by Sergey Glazyev, on what Russia needs to learn from Chinas economic miracle about credit generation and wiping out poverty, the April 17 forum makes it clear that the Russia-China alliance is more than words.

The opening presentation was by the chairman of the forum, President of Chinas Overseas Development Association He Zhenwei. He situated the event, with over 150 entrepreneurs and representatives from relevant institutions, as a follow-on from last months Putin-Xi meetings, listing the eight key directions laid out by Putin and Xi to be concentrated on over the next eight years: economy and trade, transportation and logistics, finance, energy, mineral resources, technology, industry and agriculture. And the Joint Statement, called the Development Plan of the Key Directions of Sino-Russian Economic Cooperation, was released following the forum.

Gao Shixian, Economic Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Russia, explained that the eight-year program had a solid foundation, as trade volume between the two countries over the last year increased 29%. Expanding practical work in various fields between the two sides is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples and in line with the spirit of global developmental initiatives. Gao cited the guiding role of the consensus reached by Putin and Xi, and called for strengthening coordination, implementing precise policies, and promoting the deepening and solid economic cooperation between the two countries.

Sergey Glazyev, Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission and an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, characterized the event as timely and very necessary, for Russia, China, and even the Eurasian Economic Union countries. He stressed that promoting cooperation between Chinese and Russian entrepreneurs in the fields of economy, trade and investment will continue to enrich the content of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation in the new era. He had suggestions and insights on various areas, including cooperation on capacity replacement and the expanded use of local currencies in settlements.

Other presentations included those of the President of the Moscow Branch of China Construction Bank, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the Eurasian Economic Commission Arzybek Kozhoshev, the Vice Chairman of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Director of the Russian National Underground Resources Appraisal Association.

It is reported that entrepreneurs from China and Russia conducted business-to-industry matchmaking on the spot, with a lot of one-on-one negotiations, and a warm atmosphere.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL THURSDAY APRIL 20, 2023

An Outbreak of Public Sanity

April 19, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Last month, Chinas President Xi Jinping and Russias President Vladimir Putin held a summit in Moscow, which included charting their collaboration over the next eight years on economic projects. Xis Belt and Road approach over the last ten years has shown country after country that nations can mutually benefit, if they simply choose projects that, in real physical economy terms, work. And since one nation doesnt have to push down its neighbor in order to get ahead, room is created for defining pathways in which one nation is important, even vital, to its neighbor. Chinas shocking diplomatic successes with the rapprochement of Saudi Arabia and Iranwith the radiating effects, notably in Syria and Yementurn out to be a normal byproduct of sane economics. It forces to the surface the realization that insane economics were at the root of the so-called intractable conflicts were accustomed to.

Last week, Russias strategic physical economist Sergey Glazyev addressed the Moscow Economic Forum, in a timely panel discussion, focused upon the secret of Chinas economic success, of healthy credit generation, of a successful war on povertywith the aim of Russia importing that method, and rooting out its own central bank insanity.

This week, over 150 Russian and Chinese entrepreneurs representing at least 130 different institutions and corporations met in Moscow at the 2023 Sino-Russian Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum, where they not only heard from Glazyev, from the President of Chinas Overseas Development Association, from the Economic Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Russia and others on the matter of carrying out the Putin-Xi economic development areas, but they also reportedly conducted business-to-industry matchmaking on the spot, with a lot of one-on-one negotiations, and a warm atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in Washington, today Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced her Return to Prudent Banking Act, based upon FDRs famously successful Glass-Steagall Act, and its prohibition against the transaction of banking activities by securities firms, reserving governments role for the protection and encouragement of savings, eliminating the addiction to bailing out speculators. The second paragraph of Kapturs announcement reads: The legislation has been endorsed by the Schiller Institute and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Kaptur press release continues:  The 2008 financial crash nearly took down our entire economy and led to the great recession wiping out the income and savings for many Americans. The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York echoes the 2008 collapse with speculators squeezing through every regulatory keyhole to find an avenue to game the system, said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. In 2023, here we are again, watching bank runs, failures, and massive buyouts. Wall Street has proven that it cannot control itself, and it is only a matter of time before it steers America into the next financial crisis. It cannot be any clearer that the time for systemic reform is now....  It is so obvious, but since when does the obvious triumph in Washington, D.C.?

Also today, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, officially opened his campaign for the U.S. Presidency, announcing that, while the U.S. has been destroying bridges, roads, ports and hospitals, China has been building the very same around the world, winning the just regard and trust from country after country. Instead of spending trillions on wars, they chose to spend on things that pay back, that work. He added that his father and his uncle wanted to do what China has been doing. Kennedy certainly has his populist shortcuts and scientific shortcomings, but theres a hint of an old-fashioned American approach, where we get ahead by actually looking to help other nations.

Yesterday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson actually told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing that the U.S. and Russia had a very professional, competent relationship in their work in space, that the collaboration on the 1975 Soyuz-Apollo flight set the tone for the civilian space program between otherwise two enemies, two political and geopolitical enemies. It continued when we worked and built together the International Space Station.... If we can continue peacefully working together in space, maybe thats a template for the future. That really happened.

And today, for the April 12 Cosmonautics Day, in celebration of the anniversary of mankinds first manned space flight, accomplished on April 12, 1961 by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the Schiller Institutes founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche conveyed a greeting to an event at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Peru:

What a joyful and unique memory to think of that man, Yuri Gagarin, who went for the first time into space, 62 years ago. Especially in times, when the weight of dangers and threats to the very existence of mankind, be it through the danger of war, be it through the burden of poverty or lack of development, seems to press us down and make our fate inescapable, the thought of Yuri Gagarin is awesome.

Gagarin opened

a new epoch in the history of mankind, establishing us not as a species of Earthlings, but as a spacefaring species, of a kind which is capable of potentially infinite perfection and progress, provided we are truthful to the good and the laws of the physical universe. Let us draw strength from that inspiring thought to think into the future, to think how we will work together as one humanity establishing a village on the moon, a city on Mars, and by breaking through the next barriers by using thermonuclear fusion as propulsion, making possible interstellar space flight. Then we will have left behind us the danger of extinction through nuclear war and the small-mindedness of geopolitical conflict. There is plenty of reason to be extremely optimistic about the new epoch of which we can see the morning rays....

It is no time to allow the corrosive cynicism of a few decades of decadence to stand in the way. Rather, it is time for an outbreak of public sanity.
Photo: Glacier Media

Vancouver police have released data for the first three months of the year that show an increase in property crime but a decrease in assaults and robberies, when compared to the same period in 2022.

Property crime increased by 7.3 per cent from 7,533 incidents between January and March 2022 to 8,083 this year. Assaults decreased by 2.1 per cent from 1,119 incidents to 1,095, and robberies saw a seven per cent decline from 158 to 147.

What the data doesnt show is the number of incidents in each of the three crime categories prior to the pandemic being declared in March 2020. Glacier Media analyzed available statistics on the VPDs website for the first three months of each year, going back to 2019.

The five years of data show assaults steadily climbed from 930 between January and March 2019 to 1,095 reported this year. Robberies experienced a similar trend, increasing from 125 in the first three months of 2019 to 147 in 2023.

Property crime, however, saw significant decreases, with break-ins to homes dropping from 304 reports in the three-month period in 2019 to 191 this year. Break-ins to vehicles  the main driver of property crime  saw the biggest drop, with 1,756 recorded this year compared to 3,855 in 2023.

The data tells a story police began telling a few years ago when certain types of crime saw decreases, largely due to public health restrictions related to the pandemic and fewer people in the streets and working in offices.

A report that goes before the Vancouver Police Board Thursday said the uptick in property crime this year was expected as life as people knew it prior to the pandemic returns to some sort of normalcy.

Abandoned non-emergency calls reach 7,480

What police have previously noted, and highlighted again in the report, was the number of people who dont bother to report crime or abandon calls to the police non-emergency line because of lengthy delays on the phone with the E-Comm dispatch centre.

Under-reporting remains a serious concern as it reduces reported property crime numbers and impacts police response, said the report, which noted 7,480 non-emergency calls were abandoned.

This was down 60 per cent from [the first three months of 2022], where 18,680 of non-emergency E-Comm calls were abandoned. While this is an improvement, there is still a significant amount of abandoned calls.

Other crimes that saw increases from 2019 to this year  between January and March  included break-ins to businesses (from 442 in 2019 to 515 this year), fraud cases (698 to 842), arsons (56 to 88), homicides (four to six) and reported sexual offences (146 to 217).

Police have noted sexual offences are often reported some time after they have occurred. This means that offences reported this year may have occurred prior to 2023; statistics show 19.6 per cent of sexual offences reported to the VPD in 2022 were historical and occurred in previous years.

The number of thefts remained steady in the past five years, with more than 2,000 reported over the first three months of each year between 2019 and 2023. The highest number recorded during that period was 2,873 in 2020; the lowest was 2,030 in the first three months of 2021.

This year, thefts totalled 2,841.

The report noted assaults consistently comprise more than three out of every four violent crimes in Vancouver, and therefore tend to drive the overall violent crime trend. Starting in 2020, the proportion of serious assaults increased to an average of 40 per cent of all assaults.

Hate crimes remain steady

Hate crimes reported to police remained almost the same, from 33 incidents in the first three months of last year to 34 for the same period this year.

Three motivation categories saw increases: 2SLGBTQ+ [four to eight incidents], South Asian [from two to five incidents], and East and Southeast Asian [from seven to nine incidents], the report said. All other motivations saw decreases.

While violent shoplifter incidents decreased 43.8 per cent from 80 incidents in the first three months of last year to 45 this year, it is a crime that police say continues to be a problem in Vancouver.

Business owners are frustrated not only because they incur financial losses but also because employees are exposed to violence, said the report, which noted a project police completed in February and March to crack down on shoplifters.

In "Project Barcode," police arrested 217 people who had a combined total of 4,695 previous convictions. A total of 278 criminal charges were recommended to Crown counsel. Police recovered $80,000 in stolen goods and seized 24 weapons.

Note: The crime statistics reported in this story do not account for population growth and whether that is a factor in increases in crime. The effect of homelessness, the overdose and mental health crises have also not been analyzed in the data, although police have released several in-depth reports in recent years regarding social issues and crime.
In large buildings outside Madrid, Spains capital, hop vines grow under special lights and close supervision.

A small company believes growing the vines will be important to ensuring a supply of an ingredient in beer, the world's most popular alcoholic drink.

Hops are traditionally grown in areas like Bavaria, Germany, the Czech Republic, or the northwestern United States. That is because the plants need a climate that has long summer days and mild temperatures.

However, research shows environmental changes are driving down yields and quality of hops. It is a growing problem for the beer industry.

Industry groups say U.S. production was down 12 percent in 2022, while German production decreased by 21 percent. Czech yields fell by more than 40 percent because of unusually hot weather.

Spain's Ekonoke is a kind of small business known as a start-up. Ekonoke is growing hop vines indoors to solve the problem. The company uses nearly 95 percent less water than traditional outdoor farming systems.

"We're on a mission to save the world's beer," Ines Sagrario, co-founder of Ekonoke, told the Reuters news agency.

The start-up's 11-member team of scientists experiments with different groupings of light and fertilizer and water mixtures.

The goal is to increase production of substances such as alpha-acids and essential oils. These give hops the bitter and fruity smells that are enjoyed by beer lovers.

A large number of sensors are attached to the vines to measure water and carbon dioxide levels. Special LED lights change colors in the growing area.

"These hops have never seen any sunlight, only our own light show," said Javier Ramiro, a scientist with Ekonoke.

To finance its research and growth plans, Ekonoke is working with the Hijos de Rivera group, makers of the popular Estrella Galicia beer.

The growers said the next step is to increase production to three rooms of up to 400 plants each.

Sagrario said that in the future, indoor growing areas could be set up near beer makers. These growing areas could reuse the carbon dioxide released during fermentation.

The company is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev's (ABI) 100+ sustainability accelerator program. This program aims to give financing to companies that offer improvements in environmental and social problems.

ABI's Willy Buholzer called the business "very promising." But he said it remains to be seen if it can grow and sell hops that are able to compete with traditional producers.

"You should not underestimate traditional (outdoor) hop growers. They always come up with new ideas," he added.

The most obvious difficulty indoor farming faces, he said, is its high energy cost.

But Buholzer believes high energy prices will return to normal. He added that special varieties and more harvests could make indoor farming competitive in pricing.

"You can't make beer without hops, and they don't want to produce less," Sagrario said.

Ekonoke's plan, she added, is to set up indoor growing areas around the world. "This can be grown anywhere: Madrid, Sevastopol or Timbuktu."

Im John Russell.

David Latona reported this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

hop  n. a kind of plant whose dried flowers are used to make the alcoholic drink beer

vine  n. a plant that has very long stems and that grows along the ground or up and around something

ingredient n. one of the things used to make a food product

yield  n. the amount of something that is produced by a plant, farm, etc.

fertilizer  n. a substance (such as manure or a special chemical) that is added to soil to help the growth of plants

ferment  v. to go through a chemical change that results in the production of alcohol
WASHINGTON, D.C.  Lexi Johnson of Gothenburg, Dawson County 4-Her; Sarah Treffer of Cozad, Dawson County 4-Her; and Autumn Lindsley of Brainard, Butler County 4-Her; were the three 4-Hers who represented Nebraska at the 2023 National 4-H Conference.

Dawn Lindsley, Statewide Educator, served as the chaperone. The 90th National 4-H Conference was April 14-19 at the Hyatt Regency in the Washington, D.C. area. It is a super experience for 4-Hers and is one of Nebraska 4-Hs highest honors, according to Andrea Nisley, University of Nebraska Lincoln Extension Educator.

The National 4-H Conference is the premier civic engagement opportunity for 4-H members (15-19 years) who are actively engaged in 4-H programs across the United States and its territories.

The conference is administered by 4-H National Headquarters of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Held annually, the conference served to develop the next generation of leaders.

Delegates attended training workshops, participated in roundtable discussions, presented to federal partner agencies, and engaged with their U.S. Senators and Representatives. The Nebraska 4-H Foundation and the Dawson County 4-H Foundation are the sponsors of the 4-Hers trip.

The conference provided an opportunity to engage in personal development experiences that increased their knowledge, resources, and skills while discussing topics affecting youth and 4-H programming nationwide.

Delegates not only learned at the conference: they are empowered to create positive social change in their communities and have the opportunity to practice and apply their skills in a real-world setting.

The National 4-H Conference is the pinnacle experience in 4-H Civic Engagement, providing the opportunity for young people to connect, learn, engage, lead, and impact their communities, nation and world.

Lexi, Sarah, and Autumn have a responsibility to return home energized and committed to implementing some of the ideas discussed at conference and to work with other youth, adults, and county Extension staff to develop a plan of action that works best for their communities.

Together, they can turn ideas into action that can turn into enthusiasm that can spread to other youth and adults in the community and the state, Nisley said.
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?I am always amazed by people who try to defend our prime minister.

A letter writer (Patrick MacDonald, Defending prime minister - Castanet, April 19) writes: The Aga Khan issue(Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) failed to get prior approval from the government (himself) to receive a free flight between islands. There was no conflict-of-interest found and no scandal.

Facts say otherwise.

According to Wikipedia: The Aga Khan affair was a political scandal in Canada involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In 2017, Trudeau was found guilty of violating sections 5,11,12, and 21[1] of the Federal Conflict of Interest Act[1] by accepting private-island vacations, gifts, and flights from the Aga Khan, a philanthropist and spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili religion. This was deemed significant as the Aga Khan Foundation, a registered lobby, had received over $50 million of federal funding in 2016.

(MacDonald) goes on to say: The WE CharityNo conflict of interest on Trudeau's part was found. So some of his family received compensation for speaking arrangements. How, exactly, could he have prevented that? A conflict? Really?

(Again, from Wikipedia): Political scandal took place in Canada in 2020 regarding the awarding of a federal contract to WE Charity to administer the $912 million Canada Student Service Grant program (CSSG). The controversy arose when it was revealed that the WE charity had previously paid close family of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appear at its events, despite making claims to the contrary. In total, Craig Kielburger confirmed at parliamentary committee, WE Charity pay approximately $425,000 to Trudeaus family including expenses. WE Charity also used pictures of Trudeaus family members celebrity endorsements in their application. Trudeau stated that WE Charity had been uniquely capable of administering the program as the only possible option, and that it was the civil service, not him, who decided that WE Charity was the best option.

Then (MacDonald) goes on, trying to deflect, saying: The SNC Lavalin affairTrudeau's only mistake was appointing an unqualified and uncooperative justice minister who could not even support the other member of the cabinet in the DPA issuance, and who, by the way, co-authored an 840-page book on how to take back Canada.

(And again from Wikipedia): The SNC-Lavalin affair (French: Affaire SNC-Lavalin) is a political scandal involving attempted political interference with the justice system by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The Parliament of Canada's Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found that Trudeau improperly influenced then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against Quebec-based construction company SNC-Lavalin by offering a deferred prosecution agreement.

Robert Hepting, Kelowna
The Allies and Korea have exchanged sick and wounded prisoners of war at Panmunjon, just a mile away from continued fighting at the north-south border.

One hundred United Nations prisoners were freed today under Operation Little Switch. They included 12 Britons, 30 Americans, 50 South Koreans, four Turks, one Canadian, one South African, one Greek and one Filipino.

Dressed in blue padded Chinese-style uniforms and Russian-style caps, they were take to a reception centre at nearby Munsan for a warm welcome.

There, the Red Cross distributed cigarettes and toiletries.

The 12 Britons looked thin but happy to be freed. They shook hands with several generals including General Clark, the UN commander.

Seven of them agreed to talk to the waiting press. It emerged the Chinese had given them new uniforms and fed them well a few days before their liberation.

Last night they were treated to a special farewell banquet at Kaesong, on the north-south border.

Corporal William Greenaway of the Gloucestershire Regiment, captured two years ago, said: I feel like Im entering a new world. It feels very good indeed to be back.

On the whole the British and Americans had few complaints about their treatment, although conditions in the prison camps were described as pretty grim.

But the South Koreans said they were treated like cattle, given terrible food and forced to attend indoctrination sessions.

Also today, 400 North Koreans and 100 Chinese prisoners arrived at Munsan and were transferred by ambulance to be sent back to North Korea at Panmunjon.

Further prisoner exchanges will take place over the next few days.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

The Soviet Union and the US had split Korea along the 38th parallel after Japans defeat in World War II.

Following a series of border skirmishes, the Communist North invaded the South in June 1950 and a United Nations force under General MacArthur drove the invaders back to the Chinese border.

China entered the war and together with the North Koreans occupied Seoul in 1951.

The UN forces counterattacked and by 1953, after an armistice, retook all territory south of the 38th parallel.

The Korean War ended with the signing of the armistice on 27 July to restore the 38th parallel as a border.

In August, prisoners of war were exchanged in Operation Big Switch  77,000 Communists for 12,700 UN men, of whom 3,597 were Americans.

But a peace deal has never been reached. American troops remain stationed in the demilitarized zone on and around the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea.
As public concern about the ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence keeps growing, it might seem like its time to slow down. But inside tech companies themselves, the sentiment is quite the opposite. As Big Techs AI race heats up, it would be an absolutely fatal error in this moment to worry about things that can be fixed later, a Microsoft executive wrote in an internal email about generative AI, as The New York Times reported.

In other words, its time to move fast and break things, to quote Mark Zuckerbergs old motto. Of course, when you break things, you might have to fix them later  at a cost.

In software development, the term technical debt refers to the implied cost of making future fixes as a consequence of choosing faster, less careful solutions now. Rushing to market can mean releasing software that isnt ready, knowing that once it does hit the market, youll find out what the bugs are and can hopefully fix them then.

However, negative news stories about generative AI tend not to be about these kinds of bugs. Instead, much of the concern is about AI systems amplifying harmful biases and stereotypes and students using AI deceptively. We hear about privacy concerns, people being fooled by misinformation, labor exploitation and fears about how quickly human jobs may be replaced, to name a few. These problems are not software glitches. Realizing that a technology reinforces oppression or bias is very different from learning that a button on a website doesnt work.

As a technology ethics educator and researcher, I have thought a lot about these kinds of bugs. Whats accruing here is not just technical debt, but ethical debt. Just as technical debt can result from limited testing during the development process, ethical debt results from not considering possible negative consequences or societal harms. And with ethical debt in particular, the people who incur it are rarely the people who pay for it in the end.

Off to the races

As soon as OpenAIs ChatGPT was released in November 2022, the starter pistol for todays AI race, I imagined the debt ledger starting to fill.

Within months, Google and Microsoft released their own generative AI programs, which seemed rushed to market in an effort to keep up. Googles stock prices fell when its chatbot Bard confidently supplied a wrong answer during the companys own demo. One might expect Microsoft to be particularly cautious when it comes to chatbots, considering Tay, its Twitter-based bot that was almost immediately shut down in 2016 after spouting misogynist and white supremacist talking points. Yet early conversations with the AI-powered Bing left some users unsettled, and it has repeated known misinformation.

When the social debt of these rushed releases comes due, I expect that we will hear mention of unintended or unanticipated consequences. After all, even with ethical guidelines in place, its not as if OpenAI, Microsoft or Google can see the future. How can someone know what societal problems might emerge before the technology is even fully developed?

The root of this dilemma is uncertainty, which is a common side effect of many technological revolutions, but magnified in the case of artificial intelligence. After all, part of the point of AI is that its actions are not known in advance. AI may not be designed to produce negative consequences, but it is designed to produce the unforeseen.

However, it is disingenuous to suggest that technologists cannot accurately speculate about what many of these consequences might be. By now, there have been countless examples of how AI can reproduce bias and exacerbate social inequities, but these problems are rarely publicly identified by tech companies themselves. It was external researchers who found racial bias in widely used commercial facial analysis systems, for example, and in a medical risk prediction algorithm that was being applied to around 200 million Americans. Academics and advocacy or research organizations like the Algorithmic Justice League and the Distributed AI Research Institute are doing much of this work: identifying harms after the fact. And this pattern doesnt seem likely to change if companies keep firing ethicists.

Speculating  responsibly

I sometimes describe myself as a technology optimist who thinks and prepares like a pessimist. The only way to decrease ethical debt is to take the time to think ahead about things that might go wrong  but this is not something that technologists are necessarily taught to do.

Scientist and iconic science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said that sci-fi authors foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not. Of course, science fiction writers do not tend to be tasked with developing these solutions  but right now, the technologists developing AI are.

So how can AI designers learn to think more like science fiction writers? One of my current research projects focuses on developing ways to support this process of ethical speculation. I dont mean designing with far-off robot wars in mind; I mean the ability to consider future consequences at all, including in the very near future.

This is a topic Ive been exploring in my teaching for some time, encouraging students to think through the ethical implications of sci-fi technology in order to prepare them to do the same with technology they might create. One exercise I developed is called the Black Mirror Writers Room, where students speculate about possible negative consequences of technology like social media algorithms and self-driving cars. Often these discussions are based on patterns from the past or the potential for bad actors.

Ph.D. candidate Shamika Klassen and I evaluated this teaching exercise in a research study and found that there are pedagogical benefits to encouraging computing students to imagine what might go wrong in the future  and then brainstorm about how we might avoid that future in the first place.

However, the purpose isnt to prepare students for those far-flung futures; it is to teach speculation as a skill that can be applied immediately. This skill is especially important for helping students imagine harm to other people, since technological harms often disproportionately impact marginalized groups that are underrepresented in computing professions. The next steps for my research are to translate these ethical speculation strategies for real-world technology design teams.

Time to hit pause?

In March 2023, an open letter with thousands of signatures advocated for pausing training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. Unchecked, AI development might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us, or even cause a loss of control of our civilization, its writers warned.

As critiques of the letter point out, this focus on hypothetical risks ignores actual harms happening today. Nevertheless, I think there is little disagreement among AI ethicists that AI development needs to slow down  that developers throwing up their hands and citing unintended consequences is not going to cut it.

We are only a few months into the AI race picking up significant speed, and I think its already clear that ethical considerations are being left in the dust. But the debt will come due eventually  and history suggests that Big Tech executives and investors may not be the ones paying for it.

Casey Fiesler, University of Colorado, MDT/The Conversation
The death toll from a fire at a Beijing hospital rose to 29, including 26 patients, authorities said yesterday, and a dozen people had been detained including the hospitals head and her deputy.

The fire broke out at the private Changfeng Hospital on Tuesday afternoon and forced dozens of people to evacuate. Some who were trapped had to escape from windows using bedsheets tied together.

A nurse, a medical assistant and a family member also died in the incident, said Li Zongrong, deputy head of Fengtai district.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but officials say they believe it originated from welding sparks from work being done in the hospitals inpatient wing. Among the 12 people who were detained was the head of the construction crew.

A total of 39 people are being treated for injuries, three of them in critical condition, officials said. Rescue crews and medical staff from around the city were mobilized, with squads plucking some of the 142 people who were evacuated from air conditioning units on the buildings exterior.

Safety rules are frequently ignored in China, observers say, but accidents on the level of the Changfeng fire are treated with a much higher level of scrutiny. Construction accidents sometimes result from corners being cut on work hours and safety conditions, while local officials are bribed to ignore violations, according to media reports.

The central government has pledged stronger safety measures since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers. MDT/AP
China revealed new details of sanctions it previously announced against two U.S. weapons manufacturers Tuesday, including a ban on Chinese companies doing business with them.

China imposed trade and investment sanctions in February on Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies Corp.s Raytheon Missiles & Defense for supplying weapons to Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by China.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce said in a statement late Tuesday that the sanctions include a ban on exports and imports by the two companies from and to China to prevent Chinese products from being used in their military business.

It added that Chinese companies should strengthen their due diligence and compliance system construction to verify transaction information and should not knowingly conduct business with the two companies while importing, exporting or transporting products.

It wasnt clear what immediate impact the penalties might have, but the restrictions on imports and exports could hurt the two companies. The United States bars most sales of weapons-related technology to China, but some military contractors also have civilian businesses in aerospace and other markets.

Last September, Raytheon Missiles and Defense was awarded a $412 million contract to upgrade Taiwanese military radar as part of a $1.1 billion package of U.S. arms sales to the island.

Taiwan buys the majority of its weapons from the U.S., which is its biggest unofficial ally. In recent years, China has frequently sent fighter jets and warships toward the island, surrounding it at different times in a campaign of military pressure and intimidation.

The sanctions also prohibit the senior executives of both companies from traveling to China or working there. They listed Lockheed Martin CEO James Donald Taiclet, COO Frank Andrew St. John and CFO Jesus Malave, and President Wesley D. Kremer and Vice Presidents Agnes Soeder and Chander Nijhon from Raytheon Missiles & Defense. MDT/AP
If the EU asks me about human rights conditions in Macau, I will not fear discussing it, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng told a press conference before departing for his first official trip to Europe.

Members of the European Parliament have expressed concerns over Macaus compliance with the Luso-Chinese Joint Declaration in terms of human rights. Members of the Macau public have also raised concerns about the current amendment to the National Security Law (NSL).

When asked, Ho declined to comment on individual opinions, but said these opinions show Macau is a free society, in which anyone can express their own views.

He said he would not fear discussing human rights with anybody, be they EU officials or journalists.

He said this version of the NSL was promulgated in 2009. During its drafting process, the public raised concerns, but has there been any hinderance or restraint to human rights in Macau? asked Ho.

He also compared the current NSL amendment to similar laws in Portugal and other EU countries.

Which country does not have their own national security law? he asked. If we are wrong having such a law, all EU countries are wrong too, for all of them have national security laws.

To ease public anxiety, the head of the local government confirmed that One Country Two Systems is our founding stone. His said the Basic Law will be complied with in a good manner without any change.

Moreover, he said the Chinese Constitution is superior to the Basic Law, adding that all people of Chinese nationality must abide by the Constitution.

He referred to Article 23 of the Basic Law as the reason for the NSL legislation. In his opinion, this is not a major or sneaky amendment for there was public consultation.

Over 40 consuls-general who had met with him had agreed with his explanation, Ho said.

On the structure of the local gambling industry, Ho reiterated his confidence in achieving the goal of MOP130 billion of gross gaming revenue (GGR) for this year, with the benchmark for the first quarter already reached.

For the first time, Ho said there are 12 foreigner-only gambling areas in local casinos, adding that casino operators had started chartering private jets to deliver clients to Macau. The local airport has also served them well, Ho said.

Ho Iat Seng to emphasize Macaus positioning in European visit

Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng will emphasize Macaus national position to European officials during his first official visit overseas between April 18 and 27.

During a speech before his departure, the CE said Macau is pressing ahead with its strategic positioning as one center, one platform, one base, while pragmatically engaging with the Belt and Road initiative, and the Greater Bay Area, adding Portugal is a crucial part of the Belt and Road initiative.

This year marked the 10th anniversary of the initiatives promulgation, and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao), the CE said.

The government will make full use of the opportunities presented by the visit to Europe, to promote Macaus role in supporting development of the Belt and Road initiative, and to explain Macaus bridging functions for business and trade cooperation serving China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, said Ho.

Ho said the visit to Portugal sought to consolidate the friendly relations between Macau and Portugal and promote people-to-people exchanges.

There was hope of attracting additional enterprises from Portuguese-speaking countries to set up in the Greater Bay Area and the Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, to explore opportunities in the Chinese mainland market. AL
A giant panda on long-term loan from China died in a zoo in northern Thailand yesterday, six months before she was due to return home, officials from the Chiang Mai Zoo said.

The cause of Lin Huis death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday morning, and her nose was seen bleeding when she laid down after a meal, said Wutthichai Muangmun, the zoo director.

She was rushed into the care of a joint Thai-Chinese veterinarian team but her condition deteriorated and she died early yesterday morning, he said.

Tewarat Vejmanat, a veterinarian who spoke at a news conference broadcast live on the zoos Facebook page, said the panda, who had a health check every day, was already at an advanced age at 21, and there had been no sign of illness or any difference in her behavior before she became sick.

China is saddened by the death of the giant panda Lin Hui, Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in Beijing.

Wang said that after China learned about the pandas illness it immediately organized experts to guide the Thai side to carry out rescue work through video link, but unfortunately did not save her life. He added that the Chinese authorities would soon set up a team of experts to carry out a joint investigation into the cause of death.

Lin Huis male mate, Chuang Chuang, who was kept with her at the Chiang Mai Zoo, died there in 2019 at the age of 19. The couple arrived in Chiang Mai in 2003 on a 10-year loan that was later extended for another 10 years.

While the loan was ostensibly for research and conservation purposes, it was generally regarded as an act of friendship by China, which has sent pandas to many countries in what is regarded as a striking example of soft power diplomacy.

When Chuang Chuang died in 2019, Thailands then-Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said the country had to pay $500,000 to the Chinese government in compensation. It was later reported that heart failure was the cause of his death.

Zoo director Wutthichai said the zoo has a 15-million-baht ($435,000) insurance policy on Lin Hui, who was due to be returned to China this October.

Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang had a daughter, Lin Ping, in 2009 through artificial insemination. A scheme to encourage them to mate naturally by showing them videos of pandas having sex made headlines in 2007. Lin Ping was sent to China in 2013 in what was initially said to be a one-year visit for her to find a mate, but has remained there.

The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38. Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.

A Chinese influencer living in Thailand who identified herself as Shanshan visited the zoo Tuesday morning and posted several videos of Lin Hui on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. One of them showed her nose, which appeared bloody, and a red spot could be seen on her neck. In another clip, she was lying down while licking her nose, and there were red stain trails on a concrete slab beneath her head. Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

This is when we just got here, she was lying on her side. Then I saw her nose was bleeding, she commented in one of the clips. She looked like she had nausea. We were not sure.

Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

The cause of Lin Huis death will take time before it can be determined, Wutthichai said, and how and when that would be revealed will be entirely up to China. Under an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese governments panda conservation project, an autopsy cannot be performed until a Chinese expert is present.

Some Thai internet users speculated that air pollution in northern Thailand, which in recent weeks has spiked to levels considered dangerous to human health, contributed to Lin Huis death. The zoo staff, however, said that was unlikely, as Lin Hui lived in a closed space in an area of the zoo considered to have the cleanest air. JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI, BANGKOK, MDT/AP
Police in Hawaii have vowed to step up illegal gambling enforcement after one of the most serious shootings in state history called attention to the dangers that come with cockfighting, which has deep roots in the islands and remains popular despite being illegal.

The shooting early Saturday in a rural community more than 30 miles from downtown Honolulu left a man and woman dead and three others with gunshot wounds. The Honolulu medical examiners office as of yesterday had yet to release the names of the dead  both of whom were taken in private cars to a hospital  and police had yet to make any arrests but said they were searching for two suspects.

Authorities say investigating cockfights is difficult in part because they are highly organized events on private property and their illegal nature and the large amount of money wagered means they often have links to organized crime. The clandestine fights happen all over Hawaii, usually on large, remote properties shrouded by brush and accessible only by dirt roads, like in Waianae, where the weekend shooting took place.

Neighbors are also reluctant to get involved for fear of retaliation, Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan said in a statement.

Despite being illegal in Hawaii since 1884, the fights between roosters with blades affixed to their legs have remained a part of life in the islands, especially among the states large population of Filipinos, who are credited with bringing the practice from the Philippines, where it was introduced by Spaniards. Many cockfighting fans claim the blood sport is part of local Hawaii culture.

People that are attendees are local, locally based, and have been doing it for generations, said former Maui police chief Gary Yabuta, now executive director of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. A saying among chicken fighters is, Its in my blood.

But Saturdays shooting, which police say started with an argument at the end of a cockfight, has some saying enough is enough and cultural claims should no longer be used to excuse the illegal fights that happen every weekend.

People say, I grew up with it. Its a cultural thing. Papa had chickens  we went to chicken fights, thats how we made our money, said Patty Kahanamoku-Teruya, chair of the neighborhood board in the area of the shooting. Its not a cultural right. Its illegal. Period.

Yabuta said his program, which helps local and federal law enforcement collaborate in the fight against illegal drugs, is concerned about cockfighting because its wrapped up in organized crime and has links to drug-trafficking. He notes that the fights often attract hundreds of people placing bets totaling more than $100,000.

Its something that is so huge and so popular in Hawaii that it really cant be controlled by law enforcement, he said.

The popularity of cockfighting extends far beyond Hawaii and is truly a global industry, said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action.

It was started by the Romans and the Greeks 3,000 years ago. And it spread all over the world with colonialism, he said.

After arriving in Hawaii, the sport has flourished in many areas, including urban parts of the islands, such as Kalihi, where many fighting birds are raised, said state Rep. Sonny Ganaden.

Crowing roosters are part of the sights and sounds of Kalihi, he said of the neighborhood thats home to many Filipinos and Pacific Islanders.

Kids will grab a chicken and get them to fight each other, he said.

Cockfighting has been illegal in all 50 states, but hadnt been illegal in U.S. territories until 2019, when a law signed by former President Donald Trump banning all animal fighting went into effect.

The argument that cockfighting is a cultural practice has been used in lawsuits challenging the ban, but with little success. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a challenge to the federal law brought by individuals and organizations that argued Congress exceeded its power in applying the ban to Puerto Rico.

Some in Hawaii worry that violence linked to cockfighting will grow more volatile in a state that previously had largely escaped the scourge of gun violence seen elsewhere in the U.S.

Saturdays shooting was among the worst since 1997, when seven workers were shot and killed at a Xerox Corp. warehouse. Other shootings that grabbed headlines were a man who killed a taxi driver and a couple taking photos at a Honolulu scenic lookout in 2006 and a highway shooting spree that left one woman dead and two others injured in 2011.

Chris Marvin, a Hawaii resident with Everytown for Gun Safety, said these types of shootings will increase with the proliferation of guns in the islands.

Data from the Hawaii attorney generals office says the number of number of firearms registered annually in Hawaii climbed 319% from 2000 through 2021.

We are going to start to replicate the trends that weve seen in the mainland, Marvin said. And in the rest of the country, there is more than one mass shooting per day. We dont hear about all of them. JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, HONOLULU, MDT/AP
Fox News agreed yesterday [Macau time] to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine companys lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.

The stunning settlement emerged just as opening statements were supposed to begin, abruptly ending a case that had embarrassed Fox News over several months and raised the possibility that network founder Rupert Murdoch and stars such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity would have to testify publicly.

The truth matters. Lies have consequences, Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson told reporters outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced the deal.

Outside of the $787.5 million promised to Colorado-based Dominion, it was unclear what other consequences Fox would face. Fox acknowledged in a statement the courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false, but no apology was offered.

We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues, Fox said. Its lawyers and representatives offered no other comment or details about the settlement.

Asked by a reporter whether there was anything to this other than money, Dominion CEO John Poulos did not answer.

The deal is a significant amount of money even for a company the size of Fox. It represents about one-quarter of the $2.96 billion the company reported earning last year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization  a figure often used to approximate a companys cash flow.

The settlement also follows a $965 million judgment issued last year against Alex Jones by a Connecticut jury for spreading false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.

Coupled with other lawsuits in the pipeline, the agreement shows there is a real financial risk for conservative media that traffic in conspiracy theories. What remains unknown is how much of a deterrent this will be. Even as the Dominion case loomed this spring, Foxs Tucker Carlson aired his alternate theories about what happened at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion, arguing that the top-rated news outlet damaged the companys reputation by peddling phony conspiracy theories that claimed its equipment switched votes from former President Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. Davis, in an earlier ruling, said it was CRYSTAL clear that none of the allegations about Dominion aired on Fox by Trump allies were true.

Dominion set out to prove in the lawsuit that Fox acted with malice in airing allegations that it knew to be false, or with reckless disregard for the truth. It presented volumes of internal emails and text messages that showed Fox executives and personalities saying they knew the accusations were untrue, even as the falsehoods were aired on programs hosted by Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeannine Pirro.

Records released as part of the lawsuit showed that Fox aired the claims in part to win back viewers who were fleeing the network after it correctly called hotly contested Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on election night. One Fox Corp. vice president called them MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS.

During a deposition, Murdoch testified that he believed the 2020 election was fair and had not been stolen from Trump.

Fox knew the truth, Dominion argued in court papers. It knew the allegations against Dominion were outlandish and crazy and ludicrous and nuts. Yet it used the power and influence of its platform to promote that false story.

Several First Amendment experts said Dominions case was among the strongest they had ever seen. But there was real doubt about whether Dominion would be able to prove to a jury that people in a decision-making capacity at Fox could be held responsible for the networks actions.

Dominions Nelson called the settlement a tremendous victory and noted that there are six more lawsuits pending regarding election claims.

We settled because it was about accountability, Nelson said in an interview. Our goals were to make sure that there was accountability for the lies, and to try to make our client right. And we accomplished both goals.

Its hard to tell what the deal will mean financially for Dominion. The company would not provide its most recent earnings, saying the figures were not public.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Davis significantly narrowed Foxs potential line of defense, including nixing the networks argument that it was merely airing newsworthy allegations. Newsworthiness is not a defense against defamation, he said.

In a March 31 ruling, he pointedly called out the network for airing falsehoods while noting that bogus election claims still persist more than two years after Trump lost his bid for reelection.

The statements at issue were dramatically different than the truth, Davis said in that ruling. In fact, although it cannot be attributed directly to Foxs statements, it is noteworthy that some Americans still believe the election was rigged.

In its defense, Fox said it was obligated to report on a president who claimed that he had been cheated out of reelection.

We never reported those to be true, Fox lawyer Erin Murphy said. All we ever did was provide viewers the true fact that these were allegations that were being made.

Dominion had sued both Fox News and its parent, Fox Corp, and said its business had been significantly damaged. Fox said the company grossly overestimated its losses, before agreeing to pay about half of what Dominion had asked for.

In a 1964 case involving The New York Times, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the ability of public figures to sue for defamation. The court ruled that plaintiffs needed to prove that news outlets published or aired false material with actual malice  knowing such material was false or acting with a reckless disregard for whether or not it was true.

That has provided news organizations with stout protection against libel judgments. Yet the nearly six-decade legal standard has come under attack by some conservatives in recent years, including Trump and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who have argued for making it easier to win a libel case.

The larger importance of the settlement  is that the high level of protection for news media in a defamation case remains intact for now, said Doreen Weisenhaus, an instructor of media law at Northwestern University.

In documents released in recent months, Fox executives and anchors discussed how not to alienate the audience, many of whom believed Trumps claims of fraud despite no evidence to back them up. Foxs Tucker Carlson suggested a news reporter be fired for tweeting a fact check debunking the fraud claims.

Some of the exhibits were simply embarrassing, such as scornful behind-the-scenes opinions about Trump, whose supporters form the core of the networks viewers. Text exchanges revealed as part of the lawsuit show Carlson declaring, I hate him passionately, and saying that we are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.

Fox News announced the settlement on Neil Cavutos afternoon news show. Its a done deal, he said. Its a settlement and for at least Fox, it appears to be over.

But Foxs legal problems may not be over. It still faces a defamation lawsuit from another voting technology company, Smartmatic. Its lawyer, Erik Connolly, said yesterday that Dominions litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Foxs disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.

DAVID BAUDER, RANDALL CHASE & GEOFF MULVIHILL, WILMINGTON (Del.), MDT/AP
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario has pledged to parliament the government would spare no effort to refine traffic conditions near the Pearl of the Orient roundabout. He hoped the conditions would improve when the road networks nearby further expand. It is expected the Light Rapid Transits East Line contract would be signed within three months and construction begin within four, he said. He also refused to remove the artifact built on the roundabout, one of several built to celebrate Chinese-Portuguese friendship.

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A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly classified military documents is due back in court today [Macau time] for a hearing to decide whether he should remain behind bars while he awaits trial.

Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested by heavily armed tactical agents at his Massachusetts home last week and charged, under the Espionage Act, with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified national defense information. During his first court appearance in Bostons federal court Friday, a magistrate judge ordered him to remain in custody until Wednesdays detention hearing.

Teixeira is accused of sharing highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers. The stunning breach exposing closely held intelligence has sparked international uproar and raised fresh questions about Americas ability to safeguard its secrets.

Air Force leaders said yesterday that they were investigating how a lone airman could access and distribute possibly hundreds of highly classified documents. The Air Force has also taken away the intelligence mission from the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod  where Teixeira served  pending further review.

Court records unsealed last week revealed how billing records the FBI obtained from Discord and interviews with social media comrades led authorities to Teixeira.

Investigators believe he was the leader of an online private chat group on Discord called Thug Shaker Central, which drew roughly two dozen enthusiasts who talked about their favorite types of guns and shared memes and jokes, some of them racist. The group also held a running discussion on wars that included talk of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

A Discord user familiar with Teixeiras online posts told the FBI that a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information roughly in December. The person provided the FBI with basic identifying information about Teixeira, including that he called himself Jack, claimed to be part of the Air National Guard and appeared to live in Massachusetts, according to the affidavit.

The person also told the FBI that Teixeira switched from typing out documents in his possession to taking them home and photographing them because he had become concerned that he may be discovered making the transcriptions of text in the workplace.

Thats different from what posters have told The Associated Press and other media outlets, saying the user they would call the O.G. started posting images of documents because he was annoyed other users werent taking him seriously.

The affidavit alleges Teixeira was detected on April 6  the day The New York Times first published a story about the breach of documents  searching for the word leak in a classified system. The FBI says that was reason to believe Teixeira was trying to find information about the investigation into who was responsible for the leaks.

The classified documents range from briefing slides mapping out Ukrainian military positions to assessments of international support for Ukraine and other sensitive topics, including under what circumstances Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons.

Authorities have not revealed an alleged motive. But members of the Discord group described Teixeira as someone looking to show off, rather than being motivated by a desire to inform the public about U.S. military operations or to influence American policy.

The Biden administration has scrambled to contain the potential diplomatic and military fallout from the leaks since they were first reported, moving to reassure allies and assess the scope of damage. There has been no clear answer on how many documents were leaked. The Associated Press has viewed approximately 50 documents; some estimates put the total number in the hundreds. ALANNA DURKIN RICHER & ERIC TUCKER, BOSTON, MDT/AP
Re. Patrick MacDonalds letter, Defending prime minister (Castanet, April 19)

Mr. MacDonald attempts to brush off (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau's ethics breaches as "nothing to see here folks".

Obviously, I strongly disagree with that sentiment. Although numerous facts were left out, the ones that really stand out pertain to the SNC Lavalin affair.

(MacDonald) states the only mistake Trudeau made was to appoint an "unqualified and uncooperative justice minister.

Jody Wilson-Raybould has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from the University of Victoria and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She was a Crown prosecutor, a process advisor at the B.C. Treaty Commission, a We Kai Nation council member, regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations and a director of Capilano University, among other (achievements). Trudeau has a trust fund, (worked as a drama teacher, (likes to) surf and snowboard.

In terms of being uncooperative, MacDonald seems to think it is OK for politicians to interfere in the justice system, which we all should know isn't right.

(Mario) Dion, the (federal) ethics commissioner at the time, said in his report there were many ways in which Trudeau, "either directly or through the actions of those under his direction, sought to influence the attorney general. The authority of the prime minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of public prosecutions as well as the authority of Wilson-Raybould.

And when Wilson-Raybould wouldn't cooperate with Trudeau because she knew it would be wrong to do so, he pushed her out.

That doesn't strike me as a "nothing to see here folks" issue. What I glean from this is that one knows the difference between right and wrong and has ethics and one doesn't.

MacDonald questions how these "scandals" impact me and my well being. It affects me because we have (someone I consider to be) an unethical prime minister and I am dumbfounded as to how people could vote for him (and his party) three times.

Mark S. Bragagnolo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has built its first-ever military spy satellite and that he planned to launch it on an undisclosed date, state media reported yesterday.

Previous missile and rocket tests have demonstrated that North Korea can send satellites into space, but many experts question whether it has cameras sophisticated enough to use for spying from a satellite because only low-resolution images were released after past test launches.

During his visit to the countrys aerospace agency Tuesday, Kim said that having an operational military reconnaissance satellite is crucial for North Korea to effectively use its nuclear-capable missiles. Kim cited what he described as serious security threats posed by the most hostile rhetoric and explicit action by the United States and South Korea this year, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. He likely hopes to pressure his rivals on issues including joint military drills and international economic sanctions on North Korea.

Kim said the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 had already been built and ordered officials to speed up preparations for its launch. He said North Korea must launch several satellites to establish an intelligence-gathering capability, KCNA said.

North Korea has said its ongoing run of weapons tests, including its first test-launch of a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the U.S. mainland last week, are a response to joint military exercises between the United States and its regional allies South Korea and Japan. North Korea has carried out about 100 missile tests since the start of last year, including about 30 this year.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries have been expanding combined drills in response to North Koreas growing nuclear threats. This week, the allies launched a 12-day aerial exercise involving some 110 warplanes and staged a one-day naval missile defense exercise with Japan.

Spy satellites are among an array of major weapons systems that Kim publicly vowed to develop during a major ruling Workers Party conference in January 2021. Kim also pledged to build solid-propellant ICBMs, nuclear-powered submarines, hypersonic missiles and multi-warhead missiles. North Korea has since conducted tests of such weapons, but observers say those high-tech weapons are still in development stages.

After North Korea launched a test satellite last December, it publicized black-and-white photos showing a space view of South Korean cities.

Kims sister and senior North Korean official Kim Yo Jong said the test satellite carried a commercial camera because there was no reason to use an expensive, high-resolution camera for a single-shot test.

Kim Jong Un said one of the objectives for its spy satellite is acquiring an ability to use pre-emptive military force when the situation demands. MDT/AP
Journalists, transcribers and customer service agents, among other jobs, will easily be replaced by AI when it develops further, a local academic has warned in an article.

Peter Chang, lecturer at the City University of Macau and Winson Wong, director at Public Trust International Arbitration Association (Macao) co-authored an article discussing the recent trend of AI utilization triggered by the public use of ChatGPT.

Among the aforementioned professions, proofreaders, translators, copywriters, market analysts, social media managers, dispatchers, travel agents, home tutors and recruiters are among the other professions that the duo believe to be replaced by AI.

Echoing the earlier comments from Goldman Sachs, the two see these occupations as highly repetitive and faced with a large collection of texts or data. ChatGPTs text or script generation and natural language processing capabilities are capable of these tasks.

As AI is highly laborious and efficient [in the aforementioned professions], it is difficult for humans to compete, the pair commented.

Comparing the boom of AI with the era of Industrialization, the duo described the emergence and progress of ChatGPT as a critical milestone in the first edition of their article.

ChatGPT has laid the foundation for the development of future AI, the pair said, adding that it has also brought a multitude of exciting application prospects.

Their comparison, meanwhile, echoed their views set forth in the second edition of the article, which suggests that humans will not be fully replaced.

On the contrary, human beings will be expected to work in conjunction with AI. In many aspects, humans still possess creativity, empathy and cross-aspect integrated capabilities, which are irreplaceable by AI, Chang and Wong believe.

Regarding the reliability of ChatGPT, the duo pointed out that it often misunderstands humans and thus provides deviating responses. Besides, the system cannot distinguish if what it says is correct, despite knowing how to compile texts.

ChatGPT needs to be regularly updated to give responses related to current events. AL
A 19-year-old female university freshman in Macau has been scammed RMB1.2 million, according to the Judiciary Police (PJ). She received a call from an express company saying her parcel sent to the mainland contained banned items. The call was then transferred to someone identifying as from the mainland police, who accused her of engaging in illegal activities and demanded a security deposit. The victim deposited RMB1.2 million into nine mainland bank accounts provided by the scammers. She later became suspicious and reported the case to the police.

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The Chinese defense chief vowed this week to take military cooperation with Moscow to a new level, a statement that reflects increasingly close Russia-China ties amid the fighting in Ukraine.

Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu after attending a meeting Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

The armed forces of China and Russia will implement the agreements reached by the heads of state and expand military cooperation, military-technical ties and arms trade, Li said in opening remarks at Tuesdays meeting with Shoigu. We will certainly take them to a new level.

Lis trip follows last months three-day state visit to the Russian capital by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, reflecting Chinas strengthening engagement with Russia. Moscow and Beijing have closely aligned their policies in attempt to reshape the world order to diminish the influence of the United States and its Western allies.

China has refused to criticize Russias actions in Ukraine and blamed the U.S. and NATO for provoking Moscow. Xis visit to Moscow gave a strong political boost to Putin, sending a message to Western leaders that their efforts to isolate Russia have fallen short.

After the talks, Putin and Xi issued joint declarations pledging to further bolster their strategic cooperation, develop cooperation in energy, high-tech industries and other spheres and expand the use of their currencies in mutual trade to reduce dependence on the West.

After more than a year of fighting in Ukraine and bruising Western sanctions, Russias dependence on China has increased significantly. Facing Western restrictions on its oil, gas and other exports, Russia has shifted its energy flows to China and sharply expanded other exports, resulting in a 30% hike in bilateral trade.

Last month, Putin and Xi also vowed to further develop military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and conduct more joint sea and air patrols. However, there was no mention of any prospective Chinese weapons supplies to Russia that the U.S. and other Western allies feared, and the Chinese foreign minister reaffirmed Friday that Beijing wouldnt sell weapons to either side in the conflict in Ukraine. VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, MOSCOW, MDT/AP
Syed Mohammad Munir Abidi says India is a changed country, one he doesnt recognize anymore.

Its a country, the 68-year-old says, where Muslims are ignored, where rising attacks against them are encouraged, and where an emboldened Hindu majoritarian government is seizing its chance to put the minority community in its place.

Swami Ram Das thinks otherwise, echoing a belief system central to Hindu nationalism.

The 48-year-old Hindu priest says India is on a quest to redeem its religious past and that the country is fundamentally a Hindu nation where minorities, especially Muslims, must subscribe to Hindu primacy.

Abidi and Das are two ordinary citizens living in one city in a country of more than 1.4 billion people that is on the cusp of becoming the worlds most populated nation. Together they embody the opposing sides of a deeply entrenched religious divide that presents India with one of its biggest challenges: to safeguard freedoms for its Muslim minority at a time when a rising tide of Hindu nationalism is eroding the countrys secular underpinnings.

India will have an estimated 1.4286 billion people against Chinas 1.4257 billion by mid-2023, according to United Nations projections. It is home to some 200 million Muslims who make up the predominantly Hindu countrys largest minority group. They are scattered across almost every part of India, where a systemic anti-Muslim fury has descended since Prime Minister Narendra Modi first assumed power in 2014.

Though Indias communal fractures date back to its bloody partition in 1947, most Indians trace the roots of the latest religious fault lines to a small temple city in northern India, where the Hindu nationalist movement was galvanized in 1992 after Hindu mobs demolished a historic mosque to make way for a temple.

Since then, the city of Ayodhya has, in many ways, become a religious microcosm of India, where a diverse, multicultural past has gradually been overrun by ruptured relationships between Hindus and Muslims.

Its also a city Abidi and Das call home.

They have meandered through its narrow, winding streets overrun by temple monkeys and Hindu monks who ask passersby for alms in exchange for blessings. They have walked past its brimming bazaars where miniature idols of Ram are sold to pilgrims visiting from Indias vast hinterlands. They have begun their mornings with calls for prayers spilling out of mosque loudspeakers and Vedic hymns chant in the temples.

Beyond these shared experiences lie stark differences.

For Das, a broad-shouldered man with a stout frame, Ayodhya is the birthplace of Ram, Hinduisms most revered deity. The city also hosts one of Hinduisms most sacred sites  Rams grand temple  which will open to pilgrims next year. It is imperative that the city clings to its Hindu character, Das says.

Our forefathers have fought for this temple and sacrificed lives for it. Today their dream is getting fulfilled, he says, circled by a group of devotees.

The temple is being constructed where the 16th-century Babri mosque was demolished by Hindu hardliners who claim Muslim rulers built it at the exact spot where Ram was born. When it was razed on Dec. 6, 1992, Das was there, watching a frenzied Hindu mob climb its rounded domes and tear it down with pickaxes and crowbars.

There was so much excitement to destroy that disgraced structure that no one cared about the falling debris, he recounts, prompting his disciples to chant Jai Sri Ram, or Hail Lord Ram, a slogan that has become a battle cry for Hindu nationalists.

The 30-year campaign to build the temple saw subsequent religious violence and a bitter legal battle over the site that Hindus won in 2019. Muslims were given alternate land on the city outskirts to build a new mosque. A year later, Modi attended the temples groundbreaking ceremony.

For Abidi, a tall man in clothes that hang off his frame, it marked a sad chapter for Indias Muslims.

The hearts of Muslims are broken. No Muslim opposes the construction of Ram temple, but such unilateral changes are impacting Indias culture, he says, arguing the former mosque was essential to the citys Muslim identity.

As for his city, it has already gone through major changes.

For decades Ayodhya city was part of Uttar Pradesh states Faizabad district. But in 2018, authorities changed the entire districts name from Faizabad to Ayodhya, a move that reflected the Modi governments pattern of replacing prominent Muslim geographic names with Hindu ones.

For Abidi it indicates a worrying trend: To erase everything that remotely reflects Muslim culture.

Today, Ayodhya is taken over by frenetic construction of hotels, bringing in tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims. Construction workers are busy making way for wider highways. All that is expected to boost the citys economy. But at what cost, Abidi reckons.

The relationship Hindus and Muslims used to share is barely visible anymore, he says.

Indias religious fault lines have become pronounced under Modi. Scores of Muslims have been lynched by Hindu mobs over allegations of eating beef or smuggling cow, an animal considered holy to Hindus. Muslim businesses have been boycotted, their localities have been bulldozed and places of worship set on fire. Sometimes open calls have been made for their genocide.

Critics say Modis conspicuous silence over such attacks has emboldened some of his most extreme supporters and enabled more hate speech against Muslims.

Muslims have been falsely accused of manipulating Hindu women into marriages and producing more children to establish domination. The government data shows otherwise: Indias religious composition has been largely stable since 1947 and the fertility rate of Muslims has declined from 4.4 in 1992 to 2.3 in 2020.

It is never going to be possible if you look at the data. We should forget and ignore this rhetoric, says Poonam Muttreja, director at the Population Foundation of India.

Muslims also have the lowest literacy among all major Indian religious communities. They have faced discrimination in employment and housing and hold a little less than 5% of seats in the parliament, their lowest share ever.

For Abidi, all this represents a grim future, one where Indias secular character lives only in peoples memories.

Every Muslim in todays India finds himself unsafe, he says.

Das disagrees, arguing that Muslims are still free to pray and practice their religion. But we will correct the mistakes made by your ancestors.

Das is referring to the Mughals who ruled India before the British made it their colony.

Scorn for Mughal rulers, who are not ancestors of Indian Muslims and only shared a similar faith, is distinctive to Indias Hindu nationalists, who claim Mughals destroyed Hindu culture. It has prompted Hindu nationalists to seek ownership of hundreds of historic mosques they say are built over demolished temples.

In Ayodhya, longtime Muslim locals have made compromises to avoid tension with Hindu neighbors.

Last year when the Muharram procession overlapped with a Hindu festival, Muslim leaders changed the timing of their march to avoid confrontation. This year, Muslims in the city had to forgo selling and consumption of meat during another Hindu festival that coincided with the beginning days of Ramadan.

In such an atmosphere, Abidi says, only religious tolerance can stop Indias communal fractures from worsening.

India will only survive if we mend hearts and not break them, he says. SHEIKH SAALIQ, AYODHYA, MDT/AP
For this 15th edition on April 26 at Grand Lisboa Macau, SJM Resorts will host the first Michelin Guide Ceremony Gala Dinner since the pandemic.

Numerous actors will be present during the event, including many international and local Michelin Starred chefs such as Julien Tongourian and Ken Chan, but also industry experts, media and food enthusiasts from around the region.

An 8-course menu has been specially designed for the Gala Dinner, bringing together the seven chefs who received honors in the Michelin Guide 2022 edition.

Hosting this ceremony, SJM affirms its desire to reinforce its leadership role in gastronomy, but also to develop Macaus culinary culture encouraging innovation and co-creation with internationals chefs.

The SJM goal is to remind why UNESCO designed Macau as a Creative City of Gastronomy.
American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the countrys defense minister said yesterday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

Germanys federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers yesterday in Berlin.

Germany has also delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year, Baerbock said.

Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, five months before Russias full-scale invasion and seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible.

Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word, Reznikov wrote.

Experts have cautioned that the systems effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war, even though it will add to Ukraines arsenal against its bigger enemy.

The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, its not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

In other developments yesterday, China denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields. China has insisted that it will not help arm Russia, one of its key allies.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that Beijing maintains strict control over the export of drones in keeping with international standards preventing them from being used for nonpeaceful purposes.

China, which has repeatedly criticized the U.S. and other countries support for Ukraine as adding fuel to the fire of the war, has an objective and fair stance and seeks peace, the statement said. ADAM PEMBLE, KYIV, MDT/AP
Vaquero Mexican Grill is inexpensive, fast and 100 percent delicious.

It takes the Chipotle and Qdoba model and improves on it by offering more options and not skimping on the meat.

Vaquero, which means cowboy in Spanish, is owned by the same family that opened the wonderful Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant on Butler Street, near the state Capitol, in June 2020. The new place is near East Towne in a former Einstein Bros. Bagels shop. Its next to Wendys and across from Aldi.

Everything is customizable, and none of the options like guacamole, sauteed bell peppers or sour cream are extra.

Im partial to the machete ($12.99), which is like a quesadilla, but longer and narrower, and in this case can be stuffed with fillings.

On my first visit, Jovany Francisco, 18, a senior at East High School and the son of owners Felipe Francisco Juan and Patricia Doroteo, took my order and grilled the homemade machete shell with mozzarella cheese inside. I choose pastor, or grilled pork, for the meat, and added rice, corn, jalapenos, onions, guacamole, cilantro and pico de gallo. Pinto and black beans are also options.

No matter how hungry you are, youre unlikely to be able to eat more than half.

On subsequent visits, Ive had Vaqueros torta and its reddish-hued cousin, the pambazo, where the bread is dipped in guajillo pepper sauce and grilled. I ordered it with papas con chorizo, or potatoes with sausage, and the filling didnt stand out or have as much flavor as the torta, which I ordered with carnitas, or braised pork that was soaked in its own juice. I added many of the same ingredients which worked so well in the machete, plus queso and shredded lettuce.

Erik Doroteo, Felipe and Patricias other son, said the excellent bread for the tortas comes from nearby Pan y Pan, next to Pedros on East Washington Avenue, but they hope to one day bake their own.

My daughter enjoyed Vaqueros huge quesadilla ($10.50) with flavorful asada, or steak. I dont know how you can make a better quesadilla than that, she said. It came out of its press golden, but not brown. I added guacamole, which was thin like a sauce.

A birria taco ($3.75), where the meat is cooked for about five hours with guajillo chilis, garlic, onions, tomato and bay leaves, was good, as was a taco with shredded chicken. A bowl ($10.50), as an alternative to anything made with bread or a tortilla, was a great base for adding lots of extra ingredients.

Vaqueros guacamole ($1 as a side) had a substantial kick and both the hot red salsa and the mild green salsa (75 cents each) were fantastic.

Both the tamarindo agua fresca and horchata ($3.99 each for 24 ounces) were refreshing and not overly sweet.

Vaqueros decor includes lots of little potted cacti, an American flag on the wall, and a few TVs. The family and employees wear attractive polo shirts or T-shirts printed with the Vaquero name and its cowboy logo.

The restaurant opened March 8 and is already drawing big crowds. My first visit was at 8 p.m. on a Saturday when the comfortable room was quiet. Booths line the sides and a patterned banquette down the center adds color.

When I showed up at 7:15 the following Tuesday, there were at least six motorcycles parked in front and inside the line stretched across the dining room. Fortunately, it moved quickly.

My most recent visit was at 4:30 to avoid a wait, and I appreciated how, like the two other times, the only music playing was coming from the kitchen so it wasnt too loud.

After my meal I talked with Felipe, and Jovany translated. Felipe spent 13 years in restaurant kitchens including at the nearby Laredos East, where he worked his way from dishwasher to head chef, before opening his first restaurant, Garibaldi, which Erik, 20, runs.

Felipe first came to Madison from Santiago Mexquititlan, a small town in the state of Queretaro in Central Mexico, in 1999 since he had a cousin here. He returned to Mexico three years later because of a family emergency, but came back to Madison in 2008.

He said as the main cook, he works at Vaquero 12 hours a day every day to make sure everything is ready, everything is clean.

Felipe said hes training two cooks and another person to work the line and will eventually take a day or two off regularly. Right now, its a lot of work, he said.

Added Jovany, He wants the best experience for our customers and for people to enjoy.

That hes done.

Diner's scorecard Restaurant: Vaquero Mexican Grill Location: 3904 E. Washington Ave. Phone: 608-286-1021 Website: Coming soon Hours: Daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., except Sunday until 5 p.m. Prices: Nachos $10.99, quesadillas $10.50, bowls $10.50, burritos $10.75, tacos $3.75, machetes $12.99, pambazos $12.99, gorditas $4.99, tortas $12.99, huaraches $10.99, kids menu $2.99 to $7.99, dessert $4.75 to $8.99 Noise level: Low Credit cards: Accepted Accessibility: Yes Outdoor dining: Coming soon Delivery: No Online ordering: No Drinks: Planning to serve beer soon Gluten-free: Many options Vegetarian offerings: Lots of options Kids menu: Yes Reservations: No Parking: Good-size lot Service: Excellent Bottom line: Great option for fast, fresh and reasonably priced Mexican food.
Microsoft has agreed to buy a $50 million parcel of land in southeastern Wisconsin meant for Foxconn after the worlds largest electronics manufacturer failed to fulfill grandiose promises to build a massive facility that would employ thousands of workers.

Microsoft plans to build a $1 billion data center on the 315-acre parcel in Mount Pleasant, a village of about 27,000 people in Racine County, about 30 miles south of Milwaukee. Its unclear how many people the center might employ. Paul Englis, Microsofts director of global community research and engagement, told the Racine County Board of Supervisors on Thursday that such centers typically employ 300 to 400 people.

The village already is home to a Foxconn Technology Group manufacturing facility. The Taiwan-based company is best known for making Apple iPhones. The company announced plans in 2017 to build a $10 billion facility in Mount Pleasant that would employ 13,000 people.

Wisconsins governor at the time, Republican Scott Walker, and then-President Donald Trump praised the decision, with Trump boasting the plant would be the eighth wonder of the world.

The state agreed to provide Foxconn with nearly $3 billion in tax breaks. But the company never delivered on its promises and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers scaled back the tax breaks to $80 million contingent on the number of jobs created and investments. The company qualified for just $8.6 million in tax credits last year after creating 768 eligible jobs and making a $77.4 million capital investment by the end of 2021.

According to a fact sheet describing the Microsoft project compiled by southeastern Wisconsin economic development groups, the parcel of land is part of a tax incremental financing district that includes the Foxconn campus. Property taxes collected in such districts can be used to subsidize development.

Foxconn spent $60 million to help Mount Pleasant officials buy the property to create the district, said Mia Tripi, a spokesperson for the village and Racine County.

The sale will not lessen any obligations Foxconn has to the village of Mount Pleasant, but Foxconn will receive proceeds from the sale as partial reimbursement of what Foxconn spent to acquire land for the district in 2017, according to the fact sheet. Microsoft would be eligible to recoup 42% of property taxes paid on new construction, up to $5 million annually.

Microsoft must begin the first phase of construction by July 2026 and begin the second phase by July 2033.

The tech sector has been contracting after pandemic-era expansions brought on a boom in demand for workplace software. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, hasnt been immune to the trend, announcing in January that it planned to cut 10,000 workers and consolidate leased office locations. Company officials said then that the layoffs amounted to less than 5% of their total employee base.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Like Ralph Yarls parents, Patience Gaye moved to the United States from Liberia to escape violence before starting a family.

That was years ago. But on Sunday, she marched alongside at least 200 people in Kansas Citys Northland at a peaceful protest in support of Ralph, a 16-year-old who was shot and critically wounded Thursday after he went to the wrong house to pick up his younger twin brothers, according to family.

Ralph is a junior at Staley High School. Friends said hes talked of going to Stanford after he graduates.

Gaye, 33, a long-time family friend to Ralphs parents, is pregnant with her first child, and filled with a new fear as she watches Ralphs struggle to recover from his injuries.

How do you protect a Black kid? she asked. ... What are we supposed to do now? We left our countries because we dont want to be killed. Thats why we left. They came to America for a better life. How is this a better life?

Police Chief Stacey Graves said Sunday the police department is working to make sure the investigation moves as quickly as it can so the case can be presented to the Clay County prosecutor.

Police have not identified the person who shot Ralph.

A stellar human-being

Meara Mitchell, a teacher of Ralphs for several years, called his shooting incomprehensible.

She described him Sunday as a stellar human-being with a quiet fortitude.

Of her many students, Ralphs work ethic and love and kindness for others makes him stand out. Hes dutiful to his family, she said, and he impressed her every day in his academics and his interactions with his peers.

He is the utmost example of how you want a young man to carry himself in this world, she added.

Nicole Bryan, 17, one of Ralphs classmates and friends, said she met Ralph in seventh grade. Theyre both in the band where he plays bass clarinet and she plays bassoon.

When they first met, he corrected her on her instrument, and helped her become better. He still pushes her to achieve her best, Nicole said.

She said Ralph has talked about studying chemical engineering in college. Hes a whiz at science and math, but his passion is music, Nicole said. Hes won numerous awards for his academics and his musicianship, she said.

Hes brilliant, she said.

Justice is the key

Paul Yarl, Ralphs father, is quiet like his son. He stood near the back of the long line of people chanting about love and justice as they stood in the street in front of the yard of the man who allegedly shot Ralph.

Im just here to show my gratitude for all the love and support, said Yarl, who traveled to Kansas City from Indianapolis after the shooting.

So many people showed up Sunday because, Yarl said, what happened was obviously wrong.

Ralph was asked by a parent to pick up his brothers from an address on 115th Terrace, according to the family and a statement from the Kansas City Police Department. Instead he went to a residence in the 1100 block of 115th Street.

Family said a man at the house opened the door, saw Ralph and shot him in the head. When Ralph fell to the ground, family said the man shot him again.

Ralph got up and ran from the property, but he had to ask at three different homes before someone helped him, family added. Kansas City police officers said they responded to the area around 10 p.m.

Graves said Sunday that the homeowner who allegedly shot Ralph after the teen arrived at the wrong house was taken into custody Thursday and placed on a 24-hour hold.

In order to arrest someone, Graves said law enforcement needs a formal victim statement, forensic evidence and other information for a case file to be completed. Because of the teens injuries, Graves said police havent been able to get a victim statement yet.

Yarl said he hasnt had the chance to talk to the prosecutors office, but he is hoping for answers soon.

Justice is the key. I guess the same reason why most people are here. Justice. Peace. Im with them. I dont want anything special. I just want justice, Yarl said.

In the meantime, the family remains focused on Ralphs healing.

Ralphs aunt, Faith Spoonmore, started a GoFundMe on Sunday to raise money for Ralphs medical bills and other expenses.

Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally, she wrote on the online fundraiser before joining Sundays protest.

The family will be represented by Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represented families in several high-profile cases including Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, as well as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

They also will be represented by Lee Merritt, a Texas-based civil rights attorney who has previously represented the family of Cameron Lamb, who was fatally shot by KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere in 2019.

Stay off my yard

As protesters chanted and prayed in front of the home where Ralph was shot, some neighbors joined in the demonstration while others watched from their porches or lawn chairs.

Get out of the yard, someone shouted as the crowd swelled on the street in front of the home where the shooting happened. The road is public property; lawns are not.

That over there is a lot of hate, Spoonmore told Sundays crowd in response to the comment, before looking over those encircling her and saying: This is a lot of love.

Ralph was shot in the Northland, a name for the Kansas City neighborhoods north of the Missouri River whose voters tend to be more conservative than in other parts of the city limits.

Police have not identified the shooter or his race. They said they are still investigating whether the shooting was racially motivated.

Councilman Kevin ONeill, District 1 at-large, joined the crowd at the protest Sunday. He was among many Northlanders there.

He said while he doesnt yet know all the facts, the whole situation is still sad and seems like poor judgment.

I hate that the Northland always seems to get labeled and this isnt who the Northland is, and its very disappointing, he said of the shooting.

He said the Northland is often seen as a bastion of white. But he said Sundays turnout, which included people from all ages, races and backgrounds, truly represents the increasing diversity of the Northland.

He said its filled with many cultures and religions.

People look at things and just make their visions what they want to, but thats not what it is. Weve got some great people in the Northland.

He noted that there appear to be cameras on the outside of the property, so hes hoping there will eventually be definitive proof of what happened.

And hopefully that comes back and there is justice for the family, he said.

Robyn Tuwei, who uses the pronouns they/them, has lived just down the block from the shooting for a decade.

Up until recently, they felt it was a very safe neighborhood for their family to call home. But there have been changes. Theyve noticed the sound of more loud gunshots and firecrackers.

Tuweis spouse is Black and their children are mixed race. Recently, theyve had M-80 fireworks thrown at their house, they said. They reported the incidents to police but they still dont know who is throwing them or why.

Lately, its not felt super welcoming, so I cant say that I was surprised, but it is disheartening, said Tuwei, who is a teacher in the local school district, as well as an equity advocate.

Since the unfathomable shooting, Tuwei and their spouse have already talked of changing the ways their children spend time outdoors. They often take walks as a family, but they will no longer be walking past the home where Ralph was shot. When their 13-year-old son wants to visit a friend on that street, they will be driving him, even though its only a brief walk.

Its not considered safe anymore for us, Tuwei said. Not until (the shooter is) in jail, behind bars.

___

Interactive: Find out more about mass killings in the U.S. Interactive: Number of mass killings by year Interactive: Mass killings by location scaled by number of victims Interactive: Search mass killing incidents Interactive: Timeline of mass killings scaled by number of victims killed Interactive: Number of mass killings and victims killed this year compared with previous years Interactive map: People killed by shootings, per 100,000 residents
WISCONSIN POLICY FORUM | STATE RANKINGS FOR PUBLIC FUNDING

Public funding for the University of Wisconsin System ranks as one of the lowest in the nation, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

While Wisconsin ranks in the middle of the pack for overall public funding for higher education, much of that is driven by funding for the Wisconsin Technical College System, the report found. The disparity between the two higher education systems is stark  while funding for the technical college system is fifth in the nation, the amount of public dollars flowing to the System ranks 43rd.

The Wisconsin Policy Forum report comes as members of the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee are in the midst of the state budget process, as they again plan to build the 2023-25 biennial budget from base, rather than consider Gov. Tony Evers' proposal that would boost state funding to the System by $305.9 million.

The report also comes days after System President Jay Rothman announced he was asking all of the chancellors with two-year branch campuses to audit operations to regain fiscal viability. While the System will have more money flowing in next year as instate tuition increases for the first time in a decade, those funds will largely go toward increased costs of employee benefits.

"It's disappointing that UW System's four-year universities are near the bottom nationally in public funding," Rothman said in a statement.

"Support for the UW System should not continue to fall further behind nationally if we are to be competitive and thrive economically. Wisconsin's future depends on developing and attracting talent now, and the UW is on the front lines of educating and graduating tens of thousands of students."

Public funding for public higher education in Wisconsin increased by 2% in 2021 over the year prior due in part to strong tax collections and a drop in enrollment that spread the existing dollars across fewer students, the report states. Most System schools saw declining enrollment between 2019and2022,with the exception of UW-Madison and UW-Green Bay,which grew 10.2% and 2.1% respectively.

The System falls below the national four-year university funding level,with$15,079per student in comparison to the U.S. average of $17,733.

State funding for the technical college system sits far above the national average for technical schools and ranks closer to the average of what states allocate for their four-year institutions. In 2021, technical colleges received $17,153 per-student in state, local tax and tuition funding,compared to the national average of $11,714.

Wisconsin Technical College System spokesperson Katy Pettersen cautioned that the report's per-pupil estimate for technical colleges took only full-time enrollment into consideration. Three-quarters of the technical collegesystem's274,000students are enrolled part time, Pettersen said.

"In addition to the quality education gained through small class sizes and hands-on learning, our students all have the same access to mental health services,tutoring, food pantries, career advising and more, regardless of the number of credits they are taking. All of that takes considerable investment to maintain,"she said in a statement.

Neither the System's nor technical college's calculations include COVID-19 pandemic-related aid.

The System's eight-year tuition freeze caused slower financial growth for the System over all compared to the nationwide average, according to the report. Between 2011 and 2021, public and tuition funding for the System grew by 11.9%, nearly half of the average growth of 19.4%.

A 2020 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found System schools were falling behind their peers in other states as enrollment dropped and public funding failed to make up for losses caused by frozen tuition.
Editors note: This feature ran Sept. 19, 2019, in the Times-News and at Magicvalley.com.

Love went awry when two young Tacoma, Washington, neighbors secretly wed in 1933.

Twenty-year-old Mildred Hooks new husband, Douglas Van Vlack, 29, was politely described as a misanthrope and Hook knew her parents would not approve of their union.

Their rocky marriage ended two years later, after many months of Van Vlacks unemployment, heavy drinking and spousal abuse.

Van Vlack stalked his ex-wife for two months and, in November 1935, abducted Hook at gunpoint, forcing her into his slate-gray 1931 Ford Model A coupe with Washington license plates.

Tacoma police sent out an alert across the West.

On Nov. 24, 1935, the two stayed in Boise, then left the next morning for Salt Lake City. That afternoon, state patrolman Fontaine Cooper and Twin Falls Sheriffs Deputy Henry Givens saw Van Vlacks eastbound coupe on U.S. Highway 30, just east of Buhl.

Cooper, 34, of Lava Hot Springs, pulled over the car and the officers approached the driver. When confronted, Van Vlack shot Cooper in the left eye, killing him instantly. Van Vlack then shot Givens, 45, three times.

Eyewitness Cliff Hammond, a Buhl farmer, watched in his rearview mirror while Van Vlack  with his ex-wife in tow  left the scene in his car. Hammond returned in his truck to find one man dead and the other critically wounded.

Hammond took Givens to the Twin Falls County Hospital and telephoned Sheriff Edwin F. Prater.

Prater sent out his posse.

Meanwhile, Van Vlack abandoned his car in a dry irrigation canal on the Salmon Tract near Berger.

On the morning of Nov. 25, the sheriffs posse found Van Vlack, alone, trying to stay warm in a borrow pit on U.S. Highway 93, 2 miles north of Hollister. Carl Groth, an employee of the Idaho Evening Times  a predecessor of the Times-News  disarmed the fugitive and held him at gunpoint until the Prater arrived.

Hooks body was later found stuffed in a culvert, hidden by sagebrush. Givens later died of his wounds. A Twin Falls jury convicted Van Vlack of Hooks murder and sentenced him to die by hanging. Five hours before he was to hang on Dec. 9, 1937, Van Vlack slipped out of his cell and shimmied 32 feet up onto a beam in the Idaho State Penitentiary.

I have a right to choose the way I die, the Boise Capital News quoted Van Vlack as saying before he nosedived into the concrete floor. He didnt die immediately and Warden William H. Gess still contemplated hanging Van Vlack.

Prison physician George H. Wahle, however, pronounced the misanthrope dead from his fall a half-hour after his scheduled execution time.
A Hazelton man threw homemade explosive devices and fired at deputies before being shot and killed near his house in September, according to recently released documents on the shooting.

The man, Arlo Amos Campbell, 34, was also suspected of planning to kill law enforcement officers if they approached him, a report says.

The documents, provided to the Times-News on Monday, give insight into the Sept. 20 death of Campbell and include the details of interviews with law enforcement officers who were at the scene, the timeline of events, evaluation of video evidence, and an autopsy report.

The Twin Falls Sheriffs Office was the lead investigator as part of the Magic Valley Critical Incident Task Force.

Minidoka County Prosecuting Attorney Lance Stevenson reviewed the report and determined that there was no evidence to support criminal charges being filed against officers involved in the incident.

Campbell had arrest warrants for felony drug possession in both Twin Falls and Jerome counties, but what grew to be an extra concern to law officers, the investigation says, was a report issued by the Idaho Criminal Intelligence Center a week before the shooting. It warned officers of reliable threats that Campbell had made plans to kill as many law enforcement officers as he could should they make contact with him.

Use extreme caution as these threats include mentions of both firearms and explosives, said the report, which was not meant for public release at the time.

The report said law enforcement officers had kept watch on the house, and, on the morning of the shooting, a detective watched through a spotting scope from an abandoned house north of the property. If Campbell was seen at the residence, a search warrant would be written and a tactical team would apprehend him.

Instead, a man left the residence that afternoon in a red truck and flatbed trailer hauling two crushed cars. The truck reversed course at Eden and despite officers attempts to make a traffic stop, ended up back at Campbells home.

Campbell got out of the vehicle, fired a flare gun toward deputies and, despite a deputy shouting commands at him to give up, threw an estimated eight explosive devices that appeared to have been gunpowder-filled CO2 canisters from pellet rifles, according to the investigation. Many of them didnt detonate, including a larger canister estimated to be 8 to 10 inches long.

The explosives, sometimes called bombs in the report, didnt injure deputies but caused concern that someone could be injured by explosions or shrapnel.

Another deputy moved to get a better vantage point and heard the crack of a small caliber rifle being fired and saw Campbell in a shooting stance.

Cpl. John Wood told investigators he felt Campbell was attempting to kill him and returned fire, along with three other officers, identified as Detective Austin Rasmussen, Sgt. Matthew West and Cpl. Sam Roach.

The incident  from the time Campbell and law enforcement officers pulled into the property to the time Campbell was shot  lasted about 16 minutes.

Campbell shot five times and none of the bullets struck any officers, the investigation determined.

Officers shot 34 times; 19 of the shots came from Wood.

Campbell was hit by seven shots, including twice in the head.

A Marlin .22 rifle was recovered from under Campbells body, the report said.

In addition to Jerome County deputies, officers from the Idaho State Police and Kimberly Police Department responded. The Twin Falls Police Department bomb squad responded to the area because of the explosive devices.

Campbells body tested positive for methamphetamine, THC and other drugs, according to a toxicology report.

The report said forensic teams examined cellphones around the premises, including a Samsung phone that was seized from Campbells vehicle. While searching through the data, primary investigator Jeremy Compton of the Twin Falls Sheriffs Office said he did not find evidence of any text messages that indicated threats toward the Jerome County Sheriffs Office or other law enforcement officers and did not observe conversation or searches involving the creation of bombs or other explosive devices.

When he searched under the word pig, however, Compton found a July 27 text message that warned Campbell to stay out of Hazelton because police vehicles were in the area, the report said.

In addition, a Sept. 3 text said, Heads up ppl talking saying they pigs are gonna get you this weekend bro.

Campbell responded, Ive heard.
TWIN FALLS  A 52-year-old man faces voyeurism and grand theft by extortion charges after disseminating nude photos of a former girlfriend without her consent and then asking her to pay him to prevent him from doing it again, police say.

Robert Michael Porter, of Clinton, Iowa, was arrested after a woman complained to a Twin Falls Police Department officer in January that after an argument, he had threatened to send the photos of her to his friends.

Porter, upon being interviewed by a police officer, said the woman needed to apologize to him if she wanted to prevent it from happening again, and later said the woman owes him $300 and she needed to pay back the money back to get him to stop.

Police say that Porter admitted sending photos to a few individuals, and told officers he didnt think he committed a crime. One of the people he sent photos to over the internet include the womans son, records say, and he later deleted it. That action prompted another felony charge of destruction of evidence, records say.

Porter is being held on $75,000 bond and has a May 5 preliminary hearing.
City Club of Southern Idaho to address mental health

The City Club of Southern Idaho will host a community forum on mental health initiatives in the Magic Valley on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the College of Southern Idaho.

The free event, which will feature six speakers representing mental health service organizations and providers throughout the eight-county region, will be held inside the Rick Allen Room at the Herrett Center for Arts and Science. A question-and-answer session will follow.

Mental health is an ever-growing challenge in the Magic Valley as well as across the nation, City Club member Carolyn White said in a news release. The City Club of Southern Idaho will address this epidemic in a forum led by mental health providers and first responders. They will share their experiences and perspectives as well as the resources and initiatives available within the community.

The City Club of Southern Idaho is an independent, nonpartisan organization that seeks to bring people together to explore issues of interest or concern through civic discussion. The groups mission: Promoting community through civil dialogue.

Hailey library hosts Earth Day After Dark on Saturday

The Hailey Public Library, in partnership with the Central Idaho Dark Sky Alliance and the Central Idaho Night Sky Seekers, is hosting Boise State Universitys AstroTAC Team on Saturday for Earth Day After Dark, a free night of observation from 8:30 to 11:30.

A portable planetarium will be at Town Center West in Hailey from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The nighttime session will feature the Lyrid Meteor Shower, deep sky objects, bright planets and the last glimpse of winter constellations, according to a news release. The session will begin at the Croy Canyon Motorized Trailhead, 3.1 miles west of Hailey.

For more information, call the library at 208-788-2036 or go online to www.haileypubliclibrary.org.

Also:

Lyndsay Stowe has been hired as local coordinator in Twin Falls for the International Cultural Exchange Services

, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a peaceful world by increasing international awareness and understanding through cultural sharing experiences. For more information about hosting or working with ICES, email Stowe at lstowe@icesusa.org.

D.L. Evans Bank has donated $1,000 to the Idaho Childrens Trust Fund

, a statewide organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. For more information or to help, go online to www.idahochildrenstrustfund.org.

 Times-News
You snooze, you lose. What didnt happen in the final minutes of the 2023 Idaho Legislature may mean hundreds of thousands of Idahoans cant vote to pick their partys nominee for president in 2024.

The Legislature did pass a bill (House Bill 138) whose statement of purpose says it consolidates the March presidential primary election with the May primary election date. When that bill hit the Senate, Ada County Commissioner Rod Beck correctly spotted a drafting flaw. The bill deleted the primary in March but failed to put it back in May.

Technical drafting errors can be corrected with a non-controversial trailer bill fixing inadvertent mistakes to achieve original intent. Still, one must watch trailer bills carefully. But this error was in good faith, and an honest technical correction sailed through the Senate, straightforwardly putting a presidential primary back in May  exactly what senators and House members intended when overwhelmingly passing HB138.

Not factored in was an Idaho Republican Party co-opted by power brokers who despise you. They think youre stupid and cant be trusted with important decisions like who can run as a Republican. They openly ask most Idahoans to butt out of what they consider their party.

So, they killed the technical correction in the House State Affairs committee. Chairman Brent Crane was ready to pass it on the last day of the session but told Senate leaders he couldnt buck the party. House Speaker Mike Moyle had assured me that, once out of committee, the correction would pass and be off to the governor for signature.

Now, as Secretary of State Phil McGrane told Idaho Reports, by killing the technical correction there will be no legal mechanism for political parties to request a presidential primary or for candidates to file for president in Idaho.

So why would the party destroy its only option for a state-run presidential primary? The answer: Power and control.

Idaho GOP leaders now have until Oct. 1 to advise the Republican National Committee how delegates to the national convention will be allocated. And that how cannot rely on county clerks administering a secure statewide primary as was done in 2016 and 2020 when Donald Trump won the nomination.

Which partially explains why the cabal hates popular primaries. Many were not Trump supporters at first. They favored Ted Cruz in 2016, and even tried to give Idahos delegates to Cruz after Trump won the national delegate count. Trump remembered this when endorsing Mike Simpson over cabal member Bryan Smith.

The bias against popular presidential primaries reveals some election integrity rants as hypocritical. A secure state-run primary costing about $2.7 million will not now happen. Instead, the Partys choices at this point include (a) an on-the-cheap privately-run primary, (b) a caucus or (c) a nominating convention  all options more open to corruption.

The damage to Idaho is serious. Candidates will soon budget whether to buy Boise, Spokane or Salt Lake City media, and prudence puts Idaho in the likely not column. Why spend campaign cash influencing public opinion when rank-and-file Republican opinions may not matter?

But the news gets worse. Cabal leaders see an opening. Failure to pass the technical correction may result in a small Polit bureau picking presidential nominators. Couldnt a similar group nominate governor, state senator, county commissioner, or sheriff? Proposals ending all nomination by partywide primary are already circulating.

And consider this: Your vote for presidential nominee disappeared without a single state legislator who will attest Yes, I voted to take nominating power away from voters.

Benjamin Franklin believed the America whose birth he witnessed was a Republic, meaning of the People. But he added, If you can keep it.

When we tolerate stealing the peoples power by hook or crook, we should keep Franklins warning in mind.
A flash in the sky over the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday prompted confusion and alarm as city authorities said it was caused by a NASA satellite reentering the atmosphere, but the US space agency denied involvement.

A bright glow was observed over Kyiv around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT), the head of Kyivs military administration Sergiy Popko wrote on Telegram.

An air raid alert was activated, Popko said, but air defence was not in operation in the besieged country fighting a Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, South Koreas decision on whether to send military aid to Kyiv depends on Russias actions, Seouls presidential office said Thursday, adding that a possible large-scale civilian attack could tip the balance.

Seoul has a long-standing policy against providing weapons to countries in active conflict, which it has repeatedly said makes it difficult to supply arms directly to Ukraine.

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South Korea has supported the US-led sanctions on Moscow and has sent humanitarian aid to Kyiv, while signing major arms dealsincluding for tanks and howitzerswith Poland.

According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a NASA space satellite falling to Earth, Popko said. AFP

But a NASA spokesman denied this assessment, telling AFP that the satellite in question was still in orbit.

The US space agency had announced this week that the retired 660-pound (300-kilogram) Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft (RHESSI) would reenter the atmosphere on Wednesday.

However, that reentry has not yet occurred - RHESSI is still in orbit. NASA and the Department of Defense continue to track RHESSI. No other NASA satellite reentered the atmosphere earlier today, a NASA spokesman told AFP.

The RHESSI spacecraft, used to observe solar flares, was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018, NASA said.

The Ukrainian Air Force also said the flash was related to the fall of a satellite/meteorite.

Speculation and memes abounded on Ukrainian social media after videos posted to several channels showed a powerful flash lighting up the sky over Kyiv.

While social media is amused by flying saucer memes please do not use the official symbol of the Air Force to create memes! the Ukrainian Air Force said.

In a statement on Monday, NASA said it expected most of the RHESSI spacecraft to burn up as it enters the atmosphere.

But some components are expected to survive reentry, NASA said, adding that the risk of harm to anyone on Earth was low  approximately one in 2,467.

On Thursday, President Yoon Suk Yeols office said South Korea could not just idly stand by and watch should there be killings that the international community takes seriously.

What happens next depends on Russia, a presidential official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

The official said that South Koreas policy of not providing weapons to countries at war was not technically a law but a voluntary undertaking.

Unless civilian deaths on a massive scale occur, our current position stands, the official added.

Yoon told media this week that if there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support.

This prompted Moscow to warn Seoul Wednesday over its unfriendly stance, saying the start of arms supplies would mean a certain stage of involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

South Korea is a key US ally and a major manufacturer of artillery ammunition.

One of the recently leaked US intelligence documents portray Seouls security officials as being torn between its existing policies on lethal aid to conflict zones, and increasing demands from the West to secure arms for Ukraine.

One South Korean official suggested exporting ammunition to Poland to get around the policy, the document showed.

Yoon is scheduled to travel to the United States next week on a state visit.

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WashingtonThe United States seeks a constructive and fair economic relationship with China, even as Washington holds firm in defending the countrys national security, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in prepared remarks Thursday.

Her speech, to be delivered at a school of Johns Hopkins University in Washington, comes as tensions remain elevated between the worlds two biggest economies.

In Manila, Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday said it was much better for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to summon and talk to the Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian about his apparent threats to the safety of 200,000 overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan.

But at this time, I can see that there is no lost in translation because the Chinese ambassador did not speak in Chinese or Mandarin languages. He spoke in English and the threat to us was clear, said the opposition senator.

We were all a little surprised, but I just put it down to the difference in language, the President said about the recent statement by the Chinese envoy, who has been summoned to the Palace to explain himself.

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Hontiveros noted that it would appear Huang dictated on what will be our position and what we should do.

This would also seem that they (China) were interfering even in the self determination of Taiwan that even we Filipinos do not meddle, she added.

Chinas new Foreign Minister Qin Gang last month accused Washington of stoking tensions between both powers, warning of conflict and confrontation.

But Yellen said the United States remains firm in its conviction to defend its values and national security.

Within that context, we seek a constructive and fair economic relationship with China, she added in her remarks.

She also noted the need for both countries to be able to frankly discuss difficult issues and work together when possible.

Stressing that healthy economic competition is only sustainable with fairness, she said: We will continue to partner with our allies to respond to Chinas unfair economic practices.

Yellen noted that China has expanded support for its state-owned enterprises and domestic private firms, to dominate foreign competitors.

Driven by security, values

Meanwhile, even as some of Americas national security actions may have economic impacts, Yellen maintained that the moves are motivated solely by our concerns about our security and values.

Our goal is not to use these tools to gain competitive economic advantage, she added.

Yellen also pushed back on the notion that US national security actions are aimed at stifling Chinas economic and technological modernization.

Chinese President Xi Jinping previously slammed the United States for leading an effort to contain and suppress China.

Beijings technology ambitions have been hit with restrictions by the United States and its allies, and Chinese authorities have doubled down on the need to move away from imports for sectors seen as key to national security, such as semiconductors.

Despite both parties disagreements, Yellen stressed Wednesday the need to cooperate on urgent global challenges as well.

Washington and Beijing have clashed in recent years over trade, human rights and other issues, and relations soured even more this year when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon it said was used for surveillance - a claim China strongly denied.

While both countries have agreed to boost communication on macroeconomic issues, along with cooperation on climate and debt distress, Yellen said more needs to be done.

We call on China to follow through on its promise to work with us on these issues -not as a favor to us, but out of our joint duty and obligation to the world, she added. AFP with Macon Ramos-Araneta

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Former Outcome co-founder and CEO Rishi Shah arrives for the verdict in the criminal fraud trial at the U.S. Dirksen Courthouse, April 11, 2023. He was found guilty on 19 counts. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Three former Outcome Health executives who were convicted of fraud will likely be sentenced in the fall  with each facing possible decades of prison time.

Earlier this month, a jury found former Outcome co-founder and CEO Rishi Shah guilty on 19 counts, including fraud and money laundering. The jury found former co-founder and President Shradha Agarwal guilty on 15 counts, and it found Brad Purdy, the companys former chief operating officer and chief financial officer, guilty on 13 counts, including fraud and lying to a financial institution.

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Some of the counts carry up to 30 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin said, during a hearing Thursday, hed like to see the sentencing hearings take place in October, and will work with lawyers to set specific dates in coming weeks. The three will be sentenced on different days, Durkin said. The sentencing will follow post-trial motions.

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The verdict in the Outcome case came after a 10-week trial, in which government prosecutors accused Shah, Agarwal and Purdy of participating in a $1 billion fraud scheme.

Outcome Health placed TV screens and tablets in doctors waiting rooms and offices that played educational content and pharmaceutical ads, with drugmakers paying Outcome for running the ads. Prosecutors, however, alleged that the trio lied about how many doctors offices had screens and tablets running ads. Prosecutors said they then used those false numbers to overcharge drug companies for advertising, and inflate revenue figures used to get loans and raise money from investors.

During the trial, defense attorneys argued that a fourth former Outcome employee, Ashik Desai, was to blame for any fraud. They alleged that Desai fudged numbers and lied to his bosses about it.

Desai pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before the trial, and as part of an agreement with the government, Desai could get a reduced prison sentence for testimony he gave during the trial.

Ultimately, jurors sided with prosecutors who argued that Shah, Agarwal and Purdy knew Outcome was overcharging drug companies for ads, and wanted to ignore or fire employees who raised concerns.

Former co-founder and President Shradha Agarwal arrives at the U.S. Dirksen Courthouse for jury selection in the criminal fraud trial, Jan. 24, 2023. She was found guilty on 15 counts. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Before the fraud allegations, Outcome was one of the most successful tech startups in Chicago. At one point, it had a reported valuation of more than $5 billion. Shah owned 80% of Outcome and was named to the Forbes 400 ranking of richest Americans in 2017, with a net worth of $3.6 billion at the age of 31. Agarwal owned 20% of the company.

A former Outcome analyst contacted the Wall Street Journal in 2017 with details of the alleged fraud, and the newspaper then published an article revealing the alleged problems at Outcome. Following that article, Outcome lost business, investors sued and Shah and Agarwal stepped down.

In 2019, Outcome, as a company, agreed to pay $70 million to pharmaceutical companies to resolve a federal fraud investigation. In March 2021, Outcome combined with company PatientPoint to create a new firm called PatientPoint Health Technologies.

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Two other former Outcome employees, Kathryn Choi, a former senior analyst, and Oliver Han, a former analyst, also previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Desai, Choi and Han will be sentenced after Shah, Agarwal and Purdy are sentenced, Durkin said Thursday.

In addition to the criminal conviction, Shah, Agarwal and Purdy still face a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the fraud allegations.
Benito Tiamzon

The Communist Party of the Philippines confirmed Thursday the deaths of its high-ranking officials Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, and eight othersa group the party called the Catbalogan 10during a firefight in Samar last year.

The Tiamzon couple were convicted in 2020 for kidnapping and serious illegal detention of military officers in 1988. A manhunt was later ordered for their capture.

In a press statement, CPP said Benito and Wilma were killed alongside eight others on August 21, 2022, in Samar.

Later on Twitter, CPP spokesman Marco Valbuena said: Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria, key leaders of the CPP Central Committee, with eight others were severely tortured and subsequently murdered by their military captors, on August 21, 2022.

Retired Major General Eduardo de Leon, who commanded the 8th Infantry Division in its operation involving unnamed high-ranking rebels in Samar that time, maintained it was not clear if the Tiamzons were among the casualties.

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How can they say the Tiamzon couple died in that operation? I do not know if they were included in that operation because I myself, as the commander at that time, could not confirm if the Tiamzons were there in the encounter with troops in the waters of Samar , De Leon told CNN Philippines News Night.

The National Security Council welcomed the confirmation of the Tiamzon couples deaths but maintained that it stands by the official reports of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

As is their practice, the terrorists propaganda machinery has concocted and fabricated an elaborate story which even implicates the United States in their deaths in order to squeeze whatever propaganda value they can muster from their deaths, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said.

At the time, Benito, 71, served as the groups executive committee chairperson, while his wife, Wilma, 70, was the CPPs secretary general.

They were travelling with Ka Divino (Joel Arceo), a subregional secretary in Eastern Visayas, along with Ka Yen, Ka Jaja, Ka Matt, Ka Ash, Ka Delfin, Ka Lupe, Ka Butig (Catbalogan 10), who all belonged to the guerrilla force of the central headquarters, the statement read.

In line with this, the CPP Central Committee has ordered its armed wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA), to stand in formation and silently perform a 21-gun salute in honor of the Tiamzons on Monday, April 24.

The date coincides with the 50th anniversary of National Democratic Front of the Philippines, of which the Tiamzons were consultants.

Initial reports from security authorities last August said suspected insurgents that reportedly included VIPs were engaged in a firefight at sea with government forces off the coast of Catbalogan when their boat exploded.

CPP said the Tiamzon group was traveling in two vehicles along the national highway in Catbalogan, Samar when they were flagged down around 12 to 1 p.m, After that the CPP lost any form of communication with the group.

CPP said based on the information they gathered from sources they did not identify, the Tiamzon couple and their party were allegedly tortured with their faces and bodies badly beaten by hard objects.

CPP disputed the claim of the Armed Forces of the Philippines the group died in a boat explosion while in an encounter against military forces and called the incident a mere drama created by the AFP.

The CPP statement said: The claimed mid-sea firefight and explosion were all a drama hatched by the AFP and its US military advisers, to hide all evidence of the ignominy of their fascist crime.

In truth, the already lifeless bodies of the Tiamzons and their group were dumped on a motorboat filled with explosives, and tugged from Catbalogan midway towards Taranganan island before it was detonated.

Only eight bodies were subsequently retrieved by the military.

In September last year, then AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro said the services services of the police crime scene investigators were tapped to gather DNA samples and come up with a comparison.

We are still waiting for the result of the DNA test conducted by the PNP, Bacarro said at that time.

Jose Maria Joma Sison, who founded the CPP in 1968, also died in The Netherlands last December.

The Communist Party of the Philippines has lost its relevance, AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said in a statement in December when the CPP marked its 54th anniversary.

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Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the DTI is supporting calls to extend SIM registration, noting its importance in digital transactions.

Pascual, quoted by ABS-CBNS News, said SIM registration will help in the countrys shift to digital payments.

SIM registration will only run until April 26, although calls have been made to extend the deadline.

Digital payments are what we need to happen to further promote and develop our MSMEs because thats how they can facilitate accessing the market and being able to sell online, Pascual, quoted by ABS-CBN News, said.

The official said it is a major concern if the deadline is imposed and not all SIMs have registered.

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If we really need registration, we need to be able to accommodate such a deadline. Personally, I will go for it, but I do not know the official position of the concerned department, said Pascual when asked if he was amenable to suggestions the registration must be extended. The campaign has to be done and make sure that registration happens. Its like voters registration, Pascual said.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) earlier said they have the prerogative to extend the extension for another 120 days, based on the laws implementing rules and regulations.

National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan meanwhile said SIM registration will fast-track the countrys digital economy.

This includes the governments public sector engagement, Balisacan said.

Telecom companies Globe Telecom and Smart Communications earlier reiterated their call to extend the April 26 SIM registration deadline to give subscribers ample time.

The public can register their SIMs here:

SMART  smart.com.ph/simreg or simreg.smart.com.ph

GLOBE  new.globe.com.ph/simreg

DITO  https://digital.dito.ph/pto/download/app

People who have complaints and concerns related to SIM Registration may call the DICT hotline 1326.

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Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Thursday said the introduction of a Tagalog course in Harvard Universitys academic offerings is a source of great national pride.

Romualdez expressed his support to the premier universitys Filipino language program.

Our language is our pride! And learning about Harvards new Tagalog language course, I am expressing my full support for the program. I hope and pray that the Harvard Tagalog course will flourish and grow in the future to include many aspects of Filipino culture! Romualdez told Harvard Universitys students during a gathering of Filipino community in Massachusetts.

TAGALOG IN HARVARD. Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez says the introduction of a Tagalog course in Harvard Universitys academic offerings is a source of national pride. Romualdez made the statement before a gathering of Filipino students at Harvard University in Massachusetts. Members of the Filipino community also performed the tinikling (inset photo). The House Speaker delivered a policy speech at the schools John F. Kennedy School of Government Thursday morning. Ryan Ponce Pacpaco

The Speaker delivered a policy speech at the Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government Thursday morning before university officials, faculty members and students in Boston, Massachusetts about the future of the Philippines and United States alliance. This was moderated by Mr. Eric Rosenbach, Co-Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

The university is one of the top academic institutions in the world, if not the best. Its programs are emulated or duplicated in other institutions of higher learning. Thats why we are truly proud with this development, Romualdez declared.

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Harvard University, an illustrious academic institution that has produced eight US presidents and countless great leaders, has recently decided to include Tagalog in its course offerings, along with Bahasa Indonesia and Thai, according to the student paper Harvard Crimson.

Tagalog is the dialect on which the Filipino language is mostly based. It is reportedly the fourth most spoken language in the US, which is home to some 4.2 million Filipino Americans.

We express our gratitude to Harvard University for recognizing the need to teach the Filipino language to those interested to learn about our rich and diverse culture. Once again, our country is in the spotlight of the world stage, and I have never been so proud to be a Filipino, Romualdez said.

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South Koreas decision on whether to send military aid to Kyiv depends on Russias actions, Seouls presidential office said Thursday, adding that a possible large-scale civilian attack could tip the balance.

Seoul has a long-standing policy against providing weapons to countries in active conflict, which it has repeatedly said makes it difficult to supply arms directly to Ukraine.

South Korea has supported the US-led sanctions on Moscow and has sent humanitarian aid to Kyiv, while signing major arms deals  including for tanks and howitzers  with Poland.

On Thursday, President Yoon Suk Yeols office said South Korea could not just idly stand by and watch should there be killings that the international community takes seriously.

What happens next depends on Russia, a presidential official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

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The official said that South Koreas policy of not providing weapons to countries at war was not technically a law but a voluntary undertaking.

Unless civilian deaths on a massive scale occur, our current position stands, the official added.

Yoon told media this week that if there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support.

This prompted Moscow to warn Seoul Wednesday over its unfriendly stance, saying the start of arms supplies would mean a certain stage of involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

South Korea is a key US ally and a major manufacturer of artillery ammunition.

One of the recently leaked US intelligence documents portray Seouls security officials as being torn between its existing policies on lethal aid to conflict zones, and increasing demands from the West to secure arms for Ukraine.

One South Korean official suggested exporting ammunition to Poland to get around the policy, the document showed.

Yoon is scheduled to travel to the United States next week on a state visit.

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After five years since his last concert for the 24K Magic World Tour, Filipino-American multiple-Grammy winner Bruno Mars returns to the Philippines to stage another solo performance on June 24 at the Philippine Arena.

Ticket preselling will be on April 27, while the general sale is on the following day at noon.

Promoter Live Nation Philippines (LNPH) shared that ticket prices begin at P2,750 for Upper Box C, in the arenas farthest seats, up to P18,750 for a spot right in front of the stage area. A VIP upgrade is also available for P5,800, which provides early entrance to the venue, an exclusive tour laminated with a lanyard, and a dedicated lane at the merch counter.

Itll be the fourth time Bruno Mars will perform in the Philipines. Some of his hit songs include Just The Way You Are, When I Was Your Man, and Thats What I Like.

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Cebuana Lhuillier has always endeavored to fulfill its vision of empowering Filipinos through financial services anytime, anywhere. From being the countrys most trusted pawnshop to becoming one of the most innovative and largest micro-financial service providers in the Philippines, Cebuana Lhuillier continues to seek financial inclusion and financial mobility for Filipinos as the company launches its latest service, in partnership with Advance  Cebuana Lhuillier Advance.

Cebuana Lhuillier Advance empowers employers to provide on-demand financial assistance to their employees. Companies that enroll in Cebuana Lhuillier Advance, will discover how convenient the program is, as it allows them to provide salary loans to employees without disrupting their firms cash flow. It also comes without any cost or liability on their part.

Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier expressed excitement over Cebuana Lhuillier Advance saying it as a great way to assist both employers and employees. With the program, we hope to help more Filipinos navigate their way through financial challenges and onto the road to financial wellness, says Lhuillier.

Jaime de los Angeles, Advance CEO and co-founder, shares the same excitement. We are elated to be now part of Cebuana Lhuilliers ecosystem promoting financial inclusion and mobility. Now, even more companies and employees will benefit from Cebuana Lhuillier Advance. We look forward to the positive impact this product will make towards narrowing the national credit gap.

Advance is a Philippine-based fintech company that provides on-demand access to credit and other financial solutions to employees and businesses. Aligned with its mission to serve the unbanked and underserved segments of society, Advance recently announced its expansion into Vietnam by acquiring BravoHR, a platform that provides digital solutions for employee engagement, benefits, and rewards. Advance plans to introduce more innovative financial products and offer its services to more businesses in the Philippines and Vietnam.

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Cebuana Lhuillier Advance is the companys first addition this year to their microloans product portfolio and serves as a springboard for other innovative products that will soon be launched this year. And with the way things are moving forward with Advance, Cebuana Lhuillier is most certainly well on its way to cementing its leadership in the Philippines microfinance industry.

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TODAYS WORD is paladin. Example: The politician portrayed himself as a paladin of social justice, but the citizens had started just seeing him as a self-aggrandizing charlatan who liked to brag.

WEDNESDAYS WORD was conundrum. It means a confusing and difficult problem or question. Example: As the PR director of the company, Stacey felt like she was in a conundrum, always having to make the company look good publicly though she was terribly upset with its human rights violations and destruction of the local environment.

Line dancing

Fun, fun, fun! The Foothills of Virginia Beginning Line Dance Workshop will be held right here, at the Henry County Parks Recreation Center at 395 John Redd Blvd., Collinsville, on Saturday, June 17.

The directors and instructors will be Sue Ann Ehmann and Marianna Timmons, assisted by guest instructors Jackie Wheeler and Rachel Young. Mary Kaye Johnson will be the DJ.

The cost is $30 per person, and if you register early, you get a step book, to help you remember and repeat the dances later, too.

It starts with registration at 9 a.m., then has a workshop from 10 a.m. to noon. A lunch period and open dancing will be from noon to 1:30 p.m., and then another workshop will go from 1:30-5 p.m.

If youre shy  no worries! The absolute beginners will have their very own room to do their first attempts in private.

To register, make checks payable to Sue Ann Ehmann and mail to 1720 Stella Road, Patrick Springs, Va., 24133.

Todays Chuckle

Velma was having problems with her neighbors chickens. They kept getting in her mulch and scattering it all over the place. She asked Jimmy to please keep those chickens out of her yard, and Jimmy said he would, but his efforts would only last a couple of days, and back theyd come.

However, after a few weeks, I noticed that Velmas flower beds were looking real good again, and the mulch was tidy. I asked her how she managed to solve the chicken problem.

Simple, she said. One night I hid about a dozen eggs under one of the bushes in the flower bed. I waited until Jimmy was looking out his kitchen window, and I went outside and collected those eggs, where he could see me. I wasnt bothered after that.

WEDNESDAYS TRIVIA ANSWER: Arnold Lobel was the writer and illustrator of the Frog and Toad books of the 1970s. The childrens books are about the two amphibian friends who live alone each in his own house but enjoy visiting each other and doing things for each other. Sometimes they have misunderstandings and hurt feelings, and those matters are not always resolved, yet the pair continue being friends. It may be for that acknowledgement of the confusions that occur with friendships that make the books so consistently popular with children.

TODAYS TRIVIA QUESTION: When were Little Golden Books introduced?
Angie McKissick and Brooke Cundiff know how important it is to have support systems and resources when raising children with disabilities  and now they want to share that with the public.

Through Piedmont Autism Action Group (PAAG), the pair will host a workshop Saturday in Collinsville.

McKissicks son, the late John William McKissick, was diagnosed with autism in 2004, when he was just a toddler. She joined the PAAG to better understand what autism even was and found a place where parents helped each other find resources and provided a support system.

PAAG was created by Piedmont Community Services in 2009.

When the original leader of the group had to leave unexpectedly in 2013 and the group was unsure if it would be able to continue meeting, McKissick stepped up to lead it the same year.

When her son died in 2016, at the age of 14, after having a seizure in his sleep, she wasnt sure if she could keep leading the group, she said.

But, realizing the importance of what the group provides for the community, she came back after a short sabbatical.

They [PCS] were seeing the need and the growth of autism in our community and seeing the need for resources and finding the resources, McKissick said. The group originally met at the Dutch Inn and connected parents both to each other and community resources, she said.

It was really neat to find out Hey, were not alone out here, McKissick added.

Though autism is in the name of the group, parents or guardians do not need to specifically have an autistic child to participate. The group supports parents and guardians of children with any kind of disability.

The group meets monthly at The Community Fellowship. The meetings sometimes have speakers and other times just conversation among the members to help each other out and support each other, McKissick said.

Attending the meetings, McKissick met Cundiff, whose son Hayden Cundiff is on the autistic spectrum. Joining PAAG in 2011 taught Cundiff that her son would be able to graduate high school and drive a car, and that he would benefit from having a care aide.

I got all these supports, Cundiff said. They were able to guide me  for the last 13 or so years.

Now, she said, one of her goals it to make sure that parents in a similar situation know as soon as possible what is available to them so they struggle as little as possible.

To that end, the two planned the Transitions: Navigating the Next Step in the Journey conference.

The event aims to help connect parents to resources for their children in general, but specifically to help them get information on transitional moments in their lives such as what the next steps are when their child graduates high school.

The conference will have three breakout sessions for three main life transitions: One for early life, about therapies and area resources, the next about job readiness programs by Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS), and the third about understanding Virginia Medicaid waivers led by PCS.

The keynote speaker will be Kendra Wormley of Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC). Other speakers will include representatives from local therapy centers such as Center for Pediatric Therapies, BPT Kidz, PHS Autism Center and ACME Therapies.

The event will be at 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at Stone Memorial Church, 3030 Virginia Ave. in Collinsville. Lunch and refreshments will be provided and attendance is free, but registration is required.

To register call 276-632-2108 ext. 1237 or fill out a registration form and mail to PAAG 24 Clay St. Martinsville, VA 24112. Registration forms are available on the PAAG Facebook page or by calling the number listed above.
The following cases were heard on Monday, March 24; Monday, March 27; Friday, March 31; Monday, April 3; Wednesday, April 5; Monday, April 10; Wednesday, April 12; and Friday, April 14:

Monday, March 24

Judge: Corey Mackinnon

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Travis Zoker Awode, 53, of Candler, was found guilty of reckless driving. Received a prayer for judgment. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Thomas Joel Miller, 26, of Pinnacle Street, Marion, was found guilty of possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor larceny. Must serve 24 months supervised probation. Must pay a court-appointed attorney $130. Must pay $1,264.63 in restitution to the victim. Must pay court costs. Given credit for 22 days time served.

Lisa Starnes Morgan, 45, of Grove Street, Marion, was found guilty of attempted possession of a firearm by a felon. Must serve 24 months supervised probation. Must pay $455 for a court-appointed attorney. Given credit for 10 days time served. Must pay court costs.

Monday, March 27

Judge: Corey Mackinnon

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Megan Marie Gilliland, 33, of Diamond Cove Drive, Marion, was found guilty of possession of marijuana. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs. Must serve six months unsupervised probation.

Tonia Mae Hughes, 54, of Peachtree Street, Marion, was found guilty of cyberstalking. Must serve 12 months supervised probation. Sentenced to seven days in jail. Must pay court costs.

Joseph Charles Young, 57, of Goldenrod Drive, Marion, was found guilty of possession of methamphetamine. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Friday, March 31

Judge: Ellen Shelley

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Peggy Lee Cantrell, 37, of Grassy Hollow Drive, Marion, was found guilty of second-degree trespassing. Given credit for one day time served.

Milton Scott Clay, 30, of Morganton, was found guilty of cyberstalking. Must serve 12 months supervised probation. Given credit for 15 days time served. Must have no contact with the victim.

Joshua Caleb Smith, 33, of Archway Drive, Nebo, was found guilty of no vehicle insurance. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Ann Washington, 46, of Red Hill Drive, Marion, was found guilty on four counts of no vehicle insurance. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Fine $25. Must pay court costs.

Tirney Brooke Fowler, age and address unknown, was found guilty of failure to appear. Given credit for three days time served.

Monday, April 3

Judge: Michelle McEntire

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Erin Michael Brown, 28, of Rutherford Road, Marion, was found guilty of two counts of assault on a government official. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Must pay $130 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Johnny David Comer, 19, of Tennessee, was found guilty of reckless driving. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Fined $100. Must pay court costs.

Glenda Darlene James, 45, of Stacy Farm Road, Nebo, was found guilty of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance. Sentenced 20-33 months in jail.

Kolby Nelson, 18, of Spruce Pine, was found guilty on two counts of breaking and entering. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Must pay $2,257.90 in restitution to the victim.

Wednesday, April 5

Judge: Ellen Shelley

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Zackary Allen Mills, 33, homeless, of Marion, was found guilty of obtaining property by false pretense. Must serve 24 months supervised probation. Must pay $100 in restitution. Sentenced to 24 days in jail. Given credit for two days time served.

Dustin Ray Norton, 26, of Yancey Road, Marion, was found guilty of shoplifting. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Must perform 24 hours of community service. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Monday, April 10

Judge: Ellen Shelley

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Jose Badgero-Stapleton, 25, of Morganton, was found guilty of driving while impaired, level four. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Fined $100. Must perform 48 hours of community service. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Jacob Lee Barkley, 42, of Denver, was found guilty on two counts of obtaining property by false pretense. Must serve 18-34 months in jail. Given credit for 86 days time served. Must pay $410.50 in restitution to the victim.

Gonzalo Bazquaz, 35, of Green Street, Marion, was found guilty of driving while impaired, level three. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Must perform 72 hours of community service. Fined $200. Must pay court costs.

Andrew Chevalier, 33, of Hankins Road, Marion, was found guilty of driving while impaired, level three. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Must perform 72 hours of community service. Must pay $97.50 for a court-appointed attorney. Fined $200. Must pay court costs.

Britteny Ann Ledford, age and address unknown, was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance on a jail premises. Must serve 12 months supervised probation. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Wednesday, April 12

Judge: Michelle McEntire

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Taylor Lauren Case, 37, of Jackson Road, Marion, was found guilty of misdemeanor child abuse. Given credit for 44 days time served.

Robert Colon Finley, 29, of Wheeler Drive, Nebo, was found guilty of possession of methamphetamine. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Given credit for one day time served. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Terry Lee Mosteller, 63, of Tate Street, Marion, was found guilty of driving while impaired, level three. Must serve 18 months supervised probation. Must perform 72 hours of community service. Must pay $130 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Kevin James Smith, 45, of Weaverville, was found guilty of driving while impaired, level five. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Must perform 24 hours of community service. Must pay court costs.

Nathan Aamon Webb, 28, of Newland, was found guilty of felony larceny. Must serve 36 months supervised probation. Must pay $130 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay $45,385.27 in restitution to the victim. Must pay court costs. Given credit for 18 days time served.

Friday, April 14

Judge: Corey Mackinnon

Prosecutor: Sean Odom

Dylan James Matthews, 27, of Hampton Ridge Drive, Marion, was found guilty of larceny after breaking and entering and breaking and entering. Sentenced 10-21 months in jail. Must pay $130 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Justin Dean Ray, 31, of Connelly Springs, was found guilty on two counts of driving while license revoked. Must serve 12 months unsupervised probation. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Joseph Lee Roland, 28, of Spicewood Drive, Nebo, was found guilty of possession of stolen goods. Must serve 12 months supervised probation. Must pay $65 for a court-appointed attorney. Must pay court costs.

Timothy Ray Noblitt, 28, of Faith Baptist Church Road, Marion, was found guilty of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Sentenced to seven days in jail. Given credit for two days time served.
This weekend, people from all over western North Carolina will raise money for education and research to hopefully find a cure for multiple sclerosis.

And a McDowell County woman diagnosed with MS more than 20 years ago will be there to support the cause.

On Sunday, April 23 from 1-5 p.m., the National MS Society will hold the 2023 Walk MS: Fletcher at Bill Moore Community Park (formerly Fletcher Community Park) at 85 Howard Gap Road in Fletcher. Walk MS brings people together with the common goal of raising funds for education and research to ultimately find a cure for multiple sclerosis. It is the only MS Walk to be held in western North Carolina, according to a news release.

Participants can join as a team, form a team or walk as an individual. The walk site opens at 1 p.m. The walk will start at 2 p.m. on fully accessible routes with distance options of 1 and 3 miles. A music DJ will add to the festivities and ice cream will be served to participants. Volunteers will be onsite to ensure their day goes smoothly, according to the news release.

Jane Sutton of Old Fort will be there on Sunday. She told The McDowell News that this is her 12th year of volunteering with the National MS Society as a team captain and as a volunteer to help out with the Walk MS event in Fletcher.

As a local volunteer, who has MS, it is my passion to raise money for research that will ultimately find a cure, she said to The McDowell News.

Sutton was diagnosed in 2002 with multiple sclerosis but she knew she had the disease since 1996. She is fortunate that her disease progression has been minimal over the years.

You would not know that I have MS to look at me, she said in an online statement. That does not mean that I dont have some invisible difficulties. I am always happy to answer questions so feel free to ask me anything. Still, I am fortunate. My circle of MS friends has grown over the years and many are not so blessed. Some, almost totally paralyzed, live most of their day in a wheelchair. Some have progressed from a cane to a walker. Some, whose legs have failed them, have had hand controls installed in their cars and continue to lead an independent life.

When she was diagnosed, there were only three disease-modifying therapies. Now, there are 24 FDA-approved drugs, each targeting different types of MS in different ways, she said in her statement.

Thats a lot of progress in a short time, she said in her statement. But what we really want is a cure  or better yet  prevention. This is why your donation helps, it used to be said that there is no cure for MS. From the instant I heard that, I felt a driving need to correct everyone who said it.

With donations, more resources can go toward a cure and prevention.

The money raised will drive groundbreaking research, provide life-changing programs and guarantee a supportive community for those who need it most, she said in her statement. This cause is really important to me, so I hope you will do your part to help end MS forever.

For more information, you can visit her page: https://mssociety.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=235724.

The National MS Society supports more research than any other voluntary MS organization in the world. Nearly 1 million people in the United States are living with multiple sclerosis. Today, there are 24 disease-modifying therapies. Walk MS has raised more than $1 billion to make incredible breakthroughs like this a reality. Although most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, MS also occurs in young children and adolescents. This chronic, often disabling, disease affects the central nervous system and lasts a lifetime. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe enough to cause blindness or complete paralysis. Disease progression, severity and specific symptoms in any individual cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are giving hope to those affected by MS, according to the news release.

The National MS Society is a driving force of MS research and treatment to stop disease progression, restore function and end MS forever.

No one should face MS alone  thats why Walk MS is so important, reads the news release. Join a Team. Form a Team. Walk as an Individual. Visit www.walkms.org. Go to the Fletcher walk for information about how to participate in this years Walk MS event on Sunday, April 23, at Bill Moore Community Park.
Its Thursday, Chicago.

As the springtime air begins to greet us after the last dash of snow, its time to get those calendars out and mark off all our summer fun in the coming months. Whether its planning a leisurely bike ride on one of the regions trails, attending anticipated festivals such as Pitchfork and Summer Smash or simply chillin at home, our long-awaited Chicago summer is almost here.

This Saturday is Earth Day, and for many Chicagoans, sustainability is top of mind  and taste buds. Tribune food critic Louisa Chu visited Bloom Plant Based Kitchen in Wicker Park to sample its vegan and vegetarian cuisine and noted their use of green sources of power and liquid composter.

And if youre overdue for a trip to the movies, we have a review for Showing Up, a new comedy-drama starring Michelle Williams. Feel that seasonal spring in your step as you head out, and well see you next week.

 Lauryn Azu, deputy senior editor

Kygo performs on day three of the Lollapalooza Music Festival on July 30, 2022, at Grant Park in Chicago. (Rob Grabowski/Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP)

We have the details on 20 festivals coming to Chicago this summer, including free and low-cost bashes such as the Belmont-Sheffield Music Fest, the Chicago Pride Parade and the Millennium Park Summer Film Series. Be sure to bookmark this guide, and check back throughout the summer for new additions.

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Asparagus with mole quemado, lime pickled onions, crispy shallots, charred lemon, at Bloom Plant Based Kitchen, 1559 N. Milwaukee Ave., on April 11, 2023. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago may be a particularly carnivorous town, but you wont miss the meat at Bloom Plant Based Kitchen, food critic Louisa Chu attests.

The delicate and daring dumplings are a startling evolution in not just plant-based cuisine; they rival any expensive wagyu or foie gras tasting menu dish, Chu writes of one particular favorite bite. Read the rest of her review here.

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Keri Russell stars as Ambassador Kate Wyler in "The Diplomat." (Uncredited/AP)

From the creator of Homeland and The West Wing comes The Diplomat on Netflix, starring Keri Russell as a newly installed U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. The writing has a real snap to it  its fun  and if youve been experiencing West Wing withdrawals and are pining for some sharp-elbowed banter among high achievers, Cahn lands on a less showy but far more enjoyable stylistic approach than Aaron Sorkin ever did, Tribune critic Nina Metz writes. Read more here.

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A rendering of the Barrel Bar space inside the Guinness Open Gate Brewery, expected to open this summer in Chicago's West Loop. (Studio K/Whitney Architects/Guinness)

After opening a Guinness brewery in Baltimore, the beer brand expects to open its Chicago brewery this summer in the West Loop. It will have a taproom and working brewery, a full-service restaurant, a bakery and an event space, and will likely develop a signature Chicago brew. Read on here.

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Lizzy (Michelle Williams) negotiates with her cat about the coming week's deadlines in "Showing Up." (A24/Zoey Kang)

Showing Up, from director Kelly Reichardt, is a comedy with subterranean seriousness underneath the deadpan-comic surface, Tribune critic Michael Phillips writes. Michelle Williams plays a ceramic sculptor hustling to complete a series of pieces for her upcoming art show while enduring lifes obstacles.

The movie has a tiny motor of a narrative, but its just enough, Phillips says. Read the rest of his review here.

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The duck breast at Highlander House is made with plum sauce, highlander dumplings, carrot and asparagus. (Marcin Cymmer/Highland House)

Unless youre a European history buff, you might have missed the historic tie between Poland and Turkey that reveals itself in Polish cuisine. Luckily, a few Chicagoland restaurants serve dishes that wow and also embody the relationship, such as lamb shish kebabs or beef tartar. Read more here.

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Comedian Pat McGann, performing during Zanies 40th anniversary show "40 Comics in 1 Night", at Zanies Comedy Club, at 1548 N. Wells St., in Chicago, in 2018. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)

If youre looking for a laugh, comedian and Chicago native Pat McGann is performing at Chicago Theatre on Saturday. He recently spoke with Tribune reporter Rick Kogan about his journey from the packaging business into comedy. Read more about McGann and his show here.

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Heidi Blickenstaff and cast in Jagged Little Pill, now at Nederlander Theatre in Chicago. (MurphyMade)

Theater critic Chris Jones writes that Heidi Blickenstaff was on fire the night he saw Jagged Little Pill at Nederlander Theatre. The play is a jukebox show with an original plot based on Alanis Morissettes album of the same name from 1995, centering on a wealthy Connecticut family, where Blickenstaff plays the mother. The show completes its run in Chicago on Sunday. Read more here.

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Bill Marcus and Suzanne Marcus of Glencoe ride the Green Bay Trail in Winnetka on April 12, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Rail trails, which are bike paths built on abandoned train lines, proliferate in Chicagoland and across the region. The Green Bay Trail beside Metras North Line, trails along the roadbed of long-abandoned lines, like the west suburban Illinois Prairie Path and the citys Bloomingdale Trail, also known as The 606, are all bikeable, and writer John Carpenter embraces the magic of these trails on the Great American Rail Trail that stretches through Indiana and Illinois. Read more about how you can also ride them here.

Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
Syphilis cases in North Carolina are on the rise, increasing 23% from 2021 to 2022, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported.

Those numbers were released on April 12 as part of Sexually Transmitted Infection Awareness Week.

McDowell was among those counties experiencing an increase.

The jump in cases is attributed to several factors, including partners not being tested for STIs prior to sexual encounters and lack of condom use, the agency said.

There are several strategies to reduce your risk for syphilis, such as being in a monogamous relationship, getting tested regularly, knowing the sexual activities of partners and properly using condoms. Using one or several of these strategies can reduce your risk, the agency said in a press release.

Cases among women jumped from 360 in 2019 to 837 in 2022, a 133% increase, according to preliminary data. This increase in syphilis infections among women is also causing an increase in syphilis in babies, called congenital syphilis (CS). Congenital syphilis increased 31% in 2022 (55 cases) compared with 2021 (42 cases). In 2012, there was one reported case of congenital syphilis.

Congenital syphilis is preventable through the early detection and treatment of maternal infection during pregnancy, said Victoria Mobley, M.D., HIV/STD Medical Director at the NCDHHS Division of Public Health. Providers can prevent congenital syphilis, and the potential effects such as miscarriage and stillbirth, by testing at three points during pregnancy and providing timely treatment.

North Carolina public health law requires health care providers to screen all pregnant women for syphilis during the first prenatal visit, between 28-30 weeks gestation and at delivery to ensure identification, treatment and prevention of congenital syphilis.

Syphilis cases are reported by stage of infection, which is determined through a combination of laboratory testing and patient interviews. Primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis have very specific symptoms associated with them, so misclassification of these stages is highly unlikely. Early latent (E.L.) syphilis is asymptomatic but can be staged with confirmation that the person has been infected for less than a year. Together these three stages that occur within the first year of infection are called early syphilis.

Here are three-year sexually transmitted infection numbers for McDowell County.

CHLAMYDIA

2020  153

2021  109

2022  109

GONORRHEA

2020  82

2021  54

2022  69

P&S SYPHILIS

2020  8

2021  8

2022  21

E.L. SYPHILIS

2020  4

2021  5

2022  7

For AIDS (HIV Infection Stage 3) cases, McDowell had no new diagnoses in 2020 and 2021 and two in 2022.
Three hundred and twenty Sudanese soldiers fleeing deadly fighting in their country between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army crossed the border on Sunday and surrendered to the Chadian army, the Chadian Defense Minister announced Wednesday.

They have entered our territory, all have been disarmed and cantoned, General Daoud Yaya Brahim said at a press conference of several ministers. These are 320 elements of the Sudanese army, gendarmes, policemen and soldiers, who are afraid of being killed by the RSF, who have surrendered to our forces, he said.

He gave no further details, including exactly where they crossed the border. On the fifth day of fighting between the forces of the two generals who shared power in Khartoum, and who have killed more than 270 civilians so far, thousands of residents were fleeing the shooting and bombing in the Sudanese capital on Wednesday.

Fighting is raging between the RSF of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, known as Hemedti, and the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, who has been in charge since their joint putsch in 2021.

Chad closed its border with Sudan on Saturday, which is more than a thousand kilometers long in the middle of the desert and borders Darfur, in western Sudan. This very porous border is regularly crossed by rebel movements from both countries.

The situation in Sudan is worrying and deplorable, we have taken all the necessary measures in relation to the Sudanese crisis, said Minister Yaya Brahim, adding: This war does not concern us, it is between Sudanese, we must remain vigilant to prevent any eventuality.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, accused of stepping up a crackdown on any dissenting voices in the run-up to this years presidential election, promised a free and fair election.

Running for re-election in the August vote, the 80-year-old leader called for a no to violence, before, during and after the vote in a speech to mark the 43rd anniversary of the former British colonys independence, but the date has not yet been confirmed.

My government has taken steps to ensure free, fair and credible elections, he said in the small town of Mount Darwin, about 155 km northeast of the capital Harare.

The southern African countrys political history is marked by violence and intimidation during elections. Mnangagwa came to power in 2017 in a coup against the countrys strongman, Robert Mugabe, and narrowly won the presidential election the following year with 50.8% of the vote.

The party of his main rival, Nelson Chamisa, 45, accuses him of repressing political opponents. In recent weeks, opposition meetings have been obstructed and officials, including members of parliament, have been arrested. Unable despite promises to revive an economy that has languished for two decades, Emmerson Mnangagwa is facing growing discontent.

In his speech on Tuesday, he warned against voices, foreign or local, including rogue NGOs that are sowing seeds of division and discord. Parliament passed a controversial law in early February drastically restricting the freedoms of NGOs, placing them under government control and subject to possible sanctions.
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau will sign a protocol for shared community management, to have the diaspora of both countries in the next Joint Commission, to be held after the Guinean legislative elections in June, official sources said on Wednesday.

The information was given to the press in Praia by the Minister of Communities of Cabo Verde, Jorge Santos, and the Secretary of State for Communities of Guinea-Bissau, Salome Allouche, who on Wednesday began a two-day visit to the Cabo Verdean archipelago.

According to the Bissau-Guinean leader, the two countries intend to hold a Joint Commission, as provided for in the general cooperation agreement signed in 2015, after the legislative elections in that country, scheduled for next June.

We have Cape Verdeans in the diaspora in the same destinations that Guinea-Bissau has and, therefore, we want very soon, in the Joint Commission between Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, to bring the diaspora to the agenda and sign a protocol for shared management of our communities, in its economic dimension, in its human capital dimension, but also in the management experience, said the Cape Verdean minister, after a working meeting.

Another important aspect is knowledge of communities, he said, noting that Cape Verde has already launched a mapping of its diaspora in its major destinations, and predicts that 1.5 million Cape Verdeans and their descendants live outside the country, much larger than the approximately 500,000 residents.

The Cape Verdean Minister of Communities hopes to consolidate relations with Guinea-Bissau in several other sectors, such as training. On the agenda for the Secretary of States visit are the Renewable Energy and Industrial Maintenance Center (CERMI), the Technology Park and the Data Center in Praia.

Because one thing is to have mobility without training, another thing is with training. And what we want, in the framework of mobility in the CPLP [Community of Portuguese Language Countries] and between Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is to have professional training and the qualification of people a high priority, he outlined.
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: Shutterstock

When surgeons are trained, they usually need the supervision of more experienced doctors who can mentor them on their technique. That may be changing due to a new artificial intelligence system developed by Caltech researchers and Keck Medicine of USC urologists that aims to provide valuable feedback to surgeons on the quality of their work.

The goal of the new Surgical AI System (SAIS) is to provide surgeons with objective performance evaluations that can improve their work and, by extension, the outcomes of their patients. When provided with a video of a surgical procedure, SAIS can identify what type of surgery is being performed and the quality with which it was executed by a surgeon.

The system was introduced through a series of articles in the journals Nature Biomedical Engineering, npj Digital Medicine, and Communications Medicine, which were published concurrently at the end of March 2023.

"In high stakes environments such as robotic surgery, it is not realistic for AI to replace human surgeons in the short term," says Anima Anandkumar, Bren Professor of Computing and Mathematical Sciences and senior author of the studies. "Instead, we asked how AI can safely improve surgical outcomes for the patients, and hence, our focus on making human surgeons better and more effective through AI."

SAIS was trained using a large volume of video data that was annotated by medical professionals. Surgeons' performances were assessed down to the level of individual discrete motions, i.e., holding a needle, driving it through tissue, and withdrawing it from tissue. After training, SAIS was tasked with reviewing and evaluating surgeons' performance during a wide range of procedures using video from a variety of hospitals.

"SAIS has the potential to provide surgeon feedback that is accurate, consistent, and scalable," says Dani Kiyasseh, lead author of the studies, a former postdoctoral researcher at Caltech and now a senior AI engineer at Vicarious Surgical. The hope, according to the researchers, is for SAIS to provide surgeons with guidance on what skill sets need to be improved.

To make the tool more valuable for surgeons, the team developed the AI's ability to justify its skill assessments. The AI can now inform surgeons about their level of skill and provide detailed feedback on its rationale for making that assessment by pointing to specific video clips.

"We were able to show that such AI-based explanations often align with explanations that surgeons would have otherwise provided," Kiyasseh says. "Reliable AI-based explanations can pave the way for providing feedback when peer surgeons are not immediately available."

Early on, researchers testing SAIS noted that an unintended bias crept into the system in which the AI sometimes rated surgeons as more or less skilled than their experience would otherwise indicate based solely on an analysis of their overall movements. To address this issue, the researchers guided the AI system to focus exclusively on pertinent aspects of the surgical video. Narrowing the focus mitigated, though did not eliminate, the bias, which the researchers are continuing to address.

"Human-derived surgical feedback is not presently objective nor scalable," says Andrew Hung, a urologist with Keck Medicine of USC and associate professor of urology at Keck School of Medicine of USC. "AI-derived feedback, such as what our system delivers, presents a major opportunity to provide surgeons actionable feedback."
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: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A key mechanism of cadmium-linked inflammation that increases severity and mortality of lung infections has been described, offering a promising therapeutic target to limit lung injury and death.

This study, led by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers Jennifer L. Larson-Casey, Ph.D., and A. Brent Carter, M.D., is based on an underserved, primarily African American community that is proposed as a National Priorities List area by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, due to heavy metals, including cadmium, in the soil and air that have caused lung disease. This North Birmingham, Alabama, community historically housed people who worked in mines, coke plants and heavy industries.

Air pollution from tiny particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in size is linked to respiratory infections, and this pollution is often tainted with cadmium, a poisonous heavy metal emitted from sources like smelters, coal fired plants, coke factories and forest fires. Environmental cadmium is associated with higher risk of death from flu and pneumonia, and it doubles the risk of lung disease; but the mechanism of cadmium's influence was not known.

Lower respiratory tract infections, including bacterial pneumonia, are the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide, with 120 million to 156 million cases and 1.4 million deaths a year. Streptococcus pneumoniae accounts for more than 55 percent of those deaths.

The UAB research, published in the journal JCI Insight, focused on bone marrow-derived macrophages that are recruited in large numbers to the lungs during infection to defend against respiratory pathogens. These immune cells are initially inflammatory to fight the pathogen, and then should become anti-inflammatory as the disease is controlled, so that continued inflammation does not damage the lung tissue. The Carter lab had previously shown that cadmium-mediated lung injury resulted in the persistence of the inflammatory, classically activated lung macrophages by inhibiting the nuclear localization of the transcription factor PPAR-gamma. Active PPAR-gamma is a negative regulator of the inflammatory response by inhibiting production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species.

An enzyme called extracellular signal-regulated kinase, or ERK, has been known to play a pivotal role in lung inflammation and mouse models of lung injury; but how it acts was not known. In the present study, Larson-Casey, Carter and UAB colleagues used a mouse model to describe how cadmium or S. pneumoniae infection impairs the activation of PPAR-gamma in macrophages that were recruited to the lungs.

The exposure to cadmium or S. pneumoniae led to ERK activation in only the recruited macrophages. Activated ERK increased the post-translational phosphorylation of PPAR-gamma at its serine 112 amino acid. That change led to PPAR-gamma degradation, canceling its anti-inflammatory role.

The researchers also showed that the experimental drug BVD-523an inhibitor of ERK that is currently in clinical testing to treat cancerprotected mice from lung injury after cadmium exposure or infection. They further found that human subjects, who live in industrial North Birmingham, had increased cadmium levels in their lung fluid. Those residents also showed PPAR-gamma inhibition, as compared to controls who live elsewhere, that was mediated, at least in part, by ERK activation.

"Although lung injury after respiratory infection is often unavoidable, identifying modifiable risk factors that predispose individuals to severe pneumonia is an unmet need," Carter said. "Our observations suggest that the regulation of PPAR-gamma in monocyte-derived macrophages is a novel target to protect against the severity of lower respiratory tract infections secondary to lung injury mediated by air pollution."

In the mouse model, mice were instilled intratracheally with cadmium chloride or saline, and S. pneumoniae was given five days later. All mice that were given just saline or cadmium alone were alive 15 days later; but only about 80 percent of the mice given saline and S. pneumoniae survived, and less than half the mice given both cadmium and S. pneumoniae survived. Cadmium-exposed mice had increased numbers of macrophage cells in the lungs, and that number increased further after the cadmium-exposed mice were given S. pneumoniae. Both cadmium- and S. pneumoniae-exposed mice showed lung injury, and the lung injury was significantly greater in cadmium-exposed mice that were infected with S. pneumoniae.

In other details, the UAB researchers used single-cell RNA sequencing of cells from the lung to show that the PPAR-gamma gene was expressed predominantly in macrophage cells rather than 13 other cell types detected from the lung. That gene expression was about the same in macrophages exposed to cadmium or S. pneumoniae alone, or to cadmium and S. pneumoniae together.

The researchers also found that cadmium and S. pneumoniae increased the production of pro-inflammatory TNF-alpha and interleukin-6, and decreased production of the anti-inflammatory interleukin-10. Activated PPAR-gamma is known to inhibit production of TNF-alpha and interleukin-6, and it increases expression of interleukin-10.

Carter is a professor and Larson-Casey an assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine in the UAB Department of Medicine.

Co-authors with Carter and Larson-Casey in the study, "Impaired PPAR activation by cadmium exacerbates infection-induced lung injury," are Shanrun Liu, UAB Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology; Jennifer M. Pyles and Suzanne E. Lapi, UAB Department of Radiology; Komal Saleem and Veena B. Antony, UAB Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; Manuel Lora Gonzalez, UAB Department of Pathology; and David K. Crossman, UAB Department of Genetics.

More information: Jennifer L. Larson-Casey et al, Impaired PPAR activation by cadmium exacerbates infection-induced lung injury, JCI Insight (2023). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.166608 Journal information: JCI Insight
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Language difficulties in childrenand their severityshould be identified early. The right training and support can then be put into place and contribute to better language development. Credit: Idun Haugan / NTNU

Children learn to understand language and to speak largely independently of cognitive functions like spatial awareness, working (short-term) memory and perception (interpreting and organizing sensory impressions), according to established theory and tradition within linguistics.

Professor Mila Vulchanova heads NTNU's language laboratory and conducts research on language learning. Her research findings over several years have challenged this linguistics assumption and demonstrated clear associations between language development and cognitive skills.

New links

Vulchanova's latest research is based on data from the largest cohort study conducted in Norway. The Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), under the auspices of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, is one of the world's largest health surveys, with data from 114,500 children, 95,000 mothers and 75,000 fathers.

Mila Vulchanova and research colleagues from NTNU, the University of Oslo, Statped and the University of Melbourne have now catalogued new links between language development and cognitive skills.

Cognitive skills are a collective term for our ability to concentrate, pay attention, remember, our sense perception, logical reasoning and problem solving.

Non-verbal tests reveal a lot

Language comprehension tests are used, naturally, to investigate whether children have language development challenges. Vulchanova's research shows that non-verbal tests are also very important for cataloging language difficulties, what types of language challenges the child has, and in particular the severity of the language difficulties.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 500 8-year-old children in the research project. The findings are published in the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders.

"We analyzed extensive data on the language and cognitive status of children with language difficulties and compared them with children who have typical language development. The analyses show that the severity of the language difficulties can also be predicted based on cognitive markers. These are discoveries that pave new paths for research in this field," says Vulchanova.

Cognitive markers include logical reasoning, such as recognizing similarities between concepts or discovering connections between graphic patterns. Cognitive markers are catalogued based on both verbal and non-verbal tests.

How the balance between verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills affects language skills is a field that has been relatively unexplored in the past.

Which cognitive measurements and methods best predict the severity of language disorders in children is not yet well known, either.

The new research findings are contributing to finding answers to these questions.

Early and correct assessment is important

An early assessment of a child's language difficulties and correctly identifying the severity of the language difficulties is key. The right training and support can then be implemented, such as via a speech therapist, and contribute to better language development.

"Our findings support the importance of measuring both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills. In this way, we can identify which dimensions are affected and require special attention in children with language difficulties," Vulchanova said.

"Our findings also point to the potential for training cognitive skills as a strategy to support language skills," says Vulchanova.

Different testing methods

One of the six testing methods used to assess the 8-year-olds is called block design and involves recognizing patterns and seeing which patterns fit into the context.

Another test assesses the child's ability to recognize similarities and serves as a bridge between verbal and non-verbal skills. A sample question could be, "What is the connection between a sea and a river?" Here, the child needs to understand what the words mean and also connect that they both involve water.

"We identify specific verbal and non-verbal cognitive tests that differentiate between typical children and children with language difficulties, as well as the severity of language difficulties," says Vulchanova.

"What distinguished the group with mild language impairment from the group with typical language development were the scores on the pattern recognition test (block design) and the similarity test (the similarity between, for example, sea and river), as well as performance on logical reasoning, vocabulary, understanding daily sequences and tasks and non-word repetition," she says.

In the non-word test, the children have to read short words and sort them as being either real words or non-words.

"All the verbal cognitive results could predict severe language problems versus typical language development," says Vulchanova.

Providing training to others

Three people are gathered in Vulchanova's office to plan training sessions in language testing. They plan to hold courses for educational professionals, including kindergarten staff, people in the schools' PPT service, speech therapists and kindergarten pedagogues and teach them methods that they can use to survey the children's language skills.

The course holders are Vulchanova, Berit Sivertsen, educational leader at Berg kindergarten in Trondheim and Ellen Saxlund, a lecturer at a secondary school in Brum. Both Sivertsen and Saxlund have taken master's degrees at NTNU's Department of Language and Literature and have had Vulchanova as their supervisor.

The researchers use various objects in their course, such as a picture book, toys and stuffed animalsincluding a little monkey. All these items are included in the new Reynell test that Vulchanova and colleagues have adapted and standardized for the Norwegian language.

Stuffed animals are part of testing

"We perform different actions with the monkey, like making it jump, and then we ask the child to tell us what it's doing. We're looking for the child to identify the action and use the correct verb," says Saxlund.

Sivertsen pulls out a rabbit from the bag of testing materials.

"We also test children's understanding of prepositions by asking them to place the rabbit on top of, next to or below another object," she says.

Mila Vulchanova takes out a picture book with pictures of figures performing various actions, including a rabbit brushing a monkey. Here the children have to point out the correct pictures based on questions about what the figures are doing and who is doing what. The use of verbs in active and passive voice is key for this test.

Vulchanova stresses that language proficiency is linked to all cognitive abilities.

In their analysis, the researchers summarize:

Our findings support the importance of measuring both verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills in order to identify the most vulnerable dimensions in children with language difficulties, but also with regard to diagnosis.

The findings also point to the potential for targeting underlying cognitive skills as a strategy to support language skills.

We suggest that future interventional studies focus on the effect of non-verbal cognitive skills on language development in children with language difficulties.

More information: Fufen Jin et al, The association of cognitive abilities with language disorder in 8yearold children: A populationbased clinical sample, International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders (2023). DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12861
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Scanning electron microscope image of Vibrio cholerae. Credit: Wikipedia

Five people in the Cameroon capital of Yaounde have died from cholera over the last month, according to the health ministry, which warned of a "resurgence" of the disease.

The ministry said the five had died since the disease reached the capital last month, and at least 88 cases have been identified since mid-March in the central region of the country, which includes Yaounde.

Health Minister Manaouda Malachie said in a statement dated Wednesday that there was a "resurgence" of an epidemic first declared in October 2021.

He added the country's monitoring system had been put on alert.

Choleraan acute diarrhoeal illness which can be fatal in hours if left untreatedreappears periodically in Cameroon, which has a total population of some 25 million.

The previous update in October tallied 272 deaths and 12,952 cases over 12 months across the country.

But the latest areas hit include four districts of Yaounde, which is home to some 2.8 million, as well as the nearby towns of Mfou and Obala.

The number of new cholera cases in Africa, having risen sharply in early 2023, fell 37 percent in late February, the World Health Organization said last month.

But the UN body voiced fears that flooding in southern Africa posed a high risk of spread, reporting cases in 12 countries, notably Mozambique and Malawi, which are enduring record outbreaks.

 2023 AFP
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Genetically predicted rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with osteoporosis, according to a study published online April 11 in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Yunyang Deng and Martin Chi Sang Wong, M.D., from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, used Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to examine whether RA was causally associated with osteoporosis in Japanese populations. Data from genome-wide association studies were included on RA (4,199 cases and 208,254 controls) and osteoporosis (7,788 cases and 204,665 controls) from the Biobank Japan. Instrumental variables included 11 RA-related single nucleotide polymorphisms.

The researchers found that genetically predicted RA was positively associated with osteoporosis using the inverse-variance weighted method (odds ratio, 1.10). When MR Egger, weighted median, and weighted mode were exploited, the positive association was robust (odds ratios, 1.09, 1.09, and 1.08, respectively). The MR Egger test and MR Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier test did not detect horizontal pleiotropy.

"This MR study revealed that genetically-predicted RA was positively associated with osteoporosis in Japanese populations," the authors write. "The findings were consistent and robust when different MR approaches were employed and a series of sensitivity analyses were performed."

More information: Yunyang Deng et al, Association between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis in Japanese populations: a Mendelian randomization study, Arthritis & Rheumatology (2023). DOI: 10.1002/art.42502

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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There is good agreement between psoriasis severity assessed clinically and by photographs, according to a study recently published in JAAD International.

Zarqa Ali, M.D., Ph.D., from Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg in Denmark, and colleagues examined the extent to which smartphone photographs together with a self-reported body region (BR) score can be used to evaluate psoriasis severity. Severity of psoriasis was assessed using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and the Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) in the clinic. On the same day, patients took a photograph of a representative lesion from four BRs (head/neck, upper limbs, trunk, and lower limbs); a questionnaire about BR score was completed. Five dermatologists rated the photographs.

Thirty-two patients were included: 6, 69, and 25 percent had almost clear, mild, and moderate psoriasis, respectively. The researchers found that 59 percent had perfect agreement between the self-reported and doctors' BR score; near perfect agreement was 92 percent. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.78 between clinical and photographic PASI. For PGA, perfect agreement was 53 percent.

"There is a good agreement between severity of psoriasis assessed on photographs taken by the patient with a smartphone of a target lesion in combination with self-reported extent of skin involvement and the clinical assessment of psoriasis," the authors write. "Future studies should investigate the validation of photographic assessment in the entire range of psoriasis severity and across all skin types and ethnicities."

Several authors were employed by Studies&Me, which funded the study.

More information: Zarqa Ali et al, Mild-to-moderate severity of psoriasis may be assessed remotely based on photographs and self-reported extent of skin involvement, JAAD International (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jdin.2023.02.004

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
China's high-quality development to have positive spillover effects

Xinhua) 08:17, April 20, 2023

Aerial photo taken on June 17, 2022 shows an overpass of a highway passing through eastern areas in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

GUANGZHOU, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's pursuit of high-quality development will produce notable positive spillover effects for the global economy, facilitating trade and contributing to global decarbonization efforts, according to participants at an ongoing international forum in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

The conference, Understanding China -- Greater Bay Area Dialogue, themed "Chinese modernization and new opportunities for the world" and scheduled from April 18 to 20, has attracted celebrated figures from the global political, academic and economic communities, from both home and abroad.

Fred Hu, chairman of Primavera Capital Group, said that China's high-quality development is of great significance to promoting production and foreign trade, and ensuring the security of the global supply chain.

"China's economic strength has improved significantly over 40 years of rapid growth, and now it has assumed an increasingly bigger role in the world economy," Hu said.

He cited the fact that China's gross domestic product accounted for 18.5 percent of the global total in 2021, much higher than the 7.7 percent registered in 2001.

Gordon Brown, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, also acknowledged China's contribution to the global economy, saying that the country's rapid growth is something that any Western finance minister "can only dream of."

Along with its economic takeoff, China has now become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, cementing its position as the largest country in global trade in goods, Hu noted.

The country's rise within the global trade system is supported not only by its big population, vast territory and large economic scale, but also its enabling business environment and institutional arrangements made in the form of trade agreements, Hu said.

Singapore's Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong echoed Hu's words, predicting that ASEAN will seize the opportunities arising from China's continued growth by upgrading the ASEAN-China free-trade agreement.

A substantive upgrade to the agreement will pave the way for deeper regional economic integration and a stronger rules-based multilateral trading system, Goh said.

Looking forward, Hu said he believes that China's continuous efforts in expanding opening-up will boost the confidence of overseas businesses and forge more stable and sustainable trade and investment ties.

Another important part of China's high-quality development is green development, which Hu believes means achieving zero carbon emission goals as soon as possible and acting as a bellwether in addressing climate change.

Laurence Tubiana, chief executive officer of the European Climate Foundation, said that China is now a global champion of clean energy.

The country's pursuit of the dual carbon goals, its pace of deployment of renewable energy and the development of electrical vehicles are all very promising signs, Tubiana added.

"The world needs China to make decarbonization affordable, and that's what China has done in the past for a good number of clean energies," said Tubiana.

China should complete the energy transition at an early date, further consolidate its position as a global leader in climate change response and promote the sustainable development of the world, according to Hu.

To that end, China should leverage green technology, scale up support for decarbonization and green finance, and increase the share of renewables in the energy mix, Hu said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
SpaceX managed to get the most powerful rocket ever off the launch pad Thursday, but it exploded four minutes later and didnt make it to space during the first test flight of the massive Starship and Super Heavy spacecraft.

A company engineer suggested the result wasnt unexpected.

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Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, said John Insprucker, SpaceX principal integration engineer and commentator. This was a development test, a first test flight of Starship and the goal was to gather the data, and as we said, clear the pad and get ready to go again.

Before Thursday, SpaceX had only flown low-altitude flights of the Starship alone without the booster, with many also ending in fireballs.

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Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake, said Kate Tice, a SpaceX quality systems engineer and commentator.

The launch happened on 4/20, one of CEO Elon Musks favorite references to drop on his Twitter account as its also a reference to 4:20, the time of day people often associate with smoking marijuana.

Musk was on site in Boca Chica, Texas, at the Starbase control center during the launch, and he congratulated the team on Twitter calling it an exciting launch.

Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months, Musk wrote.

The mission was the first time the booster with its 33 Raptor engines capable of producing more than 17 million pounds of thrust at liftoff was connected for a launch with a Starship spacecraft.

After a short delay at the opening of the launch window, the 395-foot-tall rocket cleared the pad at 9:33 a.m. EDT. Cheers from the crowd gathered at the companys headquarters in Hawthorne, California, drowned out commentators during a live feed, which were in turn drowned out by audio of the roar of the engines.

Video showed at least six of 33 engines shut down as it climbed to a maximum altitude of more than 26 miles before what was supposed to be a separation of the spacecraft from the booster three minutes into flight. On its climb, the video showed the curvature of the Earth, but without stage separation, Starship was not going to make it to space, which would have needed to be at least 62 miles altitude.

SpaceX's Starship launches from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on it first test flight and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. (Eric Gay/AP)

One minute after the failed separation with the combined hardware seen falling and spinning back down to Earth, the two exploded in the sky, which prompted a collective awww that turned into more applause and cheers from the gathered crowd.

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Plans were for Starship to climb to between 93 and 155 miles during a suborbital trip two-thirds of the way around the Earth for a hard splashdown near Hawaii. That aspect of the flight test will have to wait.

So you never know exactly whats going to happen, but as we promised, excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a rather spectacular and what was truly an incredible test thus far, Insprucker said.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!



Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

NASAs Space Launch System with its 8.8 million pounds of thrust that sent the Orion spacecraft into space last November on the Artemis I mission remains the record holder for most powerful rocket to make it to space, which topped the Saturn V rockets from the Apollo moon missions.

What a sight from the ground cameras as Starbase, Insprucker said. Were flying at twice the thrust of the Saturn V.

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The rocket, using a combined propellant of liquid methane and liquid oxygen, did manage to make it through whats called Max Q, the area where the craft endures maximum dynamic pressure, and it did achieve speeds up to 1,340 mph.

The launch was the second try by SpaceX after a Monday attempt was scrubbed because of a frozen pressurization valve on the Super Heavy booster. The stacked first stage and spacecraft only received the OK to fly from the Federal Aviation Administration last Friday.

Had all gone well, both the booster and Starship were to have separated and each made their own hard water landings, with the booster splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship in the Pacific Ocean after its flight.

The launch system, though, is designed so that eventually, the Super Heavy booster would return to the 469-foot-tall launch integration tower often referred to as Mechazilla, with a landing achieved with the aid of two pivoting metal arms called the chopsticks.

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The Starship spacecraft, which has six of its own Raptor engines, would make a vertical landing at its destination as well, which would make the combination the first fully reusable rocket in the industry.

While this was the first time SpaceX sent the stacked version for a test launch, it plans many more before any commercial operations begin.

Dozens if not more than 100 of those operational launches will be needed as well before SpaceX lets humans on board, but it has at least three commercial human spaceflight missions already lined up as well as being awarded the NASA contract to land the next humans to walk on the moon.

Production for more test flight hardware is already underway with five Starships and eight Super Heavy boosters already in SpaceXs hands. Test flights will continue from Texas, but SpaceX is also building out a Starship launch tower at Kennedy Space Center for when it begins operational flights.

Its important to have that system fill-in, basically the manufacturing line so that we have product ready to go as soon as were done with this test, Tice said.

Follow Orlando Sentinel space coverage at Facebook.com/goforlaunchsentinel.
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Research on the incidence of near-death experiences (NDEs) in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) for at least 7 days reveals that 15% reported having experienced a NDE. The emergence of these experiences seems to be enhanced by the propensity for dissociative symptoms and by the patients' spiritual beliefs and practices.

As stated by Bruce Greyson, NDEs are "intensely vivid and often life-transforming experiences, often occurring under extreme physiological conditions such as life-threatening trauma, cardiac arrest, or deep anesthesia." To date, few prospective studies on NDE were carried out only in ICU patients with homogeneous aetiologies, such as cardiac arrest or trauma survivors.

It was in this context that researchers from the Universities of Liege (Belgium) and Laval (Canada) carried out a study to assess the incidence of NDEs among ICU survivors, regardless of the critical illness they survived. The research also covered the factors that may affect the frequency of NDEs and evaluated the patients' quality of life one year after the experience.

The findings are published in the journal Critical Care.

The study included 126 adult participants with more than 7 days of ICU stays, who were interviewed after discharge. Of this sample, 19 patients (15%) reported having experienced a NDE as assessed by the NDE scale created by Greyson. Participants were further assessed for dissociative experiences, spirituality, religiosity and personal beliefs, as well as for dozens of medical parameters. One year later, they were contacted by phone to measure their quality of life, using the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire.

In the article, the team led by Charlotte Martial and Anne-Francoise Rousseau reveals that in the study carried out, in addition to a 15% NDE incidence, cognitive and spiritual factors outweighed medical parameters as predictors of the emergence of NDE.

While the univariate analyses associated mechanical ventilation, sedation, analgesia, reason for admission, primary organ dysfunction, and dissociative and spiritual propensities with NDE emergence, the multivariate logistic regression analysis only indicated a greater propensity for dissociative symptoms and a greater spiritual and personal well-being as predicted factors for NDE emergence. An evaluation one year later demonstrated that the NDE was not significantly associated with quality of life.

While acknowledging that further studies are needed to confirm these findings in larger cohorts or in survivors of a shorter ICI stay, the authors conclude that "the recall of NDE is not so rare in the ICU." Given that NDEs "are typically reported as transforming and may be associated with negative emotions, we consider [it] clinically meaningful to interview patients about any potential memory upon awakening," they reveal.

More information: Anne-Francoise Rousseau et al, Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study, Critical Care (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s13054-023-04348-2 Journal information: Critical Care

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Credit: Cell Metabolism (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.03.022

Degeneration of myelin, an insulating sheath required for rapid communication between nerve cells, and neuroinflammation are notable hallmarks of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, which affect roughly 2.8 million people in the world. However, little is known about the precise molecular steps by which demyelination leads to the loss of neurons and glia, the two major types of brain cells.

A paper published recently in Cell Metabolism by a research team led by Drs. Hugo J. Bellen, Hyunglok Chung, and Hyun Kyoung Lee at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, reveals an answer to this longstanding question.

The researchers discovered that myelin breakdown results in an accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) and their intermediates which triggers an autoimmune response that damages the brain cells. Furthermore, they showed that reducing the levels of VLCFA and S1P using known drugs, bezafibrate and fingolimod, had a synergistic beneficial effect on the MS pathologies in an animal model, revealing an even more effective treatment for MS patients.

Elevated levels of S1P are toxic to fly glia and neurons

A previous study from the Bellen lab showed that the loss of the fly version of the dACOX1 gene reduced the lifespan, caused neuronal and motor dysfunction, and eventually resulted in the demise of neurons and glia. The ACOX1 gene encodes an enzyme required for the breakdown of VLCFA. In this study, the researchers set out to understand the exact molecular steps by which the absence of dACOX1 results in the loss of neurons and glia.

VLFCA are a rare group of fatty acids that comprise only a tiny fraction of the total fatty acids in the body. Myelin sheaths that surround the nerve membranes are a rich source of VLCFAs and have roughly 10-fold higher levels of VLCFA-ceramides than other cellular membranes. VLCFA are produced from long-chain fatty acids by ELOVL fatty acid elongase enzyme and converted back by the ACOX1 enzyme.

Dr. Chung, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Bellen lab who is also the first and co-corresponding author of this study, found that the toxic effects observed due to the loss of dACOX1 could be suppressed by knocking down the gene that encodes ELOVL with bezafibrate, a lipid-lowering drug. These observations further supported their earlier observations that excess VLCFA is harmful to nerve cells.

Dr. Chung and colleagues next assessed how increased levels of VLCFA in the glia affected the metabolism of other lipids. They performed a mass spectrometric analysis of 26 lipids obtained from adult fly heads that lacked the fly version of the ACOX1 gene. They found two lipid intermediatesvery long ceramides(VL-Ceramides) and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)were significantly higher in the glia of these flies.

Further studies revealed that excess glial S1P was transported to the neurons and this increase in S1P levels was detrimental to the survival of both glia and neurons and was sufficient to cause these cells to malfunction and degenerate. Notably, they found that supplementing dACOX1 mutant flies with fingolimod, an MS drug known to bind and downregulate S1P receptor levels, led to dramatic improvements in the overall viability, neuronal function, and importantly, delayed neurodegeneration in these flies.

Together, their data provide compelling evidence that the accumulation of S1P, a key product of VLCFA catabolism, is the root cause for the demise of glia and neurons in dACOX1 mutants.

S1P triggers strong immune responses that destroy brain cells in flies

The strong suppression of neurodegenerative symptoms in dACOX1 mutant flies by fingolimod, a drug that is used to treat MS, an autoimmune disorder, promoted Dr. Chung to explore if elevated VLCFA had any impact on immune responses.

Intriguingly, he observed that flies lacking ACOX1 had several large black, melanotic masses throughout their body including the head, eye, wing margins, and abdomen. Typically, melanization is an immediate immune reaction deployed in arthropods like flies when they are attacked by pathogens and parasites. However, the presence of melanotic masses in these flies suggested that the absence of dACOX1 induces an autoimmune response whereby the immune cells misinterpret the presence of an innocuous molecule as a sign of a cellular invasion and mount an unwarranted attack that destroys their own cells.

They next asked if the loss of dACOX1 also activated other immune pathways.

Flies have two major immune pathwaysthe toll and the immune deficiency (Imd) pathwaysthat control inducible immune responses to invading bacteria and fungi by systemic production of cytokines, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) upon activation of the nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB).

Notably, the authors found that elevated S1P in fly glia activates NF-kB which in turn significantly increased the transcript levels of several AMP genes involved in the IMD pathway. Moreover, circulating immune cells are recruited to the central nervous system.

"This is the first time this immune pathway has been shown to lead to neuroinflammation in adult fruit flies," said Dr. Bellen, a Baylor professor.

Bezafibrate and fingolimod ameliorate the progression of MS symptoms in mice

Excited by these findings, the team then explored the role of elevated VLCFA and S1P in MS progression in vertebrates by collaborating with Dr. Hyun Kyoung Lee, associate professor at Baylor and investigator at the Duncan NRI. The most commonly studied vertebrate model to study MS is the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) wherein the mice are injected with myelin to induce MS-like pathology and immune responses.

First, a postdoctoral fellow in the Lee lab and co-first author, Dr. Qi Ye, found that pre-symptomatic treatment of these mice with bezafibrate, a lipid-lowering drug that inhibits the synthesis of VLCFA, slowed the progression of EAE pathology by reducing demyelination, neuronal damage, and infiltration of immune cells into the brain. These results showed that this drug can slow the progression of this debilitating disorder.

She next tested the potential therapeutic effect of lowering VLCFA and S1P on MS. "When we administered bezafibrate along with fingolimod at the onset of symptoms, we saw a synergistic improvement in EAE-induced paralysis and motor performance, demyelination and neuronal loss. The combined effects of these drugs were significantly better than the effect of either drug alone in every parameter we testedsuggesting that a combined therapy will be more effective and offer better outcomes for MS patients," Dr. Chung added.

"We are very excited by the potential clinical implications of this study in not just how we treat MS patients but also for other neurodegenerative conditions that are associated with demyelination, disruptions in lipid metabolism, and neuroinflammation," Dr. Bellen said.

Dr. Chung plans to further explore the transport mechanism of S1P in his new role as an assistant professor in the department of Neurology at Houston Methodist.

Others involved in the study were Qi Ye, Ye-Jin Park, Zhongyuan Zuo, Jung-Wan Mok, Oguz Kanca, Sudhir Gopal Tattikota, Shenzhao Lu, Nobert Perrimon, and Hyun Kyoung Lee.

More information: Hyung-lok Chung et al, Very-long-chain fatty acids induce glial-derived sphingosine-1-phosphate synthesis, secretion, and neuroinflammation, Cell Metabolism (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.03.022 Journal information: Cell Metabolism

Provided by Texas Children's Hospital
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Researchers are reporting progress on the path to a "universal" flu vaccineone that would battle all strains of the virus and give the world a weapon against future flu pandemics.

In an early clinical trial, U.S. government scientists found that their experimental flu vaccine was able to coax recipients' immune systems to produce "cross-reactive" antibodies. That is, they made antibodies against many strains of influenza type Aone of the two major groups of the virus.

Experts called the findings promising, in that the vaccine did exactly what you'd want in this early phase of testing.

However, it has not yet been shown to actually protect people from the flu, stressed researcher Sarah Andrews of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Vaccine Research Center.

She estimated that it could take five to 10 more years of development before, if all goes well, the vaccine is ready for the real world.

Right now, the available flu vaccines prime the body to fight four flu strains: two type A influenza strains, and two type B.

The problem is, there are many strains within those two groups, and different ones are in high circulation each flu season. So the flu vaccine has to be updated annually to include the four strains that scientists think are likely to dominate in the upcoming season.

It's essentially an educated guess.

"And that guess isn't always correct," said Dr. Mirella Salvatore, an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and a spokeswoman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Salvatore, who was not involved in the new research, said that a universal flu vaccine could not only get rid of the yearly guessing game, but also help arm people for the next flu pandemic.

Several such vaccines are in various stages of development. The one Andrews and her colleagues are working on has now passed an early test, according to Salvatore.

"They're showing it produces an antibody response, and the antibodies last a long time," she said.

One year after being vaccinated, study participants were still showing neutralizing antibodies against type A flu strains, according to findings published April 19 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

There are various reasons a universal flu vaccine has been elusive, but the fundamental obstacle is the complexity of the influenza virus.

The new vaccine, Andrews explained, was designed to get around a key barrier.

Current flu vaccines contain weakened or inactivated flu viruses with a mix of hemagglutinins (HAs), a major protein on the surface of the virus. When people get a flu shot, or the flu, the immune system creates antibodies against HAspecifically against the top portion, or "head," of the protein.

That's a problem, however, because portions of the HA head often mutate, feeding the need for that yearly vaccine update.

But HA not only has a headit has a "stem." And that stem stays relatively stable and "conserved" across the different flu strains.

Getting the immune system to respond to the stem, however, is tricky, Andrews said. Folks' immune systems are primedby a lifetime of flu virus exposuresto go full-tilt at the HA head, leaving the stem ignored.

So Andrews and her colleagues tried a new tactic: They lopped off the protein's head. They then replaced it with an engineered top of sorts, designed to give the stem stability but not draw the immune system's ire.

"The only thing the immune system can see is the stem," Andrews said.

To put the headless HA to an initial human test, the researchers recruited 52 healthy adults and gave each either of two vaccine doses. Most received the higher dose, given as a primary shot followed by a booster.

First and foremost, the vaccine looked safe, the researchers found. About one-fifth of recipients had soreness at the injection site or a headachestandard flu shot side effects.

As for their immune response, participants showed a broad antibody response against type A flu strainsthough not type B. That's expected, Andrews explained, because the vaccine contained HA from a type A strain.

A "bivalent" vaccine (one that contains HA from both influenza groups) would be expected to have "increased breadth," the researchers said.

Dr. Aaron Glatt, an infectious disease specialist not involved in the trial, agreed that the initial immune responses look promising.

He likened the vaccine approach to an ice cream cone. Instead of targeting each of the 32 flavors of ice cream it could contain, "you go after the cone," said Glatt, who is chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, N.Y.

If a universal flu vaccine becomes available, no one knows exactly what the regimen would look like, Glatt said, Would people still have to get it once a year, or less often, for example?

Plus, it would not necessarily keep people from getting sick at all. All of the experts said that a vaccine that substantially protects against severe flu would be a "win."

More information: Alicia T. Widge et al, An influenza hemagglutinin stem nanoparticle vaccine induces cross-group 1 neutralizing antibodies in healthy adults, Science Translational Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ade4790 Journal information: Science Translational Medicine

Copyright  2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Most minority ethnic groups are less successful than their white British counterparts when applying to specialty training programs in the National Health Service (NHS), Cambridge researchers have shown. Their analysis, published today in BMJ Open, also found that while female applicants are more successful overall, particular specialties tend to appeal to different genders.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust examined data from applicants to Specialty Training Posts through Health Education England for the recruitment cycle 2021-22 to look at potential disparities in the success of applicants according to gender, ethnicity and disability.

During this period, there were just under 12,500 successful applicants to Health Education England for training postsa success rate of one in three (32.7%). Overall, females were more successful than males (37.0% versus 29.1%).

The researchers found clear evidence that certain specialties were more attractive to females or to males. Of note, surgical specialties and radiology had the highest proportion of male applicants (65.3% and 64.3% respectively), while obstetrics and gynecology and public health had the highest proportion of female applicants (72.4% and 67.2% respectively).

Senior author Professor Sharon Peacock, from the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said, "The success by female applicants in many specialties is a positive step towards gender balance, and perhaps reflects existing efforts to address disparities. But the skew in applications and subsequent recruitment by gender, particularly amongst surgical specialties, is concerning."

Gender disparities are known to have downstream effects. For example, a lack of female representation contributes towards a male-dominated culture, which can then result in fewer female role models to inspire and encourage aspiring female doctors.

The researchers say there are several reasons for these disparities. In surgical specialties, for example, a male-dominated workplace culture, bullying and harassment, few female role models, and career inflexibility have been suggested as factors that deter females from applying. Female surgeons have reported quality of life and fewer non-social hours as explanations of why women prefer other clinical specialties, in addition to the fear that working less than full-time or taking career breaks is perceived negatively.

Approximately half (50.2%) of the applicants were non-UK graduates. The overall success rate of UK graduates was 44.5%, compared with 22.8% for non-UK graduates.

When it came to minority ethnic groups, after adjusting for country of graduation, applicants from eleven out of fifteen groups (73.3%) were significantly less likely to be successful compared to white British. Those who fared worst were those of mixed white and Black African ethnicity, who were only half as likely (52%) to be successful as white British applicants.

Dr. Dinesh Aggarwal, the study's first author, also from the Department of Medicine, said, "The data suggests there's a need to review recruitment policies and processes from a diversity and inclusion perspective. But the issues extend beyond recruitmentdoctors from minority ethnic groups can struggle to progress within the NHS and report disproportionately high levels of discrimination from colleagues.

"More than four in ten of the medical and dental workforce in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England are from a minority ethnic group, and ensuring that they are able to work within an inclusive environment, that allows them to thrive and progress, should be a priority."

Although only a very small proportion of successful applicants (1.4%) declared a disability, they were more likely to be successful (38.6% compared with 32.8% of non-disabled applicants). However, there were no disabled applicants to 22.4% of the specialties, and for a further 36.2% of specialties, no disabled applicants were accepted.

Dr. Aggarwal added, "It's encouraging to see a high proportion of acceptances among individuals disclosing a disability. The NHS needs to ensure that application and recruitment processes are accessible and open to adjustments for all disabilities, eliminate any fear of discrimination, and provide assurance that all NHS workplaces will accommodate reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled doctors can carry out their work. This will not only help to encourage more disabled applicants, but also allow disabled clinicians to feel more comfortable disclosing this information."

Professor Peacock added, "The NHS is the largest employer in the UK and it's vital that it nurtures diverse talent to benefit patient care. People from diverse backgrounds bring different lived experiences and perspectives, which in turn strengthens the pool of knowledge and skills within the NHS. A lack of workforce diversity can be detrimental to patient care, and research shows that inherent biases can influence how clinicians treat patients."

Dr. Aggarwal is a Ph.D. student at Churchill College. Professor Peacock is a Fellow at St John's College.

More information: Applications to medical and surgical specialist training in the UK National Health Service, 2021-22: a cross-sectional observational study to characterise the diversity of successful applicants, BMJ Open (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069846 Journal information: BMJ Open
This years International Wildlife Film Festival will be screening Remembering Sudan: The Last Male Northern White Rhino, by a renowned Missoula filmmaker, Ami Vitale.

The 11-minute long short film is a finalist for the festivals Living With Wildlife category, which spotlights movies that delve into the relationship between people and wildlife or the environment.

If you go The film will screen on Sunday, April 23, at 5 p.m. at the Roxy Theater. Tickets available at theroxytheater.org. Filmmaker Ami Vitale and caretaker Zacharia Mutai will be on hand to discuss the movie.

The film tells the story of the worlds last northern white rhinos and the fight to save the species from extinction. Northern white rhinos are a subspecies of rhinos and the only two remaining individuals left live in Kenya in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The last rhinos are the daughter and granddaughter of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino who died in 2018.

Sudans death sent shockwaves not only through the wildlife conservation community but the entire world. It marked the functional extinction of a species despite decades of conservation efforts.

Vitale was there during the final moments of Sudans life and said she remembers the silence that filled the air that day. It was a haunting silence that seemed to foreshadow what a world without wildlife would look like.

Despite a seemingly hopeless situation, there are still active efforts to bring the species back from the brink and to care for the remaining rhinos. Remembering Sudan sheds light on those efforts including the work of Zacharia Mutai, the head rhino caregiver at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Mutai has been working with rhinos for 18 years and on screen he radiates comfort and love for the animals he has spent so much time with.

If I am with people, I am very quiet   Mutai says in the film. But if it reaches a point where I can speak up about wild animals, I am courageous enough. I have a lot of information, I can speak continuous, nonstop.

Mutai narrates the film himself and speaks about the work being done to use innovative reproduction methods to bring rhinos back. But so far these efforts have not been successful and to Vitale, they beg the question, Why is it necessary?

Poaching rhinos for their horns caused wild populations to plummet from hundreds of thousands across parts of the African continent to only eight individuals by 2009, according to Vitale. The horns are sold primarily to China and countries in Southeast Asia and are considered a traditional medicine despite having no scientifically proven medicinal value.

Yet, poaching continues to be an issue for rhino conservation and drives the decline of a number of other species as well.

Mutai explains in the film that rhino horns are made out of the same material as our fingernails. Yet misinformation continues to cause the slaughter of wildlife.

At the same time, it is encouraging that a disparate group of people have come together to save something unique and precious, Vitale said.

Following Sundays screening, both Vitale and Mutai will be present for a discussion about the film and the rhino conservation efforts at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Vitale said the time she spent with Mutai and the rhinos has been a privilege and she hopes the film can inspire viewers to fall in love with the wildlife in their own backyards.

They [the rhinos] force me to think every day about the challenges ahead of us and remind me of all the hope there is in saving what is left, Vitale said. What happens next is in all of our hands.
Terran Last Gun, a Blackfeet artist who grew up in Browning, is returning to Montana for his first museum solo exhibition.

Future Cosmic Energy opens this week and will stay on view through Aug. 12. Last Gun will be in Missoula for First Friday on May 5, from 5-8 p.m. The next day, hell give an artist talk at 11 a.m. (with coffee an hour beforehand).

According to a MAM news release, the work depicts nature, cosmos, cultural narratives, and recollections of home through geometric abstraction.

Last Guns father, Terrance Guardipee, is an artist whose ledger drawings and paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally. According to the MAM, Last Gun grew up in Browning and attended the Cuts Wood School, which is an immersive language program started by family member Darrell Robes Kipp.

He attended Blackfeet Community College and then the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, where he studied with Neal Ambrose-Smith. The latter is a working artist whose mother, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, is from the Flathead Reservation and recognized around the U.S. for her work.

The show is on view in the MAM through Aug. 12. Hell take part at a show in the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning this summer, and a solo show at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell in spring 2024.
WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- In the latest move to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone in the United States, a coalition of anti-abortion groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow an appeals court ruling to stand.

That ruling, issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, would ratchet back recent changes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made to ease access to the drug. The ruling would effectively prevent distribution of mifepristone by mail and require more doctor visits to get the medication.

Over decades, the FDA has "stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion, demonstrating callous disregard for women's well-being, unborn life, and statutory limits," the court filing from the groups led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine stated. "The lower courts' meticulous decisions do not second-guess the agency's scientific determinations; they merely require the agency to follow the law," lawyers for the group added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice and drugmaker Danco Laboratories have already asked the Supreme Court to block the appeals court ruling. The high court put the ruling on hold last Friday, but it must take its next steps by midnight Wednesday.
One magical moment can change the trajectory of a life. Take what happened to Seely Garrett.

As a high school student in Helena, Garrett assisted with a dance program for people of all abilities. She helped with a Cohesion Dance Project production called Nutcracker on the Rocks, and one of the performers was a 9-year-old girl struggling with worsening muscular dystrophy.

There came a moment where she goes across the stage, and she is supposed to present her right arm and then her left arm, Garrett said. And the performance gave her this adrenaline, and she rode her little wheelchair out there, and there came the biggest arm movement we had seen from her in a year.

Garretts voice hitches a little from the memory.

For those of us in the know  who had worked with her  we were all on stage tearing up, she said. It felt very special to witness this person who might not always have the chance to perform in things like that. We saw her actually getting stronger through her dance. It was powerful to see.

Such inspiration fueled Garrett, now a junior at the University of Montana, to become one of the first students to take a new concentration in pre-dance therapy. Like pre-med, this new academic offering preps students for further studies beyond their undergraduate years.

The concentration launched fall semester with five students in the first cohort. The architects of the new offering are two dance faculty members, Professor Heidi Jones Eggert and Assistant Professor Brooklyn Draper of UMs College of the Arts and Media.

People need to understand that dance is a healer, Eggert said. We have folks who come in and have physical limitations and maybe dont communicate verbally as easily as the rest of us. But you get the music going and the juices flowing, and suddenly they make eye contact when they wouldnt make eye contact before. Something just ignites in them. Or their range of movement is really limited, but after 10 to 15 minutes of having fun with music and movement, they are just swinging their arms.

Like any good dance professor, Eggert speaks with her hands when she talks  especially when excited about a topic. For the past dozen years, she has taught New Visions Dance, a UM therapeutic program that offers dance and creative movement classes to adults with varying developmental, cognitive and physical abilities. The innovative class has existed at UM for the past quarter century, when it was started by the now-retired Karen Kaufman.

All UM dance therapy students are required to co-teach New Visions Dance  as Garrett does on Mondays during spring semester  as well as assist with UM Childrens Dance Classes.

Draper said it was dance students helping with programs like New Visions Dance who consistently pushed for the new pre-dance therapy concentration and potential careers as dance movement therapists. She said they just felt so good after the classes and saw how meaningful such programs could be for those involved.

Those students coming out of those dance classes, they would say, Im sad that not everyone has this, and I need to take this out into the world, Eggert said. It was amazing to reflect that these 18- to 22-year-olds wanted others to have these opportunities.

Some of those students, who earned a bachelor of arts in dance from UM, went on to graduate school in dance therapy. Draper and Eggert used the guidance and feedback from these recent alumni to help design the new concentration.

Just a few institutions across the country are doing anything like this at the undergraduate level, Draper said. Its just very few, but its going to grow. The awareness is expanding.

The pre-dance therapy concentration offers all the prerequisites needed to qualify for a graduate program in dance/movement therapy. The nearest such program is Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and there are a few more on the East Coast. International graduate programs also are available.

The interdisciplinary concentration combines dance and psychology curriculums. Draper said classes such as dance as a healing art and the science of dance are essential, and students are required to take targeted psychology courses and a variety of dance forms.

We encourage them to take diverse offerings, Draper said. We want them to dip their toes in all areas.

Though the concentration readies students for future study in graduate school, it also immediately prepares them for community work using dance therapy after their undergraduate studies.

It preps students beautifully to take these classes into community centers and old folks homes or schools, Eggert said. It trains them with this mindset that movement can bring us together as a community.

I truly think this makes studying dance in college more accessible, she said. Because previously it was training to be a dancer, performer, choreographer or even a teacher. And there is a presumption that one needs a certain background or certain body type or whatever. But this allows people to study dance for different reasons. You might not get hired as a professional dancer, but you can find a job teaching and helping spread this joy.

Garrett double-majors in both psychology and dance (with a pre-dance therapy concentration) and is still deciding her future path. Among her options are becoming a school psychologist or continuing on to study dance/movement therapy in graduate school.

I think being a school psychologist would be amazing, because Heidi and Brooklyn, and the other amazing professors in pre-dance therapy have given me something in my toolbox that I can bring out to work with students and kids at any school.

She said dance therapy is a unique discipline to study.

Most universities dont have it, and I have it right here in my home state, Garrett said. I think of how special that is.
A mixture of incumbent candidates and fresh faces filed for Missoulas municipal office openings on the first day of official candidacy on Thursday.

In the mayors race, current Mayor Jordan Hess filed alongside City Councilor Mike Nugent, Homeword Executive Director Andrea Davis and Shawn Knopp, a candidate from the previous mayoral election in 2021.

As of Thursday afternoon, retired Missoula County Sheriff TJ McDermott and former University of Montana student Jacob Elder had not filed with the Missoula County Elections Office. Both have publicly announced intentions to run for mayor, but neither indicated to the Missoulian whether they would file before the June 19 deadline.

In City Council Ward 1, incumbent councilor Heidi West does not plan to run again and has instead endorsed candidate Eric Melson.

According to a press release, Melson has lived in Missoula for 14 years. He first arrived for a seasonal job as a Wilderness Ranger intern in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. He now works as an economic development consultant for rural communities around the west.

Im running for the same reasons I choose to live in Missoula, Melson said in a press release. I love our community, and as we continue to grow and change, Im committed to improving our city while keeping Missoula the place we all know and love.

Ward 2 has an unconventional opportunity for both currently serving councilors to be reelected, since Councilwoman Sierra Farmer was selected by council for an abbreviated term in fall 2022. Both Farmer and incumbent Mirtha Becerra had filed on Thursday.

Ward 3 saw incumbent Councilor Gwen Jones challenged by Alex Kim, founder and director of Here Montana. Kims group, which separated from the city Parks and Recreation Department in summer 2022, supports outdoor recreation opportunities for Missoulians who are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

Kim said he aims to focus on affordable housing, diversity and fresh perspectives.

I believe that to make change there should be policy change and there has not been a lot of policy change coming out of Ward 3, Kim said. I felt like if someone wants to make change like myself its best to get involved and be part of that and hope to make changes more proactively.

Incumbent Councilor Amber Sherrill filed to continue representing Ward 4, and Councilor Sandra Vasecka in Ward 6 told the Missoulian she also intends to run again.

Council member John Contos, who currently serves Ward 5, had not filed by Thursday and did not return a request for comment.

All of the vacancies will be up for election in November, since Senate Bill 420  which wouldve pushed the election back a year  was tabled earlier this month.
A group of Missoula Redevelopment Agency staff members and board members lashed out on Thursday at a bill that they say would destroy Tax Increment Financing in Montana, saying that theres been a criminal amount of disinformation spread about TIF.

During a regularly scheduled board meeting, MRA director Ellen Buchanan didnt hold back in criticizing Senate Bill 523 and its sponsor, Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson.

The one that absolutely just destroys Tax Increment Financing in the state of Montana is a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Hertz and it just puts us out of business, Buchanan said. Theres no way to amend it that makes it functional or even just less efficient. It just destroys Tax Increment Financing.

She noted that theres been a lot of talk about how the Missoula Redevelopment Agency should require affordable housing units in projects that get TIF funding.

Buchanan then made reference to comments made by Jesse Ramos, a former city council member, earlier this week. Ramos had said that the Legislatures original intent in creating TIF laws was not for housing purposes.

One of the arguments that is being made by some of the folks testifying for this bill is that weve got no business doing housing, Buchanan said. All were supposed to do is remove blight and housing is not something thats permitted under TIF statutes, which is ridiculous. Thats been said over and over again, by one of our former city council members thats really pushing this bill hard. So thats a little bit ironic that theres this dichotomy going on.

Buchanan noted that the bill has a lot of high-caliber opposition, including the Montana Chamber of Commerce, the Montana Bankers Association, the Montana Association of Realtors and the Montana Infrastructure Coalition.

Buchanan said its a complicated, elaborate bill and she doesnt think many lawmakers will be able to fully have time to figure out what exactly it would do. She believes it has a chance to become law simply because lawmakers don't know its full ramifications.

Its pretty scary, Buchanan said. Its frightening for staff. Its frightening for me and its frightening to city administration. So not to be a Debbie Downer, but its been a tough couple weeks around here.

She said Tax Increment Financing is one of the only tools that cities and towns have in the state to incentivize the construction of housing for people with moderate incomes.

This is just a tragic state of affairs, said board member Tasha Jones.

You watch whats going on in Helena and its just terrifying, Buchanan said. Its just a microcosm for what went on in D.C.

Several staff members then said there was a lot of misinformation being presented deliberately by elected officials. Everyone in the room murmured in agreement. By elected officials who know precisely what theyre doing, Jones said.

Buchanan said that in front of one committee, Sen. Hertz presented a list of projects that have misused TIF. Buchanan said the list came from Ramos.

The one that my jaw dropped was the city of Missoula spent $3.2 million to pave a parking lot for an upscale student housing project that has all these amenities, and I lived in a basement when I was in college," Buchanan said. "But I think the real story is we spent $3.2 million to buy a floor of parking, gave it to the Parking Commission, and made it public parking downtown which was sorely needed. We could have paved half of downtown for $3.2 million. So thats what were up against.

Its criminal, said Jones, who is an experienced attorney in town. Other members of the board nodded in agreement.

Karl Englund, a member of the board, said he believes Hertz deliberately introduced the bill, which is long and complex, late in the session.

Thats the similar strategy with what they did with utility deregulation, wait till the end of the session, introduce it, Englund said. Look how well that worked out. So well see.
Anthony Driver Jr., left, and Remel Terry of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability listen in as citizens voice their opinions about what characteristics and qualities to consider in a new Chicago Police Superintendent as the commission holds a public meeting at St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicagos Auburn Gresham neighborhood on April 19, 2023. The commission is tasked with submitting 3 finalists for the job to mayor-elect Brandon Johnson by mid-July. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

More than 150 South Side residents and community stakeholders gathered at St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham Wednesday to give feedback on the ongoing search for the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, with last weekends downtown violence on the minds of many.

The meeting, organized by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, came just a day after outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot questioned CPD leaders about the departments tactical response to the chaotic gathering of young people. Two teen boys were shot near Millennium Park on Saturday  11 months after another teen was shot and killed there.

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Throughout the two hours of public comment, several speakers made reference to the events that unfolded Saturday in the center of the city.

Parents need to be charged and penalized for their childrens behavior, one speaker, Flora Williams, said to applause. Until we do that nothing is going to change.

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A flyer advertising another teen takeover at Millennium Park this Saturday has circulated on social media in recent days. Another speaker at St. Sabina, Matt Brandon, told the members of the commission that he and dozens of other men from South Shore were planning to go downtown to meet with youth who may be looking to start trouble.

Whoever our police superintendent is can only be as strong as the community that stands behind them, Brandon said to another round of applause.

Marion Thomas, 25, voices his opinion during the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability meeting at St. Sabina Catholic Church on April 19, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

More than 40 people stepped to the microphone to offer suggestions and critiques on a range of issues facing the CPD and its rank-and-file, including officer burnout, disrespectful treatment of civilians and the departments murder clearance rate.

Marion Thomas told the commission that, as a child, he met CPD officers at his school who he felt he could look up to. Now, Thomas said, I look at officers as soldiers.

Officers dont know the black youth at all, Thomas, now 25, said. They sit there and just arrest us for guns and drugs and they really dont know us, they just attack us.

Other speakers urged the commission to nominate candidates who are committed to working with neighborhood community groups and anti-violence organizations.

You have to have a police superintendent whos willing to work with these community organizations and give them the power they deserve, said Darryl Smith, president of the Englewood Political Task Force. You can not police from a book, you have to talk to the people that are out here every day, dealing with this every day.

Wednesdays meeting at St. Sabina was the second organized by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, the newly formed city agency tasked with evaluating applicants and submitting three finalists for the job by mid-July to Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.

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The application process opened April 7, and prospective applicants have until May 7 to submit their materials for consideration.

Leaders of the commission have vowed to keep the evaluation and selection process as public as possible. The first meeting was held in Austin last week, where more than a dozen residents voiced support for retired CPD Chief Ernest Cato III.

Cato was a finalist for the superintendent job in 2020, though Mayor Lori Lightfoot ultimately selected David Brown, the former chief of police in Dallas. Cato abruptly retired in late 2022 after three decades with the department. Reached by phone last week, Cato declined to comment on his future job plans and the support he enjoys on the West Side.

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Several more speakers endorsed Cato on Wednesday, but other potential candidates also garnered support, including CPD Chief Larry Snelling, Deputy Chief Rahman Muhammad and Cmdr. Roderick Watson.

Anthony Bryant listens in as the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability holds a public meeting at St. Sabina Catholic Church on April 19, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Thursday, the CPD announced the May 15 retirement of Interim Superintendent Eric Carter, who assumed leadership of the department after former Superintendent David Brown resigned last month.

The commission has another public meeting, to be held over Zoom, scheduled for April 25. The next in-person meeting is set for May 4 at Roosevelt High School in the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Commission leaders have said that more meetings could also be scheduled in other parts of the city.

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Once sworn in, Johnson can select his nomination for the next superintendent from the three submitted finalists, or he can instruct the commission to start the process over. Whoever is selected will then need approval from the full City Council.

Johnson, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and several current and former police officials have all said they would prefer the next superintendent to come from within CPD. Anthony Driver Jr., president of the commission, has pledged that all candidates, regardless of where theyve worked, will be subject to the same scrutiny.

Johnson told the Tribune earlier this month that he wanted input from an array of stakeholders on his choice for superintendent.

I want to make sure that law enforcement, of course, is at the table, the faith community, the business community, and people impacted by violence, he said, so that there could be some real discussion of who can help lead and put together a public safety plan with the community that we can actually get behind.
The sun poked out of the clouds Thursday afternoon as Mayor Jordan Hess flipped the switch on the citys massive new solar array.

Hess  who briefly shocked the crowd at the event when he pretended to be electrocuted  was joined by city councilors, private-sector partners and Missoula City staff for the ceremony.

This is what we do at the city of Missoula, Hess said. We innovate.

The new solar array includes 950 solar panels, making it one of the largest sun-powered generators in western Montana. Its used to power the citys nearby wastewater treatment plant, which diverts harmful substances from flowing into the Clark Fork River. Solar power now accounts for about 20% of the plants energy demands.

Were super-excited about it, said Missoula Engineering Manager Ross Mollenhauer.

Mollenhauer was also excited about the cost savings associated with installing the large array. The city utilized a power purchase agreement with energy company Ameresco, allowing the government to avoid paying for the new clean energy source. The solar array project represented the second power purchase agreement in the state.

Were actually saving money from Day One, said Mollenhauer.

Ameresco representative Matt Thompson said his company was inspired to work with the city on the project because they aim to leave the world better than we found it.

Ameresco partnered with Onsite Energy on the construction of the array, and Thompson said he hopes Missoulas example can be a template for other cities.

Mollenhauer also said the city isnt done innovating. Public Works is looking into other, smaller-scale sites where they can continue to install solar panels.

But with 38 wells citywide in the water system, that initiative is likely to face some challenges, Mollenhauer cautioned.

One of the challenges the city faced in doing its first power purchase was the logistical partnership component of the project, which went smoothly with NorthWestern Energy allowing the purchase. Mollenhauer said that roadblock isnt expected to impede future progress.

But the need for land to install solar arrays is a concern for Mollenhauer. Solar arrays work in places with high energy loads and substantial land. Without the ability to cross property lines, finding sites to install more of this technology could be a challenge.

Its an obstacle the city will strive to overcome, since using entirely clean energy by 2030 remains a city objective.

Thats a tall order, Hess reminded the crowd Thursday. But he also said, Its part of our value set as a community to lower our impact on our local community and on our local environment, on our water quality, but also through measures like this, to reduce our carbon impact, which of course has a global impact. Were doing our part.
A judicial disciplinary board is recommending that state District Court Judge Ray Dayton be reprimanded and suspended without pay for one month for making inappropriate sexual comments about a witness in a pending case.

The Judicial Standards Commission says Dayton made the comments in the hallway of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Courthouse sometime in August 2022 and they were overheard by courthouse employees. The case involved a witness who alleged a defendant had stalked her.

Dayton acknowledged his conduct violated standards of judicial conduct and agreed with the recommended sanctions, according to a two-page document filed with the Montana Supreme Court on April 6.

The states high court will get the last say on any disciplinary action and had not ruled on the matter as of Thursday morning. Such cases are rare and in the last one in 2020, the court suspended a Yellowstone County judge for one month for not being truthful under oath and for actions she took during a 2018 campaign.

When contacted by The Montana Standard, Dayton issued the following written statement.

This matter has to do with a comment that I made, in jest, in what I thought was a private conversation with a colleague, he said. I was unaware that others were listening. The matter was reported to the powers that be who have decided to punish me.

I have decided to accept their punishment. Otherwise, I will continue to endeavor to perform my duties to the best of my ability as I have during my forty-year career in the law. I do not intend to comment on the matter further.

Under the recommended sanctions, Dayton would receive a public reprimand and be suspended without pay from May 13 to June 11. He also agreed not to discuss the matter with the complainant or any witnesses or do anything that could reasonably be viewed as retaliatory.

The five-member Judicial Standards Commission said the comments were of a sexual nature and an investigation determined that a violation of the Canons of Judicial Conduct was substantiated.

The rule says a judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.

The commission said Dayton admits that his inappropriate comments undermined the public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.

Dayton has been a judge in Montanas Third District covering Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Granite and Powell counties since he won a contested race for the seat in 2006. He won re-elections in 2012 and 2018 without opposition.

In April 2020, the Montana Supreme Court suspended District Judge Ashley Harada of Billings for 30 days without pay after she admitted to six counts of misconduct. The Standards Commission had only recommended a public censure.

Among other things, she was accused of making false or misleading statements to try to prevent a former office employee and nanny from getting into law school because of a personal grievance.

She also violated rules by exaggerating her legal experience while running for office, accepting endorsements from political organizations and making campaign donations to partisan candidates. Harada is still a judge.

In 2014, the states high court suspended then District Court Judge G. Todd Baugh of Yellowstone County for 31 days without pay for saying a 14-year-old rape victim was, though troubled, older than her chronological age.

"There is no place in the Montana judiciary for perpetuating the stereotype that women and girls are responsible for sexual crimes committed against them," the court said. The commission had recommended a public censure.

The case involved Stacy Dean Rambold, a former teacher who pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. In sentencing Rambold, Baugh drew national condemnation for suggesting the victim shared responsibility for her rape.

Rambold was 47 years old at the time and the victim was a student in his class at Billings Senior High School. The girl committed suicide while a trial was pending.

Baugh did not seek re-election in 2014.
More than 20 GOP lawmakers have misgendered a state legislator in calling for her censure after comments made on the House floor Tuesday, while Democratic leadership rebuked the call.

During debate on amendments to a bill that would ban some gender-affirming care for transgender minors, Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, spoke in opposition. The amendments were Gov. Greg Gianforte's suggestion, and the bill is now headed back to him with his changes approved by lawmakers.

"If you vote yes on this bill, and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there's an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands," Zephyr said.

That brought an objection from House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, who said, That is entirely inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for. We can debate matters civilly and with respect for each other.

Vinton previously stood up in objection to comments from Zephyr when the Democratic legislator said, If you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. And this body should be ashamed.

Zephyr is the first openly transgender legislator in Montana.

People opposed to the bill who spoke in public testimony opportunities said it could increase suicides among trans Montanans. Data shows trans youth are more at risk of suicide, and a Bozeman doctor earlier in the session emailed legislators and the governor about a minor who had attempted suicide and while in the emergency department cited legislation lawmakers were considering as a contributing factor.

The 21 legislators who called for censure are part of the self-branded Freedom Caucus, formed earlier this session.

  The legislature itself has not yet issued a collective statement acknowledging the wrongdoing and upholding a commitment to civil discourse, the caucus wrote in a press release.

Zephyr posted a statement to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon disputing the call for censure. "I stand by my accurate description of the devastating consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth," Zephyr wrote.

Citing bills that are advancing through the session, Zephyr said "These bills ban our art forms, our stories, our health care, and our very existence in Montana code. Policy by policy, Republicans are legislating the eradication of queer and transgender people from public life."

So far this session GOP legislators have introduced and advanced bills that would say deadnaming and misgendering students in schools is not illegal and rewrite state law to say sex is defined as only male and female. Another bill that aimed to ban minors at drag shows and block trans story hours was heavily amended recently to instead just bar children at adult nude performances, but the bill's sponsor is seeking to reverse that change.

Speaker of the House Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, issued a statement late Wednesday.

House leadership is focused on maintaining decorum on the House floor, and the integrity of the Montana House of Representatives while serving the people of Montana. The debate of relevant issues pertaining to all Montanans will not be sidetracked by violations of the House rules," Regier said. "We are committed to accomplishing the work of the people of Montana.

The speaker did not clarify whether any action would be taken against Zephyr. Lawmakers did not reference the issue on the House floor Wednesday.

In response to the call for censure, House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena, issued a sharp statement.

The language used by the so-called Freedom Caucus, including the intentional and repeated misgendering of Rep. Zephyr, is blatantly disrespectful and the farthest thing imaginable from the commitment to civil discourse that these letter writers demand. I find it incredibly ironic that these legislators are making demands of others that they refuse to abide by themselves, Abbott wrote.

Censures are not common in the Montana Legislature. In the House, if a member is called to order, the issue can be referred to the Rules Committee by either the minority or majority leader. That committee may recommend to the House that the member be censured or be subject to other action. Censure consists of an official public reprimand of a member for inappropriate behavior.
Lawmakers tabled a bill Tuesday that would have restricted nonresidents to 14 days of hunting in the state per year.

Senate Bill 533 from Sen. Mark Noland, R-Big Fork, would have also rescinded a law allowing out-of-state college students to obtain hunting licenses at resident rates. The bill passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month.

On Tuesday the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee was set to offer amendments on SB 533 when Rep. Tom France, D-Missoula, asked the committee to table the bill. Given the complexity of the issue, France encouraged a bill to study nonresident hunting during the interim. The committee agreed, voting unanimously.

Amendments drafted on SB 533 included removing the portion pertaining to college students and removing the 14-day restriction for nonresident landowners with 160 acres. Neither were considered before the bill was tabled.

The bill saw a mix of support and opposition, with supporters citing crowding on available public lands and a surge in nonresident hunters in recent years. Opponents included outfitters who believe holders of special permits should not be limited, and groups including the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers that questioned whether the time limit could concentrate nonresidents even more around things like the elk or deer ruts.

SB 533 was one of multiple bills grappling with nonresident hunting in Montana, with few making it across the finish line to the governors desk. The Legislature is at day 76 of its 90-day session.
A proposal to rewrite the rules for the 2024 election for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Testers seat went down on a nearly unanimous committee vote Wednesday, after a Republican lawmaker said hed been heavily lobbied by voters to oppose it.

I have had a lot of my folks from back home reach out to me and ask me to vote no on this, Rep. Gregory Frazer of Deer Lodge said during the House State Administration Committees action on the bill Wednesday morning. ... With all due respect to the sponsor, because I know that hes worked very hard, but as the conduit of my constituents, Im their voice. Im going to oppose this bill.

Frazers subsequent motion to table Senate Bill 566 effectively ended the discussion, and the committee voted 17-1 to do so. The legislation would have created a jungle primary, in which all candidates run together in the same primary, and then the top-two vote-getters advance to the general election.

Montanas Libertarian Party, which consistently earns enough votes to make it to the general-election ballot, argued the proposal would effectively silence third parties by keeping them out of the general election.

And notably, the proposal was written to only apply to Montanas 2024 U.S. Senate race, earning accusations of partisan chicanery by the GOP. Republicans hold all federal and statewide elected offices in the state, with the exception of Testers Senate seat. The three-term Democrat is running for reelection next year, and has a track record of razor-thin victories in which the Libertarian candidate won enough votes to potentially influence the outcome.

SB 566s sponsor, Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, has said it would only apply to Testers race because of the lengthier terms of U.S. senators. The bill expires in 2025, Hertz has said, because he only intended the bill as a test run before potentially applying it to other elections.

Tester is widely seen by political observers as among the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection next year, and the national Republican Party has its sights set on his seat as it seeks to retake control of the upper chamber.

SB 566 was hotly debated in the state Senate shortly before a transmittal deadline earlier this month. It passed with only GOP support, 27-24. Seven of the upper chambers Republicans voted against it.

The top Democrat on the committee that voted to table the bill, Bozeman Rep. Kelly Kortum, said after Wednesdays vote that his caucus also heard loudly from independent and third-party voters urging them to oppose the bill.

Tabling a bill doesnt mean its dead, however. A tabled bill can be voted back to life by the committee or the full House. And the waning days of the session are often ripe for last-minute procedural maneuvers used to resurrect legislation or rewrite bills still working through the process.

Nothings dead until sine die, Kortum said, referring to the motion to adjourn the legislative session. And I saw some shenanigans last session that just made my jaw drop to the floor.
Kristina Berger of Corvallis has been selected as the new director of the University of Montana Bitterroot College following a nationwide search.

Tom Gallagher, University of Montana associate vice provost for Workforce Development and Two Year Education, announced the decision in a statement released on Thursday.

Kristina has a proven track record of effectively driving growth in programming and participation in the Bitterroot Valley. Gallagher said. We are thrilled to invite Kristina Berger to the UM community to help serve the educational needs and desires of UM Bitterroot throughout Ravalli County. Her expertise in instructional technology and technology integration compiled with her student-centered nature will allow her to successfully lead UM Bitterroot as a satellite UM campus.

Berger has served as instructional technology and adult education director for the Corvallis School District since 2018. She was middle school head teacher and adult education coordinator from 2017-2018 and taught mathematics and computer science from 2009-2017. Berger received a graduate certificate in K-12 education from the University of Montana (2018), a Masters of Arts in teaching from Southern Oregon University, Ashland (2009) and a bachelor's in human development and family services from Oregon State University (2008).

I am so excited to join the team and to provide services to the Bitterroot Valley and Ravalli County and be part of the University of Montana system, Berger said on Thursday after the announcement. I'm so excited that I have this opportunity to help the valley.

Berger has a tentative start date of May 15, and will work with interim director Angela McLean to transition into the position as she finishes out her contract with Corvallis Schools. McLean has served as the interim director of UM Bitterroot College since August 2022.

I know that the faculty at Bitterroot College is fantastic, Berger said. I'm very student-focused, so my goal in this role is to continue to facilitate the best path forward for the students that we're serving.

Berger described the Bitterroot Valley as being a unique place with its own set of educational needs and said she looks forward to serving the community.

I love the Bitterroot, she said. Being part of the community here already allows me the opportunity to really take my skills and meet the needs of the people that I'm serving. I think the Bitterroot is a fantastic place to live and be and has amazing opportunities in it I am just grateful for the opportunity. And I'm excited to hit the ground running. Bitterroot College is here to stay.
New history documentary series Queens That Changed the World, that shines a light on some of the worlds most powerful female rulers, has scored a raft of worldwide sales.

Channel 4 has acquired the series for the U.K. The series is produced by Woodcut Media who brokered the deal with Channel 4, and is distributed worldwide by Abacus Media Rights who have already pre-sold it to streaming service BBC Select (U.S. and Canada) and broadcasters SBS (Australia), AMC Networks International (Spain and Portugal), Viasat World (CEE, Scandinavia, Baltics, CIS), NRK (Norway), DR (Denmark), SVT (Sweden), Czech TV (Czech Republic) and HOT8 (Israel).

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Queens That Changed the World (6 x 45) follows a formidable group of women who led the way, building nations, wielding extraordinary power, and often ruling in a manner that far surpassed their male counterparts. The series focuses on the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, the tenacious Eleanor of Aquitaine, Victoria, the British queen who redefined the monarchy, Egypts female pharaoh Hatshepsut, the first queen of Great Britain, Anne, and the warrior queen Boudica.

With psychological analysis alongside investigation from historians and academics, each episode delves into the challenges they faced and their unique approach to power, while also exploring wider themes such as womens changing position in society and what this meant across the centuries.

The series producer is Angie Cox and executive producers are Kate Beal and Tom Adams for Woodcut Media.

Polly Scates, senior acquisitions manager, Channel 4 said: Its refreshing to see the stories of these women placed at the forefront and Im excited for a light to be shone on their incredible impact on history.

Story continues

Cox added: The women featured in this fascinating docu-series were the disruptors of the day  all standing out as towering figures in history and achieving incredible notoriety for their achievements and never shunning away from adversity in what was a male dominated era.

Jonathan Ford, managing director at Abacus Media Rights, said: Once again our friends at Woodcut Media have created a highly engaging documentary series which will resonate around the world. Many women leaders have played a ground-breaking role in global history and this takes a deep dive in to some who made a massive difference to the way their countries evolved across time.

Woodcuts titles include Confessions of a Psycho Killer, Worlds Most Evil Killers, Britains Most Evil Killers, Fiennes: Return to the Nile, with Joseph and Ranulph Fiennes, Cut from a Different Cloth, Mandela, My Dad and Me, both featuring Idris Elba, Hitler: A Life in Pictures and Paranormal Captured.

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After two hits to its funding, the Anaconda School District is trying to pass a levy for both the High School District and Elementary School District for the first time in nearly two decades in order to avoid major budget cuts.

The High School District is asking for an annual general fund operating levy of $94,999. The High School District tax increase would be about $8.52 annually per $100,000 of a home's assessed market value, according to Anaconda School Districts website.

The Elementary School District is asking for an annual general fund operating levy of $198,596, which would be about $18.40 annually per $100,000 of a home's assessed market value.

Erik Swanson, principal of Anaconda Jr./Sr. High School, said for the past 20 years or so, the school district has received around $450,000 a year from a Tax Increment Financing District (TIFD) that was leased by NorthWestern Energy. In January 2023, the county effectively sunset that measure.

Gayle Holm, the business manager for Anaconda School District, said the TIFD was sunset because the county had paid all its debts and there was no interest in infrastructure in that part of the county.

And the way that was used in the budget was to keep mills lower for the taxpayers, Holm said. But now, without that funding, theres a shortfall to the taxpayers and they have to make up the difference in the budget.

In addition, AWARE ran a special program that some students attended as part of the Anaconda School District, but it decided not to renew its contract this year, and took many of those students with it.

This resulted in a loss of 30-40 students who enrolled in other privatized programs, and because a schools annual budget is dependent on public school enrollment, the loss of students will be reflected in the amount of money the district receives in following years.

We kind of took two hits all at once, Swanson said. He said he doesnt know why AWARE decided to stop the contract.

Aside from the loss of the TIFD and the AWARE program, the district has seen a decrease in student populations over the last decade, which has reduced funding, according to a presentation by the Anaconda School District Board.

As for the Districts Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, which schools across the country received in the wake of COVID-19, Swanson said the school has been spending them, but they have to be used by September 2024.

Some things the district has spent the money on include upgrades to the Memorial Gym and bathroom upgrades in Anaconda Jr./Sr. High School.

Lincoln Elementary School and Fred Moodry School also received upgrades paid for with the ESSER money, Swanson said.

He added that there are a few staff positions paid out of those funds, including a school psychologist, one of the districts IT positions and the maintenance supervisor, who oversees all custodians and then does general maintenance on all the buildings throughout the district.

The problem is, when those funds do go away, positions that are paid for will have to go back into general fund, Swanson said.

We still do have some ESSER federal funding, and weve already made cuts, Swanson said, like positions the district has retired or positions of staff that left and wont be re-hired.

For example, he said, one of the high school custodians retired, and that position wont be re-hired. At Fred Moodry, he said, a P.E. teacher retired, and the district is now looking at the P.E. teachers it employs to split the workload among them.

He said theres also a secretary position at the high school that wont be there next year.

Swanson said that if the levy fails this year, the district will "scrape by" because of the budget cuts it's made. But if it were to fail this year and next year, the district will "have to make programmatic cuts, staff cuts and supply cuts.

Anytime you make cuts in a school system, you want to make cuts as far away from affecting students but if we have to make drastic cuts, it will reach the students a little," Swanson said.

Swanson, Holm, and others in the district are trying to get the word out about the importance of the levy before the vote on May 2. This year's ballots were mailed on April 13.

The district is also running an election for two open positions on the Board of Trustees. There are four candidates: incumbents Kevin Patrick and Kevin Morley, and newcomers Matt Ives and Sam Jovanovich.
Not welcome

On Monday, Ashley Wine, 31, of Butte was at St. James Healthcare and had outstayed her welcome, but was refusing to leave.

Wine then decided to leave the facility but returned fairly quickly and stayed put until she was arrested Monday for criminal trespass to property and theft.

Sleeping at laundromat

Early Wednesday morning, the alarm went off at the Front Street Laundromat, 1000 E. Front St. When officers arrived, a man was in the bathroom and a woman, identified as Sarah M. Mulcahy, 40, of Butte, was sleeping on the couch.

Mulcahy reportedly had syringes with suspected methamphetamine in her possession with suspected meth. She was arrested for criminal possession of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

The Butte woman also had Montana Highway Patrol warrants out for her arrest for failure to carry proof of insurance, driving with a suspended or revoked drivers license and criminal contempt.

First offense

On Tuesday, Denis E. Lund, 38, of Butte was involved in a disturbance with a woman on La Platte Street. He was arrested for partner or family member assault (first offense).

Aggravated assault

Cody D. Fryar, 25, of Butte was arrested Tuesday on a $50,000 warrant for aggravated assault.

Fryar was allegedly involved in an earlier disturbance involving a woman.

More reports

A gray Chevy Equinox was stolen from the 500 block of West Broadway Street.

Stolen from a car parked in the 1900 block of South Idaho Street was a 40-caliber pistol and some tools.

A utility trailer was stolen from the 900 block of East Front Street.

Someone pried a door open at the Rocker Volunteer Fire Station. The case is currently under investigation.

A knife was stolen from inside a car parked near the intersection of Colorado and Porphyry streets.

A Kawasaki KLX 250 motorcycle was stolen from the 100 block of North Emmett Street.

The money inside a tip jar at the Richest Hill Casino was stolen.

A person living in the 2600 block of Porter Street was warming up his car when he saw two people walk up to his 2006 blue Subaru Legacy, get in and then take off.
This undated photo from a wanted poster released by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Pedro Flores, left, and his twin brother, Margarito Flores. (U.S. Marshals Service)

The wife of a Chicago drug trafficker who cooperated against Sinaloa boss Joaquin El Chapo Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday, the second of two cartel wives accused of laundering millions of their twin husbands drug proceeds over a 12-year period.

Vivianna Lopez admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, who accepted the plea.

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Lopezs sister-in-law Valerie Gaytan pleaded guilty last week to the same charge. Both women will be sentenced in July.

The brief hearing took place amid apparent security concerns. It started 30 minutes before the posted start time. When a Tribune reporter walked into the courtroom, Lopezs lawyer, MiAngel Cody, whispered to her client and the judge stopped the proceedings to ask if there was an issue with who was in the courtroom.

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I believe there is a member of the news media in the gallery, Cody said, asking for a minute to confer with her client.

After a brief delay, the hearing continued, with the judge suggesting that the parties leave out references to any specific locations that might identify where she lives.

The hearing was halted again about 15 minutes later when more reporters came in. Cody asked the judge to inquire whether anyone was sketching the proceedings. After confirming no one was sketching, the judge allowed the hearing to continue.

Lopez kept her hands clasped in front of her and faced toward the bench for the entire hearing. Afterward she was led out by deputy U.S. marshals through a nonpublic door in the rear of the courtroom, pausing to look back once at her aunt, Laura Lopez.

Laura Lopez pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy shortly before Vivianna.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Lopez conspired to launder drug proceeds with Gaytan, Laura Lopez, sister Bianca Finnigan and Armando Flores, of Round Rock, Texas, who helped them break into the drug business three decades ago.

The conviction comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to Vivianna Lopezs plea agreement, but prosecutors anticipate a sentencing guideline range of nine to a little more than 11 years in prison based on the circumstances of the case.

Gaytan, who is married to Margarito Flores, and Lopez, who is Pedro Flores wife, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago in 2021 on money laundering charges. The indictment alleged the cash, much of it still in small denominations, was hauled across the border in rental trucks, secretly recouped from the twins associates in the U.S., hidden in trap compartments in vehicles and stash houses, and buried under their older brothers home near Austin, Texas.

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According to the indictment, Gaytan and Lopez spent much of the money on private school tuition for their children, international and domestic travel, rent and child support.

Lopez also allegedly sent $5,000 of the laundered money to her husband in prison and spent another $31,000 on a laundry business she opened in Arizona after the family went into hiding, according to the indictment.

The wives originally contended that they had been assured by prosecutors that their husbands unprecedented cooperation against Guzman meant they would not face charges themselves for their own actions, but Kennelly ruled in November that the women did not have immunity from prosecution.

Kennelly ruled there was no convincing evidence there was ever an immunity agreement in writing for Lopez or Gaytan and certainly not for future conduct involving the alleged laundering of the funds at issue in the indictment.

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Kennelly said that while the women argued that certain promises were made, there was no indication that there was any meeting of the minds about a formal agreement, and certainly nothing was obtained in writing.

The evidentiary hearings held by Kennelly in July provided an unusual behind-the-scenes look at the trafficking operations of the Flores twins, who rose from the streets of Little Village to run a massive drug-trafficking operation before they agreed to cooperate against El Chapo in 2008. The twins were eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison and have since been released.

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In a highly unusual move, Pedro Flores testified via video link that he and his brother were promised early on by investigators that his wife and other family members would not be prosecuted for any drug-related activities.

I thought my family was good, Flores told the judge.

Prosecutors, though, repeatedly asserted at the hearings that there was never any immunity deal for the wives, which could only be finalized in a written document approved by the highest levels at the U.S. attorneys office. And even if such protection was offered, it would not have excused the wives from future crimes, prosecutors have argued.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
In a Missoula federal court Thursday, two Butte men, who were involved in a large armed drug trafficking operation that brought pounds of drugs to Butte and laundered proceeds, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen, according to a press release from the Montana District Attorneys Office.

Mark Ernest Spani, 65, was sentenced to nine years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, while co-defendant Stanley Roy Vires, 68, was sentenced to seven years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

Both defendants pleaded guilty in 2022 to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, prohibited person in possession of firearms and ammunition and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to court documents, law enforcement learned in July 2021 that Spani and Vires were dealing drugs together and purchased meth from Vires through a confidential informant.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Vires residence and recovered approximately five pounds of meth, a little more than one pound of heroin, 26 firearms and cash. In June 2022, law enforcement searched properties owned by Spani and found one pound of meth, cash and numerous firearms.

It was also alleged that Spani was involved in dealing meth, heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, traveled out of state to obtain and bring drugs back to Montana and carried guns while trafficking. When arrested, Spani appeared to be reaching toward his right-hand side waist area, where a gun was located.

In addition, the government alleged Vires was involved in dealing meth and heroin and that Vires admitted he received a total of about 15 pounds of meth in 2020 and 2021. Fifteen pounds of meth is the equivalent of 54,360 doses. When searching Vires vehicle, law enforcement found two loaded firearms.

Both Spani and Vires were prohibited from possessing firearms because they both had prior drug-related convictions.

Vires, Spani and others also allegedly conspired to conceal money and used cash proceeds to buy additional drugs, including in Arizona. Vires and others also bought additional assets using drug trafficking proceeds.

Under a forfeiture count, Vires and Spani agreed to forfeit a residence in Butte, approximately 10 acres known as Fleecer View Estates, a 1955 Chevrolet 210 vehicle, a 2013 Harley Davidson Tri Glide Ultra Classic motorcycle, a 2019 Harley Davidson Tri Glide Ultra Classic, a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado K1500 pickup, a 2022 Dodge Ram 3500 Big Horn, a 2011 Montana 5th Wheel and $33,346 in U.S. Currency.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan G. Weldon prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and Butte Police Department.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program intended to bring together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone, according to Thursday's press release.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service caused a stir when it proposed setting up mechanical gear in a wilderness area within the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge east of Lima.

The service received thousands of comments after releasing a draft environmental assessment aimed at aiding a small population of Arctic grayling in the remote refuge by supplementing dissolved oxygen in a shallow lake where the fish winter under ice.

Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director for Wilderness Watch, slammed the proposed project in an 11-page March 28 letter to Elizabeth Tsang of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

This proposal is brazen in its conflict with the Wilderness and the Wilderness Act, he wrote. All the action alternatives would turn the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness into a fish farm via a permanent infrastructure that is prohibited by law.

Proescholdt insisted the Fish and Wildlife Service is obligated to complete a more comprehensive environmental impact statement.

The stir intensified after it emerged recently that the Fish and Wildlife Service had already deployed air diffusers in Upper Red Rock Lake to study their effectiveness.

The service said it added the diffusers during the winter of 2023 as part of a pilot project. It said it already had information about other potentially oxygen-boosting alternatives described in the environmental assessment but needed a sense of the diffusers potential to increase dissolved oxygen.

It was important to conduct the pilot project to test the effectiveness of this alternative in development of the final environmental assessment, said Jessica Sutt, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The pilot project included temporarily adding air diffusers into the lake and adding associated infrastructure in the campground outside of wilderness, she said.

Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, objected to both the pilot project and the proposed activities in a wilderness area.

NEPA violation?

The Fish and Wildlife Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by putting mechanical equipment in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge to add more oxygen into the water without taking public comment, Garrity said. The purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act is to look before you leap. Apparently Martha Williams Fish and Wildlife Service thinks federal laws dont apply to them.

Williams is director of the service and served previously as director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Garrity said taking public comment before installing the diffusers could have provided a forum during which a host of questions could have been raised.

Among them: Will diffusers work? Is cattle grazing on the refuge and related manure a source of nutrients accelerating eutrophication of Upper Red Rock Lake, where the grayling winter? How is grazing affecting streams where grayling spawn? How will mechanical diffusers affect waterfowl that rely on the refuge habitat?

The controversy surfaced swiftly, like an Arctic grayling to an artificial lure, after the Fish and Wildlife Service released a draft environmental assessment on Feb. 28 for proposed actions in Upper Red Rock Lake, a comparatively shallow lake that ices over in winter.

The fish of concern are adfluvial Arctic grayling as opposed to the fluvial or river dwelling grayling whose dwindling numbers in the Big Hole River have caused decades of contention.

According to one definition, adfluvial fish spawn in tributary streams where the young rear from 1 to 4 years before migrating to a lake system, where they grow to maturity.

The EA released in February described six alternatives, with five meant to enhance winter habitat for the grayling by increasing dissolved oxygen levels in deeper portions of Upper Red Rock Lake. The sixth was a no action alternative.

A shocking array

The public comment period on the EA ended March 28.

George Ochenski, a longtime environmental activist in Montana, submitted seven pages of comments.

He raised a host of concerns.

Ochenski wrote that the alternatives proposed in the environmental assessment describe a rather shocking array of alternatives that apparently ignore the fact that Upper Red Rock Lake is in a Wilderness Area protected by the Wilderness Act of 1964, with very strict legal sidebars on activities within Wilderness Area boundaries.

He noted too that two species with listed status under the Endangered Species Act  grizzly bears and the Canada lynx  are present on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and could be negatively affected by intrusive mechanical actions.

Like Garrity, Ochenski wondered about the upstream input of nutrients that could lead to plant growth and decomposition affecting dissolved oxygen in Upper Red Rock Lake.

We know there are significant nutrient inputs from upstream land uses  primarily grazing, but including housing and irrigation, he observed.

Yet none of those inputs were quantified or explained in the environmental assessment, Ochenski wrote.

Sutt responded to concerns raised about grazing, nutrients and oxygen.

Grazing factors have not been identified as significantly impacting dissolved oxygen in Upper Red Rock Lake, she said.

Sutt said concerns about grazing impacts expressed during the EA comment period will be addressed in the final environmental assessment.

Former refuge manager weighs in

Bill West once managed the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Any portion of the refuge grazed - a grazing unit - is only grazed one year in four, West said. Cattle only graze a unit six to seven weeks in a high intensity short duration model thought to replicate historic bison impact.

Cows are kept off until after ground nesting bird hatch (July 10), he said. Fences are wildlife friendly and are only raised and lowered for the six to seven weeks in a four-year rotation. Grayling evolved in that watershed and have sustained, with beaver dams and with great numbers of bison.

West said he does not believe water quality is an issue for grayling in the refuge, but added, I do agree that since I left in May of 2019 the cattle have had more access to stream banks.

The grayling population in the refuge is shrinking. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2022 that there was a spawning population of only 73 grayling.

West cites another potential contributor to the precipitous drop in numbers  angling in Red Rock Creek.

He said a grayling census in May 2016 showed the population had crashed, going from about 1,131 fish to about 220.

I and the refuge biologist suspected the fishing regulations FWP implemented in 2013 were so liberal that they had become a detriment to grayling egg hatching and (had led to repeated) hooking of adult grayling that remained in the creek, West wrote in comments for the EA.

He added that grayling eggs and gametes are vulnerable during the spawning run to sediment kicked up by anglers in the stream.

Stopping angler disturbance to sedimentation and hooking (of) the same adult individuals repetitively during the summer may be more important than addressing oxygen in Upper Red Rock Lake, West observed.

FWP still resists or even scoffs at this hypothesis, he wrote. We dont know that Upper Red Rock Lake grayling die due to hypoxia (lack of oxygen). There is no direct data that show grayling are dying in Upper Red Rock Lake.

Sutt did not disagree.

Refuge management does not have documentation of dead grayling due to hypoxia in Upper Red Rock Lake, she said.

West said he believes it is premature to build infrastructure in wilderness. Instead, he suggested a closure of angling in Red Rock Creek for the next few years.

FWP spokesman Greg Lemon provided information that seemed to differ with Wests observations.

Restrictive angling regulations were put in place on Red Rock Creek and timed specifically to protect spawning grayling and their incubating embryos, Lemon reported.

He said regulations closing Red Rock Creek during spawning, between May 15 and June 15, were put in place in 2013 to eliminate the potential for angler trampling of embryos and reduce the likelihood of anglers catching spawning grayling.

In 2022, the closure was extended to begin May 1, Lemon said, to be more protective of fish cued to make earlier spawning runs in warmer years with earlier runoff.

Lemon added that angler surveys do not support the theory that angler use is a population driver for Arctic grayling in the refuge.

Sense of urgency

The Red Rocks National Wildlife Refuge covers more than 53,000 acres, of which 32,350 acres were designated as wilderness in 1976. Upper Red Rock Lake is entirely within designated wilderness.

David Brooks is executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, a non-profit organization worried about the future of the Arctic grayling population in the Centennial Valley.

Brooks said part of the mission of the Red Rocks National Wildlife Refuge is to keep Arctic grayling and other imperiled species on the landscape. Comparatively modest and temporary disturbances in service of the grayling seem warranted, he said.

The EA described a sense of urgency: It is imperative to take immediate action to mitigate winter habitat in the Upper Red Rock Lake for grayling to prevent further loss of genetic diversity and reduce the risk of extirpation (complete loss) due to critically low population.

Sutt said the Fish and Wildlife Service is working toward a decision and a final EA for late spring, early summer 2023.
Let the bells ring in Muscatine!

At 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at Wesley United Methodist Church, 400 Iowa Ave., the RiverBend Bronze Handbell Ensemble will perform a free concert for the public.

This is one of two concerts the group is performing for the spring season, with the other concert happening at Molines Trinity Lutheran Church on Saturday, April 22. Although there will not be an entry fee for either of these concerts, guests are welcome to make a free-will offering.

For the Muscatine concert, the group will perform pieces from Pirates of the Caribbean, Enyas Book of Days and The Banana Boat Song, as well as a few original works created specifically for handbells.

While we are Quad Cities-based, part of our program is to do some outreach, so we perform one concert each cycle out-of-town, John Klopp, director of RiverBend Bronze explained. The group was in Muscatine a few years ago prior to my joining the group and was very well received, so were happy to be coming back again.

With over 300 bells and chimes within their ensemble, this Quad-Cities community-based group aims to further the art of handbell ringing through its performances. Currently, the group consists of 19 volunteer bell-ringers who all come together and practice for 2 1/2 hours each week.

Handbell choirs originated in England a couple of centuries ago, Klopp explained. They had bell towers where a group of ringers would ring these bells, but practicing was kind of problematic since people there didnt want to listen to the bells ringing at all hours of the day as they were practicing. So they invented handbells so they could practice their ringing inside, and these handbells then developed into its own art form.

Klopp said the group's appeal was the wide variety of music that he and his ringers perform, which he felt allowed them to appeal to a wide variety of audience members.

When people come to these concerts, they always seem to be fascinated by what bells are able to do.

To learn more about RiverBend Bronze or to see when its next concert will be, visit the groups website at www.riverbendbronze.org or go to its Facebook page at facebook.com/riverbendbronze/.
Muscatine County has 10 cemeteries that are either a pioneer cemetery or not being otherwise maintained, Muscatine County Attorney James Barry reported to the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors on Monday.

Of the 10, six are pioneer cemeteries. Barry is unsure about the others. If fewer than 12 people have been interred in the cemetery in the past 50 years, it is designated a pioneer cemetery. In one case a cemetery was donated to the township in 1853 and has since been abandoned.

In the case of pioneer cemeteries, the county is not able to tax for upkeep in the manner a township can and would have to use money from the general fund to care for the cemeteries. The county could also create a commission to care for the cemeteries. The members of the commission would take over the management role of the cemeteries. Barry said the board had an obligation under Iowa law to address the care of the cemeteries. It is still being determined how many of the cemeteries are on private property.

It looks like, one way or another, we are going to have 10 cemeteries we are going to have to deal with, Barry said.

He said the issue had been brought up by a woman who had a relative buried in one of the cemeteries and was bringing in family members for National Day of Caring.

Barry commented that the board would have to develop a process for the care of the cemeteries. In the event a cemetery is on private property, the county has to give the land owner the first option to take care of it. He also said the law allowed for a loved one to visit a grave in a cemetery on private land, but that 10 days notice must be given. He does not believe the county will have to care for headstones that have been broken.

Supervisor Scott Sauer asked if any of the cemeteries was located in an area that would make getting equipment to it difficult. Barry said he had only been to two.

Supervisor Danny Chick asked about liability concerns if someone was injured while visiting a cemetery on private property. Barry said if the county was taking care of the cemetery, it could potentially be liable.

There is an option in Iowa code to move graves, Barry said. The cemeteries had from six to 91 internments. He also commented at the time the cemeteries were in use people werent necessarily buried with a vault or coffin.

Barry said after he completes doing research on the cemeteries he would return to the board with a recommendation.
BERLIN  Assia Gorban was 7 years old when the Germans occupied her hometown of Mogilev-Podolsky in Ukraine. The Jewish girl and her family were first imprisoned in a ghetto on the outskirts of town and later forced onto a cattle car that took them to the Pechora concentration camp in 1941.

After a few failed attempts, Gorban, her mother, and younger brother managed to escape in 1942, and spent the rest of World War II living under false identities until they were liberated in 1944.

Sitting in her apartment in Berlin, where she still lives on her own at age 89, Gorban vividly remembers the horrendous details of her time in the camp and during hiding from the Nazis who wanted to kill her because she was Jewish.

She likes to share her memories with her granddaughter, 19-year-old Ruth Gorban, a university student, who also lives in Berlin and visits her frequently at home.

My grandmother is amazing, said Ruth, sitting next to Gorban on the couch. I even invited her to my school, so that everyone in my class could hear from her personally about the Holocaust."

Both Assia and Ruth also participated in the new digital campaign called Our Holocaust Story: A Pledge to Remember, which was launched by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference.

Six million Jews and people from other groups were murdered by the Nazis and their henchmen during the Holocaust.

Today, about 240,000 survivors are still alive, living in Europe, Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere.

The campaign by the Claims Conference features survivors and their descendants from around the globe and illustrates the importance of passing on the Holocaust survivors' testimonies to younger family members as the number of survivors dwindles.

We are doing this new social media campaign because survivors are dying, said Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Claims Conference.

The stories that they hold, the wisdom and knowledge that they can share is too important, too vital for society, particularly in these challenging times, to let it die with them," Schneider said in a phone interview from New York with The Associated Press.

More than 100 Holocaust survivors and their families are participating in the campaign, all of whom will be featured in posts across the Claims Conferences social media platforms every week throughout the year. Survivor stories will be shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, using the hashtag #OurHolocaustStory.

When we see a Holocaust survivor with their family members, it sends a powerful message  they didnt just survive the Holocaust, they went on to live, to build a family, a family that would not exist if they had not survived," Schneider added.

Assia Gorban was liberated by the Soviet Union's Red Army in 1944. She later moved to Moscow, where she became a school teacher. While she loved the Russian capital, especially for its vivid cultural scene, she and her husband decided to emigrate to Germany in 1992, looking for more financial stability and following her son, who had moved there earlier.

Even at her old age, Gorban is an active member of Berlin's Jewish community, volunteering weekly at the Jewish nursing home and talking to high school students about her life.

I enjoy speaking in school and helping old people at the nursing home  it keeps me fit, Gorban said with a cheeky smile and in blissful ignorance of the fact that she's turning 90 in August.

One reason Ruth Gorban decided to participate in the campaign with her grandmother was her concern about the reemergence of antisemitism in Germany and elsewhere.

Pulling her necklace with a Star of David pendant from underneath her sweater, the young woman with the long dark hair explained that she prefers to hide it when she's in public.

Berlin has a reputation for tolerance and diversity  but when it comes to the acceptance of Jews, thats unfortunately not true, she said.

Still, hearing from her grandmother about the Holocaust made Ruth Gorban very much aware of her own Jewishness.

I'm proud to be Jewish, she said. It's a beautiful religion and I will definitely pass it on to my children when I'm a mother one day.

The impact of changing liability on the social media experience The impact of changing liability on the social media experience What is Section 230? How will social media change for users if protections shrink? What could this mean for information sharing? How might this impact decentralized forms of social media?
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraines rightful place is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion just over a year ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.

The Kremlin has given various justifications for going to war, but repeated Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO is still a key goal of its invasion, arguing that Kyivs membership in the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia.

NATO leaders said in 2008 that Ukraine would join the alliance one day, and Stoltenberg has repeated that promise throughout the war, though the organization has established no pathway or timetable for membership.

Let me be clear, Ukraines rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family," Stoltenberg told a news conference. Ukraines rightful place is in NATO.

Zelenskyy said he was grateful for an invitation to a NATO summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania, but said his country needs a roadmap for becoming a member.

The time has come for the (alliances) leaders to define the prospects of Ukraines acquisition of NATO membership, to define the algorithm of Ukraines movement towards this goal, and to define security guarantees for our state for the period of such movement  that is, for the period before NATO membership, he said.

Stoltenberg said he and Zelenskyy discussed a NATO support program for Ukraine.

This will help you transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance, Stoltenberg said. "NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.

He noted an announcement Thursday by Denmark and the Netherlands that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least another 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks by early 2024.

He added that he expected countries to make new announcements of concrete military support to Ukraine at a meeting Friday in Germany.

In other developments, a large explosion hit the Russian city of Belgorod late Thursday, and the Defense Ministry said one of its Su-34 warplanes accidentally discharged ammunition over the city about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The government gave no further details.

Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said the blast injured at least two people, damaged homes and left a crater about 20 meters (65 feet) across.

The fighting in recent months has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum. But Ukraine has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies and is expected to launch a counteroffensive in coming weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could use all means available  a phrase some see as a threat to use nuclear weapons  in response to an attack on its territory if Ukraine attempts to recapture Moscow-occupied areas.

NATO has no official presence in Ukraine and provides only nonlethal support to Kyiv, but Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the war.

A procession of international leaders has made the journey to Kyiv over the last year, and the former Norwegian prime minister is one of the last major Western figures to do so.

NATO, formed to counter the Soviet Union, has long feared being dragged into a wide war with nuclear-armed Russia. But as the West has moved from hesitantly providing helmets and uniforms to tanks, warplanes and advanced missile systems, high-level visits have become routine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of the goals of what Moscow calls its special military operation. Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Peskov said that Ukraines accession would pose a serious, significant threat to our country, to our countrys security.

Earlier this month, Finland joined the alliance, setting aside decades of neutrality in a historic realignment of Europes post-Cold War security landscape. While NATO says it poses no threat to Russia, the Nordic country's accession dealt a major political blow to Putin.

Finland's membership doubles Russias border with the worlds biggest security alliance. Neighboring Sweden is expected to join too, possibly by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts meet in Vilnius in July.

The alliance has focused on bolstering defenses on its own territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member country. Under NATO's collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered an attack on all of them.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The group is the main international forum for drumming up military support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine Space Agency said Thursday that a bright flash of light in the night sky over the country the previous day was probably a meteor entering the atmosphere. Residents of the capital and several cities in Belarus saw the flash of light, which lingered for a couple of seconds, and an explosion was heard in the Kyiv region. It triggered an air raid alarm in Kyiv.

Cook reported from Brussels.
SpaceXs giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musks company was aiming Thursday to send Starship on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. SpaceX said multiple engines were not firing as the rocket ascended, causing it to lose altitude. The rocket was intentionally destroyed by its self-destruct system, exploding and plummeting into the water. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, ultimately, Mars. Throngs of spectators watched from several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.
If you read Nairobi Wire, you probably already know that musician Bensoul(Benson Mutua Muia) is preparing to leave the nest that is Sol Generation.

In case you missed it, we have got you covered HERE  Bensoul denies any bad blood with Sol Generation

While Bensoul did not disclose when his contract with the Sauti Sol-founded label will lapse, one of his mentors says he still has some months left.

Bien Aime Baraza also disclosed that another Sol Generation signee, Nviiri the Storyteller, will ultimately leave the nest. He said Bensoul and the Pombe Sigara hitmaker will go solo in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

They still have time with our record label. They are our babies and we are working on their individual albums before the end of the year, he said.

Bien at the same time said Sauti Sol has been working on their next signings for two years.

Its usually a journey to identify and decide who to sign. We have been working on our next signees for about two years. We go to their shows and a lot of other things. We dont just pick anyone to sign, he said.

Bien also noted that Sauti Sol will continue to offer support to signees after they leave Sol Generation.

We dont want to hear about people we have helped leaving the industry after they leave our record label. We will keep in touch with them even after they leave.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has called on County Governments to focus on service delivery to Kenyans.

Speaking after officially opening the Deputy Governors consultative meeting in Mombasa, the DP urged the deputy governors to uphold the tenets of devolution by playing their role of advising the county heads to ensure smooth delivery of all devolved functions.

Ahead of the August 9th General Election, hardly any deputy governor was working in sync with their bosses. While part of the acrimony was due to competition of ideas and political ambition, the first and main casualty was service delivery; the victim- the people. Hardly a year into office, we have already witnessed, a repeat, though not of the same magnitude; it is a red flag, the Deputy President said.

He requested them to focus on rebuilding counties for the good of the people who gave you the mandate.

The DP also implored on them to foster unity in their counties through helping the governors unify all departments in the counties for smooth service delivery saying the Kenya kwanza government is keen on ensuring devolution works.

While misunderstandings are bound to happen in political leadership, they should not be allowed to degenerate to fallouts. This defeats the essence of grassroots leadership and indeed, devolution -a critical component of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). Counties are a key ingredient to the Kenya Kwanza Plan. We want to see devolution working, said Gachagua.

The DP has called on the deputy governors and county heads to adopt continuous engagement with the national government as they work to take the country to the next level of development.

At the same time, DP Gachagua also emphasized the governments commitment to restore the economy.

We have agreed that the only way to get our economy to where Kibaki left it, is through tax collection. Let nobody push us into borrowing money from banks at exorbitant rates. The economy has started showing good signs of recovery.

The cost of Unga will continue going down. We intend to bring to about 130 to 120 ksh because that is what is sustainable. The president insisted that the way to go is through subsidized production in any case the previous subsidy was not working. We are not going to reinstate subsidies even if they go to the streets. We will put money where it matters, he added.
Large groups of youths gather in downtown Chicago, April 15, 2023. Two teens were shot in the area during the evening. (Network Video Productions)

The Chicago Police Department launched an investigation into how officers responded to violence that broke out late Saturday during a large gathering of young people in the citys downtown tourism district.

The investigation comes after a viral video showed a mob attacking a couple as they exited a Loop store and it follows allegations of police inaction.

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As the attack unfolded, police failed to respond to calls for help and even drove past, said Lenora Dennis, who witnessed the beating and helped the couple get to safety.

It makes me feel scared. It terrifies me that people are either asleep at the wheel or that theyre willfully blind, Dennis told the Tribune on Wednesday.

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The attack Dennis witnessed was one of the violent outbursts that emerged as hundreds of teens and young adults met up downtown. People blocked traffic, jumped onto a CTA bus and attacked passersby during the mayhem, and two teen boys were shot as they stood in the crowd.

[ Mayor takes Chicago police leaders to task amid questions on response to latest violent gathering of youths downtown ]

The chaos has since sparked national coverage, and video of the attack Dennis saw, first published by the CWB Chicago website, garnered national attention with over 14 millions views on Twitter alone.

But what video didnt capture, Dennis said, was repeated inaction from nearby police officers as the 20-year-old woman and 22-year-old man from out of state were punched and kicked by over a dozen people.

Dennis had just dropped off her husband at a store and headed to Macys to try on glasses, she said. The 45-year-old shopped for an hour, but as she came out of the store, it was just a mob of people, she said.

When that mob passed the young couple, a beating suddenly started with no forewarning, she said.

Dennis heard the young woman scream. She saw the young man get stomped on, kicked and punched.

It just turned into a total chaotic melee, Dennis said.

The mayhem flooded into the street. The couples phones were stolen. Their shoes were taken too. The beating lasted over 10 minutes, far longer than what was seen in the short clip that went viral, Dennis said.

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As the attack dragged on, police cars passed. Dennis and others called 911 to no avail. As the fifth police car passed, Dennis stopped in front of the cruiser and put her hands up, motioning that she needed the officers help, she said.

And the police officer locked eyes with me, cut a pass right around me, and kept going, Dennis said.

Thats when she decided to directly intervene. The Englewood resident walked over to the crowd, which she said consisted of around 80 teens, and yelled at them. After they exchanged words with her, they eventually ran off, she said.

Dennis then told the couple that they needed to leave the area as soon as possible, but several boys from the mob returned and again started hitting the 22-year-old man, who Dennis said is named DJ.

She pushed DJ into the nearby Macys for cover. Inside the store, both of the young people were barefoot, and the young man seemed concussed, Dennis said. They waited inside, then bolted toward Dennis car. She worried the mob would attack as she ran.

The group drove to the 1st District police station on the Near South Side. When they got there, the desk sergeant told Dennis the attack happened because Chicagoans elected Brandon Johnson as mayor. Johnson has not begun his term in office yet.

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Lenora Dennis on April 20, 2023, outside her Englewood home, days after the weekend's violent gathering of teenagers in downtown Chicago. As the attack unfolded, police failed to respond to calls for help and even drove past, she said. (Shanna Madison / Chicago Tribune)

The comment stuck out to Dennis as strange. It seemed, she said, like the officer didnt love the city and refused to respectfully accept the result of the election. Detectives later patiently took down a police report from the couple and called an ambulance to take the injured young man to the hospital, Dennis added.

The whole police interaction  and noninteraction  disheartened this Chicago native.

The police had been unprepared after similar group gatherings at a South Side beach the night before amid the warm weather, Dennis noted. Their response had been a disaster.

Dennis, who later brought shoes to the couple in the hospital, said she fears downtown might not serve as an escape for Chicagoans from neighborhoods that see summertime spikes in violence, if the weekend was any precursor.

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Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd Ward, told the Tribune earlier in the week that the police response to the downtown chaos was inadequate, especially after similar gatherings in the days before had caused problems. The police were understaffed and lacked clear leadership, he said. The departments strategy was to contain and not directly confront the crowd for much of the night, Hopkins said.

Police sources told the Tribune that there were no officers downtown who held a rank above lieutenant for much of the night, which prohibited the officers who were present from requesting more officers to assist.

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The department has since pledged to put forward additional resources, according to the president of the citys tourism office. Apparently, similar gatherings of young people are being planned for this Saturday at Millennium Park and North Riverside Park Mall, according to Hopkins and police.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Mayor-elect Johnson have weighed in on the violence, calling for stronger authority from parents and more opportunities for kids.

To Dennis, it seems that getting parents to pay more attention to their kids social media is part of the solution. But she said she also wants to see people, politicians and police put their egos, preconceived notions, campaign slogans and puffed-up rhetoric to the side.

And understand that we have to come up with some real-time solutions, she said. We need to do real investigative thinking into what these kids need.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Wednesday handed over six fisheries patrol vessels in Liwatoni, Mombasa County.

With the support of the Government of Japan, six patrol vessels costing about Ksh 306 million, the boats will be used in dealing with Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and surveillance within Kenyas territorial waters.

I am glad to learn that the boats have been assembled and trials undertaken alongside training for the Sea Crew manning, the DP said.

In particular, the patrol boats will facilitate physical surveillance and electronic monitoring of our marine fisheries to rid our waters of illegal fishing and related crimes. We are deeply grateful to the People of Japan.

The Deputy President has called for collaboration between the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs and other ministries and Government agencies to execute the critical assignment.

He said the Ruto administration is steadfast in delivering on Ocean economy development for the benefit of coastal communities and the Country.

We acknowledge the partnership with the Government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency and collaboration with the counties of Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta, DP Gachagua said.

The Deputy President said the Government will fast-track development of the Blue Economy. That is why we created a stand-alone Ministry to handle the Blue Economy and interconnected issues in Mining and Maritime Affairs.

The DP noted that the Blue Economy and Fisheries sector is an important enabler of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda and a major actor in job creation.

This afternoon, at Liwatoni, Mombasa County, I launched and handed over six patrol vassels worth Sh306 million, with the support of the Government of Japan. pic.twitter.com/xjJ35AZqwB  H.E. Rigathi Gachagua, EGH (@rigathi) April 19, 2023





By DPPS
When it comes to the Arts with a capital A, the written word is sometimes given short shrift. An author reading just doesnt hold the same appeal for most as a trip to the opera, the ballet, the symphony or even the movie theater. And yet, one could argue that the literary arts are one of, if not the most, democratically consumed arts. Unlike a piece at a museum, we can hold this art in our hands, own it, borrow it, use it while in bathtubs and airplanes and doctors office waiting rooms. And when we are done consuming it, we can hand it over to the next person so they can enjoy it in their own fashion.

Napa is full of readers and writers. I know this because I work in a bookstore, Napa Bookmine. We have three stores: two in downtown Napa and one in St. Helena, and we keep growing year over year. Next September, our business will celebrate its 10th anniversary, supported by a literary community that gets stronger every year.

Literary community  what does this phrase mean? I reached out to some of my literary friends and colleagues: a publisher, some writers and voracious readers, all based here in Napa. I wanted to hear their thoughts on what makes a literary community and why they want to be part of one, and whether we have that here in Napa. Their answers were illuminating, and mirrored many of my own thoughts on the matter.

All agreed that a literary community should be diverse, not just made up of one type of person or professional. Deborah Claymon, a former journalist who now writes fiction and drives down to Berkeley to participate in an active writers group, describes it as a place where ideas and events around writing, story, journalism, and the arts as a whole is championed by the local entities, and the community members support these things in an active way.

Holly Hubbard Preston, another former journalist and current fiction writer based in St. Helena, says its a lively collective of writers, readers, industry professional[s] and interested artists who share a [passion] for poetry and prose (including film/plays) in their numerous, inspiring forms, through active in-person and/or online engagement. Theres a lot to be gained from being part of a small group of hyper-focused individuals, like a novel writing group, but a wider literary community needs to welcome all sorts of participants, even if their involvement seems at first tangential to the literary arts.

One common thread was that each person interviewed lamented the lack of connection with our local academic communities. Paul Chutkow, president of Val de Grace, the only Napa-based publishing house, taught a creative writing class at Napa Valley College and started a small club called Napa Creative with some of his favorite students.

And of course, there is the Napa Valley Writers Conference. But all my contacts want to see more cross-pollination with NVC students and teachers, and with Pacific Union College in Angwin.

We could do a lot more to involve Napa Valley College students, says Lenore Hirsch, a local author and member of Napa Valley Writers. She goes on to say that we could be more supportive of young writers in our local schools; NVW has sponsored high school writing contests but received few submissions.

What is the study of the humanities but the study of human connection, of community? We read books in school together not just so we can learn how to appreciate the artistry of language or to increase our vocabulary, but because books help teach us how to be human.

I asked what the value of fiction is in a tumultuous world: By nature, Preston says, fiction and the art of storytelling creates the space, time, and place for readers to experience/understand/explore the human condition in ways that can feel quite personal and even real.

Claymon agrees: [S]tory helps us make sense of a complex and changing world, see others and the world in ways we otherwise cannot have a lens on, delight in language, in our reactions/connections to the narrative, to character, and to a world that is not defined for us by the screen or the app.

Hirsch says that  [f]iction (and memoir) are good treatments for loneliness. The reader connects with the journey and emotions of a fictional character, perhaps even learns something about gratitude, relationships, how to live a good life. Students of higher education are in the process of developing their adult selves, and literature can play a role in that.

Claymon and I spoke about what makes a community in general, and how a literary community is a part of that. Especially in a county that is so dominated by one industry and its offshoots, its important to think about what other things make life fun here in Napa.

Someone could say the arts are ancillary, but theyre not if theyre part of what makes people care about living in and contributing to the community at all, Claymon explained. Even people who come here regularly maybe because of wine and food  they look for other activities while theyre here. Chutkow agrees that there is a richness a literary community could bring to the wider community.

Everyone I interviewed agrees that language and cultural diversity are key to developing a robust literary community, but that Napa has struggled in this regard. In a county that is a third Hispanic (according to the most recent demographic census data), our writing groups and author events are overwhelmingly white and English-speaking. We need to work harder to bring all Napans into our literary community.

There are many active participants in Napa culture, including but most definitely not limited to: Nimbus Arts, the Cameo theater, Arts Council Napa Valley, our library branches and bookstores, and the AAUW annual author event fundraiser. But we are all acting essentially in a vacuum. There appears to be no cohesiveness despite the similar cultural work these organizations are doing.

Claymon brought up COAD, the Napa Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster, which helps organize the various nonprofits, governmental agencies, and businesses that are involved in disaster response, and Preston suggested a Napa Valley Culturemine, a descriptor/brand with multiple meanings, that could be an umbrella for all the cultural activities and spaces Napa offers. When Chutkow started Napa Creative, he said, There was a real hunger for a creative group. I think there still is.

I foresee something like this bearing fruit for the literary community in Napa, one go-to space where anybody interested can find author readings, writing groups, editors and publishing assistance, book clubs, and lecture series. A social literary network, if you will, with every full- and part-time resident of Napa making up its membership. Authors write to be read. Books want to be discussed. Literature creates community, and community is what makes life worth living. Napa is a special place that celebrates the artistry of wine; lets open the doors a little wider and elevate the written word, together.
Napa Countys $23.4 million, 72-bed re-entry facility meant to be a recidivism-reducer has instead become a riddle.

Changing laws and demographics have depleted the low-risk inmate population suitable for the minimum-security facility. Yet the state says terms for bonds that helped build the facility bar non-detention uses, according to a county report.

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That leaves Napa County with a vacant, four-year-old building paid for by taxpayers. The county no longer has a need for a re-entry program, but seemingly cant use the facility for anything else.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday discussed what to do next.

We really need to take control of the situation, Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza said.

Napa County built the re-entry facility to be a place where low-risk inmates could take classes and get counseling in a minimum-security setting to prepare for the outside world.

The facility in early 2019 was poised to open, before last-minute construction troubles and the pandemic caused delays. To date, it has seen only temporary uses, such as a COVID-19 quarantine center.

A county report explained how the inmate situation has changed since 2019.

Recent state policies created alternative custody options for low-level offenders, such as home detention. More inmates have mental health and behavior issues that make them unfit for the re-entry facility, the report said.

Only 10 to 16 jail inmates would qualify for a re-entry program. Running the re-entry facility would cost $1.25 million in start-up costs and $5.25 million annually, county staff said.

Given those numbers, supervisors agreed that the building shouldnt be used as a re-entry facility.

Youve made a very strong case that is not appropriate, Supervisor Anne Cottrell said.

County staff suggested using the re-entry facility to help people who arent in jail. People on probation and without homes could go there for various programs and food, as well as emergency shelter.

Board of Supervisors Chairperson Belia Ramos earlier this year liked the idea of the re-entry facility becoming a homeless shelter, saying the more beds for unhouse community members, the better.

But the barrier is the states contention that the re-entry facility must be used as a detention facility. That leaves the building in limbo.

At issue is the $13.5 million state grant that helped build the re-entry facility. Associated bonds mature in 2034. The bond funding mechanism required California to hold an interest in the facility and lease it to the county.

Interim County Executive Officer David Morrison explained further. He said the state Department of General Services and Department of Finances have decided the re-entry facility is not the countys building.

The state used the money to build that the building, so we are tenants, with the state as the landlord, he said.

Napa County owns the land. But the county under the bond financing deal provided the state with a long-term ground lease.

Under the states view, if the county uses the re-entry facility for something other than that authorized by the bonds, the state could evict the county and use the building as it sees fit, Morrison said.

Were not trying to monetize an asset for the betterment of the county general fund, Pedroza said. Were trying to provide a public service, a public good. And our partner, the state, is not giving us an option. To me, that is not acceptable.

The county is working with elected state officials such as state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and the state to try find a solution.

We essentially have a contract with bond holders, Supervisor Ryan Gregory said. You just cant tear up a contract, so weve got to navigate that.

One idea is for Napa County to pre-pay or find another way to settle the state lease-revenue bonds used to help build the facility. But the state is unsure how such a move might comply with the bond legislation and bond covenants, a county report said.

Cottrell suggested the county present an alternate vision for the re-entry facility to the state as a selling point to settle the bond issue.

The state previously allowed Napa County to temporarily use the re-entry facility for COVID-19 community isolation and quarantine and to house fire evacuees. It allowed the facility this past winter to be available for a cold-weather homeless shelter, with the authorization to expire on May 31.

County officials said the state indicated the winter shelter would be the last temporary, non-detention use allowed at the re-entry facility.

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The city of Napa is working to enact its new general plan, the 314-page document passed by the Napa City Council in October to set in place the citys broad policy direction until 2040. But many areas of that plan, including parts that instruct the city to officially limit the construction of new gas stations and encourage alternatives to traditional drive-thrus, will take some time to implement.

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Perhaps the most prominent example of that is zoning, the set of local laws that determine how property can be used in particular areas of the city. Since a comprehensive update to the citys zoning ordinance is expected to require substantial resources, community outreach and staff time to complete and start near the end of this year, according to City Council agenda documents, theres a need to bridge the gap between the old zoning ordinance  established by the 1998 general plan  and the one that will come about as part of the new general plan.

As such, the Napa City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an interim zoning ordinance, including a moratorium on new fossil fuel stations. Senior planner Michael Walker said the moratorium essentially hits the pause button on new applications, but it doesnt function as an outright ban.

This pause, if you will, allows us time to adopt standards for these uses that not only carry out the policies of the general plan, but also meet our communitys vision on addressing climate change, air quality and promoting transportation alternatives, Walker said. It also allows us the opportunity to not have to navigate these conflicts on a project-by-project basis.

The moratorium originally proposed by staff would have also included drive-thrus. But that aspect was removed by the council after some councilmembers expressed distaste with a temporary ban on new drive-thrus, given that the adopted general plan doesnt seek to outright ban them.

Councilmember Bernie Narvaez noted that the council in 2021 denied a drive-thru for a restaurant that wouldve been part of the proposed Soscol Square Shopping Center project. That move supported an appeal of the drive-thru by local activists Napa Climate Now!, a group that argued it was important to deny the drive-thru and ban the construction of future drive-thrus in the city in an effort to combat climate change.

As a result of the denial, Raising Canes Chicken Fingers, which would have occupied that space as a tenant, pulled out of the project. Narvaez  who supported the Canes drive-thru in 2021  said that because of that process, city staff and potential developers know the council position on drive-thrus. But, Narvaez said, he didnt want to outright halt the possibility of non-traditional drive-thrus being proposed to the city.

When we talk about a moratorium, staff knows were not accepting drive-thrus, and the potential developers know this, it seems a little extreme to say moratorium because were already on the same page, Narvaez said.

Councilmember Beth Painter noted that the council still needs to have a discussion about how exactly to craft a policy around drive-thrus, though she said she wanted to move forward with the staff recommendation.

We havent given our staff the tools and the exact policy, so it puts the entire burden, really, on staff to make those decisions, Painter said.

Councilmember Mary Luros said she thought theres two different conversations around gas stations and drive-thrus. She said she had no trouble believing gas stations have many environmental impacts, such as air and water pollution, and that there is an urgent need to stop them from being built.

I can understand the very urgent need to immediately stop building them, because a gas station is not something that you can easily remove, Luros said. Once somebody builds one, you have to figure out how to remove the underground storage tanks and dispose of hazardous materials and follow all of the environmental regulations involved.

Drive-thrus can cause air pollution, Luros noted, but she doesnt think theres such an urgent emergency that a new drive-thru would represent a substantial threat to public health, safety and welfare. Thats what a moratorium legally requires, she said.

Frankly, if a developer isnt paying attention to the conversations were having as a community and they manage to successfully get a drive-thru in, it would not be impossible to remove it, unlike a gas station, Luros said.

Mayor Scott Sedgley and Councilmember Liz Alessio both spoke in support of the moratorium on drive-thrus, with both arguing it was important to follow through on the councils 2021 decision to deny the Raising Canes drive-thru. Sedgley said he didnt want to put city staff in a gray area where city code, in theory, supports drive-thru applications, but the council does not. He also pointed out that three councilmembers could be convinced to support a drive-thru.

Weve been talking the talk, Sedgley said. And in my opinion, we walked the walk with the last drive-thru application we had. I think its time to walk the walk, and every little increment that we can take helps along the way.

But because the action required a four-fifths vote to move forward, and because the council didnt want to delay the interim ordinance, Sedgley and Alessio agreed to remove drive-thrus from the proposed moratorium.

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Winery earns Certified B designation

Clif Family Winery & Farm, a St. Helena-based maker of organic wines and specialty foods, announced that it has earned the prestigious Certified B Corporation designation. The recognition puts the company in an elite group of wine industry players that have achieved the level of certification, which emphasizes a commitment to high levels of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

Since its founding by husband-and-wife team Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford in 2004, the winery stated in a release that it has focused on sustainable practices that support their people, planet, and community. The company's efforts to achieve the B Corp Certification included all actively managed agricultural lands being CCOF certified organic, which requires that lands be managed without the use of synthetic fertilizers or toxic, persistent pesticides.

All vineyards are also certified as Napa Green Vineyards, the first sustainable winegrowing certification to focus specifically on climate action, regenerative farming, and social equity. Additionally, all facilities and vineyards run on 100% renewable electricity sourced through the MCE Deep Green renewables program or generated by on-site solar panels. The company's shipping and packaging supplies are also reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

B Corp Certification recognizes companies that prioritize their operations' impact on their employees, customers, communities, and the environment. Clif Family Winery & Farm's attainment of the certification supports its long-standing commitment to sustainability and social responsibility.

"This certification acknowledges the hard work that our team does each and every day to be better stewards of the earth," said Linzi Gay, President of Clif Family Winery & Farm. "We are excited to join the B Corp community of changemakers working to create a better planet for our children and future generations."

To achieve B Corp certification, Clif Family Winery & Farm underwent a rigorous assessment of its social and environmental impact, including its governance structure, environmental practices, community engagement, and labor practices. The assessment was conducted by B Lab, a non-profit organization that certifies B Corporations and provides tools and support for ongoing improvement. Companies must achieve an overall score of at least 80 points. Clif Family Winery & Farm received a score of 93.7 on the B Impact Assessment, while the typical median score for an average business is 50.9.

"We are very proud of our score this year and also excited to start down a pathway of measurable, continuous improvement in our business," said Gay.

Cuvasion renames estate vineyard

Cuvaison, based in the Los Carneros region, has renamed its historic estate vineyard as Tai Vineyard to honor the late Alexander Tai Schmidheiny. For 44 years, Cuvaison has farmed this vineyard, which has become a benchmark for cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the company stated in a release. Starting this year, select 2021 vineyard-designate wines from Cuvaisons Legacy, Micro Lot, and Small Lot tiers will bear the new name of Tai Vineyard.

The Napa Green-certified Tai Vineyard is situated near the Mayacamas Mountains, with an elevation range from sea level to 250 feet. The 125-acre vineyard is composed of 16 blocks of Chardonnay, 13 blocks of Pinot Noir, and smaller blocks of Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Semillon, Syrah, and Grenache.

Cuvaison applies a continuous 20-year replanting cycle at Tai Vineyard to maintain the highest standards of quality through the use of the finest viticultural techniques. The farming is guided by Viticulturist and Vineyard Consultant Kelly Maher, with an emphasis on higher density plantings, modern trellising, and clone and rootstock combinations tailored to the elevation and soil type of each block.

CEO Daniel Zepponi says that Tai Vineyard has been one of the premier vineyards in Los Carneros for over 40 years and that this new name recognizes and celebrates the vineyards history, quality, and character, and its importance to the story of Los Carneros. Schmidheiny selected the site for its ideal clay and loam soils, its diverse slopes, elevations, and aspects, and its marine-influenced climate. This climate is characterized by wind and fog from San Pablo Bay, which keeps summer temperatures below 80-degrees, making it an ideal location for cool-climate grape expressions.

Tai Vineyard was one of the first vineyards to gain recognition in Los Carneros, alongside its neighboring sites of Hyde, Hudson, and Red Shoulder Ranch. Kelly Maher describes Tai Vineyard as an extraordinary winegrowing site in one of Americas great regions for cool-climate grapes. The Schmidheiny family, fourth-generation vintners who also own vineyards in Argentina and Switzerland, pioneered the Los Carneros region in the modern winemaking era. In 1983, Los Carneros AVA was established as the first AVA in California based on its climate.

Gentleman Farmer Wines to open guest house in downtown Napa

Gentleman Farmer Wines has recently acquired a historic building in downtown Napa, which will be renovated and opened as the Gentleman Farmer Guest House, according to a company statement.

The building, located at 1580 First Street, was built in the late 1800s and is one of the oldest buildings in Napa. The building will feature five guest rooms, a lounge area, and a kitchen. Each element in the guest house will be intentionally and thoughtfully curated, with many pieces that add character and a healthy dose of dark, well-curated whimsy.

Owners and husbands Jeff Durham and Joey Wolosz noticed the frequency with which their wine club members were booking repeat trips to Napa Valley and sending their friends to experience their thoughtfully prepared lunches, high-quality wines, and above-and-beyond hospitality. Realizing no one else was doing anything quite like it, the Gentleman Farmer Guest House was a natural next step.

We are thrilled to acquire this historic building and soon offer Gentleman Farmer guests a Napa Valley hotel experience that is entirely authentic to us and to the region, said Durham. We are committed to preserving the history of Napa while offering a chance to experience our renowned hospitality in a manner thats more akin to the European winery guest house model. This next step  in such a charmingly reserved property  represents a behind-the-scenes version of Napa Valley which we cant wait to share with the world.

Durham and Wolosz offer intricate and homemade lunch tastings, which serve as a means of introduction to their wines. This experience closely mirrors that which will be on offer when they open The Bungalow: A Studio for Gustatory Well Being, a forthcoming restaurant, in the fall of 2023, the release stated. The Gentleman Farmer Guest House will also offer culinary offerings that will be on rotation.

The winery has been producing acclaimed wines since its founding in 2005. Durham and Wolosz both hold degrees in Hotel & Restaurant Management and have experience working in food, wine, travel, and hotels. The couple founded The Redwood Riverwalk, a boutique motel destination in Fortuna, which has since been sold.

Durham remains involved in his hometown community and has sat on the board of state and local hospitality organizations. He served as a member of the Yountville city council, and founded The Yountvillian, which covers community news, information, activities, food, wine, and culture.
Statements questioning the de facto status of Artsakh are impermissible. The five factions of the National Assembly (NA) of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have issued a statement in this regard. The statement runs as follows:

The factions of the National Assembly of the Artsakh Republic [(AR)] reaffirm the emphasis of the AR NA decision of April 14, 2022 that "no authority has the right to lower the negotiating bar on an unacceptable status for Artsakh, as well as an internationally recognized right to self-determination under the pretext of "peace."

The people of Artsakh accepted their decision to self-determination and implemented it de facto in the historical cradle for more than three decades, unequivocally and in accordance with the provisions of the USSR legislation, as well as the requirements of the universal norms of international law, guided exclusively by the principles of democracy. Artsakh's right to self-determination is non-negotiable.

Despite the efforts made by the international community aimed at establishing a stable peace in the region, settling the Karabakh issue through Stepanakert-Baku negotiations, the latest statements of the leader of Azerbaijan containing threats prove that the military-political leadership of that country, ignoring the calls and decisions of authoritative international structures, is strivingthrough genocidal actsto achieve its main goal: to de-Armenianize Artsakh once and for all.

We consider unacceptable the RA [(Republic of Armenia)] Prime Minister's point of view, which he voiced at the April 18 session of the RA National Assembly, according to which Armenia fully recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, trying to justify it all with one point of the working Madrid document, with the agreements reached during the well-known meetings held in Prague and Sochi in October 2022, as well as taking the Almaty Declaration of December 21, 1991 as a basis, while ignoring that the Republic of Armenia accepted that document with fundamental reservations related to the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In fact, the RA official frameworks separate the issue of ensuring the security of the people of Artsakh from their right to self-determination, ignoring the latter's crucial element, which is in fact consistent with the position of official Baku, thus contributing to the strengthening of Azerbaijan's open and encroaching ambitions towards the territories of Artsakh and Armenia.

We appeal on behalf of the people of the Republic of Artsakh:

We again urge the authorities of the Republic of Armenia not to deviate from the course of the RA Supreme Council's decision of July 8, 1992, at the same time drawing attention to the foreseeable prospect that the danger hanging over Artsakh's statehood is a destructive threat to Armenia's statehood as well.

To Armenians around the world: taking into account that the Republic of Artsakh is under a blockade [by Azerbaijan] for about 130 days, to fulfillwith collective and determined effortsour national potential at any cost, standing in support of the unrelenting struggle of our people.

To the Russian Federation: to take additional diplomatic and military-political measures during the peacekeeping mission, which is very important for us, regardless of the current developments in the geopolitical situation, and to resolutely prevent the future security of the people of Artsakh from being at risk.

To the international community: not to be limited to declarations of sympathy for more than 120,000 civilians of the de facto established Artsakh Republic, in connection with the blockade by the Republic of Azerbaijan, and to resort to practical measures stipulated by international legal norms.

To the leaders of the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group: regardless of possible disagreements between you, to make efforts to resume the negotiationsin the format with the only international mandateon the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
The artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Google has managed to learn a foreign language without human help, Novaya nauka (New Science) reports.

In an interview with CBS, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told why the company approaches AI cautiously. The Mountain View giant has indeed shelved several AI-related projects in recent years out of an abundance of caution. In particular, language models were delayed, with Google citing security and image risks.

Partly because of this caution, OpenAI and Microsoft have pulled ahead of Google in the AI race.

We all have to be responsible in each step along the way, says Pichai.

In an attempt to be bolder in response to competitors, Google took a similar approach with the launch of Bard. But instead of rolling out the chatbot worldwide right away, the company opted for a phased rollout, starting with the US and UK.

Originally, Google relied on the LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) model. But gradually, the company added more powerful language model capabilities, namely the Pathways Language Model (PaLM), which has 540 billion parameters, while LaMDA has only 137 billion.

According to Pichai, sometimes generative AIs behave in completely unexpected ways. According to Google's findings, language models can sometimes learn new skills on their own without the knowledge of the programmers.
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Division 9 at the Cook County Jail on Oct. 3, 2022. The Cook County sheriffs office is moving to fire two correctional officers accused of punching inmates in separate beatings captured on jail cameras. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

The Cook County sheriffs office is moving to fire two correctional officers accused of punching inmates in separate beatings, which officials say were captured on jail cameras.

Reginald Roberson, 52, was charged with battery and official misconduct following a sheriffs office investigation of an incident in December 2021 at Cook County Jail, the sheriffs office said in a statement Wednesday.

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Richard Smith, 44, was charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct after being accused of punching a detainee more than 30 times in September 2022, an earlier statement read.

On Dec. 29, 2021, Roberson placed handcuffs over his knuckles and hit a 29-year-old individual in custody multiple times in the jails receiving area, according to the statement. The detainee was treated for minor injuries.

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Both alleged beatings were spotted by staffers who were reviewing footage on jail cameras that were installed by the sheriffs office over a decade ago.

Officials installed cameras throughout the jail to ensure the safety and security of staff members and individuals in custody, the statement said.

Roberson turned himself in to investigators Wednesday morning, and a judge issued a $20,000 bond during his court appearance later in the day at the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Roberson, who was hired in March 1999, was de-deputized and moved away from working with individuals in custody during the criminal investigation, and the office is seeking his termination through the Sheriffs Merit Board, the statement said.

On Tuesday, the sheriffs office announced charges against Smith, who allegedly struck a 24-year-old detainee in the jails residential treatment unit more than 30 times on Sept. 20, 2022, according to an earlier sheriffs statement.

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Smith, 44, who has been employed with the office since 2010, was also de-deputized following the incident and removed from working with individuals in custody while the criminal investigation was pending.

Smith turned himself in to investigators Tuesday morning and appeared later that day in bond court, where a judge issued him a $50,000 bond, the statement said.

The sheriffs office will seek to suspend Smith without pay and will recommend his termination.

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The sheriff has put several processes in place to identify any instances of excessive use of force or misconduct.

In Smiths case the misconduct was immediately identified, the statement said.

Excessive or unlawful force is not tolerated, Sheriff Tom Dart said in the earlier statement.

We have instituted a nationally recognized system to help prevent such abuse and prosecute it when it happens, he said. Those who engage in this abuse completely disregarded their training, and they disparage the hardworking men and women who keep the jail safe and secure.
The Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict has never been considered an internal affair of Azerbaijan, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) foreign minister Sergey Ghazaryan has said in an interview with Artsakhpress. Below is the text of this interview.

How would you comment on the statement made by the President of Azerbaijan on 18 April that the Armenians living in Karabakh should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or look for another place of residence?

This is not the first time that the President of Azerbaijan has made statements that reveal the true intentions of Azerbaijan to ethnically cleanse Artsakh and expel its indigenous population from their historical homeland. The blockade imposed on Artsakh by the authoritarian leadership of Azerbaijan for more than four months is just one of the tools for the implementation of those criminal plans. Through coercion, the threat and use of force, Azerbaijan is essentially trying to force the people of Artsakh to accept the illegal demands of Azerbaijan, which contradict, inter alia, the peremptory norms of general international law.

The fact that the leadership of Azerbaijani is no longer hiding their criminal intentions demonstrates the insufficiency of the international response and engagement in efforts to end the ongoing blockade of Artsakh and prevent the genocidal intentions of Azerbaijan. In fact, the Azerbaijani authorities, acting in an environment of absolute impunity and permissiveness, are increasingly expanding the scale and geography of their crimes committed against the people of Artsakh and Armenia.

In this regard, I would like to emphasise that States, both individually and collectively, have an obligation to take effective and decisive measures to prevent the most serious crimes, primarily genocide and crimes against humanity, including ethnic cleansing and forced displacement. At the same time, the direct responsibility for preventing such crimes rests with the UN Security Council, a body that not only has the appropriate mandate, but also the necessary tools to stop the criminal intentions of Azerbaijan against Artsakh and its people.

In this context, it is regrettable that despite the commitment to prevent such serious crimes, representatives of some international organisations and states make political efforts that indirectly promote Azerbaijan's illegitimate position and encourage their genocidal policy. We believe that such an approach by international actors, particularly those involved in the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and normalisation of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, is not only unacceptable and counterproductive, but also fraught with unpredictable consequences for the entire region.

How would you comment on the statement of the Azerbaijani President that Karabakh is an internal affair of Azerbaijan?

The Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict has never been considered as an internal affair of Azerbaijan, neither during the existence of the Soviet Union, nor in the subsequent period of the formation of independent states on the territory of the former Soviet Union. This is evidenced by the fact that after Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence, the international community created a special mechanism for the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict - the Minsk Process. The decision to create an international format to determine the final political status of Artsakh indicated that the community of States did not recognise Artsakh as part of independent Azerbaijan. In turn, Azerbaijan's consent to be involved in the Minsk Process was also a recognition of the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was not an internal matter of Azerbaijan.

In addition, the Armenian side has always emphasised that the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict is primarily a matter of human rights and freedoms, and first of all, the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination. In this sense, according to international obligations, including those assumed by the state of Azerbaijan, issues of human rights and freedoms are of direct and legitimate interest to all States and are not exclusively an internal matter of any one State. There are many examples in the world where certain countries and international organisations have directly intervened in conflict situations to prevent genocide, massacres and other serious human rights violations. In situations where human rights and freedoms, including the collective rights of peoples, are systematically and grossly violated, only intervention of the international community and the free exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination can ensure a peaceful and civilized resolution of such situations, without resorting to the use of force, violence, forced deportation and ethnic cleansing.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing blockade, massive violations of the individual and collective rights of the people of Artsakh, and other aggressive actions, the efforts of the official Baku to present the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict as their internal affair are a clear attempt by the leadership of Azerbaijan to get carte blanche from the international community to continue the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and expulsion of its indigenous people from their native lands. We consider Aliyev's ultimatum statements and threats to unleash a new war to be absolutely unacceptable. The people and authorities of Artsakh remain committed to the path of freedom and independence they have chosen, and no threats or difficulties created by Azerbaijan can make us turn off this path.

Are negotiations between Artsakh and Azerbaijan possible?

The Republic of Artsakh has been and continues to be committed to the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict. We believe that lasting peace in the region can and should be achieved through negotiations and on the basis of mutually acceptable approaches. Unilateral coercive measures can, of course, contain the issue, but this will be temporary, as evidenced by the 70-year existence of Artsakh within the Azerbaijan SSR. The political issues of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement should be discussed in an agreed and internationally recognised negotiation format based on the equal rights of the parties and in the presence of strong international guarantees for the implementation of their commitments.

As for the addressing of urgent technical and humanitarian issues, such contacts between the parties began after the ceasefire established by the Trilateral Statement of 9 November 2020. On 11 April, the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, through the Russian peacekeeping mission, sent a proposal to the Azerbaijani side to hold a meeting at the place of deployment and with the mediation of the command of the Russian peacekeeping forces to discuss urgent humanitarian issues. However, there was no response from Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has been trying to politicise these contacts in order to eliminate the need for an international mechanism for the settlement of the conflict. By rejecting the international mechanism of dialogue with the official Stepanakert, Azerbaijan is trying to avoid the implementation of possible agreements. Involvement of the international community in the dialogue between Artsakh and Azerbaijan is the only way to guarantee a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.

What is your position on the assertion of the Azerbaijani side that, according to the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, the borders between the union republics are considered state borders and, therefore, Karabakh is recognised as an integral part of Azerbaijan?

First of all, it should be noted that the Alma-Ata Declaration has never been considered as a political and legal basis for the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict or the determination of the status of Artsakh. This is indicated by the fact that by the time this declaration was adopted, negotiations on the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement had been underway for several months already within the framework of the Zheleznovodsk process, through the mediation of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. After the signing of the relevant declaration, the conflict settlement process continued with the mediation of Russia, the CIS, and the CSCE/OSCE. As part of the negotiation process, international mediators developed the basic principles and elements of the settlement, according to which the status of Artsakh was to be determined through a legally binding expression of will of its population. Thereby, the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination was recognised and a mechanism was proposed for its implementation. Thus, the parties involved in the conflict and the international mediators were not guided by the Alma-Ata Declaration when developing the basic principles of the settlement.

Moreover, the Alma-Ata Declaration, like any international document, must be guided by the objectives and principles of the UN Charter and other universal norms of international law. Therefore, the Alma-Ata Declaration contains the same principles and norms as the UN Charter, including the right to self-determination.

In this regard, we consider it necessary to emphasise that in case of massive and serious human rights violations and discriminatory policies, the right to secession based on the principle of self-determination of peoples prevails over the principle of territorial integrity of states. This formula, in particular, is described in the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States, and is also enshrined in the jurisprudence of various countries.
Artak Beglaryan, Adviser to the Minister of State, former Minister of State and former Human Rights Defender of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), has made a post on Facebook. The post reads as follows:

Questions and answers to dictator [Azerbaijani president Ilham] Aliyev

Dictator Aliyev once again threatened and insulted the Armenian people and the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia in an interview given to Azerbaijani television two days ago. His continuation of the policy of ethnic cleansing forces us to be more persistent, and it is the responsibility of the international community to take practical measures to fulfill their duty to protect.

Quote from Aliyev: Armenians living in Karabakh should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or find another place to live. There is complete freedom here, and all democratic fundamentals are offered. This issue should be resolved on the basis of human rights.

Answer: Is that solution based on the same democratic principles and human rights that genocidal acts were carried out against the Armenians of Azerbaijan and Artsakh, that now not a single Armenian is left in Azerbaijan, and on the same principles, all Armenians under the control of Azerbaijan throughout the conflict were either brutally killed or tortured and humiliated? On the same "democratic principles" are Armenians displayed at the "Strategist's Grove" museum for the "education" of Azerbaijani children, and on the same principles, a sleeping Armenian is beheaded by an Azerbaijani axe-wielder who has become a national hero? Is it on the same principles and human rights that Azerbaijani society is fed with fascist hatred against Armenians and distracted from internal problems, and judged by the same principles, Azerbaijan is considered one of the most dictatorial countries in the world? Or, did you mean other human rights, Your Excellency, Mr. best human rights defender, democrat, and pacifist?

The indigenous Armenian people of Artsakh made their decision a long time ago. Being annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan against their will, the people of Artsakh in 1988 and 1991 chose self-determination and freedom. We, the people of Artsakh, have no other place to live than our homeland, and we want to hold citizenship of no other country except the Republic of Artsakh. This is our choice based on the fundamental norms of international law. It's worth reminding that the threat of expelling people from their own homeland is a policy of ethnic cleansing, for which those responsible will one day stand before the international court.

Quote from Aliyev: The separatists who invented fake names for themselves (one calls himself president, minister, head of parliament), that group of clowns must finally understand that they will not play with our patience. We tried to explain to them many times in different ways that they should either follow our words or leave. The Armenians who live there, who are in fact their captives and hostages, should be left alone. I am sure that most of the Armenian population currently living in Karabakh is ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. Only those leeches, those predatory animals don't let these people live in peace, they have kept them as captives for 30 years.

Answer: Not stooping to the level of dictator Aliyev and not using offensive labels in public speech, I would advise him to look in the mirror and ask himself questions before labeling: who is preventing Armenians from living in peace, who is draining the blood not only of Armenians but also of his own people, who is holding the people of Artsakh as prisoners and hostages for at least the last 130 days, who is keeping prisoners of war as hostages for years, who was truly elected in democratic elections, and who inherited power through multiple violations and repressions of the norms of his own constitution. He should also question who is playing bloody and corrupt performances of human rights and democracy, not only in front of his own people but also in front of the world

The people of Artsakh have repeatedly demonstrated their desire for independence and freedom through free referendums, elections, and rallies. They have unanimously declared that they do not see any future under Azerbaijani rule. Our choice and will are irreversible because we have the right and determination to decide our own destiny in our own homeland, without encroaching upon anyone else's territory.

Quote from Aliyev: No one can influence our will. We proved it during the war and after the war. If the need comes, we will prove it once again in every way.

Answer: This statement amounts to yet another threat of the use of force, and I would even argue that it constitutes a threat of committing a crime against humanity, as he explicitly mentions the use of "any way" of force. It is particularly concerning coming from someone who professes readiness for peace and espouses human rights and other such values.

Quote from Aliyev: Let them (the people of Armenia) think carefully; one day, they may open their eyes and see the flag of Azerbaijan above their heads.

Answer: This is also a clear threat against the people and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, even regarding the occupation of Yerevan. And after all this, who can believe such a dictator who "wants" peace and "has" no ambitions for other countries and peoples?

Quote from Aliyev: First, for the fact that they won that great victory in Armenia, an enemy state, both Azerbaijans and Turkey's eternal enemy, they raised the Turkish flag.

Answer: In the end, this dictator openly reiterates and acknowledges that he considers Armenia to be an 'eternal enemy' whom he seeks to humiliate and destroy. Despite years of state policies rooted in Armenian hatred, threats, and crimes, he continues to play the victim. It is clear that peace and stability in the region cannot be achieved with such a fascist approach. The only viable solution is to apply practical internal and external measures to deter the dictator Aliyev and prevent further crimes against the Armenian people and humanity.
America sells more weapons across the globe than any other country, and each year we send them to countries with records rife with human rights abuses.

Whether its Saudi Arabias use of American weapons in attacks on civilians in Yemen or the many coups in West Africa led by American-trained officers, these outcomes stoke greater instability and conflict, which only undermines Americas national interests around the world.

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There ought to be a law against this. Fortunately, there is. Unfortunately, it isnt enforced.

But a bipartisan effort is underway to change that. If this effort succeeds, it would be a major step in reasserting Congress oversight role in military assistance and could open the door to far greater scrutiny over U.S. decisions to provide weapons, training and other support. This would not only make America a more credible champion of human rights but would also ensure our military tools dont foster conflict and violence instead of peace.

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The law is Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act. Passed by Congress in 1974, it prohibits U.S. security assistance to any country whose government engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. It provides Congress with the tools needed to enforce this prohibition.

U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, have introduced a resolution pursuant to 502B requesting a review of Saudi Arabias human rights record in order to inform a debate in Congress on how that record should affect our arms sales to the Saudis.

All this is in line with a provision in 502B that says that Congress can request a report on the human rights record of a target country and, based on that report, can vote to end or restrict aid to it. If the administration fails to provide the requested report within 30 days, aid to that country is automatically suspended. This marks the first time in decades that these mechanisms could be invoked.

The same law mandates the annual country reports on human rights practices, which often document patterns of abuse in countries we partner with. But these routine reports on every country, all released together once a year, havent been effective at triggering change. In contrast, a report requested under 502B, specifically called for by Congress, forces a public discussion on our security partnership with a specific country.

These reporting provisions were part of a major legislative push in the wake of the Vietnam War to enhance oversight of U.S. foreign policy and bring human rights considerations to the fore. The shift was in recognition that partnering with regimes that abuse human rights is not only morally problematic but also undermines U.S. interests in the long run.

In the case of its war in Yemen, for example, Saudi Arabias abuses have created one of the biggest humanitarian crises on earth. U.S. security assistance in West Africa has not only helped undermine democracy in several countries, but also, the violent terrorist insurgencies it was meant to rein in have only grown. Egypt has long been one of our biggest recipients of security assistance and weapons, despite its ongoing and systemic repression and abuse of human rights defenders and other civilians. This does not appear to be creating a more prosperous or stable state.

Despite these bad outcomes, Congress has failed for decades to make use of its oversight powers to end or limit support to abusive regimes, leaving the executive branch free to provide security assistance with minimal constraints. Section 502B is occasionally referenced by administrations as part of their own decisions to curtail security assistance, as the Biden administration did with Ethiopia in 2021, but Congress has never used its authority under this provision to block or limit weapons sales or other military assistance.

Congress has other mechanisms for exercising oversight over U.S. arms sales, but they are more limited. Under the Arms Export Control Act, the U.S. Department of State must report arms sales to Congress, which then can block specific transactions. But addressing one transaction at a time is unnecessarily laborious when it comes to abusive governments with whom we have extensive security partnerships.

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Section 502B, in contrast, allows Congress to reevaluate the entire security relationship with a given country, and to do so in the public eye.

Such a reevaluation could end the inertia that drives aid to countries when it no longer serves our national interest. Even the U.S. has limited means to help its allies, and right now, for example, Saudi Arabia ranks ahead of Taiwan in line for critical weapons systems. Today, that makes little sense.

When a human rights review forces Congress to rethink the costs and benefits of our security relationships, our representatives might find better ways to use our limited resources, like dedicating them to strengthening countries that reflect the values and stability we hope to see more of in the world rather than those that dont.

Elizabeth Shackelford is a senior fellow on U.S. foreign policy with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She was previously a U.S. diplomat and is the author of The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
I carefully follow the opinions of the National Assembly of Artsakh, I value them, I treat them with respect, but what I said is something else. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told this reporters in the National Assembly of Armenia Thursday, referring to the statement by the five factions of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Assembly, where they considered unacceptable Pashinyan's statements that Armenia fully recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and that they separate the matter of ensuring the safety of the people of Artsakh from the right to self-determination within the official framework of Armenia.

When asked if he was misunderstood in Artsakh, Pashinyan responded: "Usually they misunderstand, and it is not ruled out that they misunderstood this time, too. But in my opinion, by and large, there is nothing to misunderstand because my assessments are very clear. I want to draw attention to the following as to which counterargument was voiced in the field of arguments. I say let's put the assessments aside for a moment because what you're saying, there's nothing new in the assessments; starting [from the fact] that it is treason, starting [from the fact] that it is not treason. Let's dig into the content and see what that content means."

And to Armenian News-NEWS.am's question as to whether he agreed that territorial integrity implies that Artsakh will be part of Azerbaijan, the Armenian premier answered: "In my report, I clearly recorded the following that the 2007 recordthe self-determination wording of the Madrid Principlesis given in such a way that the right to self-determination, and I also said during the previous question-and-answer session [that] under the Madrid principles, Armenia recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan; that's the problem.

"And I was saying that we, not facing this reality, created the desired reality in parallel, which had nothing to do with the international and geopolitical reality. We have to face this situation. I say to our dear oppositionists: criticize me for this. Why don't you criticize for this? Because you also made the same mistake."

Karabakh parliament factions: Armenia PM's statements questioning Artsakhs de facto status are impermissible
The Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) issue is the most important issue of concern for the Armenian people, and the stance of the Armenian people is clear in this regard: the right of the people of Artsakh to live freely and independently should be protected at all costs. The Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, told this to reporters Thursday.

"Sufficient work has been carried out in this sense, and we are full of hope that these efforts need to continue and the issue will have its good settlement as a result of the efforts by the international community, our people," he said.

Commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that Armenia had recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan under the Madrid Principles, the Catholicos said: "We do not think that such statements are appropriate and can in any way be beneficial for the settlement of the issue. There is no need to hurry; on the contrary, the God-given right of the Artsakh people to self-determination, to live independently should be protected in every way."

To the question, "Do you see a possibility that Artsakh may not be part of Azerbaijan?" Karekin II responded: "I cant imagine that Artsakh can be part of Azerbaijan. It will mean a new genocide against the Armenian people, it will mean the de-Armenianization of our people of Artsakh. We must make every effort to be able to ensure, within the framework of international norms and laws, the right of our people of Artsakh to live independently."

As for how the Armenian church will react if the Armenian authorities decide to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan by which Artsakh will be part of Azerbaijan, Karekin II responded that the Armenian people will not be reconciled in any way the idea of seeing Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

"We are not familiar with the articles, clauses of the peace treaty and cannot express an opinion in that regard. But for us, it is beyond doubt that our people will defend, at the cost of every sacrifice, the right of the people of Artsakh to live freely and independently," the Catholicos of All Armenians added.
Its that time of year. Leaders in business and technology will descend on the Miami Beach Convention Center this Thursday and Friday for the 2023 eMerge Americas conference.

As a Titanium Sponsor of the event, the University of Miami will display several research and technological innovations. Attendees will be able to listen to an array of keynote speakers, including Academy Award-winning filmmaker Phil Lord and seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady.

Read more about the innovations the University of Miami has on display at Booth 537:

Health displays at eMerge Americas use new technology to help patients

HairWare device to help break down barriers in health care

Ved Chirayath is on a mission to map the worlds oceans

On site? View the eMerge 2023 agenda so you do not miss University presenters on the Main, Texpert, and Launch Pad stages throughout the conference.

Check back throughout the event for updates from the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Friday, April 21, 7:20 p.m.

eMerge panel examines the future of flight

Two minutes before an afternoon eMerge Americas panel on autonomous mobility was scheduled to start, three of the participants had already taken their seats inside the Miami Beach Convention Center, preparing tell all they knew about the technology behind electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

But one seat remained empty.

GeCheng Zha, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Miamis College of Engineering, was still making his way toward the Texpert stage, his commute from the Coral Gables Campus to Miami Beach taking one hour because of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Had Zha been piloting or been the passenger in an eVTOL, the car would have taken off vertically, flown like a drone, and landed right next the convention center, College of Engineering Dean Pratim Biswas, who moderated the panel, said to an audience of about 50 people.

So, Dr. Zha, youd never be late again, Biswas said as the panelists chuckled.

While his remark may have elicited laughter, it was a comment intended to point out the benefits of what he hopes will be the future of transportation.

Just imagine an ambulance rushing a patient to our [UHealth Tower] hospital, Biswas said. You dont want to be [hampered] by traffic. You want to get the patient to the hospital as quicly as possible. This technology is going to enable that and save lives.

The college he leads recently launched an initiative that will help make that a reality.

The new Miami Engineering Autonomous Mobility Initiative (MEAMI) consists of a consortium of academic, industry, and government partners that are developing next-generation eVTOL aircraft and flying cars.

Building on research funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and others, MEAMI includes such partners as Eve Air Mobility, Aeroauto, and Ryder System as well as nonprofit entities like The Beacon Council. The Departments of Energy, Education, and Transportation support the endeavor, Biswas pointed out.

We need to really lean into this technology, Matthew Land, who leads government relations and public policy at Eve Air, said during the 30-minute panel. eVTOL will be an additional form of transportation. It is not meant to compete with existing forms, but it is meant to provide another safe and reliable method for you to get from point A to point B.

Going back to the earliest helicopters, vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft have existed for decades. But many of those craft use a tiltrotor system to achieve lift and propulsion, Zha said.

He and his team are developing second-generation technology that make eVTOL craft much more efficient. With so-called co-flow jet airfoil technology, we dont need to rotate the propeller. The propeller faces forward, explained Zha, noting that such technology produces safer and quieter aircraft.

The right infrastructure is needed to support such vehicles, said Qingda Yang, professor and interim chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering. If hundreds of such vehicles were in the air, an efficient communication network would be needed to manage such heavy traffic. We are going to have high-powered artificial intelligence to integrate instantaneously all this information and send out commands [for which vehicle] goes where, he said.

But before eVTOLs become widespread, such vehicles will need to be piloted before we can move to autonomous operations, said Land. The FAA is working on a pathway for us to have the regulations in place so that these first aircraft will be certified in probably early 2025, or sometime in 25.

Palm Beach County-based Aeroauto is not only involved in the sale of eVTOLs but is also developing the infrastructure to support such craft, said the companys president and CEO, Sean Borman.

Before the first cars, it was all horses and no roads, just some trails and some dirt access to where the horses would go, he said. Years later, the infrastructure isnt just where can you take off the land from, its service stations, dealerships, parking areas, gas stations, roads, highways. Everything that cars need today, the flying cars, the eVTOLs are going to need in the future. So, we are helping to create that environment.

Robert C. Jones Jr.

Friday, April 21, 6:45 p.m.

Photos from Day 2

University of Miami engineering senior Joy Jackson describes the device she designed and created, called HairWare, to improve EEG readings for people with textured hair.

Visitors explored the University of Miami display during the second day of the eMerge Americas event at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

University of Miami President Julio Frenk checks on Harvey, the worlds first cardiopulmonary simulator that was created more than 50 years ago by Michael S. Gordon at the Miller School of Medicine and has been in use in hundreds of institutions, and in close to 70 countries throughout the world, to train learners in the health field. Harvey is a sophisticated mannequin that can simulate up to 50 heart and lung conditions.

Photos by Matthew Rembold

Friday, April 21, 5:15 p.m.

How are emerging digital tools impacting media?

A cadre of media specialists debated how new tools such as ChatGPT are shifting the media business and landscape.

Harry McCracken, a global technology editor with Fast Company, Kaio Philipe, an administrator with Bloomberg Linea, and Sarah Kopit, editor-in-chief of The Block, participated on the panel, The Role of Media in the Emerging Digital Ecosystem. Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas, moderated the session.

ChatGPT is a tool like everythingyoud be foolish not to use it, said Kopit, But it has to be heavily scrutinized, and Im not sure how much time it saves at this point. The applications are vast. Were very excited about it.

Her company, which tracks the digital assets landscape, is using it and generating polices regarding its use.

Its here, and folks are using it, so you have to decide how you want it to be, Kopit said. It can do more than write stuff, but they were very generic and vanilla.

Kopit said she fed the artificial intelligence chatbot her own bio to see what information it would generate, and the outcome was surprising.

I would love to work or have worked for the Associated Press or The New York Times, but I never have, she said. Chat generated a lot of false information.

These new features and new tools make our life better, but its important that people know how to leverage themyour business model certainly cannot rely on them, noted Philipe.

Kopit suggested that the tools would fuel a trend in the media landscape between large, billionaire-owned media outlets, and small, local news sources and newspapers.

Really high-quality journalism is very expensive to produce, so theres a high dichotomy thats growing between big outlets and the small ones that will rely more and more heavily on ChatGPT like tools that just generate content, she said.

As regards a possible TikTok ban, McCracken said that the concern that a China-based and owned company wields such influence is very warranted.

Theres a lot of ruckus about it, but its not addressing the actual problem that we should be thinking about, McCracken said. And theres certainly a duality where you have legislators who are calling for it to be bannedthe same ones who use it to engage voters.

A lot of politicians dont understand itand they should be paying more attention to the technologists who do in order to address the problem in a calm and measured fashion, he added.

Michael R. Malone

Friday, April 21, 2:55 p.m.

Frenk: Technology works best in blended modalities

In a panel that explored technology as a driver for higher education, University of Miami President Julio Frenk highlighted one of the most important lessons learned from the pandemicthat technology works best when combined with human interaction.

Technology works best in hybridor blendedmodalities where you combine the use of technology with human interaction to enhance the classroom experience, Frenk said. We should never confuse connectivity with connection. Connectivity is what technology gives you, and connection is what happens when were all together.

Frenk urged attendees to visit the Universitys conference kiosk to view an ideal example of this blended mode: the Harvey System. As mannequins did previously albeit in far more limited fashion, this medical simulator operates on a virtual reality platform that allows first responders and health professionals to learn from their mistakes while avoiding harm to patients.

For the session Catalyzing Higher Education in the Americas, Frenk was joined by Julian Rodriguez, rector of Universidad Austral in Argentina, and Diego Quiroga, rector of the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, both university members of the Hemispheric University Consortium, a collaborative initiative spurred in large part by the University of Miami.

Felicia Knaul, director of the Universitys Institute for the Advanced Study of the Americas, moderated the panel.

Knaul acknowledged the technological advances prompted by the pandemic, but questioned what should or could be done to avoid creating wider gaps in access to technology, worsening social inequalities or other risks.

We need to make sure that we use technology to enhance the educational experience in an integrative comprehensive way, not as a separate set of tools that can be applied without much thought, Frenk responded.

Knaul noted that members of the consortium met in person for the first time since the launch of the pandemic to share ideas.

We have similar concerns throughout the Americas, Quiroga said. Sharing these experiences between members of the consortium creates the opportunity that is going to be changing the future of education in Latin America.

Big data analysis is transforming the way we provide services, and this is an incredible opportunity for universities, Frenk added. The more that we do this together, the higher the likelihood that we will learn from each other.

Frenk shared that the University is experimenting in areas of innovation in education and recently launched a new three-year B.A. in innovation technology and design.

This is meta innovationan innovation in education itself, Frenk said. Its a different way of packaging according to pedagogical principles so that education will fuel innovation in every other sector.

Michael R. Malone

Friday, April 21, 1:30 p.m.

High schoolers learn how a remote sensing tool can help save coral reefs

The last time Cyntia Roig snorkeled in the Florida Keys with her family, she was stunned to see how some of the corals that make up the third-largest coral barrier reef system in the world had lost their vibrant colors and turned completely white.

It was a brutal wakeup call, Roig said. I grew up learning about coral reefs and how important they are as underwater ecosystems. To see the discoloration that had occurred was alarming.

The 18-year-old Roig was referring to the way coral bleaching events caused by rising ocean temperatures have impacted not only the Keys reef tract but also others in oceans around the world.

Friday, at the eMerge Americas technology conference on Miami Beach, she was ecstatic to learn about an invention of a University of Miami researcher that is now playing a crucial role in helping coral reefs survive.

This is totally cool, said Roig, as she and her classmates from the School of Advanced Studies (SAS), a nationally recognized program in which students complete the last two years of high school while attending Miami Dade College, crowded around the MiDAR device on display at the Universitys exhibit space inside the Miami Beach Convention Center.

As the small lights on the circular-shaped MiDAR flashed in random patterns, Roig learned that the tool, when mounted onto a drone that flies above water, uses high-intensity LED and laser light pulses to map and transmit 3D images of the sea floor in remarkable detail and at incredible depths.

Invented by Ved Chirayath, the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth Sciences at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, MiDAR was recently used to conduct multispectral mapping of corals in Guam. Along with his other creation, the FluidCam, which sees through ocean waves, MiDAR has the potential to assess the health of coral reef ecosystems as well as assess the effects of climate change on coastal areas.

Eighteen-year-old SAS senior Karsten Chima, who recently learned that hes been accepted by the University of Miami, said Chirayaths MiDAR imaging tool inspires him. I want to create new technology in the field of chemistry, said Chima, who is conducting research to improve the energy transfer in solar panels.

Seeing something like this helps me realize just how much the oceans are changing and what were doing that harms them, said SAS senior Luis Garcia-Praslin, 18, as he looked at MiDAR and listened to Cameron Hallett, an undergraduate research assistant in Chirayaths lab, explain how the device works. It also showed me what we need to do to make things right.

Robert C. Jones Jr.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by University of Miami (@univmiami)

Thursday, April 20, 9 p.m.

Day one in photos

Jeffrey Duerk, University of Miami executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, looks over the HealthHub project developed in the RAD lab at the School of Architecture by researchers from the school, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Miller School of Medicine. Next to the provost is Rodolphe Rudy el-Khoury, center, dean of the School of Architecture and director of the RAD lab, and Donnie Garcia-Navarro, who helped create HealthHub.

Miami Edison Senior High School student Aricely Villafuerte checks out a virtual reality display to a medical training device at the University of Miami's booth.

As Aaron McEntire, left, looks on, Miami Beach Senior High School students, from left, Samantha Martin, Christina Hope-Borges, and Kim Sartor, engage with Harvey, a full-size cardiopulmonary simulator developed by the University of Miamis Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education.

Photos: Joshua Prezant

Thursday, April 20, 6:25 p.m.

Flick on your flow state

As a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals, Anthony Shew knew he didnt possess the physical prowess of some of his teammates, so he focusedreally focusedon strengthening his mental game.

After four years with the Cardinals, Shew decided to take his talents elsewherenot to another team, but instead to working as an engineer developing software. And he brought the mental skills he honed on the baseball diamond to his new field.

Shew, a content engineer these past six years, shared his insights with an audience of computer developers and attendees at the React Miami 2023 mini-conferencea component of eMerge Americasin his talk On-Demand Flow State: A Framework for Mental Performance.

I want to share some tips on how you can turn your flow switch on and off like a light switch, Shew told the audience. The flow state isnt something abstract, its about consistently getting all those last drops and moving into higher levels of what youre able to do.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian American psychologist, first championed the idea and has written extensively of flow, and Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley applied the concepts successfully with his championship team. Shew was intent on sharing the insights with developers to up their game and preempt the possibility of burnout.

In his presentation, he showed a picture of a lioness hunting for prey to demonstrate the qualities of the flow state: assertiveness, volition, concentration, calmness.

Look into the shoulders, theres an attention there, but its not tension, and theres a calm in her whole body, he said.

The framework he offeredcustomizable, adaptable, portable, gentle to learnwas similar in many ways to the codes the developers strive to generate.

Shew shared microroutinesphysical gestures that are quick and meaningfulthat are geared to induce the flow state. For him, four taps on the keyboard with his thumb are how he programs his mind that its time to settle in and get to work.

He shared the DCBA checklistthe mental programmingthat he was taught as a ball player. Decidebe specific about the task youre about to undertake; clearyour mind of distractions; breathetake deep breaths and center; and actget to it.

Developing a meditation and mindfulness practice have been extraordinarily helpful for him, he shared, and they dont need to be complicated or long.

Theres so much thats outside of our control, but these are things you can control, Shew said. It starts with us. Its important to think about thinking, learn how to learn, and for us to talk about these healthy behaviors instead of waiting for burnout to happen.

The flow state isnt something abstract. Its about consistency and can just be about getting your work done faster so you can play more video games. But its a healthier way to be.

Michael R. Malone

Thursday, April 20, 4:10 p.m.

Undergraduate student researcher passionate about the ocean

Cameron Hallett spent the day stationed at the MiDAR display at Booth 537, explaining the Multispectral Imaging, Detection, and Active Reflectance device to anyone who approached and inquired about the flying device.

A junior studying marine science and computer science, Hallett also works as an undergraduate research assistant for Rosenstiel professor Claire Paris, professor in the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, and Ved Chirayath, director of the Aircraft Center for Earth Studies (ACES) at the school.

At eMerge, he explained to booth-goers the work that ACES does as a lab, the technologies that theyve been developing, and the innovations that they as researchers are excited to see continue to develop.

Originally from New Hampshire, Hallett always knew he wanted to study the oceanand he wanted to do it somewhere warm.

The University of Miami has one of the best marine science programs in the world, and I really couldnt think of a better place to come and study it, he shared. I walked out on the pier [at the Marine Campus] for the first time and I said, This is where Im going. I just fell in love with the school.

Throughout the first day of the eMerge tech event, Hallett was doing his part to get people excited about the technology and about how we study the ocean.

Even during the last hour of his shift, his energy was infectious.

I love that the work is challenging, he said of his lab work experience at the Rosenstiel School. I love that it impacts in a very real way something that Im passionate about, which is the ocean and ocean conservation. I love being able to learn from a huge variety of different people who have an enormous number of skills.

He also enjoys the challenge of it. Its exciting, he said, to come into the school and know that day Im going to be doing something difficult, something that makes me really have to think.

Hallett will spend his summer at the ACES lab and will also join the labs field mission to Guam.

Text: Megan Ondrizek

Photo: Mike Montero

Thursday, April 20, 2:30 p.m.

Hemispheric University Consortium Social Ideas Challenge

Jeffrey Duerk, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Miami, took the LaunchPad Stage to emcee the finale of the HUC Social Ideas Challenge. More than 60 students representing colleges and universities throughout the Americas participated in the competition, which encouraged the students to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to solve socio-environmental challenges as outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Joining in the conversation were Angela Maria Camacho, president of the board, Colombian American Chamber of Commerce; Carolina Rendeiro, CEO, Connect2Global and honorary consul of Portugal; and Claudia Serrer, trade commissioner of Chile, ProChile Miami.

The participating students represented institutions throughout the hemisphere and are identifying solutions to key challenges facing not only the hemisphere, but the entire globe, Duerk said.

The HUC, whose president is University President Julio Frenk, was formed at eMerge Americas five years ago.

Megan Ondrizek

Thursday, April 20, 1:55 p.m.

AI Technology Race Is Not the Hunger Games

Ken Goodman, the director of University of Miami Ethics Programs, urged competitive cooperation to generate effective regulation and to advance artificial intelligence in a way thats best for everybody.

For the midday panel at eMerge Americas, The Interaction of Ethical AI and Machine Learning: Social Equity and Good Business, Goodman shared the stage with Angle Bush, founder of Black Women in Artificial Intelligence, and Frost Li, of Social Chat. MacKenzie Sigalos, a technology reporter for CNBC, moderated the conversation.

We need to figure out how to do AI as an ensemble, this is not the Hunger Gamesa competition where someone has to die at the end of the game, Goodman said.

This is an opportunity for humanity to use an exciting new tool to improve life for lots of people. Were not all going to get rich on this. The Gold Rush air of this race is worrisome. There are environmental and social consequences to it.

I dont think regulation is the right word, we might better frame it as competitive cooperationnot about fixing prices or anythingbut where we are going to be sharing what we care about in our communities.

The director of University-wide efforts on ethical problems through the Institute on Data Science and Computing (IDSC) and the Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, Goodman highlighted the need for effective regulation to monitor the breakneck speed of artificial intelligence development.

The track record is strong, and we get better outcomes when academia, government, and business get together and do more science. What were trying to do is ensure that the values that are pretty well sharedand dont let anyone tell you theyre notare being embedded into his research and the applications of the science.

One of the biggest concerns we all have is how easy it is and, how unfortunately fertile it is, to use some of these tools to the point that it rises to the level of fraud. Were sorting that out as a civil society and having the debate is the most important thing to do. This is not our first rodeo when it comes to a new technology, he said.

When it comes to a computer program thats going to be guiding a doctor or nurse in a hospital, it is not unreasonable to ask what are the standards that should govern this? And that standard is going to need to have some force behind it, Goodman said.

Thats what were doing in South Florida with the University of Miami in building and cooperating with other academic institutions, he added. Were all thinking about those questions. How do we get it right to advance technology and do it without worsening disparities and without introducing problems that we didnt anticipate. There are ways of doing it, and we are working on those.

Michael R. Malone

Thursday, April 20, 11 a.m.

Biomedical engineering student a Rising Star

Erin Ravindran, a senior biomedical engineering student at the University of Miami, is at eMerge Americas today as one of the recipients of the 2023 eMerge Americas' Rising Stars award.

Nominated by her faculty members in the College of Engineering, Ravindran will join a panel discussion with peers from Miami Dade College, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University, and Florida Atlantic University to share her perspective on technology and its role in the South Florida tech ecosystem.

Miami has grown from a cultural hub into a technology hub, Ravindran shared in her nomination video.

But the coronavirus pandemic allowed for people to understand the power of remote work. Now people can live in Miami, live in this beautiful place with great food and culture, and can be involved in technology anywhere in the world, she said.

For Ravindran, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and health care has been one of the most exciting innovations.

Because Im in biomed engineering, Im focused on the health part of it, she shared. Ive always wanted to make a positive impact on peoples health.

Ravindran and two of her peers at the College of Engineering, Joy Jackson and Kailyn Nunez, are currently creating a respiratory monitoring system for babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

Their project will be on display at the College of Engineering Senior Design Expo on May 2.

A native South Floridian, Ravindran will pursue a masters degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania after she graduates from the University next month.

Text: Megan Ondrizek

Photo: Joshua Prezant
Labels with frogs are stored next to syringes for COVID-19 vaccines approved for children at an Advocate Children's Medical Group clinic on June 30, 2022, in Evergreen Park. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Two qualities a first-class science journalist and a first-class physician must have are patience and a skeptical nature. If a new disease appears somewhere, the journalist and the physician need the skepticism to reject easy explanations of the source. As it has been said of war, first impressions are often wrong. The public may lose interest in the disease if it disappears, but the professionals, knowing the disease may reappear, must be patient in uncovering its origins, even if it takes years.

This happened in spring 2022 when nearly 350 otherwise healthy children in the U.S. suddenly contracted an unusually severe form of hepatitis. At least another 1,000 worldwide came down with the disease. According to the World Health Organization, 22 children died, and another 46 required liver transplants.

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The usual precipitating causes of hepatitis, generally a benign illness in children, were quickly eliminated. The source became a medical mystery, and coming in the wake of the omicron wave of COVID-19, some observers concluded that either COVID-19 or the vaccine had caused hepatitis.

Simply from a temporal standpoint, a causal association seemed logical, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health authorities in Israel and Great Britain were skeptical, especially of a link to vaccines. At the time, no cause was conclusively established, and most of the cases subsided as quickly as they had appeared.

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The mysterious cases of severe pediatric hepatitis fell off the public radar, so it was left for physicians in the U.S. and United Kingdom to pursue the matter. A year later, researchers have published three studies in the journal Nature that may provide the answer. The most important finding was that there appears to be no link between the acute liver disease in children and COVID-19 infection vaccines.

All three studies found that only a small minority of patients had COVID-19 infections. (In two of the studies, none of the affected children had COVID-19.) Regarding a possible vaccine cause, most children had not been vaccinated, and in fact, the outbreak in the U.K. occurred before most children were eligible for the vaccine. With so few children receiving the vaccine, it was essentially ruled out as a cause for the acute liver disease.

So what had happened? The studies demonstrated that the likely cause of hepatitis in children was an interaction of two typically benign non-COVID-19-related viruses. (For the record, the two viruses are adenovirus and AAV2.) Most of the affected children had a specific genetic susceptibility associated with autoimmune conditions. This suggests that in some way the two viruses acted synergistically and caused the body to react against the liver.

While COVID-19 did not cause pediatric hepatitis, it may have been indirectly involved as a result of public health efforts to contain the virus. The U.K. researchers postulated that the measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 may have led to less public exposure to viruses in general and resulted in reduced immunity. As lockdowns loosened and schools reopened, the two responsible viruses began circulating among children. Many children became infected for the first time and subsequently infected others. Some of those who were genetically susceptible developed hepatitis.

There are several offshoots to the pediatric hepatitis story. Before COVID-19, we had a limited knowledge of how many cases of pediatric hepatitis there were on a national basis. Once cases began appearing in children, the U.S. and other countries started surveilling the condition, so we developed a better understanding of how many cases of hepatitis typically occur in children. When an abnormally high number appears, it gave us an early warning of a potential outbreak.

Moreover, severe acute hepatitis is traditionally uncommon in children, and in nearly half the cases, the cause is unknown. Now that we are aware of the interaction of these two viruses causing hepatitis, it opens up new avenues for diagnosis and treatment.

The American journalist H.L. Mencken once said, Every complex problem has a solution which is simple, direct, plausible  and wrong. It was tempting to believe that COVID-19 was responsible for the 2022 worldwide wave of severe pediatric hepatitis; it turned out not to be true.

Thats why good science journalists and physicians should be skeptical and patient. Because in science, things are not always as they seem at first.

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Dr. Cory Franklin is a retired intensive care physician. Dr. Robert Weinstein is an infectious disease specialist at Rush University Medical Center.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
09:52

India's long-standing relationship with Russia gives it a unique position to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war and to withdraw from Ukrainian territory, Biden administration's point person for South and Central Asia on Thursday said that the war in Ukraine has in fact reinforced India-US bilateral ties, instead of breaking it.





"It's true, we have not always shared the same approach to Russia's war in Ukraine. But we do share the belief that this war should end as soon as possible, and it should end according to the UN Charter, principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu told PTI in an interview.







"India's long-standing relationship with Russia gives it a unique position to urge Vladimir Putin to end his war and to withdraw from Ukrainian territory. We agree with India that Russia's war in Ukraine must end with a negotiated settlement and that enduring and just peace is essential," Lu said in response to a question.





"We welcome India's support for the people of Ukraine by providing humanitarian assistance. And we welcome Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's comments at the G-20 Summit in Bali, calling for dialogue and diplomacy," he said.





"Since the first days of the war, India and the United States have had constant communication at the highest levels of their governments and that cooperation will continue," he said.





"We are hopeful that India can use its relationship and its influence with Russia to call for Russia to end this war," he said.





Responding to a question, Lu said the Ukraine war had not been a difficult moment in this relationship.





"In fact, I've said the opposite, which is to look at where we are now. We didn't come from the same perspective and yet we found a way to communicate seriously about this. We found a way to listen to one another. We found a way to support one another in this process of trying to create our policies," he said.





"I recall a time when India was trying to evacuate its students from Ukraine and I hope that India felt the support of America as it did this. I know that we've had lots of discussions about India's interaction with Russia and with Ukraine through this crisis, and we've had quite good communication," he said.





"So, what's interesting is that the Ukrainian war did not break our relations. In fact, it reinforced our relations. It reinforced an ability to work through disagreements sometimes to find a way to work together cooperatively. I'm actually very optimistic. If we can work through that tough issue, we can work through anything," Lu told PTI. -- PTI


In a major development, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) of Air India have rejected the new pay structure proposed by the airline. The primary bone of contention is the reduction in flying allowance from 70 hours to 40 hours every month under the new structure, which the pilots believe is unfair. The two unions have warned of possible 'industrial unrest' if the management goes ahead with the new terms without their consent. While Air India has stated that it will "continue to engage with the remainder of its staff", the airline has taken a tough stance on the issue, saying that there are "no recognised unions in Air India". This is the first wage revision offered by the Tata group-owned Air India since its takeover last year, and it will affect all 3,000 pilots across its four airlines - Air India, Air India Express, Air Asia India, and Vistara. The pilots' unions have instructed their members to reject the new employment conditions and wage structure offered by the management. An agreement has been put in place for the employees to sign by April 25, but the two unions have stated that they will contest the terms and conditions, with their pilots refusing to sign the revised employment and compensation terms. The two unions have warned of potential industrial unrest if the company takes any coercive or victimising action against their members. In a joint statement, the unions stated that the company reiterated that "all previous understandings, representations and agreements of whatever nature that have been entered into with us are null & void and that the company further has the right to change any terms and conditions". "The term cost to the company for an assumed flying of 70 hrs is deliberately misleading and creates an impression of a generous compensation and accompanying benefits package. The actual guaranteed money being offered is only for 40 hrs. Effectively, any time a pilot is on leave or is unavailable due to recurrent training requirements or document/licence renewals, not to mention any sick leave, there is an automatic pay cut involved," the statement read. "The so-called rationalisations of allowances is not in line with any industry practices as projected by HR. Further, blanket consent is sought for any leave or insurance policy that the company may come up with & which is subject to amendment or outright withdrawal. "Suffice it to say that this is not an all-inclusive list but merely a selection of some of the most outlandish and labour-hostile provisions that we have come across to date. This is dishonourable and how the management is trying to force it down the employees' throats is outright unethical," it added. "Nor has the blatant attack on our rights as workmen to bargain collectively or seek legal redressal for any injustice or victimisation gone unnoticed. Where is the company requirement all of a sudden to forcibly promote almost all the permanent workmen of the union to the so-called Senior Commander management cadre? It is clear from all this that there is a concerted effort to gut the unions and isolate pilots into individual boxes where they can be exploited and victimised at will by the HR department," the statement said. Meanwhile, Air India's spokesperson has defended the new compensation structure, which includes parity among different groups, recognition of managerial and supervisory roles for experienced pilots, and individual contracts sent to pilots and cabin crew for necessary paperwork. "The managerial and supervisory role played by the experienced pilots is also being recognised in the form of designating them as Senior Commander as also offering them a special monthly allowance. The contracts reflecting these enhancements were individually sent to the pilots and cabin crew for necessary paperwork," said the spokesperson. The spokesperson also claimed that a large number of pilots and cabin crew have already accepted the new contracts, and the salary improvements and advancement opportunities they enable. "The airline will continue to engage with the remainder of its staff through this process as currently there is no recognised union in Air India," the spokesperson said. --IANS ssh/arm ( 702 Words) 2023-04-19-22:54:02 (IANS)
'Apple Saket' is located at the Select Citywalk Mall in Saket and will open for customers at 10:00 am.

The store will have a dedicated Apple Pickup station which makes it easier for customers to order online and collect their devices in-store at a convenient time.

Apple said the store has more than 70 highly skilled retail team members who come from 18 states in India and collectively speak more than 15 languages.

"We are thrilled to bring the best of Apple to our customers in Delhi with the opening of our second store in India, Apple Saket," said Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail.

"Our incredible team members look forward to connecting with the local community and helping them find new ways to pursue their passions and unleash their creativity through our amazing products and services," Apple said in a statement.

For hands-on technical and hardware support, the statement said customers can make a reservation at the Genius Bar at Apple Saket for help from an expert. "Genius Bar appointments can help with everything from setting up a device, recovering an Apple ID, selecting an AppleCare plan, or modifying subscriptions," it added.

Tim Cook opened India's first retail store of Apple in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter yesterday, Apple CEO dropped a picture from the grand store opening and captioned it, "The energy, creativity, and passion in Mumbai is incredible! We are so excited to open Apple BKC -- our first store in India." (ANI)
Stamford (Connecticut) [US], April 20 (ANI/PRNewswire): Rain Carbon Inc., a leading global producer of carbon-based products and advanced materials, announces today that it has published its first external sustainability report, "Resourceful, Reliable, Responsible - Our journey toward a sustainable future." "We understand that sustainability is quickly becoming a license for companies to do business, with growing demands for reduced greenhouse gases, decreased energy consumption, 'doing what's right' when it comes to corporate social responsibility and much more," said Rain Carbon President Gerry Sweeney. "Guided by our corporate vision to be the world's most trusted and resourceful provider of diversified carbon products and advanced materials, our businesses are committed to a sustainable environment and maintaining the ecological, social and economic well-being of future generations." Sweeney added: "After more than 150 years as an evolving, adapting business, 'sustainability' also describes the longevity of our company. With our investments in 21st-century technologies and processes to meet growing demand for greener products, Rain Carbon is well positioned to continue to make meaningful and sustainable contributions for our customers, communities and investors for decades to come." Rain Carbon Inc. is a leading vertically integrated global producer of carbon-based products that are essential raw materials for staples of everyday life. We operate in two business segments: Carbon and Advanced Materials. Our Carbon business segment converts the byproducts of oil refining and steel production into high-value, carbon-based products that are critical raw materials for the aluminum, graphite electrode, carbon black, wood preservation, titanium dioxide, refractory, and several other global industries. Our Advanced Materials business segment extends the value chain of our carbon processing through the innovative downstream transformation of a portion of our carbon output and other raw materials into high-value, eco-friendly and advanced-material products that are critical raw materials for the specialty chemicals, coatings, construction, automotive, petroleum and several other global industries. Learn more about Rain Carbon at www.raincarbon.com. This story has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI/ATK): World Heritage Day is celebrated annually on April 18th to highlight the importance of cultural heritage and diversity. India, a country with a rich and diverse cultural heritage, has always been a top destination for heritage tourism. The introduction of ropeways in some of the most famous heritage sites has transformed the tourism potential of some lesser known sites. Ropeways are a mode of transportation that involves cable cars suspended in the air and moving between the lower and upper stations (or vice versa). They have been used for transportation in many mountainous areas worldwide. However, in recent years, ropeways have gained popularity as a mode of tourism transportation, especially in India. Some of India's most popular ropeway projects are in Pushkar (Rajasthan), Gangtok (Sikkim) and Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), Digha (West Bengal) and many more. The ones listed are managed by Damodar Ropeways & Infra Ltd. The opening of these ropeways has not only eased people's access to the hinterlands in these regions, but they have also increased the influx of tourists, boosting the economy and promoting growth. The installation of ropeways has also made heritage tourism more accessible for people with disabilities and the elderly. These groups of people often find it challenging to climb steep hills and stairs to reach the heritage sites and temples or even view the heritage landscape from the air. The Ropeways have also allowed families with small children to access the heritage sites, making it a more family-friendly experience. Ropeways are safe and extremely reliable mode of transport. The success of the Damodar Ropeways projects in Digha, Pushkar, Gangtok and Chitrakoot, among others, has paved the way for more regions to explore the possibility of installing ropeways in popular heritage sites. As India continues to promote tourism, it is essential to make heritage sites accessible to everyone, and ropeways are an excellent way to achieve this goal when mountains are concerned. It has also recently been looked upon as a means of eco-friendly modern urban transport. Adding these to forts and castles instead of making roads to them, will help bring the heritage sites closer to the reach of families and tourists. The introduction of ropeways has eased people's access to heritage sites and helped the preservation of cultural heritage and diversity. The convenience of ropeways has made it possible for more people to visit heritage sites, promoting tourism and preserving them. The impact of ropeways in the heritage tourism industry has been significant in preserving the status quo without needing to make large roads and allied infrastructure by digging up entire hillsides and thereby destroying the cultural values of these locations. As the country celebrates World Heritage Day, it is an excellent opportunity to appreciate the importance of preserving cultural heritage and diversity. We must continue to encourage the installation of ropeways in popular heritage sites to enhance tourism and preserve the rich cultural heritage of India. Attributed by: Aditya Chamaria, Managing Director, Damodar Ropeway and Infra Limited (DRIL) This story has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Thursday announced the execution of a definitive agreement to acquire Brahmins, a traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand located in Kerala. Followed by its recent acquisition of Nirapara, the company is looking at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment. To expand and further consolidate its spices, breakfast and ready-to-cook category, Wipro has taken the route towards adding Brahmins, a homegrown legacy brand in Kerala, into its growing food business, according to a statement from Wipro Consumer. Established in 1987, Brahmins is one of the most preferred brands in its home market (Kerala), with ethnic breakfast pre-mix powders, spice mixes, straight powders (spices), wheat products such as -- pickles, dessert mixes, and others. The premium flagship products are sambar powder, and Puttu Podi which enjoy market leadership position, Wipro said in the statement. Vineet Agrawal, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, and managing director, Wipro Enterprises, said, "We entered the food category with our first acquisition of Nirapara and within six months, we are happy to share our latest acquisition of Brahmins. In Kerala, Brahmins is a strong heritage brand leading the spice and ready-to-cook category with a significant consumer recall. I am particularly impressed by the highly competent and dedicated team... We intend to make this, our 14th acquisition, as successful as our previous ones." Sreenath Vishnu, MD, Brahmins, said, "I am elated that Brahmins is now a part of Wipro Consumer Care Foods Business. This will enable access to resources that will help the brand grow rapidly. We are jointly focused on developing the brand supported by local consumer insights as well as streamlining manufacturing." Anil Chugh, President, Foods Business, Wipro Consumer Care, said, "This is an exciting time for us at Wipro, as we witness the unprecedented expansion of our foods business. Spices and ready-to-cook (RTC) are big categories that are poised to grow significantly." (ANI)
The group chairman of Safran, Ross McInnes, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss a technological partnership with Safran in defence and space on Wednesday. The French firm is a manufacturer of aircraft and rocket engines, among others. "Yesterday, Mr. Ross McInnes, the Group Chairman of @SAFRAN called on PM @narendramodi. Fast growing Indian aviation market provides immense scope for companies working in this sector. They also discussed technological partnership with Safran in defence and space," read a post on the Twitter handle of the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday. In February this year, Safran Helicopter Engines and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) signed a workshare agreement for the joint development of the engine intended for the future 13-tonne Indian MultiRole Helicopter (IMRH) and its naval version Deck-Based MultiRole Helicopter (DBMRH), according to a joint statement from both companies. This agreement was done after the memorandum of understanding signed on July 9, 2022, and stipulates the sharing of activities within the joint venture where both parties have agreed on an equivalent repartition, according to the statement shared with stock exchanges. According to this MoU signed in February, HAL would take part in the design, development, and production of some of the core engine components, which is a breakthrough achievement in terms of expertise and know-how in the country. Safran is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures aircraft engines, rocket engines as well as various aerospace and defence-related equipment or their components. Safran is a French-registered company, listed on NYSE Euronext Paris. An Executive Committee representing the Group's different businesses implements the strategic objectives defined by the board of directors. This governance principle guarantees a balance of power, and ensures Safran's agility to meet the changing requirements of its economic, financial and competitive environment. (ANI)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 20 (ANI/NewsVoir): P&G Shiksha, the flagship CSR program of P&G India, today launched a first-of-its-kind nationwide movement to throw spotlight on a hidden issue called 'Invisible Gap', through a power packed panel deliberation in Mumbai. Studies indicate that students in schools often fall behind in keeping pace with their classes. One concept, one subject, one class, can give way to a larger issue where the child develops a gap in the fundamental conceptual understanding. When the child falls behind and the current learning level is not in line with the expected learning level as per the defined curriculum, an invisible learning gap is formed. The discussion, centered around the theme of 'Bridging Invisible Gaps' and moderated by Priyanka Khanna, Author and Former Journalist, brought together Shefali Shah, National Award-Winning Actress, Girish Kalyanaraman, Vice President - Brand Operations, P&G India; Ritesh Agarwal, Assistant Vice President, Educational Initiatives; and Sagar Singh, Faculty Mathematics, Gov. High School Banah Ki Ser, Sirmour (HP). The panelists shared thought provoking insights to explain #invisibleGap, and how it significantly impacts children who perpetually keep trying to cope, and without the right support system drop out of school or face challenges in subsequent phases of life. They also discussed the role that key stakeholders, including teachers, corporates, and society could play in bridging these gaps and ensuring that every child in India learns with conceptual understanding. During the discussion, P&G Shiksha unveiled its new first-of-its kind campaign film which highlights the problem of 'Invisible Gap' through the thought-provoking story of Bindiya, a young girl who is impacted by the invisible gap and struggles to cope in the classroom. P&G Shiksha, through the insightful discussion and the new film, aims to make this #InvisibleGap visible, by creating awareness and urging meaningful action to bridge the gap, which is impacting over 6* crore children in the country as indicated by the National Achievement Survey, 2021. While the program continues to drive on-ground interventions to bridge learning gaps in children, through the heart-warming story of Bindiya, it is urging the audience to take collective action and do their bit by taking the baseline test to identify learning gaps in children around them and take remedial measures to bridge it. Speaking on the occasion, Actor Shefali Shah remarked, "I believe that education is the key to unlocking a child's full potential. I knew of how challenging education can be for children, from my own personal experience and that with my kids, but this partnership with P&G Shiksha has made me cognizant of #InvisibleGaps in learning that impact a vast number of children, when they fall behind expected learning levels. It's heartening to see P&G Shiksha is working towards not just making this invisible gap visible, but also bridging it with relevant on-ground interventions. Actions start with awareness, and I am glad that I can be a part of this journey with P&G Shiksha. When all of us play our part, we can help create an environment where every child is encouraged to achieve their full potential through holistic education." Speaking about the new film, Girish Kalyanaraman, Vice President - Marketing Operations, P&G India said, "P&G Shiksha has continued to work tirelessly to provide access to education to millions of underprivileged children since its inception 18 years ago. We are taking this journey forward through the first-of-its-kind campaign and story of Bindiya, with the objective of driving nationwide awareness and urging meaningful action around invisible gaps which are impacting crores of children in our country. Our aim is to highlight that what is often misunderstood as the child being naughty or disinterested in learning, may instead be a sign of the invisible gap that arises when children fall behind and their current learning level is not in line with the expected learning level. To bridge this gap, P&G has been working with its partners through various programs - from leveraging advanced Machine-learning based tools to community-level learning camps. While we are working to tackle the issue on ground, we hope that this movement inspires everyone to identify this gap in children around them and take necessary corrective measures to bridge it." Ritesh Agarwal, Assistant Vice President, Educational Initiatives added, "We believe that every child has the right to quality education, and through our association with P&G Shiksha we have been committed to making this aspiration a reality in communities that are strained on resources. This initiative is a powerful reminder of the impact that education can have on a child's life, and we hope that it will inspire more people to support our cause. With the Mindspark tool developed by EI, we can identify the children lagging in schools and creating a personalized learning path that enable them to learn at a pace, on topics and at times that are convenient for them. We have seen this approach to be very effective in improving the learning levels amongst children and bridging this #InvisibleGap." P&G India's flagship CSR program, P&G Shiksha, has been working to provide access to education to underprivileged children since 2005. As part of this, to improve learning outcomes in children, P&G Shiksha leverages AI-backed technology with 'Mindspark', a computer-based adaptive learning tool, in partnership with Educational Initiatives. The program also implements on-ground remedial learning interventions in partnership with Pratham Education Foundation, using both community-based and in-school models supported by trained volunteers and teachers. Additionally, P&G Shiksha focuses on early childhood education through Pratham Education Foundation, developing motor, cognitive, social-emotional, language, and creative skills in children for a strong foundation as they begin school. The new campaign film is a compelling story of Bindiya, who is impacted by the invisible gap and struggles to cope in the classroom. Through various instances in school, the teacher notices that Bindya is either missing, or she slides out of sight, almost deliberately trying to mischievously hide. While evaluating the children's answer sheets, the teacher spots Bindiya's sheet where all the questions remain unanswered. Thus continues a game of hide and seek between the teacher and Bindiya, until he finally spots her hiding beneath a desk and confronts her calmly on why she is hiding. Bindiya reveals that she is afraid of questions, and if she is not visible in the class, the teacher will not be able to ask her any questions. Watch her story here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPeplc9PukE *Sources - The National Achievement Survey of 2021 found nearly half of primary school students to have learning levels lower than appropriate for their grades. (Source: UNICEF, Education 4.0) - Census data shows roughly 13 crore children between the age of 5 to 9 years in 2011- https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/data/data-visualizations/Age-Gender-Ratio_Pyramid-Chart P&G Shiksha is the flagship CSR program of Procter & Gamble India. The program was launched in 2005 with the aim of improving the quality of education in India. P&G Shiksha has built and supported over 2,000 schools across India, impacting the lives of over 1.5 million children. For more information, visit: pgshiksha.com. P&G serves consumers in India with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Vicks, Ariel, Tide, Whisper, Olay, Gillette, AmbiPur, Pampers, Pantene, Oral-B, Head & Shoulders and Old Spice. Please visit in.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G India and its brands. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Olivier Jankovec, director general, Airports Council International (ACI EUROPE), on Thursday said the signals over open sky policies were very positive, during European Union (EU)-India Aviation Summit in New Delhi, in the morning. He said, "I think the signals were very positive this morning, both from the EU side but also from the Indian side with Secretary Bansal (Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal)." Speaking to ANI, the director general said, "I think what will boost connectivity between EU and India if India and the EU engage in the deeper aviation partnership, potentially looking at initiating negotiation for a comprehensive aviation agreement that would fully liberalise market access for both EU and Indian airlines on the EU and India market." On the lines of open skies policy, he said, "Secretary Bansal said let's fly together...So that means they are. I think there's a realisation from both governments in India and the EU that now is the time to indeed awaken the sleeping beauty that is -- EU and India aviation market -- by removing policy and regulatory obstacle to the development of air connectivity." Thursday marked the start of the two-day EU-India Aviation Summit in New Delhi, jointly organised by the European Commission and the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India. The event focused on EU-India air transport relations, including exploring the potential for deepening the EU-India aviation relationship as well as the shared challenges, such as growing air traffic, congestion, sustainability and maintaining safety in this very dynamic sector. European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, and India's Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia gave opening addresses during the inauguration of the summit. Sweden's Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Andreas Carlson, represented the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU. Close to 300 other dignitaries and leaders representing the European and Indian aviation sectors, including EASA, SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking and Eurocontrol, Airports Authority of India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airlines, Airports and other stakeholders will attend the event. (ANI)
UK-based food and organic coffee chain Pret A Manger will on Friday launch its first shop in India in Maker Maxity, Mumbai. The firm last year announced its partnership with Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL). It will be the first of many shops to open later this year. The inaugural Mumbai shop is a recreation of Pret's iconic London shops with a large dining space spread across 2,567 sq ft, a joint release by RBL and Pret A Manger said. The release said fresh food and organic coffee lovers in Mumbai can drop by to dine-in with their family and friends or grab a quick takeaway. "The new Pret shop will offer customers a wide range of delicious and freshly-made sandwiches, baguettes, salads, soups, as well as a variety of organic coffee, tea, shakes and smoothie options." The release said popular options like the Pret Pickle and Posh Cheddar Granary Sandwich, Avocado and Toms- Stone Baked Baguette, Smoked Salmon Protein Box Salad and a selection of freshly baked goods constitute the food menu and "will bring to India Pret's classics without any additives to products". "All freshly made food will be hand prepared in Pret's onsite kitchen daily and never held over to the next day," it said. Darshan Mehta, Managing Director, Reliance Brands, said they are thrilled to be opening the first Pret A Manger shop in India. "Freshness of ingredients, authenticity of recipes, and a curiosity in processes defines the new Indian consumer. Our partnership with Pret A Manger aims to tap into this curiosity with an offering that we can proudly say -- ensures traceability of coffee beans as much as a zero additive approach to food," Mehta said. "With a commitment to provide fresh, clean and sustainable offerings, customers in India can now enjoy the same exceptional food that has made Pret A Manger a beloved and successful chain around the world," Mehta added. Pano Christou, CEO, Pret A Manger, said they have been working closely with the RBL team to create an offer for Indian consumers that reflects the Pret brand, while also adapting to local preferences and food habits "Coming to India has been a goal of ours for a long time, and the opening of our first shop in Mumbai is a landmark moment in our international expansion plans. We're confident that with the support of RBL, the Pret brand will be a hit with consumers in India, and a welcome addition to the country's growing food-to-go market," Christou said. (ANI)
The Tribune recently reported on numerous attempts by right-wing groups to grab control of suburban schools and libraries in the municipal elections. With a few exceptions, right-wing candidates mostly lost. But just because their efforts failed doesnt mean theyre no longer a threat.

For decades, local elections were nonpartisan affairs. Within the past few election cycles, however, there has been a national effort to make these elections partisan through the kind of tribal politics and secret funding weve seen in Washington.

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These developments raise important questions. Wont partisanship increase the financial cost to run for local office? Does injecting partisan politics into our local elections help local government run better? Does it help bring our communities together or tear them apart? Many believe that introducing extreme partisanship and national agendas into our municipal elections will inevitably lead to dysfunctional government and the diminished effectiveness of our local public institutions.

[ Beatriz Diaz-Pollack: The culture wars have infected school and library board elections in Illinois ]

We witnessed the first manufactured controversy from dark money groups in New Trier Township six years ago when paid political operatives, posing as merely concerned parents, attacked one of the top high schools in the state. We heard the first complaints about critical race theory, even though it has never been taught at New Trier High School. And we saw the first evidence of right-wing billionaire Richard Uihlein and his frontman Dan Proft inserting themselves into our local elections  even though neither of them lives or works in New Trier Township.

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Fortunately, most residents of our township fully support our teachers, administrators and school boards in making decisions that continue a long history of academic excellence. The right-wing candidates for the New Trier Board of Education lost the election by a margin of 3-to-1, as have similar candidates in the past. Given their lack of success here, we question whether their goal is winning elections or merely using them to inject extreme partisan agendas infecting our national politics into local elections where they never existed before.

The national organizations coordinating these campaigns have been fully embraced by the Republican Party and its billionaire funders like Uihlein, David Koch and Betsy DeVos. They recruit and encourage folks to run for office who share their antipathy to public education, even though, as the Tribune reported, they rarely win. This is because their candidates do not share the values of the community, which include supporting teachers, promoting diversity and inclusion, and fighting against banning books and curriculum censorship.

[ New Trier accused of creating uncomfortable environment by pro-human activist group ]

This past election cycle, the Democratic Party of Illinois and Gov. J.B. Pritzker decided to fight back, with a $300,000 contribution to oppose extremist candidates around the state. (The election for New Triers school board was not on their list.) While one can certainly understand their motivation, this has simply served to further divide communities across the state.

The best way to protect our local institutions isnt to bring in partisanship and outside money. It is to make sure that our existing volunteer processes, which involve nonpartisan candidate forums, guides and caucuses, continue to educate voters. In fact, most local elections involve little to no money, allowing any candidate to participate.

Despite increased partisanship, excellent grassroots candidates continue to run for office with support from nonpartisan local volunteers. Even without the benefit of paid operatives and contributions from billionaires, these candidates generally win.

As one of the first communities to experience the right-wing assault on our public schools, we established a network of local residents to inform the community by exposing precisely who is behind these attempts to hijack our schools.

We search public records and track outside money and connections, sharing this information with voters and building a list of community supporters who put our childrens education ahead of partisan agendas. We know that those who would impose their extreme views on our communities arent going away anytime soon. Neither are we.

[ Out-of-state PAC backing conservative school board candidates belatedly files spending report ]

Leslie Weyhrich, Dan OBrien, Wendi Williams and David Hyser are co-founders of New Trier Local, a volunteer group of New Trier Township residents who research politicized policy agendas that affect nonpartisan local elections and boards. They share research through a community email list.

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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Eager to have a look at the store or have a photograph taken with Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, hundreds of tech fans of the company turned up at the launch of Saket Apple on Thursday and thronged the mall. A tech fan -- Ria -- ninth-standard student, said, "I'm from Delhi. I have been a developer for the past three years. I started learning SwiftUI (software) from the age of eight... I wanted to see the experience of what an Apple store would be like in Delhi...I wanted to see the experience and how it would feel in India, especially since Tim Cook is here today. We came here at around 9:30 am." She said, "And, we just came in the line and had been standing here for almost an hour now." SwiftUI helps developers build great-looking apps across all Apple platforms with the power of Swift. SwiftUI is supported only from iOS 13 and higher. An eight-year-old boy, Prayan, from Faridabad, said, "I woke up at 6 am and asked my sisters to take me to this Apple store's opening. I want to meet Tim Cook and ask for a discount to buy an Airpod for my sister." Speaking exclusively to ANI, a 45-year-old woman, Mona Bajaj Nair, said, "My husband's name is DB Nair. He helped Foxconn to come to India in 2016-17. Foxconn got established in Chennai... I am from Delhi. My husband is right now in Chennai, helping other vendors of Foxconn. So, he's there and he won't be able to join today this proud moment..." On the launch of the store on Thursday, it was inaugurated by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. Some of these people shook the CEO's hand, others took his autograph while the rest wanted to click a picture with one of the biggest captains of tech firms in the world. According to the information available, Saket Apple in Select Citywalk is slightly smaller in area than the BKC Apple in Mumbai. According to Apple's statement, the store has more than 70 highly skilled retail team members who come from 18 states in India and collectively speak more than 15 languages. (ANI)
Several senior leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Congress leader Siddaramaiah filed their nomination papers for the Karnataka assembly polls on Wednesday as the political parties exchanged barbs in the electoral heat in the southern state. Congress attacked BJP over its chief JP Nadda's remarks urging people for support so that the state is not "devoid of blessings" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nadda, who addressed a public meeting before Bommai filed his nomination papers from Shiggaon, sought people's support for the constant growth of Karnataka and said Congress means "commission, corruption and criminalisation". "I urge you all to make the 'Lotus' win, make the BJP win! Karnataka should not be devoid of Modiji's blessings and it should never remain behind in the race towards development. This, you all must ensure by choosing 'Lotus'," Nadda said. Congress attacked Nadda and alleged that he has threatened to withhold constitutional rights from the people of Karnataka if they do not vote for BJP. The party alleged it was an attack on democracy. "BJP President JP Nadda threatens to withhold constitutional rights from the people of Karnataka if they don't vote for the corrupt 40 per cent BJP govt. This is a blatant attack on democracy and shows how the BJP plans to treat the Kannadigas. We are not subjects of a Raja but citizens of a federal country governed by the constitution," Congress said in a tweet. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Nadda had "threatened" people of Karnataka and said that Congress will form the government in the state with the support of the people. Nadda and Bommai also held a roadshow. People thronged the roads and waved BJP's flags. Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep and BJP leaders were present during the roadshow. Bommai said that there is a huge support for the party and the people of the state are with them. Congress on Wednesday released its fifth list of candidates for the Karnataka polls, fielding Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan against Basavaraj Bommai from the Shiggaon Assembly constituency. The party changed its candidate for the seat. Earlier, it had fielded Mohammed Yousuf Savanur from the seat. Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah filed his nomination from the Varuna assembly constituency. "Congress is a secular party. We are not seeking votes on the basis of caste. We are hopeful of garnering vote from across communities, including Linagayts, Vokkaligas and others," Siddaramaiah told reporters. Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the upcoming elections will be his last and he will retire from politics. "I am contesting from Varuna assembly constituency as my native village comes under this constituency. This is going to be my last election. I will retire from electoral politics," Siddaramaiah had told ANI. The last date for filing nominations is April 20. Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who resigned from the BJP over the denial of the ticket and joined Congress, also filed his nomination from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central Assembly constituency. Shettar is the second senior leader from the Lingayat community to leave the ruling BJP and join Congress in less than a week. Earlier, former Karnataka deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, also a Lingayat leader, joined the Congress after being denied a ticket by the saffron party. Shettar is pitted against BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai in the May 10 polls. Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday exuded confidence that his son Vijayendra, who is contesting from Shikaripura, will register a win with a margin of nearly 50,000 votes. "Vijayendra will win with a margin of 50,000 votes. And everyone insisted that he should contest from Shikaripura because I'm not contesting. So now he is going to get complete support from almost every community," Yediyurappa told ANI. "Long back, I took the decision not to contest in the election. And wherever I go, people give me the same respect as they us to give me when I was the Chief Minister and my people are happy with my decision," he added. He said that the party will retain power in the state as it has worked for the people of the state. "Because of our development work in Karnataka, I have no doubt that we are going to get absolute majority and we are going to form the government, nobody can stop it," he asserted. Janata Dal-Secular released its third list of 59 candidates for Karnataka polls.The party announced support to Congress candidate Darshan Dhruvanarayan in Nanjanagudu constituency. Ayanur Manjunath, who resigned from BJP, to contest from Shivamogga central constituency. Raghu Achar, who joined JD(S) after quitting the Congress party, will contest from Chitradurga. The BJP and Congress released their list of star campaigners for the polls. Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP list includes Union Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The Congress also released its list of star campaigners which includes party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party leaders Jairam Ramesh, DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, Shashi Tharoor, Jagadish Shettar, KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala. Three party chief ministers - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are in the list. It does not have name of former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. (ANI)
The CBI had registered the case against the accused in 2016 on the request of the Maharashtra government.

The case was initially registered at the Tilak Nagar police station in Mumbai on the allegations that the accused had extorted Rs 20 lakh from the builder and further attempted to extort another Rs 20 lakh by giving murder threat.

The victim had alleged that the accused and their associates were extorting large sums of money from the developers, who undertook redevelopment works in Tilak Nagar, Naidu Colony, Ghatkopar and other areas of Mumbai.

Sawant was absconding since 2005. A red corner notice was issued against him through Interpol in 2012. A request for his extradition was also sent to Singapore authorities through the Ministry of External Affairs.

"On landing at Mumbai airport, the absconding accused was detained by the immigration department and subsequently he was handed over to the CBI," said a CBI official.

Sawant was produced before a trial court in Mumbai which remanded him to judicial custody till May 2.

--IANS atk/arm

( 230 Words)

2023-04-19-22:34:05 (IANS)
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said attacks on the police frequently take place due to a "strong relationship" between RJD chief Lalu Prasad and 'Balu' (sand). His remarks came two days after sand mafias attacked a Mining Department team in Patna district. A woman mining inspector was injured in the attack in Parev village. Criticising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Rajya Sabha MP said the JD-U leader has given the Mining Ministry to the RJD, and "since Ramanand Yadav is the minister, attacks on police and mining officials are taking place frequently in Bihar". "The fear of sand mafias is waning due to the strong connection between 'Lalu and Balu' in Bihar. RJD leaders Subhash Yadav and Arun Yadav are the sand mafias. Lalu Prasad had given a ticket to Subhash Yadav to contest the Lok Sabha election from Chatra constituency in Jharkhand. "Arun Yadav was booked under the charges of rape. Then he made his wife contest the assembly election and she became the MLA. These two purchased 8 flats of Rabri Devi for over Rs 5 crore. Sand mafias are doing political funding for the RJD," Modi tweeted. "Over one dozen attacks on police and mining officials have taken place in the last six months. The sand mafias Bihta, Maner and Vikram have political protection. In one such incident, the sand mafias fired more than 1,000 rounds in this region. This is the reason why Nitish Kumar did not dare to take action against them," he tweeted. In another tweet, Sushil Modi said: "As per the CAG report, the sand was transported through scooters, cars, ambulances etc. In the financial year 2022-23, the state mining department collection was Rs 500 crore less compared to the previous year." --IANS ajk/pgh ( 313 Words) 2023-04-19-22:58:01 (IANS)
A man in Bihar's Aurangabad was arrested on Wednesday on the charge of allegedly threatening state Environment and Forest Minister Tej Pratap Yadav, police said. However, accused Sunil Kumar Mandal claimed innocence, saying that he was a RJD supporter and had only contacted the minister over phone and requested him to withdraw the FIRs against six persons of the district. Tej Pratap Yadav has a bike showroom-cum service centre at Kama Bigha Mor in Aurangabad. The six persons had gone to the service centre on April 17 and had a dispute with the employees over some issue and were allegedly involved in vandalising the establishment. In view of the damage, the service centre's caretaker Ajay Yadvendu lodged two FIRs against those persons and Mandal in the town police station. As per the first FIR, Vikas Kumar had come get his bike serviced and got involved in a verbal duel with employees. Soon he called some of his friends and they pelted stones on the showroom and damaged property then. Town police station SHO S.B. Sharan said: "We have registered an FIR for creating ruckus and damaging the properties of the showroom and another for threatening Bihar minister Tej Pratap Yadav. Sunil Kumar Mandal had called up Tej Pratap Yadav on Monday and threatened him to withdraw the FIR against alleged youths who were involved in damaging the showroom. We have arrested Sunil Kumar Mandal on Wednesday and produced before the duty magistrate who sent him to 14 days judicial custody." After the court hearing, Mandal told local media persons that he had called the minister and requested him to withdraw the case against the six youths. "After the incident at the service centre, the accused youths came to my house and requested me to talk to Tej Pratap Yadav. Hence, I contacted him on April 17 and passed the request but he levelled allegations on me for threatening him. I have no capacity to threaten a powerful minister of the state," Mandal said. He said that his family is a supporter of the RJD and "I am paying the price only for requesting him". --IANS ajk/vd ( 367 Words) 2023-04-19-22:58:02 (IANS)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged a case of alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) against Oxfam India, an NGO, on the request of the Centre, sources said. "Though Oxfam India's FCRA registration is ceased, it planned to circumvent FCRA by routing funds through other routes. From emails found during an IT survey by the CBDT, it appears that Oxfam India is providing funds to the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) through its associates in the form of commission. "The same is also reflected in the TDS data of Oxfam India, which shows a payment of Rs 12,71,188 to CPR during 2019-20. Oxfam India got FCRA registration to carry out social activities. However, payment made to CPR through its associates in the form of commission is not in line of its stated objectives. This is violation of FCRA," read the CBI FIR accessed by IANS. It also said that Oxfam India continued to pay sub grants to various partners even after coming into force of the FCRA Amendment Act, 2020 which prohibits such transfers. The FCRA Amendment Act states that an FCRA registered association will not be entitled to transfer or sub grant any of the foreign contribution to other organisations whether registered or unregistered under the FCRA, 2010. The amendment came into force from September 29, 2020. "Oxfam India transferred funds to its partner NGOs, violating Section 7 of the FCRA. It appears that Oxfam India used to route funds of its foreign affiliates such as Oxfam Australia, Oxfam Great Britain etc. to selected NGOs in India, and at the same time exercise control over funds and projects. "From emails found during IT survey by the CBDT, it appears that Oxfam India was planning to route funds to other FCRA-registered associations or through the for-profit consultancy route. Funds transacted through this route aim to circumvent FCRA. This is violation of Sections 8 and 12(4) of the FCRA," the FIR stated. According to sources, Oxfam India received foreign contributions amounting to Rs 1.50 crore directly into its foreign contribution utilisation account instead of receiving foreign contribution in its FCRA-designated bank account. As per the FCRA, any foreign contribution has to be received in the designated FCRA account only. After that, it can be transferred to a utilisation account. "By receiving foreign contributions in an account other than the FCRA designated account, Oxfam India has violated Section 17 of the FCRA," the CBI said. The FIR also said that email communication found during the IT survey by the CBDT showed that Oxfam India has been planning to pressurise the government for renewal of FCRA through foreign governments and foreign institutions. Oxfam India has the reach and influence to request multilateral foreign organisations to intervene on its behalf with the Government of India. This exposed Oxfam India as a probable instrument of foreign policy of foreign organisations which have funded Oxfam India liberally over the years. This violates Section 12(4)(1)(ii) of the FCRA. --IANS atk/arm ( 516 Words) 2023-04-19-23:08:02 (IANS)
Being in a powerful position often increases an employee's creativity because it frees the individual from constraints such as worrying that their ideas will be rejected. However, new research indicates that employees who are not in positions of power can become more creative when given time to "warm up" to a task by engaging in it multiple times. "This is important because when people with more power are able to express their creative ideas more than those with less power, it leads to a rich-get-richer dynamic that reinforces or exacerbates these power differentials," said Brian Lucas, assistant professor in the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and co-author of "Low Power Warm-up Effect: Understanding the Effect of Power on Creativity Over Time," forthcoming in the July issue of Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. "Understanding ways to boost the creativity of lower-power workers can help them navigate this low-power disadvantage, generate more creative ideas and promote a more equitable workplace," Lucas said. In the study, Lucas and his co-authors found that although low-power individuals are less creative than high-power individuals at the beginning of a creative task, they can eventually catch up and match high-power individuals' creativity. This is because the creative task provided feelings of autonomy and liberation that eventually help them overcome their low-power disadvantage, the researchers said. Lucas and his co-authors conducted three studies to reach their conclusion. In the first study, they divided the creative idea generation session into two rounds consisting of a one-minute "warm up" followed by a second round in which the participants could take as long as they wanted. Participants were randomly assigned to a high-power condition or a low-power condition, and feelings of power were induced with a role manipulation where participants were given a leadership role and control over resources (high power) or an employee role with no control over resources (low power). The study found that high-power individuals were more creative than low power individuals in the warm-up round. There was no difference, though, in creativity in the second round. In the second study, the researchers changed the creative task and increased the number of rounds from two sessions to five, taking as long as they like to complete the task. In the final study, they used two different creative tasks across two rounds, both of which were one-minute long. Consistent with the first study, these studies found that high-power individuals were more creative than low-power individuals in the first round. But the creativity of low-power individuals "caught up" to the creativity of the high-power individuals after the first round. Results of the third study demonstrated that a different creativity task can also warm-up low-power people for an unrelated creativity task. "The experience of being creative can, in and of itself, have positive psychological consequences," Lucas said. "Given the high value of creative ideas for organizations and for the careers of the employees that champion them, it is important to cultivate strategies that empower all employees to tap their creative potential," he said. "The low power warm-up effect suggests a simple intervention that does just this and overcomes power differentials in the workplace: when pursuing creative work, let employees warm up first." (ANI)
West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of supporting the "culprits" facing corruption charges. Adhikari also said that he will "expose" the three-time Bengal CM and give a "befitting reply" on Thursday. Taking to Twitter, Suvendu Adhikari said, "Yeh Darr Mujhe Achha Laga! Shameful that you used the same demeaning words 'Kimbhut Kimakar' in my reference as you had earlier used in regards to Hon'ble PM. For making the call to Delhi, you used a landline. I'd expose you in due time. Wait for my befitting reply tomorrow". Further hitting out at the Chief Minister, the BJP leader called Mamata, the "Queen Bee of the corruption hive". "Your MLAs got arrested as they were submerged in corruption. Glad that your facade of "Zero Tolerance" is coming off. You're defending the culprits and once again voicing your support for them who were recruited illegally. Shame on you. You're the Queen Bee of the Corruption Hive," Adhikari said in another tweet. The BJP leader further claimed that TMC came to power in 2011, only because he was the in-charge of several crucial districts of the state. "You know why you keep repeating Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Malda, Medinipur; because in your subconscious mind, you know that you grabbed power in 2011 because I was in charge of these districts. Your worthless Bhaipo was nowhere in the scene and was launched only after July 2011," he said. Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed BJP-led Centre and said that the BJP will not be winning the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Addressing a press conference, she said, "BJP is in power. That's why they do whatever they want. But they don't understand power is temporary, chair may come and go but democracy will continue forever. The Constitution will continue forever, there may be some amendments. But this Constitution cannot be bulldozed. That's why they (BJP) will not win the upcoming 2024 election". Banerjee added, "In 2024, BJP will not come to power. In 2021, in the Bengal elections, they said '200 paar' but in Delhi (2024 polls) they won't reach 200". (ANI)
The insurgent was apprehended in a joint operation with Arunachal Police on April 18.

"Based on specific input, a joint operation along with Arunachal Police was launched on Tuesday," an official release stated.

The columns cordoned off the area and carried out a thorough search which led to the apprehension of an active insurgent of NSCN K(YA), it added.

The apprehended insurgent was later handed over to the local police.

On April 17, Assam Rifles in a joint operation with Arunachal Police apprehended five insurgents of NSCN K(YA) in Changlang district.

"ASSAM RIFLES APPREHENDS FIVE ACTIVE INSURGENTS OF NSCN-K(YA) IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH#AssamRifles on 17 Apr 2023, apprehended five active insurgents of NSCN K(YA) in Judum Juda -II, Changlang District, Arunachal Pradesh.@adgpi@HMOIndia," Assam Rifles said in a tweet on Wednesday.

In another operation, two overground workers (OGWs) of the NSCN-K(YA) were apprehended by Assam Rifles and Arunachal Police in Tirap district on April 16.

"Assam Rifles in operation apprehended two active OGWs of NSCN K(YA) in Khanu village, Tirap District, Arunachal Pradesh on April 16," the press release had said.

Assam Rifles mentioned that based on the specific inputs a search operation was carried out in the area.

"Based on specific inputs, a joint operation with Arunachal Police was launched. The column cordoned the area and carried out a thorough search of the area that led to the apprehension of two OGWs of NSCN K(YA)," it had stated. (ANI)
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday conducted search operations at seven branches of the Margadarsi Chit Funds Private Limited (MCFPL) across the State. "These search operations were undertaken as part of an investigation into the cases registered by AP-CID against seven branches of MCFPL under sections 420, 409, 120(B), 477(A) read with 34 IPC and Sec 5 of APPDFE Act-1999 and Sec 76, 79 of Chit Funds Act 1982," an official release stated. During the searches, the book of accounts and documents including electronic documents pertaining to the case were scrutinized, the release stated. Further investigation is underway, it stated. Earlier on March 28, the Andhra Pradesh's CID served notices to Cherukuri Ramoji Rao, the Chairman of Margadarsi Chit Fund Private Limited and his daughter-in-law and Managing Director Sailaja Cherukuri in connection with the Chit fund scam. As per the notice, the said persons have been asked to be present at their residence/office on March 29 or March 31 or April 3 or April 6 and cooperate with the investigation. Last November, Andhra Pradesh's Registration and Stamps Department said that there have been malpractices in the functioning of chit fund companies in the state and show cause notice would be issued to those who have violated the rules. V Ramakrishna, Inspector General (Registration and Stamps Department) had said forensic auditing will be carried out in Margadarshi chit fund companies at a press conference. The official had said that the Stamps and Registrations Regulatory Authority will be the nodal agency for chit-fund institutions and carry out regular inspections. He had said the department conducted inspections at 12 chit fund companies on October 21, five organisations were inspected on October 31 and 18 units were inspected on November 15. He had said a total of 35 units have been inspected. Ramakrishna had said that irregularities included using money borrowed through chit fund for "other purposes" "Showcause notices will be issued to companies that have violated the rules, including the guidelines of the company. We will take further action after getting the reply to the show cause notices," he had said. (ANI)
Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, right, gets applause after his farewell speech on his last day as alderman at the City Council meeting, April 19, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Uttering haikus, shedding tears and sharing hugs and anecdotes, members of Chicagos City Council on Wednesday paid tribute to exiting colleagues and Mayor Lori Lightfoot during the councils final meeting of the term.

But the most remarkable goodbye during the five-hour session was saved for the citys longest-serving alderman in history, Ald. Edward Burke, who is leaving  like so many aldermen before him  under federal criminal indictment. Before leaving the council chambers, Burke offered a history lesson and an apology, drawing a standing ovation from fellow aldermen and the mayor, who was a frequent Burke critic.

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Sporting an emerald green tie and trademark pinstriped suit, Burke entered the council chambers shortly after the opening invocation, in which Pastor L. Bernard Jakes of West Point Missionary Baptist Church noted the councils coming sea change. In all, 12 sitting aldermen, including Burke, will not be returning for the next term that begins May 15: the vast majority stepped aside voluntarily.

Once known for frequently making speeches on the council floor, Burke had been largely silent over the past four years. He is facing down a November trial on a series of corruption charges that allege he used his position on the council to secure more business for his property tax appeals law firm. Burke has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

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Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, who replaced Burke as head of the councils Finance Committee, kept his remarks brief but recited a Japanese poem to mark the days goodbyes: The snow of yesterday/ that fell like cherry blossoms/ is water once again.

[ Facing indictment, Ald. Ed Burke will end his run as the longest-serving City Council member ever, wont seek reelection ]

Other exiting aldermen include Sophia King, 4th; Leslie Hairston, 5th; Roderick Sawyer, 6th; Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th; Howard Brookins, 21st; Roberto Maldonado, 26th; Ariel Reboyras, 30th; Tom Tunney, 44th; James Cappleman, 46th; and Harry Osterman, 48th. Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th, who heads the councils rules committee, presented the exiting members with a framed Chicago flag and the nameplate from their seat in council chambers as a parting gift.

Ald. Anabel Abarca, 12th, lost her bid to hold on to the seat to which Lightfoot appointed her. Lightfoot introduced 13 honorary resolutions congratulating outgoing aldermen on their service, including one for indicted Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, who quietly resigned last month.

Among political observers, Burkes goodbye was the most closely watched. In his more than half a century on the City Council, he amassed considerable power, especially in the 1980s as a leader of the council revolt against former Mayor Harold Washington, and as the longtime Finance Committee chairman. He also was the councils de facto parliamentarian who was often able to enforce his will using his superior knowledge of the councils rules and idiosyncrasies.

[ Timeline: Edward Burke, Chicagos longest-serving alderman, is leaving City Council with a federal trial pending ]

Burke has been on the council since March 1969 when he replaced his late father, Joseph Burke as alderman of the 14th Ward on the Southwest Side. He was only 26, then the second-youngest alderman in city history. In May, Burke will be succeeded by Jeylu Gutierrez.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 28 Edward Burke, second from right, on the day he was sworn in as alderman, is with his mother, Mrs. Ann Burke, and Judge Joseph B. Hermes, left, and the Rev. Richard Wolfe of Visitation Parish, in City Council Chambers on March 14, 1969. (George Quinn / Chicago Tribune)

In 1983, Burke joined Ald. Edward Vrdolyak and 27 other colleagues to seize control of the City Council  kicking off the contentious Council Wars that pitted defiant mostly white aldermen against Washington, the reform-minded first Black mayor of Chicago. As part of the takeover, the so-called Vrdolyak 29 created a new lineup of committee chairs, with Burke leading Finance. He would stay in that role until 1986, briefly lose it until 1989, and then hold on to it for another 30 years.

In the meantime, the property tax appeal legal practice Burke launched at his law firm, Klafter & Burke, flourished. He also became a prolific political fundraiser, with a swanky annual fundraiser and flush campaign committees holding millions more than his colleagues.

While other investigations  including accusations of ghost payrolling  failed to unseat him, a shocking raid on his City Council and campaign offices in November 2018 resulted in a 14-count indictment that included racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity. The charges outlined a series of schemes in which Burke allegedly tried to muscle developers into hiring his law firm to appeal their property taxes.

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[ Ald. Burke under ethics board investigation for possible conflict of interest ]

His upcoming trial is one of several cases targeting powerful Illinois politicians.

Inside the council, Burke said he did not plan to pipe up during the proceedings but then stood to give the final aldermanic speech of the day. He noted first that his marriage to former state Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke had outlasted his city service.

The rest of his speech was classic Burke: combining a tribute to police and firefighters who died in the line of duty to the historic, tragic tale of Chicago attorney Horatio Spafford. Spafford was known for writing the Christian hymn, It Is Well With My Soul following several personal tragedies: the death of his son, the Great Chicago Fire and the deaths of his daughters on a trans-Atlantic ship.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know, it is well, it is well, with my soul, Burke recited. As I leave here today with the other members who will retire, it is my hope that the 243 families of those brave police officers and firefighters whose funerals I have attended will be well and it will be well with them, and that God would protect them going forward, he said.

[ Burke's panel hit again in pay probe ]

Burke then recycled an oft-used quote:  In politics, there are no permanent enemies, no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Those words are wise, are they not? And should be a goal for all who are in government. Madam president and ladies and gentlemen with whom Ive been proud to serve, if I have failed during these past 54 years in achieving that goal, please permit me to apologize, he said.

Indeed, indeed, Chicago is and will always be the most American of American cities. May God bless America, may God bless Chicago, he said before receiving the standing ovation.

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Earlier, several aldermen paid Burke direct tribute, thanking him for his advocacy, his handwritten notes of congratulations, and the help hes provided to many of them over the years.

Ald. Jim Gardiner, 45th, was one of Burkes strongest defenders during the session Wednesday, describing Burke as a gentleman, and thanking him for his wisdom.

Im sure theres many people in here who want to say the same that may not, Gardiner said.

Youve been here longer than Ive been alive, Gardiner continued, to laughter from other aldermen and a wide smile from Burke. You are a walking encyclopedia.  I think we should all pay homage for the work that you have done. It is much appreciated and it is not forgotten. I will proudly say it: You have done this city a favor. Thank you for your service.

[ Ald. Edward Burke indicted on expanded federal racketeering, bribery charges ]

Without a hint of irony considering Burke is retiring under the cloud of a coming federal trial, Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, recalled Burke warned him that aldermen can exit one of three ways: the ballot box, the pine box or the jury box  dont let those take you out of here, Ervin recounted Burke saying. It is through that we have to remember that this job, while it is a job, theres life after this.

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Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, credited Burke for his donations to fellow politicians, helping Black business owners and individuals under the old, now illegal, patronage system, and our colleagues who made mistakes. Some of them got jobs right now, Ed Burke helped them get those jobs.  All races.

After the meeting, an affable Burke briefly spoke with reporters and reiterated his apology. Asked for his thoughts on the incoming council and Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, Burke said the city always met challenges with dedication and with talent. That will be the case again.

Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, rides an elevator down from the second floor of City Hall after attending his final City Council meeting as an alderman on April 19, 2023. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

In addition to lauding Burke, aldermen also heaped praise on colleagues Sawyer and Osterman for their work on the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance, which created new civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department and the first elected representatives in the citys 22 police districts.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, thanked Tunney, who was elected as the first openly gay alderman in 2003, for paving the way for openly gay members of this body. Next term, the LGBTQ caucus will have nine members. Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, also thanked Tunney, the longtime owner of Ann Sather restaurant, for his commitment to the citys small business community.

Dowell also thanked Cappleman for his dedication to those experiencing homelessness, while others said they would miss his sunny disposition and his anecdotes about his time as a social worker and in the seminary. King was commended for her efforts to rename Congress Parkway after pioneering journalist Ida B. Wells.

Tributes to Sadlowski Garza centered on her work as chair of the Workforce Development Committee, where she oversaw an increase to the citys minimum wage, passage of the Fair Workweek ordinance, protections for domestic laborers, and a new measure related to labor peace agreements at nonprofits that work with the city.

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You have made your father proud, Ramirez-Rosa said, a reference to Garzas father, the late and legendary Edward Sadlowski, a local and national leader with the United Steelworkers union.

Hairston, the third longest-serving current member of council after Burke and Burnett, noted shed survived three mayors and the COVID-19 pandemic and that she would not miss serving on the council.

Its been an incredible journey and Ive loved most of it, she said. It has been an experience.

aquig@chicagotribune.com
The Badrinath Dham in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district was covered in a thick blanket of snow on Thursday, amid fresh snowfall in the region starting late on Wednesday night. The Badrinath Dham, part of the 'Char Dham' pilgrimage yatra, located in Garhwal hill tracks in the Chamoli district along the banks of the Alaknanda River was seen enveloped in snow on Thursday morning. Even as the popular pilgrimage site, covered in snow, made for a pretty picture, the fresh burst of snow brought with it a biting chill sweeping the lower reaches of the Dham. The temple's reopening date after the winter break is set for April 27, and preparations for the 'Char Dham Yatra' is in final stage. Along with Badrinath, there has been heavy snowfall in the Gangotri Dham. Due to the fresh snowfall, the Badrinath temple and its surroundings were also covered with a blanket of snow. Notably, the Char Dham yatra begins on April 22 on the auspicious day of Akshay Tritiya. The doors of Kedarnath Dham will open on April 25 and Gangotri Dham on April 22. With the Char Dham Yatra set to start in Uttarakhand after two days, Dr R. Rajesh Kumar, secretary, of the state health department, issued a health advisory for pilgrims on Wednesday. The health advisory is issued in view of the increasing effect of Corona and the weather in the high Himalayan region. In the guidelines issued by the government, it has been said that all the pilgrimage sites are located in the high Himalayan region, whose height is more than 2,700 metres above sea level. Travellers in those places can be affected by extreme cold, low humidity, extreme ultraviolet radiation, low air pressure and low oxygen content. Therefore, the guidelines (Health Advisory) should be followed for a smooth and safe journey for all the pilgrims. "Senior Citizens, people with comorbidities, and those who had suffered from COVID-19 in the past should consider postponing or not undertaking the pilgrimage," said the advisory. "Patients suffering from heart diseases, respiratory ailments, diabetes, and hypertension should be extra cautious while undertaking travel to high altitudes, added the government health advisory. People who witness headaches, drowsiness, and nausea-like symptoms during the Yatra are advised to seek immediate medical assistance. "Avoid consumption of alcohol and other drugs and refrain from smoking. Also, keep yourself well hydrated and avoid travelling on empty stomach," added the advisory. Further informing about the National Ambulance Service, the advisory said, "In case of emergencies, Helpline numbers [108 - National Ambulance Service and 104- Uttarakhand Health Helpline] can be contacted." The Chardham Yatra in Uttarakhand is one of the most popular Hindu pilgrimages in India. This pilgrimage is a tour of four holy sites - Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - nestled high up in the Himalayas. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh police have declared a bounty of Rs 25,000 on gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's wife, Afsa Ansari, an official said on Wednesday. "A reward of Rs 25,000 has been declared on the arrest of Afsa Ansari, wife of Mukhtar Ansari, who is wanted in a case registered under the Gangsters Act at Police Station Dakshin Tola," Mahesh Singh Attri, Additional Superintendent of Police, Mau said. The reward was announced on the instructions of Superintendent of Police, Mau, Avinash Pandey. A case was registered against Afsha Ansari, who has been absconding for a long time. Earlier in January this year, the police registered a murder case against Mukhtar Ansari in connection to the 2001 'Usri Chatti' gang war incident. A case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Ansari at PS Mohammadabad in Ghazipur. Earlier on January 18, Allahabad High Court dismissed the March 15 order of the Ghazipur MP/MLA Court, which allowed Ansari to be kept in a superior-class jail in Banda. While giving the order, the court had said the order of the special court is without jurisdiction, and gangster, dreaded criminal Bahubali Ansari is not legally entitled to get a superior class in jail. Earlier on December 15 last year, Ansari and his aide Bhim Singh were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Gangster Court in Ghazipur in five cases related to murder and attempt to murder. The cases include the murder of constable Raghuvansh Singh and a murderous assault on an additional SP of Ghazipur among others. On September 21, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court convicted Mukhtar Ansari and sentenced him for threatening jailer SK Awasthi and pointing a pistol at him. The case dates to 2003 when Lucknow district prison jailer SK Awasthi lodged an FIR saying that he was threatened to order a search of the people who came to meet Ansari in prison. On September 23, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court sentenced him to five years in a case registered in 1999 under the Gangster Act. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Mukhtar in this 23-year-old case. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan's plea on Friday, challenging the Allahabad High Court order which rejected his plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a matter related to a protest case. Abdullah Azam Khan's lawyer mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who agreed to list it on Friday. Abdullah Azam Khan's lawyer seeks an urgent hearing on the plea in view of the bye-election. Recently the Allahabad high court refused to stay the conviction of Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan in connection with a 2008 protest case, which led to his disqualification as an MLA from the Uttar Pradesh assembly. Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, who is the son of the Senior SP leader Azam Khan, has moved the top court against Allahabad HC's order The Supreme Court had earlier requested the Allahabad High Court to decide at the earliest Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan's plea seeking a stay of his conviction in a matter related to the protest. Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan claimed that he was a juvenile as of the date of the incident, and has challenged the Allahabad High Court order dated March 17. Mohd Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from UP Legislative Assembly after he was convicted and sentenced to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case. Abdulla Azam Khan was representing Suar in Rampur district in the Assembly. Abdullah Azam Khan, and his father, were convicted by a local court in Uttra Pradesh of allegedly using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a matter pertaining to a dharna on a state highway in January 2008. Abdullah Azam Khan moved Allahabad High Court against a trial court order seeking suspension of his sentence. In the plea, Abdullah Khan apprised the court that on March 17, the High Court of Allahabad after perusing the application preferred by the Petitioner granted the respondent state a time period of 3 weeks to file a counter affidavit, however, failed to appreciate the fact that if the application is not decided expeditiously then the same would be rendered infructuous and the Petitioner would suffer irreparable harm. On February 13, Trial Court convicted Abdullah Azam Khan for offences punishable under Section 353, 341 IPC and 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932, and sentenced him to undergo two years of simple imprisonment. Subsequent to the order of the Trial Court on February 13, 2023, convicted the petitioner, the Assembly Secretariat, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on February 15, 2023, notified that the Constituency seat of Suar, district Rampur of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly has become vacant. The petitioner appealed to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Rampur against the order of the Trial Court and also filed an application for a stay of conviction and sentence. However, the Sessions Court dismissed the said application on February 28. Thereafter, the Petitioner approached the High Court against the order. The Petitioner said that he believes that during the pendency of the application before the High Court, a by-election to the Rampur Constituency would be announced. The Petitioner said he is concerned that if such an announcement is made and thereafter, the High Court passes a stay order the same would be rendered moot due to the announcement of the by-elections. (ANI)
"Happy to host the 'IFTAR' celebration at Raj Nivas, Puducherry. Alongside Honb CM, Speaker, Ministers, MLAs, Officials, Wakf Board members, Immam & dignitaries from IslamicCommunity & political party leaders. On this occasion let's promote the message of the Brotherhood," Puducherry Lt Governor tweeted.

UT's Chief Minister N Rangasamy, Speaker R Selvam, Ministers, legislators belonging to the ruling All India NR Congress (AINRC), Waqf Board members, dignitaries from Islamic Community and political party leaders were present at the event.

During Ramzan, people have two main meals - the 'suhoor' or 'sehri' just before dawn and the 'iftar' after sunset.

According to Islamic beliefs, Ramzan is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.

Ramzan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which involves rigorous fasting for about 30 days.

During this month, Muslims do not consume food or water from dawn to dusk. They eat Sehri (a pre-dawn meal) and break their day-long fast with 'Iftar' in the evening.

Eid ul-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of Shawwal, the 10th month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

The festival is celebrated by sharing a delightful dish Seviyan (Vermicelli) that comes under different varieties like 'Hath Ka Seviyan', 'Nammak Ka Seviyan', 'Chakle Ka Seviyan' and 'Laddu Seviyan'. All these variants can be used in the dish called 'Sheerkurma', which is also prepared on Eid and distributed among friends and relatives. (ANI)
Visva Bharati University on Thursday issued an eviction order asking the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to vacate the 13 decimals of land which he has been allegedly occupying in an unauthorised manner by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of the last order on April 19. In a notice issued by the University's Joint Registrar Asish Mahato on April 19 said, "Amartya Kumar Sen and all concerned persons are liable to be evicted from the said premises if need be, by use of such force as may be necessary. It is decided that 13 decimals of land having the dimension of 50 ft x 111 ft in the north-west corner of the scheduled premises is to be recovered from him." "Thus he can lawfully occupy 1.25 acres of land only, as (for the residual period of lease) in the scheduled premises. He does not have the authority to occupy 1.38 acres of land in the scheduled premises," the notice read. A few days back the Central University had issued another notice to Sen, whose ancestral house 'Pratichi' in Santiniketan is inhabited by the Nobel laureate during his stay in Santiniketan, giving him time till April 19 to respond to the missive and vacate the "unauthorised" portion of land or face necessary action otherwise. The varsity had maintained that Sen's reply to the earlier showcase was fallacious and factually incorrect and Visva Bharati was the rightful owner of all these lands which had been encroached upon in past years including the 13 decimal lands occupied by Sen. Sen has repeatedly trashed the charge saying while the 1.25 acres of land had been leased by Visva Bharati to his father for a certain period the contentious 13 decimals were bought by his father and he has all the necessary documents to prove that. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing on the petitions challenging the Centre decision dated November 17, 2022, whereby the government has extended the third tenure of the director of Enforcement Directorate SK Mishra. A bench of justices BR Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol adjourned the matter for further hearing on May 3. The adjournment was given by the court on the request made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. In the last hearing, Amicus Curiae KV Vishwanathan had raised an objection on the extension of the tenure of the director of the Enforcement Directorate and submitted before the Supreme Court that the Committee failed to consider the availability and suitability of other officers before taking a decision on extension of tenure of the director of Enforcement Directorate. Amicus has said that the office order dated November 17, 2021, does not satisfy the touchstone of 'public interest' and hence it may be set aside. On the other side, the Centre in its affidavit had defended its decision to extend the tenure of the Enforcement Directorate director and said that petition challenging it is motivated and urged the top court to dismiss the plea. The Centre government submission came on an affidavit which was filed countering the submission of the petition challenging the extension of the ED director. Centre had informed the SC that the petition is clearly motivated by an oblique personal interest rather than any public interest litigations. The Centre had also said that the petition is a misuse of Article 32 of the Constitution, which is clearly being filed in a representative capacity for and on behalf of the President and the office bearers of the Indian National Congress, who are being investigated by ED and are otherwise fully competent to approach respective courts for appropriate statutory relief and remedy under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Centre had said the petition has been filed for espousing the cause of her political masters when there is nothing barring the concerned persons who are under investigation from approaching the competent court for any appropriate relief. Centre had submitted that the present Writ Petition, styled as a Public Interest Litigation, is clearly motivated and is admittedly intended to scuttle the legitimate statutory investigation being carried out by the Directorate of Enforcement against certain politically exposed persons. Centre had said that the real motive of the petition is to question the investigation being carried out against the President and certain office bearers of the Indian National Congress Party One of the petitions was filed by the General Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee Jaya Thakur through advocate Varun Thakur and advocate Shashank Ratnoo. The petitioner Jaya Thakur has said the extension has been granted despite the matter being subjudice and initial adverse order against the respondent ED Director SK Mishra in another petition filed by activist Dr Jaya Thakur in the Supreme Court of India. The petitioner has challenged the Centre decision dated November 17, 2022, whereby the govt has extended the third tenure of the director of Enforcement Directorate SK Mishra. Earlier the petitioner also challenged the extension order dated November 17, 2021. The petitioner said that democracy is a part of the basic structure of our Constitution and rule of law and free and fair elections are basic features of democracy. "The respondents destroyed the basic structure of democracy by misusing the enforcement agencies against the political opponent. The Supreme Court in a number of the cases held that appointment in Enforcement Agencies must be fair and transparent manners if their appointment will be done in biased nature, then they can be used as tools," the petition said. (ANI)
Karnataka Congress MLA Priyank Kharge on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda over his "Karnataka should not be devoid of Modi Ji's blessings" remark, and said that they never needed "Narcissist's blessings" to prosper. "Who do you think you are talking to? We are Kannadigas, we never needed a Narcissist's blessings to prosper. Does BJP get great joy in repeatedly insulting the people Karnataka? Prime Minister & BJP think that the entire nation was built only after 2014?," the Congress leader said in a tweet. He added, "Do you think that Kannadigas lived in Stone Age before Modi became PM? We didn't have a language or thriving culture, we didn't have food, clothes, shelter or electricity? There were no roads, drains, no schools, no universities or no dams. We were all jobless?" Congress MLA further said, "He has become so blinded by devotion to their Masters that they have forgotten what it is to be a Kannadiga & our contribution to the nation. JP Nadda ji Kannada language has over 3000 years of written history & has the highest number of Jnanpith literary awards." He further stated, "Karnataka is as an education hub where people from even your state come to study. We have built institutions like IISc, CV Raman Institute, DRDO, NIMHANS, National Tuberculosis Centre, University of Agricultural Science and many other research and development institutions." "We also house more than 400 of the Top Fortune 500 Cos & their R&D Centers. Seven of India's banks, Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank, Vijaya Bank, Karnataka Bank, State Bank of Mysore and Vysya Bank started here JP Nadda," he added. He further added, "Even before Modi ji blessed us with Make in India we built ITI, BEL, HMT, BHEL, Mangalore Refinery, Mysore lamps and other major and small scale industries We built NAL, HAL where planes and helicopters are being manufactured, we built ISRO and we are sending satellites to space." He stated, "Kannadigas will make you pay heavily for your arrogance. While you appease your master, you insult 6.5 Cr Kannadigas. Stop trying to force your god on us, he further stated." "We were the IT Capital of India before a megalomaniac became the PM & JP Naddaji many people from North India come looking for jobs and funding their startups here. Even before PM said Atma Nirbhar Bharat, we had built many dams in Karnataka. Have you built any dams?" Kharge added in his tweets. "Even before Modi said Atma Nirbhar Bharat, we got in Green revolution in state. JP Nadda ji if you like coffee, 70 percent of the coffee grown in India is from here, that has been growing without the blessings of your supreme leader," he added. "Also, JP Nadda ji, since you are in election mode, a reminder that even the voting ink too is made in Karnataka. We don't need a Gujarat or UP model nor the blessings of Modi to prosper. We, Kannadigas have always been a great example for bravery and progress," he added. BJP chief JP Nadda made the statement at an election rally in Shiggaon on Wednesday ahead of assembly elections in the state. "I urge you all to make the 'Lotus' win, make the BJP win! Karnataka should not be devoid of Modi Ji's blessings and it should never remain behind in the race towards development. This, you all must ensure by choosing only 'Lotus'," Nadda had said. (ANI)
Kirandeep Kaur was booked on an Air India flight, which was scheduled to take off at 2.30 pm from the Shri Guru Ram Dass International Airport here.

According to airport sources, Kirandip Kaur, wife of Amritpal Singh and a UK national was supposed to travel to Birmingham by Air India Flight No. 117 scheduled at 14:30 hrs. At 12:20 hrs she reported to the immigration counters but since she had a Look Out Circular issued against her, immigration officials did not permit her to travel and detained her, the sources said.

Kaur was stopped from boarding her flight.

Earlier Police sources said that she was stopped by Immigration Department officials from boarding the flight.

"Amritpal Singh's wife Kirandeep Kaur has not been detained yet. The Immigration department is questioning her," a Punjab Police source said earlier.

Punjab police have been on a hunt for Amritpal Singh since March 18, when he had gone absconding. Punjab police said last week that it had arrested Joga Singh, a close aide of the fugitive Khalistan sympathiser and radical preacher, from Sirhind in the Fatehgarh Sahib district.

He was arrested in a joint operation by Amritsar police rural and Hoshiyarpur police. Papalpreet Singh, another close aide of the fugitive Amritpal Singh was brought to Assam's Dibrugarh Central Jail after his arrest earlier this month from Amritsar's Kathu Nangal area. (ANI)
The Judicial committee constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government visited Prayagraj on Thursday while the Special Investigation Team recreated the crime scene where gangsters Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on April 15 while being taken to a hospital for medical checkup. After the killing of the gangsters in police custody, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a judicial probe into the incident. Three-member judicial enquiry committee pertaining to the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother will give a report to the UP government in two months. The committee will be headed by Retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi of Allahabad HC, including retired IPC officer Subesh Kumar Singh and Retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni. Days after Atiq Ahmed's son Asad was killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi, the mafia-turned-politician and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were killed on April 15 night while being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj. Three assailants posing as mediapersons had shot both dead from point-blank range while the gangsters were speaking to the media. Earlier today, three friends of Lovelesh Tiwari, the main accused in the sensational killing of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed, were detained by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Uttar Pradesh's Banda. "The trio were caught at Banda railway station," officials said. The SIT team has also reached Hamirpur and Kasganj to conduct the further probe, they added. Uttar Pradesh Police conducted raids in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of Atiq Ahmed, in Kaushambi on Wednesday. "Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding. The operation lasted for about 2 hours. A drone camera was also used in operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today," Samar Bahadur, ASP, Kaushambi told ANI. Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader's murder, in February this year. As many as three people were arrested and identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lovelesh Tiwari. All three attackers were apprehended at the scene after they voluntarily turned themselves in. They have been kept in the custody of the police and questioned. A CJM court in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on Wednesday remanded gangster Atiq Ahmed's killers to four-day police custody. This comes after the Special Investigation Team filed an application in the court seeking remand for questioning for all three accused. The district court sent them to 14-day judicial custody on April 16. During the police remand, the police will question the accused about the weapon they used to kill Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 night, where did they get the weapon from and who gave it to them. (ANI)
According to the Assam government data, during this period, 5,246 cases have been registered and the police have seized 759 vehicles.

"Under Prime Minister's leadership and Home Minister's guidance, we will work to ensure a drug-free India by 2047," Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.

The state government data shows that from 2016 to February this year, 295.07 kilograms of heroin, 111789.7 kilograms of Ganja, 463.16 kilograms of opium, 9,46,412 cough syrup bottles, 19,812 kilograms of Yaba tablets, 3316 kg of poppy straw, 44.89 kg of morphine 14.04 kilograms of Methamphetamine, 1151 numbers of Fortwine Zocin injections, 1.64 kilograms of Cocaine, 8.37 kilograms of Crystalline seized in the state. (ANI)
Chicago must reinstate city employees who were fired for refusing to comply with Mayor Lori Lightfoots COVID-19 vaccine mandate and rescind the requirement, a state administrative law judge has ruled.

The decision came Wednesday in a case before the Illinois Labor Relations Board involving more than 20 unions representing city employees, which filed an unfair labor practices charge with the state panel after Lightfoot imposed the policy in the fall of 2021.

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A separate but similar matter involving the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, the citys largest police union, remains pending.

In a 78-page decision in combined cases brought by the Coalition of Unionized Public Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, Administrative Law Judge Anna Hamburg-Gal found that although the city had the right to implement a vaccine requirement for its employees, it was obligated to negotiate with the union over the effects of that policy.

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The effects of the policy the city imposed included placing employees who didnt report their vaccination status or refused to be vaccinated without a proper exemption on no-pay status and later terminating their employment, both of which should have been negotiated with the unions until reaching an agreement or an impasse, the administrative judge found.

Docking pay is not an inevitable consequence of the vaccine mandate or reporting requirement because no-pay status is not the sole means by which the (city) could have enforced its policy, Hamburg-Gal wrote.

Likewise, the city unilaterally changed the status quo in August of last year when it began terminating employees who hadnt complied with the policy, electing to pursue a far harsher approach than it had taken before against violators of its vaccination policy.

Although the policy on its face states that any violations of the policy could result in discipline up to and including termination, the (city) established a past practice of treating violations more leniently, the judge wrote.

The judge ordered the city to reinstate the affected employees, with their personnel records expunged, and to compensate workers for any lost pay or benefits that resulted, with 7% interest. The unions should be allowed to negotiate to keep any parts of the policy they like, the judge said.

A spokesperson for AFSCME Council 31 applauded the ruling as a strong decision (that) will bolster workers rights going forward.

The ruling affirms that when an employer contemplates significant changes to terms of employment, it has a duty to bargain in good faith with the union, AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said in a statement. In this case, the city did not do that.

Its unclear how many current and former employees the decision will affect, and the city has 30 days to ask the labor board to reconsider. That puts the deadline just days after Lightfoot will leave office and Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will take over.

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Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter said the ruling defends the rights of workers to have a say in their workplace through collective bargaining and said he hopes the city wont seek to file exceptions.

A Lightfoot spokesman said the city is reviewing the ruling and evaluating next steps.

The record before the administrative law judge tells a completely different story, Lightfoot spokesman Cesar Rodriguez said in a statement. Yesterdays ruling was an erroneous decision that does not follow the law, facts nor importantly the science.

While the FOPs matter is still pending and tied up in court, the police unions president, John Catanzara, celebrated the decision as a great day for labor in Chicago and the state of Illinois.

Where that leaves our case, theres no reason to really even have it because these are all the same issues, Catanzara told members in a video message, adding that the union would provide further updates.

Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara carries pizzas into police headquarters on Oct. 18, 2021, purportedly for officers waiting in line who had been asked to appear at headquarters and comply with the city's requirement that they receive a COVID-19 vaccination. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

The boards ruling concerned many of the same issues that were raised in a separate federal lawsuit filed against the city last week on behalf of 15 current and former Chicago police officers.

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The officers allege the city imposed illegal disciplinary measures against them after they cited religious exemptions in their initial refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Whats more, the officers claim that, even after receiving the shot or agreeing to frequent COVID-19 testing, they were stripped of their police powers and placed on no-pay status. The lawsuit also notes that five of the 15 plaintiff officers have since returned to full-time active duty.

The United States Supreme Court does not require the level of inquiry being raised by the City; rather, an objection based on a sincerely held religious belief is enough to invoke Plaintiffs First Amendment protections to seek and obtain a religious exemption, the lawsuit states.

A Roseland Community Hospital nurse prepares doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 30, 2021, during a COVID-19 vaccination event. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Lightfoot went public with her intention to mandate the vaccine for city employees in late July 2021, and her administration went back and forth with the unions before it went into effect in mid-October of that year. But the city neither came to terms with its employees over the changes nor met the requirements to declare negotiations had reached an impasse, the judge found.

Late last summer, the administration suspended a requirement that unvaccinated employees who had received an exemption undergo twice-weekly testing.

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com

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scharles@chicagotribune.com
Former Karnataka deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa who dropped out of electoral politics ahead of the upcoming State Assembly polls on Thursday vowed to bring miffed leaders back who left the Bharatiya Janata Party to join Congress. "I am not angry with BJP... those who have left BJP have to be brought back. We've to bring them back to BJP who are angry with our party and joined Congress. Our candidate will win this seat. BJP will win over 140 seats in Karnataka," Eshwarappa told ANI. Various leaders of the BJP recently quit the party over being denied tickets for the polls and joined either Congress or Janta Dal (Secular). The latest to jump ship was Lingayat leader and former MLC Ayanur Manjunath who left the party to join HD Kumaraswamy's JD(S). He became the 10th legislator to quit the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls in the State. Eshwarappa also slammed Congress leader Siddaramaiah over his remarks on BJP chief JP Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Siddaramaiah does not know the specialities of India's culture. It is India's culture to seek blessings from those of who we are proud," Eshwarappa said. Siddaramaiah had hit out at Nadda over his "Karnataka should not be devoid of Modi Ji's blessings" during an election rally in Shiggaon on Wednesday. "In democracy, people decide the fate of the candidates & the elected representatives can serve them. @narendramodi is not God to bless anyone. I condemn the statement of @JPNadda about @narendramodi's blessings on Karnataka. Looks like he needs lessons on democracy. All states are equal and have the same rights according to the Constitution. There is no space for dictatorship in democracy," he tweeted. Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI)
Three persons were killed while another was injured when a pick-up van collided with a truck Moradabad-Farrukhabad highway in Badaun district on Thursday morning.

The Chief Minister expressed his condolences.

CM Yogi also directed the district administration officials to provide proper treatment to those injured in the accident.

He also wished for the speedy recovery of the injured. (ANI)
Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized incriminating documents, digital material, 119 bank accounts, four Insurance Policies and two luxury vehicles in connection with searches it conducted at various locations in Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow and New Delhi against a real estate company -- Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd -- the agency said on Thursday. According to the ED, it carried out searches at 8 locations, on April 18, including the premises of chairman and managing director of the realty firm, Alok Kumar, and other top officials Vijaya Raj Laxmi, Alka Singh, and Rana Ranveer Singh, as well as the premises of Satvik Singh, another senior employee of the realty firm, and chartered accountant Nishat Shrivastava across locations in Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow and New Delhi. The ED initiated the investigation against Alok Kumar and others on the basis of eight FIRs, including cheating cases, against Kumar and his relatives at different police stations of Patna. "More than 73 complaints against Agrani Homes Pvt Ltd, Patna and its CMD Alok Kumar Singh and others have been received in this Directorate wherein it has been mentioned that the said company has cheated the prospective home buyers for a sum of Rs 9.73 Crore," ED said in a statement. "The investigation has revealed that Agrani group of companies and its director have cheated the prospective home buyers and illegally diverted their deposits/investment for acquiring properties in their personal name or in the name of other companies," the statement read. "During the search incriminating documents like sale deeds of properties purchased by Alok Kumar in his name and in the name of his company have been found and seized. 119 bank accounts, 4 Insurance Policies and 2 luxury vehicles in the name of Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd. and its directors have been freezed/seized. Other incriminating physical and digital material found during the search has also been seized for further investigation," it added. (ANI)
After the Surat court rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that the ruling party at Centre wants to make India a "Banana Republic". "Today is the black day in the democracy of India as the main Opposition leader is being treated like this. BJP wants to make India a Banana Republic," said Mufti said. A Surat court on Thursday rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case on the 'Modi surname' remark. Former Wayanad MP will now have to appeal in Gujarat High Court or Supreme Court against the Surat court's order. Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera cited Gandhi's stature as an MP and former chief of the country's second-largest political party and said he should have been more careful. He cited prima facie evidence and observations of the trial court and said it transpires that Gandhi made certain derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi apart from comparing the people with the same surname with thieves. Mogera said the surname of the complainant in the case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi, is also Modi. "...the complainant is [also an] ex-minister and involved in public life and such defamatory remarks would have certainly harmed his reputation and caused him pain and agony in society," he said. Mogera cited the disqualification criteria under the Representation of the People Act and added that removal or disqualification as MP could not be termed irreversible or irreparable loss or damage to Gandhi. Any elected representative sentenced for any offence for two years or more faces immediate disqualification under the Representation of People Act. The Supreme Court struck down in 2013 one provision of the Act that granted three-month protection from disqualification as "ultra vires". Earlier on April 3, the Surat Sessions Court granted bail to the Congress leader, who had filed an appeal following his conviction in the case. While granting bail to the former MP, the court also issued notices to complainant Purnesh Modi and the state government on the Congress leader's plea for a stay on his conviction. It heard both parties and then reserved the order for April 20. Rahul Gandhi was a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad but was disqualified after a lower court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi. The case pertained to a remark Rahul Gandhi made using the surname 'Modi' while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At a rally in Karnataka's Kolar in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?". Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA is automatically disqualified if convicted and sentenced to two years or more. (ANI)
The Indian Air Force (IAF) will be participating in Exercise INIOCHOS-23, a multi-national air exercise hosted by the Hellenic Air Force, the air force of Greece. The exercise will be conducted at the Andravida Air Base in Greece from April 24 2023 to May 4 2023. The Indian Air Force will be participating with four Su-30 MKI and two C-17 aircraft.The objective of the exercise is to enhance international cooperation, synergy and interoperability among the participating Air Forces. The exercise will be conducted in a realistic combat scenario involving multiple types of air and surface assets. It will also enable the participating contingents to engage in professional interactions, providing valuable insight into each other's best practices. (ANI)
Prime Minister will hold discussions with Christian religious leaders during his visit to Kerala which is scheduled on April 24 and 25, state Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Surendran said on Thursday. Detailing the Prime Minister's programme during his visit, Surendran said that he will conduct a roadshow and address a public meeting. "Prime Minister's visit to Kerala will give impetus to the state's development. There is a great expectation among the people of Kerala for this visit. PM Modi will hold a road show. People will come voluntarily to receive him. 'Yuvam' will be the conference that would mark the beginning of Kerala's political change. The youth who want the development of Kerala beyond party politics will participate in this," he said in a press conference. The state BJP chief alleged that the ruling CPIM and Congress are running fake propaganda against 'Yuvam'. "CPIM and Congress are running fake propaganda against it. Yuvam-23 is just the beginning. It will be the talk of campuses by the next year. The negative politics put forward by LDF and UDF will be discussed. We are now receiving unprecedented support. Youth organizations are not invited to the Yuvam event. Youth in organizations are invited," he said. "During his visit to Kerala, the Prime Minister will hold discussions with Christian religious leaders. The Left and the Congress do not tolerate the BJP's closeness with the Christian community," Surendran added. The state BJP chief claimed that Kerala has lagged behind in development. "The result of the work done by the left and right fronts in Kerala for so long is that Kerala has been left behind in development. Statistics show that Kerala is the most backward in development. Entrepreneurs in the state are facing challenges. Kerala has not become an investment-friendly state," he said. (ANI)
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here in the national capital in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to resolve the long pending border dispute along the boundaries of both northeastern states. The MoU was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Prema Khandu. Speaking on the occasion, Amit Shah said, "The signing of an agreement for the settlement of an inter-state boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is a very big achievement. Today, we have crossed the milestone for the establishment of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free northeast." The Assam cabinet on Wednesday approved the recommendations given by 12 Regional Committees formed by the state government to resolve the decades-long border dispute issue with Arunachal Pradesh. Earlier in March 2022, Assam and Meghalaya governments had signed a historic agreement here in the national capital to resolve their 50-year-old pending border dispute. The agreement was signed between Assam and Meghalaya two months after a draft resolution was submitted by the chief ministers of the two states to Amit Shah on January 31 for examination and consideration by the MHA. The governments of Assam and Meghalaya had come up with a draft resolution to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 "areas of difference" along the boundary. (ANI)
The Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed Congress leader DK Shivakumar plea challenging the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government's decision seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the disproportionate assets case against him. Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar, who had questioned the State government's move, had filed an application saying that the Karnataka government's order for the CBI probe was wrong. Hearing the arguments of both sides, the single-judge bench led by Justice Natarajan dismissed the petition. In 2019, the BS Yeddyurappa government sanctioned an investigation against DK Shivakumar. At that time, the CBI registered an FIR with the permission of the state government. Based on this case, the bench headed by Natarajan dismissed the petition filed by DK Shivakumar. Earlier, the CBI had assessed the property after the Karnataka Congress chief had made a statement that he is a farmer and getting income from agriculture. Days before the state assembly elections, the Karnataka High Court order can be seen as a setback for Shivakumar, who is busy campaigning. Notably, the affidavit filed by Shivakumar while submitting his nomination papers for the May 10 Assembly polls has revealed that the wealth of Congress's Karnataka chief has increased by 68 per cent as compared to 2018. In the affidavit submitted by Shivakumar entering the fray for the Assembly polls, Shivakumar pegged his total assets and those of his family members at a combined value of Rs 1414 crores. In his affidavit for the 2013 Assembly polls, the assets held by the Congress leader's family were valued at Rs 251 crores while, in the 2018 affidavit, the combined value of the property held by his kin was pegged at Rs 840 crores. According to the affidavit, Shivakumar holds 12 bank accounts, some of which are jointly managed by his brother DK Suresh. The total value of assets held by DK Shivakumar is Rs 1414 crores. He also has a loan amounting to Rs 225 crores, his affidavit states further. Shivakumar has only one car in his name, a Toyota priced at Rs 8,30,000. The immovable properties in the name of the Congress leader are Rs 970 crore, whereas those in the name of his wife Usha are worth Rs 113.38 crore. Immovable properties in the name of his son Akash is worth Rs 54.33 crore. The total assets in Shivakumar's name is valued at Rs 1,214.93 crore and those in the name of his wife and son are worth Rs 133 crore and Rs 66 crore respectively. Shivakumar declared his annual income at Rs 14.24 crores whereas his wife's annual income is Rs 1.9 crores. Before filing his nomination, the Congress state president held a roadshow in his constituency from he has been elected seven times. Shivakumar exuded confidence of the Congress forming the government in the state with a comfortable majority. The Karnataka assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes is scheduled on May 13. (ANI)
Eleven persons were killed in communal violence in Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002, during a 'bandh' called to protest the Godhra train burning, in which 58 passengers, returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

Along with Kodnani, other prominent accused involved former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel.

On April 16, the court of principal sessions Judge SK Baxi had fixed April 20 as the date for the verdict in the case and had also directed the accused to remain present in the court.

Notably, all the accused in the case are currently out on bail. Out of the total 86 accused in the case, 18 died in the intervening period. Around 182 prosecution witnesses were examined during the trial.

Apart from rioting and murder, Kodnani, 67, was also charged with criminal conspiracy and attempted murder in the Naroda Gam case.

It is pertinent to note that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also appeared as a defence witness for Kodnani in September 2017. (ANI)
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed a boundary agreement here in the national capital in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ending 51-year border disputes along the boundaries of both northeast states. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu at the North Block office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Assam shares an 804 km long boundary with Arunachal Pradesh. "Since 1972 to till date the border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh could not be resolved. Nearly 800 km boundary dispute has been ended today," Amit Shah said after the MoU was signed between the two states. Speaking to ANI after signing the MoU, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "The signing of an MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh today to settle an inter-state boundary dispute will prove to be a milestone. This will bring peace and development to the Northeast region." "The border dispute was settled today by signing the MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. This is a historic movement for both states," said Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu. Though there was no dispute initially, over the years, the allegations of residents of one state encroaching on land on the other have led to disputes and violence. A suit on the issue has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1989. In 2021, following the insistence of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, both states resolved to settle their border dispute out of court through talks. In July last year, both states signed the Namsai Declaration, where it was agreed to bring down the number of disputed villages from 123 to 86 and resolve the boundary row by forming 12 committees, each headed by a cabinet minister, that visit disputed areas, take feedback from residents and submit reports to their respective governments. (ANI)
Commentary: G7 gets it wrong again on Taiwan question

Xinhua) 08:21, April 20, 2023

A protester holding a placard is pictured near the Karuizawa station of shinkansen train in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, on April 16, 2023. The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers gathered Sunday in the central Japanese resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, as people took part in demonstrations to protest against the bloc. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Given that the one-China principle is a prevailing consensus among the international community and a basic norm in international relations, the Taiwan question is China's internal affair in which the G7 is in no position to interfere in.

KARUIZAWA, Japan, April 19 (Xinhua) -- One thing was in sufficient supply at this week's Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers' meeting in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa: untenable accusation.

The rich club stressed the need to caution against what they called Chinese "threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force" in East and South China Seas, notably over Taiwan, in a communique Tuesday. G7 again used a "lofty" pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs and discredit China.

Those arrogant wealthiest countries have repeated such cliches over and over again. Yet they are wrong about the status quo at the beginning.

There is only one China and both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one and the same China. This has been the status quo of Taiwan since ancient times. The Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China and Taiwan is part of China. This is the status quo across the Taiwan Straits that has been there for decades.

Given that the one-China principle is a prevailing consensus among the international community and a basic norm in international relations, the Taiwan question is China's internal affair in which the G7 is in no position to interfere in.

The communique indeed indicated that "there is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated one China policies." But deeds fail to match words. The United States plans to sell as many as 400 land-launched Harpoon missiles to Taiwan, in the latest sign that some in America intend to use Taiwan to contain China. And those acts and words are sending wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" forces.

The Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interests. Those who choose to support or even collude with "Taiwan independence" separatists are violating, far from upholding, the one-China principle, and endangering cross-Strait peace and stability.

While meddling in China's internal affairs, the G7 nations also acknowledged the need to work together with China on global challenges, including on climate change, biodiversity, global health security and gender equality.

However, the communique, also with smears against China on Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and the East and South China Seas, is full of arrogance, prejudice and sinister intentions, exposing a Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice.

The G7 have their own problems to deal with. Interfering in other countries' internal affairs only brings division and confrontation in the international community.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot listens to several goodbye speeches and praise by aldermen on her last day conducting a City Council on April 19, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Lori Lightfoot presided Wednesday over what is expected to be her final City Council meeting as Chicago mayor, receiving tributes from friends and foes who praised her leadership over the past four years.

Nothing is perfect, but youve done fantastic, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., 27th, said. And a lot of people who may not want to recognize the sunshine, they always want to recognize the shade. I want to recognize the sunshine.

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While Burnett may have been recognizing the sunshine, many of the 50 men and women on the City Council who praised her Wednesday were responsible for a considerable amount of the shade over the past four years, and Lightfoot remained mum throughout the proceedings.

Lightfoots relationship with aldermen started poorly in 2019 after she used her inaugural address to talk about rooting out corruption and then gestured for the council members sitting behind her to stand and applaud. Members of the City Council generally took the moment as an effort by Lightfoot to grandstand and impugn their integrity, an insult that never quite healed.

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Over four years, Lightfoot publicly and privately bad-mouthed her coequal branch of government on a regular basis.

While negotiating her second budget, the mayor told aldermen who did not plan to vote for her spending plan, Dont come to me for s---. In text messages, Lightfoot referred to one alderman as a dumb, dumb person of color being led astray by Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, who is white.

Other examples of her past epithets included remarks that Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, was full of crap, Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, was bush league and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, was a jackass.

Some of the aldermen Lightfoot had scrapes with were even former allies.

[ Mayor Lori Lightfoot concedes defeat, setting stage for Chicagos mayoral race to be between Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas ]

In a remarkable break, Lightfoots hand-picked budget chair, Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, endorsed Brandon Johnson for mayor. One of Lightfoots committee chairs, Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, ran against her. At least three committee chairs and the councils president pro tempore publicly supported other candidates in the recent election, which saw Johnson win earlier this month after Lightfoot came in third place in the first round of voting in February.

Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, went from exchanging I love yous with the mayor via text message to publicly declaring she would absolutely not support her for reelection. I have never met anybody who has managed to piss off every single person they come in contact with  police, fire, teachers, aldermen, businesses, manufacturing, and thats it, Garza told the Chicago Reader.

But all of that history was water under the bridge during Wednesdays City Council meeting, where aldermen paid respects.

Outgoing aldermen are presented with framed Chicago flags during a City Council meeting on April 19, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Youve done more than any other mayor in this city, Ald. David Moore, 17th, said. And I say including Harold Washington, because he did not get a chance to do everything he wanted to do when we talk about investing in the South and West Side of Chicago.

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Many of the comments acknowledged Lightfoot often butted heads with many of the City Council members.

Ive always believed in looking past where I think someone did wrong, said Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th. I appreciate the help that you gave to the community. You came to that West Side more than any mayor thats been in the city.

[ Mayor Lori Lightfoots signature Invest South/West program is 3 years old. But some of its big projects were already planned when she took office. ]

Lightfoots work highlights included mentions of Invest South/West, extending the Chicago Transit Authoritys Red Line south and navigating Chicagos response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot is presented with a black Chicago shoulder cloth by Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, during what is expected to be the last City Council meeting of her term on April 19, 2023. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Madam Mayor, I have, I wont say enjoyed, but we have had a good working relationship and we have managed to accomplish some amazing things together, said Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th, who is retiring next month. And thats because of your leadership, thats because you believe in the goodness of people. And thats because you believe in being fair to everybody.

Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, whom Lightfoot appointed a year ago and who won reelection earlier this month, acknowledged the mayors role selecting her to serve the Bridgeport and Chinatown neighborhoods. Lee also made history when she became the first Chinese American member of the City Council.

Thank you for your faith in me, choosing me, helping me to make history, Lee said. And on behalf of my community, the Asian American community in the city of Chicago, thanks for giving us our first.

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Even Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, her most vociferous critic on the council, shared kind words.

Your presence made me become a better alderman. I think my presence helped you become a better mayor, Lopez said. At the end, together, we helped make this a better city. Thats my story and Im sticking to it.

For her part, Lightfoot did not speak.

Since losing reelection in February, Lightfoot has largely avoided taking questions from the press, including canceling customary post-City Council news conferences. On Wednesday, she did not address the City Council.

Her predecessor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, had used his final City Council meeting to thank colleagues and warn about the Chicago Teachers Unions growing influence in government and politics  which manifested itself in the April 4 election with Johnsons victory.

hsanders@chicagotribune.com

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gpratt@chicagotribune.com
On his visit to India, Apple chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook on Wednesday evening met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at the Railway Ministry office in the national capital. As Cook walked through the office of the Railway Ministry, he stopped to see the photograph of the Chenab Bridge right outside Vaishnaw's cabin. Seeing the photo, Cook's instant reaction was "Wow." In a video shared by Railway Minister Vaishnaw, he could be seen explaining to the Apple CEO the significance of the Chenab bridge which is currently under construction. He told Cook that the Vande Bharat train would be running on this railway bridge by December this year. "This bridge connects the northern state of Kashmir. And this bridge is about 30 metres taller compared to the Eiffel Tower," Vaishnaw told Cook. On this, the Apple CEO replied "Wow". Vaishnaw further said, "Again fully designed in India, we recently commissioned the railway track over it. And by December we will be running the Vande Bharat train on this." "Oh wow! that is special! Wow!" reacted Tim Cook. Notably, Vande Bharat trains are one of the most ambitious projects of the Modi government with these semi-high-speed trains connecting the length and breadth of the country "India laid about 5,000 kilometres of new tracks. 5000 kilometres of new tracks is like setting up a completely new network equivalent to what Switzerland has. Switzerland is about 5,200 kilometres. So, it is like setting up one whole new Switzerland rail line. That is the pace with which the country is working," the Railway Minister said. Tim Cook's response was "That is amazing!" On Wednesday evening during his meeting with the Railway Minister, the Apple CEO was presented with a special memento - a replica of the Vande Bharat train. Taking to Twitter after the meeting, Vaishnaw said "Met with Tim Cook, CEO, Apple. Discussed deepening Apple's engagement in India across manufacturing, electronics exports, app economy, skilling, sustainability and job creation, especially for women. Jointly charting a long-term and strong relationship." The Apple CEO met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Minister of State for IT and Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar also met the tech giant's CEO on Wednesday. Cook expressed confidence about a long-term working relationship with India. Tim Cook is currently in India for the launch of two Apple stores. The first was launched in Mumbai on Tuesday while the second retail store was unveiled in Delhi on Thursday. Viewing India as its long-term market, the iPhone manufacturer has expressed interest in expansion plans, including manufacturing the latest products. Currently, the employment strength of Apple in India stands at 1 lakh. Sources said this is expected to go up to 2 lakh in the coming years. (ANI)
Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Binoy Viswam has submitted a notice for introducing a Private Member's Bill in Rajya Sabha for abolishing the office of the Governor. The move comes in the backdrop of a tussle between Governors and some opposition state governments on various issues including time taken to give assent to legislations. Binoy Viswam told ANI that he submitted a notice on Thursday for introducing a Private Member's Bill for the abolition of the office of Governor. "I hope it will come to the House after due procedures. The office of the Governor is a burden. It is ornamental and has no real power. It is time to preserve the rights of the states," he said. The CPI MP alleged that in states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the office of Governor "has become a camp office of the BJP" and there is an attempt to "impose on the will of the legislature of the state." He also alleged that the BJP-led government has "no regard" for the diversity of the country and has a "unitary style". "The Governor not being an elected representative ought not enjoy powers that interfere with the functioning of the democratically elected government of a state, The office of the Governor is a colonial legacy...the Constitution must be amended to preserve the tenets of democracy and federalism that are enshrined in the constitution," CPI MP said. Binoy Viswam alleged that "encroachment on cooperative federalism" by the office of the Governor has been observed in several states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal and Punjab over the years and "has been intensifying over a range of issues including unnecessary interventions of Governors in the day-to-day administration and deliberate delays in giving assents to the Bills passed by democratically elected state assemblies". "The office of Governor has been used to topple governments led by parties other the ruling party at the Centre in Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra to name a few. Recently, Tamil Nadu Government was compelled to adopt a resolution urging the Centre to fix a timeframe for Governors to approve Bills passed by the Assembly. The resolution received support from many quarters including from the Government of Kerala. These frequent frictions between the office of the Governor and the state governments highlight the Governor's allegiance to the political party at the Centre rather than to the Constitution of India," the CPI leader said. He said CPI, in its party Congress held in Vijayawada, passed a resolution urging all democratic-federal forces "to join hands in making our polity truly federal by abolishing the office of Governor". "The Bill submitted today is one more step in the direction of preserving the democratic and federal ethos of our Constitution," he added. (ANI)
Delhi government has allocated Rs 1,700 crores under the grant-in-aid scheme for MCD schools this year. Education Minister Atishi made the announcement at a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat where she was flanked by Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi. Addressing the press conference, Atishi said, "Ever since the Kejriwal government came to power, education has always been the priority of our government. Every year, we work to ensure that the majority of the budgetary allocations are towards the education sector." "But the education system of Delhi has been facing a crisis because government schools, which provide education from classes 1-5, come under MCD. Due to the lack of facilities and a proper learning environment, students from MCD schools often fall behind in their studies when they get admitted to our government schools. They lack basic foundational skills," Atishi added. She added that after the makeover of Delhi's government schools, the administration in the national capital was now focused on making MCD schools similarly world-class. "After Delhi's government schools, our government is now committed to making MCD schools world-class along the same lines. There are 9 lakh students studying at our MCD schools and the Kejriwal government will ensure that every child gets an equal opportunity and access to a quality education because MCD schools are responsible for strengthening foundational skills in children," said Atishi. She added, "By increasing the budgetary outlay for education this year, the Kejriwal government has allocated Rs 1,700 crores as grant-in-aid for the development of MCD schools. This amount will support MCD in ensuring better infrastructure and facilities at its schools and also ensure timely disbursement of salaries to the staff. Of the total outlay of Rs 1700 crores, the first quarter fund of Rs 400 crores was released to the MCD today. This is the first step towards making MCD schools world-class." Mayor Shelly Oberoi thanked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Education Minister Atishi for providing funds for the betterment of MCD schools, saying, "Education has always been a priority for the Aam Aadmi Party as we believe that education is a medium that can contribute majorly to nation-building and taking the society forward. The architect of our Constitution, Dr B.R Ambedkar, had said as much." She added, "There are around 1,500 schools within the MCD's jurisdiction, with a combined strength of about 9 lakh children and 19,000 teachers. On a recent visit to MCD schools, we found most of them in a poor state, requiring major and minor repairs." The mayor informed further, "MCD schools are grappling with myriad challenges, including lack of infrastructure, CCTV cameras, desks for children, separate toilets for female students, drinking water dispensers and a severe shortage of manpower." Shelly said, "The funds provided by the Delhi government will now be utilised in improving all the MCD schools. A world-class education model will also be implemented in MCD schools, along the lines of Delhi's government schools." (ANI)
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was briefed by Army Chief General Manoj Pande on the death of five soldiers in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, defence sources said on Thursday. According to sources, the army jawans on the ground were keeping a watch on the situation and taking appropriate action. Earlier in the day, army jawans said a fire in an army truck in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of five personnel, was caused by grenades lobbed by terrorists. The army released a statement on the incident, saying the vehicle was fired upon by terrorists after which it erupted in flames after grenades were lobbed by the terrorists. "An Army vehicle moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector in J-K was fired upon by unidentified terrorists today. The vehicle caught fire, due to the likely use of grenades by terrorists," the army said in its statement. "Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations, in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident," it added. Another soldier, who sustained serious injuries, was evacuated immediately and rushed to the Army Hospital at Rajouri. He is currently under treatment. A search operation has been launched to nab the attackers, the army informed further. Earlier this day, Defence PRO said, "Today, at about 1500 hours, one vehicle of Indian Army, while moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in District Poonch (J-K), caught fire. In this tragic incident, Five Soldiers of the Indian Army have lost their life." (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday suggested identifying five major areas to further strengthen the approach of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the meeting of Heads of Departments of SCO member-states responsible for prevention and elimination of emergency situations. Chairing the meet, Shah pointed out that these five major areas include Confidence Building Efforts in Asia, Collective Responsibility Approach, Expanding Cooperation in Communication and Information Sharing, Identification of Priority Areas, and use of newly developed technology in disaster resilience capacity building. Shah, while speaking about the five areas in detail, said adopting a collective responsibility approach for disaster resilience will help SCO member-states to work together, more effectively. "Along with this, by pooling our resources and expertise, Member States can avoid duplication of efforts and resources, and this will strengthen the region's overall disaster resilience approach," said a Ministry of Home Affairs statement quoting the minister. Shah said the SCO member-states can expand their cooperation on emergency situations by exchanging best practices of communication, coordination of response efforts and real-time information exchange. The minister said that effective communication and information exchange can help ensure timely, specialised and coordinated response to emergent situation, and that new and developed technology can play an important role in disaster resilience capacity building. "SCO member-states can share their experience and knowledge in the successful use of technologies, such as, Artificial Intelligence, Remote Sensing, Drone Technology and Data Analytics to improve in Early Warning Systems, Disaster Risk Assessment and Response," said Shah. The Home minister said similar technologies can also help in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of our response efforts as it can prove to be a game-changer in search and rescue operations. Concluding his address, the minister expressed confidence that the meeting in New Delhi will open up new avenues of cooperation among Member Countries. Shah said India attached special importance to the SCO in promoting dialogue on the subject relating to multi-dimensional political, security and economic subjects. Shah said India has been associated with the SCO since 2005 and was playing an important role as an observer country, since then. At the 17th Summit in 2017, Shah mentioned that India became a full member of the SCO as part of an important step in the process of expansion of this organisation. He said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is committed to exploring and availing new opportunities to the fullest possible extent and was willing to cooperate in sharing our experience in enhancing the role of SCO in the World Forum. Noting that India attaches special importance to Disaster Risk Reduction and is ready to share its expertise and experience in this field for greater cooperation and mutual trust among SCO member-states, Shah said India believes that no hazard is small or big and it does not leave anyone behind. He also said India now has more accurate and timely early warning system in place and the country has seen a sea change in the way its early warning systems (EWS) of drought, flood, lightning, heat wave, cold wave, and cyclone have improved. (ANI)
Saket court on Thursday disposed of a plea of Delhi police in view of an order from the Delhi High Court restraining all media channels from displaying or telecasting the material of the chargesheet filed in the Shraddha murder case. Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar disposed of the plea saying the high court is seized of the matter and, therefore, this court doesn't have jurisdiction to deal with it. On Wednesday, Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar passed an order restraining all media channels from displaying/telecasting the material contained in the charge sheet including the Narco Analysis video, CCTV footage and recording of the Practo app. Delhi police had approached the high court seeking a restraining order against all media channels. Earlier, on Monday, the trial court had restrained a news channel from utilising in any form, any material related to the Shraddha murder case for the next three days till April 20.The trial court has suggested that the Delhi Police may approach a higher court to avail the remedy for seeking to restrain all media channels from using the material part of the case's chargesheet. "...Instructions to state on behalf of news channel.... that the said channel shall not telecast/publish/disseminate the contents of the psychological assessment and voice layer test, narco analysis test and conversation recorded on Dr Practo App for the next three days, till April 20, " the trial court had said. Meanwhile, Delhi Police is at liberty to approach the constitutional or higher court to exercise their remedy, the court said. The Saket court on April 10 restrained a media house from publishing, printing or disseminating the content of a chargesheet, including digital evidence, in the Shraddha murder case. The court had also issued notice to the channel. Delhi police had approached the court on credible information that a media house had accessed the audio-video evidence related to the Narco and Practo app and was likely to disseminate the same at a special programme. The special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad submitted before the court that it had ample power to pass an order restraining the media house from publishing/printing or disseminating the content of the charge sheet as it's not a public document. The counsel for the news channels opposed the plea arguing that the court doesn't have the jurisdiction to pass a restraining order. (ANI)
The central government has stepped up efforts to restart 5G services in and around airports. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a meeting with officials of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), telecom companies and airline operators including other aviation stakeholders on Wednesday. In this meeting, there was a discussion on resuming the services and stakeholders and aircraft manufacturers submitted their latest report on 5G service-related issues. "The meeting was fruitful. Stakeholders have submitted their reports before the regulators. More such meetings will be called in this regard," an official who attended the meeting told ANI. Last year the Department of Telecommunications sent a letter to telecom companies in India who has announced for 5G services in the country to not set up C-band 5G base stations within the 2.1 km range of Indian airports with immediate effect, as C Band 5G can cause problems with the aircraft's radio (radar) altimeter. "5G service may affect the signals of the altimeter of the aircraft," DoT said. The government is now exploring options to resume 5G services near the airports so that telecom companies can start 5G services using lower spectrum bands in and around the airports. Representatives of DGCA, the Department of Telecom, telecom companies, airline companies, aircraft manufacturers and others aviation stakeholders participated in the meeting. 5G service at the airport has been barred since November last year. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US has also warned earlier that, "5G could affect the ability of some aircraft to take altitude readings. 5G can also affect the altimeters of the aircraft, which tell at what height the aircraft is flying from the ground." Notably, 27 member countries of the European Union are using 5G networks near its airport with lower frequencies (3.4-3.8 GHz). (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all the high courts to constitute a Grievance Redressal Committee, which will serve the purpose of addressing the grievances of Advocates and Bar Associations at different levels. "We request all the High Courts to constitute Grievance Redressal Committee in their respective High Courts which may be headed by the Chief Justice and such a grievance redressal committee be consisting of two other senior Judges, one each from service and one from the Bar to be nominated by the Chief Justice as well as the Advocate General, Chairman of the Bar Council of the State and President of the High Court Bar Association," the SC said. The Supreme Court said the high courts might also consider constituting a similar Grievance Redressal Committee at the level of district courts. The court said that Grievance Redressal Committee may consider the genuine grievance related to the difference of opinion or dissatisfaction because of procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters of the respective High Courts or any District Courts in their respective states and any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehaviour of any member of the lower judiciary, provided such grievance must be genuine and not to keep the pressure on any judicial officer. "We once again reiterate that no member of the Bar can go on strike and/or abstain himself from court working," the court said. "Time and again, this Court has emphasised and criticized the advocates going on strike and abstaining from work. If the member of the Bar has any genuine grievance or the difficulty being faced because of the procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters and/or any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehaving of any member of the lower judiciary they can very well make a representation and it is appropriate that their genuine grievances are considered by some forum so that such strikes can be avoided and members of the Bar who might have genuine grievances like above may ventilate their grievances," the court added. Earlier, the Bar Council of India preferred an application for appropriate direction for the constitution of Grievance Redressal Committees (GRC) for the redressal of grievances of (Advocates/Bar Associations) at different levels and directions to all the high courts to constitute the suggested "Grievance Redressal Committees" for the States as well as Districts and Taluka courts within their respective territorial jurisdiction. Manan Kumar Mishra, senior advocate and chairman of the Bar Council of India, submitted that the council has suggested various measures for controlling the strike/abstention and has suggested the mechanism of redressal of the grievances of Advocates/Bar Associations at all levels. (ANI)
Months after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena turned down the Kejriwal government's request to appoint Aam Aadmi Party councillor Mukesh Goel as presiding officer of a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) meeting to conduct Mayoral polls, the ruling party once again proposed the name of the seniormost councillor for the post. The recent proposal of the Delhi government, seeking the L-G's nod for Mukesh Goel as the presiding officer came in view of the fresh upcoming Mayoral elections on April 26. The L-G in January this year had nominated BJP councillor Satya Sharma as the protem presiding officer of an MCD meeting, among the list of six names sent to him by the AAP government. The other names on the list were Mukesh Goel, Preeti, Shakeela Begum, Hemchand Goel and Neema Bhagat. The AAP had raised questions on the development, alleging that presiding officer Satya Sharma, who was nominated by the L-G, unconstitutionally allowed the aldermen to vote in the process of electing the mayor in the maiden meeting of the House, which led to three stormy sessions of the MCD. However, according to Raj Niwas, Mukesh Goel, a five-time councillor, was eliminated because of an investigation into a charge against him of "seeking Rs 1 crore for a party ticket in the recently-concluded MCD election". Responding to the fresh proposal sent to the L-G, Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said the government was looking the former to take a decision in accordance with the custom and rules this time around. "The presiding officers only have to elect the mayor and the rest of the elections are done by the elected mayor. Last time, we sent the name of our seniormost councillor as the presiding officer to the L-G. This is the practice of electing the presiding officer in all the Houses, be it the Parliament or a state legislature. But the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi went against the time-honoured custom and named Satya Sharma as the presiding officer," Bhardwaj told ANI. He had earlier alleged that Satya Sharma unconstitutionally gave voting rights to Aldermen. "We moved the Supreme Court against this and the court, too, said that this is wrong. Because of the presiding officer, the House was adjourned several times, slogans were raised and scuffles followed," he said. The minister said the L-G should abide by the rules and tradition. "The L-G should respect the custom and tradition and decide accordingly. The law of the land and the Constitution say that the L-G is bound by the recommendation of the Delhi government. If he does not accept the recommendation, he can send it to the President. But he will have to accept the recommendation," he said. The senior AAP leader claimed further that the earlier reasons cited by L-G Saxena do not fulfil grounds to disqualify someone from the presiding officer's post. "Last time, he (L-G) said there is a case against the person whose name was proposed by the Delhi government. The L-G said he had asked for a bribe of Rs 1 crore in exchange for allotting a ticket for contesting elections. However, this charge is baseless as there is no FIR against Mukesh Goel (whose name the AAP proposed) as yet. Even if it were so, it is not a ground to disqualify someone for the post of the presiding officer," he said. "There are cases against the Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. We have seen in Om Birla's election affidavit that FIR was registered against him, but he remains the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The Lieutenant Governor is setting the wrong precedent," he said. "Today, we have proposed Mukesh Goel again as he is the seniormost councillor of the House. We would like the L-G to take a decision in accordance with tradition and rules," he added. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the trial court proceedings against former IPS officer Amod Kanth in the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy case. A bench of Justices KM Joseph, BV Nagarathna and Aravind Kumar quashed the proceedings against Kanth over the lack of sanction for his prosecution. The apex court in its order said, "...we find that the magistrate erred in the facts of this case in taking cognizance against the appellant contrary to the demands of section 197 of CrPC. On this short ground alone (of lack of sanction) the appellant (Amod Kanth) succeeded." The top court, however, made it clear that its order will not stand in the way of the competent authority taking a decision in the matter and for granting sanction against Kanth in accordance with the law. The bench has now listed the matter for further hearing on April 26 for dealing with other aspects of the case including the de-sealing of the Uphaar cinema hall. The top court on November 29, 2013, had stayed the trial court proceedings against Kanth and sought the response of the CBI on the petition of the officer. Kanth, who has since retired, had challenged the 2010 trial court order summoning him for allowing extra seats in the Uphaar cinema hall where 59 movie-watchers died in a blaze in 1997. The trial court had summoned the IPS officer on a plea by the victims of the fire incident and their families. The Delhi High Court on October 3, 2013, had declined to quash the summons issued to Kanth and thereafter he approached the top court. (ANI)
Two Barrington Police officers accompany high school students out of the building as they evacuate Barrington High School following a second bomb threat at the school on Monday, April 17, 2023, in Barrington. Barrington 220 School District sent out alerts saying, Out of an abundance of caution, BHS is evacuating the building after receiving a second bomb threat Students who walk or drive to school have been dismissed for the day..BHS students who rely on district transportation should make their way to the normal bus loading area and will begin to board buses to be transported home. Students who are picked up by parents should make their own way to the west lot for normal parent pick-up. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Police in Barrington are still investigating after multiple computerized bomb threats made to Barrington High School on Monday at first led to no lockdown but then prompted an evacuation of the school.

The initial alleged bomb threat phoned in to the school that morning was quickly identified by Barrington police and other authorities as textbook hoaxes, the police deputy chief told Pioneer Press.

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When the phone call came in, it was a digital, computerized voice. It came in from a six-digit phone number that didnt come back to anything, police Deputy Chief John Burke said about the first call BHS received Monday. Right away, those were the cues wed read about for the past two years and that [dont] hold a lot of credibility.

Burke said the department has not made any arrests in connection with the incident Monday, but is aware of videos circulating online that appear to show a threat being made to the school.

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Burke said whomever made the threat used a digital, computerized voice, presumably to avoid being identified.

Pioneer Press obtained one of the alleged videos circulating but has not been able to independently confirm its authenticity. Police would not comment on the specific video Pioneer Press obtained.

Theres some different videos floating around, (and Barrington police are) looking at all of them, Burke said.

He said the Barrington Police Department and Barrington School District 220, which BHS is part of, have been holding regular security meetings where they have been preparing for the possibility of a swatting call  where fake threats are phoned in, leading to a large emergency response  and were able to determine quickly on Monday that the threat was not credible.

The deputy chief called swatting a nationwide issue that is on the rise, and said the department has also received guidance and intelligence tips from the State Terrorism Intelligence Center and the FBI.

At first, the school did not go into a lockdown. But after subsequent alleged threats, officials said BHS was evacuated out of an abundance of caution. After-school activities were postponed.

Burke said it is possible the additional threats BHS received could have been because of someone listening to fire dispatch communications, from which they may have been able to gather that the building was not being evacuated.

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The department believes someone may have been listening to the fire department dispatch and could have called in the additional threats or instructed someone to call them in.

Barrington police coordinated with neighboring law enforcement agencies and called in bomb-detecting K9 units to sweep the school and stairwells for any threats, according to authorities.

We were trying to not cause hysteria or any kind of panic while working through these things, Burke said.

It is unclear whether Barrington students have been questioned by police in relation to the threats.

Burke said the department has seen online instances where people are able to pay someone offsite to call in a threat at your school so you can go home.

Its one of those things where if we thought there was any grain of authenticity to this, were going to err on the side of caution, he said. But what we dont want to do is buy into some of the stuff thats going on around the country. Then those things kind of take on a life of its own, where youre constantly sending kids home, and then something else could happen.

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Lake County is now one of at least 20 Illinois counties to have experienced swatting calls in recent weeks, according to a recent Chicago Tribune report.

Classes resumed on a normal schedule Tuesday.

District 220 spokewoman Samantha Scheinman wrote in an email to Pioneer Press Wednesday that the district is unable to discuss or comment on individual students and any disciplinary actions.

We take the safety and security of our students and staff very seriously, Scheineman said. We continue to investigate this incident and will respond in accordance with our Board of Education policy and student code of conduct.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday wrote to Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat seeking direction to the West Bengal governmnet to follow protocols while inaugurating Jal Jeevan Mission projects in the State and while carrying out publicity activities associated with the inauguration events. In his letter to Jal Shakrti Minister, Adhikari said, "It is with great pleasure, I would like to thank you for the timely execution of the Jal Jeevan Mission Projects. The doorstep connectivity of drinking water in rural homes is the biggest gift to the people in this heatwave situation. The people of India are wholeheartedly thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi across India. However, the scenario is a bit different in West Bengal as the State government is trying their level best to hijack the credit due to PM and the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti." He said after the tough stance taken by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, West Bengal government and the State administration has reluctantly started to use the name Jal Jeevan Mission instead of Jal Swapna. However, Adhikari said the West Bengal government is still, unethically trying to pass it off as their own project. "The image of the Prime Minister is conspicuously absent in publicity and display materials and plaques. But at least 50 per cent of the space of such advertisement or display boards and signages is reserved for the picture of the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee. I have no problem regarding the display of the image of CM, but it cannot be a substitute for the PM's image," he said. "So it is my earnest request to you, that kindly instruct the West Bengal government to follow the protocols regarding the publicity and the inaugural events, which the State government and the District Administration must adhere to. The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti should monitor the adherence of such protocols. The printing and display of the Prime Minister's image in the publicity materials, advertisements, banners and plaques is a must and should be non-negotiable," added Adhikari. (ANI)
Shettar said, "The BJP government has completed 5 years in Karnataka. People are talking about the ill-treatment of seniors but not about other issues like development. Have important issues been solved? But now due to the negligence of the seniors (BJP), this discussion was started. Some people with vested interest are controlling the entire BJP in Karnataka and govt."

Jagadish Shettar filed his nomination from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central Assembly constituency on Wednesday for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections.

Jagadish Shettar became the second senior leader from the Lingayat community to leave the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and join Congress in less than a week. Earlier, former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi joined the Congress.

Shettar is set to face BJP's candidate Mahesh Tenginkai in the election.

Shettar on Monday joined the Congress party a day after he quit BJP ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections in the State.

Shettar was inducted into the party in presence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the Karnataka state Congress president DK Shivakumar and the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Siddaramaiah.

Senior BJP leader Amar Singh Patil also joined Congress along with Shettar.

The Karnataka assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled on May 13. (ANI)
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala on Thursday delivered the inaugural address at a side-event of the 2nd G20 Health Working Group Meeting titled, "Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change and Health: One Earth, One Family, One Future". The co-branded event was organized by the Asian Development Bank and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the aim of aligning the health sector's development with the goals of the Paris Agreement and building climate-neutral and resilient health systems under the One Health approach, which recognizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. India's G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant was also in attendance. In his address, Parshottam Rupala emphasized the importance of a 'One Health' approach that recognizes the linkages between human, animal, and environmental health. He reiterated the Hon'ble Prime Minister's message that despite geographical boundaries, all of humanity is part of the same cosmos. Rupala emphasized the need for the health sector, including animal health, to reduce its contribution to climate change and strengthen surveillance of animal-linked diseases to prevent health emergencies from emerging. He stressed that strengthening animal health and implementing a One Health approach can help prevent and control zoonotic diseases, which have significant impacts on animal welfare, economic productivity, and human health. On the sidelines of the event, Amitabh Kant, India's G20 Sherpa, emphasized the interconnectedness of various challenges such as climate change, healthcare, and poverty. He highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how health and climate change are deeply intertwined, with the Global South being more vulnerable due to a burden of communicable diseases and resource constraints. The G20 India Sherpa mentioned that India has made significant progress in the healthcare sector and has become the pharmacy of the world, with digital initiatives like telemedicine and teleconsultations being sustainable solutions for a climate-resilient healthcare model. "India's digital initiatives like telemedicine and teleconsultations are sustainable solutions for a climate-resilient healthcare model", he said. While speaking to ANI, Kant said, "The animals, humans and climates are all interlinked." He said, "The Prime Minister has spoken at length on one health. Our objective of today's discussions is to lay down the broad principles on which the one health priority because what we do, as human beings have an impact on animals, and what animals do has an impact on human beings. The impact of climate is felt on both animals and humans, and therefore everything is interlinked, and therefore we need to lay down some principles." "We're discussing this at great length on how we can push for green development with both climate, animals and humans. Health contributes about 4.4 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas emissions have a huge impact on health. And they in turn have a huge impact on animals. So this whole cycle of animal health and the planet is a very critical component. And this is the first time this issue will be discussed in G 20," he said further. Rajesh K Singh, Union Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, highlighted the potential of India's Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative in ensuring timely surveillance of zoonotic diseases. Lav Agarwal, Additional Secretary, Health Ministry, emphasized the need for a 'One Health' approach to mitigate the effects of climate change and holistically address the linkages between climate change and health. Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General, Southeast Asia Department, ADB, highlighted that prioritizing the health sector can bring synergistic solutions to meet both global health and climate goals simultaneously, and institutions like the Asian Development Bank look forward to working with member countries to support this. The event was attended by senior officials of the Union Government, including Mr Takeo Konishi, Country Director, ADB India, Mr Sungsup Ra, Chief Sector Officer, ADB, and other dignitaries. (ANI)
The incident occurred on April 19 when Mukhiya Vijay Shankar Dubey of Hari Gaon Panchayat in Jagdishpur block intercepted the house assistant Ajay Kumar Prasad and abused him. He also beat him with a baton in the market of Hari Gaon village. A large number of villagers assembled there filmed the incident.

Dubey, who is said to be a strongman in the village, kicked and beat him with a baton and used abusive language to humiliate him. He alleged that Prasad demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a person for the sanctioning of funds.

Following the incident, Prasad filed a complaint against Dubey in the Block Development Office. They later reached a compromise in the presence of the BDO.

--IANS ajk/bg

( 161 Words)

2023-04-20-21:00:04 (IANS)
The minister showed Cook the image of a bridge, which is taller than Eiffel Tower, that connects to Kashmir.

"This bridge is about 30 metres taller compared to the Eiffel Tower. By December, we will be running the train over the bridge," Vaishnaw told Cook.

"We recently commissioned the railway track over it and we will be running a Vande Bharat train on it by December," he added.

Cook earlier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and discussed how to boost local manufacturing and iPhone exports, along with even tripling investments in the country.

--IANS na/vd

( 160 Words)

2023-04-20-21:14:02 (IANS)
Aboriginal tribals or Adivasis and leaders of different political parties paid homage to martyrs at the martyrs' column in Indravelli on Thursday.

It was on this day in 1981 that 13 tribals were killed in a police firing when they had gathered at Indravelli for a protest on a call given by Andhra Pradesh Raithu Coolie Sangham to fight for their land rights.

The police had opened fire when a constable was allegedly killed by an angry mob.

According to official records, 13 tribals, all Raj Gonds belonging to surrounding villages of the Indravelli mandal centre, were killed in the firing. However, rights groups had put the death toll at 60.

Till a few years ago, the tribals were not allowed to hold meetings in Indravelli to pay homage to the martyrs.

Adivasis, members of Indravelli Amaraveerula Ashaya Sadhana Samithi and the Tudum Debba, a tribal rights organization, offered floral tributes in a traditional manner on Thursday.

Adilabad Member of Parliament Soyam Bapu Rao, Mulugu MLA Seethakka and YSR Telangana Party leader Y.S. Sharmila paid tributes at the martyrs' column.

Seethakka tweeted that Indravelli Adivasi heroes are immortal. She called Indravelli a place of inspiration. "Many lost their lives to get our land, & freedom back still we are fighting for our lands & freedom, we remember the fighters & I pray for their souls to get peace," she wrote.

Sharmila said she paid tributes to the martyrs of Indravelli who laid down their lives fighting for land rights and against the exploitative system.

She said it was another Jallianwala Bagh.

"We will continue to fight for tribal rights with the spirit of martyrs," she said.

--IANS ms/pgh

( 311 Words)

2023-04-20-21:20:03 (IANS)
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has issued a show cause notice to "former" President of Assam Pradesh Youth Congress Dr Angkita Dutta who levelled a series of allegations against Indian Youth Congress President Srinivas BV accusing him of "harassing" and "discriminating" with her. APCC President Bhupen Kumar Borah on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to Angkita Dutta and sought an explanation in a short time. The show cause notice comes hours after Angkita Dutta filed a complaint against Srinivas BV at Dispur police station in Guwahati. However, police are yet to register a case. A top source of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) told ANI that, APCC on Thursday issued a show cause notice to Angkita Dutta and given her two days' time for her reply. The APCC source also said that earlier the APCC issued a show-cause notice to Angkita Dutta in December last year. On Tuesday, taking to Twitter, Angkita Dutta said, "@IYCPresident @srinivasiyc has continually harassed me and was discriminating on the basis of my gender. My values and education doesn't allow me anymore. The leadership has played deaf ears despite bring front of them MANY TIMES @RahulGandhi @kcvenugopalmp @priyankagandhi". "I am a four generations congressmen. I have contest internal organisation twice, make booth committee, beaten by police. My education from Pol Sc to LLB in Delhi Uni, to PhD in Guwahati University. We keep quiet for the sake of the party. But harassment doesn't stop by Srinivas," she said in a tweet. She added that despite facing "discrimination" for six months, no enquiry has been initiated and she has been asked to keep "mum". (ANI)
The United States on Wednesday announced USD 325 million in new military aid for Ukraine in a package that is expected to include more artillery rounds and rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). This comes as Ukraine continues to burn through artillery munitions at a high rate, Voice of America (VOA) reported. Ahead of the package's release, defence officials told VOA that the latest aid also includes TOW anti-tank guided missiles, anti-tank mines and AT-4 anti-armour weapons needed to push back Russian ground forces that have dug into occupied areas of Ukraine. The package marks the 36th authorized presidential drawdown of military equipment from Defence Department inventories. According to VOA, the aid comes as battle lines in Ukraine have become static, exposing the larger Russian power's weaknesses and Ukraine stubbornly defending its territory, according to a senior US official. As per the head of Ukraine's ground forces, Russia was increasing its use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, even as Russia continued to sustain significant losses in the battle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently made an appeal to the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on Wednesday and renewed his call to confiscate Russian Central Bank assets held around the world and use them to help rebuild Ukraine. "To charge the aggressor with compensation for damages...Russia must feel the full price of its aggression," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said by video link. At a virtual roundtable hosted by the World Bank and the IMF on Wednesday (local time), Zelensky stood and called for a moment of silence for a Ukrainian soldier who appears to have been beheaded. A gruesome video that purports to show the beheading spread quickly online and drew outrage in Ukraine, in the latest accusation of atrocities said to have been committed by Russian troops. Also, the World Bank announced today USD 200 million in grant financing for a project that will repair Ukraine's energy infrastructure. (ANI)
The Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association on Wednesday organised a rally in Siliguri's Salugara area to express solidarity with the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama following the controversy over his viral video for which he has apologised. The Association claimed the video was a conspiracy to defame Dalai Lama. After the Dalai Lama's video of purportedly kissing a boy went viral, a group of Tibetan leaders and activists from across the globe, expressed their solidarity and support for him, reported Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities in a statement. The statement came in the wake of the media coverage around a video clip of Dalai Lama's interaction with a child at an event in February. The statement said, "Language, culture, and context define how people view any given situation. For Tibetans who see the video clip of the Dalai Lama's interaction with a child at a public event in February, it is clear he is displaying his affection, warmth, and humour. It is through a lifetime of familiarity with the Dalai Lama that we understand his words and actions." "For some people who don't know the Tibetan context, and especially because so many children suffer serious abuse at the hands of powerful people and religious institutions, the belief and assumption is that the act was malign and the child was harmed. We can say with absolute certainty that this is not what happened," the statement added, as per Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities. The Global Tibetan leaders and activists said, "It is instructive to hear what the child and his family have said about their time with the Dalai Lama. The mother (seen sitting onstage next to the Dalai Lama) and the child both gave media interviews immediately after the event. While we know this won't satisfy everyone with concerns, we hope their own words will help add some context and clarity to the question of how they feel about what happened." "What has been most painful for Tibetans and our allies is witnessing the rush to condemn the Dalai Lama. Any attempt to understand Tibetan culture, the full context of the exchange, and this nearly 90-year-old icon of global peace has been shockingly absent from most media coverage and online discourse," the statement said. The Dalai Lama recently issued an apology expressing his regret after a purported video of him kissing a boy and asking him to "suck his tongue" triggered a social media uproar. An official statement released by the office of the Dalai Lama stated that the Tibetan spiritual leader "wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused." (ANI)
The decision by the Ministry of Finance comes nearly 11 days after the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) submitted a request for financial support for the payment of salaries and Eid bonuses ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, as per Bangladeshi news platform The Business Standard.

Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the most important Islamic festivals, is celebrated all over the world with tremendous passion and religious fervour. This year, it is expected to be celebrated from April 21 to April 23.

This festival also marks the end of Ramzan, the holy month when Muslims fast and engage in acts of devotion and spiritual meditation.

On March 30, the BKMEA president AKM Salim Osman submitted a letter to the government requesting financial aid, Bangaldesh daily The Business Standard reported.

According to the letter, if financial aid is not provided, the export sector could face severe difficulties in paying employees' salaries and bonuses in time for Eid, the report added.

The Ministry of Finance and the Comptroller General of Accounts have given Bangladesh Bank instructions to clear the cash assistance amount, The Business Standard reported. (ANI)
The 34-year-old Indian who went missing on Monday while attempting to climb Mount Annapurna in Nepal has been rescued but is in critical condition, expedition organisers said on Thursday. The mountaineer Anurag Maloo had gone missing since the afternoon of April 17 after falling into a deep crevasse on Annapurna, which is the 10th highest mountain in the world. "Maloo is currently at Manipal Hospital under doctors' supervision," Mingma Sherpa from Seven Summit Treks told ANI over phone from Kathmandu. "He has been taken to the hospital in critical condition, but he is still alive," Sudhir, his brother said. A search operation to locate Maloo, a resident of Kishangargh in Rajasthan's Ajmer district was underway since Monday. "Search operation is on. He fell into a crevasse while returning from Camp IV this afternoon," Mingma Sherpa, the Chairman of Seven Summit Treks had told ANI on Monday. Maloo was descending from Camp III when he fell into a crevase at around 6,000 metres and went missing, the expedition organiser said. The mountaineer had last year successfully ascended Mount Ama Dablam, in the Eastern Himalayan range in Nepal and was planning to stand atop Mount Everest, Annapurna and Lhotse this season. He was also on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8000 meters and 7 summits to create awareness and dive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals #ClimbingForSDGs. On Tuesday Two other Indian mountaineers - Baljeet Kaur and Arjun Vajpayee - were rescued from Mount Annapurna in Nepal on Tuesday. Baljeet Kaur had gone missing above Camp IV of Mount Annapurna and was rescued from an elevation of 7363 metres. (ANI)
The National Congress of Cuba on Wednesday extended the five-year term of Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, despite the dire economic conditions the communist-run island is currently witnessing under his leadership, reported CNN. The 470-member Assembly's decision to re-elect Diaz-Canel was widely anticipated. In 2018, Diaz-Canel succeeded Raul Castro as president and first secretary in 2021 of the Cuban Communist Party, respectively. He is the first non-Castro person born after the 1959 revolution to hold both of those significant positions, according to a CNN report. Raul Castro still holds the position of Army General and a seat in the National Assembly despite having officially resigned from the office. He is seen as having significant influence over governmental issues at a distance. Diaz-Canel, a 62-year-old electrical engineer, ever since assuming office, has failed a succession of calamities that pushed Cuba even nearer to the brink of economic collapse. Former President Donald Trump quickly changed course after the Obama administration's policy of engagement with Cuba, implementing some of the toughest economic sanctions in decades, as per CNN. But the pandemic almost ended Cuba's tourism industry, exacerbating the country's already severe food and medicine shortages. The largest anti-government demonstrations since the Cuban revolution took place on July 11, 2021, when tens of thousands of Cubans flocked to the streets in protest of blackouts, a lack of personal freedoms, and deteriorating living circumstances. Diaz-Canel appeared on state-run TV, within hours, and gave supporters what he called "the order to combat," saying, "The streets belong to the revolutionaries." Several Cubans were detained and put on trial collectively. The protesters, according to Diaz-Canel, were used as pawns by the US in a scheme to overthrow the Cuban government. Further economic restrictions were implemented in response by the Biden administration, and Diaz-Canel has been urged to free the detainees. Former Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told CNN, "The sanctions hurt but severe as a scapegoat for the economic problems." "They enhance the idea that this is a city under siege, that this is a country under siege. There are many ways that Americans would look at this: 'rally around the flag,' 'circle the wagons,' so the Cuban government is very good at doing that." After getting re-elected, Diaz-Canel announced that the ministers of his government would mostly remain the same. According to law, Cuban presidential tenure must start before the president turns 60 and are limited to two terms of five years each. Yet on Wednesday, there were no notable alterations or fresh faces in the higher-ups of the government, so it remains unclear who would succeed Diaz-Canel, CNN reported. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the noble teachings of Gautama Buddha at the Global Buddhist Summit inaugurated here in New Delhi on Thursday. "The noble teachings of Gautama Buddha have impacted countless people over centuries. Inspired by the teachings of Lord Buddha, India is taking new initiatives for global welfare," said PM Modi. He said, "Buddha is an understanding beyond the person, Buddha is a thought beyond the form, Buddha is a consciousness beyond the image, and this consciousness of the Buddha is eternal and constant..." "This thought is eternal, this understanding is unforgettable," said PM Modi. PM Modi further said that India is moving ahead in 'Amrit Kaal' towards becoming a developed country, and the biggest inspiration behind the same is Lord Buddha. "In this Amrit Kaal, India has taken new initiatives on many subjects and our biggest inspiration for this is Lord Buddha. India is moving ahead in the 'Amrit Kaal' towards becoming a developed country. India has resolved for the welfare of not only India but also for the whole wide world," Modi said. The two-day Global Buddhist Summit is being held at a time when India is celebrating 75 years of her independence when India is celebrating the 'Amrit Mahotsav'. PM Modi said that India has continuously spread the values of Lord Buddha. "The path of Buddha is Pariyakti, Patipatti and Pativedha. Means Theory, Practice and Realization. In the last 9 years, India has progressed rapidly on all these three points," he said. The Prime Minister further stressed that when many people come together with a vision for a better future, "the future will indeed be magnificent". "India has had its firsts in so many fields, and it has derived great inspiration for the same from Lord Buddha. That's why today people from different countries, and different geographical-cultural environments are present here together," Modi said while adding that this is the extension of Lord Buddha which unites the entire humanity in one thread. PM Modi underscored the importance of the path of Buddha adding that his path is of the future, the path of sustainability. He also said that India has not given war to the world, but 'Buddha'. "The war and unrest that the world is suffering from today, centuries ago Lord Buddha had given a solution. The journey of solving problems is the journey of Buddha. India considers the sorrow of every human being as its own sorrow," PM Modi said. Modi said that the world can embrace happiness only if "we renunciate realisations of Victory, Defeats, Fights, Wars". "Lord Buddha has taught the path to overcome these. Enmity can not vanish with enmity but with Love. Actual happiness lies in peace, in living together with peace. If we want to make the world happy, then this Buddha mantra of inclusiveness is the only way by leaving the self, the world, the narrow thinking," PM Modi said. Refering to the earthquake in Turkey, PM Modi said, "Be it peace missions in different countries of the world or a calamity like an earthquake in Turkey... India stands with humanity in times of every crisis, with 'Mum Bhav', by putting its full potential." He also informed how India played a key role in improving the Buddha Circuit. "We improved the Buddha Circuit in India and Nepal. Be it Kushinagar International Airport or Lumbini, where India International Centre for Buddhist Culture is being established; India is working holistically in this direction," said PM Modi. (ANI)
Twitter chief Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft after the technology giant announced plans to drop his social media company from its advertising platform. "They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time," Musk tweeted. The tech giant earlier in a notice said that its advertising platform "will no longer support Twitter" from April 25. The move came in the wake of Twitter announcing fees to use its API, with access starting at USD 42,000 a month. From April 25, users will no longer be able to access their Twitter accounts through Microsoft's Digital Marketing Center's social media management tool, according to Microsoft. Users will also no longer be able to schedule, create, or manage tweets or tweet drafts. In addition, users won't be able to view their past tweets and engagement on the Microsoft Advertising platform. "Starting on April 25, 2023, Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter," Microsoft said. A similar email has begun to go out to Microsoft Advertising users stating that "Digital Marketing Center (DMC) will no longer support Twitter starting on April 25, 2023." Microsoft's announcement comes just one day after Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared at a major marketing and advertising conference. At the event, Musk attempted to lure brands back to the platform after Twitter lost half of its biggest advertisers following his takeover of the company. The billionaire, Musk who bought Twitter last year, is changing the company's policy to charge businesses for access to its stream of data. The Microsoft Advertising feature previously allowed advertisers to manage their social media accounts on various platforms in one place. Users could respond to tweets and DMs along with messages received on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. While Microsoft's social media service was provided for free to advertisers, it was prominently featured in Microsoft Advertising's Digital Marketing Center dashboard. It worked alongside the platform's social and search paid advertising tools, which helped businesses run and manage their paid ad campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, and Microsoft's search advertising. Microsoft made more than USD 12 billion in digital advertising revenue last year from ads that would be created, managed, and run through its Advertising platform. (ANI)
The Matatirtha Pond which lies in the middle of hills on the outskirts of Nepal's capital was filled with revellers who thronged the pilgrimage site to pay homage to the departed souls of their mothers on Thursday. Mata Tirtha Aunsi is a festival for mothers as it is the Nepali Mother's Day, which falls on the Nepali first month Baisakh (April/May). "In memory of the bereaved mothers, offerings are made to the Mata (mother) in the temple that is located here. Paying homage to the deceased mother and in their remembrance we came here on Mata Tirtha Aunsi," Prakash Basnet, one of the devotees visiting the sacred pilgrimage site told ANI. As a tradition, off-springs wake up early in the morning, take bath and worship their mothers by giving presents and goodies. Those who don't have their mothers reach Matatirtha in Chandragiri Municipality to pay tribute to the departed souls of their mothers. Devotees upon reaching the scared Matatirtha Pond take a holy dip and observe the day by offering alms to the poor. "Today, I came here (Matatirtha) and made offerings in name of my mother, offered butter lamps in her memory as well as offered water, remembered all the fun memories that I had with her and paid homage to her," Anita Gautam, another devotee thronging the religious site told ANI. According to the legends, during the rule of cowherds in Nepal, one of the cowherds lost his mother and was so depressed that he went to make offerings at a water storage pond in the forest. Amazingly, he saw his mother's face appear in the water and accept his offerings. From that day on, this day was known as Matatirtha Aunsi, the Nepali Mother's Day. People believe that coming to this place and paying homage to this day brings peace to the departed soul of their mother. (ANI)
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India this May for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Goa, officials said on Thursday. Bhutto-Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the meeting of SCO Foreign Ministers (CFM) scheduled to held on May 4-5 in Goa, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch during a weekly presser on Thursday stated that Bhutto-Zardari is attending the SCO-CFM meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. "Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," the spokesperson said. Bilawal will be the first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years, reported Business Recorder. In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar had visited India. India has formally sent invitations to all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers' meeting. Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are also likely to participate in the meeting. India took over the chairmanship of the 9-member mega grouping in September last year and will be holding key ministerial meetings and the summit this year. Relations between the two countries have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks. The 20-year-old organization has Russia, India, China, Pakistan, and four central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as its members. Iran is the latest country to become a member and under Indian Presidency will for the first time attend the grouping's meeting as a full-fledged member. The last meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in September 2022, was the first in-person summit since June 2019 meeting of the SCO leaders in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Notably, this year's SCO foreign ministers meeting comes in the wake-up of escalating Russia-Ukraine war and India's G20 Presidency. (ANI)
Kenya's President William Ruto is embracing the US, UK and other Western countries, causing onlookers to ask whether the days of close Chinese engagement are coming to an end, reported the africa report. Ruto, who defeated veteran opposition candidate Raila Odinga in a tight election in August, since taking office embraced Kenya's economic and diplomatic relationships with the US and other Western countries, including the UK, causing onlookers to wonder whether the "Look East" policy of his predecessor, which saw Chinese-built infrastructure spring up across the East African country, is coming to an end. Kenya is increasingly becoming a darling of the West when it comes to trade and investment, a momentous diplomatic deviation from the East, particularly China, which was the previous regime's lodestar for nearly a decade, reported the africa report. Since the new administration assumed office last September, Ruto's several visits outside Africa have largely been to Western nations, including the US (twice), the UK, France, Belgium, and Germany. After taking office, Ruto's government released the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) linking Nairobi and Mombasa contract, albeit heavily redacted. And he delivered a shot across the bow to Beijing by allowing importers to choose their preferred means of transporting cargo from the Mombasa port, ending his predecessor's policy of mandating use of the Chinese-built SGR. Many opted to transport goods by lorry, taking business from the railway. Ruto's clear overtures to Washington have been in stark contrast. And if Ruto has met China's ambassador just once, according to public statements, the president and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua have met high level US officials almost 20 times since September, reported African Business. Meanwhile, new UK foreign secretary James Cleverly's first official trip was to Kenya in early December. Britain has pledged hundreds of millions for new investment projects in Kenya. China's predatory lending to the African country has raised concern over Kenya's mounting public debt, reported African Business. Moreover, Traders in Kenya and other rapidly growing economies in Africa have occasionally protested over their Chinese competitors. China is Africa's top trading partner and more than one million Chinese are estimated to reside on the continent, reported Nation. Beijing accounts for two-thirds of Kenya's USD 38 bn external debt. In October 2022 Nairobi defaulted on its repayments, incurring a fine which it paid, reported African Business. Also, Kenyan traders have raised concern over Chinese business infiltration in country undercutting local traders with ultra-low prices and driving them out of business, they called for prohibiting issuing permits to Chinese nationals, reported Citizen Digital. The traders, under the auspices of a group called Indigenous Capital Protection Association, have sued the government protesting the influx of Chinese traders in Kenya. The traders want the Immigration Services department to stop issuing Chinese nationals with employment and business permits, reported Nation. They also want the court to stop China Square Mall from importing and selling merchandise from Chinese manufacturers and distributors, reported Citizen Digital. Chinese-owned China Square mall is among more than 40 trading companies entangled in a lawsuit seeking to halt the operations of foreign entities selling low-priced imported goods on the Kenyan market. They also claimed that the Investment Promotion Authority has been illegally issuing investment certificates to Chinese traders and economic migrants in order for them to engage in economic activities that not only undermine Kenya's sustainable development and prejudice its citizens, but also violate the conditions set out in Section 4 of the Investment Promotion Act. There is no data available to show how many Chinese traders or people are in Kenya, but there has been growing anti-Chinese sentiment in recent years, reported Nation. This has been partly fuelled by alleged racist incidents involving individual Chinese people in Kenya and perceptions of Chinese traders taking businesses and jobs from locals. In 2019, the Kenyan authorities deported seven Chinese nationals who had been operating in two markets in Nairobi, accusing them of not having work permits and saying they could not operate in a sector that had been reserved for locals. In 2020, four Chinese men were deported after being accused of caning a Kenyan man working at a Chinese restaurant, reported Nation. (ANI)
Executives at Fox News gradually accepted a terrible slog of a trial followed by a potential loss in front of a jury in the massive USD 1.6 billion lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for months as the pre-trial proceedings dragged on and unflattering internal comments continued leaking into the public eye, The Washington Post reported. The highest-ranking lawyer at Fox Corp., the business that owns Fox News, Viet Dinh, had offered a glimmer of hope. According to people familiar with internal deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, Viet Dinh had walked company founder and chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who is Fox's chief executive, through the legal issues and reassured them that company could eventually prevail on appeal, even if it required going all the way to the Supreme Court. But, at the conclusion of Friday's hearing in the high-profile defamation action against Fox News, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M Davis instructed the attorneys for both businesses to try to resolve their disagreements. He pleaded with them to try and find some common ground as the trial was scheduled to start on Monday. The parties complied, and their solicitors spent the weekend trying to reach an agreement through negotiation. They ran out of time and sent an emergency email on Sunday morning to longtime mediator Jerry Roscoe, who was floating down the Danube River, as per The Washington Post. The stakes were clear as calculations by both companies slowly came to fruition: Dominion was seeking retribution for Fox's role in disseminating the untrue claim that Dominion machines had been used to steal the White House from former president Donald Trump, a claim that helped spark violence on January 6, 2021, and, more than two years later, this significant defamation battle in court. Nevertheless, there remained one final opportunity for resolution on the eve of the most anticipated libel lawsuit in a generation. Recalling the dramatic email, he received while on vacation, Roscoe said. "Would I be willing to mediate an important case?" There was no indication that the two companies' positions had changed in public. As a result, it came as a surprise on Sunday night when the court's public information officer sent out a strange note announcing that Judge Davis would postpone the trial by one day. At the time, dozens of reporters were settling into their hotels in Wilmington, Delaware, preparing for a weeks-long stay. Only the promise that Davis will reveal more in court the next morning was made; no explanation was offered, read a report published in The Washington Post. The Washington Post was informed by two persons with knowledge of the situation on Sunday night that the postponement was made to give the parties time to try and come to an agreement. One person claimed that the court had insisted on the talks, which diminished hopes of success. Roscoe said that he ordered calls with the solicitors for both sides in order to ascertain their red lines. He brought them together for their first call on Monday morning. After an hour, Davis only briefly called the court to order before announcing that he would proceed with seating a jury in 24 hours and asserting that such delays in complex lawsuits were hardly "unusual." Davis made a few low-key remarks in court, but Dominion only sent one attorney--a sign that other matters may have been more important. Roscoe claimed that initially, hopes were low. The chief trial lawyers for the firms, Justin Nelson for Dominion and Dan Webb for Fox, played minor roles because they were too busy continuing to prepare for the anticipated courtroom confrontation. Throughout the court proceedings, Fox employees and executives had watched in terror as their unfiltered, and frequently violent, internal remarks against one another -- and Trump -- became public. Many of Fox News' senior executives, including CEO Suzanne Scott, joined the company when it first started, and some of them have never held another position before. And ever since Roger Ailes, the late co-founder of Fox News, was fired in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal in 2016, Fox has been without a strong leader, as per The Washington Post. The judge had handed down harsh judgements against the business, including that Fox News had broadcast untruths about Dominion that had injured the company's reputation. Only if it had done so deliberately or with reckless contempt for the facts would a jury be left to make that decision. Fox, however, argued that by refusing to agree to a settlement, it was defending the First Amendment and that Dominion was unfairly holding it responsible for airing charges that at the time were being supported by the president and his attorneys. Murdoch himself was inclined to settle the matter financially, as he has done many times in his career, the people familiar with the Fox deliberations said, in spite of the assurances from Dinh, a trusted Murdoch adviser (and godfather to one of Lachlan's sons), who had taken on an outsized role at Fox Corp. They were still standing still by Monday night, and both parties went to bed anticipating a trial the following day. Yet Roscoe was progressing outside the courtroom. Roscoe said that he realised right away that the financial demand made by Dominion was not the only thing separating them. They were also divided about how Fox would acknowledge the court's ruling that it had propagated lies about the company in a press statement. Even after Fox's allegedly defamatory comments, Fox claimed in court that Dominion's actual income total for 2022 was the second-highest in company history and exceeded its expectations for that year. According to Fox, this refuted Dominion's assertion that Fox's actions had seriously harmed its company. Additionally, Fox gained confidence from an email its lawyers received on Friday from Dominion saying that Dominion was not going to "be presenting its claim for lost profits damages to the jury, given that it is duplicative of the lost enterprise value damages." While Dominion always stuck to its claim of USD 1.6 billion, people familiar with Fox's mind set say the company's attorneys believed they had finally been able to publicly dent Dominion's central claim. Fox executives were also worried that settling with Dominion could cause Smartmatic, another voting technology company suing the network, to demand an equally large payout, reported Washington Post. A person familiar with the discussions said, "If you give a large settlement here after discovery, it sets such a bad precedent." On Monday, no information was made public, despite the fact that members of Dominion's legal team were seen entering and leaving a conference room they had leased at a hotel close to the Wilmington courthouse. Close associates of the case issued a warning that the conversations had not been successful. So, a trial appeared likely at 9 am on Tuesday even to the parties involved. There were so many attorneys for both sides crammed into the courtroom's well and a row of seats behind them that one Dominion attorney was compelled to perch, hanging off the bench. Before 4 o'clock, Davis made his way back to the bench. He said, "The parties have resolved the case." Top executives at Fox's offices had been preparing to tune in to an audio line provided by the court to listen to opening statements and were as shocked as outside observers at the announcement. A person familiar with the company said, "They kept this incredible close-hold until the very, very last minutes." A lawyer for Dominion told reporters outside the court that Fox had agreed to pay USD 787.5 million and declared that the truth had won out. Fox, in a statement, said, "We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues." Employees who had been with the company since the 2020 election, according to a Dominion executive, were emotional and relieved at the results, which included some degree of external validation that the assertions had always been untrue, reported The Washington Post. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar is likely to meet United Nations Antonio Guterres in New York on Thursday and hold discussions on the Sudan military crisis, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday. Addressing a media briefing, the MEA spokesperson said External Affairs Minister Jaishankar is on a visit to Latin America, and en-route he made a stopover in New York. He will meet the UN Secretary-General to discuss the Sudan crisis, Bagchi informed. The main point of the discussion can be the evacuation process of the nationals of other countries stranded in Sudan amid the ongoing military crisis. Bagchi further informed that the EAM has also spoken to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. On Thursday, he has also spoken to his Egyptian counterpart. An unspecified number of Indians are said to be stranded in Sudan amid the military and political crisis. The MEA spokesperson said the MEA is in contact with the Indian embassy. "We are engaged with countries in the region and other countries that have a key role to play particularly, the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Bagchi said. "Our ambassador in Washington DC and High Cmmisson in London are in touch with the respective host governments. We are also working with various UN Bodies that are present since the UN has a significant presence there," he added. The MEA spokesperson said, "This is an issue on which we are keeping a very close watch and the evolving situation there." "Our mission in Khartoum is in contact the Indian community there through formal and informal channels. Our embassy has issued several advisories," he added. A control room has also been opened in New Delhi to address the concerns more efficiently. "We have set up a 24x7 dedicated control room for providing information and assistance," Bagchi informed. "Most of the calls are being received in Khartoum. However, are people who are contacting here (MEA office in New Delhi). More than 100 calls have been received in less than 24 hours," Bagchi informed. On the death of an Indian in Sudan, Bagchi said, "There has been an unfortunate death of one Indian national. His body is currently at a hospital after a lot of effort, we have been able to get that body move from his apartment complex into a mortuary. Our embassy is in touch with the family of the deceased as well as the medical authorities there." He said the situation on the ground continues to remain tense, rendering any movement very risky. "Currently, our focus is ensuring the safety and well-being of the individuals wherever they are located," he added. On the number of Indians stranded in Sudan, Bagchi said, "We understand the difficulty the people are facing. The situation on the ground is changing and fluid. There are incidents happening at various locations. There are mechanisms they (stranded Indians) have signed up forms where they have given all the details which give us some sense of how many people are there." He said due to patchy power and internet connectivity, the foreign office was not sure yet how many Indians are exactly stranded. He added, "We don't want to get into the details and numbers and locations due to security reasons. We want to assure that we are in touch with them. We are calling them through social media posts where they mention any group that has not been contacted." "We are trying to reach out in their local languages and reassure them that it is best for them to stay where they are because the movement in the street is unsafe," he said. Bagchi said the citizens of all countries are facing the same difficulty as airports are non-operational and intense fighting is going around in various parts of the country. He said several countries were looking for options to get their people and diplomatic personnel out. He said that a ceasefire would be an advantage in the evacuation process. "If the situation on the ground improves and there is a pause in the fighting and a formal ceasefire, we will certainly take advantage of that. Primarily to get people together in a safe spot, and provide food, and water, but for the moment there is not much respite from the fighting," he added. The place where the Indian embassy is located is opposite the airport, he informed, adding that the particular zone has seen a lot of fighting and shelling. "We can't confirm an attack on the embassy but there are reports that in that zone, attacks are going on," Bagchi added. He said since the area is risky, there is nobody on the embassy premises though they are functional from their respective places. He informed further that the evacuation plans depend on the situation on the ground. "Our embassy is really pushing in terms of trying to track down every Indian. We are trying to build a database of information and are also trying to counsel them," Bagchi informed. The conflict between Sudan's military leader and his deputy on the ruling council erupted six days ago, derailing a plan for a transition to a civilian democracy that had received international support, four years after the overthrow of the previous government by widespread protests and two years after a military coup. There have been violent clashes in Sudan for nearly six days between the country's army and a paramilitary group over a proposed timeline for handing over power to a civilian government. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past five days, according to the UN health agency. Thousands of people have fled Khartoum for safety, reported Al Jazeera. As many as 70 per cent of the hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states have been rendered "out of service" due to the fighting, according to the Sudanese Doctor's Union. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in New York on his way to countries in Latin America on an official visit and is slated to meet UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres on the Sudan crisis. Responding to queries during the weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Jaishankar has spoken to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the situation in Sudan. Jaishankar also spoke with his Egyptian counterpart. "As you all know, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and UAE. He has today spoken with his Egyptian counterpart. Our ambassador in Washington DC and our High Commission in London are in touch with respective host countries. We are also working with various UN bodies that are present there (Sudan) as you all know UN has a significant presence on the ground," Bagchi said. "External Affairs Minister is currently in New York and he's likely to meet UN Secretary-General later today and discuss the developments in Sudan," he added. Answering another query regarding Jaishankar's meeting with Guterres, Bagchi said the minister has stopped in New York enroute his visit to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Dominican Republic. "We announced External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is on a visit to Latin America enroute he has stopped in New York and he is holding discussions and today he will be meeting UN Secretary-General Thursday New York time and we will let you know updates on what happens after that," Bagchi said. He said the situation on the ground in Sudan continues to be "tense." "Just to give you a sense...situation on the ground continues to be quite tense. It remains very tense, which renders any movement very risky. So currently our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of the individuals wherever they are located. We are in touch with the people." Earlier on Thursday, Jaishankar discussed the "concerning situation in Sudan" with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. "Discussed the concerning situation in Sudan just now with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Deeply value his assessments and insights, as also his very helpful attitude. Agreed to remain in close touch," Jaishankar said in a tweet. The fighting continued for a sixth day in Khartoum as the second attempt at a ceasefire broke down, Al Jazeera reported. The 24-hour ceasefire was supposed to begin at 6 pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday. It is the second day running that a proposed ceasefire has failed to hold. The rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army both released statements accusing the other of breaking the ceasefire. As per the Al Jazeera report, the army's top leadership said that actions to secure the capital and other areas will continue. The Indian Embassy in Sudan on Tuesday issued a precautionary advisory for Indian citizens against venturing out, suggesting to ration their supplies as the "situation may continue for a few more days." "We have come across many instances of looting. All Indian nationals are advised please not to venture out. Please ration your supplies. The situation may continue for a few more days. Please try to take help from your neighbours. Please stay at home and remain safe," the Embassy of India in Khartoum had said in a tweet. (ANI)
Kevin Barr, who has worked for the past eight years as Village Manager in Clarendon Hills, will retire, effective June 30.

I have worked nearly 36 years in my profession and am turning 60 this summer. I felt that it is time, Barr said. In addition, I wanted to complete the term of Village President (Len) Austin and provide some time to support the transition after the May 15 swearing in of a new Village Board.

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Austin, who opted to not seek a third four-year term in the April 4 election, said Barr was an excellent Village Manager many reasons.

I think the most valuable asset is he has a good sense of humor, Austin said. As in many facets of the private sector, consumers, especially through and post COVID, have become brutal in their attack of trying to get what they want.

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Kevin also has earned the respect of his management staff, and I feel the village staff as a whole, by being consistent and fair. In addition, Kevin has done a great job of welcoming board members and understanding their individual viewpoints and concerns.]

Assistant Village Manager Zach Creer, who has worked with Barr during his entire eight years in Clarendon Hills, except for a two-year period during which Creer left to pursue other opportunities, said he will miss working with Barr.

I have learned a ton from him, Creer said. Kevin is exceptional at listening to stakeholders, whether they are employees, residents or business owners, and always is willing to consider if there are better ways to do things, based on their feedback.

He is flexible to accommodate a complicated and changing world, while adhering to the need to make sure that the government operates fairly for everyone.

Creer said Barr always has encouraged an atmosphere in which employees have not been not afraid to try new things, knowing that not every idea will be an instant success.

His focus has always been on what he thinks is best for the village, while understanding that ultimately it is the residents town, Creer said. I think you can see the positive results of his work throughout our organization and the community as a whole.

When he leaves the summer, Barr said he will most miss the many people in the community who care and do their best to make improvements in Clarendon Hills.

Ive most enjoyed working with a great Village Board and staff, he said. The community supports professional management of operations. This has allowed us to make real progress and to make sure that Clarendon Hills remains in a great financial position.

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Barr mentioned being a part of seeing significant projects, such downtown improvements and business development in the downtown area, along with keeping the village able to keep taxes below the amount allowed under tax cap legislation, as highlights of his tenure.

Barr came to Clarendon Hills after working as Village Manager in Schiller Park for 15 years. Prior to that, he served for seven years as the Assistant Village Manager in Bensenville and worked for six years in Northbrook.

He also has served on the executive boards of the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency and the West Cook County Solid Waste Agency.

After his retirement, Barr said he plans to spend more quality time with family and friends.

Some time after being seated May 15, the new Village Board will make a decision on naming a replacement for Barr.

While Barr works his final couple of months in Clarendon Hills, village officials are seeking a replacement for Community Development Director Jonathan Mendel, who left April 7 for the same position in Northbrook.

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We are currently interviewing candidates, are very happy with the quality of those candidates and will hopefully have someone soon, Creer said.

Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) faces no obstacle in inviting Ukraine to join the military alliance, Al Jazeera reported. He said that it was time for NATO to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance. Zelenskyy's remarks came during NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's first visit to Kyiv since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started in February last year. He called on the military alliance to take a decision as the majority of people in NATO nations and most of the people in Ukraine support Kyiv's NATO accession. "I am grateful for the invitation to visit the summit, but it is also important for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation," Zelenskyy said as per the Al Jazeera report. "There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions," he added. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ukraine on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. During his visit, Stoltenberg underscored NATO's "enduring support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself in the ongoing conflict with Russia. "NATO stands with you today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes," Stoltenberg said, according to the official statement released by NATO. While addressing a press briefing with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Stoltenberg said that NATO allies have delivered more than 150 billion euros of support to Ukraine since the conflict started in February 2022. In his remarks, he said that Ukraine's "rightful place" is in NATO. According to NATO's statement, Stoltenberg said, "Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help to make this possible." He said that a multi-year support initiative will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the military alliance. He further said, "We do not know when this war will end, but we know that Russian aggression is a toxic pattern that must be stopped. So we must continue strengthening Ukraine's armed forces. And we must ensure that robust, powerful arrangements are in place for Ukraine's security." (ANI)
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, Milinda Moragoda, attended the G20 Space Economy Leaders' meeting in Shillong, Meghalaya. According to the official release of the High Commission of Sri Lanka, the envoy was invited by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) to participate in the meeting. Other non-G20 countries represented at the meeting included Bhutan and Oman. In line with the efforts to place the 'space economy' as a formal item on the G20 agenda, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) organized an 'inception meeting' of Space Economy Leaders in Shillong, Meghalaya under India's G20 Presidency of India from April 17-18, the official release said. High Commissioner Moragoda, in his intervention at the meeting, stated that Sri Lanka's participation at this forum was a direct result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to include "Voices from the Global South" in G20 activities. Moragoda stated that the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the value of the space economy to the global economy and to promote communication and information sharing about the current situation of the space industry in the G20 nations, according to the official release. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the national space agency of India. In this context, High Commissioner Moragoda stated that Sri Lanka stood ready to collaborate with the G20 under India's Presidency to explore ways and means in which non-G20 countries can benefit from the space economy, the size of which is expected to reach USD 1 trillion by 2040. Sri Lanka through the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies has been collaborating for some time with ISRO and other international agencies in an effort to take advantage of this fast-growing sector. The use of satellite technology to promote Sri Lankan agriculture, education, climate change, fisheries, health, and telecommunications are only a few examples of practical applications. Clarke, after whom the Clarke Belt or Orbit is called, was an honorary citizen of Sri Lanka. (ANI)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday criticised the Supreme Court's order to render a bill curbing the powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) as ineffective after it becomes law, Dawn reported. He stressed that such an example did not exist in the entire world. Speaking at the launch ceremony of the Constitution's mobile app in Islamabad, Shehbaz Sharif said, "There is no example in the world where the parliament's law which had not even come into existence right now and not taken its applicable shape was issued a stay order upon", Dawn reported. The Pakistan PM said, "The Constitution has taken birth from the cradle of the parliament. The judiciary can interpret the Constitution that is their right but the judiciary cannot rewrite the Constitution." He further said, "This (rewriting Constitution) is only the parliament's authority." Shehbaz Sharif stressed that Pakistan's parliament will make use of its constitutional and legal rights regarding the matter," as per the news report. He said, "It is expected from the judiciary, the Supreme Court bench and the bar that they will become the Constitution's protector." On March 28, the federal cabinet approved the bill and the National Assembly approved it a day later after making a few amendments that were suggested by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, as per Dawn. On March 30, Pakistan Senate passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, which aims to curtail the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity. However, Pakistan President Arif Alvi on April 8 returned the bill. Later, two separate petitions challenging the bill in the apex court and the Islamabad High Court were moved, as per the news report. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif had called the Alvi's decision "most unfortunate." He had said the Pakistan President, through his decision, "belittled the august office by acting as a worker of the PTI." According to the legislation, a three-member bench, including the CJP and the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court will take a decision on whether or not to take up a matter suo motu, as per the Dawn report. As per the law, each cause, matter or appeal before the Supreme Court will be heard and deposed by the bench. The legislation also involves the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in a suo motu case. (ANI)
Amid the mounting economic woes, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated in Pakistan on Saturday as the Shawwal moon had not been sighted in the country on Thursday, Geo News reported. Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad made the announcement in a press conference on Thursday. Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad said, "We have not received any testimony of the sighting of the Shawwal moon across the country", adding, "Eid-ul-Fitr will be held across the country on Saturday, April 22. The sky was clear in most parts of the country, while it was cloudy in some places", Geo News reported. Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad addressed the press conference after the committee held the meeting at the religious affairs ministry chaired by Maulana Khabir. Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee members, Pakistan's Department of Meteorology representatives, Suparco, and other organisations attended the meeting, Geo News reported. The committee took the decision after receiving input regarding the sighting of the moon from all parts of Pakistan. Earlier, zonal committees from Karachi, Sukkur, Quetta and Pakistan had said they had received no testimonies of the sighting of the moon, as per the news report. Pakistan's federal government announced that the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays will be from Friday to Tuesday. Eid-ul-Fitr is one of the important Islamic festivals celebrated at the end of Ramzan. During Ramzan, people exercise restraint in their eating habits and have a pre-fast meal at dawn called 'sehri' and a post-fast meal after sunset called 'iftar'. (ANI)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday appealed for a ceasefire in Sudan for at least three days to mark the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. He said the ceasefire will allow people trapped in conflict zones to escape and seek medical treatment. Speaking to reporters, Guterres said, "As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies." "This must be the first step in providing respite from the fighting and paving the way for a permanent ceasefire," he added, according to the statement of the press briefing released by the United Nations. Speaking to the media regarding Sudan, Antonio Guterres said that they have just finished a meeting convened by the African Union to discuss the situation in Sudan. He said that there should be serious dialogue after the cessation of hostilities allowing a successful transition. He called for an immediate halt to the fighting. "The cessation of hostilities must be followed by serious dialogue allowing for the successful transition, starting with the appointment of a civilian government. The fighting must stop immediately," Antonio Guterres told reporters. "I am deeply concerned about the terrible toll on civilians, the appalling humanitarian situation, and the horrifying prospect of further escalation. Hundreds of people have been killed and injured," he added. Guterres said that warehouses, vehicles and other humanitarian assets have been attacked, looted and seized. He further said, "Targeting humanitarian workers and assets must end." He stated that he is "extremely worried" about the situation of UN personnel, many of whom are trapped in the conflict-hit areas. World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the loss of lives in Sudan on Thursday as clashes continue to deepen between the army and the paramilitaries in the country. The WHO Chief posted his statement on Sudan's situation on his Twitter handle and condemned the loss of lives, attacks on civilians and health care. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the situation in Sudan is "increasingly concerning and heartbreaking." He said that more than 330 people have died so far and around 3200 people are injured. "The lack of safe access, to electricity, food, water, personnel and the diminishing medical supplies are making it nearly impossible for many health facilities to function at the exact time when there are thousands injured in need of urgent care," the WHO Chief said. "I continue to urge all sides to respect the truce so that: -those trapped by the fighting can seek refuge -civilians can access food, water, and medicine -patients can seek the health care that they need. Peace is the only solution," he added. The fighting in Khartoum continued for a sixth day as the second attempt at a ceasefire broke down. The 24-hour ceasefire was supposed to begin at 6 pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. However, eyewitnesses said that fighting continued on Wednesday. Warring generals in Sudan have rejected negotiations with each other. (ANI)
Charges against American actor Alec Baldwin have been dropped in the fatal on-set "Rust" shooting, according to sources familiar with the matter, US-based ABC News reported. The actor, Baldwin, 65, had been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after fatally shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the New Mexico set of the Western in October 2021. The actor was practising a cross-draw when the gun fired, striking the cinematographer and director Joel Souza who suffered a non-life-threatening injury, ABC News reported. Baldwin's attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro in a statement said: "We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident." The Santa Fe district attorney's office declined to comment. The American actor's next court appearance in the case had been set for May 3. Baldwin already waived his right to appear at the preliminary hearing. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges in a court filing. The film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins' death, according to ABC News. Gun enhancement charges filed in the case against both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were dropped in late February. Gutierrez-Reed has been scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on May 3. Her attorney has said she intends to plead not guilty and has said she has no idea how live rounds ended up in the gun. The first assistant director for the film, David Halls, was sentenced last month to six months of unsupervised probation as part of a plea deal. Halls, who handed the Colt .45 revolver to Baldwin prior to the shooting, was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon. His hearing came days after Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced she was stepping away from prosecuting the case. The move followed state Rep. Andrea Reeb also stepping down as special prosecutor in the case, according to ABC News. The district attorney in their place appointed Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis to serve as special prosecutors. "Rust," which had been on hiatus since the deadly on-set shooting, resumed principal photography at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana on Thursday, a spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions said. The production returned with the original producers and principal cast, including Baldwin. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and discussed the current developments in Sudan, India's G20 Presidency and Ukraine conflict. "We had a very good meeting. Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also discussed the G20, and Ukraine conflict, but essentially it was about Sudan," the EAM told ANI. "In Sudan, the UN is trying to establish a ceasefire and that is really key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it's not safe for people really to come out," Jaishankar said. The EAM further said that "So, the UN is doing its bit, talking to everybody. We have obviously very strong interest in the matter because many Indians are there." The EAM said, "The focus is on how you get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result and the desired result is workable, on the ground observed ceasefire and then to take the next step on how you create corridors for movement, what are the options for movement, what are the assembly points." The EAM said: "Our team in Delhi is in continuous touch with the Indians in Sudan, advising them. I hope that the efforts will yield something very soon." Earlier, he also tweeted, "Good to meet UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres in New York today afternoon. Discussed the current developments in Sudan, G20 Presidency and Ukraine." External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in New York on his way to countries in Latin America on an official visit. Responding to queries during the weekly media briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Jaishankar has spoken to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on the situation in Sudan. Jaishankar also spoke with his Egyptian counterpart. "As you all know, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and UAE. He has today spoken with his Egyptian counterpart. Our ambassador in Washington DC and our High Commission in London are in touch with respective host countries. We are also working with various UN bodies that are present there (Sudan) as you all know UN has a significant presence on the ground," Bagchi said. Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday appealed for a ceasefire in Sudan for at least three days to mark the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. He said the ceasefire will allow people trapped in conflict zones to escape and seek medical treatment. Speaking to reporters, Guterres said, "As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies." (ANI)
Washington  An American citizen has died in Sudan amid intense fighting between two rival generals, the State Department said Thursday, as the U.S. repositions troops in the region ahead of a potential evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.

"We can confirm the death of one U.S. citizen in Sudan," a State Department spokesperson said. "We are in touch with the family and offer our deepest condolences to them on their loss."

The State Department declined to offer further details on the death, citing respect for the person's family.

Despite a ceasefire meant to bring an end to the bloodshed, hundreds of people have been killed in Sudan as fighting continues between forces controlled by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the Sudanese Armed Forces, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is in charge of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. A marked U.S. diplomatic convoy came under fire earlier this week, although no one was injured.

The Pentagon is "moving forward to pre-position some military forces and capabilities nearby just for contingency purposes in case they would be needed for any kind of evacuation," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed Thursday during the White House press briefing.

A view of the area as a fire broke out after a house was hit during clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 20, 2023. / Credit: Omer Erdem/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Kirby said President Biden had authorized the move in recent days, but stressed that no decision has been made about whether to evacuate U.S. personnel.

"We want to make sure we've got the capability ready in case it's needed," Kirby said. A U.S. official said the Pentagon has moved special operations forces into Djibouti, a small country on the Horn of Africa.

In a statement earlier in the day, the Defense Department said U.S. Africa Command is monitoring the situation and "conducting prudent planning for various contingencies."

"As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it," the statement said.

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Americans in the country have been urged to shelter in place. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday it is "currently not safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens."

Patel also said that all U.S. personnel are accounted for, and he is not currently aware of specific threats against embassy personnel or U.S. citizens in the country.

Senior U.S. officials are in direct contact with the leadership of both sides and are pushing for an immediate ceasefire, a National Security spokesperson said.

Eleanor Watson, David Martin, Haley Ott, Olivia Gazis and Willie Inman contributed to this report.

Chinese-funded illegal weed production expands in U.S.

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Alligators have been spotted in a northern Alabama creek, catching a few rays and swimming from shore to shore.

Some of them are massive.

David Champlin caught a glimpse of one of the reptilian giants and shared photos on a North Alabama wildlife sighting Facebook page on April 16.

Ive got lots of pictures of alligators, but theyre always in the water, Champlin told AL.com. Weve seen them on the land, but Ive never gotten that kind of picture before.

He told AL.com the gator could have been anywhere from 10 to 12 feet long.

The largest alligator ever caught in Alabama was 15 feet long, weighing more than 1,000 pounds, according to the Associated Press.

Just a few days later, a user named Matthew King shared more photos of the enormous alligators on the Facebook page. The images showed two gators in the same creek as Champlins sighting.

The comments on both of the posts were roughly the same  this is nothing new.

People that grew up here like myself have told people for year(s) that they were there, one commenter said. Been there as long as Ive been there and can remember.

Im 39 years old, been fishing those areas down there my whole life, they have been there the whole time, they wont mess with you if you dont mess with them, another said.

Not a new phenomenon

Limestone Creek is a subsidiary of the Tennessee River, running just south of Huntsville, Alabama, in the northern part of the state.

Alligators in North Alabama are not a new phenomenon, the city of Huntsville said.

In fact, they were introduced to the area on purpose.

Alligators were considered endangered in the middle of the 20th century, leaving many wildlife experts worried about the future of the species.

In 1979, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moved 56 American alligators from Louisiana and placed them in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in hopes their population would grow in the area, AL.com reported.

The City of Huntsville said there has been an increase in sightings over the years as the population of alligators flourished.

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But those 56 alligators that were released in 1979 are probably why we see alligators here along the Tennessee River today, manager of the Wheeler refuge, Dwight Cooley, told AL.com. We have found nests on the refuge and weve heard reports of them elsewhere along the Tennessee River.

The refuge is just a short drive from where Champlin and King spotted the huge alligators in Limestone Creek.

I wouldnt suggest a lot of people getting into the water, Champlin told AL.com.

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Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood (second from right) talks about the seizure of the refrigerated Freightliner behind him by the two deputies flanking him. Standing with them (from left) are Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell and Major Kary Beebe, commander of the Rapides Area Drug Enforcement unit. The deputies did not want to be identified.

Hidden among 66,000 mangos in a refrigerated Freightliner seized Tuesday afternoon in the Libuse area was more than 108 pounds of cocaine, according to the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office.

Seizing the truck and cocaine was standard procedure for the department's Rapides Area Drug Enforcement unit. But what do you do with 45,000 pounds of mangos?

The odd detail was revealed Thursday morning during a news conference when Sheriff Mark Wood announced the seizure.

Around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, two deputies assigned to RADE's highway interdiction team spotted the driver of the white 18-wheeler allegedly make an improper lane usage violation on La. Highway 28 East. The driver, 56-year-old Jose Calderon of Edinburg, Texas, was pulled over near Paper Mill Cutoff Road, reads a release.

The deputies suspected something wasn't right, so they brought out Izzy, one of the department's K-9s, to sniff around the vehicle "and observed a positive alert to possible narcotics."

Calderon was arrested and booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center #1 on a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and two misdemeanor traffic violations. He remains in custody with bail set at $500,200.

Wood stood in front of the Freightliner truck Thursday morning with the two deputies who made the stop, deputies who last year were honored last year as K-9 officers of the year by the Louisiana Narcotics Officers Association. He said he wanted to brag about their work.

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Neither deputy wanted to be identified.

Wood called it "a very large lick taken off the street, wherever it's taken off the street."

The truck came from Mexico and was heading to New York, said Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell. He said his office would move ahead with motions to seize the truck and any other assets from the case, like bank accounts.

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Edinburg, the town Calderon listed as his home, is less than 500 miles from U.S.-Mexican border.

It's the second large drug seizure in Rapides Parish within a year. Wood recalled the 10 pounds of fentanyl found in October 2022 at an Alexandria home. He called drugs a "poison in our city" and said violence follows the trafficking.

Terrell said the wrapped blocks of cocaine were concealed with the mangos, a common practice. But he said the disposal of the fruit then became the sheriff office's responsibility, and they couldn't just give it away.

He said his office, RADE commander Major Kary Beebe and federal agencies researched who owned the mangos and got them loaded on another truck. Wood said the fruit left Alexandria Wednesday.

"Those mangos should be in New York by now," said Beebe.

The fruit shipment seemed to be legitimate, said Wood and Terrell.

"A lot of work was involved in this," said Terrell.

The value of the cocaine, sold to users, could have been as high as $3 million, according to officials.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Louisiana traffic stop yields 108 pounds of cocaine and 66,000 mangos
Farm buildings and homes near the runway at Bult Field in Monee, a possible site for the South Suburban Airport. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Southland lawmakers, businesses and municipal leaders are making a major push to convince state officials to move ahead with the proposed South Suburban Airport, but political baggage seems to be bogging down progress.

Economic conditions have evolved to where demand is obvious for a new cargo airport to serve the Chicago areas booming warehouse and logistics industry. Multiple recent studies commissioned by the state conclude a cargo airport would be the best use of nearly 5,000 acres the state has spent about $100 million to acquire since 2002.

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The concept of the proposed South Suburban Airport as an air cargo airport is feasible and it will benefit the Chicago region and the State of Illinois both in movement of air cargo and increased operating efficiencies of the states system of airports, a 2021 study concluded.

State officials recently provided hundreds of pages of studies about airport feasibility to the Chicago Tribune in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Independent consultants agreed with all the points that airport supporters have made for years.

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Chicago is large enough to accommodate a second air cargo hub to augment Rockford, hence another argument for the need for the SSA, according to a study by R.A. Wiedemann & Associates.

The new airport would create thousands of permanent jobs and spur billions of dollars in new investment and business growth. New York, Los Angeles and other major cities have three airports, why doesnt Chicago?

OHare and Midway lack airspace capacity to expand. Billions of dollars worth of OHare improvements are for modernization, not expansion. By fate of geography, Chicago is the only place in America where all the major railroads intersect. Northeastern Illinois is the nations freight hub.

Bult Field in Monee, a possible site for the South Suburban Airport. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Businesses are clamoring to ship medicine, produce, high-tech machine parts and other freight by air into the Chicago area. The pie is growing, and if the state doesnt build the South Suburban Airport Illinois will likely lose business the Gary/Chicago International Airport in Indiana.

Rather than compete with existing air cargo airports in the region, SSA will supplement and fill existing gaps in the movement of airfreight in both the region and the state, concluded a 2022 study by WSP, a global research firm.

Studies found not only was the airport needed to serve growing market demand, but the proposed site of the South Suburban Airport was an ideal location. Though it is often referred to as Peotone, the airport is actually proposed for the site of Bult Field, 28261 S. Kedzie Ave., Monee.

It is a green field site, offering unlimited room for growth without any cost for environmental cleanups of a brown field redevelopment site. It is near major railroads and interstate highways. It could serve warehouses and fulfillment centers operated by Amazon and others engaged in e-commerce.

Historically, previous Chicago mayors considered a third airport a threat to patronage jobs at OHare. Despite Chicagos opposition, former Govs. George Ryan an Pat Quinn supported the airport and helped the state acquire land.

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Progress ground to a halt when Bruce Rauner became governor in 2015 and seems to have remained in a holding pattern since J.B. Pritzker became governor in 2019. Lately, political leaders such as state Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, and groups like the South Suburban Mayors and Mayors Association have tried to move the project forward.

A sense of urgency seems to taken hold, that its now or never. Davis sponsored legislation, House Bill 2531, that would require the state to seek proposals from investors to develop the airport. The House approved the measure 72-40 March 21.

State Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey, is chief sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. The measure was assigned to the Executive Committee April 12 and awaits a hearing date. I asked representatives of Pritzker if the governor would sign the bill if the Senate approved it.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his annual budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly Feb. 15, 2023. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

The Governor looks forward to reviewing the legislation when it gets to his desk, his press office said. The Governor remains a strong supporter of economic development in the south suburbs, thats why the administration is moving forward on capital improvements.

I asked about the status of plans to build a new Interstate 57 interchange and other infrastructure improvements to serve the airport. The Illinois General Assembly approved $162 million in funding for the work in 2019. Last year, the Illinois Department of Transportation selected WSP to engineer and design the improvements.

After IDOT negotiated with the consultant last year, a policy change at the federal level caused the department to renegotiate with our consultant, Pritzkers press office said. We anticipate the final scope and agreement in mid to late June.

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Despite business experience that has made him a billionaire, Pritzkers reluctance to grasp the explosive economic potential of the South Suburban Airport is puzzling. A reporter recently asked Pritzker about the project, and his press office provided his response.

What you dont want is if you build it they will come right, just building the thing and hoping that people will show up to essentially pay for the airport having been built, Pritzker said. You need to make sure that youre building it because you have interest from cargo carriers who are committing to make that a cargo airport.

To be clear, airlines and cargo carriers dont build airports. Theyre customers of airports and generally oppose new airports that would allow competitors opportunities to cut into their market share.

Among the studies the state provided to the Tribune was an August 2022 report by CDM Smith that examined Non-Airport Development Options. The report considered financial and economic impacts of potential development scenarios, as well as legal considerations.

Legal considerations might include whether the state could legally use land it acquired to build an airport for any other purpose. Still, researchers discussed such alternates uses for the land as warehouses, an office park, residential development or farmland. The studys final page indicated authors would convene with state officials again in fall 2022, though no conclusion was provided.

The state has about 90% of the land needed for the airport but still needs about 10%, Pritzker noted. That is generally not considered a major hurdle. The state could acquire the land it needs through condemnation if owners refused to sell.

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Also, an environmental study completed years ago would need to be updated. Bear in mind, the Federal Aviation Administration directed Chicago in 1985 to plan for another airport to serve the region. The FAA is not the reason why progress on the airport has slowed to a crawl.

Political baggage seems to best explain Pritzkers reluctance. Perhaps decades of opposition from Chicago mayors and Will County farmers have tarnished the project. Will County political leaders formally oppose the project, but their opposition is seen as reflecting the concerns of residents who oppose the airport.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Quinn and Ryan did the right thing by moving the project forward despite political risks. Maybe insiders who have Pritzkers ear regarding the airport want to protect interests at OHare and Rockford.

We have a terrific airport in Rockford, I dont believe these things are competitive with one another, there are committed cargo carriers at Rockford which is the fastest growing cargo carrier in the world and it means that cargo can be managed in another area thats outside of that zone in the south suburbs, but they have to make the commitments and the people that are putting the airport project together need to obtain those commitments, Pritzker said, according to his press office.

It sounds like if Amazon and other potential users were to step up and say they would use the South Suburban Airport that might provide the assurance needed to convince Pritzker to move forward.

But Amazon and others shouldnt have to state the obvious. All one needs to do is look at where Amazon has occupied giant facilities in recent years, including Markham, Matteson, Monee, University Park and Joliet.

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There is no doubt the South Suburban Airport would create jobs, investment and economic benefits for people in the south and southwest suburbs. The right thing, and the smart thing, is for the state to partner with a private developer to build the airport.

Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.

tslowik@tribpub.com
Cinco de Mayo is more than just an excuse to imbibe a margarita.

Rather, its a celebration of Mexican American culture, Robyne Robinson, principal consultant at five X five art consultants with an extensive background in the culture of the American Southwest, tells TODAY.com. Food, drink and remembering Mexican heritage are the highlights of the U.S. festivities."

Contrary to the commonly held opinion, Cinco de Mayo isnt Mexican Independence Day. "Mexican Independence Day falls on September 16 and was established in 1810 50 years before the battle from Puebla, Dudley Nieto, culinary director Fat Rosies of Scott Harris Hospitality, who is originally from Mexico and is now based in Chicago, tells TODAY.com.

Below, learn even more Cinco de Mayo facts ahead of May 5.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the anniversary of Mexicos defeat of the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862

History buffs, perk up your ears: Because the Mexican treasury was in dire a state due to the war during the reform, President Juarez suspended payment of all foreign debt for two years. This move provoked a backlash from Spain, France and Great Britain, with their forces arriving in Veracruz in 1861 to collect monies, Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph.D., professor emerita at University of Texas at San Antonio, tells TODAY.com. Though only France continued onto Mexico City, the Mexican army overcame the French."

In short, Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican armys victory over French at the Battle of Puebla on] May 5, 1862.

In Mexico, its mainly recognized in the state of Puebla

The victory of Puebla, under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza, became a symbol of Mexican resistance to foreign domination, Nieto says, adding that we proudly call ourselves Mexicans due to this.

So, what does this look like today? "We celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a military and schools parade in the city of Puebla.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated throughout America  and beyond

More than 150 Cinco de Mayo celebrations are held across the U.S., Robinson says. But its celebrated as far away as Osaka, Tokyo and Lagos, Nigeria.

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We, in the USA, use this date to celebrate and extend our knowledge of our Mexican roots, history, heritage, and culture, Riojas Clark says. Many cities in the U.S. from Los Angeles to San Antonio and Houston to New York City hold special events such as parades, art exhibits, seminars, and festivals with music, dances, and food stands in commemoration of the holiday.

Americans actually helped orchestrate Cinco de Mayo celebrations

Did you know the U.S. had a pivotal role in bringing Cinco de Mayo festivities to life? At the end of the U.S. Civil War, the Union started sending money and guns to the Mexicans, which eventually forced the French out, Robinson says. Mexican President Porfirio Diaz turned the celebration of the Battle of Puebla into the Cinco de Mayo festival, which was first celebrated in California in 1863."

Cinco de Mayo didnt take off until the 1940s

According to Robinson, Cinco de Mayo became popular around the time of the rise of the Chicano Movement.

As a Chicana activist in the 60s, Riojas Clark recalls their intent to raise the cultural awareness of Mexican Americans since this history was neither taught nor recognized in our curriculum. For us, it is a day to celebrate because, as mestizos, the victory of Mexicans over a European country marked a distinct event in history, she says. But the French ended up winning that war, and Maximilian von Habsburg and Carlota came as French royalty to rule Mexico. Even so, for us, it is another crucial recognition of overcoming colonialism in the Americas. Now, the holiday has gone mainstream, with a global reach.

Food is a key part of the festivities

Now everyone likes to go to street festivals with all kinds of foods largely of Mexican origin, Riojas Clark says. Street corn, tacos from brisket, fajitas, tripas [chitterlings] and sausage in a flour tortilla are favorites.

Theres no traditional garb for Cinco de Mayo

As a cultural expert in Mexican textiles, rebozos, and huipiles, which constitute Riojas Clarks standard dress, she says that the typical dress for women includes colorful dresses and blouses from Oaxaca, which are paired with jeans and are now sold throughout the U.S.

Men might wear the comfortable guayaberas [a lightweight mens shirt with pockets] from the Yucatan that go from informal to formal use, she continues, pointing out that there, of course, is not a standard dress for Cinco de Mayo.

Still, theres a chance to see gorgeous Mexican clothing on the holiday

But if you want to see traditional clothing, there are battle of Puebla reenactments and dance performances in select cities. The costumes in the Ballet Folklorico [a type of Mexican folk dance] are bright and beautiful, with men in traditional mariachi dress and women in swirling, colorful full-length ranchero skirts with Indigenous influenced ribbons, Riojas Clark says.

Pouring rain didn't dampen the spirits of hundreds of revelers celebrating Cinco de Mayo Sunday on Central Park West. (David Handschuh / Getty Images)

There are some pretty out-there events in celebration of Cinco de Mayo

It's not all about tacos and margaritas.

A skydiving club in Vancouver, B.C. hosts a Cinco de Mayo skydiving event, Robinson says. Theres also an annual Cinco de Mayo air guitar festival in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Pretty neat, huh?

All are welcome to celebrate

Even if youre not of Mexican heritage, Cinco de Mayo can be an opportunity to educate and inform yourself about another culture. [Hang] some papel picado [Mexican decorative craft paper], cue up the mariachi music, and fire up the grill, Marquez says. When it comes to celebrating, we always believe the more the merrier, regardless of your own heritage.

Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day are not the same thing

Given that its a popular misconception, allow us to leave you with this. Since many in the USA, never have been taught the history of Mexico, they confuse the Dia de la Independencia or el 16 de septiembre which occurred in 1810 with the Cinco de Mayo [1862]. The Mexican Independence was a declaration of war against the Spanish colonial government in 1810, Riojas Clark says. A most important distinction.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A 15-year-old was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 16-year-old in Winton Hills early Tuesday.

According to a news release from Cincinnati police, officers found Brandon Burton with gunshot wounds after a reported shooting in the 600 block of Strand Lane at 1:50 a.m.

The boy was transported to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died.

Police arrested a 15-year-old boy on Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting. The Enquirer is not naming the teen, because he is being charged in juvenile court.

Burton was the fourth teen between 13 and 17 to be killed in Cincinnati this year.

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LOS ANGELES (AP)  Two men who served nearly 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of attempted murder after a 2004 shooting were declared innocent Thursday by a California judge. Under a new law, the state is required to pay them each $140 for every day they spent behind bars, or about $900,000.

The verdicts for Dupree Glass and Juan Rayford concluded a new trial that began in October after a state appeals court panel vacated their convictions and they were freed in 2020. The proceedings included a dramatic confession by the actual shooter, Chad Brandon McZeal, a gang member whos serving a life sentence for murder in an unrelated case, the defense team said.

After the judge ruled, Glass and Rayford embraced each other and their attorneys. Outside the courthouse, the men were cheered by family members and supporters. Rayford, clutching his baby daughter, called it an amazing feeling to have their records finally wiped clean and their reputations restored.

I thought about this day for so long. I thought about it when I was locked up for 17 years. I thought about it for my last two years being free. I waited for this day because, you know, I knew I was innocent of every crime they said I committed, he said.

Defense attorneys said the case was the first brought under a law that guarantees compensation for defendants who have their cases thrown out and also allows them to present evidence proving their innocence.

Glass and Rayford were 17 and 18, respectively, when they were arrested after a shooting during an altercation involving a group of teens in Lancaster, north of Los Angeles. Two people were struck by gunfire, but the injuries were not serious, according to court filings.

Both defendants were convicted of 11 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences.

That trial never should have been brought in the first place," defense attorney Annee Della Donna told The Associated Press. There was no evidence tying them to the shooting. Zero.

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The new statute, which took effect in 2020, gives the defense a chance show that there's a preponderance of evidence showing innocence, she said. We proved their innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt, Della Donna said.

The convictions of Glass and Rayford relied heavily on the testimony of just two witnesses who later recanted their stories. During a five-year investigation, defense investigators found multiple other witnesses who said, Oh no, they werent the shooters, they never had a gun, Della Donna said.

The teens, who had no criminal history, maintained from the beginning that they were not involved in the shooting. Their case was taken up by the Innocence Rights project at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Glass, 36, and Rayford, 37, now both work as drivers for Walmart. Rayford is with his high school sweetheart, who waited for him while he was in prison. Both men are new fathers to baby girls.

Im not big for words. But today is a wonderful day. For 20 years weve been living this nightmare. Its finally over. We can go on with our lives, Glass said Thursday outside the courthouse.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke's decision was "a long, detailed ruling exonerating them for any and all crimes related to the shooting, said defense attorney Eric Dubin.

Today the judge righted a wrong, Dubin said. In my over 30 years of trying cases, I've never experienced such a magical moment where I'm able to see justice come to light so vividly.

Dubin said he expects the state Victims Compensation Board to approve the nearly $900,000 in compensation due each man under the new law. On top of that, defense attorneys plan on suing the state, county and district attorney's office for wrongful prosecution, he said.

The district attorney's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge's decision.

____

Associated Press Videojournalist Eugene Garcia contributed.
The biggest fashion night in New York City is only weeks away, as the annual Met Gala has returned with a new theme and its usual time slot.

On 1 May 2023, celebrities will walk the red carpet steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Vogues fashion extravaganza. This years theme of the Met Gala, which is an annual fundraiser for the museums Costume Institute, is Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty and will examine the life of the late Chanel creative director.

According to Vogue, the annual fundraiser will also pay homage to the designer through its dress code: In honour of Karl.

While what goes on inside the gala is top secret, as social media has been banned from the occasion, fashion lovers can still watch their favourite stars pose on the red carpet on Monday 1 May.

Heres everything you need to know about the 2023 Met Gala and how to stream it.

The livestream of the event, which is run by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, will be hosted by the magazine and broadcast on its website. In addition, the gala will broadcasted on Vogues YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages, with the livestream beginning at 6.30pm Eastern Time on the first Monday of May. According to Vogue, viewers can also sign up to receive a notification when the livestream begins.

The livestream will have three hosts: La La Anthony, Chloe Fineman, and Derek Blasberg. Just like last years Met Gala, Emma Chamberlain will be stepping in as Vogues special correspondent of the livestream.

Along with Wintour, there will be four co-chairs of the Met Gala, who include Dua Lipa, Michaela Coel, Penelope Cruz, and Roger Federer.

When announcing the dress code, In honour of Karl, in January, Vogue revealed that there are three wondrous ways that guests can salute one of fashions greats.

The first, most authentic approach would be to wear an archival look from one of the labels Lagerfeld led, the magazine stated. The second option is to pay tribute to the late designer with a modern-day look from Chanel or Fendi, two houses on which Lagerfeld left an indelible impression.

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For the final interpretation, guests could dress a la Lagerfeld, a direction the outlet notes might include finding a Choupette all your own. Choupette Lagerfeld, a white cat, was the late designers beloved pet and occasional muse, although the designer himself was known for wearing black suits and dark sunglasses.

The attendees at last years Gala also brought out some showstopping looks, as the theme of the event was In America: An Anthology of Fashion, with the dress code listed on the invites as Gilded Glamour.

For example, Black Lively changed into a second outfit on the red carpet, as both of her looks paid homage to the Statue of Liberty, while Kim Kardashian wore a gown adorned with jewels, which was previously worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang Happy Birthday, Mr. President for President John F. Kennedy in 1962.

The Vogues livestream of the 2023 Met Gala begins on Monday 1 May at 6.30pm ET (11.30pm GMT).
[Source]

Joshua Gao, a 24-year-old tech entrepreneur from Toronto, created a chat app that can accurately translate slang and idioms into multiple languages as a way to communicate with his Chinese parents.

Binko Chat, which is available for both iOS and Android, was launched on March 29 and supports over 15 languages, including English, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Binko is revolutionizing the way second-generation immigrants communicate with their families by breaking down language barriers and enabling seamless conversations, the apps official description states.

Gao tells NextShark that his app initially started as a short-term project to help him and his friends communicate with their parents on a deeper level.

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My parents are getting old, theyre in their 60s now, Gao shares. My familys WeChat group is just filled with pictures of food. It's lovely, but I want to get into a deeper conversation instead of just sending photos of food and being like, Did you eat yet?

Gaos parents moved to Toronto from Beijing around 30 years ago.

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Their English is terribly mediocre, and my Chinese is just as bad. It's a really weird dynamic where my relationship with them is instinctively very rich, and I love them a lot, but it's really tough to accurately communicate deep thoughts with them. I want to talk to them like I would with a friend, but I can't find the right words. It's been something on my mind my whole life.

Gao and his friends wanted to create a live chat application that could explain and translate slang and idioms to make translated conversations sound natural.

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While Gao and his friend Duy Nguyen focused on conceptualizing and designing Binko Chat, his other friends, Mogen Cheng and Tristan Tsvetanov, concentrated on developing the app.

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After three months of hard work, Gao and his friends decided to launch their app internationally.

Gao posted a promotional conversation which used the app on the Facebook page Subtle Asian Traits, which has since garnered over 12,000 reactions.

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blinko nextshark

Binko Chat now has thousands of users because of the humorous Facebook post. According to Gao, most of the apps users are second-generation children who wish to communicate with their family members in other countries.

Gao, who previously co-founded the POS system Mentum for restaurants and the clothing brand Orange Juice The Brand, hopes to partner with Asian influencers to promote his latest innovation.

I want to get more people using it and see if people really feel an affinity towards what it could do, Gao shares.
The Fresno County District Attorneys Office has filed financial elder abuse and fraud charges against three people its says are responsible for stealing $700,000 from a Sanger businessman.

Gina Abercrombie and Justin Teel, both 48 years old and from Pleasanton, along with 81-year-old Beverly Rutherford from Arizona are alleged to have committed the crimes over a period of five years beginning in February 2017.

Abercrombie was the victims stepdaughter and allegedly stole more than $700,000 while entrusted with his personal finances and the management of his business, according to a news release from the Fresno County DAs Office.

The DA also believes Ambercrombie also applied for business loans pretending to be her stepfather with the help of her fiance, Teel.

Rutherford was victims caretaker at the time and helped the other two isolate and influence the victim, contributing to the theft, according to the DA.

Abercrombie, Teel and Rutherford have each been charged with theft from an elder or dependent adult by a caretaker. Abercrombie and Teel have the added special allegation of aggravated white color crime and are also charged with obtaining money, labor or property by false pretenses.

Abercrombie and Teel face more than five years if convicted of all counts, the DA said.

Rutherford faces three years in custody.
A community is mourning a warm and friendly 3-year-old who was hit and killed by a car in Virginia, police and news outlets report.

It happened around 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, in a parking lot in Lynchburg, according to the citys police department. Officers and fire rescue crews responded to a report of someone hit by a car and learned it was a toddler.

Relatives identified him as Logan Kozlowski, WFXR and WDBJ reported.

They are going through the worst thing a parent could imagine, Logans aunt, Brittany Ashby, said of her sister and brother-in-law in a GoFundMe post.

Authorities didnt release additional details about the crash but said theyre investigating.

Friends, family and the community gathered for a prayer service Wednesday at Timberlake Church, where Logan attended pre-school, WSLS reported.

There they shared memories of the little boy with the big smile who made an impact on everyone he met.

Immediately my heart was broken for Logans family, for his parents and his older sister and for everybody in this community who has loved him, Rev. Brad McMullen told the station.

Logan was warm and friendly and had a big smile and loved life and loved people, McMullen said. And the kind of child who makes an impression on you even after you just meet him one time.

No arrests had been made as of April 20.

Lynchburg is about 115 miles west of Richmond.

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Neil Woodford - Geoff Pugh

Victims of Neil Woodfords investment empire collapse are in line to receive 77p in the pound in a deal which aims to conclude one of Britain's biggest investment scandals.



The City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority has confirmed more than 300,000 investors who had money in Mr Woodford's flagship Equity Income Fund are to be offered redress payments worth 235m.

It comes more than three years after a number of popular investment funds, containing billions of savers' deposits and operated by the star fund manager, were forced to close after a string of investments in unlisted firms lost money.

Link Fund Solutions (LFS), the administrator of the collapsed Woodford Investment Management vehicle, will pay the redress after the regulator found it had failed to properly manage the liquidity of the income fund.

Link Group, the parent company of LFS, will help partially fund the redress payment by selling the fund solutions business to Australian investment company Waystone Group.

The sale is expected to generate up to 140m towards the payout, with the remainder made up of LFSs cash, capital and insurance cover.

The FCA said the payment made by parent company Link Group was voluntary and it had no concerns over its involvement in the Woodford scandal.

But the 235m payout offer falls significantly short of the full amount owed to savers. The FCA estimates 298m is owed to investors and the proposed settlement would see them receive only 77p for every pound lost.

Daniel Kerrigan, senior associate at Harcus Parker, a law firm which sued LFS on behalf of Woodford investors, said the offer was a "bad deal". "Harcus Parker believes that this proposal is a bad deal for investors who will still lose meaningful sums of money. Im sure the investors will understandably be outraged by this offer. We will continue to push to get the full compensation that they are entitled to," he said.

The law firm said it made a claim against LFS for its "failure to supervise the management of the Woodford fund".

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More than 2.5bn has been paid to investors from the sale of investments since the flagship fund was suspended in June 2019.

LFS was the so-called authorised corporate director of the Woodford Equity Income fund, which meant it had a duty to monitor it and hold the fund manager to account.

But the FCA said it had concerns the firm had breached its responsibilities to carry out its activities with due skill, care and diligence.

The FCA has accused LFS of making critical mistakes and errors in managing the Woodford funds liquidity which ultimately left hundreds of thousands of investors nursing heavy losses.

Mr Woodfords fund was suspended after the former star stock picker, who had built large positions in hard-to-trade shares, was unable to sell assets quickly enough to meet mounting withdrawal requests from investors as the fund's value fell.

It was shut in October 2019.

Shortly after Mr Woodford, who was once lauded for his investment success as a fund manager for Invesco Perpetual before setting up a new investment brand under his own name, announced his intention to resign from his other funds and close his investment company.

These included the Woodford Income Focus Fund and his Patient Capital Trust.

Investors and creditors will need to vote on the proposed 235m payout. If the sale to Waystone completes and the redress settlement is agreed by investors, the FCA will end its enforcement action against LFS.

However, if an agreement is not reached the City watchdog said it would proceed with its enforcement case against LFS.

This would include a 50m penalty which would otherwise not be levied against the company should the redress deal be agreed. It is understood that LFS will fully contest an enforcement case against it.

Therese Chambers of the FCA said: LFSs actions appear to have caused significant losses for those investors who remained in the fund when it was suspended.

We believe the proposed redress scheme offers investors the best chance to obtain a better outcome than might be achieved by any other means and it is in the investors interests they be given the chance to consider it.

LFS was approached for comment.
The incident responders investigating how hackers carried out a complex supply-chain attack targeting enterprise phone provider 3CX say the company was compromised by another supply chain attack.

3CX, which develops a software-based phone system used by more than 600,000 organizations worldwide with more than 12 million active daily users, worked with cybersecurity company Mandiant to investigate the incident. In its report released on Thursday, Mandiant said that attackers compromised 3CX using a malware-laced version of the X_Trader financial software, developed by Trading Technologies.

X_Trader was a platform used by traders to view real-time and historical markets, which Trading Technologies phased out in 2020, but Mandiant says was still available to download from the company's website in 2022.

Mandiant said it suspects the Trading Technologies website was compromised by a group of North Korea state-backed hackers, which it refers to as UNC4736.

This is backed up by a report from Googles Threat Analysis Group from last year, which confirmed that Trading Technologies' website was compromised in February 2022 as part of a North Korean operation targeting dozens of cryptocurrency and fintech users. U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA says the hacking group has used its custom "AppleJeus" malware to steal cryptocurrency from victims in over 30 countries.

Mandiant's investigation found that a 3CX employee downloaded a tainted version of the X_Trader software in April 2022 from Trading Technologies' website, which the hackers had digitally signed with the company's then-valid code-signing certificate to make it look as if it was legitimate.

Once installed, the software planted a backdoor on the employee's device, giving the attackers full access to the compromised system. This access was then used to move laterally through 3CXs network and, eventually, to compromise 3CX's flagship desktop phone app to plant information-stealing malware inside their customers corporate networks.

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This is notable to us because this is the first time weve ever found concrete evidence of a software supply chain attack leading to another supply chain attack, said Mandiant's chief technology officer Charles Carmakal. This series of coupled supply-chain attacks just illustrates the increasing cyber offensive cyber capability by North Korean threat actors.

Mandiant says it notified Trading Technologies about the compromise on April 11 but says it's not known how many users are affected.

Trading Technologies spokesperson Ellen Resnick told TechCrunch that the company has not yet verified Mandiant's findings, and reiterated that it stopped supporting the software in 2020.

Mandiant's Carmakel added that it's likely many more victims related to the two supply-chain attacks will become known in the coming weeks and months.
Cannabis policy reform, its a criminal justice issue. Its a social justice issue, said Caroline Phillips, founder of the National Cannabis Festival and National Cannabis Policy Summit.

A Black woman-founded cannabis policy summit on 4/20, the holiday designated for cannabis culture, is bringing together lawmakers on Capitol Hill to talk about equity and legislative reform for a fast-growing  and mostly white  industry.

Hundreds attended the The Congressional Summit hosted by the National Cannabis Policy Summit on Thursday to hear from a bipartisan group of Congress members, advocates and business leaders on a range of cannabis-related policies from expungement and banking to social equity and paths to federal legalization.

Activists from DC Marijuana Justice (DCMJ) wave flags during a rally on Oct. 8, 2019, on the East Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to demand Congress pass cannabis reform legislation. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Capitol Hill lawmakers participating in the summit include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer; Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia, who discussed how federal cannabis policy impacts the majority Black and brown city of D.C.; and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-CA., who delivered video remarks, among other speakers.

Caroline Phillips organized the annual summit as a precursor to the National Cannabis Festival on April 22. Phillips, who founded the festival seven years ago, told theGrio she created the event and policy summit to shine a light on how cannabis prohibition disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities.

I noticed when cannabis was becoming legal in D.C., the conversation was around the green rush, and all of these big conferences were coming to town and charging people $700,000 to come in and gain access to experts in the cannabis space and secrets to big business, recalled Phillips.

That just really rubbed me the wrong way, she added.

Phillips, who previously worked in the human rights space, acknowledged that even as the cannabis industry continues to grow, the War on Drugs is still alive. She noted that just a half mile from where this years festival is held, there are Black and brown men and women who are sitting there on nonviolent drug offenses.

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She continued: Cannabis policy reform is a criminal justice issue. Its a social justice issue.

That is why the cannabis advocate hopes this years policy summit will continue to foster dialogue about ways Capitol Hill can reform cannabis policy and correct wrongs that have damaged communities of color for generations.

Caroline Phillips, founder of the National Cannabis Festival & National Cannabis Festival Summit, speaks onstage during the National Cannabis Festival Summit on April 22, 2022, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Brian Stukes/Getty Images)

To date, 21 states have legalized cannabis for recreational use, and an additional 18 states have legalized the drug for medicinal use. Changing attitudes and policies on cannabis have also crossed party lines, as some Republicans are embracing forms of decriminalization or legalization.

Thursdays summit includes Republican Reps. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, David Joyce of Ohio and Brian Mast of Florida.

Phillips said the summit was really excited to hear conservative voices talk about progressive ideas with drug policy reform.

While a major focus of cannabis reform continues to be the criminal justice space, the National Cannabis Policy Summit seeks to expand policy dialogue to include the cannabis market and industry, where Black and minority-owned business owners are disproportionately underrepresented.

Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Jacky Rosen of Nevada discussed bills they introduced to create pathways for cannabis entrepreneurs to access banking services and capital.

Marijuana activists hold up a 51-foot inflatable joint during a rally on Oct. 8, 2019, at the U.S. Capitol to call on Congress to pass cannabis reform legislation. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Senator Merkley introduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would create a legal pathway for cannabis-related businesses to obtain banking services in states where cannabis use is legal.

In a statement provided to theGrio, Merkley said, Forcing cannabis businesses to operate in cash is an open invitation to every form of crime. Employees get robbed, businesses get assaulted; its an opportunity for money laundering and organized crime. None of that makes sense.

The U.S. senator added, Its way past time to bring legal cannabis businesses into the modern, electronic, accounting world. Lets get SAFE Banking Plus passed now.

Senator Rosen late last year introduced the Fair Access for Cannabis Small Businesses Act, which advocates see as a companion bill to the SAFE Banking Act. The legislation would ensure that legally operating cannabis small businesses have access to loans and programs provided by the Small Business Administration.

The fact that legal cannabis small businesses face disproportionate challenges  like not being able to use banking services or access federal loans and programs  puts them and my state of Nevada at a disadvantage. Thats why Ive been working in the Senate to find common ground to break down these barriers, Sen. Rosen said in a statement in theGrio.

I look forward to the discussion about our work in Congress to end the federal barriers holding back legally operated cannabis businesses, help promote equity and access in this growing industry, and increase the number of resources available to cannabis entrepreneurs.

A U.S. flag redesigned with marijuana leaves blows in the wind as DCMJ.org holds a protest on April 24, 2017, in front of the U.S. Capitol to call on Congress to reschedule the drug classification of marijuana. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Kaliko Castille, president of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, told theGrio cannabis businesses not having access to the same programs as other small businesses is a fundamental issue that disproportionately impacts Black and brown businesses.

The equity approach to cannabis policy also extends to criminal justice reform. Last year, President Joe Biden announced pardons for thousands of Americans convicted of low-level marijuana offenses. He also directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to review the scheduling of cannabis under the Controlled Substance Act.

The executive actions were a win for the cannabis reform advocacy community and were seen as a major step in the right direction.

So much of the negative consequences of being in the cannabis industry are directly tied to cannabis Schedule 1 status, so I think having a more rational conversation around where cannabis fits in the schedule is really important, said Castille.

Its a really big opportunity for us to finally eliminate the main barrier to so many other policies for the cannabis industry.

Gerren Keith Gaynor

Gerren Keith Gaynor is the Managing Editor of Politics and White House Correspondent at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post 4/20 policy summit on Capitol Hill seeks to bring equity to the cannabis industry appeared first on TheGrio.
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Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 100 words and give your first name and your hometown.

This past weekend, downtown Chicago was terrorized by the despicable wilding teen terrorists. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson tried to not demonize these misguided youths. Well, certainly not me. These are not your local kid pranks of yesteryear, but serious criminal activities like looting, vandalism assault, robberies and muggings. Please take the cuffs off the brave men and women of the Chicago Police Department and arrest all these thugs not now, but right now. It will get worse during the summer.

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Leo, Orland Park

In regards to all the shootings on the Lake Shore Drive. How about this, Chicago Police Department takes four of those vehicles, repaints them blue, green, yellow, pink, whatever they want, to blend in with the rest of the vehicles. Two officers in the front with bullet proof glass all the way around them. The doors are reinforced to be bulletproof as well. Two officers in the back loaded up with guns. Drive down Lake Shore Drive and if you come under fire, then go get them and eliminate them.

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John, Bridgeport

Regarding the hundreds of teens running wild with vandalism, Chicagos new mayor said while he doesnt condone what happened, he understands a protest against poverty and segregation. Since there hasnt been a Republican sighting in Chicago in more than 50 years, Im wondering, Democrats, whose fault is that?

David, Tinley Park

Walmart is ditching Chicago. The governor of California wants to throw Walgreens out of the state. Whole Foods is leaving San Francisco and Walgreens has left San Francisco. Now what do all of these situations have in common? Theyre all Democratically run cities and states. And why are these companies leaving? Because you cant make money in a state or a city that has no police protection.

Tom, Burbank

I would like to know why we are funding NASA to send a rocket that doesnt fly to the moon. We did this 50 years ago. If they want to concentrate on something, why dont they send a moving truck up there to bring back the billions of dollars and equipment that was left behind. I mean, it would be a great garage sale.

Warren, Justice
The Lake Worth Police Department said it arrested 42 people within a two-day period in an operation targeting suspects seeking to solicit prostitution in Lake Worth.

On April 11-12, Lake Worth police and Homeland Security Investigations Dallas North Texas Trafficking Task Force launched a joint operation called Operation April Fools.

Undercover officers posed as escorts and were engaged by people online, according to police. When the undercover officers showed up at a meeting place agreed upon by both parties, the suspects were arrested, police said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Over the two days, 41 men and one woman were arrested. All face charges of solicitation of prostitution. If convicted, the suspects could face up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

The operation was the first of its kind to take place in Lake Worth, according to police.

Although the operation was primarily focused on reducing the demand for trafficking individuals, other crimes were also uncovered over the two-day operation, Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian said.

Three handguns, one assault rifle, over four pounds of drugs, about $15,000 in cash, and six fraudulent license plates were recovered in the arrests, according to police.

Several of the people arrested in the operation also had active felony warrants for other charges including aggravated sexual assault of a child, solicitation of a minor, aggravated assault on a police officer, and accident involving serious bodily injury.

Two of the suspects had violated their parole and two convicted murderers were among those arrested in the operation, police said.

None of the suspects were residents of Lake Worth, but were residents in other areas of North Texas. The majority of suspects were from Dallas and Tarrant counties, according to police.

Thats important to note because it represents the unique policing challenges we face here in Lake Worth, Manoushagian said. More than a quarter million people pass through Lake Worth daily, and its our job at the Lake Worth Police Department to ensure that this is a safe environment where life and commerce thrive for both our community members and our visitors. With such a large volume of people passing through daily criminals are naturally among them.

The Lake Worth Police Department is dedicated to an all-crime approach that focuses on crime that is easily seen as well as the crime that lives in the shadows of society, said Manoushagian.

The United States Secret Service, Texas Department of Public Safety, Tarrant County Sheriffs Office, Colleyville Police Department, and Richardson Police Department assisted in the operation.
DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP)  Investigators on Thursday charged a sixth person with reckless murder in connection with a deadly shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party, saying in court documents they believe gunmen shot into the crowd during the celebration.

Investigators said in court documents filed Thursday that they believe five of those charged were present at the party on April 15 and "discharged firearms into the crowd, resulting in the deaths of four people.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Thursday night announced the arrest of a 15-year-old juvenile from Tuskegee, Alabama, the sixth person charged in the case, but court records were not released because of the person's age.

All six face reckless murder charges in connection with the fatal shooting, the state agency said.

The Sweet 16 birthday, at a dance studio just off the town square, was in full swing when gunfire erupted. Investigators have not discussed a motive or what they believe led to the shooting.

The shooting killed four young people, ranging in age from 17 to 23, and shocked the small east Alabama city of Dadeville. Besides the four slain, 32 others were injured, four of them critically.

Tyreese Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, both of Tuskegee, were arrested Tuesday. Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, Alabama, was arrested Wednesday. Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee and Willie George Brown Jr., 19, of Auburn, were arrested Thursday. All are charged with four counts of reckless murder, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

The district attorney said the teens will be tried as adults as required by Alabama law when anyone 16 or older is charged with murder.

All of the suspects are being held in the Tallapoosa County Jail with no bond with the exception of the 15-year-old, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

The birthday girls brother, 18-year-old Philstavious Phil Dowdell of Camp Hill, Alabama, died as his sister knelt beside him begging him to keep breathing. He and another fatal victim, 17-year-old Shaunkivia Nicole KeKe Smith of Dadeville, were high school seniors. Also slain were Marsiah Emmanuel Siah Collins, 19, of Opelika, Alabama, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23, of Dadeville.

The shooting was the 16th mass killing in the U.S. this year. A 17th took place in Maine on Tuesday. A total of 88 people have died in mass killings so far in 2023.

A mass killing is defined as the slaying of four or more people other than the perpetrator, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
Looking to get away to another city for the weekend, but dont want to leave the Northeast?

5 Massachusetts and 2 New Hampshire cities have been ranked as the best places to live in the Northeast.

According to a list put together by Livability, each city on the list has something different to offer which makes it special.

Just outside Boston, Quincy, Mass was named after Col. John Quincy, the great-grandfather of former president John Quincy Adams. According to Livability, the city maintains much of that historic charm while keeping a firm eye toward the future as one of the best places to live in the Northeast.

In Quincy, youll find dozens of historic landmarks, a thriving arts scene, tasty American and international cuisine, a collection of bars and pubs, and 27 miles of a gorgeous coastline.

Worcester, Mass just celebrated its tricentennial, and the Heart of the Commonwealth makes 300 years young look good.

According to the list, Worcester is an affordable and diverse city with sound transportation infrastructure, including a commuter rail that zips back and forth to Boston and an ultra-walkable downtown.

Worcester has a lot of restaurants and is also home to the Hanover Theatre which is perfect for catching a Broadway show.

Just 30 minutes away from downtown Boston, is Framingham, Mass. Home to the Framingham Heart Study, which has been ongoing for nearly 75 years, Framingham was founded in the 1700s and has nearly 300 historic homes. Downtown Framingham features a variety of charming shops, restaurants, and cultural attractions.

Lowell, Mass is located just 30 miles north of Boston, making this city of 115,000 an excellent choice for professionals who work in the city but prefer the pace of a mid-sized town. According to Livability, The city has several parks and natural areas, including the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest and the Merrimack River, offering nature lovers a chance to enjoy hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities.

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Best known for being the best place to visit during the Halloween season, Salem offers a mix of history, recreation, and a comfortable climate. Visit The Salem Witch Museum and the House of Seven Gables for some history, explore the hundreds of shops and restaurants, or take a boat tour to explore the Salem Sound.

In New Hampshire, Nashua is known for its art scene is bursting with creativity while Portsmouth is a highly walkable city with great restaurants, fresh seafood, beautiful architecture, historical attractions, boutique shopping, and a thriving arts scene.

Portland, Maine, Warwick and Newport, Rhode Island, West Hartford, Connecticut, and Burlington, Vermont were among other New England states that made the list.

To view the full list of best Northeast cities, visit the link here.

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

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The Newton County Sheriffs Office has identified five people who were killed in a crash earlier this month.

The 16-year-old driver remains in critical condition, according to the sheriffs office. He has not been identified because he was a juvenile.

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Deputies said the crash happened around 3 p.m. on April 8 near Highway 142 at Adams Circle, officials said. Investigators said the crash was a two-car head-on collision involving a van and pick-up truck.

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Deputies identified the people who were killed Thursday as 26-year-old Makayla Taylor, 55-year-old Alicia Eisenmann, 58-year-old Darin Quattlebaum, 55-year-old Kelly Pike and 68-year-old Peggy Wynn.

All five people who were killed were in the van.

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United Cerebral Palsey of Georgia said the van belonged to them and that four of the victims were people with disabilities who lived in a group home and the fifth victim, Taylor, was a staff member.

Taylors father, Malcolm Taylor, said on social media that his daughter was driving four of her patients to the doctor when the crash happened.
Therapists have seen and heard it all: the good, the bad and the ugly of relationships. Through their years of professional experience, theyre able to pinpoint the language that brings couples togetherand the language that pushes them apart.

We asked couples therapists which phrases they personally never or rarely (hey, even the pros arent perfect!) use in their own relationships. Heres what they told us:

1. You always ...  or You never ... 

Several of our experts said they steer clear of hyperbolic blanket statements that begin you always or you never.

While its true that Ill never smoke a cigar and I always fasten my seat belt, when it comes to interpersonal behaviors  listening, arguing, being defensive, being kind, taking things personally  always and never tend to make us shut down, Winifred M. Reilly  a marriage and family therapist in Berkeley, California and author of It Takes One to Tango  told HuffPost.

Youre pretty much guaranteed to be told, Thats not true. There was that one time ...  she said. Then youre in more of a debate than a conversation.



To get your point across in a gentler and more impactful way, try subbing in the word sometimes in place of always or never.

As in, sometimes, you dont listen to me in a way that shows that youre interested, Reilly said. The goal is, after all, to talk about how to have a better life together, not just point out each others faults.

2. You make me feel X.

Making some changes to the way you speak to your partner can do wonders for the relationship.

Making some changes to the way you speak to your partner can do wonders for the relationship.

No matter what emotion you insert here  sad, angry or guilty, just to name a few  this kind of language is something that sex therapist Jesse Kahn tries to avoid.

You can say, I feel guilty when or I feel ashamed when, but no one else is making you feel anything, and its unfair to put that on anyone, Kahn, director of the Gender & Sexuality Therapy Center in New York City, told HuffPost.

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Plus, he said, it can be healing and empowering to take responsibility for your own emotional responses.

Similarly, Los Angeles marriage and family therapist Gayane Aramyan said she avoids using blame-y you statements (e.g. Youre so inconsiderate) in her relationship. Shes found that they make the other person defensive, which stymies any productive conversation.

I express how I feel and what my experience was of the situation, she told HuffPost.

3. Well, then maybe we shouldnt be together.

When were feeling overwhelmed with hurt or anger toward our partner, its easy to lash out and say things we dont mean. In more extreme cases, you might even threaten to break things off with this person  a move Los Angeles marriage and family therapist Abigail Makepeace strongly discourages.

Unless you are truly contemplating ending the relationship, this tactic should never be used, Makepeace told HuffPost. These types of threats erode your partners sense of safety and build resentment.

And if you make these kinds of declarations again and again, your partner will become desensitized to them, Makepeace said. This can affect your communication and connection moving forward.

4. You should do this.

Sean Davis, a marriage and family therapist in Roseville, California, told HuffPost he rarely, if ever, makes absolute statements about his wifes choices. Other variations might include: You shouldnt do that or Thats a bad idea.

Statements like this imply that I know what is best for her and therefore have the right to dictate her behavior. It is disempowering and undermines her autonomy, said Davis, founder of The Davis Group Counseling and Wellness Services. It also sets the discussion up for a fight if she disagrees, as her only possible response is to say Im wrong.

'Always and never tend to make us shut down.Winifred M. Reilly, marriage and family therapist

Instead, he first checks in with his wife to see if she wants his opinion on the matter or just wants him to listen.

If she wants my opinion, I will preface it with a qualifier such as, I think ... , It seems to me like ...  or If I were in your shoes ... . Davis said. Proposing my thoughts as tentative allows me to state my opinion while reassuring her that she can disagree without the disagreement threatening our relationship.

5. If you loved me, you would ...

When you use this setup with a partner, youre behaving in a manipulative way  whether you mean to or not. For that reason, Kahn is not a fan of these kinds of statements.

You are essentially weaponizing your love, relationship and connection, he said. You may not be intentionally trying to manipulate someone, but it will have that impact and outcome.

Instead, he recommends getting curious about why the person doesnt want to do the thing you want. Then consider whether its reasonable for them to decline and use it as an opportunity to practice taking no for an answer.

On a similar note, Aramyan said she avoids language like, If you dont do this, then ...  with her husband.

I dont threaten or put ultimatums in my relationship, she said. I think that ultimatums are very serious, and unless you mean what you say, there is no point in saying it.

6. No one will ever love you as much as I do.

At first glance, this may sound kind of romantic to some. But dig a little deeper and youll see this statement has toxic undertones. Makepeace called it a clear attempt to destabilize and create fear in your partner.

The implicit message is, Dont ever leave me or mess up because you will never find better or be loved more, she explained. At its core, this is simply not true. If you can see how wonderful your partner is, then why wouldnt someone else?

You may not be intentionally trying to manipulate someone, but it will have that impact and outcome.Jesse Kahn, sex therapist

Plus, if your partner is only sticking around out of fear, you will never feel the safety you are seeking to achieve with this comment, Makepeace said. True feelings of trust and safety are only built through secure and honest connection.

7. You need to calm down.

Davis said he tries to avoid telling his wife how to feel about a given situation. That means not saying things like, Just stop worrying about that or Youre being too dramatic.

Any of those things just lead to a fight, he said. Instead, I just try to listen, validate and let the emotions run their course, trying to remember that Ill probably need the same from her soon enough.

8. My ex never would have done that.

Its natural to compare your current partner to a former one in a moment of frustration or disappointment, Makepeace said. But verbalizing this to your partner can be damaging. And keep in mind: When youre emotional, you may not have the clarity to see youre romanticizing your ex.

It is important to remember that there is a clear reason, or set of reasons, you are no longer in this past relationship, Makepeace said.

More importantly, there are hopefully a myriad of reasons you are with your current partner. The act of comparison between your current partner and past partner can be especially hurtful, as it can feel like a negation of the good, care and safety in your current relationship.

Related...
Aaradhya Bachchan (left) is often photographed with her mother, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

An Indian court has criticised YouTube while hearing a plea filed by 11-year-old Aaradhya Bachchan, granddaughter of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

Ms Bachchan said a YouTube channel published fake news about her "life and health" and sought a restraining order against such reporting.

A Delhi high court judge allowed this, and said YouTube was also at fault for letting people access misinformation.

Ms Bachchan is the focus of intense media attention in India.

The daughter of actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, she is often photographed accompanying them to film festivals and other public events.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a former Miss World and has made appearances on several international talk shows such as David Letterman and the Oprah Winfrey show.

Her husband, Abhishek Bachchan - the son of iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan - had told media in 2021 that he would not tolerate negative comments made by trolls about his daughter. "I'm a public figure, that's fine. My daughter is out of bounds," he had said.

On Thursday, the judge asked YouTube to ensure that the videos were taken down immediately. It also issued a summons to YouTube and some YouTube channel operators named in the petition.

"Dissemination of misleading information to a child, especially as regards physical and mental health, is completely intolerable in law," he said.

India has a number of YouTube channels that aim to tap into the growing demand for news on celebrities - often, the content can be shocking or controversial, with little regard for facts.

Several Indian celebrities have also raised concerns about their privacy being invaded and their children being constantly photographed by the paparazzi.

Read more India stories from the BBC:
A TikTok trend is to blame for a recent spike in auto thefts in the Charlotte area, according to police.

Vehicle thefts have nearly doubled  1,468 stolen cars in the last three months compared to 738 during the same time frame last year.

The influx in auto thefts contributed most to the areas 7% increase in overall crime, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officials said at a news conference on its first quarter public safety report Thursday morning. The statistics compare reported crimes and arrests from the first three months of this year to early 2022.

While police were able to crack down on some crime hot spots, homicides still increased 26% and property crime rose 10%, according a CMPD news release.

The 1,747% increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts was an absurd and frustrating addition to this quarters report, Maj. Luke Sell of CMPDs Special Investigation Bureau said.

The Kia Challenge  a TikTok trend from the summer of 2022  detailed how to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles without keys.

It got kids attention.

Juveniles accounted for 95% of suspects arrested for Kia and Hyundai theft and 62% of all arrests for auto theft, police said.

Officers have hosted several giveaway events for locks that stunt thieves technology. While police leaders said they want to reserve officers resources for investigations, they also want to help owners prevent the crimes.

There were 800 people who couldnt go to school or the doctor today because their car was just missing for some random game or TikTok challenge, Sell said at the news conference.

The department has noticed more kids getting involved with more serious crimes at high rates, he said.

Sell detailed some examples. Those include:

A 15-year-old has been charged with seven auto thefts and arrested 38 times.

A 16-year-old has been linked to 35 auto thefts and has been arrested 58 times.

One 17-year-old has been arrested 40 times and is linked to 76 crimes, including armed robbery and shooting into occupied dwellings. He cut off his ankle monitor  part of pre-trial monitoring and release programs  for the second time this month.

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CMPD arrests up

Sell said juvenile arrests, especially those related to the social media-inspired car thefts, put a frustrating strain on already limited police resources. While CMPD is gaining 40 new officers from its latest class, police recruitment has been difficult in Charlotte and across the country.

Despite officer shortages, overall arrests were up 13% and firearm seizures were up 12% in the last three months, according to the news release. The department also saw a 6% decrease in violent crime.

The Alcohol and Beverage Control unit identified more than 130 gaming locations police say were hotbeds for crime.

Until recently, law enforcement couldnt touch the arcades  which challenged North Carolinas decades-long ban on gambling outside regulated casinos or the state-run lottery. A restraining order stemming from a previous court case had frozen police raids against gambling spots commonly called arcades.

Last year, the locations hosted at least 12 instances of violent crime, Sell said. This year, there has been one. Officers seized more than a dozen illegal gambling games, 10 pounds of marijuana, nine guns and more than $1 million dollars from the locations during recent raids and crackdowns, Sell said.

As an investigation by The Charlotte Observer earlier this year found only a dozen or so fish game or skill game arcades remain.

Street takeovers, where groups of drivers shut down intersections and roads to perform stunts like burnouts, drifting, and doughnuts, also contribute to Charlottes crime scene.

CMPD has made 11 arrests, issued 78 citations, and towed 34 vehicles linked to street takeover incidents since February, according to a news release.

Some crime stats drop

For the first quarter of 2023 (January to March) compared to 2022, CMPD reports a drop in robberies (5%),burglaries (3%), rapes (22%) and aggravated assaults (6%), according to the release.

Other statistics about crime in the Charlotte area:
Washington state could be backsliding on its commitment to open government if certain events from the last few months alone are to be considered.

Since the beginning of 2023, agencies such as the Office of Financial Management, the Attorney Generals Office and the Legislature have come under scrutiny for the mishandling or withholding of public records.

While a study has ranked Washington as the second best state in the country for transparency, some experts warn that the public records system as a whole needs to be reinforced before the state backslides, or worse, falls to the bottom of the public records ranks at the expense of taxpayers.

In February, McClatchy and Crosscut joined together to document the story of how the Legislature has spent more than 15 years attempting to consolidate its power and keep secrets from citizens by invoking legislative privilege. Both outlets again teamed up for this report.

As the state potentially looks to elect a new governor in 2024, some say the executive branch could make the most difference in setting the standard for public records transparency moving forward.

Transparency in Washington

According to a study conducted by Associate Professor David Cuillier at the University of Arizona School of Journalism, Idaho is the only state that currently outscores Washington in terms of transparency. Alabama is ranked dead last on that list, and many other southeastern states rank low on the list as well.

Public records laws in Washington are well-known in other places for being transparent.

Megan Rhyne, executive director for the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, told McClatchy and Crosscut in an interview that people in states such as hers wish they had similar transparency laws to Washingtons.

One of the reasons she considers Washington public records laws to be ahead of the others is because of the teeth behind enforcement of those laws.

Others agree.

Jeff Roberts, the newly elected president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and a former Denver Post reporter, told McClatchy and Crosscut in an interview that Washington state is ahead of other states in the sense that anyone can sue the government for violations of the Public Records Act.

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One such lawsuit was filed against the state Legislature by a Washington resident this year for withholding records, and other lawsuits are expected after the current session adjourns on April 23, according to a board member for the Washington Coalition for Open Government.

However, settlement money is paid by taxpayers, as in the case of former Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, who deleted hundreds of texts pertaining to the 2020 George Floyd protests and the abandonment of the Seattle East Precinct. The city of Seattle agreed to pay $200,000 in that case while vowing to improve public records transparency.

The 2021 Washington State Redistricting Commission has had to pay out money too for its admission that text messages were deleted in the map redrawing process, and those fines also were paid by tax revenue.

Cuillier noted that Pennsylvania has a model system for resolving public records issues, and one Republican lawmaker from Centralia, Rep. Peter Abbarno, proposed a bill echoing a similar intent for Washington late this session. The bill would create an independent transparency ombuds office, but would not be a replacement for the current method of resolving public records violations, he said.

Abbarno told McClatchy and Crosscut in an interview that he knows the bill will not go anywhere this session, but that he hopes it opens up a conversation in the future about resolving public records issues.

Whats happening with records now

But recent and persistent attempts by Washington lawmakers, state agencies and city leaders to flout public records laws could be jeopardizing Washingtons status as a powerhouse in records transparency.

For example, the Washington Supreme Court eventually will have to consider whether state lawmakers have the ability to invoke legislative privilege to shield their records from the public. The state will litigate that case with taxpayer money.

And it is possible the states high court could expand the use of legislative privilege for state lawmakers.

Meanwhile, several pieces of legislation were introduced by state lawmakers this year to create more exemptions in the states public records laws, including a bill that would have limited the ability for individuals to take action against government agencies for public records violations.

In contrast, no recent efforts have been made to reinforce public records laws in the state, and the task force created to review exemptions to the Public Records Act, the Sunshine Committee, is even now considering disbanding after it said that its recommendations have ceased to be acted upon by the Legislature for the last few years.

More exemptions have been introduced than reinforcements to the 1972 Public Records Act since its introduction.

If Washington shifts its laws, its going to be another Alabama, Cuillier told McClatchy and Crosscut in an interview. No offense to Alabama ... but I dont think thats what Washingtonians want.

However, Rhyne said every state tries to find ways to withhold records, so that is not unique to Washington or to her state of Virginia.

Additionally, rollbacks of transparency are occurring not only on a state level, but with the federal Freedom of Information Act, according to Cuillier, Roberts and Rhyne.

How access to public records affects society

Access to public records is not a partisan issue, and access to records affects everyone, Cuillier contends.

Its critical that the public gets to see how the sausage is made, and whats going into the decisions that affect their lives, Cuillier said. And the only real way we can know that is to have access to their communications.

Cuillier noted that it just makes sense for public officials to be on good behavior if they know others are monitoring their decisions.

But, he said, if no one is watching you, youre going to steal that cookie out of the cookie jar, thats just how humans work.

For example, the professor cited a study that showed how municipalities work harder to have cleaner drinking water when there are broader transparency laws. Food at restaurants is safer because public records laws allow oversight, according to another study cited by Cuillier.

Access to information about government is really important for the way our democracy is supposed to work, Roberts said.

Going forward

At a press conference with Gov. Jay Inslee on April 13, the governor said that he thinks the state may be the most transparent in state history.

And he could be right, at least as it applies to the disclosure of his documents.

In 2013, the Washington Supreme Court ruled in Freedom Foundation v. Gregoire that the governor has a right to use executive privilege, meaning that Governors Office documents pertaining to decision-making on legislation could be withheld from the public if the governor chose to do so.

However, Inslee has not invoked executive privilege in the 10 years he has been in office.

Additionally, Inslee worked with Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, on legislation in 2013 that would have statutorily removed that exemption for the governor altogether, although the law never came to fruition.

But Pollet pointed out that some of the governors agencies have not been the best about records transparency.

In April, a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled against OFM, an office within the Governors Office, for refusing to hand over initial offers in collective bargaining negotiations even after the parties had signed agreements.

In an email to McClatchy and Crosscut, a spokesperson for OFM said that they are awaiting the final order in this case, which we anticipate will be signed April 28. Once we have the final order, we will review it to determine our next steps.

The Attorney General also has come under scrutiny for withholding records by Joan Mell, an attorney and board member for the Washington Coalition for Open Government, who wrote a scathing opinion column.

Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for the AGs office, said Mell wasnt happy with Fergusons office because she had previously lost a lawsuit when representing the Northwest Detention Center, a private federal prison.

Aho also claimed that Ferguson has expressed solidarity for public records transparency by supporting Inslees choice not to invoke executive privilege.

Future leaders

Its difficult to say what will happen after Inslee leaves office, and whether or not a future governor will invoke executive privilege. Rumors have swirled about a few potential candidates for the 2024 election, including some who have been caught up in public records lawsuits this year.

Id like to think that the Democratic Party writ large stands for openness, Pollet told McClatchy and Crosscut. Theyre the party of the Freedom of Information Act, and the party of opening up public decisions.

Its an important question for the next governor, and frankly Id love to see the next governor say Im going to have an open government ombud, whos an actual advocate for openness in government. Because the governor can use their position to really advance openness.
Barbara Lynch says allegations she abused employees at her restaurants are false

One of Boston's most famous chefs is denying accusations from former employees that she was physically and emotionally abusive.

In separate investigations by the New York Times and the Boston Globe, several staff accused Barbara Lynch of alcohol-fuelled verbal aggressions.

Ms Lynch is a nationally renowned chef who oversees several acclaimed restaurants in Boston.

In a statement to the Times, she called the allegations "fantastical".

"I expressly reject the various false accusations lodged against me that I have behaved inappropriately with employees or crossed professional guideposts that are important to me," she said.

Ms Lynch said she makes "personnel decisions that may rankle those who don't measure up or don't want to commit to true teamwork and service; perhaps some I should have removed sooner".

She added she was "committed to taking responsibility and working on myself" while alleging the accusations were "designed to 'take me down'".

The BBC has reached out to Ms Lynch for comment.

The two newspapers reported that Ms Lynch brought staff together last month at one of her restaurants, Menton, following the deaths of two employees, executive chef Rye Crofter and a line cook. Both died of drug overdoses.

The outlets each obtained a recording of the meeting, during which staff said Ms Lynch drunkenly yelled at employees and got into a confrontation with the restaurant's new head chef, who alleged Ms Lynch had not come to the kitchen after Mr Crofter died.

She fired the chef and threatened to shove his head through a window after he said he would ruin her reputation, the Times reported. Several of the Menton staff resigned after the altercation, according to the newspaper's reporting.

Former staff also reportedly allege the 59-year-old made other impulsive firings, subjected employees to unwanted touching, and made threats of violence, especially while under the influence of alcohol.

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Ms Lynch was named one of Time Magazine's most influential people in 2017 and has won multiple James Beard awards, which recognises the culinary arts.

She has spoken of her journey from a difficult childhood in a Boston housing project to the heights of the restaurant scene in the US, and about the sexism she has faced climbing the ladder in the male-dominated restaurant industry in the country.

But her employees said her behaviour has become increasingly unpredictable over time, alleging she would threaten staff members with knives and reprimand employees in front of customers.

Sometimes staff felt they needed to drive her home because she was too drunk, staff told the Times.

Ms Lynch was charged for drunk driving in 2017 and has detailed her struggles with alcoholism in her memoir Out of Line, which was released that year.

In a statement to the Boston Globe, Ms Lynch said she was "a creature of the alcohol-steeped hospitality and restaurant industry" but argued allegations from staff falsely conflated her with "peers accused of behavior that is absolutely criminal".
Adele Roberts has recalled the moment that Prince William sent her a supportive message following her bowel cancer diagnosis.

The BBC Radio 1 DJ, 44, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2021, has been open about her treatment journey on social media.

Roberts appeared on Thursdays instalment of Lorraine (20 April), to back ITVs No Butts campaign, which honours the late cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James who died in June aged 40.

Prince William also appeared on the show to support the campaign, before delivering a message to Lorraine viewers.

Roberts then revealed that she and William had spoken before.

Youve interviewed him before, youve spoken to him before and he actually sent you a message of support when you were diagnosed? host Lorraine Kelly asked the radio DJ.

Roberts recalled the conversation, remarking: Yeah, I couldnt believe it.

She continued: Im sure hes very busy and has got lots of things to do but thats how much he cares about this campaign and about people being aware [of the symptoms].

Deborah James posed with William after he made her a dame at her parents home (PA Media)

William has shown continuous support for campaigns surrounding bowel cancer awareness and he personally delivered a damehood to Deborah James one month before her death, to recognise her efforts as a cancer campaigner.

Elsewhere in the episode of Lorraine, the Prince of Wales shared a message encouraging viewers, especially men, to take note of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer.

Prince William told the show in a video message: Hi Lorraine, I just want to say a big thank you to you and your team for all youre doing to raise awareness around bowel cancer through your No Butts campaign.

As you know I got to meet Dame Deborah, so I know how important this was to her. 46,000 people each year get diagnosed with bowel cancer and yet many of us dont know the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, particularly in us men.

So if youre watching this, please take a second to listen and learn about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, it could save your life.

The No Butts campaign outlines the most common symptoms of bowel cancer as blood in your poo or from your bottom, obvious change in your bowel habit, weight loss you cant explain, extreme tiredness for no apparent reason and a lump or pain in your tummy.
OrganicLife, Naperville District 203's new breakfast and lunch provider, says it focuses on whole grains, fruits and vegetables and uses fresh, not frozen, foods in the meals it prepares. (Taimy Alvarez / Sun Sentinel)

Students at Naperville District 203 will have a new breakfast and lunch provider next year after the school boards approval this week of a new contract with OrganicLife.

The district has been using Aramak for the last eight years as their meal supplier.

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Every year school districts either renew their suppliers contract or seek bids for food service, according to school documents. After four renewals, or five years under the same contract, districts are required to seek bids.

District 203 completed five years using Aramark in spring 2020 and were preparing to go out to bid when the COVID-19 pandemic started. Emergency declarations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Illinois State Board of Education allowed Aramarks contract to be extended for the past three school years.

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Earlier this year, the district solicited 14 food service vendors and four opted to bid on the contract. OrganicLife met all the districts criteria and submitted the lowest bid at $4.5 million.

Aramark was the highest bidder and offered to provide the service for a little more than $4.9 million, officials said.

Price must be the primary factor for this contract award, district Superintendent Dan Bridges said.

Other nearby school districts, including Indian Prairie School District 204, Wheaton-Warrenville School District 200 and St. Charles School District 303, use OrganicLife, Bridges said. The district reached out to various school districts for their references and the reviews were positive, he said.

Board member Donna Wandke said she is interested in receiving student feedback on the new provider over the course of the school year.

Among some of the changes that the new company will be enacting is the use of recyclable or compostable plates, bowls, utensils and other items and serving enhanced chicken products.

OrganicLife, which began as a niche healthy school lunch company, bills itself as the leading food service provider of healthy lunches in Illinois. The company says on its website that it focuses on whole grains, fruits, vegetables and proper balance and uses fresh, not frozen, foods.

Sample menu items include all-natural crispy chicken nuggets, whole grain penne pasta, all-natural beef hot dogs, and slow roasted turkey and gravy along with whole grain bread, celery or carrots with ranch dressing, local apples and other fresh picked fruits.

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According to board documents, the $4.5 million contract meets the estimated cost included in the cafeteria funds budget. The district will also be receiving $491,000 from the USDA to help offset the cost and $1.6 million from state and federal meal reimbursements.

Meal prices for breakfast and lunch will increase by 10 cents per meal across all grade levels in the 2023-24 school year. Students who qualify for the reduced meal cost will not see any price changes.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
Another affordable housing complex is coming to Manatee Countys Oneco neighborhood.

The three-story Oneco Living Apartments development will put 94 rental units on 5.3 acres of vacant land just north of State Road 70. The majority of the units will be rented at market rate, but 24 of those apartments in the 5100 block of 18th St. Ct. E. will be designated affordable housing.

In a presentation to the Manatee Board of County Commissioners, planners said they designed the project to be as cohesive as possible with the surrounding neighborhood, but more than a dozen nearby residents spoke during public comment to say the affordable housing complex does not fit.

Theres a fine line between meeting the affordable housing need and trading it off for the quality of life of existing Manatee County residents, said Margi Nanney, a longtime Oneco resident. Please dont take ours away.

Apartments in the middle of low-density, single-family housing is not the right decision for Oneco, added Jonathan Van Dyke, who represented the Groveland Homeowners Association.

The Manatee County Commission recently approved 301 Flats and The Savoy at 301, a 100% affordable housing complex also located in Oneco. The combined 572-unit complex is the largest affordable housing project in the county.

Manatee County officials approved a 94-unit affordable housing complex in an Oneco neighborhood just north of State Road 70. The complex is expected to open sometime in 2025.

Neighbors seek project changes

Neighbors complained about the height of the building and the traffic it will add to 18th Street Court East, which is a narrow road. County staffers asked the developer to use that street for access because it keeps vehicle traffic away from the railroad that runs along the west side of the property.

A few board members agreed that 18th Street Court East might be a difficult spot for site entry.

Im very familiar with this area and my biggest concern is the traffic, said Commissioner Amanda Ballard, who lives in Oneco.

Others noted that state law requires the county to improve the roadway, not the developer.

Thats not how the state works. Thats not how our approvals work. If we think 18th [Street Court East] is inadequate, put it on the [Capital Improvement Plan], said Commissioner George Kruse.

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While affordable housing is one of the top issues for residents in Manatee County, and many other areas of Florida, proposed projects can fall victim to NIMBY-ism, which stands for not in my backyard. Neighbors who would have to live next to such housing often fight it.

More affordable housing in Oneco

In his presentation to the board, Bob Gause, a certified planner and president of Gause and Associates, Inc., said his team specifically designed the complex to include landscape buffers and impact windows to reduce the sound associated with an active railroad line.

At the end of the day, we want to be able to rent these units, said Gause.

According to Gause, the existence of the railroad line will be disclosed to future tenants. Board members said they expect residents will welcome the addition of affordable housing, even if it means living near the tracks.

You want affordable housing? You can only charge so much to live next to the railroad tracks, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge said.

I promise you there will be 94 families that will pay some amount of money to live next to a railroad track, Kruse added.

Commissioners voted 4-2 to approve the rezone and preliminary site plan for the Oneco Living Apartments. Commissioners Jason Bearden and Ballard voted against the proposal. Commissioner Vanessa Baugh was absent and did not vote.

Gause said he expects the construction to begin sometime next year, with the apartments accepting residents in 2025.
Jamal Barak was shot twice while supporting the British Army in Afghanistan

An Afghan interpreter who worked for the British Army has been denied compensation from the government after he was shot twice by the Taliban.

Jamal Barak, who moved to Coventry, was with the Army for eight years.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it had paid out more than 3.3m to Afghans injured as a result of their employment with the military but Mr Barak was told he was not eligible for compensation.

The MoD said all claims were assessed by medical and legal experts.

Mr Barak was 17 when he first started working with the Army as an interpreter and served from 2008-2015.

He said he was shot twice, once in the chest and again in the back, while he worked with the Scots Guards in Helmand Province.

Mr Barak said he was still in pain after being shot by the Taliban

Although he has difficulty walking, been left unable to work and requires daily pain relief, he was told he was ineligible for government compensation.

He said he felt "so disappointed" to be denied compensation for his injuries.

"All the reasons they gave to me was that you have to have significant impairment or disability," he said.

"They want us to be a fully disabled person, we should have lost our legs or hands, then they'd be able to pay us the money."

The MoD's guidance states payments are not intended for people expected to recover or "where they may be left with some permanent or long-lasting impairment of a less serious nature, for example limited in either the degree of pain or loss of faculty".

While it was unable to comment on individual cases, a spokesperson said it was "committed to awarding appropriate ex-gratia medical payments to those brave people who worked alongside our soldiers on patrol" if it received "sufficient evidence".

Cases could be re-assessed if a victim's condition worsened, the MoD added.

"I'm urging the government to change the criteria," Mr Barak said, adding he would consider legal action if his case was not reconsidered.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk
Adams County sheriff's deputies sued Afroman for using their images without their permission in music videos and merchandise last month.

Adams County sheriff's deputies' lawsuit against Afroman advanced Thursday, putting legal proceedings on the rapper's 4/20 agenda.

Early Thursday, which also happens to be a stoner-loved holiday, lawyers representing the "Because I Got High" rapper had a pretrial phone call and scheduling conference with the deputies' attorney and Adams County Judge Jerry McBride. The hearing was the latest development in officers' lawsuit against Afroman after the Winchester, Ohio, resident used their images in music videos and merchandise following a raid on his home.

Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, has continued to promote the videos and merchandise and post jokes about the deputies online, which could have future implications on the suit. Here's what we know.

Afroman lawsuit: Ohio deputies sue Afroman for using their likeness in music videos. Rapper responds

Strictly Legal: Do the cops who sued Afroman have a case?

What happened during Thursday's pretrial call

The Enquirer spoke to Bruce Rivers, a criminal defense lawyer in Minneapolis representing Afroman, after Thursday's hearing.

Rivers said Robert Klingler, the Cincinnati attorney representing the deputies, said he will amend the officers' complaint to include new evidence since Afroman has continued promoting the merchandise on social media. Klingler has until May 9 to amend the complaint.

"We filed a motion to dismiss (the lawsuit) because we don't think it's right that somebody should be limited in their speech the way they want to limit his speech," Rivers said.

The lawyer said he hasn't advised Afroman to stop posting about the deputies, adding: "He's a free spirit. He's gonna do what he wants to do."

Arthur West, a First Amendment rights advocate and Afroman fan who lives in Olympia, Washington, attempted to intervene in the lawsuit, according to court documents. West told The Enquirer the judge denied his motion Thursday, but granted him amicus curiae status, which means he will be able to submit briefs about the suit to the court.

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The next scheduling hearing for the suit is June 8, Rivers said.

Afroman did not participate in the hearing. The rapper is slated to perform in Vancouver, Canada, tonight, according to his website.

The Enquirer reached out to Klingler and Afroman's other attorney Tyler Cantrell, but did not hear back.

Politics: Afroman announces 2024 presidential bid and, no surprise, wants to decriminalize cannabis

Crime: Investigators say deputies miscounted, Afroman not missing money from raid

Adams County officers sued Afroman March 13

Adams County Deputies Shawn Cooley, Justin Cooley, Shawn Grooms and Lisa Phillips, Sgts. Michael Estep and Randolph Walters Jr. and detective Sgt. Brian Newland sued the rapper, his company Hungry Hustler Records; Media Access, Inc., a Texas-based record company, and three unidentified businesses last month.

The officers claim Afroman used and profited from their likeness without their permission when he used footage from the deputies' raid on his home in music videos and T-shirts. According to the complaint, the footage was recorded by Afroman's wife during the raid. Security cameras in the couple's home also captured video of the raid.

The artist later used this footage in multiple music videos, including "Lemon Pound Cake" and "Will You Help Me Repair My Door," which poked fun at the deputies. As a result, the deputies say they've suffered embarrassment, ridicule and death threats.

The suit identifies one count of unauthorized use of the deputies' likeness and three counts of invading their privacy. Deputies are seeking profits Afroman made from using their likeness and an order that would prevent the artist from continuing to use their images.

"They just want him to stop talking about them and I don't think that's gonna happen," Rivers said Thursday.

Afroman previously accused sheriff's deputies of stealing his money

Deputies said they seized $5,031 in cash from Afroman's Ohio home while executing a search warrant in August because they believed the money was connected to drug trafficking. No charges were filed against the rapper, and the money was returned to him in late November, minus $400.

Afroman accused deputies of stealing the money on social media. However, an investigation by the Clermont County Sheriff's Office found the correct amount of money was returned to him, and that Adams County deputies had miscounted the seized funds.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Afroman lawsuit: What Ohio deputies, lawyers discussed at 4/20 hearing
Fire crews responded to a fire at 701 Lehman St. in Lebanon Wednesday afternoon at approximately 4:08 p.m. for a multi dwelling blaze that displaced residents.

Acting Fire Chief A.J. Sweitzer said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, and it began as an outside fire that made its way up into the third floor of the structure.

Fire crews responded to 701 Lehman St. Wednesday at approximately 4:08 p.m. to battle a fire that had originated outside and worked its way to the third floor of the building.

Sweitzer said 17 adults living in the building were displaced. No children were living in the building.

There were no injuries reported.

The city has made contact with the Red Cross for support.

Extensive damage was caused to all three floors of the building, including the first floor restaurant, Bella Lebanon Pizzeria, which suffered water damage.

All three floors of the building, including the first floor restaurant, Bella Lebanon Pizzeria, were damaged.

The property was insured, according to Sweitzer.

This investigation is ongoing. Please check back with the Lebanon Daily News for updates.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on Twitter @djlarlham

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Afternoon fire displaces 17 residents in Lebanon, Pa.
Theres something new every morning. My students and I are adapting to generative artificial intelligence, a new technology that can help my students write papers, or help me write lectures and this article (I didnt use it).

Such innovations benefit everyone. New technologies and innovations produce economic growth and our standard of living. As the statesman Edmund Burke once said: America demands invention and innovation to succeed.

Economics has from its start been a study of how innovation leads to economic growth. Adam Smiths famous book on economics is titled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Smith was asking what makes us better off, what creates wealth.

Peter Crabb

What Smith learned, and later economists have since verified, is that innovation is the source of wealth. For Smith, it was the division of labor duties that gave rise to more specialized workers with better skills  that is, more innovative ways of doing things or being productive.

Today, productivity gains come from advances in all areas of life: chatbots, communication, faster computer chips and maybe even pitch clocks. Higher productivity makes workers more efficient and helps companies find more ways to use workers and improve service.

To make all this happen will need a good investment environment. Alexander Field summarizes what economists have learned about productivity in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. He writes, The bottom line: If a country wants its standard of living to rise over the long run, its labor productivity has to go up. And for that to happen, it either has to save more or innovate.

Economists have suggested ways the government can promote the needed savings and innovation. First, policies that promote saving by households (think IRA accounts) and innovation by businesses (think research tax credits) raise the level of investment and give rise to new technologies.

A second, and perhaps a more surprising policy, is immigration. I was recently reminded of this fact by Boise State University economics professor Rafael Ribas, who emigrated from Brazil. Economic growth theory and historical evidence support an increase in work visas for foreigners.

For example, Giovanni Peri at University of California-Davis has demonstrated that immigrants expand the economys productive capacity, stimulate new investment and boost productivity. In one study, Peri found that states with higher immigrant worker populations have higher rates of output per worker.

To keep the economy growing, we have to be open to new technologies. We need to also consider more open borders.
Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco, California Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

Elon Musk's new AI researcher Igor Babuschkin was arrested in March in a domestic violence case.

Musk reportedly hired Babuschkin as part of a push to develop a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Twitter brought on Babuschkin, a DeepMind alum, as senior director of engineering, Insider previously reported.

Igor Babuschkin, one of Twitter's engineering hires who Elon Musk is reportedly hoping can help him build a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, was arrested in March in what police in Palo Alto, California, called "a domestic violence incident."

Babuschkin was arrested on the morning of March 6 by Palo Alto police, who arrived on the scene of a complaint and determined that a misdemeanor domestic violence incident had occurred, Lieutenant Brian Philip of the Palo Alto Police Department confirmed to Insider.

Babuschkin was released from custody the same evening, after he posted bond on a $10,000 bail, Philip confirmed to Insider. The arrest was first reported by the tech news site The Information.

The case involved "a minor injury," but did not otherwise pose a threat to public safety, Philip told Insider. He declined to offer details about the incident, saying the case is confidential.

Babuschkin was arrested at 588 Webster Street, according to a police report log posted last month on the Palo Alto Police Department's website.

The Santa Clara District Attorney's office decided not to bring formal charges against Babuschkin following the arrest, Cynthia Sumida, the public information officer at the DA's office, told Insider.

Babuschkin did not respond to Insider's calls and emailed requests for comment. Musk did not respond to Insider's request for comment sent to his Tesla and SpaceX email addresses. An email sent to Twitter's press address received a poop emoji auto-response.

Babuschkin had left DeepMind, Google's AI firm, and joined Twitter as senior director of engineering, Insider's Kali Hays has previously reported. Babuschkin also told The Information in February that Musk was discussing the possibility of creating a chatbot whose "responses are more trustworthy and reliable."

Musk, who has criticized the notion of "training AI to be woke," has reportedly been developing his own AI startup, and recently incorporated X.AI Corp., per WSJ. Musk has also brought on resources including roughly 10,000 graphics processing units to execute his AI plans, Insider previously reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Akron police and Summit County Sheriff's deputies used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse a protest along Copley Road about 8:10 p.m. Wednesday after declaring the march to be an unlawful assembly.

The police action took place while at least 100 people and numerous vehicles took part in the march protesting the police shooting death of Jayland Walker. Protesters had blocked traffic without permission at a few intersections for as long as 15 minutes.

The officers' response prompted criticism from local activists and several City Council members, who questioned whether police overreacted to a protest that had been peaceful.

Jayland Walker protesters stand on their car parked in the middle of Copley Road Wednesday in Akron.

Ward 4 Akron City Councilman Russ Neal said he arrived at the Copley Road scene of Wednesdays demonstration as chemical agents were being deployed. Neal said he spoke directly to Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett by phone and directly to those who organized the protest.

You know, now that I've heard from the chief, I understand what the concerns were as far as how the the road was blocked," Neal said.

However, police and sheriff's deputies on scene appeared to have provoked the crowd, he said.

Tear gas and the pepper spray were released in the air, and you know that never just stays where you shoot it  it disperses through the whole crowd. It just made matters worse," he said. If the reason why they said they sprayed is because people were throwing bricks and other things, I could understand it, but I didn't see any of that, so I can't speak to it. I haven't heard about anybody from the crowds there [throwing things].

What happened on Copley Road?

After moving through Walker's neighborhood where he lived as a child, the crowd arrived in front of the Copley Road Family Dollar, where people stopped for a time before moving on.

A short time later, a line of police vehicles descended on the protesters near East Avenue, prompting some protesters to crowd the officers. That's when pepper spray was used by police and deputies.

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After the pepper spray was deployed, some protesters began throwing water bottles, bricks and rocks.

As police advanced up Copley Road, they issued several warnings for marchers to clear the streets and get onto the sidewalks.

Several minutes later, at roughly 8:10 p.m., officers used a chemical irritant on the retreating group. As police advanced, they continued pepper spraying bystanders, some of whom had moved to the sidewalk.

Many participants began clearing out after the chemical spray was deployed. The acrid cloud hung in the air, slowly drifting toward the crowd, carried by a light breeze.

Police reviewing video before commenting

About 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Chief Steve Mylett told the Beacon Journal that he was waiting to review video from the Summit County Sheriff's Office and Ohio State Patrol and will comment later.

"I am waiting on video footage from a few of our partner law enforcement agencies to help clarify someconfusion," he said in a statement. "Before I explain what happened, I need to be sure of the timeline of events. Ifinformation is released prematurely and without the facts, that misinformation could cause irrevocable damage.

"As soon as I can confidently determine the exact circumstances of how [Wednesday] evening unfolded, I will make that information available to the public. If we made mistakes, we would improve upon them, and if the officers actions were reasonable, we would share that information as well.

At a press conference on Monday, Mylett explained the department's policy on disturbances, "So, in the event that we experience violence during a protest  people throwing rocks, bricks, smashing windows or assaulting other people or assaulting officers  we will declare that assembly an unlawful assembly."

He also said that they would give people numerous chances to leave the protest area with instructions about where they can leave and how to get to the egress.

Akron police officers deploy a chemical spray Wednesday night to disperse protester blocking traffic on Copley Road.

"At that point," Mylett said "our hope is that everybody would comply. If people continue to engage in violent behavior, then well use the tools and resources at our disposal to have people leave the area safely. Where arrests need to be made, we will make those arrests. But, again, our sincere hope is that were not going to experience that this time."

Late Wednesday, Akron police Lt. Michael Miller in a text message that he was told, "at the height of the incident, there were up to 70 cars on East Avenue at Copley, curb to curb." He also was told "unknown subjects were throwing bricks, bottles and rocks at police."

Miller was not aware of any arrests, but confirmed pepper spray and a chemical irritant were used.

At approximately 7:57pm officers were having bottles thrown at them from marchers. That's when the orders to disperse were given.  City of Akron, Ohio (@AkronOhioMayor) April 20, 2023

After Copley Road was cleared, Miller said he'd also heard reports of crowds and reckless driving in Highland Square, including, "vehicle and motorcycle doing donuts and wheelies and driving reverse of traffic and creating general disturbances."

Later in the evening, broken glass was discovered at three Highland Square businesses and downtown, but it was not clear if the vandalism was related to protests.

Community leaders react to police response to Wednesday night protest

At least two City Council members who are running to be Akron's next mayor issued statements critical of the police response to the protest.

Ward 5 Akron City Councilwoman and Akron mayoral candidate Tara Mosley released a statement Thursday morning saying Akron police declared the protest an "unlawful assembly" and that declaration "was their justification for deploying chemical weapons on the people of Akron. They pepper-sprayed them. They tear-gassed them."

"There are no reports of any injuries or property damage before the officers declared the assembly to be unlawful," the statement reads. "What, then, was unlawful about this assembly? The city claims that the officers issued orders to disperse because 'officers were having bottles thrown at them from marchers.' But, from the available evidence  and there is much of it online  the protests were peaceful before the officers ordered the people to disperse. The people were calling for accountability. Nothing more, nothing less. The people were protesting the Jayland Walker decision. They were crying out for healing. They were standing up for their neighbors and community and families and children.

"This assembly was not unlawful; it was demanding to be heard."

8:30pm An unlawful assembly was declared and orders to disperse issued. The area of Copley Rd. is now clear.  City of Akron, Ohio (@AkronOhioMayor) April 20, 2023

Ward 8 Akron City Councilman and Akron mayoral candidate Shammas Malik released a statement Thursday afternoon saying a video showed "police using pepper spray, not in urgent self-defense, but in an almost casual way on a crowd that included children, spraying many people who had already left the road and were attempting to comply with police commands. This behavior is unacceptable.

"It appears that as police moved in on the protest, a handful of individuals threw water bottles and rocks at them. People engaging in violence should be arrested and charged, but it appears none were."

Ray Greene, executive director of the Freedom BLOC (Black Led Organizing Collaborative posted a statement on Facebook Thursday calling on the police chief and Deputy Mayor Marco Sommerville, who is running for mayor, to stop Akron police officers "from torturing citizens" and to fire the eight officers who shot Walker.

"The gestapo tactics will not deter us from the streets in Summit County," he said. "We will continue to march until the 8 officers who killed Jayland Walker are fired."

The officers are on paid administrative leave; the city has launched an internal investigation after the special grand jury decided this week no criminal charges were warranted.

State report: Jayland Walker was 'great person' who was grieving his 'soul mate,' family told BCI

Protest began as peaceful march at Hawkins Plaza

A special grand jury on Monday ruled eight Akron officers were justified in the death of Walker, sparking new outrage and protests in the community.

Walker, 25, was fatally shot more than 40 times on June 27 after a car and foot chase for an equipment violation. He was unarmed during the shooting, but police said he fired a shot from his vehicle less than a minute into the chase. A handgun was found in his vehicle.

Wednesday evening's march was the first to be organized by members of the Walker family. Demetrius Travis Sr., Jayland Walker's cousin, said his cousin, Alexis Walker, felt compelled to arrange it. A spokesperson for Pamela Walker, Jayland Walker's mother, said she did not sponsor the march.

Alexis declined to speak with a reporter.

Over the last ninie months, she didnt know what she could do, he said. Today, she decided to get up and use her voice, but she knew I was involved, and the people I deal with, so she utilized her big cousin.

The march began with about a dozen people around 6 p.m. at Hawkins Plaza and proceeded north up South Hawkins Avenue to Copley Road. Numerous people and vehicles joined along the way.Wednesdays march was an effort to affect change, Travis said.

The group, comprised of men, women and children, set out down South Hawkins Avenue, blocking traffic, and headed north toward Copley Road. A column of honking vehicles formed up behind the marchers who held up fists and signs as they went.

More: Black leaders urge Akron to seek unity despite outrage over Jayland Walker case

At the intersection of South Hawkins Avenue and Bellvue Avenue, a man was stopped, watching the marchers pass and holding his fist out the window.

The man was William Dancy, who said demonstrations such as these send the message that people are fed up with a system in dire need of change.

This is to let them know that were ready for change, were not going to allow this to keep going on, Dancy said.

Upon reaching the intersection of South Hawkins Avenue and Copley Road, protesters stopped, cars from the convoy circling up around them. There they stayed for roughly 15 minutes, chanting and taking a break to drink water distributed by other marchers before moving up Copley Road.

A Jayland Walker protester dodges a chemical canister deployed by Akron police officers on Copley Road on Wednesday to break up a protest over the shooting death of Jayland Walker by police.

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron police, Summit deputies use chemicals at Jayland Walker protest
The Akron Public Schools board will choose its next superintendent with the help of a search firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Akron Public Schools board President Derrick Hall and Vice President Diana Autry.

The board on Monday voted to select Ray & Associates, an educational executive search firm, after interviewing that firm and two others in a public meeting.

The firm's president, Michael Collins, is from Westerville, Ohio, and said they have associates throughout the state, including Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby, who will aid in Akron's search.

The cost is estimated to be about $30,200, according to a presentation the firm made to the school board this week. The board also considered pitches from Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates for an estimated $40,870 and the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio, for $16,900. Former Akron CFO and Treasurer Ryan Pendleton now works for the educational service center, although it doesn't appear he would have been involved in the search.

For its last superintendent search, which brought former superintendent Christine Fowler Mack to Akron, the board used the Ohio School Boards Association.

The vote to choose Ray & Associates was 4-0 with two board members absent. The board is also down a member right now, but four members was enough for a quorum for a special meeting to pick a search firm.

Fowler Mack left the district mid-February, but the board had not yet moved on hiring a search firm until this week. The intention, board leadership has said, is to have someone in the job this summer before the new school year.

Ray & Associates' president said the board's timeframe is "challenging" but "it can be done."

Collins said the process would involve community engagement on the front end, with about a dozen or more focus groups to assess what stakeholders are looking for in the district's next leader. The community would then have a chance to submit feedback about the finalists before the board makes a decision.

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"Its a structured process that gives a sense of transparency and authenticity to the community," Collins said.

Board President Derrick Hall said he liked Ray & Associates' high level of experience.

"They were a nice mix of Ohio and national," he said. "I like that they have a superintendent that's just right up the road."

Hall said he also liked that the firm is conducting the Columbus City Schools superintendent search.

"I feel a little bit more confident knowing that another large, respected district chose them," Hall said.

Board Vice President Diana Autry said she liked that the firm has a wide pool of applicants.

"I like that piece," she said. "I like their team and the experience of their team."

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Public Schools timeline 'challenging' to pick new superintendent
Al Pacino has revealed which Godfather is his favorite  or at least the most entertaining.

During an hourlong chat Wednesday in 92NYs People Who Inspire Us series, the legendary actor was asked if he preferred The Godfather, Part II to the original.

No, I dont, said Pacino, per The Hollywood Reporter. I really think its more  what would you call it  artistic or something, I dont know. I dont mean to play it down or be overly modest because I star in it with Bob De Niro, but at the same time, its a different film.

You see, The Godfather is more entertaining, he continued. Godfather II is this study, this personal thing for [director] Francis [Ford Coppola]. Godfather I, I saw it recently, its always got two or three things going on in a scene. Youre always in the story, youre going.

Pacino added that the original 1972 film was storytelling at its finest. The sequel, which shifted between Vito Corleones rise in the Mafia and his fractured family after his death, was somber and moves slowly, he said.

Both movies are regarded as Hollywood masterpieces, though many critics said The Godfather, Part II surpassed the original.

Pacino said the original

Pacino said the original "Godfather" was "more entertaining" than the "somber" 1974 sequel.

During Wednesdays conversation, hosted by David Rubenstein, a billionaire who co-founded the Carlyle Group investment firm, Pacino also explained why he turned down Star Wars, and admitted he watched The Offer  a Paramount+ series dramatizing the troubled production of The Godfather.

About half of it was true. Really, thats a shock, said Pacino.

Pacino said he was offered so much money to play Han Solo  but turned down Star Wars because he didnt understand it.

I gave Harrison Ford a career, which [he] has never thanked me for! Pacino joked.

Pacino, 82, a beloved native New Yorker, won an Academy Award for Scent of a Woman (1992) and has a string of Emmys and Golden Globes.

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He said hes working on a memoir.

You get to that age, you start to do things like that, Pacino said, per The Hollywood Reporter. I stayed away from it, but I think Ive got to sort of talk about certain things.

Related...
Al Pacino has teasingly taken credit for Harrison Fords illustrious career.

Before Ford became known globally as rebel hero Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise, it appears the Millennium Falcon spaceship couldve had a different pilot.

During an event in New York on Wednesday (19 April), Pacino revealed he had originally been offered Fords role in the sci-fi fantasy.

When I first came up, I was the new kid on the block, you know what happens when you first become famous, The Godfather star told the audience per Variety. Its like, Give it to Al. Theyd give me Queen Elizabeth to play.

Pacino said he was given a script called Star Wars and had been offered so much money.

The 82-year-old Scarface actor explained that he read it but didnt understand it.

So I said I couldnt do it, Pacino said. I turned down Star Wars.

Al Pacino and Harrison Ford (Getty Images)

He then joked: I gave Harrison Ford a career.

While Pacino turned down the role that would go on to shoot Ford to worldwide fame, he instead led the 1977 romance drama Bobby Deerfield.

Although his alternative choice was poorly received by critics, Pacino went on to star in other classics, including Scarface (1983), Carlitos Way (1993), Donnie Brasco (1997), and more recently The Irishman (2019).

Just before leading the final film in the Star Wars trilogy, Ford landed his career-defining role as the intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

Three more Indiana Jones films later and the now 80-year-old actor will reprise the iconic role in the forthcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, premiering in cinemas on 30 June.

In order for the opening sequence to maintain continuity with the original trilogy, Ford will feature digitally de-aged.

Last December, Indiana Jones fans rejoiced at the release of the first trailer teaser for the fifth movie.
Cantor Debbie Miller lights a candle during the observance of Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Temple Israel in Valparaiso, Indiana Tuesday April 18, 2023. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

A somber service began Temple Israels Tuesday program to remember the Holocaust, including songs and the lighting of candles to remember the victims.

We begin with silence, the silence of death, the silence of 6 million. The silence of memory. Let us remember them, said Rabbi Shoshana Feferman, referring to the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, in which millions of others also died at the hands of Nazi Germany.

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This is not just to remember them. We must learn a lesson, said Feferman. We hope that the world has learned from history. We need to show compassion and not stand idly by when others experience their own Holocaust.

Temple Israel in Valparaiso commemorated Yom Hashoah  Holocaust Remembrance Day with a special event. Faculty of middle school and high schools, along with pastors and youth ministers who teach about the Holocaust and Jewish history were invited to hear Rosalie Levinson, a child of two Holocaust survivors.

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Arbeit Macht Frei or Work Sets You Free sign at the entrance of Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp in occupied Poland during WW II is shown during the Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Temple Israel in Valparaiso, Indiana Tuesday April 18, 2023. The guest speaker, Dr. Rosalie Berger Levinson, retired from more than 40 years as a professor at the former Valparaiso University Law School, is the child of Holocaust survivors. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

Our goal with this program and in our community is to learn from each other, said Temple President Elisabeth Cohon. Education is always ongoing. It only takes one person to make change in the rise of antisemitism.

Guest speaker Rosalie Levinson was a professor of law at Valparaiso University for 43 years. Since 2016, she has been telling the stories of her parents to many school children and other groups.

She also serves as a leader for Sliding Dors, an international program that reaches out to second-generation Holocaust survivors. In 2020, she was named chair of Jewish Community Relations Committee of Northwest Indianas Jewish Federation, which focuses on promoting interfaith understanding through educational programs.

Levinsons presentation, entitled My Parents Never Spoke of It, tells the stories from two perspectives as her parents lived through the Holocaust in different places and under different circumstances. It was not until their deaths that she learned their stories.

I knew that my parents had endured unspeakable horrors, said Levinson. I never knew why I had lost so much family. I never knew why we lit so many candles.

Dr. Rosalie Berger Levinson speaks during the observance of Yom HaShoah- Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Temple Israel in Valparaiso, Indiana Tuesday April 18, 2023. Levinson, retired from more than 40 years as a professor at the former Valparaiso University Law School, is the child of Holocaust survivors. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

I have read many studies confirming that children of Holocaust survivors often had terrible nightmares as children and, as adults, many continue to suffer from debilitating anxiety, having absorbed and internalized the horror and the pain of their parents, said Levinson, sharing her own story of nightmares. It is a form of PTSD that is conveyed without words.

In the mid-1990s, Levinsons parents were among the 50,000 Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses who gave their testimony to the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation that was spearheaded by Steven Spielberg, but never let their children watch those tapes. It was only after their passing that the recordings were found in their home.

Watching those tapes and hearing their horrifying stories made me realize that I had a personal responsibility to address and to teach about the Holocaust, said Levinson. I had to continue their legacy. It is only by telling the stories we can show that the victims of the Holocaust were real people with real lives, murdered only because they were Jewish.

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Yom HaShoah candles, lit to honor the memory of victims, were lit during the Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Temple Israel in Valparaiso, Indiana Tuesday April 18, 2023. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

In September of 1943 in Czechoslovakia, Levinsons father, who had just turned 21, was conscripted into the Nazi-controlled Hungarian army and was assigned to a slave labor camp where he dug trenches and built bunkers for 15 hours every day. During this time, he was permanently blinded from the physical abuse he endured.

In March of 1945, Levinsons father was moved to Austria to a concentration camp that specialized in working their prisoners to death, as they forced them to carry 100-pound rocks up 186 stairs from the granite quarry, said Levinson. There was absolutely no food. My father saw only skeletons. He existed on tree bark, grass and puddles. He watched men and women fall into the latrines and drown from starvation and exhaustion.

Levinsons mother had turned 14 in 1939 when she was kicked out of the public schools and forced to wear the yellow armband identifying her as a Jew to the Nazis. She too suffered tremendous abuse and starvation in the camps for years as she watched her family members die, one by one.

Ed and Kerry Hollander read from the program during the Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Temple Israel in Valparaiso, Indiana Tuesday April 18, 2023. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

Levinsons mother and father had met before the war when they were 12 and 15 years old, when they performed in a play together. They found each other after the liberation.

Now more than ever the stories need to be told, said Levinson. The Holocaust didnt end genocide or ethnic cleansing. The human motivation that helped create the Holocaust  fear, envy, sadism, hatred, ignorance  are still present and on the rise throughout the world. We live in a toxic environment where hatred and bigotry are all too prevalent.

My parents were teenagers when the Nazis invaded and destroyed their lives, said Levinson. Despite the unspeakable horrors they experienced, they were able to start over, to marry, to have children and to provide a loving home.

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My parents did not allow hatred and bitterness to dominate their lives, said Levinson. They rose above it.

Deena Lawley-Dixon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Unclaimed Baggage, a retail store that sells lost luggage in Alabama is opening a museum in Scottsboro to show the standout oddities the business has collected in its 53 years of operation.

The store, which is headquartered in Scottsboro, will open an Unclaimed Baggage Museum on Friday, April 21, at the companys 509 West Willow Street location.

More than 100 items will be put on display as "found treasures," according to Unclaimed Baggages Public Relations Manager Sonni Hood, who made an announcement on April 11 from the lost luggage retailers YouTube account.

All the displayed items were unpacked from suitcases that were left unclaimed, Hood explained in the promotional video.

TEXAS MUSEUM TO RETURN STOLEN ROMAN BUST AFTER WOMAN BOUGHT IT AT GOODWILL FOR $35

Unclaimed Baggage wrote in a press release that its curated collection includes historic finds such as ancient Egyptian artifacts from 1500 B.C., primitive hair tools, plaques from antiquity, suits of armor, a violin from 1772, a 19th-century box camera and a Victorian-era hand fan.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Other notable unique finds include an Hermes necklace from the 1980s, a basketball signed by Michael Jordan and a Hoggle dwarf puppet mask from Jim Hensons fantasy film "Labyrinth," which starred David Bowie.

"People are endlessly curious about the variety and wonder of items discovered in unclaimed bags," said Bryan Owens, CEO of Unclaimed Baggage, in a statement.

"Weve seen it all," he continued. "Our store is like an archeological dig, with unclaimed treasures telling stories about people and culture over time and from all parts of the world."

INTEGRATING AI INTO MUSEUMS: EXPERT SAYS VISITORS MAY ONE DAY INTERACT WITH PEOPLE FROM HISTORY

Unclaimed Baggage was founded in 1970 by Owens father, Doyle Owens, who started the business after he purchased a load of unclaimed bags from a travel company and sold the contents to the public, according to a promotional video for the Unclaimed Baggage Museum on Vimeo.

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The Unclaimed Baggage Museum has suits of armor, swords, a mask designed after Hoggle from 'Labrynth' and a historic string instrument on display.

The lost luggage retailer continues to source its inventory from domestic airlines, transportation companies and other travel businesses, according to Unclaimed Baggage's website.

"Airline passengers waiting for their bags upon arrival are almost certain to see them riding atop the bag carousel," Unclaimed Baggages "How it Works" webpage states. "Thats because airlines use sophisticated tracking technology to reunite over 99.5% of bags with their owners right away."

"If a bag is truly lost, airlines pay out a claim to the passenger," the lost luggage retailer went on. "Its only after an extensive three-month search that an unclaimed bag is deemed truly orphaned, a fate realized by less than 0.03% of all checked luggage! Thats where we come in."

GOODWILL STARTS ONLINE THRIFT SHORE GOODWILLFINDS: 'TRANSFORMING LIVES'

For the "found treasures" museum exhibition, Unclaimed Baggage partnered with museum archivists and specialists who helped the retailer with item research, exhibit designs and display installs for the unique items, Hood explained in a promo video. The museum items will be displayed in 10 groupings.

The Unclaimed Baggage Museum grand opening will take place on Friday at 11 a.m. with a special ribbon cutting ceremony and museum staff discussions. Games, treats and cake will be available for the celebration.

On Saturday, the museum will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and guided tours will be available for visitors. The museum will keep celebrations going with food trucks, music, vendors and games.

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The Unclaimed Baggage Museum will continue after its opening weekend as a permanent addition to the Scottsboro-based Unclaimed Baggage store.
A fifth suspect has been arrested on reckless murder charges for the mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured in Dadeville, Alabama.

Authorities announced the arrest of Willie George Brown Jr, 19, on Thursday, five days after the horror attack at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio on Saturday night. Earlier in the day, 20-year-old Johnny Letron Brown was held by the authorities.

The arrest came two days after police identified the first suspects apprehended in the case, 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough and 16-year-old Travis McCullough. The third suspect, 20-year-old Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, was arrested on Wednesday.

All five are facing four counts each of reckless murder and more charges are expected to follow.

High school football star Philstavious Phil Dowdell, 18, was one of the four killed in the incident and it has emerged that he died saving the life of his sister Alexis, whose birthday celebration it was.

Shaunkivia Nicole KeKe Smith, 17, Marsiah Collins, 19, and Corbin Holston, 23, were also killed.

No motive has been outlined by the police.

Key Points

Five suspects arrested and charged with reckless murder

Family members welcome the arrests

High school football star among four victims of latest mass shooting

Motive for the shooting still not released by authorities

Five suspects arrested and charged with reckless murder

04:13 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Five people, including three teenagers, have been arrested on reckless murder charges for the mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party that left four people dead and 32 injured in Dadeville, Alabama.

Willie George Brown Jr, 19, was arrested Thursday and charged with four counts of reckless murder, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

Earlier in the day, Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee, was arrested and also charged with four counts of reckless murder.

The arrest came two days after police identified the first suspects apprehended in the case, 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough and 16-year-old Travis McCullough.The third suspect, 20-year-old Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, was arrested on Wednesday.

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**FIFTH ARREST**

On Thursday, April 20, Special

Agents with the ALEA SBI, made a 5th arrest in connection to the Tallapoosa County death investigation in Dadeville. Willie George Brown Jr., 19, of Auburn, was arrested and formally charged with four counts of Reckless Murder. pic.twitter.com/9aZCGGIqyt  Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (@ALEAprotects) April 20, 2023

Family members welcome the arrests

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

The fatal victims were identified on Monday as Keke Nicole Smith, 17, Phil Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19 and Corbin Holston, 23. Four victims remain hospitalised in critical condition as of Wednesday night, District Attorney Mark Sergist said.

It dont make the hurt any easier. But we are relieved that they (the suspects) are not out in the community, Smiths cousin Amy Jackson told the AP.

The gunfire broke out at a birthday party for Dowdells sister Alexis Dowdell, which was being held at a dance studio just off the towns courthouse square. Witnesses had said multiple people began shooting some time after Dowdells mother paused the celebration to ask people with guns to leave.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night straight from her hospital bed, The Montgomery Advertiser reported.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didnt get out and five minutes later the shooting started, she said.

I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didnt know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.

Read more:

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Pictured: The four Alabama shooting suspects

Thursday 20 April 2023 23:00 , Megan Sheets

Tyreese Ty Reik McCullough, 17 (Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Dpt)

Travis McCullough, 16 (Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Dpt)

Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20 (Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Dpt)

Johnny Letron Brown, 20 (ALEA)

Man with same name as alleged Dadeville shooter receives threats

Thursday 20 April 2023 22:00 , Megan Sheets

Travis McCullough, 16, is among the four people arrested by Alabama police in connection with the Dadeville shooting where four people lost their lives.

However, a 36-year-old man, who is also named Travis McCullough, has been receiving threatening and hateful messages on social media.

Ive been scared to go outside just because of the messages and comments Ive been seeing, Mr McCullough told Montgomery Advertiser.

Mr McCullough works as a delivery driver and lives 40 miles northeast in the valley. He initially began deleting the hate comments and DMs but later realised he might need proof of the threats if something bad were to happen.

Ive been cautious about that all day, he said. Just know, Im not the one that did it.

What was the motive for the shooting?

Thursday 20 April 2023 21:00 , Megan Sheets

Four suspects have now been charged over the mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama.

Travis McCullough, 16; his brother Tyreese Ty Reik McCullough, 17; Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20; and Johnny Letron Brown, 20, were all charged with four counts of reckless murder.

The motive for the attack remains unknown.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency declined to discuss how investigators believe the shooting unfolded.

We cant get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation, he said.

We cant share that.

As of Thursday afternoon, the agency still has not provided any additional information.

Authorities say investigation was been complex and thorough

Thursday 20 April 2023 20:15 , Megan Sheets

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency assured that its investigation has been complex and thorough after announcing the arrest of a fourth suspect.

Read the full update on the arrest from Andrea Blanco:

Fourth man arrested in Alabama shooting that left four people dead and 32 injured

Unclear how many suspects are being sought

Thursday 20 April 2023 19:51 , Megan Sheets

Before police announced the arrest of a fourth suspect on Thursday, there had been no indication that another suspect was being sought.

The same can be said for the news of a third arrest on Wednesday.

The two developments raise a concerning question: How many people are actually being sought as suspects?

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency officials had already faced criticism earlier this week as residents questioned whether the public should have been informed of ongoing threats to the community prior to the first two arrests.

Unclear how many suspects are being sought

Thursday 20 April 2023 19:46 , Megan Sheets

Before police announced the arrest of a fourth suspect on Thursday, there had been no indication that another suspect was being sought.

The same can be said for the news of a third arrest on Wednesday.

The two developments raise a concerning question: How many people are actually being sought as suspects?

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency officials had already faced criticism earlier this week as residents questioned whether the public should have been informed of ongoing threats to the community prior to the first two arrests.

Fourth person arrested for murder

Thursday 20 April 2023 19:29 , Megan Sheets

A fourth person has now been charged in connection with the shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama.

Johnny Letron Brown, 20, was arrested on Thursday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

He is facing four counts of reckless murder.

Who are the victims of the Dadeville shooting?

Thursday 20 April 2023 18:33 , Andrea Blanco

The tragedy has hit every corner in the small city of just 3,200, Amy Jackson told The Independent on Monday. Ms Jacksons cousin Keke Nicole Smith is among the victims killed  and she has at least two other loved ones recovering in hospital. Her fiances cousin Corbin Holston was also killed during the attack.

Its still fresh. It hasnt sunk in that this is really happening. Its a close-knitted community, people know everybody. Your kids are our kids type of community, Ms Jackson said. And its just hard to believe that something like that, that we normally see on TV ... is our reality.

Read more:

You dont mess with out kids

Thursday 20 April 2023 17:41 , Andrea Blanco

Tallapoosa District Attorney Mark Sergist said more charges are expected to come. The suspects will have a bond hearing within the next 72 hours, and the prosecutors are expected to ask a judge to hold them without bail.

Mr Sergist became emotional as he announced the developments, saying some of the victims were children of his longtime friends. He said that grand jurors typically meet in Tallapoosa County in March and September, but he said he would recall grand jurors to seek an indictment before September

Theres an uncut cake and unburnt birthday candles that never got lit, he said. I know some of these victims personally ... These are my kids, these are our kids, you dont mess with our kids.

Alabama birthday party shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: Nobody would help me

Thursday 20 April 2023 16:52 , Andrea Blanco

Police in smalltown Dadeville, Alabama, are continuing their investigation into the mass shooting at a teenagers birthday party that left four people dead and a further 32 injured.

The violence broke out at approximately 10.34pm on Saturday at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in the downtown area of Dadeville where Alexis Dowdell was celebrating her 16th birthday with friends and family.

The Independents Joe Sommerlad has more:

Alabama shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: Nobody would help me

What charges are the suspects facing?

Thursday 20 April 2023 16:17 , Andrea Blanco

The three men arrested earlier this week have been charged with four counts of reckless murder each.

Tallapoosa County District Attorney Mark Sergist said on Wednesday that more charges are to come.

We are going to make sure every victim gets justice, not just the deceased, Mr Sergist said. Even though these are 16 and 17-year-olds, we are going to charge them as adults.

Mr Sergist became emotional as he announced the developments, saying some of the victims were children of his longtime friends. He said that grand jurors typically meet in Tallapoosa County in March and September, but he would recall a panel to seek an indictment before September.

Fatal victims mother asked attendees with guns to leave party before shooting unfolded

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:51 , Andrea Blanco

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, told CBS News that Phil and Alexis Dowdells mother had ordered anyone with a gun to leave the party just moments before the shooting unfolded.

The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didnt get out and five minutes later the shooting started, Ms Cox said.

I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didnt know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.

Authorities said earlier this week that they did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene. They did find numerous shell casings used in handguns.

Man with same name as one of alleged Dadeville shooter receives threats

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:21 , Andrea Blanco

Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and his 16-year-old brother Travis McCullough were arrested by the Alabama police in connection with the Dadeville shooting where four people lost their lives.

However, a 36-year-old man, who is also named Travis McCullough, has been receiving threatening and hateful messages on social media.

Ive been scared to go outside just because of the messages and comments Ive been seeing, Mr McCullough told Montgomery Advertiser.

Mr McCullough works as a delivery driver and lives 40 miles northeast in the valley. He initially began deleting the hate comments and DMs but later realised he might need proof of the threats if something bad were to happen.

Ive been cautious about that all day, he said. Just know, Im not the one that did it.

Who are the suspects arrested?

Thursday 20 April 2023 14:23 , Andrea Blanco

Authorities announced the arrests of 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough, 16-year-old Travis McCullough and Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20, on Wednesday, three days after four people were killed and 32 injured by gunfire at a Sweet 16 party. According to local outlet AL.com, the teen suspects are brothers.

The teens were taken into custody on Tuesday night, while Mr LaMar was arrested on Wednesday evening. They have been charged with four counts of reckless murder.

Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said during a press conference that a motive for the shooting has been determined, but details will not be shared with the public at this time.

Please understand, with the violence that went on and the magnitude of what happened, we are absolutely still in the early stages of the investigation, Sgt Burkett said. This is the beginning, this is not the end. There is a tremendous amount of work that is yet to be done.

WATCH: Police announce arrests at Wednesdays press conference

Thursday 20 April 2023 13:45 , Rachel Sharp

Motive still unknown

Thursday 20 April 2023 13:00 , Rachel Sharp

Three suspects have now been charged over the mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama.

Travis McCullough, 16, his brother Tyreese Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20, were all charged with four counts of reckless murder.

The motive for the attack remains unknown.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency declined to discuss how investigators believe the shooting unfolded.

We cant get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation, he said.

We cant share that.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey says work is not done

Thursday 20 April 2023 12:15 , Rachel Sharp

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey tweets has said that the work is not done following the arrests of three people in the mass shooting at a Sweet 16 party.

Violent crime has NO place in Alabama and what happened in Dadeville was horrific. Im proud of the major progress made by law enforcement, she tweeted on Wednesday.

The work is not done, and we will fully support ALEA as they work to ensure we hold ALL responsible for this tragedy accountable.

Violent crime has NO place in Alabama and what happened in Dadeville was horrific. Im proud of the major progress made by law enforcement. The work is not done, and we will fully support ALEA as they work to ensure we hold ALL responsible for this tragedy accountable.  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) April 19, 2023

PICTURED: Mugshots of three suspects

Thursday 20 April 2023 11:47 , Rachel Sharp

Travis McCullough (Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Dpt)

Tyreese Ty Reik McCullough (Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Dpt)

Wilson LaMar Hill Jr. (Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Dpt)

Alabama birthday party shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: Nobody would help me

Thursday 20 April 2023 09:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Police in smalltown Dadeville, Alabama, are continuing their investigation into the mass shooting at a teenagers birthday party that left four people dead and a further 32 injured.

The violence broke out at approximately 10.34pm on Saturday at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in the downtown area of Dadeville where Alexis Dowdell was celebrating her 16th birthday with friends and family.

The Independents Joe Sommerlad has more:

Alabama shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: Nobody would help me

Teens arrested in connection to Dadeville shooting are brothers

Thursday 20 April 2023 08:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Dadeville Police announced the arrests of 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough and 16-year-old Travis McCullough and Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20, at a press conference on Wednesday morning after remaining tight-lipped about the progress of the investigation for four days after the horror attack at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio on Saturday night.

According to local outlet AL.com, the teens suspects are brothers.

The teens were taken into custody on Tuesday night and have been charged with four counts of reckless murder each. Mr McCullough was arrested on Wednesday.

Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said during a press conference on Wednesday that a motive for the shooting has been determined, but details will not be shared with the public at this time.

Man with same name as one of alleged Dadeville shooter receives threats

Thursday 20 April 2023 08:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and his 16-year-old brother Travis McCullough were arrested by the Alabama police in connection with the Dadeville shooting where four people lost their lives.

However, a 36-year-old man, who is also named Travis McCullough, has been receiving threatening and hateful messages on social media.

Ive been scared to go outside just because of the messages and comments Ive been seeing, Mr McCullough told Montgomery Advertiser.

Mr McCullough works as a delivery driver and lives 40 miles northeast in the valley. He initially began deleting the hate comments and DMs but later realised he might need proof of the threats if something bad were to happen.

Ive been cautious about that all day, he said. Just know, Im not the one that did it.

Motive known but not yet released

Thursday 20 April 2023 07:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Sgt Jeremy J Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency indicated that investigators have determined a motive for the shooting, but refused to release it at the time of the press conference.

We cant get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation, Mr Burkett said.

We cant share that.

He also denied to discuss how investigators believe the shooting unfolded.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Thursday 20 April 2023 07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A survivor of the Dadeville, Alabama, mass shooting attended a vigil in her hospital gown just a day after the tragedy.

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didnt get out and five minutes later the shooting started, she said.

I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didnt know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.

Andrea Blanco reports.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Suspects werent invited to party, says victims mother

Thursday 20 April 2023 06:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The three suspects were not invited to the party and her daughter didnt know them, said the mother of the teenager whose Sweet 16 birthday party was interrupted by the shooting.

They might have come with someone else as word of the party spread on social media, added LaTonya Allen, who is also the mother of one of the shooting victims.

I just feel broken to know he is not with me, Ms Allen said. But I do feel a little peace knowing they arrested somebody.

Family members welcome the arrests

Thursday 20 April 2023 06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The fatal victims were identified on Monday as Keke Nicole Smith, 17, Phil Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19 and Corbin Holston, 23. Four victims remain hospitalised in critical condition as of Wednesday night, District Attorney Mark Sergist said.

It dont make the hurt any easier. But we are relieved that they (the suspects) are not out in the community, Smiths cousin Amy Jackson told the AP.

The gunfire broke out at a birthday party for Dowdells sister Alexis Dowdell, which was being held at a dance studio just off the towns courthouse square. Witnesses had said multiple people began shooting some time after Dowdells mother paused the celebration to ask people with guns to leave.

Victim Phil Dowdell died saving sister's life

Thursday 20 April 2023 05:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A high school star, who was among the victims of a mass shooting in Alabama, died while saving his sister's life.

The shooting took place on Saturday night during the 'Sweet 16' birthday party of Phil Dowdell's sister, Alexis, at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio.

Dowdell pushed his sister to the ground as soon as gunfire erupted at around 10.34pm inside the dance studio. "I guess he tried to push me out the door as fast as he could," Alexis told the Associated Press.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.

Alabama shooting victim Phil Dowdell died saving his sisters life

Three charged with reckless murder in Dadeville shooting

Thursday 20 April 2023 04:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Two teenagers and a 20-year-old man have been arrested and charged with reckless murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced that Tuskegee residents Tyreese Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16  and Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20, of Auburn  have been charged with four counts of reckless murder.

Tallapoosa County district attorney Mike Segrest said the two teens would be tried as adults, an automatic requirement for anyone 16 or older charged with murder in Alabama.

More charges to come, DA says

Thursday 20 April 2023 04:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Tallapoosa District Attorney Mark Sergist said more charges are expected to come. The suspects will have a bond hearing within the next 72 hours, and the state will suggest no bond.

The shootings Saturday night rocked the small town of Dadeville, about 80 miles southeast of Birmingham, and families suddenly found themselves planning memorials and burial services instead of graduation parties or college move-ins.

The fatal victims were identified on Monday as Keke Nicole Smith, 17, Phil Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19 and Corbin Holston, 23.

Four victims remain hospitalised in critical condition as of Wednesday night, Mr Sergist said.

We are going to make sure every victim gets justice, not just the deceased, he said during the press conference. Even though these are 16 and 17-year-olds, we are going to charge them as adults.

Suspects identified as Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16

Thursday 20 April 2023 02:00 , Andrea Blanco

The suspects have been named as 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough and 16-year-old Travis McCullough.

They were taken into custody on Tuesday night.

Both teens have been charged as adults with four counts of reckless murder.

More charges are expected to follow.

The Independents Andrea Blanco has more:

Teen brothers arrested in Alabama Sweet 16 mass shooting

Motive known but not yet released

Thursday 20 April 2023 01:00 , Andrea Blanco

Sgt Jeremy J Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency indicated that investigators have determined a motive for the shooting, but they are not releasing it at this time.

We cant get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation, Mr Burkett said. We cant share that.

The official also declined to disclose where the suspects are being held in jail.

Phil Dowdells mother asked attendees with guns to leave party before shooting unfolded

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, told CBS News that Phil and Alexis Dowdells mother had ordered anyone with a gun to leave the party just moments before the shooting unfolded.

The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didnt get out and five minutes later the shooting started, Ms Cox said.

I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didnt know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.

Authorities said earlier this week that they did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene. They did find numerous shell casings used in handguns.

PICTURED: Wilson LaMar Hill Jr, 20, and Ty Reik McCullough, 17

Wednesday 19 April 2023 23:21 , Andrea Blanco

(ALEA)

Third arrest announced in Sweet 16 SHOOTING

Wednesday 19 April 2023 23:05 , Andrea Blanco

Authorities say a man, 20, has also been arrested in the shooting.

Total number of Dadeville injured raised from 28 to 32, ALEA says

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:42 , Andrea Blanco

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) revealed that the number of people wounded in the attack on Alexis Dowdells birthday party was 32 and not 28 as it had previously stated.

The number of lives lost remains at four, it added.

After conducting a preliminary analysis of the evidence at the scene, as well as reviewing the information that has been received so far, Special Agents are still in the process of gathering information relative to the sequence of events that ultimately led to the shooting, the agency wrote.

Special Agents did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene; however, they did recover numerous shell casings used in handguns. Investigators are still processing all of the evidence, in conjunction with completing interviews, in an effort to solidify a motive and potential suspects.

Suspects identified as Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:55 , Andrea Blanco

The suspects have been named as 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough and 16-year-old Travis McCullough.

They were taken into custody on Tuesday night.

Both teens have been charged as adults with four counts of reckless murder.

More charges are expected to follow.

The Independents Andrea Blanco has more:

Teen brothers arrested in Alabama Sweet 16 mass shooting

Victims mother asked attendees with guns to leave party before shooting unfolded

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:23 , Andrea Blanco

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, told CBS News that Phil and Alexis Dowdells mother had ordered anyone with a gun to leave the party just moments before the shooting unfolded.

The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didnt get out and five minutes later the shooting started, Ms Cox said.

I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didnt know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.

Authorities said earlier this week that they did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene. They did find numerous shell casings used in handguns.

Teens arrested in connection to Dadeville shooting are brothers

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:42 , Andrea Blanco

Three days after gunfire at a Sweet 16 birthday party killed four young people and injured 32 more, some critically, authorities in Dadeville announced the arrests of Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16.

According to local outlet AL.com, the suspects are brothers.

The teens were taken into custody on Tuesday night and have been charged with four counts of reckless murder each. Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said during a press conference on Wednesday that a motive for the shooting has been determined, but details will not be shared with the public at this time.

Community members start fundraisers for those affected by shooting

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:17 , Andrea Blanco

Several community members, businesses and nonprofits have reportedly begun to raise funds to help those affected by Saturdays mass shooting.

Longleaf Antique Mall announced on its Facebook page it is collecting monetary donations for the victims and families, which will be passed on to the First Baptist Church of Dadeville.

A flower shop has been selling door and mailbox bows for $15, which will go towards a scholarship fund in memory of Phil Dowdell and Shaunkivia Keke Smith.

A GoFundMe campaign for Dowdell has been set up by his mother, LaTonya Allen, as the family navigates through funeral expenses. Another fundraiser was set up for Smiths family.

You dont mess with out kids'

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:00 , Andrea Blanco

Tallapoosa District Attorney Mark Sergist said more charges are expected to come. The suspects will have a bond hearing within the next 72 hours, and the prosecutors are expected to ask a judge to hold them without bail.

Mr Sergist became emotional as he announced the developments, saying some of the victims were children of his longtime friends. He said that grand jurors typically meet in Tallapoosa County in March and September, but he said he would recall grand jurors to seek an indictment before September

Theres an uncut cake and unburnt birthday candles that never got lit, he said. I know some of these victims personally ... These are my kids, these are our kids, you dont mess with our kids.

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:45 , Andrea Blanco

Taniya Cox, an 18-year-old who was shot twice in her right arm as she fled the party, joined hundreds of residents, community leaders and local politicians at a vigil on Sunday night straight from her hospital bed, The Montgomery Advertiser reported.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Cox also recounted the moments leading up to the violence and recalled seeing more than one gunman.

The mother said whoever had guns had to get out and they didnt get out and five minutes later the shooting started, she said.

I ran in front of a bullet and got shot. I didnt know what was going on I just saw blood coming out of my arm.

Read more:

Dadeville shooting victim attends vigil in hospital gown

Alabama birthday party shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: Nobody would help me

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:30 , Andrea Blanco

Police in smalltown Dadeville, Alabama, are continuing their investigation into the mass shooting at a teenagers birthday party that left four people dead and a further 32 injured.

The violence broke out at approximately 10.34pm on Saturday at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in the downtown area of Dadeville where Alexis Dowdell was celebrating her 16th birthday with friends and family.

The Independents Joe Sommerlad has more:

Alabama shooting victim speaks out from hospital bed: Nobody would help me

What comes next for two suspects in Dadeville shooting?

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:15 , Andrea Blanco

Tallapoosa District Attorney Mark Sergist said more charges are expected to come. The suspects will have a bond hearing within the next 72 hours, and the prosecutors are expected to ask a judge to hold them without bail.

Mr Sergist became emotional as he announced the developments, saying some of the victims were children of his longtime friends. He said that grand jurors typically meet in Tallapoosa County in March and September, but he said he would recall grand jurors to seek an indictment before September

Theres an uncut cake and unburnt birthday candles that never got lit, he said. I know some of these victims personally ... These are my kids, these are our kids, you dont mess with our kids.

Teens charged as adults, DA says

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:00 , Andrea Blanco

The shootings Saturday night rocked the small town of Dadeville, about 80 miles southeast of Birmingham, and families suddenly found themselves planning memorials and burial services instead of graduation parties or college move-ins.

The fatal victims were identified on Monday as Keke Nicole Smith, 17, Phil Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19 and Corbin Holston, 23. Four victims remain hospitalised in critical condition as of Wednesday night.

We are going to make sure every victim gets justice, not just the deceased, District Attorney Mark Sergist said during a press conference on Wednesday. Even though these are 16 and 17-year-olds, we are going to charge them as adults.

Who are the suspects arrested on Tuesday?

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:44 , Andrea Blanco

Three days after gunfire at a Sweet 16 birthday party killed four young people and injured 32 more, some critically, authorities in Dadeville announced the arrests of Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16.

The teens were taken into custody on Tuesday night and have been charged with four counts of reckless murder each. Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said during a press conference on Wednesday that a motive for the shooting has been determined, but details will not be shared with the public at this time.

Please understand, with the violence that went on and the magnitude of what happened, we are absolutely still in the early stages of the investigation, Sgt Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said during a press conference on Wednesday. This is the beginning, this is not the end. There is a tremendous amount of work that is yet to be done.

Family members welcome the arrests

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:21 , Andrea Blanco

The fatal victims were identified on Monday as Keke Nicole Smith, 17, Phil Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19 and Corbin Holston, 23. Four victims remain hospitalised in critical condition as of Wednesday night, District Attorney Mark Sergist said.

It dont make the hurt any easier. But we are relieved that they (the suspects) are not out in the community, Smiths cousin Amy Jackson told the AP.

The gunfire broke out at a birthday party for Dowdells sister Alexis Dowdell, which was being held at a dance studio just off the towns courthouse square. Witnesses had said multiple people began shooting some time after Dowdells mother paused the celebration to ask people with guns to leave.

More charges expected, DA says

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:46 , Andrea Blanco

Tallapoosa District Attorney Mark Sergist said more charges are expected to come. The suspects will have a bond hearing within the next 72 hours, and the state will suggest no bond.

The shootings Saturday night rocked the small town of Dadeville, about 80 miles southeast of Birmingham, and families suddenly found themselves planning memorials and burial services instead of graduation parties or college move-ins.

The fatal victims were identified on Monday as Keke Nicole Smith, 17, Phil Dowdell, 18, Marsiah Collins, 19 and Corbin Holston, 23.

Four victims remain hospitalised in critical condition as of Wednesday night, Mr Sergist said.

We are going to make sure every victim gets justice, not just the deceased, he said during the press conference. Even though these are 16 and 17-year-olds, we are going to charge them as adults.

Motive known but not yet released

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:40 , Megan Sheets

Sgt Jeremy J Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency indicated that investigators have determined a motive for the shooting, but they are not releasing it at this time.

We cant get into a motive right now, because that would be part of an ongoing investigation, Mr Burkett said. We cant share that.

The official also declined to disclose where the suspects are being held in jail.

District attorney vows to get justice for all victims

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:30 , Megan Sheets

District Attorney Mike Segrest vowed to secure justice for all of the shooting victims during Wednesdays press conference announcing the charges.

Were going to make sure all those victims have justice, not just the deceased, Mr Segrest said after noting that four of the injured remain hospitalised.

The district attorney noted that grand juries to bring an indictment typically meet in Tallapoosa County in March and September - but in this case he hopes to call one before then.

If we can establish the facts, we will be asking our grand jury to come back in, he said.

Suspects identified as Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:13 , Megan Sheets

The suspects have been named as 17-year-old Ty Reik McCullough and 16-year-old Travis McCullough.

They were taken into custody on Tuesday night.

Both teens have been charged as adults with four counts of reckless murder.

More charges are expected to follow.

The Independents Andrea Blanco has more:

Two teens arrested in Alabama Sweet 16 mass shooting
Shopping carts are parked outside a Home Depot in Philadelphia on Sept. 21. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

A 26-year-old Home Depot employee in Pleasanton was fatally shot last week when he confronted a shoplifter inside the home improvement store, according to Alameda County officials.

Blake Mohs, 26, who worked as a loss-prevention employee at the store, was shot in the chest April 18 as he tried to stop a woman from stealing a large yellow toolbox, the Pleasanton Police Department said.

After shooting Mohs at point-blank range, the woman  later identified by authorities as 32-year-old Benicia Knapps  took the toolbox and ran outside to a waiting red Nissan Pathfinder occupied by a male driver and the woman's small child, according to police.

The vehicle sped off, and a police pursuit ensued, with Knapps appearing to hold on to her 1-year-old in the passenger seat as the driver  identified as David Guillory, 31  headed against traffic, with the passenger door swinging open at one point, police said.

Knapps and Guillory were arrested a short time later in Oakland by Alameda County sheriffs deputies. The gun used in the shooting was recovered at a nearby intersection, authorities said.

Officers provided aid to Mohs when they arrived at the Home Depot store, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

On Thursday, the Alameda County district attorney's office charged Knapps with murder, robbery, abandonment and neglect of children, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Guillory was charged with felony reckless evading, evading an officer by driving on the opposite side of the street, resisting arrest, and abandonment and neglect of children, according to prosecutors.

Mohs was a Tri-Valley resident who worked in community youth programs and planned to get married this summer, authorities said. He is survived by his parents, brother and fiancee.

Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown called Mohs' death the result of a "senseless shooting."

"Through his service to Tri-Valley organizations, Blake was a model for others," Brown said in a statement.

"To have a life cut short is heartbreaking and infuriating. Im joined by the City Council in offering our deepest condolences to Blakes family, friends, loved ones, and to everyone impacted by this tragedy."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Charges have been dropped against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his Western movie "Rust" after "new facts" surfaced in recent days, officials said Thursday.

The announcement came 2  months after New Mexico prosecutors filed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin.

In a statement, the special prosecutors appointed by New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies to handle the case said the new facts were revealed as authorities prepared for a May 3 preliminary hearing.

The statement, from Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, does not say what those facts are but says they require additional investigation and forensic analysis.

"Consequently, we cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form," the prosecutors said. "We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin to conduct further investigation."

The prosecutors added that decision does not "absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability." Charges may be refiled, they said.

The charges against Baldwins co-defendant, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, remain unchanged, the prosecutors said.

The Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal reported the new information in the case was that the prop gun used in the deadly shooting had been modified. A source close to the investigation confirmed that reporting to NBC News.

Baldwin has said that he did not pull the trigger.

Baldwin's lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, applauded the decision and said in a joint statement that they "encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.

Lawyers for Gutierrez-Reed said the special prosecutors had undertaken a diligent and thorough approach to the entire investigation, which we welcome and have always welcomed."

Story continues

They are seeking the truth and we are also," attorneys Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion said in a statement. "The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered. We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated.

Image: Alec Baldwin (MEGA / GC Images / Getty Images file)

University of New Mexico law professor Joshua Kastenberg, a former lawyer and judge in the Air Force who had questioned the strength of the DA's case, said he was still surprised by the sudden turn of events Thursday.

"What probably shocked me the most is that I just feel badly for the family of the woman who died," Kastenberg said.

"I'm sure it's difficult for them to handle" the decision not to prosecute Baldwin, he said. "Nothing was ever going to bring their kid back, so I'm sure there's a lot of frustrations there."

Hutchins, 42, was shot and killed Oct. 21, 2021, during filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.

Baldwin was rehearsing with a pistol for a scene when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

The case appeared to be fraught from the start, when special prosecutor Andrea Reeb was forced to resign amid defense claims that she had a conflict of interest.

Reeb is also a New Mexico state representative, and her work for the DA would mean she occupies two separate lanes of government that should be separated, Baldwin's team said.

The district attorney is "considered to be a member of either the judicial or executive branch of the New Mexico government, Baldwin's legal team said in a filing.

And legal analysts said the state was always going to have a difficult burden to prove Hutchins' death was anything more than a tragic accident.

Blaming Baldwin  as both the person with the gun in his hand and the producer allegedly in charge for everything on set  was always going to be difficult burden for prosecutors, said Los Angeles-based personal injury attorney Miguel Custodio.

They may also have come to a realization that they perhaps were trying to hold Baldwin to higher degrees of responsibility because he also was a producer, but thats also a tenuous link," Custodio said.

"Were they charging Baldwin solely on his role as the actor who fired the killing shot, or as a producer whose safety protocols were in shambles?"

The New Mexico prosecutor's decision Thursday brought huge sighs of relief throughout Hollywood, where everyone on set feared they could be held responsible for the next accident, said L.A.-based entertainment and corporate attorney Tre Lovell.

"The dropping of criminal charges against Alec Baldwin is a huge weight off of the entertainment industrys shoulders," Lovell said.

"The Baldwin prosecution would have created precedence to hold actors and production personnel unrelated to set safety criminally responsible for accidents on set, which would have turned the world of movie-making upside down. Collective bargaining agreements, set safety procedures, exclusive reliance on safety experts, among other things, would have changed, and not for the better.

Filming on "Rust" resumed Thursday at Yellowstone Ranch in Montana. The movie is expected to need at least 20 more days of filming, and Baldwin was on the set Thursday, sources close to the production said.

The movie's plot centers on a 13-year-old boy left to fend for himself and his younger brother after their parents deaths in 1880s Kansas.

The youngsters go on the run with their long-estranged grandfather Harland Rust, played by Baldwin, after hes sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
US-AWARD-EQUITY-HUMAN RIGHTS-HOPE AWARD GALA - Credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Alec Baldwins Western film Rust is set to begin filming again this week, according to a representative for the production company. Rust Move Productions attorney Melina Spadone said work on the movie will resume today, 18 months after Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set.

Baldwin will continue his involvement as an actor and co-producer. Montanas Yellowstone Film Ranch will be used instead of the original location in New Mexico, where the shooting took place. Earlier this year, it was announced that Bianca Cline will take over as cinematographer.

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The production will continue to utilize union crew members and will bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition, Spadone confirmed in a statement to press. Live ammunition is  and always was  prohibited on set.

The resumption of filming on Rust was first announced last October when Baldwin and the other producers reached a settlement with Matthew Hutchins, whod filed a wrongful death suit against the production on behalf of his late wife. As part of the deal, it was announced that Matthew would serve as an executive producer on the film and receive a cut of the movies profits.

Rust director Joel Souza  who was also injured in the shooting  previously said of resuming production, Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining former cast and crew are committed to completing what Halyna and I started. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halynas legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf.

Last month, Rust Move Productions finalized a settlement with New Mexicos Occupational Health and Safety Bureau over serious violations and agreed to pay a $100,000 fine. The Bureau found that Rust Movie Productions took little to no action to confront two misfires on the film set before the fatal shooting of Hutchins, and that gun safety complaints from crew members went unanswered.

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In a statement to Rolling Stone, the production company said it plans to appeal the findings. While we appreciate OSHAs time and effort in its investigation, we disagree with its findings and plan to appeal, the statement read. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Halynas family.

Separately, prosecutors in Santa Fe are pressing forward with involuntary manslaughter charges against both Baldwin and weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Evidentiary hearings are scheduled for early May to decide whether to proceed to trial.

Hutchins was killed and Souza was wounded during a rehearsal on the set of Rust on Oct. 21, 2021. The incident occurred when Baldwin inadvertently discharged a prop gun that had been loaded with a live round, believing the prop had been cold. There have been numerous investigations into the incident by various government agencies, from the Santa Fe Sheriffs Office to the FBI.

The shooting has prompted several civil lawsuits (as well as some fines). Most notably, Hutchins family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin, Rust producer Ryan Donnell Smith, Gutierrez-Reed, assistant director Dave Halls, prop master Sarah Zachary, and armorer mentor Seth Kenney.

Last month, assistant director Dave Halls entered a plea of no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. He will not face any jail time and will serve six months of unsupervised probation.

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New Mexico prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against Alec Baldwin over the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust, according to the actors attorneys.

Baldwins lawyers said the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin was dismissed without prejudice.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident, attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement to Reuters.

The charges against armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed remain. Both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed pleaded not guilty during a February hearing.

Baldwin has maintained he did not pull the trigger of the 1880s prop gun that killed Hutchins on the movie set in October 2021. In a December 2021 interview with George Stephanopoulos, the actor said he had no idea how the firearm was discharged.

Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasnt even supposed to be on the property, he told ABC at the time.

An investigation by the FBI reached a different conclusion last August. Forensics found no way the weapon could have gone off without someone pulling the trigger.

The production company behind Rust finalized a $100,000 settlement with New Mexico workplace safety regulators in March.

Filming on Rust is reportedly set to resume on Thursday. The production relocated from New Mexico to the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana and Baldwin will return as the lead.

Related...
Alec Baldwin pictured playing football in Washington Square Park in New York - The Mega Agency

Alec Baldwin's manslaughter charges over the fatal shooting on the set of his movie Rust have been dropped, the actor's lawyer said, but prosecutors said charges could still be refiled after further investigation.

"This decision does not absolve Mr Baldwin of criminal culpability,'' the New Mexico prosecutors said in a statement, and indicated ''existing'' evidence from police was not enough to proceed on.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed and director Joel Souza, 49, was wounded in October 2021, when a gun Mr Baldwin was using during a rehearsal for the Western in the New Mexico desert fired off a live bullet.

Mr Baldwin, 65, was charged with involuntary manslaughter over the shooting in January, and could have faced up to 18 months in prison if convicted. The charges were dropped on Thursday.

Alec Baldwin - Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office/AFP / Getty Images

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident, said Mr Baldwin's lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro.

The actor was accused of showing a reckless disregard for safety in Ms Hutchins' death. The actor and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's weapons supervisor, were both charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting.

In a statement shared with the PA news agency, New Mexico prosecutors said they were unable to proceed with the case due to time constraints and on facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement "in its existing form".

"We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr Baldwin to conduct further investigation," the statement read.

"This decision does not absolve Mr Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled. Our follow-up investigation will remain active and ongoing."

Halyna Hutchins - Andres Leighton/AP

The statement said that charges against Ms Gutierrez Reed remained unchanged.

The charged were dropped after the new prosecutors reviewed new evidence that showed the gun he was practising with had been modified before it was delivered to the set, according to an official close to the investigation speaking anonymously, the New York Times reported. That undercut the prosecutions original argument that the gun could not have fired unless Mr Baldwin had pulled the trigger, the official said.

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The Hollywood actor posted a photo of himself and his wife Hilaria Baldwin, and lawyer Luke Nikas, online, shortly after his lawyers released their statement on Thursday.

He captioned his Instagram post: "I owe everything I have to this woman ... (and to you, Luke)."

The charges against Mr Baldwin had marked a shocking fall for an A-list actor, whose 40-year career included the 1990 blockbuster The Hunt for Red October and a starring role in the mid-2000s sitcom 30 Rock.

He was also known for iconic appearances in Martin Scorseses The Departed (2006), and a film adaptation of David Mamets Glengary Glen Ross (1992).

In recent years he did impressions of former US president Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

David Halls, the Rust safety coordinator and assistant director, pleaded no contest in March to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months.

Mr Baldwin has said the gun went off accidentally and that he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled.

Rust - Jae C Hong/AP

The case against Mr Baldwin had been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence had already been dismissed, and the first special prosecutor in the case resigned.

Baldwin also faces a separate civil lawsuit, filed on February 9 by the family of Ms Hutchins. The family is suing the actor and the Rust movie production company for alleged battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and loss of consortium. Loss of consortium is a claim which seeks to recover compensation for damage to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.

Legal representatives for Rust Movie Productions stressed that all use of working weapons or ammunition is, "and always has been", prohibited on set.

Filming on the Western resumed on Thursday at Montana's Yellowstone Film Ranch set, according to Melina Spadone, a lawyer for Rust Movie Productions.

Mr Baldwin will continue his involvement as an actor and co-producer, the production company said on Wednesday.

The production company finalised a settlement last month with New Mexico workplace safety regulars over serious violations, agreeing to a $100,000 fine to resolve a scathing safety review that detailed unheeded complaints and misfires on set before the cinematographers shooting.

Mr Souza has said that he would return to the production to honour the legacy of Ms Hutchins.

Parts of a documentary about Ms Hutchins' life will be filmed simultaneously with Rust.
Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins

Filming on Alec Baldwin's Western movie Rust is resuming on Thursday, 18 months after the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Baldwin, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, is remaining in the the starring role.

Principal photography is starting up again at a new location in Montana.

"It will bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition," said Melina Spadone, lawyer for Rust Movie Productions.

"Live ammunition is - and always was - prohibited on set."

Cinematographer Hutchins was regarded as a rising talent in the film industry

Bianca Cline will take Hutchins' place as cinematographer, with Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting in New Mexico, returning as director.

Hutchins' husband Matthew will be an executive producer. Baldwin is a producer as well as the film's star.

Rust Movie productions, which Baldwin is part of, said in February the scene that was being rehearsed when Hutchins was shot has now been rewritten.

The company added that Cline, whose credits include Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and American Horror Story, will "complete Halyna's vision for the film" and donate her salary to charity.

Souza said in February: "Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining former cast and crew are committed to completing what Halyna and I started.

"My every effort on this film will be devoted to honouring Halyna's legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf."

Charges denied

In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing a scene on the set at a ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the "prop" gun he was holding fired, resulting in the death of the 42-year-old Ukrainian-born cinematographer.

Charges of involuntary manslaughter were brought against him and the film's armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed by the Santa Fe District Attorney's office last month.

Lawyers for both denied any wrongdoing and said they intended to fight the charges in court.

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Baldwin's lawyer, Luke Nikas, called the decision to charge the actor "a terrible miscarriage of justice".

"Mr Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun - or anywhere on the movie set," Mr Nikas said. "He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds."

A two-week preliminary hearing is due to begin in Santa Fe in early May to decide whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

The Hollywood star has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Mr Hutchins.

In February, Hutchins' family filed a new civil lawsuit against Baldwin and the production company seeking damages for alleged battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium.

Hutchins' widower Matthew also approved a documentary about her in February.
A drunk semi driver crashed into a car on Interstate 82 Thursday morning and then tried to flee, say investigators.

Girrod Simmons, 32, from South Carolina, was heading west on the interstate to Puyallup with a half-load of pizza pockets about 5:30 a.m., Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Thorson told the Herald.

As Simmons neared Locust Grove Road south of Kennewick, his semi hit the rear of a Honda heading in the same direction.

After crushing the trunk of the car, Simmons sped away, said Thorson. The driver called troopers, who stopped the truck about 10 miles down the highway near Dallas Road.

The woman driving the Honda was bruised, but not seriously hurt.

When troopers stopped Simmons, he tried telling them that he had only hit a deer.

Initial tests showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent He was booked into the Benton County jail for DUI and hit-and-run driving.

Its rare to find professional truck drivers driving drunk, Thorson said. They face much higher restrictions for intoxication. By federal law, the blood-alcohol level considered impaired is 0.04 percent.

The truck, which came from Illinois, was impounded and is being held until the owner to can retrieve it, he said.
University of Utah impact scholar Tim Shriver answers interview questions in the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

When Pew Research Center recently asked Americans whether the U.S. can solve its problems, more than half of those surveyed said no.

What theyre saying is, The countrys doomed. I dont think we can solve our problems, said bestselling author, longtime chairman of the Special Olympics and educator Tim Shriver.

The poll also found that 75% of Americans either have no confidence or very limited confidence in the wisdom of their fellow Americans, he said.

For Shriver, thats not an acceptable path forward for America. He is a co-founder of the UNITE initiative, which seeks to promote national unity and solidarity across differences.

Being a divisive, angry, hostile, opinionated person, and creating a superstructure in that culture that rewards that, is destroying the country and its deeply damaging our kids, said Shriver, who is an Impact Scholar at the University of Utahs Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

As part of his work as an Impact Scholar, Shriver is working with University of Utah students and faculty to bring dignity to public discourse and create a tipping point in the culture that starts to make contempt and hatred backfire, and to reward people who treat each other with dignity and compassion and decency, and solve problems and reduce divisions and prevent violence.

With a nod to the cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, a small number of committed people can change the world. Weve got a small number of committed people to this concept that our culture is sick and needs help, he said.

The hope and belief is that here in Utah we might be able marshal the energy of that small group of committed people to attract hundreds, thousands, millions more to the cause and create a tipping point and look back five or 10 years from now and say, Can you believe we once spoke about each other that way? Shriver said.

University of Utah impact scholar Tim Shriver poses for a portrait in the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

How did we get here?

As the pace of change stirs fear and anxiety itself, social media fans the flame of those feelings.

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I think our politicians have come to the conclusion that hatred, contempt and negativity are more effective at raising money and mobilizing bases and constituencies. Theyve entered into sort of an unholy alliance with the media because a lot of media finds the same thing. The more hateful the story, the more clicks it gets, he said.

At the same time, many institutions that moderate those forces, help cross divides and collaborate, are themselves in a weakened condition, such as religious institutions or civic and service organizations like the Rotary or the Lions Club.

Things like that would have held people together and now theres less trust in them, he said.

Fewer people are volunteering for the armed forces, institutions that have traditionally engendered a love of country or a commitment to the higher ideals of the country even if it wasnt meeting it, Shriver said.

What can break the cycle?

The perfect storm of forces has contributed to the nations cycle of addiction to contempt, he said.

Restoring dignity to public discourse and to basic human interactions requires self-reflection and committing to personal change regarding our perceptions of those we consider other, he said.

Asked what he means by dignity, Shriver explained, I see myself in you. I see we have something in common at a deep level. You have something inherent in you that is good and beautiful and capable of contributing to the hopes and dreams and future of the country.

There are other steps people can take to lower the temperature and insist on more thoughtful public discourse. Shriver said he quit watching cable television news. People can withhold campaign contributions to candidates whose rhetoric threatens the fabric of the nation, he said.

Wed like to have a debate in the state of Utah, maybe a presidential debate, but make it about dignity, not about your policy position on foreign policy or policy position on the economy or immigration or social issues, whatever they are. Lets have a debate on how you treat your opponents, he said.

But before something like that happens, there is hard work to be done on the University of Utah campus and in the larger community, Shriver said.

Its an enterprise grounded in the scholarship of psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, educators, political science people. Its a project grounded in activism, people who believe that by marshaling the best science and best ideas and putting them into the hands of activists who have a willingness to put one foot in front of the other and walk the pavement and knock on doors and use social media, that we can put those two things together and create scholarly impact, he said.

While in Utah this week, Shriver has spent time meeting with business and elected leaders, university leaders, and guest lecturing at the U.s College of Education.

His visit to Utah concludes Thursday but he will return to the campus in two weeks because he is also the general commencement speaker for the universitys graduation exercises on May 4.

University of Utah impact scholar Tim Shriver, right, meets with members of Students for Dignity, including Preston Brightwell, left, and Maddie Hair at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Bestselling author and social scientist Arthur Brooks was named a Gardner Policy Institute Impact Scholar last fall.

Impact Scholars agree to visit the U. campus each semester for three to four days to guest lecture, participate in roundtable discussions with state and local officials, and consult with university and community leaders.

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Brooks is a Harvard professor, a social scientist and columnist at The Atlantic. His book, Strength From Strength, which became a New York Times No. 1 bestseller, shows readers how to accept the gifts of the second half of life with grace, joy and deepening purpose.
A Chicago teen, 17, faces a murder charge for allegedly shooting a man in an alley behind a Hammond Kwik Mart over a $20 drug deal.

The Post-Tribune is not naming him, because he is a minor. He is charged with two counts each of murder and robbery.

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Durron DeGroot, 23, of Hammond, was found dead, shot once in the head.

Court records indicate the teen charged was being held at the Cook County juvenile detention center on April 5. He has since been extradited to Lake County Juvenile Center in Indiana.

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Police arrived just before 5 p.m. Aug. 6, 2022 to Kwik Mart, 4203 Hohman Avenue.

A man told police he was set to sell DeGroot $20 worth of marijuana. Since he didnt have a car, he sent a relative, 17, who brought a friend, the teen now charged, charges allege. The three met at an East Chicago park to talk about the drug deal.

At Kwik Mart, DeGroot went to the alleyway and appeared to exchange something with a teen in a green sweatshirt.

The driver, wearing black and white, steps out, then DeGroot appears to fall down. The teen in the green sweatshirt momentarily flinched from the gunshot. He grabbed a gun off DeGroots waist belt, before they fled.

Another witness said they were on FaceTime with DeGroot just before the shooting. DeGroot went inside to wait for the dealer. The witness told him to leave if no one showed.

I hope Im not getting set up, he said repeatedly.

A few minutes before the shooting, another witness called the police, saying he saw two young men wearing hoodies and face masks in summer in a suspicious gray Kia at a nearby gas station.

The Kwik Mart shooting was captured on security footage.
One of the survivors of a Mexican cartel kidnapping reportedly pulled a gun during a fight between children, according to police.

Latavia Washington McGee, 34, was one of four Americans who was kidnapped in Mexico by cartel members who mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers. The group had traveled from South Carolina to Mexico so Ms McGee could get a cosmetic procedure when the group was taken.

She was one of only two of her group who survived the ordeal. Shaheed Woodward and Zindell Brown, who traveled with her, were killed. A fourth companion, Eric James Williams, was shot in the leg, but survived. Ms McGee returned to the US uninjured.

Ms McGee was arrested on Friday after she allegedly pulled a "small black pistol" from her purse after taking her daughter to fight another child and an apartment complex in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, according to a report from WMBF-TV.

The incident occurred on 17 February  before her kidnapping  and police have only now acted on the warrant after reportedly giving her time to recuperate and spend time with her children.

She allegedly took her daughter to an apartment complex to fight another girl. A relative pulled her away from the scene, according to the police report.

Ms McGee allegedly returned to the scene and the children began to fight. The adults at the complex began to fight as well, which culminated with Ms McGee allegedly pulling a pistol from her purse and "waving it around."

She was ultimately arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to police. Ms McGee was held on a $10,000 bond.

Her lawyer, Mark Simmons, told the Daily Mail that the charge was in no way related to her ordeal in Mexico.

This charge was in no way related to the torture and death that [McGee] went through, he said. We believe that the police department was doing its job. We are grateful for the hard work the police department does, but we do look forward to the charge being dismissed.

The arrest came only two days after she appeared in an exclusive interview with CNN opposite Anderson Cooper.
A TikToker, currently living in Okinawa, Japan, posted a video detailing 10 differences between the United States and Japan that sent her into a coma.

Courtney Ramirez (@courtney_ramirez), who lived in Michigan and South Carolina prior to moving, posted an extensive list of what makes Japan so different.

Ten things that sent me into a coma as an American living in Japan, the video jokingly begins.

The first things Ramirez shared? Watermelon costs $40, fried chicken is considered a holiday food and sushi/seafood is extremely inexpensive.

Those facts alone were enough to floor viewers.

YOU SAID THE WATERMELON WAS WHAT, said @annabelle.calypso333.

Im sorry did u just say $40 watermelon, replied @instigator3000.

After that, Ramirez explained some of the societal norms there, saying parents often leave kids alone, car dealerships leave keys inside of unlocked cars and certain stores have parking spots dedicated to mothers with sleeping children.

Youll see a 4-year-old on the street and I promise you 4-year-old knows how to adult better than you do, the TikToker said. Theres literally designated parking spots for mothers who have sleeping babies in the car so they can go in, run their quick errand and leave their child in the car because nobody is going to their kid.

When it comes to the food culture, Ramirez had plenty of insights, saying that you check into restaurants with machines, gas stations have the best food and the quality is generally much higher than in America.

I can smell food in the United States and get sick, Ramirez said. Here, I can eat anything and everything and Ill feel like a million bucks afterwards.

By the end of the video, several people in the comments wanted to join the TikToker abroad.

*Googles how to move to Japan*, said @unlicensedtomom.

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I want to move out this country SO BAD, replied @ganjagh0ul.

Ramirezs praise for life in Okinawa might tempt some viewers to make the overseas transition soon.

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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is a mainstream progressive known for supporting a tougher U.S. approach to Saudi Arabia and stricter gun safety regulations.

In December, though, he began taking up a cause not typically on Congress agenda: an epidemic of loneliness in the United States that Murphy believes is quietly at the heart of the bitterness and violence wracking the country.

Were all searching for the reasons why theres been a retreat to very hair-trigger hostility and violence in this country, Murphy told HuffPost in a phone interview in March. Were all trying to understand why Donald Trump did so well despite the fact that he focused all his energy on tax cuts for the very elite.

Ive come to the conclusion that theres a lot of things that unite Americans that we refuse to see, and one of those things is the way that many of us are increasingly feeling very lonely, very isolated and increasingly disconnected, he added.

In discussions in the press and with colleagues, Murphy makes the case that the rise of social media and the isolating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have turbocharged the United States already-depleted communal infrastructure and norms. That has, in turn, helped fuel growing rates of mental illness, substance abuse, violence and even, some studies show, right-wing extremism.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) speaks about a bipartisan bill to rein in gun violence in June 2022. The bill's passage gave him hope for more collaboration between Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) speaks about a bipartisan bill to rein in gun violence in June 2022. The bill's passage gave him hope for more collaboration between Democrats and Republicans.

Rather than dismiss the uptick in right-wing extremism as evidence of some Americans incorrigible inclination for racism and sexism, Murphy sees the American loneliness epidemic as a phenomenon that can help explain that rise in a way that leaves room for constructive solutions without excusing hateful behavior.

When youre alone or lonely, thats often followed by anger, and thats understandable. Weve all felt lonely in our life, and we know how frustrating that feels and how it can easily lead to anger, Murphy said. The right has offered an off-ramp for that anger. They have offered connections and identity based around hate messages and division.

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Thats not where people want to go naturally, he added. I think folks who end up being attracted to these hate groups could be offered a much more constructive identity or a much more constructive set of connections. But they dont see that often.

For now, Murphy is engaged in an awareness-raising exercise without a clear set of policy goals. He aims to convince policymakers to join him but also to demonstrate to disaffected Americans that he is taking their concerns seriously.

My hope is that we can just spend some time talking about how we feel, he said. If disconnected people out there feel like people in government understand how they feel and care about how they feel, then maybe theyll be open to a conversation about policies that can help.

Theres a lot of things that unite Americans that we refuse to see, and one of those things is the way that many of us are increasingly feeling very lonely, very isolated and increasingly disconnected.Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

Murphy tipped his hand ever so slightly toward a suite of community-reviving policies that he anticipates both parties can get behind.

Youre talking about reining in the rough edges of technology, especially as it applies to our lonely kids. Youre talking about rebuilding healthy local communities. Youre talking about supporting churches and civic groups and local newspapers, Murphy said. All those things are not easily separated into right or left. Thats whats so attractive about this issue.

Murphys initiative comes amid growing research about how loneliness is affecting Americans mental health.

About seven months after U.S. society reorganized in response to the coronavirus pandemic, 36% of Americans reported feeling lonely frequently  up from 25% before the pandemic, according to an October 2020 survey conducted by Harvard University.

The rate of loneliness among American young people has become a particular cause for concern. More than 3 in 5  or 61%  of Americans ages 18 to 25 reported frequent loneliness in the Harvard study, compared with 24% of Americans ages 55 to 65.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), left, talks to Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) during a late March hearing on Capitol Hill. Murphy sees room for common ground on policies to combat loneliness.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), left, talks to Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) during a late March hearing on Capitol Hill. Murphy sees room for common ground on policies to combat loneliness.

In retrospect, Murphy believes governments did not adequately weigh the costs of school closures and other pandemic-related measures on youth mental health.

Youd be foolish not to look back on our decision to keep many schools closed for upwards of two years and see it as a mistake, said Murphy, who nonetheless rejects the idea that Democrats were more committed to school closures than Republicans. It is a rewrite of history to pretend that this was a partisan issue.

He followed that up with a caveat that Democratic-run school systems may have stayed closed longer toward the end of the pandemic, but said Republican states were closed for a long time, too.

Scholars have also identified a link between younger Americans loneliness and their heavy use of social media, which often reduces the frequency of more rewarding, in-person social interactions. Experts have found that social media has played a role in increased depression and loneliness among adolescent girls.

Its possible that girls are even more isolated than boys because boys online experience is often collaborative through online gaming  Fortnite or Minecraft  whereas girls online experience is often alone, scrolling through social media, Murphy said.

At the same time, evidence suggests that among adults, men have been hit harder by the loneliness epidemic than women. The suicide rate among men, always higher than among women, also went up considerably more than the womens rate in 2021.

When you lose the ability to naturally connect through churches, or social clubs, or even the workplace, that often is a bigger problem for men than women, Murphy said. Because without those easy, natural connections, through work and institutions, men dont do as well as women in seeking out connection proactively.

There was no one precipitating event in Murphys life that prompted him to take this issue more seriously. As the father of two sons  one adolescent and the other preadolescent  Murphy has noticed the effect of technology on young peoples interactions and the world they inhabit.

I think Republicans supported that bill in part because they share my concern for where this country is heading and the new stresses that surround our kids.Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

Whats more, Murphy credits his work crafting a bipartisan gun control and mental health bill in the Senate last June for giving him hope that Democrats and Republicans can take additional steps to address the countrys loneliness crisis. The Connecticut senator was elected shortly before the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The fight to reduce gun violence has been a defining feature of his two terms in the Senate.

I think Republicans supported that bill in part because they share my concern for where this country is heading and the new stresses that surround our kids, he concluded.

Murphys interest in loneliness is also the product of his efforts to understand the appeal of far-right ideology to young people. To that end, the Connecticut senator spent the summer consuming literature and media by and about the New Right, a broad term for the unconventional forms of right-wing ideology gaining traction among some young men, in particular. The designation typically includes welfare state-supporting Catholic fundamentalists like Sohrab Ahmari and monarchists like Curtis Yarvin, but also mainstream economic populists like popular YouTube host Saagar Enjeti.

Although Murphy says that the New Right is in many ways very dangerous, because of what he describes as the movements antidemocratic and theocratic elements, he sees room for common ground in the movements insistence on community taking precedence over unbridled capitalism.

If you study the developing New Right inside the conservative movement, youll see early signs of a potential realignment amongst people in this country who may not share the same views on abortion or civil rights, but who do believe that our economy and the state of American kids and families have become so unhealthy that government has to take some new action, Murphy said.

To the extent I think theres a realignment coming, it only comes through a rejection of neoliberalism, he said, referring to the ideology behind the laissez-faire capitalist policies that have taken root in the United States since the 1970s. Changing the incentives inside the market [is] not going to cure the psychological rot in this country.
Right-wing activist Ammon Bundy on Wednesday published a video online indicating that he doesnt want to fight a defamation lawsuit brought against him by St. Lukes Health System.

The video comes a day after a judge issued an arrest warrant for Bundy in the case, as first reported by the Idaho Capital Sun and Boise State Public Radio. The warrant was issued Tuesday by 4th District Judge Lynn Norton after Bundy has repeatedly missed court dates and refused to take down statements online about the hospital.

St. Lukes filed the lawsuit last year after Bundy and his associate Diego Rodriguez led protests at the hospital over a child welfare case involving Rodriguezs grandchild. The lawsuit names Bundy, Rodriguez, Bundys far-right group Peoples Rights Network and other business entities affiliated with Bundy and Rodriguez as defendants, and says they posted lies about the hospital system online.

The 15-minute YouTube video is titled Ill give you everything I own. Message to Chris Roth & Erik Stidham, referring to the St. Lukes CEO and the attorney representing the hospital system in the defamation case.

In the video, Bundy walks around the Emmett property where he lives, musing over the lawsuit and a Bible verse he says he read with his family Wednesday morning. The verse, Matthew 5:40, reads, And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

Ive asked for St. Lukes to leave me alone, Bundy said in the video. They havent. I havent fought them in the courts and have expected the judge to give them default judgment so they can try to take my coat.

Bundy property sale raises questions

In the video, Bundy said he doesnt have the time or finances to dedicate to the lawsuit. Norton issued an order allowing St. Lukes to seek punitive damages in the case. They could total up to $7.5 million, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting.

Bundy goes on to address Roth and Stidham, saying, Whatever you want thats mine, you can have.

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He says he doesnt own much and notes that he no longer owns the property where he lives, a 5-acre apple orchard in Emmett. According to the Gem County Assessors Office, Bundy sold the property to White Barn Enterprises LLC on Dec. 5, 2022.

The sale makes it unclear who exactly owns the home and whether Bundy or other members of his family are still legally tied to it.

Idaho secretary of state business records showed that White Barn Enterprises is governed by a company called Farmhouse Holdings LLC linked to an address in Sheridan, Wyoming. The address is one of the most popular registered agent addresses in the state, according to the Sheridan Press, and has been linked to multiple scams.

Farmhouse Holdings is organized by Prime Corporate Services of Murray, Utah, business records showed. Prime Corporate Services website says it helps people form business entities and LLCs and provides other business services. In a blog posted last week, the company explained that transferring real estate to an LLC can shield property from lawsuits or debt collection efforts that involve that property.

Bundy in the video also discusses some of his assets  a few vehicles, some tools and about $50,000 in cash  and says hell give St. Lukes everything he owns. By Wednesday evening, Bundy did not appear to have turned himself in on the arrest warrant or have filed any motions in the defamation lawsuit.

Earlier this week, St. Lukes petitioned the Idaho Supreme Court to weigh in on the case. The move came as Gem County Sheriff Donnie Wunder said his deputies would no longer serve legal documents to Bundy, citing concerns over safety.

The hospital system asked the Supreme Court to compel Wunders office to act as process servers and to prevent the sheriffs office from pressing trespassing charges against servers who go on Bundys property.
Andrew Tate has been mocked for sitting in what afficionados have noticed appears to be a cold sauna.

The controversial influencer, 36, who has amassed millions of followers, is currently on house arrest on suspicion of organised crime and human trafficking.

On Friday (31 March), Tate won an appeal against jail detention and was placed under house arrest.

The former Big Brother contestant was originally detained in late December in Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women, with none of the four yet to be formally charged in the case. All four deny the allegations.

In a Twitter post, Tate posed in a sauna as he appeared to be sweating.

Sauna experts have mocked Tate on social media, after they spotted that the thermometer appears to be set at 50C, suggesting the sauna was actually cold.

The average sauna temperature in the UK tends to be between 80 and 100C. The temperature of Finnish saunas sometimes go as high as 110C.

Others ridiculed the disgraced kickboxer turned influencer for sitting on the bottom bench of the sauna, which they joked is reserved for children because heat rises, meaning the temperature is higher on the top benches.

You are sitting in a cold sauna, on the bottom bench reserved for children, wrote one person.

Another person said: Is that shiny stuff sweat or baby oil?

Others were confused at how the influencer could be sweating in a sauna with such a low temperature.

Social media users from Finland remarked that he was doing it wrong.

Dude you do it wrong. Firstly, in [a] sauna, you must be naked. Secondly, you should be sitting on [the] top bench. Thats how you sauna. Greetings from Finland, wrote one person.

It comes as a UK law firm is planning to launch civil legal action against Tate on behalf of three alleged victims. He is accused of perpetrating violent sexual and physical assaults against the women.

Responding to the latest allegations in a statement, Tates spokesperson said: Andrew and his brother have recently been released from jail and they have not been formally charged with any crime. More so, previous attempts to accuse Andrew of similar fabricated crimes have been dismissed by criminal courts in the UK.

Andrew Tate and his team are determined to clear his name and restore his reputation and will take immediate and decisive legal actions against defamation, slander and perverting the course of justice.
 Read the full article on Motorious

As if you dont have enough to worry about

Whether youre looking to buy or sell a car these days, you really have to keep your guard up. Not only are scammers trying to sell stolen cars or buy vehicles using fake certified checks, others have devised unsophisticated yet effective ways to simply drive off with a vehicle while test driving it, like what happened to a 93-year-old Missouri veteran recently.

Learn about the scam thats ripped off Texas car buyers recently here.

According to a report from Fox News, the veterans son and grandson were helping to sell a 2011 Dodge Durango on Facebook Marketplace. They found a potential buyer and arranged to meet in a Target parking lot where there are plenty of cameras. The pair said the teenage car shopper was super courteous, causing them to let their guard down some.

When the kid climbed into the Dodge to take it for a test drive, he locked all the doors before the grandson could climb into the passenger seat. Then he took off, leaving the pair stunned. We know these schemes are old, but they do bring up an interesting conundrum: how do you prevent this sort of thing?

Weve discussed this very thing among ourselves and dont have a definitive answer. Going for a test drive with a stranger or a few strangers can be risky. After all, a lot of car thieves carry guns and arent afraid to use them. Getting into a vehicle with someone who intends to do you harm is a really bad idea. But if you just hand the keys over to a stranger and let them drive off with your car, you might never see them again. Sure, you can have them present a drivers license and take a photo of it, but that could be bogus. And if they show up in another vehicle, theres no telling if it might have been stolen as well.

However, we all agree having a GPS tracker or two installed on your car is a good idea. That will help with tracking down your ride if someone swipes it during a test drive or any other time.

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In this case, the 2011 Dodge Durango turned up two weeks after it was stolen. Police pursued the crossover and the drivers side front tire blew out, but it was recovered. Since the kid driving it is a minor, authorities were trying to figure out how to proceed, despite admitting it looked like hes working for a professional theft ring. That happens way too often.

In the meantime, the community rallied around the 93-year-old veteran, contributing $7,000 for a GoFundMe campaign, the amount the man was asking for the Durango. The owners of the tow company which had impounded the Dodge were moved by the mans unfortunate story, offering to put new tires on it and a body shop offered to fix any damage. Its good to see a community help out someone whos been put in a tight spot by a criminal act.

Source: Fox News

Image via Facebook

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Antarctica is being changed rapidly by plastic pollution, climate change and krill fishing, according to marine biologist Emily Cunningham. (Emily Cunningham)

Antarctica is beautiful but is being changed rapidly by plastic pollution, climate change and krill fishing, a marine biologist has warned.

Demand for products such as Omega-3 supplements, farmed salmon and nylon clothes is changing the once-pristine continent, said Emily Cunningham.

Cunningham, 33, hails from Staffordshire and has just spent a season in Antarctica on a scientific vessel, using submarines to explore beneath the surface.

Speaking to Yahoo News, Cunningham said that as her trip to Antarctica unfolded, she began to understand the scale of the environmental challenges facing the continent.

Read more: Antarctic records hottest temperature ever

"At first, the impact it had on me was a feeling of, 'Wow, how lucky am I to get to go to this incredible place,'" she said. "Then as I started to understand the scale of what is happening, my feelings turned to angst and grief about what we are losing."

Antarctica is the worlds least-visited continent, and was only discovered in 1820. Cunningham posted a viral Twitter thread about her experiences to call attention to how human activity is now changing Antarctica.

Emily Cunningham's visit to Antarctica inspired her to speak out. (Emily Cunningham)

Cunningham said she remains haunted by the continents beauty, but hopes to raise awareness of the threats to life in Antarctica from krill fishing, which is used to feed farmed fish and for Omega-3 supplements, as well as climate change and plastic pollution.

"I knew I was going to see lots of wildlife  thats what drove me to take on the job, the opportunity to get to go to Antarctica and see the penguins and the whales. But the landscapes and the ice I hadn't expected to be quite so mesmerising," she said.

"I had the opportunity to get down in the submarine and see the undersea environment. It was just like nothing else on Earth. It's just like a living carpet, everywhere you look is life, it's just spectacular."

Cunningham said that her season in the Antarctic  and speaking to veteran scientists who have spent 30 years on the continent  led her to realise just how much global warming is already impacting Antarctica.

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Penguins are among the species living on Antarctica. (Emily Cunningham)

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

"Global warming is happening five times faster there than the global average," she says.

"Its getting stormier, the weather patterns are changing and its already impacting the penguin colonies we saw colonies that are 70% smaller than they used to be."

Krill fishery  where ships harvest tiny crustaceans for use in Omega-3 supplements and food for farmed fish, among other things  is also posing a threat to the region.

Emily Cunningham spent a season in Antarctica. (Emily Cunningham)

Krill has already been impacted by climate change, thanks to the loss of sea ice  and the tiny creatures are at the heart of the Antarctic ecosystem and act as food for penguins, whales and seals.

Read more: Melting snow in Himalayas drives growth of green sea slime visible from space

"The krill fishery is becoming concentrated around the Antarctic Peninsula, where the warming is so fast, a lot of changes are happening," she explained.

Plus, the impact of the lack of krill is being seen in animals such as chinstrap penguins and whales, where a dearth of krill leads to years where pregnancies plunge, threatening populations, Cunningham added.

The scientific community hopes to see regulated areas where vessels cant fish for krill. (Emily Cunningham)

But the demand for fish meal made from krill is growing by 10% each year, according to the marine biologist.

As such, scientists hope to see regulated areas where vessels cant fish for krill. At present, the only rules are around how much krill each vessel can catch.

One of the projects Cunningham was involved in monitoring microplastics in the water  and she found plastic fibres that could have come from clothing in every sample.

Indeed, there is now a theory that Antarctica is a sink for plastics from all over the world.

Read more: Why economists worry that reversing climate change is hopeless

"Other researchers have found microplastics that are present in the air or snow, seawater and the sediment in Antarctica. They've even found microplastics in freshly fallen snow. It's likely that they come by wind or by oceanic currents," she said.

Microplastics are also found in crustaceans like krill and that could mean they end up on plates around the world.

"If you think krill are being fished at an industrial scale to be turned into fishmeal that goes into a salmon and it's not a long way for the salmon to being eaten by people around the world," Cunningham warned.

Global warming has also seen invasive species such as king crabs flourish in Antarcticas seas, putting the underwater communities at risk of irrevocable change.

"They are finding that animals are hitchhiking on the nooks and crannies on the hole or the outflows of ships  what we call biofouling.

"Antarctica is the least invaded habitat at the moment, but we need to make sure that it stays like that."

Cunningham added that she shared her Twitter thread to change peoples minds that Antarctica is a pristine wilderness  because it no longer is.

My time in Antarctica has come to an end. An important message, please read 



1/n pic.twitter.com/kOhjmLs41j  Emily G Cunningham (@EG_Cunningham) April 5, 2023

"Its an incredible place that is already being shaped by human activity, but were pulling up to a point of no return where we can no longer do anything about it.

"I hope that I can raise awareness for people that wherever they live in the world, what they do has an impact on Antarctica  and they can make things better."

She said that the response to her Twitter thread was amazing, adding: "It was really heartening, because this fight can feel incredibly lonely."

Finally, Cunningham advised that the best thing people can do is to work to raise awareness of the threats to Antarctica  so that governments and businesses will take action before it is too late.

She can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Traveling to Antarctica and above the Arctic Circle in one trip is easier than it sounds. Just g et yourself to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Holland America Line will do the rest.

The cruise line will offer a new 133-day Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole in 2025 round-trip from Florida, sailing to far-flung destinations from South to North and back again, Holland America said Thursday.

"If we're going to go add, we can't just kind of pile on to the same things we've done," Beth Bodensteiner, the line's chief commercial officer, told USA TODAY. "We need to be unique and offer different experiences that people can't have elsewhere."

The sailing will stop at 68 ports in 28 countries and cross paths with the line's 124-day Grand World Voyage, marking the first time the line will sail two voyages of more than 120 days at once.

How long can you be on a cruise?: Why some passengers opt to sail for 6 months or longer

26 countries in 116 days: Princess Cruises will sail its longest cruise ever in 2025

When is Holland America's Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole?

The trip will take place from January 25, 2025, through June 7 on the line's Volendam ship.

Passengers during a recent Antarctic Experience with the line on its Oosterdam ship.

Where will Holland America's Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole sail?

The cruise will stop in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic before making its way to Central America and the west coast of South America, visiting Ecuador, Peru and more, along with the Chilean fjords. The ship will then head to Antarctica, where it will spend about four days sailing. "And that's where we pick up our first Pole," Paul Grigsby, the line's vice president for deployment and itinerary planning, said.

Passengers will then visit the Falkland Islands and continue exploring South America, including the Amazon River, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to visit Africa and Europe, where the ship will meet up with the Grand World Voyage in Barcelona, Spain and stay overnight with festivities to mark the occasion.

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Holland America's Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole will visit Antarctica.

The rest of the itinerary will include Portugal, France, Norway's North Cape  above the Arctic Circle - Iceland, Greenland and more.

"I always like to say it's a way to get to these regions by only having to take a domestic flight because you just fly to Fort Lauderdale, and the world's at your doorstep," Grigsby said.

Volendam also has plenty to keep guests entertained while on board, with five pools and hot tubs, seven dining options, two pickleball courts and more.

What should I wear at sea?: Here's what to know about cruise line dress codes

Can travelers still find cruise deals?: Yes ... for now

How much does Holland America Line's Pole-to-Pole cruise cost?

Pricing info for the voyage is not yet available. Travelers can call 1-800-522-3399 or contact their travel advisor to make a deposited future cruise request, and get priority booking confirmation before the sailing officially goes on sale May 24, a spokesperson for the line said.

Guests who book by June 3, 2024, can get perks like a free Surf Wi-Fi package, air credit, onboard credit and more, though those may vary depending on the stateroom category.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Holland America Line will sail new Grand Voyage: Pole-to-Pole in 2025
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  A major anti-abortion group blasted former President Donald Trump on the issue Thursday, saying his contention that abortion restrictions should be left up to individual states, not the federal government, is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.

The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group was responding to a statement by Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung for a Washington Post story about division among the 2024 GOP presidential field on abortion-related issues. The group has said it would not support any White House candidate who did not at a minimum support a 15-week federal abortion ban.

The Supreme Court made clear in its decision that it was returning the issue to the people to decide through their elected representatives in the states and in Congress," the group's president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said in a news release. Holding to the position that it is exclusively up to the states is an abdication of responsibility by anyone elected to federal office.

The condemnation by one of the nation's largest anti-abortion groups amounted to a stunning rebuke of the former president, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. His three nominations of conservative judges to the Supreme Court paved the way for the reversal of Roe v Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years.

Cheung had told the Post that President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level.

Trump has referred to himself as the most pro-life president in American history. But in the early months of his 2024 bid, he has often sidestepped the issue of abortion, even as Republicans across the country celebrate the Supreme Court decision stripping federal constitutional rights to abortion. He wont be among the GOP hopefuls gathering this weekend at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalitions spring kickoff but will instead be speaking to the group by video.

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Last month in Iowa, Trump repeatedly refused to say whether he would support a federal law restricting abortion in every state, a move that anti-abortion activists have been demanding of the GOPs presidential contenders.

Were looking at a lot of different things, Trump said when asked twice by the AP whether he supports a federal abortion ban.

Dannenfelser said in the statement Thursday that life is a matter of human rights, not states rights" and that Trump's characterization of last year's Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization case was wrong.

President Trumps assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold," she said.

Pointing to a 2021 social media post from Dannenfelsers organization calling Trump the most pro-life president in U.S. history, a spokesman for Trumps campaign also noted, Even though much work remains to be done to defend the cause of life, President Trump believes it is in the States where the greatest advances can now take place to protect the unborn.

All of the candidates running in the Republican presidential primary or moving toward a bid have supported state bans on abortion. Most have been much more cautious about staking a position on a nationwide ban, though entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamys campaign has said he believes its an issue for the states, not the federal government.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who launched a presidential exploratory committee last week, has said he would support a federal law to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a state abortion ban that, if upheld by the courts, would ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, or before many women know they are pregnant. It will take effect only if the state Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservatives, upholds Floridas current 15-week ban that is part of an ongoing legal challenge. The Florida ban would be one of the toughest in the U.S. But DeSantis has not made clear his position on whether such restrictions should be imposed across the country.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and one-time United Nations ambassador, has called abortion a personal issue that should be left to the states, though she has left open the possibility of a federal ban. Haley is scheduled to give a speech on abortion next week.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, campaigning in Iowa, stopped short of saying whether he would support a federal six- or 15-week ban as president. Obviously I would want to look at the bill, said Hutchinson, who as governor signed a law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Trumps stance has provided an opening on the right for potential rivals like former Vice President Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian with long-held anti-abortion views.

Pences advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, has pushed for Congress to pass legislation including a national abortion ban beginning around six weeks.

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Associated Press writer Sara Burnett in Chicago contributed to this report.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
AMSTERDAM (AP)  Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

The Ukrainian photographers March 9, 2022, image of the fatally wounded woman, her left hand on her bloodied lower left abdomen, drove home the horror of Russias brutal onslaught in the eastern port city early in the war.

The 32-year-old woman, Iryna Kalinina, died of her injuries a half-hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby, named Miron.

For me, it is a moment that all the time I want to forget, but I cannot. The story will always stay with me, Maloletka said in an interview before the announcement.

Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most defining images of the Russia-Ukraine war amid incredibly challenging circumstances. Without his unflinching courage, little would be known of one of Russias most brutal attacks. We are enormously proud of him, AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace said.

AP Director of Photography J. David Ake added: Its not often that a single image becomes seared into the worlds collective memory. Evgeniy Maloletka lived up to the highest standards of photojournalism by capturing the decisive moment, while upholding the tradition of AP journalists worldwide to shine a light on what would have otherwise remained unseen.

Maloletka, AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov and AP producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, who are also Ukrainian, arrived in Mariupol just as Russias full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, sparked Europes biggest conflict since World War II. They stayed for more than two weeks, chronicling the Russian military pounding the city and hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. An AP investigation found that as many as 600 people may have been killed when a Mariupol theater being used as a bomb shelter was hit on March 16 last year.

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The three were the only international journalists left in the city when they finally managed a risky escape.

World Press Photo Foundation Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury told the AP that jury members decided quickly Maloletkas image should win the prestigious prize.

She said it was apparent from the beginning that it needed to win. All the jury members said it really from the beginning of the judging. And why? Because it really shows how war and especially in this case, the Ukrainian war, affects not only one generation, but multiple generations.

Maloletka said the team believed it was important to remain in Mariupol, despite the danger, "to collect the peoples voices and collect their emotions and to show them all around the world.

A series of photos by Maloletka from besieged Mariupol won the European regional World Press Photo Stories award that was announced in March. Maloletkas images from Mariupol also have been honored with awards including the Knight International Journalism Award, the Visa dor News Award and the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie.

I think it is really important that specifically a Ukrainian won the contest showing the atrocities against civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine, he said. It is important that all the pictures we were doing in Mariupol became evidence of a war crime against Ukrainians.

In the three other global categories announced Thursday, two-time World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen of Denmark won Photo Story of the Year for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures, titled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan, about daily life in Afghanistan in 2022.

Anush Babajanyan of Armenia won the Long-Term Project award for Battered Waters for VII Photo and National Geographic Society, and Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award for Here, The Doors Dont Know Me.

The four global winners represent the best photos and stories from the most important and urgent topics of 2022," Brent Lewis, global jury chair, and New York Times photo editor said in a statement. "They also help to continue the tradition of what it is possible to do with photography, and how photography helps us to see the universality of the human condition.

The four global winners were selected from more than 60,000 entries submitted by 3,752 entrants from 127 countries.

Regional winners announced earlier included Maya Levin for her image for AP of Israeli police beating mourners carrying the coffin of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was fatally shot while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Following international pressure, Israeli defense forces admitted it was likely that one of their soldiers shot the prominent correspondent. The IDF denied that the shooting was intentional and declared the case closed.

Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer Emilio Morenatti, who lost a leg while reporting in Afghanistan, was awarded an honorable mention for a series of images of people in Ukraine who have undergone amputations as a result of the Russian invasion.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
NEW YORK (AP)  A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked House Republicans from questioning a former Manhattan prosecutor about the criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump, the latest twist in a legal battle between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office and the House Judiciary Committee.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay late Wednesday, hours after a lower court judge ruled there was no legal basis to block the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, had sought to question him Thursday.

In issuing the stay, Judge Beth Robinson noted that her order reflects no judgment regarding the merits" of the case. A three-judge panel will ultimately weigh whether to uphold or overturn the lower-courts decision. Robinson, a Biden appointee, set an aggressive briefing schedule, ordering Bragg's office to file court papers detailing its appeal by Friday and for the Judiciary Committee to submit its response by Saturday.

Bragg's office appealed to the 2nd Circuit hours after U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil rejected his request for a temporary restraining order, ruling Wednesday that Jordan had a valid legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena.

It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection, Vyskocil wrote in a 25-page opinion. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.

Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, ruled after peppering lawyers on both sides with questions, asking them to parse thorny issues of sovereignty, separation of powers and Congressional oversight arising from Trump's historic indictment.

Acknowledging the political dogfights surrounding the case, the judge said in her ruling that she does not endorse either sides agenda. She encouraged both sides to speak and reach a mutually agreeable compromise on how Pomerantz's deposition would proceed.

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Jordans spokesperson, Russell Dye, lauded Vyskocils ruling, saying it showed that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomerantz.

Bragg's office appealed, first asking Vyskocil to issue a stay  which she rejected  before finding success with the appeals court.

Pomerantz once oversaw the yearslong Trump investigation but left the job after clashing with Bragg over the direction of the case. He recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows.

Bragg, a Democrat, sued Jordan and the Judiciary Committee last week seeking to block the subpoena. His lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that seeking Pomerantzs testimony was part of a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack Bragg and that Congress was invading a state to investigate a local prosecutor when it had no authority to do so.

Boutrous said House Republicans interest in Bragg amounted to Congress jumping in and haranguing the D.A. while the prosecution is ongoing.

The Judiciary Committee started scrutinizing Braggs investigation of the former president in the weeks that preceded his indictment. Jordan sent letters seeking interviews with Bragg and documents before subpoenaing Pomerantz. In her ruling, Vyskocil said she would handle any legal fights that may arise from other subpoenas in the committees investigation of Bragg.

A committee lawyer, Matthew Berry, countered that Congress has legitimate legislative reasons for wanting to question Pomerantz and examine Bragg's prosecution of Trump, citing the office's use of $5,000 in federal funds to pay for Trump-related investigations.

Congress is also considering legislation, offered by Republicans in the wake of Trump's indictment, to change how criminal cases against former presidents unfold, Berry said. One bill would prohibit prosecutors from using federal funds to investigate presidents, and another would require any criminal cases involving a former president be resolved in federal court instead of at the state level.

House Republicans, Berry said, want to protect the sovereignty and autonomy of the presidency, envisioning a scenario where the commander in chief could feel obligated to make certain decisions to avoid having local prosecutors in politically unfavorable jurisdictions charge them with crimes after they leave office.

For those reasons, Berry argued, Congress is immune from judicial intervention, citing the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Vyskocil presided over the hearing in a Manhattan courtroom that offered sweeping, high-level views of the New York City skyline that Trump helped shape as a real estate developer, the courthouse where he was arraigned April 3, and the federal building where Jordan continued his war on Bragg by convening a hearing Monday on the prosecutors handing of violent crime.

Pomerantz declined comment as he walked out of the hearing holding a stack of papers with his book, People vs. Donald Trump, on top. Neither Pomerantz nor his lawyers spoke during the hearing. But in a court filing, he aligned himself with Bragg's position and maintained he should not be questioned by the committee.

Berry, the committee lawyer, argued that Pomerantz has already shared lots of information with the public about his work on the Trump investigation and the Judiciary Committee has the right to question him about it, too.

I dont think this is either rational or reasonable behavior that somehow the House Judiciary Committee ranks below 60 Minutes,'" Berry argued.

Pomerantz could refuse to answer certain questions, citing legal privilege and ethical obligations, and Jordan would rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis, Berry said, but he shouldn't be exempt from showing up. If Jordan were to overrule Pomerantz and he still refused to answer, he could then face a criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but that wouldn't happen immediately, Berry said.

Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

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On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak and Larry Neumeister at twitter.com/lneumeister and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/
NEW YORK  An appeals court temporarily halted a planned Thursday deposition of former Trump prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, delaying an effort by House Republicans to investigate the office of the Manhattan district attorney.

The brief pause gives the court time to consider arguments from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that a subpoena for Pomerantzs testimony is unconstitutional.

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), issued the subpoena to Pomerantz, who previously worked for the district attorneys office, in the wake of Bragg filing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump late last month.

Bragg then sued Jordan and the Judiciary panel, seeking a court order preventing the House from enforcing the subpoena.

While the Judiciary committee has contended that it wants to study the potential effects that the threat of a future prosecution could have on a president while he is in office, Bragg argued that the House had no legitimate legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena and instead intends to examine the district attorneys internal deliberations regarding the Trump indictment.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Manhattan declined to block the subpoena to Pomerantz. The subpoena was issued with a valid legislative purpose in connection with the broad and indispensable congressional power to conduct investigations, U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote.

Braggs legal team appealed immediately to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which ordered that Pomerantzs deposition be put on hold. Jordan and the committee must file briefing to the appeals court by Friday, with Braggs response due Saturday.
An appeals court Wednesday night temporarily blocked a former prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorneys office from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, putting on hold a district court ruling against DA Alvin Bragg.

The appeals court ruling comes a day after U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ordered former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz to appear for a deposition before the Judiciary Committee, despite Braggs assertion that House Republicans are attempting to interfere with his investigation of former President Donald Trump.

Vyskocil sided with the arguments presented by the committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that its subpoena of Pomerantz was lawful and proper.

The subpoena was issued with a valid legislative purpose in connection with the broad and indispensable congressional power to conduct investigations, Vyskocil, a Trump nominee, wrote. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.

A spokesperson for Jordan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bragg sued last week in federal court in Manhattan alleging that the committee and Jordan are improperly trying to interfere with his prosecution of Trump for political reasons.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit's order delays Pomerantz's testimony, which had been scheduled for Thursday. Bragg had filed an emergency motion seeking an interim administrative stay, according to the appeals court order.

The decision gives the courts more time to consider arguments from Bragg, who in his lawsuit called the congressional inquiry into his probe of Trump an unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack of an ongoing investigation. Bragg argued that allowing Jordan's demands, including the subpoena of Pomerantz, would cause imminent irreparable harm if the secret and privileged material is compelled to be disclosed.

Congress has no power to supervise state criminal prosecutions, Braggs lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, wrote in the lawsuit.

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Jordan has maintained that Braggs investigation into Trump is politically motivated. The former president pleaded not guilty this month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his role in hush money payments made toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has dismissed the investigation as a partisan witch hunt.

Jordan had argued that Pomerantzs previous role in the DAs office leading a probe into Trumps finances makes him uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary to his committees investigation. He has also noted that Pomerantz has already divulged information about the investigation in a book that was published in February, as well as in media interviews.

Jordan, who did not cooperate with a subpoena from the Democratic-led House Jan. 6 committee last year, also pushed back at Braggs argument that he is trying to interfere with the DAs investigation into Trump. He said the Judiciary Committee needs the information from Pomerantz, in part, for a legislative purpose  a bill that would allow state criminal cases against former presidents to be moved to federal court.

Bragg pointed to the proposed legislation as proof that the committee is trying to interfere, arguing that it would apply to any cases pending at the time of enactment.

Bragg instructed Pomerantz against responding to the committees subpoena. He also sued the former prosecutor to block his testimony, arguing that the interests and privileges of the DAs office must be protected.

Pomerantz filed a declaration in court Monday asking the judge to block the subpoena because hes in an impossible position.

[I]f I refuse to provide information to the Committee, I risk being held in contempt of Congress and referred to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution. If, on the other hand, I defy the District Attorneys instructions and answer questions, I face possible legal or ethical consequences, including criminal prosecution, his filing said.

Pomerantz, who resigned from Braggs office in February 2022, said he was not involved in the decision to seek Donald Trumps indictment on the charges filed against him.

I have had no conversations about prosecuting Mr. Trump with the District Attorney or any member of the prosecution team following my resignation, Pomerantz said.

Jordan held a field hearing in Manhattan on Monday to attack Bragg, a Democrat, as weak on crime. The Judiciary Committee heard from victims of violent crime as Republicans argued that Bragg has dropped the ball on keeping the public safe to focus on prosecuting Trump.

Braggs office has defended the Trump probe, and it pointed to new data showing crime has significantly fallen in Manhattan.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Kenneth Bachor / BuzzFeed News

Amber Herrin, 19, from Petal, Mississippi, decided to try edibles, which are cannabis-containing food products that you can buy or make yourself, with a friend when she was 17. After taking three edibles, Herrin realized she should have done more research when she started to experience a panicked and fearful high, also called greening out.

One quick Google search would have shown me that I was supposed to take little bites at a time gradually, Herrin told BuzzFeed News. I started to panic. My body started to feel like it was on fire. I started to lose my vision. I was convinced I was going to die.

Herrin experienced an edible overdose or poisoning , which can include symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, paranoia, panic, and anxiety and is caused by consuming too much of a cannabis product. When she started to have trouble seeing and standing, she called 911.

The paramedics came and told me that I would be fine, though I didnt feel it, Herrin said. Greening out is something that isnt talked about. Its very serious and I worry for youth who wont know what to do in situations like these.

The active ingredient in weed is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which causes that high, euphoric feeling, but in some cases, can also cause psychological reactions , like Herrin experienced, such as fear, panic, or depression.

Since weed can be consumed in different ways, including smoking, eating, and drinking cannabis products, the way it enters the body affects how much its absorbed.

According to the World Health Organization, around 2.5% of the worlds population, or 147 million people, consume weed . If you think youre the only one who took a trip to the hospital after smoking or consuming too much cannabis, youre wrong. As more and more states legalize the drug, cases of cannabis toxicity, or the overuse or abuse of cannabis products, may result in more hospital visits.

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A 2022 study that looked at more than 35,000 people in Canada found that people who reported using cannabis in the past year were more likely to have an ER visit or hospitalization than people who didnt use cannabis.

In 2017, a research team led by Adrian Bravo at the University of New Mexico published a study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs that found that college students had a tendency to smoke more often, and greater amounts, on April 20 , or 4/20, the date weed enthusiasts celebrate the drug because of its slang name. In the survey of 59 college students, about 50% of students said they smoked on 4/20 compared with 28% on weekdays in general, and 37% on weekends.

There may be hospitalizations on 4/20 too. In 2015, one marijuana celebration on 4/20 in Vancouver resulted in 64 emergency room trips.

With the arrival of 4/20, heres what you need to know about weed amounts, how long edibles last, symptoms of an overdose, and what to do if you smoke, or eat, too much weed.

How much is too much weed?

6th Avenue Smoke Shop and Fresh 99 cent Pizza in New York Lindsey Nicholson / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Most cannabis products that you can buy legally list the amount of THC they contain. However, if youre consuming an edible that isnt packaged, its almost impossible to tell how much THC, the psychoactive ingredient, is in food, drink, or smoking products.

Generally, the likelihood of experiencing uncomfortable effects is higher if youre a first-time or infrequent cannabis user. So if youre thinking about partaking in 4/20, the right dosage depends on the person consuming cannabis, with a recommended 2.5 mg to start , and capping it at 40 mg of THC per day.

A 2023 study in the journal Molecules at the Institute of Nutrition at Mahidol University in Thailand suggested that smoking 2 to 3 mg of THC can impair attention, focus, short-term memory, and executive function, such as memory, thinking, and self-control.

More severe symptoms affect people who smoke more than 7.5 mg of THC, such as low blood pressure, panic, anxiety, delirium, jerking movements, and difficulties with balance and speech. The same study suggested that an oral dose of 5 to 20 mg of THC can impair short-term memory and "executive functioning."

Although eating cannabis, or edibles, doesnt affect the lungs compared with smoking, accidental overdoses are more likely to happen .

It can take from 30 minutes to two hours for the THC to start to affect the body after eating cannabis products. Since it takes longer for the effects of edibles to begin, people might take more of it, thinking they havent consumed enough. The high also lasts longer when eating cannabis-containing foods compared with smoking and can last up to 12 hours before the effects subside .

If youre planning on eating or drinking cannabis products, make sure to wait for the effects to begin, rather than consuming more. If you do end up smoking or consuming too much, you could experience an overdose or cannabis poisoning.

Symptoms of an overdose and poisoning

Signs of smoking or consuming too much cannabis include:

extreme confusion

anxiety

paranoia

panic

fast heart rate

delusions

hallucinations

increased blood pressure

severe nausea or vomiting

Any time a person feels like they are having a medical emergency, they should seek care at the nearest emergency facility or call 911, Dr. Carrie Oubre, a board-certified emergency medicine physician based in San Jose, California, told BuzzFeed News. However, there are many times that people are not sure whether their symptoms are related to an emergent condition.

People should seek medical help if cannabis use results in an injury, suicidal thoughts, or if they have underlying medical conditions.

If you do sustain a significant injury related to any type of accident after using cannabis, you should seek emergency care even if your pain level is not as high as you would expect, Oubre said. Cannabis can mask your pain symptoms, and the injury may be worse than you feel it is.

Since THC can amplify symptoms of psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis, its important to get emergency care in those cases of overconsumption, Oubre said.

Additionally, people who already have medical conditions, such as heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes, should be more aware of any symptoms or effects of overdose.

If you are a person with chronic illness, and you notice that your symptoms have become worse after using cannabis, you should seek emergent care, especially if these symptoms include chest pain and shortness of breath, Oubre said.

Heres what to do

Kenneth Bachor / BuzzFeed News

Although cannabis toxicity improves on its own over time without medical intervention, the effects of overconsumption can be managed by an emergency department physician, poison control, neurologist, or psychiatrist.

According to Poison Control, most adults can manage the effects of cannabis without medical assistance.

Unlike opioids, an overdose of cannabis is not fatal, Dr. Leigh Vinocur, a Baltimore-based, board certified-emergency physician, and expert in medical cannabis science and therapeutics, told BuzzFeed News. Most patients dont need hospitalization. They can stay at home in a safe, calm environment giving them time to metabolize cannabis. But for extreme cases of paranoia, sometimes patients can be observed in a hospital, sometimes given anti-anxiety drugs.

Psychotic episodes and serious medical problems are rare. However, cannabis cases reported to the National Poison Control increased from 2,951 cases in 2016 to 11,569 cases in 2020. From January to July 2021, 18% of exposures (119 of 661 cases) required hospitalizations and 39% of the cases involved people under 18 (258 of 661 cases).

For children who have consumed cannabis products, Vinocur said that hospitalization may be needed.

For young children, they tend not to get agitated or paranoid from overdosing and intoxication, but instead, become very sleepy, Vinocur said. They are often observed in the hospital to make sure their airways are not compromised but even this may be unnecessary because these children are not truly comatose, and they only need supportive therapy and monitoring until they wake up.

To prevent overdose and medical emergencies, its best to keep cannabis secured in its original packaging and out of reach of pets and children.

For people who are greening out who want to try to relieve their symptoms at home and arent experiencing a medical emergency, Oubre recommends these tips to help calm anxiety:

Make sure youre in a low-anxiety environment

Dim the lights

Turn down sounds or music

Decrease the amount of stimulation, such as a TV

Try meditation

Learn meditation skills or download a meditation app before cannabis use

Practice deep breathing and mindfulness techniques

Phone or text a friend

If you have a friend or family member who you are comfortable talking to about cannabis use, try talking to them if you develop anxiety symptoms. They may be able to reassure you and help to decrease your symptoms of anxiety.

Alex Milligan, cofounder and CMO of NuggMD, the USs largest cannabis telemedicine company, announced the use of Too High Hotline for people who want to learn more about cannabis products or are in the midst of unpleasant effects.

The hotline is a service that people can use on 4/20 and beyond; it also provides educational materials to patients. You can find out more about ways to consume cannabis, including smoking and eating cannabis products, dosing, and tolerances. It also provides emotional support and helps people explore treatment options.

The Too High Hotline isnt a mental health service and doesnt offer medical advice, Milligan told BuzzFeed News. Well have a team of compassionate, empathetic, and diverse volunteers whove had their share of uncomfortable cannabis experiences, and who are trained in helping someone get back to a state of clarity and calm.

Its important to understand that the service is not meant for medical emergencies, and if you think that you need emergency medical care as a result of cannabis effects you shouldnt turn to the platform for help.

Harm reduction is not talked about enough within the cannabis movement, Milligan said. As legal cannabis continues to gain broad, bipartisan support, and as newly legal markets continue to mature, its important to have a resource for situations where theres discomfort and anxiety but no medical emergency. Thats what weve endeavored to create.

More on this
Charges of assault and reckless driving were dropped Wednesday against Dan Price, the former CEO of Gravity Payments who won international acclaim for his 2015 decision to raise average worker pay at the company from $48,000 to $70,000 a year while cutting his own nearly million-dollar salary.

Price resigned from the company last year after being charged with fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation over an incident with a woman he met for dinner on Seattles Capitol Hill  allegedly to discuss professional matters, according to court documents.

Prosecutors originally alleged that Price grabbed the womans throat when she refused to let him kiss her and then grabbed it again when they were in his car and he allegedly spun donuts in a North Seattle parking lot.

On Wednesday, the Seattle City Attorney dismissed all the charges.

KIRO 7 reached out to Prices attorney for a statement, which reads:

It is shocking that police referred this case to the prosecutor for criminal charges without conducting any follow-up investigation, interviewing any witnesses other than the complainant, or even asking Mr. Price what happened. Mr. Price appreciates that the Seattle City Attorneys Office has reached the appropriate conclusion to dismiss all charges.
Yes, there is a massive space rock the size of the Eiffel Tower on a close approach to Earth next week. No, there's absolutely no need to panic.

Astronomers say they know exactly how close asteroid 2006 HV5 will get to Earth on April 26: 1.5 million miles, or 6.3 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

"Thats plenty of breathing room," Dr. Susanna Kohler with the American Astronomical Society exclaimed.

The close approach of 2006 HV5 is listed as having a rarity of 2 in NASAs Center for Near Earth Object Studies database. According to Kohler, this means that, on average, only once per year does an asteroid of this size or larger approach this close to Earth.

HOW NASA IS WORKING TO PROTECT EARTH FROM AN ASTEROID STRIKE

The asteroid was first spotted in April 2006 as part of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project, according to Dr. Susanna Kohler with the American Astronomical Society. The LINEAR project is a collaboration of the United States Air Force, NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory for the systematic detection and tracking of near-Earth objects.

Kohler said the asteroid is estimated to be around 1,000 feet in diameter, give or take a couple of hundred feet. For perspective, the Eiffel Tower, which is tallest structure in Paris, stands at 1,083-feet tall.

The measurements needed to know what type of asteroid 2006 HV5 is have yet to be discovered, Kohler said.

While 2006 HV5 is reasonably sized, you wont be able to see it with the naked eye.

"Asteroids dont emit their own visible light, so we primarily observe them via the sunlight that they reflect," Kohler said. "At its closest approach, 2006 HV5 will still only be bright enough to spot with larger telescopes."

If all this talk of asteroids zooming past Earth has your anxiety levels at an all-time high, you shouldn't be concerned about a planetary strike.

"With 260 observations on the books for 2006 HV5 spanning the last 17 years, astronomers are able to calculate its orbit  and thus its past, present, and future locations  very precisely," she said.

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A near-Earth object is classified as any space object that can come within 30 million miles of Earth. For perspective, the Moon is about 238,900 miles from Earth on average.

Most near-Earth objects are asteroids that range in size from about 10 feet to nearly 25 miles across, according to NASA.

NASA DISCOVERS ASTEROID THAT HAS SLIGHT CHANCE OF HITTING EARTH ON VALENTINE'S DAY 2046

NASAs NEO Observation Program aims to find, track, and learn about 90% of NEOs that are larger than 140 meters. So far, more than 40% of these asteroids have been found, according to NASA.

If one of these asteroids were to come close, the PDCO would alert the government and the public. According to the PDCO, there is a greater than 1% chance of this happening over the next 50 years.

When the time comes, there is an international plan being studied about how to deflect a massive space rock.

In 2021, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirect mission, known as DART . Unlike most NASA spacecraft missions, DART was designed to have a short lifespan and was designed to test out a planetary-defense method that could one day save Earth.

On Sept. 26, 2022, DART used autonomous navigation to hone in on a binary asteroid system  the larger Didymos and its smaller moonlet Dimorphos, about 7 million miles from Earth. Then, it charged at the smaller space rock head first at about 15,000 mph, acting as a battering ram when it crashed into it.

NASA described the mission as a success, saying the DART's collision altered the orbit of the moonlet asteroid. Previously, Dimorphos took almost 12 hours to orbit Didymos. Now, based on ground-based telescope observations, Dimorphos orbits the larger asteroid in 11 hours and 32 minutes.
Atlanta Humane Society crews rescued nearly 20 animals in south Georgia.

Animal Protection Unit was deployed to rescue 18 animals that AHS officials say were living in filth.

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

Crews found animals left outside, chained to the sides of a house and trees in the yard without food or water.

When crews walked inside the home, AHS officials said they found eight cats locked inside a windowless bedroom with no litter box in sight, only dirty newspapers.

According to AHS, the property owner had several previous charges and worked with the police department to voluntarily surrender the animals.

TRENDING STORIES:

Police have not identified the property owner; however, she will be tried on animal cruelty charges in court.

After being assessed by a veterinarian, all 18 animals have been brought back to Atlanta to recover and eventually be put up for adoption fully.

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This morning, these animals faced an unimaginable life, but now theyre safe and on their way to partner organizations to heal, organization leaders wrote on Facebook.

For more information on these animals and to donate to their recovery, click here.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Police are investigating three murders that took place within three miles of one another in the span of eight hours.

Investigators say two of those homicides happened within ten minutes of each other and are believed to be connected.

One of those shootings happened at Flipper Temple Apartments on Abner Terrace in northwest Atlanta at 5:55 a.m. on Thursday morning. Jalen Curtis, 19, was found shot and killed at the apartment complex.

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

Channel 2s Tyisha Fernandes spoke with Curtis aunt, who remembered her nephew as a hard worker.

Just a mile away, Korri Jackson, 27, was found shot to death on Main Street at 6:05 a.m.

Police found a car that they believe is connected to both murders.

TRENDING STORIES:

Several hours before, police found 20-year-old Xavier Simmons shot to death underneath a pavilion at Westside Park just three miles away from the other shootings at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night.

Fernandes found one of the pavilions surrounded by yellow police tape.

Thats surprising because Ive never seen anything like really violent or anyone being suspicious around here, parkgoer Abhish Desai said. I come out here to just film workouts and stuff, so usually I feel like this is a much safer park than other areas.

Police have not released details on possible suspects in any of the homicides.

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(Bloomberg) -- A US debt default would threaten a basic anchor of the global financial system and must not happen, BlackRock Inc. Vice Chairman Philipp Hildebrand warned Thursday at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Europe forum.

Most Read from Bloomberg

All we can do is to pray that everyone in the United States understands how important the sanctity of the sovereign signature of the leading currency, of the leading bond market, of the leading economy in the world is, Hildebrand, a former president of the Swiss central bank, said during an on-stage interview. This is not something you want to mess with.

In the final event at the two-day gathering near Dublin, Amos Hochstein, the special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security, said that the US could begin to refill its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as soon at this fall  if the price is right.

The Gateway series brings together leaders from the private and public sectors to discuss the economys most pressing problems. This weeks event focused on the theme of Reglobalization  exploring the forces transforming trade and industry, from banking to aviation and energy to semiconductors.

Key Developments

EU Needs United Response on China-US Question, Irish PM Warns

Irish Finance Minister Calls for Fair Response to US Subsidies

Hildebrand Says Execution Key to Wrap Up UBS-Credit Suisse Deal

Silicon Valleys Top EU Data Enforcer Rejects Snipes Over Speed

Russians Fleeing Putin a Boon to Serbias Economy, Brnabic Says

(All times CET)

Filling SPR Depends on Various Factors (5:30 p.m.)

I think as we get into the early fall, if prices are in the right place, we are still 100% committed to replenishing the SPR over a period of time, Hochstein said.

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But he also cautioned that a timeline depends on a number of factors  including maintenance required on the infrastructure and how well the Biden administration can manage a congressionally mandated sale of 26 million barrels by June 30. The US has said it wants to sell at a price target of $70 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures declined to about $77 on Thursday.

Serbia Benefits From Russians Fleeing Putin (5 p.m.)

Tens of thousands of well-educated Russians have resettled in Serbia after fleeing Vladimir Putins war on Ukraine, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said, describing the phenomenon as a boon for the Balkan nations economy.

The biggest former Yugoslav republic has supported declarations condemning Russian aggression but stopped short of joining Western sanctions against the Kremlin. Brnabic explained the policy as stemming from Serbias own negative experience during Yugoslavias bloody breakup in the 1990s, when the country was subject to international isolation and punitive sanctions.

Our people feel strongly against sanctions, she said, adding that our view is that sanctions do not actually diminish a countrys capacity or willingness to wage a war.

Crypto Regulation Not Impossible But Hard to Achieve (4:30 p.m.)

The crypto sectors recent string of bankruptcies, fraud scandals and market collapses have spurred global regulators to get a handle on the sector  a feat that while at odds with the industrys core tenets, isnt impossible to achieve, according to industry executives and observers.

Its true that the US is having a really difficult time struggling with how to regulate the space, but that is not to say that other countries arent taking a first-mover approach, Teana Baker-Taylor, vice president of policy and regulatory strategy for Europe and the UK at stablecoin operator Circle, said on a panel. She pointed to the UK, Japan and Singapore as frontrunners, as well as the European Union which on Thursday approved the its first bloc-wide crypto regulation.

Its really a call to action in the US to try and figure out what theyre going to do before people start leaving the jurisdiction for other jurisdictions that have figured this out, BakerTaylor said.

Ireland Urged to Relax Visa Restrictions (4:15 p.m.)

A vice president of Google urged the Irish government to relax quite severe visa restrictions, particularly for workers from India, as companies battle for talent in an increasingly tight global labor market.

If there are any barriers to immigration or migration around the world that of course affects companies that depend on the slick movement of people, Googles David Sneddon said on a panel, adding that this a manageable challenge for the company.

Similar sentiment was shared by Amir Marandi, CEO of Zaver, and Elizabeth Rossiello, founder of AZA Finance. They both said workers need to be incentivized to enter new economies. Rossiello also said employers need to adapt to new employee expectations in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Need for Zero-Trust Approach After Pentagon Leak (4 p.m.)

Cybersecurity experts called for limits on access to classified information within the security services following the biggest US leak of closely held documents in a decade. Palo Alto networks CEO for EMEA and LatAm Helmut Reisinger called for a zero trust approach.

Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, a former president of Croatia who has also worked at NATO, said that a move away from a need-to-know basis was a factor in the recent leak of classified US Department of Defense documents onto social media platform Discord.

Im actually quite surprised that we dont have more leaks like that, she said on a panel. Our expectation has to be that there will be more.

Steel Industry Escaping Proper Climate Scrutiny (3 p.m.)

The steel industry is not getting enough attention as a massive polluter, according to an green transport expert. Rachel Muncrief, deputy director of the International Council on Clean Transportation, also urged policymakers to focus on the full supply chains of technologies such as electric cars when considering how to speed up decarbonization.

She said that five pieces of the puzzle need to be in place to speed up the shift to net zero: ensuring commitments from industry and government, creating regulatory targets for suppliers of green technologies, encouraging demand for these products, building the infrastructure to support them, and implementing fiscal incentives.

Hildebrand Doesnt See Rate Cuts This Year (1:30 p.m.)

Addressing the broader economy, Hildebrand said he saw no scenario in which interest-rate cuts would happen this year, noting that core inflation and labor costs will remain tight, and that cracks could appear in the commercial real estate sector. He also dismissed concerns about Europe having a structural banking problem, saying that he wasnt worried about systemic risk.

Whether the union of Credit Suisse and UBS functions smoothly will all come down to execution, he said. Given that Switzerland has historically had several large banks, the transition to a single one will come with an intense and emotional national discussion, especially since the banks involved have very different cultures, he predicted.

Irish PM Hopes UK Will Seek Closer EU Ties (1 p.m.)

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he hopes the UK will one day seek a closer relationship with the EU, although rejoining the bloc as a full member remains a remote prospect.

Brexit will never just be done and will require constant negotiations, constant alterations to the relationship, Varadkar said during an on-stage discussion with Bloombergs Stephanie Flanders.

Its not impossible in my view that a future British government  maybe not the next one, maybe not the one after that  will seek a closer relationship with the European Union again, he added. It might involve a revision of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to have a closer relationship and thats something the door will always be open to.

Tech Watchdog Rejects Snipes Over Speed (12:30 p.m.)

Big Techs top privacy watchdog in the EU took aim at critics who blame her office for taking far too long to issue rulings against Silicon Valley firms.

Some of the people that comment on speed, understand very little about the process of conducting an investigation, the complexity of finding the facts, the implementation of fair procedures in the process, Helen Dixon, Irelands Data Protection Commissioner, said during a panel.

The EUs General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in 2018, empowers EU data regulators to levy penalties of as much as 4% of a companys annual revenue for the most serious violations. Tensions built up quickly, as the Irish watchdog was transformed overnight into the leading EU supervisor for global tech companies with a base in the nation, such as Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.

Europe, US Must Unite in Clean Tech Race (12 p.m.)

The race between Europe and the US to expand clean-technology industries should align in order to stand a chance against China, according to Ann Mettler, vice president at Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy.

The fact is, both Europe and the US are behind China in some of these areas, so it makes a lot of strategic sense for us to come together and to really accelerate, Mettler said on a panel. Europe and the United States should be talking about sort of a trans-Atlantic clean marketplace where we would really look to align at an early stage in the development of some of these technologies.

The US Inflation Reduction Act is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars of investment for technologies including renewable power, EVs and green hydrogen. Its passage last year spurred European leaders to counter the American subsidies with their own plans.

Putin Prepared for the Long Haul (11:40 a.m.)

Putin is prepared for the long haul in Ukraine and is counting on the alliance of western nations that opposes him breaking apart once the cost of supporting the government in Kyiv becomes too great, according to Kim Darroch, a former UK National Security Adviser and ambassador to the US.

Dont lets think that Putin wouldnt be prepared to do this for years and take whatever casualties  because the Russians are taking much, much higher casualties than the Ukrainians  are necessary to win, Darroch said during a panel discussion.

NATO Expansion Major Blow for Putin (11:30 a.m.)

Finland and Swedens applications to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization represent a major blow to Putin, Croatias Kitarovic said on the same panel.

Finland and Sweden joining NATO was a big blow to Putin, Kitarovic said. He wanted less NATO, not more NATO at his border.

Ireland Not Planning Swift ChatGPT Data Action (10:30 a.m.)

Dixon said that her agency is not planning any swift move to prohibit the processing of data by AI chatbot ChatGPT but cautioned that there is a need to look at the range of issues and harms arising from the use of such technologies.

EU policymakers recognize that we need to call out some of the higher-risk use purposes of AI and implement very specific rules in those areas, Dixon said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio.

European Accord on TikTok Data Use Elusive (10 a.m.)

Dixon also said that her agency has been unable to reach an agreement with its German and Italian counterparts on a draft decision it set out late last year about TikTok Inc.s processing of childrens personal data. The draft was written in the wake of a probe into the companys use of such data, and recommended that a preliminary range of fines be imposed.

Weve come to a point of certainty that we cannot reach agreement, Dixon said. The case will now be transferred to the General Data Protection Regulations dispute resolution mechanism and a conclusion is expected in a short number of months, Dixon added.

The Irish watchdog is the leading EU supervisor for global tech companies with a base in the nation, such as Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.

Atlantic Bridge Upbeat on Longer-Term Outlook (8:30 a.m.)

Elaine Coughlan, a managing partner at Atlantic Bridge Capital, said shes very positive about the investment outlook despite the dent to confidence both from difficult equity markets and the collapse of US lender Silicon Valley Bank.

If you look at the fundamental technology sectors, the foundational technologies  quantum, semiconductors, cybersecurity  those areas have actually performed very well and theres still a lot of investor demand, Coughlan told Bloomberg Radio.

In the longer term I would be very positive because of the involvement of new entrants into the market, which across Europe is government, she added.

Eurogroup President Says China Engagement Key (4/19)

Relations with China will continue to be an important feature of how the global economy develops in spite of pressure from the US to decouple from Beijing, according to Paschal Donohoe, president of the Eurogroup of finance ministers from the single currency bloc.

Engagement with China continues to be essential, Donohoe said in an interview Wednesday. There may be a different emphasis in tone but the fact that the engagement is happening is the key thing.

The Bloomberg New Economy Daily Newsletter spotlights fast-changing trends and leading edge thinking on business and the economy, drawing on the expertise of economists at Bloomberg Economics. Sign up here.

--With assistance from Stephen Carroll, Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Stephanie Bodoni, Gregory Korte, William Mathis, Peter O'Dwyer, Francine Lacqua, Laura Benitez, Lucy White, Ellen Milligan, Stephanie Flanders and James Woolcock.

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A man arrested by Lexington police as the suspect in a 1980 Texas murder case was wrongfully accused, according to Abe Mashni, a defense attorney.

Lexington police said they arrested Nicholas Trujillo-Ruiz, 71, on April 10 with the help of a Flock license plate reader. Trujillo-Ruiz was wanted on a murder warrant in Texas.

But after his arrest, Mashnis criminal defense team said they investigated the case and determined the real Trujillo-Ruiz died several years earlier, and the identity of their client was actually Javier Manriquez.

The case was resolved in Fayette District Court Wednesday morning, the law office said. They also said Manriquezs reputation has been harmed and their client should not suffer any further damage.

The recent case involving Mr. Manriquez is a reminder of why presuming guilt without compelling evidence is an unacceptable action, the law office said in a press release.

Maj. Matt LeMonds with the Fayette County Detention Center said Manriquez was booked into the jail on April 10 and released Wednesday.

Police: Man who was arrested had an ID matching the suspect

When asked for comment about the incident, a spokesperson for the Lexington Police Department said its an ongoing investigation. Police sent out a press release later Thursday providing additional information.

Lexington police were investigating a shots fired call on April 10 in the 3700 block of Camelot Drive. Police said offers found shell casings and were given a description of the suspects vehicle by a witness.

A Flock camera provided investigators with a license plate number for a vehicle matching the description of the suspected shooters vehicle, according to police. Investigators used that information to determine the vehicles owner, and once they obtained a name, they went to that persons residence and found the suspected vehicle involved in the shooting.

Officers encountered multiple people inside the residence and asked to see everyones ID, police said. One person was in possession of an official Tamaulipas State identification card from Mexico that was issued to Nicholas Trujillo-Ruiz.

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Officers ran all identifications through the National Crime Information Center online database and learned that Trujillo-Ruiz had an outstanding warrant for a 1980 murder cold case in Harris County, Texas. Police said the warrant had the same date of birth as the ID card and Manriquez matched the physical description on the warrant.

Officers worked for twenty minutes with the man and family members present to determine if he was the same individual who had a warrant, Hannah Sloan, a spokesperson for LPD, said in a news release. During the investigation, the individual and family members did not provide officers with a different name nor state that the I.D. presented was false.

Officers asked for any other identification from the individual, but no one could not provide another form of identification.

Police said Language Line Services were used at the jail to explain the situation to Manriquez. He told officers he had moved away from Texas roughly 25 years ago, but did not tell officers he was not Trujillo-Ruiz.

Manriquezs DNA wasnt found in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, police said.

This individual would have not been arrested for the warrant if he had been truthful and had not provided officers a false identification, police said in a news release.

Police also clarified that Flock cameras didnt identify the individual as a suspect or a wanted person.

The Flock license plate readers did not locate nor identify this individual as a wanted person, police said. The (license plate reader) provided officers an immediate investigative lead to further the shots fired call.

Flock camera program is being expanded

In December the Lexington council voted 10-4 to expand the Flock camera program that was launched in March 2022.

Under the pilot program, the city was given 25 Flock cameras, which read license plate numbers and compare them against various databases, including stolen vehicles and missing persons. The pilot program was originally slated to last a year.

However, just shy of six months into that pilot, Mayor Linda Gorton asked the council to spend more $230,000 to purchase 75 additional cameras, saying the program has been an overwhelming success.

As of April 12, the license plate readers had helped police recover 152 stolen vehicles valued at over $2.1 million, according to police. The cameras have also helped police serve nearly 200 warrants/subpoenas, charge 245 people and locate 18 missing persons.

Gorton also spoke in support of using Flock cameras and other additional technology during her budget address Tuesday, saying she wants to invest $150,000 in linking Flock cameras up with the citys traffic cameras.

Technology is the future, Gorton said. Like the Flock program, intelligence software will enable us to solve crimes faster, support our officers and strengthen the cases we take to court because there will often be video to back up witness statements.

Reporter Beth Musgrave contributed to this story.
No end for US' shameless spying frenzy if its hegemony continues unchecked

Global Times) 08:38, April 20, 2023

Illustration:Liu Rui/GT

Just like a greedy and evil octopus, the US intelligence community has long extended its tentacles into the United Nations (UN) through eavesdropping. Showing Washington's spying frenzy certainly has no boundary.

The UN has expressed concerns to the US over reports that Washington spied on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other senior UN officials, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday, according to media reports.

"We have made it clear that such actions are inconsistent with the obligations of the US as enumerated in the Charter of the UN and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN," Dujarric said.

The BBC reported last week that Washington had been closely monitoring Guterres, and some leaked classified documents even contain the UN chief's private conversations with his deputy Amina Mohammed. Dujarric responded on April 13 that Guterres was "not surprised" about being spied on.

CNN claimed Tuesday that the UN issues "rare rebuke" of the US over leaked documents. Such a "rarity," along with the implied resignedness in the UN Secretary-General's attitude, proves one horrible reality: Washington's spying has become so commonplace that UN officials basically can do nothing about it, particularly amid Washington's superiority in information technology (IT) and constant hooliganism under its hegemonic psychology.

What is definitely not rare are reports and documents that reveal the US' surveillance of the UN. The Guardian pointed out in a 2010 article that US diplomats were instructed to spy on UN leaders, including then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the representatives of the other four UN Security Council permanent members. According to some classified documents leaked in 2013, the US National Security Agency had been eavesdropping on video conferences of UN diplomats.

UN officials have condemned some of these incidents, but it is evident Washington has no intention of stopping its spying. Chinese military observer Wang Qiang told the Global Times that compared to sovereign countries, international organizations like the UN have no sovereignty at all, which places the UN in an awkward position against US surveillance. In this case, there is little use for the organization to make any complaints.

Over the years, Washington has increased its eavesdropping on others out of the so-called concerns for its own national security. In its eyes, spying can be carried out regardless of the object and intention as long as it is in the interests of the US military and the intelligence community.

The US intelligence agencies have long since become cancer to the international community. On the one hand, they serve the US hegemony by using intelligence to crack down on so-called adversaries and enemies. In addition, they use the acquired information to blackmail other countries politically. They act like a mafia without any ethical boundaries.

Wang said as long as a country seeks common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, there is no need to spy on others. Only someone as despicable as the US will engage in predatory ways to obtain intelligence, he added.

Currently, it is technically difficult to stop the US from eavesdropping. Washington still undoubtedly dominates the world's IT sector: The main framework of the global information system and many of the most popular IT products are from the US. In addition, the US has been targeting services and products provided by companies from other countries, including Chinese tech giant Huawei, and urging allies to replace them with "safer" options that are, in fact, closely linked to it. As countries around the world have widely adopted US technology, how can they escape the destiny of being monitored by Washington?

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, believes that it is an important first move for people wanting to get rid of the US' eavesdropping to choose equipment and devices not based on US core technology.

At the same time, he noted that the international community should not allow the US surveillance empire to go unchecked. Instead, it has to raise a unified voice to resist such hegemonic behavior from Washington.

"If countries behave indifferently toward the US' spying, as some do, they will inevitably become the US' pawns and accomplices," said Song.

Nevertheless, the root of this problem lies in the US hegemony. And the only time we will be free from US surveillance is when the country's hegemonic system completely collapses. But Washington is so used to acting as a shameless hegemon that changing its mentality and behavior is almost impossible. If we want to kill Washington's spying octopus, more actions are needed to crush the US hegemony.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
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Two weeks after announcing it will start flying in Melbourne, Avelo Airlines is adding another new route from the Space Coast, to Delaware's Wilmington Airport  which officials are touting as a convenient alternative to reach nearby Philadelphia.

Avelo's twice-weekly nonstop flights between Melbourne Orlando International Airport and Wilmington will begin June 28. Flights will occur on Wednesdays and Saturdays aboard 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Introductory one-way fares start at $49 at aveloair.com.

Space Coast  were already growing!" Avelo Airlines Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said in a Thursday morning press release.

"This new route to the Wilmington/Philadelphia area exemplifies our ongoing commitment to bringing Avelos low fares, industry-leading reliability and caring service to Melbourne travelers," Levy said.

"Getting to the four-state Delaware Valley region is now easier than ever," he said.

More: Avelo Airlines announces new nonstop flights from Melbourne airport to Conn., N.C.

More: TUI starts 2nd year of U.K. tourist flights to Melbourne, adds Port Canaveral cruise ship

Avelo Airlines will begin twice-weekly nonstop service in June between Melbourne Orlando International Airport and two markets  New Haven, Connecticut, and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Avelo announced its Melbourne debut during an April 6 press conference within the airport's $72 million passenger terminal expansion-renovation area.

Starting June 21, Avelo will launch flights from Melbourne to New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Service to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina will kick off June 23, with flights on Mondays and Fridays.

It is fantastic that Avelo is adding a third route connecting MLB to Wilmington, Delaware, that opens a new market and provides the convenience of being strategically located between Philadelphia and Baltimore," Greg Donovan, airport executive director, said in the press release.

"We look forward to getting this innovative route started. Its a great option for tourists from New England looking for a Florida getaway or for Central Florida residents wanting to reconnect with friends and family," Donovan said.

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Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Avelo adds flights between MLB in Florida and Wilmington, Delaware
Dallas residents Rodney and Temecia Jackson say Dallas CPS and police took their newborn daughter Mila last week shortly after her home birth, and they dont know if or when theyll get her back.

Following weeks of public pressure, Baby Mila will be reunited with her parents, Rodney and Temecia Jackson, after Dallas-area authorities took the newborn from them based on their pediatricians complaint to Child Protective Services.

Public pressure and illuminating violations of our most fundamental rights works, Marsha Jones, executive director of Dallas reproductive justice center The Afiya Center, said in a statement to Jezebel. Mila is finally on her way back where she belongs. But this never should have happened in the first place. Systemic racism is the reason why Mila was separated from her family. Period. While the Jacksons finally get moments of needed rest and joy, well keep fighting against the criminalization of Black parents, children, and midwives because NO ONE should live through this nightmare. The Jackson family wont get justice until the healthcare providers, CPS workers, DeSoto police officers, Dallas constables, and every other person who allowed Mila to be taken from her family is held accountable.

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In March, the Jacksons opted for a home birth with a licensed midwife. Mila developed jaundice, a common condition in newborns that shows in the yellowing of skin and whites of the eyes. When the parents took Mila to their pediatrician (the pair have two sons), the doctor recommended in-patient treatment at a hospital. The Jacksons said they would be doing the phototherapy treatment at home under the guidance of their midwife, Cheryl Edinbyrd.

According to the letter Bhatt wrote to CPS, Bhatt said he was concerned that the parents had the wrong lights. He ultimately reported them after trying 10 attempts to appeal to the family through phone calls, text messages and leaving voicemails as they did not pick up the phone.

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In his letter, he cited the Jacksons apparent wariness of the medical industrial complexwhich, to be clear, is a well-founded fear. Black maternal mortality rates are disproportionately high in America and hospitals are known to discount Black womens pain. Even the Jacksons pediatrician acknowledged their fear and noted that they were very loving parents to their newborn daughter.

Parents are very loving and they care dearly about their baby, Bhatt wrote in the letter. Their distrust for medical care and guidance has led them to make a decision for the baby to refuse a simple treatment that can prevent brain damage.

The Afiya Center, the Dallas organization spearheading efforts to get Mila returned to her parents, said that Mila is just one of many children adversely affected by the child wellfare system. Mila isnt the first Black baby to be unjustly ripped away from her family, and she wont be the last oneunless fundamental changes are made to the child welfare and criminal justice systems, DAndra Willis, birth justice coordinator at The Afiya Center, said in a statemen. We need people to understand reproductive justice and freedom also means families have a right to choose when and how they want to parent. This includes informed decision making, culturally sensitive care and choosing birth and postpartum support plans that meet their specific needs.

Pregnancy Justice, which offered pro bono legal services to the Jacksons legal counsel, said the system was weaponized against the Jacksons.

We are relieved that the Jackson family will be reunited, but that doesnt undo the harm, said Pregnancy Justice staff attorney Emma Roth.

The rally in Dallas scheduled for later on Thursday is now cancelled so the Jacksons can reunite as a family.

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Mila Jackson, the newborn taken into foster care by Texas officials in late March, will return home ahead of a scheduled hearing that was set for Thursday afternoon.

Mila was taken into the custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services on March 30. She was born on March 21 in a home birth, but shortly afterward, she was diagnosed with jaundice. The family's longtime pediatrician did not believe that her parents, Temecia and Rodney Jackson, were providing appropriate care, so contacted DFPS, setting off a chain of events that led to Rodney Jackson's brief arrest and Mila being put into foster care for three weeks.

The Jacksons' midwife Cheryl Edinbyrd, who had participated in the home birth, was providing care, they said. An initial court hearing had been scheduled for April 6, but was postponed until April 20.

Temecia and Rodney Jackson in a press conference after their daughter was placed in DFPS custody. / Credit: The Afiya Center

In a news release issued on Thursday morning, the Afiya Center, a Texas-based reproductive and birth justice organization that has represented the Jacksons, the Dallas County District Attorney's office made the decision to reunite Mila with her parents "late yesterday and overnight."

The district attorney's office said that they do not comment on cases involving the Department of Family and Protective Services.

The Jacksons' case made headlines nationwide, especially after it became public that court documents authorizing Mila's removal had different people listed as Mila's parents. It's still unclear who the people listed on the document are. CBS News was not able to contact them, and is not identifying them.

According to the news release from the Afiya Center, the Jacksons will be "enjoying some personal time with their daughter" and their two older children. A rally set to support the family during their court appearance today has been canceled.

"I'm just happy that justice prevailed and I am grateful for the Afiya Center and everyone involved in the return of this baby," Edinbyrd told CBS News on Thursday morning. "I look forward to actually giving her her first postpartum visit and celebrating her being home with her parents."

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Timeline of events in the Mila Jackson case

After a successful home birth, the Jacksons brought Mila to their family pediatrician for what they called a "newborn checkup" on March 24. Shortly after, pediatrician Dr. Anand Bhatt called Temecia Jackson and said that Mila needed to be brought to a nearby hospital for jaundice treatment, she said in a press conference.

Jaundice is fairly normal in newborns and can cause a yellow appearance. According to documents, Bhatt told a DFPS investigator that a bilirubin test, which is used to find the cause of health issues like jaundice, showed bilirubin levels of 21.7 milligrams. That, he told DFPS, was "cause for a lot of concern" and could lead to brain damage. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics' website, any level over 20 milligrams in a baby of Mila's age at the time would mean the baby needed treatment.

Texas couple who had home birth say their child was wrongfully taken by Department of Family and Protective Services

Edinbyrd told CBS News that she saw the bilirubin levels as "high" but not critical. She said that the Jacksons had already ordered a blanket and goggles to provide light therapy, one of the options to treat jaundice, and were also planning to provide enhanced nutrition, another treatment option.

Temecia Jackson said that on March 24, Bhatt told her he would call DFPS if the family did not bring Mila to the hospital. At around 4 a.m. on March 25, DFPS and police arrived at the Jacksons' home, but were denied entry. An hour later, officials came to the home a second time but were again denied entry. In a press conference, the Jacksons said they felt "traumatized" by those visits.

On March 30, officials returned to the Jacksons' home with a warrant. Documents show that a program director from DFPS approved Mila's removal "due to her health being in immediate danger of serious long-term consequences."

Rodney Jackson, who was not home at the time, was arrested upon his return. Court documents show he was charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of preventing the execution of a civil process The Jacksons and Edinbyrd said that when Rodney Jackson was detained, his keys were taken, and officials entered the home and took Mila from Temecia Jackson.

While Mila was in foster care, the Jacksons were able to see her in supervised visits, Edinbyrd told CBS News. The family's two older children were not removed from the home.

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Director Baz Luhrmann said he has just started a creative, metaphorical methadone programme to move on from his last film, Elvis (Handout/PA)

Director Baz Luhrmann said he has just started a creative, metaphorical methadone programme to move on from his last film, Elvis.

Released in 2022, the biopic starred Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and was nominated for eight Academy Awards and nine Baftas.

Australian director Luhrmann  whose previous films include The Great Gatsby and Romeo + Juliet  told the PA news agency he has only just started to extricate himself from the world he built for Elvis.

He said: I live the movies. I build a world, I bring everyone into the world.

Now, he said he is just starting the journey of getting out of Elvis.

He continued: I have to debrief out of it; it doesnt just happen like that, Ive got to deconstruct it and myself.

This happens after every film Luhrmann makes, in what he refers to as the methadone programme.

After Moulin Rouge! was released in 2001, Luhrmann went on the Trans-Siberian Railway to help himself move on.

I go on a journey, I deal with my own self, he said. On that train trip, he listened to an audiobook: It was The Great Gatsby.

(I thought) that could be a great movie, and that buoyed my spirits and I made the movie.

Luhrmanns version of F Scott Fitzgeralds novel was released in 2013 and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.

The director said his work is a way of self-medicating.

He said: If I get into a dark place personally, Im probably not able to be creative, but I have to create my way out of that.

Creativity  when youre doing it at a high end  its like self-medicating. You see that in Elvis (Presley), you see that in any artist. Theyre somewhat treating themselves for something thats bothered them early on.

Luhrmanns next project is the release of Faraway Downs, a six-part series that he called a variation on the film Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, originally released in 2008.

There will probably be a lot of outrage that Ive done what Ive done, Luhrmann said of the new series, but he said he has learned not to let criticism bother him.

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Those that comment on movies, in general, have never really got mine. They find theres always something that bothers them about it, which is fine. I know Im making movies in a particular way and Ive got an audience to connect with.

So my job is to jump over those that might be trying to club your movie to death like a baby seal before it gets out there.

Luhrmanns cinematic style is characteristically opulent, fast-paced and colourful. But could that be about to change?

I have invented my own cinematic language. I consciously did it and now I consciously cant escape it, he said.

Im getting to a point where Im expected  and Im going to maybe flip the coin and put myself in creative danger.

Thats always a healthy thing. But I dont know if I can truly escape because I think it is actually who I am.

I tell stories the way I am.

Luhrmanns other great passion is helping young talent flourish across the arts.

He is working with Bombay Sapphire on an installation of thousands of art pieces submitted on social media by people all over the world, proving the directors belief that everyone is inherently creative.

He also cites The Daniels  filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who directed Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once  as newer voices that excite him.

Love the picture, love them. I saw a lot of them on the campaign trail. Theres a lot of cool things happening.
A man died at a popular California beach after witnesses rushed to try to save him but were too late, officials said.

Someone pulled him out of the surf at Esplanade Beach in Pacifica on April 19, and good Samaritans were giving the unconscious man CPR when Pacifica police arrived just after 11 a.m. on a report of a possible drowning, according to a news release.

He was not breathing, officials said in the release, and he was pronounced dead after first responders couldnt revive him.

The ocean can be dangerous! When visiting any beaches or coastal areas in @Pacifica be sure to observe all posted safety signage and these safety tips. pic.twitter.com/V1wOf9CYuo  Pacifica Police (@PacificaPolice) April 20, 2023

The San Mateo County coroner will determine the mans identity and assist Pacifica police in the investigation, the release said.

Anyone with information about the case should contact the Pacifica Police Department at 650-738-7314 and refer to PPD Case 23-0972.

Man dies surfing Oregon coast. His friend helped pull him to shore, rescuers say

Beachgoers rush to rescue three kids and an adult swept away in rip currents in Florida

Man drowns while tubing with friends on Georgia lake, authorities say
[Source]

A beauty influencer on TikTok went viral for getting ringworm after someone else allegedly used her makeup kit.

TikTok user @louaira, who has over 829,000 followers on the video-sharing platform and more than 35,000 followers on Instagram, first shared what happened in a TikTok post on April 8, revealing that she noticed the skin on her face had flared up.

She then shows three pictures of how the flare-up progressed just days after she first noticed it.

The first picture shows what appears to be burn marks on her face, followed by the second and third pictures that show what appear to be large rashes.

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Louaira says the doctors she consulted did not know what the issue was and believed it could have been either discoid eczema or Steven-Johnson syndrome.

I'm in pain. I can't smile or laugh because it hurts, she says in her video. I was crying on the bus on my way home, and because my tears are obviously salty, they started to sting them, and I was just crying and crying and crying."

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In her subsequent video updates, Louaira shares that the flare-ups spread to the rest of her face and are burning, adding that she still cannot laugh or smile because of the pain.

In a video reply to another TikTok user, Louaira says the flare-ups on her face were caused by ringworm, which she believed she got from someone who had previously used her makeup kit. Her video reply has since gone viral, garnering over 279,000 views and 23,000 likes.

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I know sharing is caring but best believe I'm not letting anyone touch my makeup brushes, or my sponges, or any form of makeup again, because this is ringworms from someone who has clearly been using my stuff."

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So if youre going to take anything from this video, go clean your makeup brushes, sponges, all of that, she says at the end of the video.

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Louairas skin eventually started clearing up over a week after her first post about the issue, which she reveals in her more recent TikTok videos. She shares in one of her posts that she used terbinafine cream to help her skin heal.

Despite what its name suggests, ringworm is a type of fungal disease.

Although it is commonly known and referred to as ringworm because of the circular rashes it causes, the medical terms for it are tinea and dermatophytosis.

Other names for the disease change depending on where it is in the body. Athletes foot, for example, is used when ringworm is on a persons feet.

Treatment for ringworm varies depending on the body part that is affected. Prescribed medicine and over-the-counter antifungal cream can typically help clear ringworm up in two to four weeks.
Brian Mitchisons hive was vandalised at Litten Nature Reserve in Greenford, west London. (Reach)

An elderly beekeeper has been left devastated after vandals caused 10,000 worth of damage to his hive by letting 500,000 bees loose.

Retired cameraman Brian Mitchison, 82, had amassed some 600,000 bees at the Litten Nature Reserve in Greenford, west London, since he began his hobby 10 years ago.

The bees helped pollinate the reserve and woodland, while Mitchison harvested the honey which he sold and gave away to locals.

But last summer he found his hives had been completely destroyed, with the half a million bees living in them gone.

Mitchison told MyLondon: "The whole thing was wrecked and I almost gave up. It took me 10 years to get it where it was and do it properly. All the hives were tipped upside down and pulled apart

I felt sick and really horrified. How could somebody do this? I can't understand what motivated someone to smash up a load of bees."

Brian Mitchison has set up a fundraiser to help restore the hives. (Reach)

Mitchison decided against calling the police as there is no CCTV on the nature reserve  and he thinks he found the hives weeks after the crime.

He said that other beekeepers in the area have lost hives, adding: There's lots of thefts and people steal them. The local association has lost some hives.

You're trying to do good for people and this idiots come along and smash it up."

The cost of the hives and hive frames, as well as the lost income from the honeys Mitchison was unable to harvest, has put the estimated cost of the act of vandalism in the thousands.

The pensioner has now set up a fundraiser, which has so far amassed over 4,000 in donations, to help restore the hives.

He says he needs around 5,000 to help get the hives back in action and to get his colony back.
FORT SMITH, Ark.  After a beloved pet cow named Maple was attacked and killed by a pack of dogs in western Arkansas, at least one town official is calling for local officials to do more to protect the community.

Maple, a Highland cow that weighed about 1,000 pounds, was attacked and killed the morning of April 10 in a semi-rural part of Fort Smith, Arkansas. One of the dogs involved in the killing was reportedly taken by the owner to a veterinarian and euthanized after the attack.

But another dog remains at-large, said Christina Catsavis, Fort Smith Position 5 city director. Catsavis said she thinks city prosecutor Rita Watkins should resign over the handling of the case.

Maple, a Highland cow owned by a Fort Smith family, was killed in a dog attack April 10.

According to a Fort Smith police report, officers responded on April 10 to a call from the home where Maple was found dead in a pond. The cow's monetary value was listed as $12,000.

Another cow valued at $2,500 was injured with "a chunk of nose that was missing," police reported. Police were told the cows' owner and her daughters had chased a black dog, a pit bull, and a white dog, a mixed-breed, from their property after seeing the dogs attacking the cow in the pond.

Holly Simon, who owned the cows with her husband, said her daughters, ages 13 and 14, fought the dogs off. The cows were in the pond trying to get away from the dogs underwater, but when they came up for air the dogs would attack them, Simon said.

Simon said she has lived in the home with acreage in Rylie Farms for three years with no problems or threats from dogs. She said she still has 50 chickens and a 35-inch tall miniature donkey.

"We've taken steps to protect our animals, so we just want our questions answered," Simon said. "This is an unsafe situation for the entire neighborhood."

The dogs' owners were located but they refused to surrender the dogs and both were arrested on obstruction of justice complaints by Fort Smith police.

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A Sebastian County Sheriff's deputy on Wednesday gave the owners vicious dog notifications, warning them that they could be cited each time their remaining vicious dog gets out. One of the owners told a sheriff's deputy that the black dog had been euthanized.

Fort Smith spokesman Josh Buchfink told the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network, that Watkins was still on the job despite Catsavis' calls for resignation.

"I'm deeply saddened by what happened to the Simon family. Of course, words tend to fall short when you've lost a pet that is like family," Buchfink said. "We are saddened and grieve with the family."

More coverage from USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pet cow named Maple killed in Fort Smith, Arkansas, dog attack
The Manado specialty roll at Tideline Ocean Resort's Mizu features seafood and garlic.

From nigiri to sashimi, all kinds of sushi have been popular for years, but how did this happen when the idea of eating raw fish once horrified American diners?

The key? The now-much-loved sushi roll  some of best iterations of which can be found in Palm Beach.

Yes, youll find versions of the California roll here, which, comprising such familiar ingredients as cucumber, avocado and cooked crabmeat, was invented in the 1970s to entice Americans then-squeamish about sushi.

But wade further into Palm Beachs sushi-roll world, which brims with traditional rolls, plus newfangled and Americanized rolls layered with crunchy, saucy and other components.

Sushi rolls satisfy a range of guests, from the newcomer to the enduring enthusiast, said chef Josef Morera of Palm Beach Asian hotspot Echo. There are so many choices and variations.

If you have a craving for sushi rolls, here are six Palm Beach places to try:

Echo

Traditional and signature sushi rolls are offered at pan-Asian hotspot Echo.

Offering Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean dishes, Echo wants to take guests on an exotic culinary journey. In the case of sushi, the destination is delicious amid the restaurants lipstick red-accented interior.

The nigiri and sashimi tempt, but devotees cant resist the sushi rolls, particularly the Spicy Dragon ($29), an inside-out roll with cucumber and topped with avocado, tempura flakes, spicy mayonnaise and eel sauce.

Echos Palm Beach roll ($30) is a California roll topped with baked spicy conch or shrimp. Tempura shrimp, jumbo lump crab, asparagus, red tobiko, avocado and spicy pepper sauce jazz up the Hurricane roll ($29).

Echo also offers a riceless roll ($32): It includes tuna, salmon, hamachi, kani kama, masago and asparagus wrapped in a soy sheet and cucumber.

HMF at The Breakers

Globally influenced small plates at HMF include sushi and sushi rolls.

If you order sushi rolls at this expansive dining-and-drinking spot, youre in festive company. During a busy night in high season, HMF is abuzz with social revelers sipping cocktails and grazing on small plates while music plays.

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And many of them are partial to downing sushi rolls, which are among many offerings on HMFs globally influenced menu.

The HMF roll ($30) features tempura shrimp, cucumber, avocado and red tobiko in a sesame-soy sheet with sriracha sauce.

The restaurants Rainbow roll ($30) is a California roll topped with tuna, salmon, cobia and avocado. A straightforward hamachi-and-scallion roll is $26.

Imoto

The Rainbow roll at Imoto is topped with tuna, salmon and more.

Since its 2012 debut, popular Asian hotspot Imoto has consistently earned high marks for its sushi, tempura and other small plates.

Though the 40-seat restaurant/sushi bar was developed by multiple-time James Beard Award-nominee chef Clay Conley and his Ember Group partners, its success also rests with sushi chef Gede Adnyana and all the other amazing staff around him, Conley has emphasized.

The most-ordered rolls here: Spicy Tuna ($18) with avocado, cucumber and sesame sauce; Spicy Seared Yellowtail ($21) with tuna, cucumber, jalapeno, fried garlic and spicy sesame sauce; and Super Salmon ($20) with spicy salmon and cucumber topped with avocado, seared salmon and miso sauce.

Adnyana noted that Imoto generally steers clear of Americanized or overpowering ingredients when it comes to sushi. Staying simple is best, he said.

LoLa 41

The sushi chef at LoLa 41 says "more is better" when it comes to layering sushi-roll flavors.

Eel sauce, wasabi mayo, yuzu kosho crema: Theyre among the reasons why sushi rolls reign at LoLa 41, the signature restaurant at the White Elephant hotel.

Our rolls practically jump out of the sushi bar (because) people in general like the flavors of our tasty sauces, sushi chef Pedro Rivera said

In high demand among LoLa 41s sushi rolls: the Maruko, a mighty roll thats spicy, sweet, warm and crunchy in Riveras estimation. With avocado, shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, spicy mayo and unagi sauce, the Maruko is $26.

The Tsukiji roll ($25) features ginger-poached shrimp, avocado and cucumber topped with spicy hamachi, ponzu sauce and crispy rice; while the Green Light ($27) has spicy hamachi, shiso and green apple topped with kiwi, ponzu and fresh lime juice.

Employing lots of flavors and textures with sushi rolls is important, Rivera explained. Since LoLa 41s menus draw on the cuisines of worldwide countries on the 41st parallel, more is better, he said.

Mizu at Tideline Ocean Resort

At Mizu at Tideline Ocean Resort, you can dine in the indoor sushi bar or sit outside on the oceanfront terrace, which is an allure all its own.

Chef Gary Mawu has been crafting sushi for 20-plus years at Japanese restaurants including in such places as Chicago and New Delhi, India.

He champions all sushi, but among his sushi rolls, the most popular is the Mizu ($32) because this roll is made with a unique ingredient: I incorporate apple together with spicy tuna and they just blend very well together, Mawu said. On top, we put blue crab and blue-fin tuna glazed with truffle-miso aioli.

One of Mawus sushi rolls is named after his birthplace in Indonesia: The Manado ($26) features baked white fish, garlic, blue crab, cucumber, avocado, negi, tobiko and tempura flakes.

I grew up eating a lot of seafood and the two basic ingredients (in the Manado roll) are garlic and seafood, he said.

Among other rolls at Mizu: The Emperor ($30) with tempura shrimp, asparagus, salmon, spicy aioli, avocado and sweet soy.

Boken at Eau Palm Beach Resort

Sushi rolls are featured at Boken, the new sushi bar at Eau Palm Beach Resort.

Named after the Japanese word for adventure, this intimate 12-seat sushi spot opened in 2022 at the Manalapan resort.

While it features all styles of sushi (not to mention a reserve-in-advance 12-course chefs choice experience on Saturdays), sushi rolls are a big draw.

Two of them already have a fan club: the Firecracker ($30) with tempura shrimp, kani krab, tempura flakes, hamachi, salmon, spicy mayo, masago, red tobiko, chili powder, chives and sesame seeds; and Mango Madness ($22) with tempura shrimp, kani krab, tempura flakes, mango, avocado, eel sauce and sesame seeds.

Other favorites: a hamachi-and-scallion roll ($18).

While Eaus sushi chef Chris Cantrel appreciates offering traditional and obscure items for battle-seasoned sushi-lovers, sushi rolls are a great conduit to introduce sushi to newcomers.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Best restaurants for sushi rolls in Palm Beach
Mrs. Davis is certainly an eccentric show. Betty Gilpin, who stars as a nun named Simone who becomes entangled both in a battle with the titular artificial intelligence and a quest for the Holy Grail, describes the colorful genre mash-up from co-creators Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) and Tara Hernandez (Young Sheldon) as if "someone put a pixie stick, dipped in Coca Cola, inside someone's imagination."

But in spite (or maybe, because) of the colorful eccentricities, the show also feels grounded in modern life. Even though ChatGPT doesn't have Mrs. Davis' capabilities quite yet, it has pushed "AI" to the front of people's minds. That resonance wouldn't work if the human characters in Mrs. Davis didn't feel real. Gilpin, who admits that she is "not a person of faith," had to put in work to make Simone feel believable as a believer.

"I think that we're used to seeing nuns portrayed either as sort of one-dimensional, stoic, climb-every-mountain nuns, or horror movie nuns," Gilpin tells EW. "I think I really had to work hard to dispel my own notions of what a nun is like and what their lives are like, and really make her a full-fledged person."

MRS. DAVIS

Sophie Kohler/PEACOCK Betty Gilpin as the nun Simone in 'Mrs. Davis.'

After all, nuns don't just linger in movies like The Conjuring 2 or reissues of The Sound of Music. There are still women today who take the vows and live in convents  much to the surprise of other Mrs. Davis characters, who constantly ask Simone if her habit and wimple is some kind of Halloween costume. In order to make Simone's responses authentic, Gilpin sought out some of those real-life nuns.

"I talked to nuns for research for this show and they were all multi-dimensional, feminist, badass, incredibly smart women who were very active in their communities," Gilpin says. "They were also three very different women. So I felt I owed it to them to make her a very specific person  but it was all there in the writing anyway."

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Gilpin knows a thing or two about writing in her own right  after years of penning occasional guest essays in prominent publications like the New York Times, she published her first book, All the Women in My Brain: And Other Concerns, last year.

Chris Diamantopoulos, who plays anti-AI resistance leader JQ on Mrs. Davis, has nothing but praise for Gilpin's many talents  even if JQ and Simone often butt heads due to their diametrically opposed personalities. In an interview with EW, Diamantopoulos compares Gilpin's lead performance in Mrs. Davis to an unholy fusion of Meryl Streep, Harrison Ford, and Daffy Duck.

"She's so unbelievably fearless," Diamantopoulos tells EW. "Whether she's going for vulnerability or insanity, in the moment she is always serving the material and the character. It's like Betty Gilpin has stepped outside of the building and she's fully Simone. So for me as an actor, working with her and watching her, I would just stand back like, 'God damn, that's the way you do it when you're number one on the call sheet.'"

That speaks to Gilpin's experience on past shows, like GLOW, more than her conversations with the nuns. She also says she didn't ask the nuns for their thoughts on artificial intelligence. They just had one question for her in return.

"They were like, 'How can we watch the show?'" Gilpin recalled. "I was like, 'Well, it's on Peacock. Do you guys have Peacock?' They were like, 'Oh, we don't have streaming.' Okay, well, that's fine."

Anyone who doesn't live in a convent and does have access to Peacock can stream the first four episodes of Mrs. Davis now, with subsequent installments arriving weekly through May 18.

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This photo taken on April 7, 2023 shows "No More" by Italian Artist Barbara Vaccaro displayed at an art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyan)

Old items with an obvious imprint of traditional Chinese culture, such as quaint windows, screens and abandoned laundry boards, have become new carriers of the creative ideas of Italian artists.



As displayed during the ongoing month-long "Connecting Point" contemporary art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, dozens of artworks that blend traditional Chinese culture and trendy Italian design have appealed to even the most finicky of art fans in the city.

Decorating discarded items with graffiti, a number of Italian artists are injecting vitality with a modern touch into old memories.

Divided into halves, an old wooden window now presents itself with an armed warrior and a crowned princess common in Italian opera on one side, and a typical actress and an elder male actor from Peking Opera painted on the other side. Such a collision of different but seemingly interlinked cultural elements is a common theme at the exhibition.

This piece of art is named "Opera" and is the creation of Barbara Vaccaro, who was born in 1975 and hails from Italy's Sicily. She is committed to showing the hidden connections between China and her motherland, using everyday goods no longer used, produced or needed by Shanghai residents as conduits for her artistic expression.

Through her reuse of discarded furniture and windows, old items gain a new vision and life as if time was "sealed up."

One of her artworks, "No more," consists of three old-fashioned laundry boards, one of which even has some cracks on its surface. However, Vaccaro's paintings on these items have enriched their meanings.

"Housework, such as washing clothes, was usually the duty of Chinese women in the past. With the development of society and technology, women have freed their hands and the washboards are no longer used, which also represents the progress of Chinese women's social status and role," said Vaccaro.

Orlando Daga, another exhibitor, is more interested in integrating ideas from Chinese classical works into his creations. He brought 13 pieces of artwork from his latest series, named "Window."

Traditional Chinese-style windows of different shapes and in various colors are interwoven with multiple silk threads by Daga. The window itself symbolizes the external world, while strands of silk can be seen interlacing through the window, which is indicative of the internal connection between different elements -- an artistic expression of existence in traditional Chinese philosophy, said Daga.

Daga has learned more about oriental philosophies since he first came to China in 2014. The Italian soon found that many traditional Chinese philosophical works, such as "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu and the work of ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, became his main sources of inspiration.

In addition to using windows, Daga also combines colors with the Eight Diagrams in his paintings themed on water, fire and earth etc., to explore the relationship between humans and space. Different diagrams and colors are used as his major background color with blue representing lake water, while brown and yellow represent mountains. The image of people in the middle of the canvas is also often wrapped in layers of ripples, symbolizing the connection between natural elements and mankind.

"Chinese philosophy is very interesting because it gives you a different point of view about how to interpret things," he explained, adding that Chinese philosophy allows him to reflect on topics including harmony with the inner self, the outer energy of people and our relations with the universe and nature.

The exhibition, which starts from April 7 and will last until May 7, provides visitors with opportunities to appreciate the fusion of Chinese and Italian art and culture.
More than 90% of Beverly Hospital patients in Montebello rely on government programs such as Medi-Cal and Medicare. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Beverly Hospital filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, a step that hospital officials said was needed to avoid the closure of the Montebello facility.

Hospital officials said their goal is to find a buyer to keep the hospital open and maintain crucial services for residents in Montebello and nearby communities, including El Monte, Whittier and East Los Angeles. They laid the blame for their financial plight on surging costs that they said had outpaced government reimbursements to care for low-income patients.

"The need to restructure is regrettable, but to save the hospital, we were forced to take these necessary steps," Beverly Hospital President and Chief Executive Alice Cheng said in a statement announcing that the facility had filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 under the bankruptcy code. "It's a sad situation, but it's essential for us to continue to provide healthcare for the people of our community."

Hospital officials said they had secured up to $13 million in financing to enable the hospital to keep operating without interruption as it pursues options for a sale, aiming to find a buyer "who can ensure the longevity of the hospital so that it can continue to serve the communities that need it the most."

More than 90% of Beverly Hospital patients rely on government programs such as Medi-Cal and Medicare, which have failed to cover the "meteoric rise" in costs of labor and supplies, hospital officials said in a statement. As a result, they said, Beverly Hospital has ended each budget year in the red since 2020.

The 202-bed hospital had already announced it would pare back its services in June to cut costs, including by halting labor and delivery care in its maternity department.

Hospital officials said they had tried unsuccessfully to negotiate mergers or affiliations with three hospital systems and faulted an "onerous review process" by the California attorney general as an obstacle to those efforts. (State law gives the attorney general oversight over the sale or transfer of nonprofit hospitals.) In January, Beverly Hospital told the attorney general that its attempt to affiliate itself with Adventist Health was "no longer viable" because it did not have the financial resources to remain operational while the attorney general review was underway.

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The attorney general's office disputed that the review process was "onerous" and said allowing a sale without such a review "would be potentially dangerous for the community," because it would evade an important process that "would look into whether their needs would continue to be met under new ownership." The office said it had been attempting to work with Beverly Hospital management since March 2022 after hearing about its financial problems, but the hospital did not file a notice to start review of a potential transaction until December.

"In January, the parties withdrew from the process  if they had gone through with it then, our review would have been completed by now," the attorney general's office said in a statement.

Beverly Hospital officials had also pleaded with state lawmakers for $8 million in immediate aid, but the money wasn't approved, Cheng said in a court filing.

Cheng said that shuttering the hospital would have a grave effect on its community, invoking the recent closure of Madera Community Hospital in the San Joaquin Valley as a cautionary tale. The closure of the rural hospital spurred Madera and Fresno counties to each declare a state of emergency and sent patients spilling into Fresno emergency rooms.

The bankruptcy filing by Beverly was "precipitated by the need to avoid what happened in Madera," Cheng wrote. "A sale process that is overseen by this court will enable the debtors to save Beverly Hospital and maintain the high quality of healthcare it provides to a community in desperate need of care."

Hospital industry groups have said that Madera was not a fluke: A report from the consulting firm Kaufman Hall, commissioned by the California Hospital Assn., found that 1 in 5 hospitals across the state are at risk of closure. Hospitals in El Centro, Visalia and Arcata have announced cutbacks in services.

What is happening to Beverly is another example "of the deeply concerning situation that California hospitals find themselves in and of the risk facing millions of Californians that they could lose access to critical hospital services," said David Simon, senior vice president of communications for the California Hospital Assn. The association has been pushing for an infusion of $1.5 billion from the state to stabilize hospitals and said Medi-Cal reimbursement rates must be increased in the long term.

"2022 was a very difficult year for hospitals in general," said Glenn Melnick, a USC professor focused on health finance.

As hospitals have faced rising costs for labor and supplies, those that are not part of bigger systems tend to be at greater risk, "because typically the big systems have accumulated money and built up giant reserves that they can make available to the members of their system who get into trouble," Melnick said.

That made Beverly Hospital more vulnerable, said Stan Otake, a healthcare consultant and former hospital executive. "This is sadly a situation where a small community hospital has no big brother or big sister to help them out during trying times," he said.

Christopher Whaley, an economist at the Rand Corp., said what is happening in the hospital market is "a tale of the haves and the have-nots." Hospital finances were widely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, "but there was also lots of federal financial assistance ... that disproportionately moved to the haves," leaving the have-nots in particular jeopardy, he said.

Those financial stresses are playing out in California with a backdrop of rising consolidation, Whaley added. As hospital systems acquire physician groups that direct patients back into their hospitals, "if you're a community hospital left out of the consolidation wave, then your stream of privately insured patients ... all of a sudden dries up."

Whaley expects that more hospitals will try to consolidate with larger systems to survive. That, in turn, has other implications for patients: Researchers have found that hospital consolidation drives up prices and does not improve the quality of care, Whaley said. But "if the alternative is that a hospital goes out of business, then that's even worse."

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who represents the Montebello area, said in a statement that she was saddened to learn about the financial struggles at Beverly Hospital and had been "advocating with health plans and other partners to work with this private hospital so residents do not lose access to this important resource."

"I am hopeful that this declaration can result in the private hospital receiving the tools needed to set themselves on a path to stronger financial footing in the future, and I will continue to urge our state and federal partners to ensure Medicaid funding is sustainable for institutions that serve our most vulnerable," Solis said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Michael Neelsen, Mike Piaskowski, Cal Monfils and Steve Kaplan answer questions during a panel discussion following the premiere of "Beyond Human Nature" at the Tarlton Theatre Friday, April 14.

GREEN BAY  Interest in the Tom Monfils case continues over 30 years after his death as people filled seats at the Tarlton Theatre Friday evening for the sold-out world premiere of "Beyond Human Nature," a documentary about the 1992 death of the Green Bay paper mill worker and subsequent convictions of six of his coworkers.

"Beyond Human Nature," 10 years in the making, revisits the aftermath of the death of Tom Monfils, a 35-year-old employee at the James River Corp. paper mill in Green Bay who was found dead at the bottom of a two-story pulp vat in November 1992. Six of Monfils' coworkers  Keith Kutska, Mike Piaskowski, Michael Johnson, Michael Hirn, Dale Basten and Rey Moore  were arrested after a 2-year investigation, convicted during a joint trial, and sentenced to life in prison.

Only Kutska remains in prison. The other five men have been released  one exonerated, the others on parole. One man has died. During the last three decades, all have maintained their innocence.

Tom Monfils

Doors opened at 6 p.m., one hour before the movie started. Friends, families and strangers mingled at tables and chairs set up around the theater. The premiere, hosted by the Green Bay Film Festival, included the showing of the movie followed by a 30-minute panel discussion, led by director Michael Neelsen, that featured Piaskowski, Tom's brother Cal Monfils, and Kutska's retired appeals attorney Steve Kaplan. The four men discussed various aspects of the case and answered audience questions.

Film reflects split opinions on the case

"Beyond Human Nature" includes interviews from people with different opinions on the case. Neelsen said he approached the documentary in a way that doesn't take a particular side, but aims to express facts surround the case and opinions of people involved in the decades since. At the premiere, Neelsen invited everyone, regardless of their beliefs, to feel welcomed.

Piaskowski is the only one of the "Monfils Six" who was interviewed for the film. He is also the only one to have been exonerated. In 2001, he was released from prison after a federal judge in Milwaukee ruled insufficient evidence had existed to convict him. In the years since his exoneration, Piaskowski has played a vocal role in advocating for the innocence of the other men.

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In "Beyond Human Nature," Piaskowski is one of multiple interviewees in the film who expresses beliefs that the investigation and trial led to the wrong outcome and conviction of six innocent men. Among others are the following:

Cal Monfils expressed his belief that the six men were wrongfully convicted and that his brother's death was likely a suicide.

Steve Stein, another James River Corp. employee, said Green Bay Police Department Detective Randy Winkler, the lead investigator in the case, once came to Stein's house and tried to get him to sign an affidavit that Stein said contained false information that he did not tell Winkler in an interview.

Brian Kellner, another millworker, was a key witness in the trial who later tried to recant parts of his testimony that played a major role in the six men's convictions. His daughter, Amanda Williams, who was around 13 at the time of the investigation, said Winkler interviewed her at her home without her parents' knowledge. Winkler has denied under oath that this ever occurred.

Kaplan said there was evidence that Monfils died by suicide, and that one of the main flaws in the investigation was the autopsy conclusion that Monfils received injuries to his body before he went into the pulp vat. A skull fracture Monfils measured -inch wide  the exact width of the blades at the bottom of the vat, he said.

However, now-retired Winkler and former Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski, who is now a Brown County judge, express strong beliefs in the film that the six men were guilty of killing Monfils, and that the joint trial was fair.

Winkler said he voluntarily took on the lead investigator role in the Monfils case, knowing it would be challenging and potentially damaging to his career. But he said he believes the six men were guilty and received a fair trial.

Zakowski said he believes the six men were given a fair trial.

Both Winkler and Zakowski expressed doubts in the film that the "Monfils Six" would have been found guilty if they had separate trials.

Many people at premiere voiced support of the 'Monfils Six'

While Neelsen said the film doesn't take a side, audible reactions during the film and audience questions during the panel discussion following the premiere revealed many of the audience members were sympathetic to the six men convicted of killing Monfils.

Audience members laughed at Piaskowski's one-liners, and audibly groaned at points of the film, including a discussion of Winkler's investigative tactics and Zakowski saying, in his belief, Piaskowski was not exonerated but "mistakenly let go" by the ruling of a judge who didn't know all the facts of the investigation.

During the panel, people took turns asking questions or expressing opinions. One person asked if Piaskowski received any compensation from the state after he was exonerated; Piaskowski said he did not. Another question was why Neelsen did not include information in the documentary about witness David Wiener, who testified at the trial about a repressed memory in which he said he saw Basten and Johnson carrying something heavy toward a pulp vat the morning Monfils disappeared, but a few months later he was convicted of second-degree reckless homicide for killing his brother. Neelsen said that storyline was cut out for sake of time, because it was so complex, and because Wiener declined a request to be interviewed for the film.

One questioner wondered why Piaskowski wanted to be a part of the film. Piaskowski said he supports efforts to bring attention to the case, including multiple books, because changes should be made in the justice system.

"This is the largest miscarriage of justice in Wisconsin state history, maybe the whole United States, I don't know," he said. "But it needs to be brought up again and again and again and again, for all eternity."

One of the audience members to take the microphone identified herself as Basten's daughter and thanked the filmmakers for telling the story.

I just wanted to thank you guys on behalf of him, since hes passed away now. It would mean so much to him to have his name cleared," she said.

Dale Basten was released from prison on parole for health reasons in September 2017 and died the following June.

The woman said she could relate to parts of the film discussing Winkler's alleged investigative tactics with Kellner's children.

"A lot of the stuff with Detective Winkler, he did that to other kids, too. He did that to us, too," she said. "And so I think a lot of people should know that.

Neelsen said he plans to feature people who support the six men's convictions at another panel during one of the upcoming screenings in Milwaukee.

People involved in the case or directly affected were in attendance

During the panel discussion following the film, a host from the Green Bay Film Festival asked the audience for a raise of hands of everyone who had either worked at the James River Corp. paper mill or who had family or friends tied to the case. Close to a quarter of the people in the room raised their hands.

Beyond Piaskowski, Kaplan and Cal Monfils, Hirn and Johnson were also in attendance, along with other relatives of the "Monfils Six." Neelsen said he also heard friends and family of law enforcement involved in the case attended the premiere, but could not confirm any names.

Neelsen said he believed it was important for a Green Bay audience to be the first to watch the film, and was grateful for everyone who attended the premiere and shared their stories.

"We are not going to take an emotional story from a community, turn it into a movie and never come back. Were invested in the city of Green Bay, and we wanted to hear their reactions first," Neelsen said in a statement.

The crew of "Beyond Human Nature" poses on stage at the Tarlton Theatre following the documentary's world premiere April 14.

Where can you watch it?

Following Friday's world premiere in Green Bay, "Beyond Human Nature" played Saturday at the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison. It will again play at the Milwaukee Film Festival April 29 and May 1. Tickets to the Milwaukee Film Festival area available on mkefilm.org.

"Beyond Human Nature" will be available on Apple iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, Vudu and some cable on-demand platforms (iN Demand, AT&T, Vubiquity, DirecTV and Dish) beginning May 2. It can be preordered now on iTunes or Apple TV.

RELATED: Documentary about 30-year-old Tom Monfils case makes world premiere Friday in Green Bay

RELATED: Tom Monfils died 30 years ago at a paper mill in Green Bay. His death still casts a shadow over the city

Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Takeaways from 'Beyond Human Nature,' a documentary on Monfils case
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden hosted Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday for talks at the White House amid deep differences on U.S. drug policy and Venezuela but a shared desire to deepen cooperation on climate change, migration and energy policy.

The leaders, in remarks before reporters at the start of the Oval Office meeting, tried to keep the focus on areas of agreement, including strengthening their democracies and building economies less dependent on carbon sources.

We are going down the same river, a river that leads us to ever-greater democracy and ever-greater freedom," Petro said. He added: We have a common agenda and a lot of work to do.

Biden said the countries shared a goal to build a united, equal, democratic and economically prosperous Western Hemisphere. Colombia is the key to the hemisphere," he said.

The two even joked about their ages; Petro turned 63 on Wednesday and Biden, at 80, is the oldest U.S. president in history. But their exchange before the cameras glossed over some of the growing differences between Washington and Bogota.

Petro has sharply criticized U.S.-led efforts to prohibit cocaine, saying at a speech at the United Nations last year that oil consumption promoted by global powers is more deadly than cocaine and that the war on drugs has failed."

During his White House visit, Petro dialed back the direct criticism of the U.S. After the meeting, he told reporters that the two sides discussed his agricultural reform efforts and shift in drug policy.

As cocaine production in Colombia continues to rise, Petros government has been reluctant to eradicate coca fields planted by small farmers. The Colombian president says that he prefers to chase money launderers and large-scale drug traffickers instead of stripping small farmers in isolated areas of their livelihood.

We framed it in the context of the construction of a drug policy ... (in which) peasants can have better guarantees and conditions to produce anything other than the coca leaf, Petro said.

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This new approach has been criticized by U.S. officials who long have advocated for the eradication of coca fields in Colombia as part of the effort to undermine drug trafficking groups and loosen their grip on some parts of the country.

In order to broker peace deals with rebel groups, Colombia will have to lift arrest warrants against rebel leaders who are wanted in the U.S on drug trafficking charges. The South American nation is looking to spend millions of dollars on economic development projects in rural areas that have long been afflicted by violence and is seeking U.S. support on that front.

Petro, who was elected last year, is in the midst of an ambitious effort to bring total peace to his nation of 50 million after six decades of conflict.

A 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group, known as FARC, reduced violence throughout much of the country. But homicides and forced displacement have increased in some isolated areas, where smaller groups began to fight over drug trafficking routes, illegal mines and other resources abandoned by FARC.

Under Petro, Colombias policy toward Venezuelas authoritarian government has shifted. Colombia no longer backs U.S.-led plans to isolate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and force him to resign or call for new elections. Instead Petros administration has engaged the Maduro, held bilateral meetings and resumed diplomatic relations.

Petro has called for sanctions on Venezuelan government companies and officials to be lifted and for talks on democratic reforms in Venezuela to resume. His government will host an international conference on Venezuela next week.

Petro told reporters after the meeting he advocated for a gradual and progressive deactivation of sanctions" that would allow Venezuelans "to decide freely, without sanctions, without pressure, their own destiny.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier that the Biden administration would review our sanctions policies in response to constructive steps by the Maduro regime and if the Venezuelan parties can make meaningful progress in returning to democracy.

Colombias government and its largest remaining rebel group  the communist-inspired National Liberation Army, known as ELN  launched talks in November, shortly after Petro was elected president. Petro has called the talks with the ELN a cornerstone of his effort to resolve a conflict that dates back to the 1960s.

Some rural areas of Colombia are still under the grip of drug gangs and rebel groups despite the 2016 peace deal with the larger FARC.

Some U.S. lawmakers have also been critical of Petro's warming relations with Maduro and President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. in a Medium post before the leftist Colombian president's visit, argued that Petro is misguided in thinking that the Venezuelan and Cuban leaders will use their influence over ELN to Colombia's favor. Venezuelan security forces have carried out joint operations with ELN against former members of the FARC rebels on the countries' shared borders. Cuba has held talks in Havana between Colombian officials and ELN.

But its a fools errand, because internationally ostracized dictators have nothing to gain from increasing stability in the region, Rubio wrote.

The two governments have cooperated on the migration issue.

The United States, Panama and Colombia announced last week that they will begin a 60-day campaign aimed at halting illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, where the flow of migrants has multiplied this year.

The announcement came as the Biden administration awaits the expected end of a pandemic-related rule May 11 that has suspended rights to seek asylum for many. Without that instrument of dissuasion at the U.S. border, there is concern migrant arrivals could again become unmanageable.

Colombia has seen more than 2.4 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants cross into the country, stretching the capacity of hospitals, educational institutions and other infrastructure, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Biden thanked Petro for the hospitality and support Colombia continues to show to Venezuelan refugees.

___

Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia, and Garcia Cano from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden made fresh pledges Thursday to bolster the United States' international climate spending against a harsh reality: Republicans stand in the way of the promises he's making to nations most vulnerable to rising temperatures.

Biden's $1 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund, a major international climate aid vehicle, sought to burnish U.S. credibility after former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans had zeroed out U.S. contributions for the program. Biden also said he'd work with Congress to approve $500 million over five years to combat rainforest deforestation through Brazil's Amazon Fund program.

"The impacts of climate change will be felt the most by those who have contributed the least to the problem, including developing nations," Biden told the virtual gathering of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which included leaders of Canada, Mexico, Germany, Egypt, Australia and the European Commission, as well as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"As large economies we must support these economies," Biden said. "The fund is critical in ways to helping developing nations that they can't do now  but it should not be the only way."

Yet the announcements came just a day after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an all-out assault on the heart of Biden's domestic climate agenda  a sign of the divisions at home that continue to bedevil the United States' efforts lead the world in combating the planet's warming.

McCarthy proposed legislation Wednesday that would strip billions of dollars of domestic clean energy incentives in return for raising the U.S. borrowing limits to avoid an economically crippling debt default. McCarthy's negotiating tactics signal that Republicans are unlikely to back increased climate funding of any sort, especially given his party has historically opposed international climate spending.

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Republican positioning imperils Biden's goal of increasing international climate finance to $11 billion annually by 2024 and threatens to throttle whatever goodwill rich nations earned at last year's U.N. climate talks, in which delegates agreed to create a "loss and damage" fund to pay poorer nations for irreparable climate damage. That fund is not yet operational, and Republicans criticized its creation at last November's talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting this year's climate talks, has said finance will be a central focus.

"In order for us to connect course we have to come to terms with some realities and we have to come with a robust understanding what it takes to put this back on the right track," Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, the president of the UAE-hosted talks, said at an event in Washington, D.C., last week. "And it's all centered around making finance and capital available."

The Major Economies Forum was first launched in 2009 and now includes more than two dozen countries that produce 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and GDP. It was the first meeting since the creation of the loss and damage fund  and some countries have openly questioned how much work wealthy nations are doing to bring that fund into fruition.

Developing nations have reasons to be skeptical. Rich countries still have not delivered on a 2009 vow to distribute $100 billion in climate finance annually by 2020. And even with Biden's most recent contribution to the Green Climate Fund, the United States  the world's largest economy and the top historical driver of climate change  is still falling short of former President Barack Obama's initial $3 billion promise in 2014. In contrast, some other countries have even begun making new commitments.

The effort, however, indicates that the Biden administration is responding to calls from developing nations to deliver more money to help them cope with the effects of the changing climate.

The Biden administration has also emphasized finance efforts that circumvent the need for congressional action. On Thursday, Biden announced a new "Methane Finance Sprint" to raise at least $200 million from public and philanthropic sources by the start of the annual U.N. climate talks in November. Biden said the effort would help the U.S. and other countries reach goals to slash methane emissions 30 percent this decade.

His administration has leaned on institutions like multilateral development banks such as the World Bank to fight climate change, seeing it as a way to augment public spending by mobilizing private sector dollars. The Bank concluded its spring meetings last week and laid out an "evolution roadmap" to engage on climate change.

"Certainly with this Congress, we're not going to produce that money. But we're not anyway," special climate envoy John Kerry said at an event in Washington, D.C., last week as the World Bank meetings were taking place. "In order to do what we need to do we need to be investing  not spending, investing  $4.5 trillion a year for the next 30 years."
Road to '24 (ABC News Photo Illustration / Alex Gilbeaux)

President Joe Bidens aides have told allies they could be ready to announce a run for reelection as soon as next week.

Next Tuesday is seen as a likely target as it would be the four year anniversary of his 2020 announcement.

Democratic donors are being invited to Washington, D.C., with strategy sessions planned for later next week. The White House declined to comment.

MORE: 'My intention is ... to run,' Biden tells ABC's Muir on reelection decision

Biden told ABC News David Muir in February its his intention to run for a second term, though hes yet to make any official announcement.

"[M]y intention is -- from -- has -- intention has been from the beginning to run. But there's too many other things we have to finish in the near term before I start a campaign," he told Muir at the White House.

At 80, Biden is the oldest serving president in U.S. history and would be 82 if he ran for reelection and won. Questions about his physical and mental acuity will likely be on voters' minds if he does run again.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden convenes the fourth virtual leader-level meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on Energy and Climate at the White House in Washington, April 20, 2023. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Biden told Muir age wasn't part of his calculation on whether to launch a 2024 bid but said it was "totally legitimate" for people to raise issues about it.

"And the only thing I can say is watch me," he said.

White House Dr. Kevin O'Connor recently said Biden was "fit to successfully execute" his duties as commander in chief following his second physical as president.

Biden has teased a 2024 campaign several times in recent weeks, including joking with Bruce Springsteen at a White House ceremony that "some people are born to run."

MORE: Who is running for president in 2024 and who may run

Biden hasn't faced much pressure to formally declare his candidacy as the Democratic Party's remained largely united behind him. So far, just two Democrats, Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have announced longshot bids to challenge him.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side there are already a number of candidates who've tossed their hat into the 2024 ring -- including former President Donald Trump -- and several more are expected to do so in the near future.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

Biden could announce 2024 reelection run as soon as next week, aides say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Sen. Dianne Feinsteins (D-Calif.) extended absence from the Senate has thrown a wrench into Democrats efforts to methodically advance President Bidens judicial nominees, stalling a key priority for the administration in the process.

At the start of the week, there were 15 judicial nominees who already had hearings but were waiting to be voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and six additional nominees waiting for hearings before the panel.

On Thursday, the committee voted a number of those nominees out of the committee without Feinstein present.

The Biden administration has had more than 100 judges confirmed by the Senate thus far, but with Republicans squashing a proposal to replace Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee while she recovers from the shingles, some of the current slate of nominees could remain in limbo with attendance issues slowing the panels work.

This holding pattern, particularly for those waiting to be reported out of Committee, is due in large part to Senator Feinsteins extended absence, said Zack Gima, vice president of strategic engagement at the American Constitution Society. Until she returns or a substitute is able to be seated, it is difficult to foresee how many of these nominees make it out of Committee and to the floor.

Here is a breakdown of which nominees have cleared the committee and those who are still waiting to be reported out.

Voted out of committee on April 20:

Monica Ramirez Almadani, to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California

Ramirez Almadani, whose nomination was advanced Thursday with bipartisan support, previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, and from 2015-2017 she served as special assistant attorney general under then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

In 2018, she represented the California state legislature as part of a Chicago lawsuit challenging the Trump administrations efforts to pull funding for so-called sanctuary cities.

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LaShonda A. Hunt, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois

Hunt was recommended to the White House by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).

She was nominated in January and received a hearing on Feb. 15. Her nomination was voted out of committee with bipartisan support on Thursday.

She currently serves as a bankruptcy judge in the Northern District of Illinois. Hunt previously was an assistant U.S. attorney in the civil division of the U.S. attorneys office in the Northern District.

Wesley L. Hsu, to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California

Hsu was formally nominated in January and had his confirmation hearing on Feb. 15 before the Judiciary Committee. His nomination was voted out of committee on Thursday with the help of Republican votes.

Hsu, who spent 17 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, previously prosecuted an individual who pleaded guilty to secretly filming then-ESPN reporter Erin Andrews in a hotel room, as well as an individual who pleaded guilty to computer hacking and identity theft charges related to a revenge porn scheme.

Robert Kirsch, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey

Kirsch was voted out of committee on Thursday, roughly three months after he had a confirmation hearing.

Kirsch worked for nearly 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. attorneys office for the District of New Jersey. Since 2010, he has served as a judge on the New Jersey Superior Court for Union County.

Orelia Eleta Merchant, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York

Merchant was nominated last September for a role as a district judge in New York.

She had a hearing on Jan. 25 before the Judiciary Committee, and on Thursday she was voted out of committee.

Merchant spent nearly 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, and has worked in the New York attorney generals office since 2019.

Jeffrey Irvine Cummings, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois

Cummings, who was nominated in January and received a hearing on Feb. 15, was voted out of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday with support from both Democrats and Republicans.

He previously served as counsel to former President Barack Obama prior to Obamas election to the U.S. Senate, and he has served as a magistrate judge since February 2019.

Michael Farbiarz, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey

Farbiarz was formally nominated in January, and he had his confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Jan. 25.

His nomination was voted on by the panel on Thursday, and was advanced to the full Senate with bipartisan support.

Farbiarz has previously served as a law clerk, an assistant U.S. attorney and a professor. During his time as a prosecutor, he worked on the case of Somali pirates who seized an American container ship in the Indian Ocean, an incident that inspired the 2013 film Captain Phillips.

Nominees waiting to be reported out of committee

Charnelle Bjelkengren, Eastern District of Washington

Bjelkengren previously served as an assistant attorney general in the states attorney generals office, and since 2019 has served as a judge on the Spokane County Superior Court.

Bjelkengren drew criticism and mockery from some Republicans when during a hearing before the Judiciary Committee in January, she struggled to describe the purpose of Article V of the Constitution, which establishes the procedures for amending the nations founding document, or Article II, which establishes the powers of the president and executive branch.

Bjelkengren was first nominated last September by Biden to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. She was renominated in January after the new Congress was sworn in.

Marian Gaston, Southern District of California

Gaston was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in late January, and had a confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 15.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in 2015 appointed her as judge of the San Diego County Superior Court. She previously worked as a public defender, a background the Biden administration has sought to emphasize with some of its nominees.

Michael Delaney, 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, New Hampshire

Delaneys is one nomination in peril over his handling of a sexual assault case at a New Hampshire boarding school, as well as his signature on a legal brief defending a parental notification law in New Hampshire, which requires parental involvement in a minors decision to have an abortion.

He was formally nominated at the end of January, and he had his confirmation hearing on Feb. 15.

Amanda Brailsford, District court of Idaho

Biden nominated Brailsford in January to serve as a district judge, and she received a committee hearing on March 22.

Since 2019, Brailsford has served on the Idaho Court of Appeals after being appointed by then-Gov. Butch Otter (R).

Kato Crews, District Court of Colorado

In his March 22 hearing before the committee after he was nominated in February, Crews stumbled over a question from Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) over the Brady Motion, a decades-old legal concept that established that the prosecution must hand over potentially favorable evidence to the defense.

Crews was appointed to be a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court in Colorado in 2018, making him the courts first African-American magistrate judge.

Jeremy Daniel, Northern District of Illinois

Daniel was nominated in March and had his confirmation hearing on Tuesday before the Judiciary Committee, making him one of the nominees whose status has been the least affected by Feinsteins absence to date.

Daniel is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. Since 2014, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.

Brendan Hurson, District of Maryland

Hurson has previously worked as a public defender in Maryland, including a stint in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Virgin Islands. He was appointed as a magistrate judge in February 2022.

Hurson was formally nominated to serve as a district judge in March, and he received a committee hearing on Tuesday.

Darrel Papillion, Eastern District of Louisiana

Biden nominated Papillion in March, and the Louisiana-native received a hearing before the Judiciary on Tuesday.

Papillion is likely to receive bipartisan support once there is a vote to report him out of the committee. Sen. John Kennedy, the Louisiana Republican, praised him during Tuesdays hearing as a lawyers lawyer.

Hes not an activist. Hes a lawyer. He understands the magistery, the complexity, the nuances, the utility, the beauty of the law, Kennedy said.

Nominees awaiting a hearing

Scott Colom, Northern District Mississippi

Colom has served in various roles as a prosecutor and judge, and in 2016 became the first Black elected district attorney to a majority-white voting district in the history of Mississippi.

But he has yet to receive a hearing because Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has said she will block his nomination by refusing to return a blue slip, an old Judiciary Committee tradition that requires both senators from the nominees home state to return the slips before a confirmation hearing.

Biden first nominated Colom last October, and he renominated him with the start of the new Congress in January.

Jabari Wamble, District of Kansas

Biden first nominated Wamble in August 2022 to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. But Wamble did not receive a hearing, and his nomination stalled out.

In February, Biden nominated Wamble again, this time to serve as a district judge for the District of Kansas.

Its unclear when Wamble might receive a hearing. CNN reported that Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) have yet to commit to supporting his nomination, meaning they could hold up the process by opting not to return their blue slips for Wamble.

Matthew Maddox, District of Maryland

Maddox has served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Maryland since 2022, and prior to that he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. attorneys office in the same district.

Biden in March nominated Maddox to serve as a district court judge in Maryland.

Ana de Alba, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California

Biden formally nominated de Alba as a circuit judge on Monday, marking the second time since taking office the president has tapped her for a judicial role.

Biden in January 2022 nominated de Alba to serve as a district judge for the Eastern District of California. She was confirmed in June 2022 by a 52-43 vote in the Senate, and she was sworn in last July.

Irma Ramirez, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas

Biden last week announced his intent to nominate Ramirez as a judge for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas. She has served as a magistrate judge for the Northern District of Texas since 2002.

If confirmed, Ramirez would be the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Fifth Circuit, and the only active Hispanic judge on the court.

Amanda Brailsford, District Court of Idaho

Biden nominated Brailsford in January to serve as a district judge, and she received a committee hearing on March 22.

Since 2019, Brailsford has served on the Idaho Court of Appeals after being appointed by then-Gov. Butch Otter (R).

Brailsford has the support of her home state senators in Idaho, and she is expected to be advanced at the next committee markup.

Updated 1:35 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US President Joe Biden said he is committed to resolving the crisis in Venezuela, after Colombia's President Gustavo Petro asked for sanctions to be lifted on the far-left government in return for restoring democracy.

In a joint statement following a meeting at the White House on Thursday, the two leaders expressed a "shared commitment to support and contribute to the resolution of the situation in Venezuela."

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, told reporters that he discussed a strategy with Biden for resolving the crisis in far-left leader Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela, which is deeply isolated by US and European sanctions.

"A strategy was proposed... which is to hold elections first and then lift sanctions. Or gradually -- as an electoral agenda is fulfilled, those sanctions are also lifted in parallel," Petro said.

He said he and Biden had discussed a conference on Venezuela to be hosted by Colombia next week with foreign ministers from Europe, Latin America, and the United States.

Washington supports the lifting of sanctions for democracy, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

"We've long been clear that we will -- we would -- review our sanctions policies in response to constructive steps by the Maduro regime and if the Venezuelan parties can make meaningful progress in return to a democracy."

Calling Colombia a "key" to the hemisphere, Biden said Petro had been "outspoken and strong" on human rights in a region with a long history of abuses and armed conflict.

The US president thanked Colombia for its handling of large numbers of refugees from neighboring Venezuela, which has suffered years of economic collapse and violent political tension.

Petro told reporters after his talks that he had also asked Biden for help in developing a new, more targeted approach to the decades-long, US-backed military campaign against drug lords in Colombia.

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The two leaders said they instructed their teams to "intensify and expand bilateral cooperation in intelligence and interdiction to dismantle the networks, pursue the true owners and enablers of drug trafficking in their jurisdictions, and counter illicit finance."

Petro told reporters that the key is tackling "the drug trafficking business community, which is done through intelligence work, tracing their assets and their money."

"I requested a little more help in that regard. We need more vessels, more boats, more drones."

Following the meeting, the two leaders also emphasized their commitment to "democracy, freedom and peace."

In the joint statement, Biden and Petro "condemned all forms of authoritarianism and aggression in the world, including Russia's violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity contrary to international law, while reiterating the urgent call for a stable and lasting peace."

The presidents also emphasized the need for a shift from fossil fuels to a green economy -- something Biden has prioritized during his presidency, with a historic funding bill to encourage climate-friendly technology.

Biden praised Petro's commitment to protect the Amazon and Colombia's ambitious goal of achieving net-zero deforestation by 2030.

The two leaders pledged to establish a working group to increase electrical interconnection in the Americas to reduce energy costs and dependence on fossil fuels.

Petro was elected in June as part of a wave of left-leaning leaders to win power in Latin America.

Colombia's presidential office said the visit to the White House was "a milestone in consolidating the relationship between Colombia and the United States in this new moment."

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(Bloomberg) -- US President Joe Biden is seeking $500 million to bolster Brazils strategy to protect the Amazon, a gesture to his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva amid recent tensions over Russias invasion of Ukraine and relations with China.

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Biden will request the US Congress deliver the money over five years to Brazils Amazon Fund, an international conservation initiative set up with Germany and Norway, as part of the South American nations efforts to end deforestation in the worlds largest rainforest by 2030, according to a White House statement Thursday.

Read More: Biden Urges Global Carbon Cut, Pledges $1 Billion to UN Fund

The answer to the climate challenge, maybe the biggest in our generation, depends on the coordinated action of all the countries, Lula said in a short video presentation from Brasilia after the White Houses announcement. Brazil is doing its part.

The pledge comes amid recent tensions between the US and Brazil, with Lula claiming that the US, the European Union and Ukraine shared responsibility for the war. A Biden administration spokesman accused Brazil of parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda in response.

But unlike the war, environmental policy and the need to protect the Amazon are points of strong agreement between the leaders. The Amazon Fund resumed full functioning with the inauguration of Lula in January after it was suspended under the previous administration of Jair Bolsonaro.

The US has not previously contributed directly to the Amazon Fund, which invested more than 1 billion reais ($198 million) into projects to protect the forest and promote sustainable development between 2009 and 2018. It had more than 3 billion reais ready to allocate to new projects when it was restarted in this year, according to the Brazilian government.

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US commitment to the Amazon Fund is a huge achievement, Environment Minister Marina Silva said at a Thursday afternoon press conference in Brasilia.

The Biden administration initially indicated that it would support the initiative during Lulas visit to Washington in February. US climate envoy John Kerry traveled to Brazil later that month.

Silva, the environment minister, spoke with Kerry on Thursday to thank him for the effort being made by the Biden administration to get this done, she said. Total contributions from the US could reach $2 billion once funding from private entities is included, she said.

Read More: Brazils Lula Seeks Even Closer Ties With China in Slap to US

The Brazilian government has been in talks with the US government about the Amazon Fund, and is grateful for the trust and the American contribution to the fund, Brazils Presidency said in a statement to Bloomberg News. The Fund has been an important instrument for preservation and sustainable development in the region.

Brazilian environmental groups also hailed Bidens announcement as a financial and political boost for efforts to curb deforestation.

It is an extremely important act, first because we need money in the Amazon, said Marcio Astrini, the executive secretary of the Sao Paulo-based Observatorio do Clima, a network of environmental organizations. Second, because of the political signal. Having a power like the US betting on the Amazon fund is a seal of trust and an invitation for other countries to participate too.

--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.

(Updates with comments from Marina Silva and environmental groups, and details on Amazon Fund)

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By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to meet top potential donors for his planned re-election campaign next week, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plans.

The effort to organize prospective financial backers comes as Biden aides have ramped up planning for the long-expected launch of the president's bid for a second, four-year term in 2024. Last week, Biden said he would launch his campaign "relatively soon."

Biden, 80, could announce his plans in the coming days, according to people familiar with his thinking, but they acknowledged that it is possible the announcement could take far longer.

Biden entered the 2020 race nearly four years ago, on April 25, 2019. He has long said he intends to run again but the lack of a formal announcement has seeded doubt among supporters about whether one of the oldest world leaders would or should commit to another four-year term. He would be 86 at the end of a second term.

The White House declined to comment on the meeting and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Donors would be key to what might be the most expensive U.S. presidential election to date. While the campaign would employ paid staff who focus on fundraising, they rely on volunteers to significant work.

Top volunteers generally give money to the campaign themselves but are also expected to tap their own networks of wealthy potential donors, host events that can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend and even meet certain fundraising targets set by the campaign.

The fundraising volunteers are expected to take a role in the early days after the launch, too, generating cash and holding events that they hope will give Biden a multi-million dollar haul within days and a strong vote of confidence ahead of the long campaign.

In recent weeks, Biden has laid out the likely themes of a re-election bid in political speeches, secured a doctor's note that he is "fit for duty," told Democrats to re-order the party's primary calendar in a manner favoring his nomination and picked Chicago as the city where he would ostensibly formally become the nominee next year. Biden is yet to face a serious challenge for his party's nomination.

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Biden on Wednesday visited a labor union training facility in Maryland to attack Republicans' economic vision, just one of the latest political events that have given the president a platform to rehearse likely campaign themes.

"Trickle-down economics doesn't work," Biden said, adding that a "minority of the party - I call them MAGA Republicans - control the party and are in Congress threatening to undo all the stuff that you've helped me get done."

He has avoided speaking about the legal woes facing Donald Trump, but on Wednesday he mentioned in passing the former president and top Republican candidate's name.

Biden drew laughter and applause when he referred to Trump's "last term - only term."

He added: "Well, I didn't mean it that way."

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Don Durfee and Stephen Coates)
By Jeff Mason and Julia Symmes Cobb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden praised Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday for his country's treatment of refugees from Venezuela and for his commitment to democracy and human rights.

During a meeting at the White House, Biden said the United States and Colombia could deepen their cooperative relationship and noted both nations had been working to fight climate change, counter narcotics traffic, and address migration.

Petro has called for lifting sanctions on Venezuela but a senior U.S. official said before the meeting that Biden would reiterate that he is not prepared to provide significant sanctions relief to President Nicolas Maduros government until he agrees to democratic steps with opposition political parties.

Petro urged a move toward a carbon-free economy, one of his top campaign promises. Colombia's main exports are oil and coal.

"As we begin the next century of our partnership, I believe we can do even more" to deepen and develop cooperation, Biden told Petro during Thursday's meeting.

Biden said Colombia was the keystone to the hemisphere and said there was an opportunity, with hard work, to have a Western Hemisphere that was democratic and economically prosperous.

Biden thanked Petro for the hospitality and support that Colombia was showing to Venezuelan refugees.

Some 2 million Venezuelan migrants are living in Colombia, which has granted them legal status and a 10-year right to remain. Several Colombian presidential administrations have decried a lack of international aid to help their country manage the migrant influx and provide health, education and other services for Venezuelans, many of whom arrive with very little.

REGIONAL PARTNERS

"We're working closely with regional partners to help Colombia meet this challenge," Biden said.

"I really want to thank you for your outspoken and strong commitment to peace and human rights," he told Petro, a former member of the urban guerrilla group M-19.

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Petro has promised to end Colombia's six-decade conflict, which has killed at least 450,000 people, through peace deals or surrender agreements with leftist rebels, crime groups founded by former right-wing paramilitaries and gangs.

"I believe that humankind in the Americas may well have the greatest potential for democracy and freedom," Petro said through an interpreter.

Petro has derided the U.S.-led war on drugs as a failure and called for a new international approach. His administration has touted captures of higher-ranking drug traffickers, rather than eradication of coca, as the way to fight drug gangs.

"I asked for a bit more help on (interdiction of drugs), we need more boats, more tenders, more drones," Petro told reporters after the meeting.

Petro, whose birthday was on Wednesday, quipped during his meeting with Biden that being 63 in this generation was like being 40 in the "old" generation.

"I fully subscribe to that," said Biden, 80.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; editing by Grant McCool)
China's remarkable success in poverty alleviation has caught the world's attention. The documentary film "Rooting" provides an intimate insight into the country's poverty alleviation efforts through the inspiring story of the Nu ethnic group, one of China's smallest ethnic communities, and their journey to overcome poverty by building a vital road.



The film captures the authentic lives of the Nu people, who underwent a significant transformation after the construction of the road as part of the government's poverty alleviation campaign.

Director Chai Hongfang receives praise from audiences at the premiere of "Rooting," held in Beijing, April 14, 2023. [Photo courtesy of Elemeet]

For generations, the Nu people lived in isolation and relied solely on manual labor and livestock assistance for daily tasks.

The lack of a road posed significant challenges for residents of Shawa village. For instance, they had to transport sick individuals on stretchers for kilometers down the mountain to reach a hospital. Children had to walk long distances to get to school.

The stark contrast between the stunning landscape and the impoverished living conditions made a lasting impression on director Chai Hongfang and her film crew. Upon arrival, they found that their post-production room was a rundown schoolroom and their dormitory was close to a pigpen where a mother pig and her piglets snored and roosters crowed throughout the night.

Over four years, the team filmed "Rooting" in the village located at an altitude of 2,000 meters in Yunnan province. Despite language barriers and the villagers' initial hesitance towards outsiders, the crew persevered, amassing over 700 hours of footage.

"The language barrier was the biggest challenge we faced. The villagers were initially skeptical of us and couldn't fathom an outsider team staying in their village for four years. To gain their trust, we walked alongside them, carrying firewood just like they did," Chai said.

Villagers carry an ill older woman down the mountain before constructing the road that connects their remote, isolated village. [Photo courtesy of Elemeet]

In a pivotal scene, the villagers' joy was palpable as Chinese rural officials announced plans to build a road, providing opportunities for education, employment, and commerce. In 2018, a 23-kilometer mountain road costing about 15 million yuan ($2.1 million) was constructed, connecting Shawa village to the outside world.

The road construction had a transformative effect on the village. Some residents relocated to a modern community at the base of the mountain, while others remained in the village, renovated their homes, and learned new agricultural practices with the help of specialists. They transitioned from panting low-yield crops like rice and corn to cultivating more profitable produce like strawberries, walnuts and kiwi.

"Rooting" offers an inspiring portrayal of the Nu people's successfully efforts to lift themselves out of poverty alongside showcasing the region's idyllic beauty and featuring more than 10 captivating Nu folk songs.

Sound designer Liu Hengzhi explained that the creative concept behind the film's extensive use of local folk music: "The Nujiang area of Yunnan is a treasure trove of ethnic music. We wanted to find music that would accurately convey the message of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, and what better way to achieve this than to use local folk songs?"

The film has received positive reviews for its emotional depth and hopeful message, with Ning Qiwen, Party secretary, director, and chief editor of the China Agricultural Film and Television Center, which co-produced the film, emphasizing its significance as a model for rural poverty alleviation and prosperity in China.

Villagers embrace their new lives after poverty alleviation. [Photo courtesy of Elemeet]

"The film is full of emotions  sadness, longing, compassion, hope and happiness. It is frequently deeply moving," added Robert Walker, emeritus fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford University, and a professor at Beijing Normal University at the premiere. He praised the film's "enormous informational value" and highlighted the remarkable accomplishment of building the 23-kilometer road to connect the remote village to the outside world. Walker believes that the film genuinely showcases China's remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation and reduction and hopes that "everyone in the world should see it!"

"Rooting" is set for nationwide release on April 20 and will be screened at 100 universities and colleges across China, as well as in countries along the Belt and Road. The film's producers hope to inspire global efforts to reduce poverty by sharing Chinese wisdom and solutions.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden's nominee for labor secretary, Julie Su, won praise at her Senate hearing Thursday as a champion of the working class even as some key Democrats were unwilling to voice support, creating uncertainty about her confirmation prospects.

A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su's nomination ahead of Thursday's confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the deputy labor secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labor.

The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the Biden administration's first Asian American to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden last month called her proof of the American dream and said shes committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.

Su tapped into that spirit in her testimony, recounting how her parents were able to claw their way into the middle class through jobs that provided benefits as well as becoming entrepreneurs.

When he announced my nomination for U.S Secretary of Labor, the president called me the American Dream. My parents believed in it, I benefited from it, and I want to do my part to make sure it is a reality for workers across the nation, Su said.

She was previously confirmed as the deputy labor secretary, but has faced opposition from business groups critical of her record leading California's labor department. They point to her support of an overturned California law that would have required app-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft, as well as trucking businesses, to treat their workers as employees, providing benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, rather than independent contractors.

Su has also faced blame for problems at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency during the coronavirus pandemic when unprecedented numbers of people applying for unemployment benefits faced long wait times and the state paid out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims.

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Industry groups have launched billboard and digital ads against Su in West Virginia, Montana and Arizona, while unions have assembled to support Su.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committees chair, voiced support as he opened Thursdays hearing, saying the debate over Su has nothing to do with her qualifications.

This debate really has everything to do with the fact that Julie Su is a champion of the working class of this country who will stand up against the forces of corporate greed, he said.

But Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, all declined to say whether they would vote for her confirmation this week. Democrats cannot afford to lose more than a couple votes in a Senate divided 51-49. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is also recovering from shingles in California, with no firm return date.

Manchin repeatedly declined to comment on Su's nomination this week; Tester said he would meet with her after the meeting to make sure she's still right"; Kelly said he didn't have concerns about her record but added he does not preview his votes; Sinema said through a spokeswoman that she does not preview votes.

Su was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 by a 5047 vote.

During her testimony, Su repeatedly referenced her work alongside Walsh, saying that Biden had asked her to finish the job that Secretary Walsh and I started.

Republicans appear unified in opposition to Su's confirmation. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a floor speech that Su has a lengthy track record for all the wrong reasons.

During the committee hearing, Republican senators closely questioned Su on whether she could forge relationships with industry groups, as well as her oversight of the California labor department when it paid out unemployment benefits to fraudulent claims during the pandemic.

The top Republican on the panel, Sen. Bill Cassidy, accused Su of unfairly favoring unions, telling her, We need a labor secretary who is fair and unbiased in enforcing the nations labor laws."

Su maintained a smile as she responded to Republican questions and emphasized that she knew the value of small business entrepreneurship through her parents. She insisted that she could build relationships with both labor and industry groups to help negotiate settlements and pointed out that Congress had lifted normal checks on unemployment claims for the enhanced benefits paid during the pandemic.

Late last year, Su was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies and helped avoid an economically debilitating strike. She has also led efforts to crack down on wage theft.

Republicans also asked if she would advance a California standard that classifies many workers as employees rather than independent contractors.

Su said she wouldn't and understands the value of independent contractors. But she also asserted that it is a problem in our economy that needs to be addressed when businesses avoid paying minimum wage, overtime or unemployment insurance by classifying regular workers as independent contractors instead of actual employees.

The Senate committee is expected to vote next week on whether to advance Su's confirmation to a vote in the full chamber.
Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee

A bill aimed at securing Sunbiz.org after a Parrish man was accused of fraudulently using the state's business database to gain control of 21 Sarasota properties and borrow more than $1 million against them will likely sail over its final hurdle in the Florida Legislature on Thursday.

The Senate version of the bill advanced on Tuesday on a 38-0 vote.

Previous coverage: Sarasota Rep. McFarland files bill to secure Sunbiz.org, prevent hijacking of businesses

State Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, filed the House bill after a Herald-Tribune investigation this last year into allegations that Robert E. Houston Jr. had fraudulently taken control of a Sarasota real estate company by manipulating the state's online business records and mortgaged the company's 21 single-family residential properties.

Houston was arrested in January on 27 charges following a Sarasota Police Department investigation. The charges ranged from money laundering and real estate fraud to the filing of false documents with a governmental agency, according to court records.

McFarland's bill will allow the Department of State, which oversees the Division of Corporations, to authenticate identities and require a password to change business records with Sunbiz.org.

ICYMI: Stranger accused of using website flaw to hijack Sarasota man's real estate business

More: 'I ain't in jail': Felony charges for man accused of hijacking Sarasota real estate company

The owner of Glenco Properties Group Corp. had accused Houston in a civil suit of using Sunbiz.org to name himself CEO without the company's owner's knowledge. It wasn't until the owner went to pay overdue property taxes on the properties that the alleged fraud was discovered.

Currently, the state's unsecured business database operates in an administrative capacity and can be readily changed online, even by people that have no connection to a company.

McFarland's bill was scheduled to be heard by the full House on Thursday.

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"I'm proud of Florida's open records laws, but when a state database can be so easily altered by bad actors, we ought to act quickly to stop that," McFarland told the Herald-Tribune. "With passage of this law, we will do just that."

State Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, will present the bill on behalf of McFarland as Sarasota's state representative has been on maternity leave after the birth of her third child earlier this month.

Houston remains in the Sarasota County jail since his arrest Jan. 10. One of the more recent court filings in his case came on Monday from Assistant State Attorney Andrew Van Sickle, who filed a notice that Houston could face life in prison if convicted on all counts.

"Taken together, if calculated in the manner which is contemplated in the revised rule, the defendant should be on notice that his exposure is 20,454.525 months or, in simple terms, a "life" sentence," the court document reads.

Houston's case is set for case management on June 29.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota lawmaker's bill to secure online business records set to pass
Cocktails to-go are soon to be a permanent fixture of Washington food service business.

The Washington State Senate gave final approval Tuesday to Senate Bill 5448, legislation making it legal for restaurants and breweries to serve cocktails to-go permanently.

The temporary law was enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to expire June 30.

Under the legislation, businesses with the proper licenses can sell beer, wine, and approved mixed drinks with a to-go food order. The bill now heads to Gov. Jay Inslees desk for his signature.

Consumers across the state have enjoyed cocktails to-go for the last few years, and making this option permanent increases convenience while supporting local business, said Adam Smith, vice president of state government relations at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. We are grateful the Washington legislature recognized the benefits of cocktails to-go for consumers and hospitality businesses and passed this legislation.

Since the start of the pandemic, 18 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws allowing for the permanent sale of cocktails to-go, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
The Puerto Rico Status Act, which seeks to resolve its territory status and its relationship to the U.S. through a federally binding plebiscite, was reintroduced in the House on Thursday.

Even though the House passed the bill in December, the Senate never scheduled a floor vote for it, effectively restarting the process of getting the act approved under a new Congress.

The original bill sponsors and co-sponsors in the House said at a news conference Thursday that they are hoping to garner more support from senators, as well as Republicans in the House.

The bill lays out the terms of the plebiscite, or vote, in which Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. territory would get to choose among three nonterritorial status options: statehood, independence and sovereignty in free association with the U.S.  excluding the islands current territorial status as one of the options for the first time.

"The current territorial status cannot be part of the solution. Actually, it's part of the problem, and that's the reason this bill is so important," said Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, a Republican nonvoting member of Congress representing Puerto Rico who is sponsoring the bill. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-N.M., the former chair of the House Natural Resources Committee  which oversees the affairs of U.S. territories  is the main sponsor.

The bill would also provide a framework to transition into the new status. The new version suggests the plebiscite should be scheduled for November 2025.

The Puerto Rico Status Act was a compromise between members of Congress who previously sponsored competing bills.

It combined elements of two bills: a pro-statehood bill introduced by Gonzalez and Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., and the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, which proposed a mechanism to choose delegates for a "status convention" to come up with solutions for Puerto Rico's future, sponsored by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velazquez, both New York Democrats.

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Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who was the House majority leader last year, helped lead a monthslong effort to get lawmakers on opposing sides of the status debate to come together under one bill.

"What we agree on, passionately, is that America ought not to be a colonial power," he said at the news conference.

Puerto Rico has been under U.S. control since 1898, following the Spanish-American War. Congress and the federal government have since been allowed to treat Puerto Rico as foreign for domestic purposes and a state for international purposes.

This became evident in 2015 during the Obama administration, when Puerto Rico said it was unable to pay its $70 billion public debt, prompting Congress to create the 2016 Promesa law, because U.S. laws excluded Puerto Rico from the federal bankruptcy code.

Promesa established the federal financial oversight board, which oversees Puerto Ricos fiscal responsibilities, and created a mechanism for the territory to restructure its debt in federal court.

Puerto Ricos government formally exited a form of bankruptcy in March, six years after the oversight board was implemented, which led to widely criticized austerity measures on an island that paid $1 billion in fees to consultants and lawyers and in other expenses during the process.

Puerto Ricans living on the island have been U.S. citizens for over a century. They can be drafted and serve in the U.S. military but are unable to vote for president unless they live in the mainland.

Puerto Rico's residents dont pay federal income taxes, since they dont have voting representation in Congress. But they pay payroll taxes, helping fund federal programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Puerto Rico has limited or no access to these federal programs with the potential to serve as lifelines in a territory in which more than 40% of the population lives in poverty.

"Puerto Rico is a responsibility of Congress," Gonzalez said. "It's Congress who needs to make an offer of what options are available for the people of the island to select."

Emerging concerns

At the news conference Thursday, Velazquez called on Republicans to end this unjust political limbo and act on the bill after House Democrats unanimously voted in favor of the Puerto Rico Status Act and the White House pledged its support.

The Republican leadership has a responsibility to the people of Puerto Rico to "provide for a fair shot at scheduling a hearing and listening to everyone, the experts and the stakeholders," said Velazquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress.

The House passed the measure in December with a 233-191 vote. All no votes were from Republicans; 16 GOP members joined 217 Democrats to approve the bill. But half of the 16 Republicans who supported the legislation did not return to the Republican-controlled House. In the Senate, Democrats lack the votes to overcome a filibuster.

A vote in the House Natural Resources Committee is required before the bill can get a second House floor vote this year.

The committee is chaired by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., who voted against the Puerto Rico Status Act on the floor in December, calling for letting a full and robust legislative process take place.

Grijalva said they would be approaching Westerman soon to request a hearing on the Puerto Rico Status Act.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said he would be joining Gonzalez in a meeting with Westerman later Thursday to discuss any concerns he may have with the bill.

Power 4 Puerto Rico, a coalition composed of mostly stateside organizations advocating for Puerto Ricans on the island, sent a letter to the committee leaders last month urging them to "conduct public hearings, with ample advance notice and simultaneous translation in Puerto Rican Spanish, in D.C. and Puerto Rico, to carefully examine this critical issue."

It also asked to specify whether Spanish would remain the controlling language of Puerto Rican public affairs and clarify what would happen to the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee depending on the status that gets chosen, arguing they are both integral parts of Puerto Rican culture and national identity.

Additionally, the organization requested clarification and details on how Puerto Rico's federal taxation status would change under another territorial status.

Luis Ponce Ruiz of Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora, which is part of the coalition, said in a statement that while the group welcomes the reintroduction of the bill, it "repeats some of the same mistakes of the 2022" version.

Our organization will continue meeting with House and Senate offices to express our concerns about this bill," Ponce Ruiz said, adding his group will "promote sovereignty as the only just and politically realistic solution to Puerto Ricos colonial status.

Places such as Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands have a sovereignty with free association with the U.S. These are technically independent nations bound to the U.S. by a treaty governing diplomatic, military and economic relations.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Inside Black-Owned Restaurant Bronze in Washington, D.C.

Uber rides and travel inspired the newest Black-owned restaurant in Washington, D.C.

Keem Hughley was inspired to create Bronze during the pandemic. The restaurant takes its inspiration from Afrofuturism, melding fantasy and gastronomy with the culture of the African Diaspora.

You are no longer in the nations capital once inside. Instead, you are on a journey and experience that pays homage to the 700-year-old story of Alonze Bronze.

Bronze was known to travel freely around the globe, searching for new cultures to learn from and share with. Eventually, the people of Bronze, with their mythic cranes, settled on a lush and bountiful island in the modern-day Caribbean.

Photo Credit: Dereck and Victoria Miller

RELATED: Afrochella Is Not Ending. Instead, Rebranding To Afro Future Fest

A Space Designed By Black People So Everyone Can Appreciate Black Culture

Customers will immediately be a part of an Afrofuturistic experience when they walk through the doors. The journey into Bronze retells a different story on each floor.

Pre-Earth is the restaurants ground floor, which offers a low-lit and atmospheric space. As customers venture off to Earth, the second floor, an immersive natural light and green space welcomes guests.

Before leaving, be sure to visit the cocktail bar on the top floor, also known as the Crane Room. There you will find crane-studded wallpaper and a large rounded cutout overlooking Earth below.

The stories of the African diaspora come to life through the restaurants artwork, lighting, and interior designs, thanks to Jimmie Drummond and his team. Drummond is the founder and principal architect of Drummond Projects.

Photo Credit: Dereck and Victoria Miller

Our team did a deep research into Afrofuturism, amassing a collection of recent creative achievements on the subject, Drummond says. We looked at work by multimedia creator Olalekan Jeyifous, author Nnedi Okorafor, visual artist Nyame Brown, and even the architecture in Marvels latest blockbuster series, Black Panther.

He adds, We took notes on the styles and textures used by the artists and read interviews about these creatives Afrofuturistic ideologies and intentions.

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A Black Woman Is Behind Bronzes Afrofuturistic Menu

Toya Henry is the executive chef behind Bronzes Afrofuturtistic menu. Henry left her job as a former fashion editor and stylist in New York to pursue her dreams within the culinary space. Henrys father is Jamaican, and her mother is from Barbados.

Bronzes family-style menu draws from her Caribbean heritage, travels from Asia to the Caribbean, and previously documented conversations about food with Uber drivers worldwide.

The menu includes braised oxtails with pappardelle, towers of torched oysters slathered with flying fish roe, slate boards of hamachi crudo with crispy dasheen, Choquette, frisee, rose apple, and more.

Take an adventure through Bronze by booking your own Afrofuturistic experience during your next stop in DC.

Photo Credit: Dereck and Victoria Miller

RELATED: How To Spend A Day In Black-Owned Washington, D.C.
Michael Bloomberg at COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021. Alastair Grant/Getty Images

Michael Bloomberg is contemplating who might eventually replace him, the Financial Times reported.

The 81-year-old plans to give away most of his wealth that's estimated at about $95 billion.

Sources told the FT that Bloomberg may decide to shun internal frontrunners and bring in an outsider.

Michael Bloomberg is keeping his executives guessing about who might succeed him, and could even look outside his financial data powerhouse, a report said.

The Financial Times interviewed several people close to the former New York mayor to gain an insight into how the billionaire might relinquish control of Bloomberg when he eventually decides to do so.

Bloomberg, who turned 81 in February, is worth nearly $95 billion, according to Forbes. That makes him one of the world's richest people, in charge of a hugely influential company bearing his name.

While Bloomberg might be best known for its news division, only a fraction of its revenues come from media, per the FT. The company generates about $12 billion in annual revenues, with most of that coming from the Bloomberg terminals found on the desks of tens of thousands of bankers and businesspeople the world over.

Although Bloomberg still goes into the company's New York headquarters most days, according to the report, there is rising speculation about who is likely to get the nod when he no longer wants to remain at the helm.

Jean-Paul Zammitt, Bloomberg's chief commercial officer, is regarded as the most likely candidate to take over. He's has been in charge of the company's terminal sales business for years and has taken increasing responsibilities from other executives, per the report.

"Mike asks his senior leaders every time they meet if they have more than one successor, and while he has succession plans for himself, he has not discussed them with anyone," Bloomberg representative Ty Trippet told the FT.

Vlad Kliatchko, a computer engineer originally from Russia and Bloomberg's chief product officer, is seen as another possible candidate to replace Bloomberg.

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However, the billionaire could also decide to look outside the company for a successor.

"Only two people" run the company  Zammitt and Kliatchko  a former senior Bloomberg executive told the FT. They added that Bloomberg "has no need to go internally. Mike believes in stability, and then change."

For now, Bloomberg remains very much hands-on, sometimes ensuring that employees are wearing their lanyards, an unnamed source told the FT.

Bloomberg donates most of his money through Bloomberg Philanthropies. He gave $1.7 billion to the organization last year, bringing his lifetime charitable donations to more than $14 billion, according to the site.

He is also a signatory to The Giving Pledge, the initiative set up by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett in 2010. "Nearly all of my net worth will be given away in the years ahead or left to my foundation," Bloomberg wrote on the pledge's website.

Bloomberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The 56-year-old white woman who police say stabbed a fellow Bloomington Transit bus passenger of Chinese descent has been charged with a hate crime.

More: Police arrest woman in unprovoked stabbing on Bloomington bus

Billie Davis on Jan. 11 used a folding knife to repeatedly stab an 18-year-old Carmel woman as the victim waited to disembark at the B-Line Trail downtown, according to police.

A federal grand jury in Evansville on Thursday returned a single-count indictment charging that Davis willfully caused bodily injury to the victim because of the victims race and national origin.

The indictment also alleges Davis tried to kill the victim, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The department said the FBI Indianapolis Field Office and Bloomington Resident Agency investigated the case, with assistance from the Bloomington Police Department.

Police: Attack was unprovoked

Police reviewed video camera footage from Bus No. 1777 and said there was no interaction between the two women before the sudden attack, which happened at 4:43 p.m. as the bus stopped on West Fourth Street at the B-Line pedestrian trail.

An affidavit from a detective who reviewed surveillance video from the bus describes how Davis took out and unfolded a pocket knife as the victim stood and waited for the bus doors to open. It says Davis repositioned herself, clutching the knife, to stab the 18-year-old in the top of the head about seven times.

"Davis then folds the knife, puts it back in her pocket and returns to her seated position on the bus," the affidavit said.

Davis didn't acknowledge the victim or what happened, the detective said, as she stood and exited the bus. A witness followed her, called 911 and led police to the site a few blocks away where they apprehended Davis.

The victim was alert and able to tell police what happened when they questioned her at the hospital. A week after the incident the victim's family released a two-sentence statement through a family friend asking to be left alone.

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"The IU student who was attacked on a bus in Bloomington last week is recovering with her family. She appreciates the outpouring of support, but requests privacy at this time to allow further healing," the statement read.

Davis, of the 2300 block of South Brandon Court, was booked into the Monroe County Jail on Jan. 11 on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon. She was still being held at the jail as of Thursday afternoon.

More: Insanity defense sought for Billie Davis, woman accused in Bloomington bus stabbing

A few days after the attack, the lawyer representing Davis said he was seeking an insanity defense on his client's behalf.

Laura Lane contributed to this report.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Woman accused of stabbing Asian IU student charged with hate crime
Khazar Elyassnia, left, stands in the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on April 14, 2023, ahead of an appearance by her brother, Nima Momeni, who has been charged with murder in the death of tech entrepreneur Bob Lee. Olga R. Rodriguez/AP

Nima Momeni is in jail on a murder charge in the stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee.

His lawyer told Insider that Momeni was placed "in a safety protocol."

The protocol is typical for people without a criminal history and in a high-profile case, the lawyer said.

Nima Momeni, the 38-year-old tech consultant who faces a murder charge in the fatal stabbing of Cash App creator Bob Lee, is on suicide watch, though his lawyer said calling it so is "dramatic."

Momeni was arrested on April 13 in Emeryville, a city east of San Francisco County, more than a week after Lee was fatally stabbed on an early Tuesday morning in San Francisco. Prosecutors alleged Momeni carried out a "planned and deliberate attack," stabbing Lee with a kitchen knife, after an argument pertaining to Momeni's sister, court documents showed.

Momeni is being held in jail until his arraignment, which was delayed on April 14 because his attorney Paula Canny was on vacation. The next hearing is scheduled for April 25.

"San Francisco County Sheriff's Department has a standard safety protocol that any person without a criminal history who is arrested in a serious high-profile case is placed in a safety protocol," Canny told Insider in an email. "Some call the protocols suicide watch  that is dramatic but it's a safety protocol."

A spokesperson for the San Francisco Sheriff's Office told Insider that it's not unusual for high-profile arrestees to be placed on suicide watch, but it's not a "hard and fast rule."

"Whether or not someone is placed under watch is based on the totality of the circumstances of their particular case," SFSO public information officer Kelvin Wu told Insider.

Wu did not immediately respond to a follow-up inquiry on the circumstances that might have placed Momeni under watch.

Lee was fatally stabbed on San Francisco street in the early morning of April 4. According to Momeni's charging documents, Lee spent his final hours drinking with a group of friends, including the suspect's sister, Khazar. Prior to the stabbing, Lee was staying at 1 Hotel San Francisco, just a few blocks from Khazar's apartment. A hotel manager declined to comment when approached by Insider.

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Khazar's partner, Dino Elyassnia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lee's death sparked outrage against the state of crime and safety in the city, including from Elon Musk, whose comments were later condemned by the city's district attorney Brooke Jenkins.

"While we are not going to release any additional facts at this time, I must point out that reckless and irresponsible statements like those contained in Mr. Musk's tweet that assumes incorrect circumstances about Mr. Lee's death serve to mislead the world in their perception of San Francisco and also negatively impact the pursuit of justice for victims of crimes as it spreads misinformation at a time when the police are trying to solve a very difficult case," Jenkins said in the conference on April 13.

Read the original article on Business Insider
There is something in the water.

Again and again, men have turned up dead in Austin, Texas', Lady Bird Lake, a stretch of the Colorado River running through the heart of the city, near a popular strip of bars and food trucks on Rainey Street.

Four this year, and according to local reports, as many as eight in the past 10 months.

However, while police say they have found no signs of trauma on the victims or evidence of foul play, experts on the outside say so many drownings in one place would be a striking coincidence.

TEXAS SERIAL KILLER FEARS RISE AS LAKE DEATHS CLIMB TO 4

"That lake and these bars have been there for years," Kevin Gannon, a former NYPD detective sergeant, told Fox News Digital. "All of the sudden [these deaths] happen at the same time? It's not consistent with normal accidental drownings."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Especially when it takes effort to get down to the waterfront from the popular night spot, which is a couple of blocks away.

The answers to other lingering questions are likely known to investigators but not to the public, said John Kelly, a criminal profiler who has interviewed numerous serial killers.

"I would be interested in knowing what these guys had in common besides Rainey Street," he told Fox News Digital. "Did they go to the same bar?Something else that bothers me is that they seem not to be with friends. They're all alone."

BANK ACCOUNTS OF NEW YORK ROOFIE MURDER VICTIMS DRAINED VIA FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY

Austin police identified the latest victim Monday afternoon as John Christopher Hays-Clark, 30. He was pronounced dead at the scene near a dam about two miles down river from where the others were found, closer to Rainey Street.

"While the investigation is still in the early stages, we do not suspect foul play was involved based on the information we have at this time," police said. "The investigation remains ongoing, and we have no further information to provide."

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TEXAS POLICE ADDRESS FEARS OF SERIAL KILLER AFTER SECOND MISSING MAN FOUND DEAD IN AUSTIN LAKE

"Although these cases are still under investigation and evidence is being analyzed, at this time, there is no evidence in any of these cases to support allegations of foul play," Austin police said in a statement. "While each incident has occurred at the lake, the circumstances, exact locations, and demographics surrounding these cases vary."

Christopher Pugh's 21-year-old son, Christian, mysteriously went missing in November 2019 after a night out on Rainey Street in downtown Austin, Texas, and was found days later with "serious" injuries by the lake.

Police found Jason John, 30, dead in Lady Bird Lake in February, a week after he was last been seen on Rainey Street, which has a popular row of bars near the water. Clifton Axtell, 40, was identified as the man found dead on March 5. Jonathan Honey, 33, was found on April 1, a day after he was last seen at a food truck on Rainey Street.

Jamie Hammonds, of DashATX, has also raised doubts about the deaths being a series of accidental drownings  and he told Fox News Digital Wednesday that he has heard repeatedly from locals nightmare stories of getting slipped drugs on Rainey Street.

"I have been digging into this now for the last couple of weeks pretty much every day, and the odds of this happening this many deaths in that one spot, all men around the same age, the odds are pretty astronomical if this is just a coincidence," he said.

Autopsy reports were not yet available, but police said the victims showed no signs of trauma, and they had not seen evidence of foul play. However, drugs like GHB, commonly known as "roofies," are quickly metabolized and can be out of a victim's system by the time they reach a forensic pathologist, Hammonds noted. That is if the medical examiner even tests for them.

Concerned residents have voiced their fears at public hearings on social media, where a Facebook group dedicated to the topic has attracted 70,000 members in the past few weeks.

"There are too many people that have gone missing," Austin resident Christopher Pugh told the Austin City Council earlier this month. "There are too many people that have been injured. There are too many people that can walk off, and we still have absolutely no answers as to what has happened to any of those folks."

Pugh's 21-year-old son, Christian, went missing for several days in 2019 after partying on Rainey Street. Search teams found him alive but in "very rough condition" and disoriented in the brush of a hiking trail on the other side of the lake, FOX 7 Austin reported at the time.

"One common theme of the drownings in Austin this year is the combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake, which has numerous access points," police said. "Many of the access points can be challenging to see at night."

NEW YORK CITY ROOFIE SUSPECT INDICTED ON CHARGES OF GRAND LARCENY AND IDENTITY THEFT

They noted that those areas close at 10 p.m. and urged people not to enter them at night.

However, investigations into each of the deaths remained active this week.

Despite the lack of evidence of foul play, speculation about a possible serial killer has swirled.

Austin has had one other serial killer in the past, around the time of Jack the Ripper. The "Servant Girl Annihilator" is believed to have killed eight women between December 1884 and December 1885. No one was ever caught.

However, the lake cases appear to have more in common with more recent crimes.

Beginning in the mid 1990s, a gang of " Smiley Face Killers " has been proposed as the source of numerous deaths of young men found in the Midwest. In those cases, young, fit men were found dead in bodies of water after they had last been seen out drinking.

Mitchell Gutierrez, whose brother died of "an accidental drowning" after going missing from Rainey Street in downtown Austin, Texas, in 2018, speaks at an April 13 city council meeting.

AUSTIN POLICE CHIEF TOUTS PARTNERSHIP WITH STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT, CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS SKEPTICAL

Just last month, New York City police announced investigations into two separate gangs suspected of drugging people in Manhattan bars in order to use the victims' unconscious faces to unlock their phones with facial recognition technology. The thieves drained their mobile banking accounts and apps like Venmo and Cash App. Those rings are still under investigation, although prosecutors have announced arrests and indictments.

"Just from the sheer number and the fact that there's so many in a short period of time, I don't believe that it's accidental," said Gannon, who with the NYPD was credited with more than 1,000 felony arrests and, at the time of his retirement, the most decorated officer in the department's history.

Cyclists pass beneath the downtown skyline on the hike and bike trail on Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas.

Gannon was later part of a private investigation into the "Smiley Face" serial killer theory chronicled in the Oxygen docuseries, "Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice."

While Austin police investigate the deaths, city officials have also addressed safety concerns about the waterfront, installing new fencing and weighing proposals ranging from adding lights or increasing police patrols.

"From the outside in, not having been there, it appears to have been targeted, just because of what the numbers say and the location, all in Lady Bird Lake," Gannon said.

TEXANS SOUNDING SAFETY ALARMS AFTER LATEST BODY FOUND IN LAKE

A member of the Austin Police Department stands watch during the Gold Cup semifinal match between the United States and Qatar on July 29, 2021 at Q2 stadium in Austin, Texas.

The Austin City Council discussed potential upgrades at and near the Rainey Street Trailhead, between the nightlife district and the river bank, including adding park ranger patrols and stationing emergency responders in the area, FOX 7 Austin reported earlier this month.

Pugh, the man whose son was found in the brush after vanishing in 2019, called for cameras to be installed in the area.

Mitchell Gutierrez, whose brother drowned after going missing from Rainey Street in 2018, said at the meeting he believes 12 people have died in similar fashion "by his count" since his brother's death.

His brother, Martin Gutierrez, was an experienced swimmer, according to Hammonds.

"He had swam competitively in high school," he said. "I can't understand how somebody like that would just fall in the water and drown."

Fox News' Chris Eberhart and Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
A body found in Lake Michigan has been identified as Seamus Gray, the Navy sailor who disappeared last month, CBS Chicago reports.

At around 7 p.m. Wednesday, Waukegan police officers were conducting a traffic stop near the Waukegan Harbor when utility workers flagged them down, according to police. The ComEd workers were doing routine work near the harbor and reported they saw what they believed to be a body in the water.

An officer went into the water to recover the body. The Waukegan Fire Department also responded and retrieved the body further onto the shore.

The body and clothing "match the description of the missing United States Navy Sailor Seamus Gray," police said. Gray, 21, went missing on March 18. The Lake County Coroner's Office later identified the body as Gray.

UPDATE: Body found in Waukegan Harbor identified as missing Navy sailorhttps://t.co/qqw5fINYLo  CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) April 20, 2023

Police said Gray was last seen at a bar near the Waukegan Harbor. Police from Waukegan and North Chicago, firefighters, the Office of Naval Intelligence, water rescue crews and about 100 Navy personnel spent hours in the following days looking for Gray along the lakefront. Gray's mother also traveled to Waukegan from Florida to search for her son.

Detectives found video surveillance footage of Gray leaving Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan.

The video shows him leaving the bar alone through a back alley in a pink outfit, and he was later seen at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street around 1:40 a.m. on March 18 and had not been seen or spoken to since leaving the bar.

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China's education ministry Wednesday said it released 26 new disciplines for undergraduate programs amid efforts to help universities better serve national strategies and regional development.

The newly approved majors cover several fields, including biometrics, robotics, national parks, rural governance, and family education, among others, according to the ministry.

So far, China's higher education institutions have 792 majors in 93 categories designated for undergraduates.

In addition, China will adjust the composition of about 20 percent of the disciplines and majors at its higher education institutions, replacing outdated ones with new ones that keep abreast with new technologies, emerging sectors, and new business modes, according to a reform plan released by the education ministry and other authorities earlier this month.
Amitabh Bachchans granddaughter files complaint in Delhis high court (AP)

Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchans 11-year-old granddaughter has sued YouTube for circulating fake news about her life and health.

According to local reports, there are videos of Aaradhya Bachchan being circulated on YouTube containing fake information about her health.

The plaintiff, who is the daughter of actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, filed her complaint at the Delhi High Court on Wednesday (19 April).

In response, the court restrained nine YouTube channels and completely restricted them from creating, publishing, uploading or sharing any content related to Aaradhyas health.

The high court also directed Google to delist and deactivate videos that are the subject of the case.

Every child is entitled to respect, be it a child of a celebrity or commoner, Justice C Hari Shankar said, as per India Today. Dissemination of misleading information to a child, especially as regards physical and mental health, is completely intolerable in law.

Defendants are also restrained from creating publishing, uploading or disseminating of any videos which are identical or similar in content to the videos forming subject matter of the aforesaid URLs, the judge said.

It is clarified that this would encompass all videos that deal with the physical condition of the plaintiff.

In other words, defendants are completely restrained from disseminating on any platform available across the internet relating to the mental or physical health of the plaintiff.

The Bachchan family (Getty Images)

In response, YouTubes counsel said it will provide the actual information of the people running all the channels that are responsible for circulating videos of Aaradhya.

They have provided the URLs, they will be delisted as well, the counsel said, according to the Economic Times.

Children must be treated with parity  whether celebrity child or otherwise  the court has said that the intermediaries should have a zero-tolerance policy on such fake news which is harmful to a child same as that for child pornography, said Aaradhyas lawyer Ameet Naik.

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In 2021, Abhishek Bachchan hit out at trolls who targeted his daughter on social media.

Its completely unacceptable and something that I will not tolerate, the actor told Bollywood Life.

Im a public figure thats fine, my daughter is out of bounds. If you have anything to say, come and say it to my face.
COLFAX, La.  The shiny new black marble monument dedicated to the victims of the Colfax Massacre sits next to the railroad tracks on Eighth Street, not far from where the atrocity took place on April 13, 1873.

The monument is a reminder of the power of memory and a sacrifice made by those who came before us and the ongoing struggle for a more just and equitable society, the Rev. Avery Hamilton told a crowd gathered for the monuments dedication ceremony last week, in the small community about 120 miles southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana.

With the Colfax Massacre Memorial, the Colfax Memorial Organization seeks to correct the historical narrative of racial injustice that took place on that fateful day. The organization was co-founded by Hamilton and Dean Woods of Houston, Texas.

Etched on the monument are the names of the men who were part of an all-Black state militia killed or wounded that day defending the Grant Parish Courthouse from a white mob upset about the results of a statewide election. About 60-80 Black men were said to be killed though the exact number is unknown. Three white men were also killed.

The Rev. Avery Hamilton (right), a descendant of Jesse McKinney, a victim of the Colfax Massacre, talks with Jerry F. Hickman (left) and Dean Woods who are descendants of a couple of the men who perpetrated the massacre that killed 60-80 Black men on Easter Sunday in 1873.

The ancestors of Hamilton and Woods were on the opposite sides of what Woods said was one of the most monumental and bloodiest massacres in American history.

The first Black man killed in the massacre was Jesse McKinney, the great-great-great grandfather of Hamilton. He found out about his relation to the Colfax Massacre and McKinney after researching his genealogy.

The great-grandfather of Woods, Bedford Eugene Woods, was one of the perpetrators. Woods also found out about his ancestor through genealogical research.

A hushed story

Hamilton has lived in Colfax his whole life but said the story of the massacre was barely mentioned or discussed.

It was never taught in schools. It was mentioned in hushed tones in the white and the Black communities. No one really talked about what happened here, he said. Outside of a few people making comments here and there, no one talked about this, so no, I didn't know this story growing up.

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Huey Tademy is a descendant of a few of the men who were massacred. He said they had no factual information about the massacre when he was growing up either.

Avery Hamiltons father, Tom Hamilton, said they heard a lot of verbal accounts about the massacre growing up but even those were confusing.

What Avery Hamilton said he and others knew of the massacre was only what was written on an old historical marker that used to be in front of the Grant Parish Courthouse.

The marker, erected by the Louisiana Department of Commerce in the 1950s, read Colfax Riot: On this site occurred the Colfax riot in which three white men and 150 Negroes were slain. This event marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South.

Deemed offensive and inaccurate, that marker was taken down by the state in 2021.

Shocking information

Woods grew up in Shreveport. Though his family visited relatives in Montgomery, about 15 miles northwest of Colfax, he and his sister never heard of the Colfax Massacre or even the mention of their great-grandfather's name.

It was while researching his family that Woods was shocked to find out about his great-grandfather's involvement.

The obituary for Beuford Eugene Woods who died in 1921 states that he was a proud member of the Veterans of the Colfax Race Riot of which he was the treasurer. That both stunned and saddened Woods.

Whether he had even fired a shot, to the end of his days, he was proud of what he and the other men had done that day to end the lives of so many brave men, said Woods.

Woods said that he did not know what to do with this information.

What do you do when you find out one of your ancestors was involved in a horrific massacre, he said. Do I tell anybody? Do I just ignore it? What do I do?

Woods sought more information about the atrocity

He wanted to learn more about this tragedy so he first read the fictional Red River by Lalita Tademy. Then Charles Lanes The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction, and The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror & the Death of Reconstruction by LeeAnna Keith.

Through these books, I learned details about the massacre and its aftermath, he said, which had far-reaching implications for Black people across the country for over a century.

Mandi MItchell (far left), Gov. John Bel Edwards (second from left), the Rev. Avery Hamilton (front) and Dean Woods (far right) unveil the Colfax Massacre Memorial monument Thursday. The memorial seeks to correct the historical account of what happened on April 13, 1873 in which 60-80 Black men were slain by a white mob.

The Colfax Massacre

The Colfax Massacre has been known as the Colfax Race Riot or the Easter Sunday Massacre.

A 2003 article in the Alexandria Town Talk, part of the USA TODAY Network, states that according to several historical studies, the massacre happened after tensions grew between whites and Blacks during the Reconstruction era between 1865-1877.

It was during this time that Louisiana had a Black lieutenant governor, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, who later became the first Black governor after the impeachment of Gov. Henry Clay Warmoth due to political corruption plaguing his administration.

The article goes on to say that Black residents outnumbered white residents in Colfax. Hate groups like the White League, the Ku Klux Klan and former Confederate soldiers moved in upset over the results of the statewide election. The mob killed many of the Black men at the Grant Parish Courthouse during the fight and even killed those who surrendered.

Ushered in Jim Crow laws

The article also states that a U.S. attorney obtained convictions against the white men who killed the Black men under laws designed to protect newly freed slaves from violence and intimidation.

But the U.S. Supreme Court decision in U.S. vs. Cruikshank overturned the convictions in 1876 and freed the white men convicted. The decision became one of a series of rulings that limited the federal power to enforce the post-Civil War amendments and legislation. That allowed Southern states to enact laws that took away protections given to Black Americans after the Civil War.

Because of this, the Colfax Massacre was said to be pivotal in ushering in Jim Crow laws which legalized racial segregation through state and local laws across the South.

The Rev. Avery Hamilton (left) and Dean Woods (center) talk with Gov. John Bel Edwards at the unveiling ceremony for the Colfax Massacre Memorial held Thursday. Hamilton is the descendant of one of the victims of the Colfax Massacre that happened April 13, 1873. Woods is a descendants of one of the men who perpetrated the massacre that killed 60-80 Black men on Easter Sunday in 1873.

This narrow interpretation of federal Civil Rights authority created a precedent that made future prosecutions of such violent deeds in the South more difficult to sustain, said Lane, who was the featured speaker for the ceremony. These precedents helped advocates of white supremacy regain power in Southern states and keep it for decades."

The old historical marker

After realizing how big and important this atrocity was for Black people, Woods said he wanted to do something. So he started with the old historical marker.

To me it was just so offensive that an inaccurate marker like that stood for 70 years and had been seen by so many people who were misled that it was a race riot rather than a massacre, said Woods.

He learned that many dedicated people like Hamilton tried to get it taken down. Jeff Crawford and Tom Barber who were students at Louisiana State University started the effort to get it removed.

Woods found out the Grant Parish Police Jury controlled the land where the marker stood. He called and sent a letter to the agency in Louisiana which had control over the marker. Thats how he met Mandi Mitchell who worked with Louisiana Economic Development at the time.

Shes the one who had the political savvy to know how to handle the situation, said Woods.

Mitchell met with the Police Jury, telling them that even though the marker was on the courthouse grounds which belongs to the parish, the marker belongs to the state and since it was not historically accurate, it had to be removed.

After a couple of legal letters going back and forth, Woods said the Police Jury agreed to take it down but didnt want another marker put up because they didnt want to deal the accuracy of history one way or another.

Mitchell told the crowd at the ceremony that the old marker would be placed in the future Louisiana Civil Rights Museum.

The marker had to come down, Gov. John Bel Edwards emphasized to the crowd as he spoke during the ceremony.

Every day that marker was up, he said it meant the state of Louisiana was complacent in telling Black residents in Colfax and everywhere else to stay in your place because if you dont, this is what could happen.

And for good measure they put a score on it, 150 to 3. 150 to 3, said Edwards.

During the ceremony, Lane told the crowd that an obelisk was constructed in 1921 and dedicated to the perpetrators of the massacre. He said the inscription on it reads, that it honored the men that fell fighting for white supremacy.

That much of the inscription is true, said Lane. It also calls them heroes. But that word far better applies to the men who defended the courthouse a century and a half ago.

Something else needed to be done

Woods and Hamilton began talking about next steps in May 2021 and came up with the idea of a memorial instead of another marker.

When the men finally met, they immediately formed a bond.

Me coming from one of the perpetrators families and him coming from the first man murdered, said Woods. We just felt like something needed to be done besides just taking the marker down and we slowly talked about a lot of things during those days.

With Mitchells help, the two men began working towards that effort by starting the non-profit Colfax Memorial Organization and making it into a 5013C.

Woods credited Lane with vetting the names of those were were killed and wounded that were to be etched on the monument.

For years, Lane, a columnist and editor for the Washington Post, has researched and written about the Colfax Massacre.

Now that the memorial is fully funded, they are seeking donations for a scholarship program for Black students in Colfax, said Woods. They want to change lives for the better.

And hopefully that might help Colfax prosper into the future, Woods said.

The Colfax Massacre Memorial monument seeks to correct the historical account of what happened on April 13, 1873 in which 60-80 Black men were slain by a white mob.

Of the descendants of the perpetrators, Tademy said he holds no grudge against them because they were not there and are not to blame for their ancestors actions.

We cant blame them for history. The thing we have to do is try and better the conditions and work along with each other, he said.

Let the past be the past, said Tom Hamilton.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colfax Massacre descendants set out to correct historical account
As book bans are becoming more prevalent in school districts across the US, theres now hard data to show the extent of those bans courtesy of an updated report from PEN America.

The number of book bans grew by 28 per cent in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year compared to the previous six months, according to Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools.

From July to December 2022, there were 1,477 individual book bans affecting 874 unique titles alone -- a sign of harmful censorship in literature.

Since PEN America, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to fighting for free speech, began tracking public school book bans in July 2021, the organisation has counted more than 4,000 instances of banned books.

The organisation attributes many of these book bans to a campaign by politicians and few parents or community members who want to instigate anxiety or anger with the underlying goal of suppressing access to literature and information.

Of the 1,477 books banned in public schools this year, 30 per cent contain themes about race, racism, or include a character of colour and 26 per cent have LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

PEN America found that, unlike past eras, nearly one-third of book bans were a direct result of newly enacted state laws in the likes of Florida, Utah, and Missouri.

The heavy-handed tactics of state legislators are mandating book bans, plain and simple, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, said in a press release.

This past month, Republican lawmakers in Missouri threatened to defund public libraries in retaliation for the ACLU filing a lawsuit against a recent ban on educators providing sexually explicit material.

Similarly, Florida recently began removing pornographic, violent or inappropriate books from classrooms.

But PEN America notes that books are more frequently being labelled as pornographic or indecent on the basis that they contain sexual content.

Some of these books include The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison, The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.

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Additionally, vague language in legislation, like in Floridas Parental Rights in Education Act which bars educators from instructing on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, can influence books being banned.

Utahs Sensitive Material in Schools Act also uses vague language to prohibit certain sensitive instructional material.

The ban on these books can also limit personal health resources to students.

Books that address LGBTQ+ themes, issues, and personal experiences like Flamer by Mike Curato and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe were among the top banned books.

Book bans impede the freedom to read, limiting students access to a diversity of views and stories, PEN America says.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Getty

The FBI has been boosting its efforts to recruit Russians with access to classified information in recent weeks, The Daily Beast has learned.

In an attempt to gather more intelligence on Moscow and bring in more Russian assets, the agency has been running a social media operation since February targeting Russians who might be willing to spy for the Biden administration, The Daily Beast has learned.

The spy-hunting operation relies on a promotional video that depicts potential paths that an employee at the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., might take through the city to reach the FBI at the J. Edgar Hoover Building. The video, roughly two minutes long, features music from Chopins haunting Nocturne No. 1, with various shots of buses and trains that can be taken to FBI headquarters, as well as footage of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the streets of Georgetown.

The video is circulating on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google, according to ads seen by The Daily Beast and ad repositories maintained by the social media platforms. A source familiar said the Google ads are appearing on YouTube.

       ,      ,     .     ?       Signal   +1-771-201-4210.  FBI Houston (@FBIHouston) March 1, 2023

The video ends with a message from Alan Kohler, of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, urging Russians to come forward. Its the only portion of the ad in English, albeit with Russian subtitles.

I look forward to building a brighter future with you. Do you want to change your future? The FBI values you. The FBI can help you, Kohler says. But only you have the power to take the first step.

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The operation is meant to lay out a vision for potential informants for how they can go about spilling Russian government secrets to the United States safely, a source familiar said.

The campaign is particularly aimed at Russians who have access to classified information, according to one description of the video seen by The Daily Beast.

The FBI invites the cooperation of Russian officials with secret or classified information, text accompanying one ad reads. Do you want to change your future? Contact the FBI at Signal.

Thats a wrap

Its just the latest effort from the FBI to take advantage of the powers of social media to recruit Russian spies. Last year, the FBI ran other ads on social media targeting the area surrounding the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to recruit Russian informants, as reported by The Daily Beast. The operation was timed with what some in intelligence circles said was an opportune moment to recruit Russians that disapproved of the way Vladimir Putin was waging war in Ukraine, just as domestic dissent over the invasion bubbled up.

The FBI timed the release of the video ad with the one year mark of Putins invasion in Ukraine.

Previous ads have used images and text to try to persuade would-be Russian traitors to share information with the United States. One ad the FBIs Boston division ran from July through September of last year said, Information provided to the FBI by the public is the most effective means of dealing with threats, alongside a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.

This is the first time the FBI has relied on a video on social media to try to recruit Russian assets, according to a source familiar.

The effort to recruit Russians with access to intelligence was timed as domestic dissent against Russian President Vladimir Putin has bubbled up. Credit: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters

The FBI is focusing its video-based recruitment efforts in the D.C. area and the Houston, Texas, area on Twitter in an attempt to recruit new informants. Video ads also appear in New York, New Jersey, California, Texas, Washington state, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, The Daily Beast has learned.

The FBIs Newark Counterintelligence Division has also jumped in on the action, sharing ads on Facebook in recent weeks, although it has shared a different promotional message.

10 minutes of your time with us can be the beginning of your new future, the division states in Russian, with a link to a page describing how efforts will be made to keep Russian turncoats confidential.

Its not clear how much money the FBI has spent on the ads in total, as some of the information provided online appears to be incomplete. On Facebook alone, the FBI appears to have spent between $13,000 and approximately $14,600 on video ads, with a reach of between 2.4 million and 2.7 million impressions.

The two ads in Newark each cost less than $100 with just a couple of thousand views.

The agency has been running the campaign since February, an official from the FBI Washington Field Office told The Daily Beast.

Hush hush

The FBI assures potential informants that their information will be kept a secret.

If you would like to share sensitive information related to Russian intelligence or defense matters, please contact us, one FBI website notes. We will keep the information you provide confidential, including information that identifies you personally.

The campaign, however, might be ill-advised, according to Robin Dreeke, a former FBI special agent and head of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. The campaign might scare off some of its would-be informants by being so obvious, in part because would-be informants might bristle at a digital operation like it, or think its a trap from their bosses to test their loyalties.

People are always going to trust a person more than trust something cyber that you don't know. Because they [Russians] do counter operations against their own people to test them all the time, Dreeke told The Daily Beast.

For Russians and other foreign officials who might want to help the United States spy on their motherland, motivations tend to fall in a few categories, ranging from financial troubles to disillusionment with the government.

Tortured Ukrainian Women Forced to Chant Glory to Putin!

If they already have the motivation, a video online might not be the most helpful tool to build trust with assets that may be putting their lives or their loved ones lives on the line, said Dreeke.

The whole point of recruiting is to make someone feel safe, Dreeke said. Put yourself in that situation. You have a challenge in your life you're trying to solve whether it's an ideology, or your children's education, or elder parents that are having a hard time with health care, and you thought of an option. Maybe one of those options is to consider volunteering and cooperating with a foreign intelligence service like ours. The second part of that is, you know, do I feel safe in how they would handle me.

Russian counterintelligence efforts to nab potential traitors might bump up just because of the video ad campaign, which would make it even harder to recruit Russian assets, Dreeke warned.

Dreeke doesnt have knowledge of the planning behind the ad campaign and suggested the FBI likely had thought through all of the potential pitfalls.

All these things are always well thought-out, he said Maybe they have a very specific reason and its based on a lot of evidence and data that they put together that said this would be effective.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Marcos Goncalves Dias (right) was President Lula's top security adviser

The top national security adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has resigned after video emerged showing the aide inside the presidential palace in Brasilia during rioting on 8 January.

Gen Marcos Goncalves Dias stepped down after CNN Brasil broadcast CCTV footage of him talking to members of a mob.

The general denied accusations that he had facilitated the rioters' entry.

The government is now backing a congressional inquiry into the riots.

This comes on top of an investigation by federal police.

Gen Goncalves Dias said he had arrived after the rioters.

CNN Brasil said it had analysed 160 hours of footage from 22 separate cameras.

In its report, the broadcaster showed footage of Gen Goncalves Dias in the same corridor as some of the people who had stormed the building.

CNN says the footage was recorded in the corridor outside a room leading to the office of the president on the third floor of the palace.

The images appear to show the general pointing out the emergency exit to the rioters. There is no sound, so it is not clear what he says to them.

The general told Brazilian TV channel GloboNews that he "was removing people from the third and fourth floors so that they could be arrested on the second floor".

Gen Goncalves Dias argued that his actions had prevented the ransacking of the third and fourth floor of the palace.

He added that he had handed in his resignation so that the investigation could proceed "in a transparent way".

Other footage broadcast by CNN appears to show members of the Institutional Security Bureau (GSI), which Gen Goncalves Dias leads, handing out bottles of water to some of the rioters and shaking hands with them.

Gen Goncalves Dias said those shown handing water to the rioters had been removed from their posts and were currently under investigation.

The presidential palace was one of three buildings in Brasilia which rioters opposed to the election of President Lula stormed on 8 January.

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Opponents of the newly elected president had been camping out in front of army barracks across the country in an attempt at convincing the army to prevent the transfer of power from the outgoing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, to Lula.

With their frustration growing after Lula's swearing-in on 1 January, they began to congregate in the capital.

On 8 January, they rampaged through the presidential palace as well as Congress and the Supreme Court, breaking windows and furniture as well valuables, such as a 17th-Century French clock. They caused millions of dollars of damage.

Security forces eventually regained control of the situation and detained around 1,500 people.

But the security forces came under heavy criticism for not preventing the rioters from entering these key buildings.

The chief of security for the capital at the time of the attack, Anderson Torres, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of sabotaging efforts to protect the buildings.

President Lula's predecessor in office, Jair Bolsonaro, is due to testify within the coming days over his alleged role in inciting the rioters.

Prosecutors say he fanned the flames by questioning the legitimacy of the election result, which saw him narrowly lose to Lula.

Lula had opposed the congressional inquiry in order to avoid diverting political focus away from his economic measures.

But Institutional Relations Minister Alexandre Padilha told reporters the government would now support the inquiry as a way to clear things up after the resignation of Gen Goncalves Dias.

Some members of the opposition have accused the government of allowing the rioters entry to the presidential palace.

"That's an absurd conspiracy theory," Mr Padilha said, according to Reuters news agency. "The leaked footage brought in a new political fact so we will support the inquiry, which in my opinion will put an end to yet another conspiracy theory."
A pioneering supermodel headlined a special event Wednesday at the University of Miami, speaking of her four decades of achievements on and off the runway.

Beverly Johnson told the crowd of about 600 people at United Way Miamis 22nd annual Women United breakfast about the importance of breaking barriers.

Johnson did just that to become the first Black model to grace the cover of American Vogue in August 1974.

The founder of Beverly Johnson Enterprises appeared this year in the BET documentary Black + Iconic: Style Gods. She also told the Miami Herald in an interview about her 38 new projects in the works, including adapting her The Face That Changed It All: A Memoir into a mini-series with Warner Brothers.

The supermodel also manages to make time to give back to her family and her community  telling the Watsco Center audience that philanthropy is how I can get out of me, me, me and being full. The 70-year-old has a daughter and a handful of grandchildren.

This years United Way event honored women who have made history in recent years. They included Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade Countys first female mayor.

Only United Ways Women United members and their guests were invited to the breakfast. Members pay at least $1,000 a year to belong to the group, which focuses on education, financial stability and health issues.

Normally the site of the universitys basketball games, the Watsco Center was filled with tables topped with fresh fruit and pastelitos de guayaba, danishes and raspberry rugelach. The sound of forks and knives clinking against porcelain plates paused momentarily when Johnson was called to the stage. Applause echoed as the model stood to Aretha Franklins Respect and danced her way toward Leslie Miller Saiontz, the moderator and founder of Achieve Miami.

Speaking of her philanthropy for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation and Barbara Sinatra Children Center for Abused Children, Johnson said, Thats why Im so involved with United Way. You walk the talk. You just dont talk it. You walk it, and you walk it every day. All you women, Im in awe of you and what you do, what you accomplish, because its Gods work. It really is.

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Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, her father worked as a steelmaker and her mother was a nurse. Johnson talked about her upbringing and career. She reflected on what led to her success as a model who has appeared in 500 publications. After modeling, she started her own businesses, including designing wigs, hair extensions and eyeglasses.

Beverly Johnson dances her way to the stage during the United Way Miamis Women United breakfast Wednesday at University of Miamis Watsco Center.

All of the things that came after were things that were presented to me that I had felt intuitively that I would do, Johnson said.

The model said she followed her gut, often going against the advice of others to launch her companies. It showed me that you have to trust yourself, she said.

For Symeria T. Hudson, it was her first Women United breakfast as president and CEO of the United Ways Miami chapter. Hudson became the nonprofits first Black female leader in August 2022. She told the Herald the organization will continue to focus on helping to devise solutions to Miami-Dades biggest challenges.

The former head of the Chapman Partnership, which is focused on homelessness, Hudson sees education as the path forward for many families.

Later this year, she said United Way Miami will begin a new tuition-assistance program for traditional college students, single mothers and people returning to school to pursue second careers. For the program, the nonprofit is tapping a $25 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, the American novelist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister James Cleverly has skipped a planned trip to Samoa to focus on coordinating the UK response to the Sudan crisis, which he is doing from New Zealand, his office said on Thursday.

Cleverly had been scheduled to meet Samoan officials and New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta in Samoa but has instead arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, after his other meetings in the Pacific region.

"The situation in Sudan means he has decided to come straight here, where the British have a larger and better equipped High Commission, with more reliable, stable and secure communications, allowing him to more easily co-ordinate the UK's response to events in the African state," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Fighting has erupted across Khartoum and at other sites in Sudan this month in a battle between two powerful rival military factions.

Cleverly last week called on the Sudanese leadership to restrain troops and de-escalate, and on Wednesday he said he had discussed with the foreign ministers of Egypt and UAE how they could work together to resolve the conflict.

"The bloodshed in Sudan cannot continue," he said on Twitter. "The UK calls for an immediate end to the fighting and a lasting ceasefire."

International powers have been struggling to evacuate citizens after the airport and several districts housing embassies were caught up in the violence.

A new attempt at a ceasefire in fierce fighting in Khartoum failed on Wednesday, leaving people fearful about dwindling food supplies and a breakdown in medical services.

The key parts of Cleverly's programme in New Zealand would go ahead as planned, his office added.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Alex Richardson)
By Michael Holden and Sarah Mills

LONDON(Reuters) - As Britain prepares to crown King Charles III in a ceremony with traditions dating back some 1,000 years, the monarchy confronts a question it has faced down the centuries: how does it survive in the modern world?

For the House of Windsor, that does not mean dealing with growing hostility from politicians or the public, for which there is little evidence, but rather their indifference and simply becoming negligible.

And in a world where mobile phones are ubiquitous, brutal social media commentary is rampant, and the media's voracious appetite for royal stories is insatiable, the greatest issue might be that the family themselves no longer fancy the job.

"One thing that Prince Harry has really reminded us, if we needed any, is just how incredibly painful it is to live in a cage in which you are constantly scrutinised," royal author Tina Brown told Reuters.

"It's a pretty terrible thing to contemplate that your own life is something that you have no control over and that ultimately, it's just not going to change and you are going to be in a zoo forever.

While many other European monarchies have come and gone, or are far diminished in scale and importance, the British royal family has remained remarkably resilient.

Polls show the monarchy is supported by the majority of Britons, although that backing has slipped slightly since the death of Queen Elizabeth last September, and Charles does not enjoy quite the same overwhelming popularity of his mother.

But surveys also constantly indicate the young are less bothered about the institution than older generations, and as Elizabeth herself once said, while it was hard for them to gauge public opinion, partly because of deference, "read it we must".

Republic, a group that wants to abolish the monarchy, has pointed to a poll which showed a majority of people were not interested in the coronation.

"Most of us aren't that interested, and most of us think the royals should pay," its chief executive Graham Smith said.

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RELEVANCE

"Relevance is absolutely crucial to the monarchy," said Robert Hardman, a long-time royal correspondent and author of 'Queen of our Times'.

"The big threat to the future of the House of Windsor is not mobs storming the gate, it's not revolution, it's becoming irrelevant. The queen always used to say we have to be seen to be believed."

But therein lies the catch for the royals. There has long been a symbiotic relationship between the press and the royals, with papers extensively covering their engagements such that barely a day passes without an appearance on the front page of a national newspaper.

But, in return, the royals are considered public property with an expectation that they play the press "game" in return for gilded lives in palaces.

"Monarchs and their families need the media just as the media need them," Harshan Kumarasingham, senior lecturer in British politics at the University of Edinburgh.

"A monarchy exists in a very precarious existence where it can be at the centre of our adulation, but it can also be at the centre of our criticism and fears."

In his memoir "Spare", Netflix documentary series and TV interviews, Prince Harry, the king's younger son, made it clear that such an life in a media goldfish bowl was not one he was prepared to put himself nor his U.S. wife Meghan and their children through any more.

He also accused his family or those working for them, notably elder brother and heir Prince William and his stepmother Camilla, now the queen consort, of colluding with the press to plant negative stories about him in order to enhance or protect their public image.

In his younger days, Harry made front page news when he was pictured wearing a Nazi uniform at a costume party, had run-ins with paparazzi outside nightclubs, and was later pictured naked while partying in Las Vegas.

EXPOSURE

With everyone having cameras on their mobile phones, there will be even more risk of exposure for the three young children of Prince William who face having every minor misdemeanour, inappropriate comment, or embarrassing mistake captured on film.

"When people talk about the privileges, I would say that the difficulties and the and the imprisonment of it, far outweigh really the privileges," Tina Brown said. "So I'm not sure whether one should expect that of modern people."

However, whatever difficulties it has faced over the years, from wars, divorce, internal squabbles or even abdication, the monarchy has always shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from adversity.

"It's remarkable at adapting," Laura Clancy, a media lecturer at Lancaster University who specialises in the royals. "They've shown that they know that they need to adapt to the modern world in order to keep existing."

Whether they will want to is another matter.

"People rightly talk about the privilege and the money and the palaces and the Bentleys," a former close aide of King Charles once told Reuters. "It is a privilege, but it carries a great burden. I would never wish that life on anyone."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
By day, Jessica Wade spends her time in a laboratory at Imperial College London surrounded by spectrometers, oscilloscopes -- and men.

At night, she writes biographies on Wikipedia about women researchers like her who don't have an online presence.

"We can't just do the shouting about how we need more women in science. We have to do the point of honouring and celebrating the women scientists that we have," she told AFP.

"And I think writing their stories, making sure the world recognises what they've done is a really important way to do that."

Wade, 34, has worked at Imperial's imposing campus in west London since 2016.

As a physicist, she is involved in developing new generations of carbon-based semi-conductors to make optical and electronic devices such as televisions and solar panels more energy efficient.

She leads a team of five people in a wider team of about 15. Of them, only one other scientist is a woman.

Science "is very male-dominated," Wade said, lamenting the lack of interest in it among girls whose parents are not scientists.

"As soon as I walked into a physics department that had a majority of men and a majority of people from white privileged backgrounds, I suddenly realised that not everyone's getting the opportunity to study physics, not everyone's getting excited about it," she added.

"That lack of diversity impacts the science we do, the questions we ask, the directions we go in, the way we translate our innovations into society, where those kinds of devices are actually used in the world and who they benefit."

- Visibility -

Wade now seeks to "take science to more people" but came across "knowledge gaps" in the internet's free, multilingual, collaborative encyclopaedia.

"Wikipedia is an amazing platform because it's used by everyone in society," she said.

"It's used by 15 billion access points a month. Parents, teachers, policymakers, journalists, scientists, Amazon, Alexa, Google Home, they all use Wikipedia when they're looking for information."

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But there is one big problem, she added: "About 90 percent of Wikipedia contributors and editors are men, and about 19 percent of the biographies on English language Wikipedia are about women."

Wade set out to redress the imbalance in 2018 and has since written almost 2,000 pages by herself at the rate of one a night, at home, after dinner.

"They take more than one hour each, so that's already too many hours of my life," she laughed.

But she is undeterred by the daunting task.

"I don't see it stopping anytime soon," she said.

In fact, the research itself creates more work, as she often discovers more women scientists when writing another biography.

Wades' first Wikipedia biography entry was the American climatologist Kim Cobb.

She saw her at a conference but after looking her up on Wikipedia found there was nothing on her oceanographic research.

- Acknowledgement -

Wade, who is now part of a network of women editors and leads workshops on how to write for Wikipedia, says a person's presence and their work on the internet means they are discoverable.

"Little girls who are googling something, let's say about sea urchins, will click through and then land on a Wikipedia page about an awesome woman scientist who had contributed to that," she said.

"If you're trying to nominate someone for an award or to become a fellow or to invite someone to give a lecture, you always google them and if they've got a biography nicely summarised on somewhere like Wikipedia, it's so much easier to write someone's citation or reference."

That happened for Gladys West, a 92-year-old black American mathematician, whose profile was one of Wade's first.

Starting in 1956, when racial segregation was still imposed in the United States, she worked for 42 years on navy navigation systems. Her calculations eventually led to the development of GPS.

"I researched Gladys to write her page and there was so little about her online, she was almost 90 and no one had celebrated her," she said.

"I put her Wikipedia page online in February 2018 and in May 2018 she was in the BBC top 100 women in the world.

"And then she was inducted to the US Air Force Hall of Fame, and she won the Royal Academy of Engineering Prince Philip medal, which had never before gone to a woman."

acc/phz/giv/jmm
A high school student died after a bus full of students and their driver discovered he had been shot along their route, Indiana police say.

An Indianapolis Public Schools bus driver called 911 around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, April 20, when the driver saw the teenage boy lying in a grassy area with gunshot wounds, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

The teenager, who school district officials said was an Arsenal Technical High School student, was taken to a hospital, where he died, police said.

Police told WXIN the teen was discovered near his bus stop.

There were 22 students aboard the bus, WISH-TV reported. The students were kept on the bus for hours as police investigated, according to The Indianapolis Star.

Police said the bus driver and students did not witness the shooting. No arrests had been made as of late Thursday morning.

Its a tragedy, officer Samone Burris told the Star. A teenage victim. The death of someones child is a tragedy. Our community is heartbroken this morning.

The students identity has not been publicly disclosed.

Our thoughts are with the students family, our staff and students as we all navigate this tragedy, a school district spokesperson said in a statement to McClatchy News.
You are here: China

This screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Feb. 9, 2023 shows Shenzhou-15 taikonauts Fei Junlong (R) and Zhang Lu (L) preparing to exit the space station lab module Wentian. [Photo/Xinhua]

Space Environment Simulation and Research Infrastructure (SESRI), China's "ground space station," was recently put into trial operation, the China Science Daily reported on Tuesday.

Located in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, SESRI is a ground-based large-scale space science and technology experimental platform, designed for the study of basic scientific issues in space materials, devices, magnetospheric physics, and other areas.

The platform, jointly developed by the Harbin Institute of Technology and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, has the simulation capability for nine space environment factors, such as plasma, vacuum, particle irradiation and solar electromagnetic radiation.

"More than 110 universities and research institutes at home and abroad have signed up for the platform," said Li Liyi, executive deputy director of SESRI.

Li added that in the future, the platform will also play an important role in areas including brain science, life and health, and the development of high-end instruments.
shadow businessy figures

Business group giant the CBI says it has handed over additional information about what it describes as a serious criminal offence to the police.

The City of London police is already investigating claims a woman was raped at a CBI summer party in 2019.

The BBC understands that the "additional information" relates to a new allegation.

The CBI has been engulfed in a crisis over a range of allegations including sexual harassment and misconduct.

The organisation is one of the UK's leading business lobby groups and claims to speak for 190,000 companies.

In a statement, it said: "Late yesterday afternoon the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence.

"We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters".

The BBC has contacted the City of London police for comment.

The CBI also said it was expecting the results of an investigation into the allegations by the law firm Fox Williams "imminently".

"The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week."

The original allegations emerged after the Guardian reported that more than a dozen woman claimed they had been subject to various forms of sexual misconduct at the CBI.

The CBI has since suspended three employees while the investigation took place.

Separately, the lobby group fired its director general Tony Danker in April following complaints of workplace misconduct against him.

Mr Danker admitted to the BBC that he had made some staff feel "very uncomfortable", adding: "I apologise for that."

However, he said that his "reputation has been totally destroyed" because his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims including of serious sexual assault that were made at the CBI before he joined.

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He said that his dismissal letter had set out four reasons for firing him and added he was considering legal action against the CBI.

But Brian McBride, president of the CBI, told the BBC that Mr Danker's description of events was "selective" and he was free to seek "redress" if he felt unfairly treated.

He claimed that Mr Danker had been sacked on strong legal grounds.

CBI logo

A former CBI staff member, who was in touch with existing workers at the organisation, said they were "furious" and "upset" by Mr Danker's interview.

"It's important that we remember who the victims of this situation are: the women who've had negative experiences with men at the CBI," she said.

"They have described to me feeling furious, grossed out and upset by Danker's attempts to downplay his role in this situation. As director general, Danker bore responsibility not only for his own actions but for the culture of the organisation under which numerous men acted inappropriately.

"He shouldn't be permitted to sweep that under the carpet."

The CBI said on Thursday: "Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police."

Rain Newton-Smith, formerly the CBI's chief economist, has been named as the lobby group's new director general. She had left to join Barclays, the banking group.

When the CBI announced Ms Newton-Smith's appointment, it also said that it was taking "a number of steps to bring in new leadership and make immediate changes to the way we operate".

These included appointing Jill Ader, an existing board member of the CBI, to "oversee a root-and-branch review of our culture, governance and processes" and lead a new sub-committee with Mr McBride.

Commenting on Ms Newton-Smith's appointment, Ann Francke, the chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, told the BBC: "I'm not sure there was a huge amount of openness and transparency around the process and obviously you can question whether somebody who was there is the right change agent to change the culture."

She added that organisations typically look for outsiders to come in "because it is easier to be objective and it is easier to point to the things that need to change".

"And clearly one of the things that needs to change is a better understanding of and better mechanisms for dealing with sexual harassment and a change in workplace culture that makes people comfortable."

Mr McBride admitted last week that a "handful" of small companies had left the CBI since the allegations had emerged.

Since then, the British Insurance Brokers' Association has also left, stating: "We have withdrawn our membership of the CBI in light of recent reports."

The government has also "paused" its engagement with the CBI.

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Pulitzer Prize winning digital media outlet BuzzFeed News is being shut down as part of a cost-cutting drive by its corporate parent thats shedding about 15% of its entire staff, adding to layoffs made earlier this year.

In a memo sent to staff, Buzzfeed Inc. co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said Thursday that in addition to the news division, layoffs would take place in its business, content, tech and administrative teams. BuzzFeed is also considering making job cuts in international markets.

BuzzFeed has about 1,200 total employees, according to a recent regulatory filing, meaning about 180 people will be losing their jobs in the latest cuts.

Peretti said in his memo that he made the decision to overinvest in the news division, but failed to recognize early enough that the financial support needed to sustain operations was not there.

Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the profitability of major tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of layoffs have rolled through the tech industry and more are expected.

Ive learned from these mistakes, and the team moving forward has learned from them as well, Peretti wrote in the memo. We know that the changes and improvements we are making today are necessary steps to building a better future.

The announcement comes just a few months after BuzzFeed said that it would be cutting 12% of its workforce, citing worsening economic conditions. Job cuts at were also announced in December.

Christian Baesler, the Buzzfeed Inc.'s chief operating officer, and Edgar Hernandez, its chief revenue officer, are also leaving after they assist with the restructuring.

The company will have one remaining news brand, HuffPost, Peretti wrote.

Journalists who previously worked at BuzzFeed News lamented its end.

Im heartsick about it, and proud of the great journalism we did when I was there and after I left, said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed News' editor from 2011 to 2020 and now editor in chief of Semafor.

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Smith made the controversial decision in 2017 to publish a dossier of information about then-President Donald Trump, though many outlets avoided it as unreliable and even Buzzfeed said there were serious reasons to doubt the allegations. He wrote then that we have always erred on the side of publishing.

BuzzFeed News' shutdown really marks the end of the marriage between news and social media, said Smith, author of Traffic, a forthcoming history of that era.

BuzzFeed News won its first Pulitzer in 2021, in international reporting, for a series by Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing and Christo Buschek on the infrastructure built by the Chinese government for the mass detention of Muslims.

That same year, BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Journalists were finalists in that category for an expose on the global banking industrys role in money laundering. A former U.S. Treasury Department employee was sentenced to six months in prison this month for leaking the trove of confidential financial reports that served as the basis for the series.

BuzzFeed said Thursday that all of the news division's work will be preserved and available within the BuzzFeed network. The company is also working to make sure that any stories currently in progress will be published and promoted on BuzzFeed properties.

___

Associated Press Media Writer David Bauder contributed to this report.
BuzzFeed announced Thursday that it was shutting its news division as part of layoffs, signalling the end of one of the most notable news websites of the internet era.

The company cited challenges including recession in the tech sector and the struggling stock market, with CEO Jonah Peretti admitting he was partly at fault for the closure.

"We are reducing our workforce by approximately 15 percent today... and beginning the process of closing BuzzFeed News," Peretti wrote in a memo to staff.

The announcement is the latest to rock the US media landscape as outlets battle with falling reader numbers and lower advertising revenue.

Shares in BuzzFeed, known for its viral content and journalism, plunged more than 20 percent on Wall Street following the news.

Peretti said the company had come to the conclusion that it "can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization."

He added that it would now concentrate its news output on its HuffPost website.

Peretti also cited the coronavirus pandemic, less capital, a decelerating digital advertising market and "ongoing audience and platform shifts."

"Dealing with all of these obstacles at once is part of why we've needed to make the difficult decisions to eliminate more jobs and reduce spending," he said.

Peretti conceded that he could have reacted differently to the challenges.

"I could have managed these changes better as the CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances," he wrote.

Peretti admitted that he had decided "to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much."

"This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn't provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media," he wrote.

BuzzFeed, created in 2006, first became known for its lists and topical quizzes.

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- Awards -

But in 2011 it founded BuzzFeed News, which won a number of awards and became a symbol of a new wave of internet media companies.

It received plaudits for its investigative work and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for coverage of the Chinese government's detention of Muslims in Xinjiang.

But it was criticized after it published a cache of unverified information about Donald Trump known as the "Steele Dossier."

BuzzFeed defended the decision by saying the public had a right to read the unsubstantiated claims since many in Washington already had.

Ultimately, making money was Buzzfeed's problem and Peretti said he regretted that he "didn't hold the company to higher standards for profitability."

The New York-headquarted company announced in May 2020 that it would shutter part of its loss-making news operations in Britain and Australia as it scaled back global ambitions to cut costs.

In November that year, BuzzFeed bought the Huffington Post news site from Verizon in without disclosing the amount.

"Moving forward, we will have a single news brand in HuffPost, which is profitable, with a loyal direct front page audience," Peretti wrote.

Newsroom employment has declined steadily in the United States, falling from 114,000 in 2008 to 85,000 in 2020, according to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center.

Layoffs have taken place at CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and Vox Media in recent months.

pdh/bgs
Buzzfeed is closing

BuzzFeed News is closing.

CEO Jonah Peretti announced Buzzfeed is closing in a company-wide memo to staff on Thursday: We are reducing our workforce by approximately 15% today across our Business, Content, Tech, and Admin teams, and beginning the process of closing BuzzFeed News. The cuts will affect roughly 180 employees.

Read more

I could have managed these changes better as the CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances, Peretti wrote. I made the decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much.

BuzzFeed News final push notification read, BuzzFeed News is logging off with a reminder that blippi pooped on his friend, referencing its investigation into a famous YouTuber, Blippi, who makes videos for young children but who once pooped on a man in a Harlem Shake video.

Peretti said his company will be focusing its news efforts on HuffPost, recently acquired, which has proved to be more lucrative than BuzzFeed News, according to Perettis email: Moving forward, we will have a single news brand in HuffPost, which is profitable, with a loyal direct front page audience.

While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, weve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization, Peretti wrote.

He also told staff that the Covid-19 pandemic, the tech industrys recession, the declining stock market, and reduced digital advertising all contributed to the decision.

Although BuzzFeed News is closing, the company will continue to operate media operations on its other platforms, and Peretti said cost-cutting measures will take effect including closing several of its New York City and Los Angeles offices, reducing its budget, travel, and most other discretionary, non-revenue generating expenditures.

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According to the memo, some BuzzFeed editors and reporters will be redistributed to other areas of the company in accordance with their skill set, while the companys CRO Edgar Hernandez and COO Christian Baesler will also be leaving BuzzFeed within the coming weeks.

The company recently began experimenting with having artificial intelligence write its viral quizzes.



Founded in 2011, BuzzFeeds news division won multiple awards in the course of its dozen years, including a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for an investigation of Uyghur detention in China. The outlet also received the George Polk Award and the National Magazine Award.

BuzzFeed News shuttering comes on the same day as Insider announced it would lay off 10% of its employees, including unionized writers. Like BuzzFeed, the business-focused outlet announced it would start experimenting with AI last week.

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As parts of California brace for an influx of melting snow after a record winter, state water officials announced Wednesday that they would boost water supplies for agencies serving 27 million residents. This time, they promised the full measure.

The Department of Water Resources announcement marked the first time since 2006 that its canals, pumps and reservoirs would deliver 100% of requested water supplies to cities and agricultural operations across the state.

Water supply conditions and careful management of reservoir operations during this extreme winter allows DWR to maximize water deliveries while enhancing protections for the environment, said agency director Karla Nemeth in a statement. DWR is moving and storing as much water as possible to the benefit of communities, agriculture, and the environment.

The State Water Project is a concrete system of reservoirs, canals and pumps that moves water from water-rich regions of the north state to Southern California. Operations of the system, and the availability of water, can shift radically between dry and wet years.

Over the course of months, water is delivered through this system daily to local water agencies in the Bay Area, Central Valley, greater Los Angeles and San Diego. Wednesdays announcement of 100% allocations is up from 75% in March.

At full allocations for its 29 contractors, the project would deliver a whopping 4.2 million acre-feet of water. Thats enough to supply the city of Sacramento for 28 years.

Before this winter brought a series of atmospheric rivers and record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, DWR warned it could only give 5% of requested supplies in 2023. Thats after the state experienced three of the driest years on record.

This winter immensely improved drought conditions. But it will take years for the Central Valleys overdrafted groundwater basins to recover from agricultural overpumping and the Colorado River Basin still faces long-term drought.

The agency said the San Luis Reservoir in Merced County is now full. Oroville, the states largest reservoir, and reservoirs in Southern California are expected to be full by the end of May. Statewide, reservoir storage is currently at 105% of average.

As reservoirs try to catch and store melting snow, water officials have said flood danger could last through the year in the San Joaquin Valley. February and March rains already impacted several communities and sparked the resurgence of Tulare Lake.
A California lawmaker is making a third attempt to limit state prisons from transferring noncitizens to federal immigration custody after completion of their sentences  what advocates call a double punishment.

This year, Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, has authored a narrower version of the legislation to increase its chances. A similar bill fell three votes short in the Senate last year amid public safety concerns.

Carrillos latest bill, named the HOME Act, would now apply to noncitizens who fall under certain categories including people who are sick and dying, individuals granted clemency from the governor and some people who received convictions as youth.

It is long overdue for us to put an end to a dual system of justice in California, said Carrillo, in a press conference last Wednesday. A system that double punishes immigrants and refugees for certain crimes only because of the country they were born in.

In previous versions, the legislation would have covered most noncitizens in state prisons and jails. The new measure only applies to prisons.

Though California law prohibits local police and sheriffs from cooperating with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for some crimes, the rules do not apply to prisons.

Advocates believe the 2023 measure, if passed, can be built upon with follow-up legislation.

Its not all ICE transfers, yet, but it really gets at the heart of the fact that we need to start to harmonize this progress that we have made on criminal justice reform and make sure that were not leaving people out, said Salvador Sarmiento, a campaigns director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

That progress refers to the last 10 years of legislation addressing Californias relationship with federal immigration authorities.

In 2013, the state approved the Trust Act which set a minimum standard to limit immigration hold requests in local jails. Three years later, California passed the Truth Act to require more transparency from law enforcement when dealing with immigration enforcement. Most recently, in 2018, the Values Act ensures state and local resources are not used to assist federal immigration enforcement.

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These broadly-supported criminal justice reform laws are a step toward addressing that bigger issue of transfers from the state prison system to ICE, said Carl Takei, a criminal justice reform program manager at Asian Law Caucus.

On Tuesday, Carillos legislation was approved in the Assembly Judiciary Committee with a 8-3 vote. It now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where potential costs of the bill will be estimated. Advocates expect lower costs than the previous legislation.

Last years bill was estimated to have cost the state $22 million per year, according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. ICE transfers cost the state an estimated $10.3 million every two years.

Prison officials also predicted supervising roughly 2,500 more parolees who otherwise would have been deported.

At the time of the Senate vote, nine Democrats senators abstained from voting. The measure also faced opposition from Republican legislators and law enforcement organizations.

The Peace Officers Research Association of California, who opposed last years bill, was not immediately available for comment.

Carrillos office and advocates could not provide an estimate how many people would qualify for protection from ICE. But the state prison system transferred nearly 2,200 people to ICE from Jan. 2020 to July 2021, according to the Asian Law Caucus.
A coalition of U.S. attorneys general led by Californias Rob Bonta urged federal transportation officials Thursday to recall millions of Hyundai and Kia vehicles that are highly susceptible to theft due to a security vulnerability.

The state law enforcement leaders in a letter called for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to institute a recall of unsafe Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022 whose easily bypassed ignition switches and lack of engine immobilizers make them particularly vulnerable to theft, Bontas office said in a news release.

The letter alleges that Hyundai and Kia vehicles between those model years  of which there are more than 8 million in the U.S.  violate federal requirements for vehicles starting systems, and that their vulnerability to hotwiring and theft has created an unreasonable and well-documented risk to safety on U.S. roads.

Thursdays recall request comes one month after the coalition, made up of Bonta and 22 other states attorneys general, condemned Hyundai Motor Co. and its subsidiary Kia America and called for the South Korean automakers to take more urgent action to address the security vulnerabilities.

Hyundai and Kia said in statements Thursday that they are actively working to address the theft issues, but denied that their vehicles violate federal requirements.

Hyundai Motor America, based in Fountain Valley, wrote that its vehicles are fully compliant with federal anti-theft requirements.

Thieves discovered a specific method by which to bypass the vehicles security features and then documented and promoted their exploits on TikTok and other social media channels, the company said in an emailed response.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, seen in April 2021, and 22 other attorneys general say Hyundai Motor Co. and subsidiary Kia America need to take more urgent action to address security vulnerabilities that have made their vehicles highly susceptible to theft.

Hyundai and Kia are in the process of rolling out a software upgrade to address the security issue, but according to the coalition, it will not be available for many affected drivers until June and not at all for some of the 2011 to 2022 vehicles.

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The software update wont be available for about 600,000 Hyundai vehicles nationwide, as well as an unknown number of Kia vehicles, Bonta said during a live-streamed news conference in Berkeley.

Hyundai, however, said Thursday that it fully rolled out its software upgrade earlier this month, two months ahead of schedule. The company did not say how many vehicles now have the upgrades, which must be performed at a Hyundai dealership.

Officials in last months letter called the increasing thefts a crisis, urging the automakers to accelerate the software rollout and to provide free anti-theft measures to owners whose vehicles cannot support the update.

Some motorists are struggling to obtain insurance for the affected vehicles, according to Thursdays news release. Progressive and State Farm reportedly stopped providing new policies for certain models of Kia and Hyundai earlier this year.

Hyundai and Kia have given us no choice but to be here today to ask the federal government to step in and require a recall, Bonta said Thursday.

Hyundai has launched a website, hyundaiantitheft.com, with information for affected drivers.

The website says the final round of its software upgrade rollout launched April 13, two months ahead of its initial estimate of June. The four rounds of upgrades are now available for about 3.8 million vehicles, the company says.

Irvine-based Kia America in a separate statement said: Additionally, because there is no defect in the security features in any of these vehicles and because these specific models comply fully with all applicable federal standards, a recall is neither appropriate nor necessary under federal law.

Kia in its statement said it has contacted more than 2 million owners and lessees notifying them of the available software upgrade, and that more than 165,000 have installed it to date.

Kia remains very focused on this issue and we continue to take action to address the concerns these Attorneys General have raised.

Hyundai in its statement said it is communicating with NHTSA on our many actions to assist our customers.

Thefts of Kia, Hyundai cars rose sharply in 2022

Citing statistics from local law enforcement agencies, Bontas office on Thursday said the theft rates for Hyundai and Kia vehicles have skyrocketed in California.

In Berkeley, where Bonta was set to announce the recall request in a news conference Thursday morning alongside interim Police Chief Jennifer Louis, Hyundai and Kia have made up 38% of the citys vehicle thefts since late 2022, according to the attorney generals news release.

Hyundai and Kia made up 20% of all vehicle thefts in the city of Los Angeles last year, the Los Angeles Police Department said, up from 13% in 2021.

The bottom line is, Kias and Hyundais failure to install standard safety features on many of their vehicles have put vehicle owners and the public at risk, Bonta said Thursday in a prepared statement. Instead of taking responsibility with appropriate corrective action, these carmakers have chosen instead to pass this risk onto consumers and our communities.

It is unacceptable that families and communities should be forced to shoulder the cost of Kias and Hyundais failures.

In a vehicle recall, manufacturers are required to fix the problem by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund, or in rare cases repurchasing the vehicle, according to the NHTSA. Most vehicle recalls are made voluntarily by manufacturers prior to any involvement by NHTSA, the agency says on its website.

Kia and Hyudai have said they have provided tens of thousands of free steering wheel locks to law enforcement agencies nationwide, which have distributed them in turn to Hyundai and Kia drivers.

The anti-theft software upgrades, which will be free to vehicle owners, were announced in February and will occur in phases, according to the NHTSA.

The effort is in response to a TikTok social media challenge that has spread nationwide and has resulted in at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, the NHTSA said in a Feb. 14 news release.
Greg Bolin has watched the colorful spray of fire retardant fall from airplanes over the canyon near his home. He has also had wildfires come close to his back door.

The mayor of Paradise lost his home in the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Even today, only about 20% of Paradise is rebuilt after more than 19,000 structures, including 11,000 homes, burned to the ground.

No fire retardant was dropped near Bolins house during the Camp Fire. The fire was too hot, too fast.

My wife said, So why arent we staying? I said, Because this is a bad one, Bolin said. We got out  lost our home, lost our rentals, lost everything.

Though they didnt have time to drop retardant in Paradise, Bolin said drops did prevent the fire from destroying Chico, Durham and Oroville.

The United States Forest Service, which fights wildfires that ignite on federal lands, has used fire retardants in the West for six decades. Over the past decade, the agency has dropped more retardants as fire seasons have gotten longer and more devastating, Forest Service data shows. The agency dropped almost 53 million gallons on federal, state and private land in 2021 compared to a 10-year annual average of about 39 million gallons.

Some studies on aerial retardants conducted by a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that they can slow the spread of a fire. But the conditions in which they are dropped have a huge impact on its efficacy; high winds, weather and the type of terrain take significant tolls on whether the retardant can properly impede a fires progress.

Now at least one group is questioning if they work, and if the benefits of using them outweigh the costs of chemicals accidentally contaminating water.

Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE), said that regardless of retardants, Paradise, California, would still be burned to the ground.

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Retardant was available. It just doesnt work when the wind is blowing and the fuels are dry and the houses are tinder boxes, Stahl said. In fact, retardant doesnt work in precisely those situations where you would really like it to work.

Should the Forest Service curb fire retardant use?

Stahls organization is suing the Forest Service in a federal court in Montana to ensure that it drops retardants, all either containing certain fertilizers or salts, in compliance with the Clean Water Act, which regulates water pollution. In waterways, those fertilizers can lead to massive fish die offs and algae growths that stifle aquatic life.

The Forest Service is now working on getting that Clean Water Act permit that would let them drop retardants close to waterways. Officials expect the permit process will be complete in less than three years.

However, FSEEE wants them to double the no-drop buffer zone to 600 feet from navigable waters until that permit and state permits are in place.

That 600-foot buffer is a condition that the Forest Service has already agreed to follow in areas the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service flagged as as sensitive. But lawyers for the Forest Service assert in court documents that any additional change would require them to stop using retardants altogether.

Tom Stokesberry III, the fire public affairs specialist for the Forest Service, wrote in an email that because litigation is pending, it would be inappropriate to comment.

He pointed to research that shows less than 1% of retardant drops impacted American waterways over the last 10 years. Of that, 80% were unintentional and 20% were based on an exception: The Forest Service can drop retardant in those areas when theres a threat to human life or public safety and retardant could reasonably be foreseen to alleviate that threat.

This is the third lawsuit FSEEE, a coalition of current and former Forest Service employees, has filed against the agency over compliance with laws meant to protect the environment.

The lawsuit led a bipartisan group of California lawmakers to introduce a bill that would preserve a Clean Water Act exemption for federal, state, local and tribal firefighting agencies to use fire retardant to fight wildfires.

Fear for the loss of life and habitats compelled the town of Paradise, Butte County and organizations like the California Forestry Association to intervene in the lawsuit to combat the FSEEEs claims; the judge allowed them to share insights in a brief and in court. If lawsuits like these spur split seconds of fear over dropping a retardant, Bolin said, Were going to lose our forests. Were going to lose everything.

Matt Dias, the president and CEO of the California Forestry Association, said the collaboration between Cal Fire and the Forest Service proved effective last year, a lighter fire season than in previous years. He said that intervening in the suit was about continuing the smooth teamwork with retardant across state and federal partners.

Both the state and federal partners have reporting standards of application of aerial retardants to avoid impacts on the Waters of the Nation or Waters of the State. We encourage compliance with those regulations and policies without a doubt, Dias said.

What fire retardant ingredients concern experts?

The ingredients that the FSEEE is most concerned with are the ones not publicly listed.

The USDA lists retardants as 85% water, 10% fertilizers and 5% minor ingredients such as colorant like iron oxide to make the drops visible.

Aerial retardants used by the Forest Service contain inorganic fertilizers made of ammonium phosphates or other inorganic salts made of magnesium chloride.

But some of the ingredients are not publicly broken down as the Forest Service gets retardant from private companies: Perimeter Solutions and, more recently, Fortress. Perimeter Solutions uses ammonium phosphates and Fortress uses magnesium chloride.

Stahl said he is worried that heavy metals like cadmium could be in the Perimeter Solutions retardant, based on the cadmium levels in the mine where the phosphate ore for the retardant is collected.

Perimeter Solutions lists some additives and concentrations as a trade secret, according to product safety sheets, and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

When asked about cadmium, the Forest Service directed The Sacramento Bee to the Department of Justice, given the ongoing lawsuit. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

Stahl is hopeful the permit under the Clean Water Act would force the Forest Service to release more information on ingredients.

In certain water conditions, heavy metals like cadmium can turn into a toxic contaminant that builds up in the fish populations, said Andrew L. Rypel, the director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

Ammonium phosphates, he said, act as a fertilizer to algae. When algae overgrows and bacteria eats its decay, it disrupts the balance of the aquatic ecosystem and can lead to a fish kill

Rypel, who was not familiar with the lawsuit, said that studies of wildfire effects show material can rapidly travel downstream. I would not be surprised if those chemicals did kind of make their way down quite a long ways, he said.

Prioritizing fish habitat over human life should not be a debate, Paradise Mayor Bolin said: Its very hurtful for people up here to hear that fish are more important than our lives and our home.

What affects fire retardant effectiveness?

Dias said that the test of balance between the environmental impacts of retardants versus letting a fire burn uncontrolled lean toward the retardants. He explained that burned landscapes can also degrade waterways.

The landscapes are so large and are so barren, and the watercourses are so terribly exposed, Dias said, the erosion that can occur in these watercourses subsequent to wildfires.

Still, drops arent perfect. One risk is grass height. In a year where there is high grass, said Scott Upton, retired Northern Region Chief for Cal Fire, they need to drop more retardant to penetrate the ground. Otherwise, the fire can sneak under it.

Given heavy rain and snowfall this year, there is fear for high grass, but lingering dampness could lower risk of fires.

Upton said that there were reporting standards for dropping near water for Cal Fire.

Cal Fire and the Forest Service work together to suppress and prevent wildfires, as much of Californias forests are federally owned.

Cal Fire too gets its retardant from Perimeter Solutions. Cal Fire lists that the retardant it uses is 88% water. The rest is mostly ammonium phosphate with gum thickeners, flow conditioner and red coloring. Cal Fire is not part of the suit.

When it works, it can slow a fire enough so that firefighters  who are pulled in many directions in a heavy season  can get there before a lot more damage is done, said Doug Teeter, a Butte County supervisor who grew up in Paradise and worked on recovery efforts after the Camp Fire.

Without the retardant, were losing so much habitat and species that its a small price, Teeter said. Its a small collateral damage compared to not having that tool.

What are other efforts to fight fires?

The Forest Service has long been criticized for responding to fires too slowly and letting land it oversees get overgrown, creating fuel for fires. Gov. Gavin Newsom called out the Forest Services policy as too lackluster and passive in response to fires in 2021 following the Tamarack Fire that primarily burned in Alpine County. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack promised more aid in a trip to California shortly after.

The Department of Interior and USDA, which oversees the Forest Service, announced a new 10-year strategy in January 2022 to clean and treat its forests that are close to communities and cause significant damage if aflame. The agency is working with local, state, national and tribal leaders to set priorities in wildfire suppression, prevention and response.

It came on the back of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which infused $3 billion into the Forest Service to restore land and reduce hazardous fuels for fires.

Bolin and Teeter, like many others in California, are skeptical of the Forest Service. The Forest Service has a ton of money now, Teeter said. Well see if they can really get stuff done out of the planning stage.
Flouting financial disclosure law time and again, Justice Clarence Thomas has shown no shame. (Robert Franklin / Associated Press)

No sooner had Donald Trump finally been fingerprinted and booked than we Americans were reminded of that other V.I.P. scofflaw who, by his repeat offenses, has long mocked our national conceit that no person is above the law.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Teflon Don has found that his own seeming shield against legal accountability isnt impervious, and the former president likely faces more arraignments before long. Dont, however, expect Thomas to similarly face indictment or impeachment after the latest revelations of his nose-thumbing at ethics and the law.

The nonprofit news organization ProPublica reported in separate exposes this month how Thomas has for years enjoyed luxe vacations at the expense of Texas billionaire and Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, and how money actually changed hands in 2014 when a Crow company bought and refurbished Thomas family properties in rural Georgia where the justices mother still lives rent-free.

Crow told ProPublica that he has never tried to influence Thomas about legal or political issues, but he has contributed to conservative groups with a stake in such cases before the Supreme Court. For Thomas to accept his largess is at least unethical. What is possibly illegal is that Thomas repeatedly has failed to report such gifts and transactions in the annual financial disclosure reports required of federal officials by a 1978 law.

Perversely, it is because Thomas sits on the highest court that hes all but unaccountable. Trump, once the most powerful person on the planet, lost the protection of a controversial Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president when he left office. But the nine justices have their jobs for life. They judge, but are virtually unjudged.

Thomas wont even suffer shame, because hes shown he has none. Which is why he wont do what he should, and what one ethics-challenged justice did a half-century ago: resign.

That Thomas wont follow the precedent of former Justice Abe Fortas is a reflection not only of his own flawed, chip-on-the-shoulder character, but also of the radically polarized politics today compared to Fortas' time.

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Fortas, an appointee and friend of President Lyndon B. Johnson, resigned in 1969 amid a scandal over disclosures of his financial ties to a convicted stock swindler. He maintained his innocence but said he was stepping down because the courts reputation and effectiveness are factors paramount to all others. Fortas also sought to avoid likely impeachment in a Congress controlled by Johnsons fellow Democrats; Thomas need not worry that Republicans who now run the House would ever impeach him, no matter how serious his infractions.

Today, public trust in the Supreme Court is the lowest since polling on the question began, yet Thomas isnt nearly selfless enough to help restore it by resigning. For 31 years, he has seemed to nurse resentment over his contentious Senate confirmation, when he was credibly accused of sexual harassment. Hes not about to give up his seat in humiliation now  especially when the president who would fill it is a Democrat.

What's more, President Biden isn't just any Democrat, but one whose election Thomas' wife Ginni, a longtime right-wing activist, worked zealously to overturn. Despite her efforts, Thomas has ignored widespread calls to recuse himself  as a federal law arguably requires  from cases related to Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He has three times voted in the Trump sides favor in related cases.

That a justice would show such poor judgment in the matter of an existential threat to democracy is reason enough to favor Thomas departure from the court. But theres all the rest.

The damning detail in the ProPublica blockbusters was new, but enterprising reporters have been zinging Thomas for his gifts-grifting and disclosure lapses at least since a 2004 investigative piece in The Times. After The Times first reported the Thomas-Crow connection back then, based on Thomas financial disclosures, what was Thomas response? To stop reporting the goodies.

The Times wrote then, By law and tradition, the Supreme Court justices are exempted from many of the rules that govern lesser federal judges. Moreover, each of the justices is free to decide how the general ethics guidelines apply to them.

Nothings changed. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday, I have total confidence in the chief justice of the United States to deal with these court internal issues. Just as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has done before. Not.

Consider the value of what's known of Crows direct and indirect generosity to Thomas over the years: millions of dollars for the Pin Point Heritage Museum in Thomas hometown of Pin Point, Ga.; $175,000 for a Pin Point library dedicated to Thomas and financing for another in Savannah; $500,000 for Ginni Thomas to start a far-right advocacy group; a $19,000 Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass; private jet flights, an island-hopping yacht vacation worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and hospitality at Californias Bohemian Grove and at Crow properties in Texas and the Adirondacks.

Thomas also has had to amend his disclosure reports in years past to reflect unreported income for himself and his wife, but only after controversy. He once said hed omitted nearly $700,000 that Ginni Thomas received from 2003 to 2007 from the conservative Heritage Foundation because of a misunderstanding of the 1978 disclosure law. A justice whos the final word on the law doesnt understand a law?

He was unchastened: Last year the New Yorker revealed that his wife's company had received $200,000 from a right-wing, dark-money group for her consulting services at a time when the group was backing a Muslim ban case before the Supreme Court. Thomas did not disclose that payment either.

Thomas is certain to remain unchastened. He's not only being defended but also hailed as a victim by a Republican Party that's been called a cult of victimhood.

Its a broken political system, and a broken court, that countenances such behavior and ethical blindness.

@jackiekcalmes

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel speaks with media following the company's annual general meeting in Saskatoon on May 28, 2014.

Cameco (CCO.TO)(CCJ) has signed a 10-year uranium supply contract with Bulgaria, the company announced on Thursday.

Saskatchewan-based Cameco says the deal extending through 2033 is its first with the Balkan nation.

Under the terms, Cameco will deliver the equivalent of about 5.7 million pounds of uranium, sufficient volume to power the Kozloduy 5 Reactor at the country's only nuclear generating station.

"We are very pleased to add another market to Cameco's global commercial portfolio, and to expand our contributions to countries like Bulgaria that are seeking to enhance their energy security while affirming their commitment to carbon-free nuclear power in achieving their climate goals," Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel stated in a news release.

Nuclear power accounts for more than one-third of Bulgaria's electricity supply. Kozloduy 5 is one of two reactors operating in the country.

Toronto-listed Cameco shares fell 0.32 per cent to $34.26 as at 3:32 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday extended congratulations to faculty, students, and alumni of Yunnan University as the university marks its 100th anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to the university.

In his letter, Xi hailed Yunnan University's contribution in nurturing a large number of talent, promoting ethnic unity and progress, and facilitating regional economic growth and social development in the past century.

Xi expressed the expectation that the university can improve its educational performance on all fronts, help forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and make new and greater contributions to building a country with great strength in education.

Yunnan University, which opened in 1923, is one of the earliest comprehensive universities established in China's western border areas. With over 300,000 alumni in different fields, the university has played an active role in promoting ethnic unity and progress, as well as prosperity and stability in China's border areas.
A defense attorney for Bryan Miller, who murdered and mutilated two young women in Phoenix 30 years ago, has urged a judge to spare him from the death penalty.

Sentencing Bryan to life in prison is a harsh sentence and an appropriate sentence," attorney Denise Dees told Judge Suzanne Cohen this week.

"Therell be no risk to society in allowing Bryan to endure the rest of his life in a prison cell."

The penalty phase in the capital murder trial began in the Maricopa County Superior Court Tuesday, a week after Miller was found guilty of murdering Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas.

Cohen handed down the verdict after deliberating alone in the bench trial.

Dees said the defense accepted the guilty verdict and knew the judge had not taken her responsibility lightly.

"Going forward, that responsibility is not going to get any easier," she told Cohen. "The next decision falls on your shoulders and your shoulders alone. And that is whether Bryan lives or dies."

Dees pointed to Miller's love for his daughter, his "model" behavior in prison and his enduring bonds with friends and family as reasons for a life sentence.

"Thirty years ago Bryan committed horrible acts," she said. "But Bryan is not a horrible person."

'Canal killings': State calls insanity defense 'nonsense' as the case goes to the judge

The murders of two women

Bryan Miller listens during his trial on April 5, 2023, in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix.

Miller, 50, was convicted of kidnapping, murdering and attempting to sexually assault Brosso and Bernas in the early 1990s, when he was 20 years old.

Brosso's headless, mutilated body was found on the morning of Nov. 9, 1992, just east of the apartment building where she lived by Cactus Road and Interstate 17. She had gone out for a bike ride along the canal the night before and never returned home.

Her head was found 11 days later in the Arizona Canal where it runs by Metrocenter.

Bernas was found dead in the same canal on the morning of Sept. 22, 1993. She is also believed to have been out riding along the canal when she was attacked. She had received the same fatal stab wound to the back as Brosso, and had cuts to her chest and neck.

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Both women had been sexually assaulted as or after they died, a man's DNA recovered from vaginal swabs.

It wasn't matched to Miller until 2015, when new forensic techniques led to a breakthrough in the case.

Accused murderer Bryan Patrick Miller (center), the so-called "Canal Killer" takes his seat in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Oct. 3, 2022.

He pleaded not guilty for reasons of insanity. His attorneys argued he was in the grip of a dissociative trauma state caused by childhood abuse at the hands of his mother, Ellen, when he killed Brosso and Bernas.

Though the defense was rejected, Miller's mental health and childhood is expected to again loom large in the penalty phase.

"Bryan didnt choose to have Ellen as a mother," Dees said. "Bryan didnt choose to have these exposures to violence and sex in early childhood and adolescence. But for that trauma, these offenses would not have occurred."

Before Dees spoke, Cohen heard victim impact statements from Brosso's mother, Linda, and Bernas's sister, Jill. Both women spoke of the immense, unrelenting pain and grief they had endured since the murders.

Jill said it had been difficult to hear weeks of testimony about Miller's traumatic experiences, which paled in comparison to what was done to the two young women.

"If you happened to join the trial at any time after the first two weeks, you'd have thought the defendant was the victim in this case," she said.

As she began her address, Dees acknowledged the family statements, saying she could not imagine how difficult delivering them must have been.

"Im sorry they had to give those statements," she said. "Im sorry that were here today."

Penalty phase: Judge rules Bryan Patrick Miller eligible for death penalty in Arizona 'canal killings'

'I knew something bad was going to happen'

The defense played a recorded interview with Pinky Katayama, who was a neighbor of Miller's for two years when he was a child in Hawaii.

Katayama said Ellen treated Miller "like a dog." She would say awful things to him, like "I wish you were dead" and "You're not worth anything," she said, and once saw Ellen backhand her son across the face.

She said she called Child Protective Services at least three times to report that Miller was being abused, but nothing was ever done.

Katayama said Ellen and Miller moved away suddenly, shortly after she had accused Ellen of stealing, and she had no idea where they had gone. She wished she knew, she said, so she could keep tabs on Miller.

"I knew he'd need help," she said. "That he'd need somebody in his corner."

But she heard nothing about the mother and son for decades  until she got a call from a member of Miller's defense team.

When she heard the call was about Bryan Miller, Katayama said her mind leapt to one thing.

"I said, I hope he killed her," she said. "And thats not a nice thing to say. I mean, you know. If you had to kill somebody, you should kill the one who hurt you.

"But I just knew something bad was going to happen with them."

'I will always support him'

Donna Grimmer wept at points in her testimony as she recalled memories of her brother Paul, Miller's father, who died in 1977.

She met Miller, then five, for the first time at Paul's funeral, recalling him as a "happy little boy" who was running around the funeral home talking to everybody.

They reconnected in 1994 and she took Miller to Paul's grave, she said. Years later, they began to keep in touch on Facebook.

She was thankful Miller was in her life, Grimmer said, "because to me, that means I have part of my brother back."

Under cross-examination, Grimmer said she knew what Miller had done to Brosso and Bernas and supported him regardless.

"I dont like what he did, if he did it," she said. "But hes still my nephew. And I will always love him and I will always support him in every way I can."

Other defense witnesses this week included a high school friend of Miller's who said he carried her books to class when she had a sprained ankle, and a specialist in childhood emotional disorders.

The case returns to court Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bryan Patrick Miller: Life sentence 'appropriate' for canal killings
Marijuana currently remains illegal throughout North Carolina  though medical marijuana will soon be available on Cherokee land, in western North Carolina, and legislation being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly this session has the potential to legalize the substance for medical purposes elsewhere in the state.

Still, despite the current restrictions on marijuana in North Carolina, you may have noticed other cannabis-adjacent and cannabis-derived products on the market in the state, either in-person at stores or online.

While some products, such as CBD, are non-intoxicating, others, such as delta-8 THC, are able to produce effects similar to the high of marijuana.

So, what does North Carolina and federal law say about various cannabis-related products? Are they legal in the state? What penalties do you face for using or possessing illegal products?

The News & Observer has compiled information about several of these products to answer those questions and more.

Heres what to know about cannabis-related products and their legal statuses in North Carolina.

Is marijuana legal in North Carolina?

Marijuana, also called weed, pot or a variety of other terms, is derived from the cannabis plant and contains delta-9 THC, a psychoactive, or mind-altering, component that can give intoxicating effects  commonly referred to as a high.

Marijuana is a schedule VI controlled substance in North Carolina and it is illegal to consume, possess, grow or sell it.

Consequences and legal punishments for possessing marijuana in North Carolina vary on the amount possessed and whether there was intent to distribute the substance. Selling or delivering any amount of marijuana in the state is considered a felony, as is cultivating the substance.

Medical marijuana will soon be available for legal purchase on Cherokee land, in western North Carolina, following a vote nearly two years ago by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians Tribal Council to legalize controlled use of marijuana and to grow and sell it there.

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The North Carolina General Assembly is also considering legislation this session that would legalize marijuana for select medical purposes. Senate Bill 3, the Compassionate Care Act, would allow medical marijuana use statewide for people who have cancer, ALS, Parkinsons disease, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments, The News & Observer previously reported. Those do not include chronic pain, and the drug would not be allowed for recreational use.

Is hemp legal in North Carolina?

Hemp, which is also derived from the cannabis plant, became legal nationwide as a result of the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which authorized the production of hemp and removed hemp and hemp seeds from the Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) schedule of Controlled Substances, online information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

North Carolina lawmakers also legalized the production and sale of hemp last year.

Hemp is generally not cultivated for its psychoactive effects because it contains less delta-9 THC than marijuana, thus not providing a traditional high. Instead, hemp is often used in textiles, and it is also used to extract CBD for use in oils, tinctures, creams, according to Leafly, a popular website for buying and learning about cannabis.

Is delta-8 THC legal in North Carolina?

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main component of marijuana and other cannabis products that can provide a psychoactive, or high, effect. Delta-9 THC is found in marijuana, but other THC variations, such as delta-8 THC are becoming more popular.

Delta-8 is generally considered less potent than delta-9 THC, but it can still produce effects and feelings similar to a traditional high.

Legality surrounding delta-8 in North Carolina is somewhat murky and unclear, The N&O previously reported.

North Carolina law classifies THC as a schedule VI controlled substance, like marijuana, though the law states tetrahydrocannabinols found in a product with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than three-tenths of one percent (0.3%) on a dry weight basis are legal.

In a UNC School of Government blog post last fall, attorney and professor Phil Dixon wrote that the laws language suggests that all hemp-derived THC products other than delta-9 THC are legal so long as they are made from legal hemp and contain no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC. These other cannabinoids derived from hemp  including intoxicating ones like delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, THCO, THCV, and others  are therefore legal.

Is CBD legal in North Carolina?

CBD, or cannabidiol, is a type of cannabinoid, which are compounds from cannabis plants that interact with receptors involved in a variety of functions like appetite, anxiety, depression and pain sensation, according to information from Michigan State University.

CBD can be derived from hemp and non-hemp plants. CBD derived from hemp is generally considered legal as long as it adheres to specifications of legal hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill. North Carolina lawmakers also passed legislation last year to legalize CBD and hemp.
Cannabis smokers descend on Hyde Park

Cannabis smokers have congregated in a central London park for an annual gathering that calls for the drug to be decriminalised.

Thousands are expected to assemble in Hyde Park for the 420 event, described as a significant celebration of cannabis and its culture.

On Thursday, photographs showed smokers lighting up on the grass, some armed with drug paraphernalia, as police warned that they would intervene in illegal behaviour.

Anyone found guilty of possessing cannabis, classified as a Class B drug, can be sentenced to five years in prison and a maximum term of 14 years for dealing or producing the illegal drug.

The event is held every year on April 20, which references the American English system of ordering dates April 20 would be styled as 4/20 in the US.

A man and woman smoke on the grass in Hyde Park on Thursday - Mark Thomas/Shutterstock

Police talk to a member of the public at the 420 event - Martyn Wheatley/i-Images

Ten people were arrested at last years event for a range of drug and violent offences.

The Metropolitan Police said it would be patrolling the park this year to intervene in any illegal activity, and signs have been erected to remind the public not to indulge in recreational drugs in the park.

A police spokesman said: The Met will be policing the cannabis day event in Hyde Park. There is a proportionate and graduated policing plan in place to prevent, deter and detect criminal offences, including possession and use of drugs, and any associated crime or disorder.

Using cannabis and other recreational drugs is illegal. Met officers will engage with attendees, and encourage them to deposit their drugs in the amnesty bins provided.

They will particularly be looking to safeguard any children and young people present, especially if they are using drugs, and will ensure they are referred to the relevant partners.

Officers may enforce legislation under the Misuse of Drugs act 1971 through Community Resolution Orders, Postal Charge Requisitions and arrest if there are aggravating factors such as supply or associated anti-social behaviour, disorder or crime.

Warning signs in place at Hyde Park - Mark Thomas/Shutterstock

Police maintained a presence in the park on Thursday - Mark Thomas/Shutterstock

A message on the Hemp Elf website said the gathering in London was expected to be significant.

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It read: The term 420 has become a symbol of unity and celebration within the cannabis community. It represents a shared understanding and passion for the plant and its potential benefits.

The origins of 420 are said to lie in California in the 1970s, when a group of friends from San Rafael high school met after school at 4.20pm before attempting to locate a marijuana crop at Point Reyes, north-west of San Francisco.

The group began using the term 420 before it spread with help from members of the Grateful Dead rock band.
WASHINGTON  A Jan. 6 rioter who admitted he was armed with a concealed gun during the attack on the U.S. Capitol was found guilty Wednesday of all nine charges he faced.

Christopher Alberts, of Maryland, was arrested with a weapon on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, after having spent several hours on the Capitol grounds. He was wearing a gas mask and a protective vest and had a backpack containing ready-to-eat meals and other materials, including bungee cords.

After the verdict was read, Justice Department prosecutors sought to take Alberts into custody and keep him detained until his sentencing, which is scheduled for July 19. But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said he would allow Alberts to remain on pretrial release until then.

Alberts assured Cooper after his conviction that he would show up for his sentencing date.

The convictions could lead to more than five years in prison for Alberts, prosecutors said.

Alberts was accompanied by his fiancee in the courtroom Wednesday. Both appeared shocked when the verdict was read.

Alberts and one of his attorneys, John Pierce, declined to comment on the verdict.

In his testimony, Alberts said that instinct took over when he used a wooden pallet to build a wall between police and the rioters. He maintained that police used excessive force after thousands of Trump supporters entered the restricted grounds of the Capitol and began climbing the platform that had been set up for Joe Biden's inauguration.

Somebody had to put a stop to it, Alberts said. It was wrong.

Before he charged the police line, evidence showed Alberts assisted in keeping a pathway clear so that authorities could get another Jan. 6 rioter who needed medical assistance to safety.

Alberts maintained the crowd was completely peaceful" and said there were a couple thousand patriots on the lawn. He said he feared that he was about to be shot when an officer placed a hand on their weapon.

On cross-examination, Alberts admitted that he called police "domestic terrorists," yelled "y'all wanted war, you asked for it, you got it," and threw a water bottle at police officers' feet.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The fat bees are back, as are the tiny holes they love to drill in decks and porches.

Carpenter bees (not to be confused with bumblebees or honeybees) are large bees with shiny, black tail sections. They have strong jaws, which they use to dig tunnels in wood for next years habitat.

They are massively ecologically important, serving as effective pollinators in the Triangle.

But because of the holes they leave behind, some people are wondering how they can get rid of them.

We learned more about carpenter bees drilling into your home and got some expert advice to divert them elsewhere (though you might actually want them to stay!). Heres what we learned.

What are carpenter bees?

Carpenter bees are important pollinators for spring and summer plants, as well as food for birds and other animals, said Sydney Crawley, NC State Extension specialist for insects and vertebrate pests.

Theyre solitary bees, which means they dont live with other bees and form colonies.

The female bees will tunnel inside wood to gather pollen and lay their eggs, and they typically return to the same tunnel each year. These tunnels can be in trees, picnic tables, a deck or your porch.

For more information on carpenter bees, visit content.ces.ncsu.edu/carpenter-bees and union.ces.ncsu.edu.

Do carpenter bees sting?

Most carpenter bees you see dont have stingers, meaning they couldnt sting you even if they tried.

The majority of the carpenter bees buzzing around are male.

Male carpenter bees are territorial and will harass perceived intruders. However, their lack of a stinger precludes them from doing any real damage, Crawley said.

They are all bark and no bite  or all buzz and no stinger, she said.

Female carpenter bees do have stingers, but its rare youll see them. And theyll only sting you if theyre confined in your hand or incredibly agitated.

How to safely get rid of carpenter bees

Before you rush to kill carpenter bees, know that they contribute greatly to NCs agricultural landscape. Pollinators such as the carpenter bee make NCs produce possible.

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But if youre sick of seeing tiny drillings around your home, heres how you can divert these bees elsewhere:

 Use dummy wood: Put out a plank or two of carpenter bees favorite wood, that way theyll gnaw through this wood instead of your deck or furniture.

Unvarnished, soft wood (such as pine, cedar and spruce) is the most attractive choice, as they avoid most hardwood, Crawley said.

After the holes have been drilled, you can move this wood to your preferred location, if you want the bees out of your yard.

 Paint your wood: Polyurethane or oil-based paints are some of the most recommended paints to divert the bees, Crawley said.

Its important to check paint and ensure it has not weathered or peeled off, which would allow bees easier access to this wood.

Note: Staining wood does not prevent carpenter bees from drilling, she said.

 Avoid insecticides: We dont need more bee-toxic substances in the environment when we have so many other species of bees that we are trying to support! Elsa Youngsteadt, an assistant professor in NC States Department of Applied Ecology, told The N&O last year.

If you feel strongly about killing these bees, you can puff sevin dust into carpenter bee tunnels while theyre nesting.

This should be done in the evening while bees are in their nests, she said.

 Or learn to love them: Some say its a compliment to have carpenter bees around.

While I understand that many people are concerned about them nesting in wooden structures, I personally do not share the sentiment, Hannah K. Levenson, a postdoctoral research scholar at NC States Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, told The N&O last year.

I built a wooden bench last year and was happy that a female carpenter bee quickly made a nest and moved in!  If carpenter bees are present in someones yard that means they are providing a good habitat for them, which some could take as a compliment.

If you have questions about insect management, you can contact your countys NC State Extension office and get connected with an expert. To find your local office, visit ces.ncsu.edu/local-county-center.

Ask the N&O

Have a question youd like answered? Or maybe a tip or story idea youd like to share? The News & Observers Service Journalism team wants to hear from you. For useful and practical information from our staff, reach us by submitting questions to our form or sending an email to ask@newsobserver.com.

Gnats? Fruit flies? Heres why you have em (and how to get them out of your house)

Ants begin marching into homes in spring and summer. Heres how to get rid of them.

Whats it like to go birding? I joined an Audubon group outing in Durham to find out
Hundreds of men gather in town squares across Croatia every month to kneel and pray for the modesty of women, the bolstering of patriarchal authority and a ban on abortions.

The rise of the conservative Catholic men's group leading the vigils, known as "Be Manly", has attracted a small but dedicated following in the Balkan country, where the church carries significant sway and traditional values are widespread.

But the views of the group -- often referred to as "the kneelers" -- which include calls for women to dress modestly, protests against premarital sex and demands for an absolute abortion ban, have triggered a backlash.

The gatherings have been held on the first Saturday of every month throughout Croatia since October.

Around 100 men gathered to pray during a rally in the capital Zagreb in April -- with many clutching rosaries, holding posters of the Virgin Mary and waving the Croatian flag.

"Women should make sure they do not cause men to sin with their behaviour and clothing," Bozidar Nagy, a priest who supports the movement and has led a rally in Zagreb, told a broadcaster earlier this year.

Nagy went on to cite a 20th century Croatian theologian, saying that "covering of women in Islam was however a good thing".

Representatives of "Be Manly" did not respond to questions from AFP, saying only that their activities were "exclusively prayerful".

- 'Fear in my bones' -

The group is one of the burgeoning number of pro-male, conservative movements that have formed across the world in recent years, rejecting LGBTQ rights, feminism, and so-called "woke" values.

Similar groups have also hit the streets in Poland and Serbia, calling for a return to "traditional values", while also taking aim at reproductive rights and other progressive issues.

Despite the stable numbers at its rallies, the group does not appear to be growing in popularity in Croatia.

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According to a recent survey, 75 percent of Croatians do not support the "Be Manly" prayer movement, compared with 15 percent in favour.

The "Be Manly" prayers have sparked small counter-protests, with their critics gathering to denounce what they call an outpouring of intolerance aimed at restricting women's rights.

"There is no tolerance for the intolerant," Katarina Peovic, an MP of the leftist Workers' Front, told AFP during a recent rally.

"Those who are praying are not the problem but the idea behind it... to limit or ban women's rights," added Dragana Stojic, a 39-year-old nurse. "They put fear in my bones".

Others defended the kneelers.

Marica, 66, who did not give her surname, stressed that "praying cannot be bad".

"Everyone has the right to express their opinion, it's democracy," she said, while calling critics of the group "feminists with freakish attitudes".

Two men in their 60s, who refused to give their names, said the prayer demonstrations were simply a "reaction to LGBT people's aggressive behaviour".

- 'Crisis of manhood' -

Ultra-conservative groups still hold some sway in Croatia -- where 80 percent of the population is Catholic -- and are known mostly for campaigning against abortion and gay marriage with prayer gatherings and public marches.

Conservative organisations succeeded in initiating a 2013 referendum that resulted in a ban on gay marriage.

And just six years ago, church-backed groups sought unsuccessfully to outlaw abortion.

But even as the ban failed, a majority of gynaecologists refuse to perform the procedure, forcing some women to go abroad for terminations.

Ivica Mastruko -- a prominent sociologist specialising in religious studies -- said there was no evidence the kneelers had the backing of the Catholic Church or would be able to increase their influence.

"These fears are not justified when it comes to Croatian society, nor do I believe that they will have an impact on the behaviour of the authorities," said Mastruko.

The organisers have dismissed criticism, saying the rallies are meant to address an alleged "crisis of manhood" in the country.

But fears persist the group will tap into simmering hostility to abortion and the LGBTQ community.

A recent survey, the first of its kind in Croatia, revealed that three-quarters of LGBTQ Croats had faced discrimination while 25 percent had faced assault.

"Normalising such a discourse in public space can lead to the suppression of human rights," said Zvonimir Dobrovic of the rights group Domino.

"Not only women's rights but LGBT too, like we are already seeing happen in Eastern Europe."

ljv/ds/gw/jmm
BAMAKO, Mali (AP)  Ayouba Ag Nadroun was at the market in central Mali in March when Islamic extremists attacked his village, killing dozens of people and stealing about $10,000 worth of his cows and camels.

We lost everything, the 62-year-old told The Associated Press by phone from the Menaka region in the West African nation.

Cattle raiding by Islamic extremists is soaring at unprecedented levels in Mali, with jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stealing millions of dollars' worth of cattle to buy weapons and vehicles to fund their insurgency across the war-torn West African country and region below the Sahara Desert, known as the Sahel.

As jihadis gain control of more territory, looting is increasing and fueling conflict among already impoverished communities fighting to keep their families fed and alive, according to a recent report by The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Mali has been battling to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency for more than a decade.

Despite a victory in 2013, when France sent troops in to help its former colony to drive al-Qaida-linked militants from northern areas of the country, violence has not only continued, but spread. Attacks have spilled into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, where extremists are exploiting peoples grievances against the state to recruit fighters and control land.

While cattle rustling has been at the heart of Malis war economy for years, the recent surge by Islamic extremists is worrying, according to the global network's report.

In the central Mopti region, one of the hardest hit by more recent violence, some 130,000 cattle were stolen in 2021, about the same amount taken between 2018 and 2020 combined, said the report by the global initiative known as GI-TOC. While the groups have several funding streams, including drug trafficking, hostage taking and gold mining, analysts say livestock raiding is one of the most preferred because of the consistent cash flow, especially in Mali, which is the second biggest cattle exporter in the region after Nigeria. Jihadis loot livestock and then rely on a network to sell it and use the money to buy weapons and vehicles.

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Unlike other criminal markets (such as cocaine or kidnappings), cattle rustling has proven to be a resilient and stable source of income for armed groups, because Mali is a key regional producer and exporter of cattle, said Flore Berger, Sahel analyst at GI-TOC. Its likely that cattle rustling continues to provide sources of revenue because countries in the region will continue to buy from Mali, she said.

Villagers say jihadis are strategic about their theft, staking out watering holes where they know the cattle will come to drink.

They set up shop next to the wells for several days and every time the thirsty animals come to get water the terrorists take them, said Mahamad Ag Moustapha, the mayor of Inekar commune in the Menaka region. Last April, the father of nine lost more than $84,000 worth of cattle when jihadists attacked his town. He now lives in a displacement site in Menaka.

There are no animals within a 186-mile (300-kilometer) radius of the town of Menaka. ... The terrorists are trying to weaken the population economically, so the population does not fund a resistance, he said.

While it is hard to determine how much money jihadis are making from stealing livestock, analysts estimate they are taking cattle worth tens of millions of dollars a year.

Net profits made from stolen livestock from one district in the Mopti region  under jihadi influence  was approximately $730,000 in one year, said the report. In neighboring Burkina Faso, where violence has been raging since 2016, jihadis can earn nearly $50,000 a month from cattle raiding in regions such as the Sahel, North and Center-North, where they operate.

We are aware that the money generated by the sale of stolen cattle is used to finance activities of the terrorists," Col. Abdoulaye Dembele, spokesman for the Malian army, told AP.

It is difficult to secure the cattle of Mali from terrorists, the country is vast, and our first concern is to secure the people," he said.

However, in recent months, we have recovered several hundred head of cattle in Mopti, in the center, and also in the Menaka region. In both cases, we have handed the cattle over to the local authorities who will take charge of finding their owners and returning the animals to them. As long as the stolen cattle are within a radius of our military camps, we can intervene, but if it is far from the military camps it becomes difficult, he added.

Yet despite the increase in cattle theft, conflict experts say it doesnt compare to the highly profitable business of hostage taking.

Weve heard unconfirmed reports that ransoming hostages is (jihadis') most lucrative revenue stream, generating approximately 30% of its income, said William Linder, a retired CIA officer and head of 14 North Strategies, an Africa-focused risk advisory. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

French journalist, Olivier Dubois was kidnapped by jihadis from northern Mali in April 2021. He was released last month, however, the conditions of his release, including whether it involved a ransom, have not been disclosed.

Still, the surge in cattle raiding unsettles some residents in the Sahel region more because it cuts into their ability to survive.

Two years ago, villagers in the Gourma region said they noticed a spike in jihadis selling thousands of stolen cattle in villages at a third of the price, making it hard for traders to compete. The jihadis sell cattle in the thousands, generally to beef traders who take it across the border to neighboring Burkina Faso or Niger, said a 34-year-old tea seller at a market in Gossi town who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

By controlling the cross-border livestock markets, jihadis are strengthening their legitimacy in the territory they take and diminishing control by the state, said Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence company.

The consistent flow of income enables them to acquire arms, recruit new members, extend their power, and undermine state authority, he said. To cut revenue, governments in the Sahel region need to establish authority, tighten border controls, regulate cattle markets and gain the trust of local communities, he said.

___

Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) signed a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) with the Customs Administrations of Guatemala and Colombia at the Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit (TFCS) in Boston on Monday.

By cooperating with our regional partners through MRAs and other bilateral arrangements, we are able to create a unified and sustainable security posture, Pete Flores, executive assistant commissioner for the CBP Field Operations, said. As a result, we are furthering our efforts to facilitate trade and enhance our economic security mission.

More from Sourcing Journal

MRAS are mutual understandings between two customs administrations and provide a platform for exchanging membership information, recognizing the compatibility of the respective supply chain security program. CBP reached this MRA after the customs administrations of Guatemala and Colombia had agreed on a Joint Work Plan (JWP) during last years TFCS in Anaheim, California. The plan outlines the path toward MRAs between the two customs administrations Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programs.

The arrangement means that the security requirements or standards of the foreign industry partnership program and its verification processes are the same or similar to those of the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) program.

Essentially, the concept of the MRA is that CTPAT and the foreign customs administration program have established a set of security requirements that let one business partnership program recognize the validation findings of the other program and benefits both customs administrations and the private sector participants.

CTPAT is a voluntary anti-terrorism initiative that seeks to strengthen the international supply chain and help secure the U.S. border. It offers shorter wait times at the border and fewer inspections to its members. The public-private sector partnership program acknowledges that CBP can only provide the highest level of cargo security through cooperation with the principal stakeholders of the international supply chain. This includes importers, carriers, consolidators, licensed customs brokers and manufacturers.

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When an entity joins CTPAT, it agrees to work with CBP to protect the supply chain, identify security gaps and implement security measures. But applicants have to address security topics and submit security profiles that list their action plans in order to support security throughout the supply chain. As of last summer, companies validated by the CTPAT now have to show proof of a social compliance program that, at minimum, addresses how theyre ensuring that goods imported into the U.S. werent affiliated with modern slavery in any capacity. Tier 2 and Tier 3 CTPAT applicants must present evidence of risk-based business mapping, codes of conduct, due diligence training for suppliers and remediation plans on top of the social compliance program as well.

CTPAT is committed to international cooperation to strengthen and secure global supply chains and further global standardization of AEO programs.

Click here to read the full article.
James Clarke, the CEO of the technology and media company Clearlink, applauded an employee who sold his familys dog following the companys requirement that workers return to the office most of the week, Vice reported.

The outlet reported on Wednesday that Clarke held a virtual town hall meeting last week in which he accused some workers of quiet quitting, which refers to individuals who have become disengaged at work, and questioned the motivations of those who oppose the companys recently mandated four days per week in-office policy.

At one point during the meeting, Clarke reportedly pointed to an employee who sold their dog as an example of the sacrifices that are being made.

Vice reported that the companys decision to require in-office work surprised many employees as Clarke said in an email in October that he did not have any plans to require work in the office. He also reportedly said that some employees were hired understanding that the company was remote-first.

But Clearlink told its workers this month that its situation had changed as it manages an unstable economy and recently underwent a round of layoffs.

The outlet reported that Clarke sent employees an email on April 3 saying that workers who live within 50 miles of the companys headquarters in Draper, Utah, would need to start coming into the office four days per week starting April 17.

Clearlink told The Hill in a statement that it recently announced the in-office policy for most of its employees based in the state to help achieve our collective goals.

We look forward to having these team members join us at our new world-class Global Headquarters in Draper, Utah and appreciate the efforts of all of our committed team memberswhich includes those who work in office and those who will continue to work remotelyas we accomplish our best work together, Clearlink said.

Vice reported that during the town hall Clarke said he believed 30 employees had not opened their laptops in a month, questioned if some employees were working multiple jobs and called on the company to increase productivity to 30 to 50 times our normal production.

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Clarke reportedly said he had seen enhanced productivity among workers who had come into the office and that the time had come for returning to the office with the country mostly resuming normal operations coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Labor Department reported last month that millions of Americans stopped working from home last year. More than 70 percent of private sector businesses reported in a survey that employees conducted little to no telework between August and September 2022, up from 60 percent from July to September 2021.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Purported video shows Clearlink chief executive James Clarke criticising his employees (Screengrab/ Xecil)

The chief executive of a Utah-based company has been facing backlash for celebrating an employee who was forced to sell their family dog to return to working from office.

In a leaked video, digital marketing company Clearlinks boss James Clarke told employees earlier this month that he had run out of patience with them complaining about the new return-to-office policy.

He sent an email to employees on 3 April asking those who live within 50 miles of the company's new headquarters in Draper, to work from the office four days a week, starting from 17 April.

In the video meeting to explain the reasoning behind the new mandate, Mr Clarke accused the staff of "quiet quitting" and claimed that the employees were incapable of outworking him, Vice News reported.

Clips from the virtual town hall were posted on Reddit and YouTube last week before being deleted from the platforms.

The chief executive claimed at least 30 employees in his organisation "didn't even crack open laptops" in one month. He then went on to blast content writers, who he claimed were using artificial intelligence to complete their work.

I can do that in about 30 minutes of an eight-hour work day, he said, urging them to "put out 30 to 50 times our normal production."

However, he then highlighted that one of the employees "made sacrifices" and sold their family dog in order to return to the office.

Mr Clarke added that it broke his "heart" as he had been "at the head of the humanisation of pets movement in other businesses that weve built.

He then shifted his focus to the concerns that the shift would cause undue harm to people who serve as primary caregivers for their children.

The chief executive questioned the ability of single and working mothers to meet company expectations while continuing to take care of their children. While it can be done  it adds so much stress to a working mothers life that I would never want to put on anyone", he said.

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"Breadwinning mothers were hit the very hardest by this pandemic. Many of you have tried to tend your own children and in doing so also manage your demanding work schedules and responsibilities.

"And while I know youre doing your best... one could argue this path is neither fair to your employer, nor fair to those children, Mr Clarke opined.

But he shortly clarified that he doesn't "necessarily believe that".

But I do believe that only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be productive and full-time employees at the same time.

"You may take issue with any part of this, but I believe the data will also support this in time.

People on the internet were quick to call out the toxic work culture of the company.

No way I would work here after reading this, wrote a Twitter user.

Exactly why you do NOT work for a CEO like this! Prioritizing work before family, questioned user Karen Salama.

Exactly why you do NOT work for a CEO like this! Prioritizing work before family??

CEO James Clark of @Clearlink Celebrates Worker Who Sold Family Dog After He Demanded They Return to Officehttps://t.co/pIemBg1RwH  Karen Salama (@karenfsalama) April 20, 2023

I wonder if these clowns who expect their serfs to provide blood, sweat, and tears for their companies are aware that said serfs are not drawing seven figure pay packages like said clown, wrote another.

I wonder if these clowns who expect their serfs to provide blood, sweat, and tears for their companies are aware that said serfs are not drawing 7 figure pay packages like said clown #clearlinkhttps://t.co/RDmjDw7p9V  Rashtrakut (@Rashtrakut) April 20, 2023

To the employee who sold the dog, James Clarke, the CEO of the technology and media company Clearlink, would fire you in a heartbeat.

To the employee who sold the dog, James Clarke, the CEO of the technology and media company Clearlink, would fire you in a heartbeat.  Kay (@whatyasay_al) April 19, 2023

The Independent has reached out to Clearlink for a statement.




Speakers:

Mr. Luo Wen, minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR)

Ms. Gan Lin, vice minister of the SAMR

Mr. Tian Shihong, vice minister of the SAMR

Mr. Pu Chun, vice minister of the SAMR

Chairperson:

Ms. Shou Xiaoli, deputy director general of the Press Bureau of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and spokesperson of the SCIO

Date:

April 13, 2023

Shou Xiaoli:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO). This is the 14th briefing in the series "Embarking on the New Journey  A Government Perspective." Today, we have invited Mr. Luo Wen, minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), to brief you on energizing the market and solidifying the foundation for high-quality development, and to take your questions. Also joining us today are three vice ministers of the SAMR: Ms. Gan Lin, Mr. Tian Shihong and Mr. Pu Chun.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Luo for a brief introduction.

Luo Wen:

Friends from the media, good afternoon. To begin with, I'd like to thank you for your long-standing interest in, support and help for the market regulation work. It is also my pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with you today and brief you all on market regulators' ideas, measures and progress concerning implementation of major decisions made by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

At the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that high-quality development is the primary task for building a modern socialist country in all respects, and called for efforts to expedite the establishment of a new development pattern and promote high-quality development. Practical efforts over the years have taught us that high-quality socioeconomic development would not have been possible without hundreds of millions of vibrant and resilient businesses. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Chinese market has seen a significant expansion in size, a continued optimization in structure, and a gradual improvement in environment. Various thriving businesses have provided a strong support for stable economic growth and comprehensive elevation of the nation's overall strength.

This year marks the start of fully implementing the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, and it is particularly important to ramp up efforts on the economic side. Market regulators will resolutely implement the decisions and plans made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. We will give full play to our close connections with both the market and businesses, further optimize our regulatory ideas, improve institutional arrangements, develop new measures, and make greater efforts to energize all market entities, in a bid to consolidate the foundation for effectively upgrading the quality of the country's economy and achieving reasonable growth.

First, we will energize market entities by deepening reform. We will improve the market entry and exit system and establish a set of regulatory rules that are unified, standardized, impartial and transparent. We will further reduce government-imposed transaction costs for market entities, and provide greater convenience for business production and operation. In addition, we will keep optimizing regulatory measures, improve the effectiveness of regulation, and make ongoing and ex post regulation more precise and scientific using methods such as credit rating-based regulation and smart regulation.

Second, we will further spur market vitality by pursuing fair competition. Protecting and promoting fair competition and creating an inclusive and fair market environment is conducive to giving full play to businesses' initiative and creativity, and continuously boosting their growth momentum and innovation vitality. Market regulators have always laid equal emphasis on regulating their own work and promoting development, so as to become a builder of a fair competition system, a protector of a fair competition market, a defender of consumers' interests, and a guardian of a unified domestic market. Market regulators will investigate and deal with various cases of monopoly and unfair competition in accordance with the law, fully implement an examination system for fair competition, and provide enormous market space for all sorts of businesses to thrive.

Third, we will implement law-based governance to revitalize the market. The rule of law should play a more important role in consolidating the foundations of governance, meeting people's expectations, and maintaining long-term development. Market supervision authorities need to further apply law-based thinking and approaches to ensure that their work is carried out in line with the rule of law and constantly improve the stability of market supervision and stabilize enterprises' expectations. To boost market confidence, we will ensure continuity and consistency in law enforcement that is fair and equitable. We will also balance the principles of "law, reason, and emotion," improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our work, and ensure that our law enforcement is both firm and compassionate.

Fourth, we will provide greater support and assistance to enterprises and small business owners, recognizing their crucial role as the mainstay of the market economy and the driving force behind its vitality. Market supervision authorities will intensify efforts to improve and implement measures that will help enterprises overcome challenges and obstacles. We will step up targeted cultivation and precise assistance, implementing initiatives aimed at enhancing high-quality development and boosting competitiveness. Additionally, we will crack down on illegal fee collection to ease the burden on enterprises.

Fifth, we will promote order and vitality through regulation. Creating a favorable "soft environment" to stimulate market vitality will be impossible without "hard measures" to regulate market order. Market supervision authorities will take resolute actions and not be lenient toward behaviors that violate market rules and disrupt market order, such as price fraud, infringement, counterfeiting, and false advertising. In particular, for key areas directly related to people's health and safety, such as food, drugs, industrial products, and special equipment, we will always stick to strict law enforcement, strengthen regulation, and severely punish illegal behaviors to promote a healthy market order and unleash market vitality.

This concludes my introduction. Next, my colleagues and I are happy to answer your questions. Thank you.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Prosecutors said Thursday they will dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film  Rust, but cautioned that their investigation is not over and the actor has not been absolved yet.

Special prosecutors Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis announced their decision to dismiss the felony charge after new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis, without giving further details. An involuntary manslaughter charge against Hannah Gutierrez Reed, weapons supervisor on the film, remains unchanged, they said.

We cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement, the prosecutors said in a statement. This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled. Our follow-up investigation will remain active and on-going.

Lawyers for Baldwin were first to announce that prosecutors were changing course, in a sharp turnaround for the Hollywood luminary who just a few months ago was confronting the possibility of a yearslong prison sentence.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident," defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.

When word of the dismissal came, Baldwin was at Yellowstone Film Ranch on the set of a rebooted Rust production. Preparations for filming were underway Thursday at its new location in Montana, 18 months after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins shut it down, a representative for Rust Movie Productions said.

Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally and he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled, however.

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John Day, a Santa Fe-based criminal defense attorney who is not involved with the Rust case, highlighted the arrival of a new prosecution team in late March and suggested it may have been a factor in the decision to dismiss the charge.

This is very different from what the original prosecutor said, he noted. It does raise the question of initially the Santa Fe district attorney saying, 'Were holding Alec Baldwin responsible in part because of the role as CEO of the production and (that) it was a very sloppy production'  does this mean that the new prosecutors have a different point of view?

Gutierrez-Reeds attorneys said they fully expect her to be exonerated in the judicial process.

The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered, the lawyers, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion, said in a statement.

The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence was dismissed, and the first special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.

The A-list actor's 40-year career has included the early blockbuster The Hunt for Red October and a starring role in the sitcom 30 Rock, as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorseses The Departed and a film adaptation of David Mamets Glengarry Glen Ross. In recent years he was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live."

The 65-year-old has worked little since the shooting but hardly went into hiding. He stayed active on social media, making Instagram videos and posting podcast interviews and pictures of his wife and seven children.

Rust safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest in March to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months of probation.

Plans to resume filming were outlined last year by the cinematographer's widower, Matthew Hutchins, in a proposed settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit that would make him an executive producer. Souza has said he will return to directing Rust to honor the legacy of Halyna Hutchins.

Despite the settlement, attorneys for the Hutchins family said they welcomed the criminal charges against Baldwin when they were filed. They had no immediate comment on the pending dismissal Thursday.

After a scathing safety review by regulators in New Mexico that detailed ignored complaints and misfires before Hutchins' death in October 2021, the production company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Baldwin has not traveled to New Mexico to appear in court, which is not required of him under state law. Evidentiary hearings had been scheduled for next month to determine whether to proceed toward trial.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies had said previously that her office is pursuing justice in the death of Hutchins and wants to show no one is above the law when it comes to firearms and public safety. She says the Ukrainian-born cinematographers death was tragic and preventable.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.
An analyst estimates that ChatGPT requires up to $700,000 a day to run. Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

ChatGPT could cost OpenAI up to $700,000 a day to run due to "expensive servers," an analyst told The Information.

ChatGPT requires massive amounts of computing power on expensive servers to answer queries.

Microsoft is secretly building an AI chip to reduce the cost, per The Information.

Using ChatGPT to write cover letters, generate lesson plans, and redo your dating profile could cost OpenAI up to $700,000 a day because of the pricey tech infrastructure the AI runs on, Dylan Patel, chief analyst at semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis, told The Information.

That's because ChatGPT requires massive amounts of computing power to calculate responses based on user prompts.

"Most of this cost is based around the expensive servers they require," Patel told the tech publication.

In a phone call with Insider, Patel said it's likely even more costly to operate now, as his initial estimate is based on OpenAI's GPT-3 model. GPT-4  the company's latest model  would be even more expensive to run, he told Insider.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.

While training ChatGPT's large language models likely costs tens of millions of dollars, operational expenses, or inference costs, "far exceed training costs when deploying a model at any reasonable scale," Patel and Afzal Ahmad, another analyst at SemiAnalysis, told Forbes. "In fact, the costs to inference ChatGPT exceed the training costs on a weekly basis," they said.

Companies using OpenAI's language models have been paying steep prices for years. Nick Walton, the CEO of Latitude, a startup behind an AI dungeon game that uses prompts to generate storylines, said that running the model  along with payments to Amazon Web Services servers  cost the company $200,000 a month for the AI to answer millions of user queries in 2021, CNBC reported.

The high cost is why Walton said he decided to switch to a language software provider backed by AI21 Labs, which he said cut his company's AI costs in half to $100,000 a month.

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"We joked that we had human employees and we had AI employees, and we spent about as much on each of them," Walton told CNBC. "We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on AI and we are not a big startup, so it was a very massive cost."

Microsoft is reportedly working on a secret chip

In an effort to reduce the cost of running generative AI models, Microsoft is developing an AI chip it calls Athena, The Information first reported. The project, which started in 2019, comes years after Microsoft made a $1 billion deal with OpenAI which required OpenAI to run its models exclusively on Microsoft's Azure cloud servers.

The idea behind the chip was two-fold, according to The Information. Microsoft execs realized they were falling behind Google and Amazon in its efforts to build its own in-house chips, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Information. At the same time, Microsoft was reportedly looking for cheaper alternatives  its AI models were run on Nvidia's chips known as graphics processing units  and decided to build a chip that would be less costly.

Nearly four years later, more than 300 Microsoft employees are now reportedly working on the chip, according to the report. The chip could be released for internal use by Microsoft and OpenAI as early as next year, two sources familiar with the matter told The Information.

Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
From Left: Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Keep It Clean live comedy event to benefit Waterkeeper Alliance.

From Left: Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Keep It Clean live comedy event to benefit Waterkeeper Alliance.

Actor Cheryl Hines said she is supporting the presidential bid of her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite evidence that theyve disagreed on issues before.

He announced his plans to run for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday in Boston, saying his mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country.

A short time later, Hines released a statement of support to People.

My husband, Robert Kennedy Jr., announced today he will be running for President, and I support his decision, the 57-year-old Curb Your Enthusiasm star said in the statement, adding that he is a fearless leader who understands the needs of the American people and has devoted his life fighting for democracy.

Hines hasnt always supported all of her husbands views.

Although Kennedy was once known mainly as an environmental lawyer, for the past two decades, hes become more identified as one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement.

As a result, hes been called out by family and friends for his views, such as in 2019 when two siblings and a niece told Politico that Kennedy was part of a campaign to attack the institutions committed to reducing the tragedy of preventable infectious diseases.

Kennedys sister, Kerry Kennedy, who runs Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the international rights group founded by their mother, Ethel, told the Associated Press in a 2021 interview her brother is completely wrong on [the vaccine] issue and very dangerous.

But Hines has also criticized her husbands behavior, whom shes been married to since 2014.

In January 2022, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came under fire after he compared the experience of anti-vaxxers to that of victims of the Holocaust and referenced Anne Frank during a rally against vaccine mandates in Washington, D.C.

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In response, Hines told a Twitter user, My husbands opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.

She later condemned his remarks saying the Anne Frank reference was reprehensible and insensitive.

She added: The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own.

Despite that obvious fact, many Twitter users did feel obliged to reference her in tweets about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s announcement.

As I said previously, when even the Kennedy family is refusing to support RFK, Jr.'s bid for office, that's the biggest red flag and the only one you really need.



Cheryl Hines needs better girlfriends in her life.  Charlotte Clymer  (@cmclymer) April 19, 2023

Just gross. Marriages can be complicated but stepping up on that stage is without question enabling him and an unequivocal endorsement of his dangerous rhetoric.  Yashar Ali   (@yashar) April 19, 2023

Cheryl Hines has become Willa from Succession. https://t.co/toxus1mllU  Joel Stein (@thejoelstein) April 19, 2023

Congratulations to Cheryl Hines on joining Heidi Cruz and Melania Trump as spouses of presidential candidates who definitely didnt vote for their husbands.  The Mighty Brennan (@Brennanator) April 19, 2023

Ugh I hate that Cheryl Hines supports an antivaxxer. That's extremely pathetic. https://t.co/Dh7NPTzBiY  Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) April 19, 2023

Related...
Chicagos mayor-elect on Wednesday attempted to dispel the often-contentious relationship between the nations third-largest city and the rest of the state, telling a joint session of the General Assembly, Theres more than enough for everybody in the state of Illinois.

Brandon Johnson, whose victory in the mayors race this month provided a welcome boost for progressives, played to his fellow Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate. He extolled the Blue Wall theyve built and pledged to be a partner in this incredible, progressive body that has delivered for people across the state.

Pounded later by reporters questions about reducing crime in Chicago, he promised to be smart as well as tough, putting resources into youth employment and other preventive measures as well as enforcement. But his primary message was one of collaboration.

They told us that if something is good for Chicago, that means were taking something away from Peoria, Johnson told lawmakers. They tell us that the challenges that we face in the city of Chicago ... arent the same challenges shared by families from Rockford to Carbondale. ... No one has to lose at the expense of someone else winning. Theres more than enough for everybody in the state of Illinois.

Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from the Chicago suburb of Maywood, said Johnson took a positive step by tabbing team members to keep connected to the Legislature, something that was wanting with current Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

He wants to work with not only with the Chicago delegation of legislators, but hes recognizing that ... no matter where you are in the state, you have a role to play in the outcomes of the city of Chicago, Lightford said. She added, A lot of people lose sight of that. They just say Chicago has issues, not recognizing that it is the economic engine of the state. And you do want to make sure that theres prosperity there so that it can also extend across the state.

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Johnson, 47, a two-term Cook County commissioner and former teacher who gained traction with the full-throated support of the powerful Chicago Teachers Union, promised to tackle the citys financial trouble with the same smart, responsible, bold approach that Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and lawmakers have taken in Springfield, reducing the states billions of dollars in debt and consequently receiving credit upgrades from Wall Street bonding houses.

But he also pledged investments in neighborhood schools, youth employment and health care  particularly mental health  and combating crime. Such initiatives will need an assist from Springfield, Johnson said. When addressing reporters later, he declined to talk specific figures, labeling that as dictating rather than collaborating with state partners.

On crime, he said, Public safety is a prerequisite to the prosperity of Chicago and the voters have sent a clear message that they want to get smart, not just tough on crime.

After weathering criticism from runoff rival Paul Vallas over previous statements to defund the police, a movement that arose after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Johnson said Wednesday that he would add 200 detectives to the force. But he also said he would increase funding to battle the root causes of violence and provide mental health care for police officers.

The smart way is investing in people, Johnson said.

Johnson, who frequently mentions that he and his wife are raising three children in the westside Austin neighborhood, among the citys most violent, took heat for comments he made following last weekends melee in downtown Chicago that left two teenagers wounded by gunfire. He said he didnt condone the violence but said it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.

He rebuffed a reporters question about whether he sent a mixed message.

Its not a mixed message. ... This is a false choice. You can make sure that we eradicate the root causes that lead to violence, and we also can make sure that theres support on the front line to make sure that were preventing violence, Johnson said. No one takes it more seriously than a family that lives through it every single day.

___ Follow Political Writer John OConnor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor
(Bloomberg) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify on Supreme Court ethics reform, following a report that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted unreported luxury travel from a Republican billionaire.

Most Read from Bloomberg

In a letter to Roberts, Durbin asked him to appear before the committee or choose another justice to testify in his place on May 2, arguing that theres ample precedent for sitting Supreme Court justices to appear before Congress, including to testify about ethics.

Roberts has not publicly addressed the issue of Court ethics since a 2011 Supreme Court report when he said the court has had no reason to adopt the Code of Conduct as its definitive source of ethical guidance.

But in his request, Durbin insists the status quo is no longer tenable.

These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Courts decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence, Durbin said in the letter.

Durbins move is a significant step up in the intensifying pressure on Roberts to take action on an ethics code for the high court.

Without mentioning Thomas by name, Durbin said there has been a steady stream of revelations on ethics issues involving some justices that fall short of whats expected under a code of ethics applied to all other federal judges.

The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Courts ethical standards, Durbin wrote. I invite you to join it, and I look forward to your response.

A spokesman for Roberts didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the invitation.

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The nonprofit news organization ProPublica recently reported that Thomas accepted but never disclosed over two decades luxury trips paid for by Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and longtime GOP donor, and that Thomas also didnt report that he and relatives sold three Georgia properties to Crow in 2014, including his mothers home.

Thomas defended himself after the initial report about the trips, saying hed been advised that he didnt have to disclose hospitality from close personal friends who didnt have any business before the court. He also said he intends in the future to follow recent changes made to gift-reporting guidelines issued by the Judicial Conference, which makes policy for the federal judiciary, which narrow an exemption for personal hospitality.

Durbin told reporters the letter will be presented to Roberts on Thursday afternoon and that hed have the hearing anyway if Roberts doesnt come.

Theres no discussion about issuing a subpoena for Roberts or any other justice at this time, he said. Also, Senator Dianne Feinsteins health-induced absence means Democrats dont have the committee majority needed to issue a subpoena, Durbin added.

A complaint by two congressional Democrats regarding possible ethics violations by Thomas has been forwarded to the Judicial Conference, which enforces financial disclosure rules.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia have asked the conference to examine whether the lack of reporting by Thomas in his annual financial disclosure statements violates the Ethics in Government Act, which applies to federal officials including Supreme Court justices. Theyve asked the conference to refer the matter to the Justice Department if they make a finding that he violated the law.

--With assistance from Zach C. Cohen.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
The Dalai Lama has been criticised over footage of him asking a boy to suck his tongue

An online backlash to the Dalai Lama has rejuvenated a long-running controversy over Tibetan history and boosted a Chinese government narrative.

The Tibetan Buddhist leader has faced widespread criticism after a video surfaced showing him kissing a young boy and asking him to suck his tongue. The Dalai Lama has since expressed regret.

The incident has sparked significant online vitriol against the spiritual leader.

While much of it centres on the video, accusing him of inappropriate behaviour and child abuse, a significant portion of the criticism accuses him of complicity in "slavery", using highly disputed definitions seen in Chinese propaganda.

There are also concerns that overall, the online backlash is fuelling anti-Tibet sentiment.

Activists say that while many of the talking points have long existed online - propagated by pro-China accounts - they are now attracting a wider audience as the video controversy renews global attention on Tibet.

'Slavery' narrative

In Twitter threads and TikTok videos that have attracted millions of views and retweets, social media users are discussing the living conditions and lack of rights held by ordinary Tibetans before the country was annexed by China in the 1950s.

Many describe this as "slavery". They also frame the Chinese annexation as an act of liberation for Tibetans.

They argue that as the Tibetans' spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was complicit, and some posts label him a "demon" and "slaveowner".

But these characterisations of Tibetan society and China's annexation have long been controversial - and mirror the Chinese government's rhetoric.

Beijing promotes a narrative where it freed "serfs and slaves" from a brutal theocracy, set Tibet on a path of modernisation, and vastly improved Tibetans' lives.

It has also accused the Dalai Lama of spearheading a failed uprising in 1959 in order to "preserve the theocratic serf system". The Dalai Lama has said the incident began with Tibetans gathering to protect him from a possible Chinese attack.

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The incident ended with the Chinese taking over Tibet's government and dissolving what they say was a feudal system. In 2009, China created the annual "Tibetan Serf Emancipation Day" to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the quelling of the uprising.

In recent weeks Chinese state media outlet Global Times re-amplified this narrative by putting out an infographic comparing life before and after Tibet's "peaceful liberation", in a tweet criticising the Dalai Lama. It was subsequently retweeted by at least one Chinese embassy.

Though Tibet's government-in-exile has disputed the term "feudal", most scholars agree that Tibet's society saw people working on estates owned by nobles, monasteries or the state, and paid taxes to them.

There has been debate on how to describe these people. The Tibetan word for them, "miser", has been translated as both "serfs" and "subjects".

But most experts do not see them as "slaves" which could be bought and sold.

"Tibet has never had a term for 'slave'. These people were not commodities it was like a 'peasant and lord' relationship," said Tsering Shakya, a Tibet historian with the University of British Columbia.

Historically the Dalai Lama did not directly own "serfs", but as he was seen as the sovereign of Tibetan society, "everyone in Tibet was considered his subject, much like people in the UK are subjects to the King", said Dr Shakya.

Critics of China's narrative, such as Tibet's government-in-exile, say Beijing uses it to justify the annexation and its oppression of Tibetans over the years.

Tibetan activists accuse China of human rights violations and have campaigned for the release of prisoners

While Tibetans' standard of living has greatly improved, Tibet remains tightly controlled by Chinese authorities who are accused of committing violence and human rights violations.

Thousands of Tibetans are believed to have been killed during various periods of martial law over the years.

"You don't emancipate anyone with [an] army and guns. You don't liberate anyone with forced agreement," a representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile said in 2020.

Some have also argued that Tibet was already on the path of reform and did not need China's intervention.

"There were people advocating modernisation before annexation, there were seeds of change," said Dr Shakya.

Abuse concerns

Earlier this week Tibet's government-in-exile accused China of waging a campaign to "vilify" them and the Dalai Lama.

Its head, Penpa Tsering, also claimed without evidence that "pro-Chinese sources" were making the Dalai Lama's video go viral on social media and said "the political angle of this incident cannot be ignored".

A BBC Monitoring check did not find signs of inauthentic online activity, indicating that the criticism comes from genuine sources.

It also found the criticism came from diverse sources. While pro-China influencers as well as Chinese diplomats and state media were responsible for some of it, right-wing commentators and social media users concerned about child abuse and slavery have also joined in.

Activists say the backlash has fuelled online abuse of Tibetans, pro-Tibet groups, and the Tibetan leadership in exile. It has also obscured numerous human rights issues that activists are trying to raise, including the forced assimilation of Tibetan children.

"There is a frustration that Tibet largely goes unreported but now is in the spotlight for this reason, and fear that this story will become the centrepiece of the conversation about Tibet at a critical time for the future of their country and its culture," John Jones, spokesperson for the Free Tibet organisation, told the BBC.

"In that sense, this story has been a gift to anyone wishing to downplay the concerns Tibetans have been trying to raise."

Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring and Alistair Coleman.
By Farah Master

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Western media reports on China's population being overtaken by India deliberately ignores China's development, using the topic to "bad mouth" it and advocate decoupling, state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday.

CCTV's sharply worded commentary said the subtext from Western media in recent years was that China's development was in "big trouble" and that when China's demographic dividend disappears, it would decline, and the global economy would also suffer.

"They slandered all the way and China has developed all the way, creating a miracle of sustainable and stable economic development with a huge population."

India is overtaking China as the world's most populous nation, and will have almost 3 million more people than its neighbour by the middle of this year, data released on Wednesday by the United Nations showed.

"The United States is stepping up efforts to contain China's development and advocate further decoupling and found new hype points from the United Nations report," CCTV said, adding that the West simply equated population size with development achievements.

"Such hype lacks a basic understanding of the law of population development. With the development of human society today, the decrease in birth rate and decline in willingness to bear children are common problems faced by the whole world," CCTV said, adding that Western developed countries generally faced problems such as labour shortages.

Last year, China's population fell for the first time in six decades, a historic turn expected to usher in a long period of decline in citizen numbers, with profound implications for its economy and the world.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said population dividends did not only depend on quantity but also on quality.

"Population is important but talents are also important...China has taken active measures to respond to population aging," Wang told reporters on Wednesday.

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In Beijing's Guomao business district, Liu, a 40-year old working in finance, said it was an "inevitable phenomenon" that India's population has exceeded China but that his country's economic strength would dominate.

"Our economic strength will still exceed," he said adding that India's population growth "does not have any major impact on us. It doesnt affect us much."

(Additional reporting by Josh Arslan in Beijing; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
The couple apparently missed a transition during the flying-trapeze act before the 37-year-old woman fell to the stage, which was reportedly not equipped with a safety net or crash pad

Getty

A Chinese acrobat has died after she fell while performing a mid-air routine with her partner, according to multiple reports.

The woman, whose surname is Sun, was performing with her husband near the city of Suzhou in central Anhui province on Saturday, according to the BBC and CNN.

The woman, 37, and her husband, identified by the surname Zhang, missed a transition during the flying-trapeze act, causing Sun to fall the ground, per The Independent.

There was no safety net or crash mat below the performers, CNN reports.

Footage of the incident, which has gone viral on various social media sites, shows Zhang attempting to catch Sun with his legs after she lost her grip.

She was transported to a hospital, but died of her injuries, per the reports.

Related:56-Year-Old Climber, a Hiking 'Legend' Who Summited Mt. Everest 10 Times, Dies on Mountain in Nepal

In a statement released Tuesday, the Tongqiao government said Saturday's incident has been ruled an accident, according to CNN.

A manager of the company that put on the performance touted the pair as experienced acrobats, according to The Independent.

The manager, surnamed Wag, said Sun did not buckle a safety belt prior to the routine, per the report.

The manager also said the couple had an argument the night of the incident, but Zhang said that was not the case. The man also said he'd had "a good relationship" with his wife.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In a statement, the Tongqiao government said Sun and Zhang were performing at an event hosted by a local farm business owner, CNN reported.

Investigators reportedly learned the Anhui Yaxi Performing Arts Media Company, which was contracted to run the performance, did not receive proper approval from local authorities before Saturday's show, per the report.

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Officials also do not believe proper safety measures were taken ahead of the deadly incident, according to CNN.

The Tongqiao government said the company has agreed to compensate Sun's family following her death.

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[Source]

Chinese actor Jiang Mengjie took to Weibo to share with her 8 million followers that she had been blackmailed for an explicit video taken without her permission.

On Wednesday, Jiang shared screenshots of the messages purportedly sent by the blackmailer, who threatened to send the video of her to leading film and TV companies.

The celebrity expressed to her fans that she felt angry and disgusted, along with a feeling of powerlessness upon seeing the footage of herself falling victim to upskirting, or the invasive act of taking photographs under someones skirt or dress without their consent.

Jiang became aware of the video, which she identified as being recorded "many years ago," after her staff noticed strange comments on her posts. Later, a friend living overseas sent her the video.

More from NextShark: Cambodia urges people to stop picking its 'penis plants'

The video has been widely shared on multiple websites and online groups, with over a million views, according to Jiang.

She admitted that she was initially advised to stay silent about the video as there were concerns that speaking out could make the situation worse. However, she ultimately decided to confront the matter head on.

Shortly after reporting the incident to the police, she was informed that the suspect had been detained and that she would be notified in time of their punishment.

More from NextShark: Suspect arrested after assaulting elderly Asian woman, stabbing a good samaritan in SF

Jiang shared that while gathering evidence, she discovered that the number of individuals who were secretly recorded exceeded imagination. While some of the perpetrators blackmailed individuals with those photos, others sold them for profit, she continued.

As a public figure, maybe I can make more people pay attention to such vicious incidents by taking a stand, she wrote.

It is not our fault that we have been secretly photographed. Our lives should not be affected by this kind of thing.

Story continues

More from NextShark: Scammer claiming to be Korean oil rig worker dupes Malaysian widow out of nearly $1 million

Jiangs post has received over a million likes and has gained support from numerous netizens who commended her for taking a stand. They also left comments criticizing the blackmailer for their unacceptable actions.

He should be ashamed why does he think he can ruin someone for the rest of her life? commented one user.

Another said, Sisters should not suffer in silence when they encounter such a thing.

More from NextShark: 'Squid Game' director reveals Season 2 plotline, in talks with Netflix for Season 3

In China, perpetrators detained for upskirting are typically sentenced to less than 10 days, resulting in many women wearing additional layers of clothing as a deterrent against these types of crimes.
JERUSALEM  Upstairs in his monastery tucked in the Old City, Brother Matteo Munari heard a commotion at the Church of the Flagellation, along the path where Jesus is said to have carried his cross on the way to his crucifixion.

Munari, 49, went downstairs and found that a 10-foot statue of Jesus had been wrested off its pedestal and thrown to the ground, its face partially destroyed. When the churchs doorman tackled the man suspected of toppling the statue on Feb. 2, Jewish ritual tassels that had been concealed under his clothes emerged, the Franciscan friar said.

He was kind of crying. Like, We have to destroy all the statues and the idols in Jerusalem, Munari told NBC News last week as he gazed at the smashed face of Jesus, now awaiting repair at the church, which was built in 1929 on a site that dates to the 12th century.

I just felt sad for him, he added. I think he wanted to do the right thing. So the problem probably was not the man himself, but who instructed him to think in this violent way.

Israeli police confirmed that a U.S. citizen in his 40s was arrested at the scene, adding that investigators were working diligently to maintain security, order and freedom of worship for members of all religions and denominations.

Damage after an American tourist attacked and toppled a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem on Feb. 2, 2023. (Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The damage after an American tourist attacked and toppled a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem on Feb. 2, 2023. (Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

But church officials and Christian leaders in Israel say this was far from an isolated incident. As tensions over Jewish and Muslim holy sites have erupted in recent weeks, spiraling into violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Christians in the Holy Land say theyre under attack, too.

Although they blame a minority of Jewish extremists for the attacks, they say Israels far-right government has fostered a culture of impunity for attacks on non-Jews, emboldening the nations most extreme elements.

In January, ultra-Orthodox Jewish lawmakers allied with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed imposing jail time for Christian proselytizing, although after a global outcry, Netanyahu said he would block the bill.

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Dimitri Diliani, head of the Palestinian National Christian Coalition, said he felt more threatened now by Israeli policies than any other time.

Staying here and protecting our heritage is becoming more difficult, he said.

In Christianitys holiest city, churches have been graffitied and clergy who live and work here report being frequently spit on, harassed and even physically attacked by extremist Jews. Christian leaders say most incidents are never thoroughly investigated.

Exact numbers for anti-Christian incidents are hard to come by. But data compiled by Tag Meir, a Jewish group that opposes racism and violence against Israels minorities, suggest that there has been a dramatic rise in attacks by Jewish civilians on cemeteries, churches, monasteries and mosques in Israel and the occupied West Bank. The group has documented six such incidents in the first three months of 2023 alone, compared to just two in all of 2022 and three in 2021.

A priest cleans damage after an American tourist attacked and toppled a statue of Jesus in the Church of the Flagellation on the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem on Feb. 2, 2023. (Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images file)

The Israeli government says its commitment to ensuring that people of all faiths can live and worship safely is a core democratic value, pointing out that Israels founding documents enshrine freedom of religion to all by law and in practice.

And the national Israel police force says that it is in continuous contact with religious leaders to investigate attacks and vandalism and that efforts to bring lawbreakers to justice are unwavering.

As the police of all residents and visitors to Jerusalem  Jews, Muslims and Christians  we act against violence and acts of vandalism, and in particular those that hurt religious sentiments, Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman said during a recent meeting with the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III.

In the knotty patchwork of identities and beliefs that make up Israels social fabric, the plight of Christians has at times been overshadowed by the overlapping struggles between Muslims and Jews, and Israelis and Palestinians.

Many, but not all, Christians in Israel and the West Bank are Palestinian. Christian Palestinians themselves are a minority compared to the larger Palestinian population that adheres to Islam.

Israeli policemen detain a Palestinian man at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following clashes that erupted during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on April 5, 2023. - (Ahmad Gharabli / AFP - Getty Images file)

Often, its tensions surrounding Muslim and Jewish holy sites that have garnered the most global attention, including in the recent violent flare-ups in Israel and along its borders that erupted in response to Israeli police raids this month on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam. The same spot is also the holiest site in Judaism, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Those raids elicited retaliatory rocket attacks by Palestinian-linked groups in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria, with Israel in turn retaliating by striking those territories.

Yet Christian holy sites in the Old City have also become flashpoints, most recently on Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, just a third of a mile from Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall.

In the narrow, cobbled alleyways of the Christian Quarter, tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world showed up for the Holy Fire miracle ceremony, an annual ritual held the day before Orthodox Easter. The crowd was far larger than the 1,800 worshippers the Israeli police had announced would be allowed into the church, leading to sometimes-violent clashes with officers.

Christian worshippers are kept away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Israel Police in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem on April 15, 2023. (Josh Lederman / NBC News)

In a war of words that escalated as the ceremony approached, church officials accused Israeli police of arbitrarily restricting worship to a mere fraction of the number who safely attended in years past, calling it a crackdown on the freedom to worship. Police argued the restrictions were about fire hazards and stampede risks, insisting that they were relying on an engineers analysis of how many could safely fit in the church.

The tensions we understand, because everybody wants to partake in this special event, police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchres courtyard. Were here ultimately to ensure that the people who got the permission from the church leaders are able to attend and attend safely.

Overlooking the Old City less than a mile away, Propst Joachim Lenz walked the grassy pathways of the Protestant cemetery on the steep slopes of Mount Zion, where tradition holds the Last Supper took place. Many of the tombstones in the historic cemetery bear dates from the 1800s, but now many are broken, tipped over and trashed.

In January, security camera footage revealed two young men, both wearing traditional clothing associated with Orthodox Jews, breaking into the cemetery and desecrating the headstones. Israeli police said 28 graves were vandalized, and a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old were later arrested and indicted on vandalism charges.

We do not have the feeling that the government is really helpful to end this violence, to stop these aggressions against people who just do not have the same faith as those attackers, said Lenz, the head of the German Lutheran Church in Israel.

Bearing witness a few feet away, Gadi Gvaryahu from Tag Meir agreed. The Jewish group pays condolence visits to victims of extremism, and Gvaryahu said that while Jewish extremists have long enjoyed a degree of impunity, with like-minded politicians in power, now they feel better.

Its like shooting in the heart of Judaism, said Gvaryahu, before heading home before sunset to observe the Jewish sabbath. This is not our faith. Its not written in the Bible. We should all condemn those extremists. And we first as Jews need to condemn.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who is mulling a White House campaign in 2024, said criticism of former President Trump is not a damaging tactic in a primary fight.

I dont believe that Republican voters penalize people who criticize Trump, Christie, a one-time Trump ally, told Politico. If you think youre a better person to be president than Donald Trump, then you better make that case.

Christie is considering making that case for himself. The former two-term New Jersey governor, who ran for president in 2016, has been a frequent Trump critic after initially endorsing then-candidate Trump. An ABC political commentator, Christies voice has been one of the prominent GOP critics of Trump.

Christie has said he will decide on a potential presidential campaign by sometime in May, and has made a number of visits to early nominating states in the Republican primary process.

Christie convened members of his political network in Washington this week, according to Politico, to ask them advice on a potential 2024 campaign and whether he has a path to defeating Trump.

Declared and prospective Republican candidates for president in 2024 have largely steered clear of clashing with Trump. Its a tactic that Christie, who has stood on the debate stage with Trump before, does not think will work in the GOP primary, saying Trump needs to be called out and it needs to be called out by somebody who knows him.

Nobody knows Donald Trump better than I do, Christie said.

Christie has also been critical of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is seen as the main rival to Trump for the 2024 nomination, dinging DeSantis on his feud with Disney in the state.

I dont think Ron DeSantis is a conservative based on his actions towards Disney, Christie said in an interview with Semafor Principals.

Still, popular support for a Christie run seems thin, with the former New Jersey governor receiving zero percent support in a Quinnipiac poll earlier this year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Its clear that affordable housing is becoming harder to find in Charlotte and its surrounding areas, but whats being done about it?

Channel 9 spoke to Joerica Rhodes during our first Priced out of Charlotte special in 2018.

Since my son was born, I have moved 18 times in 10 years, she said then. She and her kids were living in the Salvation Armys shelter.

READ MORE: The Carolinas Get Real: Priced out of Charlotte

After the story aired, they moved into an apartment. But fast forward to now -- nearly five years later -- and they are back where they once were.

I couldnt afford $1,500 a month in rent, so I am back out here, she said.

Since 2018, voters have approved $150 million in housing bonds, not to mention tens of millions of dollars contributed from the private sector and COVID funds.

Where is all this money going? Rhodes asked. Thats what I want to know.

>> In the video at the top of the page, city leaders outline the strides theyve made toward more affordable housing, though they say there is much more work to be done.

(WATCH BELOW: Need for affordable housing increases as availability decreases, Meck County reports)
A Virginia man recently confessed to bringing a pipe bomb to a Civil War reenactment, creating a less-than-historic retelling of how an important battle unfolded.

Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, a former Civil War reenactor, was federally charged for mailing threatening letters and planting an explosive device at the Cedar Creek Battlefield in Middletown, Virginia, during a 2017 reenactment event.

He pleaded guilty April 17 for possession of the unregistered explosive device and for stalking, according to a release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Virginia.

This defendant sought to intimidate and harm innocent people, and further, he tried to sow discontent by falsely claiming that the attempted bombing was politically motivated, U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said in the release.

Civil War artillery shell discovered at Gettysburg

The 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek, a Union victory, ended Confederate resistance in the Shenandoah Valley and helped propel President Abraham Lincoln to reelection, according to the National Park Service.

Court documents show Drake belonged to a group that participated in a yearly reenactment of the battle until he was removed from the cosplaying unit in 2014. It remains unclear whether his acting chops or his propensity for dangerous explosives led to his exit from the cohort.

Drake later volunteered with the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation, which hosts the event. Between September 2017 and December 2018, he sent the nonprofit and various newspapers disturbing mail while pretending to be a member of the left-leaning anti-fascist group antifa.

The ousted actor threatened violence if the event was not canceled.

Several hundred of our supporters will attend and slash tires, block traffic, harass [p]atrons and [reenactors], he said in one letter.

On October 14, 2017, as the annual reenactment came to an end, a pipe bomb was discovered at the battlefield. The explosive contained metal nuts, a mercury switch, a battery, ball bearings, black and red wires and powder, among other items. The very real device did not detonate but forced the conclusion of the very pretend activities.

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Authorities responded to the scene to investigate and seize the explosive device, which was later rendered safe by Virginia State Police.

Court documents show Drakes aggressive letter writing campaign continued after the incident, forcing the 2018 observance of the event to be canceled.

At sentencing, Drake faces a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The next anniversary reenactment of the battle is scheduled for October 21 and 22, according to the nonprofits website.
Adele James in Queen Cleopatra.

Adele James in Queen Cleopatra. Credit - Courtesy of Netflix

The monumental legacy of Cleopatra, Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, is frequently eclipsed by reductive contemporary discussions over her identity. She has been variously claimed as Macedonian, Greek, Egyptian, and African.

Debates over Cleopatras race were reactivated after Netflix released a trailer for its four-part docudrama Queen Cleopatra last week, starring Adele James, a Black actor. The series is also being narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith, who said she wants the show to represent Black women.

This has led some, including Egypts foremost archaeologist Zahi Hawass, to reiterate that Cleopatra, who was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 69 B.C. into the Ptolemaic dynasty, was of Macedonian Greek ancestry.

One Egyptian lawyer, Mahmoud al-Semary, was so incensed by the Netflix portrayal that he is taking legal action. At the same time, some Egyptians have raised concerns about racism and colorism in modern-day Egypt, an Arab country with its own Black population.

But in reality, debates around Cleopatras racial identity are ahistorical because they reflect contemporary views about race rather than how people were understood in ancient times. Some experts say they highlight the modern conceptualization of race that became prevalent during the 17th and 18th centuries.

To ask whether someone was Black or white is anachronistic and says more about modern political investments than attempting to understand antiquity on its own terms, Rebecca Futo Kennedy, an associate professor of Classics at Denison University, tells TIME.

If we want to be more historically accurate, we need to understand how ancient peoples considered their ethnicities instead of universalizing and de-historicizing our own views, she adds.

Heres what to know about Cleopatra, Egypts last Pharaoh, and the discussions around her identity.

Who was Cleopatra?

Cleopatra VII was the seventh, but most well-known Egyptian ruler, to hold this name. She was the last member of the Ptolemy dynasty to rule Egypt after 5,000 years of Pharaonic rule; her reign lasted 21 years before she died by suicide in August 30 B.C.

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Cleopatra was the second of five children born to King Ptolemy XII, and his wife, Cleopatra V. Tryphania. She undertook medical studies as well as learning philosophy, rhetoric, and oratory, and was believed to speak many languages in addition to her native Greek. Cleopatra was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn native Egyptian, a now-extinct language that Spoken Coptic descended from. (Egyptian Arabic is the most commonly spoken vernacular in Egypt today.)

Upon the death of her father, Cleopatra ascended the throne in 51 B.C., sharing with one of her younger brothers Ptolemy XIII. But she eventually claimed the so-called double crown, replacing her brother as sole ruler.

Read More: Women Achieved Enormous Power in Ancient Egypt. What They Did With It Is a Warning for Today

What do we know about her ancestry?

The Ptolemy dynasty descended from Greek Macedonian roots and ruled ancient Egypt during its Hellenistic era, with marriages typically occurring within the family. The dynasty was established when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 323 B.C.

The part of Cleopatras bloodline that remains a mystery is that of her mother and paternal grandmother. However, many experts say there is no evidence to suggest either woman was Black.

As Duane W. Roller, a professor emeritus of Classics at Ohio State University, wrote for the Oxford University Press blog in 2010, Assuming, however, that Cleopatras grandmother was not from the traditional Macedonian Greek stem, the question arises as to just what she was. Sources suggest that if she was not Macedonian, she was probably Egyptian. So by the time of Cleopatras grandparents, there may have been an Egyptian element.

She could have been Greek, Macedonian, Egyptian, and Roman all at the same time, Kennedy says. She notes that the gaps on Cleopatras family tree leave room for people to misinterpret indigenous Egyptian identity as Black.

The reality is that one can say that there were ancient Egyptians we would today consider Black in so far as they were non-Arab, non-Phoenician, Africans, Kennedy says. She notes that references to Black-skinned Egyptians are present in ancient texts, but there is a gendered element to this: Ideologically, women were associated with pale or white skin and men with dark or black skin. This is a gender division, not ethnic or modern bio-racial.

Kennedy adds that visual representations of Cleopatra that more closely resembled Egyptian rulers have been historically overlooked in favor of her likeness on coinage, which is more closely aligned with standard Greek iconography.



These objects are for different audiences and reflect different aspects of Cleopatras identity. We should not separate them, but in our modern search for singular identities, we restrict Cleopatra in ways that she was not restricted to in her own life, Kennedy says.

The messy debate over Cleopatras race

Racial classifications as we recognize them today are largely a product of 17th and 18th century Western anthropological thought, particularly during the European Enlightenment.

The publication of the book Systema Natur in 1735 saw Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus classify humankind into four distinct varieties. Race began as a human-coined shorthand to categorize groups based on continent and skin color.

As such, these classifications were created far too late to accurately apply to ancient civilizations. There is a tendency in the modern world to fixate on famous figures of the past who represent civilizations, Kennedy says. She adds there will always be groups who want to flatten and claim Cleopatra, one way or the other, to suit their narrative.

But, Kennedy says, asking if Cleopatra was Black, white, or another race is the wrong question because it suggests that these are universal and not historically contingent categories.

She adds: It means that we continue to have the same conversations decade after decade instead of actually learning more about how the ancient world considered its own identities.
CANTON  The Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program will offer a free Welcome to Medicare event at 2 and 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, in the Mercy Hall Amphitheater at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital, 1329 Mercy Drive NW.

The event, a service of the Ohio Department of Insurance, is intended for people who will be eligible for Medicare soon; who are on Medicare but still have questions; or who help a family member with Medicare issues. Attendees can learn about Medicare Part A and Part B benefits, the prescription drug benefit (Part D), Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicare supplement insurance.

Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP) staff are trained by the state and do not sell or promote any insurance companies, policies or agents. For more information, call the Ohio Department of Insurance's OSHIIP Division at 800-686-1578.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Learn about Medicare at April 25 event
The lack of a Stormont executive is hampering progress on climate change adaptation in Northern Ireland, a report has found.

The UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) described planning in Northern Ireland as being "in its infancy".

There was very limited evidence of delivery and implementation, it added.

The CCC added a lack of data prevented it assessing progress in 60% of adaptation outcomes in the NI Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NICCAP2).

Northern Ireland's executive has not met for more than a year as part of the Democratic Unionist Party's protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

In its first adaptation progress report, the CCC, an independent body which advises government, said "credible policies and plans" are largely not in place yet.

It added that several key policy milestones have been drafted or are being developed and have not yet been published as final versions, preventing their implementation.

The committee's review was requested by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) as part of developing the next adaptation programme, which the CCC said must go further.

The plan covers seven adaptation outcomes across five priority areas: Natural capital, infrastructure services, people and built environment, disruption to businesses and supply chains, and food security/global food production.

The committee previously warned that Northern Ireland will fall well short of its 2050 net zero emissions target without radical action

Each area has an outcome objective, with natural capital having three.

The committee found a lack of relevant data in each area it looked at.

It also examined areas not included in NICCAP2, such as health, energy and buildings.

It said the lack of data was a key barrier to assessing delivery and implementation, and that planning for climate change "remains at an early stage" in Northern Ireland.

In a foreword to the document, the committee chair Baroness Brown said that there was "an opportunity, with the renewed focus on achieving net zero, to embed climate resilience into planning now and avoid locking in decisions that can result in irreversible changes, increased damages, or higher costs when larger and faster action is required later".

In its last advice report, the committee warned that Northern Ireland will fall well short of its 2050 net zero emissions target without radical action.
First extended as an olive branch to bars and restaurants at the height of the pandemic, to-go cocktails will be a permanent fixture in Washington state under a bill passed by the Legislature on Tuesday.

Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign SB 5448, which allows most on-premise, liquor-license holders to sell premixed drinks in sealable containers with takeout orders. A temporary version of similar rules was set to expire at the end of June. The new law takes effect July 1.

Forty senators voted in favor of the bill, while eight Democrats voted against it. In the House, the vote was 80 to 18, with four Republicans joining a slate of Democrats in a no-vote.

Washington joins 18 other states and the District of Columbia in making permanent the sale of to-go alcohol that blossomed in 2020 when many restaurants relied predominantly on takeout and delivery. Fourteen additional states have allowed such sales on a temporary basis, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, which praised the bills passage in Olympia.

Consumers across the state have enjoyed cocktails to-go for the last few years, and making this option permanent increases convenience while supporting local business, Adam Smith, vice president of state government relations for the industry group, said in a news release.

License holders who will be able to offer to-go cocktails, glasses of wine and beer  in factory-sealed or tamper-evident packaging  include full-service restaurants, taverns and snack bars; domestic wineries, breweries, microbreweries and distilleries; nonprofit arts institutions and catering companies. Though available at no additional cost, these businesses would have to receive formal approval from the Liquor and Cannabis Board, adhering to the agencys rules.

At Heritage Distilling Co., a 10-year-old craft distillery based in Gig Harbor with several tasting rooms in Washington and one in Oregon, co-owner and CEO Justin Stiefel was thrilled at the bills passage.

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The temporary rules, in place since late 2020 under pandemic emergency guidelines and made law the following year, were a good testing opportunity to show that consumer habits are changing, said Stiefel in an email to McClatchy. If state regulators want to give bars, restaurants and distillers the chance to remain relevant in the market, they need to be flexible enough to respond to consumer demands in a way that does not negatively impact public safety. We all see now that cocktails to-go are a safe option and this bill recognizes that.

IMPACT OF TO-GO COCKTAILS IN WA

Under the now-usurped 2021 bill, the LCB was tasked with studying how takeout cocktails affected potential public health and safety issues from drunken driving, underage drinking and over-consumption. The report, shared with the Legislature in December, also considered alcohol use and access both before and after pandemic restrictions limited, for instance, service hours.

 Adults consumed an average of 8 percent more drinks per day, according to the studys use of a behavioral analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and binge drinking increased by 10 percent.

 To understand the effect on underage drinking, the LCB compared data from the states Healthy Youth Survey in 2018 and 2021. It found that youth consumption decreased from 13 to 8 percent, and kids were less likely to procure alcohol through friends, theft or from home.

 A review of information from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the Washington Poison Center showed that pedestrian fatalities in an alcohol-related car crash were three times more likely to occur. Emergency room visits, per the state Department of Health, fell by 1 percent.

 LCB emphasized that 637 of 13,200 eligible license holders statewide (5 percent) requested permission to sell to-go cocktails in 2021 and 2022. More than three-quarters were in urban counties, including one-third from King County.

In its conclusion, the LCB cautioned that it was unable to rope in other factors that might have impacted the changes (e.g. remote work and education, reduced tourism, staffing shortages for law enforcement and the hospitality industry, and mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic); thus, we did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

Ultimately, the agency said it had no recommendations on extending the privileges or letting them expire but encouraged further study, especially in relation to underage drinking, at-home consumption and the viability of safe delivery. It would also be useful to understand how consumers feel about the idea of cocktails to-go and the impact on third-party delivery companies such as DoorDash and Drizly, the latter of which focuses on alcohol delivery primarily from retailers like BevMo, the agency said.

In an email to McClatchy, LCB communications director Brian Smith defined the agency as primarily concerned with public safety and preventing youth access to alcohol. Despite having supported pandemic-era modifications for the hospitality industry, it was neutral on the final version of the bill, he said.

DELIVERY STILL TEMPORARY, CANNED COCKTAILS UP NEXT?

A win for the states restaurant industry, as well as breweries, wineries and distilleries like Heritage, the bill passed this week appears to have embraced some of LCBs findings.

Cocktail kits, where sealed mini airplane liquor bottles would accompany other ingredients, are not permitted at all, and delivery of premixed drinks, allowed under the states temporary bill adopted in 2021, would again sunset in two years, on July 1, 2025.

From July 1 of this year through the end of June two years from now, restaurants, bars and other businesses that choose to sell cocktails to-go can deliver them. But they cannot use third-party companies  the driver must be an over-21 employee  and the order must include food.

Sen. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma) told McClatchy in a statement that youth access to alcohol was a big issue for him and that making it easier to drink seemed ill-advised, alluding to a rise in mental health challenges in recent years.

A program like this made sense during the pandemic to help struggling businesses and to accommodate people stuck at home, he said. But we saw record alcohol use during Covid and I cant support a program that could potentially result in even more use or with alcohol ending up in the hands of kids.

An earlier version of the bill would have allowed delivery when signed for by someone over the age of 21, to continue indefinitely. Smith pointed to third-party services dismal track record with sales to minors compliance and their lack of state-issued liquor licenses  thus skirting oversight  as reasons for it being cut from SB 5448.

Another alcohol-related bill that did not make its way out of committee during the 2023 legislative session, HB 1344, would adjust the tax on another kind of premixed drinks: canned cocktails.

In the footsteps of a canned wine boom, Heritage Distilling has watched that segment of the cocktail and spirits business blossom, but Stiefel remains discouraged by the way they are taxed. Under current regulations in Washington state, canned cocktails, which usually carry an alcohol-by-volume around 6 percent  lower than many IPAs  are taxed at the same retail rate of bottled liquor with ABVs of 20 percent or higher.
Colorado Democrats on Thursday voted down a bill that, in its original form, would have banned the sale or transfer of certain high-powered semiautomatic rifles in the state.

After pushback, bill sponsor Rep. Elisabeth Epps, a Denver Democrat, pared down the legislation to ban devices like bump stocks and trigger activators, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at much faster rates.

The Trump administration banned bump stocks at the federal level in 2018 after a gunman used one at a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, killing 58 people. A federal appeals court undercut the ban in January 2023, setting up a potential Supreme Court ruling.

Epps concession wasnt enough for the measure to clear the House Judiciary Committee, however, where it failed on an 7-6 vote in the early hours Thursday morning, with three Democrats joining four Republicans to vote it down. Democrats hold a 9-4 majority on the committee.

Committee Chair Mike Weissman (D) ultimately supported the bill.

With every passing week and month its more and more evident that the balance is badly out of whack, he remarked. That the cost to all of us outweighs the benefit and that an adjustment needs to be made for the health, safety and welfare of our people.

Two of the Democrats who voted against the bill, Reps. Marc Snyder and Bob Marshall, said they campaigned on a message to not take away legally owned guns and defended their votes as being in line with that pledge.

Nine states and the District of Columbia have passed similar bans, with Washington expected to be the 10th.

People march around the Colorado State Capitol during a protest to end gun violence in schools on March 24 in Denver.

People march around the Colorado State Capitol during a protest to end gun violence in schools on March 24 in Denver.

The hearing drew 522 witnesses, setting a record for the 2023 session, according to Colorado Politics. Gun violence in the state recently hit a 40-year high, an analysis by the Colorado Sun found.

Survivors of multiple recent mass shootings in Colorado attended and testified Thursday, including Grand Cramer, a freshman at Denvers East High School, which has seen two shootings in recent months.

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Dont think for a second that you will get away with this because you are part of the Democratic Party, Cramer said, calling out the Democrats who ultimately voted it down. We are ready to make sure that you lose your reelection in a landslide vote.

On the pro-gun side, Austin Hein, a director at the National Association for Gun Rights, urged legislators to vote against the bill because, he said, it would leave unaddressed the root causes of gun violence: gun-free zones and overly medicated children in fatherless homes.

While this particular measure failed to advance, four other gun control bills await the signature of Gov. Jared Polis (D). If signed into law, the bills would:

Raise the minimum age to buy (but not possess) a gun from 18 to 21.

Expand the liability of firearm manufacturers to victims of gun violence.

Implement a mandatory three-day waiting period between the purchase and receipt of a firearm

Expand the states red flag law, allowing more people to petition a court to have someones firearms temporarily seized.

Rep. Tom Sullivan (D), whose son died in the Aurora theater shooting, co-sponsored two of the bills.

Another bill, introduced earlier this month, would make ghost guns illegal in Colorado. The homemade, unserialized firearms can be ordered and assembled via mail, making them readily accessible and difficult  if not impossible  to track.

Polis told Colorado Public Radio hed support the measure.

Were not talking gunsmiths here. Were talking about snapping together three mail-order pieces to have a completed weapon that you had no background check for, even if you were a convicted felon ... and might not legally have the right to acquire that, he said.

Related...
A lane of traffic was closed and police were urging caution Thursday morning after a wreck destroyed a utility pole on a busy Columbia road.

Please stay EXTRA alert on Broad River Rd. b/w Beatty Rd. & Connie Dr., the Columbia Police Department tweeted at 9:04 a.m. Thursday. The eastbound lane is closed after an overnight collision significantly damaged a power pole. (Dominion Energy) is working to fix the malfunctioning traffic lights.

Details of the crash were scarce as of mid-morning Thursday, but a photo shared by police showed a utility pole that had been sheared in half in the collision. It happened near the Shanti Plaza shopping center, which includes several businesses. A car wash also is located nearby.

The wreck site was northwest of Interstate 20, not far from St. Andrews Park. About 20,300 cars per day pass down that stretch of Broad River Road, per state traffic count data.
Marchers head south on North High St. to the Statehouse during the second Columbus Women's March in 2018.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, during which advocates and survivors work to raise awareness while also offering ways to prevent sexual assaults from happening.

This is the 22nd year Sexual Assault Awareness Month has been marked, said Meg Dennis, manager of the OhioHealth Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio (SARNCO).

SARNCO is a local rape crisis center that offers advocacy, medical, social and emotional support services to sexual assault survivors. They host several events throughout April to educate people about sexual assault.

See the founder of #MeToo speak: Tarana Burke talks future of 'me too' movement ahead of Women's Fund of Central Ohio event

We would like to end sexual violence, but its to raise awareness about how to prevent it, where to go if it happens, Dennis said. We dont want to raise awareness without also providing solutions.

Some of the steps toward solutions have changed and have become more requested in the past five years, since a new kind of awareness of sexual assault took over social media.

Did the #MeToo movement change sexual assault awareness?

The #MeToo movement, which began trending in October 2017, saw thousands of women and others posting the hashtag on social media to signal that they, too, had been a victim of sexual violence or assault.

In the more than five years since that movement, Dennis and Jenice Tate, SARNCOs training coordinator, said theres been more awareness about sexual violence.

2017: Columbus victims of abuse say 'Me Too'

I see amplified voices. I see more readiness and willingness to engage in the movement, Dennis said. I see more events happening, which is great."

The movement also increased the amount of companies and organizations that reach out to SARNCO for more information or training, Dennis said.

Although we have heightened awareness throughout the month of April, sexual violence occurs every day, all year round. Were fighting every day, Tate said.

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Meg Dennis, manager of the OhioHealth Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio (SARNCO)

Tate and Dennis encourage people to volunteer with SARNCO, take its trainings and donate money so they can offer more prevention services in colleges, schools and more.

So we can create change to make the climate and a culture that wont accept gender-based violence, Dennis said.

We need to place the blame firmly on the perpetrator, the one who caused harm. Let's get away from victim-blaming, she added. A survivor, an individual, should be able to feel safe within their community.

Tarana Burke: Popularity is distorting 'Me Too' movement, founder says

To request a training for an organization or company, people can email sarnco@ohiohealth.com or reach out to Tate at jenice.tate@ohiohealth.com.

Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, coming to Columbus

Activist and author Tarana Burke started using the Me Too phrase in 2006 as part of her work connecting and empowering survivors of sexual assault.

Though actess Alyssa Milano urged survivors to share their stories on social media with the hashtag #MeToo, activist Tarana Burke coined the term years earlier in 2006.

Today, a Pew Research Center survey found that around half of the Americans who have heard of the movement support it. About 21% oppose it.

Tarana Burke visited Columbus before: #MeToo movement founder honored

The movement has seen many powerful men lose their jobs or positions due to allegations of harassment or assault.

The Women's Fund of Central Ohio is hosting Burke at its Keyholder event on April 26. Tickets are available through its website, womensfundcentralohio.org.

Franklin County sexual assault rate highest in state

Franklin County, which is the most populous county in Ohio, has the highest rate of sexual assault per capita in the state.

In Ohio, there were 5,300 reported rapes in 2019, and 1,074 of them were reported to law enforcement in Franklin County, according to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.

Columbus in 2018: Local activists see #MeToo as launch point

Opinion: #MeToo help overdue for low-wage workers

However, that may not mean more people are assaulted, but that more people report their assaults, said Dennis, who hopes the reason the number is so high is that survivors feel comfortable reporting locally.

SARNCO employs community advocates who work with survivors and are not a part of the criminal justice system. Instead, they are a neutral party, which can be important so survivors can regain autonomy after being assaulted or raped and get emotional support, Dennis said.

April 2023: Columbus pays $225k, apologizes to woman who alleged fire official sexually assaulted her

There is a robust sexual assault response team program locally, which brings together all parties involved to improve services for survivors, she said.

It could be a reflection that people know where to go to report, Dennis said.

The county is getting better at fighting sexual assault and sexual violence through the response team, Tate said.

Jenice Tate, training coordinator at the OhioHealth Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio (SARNCO).

National statistics on sexual assault and how to reach an advocate

There are an average of 463,634 victims of rape and sexual assault over age 12 each year in the United States, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

RAINN also reports that every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted, but few victims come forward.

When it comes to reporting, the numbers are lower in Franklin County, Dennis said, with 65% of survivors never coming forward.

We investigated: A guide to The Dispatch's investigation of doctor sexual misconduct in Ohio

Franklin County survivors who engage with advocates are 60 to 70% more likely to engage in the medical and justice systems, Dennis said.

The best way to engage with an advocate is to call SARNCOs 24/7 statewide helpline at 844-OHIO-HELP. A trained advocate will answer and be ready to listen confidentially, offering resources in each county, Dennis said.

Those in central Ohio can call the local line, too, at 614-267-7020.

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: What's changed in the five years since #MeToo overtook social media?
A shipment of about 160,000 bullets like the 5.56 round seen here were intended for Columbus police. They were stolen earlier this month and have not yet been recovered.

About 160,000 rounds of ammunition meant for Columbus police's shooting range were stolen earlier this month from a warehouse on the Far West Side.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the heist, according to court records, however, the ammunition has not yet been found.

The ammunition, which is valued at more than $64,000, was stolen between April 1 and April 3, according to Deputy Chief Smith Weir. All of the ammunition, which was also on a pallet, is 5.56 ammunition for assault-style rifles like an AR-15. The ammunition had been at a warehouse on Journal Street.

The trucks that were used to steal the items have been recovered.

Related coverage: Columbus gun owners wary of city's new ammunition restriction

Franklin County Municipal Court records show 32-year-old James Scaff and 36-year-old Christopher Kimmel, both of the West Side, have been arrested and charged with fourth-degree felony theft in connection with a related theft of generators and other appliances on March 25 from a warehouse on Distribution Drive.

According to court records, Scaff and Kimmel are seen on surveillance video loading up pallets of items into a truck, which was also stolen. The items were driven to another location on the 3400 block of Sullivant Avenue. The items stolen in that theft were valued at more than $70,000.

"We have good reason that the two thefts are connected based on recovering property together from the two of those thefts," Weir said. "We want to recover the property. Were always trying to do that and make the victim whole and return the property to its rightful owner, but in this case, theres a public safety component as well."

Weir said police were scheduled to receive two pallets for training purposes but only received one when the shipment arrived. The division reached out to Winchester, the ammunition manufacturer, to determine whether the bullets had been delayed by supply chain issues or if foul play was involved. That inquiry led to the discovery that the rounds had been stolen.

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Related coverage: Republican bill could block enforcement of federal gun laws in Ohio

The rounds are used for training and will not leave officers on the street without ammunition, Weir said.

There is no belief that any Columbus police officers were involved in the heist  or even could have been involved  because of how the purchasing process works.

"When we purchase it, it goes out to bid. Once that company gets that bid, in this case, Winchester, once it goes through, they dont always use the same shipping company and we never know what the shipping company is," Weir said. "Theres no way any of us would have known where its at or what company or warehouse had it. It is not in the realm of possibility for it to be an inside job on our part at this point."

Weir said additional charges are likely against Scaff and Kimball and charges are likely to be filed against other people involved in the conspiracy to steal the ammunition.

"All the players know we know and are out asking questions," Weir said. "We know they know this ammo is hot. What we dont know is where it is now and are they still moving it or are they afraid to move it because they know people are looking for it."

While the ammunition was in crates labeled for delivery to Columbus police, once it is broken down into boxes or individual rounds, there's no special designation to determine whether the bullets are from the shipment that was stolen or were legitimately purchased. Weir said those who spot ammunition online or in bulk at gun shows may want to think twice.

"Barring anything unforeseen, were not trying to go after the individual purchaser unless we find they were involved in the conspiracy to commit the theft to begin with," he said. "Unless they were told it was stolen or told it was hot, I cant imagine that we would go after them. We would much rather have knowledge of where its being trafficked."

Anyone with information about the theft or the location of the ammunition should call Columbus police's tip line at 614-645-4624 or the property crimes bureau at 614-645-4659. Anonymous tips can be left through Central Ohio Crime Stoppers by calling 614-461-TIPS.

"From a public safety aspect, we dont want this amount of rounds making its way through the public," Weir said. "It could get moved in gun shows, it could get moved on social media, it could end up in all kinds of communities."

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police missing 160,000 rifle bullets stolen from shipment
Vice President Kamala Harris joins California Gov. Gavin Newsroom at a rally against the failed gubernatorial recall election of Newsom in 2021. Newsom disappointed some Black politicians and political activists when he did not appoint a Black woman to fill the Senate vacancy left when Harris was elected vice president. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Gov. Gavin Newsom promised two years ago to appoint a Black woman to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein if she resigned. If he merely appointed a temporary caretaker would that honor his pledge?

I wouldnt think so. It wouldnt be in keeping with the spirit of his promise.

The governor seemed to be swearing that if given the opportunity, he would fill a glaring Senate void and make sure there was at least one Black woman member of Americas most prestigious and powerful legislative body.

Shed be a full-fledged senator, not a temp.

She would follow in the footsteps of Californias first Black senator, Kamala Harris, who departed to become vice president. Newsom upset many Black women by not replacing Harris with another Black woman. Instead, he appointed his longtime political ally, then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, to be Californias first Latino senator.

Newsom never should have made the pledge. He would have been better off leaving himself some flexibility. But now hes stuck with the commitment.

And no matter who the governor selected, hed risk making more enemies than friends.

Thats why no one is probably more eager than Newsom for Feinstein to get well and return to Washington and serve out her term.

Asked Tuesday whether he still intends to fill a hypothetical Feinstein vacancy with a Black woman, the governor answered: I hope Ill never have to make that decision.

I wish her only the best, he said. Shes a friend and a mentor going back decades. I  look forward to her getting back to work.

All the caretaker talk is mere speculation, of course. But its rampant in political circles and in the news media.

Feinstein, 89, has not given any hints of resigning, despite pressure from some lefty Democrats  including a Bay Area Democratic colleague  for the centrist senator to hang it up.

It is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties, Rep. Ro Khanna of Fremont tweeted recently, calling for Feinstein to resign.

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Khanna is co-chair of Oakland Rep. Barbara Lees campaign to replace Feinstein, who in February announced she wont run for a sixth term next year. Lee herself, however, has been 100% respectful of Californias longest serving senator.

Speculation about whether Feinstein would serve out her term began more than two years ago with several reports of diminishing cognitive acuity, including memory loss. But the senator was voting until two months ago when she was hospitalized with painful shingles.

She hasnt voted since, jeopardizing President Bidens agenda in a Senate where Democrats have only a two-vote majority. Presidential judgeship nominations are hung up in the Senate Judiciary Committee because her absence produces a partisan deadlock.

So, its crucial for Democrats that Feinstein get back to Washington and vote. She cant do that working at home in San Francisco. And theres no telling when doctors will allow her to travel.

Meanwhile, theres a spirited race developing to succeed Feinstein when her term ends after next year. And it could affect who Newsom would select to serve the rest of Feinsteins tenure, if she resigned before her stint was up.

Lee, 76, is a Black woman with 25 years' experience in Congress. Shed be a logical choice for Newsom, although a bit more liberal than he is. Shed be trained and ready.

But Newsom might see that as unfair to the two leading frontrunners  Reps. Adam Schiff, 62, of Burbank and Katie Porter, 49, of Irvine  because it would be an invaluable campaign boost for Lee.

So, he might choose to appoint a caretaker who would promise to serve only temporarily and not run for a full term next year.

A historical note: California has had one caretaker senator  Democrat Thomas Storke of Santa Barbara, who served for only two months in 1938 and never voted because Congress wasnt in session.

I called a few Black women in politics and asked whether theyd accept a caretaker appointment by Newsom as a kept promise if it were a Black woman.

Hed still be fulfilling his promise but Id be disappointed, said Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City), chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, which has endorsed Lee.

I would hope in a free democratic society we would not put limitations on people if we appoint them: You cant run for election. You cant stay any longer. Qualified people should be empowered to run and be free to compete.

Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles)  the only Black woman in the state Senate  said the caretaker scenario doesnt meet the criteria of [California] setting an example for the rest of the country.

But Assemblywoman Tina McKinnor (D-Hawthorne) said a caretaker appointment would be fair. Then let the voters decide on the next full-term senator.

Adamantly opposed to the caretaker notion, however, is Aimee Allison, founder and president of She the People, an advocacy group pushing for more women of color in elective office.

I believe the stakes are too high to prioritize political neutrality over the best person prepared to step in and do the work right now, and thats Barbara Lee, Allison said.

I thought [Newsoms] pledge was a game changer and a real commitment to have a Black woman in the Senate. And a placeholder doesnt quite do that.

If Newsom has national political ambitions, Allison continued, he needs to be seen as someone who can be trusted by an incredibly energetic voting bloc.

Dont half do it. Lean into it.

I suspect many Black women would be offended if Newsom tapped one as merely a temp senator  like she was a second-class citizen.

Newsom made the pledge. He should honor it by choosing a full-timer. Probably Lee.

But hopefully hell be spared by a recuperated Feinstein soon returning to the office.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation took a major step toward opening a casino and travel center in Pasco by initiating a federal process to transfer land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The tribes confirmed this week they submitted an application for the fee-to-trust transfer of tribe-owned property in Pasco to the BIA regional office in Portland.

The request will be handled through the Office of Indian Gaming and could take three to five years, Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Colville, told the Tri-City Herald earlier this week.

Were pleased to announce this important milestone in our efforts to enhance economic development for the Colville Tribes, Erickson said in a subsequent press release.

The Colville paid $2.9 million for 184 acres north of King City Truck Stop and east of Highway 395, part of a regional effort to acquire lands through its traditional territories.

Economic opportunity

The casino and travel center will bolster opportunity for the tribes, which has an enrollment of approximately 9,520 members and is based in Nespelem. The Colville operate casinos under the 12 Tribes brand at Lake Chelan, Omak and Coulee Dam.

The vision seeks to connect the Palus, one of its 12 individual tribes, to its traditional territory along the Columbia and Snake rivers.

The Colville consider the area now known as eastern Washington state and parts of Canada part of the territories once claimed by the member tribes: Chelan, Chief Joseph Band of Nez Perce, Colville, Eniat, Lakes, Methow, Moses-Columbia, Okanoga, Palus, San Poil and Wenatchi.

It has also purchased land in Moses Lake, Methow, Wenatchee and is scrutinizing sites in Canada, Erickson said.

The fee-to-trust process will remove the Pasco property from Franklin County tax rolls and by extension, exempt it from paying the property taxes that support the municipal services it will require.

Pasco relationship

In 2019, the Colville and the city of Pasco reached an agreement to cooperate on the future development.

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The city will likely provide municipal services such as police and fire coverage and will be reimbursed by the tribes in a process similar to the payments in lieu of taxes the federal government pays to offset the loss of property taxes for the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The city reaffirmed its support in an April 14 letter to Erickson, signed by Mayor Blanche Barajas.

We enthusiastically support the Tribes Pasco Project and will continue to express that support whenever possible. We look forward to the success of the Tribes work to transfer its property here into trust status, the first step in making this exciting Project a reality, she wrote on city letterhead.

Adam Lincoln, Pascos city manager, said the city is learning about the process of partnering with the Colville, but said the tribes have been good citizens since acquiring the property.

Pasco visitor center

Billy Gunn, Pasco project manager for the Colville, regularly attends civic events, including Pasco Chamber of Commerce gatherings.

The Colville participate in the Pasco Farmers Market and Gunn spends several days each week working in a modest trailer that houses his office and visitor center. It is on tribe-owned land on Kartchner Street across from Loves Travel Stop.

The Colville invite visitors. The trailer is nondescript, but the interior showcases pieces of the regions natural and cultural history.

A female wolf, which was taxidermied after she died while wearing a tracking collar, greets visitors by the door. She was retrieved when monitors noticed shed stopped moving. She apparently died of natural causes.

The Colville plan for Pasco drew a sharp rebuke from the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, which claim the property is part of the Yakamas ancestral territory. In 2020, shortly after Pasco and the Colville signed the nonbinding agreement, the Yakamas asked Pasco city officials to end talks.

Lincoln said there has been no further communication since then.

Public comment period

Cody Desautel, executive director of the Colville, said the federal review process will address objections to its casino plans.

The deed of trust conversion process includes an environmental review, which offers the public and tribes a chance to comment. The federal government will be obligated to respond to questions, he said.

These things are fairly rare, but there have been several since the 1988 Tribal Gaming Act, Desautel said. Theres a lot of experience in dealing with these conflicts.

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Fox News' supposedly all-powerful Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted he could have stopped election fibbers from going on the air and didn't. (Amanda Edwards / WireImage)

I am not a Fox News fan, so I was curious what the conservative media company's viewers made of this week's massive $787.5-million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over broadcasting lies that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.

On Monday, I reached out to some of the conservatives who had responded to a Twitter survey I sent out in 2019 asking how they thought I should cover the upcoming election. Given that they were interested enough at the time to tell me how they thought I should do my job for the L.A. Times back then, I was curious about how they interpreted Fox News' decision to settle with Dominion.

I was surprised at a couple of the responses I got back.

"I am much less of a Fox News viewer now than when you sent the survey [in 2019] for the specific reason that whereas they had set the agenda for Republicans  politicians took cues from their narratives and topics  now its the opposite," one conservative wrote back to me in an email. "What the lawsuit showed through discovery is that the network no longer controls the narrative. Instead its driven by the base of the party and rather than dictate terms of the political agenda the network is simply following the partys base."

Another Fox News viewer wrote back to me with a similar rebuke for the channel: "Yes, it has affected my view of FOX. Negatively. FOX has enough money to fight a court case. Instead, they chose to settle. To me that means they felt there was a significant possibility they would lose in court once the facts of the case were litigated. Unfortunately I am now persuaded that I can trust NONE of the mainstream media. It seems they are all interested in only one thing  views. Views translate to income through advertising. They will get views at any cost, including untruthful reporting."

There's nothing more tantalizing to a journalist than apostates. But what also interested me in both of these responses was how they played off and inverted a classic left-wing criticism of for-profit media. It's worth exploring to understand what, exactly, just happened at Fox News.

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Here goes: The mass media serve a bamboozling role on behalf of a powerful, controlling elite in the "propaganda model" theory given by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky in their 1988 book "Manufacturing Consent." "Money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their messages across to the public," they write. In this telling, journalists who think they're practicing objectivity are just fooling themselves. It's all just propaganda for the ruling class.

But in the closing days of the Trump administration, the way things actually played out at Fox News  the quintessential profiteering media giant, owned by tycoon Rupert Murdoch and fused at the hip with the ruling Republican Party  was so much simpler. No cabal needed here: Fox News was less afraid of Murdoch or of Trump than its own audience and what might happen if the masses stopped watching. The real boss was the ratings, the true master the quarterly earnings.

Take what Dominion learned in the trial's discovery process about the supposedly all-powerful Murdoch, one of the world's wealthiest people. Murdoch called Trump's stolen election claims a "myth" and acknowledged that he could have stopped election fibbers like Rudy Giuliani from going on the air and didn't. Yet he was afraid of antagonizing the network's viewers. His son Lachlan, Fox Corp.s chief executive, said Fox News' ratings kept him up at night.

Or take firebrand host Tucker Carlson, who wrote to fellow hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity in a text chain about a coworker who tweeted fact-checks of Trump's election lies: "Please get her fired. Seriously ... What the f? Im actually shocked... It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. Its measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.

As the trial loomed, evidence abounded that, apart from some apparent true believers, few of the most powerful people inside Fox News actually believed the president's lies that the election had been stolen. But the source of the profits  the audience  did. This is legally significant, because America's very broad libel protections for journalists don't cover "actual malice," where you say things you either know or have reason to believe aren't true. Fox News still faces formidable legal challenges from voting machine company Smartmatic and its own shareholders.

Smaller competitors Newsmax and One America News, which originally benefited from gaining some far-right viewers dissatisfied even with Fox's coverage of the election, are also still in Dominion and Smartmatic's legal sights over election lies. (Newsmax published a particularly jittery defense of itself after Fox's settlement, stating "that the facts at issue in Dominions case against it are materially different from those that may have driven Fox to settle, and no conclusion about Newsmax should be drawn from that settlement.")

The scope of the completely avoidable disaster at Fox News revives old questions about who actually wields the power of the media. What's the point of being a massive media company like Fox, a big billionaire like Murdoch or a top TV host like Carlson if you're still too scared to tell the truth when you really need to?

This question brings me back to my estranged Fox News viewers, who understood all too keenly that the network had sold itself out to its own audience  viewers just like them  and they resented it. They came to Fox News because they wanted agenda setting. But the channel, by chasing profits, had become too much of an engine reflecting fractious mass politics instead of elite opinion. This is the inversion of Chomsky.

My second respondent, Chuck Thompson, 79, from the northern Dallas suburb of Addison, told me in a follow-up phone interview that he used to like watching Fox News commentators like Carlson, Greg Gutfeld and "The Five" in clips on YouTube. A self-described conservative independent who usually votes for Republicans, Thompson knew that what he was getting from Fox News was commentary. But he was watching with the presumption that the opinions he was hearing were being based on solid reporting from elsewhere on the network. Thompson was, in short, expecting intellectual honesty.

Basically I was of the opinion that the liberal media was just lying all the time because they hated Trump, and that rolled into lying all the time about everything that developed after that  the war in Ukraine, any kind of a scandal that came up," Thompson said. "I had not questioned conservative media in the same way, because I believed what they were saying was more in line with the truth."

But doubts began to creep into his mind when he noticed that, the same way the liberal media didn't seem to think Trump could do any right, conservative media didn't seem to think Trump couldn't do any wrong  which didn't feel right.

Those doubts coalesced this week when Fox News settled the Dominion lawsuit; Thompson said he'd been keeping an open mind about the case and wanted to see how things played out. That settlement indicated to me that Fox knew they were going to get killed in court, which means they knew they were lying," Thompson said.

Now, instead of just questioning the trustworthiness of liberal media, Thompson told me he now questioned the trustworthiness of all media. And he doesn't know where to go from here. If youre conservative minded and you dont believe in liberal news, and then suddenly you dont believe in conservative news, you dont have news, he said.

Yet I expect viewers like Thompson are probably in the minority. At the moment, it doesn't seem realistic to expect Fox News to seriously change its ways. The channel could barely bring itself to disclose to viewers the brutal beating it had just taken in the Dominion lawsuit. The company seems to have enough financial reserves to pay out the settlement and then some. Murdoch's media empire is, after all, used to paying lots of big settlements after flouting the law, and it doesn't seem to have been all that bad for business. (Viewers straying over to Newsmax, though  that's bad for business.) When the money spigot stays on, everybody stays paid, the rank and file stays in line. Inside the prison of profit, the meals are hot, the blankets are soft and few tunnel to escape.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The handwritten letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings comes two days after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt requested his resignation, along with those of three others.

An Oklahoma county commissioner has resigned after a local newspaper article detailed a secret recording in which he and three other officials discussed killing reporters and lynching Black residents.

A spokesperson for Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt confirmed that McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings delivered a resignation letter to the governor on Wednesday. According to NBC News, the handwritten note comes two days after Stitt requested the resignations of Jennings, Sheriff Kevin Clardy, investigator Alicia Manning and jail administrator Larry Hendrix.

Effective immediately, I, Mark Jennings do hereby resign as McCurtain County District #2 commissioner, Jennings wrote, according to NBC. I will release a formal statement in the near future regarding the recent events in our county.

Mark Jennings (above) has resigned from his position as a McCurtain County commissioner following the revelation of a secret recording of him and three other officials in the Oklahoma county discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube.com/KSLA News 12)

Jennings, 59, reportedly talked about lynching on the recording from Bruce Willingham, a McCurtain County Gazette-News reporter. Willingham  acting on information that the officials were improperly conducting county business after public meetings  placed a recorder in the commissioners chamber on March 6.

In the recording, while discussing who could potentially run for sheriff against Clardy, Jennings recalled how a former sheriff would take a damned Black guy and whoop their ass and throw them in the cell.

Clardy acknowledges that, noting, Its not like that no more.

I know, Jennings allegedly replied, according to NBC. Take them down to Mud Creek, and hang them up with a damned rope. But you cant do that anymore. Theyve got more rights than weve got.

Since the Gazette-News article about the tape recording broke over the weekend, the three sheriffs department officials, Clardy, Manning and Hendrix, have yet to respond or grant interviews.

The Oklahoma Sheriffs Association suspended the trio Tuesday, though the suspension does not remove them from their jobs with the department.

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On Monday, the sheriffs office alleged that the recording was illegally obtained, seemed to have been manipulated and may have broken a state law that forbids third parties from making secret recordings.

Christin Jones of the Kilpatrick Townsend law firm, which is representing the Gazette-News, asserted that the tape wasnt tampered with and that Willingham, whose family has owned the print publication for 40 years, broke no laws by producing it.

It is an accurate recording, Jones said via email, according to NBC, and does not violate the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act.

The law firm said the FBI and the Oklahoma Attorney Generals Office have already received the complete recording, set to be shared with the public today.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesman Gerald Davidson confirmed on Wednesday that the agency launched a probe into the matter at Stitts request.

State Sen. George Burns, a Republican who resides in McCurtain County, released a statement after Jennings resigned, saying that, like the governor, he called for the commissioners and Clardys resignations immediately after hearing the audio.

When the words of public servants are so vile that theyre hurting the people they serve, Burns said, NBC reported, they should no longer hold those positions.

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The post Commissioner quits after being recorded talking about lynching Black people appeared first on TheGrio.
A top U.S. official is concerned that many of the unexplained encounters between military aircraft and unidentified flying objects his office is investigating could be adversaries such as China spying on the country, rather than wayward extraterrestrials.

The director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office updated the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on Wednesday about what his office has been doing since its creation last year.

This is a hunt mission for what might somebody be doing in our backyard that we dont know about, AARO Director Sean M. Kirkpatrick said. That is what we are doing.

The special office was created last year to address national security threats from "objects of interest," including "anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium" ones.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., is a member of the subcommittee, and he questioned Kirkpatrick during a classified portion of Wednesday's meeting, according to his office. He previously chaired the committee and was involved in the creation of AARO last year. In the House, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a member of that chamber's Armed Services Committee, was the driving force behind legislation to establish the office.

UFOs: Why are there rumors about an unidentified object crash landing at Dreamy Draw Dam?

The military and intelligence communities dont use the term UFOs. They use UAP for unidentified aerial phenomena.

After breaching the traditional government secrecy around such events two years ago, U.S. intelligence officials now report several hundred such unexplained events under investigation, mostly involving U.S. pilots encountering mysterious objects, often involving detection on cameras, radar, thermal sensors and other advanced technology used by the military.

Kirkpatrick testified on Wednesday the office now has more than 650 unexplained cases, but was quick to note they weren't all suspected to be from out of this world.

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In our research AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics, he said.

Global adversaries have some known capabilities that are beyond those of the U.S., he said, and some UAPs could be foreign aircraft with capabilities yet unknown to the U.S.

Odd sightings: Kurt Russell claims he saw  and reported  the 'Phoenix Lights'

Kirkpatrick has a doctorate in physics and more than two decades' experience working in places such as the Central Intelligence and Defense Intelligence agencies. Before his current role, he was chief scientist at DIAs Missile and Space Intelligence Center.

Part of AARO's job is to be aware of the capabilities of countries such as China and Russia and what it would look like if they were able to accelerate those capabilities and use them against the U.S., he said.

"The adversary is not waiting. They are advancing, and they are advancing quickly. If I were to put on some of my old hats, I would tell you they are less risk-averse at technical advancement than we are. They are just willing to try things and see if it works," he said.

He said adversaries could be using unknown technologies against the U.S., resulting in UAPs.

Are there capabilities that could be employed against us in both an ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and a weapons fashion? Absolutely," he said. "Do I have evidence that they are doing it in these cases? No, but I have concerning indicators.

Sen. Mark Kelly has pushed for AARO funding

After the hearing, Kelly said emphasized the need for AARO.

Its critical to our national security that we dedicate the time and resources to understanding these and any future incidents and whether they represent leaps in technology by our adversaries," he said.

In February, Kelly co-signed a letter to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense and Deputy Director of National Intelligence requesting a reallocation of funds to make up a shortfall in AARO's budget so that it could conduct the required scientific inquiries into UAPs.

Also signing were Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Kelly was among another group of senators that April 14 sent a similar letter to members of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee seeking additional funding for AARO.

"More needs to be done to address potential violations of U.S. airspace and threats to national security and we need to strengthen our capabilities in this space," the letter said.

The specific funding requests in both letters were classified.

Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office discusses his work Wednesday, April 19, before a Senate subcommittee.

U.S. opening up about close encounters

The intelligence community in the U.S. has been opening up in recent years about UAPs.

In a 2021 government report, the national intelligence director said that of 144 unexplained reports since 2004, the intelligence community was only able to identify one with confidence. In that case, they said the object was a large, deflating balloon.

The rest of these encounters remained unexplained. The report concluded that most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects given that a majority  were registered across multiple sensors, to include radar, infrared, electro-optical, weapon seekers, and visual observation.

Kirkpatrick on Wednesday cautioned that not all of the now more than 650 UAP cases are equal in priority. His office is most interested in those that happened near sensitive military sites, and also those that have corresponding sensor data such as radar that can be examined.

For that reason, his office is unlikely to make a final determination on many of the reports anytime soon because they are not prioritizing events that, for example, involve nothing more than a pilot observation that happened in a location far from any sensitive locations.

"We cannot answer decades of questions about UAP all at once, he said.

Whatever it is that Navy pilots and others are encountering, they represent a threat of collision if nothing else. Eleven incidents in the 2021 initial report involved near misses with aircraft, something senators questioned Kirkpatrick about Wednesday.

Kelly's office said the senator, a former fighter pilot and retired NASA astronaut, has spoken personally with pilots about incidents they witnessed, and on Wednesday discussed certain cases with Kirkpatrick that can only be addressed in a classified setting.

Kirkpatrick on Wednesday showed video clips of what AARO was investigating, similar to when Pentagon officials in May 2022 showed previously classified videos of unidentified objects encountered by U.S. military aircraft.

Kirkpatrick showed two declassified video clips from surveillance drones. One was of a round object flying in the Middle East, and the object remains unexplained. The other clip he showed was of an object that looked like an oval flying near U.S. aircraft in southeast Asia, which later was determined to be civilian aircraft.

"Learning that a UAP is not exotic in origin but is just quad copter or balloon leads to the question of who is operating that quad copter and to what purpose, he said, discussing how the department hands off what it learns to other appropriate government agencies when the objects are identified.

ARROs mission is to turn UAP into SEP, somebody elses problem, he said.

Unidentified objects in Arizona: Was the Phoenix Zoo visited by aliens in 1993?

Reach reporter Ryan Randazzo at ryan.randazzo@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4331. Follow him on Twitter @UtilityReporter.

Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Senate leaders: UFOs could be adversaries spying on United States
Confidence in childhood vaccines dropped internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, falling by as much as 44 percentage points in some countries, according to a report from UNICEF.

The report, entitled The State of the Worlds Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination, found that confidence dropped in 52 of the 55 countries surveyed, with China, India and Mexico being the only three countries where the perception of the importance of vaccines stayed the same or improved. Confidence dropped by more than a third in South Korea, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Ghana and Senegal since the pandemic began.

Researchers did still find that confidence in childhood vaccines overall remains mostly strong, with more than 80 percent of those surveyed in nearly half of the 55 countries saying vaccines are important for children to have.

But they warned that factors like uncertainty about the response to the pandemic, access to misleading information, declining trust in experts and political polarization could be allowing vaccine hesitancy to grow.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a release that the data is a worrying warning signal. She said officials must not allow confidence in vaccines to become another victim of the pandemic or many children could die from preventable diseases like measles or diphtheria.

At the height of the pandemic, scientists rapidly developed vaccines that saved countless lives. But despite this historic achievement, fear and disinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the virus itself, Russell said.

The release states that the drop in confidence coincides with the largest sustained decrease in childhood immunizations in three decades, which was caused by the pandemic. It states that the pandemic disrupted childhood vaccinations in almost every country because of intense demands on health care systems, stay-at-home measures, workforce shortages and immunization resources being diverted to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

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The report states that 67 million children missed vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, and children born just before or during the pandemic are getting past the age where they would normally be vaccinated for a wide range of diseases.

Researchers also found that the pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities, as the children who were most impacted by the drop in childhood vaccines were those living in the poorest, most remote and most marginalized communities.

UNICEF concluded that governments must double-down on increasing funding for vaccination efforts and free up available resources, including COVID-19 funds, to accelerate these efforts.

The report calls on world governments to identify and reach all children who missed vaccinations during the pandemic, build greater confidence in vaccines and prioritize funding for immunizations and primary health care. It also states that governments should invest in female health care workers, innovation and local manufacturing to build up more resilient health care systems.

We know all too well that diseases do not respect borders. Routine immunizations and strong health systems are our best shot at preventing future pandemics, unnecessary deaths and suffering, Russell said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Connecticut man, who identified himself as a nationalist and a fan of Adolf Hitler, was arrested for threatening to kill Sheriff Mike Chitwood on an extremist chat group platform, authorities said.

Cristhian Zapata, of Ansonia, Connecticut, was arrested on accusations he threatened to kill Sheriff Mike Chitwood in an extremists' chat group.

Cristhian Zapata, 23, of Ansonia, Connecticut, was arrested Wednesday evening by the Shelton Police Department on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill and was jailed on $100,000 bail, said sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant.

He is awaiting extradition to Volusia County, officials said.

Zapata is the third person to be arrested after threatening to kill Chitwood while chatting on the extremist group platform 4CHAN.

'Punk thugs' called out: Sheriff calls out 'punk thugs' who spread antisemitic propaganda in Volusia County

New Jersey man extradited to Volusia New Jersey man who issued death threat to sheriff extradited to Volusia County

Sheriff threatened again: San Diego man accused of threatening to kill Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood

On April 7, Zapata posted I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS. His threat was investigated by the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, Gant said.

Zapata's internet post was traced to a home in Ansonia, Connecticut, where he lived with his sister, her fiance, and her child, authorities said.

The sister told investigators that Zapata was always on his computer, often participating in extremist chat rooms and talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology, Gant said.

Richard Golden, the New Jersey man who told white supremacists in a hate chat group to murder Sheriff Mike Chitwood, meets the sheriff when he arrived in Florida on Monday. Golden was extradited to Volusia County and taken to jail.

His sister also said her brother was fascinated with Adolf Hitler, investigators said.

Shortly after he posted the death threat, Zapata and his sisters family moved to their mothers home in nearby Shelton, Connecticut, Gant said.

Zapata admitted to posting the threat to kill Chitwood. He said hed heard about recent events in Florida, including other online threats to kill the sheriff, and said he was surprised that others had been arrested because he believes in the First Amendment, investigators said.

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In March, Richard Golden, 38, of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, was arrested for suggesting to hate groups in a white supremacists' chatroom that Chitwood be murdered. Golden posted that killing Chitwood, by shooting him in the head, would get him out of the way of hate groups' activities in Volusia County.

Golden was extradited to Volusia County on March 27 and locked up at the Volusia County Branch jail on a charge of written threats to kill or do bodily injury. Court records show he got out on April 11 after posting $100,000 bail.

Tyler Meyer

Then, in late March, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office announced that a San Diego man, Tyler Meyer, 30, was arrested by the San Diego Police Department and charged with making a written threat to kill or injure, a second-degree felony.

Authorities said Meyer posted an anonymous death threat to Chitwood saying "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, according to police.

Meyer is awaiting extradition to Volusia County.

Chitwood and his family have been the targets of threatening or harassing messages after the sheriff condemned neo-Nazi hate groups and white supremacists in Florida.

All three men lived with their mothers, and spent a lot of time on the computer following hate group ideologies, authorities said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Connecticut man arrested for threatening to kill Sheriff Chitwood
Outside Barbaras BBQ in Liberty City, few questions elicit a near universal agreement like the following:

Was the government involved in putting cocaine and/or crack in Black communities?

More than 40 years since crack first hit the streets of Miami, the answer is usually a yes.

Yes to a certain extent, Terrence Smith, the 59-year-old owner of Barbaras BBQ, said as he reclined in his chair parked right outside the establishment near the corner of Northwest 62nd Street and 15th Avenue. You cant blame it all on them. Its up to you to use the dope. I look at it like this: we dont have the technology to go over there, get [the cocaine] and bring it back.

Here, on 15th Avenue, the dope was available on both sides of the street, Smith added. Dealers used to stand posted on corners. Addicts would wander down the street to their dealer of choice. As Smith described it, the avenue was its own little ecosystem. So much so that when a man who goes by the nickname Four bursts out the doors of Barbaras BBQ and is asked the same question, he too echoes Smith.

We aint got no pockets for that, Four said. We aint got no nothing.

We aint got the planes to go get it, Smith chirped.

We aint got no planes, we aint got none of that, Four repeated, his voice trailing off. Dope built Miami. Period.

The critically acclaimed series Snowfall, created by the late John Singleton, which came to a close Wednesday evening, explored this question. Set in early 1980s Los Angeles, Snowfall chronicles how cocaine made it into the United States and led to the crack epidemic that disproportionately impacted Black communities across the country. The story, of course, is historical fiction yet within Black communities in South Florida, the idea that crack was planted in neighborhoods still has traction.

It might not have been as exaggerated as it was in the show but somebody had their hand in something, said Moriah Bryan, 30, of Plantation, a fan of the Snowfall series. It couldnt just have been us finding a treasure chest like Oh, look at all this coke.

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This belief isnt limited to just fans as both Smith and Four didnt watch the show. Still, there are many elements of Snowfall that are rooted in truth. The United States did secretly aid a war in Nicaragua. The war did coincide with an influx of cocaine into the United States during the 1980s, primarily from places in South and Central America, which made the drug more accessible. Then-president Ronald Reagan famously slashed social spending which did disproportional damage on low-income Black communities, leaving many without steady jobs. How these truths evolved into a conspiracy theory involving the CIA and cocaine is part of the myth-making that develops when a marginalized community is impacted by a power structure in ways it cant confirm, said Patrica A. Turner, who studies folklore and conspiracy theories in Black culture.

A scene from Snowfall season six, episode nine which aired Wednesday, April 12th. Pictured are Michael Hyatt as Cissy Saint and Carter Hudson, right, as Teddy McDonald.

This gives a very specific story, added Turner, the current dean of the University of California Los Angeles college and the author of a book that explored many rumors within the Black culture, including the allegation of the governments involvement in trafficking cocaine. This gives a mechanism through which the majority population is inhibiting the progress of the minority population.

The cocaine conspiracy, however, happens to contain a little bit of folklore and truth, Turner continued.

It reflects a time when the well-being of Liberty City, Compton, Chicago, Boston was minimal for most of the people in power and having a drug debilitate was not important enough to make it a priority, Turner said.

Although Turner asserted that these conspiracy theories had existed for years before her book I Heard It Through the Grapevine: Rumor in African-American Culture published in 1993, a subsequent investigation published in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 brought this rumor to the front page. Written by Gary Webb, the investigative series Dark Alliance alleged that a CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contra army had trafficked the cocaine into the U.S. that helped ignite the crack epidemic of the 1980s. The series prompted an internal investigation within the CIA, the results of which cleared the agency of most of Webbs accusations.

No conspiracy, Frederick Hitz, the CIA inspector general who conducted the internal investigation, told PBS in 2006. What the investigation did find, however, was failure to fully investigate when agents made allegations of trafficking as well as institute a policy that outlined how to report such allegations, according to PBS. When asked to explain his findings, Hitz called the agencys mishandling of trafficking accusations ineptitude.

Still, skepticism remains  and not just within the Black community. To filmmaker Billy Corben, the director of the Cocaine Cowboys documentaries and an expert on Miamis history of drug trafficking, its obvious that the government played some role. He explained how the optics of cocaine as a rich peoples problem meant that it was ignored during the 1970s until two factors changed: the drug trade became a lot more violent in the 1980s and the wrong people began making money.

In Miami, for example, there was very little will to crack down on the influx of drugs because it was so much money, Corben said, adding that crack undoubtedly came from Miami due to roughly 90% of cocaine coming through here, a claim supported by Encyclopedia Britannica.

Once it became a Black problem and we can grow the prison industrial complex too out of this thats when suddenly [the government] cares about a problem, he continued. It was as if nobody cared about the inner city, nobody cared about cleaning up the streets and providing better education and healthcare until they could start arresting either drug-addicted Black people or Black people just trying to make a living. Im not excusing drug dealing but Im saying that theres an element of despair that was systemic, that is systemic.

Predominantly Black neighborhoods like Liberty City, a community already reeling from the Arthur McDuffie riots when Reagan was elected, became targets when it came to, as Corben put it, cleaning up the streets. In 1980, Black Americans were already arrested at three times the rate of their white counterparts yet between 1988 and 1993, the rate jumped to five times, according to the Human Rights Watch. The documentary Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, Conspiracy explains the confluence of factors  from Reagans election to the medias depiction to the War on Drugs to the resulting mass incarceration  that allege some complicity on the part of the government.

The Reagan administration cared less about cocaine coming into this country than they did about waging an illegal paramilitary war against a little country in Central America that basically represented no threat to the security of the United States of America, Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst for the National Security Archive, said in the documentary.

Kornbluhs analysis explains in part why, nearly a half a century later, a question about the governments involvement in drug trafficking can still spark a robust conversation outside of a Miami pool hall.

The crack epidemic was a crisis but the government aint did nothing, Warren Hamm, 64, said. But let them have an opioid epidemic then the government starts to do something.

Thats because its dealing with white people, Smith interjected.

Hello! Hamm affirmed.
A state autopsy reports 26-year-old Manuel Paez Teran was shot 57 times

A 'Cop City' activist killed by police was shot 57 times, according to a state autopsy report.

Manuel Paez Teran, 26, had been protesting a controversial police and firefighter training site in Atlanta, Georgia.

Police have said Teran fired a gun, injuring a state trooper in the 18 January incident.

Teran's family has said they will file a lawsuit to force police to release more information.

An environmental activist, Teran went by the name Tortuguita and used they/them pronouns.

Teran's body had gunshot wounds all over, including the head, torso, hands, and legs, according to the autopsy report obtained by CBS News, the BBC's media partner in the US.

Last month, Teran's family released results of their own, independent autopsy, which claimed Teran was shot with their hands raised.

But the Dekalb County Medical Examiner noted the autopsy could not draw conclusions about Teran's body position at the time of the shooting.

"Since most shootings involving multiple gunshots are dynamic events, attempts to place the decedent in any particular position at a specific point in time is fraught with potential inaccuracies," the report stated.

The environmental activist was shot while demonstrating with other protesters at the site of a proposed 85-acre, $90m (74m) police and firefighter training centre dubbed "Cop City" by its critics.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said ballistics evidence suggested the injured trooper was shot with a bullet from a gun that belonged to Teran, purchased in 2020.

However, the state autopsy found no "gunpower residue" on Teran's clothes or around any of the gunshot wounds, which would suggest Teran had shot a firearm.

There was no body camera footage of the event.

Protests over the proposed training centre in Atlanta grew violent over the winter. In March, during a separate protest over the site, Atlanta police arrested and charged 23 people with domestic terrorism offences.
Were tracking information about the coronavirus and vaccines in North Carolina. Check back every Thursday for updates.

Over 2,400 new COVID cases

At least 2,408 new coronavirus cases were reported in North Carolina last week, down from 2,789 the week before, according to preliminary data from state health officials.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services also reported 231 new weekly COVID-19 hospital patient admissions, a drop from 323 the previous week, according to figures through April 15, the most recent metrics available. The daily average of adult coronavirus patients in intensive care was 35, compared with 45 the week before.

The figures were released Wednesday, April 19, three weeks after the state health department announced it was updating its online coronavirus dashboard to include data about the flu and other respiratory illnesses.

Data shows roughly 78% of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and about 74% have finished an initial round of vaccine doses. Of the states total population, about 63% finished their initial round and about 68% have received at least one dose. State officials round vaccination metrics to the nearest whole number and update them monthly.

Out of all people who have finished their initial vaccines in North Carolina, 59% have been vaccinated with at least one booster, and 22% with an updated omicron booster, the health department wrote on its website. Officials have urged those who are eligible to get boosted, as data shows it offers increased protection against the omicron coronavirus variant.

Earlier COVID vaccines arent authorized anymore in US

The Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines first designed to help protect against COVID-19 arent authorized anymore, officials said.

Instead, the companies newer shots have received authorization to be main doses for people at least 6 months old to receive in the United States. Those doses include a component of the original vaccine and a second component targeting the omicron variant, McClatchy News reported April 18.

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That means people who havent been vaccinated could get a single bivalent dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines rather than two doses of their original monovalent ones, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Also, some people who have gotten one of the latest vaccines  including those ages 65 and older  can get an extra dose, according to federal officials.

Read more about the authorization update here.

NC kids show improvement after COVID learning loss, report finds

After experiencing learning losses during the coronavirus pandemic, North Carolina students have made significant improvement, a new report finds.

Children saw gains in most subjects during the 2021-22 school year, and students are being helped to get back on track to where they were expected to have been if the pandemic never happened, according to Jeni Corn of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

The report was presented April 18, and it looks back at the effects after the spread of COVID-19 left children took students away from their classrooms in 2020-21. By the end of that school year, some children had fallen over a year behind in math and reading, The News & Observer reported.

Our schools and districts have made incredible strides in helping so many of our students get back on track to their pre-pandemic performance, Catherine Truitt, the state superintendent of public instruction, wrote in a news release. This data also tells us there is more work to be done,and fortunately we still have federal funding available to support interventions targeted at the students who need it most.

How much COVID relief money has Charlotte spent?

The city of Charlotte got about $359.47 million in COVID-related relief funds from the federal government, about $130 million of which went toward housing-related expenses. But time is running out to allocate the remaining money to address affordable housing in the area, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Meanwhile, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have until September 2024 to figure out how the district will spend its pandemic-related money. A decision on roughly $142.2 million is required this year.

Thats part of a fiscal cliff that makes me nervous, Elyse Dashew, chair of the school board, said in March. It also keeps me up at night  the impact from COVID, the academic and social-emotional impacts our students are going through. Its going to take a number of years to recover. Our kids will still be recovering when the (COVID relief) funds expire.

Read more about the COVID-related spending here.

COVID shots are low priority for healthy kids, teens, WHO says. What does that mean?

Long COVID and heart issues: What do we know about lingering symptoms  and treatment?
The Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) proposed ban on noncompete agreements has sparked a lobbying blitz from corporate America to weaken the rule or block it altogether.

The FTC estimates that one in five U.S. workers are bound by noncompete agreements, which limit or prohibit workers from taking a job at a competitor or starting their own business.

Whats at stake: FTC unveils proposal to ban noncompete clauses

These widespread and often exploitative contracts cost workers at least $250 billion in wages annually by reducing their earning opportunities, according to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan, a Biden appointee who has sought to crack down on anti-competitive practices.

But corporate lobbying groups are pushing back on the rule, which they say would endanger trade secrets and hurt their ability to retain workers. Theyre threatening to sue the FTC if it doesnt rescind the proposal, arguing that the agency doesnt have the authority to ban noncompetes.

The FTC proposal received nearly 26,000 comments as of Wednesdays deadline to weigh in, signaling huge interest in the rule. Workers broadly voiced support for the ban along with a smaller number of companies.

Corporate America attacks noncompete ban

Hundreds of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Bankers Association and National Retail Federation, penned a letter this week calling on the FTC to withdraw the rule.

The wide range of business interests wrote that noncompetes go hand-in-hand with protecting intellectual property and investing in workers through upskilling programs. They argued that while the FTC has the authority to sue companies over unfair methods of competition, it cannot issue broader regulations on the matter.

Nothing in the FTC Act shows a hint of a decision by Congress to allow the Commission to invalidate contracts affecting tens of millions of workers, particularly given that Congress itself has recently considered legislation that would regulate noncompetes, the groups wrote.

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The Chamber has vowed to sue to block the FTC rule if it is finalized. Legal experts say the rule is susceptible to legal challenges relating to the agencys authority.

The proposal was more aggressive than legal experts expected. It unwinds existing noncompetes and doesnt exempt any industries or high-wage employees. As such, business groups are pushing the FTC to scrutinize noncompetes on a case-by-case basis, rather than ban them outright.

Robyn Boerstling, vice president of workplace policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, said the FTC should withdraw the proposal in favor of a more tailored approach that allows for sensible exemptions, citing intellectual property risks.

Manufacturers use noncompete agreements only for select workers handling their most sensitive information, which cannot be allowed to fall into competitors hands, Boerstling said.

Citing a shortfall of healthcare workers, the American Hospital Association told the FTC that the noncompete ban must specifically exempt physicians and senior hospital executives or, more generally, highly-skilled, highly-compensated employees.

That sparked a wave of comments from doctors supporting the FTC ban. They argued that noncompetes increase the risk of burnout and reduce patient access to care by preventing doctors from practicing for a certain period of time after leaving their jobs.

Physicians should have a right to work and move freely just like every other person. Physicians are the value creators, Colorado-based physician Prerna Gupta wrote in a comment to the FTC.

Proposal draws significant support

The Yelp app is seen on an iPad in Baltimore on March 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Online review site Yelp backed the proposal in a letter to the FTC, stating that the rise in remote work and patchwork of state laws prohibiting noncompetes will create major headaches for employers.

Yelp wrote that a noncompete stymied its attempt to hire an executive away from Groupon, which brought a lawsuit against the employee even though they lived in Washington state, which has banned the agreements.

The differences and nuances of the various states approaches are likely to create uncertainty as more employers adopt remote nationwide workforces, Yelp told the FTC.

Yelp said that it is able to protect trade secrets through confidentiality agreements. The company noted that California is the epicenter of technology startups despite having banned noncompetes for over 150 years, arguing that the intellectual property risks of the ban are likely overstated.

Small businesses line up behind noncompete ban

The rule has drawn support from some small business groups. An online survey released last week by Small Business Majority found that nearly six in 10 small business owners support the noncompete ban. Just 14 percent of respondents voiced opposition to the proposal.

How can a new business break into the market if the would-be founder is bound by a noncompete? Or if all the qualified workers are tied up by larger companies with the resources to afford repeated litigation? Khan told the left-leaning small business group on a recent conference call.

Khan said that the survey really enhances our understanding about how these pervasive contracts directly affect small business owners.

Eighteen Democratic-run states and D.C. are also urging the FTC to follow through on the noncompete ban. They cited a study showing that low-income workers in Oregon saw their wages rise after the state banned noncompetes for certain employees.

Labor unions, meanwhile, are pushing the FTC to ensure that the ban also applies to agreements that force employees to repay training costs if they leave the company.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A man suspected of driving under the influence after his Corvette fatally struck a pedestrian last month in North Highlands now faces a homicide charge, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Ilya Shamailov, 34, of Brooklyn, New York, was arrested on suspicion of murder following a thorough investigation of the fatal collision and his driving history, the CHP North Sacramento Office announced Wednesday afternoon in an updated news release.

The CHP obtained an arrest warrant on the murder charge for Shamailov in the death of 32-year-old Jamel Tyrone Oliver of Antelope. The CHP said Shamailov was found Wednesday and booked at the Sacramento County Jail under a no bail warrant.

Shamailov suffered minor injuries in the collision and was taken to a hospital for treatment, before he was booked at the jail on suspicion of DUI. He was later released from custody as the CHP investigation continued.

The fatal collision occurred about 11:15 p.m. March 13 as Oliver walked across Elkhorn Boulevard at Butterball Way in North Highlands.

Shamailov was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette east on Elkhorn at a high rate of speed, the CHP said. Camille Apad, 24, of Daly City was the passenger with him in the Corvette.

The CHP said Shamailov was not able to stop or slow his car before the Corvette struck the pedestrian crossing the street. His passenger suffered major injuries in the collision and was taken to a hospital. Medics pronounced Oliver dead at the scene.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP)  President Rodrigo Chaves promised Wednesday to put more police in the streets and demanded changes in Costa Rica's laws to confront record-setting numbers of homicides that have shaken daily life in a country long known for peaceful stability.

Choosing to make his speech in the plaza in front of the countrys Congress, Chaves said too many violent criminals are allowed to walk free and called for more flexibility to extradite Costa Ricans to countries where they are wanted for drug trafficking crimes.

Costa Rica recorded 657 homicides last year, the majority blamed on violence related to drug trafficking. The country has moved on from just being a passthrough for drugs moving from South America to the United States. It has become an important hub for drugs being shipped to the U.S. and Europe and there is also a growing domestic drug market.

I want people to be able to walk peacefully in the street, that kids go to the park safely, that children go to school without fear that at any moment they could be caught in the middle of a shootout, Chaves said.

The president complained that only 1 out of every 22 people arrested for violent crimes ends up in jail. He said judges too often let suspects out on bail even if they have a prior record. He also wants the ability to prosecute minors as adults in cases of drug gang killings.

Chaves also wants to tighten control over gun purchases and improve the governments capacity to tap suspects communications in order to dismantle organized crime groups.

He said he will bolster policing by restructuring the national police force to put more officers in the streets and by hiring 700 more officers.

Previously, Colombian and Mexican drug cartels moved their drugs through Costa Rica, but experts say that in recent years homegrown Costa Rican gangs have gotten into the business as well, fueling more violence with their territorial disputes.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) on Wednesday said countless congressional lawmakers have privately said ailing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) should resign but are afraid to say it out loud as Democrats struggle with her continued absence.

We have a crisis of honesty in Congress, I think thats fair to say, Phillips told NBCs Meet The Press. And Im tired of serving with people who say one thing privately and refuse to say the same thing publicly.

EARLIER: "Countless" senators have privately called for Sen. Feinstein to resign, @RepDeanPhillips (D-Minn.) says.



"I'm tired of serving with people who say one thing privately and refuse to say the same thing publicly." pic.twitter.com/ftBeZS7uTT  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 20, 2023

Phillips was among the first Democrats to say that Feinstein, who has been away from Washington for months as she recovers from shingles, should step down. Feinstein, 89, was hospitalized for two weeks in February. She said she will come back to the Senate once her doctors approve.

Last week, she requested that she be temporarily replaced on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, but Republicans blocked the effort. Feinsteins absence is delaying approval of President Joe Bidens judicial nominees, which GOP leaders say is OK with them.

Phillips also took issue with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) comments that the growing calls for Feinstein to step down were sexist and politically motivated.

This is not about sexism, or about a man or woman, Phillips said. Its about general competency. Its not about being a Democrat or Republican. Its about doing the right thing. And Im disappointed frankly, in that comment. I think its unfair.

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Feinstein is not seeking reelection, but has said she intends to serve out her term, which ends in January 2025. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has said he would appoint a Black woman to Feinsteins seat if she retires early.

Phillips also said would like to see competition against Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. While he acknowledged Bidens accomplishments, he told NBCs Kristen Welker nobody in this country, in particular, should be anointed as our next president.

Biden has signaled he intends to run, but hasnt formally announced a campaign.

Competition is good and I think its time for a new generation to at least share the stage if not take it, Phillips said.

Related...
Two Bridges Regional Jail

A creepy note left at the Maine home where a man is accused of murdering his parents and their two friends this week has provided insight into a potential motive behind the grisly crime.

Authorities say they recovered an unsigned note on a kitchen island at the murder scene that claimed someone had been molested, but there was nothing done about it. The note also mentioned wanting to be freed from pain.

The disturbing detail emerged Thursday in an arrest affidavit obtained by the Bangor Daily News, which described the horrific crime scene where cops say 34-year-old Joseph Eaton gunned down Cynthia Eaton, 62; David Eaton, 66; Robert Eager, 72; Patricia Eager, 62, and the family dog.

The note found by investigators expressed similar sentiments to those shared by a manidentified by the Daily News as Eatonin a rambling, since-deleted video uploaded to Facebook on Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Being molested and stuff, you know, it destroys somebody, the man in the video said. He also criticized Christians who are unwilling to forgive.

Eaton made his first appearance in court on Thursday. He faces murder charges for the slayings, with authorities saying additional chargesfor allegedly shooting three people on a Maine highway on Tuesdayare still pending.

First-Class Fliers Red Wine-Induced Outburst Ends in His Arrest

Eatons arrest affidavit says the bodies of the victims were found by Patricia Eagers sister on Tuesday morning at a home in Bowdoin, Maine, the Daily News reported. Cops say she walked into the home after spotting blood on the front steps and was greeted with a horrific scenea bloodied body on the kitchen floor and two others elsewhere in the home, which was filled with shattered glass and bullet holes and had guns strewn about. A fourth body was recovered in a barn on the property.

Authorities say that Eaton has confessed to the quadruple killing and for the highway shootingin which authorities say 25-year-old Paige Halsey was critically injured. Cops have not clarified what they believe Eatons motive was for the alleged rampage.

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Eaton was arrested at the scene of the highway shooting on Tuesday, just four days after hed been released from prison for an aggravated assault conviction.

The Daily News reported that Eatons mother, Cynthia, had picked her son up from prison on Friday and drove him to the same homeowned by the Eagerswhere cops say he later slaughtered the four friends.

A judge ordered Eaton to be held without bail on Thursday and said hell undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the Daily News reported. Eatons past convictions include assault on a child younger than six and assault on a fellow prisoner in Maine.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Andrew Hay

TAOS, New Mexico (Reuters) -New Mexico prosecutors on Thursday said they would drop involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie "Rust" in 2021.

The decision came after new evidence surfaced on the gun Baldwin was using that fired the live round that killed Hutchins, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The movie's weapons handler, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case and her prosecution will continue, state prosecutors said in a statement.

"New facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis," special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said. "We will therefore be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin."

But they added, "This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled."

The dramatic turn in the 18-month-old case arrived on the same day that Baldwin and other cast members resumed filming the movie in Montana.

Baldwin lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro announced earlier on Thursday that charges were being dropped, which prosecutors later confirmed.

On Thursday, Baldwin posted a photo of himself with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, on Instagram, saying, "I owe everything I have to this woman (and to you, Luke)."

Baldwin, 65, and Gutierrez-Reed, 25, were charged in January with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the Oct. 21, 2021, shooting on a film set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hutchins died, and director Joel Souza was injured, when a Colt .45 revolver Baldwin was rehearsing with fired a bullet.

In a statement on Thursday, Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion said, "We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated."

Baldwin was initially accused of showing a "reckless" disregard for safety in Hutchins' death. Prosecutors said video showed him with his finger on the trigger of the revolver minutes before it fired the live round.

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Baldwin has said he was told the gun was "cold," an industry term meaning it did not contain ammunition with an explosive charge, and he never pulled the trigger.

Investigators have not been able to determine how live rounds made it on the set.

After an evidence viewing in the case last week, new information showed that the reproduction long Colt .45 "Peacemaker" revolver Baldwin was using had parts added to it since its manufacture by Italian gunmaker Pietta, according to the source with knowledge of the case.

"It definitely was modified, which compromises the whole argument that the gun was in fully functioning operating form and could only have fired if Baldwin pulled the trigger," the person said.

The state's prosecution has been beset by legal errors, with the most serious charge against the defendants dropped in February and two prosecutors forced to step down.

The first assistant director, Dave Halls, last month received a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon. Prosecutors had said he was responsible for set safety.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay, Joseph Ax and Tyler Clifford; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Leslie Adler and Christopher Cushing)
A father is now charged as an accessory to his sons crimes after he aided in his escape, police said.

Officers received an anonymous tip that the son, 35, was inside his fathers house in Memphis on April 19, according to an affidavit from the Memphis Police Department.

Police confirmed the son had outstanding warrants for his arrest, according to the affidavit.

County records show the son was wanted on charges dating back to February, including felony burglary of a vehicle, theft of property and criminal attempt to commit a felony.

Officers went out to the home and were met by the wanted mans father, 63, at the door, police said.

The officers told the father there were warrants out for his sons arrest, according to the affidavit, and the father told them his son wasnt home and went back inside.

Then, they spoke to the sons grandmother. Police said she told them her grandson was in the house and he was hiding in the attic.

The officers decided to call for backup, and as they waited outside the back door of the house, the father reappeared, police said.

But he wasnt alone.

The father opened the door and let his three large dogs go toward the officers, according to the affidavit. The officers had to backpedal, running away from the door.

As the officers backed away, they saw the son, crouched behind his father and ready to run, according to the affidavit..

The father sidestepped, so his son could start running, police said.

The father was taken into custody by officers and charged with accessory after the fact.

Officers did not say whether the son was captured, but his warrants remain outstanding in county records.

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Among dedicated TikTokers at the Information's Creator Economy Summit, a far-off storm cloud looms: What if TikTok really does get banned in the U.S.?

While TikTok has touted its Project Texas plan to further separate the American company's operations from its Chinese parent ByteDance, the U.S. government also proposed making ByteDance sell TikTok to an American company.

Marc D'Amelio, the father of TikTok superstars Dixie and Charli D'Amelio, said that he considered buying TikTok. In March, he tweeted, "I am putting together a group of investors to pursue the purchase of TikTok."

I am putting together a group of investors to pursue the purchase of TikTok.  Marc D'Amelio (@marcdamelio) March 18, 2023

The D'Amelios have created a media empire with their own retail brands and venture capital firm, but it's a bold statement to propose buying a platform estimated to be worth at least $60 billion. As a whole, ByteDance is worth around $220 billion.

When the Information reporter Kaya Yurieff asked about this proposal onstage at the Summit, D'Amelio said that it's not quite on the table anymore. That's not a surprise -- it's hard to just casually raise billions of dollars, and even if it were possible, China reminded the U.S. that it can't actually force a sale. But when the patriarch of TikTok's "first family" was pressed on this proposal, he revealed that he did legitimately consider the idea.

"It's very expensive," D'Amelio conceded to Yurieff. But the idea went a bit further than a random tweet. "We've raised a lot of money for D'Amelio Brands, and we have the connections to do it," he said. Ultimately, though, D'Amelio thinks the best possible outcome is for the U.S. to not follow through on any sort of legislation banning TikTok.

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D'Amelio Brands launched in September with $6 million in seed funding, which falls just a bit short of the price of TikTok. Perhaps the company has raised more capital that it hasn't announced yet, but not enough to seriously pursue that purchase, which is why D'Amelio looked for other investors.

So, while Charli D'Amelio might be the queen of TikTok, it doesn't seem her family can literally buy the app.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  The Danish Maritime Authority said Thursday that it was lifting a ban on sailing in the area of the Baltic Sea where gas leaked after the explosions that incapacitated the Nord Stream pipelines last year.

However, the agency said it was maintaining the restriction in areas where anchoring, fishing and work on the seabed are discouraged within a distance of 1 nautical mile from the leak positions due to underwater obstacles.

Shortly after the leaks, the agency issued a navigation warning and established a prohibited area to ensure ships did not sail nearby.

A total of four gas leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines that run from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, on Sept. 26 and 27 respectively.

The leaks were deemed an act of sabotage. Earlier this month, Swedish prosecutors said a state actor was the most likely culprit. However, they cautioned that the identity of the perpetrator was still unclear.

In March 2023, a German media investigation quoted unnamed officials as saying that five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.

Two of the leaks were in the Swedish economic zone, northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, and two in the Danish economic zone, southeast of Bornholm. All were outside national waters.

Both Swedish and Danish seismic measurements showed that explosions took place a few hours before the leaks were discovered.

Authorities and investigators in Denmark, Sweden and other countries early on suspected the explosions were deliberate attacks and consider them sabotage. The pipelines were not operational at the time, due to disputes between Russia and the European Union amid the war in Ukraine.

The United States and some of its allies have long criticized the pipelines, warning that they posed a risk to Europes energy security by increasing the continents dependence on Russian gas.
Chinese premier meets Gabonese president in Beijing

Xinhua) 08:47, April 20, 2023

Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Calling Gabon a good friend and partner of China in Africa, Li said that under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders, China-Gabon relations have steered onto a fast track.

China is willing to better synergize development strategies, share development experience, work with Gabon to explore new areas of cooperation and innovate cooperation models, work for common development and promote bilateral ties to new high, said Li.

Li also said the two countries should deepen communications and cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, foster new growth points of cooperation, further tap into the potential of green cooperation, and forge a paradigm of South-South cooperation in response to climate change.

Li stressed that China supports Gabon in playing a bigger role in international and regional affairs, and is ready to strengthen coordination with Gabon on multilateral affairs, jointly uphold international justice and fairness, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries

Noting that Gabonese and Chinese people treat each other with sincerity and trust each other with mutual respect, Bongo said the two countries enjoy a special cooperative relationship that is of high quality, adding that China's development mode provides important inspiration for Gabon.

Gabon is willing to work with China to strengthen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, jointly implement the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative, enhance cooperation under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and international organizations, oppose politicizing human rights issues, and respond to climate change and other global challenges.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
The logo of TikTok is seen on a smartphone screen in New York, the United States, Aug. 30, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]



The United States is in a state of mass hysteria pertaining to the popular social media application TikTok. The application, which has become a phenomenon and the single most downloaded app worldwide, even surpassing Google as the single most visited website, is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, but incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Because of its Chinese origins, the application has recently come under fire by American politicians and the mainstream media, who have accused it, baselessly, of sharing data with the Chinese government and branding it as a "national security threat."



This has led to a growing movement of politicians and citizens looking to restrict or ban the app, with its CEO subject to a dramatized congressional grilling last month, while the U.S. and state governments have banned it on official devices, a move soon copycatted by allies. Then, the U.S. state of Montana subsequently became the first state to try and impose a ban on the app outright, although it is unclear how such a ban could ever be enforced, let alone lawful in its constitutional nature. The Biden administration, according to the mainstream media, has also pushed ByteDance to forcibly divest on the threat of a ban.

This can only be described as a politically motivated witch hunt, defined as political action that ramps up mass hysteria concerning a target with no evidence to merit the claim whatsoever. It is common for U.S. politicians, backed by the media, to pursue their goals by deliberately provoking fear and mass paranoia in the view to smearing, attacking, and making outrageous accusations about their political rivals, both at home and abroad. This dynamic has been special in the U.S.'s 20th-century foreign policy. The U.S. government has long cultivated and weaponized fear and paranoia regarding a foreign adversary in order to build support for its goals, framing every situation as a life or death, zero-sum struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, or "good vs. evil."

In doing so, such paranoia is never pursued rationally, nor is it done with any consideration of the actual facts. This was most explicitly manifested in the era of McCarthyism, which was used to manufacture consent for the Cold War.

Thus, in setting themselves on the path of "strategic competition" against China, U.S. politicians are stirring feelings of paranoia, hysteria, and fear-mongering pertaining to all things from the country, no matter how benign and contrary to evidence they may be. Successful Chinese companies and products are routinely accused of engaging in espionage, almost always on a guilt-by-association basis. These smears are often motivated by clear-cut opportunism, usually with the goal of undermining the market access of the given product or service, such as, for example, with Huawei 5G. The United States' modus operandi is that if they deem that they cannot compete with a given enterprise, they seek to discredit it or undermine it.

TikTok is being targeted because it is the first-ever Chinese-made social media application to become a world leader. Its success is unprecedented, and it subsequently challenges the monopoly that the United States has over global social media and the internet at large. The U.S. has long made it clear that its goal is to maintain hegemony over what they describe as "the future of the internet," and as such, TikTok has become the subject of a concerted mass hysteria campaign driven by the premise of guilt by association; if it is Chinese, the thinking goes, then it is guilty by default.

The campaign against the application, however, has woken many young people up to the sheer extent of the deranged behavior of American politicians, who claim to be supporting freedom of expression and speech but actually want to suppress an application, not because it has done anything wrong or violated any laws, but purely upon the premise of its national origin. The political consequences of such a move would be disastrous, especially for the Biden administration, despite the fact that they believe riding on the tidal wave of anti-China hysteria can bring them plaudits. Rather, these moves only serve to demonstrate the fundamental irrationality, dishonesty, and crooked nature of the U.S. political system.

Tom Fowdy is a British political and international relations analyst and a graduate of Durham and Oxford universities. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/TomFowdy.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
On this day in history, April 20, 1898, President William McKinley asked Congress to declare war on Spain.

The declaration requested by the 25th U.S. president was in response to an ongoing conflict between Spain and Cuba, the latter located less 100 miles off the coast of Florida, as that island country struggled for independence from Spain.

On April 20, Congress passed a joint resolution that acknowledged Cuban independence, the U.S. Office of the Historian said.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, APRIL 19, 1951, GEN. MACARTHUR DELIVERS OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE SPEECH TO CONGRESS

Congress also demanded that the Spanish government give up control of the island. Congress also indicated that the U.S. had no intention of annexing Cuba.

Congress also authorized McKinley to use whatever military measures he deemed necessary to guarantee Cubas independence, the U.S. Office of the Historian noted.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Conflict seemed inevitable, as tensions between the U.S. and Spain had been brewing for some time  and Cuba had attempted to overthrow Spanish colonial rule, according to History.com.

Former U.S. President William McKinley was the nation's 25th president.

To that end, Cuban rebels "received financial assistance from private U.S. interests and used America as a base of operations from which to attack," that site said.

The Spanish military retaliated with brutal force, causing the death of more than 100,000 Cuban civilians.

Many died in terrible conditions within Spanish concentration camps between 1895 and 1898, according to History.com.

McKinley first tried to avoid conflict with Spain  but American media, including publishing scion Randolph Hearst, chided McKinley as weak, said that site.

The media also tried to incite the public to get behind launching a war, it continued.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, APRIL 18, 1934, FIRST SELF-OPERATED WASHATERIA OPENS IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Headlines in the U.S. press included "Spanish Treachery!" and "Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!" according to PBS.org.

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The conflict continued to escalate into the spring of 1898.

Former U.S. President William McKinley. The 25th president asked Congress to declare war on Spain.

On April 11, 1898, two months after the battleship U.S.S. Maine was destroyed by an explosion in Havana harbor, McKinley sent a message to Congress asking for authority to use U.S. armed forces to end the civil war in Cuba, notes the National Endowment for the Humanities website.

"Congress voted to support Cuban independence, to demand the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the island, and to authorize the use of force to achieve those objectives," that site reported.

Spain broke diplomatic relations and declared war against the U.S., says Britannica.com  and Congress formally asserted that a state of war existed.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, APRIL 15, 1865, PRESIDENT LINCOLN PASSES AWAY

"In a whirlwind military campaign, the U.S. Army invaded Cuba and the U.S. Navy destroyed Spanish squadrons in the Caribbean and Manila Bay," the same site said.

"At the request of the Spanish government, the French ambassador in Washington, Jules Cambon, approached the McKinley Administration to discuss peace terms," the United States Office of the Historian noted.

Raynal and Bonne Map of Cuba, West Indies, in 1780.

"Ultimately, a ceasefire was signed on August 12, 1898," it continued.

The war officially ended four months later, when the U.S. and Spanish governments signed the Treaty of Paris on Dec. 10, 1898.

"Apart from guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States," that site said.

Spain also agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for the sum of $20 million.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, OCT. 14, 1912, TEDDY ROOSEVELT SHOT IN CHEST, MAKES CAMPAIGN STOP MINUTES LATER

"The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on Feb. 6, 1899, by a margin of only one vote," the site says.

William McKinley, born in Niles, Ohio, served as president from March 4, 1897, until his assassination on Sept. 14, 1901.

Former U.S. President William McKinley, above. He was assassinated in 1901  and is buried in Canton, Ohio.

Prior to serving as commander-in-chief, he won a seat in Congress at age 34, and was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee, says Whitehouse.gov.

He served in the House for 14 years and was known as an expert on tariffs.

McKinley had an "attractive personality, exemplary character and quick intelligence," noted Whitehouse.gov, adding that he was generally on the side of public interests versus private ones.

McKinley died on Sept. 14, 1901, of "complications from bullet wounds" inflicted by Leon Czolgosz, "an anarchist who shot the president during one of his public appearances at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York," the Library of Congress said.

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On Sept. 23, 1901, Czolgoszs trial began  and in just three days, he was found guilty and sentenced to death.

He was executed on Oct. 29, 1901.

McKinley was buried in Canton, Ohio. A memorial to him opened in that city later that year, according to the Library of Congress.
This article originally appeared on Outside

What had been a successful season on 26,545-foot Annapurna turned deadly in recent days days. Now, a veteran mountaineer is dead, another is missing, and multiple others are lucky to be alive after daring high-altitude rescues.

Annapurna is notorious for being among the most dangerous peaks above 8,000 meters, and traditionally it was rarely attempted--and only then by the most skilled mountaineers. Of Nepal's eight peaks above 8000 meters, Annapurna has the lowest number of successful summits at 395, according to The Himalayan Database. Mount Everest, by contrast, has more than 10,000. Annapurna also has the highest death rate amongst Nepali 8000ers at 2.99 percent.

But things are changing on the peak, and in recent years, guides have supplied high levels of support and supplemental oxygen to make the peak more accessible to less experienced climbers. Of the 395 total summits, 129 (33 percent) have occurred in the past three years.

The climbers at Annapurna this year pushed for the summit on April 15-16, and approximately 40 climbers reached the top during a narrow weather window. But according to multiple reports, the group struggled on the descent--some climbers even got lost. When a violent storm hit the peak, climbers became pinned down at a high camp and some became too sick to descend.

Irish climber, Noel Hanna, 56, died in his tent at Camp 4 at 23,300 feet after summiting without supplemental oxygen. Hanna's wife, Lynne Hanna, confirmed the tragedy in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.

"He returned to the tent took some hot soup and fell asleep never to awaken again, no drama no big story, it was his time to go and he died in the Himalayas," she wrote. "What better place

for my Mountain Man sleep well Noel."

An Indian climber named Anurag Maloo, 34, is still missing after reportedly falling into a crevasse below Camp 3. Maloo, who is attempting to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents, had abandoned his summit bid and was returning to Base Camp when he disappeared. Ground and aerial searches have not found him. Both Maloo and Hanna were climbing with the Nepali operator Seven Summits Treks.

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Perhaps the most dramatic situation involved 27-year-old Indian climber Baljeet Kaur, who went missing on Monday, April 17, after reaching the summit and attempting to descend to Camp 4. Kaur rose to fame in 2022 after becoming the first Indian to ascend four 8,000-meter peaks in a single season. Guiding company Pioneer Expeditions posted updates as rescuers searched the mountain for Kaur, and on Tuesday, April 18, announced that searchers in a helicopter had located her on the peak--and she was alive. According to newspaper The Hindu, Kaur was able to radio for help, and GPS data showed her at 24,193 feet.

On Tuesday, a helicopter team completed a daring long-line rescue and was able to pluck her from the mountain.

"We owe a special debt of gratitude to Captain Cloudy Martin of Kailash Helicopter Services, whose daring and skilled high-altitude helicopter flight made the rescue possible," wrote Pioneer Expeditions online. "We also wish to acknowledge the vital role played by our Director, Mingma Dorchi, who accompanied Captain Cloudy on the search and helped locate Baljeet."

A long-line rescue is a technique that involves a rope attached to a rescuer who is lowered to a person in peril. The rescuer attaches the rope to a rescue harness; then, the person is flown to safety. The method requires low winds and good visibility. The highest long-line rescue was in 2013 at 25,590 feet on Everest.

On Annapurna, a window of good weather appeared on Tuesday, allowing crews to rescue other climbers stuck on the mountain with helicopters. Seven Summits Treks' Executive Director Chhang Dawa Sherpa told the Himalayan Times that three other climbers in its party needed evacuation from Camp 4 after they became sick during the descent. One evacuee, Pakistani climber Shehroze Kashif, 21, is famous in his home country, along with Sajid Ali Sadpara, both of whom reached the Annapurna summit. Sadpara--who has climbed five peaks above 8,000 meters, is the son of the highly renowned Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara, who died while climbing K2 in 2021. Kashif is known within the mountaineering community by his nickname "Broad Boy," because he ascended 26,414-foot Broad Peak when he was just 17.

The other climbers rescued included Pakistani Naila Kiani and Indian climber Arjun Vajpai. Kiani is the first Pakistani woman to climb Annapurna. On Tuesday, Karrar Haidry of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, confirmed the rescues.

"A helicopter was dispatched from Kathmandu to the higher camps of Annapurna, and the climbers have been safely picked up and taken to Annapurna Base Camp," Haidry said. "Thank you to all the friends for their support and assistance in this matter."

A Veteran of Everest Expeditions

A native of Northern Ireland, Hanna was one of his country's most respected climbers. He had summited Mount Everest on ten occasions, and in 2018 became the first person from the island of Ireland to ascend and descend K2. After his death, tributes to Hanna were published online and in local media.

His sister, Irene Hunter, told BBC News that Hanna "loved a view and he just loved people." A fellow guide, Robbie Marsh, told the outlet that Hanna had a major impact on the local climbing community. "Part of his legacy is that inspiration that he has given people, Marsh said.

Hanna served as a police officer for fifteen years in Northern Ireland before tiring of the role, but he still sought the adrenaline rush he had in policing and took up mountaineering. In an interview, Hanna said it was during a 100-mile trek across Nepal in 1999 that he fell in love with the mountains.

In the interview, Hanna tells the story that upon seeing Everest, Lhotse and Cho Oyu, he said to his friend, "Someday, I'll be on top of those." His friend replied, "You haven't even been drinking, and you're saying things like that." Smiling, Hanna responded, "I proved him wrong." Bill Burke, who once held the record for the oldest American to summit Everest, said the Hanna showed amazing strength and courage when in 2017, he led a small Sherpa team to the summit of Burke-Khang, a mountain named after Burke. Hanna and his wife, Lynne, are the only married couple to have summited Everest from the Nepal and Tibet sides.

Officials have yet to publish Hanna's cause of death, however his sister, Irene, told the BBC that her brother had phoned her earlier, saying he was not feeling well. According to multiple reports Hanna's body was removed by officials and flown to Kathmandu.

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House Republicans are demanding answers from the Biden administration after a whistleblower came forward to reveal that the IRS investigation into Hunter Bidens taxes is plagued by preferential treatment and politics.

A whistleblower with the IRS sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday seeking legal protection in exchange for exposing how political bias has compromised the probe into Hunter Bidens alleged tax violations. The note, written by attorney Mark Lytle, claimed that the unnamed whistleblower has proof that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, as well as information about a failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case.

Thus, I respectfully request that your committees work with me to facilitate sharing this information with Congress legally and with the fully informed advice of counsel, the attorney wrote in a letter addressed to Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Its deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations, Representative James Comer (R., Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said in a statement published Wednesday night.

Its clear from our investigation that Hunter and other members of the Biden family engaged in deceptive, shady business schemes to avoid scrutiny as they made millions from foreign adversaries like China, the Kentucky Republican added.

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The attorney appeared on CBS News on Wednesday to reiterate his clients request to testify before lawmakers: My client wants to come forward to Congress. Hes ready to be questioned about what he knows and what he experienced under the proper legal protections.

Political considerations were having an impact on the decision for agents to make investigative steps in the case. And those political considerations are not normally a part of a career investigators toolkit, the attorney told CBS.

Later that day, Senator Ted Cruz (R., Tex.) demanded Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen release suspicious activity reports (SARs) collected by the department to expose allegedly unsavory business practices of the Biden family.

The US Department of Treasury needs to release every Suspicious Activity Report related to the Biden family. If Janet Yellen doesnt release the reports, she is complicit in the coverup. #Verdict, Cruz tweeted above a link to his podcast dedicated to the topic.

The US Department of Treasury needs to release every Suspicious Activity Report related to the Biden family. If Janet Yellen doesnt release the reports, she is complicit in the coverup. #Verdict  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 19, 2023

Led by Delaware U.S. attorney David Weiss, the investigation into Hunter Bidens taxes first began in 2018 and is also connected to allegedly false statements the presidents son made when purchasing a firearm.

President Joe Biden addressed the investigation in December 2020, insisting he was confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.

However, in October 2022, reports surfaced that suggested the FBI was confident with the evidence collected that the federal agency could charge Hunter with tax crimes.

More from National Review
The DeKalb County Medical Examiners Office has released the official autopsy report for APD training facility protester Manuel Tortuguita Teran.

Teran was shot and killed in January during a raid on the forest at the planned Atlanta Public Safety Training Center site. Officials say Teran shot a state trooper as they were clearing the forest, causing them to return fire.

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

The 31-page report from DeKalb County Medical Examiners Office said Teran had at least 57 gunshot wounds. It does not say how many actual shots were fired nor did it determine the position that Teran was in.

Since most shootings involving multiple gunshots are dynamic events attempts to place the decedent in any particular position at a specific point in time is fraught with potential inaccuracies. There are too many variables with respect to movement of the decedent and the shooters to draw definitive conclusions concerning Mr. Terans body position, according to the report.

The report states that gunshot wounds were from an indeterminate range. It details each gunshot wound and found that gunpowder residue are not associated with the wounds. It also stated gunpowder residue is not seen on the hands.

However, the report states that a gunshot residue kit was performed. The results of that test have not been released.

The GBI previously said that a firearm purchased by Teran has been tied to the bullet that wounded a trooper and that he purchased the gun in 2020.

Terans family spoke out in a press release Wednesday evening after the official autopsy was released.

We are devastated to learn that our child, our sweet Manny, was mercilessly gunned down by police and suffered 57 bullet wounds all over their body, said Manuel Paez Terans mother, Belkis Teran.

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Another autopsy report, obtained by Channel 2 Action News, performed at a Griffin funeral home in January details the second autopsy performed on Terans body.

This autopsy report concludes that Terans wounds had no gunpowder residue on his wounds. It notes that any residue could have been washed away during the first autopsy, but that is very unlikely.

However, this does not indicate whether or not Teran fired a weapon. The second autopsy report says that Teran was shot several times, including in the head, chest, legs and hands.

At some point during the shooting, the report said Teran raised both hands. It is unclear if shots had already been fired at that point.

It is impossible to determine if the decedent had been holding a firearm, or not holding a firearm, either before he was shot or while he was being shot the multiple times, the report reads.

Authorities have said that because Georgia State Patrol troopers do not wear body cameras, there is no video footage capturing the shooting. Atlanta police have released body camera footage of surrounding areas in which the shooting can be heard, but not seen.

In the months leading up to and after Terans death, dozens of other protesters have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism after violent attacks at the facility and in the streets of downtown Atlanta.

Correction: A previous version of this story noted there was no gunpowder residue on Terans hands, but the report states there was no gunpowder residue in Terans wounds.

IN RELATED NEWS:
OSLO (Reuters) - Denmark on Thursday lifted restrictions on sailing in waters near the Nord Stream pipeline leaks in the Baltic Sea and said it was no longer dangerous for ships to navigate in the area.

The restrictions were lifted by the Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) at the recommendation of the Danish Energy Agency.

The DMA said, however, it continues to discourage anchoring, fishing and seabed works within one nautical mile (1.85 km) of the leaks due to "underwater obstacles".

A string of blasts last September ripped holes in the Nord Stream pipelines linking Russia and Germany, sending large amounts of natural gas rushing to the surface and into the atmosphere.

The blasts occurred in the exclusive economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, and while both countries say the explosions were deliberate they have yet to determine who was responsible.

(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)
Leopard 2 tank

The announcement follows a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council by Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Lkke Rasmussen and Danish Minister for Economic Affairs, acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.

Read also: UK to send Ukraine 600 Brimstone missiles, Denmark pledges 19 Caesar howitzers

Rasmussen said that Ukraine needs all the support "we are capable of providing it with." He called the promise of tanks in collaboration with the Netherlands a "major contribution.

Read also: Six Leopards arrive at Spanish port on their journey to Ukraines frontline

"It is no secret that there was a desire to consider the possibility of transferring Leopard 2 tanks, which are even larger than Leopard 1. Now this is possible, we are happy and proud of this, Poulsen said.

Denmark has already announced the transfer of 100 Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine. Delivery will start from this summer, with at least 80 tanks planned to arrive by the end of 2023, said Poulsen.

Nine countries plan to donate over 150 Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of a tank coalition, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on March 15, with some allies having already fulfilled the obligations.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Boxing fans have branded Deontay Wilder delusional, after the heavyweight predicted an easy knockout of Tyson Fury in a potential fourth clash.

Wilder fought Fury to a controversial draw in 2018, before suffering back-to-back TKOs by the Briton in 2020 and 2021. American Wilder retained the WBC title in their first fight but surrendered the belt in their rematch, before Fury retained the gold in their trilogy bout.

Still, Wilder is confident that he would get his revenge if he were to face Fury again.

When asked to predict the outcome of such a fight, Wilder told EsNews on YouTube: Knockout, easy. Straight on the ground.

Some fans disagreed, however. Talksport journalist Michael Benson took to Twitter to share Wilders interview with EsNews, and one reply read: Hats off to the continuous delusion of Deontay Wilder. Still rolling out the excuses [until] THIS DAY.

One user simply wrote, Delusional, while another saw the positives in such a mindset, writing: Wilders mental state and confidence [have] to be admired. This guys belief in himself is unmatched, AJ [Anthony Joshua] could take a leaf out of his book. Its almost delusion, perhaps [is], but its what is needed to get to the top and even stay there, respect good luck to him!

One user wrote, I love Wilder but hes not talented enough to beat Fury. That first fight was the closest hell ever come. [There are] just some people out there you just cant beat [...] Wilder gotta accept he cant beat Fury. Meanwhile, another wrote: Wilder give it up bro, the fight would be exactly the same as the ones before, you cant [out] box Tyson and you can barely land on him, he has shown that he can get up from your shots, he would just put you on the back foot and out box you as you cant box under pressure.

Wilder, 37, knocked down Fury, 34, twice in their first fight and twice in their third meeting. The Bronze Bomber was unable to secure a win in any of their three bouts, however.

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Tyson Fury stopped Deontay Wilder in their second fight and their third clash (pictured) (Getty Images)

Talks are now under way over a potential heavyweight mega-tournament involving Fury and Wilder, a concept that would see the former take on Oleksandr Usyk and the latter paired with Anthony Joshua.

Negotiations over an undisputed-title fight between WBC champion Fury and unified champion Usyk fell through in March, but the prospect of a tournament in Saudi Arabia in December has reignited hopes that the contest could come together. Meanwhile, Wilders manager Shelly Finkel said this week: Deontay has wanted to fight Joshua for a long time, and of course he is willing to fight him in Saudi Arabia.

Wilder last fought in October, stopping Robert Helenius in the first round. Meanwhile, Joshua most recently competed on 1 April, outpointing Jermaine Franklin in London.
Floridas congressional delegation is endorsing his rival en masse, state lawmakers are quietly grumbling about his policy agenda, and even Miamis normally reticent mayor went on TV to criticize his personality.

Its enough to start wondering: Is Ron DeSantis grip on the Florida GOP beginning to loosen?

A politically taxing month for the Republican governor began hitting closer to home this week, just a half-year after the governor won a landslide reelection victory that appeared to make him the most powerful and influential leader in a state that Donald Trump also calls home. The resulting fallout has raised doubts about the potential presidential candidates strength in his own backyard, even as he tours the country touting the Florida Blueprint.

Ahead of his likely entrance to the 2024 presidential race, its been an unexpected and unwelcome development for DeSantis  one that has apparently instilled confidence in some in-state rivals who only a short time ago were loath to publicly cross the governor.

Well, he seems to struggle with relationships, generally, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told Fox News in an interview Thursday. I look people in the eye when I shake their hands.

Suarez, who is considering his own longshot bid for the presidency, has had a publicly rocky relationship with the governor since voting for his Democratic opponent in 2018 but has previously been reluctant to criticize DeSantis, much less attack his personality.

The interview came out a day after TIME reported that two more members of Floridas GOP congressional delegation, Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Carlos Gimenez, would endorse Trump.

Earlier this week, DeSantis made a rare visit to Washington, meeting with as many as two-dozen lawmakers. But the move has come too late for some congressmen, including Reps. Greg Steube and John Rutherford of Florida, who both endorsed the former president.

Only one member of the state delegation, Rep. Laurel Lee, a former member of DeSantis administration, has backed the governor.

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Some Republican strategists said the endorsements of Trump would go only so far, however.

Clearly, Trumps pride is wounded so hes making these calls and trying to strong-arm people, said Stephen Lawson, who worked for DeSantis 2018 campaign. I think its a lot of theatrics. If were talking about him six months from now, does this matter in Des Moines? I think the answer is probably no. So I think its important to take a step back and take a look at the big picture.

But DeSantis, who on Thursday announced that he is about to embark on an international trade mission to Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom, has faced at least minor setbacks in his home state while politicking elsewhere, including the nations capital.

On Thursday, Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said DeSantis has abandoned Florida during a gas crisis in order to campaign in Washington, D.C., referring to an ongoing shortage of gasoline caused by sudden and severe flash-flooding last week in Fort Lauderdale.

Representatives for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment for this article. A spokesman for the governor has previously accused his critics of playing politics with the response to the storm.

RELATED: What are you waiting for?: DeSantis 2024 supporters worry hes launching too late

Tallahassee Agenda

Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, House Speaker Paul Renner acknowledged Wednesday that some Republican legislators are quietly complaining that the DeSantis agenda has consumed the session with tense and contentious debate at the expense of their priorities.

People are frustrated because we have a ton of bills that the governor has put forward and House leadership has put forward, Renner, a Palm Bay Republican, told reporters. Theres kind of a choke point but now that we are getting into the last weeks, we will have dozens and dozens of bills that members have.

Not all of DeSantis top priorities are still alive. A proposal to strip in-state tuition rates for undocumented college students who went to a Florida high school has yet to be introduced by lawmakers and another bill to lower standards for defamation lawsuits and set up a court challenge to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan appears to have been stalled.

Few legislators have also come forward to endorse DeSantis. Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said on Wednesday they will wait until session ends and DeSantis announces before making a decision but both also said he hasnt asked for it.

We never talked about it, Passidomo told reporters. ...Im not going to say anything until after session. I like the guy. Hes a good guy.

The recent developments are in contrast to the firm control that DeSantis has exerted over GOP politics in the state since the early months of the pandemic, when he emerged as a conservative darling.

The governor, of course, has still managed an extraordinarily successful legislative session. With the help of a supermajority in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, the governor has enjoyed unparalleled success in getting his agenda through with several major bills already signed into law.

Lawmakers passed one of the most ambitious expansions of school vouchers in the nation, allowing all Florida K-12 students to use taxpayer money to attend private schools. They have banned most abortions after six weeks and changed state law to no longer require a unanimous jury verdict to impose the death penalty.

They passed legislation limiting liability for insurance companies and other businesses accused of injuring people or other business and on Wednesday passed a bill to retroactively exempt from public records all his travel records, with no provision to notify taxpayers for how much is spent on security and travel as he travels the country in an expected campaign for president.

Legislators are pursuing legislation to expand his ban on COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates, adopt additional restrictions on immigration and, when the governor ran into trouble in his effort to retaliate against Disney for voicing opposition to his ban on gender identity discussions in Florida schools, they swiftly responded by passing legislation that attempts to void the actions of the Disney-backed board that governs the companys special taxing district.

And Wednesday, the Legislature sent to the governors desk a bill that would prevent banks from using environment, social and governance standards in making investment decisions, policies DeSantis calls woke.

Financial friends of DeSantis

The governors fundraising also indicates that, even were his firm grip on the states politics waning a little, his stature is growing beyond Florida.

A Florida political committee established to support DeSantis continues to raise millions of dollars. But as DeSantis criss-crosses the country ahead of a potential presidential bid the majority of the groups funding is now coming from outside Florida for the first time.

Filings with the state show that nearly two-thirds of the almost $14 million raised so far this year by Friends of Ron DeSantis have come from out-of-state donors. Last year, when the group raised nearly $100 million, more than half of the cash came from Florida donors.

Donations from the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania accounted for one-quarter of all 2023 funds raised by the group through the end of March, while Texas and Georgia each accounted for more than 10% of the cash haul so far this year.

More than 80% of the funds raised by the group this year have come from big donors who have given more than $1 million.

DeSantis has headlined political events this year in early presidential primary states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, and wooed donors in Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and elsewhere.

James Whitley, co-founder of the Georgia real estate development firm Landmark Properties, cut the DeSantis group a $1.5 million check in March and said his giving was motivated by concern about the future of the country.

In a world increasingly riddled with chaos, the strong, steady hand of American leadership has never been more essential, he said. Gov. DeSantis has the intellectual acumen, leadership ability and fortitude to steer us back in the right direction.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  Florida will no longer require a jury to unanimously recommend the death penalty under a measure signed into law Thursday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a change made in response to outrage over jurors who last fall blocked the death penalty for convicted Parkland killer Nikolas Cruz.

DeSantis approved the bill in a private bill-signing ceremony held in his office with legislative leaders and the sponsors of the legislation.

Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence, DeSantis said in a statement. Im proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida.

Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School five years ago and eventually pleaded guilty to murder charges. But DeSantis called for changes to Floridas death penalty law after three out of the 12 jurors deciding his fate recommended life in prison.

From now on, convicted murderers could receive the death penalty if eight out of the 12 jurors recommend it. Its a lower threshold than any other states that actively carry out the death penalty. Alabama requires a jury vote of 10-2.

This bill is about victims rights, plain and simple, said Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina Montalto was killed by Cruz, in a statement. It allows the victims of heinous crimes a chance to get justice and have the perpetrators punished to the full extent of the law.

Floridas death penalty process has undergone a flurry of litigation over the years. State legislators switched from a simple majority to a 10-2 jury requirement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the states process was unconstitutional. But then legislators changed the law to require a unanimous jury recommendation after the Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that it was required.

But the states high court  which shifted rightward due to several appointments by DeSantis  retracted that decision four years later and said the previous decision was wrong.

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While supporters of the bill insist the lower threshold will withstand constitutional muster, opponents counter that the new standard will likely be challenged in federal court.

The legislation, S.B, 450, was supported by both Democrats and Republicans, although most of the "no" votes were from Democrats.

We are talking about the state injecting chemicals into a persons body to take their life, said Rep. Ashley Gantt, a Miami Democrat and an attorney. And that demands the highest of the threshold of a unanimous jury verdict.

The death penalty bill was just one of a series criminal justice bills that DeSantis called forahead of this years session. DeSantis, who has made stops across the country to promote a new memoir ahead of an expected presidential run, has lashed out at blue states and soft-on-crime prosecutors operating in other parts of the country.


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill ending the states requirement of a unanimous jury recommendation for a death sentence in a capital felony case.

Today, I signed legislation ensuring the victims of the most heinous crimes get justice. Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence, DeSantis said on Twitter, sharing a photo of the bill signing.

The move comes after the state received backlash when a jury couldnt reach a unanimous agreement to recommend a death sentence for the Parkland school shooter last November.

DeSantis  considered a possible 2024 contender for the presidency  signed Florida Senate Bill 450 on Thursday, which brings the requirement down from unanimity of all 12 jurors to the agreement of eight jurors for the recommendation of a death sentence.

If the jury has recommended a sentence of  Death, and at least eight jurors recommend a sentence of death, after considering each aggravating factor found by the jury and all mitigating circumstances, may impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or a sentence of death, according to the bill text.

The court, though, can impose a death sentence only if the jury unanimously finds at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt.

If fewer than eight jurors recommend a death sentence, the court would have to go instead with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, according to the bill summary.

Nikolas Cruz, who killed 14 students and three staff members in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was sentenced to life in prison after the jury failed to reach unanimous agreement on a death sentence.

The ACLU of Florida decried DeSantiss signing of the bill as a dark day in Florida history.

Florida already has the highest number of death row exonerations in the country, Tiffani Lennon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement. With this bill and others, Florida is rapidly widening the net of who will be sent to death row with absolutely no consideration for the flaws that will inevitably lead to the harm of more innocent people.

Florida now has the lowest threshold for death sentencing in the country, according to the group.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
 Flash

Eleven Namibian learners did a stellar performance as they participated in the UN Chinese Language Day event held in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, Wednesday.

The event saw the youngsters battle it out in the 22nd Chinese Bridge Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students as well as the 16th Chinese Bridge Proficiency for Foreign Secondary School Students in Namibia.

Organized by the Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia (UNAM), the event sought to assess the students' Chinese language proficiency and other aspects of skills including Chinese speech, general knowledge about China, singing, dancing, and musical instrument playing.

"The competition for the university students level is tough because we are all at a higher level," UNAM sophomore Natacha Van Wyk, who participated in the competition, told Xinhua.

"For the high school students, I think it is very encouraging for them to start at a young age at high school age," she said after she shrugged off stiff competition to claim the crown for top university winner, as she wowed the judges with her fluent and close to perfect command of the Chinese language.

Van Wyk said despite the competition being overwhelming and nerve-racking, it was also very nice and fun to participate in, adding that her next goal is to apply for a scholarship to study in China.

UNAM Acting Vice-Chancellor Frednard Gideon congratulated the learners who participated in the competition, commending them for their commitment and effort to learn something new that could be beneficial in their career path and personal growth.

Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping said that the Chinese language has become one of the important tools of communication for international business engagement. "Chinese language learning has developed rapidly in Namibia, which has and will continue to contribute to the friendship of our peoples."

The United Nations observes the UN Chinese Language Day every year on or around April 20, when the contribution of Chinese literature, poetry, and language to world culture is highlighted.
By Tyler Clifford

(Reuters) - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Thursday ending a requirement that juries need to vote unanimously to recommend capital punishment before a judge in a capital felony trial can sentence a defendant to death.

The Republican governor, who is expected to run for his party's 2024 presidential nomination, gave final approval to legislation that authorizes juries in capital cases to recommend the death penalty in the event that four jurors or fewer object. The measure received strong support in the state's Republican-controlled legislature.

Support for the change picked up in October when a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on a death sentence for Nikolas Cruz, convicted of killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The 2018 rampage stands as one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Three jurors voted against a death sentence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, leaving Cruz to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Surrounded by victims' parents on Thursday, DeSantis signed the bill that he said would "ensure proper justice" is delivered in future cases.

"Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence," he said in a statement.

Florida prosecutors trying capital felony cases would need to convince a supermajority, or two-thirds, of a 12-member jury panel that someone who is convicted deserves the death penalty.

The change only affects the penalty phase of capital trials. It would have no effect on the requirement for a jury's unanimous vote to convict a defendant.

Florida joins Alabama as the only states where a unanimous jury decision is not required, the Death Penalty Information Center noted.

(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York City; Editing by Alistair Bell)
In Ron DeSantis first public 2024 test in front of South Carolina Republican voters, the Florida governor on Wednesday spent most of his remarks touting his own state and its response, or blueprint, to combat what he called toxic ideologies.

From the free state of Florida, DeSantis urged an Upstate crowd to to wage war on woke, while showcasing his Florida Blueprint as the model best suited to fight against a leftist ideological agenda.

We have eliminated toxic ideologies like critical race theory in our K-12 schools, DeSantis told a crowd at the First Baptist North Spartanburg. Were not teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other with your tax dollars. Not on my watch.

He also railed against the COVID-19 pandemic as a Faucian dystopia, saying Florida led the way in embracing freedom.

When COVID arrived on the scene, when the world went mad, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, it was Florida that stood as a refuge of sanity in a citadel of freedom, DeSantis said.

Nearly 1,500 people lined up early to hear DeSantis speak in Spartanburg, the last of a three-stop South Carolina visit ahead of a much anticipated 2024 presidential bid. Those who could not get inside the room where DeSantis spoke piled into an overflow room. Earlier Wednesday, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, held a similar yet smaller rally in North Charleston and then held a closed press Republican event in Summerville.

DeSantis, introduced by state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, on Wednesday spoke on a range of issues from wokeism to inflation, education and immigration.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a tour at North Baptist Church in Spartanburg on Wednesday April 19, 2023.

Casually dressed in blue jeans and a sport jacket, DeSantis spoke for about 30 minutes before sitting down with his wife for a more intimate discussion with voters.

It was the first time voters heard directly from the Florida Republican amid speculation hell soon launch a 2024 bid.

Several voters in Spartanburg said they will support a DeSantis bid because they believe he has a better chance of winning over former President Donald Trump, who won Spartanburg County in the 2016 GOP presidential primary and remains popular among S.C. Republican voters.

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Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg speaks before Florida Ron DeSantis took the stage at North Baptist Church in Spartanburg on Wednesday April 19, 2023.2

Matt Robinson, 43, of Easley, said he voted for Trump twice, but said Trump is out of touch with the Republican Party.

I just feel like we need someone younger in office that can relate more toward some of the modern things that are going on, Robinson said. What (DeSantis) has done in Florida is amazing, and I hope what hes done there can carry forward into him possibly being the next president.

Support for former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, who launched her 2024 bid in February, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who has launched a 2024 exploratory committee, appeared limited Wednesday, but some said theyd be happy to see a DeSantis-Haley ticket.

I think thatd be about the best thing weve ever seen in our lifetime, said David Leopard, 64, of Inman.

Joanie Canteburry, 61, disagreed, saying Haleys race would take votes from DeSantis.

We need someone younger, brighter. We need a new revival, and I believe (DeSantis) is the guy to do it, Canteburry said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a tour at North Baptist Church in Spartanburg on Wednesday April 19, 2023.

Though DeSantis has yet to signal when hell jump into the 2024 primary, the DeSantis political action committee has sought to cover the airwaves. This week, the PAC spent nearly $575,000 helping to promote a possible run with ads in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Myrtle Beach.

Still, support for Trump remains strong in South Carolina, particularly in the historically red Upstate.

A recent Winthrop University Poll showed Trump with 41% of S.C. GOP support, followed by DeSantis at 20% and Haley at 18%. Another recent poll from consulting firm National Public Affairs also showed Trump significantly ahead of DeSantis with 43%, followed by DeSantis at 21% and Haley and Scott with 19% and 7%, respectively.

DeSantis said Wednesday that elected leaders should not focus on polls.

A leader is not captive to polls, DeSantis said. A leader sets out a vision, executes on that vision and delivers results. So dont be captive to the polls, lead the polls.

This story will be updated.
By Gram Slattery and James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is set to begin a trip abroad on Saturday taking him through Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom.

While the trip is officially billed as a trade mission, the tour is widely seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials in the lead-up to an official announcement, expected in the late spring or early summer.

The governor had said in March that the Ukraine War is a "territorial dispute" and that it is not of strategic interest to the United States, a position he has since partially walked back. Those comments provoked criticism from Democrats and many Republicans, though it is a stance he shares with about half of the party's base as well as Republican former President Donald Trump.

In Japan, DeSantis will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during his visit on April 24 and 25, the Japanese foreign ministry said. He is then slated to travel to Seoul, where he will meet with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, before continuing to Tel Aviv and London, where he will talk with a mix of government and business leaders.

Back home in Florida, there are signs he is beginning to build out a foreign policy apparatus. His political operation is in the process of bringing on Dustin Carmack, a cybersecurity and intelligence expert with significant foreign policy experience, said one person with knowledge of the matter.

DeSantis traveled to Washington earlier this week to meet with Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Shortly after his visit, several representatives from Florida endorsed Trump in a blow to the governor. DeSantis is set to address an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a major think tank, on Friday.

(Reporting by Jim Oliphant and Gram Slattery in Washington and Yukiko Toyoda and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher CushingEditing by Matthew Lewis)
Disney has left a world of unwelcome surprises for the new Florida board overseeing its district.

Republican governor Ron DeSantiss new appointees, already irked by a multi-year development agreement that left them with little oversight beyond basic roads and infrastructure, have discovered another damning piece of paperwork: A Disney subsidiary that provides utility services to the central Florida districtincluding the Walt Disney World Resortsigned a last-minute contract that allows the Mouse House to set its own utility rates at its Orlando theme parks through 2032, board Martin Garcia said at a public meeting yesterday (Apr. 19).

Read more

Garcia learnt for the first time about one of these new 11th-hour agreements entered into between Disney and the district last Friday (Apr. 14), Reuters quoted him as saying. Like with the other agreements, the board will have to evaluate the legality of that agreement, he said, adding that, Ive never heard of such a thing.



DeSantis established the new board in March to end Disneys self-governing status over the company taking a stand against his so-called Dont Say Gay bill, which restricts classroom discussions around gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through third grade. DeSantis is now proposing to extend the rule to all grades.



A quick summary of Disneys earlier 11th hour agreement

On Feb. 8the same day as the Florida House votes to put the governor in charge of Disneys special districtthe outgoing Disney-controlled Reedy Creek Improvement District board quietly signed a development agreement that lets it retain most of its power, effectively in perpetuity. The contract thwarts DeSantiss administrative coup, preserving the companys option to build a fifth theme park, more retail space, and more hotel rooms at the resort.

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The new board, re-named Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, only discovered it towards the tail-end of March, when it sought legal representation to nix the agreement and DeSantis called for a criminal investigation. And a legislative bill to revoke Disneys rights is in the works. Meanwhile, Disney maintains all its dealings were public and legal.

DeSantiss board is seeking a resolution

Yesterdays meeting was held to discuss Resolution No. 639, which would allow the new board to exert superior authority over planning, zoning and other land use in the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vistathe property in and around Walt Disneys major theme parks like The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom, as well as the Disney Springs retail area. The five-member board unanimously approved the resolution to take back power from the old Disneyboard. A second reading and public hearing is scheduled for April 26.

Regardless of your politics, nobody should favor outdated legislation that elevates a corporation above the public good, Garcia said. In seeking to improve the functioning of this district, nothing is off the table with this board.

Quotable: DeSantis admitted attacking Disney for its politics

Under no circumstances should the state of Florida be subsidizing woke activism by allowing them to have their own government. So we took it away. Ron DeSantis during an appearance at Hillsdale College in Michigan days after Disney CEO Bob Iger called out his administration for being anti-business and anti-Florida

A non-exhaustive list of ways Florida could make life hard for Disney

 Hiking taxes on Disneys hotels

 Imposing tolls on roads used by guests visiting its theme parks

 Build propertyperhaps a state prisonnext door

 Take amusement ride and metro inspection rights away from Disney and give them to the state

 Sell off the districts utility in order to pay down the $1 billion debt

 Make sure Disney never has a mask mandate again

A brief timeline of Disneys evolving LGBTQ history on and off screen

1984: Disney lost a legal battle filed by Orange County local Andrew Exler, who was escorted out of one of Disneys date nights for dancing with a male friend in September 1980. Our crime was disco dancing, Exler recalled, according to QNotes Carolinas. We didnt touch, we didnt kiss, we didnt bump and grind. We simply danced to the sounds of some horrible disco band.

1985: Disney spokesperson Al Flores tells the Los Angeles Times that the company sees a lot of situations where two girls come together and want to dance and ask to. We have always said no, but we changed our minds.

1991: Disneys unofficial Gay Days date back to the early 1990s, according to the Tampa Bay Times. On the first weekend of June, hundreds of thousands of visitors don red in a show of solidarity. Disney makes charity donations and launches special Pride-themed food and merchandise during these days.

1996: Disney becomes one of the first major corporations in the US to offer health coverage to the live-in partners of gay and lesbian employees. Thousands of its staff now take part in LGBTQ business employee resource groups every year and it donates profits from its pride-themed clothing and merchandise collection to organizations that support LGBTQ youth and families.

2007-2022: Disney received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaigns Corporate Equality Index for 16 years straight. The index assesses worker protection, inclusive benefits and culture, and more.

2014-2021: GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has consistently given Disney a poor, failing, or insufficient rating for its representation of queer characters in media.

2019: Disney holds its first official pride parade in Disneyland Paris.

2022: Then Disney CEO Bob Chapek, after facing backlash for his silence, called out Floridas Dont Say Gay bill. Since then, the company has gotten more vocal about its pro-LGBTQ stance.

2023: After years of hosting Gay Days, Disney will host its first official Pride Nite this June in California. In September, the company will also host a massive Out & Equal summit to promote LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace.

Disneys future Florida plans, by the digits

$17 billion: How much Disney intends to invest in Disney World over the next decade, including building a fifth park

13,000: The direct jobs Disney will create with its investment, along with thousands of indirect jobs

Related stories

 DeSantis is threatening to build a state prison next to Walt Disney World

 Disney lost control of its Florida kingdom for opposing the Dont Say Gay bill

 Floridas battle with Disney, explained

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The future monument in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Medal of Honor recipients will stand in the shadow of the first president to pin the nations highest award for valor in combat.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress on Wednesday calls for the monument to be attached to or not more than 1,000 feet from the Lincoln Memorial, on the west end of the National Mall.

The North Texas-based National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation is leading the effort to erect the monument in Washington, as well as the construction of the museum in Arlington that will open in early 2025.. The monument has not yet been designed.

The legislation to choose the monuments location is named after Hershel Woody Williams, the last living recipient from World War II. The sponsors are Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth and Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah.

In a letter to House colleagues, Moore and Veasey called the future monument an essential opportunity to remind the nation of the cost of freedom and inspire all Americans to find common purpose in being the best citizens they can.

The choice of a site near the iconic memorial to Lincoln would be a respectful extension of his enduring legacy and recognition of what ordinary people can accomplish when working for the greater good, the bill says.

Congress authorized the monument in 2021. No federal funds will be used to build it; the museum foundation is raising money to cover expenses.

This monument will represent the aspirational American values embodied by the Medal of Honor and will stand as a beacon for those values in our nations capital, said Chris Cassidy, the museum foundation president and CEO. It is our hope that recognizing the Medal of Honor and its values in a permanent way, while simultaneously commemorating Woodys shining example of bravery, love, and commitment, will inspire generations of Americans who visit the monument.

The museum under construction in Arlington, Texas, will be the only national institution dedicated to telling the stories of Americas 3,551 recipients of the highest military decoration for valor in combat.







It is expected to attract 650,000 to 800,000 visitors a year. The initial round of fundraising will go toward building the museum, putting up the exhibits and starting the Medal of Honor Institute to provide experiential leadership programs modeled after the valor and values of medal recipients.
Chapel Hill Town Council members peppered a developer with questions Wednesday about a proposed project on the eastern end of town that could offer affordable housing and accept federal housing vouchers.

Few complexes in Chapel Hill accept vouchers, but Michael Skena, regional director of acquisitions and development for Toll Brothers Apartment Living, said they might even accept them for the market-rate units in the proposed Barbee Chapel Apartments.

However, the proposal fell short of meeting the towns inclusionary zoning ordinance, which requires 15% of for-sale units in new developments to be sold at a more affordable price. The developers would like to fill the gap with affordable rental units, which are not covered by the ordinance, Skena said.

Barbee Chapel Apartments could have several apartment and townhome buildings  ranging from three to five stories  around the 10.5-acre site. There would be several green spaces, as well as pedestrian improvements.

It is in a part of Chapel Hill that lies within the Durham County limits, and sits behind the Valero gas station and across the street from the Finley Forest community. It would need a rezoning to add taller, more dense construction.

Adding more affordable for-sale housing is not possible, Skena said, because financing and construction costs have increased, and rents have stabilized. It also costs more to build affordable housing as part of a market-rate project using the same materials than it does to build a separate affordable housing building using less-expensive materials, he said.

But he offered to think about it and talk with town staff to see if they could find cost-savings that would help add more affordable units. Toll Brothers has a project in Washington, D.C., for example, that offers 20% affordable units, he said.

Council member Paris Miller-Foushee called the Chapel Hill affordable housing offer, at less than 10% of the units, disappointing.

Council member Tai Huyhn agreed, urging Toll Brothers to talk with local nonprofit housing agencies, all of whom have waiting lists of families who need housing. He suggested the developer also might get more of what he wants if the town gets more affordable units.

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This is a pretty significant upzoning. Theres a pretty significant list of variances that youre asking us to grant, so potato, potahto, Huynh said.

Project details

 Developer: Toll Brothers Apartment Living; Rockwood Development Group

 Location: 10.5 acres at 5101 Barbee Chapel Road

 Zoning: Residential use, but the proposed zoning would allow more housing and taller buildings

 Current use: Mostly wooded, with 10 single-family homes

 Proposed use: 350 apartments and townhomes in three 4- to 5-story buildings and four 3-story buildings

 Affordable housing: 31 units, at least 45% of which could be priced at 65% of the area median income and the rest at 80%, serving individuals earning up to $53,520 a year or couples earning up to $61,120. Housing vouchers would be accepted.

 Parking: 495 surface and garage parking spaces

 Getting around: Two driveways and a pedestrian and bike trail from the site to N.C. 54 could be added to Barbee Chapel Road, plus future connections to surrounding land. A pedestrian crossing with a flashng traffic signal is proposed between the site and the Finley Forest community.

Rural character, pedestrians and stormwater

Only two residents spoke about the project during the initial public hearing Wednesday, including Henry Lister, a homeowner whose property abuts the Hillmont development site east of the Barbee Chapel site.

Developer Northwood Ravin is behind that project, which could bring 500 townhomes and apartments to 36 acres off Stancell Drive.

Barbee Chapel Apartments could be a great project, Lister said, but the downsized buffers make it wrong for that site. Larger buffers at Meadowmont and other projects on N.C. 54 East are there because of conversations 20 years ago about how that entrance to town should remain somewhat rural in nature, he said.

Entryway protection is central to this potential zoning change youre considering, and that really has to be one of the primary considerations with regard to this zoning. In fact, we might even want to consider that this effort by Toll Brothers is sprawl, he said. Its not to human scale. It doesnt match the other developments around it and residences around it at all.

Council member Amy Ryan agreed with Lister about the nature of the site.

This is an entryway into the country. It will develop a little bit, Ryan said. This is not a bring the frontages up to the road, because its going to be a walkable, urban area. This is a transition end of the county.

The other public speaker, Frank Herlant, owns property that Toll Brothers wants to buy. He spoke about the changes that hes seen over the last 25 years and about how his family enjoys living near UNCs Friday Center and using the trails and the tunnel under N.C. 54 to walk to Meadowmont, where they shop for groceries. Apartments are the best use for the Barbee Chapel site, he added.

Lets bring the people closer to Chapel Hill  its only two miles from downtown  and allow people to utilize all the services within town, instead of having to drive in from Durham or your rural buffers, he said.

Getting people out of their cars and reducing the need for acres of parking lots has been a key council goal. Council member Michael Parker called the amount of surface parking planned for Barbee Chapel Apartments ugly. He and other council members also noted the potential stormwater problems that a large amount of pavement and rooftops could cause.

Skena agreed to have his team look at more intensive stormwater controls. However, he brushed off a request to leave wider landscaped buffers behind the gas station, in response to another council question.

The adjacent car wash already has an extra wide buffer, he said. That buffer was requested by a previous council, along with a fence and berms, during the approval process for the car wash to shield nearby homes from bright lighting and noise.

The council voted to continue the public hearing May 24.
Dianne Feinstein at a US Senate hearing in 2017

Dianne Feinstein, the 89-year-old US Senator from California, faces pressure from within her own Democratic party to step down.

The longest serving woman senator in US history has already decided not to run again in 2024. But some Democrats now want her to resign immediately due to her age and poor health.

It is not the first time she has received such calls. But, California political observers say, this time feels different.

The newly heated debate around her tenure has pitted Democrats against each other as well as against Ms Feinstein, and the outcome could have chaotic implications for her home state's political establishment.

"In the past it was more about general performance - is she up to snuff, essentially - whereas this is I think more serious in some ways," said Eric Schickler, co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ms Feinstein has been absent from Washington DC for about two months, after being hospitalised for about a week with shingles in late February and early March. She sits on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, which confirms the president's choices for federal judges - an urgent priority for Joe Biden and Democrats.

But due to her absence, she cannot vote on a panel where Democrats only have a single-seat majority, potentially complicating the confirmation process. And this is causing a high-profile intra-party skirmish.

"This does feel different, because she's missing these votes and the Senate is so closely divided," said Mr Schickler. "It's actually having some impact on Democrats' ability to pursue their agenda, especially with respect to judges."

Last week, members of her own party began to call on her to step down before her term ends.

"It's time for Senator Feinstein to resign," Ro Khanna, a left-wing Democrat from California, tweeted on 12 April.

Dianne Feinstein in the US Senate in 2022

Barbara Boxer, a former US senator from California who served with Ms Feinstein, told a local California news station: "Right now I'm very worried about her, and I'm worried about the Senate, and I think the moment has come where the senator herself has to look at reality."

Story continues

Ms Feinstein says she plans to return and has asked for the Senate to temporarily replace her on the judiciary committee. But on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that Republicans had no intention to allow such a change.

Why Democrats care about federal judges

Federal judges have the power to sway national politics and policy. Just recently, a conservative justice in Texas appointed by former President Donald Trump has thrown the approval for a commonly used abortion pill into question, in a case that could have enormous implications.

Senate Democrats have grown more proactive about appointing liberal-leaning federal judges to as many vacancies as possible, after Mr Trump reshaped America's judicial landscape by appointing hundreds of conservative judges to the bench. With another national election looming in 2024, Democrats feel they have limited time to confirm as many of Mr Biden's choices as possible - and some worry Ms Feinstein will hamper that goal.

Though the committee could still continue to confirm judicial nominees that garner bipartisan support - and Republicans could still block a replacement even if she does resign - Democrats are sounding the alarm.

The senator and her office maintain she will return to Washington when she's ready.

"I intend to return as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it's safe for me to travel," she said in a 12 April statement.

"In the meantime, I remain committed to the job and will continue to work from home in San Francisco."

A debate over 'gerontocracy'

For at least the last three years, Ms Feinstein has faced questions about her ability to perform her duties. She and her office have maintained her commitment to carrying out her role.

In 2020, the New Yorker reported that Ms Feinstein, who by then was well into her 80s, was dealing with cognitive issues potentially related to her age. The story struck a nerve in Washington, which was already reckoning with a class of aging political leaders that critics have dubbed a "gerontocracy".

Dianne Feinstein celebrates after being elected Mayor of San Francisco, circa 1978

Her popularity among constituents has plummeted. Only 30% of California registered voters approved Ms Feinstein's performance, and 49% disapproved, according to a February 2022 poll from the University of California, Berkeley.

Now those doubts are getting louder.

"You're seeing people call on her to step down that you probably wouldn't have seen during her last election," said Roger Salazar, a California political strategist.

These demands have irked some of Ms Feinstein's peers. Fellow California lawmaker Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, implied the calls for Ms Feinstein to resign were tinged with sexism.

"It's interesting to me. I don't know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen Feinstein in that way. I've never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way," she told reporters last week.

A California conundrum

Back home in California, the question of Ms Feinstein's future has the potential to roil state politics. She is, effectively, the dean of the California delegation, who first rose to prominence as the mayor of San Francisco in the late 1970s before joining the Senate in 1992.

Rep. Barbara Lee of California

She has already announced she will not seek re-election in 2024. A field of high-profile Democratic representatives, including Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, are all running to replace her.

Should Ms Feinstein leave office early, her longtime ally, Governor Gavin Newsom, would have to appoint a replacement to finish her term.

Mr Newsom had publicly pledged to appoint a black woman to fill the seat should a vacancy arise, and Ms Lee is one of a few high-profile lawmakers who fulfil that promise.

"It would upend the whole Senate race," if Mr Newsom had to appoint a replacement for Ms Feinstein, said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic operative.

Though there was no consensus about what would happen next, California politicians doubted that a woman who has survived five decades in the public eye would disappear simply because a few members of her party have called for her to step away.

"Feinstein's one of those warriors," said political strategist Mr Salazar. "She's not going to go until she's ready to go."
When completed, the development will contain about 1,400 housing units.

Courtesy of Disney

Walt Disney World in Orlando will break ground on an affordable housing development near the Most Magical Place on Earth next year.

The development, which will be built a few miles away" from Magic Kingdom, will stretch across 80 acres of land in southwest Orange County, FL, Reuters reported. When completed, the development will contain about 1,400 housing units.

The first units are expected to be ready to move into by 2026.

The development was first announced late last year and will be open to applicants within certain income levels, including Disneys own employees, which the company calls cast members. It will be built by The Michaels Organization, according to Disney, which has worked on developments in more than 35 states.

"For more than 50 years, Walt Disney World has cared for and invested in our community, and we're committed to being a part of this solution which will bring more attainable housing to Central Florida," Jeff Vahle, the president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in a statement at the time. "We will continue to find ways to use our resources to make a difference in the community we call home, and we're excited to take this step with a nationally recognized developer."

Courtesy of Disney

This project isnt Disneys only housing development in the works. Last year, the company launched a new Storyliving by Disney business with plans to build master-planned residential communities around the United States. Each community will also include some neighborhoods specifically for residents 55 and up.

The first of these developments will be built in Rancho Mirage, CA, near Palm Springs.

But for Disney fans who dont want to wait to live near their favorite theme parks, there are several residential neighborhoods around Orlando that are worth checking out, like Winter Park, which features cobblestone streets, Michelin-recognized restaurants, locally owned shops, and lakes with boat tours.

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Victoria Alonso attends the premiere of Marvel's "Moon Knight." (Tommaso Boddi / WireImage)

Former Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso has reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with Walt Disney Co. following her firing, The Times has confirmed.

Deadline first reported on Thursday that a deal had been reached between the parties in the past few days.

Alonso's lawyer, Hollywood mainstay Patty Glaser, and Disney did not return requests for comment.

Alonso was fired by Disney in March after building up an extensive resume at the superhero franchise, co-producing early Marvel projects including Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Thor and, more recently, executive producing projects such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The latter film was poorly received and, as with several other recent Marvel projects, criticized for its visual effects  part of Alonso's purview at the company.

In the wake of Alonso's departure, rumors swirled that she'd been fired for promoting the Oscar-nominated film Argentina, 1985, which she'd produced for rival filmmaker Amazon Studios and subsequently promoted.

However, Glaser pushed back on that narrative on March 24.

The idea that Victoria was fired over a handful of press interviews relating to a personal passion project about human rights and democracy that was nominated for an Oscar and which she got Disneys blessing to work on is absolutely ridiculous, Glaser told The Times.

Glaser added: Victoria, a gay Latina who had the courage to criticize Disney, was silenced. Alonso, a vocal advocate for social justice issues, had previously been critical of former Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapeks handling of Florida's Dont Say Gay law.

Its unfortunate that Victoria is sharing a narrative that leaves out several key factors concerning her departure, including an indisputable breach of contract and a direct violation of company policy, a Disney spokesperson responded.

Born in Buenos Aires, Alonso was featured in 2022 in LA Vanguardia, a Times spotlight on key Latino innovators and power-brokers.

Even in the wake of her criticism of Disney, Alonso remained in the public eye, promoting the company's projects and appearing at events. The company said in June that it would be publishing her memoir, and it recently featured her in a Disney+ documentary about female superheroes. She'd been with Marvel since 2006.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The SBU exposed an official of the

The official had previously worked for the migration service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the illegal DNR military formation.

Read also: SBU detains Russian agent collecting data on defenses of Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant

The woman settled in Kyiv in a rental apartment to organize travel documents, the SBU wrote.

Her whereabouts were discovered and she was served a notice of suspicion for participation in the activities of paramilitary or armed groups not provided for by law (Part 2 of Art. 260 of the Criminal Code).

She now faces up to 8 years in prison.

Read also: SBU detains enemy informant who guided in Shahed drone attacks on Odesa

The woman voluntarily joined the ranks of the so-called "Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," created by Russia in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, in September 2014, the investigation established.

She was appointed a "senior inspector of the address and information department." While "in office," she helped collaborators suppress the resistance movement in the region.

The suspect collected personal data from "district passport departments" about local residents in occupied Donetsk. She assembled the data into a single address database, which the militants used to illegally detain residents.

The offender also kept records of so-called "watch cards", which store information about Ukrainian patriots wanted by the "DNR" punitive bodies.

Read also: Former DPR leader argues Russia is heading for a military defeat

Her employment history was found during a search of the apartment, providing evidence her service in the occupation authorities.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
 Flash

This photo taken on April 15, 2023 shows smoke rising in Khartoum, capital of Sudan. [Photo/Xinhua]

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to attend a virtual meeting on Sudan on Thursday, a UN spokesman said.

The meeting will bring together the chairperson of the African Union, the secretary-general of the Arab League, the executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and other relevant organizations, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Guterres, told reporters on Wednesday.

Guterres spoke to President William Ruto of Kenya earlier Wednesday, and talked with the chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, the spokesman said, adding that the UN chief will continue to make phone calls in the day, in attempts to secure a 24-hour ceasefire between the fighting forces in Sudan.

Volker Perthes, the secretary-general's special representative in Sudan, continues to engage with the parties, as well as key Sudanese leaders and member states, in trying to secure an immediate de-escalation of the fighting and working on the 24-hour ceasefire, Dujarric said.

He said that the continued heavy fighting in Sudan is having devastating consequences for Sudanese civilians as well as UN staff and other members of the international community.

"We reiterate to the parties to the conflict that they must respect international law," the spokesman said. "They are obliged to protect civilians and ensure the safety and security of all United Nations and associated personnel as well as their premises, our assets, and trapped civilians must be able to receive assistance, access essential supplies and evacuate to safer zones as needed."
David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor in Doctor Who. (BBC)

60 years since its first-ever episode was broadcast, Doctor Who is still going strong because of its unique way of regenerating itself. And fans were shocked at the end of the previous special, The Power Of The Doctor, when Jodie Whittakers Thirteenth Doctor regenerated into a new David Tennant-shaped incarnation.

This cliffhanger leads us into Doctor Whos 60th-anniversary celebrations, spearheaded by returning head writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies. 2023 will see three hour-long specials starring Tennants Fourteenth Doctor, plus a festive special that launches the already announced Fifteenth Doctor, Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa.

Read more: The most exciting TV coming in 2023

Whats more, the programme will be co-produced by the BBC and Bad Wolf Studios, (the Welsh production company named after a recurring phrase from RTDs first Doctor Who revival series  'I create myself' indeed!) and which has recently given us A Discovery Of Witches and His Dark Materials.

Doctor Who will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2023. (BBC)

In contrast to the previous eras clampdown on spoilers and story details, there has been a raft of exciting announcements about these specials since filming began last August, including the reveal of a new-old diamond logo for the show, hearkening back to the 1970s opening title sequences.

All of this has steadily built hype for the programmes return. Davies is promising many more surprises in store.

Watch the trailer for the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials

Starting with the teaser trailer that premiered on Christmas Day, heres what we know about Doctor Whos diamond-anniversary specials so far.

When are the Doctor Who anniversary specials on TV?

The as-yet-untitled anniversary specials are currently set to premiere in the UK on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in November 2023. Scheduling has yet to be confirmed, but the rest of the world can expect to see the show simultaneously on Disney+, courtesy of a co-production and distribution deal that was announced in October 2022.

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Read more: Russell T Davies reassures fans over Disney+ investment

Davies said: "I love this show, and this is the best of both worldswith the vision and joy of the BBC and Disney+ together we can launch the TARDIS all around the planet, reaching a new generation of fans while keeping our traditional home firmly on the BBC in the UK."

Doctor Who will be streaming on Disney+ outside of the UK. (BBC)

The actual 60th anniversary of Doctor Whos first episode, An Unearthly Child, is Thursday, 23 November, 2023.

In 2013, this date fell on a Saturday, which is when the standalone 50th-anniversary special The Day Of The Doctor was originally broadcast on TV and in cinemas worldwide, but these three new specials (directed by Rachel Talalay, Tom Kingsley, and Chanya Button) may be more spread out in November.

William Hartnell - the first Doctor - pictured during Doctor Who rehearsals at Television Centre, February 1965. (Sunday Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

Well also see Gatwas first full episode as the Fifteenth Doctor over the festive period. Filming on the Christmas special (directed by Mark Tonderai) started in February 2023, with locations in Bristol dressed in festive decorations.

This marks the first Doctor Who Christmas special since 2017s Twice Upon A Time, with more recent festive specials going out on New Years Day, but no broadcast dates have yet been confirmed.

Whos in the Doctor Who anniversary specials?

David Tennant and Catherine Tate are returning to Doctor Who together. (Alistair Heap/BBC STUDIOS)

Alongside David Tennants Fourteenth Doctor, Catherine Tate is back in the TARDIS as companion Donna Noble. This marks the first time Tennant and Tate have reprised their roles on screen since Davies last episode in 2010, in which they remained separate because of a memory wipe to save Donnas life.

Read more: Doctor Who to return to Christmas Day schedule in 2024

Other returning stars include Jacqueline King as Donnas mother Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Donnas husband Shaun Temple.

Yasmin Finney in Heartstopper. (Netflix)

Among the newcomers to the cast are Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper) as Donna and Shauns daughter, Rose Temple-Noble; Ruth Madeley (Then Barbara Met Alan) as new character Shirley Anne Bingham; and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) as a villainous character that RTD has billed as the greatest enemy the Doctor has ever faced.

Neil Patrick Harris will appear in Doctor Who. (BBC Studios)

Also due to appear is RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars winner Jinkx Monsoon who will play an as-yet-unnamed villain. While little is currently known about who this baddie is, the BBC has teased that Monsoon will bring "The Doctors most powerful enemy" to life when the show returns.

Jinkx Monsoon in Doctor Who (BBC)

There are many more cast members to be revealed too  for starters, Davies hinted in the February issue of Doctor Who Magazine that the man seen walking into a shop at the start of the Christmas Day trailer is a guest star that no one has noticed yet.

Read more: Torchwood and BBC Three's best shows

And of course  Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on here? Ncuti Gatwas Fifteenth Doctor is also going to feature in the specials before taking the lead in 2023s festive offering alongside new companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson (Coronation Street).

What happens in the Doctor Who anniversary specials?

The Doctor (David Tennant) in The Power Of The Doctor. (BBC Studios)

With open location-filming in Camden, Cardiff, and Bristol, its been tough to keep casting under wraps, but the big plot details seem secure in the TARDIS for now. Indeed, RTD also told Doctor Who Magazine that the current hope is to keep everything from Special #2 out of the marketing altogether so that its surprises are only revealed upon broadcast.

And while The Power Of The Doctor featured A-list baddies like the Master, the Daleks, and the Cybermen, it seems the specials have some more obscure returning characters for the Fourteenth Doctor to fend off.

A still from the trailer for the Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary specials. (BBC)

The Christmas Day trailer confirms the appearance of Beep the Meep, a cute and cuddly character who has previously only appeared in Doctor Who comic strips in the 1970s, now rendered in impressive Baby Yoda vision.

Read more: Doctor Who: Aneurin Barnard joins cast as Jemma Redgrave returns

The trailer also features the insectoid Wrarth Warriors, who typically pursue Beep  its a deep (Meep?) cut reference for the modern show!

A still from the trailer for the Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary specials. (BBC)

More intriguing still, Neil Patrick Harris shot his first scenes in public amid the chaos of a riot in a London street, dressed in full top hat and tails.

Among older fans, speculation abounds that hes playing a new version of the Celestial Toymaker.

A still from the trailer for the Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary specials. (BBC)

Originally played by Michael Gough, this powerful immortal last appeared in 1966, menacing William Hartnells First Doctor and threatening a rematch that never came until now?

And of course, theres the I know these teeth of it all. Why has the Doctor gone back to an old face? How are Donna Noble and her family involved? And where does Ncuti Gatwas incarnation come into all of this?

In a BBC press release, Davies teased: The path to Ncutis Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun!

Time will tell, it always does  but with all this and more to come, 2023 is an exciting time to be a Doctor Who fan.

Watch: David Tennant shares message for Doctor Who fans
(Getty)

Dominion Voting Systems agreed to settle its defamation lawsuit with Fox News for $787.5m on Tuesday  but its legal battles are far from over.

While the Fox News case attracted most of the headlines, Dominion filed a swathe of defamation suits against right-wing networks, lawyers and media personalities in the months after the 2020 election.

Heres everyone who is being sued by Dominion.

Mike Lindell

Mike Lindell has continued to spread false claims about Dominion while being sued for $1.3bn (AFP via Getty Images)

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell emerged as arguably the most prominent Trump ally to engage in spreading fact-free conspiracy theories about Dominions voting machines being rigged to help Joe Biden win the 2020 election.

At rallies, television appearances, in a 90-minute documentary called Absolute Proof and on the streaming service he self-funds, Mr Lindell repeated widely debunked claims that Dominion had been infiltrated by a vast and ever-changing cast of ne'er-do-wells to commit voter fraud.

By February 2021, Dominion had had enough, and filed a damages claim seeking $1.3bn from the pillow salesman.

The lawsuit alleged that Mr Lindell had knowingly lied about Dominion to sell more pillows to people who continued tuning in to hear what they wanted to hear about the election.

Fox News eventually banned him from the network, even though he was a top advertiser.

In court filings in the Dominion case, Foxs lawyers admitted to knowing he was not a reliable source of information when he appeared on Tucker Carlsons show in January 2021.

Mr Lindell has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but his efforts to have the civil action dismissed have been unsuccessful.

In a ruling in the District of Columbia District Court in August 2021, Judge Carl Nicholas wrote: In addition to alleging that Lindells claims are inherently improbable, that his sources are unreliable, and that he has failed to acknowledge the validity of countervailing evidence, Dominion has alleged numerous instances in which Lindell told audiences to purchase MyPillow products after making his claims of election fraud and providing MyPillow promotional codes related to those theories.

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Then in October 2022, Mr Lindells appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Mr Lindell appears completely undeterred by the legal setbacks.

In March, he called on Dominion to show us whats inside your machines?

According to the New York Times, he described Dominions lawsuit as the biggest cover-up for the biggest crime in United States history  probably in world history.

Dominions attorneys will likely be keeping tabs on his public statements.

Sidney Powell

Sidney Powell promised to release the Kraken after Donald Trumps 2020 election defeat (REUTERS)

Sidney Powell emerged in the days after the 2020 election as a key figure in Magaworlds effort to delegitimise Mr Bidens victory.

As a member of the former presidents so-called Elite Strike Force legal team, Ms Powell promised she would release the Kraken  referring to a legendary sea monster  in an interview with Fox Business days after the November election.

The Dallas-based former federal prosecutor helped to file a slew of lawsuits that challenged the election results, all of which failed.

Her inflammatory public statements about election rigging, bribery and fraud led Dominion to file a $1.3bn defamation claim in January 2021.

Powells statements were calculated to  and did in fact  provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm, an attorney for Dominion wrote in the lawsuit.

Dominion alleged in the lawsuit that Ms Powell had used the profile gained from media appearances to raise money through a company called Defending the Republic, which is also named as a defendant in the suit.

Ms Powell tweeted in response that the claims were designed to harass, intimidate, & to drain our resources as we seek the truth of #DominionVotingSystems' role in this fraudulent election.

Rudy Giuliani

Hair dye runs down Giulianis cheek during a bizarre press conference in November 2020 (Getty)

With hair dye dripping down the side of his face, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed Dominion had used Venezuelan technology, approved by the late Hugo Chavez, and supported by Cuba and China, to rig the 2020 presidential election.

The comical scene at a press conference in mid-November 2020 was part of a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion, the company alleged in a $1.3bn lawsuit filed two months later.

Dominions attorneys again claimed that Mr Giuliani had been motivated by financial gain as he made false election fraud accusations in media appearances, on Twitter and his YouTube show.

Mr Giuliani had cashed in by hosting a podcast where he exploited election falsehoods to market gold coins, supplements, cigars and protection from cyberthieves, Dominions attorneys wrote.

Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement that even the family and friends of its employees were among those who were duped by the avalanche of lies.

Mr Giuliani responded that he welcomed Dominions lawsuit as it would allow him to investigate their history, finances and practices fully and completely.

Newsmax

Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly interviewing Donald Trump (Newsmax)

After the 2020 election, the Chris Ruddy-owned right-wing news channel Newsmax saw its market share increase as it refused to acknowledge Mr Bidens victory and hosted a string of election-denying conspiracists.

In doing so, Newsmax helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote, Dominion said in a $1.6bn lawsuit filed in August 2021.

For Ruddy and Newsmax, the facts did not matter. What mattered was feeding the audience what it wanted  even if it was spreading false information. And the race to the bottom began in earnest, dragging Dominion down with it, the lawsuit argued.

In June last year, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis denied Newsmaxs motion to dismiss and ruled the lawsuit could proceed.

In a statement to ABC News, a Newsmax spokesman said it was confident of defending the case under First Amendment protections.

Newsmax reported on both sides in the election dispute without making any claim about the results other than saying they were legal and final, the statement said.

One America News (OAN)

OAN host Chanel Rion has been accused of spreading false claims about Dominion (AFP via Getty Images)

Dominion filed a $1.6bn lawsuit against One America News in August 2021, claiming that, like Newsmax, the San Diego-based cable channel had spread false and manufactured stories about election fraud.

Dominion quickly became the focus of this downward spiral of lies, as each broadcaster attempted to outdo the others by making the lies more outrageous, spreading them further, and endorsing them as strongly as possible, the suit alleged.

It also named OAN hosts Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb in the lawsuit, accusing them of fuelling election conspiracies.

In February, OAN filed a countersuit alleging tortious interference with its business.

Patrick Byrne

Patrick Byrne speaks during a panel discussion at the Nebraska Election Integrity Forum on 27 August, 2022 (Associated Press)

In August 2021, Dominion filed a defamation lawsuit against former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne for spreading election conspiracies, alongside suits against OAN and Newsmax.

It alleged that Mr Byrne had manufactured and promoted fake evidence to convince the world that the 2020 election had been stolen as part of a massive international conspiracy among China, Venezuelan and Spanish companies, along with the Justice Department and Chief Justice John Roberts.

We are filing these three cases today because the defendants named show no remorse, nor any sign they intend to stop spreading disinformation, Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement at the time.

Mr Byrne lost a bid to have the case dismissed in April 2022.
CNN

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a contentious exchange Wednesday with CNNs Don Lemon over a recent accusation Ramaswamy made about Democrats during a National Rifle Association event.

Speaking to the pro-Second Amendment audience in Indianapolis last Friday, Ramaswamy first mentioned that after the Civil War, efforts were made to disarm freed Black people, often in the form of Black Codes in ex-Confederate states.

The Democrat[ic] Party, then as in now, wanted to put them back in chains, he then claimed.

CNN This Morning co-host Poppy Harlow asked Ramaswamy if he was referring to President Joe Biden.

Yes, clarified the Woke Inc. author, who asserted that the very policies that we implemented in this country in the name of helping Black Americans have actually been disastrous for Black Americans and for all Americans.

Ramaswamy also brought up an eleven-year-old remark Biden made about Mitt Romney that Harlow seemed to think was a confused attempt to explain his choice of words at the NRA gathering.

I was referring to Joe Bidens I think ill-chosen expression to say theyre the party that wants to put you back into chains, Ramaswamy said. (In 2012, then-Vice President Biden criticized Mitt Romneys plan to unchain Wall Street, telling a racially diverse audience, Hes going to put you all back in chains with his policies.)

Lemon, stepping in, shifted gears, telling Ramaswamy that it was infuriating to listen to his focus on guns in the broader context of civil rights.

This Anti-Woke Businessman May Be The Next Big Right-Wing Star

Youre making people think that the Civil War was fought for Black peopleonly for Black people to get guns, Lemon said, adding later: Its reductive and I think its insulting. There are a whole plethora of reasons for the Civil War.

Ramaswamy persisted, telling Lemon that with due respect, I find your explanation reductive and actually insulting. He continued: Black people secured their freedoms after the Civil Warand its a historical fact, Don, just study itonly after their Second Amendment rights were secured, he declared.

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A clearly frustrated Lemon strongly disagreed, noting later in the back-and-forth that the whole reason that the civil rights movement happened was because Black people did not secure their freedoms after the Civil War. At one point he can be heard telling producers, I cannot keep a thought if you guys are talking in my ear.

At another point in the discussion, Lemon said to Ramaswamy: When you are in Black skin and you live in this country, then you can disagree with me. Ramaswamy took issue with that comment while on air and in a video posted on Twitter shortly after.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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WASHINGTON  Donald Trump plans to meet Thursday with Florida lawmakers who have endorsed him, part of an ongoing effort to try and intimidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares to possibly challenge Trump in the 2024 presidential race.

Trump has been promoting his Florida endorsements for days, seeking to counter DeSantis' trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress about the 2024 election. The former president has been attacking DeSantis for months, and even urging him to not run at all  a suggestion DeSantis is likely to ignore.

"A great group of supportive Florida Congressmen and Congresswomen, all who have Endorsed me, will be coming to Mar-a-Lago tonight," Trump said in an ungrammatical post Thursday on the Truth Social website.

DeSantis in Washington:After latest Disney fight, Ron DeSantis visits Republican allies in DC amid attacks from Trump

Trump's investigations:Trump after arrest: What's next legally and politically for the former president?

Is Trump worried about DeSantis?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis allies said Trump is on the attack because he fears DeSantis, who is building a probable presidential campaign built of grassroots support, not political endorsements.

"Donald Trump should be worried about Ron DeSantis," said Erin Perrine, communications director for "Never Back Down," a pro-DeSantis political action committee. "Ron DeSantis isn't even a candidate at this point and Donald Trump is obsessed with him."

Perrine added that when voters compare the two, "DeSantis has a massive record of success versus Trumps failures."

Who is endorsing Trump?

The Trump campaign did not provide a guest list for the Mar-a-Lago soiree, but it is expected to include the members of Florida's congressional delegation who have endorsed Trump and passed over DeSantis.

The endorsers include Florida Reps. Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Byron Donalds, Brian Mast, Vern Buchanan, Cory Mills, John Rutherford, Greg Steube, and Michael Waltz.

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The long-running Trump-DeSantis feud spiked up after Trump's indictment on campaign finance allegations in New York City.

Trump investigations continue

Trump's lead in pre-primary polls has grown among Republicans, many of whom describe the indictment as politically motivated. The president remains under investigation in at least three other cases involving classified documents, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and the Jan. 6 insurrection.

DeSantis has denounced the indictment of Trump and generally refrained from responding to the former president's attacks. The governor is expected to announce his plans for 2024 after the Florida Legislature adjourns in May.

Does Trump vs. DeSantis divide GOP?

In stepping up his criticism of the governor, Trump used a video this week to again suggest that DeSantis stay out of the 2024 race.

"I believe that if he decides to run for president  which will only hurt and somewhat divide the Republican Party, which we don't need  he will lose the cherished and massive MAGA vote," Trump said, referring to the political movement known as "Make America Great Again."

In recent weeks, DeSantis has come under criticism from other Republicans on a variety of issues, including a renewed fight with Disney, negative news stories, a new abortion bill and saying supporting Ukraine was not a vital national interest, though many of his views are supported by many Republicans.

His performance on the stump has also come in for criticism. A donor memo from the Nikki Haley campaign said DeSantis is "not ready for prime time."

'Palace intrigue'

During a campaign-like appearance Wednesday in South Carolina, DeSantis promoted his record in Florida and took a small jab at Trump by pledging to avoid political drama.

"We've got a job that we've got to get done," DeSantis said. "And we've been able to execute day after day, with very little behind-the-scenes fanfare or leaking or palace intrigue because ultimately all that does is distract from your ability."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump hits DeSantis over FL endorsements; rivals say Trump is worried
Drake performing on stage

Drake and 21 Savage perform onstage Credit - Prince Williams/Wireimage

The notion that Drake allegedly uses a ghostwriter to write his rhymes is a conspiracy that has haunted the rapper for years. He told Genius that he doesnt lean on ghostwriters, saying, Any song that really, really did damage for me, I wrote every single lyric. The rumors were also the subject of his famous feud with rapper Meek Mill, spawning his pair of diss tracks, Charged Up and Back to Back. But now, a more ominous presence has appeared on social media platforms to actually ghostwrite a Drake songsort of.

Last weekend a TikTok creator by the name of @ghostwriter977 uploaded a video in which they premiered an AI-generated Drake track titled Heart on My Sleeve with a faux-assist from a similarly AI-generated The Weeknd. The song garnered millions of streams in less than a week after the mystery artist released it on several major streaming platforms. In a TikTok comment under one of their videos, the creator said that they were a ghostwriter for years and got paid close to nothing just for major labels to profit. The future is here.

Bro made an AI Drake song and put it on Apple Music



That lawsuit is OTW pic.twitter.com/3lhHsl8I7V  Steve  (@SteveRogers1943) April 15, 2023

The short snippet is no longer available on TikTok (nor are any of the sounds to this creators videos, for that matter), but the song still lives on Twitter. It features a voice that sounds eerily similar to Drakes over a menacing piano beat with producer Metro Boomins signature tagline and subwoofer-shattering 808s. The AI version of Drake delivers clever bars that sound like classic Drake-ismsa 21 Savage shoutout, along with lines like I came in with my ex like Selena to flex/ bumpin Justin Bieber, and I got my heart on my sleeve with a knife in my back. After the chorus, The Weeknd slides onto the track with his signature falsetto and also makes references to Selena Gomez (The Weeknds real-life ex).

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This AI generated song featuring Drake & The Weeknd trading lines about Selena Gomez dropped on Saturday.



It now has 20m streams in under 48 hours.



TikTok: 13m

Twitter: 5.3m

Spotify: 254k (<24 hours)

Youtube: 144k

Soundcloud: 84k



The track is impressive & the artist leans hard pic.twitter.com/XONATe7EYe  Rob Abelow (@AbelowRob) April 17, 2023

Drake has yet to comment on Heart on My Sleeve, but he did upload a post from The Shade Room that mentioned someone used AI to generate a cover of Drake rapping Munch by Ice Spice to his Instagram story. He wrote, This is the final straw AI. Even if it is scrubbed from the Internet, the song raises important questions about where the music industry goes from here as this technology improves and proliferates.

A hugely popular dupe

According to Rob Abelow, whose Where Music is Going newsletter looks at the future of music, the song was streamed more than 20 million times on Apple Music, where it initially appeared, with 13 million views on TikTok (before it was taken down), and 84,000 plays on Soundcloudwhich is now filled with multiple reuploads when you look up the original creators name on the platform. Across different platforms, the reactions were mixed, with some people calling the song trash, but still better than Drakes new single and others, on the opposite end of the spectrum, asking, how is this better than actual Drake tho? Whatever listeners think about the song itself, theres no doubt that its efforts to replicate the sound and feel of the artist are eerily accurate.

Heart On My Sleeve isnt the only AI Drake song making the rounds on social media; theres also a song called Winters Cold and a sexually explicit song, though neither has garnered the same level of attention as @ghostwriter977s track.

AI platforms are trained to spit out new creations by ingesting millions of existing works, Billboard reports. This has significant legal implications. From the point of view of many in the music industry, if that process is accomplished by feeding a platform copyrighted songsin this case, presumably, recordings by Drake and The Weekndthen those platforms and their owners are infringing copyrights on a mass scale.

Beyond Drake and The Weeknd

For Universal Music Group, the music corporation that owns Republicwhich Drake is signed toand their industry competitors, combating the problem of AI dupes of its artists could prove to be like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.

The examples go far beyond Drake. Take, for example, Ariana Grande (another Republic Records signee): an AI-generated version of the pop star singing Paparazzi by Lady Gaga currently has over one million views on TikTok, uploaded by a Brazilian content creator with the username @mucaolgd. The creators account is dedicated to uploading Grande AI covers, including audio that sounds like her voice singing Lana Del Reys Brooklyn Baby and Complicated by Avril Lavigne. There are also AI covers of the late rapper Juice WRLD singing Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye and the late rapper XXXTENTACION singing Akons Lonely.

Record labels and artists are scrambling to figure out how to fight back against these new computer-generated creations. AI covers only began popping up in recent months, but largely failed to inspire the kind of hand-wringing that Heart on My Sleeve has. Some artists, like Oasis Liam Gallagher, even praised the efforts, with Gallagher saying I sound mega on an AI production of a lost album. Another such cover featured Rihanna singing Cuff It by Beyonce.

IA Rihanna from ChatGPT singing Beyonces "Cuff It" pic.twitter.com/1TAmHEDAKv  Rihanna Facts (@Nevernyny) April 13, 2023

But on the heels of the popularity of ChatGPT, which has democratized access to AI tools, Heart On My Sleeve is raising alarm bells because of how popular the song became in such a short timeframe, on top of using copyrighted music for songs the mimicked artists never created.

The future of AI in music

The future of how AI-generated music will play out in the music industry is yet to be seen, but UMG recently asked major streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music not to allow artificial intelligence companies to input their music into the programs that train these AI tools. The Financial Times cited an anonymous source when reporting that the music corporation has been issuing takedown requests.

A spokesperson for Universal Music Group (or UMG) told CNN that they have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators.

It would not be surprising to see more lawsuits like the one that Getty Images filed against the AI art generator Stable Diffusion, as well as a group of visual artists that sued the same AI company, and another called Midjourney. And the ethical questions around creativity, originality, and ownership are only beginning to be unpacked. In its statement, UMG added, The training of generative AI using our artists music  begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on.
A drone equipped with a camera has crashed at the aircraft parking area at Pskov airport. A drone allegedly launched from Ukraine has exploded in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.

Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet TASS, citing Rosgvardia [Russian National Guard]; Russian news outlet Baza

Details: Rosgvardia reports no explosives were found in the drone that crashed at Pskov airport. The Baza Telegram channel said that it was a quadcopter equipped with a camera. After reviewing the surveillance footage, it turned out the drone had been flying over the airport on the evening of 18 April.

Baza states that the drone crashed in the airport's aircraft parking area.

Staff from the engineering and technical service of the Krom riot police detachment arrived at the scene. The drone has been handed over to law enforcement agencies to identify the owner.

In addition, the Telegram channel reported on the morning of 20 April that a drone allegedly coming from Ukraine had exploded in Belgorod Oblast.

As Baza reported, an improvised UAV with an explosive device attached to it was launched from the Ukrainian village of Starytsia in the Chuhuiv district of Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of 19 April. Russian electronic warfare forces detected and grounded it during its flight.

The drone crashed two kilometres from the village of Murom, Belgorod Oblast, and exploded. No casualties were reported.

Background: On 19 April, a drone crash was reported in Tula Oblast in Russia. The UAV was found in a forest belt in the Shchyokinsky district. It was allegedly "flying towards a thermal power plant" but was shot down.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
WASHINGTON  Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared during his inaugural address last August that the time has come for a new approach in the international war on drugs, which he argued has failed  and failed resoundingly.

The leftist leader, who also has vowed to bring total peace to his nation of 50 million after six decades of conflict, took his message to Washington on Thursday when he met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Petro's decriminalization approach comes as Biden has been increasingly criticized by Republicans for being weak on border security and stopping the flow of fentanyl from Mexican cartels who also traffic in Colombian cocaine.

Petro and Biden were to discuss ways to deepen the relationship between their countries and make progress on mutual areas of interest, such as countering narcotics trafficking, promoting economic and security cooperation, combatting climate change and advocating for human and labor rights, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Drug raid: Italy seizes 4 tons of cocaine worth $256 million in bust linked to Colombian drug operation

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who has called the U.S.-led war on drugs a failure, meets with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday.

Republicans slam Biden drug policy

Biden has been under attack from congressional Republicans who argue that his administration has been weak on drug enforcement.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., staged a news conference at the U.S.-Mexico border in February and charged that Biden's border policies have allowed deadly drugs like fentanyl to enter the country illegally.

Fentanyl is trafficked into the United States from countries such as China, India and Mexico and is sometimes mixed with cocaine  often without the users knowledge  to increase the drugs potency or profitability, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl have soared in the United States, and fentanyl accounts for the majority of synthetic opioid deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Has the war on drugs failed?

Colombia is the worlds largest producer of cocaine despite decades of international efforts to curb the drug trade.

In 2021, the Latin American country produced 972 tons of cocaine that are exported mostly to the United States, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reported last July.

For almost two decades, the United States spent around $10 billion to fight cocaine production. The initiative known as "Plan Colombia" focused on the eradication of coca, strengthening Colombia's security apparatus and solving an internal conflict where more than 200,000 people died.

Petro argues that the approach has been ineffective in reducing harvests and has instead criminalized otherwise law-abiding peasants and strengthened Mafias.

A landmark truth commission report found the war on drugs prolonged the country's decadeslong civil war.

Instead of a war on drugs, Petro favors expanding crop substitution programs that would provide rural farmers with incentives and training to grow legal crops.

Reducing drug use does not require wars, Petro told world leaders at the United Nations in September. It needs us all to build a better society, a more supportive, more affectionate society.

Petro told reporters after the meeting with Biden that he asked the U.S. for help in fighting drugs.

"It is one thing to spray a plant and some human beings who are economically weak, and another thing is to pursue the drug trafficking business community, which is done through intelligence work, tracing their assets and their money, and which is done through intersection," he said.

He added: "I requested a little more help in that regard. We need more vessels, more boats, more drones."

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Move over, Cocaine Bear: Pablo Escobar's "cocaine hippos" won't stop multiplying - so Colombia wants some gone

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden meets with Colombian President Petro to talk drugs
The number of drug overdose deaths declined last year in Kentucky for the first time since 2018, according to preliminary data.

Fatal overdoses dropped 5% between 2021 and 2022, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center found, using data from Kentuckys Office of Vital Statistics. In 2021, a record 2,257 people died of a drug overdose in the commonwealth. Last year, that toll dropped to 2,127, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday.

While we find hope in the decline in drug overdose deaths, this remains a public health crisis that we must continue to work together to address, the governor said in a news release.

The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center said a more detailed report is forthcoming, and the states Office of Drug Control Policy has yet to release its official annual overdose fatality report for 2022. That report will include a breakdown of overdose deaths by county and demographic, and provide a detailed look at which drugs were most prevalent in these deaths. In recent years, fentanyl and its analogues have been a primary driver in fatal overdoses in Kentucky.

Dana Quesinberry, co-principal investigator for surveillance of the Kentucky Drug Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program, said this new number shows prevention efforts are working.

Drug overdose deaths in Kentucky have been on the rise for the last four years, with a spike at the start of the world-wide pandemic, Quesinberry said. The numbers from 2022 show that prevention efforts are working, and we share this news today to continue to inform prevention interventions as we work together across state and local governments to address this public health crisis and save lives.

Fentanyl, among the most lethal of fully synthetic opioids, has long driven the states increase in deaths. Autopsies performed by the states Office of the State Medical Examiner, along with toxicology reports submitted by local coroners, show that 73% of all overdose deaths last year involved fentanyl  a 16% increase from 2020, according to the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinets report. Ninety percent of those deaths involved opioids.

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Fentanyl changed everything, leading to a spike of overdoses in 2018 and 2019, Van Ingram, director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, said in a previous interview with the Herald-Leader. ... one pound does as much as 10.

With heroin, it requires an agricultural product. You have to grow poppies, pay people to guard the product, harvest the product and turn it into a pharmaceutical product, Ingram said. (With fentanyl) you can skip all of those steps and make a pharmaceutical.

New laws to help address substance use, save lives

Around the time use of fentanyl became more widespread, other efforts to curb the drug epidemic were also ramping up to address substance use disorder.

This includes increased access to treatment facilities and harm reduction efforts, and new legislation passed to address substance use disorder as a mental health issue.

In the most recent Kentucky Legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 353, which removes fentanyl testing strips from being considered drug paraphernalia under state law, unless they are found in the possession of traffickers. It also directs the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet to conduct a Fentanyl Education and Awareness campaign.

FDA expands access to overdose-reversing Narcan. How Kentuckians can find it now

One study, focused on whether people who use drugs would use the testing strips, found that 95% of study participants  all young adults engaging in the use of opioids  were willing to use testing strips when taught proper use, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. The same study showed that 70% of participants found their drugs were contaminated by fentanyl.

In the 2022 legislative session, Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, sponsored Senate Bill 90  establishing a conditional dismissal program throughout the state which diverts people with mental health and substance use disorder from the carceral system.

Under that law, individuals can receive treatment for a behavioral health disorder instead of going to jail. With an agreement between the defendant and prosecutors, their charges are dismissed if they complete the treatment program.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify in Congress about the courts ethical standards amid a controversy surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas.

Durbin vowed to hold a hearing on May 2 on ethical rules at the high court after a ProPublica investigation revealed that Thomas took various luxury trips over the years paid for by Harlan Crow, a Dallas-based real estate developer who has donated millions to conservative causes.

The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Courts ethical standards. I invite you to join it, and I look forward to your response, Durbin wrote in a letter to Roberts on Thursday, also inviting him to designate another justice in his place.

I didnt say I think its inappropriate, Im just saying I would be surprised if he agreed to come. And I would support his decision not to come if thats what he wanted to do, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the committees ranking member, told reporters on Thursday.

If Roberts does not voluntarily appear, Durbin said the absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who sits on the committee, would prevent Democrats from subpoenaing the chief justice.

It takes a majority. I dont have a majority. Theres been no discussion of subpoenas for anyone at this point, Durbin told reporters.

The Hill has reached out to a Supreme Court spokesperson for comment.

The recent Thomas controversy has stirred GOP unease while renewing calls among Democrats and judicial watchdog groups for Supreme ethics reform.

Under federal law, Supreme Court justices are required to file annual financial disclosures, but Thomas has publicly said he was advised that the trips fell into a personal hospitality exception. The federal judiciarys policy-making arm last month clarified the exception, and Thomas said he will follow that guidance in the future.

Unlike other federal judges, the justices are not subject to a binding code of ethics. All Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have called for such a move, but Roberts resisted doing so roughly a decade ago in his 2011 year-end report on the judiciary.

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He wrote at the time that the code was a starting point but that it did not adequately answer some of the ethical considerations unique to the high court, also noting that the justices had never addressed whether Congress had the authority to impose ethical rules on the justices.

Since then, there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally, Durbin wrote in the letter. These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Courts decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence. The status quo is no longer tenable.

Al Weaver and Nathaniel Weixel contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
AMSTERDAM (AP)  A Dutch salvage company has reached agreement with the United Nations to pump oil from a rusting tanker off the coast of war-ravaged Yemen in a move hailed as a critical milestone in moves to avert a possible environmental disaster, its parent company announced Thursday.

Boskalis said that its Smit Salvage subsidiary has reached agreement with the U.N. Development Program to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying tanker FSO Safer. A specialist support ship, the Ndeavor, is setting sail Friday to the east African nation of Djibouti to prepare for the mission, the company said.

The announcement came just over a month after the U.N. said it had signed an agreement to buy a very large vessel that can hold oil pumped off the Safer.

The Japanese-made Safer was built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in the 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels of oil pumped from fields in Marib, a province in eastern Yemen. With the impoverished Arab Peninsula country engulfed for years in civil war, no annual maintenance has been carried out on the ship, which is is 360 meters (1,181 feet) long with 34 storage tanks, since 2015.

In 2020, internal documents obtained by The Associated Press showed that seawater has entered Safers engine compartment, causing damage to pipes and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases has leaked out.

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner called the agreement with Boskalis another critical milestone of the Stop Red Sea Spill operation to transfer oil from the FSO Safer.

We look forward to be working with Boskalis and other leading experts to prevent a humanitarian, environmental and economic disaster," he added, while appealing to governments and businesses to help raise the remaining $29 million needed to fund the operation.

An enormous oil disaster is looming, which could have serious humanitarian, environmental and economic implications. But we now have a chance to prevent that disaster," Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher said in a statement. The Dutch government worked with the UNDP to raise funds for the mission.
 Flash

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, meets with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Sylvia is accompanying Bongo on his state visit to China. [Photo/Xinhua]

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, met with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Peng recalled with pleasure her interactions with Sylvia and their joint efforts to promote the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, and said she appreciated Sylvia's longstanding enthusiasm for public welfare.

Peng spoke about China's achievements in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and the fight against COVID-19, as well as her work as a World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Peng said that China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Gabon, share experience, promote cooperation and bring more benefits to the two peoples. She voiced confidence that under the leadership of the leaders of the two countries, bilateral cooperation in various fields will continue to deepen, and that this friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Sylvia, who is accompanying the Gabonese president on his state visit to China, thanked Xi and Peng for their hospitality and said she was impressed with China's friendly ties with Gabon.

Gabon admires China's great achievements in public health, and is willing to learn from China's successful experience and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China, she said.

Sylvia said she looks forward to having the opportunity to see more of China and to appreciate the Chinese culture and the country's development.
Starting treatment for multiple sclerosis early  before symptoms even begin  could possibly delay the onset of the condition, new research finds.

Preliminary results of a small Phase 3 clinical trial showed a drug called teriflunomide may delay or prevent MS symptoms in people who have whats known as radiologically isolated syndrome, which causes the same brain and spinal cord lesions seen in people with MS. The findings will be presented next week at the American Academy of Neurologys 75th annual meeting in Boston.

About half of people who have RIS go on to develop MS.

The goal of treatment in the RIS phase is to keep a patient in the 50% that doesnt convert to MS in 10 years, to stop it before the disease becomes symptomatic, said Dr. Orhun Kantarci, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and a co-author of the new study.

There are currently no Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for RIS, but early intervention is crucial, experts say.

Once damage starts to accumulate and disability starts to develop, we cant reverse that, said Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic who was not involved in the research. So its very important to prevent it from happening in the first place.

MS is a central nervous system disease, affecting the brain and the spinal cord. It can cause a number of symptoms that vary in severity, including vision problems, muscle weakness, numbness and difficulty concentrating, according to the National Institutes of Health.

People with RIS may have very subtle symptoms that go unnoticed, said Dr. William Shaffer, a neurologist at UCHealth in Fort Collins, Colorado, who was also not involved in the trial. Early treatment could prevent any progression as soon as lesions are detected, he said.

The drug teriflunomide, sold under the name Aubagio, is already approved to treat patients with the most common type of MS, called relapsing-remitting MS. It accounts for 85% of all cases. Sanofi, which makes the drug, helped fund the trial.

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The new trial is the second to test whether an approved MS drug is able to prevent symptoms in people who have RIS. The ARISE trial tested another MS drug, called Tecfidera, in 87 people in the U.S. and found it to be effective at delaying or preventing MS symptoms.

The latest study included 89 adults from Europe and Turkey with an average age of 40 who were followed for two years. Seventy percent were female, and all had RIS lesions that showed up on an MRI, but none had symptoms of MS.

Compared to those who got a placebo, those who were treated with teriflunomide had a 63% decreased risk of developing early symptoms of MS, including numbness and tingling and issues with balance or dizziness.

The medications seem to work better when theyre started earlier, Cohen said.

Although the trial only lasted two years, Kantarci said this is consistent with how long drugs are studied in clinical trials for MS, and the findings still suggest long-term results.

Who should get early treatment for MS?

Although early intervention is expected in other diseases that can show up on scans before they cause symptoms, such as breast and colorectal cancers, that isnt the case for MS, Kantarci said.

But unlike breast and colorectal cancer, people arent screened for RIS; its typically found incidentally when people have a brain or spinal MRI for other reasons. Kantarci doesnt think that should change; RIS is rare and doesnt warrant routine screening, he said.

Whats more, because only half of patients with RIS go on to develop MS, early treatment would be unwarranted in the other half.

Therapies have side effects and have some risks associated with them like all medications, and theyre expensive, said Dr. Nancy Sicotte, director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

A better understanding of RIS could help guide doctors to which patients would benefit most from early intervention.

Previous research has already identified some specific lesions in RIS patients that appear to indicate a person will go on to develop MS. In the future, Sicotte said, early intervention may be reserved for these patients.

Kantarci agreed.

Based on previous studies, we know that some patients are more likely to become symptomatic with MS, including those who are younger or who have problems with their spinal fluids and spinal cord that suggest MS, he said. Wed like those to be the ones who receive the treatment.

Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Semi-wagon with grain

The drop in grain exports has impacted Ukraines overall export numbers. The average daily transfer of various cargo fell by 12.7% - from 1,980 to 1,730 cars, said Tkachov.

Read also: EU to take preventive steps against Ukrainian agricultural products

"Speaking of grain exports, we have already transported 1.53 million tons in 19 days (of April), which is less than last month (March 2023). We see a decrease. If this trend continues, we will export about 2.4 million tons per month, while in the best months we transported 3.2-3.4 million tons," Interfax-Ukraine quoted Tkachov as saying.

Poland and Slovakias bans on Ukrainian food imports have played a significant role in this trend, as well as disruptions in the work of the grain corridor.

Poland banned grain imports from Ukraine on April 15, caving to the demands of Polish farmers who had protested Ukrainian agriculture shipments for months.

Read also: Polish agriculture minister resigns amid anger over Ukrainian grain imports

They claim that a significant part of Ukrainian grain does not transit further, remaining in Poland to flood the market and depress the prices.

Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria have joined the temporary ban, also expanding it to a wide range of other farming products. The exception was made for products in transit.

The EU has slammed the bans, saying they contravene both EU and international law, said EU spokesperson for trade issues, Miriam Garcia Ferrer.

Ukraine and Poland agreed on April 18 to renew grain transit through Poland, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine said.

Romania hasn't restricted Ukrainian grain transit via its ports.

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
Sen. Dianne Feinstein leaves a classified briefing on China at the Capitol on Feb. 15. Democrats' efforts to temporarily replace Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee met quick opposition April 17. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

We do not envy Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Californias longest serving senator and the most senior member of the U.S. Senate planned to finish her term and retire after the 2024 election. But a bad case of shingles has left her sidelined at home in San Francisco since early March, unable to travel to Washington and with no clear indication of when she might improve enough to go back to work.

Her absence wouldnt be a big deal except that in the closely divided Senate, Feinstein is a crucial Democrat vote, particularly on President Bidens judicial appointments. A dozen nominees had been awaiting a vote in the Judiciary Committee; seven were approved by the committee on Thursday.

With Feinstein present, Democrats have 11 members to Republicans 10. With her absent, the panel is evenly split and Bidens picks cannot move forward without GOP support  which is no certainty these days given the partisan and ideological battle for influence in the courts. While judicial appointments may be the foremost concern, Democrats' slim majority in the Senate also means Feinsteins continued absence will make raising the debt ceiling or approving Bidens nominee for labor secretary difficult, if not impossible.

Last week, acknowledging that her recovery has been slower than hoped, Feinstein asked Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to appoint a temporary replacement for her on the Judiciary Committee. Schumer was willing but Republicans rejected the idea  loath to allow Bidens judicial picks to move forward.

That puts the pressure back on Feinstein. The senator is in the extraordinarily difficult position of having to reckon with how her health might affect her ability to return to Washington. The decision is hers to make, in consultation with her doctors, family and close associates.

Feinstein has been a steadfast public servant for decades. Surely, she knows her role in the Senate is so important that a long leave will have serious consequences for her constituents, her party and the nation. Her continued absence could stymie progress on issues that shes dedicated her career to advancing including womens rights, LGBTQ protections and gun control.

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The Judiciary Committee confirms federal judicial nominees who wield incalculable power over Americans lives. Biden has been racing to fill federal court vacancies over the last two years, adding more women, people of color and those with diverse professional backgrounds to the bench. Biden's nominees offer an important counterbalance to the huge number of federal judges and conservative Supreme Court justices that then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was able to push through during President Trumps term.

The shift in the courts has already had demonstrable effects. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade last year, and the Texas judge who invalidated the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion drug mifepristone earlier this month on specious grounds was a Trump appointee.

Feinstein also has to consider her admirable legacy on controlling the indiscriminate use of semiautomatic weapons and other rational gun controls  and then to look at how judges appointed by opponents of those controls are undermining all that she worked for. Her continued absence blocks the confirmation of judges who likely are less aligned with extremist pro-gun views as the many judges appointed and confirmed during the Trump era.

Federal judges have lifetime appointments, so Democrats have little recourse except to fill vacancies with appointees who will not roll back decades of bodily autonomy and gun control or support intolerance and discrimination  when they have the power to do so. As long as Feinstein is unable to work, they don't have that power, and that's a situation that cannot continue.

This is probably not how Feinstein envisioned her final years in office. Ideally she would have the time and space to recover in peace and return to her life's work, but these are not ideal times. With the balance of power so tenuous in Washington and the stakes so high at every election, there's no leeway to keep missing critical votes. We wish Feinstein well in the coming days as she considers perhaps the most difficult decision of her long, storied career.

Updates:

10:11 a.m. April 20, 2023: The editorial has been updated to reflect the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday.



This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON  Problems with the T-7A Red Hawk, including a potentially dangerous escape system and ejection seat, have caused the U.S. Air Force to push back a production decision and deliveries of the services next jet trainer aircraft.

The Air Force said in an email to Defense News that it now expects to make a decision on producing the T-7A in February 2025, and for the aircrafts manufacturer Boeing to start delivering them in December that year. The schedule shift means the aircraft will now arrive at least two years later than the service originally intended.

It is the latest slide in the T-7s schedule, after a December acknowledgement that problems with the aircrafts design and testing caused the planes production to slip into 2024.

The delay was first reported by Air and Space Forces Magazine.

A Boeing spokesperson confirmed the re-baselining of the T-7s schedule in an email to Defense News. Our goal remains to get this new critical training capability in the hands of pilots, the company said.

The Air Force plans to buy 351 T-7s to replace the T-38 Talon jet trainer, which the Air Force has flown since the early 1960s and is rapidly showing its age. The Air Force in 2018 awarded Boeing a $9.2 billion contract to build the new trainer.

Boeing touted the T-7s digital design process and advanced manufacturing techniques as a potential model for designing and building aircraft faster and with fewer risks and defects. But problems, including concerns over the aircrafts ejection seats and other emergency egress systems, have slowed progress.

The T-7 was designed to accommodate pilots with a wider range of body types and heights, as well as both male and female pilots. For years, Air Force aircraft and their cockpits were designed with fitting only men in mind, and women frequently found it difficult to receive clearance to fly.

But tests showed the T-7s emergency escape system could be dangerous for some pilots. The Air Force said last December that 2021 tests found some ejecting pilots could be at a high risk of concussions, unsafe acceleration when parachutes open, or losing their visor at high speeds.

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The escape system, as well as glitches with the T-7s flight control software, led to the schedule slip announced last year. Boeing said in December that a fix to the flight control software problems was expected to head into testing in early 2023.

The Air Force said this month that it and Boeing began to re-baseline the T-7s schedule in June 2022 to take into account delays caused by problems, including testing and hardware qualification challenges, aerodynamic instabilities such as a now-resolved wing rock problem, critical parts shortages caused in part by the pandemic, the escape system problems, and Boeings inability to rapidly correct deficiencies.

Wing rock refers to a problem in which the T-7s wings could have dangerously rocked back and forth along the roll axis.

The risk assessment led the T-7 program office to recommend the Milestone C decision change to February 2025, which means the service now expects the first production aircraft to be delivered in December 2025.

Because a decision on production isnt expected to occur until 2025, the Air Force said it opted to strike procurement funding for the programs low-rate initial production in the fiscal 2024 budget request. The service originally expected to spend $322 million on procurement of the T-7 next year, according to documents accompanying the FY23 budget request.

The Air Force said it and Boeing are now confident the T-7s escape system will be safe and effective, after making improvements to the system and testing. Minor adjustments to the seat have increased safety and reduced the risk to pilots, the Air Force said. The service said it and Boeing will also keep studying the ejection seats performance through the rest of this year to find other ways to improve the technology.

The Air Force said Boeings first two production-relevant T-7s are undergoing test flights at Boeings facility in St. Louis, Missouri.

Boeing is finishing construction of five engineering and manufacturing development T-7s, the Air Force said.

Boeing said those aircraft are expected to start their flight tests this summer in St. Louis. The Air Force said the first three are then scheduled to move to Edwards Air Force Base in California, where they will undergo flight testing in September.
The sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles to torture their rivals while some of their victims were "fed dead or alive to tigers," according to an indictment recently released by the U.S. Justice Department. The three Guzman sons charged  Ovidio Guzman Lopez, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, known as the Chapitos, or little Chapos  were among 28 Sinaloa cartel members charged in a massive fentanyl-trafficking investigation announced last week.

The Justice Department accused the cartel members of running "the largest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world." U.S. prosecutors also detailed the brutal methods of torture and executions used by the cartel to extend power and intimidate enemies.

According to the indictment, rival drug traffickers, law enforcement officers and members faithful to other cartel factions were among those interrogated by the Chapitos at the Navolato, Sinaloa, ranch owned by Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar.

"Once information was obtained by these captives, typically through torture, these individuals were killed  either by or at the direction of the Chapitos themselves  and the bodies disposed of throughout the area. While many of these victims were shot, others were fed dead or alive to tigers" belonging to Ivan and Alfredo, the indictment says.

In another chilling description, federal prosecutors alleged that two of El Chapo's sons were involved in the capture and murder of two Mexican federal law enforcement officers in 2017. One of the officers was interrogated and killed while the other was tortured in front of El Chapo's sons by the cartel's hitmen, known as "Ninis."

"For approximately two hours, members of the Ninis tortured Victim-5 by inserting a corkscrew into Victim 5's muscles, ripping it out of his muscles, and placing hot chiles in his open wounds and nose" before being shot dead by Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, the indictment alleges. The victim and his fellow slain officer were then dumped near a motel off of a highway near the ranch, federal prosecutors said.

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The indictment goes on to allege that El Chapo's sons used electrocution and waterboarding to torture members of rival drug cartels as well as associates who refused to pay debts. Federal officials said that the Chapitos also tested the potency of the fentanyl they allegedly produced on their prisoners.

Of the three Chapitos charged, only Ovidio Guzman Lopez has been captured. He was arrested in January in the Sinaloa capital of Culiacan.

Army soldiers drive past a destroyed vehicle on the streets of Jesus Maria, Mexico, on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, the small town where Ovidio Guzman was detained earlier in the week. Thursday's government operation to detain Ovidio, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin

"Death and destruction are central to their whole operation," DEA chief Anne Milgram Milgram said Friday, calling the Chapitos and the global network they operate "a network that fuels violence and death on both sides of the border."

El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel's founder, is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses.

In January, El Chapo sent an "SOS" message to Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, alleging that he has been subjected to "psychological torment" in prison.

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An El Paso man has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in the 2018 desert shooting death of a teenager killed for not following the rules of a street gang.

Arath Jauregui, now 23, received a 25-year sentence after pleading guilty to a murder charge March 27 in 243rd District Court, records show.

Arath Jauregui was sentenced after pleading guilty to a murder charge in the shooting death of Jose Guadalupe "Joey" Reazola in the Montana Vista desert in 2018.

Jauregui was convicted of killing 19-year-old Jose Guadalupe "Joey" Reazola, whose body was found by a group riding all-terrain vehicles about 200 yards into the desert off Century Lane in Montana Vista in 2018.

El Paso County sheriff's detectives learned from witnesses that Jauregui, who was 18 years old at the time, claimed to be a member of the Bloods street gang and was known by the nickname of "Smurf," according to a criminal complaint affidavit.

Homicides 2023: Bel Air High School mourns student killed in desert party shooting

Witnesses told investigators that Jauregui told them that Reazola had "three strikes" for not following Jauregui's "instruction for displaying proper gang attire, snitching and not being picked up," the complaint states. The Horizon City teenager died from multiple gunshot wounds.

The Bloods are a primarily African American gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1970s before developing "sets" in cities across the nation. The Bloods street gang presence in El Paso dates back to the 1980s and includes Black and Latino members.

Shortly after the homicide, Jauregui fled over the border into Juarez and for three years was listed among El Paso's most-wanted fugitives.

In October 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers captured Jauregui at the border when the U.S. citizen was identified as a wanted person during the border inspection of a vehicle at the Bridge of the Americas.

Jauregui remains at the El Paso County Jail Annex awaiting transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, according to a jail log.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso man sentenced in desert murder tied to Bloods gang
An El Salvador man who fired several shots into a Bellefonte home last month was sentenced Thursday to no additional jail time before he is deported.

Elias Quintanilla, 39, was sentenced by Centre County Judge Brian Marshall to a maximum of 36 days in jail  the amount of time he was incarcerated since his March arrest.

He pleaded guilty Thursday to one felony count of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure. Three charges were dropped.

Quintanilla told a detective he fired six shots into a home along East Lamb Street, borough police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. Three went into a deck, two went into the front wall of the home and one round was unaccounted for.

He offered a brief statement through an interpreter before his sentence was handed down.

Just to be forgiven for what I did, Quintanilla said.

Hes set to remain incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility until hes detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The authorities in St Petersburg have started sending out electronic military conscription notices in test mode as part of the spring conscription in Russia.

Source: Russian local news agency Fontanka, citing Sergei Kachkovsky, Chief Enlistment Officer in St Petersburg

Details: The test military draft notices are reportedly being sent to Russian citizens to their personal accounts on the Federal State Information System Gosuslugi.

Kachkovsky states that the issue of SMS notices is also being worked on.

Background:

On 14 April, Vladimir Putin, President of the aggressor country, signed a law that equates electronic conscription notices with paper ones, introduces a register of persons liable for military service and closes the borders for evaders.

Electronic conscription notices in Russia will reportedly be sent out in test mode during the spring conscription  in particular, in Moscow, conscription for military service will be carried out through the Gosuslugi portal.

Maxim Loktev, Chief Enlistment Officer for the Russian capital, said that conscripts who do not live at their place of registration in Moscow are tracked using the city's video surveillance system.

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Elephant seals avoid predators by sleeping while they dive, a new study has found.

The research published Thursday in Science sheds new light on the universal mammal need for sleep and the species persistence through centuries of widespread hunting.

The large aquatic mammals spend up to seven months at sea at a time  most of it on repeated back-to-back dives hundreds of feet below an often-hazardous surface.

Daniel Costa of the University of California Santa Cruz told The Hill that this constant activity led to a consistent question.

Whether theyre at sea for two and a half months or eight months, you look at the dive record, and its just one dive after another  20 or 25 minutes underwater, then back to the surface, nonstop, he said.

So: when do they sleep?

To answer that question, the team fitted wild seals with brain-measuring electrodes (secured beneath a skin-tight custom swimmers cap designed by UC Santa Cruz biotechnologist and study coauthor Jessica Kendall-Bar).

They found that the seals take repeated power naps while diving  falling into deep sleep on their long, drifting descent to their undersea fishing grounds.

Then they wake up on the seafloor, catch fish until they are low on air, and surface to start the whole process again.

That means that what for humans is a potentially deadly condition is, for elephant seals, a lifesaving one: sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is the name of a disorder for breath-holding during sleep  which can be fatal in humans. But in elephant seals its a normal part of development: By the time they are a few months old, young seals routinely hold their breath when they sleep, Costa said.

If we understand how the sleep cycle is regulated by whats the fundamental components of how sleep functions normally in elephant seals, that might give us some insight into what goes wrong when humans go to sleep apnea, he added.

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In another way, the strange sleep patterns of elephant seals actually resemble those of humans more than other sea mammals.

The scientists found that the seals sleep so deeply in these dives that they hit REM sleep  the part of sleep marked in humans by both dreams and the physical paralysis that keeps us from acting them out.

Dolphins and smaller, fur-bearing seals cannot fully nap underwater. Instead, they use hemispheric sleeping, in which half of the brain sleeps at a time.

Elephant seals, by contrast, sleep much more like people  when theyre out, theyre out. Why dont they sleep in shifts more like dolphins and seals?

I suspect its because they dont have to, Costa said. Elephant seals are far better divers than those other species, he noted. I also suspect going into depth is a much more efficient way of not being eaten.

The seals unique sleeping habits point to the upside-down geography of the oceans as experienced by the aquatic mammals: one in which the oceans surface, to which they must continually return for air, is a place of danger.

Thats true even for elephant seals, who as the largest members of the seal family achieve sizes of up to two tons (4,000 pounds)  much of that composed of the blubber that keeps them warm during long fishing voyages.

That blubber makes them a rich prize for the pack-hunting predators that stake out the surface. These include pods of highly intelligent orca whales, roving great white sharks and  historically  shipborne crews of humans.

If you think about the surface of the ocean and youre an air-breathing critter  like a seal or a bird or a dolphin  youve always got to come back to the surface, Costa said.

That means an intelligent predator doesnt have to chase its prey into the depths: It simply has to wait. If it just sits at the surface or swims around. Its gonna have a much greater chance of finding you  versus trying to swim through the water column and find you, Costa said.

For elephant seals, that makes the deep ocean a place of safety and a good location for sleeping off the effects of a big meal.

By fitting the seals with accelerometers, the UC team found that after a series of jagged feeding dives  in which the seals traversed the seafloors peaks and valleys chasing fish  they would resurface and sink back down in long, slow drift dives back to the seafloor.

We think that they are sleeping and processing their food, which makes sense, because what happens when you have a big meal? You want to take a nap, Costa said.

The adaptation that allows the seals to take those naps underwater may have helped them squeak through a deadly evolutionary bottleneck. From the 1700s to the early 1900s, the waters of their North Pacific breeding grounds became the site of a killing frenzy.

Driven by commercial and industrial demands for fur and fat rendered from seafaring mammals like whales, dolphins, seals and otters, whaling and hunting expeditions drove species like the sea otter, right whale and elephant seal to the very brink of extinction.

Unlike sharks and killer whales, humans could land on seal colonies and kill the creatures at will  and by the 1920s, the elephant seal population hung on by a thread.

Just one colony of perhaps a few dozen individuals remained, taking refuge on an offshore island in the Mexican state of Baja California.

But after the Mexican government passed laws protecting the mammals in 1922, the elephant seal population began to expand again almost immediately  with the U.S. following suit as seals began to be spotted in California waters, according to the state.

Further legislation in 1972 made it illegal to kill, harass or even annoy marine mammals deemed necessary to the functioning of their ecosystems  including northern elephant seals, which have since rebounded to a population of perhaps 200,000.

Thats a two-thousandfold increase from their lowest population levels and a sign that some endangered species need humans to step out of the way, Costa said.

In contrast to more finicky species like the California condor, whose recovery has relied on intensive captive breeding programs, seals just needed a protector, he said.

We didnt have to do any management. All we did was stand back  and they were able to do this recovery on their own.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Elon Musk sat in the control room on Thursday watching the launch of Starship, which exploded about 4 minutes into the launch. SpaceX

Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX on an "exciting" Starship launch after the prized rocket exploded.

The mega-rocket cleared the launchpad but exploded nearly three minutes after liftoff.

Musk had given the rocket launch a 50% chance of success, guaranteeing "excitement."

Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX on an "exciting" launch after the company's Starship mega-rocket exploded soon after liftoff.

Starship and its Super Heavy booster failed to separate from each other at a critical moment of the flight, then tumbled through the air and exploded into a huge fireball around three minutes after launch.

Musk appeared stonefaced in SpaceX's control room moments after the rocket blew up, as shown on the company's livestream. "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!" he tweeted.

Musk was expecting the launch to be spectacular

Musk had previously hinted the launch had a one-in-two chance of ending in an explosion.

"I'm not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement," the billionaire said in an interview at the Morgan Stanley Conference on March 7, adding: "Won't be boring!"

Musk said during a Twitter Spaces session on Sunday that his biggest concern for the flight was if Starship "fireballed" on the launchpad.

Such an incident would melt the steel and destroy the launchpad, he said, adding this would take SpaceX several months to rebuild. If this happened, it would be a "very bad day," Musk said.

Overall, he estimated a 50% chance that the launch attempt would succeed.

Starship blew up but provided useful information

Musk said in a tweet Thursday that the launch had provided useful information.

"Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months," he said.

Musk's grandest plans hinge not only on Starship's unprecedented power, but also on its capacity to be fully reusable.

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In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX with the goal of making spaceflight cheap enough to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. This is the rocket that's supposed to make that happen.

NASA has also chosen Starship as its next lunar lander, to carry astronauts from an agency vehicle in lunar orbit to the moon's surface. That mission, called Artemis III, could happen sometime this decade.

The rocket is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. With that comes technical challenges that need to be addressed.

An artist's rendering shows a Starship landing on the moon in the future. SpaceX

Up to this point, the tallest rockets were the Saturn V that launched NASA's Apollo missions, and the agency's new Space Launch System, which it developed to return astronauts to the moon again.

Once fully operational, Starship will be able to carry up to 150 metric tonnes (165 US tons) to space, per SpaceX. That jumps to 250 metric tonnes (275 tons) if the company forgoes reusability and discards the spaceship when the mission is done.

To put that in perspective, the most powerful operational rocket right now is SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, which carries up to 70 tons to low-Earth orbit.

Musk's ultimate goal is much bigger than the moon: Eventually, the billionaire has said he aims to build 1,000 Starships to fly 100,000 people to Mars per year, build a city there, and make humans the first multi-planetary species in Earth's history.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two heads of state decided to upgrade the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership."

Xi called President Bongo "an old friend" of the Chinese people. Bongo is the first African head of state visiting China after Xi was reelected as the Chinese president. It fully demonstrates the importance and high level of China-Gabon relations, said Xi.

In recent years, under the leadership of President Bongo, Gabon has been exploring a development path tailored to its national conditions and pursuing national stability and economic diversification. Significant achievements have been made in national development, Xi said.

Xi commended that Gabon has also been promoting the regional integration process and mediating hotspot issues in Africa.

Gabon has held a successful One Forest Summit and taken over as the president of the Economic Community of Central African States not long ago, Xi said, noting that Gabon's influence in the region and beyond has grown markedly.

As a sincere friend of Gabon, China wishes the country still greater progress in all its endeavors and early realization of its strategic goal toward an Emerging Gabon, said the Chinese president.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba and his wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba before the talks between Xi and Bongo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi noted the 50th anniversary of China-Gabon diplomatic relations to be celebrated next year. Over the last half-century, thanks to the commitment and guidance of generations of leaders on both sides, the China-Gabon friendship has stayed rock-firm as ever, Xi said.

In a world undergoing profound changes, China and Gabon have supported each other in advancing their shared interests and upholding international fairness and justice. The strong and sustained growth of the bilateral ties serves the long-term interests of both countries and has an exemplary role to play in building a community with a shared future for humanity, said Xi.

He said that China is willing to work with Gabon to strengthen experience-sharing on state governance, deepen strategic mutual trust, and firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns.

China firmly supports Gabon in pursuing a development path suited to its national realities and is willing to synergize strategies with Gabon and promote cooperation in infrastructure construction, forestry, fishery, the digital economy, and industrial park construction, Xi said.

He called on the two sides to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and strengthen cooperation in tourism, rural revitalization, poverty reduction, and agricultural development.

Xi also urged joint efforts in strategic cooperation in multilateral platforms, such as the United Nations, to safeguard global peace and development, international equity and justice, and the common interests of developing countries.

Regarding China-Africa cooperation, Xi said that China is willing to provide new opportunities to African countries through its own development and turn China-Africa practical cooperation into an example for South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Bongo said Gabon firmly adheres to the one-China policy and supports important concepts proposed by President Xi, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Bongo said he appreciates China's valuable assistance in promoting Gabon's economic diversification and industrialization. He said that the two sides could further strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism.

Gabon looks forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China next year, consolidating and deepening friendly cooperation, and promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, said Bongo.

He added that Gabon is willing to enhance strategic coordination with China at multilateral level and push for better development and more achievements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and Africa-China relations.

After the talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents in fields such as investment, agriculture, housing and urban construction, and climate change.

A joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the People's Republic of China and the Gabonese Republic was published.
SpaceXs Starship launches from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on it first test flight and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. | Eric Gay, Associated Press

SpaceXs massive Starship successfully lifted off from its south Texas launch pad Thursday morning but ran into trouble about four minutes into its debut flight when the rocket began tumbling briefly before being destroyed in an explosion.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, who weeks ago gave the initial launch a 50-50 chance of success, still celebrated the brief mission in a tweet and noted the private space agency harvested valuable information from the effort.

Congrats @SpaceX team on exciting test launch of Starship, Musk tweeted. Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!



Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

And SpaceX embraced its usual wry tone in its own social media postings after the Starship flight, which was scheduled to include a lap around the planet before splashing down in the Pacific near the Hawaiian islands.

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation, one SpaceX tweet read.

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation  SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

SpaceX was poised to launch the rocket on Monday after receiving FAA approval on Friday, but the attempt was scrubbed due to a frozen pressure valve problem.

Under development for years, SpaceXs 400-foot tall rocket is powered by 33 individual Raptor engines that, in unison, create nearly 17 million pounds of thrust. The methane-powered system dwarfs the current record held by NASAs Space Launch System, which flew a successful test flight last November and can achieve almost 9 million pounds of thrust.

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SpaceX describes Starship as a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond. While Thursdays unmanned test flight, had it been completely successful, was not going to include landing the components back on Earth, as SpaceX does with its workhorse Falcon 9 rockets, the Starship system is designed for return and reuse capabilities.

Related

Starship is capable of lifting as much as 250 tons into space and could accommodate 100 people on a potential trip to Mars, according to The Associated Press.

SpaceX has its own plans for putting the Starship to work once it becomes operational, ferrying satellites to low Earth orbit and potentially carrying paying passengers to space. But NASA is also vested in successful development of the giant rocket system, having struck a $2.9 billion contract with SpaceX in hopes of making Starship part of the Artemis moon mission. Starships upper stage spacecraft would be used to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon but the NASA contract stipulates that SpaceX must first prove its abilities by performing a successful unmanned lunar landing.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, California.

Twitter boss Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft as he accused the technology giant of using data from his social media company without permission.

"They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time," the multi-billionaire said in a tweet.

Mr Musk was responding to Microsoft's plan to remove Twitter from its corporate advertising platform.

He did not provide further details or evidence to support the claim.

Microsoft declined to comment when approached by the BBC on Thursday.

Earlier, the company said in a notice that its advertising platform would "no longer support Twitter" from Tuesday 25 April.

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

As a result, ad buyers would not be able to access their Twitter accounts through Microsoft's social management tool.

"Other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will continue to be available," Microsoft said.

Twitter's press email responded to a query with a customary poo emoji.

In a separate tweet, in the discussion about the social media platform's data, Mr Musk said he was "open to ideas".

"But ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it (removing ads) and then selling our data to others isn't a winning solution," he added.

In February, Twitter started charging for the data it collects from "hundreds of millions" of users, with a basic plan starting at $100 a month.

The data allows users to "manage and track every aspect of your social media presence", according to the platform.

Since buying Twitter for $44bn (35.4bn) in October, Mr Musk has cut its workforce by around 80% and moved to boost the company's finances through measures including charging users for "blue tick" verification.

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In recent months, major companies including iPhone maker Apple reportedly halted advertising on the platform over concerns about how content was moderated on the site.

In November, Mr Musk said Twitter had seen a "massive" drop in revenue and blamed activists for pressuring advertisers.

Speaking to the BBC last week, he said Twitter had just months left to live when he took over. He also said "almost all advertisers have come back or said they are going to come back" to Twitter.

Mr Musk added that Twitter could be profitable by the second quarter of 2023, and he would be willing to sell the company if the right person came along.
Twitter chief Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft after the tech giant revealed it is dropping the microblogging site from one of its advertising platforms.

Mr Musk also alleged without providing evidence that Microsoft was training its AI programmes illegally using Twitter data.

The Tesla titans tweets come after Microsoft announced this week that starting from 25 April its Smart Campaigns advertising platform will no longer support Twitter.

Microsofts Smart Campaigns has been used by advertisers to manage their social media ad campaigns, including on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

But the tech giant noted that employees would no longer be able to access their Twitter account through the social management tool without explaining why it was winding down the support.

However, Microsoft said in a notice that other social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will continue to be available.

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Microsofts move comes following Twitter announcing that it would be largely cutting its free Application Developer Interface, or API, support, effectively killing off third-party services that rely on it.

The API system is used to communicate with other services and helps organisations comb through Twitter data.

However, the social media company reportedly was planning to charge companies from $42,000 to as much as $210,000 per month for access to its API.

Microsofts move comes at a rough time for Twitter that has been continuously trying to boost its revenue with new strategies and cut costs, including by mass layoffs and selling office infrastructure.

Weeks after Mr Musk took over Twitter as the new head, the company has lost a large fraction of its top 1,000 advertisers amid concerns over content moderation on the social media platform.

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Im open to ideas, but ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it (removing ads) and then selling our data to others isnt a winning solution  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

However, earlier this month, in an interview with BBC, he said: If current trends continue, I think we could be profitable, or to be more precise, cash flow positive this quarter if things keep going well.

I think almost all advertisers have come back or said they are going to come back. Theres very few exceptions, the multibillionaire said.

In a separate tweet on Wednesday, the SpaceX and Tesla chief said he was open to ideas about the microblogging platforms data use.

Im open to ideas, but ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it (removing ads) and then selling our data to others isnt a winning solution, he said.
As of Thursday, all Akron-area health systems have moved to a mask-optional policy for most of their patients and visitors at their hospitals and outpatient facilities, ending mask mandates that began in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic.

All Akron-area health systems have moved to a mask-optional policy for most of their patients and visitors at their hospitals and outpatient facilities, ending mask mandates that began in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, some hospitals are still requiring mask-wearing by patients and employees in some situations.

The move comes as health officials cite falling COVID-19 and influenza-related illnesses and increasing immunity in the region.

More: Another COVID booster is now approved for older people and those at high risk

Effective Thursday, Cleveland Clinic became the latest health system to go mask-optional. The Cleveland-based health system that operates Akron General, Medina Hospital and Mercy Hospital in Canton announced in a press release that it would no longer be requiring masks for caregivers or patients.

Summa Health, Akron Childrens Hospital, Western Reserve Hospital and Crystal Clinic all said they were no longer requiring masks, most having changed their policies recently.

University Hospitals, which operates UH Portage Medical Center, on Friday announced that it would be going mask-optional in non patient-care areas on Monday, April. 24.

How many new COVID-19 cases and deaths are being reported in Summit County and Ohio?

COVID-19 illnesses and deaths are still occurring, but at a slower rate. According to the Ohio Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, there have been a total of 3.43 million cases since the pandemic began in 2020, including 139,828 hospitalizations and 42,073 deaths in the state.

Numbers have been dropping. In the last month, Ohio had 18,745 cases, 15,180 hospitalizations and 58 deaths. At the height of the pandemic, the state reported more than 18,000 new cases in a day.

In Summit County, there have been 905 cases in the last month, including 450 hospitalizations and three deaths, according the state health department.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended a second bivalent COVID-19 booster for adults over 65 years old and those at high risk at least four months after their last vaccine. The CDC on Wednesday approved the recommendation.

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More: Cincinnati health systems remove COVID-19 mask mandates for guests at hospitals

Heres what area health systems are doing:

Akron Children's Hospital

Akron Childrens policy of making masks optional for employees, patient families and visitors went into effect on March 15. Parents and visitors are encouraged to wear a mask if they have respiratory or flu-like symptoms, and a family member may request staff or providers wear a mask while providing direct patient care to their child.

Cleveland Clinic

Beginning Thursday, masking became optional for patients, visitors and caregivers at Cleveland Clinic's U.S. facilities. Masking may still be required on certain units dedicated to the care of particularly vulnerable patients and is highly encouraged for those with respiratory symptoms or who have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19, the health system said. Masks will continue to be available at facilities.

We are able to safely make this change as COVID-19 cases have decreased, and the proportion of patients needing hospitalization for COVID-19 has dropped significantly. This is likely because a large population has at least some immunity from vaccination and/or prior infection, and we now have more tools available to treat COVID-19. However, if a patient prefers that their provider wear a mask, the caregiver will do so, the health system said.

The Cleveland Clinic said it will continue to adjust policies. "This may include requiring masking again in the fall, to help limit the spread of influenza and other respiratory viruses among patients and caregivers.

More: Mask mandate at all 4 Columbus-area health systems to end due to falling COVID, flu rates

Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center

Crystal Clinic has been mask optional for quite some time for caregivers and patients, a spokeswoman said. Masks were first optional for patients and vaccinated staff around September 2022. Masking was reinstated in winter of 2022 and then lifted in January.

Summa Health

Summa Health updated its COVID-19 policy on March 31 and made masking optional for patients, visitors and employees. Summit County's Community level of COVID transmission is currently 'low,' therefore masks can be worn based on personal preference or personal level of risk, the health system said.

Masks are still required for the following situations:

For employees who have new onset of respiratory symptoms (cough, runny nose, and/or sore throat).

For employees with greater than 15 minutes exposure without the use of a mask to someone diagnosed with COVID-19.

In clinical areas as per standard and transmission-based precautions.

As per Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandate for unvaccinated health care personnel with the exception of employees who work remotely or off-site, non-clinical locations.

Western Reserve Hospital

Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls recently made masks optional for patients and visitors only. An exact date was not provided. Patients and visitors are still strongly encouraged to wear a mask, the hospital said. "Visitors may be required to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) dependent upon patient isolation/precautionary status. All those in patient-facing roles who are providing care to patients are required to wear a mask.

University Hospitals

University Hospitals on Friday said that effective Monday, masks will be required only in patient-care areas. These areas include patient rooms, during direct patient interactions with health care givers in patient care areas and in waiting rooms reserved for patients, such as outpatient waiting rooms.

Masks will no longer be required in common areas of buildings not used for patient care, including cafeterias, elevators, or parking structures for the health system.

UH operates UH Portage Medical Center in Ravenna and outpatient offices in Summit County.which has operations in Cleveland, Portage County and outpatient offices in Summit County.

Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron-area hospitals update policies to make masks optional
Move over Dick and Jane. A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise.

For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into homes via commercials for Hooked on Phonics materials and through shoebox dioramas assigned by teachers seeking to instill a love of literature.

But momentum has shifted lately in favor of the science of reading. The term refers to decades of research in fields including brain science that point to effective strategies for teaching kids to read.

The science of reading is especially crucial for struggling readers, but school curricula and programs that train teachers have been slow to embrace it. The approach began to catch on before schools went online in spring 2020. But a push to teach all students this way has intensified as schools look for ways to regain ground lost during the pandemic  and as parents of kids who can't read demand swift change.

OK, CLASS. TIME FOR A HISTORY LESSON.

One historical approach to teaching reading was known as whole language. (Close cousins of this approach are whole word and look-say.) It focused on learning entire words, placing the emphasis on meaning. A famous example is the Dick and Jane series, which, like many modern-day books for early readers, repeated words frequently so students could memorize them.

The other approach involved phonics, with supporters arguing students need detailed instruction on the building blocks of reading. That meant lots of time on letter sounds and how to combine them into words.

In 2000, a government-formed National Reading Panel released the findings of its exhaustive examination of the research. It declared phonics instruction was crucial to teaching young readers, along with several related concepts.

Whole language had lost.

What emerged, though, was an informal truce that came to be known as balanced literacy and borrowed from both approaches. The goal: Get kids into books they found enjoyable as quickly as possible.

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But in practice, phonics elements often got short shrift, said Michael Kamil, professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.

It wasnt a true compromise, said Kamil, who had sat on the national reading panel. The approach often led to students learning how to guess words, instead of how to sound them out.

Now, as schools look to address low reading scores, phonics and other elements of the science of reading are getting fresh attention, fueled in part by a series of stories and podcasts by APM Reports. Textbook makers are adding more phonics, and schools have dumped some popular programs that lacked that approach.

WHAT IS THE SCIENCE OF READING?

While the phrase doesnt have a universal definition, it refers broadly to research in a variety of fields that relates to how a child's brain learns to read. Neuroscientists, for instance, have used MRIs to study the brains of struggling readers.

In practice, this science calls for schools to focus on the building blocks of words. Kindergartners might play rhyming games and clap out the individual syllables in a word to learn to manipulate sounds. Experts call this phonemic awareness.

Students later will learn explicitly how to make letter sounds and blend letters. To make sure students arent just guessing at words, teachers might ask them to sound out so-called nonsense words, like nant or zim.

Gone is rote memorization of word spellings. Instead, students learn the elements that make up a word. In a lesson using the word unhappy, students would learn how the prefix un- changed the meaning of the base word.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

For some kids, reading happens almost magically. Bedtime stories and perhaps a little Sesame Street are enough.

But 30% to 40% of kids will need the more explicit instruction that is part of the science of reading, said Timothy Shanahan, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Other kids fall somewhere in between. Theyre going to learn to read, said Shanahan, also one of the members of the 2000 panel and the former director of reading for Chicago Public Schools. Theyre just not going to read as well as they could be or should be.

Complicating the situation, colleges of education often have stuck with balanced literacy despite concerns about its effectiveness. That means teachers graduate with little background on research-backed instructional methods.

The upshot: Parents often pick up the slack, paying for tutors or workbooks when their children struggle, Shanahan said. Extra help can be costly, contributing to racial and income-based disparities.

As a result, a growing number of NAACP chapters are pushing for wider adoption of the science of reading, describing literacy as a civil rights issue.

WHAT IS DYSLEXIA'S ROLE IN THE READING DEBATE?

Parents of children with dyslexia have led the push to use the science of reading. For them, the issue has special urgency. Kids with dyslexia can learn to read, but they need systematic instruction. When the wrong approach is used, they often flounder.

I cant even tell you how many screaming fits we had, recalled Sheila Salmond, whose youngest child has dyslexia. My daughter would come home and say, Mom, Im not learning. And then it became, Mom, Im stupid.

Salmond found herself testifying before Missouri lawmakers, taking a graduate class so she could tutor her daughter and eventually moving her from a suburban Kansas City district to a parochial school. She now is making progress.

WHAT IS CHANGING?

Just a decade ago, it was rare for a state to have laws that mentioned dyslexia or the science of reading.

Now every state has passed some form of legislation. The laws variously define what dyslexia is, require that students are screened for reading problems and mandate that teachers are trained in the most effective strategies, said Mary Wennersten, of the International Dyslexia Association.

States often look to duplicate what has happened in Mississippi, which has credited reading gains to a curriculum revamp that started a decade ago. The multi-million dollar effort includes training teachers on the science of reading.

The changes have put some curriculum programs in the crosshairs.

Some Colorado districts, for instance, have ditched instructional materials that didnt pass muster under a state law that requires schools to use scientifically based reading programs. New York City, whose mayor often talks about his personal struggle with dyslexia, is making changes in its schools as well.

WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE OF READING MEAN FOR PARENTS?

Should they be researching the tenets of the science of reading? Do they need to help their children form letters out of Play-Doh? What about drilling their kids on nonsense words? Flashcards?

Only if they want to, said Amelia Malone, director of research and innovation at the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

What parents must do, she said, is read to their kids. Otherwise, she recommends helping teachers when they ask for it and pushing for evidence-based practices in their childrens schools.

Parents can be part of the solution," she said, "if we educate them on why this is kind of the movement we need.

___

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Bryan Johnson is denying claims made in a lawsuit brought by his former fiancee, Taryn Southern, including that he forced her out of the home they shared when she was getting cancer treatments

Xavier Collin/Shutterstock, Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images Taryn Southern, Bryan Johnson

A wealthy entrepreneur, who's spending millions to reverse the aging process and have the body of an 18-year-old, has been accused by his former fiancee of leaving her after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had given up a lucrative career to focus on his pursuits and their relationship, according to a lawsuit.

Software entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, 45, and actress and content creator Taryn Southern, 36, had a whirlwind romance, according to a suit she filed in October 2021 and obtained by PEOPLE.

Southern recalls in the document how her former fiance swept her off her feet, taking her on lavish vacations, planning a forever future, and even dubbing her "Mrs. Johnson" within weeks of their meeting in 2016.

By March 2018, the pair were living together in Venice, Calif., and engaged to be married. Johnson promised to "take care of her, financially and medically, for the rest of her life," she claims.

However, "a lifelong partnership with ... Johnson came with a steep price," Southern's attorneys allege in the complaint, which was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.

"While repeatedly telling Ms. Southern to stop worrying about money and promising to take care of her for the rest of her life," reads the document, "Johnson demanded Ms. Southern's devotion of her time and creative energy to his personal needs and professional aspirations."

Related:Wealthy Entrepreneur Reversed Biological Age with $2 Million Treatment Program

This, Southern's attorneys claim, left her "financially dependent" on her former fiance when she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer.

In October 2019 while Southern underwent chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments, Johnson demanded that she move out of the home they had shared for three years, according to the lawsuit.

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By that point, Southern allegedly had "no independent source of steady income" to pay her growing medical bills, the filing states. She claims in the suit that Johnson pressured her to give up her career and instead devote her time to working for him, for free, on branding, business development, speech-writing, and film production.

"Johnson then took advantage of Ms. Southern's weakened and vulnerable state and repeatedly leveraged his power and financial control over Ms. Southern to try to get her to give up her rights and the promises she was entitled to: financial security and stability in the future and,

specifically, to share in the anticipated success of his start-up company," reads the complaint.

Southern has requested a jury trial and seeks millions in damages for emotional distress and financial losses, court records show.

When reached by PEOPLE, David Grimes, one of Southern's lawyers, did not comment due to the ongoing litigation.

Related:Black Couple Settles Lawsuit After White Friend Pretending to Be Owner Got Home Appraised for $500K More

Johnson  whose "Project Blueprint" aims to reverse the aging process in every organ in his body, reportedly with the help of more than 30 doctors and at a cost of at least $2 million this year  responded to his former fiancee's lawsuit on Monday.

In the document, also reviewed by PEOPLE, Johnson alleges that Southern's "threadbare" claims are baseless, and that he doesn't owe her a dime.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In the response to his ex's myriad allegations, Johnson says Southern's claims are not only entirely false, but that she missed the two-year statute of limitations to file her claims.

He also claims she isn't owed any damages whatsoever and that she continued to maintain a relationship with him for "several months" after all the alleged events in Southern's suit took place.

"Throughout this time, she never raised any concerns," Johnson's attorneys state in the response. After their relationship ended, Southern "re-initiated contact with Mr. Johnson to request money, but again did not allege that he had any legal obligations to her," the response continues.

Johnson has asked the court to dismiss Southern's complaint and to compel her to pay his legal fees.

PEOPLE also reached out to Johnson's legal team but did not immediately receive a response.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Thursday to ban most uses of a toxic chemical used in paint removal.

The proposal would ban most industrial and commercial uses of methylene chloride, which, in addition to paint removal, is used as a solvent in making pharmaceuticals and in electronics.

One study found that methylene-chloride exposure killed 85 people between 1980 and 2018. The substance has also been linked to certain cancers.

The new proposal, from the Biden administration, goes further than a Trump administration rule that banned the sale to consumers of paint strippers using methylene chloride but did not address its industrial uses.

An EPA press release states that after the 2019 rule, the use of the solvent remained widespread.

The science on methylene chloride is clear, exposure can lead to severe health impacts and even death, a reality for far too many families who have lost loved ones due to acute poisoning, said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a written statement.

Thats why EPA is taking action, proposing to ban most uses of this chemical and reduce exposures in all other scenarios by implementing more stringent workplace controls to protect worker health, he said.

The agency is not proposing a complete ban on the substance. Instead, it is proposing to set new workplace standards aimed at limiting exposure to the substances use at government agencies like the Defense Department, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Environmental organizations largely celebrated the proposal, with many saying it applied the same common-sense protections the Trump administration gave consumers to workers who need it just as much.

EPA just decided to leave workers who had the greatest exposures to methylene chloride paint strippers in harms way, Earthjustice senior attorney Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz said of the Trump-era rule.

This rule will finally provide workers with the same protection as consumers, Kalmuss-Katz added of the Biden rule.

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However, he said that any exemption is going to leave people exposed to a chemical that is not only carcinogenic, but hugely lethal, and it is critical that those exemptions be as short-lived and as narrow as possible.

The chemical industry, meanwhile, raised concerns about the potential supply chain effects of the EPAs proposal.

EPAs website says most of these changes would be fully implemented in 15 months and would amount to a prohibition of an estimated 52% of annual production volume for end uses subject to [the Toxic Substances Control Act]. That scale of reduction in production, that rapidly, could have substantial supply chain impacts if manufacturers have contractual obligations they need to follow through on or if manufacturers decide to cease production entirely, a written statement from the American Chemistry Council read.

The group warned of the potential for ripple effects, including in the pharmaceutical industry.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers voted on Thursday to require member countries to host some of the refugees and migrants coming to the bloc at times of high arrivals, part of a fiercely contested reform due ahead of a 2024 pan-European election.

The European Parliament adopted its position on the looming reform of the bloc's migration and asylum rules ahead of negotiating its final form with the 27 EU member states that have long been split over the so-called obligatory relocations.

Countries including Poland and Hungary refuse to host any of the new arrivals while others including Italy and France - where people from the Middle East and Africa arrive on smugglers' boats across the Mediterranean Sea - say they cannot cope alone.

Warsaw, Budapest and their allies say they can help by providing money, staff or equipment instead of being legally obliged to take in people. The Mediterranean countries of arrival and the rich destination states like Germany say that falls short.

The bloc's migration and asylum system collapsed in 2015 when more than one million people - mostly fleeing the war in Syria - reached Europe's southern shores.

That caught the EU by surprise, stretching its reception and security capacities, and triggering a wave of anti-immigration sentiment across the bloc.

The EU has since tightened external borders and asylum laws to keep people away, and the sensitive issue of migration faded from the top of the bloc's political agenda as the COVID-19 pandemic cut global mobility.

But Mediterranean arrivals rose last year, with the bloc's border agency Frontex reporting some 330,000 unauthorised arrivals.

With irregular immigration on the rise, those including Italy's far-right government are leading growing calls for the EU to do more to reduce sea arrivals.

Previously seen as hardline, ideas to build border fences and assess people's asylum claims outside of Europe - including in Rwanda, as proposed by Denmark - are back on the agenda and part of the EU's political discussions on managing migration.

While the EU wants to overhaul its defunct system before a bloc-wide election in 2024, the issue of obligatory relocations seems as stuck as ever, according to diplomats.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by William Maclean)
The European Parliament voted to condemn Uganda's anti-LGBTQ bill Thursday and urged the European Union to find a way to pressure President Yoweri Museveni into not implementing it.

The resolution, passed by 416 votes to 62 with 38 abstentions, does not oblige Brussels to take any action but will increase pressure on the EU executive to respond with sanctions.

"The resolution deplores President Museveni's contribution to the hateful rhetoric about LGBTIQ persons, adding that EU-Uganda relations will be at stake should the President sign the bill," a statement said.

MEPs urged the European Commission to "use all necessary diplomatic, legal and financial means to convince the president to not sign the law."

And they urged the European Union to "establish an EU strategy for the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality and transgender identity".

Museveni summoned Ugandan ruling party lawmakers to a meeting Thursday to discuss the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023, which calls for harsh penalties for anyone who engages in same-sex activity.

The long-serving leader's assent is required for it to become law and he has faced widespread calls to reject what has been criticised as among the world's harshest anti-gay legislation.

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SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The European Union on Thursday warned against secessionist threats by Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic and laws limiting media freedom and LGBT rights that could undermine Bosnia's progress towards joining the 27-member bloc.

Bosnia was granted the status of EU candidate in mid-December, a decision prompted by fears that instability created by the war in Ukraine could spread to the volatile Western Balkans region.

"Renewed threats of secession coming from Republika Srpska are unacceptable, groundless and contribute to a climate of distrust and tension at the time of crisis in Europe when what is needed is stability and cooperation," Tobias Billstroem, the foreign minister of Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, told reporters in Sarajevo.

Hopes of Bosnian EU membership rose after a national government was formed following October's general election promising to implement outstanding reforms required by the EU.

But Milorad Dodik, the Serb Republic nationalist president, has intensified his secessionist rhetoric and proposed legislation that would curtail media and personal freedoms, such as criminalising defamation, clamping down on foreign-funded non-governmental organisations and banning LGBT organisations from educational institutions.

"The EU is deeply concerned by recent steps by Republika Srpska," said Billstroem, adding that if the draft laws were adopted, it "would be a step backwards for Bosnia-Herzegovina's European path".

Billstroem emphasised that Bosnia was expected to align with EU common foreign and security policy, including on relevant restrictive measures against Russia.

Pro-Russian Dodik maintains that Bosnia should remain neutral with regards to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and opposes any sanctions against Russia.

Bosnia comprises two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation.

Russia has denounced the decision to grant Bosnia EU candidate status, saying it is part of a Western push to impose its policies on the Western Balkan countries.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Christina Fincher)
 Flash

Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with a delegation led by Enkhbaatar Nyamaa, member of the party board and the secretary of the Mongolian People's Party, in Beijing on Thursday.

The two sides exchanged views on implementing the key consensus between the two heads of state, improving experience sharing on party and state governance, and promoting the sound and steady development of China-Mongolia relations.
The European Commission will brief EU ambassadors on the content of a new package of sanctions against Russia this Friday.

Source: Politico citing four unnamed diplomats, reported by European Pravda

Details: Politico has stated that the European Commission and EU countries are preparing the next package of sanctions against Russia this week. Germany has already asked for nuclear energy to be included in the package.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier that the next package of sanctions would focus on combating circumvention of sanctions and loopholes.

According to the four diplomats, the European Commission informed EU ambassadors on Wednesday that it would invite them to closed briefings on the planned content of the sanctions package this Friday.

At such briefings, the European Commission usually informs ambassadors in small groups about what to expect from its proposal. The ambassadors, in turn, can point out "red lines" from their governments.

Any sanctions require the consent of all EU countries.

Hungary has previously promised it will oppose any restrictions on Russian nuclear power.

Unofficial information suggests that Lithuania has proposed that its European partners introduce sanctions against Russia's nuclear power industry, with exceptions for Hungary.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director General at the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, has confirmed that she will become the new EU ambassador to Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda

Details: Mathernova, a Slovakian national, has shared a post on Twitter about her upcoming appointment and said she was "honoured" to represent the EU in Ukraine as the next EU ambassador.

Great honour to be appointed to represent the EU in Ukraine  as the next  Ambassador. #StandWithUkraine #SlavaUkraini @alex_owski https://t.co/vMz2J4rlh5  Katarina Mathernova  (@kmathernova) April 19, 2023

Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger has also reacted to the news. He has noted that this is great not only for Slovakia, but also for the EU and Ukraine.

Quote from Heger: "Im strongly convinced that thanks to your expertise and valuable experience, youll be a great asset for the entire team in Kyiv."

More details: According to media reports, Mathernova's appointment as ambassador to Kyiv is another signal of support for Ukraine's European integration efforts.

The current EU ambassador to Ukraine, Estonian diplomat Matti Maasikas, has held the post since 2019. Katarina Mathernova is expected to take up her new post in September 2023.

In her current position, Mathernova is responsible for the development of the EU's neighbourhood and enlargement policy, and she has already maintained close contacts with the Ukrainian authorities.

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Mathernova's appointment is part of the regular rotation of EU diplomatic missions around the world.

Mathernova is known in Kyiv as one of Ukraine's key friends in Brussels. She is a regular visitor to Kyiv, who has long been dealing with Ukrainian issues and knows both the flaws and strengths of our country compared to EU states and the Union's neighbours.

Interview with Katarina Mathernova: "Ukraine's Movement Towards EU Is Marathon with a Lot of Roadblocks on Its Way"

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The King and Queen Consort will visit Liverpool Central Library as well as the M&S Bank Arena

King Charles III will officially turn the lights on to reveal what the Eurovision Song Contest stage will look like, Buckingham Palace has announced.

Liverpool is hosting the competition on behalf of war-torn Ukraine next month.

The King - along with Camilla, the Queen Consort - will tour the M&S Bank Arena on Wednesday ahead of it hosting the event next month.

As well as revealing the stage set-up they will meet show presenters and Mae Muller, who is representing the UK.

The stage design is intended to give the impression of the contest "opening its arms to Ukraine", organisers have previously said.

The Royal couple will meet the creatives behind the event, along with the show's Ukrainian host Julia Sanina, UK host - and Ted Lasso star - Hannah Waddingham and BBC Radio 2's Eurovision presenters Scott Mills and Rylan Clark.

They are also due to meet Blue Peter presenters Joel Mawhinney, Abby Cook and Mwaksy Mudenda, accompanied by some Blue Peter viewers.

As part of their visit to the city the King and Queen Consort will also visit Liverpool Central Library to officially mark its twinning with Ukraine's first public library, the Regional Scientific Library in Odesa.

They will meet people involved in both a two-week cultural festival running alongside the contest and Eurolearn - a Eurovision-inspired education programme for primary and secondary pupils.

The grand final of the song contest will be broadcast live on TV to millions of viewers around the world, on big screens in cities across the UK and for the first time in cinemas.

Liverpool will host the final on 13 May, following two semi-finals earlier in the week.

In-person tickets for the grand final sold out in less than 40 minutes.

The contest is being held in Liverpool after last year's UK entrant Sam Ryder finished runner-up to Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine prevented the winning country from hosting the 2023 contest, organisers instead said the UK would stage the show on their behalf.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka has won the most prestigious award for photojournalists: World Press Photo 2023. The jury recognised his photo from a maternity hospital in Mariupol bombed by Russians as the Photo of the Year.



Source: website of World Press Photo

Details: Earlier, a series of Malolotka's photographs from Mariupol besieged by Russian occupiers were included in the list of World Press Photo 2023 winners in the Europe category.

"The jury felt that this image captures the absurdity and horror of war. It is an accurate representation of the year's events and evidence of the war crimes being committed against Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces. The image rises as a deeply painful historical fact and highlights the murder of future generations of Ukrainians. By giving the image a platform, the jury hopes that the world will stop and acknowledge the intolerable realities of this war and consider the future of Ukraine," the organisers commented on the winning photo by Maloletka.

Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka

In total, this year's 66th annual World Press Photo contest received 60,448 photos from 3,752 photographers. Thirty photographers won regional awards and received honourable mentions. Today, the organisers announced the four global winners of World Press Photo 2023.

In addition to Maloletka, the winners of World Press Photo 2023 are:

Story of the Year: Mads Nissen with a series of photographs "The Price of Peace in Afghanistan".

Photo: Mads Nissen

Long-term project: Anush Babajanyan with a series on water supply in Central Asia.

Photo: Anush Babajanyan

Open format: Mohamed Mahdi with a web project exploring how sea level rise affects the Egyptian fishing village of Al-Max.

Photo: Mohamed Mahdy

In December 2022, Evgeniy Maloletka was named The Guardian's Photographer of the Year. He was documenting events in Kazakhstan before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, but came back home in January due to the growing threat of a full-scale war. At first, he was based in Kharkiv, and then as part of an Associated Press team with Mstyslav Chernov and Vasylisa Stepanenko, he travelled to Mariupol. For 20 days, the team documented Russian crimes but had to leave because the occupiers began looking for photographers. After Mariupol, Maloletka continued to work in hot spots: Kharkiv, Izium, and Kherson.

In October, the works of Chernov and Maloletka from Mariupol were awarded a prize at a French competition. In May, they won the Georgiy Gongadze Prize [Ukrainian award for independent journalists  ed.].

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

Evil Dead Rise is a kindred unholy spirit to Fede Alvarezs 2013 franchise reboot, leaning heavily into the gonzo camerawork and gnarly gore of Sam Raimis seminal horror-comedy trilogy while doing away with the demented humor that distinguished those illustrious predecessors and, moreover, made them (and star Bruce Campbell) so popular and influential. Astonishingly, though, a lack of wit turns out to be the least of the problems plaguing this sequel, which proves a de rigueur debacle only capable of clunkily playing the hits.

It's not apparent from the start that Evil Dead Rise will be so deflating, since its demonic-disaster prologueinvolving three twentysomethings beset by diabolical forces at an isolated forest cabinoperates as an effective homage-y riff on Raimis classic set-up. The shot that accompanies the films title card has a dark majesty that portends spine-tingling things to come, so its immediately disappointing when the story abruptly segues to an apartment building in what appears to be the dingiest, dreariest part of Los Angeles.

There, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her kids Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), Danny (Morgan Davies), and Kassie (Neil Fisher) are visited by Ellies younger sister Beth (Lily Sullivan), whos fresh from the road working as a rock n roll guitar techniciana profession that Ellie repeatedly dismisses as being a groupie.

Ellie is welcoming to Beth, yet not-so-subtly bitter about her sisters failure to return voicemails regarding her husbands abrupt departure. Beth feels bad about this, and her guilt is amplified by the fact that shes just learned that shes expecting a child of her own, thus bonding the two in single-motherhood solidarity. The sight of Beth staring with dismay at her pregnancy test in a cruddy club bathroom is writer/director Lee Cronins way of tipping off viewers that this will be an odyssey of blossoming maternal instincts.

Warner Bros. Pictures

As a result, Ellies kids all resonate, from the get-go, as potential proxies for Beths unborn kid. At the same time, though, theyre also defined as quirky alterna-outcast types, with Bridget the activist who wears Eat the Rich t-shirts, Danny the LCD Soundsystem-loving DJ, and Kassie a cherubic little blonde who cuts off her dolls head with scissors, attaches it to a spike, and dubs her creation Staff-anie.

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Evil Dead Rise doesnt make these individuals interesting, but mercifully, it handles its introductory business in short order. Ellies messy apartment is in a poorly lit condemned building that used to be a bank, and when an earthquake strikes, it opens up a hole in the garages asphalt floor, revealing an ancient vault. Just back from picking up pizza, Danny ignores his sisters warnings and climbs into this subterranean space, where he finds two mysterious records, a photograph of three priests, and myriad crucifixes and St. Benedict coins hanging above an ancient coffin that houses a wrapped package.

Upon returning with these objects to his room, Danny realizes that his discovery is the Evil Deads favorite unhallowed item: the Book of the Dead, with pages made from human skin and prose and drawings written in blood. When he plays its accompanying vinyls, a voice translates some passages from the tome and, voila, all hell breaks loose.

10 Years On, The Evil Dead Reboot Has Become a Must-See

Despite this being the same way every Evil Dead film devolves into madness and mutilation, Evil Dead Rises decision to relocate its action from the franchises favored backwoods stomping grounds to an urban high-rise severs its connectiontonally and visuallyto its ancestors. Cronin takes a Jason Takes Manhattan-style approach for no ostensible reason other than that its a deviation from the norm.

Unfortunately, its not a creative one, nor does it afford opportunities for clever scares. Via a zooming, Raimi-esque POV shot, Ellie is possessed by a satanic entity and then sets upon her clan, determinedas she herself saysto rip them open and climb inside them so they can all be together forever. Thats a hint about the films climactic monstrosity, although before it arrives, Cronin makes sure to ape his superiors, with perfunctory nods to Zombie, The Shining, and A Nightmare on Elm Street (the last of which is overtly referenced) substituting for originality.

Bruce Campbell Boots Heckler From Evil Dead Rise SXSW Screening

Once Ellie is inhabited by the malevolent demon, her mouth becomes frozen in a deranged grin thats the spitting image of the one from Smile, and she pummels her relatives with sub-The Exorcist profanities. Somewhere buried in Evil Dead Rise is an interest in motherly devotion and resentment, as well as a related fascination with bodily invasion and desecration.

Cronin, however, doesnt make even a passing effort at developing such ideas; throughout, his prime focus is on rehashing sights and sounds that lost their vitality right around 1992s Army of Darkness. More damning still, he refuses to enliven his proceedings with personality. Together, Beth, Ellie and their pre-adult charges dont have an iota of the dashing cockiness or goofy charm of Campbells iconic series hero, so when Beth eventually performs Ash cosplay (replete with a chainsaw and a Come get some!), the contrast between the past and the present is depressingly stark.

Warner Bros. Pictures

At least Cronin doesnt pull his punches on the gore. Evil Dead Rise has no qualms about putting kids through the ringeror, per the garages convenient vehicle, woodchipperwhich leads to a few passable instances of gruesomeness. Nonetheless, dim-witted character behavior neuters any sympathy for these characters and, worse, stymies engagement with their ordeal. When Kassie opens the front door to let her mom back inside, this despite seeing that shes become a cut-up ghoul with crazy eyes and a wicked voice, the film resorts to head-smacking idiocy to generate suspense. And when that doesnt work, it merely falls back on tattered genre shout-outs.

Evil Dead Rise is confirmation thatlike so many that have come before itRaimis legendary horror saga has run out of steam, continuing onward only because its easy-to-market IP value remains relatively high. With Cronins dreary installment, its become an undead beast with no purpose except to brainlessly feast on audiences goodwill and destroy memories of more thrillingly evil times gone by.

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Police on Thursday announced murder charges against the ex-boyfriend of a 20-year-old woman who was killed in 2003, decades after her body was found abandoned on a dirt road in New York.

Edward Holley, now 42, is accused of bludgeoning Megan McDonald to death on March 14, 2003, in the town of Wallkill, police said during a press conference. She died of blunt force trauma to the head.

McDonald was described as outgoing and generous. She was the daughter of retired New York Police Department Detective Dennis McDonald. He died a year before his daughter's death, according to the Detectives' Endowment Association.

Karen Whalen, McDonald's sister, said she never gave up hope that an arrest would be made. She said she had looked forward to a day when she can remember her slain sister without wondering who the killer was.

"The monster has a face and a name and he is in jail where he belongs," she said.

Police interviewed Holley four times over the course of their investigation, Joseph Kolek, a New York State Police captain, said. He provided contradictory stories and alibis that were disproved by several witnesses, according to the criminal complaint.

"We believe this crime was intimate partner violence," Kolek said. "Additionally, Ed Holley owed Megan a substantial sum of money."

McDonald and Holley dated until shortly before the homicide. McDonald had just started dating someone else before she was killed.

On March 13, 2003, McDonald told friends she was skipping a party because Holley was there, according to the criminal complaint. Witness statements from that night show McDonald tried, unsuccessfully, to get marijuana from a number of people. Holley had been her main supplier. Investigators believe McDonald turned to Holley as a "last resort."

Police spoke with numerous witnesses who were around that night. Officials say they performed hundreds of interviews over the course of the investigation. Those interviews, along with physical evidence, eventually pointed them to Holley.

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Some of the physical evidence was gathered from McDonald's car, where she was killed, police said. The car was left parked at a different location from where McDonald's body was found.

"Throughout the years, there's been tremendous advances in DNA technology. As those progressions in DNA technology have come about, we've tried to leverage those things and resubmit evidence for further DNA analysis and that's what we've done in this case," Kolek said.

Holley was already in custody when police executed the arrest warrant, officials said. He had been arrested in October of 2021 after a narcotics investigation. Holley was released on probation, which he violated. He was returned to jail in late February.

James Whalen, McDonald's brother-in-law, called Holley a monster.

"This is a vile human being capable of brutally murdering a beautiful, lively 20-year-old woman and using every effort to keep his part in this heinous crime a secret for 20 years," he said.

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Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson has revealed why she urged Dominion Voting Systems on Sunday not to settle its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.

The voting technology company reached a $787.5 million settlement with the right-wing network on Tuesday, the same day the case was supposed to go to trial.

As somebody whos also had a very high-profile lawsuit against the former CEO and chairman of Fox News, Roger Ailes, as somebody whos been silenced as a result of that  [not] being able to tell all the facts of what actually happened to me  you know, I was vicariously living through Dominion and hoping that they would be able to get to the truth, Carlson told CNNs Anderson Cooper in an interview Wednesday.

On Sunday night, amid swirling reports that Fox News was making a last-minute push to settle the case out of court, Carlson tweeted: PLEASE Dominion  Do not settle with Fox! Youre about to prove something very big.

Gretchen Carlson spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper on

Gretchen Carlson spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper on "AC360" about Dominion Voting Systems' settlement with her former employer.

Carlson left the network in 2016 and subsequently received a reported $20 million settlement related to her allegations of sexual harassment against then-CEO Ailes. She received an apology from the network but was required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that prevents her from discussing many details about her case and what she experienced.

In its statement on Tuesdays settlement, Fox News vaguely acknowledged that it had broadcast certain claims about Dominion that were false, though it did not apologize and went on to hail the settlement as a reflection of its commitment to the highest journalistic standards.

Carlson said she was unsurprised by the outcome.

Asked why she believed the media company settled, she said: I think that they saw the writing on the wall.

The judge had several rulings during hearings that were not in their favor, she said. And it could have also been the makeup of the jury. I mean, remember the jury was seated, and maybe they didnt like what they saw.

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And also, I think that they obviously did not want their top hosts to be ... media fodder for five or six weeks under oath, she added.

Dominion had sued for $1.6 billion, accusing Fox News of defaming it by promoting lies that its voting equipment was partly responsible for former President Donald Trumps loss of the 2020 election, despite knowing those accusations were untrue.

Related...
By Luc Cohen

(Reuters) -Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor who once led the Manhattan district attorney's criminal inquiry into former U.S. President Donald Trump, on Thursday won a delay to his deposition before a Republican-led congressional committee, court records showed.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on Wednesday denied Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's request to block a subpoena to Pomerantz from Jim Jordan, who chairs the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

Bragg and Pomerantz appealed that ruling. The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a temporary delay to Pomerantz's deposition to allow a three-judge panel to consider the case. Pomerantz's closed-door deposition had been scheduled for 10 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) before the Judiciary Committee.

The appeals court said its order "reflects no judgment regarding the merits of the parties' respective positions." It gave Jordan a Friday afternoon deadline to respond, with replies by Bragg and Pomerantz due Saturday afternoon.

Bragg, a Democrat who got Trump indicted by a grand jury - the first criminal charges against a former president - argues that Jordan's subpoena of Pomerantz was part of an effort to interfere in a local prosecution and "intimidate" the district attorney's office in retaliation for its charges against Trump.

Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential campaign, pleaded not guilty on April 4 to 34 felony charges over a hush money payment made before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from discussing a sexual encounter she said they had. He denies that the liaison took place.

Jordan has countered that the committee needs Pomerantz's testimony to weigh legislation restricting what he called "politically motivated prosecutions" of presidents.

Spokespeople for the Judiciary Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Diane Craft, Mark Heinrich, Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter)
MILFORD, Conn. (AP)  As the killer of her boyfriend was about to be sentenced to 55 years in prison Wednesday, Shannon Spies said the plea deal provided no solace. It couldnt bring back Nicholas Eisele, or erase the trauma of being a kidnapping victim.

On March 24, 2020, Peter Manfredonia shot Eisele to death in Spies apartment in Derby, Connecticut. He then proceeded to abduct Spies, leading to a six-day manhunt in several states before authorities captured him. Two days before the shooting, Manfredonia had killed another man and seriously wounded a second in a Samurai sword attack on the other side of the state.

I wont lie. This plea deal does nothing for me except close the door on this court case, Spies, 25, said during emotional testimony at Manfredonias sentencing hearing in Milford Superior Court. The damage can never be undone. None of this brings Nick back or makes me feel whole again.

I will never be the person I was before then, she said. I will never feel safe, even in a room surrounded by only people I know. I will always look at the world differently.

Spies said she hoped her testimony haunts Manfredonia for the rest of his life.

Manfredonia, 26, a former University of Connecticut student, wore a tan prison uniform with his hands in cuffs and apologized to Spies and Eiseles family. He also was scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday to another 55-year prison term for the sword attack in Willington. He pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in both cases.

Before he spoke, Manfredonias lawyer, Michael Dolan, said his clients mental health problems contributed to the spree of violence but were not an excuse. For most of the hearing, Manfredonia looked straight ahead  not looking at the witnesses and showing little emotion. It remained unclear what prompted the attacks.

There are no words that can possibly atone for what I have done, he said to Eiseles family. My actions were nothing short of reprehensible. ... Nick was a good young man to whom I felt no ill will or malice. My actions were senseless. Please know you have my deepest apology.

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Eisele and Manfredonia were school classmates growing up in Newtown, Connecticut, the town where 20 children and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. Eiseles sister, Jessica, survived the school shooting.

As a survivor of the Sandy Hook school shooting, I was forced to relive the trauma and pain of 12/14 as Peter used the same source of violence to end my brothers life, Jessica Eisele said in court Wednesday. Peter Manfredonia is a monster who must be punished for what he has done. My brother is gone and will forever be. Theres no way for me and family to recover from that.

About 40 relatives and friends of Nicholas Eisele filled the courtroom, with his mother and several others testifying. Many wept at times and were comforted by others.

After killing Eisele, Manfredonia forced Spies into her car and fled the state. He let her go, physically unharmed, near Columbia, New Jersey. Following searches in Pennsylvania, authorities finally captured Manfredonia near a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Two days before shooting Eisele, Manfredonia killed Ted DeMers, 62, and seriously wounded an 80-year-old man who lost several fingers and part of his ear in a Samurai sword attack.

After the attack, police said Manfredonia broke into another mans house in Willington and held him hostage for about 24 hours before taking off with his truck and firearms. The man later told police that Manfredonia told him he just flipped.

Ansonia/Milford States Attorney Margaret Kelley called the killing of Eisele and the kidnapping of Spies horrific and a senseless tragedy that severely damaged others lives.

Judge Peter Brown said the 55-year sentence would do nothing to dull the pain suffered by Spies and Eiseles family.

Spies testimony was the first time she spoke publicly about the ordeal. Though she didnt detail much about the hours she spent with Manfredonia as his captive, she said he tried to hug her at one point while apologizing for killing Eisele.

The version of myself that went to bed with my boyfriend  my best friend and the sweetest man Ive ever met  on May 23 was not alive anymore when my parents picked me up from a state police headquarters in New Jersey on May 24, she testified.

I lost absolutely everything I had, Spies said. I lost my best friend and my partner. Theres no telling how amazing our future could have been and I was robbed of ever knowing that happiness. I was robbed of ever knowing peace again, of feeling safe anywhere, even in my own home. I was robbed of my home. My apartment was a crime scene.

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

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See previous 74 Interviews: Sal Khan on COVIDs math toll; economist Tom Kane on the challenge of reversing learning loss; and education researcher Martin West on last falls NAEP results. The full archive is here.

Bill Gates wants Americans to stop hating math.

Our struggles teaching the subject  whether evidenced by our middling performance against peer nations or the striking math anxiety reported even by young children  are a stumbling block preventing kids from reaching their goals, he has argued. And the obstacle has only grown since the generational setback of COVID-19, which triggered the greatest learning crisis in history. Scores on the latest iteration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress sank to levels last seen in the early 2000s.

Thats part of the reason why the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced last fall that it would make math the cornerstone of our K12 education program strategy over the next decade. Powered by $1.1 billion in new investments, the philanthropic giant will work with its partners to devise better curricular materials, improve teacher training and professional development, and fund research and development breakthroughs that hold the potential to transform the classroom experience.

Related The $1.1B Math Solution? Gates Foundation Makes Math Its Top K-12 Priority

The agenda partially reflects Gatess personal fascination with mathematics, which dates back to his years as a student. Before embarking on perhaps the most consequential career in the history of software, the future Microsoft founder blazed through Harvards legendarily rigorous Math 55 sequence, only focusing exclusively on computer science because he considered it unlikely that he would become one of the worlds greatest mathematicians. Distinguishing himself even in the rare air of tech founders, he co-authored a paper that settled the delicious-sounding question of pancake sorting for decades.

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In a broader sense, the huge bet on math also builds on the Foundations existing work in the K12 sphere. Gates has proven one of the most influential actors in American education over the first part of this century, fostering a movement toward small schools and promoting the adoption of the Common Core State Standards. Even when some efforts didnt bear fruit  such as a failed seven-year campaign to strengthen teacher evaluation  Gatess deep pockets and commitment to experimentation have helped make the weather in education policy for the last two decades.

Bill Gates speaks at the 2023 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego Tuesday. (Gates Archive/Christopher Farber)

Other priorities are expected to take a backseat through 2026, while math programming will grow from 40 percent of the organizations education budget to 100 percent. Its a commitment that dovetails with the publics own concerns, Gates says: According to a poll released this week by the Foundation, large majorities of adults believe that math instruction needs an overhaul to become more relevant and engaging.

In a discussion with The 74s Kevin Mahnken at the 2023 ASU+GSV summit  an educational technology conference that draws thousands of educators, investors, and entrepreneurs annually  Gates talked about Americas post-pandemic math deficits and what it will take to climb out of them. He also touched on the potential rewards to helping kids overcome their anxiety and fall in love with math.

There is a gigantic upside in improving our public education system, both economically and in terms of equity, Gates said. But the countrys not falling apart as much as you might think.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The 74: What is the extent of the math learning crisis thats followed COVID? And can it be compared to the aftermath of other society-level emergencies, like the financial crisis of 2007?

Bill Gates: Even pre-pandemic, what the U.S. had was very disappointing. Math is a basic skill for many areas, and your attitude and success with regard to math is very predictive of whether you graduate high school or go on to higher education.

In our K12 strategy, the Gates Foundation has shifted to math as our biggest priority by quite a bit. Its a decision we made around the year before the pandemic started. Its fair to say that the pandemic worsened math scores more than any other scores. Math is kind of a specialized skill in that your exposure can drop to near zero if youre out of school, whereas your exposure to reading  and maybe, to some degree, writing  may not drop as dramatically. So its not that surprising, and we also see that math decay over the summer is dramatically higher than reading decay and writing decay.

Youve got this huge loss, but there are some viewpoints that were starting to see some meaningful rebound. There was an article in the New York Times on that a few months ago. Then again, because our progress in math over the last 20 years has been so modest, the scores have hardly gone up at all. Theyve gone up a little bit. Im only saying this to note, okay, were back where we were 10 years ago. But thats partly a statement about the size of the loss, and its partly a statement about the very, very slow nature of the gains that weve had in math. The U.S. is doing quite poorly compared to other rich countries, even though the amount we spend on it is higher than any other, by substantial amounts.

The losses are tragic, though there are different ways of looking at them in terms of how much is in the inner city and inequitable. Some reports show learning loss as pretty much across-the-board; others show it much more in their inner city. If you abstract out how long your classroom was closed or what degree of online access you had, that is pretty predictive of lower performance.

And sadly, that does correlate with the lower income, minority-serving schools being worse off because their ability to do online learning, to get internet access, to get a device  almost every element that has to come together for good online learning  is less present in an inner-city public school than, to take the extreme, a suburban private school. And in the U.S., we had our schools closed longer than any other country.

What are the big-picture costs of poor math learning on Americas competitiveness as both an economic and a geopolitical force?

The shortcomings of the U.S. education system are clear in terms of the inequity you end up with: the kind of jobs, salaries, mobility youd like to see in society. Education is the great enabler of mobility, and were falling short on that. In fact, the U.S. economy has done relatively well because there are so many factors that enter into it, including the ability of the U.S. to draw very talented people from the entire world. But I think the predictions that this is going to hurt us in the long run are true, and wed be further ahead if we were running our education system as well as wed like to.

We will not have remedied our NAEP deficit  even to get back to where we were before the pandemic, which wasnt an ideal situation  during the time that the ESSER money is still available. You also have shrinking school districts in many places, and scaling down while maintaining quality can be a very difficult thing. So U.S. education is a challenged space.

This is why the Gates Foundation basically has two big things we do. The global work, which is centered on health and some things related to health, is the biggest thing for us because the vacuum of resources and thinking for malaria and childhood death was mind-blowing. In some of those areas, the Foundation is almost alone.

Research and philanthropy related to education should be a lot larger than it is, but were not alone there. There are a lot of players, and by some measures were one of the biggest players. There is a gigantic upside in improving our public education system, both economically and in terms of equity. But the countrys not falling apart as much as you might think. We make up for it by having universities that are the strongest in the world, and we do get some intellectual capacity because were an attractive place. Almost no other country in the world has this: When people say, Hey, Chinas strong, theyre not saying that all great scholars in the world are flocking to China or India or Japan. Other than a few other English-speaking countries, the U.S. is truly unique in that respect.

Related Harvard Economist Offers Gloomy Forecast on Reversing Pandemic Learning Loss

It sounds like youre saying that America isnt so much falling behind the rest of the world as it is falling behind its own potential. That reminds me of research from Harvards Tom Kane, which found that we could lose almost a trillion dollars in future wages if eighth-grade math deficits arent significantly mitigated.

Were going to be paying a price for a long time in areas that are hard to measure. Weve seen this in terms of mental health problems, which obviously interact with young peoples persistence in education. The isolation that came out of the pandemic was a huge setback. How you map that onto economic figures  okay, there are a lot of assumptions in those numbers  but weve got a lot of making up to do.

And most of the resources that help with that make-up are only going to be around for a couple of years. We will not have remedied our NAEP deficit  even to get back to where we were before the pandemic, which wasnt an ideal situation  during the time that the ESSER money is still available. You also have shrinking school districts in many places, and scaling down while maintaining quality can be a very difficult thing. So U.S. education is a challenged space.

Related Nations Report Card Shows Largest Drops Ever Recorded in 4th and 8th Grade Math

Switching gears a bit, youve previously compared the emergence of ChatGPT with the development of the microprocessor. Im wondering how you contextualize it alongside other civilizational breakthroughs, like the Green Revolution or the emergence of vaccines.

The Holy Grail of computer science from the first time anybody did computation was how its abilities could compare with human capabilities. The so-called Turing Test was formulated before I was born, and throughout my history of using computers, there were things like Shakey the Robot or obscure things like ELIZA, which sort of tried to be a dialogue machine. Almost everybody who starts writing programs will do some random sentence generator where you have various grammatical patterns and sets of words and generate blather. Its funny because sometimes it almost seems to make sense.

Bill Gates speaks with The 74s Kevin Mahnken. (Gates Archive/Christopher Farber)

Weve been making progress in human sensory things, like matching visual recognition and speech recognition of humans. When I worked on AI stuff in the 70s and 80s, we werent making that much progress, but then there was the combination of scaling and new techniques  so-called machine learning techniques. It didnt bother people that much that it could listen better than us or that, in a sense, it could see better than us, but there was no ability to read or write.

What weve got now is pretty amazing. Its got huge limitations in terms of its accuracy and how you can train it. But given the scale of the industry and the promise  the amount of activity and the pace of innovation to take the current limitations and make it more effective  its pretty mind-blowing.

The progress on public health is really unbelievably dramatic Theres no equivalent in education. The equivalent would have been if the dropout rate from high schools was cut in half, that the dropout rate from college was cut in half, that U.S. math scores went up 30 percent, that were at the top of the lead tables. No such miracle took place.

Its reading and writing capability has got everyone saying, Wow. When you sit at the computer creating models or taking a document or making a presentation, its ability to help you be more productive on those things is really phenomenal. And weve gone from no ability to do that to a pretty substantial ability just in this calendar year.

You mentioned your twin interests of public health and public education. Do you think the Gates Foundations successes in the former sphere  perhaps measured in the huge decline of malaria deaths in this century  are greater than those in the latter? And if so, why might that be?

The progress on public health, because it was so ignored, is really unbelievably dramatic. Im not sure most people are aware of it, but if you gave a report card to humanity of what weve done well since the year 2000, at the top of that report card would be reducing the number of children who die under the age of five from over 10 million to under 5 million. Now, most of those deaths were in poor countries, and so the visibility to most Americans of that miracle is extremely low even though some American government aid was part of that; certainly, mass amounts of government science were part of that. And our Foundation played a fairly central role, if not a solo role. We have a lot of partners, including the U.S. government.

Bill Gates visited a California elementary school in 1998. (Getty Images)

Theres no equivalent in education. The equivalent would have been if the dropout rate from high schools was cut in half, that the dropout rate from college was cut in half, that U.S. math scores went up 30 percent, that were at the top of the lead tables.

No such miracle took place.

With education, you do have trends that are tough. Very appropriately, the labor market gives capable women way more opportunities than it did in the past. But the education system cheated somewhat by having very talented women who werent given the opportunities they should have. So you have a little bit of adjustment in your teaching pool. And given where you have population growth, the average incomes of the kids going into the public school system is a bit lower, with more non-English-speaking households. Thats a little bit of a negative factor, but weve maintained and improved slightly. Weve improved math scores slightly, racial equity slightly, high school graduation rates slightly.

Related Q&A: Khan Academys Sal Khan on COVIDs Staggering Impact on Student Math Skills

Its interesting. You can come to a conference like this or visit a really exemplary school and be reminded, Wow, there are outliers! There are microcosms where things are pretty fantastic, even at the school level. Certainly at the classroom level, youve always been able to go find the Stand and Deliver-style, unbelievable teacher. And whenever you find variance, you can say to yourself, Hey, how come we cant capture that best practice and get the average teacher to be close to that top teacher? What is it about training and understanding and incentives that makes that very difficult?

We havent succeeded as much on that as wed like. We have all this technology where, yes, you can look up YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles and sit there and do math questions for free on Khan Academy. And yet none of that  none of the seriousness about transferring best practices in terms of traditional teaching, and none of the new technology  has come in and really made that dramatic of a difference. Somebody could say, Well, give up, but not many people want to do that. Were stubborn enough to believe that the improvements that have been made were worthwhile even though, compared on a per-dollar basis to what weve done in global health, its just not the same thing.

If I said to you that the best math teacher was somebody 50 years ago, you could actually believe that. If somebody said that the best cancer doctor was some guy 50 years ago, youd go, What the hell are you talking about? Thats the silliest thing Ive ever heard. 

We save lives for $1,000 per life. And in education, [laughs] we havent done the equivalent of saving a life for $1,000. We feel like our work has been good, including helping the field find dead ends. In education, the R&D investment about Why is that teacher good or Why should you insist on homework being done? is way less than what it should be. And our foundation is one of many thats tried to bring more understanding to what works and what doesnt.

You probably saw the proposal to dramatically increase the reach of the Institute for Education Sciences and establish something like a DARPA for education, with the aim of accelerating the development of breakthrough technologies for learning. It seems like there might be a bigger role for the federal government to play in this field.

For all governments, all over the world; a lot of what we learn about education is pretty universal. But anyway, as a percentage of its size in the economy and the benefit of improving it, you could say theres pretty dramatic underinvestment in K12 research because the numbers are actually quite small. And if I said to you that the best math teacher was somebody 50 years ago, you could actually believe that. If somebody said that the best cancer doctor was some guy 50 years ago, youd go, What the hell are you talking about? Thats the silliest thing Ive ever heard.

Related Study: Multi-Year Gates Experiment to Improve Teacher Effectiveness Spent $575 Million, Didnt Make an Impact

So the field has changed and improved, but pretty modestly. Helping those researchers  thats still worth investing in. I was at a middle school this morning called Chula Vista where  together with a partner, High Tech High  we do some of our math instruction work. When you get into the classroom, its fascinating to see what works and what doesnt. I have to say, when you see the teachers who are really engaged in trying to help other teachers do better, it often reminds you why this is an important field and that there really is promise.

When I think about the big K12 reforms that were launched the last few decades by both Washington and institutions like the Gates Foundation, it seems like theres now much less political will to pursue huge projects like those. Im wondering if you are at all worried that really ambitious ventures  you could also include vaccine development and advocacy  are going to be a little harder to launch, harder to support.

Hmm. Id say that, both under Bush and Obama, there was a real effort at the federal level to drive change in education. Of course, the federal level has the advantage that it affects all 50 states. It also has the disadvantage that youre writing some rule about, Please spend the money on this thing in Washington, D.C., and then have many layers and diverse environments in the states.

President Barack Obama, Melinda Gates and Bill Gates at a 2017 event. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

For better or for worse, the amount of experimentation and top-down system reform thats going to come from the federal government after the Obama period will be very modest. You can say thats good or bad, but its just a fact that Democrats and Republicans in Congress are not thinking, Were going to change the way education is done. The action has moved, you could say, to the state, district or classroom level, or these ed tech people, or the things that philanthropists fund.

There isnt one common theme. Charter schools continue to advance, although theyre a modest percentage of all students. Interestingly, theres a huge shift such that charter schools are growing more in red states than blue states now. Its complicated to characterize the results, but theyre largely good, and they are laboratories of learning. A lot of good ideas that should suffuse themselves into the broader public system come out of that charter experience.

I dont think its that people are satisfied with our current education system. We did a survey about math recently where parents were very willing to say, Hey, instruction should be different to drive the relevance and the engagement, so theres still open-mindedness that education can be better. Hopefully its not too politicized in that, if you show that a curriculum can get better results, people view that as helping kids and helping society.

Related Parents Rate Math Crucial to Kids Success  But Say It Needs an Update

Im sure that if you get into some political topics in the curriculum, you may run into some sort of deadlock. But most educational things can stay away from those issues. The way we teach multiplication or algebra, we can do far better. Thats certainly a belief embedded in the priority were putting into math and math curriculum.

A lot of our readers might not be aware that you considered becoming an academic mathematician yourself. Are you still drawn to math?

Yes! Math is fascinating. The way these new AI models work is extremely mathematical. If you learn all this new stuff, youre drawing more on your math skills than your coding skills.

I initially did math, I was very good at math, and that helped me do coding. My framework for the world is very mathematical. And the boundaries of math have not moved all that much: Weve proved the Four-Color Theorem, weve proved Fermats last theorem. Its fun to track where were making progress and where were not. But I enjoy math, and thank goodness, because otherwise I couldnt be as engaged in the AI stuff as I am.

Even when Im doing my global health work, or when were looking at the trends in these education developments, math is important. I like symbolic, complex math, but just data science  which were hoping to get into the curriculum and make the curriculum more interesting  that stuff is amazing now.

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to The 74.
By Mari Saito, Polina Nikolskaya, Maria Tsvetkova and Anton Zverev

BALAKLIIA, Ukraine (Reuters) - During an interrogation by Russian intelligence officers at a police station in Ukraines Balakliia town in June, local businessman Ruslan Volobuyev was beaten by one of the men, he said. At one point, according to Volobuyevs account, a thick-set man in his 40s with a cleft chin entered the room. He greeted the two interrogators, shaking their hands, and left.

That man was the military commandant of Balakliia, a key figure in Russias six-month occupation of the eastern Ukrainian town. Russian forces unlawfully detained at least 200 civilians in the town, local police have said, and in some instances administered torture, four residents told Reuters. Dozens of detainees from Balakliia and the surrounding area remain unaccounted for, said Nelya Kholod, a volunteer helping identify those missing.

Town residents knew the commandant only by his call sign of Granit, the Russian word for granite, as Reuters reported in an October investigation into Moscows withdrawal from the town. The military commandant, who was part of the Russian defence ministrys military police, was the most senior military officer in the town responsible for policing the local population, according to rosters for meetings of occupying section commanders reviewed by Reuters.

Reuters now is the first to publicly reveal his identity as Valery Sergeyevich Buslov, a 46-year-old military police Lieutenant Colonel. The Security Service of Ukraine as well as two of Buslovs Russian servicemen colleagues - including one who worked for the Russian military headquarters in charge of Balakliia - said that was Granits real name. Volobuyev and two of the towns female residents who saw the commandant said he looked the same as Buslov when Reuters shared photographs of him.

The defence ministry group stationed in the town was drawn from units based in Russias Kaliningrad region, according to several servicemen and documents found in a command bunker on the outskirts of Balakliia reviewed by Reuters. One of the documents listed Valery Sergeyevich Buslov as among the Russian officers present in Balakliia, stating his role was military commandant.

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When Reuters called a phone number listed for Valery Sergeyevich Buslov in Kaliningrad, the man identified himself by that name and didnt dispute that he was a military commandant. But he denied that he had been in Balakliia or had used the call sign Granit. Of the document found listing Buslovs name, he said: It doesnt mean anything to me.

The Kremlin, which has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians, didnt respond to requests for comment. Russias defence ministry and Federal Security Service (FSB) intelligence agency also didnt respond. The meeting rosters show there was a separate commander of the Russian combat forces operating from Balakliia, as Reuters previously reported.

Ukrainian and international investigators are currently seeking to identify those responsible for any abuses in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia since Moscow launched a full scale invasion last year. Kyiv says Russia operated 27 sites of unlawful detention and torture in the Kharkiv region, which includes Balakliia, and that some 1,300 people from the region were missing as of February.

Reuters has not seen evidence that the military commandant personally carried out or ordered abuses in Balakliia but he was in close proximity to them. His office sat in a publishing house across the street from the police station where Volobuyev and three other residents said they were beaten or witnessed abuse.

In a sign the commandants office may have been involved in detentions, one local man who asked to be identified only by his first name Oleksandr said he saw people being brought into the building that housed Granits office in handcuffs, or with bags over their heads, without specifying how many. He added he saw them released shortly after.

Volobuyev, a 46-year old cafe owner, said he later learned that the man who entered the interrogation room was the military commandant after seeing him while out in town and another local told him it was Granit.

In response to Reuters questions about the Balakliia commandant and alleged mistreatment of the towns residents, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, said in a statement that Lieutenant Colonel Valery Sergeyevich Buslov, the military commandant of the Russian defence ministrys Kaliningrad garrison, was the military commandant of Balakliia from March to September last year and that he used the call sign Granit.

"He signed a number of orders and instructions which allowed service personnel of the Russian Federation's armed forces, and illegal military formations, to conduct the illegal detention of the civilian population," the SBU said.

The statement added that SBU investigators were conducting a pre-trial investigation into suspected criminal acts committed by Russian soldiers against civilians in Balakliia. The agency declined to provide evidence of alleged wrongdoing by Buslov or other Russian forces, saying Ukrainian law prevents making public evidence that is part of an ongoing investigation.

A Ukrainian law enforcement source familiar with the SBUs activities, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators are preparing a "notice of suspicion" in relation to Buslov, which can be a preliminary step to launching a formal criminal investigation.

The Ukrainian prosecutor generals office didnt respond to a request for comment.

BASEMENT CAGES

Russian forces took control of Balakliia, which is about 70 kilometres south of Kharkiv, in early March and withdrew in early September. Weeks later, Reuters visited the area and found thousands of pages of documents - including the meeting rosters and the list with Buslovs name - at the building on the outskirts of Balakliia that Russian forces had used as a command bunker.

The military commandants office was based in a separate building, the publishing house in town. There, a rudimentary wooden rifle rack displayed the call signs of the firearms owners, including that of Granit. That buildings basement, where surveillance cameras and metal cages were visible, served as a holding cell, said a woman who had worked at the publishing house.

Reuters could not independently corroborate Balakliia residents accounts of mistreatment, but a United Nations-mandated investigative body has found Russia committed war crimes in some parts of Ukraine, including unlawfully detaining and torturing civilians.

POLICING CIVILIANS

Photos posted to social media accounts associated with Buslov show a stocky man in parade uniform, with medals on his chest. He has served as the Kaliningrad garrisons military commandant, responsible for maintaining discipline among troops and sailors stationed there, according to a 2019 military newspaper article. He has also sat with senior Kaliningrad officials on a civic committee on public safety.

By May, the military commandant had arrived in Balakliia, according to Oleksandr, one of the two female residents and another local woman.

Around town, he travelled in a Russian-made UAZ jeep, escorted by two armoured vehicles, said the local woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name of Olga said. She once spotted him from a distance wearing a bullet-proof vest and sunglasses and a Russian soldier standing guard told her it was Granit, 48-year old Olga recalled.

The commandants office issued passes that allowed selected people to break the nighttime curfew or travel outside of Balakliia to buy goods, according to Volobuyev and another local.

MISSING RESIDENTS

Reuters interviewed nine people who said they were detained at the police station during the Russian occupation; a further three said friends or relatives were held there. Many locals said they did not want to give their full names for fear of being accused of collaborating with the Russians.

Residents looking for detained family members were told by the Russian forces to go to Granit to petition for their release, four locals said.

One of the two female residents who said Buslov looked the same as the military commandant was an 82-year-old pensioner called Liudmyla. She said her son, a veteran of the Ukrainian military, was detained in Balakliia last April and that she repeatedly appealed to Granit and his assistant for his release. They said they would try to find him but never did, according to Liudmyla, who still doesnt know his whereabouts.

Oleksandr said his brother was detained the same month and remains missing. According to Oleksandr, officials at the Russian-installed administration told him the commandants office decided all questions to do with the military. Oleksandr said on repeated visits he sought information from a balaclava-clad man who identified himself as Granit, but never got a clear answer about his brothers whereabouts.

(Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low)
Style & Society: Dressing The Georgians is at The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace (Jeff Moore/PA)

A new fashion exhibition suggests elements of Georgian fashion bear remarkable similarities to modern life.

Style & Society: Dressing The Georgians explores what fashion can tell us about life in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Curator Anna Reynolds told the PA news agency there were elements of sustainability within the Georgian approach to fashion that reflect conversations today.

Clothing at this time passed down from wearer to wearer  so an elite lady would often give her dresses to her ladys maid, and there are funny accounts of people being unable to tell the difference between a ladys maid and a grand lady, she said.

So theres this idea of a more egalitarian society that were starting to see in the eighteenth century.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the earliest surviving British royal wedding dress  the gown worn by Princess Charlotte, the daughter of George IV, for her marriage to Prince Leopold in 1817.

The dress was carefully preserved after her death, Reynolds said, and it shows signs of having an afterlife after Princess Charlotte wore it.

The silk embroidered bridal gown shows evidence of having been adjusted at least once, perhaps twice in its history, Reynolds said, and cost could have been a big factor in this remarkably modern attitude towards sustainability.

Clothing was so expensive, so precious, it took so much labour, the raw materials were expensive, so it was really valued, the curator said.

It was taken to the tailors to be retrimmed, to be adjusted as bodies change. So the notion of buy well, buy once, I think the Georgians very much adhered to.

Reynolds said it was important for her to include examples of lower-class fashion in the exhibition, as well as the glitzier clothes of the upper crust.

Fashion today is for everyone, and I really wanted to make sure we werent just telling a story of the elite, she said. The elite were just a small percentage of the population.

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This also reflects a unique phenomenon that was happening during the eighteenth century  previously, fashion trends were inspired by aristocrats and replicated by the masses, but the reverse started to occur. The elite started to look to the lower classes for inspiration, heralding an era of more relaxed dressing  what Reynolds refers to as the rise of street style.

Plus, fashion was becoming more accessible, Reynolds noted.

You get the first fashion periodicals, and you also get fashion trends that are influenced by lower-class dress. So you get the rise of trousers, for example  whereas elite men had traditionally worn breeches with stockings, you get the rise of trousers which were worn by sailors.

This is what Reynolds called an inversion of the traditional hierarchy.

According to Reynolds, fashion can tell volumes about the seismic changes that occurred during the Georgian period.

There was so much innovation going on wherever you look  there are changes happening both culturally and socially as well as scientifically, so you get things like the rise of dentistry, she said, which meant you even started to see people starting to show their teeth in portraits.

Innovations in materials also brought about change.

One of the biggest changes in the eighteenth century is the rise of cotton, which we all wear so much of today. Clothes at this time had no elastic in them, so they had to be well cut in order to fit well to the body.

Cotton becomes the darling fabric of the eighteenth century and its worn by all classes  you could have a very expensive, very fine muslin dress, or a simple cotton handkerchief that could be worn by the lower classes.

Style & Society: Dressing The Georgians is at The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace from April 21 to October 8.
TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-WAR

Ukrainian servicemen of the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade prepare to fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian positions on a frontline in Donetsk region, on April 5, 2023. Credit - Genya SavilovAFP/Getty Images

Predicting the course of a war is never simplebut the leak of U.S. defense documents made forecasting the Ukrainian war even more complicated. The chaos triggered by the leak even led Ukrainian leaders to shake up their battlefield plans, according to CNN.

But spring has sprung, and on the battlefields of Ukraine, that means it may soon be time for a long-awaited counter-offensive. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that his country needs weapons before it can attack, other leaders have suggested its nearing time to strikeespecially as a weak Russian advance has depleted Russian forces.

George Barros, an analyst on the Russia and Ukraine portfolio at the Institute for the Study of War, says that his organization makes a point of not forecasting what will happen next, in part, he says, to avoid interfering in the conflict. But in an interview with TIME, he walked through the geography and history of the conflictwhich may hint at what comes next.

Read More: The Mysteries of the Biggest Intel Leak in a Decade

More from TIME

Russia fortified a vulnerable region

Ukrainian military leaders have suggested that the counter-offensive may press south. In February, Vadym Skibitskiy, the deputy head of the militarys intelligence directorate, said Ukraine is planning to drive a wedge into the Russian front in the southbetween Crimea and the Russian mainland.

Russia appears to be particularly worried about one scenario, says Barros: the risk that Ukraine will attack Zaporizhzhia oblast. Satellite imagery shows that Russian forces fortified the area to protect logistical lines, including obstacles designed to block tanks.

This region is particularly important to Ukraine for several major reasons. For one, large numbers of people live in the area, including Melitopol and Tokmak. The region is also along the Sea of Azov, and its ports are important for Ukraine to maintain foreign trade.

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The region is also essential to the Russian military because its the major plot of land connecting southern Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia to the mainland, including Crimea. The roads running through the territory are the major supply routes for the thousands of troops stationed in the south. If Ukraine took it back, says Barros, it would create the worst bottleneck ever. Without it, Russia would have to rely on a single bridge that spans between Crimea and Krasnodar Krai, which Barros says is still in depleted condition since Ukraine attacked it in October.

But Ukraine could exploit other weaknesses

Skibitskiy has also suggested that Ukraine could strike at a familiar battleground: Bakhmut. In an interview with CNN in March, he noted that the Russians are losing significant forces [in Bakhmut] and are running out of energy.

Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupyansk, he added.

According to Barros, Russian forces in the area are degraded after a particularly tough six months of fighting without an operational pause around Bakhmut. A month ago, western officials estimated that up to 30,000 Russian troops were killed and wounded in the battle, the BBC reported on March 7. Back in late 2022, he notes, Russias attacks in the area slowed down, and Russia needed to bring in some of its elite air force troops to maintain its advance.

The classical example of a counter-offensive would be to exploit the local conditions of your adversaries state of disrepair and exhaustion, which I think is characteristic of where the Russians in Bakhmut are now, says Barros.

Read More: Why Experts Are Growing Alarmed About Ukraines Air Defenses

Ukraine has shown its unpredictable

Despite these indications, however, Ukraine has also shown that it can use information its sharing with the world to its advantage on the battlefield.

Last summer, for instance, Ukraine loudly telegraphed its plans to attack in the south, with Zelensky declaring in July that Ukraine planned to retake the city of Kherson by September. The Russians, in response, re-deployed many of their troops to the south, which led to the hollowing out of the north and making it ripe for exploitation.

Instead, however, Ukraine conducted two simultaneous but staggered counter-offensives, attacking both in the south and in the north, in two attacks that were mutually reinforcing, says Barros. Ultimately, Ukraine forced the Russians to pick from a buffet of bad decisions and seized territory in both regions.

One of the key reasons why the Ukrainians were successful in the North was because they managed to successfully play game on the Russians, says Barros.
A forensic anthropologist who took part in the second autopsy of Stephen Smith had the bones of a murdered Florida teenager for a decade without permission from the girls mother, according to a lawsuit.

Mary Penny Lovett Lakoskey, the teens mom, and her son Amos Lakoskey, filed a lawsuit in state Circuit Court in Duval County, Florida last month against Heather Walsh-Haney, an associate professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Walsh-Haney also has been investigated by Florida state police  but not charged  for possessing the remains of other victims without authorization.

Earlier this month, Walsh-Haney observed the second autopsy of Smith, whose body was found on a rural road in Hampton County, SC, in 2015. His death was initially ruled a hit-and-run, but the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division earlier this month said Smith was murdered.

Walsh-Haney was part of a new team assembled by the lawyers for Smiths mother, Sandy, to conduct the second autopsy.

Smiths death received renewed interest after disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March of murdering his wife and son. SLED previously announced it was reopening its investigation into Smiths death because of information, so far undisclosed, that investigators uncovered during the Murdaugh investigation.

No known evidence has linked the Murdaughs to Smiths death.

The second autopsy team  called the dream team by the lawyers  was led by Dr. Dan Schultz, president and chief pathologist for a private company in Tampa called Final Diagnosis. Also on the team was Dr. DMichelle DuPre, a retired forensic pathologist in Columbia who was the medical examiner in Miami and also a professor.

Walsh-Haney responded in an email to The State that she is limited in what she can say about the lawsuit since it is pending. She wrote generally about the role of a forensic anthropologist and the fact that it is the medical examiner who makes the decisions about remains and communication with families.

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Eric Bland, an attorney for Sandy Smith, said he was unaware of the pending lawsuit.

Dr. Haney came highly recommended. There are not many in her field of expertise that are pathology anthropologists who do autopsies. I did not know of her name or reputation prior to the Stephen Smith matter.

In this 2017 file photo, family members hold a portrait of Tina Lovett prior to her remains being exhumed and then reburied. Her family was not told they did not receive all of her remains following her 1984 murder near her Jacksonville, FL home. Instead, her remains were shuffled between two universities a medical examiners office. Her family has sued.

A career in forensic anthropology

Walsh-Haney is known for experiential learning  going into the field to conduct investigations and exposing students to the same.

Being directly involved in casework helps students understand the many roles individual analysts play as part of a forensic investigation. For example, Im focused on skeletal remains, but how do I collect evidence without impacting other aspects of the investigation? she wrote on her profile on the Florida Gulf Coast University website.

She has identified bodies long unknown and worked on cold cases. She and two graduate students worked at the Tulsa, Oklahoma, site, where human remains were unearthed from a 1921 race massacre.

Walsh-Haney was a graduate student at the University of Florida when she worked for three weeks at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. She was asked to study what was believed to be a crime scene off the Gulf coast of Sarasota, but she instead discovered a 7,000-year-old Native American ancestral burial site.

She lectures widely, has appeared on national news shows and works with eight Florida medical examiners, having handled more than 500 forensic anthropology cases in her career.

She said she owes a lot to her mentor in college, Dr. William Maples and the lessons he taught students.

Chief among those lessons is the position of trust and responsibility that we must accept when we engage in forensic endeavors  whether in support of law enforcement activities, human rights work, or academic research and study, she wrote in an email to The State.

But her work has not been without criticism. The Florida Times-Union reported in 2019 her services were not being used by the medical examiner in Lee, Hendry and Glades counties because of mistrust issues.

When asked about these issues by The State, Walsh-Haney responded, The issue of trust had been raised during investigative interviews. The report (by Florida Department of Law Enforcement) did not state that the basis for the mistrust was founded in anything that I did wrong and, in fact, I maintain without equivocation that I did not do anything improper or unethical in the performance of my work. Otherwise, I decline to engage in further discussions regarding misguided and misleading allegations from more than 15 years ago.

Previous lawsuit in federal court

Lakoskey first filed a lawsuit in federal court against Walsh-Haney and three medical examiners in 2019. A panel of judges ruled that the group had immunity because of their official positions and dismissed the case. Lakoskey then elected to pursue a lawsuit in state court last month for emotional pain she endured.

Lakoskeys daughter, Tina Lovett, 17, went missing from their Jacksonville, Florida, home in April 1984. Her body was found May 8, 1984, naked, face down in an area where people dumped broken appliances and dead animals. The body was so badly decomposed, the medical examiner at the time, Bonafacio Floro, could not tell precisely the nature of her wounds but ruled the death a homicide.

The body was sent from the Medical Examiners Office in Jacksonville to the Alternate Internment Funeral Home in Jacksonville and buried at Riverside Memorial Park.

What Lakosky didnt know was that Floro sent only the bones from her daughters legs and feet and kept her rib cage, femur and skull, the lawsuit says.

It does not say why. Floro kept the remains until 1992, when they were sent to C.A. Pound Laboratory at the University of Florida for analysis. In 2000, Walsh-Haney, then employed at the University of Florida, sent the remains back to the original medical examiners office. In 2005, the remains were sent to Walsh-Haney, then employed at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Lavoskey did not learn until 2017, when the new Jacksonville medical examiner contacted her, that she did not have all that remained of her daughter and that those remains had spent 33 years being shuffled between the two Florida universities and the medical examiners office.

Lavoskey had her daughter exhumed in 2017 and confirmed only her daughters leg and feet bones were inside the casket, and then reburied all of her remains.

These were outrageous, extreme and went beyond all bounds of decency and would be regarded as shocking, atrocious, odious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society, the lawsuit says.

In this file photo, Penny Lovett Lakoskey drops her head as cemetery workers finish reburying the remains of her daughter, Tina Lovett, on Aug. 31, 2017. Tina Lovett was 17 when she was murdered in 1984 seven miles from her Jacksonville, FL home. Her family believed they had buried all of her badly decomposed remains at Riverside Memorial Park. But they were shocked to learn 33 years later that the majority of her remains had instead been shuffled between various agencies around Florida before being returned to the Jacksonville Medical Examiners office.

When the Florida Times Union asked in 2017 why the medical examiners office had possession of the bones for years, Medical Examiner Valerie Rao said Lovetts case was still open. She also said her office did not have the space to keep so many remains.

But the lawsuit says the Lovett case had been closed for decades. One man arrested was released for insufficient evidence and died not long after.

In addition to Walsh-Haney and Floro, the lawsuit names Medical Examiners Margarita Arruza and Rao.

In 2017, Walsh-Haney sent the Times-Union a one-page statement.

She said she was asked as an anthropology consultant to take possession of Lovetts bones on behalf of the medical examiners office. It was part of a larger effort to inventory skeletal remains.

They were stored at the Medical Examiners Office in Naples, Walsh-Haney said.

Other cases

Walsh-Haney was also investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 2008 after two graduate students volunteering in her program found the remains of two men who had been murdered six years before  Frankie DeAngelo Dennard and Jeffrey Ivan Gwyn Jr.

The students were preparing unidentified remains to be shipped to another lab so they could be identified using DNA analysis, but were puzzled when they realized the two men had already been identified. The students questioned why the remains had not already been returned to their families and sought answers from Florida Gulf Coast University officials before going to law enforcement.

The students told investigators they asked Walsh-Haney why she had the bones and were told they had been donated, according to a report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The District 4 Medical Examiners Office confirmed to investigators Walsh-Haney had remains from 30 to 40 of its cases in her possession at the Naples Medical Examiners Office and that she had a right to possess the remains of Dennard and Gwyn, according to the report.

But the Gwyn family in Atlanta said they did not give permission for anyone to have the bones. The Dennard family said they did not want his bones returned, investigators found.

While Walsh-Haney reported that remains from other cases had been donated to her by the Lee County Sheriffs Office, detectives there said that they did not give their permission and did not have the authority to do so, investigators found.

Ultimately, an assistant state attorney said he did not see any criminal intent and no charges were brought against Walsh-Haney.

Walsh-Haney told The State she accepts human remains for forensic analysis at the request of various medical examiners and, sometimes, law enforcement agencies. She said she allows highly qualified students to work with the remains under her supervision.

This is what I refer to as casework and students who have had criminal history checks and performed well academically have the opportunity to accompany me while I do this work.

She said that is similar to what medical students experience in teaching hospitals.

Remains from forensic cases are never used as exemplars or the like for general coursework, study, or research, she said.

Instead, donated human skeletal remains, nonhuman specimens, and skeletal casts are used.

One of the principle errors made by those who are not familiar with the type of work I do is to assume that the former (forensic cases) are used for academic purposes in the same manner as the latter (donated collections), she said.
A lion has been spotted in Chad's Sena Oura National Park, where the big cats have not been seen since 2004 and were believed to be extinct until now.

A photo of a lioness was released by a team of conservationists from the Chad government and the New-York based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

"The photo shows a prime, very healthy adult lioness, around five years old," WCS Big Cat Programme executive director Luke Hunter told the BBC.

"I am sure she is not alone," he said.

The image - taken by a remote camera in the protected area back in February - was released on Thursday.

"This is hugely encouraging because prime females are the foundation of any lion population, and they are not big wanderers: they inhabit areas that have prey and are safe to raise their cubs in," said Dr Hunter.

He added that her presence was an early sign of lions recovering in an adjacent national park in Cameroon.

In 2014, the authoritative International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species concluded that lions were extinct in Sena Oura.

The WCS says that the region "saw a period of ruthless, organised poaching more than a decade ago, but has since benefitted from a very strong commitment to conservation by the governments of both Cameroon and Chad".

"This has produced better protection of the national parks and wildlife populations are now starting to recover," the organisation adds.

Dr Hunter says that there are about 22,000-24,000 lions left in the wild, the vast majority of which are classified as the southern lion sub-species native to east and southern Africa.

There are fewer than 1,000 northern lions in west and central Africa, and they are "especially endangered and precious", he adds.
Turkey takes delivery of its first F-35 at a ceremony in Texas in June 2018. Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Romania is the latest NATO member to say it will buy the F-35 stealth fighter jet.

More alliance members are buying F-35s, but one of NATO's biggest militaries, Turkey, can't.

Turkey is barred from the program because it elected to buy a Russian-made air-defense system.

Here's a sign that the world has changed since the Cold War: A former Warsaw Pact nation is buying US stealth fighters and the country with the second-largest army in NATO is buying Russian anti-aircraft missiles.

Fifty years ago, the notion that Romania would purchase the latest US-made fighter jet would have laughable in Washington and might have provoked Moscow into sending tanks into the streets of Bucharest.

And who could have imagined in 1973 that Turkey would choose advanced Russian surface-to-air missiles over a chance to buy that US jet, when Turks and Russians fought a dozen wars between the 16th and 20th centuries?

"It still remains remarkable to me that Romania will now operate the F-35, but Turkey will not," Aaron Stein, chief content officer at defense news website War on the Rocks, tweeted on April 11. "The S-400 purchase remains inexplicable. Just baffling beyond words."

Romanian air force MiG-21 jets during an air show in Romania in July 2017. US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder

Romania's announcement in early April that it would purchase the F-35 would have shocked Nixon and Brezhnev, but it is hardly a surprise today. Though a Soviet satellite state, Romania pursued a remarkably independent foreign policy from the 1960s until the collapse of the Soviet Union, before joining NATO in 2004.

Like other European countries with long memories of Russian hegemony and vivid fears that Ukraine won't be Vladimir Putin's last victim, Romania is looking for advanced weapons such as the F-35.

While Romania has yet to specify how many F-35s it will buy or when it will receive them, procuring an aircraft that at least a dozen other NATO countries are buying or will likely buy is a logical move. At the least, it demonstrates that the former Warsaw Pact member is now solidly in the Western bloc.

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To some in the West, Turkey's decision to choose the S-400 over the F-35 just does not compute. As one of the original partners in the US-led F-35 program, Turkey should have been among the first to get the cutting-edge stealth fighter.

But Ankara was suspended from the program because Washington couldn't accept a scenario where Turkey operated both the F-35 and Russian missiles that are designed to shoot down the F-35.

Turkey's S-400 air-defense system during testing at an air base in Ankara in November 2019. Getty Images

"It remains baffling to me that Ankara chose an air defense system over the F-35," Stein, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said in a follow-up tweet.

Yet Turkey believes it is capable of operating both systems without jeopardizing F-35 secrets. Ankara still wants the planes, or at least the $1.4 billion it contributed to the program.

"Either they will give us our planes or they will give us the money," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed in 2021.

The F-35/S-400 controversy illustrates Turkey's position as the odd man in NATO since it joined in 1952. During the Cold War, Turkey's strategic position at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, its ability to bottle up the Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet, and its large military combined to make it NATO's southeastern anchor.

Yet as the name suggests, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is primarily a European and North American alliance. Most of Turkey is geographically in Asia, with just 3% of its territory  including much of Istanbul  on the European side of the Bosporus Strait.

Putin and Erdogan inspect a Russian Su-57 fighter jet at the MAKS air show in Russia in August 2019. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

In an alliance mostly composed of democracies, Turkey had three military coups between 1960 and 1980  and what appeared to be an attempted coup in 2016. (Thwarting future coups may be a reason Erdogan wants a weapon that can shoot down Western-made jets.)

While already member of what is essentially a European military alliance, Turkey's prospects of joining the European Union still seem dim, despite lobbying hard since 2005. Nonetheless, NATO still needs Turkey. Ankara has one of the alliance's largest militaries and is a counterweight to Russia in the Mediterranean, Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia.

While the US is blocking Turkey from the F-35 program, Washington just announced a $259 million deal to upgrade Turkey's F-16 fighters, despite objections from US lawmakers. And Turkey's vote is still needed for Sweden to join NATO.

Polls show that the majority of Turks still want to join the EU. Some influential Turks say the country doesn't really need the S-400 when it can manufacture its own anti-aircraft missiles. And while Erdogan  who now faces a tough reelection campaign  may feel a need to stand firm on the F-35 issue, that doesn't mean warm ties between Turkey and Russia will become a lasting romance.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Read the original article on Business Insider
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

F. Murray Abraham issued an apology via IndieWire Thursday amidst reports that his behavior around actresses led to his firing from the Apple+ series Mythic Quest in 2022.

Abraham was booted from Mythic Quest last April, after at least two complaints about the actors alleged poor conduct around some of the actresses on the show reached show creator Rob McElhenney, Rolling Stone reported this week. Abraham was told to stay away from some of the female performers, the report stated.

This is a sincere and deeply felt apology, Abraham said in his statement, shared with IndieWire. Though never my intention to offend anyone, I told jokes, nothing more, that upset some of my colleagues and as a result lost a great job with wonderful people. I have grown in my understanding from this experience, and I hope they will forgive me.

Before his firing, Abraham, who also starred on season 2 of the critically acclaimed HBO series The White Lotus, had portrayed C.W. Longbottom on Mythic Quest.

We take allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate them thoroughly, Lionsgate studio, which prouces Mythic Quest, told Rolling Stone. As a matter of corporate policy, we do not discuss our personnel actions.

For his portrayal of Bert Di Grasso on The White Lotus, Murray, who also won an Academy Award for his performance as Antonio Salieri in 1984s Amadeus, earned a Golden Globe nomination.

The White Lotus Season 3 Casting Starts With a Surprise Addition

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F. Murray Abraham has issued an apology regarding his alleged misconduct while working on "Mythic Quest." (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press)

F. Murray Abraham has broken his silence about his alleged sexual misconduct on the set of Apple TV+'s "Mythic Quest."

In a statement released Thursday, the Oscar-winning actor issued a "sincere and deeply felt apology" for the inappropriate behavior that reportedly led to his firing after two seasons on the comedy series.

"Though never my intention to offend anyone, I told jokes, nothing more, that upset some of my colleagues and as a result lost a great job with wonderful people," the "White Lotus" star said.

"I have grown in my understanding from this experience," he continued, "and I hope they will forgive me."

Abraham's apology comes three days after Rolling Stone reported that the actor was at the center of at least two sexual misconduct complaints on the set of "Mythic Quest."

According to the magazine, Abraham was given a warning and told to keep away from some of the shows actresses following a first incident. A second complaint of misconduct was reportedly raised to the show's co-creator and star Rob McElhenney. Abraham was then let go from the series.

"Mythic Quest" producer Lionsgate told The Times in a statement Monday, We take allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate them thoroughly."

"As a matter of corporate policy, we do not comment on personnel actions," Lionsgate added.

Mythic Quest revolves around the exploits of the team behind a successful multiplayer video game. Abraham starred in the series as C.W. Longbottom, an old-school writer with a habit of sharing inappropriate one-liners.

When the show returned last November, Abrahams character had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and died off-screen.

News of Abraham's "Mythic Quest" exit broke in April 2022. Since then, Abraham has appeared as a flirty widower vacationing in Sicily with his son and grandson in Season 2 of HBO's "The White Lotus."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Federal Aviation Administration planned to cut down 2,055 individual trees and clear 51.7 acres at the Tacoma Narrows Airport this fall.

A plane takes off from the runway at Tacoma Narrows Airport in Wollochet, Wash. on April 20, 2023. The Federal Aviation Administration planned to cut down 2,055 individual trees and clear 51.7 acres at the Tacoma Narrows Airport this fall, but after hearing concerns the FAA has agreed to reconsider the amount of trees being cleared.

After hearing concerns and receiving letters from the public, the FAA has agreed to take a second look.

Local residents raised their concerns about the project at the April 11 Tacoma Narrows Airport Advisory Committee meeting.

Some were worried about an increase in plane noise, destruction of wildlife habitat, reduction in air quality, and the areas aesthetic.

Then Wednesday, April 19, Pierce County met with the FAA at the Tacoma Narrows Airport.

The FAA has agreed to conduct a Safety of Airspace Analysis to see how the amount of trees being cleared may be reduced, Amanda Smith, a Pierce County spokesperson, told the Gateway Wednesday.

An update will be given in late May, Smith added.

Project history

The airport was previously owned by the city of Tacoma. In 2008, Pierce County took over ownership.

In 2016, the Pierce County Council adopted the airport master plan for the Tacoma Narrows Airport with three projects to make approaches and take-offs safer.

The projects include tree obstruction removal, taxi relocation, and wildlife protection. Theyll be funded through a series of grants from the FAA, Pierce County, and the Washington State Department of Transportation, Smith said.

Obstruction removal

As part of that master plan, the FAA had identified approximately 18,000 trees that intersect what is called Part 77 airspace.

Part 77 airspace is a flight safety zone around the runway that radiates upward from the airport in a cone shape, Trever Threde, airports and ferry administrator for Pierce County, told the Gateway.

This boundary needs to remain clear of obstacles for planes to operate, Threde said.

Pierce County and consultants perform routine inspections of the runway that are reported back to the FAA as needed, Smith said.

The FAA also has the authority to inspect the runway at any given time, Smith said.

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At first, the FAA planned to take down 18,000 trees on airport property.

As Pierce County worked with the FAA to finalize and develop the airport master plan, they were able to take the number of trees from 18,000 down to 2,055 individual trees and clearing 51.7 acres for the project.

That was the plan up until Wednesdays advisory meeting. Now the FAA will take another look.

Where it is possible, 2,055 individual trees on the property have been identified for removal. Each tree identified has grown into the safety zone boundary or is expected to grow into the boundary.

The 2,055 identified trees are not in one specific area. Theyre individual trees across airport property, Threde said. None are on private property.

Individual removal helps retain the surrounding vegetation, Smith said.

Grubbing and clearing of 51.7 acres of forest would occur for trees that require removal, but are in areas so dense that selective removal is not practical, Smith said.

Grubbing involves a combination of removing entire trees from the airport, leaving branches and removing larger logs, and chipping the trees on-site, Smith said. Low, native shrubs will remain.

Pierce County does not have a total number of trees that would come down in the 51.7 acres of forest, now that the FAA is taking another look.

The 51.7 acres of forest are located primarily north and west of the runway.

All tree removal will take place outside breeding and nesting season, March 16 to Sept. 1, for species including the streaked horned lark.

Obstruction and tree removal is estimated to cost $2.5 million. The work is expected to take place in the fall of 2023 and be completed in late spring 2024.

Concerns the FAA heard

Pierce County Council Member Robyn Denson told the Gateway shes received concerns from the public about the number of trees that will be cut.

Denson is a member of the airport advisory board, but was absent at the April 11 meeting due to another obligation.

She said she is a big proponent of measure twice, cut once.

Denson sent the FAA a letter on April 5. She asked them to take a second look at the number of trees that need to come down and whether some acres could be spared, she told the Gateway on Wednesday.

She explained cutting down the trees is something that is being mandated by the FAA.

As part of their agreement to provide funding to the airport, there are necessary upgrades to keep us compliant with FAA standards, Denson said.

I cant speak for everyone, but I dont think anyone ever gets excited about removing trees, and I know all of the benefits of trees: aesthetic, environmental, sound, habitat, all of that, Denson said. But obviously safety is the number one concern for everyone. We have to have a safe airport. And if the airport does not meet the FAA standards, improvements need to be done to be in compliance.

Denson was thrilled to hear Wednesdays news that the FAA is willing to take a second look at the forested areas around the airport.

Anytime you take down this number of trees, we just want to be absolutely sure its necessary, she said.

How will cutting down trees affect noise?

Hugh Pratt of Gig Harbor and Aaron Rocksmith who lives in the Point Fosdick area near the airport emailed the Gateway, concerned that cutting trees down will create louder aircraft noise.

These trees are all we have to protect from an increasingly noisy airport, Pratt and Rocksmith wrote in a letter they sent to Denson.

As part of the master plan in 2016, Pierce County completed a noise study that looked at the effects of cutting down the original 18,000 trees.

A noise contour study evaluates how sound radiates from the airport and interacts with the topography of the surrounding areas, Smith said. It includes assessments of how noise is perceived in surrounding areas.

The noise contour found that theres no significant change in the 65 day night noise average, Threde said.

Thats the FAA standard for assessing a nuisance noise level and a non nuisance level.

The study found there would be no substantial change in the noise contours based on this project, Threde said.

Taxiway relocation

Another project is that the airports current main taxiway will be moved 50 feet to the east, making the runway FAA approved.

Right now thats a grassy open area, with one area that includes a stormwater retention pond that will get moved.

A plane flies over the runway at Tacoma Narrows Airport in Wollochet, Wash. on April 20, 2023. The Federal Aviation Administration planned to cut down 2,055 individual trees and clear 51.7 acres at the Tacoma Narrows Airport this fall, but after hearing concerns the FAA has agreed to reconsider the amount of trees being cleared.

By moving the taxiway it gives planes more space between taxiing, taking off, and landing on the runway, Threde said.

The size of the runway wont be expanding. The only thing moving is the taxiway.

Expanding the runway is not the intent of any of these projects, Threde said. These are all projects that come out of the airport design manual and are requirements for us to safely operate the airport.

Taxiway relocation is estimated to cost between $6 million to $10 million. This cost will be finalized later this summer when the design is closer to being finalized, Smith said.

These projects will also not change the size or number of aircrafts that come and go from the airport, Threde said.

During this process, theyll fill in a portion of a storm water pond and re-engineer their storm water facilities to make sure they dont lose any runoff capability.

The last phase of the project for taxi relocation and wildlife protection is likely to begin in 2026, Smith said.

Wildlife protection fencing

Another part of the project is adding safety fencing around the south and western edge of the runway safety area to prevent any wildlife access to the active runway and taxiways, Threde said.

Temporary posts have been placed around the property of the Tacoma Narrows Airport in Wollochet, Wash. as part of a project that is adding safety fencing around the south and western edge of the runway safety area to prevent any wildlife access to the active runway and taxiways.

The east side of the airport is mostly fenced. The west and south sides are partially fenced.

Fencing installation is expected to begin this fall and continue into 2024, Smith said.

The fencing is a permanent safety addition to the airport and is estimated to cost $750,000 to $1.2 million.
The claim: Post implies Scandinavian sea levels show global sea levels aren't rising

A March 14 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) describes authentic National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sea level rise data for three Scandinavian cities: Bergen, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Stockholm, Sweden.

The three cities show no sea level rise, minimal sea level rise and negative sea level rise, respectively.

"In this weekly feature from the Climate Discussion Nexus, we check claims of relentless sea level rise against actual data," reads the video's caption.

The video was shared 1,800 times in five weeks.

Some commenters suggested that sea level rise hasn't happened at all.

"So, the climate alarmists were wrong," wrote one commenter.

"I see no increase of sea levels," wrote another.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: Missing context

The implied claim is wrong. Global sea levels are rising, but not at the same rate everywhere on Earth. In the Scandinavian cities listed in the video, the land is also rising due to a common geological process. The result is that, compared to the land, sea levels in Scandinavia can be stable or falling even while global average sea levels are rising.

Sea levels rising worldwide, but land is also rising in Scandinavia

Around the world, land rises and falls as it rebounds from the weight of glaciers that disappeared thousands of years ago. This is called glacial isostatic adjustment and, in Scandinavia, it is causing land to rise, according to Martin Stendel, a climate scientist at Danish Meteorological Institute.

A pedestrian makes their way across a flooded section of Avenida Menendez in St. Augustine, Fla., after storm-driven high tides flooded low-lying areas of the city.

Sea levels have also risen, but the land around Bergen and Stockholm is rising faster, he said. In Copenhagen, sea level rise is outpacing isostatic adjustment by a thin margin, leading to the slight sea level increase described in the video.

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The land uplift occurring in Scandinavia is not unprecedented, according to William Sweet, an NOAA oceanographer.

"This is also happening in some areas in Alaska and Canada," he said in an email. "Additionally, there are other regions of the world where tectonic shifts can also cause land to rise up and create apparent drops in relative sea level."

Due to these and other factors, local rates of sea level rise vary across the Earth, and some areas have experienced very rapid sea level rise. For instance, Grand Isle, Louisiana, has experienced the equivalent of roughly 3 feet of rise per hundred years, according to NASA data.

On average, global sea levels have risen between 6-8 inches over the last hundred years, according to NOAA.

Fact check: In Norway, land is rising faster than sea level is rising

The misleading social media video is part of a series that highlights areas on Earth experiencing sea level fall or relatively low sea level rise.

The poster said in a comment with the video that it is intended "to illustrate the complexity and triviality of sea level rise, in contrast to the alarmists' simplistic claim that it's uniform and menacing."

However, publically available sea level rise information from the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, NOAA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly state that sea level rise is not uniform and varies between locales.

Sea level rise is causing or contributing to increased high-tide flooding, coastal erosion, habitat loss, saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers and higher storm surges.

When contacted by USA TODAY, the Facebook user did not provide evidence to support their post.

AFP fact-checked a YouTube version of the video and found that it lacks context.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Sea levels rising in Scandinavia, but land rising faster
The families who lost loved ones in the June mass shooting at Columbia Machine near Smithsburg were recently informed by the prosecuting team that the defendant won't get prison time.

Prosecutors told the victims' families, survivors and others that Joe Louis Esquivel will be deemed not criminally responsible for his alleged actions on June 9, according to three family members and relatives who attended the April 5 meeting.

That means Esquivel would not go to state prison.

In depth: Columbia Machine mass shooter expected to be found not criminally responsible. Here's why.

Instead, family members were told Esquivel, 24, of Hedgesville, W.Va., will be sent to Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital in Howard County for mental-health treatment. And they were told that if one day Esquivel is found to no longer to be a danger to himself or others, he could be released without serving time in state prison.

The scene at Columbia Machine, located just north of Smithsburg, the day after a gunman opened fire at the Washington County manufaturing plant on June 9, 2022, killing three and injuring two others.

Esquivel's hearing is May 2 in Washington County Circuit Court.

What charges does Esquivel face in the mass shooting near Smithsburg, MD?

Esquivel faces 34 charges in the mass shooting at Columbia Machine off Bikle Road and the ensuing shootout with police after he fled in his car. The charges include three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. The maximum penalty for one count of first-degree murder alone is life without the possibility of parole.

More about those lost: Remembering community members killed, injured in Columbia Machine shooting near Smithsburg

Mark Alan Frey, 50, of Waynesboro, Pa.; Charles "C.J." Edward Minnick Jr., 31, of Smithsburg; and Joshua "Josh" Robert Wallace, 30, of the Hagerstown area, were killed at work. Also shot was Columbia Machine co-worker Brandon Chase Michael, then 42, and  during the shootout  Maryland State Police Detective Sgt. Phil Martin.

The third attempted murder charge is for trying to kill state police Lt. Vincent Upole, commander of the Rockville, Md., state police barrack.

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A Washington County Sheriff's Office vehicles are parked outside Smithsburg Valley Church Friday, June 10, 2022, a day after three people were killed and three injured including the suspect after a mass shooting at Columbia Machine near Smithsburg, Md.

Esquivel was being held Wednesday at the Washington County Detention Center. He has been held without bond since he was apprehended. However, the case judge signed off on Esquivel being transported to Perkins or another facility for evaluations to determine if he was competent to stand trial and whether he was not criminally responsible for the alleged crimes.

What does 'not criminally responsible' mean?

The point of being found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity is that a defendant, because of their mental illness, cannot appreciate the consequences of their actions at the time they committed the crime, said University of Baltimore School of Law Professor David Jaros.

The state is obligated to provide mental health care with at least the goal of helping the person so they could be released if deemed no longer a threat to themselves or others, said Jaros, who is not familiar with Esquivel's case nor privy to his mental health evaluation.

Seventeen and counting in 2023: Mass killing database: Revealing trends, details and anguish of every US event since 2006

"I would not begrudge anyone treatment for a mental illness," said Tammy Roberts, Josh Wallace's mom. "However, I have a dead son. There has to be some accountability."

The Washington County State's Attorney, the judge overseeing the case and the public defender's legal team had no comment.

Esquivel's family could not be reached for comment.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Smithsburg mass shooting: Joe Louis Esquivel to avoid prison, families say
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  The family of a man shot and killed by police in northwestern New Mexico after they responded to the wrong address called Thursday for the officers to be charged with murder and the police chief to resign.

Lawyers for the family of Robert Dotson issued a statement outlining their concerns. They accused the Farmington Police Department of wild use of force," saying there has been a lack of accountability.

"We demand that changes. We want what happened to Robbie to also result in a better community for everyone in Farmington, attorney Shon Northam said in a statement.

The family wants San Juan County's district attorney and New Mexicos attorney general to investigate other alleged excessive-force cases involving the department. They also asked federal prosecutors in a letter sent Thursday to bring charges against the officers involved in Dotson's shooting for civil rights violations.

He died in his doorway. It was no different than an execution, the letter reads. The officers did not have probable cause to suspect any crime had occurred at the residence when they entered his gated yard late at night and knocked on his door.

Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe has called the April 5 shooting tragic, saying his agency is trying to understand what happened that night when officers mistakenly approached the Dotson home.

Farmington police said Thursday they are committed to cooperating with the New Mexico State Police as that agency conducts its investigation. It is important to let the legal process take its course and not draw conclusions before all the facts are known, the department said in a statement.

The three officers involved remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The State Police Investigations Bureau has said it will share its findings with the district attorney once the review is complete.

It remains unclear why the officers responded to the wrong address after getting a domestic violence call from a home across the street.

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The case comes amid an ongoing reckoning across the country over use of force by law enforcement officers. Just weeks ago, prosecutors in California charged seven Highway Patrol officers and a nurse with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2020 death of a man who was being restrained following a traffic stop.

Body camera footage released by Farmington police last week showed officers arriving at the home. They walked up to the front door, passing the address that was posted on the home and illuminated by an exterior light. They knocked on the door and announced themselves.

While knocking twice more, the officers can be heard asking a dispatcher to confirm the address and to tell the caller to come to the door. The dispatcher states the address of a home across the street.

Within seconds, Dotson, armed with a handgun, opened the door and the officers immediately began shooting, firing multiple rounds as they backed away. The man can be seen dropping to the ground.

The family's lawyers said footage from the home's doorbell camera shows the officers were smirking and laughing before Dotson opened the door and was blinded by the officers' flashlights.

The video released by police showed a chaotic scene erupting about 4 minutes after officers first arrived at the wrong address. Once the gunfire stopped, sirens could be heard blaring as more officers arrived and Dotson's wife could be heard pleading with officers that her husband had been shot and needed help after realizing they were outside her home.

___

The date of the shooting has been corrected to April 5.
The family of Connor Sturgeon, who killed five people April 10 inside Old National Bank, issued a statement calling for meaningful, common sense gun safety measures.

In the statement released by one of the couple's attorneys, the family said it was aghast to learn Kentucky law mandated the assault rifle used in the horrific event be sold to the highest bidder at public auction."

They said they are working vigorously to ensure the weapon is legally destroyed.

The five people killed were Josh Barrick, 40; Deana Eckert, 57; Tommy Elliott, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and Jim Tutt Jr., 64. Eight others were injured, including Louisville Metro Police Officer Nickolas Wilt who was shot in the head. Wilt's field training officer Cory Galloway killed Sturgeon.

Wilt is currently on a ventilator while he remains in critical but stable condition.

More: 2 mass shootings in 1 week: Louisville searches for answers after chaos at Chickasaw Park

More: A Louisville corner changed forever: How 9 minutes of terror unfolded at Old National Bank

In a previous statement, the family said Sturgeon, who worked at the bank, was suffering from mental health challenges that the family was addressing and they had no warning signs ahead of his violent shooting spree.

No words can express our sorrow, anguish, and horror at the unthinkable harm our son Connor inflicted on innocent people, their families, and the entire Louisville community," the family said.

In the statement issued Thursday, they said the first step in avoiding the auction of the assault rifle occurred Monday, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took possession of the weapon.

"We genuinely appreciate the assistance of both LMPD and ATF in this regard," the statement said.

Cassandra Mullins, a public information officer for ATF, confirmed it has seized the rifle and said the agency will comply with all federal laws when the investigation closes, but she decline to say if the rifle would be turned over to Kentucky State Police for auction.

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Mullins further clarified that: "I cannot go into details of a specific case, particularly an on-going investigation. In general, firearms seized by ATF in federal investigations are disposed of in accordance with federal law and are not transferred to KSP for auction."

The state's gun auction law says Kentucky State Police shall receive firearms and ammunition confiscated by or abandoned to "every law enforcement agency in Kentucky."

More: Louisville shooting at Old National Bank underscores the fatigue felt by nation

Since 1998, the General Assembly has required Kentucky State Police to sell confiscated firearms. The proceeds have been used to buy personal body armor and other equipment for police.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: What will happen to Louisville Old National Bank shooter's gun?
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in 2001's The Fast And The Furious. (Universal/Getty Images)

After more than two decades, the Fast and Furious saga is finally making its final turn as the thrilling climax of the Toretto familys story comes into view in Fast X.

From the initial, mid-budget racing thriller directed by Rob Cohen, the films have exploded into an ambitious, globe-trotting action spectaculars that take their place as one of the most successful franchises of all time.

Read more: Everything we know about Fast X

With Fast X on the horizon, heres our breakdown of the saga as it stands.

The Fast and the Furious | 2001

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in 2001's The Fast And The Furious. (Universal/Getty Images)

Based on a 1998 magazine article about street racing, 2001s The Fast and The Furious starred the late Paul Walker as Brian OConner, a police officer who goes undercover in the world of illegal street racing to investigate a spate of truck hijackings.

He befriends racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), and is welcomed in by his family, including sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Doms partner Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). However, after becoming close to Dom, and falling in love with Mia, Brian turns his back on his profession and helps Dom evade the authorities.

2 Fast 2 Furious | 2003

Tyrese Gibson, Paul Walker and Devon Aoki in 2 Fast 2 Furious. (Alamy)

Vin Diesel's Dom didn't return for 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), which had Brian and Tej Parker (Ludacris) being coerced into working with the FBI to take down drug lord Carter Verone. Brian recruits childhood friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) into helping them.

They succeed and have their criminal records cleared, using a cut of Verone's cash to set up a garage in Miami.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift | 2006

Lucas Black in 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. (Alamy)

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) was a separate story following a young American racer (Lucas Black) entering the Tokyo underground racing scene.

Diesel made a cameo as Dom in the latter films closing moments.

Fast & Furious | 2009

Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in 2009's Fast & Furious. (Alamy)

Toward the end of the decade, Fast & Furious (2009) brought the crew back together as Brian (now an FBI agent) reluctantly teams up with Dom in order to take down a heroin importer who is connected to the death of Letty.

Story continues

The pair are successful, although Doms involvement leads to him being arrested. Brian (now resigned from the FBI) and the remaining crew break him free.

Fast & Furious 5 (Fast Five) | 2011

Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson in 2011's Fast Five. (Alamy)

From here, the movies moved from the racing to heist genre, moving around the world on elaborate missions.

Read more: How The Rock and Vin Diesel's feud began

Fast & Furious 5 (2011) saw Brian, Dom, and Mia put together a team comprised of characters from previous films to steal $100 million from a corrupt Brazilian politician (Joaquim de Almeida), while being pursued by relentless DSS Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson).

Fast & Furious 6 | 2013

Sung Kang as Han; Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Tej; Gal Gadot as Gisele; Vin Diesel as Dom; Paul Walker as Brian; Tyrese Gibson as Roman in Fast & Furious 6. (Universal Pictures)

The huge success of Fast Five was continued by Fast & Furious 6 (2013), where Hobbs recruits Dom and co to capture mercenary Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who leads a crime syndicate that includes Letty, who is alive and suffering from amnesia.

Fast & Furious 7 (Furious 7) | 2015

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner in Fast and Furious 7. (Universal Pictures)

2015s Fast & Furious 7 was of course overshadowed by the tragic death of Paul Walker, and so as well as Dom and the crew going up against Owen Shaws vengeful brother Deckard (Jason Statham), it gave Brian a happy ending where he retired from a life of crime to be with Mia and their child.

Fast & Furious 8 (The Fate of the Furious) | 2017

Charlize Theron as Cipher and Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto in Fast & Furious 8. (Universal Pictures)

In the following film, 2017s Fast and Furious 8. Dom is seemingly the bad guy as he leaves his life of domesticity to work for cyber terrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron).

Read more: Franchises that continued without their stars

It emerges that he is doing so in order to protect his son, whom he had with another woman when he thought Letty was dead, and was unaware of. The rest of the team band together to defeat Cipher, and while the mother of his child doesnt survive, Dom saves his son.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw | 2019

Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson in Hobbs & Shaw. (Universal)

Outside of the main franchise, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) saw Johnson and Statham share the screen as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw are reluctantly partnered alongside Shaws sister (Vanessa Kirby) to take down a cybernetically enhanced terrorist named Brixton Lore (Idris Elba).

Fast & Furious 9 (F9) | 2021

Vin Diesel and John Cena in a still from Fast & Furious 9. (Universal Pictures)

Faces from the past continues to haunt Dom in Fast and Furious 9 (2021), which saw the arrival of Doms brother Jakob (John Cena). The younger sibling is estranged from Dom and Mia, working for the government before turning to a life of crime.

Read more: How The Rock and Vin Diesel's feud began

The two brothers fight to find a hacking device wanted by Jakobs associate Cipher, but family ties prove stronger as the pair reconcile.

Fast X | 2023

Vin Diesel and Daniela Melchior in Fast X, directed by Louis Leterrier. (Universal Pictures)

Fast X sees Dominic Dom Toretto once again antagonised by Cipher, who has joined forces with a face from Doms past. Jason Momoa plays Dante, the son of Fast Five villain Hernan Reyes.

Twisted by twelve years of grief, his plot for revenge will see the crew race across the world to prevent disaster, but Dom faces his toughest task yet when it emerges that Dantes target is his son.

Fast X will be part one of a two part finale to the franchise. The eleventh film (currently in development) will be the last in the main franchise. While this will be the end of the main franchise, cast and creatives involved with the films have expressed interest in telling new stories inside the same universe.

Watch the full trailer below.

The correct order to watch the Fast & Furious films

The Fast and Furious movies are in chronological order, with the exception of the third film  Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Scenes in later films confirm that Tokyo Drifts story takes place in between Fast and Furious 6 and 7.

So, including the spin off movies, the order should be as follows:

The Fast and the Furious (2001), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast & Furious 5 (2011), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious 7 (2015), Fast and Furious 8 (2017), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), and Fast and Furious 9 (2021).

Read more: Jason Momoa's Fast X villain is 'a peacock'

For the completists among you, there are also two short films: Turbo-Charged Prelude, a short film that comes before 2 Fast 2 Furious and shows Brians journey between the first and second films, as well as Los Bandoleros, a prelude that comes before Fast and Furious (2009) concerning Doms journey between movies.

Fast X will be released in UK cinemas on Friday, 19 May, 2023. Watch a teaser below.
As pandemic-era provisions expire, millions of people in the United States will lose their health insurance as states begin to purge people from Medicaid.

Medicaid, with its free or low-cost care, is a lifeline for more than 90 million people who otherwise couldnt pay the exorbitant costs of health care plans and premiums.

My family is among them, and Ive seen its positive impact firsthand. Since 2004, my father has received weekly physical therapy for fibromyalgia and osteoporosis, which weakens his bones and causes chronic pain. For my father, Medicaid meant regaining his agency and autonomy. For my stay-at-home mother, it meant our familys survival.

Up to 14 million could lose Medicaid coverage, including 5.3 million kids

My familys story isnt unique: Its the reality for millions of Medicaid participants who are now at risk of losing health insurance coverage.

Before COVID-19, Medicaid recipients had to submit complicated and lengthy paperwork to their state government each year to reestablish their eligibility for the program under the patchwork of state-based criteria.

Opinions in your inbox: Get exclusive access to our columnists and the best of our columns

In response to the pandemic and the countrys public health emergency, states were authorized to ensure that Medicaid participants received continuous coverage by avoiding this onerous so-called redetermination process. Starting April 1, however, states were allowed to resume Medicaid disenrollments.

Without federal intervention, this decision could cause up to 14 million people to lose Medicaid coverage, 5.3 million of them children, a third Latino and 15% of them Black Americans, dramatically rolling back the governments success in increasing insurance coverage.

Subhajit Saha, the first person in his family to graduate from high school and college, here in June 2016 in Brooklyn, N.Y., with his father, Subodh, his mother, Seema, and sister, Linda. Since 2004, Subodh Saha, left, has received weekly physical therapy for fibromyalgia and osteoporosis, which weakens his bones and causes chronic pain.

Half of those losing their insurance are expected to do so because of practical and administrative barriers. They might not be aware of these state-administered programs various eligibility rules, or be able to afford the time and effort needed to complete paperwork or travel to agency offices  burdensome for people with low incomes or inflexible work schedules.

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For states, this Medicaid redetermination process is also costly because it is labor intensive, given the volume of applications, varying requirements for different groups and limited personnel available to review applicants, which is exacerbated by chronic staffing shortages.

Some Medicaid participants can expect to experience the churn of the redetermination process, as they temporarily lose their coverage before they are eventually reenrolled.

Loss of Medicaid affects children, people with disabilities, older people

Children, people with disabilities, older people and others with extensive health care needs are among those most affected by this process, during which households are forced to pay out of pocket or forgo health care. Others will find themselves joining the already 30 million people in the United States without health insurance. They will lose the support that enables them to live their lives and fully take part in community life.

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Who will take care of them?: COVID nightmare still haunts children who've lost a parent or caregiver to pandemic

Despite being championed by politicians for reducing public health care expenditures, administrative barriers might do the exact opposite, by increasing administrative costs and causing delays in medical treatment. These administrative hurdles also cause problems of inaccessibility in its various forms.

For non-native English speakers, there might be a language barrier. As a child, I would go to the agency office with my parents after school to serve as an interpreter. Although my parents were fortunate that I could help facilitate their conversations with the agency representatives, not everyone has this assistance.

A reality check on the American workforce: Time to invest in people with disabilities

Don't insult conservatives: Candace Owens is wrong. Women like me who use wheelchairs can  and should  model underwear.

For people with disabilities, while state Medicaid websites often provide information about the availability of reasonable accommodations, fewer directly provide the means.

For example, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only 19 states provide information on obtaining large print or Braille materials, and only two of those provided a large print PDF application form online.

Subhajit Saha, right, and his father and sister shoveling snow at their home in New York in February 2021. Snow removal is a disability rights issue, particularly if city governments fail to adequately clear snow from sidewalks.

Ensuring uninterrupted health insurance coverage is vital to securing the rights of people dependent on Medicaid, including individuals and families with low incomes, children, older people, people with disabilities and pregnant people. Thanks to Medicaid-covered treatments, my father was able to work full time again and ensure that we had a roof over our heads and food on the table.

State governments should seek relief waivers from the federal government to halt terminations of Medicaid coverage and reduce churn. States should hire additional personnel to keep pace with increased Medicaid enrollment.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

Subhajit Saha is the senior disability rights associate at Human Rights Watch.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should also hold state Medicaid agencies accountable for compliance with civil rights obligations. Federal and state officials should consult with people with disabilities and older people and make certain that information is provided in multiple languages and accessible to people with different disabilities.

As for my family, well pick things up from the last time we worked on my fathers renewal application in 2020, and I will continue working to build a country where those in need of Medicaid can thrive.

Subhajit Saha is the senior disability rights associate at Human Rights Watch.

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: As COVID benefits end, millions will lose their Medicaid 'lifeline'
The weather was perfect, with the warmth of the sunshine offsetting the salty sea breeze. It was a great day for foraging on the central coast of California. We were on the hunt for the seas briny bounty: seaweed.

Sea Foraging in San Luis Obispo County

$125.00, Airbnb (starting price)

Spencer Marley, a former commercial fisher and seaweed harvester, has been taking people on seaweed foraging excursions for nearly half a decade. The San Luis Obispo County Airbnb Experience is rated a solid five stars, and as a huge fan of seaweed, I was eager to get out there and learn more.

The good thing is that theres no toxic seaweed in the world, Marley stated unprompted at the beginning of our experience, as if he could read my morbidity-prone mind. Unlike foraging for mushrooms, he said, misidentifying seaweed would not lead to death.

I dutifully followed his footsteps along the coastline by Cayucos, dodging the waves that crashed against the rocky landscape. Marley was a wealth of information, explaining that the central coast was especially fruitful for this activity because we were at the meeting ground of seaweed varieties from both the northern and southern shores of California.

Marley didnt invent seaweed foraging, nor did he try to claim the title. Instead, he narrated a history of the areas foragers, referencing Chinese immigrants from the 1800s who were the first documented seaweed foragers on the central coast.

As we walked along the coastline, Marley pointed out different varieties of seaweed and what they were popular for.

This is nori, and 93 percent of seaweed consumed in the world is nori, he said. The Cantonese were the first to figure out it was edible 2,000 years ago. Not only would they harvest it from the wild and eat it, but it was also one of the first forms of aquaculture.

He leaned in to snip the tips growing off a rock, leaving the majority of the algae intact so that it would retain potential to regenerate. Then we continued on. With some varieties, we werent snipping at all. Instead, wed gather the bits of seaweed battered in by the waves. Kombu is a deep-water seaweed, and its the highest natural food source of glutamic acid in the world, Marley said. This is enough to flavor our ramen.

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There were some lookalikes, but Marley showed me the subtle visual and flavor differences that differentiated them. Kombu has an almost mushroom-like umami taste while its lookalike Alaria has a less appealing flavor that tastes a little like cardboard.

With almost every new type of seaweed hed introduce me to, hed be sure to add, Thatll go in our ramen. I could just imagine the flavors wed be cooking up, from the citrus flavors of Rockweed and the floral hints of the Splendid Iridescent to the crunch of the Ogo. By the end, my stomach was growling for a taste, and our little basket was looking bountiful.

Courtesy Airbnb

Marley played the role of Mary Poppins and pulled out a portable stove from his backpack, along with a pot, bottles of clean water, packets of noodles, onions, and garlic. Skepticism began to creep into my mind. Would the ramen be any good?

We continued to chat as the water simmered to a boil, and Marley told me about how his mindset had shifted over the years when it came to the earths resources. With more than 1,200 days at sea as a commercial fisherman, his ties to the ocean are deep.

The lightbulb kind of went off when I was at a farmers market one time, Marley told us. I could totally harvest kelp and dry it out and get a permit because I knew how the whole process worked from fishing. At that time, five years ago, there were only 20 people in the state who had the permit and most of those people were up in Mendocino.

However, it wasnt until he got older that he became more concerned with conservation.

I dont just want to take, take, take, he said, slicing a long strip of Kombu seaweed into smaller bites.

Now, his priority is to teach people how to be more conservation-minded, one bowl of ramen at a time. And his Airbnb Experience description was right: He could make a mean bowl of seaweed ramen. I found myself tipping the bowl upside down, determined to slurp every drop of seaweed-y goodness.

While the activity was only supposed to last 90 minutes, Marley sheepishly admitted that going over was a frequent occurrence. Beyond a foraging experience, guests also get a history and sustainability lesson with Marley, and as a therapist in training, he was particularly skilled at thoughtful conversation. Through the experience, I learned so much about the science and history of seaweed as well as the importance of harvesting sustainably. There was also plenty of leftover seaweed from our foraging experience, and I was able to take home a bag of my own.

Book now at Airbnb

Originally Appeared on Conde Nast Traveler
Top officials from the FBIs counterintelligence sector issued a warning this week that China and Iran are becoming more brazen in their tactics when it comes to targeting critics of the authoritarian regimes  increasingly hitting them on U.S. soil.

Officials told reporters Wednesday that "lines that are being crossed" as adversarial nations look to suppress dissidents in the U.S. to bolster their power at home.

"China, Iran and other countries see this as a priority for them to stabilize their regimes and make sure that they continue to exist," one senior official said according to Voice of America. "They're increasing the priority of this... they're more willing to go on U.S. soil to go after dissidents."

Lu Jianwang, 61, a U.S. citizen charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Chinese government by helping set up a Chinese "secret police station" in New York, and his attorney Deidre von Dornum exit Brooklyn federal court, April 17, 2023.

WHITE HOUSE DODGES ON WHEN BIDEN WILL CONFRONT XI JINPING OVER ALLEGED SECRET POLICE STATIONS, SPY BALLOONS

Another official who also wished to remain anonymous said, "The change that we're trying to highlight is sort of an increase in the level of threats, and threats of violence, threats of intimidation that cross lines we have not previously seen."

Officials said these transnational repression tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated and often aim to influence U.S. policy decisions through "malign" tactics.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Journalist Masih Alinejad speaks out after Iran's plot to kill her was foiled.

"We've really seen an inflection point in the tactics and tools, and the level of risk and the level of threat that have changed over the past few years," one counterintelligence official said.

The FBI has encouraged anyone facing international harassment to report it immediately to the FBI as U.S. security officials look to clamp down on transnational threats.

The comments came just two days after the FBI arrested two New York residents for allegedly operating a "secret police station" in Manhattans Chinatown that targeted critics of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chen Jinping and Lu Jianwang sit with attorney Susan Kellan after the two New York residents were arrested for allegedly operating a Chinese "secret police station" in Manhattan's Chinatown, during a hearing in Brooklyn, April 17, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.

3 ORGANIZED CRIME MEMBERS WITH TIES TO IRAN CHARGED IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST US CITIZEN IN NY

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"We cannot and will not tolerate the Chinese government's persecution of pro-democracy activists who have sought refuge in this country," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace reportedly said Monday while announcing the charges. "We remain resolved and steadfast to fight against any efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to oppress and intimidate our residents."

The FBI did not say how many nations are involved in targeted operations in the U.S., though they did note that China and Iran have been "significant offenders."

Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco hold a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Three men were indicted in a New York federal court earlier this year on murder-for-hire charges after plotting an assassination attempt on a U.S. citizen at the direction of the Iranian government.

The victim was later identified as Masih Alinejad, a top critic of the Iranian regime, who was also targeted in 2021 during a kidnapping scheme foiled by the FBI.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A grandson of the man charged with shooting a Black teen in Kansas Citys Northland last week said he was appalled and disgusted at his grandfathers actions and is thankful Ralph Yarl is recovering.

I was horrified. I thought it was terrible, Klint Ludwig said of his immediate reaction to hearing about the shooting of the 16-year-old. It was inexcusable. It was wrong.

I stand with Ralph, and really want his family to achieve justice for what happened to them. Their child or grandchild or nephews life was fundamentally changed forever, over a mistake and someone being scared and fearful.

Andrew D. Lester, 84, shot Yarl twice  including once in the head  when Yarl accidentally went to the wrong house on Thursday night while trying to pick up his younger brothers. Lester, a white man who police say shot Yarl after the teen rang Lesters doorbell, was charged Monday with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He surrendered to authorities on Tuesday, was released on $200,000 bond and pleaded not guilty Wednesday during his first court appearance.

The shooting sparked a national conversation on race and guns.

I feel terribly for him, Ludwig, 28, said of Yarl. And Im really glad that hes doing OK, hes going to live. I know his life is changed forever. And Im really sorry.

Ludwig, who lives in the Kansas City area, told The Star on Wednesday that he also was disgusted at the way authorities handled the case.

He was critical of the way both police and the Clay County prosecutor conducted the initial investigation, releasing Lester and not charging him after he was first brought in.

The only reason why he is now receiving charges and an investigation is being held was because of community outreach to bring attention to this, Ludwig said. The response has been great. Its been amazing to see this solidarity and coming together as a community.

Two other relatives who spoke with The Star said they didnt believe Lester was a racist and thought he likely was scared when he shot Yarl.

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Ludwig said he and his grandfather, who goes by the first name Dan, used to be very close.

But in the last five or six years or so, I feel like weve lost touch, he said. Ive gotten older and gained my own political views, and hes become staunchly right-wing, further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line. I feel like its really further radicalized him in a lot of ways.

Ludwig said his grandfather had been immersed in a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia.

And then the NRA pushing the stand your ground stuff and that you have to defend your home, he said. When I heard what happened, I was appalled and shocked that it transpired, but I didnt disbelieve that it was true. The second I heard it, I was like, Yeah, I could see him doing that.

Does he consider his grandfather a racist?

I believe that there have been some positions that hes held that have been bigoted or sort of disparaging, Ludwig said. But its stock Fox News, conservative American stuff. Its anybody who gets an abortion is a murderer. And fatherless Black families are the reason why crime exists in this country. Its stuff everybodys heard at the Thanksgiving table every year.

Ludwig said his grandfathers paranoia had accelerated in the past couple of years.

I hesitate to say he got more extreme, because all this stuff has been extreme, he said, and its been the same story for decades and decades, and generation to generation of people believing the same things. Its just nowadays people are acting on it a little bit more.

Lester, a military veteran and former airline mechanic, was an avid hunter and longtime gun owner, Ludwig said.

Back in his younger days, he would be involved in shooting sports, he said. And I dont necessarily have a problem with using guns and having guns. Its the paranoia that I think is a real issue.

When he was growing up, Ludwig said, Lester would come to his school for grandparent lunches, and Ludwig would spend time in the summer at his grandparents house, riding bikes  and getting lost in the neighborhood.

It truly is easy to get lost in those neighborhoods, he said. The streets look the same.

Ralph Yarl did nothing wrong by showing up at the wrong house, which is an honest, easy mistake. And the fact that it was almost a death sentence is disgusting.

Another grandson of Lesters said he thinks characterizing the shooting as a hate crime is inaccurate.

Daniel Ludwig, 30, of Kansas City  who is Klints older brother  said he did not believe race played a role in the shooting.

Its just sad and I wish it didnt happen, Daniel Ludwig told The Star. It seems like a bunch of mistakes in a row that resulted in a tragedy. I mean, a lot of mistakes all the way around, unfortunately.

Daniel Ludwig said he believed his grandfather would not have fired had Yarl not gone for the door. It was clear, he said, that the shooting did not unfold for no reason.

If you look at the affidavit, there were actions taken that caused it, he said, later adding: My grandpas side isnt being reported.

Yarl, however, told police he was immediately shot after simply ringing the doorbell.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney representing the Yarl family, said Yarl never put his hand on Lesters door and did not try to enter the home.

Mind you, touching the door in and of itself wouldnt be enough to justify the use of deadly force, he said Wednesday. Ralph rang the doorbell and waited quietly outside until the door was open.

Earlier this week, Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said there was a racial component to the shooting, though he did not elaborate. Civil rights and faith leaders have called for Lester to additionally face federal hate crime charges.

A nephew of Lesters told The Star Wednesday evening that his uncle was a decent man.

I really didnt know what to think when I heard about this, said Dean Smith, of Jewell Ridge, Virginia. It just kind of shocked me. You dont expect something like that.

Smith said Lester was home alone because his wife had been in a rehab facility.

They were trying to get her health back before she came home, he said.

He said he believed Lester was scared when he heard the doorbell ring late at night.

Eighty-four years old, living by himself.

Smith said it would be hard for me to believe that Lester is racist.

Hes worked with so many people, he said. Hes been a supervisor and all, over different races. Hes just a really straightforward, everyday person. He was just retired military, trying to get on with life.

The Stars Glenn E. Rice contributed to this report.
A body-worn camera captured an image of Jayland Walker wearing a ski mask and running out of his car immediately before he was fatally shot last summer by Akron police. Several of the officers told state investigators they decided to shoot because they feared for their life.

Eight Akron police officers fired at Jayland Walker. Collectively, they fired 94 shots from their Glock 9mm handguns that early morning of June 27.

What made them all decide to pull the trigger again and again?

During interviews with investigators from the Ohio Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Investigation, each was asked what made them decide to shoot. The BCI did not identify the officers by name, following the lead of the Akron Police Department.

Jayland Walker case coverage: Why local journalists matter for covering the Jayland Walker case from beginning to end

The worst experience: What 8 Akron police officers who shot Jayland Walker told BCI

Below are portions of what the officers said:

Officer 1:

Somebody drew, was going to  I perceived that he was drawing a firearm from his waistband and coming up to take shots at us from a shooting stance.

Officer 2:

Walker stopped running, then he reached down, his hands towards his beltline, and he started to turn and bring his hands up, and thats when I heard shots being fired and started seeing muzzle flashes ... as he fell to the ground I was terrified because hes still moving even if other officers are firing their weapons and I just remember thinking like, Is nobody like, hitting this guy? Why? or like, Whats happening? 

He said he then fired two or three more rounds until Walker rolled over.

Officer 3:

I could not see his hands. I just knew that, his exact movements, and no normal person makes those movements unless they're going to present themselves like they're shooting a firearm.

Officer 4:

He continued to run. At that point in time, I remember, when he reached the concrete pad, and I saw him turn towards us, slow down running, turn towards us (and raise a hand) .... I threw my Taser on the ground, I drew my firearm, and I fired.

Officer 5:

When we hit the parking lot portion of the ... the campus, I observed the subject slow down, plant his left foot, reach with both hands towards his appendix area of his body that was facing away from us and simultaneously turn his hips in a clockwise direction and raise his arm. At the split instance of that, I was immediately fearful for my life and for the safety and well-being of my partners, and I believed that he had fired a shot because I heard an extremely early gunshot.

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Officer 6:

At that point, when I saw him cross draw and lift his arm up, I did hear one shot that I believed was at my direction because of the way Mr. Walker was facing ... I immediately dodged out of the way to the left, because I believed if he shot again that I would be not at the same place that he last saw me.

Officer 7

I heard one gunshot before I started shooting ... And at that time I was fearful for my life and I was fearful for every live of the officers that were presently on scene ... And he was presenting himself in a way that he was going to attempt to shoot at officers.

Officer 8

I can see his hands around his waistband area ... At some point in time, he had turned around and faced officers, and at that time he simultaneously had put up one of his arms in the motion that I believed that he had a gun. And very shortly after him turning around and raising his hand I heard, heard a gunshot. So at that point, I wholeheartedly believed that he had fired at officers.

Reach Tim Botos at 330-580-8333 or tim.botos@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @tbotosREP

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron police officers explain why they shot at Jayland Walker 94 times
A sheriff's deputy searches inmate belongings while the men are being booked and processed at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles in 2006. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Lawyers for Los Angeles County admitted Wednesday that officials had not complied with an injunction ordering them to clean up the jails, but a visibly annoyed federal judge agreed to wait two more months before deciding whether to find the sheriff and county supervisors in contempt of court.

Youre on full notice that what will be coming up in 60 days is a contempt hearing, U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson told the countys legal team after hearing nearly four hours of updates on the state of Los Angeles jails.

This weeks court date addressed developments in three long-standing federal lawsuits, none of which seem to be going well for the county. In addition to planning a contempt hearing in the oldest of those cases, the judge also hinted that hed be open to considering contempt in another case  a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice that accuses the county of providing unconstitutionally bad mental health care behind bars.

Over the course of the proceedings, Pregerson interjected often, sometimes cutting off the countys attorneys with clear annoyance or weary questions.

At one point, a lawyer for the county suggested the judge should consider visiting the jails again as he had before, this time to see the improvements and better understand the roadblocks to faster change.

Well roll out the red carpet, attorney Robert Dugdale said.

Without a hint of mirth, Pregerson replied: I dont want the red carpet, and when I saw it initially, it was horrible.

The case that led to Wednesday's plans for a contempt hearing was originally filed in 1975. It alleged that conditions in the countys jails violated the 8th Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The case went to trial, and eventually a federal judge ordered a series of improvements, which the county has yet to fully carry out.

In recent years, much of the courts attention has been on conditions in the Inmate Reception Center, where men whove just been arrested are sent for booking. Most of the inmates there have not yet been convicted of a crime, and the facility isnt intended to hold people for extended periods.

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In sworn statements, detainees have reported living in filth and not being given needed psychiatric medication. According to the American Civil Liberties Union  which is representing the inmates  people in the reception center have been routinely chained to benches or gurneys for more than 24 hours at a time, regularly locked in unsanitary cells and made to sleep on urine-stained floors.

Last year, Pregerson ordered the county to make modest improvements, such as no longer chaining mentally ill people to benches for more than four hours, no longer leaving inmates in areas without drinking water or working toilets and no longer keeping people in the Inmate Reception Center for more than a day.

In February, the ACLU asked the court to hold the county in contempt, alleging that officials had failed to make those improvements and had simply begun tethering people to gurneys instead of benches.

But Dugdale said Wednesday that the county had since made some progress on meeting those benchmarks  despite setbacks in February that he blamed on staffing problems. Starting next week, he said, the jail will have a sergeant dedicated to tracking how long people are being held in the reception center and making sure that data provided to the ACLU are accurate.

Neither the court nor the inmates lawyers seemed impressed.

The legal standard for contempt is not, We did some stuff so were not liable, ACLU attorney Corene Kendrick said.

Ultimately, Pregerson directed both legal teams to prepare for a contempt hearing with testimony from four witnesses on each side, though the court did not immediately set a date.

Pregerson also hinted at the possibility of other such proceedings in the future. During an update on the Justice Departments lawsuit, the judge twice suggested that the departments next step might be to ask him to hold the county in contempt.

For the last few months, much of the legal action in the Justice Department case has focused on a disagreement about how long the county needs to comply with certain provisions of a settlement agreement it promised to comply with years ago.

Of the dozens of provisions in the agreement, the one thats proved to be the biggest point of contention requires jailers to let severely mentally ill inmates out of solitary confinement for at least 20 hours a week.

Lawyers for the county said that will take more than two years to accomplish.

But in response to a question from Pregerson, Justice Department lawyer Matthew Nickell confirmed it is likely they would ask for a contempt ruling if the county doesnt agree to tighter deadlines.

Nickell also pointed out that if the county had actually decreased the population enough to close Mens Central Jail as previously planned, theyd already be able to provide adequate care for those still behind bars.

He described Mens Central Jail as uninhabitable for virtually everyone, but said the county continues to house mentally ill individuals there.

In addition to hearing about the poor jail conditions and lack of mental health care, the court also heard an update on a third major lawsuit focused on violence meted out by deputies.

That case, Rosas vs. Luna, stemmed from a class-action lawsuit that led to a settlement agreement in 2015. Eight years later, ACLU lawyers say the Sheriffs Department has made good progress meeting many of the provisions outlined in that agreement.

But, the attorneys said, deputies are still frequently punching inmates in the head and officials are rarely disciplining them for that or other violence.

Though the ACLU proposed creating mandatory punishments for deputies who commit certain violations  such as lying in reports to cover up uses of force  an attorney for the county said there was very little chance the county would agree to that.

The judge openly questioned whether the county was actually reporting all use of force incidents and ultimately gave both sides six weeks to agree on a plan to move forward.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A migrant detention center in Broward County is the target of an ongoing investigation by federal officials following an incident that occurred this week and led to a detainee being injured and a sit-in by his fellow detainees the following day.

On Monday April 17 there was an incident at [the Broward Transitional Center] which is currently being reviewed by the agency. We would not be able to comment on the incident until said review has been completed, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said in a statement emailed to the Miami Herald.

Several detainees inside the center, which houses migrants slated for deportation, shared with an advocate and a lawyer that the incident in question involved a large group of Dominican detainees who attacked a small group of Haitians. At least one Haitian detainee, Jeffrey Bien-Aime, reported he was injured in the melee.

In a voice note shared with the Miami Herald, Bien-Aime said he was hit in one of his eyes when he was attacked by 50 to 60 Dominicans. He said some officers attempted to protect him, but they were unable to protect me completely.

Thats when one of the Dominicans had a padlock inside of a box and swung for my head and I got hit in the eye, Bien-Aime said. At the moment, my vision is blurred on the right side. I got hit in the right eye.

The detainee, who accused federal authorities of neglecting Black migrants inside the facility in Pompano Beach, said while nurses attempted to call an ambulance to have him transported to a local hospital after he became nauseous and started spitting up blood, the powers that be, the supervisors, wouldnt approve it until their transport came in to take me.

A bus enters the main entrance of the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, April 18, 2023

We are constantly outnumbered, our needs are constantly ignored, said Bien-Aime, who had been living in the United States for 10 years when he was detained and placed in deportation proceedings. We are constantly being called derogatory names for Blacks. The Dominicans, Spanish inmates are constantly making statements about how they just want to kill us. We make complaints and nothing is done. Something needs to be done because its obvious they cannot protect us.

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Another detainee who described the incident as both a scuffle and a riot, said it was sparked by an officer trying to handcuff a Dominican detainee. Someone then threw a punch, which led to another Dominican detainee jumping in to try and help.

That got to a big, big riot, the detainee said.

The following day some detainees staged a sit-in to protest the incident on Monday. In response, they said, some were moved from the Broward Transitional Center. A Herald photographer, visiting the facility on Tuesday, observed an unusually large number of guards inside the gates and parking lot, and white buses going in and out of the center.

The ICE spokesman declined to confirm the detainees allegations.

When pressed, the spokesman also would not comment on details provided by some of the affected migrants, including that the incident was racially charged, that some of the Black detainees had been removed and that agents were brought in from other facilities to help quell the situation.

I have provided all that I can provide at the moment, the spokesman replied.

This is not the first time that migrants in a U.S. immigration lock-up have logged complaints about their treatment inside a South Florida immigration detention center.

In 2021, nine Black immigrants, among them five Haitians, filed a civil complaint with the Biden administration over what they said is a disturbing pattern of racism and abuse at the Krome North Service Processing Center in South Miami-Dade County while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Advocates and the detainees demanded their release from the ICE detention center and a federal investigation into the allegations.

Among the accusations: that guards at Krome use threats, coercion and physical violence to obtain signatures on deportation paperwork from Black immigrants; poor hygiene at Krome and negligence of COVID-19 protocols, and a pattern of racial discrimination and disparity in decisions on who gets released.

The injured detainee at the Broward Transitional Center said that after the fight, he and other Haitian detainees were placed in lock-up and told it was for their own safety. They were also promised that they would be released, but as of Thursday were still detained and no one had come to talk to them about what had unfolded on Monday.
In 2013, President Barack Obama invited Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to lunch at the White House. The president did not directly ask Ginsburg, then 80 and already a survivor of bouts with both colon and pancreatic cancer, to resign from the court. He merely noted Democrats were unlikely to maintain control of the Senate after the 2014 elections.

Obamas intervention was unsuccessful, and Ginsburg stayed in office. The consequences of her decision would become clear almost a decade later, when her Republican-appointed replacement provided the fifth and deciding vote to strike down Roe v. Wades guarantee of abortion rights.

The Democratic Party now faces an all-too-similar dilemma: A legendary woman with a crucial role in shaping the nations judiciary is 89 and ailing. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), already set to retire in January 2025, is stricken with shingles, unable to travel to Washington, D.C., for the past two months and is unable to provide a timeline for returning to work. Without Feinstein, Democrats lack a majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee and are unable to move President Joe Bidens judicial nominees forward  eliminating one of the few ways to deliver liberal victories in a divided Congress.

It would seem to call for a similar presidential-level intervention. The problem? Biden himself is 80 and is often asked to fend off similar concerns about his age and acuity, making it at best an awkward conversation and potentially an impossible one.

It is her decision to make, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Wednesdays press briefing, when asked if there was a point at which Feinstein should resign: When it relates to anything about her future, that is for her to make. The president has been very clear about that.

This is the logical end point of the Democrats ongoing gerontocracy problem: an aged president unable to intervene as an even older senator hamstrings his agenda. The gerontocracy problem, for Democrats, has long been mostly political, feeding an alienation between the younger voters who back the party in large numbers and leaders who they feel dont understand the technology, economics and crises shaping the world today.

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The political problem has been easy for Democrats to ignore. Millennials and Generation Z are the two most liberal generations in the nations history, and the bulk of both cohorts see Republicans offering little reason to vote for them. The urgency of defeating former President Donald Trump and of protecting abortion rights after the elimination of Roe has kept youth turnout at the levels Democrats needed in 2020 and 2022.

Feinsteins absence turns it into a governance problem, one not so easily swept aside.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), shown here at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2022, has unable to travel to Washington for the past two months and has not provided a timeline for returning to Capitol Hill.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), shown here at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2022, has unable to travel to Washington for the past two months and has not provided a timeline for returning to Capitol Hill.

If she cant come back month after month after month, with this close Senate [margin], thats not just going to hurt California. Its going to be an issue for the country, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday, without ever explicitly calling for Feinstein to resign.

So far, the Californians absence has not created an insurmountable backlog in the Senate, where something as simple as confirming a judge can require days of time for debate if  and in the modern era, when  the minority party holds up proceedings. There are four judicial nominees who have received hearings in the Judiciary Committee but not yet votes due to Republican opposition. (A number of nominees with bipartisan backing are set to move out of committee on Thursday.)

With Republicans in control of the House, the White House and Senate leadership have turned to confirming judges as the best way to advance and protect the partys goals, especially after Trumps own overhaul of the judiciary during his four years in office. Biden managed to confirm more judges in his first two years in office than any of the past four presidents, diversifying the federal bench in terms of identity and profession.

Democrats moved to replace Feinstein on the committee earlier this week, a process requiring 60 votes in the Senate. Republicans predictably rejected the attempt, leaving Democrats with no short-term way to fill her spot on the committee. However, Republicans indicated they would allow Democrats to replace Feinstein if she were to resign.

Its the temporary substitution which is the unprecedented ask, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a GOP member of the Judiciary Committee, told HuffPost. If she were no longer a senator, yes.

Democrats have taken steps toward moving on from their septuagenarian and octogenarian leaders. The House leadership trio of Reps. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Jim Clyburn (S.C.)  with a combined age of 248  gave way to a trio of Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.), who have a mere sum of 154 years.

Still, there is a restlessness and worry among younger Democratic politicians eager for the party to move on, in some cases simply from Biden, in other cases from the partys broader set of baby boomer leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and even progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

One of the few Democrats willing to say anything has been Rep. Dean Phillips, a moderate from Minnesota who has been open about his desire to move to a new generation of leaders and has called for Feinsteins resignation.

This isnt about age. Its about competency, Phillips told HuffPost on Wednesday. And it saddens me that we find ourselves in this position. But theres a crisis of honesty and an unwillingness of too many of my colleagues to share.

Im afraid shes being protected by people who are looking out for their own interests and not the countrys, and it saddens me, Phillips said.

By comparison, older politicians in both parties are loud about their desire to block any attempt to create a norm of older politicians stepping down. Both Pelosi, 83, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), 89, have bristled at calls for Feinstein to resign.

I dont know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way, Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill. Ive never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.

When Democrats boast about being for womens issues and for older people, I dont think they have a leg up on Republicans in regard to that, but we dont brag about it as they do, Grassley, who is just three months younger than Feinstein, told Iowa reporters on Tuesday. And now theyre going after her because shes 89 years old.

Democratic operatives privately concede concerns about Bidens age and mental quickness are a not-so-subtle driver of his low approval numbers. A Pew Research Center survey earlier this month found just 31% of Americans would describe Biden as mentally sharp and only 27% would call him inspiring. Even among Democrats, only 56% called him mentally sharp and less than half called him inspiring.

Even if Democrats can somehow convince Republicans to allow a Feinstein replacement on the Judiciary Committee, they do not exactly have a spring chicken lined up for the job: 79-year-old Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) would take her spot. Cardin raised just $15,000 in the first quarter of the year, prompting speculation he could retire and make way for one of the younger politicians on Marylands robust Democratic bench.

Dont count on it. Ill let you know when I make a decision, he told HuffPost. Moneys not going to be a problem for me.

Related...
A bill to end prolonged solitary confinement in California's prisons, jails and detention centers has reignited a contentious debate in the Legislature over using isolation as punishment. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent day in this sun-soaked suburb, conditions were perfect for an outdoor workout at a maximum-security prison in Northern California.

Winter storms had turned the hills surrounding California State Prison, Sacramento lush green, and Maurice League was enjoying the view from his individual exercise yard, a caged plot of concrete not much bigger than a dog pen, during the roughly three hours a day he's allowed outside.

Maurice League looks out from his individual exercise yard at California State Prison, Sacramento. Prisoners in segregated confinement spend roughly 21 hours a day confined to their cells. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

"Now that the sun is coming out, the weather is very beautiful," League said in between a round of burpees, pull-ups, squats and 1,000 push-ups. "We need that vitamin D."

The fresh air was a welcome break from his 70-square-foot cramped and dimly lit cell in the prison's disciplinary block where prisoners are housed in isolation for committing crimes while incarcerated. Among them: murder, attempted murder or serious bodily injury. Some belong to gangs, according to prison officials, or have enemies inside that require separation to avoid more violence.

Corrections officials call the unit "short-term restricted housing." Advocates define it as solitary, or segregated, confinement, because incarcerated people spend nearly all day restricted to their cells with little human contact other than with prison staff.

The Los Angeles Times was granted limited access to the unit in mid-April, months after it first submitted a request for a tour and as a debate rages on in the state Capitol over legislation to restrict the practice of holding incarcerated people for up to 23 hours a day in small cells.

Maurice League does pull-ups in his individual exercise yard, a caged plot of concrete not much bigger than a dog pen. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the same proposal last year, saying that while segregated confinement was "ripe for reform," safety concerns needed to be addressed. He then directed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to draft a new set of regulations that would modify current practices without raising the risk of violence. The state agency plans to submit those draft rules by November.

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Despite Newsom's veto, Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) reintroduced the bill, arguing that without legislative intervention, the corrections department was unlikely to craft the kind of restrictions needed to safeguard prisoners against abusive prolonged isolation, which he said amounts to torture and leads to devastating mental health consequences.

"We're not saying do away with solitary confinement," Holden said. "But you have to structure it differently so that you're not putting people in a situation where you're treating them less than human."

California State Prison, Sacramento is already home to those who've committed some of California's most violent and serious crimes. Prisoners here have been convicted of murder, armed robbery, sexual assault or other violent crimes, said Associate Warden Chance Andes, who oversees the unit.

Incarcerated people housed in general population are allowed prison jobs and can move from place to place without being shackled. They spend hours a day in school or programs and have access to a prison yard with exercise equipment and a track where they can roam freely.

Advocates define the unit as solitary, or segregated, confinement, because incarcerated people spend nearly all day restricted to their cells with little human contact other than with prison staff. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

In segregation, prisoners are restrained and escorted by prison staff when they leave their cells. They're allowed visitors and legal visits, but through a glass divider. They otherwise use tablets to stay in contact with their family via video.

Each week, they're allowed outside for roughly 18.5 hours, plus 90 minutes for programs inside the prison. The rest of their time, approximately 21 hours a day, is spent in cells that come equipped with a toilet and bunk and where they're directly provided meals.

Of the some 1,450 people incarcerated at California State Prison, Sacramento, 88 were being housed in the unit as of mid-April.

League was sent to "the hole" five months ago for battery, he said. At 46, he's spent more than half his life in prison at different facilities, so he's had time to build up a level of tolerance to the monotony during various stints in segregation. He was most recently sentenced in 2007 for two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, plus other charges and enhancements that tallied up to 37 years, according to corrections officials.

He leans on his faith and family to get through the long days, he said, and loves to read.

Ive been doing time for a long time. I kind of more got used to it, League said during an interview. I just learned to draw on different strengths to where I dont succumb to a lot of the loneliness and different things that can overtake some people back here.

Deven Johnson, who is serving time for first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and assault, was placed in segregation seven months ago, he said, also for battery. Johnson, 25, said he receives some of the same mental health help and services that the general population does, just in a more restrictive setting.

But he still misses the college classes he was taking before he was sent to confinement. He was studying sociology.

The programming and time outside is optional, which means those who refuse it might spend their entire day locked up.

Peter Azevedo, 36, prefers his cell tidy, with his mat rolled up on the concrete slab bed. He keeps a Bible and dictionary next to his bunk. He was sent to the unit in October but refuses yard time and group therapy sessions, he said, referring to himself as a "solitary individual." Azevedo is serving a 13-year sentence for assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, with an enhancement.

"I'm hanging in all right," he said.

A corrections officer checks on incarcerated people at California State Prison, Sacramento, which houses prisoners who've committed some of the state's most violent and serious crimes. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Fewer than 1,200 people, or 1.2% of California's incarcerated prison population, were living in segregated confinement during a 2021 nationwide survey of prisons conducted by the Correctional Leaders Assn. and Yale Law School. The vast majority are men, and more than half are placed in confinement as punishment, according to the survey.

Those numbers don't account for prisoners in segregated confinement in county jails and private detention centers. The Board of State and Community Corrections, which oversees county jails and juvenile detention facilities, does not collect statewide data on how many people are placed in segregated confinement.

Margot Mendelson, legal director for the advocacy nonprofit Prison Law Office, visits often with her clients in segregated confinement units in California's jails and prisons and describes some of the conditions as "horrifying."

Units are often dimly lit, filthy concrete spaces where people lack access to basic amenities such as a "clock to know what time it is," she said.

"The only real form of communication in many of these places is screaming through the door jam or through the food port, just in an effort to have some human communication," Mendelson said. "So it is an experience of being caged like an animal at all times."

Holden and the coalition behind Assembly Bill 280 point to those conditions as evidence for why regulations around segregated confinement are needed.

Known as the Nelson Mandela Act, named after the late South African civil rights activist who spent decades in prison, AB 280 would define segregated confinement as the holding of someone for more than 17 hours a day, either with a cell mate or alone, and with severely limited freedom of movement and human contact outside of prison staff.

Group therapy is the type of programming that advocates say can be made more effective with a bill to limit segregated confinement. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

It would end indefinite solitary confinement by limiting segregation to 15 consecutive days, or 45 total days in a six-month span, and ban its use entirely for those with certain mental and physical disabilities, pregnant and postpartum prisoners and anyone younger than 26 or older than 59.

The measure would also mandate stringent documentation for when and why segregated confinement is used, require more regular mental health checks on incarcerated individuals and increase the number of out-of-cell hours they're allowed for recreation, meals and treatment.

The bill would bring California in alignment with the United Nations' Nelson Mandela Rules, a document that advises against solitary confinement for longer than 15 days, after which it's defined as torture.

The proposed changes have reignited a contentious debate in the Legislature, where lawmakers have spent the last decade approving laws to reduce the prison population through alternatives to incarceration. Advocates supporting AB 280 say restricting segregated confinement should be part of the broader movement toward rehabilitation and treatment and away from long-prison terms.

"At the end of the day, we want to see these facilities have a plan beyond isolation," said Hamid Yazdan Panah, advocacy director for Immigrant Defense Advocates, one of the organizations supporting the bill.

Law enforcement groups reject that argument and say the restrictions on solitary confinement will lead to more violence in prisons. They contend that the state agencies overseeing prisons and jails, not the Legislature, are best equipped to regulate policies related to confinement.

State prison officials attached a staggering $1-billion price tag to last year's bill after estimating the new restrictions would require additional programming space and an expansion of exercise yards and more staff. The union representing California's prison guards, which has significant political sway in the Capitol, also opposes the legislation.

"[AB 280] will also very likely eliminate the use of segregated confinement in a lot of situations, including when placement is necessary for the safety of the facility or individual incarcerated persons themselves," Cory Salzillo, legislative director for the California State Sheriffs Assn., said during a recent hearing on the bill.

State Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda, one of the few Democrats to vote against the original bill, introduced his own measure this year as a "middle ground" solution. The proposal would require the state prison agency to maintain more robust data on segregation and adopt standards laid out in a 2015 settlement agreement with Pelican Bay State Prison prisoners who sued the state after spending years in solitary confinement.

The settlement was supposed to end indefinite solitary confinement by limiting why and for how long individuals can be placed in isolation, but a judge has ordered continued oversight of the settlement due to concerns over compliance.

"I don't like the unlimited time," Glazer said. "And I also don't think that putting that type of one-size-fits-all standard requirement on our corrections department will keep inmates and staff safe."

The bill failed its first committee amid opposition from many of the same groups supporting Holden's proposal. It was granted reconsideration, which means it can be brought up for another vote.

The main goal of Assembly Bill 280 is ensuring access to mental health treatment and programs that lead to rehabilitation and give prisoners better odds for when they're released. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A main goal of AB 280 is ensuring access to the kind of mental health treatment and programs that lead to rehabilitation and give prisoners better odds for when they're released.

Earlier this month, during the hour and a half they receive in structured out-of-cell time each week, three men in the segregated confinement unit at California State Prison, Sacramento were reviewing an exercise on emotional resilience and coping skills.

The walls of the classroom were covered with art projects, portraits of bears, wolves and dragons colored in a kaleidoscope of geometric patterns. A clinician guides the men, their hands and feet shackled to their desks, through a discussion on building a strong support network.

For Javon Clark, 29, growing up in foster care made it easier for him to connect with people from place to place.

Ive been doing time before Im doing time," said Clark, who was sentenced to 17 years for assault with a firearm inflicting great bodily injury, plus a firearm enhancement.

Most of the incarcerated people in the unit have limited mental health needs and receive the lowest level of outpatient care. Those with more severe conditions, such as drug-induced psychosis or schizophrenia, are held in a more intensive unit that requires rigorous treatment.

The group therapy is a type of programming that proponents of AB 280 say can be made more effective with the legislation. They argue that keeping people locked up for hours is more costly and less effective than providing additional out-of-cell time for group activities and allowing people to maintain their prison jobs so they can pay restitution and spend their days on something meaningful.

"People need social contact to survive, to heal, to rehabilitate," Yazdan-Panah said.

Lawmakers approved AB 280 during its first hearing on a 6-1 party-line vote. It now heads to a committee that evaluates bills that carry a substantial fiscal impact, where Holden is the chair.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Sudan's warring factions to observe a ceasefire over the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday to allow civilians to reach safe areas as rival forces battled for a sixth day on Thursday.

Thousands of civilians streamed out of the capital Khartoum as gunfire and explosions sounded. Large numbers also crossed into Chad to flee fighting in the western region of Darfur.

The United States said it was sending more troops to the region in the event that it decided to evacuate its embassy in Khartoum. Guterres and senior officials from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt called Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to urge an end to violence.

More than 330 people have been killed so far in the violent power struggle which broke out last weekend between two previously allied leaders of Sudan's ruling military junta.

The fiercest battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been in and around Khartoum - one of Africa's largest urban areas - and in Darfur, still scarred by a long conflict that ended three years ago.

Guterres, speaking to reporters after meeting virtually with the heads of the African Union, the Arab League and other organizations, said: "There was a strong consensus on condemning ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for cessation of hostilities as an immediate priority".

Urging a three-day ceasefire, he said civilians trapped in conflict zones should be allowed to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other supplies. The United States endorsed the ceasefire proposal.

Burhan told Al Jazeera he would support a truce on condition it allowed citizens to move freely - something he said the RSF had so far prevented.

He also said he currently saw no partner for negotiations, and "no other option but the military solution".

His rival, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, told Al Jazeera he was ready to implement a three-day truce over Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and will start on Friday or Saturday.

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Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, has said several times he supports short ceasefires but each has quickly collapsed.

"We are talking about a humanitarian truce, we are talking about safe passages ... we are not talking about sitting down with a criminal," Dagalo said, referring to Burhan.

Burhan accused Dagalo, until last week his deputy on the council that has ruled since a coup two years ago, of "a power grab".

An alliance between the two men had mostly held since the overthrow four years ago of long-time strongman Omar al-Bashir, whose rule saw Sudan become an international pariah that was on the U.S. terrorism list.

The latest violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government. Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition.

FIGHTING AND FLEEING

Since hostilities erupted, much of the fighting has focused on the compound housing the army headquarters and Burhan's residence. The embassy district and airport have also been the scene of clashes.

Witnesses in the city of El-Obeid, east of Darfur, described clashes between the army and RSF troops and widespread looting.

In Khartoum and sister cities Omdurman and Bahri, residents gathered at bus terminals with suitcases after more explosions and gunfire in the morning.

"There's no food. Supermarkets are empty. The situation isn't safe, honestly, so people are leaving," said a resident who gave only his first name, Abdelmalek.

Many other local people remain trapped, along with thousands of foreigners in a city that has become a war zone.

Burnt-out vehicles litter the streets and shells have torn gaping holes in buildings including now closed hospitals, where bodies lie unburied.

In Geneva, the World Health Organisation urged the combatants to open a safe corridor for medics and to allow those trapped to flee.

Around 10,000 to 20,000 people escaping the fighting have taken refuge in villages along the border inside Chad, U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

Even before the conflict, around a quarter of Sudan's population was facing acute hunger, but the WFP halted one of its largest global operations in the country on Saturday after three workers were killed.

Sudan borders seven countries and sits strategically between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa's volatile Sahel region, so the hostilities risk fanning regional tensions.

Chad said it had stopped and disarmed a Sudanese contingent of 320 soldiers on Monday, while the RSF has returned Egyptian troops it captured at the northern Merowe base at the weekend.

The RSF has up to 100,000 troops, according to analysts. The army has artillery and war planes, and controls access to Khartoum. It appeared to be trying to cut supply routes to RSF fighters, residents and witnesses said.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum, Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo, Bate Felix in Dakar, Clauda Tanios in Dubai, Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo, Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta; Writing by Aidan Lewis, Frank Jack Daniel, Angus MacSwan and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by John Stonestreet and Daniel Wallis)
It is a warm, sunny Thursday across the area but a Red Flag Warning is in effect.

>>Red Flag Warning issued for most with elevated fire danger, windy conditions; Storms arrive Friday

News Center 7s Xavier Hershovitz spoke with Dayton Fire Captain Brad French Thursday about why they are watching conditions closely.

Thursday is a beautiful day to take the dog out for a walk at Cox Arboretum and lots of people are out enjoying the really nice spring day.

But on top of the nice weather, the Miami Valley is also under an enhanced fire risk.

A lot big open fields are most at risk on a dry day, according to firefighters.

Wednesday night, there was a brush fire just off the trail at Cox Arboretum, firefighters quickly put it out.

>>Firefighters respond to house fire in Trotwood

When it is dry and windy, firefighters say just the smallest spark can start a fire, suck as flicking a cigarette butt can create a bigger issue. The wind also makes a difference.

Thats something Captain French is watching closely.

If we have a fire in a home and the wind is directly impacting that side of that home, that can affect it how quickly it spreads throughout that home, he said. (It) can also affect the fires ability to potentially go to a neighboring structure.

He told Hershovitz dry conditions like Thursday can make the job more difficult in Dayton.

When it comes to house fires, high wind days can absolutely affect fire behavior and can make the fires more intense, he said. On windy days and red flag days like this, our fire command staff often times make sure that all of the crews out in the districts are alerted to those weather conditions and can make tactical decisions based up knowing that wind could be a factor.

Captain French is encouraging people to get outside on warm days like this but be cognizant.

Theres a lot of great things to do as the weather is warming up, he said. Get out, but just be cognizant of fire safety while youre out.

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>>Person in critical condition after being trapped inside burning Dayton house

Captain French says in the City of Dayton, people really should not do any opening burning, especially on a warm, dry, windy days like Thursday.

He told Hershovitz if anyone lives outside the city limits, they should check their local jurisdiction on the rules when it comes to burning but especially on a day like Thursday.








Chris Rank/Delta News Hub

A Texas man flying first class from Minnesota to Alaska to settle a dead friends estate allegedly forced himself on a flight attendant, calling him beautiful and kissing him on the neck, before wandering into the planes galley and breaking the pilots meal trayonly to later claim he didnt recall a thing.

Taken together, David Alan Burks behavior aboard Delta flight 517 earlier this month created a level 2 security threat, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast.

The aircraft hadnt yet taken off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on the evening of April 10 when the 61-year-old Burk, who was in seat 5A, demanded a drink, the affidavit states. First-class passengers are entitled to be served beverages before takeoff, it explains. However, the first-class flight attendant, identified in the affidavit as T.C., told Burk that he ran out of time and was not able to serve Burk his red wine.

Burk got upset but calmed down when asked for his meal order, the affidavit says. But he quickly reverted back to form, getting snippy with T.C. about his predeparture drink, according to the filing.

Once the flight took off for Anchorage, T.C. made it a priority to give Burk his red wine, the affidavit says. When T.C. tried to collect Burks tray after the meal service, Burk instead reached out for a handshake. After accepting the shake, T.C. picked up Burks tray and walked away.

About ten minutes later, Burk got up to use the lavatory, according to the affidavit. But before he reached the door, he stopped in the forward galley, where T.C. happened to be standing.

Burk stood next to T.C. and told him, Oh, youre so beautiful, the affidavit goes on. T.C. smiled and politely said, Thank you. Burk then asked, Can I have a kiss? T.C. replied, No, thank you, to which Burk then said, Okay, well on the neck then. While the plane was in flight, Burk then grabbed T.C.s neck, pulling him toward Burk, and purposefully kissed T.C.s neck. T.C. stated he was very uncomfortable and caught off-guard by what Burk had just done.

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T.C. later told police he thought to himself, What the hell just happened? He said he believed Burks compliment about him being beautiful seemed genuine, and that he was surprised things escalated so quickly. Following the kiss, Burk told T.C. that he had one of those Delta cards for him, referring to cards the airline gives frequent fliers to hand out to employees in recognition of good service.

T.C. became so uncomfortable around Burk that he walked to the back of the plane and said he didnt want to go back to the first-class cabin until Burk returned to his seat, the affidavit says.

Once T.C. returned, a group of other flight attendants told T.C. that Burk had just broken the tray and plate containing the captain of the planes meal, which had not been served yet. Alarmed, the captain contacted airport dispatch to report the incident.

Parked Delta passenger jets pictured in June 2022. Reuters/Mike Segar/File Photo

A flight attendant agreed to switch places with T.C. but returned later to report that Burk, who the crew determined had drunk three glasses of wine, had again gotten up to use the lavatory and appeared wasted, according to the affidavit. Burk then fell asleep, it says.

Upon landing, Burk was detained by airport police. During an interview with officers and FBI agents, he said he recalled using the restroom on his flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Minneapolis, but insisted he never used it on the Minneapolis-Anchorage leg, the affidavit states. He also claimed he had only been given one glass of red wine then slept the rest of the way.

When asked if Burk kissed T.C., Burk stated, [He] never kissed anybody, the affidavit says. When asked if Burk recalled breaking a plate on a tray filled with food, Burk stated, I didnt even eat on that flight. When it was clarified that the plate of food and tray that was broken was near or on the cart located next to the front restroom, Burk replied, I dont recall going to the bathroom at all on that flight.

Burk, who refused to submit to a breathalyzer test, explained that he was in Alaska for the funeral of a friend and confessed that he had consumed a lot of alcohol prior to boarding. Burk appeared confused, according to the affidavit, which says he asked if he was being arrested for something else and not for what had occurred aboard flight 517.

Does this have anything to do with why Im in Alaska? Burk asked before saying he was not in fact in Anchorage for a funeral but because he is the executor of his recently deceased friends estate.

Burk then asked the cops and agents, Do you guys know who I am? and made no further statements before being transported to the Anchorage Correctional Complex, where he was booked on one charge of interfering with flight crew members and one charge of making false statements. He was released April 13 on his own recognizance.

Reached on Thursday, Burk told The Daily Beast in a text message that his attorney would be speaking with the prosecution today, and that he would be available to comment on his case following the meeting. Burks lawyer, Lance Wells, did not respond to a request for comment. Delta Air Lines did not respond to The Daily Beasts inquiry by the time of publication.

Burk, who lives in the Arlington area, would not confirm details of his employment, but public records and state incorporation documents show a David A. Burke of Arlington, Texas serving as president of Total Surrender Evangelistic Association, Inc. According to his LinkedIn profile, Burk works as a salesman for an electronic components manufacturer headquartered in Mansfield, Texas. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to hunting caribou out of season and paid a $500 fine, according to a review of Alaska state court records.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in 2022 received 2,456 complaints about unruly passengers, opened 831 related investigations, and took 567 enforcement actions, resulting in almost $8.5 million in fines.

If convicted on both counts, Burk faces a combined maximum of 25 years in prison. He is due back in court on April 27.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The most anticipated media trial of recent years was averted at the last minute Tuesday, when Dominion Voting Systems settled the defamation case it had brought against Fox News.

Dominion had been seeking $1.6 billion in damages. The company argued that its business had been badly hurt by conspiracy theories around the 2020 election  theories that, Dominion contended, had been advanced on Fox shows even though key people at the network knew them to be false.

The voting technology company and Fox ultimately settled on Tuesday, for $787.5 million.

The enormous sum spoke to the gravity of the case.

Here are the other main takeaways.

Dominion was bought off

The settlement robbed ardent media-watchers of the spectacle of a long trial. But it also robbed the public of a more definitive account, delivered publicly and under oath, of exactly what happened inside Fox News.

Importantly, Fox will not apologize, on-air or anywhere else, for the alleged defamation.

Instead, the network merely said in a Tuesday statement: We acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.

The statement also noted that the settlement avoided the acrimony of a divisive trial.

In short, Dominion had argued that Fox had helped propagate claims of election conspiracy which producers, hosts and executives knew were false.

In support of those claims, it had including in legal filings details such as host Tucker Carlson telling his producer that then-Trump attorney Sidney Powell  a key force behind many of the election conspiracy theories  is lying. Another Fox host, Laura Ingraham, called Powell a bit nuts.

On-air, Fox talent was far less scathing of the false claims. The network would later contend it was properly reporting on allegations that were newsworthy.

Critics of the network and other media observers expressed disappointment about the deal.

On Twitter, liberal writer Molly Jong-Fast highlighted an article noting that Fox would not be required to apologize and added, This is why a lot of us feel like Fox won.

Story continues

What you didnt get was an apology, anchor George Stephanopoulos told Dominions CEO John Poulos on ABCs Good Morning America Wednesday.

Poulos argued that Dominion felt it had got accountability in the settlement.

Rupert Murdoch, Fox stars were spared a turn in the witness box

The potential trial drew enormous attention in part because of the possibility of some of the biggest names at Fox  including its driving force, Rupert Murdoch  testifying.

Murdoch was set to be one of the first witnesses called by Dominion, while network stars Carlson, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo were also expected to be called.

Murdoch, in a deposition, had previously agreed that some of his hosts had endorsed theories around voter fraud. Hannity, also in a deposition, had said he did not believe Dominion had rigged vote counts for one second.

The pretrial process also turned up texts and other private messages that were damaging in a more general sense. The most memorable may have been a text from Carlson  who presents himself as a fervently pro-Trump host  saying I hate him [Trump] passionately.

Foxs vast settlement at least buys the avoidance of further awkward questioning under oath.

Legal fights are not over

The huge settlement announced on Wednesday does not bring an end to legal battles over the 2020 election  on either side.

Fox is also being sued by another election company, Smartmatic, which is seeking around $2.7 billion. Fox contends the two cases are very different and that it will vigorously defend itself if the Smartmatic case eventually comes to trial.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Smartmatic said in a Tuesday statement, Dominions litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Foxs disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.

On the other side of the legal ledger, Dominion still has ongoing cases against a number of entities and individuals including Newsmax, One America News Network (OAN), Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Powell, and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.

Those entities and individuals deny wrongdoing.

The money is huge for Dominion  not so much for Fox

The huge settlement, even allowing for lawyers fees, will be a massive payday for Dominion.

Dominion is a private company, so its finances are not as transparent as publicly traded corporations. But its annual revenues have been estimated at around $40 million.

Its a very different story at Fox. Critics hoping that the company will be hobbled by the settlement will be disappointed.

Fox News is part of Fox Corp., which recorded a net profit of $321 million just in the final quarter of last year.

The financial markets reflected how slight the damage will be for the corporation.

On Wednesday, the first full day of trading after the settlement, shares in Fox Corp. were down only slightly, having fallen by approximately one-quarter of a percent at 3 p.m. Eastern.

The case is highly unlikely to burst the Fox bubble

Fox News, launched in 1996, was underestimated at its genesis and has defied various predictions of doom ever since.

It remains, by a considerable distance, the most watched cable news channel.

On Monday evening, Carlson had the networks highest rated show, pulling in almost 3.2 million viewers. Other Fox shows aside, no other cable news offering surpassed MSNBCs Rachel Maddow Show, which was roughly 700,000 viewers shy of Carlson.

The network gave perfunctory coverage to the Dominion settlement, even as rival cable networks and other news sites splashed the big news.

To many people, Foxs conduct around the election-related conspiracy theories was indefensible.

But its a massive stretch to imagine its audience will drift away in any significant numbers  if at all.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
It was not a NASA satellite that burned down over Kyiv, but a bolide (meteor).

Source: Alpha Centauri, Ukrainian non-profit educational project about space

Quote: "Today, the NASA RHESSI satellite, which observed solar flares from 2002 to 2018, should indeed re-enter Earths atmosphere.

But the trajectory of his fall is very (VERY) far from Ukraine..."

"The object that has fallen near Kyiv is a bolide (meteor)."

Details: Alpha Centauri also posted the approximate route of the fall of the satellite.

The project has added that people are able "to observe other fresh objects falling from space on the same website. None of them is flying over Ukraine."

Background:

On the evening of 19 April, an air-raid warning was issued in the east of Ukraine, as well as in Kyiv Oblast, and an aerial target was reported to have been spotted in the skies over Kyiv Oblast.

Residents of the capital reported seeing a bright flash in the sky.

Earlier, Space.com reported that a malfunctioning NASA satellite would crash to Earth on 19-20 April.

NASAs RHESSI satellite, which had studied the Sun from 2002 until its decommissioning in 2018, was expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere around 01:30 GMT on 20 April. RHESSI is not a huge satellite. It weighs only 270 kilograms. It was noted that the majority of this mass would be converted to ash and vapour during the fall.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
A screenshot showing the emergency alert

Florida officials have apologised for giving residents in the sunshine state an "unexpected" and "frustrating" pre-dawn wakeup.

Many residents were jolted awake by a blaring emergency alert on their phones at 04:45 local time (08:45 GMT).

But there was no real emergency on Thursday - a state agency made a mistake while testing its alert system.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management later admitted that a "04:45 wake up call isn't ideal".

The agency said each month it tests the alerts on a variety of platforms and "this alert was supposed to be on TV, and not disturb anyone already sleeping".

On Twitter, it vowed that it was "taking the appropriate action to ensure this will never happen again and that only true emergencies are sent as alerts in the middle of the night".

The message to residents read: "TEST - This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System. No action is required."

According to St Lucie County, the alert was sent to every wireless subscriber in the state of Florida.

In a statement on Twitter, Governor Ron DeSantis called the early test alert " a completely inappropriate use of this system".

"I've ordered FL Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie to bring swift accountability for the test of the emergency alert system in the wee hours of the morning," he said.

Angry Floridians took to social media to complain about being woken up before dawn, with one writing on Twitter: "I need to fight whoever decided to test Florida's emergency alert system."

With people sharing tips on how to turn the notifications off on their phones, the emergency management agency urged residents to keep the function on for public safety .

"We want to stress that while this wake-up call was unwarranted, disasters can happen at any time and having a way to receive emergency alerts can save lives," Alecia Collins, the agency spokesperson, said.

The UK is also preparing for the first nationwide test of its emergency alert system, though that test is scheduled for the mid-afternoon on Sunday.

In 2018, an incoming missile alert plunged residents of Hawaii into panic before it was declared a false alarm.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday ending a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing, a response to a verdict that spared the life of a school shooter who killed 17 people.

DeSantis, a Republican, signed the bill in a private ceremony with families of victims of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland.

The new law, which went into effect as soon as the governor signed it, allows capital punishment in Florida with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution. 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.

Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence, DeSantis said in a statement. Im proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida.

The governor pushed for the legislation after a divided 9-3 jury spared Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz from execution in a verdict last year that outraged victims' families. Cruz instead received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

A few months ago, we endured another tragic failure of the justice system. Todays change in Florida law will hopefully save other families from the injustices we have suffered, said Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina was killed in the shooting.

The legislation easily passed in the Republican-dominated statehouse. Some Democratic critics had argued the state should not make it easier to send people to death row in reaction to the Cruz case.

DeSantis, an expected presidential candidate, had included the legislation as part of a larger criminal justice package he described as a counter to the soft on crime policies in Democrat-led states, a move aimed at conservative voters who typically decide Republican primary contests.

Story continues

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.

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.

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 had remained untouched, though there was no overwhelming desire to change state law before the Cruz case.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis use of state planes and other information about his official travel could soon be secret under a far-reaching bill that is coming while the Republican governor has been ramping up visits across the country ahead of a likely presidential campaign.

The Florida Senate passed the bill Wednesday by a 28-12 vote, with Republicans using their supermajority to pass the measure since the Florida Constitution requires exemptions to the states public records law to clear a required two-thirds threshold. The legislation heads next to the Florida House, where lawmakers are also expected to pass it.

The legislation would not only apply to future travels by DeSantis, but it would also apply retroactively to all records dealing with the governors use of the state plane, as well as other top state officials such as legislative leaders.

Republicans contend they are pushing for the bill, SB 1616, at the urging of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the agency which now manages the state plane used by the governor and which has been inundated with record requests. GOP lawmakers asserted that releasing the information would allow someone to look for patterns that could jeopardize DeSantis security.

Everything we do is monitored, said Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples). Bad actors can find out a lot.  I think its perfectly appropriate. Here we have a young governor who has young children, a young family. God forbid something would happen because information is out there.

Republican supporters also said there was nothing in the legislation that would alter campaign finance laws that require state political officials to disclose when they use political committees or campaigns to pay for travel.

But Democrats ripped the bill as a way to keep DeSantis actions out of public view while open government advocates called it one of the worst ever proposed exemptions to the states much-lauded Sunshine Law.

Story continues

Its so clearly an attempt to protect this information from reporters wanting to know how taxpayer money is being spent, said state Sen. Tina Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat.

Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, called the legislation stunning and unbelievable.

Its beyond the pale, said Petersen, an attorney who has tracked open records laws and issues for 30 years. It blows a hole in the public records law.  This is a governor who doesnt want anyone to know what hes doing.

Under then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott  a multimillionaire who owned his own jet  the state sold off planes used by the governor and other top officials. Scott sharply criticized two of his rivals in the 2010 governors race by pointing to news articles that detailed how they had used the state plane at the expense of taxpayers. In one instance, a state auditor questioned whether then-Attorney General Bill McCollum had misused state resources in how he used the state plane.

After DeSantis took office, state legislators authorized spending millions to acquire a jet that could be used to get the governor around the large state and where commercial travel in and out of Tallahassee is not easy.

DeSantis routinely will use the state plane if he travels somewhere to hold a press conference or to deal with emergency response efforts. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been slow to turn over record requests showing when and where the state plane has been dispatched.

Flight tracking websites show that this year, DeSantis has used private chartered planes  or planes used by prominent Floridians  on out-of-state trips such as those connected with his book promotional tours. The governors office has said no state dollars have been used on those trips, but DeSantis political operation has not answered questions about the private planes.

But the bill legislators are poised to pass would essentially shield all information related to security and transportation services provided to DeSantis, his family, as well as visiting governors and their families, legislative leaders, the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court and members of the Florida Cabinet.

Passidomo asserted that she was not worried about DeSantis misusing the state plane if his travel records were no longer public.

He thinks about these things, she told reporters.
A document instructs Jefferson County prosecutors to seek tougher penalties for "Hispanic" defendants. Mackenzie Hayes

A Florida prosecutor has confirmed to Insider the authenticity of a document that outlined a racist policy in his office.

The document called for "Hispanic" defendants to receive stricter penalties for "No Valid Driver's License."

The prosecutor, Jack Campbell, blamed the document on a junior staffer who has been "reprimanded."

Florida state attorney Jack Campbell said in an interview on Wednesday that an "entry-level" staffer is to blame for a document that outlined a racist policy displayed in a Northern Florida office. He claimed the staffer  who he would not identify  has since been disciplined after a photo was shared of the document that called for Hispanic defendants to receive stricter penalties for driving without a license.

On Monday, Our Tallahassee, a progressive news outlet, posted an interview with a former lawyer who worked for Campbell. In one office, according to a photograph shared by the lawyer, there was a document outlining the procedure for plea agreements for "No Valid Driver's License."

Defendants with "EXTENSIVE CRIMINAL HISTORY," it said, "and/or HISPANIC," should not be allowed to enter into a diversion program but instead be "adjudicated guilty" and forced to pay court costs.

The lawyer who shared a photo of the document, Mackenzie Hayes, said she took the photo this past January in Campbell's Jefferson County office and was shocked that it was openly on display in what she described as an overwhelmingly white working environment where non-white defendants appeared to be treated differently.

Speaking to Our Tallahassee, she described her reaction: "Oh my god, they wrote down the racism policy."

Campbell, in an interview with Insider, confirmed that the document is authentic but said it does not reflect the policy of his office. First elected in 2016, Campbell, is the state attorney for the 2nd Judicial District, making him the chief prosecutor for six counties in northern Florida.

Story continues

"It was written by an entry-level prosecutor who was trying to explain to his successor what the standard plea offers are. And he inappropriately and inaccurately wrote 'Hispanic' when he should have used the phrase 'undocumented immigrant,'" Campbell said.

Cases involving undocumented people need to be handled differently, Campbell said, because prosecutors do not have access to their criminal records, and "we don't know if we'll ever see them again," making them unsuitable for probation or diversion programs. "When we don't know what their criminal history is, I have to take steps to understand what that is so that I can handle that consistently."

As for conflating Latinos with undocumented immigrants, Campbell said that is "not a policy" and that the person who drafted the document has since "been disciplined."

"I didn't know the document existed. Now that I know, he's been disciplined for writing that word," Campbell said. He declined to detail the form of the reprimand.

Campbell also insisted that the prosecutor in question did not seek different punishments based on race or ethnicity.

"If I thought that he had, or any person here was actually giving different plea offers based on race, they would've been separated for that," Campbell said. "He's been disciplined for using an inartful word, specifically writing something inaccurate," he said, which was "that 'Hispanics' should be [treated] different."

Campbell insisted that the document does not reflect how cases were actually handled. But critics are asking him to prove it.

"How many Hispanic individuals have been more harshly charged solely due to their race, color, ethnicity, and national origin?" N.R. Hines, a criminal justice policy strategist at the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement. The state attorney, she added, should "take immediate steps to ensure that any Hispanic person who was negatively impacted by this discriminatory practice have their case reconsidered."

Hayes, who worked for Campbell as an assistant state attorney, left Florida in January and now works as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. In an interview, she said that the problems she witnessed in northern Florida extended beyond any one piece of paper or problematic employee.



"What the document says reflected the culture of the office and it speaks for itself," she told Insider.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

Read the original article on Business Insider
An untold number of people in Florida received a rude awakening early Thursday morning.

Emergency management officials said an Emergency Alert test issued at 4:45 a.m. was sent out by mistake.

The whole of the emergency management community apologizes for this error and steps will be taken to prevent it from occurring again, officials said.

Watch: Questions arise over Floridas bathroom bill

The message, titled Emergency Alert, read TEST  This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System. No action is required.

Officials said the alert was supposed to be sent to televisions, but the contractor sent the wrong technical specifications, which pushed it out over cellphones.

Watch: Men behind company Action 9 exposed, arrested for fraud

Many took to social media after the alert was sent out to decry the startling message.

 WOAH



Early Emergency Alert test.



Now that youre up, tune in to @WFTV. pic.twitter.com/xr54D9sPr0  Alexa Lorenzo (@ALorenzoTV) April 20, 2023

Read: Facebooks $725M settlement could put money in your pocket

Misinformation is also spreading on social media, encouraging people to disable the alerts in the future. But officials urge people not to do that.

Its our way to communicate to the public, for tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, hazardous material events, we encourage everyone to please keep that on, Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris said.

Read: Florida Emergency Alert: What you need to know about the system that woke you up this morning

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.
DEARBORN, Mich.  New video footage of a fire involving a Ford F-150 Lightning this year highlights a growing concern around electric vehicles: volatile fires from the batteries that power them.

The previously unreleased footage, which CNBC obtained through Michigans Freedom of Information Act from the Dearborn Police Department, shows smoke billowing from three tightly packed electric pickups in a Ford Motor holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan.

Moments later, flames shoot several feet above the vehicles, which were unoccupied. It wasnt clear based on public documents and police video how long the fires burned. Experts say EV fires can take hours, rather than minutes, to extinguish.

EV fires have become a growing concern as automakers push to increase sales of electric vehicles and meet tightening emissions standards.

The Biden administration has set a target for half of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be electric. Automakers are spending billions of dollars to electrify their lineups. However, theres been little to no discussion about first responder training for when the vehicles catch fire, whether due to a malfunction or, more commonly, a crash.

The Feb. 4 holding lot fire at Fords Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn prompted the company to quickly halt production of the new pickup for five weeks. The automaker also recalled 18 of the vehicles, which Ford has likened to the Model T in terms of importance to the company.

Ford identified the root cause as related to battery cell production made by supplier, SK On.

Police officers responding to the blaze described the vehicles as being engulfed in flames and can be heard on video worrying that the vehicles could blow up. Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in EVs, can be volatile and extremely difficult to put out once on fire.

Were not putting this f---er out. Look at it, said one responding officer during the February F-150 Lightning fire.

Story continues

First responders can be heard on video expressing concern about how much water is needed to put out EV fires and whether a special foam would be required. They also questioned the viability and safety of electric vehicles.

They have to put like a whole f---ing lake on it to put them out, the same officer said during the Feb. 4 event.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4 because of a battery issue traced to one of the automakers suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a Ford holding lot in Dearborn, Mich. (Dearborn Police Dept)

The footage obtained by CNBC totaled about two hours of video, including overlapping footage, from 17 police bodycams and vehicle dashcams between 3:36 p.m. and 4:22 p.m. ET, according to time stamps on the bodycam videos.

Photos obtained from Dearborn Police through a separate Michigan FOIA request show the aftermath of the blaze. One of the three vehicles is barely recognizable, with its body nearly melted down to the ground. The two neighboring vehicles were also heavily damaged.

There was only one [vehicle on fire] when we got here. Theyre catching. Its these frickin batteries, that same responding officer said, according to the footage.

The F-150 Lightning fire occurred while the vehicle was charging in a holding lot during a pre-delivery quality check and was caused by an internal short circuit due to a manufacturing issue when cells in the battery were at a high state of charge, according to public documents associated with the recall. Ford said engineers determined there was no evidence of a charging fault.

Together with SK On, we confirmed the root causes and swiftly implemented quality actions, Ford said in a statement to CNBC. The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center has been back up and running since March 13 and is back to full production and shipping vehicles to customers.

The fire added to ongoing quality and execution issues that have plagued the automaker as it attempts to restructure its business and position itself better for EVs.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4 because of a battery issue traced back to one of the automakers suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a Ford holding lot in Dearborn, Mich. (Dearborn Police Dept)

Growing concern

Vehicle fires are not new. They regularly occur in traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. But the fires that can result from EVs such as the F-150 Lightning and their batteries are increasingly worrying for first responders across the country, in part because they involve a chain reaction between battery cells known as thermal runaway.

Such fires also are a growing problem for automakers who could lose the momentum theyve built with car buyers and climate-conscious lawmakers if the risk continues shaking public confidence in the technology.

Fires involving EV batteries can burn hotter and longer and require new techniques to extinguish.

This is a big issue globally, said Michael OBrian, board member of the International Fire Chiefs Association, who leads fire and life safety. We need to better understand what the best processes are through testing and evaluation with real firefighters.

EVs are powered by a series of battery cells inside an airtight pack thats designed to prevent any substances from passing in or out. The packs also are mainly built into the underbodies or frames of the vehicles, a spot that can be difficult for first responders to reach. And even if they could easily access the cells, the fire is actually a chemical reaction and far more difficult to handle than a traditional gasoline fire.

Youre now dealing with a vehicle that doesnt work like anything else youve been taught, said David Dalrymple, a volunteer firefighter in New Jersey who owns a first response training and consulting business called RoadWay Rescue. Its a totally different animal. ... The primary goal is to cool it down to take away that chemical reaction.

Dalrymple, who also serves on a Society of Automotive Engineers committee focusing on EV fire issues and standards, noted some other countries allow first responders to look up what hazardous materials are in a vehicle based on the license plate. A similar system could be useful in the U.S., he said.

A 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV caught fire at a home in Cherokee County, Ga., on Sept. 13, 2021, according to the local fire department. (Cherokee County Fire Dept)

Experts are still trying to determine EV fire incident rates; the data is difficult to collect from disparate fire departments. Vehicle fires involving internal combustion engines are far more common than EVs, however experts expect that to continually even out as more electrified vehicles are sold.

Problems with plug-in vehicles that use such batteries have led automakers including Ford, General Motors, Hyundai and Porsche to recall models. GM from 2020 to 2021 had to recall all of its electric Chevrolet Bolt models built up to that point due to a battery issue that resulted in several reported fires.

As a result, GM expanded an ongoing nationwide program to educate public safety, fire and emergency service providers on how to most effectively handle emergency situations involving electric vehicles.

The state of Virginia has taken it upon itself to train firefighters. A bill that requires them to complete a training program about the risk of electric vehicle fires passed unanimously this year.

Trial by fire

Firefighters increasingly are facing the challenges created by EV fires. This is made more complicated by what some experts say is a lack of regulations and standards, which allows automakers to do as they like regarding the design and rollout of EVs.

For more than a century, first responders have quite easily extinguished vehicle engine fires by popping the hood and drowning the area in water. That playbook doesnt work with EVs.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4 because of a battery issue traced back to one of the automakers suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a Ford holding lot in Dearborn, Mich. (Dearborn Police Dept.)

Each vehicle is unique and may require different techniques to extinguish, which means there are no set standards for putting out an EV fire.

Current best practices for an EV fire, depending on who you speak with, include submerging the vehicles in water, piercing the battery pack and inundating it with water, disabling a vehicles 12-volt circuit, or simply letting the fire burn until its out, emitting chemical toxins into the air.

OBrian, a fire chief in suburban Brighton outside of Detroit, said the bigger the battery, the higher the concern for first responders. He also noted that new battery plants to produce the cells for the vehicles often cost billions of dollars, highlighting what he saw as comparatively little funding being directed to the training of fire departments.

I continue to keep advocating that both state and federal government needs to truly invest within the fire service on this topic for training, best practices, lab time, OBrian said. Its as simple as whats the best way to turn up your efforts when exposed to lithium-ion off-gassing when the vehicles catch fire.

OBrian said once the thermal runaway starts theres really no putting the fire out unless you stop the chain reaction of lithium-ion cells from overheating.

Its unclear how many, if any, people have died from an electric vehicle spontaneously catching fire. There have been reports of fatal fires following crashes, but many times EVs have caught fire when charging and unoccupied.

Theres also the risk of reignition: Lithium-ion battery fires can re-engage weeks later with little to no warning. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to such an incident last year involving a Tesla that had been in an accident three weeks prior.

William Lerner, an independent safety tech inventor and delegate for the International Organization for Standardization, said best practices would call for a three-week monitoring period after a fire, with particular attention during the first 24 hours.

Lerner, who works closely with first responders and their trainers, expressed concern that first responders may not have the appropriate personal protection and safety equipment to handle the fires. He said the equipment used for a traditional vehicle fire may not suffice.

The whole way of dealing with this is completely different, he said. The only similarities are they have four wheels, and they look like cars. Its a completely different product, and thats the problem.

Ford, in its Emergency Response Guide for the 2022 Lightning, broadly details some issues about the potential for reignition in the event of a fire and suggests storing the vehicle outside or at least 50 feet away from other objects. It does not offer a solution for putting out a battery fire other than LARGE amounts of water or using a Class ABC powder-type extinguisher to contain and smother the flames.

Ford said the company took part in an information-sharing session on how to handle battery fires in summer 2022 with members of the Dearborn fire department, which responded to the blaze in February.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4 because of a battery issue traced back to one of the automakers suppliers. The blaze spread to three electric pickups in a Ford holding lot in Dearborn, Mich. (Dearborn Police Dept)

We continue to look at opportunities to help educate on this topic, the automaker said.

Dearborn Police Chief Joseph Murray declined to comment about the Feb. 4 F-150 Lightning fire or any training his department has done for EVs.

Experts say such training for first responders is a start, but it needs to be constantly updated and rolled out. There are also concerns about the manpower and ability of fire departments to handle EV fires, according to several officials. Not to mention the dire circumstances they may be dealing with involving vehicle occupants, which are their first priority.

When you have an EV fire, you dont have the time to stop and look through an emergency response guide or to call, you know, GM, or methodically figure out is it a 2012 Tesla or 2022, Lerner said. Youve got human beings in there that can die. So, you may not have one second to waste in order to get these human beings out.

CNBCs Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
FALL RIVER  Wayne Wood loved his job as the police chief at Bristol Community College where hed worked for 20 years, with the then-60-year-old public safety officer planning to put in another 10 years at the job.

But after testifying in another police officers sexual discrimination lawsuit in 2016, which eventually resulted in a $1 million judgment against Bristol, Wood was fired less than a year later, in October 2017, on the pretense of poor job performance.

Wood sued Bristol the following May, alleging the firing was in retaliation for his testimony. The suit named Bristol President Laura Douglas, Vice President of Administration and Finance Steven Kenyon and Gina Yarbrough, a staff attorney for the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges.

Former Bristol Community College police chief Wayne Woods who lost his job in 2017 after testifying in a sexual harassment lawsuit involving a female officer, settled lawsuit for $600,000.

Woods lawsuit was ready to go to trial in February. But before the case went to court, Bristol, being defended by the states Office of the Attorney General, settled with the former chief for $600,000.

He was literally the only person at BCC in the leadership team that supported the truth there, said Woods attorney, Adrienne Catherine Beauregard-Rheaume. He refused to tell the company lie and got fired for it.

Beauregard-Rheaume claimed Wood was aware at the time that going against what the leadership team at the community college wanted him to say at the sexual discrimination lawsuit would possibly be a career-ending thing for him.

He did it anyway. He knows right from wrong and wasnt about to go against his integrity, said his attorney.

Harassment claim: Court slashes jury award in former BCC police officer's sexual harassment lawsuit

Experience 'didn't change me'

While Wood said he had planned to be chief at Bristol CC for 10 more years, he said the experience didnt change me, despite the fact he never got a job in law enforcement again and his pension was impacted.

I love life, I love my grandkids, I love my family. I dont have any animosity toward a lot of the people involved, but there are some that I do, said Wood. I just wanted to work longer, thats all.

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Both Wood and Beauregard-Rheaume said they were ready to go to trial with the nearly five-year-old lawsuit if an appropriate settlement hadnt been reached.

Wood was diagnosed with an incurable, but treatable, form of cancer last April and said it was also time to move on from the legal challenge.

But I wish I was still there. I wish I was still working, said Wood. It was a great job, and we had a great department.

But we didnt give up, said Wood. Now I want to move on and close this chapter and start enjoying my family.

A benefit: Bristol students discuss free college, other support programs with top education officials

Claims he was pressed to lie

Former Bristol Sgt. Susan Ledoux had claimed she suffered years of harassment by fellow officers going back to 2003. She eventually went on disability leave in early 2010 after she collapsed at work due to stress. When she tried to return to work after a doctor cleared her, Bristol fired Ledoux, an action upheld by arbitration.

The jury that heard Ledouxs civil case awarded her $2.45 million, which was later reduced to $1 million after the college appealed the ruling.

In Woods lawsuit, he alleged college administrators and lawyers representing the college in the Ledoux lawsuit applied intense pressure on him to change his testimony so it would favor BCC in the legal proceedings.

Lawyers for Douglas, Kenyon and Yarbrough requested a summary judgment against Wood arguing that they had no knowledge of what he said at Ledouxs trial.

That backfired when it was discovered that Kenyon admitted in a deposition that Wood had kept him informed on what was happening at trial.

Beauregard-Rheaume said information found in discovery includes communications by administrators after the Ledoux civil trial.

You see the emails start percolating between Kenyon and HR in February of 2017 where you can just tell they were laying the groundwork to terminate him, said Beauregard-Rheaume.

Discussions to start the termination process came when Bristol had hired an outside party to look at issues brought out in the Ledoux trial. But while Wood requested to meet with the consultant, he was denied and never participated in the public safety office review.

They learned from Ledoux, I suppose, and I guess they had the wherewithal to lay the groundwork for a legal reason to effectuate his termination, but it was clear pretext, said Beauregard-Rheaume.

A Bristol representative indicated the school may comment on this story but was unable to provide it immediately.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Former Bristol Community College employee settles lawsuit for $600,000
Hey, everyone! Drew here. Its Friday Jr.!

Sports Legends of the Carolinas is back with a brand new episode today featuring the man who brought the NBA to Charlotte: George Shinn.

Shinn was the Hornets original owner and was complicated, controversial and charismatic in Charlotte. While the Hornets are here largely because of him, they also left the city for a time, largely because people lost confidence in him.

Check out the full conversation between Shinn and Scott Fowler.

Heres your news.

A headshot of former Charlotte Area Transit System CEO John Lewis.

Former CATS CEO John Lewis spoke to The Charlotte Observer yesterday, the first time hes talked to media since resigning from the agency last November.

He says internal change jeopardized long-term passenger safety, led to ordering delays and was part of the reason he left. He also addressed the May 2022 light rail derailment, issues with buying and replacing parts and more.

Genna Contino shares more from her conversation with Lewis.

The CMS Board of Education meets at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Several new members were sworn in on Tuesday.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board has narrowed its search for a new superintendent down to six candidates.

The district is looking for a permanent superintendent after seeing six different people hold the position over the last decade. Interim Superintendent Crystal Hill was hired in December to lead the district and the prior interim leader, Hugh Hattabaugh, resigned for family reasons.

Anna Maria Dellas Costa has the scoop.

Carowinds amusement park announced a new chaperone policy starting April 22.

Adult supervision will soon be required at Carowinds.

Starting Saturday, guests age 15 or younger must be accompanied by an adult who is at least 21 to be admitted to or remain in the park after 4 p.m., Carowinds said in a statement today.

The news comes five days after a 13-year-old boy had to be rescued after climbing into an arcade claw machine in the Thrill Zone section of the park.

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Catherine Muccigrosso details the announcement.

Mailboxes along Dixie River Road, at Fox Valley Lane and Lochfoot Drive which will be part of the new River District area just west of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. airport.

A Charlotte-area couple stole thousands of pieces of mail during a 2021 crime spree.

The couple targeted upscale neighborhoods and crossed the state line, a new federal indictment claims. Tressa Nichole Baucom, 30, of Charlotte and Jennings Peter Keziah, 35, of Stanley were indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in Charlotte.

According to the indictment, the pair pilfered residential mailboxes in the Piper Glen community in south Charlotte as well as along Dryden Lane near Quail Hollow.

Michael Gordon reports on the indictment.

5. Some more stories to read

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Find more updates at charlotteobserver.com, and follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok to see more from us. Enjoy your day!

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Former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), who was the No. 4 House Democrat before losing a primary challenge to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in 2018, registered as a lobbyist for TikTok as lawmakers weigh banning the social media platform.

Crowley, a senior policy director at multinational law firm Dentons, lobbied on TikToks behalf in the first quarter of 2023, according to a disclosure filed Thursday. Former Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) was also part of Dentonss lobbying team.

That came as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced a bipartisan grilling before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where numerous lawmakers said TikTok should be banned in the U.S.

Lawmakers cited privacy and national security risks stemming from the companys ties to the Chinese government, along with harmful content on the app.

Crowley and Denham helped Chew land meetings with lawmakers ahead of the tense hearing, Politico reported last month.

In an effort to win Congress over, TikTok is aggressively expanding its roster of outside lobbyists, which now includes former top aides to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

The company also boasts links to the Biden administration. Its communications team includes Jamal Brown, who was Bidens national press secretary in 2020 and a Pentagon spokesperson under Biden.

TikTok is getting strategic advice from consulting giant SKDK, whose co-founder Anita Dunn is a top Biden adviser. The social media company hired another former Biden aide last month.

The Biden administration has said that TikTok is a national security threat and is pushing the company to break off from its Chinese parent company. But the administration said last month that a U.S. ban must come from Congress.

Amid a flurry of lobbying and D.C.-area ads from TikTok, momentum for ban has appeared to slow for the time being. Progressive lawmakers, including Ocasio-Cortez, have come out against prohibiting the app.

Chew told lawmakers last month that TikTok is not controlled by the Chinese government and that U.S. user data is stored with an American company. Still, the Chinese government has vocally opposed efforts to force a sale of TikTok.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
mark-pomerantz-testimony.jpg Meet the Press - Credit: William B. Plowman/NBC/Getty Images

A New York federal appeals judge derailed House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordans planned Thursday deposition of Mark Pomerantz, the former Manhattan special prosecutor who helmed a criminal investigation of Donald Trump  issuing a temporary stay of the Republican firebrands subpoena.

The decision stemmed from Jordans demand that Pomerantz  who quit his gig in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office over dissatisfaction with the prosecutors alleged handling of the Trump probe  sit for a deposition. Jordan claimed in his request that the committee wanted to investigate whether Bragg had pursued a politically motivated prosecution.

More from Rolling Stone

Bragg, under whom Pomerantz worked, filed a lawsuit to block the subpoena. During a testy court proceeding Wednesday, Trump-appointed judge Mary Kay Vyskocil grilled both sides but ultimately ruled against Braggs office, writing in a decision: Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition, she wrote. No one is above the law.

Braggs office filed emergency paperwork asking to pause the subpoena until they can make the case that there should be a stay in place while appealing Vyskocils decision. The second circuit judge agreed, writing: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that an administrative stay of the return date of the subpoena is granted so that a three-judge panel may consider the motion seeking a stay pending appeal of the district courts order. This order reflects no judgment regarding the merits of the parties respective positions.

Jordan subpoenaed Pomerantz two days after Trump was arraigned on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records; Bragg filed a lawsuit on April 11 to block the subpoena, calling Jordans move a transparent campaign to intimidate his office. He had requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the deposition until this case played out in court.

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Bragg has said that Jordan demanded that his office provide confidential documents from the District Attorney himself as well as his current and former employees and officials. Braggs lawsuit contends that Congress  a federal body  doesnt have the right to intervene under the U.S. Constitution. The legislative body, Braggs suit charges, has no power to supervise state criminal prosecutions.

Yet that is precisely what Chairman Jordan is trying to do. He and his allies have stated they want the District Attorney to come to Capitol Hill to explain himself and to provide a good argument to Congress in support of his decision to investigate and prosecute Mr. Trump, the suit argues. And they have threatened that the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg  to account for indicting Mr. Trump.

Now, Chairman Jordan has subpoenaed one of the District Attorneys former Special Assistants to interrogate him about his official prosecutorial activities, the suit alleges. But subpoenaing a former line prosecutor to talk about an ongoing criminal prosecution and investigation is no less of an affront to state sovereignty than subpoenaing the District Attorney himself. Moreover, Braggs office contends that peppering Pomerantz with questions undermines the legal privilege that bars him from discussing many of the offices inner workings.

Lawyers for the committee have contended that Pomerantz waived this privilege when he published his book, People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account, in early 2023. They pointed to Pomerantzs many TV appearances, where he discussed the investigation, as undermining a privilege claim. If Pomerantz is speaking out publicly, so their argument goes, how could he claim that professional ethics and rules bar him from a behind-closed-doors chat with Congress? They insist that the demand for Pomerantzs testimony is part of congressional oversight powers. 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 in jurisdictions  like New York County  where the prosecutor is popularly elected and trial-level judges lack life tenure, Jordan said in a letter sent with the subpoena.

Among other things, if state or local prosecutors are able to engage in politically motivated prosecutions of Presidents of the United States (current or former) for personal acts, this could have a profound impact on how Presidents choose to exercise their powers while in office, the letter said. For example, a President could choose to avoid taking action he believes to be in the national interest because it would negatively impact New York City for fear that he would be subject to a retaliatory prosecution in New York City.

Vyskocil seemed somewhat annoyed during the proceeding. She hit both sides with incisive questions ranging from political theory  arent we really talking about federalism, not separation of powers here?  and whether those involved in this case were acting like civilized adults. Did anyone try talking this out before winding up in court? Why cant that happen here?

At one point, she asked Braggs leading lawyer, Ted Boutrous: Tell me, Mr. Boutrous: How does this book, which is chock full of what Mr. Pomerantz calls an insider account, how does it not disclose mental impressions, deliberations of the office, the internal workings of the district attorneys office? How is there not a waiver? Vyskocil held up the book at this point. At several other junctures, Vyskocil leafed through the pages for reference.

She also appeared exasperated by partisanship.

Theres politics going on on both sides here  lets be honest about that, she told Boutrous, who said he did not agree. Vyskocil noted the photos of Trumps social media posts in Braggs complaint. Mr. Boutrous, what did half of the pictures and allegations in your complaint have to do with the subpoenas?

She similarly took issue with the committees language in demanding Pomerantz be questioned. Do you need your adjectives of politically motivated if youre telling me that a valid legislative purpose is all of these protections of a president or a former president, and the need to avoid interference with presidential [action]?

Does the prosecution have to be politically motivated to implicate those concerns? the judge said, adding shortly thereafter, Doesnt it politicize it on your side as well?

In the end, though, she sided with the committee.

In our federalist system, elected state and federal actors sometimes engage in political dogfights. Bragg complains of political interference in the local DANY case, but Bragg does not operate outside of the political arena. Bragg is presumptively acting in good faith, she wrote. That said, he is an elected prosecutor in New York County with constituents, some of whom wish to see Bragg wield the force of law against the former President and a current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

Jordan, in turn, has initiated a political response to what he and some of his constituents view as a manifest abuse of power and nakedly political prosecution, funded (in part) with federal money, that has the potential to interfere with the exercise of presidential duties and with an upcoming federal election, the decision also said. The Court does not endorse either sides agenda. The sole question before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to quash a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose. He does not.

This afternoons court decision comes two days after Jordan lobbed another bizarro salvo at Bragg  a chaotic field hearing in downtown Manhattan, which involved waxing breathlessly about violent crime in New York City. Said field hearing was part of Jordans campaign to cast Bragg as a soft-on-crime prosecutor whos hell-bent on pursuing Trump to the detriment of Manhattan.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
Citing the safety of the community, an El Paso magistrate judge on Wednesday refused to lower the bond amount for a jailed Fort Bliss soldier accused of trying to rape a 19-year-old woman after bursting into her apartment.

Christopher Aaron Rey, 28, has been held on a $100,000 bond at the El Paso County Jail in Downtown since April 13 when he was arrested on a burglary of habitation charge in what El Paso police officials described as a "home invasion" earlier this month.

Rey, who is originally from Alabama, is a U.S. Army infantry soldier who has been in El Paso since 2012 and resides with his wife and mother-in-law, his lawyer Omar Carmona said during Wednesday's online teleconference bond hearing.

Rey is accused of attempting to sexually assault the young woman and then returning to her home days later, Assistant District Attorney Danica Carman said at the hearing.

El Paso woman attacked when she went to walk her dog

About 8 a.m. April 7, the woman was going to walk her dog as she does every morning at her apartment in the 1400 block of Avalon Drive, Carman said.

The apartment complex is close to Airway Boulevard and Montana Avenue and not far from Fort Bliss.

As the woman opened her front door to go outside, a man standing by the door forcefully pushed it open, the prosecutor said, referencing a criminal complaint filed by investigators.

Christopher Aaron Rey

Carman said that the woman started screaming. The man told her to shut up, covered her mouth with his hand and pushed her backward into the apartment. He then removed his hand from her mouth, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her onto the couch as she continued to yell.

The assailant then allegedly pulled down his pants and underwear and began inappropriately groping the woman, the prosecutor said.

"She continued to scream and was yelling. The defendant at that time stopped touching her and ran off," Carman said.

Violent crime: Bouncer, bystanders wrestle man with a gun outside East Side bar, police say

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The woman immediately called 911 to report the attempted sexual assault. She told police she remembered seeing the man at a laundromat but said she had no relationship with him, the prosecution said.

On April 11, the woman called police "panicking," saying that the attacker had shown up again to her apartment, Carman said.

A Ring doorbell camera recorded the man checking the apartment doorknob, trying to get inside. The video allegedly showed it was the same person who had forced his way into the home four days earlier, Carman said.

An investigation by detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit identified Rey as the attacker and a warrant on a burglary of habitation charge was issued for his arrest, records show.

Archives: El Paso maintenance man attack case: Woman wakes up while being strangled, documents say

The first-degree felony charge of burglary of habitation includes cases in which a person intrudes into a home with the intent to commit another crime, such as a sexual assault. A first-degree felony is punishable by five to 99 years to life in prison.

Rey's attorney sought to have his client's bond dropped to $20,000, arguing Rey isn't a flight risk.

Magistrate Judge Linda Estrada refused to lower the $100,000 bond, citing the nature of the crime and the future safety of the community.

Court officials noted that Rey has a military hold at the jail, meaning that he would be taken into custody by the Army if he were to make bail.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Fort Bliss soldier stays jailed in 'home invasion' sex assault case
A Marine Corps recruit died earlier this week during a physical fitness test at boot camp in South Carolina, according to the service.

Pfc. Noah Evans, 21, of Decatur, Ga., died Tuesday at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) Parris Island, the Marine Corps said in a statement on Wednesday.

Evans had been assigned to Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment. His cause of death is currently under investigation.

The military branch provided no additional details, including whether Evans had any prior medical conditions or the specific events around his death.

He is now the fourth Marine recruit to die at the base in two years, with 10 total deaths since 2000, the Hilton Head Island Packet first reported.

In June 2021, Pfc. Dalton Beals, 19, of Pennsville, N.J., died as a result of extreme overheating during the end of the The Crucible, a grueling 54-hour training exercise that caps a 13-week training course at the boot camp.

The event validates the physical, mental and moral training endured up to that point by recruits, who are only allowed a limited amount of food and only four to six hours of sleep during the test. The final stage of the training includes a nine-mile hike with 45 pounds of gear.

Bealss senior drill instructor, Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley, was later charged with negligent homicide for his death in November 2022.

Another recruit, Pvt. Anthony Munoz, 21, of Lawrence, Mass., died in In September 2021 after falling from a balcony. MCRD Parris Island officials said his death appeared to be a suicide.

And Pfc. Brandon Barnish, 26, of Evans, Ga., was found dead at the base on Sept. 29, 2021.

Parris Island is just one of two locations that provide basic training for the Marines. Male recruits from east of the Mississippi and all female recruits from the entire country are trained there.

The base has come under intense scrutiny in the past decade following allegations that abuse may have contributed to a recruits suicide there in 2016.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Chinese traditional culture serves as new muse for Italian artists

Xinhua) 09:09, April 20, 2023

This photo taken on April 7, 2023 shows "No More" by Italian Artist Barbara Vaccaro displayed at an art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyan)

CHONGQING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Old items with an obvious imprint of traditional Chinese culture, such as quaint windows, screens and abandoned laundry boards, have become new carriers of the creative ideas of Italian artists.

As displayed during the ongoing month-long "Connecting Point" contemporary art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, dozens of artworks that blend traditional Chinese culture and trendy Italian design have appealed to even the most finicky of art fans in the city.

Decorating discarded items with graffiti, a number of Italian artists are injecting vitality with a modern touch into old memories.

Divided into halves, an old wooden window now presents itself with an armed warrior and a crowned princess common in Italian opera on one side, and a typical actress and an elder male actor from Peking Opera painted on the other side. Such a collision of different but seemingly interlinked cultural elements is a common theme at the exhibition.

This piece of art is named "Opera" and is the creation of Barbara Vaccaro, who was born in 1975 and hails from Italy's Sicily. She is committed to showing the hidden connections between China and her motherland, using everyday goods no longer used, produced or needed by Shanghai residents as conduits for her artistic expression.

Through her reuse of discarded furniture and windows, old items gain a new vision and life as if time was "sealed up."

One of her artworks, "No more," consists of three old-fashioned laundry boards, one of which even has some cracks on its surface. However, Vaccaro's paintings on these items have enriched their meanings.

"Housework, such as washing clothes, was usually the duty of Chinese women in the past. With the development of society and technology, women have freed their hands and the washboards are no longer used, which also represents the progress of Chinese women's social status and role," said Vaccaro.

This photo taken on April 7, 2023 shows "Immediacy" by Italian Artist Orlando Daga displayed at an art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyan)

Orlando Daga, another exhibitor, is more interested in integrating ideas from Chinese classical works into his creations. He brought 13 pieces of artwork from his latest series, named "Window."

Traditional Chinese-style windows of different shapes and in various colors are interwoven with multiple silk threads by Daga. The window itself symbolizes the external world, while strands of silk can be seen interlacing through the window, which is indicative of the internal connection between different elements -- an artistic expression of existence in traditional Chinese philosophy, said Daga.

Daga has learned more about oriental philosophies since he first came to China in 2014. The Italian soon found that many traditional Chinese philosophical works, such as "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu and the work of ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, became his main sources of inspiration.

In addition to using windows, Daga also combines colors with the Eight Diagrams in his paintings themed on water, fire and earth etc., to explore the relationship between humans and space. Different diagrams and colors are used as his major background color with blue representing lake water, while brown and yellow represent mountains. The image of people in the middle of the canvas is also often wrapped in layers of ripples, symbolizing the connection between natural elements and mankind.

"Chinese philosophy is very interesting because it gives you a different point of view about how to interpret things," he explained, adding that Chinese philosophy allows him to reflect on topics including harmony with the inner self, the outer energy of people and our relations with the universe and nature.

The exhibition, which starts from April 7 and will last until May 7, provides visitors with opportunities to appreciate the fusion of Chinese and Italian art and culture.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Law enforcement have arrested two more suspects in the Saturday mass shooting that left four dead and 32 people injured at a birthday party in Dadeville. These arrests mean a total of five total men are in custody now in connection with the shooting.

Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee, was arrested Thursday morning around 8 a.m. and formally charged with four counts of reckless murder, according to a news release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Almost three hours after ALEA released information on Brown's arrest, the agency announced that Willie George Brown Jr., 19, of Auburn has also been apprehended and charged with four counts of reckless murder. He was arrested at about 11:45 a.m. on Thursday.

Officials have not confirmed whether the fourth and fifth suspects are related.

Reckless murder is a Class A felony with a punishment range of 10 to 99 years in prison.

Three other suspects are also in custody and face the same charges. They are Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, Tyreese "Ty Reik" McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16. Hill is an Auburn resident, and the McCullough brothers are from Tuskegee.

The teens are being charged as adults, according to 5th Circuit District Attorney Mike Segrest. The Montgomery Advertiser is naming the juvenile suspects because they are being charged as adults and because of the severity of the charges.

Law enforcement booked all four suspects into the Tallapoosa County Jail with no bond.

The release of information from officials about the suspects has been gradual. Initially, police only told the public that four people died, 28 were injured and that there was no longer a threat at the crime scene. They later upped the injury count to 32, but remained quiet on potential suspects and a possible motive.

The first arrests in the case were made on Tuesday evening in Macon County, three days after the shooting took place. Police took the McCullough brothers into custody first and then released their names in a 10 a.m. press conference the following day.

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Several hours later, authorities announced the charges against Hill as the third suspect.

The two Thursday arrests made five.

The investigation into the shooting continues, and officials from ALEA and the FBI's Mobile office are asking the public to submit any photos or videos related to the incident through an FBI tip form online.

The Dadeville Police Department, Tuskegee Police Department, Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Office, Macon County Sheriffs Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Marshals Service and the 5th Circuit District Attorneys Office are all assisting in the investigation.

This is a developing story. As we gather more information, we will update our coverage.

Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser or donate to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Police make fourth and fifth arrests in Dadeville shooting
Media personalities at Fox and CNN dug into the effects of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis war with Disney on Wednesday. Fox Business host Larry Kudlow was among them and said the Republican is close to making a fool of himself with his Walt Disney obsession.

DeSantis battle  which kicked off after the House of Mouse criticized his Dont Say Gay law  has ramped up in recent weeks with a suggestion that he could build a state prison near Disney World and his appointment of a board to oversee its taxing district in Florida.

Kudlow, on Wednesday, scolded the governor over crashing down on, if not biggest, one of the biggest businesses.

DeSantis should make a deal and stop already. Hes not running against Walt Disney for president, he said.

Mark Simone, a radio host at New Yorks WOR radio station, slammed the Florida governor and told Kudlow that DeSantis lacks campaign, debate and negotiation skills compared with former President Donald Trump, whom he would face if he enters the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Donald Trump would be in a room with Disney working this out, Simone argued.

DeSantis problem was it was easy to slap Disney around. They had the dumb CEO but hes gone, he continued. [Bob] Iger is here and Desantis is no match for Iger, whos 10 steps ahead of DeSantis on every move.

Fox News contributor Joe Concha later noted that DeSantis moves seem to be anti-capitalist and added that the company brings jobs and revenue into the state.

He goes too far, though, he said of DeSantis battle with Disney.

Whatever the outcome, it just doesnt look too good, Kudlow replied.

Axios senior contributor Margaret Talev, during a CNN panel on Wednesday, mentioned Trump recently called out DeSantis Disney battle, and she described it as a quite interesting swipe of the Florida governor.

The idea of the policy versus the personality, what are the limits of the kind of anti-woke approach and Trump is either just completely trolling DeSantis or is looking at polling and other evidence that tells him that DeSantis has over-torqued this and that he can get a strategic advantage, said Talev.

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H/TMediaite

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Fox Corp.s $787.5 million settlement Tuesday with Dominion Voting Systems is a landmark payout in a case that has stirred debate over issues from free speech to the health of democracy. But the agreement means vastly different things for their respective businesses.

Settlements of this magnitude are just exceedingly rare in defamation cases, said Lyrissa Lidsky, a constitutional law professor at the University of Florida.

While Dominion had initially asked for $1.6 billion, even nine-figure payouts arent unheard-of in high-profile media lawsuits. In October, a Connecticut jury ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $965 million for defamation to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut.

That ruling also involved claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state trade practices law, and the damages were calibrated to the number of families involved in the case. The jury ultimately made 15 individual awards of $28.8 million to $120 million, plus separate punitive damages.

Infowars is just a fraction of Fox News size, and even the $965 million judgment didnt sink it. While Infowars founder, Alex Jones, filed for bankruptcy late last year, he has continued broadcasting daily out of his studio in Austin, Texas. Jones Infowars Store, which sells supplements and survival kits, has also continued operating since the lawsuit.

Fox Corp., with over $4 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of last year, is in a position to shoulder the settlement without selling assets. Before the deal was struck, analysts at Bank of America Securities projected that for every $500 million in damages, Fox shares would lose about $1 apiece.

A $787.5 million payment, based on the BofA projection, implies a $1.58 impact to each share of Fox stock, which was trading at $34 at the time the settlement was announced. The companys stock price slipped modestly in Wednesday trading, closing just 16 cents lower.

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Fox News acknowledged as part of Tuesdays settlement that the court found certain claims about Dominion to be false and said it hopes the deal allows the country to move forward from these issues.

But the company also emphasized its durability, size and reach, noting in its statement that it is currently the number one network in all of cable [and] has also been the most watched television news channel for more than 21 consecutive years, reaching nearly 200 million people a month.

For Dominion, the settlement is huge  probably much larger than the companys worth.

The private equity firm Staple Street Capital valued Dominion at $80 million when it purchased it in 2018. Staple Street co-founder Hootan Yaghoobzadeh told CNBC on Wednesday that whatever remains of the $787.5 million after legal fees and corporate taxes are paid would be distributed to shareholders, including Staple Street, as well as management and employees.

The number had to be right to be able to compensate us for the significant harm and damage they caused to the company, its employees and the management, Yaghoobzadeh said.

Its unclear how much will be left for Dominion itself, but the cash infusion could further solidify its already sizable position in the election technology sector.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton business school estimated in 2021 that the industry earns $300 million in revenue annually, with Dominion capturing about 37% of the vendor marketplace by eligible voters.

In theory, Dominion could use funds from the settlement to overhaul the voting infrastructure it operates. The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, flagged in a report last year that many U.S. voting machines need upgrades, estimating that it would cost $580 million to replace all of the countrys outdated voting equipment.

Fox, for its part, has weathered high-profile criticism over its broadcasts before.

A leaked Fox News advertiser-focused presentation from 2020, first obtained by the industry watchdog Check My Ads and reported by the Daily Beast, detailed how the network survived ad boycotts pushed by activists. The presentation featured charts purporting to show that conversation volume [about the boycotts] declined quickly to normal levels regardless of response among brands  those that pulled their ads and those that didnt.

Since the settlement helped the company avoid a lengthy trial and on-air apologies, Fox News didnt face the sort of public advertiser boycott that it has in the past.

In 2021, key advertisers fled the companys highest-rated show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, over racist comments, and they largely havent returned. But the shows high ratings have helped buoy the networks overall market clout, and major brands still air ads on its lower-rated and typically less controversial programs.

Check My Ads co-founder Nandini Jammi said Wednesday that the networks bottom line most likely hinges more on its ability to recoup carriage fees than on certain brands decisions about whether to run ads on certain Fox shows. Carriage fees are the rates cable providers such as Comcast (which owns NBC News parent company) and Verizon pay to TV networks to be able to offer them to subscribers.

On an earnings call in November, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said that in the next couple of years two-thirds of the companys distribution deals with cable companies would be up for renegotiation.

As Jammi sees it, the settlement leaves Fox more exposed to business risks than ever.

Theyre walking into these negotiations without their usual leverage and with a whole lot more liability after being hit with a hefty cost for airing certain content, she said. I think that makes them unusually vulnerable to an organized consumer pushback right now.

In the meantime, another voting-machine maker still has Fox in its crosshairs. Smartmatic has sued it for more than $2.7 billion over much the same claim Dominion raised: false reports that its equipment was part of a conspiracy to rig the 2020 election.

Smartmatic said in a statement that Dominions litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox, adding that its own case will expose the rest. Fox said Wednesday that Smartmatics complaint is on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms, adding that the case is likely to go to trial in 2025.

Fox, as well as members of the Murdoch family, which built the organization, also face shareholder lawsuits that will seek to prove that management violated fiduciary duties in broadcasting election conspiracy theories.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
(Bloomberg) -- The prospect of a fired Fox News producers secret recordings being played during trial helped push the conservative network to its $787.5 million settlement of a defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems Inc. over the broadcasting of false 2020 election-fraud claims, people familiar with the matter said.

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Abby Grossberg, then a producer for Tucker Carlsons show, filed a sex and religious discrimination suit last month in which she also alleged that shed been coerced into giving false testimony during depositions by Dominions lawyers. She subsequently provided recordings shed made on a phone to the voting-machine maker, brief excerpts of which were played during a pre-trial hearing last week.

The unexpected development caused a major headache for Foxs lawyers, said the people, who requested anonymity because they werent authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The defense feared Grossbergs testimony  and her recordings  would be used by Dominions lawyers against Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other witnesses expected to be called to the stand during trial.

Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti denied the account, calling it wildly inaccurate and completely false.

Combined with trepidation about Murdoch taking the stand in deep-blue Wilmington, Delaware, and a series of pre-trial rulings that shredded many of Foxs defenses, Grossberg was a tipping point in convincing network executives to settle on Tuesday, after a jury had been selected and just before opening statements in the trial were set to begin, the people added.

Though the announcement of a deal stunned courtroom observers, it had been preceded by four days of intensive negotiation at an undisclosed location in Philadelphia, the people said, where the parties called in a veteran mediator named Jerry Roscoe to facilitate discussions. Roscoe had been on a river cruise in Europe when he got the call to help broker a deal, they said.

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Roscoe didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some of the recordings by Grossberg, who was fired a few days after filing her March 20 suit in New York, were off-the-air conversations between Fox hosts and their guests. In an excerpt played at an April 12 hearing before Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis last week, Maria Bartiromo asked Rudy Giuliani if it were true that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a financial interest in Dominion.

I read that, but I cant prove that, Giuliani responded.

Davis noted during the hearing that the claim about Pelosi was among the false statements at issue in the case. He also ordered a probe into whether Fox News had properly turned over all documents and recordings in the case.

Foxs lawyers said in court that they didnt learn about the Grossberg recordings until recently and moved to quickly turn them over to Dominion. They said the producer didnt indicate shed made them until recently.

Rough Deal

Jury selection in the case began Thursday and was set to continue Monday, followed by opening statements. But Davis put the trial on hold for a day at the request of Foxs and Dominions lawyers while settlement talks continued via Zoom and conference calls, the people said.

The rough outlines of a deal emerged by Tuesday morning, but no final pact had been reached by the time Davis pressed ahead with jury selection, they added.

With opening arguments looming, lawyers for both sides alerted Davis theyd reached a deal after a Tuesday lunch break and sought a several-hour trial delay to finalize the accords terms, the people said. Meanwhile, courtroom observers who expected opening statements to begin at 1:30 p.m. were subject to an unexplained two-hour delay.

Around 4 p.m., Davis summoned jurors to the packed courtroom to tell them the case had settled.

The Dominion case was Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network, N21C-03-257, Delaware Superior Court (Wilmington). Grossbergs suit is Grossberg v. Fox Corp, No. 2023-cv-02363, US District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

(Updates with jury selection in the fifth paragraph)

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(Bloomberg) -- Dominion Voting Systems Inc. secured a $787.5 million settlement from Fox News for airing false election-fraud claims, but it still has several similar defamation suits against other companies and individuals.

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Fox is also still facing a $2.7 billion suit by another voting machine maker, Smartmatic Corp., that was falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election against Donald Trump. Smartmatic has sued many of the same parties as Dominion.

Fox said itll be ready to defend the suit at trial, likely in 2025. As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatics damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms, the network said in a statement.

Here are the defendants being sued by the companies:

Other Conservative Networks

Newsmax Media Inc. and One America Network, two smaller rivals to Fox News, are both facing defamation suits by Dominion and Smartmatic for broadcasting conspiracy theories that the companies switched votes for Trump to Joe Biden. In Dominions suit against Fox, evidence turned over in discovery showed that Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other top figures at the company feared that Trump supporters would abandon Fox News for Newsmax and OAN, both of which wholeheartedly embraced Trumps claims of a stolen election.

Newsmax has argued that the vote-rigging theory it attributed to Smartmatic wasnt inherently incredible and therefore justified its coverage. Separately, Newsmax settled a lawsuit filed by a Dominion employee who faced harassment after being identified on the cable network as allegedly being involved with vote-rigging. It also issued a statement saying it found no evidence to support the claims of fraud connected to Dominion.

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OAN, which enjoyed an audience surge in the weeks after the election, has since been dropped from cable and satellite carriers. It is still available in some markets via broadcast antenna.

Trump Lawyers

Dominion and Smartmatic are both suing Sidney Powell, the former Trump campaign lawyer who most aggressively pushed conspiracy claims about the voting machine makers. She filed several suits challenging the 2020 election results in which she advanced wild claims that Dominion and Smartmatic, which she often conflated, were part of a plot against Trump with corrupt Democratic officials, foreign agents and the deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. She was dropped by the Trump campaign soon after a Nov. 19, 2020, press conference where she laid out her theory. She also made fraud claims on Fox shows hosted by Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Donald Trumps personal lawyer during the 2020 election and appeared with Powell at Nov. 19 press conference, is also facing Dominion and Smartmatic defamation suits. The companies claim Giuliani made false election-fraud claims on his podcast and YouTube shows in order to hawk gold coins, cigars and supplements to his audience.

Fox Hosts

Smartmatic also named Bartiromo as well as Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and ex-Fox Business host Lou Dobbs in its suit. Bartiromo hosted Powell on her show in the aftermath of the election, even after the lawyer forwarded her emails showing the theory was based on claims by a woman who said she learned about election fraud through something like time travel in a semi-conscious state that allowed her to see what others dont see, and hear what others dont hear.

Dobbs repeatedly claimed on air in November and December of 2020 that there was new, groundbreaking evidence of voter fraud, even after election officials had debunked those claims. His show was canceled in February 2021.

The CEOs

Dominion and Smartmatic have both filed defamation suits against Mike Lindell, chief executive officer of MyPillow Inc., who has aggressively promoted the idea that the 2020 election was stolen through manipulation of voting machines. Lindell fought back, filing counter-suits against the companies for defamation, but a federal judge tossed his cases as groundless and frivolous.

Dominion also sued Patrick Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com, for promoting conspiracy theories about its voting machines. Byrne stepped down from his position at the online retailer in 2019, after his three-year affair with Maria Butina, a Russian agent who developed a range of contacts among Republicans and National Rife Association members in the run-up to the 2016 election, was revealed.

--With assistance from Jef Feeley.

(Adds Fox News statement)

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The Banff World Media Festival is growing its lineup.

Jennifer Mullin, CEO of American Idol producer Fremantle, is set to join the keynote lineup for the Canadian TV event. Lilly Singh and World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato are also set to feature In Conversation With sessions.

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They join the likes of CBS President and CEO George Cheeks, Toby Gorman, President of Universal Television Alternative Studio, Beatrice Springborn, President, UCP and Universal International Studios and Erin Underhill, President, Universal Television.

The 44th edition of Banff will take place in-person June 11  14 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Each of these incredible individuals have changed the face of the industry in unique and important ways, said Jenn Kuzmyk, Executive Director, Banff World Media Festival. Jennifer Mullin no doubt will have us rapt with her vision of what it takes to helm one of the worlds global content powerhouses. Lilly Singh is a Canadian-born superstar, and were thrilled to be able to celebrate and explore what drives her talents in front of and behind the screen. And its just impossible to quantify the good that Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have put into the world via the legendary global juggernaut that is Drag Race and many other productions. They have changed minds and opened hearts and continue to demonstrate that beauty is about authenticity and joy, that love conquers hate, and that despite horrific efforts to the contrary in many places around the globe, the civil rights and human rights of the LGBTQ+ community must be protected.

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Major food delivery platforms on Thursday agreed a minimum hourly wage with representatives of French riders, the workers' FNAE union said.

People delivering takeaways on bikes and scooters for the likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats will be paid at least 11.75 euros ($12.85) per hour, said the FNAE, which represents self-employed people.

That figure is slightly higher than France's legal minimum wage, which rose on January 1 to 11.27 euros before taxes and social contributions.

"This is an immediate win for delivery riders, of whom around 20 percent were below the threshold" of 11.75, FNAE president Gregoire Leclercq said.

Thursday's agreement "is a sector-wide agreement that applies to all platforms doing home delivery, those that already exist and in the future," he added.

Another self-employed people's union, Union-Independants, said it would consult members about the pay deal.

But its chiefs have already signed on to a separate agreement governing how riders' contracts can be broken off.

"It's the end of people being arbitrarily cut off," union boss Fabian Tosolini said, with riders able to "defend themselves and contest" the platforms' decisions.

The pay and conditions advances mark the latest step in a broader campaign against "uberisation", after worker representatives spent years complaining platforms were exploiting an underpaid, precarious workforce.

In January, drivers for ride-hailing platforms secured a minimum payment per trip -- rather than per hour -- of 7.65 euros.

UK-based Deliveroo was fined 375,000 euros by a Paris court last year, which found its riders were "undeclared workers" and should have been classified as employees -- with the failure to do so depriving the state of millions in payroll taxes.

"Deliveroo used a fake legal arrangement that did not correspond to the reality of how the delivery riders work," the presiding judge said in her ruling.

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The company has also been ordered to pay almost 10 million euros in missed social contributions.

Deliveroo has appealed the decision.

ola/tgb/yad
As the legal battle for abortion access remains ongoing in Wyoming, a full-service abortion clinic opened in the state on Thursday, nearly one year after the clinic suffered an arson attack.

The Wellspring Health Access reproductive health care clinic announced on Twitter it officially opened its doors on Thursday after the clinic started to take appointments on Wednesday. Wellspring Health Access President Julie Burkhart tweeted the news as well, saying it was a challenge to open the facility.

Opening the Wellspring clinic in Casper has been a challenge from a million different angles, but we did it! Burkhart tweeted. Thank you to all of our supporters and our wonderful staff. Wellspring Health Access is finally open!!

Before the Casper-area clinic was set to open last year, a fire broke out in the facility and left damaged windows in the building, The Associated Press reported. A woman was arrested late last month by Casper police and agents from the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in connection to the fire, authorities said.

Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, was charged with arson after her arrest last month. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted, according to the District of Wyoming attorneys office.

The news of the reopened clinic comes as access to the abortion pill in the state has launched a legal fight.

Wyoming banned mifepristone, one of two drugs needed in a medication abortion, after Gov. Mark Gordon (R) signed a bill into law last month. Judge Melissa Owens then issued a temporary order halting the ban later that month while other lawsuits on the issue make their way through the legal system.

In the coming weeks, we will finally open the doors of our Casper facility and become the only surgical abortion provider in the state, Burkhart said at the time. With todays order from Judge Melissa Owens, we can move ahead with our plans and finally begin to serve those who need abortion care in Wyoming.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
two young Black women walking through the airport with luggage - Gen Z travelers

As the newest generation of consumers, Gen Z travelers are finding their way in the market fast. Unlike millennials who had a bit of a slow grid getting into the travel groove, Gen Z travelers are moving at full force towards exploring the world. The young demographic is making quite an impact in the travel industry and setting trends that could change it forever.

One thing you have to remember is that Gen Z has never experienced life without mobile devices and the internet. This significant difference sets them apart from older generations and is shifting the way they consume travel goods and services. Not only that but being low on funds is definitely not a hindrance when it comes to getting outside.

Yes, you heard that right. Gen Z is not pressed about money when preparing to travel. In fact, being broke is a non-factor to them. If theres a will, theres a way and Gen Z travelers are jet-setting coast to coast despite whats in their bank accounts.

Photo Credit: RODNAE Productions

RELATED: Meet Abena: The Solo Gen Z Traveler Rejecting Hustle Culture

Low Funds Dont Equal Low Thrills

The bottom line is that Gen Z travelers are not staying at home. According to Morning Consult, a data research company, Gen Z is on par with millennials who have become the travel industrys favorite consumers.

Fifty-two percent of both Gen Z and millennials are frequent travelers taking one to two leisure trips each year. The difference is that Gen Gen Z is more willing to fit leisure travel into their annual budgets despite being lower earners than millennials. Ultimately, travel is just more important to Gen Z consumers.

In short, theyre being raised in a society where travel is more prioritized than it was for past generations, travel and hospitality analyst Lindsey Roeschke told CNBC. Brands need to pay attention now.

Eleven percent of Gen Z travelers make more than $110,000 a year, with 61 percent of them earning less than $50,000 a year, according to Morning Consult. While they might not have more money, this generation is more likely to spend it on the travel they need.

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Cost-of-living crisis or not, nothing is going to get in the way of Gen Z taking a well-earned break, the report stated.

The Strategy Is In The Sacrifice

The strategy for frequent travel for Gen Z consumers lies in their willingness to sacrifice. Unlike older generations, Gen Z would rather forfeit more traditional luxuries so they can see the world.

According to a study by Student Beans, Gen Z cut spending on fashion, tech, and food between 2021 and 2022 by 23 percent. Their travel purchases, however, increased by 60 percent.

This can be attributed to the fact that Gen Z travelers seem to prioritize wellness and leisure breaks more than older generations. With their desire to travel being driven by their mental health needs and desire for thrills and adventures, Gen Z is quickly shifting the reason why folks are traveling.

It wasnt too long ago that the 18-30s travel market was practically synonymous with raucous partying  thats no longer the case, StudentUniverse brand manager Will Jones said to CNBC.

Ethics & Budget Matter

Morning Consult also discovered in their study that Gen Z travelers are more prone than millennials to take international trips. However, their approach is completely different.

Destinations where social issues are unheard of, or where blatant discrimination occurs, are a big no-no for Gen Z. This includes matters concerning race and LGBTQ rights with 82 percent of Gen Z travelers expressing they avoid countries with inhumane approaches to human rights. Its just not the vibe for Gen Z.

This generation is also more likely to indulge in accommodations that support sustainability for the environment. According to Virtuoso, 56 percent of Gen Z travelers are willing to pay more to work with brands that have environmentally friendly practices.

Since they are the true children of the world wide web, Gen Z uses a lot of technology when budgeting for travel. According to Booking.com, Gen Z adults are 62 percent more likely to use technology to save money when planning a trip than other generations.

The Difference Between Gen Z & Millennial Travelers

Everyone knows that theres a secret feud raging between Gen Z and millennials. Millennials look down on their former Tide pod-eating ways while Gen Z truly believes that millennials are old. However, when it comes to travel, both generations are in similar boats despite their differences.

Millennial and Gen Z travelers prioritize travel much more than their parents and grandparents. Gen Z is typically the frugal traveler while millennials are prone to do the most every trip. One has luxury at the top of their travel bucket list while the other just wants meaningful travel experiences.

Its important to note that Gen Z travelers are more likely to receive financial help from their parents, unlike their millennial counterparts. Both generations do worry about not having the money to travel. Its just that Gen Z travelers dont mind risking it all to get away.

RELATED: 9 Black Gen-Z Entrepreneurs You Need To Know
Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) said he has a clean conscience as he runs for reelection to the House seat he assumed earlier this year amid controversy over his resume and finances.

I would not run if I thought I have  if I knew I had made or committed any crime. So, that should show you proof that I have a clean conscience moving forward, Santos told Newsmaxs Rob Schmitt Tonight, when asked if he would agree to not running if the charges in the various investigations against him were dropped.

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The freshman congressman announced a reelection bid earlier this week even as he faces multiple investigations and calls from lawmakers within his own party to resign.

Santos admitted just after his election last year to fabricating parts of his resume as he ran for the House, including his education history and work experience. Hes also faced scrutiny over his campaign finances, and recent disclosures indicate his campaign paid back more in refunds to donors than it received in contributions in the first three months of this year.

The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Santos last month. A number of other entities have also received formal complaints about the congressman or are looking into him, including the Nassau County District Attorney, the New York State Attorney General, the Queens District Attorney, and reportedly the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of New York.

Santos additionally said allegations that he was involved in a Ponzi scheme are absolutely false.

Look, nobodys immune to making mistakes in life. Ive owned up to them. You know, I wish every politician would go on TV and admit when they lie, but they dont and with that they continue to hurt Americans. Look, if anything, Ive hurt myself, Santos said.

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I have my story. I am George Santos. I am the son of immigrants. The kid who came from a basement apartment, worked my butt off to get to where I did. Honestly, I didnt steal, cheat, kill or anything, right? Santos said.

He also insisted that hes delivered on every single one of his campaign promises and has been delivering a very conservative platform.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Tennessee man and his mother were convicted on Tuesday of charges that they stormed the Capitol, where they brought plastic zip-tie handcuffs into the Senate gallery as a mob attacked the building, court records show.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth convicted Eric Munchel and his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, on all 10 counts in their indictment, including a charge that they conspired to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Bidens 2020 electoral victory on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge is scheduled to sentence both of them Sept. 8.

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Lamberth decided the case without a jury after a stipulated bench trial, an unusual legal proceeding in which defendants do not admit guilt to charges but agree with prosecutors that certain facts are true. At least three dozen Capitol riot defendants have resolved their cases that way  which allows defendants to preserve their right to an appeal  rather than opting for a traditional trial or pleading guilty.

A jury trial for the pair had been scheduled to start last week.

Our goal at the end of the day was to show the court that (Munchel) is accepting responsibility for what occurred on Jan. 6, his attorney, Joe Allen, said after the proceedings ended.

A lawyer for Eisenhart didnt immediately respond on Tuesday to an email seeking comment.

Munchel, 32, of Nashville, Tennessee, worked at a restaurant. Eisenhart, 59, of Woodstock, Georgia, has worked as a traveling nurse.

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On Jan. 6, they attended then-President Donald Trumps Stop the Steal rally before joining the crowd that marched to the Capitol. Both of them were wearing tactical vests. Munchel had a stun gun holstered to his right hip.

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After grabbing plastic handcuffs that they found inside the Capitol, Munchel and Eisenhart entered the gallery above the Senate chamber and stepped over a railing that separated portions of the gallery. Eisenhart chanted, Treason! Treason!

Munchel gleefully entered the Capitol during a riot while carrying a dangerous weapon, the stun gun, the judge said in a February 2021 ruling.

By word and deed, Munchel has supported the violent overthrow of the United States government. He poses a clear danger to our republic, Lamberth wrote.

In the riots aftermath, Eisenhart told a London newspaper that she would rather die as a 57-year-old woman than live under oppression.

Id rather die and would rather fight, she added, according to the judges ruling.

Eisenhart also claimed that she took the plastic handcuffs to keep them away from bad actors, the judge noted.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the deadly Jan. 6 riot. Over 600 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a jury or a judge. Over 450 of them have been sentenced, with more than half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 10 years.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius rejected a quick decision on Ukraine's membership at NATO, the Western alliance that has supported Ukraine throughout its war with Russia, with member states supplying it with weapons.

Kyiv wants the military alliance to offer it membership.

"The door is open a crack, but this is not the time to decide now," Pistorius said late on Thursday on ZDF's Maybrit Illner program, adding that Ukraine was aware of the decision-making situation.

Pistorius said the decision of Ukraine joining the alliance could not be made just out of solidarity but "with a cool head and a hot heart. Not the other way around."

Ukraine's possible membership in NATO or the European Union will not be discussed at the fourth Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting at Ramstein U.S. Air Base in southern Germany on Friday, the minister added.

Pistorius' comments come after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg's first visit to Ukraine since Russia's invasion 14 months ago where he invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, saying Ukraine's NATO membership bid and robust security guarantees for the country will be high up on the summit's agenda.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by David Gregorio)
The girlfriend of an alleged gunman accused of killing one man and critically injuring two others in a Kearns church parking lot has been arrested on the eve of her boyfriends trial to ensure she shows up to court. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

On the eve of a trial for one of three men accused of luring three other men to a church parking lot in 2021 and then gunning down the trio, killing one and critically injuring two, police have arrested the girlfriend of one of the accused gunmen to ensure she shows up to court.

On March 9, 2021, Alonso Gerardo Garcia-Mendoza, 32, and two of his friends went to a church parking lot at 5305 W. 5400 South believing they would be participating in a drug deal, according to charging documents.

But when they got there, Jonathan Montrail Johnson, Shihab Wesaga, Dalmar Mohamed Abdi, and a boy who was 15 at the time, instead shot the three victims during an apparent robbery attempt, the charges state. Garcia-Mendoza was killed.

The teen suspect allegedly made the plan to meet the victims and rob them and Johnson and Wesaga were the gunmen, according to charging documents. Johnson, Wesaga and Abdi were each charged in 3rd District Court with murder, aggravated robbery, obstructing justice, and four counts of discharge of a firearm, first-degree felonies, as well as other crimes.

A final pre-trial conference for Wesaga, now 20, is scheduled for Friday with a four-day trial scheduled to take place next week.

On Monday, a material witness warrant was issued for Wesaga's girlfriend, 19-year-old Ashely Marie Martinez, who was located and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday. She is being held on $500,000 cash-only bail.

After the shooting, Wesaga turned himself in to police on March 17, 2021, but claimed "he did not know about the shooting and had been at his girlfriend's house in Clinton." When detectives checked Wesaga's phone, however, it "showed his location at the time of the shooting to be at the church in Kearns," according to charging documents.

When questioned by Unified police, Martinez said Wesaga met up with her in Clinton after the shooting and "seemed shaken." She said Wesaga told her that "he was involved in a robbery that had gone badly," the charges state.

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Police searched Martinez's home and reported finding clothing that Wesaga was believed to be wearing at the time of the killing.

A material witness warrant may be issued "if it appears from an affidavit filed by a party that a material witness in a pending case will not appear and testify," according to the Utah State Courts website.

"If necessary to secure the testimony of the witness, the magistrate may order that the witness remain in custody for a reasonable period of time so the witness can be examined and cross-examined before the magistrate in the presence of the defendant. The testimony shall be recorded. The witness shall then be released unless further detention is necessary to prevent a failure of justice," the website states.

"A material witness warrant is a tool that can be used when there are safety concerns, or a witness is crucial to a case but has indicated their lack of willingness to participate in a criminal proceeding," the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said in a prepared statement while noting it was speaking only in general terms and not specific to a particular case. "This tool is rarely used but is sometimes the only means by which to obtain critical testimony or evidence.

"We take efforts to ensure that victims and witnesses are protected and that the least intrusive and restrictive measures are always pursued first," the district attorney's office said.

A five-day trial for Johnson is scheduled to begin in September. A scheduling conference for Abdi is scheduled for May 5. Information on the status of the 15-year-old's charges was not immediately available.
Senators in both parties expressed frustration after they received a classified briefing Wednesday afternoon about a Defense Department intelligence leak and its fallout.

I would, by and large, typify it as bureaucratic gobbledygook, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the Homeland Security Committee, told reporters after he emerged from the basement of the Capitol, where senators were briefed about dozens of classified Pentagon documents that were leaked online.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., used sharper language when he was asked about the briefing.

Its just a s---show, he said.

"I didnt get a very good explanation of how this could happen," he added. "Im just as confused now as I was before the briefing.

A Senate aide said Wednesdays briefers included National Intelligence Director Avril Haines; Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks; the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, Ronald Moultrie; the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Christopher Grady; and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson speaks at a rally with supporters Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, in Waukesha, Wis. Johnson and Democrat Mandela Barnes are honing closing arguments in a Wisconsin race that could be critical in which party controls the U.S. Senate. (Morry Gash / AP file)

The briefing had been scheduled before federal authorities arrested Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira last week in connection with the investigation into classified documents that were leaked on the internet.

Classified Defense Department documents that first appeared online last month revealed details into U.S. spying on Russias war machine in Ukraine, confidential evaluations of Ukraines combat power and intelligence-gathering on American allies, including South Korea and Israel.

NBC News obtained more than 50 of the leaked documents, many of which were designated Top Secret, the highest level of classification.

In an interview before the briefing, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., said he expected to get answers about when the intelligence community discovered the documents had been leaked, in addition to details about when the documents started appearing on the internet.

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Some of Warner's Democratic colleagues said the briefing failed to deliver on their expectations.

I remain deeply unhappy and unsatisfied, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democratic member of the Homeland Security panel, told reporters. "My impression coming out of that meeting is too many people have too much access to too much information without safeguards or guardrails."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested that in spite of senators' frustrations, administration officials are taking the issue of leaked intelligence information "very, very seriously."

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., added that administration officials were "very concerned about what happened, and theyre working."

Several lawmakers said the leaks prompted a need to examine reforms that could prevent future intelligence from being divulged publicly.

I think we need to take a long, hard look, yes, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. "And I think we need a lot more information than we currently have."

Asked whether access to classified information needs to be curbed, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, responded, I think theres a very good case for that.

Wednesday was not the first time senators have expressed exasperation after a closed-door meeting with Haines.

In January, lawmakers voiced concern over the governments system for labeling and tracking thousands of classified documents after Haines refused to show them copies of classified documents found at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and Joe Bidens former Washington office and Delaware home. A select group of senators and House members have since began receiving access to those documents.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Dana Hawley/Lionsgate

For quite a while, the relentless revamping of treasured childrens stories was the most annoying trend in contemporary filmmaking. No, Disney, we dont need live action remakes for The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and Moana, a movie that was released less than a decade ago. Who asked for Shawn Mendes crooning pop songs in a bonkers Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile adaptation? Dont even get me started on Wednesday.

All this considered, it felt natural to be skeptical of the first big screen adaptation of Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret, Judy Blumes seminal coming-of-age novel. Thankfully, its unlike any of these aforementioned retellings. This recreation joins Paddington in the canon of rare adaptations that are even better than their already stellar original stories.

Dana Hawley/Lionsgate

This sounds unbelievable, considering Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret has been training young folks on puberty, religion, and family for over 50 years now. Its a classic! You dont get any better than that. But Blume herself has said that director Kelly Fremon Craigs Hollywood adaptation is better than her source material, so I feel fine endorsing that as well.

Somehow, the movie manages to make good on a promise to stay faithful to the original story, while also bringing in charming new elements to brighten it up. This adaptation isnt just for young teen girls in health classesits witty and heartwarming enough to please every audience member, no matter their age, gender identity, or relationship with the book.

We meet sweet Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) at a turning point in her life: Not only is she about to enter *gasp* puberty, but her parents have also decided to make a big move to New Jersey for the new school year. Margaret is pressed. Her whole life is in New York City! Her lovely (but overbearing) paternal grandma Silvia (Kathy Bates) lives there. Shes a metropolitan young lady. All the great culture is in New York. Alas, Margarets father Herb (Benny Safdie) got a new job in the suburbs, and her mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams) wants more space to pursue painting.

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Though this movie, like the original novel, takes place in the 1970s, the story and overall design feel timeless. The Simons decorate their house in a way that feels true to the period, but, at the same time, could be ripped out of a design catalog from 2023which simply means itll still be a relevant film for years to come.

Dana Hawley/Lionsgate

Margaret doesnt have an iPhone like middle schoolers do nowadays, but she makes new neighborhood friends just like any sixth-grader mightby accepting the first girl who knocks on her door as her new best friend. Nancy Wheeler (Elle Graham) invites Margaret to splash around in her sprinkler next door. She obliges, beginning the blissful (and yet, often strenuous) friendship between Margarent and Nancy.

Judy Blumes Poignant Documentary Is Nostalgia Done Right

Nancys quest for popularity, a boyfriend, and bigger breasts (of course the iconic We must! We must! We must increase our bust! makes the cut) bleeds into Margarets life, one of a few dilemmas we see Margaret facing. Theres also the issue of missing her grandmother, which is solved with a quick visit to New York. And then theres the whole God thing, which is not as easily cracked. On her paternal side, Margaret is Jewish, while her mothers estranged parents were Christian. Thus, her household elects not to celebrate any religious holidayswhich brings Margaret dread every year, because what is she supposed to do in December, when most of her classmates celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, or at least something!

Furious with her parents for the lack of presents and overall celebration, Margaret sets off to define her own religion. Much to the delight of Silvia, she requests to attend Temple. She attends a church service with the Wheelers, who are Christian. She tries confession in a Catholic church. Nothing comes out of this journey for answers. Margaret attempts to grapple with her faith in an essay for class, which is at once heartbreaking, soothing, and inspiring. If she cant find the answers, its fine if similar youngsters (or older folks, too) struggle with their faith and spirituality in a similar way.

Dana Hawley/Lionsgate

Though Margaret wrestles with such complex topicspuberty is no joke!no second is without a wonderful sense of humor. When the girls of sixth grade are forced to sit through a presentation about sex, we cringe with them, but then we laugh when one sees a penis and shouts, It looks like a thumb! First kisses are gross and scary, and middle-school boys are grosser and scarier, but the film is smart enough to play around with the fact that both are meant to be laughed at. Margarets hunt to define her spirituality is full of dead ends and loneliness. And yet, it's paired with some killer facial expressions and a joyous moment of glee for Silvia, whose overjoyed reaction to Margarets curiosity in Judaism feels ripped straight out of the grandma playbook in the most hilarious way.

Margaret owes a lot to its source material, but the film would be nothing without the impeccable casting decisions made for its lead stars. Bates, who only has a few scenes, is miraculous, and a reminder that everyone should give their grandma a call if theyre lucky enough to have the opportunity. McAdams brings grace and wit to the role of Barbara, who has her own PTA-mom subplot and struggles. All the child actors are phenomenal, but Fortson excels in a way that its hard to imagine any other young actress couldve. She is a force to be reckoned with, and I will now forever hear the books title read in her voice.

Lena Dunhams Catherine Called Birdy Will Charm Your Socks Off

With the smart middle-school humor of PEN15 and the emotional weight of Lady Bird, Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret enters the tier of coming-of-age masterpieces. Judy Blume has a history of turning down Hollywood adaptations of her materialits good shes been picky, because no other cast couldve pulled off this feat. Even better: Another adaptation of her spectacular work is on the way. Its what the Blume fans deserve.

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Judy Blume has long been wary of Hollywood. Over the last 50-plus years, the legendary author has built a YA empire, charming millions of teen and preteen readers with her frank, endlessly readable novels. There's a near-ubiquitous relatability to Blume's books, many of which tackle taboo topics like puberty, sex, and general growing pains. Despite her popularity on the page, Blume has largely resisted the lures of film and television  even after (many) filmmakers came knocking. Sure, there have been a few adaptation attempts over the years (e.g. 2012's Tiger Eyes, 1978's Forever, and the '90s series Fudge), but to this day, some of her most beloved books remain unadapted.

Blume, now 85, has been especially protective of one book in particular. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is one of the most iconic coming-of-age stories of all time, a 1970 classic that treats menstruation and religion with the same gravity as awkward first kisses. So, it's a bit of a surprise that after more than 50 years, Margaret is finally coming to the big screen. Even more surprisingly, the film version is an utter delight, a loving adaptation that's both true to the book and endearingly fresh.

Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret

Dana Hawley/Lionsgate Rachel McAdams and Abby Ryder Fortson in 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret'

It helps to have Kelly Fremon Craig on board: The writer-director made her debut with 2016's The Edge of Seventeen, a sharp teen comedy starring Hailee Steinfeld. Craig clearly knows her way around a coming-of-age story, and here, she trades her high school protagonist for a much younger hero. Abby Ryder Fortson headlines as the eponymous Margaret Simon, an awkward 11-year-old who moves with her family from New York City to the New Jersey suburbs. There, she has to learn to navigate a new school, new friends, and new crushes. (And, if it's not too much trouble, she's also hoping to grow some boobs. Preferably sooner rather than later.)

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Forston is best known for playing Paul Rudd's daughter in the first two Ant-Man movies, and as Margaret, she's filled with awkward charm, navigating the highs and lows of puberty with a wide-eyed relatability. Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie star as Margaret's well-intentioned parents, who've chosen to raise their daughter without organized religion. (Mom Barbara is estranged from her Christian family after marrying Margaret's Jewish father.) But Margaret is overflowing with questions, and she finds herself searching for answers in faith.

Craig smartly preserves the novel's 1970 setting, and the film is packed with era-appropriate details and costume choices. But Margaret's story remains timeless  and timely. Decades after the book's publication, the American Library Association still touts Margaret as one of the most frequently challenged children's books. As school districts around the country make new attempts at censorship, Margaret's message of self-discovery feels more important than ever. And when Florida has proposed state legislation forbidding elementary school students from talking about their periods, there's something refreshing about the film's frank, age-appropriate approach to the topic.

But serious stuff aside, Margaret is also brimming with joy. Some of Margaret's cringiest moments are also deeply funny  like when our heroine attempts to buy pads for the first time, only to face the horror(!) of a male cashier. Kathy Bates also shines as Margaret's overbearing grandmother, who isn't afraid to deploy a little emotional blackmail when she wants her family to come visit. The result is an endearing portrait of girlhood  an adaptation that's well worth the wait. A-

Related content:
The Canadian businessman said his life and business have suffered significantly due to the defamatory post circulated by Google's search engine

Google has been ordered to pay a prominent Canadian businessman half-a-million dollars for failing to remove a defamatory search result of his name.

The man, whose identity is under a publication ban, sued Google for sharing a link to a post that falsely accused him of being a paedophile.

The plaintiff claimed his life and business suffered significantly as a result.

Google has refused to comment on the case.

In a ruling issued late last month, a judge in the Canadian province of Quebec ordered the technology company to pay C$500,000 ($371,652; 298,200) in damages to the businessman, saying his life had become a "walking nightmare" due to the defamatory post.

"Like Franz Kafka's character, Josef K. in The Trial, the Plaintiff woke up one day to find himself accused of a crime he did not commit," Judge Azimuddin Hussain wrote in his ruling.

"In the Plaintiff's case, he was accused of already having been convicted of the crime and a particularly heinous crime at that," he wrote.

The unnamed businessman, who is in his early 70s, accused Google of spreading the defamatory post through its search engine.

He said he first discovered the post in 2007 after searching his own name. Since then, he said potential clients have backed out of deals because of the post.

His friends testified they refused to help him secure work because they believed his reputation had been harmed beyond repair.

One of the man's sons, who is also said to be a high-profile figure, also testified that his girlfriend's parents refused to meet his father because of the post.

According to the ruling, the man asked Google to remove the post multiple times over the years.

In 2009, Google removed the post from the search results on its Canadian website, but it later resurfaced in 2011 and remained on the US version of the site.

The post then resurfaced again in 2015. The man wrote to Google again asking the company to remove it, but it refused to do so.

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In his ruling, Judge Hussain said the case raises "unprecedented questions" in Quebec law about how much a company like Google is liable when it shares false and defamatory internet posts of individuals on its search engine.

Because Google had already recognised that the post was defamatory enough to remove on its Canadian website, the judge ruled that the company erred in allowing the link to later resurface.

The plaintiff is said to be a lawyer and businessman who helped campaign for a former prime minister of Canada, and who once assisted in a high-profile US Senate inquiry.

He then undertook a successful career as a real estate broker and developer, according to the ruling.

"Before, he was an outsized personality, full of swagger and self-confidence," the judge wrote about the businessman. After the post, he wrote the man "became a shell of his former self, prone to anger, reclusiveness, heavy drinking, and suicidal thoughts."

During the trial, Google argued that Quebec defamation law did not apply to the case, and that it was not obligated under US law to remove the harmful post from its search engine.

The California-based company declined to comment on the case in response to questions from the BBC.

Instead, it pointed to its existing protocols and processes for flagging potentially harmful content.

"We take inappropriate content seriously," Google's website states, linking to a form in which people can report the content they want to be taken down.

Another post from Google's website stated that the search engine uses "automated systems to discover content from the web and other sources", and that the company has "carefully developed" policies to flag harmful posts.
Google is reportedly working on a new search engine AI, plus policy changes on YouTube, all in this week's tech news. (Photo: Getty Images)

Here is a roundup of the tech news that you may have missed this week.

Google is allegedly creating a new AI-based search engine

With companies like Microsoft aggressively pushing out their search engine Bing with an AI chatbot, Google is looking to do the same with its already robust search engine.

Although their experiments with their own AI-chatbot, codenamed Bard, had a rocky start, Google isn't giving up.

Being developed under the codename of "Magi", Google reportedly plans to announce this next month before introducing additional new features sometime around September.

Earlier this week, Samsung reportedly considered a move to Bing for it's default search engine, causing the stock of Google's parent company, Alphabet, to dip slightly. This may be one of the reasons why Google is trying to integrate an AI to their search engine as fast as possible.

Singapore launches airbag vests for falling elderly

It is common to see the elderly getting into unwanted accidents, especially with the risk of falling down.

As a person ages, bones become much more brittle, and a high impact fall may even result in breakage of bones and could sustain injuries that could lead to very expensive surgeries.

SATA CommHealth in Singapore has recently launched a pilot program to fit Singapore's elderly with a high tech airbag that will deploy almost immediately to cushion a fall if it detects one.

This vest deploys in 0.18 seconds the moment it detects a fall, and features a six to eight-hour battery life, after which you have to charge it again before wearing.

The airbag deploys almost instantaneously to cushion the fall of the wearer. (Photo: Aloysius Low/Yahoo News Singapore)

Made by China's Yidaibao, the vest provides 360 degrees of protection for falls (including front and side), and is reusable for up to 10 times.

Although it costs a hefty S$600 per vest which can only be used up to 10 times, the protection it provides offsets the the surgical costs needed for broken bones, especially at an advanced age.

Netflix shuts down its original DVD business

Did you know that once upon a time, Netflix was a DVD rental company?

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Started out in 1998, Netflix originally sent DVDs out to customers for rental (yes, we watched movies on a disc), but with the era of movie streaming and online videos, there is little to no reason to have a disc player in your living room anymore. Physical discs are slowly becoming the thing of the past.

They will shut down the DVD business on the 29 September 2023.

YouTube targets videos that promotes eating disorders

In an effort to protect the mental health of its users, YouTube will now ban videos on eating disorders that feature "imitable" behaviour or weight-oriented bullying.

To be clear, YouTube has been already cracking down on videos that directly promotes eating disorders. This new change will also target videos that "indirectly" talks about the subject, and if the content is seen as harmful to users.

Content that discusses about the subject matter and recovery from the disorder will also be limited to users that are 18-years old and above.

Elon Musk creates own AI company after calling for AI 'pause'

A few weeks ago, Elon Musk called for a 'pause' in AI development, after signing a letter that said 'powerful AI systems' should be developed only once the effects are likely positive and the risk, manageable.

This week, according to The Wall Street Journal, he has created a company called "X.AI Corp".

After allegedly absorbing Twitter into another company called "X Corp" as reported last week, it is still unclear if both the "X" companies are the same entity.

There are reports of Musk purchasing thousands of graphics cards for his Twitter AI project, so it well may be the same company.

Whatever it is, Musk calling for a 'pause' on the AI development front and proceeding to create his own seems oxymoronic at the very least.

Dominic loves tech and games. When he is not busy watercooling his computer parts, he does some pro wrestling.

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
The Missouri House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a construction budget that fully funds Republican Gov. Mike Parsons proposal for an $859 million expansion of Interstate 70 in sections near Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis. The Missouri Senate is working on a separate, competing highway expansion plan.

In the Kansas City area, the House plan would extend a 20-mile stretch of the highway from Blue Springs to Odessa in Lafayette County from two lanes each way to three. The proposal also includes 20 miles near suburban St. Louis and 13 miles near suburban Columbia  the spots with the most travelers.

This is much needed funding for I-70, House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson, a Lees Summit Republican, told The Star. There are parts of I-70 from downtown to Odessa that are downright scary to drive, especially when there are semis about 5 feet from your car.

Parson had proposed the plan in January during his State of the State address. The Missouri House had previously delayed voting on the project, moving the funding from a different budget bill to the roughly $1.7 billion construction spending plan approved Thursday.

The House-approved plan funds the project using Missouris general revenue, tapping into the states record budget surplus.

The construction budget, approved on a vote of 155-1 on Thursday, will now head to the Missouri Senate, setting up a potential funding fight between the two chambers.

Competing highway plans

The Senate is working on a separate $2.8 billion plan unveiled this week by state Sen Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican, that would widen the entire stretch of I-70 across the state.

The Senate proposal would fund half of the I-70 project through general revenue and half through bonds that would be repaid over 15 years, Hough told The Star.

If the Senate approves its version of the budget with the I-70 project, both chambers will likely work through the competing plans in committee meetings.

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Tom Crawford, president and CEO of the Missouri Trucking Association, told The Star that his group has been pushing for an even bigger expansion of I-70  to eight lanes across the state  for a generation. While the six-lane widening would allow motorists to maneuver easier, truckers will have to remain in the two far right lanes, he said.

If he had to pick, Crawford said he would support the Senates full expansion project over the House version.

Were in a better position today thanks to the House and the governor and then obviously the Senate went for the full plan, he said. I like the position were in today better than I did at the start of session.

Missouris transit priorities

Parson has framed his proposal as necessary to combat high levels of congestion on the major highway that slices through the state. However, researchers have disputed the idea that highway expansions are a long-lasting solution.

The competing plans for the project come as some Republican lawmakers are opposed to spending hundreds of millions on I-70 amid concerns that Interstate 44 and other highways are being overlooked.

The Missouri Department of Transportation, led by a governor-appointed commission, also faces a backlash from Republican lawmakers who say the commission is trying to exclude the General Assembly from decisions over how to spend money in a state roads fund. The commission is seeking a decision in state court giving it control over how to spend the fund.

The construction budget passed by the House Thursday includes a combined $48 million for an environmental study and improvements to I-44. It also includes $20 million of state funding toward a $200 million park planned atop Kansas Citys I-670.

Missouri House Democrats, who had previously fought to restore Parsons I-70 proposal to the transportation budget, on Thursday supported the funding plan. However, state Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat, said the House should have added additional funding for public transit providers, including to create a pilot program where people could ride for free.

Its a real shame that we didnt give it that chance  that we didnt say as a House that we want to put a little bit more money into public transit for a change when were willing to drop a billion dollars into I-70, he said on the floor Thursday.
A coalition of GOP lawmakers has urged the Biden administration to stop sending unrestrained aid and weapons to Ukraine amid its ongoing war with neighboring Russia.

We write to express concern regarding the U.S. response to Ukraine. Over a year ago, Russia launched an invasion that has upended decades of peace in Europe, the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Biden on Thursday. We are deeply concerned that the trajectory of U.S. aid to the Ukrainian war effort threatens further escalation and lacks much-needed strategic clarity.

The lawmakers noted in their letter the risks associated with supplying Ukraine with necessary aid and weapons, saying how the countrys continued contribution could escalate the conflict between the two countries and create a proxy war with Russia.

The current strategy of sanctions and drawn-out aid will only prolong the conflict, leading to escalation and more violence, the lawmakers wrote in their letter, adding how the country needs to focus on its own military and economic resources rather than allocating substantial resources to a foreign conflict.

Our national and economic security demand an alternative. Unrestrained U.S. aid for Ukraine must come to an end, and we will adamantly oppose all future aid packages unless they are linked to a clear diplomatic strategy designed to bring this war to a rapid conclusion.

The lawmakers also said that Biden should prioritize more diplomatic efforts to advocate for a peace agreement between the two countries.

The letter was signed by 19 Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah.), Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-K.Y.), and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

There are appropriate ways in which the U.S. can support the Ukrainian people, but unlimited arms supplies in support of an endless war is not one of them. Our national interests, and those of the Ukrainian people, are best served by incentivizing the negotiations that are urgently needed to bring this conflict to a resolution, the letter concludes. We strongly urge you to advocate for a negotiated peace between the two sides, bringing this awful conflict to a close.

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The letter comes as prominent GOP figures such as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have shared their criticism of recent aid being sent to Ukraine.

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that it will send $325 million in additional military aid to the sovereign country.

February marked a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, which has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, tens of thousands of military casualties on both sides, and the displacement of more than 8.1 million Ukrainian citizens.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Governor Inslee signed a bill on Thursday that repeals the death penalty from Washington state law.

In a tweet, Gov. Inslee outlined his efforts to repeal the death penalty since 2014.

In his 2014 moratorium, Inslee said the death penalty was inconsistent and unequal and that repealing it would ensure equal justice.

Equal justice under the law is the states primary responsibility. And in death penalty cases, Im not convinced equal justice is being served, said Inslee. The use of the death penalty in this state is unequally applied, sometimes dependent on the budget of the county where the crime occurred.

In 2018, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously struck down the states death penalty, saying it had been used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner.

In 2020, the Washington Senate passed a measure to remove capital punishment as a sentencing option for aggravated murder and instead mandate a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Republican Sen. Keith Wagoner argued that abolishing the death penalty denies victims and their families justice, and removes a tool that prosecutors and law enforcement need to gain information about other victims.

I think the death penalty is a perfectly appropriate punishment in certain cases, and we need to keep it on the books, Wagoner said.

Now, in 2023, the death penalty has been officially removed from Washington state law.

People had mixed opinions on the passing of Senate Bill 5087 online.

This makes me proud to be a Washingtonian. Hopefully other states will follow this lead soon.  Dawn (@dawnklinge) April 20, 2023
My husband, Tony, and I had a plan for my first meal after our baby was born: a raw seafood tower and a strong margarita with a salted rim. These were two things I craved furiously during pregnancy and waited longingly to enjoy.

Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic came sweeping through the world, and everything shut down. We werent allowed to leave the hospital room after Simone, our baby girl, was born in April 2020. I remember negotiating with the nurse  I was ravenous after 15 hours of labor and an emergency C-section. I wanted the grilled chicken sandwich from the hospital dinner menu. She said I could have another apple juice and some Jell-O.

Eighteen months later, we had a baby boy. We named him Julius. There were vaccines by then, and Tony was allowed to leave the hospital room. (Still no visitors.) He came back with bagel sandwiches and a bag full of snacks and drinks from Wawa. We ate them while we sang Julius silly songs. Julius nursed and we both fell asleep with his little head on my chest, his soft body rising and falling with my breath.

I credit food for reminding me about joy. I credit garlic sizzling in butter for perfuming the house and soothing my tired new-mom nerves, reminding me about possibility and playfulness and pleasure.

I thought Id escape postpartum depression. I had nearly a decade in eating disorder recovery under my belt, a supportive partner, a great therapist, and loving family and friends. I thought, the second time around, I was prepared for the postpartum roller coaster of hormones and tears. When I woke up with my sheets soaked with sweat, I wasnt alarmed.

But things felt different. I longed for the cozy, lazy days of snuggles with infant Simone  but now I had a toddler who wanted mommy, mommy, mommy always, who had big feelings and full-bodied meltdowns, and a new baby who kept us perpetually bleary and bone-tired. Post-surgery, I couldnt pick up Simone, and she wailed in protest of this injustice. I got COVID during the omicron wave and had to isolate with Julius, who was breastfeeding. It was a dark, cold winter. I couldnt catch a break or a breath. I felt I was letting down my precious, tiny humans.

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Even with so much eating disorder recovery, I was shocked that I didnt hate my postpartum body. I was proud of my tender  sometimes annoyingly itchy  C-section scar and my soft belly. But something else was going on in my brain; I looked in the mirror and hated myself. Not the way I looked, but something deeper. The loathing was visceral and enormous. I didnt feel worthy of my beautiful kids.

Julius sweet cries filled me with dread. And each day felt interminable. Nights felt scary, too. My exhaustion was so profound it was painful, and I knew it was only a matter of hours (minutes?) before Julius cries would wake me. They joined with my own crying, which I couldnt seem to stop.

My body wanted fuel, but my brain didnt have the capacity to think about food. Sometimes, my mom would bring lasagna or soup. Sometimes, Tony would make a steak. Sometimes, Id eat a lot of popcorn and call it lunch.

The thing that helped me the most was starting antidepressants. The thing that helped me the second most was cooking ridiculously simple things: Sheet pan dinners. Grilled cheese sandwiches with a generous amount of butter. Scrambled eggs.

Its hard to meal-plan when youre depressed, a friend told me on the phone.

I didnt have the mental capacity to meal-plan, per se, but I practiced asking for help. My parents live nearby, and Id send my mom a grocery list full of my favorite foods.

Even ragged and in my comfiest sweatpants, I could grate Parmesan on pasta or fry an egg.

Tony and I had spent most of our adult lives in New York City, and we were used to ordering whatever our hearts desired  fragrant, steamy pho; crispy Korean-fried chicken; thin-crust pizzas; diner omelets. I loved to cook, too, but life was busy, and we lived in the culinary capital of the universe.

During the pandemic, we moved to a small town in rural New Jersey. Now, there were only a handful of restaurants nearby, and zero that delivered. With Julius on my boob, Id scroll recipes for the quickest, simplest, most comforting ideas I could find.

I made a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches. Id use sourdough from the local bakery if we had any, or grocery store bread if not, whatever cheese we had in the fridge. With plenty of butter, I perfected a golden crust. Sometimes Id smear on Colmans mustard, or add some slices of deli turkey, or eat the sandwich beside a pile of arugula, dressed only with good olive oil and crunchy sea salt.

Simone and Tony liked my grilled cheese, too, and I could eat it while nursing. I remember plucking buttery crumbs from Julius downy head.

Id make hodgepodge salads with whatever veggies we had in the fridge, adding olives and chunks of chorizo and my favorite cheeses. Tossing it with my kitchen tongs, I noticed something. I felt, if not great, like myself. I felt alive.

When one day I miraculously felt up to making dinner, I put a lot of things on a sheet pan: feta cheese, chicken thighs, root veggies. It was alchemy.

Even ragged and in my comfiest sweatpants, I could grate Parmesan on pasta or fry an egg.

I had made these amazing babies, and I could also make dinner. Sometimes, anyway.

It was delicious and satisfying.

I credit Zoloft for making it through a whole day without tears. I credit Julius sleeping better for feeling, slowly but surely, human again. I credit food for reminding me about joy. I credit garlic sizzling in butter for perfuming the house and soothing my tired new-mom nerves, reminding me about possibility and playfulness and pleasure.

Related...
THE COVENANT (2023)

Jake Gyllenhaal and Guy Ritchie on set Credit - Christopher Raphael/MGM

Director Guy Ritchie, who made his name with movies that depict the violent antics of colorful British lowlifesand is also famous for being married to Madonna for a whilehas made his first war movie. Guy Ritchies The Covenant (yes, thats its full name) is set among the U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan, and examines the bond between U.S. Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim).

Ritchie, whose movie output has spiked in recent yearsThe Covenant is his second movie in as many months spoke to TIME from the Turkish set of another war movie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Seated in front of the set of a town he was about to blow up, he discussed whether his new films indicate a more political turn, how he regards integrity, and what he really thinks about his experience directing Disneys live-action Aladdin.

TIME: The Covenant feels more political than your usual films. Were you trying to raise awareness about the plight of interpreters who have been left behind in Afghanistan?

Ritchie: Politics implies a sort of polarization and tribal affiliation. Im anxious not to affiliate. But the one thing I find endlessly interesting is a bond between individuals and what theyre prepared to do in order to honor that bond.

Did you approach the depiction of violence differently from in your other movies?

Not really. For me filmmaking is how do you get the composition right between being viscerally interested, intellectually stimulated, and emotionally inspired? I want to be entertainedand violence just happens to be one of those components that keeps me entertained. What I want is a compelling alibi as to why Im watching the action. I just dont want action porn for the sake of action porn.

Guy Ritchie, Jonny Lee Miller and Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of 'The Covenant' Christopher Raphael/MGM

Youre on set with another wartime film. Has making films about real conflicts, including one that you lived through, change the way that you feel about war?

I think war in general is so replete with emotional subjects, that its inevitable that it finds its way into a storytellers lexicon at some point. But it lends itself to my disposition, the subject, and it was such a simple story. And I quite like making a simple story.

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You do?

Well, maybe The Gentleman was not simple. To pull all those different points together, all those different strands together, is hard work. And I quite like [The Covenant] because it was a simple emotional point. Ive tried to I try to make it my business to do things that Im unfamiliar with as much as I can.

If someone came to you and said, Mr. Ritchie, you have an unlimited budget to make a war movie set in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where would you begin to look for a story?

The problem is, its too fresh, right? I would feel as though I didnt have the requisite sensitivity to understand all the complications going on within that situation. What I liked about [The Covenant] is that you didnt need to understand all the machinations of the political geography, you just needed to understand that one fella was profoundly motivated to service a debt that the other had bestowed upon him.

Speaking of that war, I saw that you had some Russian financing on this movie. Did that make things more complicated for you?

If Im brutally honest, I have no idea where any of the financing ever comes from for any of my movies. I have very little to do with money, and Im only really interested in the creative process. If we did have Russian money thats news to me.

Threaded through your movies is this notion of loyalty. Why does that particular virtue interest you?

Well, because its so hard to be loyal. And I think people underestimate the complexity and temptations and the subtlety of being corrupted to lose focus on the simplicity of being loyal either to your word or to your bond or whatever. You say youll never do something and then you find yourself doing that something and then you create all sorts of alibis in order to make that happen. Loyalty starts with oneself and then it expands to really every relationship that you have in your life. So, again, a classical theme that one cant get away from. If you really examine the complexity and nuances of loyalty, you realize that theres all sorts of deals that youve made along the way that have not ultimately been in your interest.

Can you give me an example of a time where you were loyal to yourself, or where you werent and regretted it?

In a way, its much easier to find the examples where youve not been loyal to yourself. The curious thing about the word integrity is that clues in the word itself, and it implies that theres more than one you that needs to be integrated. A part of you is desperately trying to have an honest relationship with yourself, but you have to take into account that the other part, which is trying to survive in a material, competitive, comparative sphere and has to make deals. So how do you integrate that relationship in an elegant fashion? Its never as simple as being virtuous in an obvious sense. I think an ambitious life means that inevitably, you have to make these deals which, at the beginning, youd insisted that you wouldnt, and you feel as though youre compromising constantly.

Director Guy Ritchie on the set of 'The Covenant' Christopher Raphael/MGM

Read more: The 10 Best Movies of 2022

Thats still pretty abstract. Theres not one thing you can point to?

I mean, Ive done things for money. But actually, in retrospect, Im happy with that. Im happy with an ambitious life where you clumsily find your way when you get there. Because another aspect of this is that youre also terribly scared of what people think of you. I am of the firm belief that people, especially creative people, dont do a lot because theyre scared about what other people will think of them. And then they just gotta keep chucking mud at the wall in order to develop creatively, and theres a cost to that. Not everyone likes what you do and you have to grow a set and get on with not being liked. I think people construct compelling alibis as to why they dont do things. I would have been much busier much earlier on, and I would have made many more films, if I cared less about how they would be judged.

Everybodys going to read this and say, Oh, hes talking about Aladdin. Do you want to clear that up?

No, Aladdin, I enjoyed enormously. Thats actually a good example. I wish I had made more commercial films earlier. You dont want to do just one theme. You want to make big commercial films. You want to make small indie films. You want to make provocative films, you want to make entertaining films. You want to do as much as you can and then you then you actually have a wealth of experience.

A lot of your movies explore extreme male-bonding spacescriminal gangs, military service, poker games, covert operationsand I wonder if this in any way is a response to the loss of male-only spaces elsewhere in the culture?

Not particularly. I mean, I make movies about things where I feel as though Im relatively familiar with the subject. Ive been making films about men for the last 25 years, I suppose. And the bond in there, but I wouldnt think its gender-specific. Really, its about the bonds and complications of peoples relationships.

You are undertaking the sequel to The Gentleman as a TV series. We live in the era of the sequel. Why did you choose this one as your franchise?

The attractive thing about The Gentleman is its a TV series. I have to say that is a beguiling departure from just making films. When you realize how immersive you can become within certain worlds, TV does become very attractive.

Henry Golding, Matthew McConaughey and Charlie Hunnam try to make a gentlemans agreement in 'The Gentlemen' Christopher Raphael

Do you have a preference for the way youd like people to consume it?

Yeah, Im a binger. So I like to wait until its all there together. And then Ill rattle through the episodes like bullets in a full magazine. I like to do the whole clip. I can immerse myself in just two or three days of hardcore TV.

Is there a character in your universe that you think could spin off? A character that youve created that youve thought, thats a really interesting guy, Id like to see him have his own movie?

Hugh Grant is rather interesting. Hes so watchable. He seems to represent something that very few people represent nowadays. Hes incredibly fresh, and hes his own man.

Any chance he could be yummy again?

That might be a hard sell. Although, he plays characters, and theyre attractive to watch, those characters. So in that sense I think Hugh is still yummy because you end up watching him and enjoying watching him. He has somehow managed to retain that yumminess, but maybe not in such a conventional cliche fashion.
Officials are asking residents to use caution after a second raccoon tested positive for rabies, according to the Gwinnett County Health Department.

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Gwinnett officials said they were called to the 500 block of Buford Highway in Buford in regards to a dog attacking a raccoon.

The raccoon was taken to the Gwinnett Animal and Enforcement shelter the same day to be tested.

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Officials say wild animals including foxes and raccoons carry diseases like rabies that can spread to people and pets through a bite or scratch.

The National Association of State Health Veterinarians states that unvaccinated dogs and cats exposed to a rabid animal must be quarantined for four months and vaccinated one month prior to being released.

Preventive treatment for rabies is necessary if you or your child have been bitten or scratched by any stray animals or an animal that is suspected to have rabies,

Gwinnett officials said they will continue to investigate to check if there are more threats in the area.

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Residents can contact the Gwinnett Animal Welfare and Enforcement Bite Office at 770-339-3200 ext. 5576 to report an animal and have it picked up.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Prabhu S (right) is stranded with several others from the Hakki-Pikki tribe

Around 3,000 Indians are estimated to be stranded in Sudan amid fierce fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary force.

This number includes around 100 people from the Hakki-Pikki tribe - a nomadic tribe from the southern state of Karnataka - who were in Sudan to sell herbal medicine and products.

Their plight had sparked a political row in India after the country's foreign minister, S Jaishankar, accused an opposition Congress leader of "playing politics" when he tweeted a request to ensure their safe return to India. Elections in Karnataka will be held next month.

BBC Hindi spoke to some members of the Hakki-Pikki tribe in Sudan, who said they are living in fear and have little access to necessities such as food and water.

While most of them are in the capital Khartoum - where the clashes are intense - others are in the western city of Al-Fashir, 1,000km away from the capital.

The fighting, which has been raging since last week, is the result of a power struggle between Sudan's regular army and a paramilitary unit called the Rapid Support Forces.

The death toll caused by the fighting is unclear, but the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) said on Tuesday that at least 174 civilians had been killed in the violence.

"It is extremely scary. Heavy firing takes place nearby, mainly in the mornings and evenings. It continues late into the night," says Prabhu S, a member of the Hakki-Pikki tribe who is in Al-Fashir.

"`We are living in a hotel where the employees went away five days ago, soon after the fighting started," says Sanju Pitaji, who is stuck in Khartoum.

"We are surviving on some leftover bread and drinking water from the tap in the washroom. Ten of us are living in this room," he says.

Smoke billows over the Sudanese capital Khartoum

According to the 2011 Census, there are about 12,000 Hakki-Pikkis in Karnataka. "Hakki-Pikki" translates to bird-hunters in the Kannada language, but after bird-hunting was banned in India in the 1970s, members of the tribe began making medicinal products from plants to make ends meet.

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They travel to countries like Sudan, Singapore and Malaysia, often with their families, to sell these products, says Dr DC Nanjunda, an anthropologist and deputy director at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, University of Mysore.

"During our research, we found that all members of the community have a passport. They speak a language called 'Vaagari' in which you will find some traces of Gujarati," Dr Nanjunda said.

They claim that the herbal and ayurvedic oil extracts can treat various ailments, ranging from gastric problems to hair loss.

"They stay there for about five-six months, earning anywhere between 2,000 rupees ($24; 20) and 3,000 rupees per day and then return home,'' says Raghuveer, 33, a school teacher from the Hakki-Pikki community who lives in Karnataka.

His sister, brother-in-law and five other relatives left for Sudan five months ago. They had to take a loan of 500,000 rupees to travel abroad, he says.

"I spoke to my sister about 10 days ago but haven't been able to since then,'' he adds.

Back in Khartoum, community members say they have been cautioned by Indian authorities not to step out of their homes.

Sanju and his wife, who are currently stuck without electricity, were scheduled to take a flight back to India on 18 April, but the airport is shut.

"Indian embassy officials got in touch with us and told us not to move out. But how long do we wait indoors?'' he asks.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.

Read more India stories from the BBC:
Harold Riley was the only artist ever granted a sitting with the South African leader

Tributes have been paid to an artist who was widely praised for his portraits of a host of political greats including Nelson Mandela.

Salford-born Harold Riley, who became the only artist ever granted a sitting with the South African leader, has died aged 88.

He also produced paintings of US president John F Kennedy and three popes.

Salford's mayor Paul Dennett said Riley embodied the "true spirit" of the city.

A statement from his family said: "Salford has lost one of its most humble, compassionate and loving sons. Harold's light shone brightly for all to see and through the legacy of his art, it will never go out.

"He lived by simple principles: to love, to give and to serve every person equally no matter their position, colour, nationality or faith."

The former Salford Grammar pupil sold his first painting in the city's art gallery aged just 11, before going on to study at the celebrated Slade School of Fine Art in London.

He received global recognition for commissioned portraits which also included the late Duke of Edinburgh.

'Salford roots'

His large rendition of Pope John Paul II - taken from the pontiff's 1982 visit to Manchester - remains on display at Salford Cathedral.

However, he is perhaps best known for the piece he created following six sittings over 18 months in Cape Town and Johannesburg with President Mandela, with the final meeting held in 2002.

Riley told BBC Radio 5Live 10 years ago when Mandela died that the ANC leader did not know how to pose for the picture.

Harold Riley said staying in Salford kept his feet on the ground

He said: "When I went in to see him, he was reading the newspaper in a comfortable chair in his lounge and he said, 'what do you want me to do?'".

"I said, 'just do what you're doing. Read the newspaper, Mr Mandela, and I'm going to draw.'"

He was given the Freedom of Salford in 2017, following in the footsteps of his friend LS Lowry - the city's most famous artist.

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Harold Riley's portrait of Pope John Paul II is on permanent display at Salford Cathedral

He completed postgraduate studies in Italy and Spain before returning to his beloved Salford, where he began to chronicle scenes from what he considered to be a disappearing way of life on canvas, sketch and photographs.

The artist once told BBC North West Tonight that living in Salford helped keep his feet on the ground.

"I can go to the Vatican to paint the Pope but I still have to go to the chippy across the road when I come home," he added.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where Riley had painted landscapes, golfers, and the community, said it would miss his work "enormously", adding: "We mourn the loss of Harold Riley our friend and celebrated artist who, for the past 25 years, worked to bring the Alfred Dunhill golf championships to life on canvas."

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Vice President Harris slammed Congress on Thursday for lacking the courage to stand up to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and pass gun safety laws in the wake of several recent mass shootings.

I just think it is pitiful that the people in the United States Congress do not have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby, stand up to the NRA, and say, Look, I support Second Amendment, but we need reasonable gun safety laws, Harris said during an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show.

The vice president emphasized that the Second Amendment and gun safety laws are not at odds with one another.

We shouldnt have to be presented with this false choice, which suggests youre either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want reasonable gun safety laws, Harris told Hudson. Thats a false choice.

It is reasonable that we would have background checks because it is reasonable that you might want to know if someone has been found by a court to be a danger to themselves or others before they can buy a gun, she continued. Its just reasonable. Its just reasonable. It is reasonable to say that weapons of war have no place on the streets of America.

The calls for additional gun safety laws come as the U.S. continues to face an endless string of mass shootings.

Four people were killed and 32 were injured at a girls sweet sixteen birthday party last weekend in Dadeville, Ala. Earlier last week, an employee opened fire at a bank in Louisville, Ky., killing five people and injuring eight more.

Harris recently met with two Democratic lawmakers from the Tennessee House of Representatives who were expelled from the chamber for leading a protest in the wake of a shooting at a Nashville, Tenn., elementary school that left three 9-year-old students and three staff members dead.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A yearslong drought in Spain is prompting officials to issue stark warnings about the eventual need for emergency measures to conserve water while also uncovering long-lost structures built nearly 1,000 years ago.

A recent video from AFP showed the ruins of an 11th-century church in the usually submerged Medieval village of Sant Roma de Sau. The church has been mostly underwater since the 1960s when the government of the Catalonia region created the Sau Reservoir on the site of the former town.

While the buildings are submerged most of the time, the long-lost village occasionally reappears when water levels decline sharply, suddenly bringing it back into view. Today, the church remains intact, along with an empty cemetery and the foundations of other buildings.

The dropping reservoir level is part of a national crisis in Spain, according to DW, a German news outlet. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told Spanish parliament Wednesday that the drought is seen as "one of the central political and territorial debates of our country over the coming years." Catalonia's more than 7.5 million residents could enter a drought emergency in September, Catalan officials said.

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"Over the last three years, the Catalonia region of Spain has endured a moderate drought ... since October, much of the Catalonia region has received 80-250 mm (3.1 inches to 9.8 inches] of rain, which actually happens to be 25-75% of normal for the area," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys said. "The last time Catalonia region had above-normal precipitation was back in 2020."

The drought emergency will be declared unless there is a substantial amount of rainfall in the area during the spring and summer, Samuel Reyes, the head of Catalonia's Water Agency, told The Associated Press.

However, Roys noted that whatever rain falls in the coming weeks and months is unlikely to bring significant drought relief, especially since the summer is usually the driest time of the year in Spain.

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Falling water levels at the Sau reservoir in the town of Vilanova de Sau in the Catalonia region of Spain have exposed the Romanesque ruins of an 11th-century church in the usually submerged village of Sant Roma de Sau. (AFP)

Roys added that much of Spain got less than 50% of normal rainfall in March, with the Catalonia region, in particular, receiving less than 25% of its normal rainfall. In northern Catalonia, the prolonged drought has shrunk water levels in reservoirs to 27% capacity. DW reported that the drought in the region has been ongoing for nearly three years.

"At this point, it's the worst problem we're facing," Catalan leader Pere Aragones said according to DW, adding that it is one of "the worst droughts in 50 years."

In L'Espluga de Francoli, a Catalan town west of Barcelona, residential water supplies are turned off between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., local time, every day due to the crisis. "We keep water in bottles so we can brush our teeth and wash our faces in the morning," nursing assistant Maria Gonzalez told AFP.

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A California judge has dropped hate crime charges against a man accused of attacking a Filipino American family in North Hollywood last year.

Nicholas Weber will instead proceed to trial to face only two counts of felony battery, which he pleaded not guilty to in July.

The incident, which was caught on video, occurred at a McDonalds drive-thru on Victory Boulevard on May 13. Weber allegedly rear-ended the vehicle of Nerissa Roque and her daughter, Patricia Roque, resulting in an altercation.

Weber allegedly called the mother-and-daughter duo so Asian, used racial slurs and threatened to kill them in a mock Asian accent.

More from NextShark: Man accused of pistol-whipping Asian senior humbled by 'much smaller man' in viral fight video

The conflict escalated when he allegedly tried to physically get to Patricia but was stopped by her father, Gabriel Roque, who was called to the scene.

Weber allegedly punched 60-year-old Gabriel to the ground, leaving him with a broken rib. He also allegedly choked Nerissa when she tried to stop the assault.

The attack has since prompted calls for justice for the family. Weber was arrested on June 16, 2022, but refused to attend his arraignment thrice.

More from NextShark: Petition Calls for Removal of James Cordens Spill Your Guts Segment for Mocking Asian Cultures

On July 11, Weber pleaded not guilty to two counts of battery  which included a felony and a misdemeanor  with hate crime enhancements. As of April 18, he was facing two counts of felony battery without the hate crime charges.

Judge Neetu S. Badhan-Smith stated that while Weber had made offensive and vulgar statements against the family, the incident remained a general intent crime, according to the San Fernando Valley Sun.

She cited the 10- to 15-minute duration between the alleged use of racial slurs and the alleged physical assault, and noted that Weber no longer used such slurs after coming back.

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In the video, Weber was also seen pushing a bystander before engaging with the family. This also influenced the judges call to drop the hate enhancements.

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The family and their supporters voiced their frustration outside the courtroom.

Its really disappointing how weve been treated so far and how the justice system is treating this case when its really obvious this is a hate crime, said family member Patrick Roque, as per ABS-CBN News. Its really obvious from the video that it was a hate crime.

More from NextShark: Son of Dalian Wanda billionaire accused of punching man for taking photos of him

Meanwhile, Filipino American group Anakbayan USA said that what they witnessed up there was not justice.

Weber is scheduled to return to court on May 1. Without hate crime enhancements, he faces a reduced sentence if convicted.
The vice president of a now-defunct tour company has been sentenced to prison after being convicted of numerous federal charges.

Joseph A Cipolletti, the president of Discovery Tours, pleaded guilty in June in federal court in Cleveland to wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud and making a false statement.

U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Barker sentenced Cipolletti, 48, of Hudson, to five years in prison Thursday.

Federal prosecutors say Cipolletti's victims were families across Ohio who bought prepaid school field trips and then weren't able to go. Akron-area districts that had booked trips with the agency include Hudson, Twinsburg and Perry.

Discovery Tours Inc., based in Mayfield Heights, offered educational trips for grade school and high school students to destinations such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Illinois, New York City, Columbus and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These trips were via bus and included transportation, hotel accommodations, meals, sightseeing admissions, and security.

From June 2014 to May 2018, prosecutors say Cipolletti diverted payments intended for these trips for personal use, such as home renovations and vehicles. Overall, he is accused of embezzling $609,942.

More: Discovery Tours files for bankruptcy

Discovery Tours abruptly closed in May 2018 and filed for bankruptcy. Trips were canceled for dozens of schools across Ohio and more than 5,000 families lost the money they had paid for trip fees.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Defunct tour company president gets five years in federal prison
April 20, or 4/20, is the (unofficial) national holiday dedicated to weed.

Though marijuana for medical and recreational use remains illegal in North Carolina for now, the good news for pot lovers is that there are still plenty of ways to celebrate the holiday in Charlotte.

If youre a marijuana enthusiast who wont be glued to the couch on Thursday, check out these 4/20 events around the Queen City.

When: 3 p.m.

Where: Side Bar Bottle Company, 208 S. Main St., Davidson, NC 28036

Cost: $55

What to know: Learn how to make a hemp-scented candle or sample a delta-8 or delta-9 seltzer at Side Bar Bottle Co. Representatives from Green Compass CBD will be at the event with samples and answer all your CBD-related questions. Get tickets.

When: 6:30-10 p.m.

Where: 1st & Goal, 7801 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28213

Cost: $10-$40

What to know: If youre an R&B artist, rapper, or comedian  and you believe in the legalization of marijuana  you dont want to miss registration for this event. Admission is $10 for attendees and $25 for artists and vendors. Get tickets.

When: 6-9 p.m.

Where: 1208 McAlway Rd.

Cost: $15-$75

What to know: The festival will include a chill, relaxed vibe, live music, outdoor games, vendors, and more. Get tickets.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: The Filmore, 820 Hamilton St., Charlotte, NC 28206

Cost: $380

What to know: Just two weeks after making a surprise guest appearance at J. Coles Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, A Milli and Kush rapper Lil Wayne is making another stop in the Tarheel State. Get tickets.

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Heist Brewery, 2909 N. Davidson St. #200, Charlotte, NC 28205

Cost: $10

What to know: This comedy night will be headlined by Ben Jones, a comic who has shared the stage with Rob Schneider, Bob Saget, Adam Devine, and more. North Carolina-based comic Robert Every is also a featured guest. Get tickets.
Secret police station in Chinatown. Illustrated | Gettyimages

Federal officials arrested two men in New York City for allegedly operating a Chinese "overseas police station" in Manhattan, which officials claim was used to harass Chinese dissidents. How common are these alleged "police stations," and why does China seem so intent on using them?

What are China's alleged 'overseas police stations?'

They are reportedly "secret police offices" that are run by Chinese nationals in countries around the world, The Associated Press reports, often in locations "where Chinese communities include critics of the Communist Party who have family or business contacts in China." While these sites are typically set up under the guise of providing diplomatic services, there have been accusations that many operatives within these outposts "harass or threaten both citizens and non-citizens" that criticize China, AP adds.

However, if these allegations are to be believed, then the harassment may also go beyond mere threats. A report from human rights group Safeguard Defenders claims that the stations often use intimidating tactics to try and repatriate ex-Chinese nationals who they accuse of criticizing the country, using "illicit methods to harass, threaten, intimidate, and force targets to return to China for persecution."

There are some circumstances where the alleged police stations may be hidden in plain sight. One alleged location in the U.K. was in "an estate agent's office on a busy street in Hendon, a north-western suburb of London," The Economist reports, adding that it was a "small, plain space  typical of high-street property firms."

Where are these stations, and how many are there?

According to various reports, these stations are all over  and there are tons of them.

Safeguard Defenders listed suspected more than 100 locations across nearly the entire world. A map created by the organization showed that the locales spanned six continents, with suspected outposts in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Australia, and most of Europe and South America.

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A list compiled by Newsweek found alleged Chinese police stations in more than 50 countries. This includes at least three in Brazil, five in Canada, four in France, 11 in Italy, nine in Spain, three in the U.K., and four in the U.S., among dozens of others. Many of the newer sites in Eastern Europe, such as Croatia, Serbia, and Romania, are part of "a wider expansion of Chinese overseas stations" than was previously thought, CNN reports.

What has China said about these sites?

China, unsurprisingly, has consistently denied that these locations are used as secret police stations. When Safeguard Defender's report was released, an official from the Chinese Foreign Ministry told CNN they hope "relevant parties stop hyping it up to create tensions. Using this as a pretext to smear China is unacceptable." The country has claimed that these sites are used for a variety of purposes, CNN notes, including as a place for Chinese nationals to renew their IDs. The Foreign Ministry also said that the locations were partially a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the Manhattan arrests, China doubled down on its dismissal of wrongdoing, with the Foreign Ministry saying the accusations "have no factual basis, and there is no such thing as an overseas police station."

While CNN adds that "undeclared consular activities outside of a nation's official diplomatic missions are highly unusual and illegal," China has asserted that nothing of the sort is happening, despite evidence to the contrary from Safeguard Defender. However, in some countries, such as the Netherlands, Dutch officials said that the existence of the centers was "illegal to begin with" because China had not informed the Netherlands about them, per The Economist.

What can be done about them?

The men arrested in Manhattan had allegedly "established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government," the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Of course, arresting everyone who works in these alleged sites, all across the world, is simply impossible.

Despite this, federal organizations and international groups are reportedly looking into ways to try and dampen the commonality of these outposts. FBI Director Chris Wray said in 2022 that the agency was "aware of the existence of these stations," per BBC News, adding it was "outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop ... it violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes." Wray said the FBI was looking into the legal parameters to try and shut these sites down.

The British parliament also said that any attempt to unlawfully repatriate a citizen back to China "will not be tolerated," calling the secret police stations "part of a wider trend of authoritarian governments perpetrating transnational repression in an effort to silence their critics overseas." Even as countries look to the law books for ways to try and stop these stations, the recent Manhattan arrests prove they are likely still thriving, and more common than the average person may realize.

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A high school disciplinary aide hid two guns and ammunition at her home for a student, according to Florida police.

The student, who attends Gulf High School in New Port Richey, told police he bought handguns from another person at about 4 p.m. April 17 and then contacted the schools disciplinary aide, according to a report from the Pasco County Sheriffs Office.

He told police he asked the aide to take a backpack with two guns and ammunition inside, the report says.

She agreed, took the backpack to her home and stored it there, according to police. The student was not legally allowed to have the firearms, which were a Glock 43 handgun and Taurus 9 mm handgun, police said.

The aide, who is 20, knew or should have known the student was not allowed to have the guns, but she hid them at her house anyway, the report says.

(The aide) contributed to the delinquency of a minor by acting as an adult co-conspirator in the possessing and concealing of the firearms of the juvenile, the report says.

The weapons were also evidence of an illegal sale and transaction of firearms between minors, according to police. The student used counterfeit currency to purchase the firearms, the report says.

A spokesman for Pasco County Schools said in a statement that the aide had been placed on administrative leave. She was hired as a discipline assistant in August.

The incident occurred after school hours and did not occur on the Gulf High School campus, the statement says.

The aide was arrested April 19, according to Pasco County jail records. She faces charges of tampering with evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to police.

She is being held on a $5,150 bond, according to jail records.

New Port Richey is about 35 miles northwest of Tampa. Gulf High School serves grades nine-12 and enrolls 1,450 students, according to U.S. News and World Report.





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Bold PAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucuss campaign arm, is endorsing Rhode Island Lieutenant Gov. Sabina Matos in the special election to replace retiring Democratic Rep. David Cicilline in the House.

Sabina is a proven leader and has made her mark in history as Lieutenant Governor and the first Afro-Latina to hold statewide office in Rhode Island, said BOLD PAC Chairwoman Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.).

Matos, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. at age 20, understands the struggles that working families in her district are facing and shell fight to create an inclusive economy that uplifts and protects Rhode Islands working families and leaves no one behind, Sanchez added.

Bold PAC is backing Matos to represent the states 1st Congressional District, which Cicilline has represented since 2011. He is set to officially step down in June to take over as the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.

Matos, who announced her campaign last month, said in the Bold PAC release that Washington is facing a critical moment of threats to reproductive freedom and federal entitlement programs like Social Security.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have been on the frontline of these fights and know what it takes to stand up for our values. Im grateful that they are confident in my leadership and are supporting my campaign for Congress, she said.

Cicillines staff will continue to operate the 1st Districts offices in Rhode Island and D.C. until a new representative is chosen in a special election. Hed just won reelection to his seventh congressional term during the midterms, beating out his Republican challenger with around 64 percent of the vote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
After it was built in 1916  just a year after Miami Beach was incorporated by a handful of hardy residents who knew not the pleasures of air conditioning  the Carl Fisher Clubhouse at the city golf course was a haven for elegant events.

Now, the oldest public building in Miami Beach is home to two new venues, a restaurant and event space that hope to bring back that old-time glamour.

Part of the Miami Beach Convention Center and located north of the main convention center building, the restaurant Rum Room offers indoor and outdoor dining amid 1920s tropical chic, with cuisine that combines Florida history with Miami influences (that means Latin, Haitian and Central American fare). Expect such items as local corn, Florida River Gold potatoes and other produce and spices grown on Redlands farms, and dont be surprised when beans and sofrito make appearances.

The kitchen will be led by executive chef Samantha Cruz, former chef de cuisine at Miami Beachs Planta. Seafood plays a starring role in the appetizers, with fish dip nachos, wild caught crudo, grilled octopus, conch fritters and crispy garlic butter shrimp. You can also order Serrano ham croquettes, black truffle corn tamales and ropa vieja empanadas.

There are also pressed sandwiches and entrees like the catch of the day, salmon, shrimp and grilled ribeye. You can end your meal with an old-time classic (pineapple upside down cake) or modern favorites (churros).

The private dining room at Venu at the former Carl Fisher Clubhouse on Miami Beach.

The cocktail menu will  naturally!  highlight rum drinks, thanks to a large selection of local and imported rums.

Venu, the event space at the historic landmark, was designed to host up to 200 people. It too boasts a 1920s style, reminiscent of the speakeasy days of Al Capone (another colorful, criminal part of Miami Beachs history). It will host events for the convention center but also be open to the public for holiday Sunday brunches, serving dishes from Rum Rooms menu or custom-ordered menu items.

When visitors dine at Rum Room or Venu, I want them to know that Miami is the place to be and something to see and taste, Cruz said in a statement. Theres so much diversity, influence and flavor here, and weve created menus that allow guests to experience it with every bite.

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Danny Medina, regional vice president for Sodexo Live!, which operates the venues with management company OVG360, said in a statement hes pleased with the Miami Beach Convention Center partnership.

Were looking forward to helping guests make everything from a business lunch to lifes biggest celebrations memorable in a unique way, he said.

Rum Room and Venu

Where: 2100 Washington Ave., Miami Beach

Opening: April 22

More information and reservations: www.rumroommiamibeach.com

A cozy nook at Venu on Miami Beach in the historic Carl Fisher Clubhouse.

This Greek spot from Coral Gables, the Grove has opened a new outpost on Miami Beach
Andrew Lester remains free after posting $20,000 and agreeing to relinquish any weapons and have no contact with Yarl or his family.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP)  The 84-year-old man who shot Ralph Yarl when the Black teenager went to his door by mistake pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a case that has shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America.

This undated photo provided by Ben Crump Law shows Ralph Yarl, the teenager shot by a homeowner in Kansas City, Mo. (Ben Crump Law via AP)

Andrew Lester walked into the courtroom with a cane and spoke quietly during Wednesdays hearing, his first public appearance since last weeks shooting. Authorities say he shot Yarl, a 16-year-old honor student, first in the head, then in the arm after Yarl came to his door because he had confused the address with the home where he was supposed to pick up his younger brothers.

The case is among three in recent days involving young people who were shot after mistakenly showing up in the wrong places. A 20-year-old woman was killed in upstate New York when the car she was in pulled into the wrong driveway. In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly got into a car thinking it was hers.

Yarl was shot at point-blank range in the head but miraculously survived the bullet. Only about 10% to 15% of people who are shot in the head survive, said Dr. Christopher Kang, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Some civil rights leaders and Yarls family attorney, Lee Merritt, have urged the Department of Justice to investigate the shooting and for prosecutors to charge Lester with a hate crime, with Merritt noting that Yarl was armed only with his Black skin.

Justice Department officials have not responded to calls seeking comment.

Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson said first-degree assault is a higher-level crime, allowing a sentence of up to life in prison, which is more than a hate-crime charge would carry.

Lester remains free after posting $20,000  10% of his $200,000 bond  and agreeing to relinquish any weapons and have no contact with Yarl or his family. He also agreed to have his cellphone monitored.

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Yarls relatives were not at Wednesdays hearing because they are emotionally exhausted, Merritt said. Lesters attorney, Steve Salmon, did not come out of the courthouse to speak with reporters.

Merritt said Yarl is completely humbled by the outpouring of support.

He says, I dont know why everyones making a big deal out of me, Merritt said. You know, its just me, right? Its not like the president was shot.

But Eliana Brannlund said it has been rough not having her friend and fellow band member around at Staley High School.

He always brought a lot of positivity and smiles to our band class as well as our rehearsals outside of school, Brannlund said in an interview with The Associated Press. I hope people are able to hear about who Ralph is as a person and understand that he is loving, kind and sweet.

Yarl was shot at about 10 p.m. last Thursday after his mother asked him to pick up his twin brothers at a home on 115th Terrace, Police Chief Stacey Graves has said.

Yarl, who is all-state band member as well as a top student, mistakenly went to 115th Street  a block away from where he meant to be. When he rang the bell, Lester came to the door and used a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson 1888 revolver to shoot the teenager.

Lester told police he lives alone and was scared to death when he saw Yarl on the porch because he thought someone was trying to break in, police said in court documents.

The home of Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner accused of shooting Black teen Ralph Yarl, is shown April 18, 2023 in Kansas City, Moissouri. Yarl mistakenly went to Lesters door to pick up his siblings, according to published reports. (Photo by Chase Castor/Getty Images)

No words were exchanged before the shooting, but afterward, as Yarl got up to run, he heard Lester yell, Dont come around here, the statement said.

Yarl ran to multiple homes asking for help before finding someone who would call the police, according to court documents.

Legal experts expect Lester to claim self-defense and cite Missouris Stand Your Ground law. The state is one of about 30 with statues that say people dont have to retreat when threatened but instead can respond with physical force.

But Merritt said the law applies only if someones on your property and theyre looking to do you harm . We dont have any evidence of that. The Castle Doctrine does not apply to this case.

The shooting outraged many in Kansas City and across the country. President Joe Biden spoke with Yarl on Monday, and on Tuesday invited him to the White House.

No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, Biden tweeted. Weve got to keep up the fight against gun violence.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who had remained silent on the shooting until Wednesday, accused Biden of politicizing it.

I dont want some 16-year-old kid to be getting shot because he went to the wrong house  we just dont want those kinds of things to happen. Its a tragedy, Parson told the Kansas City Star. When the president of the United States is trying to make a political statement over a very serious tragedy, it is very unfortunate.

Thompson, the prosecutor, said Monday that there was a racial component to the shooting but did not elaborate. Merritt said the Yarl family met privately with Thompson. The prosecutor said he was echoing the words from law enforcement that obviously theres a racial dynamic at play in this case, said Merritt, who called the answer shallow.

Lesters next court date is June 1.

From this point forward, the state will be pushing to move this case forward as swiftly as legally permitted, Thompson said in a statement after Wednesdays hearing.

But Merritt said Yarls family is frustrated that Lester is out on bond and that the next court hearing is not until June.

We want this process to go as quickly as possible, Merritt said. And we know that if a defendant is out on bond, they may feel free to push the date down a little further as opposed to if he was in custody.

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The post Homeowner who shot Black teen Ralph Yarl pleads not guilty appeared first on TheGrio.
A body found Thursday morning in the Rapides Station area is being investigated as a homicide.

A body found Thursday morning in the Rapides Station area is being investigated as a homicide.

The body was found around 10:36 a.m. by a Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development grass cutting crew in the 7000 block of La. Highway 1 North, according to the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office.

Detectives are investigating it as a homicide because of "evidence found at the scene," reads a news release.

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The department was asking motorists to avoid the area because both lanes of the highway are blocked as crime scene investigators work.

If anyone has any information on this homicide, they are asked to contact detectives at 318-473-6700, Crime Stoppers at 318-443-7867 or their local law enforcement.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Rapides Sheriff Office: Body found being investigated as homicide
Hoskinson Funeral Homes is assuming operations of Granville's McPeek-Hoekstra Funeral Home after owners Bill and Mary Hoekstra retired March 31.

Richard Hoskinson, managing partner of the Hoskinson Group of funeral homes, with locations in Kirkersville, Hebron, and Thornville, and Criss Wagner Hoskinson Funeral Home in Newark, said the decision to acquire the Granville location was an easy decision to make.

"We have known and respected both Rod and Debbie McPeek and Bill and Mary Hoekstra for many years. I came back home to Licking County in 2006, about the same time that the Hoekstras assumed ownership of the Granville funeral home," said Hoskinson. "From the very beginning of our friendship, we have looked at each other as colleagues, not competitors. Since 2016, we have provided cremation services for the Hoekstras at our West Licking Crematory in Kirkersville and have also supported them with vacation and needed day and night-off coverage especially during the increased volume of calls due to the COVID-19 crisis."

The business will be known as McPeek Hoekstra Hoskinson Funeral Home.

The Hoskinson Group has recruited a talented funeral director and embalmer who will be living in the Granville community and will live in the funeral home. Lisa Bruns, an Ohio-licensed funeral director and embalmer with nearly 35 years of experience in the industry, will be coming to Granville in the near future. Lisa brings a great deal of experience as a funeral service practitioner and was also a former inspector for the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors of Ohio. A Roman Catholic by faith, Lisa is looking forward to meeting her faith community at St. Edward the Confessor Church. She also enjoys history and is looking forward to volunteering at the Granville Historical Society.

Funeral directors Rick Hoskinson, Mark Pinnick, Jon Wagner, Ethan McKee, and Ray Orr will assist Lisa, along with long-time Granville resident Greta Blegvad, who herself is an active member of the community and a member of the Granville Chapter of the daughters of the American Revolution.

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The goal remains the same: to give the best possible care to the families we serve, helping them honor the lives of those they love.

Information submitted by McPeek Hoekstra Hoskinson Funeral Home.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Hoskinson Funeral Homes assuming operations of Granville funeral home
NASA, ESA, and STScI; Image Processing: Varun Bajaj (STScI), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Jennifer Mack (STScI)

Its been a big day for space fans. Not only did SpaceXs Starship rocket successfully launchbefore exploding in a fireball much to CEO Elon Musks chagrinbut the Hubble Space Telescope is also celebrating its 33rd anniversary.

To help ring in the occasion, NASA released a brand new image captured by the orbital telescope and its absolutely astounding. Take a look:

NASA, ESA, and STScI; Image Processing: Varun Bajaj (STScI), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Jennifer Mack (STScI)

The pic is of a dark nebula called NGC 1333 located roughly 960 lightyears away from Earth in the Perseus molecular cloud. These areas are also known as star cradles since the region contains plenty of cosmic dust and ionized hydrogen for stars to form.

Hubble used its ultraviolet and near-infrared light sensing capabilities to capture the luminescent gasses and dark dust clouds being blown around by new stars. The clouds actually obscure a churning cauldron of star birth behind the dust and hydrogen clouds and dust swirl together to create new stellar life. Its a great example of the often chaotic nature of the universe.

At the very bottom of the image, you can also spot an opening in the clouds revealing the bright and fiery looking nebula behind it. The reddish explosion is actually caused by the star formations, and might even indicate that it will eventually create new planetary systems as well.

Overall, the image is a good glimpse at what it was like in the early days of our very own solar system. Earth, the rest of the planets, and the sun all formed in similar fashion to whats occurring with NGC 1333.

NASA has a lot to celebrate today. Hubble was launched into orbit on April 25, 1990 by the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery. This latest image adds to the roughly 1.6 million stunning pics that the telescope has snapped over more than three decades.

Even though Hubble might be on its last legs and hot newcomer spacecraft like the James Webb Space Telescope have crashed the scene, its still churning out eye candy for us to enjoy. Hopefully, it has plenty more birthdays left in it.

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A South Carolina man vanished in 2015, and human bones that were just found in a shallow grave may belong to him, officials said.

The skeletal remains could be linked to Emmanuel Quarles, who was 26 years old when he got into a vehicle and disappeared on April 20, 2015. His blood was later found in the abandoned truck of the person he was last seen with, according to the S.C. Attorney Generals Office.

Though Quarles body hadnt been located yet, the owner of the truck was charged with murder in 2019, WSPA reported. State officials in a news release didnt list attorney information for the suspect, identified as 48-year-old Kerry Cobb of Seneca.

At the time, Quarles mother reportedly had hope that she would someday find her son.

Its real hard, but to me I dont consider him as gone, his mother, Pamela Quarles, told WSPA. I consider him as out there and hes searching and looking for me.

Then, nearly eight years after Quarles went missing from outside his Pendleton home, possible clues surfaced on April 19.

The person charged with his murder led members of the Attorney Generals Office and law enforcement officers to an area where suspected human bones were recovered, state officials wrote. The bones will be tested at SLED (S.C. Law Enforcement Division) to confirm that they do in fact belong to Emmanuel Quarles.

The remains were found just days before Cobb was set to go to court in the homicide case. Officials reported using dogs to help in a three-day search for bones ahead of his April 24 murder trial.

In response to the attorney generals announcement, the Oconee County County Coroners Office said human remains were found near Seneca, a town roughly 35 miles southwest of Greenville and 10 miles from where Quarles went missing. The persons death reportedly is being treated as a homicide.

The remains are those of a male; they were skeletonized and found in a shallow grave, the coroners office wrote in a news release. A post mortem examination will be conducted on Friday in an attempt to determine a cause of death. Further studies will also be required prior to making a positive identification of these remains.

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Though the deceased person wasnt identified in news releases, the Attorney Generals Office said the recent discovery hopefully will begin to bring (Quarles family) some closure to eight years of not knowing what happened to their loved one.

After the remains were found, officials expect there will be a plea in the case.

Dogs gruesome find leads cops to body in a creek bed, South Carolina coroner says

Human remains identified as man missing nearly 2 years, NC cops say. Mystery lingers
Human rights organisations call on the world to prevent the deportation of illegally convicted Crimean Tatars to the territory of the Russian Federation, and on Russia to immediately release Ukrainian citizens detained for political reasons by the occupation administration in Crimea.

Source: open statement of human rights defenders regarding the illegal conviction and threat of deportation of Nariman Dzhelialov and the Akhtemov brothers, published by Zmina

Quote: "In particular, we appeal to the President of the Republic of Turkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a request:

Prevent possible deportation to the territory of the Russian Federation and facilitate the release of illegally imprisoned citizens of Ukraine, Crimean Tatars Nariman Dzhelialov, Asan Akhtemov and Aziz Akhtemov.

For many years, the Republic of Turkiye has steadfastly supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and also showed concern towards the fate of political prisoners, in particular the Crimean Tatars illegally deprived of freedom. "

Details: Human rights defenders also appeal to international and intergovernmental organisations, governments and heads of foreign partner states of Ukraine with a request:

to promote the establishment and strengthening of mechanisms and platforms for negotiations on preventing illegal deportation to the Russian Federation and the release of all those illegally deprived of freedom held in the occupied Crimea;

to introduce personal sanctions against persons involved in politically motivated prosecution and imprisonment of citizens of Ukraine illegally deprived of freedom;

continue and strengthen political, diplomatic and economic pressure on the Russian Federation to stop the criminal policy of illegal deprivation of liberty, the practice of torture, deprivation of the right to a fair trial and deportation of Ukrainian citizens from the territory of Crimea to the Russian Federation.

According to available information, the occupation administrations of the Russian Federation have real intentions to transfer [virtually deport] Nariman Dzhelialov and the Akhtemov brothers to the Russian Federation.

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The Russian Federation regularly deports Ukrainian prisoners from Crimea to the Russian Federation in order to eventually neutralise and complicate any communication with their relatives, the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar community. Among other things, in this way the Russian Federation is trying to psychologically suppress those held in custody, as per "tradition" of the totalitarian regime of the USSR.

Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Nariman Dzhelialov, and brothers Aziz Akhtemov and Asan Akhtemov have so far been behind bars for two years in the occupied Crimea.

Dzhelialov and the Akhtemov brothers were arrested in September 2021, and in September next year the occupation court sentenced Nariman Dzhelialov to 17 years in prison in a maximum security colony, Asan Akhtemov to 15 years in prison, and Aziz Akhtemov to 13 years in prison. This was their payment for their ethnic identity, indestructible spirit of freedom and consistent civil position of rejection of the occupation.

The formal reason for the conviction was the so-called case of "sabotage on a gas pipeline", but the prosecution did not provide any real evidence of involvement of Dzhelialov and Akhtemov brothers in such a "sabotage".

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Sean Hogg, 21, was given just 270 hours of community service for raping a child at Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian - The Crown

Humza Yousaf has refused to order the scrapping of sentencing guidelines that allowed a man who raped a 13-year-old girl to avoid prison.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, challenged him during the First Ministers Questions about Scottish Sentencing Council guidelines, which advise against custodial sentences for offenders aged under 25.

There was uproar earlier this month when Sean Hogg, 21, was given just 270 hours of community service for raping a child at Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian.

The judge in the case, Lord Lake, said if Hogg had been aged 25 or over when the offence was committed he would have been jailed for between four and five years.

The guidelines were developed by the Scottish Sentencing Council, a body set up by SNP ministers in 2015, and approved by the High Court in November 2021.

Hoggs victim questioned why she had even bother(ed) reporting the rape in the first place after her attacker was not jailed.

She said: Whoever is in charge of the justice system needs to sort this out.

Mr Yousaf told MSPs he agreed that 100 per cent of rapists should be sent to prison, but argued that judges must be allowed the independence to hand down sentences they considered appropriate.

He said: It is also important to note not only that decisions on sentencing are rightly for the independent judiciary but that they are evidence-based.

The First Minister added that it is very clear there is no bar on imposing a custodial sentence on a young person where the judiciary considers that to be appropriate.

But Mr Ross said: The SNP must abandon the guidelines they allowed to be introduced that give criminals under the age of 25 more lenient sentences.

The very worst criminals belong in jail, but right now many of them are avoiding a prison sentence because of the sentencing guidelines. The problem is not any one judges decision  it is the system.

He added: Humza Yousaf must answer why it is acceptable in SNP-run Scotland for any rapist to avoid jail? The SNPs justice system is broken. The First Minister should focus on fixing it.

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Comical Ali comparison

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, compared the new First Minister to Comical Ali during exchanges about the countrys ferry fiasco.

Islanders are being forced to cope with huge disruption and losses to local businesses, thanks to mass cancellations of services, triggered by ageing vessels breaking down, a lack of spare vessels and the scandal surrounding the much-delayed construction of two vessels at Ferguson Marine.

Mr Yousaf told MSPs: I recognise the challenges that those who rely on our ferry services - our island communities - have suffered in the past few weeks, particularly over the Easter tourism season.

However, he insisted his government was providing additional resilience and capacity to the network by commissioning and deploying more vessels.

Mr Sarwar responded: That was a great example of whats become typical of this leadership in the last three weeks - Comical Ali.

Everythings fine while the house burns down behind us. Island communities will not believe those excuses from the First Minister.

Comical Ali was the nickname given to Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf. As Iraqs minister of information, he issued risible statements about the 2003 invasion, including denying that American tanks were in Baghdad when they were a few hundred yards away.

Easy soundbites

Mr Yousaf bristled at the comparison, accusing Mr Sarwar of easy soundbites that are not an attempt to provide any solutions, but silly personal attacks around Comical Ali.

The First Minister pledged that his government would not steamroll rural communities over controversial plans to ban fishing in at least 10 per cent of Scottish waters.

A consultation on creating a series of new Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) closed this week, which would see any industrial activities or fishing banned.

Mr Yousaf told Tory MSP Donald Cameron his government would not impose on any community a policy that it is vehemently opposed to.

But Mr Cameron warned that not one community in the Highlands wanted an HPMA, and cited comparisons between the policy and the Highland Clearances. The First Ministers official spokesman later said the 10 per cent target remained in place.
Hundreds of people remain displaced after an electrical fire in the basement of a low-income apartment building in downtown Tacoma late last week.

According to a tweet from the Tacoma Fire Department, crews responded to a commercial structure fire at the Winthrop Apartments, 776 Commerce St., about 10:30 p.m April 13.

While the fire damage was contained to the electrical vault area, smoke traveled up several floors of the 12-story structure. Three occupants were treated on the scene for smoke exposure and transported in stable condition for further medical care, the fire department tweeted.

Last night at 10:36 p.m. TFD responded to a commercial structure fire at the Winthrop Apartments located at 776 Commerce Street. Crews found an electrical vault fire in the basement of the structure and used a combination of CO2 and dry chemical extinguishers to knock it down. pic.twitter.com/VK1v3bMUJ7  Tacoma Fire (@TacomaFire) April 14, 2023

The Winthrop Apartments building has 200 units, and residents said they havent been given clear guidance from property managers about when they can return.

The American Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter at the Lighthouse Senior Center for 250-300 residents and their pets.

As of Monday, resident Joshua Calhoun said the building was shut down without electricity. A single father to two, Calhoun said hes still trying to figure out what to do.

All our food is gone, he said. They said its uninhabitable still, so we cant stay there.

In an email to the The News Tribune on Tuesday, Reed Dunn, director of marketing and communications at Redwood Housing said, With the assistance of the Red Cross, all residents have been temporarily relocated.

Dunn said the fire damaged internal building systems. The company is actively working with electricians and local authorities to return power to the building so it can be occupied by residents.

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He said there is no known damage to residential units, and residents continue to have access to their apartments to retrieve personal belongings as needed. Management is working with tenants to address their concerns as information is available, Dunn said.

We are continuing to work closely with the Tacoma Fire Department, the City of Tacoma, and several other organizations to determine the full extent of damage to The Winthrop. As described below, this was a significant electrical fire in the basement that damaged several building systems, Dunn wrote in the statement. Our team is working tirelessly to return power to the building and allow residents to return to their homes. As always, the health and safety of our residents is of the utmost importance.

Families left displaced, distraught after evacuation

About 60 people have been staying at the Red Crosss temporary shelter since the fire. Residents have been given access to medical care and basic shelter, the Salvation Army has donated hot meals and volunteers have distributed snacks, said American Red Cross volunteer Bruce McNicholas on Tuesday.

Nicole Holberg has lived in the Winthrop Apartments for about a decade and is staying at the temporary shelter with her boyfriend and his dog. Holberg said there have been fires at the apartment building before, but when the fire alarm went off on Thursday, she thought it was a false alarm.

But the minute the lights went out and the power went out, I was like, OK, this is not good, she said. We started to smell smoke. Everybody kind of got panicky and everything. After that, we were all outside for hours. It was like late at night. Everybody was freezing. A lot of animals were still stuck [inside], and disabled people who cannot walk or anything. That was very, very sad.

After a few hours Holberg said residents were told they would be able to stay the night in the building without power. On Friday she was transferred to the temporary shelter with dozens of her neighbors.

It was very hard for everybody when we got here. I mean, nobody really knew how this is going to work out. The good thing about all this is everybodys helping everybody, which is the way it should be, Holberg said. We are still not getting any information. Were getting told its gonna be weeks, months before we get our place.

Holberg said shes grateful family is helping take care of her cat, but she knows of others who were forced to leave their pets behind.

Teela Lanchester said the past week has been very stressful.

A single mom, Lanchester said she was pet-sitting when the fire broke out and had to quickly find housing for her and her 7-year-old daughter, as well as a dog and two cats. At the temporary shelter, animals have to be kept in cages, and Lanchester said she didnt feel comfortable sleeping on cots for an indeterminate amount of time in a gymnasium with her daughter.

Id been making calls all day to try and find a place that might be able to board the cats. But most of them, even in an emergency situation, would cost money that we didnt have, she said Wednesday. So I had to get my grandma who lives in Glenoma [Lewis County] to come pick up my daughter and take my daughter for all of this, and then I found a place that could take me and my cats, so we didnt have to basically abandon our cats.

Lanchester said she wasnt able to go back into the building to get her medications and other belongings and food she needed this past week, and said phone calls to management havent been answered.

Its Wednesday. I have not seen my daughter in five days because shes in Glenoma and I am in Bonney Lake. I have been so stressed out trying to make phone calls, trying to figure out what is going on, trying to figure out if were even going to be able to live in the apartment after all this, that Ive made myself sick, Lanchester said. I have broken down crying. And Im so stressed because I still have no clear answer.

On Wednesday, Dunn said residents continue to have access to their apartments and the management team is in communication with residents and sharing updates as they are available. There was no new information he could share about when residents can expect to return.

What do we know about Winthrop Apartments?

California-based Redwood Housing Partners LLC bought the Winthrop Hotel in 2015 with help from Washingtons affordable housing commission to maintain the building as affordable housing. The 12-story historic property was built in 1925 and was converted to affordable housing apartments in 1973.

The historic building suffered from neglect by its previous owners and was in need of various upgrades and maintenance at the time of the sale.

Dunn said they are still accessing system damages caused by Friday nights fire and has no further information on the damage at this time.
By Boldizsar Gyori and Krisztina Than

BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungary called on Thursday for "progressive" aid from the EU to help move Ukraine's grain through central European countries whose farmers are having to compete with its cheaper imports.

Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy met his Ukrainian counterpart after Hungary banned imports of honey and certain meat products from Ukraine, in addition to grains, until June 30, adding to pressure to broaden proposed EU-wide measures.

Nagy did not say what was meant by "progressive" in terms of what aid Hungary considered was required from the EU.

The European Commission said on Wednesday it would take emergency "preventive measures" for wheat, maize, sunflower seeds and rapeseed after some central European countries took unilateral steps to ban imports of food products from Ukraine.

However, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, whose ministers took part in talks with European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Wednesday, want the list to be longer, including products such as milk, poultry and honey.

The countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grain that could not be exported through the country's Black Sea ports because of Russia's invasion in February last year.

Bottlenecks then trapped millions of tons of grains in countries bordering Ukraine, forcing local farmers to compete with an influx of cheap Ukrainian imports.

Hungary's ban "includes a total of 25 products, the most important of which are cereals, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, flour, oil, honey and certain meat products", the prime minister's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told a news briefing.

Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus also said on Thursday that the proposed EU list should be longer.

"They proposed four cereals, the five of us propose more of these products," Telus said during a news briefing.

Nagy had said on Wednesday that Budapest will continue to allow the transit of Ukrainian grain through Hungary, ensuring the departure of shipments "in a controlled manner".

An EU official said the bloc's proposals would only allow grain to enter the five countries from Ukraine if they were set for export to other EU members or to the rest of the world. This measure would last until the end of June.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Boldizsar Gyori in Budapest, Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, William Mallard, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Jan Harvey and Alexander Smith)
By Krisztina Than

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's Christian LGBT community hopes a visit by Pope Francis to Budapest next week can help heal wounds in a deeply divided society amid an intensifying anti-LGBT campaign by the country's deeply conservative government.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a right-wing nationalist in power since 2010, has sought to promote social policies he says safeguard Christian values against Western liberalism. He has targeted gender issues and what he calls LGBT propaganda in his campaign over the past few years, along with migrants.

The pope will make an official visit to Hungary April 28-30 and preside at an open-air Mass in front of parliament overlooking the Danube River in Budapest.

Akos Marco Modolo, 28, a human rights and LGBT activist who is gay and has been a practicing Catholic all his life, said many LGBT people who are also Christian believers feel shame about their identity and "feel God does not love them".

"Luckily, I have never felt that myself. I have always felt God loves me and has no problem with me being gay," he said in a tiny flat he rents in Budapest, a few steps from a red-brick church where he goes to pray.

He said his faith in God helped him overcome hardships when he felt lonely in his former conservative Catholic community in the small farming town of Mezobereny where he grew up.

Modolo, who is Italian on his father's side, realized he was gay at the age of 14 but it took five more years for him to come out, first among friends, then within his family.

He plans to attend the papal Mass on April 30 and hopes Francis' tolerant approach to LGBT and all marginalised people will help bridge a rift in Hungarian society caused by what Modolo called the government's anti-LGBT "hate campaign".

"He is my favourite pope of all ... and his message for me is really heart-warming, not only with respect to the LGBT issue but also on migration," he said, adding that the pope's positive message was much needed in Hungary's polarised society.

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Francis has repeatedly said LGBT people must be welcomed by the Roman Catholic Church. He said the Church's catechism, or book of teachings, says same-sex attraction is not a sin though homosexual acts are.

"All persons are the children of God, all persons. God does not reject anybody, God is a father. And I have no right to expel anyone from the Church," Francis has said.

Hungary has never allowed gay marriage but recognises civil unions. Some 56% of Hungarians were found to be accepting of homosexuality in a 2021 survey by the Zavecz Research institute.

During his visit, the 86-year-old Francis will meet Hungary's political leaders, including Orban, as well as diplomats, priests, poor people and refugees.

The European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union in mid-2022 over a law passed in 2021 banning the use of materials seen as promoting homosexuality and gender change in schools.

Touted by the Orban government as protecting children, the law was criticised by human rights groups as anti-LGBT discrimination and labelled a "disgrace" by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The government has said the law was not targeting the LGBT community. On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reiterated that the government "rejects aggressive LGBTQ propaganda" and will protect children at all costs. This is a message that registers well with conservative voters.

(Reporting and writing by Krisztina Than; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Ready for some sweet news?

A new ice cream shop is set to open in the Village of Arroyo Grande this summer, taking over the spot vacated by Doc Burnsteins Ice Cream Lab earlier this year.

Roris Artisanal Creamery is in the process of transforming the business at 114 West Branch St. into the Santa Barbara chains newest scoop shop, owner Rori Trovato told The Tribune.

When we found out that (Doc Burnsteins in Arroyo Grande) was closing, it was like, Oh, my God,  Trovato said. AG ... is like a step back in time, especially in the Village. ... We fell in love with it.

The shop is currently under renovation but is expected to open sometime in either late May or early June, depending on when the work is completed.

Once completed, it will be the eighth location for Roris Artisanal Creamery, which includes shops in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Santa Monica, Montecito and Camarillo.

Roris Artisanal Creamery, which specializes in small-batch ice cream, is set to open in the Village of Arroyo Grande in summer 2023.

Ice cream chain started in Santa Barbara County

Trovato said she was first inspired to get into the ice cream business because of her grandmother.

My grandma made us homemade ice cream every Sunday, Trovato said. Way down the line, I became a pastry chef, and I realized, you know, nobody really has any idea what great ice cream tastes like.

So the idea for Roris Artisanal Creamery was born.

Specializing in small-batch ice cream, Trovatos business started as a wholesale ice cream company in 2010, with its first retail store opening in Montecito in 2012.

My goal was to always just to show people how wonderful small-batch ice cream can really taste, she said. So that was my concept from the first pint I ever made to now  we still do everything in the exact same way.

In the decade since the first store opened, Roris has grown to span Southern California, with new locations set to open soon in Los Angeles and Ventura.

Whats on the menu at Roris Artisanal Creamery?

At the shops, employees scoop out a wide variety of flavors ranging from lemon curd and milk chocolate chunk  two personal favorites of Trovatos  to milk and cookies, serious dark chocolate and honey lavender.

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Almost all candies and additional ingredients for specific flavors are made in-house, Trovato added, including the almond brittle and peppermint patties.

The one caveat is the Whoppers in the malted milk ball ice cream, she said.

I just really wanted Whoppers, she said.

Beside the tasty flavors, Trovato said she feels the businesss commitment to customer service sets it apart.

Im a firm believer (in the idea that) nobody wants a snobby scooper, she said. When you walk into an ice cream store, our customer base are family. ... We just want to enhance that, and so thats how our staff is trained, to be knowledgeable and friendly.

Along those lines, Roris is currently in the process of a launching a kids menu that would feature not only smaller sizes, but also a selection of the most popular ice creams for children so that families dont have to read out the entire menu when they bring their kids in to get treats, Trovato said.

Roris also has a daily kids happy hour from 3 to 4 p.m. When the kid buys an ice cream, we give his parents one for free, Trovato explained.

Thats immensely popular in all of our stores, she said. Especially during the school season, right after school. We get bombarded.

Roris Artisanal Creamery, which specializes in small-batch ice cream, is set to open in the Village of Arroyo Grande in summer 2023.

Business moves into former Doc Burnsteins spot

Trovato said the new Roris shop will keep some of the beloved signatures of Doc Burnsteins, a longtime Arroyo Grande institution that closed suddenly in February amid accusations of mismanagement.

Most notably, that means the trains are staying.

When we launched this on Instagram, that was like my No. 1 question, she joked, noting that the business has already hired a special train guy to come in and fix up the model trains that chug along rails suspended above customers heads.

Overall, Trovato said the response she has gotten from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, with dozens of folks stopping in each day as crews work on renovating the shop to ask questions and welcome Roris to the neighborhood.

We are so excited, she said. Its just such a great welcoming community.
An Idaho sheriff has agreed to serve court documents to far-right activist Ammon Bundy after Idahos largest hospital system asked the state Supreme Court to compel him to do so.

Two days ago, attorneys for St. Lukes Health System petitioned the Idaho Supreme Court to order Gem County Sheriff Donnie Wunder to uphold his duties and serve documents to Bundy at his Emmett home.

Wunder had recently informed St. Lukes, which is suing Bundy for defamation, that Bundy was becoming more and more aggressive to process servers. Wunder and the Gem County prosecutor told St. Lukes that sheriffs employees would no longer deliver documents to the former gubernatorial candidate after he confronted deputies who came on his property earlier this month.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Wunders office said the sheriff re-engaged in discussions with the prosecutors office, St. Lukes and the hospitals attorneys at Holland & Hart. St. Lukes attorney Erik Stidham told the Idaho Statesman in an email that the hospital will withdraw its Supreme Court petition Thursday morning.

The sheriff will be signing an affidavit confirming he will perform the duties that we were asking the court to direct him to perform, Stidham added.

In addition to asking the Supreme Court to compel Wunder to serve court papers to Bundy, St. Lukes asked the court to prevent Wunders office from charging process servers with trespassing if they entered Bundys property.

Wunders statement said he interprets Idaho code to exempt private process servers from trespassing laws if they enter solely to deliver court documents and cause no property damage. The statement said Wunder did not intend to impede the judicial process by refusing to serve Bundy.

In an April 12 letter to St. Lukes officials, Wunder said he worried there was potential for someone to get hurt if sheriffs office employees continued to try to contact Bundy. According to Wunder, Bundy told the sheriff he felt he was being harassed by process servers.

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Mr. Bundy went on to also say that he is at his breaking point, Wunder said. By the tone in his voice, I believe he is.

St. Lukes and the sheriff said theyre still concerned about the situation escalating.

St. Lukes and Sheriff Wunder agree that Mr. Bundy poses a real threat of physical violence and that community safety is paramount, the joint statement read. They sincerely hope that Mr. Bundy will cause no violence, but they agree that the rule of law must be upheld and that he cannot stop legal processes by threatening harm to others.

Bundy has pushed back against insinuations that hes violent. In a blog post and YouTube video published recently, Bundy said the characterization is inaccurate, adding that a confrontation with sheriffs deputies made him feel like they are going to keep pushing and pushing until I become what they say I am.

Still, Bundy, who is known for armed standoffs with federal officials in 2014 and 2016, has suggested he would take a similar tact if pushed in the St. Lukes lawsuit. He told the Idaho Dispatch in December that he would meet em on the front door with my friends and a shotgun.

Bundy and an associate, Diego Rodriguez, were sued by St. Lukes last year after holding protests outside the hospitals downtown Boise location and leading what hospital officials called a baseless smear campaign over a child welfare case involving Rodriguezs grandchild.

Bundy has missed several court dates, and 4th District Judge Lynn Norton on Monday issued a civil arrest warrant for him. Stidham told the Statesman that Bundy had not turned himself in by Wednesday night despite posting a YouTube video Wednesday morning telling St. Lukes he doesnt want to fight over the issue.
(Rebecca Walker / SWNS)

A teenage girl has bizarrely suffered from cancer symptoms since her identical twin was diagnosed in 2017  despite not having the disease herself.

Sophie Walker, 16, was diagnosed with a Wilms tumour - a type of kidney cancer - on October 25 2017, and started a four-week course of chemotherapy shortly after.

In the five years since, she has gone into remission twice - but relapsed four times. Throughout this time, her twin sister, Megan, has been experiencing many of the same symptoms.

After Sophie was diagnosed following stomach bug-like cramps, Megan began experiencing similar symptoms - including stomach and back pain, paleness - even weight loss.

The girls mum, Rebecca Walker, from Edinburgh, Scotland, said: When Sophie was first diagnosed, Megan had all the symptoms. People comment on how ill she looks all the time - shes even paler than her sister.

Every test under the sun has been done on her, and theres absolutely nothing wrong with her. Its so bizarre.

After an initial 27 weeks of chemotherapy, Sophie went into remission until January 2020 - when a routine MRI showed something worrying on her spine.

A consultant informed Rebecca that her initial biopsy had seeded on her spine - meaning the needle inserted into Sophies initial tumour had dislodged and spread cancer cells.

(Rebecca Walker / SWNS)

Following a three-week course of radiotherapy, a relapse in December 2021 and remission in December 2022, consultants told Sophie just three months ago that shed once again relapsed.

Rebecca said: We went to get Sophie checked out one day, and were told by the consultant she couldnt feel anything there.

But by the following day, we were called back in. All the consultant could say was that the results were not good - and she started to cry.

Sophie saw the look on her face and just broke down, for the first time in six years.

Sophies dad, Jamie Walker, 44, left the room with Sophie to console her - meanwhile Rebecca stayed with the consultant to ask further questions.

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She said: I was told to take her away and make memories, while shes well enough.Since the news, Sophies consultant has said shell be able to have the tumour on her spine operated on - by a team of consultants, oncologists, pediatric surgeons and plastic surgeons.

Despite this little bit of hope - Sophie is still struggling deeply with health anxiety and depression - and Megan has been feeling the exact same way.

Rebecca said: Megan just cant settle if Sophie isnt there. We have a big family and everyone looks out for each other, but Megan has been struggling hugely.

(Rebecca Walker / SWNS)

Sophie and Megan have eight siblings - James, 20, Emily, 19, Ruthie, 17, Daniel, 13, Olivia, 11, Emma, nine, Nathan, eight and eight-month old Evan.

While the older ones are looking after the younger ones in the house, Megan will stay in hospital by Sophies side, sometimes until 3am, Rebecca added.

She wont leave her until she says, Im tired, I want to go to sleep.

All throughout Covid, she wasnt allowed to see Sophie as Jamie and I were her two named visitors. She couldnt cope.

As soon as those restrictions were slightly lifted, Megan wanted to see Sophie again.

When Sophie relapsed in January, Megan also volunteered herself for a head-to-toe MRI scan.

Nothing showed up, theres absolutely nothing wrong with her, explained Rebecca.

Consultants are telling me its just a twin thing - which I find totally bizarre. Ive never heard of identical twins getting sick at the same time, when one isnt even ill herself.

The Walker family are currently running a GoFundMe to raise funds for proton therapy in New York - after receiving surgery in Scotland on a date to be confirmed.
Mumbai metro rush hour. Prasad Kholkute/Getty Images

As India's population inches past China's, it remains burdened by a workforce with worthless degrees.

Small private colleges have been churning out incompetent graduates, Bloomberg reported.

This is because of colleges with incompetent teachers, irregular classes and outdated curricula.

Some of the tech world's top executives, like Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, come from India's top colleges. But scores of people with worthless degrees  who've graduated from lesser-known private institutes  lack the basic skills required to secure a job, per Bloomberg.

Small private colleges with incompetent teachers, irregular classes, outdated curricula, and no opportunities for on-the-job training, are making the country's workforce more unemployable, per Bloomberg.

This glut of incompetent workers comes as India's population is set to overtake China's by mid-2023, per the United Nations.

"Calling such so-called degrees as being worthless would be by far an understatement," Anil Sadgopal, a former dean of education at Delhi University, told Bloomberg. "When millions of young people are rendered unemployable every year, the entire society becomes unstable."

A study by an employee assessment firm Wheebox revealed that half of all future graduates in India would be unemployable because of flaws in the country's education system.

The country's unemployment rate stands at 7.45% as of February, per the Indian news outlet, The Economic Times.

Bloomberg's interviews with youths in India revealed several reasons for spending money on higher education, like boosting their economic status to attract better suitors for marriage, and getting government jobs.

While some colleges provide inadequate training, a private university in North India went one step further, and sold fake degrees.

An Indian government agency investigation found that Manav Bharti University in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh had sold up to 36,000 degrees since it was founded in 2009, per a South China Morning Post report in March 2021.

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It had sold these qualifications for as low as $1,362, the SCMP reported.

Bloomberg's report on India's failing education system comes as India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous country.

By mid-2023, India's population is estimated to reach 1.4286 billion, 2.9 million more than China's 1.4257 billion people, per the United Nations Population Fund's "State of World Population Report."

Representatives of Manav Bharti University did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
If Iowa's lieutenant governor assumes the role of governor, he or she would be allowed to appoint a new lieutenant under a constitutional amendment passed by the Iowa Legislature.

The proposed change comes after Gov. Kim Reynolds assumed office in 2017 amid legal confusion over how Iowa's gubernatorial line of succession works. The constitutional amendment would establish that a lieutenant governor who ascends to the governor's office has the power to appoint a new lieutenant governor behind them.

The Iowa Senate passed the constitutional amendment in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, marking its final passage through the legislative branch.

The proposed amendment will appear on Iowa ballots in November 2024. If a majority of Iowa voters approve, the new rules for succession will be enacted.

Resignation of Gov. Terry Branstad prompts lieutenant governor snafu

Gov. Terry Branstad's resignation in 2017 sparked a constitutional dispute over who should fill in behind the lieutenant governor.

When Branstad stepped down to become ambassador to China, his lieutenant governor, Kim Reynolds, assumed the office. However, the Iowa attorney general issued a legal opinion that Reynolds did not have the authority to appoint a new lieutenant governor for the remainder of the term.

She eventually appointed Adam Gregg, the state's public defender. But in deference to the legal opinion, Gregg said he would not assume the governor's office if Reynolds stepped down  instead, then-Senate President Jack Whitver would take over.

Reynolds and Gregg won reelection in 2018, allowing Gregg to fully take on the role of lieutenant governor. Since then, the Republican-led Legislature has been working to change the state constitution and give lieutenant governors the power to appoint someone new after they assume the governor's office.

Reynolds declined to comment for this story.

Proposed amendment passes three rounds of Capitol debate after bureaucratic error

Under Iowa law, two consecutive two-year general assemblies must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it appears on the ballot. Then, a majority of Iowans must vote in favor for the amendment to be enacted.

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However, Wednesday's passage marks the third time that a general assembly has approved the gubernatorial succession changes.

Lawmakers first passed a gubernatorial succession amendment in 2018. However, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate failed to publish a notice in Iowa newspapers about the proposed amendment, requiring lawmakers to begin the process anew.

The House and Senate passed the amendment in 2022 and again this year.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Proposed amendment on gubernatorial line of succession passes Iowa Legislature, goes to ballots
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Correction: The possible whistleblower is a current IRS supervisor. An earlier headline on this article contained incorrect information.

A possible whistleblower is accusing the Biden administration of mishandling the investigation into potential tax crimes related to Hunter Biden and is seeking protections to testify before Congress.

Mark Lytle, an attorney for a supervisor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), sent Congress a letter, obtained by The Hill, on Wednesday that they have information that contradicts sworn testimony that a senior political appointee gave to Congress. It does not name the official.

The letter does not specifically name Hunter Biden, but states that the IRS agent has been overseeing the ongoing investigation into a high-profile, controversial subject since early 2020.

And it accuses the administration of failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the case and details instances of preferential treatment and politics improperly affecting decisions and protocols.

Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a non-partisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle, the letter states.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the letter.

The Journal reported that people familiar with the matter said the investigation mentioned in the letter refers to the one into Hunter Biden, and ABC News reported that lawmakers have been made aware that Biden is the subject referenced.

The letter states that the IRS agent has already made legally protected disclosures to the U.S. Treasury inspector general for tax administration and the Justice Departments (DOJ) inspector general. It states that some of what Lytles client wishes to share includes information that is restricted from being disclosed without authorization to protect private taxpayer information.

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My goal is to ensure that my client can properly share his lawfully protected disclosures with congressional committees, Lytle said. Thus, I respectfully request that your committees work with me to facilitate sharing this information with congress legally and with the fully informed advice of counsel.

The letter was sent to the chairs and ranking members of the House Ways and Means and Judiciary committees and Senate Finance and Judiciary committees. It was also sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in his capacity as the co-chair of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus.

Hunter Biden has been under investigation for a few years from investigators looking into his business dealings abroad, specifically income he received from a Ukrainian natural gas company and business operations in China and Kazakhstan, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Post reported in October that federal prosecutors believed they have enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and falsifying paperwork for a firearm purchase in 2018.

White House spokesperson Ian Samms told The Hill in a statement that President Biden has said the investigation into his son, Hunter, would be handled independently by the Justice Department without interference from the administration. He noted that the U.S. attorney conducting the investigation was appointed by former President Trump.

Since he took office and consistent with his campaign promise that he would restore the independence of the Justice Department when it comes to decision-making in criminal investigations, President Biden has made clear that this matter would be handled independently by the Justice Department, under the leadership of a U.S. Attorney appointed by former President Trump, free from any political interference by the White House. He has upheld that commitment, Samms said.

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during an April 2022 briefing that Biden has never had a conversation with the DOJ about any investigations into any of his family members.

Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office in 2021 to establish an administration-wide ethics pledge that included vowing to avoid improper interference with investigative or prosecutorial decisions by the DOJ.

The DOJ and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Delaware, which is conducting the investigation, declined to comment.

The Hill has reached out to Chris Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, and Lytle for additional comment.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement that its deeply concerning that the Biden administration might be obstructing the investigation into Hunter Biden and pledged to hold any official involved in doing so accountable.

Now it appears the Biden Administration may have been working overtime to prevent the Bidens from facing any consequences, he said. The House Oversight Committee will work to hold accountable anyone in the Biden Administration who may be covering up this criminal activity.

Updated: 12:57 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
An IRS criminal supervisory special agent is seeking whistleblower protection to share with lawmakers information that allegedly shows an investigation into potential tax crimes by Hunter Biden is being mishandled.

In a letter to Congress on Tuesday, attorney Mark Lytle claimed his client has information that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, as well as information about a failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case.

The letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, claims the would-be whistleblower has evidence showing preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.

Lytle told lawmakers his client has made legally protected disclosures internally at the IRS and said his goal is to ensure that my client can properly share his lawfully protected disclosures with congressional committees.

Thus, I respectfully request that your committees work with me to facilitate sharing this information with congress legally and with the fully informed advice of counsel, he added in the letter, which was addressed to Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle, the letter said.

The agent is seeking whistleblower protections as not to run afoul of rules governing the discussion of any specific taxpayer.

Delaware U.S. attorney David Weiss is leading a criminal investigation related to Hunter Bidens taxes. The investigation, which first began in 2018, also pertains to whether Hunter Biden made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase.

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In addressing the investigation in December 2020, Biden said that he was confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.

In October, reports indicated that the FBI believed it had enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes.

Lytle sat down for an interview with CBS News on Wednesday and said, My client wants to come forward to Congress. Hes ready to be questioned about what he knows and what he experienced under the proper legal protections.

Political considerations were having an impact on the decision for agents to make investigative steps in the case. And those political considerations are not normally a part of a career investigators toolkit, Lytle told CBS.

The attorney said his clients claims are very well documented in emails, and other communications with the Department of Justice.

More from National Review
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified individuals in a photo caption.

JERUSALEM  The governments of Germany and Israel, as well as Israel Aerospace Industries, are in advanced negotiations over delivering the Arrow 3 air defense system to Germany, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry.

The ministry said in an April 20 statement that the countries have launched discussions regarding the drafting of an agreement for the procurement of the Arrow-3 system.

Photos provided by the ministry showed an Israeli delegation in Germany meeting with their counterparts. Moshe Patel, the director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, led the team and is pictured with several officials, including Col. Carsten Koepper, the head of the program that could see the Arrow 3 exported to Germany, and Israeli personnel associated with the division charged with the countrys upper-tier air defense architecture as well as the head of the Arrow weapon system engineering department.

From left to right, an unnamed person; adviser Nissim Zimber; Lt. Col. R, head of the Arrow weapon system engineering department; Moshe Patel, director of IMDO; Col. T, head of the upper-tier division in the IMDO; and Col. Carsten Koepper, head of the program to export the Arrow 3 to Germany. (Israeli Defense Ministry)

The launch of advanced negotiations for the delivery of the strategic Arrow-3 system to Germany is an important milestone, which further strengthens the ties between our countries. We look forward to a fruitful negotiation process in the weeks ahead of us, Patel said.

An export of this kind would be contingent on U.S. approval, the Israeli statement noted, given the Arrow system was jointly developed with the American government.

An Israeli delegation meets with their German counterparts amid negotiations over selling the Arrow 3 air defense system. (Israeli Defense Ministry)

Israel Aerospace Industries, which is the prime contractor of the system, praised the development. The cutting-edge Arrow-3 system plays a central role in Israels multi-tier air defense array. We value the opportunity to share our capabilities with the partners and allies of the State of Israel. Within the framework of this agreement, we further deepen our security ties between Israel and Germany, CEO Boaz Levy said.

The Arrow 3 is part of Israels multilayered air defense architecture. Along with the Iron Dome and Davids Sling, the Arrow weapon provides the upper tier, which is responsible for intercepting and countering exo-atmospheric ballistic missiles.

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The Israel Missile Defense Organization  part of the Defense Ministrys Directorate for Defense Research and Development  and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency jointly developed the system. In 2015, Israel said the technology successfully engaged a ballistic missile target for the first time. Other successful tests followed, including as recently as 2019.

Last year, the German Air Force acknowledged it was considering the Arrow 3 as an option to counter threats such as the Russian Iskander missile. The news came in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The announcement of advanced negotiations follows the sale of Davids Sling to Finland. The U.S. also helped develop that air defense system. Israel has also recently sold Spike missiles to Greece, and other countries in Europe have developed Israeli radars made by Elta, a subsidiary of IAI, that are used with the Iron Dome interceptor.

The Israeli Defense Ministry and IAI did not mention the possible value of a contract with Germany or a timeline for negotiations and potential delivery. Neither responded to Defense News requests for further details by press time.
By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's nationalist government approved a bill in the upper house of parliament on Thursday that aims to reduce the number of migrants who can claim some form of asylum and curb integration efforts.

The bill, which still needs the approval of the lower house to become law, was drawn up after a shipwreck off southern Italy in February that killed more than 90 migrants.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said the legislation, which includes tougher jail terms for human smugglers, is intended to dissuade people from putting their trust in traffickers and trying to reach Italy illegally.

Critics say the bill is repressive and will do nothing to halt the flow of migrants seeking a better life in Europe, but will instead force ever more newcomers into illegality.

Among the most contested measures is a decision to eliminate "special protection" residency permits that authorities can offer migrants who don't qualify for asylum, but who face humanitarian risks back home, or have family ties in Italy.

The government said the system was being abused, noting that in 2022 authorities had handed out 10,506 special protection permits against 7,494 permits offering refugee status and 7,039 that granted a separate form of international protection.

The bill also halts state-funded Italian language courses and eliminates legal advice services for migrants hosted in official reception centres.

Italy has seen a recent surge in arrivals by boat migrants, with 34,715 people reaching the country from Jan. 1- April 19, against 8,669 in the same period last year, alarming Meloni, who took office in 2022 promising to reduce migrant flows.

Earlier this week, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said Italians were at risk of "ethnic replacement", drawing criticism from centre-left parties who accused him of promoting white supremacy - a charge he has rejected.

Opposition senators urged the government to do more to help migrants be absorbed into the workplace, saying Italy needed hundreds of thousands of new workers as the population declines.

"Why if you are enemies of illegal immigration are you doing all you can to push people into illegality," said Ivan Scalfarotto, a senator with the centrist Italia Viva party.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alex Richardson)
The Jackson County Prosecutors Office issued a statement Thursday saying prosecutors would provide an update on the investigation of a fatal police shooting the day before in Kansas City.

Prosecutors plan to release more information once the officer involved makes a statement to law enforcement, the statement said. The update is an effort to provide appropriate transparency to the public while balancing a pending investigation.

Prosecutors also hope to meet the family of the man who had been shot, according to the statement.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the shooting, per an agreement made between the agencies in 2020. Investigators were planning to review police body camera footage and interview any witnesses, according to Sgt. Bill Lowe with the MSHP.

Preliminary information showed officers responded to the 4900 block of East 27th Street around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after receiving reports of a man acting erratically and pointing a gun at civilians, Lowe said Wednesday.

One caller allegedly said she saw the man walking up and down 27th Street and watched him point the gun, Lowe said. Investigators were working to contact her Wednesday afternoon.

Two officers who encountered the man in the street attempted to deescalate the situation by ordering him to drop the weapon, though he did not comply, Lowe said. An officer then shot the man within moments of arriving.

Police identified the man later that evening as 43-year-old Reginald E. Byers Jr.

No officers were injured, and two officers were placed on administrative leave  an automatic action in deadly uses of force.

Lowe said investigators would work to determine whether the man had pointed or fired the gun at the officers prior to shooting.
Gavel

A Jackson Township man who kidnapped his 5-year-old neighbor setting off a multi-state manhunt was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 30 years in prison.

Jonathan Stinnett, 37, previously had pleaded guilty in March 2022 to one count of kidnapping and one count of possession of visual depiction of a real minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

He had faced a maximum of life in prison for kidnapping with a mandatory minimum prison term of 20 years, and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson in Youngstown.

Stinnett had been scheduled to be sentenced in October, but it was rescheduled for December. Then at that proceeding, his attorney asked for a continuance for a competency hearing. Earlier this month, Pearson found him competent.

Once released from prison, Stinnett will be under court supervision for life.

When reached by phone, Stinnett's attorney, Jeff Laybourne, declined to comment.

Jonathan Stinnett: Accused kidnapper asked neighbor's daughter "Do you want to go on an adventure?

What happened?

Stinnett, his fiancee and the little girl went to dinner and then shopping at a Goodwill store in Jackson Township on Nov. 11, 2021. The couple would often babysit the girl, authorities have said.

While shopping, the girl needed to use the bathroom, but the retail store did not have a public restroom. Around 6:15 p.m., Stinnett left the store and took the girl to a nearby fast-food restaurant to use the restroom. The two never returned.

The fiancee told the mother that the pair never returned and the vehicle they were driving was not in the parking lot. The mother then contacted Jackson Township police to report a missing child. An endangered child alert was issued. It was later upgraded to an Amber Alert.

Two days later, Stinnett and the girl were were found near Bloomington, Illinois, parked near a cornfield. While frightened, the girl was unharmed and her father drove to Illinois to pick her up and return her to Stark County.

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According to the FBI, Stinnett indicated he wanted the child for his own sexual gratification.

Prior to the kidnapping, Stinnett had purchased a new cellphone and camping equipment that he planned to use as they traveled, authorities said.

A search of Stinnetts vehicle revealed numerous electronic storage devices. One of those devices contained approximately 229 images of child pornography, court records said.

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @aknappINDE

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Jonathan Stinnett gets 30 years in federal prison for kidnapping
CNNs Jake Tapper put Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos on blast over why Fox News wasnt asked to give an on-air apology for all those misled Americans in the networks massive $787.5 million defamation settlement on Tuesday. (You can watch a moment at the 11:00 mark in the clip below.)

The settlement, which barely made on-air noise among Fox News personalities, included a statement from the network in which Fox News gave a nod to the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false and remarked that the settlement reflects FOXs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.

Justin Nelson, the lead attorney for Dominion, told MSNBCs Joy Reid that Dominion would have liked to have seen the hosts take the stand and others at Fox News.

Tapper, on Tuesday, read the statement on his show and clearly had difficulties reciting Foxs commitment to the highest journalistic standards.

He questioned Poulos on Wednesday over Foxs lack of an apology in its statement.

Why not force them to tell all those people, all those misled Americans, which polls indicate millions of them still believe this nonsense, why not force them to say, We shouldnt have done that. That was false. You have been misled, Joe Biden actually won. Dominion and Smartmatic and all that was operating just fine? Why not force them to do that? Tapper asked.

Was it just like, Well give you $200 million more if you dont force us to do it? Because you could have forced them to do it.

Poulos responded that the defamation part of the law is really not built around apologies but rather is built to compensate for damage.

And I can tell you we had a company-wide call yesterday, and the unanimous consent in our company is if we could all go back in time and have our company reputation back, we would do so every single time, Poulos added.

Exactly, exactly, but thats my point, said Tapper, who noted the lie about Dominions machines causing Donald Trump to lose the 2020 vote persists.

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(H/T Mediaite)

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Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) dropped an explainer on structural racism during a CNN debate with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on Wednesday. (Watch the clip below.)

The prime-time debate on gun violence followed Bowmans impromptu debate with Donalds on the Capitol steps early last month, where the two touched on the 2024 presidential election and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Bowman began his remarks Wednesday by schooling Donalds on economic inequality.

We have levels of economic inequality that are worse than the Gilded Age, Bowman said. To truly invest in poverty, you have to reverse the impact of the disproportionate distribution of wealth that happened post-slavery.

Bowman added that the Homestead Act of 1862 gave the entire West to white people whereas Black people didnt see similar gains, before addressing a lack of investment in Black-owned banks and the effects of globalization.

[Its] the race to the bottom chasing low cost labor all over the world, taking industrial jobs out of the Black communities. You know what they brought back in? Cops and drugs and the numbers game, he continued.

You gave us an illegal economy and cops but never repaired the harm that you have caused, which is why mostly gun trafficking, trafficking in the Black and brown communities, and Black and brown people are killing each other with it. So when I talk about dealing with the issue of poverty, Im talking about reparations.

He closed his remarks by calling for equitable investment in schools.

Right now, if you live in a wealthy community, you get more money for your school than if you live in a poor community, and the poor communitys only poor because they were redlined by the U.S. government via the G.I. bill. Come on, now, he closed.

Donalds then chimed in on Bowmans argument about economic inequality.

Of course, incomes are not equal because everybody has different levels of talent, ability. People have started in different parts in life, we both acknowledge that. I will never sit here and say Donalds said before Bowman interrupted.

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Some were slave masters, some were slaves, Bowman said.

Rep. Bowman explains structural racism during a CNN debate with Byron Donalds pic.twitter.com/UM4oDJ20JB  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 20, 2023

Related...
WASHINGTON  A member of the Proud Boys who is on trial charged with seditious conspiracy used his courtroom testimony on Wednesday to try to advance a conspiracy theory about a fellow Jan. 6 participant.

Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right extremist group who smashed in a U.S. Capitol window with a stolen police shield, said while testifying is his own defense that the pro-Trump protester Ray Epps was a "suspected government operative. Federal prosecutors moved to strike Pezzola's claim, and U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, agreed to remove his comments from the court record.

Far-right conspirators have alleged that Epps was working with the federal government and sought to provoke violence during the 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Epps, who has said conspiracy theories had a significant impact on his life, told the House Jan. 6 committee that "the crazies started coming out of the woodwork" after conservative members of Congress and commentators referred to him by name. On the eve of the insurrection, Epps had called for protesters to enter the Capitol, but the next day he was seen on video trying to calm protesters and maintain a line between police and the pro-Trump mob.

Epps is seeking a public retraction from Tucker Carlson and Fox News over false and defamatory statements alleging that he was secretly working with the federal government on Jan. 6.

Pezzola is on trial alongside fellow Proud Boys members Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl. The seditious conspiracy trial has been underway for more than three months. Jury selection began in December, and opening statements took place the next month.

Under questioning by his attorney Steven Metcalf on Wednesday, Pezzola said there was no plan to storm the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6, and he depicted himself as an average Joe who had just stumbled into situations and made some poor decisions.

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Our only plans were to maybe storm the liquor store. That was it, he said.

Pezzola said he woke up on Jan. 6 with no clue what was going to happen and met up with the Proud Boys at the Washington Monument around 10 a.m., then joined them on their march to the Capitol. He said that he was frustrated that they were missing Trumps speech and that he eventually headed back toward the White House before he followed a stream of protesters back to the Capitol and rejoined the Proud Boys.

Pezzola said that when he entered the restricted grounds of the Capitol and moved to the front of the stage that had been set up for Joe Biden's inauguration, it almost felt like being under sniper fire as police used so-called less-lethal munitions.

There was definitely fear and concern for my safety and my life, Pezzola said, adding that he couldnt believe the level of force against what he called an unarmed crowd of people who were just pushing on riot shields.

In my mind this is pretty much what I thought combat would be like, he said.

Pezzola said he saw Joshua Black, a fellow Capitol rioter, get shot through the cheek with a less-lethal round. Black, who was convicted in January, made it onto the Senate floor on Jan. 6.

Pezzola, a Marine Corps veteran, testified that his military training took over during clashes with police and that he didnt run away because thats not what the military trains you to do. I guess Im just programmed to charge toward danger," he said.

My intent was never to rob or take or steal, Pezzola said of the moment he grabbed a police shield. My only intention was to protect myself from a similar fate of Joshua Black.

Pezzola testified Tuesday that he got caught up in all the craziness and was angry, upset and not thinking clearly on Jan. 6. He said the rest of the Proud Boys should not be roped into my actions" and insisted that there wasn't a coordinated plan ahead of the attack.

The government is expected to begin its cross-examination of Pezzola on Thursday before the trial moves to closing arguments.

About 1,000 defendants have been arrested in connection with Jan. 6, and hundreds of cases are in the works. On Wednesday, cases were unsealed against Christopher Pearce of Pennsylvania and Tricia LaCount of Oklahoma. Pearce entered the building wearing goggles and a respirator, authorities said, while LaCount joined the mob in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, which she called "so gaudy."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  A Texas man who agreed to surrender on charges for taking part in the U.S. Capitol riot fired a gun toward sheriff's deputies who went to his house later that day in response to a welfare call, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Nathan Donald Pelham, 40, allegedly fired the shots from his rural home on April 12, the same day he was told he was charged with four misdemeanors for allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 attack. Officers heard bullets whiz past them and hit objects nearby, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. The deputies left without making an arrest, according to court records.

The Justice Department said no law enforcement officers were injured. An attorney for Pelham, who was arrested Tuesday, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The episode is an outlier in the more than 1,000 federal arrests that have been made in the Jan. 6 riot. Practically all of the arrests have been made without incident, including those of members of far-right extremist groups facing serious felony charges such as seditious conspiracy.

Investigators say Pelham entered the Capitol wearing goggles and a hat with the logo of the Proud Boys extremist group, but later denied affiliation with them. He allegedly stayed inside the Capitol for about seven minutes. About two months later, Pelham was stopped while attempting to enter Canada and told Border Patrol agents that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, court records show.

Prosecutors say Pelham had agreed to surrender on the Capitol riot charges when he was contacted last week by an FBI agent. Later that day though, a deputy from the Hunt County Sheriff's Office was sent to the house in response to a welfare call made by a relative. A child was sent out of the house and deputies began to hear gun shots, according to court records.

Pelham lives about 50 miles (81 kilometers) northeast of Dallas.

Pelham was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, prosecutors said.

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In the case of another Jan. 6 defendant, a Tennessee man charged with assaulting an officer in the riot was later accused of conspiring with another person on a failed attempt to kill dozens of federal agents involved in the investigation.

Authorities have alleged Edward Kelley discussed plans with another man to kill law enforcement personnel who had worked in his criminal investigation, and made a list of targets.

____

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
During a Wednesday hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, survivors of Russian war crimes and the Ukrainian prosecutor general catalogued the atrocities that Russians are perpetrating in occupied Ukraine.

In January of this year, they came for me, explained a 57-year-old woman named Lyubov, who dreamed to live in her parents home by the sea in Kherson oblast, Ukraine. An accountant, Lyubov had many plans and many dreams, but the Russian invasion destroyed them all, she said. The Russian military walked into her home uninvited, saying they were looking for weapons. They found none, but confiscated a map of Ukraine and a flag of Ukraine to use as evidence against her.

They took me to their torture chamber and kept me there for five days. This was terrible. I was beaten. They forced me to undress, cutting my body with a knife and threatening to rape and kill me, Lyubov said through tears. I also was taken out into the field and they beat me again. They put a handgun next to my head and shot as if executing me. They also forced me to dig my own grave.

The Russians who held her captive let her go and she was miraculously able to flee by traveling through Crimea, Russia, and through to Poland and Latvia. Now, owing to a program implemented by Congress, she is reunited with her daughter, whos a U.S. citizen.

However, others have not managed to escape. Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin, who also gave testimony during the hearing, has registered close to 80,000 cases of war crimes and said Wednesday evidence for these crimes are growing exponentially now that parts of Ukraine have been deoccupied.

Such behavior is a feature of Russian military and political doctrine and modus operandi, said Kostin. Russian forces have regularly been shelling evacuation routes and convoys marked as civilian. [They have] systematically practiced torture and rape and engaged in summary executions after which mass graves are being discovered throughout the country. . . .Their objective is to sow fear and terror.

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Kostin explained that in Kherson oblast, 908 civilians have been registered dead and approximately 20 torture chambers have been discovered. Over 1,000 survivors have submitted harrowing evidence, Kostin said.

Survivors report that Russian forces subjected them to different forms of abuse, including beating with sticks and rubber batons, use of electric shock, waterboarding, stripping them naked, threats of death and mutilation, Kostin explained, adding that Ukraine has discovered financial records linking the torture chambers to Russian security agencies.

Kostin added that there have been 60 instances of rape registered in Kherson oblast, including the rape of children in front of their families. Sexual violence has also been used as a political and military tactic by Russian forces, Kostin said.

The prosecutor general added that throughout occupied Ukraine public officials and politically active citizens who dissented from denouncing Ukraine disappeared or were executed.

In his opening statement, House Foreign Affairs chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) listed other atrocities, including the bombing of countless apartment complexes and a maternity hospital, Russias mobile crematoriums, and torture chambers not always being reserved for adults, with a special cell for torturing children recently discovered. McCaul also pointed to the sheer disregard for human life, pointing to reports of the beheading of a POW and the recent confession of former commanders of the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group that they executed 20 children and blew up a pit of more than 50 wounded captives.

McCaul explained that he has learned Russian soldiers carry Viagra to facilitate sexual violence and that he heard from a mother that her five-year-old was gang-raped to death by ten Wagner mercenaries who then threw her body to the side of the road.

These were not the actions of some rogue soldiers, but rather a planned and financed operation of terror sanctioned at the highest level at the Kremlin, explained McCaul. This is happening right now, theyre monsters and they need to be brought to justice. . . .What were witnessing in Ukraine is genocide.

It is beyond time that this administration along with our allies provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to win. We need to do more than just give Ukraine enough for survival, McCaul said.

Ranking member Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.) agreed with McCaul that urgent action is needed. You cant be human and not feel the evil that has been done to our witnesses and to the Ukrainian people, said Meeks. It is in our national interest to provide the support to Ukraine so it wins this war . . . and after Ukraine wins, post-conflict justice and accountability must be central in any post-war reconstruction effort.

Both McCaul and Meeks mentioned the Nuremberg trials as a model for war-crime accountability.

Youre absolutely right, both of you, that the Nuremberg trials ensured long-lasting peace in Europe for decades, explained Kostin. Now we have a gap in the international system of law and order. We need to fill in this gap and to ensure long-lasting peace for Europe and [globally.]

The establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression is an extremely important element of our web of accountability because the crime of aggression, which is a leadership crime and which led to all other war crimes committed, should be prosecuted and punished on an international level, said Kostin. A proper international tribunal for the crime of aggression will also play a deterrent factor for any future aggressor.

The Foreign Affairs Committee also heard from a representative of a child victim who was in an adjacent room. The Ukrainian attorney representing 16-year-old Roman explained that he was an orphan attending a technical school in Donetsk oblast on February 24, 2022 when the Russians occupied that area.

There was an instance when the Russian armored vehicle directed its gun right at the children standing right near the entrance [of the school], the attorney explained, and under increased pressure, it became clear to Roman that he could not live in those conditions.

The minor walked 60 kilometers on foot in the winter, sleeping outdoors and begging for food. He and others with him were stopped by the Russian military many times. The soldiers interrogated them and even aimed guns above their heads, shooting. When Roman reached his home, the Russian military moved into that community as well. Occupation authorities ordered Roman to go to a hospital and notified him that he would be issued a different family, ignoring his protests that his brother and sister who were there act as his legal representatives. Roman was taken to a different hospital and then in May abducted to Russia along with other children.

They found a new family for Roman. They tried to reshape his mind. They made him watch propaganda programs on TV. They discussed news about Ukraine in a negative way. They were restricting his communications with peers. And they tracked his movements through a special app on his phone. They also featured him on propaganda programs on TV and forced him to say he liked his new family and his new life, the attorney said during the hearing.

Romans representative explained he was miraculously able to return to Ukraine through help by Ukrainian volunteers, but was unable to give further details so as to protect the childs safety.

Such crimes are systemic and widely spread . . . these facts tell us that this was a detailed, premeditated operation aimed to deport Ukrainian children to Russia, the attorney explained. Those measures are aimed at depriving the children of a Ukrainian identity.

The attorney detailed another story she had been told by a Ukrainian child, who is now in the Russian Federation.

It is hard to sleep at night. I saw so many deaths and there are two deaths which keep torturing my conscience. One was the death of my best friend and the other was a little girl, who I was not able to rescue, the attorney quoted the child as saying. The child had seen his close friend blown apart and he had also witnessed the death of a 10-year-old girl shot in the chest. He had sought to comfort her as she lay dying. I took her in my arms, was trying to calm her down, because there was nothing we could do for her . . . I was telling her, Everything will be all right, but my soul was being torn apart, the child said.

Over 20,000 children have been abducted, taken into Russia for indoctrination, McCaul explained.

The attorney said that Maria Lvova-Belova, Russias commissioner for childrens rights, had visited children in captivity like Roman. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for both Lvova-Belova and Russian president Vladimir Putin for bearing personal responsibility for the unlawful abduction of Ukrainian children. Just one day after the charges were announced, Putin visited an art school and a childrens center in occupied Crimea.

No country can remain neutral in the face of such evil, McCaul explained, adding that Putin, Russia, and every individual who committed war crimes must be held accountable.

I remember visiting with a Ukrainian soldier the last time I was in Ukraine. He said Were fighting for you. Were fighting for the free world,' McCaul said. And they are.

Kostin urged the U.S. to continue leading on this issue. Earlier this week, the Department of Justice explained that it is taking additional legal measures in its attempt to hold Russians accountable for their war crimes. An experienced prosecutor is being sent to The Hague and the DOJ will also send a resident legal adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to work on a variety of complex justice-sector issues. Both the U.S. and Ukraine are taking additional steps to prosecute war-crimes suspects in their jurisdictions and they are putting additional pressure on Russian oligarchs through financial levers like asset seizure. Congress has granted the DOJ the authority to transfer certain assets seized from Russian oligarchs for use in rebuilding Ukraine.

The prosecutor general called for the U.S. to designate Wagner Group as a foreign terrorist organization, which the Biden administration has been reluctant to do. He also supported further amendments to the U.S. penal code to criminalize crimes against humanity so as to prevent impunity for perpetrators who appear on U.S. soil.

When the U.S. takes the lead on these issues, the world watches. It emboldens our own efforts in obtaining international justice, Kostin said during the hearing.

The 57-year-old accountant who had been tortured explained that she has a new dream to go back to her occupied village one day and rebuild.

Every Ukrainian person has a dream to live freely on their land. The only way to make this possible is to drive away the occupiers and for that we need your military help, Lyubov explained.

We, the survivors of those crimes . . . want justice to be brought. Just and fair payback, she added.

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TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida denounced a pipe bomb attack at a campaign event he attended last weekend and pledged to review security procedures to ensure safety for dignitaries visiting the country for the Group of Seven summit he will host in May.

No matter what the reason is, the use of violence to shut down free speech should never be tolerated, Kishida told selected media from G-7 countries on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office, as he stressed that the attack occurred during a nationwide local election campaign.

"The election, which is the foundation of democracy, should not succumb to violence. We must carry out the election until the end, he said, explaining why he has continued to deliver speeches since the attack on Saturday.

A man hurled a pipe bomb at Kishida at the fishing port of Saikazaki in the western prefecture of Wakayana just before he was to make a campaign speech for a local candidate from his governing party. The moment the explosive fell near him, he was pushed away by special police and evacuated unhurt before the bomb exploded.

The alleged attacker, Ryuji Kimura, 24, was wrestled to the ground and arrested on the spot.

The attack, which targeted the prime minister less than a year after former leader Shinzo Abe's assassination, raised questions about whether any lessons had been learned from Abe's case, especially as Japan navigates key events like the ongoing elections and G-7 meetings.

As we prepare to welcome many guests from around the world for the G-7 summit and other events, I feel it is very important to once again review our security measures so that our guests can visit Japan with a sense of safety, Kishida said.

During the May 19-21 summit in his electoral constituency of Hiroshima  the target of the world's first atomic attack  Kishida plans to appeal for nuclear disarmament, while pledging support for the rules-based international order and vowing to play a greater role as the only Asian member of the G-7 to bridge Western economies with the so-called Global South nations. He will also demand that Russia stop the war on Ukraine immediately.

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I feel our path toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons has become an increasingly difficult one, said Kishida, who has made the goal his career aim. But that makes our cause more important than ever, and we must keep raising the flag of the ideal to achieve a nuclear-free world and reverse the ongoing trend. To do so is a responsibility Japan bears to human society as the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks."

He said Russia's war on Ukraine has raised fears the same could happen in Asia, and he said calls for a rules-based international order, along with the rejection of one-sided change to the status quo, could be widely accepted.

It is extremely important for the G-7 to reaffirm the basic position, and it could help the international community to unite in case a situation like this happens in places other than Russia and Europe, he said.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan. With its strict gun control laws, the country has only a handful of gun-related crimes annually, most of them gang related. But in recent years Japanese police have worried about lone offender attacks with homemade guns and explosives.

Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun at a campaign event on July 8 last year, just two days before the upper house election. The police have since tightened their protective measures following a subsequent investigation that found holes in Abes security.

Kishida said Saturday's explosion also raised questions over the appropriate distance between candidates or political figures and the voters at campaign venues.

It is difficult to balance ... but I think it is time for us to think of the distance between politicians and voters that is appropriate for democracy in Japan, Kishida said.

Compared with U.S. elections, audiences at political gatherings in Japan  where handshakes and mingling with voters are often considered more important than policy debate  are allowed to be quite close to candidates. At the campaign event with Kishida, the front-row audience was within touching distance and there were no bulletproof shields or other physical barriers between them.

Additional safety measures, including bag checks and the use of metal detectors, were introduced at some campaign venues after the attack on Saturday.
(Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he has no intention for now to raise the sales tax as his government sets off on a plan to boost military spending and provide financial incentives to help reverse a falling birthrate.

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Kishida also said in a group interview with reporters on Thursday it was important for the world that the US and China keep their ties stable. China is expected to be a major topic on the agenda when Japan hosts a summit of Group of Seven leaders next month, with the US pressing allies to coordinate against economic coercion from the likes of Beijing.

The prime minister has said the period to 2030 is the last chance to reverse a declining birthrate that threatens Japans long-term economic prospects. He has vowed to double spending on children and families in a bid to halt a trend he has said threatens the countrys ability to function.

Japan has the developed worlds highest public debt load and spends more than 20% of its annual budget servicing the national debt. While the government still has a target of balancing the budget after debt servicing by the end of fiscal 2025, Kishida has continued to ramp up spending plans.

When asked about how he could fund some of these programs, Kishida said: We have to carefully proceed with discussions regarding the funding as well, but as to your question about sales tax, we are not thinking of touching it for the time being.

The government has also yet to clarify how it will finance a pledged ramp-up in spending on defense amid heightened tensions over regional security amplified by Russias war in Ukraine and North Koreas barrage of missile launches.

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While Japans sales tax at a maximum of 10% is relatively low by international standards, raising it has typically upended the economy, making the ruling coalition reluctant to resort to further increases.

So far government figures for how part of the extra spending on defense will be funded have drawn on reserve funds, generating concern about the sustainability of the increased outlays.

Kishida also said the international community relied on steady relations between the US and China as he readies for the G-7 summit in his hometown of Hiroshima.

The worlds two largest economies have struggled to restore communications following the US shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February.

G-7 foreign ministers at a meeting in the Japanese mountain resort of Karuizawa this week said they recognized the importance of engaging candidly with China, while calling for a peaceful resolution of Taiwan-related issues. They urged China to abstain from threats and coercion and said legitimate interests of foreign companies should be protected.

The group also expressed concern about Chinas growing nuclear arsenal and called for talks with the US on arms control.

China made a formal complaint to a senior Japanese diplomat over negative comments at the foreign ministers meeting, Beijings foreign ministry said in a statement.

For our country and for international society, it is important that US-China relations be stable, Kishida said, reiterating a call for China to behave as a responsible major nation.

Kishida also made the following remarks:

Asked why Japan has yet to recognize same-sex marriage, unlike its G-7 counterparts, Kishida said: I want to consider public opinion, debate in parliament, and developments with lawsuits, as well as the partnership systems introduced by local governments. I want to deepen debate in this parliament, he added.

Asked about the implications of a pipe-bomb attack on him as he prepared to give an election speech last weekend, Kishida said there should be a review of security ahead of the G-7 summit in May. We must make preparations so that people can visit Japan without anxiety, he said. He added that there should be more discussion about the appropriate distance to be kept between politicians and voters.

--With assistance from Yuki Hagiwara.

(Updates with more comments from Kishida throughout.)

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First it was American Airlines. Now JetBlue Airways is cutting back on flights to Haiti. The latest change, however, affects only the U.S.-based carriers route from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to Port-au-Prince, but still means higher air fares for U.S.-bound passengers trying to get out of the volatile Caribbean nation.

Beginning May 5 until June 14, JetBlues Port-au-Prince route out of New York will be reduced to twice weekly, Tuesdays and Saturdays. Then, from June 15 until Sept. 4, flight service will increase to four times a week: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

There is currently no change in the airlines daily service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port-au-Princes Toussaint Louverture International Airport, the airline confirmed to the Miami Herald.

The New York service cutbacks are due to a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers and the Federal Aviation Administration encouraging all major airlines flying out of New York city airports  JetBlue, Delta, American and United  to cut service this summer because there arent enough air traffic controllers and its anticipating a busy travel summer.

JetBlue is the only U.S. carrier that flies directly to Haiti from the New York-New Jersey area where there is a growing Haitian diaspora, and sometimes its route presents a cheaper alternative for travelers trying to just get out of Haiti. Meanwhile, low-cost Broward-based Spirit Airlines does fly to Port-au-Prince out of Fort Lauderdale but only five days a week. There are no flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

This week, the Miami Herald reported that American Airlines had not only reduced the size of its aircraft currently flying into Port-au-Prince out of Miami International Airport but that beginning May 9 the airline intends to cut back to just six flights a week from the current seven. The airline will not have any Tuesday flights. Air fares on the Miami route are also giving passengers sticker shock with costs of over $3,000.

In both cases, U.S.-bound passengers out of Haiti can expect to see higher fares and less availability at a time when more Haitians are qualifying to come to the U.S. thanks to a two-year humanitarian parole program rolled out by the Biden administration in January for nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Doctor Who fans have been given their first look at Jinkx Monsoon as the Doctors most powerful enemy yet  and the drag queens costume seems might just hint at a new direction for the show.

Earlier this month, fans of the sci-fi series and RuPauls Drag Race alike (trust me, theres more crossover than youd think) were delighted by the announcement that drag queen Jinkx  who identifies as non-binary and uses they/she pronouns  was joining the BBC series.

The US-based performer will star opposite Ncuti Gatwas incoming 15th Doctor in the next full series of Doctor Who, which kicks off over Christmas after three special episodes seeing the brief return of fan-favourite Time Lord, David Tennant.

Details about Gatwas tenure as the Doctor have been kept tightly under wraps, with the original announcement that Jinkx would have a major role in the new series predictably prompting rabid speculation from fans.

Jinkx won Drag Races sixth season and the shows first ever Champion of Champions season, and is widely considered to be one of the shows strongest contestants ever. A true all-rounder, they never met a challenge they didnt like (although the same cant be said for their season six catwalks), and they excelled in both live comedy and singing challenges.

In fact, Jinkx has since gone on to tour the world as a musical comedy act, both with their musical partner Major Scales and fellow Drag Race alum BenDeLaCreme. Having recently made history as the first drag queen to play the role of Matron Mama Morton in Chicago on Broadway, fans wondered if Jinkx would be bringing their musical skill to the Tardis too.

The BBC has released their first look at Jinkx as the Doctors new nemesis (James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios)

So when the BBC released the first look at Jinkx in costume on Wednesday (19 April) night, the pictures gave away some major clues. From the dramatic eyebrows to the barnet reminiscent of Helena Bonham Carter as Alice in Wonderlands Red Queen, Jinkx is marked out as a capital V villain. Theyre seen sporting a long black cape with a high collar (very Dracula), wearing a white shirt, black waistcoat and black skirt underneath.

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But the big hint comes on the lapels of the collar, which are covered with a piano key pattern that also features on the lining of the cape. I cant say this look would go down too well with Michelle Visage, but it gives off Big Bad Guy Energy. Besides being just a high-fashion version of the piano-print tie loved by your secondary school music teacher, Jinkxs costume suggests major things are coming for Doctor Who. Fans echoed one thought on social media, with one asking if they would be playing a musician type villain?, while another declared: A MUSICAL VILLAIN FOR DOCTOR WHO.... WELL THIS IS INTERESTING.

Jinkxs costume in full (James Pardon/Bad Woilf/BBC Studios)

Now, while the last iteration of the Master (Sacha Dhawan) was prone to a bit of dancing, weve never seen a full-on musical villain on Doctor Who before. Given the major role Jinkx is going to play in the next series, some other fans have theorised that their character could be a new version of The Rani, a powerful renegade Time Lord played by Kate OMara in the Eighties. OMara appeared as opposite Tom Bakers Sixth Doctor in two stories in 1985 and 1987, and was in talks to reprise the character for a Doctor Who audio drama at the time of her death in 2014. Could we be treated to a new, musical version of The Rani?

But whether drag queen Jinkx is playing a returning villain or someone completely new, its clear theyre one to be feared. Yes, basically every baddie who joins the Whoniverse is described as the Doctors most powerful enemy yet. But with so much mystery surrounding the new series and the change in direction Doctor Who is so desperately in need of (yes, Im still scarred by Chibnall), fans are hopeful exciting things are coming.

Which begs the big question: could we be getting our first ever all-singing, all-dancing Doctor Who episode? If Scrubs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia can do it, I dont see why not. Tap dancing in the Tardis? Getting down on Gallifrey? Sign me up
Fridays 10-race card at Keeneland featured two racing incidents, which now marks three straight days with horse welfare issues during the tracks Spring Meet.

This stretch started Wednesday afternoon when Master of the Ring suffered a catastrophic injury, which led to the second horse death during the 2023 Keeneland Spring Meet.

Fridays first incident occurred during the penultimate race of the day, when a Todd Pletcher-trained 4-year-old named Green Up was pulled up by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. after crossing the wire.

According to the incident report on Keenelands website, Green Up was determined to have been experiencing an exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, and she was assisted back to the barn for further evaluation.

Green Up cooled out without incident and her prognosis is listed as good.

In Fridays final race, a 3-year-old named Reckoning Force was observed to have been off in the left front leg during the gallop back after racing, according to the incident report.

Reckoning Force was loaded without incident into an equine ambulance and was taken back to the barn for further evaluation.

The horse, trained by Brendan Walsh, was diagnosed with mild lameness in the left forelimb.

Prognosis was listed as favorable for the horse.

Since the start of the Keeneland Spring Meet on April 7 (which means 10 days of racing through Friday), there have been seven racing incidents and more than 730 horses that have started a Spring Meet race.

Master of the Ring is second horse death at Keeneland this Spring Meet

An incident during the sixth race of Wednesdays eight-race card at Keeneland resulted in a catastrophic injury for Master of the Ring, which marked the second horse death during the 2023 Keeneland Spring Meet.

Master of the Rings jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, was unseated during the racing incident, but was medically cleared and returned to the saddle in the very next race.

In the stretch of Wednesday afternoons race on the Keeneland turf course, Foreign Relations, ridden by jockey Flavien Prat, abruptly veered in front of Master of the Ring.

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According to the incident report on Keenelands website, the horses clipped heels and Master of the Ring went down near the one-eighth pole.

The 5-year old horse, who was trained by Mike Maker, was vanned off and evaluated by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commissions veterinary team and was determined to have suffered a sublaxated right carpus.

This is #Horseracing: "Awkward move for Master of the Ring"



He is DEAD! Second kill at Keeneland in the past week. #HorseracingIsCruel https://t.co/mHoCoxmJsd pic.twitter.com/YEfcjlvs2d  Horseracing Wrongs (@racingwrongs) April 20, 2023

Keeneland described the injury as catastrophic in nature. On Thursday afternoon, the Daily Racing Form reported Master of the Rings death via euthanasia.

Foreign Relations won the race, which was an allowance over 1.5 miles on a good turf course. But, Foreign Relations was disqualified and placed last after a stewards inquiry.

The DRF also reported that Prat was suspended three days by Keeneland stewards for his role in the incident.

According to the DRF, the three-day suspension for Prat will be served next week, which is the final week of the Spring Meet at Keeneland.

Gaffalione, who is the regular jockey for likely Kentucky Derby participant Verifying, entered Thursday as the leading jockey of the Keeneland Spring Meet after winning the first two races on Wednesdays card.

Other racing incidents at Keeneland this Spring Meet

On April 13, Goin to the Show suffered a bilateral sesamoid fracture of the right front fetlock during a 6 1/2-furlong race on Keenelands dirt track.

In that incident, jockey Julien Leparoux pulled up Goin to the Show after crossing the finish line after the horse became acutely lame in the right forelimb, according to Keenelands incident report.

Goin to the Show was transported to the barn to meet with attending veterinarian Dr. Nicole Wettstein, who, in conjunction with Dr. Nick Smith, took radiographs of the horse and made the diagnosis.

Going to the Show was euthanized.

There were two other racing incidents on April 15 at Keeneland.

Myredwhiteandblue was pulled up after the wire after appearing off in the right front limb. According to the racing incident report, prognosis is favorable for the horse pending further diagnostics and monitoring.

In the other incident that day, Oldest Sister was pulled up after the wire after showing slight lameness in her left front limb.

Oldest Sister was diagnosed with an apical medial sesamoid fracture in the left front fetlock and will be referred to Rood and Riddle for surgical consultation.

The racing incident report said the prognosis is good for Oldest Sister.

Most recently, there was one racing incident Thursday at Keeneland during which the horse Pearse was pulled up in the upper stretch and vanned off.

According to the incident report, Pearse was given a courtesy ride back to the barn after the race and cooled out without incident.

Prognosis is listed as good for Pearse.
Joe Alwyn is currently filming his upcoming movie The Brutalist in Hungary

Emma Laird Instagram

Joe Alwyn is enjoying production on his upcoming film.

On Wednesday, Alwyn, 32, appeared in an Instagram photo shared by Emma Laird, his costar in the upcoming movie The Brutalist, among a carousel of pictures the actress shared that she wrote captured "Moments in March."

The third photo in the carousel shows Alwyn smiling while riding an electric scooter; other photos shared by Laird, 24, in the post appear to show cast and crew on the The Brutalist  including Adrien Brody, director Brady Corbet and Alessandro Nivola  as they film in Hungary.

It's unclear exactly when the photo of Alwyn was taken, though Laird's caption seems to imply the photo was snapped in March, before PEOPLE confirmed news of the actor's breakup with Taylor Swift on April 8.

Following the early April breakup, a source close to the couple revealed that their split happened a "few weeks ago."

Related:Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn's Breakup: Everything We Know

Emma Laird Instagram

It was announced on April 11 that principal photography on Alwyn's new movie, which also stars Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, had recently begun in Hungary. Swift, meanwhile, kicked off her Eras Tour on March 17 and notably added breakup tune "The 1" to her setlist for the March 31 stop of her tour in Arlington, Texas.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The Brutalist is co-written and directed by Corbet, who made the 2018 drama Vox Lux that starred Natalie Portman as a troubled pop star and featured original music by Sia.

Alwyn had a busy 2022 with roles in Hulu's Conversations with Friends series, plus two films: Catherine Called Birdy and Stars at Noon, which co-starred Margaret Qualley, the fiancee of Swift's frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff.

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RELATED VIDEO: Inside Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn's 'Differences' That Led to Their Breakup: Sources (Exclusive)

Alwyn will next star in a modern-day retelling of Hamlet with Riz Ahmed and he is expected to reunite with The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos and costar Emma Stone (plus Qualley again) in AND.

During Alwyn and Swift's six years together, the former couple kept their relationship private and frequently deflected engagement rumors. As Alwyn previously told WSJ. Magazine, "If I had a pound for every time I think I've been told I've been engaged, then I'd have a lot of pound coins."

He added at the time, "I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn't say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn't say.

According to multiple sources, Swift and Alwyn had been "talking about marriage as recently as a few months ago." Additionally, a source close to the pair told PEOPLE the breakup was mostly caused by "differences in their personalities."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.
Friends are raising money for the family of Jacob Kiprop Birech, 54, who was killed while working outside his Lenexa home.

Birech died after a vehicle he was working on crushed him in an accident earlier this month, family friend and school nurse Jennifer Wildung wrote in a GoFundMe for Birechs family.

Jacob Birech was a kind and loving husband and father, with a very gentle spirit, Wildung wrote. He was a peacemaker and a leader. He worked very hard while also furthering his education and was finishing his final thesis towards a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration.

On April 6, the father of three headed out to the driveway of his Lenexa home to work on his car.

He had removed the wheels of his car and went under it to repair some damage but accidentally hit the jack causing the car to collapse and crush him underneath, Wildung wrote.

Birech and his wife, Penina, are parents to Rosehill Elementary School kindergartner Joshua, and Shawnee Mission South high schoolers Phillip and Natalie, who are in their sophomore and senior years.

The online fundraiser collected more than $2,800 in donations as of Thursday afternoon.

The money raised will go toward Birechs funeral expenses. His family is hoping to take him back to Kenya, his native country, for his burial, Wildung said.
An attorney for actor Jonathan Majors filed evidence with the court that appears to contradict his accuser's allegations of assault. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Amid new allegations, the attorney for embattled actor Jonathan Majors  who was arrested March 25 and charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment  has filed evidence with a New York court that appears to show the accuser uninjured and out on the town after fighting and parting ways with the "Creed III" star the night of the alleged incident.

In her complaint, the alleged victim said the "Lovecraft Country" actor, 33, struck her "about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear."

In a letter to the court dated Tuesday and accepted Wednesday, and reviewed by The Times, Majors' attorney, Priya Chaudhry, challenged Asst. District Attorney Kelli Galaway's request for a court date later than the May 8 appearance that is currently on the calendar and presented evidence she said had been given to the ADA for review. The evidence shows Majors' accuser seemingly unharmed in the hours after the two parted company.

At the same time, a new Variety report said "multiple alleged abuse victims of Majors" had come forward since the actor's arrest and were cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney's office. The D.A.s office declined to comment on that report, the outlet said.

Majors was arrested March 25 in New York City after police responded to a 911 call from a woman in an apartment building. The woman was transported to a local hospital with what police said were minor injuries to her head and neck. Majors was arraigned the following day and released on his own recognizance.

At the end of last month, after the arraignment, Majors' team released a screenshot of text messages that were unverified but allegedly sent between the actor and the accuser in the hours after his arrest.

In them, the woman allegedly wrote, in part, "They assured me that you won't be charged. They said they had to arrest you as protocol when they saw the injuries on me and they knew we had a fight. I'm so angry that they did. And I'm sorry you're in this position. Will make sure nothing happens about this. I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone. I only just got out of hospital."

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The woman also referred to an initial charge of strangulation  on which Majors was not arraigned  and said she had assured authorities that no strangulation had happened.

"I also said to tell the judge to know that the origin of the [911] call was to do with me collapsing and passing out and your worry as my partner due to our communication prior," the message says, apparently referring to a fight earlier in the evening.

Majors reportedly was dropped by his management and publicity firms and cut from several film projects in the wake of his arrest.

Majors' attorney disputed the Variety report Wednesday. "This story is baseless and without any foundation," Chaudhry told The Times via email. "Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone. Mr. Majors is currently considering his legal options."

Contrary to the charges Majors faces, Chaudhry alleges in the court filing that after "attacking" her client and allegedly tearing his clothes between midnight and 1 a.m. on March 25, the accuser "went clubbing, got drunk, sent Mr. Majors angry text messages accusing him of infidelity, sent a suicide note to Mr. Majors, took a bunch of sleeping pills, and then, eleven hours later, was found alone in a locked bedroom, unconscious on the floor of a closet, with a cut behind her ear and a broken finger."

"We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false," Chaudhry said. "We are confident that he will be fully exonerated."

Stills taken from security-camera footage and submitted to the court appear to show the accuser at the bar, DJ booth and hostess stand of Loosie's Nightclub at the Moxy Lower East Side hotel between 1:55 a.m. and 3:06 a.m. on March 25.

The security stills appear to show the accuser at the bar with two uninjured hands as she sorts through credit cards and signs a receipt. They also appear to show her with uninjured hands at the hostess stand and DJ booth.

Separate security video from an elevator car appears to show the accuser uninjured around 3:25 a.m. The letter says that video from the nightclub shows the woman brushing hair behind an uninjured ear  which the accuser said Majors lacerated.

Chaudhry told the court that the driver of the car, where the two allegedly fought, would testify that it was the accuser who attacked Majors that night. Chaudhry said this happened between midnight and 1 a.m.

According to Chaudhry, Majors jumped out of the car and ran away  witnessed by "the driver and three people standing in the street"  then hailed a taxi and went to a hotel. The letter says he didn't see the accuser again until after 11 a.m., when he returned home and called a handyman to unlock his bedroom door. Once inside, the letter says, Majors found the woman "unconscious on the floor of a closet."

Chaudhry wrote to the court, "We are hopeful that the District Attorney's Office will move quickly to dismiss this case."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The grandmother of Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton has reacted to his arrest after he allegedly confessed to killing four people, including his own parents.

Betty Fagan lost her daughter Cynthia Eaton in the shooting, who was the mother of the suspect. Police have not yet commented on a motive for the killings, after which Mr Eaton allegedly opened fire on an interstate.

Ms Eaton had picked up her son from prison on 14 April when he was released after serving a term for aggravated assault.

Ms Eaton and her husband David Eaton, the father of the suspect, were found shot dead at a home in Bowdoin on Tuesday morning along with their friends Robert and Patricia Eger.

Ms Fagan, who lives in Ocala, Florida, said her grandson was taken to a beach after being released from prison, and that he had spent the weekend on his own.

She added that his parents had returned to Maine but that they were planning to move to Kansas, where they had previously lived.

I couldnt believe it. I just couldnt believe he would do something like that, she told the AP.

Police havent commented on Mr Eatons living situation in the four days between his release and subsequent arrest, only saying that his parents were involved.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eatons father was found at the property in a non-attached garage, according to the authorities.

The killings have been connected to the highway shooting in which three people were injured on Tuesday about 20 miles away in Yarmouth.

Col Bill Ross of Maine State Police identified the three people shot on the highway as 51-year-old Shawn Halsey, 29-year-old Justin Halsey, and 25-year-old Paige Halsey.

Speaking about the deceased, Col Ross said that the office of the chief medical examiner determined that all died of gunshot wounds and were determined to be homicides.

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Mr Eaton began shooting on the highway because he thought he was being hunted by the police, Col Ross added. The suspect had spent the last two years in jail, the colonel said.

Mr Eaton was taken by Major Crimes detectives and Portland police officers to the Portland Police Department where he gave a confession and admitted to killing his parents and his parents friends  he admitted to killing his parents David and Cynthia and their friends Robert and Patricia in the residence at 1459 Augusta Road, he said.

He had also admitted that he shot vehicles on Interstate 295 because he thought he [was] being followed by police officers, Col Ross said.

He added that a few days ago, he was released from Windham Correctional Center, where he was serving about two years for aggravated assault.

The authorities didnt specify when the killings took place  a friend of the Egers discovered the bodies after making several attempts to contact the couple and eventually went over to check in on them.

While Mr Eaton has been charged with four counts of murder, he has yet to be charged in connection with the highway shooting.

He appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday morning.

State records reveal that Mr Eaton has a criminal history which meant that he couldnt legally own a firearm.

Mr Eatons criminal past stems back to 2008 in Kansas when he was charged with burglary. He was sentenced in 2009 and released in 2010.

He was sentenced to three years behind bars in May 2018 after being charged with three counts of aggravated assault of a first responder in Nassau County, Florida.

Within a month of being released on 15 February 2021, he was sentenced on 1 March for an assault in Maine.
Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, meets with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Sylvia is accompanying Bongo on his state visit to China. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, met with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Peng recalled with pleasure her interactions with Sylvia and their joint efforts to promote the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, and said she appreciated Sylvia's longstanding enthusiasm for public welfare.

Peng spoke about China's achievements in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and the fight against COVID-19, as well as her work as a World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Peng said that China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Gabon, share experience, promote cooperation and bring more benefits to the two peoples. She voiced confidence that under the leadership of the leaders of the two countries, bilateral cooperation in various fields will continue to deepen, and that this friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Sylvia, who is accompanying the Gabonese president on his state visit to China, thanked Xi and Peng for their hospitality and said she was impressed with China's friendly ties with Gabon.

Gabon admires China's great achievements in public health, and is willing to learn from China's successful experience and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China, she said.

Sylvia said she looks forward to having the opportunity to see more of China and to appreciate the Chinese culture and the country's development. 
Josh Warrington has not given up on ruling the featherweight division (Tim Goode/PA) (PA Wire)

Former two-time world champion Josh Warrington says he is hungrier than ever as he looks to get his career back on track and reclaim the featherweight title.

Warrington enjoyed a stunning start as a professional, reeling off 30 successive wins and lifting the IBF featherweight crown, but he has had mixed results since seeing his unbeaten run ended by Mauricio Lara in February 2021.

Following that defeat at Wembley Arena, Warrington has drawn with Lara in their Headingley rematch before beating Kiko Martinez in March 2022 to hold the IBF belt again  only to surrender it last December after losing to Luis Alberto Lopez by majority decision.

Those setbacks may have led some boxers to question their futures in the sport, but Warrington insists he has no intention of hanging up his gloves and has his sights set on another world title tilt.

The 32-year-old told the PA news agency: When I call it a day, I want it to be on my terms and Im not ready to go yet. Im in my prime, my belief to win another world title is still there.

I feel hungrier than I ever have done and Im just as hungry to win a world title again.

Warrington had suffered a broken jaw in his win over Martinez which he says was lingering in the back of his mind in the build-up to the Lopez fight and even during the title defence itself.

There was a moment in that fight when my dad gave me a wake-up call to try and get the broken jaw thing out of my head because I was hardly throwing a jab, he said.

I'm in my prime, my belief to win another world title is still there.

Josh Warrington

Once I got it out of my head and took the fight to him, in the latter stages I had him rocking  I swear he was squealing like a baby.

I got caught in sparring and when I left the session, I felt that when I was eating, it was causing me pain.

I went to get an X-ray and was panicking within myself. If this is knackered and the fight is called off, I will have to vacate my belt  it left me a bit worried.

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I guess I needed to feel a punch clean to know it is OK  I know I certainly didnt let my hands go like I usually do. I was just walking to the ring thinking let me just walk out this ring with my jaw intact and a cautious mindset.

Warrington, whose last three fights have all been in his home city of Leeds, is realistic about his likely route back to the top following that upset at the First Direct Arena which ended his hopes of a unification fight in 2023.

He believes he still has a chance to crown the division but knows he may have to bide his time, with Leigh Wood  another Briton looking to bounce back from defeat  a possible opponent on the comeback trail.

Wood lost his WBA featherweight world title in February after being knocked out in the seventh round by the big-hitting Lara.

Warrington said: This moment in time it feels a million miles away but if you rewind 15 months back, I just had the rematch with Lara and was kind of in a similar position to how I am now.

I returned to being world champion again so its funny how things work in this sport. Three years ago, we were talking about Leigh Wood and pushing him as a sparring partner and now hes a potential opponent.

Couple wins under your belt at this level and all opportunities open up again.The Leeds Warrior is also licking his lips at the thought of a possible third showdown with 25-year-old Lara, in a situation that he says has turned personal between the pair.

Warringtons feud with Lara has been building since the Mexican inflicted a first career defeat on him two years ago before being denied a revenge win seven months later when Lara sustained a cut over his eye from a head clash that caused the rematch to end in a technical draw.

Lara also admitted to spitting at Warrington ringside following his win over Wood earlier this year.

Warrington said: He seemed to have made it a personal thing and said he wants to retire me.

I never thought it was personal until he spat at me which is one of the most degrading things that anyone can do Id rather be punched than spat on. For myself its lowest of the low and now its personal.

I would love to put that to bed and I strongly believe if I turn up with the right mindset I beat him quite comfortably.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  A Tunisian investigative judge has ordered that influential Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi remain in custody, his party said Thursday on its official social media.

The Ennahdha party denounced in a statement on Facebook the unjust imprisonment of its leader, after Ghannouchi was arrested by police Monday. On its English-language Twitter account, the party said Ghannouchi has been charged with conspiracy against state security and ordered to be imprisoned pending trial.

Ghannouchi, 81, is the most prominent critic of President Kais Saied. He served as speaker of Tunisias parliament until Saied dissolved the body last July and seized most executive powers in the North African country  a move that Ghannouchi and other opponents call a coup.

He has been detained for questioning a number of times in the past, but the circumstances of his latest detention suggested that this time was more serious.

Tunisias official TAP news agency reported earlier this week that he was detained on a warrant by counterterrorism prosecutors as part of an investigation into recent provocative comments. It did not elaborate.

Other Tunisian media reported that Ghannouchi was to be questioned over a video circulating online in which he purportedly says that the presidents perceived efforts to eradicate" Islamist opposition threaten to unleash civil war.

The move comes amid growing social tensions and deepening economic troubles in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement more than a decade ago.
The federal judge in the civil rape trial of former President Donald Trump said that his request for special jury instructions in the case is premature in a filing Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over the trial in Manhattan stemming from writer E. Jean Carrolls lawsuit, responded a day after Trumps lawyer sent him a letter indicating that Trump might take the witness stand in the trial but saying would be too difficult for him to attend the entire trial for logistical reasons tied to his former office.

In his letter Wednesday, the lawyer, Joe Tacopina, asked Kaplan to instruct jurors: While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City. Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify.

Kaplan responded that the court does not accept Trumps counsels claims concerning alleged burdens on the courthouse or the City if Trump were to testify. He noted that Trump is under no legal obligation to be present or to testify and that Carrolls counsel has signaled that she was not planning to call Trump as a witness.

Kaplan also cited Trumps coming travel to a campaign event in New Hampshire on the third day of the scheduled trial while pointing out that he is entitled by law as a former president to have Secret Service protection and that additional security measures can be provided, as well.

If the Secret Service can protect him at that event, certainly the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the City of New York can see to his security in this very secure federal courthouse, Kaplan wrote.

Kaplan also noted that Trump was notified of the April 25 start date on or about Feb. 7, giving him quite ample time within which to make whatever logistical arrangements should be made for his attendance. He said its quite a bit more time than Trump was given ahead of his recent historic indictment by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving hush money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign.

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Kaplan concluded that Trumps request for special jury instructions is premature.

Mr. Trump is free to attend, to testify, or both. He is free also to do none of those things, Kaplan wrote. Should he elect not to appear or testify, his counsel may renew the request.

In the meantime, there shall be no reference by counsel for Mr. Trump in the presence of the jury panel or the trial jury to Mr. Trumps alleged desire to testify or to the burdens that any absence on his part allegedly might spare, or might have spared, the Court or the City of New York, Kaplan added.

In a letter to Kaplan later Thursday, Tacopina said that whether Trump appears or not will likely be a game-time decision.

"Because the decision of the defendant, who is not required to appear as a civil litigant, will be made during the course of the trial, we are not yet in a position to advise the Court in this regard," Tacopina wrote. "However, we will inform the Court as soon as a decision is reached, particularly in light of the logistical concerns that will need to be addressed in coordination with the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the City of New York."

Tacopina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carrolls lawsuit alleges that Trump raped her at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s, which Trump has repeatedly denied. Trump, who is on the defense witness list, sat for a videotaped deposition in October over Carrolls claims.

Trump repeatedly insulted Carroll during his deposition, calling her a whack job whos not my type. He also mistook a picture of Carroll from the 1990s as being a photo of his former wife Marla Maples, according to deposition excerpts that were unsealed in January.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump is free to skip a New York trial over accusations he raped a writer nearly 30 years ago, but jurors will for now not be told his absence was meant to avoid snarled traffic and heavy security, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan also said it was premature to grant Trump's request that jurors at E. Jean Carroll's April 25 civil trial be instructed that staying away "by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president," would cause.

Kaplan said Trump has no obligation to show up or testify, and his lawyers, who said Trump "wishes to appear," can renew the request if he doesn't.

The judge also noted that Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential campaign, is planning a New Hampshire campaign stop on April 27, which would be the trial's third day.

"If the Secret Service can protect him at that event, certainly the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the City of New York can see to his security in this very secure federal courthouse," Kaplan wrote.

Trump will decide during the trial whether to attend, his lawyer Joe Tacopina said in a letter on Thursday. He declined to comment on Kaplan's order.

Carroll plans to attend every day.

Her lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, had objected to a special jury instruction, saying the idea that Trump's absence was "some sort of favor to the City of New York - and that the jury should be instructed as much - taxes the credulity of the credulous."

Security was tight and traffic was disrupted on April 4 when Trump pleaded not guilty in Manhattan criminal court, two blocks from the federal court, to unrelated criminal charges over hush money payments to a porn star.

Carroll, 79, has accused Trump, 76, of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in late 1995 or early 1996.

She is suing for defamation over an October 2022 social media post where Trump called the rape claim a hoax and a lie, and said Carroll was "not my type!" Carroll is also suing for battery.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced its first batch of judicial nominees in the more than two months Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been absent.

Committee members passed seven nominees with bipartisan support, while declining to do so for several others who will need the support of Feinstein to proceed. Democrats hold an 11-10 advantage on the panel, but it has been deadlocked at 10-10 while Feinstein has been away from the chamber.

We wish our colleague, Sen. Feinstein, a speedy recovery and return, Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. We hope shell be back in the Senate very soon. Todays agenda includes a number of judicial nominees who have been sitting on the agenda for some time. Some have bipartisan support. Theres nothing to prevent us from calling and voting on these nominees today.

The panel voted on the district court nominations of Monica Ramirez Almadani (California), Wesley Hsu (California), Jeffrey Irvine Cummings (Illinois), LaShonda Hunt (Illinois), Michael Farbiarz (New Jersey), Robert Kirsch (New Jersey) and Orelia Eleta Merchant (New York).

The key Republican backing all those nominees was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the committees ranking member. He argued that the panel can still continue to work effectively with an evenly-divided number of senators.

Sometimes we just cant agree, and thats just part of life, Graham said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also voted for several nominees.

Headlining those who have still yet to receive committee votes are Michael Delaney to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and Charnelle Bjelkengren to be a district court judge in Washington.

Delaneys confirmation is in hot water over his handling of a sexual assault case at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Bjelkengren is the target of GOP opposition after she stumbled over questioning during her confirmation hearing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republicans Thursday tried to paint Californias Julie Su as unqualified to become Secretary of Labor, saying she presided over a fraud-riddled, chaotic California unemployment system.

Your record there is so severely lacking, I dont know how in the world it makes sense for the president to nominate you to take over this department, said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

She presided over a disaster as head of the state labor department out in California, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor.

Romney is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, which held an often tense 2-hour hearing Thursday on whether to confirm the former California Secretary of Labor and the Workforce Agency.

Sus fate is uncertain. Democrats control 51 Senate seats, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has been absent as she battles health issues. That means one defection could sink the nomination, since all 49 Republicans are likely to vote no.

The committee, which has 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans, is expected to vote on the Su nomination next Wednesday. If approved, it would be considered by the full Senate.

Su, a workers rights attorney who is currently acting Secretary of Labor, came under fire for her stewardship of the California unemployment system at a time when it went from considering about 43,000 claims in March, 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic to 1 million within weeks as the pandemic sent the economy reeling.

The states Employment Development Department wound up paying out an estimated $30 billion in fraudulent claims, almost all in the federally-funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

The California State Auditor was highly critical of the state agencys management. In January, 2021, Auditor Elaine Howle wrote EDD did not take substantive action to bolster its fraud detection efforts for its unemployment insurance program until months into the pandemic

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Democrats praise Su

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, defended Su Thursday. He said Sus agency, like those throughout the country, was suddenly hit not only with the deluge in claims, but a new unemployment benefit program created quickly by Congress as well as a mandate to pay higher amounts.

The PUA benefits, created by Congress in March 2020, allowed independent contractors and others who traditionally do not qualify for benefits to receive them.

The program was part of a package that received strong support from both Republicans and Democrats at the time.

Im upset with the fraud, Kaine said Thursday, but Im not upset that Congress did what it did, because it helped this nation get through the worst health emergencies and one of the most serious economic challenges in the past hundred years.

He told Su, You did a fine job under challenging circumstances trying to negotiate through this extraordinary set of programs.

Romney had a very different view.

The buck stops at the top. Youre the person running unemployment insurance. Youre the one who decided to waive the guardrails, he told Su. The idea of promoting a person thats had that experience to a position of leadership in the entire department of labor makes no sense at all.

Romney, who had an extensive career as a business executive before entering politics, cited the Peter Principle.

Theres a principle in all sorts of enterprises known as the Peter Principle, he said, which is people get promoted to a point where their competence has no longer been established.

Su calmly responded.

She pointed out that the federal PUA program did not have the same safeguards that regular unemployment insurance has. The states program requires a series of steps before people can qualify for benefits.

When she realized there were problems, Su said she acted quickly.

Waste, fraud and abuse of any kind is completely unacceptable, she said. That is why as soon as we knew it was happening I shut the door to that fraud.

Su and California

But 10 months after the March 2020 surge in claims, Auditor Howle remained critical. EDD has put its unemployment insurance program at higher risk for such fraudulent payments by relying on uninformed and disjointed techniques to prevent and detect impostor fraud, she wrote.

Su also was grilled on her support of Californias Assembly Bill 5, which gives many independent contractors certain employee rights, such as workers compensation and minimum wages. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., would you commit to not trying to force an AB5 type regulation on the rest of the country (like) that which was done in California?

The short answer to your question is yes, Su said.

Republicans were concerned she would fight to impose similar requirements nationwide; Su noted that would not only be difficult, but isnt something the Biden administration is proposing.

Bonafide independent contractors will always have a place in our economy, Su said. They have and always will and theyre very, very important.

Su did receive a warm welcome from Democrats. She was introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who said After years of exemplary public service to California and the nation, she is more than qualified to lead the Department of Labor.
Julie Su will appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday for her hearing to become Labor secretary as she tries to navigate a field of landmines en route to winning confirmation to the post.

And its not just Republican lawmakers standing in the way. Some business groups and coalitions are doling out ad campaigns to pressure lawmakers into rejecting her nomination.

Su, who serves in the No. 2 post at the Labor Department, is expected to receive no GOP help to win the departments top job, and she could see her nomination tanked if only one Senate Democrat opposes her. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) reportedly has privately expressed reservations about her to replace Marty Walsh. A number of moderate Democrats also remain noncommittal thus far.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told reporters this week that he remains undecided. He will meet with her in the coming weeks, according to a spokeswoman.

Im very ambivalent, Tester said, noting he voted for her to be Walshs deputy. I dont have a problem with her right now. Well see how this goes.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who often votes with Democrats, also remains up for grabs. Sinema has a policy of not previewing her votes in advance.

Adding a layer of uncertainty is the status of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who remains sidelined during her recovery from shingles. If she is not back to work in Washington by the time of a final floor vote, Democrats wont be able to afford losing a single vote. If Feinstein is present, the 51-49 majority would allow the party one defection.

Given the state of play, Democrats are anxious to see whether Su will have the votes when all is said and done.

Ask me tomorrow, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said when asked about his level of confidence in Su ultimately winning confirmation. Well kind of see some temperatures [during the hearing]. We had a very good discussion about it in the caucus lunch yesterday.  So little win by little.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the HELP Committee chairman, continued to project optimism earlier this week, telling reporters Su is eminently qualified for this position and that shes doing a very good job now as deputy secretary.

Su did not receive any Republican votes two years ago when she was confirmed to her current post. That is not expected to change this time as they continue to criticize her over her handling of Californias unemployment insurance program when the state lost $30 billion by paying out fraudulent jobless benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They are also quick to highlight her stance on independent contractors and the gig economy. During her time in the Golden State, Su was a leading supporter of Californias Assembly Bill 5 law that introduced a three-stage test to prove a worker is an independent contractor rather than an employee.

Its going to be a tough fight, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). Its going to be hard.

Franchisers and gig companies are concerned about how Su would handle a Biden administration proposal to reclassify independent contractors as employees, a potential threat to their business models.

Stand Against Su, a coalition that says its backed by franchisees and freelancers, is running digital and newspaper ads in West Virginia, Montana, Arizona and Maine to pressure key senators to reject Sus nomination.

Dont let Julie Su turn Arizona into California, reads one ad.

The coalition is led in part by the California Business and Industrial Alliance, which is airing TV ads in D.C. and Montana that paint Su as an incompetent executive.

Meanwhile, the White House has not wavered on its support for Su.

We do feel confident about Julies confirmation process, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. She has a proven track record that she can stand on proudly and  the president is proud to have nominated her.

Lets not forget, she actually went through this process before. It was done by all Senate Democrats at that time, Jean-Pierre added, also outlining the business groups that have supported Su.

Biden nominated Su in February to replace Walsh, who is the first Cabinet secretary in the line of succession to leave his post since the start of the administration. Su would be the first Asian American member of Bidens Cabinet, if confirmed. The administration is the first in more than 20 years not to have an Asian American Cabinet secretary.

Jean-Pierre sidestepped a question about what feedback the White House is getting about Su from Tester and Manchin, instead reiterating that Su got support from all Democrats in the Senate when she was confirmed as deputy director.

When Manchin supported Su for deputy director, he said having Walsh in place as secretary was the driving factor. The White House often points to Sus work with Walsh to argue she is qualified to take over his role.

Business interests are also putting tremendous pressure on senators to block Sus nomination through an onslaught of ads, letters and opinion pieces.

Franchisers and restaurants forcefully opposed a Su-backed California law to improve wages and workplace standards for fast-food workers.

Arizona and West Virginia business groups penned letters to senators Wednesday warning Su would nationalize Californias harmful policies, referring to the fast-food law and a California law that reclassified some contractors as employees.

Flex, a trade association representing Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig companies, has also expressed concern about Sus record. The group on Wednesday sent lawmakers a list of questions for Su focused on how she would handle the federal independent contractor rule.

The AFL-CIO is fighting back with its own six-figure ad and grassroots mobilization campaign targeting Montana, West Virginia, Arizona and Maine dubbed Stand with Su.

There are lobbyists and corporate interests working night and day, behind closed doors, to stop her confirmation, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told reporters Wednesday.

Theyre terrified of seeing somebody like Julie who actually looks out for working people and cant be bought, she continued. Theyre terrified of what might happen when you level the playing field and stop them from exploiting workers and union busting.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Lori Vallow Daybell appears in court in Lihue, Hawaii, on Feb. 26, 2020. | Dennis Fujimoto, Associated Press

Lori Vallow Daybell continued to appear calm and nonchalant on the seventh day of testimony Wednesday in a murder trial for the deaths of her two children.

A police officer testified Wednesday she had a similar demeanor just after her previous husband was shot and killed by her brother.

Jurors also heard more details throughout the day about what investigators learned from the family's financial records, the response and investigation into her former husband's death, and the significant change in Daybell's religious beliefs in the year before her children were killed.

Daybell is on trial for murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the deaths of 7-year-old JJ and 16-year-old Tylee. She is also charged in connection with the death of Tammy Daybell, the late wife of her husband Chad Daybell. Chad Daybell is also charged in the three deaths and will face a separate trial.

Rexburg police detective Chuck Kunsaitis testified Wednesday about multiple documents that indicated Tylee and JJ were not around in late 2019. Investigators searched for financial transactions, prescription fulfillments and plane tickets.

He said there was a $100 payment sent from Lori Daybell to her son Colby Ryan from an IP address matching a hotel in Missouri, and a reservation at the hotel showed only two people had checked in  Daybell and her niece  although the payment was made from Tylee's phone.

Kunsaitis also said plane records show Lori Daybell flew without her children from Hawaii to Idaho Falls on Oct. 23, 2019  the day of Tammy Daybell's funeral.

Kunsaitis reviewed an email to a Hawaii realtor from Chad Daybell, who said he was looking for a home for "a clean couple, with no pets or children" days after his wedding to Lori Daybell and before the search for Tylee and JJ began.

The estimated death date for Tylee is Sept. 9, 2019, when purchases on her account became sparse, and the estimated date for JJ's death is Sept. 23, 2019  around the time his mother withdrew him from school, according to trial testimony. The search for the two children, however, did not begin until Nov. 26, 2019, when JJ's grandparents were able to find an address for Lori Daybell and asked local Rexburg police to conduct a welfare check.

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Their bodies were found in shallow graves in Chad Daybell's yard months later on June 9, 2020.

Prosecutors are using financial records to piece together what the different players in the case were doing around the time of their deaths.

Rexburg police detective Chuck Kunsaitis testifies in Lori Vallow Daybell murder trial in Boise on Wednesday. | Lisa Cheney

Michael Douglass, a forensic accountant with the FBI, testified that Lori Daybell received about $22,545 from Social Security payments after her children's deaths and before payments stopped in January of 2020. This included money for both children because they had lost their fathers, and payments to Lori Daybell as the children's caregiver. He said the money Tylee was receiving from Social Security was deposited into her mother's account.

After Tammy Daybell died, Chad Daybell made most of the large purchases between him and Lori Daybell, including seven tickets for Knotts Berry Farm  tickets were for himself, his five children and Lori Daybell, Douglass said.

Douglass also said bank records show that Chad Daybell transferred $8,000 to three of his children at the same time police were searching his property on June 9, 2020  the same day the children's bodies were found.

'Her belief system had changed'

April Raymond seemed to be avoiding looking toward Lori Daybell when she took the witness stand Wednesday. Raymond met Daybell when she and her then-husband Charles Vallow moved to Hawaii in 2016. They were friends, spent holidays together, worked together in the same Latter-day Saint branch and their children played together.

When Daybell came back to visit Hawaii in February of 2019, Raymond said her friend's religious beliefs had changed significantly. She said Lori Daybell also told her she was having problems in her marriage.

Raymond said Daybell told her that "Charles wasn't Charles" but was a demon named Ned Schneider. When she asked Daybell how she knew that, she said she told her, "Because he's shorter."

Raymond said her friend also told her she was "done with JJ" and Raymond took that to mean that after a divorce, Charles would care for JJ exclusively.

Daybell later invited Raymond to join a group involving her new beliefs.

"It was my understanding that her belief system had changed because of this group that she had recently become a part of," Raymond testified.

She said Daybell had been appointed as a leader of this group "and that she was there to gather me." But Raymond said she was told that she "would need to be separated" from her children in order to join and was told that Raymond had fulfilled her role in her children's lives and had a greater role with her  and that she should leave her children with their father.

Raymond said she was not interested in the suggestion, and did not believe the religious beliefs Daybell was sharing.

Focus turns to Arizona and Hawaii

Prosecutors on Wednesday also called first responders to the stand from Chandler, Arizona  people who responded to and investigated the death of Charles Vallow. Vallow was shot by Lori Daybell's brother, Alex Cox, on July 11, 2019. The shooting death was treated as a case of self-defense; Cox was not charged before he later died in December of the same year.

Following repeated objections from defense attorneys, Judge Steven Boyce instructed jurors that information about what happened in the Arizona death could only be used to show motive but not character. He reiterated that Daybell is not on trial for anything that occurred in Arizona.

Scott Cowden, who works with the Chandler Fire Department, said when he performed CPR on Charles Vallow, it did not appear that Alex Cox had performed any CPR before he arrived, even though Cox had talked through the process during his 911 call.

Chandler police detective Cassandra Yncaln testified about her interactions with Lori Daybell that day while transporting her and Tylee to and from the police station and interviewing them.

Yncaln said when she first saw Daybell outside the home, she seemed calm and didn't have much of a reaction after she was told that her husband had died.

"She appeared calm, very nonemotional, was kind of hanging out and seemed to be just having  general conversation, not really upset," the detective said, adding that at "one point she was laughing."

She said Daybell told her she had been in the home when her husband was shot, but then left.

The detective said she transported Daybell and Tylee to the police station to be questioned. "During the entirety of the car ride, she was very calm and put together. Very nonchalant about what had happened, not upset," Yncaln said.

Chandler police detective Ariel Werther told jurors about tracking where Lori Daybell had gone after her husband was shot. He tracked her through Charles Vallow's phone, which she had taken with her. She left the house and went to Burger King, a Walgreens to purchase flip flops for her children who left the home quickly, and then to drop JJ off at school before heading back to the house where she was met by police investigating the shooting.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been accused of being a

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been accused of being a "racist in reverse" by Donald Trump over the 34-count indictment centered on hush-money payments made days before the 2016 election.

So

Has anyone bothered to ask Donald Trump why he thinks all three Black prosecutors who have launched criminal investigations into him are racist? Because, as far as I can tell, hes just saying it because theyre Black.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could all have been white legal officials with the same political views and Democratic backgrounds. Trump would still have had plenty of negative (and childish) things to say about them, but arbitrary allegations of racism would never have occurred to him. Instead, Trump noticed, first and foremost, that his legal opponents are all African American  and not thelook at my African American over here kind. Theres just no reason not to believe the former president saw that Bragg, James and Willis are Black and his first thought was to weaponize that against them.

I will be heading downtown to meet with a Racist who leaked that I would be there at 9:30 a.m., Trump recently posted to his Truth Social platform in reference to James, who has alleged that the Trump family and the Trump Organization are guilty of more than 200 instances of fraud.

As usual, Trump didnt elaborate at all about what makes James racist, just as he didnt when he referred to Willis as a racist District Attorney or to Bragg as a racist in reverse.He also didnt expound on the race-involved part of his claims when he referred to all three officials as radical, vicious, racist prosecutors.

Heres the thing: I often receive angry emails from white readers who accuse me of racism due to the perceivably disparaging (although often hilarious) remarks Ive written about white people. And Im fine with that  despite white conservatives warped understanding of what racism is, how it works and why the conversation about systemic racism they keep trying to dilute with petty white grievances is important. Of course Im racist based on their limited and simplistic understanding of racism. At the very least, theyre not pulling it out of thin air.

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Trump is just making things up.

Unless Im missing something.

Former President Donald Trump exits Trump Tower as he heads to a courthouse in Manhattan for his April 4 arraignment in a hush-money case.

Former President Donald Trump exits Trump Tower as he heads to a courthouse in Manhattan for his April 4 arraignment in a hush-money case.

Did Bragg stand before a crowd of Black constituents and say that Europe is sending us only their rapists and drug dealers while some, I assume, are good people? Did James allegedly call North and South Dakota shithole states? Maybe Willis doubled down on calling for the executions of five Caucasian teens who were ultimately exonerated after being jailed for falsely alleged crimes.

My point is, whether you personally believe Trump is racist or not, the argument is there. Trump led the racist birther movement against former President Barack Obama. He led the propaganda-reliant war against the teaching of critical race theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in education and in the workplace. And now hes blatantly trying to leverage anti-Black racism by accusing Black officials of anti-white racism. (Unless Trump is saying theyre specifically racist against comically over-tanned, orange-tinted Caucasians, but I doubt thats the case.)

So, the real question is: Where does right-wing America stand on all of this? Certainly the legions of fierce warriors against race-baiting, the race card and allowing race to divide America will not stand for the most prominent member of their political party engaging in all of the above. Surely conservative media outlets wont let leftist media outdo them by running the only op-eds condemning Trump for failing to un-see color. I mean, this is a former U.S. president who is currently the Republican front-runner for the presidency in 2024. And here he is essentially claiming the American justice system is racist against him, and thats why he cant stay out of trouble.

Its reverse-critical race theory, I tell ya!

Truthfully, theres no reason to expect any conservative pundits or politicians to challenge Trump on his race-baiting. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, apparently, doesnt even like Trump, but the two are such peas in the same white nationalist pod that ex-KKK grand wizard David Duke accused them both of piggybacking on his ideological platform. Carlson is so invested in anti-white racism propaganda that he accused President Joe Biden, who is notably white, of anti-white racism because he appointed way more Black women as federal judges than white men  who overwhelmingly dominate federal courts across the country. He also felt Biden was engaging in anti-white racism by ignoring white drug addicts by providing Black drug addicts with crack pipes, which, of course, Biden did not do.

In fact, the GOP and the rest of the MAGA world have been far too busy spreading the narrative that Trumps indictment in Manhattan this month proves there are two Americas, including one in which Republican conservatives are being oppressed and persecuted, to be bothered with petty issues like Trumps clear anti-Blackness. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasnt even accused Trump of being reverse-woke.

Not that theres any point in expecting consistency from someone like DeSantis, who claims to believe no one should be made to feel discomfort or guilt due to their race but also said podcaster Joe Rogan shouldnt have apologized for using the n-word, making stereotypical remarks about African people and referring to a Black neighborhood as the Planet of the Apes. DeSantis has, however, joined Trump in suggesting that Bragg is being funded directly by billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, which, of course, he is not.

Bragg recently filed a federal lawsuit against Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, who he accused of engaging in a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack. This was Braggs response to the House Judiciary Committee scheduling a hearing in Manhattan on Monday on crime in New York City and Braggs pro-crime, anti-victim policies, which makes no sense because, as Bragg pointed out, violent crime in Manhattan has dropped since Bragg took office in January 2022. Its almost as if House Republicans responded to Trumps indictment by dog-whistling about Black criminals in NYC. Braggs lawsuit stated that it was brought in response to an unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J. Trump. And if Bragg had also used the adjective racist, you can bet the GOP would be unanimous in condemning Bragg for playing the race card.

Bragg also said recently that since the indictment of Trump, his office has received more than 1,000 calls and emails from Trump supporters and that many of those messages have been overtly racist and antisemitic, including messages where he was called black trash and Aids Infested.

But, OK, Bragg is a public figure, as are James and Willis, and theyre likely used to having to deal with racist and otherwise threatening harassment. What about when Trump turns his ire, and subsequently his MAGA minions, on civilians?

Do yall remember Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea Shaye Moss, the Black Fulton County, Georgia, election workers who were referenced more than a dozen times in Trumps 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger? During that call, an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential vote in Georgia, Trump referred to Freeman, a woman he does not personally, or in any way, know, as a professional vote-scammer and hustler. It would be easy to argue Trump used racially coded language in reference to Freeman  but that would be race-baiting, amirite?

Anyway, Freeman and Moss testified before that Jan. 6 House select committee that due to the former president of the United States and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani using their massive MAGA platforms to defame them, they were driven into hiding after suffering what The New York Times described as an onslaught of racist abuse. And yet, despite the damage that its done to their reputations and sense of safety, as recently as January of this year, Trump has taken to his social media platform to renew his dangerous and demonstrably untrue allegations against these two Black women who are guilty of nothing but doing their jobs.

Donald Trump is claiming to be a victim of anti-white racism while blatantly displaying the impact of white power. Its the same impact that inspired a riot at the U.S. Capitol and the same impact that caused 147 Republican legislators to vote to overturn a legal election, an act that would have disenfranchised largely Black and Latino voters, all based on Trumps big lie.

Its the same racist impact that catapulted the propaganda campaign against critical race theory, which, broken down to its core, is all about white conservatives not believing Black people when we say we experience systemic racism.

They dont have that same energy for Trump, though.
Washington  The Justice Department is asking Congress to expand its ability to give proceeds from seized Russian assets to the people of Ukraine, as it continues its fight against Russia's invasion.

The U.S. is "leaving a lot of money on the table" from those forfeitures, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco testified before Congress Wednesday.

"The millions we are seizing and forfeiting because of export control violations, we can't transfer those proceeds to Ukraine," Monaco told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. "There are measures of accountability to make sure that those assets get transferred."

Under current law, federal officials are only able to utilize money seized in specific instances in which individuals illegally evade U.S. sanctions.

Under the authority of a federal task force known as KleptoCapture, federal authorities have seized numerous assets allegedly tied to Russian oligarchs and those supporting Russia, including luxury yachts, jets, and mansions. In all, according to the Justice Department, $500 million in Russian assets have been targeted and more than 30 individuals charged.

In December, Congress passed a law directing the State Department to allocate specific proceeds from assets seized by Justice Department investigators for the benefit of Ukraine. And in February, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he had authorized the first transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine  $5.4 million seized from alleged sanctions evader and Russian oligarch, Konstantin Malofeyev.

Monaco said the Justice Department wants Congress to broaden the government's forfeiture authority to include those who violate trade laws known as export controls. These laws govern the transfer of certain types of items and technology  like radars, satellite sensors, drones, toxins and more  to people in foreign countries or to foreign nationals in the U.S. This week, prosecutors accused the president of a building materials company of illegally engaging in $150 million in trade with sanctioned Russians, allegedly paying them in return for metal products used in steelmaking.

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The deputy attorney general also urged Congress to pass a law giving the Justice Department authority to prosecute certain crimes against humanity. There currently remains a legal loophole where certain atrocious crimes are not covered by war crimes or genocide statutes. Monaco said a new statute would close the gap and offer the authority needed to bring more criminal accountability to places like China and Venezuela.

"Right now, we cannot pursue the type of lawless activity ... that has gone on in Venezuela, the types of atrocities that have been committed by the Chinese against the Uyghurs. We can't pursue that type of justice here in U.S. courts without crimes against humanity statute," Monaco said Thursday.

She faced calls from senators to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, an authority that lies with the State Department. Monaco said there is no legal obstacle to this designation, but that the State Department and President Biden are not in favor of the move. A bill calling on the State Department to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism passed the Senate last year.

The focus on Russian war crimes and combating the aggression in Ukraine came just days after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin met with Garland and Monaco about law enforcement in the region. Kostin said his nation and U.S. officials are working to "deprive" Russia of resources that finance its war.

Garland suggested that accountability for war crimes isn't coming soon, but added that the Justice Department has a "very long memory" for war crimes and crimes against humanity and in the long run, he expects there will be accountability for perpetrators.

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KHARTOUM, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A 24-hour ceasefire agreed upon by the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has failed on Wednesday with eyewitnesses saying fightings continue.

The ceasefire, brokered by countries trying to evacuate their citizens, was supposed to come into effect at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Dwindling vital supplies and the threatened healthcare system in Sudan are pressing issues. Residents are running out of food, fuel and other vital supplies, with the health care system in danger of collapse, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.

"We desperately need a humanitarian pause so that wounded and sick civilians can reach hospitals," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "People in the capital Khartoum have been unable to safely leave their homes to buy food and other essentials for days now."

The relevant parties are still trying to help broker a truce.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to attend a virtual meeting on Sudan on Thursday and will continue to make phone calls during the day, in an attempt to secure a 24-hour ceasefire between the fighting forces in Sudan, according to Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Wednesday called on conflicting Sudanese parties to cease fire during the upcoming Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking the fast) holiday that follows the holy month of Ramadan.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday the country is holding talks with conflicting sides of Sudan for an ultimate ceasefire. "We are negotiating with both parties. We are negotiating to stop the conflict," he told reporters.

Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday urged the international community to step up efforts to end the unrest in Sudan that has entered a fifth day, noting that there is a real danger of escalation of hostilities in Sudan into a security and humanitarian crisis on a devastating scale.

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF broke out on Saturday, forcing civilians to flee and seek shelter from the hostilities. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the Kings coronation will be deeply representative of the nation as he denied claims of tensions with the monarch over the involvement of faith leaders.

Justin Welby replied absolutely not when asked about reports of tension between church leaders and Charles which claimed the issue had delayed the publication of the ceremonys order of service.

The King has championed interfaith dialogue and celebrated the major non-Christian faiths practised in the UK for many years.

But the Mail on Sunday reported church leaders were resisting what they claimed was the Kings desire for a more active role for faith leaders from religions such as Judaism and Islam during the coronation on 6 May.

What there is, is a deep sense - both of reflecting our tradition but also reflecting the fact that we're infinitely more diverse than we were in 1953

Archbishop of Canterbury

Mr Welby told the BBC: On the 6th, the service is deeply Christian and when its published youll see its also representative of the people of this land.

It is thought the senior cleric made his comments when he joined Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and leading figures from the Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist communities at a homeless charity in central London as they urged Britons to volunteer over the coronation weekend.

Asked about the claims of tensions, the Archbishop replied: None whatsoever, no tension, absolutely not.

What there is, is a deep sense  both of reflecting our tradition but also reflecting the fact that were infinitely more diverse than we were in 1953.

The King caused controversy in 1994 when he spoke of his desire to become Defender of Faith rather than Defender of the Faith as monarch  raising the prospect of a major change in the ancient relationship between the Church of England and the monarchy.

Charles later said in 2015 that he believed it was possible to be Defender of the Faith as well as being a protector of faiths, and he was proclaimed Defender of the Faith at his Accession Council in September.

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In a reception for faith leaders after the Queens death, he described himself as a committed Anglican Christian, saying he would take an oath at his coronation relating to the settlement of the Church of England.

But he said he believed the sovereign has a less formally recognised additional duty to protect the diversity of our country, including by protecting the space for faith itself and its practise through the religions, cultures, traditions and beliefs to which our hearts and minds direct us as individuals.

A senior Church official involved in coronation planning said: The claims in a recent article in the Mail on Sunday are baseless.

Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace are in complete agreement about every aspect of the coronation and we look forward to sharing more details about the service over the coming weeks.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed two bipartisan bills Thursday funneling tens of millions of dollars into efforts to protect Kansass shrinking water supply and hold officials accountable for further depletion.

For years, Kansas leaders have been aware of a dwindling water supply in western Kansas that will eventually have major ramifications statewide. But the state office created to address the problem has been underfunded for decades as the problem mounted.

One bill increases funding for the state water plan by $35 million, bringing the total for the plan  which is currently critically underfunded  to $43 million annually. The other bill aims to hold groundwater management districts accountable for the depletion and quality of their groundwater supply.

Both bills passed the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support representing major steps to address the states water crisis in the midst of exceptional drought in nearly two-thirds of the state.

We must protect the water that has powered our booming farming economy for generations, Kelly, a Democrat, said in a statement. Im proud that Republicans and Democrats were able to come together to make progress on this pressing crisis, investing a historic level of resources into major water storage projects.

Rep. Jim Minnix, a Scott City Republican who chairs the House Water Committee, said in a statement that the policy would improve upon existing funding levels. This will benefit all Kansans  rural, urban, Republican, Democrats, younger, and older.

The funding legislation dictates how the money should be spent, with a portion going to a technical assistance fund, which assists small communities in securing applications for improving water infrastructure, and another portion going to a grant fund, which would fund water projects. Any leftover money would be transferred to the state water plan fund.

The other bill requires groundwater management districts to submit an annual report identifying priority areas of concern and create an action plan to address them.

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Still, advocates and experts say the bills are a starting point and do not go far enough to solve the problem.

The Kansas Water Office estimates the state needs to allocate $55 million annually to properly address the myriad of hydraulic problems within the state.

Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, an Overland Park Democrat and ranking minority member of the House Committee on Water, said the Legislature has considered bills in the past that would have provided significantly more funding to the states water plan, but couldnt rally the needed support.

Its like a dance, she said. If you introduce huge water bills like we have in the past, and stakeholders think its too big of a change or too drastic, they just shut it down. We learned lessons from those bills, and pulled out pieces to put into 2302 which stakeholders said they would compromise on or they were coalescing around.

So this was just a moment where we said, Okay, this is what we can get started on right now, she said. Then we can keep the ball moving forward.

Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club, said the measures fell short of the states needs.

Were talking about 10 years or less for water in some communities, he said. Weve got to make some serious shifts and fast. Im just not sure that just adding more money is the transformational policy that we need.

Pistora said the state should ask all water rights owners to reduce their consumption by 20-30% and create more incentives for farmers to conserve water, including asking irrigators, which use 84% of the states non-domestic water supply, to pay fees to the state water plan fund congruent with their usage.

But as the situation becomes more urgent Kent Askren, the assistant director of natural resources at the Kansas Farm Bureau, said the legislation is a cause for hope.

The momentum is there, its growing, he said. Theres probably more momentum now than Ive seen in my entire career to address these issues. But now is the time to prove that some of these measures will be implemented with definable and positive results.
A man allegedly armed with a handgun was shot and killed by Kansas City police on Wednesday afternoon after officers responded to a report that he was threatening people.

Around 4:30 p.m., police officers were dispatched to the 4900 block of East 27th Street on a report of a man acting erratically and pointing a gun indiscriminately at civilians, said Sgt. Bill Lowe of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Two officers responding encountered him in the middle of 27th Street, Lowe said, and attempted to deescalate the situation by commanding him to drop the weapon. He did not obey that command, Lowe said, and one of the officers fatally shot him within moments of arriving.

After he was shot, Lowe said the officers gave the man first aid. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police identified him late Wednesday night as 43-year-old Reginald E. Byers Jr.

Kansas City police officers shot and killed a man Wednesday afternoon in the 4900 block of East 27th Street. The man allegedly pointed a gun at civilians and did not comply with commands to drop the weapon.

One witness who called 911 reported the man was walking up and down 27th Street and saw him point the gun, Lowe said. She left the area, Lowe said, and investigators were working toward contacting her for a statement.

No others were injured, according to police. The two officers involved were being put on administrative leave, an automatic action in deadly uses of force.

It was not immediately known whether the man pointed or fired the handgun at police prior to being shot, Lowe said. He said that would be part of the Highway Patrols investigation, which is ongoing.

Since 2020, the Highway Patrol has investigated Kansas City police shootings. On Wednesday, Lowe said investigators would interview witnesses and review footage captured by police body cameras.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves, right, and Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe, left, prepare to brief news reporters Wednesday near 27th Street and Lister Avenue after officers fatally shot a man who was allegedly armed with a handgun.

Kansas City police kept the street blocked for hours after the shooting as the Highway Patrol was beginning its investigation. Chief Stacey Graves visited the scene, giving a brief statement saying she was there to ensure cooperation, transparency and fairness in the process.

The shooting marked Kansas Citys 52nd homicide of 2023, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. In 2022, there were 171 killings in Kansas City, the second-deadliest year on record.

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Standing behind the yellow police tape on 27th Street Wednesday was Rachel Riley, president of the areas East 23rd St. Pac Neighborhood Association. She said witnessing young people losing their lives to violence is always traumatizing for the community.

Bystanders, Riley said, told her the young man had been waving a gun before police officers shot him. She was unaware of all the particulars, she said, though she pointed to the outcome as an opportunity to reflect on how police use deadly force.

At first people are like Oh, well. Theyre doing their job. But where do we de-escalate? Because at the end of the day, you took someones life. And I understand its a safety precaution. We didnt want that young man to hurt anyone, Riley said, adding anything to not take their lives should be done.

We dont know the young mans name or anything about him right now, but many prayers to him and his family, Riley said.
Kansas Democratic Party officials must be desperate. Theyre asking me to think about a run for office.

I have the text messages to prove it.

The first text arrived on my phone on Saturday: Hi Joel, were looking for Dems in Lawrence to run for local office. Would you like info on how to run? - Mari, Kansas Dems.

That was unexpected. Ive voted in the Democratic primaries the last few election cycles, but thats been my total participation in the party. Ive never donated a cent to a candidate, never been to a party event except in my capacity as a journalist. And Ive never met or texted with Mari.

Maybe somebody made a mistake?

Or maybe not. A second message came on Tuesday. Hi Joel, Im Tonya w/ the Kansas Dems. Were looking for Dems in Douglas County to run for local office. Want info on how to run?

Well, no, not really. But something was going on. And  confession time  I am not special. I was not plucked from the crowd for a chance at political stardom. Lots of folks were getting the texts.

I posted screenshots of the texts to Twitter and found that several of my friends and neighbors had received similar messages. So had a professor at Wichita State. Whatever was happening was happening across Kansas.

Part of me was suspicious. Everybody remembers the misleading texts about the Value Them Both antiabortion measure sent last summer by a PAC run by former Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp. Was this some sort of con?

Part of me was incredulous. Is the Democratic Party in Kansas really recruiting its next generation of candidates in Kansas with spam?

And part of me, frankly, thought the whole thing was kind of hilarious. What a way to launch a political career!

The good news here is that, yes, the texts really did come from the state Democratic Party. There was no con. And yes, theres a strategy involved.

We are aggressively recruiting candidates at all levels who will fight to pass commonsense legislation on behalf of their constituents, new KDP chair Jeanna Repass said in a written statement provided by a party spokeswoman. Were reaching out to and encouraging people who maybe havent been recruited before or have never thought running for office was an option to bring more people with different backgrounds into this process.

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To do that, we must ensure our reach is far and wide.

Or as state Rep. Rui Xu, a Johnson County Democrat, put it on Twitter: People get mad when we dont proactively recruit, people get mad when we do.

Fair enough. Remember Howard Dean? The former presidential candidate was chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the late 2000s and responded to the partys string of losses with a 50-state strategy to make sure Democrats competed in every political race on the map, no matter how overwhelming the Republican advantage.

You miss 100% of the shots you dont take, after all. Deans strategy always seemed smart to me.

If local Democrats can take a similar approach to make Kansas politics even a tiny bit more competitive  say, reducing Republicans in the Legislature to a mere majority instead of a veto-proof supermajority  it might be worth it.

But Kansas Democrats mightve done a better job telegraphing their intentions. Some activists were apparently caught by surprise by the texts.

When the text hit our town, we already had candidates for every seat (but not publicly), Keith Davenport, a former Democratic candidate in Johnson County, wrote on Twitter. So now I am waiting to see if we end up with Dems competing for the same seats which would really hurt in our at-large races.

Democrats say theyve already received a number of positive responses to the text campaign. But there is no political future for me, though. As a great man once said: If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve. Id rather write about politics than participate in the fray.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teenagers, but the Republican lawmakers who pushed them appeared to have the votes to override most of her actions.

Gov. Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on overnight school trips.

Her actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who have made rolling back transgender rights a priority.

The measures on bathrooms, jails and overnight school trips passed earlier this month with the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto, and on April 5, lawmakers overrode Kelly's March veto of a separate ban on female transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. However, two days later, the measure on gender-affirming care fell 12 House votes short of a supermajority.

Kelly said in statement on the four vetoes that measures stripping away rights would hurt the state's ability to attract businesses. The vetoes also were in keeping with her promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people.

Companies have made it clear that they are not interested in doing business with states that discriminate against workers and their families," Kelly said in her statement. Im focused on the economy. Anyone care to join me?

At least 14 states with GOP-led legislatures have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors, including North Dakota as of Wednesday. At least seven have bathroom laws, mostly focusing on schools, and at least 21 have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes.

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The Kansas bathroom bill would have applied not only to bathrooms and locker rooms outside schools but rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and state prisons, as well as the county jails covered by a separate vetoed bill. Because it also sought to define sex as either male or female, at birth, transgender people wouldnt have been able to change the gender marker on their drivers licenses, though a 2019 federal court decree still would have allowed them to change their birth certificates.

Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights see the measure as legally erasing transgender people and denying recognition to non-binary, gender-fluid or gender non-conforming people.

I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet, Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent transgender rights rally outside the Statehouse. We are in a fight for our lives, literally.

GOP conservatives argue that many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that peoples gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; don't want cisgender women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries.

By any reasonable standard, governing from the middle of the road should include ensuring vulnerable children do not become victims of woke culture run amok, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement deriding Kelly's veto of the ban on gender-affirming care.

That Kansas measure would have required the state's medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later.

Supporters said the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy. But the measure also applied to causing acts that "affirm the childs perception of the childs sex if it differs from their gender assigned at birth.

Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.

Its one thing to have a family member thats unaffirming of who you are as a person, said Derrick Jordan, a licensed therapist who works with trans youth and directs the Gender and Family Project at New Yorks Ackerman Institute for training child and family therapists. Its a whole other thing to have a system tell you youre not fully human or you dont have the same rights as other folks.

Kellys office said the Kansas bathroom bill would have complicated the administration of multiple state programs  including programs assisting women farmers and hunters. Also, it said, some of those programs would have violated federal anti-discrimination laws, and the state could have lost federal dollars.

The measure borrows language from a proposal from several anti-trans groups. It says the important governmental objectives" of protecting health safety and privacy justify separate public facilities for men and women and the measure would have applied where biology, safety or privacy prompt sex-separation. It defines male and female based on a persons reproductive anatomy at birth.

While supporters of the legislation avoid calling it a bathroom bill, they have said repeatedly that it would have prevented transgender women from sharing bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities with cisgender women.

Masterson portrayed Kelly's veto as not being able to define a woman." That's a widespread anti-trans talking point at odds with doctors who say that reproductive anatomy at birth doesnt always align with strict definitions of sex and that binary views of sexual identity can miss biological nuances.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
Today, Im going to compliment the Kansas Legislature.

Try to look a little less shocked.

Rest assured I havent dropped my opposition to their efforts to reform tax policy to benefit the wealthiest among us, or their weird fixation on persecuting LGBTQ+ Kansans, or their attempted defunding of public schools, or their unrelenting efforts to overturn the will of the voters on abortions.

But, I went to a Republican Pachyderm Club meeting last week and found out that theres at least one set of legislators doing the job we sent them to Topeka to do.

Its the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications, which shepherded through a bill, House Bill 2225, that will result in tens of millions of dollars in savings on Kansans Evergy electric bills. It was signed into law by Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday.

One of the speakers at the Pachyderm meeting was Rep. Leo Delperdang, a west Wichita Republican who is the freshman chairman of the utilities committee.

He explained how Evergys been running transmission projects through a federal regulatory process that allowed the company to reap higher profits at the expense of its customers.

When we dug in . . . we uncovered $22 million in previous overcharges that will be refunded to Evergy customers, Delperdang said.

To understand this, you need to know a little bit about how utility rates are set up to account for the costs of new transmission infrastructure.

In Kansas, those costs are passed along to consumers bills in what is called the Transmission Delivery Charge.

Its to Evergys advantage to put transmission projects through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission instead of the Kansas Corporation Commission, the state agency that regulates electric rates.

In either process, the company gets to charge customers the full cost of doing its projects, plus a return on equity, which is basically the profit pool for Evergy stockholders.

Evergy has two divisions in Kansas with differing rate structures. Evergy Metro serves the Kansas City area, formerly Kansas Power & Light, while Evergy Central serves the rest of the state, the area that used to be Westar Energy.

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When projects go through the federal process, the FERC gives Evergy Metro an 11% return on equity, and Evergy Central a 10.3% ROE. Evergy only gets 9.3% if the project goes through the KCC.

That difference adds up to millions in excess profit for Evergy.

Justin Grady, the KCCs chief of revenue requirements and finance, said the changes brought about by HB 2225 will cut Evergy rates by $10.6 million next year and an additional $2 million annually for the next three years.

The other significant change in HB 2225 is that it allows the KCC to review Evergys projects to determine whether theyre necessary, or just profit-padding extras.

Under current law, all (Evergy transmission) charges are to be conclusively presumed prudent, meaning that the KCCs review of these costs is limited to a mathematical audit of the accuracy of the filing, Grady testified.

The immediate savings are estimated to be about 47 cents a month for Evergy Central customers and 30 cents a month for Evergy Metro customers. The differential is largely because the Central area is bigger and has more power lines.

Its not a huge difference in bills, but its a sea change in the Statehouses attitude toward utility consumer protection.

Ive covered utilities for more than 20 years in Kansas.

For all of that time until now, the Legislature has been essentially the handmaiden of Evergy, or its predecessor Westar Energy, or before that, Western Resources.

The utilities essentially wrote the laws that govern them, and the utilities committees in the House and Senate were little more than a rubber stamp.

Thats how the KCC got handcuffed on Transmission Delivery Charges in the first place.

So its refreshing to see new leadership, especially Delperdang, taking a more proactive and consumer-friendly approach to utility rates.

Let us hope that HB 2225 is only the beginning.
Kate Garraway said Derek Draper has a 'long road ahead' of him. (ITV)

Kate Garraway has shared that her husband Derek Draper has been back in hospital, saying he has a long road ahead of him.

Draper spent more than a year in hospital after falling ill with the coronavirus in 2020 and now needs round the clock care.

This week Good Morning Britain star Garraway updated fans on how he was getting on as she revealed that the pair enjoyed a night out to see Sir Elton John on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

Read more: Kate Garraway and 'largely bedridden' husband have been binge-watching Succession

Writing on Instagram, the TV star said she and Draper saw John in London and that the Rocketman even performed Dont Let The Sun Go Down On Me as a special tribute to them.

She wrote:  so this was a moment.

"Finally found someone who had actually filmed it rather than just burst into joyous tears as we did!!! Still cant quite believe we were there at all - even hours before we feared Derek would be too weak - but he was determined."

Updating fans about how Draper was getting on, she said: "Yes Derek has been back in hospital this week & yes theres such a long road ahead but #eltonjohn & @davidfurnish you gave the kids & Derek a moment that we will never forget and has lifted their spirits again to feel anything is possible."

Kate Garraway enjoyed a night out with husband Derek Draper. (PA Images via Getty Images)

"Thank you for your inspiring music and huge heart," Garraway added, saying that she was "bursting with gratitude" as she thanked all the people who had helped to make it possible.

Read more: Kate Garraway says husband Derek Draper fell out of wheelchair in cab home from hospital

Draper first fell ill with the coronavirus in March 2020.

He returned home to Garraway and their two children  17-year-old daughter Darcey and 13-year-old son Billy  over a year later in April 2021.

Watch: Kate Garraway gives update on husband's long wait for COVID care
Kate, Princess of Wales stepped out in a dress from Karen Millen that's currently on sale for 183. (Getty Images)

Kate has returned to her high street roots, wearing a chic Karen Millen dress worth 183 for her latest engagement.

The Princess of Wales joined her husband, Prince William, in Birmingham today to celebrate the citys diverse culture and heritage and meet future leaders in the creative industries.

Read more: Princess of Wales' wardrobe: Kate's favourite  and most affordable  fashion brands

The pair travelled to Birmingham by train, with a video of their rail travel being posted to their Instagram account.

During the visit, the mother of three, who has long been a fan of high street labels, wore a burgundy Long Sleeve Woven Pleated Midi Trench Dress from Karen Millen, which is currently on sale for 183.20, down from 229.

Kate's Long Sleeve Woven Pleated Midi Trench Dress from Karen Millen retails for 229. (Getty Images)

Shop Kate's dress

While the burgundy and forest hues are currently sold out, its still available in black and camel.

Part dress, part trench coat, this beautifully cut design shows off neat notched lapels, a waist tie and crisp pleats lining the skirt. Cinch it in for a nipped-in silhouette thats ready for colder climes, a description on the site reads.

Read more: Kate means business in 1.5k blazer as she launches taskforce for Early Childhood

Kate paired the dress with Gianvito Rossi 'Gianvito 105' Pumps in the matching Royale Burgundy Suede, which retail for 650 and are currently available in several different shades on Net-A-Porter.

Jewellery-wise, the 41-year-old opted for Sezanes 'Dina' Earrings in Ocean Blue, which retail for 100 and are made from gold-plated recycled brass.

Kate wore Sezanes 'Dina' Earrings in Ocean Blue. (Getty Images)

Shop Kate's earrings

Kate debuted these earrings on Christmas Day 2022, when she wore them with a bespoke Philip Treacy hat, custom Alexander McQueen coat dress, and a 35 Mango dress as her base layer.

Read more: Princess of Wales pairs 35 high street dress with custom coat for Christmas Day outfit

She completed the look with a simple gold chain necklace, namely the Gold Citrine Baby Treasure Necklace from Daniella Draper, which retails for 825.

Kate also wore the Daniella Draper necklace in January. (Getty Images)

Shop Kate's Necklace

Kate previously wore this necklace in January with another burgundy outfit when she attended a reception for the England Wheelchair Rugby League Team at Hampton Court Palace.

Watch: Kate Middleton's most iconic looks of all time
It seems that Kendall Jenner has been practicing her culinary skills ever since she was famously mocked for the way she sliced a cucumber on The Kardashians.

While appearing in the latest episode of Hailey Biebers YouTube series  titled whats in my kitchen?  the 27-year-old reality star showed off her expert knife skills as she showed Bieber how to make Kris Jenners famous layered dip.

Kendall has come to make her moms famous layered dip that is so popular amongst all of our friends, all of her family, the Rhode Skin founder said in the video, which was posted on 19 April to YouTube. But before the two friends started making Kris Jenners famed layered dip recipe, they began the show by crafting their very own passionfruit spritz cocktails.

The summery drink consisted of tequila, Aperol, passionfruit juice and of course, fresh lime juice. After Bieber handed Jenner a sharp knife from her kitchen, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star expertly sliced one of the limes in half and squeezed it into the cocktail shaker.

Taken aback by her own cutting skills, Jenner paused and said: That wasthat was really nice. That was a fresh cut. Bieber was also impressed by Jenners seemingly improved knife work when she told the camera, It was a gorgeous chop.

The moment was a far cry from the last time fans witnessed Kendall Jenner in the kitchen. The reality star was famously mocked on social media after she struggled to slice a cucumber in season one of familys Hulu reality show, The Kardashians.

In the scene, Jenner was visiting her mothers house when she attempted to make herself a cucumber snack. Im making it myself, she said. Just gotta chop up some cucumber. Its pretty easy.

She began by cutting the cucumber in a criss-cross motion, with one hand on the end of the cucumber and the other holding the knife. The awkward angle prompted her mother to beckon to their chef for help, but Jenner was determined to cut the cucumber herself.

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Im not a good cutter, so dont zoom in on me, the model told the cameras. Im not professional whatsoever.

The scene instantly went viral online as thousands of people weighed in on Jenners knife skills, or lack thereof. Kendall Jenner trying to cut a f***ing cucumber is the most tragic thing Ive ever witnessed, tweeted one person.

Watching Kendall Jenner cut a cucumber makes me feel better about myself, another Twitter user wrote.

Im afraid if I watch that clip of Kendall cutting cucumber wrong one more time, I will forget whatever vegetables I know how to cut, said someone else.

While the kitchen fail aired on The Kardashians nearly a year ago, her famous sisters have yet to let Jenner live the embarrassing moment down. Speaking on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast last May, Khloe Kardashian revealed how her half-sister felt about the clip going viral.

Oh, my God, shes, like, not happy about that, she said. I feel so bad.

Kardashian continued: Im like, Kendall, god is fair. Youre the most beautiful human being in the world. You have wild-looking toes, god bless. And you cant cut a f***ing cucumber.

The world is good. Because shes like  how can you be this f***ing perfect? She has this perfect life, this perfect dog, shes a gazelle of a human being, she walks the runway, shes all these amazing things. You cant cut a f***ing cucumber?

Kardashian added that she would gladly help Jenner improve her culinary skills, saying: Please, come over and stay with me for one week. Shell really cry herself a river, oh my god. But Im going to teach her how to cut a cucumber.

Meanwhile, Kylie Jenner jokingly called her older sister cucumber girl in a video posted to TikTok. The 13-second video showed Kendall and Kylie dancing and singing to the camera at their sister Kourtney Kardashian Barkers wedding to Travis Barker in Portofino, Italy. She captioned the video: Me and cucumber girl

Even her mother, Kris Jenner, joined in on the fun when she was filmed chopping vegetables in a video for Vogue. While preparing dirty martinis and pasta primavera with daughter Kylie, the 25-year-old Kylie Cosmetics founder turned to her mother and said, Should we cut it like Kendall?

However, it was Kendall Jenner who had the last laugh. The model poked fun at herself in a post to her Instagram story last May, when she shared a picture of a chopping board with a large knife and cucumber. Here we go again, she captioned the post, with the cucumber ready to be chopped front and centre.

Jenner even dressed up as a giant cucumber for Halloween last year, wearing green latex leggings and a giant bespoke cucumber-slice top and a prop knife. She was instantly hailed as iconic for the cucumber costume.
The Kennewick City Council overhauled its relatively new council ethics policy at its meeting this week, making its process for complaints against council members less formal, quicker and less costly.

The council adopted its first ethics policy for council members after censuring Councilman John Trumbo for misusing his office and investigating an unfounded drug rumor against a fellow councilman in 2019.

That was followed by three ethics complaints being filed.

However, the current council has now gone a year without a complaint.

Under the new ethics policy, the city will no longer contract with an outside attorney for hearings on complaints.

Instead, council members will first take up the issue one-on-one to see if it can be resolved without involving the full council.

The next step would be scheduling a discussion in a closed meeting of the council, as allowed by Washington state law. No decision could be made in that meeting.

That will be followed by a 14-day cooling-off period before a formal complaint may be filed if at least two council members want to pursue further action.

The complaint then would be discussed at the next council meeting. A full public hearing will be held only if requested by the council member who is the subject of the complaint.

Any sanctions against the council member would follow with a vote of the council.

The Kennewick City Council meets at City Hall.

Complaints would be required to be initiated within 45 days of knowledge of a potential ethics violation by a council member.

The council had not had what it considered an ethics issue for about 20 years until the last few years, said council members at a workshop on the ethics policy earlier this month.

The recent issues appeared to be a matter of personalities, said Councilman Brad Beauchamp.

History of ethics complaints

After the formal ethics policy was adopted, Trumbo was accused of abusing his position and had an ethics complaint decided against him in 2020.

He was accused of identifying himself as a councilman when he made a phone call looking into the financial dealings of a former state legislator. Trumbo argued that he said he was not calling in a city capacity, but an ethics officer ruled against him.

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Also in 2020 an ethics complaint was filed against former Mayor Don Britain.

Britain was fired in 2019 from his job as a Washington state Department of Social and Health Services case manager after an administrative investigation into his relationship with a female welfare client.

The city ethics complaint, related to the investigation, was dismissed by an ethics officer without a hearing.

Then in 2022 an ethics complaints was filed, and later dismissed by an ethics officer, claiming that now Mayor Bill McKay and Councilmen Beauchamp and Trumbo knowingly violated the states open meetings law to get council members to sign an ethics complaint against Britain in January 2020.

The only issue that current council members were aware of when a council considered taking action related to a members behavior before those in 2019 to 2022 was in the 1990s.

The late Councilman Tom Walker was censured by the council in 1995 for criticizing other council members and ghost-writing Tri-City Herald letters to the editor supporting candidates.

Then he took a city worker to small-claims court over a $19.50 permit for installing a water heater in the councilmans home.

Walker claimed the city official was harassing him for not applying for a permit than no one else had applied for in two years and stopped city building officials from inspecting the installed water heater. He was charged with obstructing a city servant.

He asked the court for more than $2,000, most of it for intentional infliction of emotional damages. A judge dismissed the claim and reprimanded him for not showing a better example of the civic process.
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A 21-member delegation of ethnic minorities from Taiwan visited Beijing from Tuesday to Thursday to get a better understanding of the ethnic cultures of the Chinese nation and exchange views with relevant parties on the development of relations across the Taiwan Strait as well as on exchanges and cooperation between ethnic minorities from the two sides.

Compatriots from ethnic minorities in Taiwan are indispensable members of the big family of the Chinese nation, said Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, when meeting with the delegation on Wednesday.

They have a glorious tradition of loving the country and their homeland and have made important contributions to the development of cross-Strait relations and the reunification of the motherland, he said.

"We will implement the Party's overall policy for resolving the Taiwan question in the new era, always respect, care for, and bring benefits to compatriots in Taiwan, and actively support exchanges, cooperation, and integrated development between Taiwan ethnic minority compatriots and compatriots on the mainland to jointly create a brighter future for national reunification and rejuvenation," Song said.

Members of the delegation said compatriots of ethnic groups on both sides of the Strait are all members of the big family of the Chinese nation. Ethnic minorities in Taiwan miss the warm and close people-to-people exchanges between the two sides before COVID-19 and look forward to resuming such exchanges soon.

They said they recognize and support the 1992 Consensus and oppose separatist activities aimed at "Taiwan independence." They will continue to encourage people of all ethnic groups to participate in cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and jointly create a better future for the Chinese nation with compatriots on the mainland.

After visiting Beijing, the delegation will head for Guangxi, Fujian, and Hainan to participate in exchange activities involving ethnic minorities across the Strait. 
Kentuckys political leaders are rapidly moving to expand access to medical marijuana to those who have debilitating health conditions, like chronic pain, epilepsy and more.

In a matter of months, the governor has rolled out an executive order and lawmakers in the General Assembly have also passed a law that will eventually establish a medical cannabis program in the commonwealth.

Heres a review of where medical marijuana stands in Kentucky and a guide to our coverage to help you navigate the legalities of medical marijuana, including who qualifies to use it and what requirements you must meet.

New KY law will usher in medical cannabis cards by 2025

By 2025, residents of Kentucky will be able to apply for and carry a medical marijuana card, provided they have a qualifying medical condition certified by a doctor.

Thats due to new legislation passed by Kentuckys GOP-dominated legislature and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, whos been an advocate for medical marijuana since early in his term.

Still, the law has some caveats, chief of which is cardholders are not allowed to use marijuana by smoking it.

Senate Bill 47 overcame opposition from some Republican holdouts concerned it would expose impressionable children to marijuana and potentially put Kentucky on the path toward recreational legalization. But the bills supporters disagreed, arguing it provides oversight and could address the states problems with opioid addiction.

One of the prime reasons I sponsored this bill and moved it along is addiction, said Republican state Sen. Stephen West, of Paris. Other states who have this option have seen not only a 20-30% reduction in opioid use, but also a 20-30% reduction in drug addiction.

For a deeper-dive into Kentuckys new medical marijuana law, you can find our full story here.

Who qualifies for a medical marijuana card under Kentuckys new law? What we know so far

Executive order grants limited access to medical marijuana

Kentuckians eligible for medical marijuana wont be able to purchase it in-state until the new law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025.

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In the meantime, an executive order from Kentuckys governor that allows state residents to travel and purchase small amounts of medical cannabis will remain in effect.

Beshears order lays out several requirements, including that the person must be able to prove they have at least one of 21 qualifying medical conditions, like cancer, chronic pain and terminal illnesses, among others.

In an interview with the Herald-Leader, Beshear noted, all you have to do to qualify under the order from the certification piece is to have a doctor certify that you have epilepsy or Parkinsons or Crohns disease or multiple sclerosis or any of the other listed conditions.

You can find the full list of qualifying conditions under the executive order here.

For more about how the executive order works and what it means for Kentuckians, check out this story.

Who can use medical marijuana in Kentucky? Heres what to know about the requirements

Kentuckians can now possess medical marijuana. Heres how accessing it works

How does KY compare to other states where weed is legal?

Public opinion polling suggests that 90% of Kentucky adults support legalizing medical cannabis, and at least 37 other states and the District of Columbia have laws that permit marijuana for medicinal purposes.

But the list of states that allow adults to use marijuana outside of medicinal purposes is growing.

To read about how Kentucky stacks up to other states, read this story.

Where is weed legal? How Kentucky compares to 37 states that allow medical marijuana

We want your marijuana questions

Kentuckians have a lot of questions about access to medical marijuana and the future of recreational marijuana in the state.

Wed like your questions to inform our reporting and coverage. Use the form below to send them in, or you can email ask@herald-leader.com.

Prior to the passage of S.B. 47, we rounded up some preliminary answers for you in a story you can read here.

Your top questions about medical marijuana in Kentucky answered by the experts
King Charles's private wealth includes 54 jewels, according to a report. (Getty Images)

An anti-monarchist group has hit out at King Charles's "vanity parade" coronation, after claims the monarch has a personal fortune of 1.8bn.

According to an extensive investigation by The Guardian, Charles's private wealth includes 54 jewels, many of which were acquired by Queen Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary, which are worth an estimated 530m. It also includes racehorses, private property, investments, a fleet of cars, and art.

A spokesperson for the King has dismissed the newspaper's estimate of the his personal wealth as "highly creative".

Campaign group Republic, which aims to abolish the British monarchy, said people looking at the report would likely be asking why they were expected to bear the cost of the 6 May coronation during a cost of living crisis when the Royal Family are more than capable of covering it themselves.

Read more: King Charles's coronation: When is the bank holiday and what will happen?

"The coronation is pointless, it is his own vanity parade, and comes at an estimated cost of 100m, which he could easily pay given his personal wealth  which he doesn't pay inheritance tax on," Republic's Graham Smith told Yahoo News UK.

"There's more to it than money, but it does keep on costing us a lot of money. People will look at this figure and say, 'why do we put our hands in our pockets when you have so much money of your own, and you have that because you don't pay the taxes we do?' So it will annoy and upset a lot of people."

Charles and Camilla pictured at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle earlier this month. (Pool via AP, File)

The coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla is expected to cost around 100m, while Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 cost 1.5m.

"In todays money the 1953 coronation cost around 50m but estimates for King Charless are twice that because of things like security, which werent such a big issue back then," a source told The Sun.

But worldwide TV rights will more than cover the cost and it will be a massive boost to tourism. Hotels are already being booked out for the coronation weekend.

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Read more: How fans and critics have reacted to Harry attending Charles's coronation without Meghan

And despite the huge financial outlay, a new poll suggests more than half of Brits aren't interested in the coronation.

The recent YouGov poll showed 52% of the public said they were not interested in the coronation, 29% said they were fairly interested and 15% said they were very interested.

A palace spokesperson also told the Guardian: "While we do not comment on private finances, your figures are a highly creative mix of speculation, assumption and inaccuracy."

The palace also said the king's personal finances should remain private, as they do for any other individual.

Yahoo News UK has contacted Buckingham Palace and the Guardian for comment, but neither has chosen to respond.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have chosen a quiche as their signature dish for the upcoming coronation, but the decision has received mixed reactions amidst an ongoing egg shortage in the United Kingdom.

Ahead of the Kings coronation on Saturday 6 May, the royal couple unveiled the recipe for their coronation quiche to be enjoyed at Big Lunch events being staged as part of the coronation. The recipe for the open-baked savoury tart includes spinach, broad beans, tarragon, cheese, and of course, eggs.

Following the announcement, many royal watchers took to social media to share their thoughts about the classic French dish. While some fans expressed their excitement at baking the quiche for themselves, others couldnt help but notice that the coronation quiche contains eggs  which have faced soaring supermarket prices since the avian flu outbreak late last year.

Coronation quiche when theres an egg shortage lmaoooo, tweeted one person. Theyre so tone deaf its comical.

Read the room, poshos, another said. People cant afford their weekly shop anymore.

There are no f***ing eggs in the supermarkets, tweeted someone else, replying to another user in a separate tweet: Let them eat quiche

Coronation quiche when there's an egg shortage lmaoooo. They're so tone deaf it's comical.  Multiple Diss Track Survivor (@emelleionaire) April 17, 2023

Read the room, poshos.



People cant afford their weekly shop anymore.#coronationquiche https://t.co/5fqg3vVpTU  Heather DeLand (@HeatherDeLand) April 17, 2023

There are no fucking eggs in the supermarkets. https://t.co/XDHkxt9eRG  Mark Gillies (@5goalthriller) April 17, 2023

In response to the coronation quiche, another Twitter user pointed out that 21.6 per cent of households with children in the UK reported that their children had directly experienced food insecurity in the past month.

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Thats a 10 per cent increase in a year, she said, citing a January survey from The Food Foundation.

Another user simply shared a picture of an empty supermarket shelf filled with bare egg cartons, writing: And what are we supposed to make this Coronation Quiche with?

Meanwhile...



 21.6% of households with children reported that their children had directly experienced food insecurity in the past month.



 That's a 10% increase in a year.



https://t.co/BjIN1ZHEu2 @Food_Foundation https://t.co/C2cXtKJyw0  Kate Laverty (she/her)  (@Kate_Laverty) April 18, 2023

And what are we supposed to make this Coronation Quiche with? pic.twitter.com/nEmwQGmV0e  Tavern Hoyden (@TavernHoyden) April 17, 2023

The production cost of eggs has soared as shortages across the UK have continued to impact shoppers and supermarkets. Since last year, farmers have faced a host of issues impacting egg supplies, including rising energy costs and an avian bird flu outbreak.

In August, the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) called for more support for egg producers after Russias invasion of Ukraine caused a chicken feed shortage. BFREPA warned that if egg producers dont receive at least 40p per dozen more, some would leave the industry or pause production, leading to shortages of British eggs in six to nine months, according to FarmingUK.

We warned ten months ago that producers would pause or halt production if they werent paid a fair price for their product, and that the knock-on effect would be fewer hens and fewer eggs, the BFREPA said in November.

Soon after, Britain was faced with its biggest-ever outbreak of avian flu, which led farmers to keep all poultry and any captive bird inside and prompted supermarkets to ration egg supplies. According to INews, UK poultry farms have recorded over 330 bird flu outbreaks since October 2021. BFREPA also reported that a number of major retailers increased their egg prices last month, such as Asda who raised the cost of 12 large free range eggs by 33p to 2.80.

This week, King Charles III and Queen Camilla shared the recipe for their coronation quiche by posting a video of a palace chef making the quiche to social media. The royal familys website described it as a deep quiche with a crisp, light pastry case and delicate flavours of spinach, broad beans and fresh tarragon.

Eat hot or cold with a green salad and boiled new potatoes  perfect for a Coronation Big Lunch! it read.

For the late Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953, guests were invited to eat coronation chicken at Buckingham Palace after the ceremony. The dish featured cold chicken in a curry cream sauce with a well-seasoned dressed salad of rice, green peas and mixed herbs.

The coronation takes place on Saturday 6 May at Westminster Abbey in London.
Queen Elizabeth and her heir, now King Charles, pictured at various moments throughout their life together. (Getty Images)

Tomorrow, April 21, would have been Queen Elizabeth's 97th birthday. The late monarch sadly passed away in September at her Balmoral estate in Scotland, aged 96.

We're yet to learn how the Royal Family plan to mark the occasion, but no doubt the day will offer an opportunity for her eldest son, King Charles III to reflect on his relationship with his "darling mama".

Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Charles, on 14 November 1948 at Buckingham Palace, when she was 22 years old.

As her first born, eldest son and therefore heir to the throne, Her Majesty always had a special bond with Charles.

Back in 2018, on the then Prince Charles' 70th Birthday, Elizabeth delivered a powerful speech in celebration of her son's special day, which offered a hint at the strength of their relationship.

On the same day, the late Queen described her son as passionate, creative and as a duchy original, as she raised a toast to her heir in front of family, friends and members of European royalty at Buckingham Palace.

Read more: King Charles follows late Queen and Meghan's lead with nod to Commonwealth countries on coronation day

It is a privilege for any mother to be able to propose a toast to her son on his 70th birthday, she said. It means that you have lived long enough to see your child grow up. It is rather like  to use an analogy I am certain will find favour  planting a tree and being able to watch it grow.

"Over his 70 years, Philip and I have seen Charles become a champion of conservation and the arts, a great charitable leader  a dedicated and respected heir to the throne to stand comparison with any in history  and a wonderful father," she continued. Most of all, sustained by his wife Camilla, he is his own man, passionate and creative.

So this toast is to wish a happy birthday to my son, in every respect a duchy original. To you Charles. To the Prince of Wales," she concluded.

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Watch: King Charles has 600m fortune' that makes him richer than Queen Elizabeth

And in his first address to the nation as King, the new monarch paid tribute to his "darling Mama" describing her profound personal commitment to the nation throughout her 70-year reign.

To my darling Mama, as you begin your last great journey to join my dear late Papa, I want simply to say this: thank you, he said. Thank you for your love and devotion to our family and to the family of nations you have served so diligently all these years.

From enjoying cherished childhood moments together at home at Buckingham Palace, to sharing a joke at much-loved events and offering support at more sombre official engagements, the mother/son duo have shared many very special memories over the years.

Here's a look back over some of their most heartwarming pictures together.

Elizabeth bounces a newborn King Charles on her knee, in 1948. (Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth holds her first born son on his Christening in 1948. (Getty Images)

Elizabeth with a baby Charles in 1949. (Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth helping Prince Charles with a camera in the grounds of Balmoral Castle, Scotland, 28 September 1952. (Getty Images)

Elizabeth and a young Charles watching a procession, during the visit of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, from the wall of Clarence House, in November 1950. (Getty Images)

Elizabeth laughs as her son plays in his toy car while at Balmoral in 1952. (Getty Images)

Prince Charles and his mother looking out of a window at Balmoral in 1952. (Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth with her eldest son at Windsor Great Park, during a polo match in 1956. (Getty Images)

A youthful Prince Charles and his mother pictured together at their Windsor home in 1969. (Getty Images)

Elizabeth crowns her son Charles, Prince of Wales, during his investiture ceremony at Caernarvon Castle in July 1969. (Getty Images)

The then Prince Charles plants a kiss on his mother's hand after she presented him with a prize at a polo match in Windsor in 1985. (Getty Images)

The pair laugh as they watch competitors during the Braemar Gathering in September 2006. (Getty Images)

The mother and son duo study one of the first copies of 'Queen Elizabeth the Queen mother, the official biography', in September, 2009. (Getty Images)

Elizabeth presents her son with the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour during a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show on May 18, 2009. (Getty Images)

The mother and son laugh whilst watching the children's sack race as they attend the 2012 Braemar Highland Gathering. (Getty Images)

Charles kisses his mother on the cheek at the funeral of Patricia Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma on June 27, 2017. (Getty Images)

A then Prince Charles supports his mother during the State Opening of Parliament in October 2019. (Getty Images)

The pair watch a special flypast from Buckingham Palace balcony following Elizabeth's Birthday Parade as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations, in London on June 2, 2022. (Getty Images)

Elizabeth and Charles attend the Royal Company of Archers Reddendo Parade in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on June 30, 2022 in Edinburgh on July 1, 2022. (Getty Images)
The Sacramento Kings and a Bay Area hip-hop star who alleged racial bias for being kicked out of a playoff game said the situation resulted from an unfortunate misunderstanding.

The rapper E-40, whose real name is Earl Stevens, and the team put out a joint statement on Wednesday explaining what led to E-40 being ejected from the Golden 1 Center during Game 1 of a playoff series against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night.

After a series of thoughtful and transparent conversations, both parties agree that there was a miscommunication regarding circumstances that occurred during the Kings vs. Warriors game on Saturday night, the statement said.

Contrary to speculation, Mr. Earl E-40 Stevens did not stand excessively from his ticketed courtside seat; the outcome resulted from an unfortunate misunderstanding between both parties.

The statement highlighted the Kings' history of promoting social justice and racial equality and said that E-40 will be welcomed back to the arena in the future.

E-40 is a prominent Warriors fan and was even part of the delegation that visited the White House earlier this season.

E-40 is known for his collaborations with other artists, including on songs such as I Dont (Expletive) With You with Big Sean, Snap Yo Fingers with Lil Jon and Sean Paul of YoungBloodZ, and U And Dat with T-Pain and Kandi Girl.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Papers on desks by window in classroom

Credit - Getty Images

Floridas Board of Education approved an expansion of the states so-called Dont Say Gay law, which will bar teachers from talking about sexual orientation and gender for all public school students. The decision came at the request of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who filed an administrative proposal for the changes last month.

The new rule adds to the existing Parental Rights in Education law, enacted in March 2022, that bans public schools from teaching about gender or sexual orientation from kindergarten through the third grade. The law bars discussing these topics in a way that is not age or developmentally appropriate. The new rule extends the provision of the law for students through 12th grade.

Advocates have said these types of measures ensure that parents have control over what their students learn in school. There is no doubt that one family is completely different from another family, Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida GOP, previously told TIME. But the most appropriate way to handle this is to allow parents and families to introduce these concepts and have these discussions with their family when they think its appropriate.

Critics say the law erases LGBTQ+ from discussions and censors Floridians. They are also concerned that the laws will harm the estimated 114,000 queer youth in the state, according to the 2020 count administered by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

The decision by the Florida Board of Education to extend curriculum bans through twelfth grade is disgraceful  and it will result in catastrophic consequences for Florida students and supportive educators, wrote Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, executive director of Gay, Lesbian ,and Straight Education Network, a nonprofit founded by educators to create affirming spaces for queer youth, in an email statement. Curriculum bans deprive LGBTQ+ youth of the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the classroom and their non-LGBTQ+ peers from learning about LGBTQ+ communities.

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The law will officially go into effect after a notice period of about a month.

The expansion of Dont Say Gay laws

Florida legislators have also been considering a number of bills with similar provisions to the Parental Rights in Education law that seek to prohibit instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity until eighth grade.

The set of three bills being considered House Bill 1223, 1069 and Senate Bill 1320 would expand Dont Say Gay laws. The proposed bills include provisions that would require Florida educators to teach that sex is assigned at birth based on sexual organs, along with other measures. The bills would also make school districts legally liable for enforcing the mandates.

The proposed legislation differs from the Board of Educations votewhich was passed unanimously by the governor-appointed members and does not require legislative approval. Florida statute gives the State Board of Education the authority to enact rules and adopt comprehensive educational objectives for public education.

The newly passed rule impacts teachersas opposed to the legislation, which targets school boardsbarring them from giving classroom instruction on sexual orientation or identity through twelfth grade unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards or part of a course that a parent can exempt their child from attending. Educators who are found to have violated the new rules could lose their teaching licenses.

Brandon Wolf, press secretary for LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, explains what the proposed bills could mean with an example: [If a teacher] in English class mentions that a family might have two moms, under the proposed expansion in the legislature, the parent of a student could sue the school district and the school district would be liable for the fact that a teacher acknowledged that LGBTQ people exist, Wolf tells TIME.

The decision to pass this rule comes amid a torrent of other restrictions in the state that limit the types of books children can read, higher ed instruction on race and more. It also arrives at a tension point between Disney, who publicly denounced Dont Say Gay, and the governor.

This policy, rubber-stamped by the State Board of Education, will escalate the government censorship that is sweeping our state, exacerbate our educator exodus, drive more hardworking families from Florida, and further stigmatize and isolate a population of young people who need our support now more than ever, Wolf adds. Just one year under Dont Say LGBTQ has plunged our education system into right wing chaos. Now, the Board of Education has forced us deeper into that chaos. Shame on the DeSantis Administration for putting a target on the backs of LGBTQ Floridians.


Its been just over a year since Mississippi legalized medical marijuana.

Mississippi residents still have questions about the medical marijuana law and how it translates into enforceable practices.

Lets breakdown the basics.

Which conditions qualify for medical marijuana use?

The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program lists the following as qualifying conditions:

cancer

Parkinsons disease

Huntingtons disease

muscular dystrophy

glaucoma

spastic quadriplegia

positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

hepatitis

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Crohns disease

ulcerative colitis

sickle-cell anemia

Alzheimers disease

agitation of dementia

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

autism

pain refractory to appropriate opioid management

diabetic/peripheral neuropathy

spinal cord disease or severe injury

Also qualifying is a chronic terminal or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following:

cachexia or wasting syndrome

chronic pain

severe or intractable nausea

seizures

severe and persistent muscle spasms including, but not limited to, those characteristic of multiple sclerosis

Additional rules apply for minors, caregivers, nonresidents and people 18 to 25 years old. High school athletes also face challenges.

How do you apply for a Mississippi medical marijuana card?

All applications will be submitted online. The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act requires that patients be certified by a registered practitioner in order to participate in the medical cannabis program, said Kris Jones, director of the Medical Cannabis Program at the health department.

The health department created a portal where people with qualifying conditions can register. Create a username and set up a password before completing the application. The registration information transfers directly to the application and the username and password are needed to reach the application.

Every application requires written certification from a registered health practitioner with whom you have an established relationship.

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Where can medical cannabis be purchased?

Dozens of Mississippi cities and counties opted out of the program. Residents who live in those counties are still allowed to purchase and use products, but have longer to drive to get them.

In places that opted in, medical dispensaries sell the products. The Department of Revenue created a searchable list of businesses with permits to sell medical marijuana. At the start of the year, the list included 32 local businesses.

The list includes product growers under the business type cultivator facility. Places to purchase are listed as dispensaries.

How much medical marijuana can people with qualifying conditions purchase at a time?

Three ounces a month, 3.5 grams per day

Voters approved an initiative that wouldve allowed people with qualifying conditions to buy up to 5 ounces per month in November 2020.

By the time legislators approved the medical marijuana bill, the legal limit was changed to 3.5 grams of cannabis per day for up to six days a week, or about 3 ounces a month.

What are MMCEUs?

The state has its own term for understanding legal limits of medical marijuana in different forms. A Mississippi resident cardholder cannot have more than 24 MMCEUs of medical cannabis a month. An MMCEU is defined as Mississippi Medical Cannabis Equivalency Unit. One MMCEU is the same as 3.5 grams of cannabis flower, 1 gram of cannabis concentrate, or 100 milligrams of THC-infused product, according to the HAT Law Firm.

What types of products or forms of cannabis are allowed?

Smokeable, tincture, edible, topical, and other forms of products are available for patients with cards.

Mississippi has THC potency caps. In raw flower, THC can be no more than 30%. In extracted materials, tinctures, vape cartridges, edibles, etc., THC can be no more than 60%, said Ken Newburger, executive director for the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. All products, from seed to sale, must be grown, manufactured, tested, and tracked in Mississippi.

How much does it cost?

The MSDH will charge application fees for practitioners and most patients. Heres what it will cost you:

Registry Identification card: $25

Designated caregiver registry identification card: $25

Designated caregiver criminal background check: $37

Renewal or replacement fee for cards: $25

Nonresident card: $75

Qualifying patient registry identification card application for a Medicaid participant: $15

Fee for renewal of a Medicaid participants card: $15

Application fee for a qualifying patient registry identification card for disabled veterans or disabled first responders: Free (waived)

Can your Mississippi employer fire you for a failed drug test, even if youre prescribed medical cannabis?

Anyone prescribed medical cannabis should be aware that Mississippi is an at will state, allowing employers to fire you with or without a cause. Employers are also not required to cover medical cannabis.
A Patriot missile is fired Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

Two U.S.-made Patriot missile defense systems have arrived in Ukraine from the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced Wednesday. "Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure," he tweeted. Ukrainian air defense teams have been trained to use the advanced surface-to-air systems, which take up to 90 people to operate and maintain. "Our partners have kept their word," added Reznikov, who had been pressing the U.S. for Patriot missiles since August 2021, five months before Russian launched its full-scale invasion.

The Patriot missiles will help Ukraine protect itself from Russian attack aircraft, cruise missiles, and shorter-range ballistic missiles, The Associated Press reports, though "experts have cautioned that the system's effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war."

The Pentagon also announced a new $325 million military aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday, authorizing the handover of HIMARS ammunition, artillery rounds, and anti-armor capabilities, among other muntions. The upcoming shipments, the 36th presidential drawdown from U.S. inventories for Ukraine since August 2021, was announced ahead of a weekend meeting in Germany of dozens of donor countries in the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

This next tranche of donations for Ukraine will focus on replenishing Kyiv's stocks of munitions and anti-armor capabilities ahead of a widely anticipated spring counteroffensive, an unidentified Pentagon official told Politico. Classified U.S. military assessments leaked online detailed the Pentagon's concerns about dwindling Ukrainian munitions and air defense missile supplies, and its ability to regain pilfered territory. A second Pentagon official called that leak a "kind of spinning of negative information."

Yes, Ukraine "could run out of artillery ammunition  if we didn't do anything," the official told Politico. "But we are absolutely going to provide them with the ammunition, the artillery, the spare parts, the maintenance, the sustainment, the platforms that they need."

Story continues

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Biden Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su defended her record during Thursdays confirmation hearing amid a series of hurdles facing her nomination.

Its unclear whether Su, who spent the last two years as deputy Labor secretary and previously led Californias labor department, has the votes to be confirmed.

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) havent said how theyd vote. Business interests concerned about Sus pro-labor stances are running ads in those senators home states pressuring them to vote against her nomination.

Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee made similar attacks on Sus record Thursday, pointing to unemployment fraud in California under Sus watch and her involvement with a controversial state law that reclassified independent contractors as employees.

Su pitched herself as a consensus-builder focused on boosting apprenticeship programs and opportunities for small businesses. Su frequently referenced her work alongside former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who received significant Republican support for his confirmation and has endorsed Su.

I have been a leader dedicated to finding and expanding the vast areas of common ground between employers and employees, Su told senators.

Su, whose mother immigrated to the U.S. from China on a cargo ship, would be President Bidens first Asian American cabinet secretary.

Sanders blasts corporate opposition

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committees chairman, kicked off the hearing by criticizing business interests that are running ads pressuring senators to reject Sus nomination. He said that Sus nomination would be a no-brainer without business opposition.

The debate over Ms. Su really has nothing to do with her qualifications, Sanders said. This debate, really, has everything to do with the fact that Julie Su is a champion of the working class of this country who will stand up against the forces of corporate greed.

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A series of ad campaigns are pressuring swing-vote Democrats to oppose Su.

Franchisers and gig companies are raising concerns about her support for California laws that they said undermined contractors and threatened their business models. Theyre worried about how Su would approach a key Biden administration proposal to reclassify contractors at the federal level.

Flex, a trade association representing app-based companies such as Uber and Lyft, said that Su didnt sufficiently address its concerns during the hearing.

We continue to be deeply concerned with Julie Sus objectivity, particularly given her record in California of undercutting independent work  with real impacts on families and communities, Flex CEO Kristin Sharp said in a statement.

Democrats on the committee largely threw their support behind Su on Thursday. The senators being targeted by business interests, who all voted to confirm Su as deputy labor secretary, dont serve on the HELP committee.

The AFL-CIO is launching its own six-figure ad campaign backing Su, signaling her importance to the labor movement. The countrys largest labor federation is also targeting the Democratic holdouts in their home states.

This is the time for them to show who they stand with. Is it workers or is it big corporations? AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler told reporters Wednesday.

Republicans paint Su as incompetent

Republicans focused on rampant fraud in Californias unemployment system during Sus tenure as California Labor secretary at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under your leadership in California, $31 billion was fraudulently paid out, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told Su. In this case, your record there is so severely lacking. I dont know how in the world it makes sense for the president to nominate you to take over this department.

The California Business and Industrial Alliance is airing TV ads in D.C. and Montana highlighting the fraudulent payments, warning that Su could import Californias failed policies to Washington, D.C.

Democrats on the committee argued that unemployment fraud was widespread during the period of pandemic-era expanded federal benefits. Sanders noted that several states run by GOP governors had a higher rate of unemployment fraud than California at the time.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told Su hes concerned about business opposition to her nomination. GOP senators accused Su of being biased against corporations and too closely aligned with labor unions throughout the hearing.

Su insisted that she met with corporate interests throughout her tenure as deputy Labor secretary, not just labor unions.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the committees ranking member, sought to distance Su from Walsh, stating that Walsh worked with all parties and had significant experience in negotiations and managing organizations.

With 150 labor contracts expiring this year, the potential of replacing him with someone who has a history of bias and no direct experience handling labor disputes should be concerning to everyone, Cassidy said.

Cassidy questioned whether Su would pursue a more aggressive joint-employer rule that is backed by unions and fiercely opposed by franchisers. Su responded that the proposal isnt a priority for her department.

Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Hainan works to promote high-level opening-up

09:17, April 20, 2023 By Zhao Peng, Cao Wenxuan ( People's Daily

Chinese and foreign guests pose for a picture at the China International Consumer Products Expo 2023 held in Haikou, south China's Hainan province, April 10, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Junqi)

Recently, an intercontinental cargo ship departing from Brazil for the first time arrived at the Yangpu international container port in the Yangpu Economic Development Zone in Danzhou, south China's Hainan province.

This was the third intercontinental container shipping route that passes the Hainan Free Trade Port after the first two to South Pacific and West Africa, said Zhou Changmao, head of the port logistics development office under the Yangpu Economic Development Zone's transport and port bureau.

As of the end of 2022, 481 new vessels had been registered at the Yangpu international container port, whose total shipping capacity added up to 11.65 million tons. In particular, 34 of them were from foreign countries, with total shipping capacity of more than 4.9 million tons. This makes Hainan one of the largest provinces in China in terms of the total tonnage of international vessels.

Hainan has adopted a more proactive opening-up strategy over the recent years, to accelerate the building of a new system of an open economy, forge a new paradigm of comprehensive opening-up and build a globally influential free trade port with Chinese characteristics.

In recent years, Hainan has given high priority to institutional integration and innovation. As of now, a total of 134 cases of institutional innovation have seen success in Hainan.

Photo shows a container terminal of the Haikou Port in south China's Hainan province. (People's Daily Online/Yang He)

Aiming to finish building all the necessary infrastructure for independent customs operations by 2023, Hainan is strengthening whole-process targeted management and making continuous efforts. At present, 25 projects of independent customs operations are under construction and expected to be completed this year.

Hainan sent a business delegation to Indonesia and Vietnam to promote the Hainan Free Trade Port this February. At the promotional event in Indonesia, 13 cooperation projects were signed, covering international shipping, purchase of natural rubber materials, plant building and cross-border e-commerce. The total value of the deals reached nearly 3.5 billion yuan ($509 million).

"The rapid development of the Hainan Free Trade Port has created rare opportunities for our business expansion," said Go Tek Yok, chairman of Indonesia's coffee brand Kapal Api. This largest coffee producer of Indonesia recently opened its first shop in Hainan.

More and more internationally renowned brands and enterprises are trying to get a share in the Chinese province. Tapestry, Inc., a New York-based house of modern luxury lifestyle brands has inaugurated its China travel retail headquarters in Hainan, and Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. has registered a company in the province's Haikou Integrated Free Trade Zone.

In the recent five years, Hainan's trade in goods and services grew 1.8 and 1.2 times, respectively, and the province's foreign direct investment, in actual use, exceeded that in the previous three decades. Besides, the ratio of Hainan's foreign trade to the province's GDP increased 15 percent in the same period.

A foreigner introduces shell carving techniques to Chinese visitors at the booth of Italy at the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center, Haikou, south China's Hainan province, April 11, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Su Bikun)

Meanwhile, to make foreign investment via Hainan province has become a choice for many enterprises, which is injecting new impetus into the province's opening-up and development.

On Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, a modern coking industrial park has been built recently. "This is our first overseas park, and will be put into use this May," said Xiao Wei, vice general manager of a Hainan-based international investment company.

Hainan enjoys a great geographical location in doing business with Southeast Asia, as well as favorable tax policies and investment facilitation measures, said Xiao.

Many enterprises, after settling in Hainan, have made active moves to invest in the foreign market, including Zijin Mining Group, Nanjing Iron and Steel Company and pharmaceutical company Yunnan Baiyao. Last year, Hainan reported outbound foreign direct investment of more than $1.89 billion, up 137.46 percent year-on-year.

Hainan is working to build itself into a base of headquarters from which Chinese enterprises enter the global market and foreign enterprises enter the Chinese market. Besides, it is establishing an air and maritime transport network and an international economic and trade cooperation network.

Since 2018, Hainan has introduced 4,790 foreign enterprises from 127 countries and regions. Last year, its total trade in goods grew 36.8 percent to 200.95 billion yuan, and the growth was among the highest in China.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
People look at a generator using hydrogen energy during the Hannover Messe in Hannover, Germany, on April 17, 2023. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)

The group of Chinese exhibitors is the second largest this year after host country Germany, and followed by Italy, Turkiye, the United States, the Netherlands and this year's partner country Indonesia.

HANNOVER, Germany, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies are competitive in the global markets and are always ready to learn and improve, Jochen Koeckler, chairman of the Managing Board of Deutsche Messe AG, commented on Wednesday on the 800-odd companies from China that participate in Hannover Messe 2023.

The trade fair, one of the world's largest and lasting from April 17 to April 21, showcases more than 4,000 companies, which present solutions for the production and energy supply of the future.

"They are welcome on this global marketplace here in Hannover," Koeckler told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

In the past three years, several Chinese companies were not able to participate in the trade fair due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Koeckler said he was happy to see the return of Chinese exhibitors in such a large number.

The group of Chinese exhibitors is the second largest this year after host country Germany, and followed by Italy, Turkiye, the United States, the Netherlands and this year's partner country Indonesia.

A man shakes hands with an intelligent robot during the Hannover Messe in Hannover, Germany, on April 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)

"There is still room (for the number of Chinese companies) to grow. So, we still invite those companies that are not participating this year and are interested in the topics of Hannover Messe. They are very welcome here," Koeckler said.

Asked for his advice to interested Chinese companies, he said that "If you're joining the trade show for the first time, you cannot expect to be the best one ... But if you're participating year by year, you learn the needs of the customers and the visitors."

China, he said, has developed a lot over the past 10 or 20 years, especially in the fields of electromobility and robotics.

In Hannover, the companies are not competing against each other, he said. "It's about the next brilliant idea."

Focusing on industrial transformation, this year's edition of the fair incorporates themes such as carbon-neutral production, artificial intelligence, hydrogen technologies and energy management.

An intelligent robot imitates the gesture of a man during the Hannover Messe in Hannover, Germany, on April 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) 
A woman made one last call for help with a dying phone after getting trapped on a California beach because of a rising tide, authorities said.

The woman was stranded on a coastline April 17, near Lomita, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department-Lomita Station said.

She became lost on the beach and called for help before her phone died, deputies said. Rescuers searched over 2 miles of coastline in the dark for the woman.

Her phone died during the search, so rescuers had no way to contact the woman.

Deputies eventually found the woman on the coastline but couldnt reach her.

Rescuers couldnt get past the rising tides, and they couldnt scale the cliffs because it was too dangerous, deputies said.

Instead, they landed a helicopter on the surfline to save her, deputies said.

The woman was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Lomita is about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

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Trees bloom near the Temple in Salt Lake City Saturday, April 4, 2015. | Chelsey Allder, Deseret News

Editors note: This essay by Carol Rice and Breanne Sua is part of an ongoing Deseret News series exploring ideas and issues at the intersection of faith and thought.

Public rhetoric about women of faith often centers around oppression, angst or suffering. This narrative conflicts sharply with the words and experiences of many religious women themselves.

Describing her choice to participate actively in her religious community, one woman recently told us, Ive lived with God in my life and without Him. I know the difference  I havent chosen this because Im brainwashed or enjoy feeling morally superior to others.  I wouldnt trade this for anything. Another responded, I am strong and powerful! I am not forced to believe. I choose faith because it brings peace, strength, and power into my life.

Such statements contradict portrayals of believing women that can feel cartoonishly at odds with their actual lives.

What do women of faith wish others knew? Weve been asking women exactly that. And we keep hearing a desire that others would better understand their depth of commitment  and how characterizations of religious women as naive victims of oppression simply dont reflect their own stories.

True empowerment, another woman emphasized, comes from a connection to Jesus Christ as I walk in a covenant relationship with Him.

She added, He is the source of confidence and power to do and become everything that we are called to do as women.

Standing shoulder to shoulder

One widely respected indicator of womens liberation throughout the world is education. Russell M. Nelson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said to young adults in 2013, For us as Latter-day Saints, getting an education is not just a privilege; it is a religious responsibility.

It might surprise some to learn how many religious women today are choosing to pursue education and other meaningful endeavors, alongside their commitment to be wives and mothers.

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One Latter-day Saint woman remarked, Our husbands are proud of their wives and daughters; they do not consider that they were created solely to wash dishes and tend babies. Our religion teaches us that the wife stands shoulder to shoulder with the husband. That last quote, in fact, is over 125 years old, from a Utah woman named Elizabeth McCune in 1897  whose life story provides another powerful lesson.

Steady steps forward

In the late 1890s, William Jarman traveled around England promoting a book filled with sensational claims about life in Utah, with particularly harsh and unflattering characterizations of Latter-day Saint women.

McCune, a Utah native and member of the church, was also traveling in Europe at the time  and given an opportunity to speak of these allegations at a semiannual conference filled with saints and strangers.

With a final prayer, she recalled, I arose to address the audience.  I told them I had been raised in Utah and knew almost every foot of the country and most of the people. Recounting her extensive travels in America and in Europe, McCune went on to remark that nowhere had she found women held in such esteem as among the Latter-day Saints in Utah.

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In this event and many others like it, McCune energetically dispelled Jarmans claims, which contradicted her own experiences and observations of many other Utah women.

This isnt to say real oppression and abuse have not been an ugly reality for many women of faith  much like they have been for far too many women throughout the world.

Clearly more needs to be done, and like McCune advocated in her day, we encourage and celebrate the continuing progress in our own faith to elevate women.

Specific to the educational needs of women around the world, the Church Educational System associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taken additional steps to provide paths forward for women globally and multiculturally.

One CES institution, BYU-Pathway Worldwide, was specifically designed to provide access to low-cost online education in more than 180 countries. This initiative has been especially helpful for women whose education depends on unique flexibility, due to other responsibilities. (Theres a median student age of 30 with 56% of students female worldwide).

By helping women overcome real barriers  including finances, fear, technology and time  BYU-Pathway makes it possible for them to fit education into their lives and provides them with the affordability, flexibility and added support they need to succeed.

A burning desire to continue education

Victoria Akpan from Nigeria is one of the many women in Africa participating in BYU-Pathway. Although educational access continues to improve in Nigeria, from 2010-2015 the countrys universities were only able to admit 26% of 10 million applicants annually.

In 2013, after receiving her high school diploma, Akpan applied to a local university  but ultimately opted to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ. After her mission, she married and started to build her family but had not lost sight of her educational goals.

I had this burning desire to continue my education, she stated  because just like the prophets said, there is no shortcut to excellence. Akpan spoke of wanting to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills and competence that will enable me to serve my family, my community, and in my calling in the Church.

While excited to find a way forward with her education, this woman admitted the real challenges of doing so: As a wife and a mom, its not easy to acquire higher education with family responsibilities and work as well. On top of that, Akpan began her studies right as the COVID-19 pandemic started to emerge. My son was still little then, and I was pregnant with my first daughter, said Akpan. I didnt have a personal computer to study with or a stable internet connection. I only had my phone.

But Akpan wasnt without support and used whatever resources she could find  completing some assignments with her phone, and once or twice a week, traveling to a church chapel to use a computer, like many others in the program in her area.

When they would see my baby and me coming to study, the other students made me a priority. Someone would leave their place and let me use the computer, said Akpan.

Crediting the encouragement of others around her and God too, Akpan was successful in completing her foundational courses  reflecting how The growth mindset that I have developed helped me pass through this difficult time.

Never too late

Another BYU-Pathway student from Utah, Ann Peterson, is a mother of seven children. In her last year of high school, her school counselor told her, Ann, maybe you just arent college material.

Despite this, she soon after enrolled in a basic computer course at a local college, even though she had never used a computer before. When she struggled to turn it on, her professor said to her, If you dont know how to do this, maybe you shouldnt be here.

This time the discouragement stuck. Ann gathered her things, cried all the way home, and dropped out of school. When she married two years later, her husband, heartbroken about her story, insisted she could succeed in college. But Ann felt too afraid.

Fifteen years later, Ann and her husband had six children, including several with special needs. After so many hours in meetings with administrators, therapists, doctors, and district officials, she reflects, I became well-versed in advocating for my childrens needs, but people often saw me as just a mom.

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Her husband again encouraged her to consider picking up her educational dreams  introducing her to BYU-Pathway. Still hesitant, it took some time for the idea to take hold. But after learning more about the program, Ann rallied her courage to give it a try.

While her first year was difficult, the relationships she built with her peers, along with her spouses continued encouragement, helped her push through and finish  eventually transferring to an online degree program at BYU-Idaho that would prepare her to help families with special needs children.

For the first time in decades, Ann reflected, I believe in myself. I will achieve my goals!

Womanhood as birthright

As evident here, these women evince a quiet strength secured in sacrificing for another season, alongside a hope in ongoing growth grounded in their faith. Reaching for more education becomes a natural reflection of that faith.

Even so, as one woman clarified, My identity and worth are not determined or defined by what Ive accomplished in life, how I look, or even how I feel. I have a divine nature as a daughter of Heavenly Father.  My identity and worth come from God. Womanhood is a birthright.

Far from a burden that exacerbates suffering, for these women, this understanding is a clear cause for celebration.

Adapted from an article that first appeared in Public Square Magazine.

Carol Rice is the president of Skyline Research Institute and the director of communications for Public Square Magazine. Breanne Sua is a communication manager for BYU-Pathway Worldwide  previously working as a writer for Come, Follow Me and the Friend.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday thanked Cuba for its "full understanding" over the war in Ukraine as he began a visit to the island nation during his tour of Latin American allies.

"We appreciate that from the start of the special military operation, our Cuban friends... have clearly shown their position and expressed their full understanding in their evaluations of the reasons that led to the current situation," said Lavrov during a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez, according to the Russian foreign ministry's Telegram account.

Lavrov, who also met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his predecessor Raul Castro on Thursday, blasted US sanctions against Cuba as "illegal and illegitimate."

He noted that his country "has also been the object of American sanctions... long before the current events."

Cuba has been under a US embargo for more than six decades.

Under former president Donald Trump, who was in power from 2017-21, Washington ramped up sanctions, which have continued during Joe Biden's time in the White House.

Russia has faced severe sanctions by the United States, Canada and the European Union after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Since Lavrov arrived in Havana on Wednesday night, the US embassy in the capital has been lit up in the colors of the Ukraine flag.

Lavrov also visited Brazil, Venezuela and Nicaragua during his week-long trip to Latin America.

rd/lp/ltl/bc/caw
By Mike Scarcella and Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. federal judge in Washington on Thursday denied former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo's bid to block his extradition to Peru, where he faces corruption charges.

His lawyers had filed for an emergency stay earlier in the day to block his extradition, which was planned for Friday.

"His emergency motion to stay is denied," U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said in an order on Thursday.

The former Peruvian leader's lawyers argued in their early morning filing that a stay of his detention and extradition was "necessary to avoid imminent and irreparable harm of an erroneous deprivation of liberty, and possibly also life" if he is extradited on the Friday deadline set by a judge in California.

In her ruling, Howell said Toledo "has long been afforded substantial process" in the U.S. courts to contest his extradition. Howell, citing various legal factors, also said Toledo had failed to "demonstrate entitlement" to a stay of his extradition.

Toledo on Wednesday asked the U.S. District Court in Washington to reconsider its March 28 refusal to approve a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.

Toledo, who was president from 2001 to 2006, is wanted over charges that he received more than $25 million from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for help in obtaining public works contracts. Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison sentence.

Toledo has denied soliciting or receiving bribes and has not been criminally charged in the United States.

The former president was arrested in the United States in July 2019 after a formal request by Peru for his extradition. He was released on bail in 2020 and was living in California until at least last year.

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella, Kanishka Singh and Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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Chinas ability to spy on the United States and its allies may be growing with the development of a high-altitude supersonic drone.

Surveillance satellites have spotted two WZ-8 rocket-propelled reconnaissance drones at an air base in eastern China about 350 miles inland from Shanghai, according to the Washington Post. The new drones could allow the Chinese military to see American warships in advance of a future invasion of Taiwan.

A U.S. intelligence assessment found that Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) had almost certainly established its first unmanned aerial vehicle unit at the base, according to the Post. The newspaper got its information from classified files posted on the Discord messaging app. A Massachusetts Air National Guard member was recently arrested for allegedly leaking information on the app.

Drone Wars

China is apparently stepping up its surveillance game. The reconnaissance drone program comes after the recent revelations that China has a wide-ranging spy balloon program. A U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon in February.

We are aware that there have been four previous balloons that have gone over U.S. territory. This is what we assess is part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a news conference after the shootdown. Youve heard us talk in the past about the fact that this is a program thats been operated for several years.

Tensions Mount Over Taiwan

The supersonic drones could play a role in any future conflict with Taiwan. According to the Post, the recently spotted drone base is part of the Eastern Theater Command, the branch of the Chinese military responsible for enforcing Chinese sovereignty claims over Taiwan.

Taiwan is also beefing up its drone arsenal. The country agreed last year to buy four MQ-9B SeaGuardians surveillance drones from the United States.

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Recent events have increased tensions with China over the issue of Taiwans sovereignty. China claims Taiwan is a breakaway province and has threatened to retake the island nation by force. A recent visit by Taiwans president with U.S. House speaker Kevin McCarthy prompted China to stage naval drills.

U.S. military officials are raising alarm bells over the situation with Taiwan. Its disturbing how ill-informed and naive the average American is on China, Rear Adm. Mike Studeman, the commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence, told a conference. I chalk this up, if I could summarize, into a China blindness. We face a knowledge crisis and a China blindness problem.

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Some Republican lawmakers are expressing outrage over a leaked document showing 14 American special forces are stationed in Ukraine, even though the Pentagon has said for months a small team of Marines is stationed at the embassy.

A few far-right figures are even using the news to push a broader conspiracy about a larger presence of U.S. troops in Ukraine, which they say poses the risk of direct fighting between American and Russian forces.

But the Biden administration says the U.S. troops are providing security and helping with oversight of American weapons in Ukraine  an effort that Republicans have pushed to increase.

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), who shared his criticism on Twitter, told The Hill that the U.S. presence in Ukraine is opening the door to mission creep.

Theyre not there to pull audits to determine where money has been allocated. And theyre not there to just try and protect the embassy, Mills, member of the House Armed Services Committee, said of the U.S. troops, without citing any evidence.

I just think there needs to be more transparency, and thats the thing thats frustrating every one of us, he added.

The Pentagon, however, said it has been transparent about the small number of troops in Ukraine. Deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said the information is not new during a Monday briefing.

We publicly acknowledged previously that there is a small U.S. military footprint in Ukraine to provide mission-critical support to the U.S. embassy, she said. To be clear, there are no U.S combat troops conducting combat operations in Ukraine.

Singh said troops were providing security detail at the embassy and auditing the billions of dollars in military equipment flowing to Ukraine from Washington.

The trove of classified documents allegedly leaked online by Jack Teixeira, an airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has provided fuel to opponents of continued U.S. support for the country in its fight against Russia.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a fierce critic of supporting Ukraine militarily, drew widespread criticism after she tweeted that Teixeira was being unfairly treated by the Biden administration and had rightly exposed information about the Ukraine war and the American forces in the country.

One document said there were 14 soldiers with the U.S. special forces in Ukraine  along with dozens of other military personnel from Western countries  which was in line with previous public statements from the Pentagon.

The Defense Department first confirmed it was weighing plans to send U.S. special forces to Ukraine in May 2022, shortly after the U.S. embassy reopened in the country.

In November, the Pentagons press secretary, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, said Marines were there to assist the embassy, particularly with security and inspections.

These are not combat squads that are going out, Ryder said at a press conference at the time. These are personnel that are going out in areas where theyre not going to be in harms way to conduct these types of inspections.

Still, some Republicans have seized on the document and accused the Biden administration of dishonesty when it pledged it would not put boots on the ground in Ukraines fight against Russia.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced a resolution this week that would force the Defense Department to disclose how many troops it has in Ukraine.

The Biden Administration and other allied countries have been misleading the world on the state of the war in Ukraine, Gaetz said in a statement. There must be total transparency from this administration to the American people when they are gambling war with a nuclear adversary by having special forces operating in Ukraine.

The resolution is unlikely to gain much traction at the moment, with frustration over the U.S. troops in Ukraine largely contained among more conservative lawmakers.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said he would have to look into U.S. troop presence more, but argued it was overwhelmingly in the United Statess best interest that Russia not win this war.

In my opinion, military advisors and special forces are those that are trained to see what the current circumstances are, he said.

Other Republicans  including Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee  said they wanted more transparency around U.S. troops in Ukraine, but he didnt criticize the limited military presence currently in the country.

But conservative media has amplified the fears about troops in Ukraine.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson leaned into the fight last week when he falsely claimed American soldiers are directly fighting Russian forces, calling it a hot war between the two primary nuclear superpowers on Earth.

And members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus are pushing for action over the issue.

On Sunday, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a caucus member, called to subpoena Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

We must demand answers, under oath, as to why they have permitted iPOTUS Biden to lie directly and repeatedly to the American people about our operations in Ukraine, he tweeted.

Another caucus member, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), told Fox Business last week he would soon send out a letter requesting more information from the Biden administration.

It continues to show this expansion of intervention that our country has in Ukraine, Rosendale said of the U.S. military presence. A lot of people are going to have problems with that.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), a first-term congresswoman, said troops were obviously in Ukraine for protection of the embassy, but she shared concerns of her fellow House Freedom Caucus members.

There are some answers that I think members of Congress are worried [about] getting, she said. I think that goes to show that this administration isnt exactly forthcoming.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Defender Max Wober has missed Leeds last four matches due to a hamstring injury (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

Leeds pair Max Wober and Patrick Bamford could boost their sides chances in the Premier League relegation fight by returning to action at Fulham on Saturday.

Javi Gracias side are hoping to halt their slide towards the bottom three and bounce back from successive 5-1 and 6-1 home defeats to Crystal Palace and Liverpool.

Bamford has returned to training after missing Monday nights poor display against Liverpool due to a calf injury and Gracia said: Well wait until the end, Im not sure if hell be ready.

Austria defender Wober (hamstring) has missed the last four matches and Gracia added: He was available for the last game, but he had only trained one or two games. Hes in a better condition now.

Gracia, still without key midfielder Tyler Adams after hamstring surgery, is expected to make several changes with his side now having lost three of their last four matches.

Leeds sit 16th in the table, two points above the bottom three with seven games to play.

Willy Gnonto is pushing for a recall to the starting line-up after being named on the bench for the last three.

Gnonto is ready, Gracia said. He had a little issue, he had some problem, now hes ready, hes training from the last few weeks. I tried to protect him a little bit and now hes available.

Gracia won three of his first six league games in charge after replacing Jesse Marsch in February, but he and his players are under increasing pressure from fans after capitulating in two heavy home defeats.

The Spaniard, who steered Watford clear of relegation danger in 2018, said criticism of him and of his players desire was justified.

He said: We have to assess the situation with perspective. We have competed well, weve got good results, but its true, now we have to accept the criticism.

There were moments in the last (two) games that were unacceptable and I understand that and I understand the point of view of some supporters saying in some moments you can feel the lack of desire.

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I can understand that feeling, 100 per cent. But I spend time with my players and I know how they are suffering at this moment and how theyre working to improve the situation.

Gracia insisted he retained belief in his players to turn Leeds fortunes round and stay in the top flight, adding: They are able to change and do it because they already have done it staying with me.

I believe in these players and Im sure together well come back together to compete in the way we have.

What Ive seen is my players are really disappointed after the last game we played, with the desire to change and perform better, hoping to show a better face.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass delivers her state of the city address at City Hall on April 17. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: In Karen Bass' first 100 days as mayor of Los Angeles, the city found housing for more than 1,000 people. That's a rate of 10 people per day. With an estimated 41,000 people living on the streets of Los Angeles, it will take more than 11 years to house the current population of homeless people in the city. ("Mayor Bass goes big on homelessness spending proposal," editorial, April 19)

In 2003, within a few months the U.S. military was able to send about 160,000 troops to the Middle East, where it housed and fed them before they invaded Iraq. If we can invade a country on the other side of the planet in a few months, we should be able to house, feed and care for our own citizens here at home in the same amount of time.

This is a humanitarian crisis. Let's get the help of military logistics teams to house, feed and care for our unsheltered population. Camp Pendleton, a major Marine Corps base, is just down the 5 Freeway.

Let's solve this problem once and for all.

Donald Flaherty Fajardo, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: There will never be a solution to homelessness when it costs more than $500,000 to build a small unit in Los Angeles. Other jurisdictions can do this for less than $100,000.

Something is seriously amiss.

Barry F. Chaitin, Newport Beach

..

To the editor: I have five words for Bass: Make rehab available and affordable.

Have a meeting with people in recovery who were once homeless, and they will tell you how hard it is to get a bed in a rehabilitation center that is affordable.

I have been sober for 32 years and have met and worked with many alcoholics and addicts who at first seemed like they had mental health issues. You'd be surprised they were the same people when they got sober.

Tita Brown, Canyon Country

..

To the editor: I agree with Bass' assessment of what L.A. needs.

We need more temporary and permanent housing for our unhoused neighbors now. We need to bring them indoors with access to basic services like food, hygiene and case management services.

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We also need an expansion of unarmed response teams so Angelenos do not continue to place emphasis on armed police to solve social service problems. Responding to mental health and quality-of-life issues requires a different approach.

Let's change the focus from using people with guns to solve problems to having qualified, trained people solve problems without guns.

Jane Demian, Los Angeles

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Levi Davis went missing in Barcelona last year. (PA)

The mother of missing rugby player Levi Davis has said she doesn't "know what to believe any more" about his disappearance.

The 25-year-old former Bath player and Celebrity X Factor contestant was last seen at The Old Irish Pub in Barcelona, Spain, on 29 October.

Amid of number of theories circulating about his disappearance, it was reported last week that cruise ship staff had tried to save a man in the water from drowning off Barcelona's coast the same day Davis went missing.

A life jacket was thrown into the water but a search by police and coastguard found nothing, it was reported.

On Tuesday, Davis's mother, Julie Davis, told The Sun newspaper: "Why is this information about the cruise ship staff only coming months later?

I dont know what to believe any more. I know the Spanish police can be slow but I cant make head nor tail of it.

Theres lots of answers to questions that I need to know.

Its disheartening when you ask police questions and get very limited feedback."

His mother said previously that Spanish authorities said her son's phone was last registered with a phone tower at the far end of Barcelonas commercial port, near where the cruise staff spotted a man in the water.

A statement issued by Davis's family said four staff reported seeing a man in the water near the port at 6.30am on 30 October.

The staff recalled specific details "including him asking for help in English and the colour of his clothing".

It is the latest detail in a missing person's case that has captured widespread attention.

Yahoo News UK recaps how the hunt for Davis has unfolded.

Levi Davis: Latest updates

Levi Davis started his rugby career at Bath. (PA)

Who is Levi Davis?

Davis is a rugby union player who at the time of his disappearance was playing with the Worthing Raiders and is originally from Birmingham.

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He started his career playing for Bath in 2017 and he appeared in the Premiership Rugby League.

He also took part in X-Factor: Celebrity in 2018 as part of a group called Try Star and finished fifth in the competition.

Davis was accompanied by fellow rugby union players Thom Evans and Ben Foden and in September 2022 released a single called With Me.

He had signed a record deal and gone to stay with a friend, Richard Squire, in Ibiza to work on some songs.

Squire said he dropped Davis off in Ibiza Town on 28 October and has not seen him since.

When did Levi Davis go missing?

Davis was last seen at a pub in Barcelona on 29 October  he was reported missing at the start of November.

A few days later his passport was recovered from the same port the man in the water was seen by the cruise workers.

His mother flew to Barcelona soon after to work with Catalan police and expand the investigation into her missing son.

Squire was one of the last people to speak with him and in an interview with the BBC he explained Davis had told him he was going to Barcelona.

Levi Davis appeared on X Factor Celebrity. (PA)

Squire said: "So then I sent him a voice note saying, 'Youre worrying me. Please tell me where you are'."

Davis told Squire he would call when he arrived in Barcelona but he never did.

A private investigator was able to recover an Instagram video Davis deleted four days prior to his disappearance.

In it, Davis claimed he was being blackmailed by criminals who threatened to kill him and his family.

Private investigator Gavin Burrows said he released the video with the consent of Davis's family.

His firm, Line of Inquiry, is offering a 10,000 reward for information on Davis.

Theories behind his disappearance

Since Davis went missing numerous theories have circulated online about what could have happened to him.

In March his family put out a statement asking people "refrain from printing conspiracy theories", but some of those reported in Spanish newspapers made their way into the British press.

Many theories circulated around why Davis posted the deleted Instagram video recovered by Burrows.

Levi Davis had recently suffered an injury that prevented him from playing. (PA)

Davis's family in response to the reports said gang involvement was not being considered in the current investigation.

They said reports of "hearsay" have been causing "a huge amount of distress" to his family and friends and are "potentially damaging the reputation of a young man who has achieved so much in his young life".

A family statement said: "This is still a missing persons case, it is not and never has been a criminal case and there is not and never has been an imminent arrest."

'Levi, if you see this message, please, please get in touch'

Davis's mother, Julie, has made several media appearances appealing to her son to come home and to try and raise awareness about the case.

She appeared on Good Morning Britain (GMB) in November saying: "Levi if you see this message, please, please get in touch."

"I can't begin to understand how you're feeling, but just know that I do love you and our family loves you and just want you home. And to anybody else if they do see him, please get in contact."

During the interview, she said her son had mental health problems and had recently come out as bisexual.

He had also considered quitting rugby after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament which required surgery.

She said: "For him it was going from doing something to suddenly not doing a lot.

"I think given the state he was in, I think hes probably deteriorated."
Three LGBTQ rights groups are suing the state of Tennessee over a new law that prohibits medical professionals from administering gender-affirming health care to transgender minors.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its Tennessee affiliate, Lambda Legal and the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld allege Tennessees Senate Bill 1 will cause severe and irreparable harm to transgender young people and their families if it is allowed to take effect on July 1.

The measure, which bans gender-affirming health care for youths under 18, was signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee in March. Lee on the same day approved the nations first law restricting drag shows, criminalizing certain performances that take place in public or where they may be viewed by a minor.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal said they planned to sue the state following the passage of the bill. On Thursday, the ACLU tweeted, Tennessee, well see you in court.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Samantha and Brian Williams and their 15-year-old transgender daughter, two other plaintiff families filing anonymously, and Dr. Susan Lacy, a Memphis-based physician who treats transgender minors.

I dont even want to think about having to go back to the dark place I was in before I was able to come out and access the care that my doctors have prescribed for me, Samantha and Brian Williamss daughter, referred to as L.W. in court filings because she is a minor, said Thursday in a news release. I want this law to be struck down so that I can continue to receive the care I need, in conversation with my parents and my doctors, and have the freedom to live my life and do the things I enjoy.

The suit names Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, along with the Tennessee Department of Health and other state defendants. A spokesperson for Skrmettis office told The Hill they have yet to see the lawsuit but look forward to reviewing it.

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Mounting evidence has persuaded a growing number of countries that irreversible medical interventions are not appropriate for kids showing symptoms of gender dysphoria, Elizabeth Lane, Skrmettis press secretary, said in a statement to The Hill. The Tennessee General Assembly passed a law to protect Tennessee children from the lifelong consequences of these interventions, and we will vigorously defend that law.

More than a fifth of transgender youths live in a state where gender-affirming health care is banned, according to a recent report by the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks legislation impacting the nations LGBTQ community.

Sixteen states since 2021 have enacted laws or policies that prohibit transgender young people from accessing gender-affirming health care, which is considered medically necessary by most major medical organizations. Three states  Alabama, Idaho and North Dakota  have passed laws that classify the administration of gender-affirming health care to a minor as a felony crime, punishable by hefty fines and multiple years in prison.

A federal judge last year also temporarily blocked the Alabama law from taking effect, pending the outcome of another ACLU lawsuit filed on behalf of two families with transgender children. The ACLU has filed similar suits challenging bans in Arkansas and Indiana.

In a statement on Thursday, Samantha Williams said her daughter, L.W., struggled with her mental health before the family was able to access care. L.W. began her social transition in 2020 and was prescribed puberty blockers by her doctors at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital the following year, after she started seeing a mental health specialist who diagnosed her with gender dysphoria, according to Thursdays lawsuit.

We have a confident, happy daughter now, who is free to be herself and she is thriving. I am so afraid of what this law will mean for her, Samantha Williams said Thursday. We dont want to leave Tennessee, but this legislation would force us to either routinely leave our state to get our daughter the medical care she desperately needs, or to uproot our entire lives and leave Tennessee altogether.

No family should have to make this kind of choice, she added.

Just three of the nine states bordering Tennessee  Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina  have yet to pass a law that heavily restricts or bans gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. Proposed laws to that effect are advancing in North Carolina and South Carolina, but similar measures failed to advance through the Virginia legislature before the end of this years legislative session.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to attend a virtual meeting on Sudan on Thursday, a UN spokesman said.

The meeting will bring together the chairperson of the African Union, the secretary-general of the Arab League, the executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and other relevant organizations, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Guterres, told reporters on Wednesday.

Guterres spoke to President William Ruto of Kenya earlier Wednesday, and talked with the chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, the spokesman said, adding that the UN chief will continue to make phone calls in the day, in attempts to secure a 24-hour ceasefire between the fighting forces in Sudan.

Volker Perthes, the secretary-general's special representative in Sudan, continues to engage with the parties, as well as key Sudanese leaders and member states, in trying to secure an immediate de-escalation of the fighting and working on the 24-hour ceasefire, Dujarric said.

He said that the continued heavy fighting in Sudan is having devastating consequences for Sudanese civilians as well as UN staff and other members of the international community.

"We reiterate to the parties to the conflict that they must respect international law," the spokesman said. "They are obliged to protect civilians and ensure the safety and security of all United Nations and associated personnel as well as their premises, our assets, and trapped civilians must be able to receive assistance, access essential supplies and evacuate to safer zones as needed." 
The Idaho Transportation Department said in a news release late Thursday night that Thursdays long-awaited opening of a third lane in each direction on Interstate 84 in Canyon County had been delayed.

The release stated that ITD postponed the opening due to wet roads and cold temperatures overnight. The lanes will open when conditions allow construction crews to stripe the roadway.

ITD cannot safely open the new lanes until the stripes are placed on the roadway.

A release earlier in the day had indicated that drivers could take advantage of the extra lanes between Franklin Road (Exit 29) in Caldwell and Karcher Road (Exit 33) in Nampa starting Thursday morning, but snow and rain fell in the Treasure Valley on Wednesday night, and temperatures were dipping to near freezing.

The project, which began in the summer of 2021 at a cost of $136 million, is scheduled to be fully complete by August, according to the first ITD release.

Improvements along the corridor include: adding the third lanes on I-84; adding additional ramp lanes at Franklin and Karcher westbound off-ramps; building two median walls on I-84; adding two soundwalls along I-84; and replacing 20 bridges throughout the corridor.

Over the next several months, construction crews will finish installing fences, sealing bridge decks and seeding shoulders.

ITD would like to thank the community for their patience during the construction of this important project, as well as all the projects that were tied in with the widening, said Mark Campbell, Idaho Transportation Department project manager.

He also thanked the contractors for completing the work on time and within budget.

This summer, ITD plans to continue widening I-84 in Caldwell between the Centennial Way interchange and Franklin Road interchange. For details about the continued I-84 expansion in Canyon County, visit itdprojects.org/projects/84corridor/.
Miami is one step closer to being a three-hour train trip away from Orlando as Brightline unveiled its new Central Florida stop on Thursday.

The high-speed train company also announced tickets will be going on sale in May for future dates  with the new 37,350-square-foot station, located at Orlando International Airport, expected to open by summer.

Todays milestone is the last piece of transformative infrastructure that is now complete as we ready ourselves for the start of the service we have been building for a decade, said Mike Reininger, CEO of Brightline. This station will be a gateway for visitors and travelers throughout Florida, but beyond that, it is indicative of how we set out to transform travel in a way that hasnt been done in more than a century.

This will be Brightlines sixth station, and the first outside of South Florida. Currently, trains run between downtown Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. The Aventura and Boca Raton stations recently opened in December.

READ MORE: Brightline expands with Aventura station near the mall. What to know about the train

Brightline unveils new station at Orlando International Airport on Thursday along with ticket prices and an opening date coming this summer.

One-way fares between Miami and Orlando will start at $79, with Premium seating beginning at $149. Premium tickets come with complimentary meals, a dedicated first class lounge, priority boarding and other features. Families of four will have an option of less than $199 one-way tickets.

The station began construction in January 2022 and finally completed it this month. Leading up to the unveiling, Brightline made history as the fastest train in the Southeast earlier this year, reaching speeds of 130 mph in a test run.

Heres what we know about Brightlines new Orlando station:

So, what does the new Orlando station look like?

The station will be next to Orlando International Airports Terminal C. It will be connected directly to one of the airports parking garages with spaces specifically for Brightline travelers.

This station represents so much more than a new train service, it is a critical connection for our community to jobs and opportunity and further showcases the power of partnerships and what our culture of collaboration here in Central Florida can do to improve the lives of our residents, workers and travelers when we work together, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement.

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Additionally, guests will be able to go directly to the airport Terminals A and B in under five minutes. The station offers similar entrance features as in other locations, such as self-service kiosks, luggage checks, turnstiles and ticket purchasing.

Inside, the facility has a sit-down bar, called Mary Mary Bar, that will serve cocktails and lighter food. There will also be a store, called MRKT PLACE, that will sell gifts and refreshments.

A BrightKids childrens play area is also situated inside a lounge for travelers that has charging stations, TVs and Wi-Fi.

What are the train schedules?

The trip from Miami to Orlando will take about 2 hours and 59 minutes in a non-stop train and about 3 hours and 30 minutes in a regular service train. There will be 16 daily round trips with hourly departures between Miami and Orlando.

Brightline noted there will still be dedicated trains that serve commuters in South Florida from Miami to West Palm Beach, and vice versa.

But for Brightline commuters who plan on taking a trip to The City Beautiful, check out the opening schedule of the Orlando-bound trains:

Weekdays

 Hourly southbound departures from Orlando to Miami starting at 5:00 a.m. until 8:50 p.m. First southbound train from Orlando arrives in Miami at 8:30 a.m.

 Hourly northbound departures from Miami to Orlando starting at 6:50 a.m. until 9:45 p.m. First northbound train from Miami arrives in Orlando at 10:15 a.m.

Weekends

 Hourly southbound departures from Orlando to Miami starting at 5:00 a.m. until 8:50 p.m. First southbound train from Orlando arrives in Miami at 8:30 a.m.

 Hourly northbound departures from Miami to Orlando starting at 5:45 a.m. until 9:45 p.m. First northbound train from Miami arrives in Orlando at 9:15 a.m.
The high-profile trial of doomsday cult mom Lori Vallow continues in Boise, Idaho, where she is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft over the deaths of her daughter Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua JJ Vallow, seven.

Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019. Their bodies were found buried on the property of Ms Vallows new husband Chad Daybell in June 2020.

Ms Vallow, 49, is also charged with conspiracy to murder Mr Daybells first wife Tammy in October 2019.

She has pleaded not guilty in a dramatic case spanning multiple murders, unexplained deaths and cult beliefs.

This week, the jury heard Ms Vallows surviving child Colby Ryan angrily confront his mother about his siblings deaths in a jailhouse phone call, telling her: You ripped my heart out!

Testimony also explained how Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell were planning a new life together in Hawaii  without any children  and how she stoel Social Security payments intended for Tylee and JJ.

On Thursday, a friend recalled a visit to Ms Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, including the last sighting of JJ and a chilling warning from Mr Daybell about Tammys death.

Key points

Lori Vallow: Who is the doomsday cult mom on trial for her childrens murders?

22:52 , Andrea Blanco

Lori Vallow is a mother-of-three, a former game show contestant, a Mrs Texas Beauty Pageant and a cult follower. But is she also a killer?

The Independents Rachel Sharp reports:

Lori Vallow: Who is the cult mom on trial for her childrens murders?

Court is adjourned

22:49 , Andrea Blanco

Earlier today, Judge Boyce said the trial will resume on Monday at 8.30 MT, as the case is moving faster than expected.

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Prosecution shows video recorded by Det Stubbs

22:45 , Andrea Blanco

Det Stubbs obtained warrants for three apartments in Loris complex after his department failed to find JJ.

Inside Loris Rexburg apartment, investigators retrieved guns in the garage of the apartment, as well as several Army-grade knives, and empty magazines for various weapons.

Police also found Hazmat-style suits and preparedness bags with emergency kits, a camouflage suit, ammunition, guns, silencers, and black trash bags full of clothes and papers. Toys and items belonging to JJ, including prescription medication, were also found in the search.

Det Stubbs tells jurors about Loris false claims

22:24 , Andrea Blanco

When Melanie Gibb failed to answer calls from Arizona police regarding JJs whereabouts, Det Stubbs and two other officers returned to Loris Rexburg apartment.

Later that day, Ms Gibb reached out to law enforcement and told them JJ was not with her.

Det Stubbs testified that there was no evidence any of Loris relatives were trying to kill her to receive life insurance money.

He also told jurors Loris claims that Tylee was enrolled at Brigham Young University were false.

Court watches bodycam of Rexburg PD officers confronting Lori

22:08 , Andrea Blanco

Lori told officers with the Rexburg police department that JJ was in Arizona with her friend Melanie Gibb.

She said Kay Woodstock, JJs biological grandmother, had been trying to gain access to the little boy and making Loris life hard in the process.

In the bodycam, Lori is also heard saying that her brother in Arizona, not Alex Cox, was trying to kill her.

Not only were we dealing with a situation where one of these individuals was possibly involved in an attempted shooting in Arizona but the individuals were being evasive and lying, Det Stubbs testified, according to East Idaho News.

Det Stubbs also told jurors that Lori described Chad as Alexs friend, but at the time authorities were aware they had married.

Det Stubbs tells court Rexburg PD visited Loris apartment in November 2019

21:46 , Andrea Blanco

The Jeep was eventually towed from the parking lot at Loris apartment building, but nobody reached out to police about it.

Investigators returned to Loris Rexburg apartment for a welfare check on JJ on 26 November 2019.

Chad and Lori seen holding hands in November 2019, court hears

21:17 , Andrea Blanco

Det Stubbs began working on the case in November 2019, when authorities in Arizona requested help from Rexburg PD to seize a Jeep linked to a murder.

The detective said he initially saw no signs of the Jeep but followed Lori and Chad.

My observations are they were holding hands and at times talking. I witnessed Lori at times placing her hand on his shoulder as they walked toward the store, Det Stubbs told the court, according to East Idaho News.

Moments ago, the prosecution introduced several exhibits that Det Stubb is expected to touch on during his testimony. They include insurance, credit and business records and hotel receipts.

Rexburg Police Detective Dave Stubbs takes the stand

20:58 , Andrea Blanco

Jury hears about raccoon text Chad Daybell sent to Tammy Daybell

20:45 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Dean was asked by prosecutors about a text Mr Daybell sent to his first wife just a day after Tylee was last seen alive.

Well, Ive had an interesting morning! I felt I should burn all of the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms, the text, which first became public during a 2020 hearing, read.

While I did so, I spotted a big raccoon along the fence. I hurried and got my gun, and he was still walking along. I got close enough that one shot did the trick. He is now in our pet cemetery. Fun times!

The message was sent to Tammy Daybell on 9 September 2019. Tylees last sighting was the day before at Yellowstone Park.

The teen was found buried in Mr Daybells pet cemetery six months later.

FBI analyst helped retrieve data from devices seized from Chad Daybells home

20:32 , Andrea Blanco

Mr Dean first became familiarised with the case in March 2020. He helped seize and analyse devices found in Chad Daybells house.

Some of the data he retrieved was linked to communications from Tammy Daybell.

They stopped in early October 2019, about ten days before she died.

New witness: Benjamin Dean, FBI Intelligence Analyst

20:14 , Oliver O'Connell

The prosecution is correct, we are moving through the witnesses at a very fast rate.

Benjamin Dean works in the Salt Lake City Field Office of the FBI on a Criminal Investigation Squad.

His main job is to analyse information and make assessments on specific threats. He reviews information collected by agents in the field looking for trends and patterns in electronic devices.

New witness: Detective Bruce Mattingly, Fremont County Sheriffs Office

20:10 , Oliver O'Connell

The first witness after lunch is Detective Bruce Mattingly of the Fremont County Sheriffs Office.

He has been a detective for six years and on 3 January 2020 was involved in a search of Chad Daybells home alongside other law enforcement including the FBI.

Electronic evidence was recovered from the house and taken to Salt Lake City for analysis.

No further questions but he remains under subpoena for possible questioning later in the trial.

Court resumes

20:02 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Steven Boyce and both legal teams huddled to discuss scheduling before the jury is brought back in.

The trial is moving quicker than expected and the prosecution proposes taking tomorrow off. The defence has no objections.

18:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Boyce calls the lunch break.

18:48 , Oliver O'Connell

In cross-examination, Rachel Smith says that while the defence team asked about dreams and visions, she wants to talk about reality, and asks who carried JJ to bed.

David says it was Alex.

Asked what Lori said about JJ the next day, he says she told him JJ was out of control and she had Alex get him, because she couldnt handle him.

No further questions.

18:44 , Oliver O'Connell

There is another objection sustained by Judge Boyce during a discussion on the scope and audience of the podcast.

It is reiterated that it was to build faith.

The whole purpose was to build faith and help identity stumbling blocks to faith, the fruits of faith and how involved our Father in Heaven is with each one of us.

When David left Loris he wanted to visit his son in Pocatello.

Asked if he called the police after not seeing JJ before leaving, he says he saw no reason to do so as Lori was one of the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful woman, but adds that she and Chad were teaching didnt match their character and he left Rexburg confused.

18:39 , Oliver O'Connell

David is asked about the scratch on Chads neck and reiterates that he was told JJ did it but he didnt see it happen.

He also tells the court he wasnt sure what to believe when Chad said that his wife would soon die.

Asked if he wanted to be part of the 144,000, he says it would be an honour but was not something he was seeking. He then adds that Chad wouldnt have the authority to gather as that would lie with the prophet of the LDS Church, Russell M Nelson.

18:36 , Oliver O'Connell

There is an objection from the state that is sustained and Judge Boyce says that we are getting away from the evidence.

Archibald asks David to explain the difference between a nightmare and a vision. Warwick says a vision is when youre being shown things in the future but youre not seeing yourself - someone else is presenting it. David says his visions come from angels under God.

He is then asked about the nightmare he had while staying at Loris home.

David describes it as adversarial and coming from somewhere in the direction of the devil.

After waking from the nightmare Melanie had wanted Chad to give him a blessing  he says she was just trying to help.

Chad never came over.

18:31 , Oliver O'Connell

Archibald asks about the conference David was attending on the Rexburg trip. He replies it was a Book of Mormon conference, though not one sponsored by the LDS church, rather it was organised by someone associated with the Preparing a People organisation  a private group.

Asked about the podcast, David says it was not a moneymaking venture but instead was designed to build faith.

David says he has spoken at PAP events and shared about his dreams and visions, adding that he doesnt call himself a visionary but others have called him that.

I dont call myself anything.

He explains about his visions of secret combinations in England, Saudi Arabia, and Washington, DC, as well as visions of Russia and China invading the US, and the US being sacrificed for a one world government.

He has given talks about secret combinations in England and Saudi Arabia. He's seen visions of Russia and China invading the US #lorivallow@LawCrimeNetwork  Pretty Lies & Alibis (@PrettyLiesAlibi) April 20, 2023

18:23 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald begins cross-examination.

He asks if David and Melanies divorces from previous marriages had been finalised when they started seeing each other. There is an objection from the state that is overruled and he says his divorce was being finalised and Melanies was complete.

They met through shared religious interests which is how he met Lori, Alex, Chad etc. He says Alex was a fun-loving, humourous guy.

18:18 , Oliver O'Connell

On Sunday 22 September 2019, they recorded the podcast in Loris kitchen with Melanie.

JJ was with Alex at his apartment so he wouldnt interrupt them.

He saw JJ around 10.30pm when Alex came in the front door. JJ was asleep with his head on Alexs shoulder. He took JJ upstairs and put him in bed. David remembers JJ wearing shorts and a T-shirt. He doesnt remember seeing Alex leave but thinks he heard the front door open and close.

JJ was staying in Loris room and David was staying in JJs room. In the early morning hours, David says he had one of the worst nightmares of my life. It was very real.

Melanie came in to help him and said she wanted to get Lori to help and came back saying she couldnt gat any response.

The next morning, David and Melanie went downstairs to say goodbye and Lori told him that JJ had "an episode" and climbed on the cabinets, on top of the fridge, and then knocked over her picture of Jesus Christ.

David says he didnt see any signs that the cabinets were damaged and there were no marks on the stainless steel fridge. He asked to see JJ so he could give him a blessing but Lori said she had Alex come and get him.

That was the morning of Monday 23 September 2019.

No further questions.

18:12 , Oliver O'Connell

David also saw Chad at Loris townhome. He never saw him interact with JJ but heard they had a scuffle and his neck got scratched.

David observed that Lori and Chad were affectionate together but he knew Chad was married to someone else. He asked how Chads marriage was and he said he had no complaints but her time was coming up and he and Lori had things they needed to do for God.

Chad told David he had a dream three years before that Tammy was going to die by the time Chad was 50.

He again told David he was one of the 144,000 and thats why he wanted him in Rexburg.

18:08 , Oliver O'Connell

David tells the court that later that weekend Alex took him to see 80 acres of land for sale near Chads home as David knew an investor who wanted to develop property in Idaho.

Chad and a realtor showed up and asked if he had any questions. He said he didnt do business on Sundays.

18:02 , Oliver O'Connell

David says he remembered seeing Chad about four times during the trip.

Chad was trying to teach him about the gathering of the 144,000 and Satans power to possess peoples bodies.

David told him that Satan does not have that power. He listened but didnt believe any of it and let Chad know that. Both Lori and Melanie were present.

Chad asked David and Melanie to meet him and Lori at a property next to a church. When there, they started describing a heavenly building next to the church  not a physical building but a spiritual one  he tried to be respectful and follow along with what they were saying, but there was no building there.

17:59 , Oliver O'Connell

The next time he met Lori was up in Rexburg, Idaho, when he and Melanie visited her at her townhome on 20-23 September 2019.

Melanie and Lori wanted to do a podcast with him and he was coming up to Idaho for a conference and to visit his son who had moved close by.

They stayed with Lori and Alex and JJ were there too. He remembers JJ playing with toys on the couch.

As he has an autistic son with Down Syndrome he tried to play with JJ but it was like I wasnt even there. He never acknowledged me.

David remembers JJ engaging with Alex and going outside to play and that he seemed very happy.

There was no sign of Tylee at the house and he was told she was in college and wanted to be independent.

17:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Chad Daybell, Alex Cox, Melani Boudreaux, Zulema Pastenes, and another lady were all there as well as he and Melanie.

David had never met Chad in person but they had spoken on the phone when, a few years earlier, Chad reached out to him and wanted to write a book together.

The book never happened because David didnt feel it was right and Chad wasnt the one to write a book with.

David recalls of the meeting: Lori was an amazing hostess. She was fixing food. We were having a social.

New witness: David Warwick

17:53 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Smith is questioning David Warwick for the prosecution.

He explains he is married to Melanie Gibb and met Lori Vallow through her. They first met in Arizona when Lori told Melanie to bring him over in early August of 2019.

Charles had been killed the month before.

17:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Boyce says he doesnt believe holding David in contempt of court is an appropriate response and that the conduct doesnt rise to the level of excusing the witness.

He says the conduct was wilful and allows the defence to comment on his credibility in front of the jury.

Judge Boyce will let David testify. This triggers a sidebar conference and all the attorney leave court with the judge.

They return and David Warwicks testimony will be heard.

17:48 , Oliver O'Connell

The counterargument from the prosecution is that they have to see if any harm was done and that he was admitted being at fault.

Archibald counters: Theres a reason we have rules and we dont just say, Golly gee, my bad. Hes accessing information on the internet. His motivation is irrelevant. He purposely accessed it and not only that, accessed other articles about people in this case. There is a rule and theres a reason we have a rule and its to protect the integrity of the court.

There is a rule and there's a reason we have a rule and it's to protect the integrity of the court."  Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) April 20, 2023

17:34 , Oliver O'Connell

Smith aks if anything he heard would change his testimony for today.

David says no.

The defence argues that it is apparent the rule has been violated and ask that he be excluded.

17:33 , Oliver O'Connell

David says he listened to it on a YouTube channel (East Idaho News of Hidden Crime) and read other articles that day  two about Melanie and one about the marriage of Zulema Pastenes and Alex Cox.

Prosecutor Rachel Smith asks if he has listened to or watched the trial since he got his subpoena. He says only Melanies testimony and the article about Zulema, which he says was not about the trial.

17:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald asks if he has spoken with Melanie since her testimony and David says no, just a text that she was going home to Arizona.

He says he listened to her testimony to hear her tone of voice (somber) and not what she actually said.

17:24 , Oliver O'Connell

Court is back and the next witness is supposed to be David Warwick, Melanie Gibbs husband of two years. However, an issue has been raised concerning the exclusionary rule that witnesses cant listen, watch, or read any other witness testimony.

When asked, David says he listened to 45 minutes of his wifes testimony to see who she was doing and then remembered he wasnt supposed to and stopped.

They have a distant relationship as Melanie lives in Arizona and he lives in Utah.

David says they have not talked about the trial as she needed space.

16:49 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Boyce calls the morning break.

New witness: Wynn Hill, Dean of Students, BYU-Idaho

16:46 , Oliver O'Connell

Up next on the witness stand is Wynn Hill, dean of students at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg.

Lori told several people that Tylee had enrolled at BYUI and was living with friends at a dorm.

BYUI uses a student management system and Mr Hill looked up to see if Tylee ever applied or enrolled.

They were asked to look for Tylee Ryan, Tylee Cox, Tylee Vallow. She had not.

No further questions and no cross-examination.

16:42 , Oliver O'Connell

In cross-examination, Archibald asks about the enrollment process and Mr Wilson says he got the impression that Lori planned to have JJ in the school for the long-run and was surprised when she pulled him out.

The defence is again trying to show that Lori had longterm plans for JJ.

New witness: Josh Wilson, Principal, Kennedy Elementary School

16:38 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Josh Wilson, Principal of the Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, Idaho.

Wilson confirms JJ Vallow was a student at the school with Lori Vallow listed as his parent.

He was enrolled from 3 September 2019 to 24 September 2019.

The last day JJ was physically present at the school was Friday, 20 September 2019.

On 24 September, Lori informed the school she was sending JJ to live with his grandparents who would be homeschooling him. There would therefore be no need to forward any records and Wilson told Lori they would keep them until he was re-enrolled in public school.

He was already dead at this point.

16:33 , Oliver O'Connell

In cross-examination, defence attorney Jim Archibald asks if any schedule was agreed upon when she and Lori met up.

She says it would have been as needs arose but she imagined it be over the next several months, implying that there was a longer-term plan for the care of JJ.

16:31 , Oliver O'Connell

A few days later Lori texted and said that JJ had gone to stay with his grandparents for a month.

When that month passed there was no word back from Lori.

Sydney never saw JJ again after 19 September 2019.

16:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Sydney came the next day to watch JJ for a few hours while Lori went to the airport to pick up Melanie Gibb and David Warwick.

JJ played with neighbourhood kids before coming in to eat, and then going back out at the end of the day. JJ and the neighbour got into an argument about toys and JJ became upset. He threw a chair and an ottoman and then went upstairs to be alone.

Lori came home and calmed him down. Sydney was paid and saw Melanie and David before she left.

New witness: Sydney Woodbury Schenk

16:23 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Sydney Woodbury Schenk, who was attending BYU-Idaho in Rexburg in 2019 and was looking for extra work as a nanny or babysitter.

She was hired by Lori to help with JJ and met on 18 September 2019 at Loris townhome, where she was greeted warmly and hugged.

It was explained that JJ had tendencies to get emotional, distracted, and difficulty communicating. Lori told her Charles had died of a heart attack and JJ was having a hard time understanding what was happening.

She did not see Tylee but Lori told her she was in college and she would come to visit for dinner and to do laundry.

16:19 , Oliver O'Connell

As part of the investigation, Moffat said they looked into life insurance policies and learned about Charless $1m policy. There was some initial confusion about who the beneficiary was before they discovered it was Kay Woodcock, Charless sister.

No further questions and no cross-examination from the defence due to their earlier objection.

16:18 , Oliver O'Connell

Moffatt returned to the house to investigate the scene and found bullet strikes in the baseboard and another under Charless body  consistent with him being on the floor when he was shot.

He was also in the car with Det Ynclan, Alex, Tylee, and Lori, when they drove them back to the house and called the drive bizarre - to say the least as the conversation was so light-hearted.

16:14 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex and Loris stories differed.

He told police he was not there to protect Lori. She told police that she had asked him over to protect her from Charles.

16:13 , Oliver O'Connell

After he was hit by the bat, Alex said he went to get his gun and told Charles to drop the bat.

He claimed Charles said: What are you going to do about it?

Charles came toward Alex and he pulled the trigger more than once. He believed he hit Charles in the torso  he was hit in chest and lower abdomen.

After the shooting, Alex says he went to the kitchen and washed his hands, before going to his room and calling 911. He claimed to have done CPR on Charles and said he did not know where Tylee and JJ were at the time of the shooting.

16:06 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex said Tylee came out of her room with a bat during the argument with the intention of protecting her mother.

Charles took the bat and another argument began over that. Alex said Charles hit him with the bat in the back of the head.

Moffatt said there was a small laceration on the back of Alexs head, but noted: It wasnt consistent with being hit extremely hard in the back of the head with a baseball bat by an athletic man.

16:04 , Oliver O'Connell

Det (now Sergeant) Moffatt arrived on the scene of Charles Vallows murder on 11 July 2019 after patrol cars had responded to the 911 call by Alex Cox, Loris brother.

He was assigned the role of case agent. He walked through the scene after being briefed by patrol officers about the interviews that had already taken place. He did not see Lori at the scene but did see Alex though he didn't talk to him. Moffatt saw Charles dead on the floor.

Later, he interviewed Alex at the police station, who told him he had stayed the night as he and Lori had planned to do something the next day. Alex said Lori and Charles were in an argument, though he did not know about what. He did not see them get physical.

15:59 , Oliver O'Connell

Once again Lori Vallows defence team objects to the inclusion of testimony concerning Charles Vallows murder in Arizona saying it is not relevant to the trial in Idaho.

And again, the objection is overruled with Judge Boyce again noting that the court ruled on this in February.

New witness: Det Nathan Moffatt

15:56 , Oliver O'Connell

The prosecution calls Chandler Police Departments Detective Nathan Moffatt to the stand.

He will be questioned by Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake.

Moffatt was the initial lead on the Charles Vallow murder case until he was promoted. He has been with Chandler PD for 21 years.

Court resumes

15:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Steven Boyce is on the bench and both the prosecution team and the defence team have taken their places.

The jury is being brought in.

There are scheduling issues that the court will deal with later today

Court to resume for day eight of testimony momentarily

15:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori appears to be in a good mood and is writing on her notepad (which she does a lot). Her legal team has not yet entered the courtroom.

The bailiff reminds those in attendance about silencing phones and not using them to record audio or video.

He makes a special request about restricting whispering to breaks and to now crinkle candy wrappers.

Bailiff asks spectators to save whispering for the breaks and minimize candy wrapper crinkling. "If you have a Lifesaver fetish, please open your candy now."  Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) April 20, 2023

ICYMI: Colby Ryan confronts mother about deaths of siblings

15:23 , Oliver O'Connell

The only surviving child of a woman charged in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival confronted his mother about his siblings deaths in an emotional phone call played for jurors on Tuesday in a trial that has touched on claims of evil spirits, zombie children and an additional murder charge in another state.

Prosecutors played the call shortly after Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow Daybells oldest child, took the stand in the bizarre triple murder case in Idaho. The call was made after the bodies of Ryans siblings, Joshua JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were found buried in an eastern Idaho yard in 2020, and after Vallow Daybell was jailed in connection with the crime.

It starts with Ryan asking his mom if she thought she could keep hiding from him.

Im not hiding, why would you think Im hiding? Vallow Daybell responds.

Probably because you murdered my siblings! Maybe you should understand, Ryan continued, before his mother interrupted:

I didnt. Im sorry you feel that way, she said.

The call continued for several minutes, with Vallow Daybell insisting that Ryan cant know what happened because he wasnt there, but that JJ and Tylee were happy and all would become clear in the afterlife.

But Ryan said his mother lied to him multiple times while his brother and sister were missing, with someone even sending him texts from his sisters phone as if they were from Tylee.

To know that theyre gone, and you knew! And my phone is being texted by my little sister, whos not even alive! Ryan said, his voice rising. My poor brother, who is the sweetest little kid ever  for what purpose? You tell me this is Gods will: For my whole family, including my stepfather, to be dead.

AP

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend in secret recording

15:01 , Oliver O'Connell

Weve heard from several former friends of Lori Vallow, but one of the most intriguing was Melanie Gibb.

Andrea Blanco reports on what she told the court.

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend about JJ lies in secret recording

What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell doomsday cult murder trial

14:00 , Rachel Sharp

It looked every inch the fairytale wedding.

Dressed in white with pink flower garlands around their necks, the bride and groom couldnt have looked happier as they exchanged vows on a paradise beach in Hawaii.

Photos captured the apparently blissful day as they toasted their nuptials, embraced and she danced to him playing the guitar.

But, behind the photos, something much more disturbing was going on.

Her two children had not been seen alive in two months.

His wife of three decades  the mother of his five children  had died suddenly just two weeks earlier.

And her husband had been shot dead by her brother (who would also soon be dead) not long before.

Its a bizarre and tragic case that has captured the attention of the nation, leaving many with one big unanswered question: how could a woman who for years appeared to be a loving, doting mother allegedly murder her children in the belief that they had turned into zombies?

The Independents Rachel Sharp reports:

What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell doomsday cult murder trial

Final photos of Lori Vallows children

13:30 , Rachel Sharp

The last photo  and known sighting  of Tylee Ryan, seen with JJ and Alex Cox at Yellowstone National Park in September 2019:

The last photo  and known sighting  of Tylee Ryan (pictured with JJ and Alex Cox at Yellowstone National Park) (FBI)

Days later, the last photo was taken of JJ Vallow in his red pyjamas on a sofa in his mothers home:

JJ Vallow on the day he was last seen alive (Ada County Court)

Key revelations from Lori Vallows murder trial so far...

13:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp has compiled the key revelations of the trial to date:

Cult beliefs and charred remains: Key revelations from Lori Vallows murder trial

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were planning new life in Hawaii  without children

12:30 , Rachel Sharp

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were planning to embark on a new life together in Hawaii  without any children.

This is what jurors heard in court on Wednesday.

Jurors were shown an email sent by Mr Daybell to a realtor in Hawaii in November 2019, just days after the couple wed on a beach there.

In the email he said that they were looking for a home for a couple with no pets or children.

We are interested in seeing this property. Would the owners be interested in leasing this property to a clean couple with no pets or children? Please let us know. Thank you, he wrote.

Timeline of doomsday cult moms mystery case

12:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp has compiled a timeline of the tragic and bizarre case:

Timeline of the Lori Vallow Daybell case

Everything we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell trial

10:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp delves into the deeply disturbing tale of suspected murders, unexplained deaths and apocalyptic cult beliefs about killing zombies which surrounds Lori Vallow and her doomsday author husband Chad Daybell.

What we know about the Lori Vallow Daybell doomsday cult murder trial

Lori Vallows children: Buried in pyjamas and burned beyond recognition

08:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Graphic photos shown at cult mom Lori Vallows murder trial revealed how her slain son JJ was still wearing his red pyjamas and a nighttime diaper when his remains were found buried in a shallow grave on Chad Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho.

Joshua JJ Vallow was last seen alive on 22 September 2019, his sister hadnt been seen for two weeks.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Lori Vallows son JJ was found buried in red pyjamas and diaper

Chad Daybell warned Lori Vallow of police search of his property

06:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A jailhouse phone call captured the moment Chad Daybell warned cult mom Lori Vallow that police were closing in on the day that her childrens remains were discovered buried on his property.

In the call, made on 9 June 2020 and played in court during Ms Vallows high-profile double murder trial on Wednesday, Mr Daybell is heard telling his new wife that law enforcement were on the scene searching his property in Rexburg, Idaho.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Lori Vallow trial hears jailhouse call with Chad Daybell on day bodies found

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend in secret recording

04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A phone call between cult mom Lori Vallow and her former best friend was played in court during her ongoing trial for the murders of two of her children.

The trial of Ms Vallow, 49, continues at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, almost three years after she was charged with killing her son Joshua JJ Vallow and daughter Tylee Ryan and conspiring to murder her doomsday preachers husband Chad Daybells first wife.

On Thursday, prosecutors played a phone conversation between Mr Daybell, Ms Vallow and her then-best friend Melanie Gibb, who was on the stand testifying for the state.

Andrea Blanco has the story.

Lori Vallow confronted by best friend about JJ lies in secret recording

Lori Vallows chilling response to question about missing daughter

02:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A former friend of Lori Vallow has revealed the cult moms chilling response after being confronted about her missing teen daughter.

Andrea Blanco reports.

Lori Vallows chilling response to question about missing Tylee revealed

Colby Ryans emotional call with his mother: You ripped my heart out

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:30 , Oliver O'Connell

On day six of testimony in the trial of cult mom Lori Vallow, the jury heard a recording of a phone call between the defendant and her eldest son from the early months of her incarceration.

Colby Ryan, Ms Vallows son from her second marriage, was called a witness for the prosecution. He is her only surviving child following the murders of daughter Tylee, 16, and adopted son JJ, 7, in September 2019.

In the emotional call between mother and son, Ms Vallow refused to switch on her camera, while Mr Ryan demanded to know whether Jesus had really told her to murder his siblings.

Lori Vallow trial hears gut-wrenching prison call with surviving son Colby Ryan

Court adjourns for the day

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:31 , Oliver O'Connell

There is a brief redirect regarding if April knew about the hierarchy of the religion Lori was involved in  she says she did not but mainly thinks of the group involved in the podcasts (Chad, Zulema, Melanie, etc).

Judge Boyce adjourns the court for the day.

The trial resumes again tomorrow morning at 8.30am MT.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:26 , Oliver O'Connell

April says she had never met Melanie Gibb before the 2019 Hawaii visit and says that both Melanie and Lori were on the same page concerning their new beliefs. She felt they were subtly grooming her, and she felt their ultimate goal was to include me.

She was not interested.

Cross-examination concludes.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:24 , Oliver O'Connell

April says she does not believe in multiple lives/probations and their church does not teach that. She did not hear Lori talk about zombies or castings in 2018, but in 2019 she did talk about the light/dark scale.

She describes it as unusual and that Lori had not spoken about it when they lived in Hawaii before.

April asked why she had changed her beliefs and Lori said she had had experiences in the temple that changed her views and she found a group of like-minded people. April told Lori she didnt share the beliefs  despite Lori saying she was a goddess.

She is asked what they taught their children about Jesus and says they taught that he healed sick people but couldnt recall specifically if they said he cast out evil spirits.

They did teach the children about the love of God and the need to be good people.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:18 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald begins cross-examination.

He asks if she noticed a change in Loris religious beliefs during the time she knew her. April says yes, when she became part of the new group she was involved in.

April says Loris beliefs about Jesus started to change a little when she had visited Hawaii in July 2018. By the 2019 visit, those beliefs were more amplified than before.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori told April on the first night she was in Hawaii that she was a leader of the 144,000 and that she was there to gather people including April.

She told her she would need to separate from her kids because she had fulfilled her role in their lives and there was a bigger mission for her. She said to leave the children with their father.

No further questions from the prosecution.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:14 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori told April about Charles going on a business trip and she discovered evidence of him having an affair so she canceled his flight and credit cards and moved his truck from the airport parking lot.

Melanie Gibb backed up her story.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:12 , Oliver O'Connell

Later Lori admitted to April that Charles did not know she was in Hawaii and that if he reached out she was not to tell him where she was.

She said Charles had hired a private investigator to track her down and to throw him off she told Charles she was in Idaho for a conference.

Eventually, Lori moved out of Aprils house and went to the Kauai Beach Resort where Melanie Gibb joined her. The three women went out for lunch and a few evenings for dinner. Tylee went back to Arizona to work at her aunts chiropractic clinic.

Lori told April that Charles had been reaching out to her family by email and asked if he got in touch with her to not respond.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:07 , Oliver O'Connell

April also got to know Charles Vallow as he worked from home a lot and she would visit Lori several times a week.

They would go on walks and Lori would colour Aprils hair.

After the family moved away from Hawaii, April unexpectedly got a call from Lori in February 2019 saying she and Tylee were back and that she was leaving Charles. She asked if they could stay with April and she agreed.

Lori told her Charles was having an affair and he had turned into a demon named Ned Schneider. They would be getting a divorce.

She also told April that she didnt bring JJ with her as she was done with him and Charles and Kay Woodcock would have to figure out what to do with him.

April understood this to mean that after the divorce Charles would have to take care of JJ as Lori no longer would.

Lori added that Charles was already dead and the demon was using his body. When she asked how she knew it wasnt Charles any longer she replied: Hes shorter.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

April has lived in Hawaii for eighteen years and met Lori through a branch of the LDS church in 2016.

They became friends outside of church and their children spent time together, and they celebrated holidays in one anothers company.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Before her testimony begins, April is asked about an interview with Loris cousin she saw on Facebook. A friend sent it to her and she started to read it but did not finish and read a handful of comments. She says the article did not involve the proceedings but was more about the LDS influence on the case.

April says she has not spoken to the media for any follow-up interviews and has told anyone enquiring that she cannot talk to them.

Judge Boyce rules that she can testify and the jury is brought back in.

New witness: April Raymond

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Court is back in session following the afternoon recess and the next witness is April Raymond, a friend of Loris from Hawaii.

April believed that Lori and Charles had a happy marriage until Lori began talking about a new religious group she was involved with and an author named Chad Daybell.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:44 , Oliver O'Connell

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:24 , Oliver O'Connell

No further questions from Blake and Judge Boyce calls for the mid-afternoon recess.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:21 , Oliver O'Connell

Attorney Lindsey Blake begins redirect questioning of Det Ynclan by trying to introduce the argument that Alexs actions were not in self defence as has been claimed by Lori, given everything we now know.

If Alex Cox was still alive, do you believe your agency would have made a recommendation that charges be filed? she asks.

There is an objection that is sustained.

Instead, she asks if there are usually arrests on the day an investigation begins, to which Det Ynclan replies generally, no, and that it depends on the totality of the investigation and other factors.

Theres a sidebar with Judge Boyce.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Archibald re-asks the question and Ynclan says she did not arrest Alex Cox on 11 July 2019.

He asks if Loris description of the altercation between Charles and Alex was consistent among all the interviews. She says it was.

No further questions.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:11 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald cross-examines Det Ynclan and asks if she watched the videos of her interviews to help her remember what was said. She replies partially, yes.

He asks if Alex Cox was ever arrested and the prosection calls for a sidebar with Judge Boyce.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:09 , Oliver O'Connell

Det Ynclan continues to describe Loris version of events from the morning of Charless death by saying that she was told Tylee started to come back toward the house and Lori put JJ in the car and the three of them left to take JJ to school.

After they left the house, Alex called her and she told him that he needed to call 911 as she was taking JJ to school. She said she never called 911 herself.

Det Ynclan also interviewed Tylee and then Det Moffitt interviewed Alex. After that, the three were taken home.

On the car ride home, Det Ynclan said of Lori: She was very nonchalant about what had happened, not upset, and there was some chatter about Tylee, school and mundane conversation.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:04 , Oliver O'Connell

On the morning of the shooting, she told the detective that Charles had been late to pick up JJ and he had been reluctant to go with his father. They got him settled and ready to leave.

She explained how she had asked Alex Cox to stay at the house the night before as she knew Charles was coming.

Charles had then left his phone in the house and had gone back to retrieve it leaving JJ outside. She said when he came in she was holding the phone and he got very upset with her and she made statements to him about messages on the phone.

While they argued, Lori says she moved around the kitchen and refused to give the phone back.

Tylee then appeared with a bat, Lori told the detective, and prodded Charles in defence of Lori. Charles seized the bat from her and was increasingly angry.

At this point, she says, Alex interceded and grabbed Charles from behind and a physical altercation ensued.

Lori instructed Tylee to go outside with JJ and she moved back into the kitchen, where she could hear the fight but did not see when Alex fired a gun at Charles. When she went back into the room, Charles was on the floor.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:57 , Oliver O'Connell

During the interview, Lori explained she, Tylee, and JJ had only lived there a few weeks and she had separated from her husband.

She explained that Charles had been living in Houston and Lori had gone out there but had returned to Arizona.

Lori said she had allowed Charles to take JJ back to Houston with him at one point, telling Det Ynclan about his special needs care and how Charles did not have the service available where he lived.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Det Ynclan drove Lori and Tylee to the victim advocacy centre for interviews.

Lori remained calm and not upset, chatting with Tylee about school and her future.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:48 , Oliver O'Connell

The defence again objects about the inclusion of evidence from Arizona and is again overruled by Judge Boyce.

Det Ynclan says she arrived at the scene of the shooting after patrol officers had secured the area. She spoke with Lori and Tylee and moved them outside to the crisis response unit van, learning that Lori was the victims wife and the shooter was her brother.

Det Ynclan was with Lori when a sergeant informed her that her husband was dead.

She didnt have much of a reaction. When she was informed that Charles was deceased, she responded that she already knew and made statements that she was present when it happened. This was new information to detectives.

Before being notified of the death, Det Ynclan says: [Lori] appeared calm, very non-emotional, was kind of hanging out and having general conversations. She was not really upset and at one point she was laughing.

New witness: Detective Sandra Ynclan, Chandler PD

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:42 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Detective Sandra Ynclan of the Chandler Police Department.

She has been with the department for 22 years and is a detective in the robbery and homicide division. She has been with the unit since 2009.

Det Ynclan interviewed Lori and Tylee on the say of the killing of Charles Vallow.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Archibald cross-examines Werther and asks who made the 911 call.

Werther replies that Alex Cox did but it was not he who spoke to him.

Asked about who was in the car with Lori, Werther says JJ was in the front and Tylee was in the back.

No further questions.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:33 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori took Charless phone with her when she left the house after he was shot and an analysis of the device data shows she actually went to Walgreens not a CVS store.

According to the data, she was at Walgreens at 8.15am, around the school at 8.30am, and then back at the scene of the shooting at 8.48am.

The 911 call came at 8.36am.

When police arrived at Charles Vallows house, they never saw his phone and it was never recovered on his body. Blake has no further questions.

When police arrived at Charles Vallow's house, they never saw his phone and it was never recovered on his body. Blake has no further questions.  Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) April 19, 2023

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Lori then dropped JJ at school at Laurens Academy some seven to eight miles away.

The 911 call came through at 8.36am with the first officers on the scene at 8.42am.

Lori arrived back at the scene at 8.48am.

Werther says it doesnt seem plausible that Lori could have driven to and from the school with the stops she says she made in that time.

Lori also says she stopped to buy flip-flops at a branch of CVS for JJ who left the house without shoes. Werther visited several CVS stores and could not find her on CCTV.
Andri Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defene, believes that statements made by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group Private Military Company, reflect the mood of the Russian military and political elite, and now there are "many tiny cracks" in the Kremlin that will only expand.

Source: Yusov on the air of the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote from Yusov: "Russian propaganda in the domestic market remains effective and, basically, Solovyov and Skabeeva (Russian propaganda TV hosts  ed.) can indeed tell ordinary Ivan (i.e. average Russian citizen) tomorrow that they have won, and this even the day before yesterday.

After all, Prigozhin speaks not only on his own behalf but also on behalf of his partners and patrons in the Kremlin. And so, the mood among the military-political elite and the business elite in Russia is becoming increasingly depressed because Russia has already suffered a strategic defeat. None of the goals set have been achieved, which means that for Russia itself and the Russian elite, the end should come as soon as possible.

Let's say that there are now many tiny cracks, and they will grow bigger."

Details: According to Yusov, Russia will not restore its military potential before the cold season to terrorise Ukraine with missiles again, the way it did last year.

At the same time, the representative from Defence Intelligence does not believe that Russians plan to take any relative "pause".

Background:

Recently, Prigozhin called on the Russian authorities to announce the end of the so-called "Special Military Operation" and concentrate on gaining a foothold in the occupied territories of Ukraine. As a result, Prigozhin believes that the best scenario for Russia will be a big battle with Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The Colfax Massacre was the deadliest atrocity of the Reconstruction Era in the South.

A new monument erected in a rural Louisiana town honors the Black residents killed in the 1873 Colfax Massacre, nola.com reports.

The marker installed last week in Colfax arrived in time for the 150th anniversary of the Colfax Massacre on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873. The 7-foot granite structure lists 57 Black people slain in the melee. It also boasts artwork from visual artist Jazzmen Lee-Johnson highlighting the Black experience during Reconstruction.

Avery Hamilton and Charles Dean Wood stand on either side of the Colfax Massacre Memorial monument, which honors the Black residents who were killed in the 1873 Colfax Massacre. (Credit: Colfax Memorial Organization)

The original marker, placed near the Grant Parish Courthouse in 1951, commemorated the racial massacre when white Confederate sympathizers slaughtered newly emancipated Black voters, NBC News reports.

The unprovoked killing of Jesse McKinney at the hands of white people on April 5, 1873, is believed to have triggered the violence. Fearful Black residents sought refuge in the Grant Parish Courthouse after the killing of McKinney. Over the next week, whites allegedly spread false rumors that Black people were rioting in the town.

On April 13, a mob of angry white men attacked dozens of Black men guarding the courthouse, as NBC News reports.

There was a band of whites, 10 to 15, rode up on my great-great-great-grandfather who was on his farm, mending his fences, said Avery Hamilton, 57, a descendant of Jesse McKinney, NBC News reports. And they rode up on him without a word or warning and just shot him. And his wife and their children witnessed this.

The Colfax Massacre was the bloodiest atrocity of the post-slavery era. According to estimates, 57 to 80 Black people died in the tragedy.

Blacks residents of Colfax, Louisiana gather the dead and wounded from the 1873 Colfax Massacre. (Published in Harpers Weekly; Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Federal troops arrested several white men in connection with the massacre and nine faced charges in the U.S. v. Cruikshank case. In 1876, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendants.

The original marker honored three white men who died in the slaughter but the town removed it in 2021. As nola.com reports, a cemetery in Colfax boasts an obelisk erected in 1921 that pays tribute to three white heroes who fell in the Colfax Riot fighting for White Supremacy.

Story continues

Hamilton and Charles Dean Woods  descendants of those involved in the incident or events leading up to it  spearheaded the installation of the new marker for the Colfax Memorial Organization, NBC News reports. Donors reportedly raised around $65,000 to build the new monument.

The new marker serves as a reminder of the larger impact of the people killed in the Colfax Riot. The impact on Black Americans was much more than those 57 to 80 people that were killed, said Woods, whose great-grandfather was reportedly involved in the massacre.

He continued, It was on millions and millions of African Americans who were denied their rights until the early 60s. And even now, we still have struggles in America with people who dont provide equal rights to all men.

A 1950s marker spotted on April 10, 2021 in Colfax, Louisiana describes what some called the Colfax Riot, which according to the sign was the end of carpetbag misrule in the South. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

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The post Louisiana town erects monument to pay homage to victims of bloody Colfax Massacre appeared first on TheGrio.
As North Carolinas Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson prepares to make his run for governor official, another prominent Republican is planning to join him in the 2024 GOP primary election.

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker is expected to announce his run next month. Along with Robinson, hell join State Treasurer Dale Folwell in the Republican primary.

That makes a primary with three candidates who have very different approaches to politics and governing. So far, Robinson has been considered the frontrunner.

All three have recognition across the state in a variety of ways: Robinson for the bully pulpit of the lieutenant governors office and controversial comments about LGBTQ+ people, Folwell for his longtime work in state government, and Walker for his time in Congress and a run in last years GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat won by Sen. Ted Budd.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is in his second term and thus cannot run for a third consecutive term, leaving the field open. So far only one Democratic candidate has declared: Attorney General Josh Stein, who was long expected to run, like Robinson. With a rally planned for Saturday at a racetrack, Robinson is expected to make official what he has talked about constantly for months, from speeches to his autobiography  he wants to be governor.

Walker will announce his run officially in the coming weeks, likely in May, according to a firm advising him.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Walker answers a question during an hour-long debate moderated by Spectrum News political anchor Tim Boyum at the Spectrum News studio in Raleigh, NC Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

Walkers upcoming run

Advising Walker is Tim Murtaugh of National Public Affairs, a firm whose partners include several former Trump campaign officials, including Bill Stepien, Trumps campaign manager in 2020.

Murtaugh, who also previously worked for the Trump campaign, said National Public Affairs is only advising Walker, not running his campaign as Walker is still forming it. That means Walker does not yet have a campaign website and has not started raising money for the run, according to Murtaugh.

Though the firm has former Trump campaign staff, that doesnt mean that Walkers run would come with a Trump endorsement. Trump encouraged Walker unsuccessfully to run for the U.S. House in 2022 rather than try for the Senate. In the Senate race, Trump endorsed Budd, who went on to win with Walker finishing in the single digits.

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President Trump will do what President Trump will do, Murtaugh told The News & Observer in a phone interview on Thursday.

Robinson has joined Trump at rallies and embraced Trumps Make America Great Again (MAGA) wing of the Republican Party.

Supporters cheer as Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks during a rally featuring former president Donald Trump at Wilmington International Airport Friday, Sept. 23, 2023.

Robinsons rise in politics

North Carolina government doesnt give much power to the job of lieutenant governor. The office is elected separately from governor, which means different political parties can win the two roles. Thats the case now with Cooper and Robinson, and with the previous lieutenant governor, Republican Dan Forest. Forest lost to Cooper in 2020 in a race dominated by the coronavirus pandemic response.

For the lieutenant governor primary the same year, it was a crowded field with 17 candidates in the primary from both major parties. While the Democratic primary that year was close, Robinson handily won the Republican primary. It was his first time running for office, after gaining fame through a viral video at a Greensboro City Council meeting about gun rights.

Since then, Robinsons words on video have also brought much criticism, particularly his inflammatory comments about LGBTQ+ people, including calling transgenderism and homosexuality filth, The N&O previously reported.

Robinson was also behind a 2021 Senate bill that regulates how race is taught in public schools, though he was not involved in similar legislation in the Senate this year, according to Senate leader Phil Berger.

Berger was expected to give the Republican response to Coopers State of the State address in March, but Robinson was the one who gave the recorded response. The lieutenant governor serves as Senate president, even though the president pro tempore, currently Berger, is generally considered the leader of the Senate.

Robinsons State of the State response speech focused more on Republican policies supporting the economy and education than anything controversial. In another speech this year in Raleigh at the March for Life, speaking to anti-abortion supporters, Robinson spoke in general about wanting to make North Carolina a destination for life rather than abortion, as North Carolinas abortion law is not as strict as some neighboring states.

Gov. Roy Cooper shakes hands with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson as House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger look on after Cooper delivered his State of the State address to a joint session of the N.C. General Assembly on Monday, March 6, 2023.

As lieutenant governor, Robinsons role is to preside over the Senate, only voting if there is a need to break a tie. That occasion has not arisen during his tenure. Berger presides most of the time. Robinson has an office in the Legislative Building where there is a conference table but no desk; his main office is a few blocks away.

Treasurer Folwells years in office

Folwell served in the state House from 2005 to 2013. He has been state treasurer since 2017, serving on the Council of State with Robinson, Cooper, Stein and the six other statewide elected officials. He talks often about being the keeper of the public purse.

In this 2015 file photo, from left, then-Gov. Pat McCrory, State Rep. Julia Howard, Commerce Secretary John Skvarla III, House Speaker Tim Moore, Sen. Bob Rucho, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and assistant commerce secretary Dale Folwell participate in a ceremonial cutting up of a federal government credit card in the old NC House chamber in the State Capitol. The state announced the complete repayment of its debt to the federal government for unemployment insurance.

He spoke to reporters this week about his campaign, which he announced in March.

From the age of 10, Ive been breaking a sweat, both to get myself out of my economic situation and as a public servant to protect and work on saving lives, Folwell said of running against a candidate like Robinson, who has more financial backing.

When youve been breaking a sweat all your life, you obviously know where people sweat and you know why they sweat. Thats my track record of attacking problems and not attacking people, Folwell said.

North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell

What do elected Republicans think?

Many politicians stay out of primaries in their own parties, with plenty of exceptions, from Cooper in a state Senate race last year to the Republicans who ousted former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

N.C. Sen. Vickie Sawyer, an Iredell County Republican, said her politics mentor taught me the best way to lose my race was to get into somebody elses race. So I tried not to ever comment on that.

While Sawyer didnt say who she would support in a gubernatorial primary, the polling there just looks like Mark Robinson is so far ahead.

You know, hes gonna be a hard one to beat, but I do appreciate that others are getting in because it does give a different idea about the firebrand versus the standard, true statesman of someone whos been, you know, doing budgets before, she said, referring to Folwell as the statesman.

Sen. Vickie Sawyer talks with Sen. Ralph Hise before during the N.C. Senate Education committee meeting in Raleigh on July 21, 2021.

House Speaker Tim Moore said without knowing who all will will be running, certainly its good that we have a lot of great choices that we can pick from as Republicans.

Moore said he hasnt made an assessment of Robinson and Folwell as candidates yet.

Well let that work itself out. Theyre both good men, good Republicans. And they both could do the job well, he said.

Rep. Jon Hardister, a Guilford County Republican, told The N&O earlier this week that he likes both Folwell and Robinson, saying they are qualified.

Mark Robinson is very popular with the grassroots, but you cant underestimate Treasurer Folwell, Hardister said. I mean, he is a statewide elected official. He was one of the top vote-getters in the state in the last election. And hes tenacious, very intelligent. Mark Robinson has made a name for himself. And they both, I expect will run very strong campaigns.

He doesnt plan to take a public stand at this point, he said, and has his own Republican primary to worry about. Hardister, in his sixth term in the House, is running for labor commissioner. He said Folwell and Robinson are totally different.

Regarding Robinsons inflammatory comments, Hardister said he once brokered a conversation between Robinson and members of the Jewish community in Greensboro after they reached out wanting to hear from Robinson, who Hardister said told them he was not trying to be offensive.

Hardister said he doesnt police what other people say and can only speak for himself.

Hardister said Robinson is very opinionated and expresses his opinions. But we are a big tent party. And, you have the establishment type, youve got the libertarian type, you have the Chamber of Commerce type, if you will, which, I think its a good thing. But at the end of the day, the voters are going to decide in the primary who they want to nominate.

Reporter Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi contributed reporting.






What many fans had been speculating is true: Luis Miguel is going on tour this year.

On Tuesday (April 19), the Mexican crooner announced the dates for his 43-date stint in North and South America that will kick off Aug. 3 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trek will visit major cities in the U.S. such as Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles before wrapping up Dec. 17 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The tour is produced by CMN.

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Its Luis Miguels first tour in years. His last tour  Mexico Por Siempre, which ran from 2018 to 2019  grossed $101.4 million and sold 965,000 tickets across 116 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. It was the highest grossing Latin tour in Boxscore history until last year when Bad Bunnys El Ultimo Tour del Mundo and Worlds Hottest Tour surpassed it.

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Luis Miguel

Luis Miguel Wins Album of the Year at 2018 Latin Grammys 04/20/2023 04/20/2023

The anticipation for this trek began when El Sol de Mexico  or The Mexican Sun, as he is known  simply posted on Instagram Luis Miguel Tour 2023 in February without offering more details. Whether hell drop new music to coincide with the tour is still up in the air. The elusive artist dropped MEXICO Por Siempre! in 2017, which won album of the year at the Latin Grammy Awards.

Luis Miguel is one of Latin musics biggest star and one of the top vocalists of his generation. The chart-topping artist has notched 16 No. 1 songs on Billboards Hot Latin Songs chart, and nine leaders on the Top Latin Albums tally.

See Luis Miguels world tour dates below:

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The Lyrid meteor shower is seen from an astronomical observing station in Inner Mongolia on April 19, 2021. (Zhang Gang / VCG via Getty Images)

Southern Californians have a more than decent shot at wishing upon a "falling star" this weekend.

The Lyrid meteor shower, which began in the night sky April 15, is expected to peak Sunday evening into Monday morning, although it will remain visible until the morning of April 29. It is named for the constellation Lyra, the Harp, which is where meteors from the shower appear to emanate for observers on Earth.

Categorized as medium-strength, the Lyrids are not as fast or prolific as the Perseids of August, and do not feature the long glowing tail of cartoon meteors. But at its height, the Lyrid shower should spin off 20 meteors an hour and even the occasional fireball. And unlike in some other years, a bright moon will not outshine the display  the lunar crescent will be only 9% full, offering relatively dark skies.

The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers in the world, dating back 2,700 years to the first recorded observation in China in 687 BC, NASA says. The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to form the meteors in the shower come from the comet Thatcher, discovered in 1861.

For the best viewing, NASA advises finding an area well away from city lights or streetlights to spread a blanket or set up a lawn chair. Lie or sit reclined with your feet pointing east and begin scanning as much of the sky as you can take in. Your eyes will adjust in 30 minutes and you will begin to see meteors, but be patient: The best show could be just before dawn.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macrons push to enlist Chinas help to sketch out parameters for possible talks between Russia and Ukraine has drawn criticism from some allies who think that such an effort is premature and fear it could undermine European unity.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Macrons strategy, which envisions a framework for talks between Moscow and Kyiv as soon as this summer if all goes well, may muddy the water regarding Ukraines demand that Russia relinquish all Ukrainian territory, according to officials in some European capitals.

Bloomberg News earlier reported the details of the French idea, which would see foreign policy adviser Emmanuel Bonne work with Chinas top diplomat, Wang Yi, according to people familiar with the plan.

Macron is dealing with exactly what a Western leader should not be dealing with, Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Estonias parliament, told the public broadcaster ERR Wednesday. Where does he get the fact that China can be trusted as an honest mediator in the current situation?

International Law

A spokesperson from the Elysee said in a statement that during Macrons Beijing trip earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was ready to work toward a negotiation. The statement added that Frances diplomatic adviser and the secretary of Chinas foreign relations commission will exchange views on how to achieve peace while respecting Ukraines legitimate rights.

Macron told Xi that such a negotiation should be done in accordance with international law and the sovereignty of Ukraine, according to the statement. He said that only the Ukrainians should decide.

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Some have expressed skepticism that China can serve as a neutral intermediary given its no-limits friendship with Russia. The countries have repeatedly pledged to strengthen ties, including a call on Monday to boost cooperation between their militaries.

One European diplomat in Beijing said France may succeed in getting parties to the negotiating table but then may not know what to do once they are there.

Intelligence, Charm

Ukraines de facto presidential spokesman, Mikhail Podolyak, said in a television interview in response to the Bloomberg story that Kyiv couldnt envisage any compromise that preserved the status quo with regards to territory Russia has occupied. This is not a peace plan  its a way of Ukraines capitulation.

One can put forward any peace initiatives but there is the main point in the foundation of it all  the withdrawal of Russian troops, Podolyak said. If this provision is included, then it can be regarded as a serious plan.

Macron has shown a willingness to conduct solo diplomatic efforts, many of which have come up short. He traveled to China in early April, seeking to convince Xi to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but left without such a commitment from Xi, who hasnt spoken to Zelenskiy since the war started more than a year ago.

The French president kept in regular contact with Vladimir Putin over the past six years, and he rolled out the red carpet for the Russian president in Versailles just a month after his election in 2017. Macron traveled to Moscow in February of 2022 to try to get assurances that Moscow wouldnt invade Ukraine. French officials then said they had received a commitment from Putin not to escalate the situation, which the Kremlin later denied. Two weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Macron has previously said that he sees a major role for China and that thanks to its relationship with Russia it could bring Moscow back to reason. Beijing so far hasnt shown signs that its willing to pressure Moscow to withdraw troops.

Theres the idea that Macron can bring them back to reason with his intelligence and his charm, Thomas Gomart, Head of the French Institute for International Relations, said in an interview. But maybe hes wrong.

Germany and France are coordinating on Macrons initiative, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Over the past months, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz repeatedly insisted that Russia first has to withdraw troops from occupied territory in Ukraine before there can be negotiations about a peace agreement.

Zelenskiy said on Telegram over the weekend that he talked with Macron about his recent visit to China. The two spoke about the next steps in organizing a peace summit, according to an official in Macrons office.

Macron is following the same path that he has shown in recent years, when he tried to forcefully invite Russia to dialog, the Estonian lawmaker Mihkelson told ERR. Even now, hoping that China will bring Russia to its senses, Macron is signaling that he is ready to deal with the war criminal Putin.

--With assistance from Alberto Nardelli, Michael Nienaber, Alex Wickham, Natalia Drozdiak, Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Ott Tammik, Colum Murphy, Kateryna Choursina and Chiara Albanese.

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Prosecutors believe Christian Brukner is responsible for the suspected murder of Madeleine McCann - Carabinieri Milano

The lawyer for the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has demanded that the case be thrown out of a German court.

Christian Brukner, 45, has been accused of carrying out a string of sex crimes involving children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Prosecutors believe the German national is also responsible for the suspected murder of Madeleine, the British girl who disappeared from an apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in 2007, when she was a toddler. She has never been found.

Bruckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for raping a 72-year-old US tourist, was charged with five counts of sexual assault last October. These are unrelated to the case involving Madeleine.

In three of the crimes, Bruckner is accused of abducting and raping his victims, while in the others he allegedly exposed himself to very young children.

On Thursday, a court in Braunschweig, north Germany, said it did not have jurisdiction to try Bruckner, a convicted drug dealer, because his last known address in Germany was in Saxony-Anhalt, another state.

Friedrich Fuelscher, Bruckners defence lawyer, has argued that the prosecutors in Braunschweig are also not competent in the separate Madeleine case.

He told MailOnline: In its decision of April 19, 2023, the Regional Court of Braunschweig declared that it had no jurisdiction over the charge against Christian Bruckner and revoked the arrest warrant against him.

The defence already pointed out during the preliminary proceedings that the Braunschweig judiciary should not have local jurisdiction The courts decision also means that the Braunschweig judiciary is not responsible for the Maddie case.

Hans Christian Wolte, the Braunschweig prosecutor, stressed that the courts decision does not change anything at all, and that they will continue to investigate the Maddie case.

He told The Telegraph: With regard to the decision of the District Court of Braunschweig on jurisdiction in the proceedings pending there, we will first carefully deal with the reasons and then likely have the decision reviewed by the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig.

Story continues

In terms of a decision of the Higher Regional Court, we still assume our jurisdiction so that the investigation into the Maddie case will also be continued as planned.

In our view, there is currently no reason for speculation about the possible competence of the Magdeburg Public Prosecutors Office for the investigation in the Maddie case and a possibly associated submission of the proceedings.

Prosecutors in other regions of Germany where Bruckner lived must now decide whether to pursue the charges and stake a claim to jurisdiction.

The courts decision means although the arrest warrants for the five counts of sexual assault will be lifted, he will stay behind bars to serve his sentence for rape.

Bruckner, a drifter who had lived in several parts of Germany, had been living in a camper van near Praia da Luz when Madeleine disappeared.

The first time he came to the attention of the authorities regarding her disappearance was in 2017, after he allegedly told a friend he knew all about what had happened to her.

In 2020, after years without progress in the case, German prosecutors made the breakthrough announcement that they had identified a suspect. The following year, Mr Wolters said he and his colleagues were confident we have the man who took and killed her.

It came after Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleines parents, said they were naturally disappointed at losing their legal battle against a retired Portuguese detective who claimed they were somehow involved in their daughter going missing.

Lawyers for the couple had argued that Portuguese authorities had breached their right to respect for a private and family life in the way the courts there dealt with their libel claims against Goncalo Amaral.

He claimed in a book, TV documentary and newspaper interview that the McCanns were involved in their daughters disappearance.
MANILA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines on Thursday approved the executive order operationalizing the Philippines' tariff commitments under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary said the NEDA Board, chaired by Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, also tasked government agencies to conduct a nationwide campaign on how the country can take full advantage of RCEP.

Marcos instructed agencies to "make it very clear" to the people RCEP's benefits to the country's agriculture sector and how it affects agriculture businesses and operations.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual described RCEP as a "modern, comprehensive, high quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement which provides opportunities for market access on trade, services, and investments."

"The agreement also establishes clear, stable, and predictable rules on trade and investments in our region, which makes it more convenient and competitive for Philippine businesses and stores to be integrated into the global economy," Pascual said.

Pascual said the executive order is proposed to be effective on June 2, 2023, to coincide with the end of the 60 days "after the deposit of the instrument of ratification."

Ratified by the Philippine Senate on Feb. 21, the RCEP is a massive free trade agreement involving Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

It is the world's largest free trade bloc covering about 30 percent of the world's population, as well as 30 percent of the world's economic and trade volume. 
Jens Stoltenberg and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, April 20, 2023

He arrived ahead of the 11th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on April 21, 2023.

Read also: NATO chief Stoltenberg visits Kyiv

NV has collected the main statements and best photos of the NATO chiefs visit.

Stoltenbergs statements:

Invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to participate in the NATO summit in Vilnius from July 11-12, 2023.

Expects at the Vilnius summit that members of the Alliance will confirm their support for Ukraine, which will be provided for as long as it takes.

Ukraines rightful place in NATO. We will make it happen.

Admitted that the issue of membership, guarantees will be an important element of the agenda at the Vilnius summit.

Arrived in Kyiv on April 20 with a simple message: NATO stands with Ukraine.

Russian aggression must be stopped.

Spoke in support of the peace formula initiated by President Zelenskyy.

Meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv, April 20, 2023 Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

Meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv, April 20, 2023 Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

Jens Stoltenberg during a joint briefing with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, April 20, 2023 REUTERS/Alina Yarysh

Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint briefing with Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv, April 20, 2023 REUTERS/Alina Yarysh

Zelenskyys statements:

Ukraine interprets Stoltenbergs first visit as a sign that the Alliance is ready to start a chapter of ambitious decisions in relations with Ukraine.

Zelenskyy hopes that a package of security guarantees for Ukraine will be approved at the Vilnius summit.

We want to understand when Ukraine will join NATO. Kyiv is waiting for specific next steps.

There is not a single objective barrier that would prevent the adoption of political decisions on inviting Ukraine to NATO.

Asked Stoltenberg to help Ukraine with the supply of long-range weapons, aviation, and artillery.

During the Ramstein summit, we will discuss the weapons that Ukraine is waiting for, the training of our pilots, and long-range weapons.

Jens Stoltenberg at an exhibition of damaged military equipment of the Russian occupiers in the center of Kyiv, April 20, 2023 REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Jens Stoltenberg at an exhibition of damaged equipment of Russian invaders in the center of Kyiv, April 20, 2023 REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Jens Stoltenberg commemorates the fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, April 20, 2023 REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Jens Stoltenberg in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, April 20, 2023 Anatoly Fedoruk via Telegram

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Court records in the Maine shooting spree revealed the grisly crime scene discovered by police called to the scene after suspect Joseph Eaton allegedly shot and killed four people, including his parents and their two friends.

The suspect appeared in court in West Bath on Thursday, his first appearance since the killings.

The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, include his parents Cynthia Eaton, 62 and David Eaton, 66, and their friends Robert Eger, 72 and Patricia Eger, 62.

Court documents state that Pattis sister visited the home at about 9am, finding drops of blood near the door, WABI reported.

Inside, she discovered a number of guns and bullet holes. She exited the home and called 911.

Police have said they found one victim in a barn and three others in the home. Court documents reveal that a dog was also shot at the scene.

Detectives searching the area also discovered a note stating that someone had been molested and that there was nothing done about it. The note also stated that someone had been freed of pain.

Mr Eaton didnt enter a plea in court on Thursday. His next court date has been scheduled for 28 June.

Key points

Suspect killed parents and their friends before going on highway shooting rampage

Maine shooting spree: What we know about the deadly attacks on a home and highway

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others before opening fire on random highway

Joseph Eatons grandmother reacts to horror Maine shooting spree as motive remains a mystery

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton left note about being free after killing parents, two others and a dog

Justice orders Eaton be held without bail

08:00 , Gustaf Kilander

When he appeared in court on Thursday, the suspect was dressed in orange inmate clothing as well as a bulletproof vest.

Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings asked the suspect if he understood the charges hes facing, which he said he did. The suspect wasnt requested to enter a plea since he hasnt yet been indicted by a grand jury in Sagadahoc County.

Story continues

The justice ordered that Mr Eaton be held without bail. Maine law states that bail isnt available to those facing charges of murder, the Bangor Daily News noted.

Justice Billings added that the suspect must undergo a psychiatric evaluation to ascertain if he can be a part of his own defence. Mr Eaton is set to appear in court again on 28 June.

Bodys covered in home as molestation note left on kitchen island

07:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The note was found on the kitchen island, but it wasnt addressed to anyone or signed by the author, the affidavit states. The legal document said that the note said someone had been molested there and there was nothing done about it. The note mentioned someone being freed from pain and the writer wanted a new life.

In a video shared on Facebook on Monday, Mr Eaton said he had been molested as a child.

The other two bodies in the home, likely those of Ms Eaton and Ms Eger had been covered, like the body of Mr Eger. The fourth body, reportedly that of Mr Eaton, was found in a barn on the property.

The court filing states that police found several firearms in the home.

Sister of homeowner found blood, broken glass, and bullet holes everywhere'

05:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The Thursday release of the affidavit revealed that Ms Egers sister told the authorities that she texted Ms Eger at about 8.30am on Tuesday to say that she would be at their house at about 9am that morning but she never got a response.

The sister had been staying at the home but had left to allow the Eatons to stay there while they collected their son from prison. She said she was going back to collect some clothing she had left behind, according to WMTW.

When she arrived at the house, the sister saw two drops of blood on the front steps of the house.

She opened the front door and called out but didnt get a reply. She then spotted broken glass and blood on the floor in addition to a body covered by a towel on the kitchen floor.

The sister said she couldnt tell if it was Mr Eger or David Eaton as they had similar appearances, but going off his clothing, she guessed it was Mr Eger.

She said she saw bullet holes everywhere, according to the legal filing.

She left when she saw drag marks throughout the home, waiting outside until police arrived.

Timeline of killings and weapons used unclear

04:00 , Gustaf Kilander

While police have said that Mr Eaton has confessed to the shootings, they havent revealed when the victims were killed. Its also unclear how the suspect got ahold of the weapon or weapons used.

Following felony convictions in Maine and in Florida, where his parents were living, Mr Eaton was unable to legally own firearms.

Police have said that Ms Eaton picked up her son at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday where he had just finished serving a sentence after being convicted of assault. The mother reportedly took him to the home of the Egers where they had been staying, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Father of highway shooting victim says shes on the mend

03:15 , Gustaf Kilander

After police arrived at the murder scene on Tuesday morning, law enforcement responded to the highway shooting where Sean Halsey, 51, and his two children, Justin, 29, and Paige, 25, had all been shot.

They were all transported to Maine Medical Center.

The father and son suffered injuries not considered life-threatening while Ms Halsey was in critical condition. Mr Halsey said on Wednesday afternoon that his daughters breathing tube had been removed and that she was on the road to recovery.

Woman, 25, critically wounded in highway shooting

02:30 , AP

The suspect had been released four days before the shootings from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Police say his mother picked up from prison April 14 after he completed a sentence for aggravated assault.

The latest in a string of mass shootings in the United States began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims were identified as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said. The two couples were described as best friends.

Police previously said Eaton told them he began firing on several cars along I-295 soon thereafter because he thought he was being followed by police. Bullets struck a family in one of the vehicles, wounding Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey was critically wounded, police said.

Being molested and stuff, you know, it destroys somebody'

02:15 , AP

A state police affidavit indicated the discovery of the deaths in Bowdoin was made by Patricia Egers sister, who first noticed something was amiss when she saw blood on the steps leading into the home and then saw the carnage and a body. The affidavit noted all bodies were covered and that the family dog had been killed as well.

Investigators who arrived on the scene discovered an unsigned note on an island in the kitchen that referenced that someone had been molested, nothing was done about it and the writer wanted to be freed of pain.

The day before the shooting, a man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted an anguished live video on social media that referenced trauma including molestation. Being molested and stuff, you know, it destroys somebody, the man said. He also criticized people who call themselves Christians but are unwilling to forgive.

Court records reveal grisly scene cops encountered

01:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The court records outline the scene that police encountered on Augusta Road on Tuesday morning.

The documents state that Pattis sister visited the home at about 9am, finding drops of blood near the door, WABI reported.

Inside, she discovered a number of guns and bullet holes. She exited the home and called 911.

Police said on Wednesday that they found one victim in a barn and three others in the home. Court documents reveal that a dog was also shot at the scene.

Detectives searching the area also discovered a note stating that someone had been molested and that there was nothing done about it.

The note also stated that someone had been freed of pain and that the author of the note wanted a new life.

This is a horrible crime, unimaginable loss being faced by the victims'

01:00 , AP

Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbins said the next step for law enforcement is to complete the investigation and present the case to a grand jury while victim advocates provide support to family and friends of the victims.

This is a horrible crime, unimaginable loss being faced by the victims, and our hearts go out to the victims, Robbins said.

Police have yet to discuss what might have been a motive behind the shootings on a rural property in Bowdoin and then along a busy interstate highway about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Maines largest city, Portland. Police also have not discussed what gun or guns were used, or how Eaton obtained them.

Eaton, 34, has been jailed since his arrest Tuesday at a chaotic scene along Interstate 295, where traffic backed up as heavily armed law enforcement searched the area.

Police say Eaton confessed to killing four people, including his parents, in Bowdoin and wounding three people while shooting at vehicles. Eaton is charged with four counts of murder for the killings in Bowdoin but has not yet been charged in the highway shootings, officials said.

Court documents describe grisly discovery in Maine shootings

Friday 21 April 2023 00:15 , AP

A sister who discovered a crime scene in which four people were shot to death arrived to broken glass, bullet holes, blood and guns strewn about the home, and the suspect was later arrested at the scene of a highway shooting with what appeared to be blood on him, according to state police.

Police found multiple cartridge casings of varying calibers in the vehicle driven by the suspect after shots were fired at vehicles along Interstate 295, wounding three people, state police said.

A state police affidavit released Thursday as the suspect, Joseph Eaton, made his first court appearance contained grisly details, a note found at the scene and a timeline for the events. Eaton showed no emotion during the brief hearing other than to acknowledge to the judge that he understood the charges.

One of his court-appointed attorneys, James Mason, acknowledged after the hearing that the shootings shook the state.

What happened in Bowdoin is undeniably tragic. But I ask everybody to please reserve judgement, he said.

Joseph Eatons grandmother reacts to horror Maine shooting spree as motive remains a mystery

Thursday 20 April 2023 23:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The grandmother of Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton has reacted to his arrest after he allegedly confessed to killing four people, including his own parents.

Betty Fagan lost her daughter Cynthia Eaton in the shooting, who was the mother of the suspect. Police have not yet commented on a motive for the killings, after which Mr Eaton allegedly opened fire on an interstate.

Ms Eaton had picked up her son from prison on 14 April when he was released after serving a term for aggravated assault.

Ms Eaton and her husband David Eaton, the father of the suspect, were found shot dead at a home in Bowdoin on Tuesday morning along with their friends Robert and Patricia Eger.

Ms Fagan said the suspects parents had returned to Maine but that they were planning to move to Kansas, where they had previously lived.

Read more:

Joseph Eatons grandmother reacts to horror Maine shooting spree

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton left note about being free after killing parents, two others and a dog

Thursday 20 April 2023 23:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Court records in the Maine shooting spree revealed the grisly crime scene discovered by police called to the scene after suspect Joseph Eaton allegedly shot and killed four people, including his parents and their two friends.

Mr Eaton has reportedly confessed to the killings in Bowdoin, Maine. He was detained on Tuesday after allegedly opening fire while driving down a highway 20 miles away in Yarmouth, injuring three people.

The suspect appeared in court in West Bath on Thursday, his first appearance since the killings.

He was only released from prison on Friday after serving a term for separate offences and has now been charged with four counts of intentional or knowing murder.

The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, include his parents Cynthia Eaton, 62 and David Eaton, 66, and their friends Robert Eger, 72 and Patricia Eger, 62.

Read more:

Maine suspect Joseph Eaton left note about being free after killing parents

Who is Joseph Eaton? Everything we know about Maine shooting spree suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 22:45 , Rachel Sharp and Gustaf Kilander

Two communities in Maine were rocked by gun violence when suspected gunman Joseph Eaton suddenly embarked on a shooting rampage  first at a home and then along an interstate.

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on 18 April morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

Not long after the grim discovery was made, an assailant randomly opened fire on cars driving along Interstate 295 in nearby Yarmouth.

Three people were shot in the second attack. The alleged gunman was taken into custody on the scene.

Heres what we know so far about Joseph Eaton:

What we know about Maine shooting spree suspect Joseph Eaton

Maine shooting spree: What we know about the deadly attacks on a home and highway

Thursday 20 April 2023 22:15 , Rachel Sharp and Gustaf Kilander

Seven people were shot  four of them fatally  when a gunman embarked on a shooting spree across two different locations in Maine on Tuesday.

The horror incident first began at a home in Bowdoin where four victims were found dead before police were called to reports of a random shooting at cars on a nearby highway in Yarmouth.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, a 34-year-old convicted felon who was released from prison just days earlier, was arrested and charged with murder. Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Now, the victims, their families and the communities of Bowdoin and Yarmouth are the latest to join a growing list impacted by gun violence in America.

Heres what we know so far:

What we know about the Maine shooting spree on a home and highway

Justice orders Eaton be held without bail

Thursday 20 April 2023 21:45 , Gustaf Kilander

When he appeared in court on Thursday, the suspect was dressed in orange inmate clothing as well as a bulletproof vest.

Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings asked the suspect if he understood the charges hes facing, which he said he did. The suspect wasnt requested to enter a plea since he hasnt yet been indicted by a grand jury in Sagadahoc County.

The justice ordered that Mr Eaton be held without bail. Maine law states that bail isnt available to those facing charges of murder, the Bangor Daily News noted.

Justice Billings added that the suspect must undergo a psychiatric evaluation to ascertain if he can be a part of his own defence. Mr Eaton is set to appear in court again on 28 June.

Bodys covered in home as molestation note left on kitchen island

Thursday 20 April 2023 21:15 , Gustaf Kilander

The note was found on the kitchen island, but it wasnt addressed to anyone or signed by the author, the affidavit states. The legal document said that the note said someone had been molested there and there was nothing done about it. The note mentioned someone being freed from pain and the writer wanted a new life.

In a video shared on Facebook on Monday, Mr Eaton said he had been molested as a child.

The other two bodies in the home, likely those of Ms Eaton and Ms Eger had been covered, like the body of Mr Eger. The fourth body, reportedly that of Mr Eaton, was found in a barn on the property.

The court filing states that police found several firearms in the home.

Sister of homeowner found blood, broken glass, and bullet holes everywhere'

Thursday 20 April 2023 20:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The Thursday release of the affidavit revealed that Ms Egers sister told the authorities that she texted Ms Eger at about 8.30am on Tuesday to say that she would be at their house at about 9am that morning but she never got a response.

The sister had been staying at the home but had left to allow the Eatons to stay there while they collected their son from prison. She said she was going back to collect some clothing she had left behind, according to WMTW.

When she arrived at the house, the sister saw two drops of blood on the front steps of the house.

She opened the front door and called out but didnt get a reply. She then spotted broken glass and blood on the floor in addition to a body covered by a towel on the kitchen floor.

The sister said she couldnt tell if it was Mr Eger or David Eaton as they had similar appearances, but going off his clothing, she guessed it was Mr Eger.

She said she saw bullet holes everywhere, according to the legal filing.

She left when she saw drag marks throughout the home, waiting outside until police arrived.

Timeline of killings and weapons used unclear

Thursday 20 April 2023 20:15 , Gustaf Kilander

While police have said that Mr Eaton has confessed to the shootings, they havent revealed when the victims were killed. Its also unclear how the suspect got ahold of the weapon or weapons used.

Following felony convictions in Maine and in Florida, where his parents were living, Mr Eaton was unable to legally own firearms.

Police have said that Ms Eaton picked up her son at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday where he had just finished serving a sentence after being convicted of assault. The mother reportedly took him to the home of the Egers where they had been staying, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Father of highway shooting victim says shes on the mend

Thursday 20 April 2023 19:45 , Gustaf Kilander

After police arrived at the murder scene on Tuesday morning, law enforcement responded to the highway shooting where Sean Halsey, 51, and his two children, Justin, 29, and Paige, 25, had all been shot.

They were all transported to Maine Medical Center.

The father and son suffered injuries not considered life-threatening while Ms Halsey was in critical condition. Mr Halsey said on Wednesday afternoon that his daughters breathing tube had been removed and that she was on the road to recovery.

Court records reveal grisly scene cops encountered

Thursday 20 April 2023 19:15 , Gustaf Kilander

The court records outline the scene that police encountered on Augusta Road on Tuesday morning.

The documents state that Pattis sister visited the home at about 9am, finding drops of blood near the door, WABI reported.

Inside, she discovered a number of guns and bullet holes. She exited the home and called 911.

Police said on Wednesday that they found one victim in a barn and three others in the home. Court documents reveal that a dog was also shot at the scene.

Detectives searching the area also discovered a note stating that someone had been molested and that there was nothing done about it.

The note also stated that someone had been freed of pain and that the author of the note wanted a new life.

PHOTOS: Eaton appears in court

Thursday 20 April 2023 18:45 , Gustaf Kilander

James Mason, the court appointed attorney for Joseph Eaton, the suspect in a shooting spree in Maine, speaks outside court in West Bath, Maine, Thursday, April 20, 2023 (AP)

Joseph Eaton, the suspect in a shooting spree in Maine, appears in court in West Bath, Maine, Thursday, April 20, 2023 (AP)

Joseph Eaton, the suspect in a shooting spree in Maine, appears in court in West Bath, Maine, Thursday, April 20, 2023 (AP)

Who is Joseph Eaton? Everything we know about Maine shooting spree suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 18:15 , Rachel Sharp

Two communities in Maine were rocked this week when suspected gunman Joseph Eaton suddenly embarked on a shooting rampage  first at a home and then along an interstate.

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on Tuesday morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

Not long after the grim discovery was made, an assailant randomly opened fire on cars driving along Interstate 295 in nearby Yarmouth.

Three people were shot in the second attack  with one of them now in critical condition. The alleged gunman was taken into custody on the scene.

Read more:

What we know about Maine shooting spree suspect Joseph Eaton

Joseph Eatons grandmother reacts to horror Maine shooting spree as motive remains a mystery

Thursday 20 April 2023 17:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The grandmother of Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton has reacted to his arrest after he allegedly confessed to killing four people, including his own parents.

Betty Fagan lost her daughter Cynthia Eaton in the shooting, who was the mother of the suspect. Police have not yet commented on a motive for the killings, after which Mr Eaton allegedly opened fire on an interstate.

Ms Eaton had picked up her son from prison on 14 April when he was released after serving a term for aggravated assault.

Ms Eaton and her husband David Eaton, the father of the suspect, were found shot dead at a home in Bowdoin on Tuesday morning along with their friends Robert and Patricia Eger.

Ms Fagan, who lives in Ocala, Florida, said her grandson was taken to a beach after being released from prison, and that he had spent the weekend on his own.

Read more:

Joseph Eatons grandmother reacts to horror Maine shooting spree

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton left note about being free after killing parents, two others and a dog

Thursday 20 April 2023 17:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Court records in the Maine shooting spree revealed the grisly crime scene discovered by police called to the scene after suspect Joseph Eaton allegedly shot and killed four people, including his parents and their two friends.

Mr Eaton has confessed to the killings in Bowdoin, Maine. He was detained on Tuesday after opening fire while driving down a highway 20 miles away in Yarmouth, injuring three people.

The suspect appeared in court in West Bath on Thursday, his first appearance since the killings.

He was only released from prison on Friday and has now been charged with four counts of intentional or knowing murder.

The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, include his parents Cynthia Eaton, 62 and David Eaton, 66, and their friends Robert Eager, 72 and Patti Eager, 62.

Read more:

Maine suspect Joseph Eaton left note about being free after killing parents

Neighbors were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them

Thursday 20 April 2023 17:15 , Rachel Sharp

In Bowdoin, Denise Pride, 58, a neighbor, said one of the victims was famous for delivering baked goods to neighbors on holidays. They were very kind people, Pride said. The neighbors were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them.

A relative to the family shot on the highway, Ian Halsey of Bowdoinham, said that two of his cousins were shot and that his uncle suffered shrapnel injuries. None of the family knew the shooter, he said.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said of his family. Its horrible what happened.

Joseph Eatons rap sheet revealed

Thursday 20 April 2023 16:45 , Rachel Sharp

Joseph Eaton has a lengthy rap sheet going back more than a decade before Tuesdays shooting spree and was only released from prison four days before Tuesdays attack.

Past convictions include burglary, felony aggravated assault, domestic violence and violence against a law enforcement officer, as well as possessing a weapon as a felon.

Most recently, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for assault in March 2022. He was then returned to prison for violating his probation.

On Friday, he was released from Maine Correctional Center in Windham  just four days before he allegedly went on his killing rampage.

Based on his felony convictions, he also could not legally own a firearm.

Chilling video shared by suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 16:15 , Rachel Sharp

Mr Eaton shared an emotional video of himself online on Monday where he said that people think he is just another f*** up and complained about people who claim to be Christian.

In the footage, he is seen sitting in a car filming himself as he chokes up with tears and goes on a confusing ramble.

Im probably going to get emotional just talking about it, he said.

But a lot of people look at you and think oh well theres just another f*** up, another guy that cant get his stuff together, treats people like s*** and then they turn around and claim to be Christian.

And you cant forgive somebody or understand what they go through. You cant give someone a second chance but you say youre Christian. How does that make sense? Why cant you just try to get to know the person again? What goods it do to hate somebody? It destroys you.

PHOTOS: Joseph Eaton in court for first time since killings

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Suspect Joseph Eaton appeared in court on Thursday for the first time since the bodies of the four victims, including his parents, were found on Tuesday.

During the short court appearance, the judge scheduled a conference for 28 June.

Joseph Eaton in court (Screenshot / WMTW)

Joseph Eaton in court (Screenshot / WMTW)

Joseph Eaton in court (Screenshot / WMTW)

Joseph Eaton appears in court

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:32 , Gustaf Kilander

Suspect charged with shooting 7 to appear in court in Maine

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:30 , AP

A Maine man who police say confessed to shooting seven people  killing four of them, including his parents  after being released from prison was due to appear before a judge Thursday.

Police have not discussed what might have been a motive behind the shootings on a rural property in Bowdoin and then along a busy interstate highway in Yarmouth, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Maines largest city, Portland.

The suspect, Joseph Eaton, has been jailed since his arrest Tuesday at a chaotic scene along Interstate 295, where traffic backed up as heavily armed law enforcement searched the area.

Eaton, 34, had been released four days before the shootings from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Police say his mother picked up from prison April 14 after he completed a sentence for aggravated assault.

The latest in a string of mass shootings in the United States began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims were identified as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said.

Read more:

Suspect charged with shooting 7 to appear in court in Maine

Joseph Eatons grandmother reacts to Maine shooting

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:00 , AP

Betty Fagan, Joseph Eatons grandmother and the mother of victim Cynthia Eaton, said her grandson had been dropped off at a beach and spent the weekend alone after being retrieved from prison.

The parents had come back to Maine but were planning to move to Kansas, where theyd lived previously, Fagan said.

She said she doesnt understand what went wrong. I couldnt believe it. I just couldnt believe he would do something like that, Fagan said from her home in Ocala, Florida.

Police declined to comment on Joseph Eatons living arrangements after leaving prison beyond saying his parents were helping him with accommodations.

Police also did not comment on whether drugs or mental illness played a role in the killings.

Paige Halsey: Update on victims condition

Thursday 20 April 2023 14:30 , Rachel Sharp

The three people injured in the highway shooting were named as Sean Halsey and his children, Justin Halsey and Paige Halsey.

Paige, 25, was in critical condition from the shooting.

However, on Wednesday, her father confirmed that her condition had improved and she is now able to breathe on her own.

Everyone is currently making progress toward healing and we are optimistic for full recovery, Sean Halsey told WMTW.

Chilling video shared by suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 14:00 , Rachel Sharp

Mr Eaton shared an emotional video of himself online on Monday where he said that people think he is just another f*** up and complained about people who claim to be Christian.

In the footage, he is seen sitting in a car filming himself as he chokes up with tears and goes on a confusing ramble.

Im probably going to get emotional just talking about it, he said.

But a lot of people look at you and think oh well theres just another f*** up, another guy that cant get his stuff together, treats people like s*** and then they turn around and claim to be Christian.

And you cant forgive somebody or understand what they go through. You cant give someone a second chance but you say youre Christian. How does that make sense? Why cant you just try to get to know the person again? What goods it do to hate somebody? It destroys you.

Joseph Eatons rap sheet revealed:

Thursday 20 April 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp

Joseph Eaton has a lengthy rap sheet going back more than a decade before Tuesdays shooting spree and was only released from prison four days before Tuesdays attack.

Past convictions include burglary, felony aggravated assault, domestic violence and violence against a law enforcement officer, as well as possessing a weapon as a felon.

Most recently, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for assault in March 2022. He was then returned to prison for violating his probation.

On Friday, he was released from Maine Correctional Center in Windham  just four days before he allegedly went on his killing rampage.

Based on his felony convictions, he also could not legally own a firearm.

Maine shooting spree: What we know about the deadly attacks on a home and highway

Thursday 20 April 2023 13:00 , Rachel Sharp

Seven people were shot  four of them fatally  when a gunman embarked on a shooting spree across two different locations in Maine on Tuesday.

The horror incident first began at a home in Bowdoin where four victims were found dead before police were called to reports of a random shooting at cars on a nearby highway in Yarmouth.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, a 34-year-old convicted felon who was released from prison just days earlier, was arrested and charged with murder. Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Now, the victims, their families and the communities of Bowdoin and Yarmouth are the latest to join a growing list impacted by gun violence in America.

Heres what we know so far:

What we know about the Maine shooting spree on a home and highway

Neighbors were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them

Thursday 20 April 2023 12:30 , Rachel Sharp

In Bowdoin, Denise Pride, 58, a neighbor, said one of the victims was famous for delivering baked goods to neighbors on holidays. They were very kind people, Pride said. The neighbors were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them.

A relative to the family shot on the highway, Ian Halsey of Bowdoinham, said that two of his cousins were shot and that his uncle suffered shrapnel injuries. None of the family knew the shooter, he said.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said of his family. Its horrible what happened.

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others before opening fire on random highway

Thursday 20 April 2023 12:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Joseph Eaton, 34, has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect was released from prison just four days before he went on a rampage, shooting and killing those at the home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eatons father was found at the property in a non-attached garage, according to the authorities.

Read more:

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others

Paige Halsey: Update on victims condition

Thursday 20 April 2023 11:30 , Rachel Sharp

The three people injured in the highway shooting were named as Sean Halsey and his children, Justin Halsey and Paige Halsey.

Paige, 25, was in critical condition from the shooting.

However, on Wednesday, her father confirmed that her condition had improved and she is now able to breathe on her own.

Everyone is currently making progress toward healing and we are optimistic for full recovery, Sean Halsey told WMTW.

Who is Joseph Eaton? Everything we know about Maine shooting spree suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 11:00 , Rachel Sharp

Two communities in Maine were rocked this week when suspected gunman Joseph Eaton suddenly embarked on a shooting rampage  first at a home and then along an interstate.

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on Tuesday morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

Not long after the grim discovery was made, an assailant randomly opened fire on cars driving along Interstate 295 in nearby Yarmouth.

Three people were shot in the second attack  with one of them now in critical condition.

The alleged gunman was taken into custody on the scene.

Read more:

What we know about Maine shooting spree suspect Joseph Eaton

Joseph Eaton confessed to killing parents and couple

Thursday 20 April 2023 10:39 , Rachel Sharp

Maine shooting spree suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, confessed to killing his parents and another couple at a home before opening fire on an interstate.

On Tuesday, four people who were found shot dead at a home in Bowdoin.

Soon after, police responded to a gunman shooting at cars along Interstate 295 in Yarmouth  wounding three people.

Mr Eaton was taken into custody on the scene where police said he confesssed to carrying out the attacks.

Maine shooting spree: What we know about the deadly attacks on a home and highway

Thursday 20 April 2023 10:00 , Rachel Sharp

Seven people were shot  four of them fatally  when a gunman embarked on a shooting spree across two different locations in Maine on Tuesday.

The horror incident first began at a home in Bowdoin where four victims were found dead before police were called to reports of a random shooting at cars on a nearby highway in Yarmouth.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, a 34-year-old convicted felon who was released from prison just days earlier, was arrested and charged with murder. Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Now, the victims, their families and the communities of Bowdoin and Yarmouth are the latest to join a growing list impacted by gun violence in America.

Heres what we know so far:

What we know about the Maine shooting spree on a home and highway

Its finally over. There are so many people I cant wait to see'

Thursday 20 April 2023 09:00 , AP

On the day he was released from prison, the man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted on Facebook that he was feeling thankful. Its finally over. There are so many people I cant wait to see.

Moss confirmed that state police were aware of the video, and that its part of their investigation. Joseph Eaton, who was living in Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder but was not immediately charged in the highway shootings, she said. He was jailed while awaiting a court appearance. It was unclear if he had an attorney to speak on his behalf, a jail official said Wednesday.

Police declined to release more information about the investigation into the shootings, which they described as ongoing. They declined to speculate on a possible motive or the weapon that was used. The origins and ownership of the firearms used remain unclear.

Police declined to comment on Eatons living arrangements after leaving prison beyond saying his parents were helping him with accommodations. Police also did not comment on whether drugs or mental illness played a role in the killings.

Several cars hit on highway but all injured were family in same vehicle

Thursday 20 April 2023 08:00 , AP

After Joseph Eaton fled the home, a chaotic scene developed on a highway over 20 miles (32 kilometers) away in Yarmouth, where shots were fired at moving vehicles, police said. Joseph Eaton later told police he was firing on cars because he thought he was being followed by law enforcement. Several vehicles were hit by gunfire but the three people injured were a family all in the same car: Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey remained in critical condition, police said Wednesday.

The seven were the latest victims of mass shootings in the U.S., whose targets included a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee; a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Sweet Sixteen party in a small city in Alabama.

Police: Maine man killed parents before firing on motorists

Thursday 20 April 2023 07:00 , AP

A man confessed to killing four people, including his parents, and then firing on motorists on a busy interstate highway, just days after being released from prison, police said Wednesday.

Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, called the shootings of four people at a home in Bowdoin and then three more people on Interstate 295 to the south in Yarmouth an attack on the soul of our state that shook neighbors, law enforcement and the state at large.

Its a shock to everybody, he told reporters in Augusta. You want to naturally say, That cant be happening here in Maine. But the reality is these senseless acts can and do happen everywhere.

The gunman, Joseph Eaton, 34, had been released April 14 from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he was picked up by his mother after completing a sentence for aggravated assault, police said. That crime was serious enough to prevent him from possessing a gun in Maine. Over the past decade he has been charged with more than a half-dozen crimes.

The shootings began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims in Bowdoin were identified Wednesday as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said.

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton was released from prison four days before rampage

Thursday 20 April 2023 06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The suspect in the Maine shootings was released from prison just four days before he allegedly went on a rampage, shooting and killing four people at a home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday. He was sentenced in March 2021, according to the director of governmental affairs for the Maine Department of Corrections, Anna Black. He had been serving a sentence after a probation violation, the state official said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Following his 14 April release, Mr Eaton was arrested on Tuesday after four bodies were found in a home on Augusta Road in Bowdoin. The killings have been connected to the highway shooting in which three people were injured later on Tuesday about 20 miles away in Yarmouth.

While Mr Eaton has been charged with four counts of murder, he hasnt yet been charged in connection to the highway shooting. One of those shot on the highway remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

State records reveal that Mr Eaton had a criminal history which meant that he couldnt legally own a firearm.

Read more:

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton was released from prison four days before rampage

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others before opening fire on random highway

Thursday 20 April 2023 05:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Joseph Eaton, 34, has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect was released from prison just four days before he went on a rampage, shooting and killing those at the home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eatons father was found at the property in a non-attached garage, according to the authorities.

Read more:

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others

Chilling video shared by suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 04:00 , Rachel Sharp

Mr Eaton shared an emotional video of himself online on Monday where he said that people think he is just another f*** up and complained about people who claim to be Christian.

In the footage, he is seen sitting in a car filming himself as he chokes up with tears and goes on a confusing ramble.

Im probably going to get emotional just talking about it, he said.

But a lot of people look at you and think oh well theres just another f*** up, another guy that cant get his stuff together, treats people like s*** and then they turn around and claim to be Christian.

And you cant forgive somebody or understand what they go through. You cant give someone a second chance but you say youre Christian. How does that make sense? Why cant you just try to get to know the person again? What goods it do to hate somebody? It destroys you.

Eatons lengthy criminal record

Thursday 20 April 2023 03:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Eaton has a lengthy rap sheet going back more than a decade before Tuesdays shooting spree and was only released from prison four days before Tuesdays attack.

Past convictions include burglary, felony aggravated assault, domestic violence and violence against a law enforcement officer, as well as possessing a weapon as a felon.

Mr Eaton was sentenced in March 2021, according to the director of governmental affairs for the Maine Department of Corrections, Anna Black. He had been serving a sentence after a probation violation, the state official said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

While Mr Eaton has been charged with four counts of murder, he hasnt yet been charged in connection to the highway shooting.

State records reveal that Mr Eaton has a criminal history which meant that he couldnt legally own a firearm.

Mr Eatons criminal past begins in 2008 in Kansas when he was charged with burglary. He was sentenced in 2009 and released in 2010.

He was sentenced to three years behind bars in May 2018 after being charged with three counts of aggravated assault of a first responder in Nassau County, Florida.

Within a month of being released on 15 February 2021, he was sentenced on 1 March for an assault in Maine.

Who is Joseph Eaton?

Thursday 20 April 2023 02:15 , Rachel Sharp

Joseph Eaton, 34, was arrested over the two incidents  which are believed to be connected.

He was charged with four counts of murder over the victims in the home and is being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail.

He has not yet been charged over the highway shootings.

He will make an initial court appearance on Thursday, police said.

The suspect has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

Who is Joseph Eaton? Everything we know about Maine shooting spree suspect

Thursday 20 April 2023 01:30 , Rachel Sharp

Two communities in Maine were rocked this week when suspected gunman Joseph Eaton suddenly embarked on a shooting rampage  first at a home and then along an interstate.

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on Tuesday morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

Not long after the grim discovery was made, an assailant randomly opened fire on cars driving along Interstate 295 in nearby Yarmouth.

Three people were shot in the second attack  with one of them now in critical condition.

The alleged gunman was taken into custody on the scene.

Heres what we know so far about Joseph Eaton:

What we know about Maine shooting spree suspect Joseph Eaton

The shooting

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on Tuesday morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

The suspect has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eatons father was found at the property in a non-attached garage, according to the authorities.

Maine shooting spree: What we know about the deadly attacks on a home and highway

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:00 , Rachel Sharp

Seven people were shot  four of them fatally  when a gunman embarked on a shooting spree across two different locations in Maine on Tuesday.

The horror incident first began at a home in Bowdoin where four victims were found dead before police were called to reports of a random shooting at cars on a nearby highway in Yarmouth.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, a 34-year-old convicted felon who was released from prison just days earlier, was arrested and charged with murder. Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Now, the victims, their families and the communities of Bowdoin and Yarmouth are the latest to join a growing list impacted by gun violence in America.

Heres what we know so far:

What we know about the Maine shooting spree on a home and highway

Friend discovered victims after several contact attempts

Wednesday 19 April 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Col Bill Ross said that a few days ago, he was released from Windham Correctional Center, where he was serving about two years for aggravated assault. He was picked up I believe on April 14 at the Windham correctional facility by his mother Cynthia and they drove to the residence in Bowdoin where the murders occurred.

The authorities didnt specify when the killings took place  a friend of the Egers discovered the bodies after making several attempts to contact the couple and eventually went over to check in on them.

When asked about the suspects living arrangements, Col Ross said, Hes been in jail for two years and [on] April 14 of this year his mother picked him up at the Wyndham Correctional Facility.

He added that his parents were involved in his accommodations.

Suspect started shooting on highway because he thought he was being chased

Wednesday 19 April 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Joseph Eaton began shooting on the highway because he thought he was being hunted by the police, Col Bill Ross said. The suspect had spent the last two years in jail, the colonel added.

Mr Eaton was taken by Major Crimes detectives and Portland police officers to the Portland Police Department where he gave a confession and admitted to killing his parents and his parents friends  he admitted to killing his parents David and Cynthia and their friends Robert and Patricia in the residence at 1459 Augusta Road, he said.

He had also admitted that he shot vehicles on Interstate 295 because he thought he [was] being followed by police officers, Col Ross said.

Killings connected to highway shooting

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:30 , Gustaf Kilander

The killings have been connected to the highway shooting in which three people were injured on Tuesday about 20 miles away in Yarmouth.

Col Bill Ross of Maine State Police identified the three people shot on the highway as 51-year-old Shawn Halsey, 29-year-old Justin Halsey, and 25-year-old Paige Halsey. Ms Halsey remains in critical condition at Maine Medical Center.

Speaking about the deceased, Col Ross said that the office of the chief medical examiner determined that all died of gunshot wounds and were determined to be homicides.

Suspect killed parents and their friends before going on highway shooting rampage

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Joseph Eaton, 34, has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect was released from prison just four days before he went on a rampage, shooting and killing those at the home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eatons father was found at the property in a non-attached garage, according to the authorities.

Maine shooting spree: What we know about the deadly attacks on a home and highway

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:30 , Rachel Sharp

Seven people were shot  four of them fatally  when a gunman embarked on a shooting spree across two different locations in Maine on Tuesday.

The horror incident first began at a home in Bowdoin where four victims were found dead before police were called to reports of a random shooting at cars on a nearby highway in Yarmouth.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, a 34-year-old convicted felon who was released from prison just days earlier, was arrested and charged with murder.

Now, the victims, their families and the communities of Bowdoin and Yarmouth are the latest to join a growing list impacted by gun violence in America.

Heres what we know so far:

What we know about the Maine shooting spree on a home and highway

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton was released from prison four days before rampage

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The suspect in the Maine shootings was released from prison just four days before he allegedly went on a rampage, shooting and killing four people at a home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday. He was sentenced in March 2021, according to the director of governmental affairs for the Maine Department of Corrections, Anna Black. He had been serving a sentence after a probation violation, the state official said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Following his 14 April release, Mr Eaton was arrested on Tuesday after four bodies were found in a home on Augusta Road in Bowdoin. The killings have been connected to the highway shooting in which three people were injured later on Tuesday about 20 miles away in Yarmouth.

Read more:

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton was released from prison four days before rampage

Woman who commented on suspects social media posts lived where bodies found

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:30 , Rachel Sharp

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in Bowdoin on Tuesday to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

Not long after the grim discovery was made, an assailant opened fire on cars driving along Interstate 295 in nearby Yarmouth.

Three drivers were shot in the attack  with one of them now in critical condition.

The two incidents are believed to be connected and Mr Eaton was taken into custody by police.

He was charged with four counts of murder over the victims in the home and is being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail.

He will make an initial court appearance later in the week, police said.

None of the victims have been publicly identified and no motive has been given.

Property records seen by The Independent show that a woman who had commented on Mr Eatons Facebook posts in the past lived at the address where the four victims were found.

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others before opening fire on random highway

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:24 , Gustaf Kilander

Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspects parents.

Joseph Eaton, 34, has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his parents his father David Eaton, 66, his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62, and their friends Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect was released from prison just four days before he went on a rampage, shooting and killing the four people at a home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

Read more:

Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton shot his parents and two others

Maine State Police hold press conference

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:06 , Gustaf Kilander

Previous convictions prevented suspect from legally owning guns

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:00 , AP

Suspect Joseph Eaton was charged over the past decade with more than a half-dozen crimes and served an eight-month sentence last year for assault, according to state records. Past convictions included aggravated assault, a felony that would prevent him from legally having a firearm.

The origins and ownership of the firearms used in Tuesdays shootings were unclear.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time'

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:30 , AP

Ian Halsey, of Bowdoinham, said that two cousins were shot and that his uncle suffered shrapnel injuries in a single car. One of his cousins is in critical condition, and none of the family knew the shooter, he said.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said of his family. Its horrible what happened.

List of deadliest shootings within last year

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:00 , Abe Asher

Dadeville, Alabama

The shooting unfolded at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, leaving four people dead and a further 28 injured.

According to local police, the shooting began at around 10.34pm on Saturday (15 April) during a celebration held at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in downtown Dadeville, a small town of around 3,000 residents lying 45 miles northeast of Montgomery.

As of 18 April, no arrests have been made and authorities declined to speculate on the suspect or their possible motive.

The victims have been identified as Philstavious Phil Dowdell, 18, Mersiah Collins, 19, Corbin Holston, 23, and KeKe Nicole Smith, 17.

Louisville, Kentucky

A 25-year-old employee opened fire at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on 10 April, killing five people and injuring eight others while live streaming the attack.

The shooter, identified as bank employee Connor Sturgeon, entered the Old National Bank in the downtown area of the city at around 8.30am armed with an AR-15-style rifle.

He shot and killed four bank executives inside the first-floor conference room before exchanging gunfire with responding police officers. Louisville deputy police chief Paul Humphrey said that he was shot dead by officer fire.

A fifth victim later succumbed to her injuries in hospital. All five were executives at the bank.

The victims have now been identified as Joshua Barrick, Thomas Elliott, Juliana Farmer, James Tutt, and Deana Eckert.

Nashville, Tenessee

Three nine-year-old students and three staff members died after a shooting at a private Christian grade school in Nashville, Tennessee, on 27 March 2023.

The suspect, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was also killed by police at The Covenant School in the Green Hills suburb of the city.

An illustrator and graphic designer who attended Nossi College of Art, Hale had no criminal record prior to the massacre and was not known to law enforcement.

Hale was a former student at Covenant. Over the course of their investigation, officers have discovered manifesto-like writings and apparent research into the facilities and entry points at Covenant.

Students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all aged nine, Head of School Katherine Koonce, 60, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Mike Hill, 61, all died in the attack.

Koonce was The Covenant Schools headteacher. She ran towards the shooter before she was killed in a hallway.

Half Moon Bay, California

The mass shooting unfolded on 23 January, with seven victims killed across two agricultural business locations  a mushroom farm and a trucking facility.

The gunman, Chunli Zhao, shot dead four people at the Mountain Mushroom Farm, and killed another three victims at Concord Farms located around two miles away, according to authorities. He was a former employee at both farms.

The horror attack is believed to have been witnessed by many children, as many farm workers live on-site with their families.

Monterey Park, California

Huu Can Tran, 72, a one-time fixture at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, killed 11 people and wounded nine with a submachine gun-style semiautomatic handgun, on 21 January. He stormed inside the dance studio during the Lunar New Year celebrations and killed himself as police surrounded his van the next morning.

The victims were older Asian Americans, mostly in their 60s and 70s.

Chesapeake, Virginia

Andre Bing, a manager at a Walmart in Chesapeake, killed six and wounded six others during an employee meeting on 22 November 2022. He then shot himself.

Chesapeake officials released a chilling death note in which Bing complained that people laughed at me and said I was like Jeffrey Dahmer.

The long, rambling note was found on the 31-year-old mass shooters cellphone and released by Chesapeake officials  providing a glimpse into his motive behind the horror attack.

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Five people were killed and 17 wounded when a 22-year-old gunman allegedly opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle inside a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs. The suspect, who was subdued by patrons, is awaiting trial.

Authorities said that Anderson Lee Aldrich was seen pulling into a parking lot at Club Q just before midnight on 19 November 2022, where they entered and immediately opened fire.

Aldrich was charged with 305 criminal counts, including five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of committing a bias-motivated crime  or hate crime  and several charges of attempted murder and assault in the first-degree and second-degree.

Raleigh, North Carolina

Fifteen-year-old Austin Thompson allegedly killed five people and injured two more in a shooting in Raleigh on 13 October 2022. The suspect eluded officers for hours before he was cornered in a home and arrested.

The fatal victims were identified as Nicole Connors, 52, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 35, Gabriel Torres, 29, James Thompson, 16. Thompsons brother and a police officer were among the deceased.

Highland Park, Illinois

Six people were killed and at least 30 wounded when suspect Robert Crimo opened fire on an Independence Day parade on 4 July in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.

According to police, Crimo had planned an attack for weeks and fired more than 80 rounds randomly into the crowd watching the parade.

Prosecutors also say Crimo made a voluntary statement confessing to his actions and revealed that the young man had made his way to Madison, Wisconsin, where he intended to commit another mass shooting but turned back.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Three people died and 14 people were injured in a shooting on 5 June in front of a restaurant. Three people have been arrested.

Some 16 of the victims were adults and one was a minor. In total, fourteen people were shot, while three were hit by vehicles.

Philadelphia

Three people died and 11 others were injured on 4 June on a Philadelphia busy block during a melee that began with a fistfight and was followed by random gunfire. Two men, 34-year-old Rashann Vereen and 18-year-old Quran Garner, are in custody for two of the deaths; other people have also been arrested in connection with the melee.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Gunman Michael Louis killed his surgeon and three other people at a medical office on 1 June 2022. The gunman killed himself as police arrived.

Uvalde, Texas

An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School on 24 May in the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade. More than 15 other people were wounded.

The violence began before Salvador Ramos even arrived at the grade school. According to police and family members, he shot his grandmother in the head and stole the family truck, before heading to Robb Elementary School.

Buffalo, New York

White gunman Peyton Grendon opened fire on 14 May 2022 at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighbourhood, killing 10 people and injuring others.

The attack, which Gendron had planned for months, was carried out with an AR-15 rifle and streamed live. He was arrested immediately after the massacre.

Gendron drove around 200 miles from his home to the predominantly Black community to carry out the attack.

In November 2022, Gendron pleaded guilty to all state charges against him, convictions that guarantee a life prison sentence. He was officially sentenced in February.

He pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, and one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, among other charges.

Records: Maine shooting suspect couldnt legally own guns

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:30 , AP

A Maine man who police say killed four people in a home and then shot three others randomly on a busy highway had a criminal history that should have prevented him from legally possessing a gun, according to state records.

The shootings in Maine began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday. Then a chaotic scene developed in which shots were fired at vehicles on an interstate highway over 20 miles away in the community of Yarmouth, police said. Three people were shot there, and one remained in critical condition Wednesday.

This is an active investigation with a lot of moving parts, Shannon Moss, state police spokesperson, said Wednesday.

The gunman, identified as Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder but was not immediately charged in the highway shootings, she said. He was jailed while awaiting a court appearance. It was unclear if he had an attorney to speak on his behalf, a jail official said Wednesday.

The names of the victims were not released, and state police didnt discuss any possible motive. The four bodies were taken to the state medical examiners office in Augusta for positive identification and autopsies.

Maine State Police to hold press conference at 3pm

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:28 , Gustaf Kilander

Maine State Police is set to hold a press conference at 3pm on Wednesday in August to share updates about Tuesdays shootings that left four dead and three injured.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday. He was sentenced in March 2021, according to the director of governmental affairs for the Maine Department of Corrections, Anna Black.

He had been serving a sentence after a probation violation, the state official said on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

Following his Friday 14 April release, Mr Eaton was arrested on Tuesday after four bodies were found in a home on Augusta Road in Bowdoin. The killings have been connected to a highway shooting in which three people were injured later on Tuesday about 20 miles away in Yarmouth.

While Mr Eaton has been charged with four counts of murder, he hasnt yet been charged in connection to the highway shooting. One of those shot on the highway remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

More than 11,000 dead from gun violence this year

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:00 , Abe Asher

According to the Gun Violence Archive, shootings have already claimed more than 11,000 lives in total in the US in 2023, with more than 6,000 people using a gun to die by suicide. Another 9,000 people have been injured in a shooting so far this year.

The Gun Violence Archives definition holds that mass shootings include at least four people either injured or killed, not including the shooter.

Despite the prevalance of gun violence this year and in recent years in the US, there has not been a renewed push to tighten the countrys liberal gun laws in Congress since a bipartisan group of legislators introduced and passed a modest array of reforms after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last year.

On a state level, a number of states have moved over the last year to remove barriers to purchasing and carrying firearms. Last year, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Utah all passed laws to no longer require people to hold a permit to carry a firearm, while legislators in states like Georgia and Ohio have moved to pass similar laws this year.

A select number of other states have gone in the other direction: voters in Oregon, for example, narrowly approved a ballot measure last year to require permits to purchase a firearm and ban magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Suspect said I just wish somebody would forgive me in video shared before shooting

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:30 , Rachel Sharp

In a video shared on social media by Maine shooting suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, he is seen sitting in a car filming himself as he chokes up with tears and goes on a confusing ramble.

Im probably going to get emotional just talking about it, he said.

But a lot of people look at you and think oh well theres just another f*** up, another guy that cant get his stuff together, treats people like s*** and then they turn around and claim to be Christian.

And you cant forgive somebody or understand what they go through. You cant give someone a second chance but you say youre Christian. How does that make sense? Why cant you just try to get to know the person again? What goods it do to hate somebody? It destroys you.

Its not the way things were supposed to be done, the way things were made.

Mr Eaton then went on to say he wants forgiveness for the things I did as he said he has had trauma for a long time.

Just need to try to forgive me for the things I did. Ive been dealing with trauma for a long time on things I dont talk to people about  being molested and stuff it destroys somebody, he said.

I know Im good for my kids. I just wish somebody would forgive me. Some people, I dont get it.

Hours after posting the video, Mr Eaton allegedly went on a shooting rampage across two locations in Maine on Tuesday.

PHOTOS: Police shuts down highway after shooting

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Members of law enforcement investigate a scene where people were injured in a shooting on Interstate 295, in Yarmouth, Maine, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 (AP)

Vehicles are stopped on a highway at a scene where people were injured in a shooting on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, Maine, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 (AP)

Members of law enforcement approach vehicles at a scene where people were injured in a shooting on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, Maine, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 (AP)

In a still frame from video provided by WGME-TV traffic is backed up near a scene where people were injured in a shooting on Interstate 295, in Yarmouth, Maine, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 (AP)

Seven people shot in Maine latest victims in series of US mass shootings

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:30 , AP

The gunman, identified as Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder but was not immediately charged in the highway shootings, Shannon Moss, state police spokesperson, said Wednesday. He was jailed while awaiting a court appearance.

The names of the victims were not released, and state police didnt discuss any possible motive. The four bodies were taken to the state medical examiners office in Augusta for positive identification and autopsies.

The seven people shot Tuesday were the latest victims of mass shootings in the U.S., whose targets included a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee; a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Sweet Sixteen party in a small city in Alabama.

How many mass shootings have there been in 2023?

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:00 , Abe Asher

Among high-income countries around the world, the United States has for years stood out for one reason: its rate of gun violence.

Over the last decade, among relatively wealthy countries with populations of 10m or more, the rate of gun violence in the US has far surpassed that of any other nation. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the adjusted firearm homicide rate in the US is 22 times that of the European Union and more than that of Asian countries like Japan and the Republic of Korea.

This year is on track to be no different. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, there have as of mid-April already been 149 mass shootings in the US  with gun violence claiming lives in every state in the country.

As in a number of other years, including 2022, some of the most visible gun violence in the US this year has taken place at schools. In February, a shooting at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan left three students dead and five other people injured. In late March, a mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville claimed six lives.

Other gunmen may have been targeting certain ethnic communities: in January in Half Moon Bay, California, a shooting at a dancehall in a predominantly Asian-American area left 11 people dead. Two days later, another mass shooting in nearby Monterey Bay, California killed seven more people.

Read more:

How many mass shootings have there been in 2023?

Four dead and several injured after related shootings on Maine interstate and at nearby home

Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:30 , Graig Graziosi

Law enforcement authorities in Maine have charged a man with murder in connection to the killings of four people who were found inside a house in Bowdoin on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, police responded to reports that several vehicles on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, had been hit by gunfire. They then confirmed that the incident on the highway was linked to four bodies that were discovered in Bowdoin. The man charged with the murder has been identified by police as 34-year-old Joseph Eaton of Bowdoin.

A large police presence, including officers armed with rifles, responded to the highway following the shooting. A total of three people were injured in the highway shooting, according to the Associated Press, with one of them in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon.

Read more:

Four dead and several hurt in shooting spree on Maine interstate and at nearby home
Joseph Eaton in court (Screenshot / WMTW)

Court records in the Maine shooting spree revealed the grisly crime scene discovered by police called to the scene after suspect Joseph Eaton allegedly shot and killed four people, including his parents and their two friends.

Mr Eaton has confessed to the killings in Bowdoin, Maine. He was detained on Tuesday after opening fire while driving down a highway 20 miles away in Yarmouth, injuring three people.

The suspect appeared in court in West Bath on Thursday, his first appearance since the killings.

He was only released from prison on Friday and has now been charged with four counts of intentional or knowing murder.

The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, include his parents Cynthia Eaton, 62 and David Eaton, 66, and their friends Robert Eger, 72 and Patricia Eger, 62.

The court records outline the scene that police encountered on Augusta Road on Tuesday morning.

The documents state that Pattis sister visited the home at about 9am, finding drops of blood near the door, WABI reported.

Inside, she discovered a number of guns and bullet holes. She exited the home and called 911.

Police said on Wednesday that they found one victim in a barn and three others in the home. Court documents reveal that a dog was also shot at the scene.

Detectives searching the area also discovered a note stating that someone had been molested and that there was nothing done about it.

The note also stated that someone had been freed of pain and that the author of the note desired a new life.

Not much later on Tuesday morning, police responded to the highway shooting where Sean Halsey, 51, and his two children, Justin, 29, and Paige, 25, had all been shot.

They were all transported to Maine Medical Center.

Mr Eaton was detained shortly before 11am in the woods close to exit 15 on I-295 in Yarmouth.

When he appeared in court on Thursday, Mr Eaton didnt enter a plea. His next court date has been scheduled for 28 June.

The police affidavit states that there was broken glass at the scene and that there was more blood inside the residence where three of the victims were found.

Story continues

One of the bodies in the home had been covered up using a towel and a witness was initially unable to identify the individual, according to the court filing.

While police have said that Mr Eaton has confessed to the shootings, they havent revealed when they were killed. Its also unclear how the suspect got ahold of the weapon or weapons used.

Following felony convictions in Maine and in Florida, where his parents were living, Mr Eaton was unable to legally own firearms.

Police have said that Ms Eaton picked up her son at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday where he had just finished serving a sentence after being convicted of assault. The mother reportedly took him to the home of the Egers where they had been staying.

More follows...
The influential conservative group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called out former President Trump on Thursday for not endorsing federal limits on abortion as a candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Life is a matter of human rights, not states rights. Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth, the groups president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said in a statement.

We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections, she added.

When Trumps advisers have floated the issue of abortion, the former president has said they should not talk about it, the Washington Post reported. The paper asked the Trump campaign if the former president supported the six-week ban enacted in Florida, but it did not receive a direct answer. Instead, Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement: Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the state level.

The Trump campaign has cast the former presidents appointment of three justices who would later overturn Roe v. Wade as a major victory for his presidency.

Republicans have been trying to get this done for 50 years, but were unable to do so, explained the Trump spokesman. President Trump, who is considered the most pro-life President in history, got it done.

He will continue these policies when reelected to the White House. Like President Reagan before him, President Trump supports exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, the spokesman added.

Pro-life groups and individuals were frustrated with the former president for not mentioning abortion in his speech announcing his candidacy for president in November of last year.

His silence spoke very loudly to the pro-life movement, said Kristan Hawkins, president of the pro-life group Students for Life to the Post. We were pretty disappointed.

Story continues

A number of other presidential candidates, either announced or anticipated, have been reluctant to take a hard-line on abortion. Senator Tim Scott (R., Sc.) recently avoided the question of whether he supports 15-week ban. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said lets let the states work this out, as quoted in the Des Moines Register.

On the other hand, former vice president Mike Pence commended Florida governor Ron DeSantis for signing the six-week heartbeat bill into law.

I want to commend Florida and their governor for moving the heartbeat bill, said Pence. Im pro-life; I dont apologize for it.

More from National Review
Pensions: The IFS warned that workers hoping for a comfortable retirement face a risky future.

Most workers arent saving enough for retirement, with nearly nine in ten middle-earning private sector workers saving less than recommended for their pension.

Around 60% of middle-earning private sector employees who are contributing to a pension are saving less than 8% of their earnings, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said.

Nearly 90% of them are saving less than the roughly 15% of earnings previously recommended by the government's pensions commission.

An increasing number of those in their 50s and 60s who are nearing retirement live in more expensive, privately rented accommodation and are not homeowners.

Unless a wave of inheritances leads to rising homeownership, this percentage could be even higher for younger generations, leading to a combination of a disappointingly low standard of living in retirement and/or greater reliance on housing benefit, the IFS said.

Read more: Average UK house price dipped to 287,506 in February

The think tank warned that workers hoping for a comfortable retirement face a risky future..

'While current pensioners are still doing well on average... the future looks risky at best for many current workers hoping for a comfortable retirement, the IFS said in a report.

When it comes to self-employed workers, Fewer than one-in-five are saving in a pension.

Higher state pension ages pose difficulties and longevity improvements have not been as big as predicted a decade ago, according to the report.

The past 20 years have seen the continued decline of defined benefit (salary-linked) pensions in the private sector and low typical contributions to defined contribution pension schemes, the IFS said.

The introduction of pension freedoms has given people flexibility over their retirement, but individuals, rather than employers or insurance firms, now often bear the burden of the risk of poor investment performances and uncertain lifespans, it added.

A two year project which aims to come up with long-term solutions to the UKs pensions crisis has been launched by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in partnership with abrdns Financial Fairness Trust.

Story continues

The Pensions Review will run for two and a half years and comprehensively assess the consequences of current pension policy, the economic environment and individual behaviour for the future of living standards in retirement.

Read more: UK pay growth jumps as unemployment rate rises

Paul Johnson, the director of the think-tank, said a fresh look at the UK retirement saving system was long overdue.

Johnson said: "Automatic enrolment has brought millions into workplace pensions, but all too often at much lower rates of saving than the Pensions Commission thought would be needed.

Most private sector workers are left having to manage considerable risks  not least over how long their retirement will be.

Alistair Darling, pensions review steering group member and chair of abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, said: Twenty years ago we set up the Pensions Commission, which laid out a range of important reforms including auto-enrolment.

But today much has changed and the landscape is very different. Too many are saving too little for retirement.

Many self-employed and those in insecure work dont have a pension. Increasing numbers are living in the private rented sector, which will lead to higher housing costs in later life.

Whilst today many pensioners are doing well on average and pensioner poverty has been cut drastically, we need a major review to avoid a future where too many wont have enough to live on in their old age.

Watch: When should I start paying into a pension?

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
By A. Ananthalakshmi and Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has launched an investigation to uncover how hundreds of migrant workers arrived from South Asia without jobs, despite having paid steep fees to get employment, officials and rights groups said.

The issue revives concerns over labour abuses in Malaysia, a key manufacturing hub at the heart of the global supply chain that has faced several accusations in recent years over exploitation of workers.

Hundreds of workers from Bangladesh and Nepal have arrived since December after paying up to 20,000 ringgit ($4,500) to middlemen to get employment, officials of two rights groups who interviewed dozens of the workers told Reuters.

Many took loans to pay recruitment fees, but are unable to start repaying them without jobs or salaries, the activists said, adding that on arrival, their passports had been taken away by recruitment agents.

"These workers are at high risk of forced labour and severe destitution," said independent labour activist Andy Hall, whose team has been in contact with the migrant workers.

Their plight was worsened by factors such as debt bondage, poor living conditions, isolation and limited freedom of movement after their passports were confiscated, he added.

The International Labour Organisation ranks deception, along with debt bondage stemming from the large recruitment fee, and passport seizure among its indicators of 'forced labour'.

The Malaysian government is investigating the matter, said Asri Rahman, the director general of its labour department, but declined to provide details until completion of the inquiry.

Last week, V. Sivakumar, the minister for human resources, visited a group of 226 Bangladeshi and Nepali workers who had been in the Southeast Asian country for 40 days without the jobs they had been promised.

He described as "appalling" the crowded accommodation of the workers, and vowed to find them jobs at the earliest, but did not identify the provider of the facilities.

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NOT TRANSPARENT

The investigation comes as the five-month-old government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim cracks down on corruption and looks to tackle labour abuse.

Two of Sivakumar's aides were arrested by anti-graft authorities this month over an investigation into recruitment of foreign workers. He too was questioned, and has promised to co-operate.

Malaysia has faced accusations of forced labour in manufacturing and palm oil production over the years, including some by the United States, which banned imports from several of its firms for such practices.

Bangladesh - a key source of migrants for Malaysia - called for more transparency by Kuala Lumpur to prevent its citizens from being cheated of jobs.

"If the Malaysian government's approval process for hiring foreign workers is transparent, not a single worker should be unemployed," its High Commission, or embassy, in Malaysia said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

The high commission said it compelled an employer to provide jobs for some of the migrants, while still working to get jobs for the others.

A Bangladeshi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there were a "few hundred" of its citizens stuck in Malaysia without jobs.

The Nepal embassy said it was working to find employment for a group of 125 of its citizens who had been left similarly stranded, and had also received such complaints from others.

($1=4.4300 ringgit)

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi and Rozanna Latiff; Additional reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian volunteers are tackling food waste during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan by collecting unsold food from vendors and distributing it to low-income households.

According to government data, about 112,000 tonnes of food went to waste in Muslim-majority Malaysia during Ramadan last year, a figure that non-profit organisation GEMA is trying to reduce.

In the first three weeks of the fasting month, GEMA collected 20 tonnes of leftover food from Ramadan bazaars in the capital Kuala Lumpur, volunteer Umi Kelathun Abd Ghani told Reuters, adding the organisation works across the country.

Once collected, the food is weighed and repackaged before being handed out to those in need.

"It would be a waste if such blessings are thrown away. Thanks to (the volunteers') efforts, it can help the lower-income group to eat," said Abawiah Salleh, a recipient in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is expected to see a 15% increase in waste during the fasting month and generate nearly 20 tonnes of food waste daily, according to government figures.

The fasting month ends this week, with Eid-al Fitr expected to be celebrated at the weekend.

(Reporting by Ebrahim Harris and Angie Teo; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Kim Coghill)
A man accused of murdering four people and injuring three others in shootings in Maine on Tuesday had been convicted earlier of crimes in Kansas.

Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, Maine, was charged with four counts of murder Tuesday after four people were found fatally shot at a home in Bowdoin, according to the Associated Press. The victims were his parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, and their friends, Robert Eger, 72, and Patti Eger, 62, The Portland Press Herald in Maine reported.

Law enforcement found and arrested Eaton after three other people were shot several miles south of the home on I-295, the AP said.

In two Kansas juvenile cases in the mid 2000s, Eaton was sentenced to 9 months of probation for burglary, theft and battery, court records show.

In a 2008 case, he was sentenced to 24 months probation after being convicted of burglary in Maize. Supervision ended in 2010, Sedgwick County District Attorneys Office spokesperson Dan Dillon said in an email.

Court records show a Wichita address for Eaton at the time of the 2008 case. In a request to a judge, Eatons attorney asked that the probation be ended so he could move to Maine to be closer to his fiancees family, court records show. They were expecting a child.

Court records show he had many people vouch on his behalf: a pastor, an instructor at Butler Community College where he was taking classes and his parents friends, the Egers.

Hes becoming the fine young man I knew he would with Gods guidance, Patti Eger wrote. Hes doing his best to stay on the straight and narrow and I see changes in him that will benefit him long term

Eaton also has a criminal record in Florida and Maine.

In 2018, he plead guilty in Nassau County, Florida for possessing a concealed firearm as a convicted felon and three counts of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer and spent three years in prison, the Portland Press Herald in Maine reported.

In Maine, his prior convictions were for felony aggravated assault in 2014, operating under the influence in 2015 and assault and domestic violence in 2016, according to the Portland Press Herald.

The newspaper said Eaton was released from Maine Correctional Facility days before the shooting.

He was set to make his first court appearance later this week, according to the AP.
The man who tried to throw himself out of a window after allegedly stabbing his boyfriend 29 times in December was arraigned on murder charges Wednesday in his partners death.

Michael Perry, 37, and his boyfriend Jose Aponte, 43, were having difficulties in their relationship leading up to Apontes death in December, prosecutors revealed in court Wednesday.

Perry believed Aponte was seeing someone else and also reached out to apologize for hurtful behavior. Despite the difficulties in the relationship, prosecutors say Perry stayed over at Apontes apartment near Boston Medical Center on Friday, December 9 after the latter had a routine medical procedure. Neighbors then reported hearing unusual noises from Apontes apartment Saturday.

A message was sent from Apontes phone to his manager at work Saturday describing that he was feeling sick and could not make his shift. Prosecutors told the court that the message was written in a manner atypical of Apontes writing style.

As friends and family grew increasingly concerned at a lapse in communication, a friend of Apontes visited the apartment Sunday. The friend reportedly heard rustling coming from the kitchen area and could feel a draft emitting from under the locked door.

Responding officers and the apartments maintenance staff then attempted to gain entry into the apartment. Authorities were unable to open the door because Apontes dead and bloody body and a fridge were pressed against it.

According to prosecutors, officers yelled at Perry, What happened?

You know what happened, Perry allegedly screamed back. Come in and find out.

Police and a SWAT team were eventually able to gain entrance to the disheveled apartment, where Perry stood with a knife and a pair of scissors.

Officers shot Perry with a pellet gun, striking the man in the head. Perry ducked to the ground, where police say they lost sight of him amidst the clutter from the trashed apartment.

Officers then heard Perry screaming for help and ran toward an open window. Perry was found dangling in open air, his waistband the only thing preventing him for falling eight or nine stories below. Police pulled Perry back inside the building and placed him under arrest.

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Prosecutors revealed Perry has a troubled past with law enforcement, including a 2019 domestic violence incident that resulted in Perry asking police to shoot him.

An autopsy of Apontes body revealed the man was stabbed 29 times with a sharp object, including severe wounds to the head, neck and chest area.

Perry was held without bail.

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A Channel 2 Action News investigation has revealed that a local man accused of causing a death doing 134 miles per hour in a street race has now been arrested again -- accused of going 101 mph while on bond.

Police told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that this is an example of why they are frustrated in their battle against street racing, which they say poses a danger to everyone.

Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Andrew Senzer says street racing disrupts and disrespects the lives of everyday citizens and its dangerous to everybody who encounters it.

Police said the case of Quentavious Parks particularly demonstrates their frustration.

Atlanta police said they obtained a YouTube video that showed him street racing while out on bond after he was arrested and charged with homicide by vehicle.

The citizens and visitors of this city have a right to traverse the city freely and not have lawlessness in their face and just something that were not going to tolerate, Senzer said.

A document from the Georgia State Patrol shows on Aug.4, 2020, Parks caused the death of another person while participating in a street race, driving 134 mph in a 45-mph zone.

A December 2020 order shows Parks was charged with homicide by vehicle, along with three other charges, and indicates he was given a bond of $62,000, was ordered to wear an ankle monitor, had a curfew, and was not allowed to drive.

TRENDING STORIES:

His attorney Eli Bennett said Parks will plead not guilty to an indictment for vehicular homicide, reckless driving, and racing filed against Parks and another man on April 14 concerning the 2020 incident.

Now, an Atlanta Police Department incident report indicates an investigator was advised by a sergeant that there was a video uploaded recently to YouTube that belongs to Parks account.

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The report indicates the investigator said he was able to search multiple cameras located in the area where Parks vehicle is seen driving recklessly on city streets.

The report indicates on April 2, Parks is seen getting off Arthur Langford Parkway and making a right turn on the wrong side of the exit.

The vehicles dash at one point shows that the car was going 101 miles per hour on a city street.

An April 9 report suggests Parks was again taken into custody and was taken to jail.

Fulton County State Court records indicate Parks has been accused of a list of misdemeanors ranging from reckless stunt driving to driving on the wrong side of the road and more.

Theres another bond document that appears to show a total bond of $21,000 and conditions include no driving  again.

In researching this story, Winne found another YouTube video that appears to show Parks driving again.

We forwarded a still frame and a link to the video to APD.

In an email from Atlanta Police Sgt. Jarius Daugherty, said, This screenshot below does appear to be of Mr. Parks. After reviewing the contents of the video below, he appears to have recorded this after his 4/9 arrest.

They didnt catch me in the act of doing anything or whatever. They claim it was from a YouTube video or something like that. But Im like bro, aint nothing on my YouTube video, Parks said in one of his videos.

Bennett said concerning Parks arrest this month, he has yet to receive the evidence from the prosecution but he anticipates possible challenges to how authorities determined when the YouTube video at the heart of that case was made.

Bennett said the victim in the vehicular homicide case, which involved a crash, was a childhood friend of Parks.

RELATED NEWS:
YAOUNDE, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Troops in Cameroon have seized six explosive devices in the country's Far North region where Boko Haram, an Islamist militant organization based in northeastern Nigeria, is known to be active, according to local and security sources.

The devices were discovered on Wednesday in the locality of Amchide in the Mayo-Sava division, bordering Nigeria.

They were hidden in bags of millet bound for the market, an army official in the region who opted for anonymity told Xinhua Wednesday night.

Local media reported that 10 people including two women were arrested after the discovery.

The media also reported that a suicide bomber of the terror group was shot dead early Wednesday by the military in the locality of Double of the division as he attempted to rush towards a crowd and explode.

Last month, authorities in the region warned that Boko Haram (which means "Western education is forbidden") suicide bombers had infiltrated civilian communities and urged residents to be vigilant. 
Prosecutors have charged a Springfield man, who may also be living in Arkansas, with felony kidnapping of a child.

According to court documents, a woman called police Sunday to report a non-parental abduction of her 9-month-old child. She told police the man was potentially her child's father, but it was not confirmed, he was not listed on the birth certificate and had played no role in the child's life up to that point.

That man, Login Boyd, 27, was with the child in Arkansas and had spoken to the mother on a video messaging app and allowed her to see the child but was not intending to bring the child back.

Police spoke with Boyd's mother, who said they had been talking to the Missouri Division of Youth Services about what Boyd could do in this situation. She said they told her he should get a paternity test, but would not say who she spoke to at DYS or what kind of paternity test Boyd was taking.

More: Murder charge adds details to Monday shooting that left teen dead in west Springfield

Police attempted to speak with Boyd, but he did not answer calls. They then asked his mother to tell him that police wanted to talk to him about the child. On Wednesday, he reported to police through his mother that he didn't believe he had done anything wrong and would not speak to police.

At that point, police submitted the case to prosecutors, who charged Boyd with first-degree child kidnapping, which is a class A felony and carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. A warrant for his arrest was issued for him to be held without bond.

As of Thursday, it did not appear that Boyd was yet in custody.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Man charged with kidnapping after taking 9-month-old baby to Arkansas
Psychology experts testified for hours Wednesday in a Fayette County courtroom as a judge listened to determine whether or not a man charged with murdering a 3-year-old should face the death penalty if hes convicted.

Andrew Buster, 37, has been charged with murder and sodomy in connection to a December 2018 incident that left Lillyann Grace Reck dead. Buster was formally charged and arrested in January 2020, according to court records. Hes been held at the Fayette County Detention Center ever since.

Buster appeared in front of Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy Vanmeter Wednesday to hear testimony from psychology experts who could speak to Busters intellectual abilities, and ultimately determine Busters eligibility for the death penalty.

Two psychologists were among several witnesses called to discuss their findings of Busters IQ, and whether or not they thought he had intellectual disabilities. Buster wouldnt be eligible for the death penalty if hes determined to have intellectual disabilities.

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a previous case  Atkins v. Virginia  that sentencing someone with intellectual disabilities to death would be cruel and unusual punishment and would violate the Eighth Amendment.

Dr. Sara Boyd, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in intellectual and learning disabilities, testified for hours Wednesday and said Buster had a composite IQ of 80, according to a power point presented by the defense. But adjusted for the Flynn Effect, which accounts for IQ increases over time, his score should be 75, Boyd said in court.

But Dr. Jaclyn Williams of the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, who prosecutors presented as a witness Wednesday, gave Buster an IQ score of 86. The defense previously made a motion to exclude Williams testimony.

Boyd was critical of some of Williams IQ testing methods. Based on Williams tests, she found Buster had an IQ which was borderline to meeting the intellectual disability threshold.

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(Buster) did not meet the criteria for an intellectual disability with regards to his IQ score, Williams testified. But she said he did display evidence of deficits in adaptive functioning which can contribute to the overall determination.

She said based on looking at Busters score profiles, she would not believe any psychological professional would come away thinking he had any intellectual disabilities.

For nearly nine hours, the attorneys went back and forth with both psychologists discussing the intricacies of how their IQ numbers were reached  largely based on the Flynn Effect calculation  and how their tests were conducted.

Vanmeter is expected to issue a ruling at a later date. Both prosecutors and the defense team will file briefings on their arguments made during Wednesdays hearing.

How the investigation unfolded

Lillyann died in December 2018 after she was found unresponsive at an apartment, according to court records. Buster told investigators he was babysitting the child alone when the incident happened and said she choked on a cigarette cellophane while he was cleaning the apartment in another room.

Lillyann was taken to a hospital after she was found, but she died four days later. Doctors noticed she had injuries consistent with sexual assault, according to court documents. Her autopsy and other evidence later determined she was strangled or suffocated, court documents say.

3-year-old girl was a hero

Recks father, Joshua Reck, previously told the Herald-Leader Lillyann was a happy and cheerful child who liked to swing, go on car rides and dance. Because of a custody dispute, Joshua had not seen Lillyann for more than a year before her death.

She liked to swing, she liked to go on car rides with me and bobble her little head and dance, Joshua Reck said. We didnt listen to my music. We listened to Wheels on the Bus, and I had education CDs for her that would make her smarter.

Lillyanns stepmother, Shannon Reck, said Lillyann will be known as a hero.

Somewhere some family prayers have been answered. A part of her will live on, Shannon Reck said.

Joshua said that Lillyann was an organ donor.

She gave the ultimate sacrifice to save someone else, he said.
An Okatie man was convicted Tuesday for a near-fatal 2021 shooting at a Hilton Head nightlife hotspot.

Ray Altacho, 27, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for three counts of attempted murder and two counts of illegal weapon possession, the 14th Circuit Solicitors Office announced in a Tuesday press release.

Beaufort County Judge Robert J. Bonds rejected the defenses request for immunity under South Carolinas stand your ground law, which grants victims the right to defend themselves with deadly force.

The mans sentence with the SC Department of Corrections (SCDC) will be followed by three years of probation.

Tuesdays conviction comes more than two years after the Jan. 18, 2021, shooting, when Altacho fired five shots into a car with his former girlfriend and two other men inside. One of the men was struck in the arm by two bullets as he covered the woman in the drivers seat. The woman sped away, crashing her car nearby on New Orleans Road before a passenger called 911.

The car had been leaving the Boardroom, a newly reopened live music venue and part of a south-island bar district known locally as the Barmuda Triangle. The venue reopened its doors earlier this month  18 months after it lost its insurance during legal battles related to a May 2021 triple-fatality crash on the Hilton Head bridge.

All three of the cars passengers in the January 2021 shooting identified Altacho as the suspect, who was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service three weeks later in Florence, the press release says. Beaufort County investigators found the mans cell phone on the ground of the parking lot where the attack took place. Surveillance footage showed him following his ex-girlfriends car minutes before the shooting.

Although the male passenger was the only one shot, police and prosecutors agreed that Altacho intended to kill his former partner. First Assistant Solicitor Mary Jordan Lempesis, who prosecuted the case, said the shooting was clearly an act of intimate-partner violence.

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A shuttle bus rolls past Reilleys Plaza -- known to locals as the Barmuda Triangle -- just past the Sea Pines gate in 2015.

Court records date Altachos first conviction back to March 2013, when he received a yearlong SCDC sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree burglary and a half-dozen counts of larceny. Police had accused him the year before of breaking into a house and 15 cars during a string of thefts in Blufftons Mill Creek neighborhood.

Altacho has also been convicted on charges of domestic violence, the Solicitors Office said.

Altacho had not yet appeared in SCDCs inmate roster as of Wednesday evening.

When we publish mugshots

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:

In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested

In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety

In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
A North Augusta, South Carolina, man faced several felony charges Wednesday after police accused him in a sexual assault case from 2016, according to the Jasper County Sheriffs Office.

Billy Joe Ash, 41, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime. He was charged with kidnapping for allegedly holding the woman against her will at gunpoint, according to police.

On June 20, 2016, an anonymous caller reported a woman was being chased down the road by a man in a car, and it appeared a sexual assault had taken place, said Chief Deputy Jeff Crosby, a spokesperson with the sheriffs office. When police went to the area, the woman was able to get away and the driver, identified by Crosby as Ash, had sped off.

Details of Ashs arrest and why it took seven years to bring charges were not immediately available Thursday.

He remains in custody at the Jasper County Detention Center as of Thursday afternoon.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse, help can be found by calling Hopeful Horizons 24-hour Support Line at 843-770-1070.

When we publish mugshots

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:

In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested

In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety

In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
Reggie Peyton was on his way to work recently when he stopped to cash a winning lottery ticket.

After collecting his prize, he bought a Power 5s scratch-off ticket at a Pilot Travel Center in Colonial Heights, according to an April 20 news release from the Virginia Lottery.

Peyton got back in his car and scratched his ticket. Thats when he saw his prize, he told officials.

When I saw that $250,000, I got weak in the knees, Peyton said.

Peyton continued on his way to work, but once he got there he didnt stay for long.

My supervisor said to take the day off and go collect the money, Peyton told officials.

Now, the North Chesterfield resident said he will use his prize to pay off some bills and maybe buy a new car.

Colonial Heights is about 20 miles south of Richmond.

Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.

If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.

Mom didnt believe her big MD lottery prize, so she scanned ticket again and again

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Lottery player was inspired by other wins. Now shell fulfill dream with own NC prize
A husband and wife taking a trip to northern Michigan stopped at a gas station convenience store to buy something to drink.

While at Beacon and Bridge Market in Fife Lake on April 8, they noticed the Fantasy 5 jackpot was over $300,000 and decided to buy a ticket, according to a news release from the Michigan Lottery.

The next day, my wife checked the ticket on our way home and started screaming when she realized we had won the jackpot, the 49-year-old Kent County man told lottery officials.

The jackpot prize was worth $328,439.

I started sweating when she told me how much wed won, so I rolled down the window and the ticket almost flew out the window! the man continued. Thankfully my wife was able to grab it and tuck it away in a safe spot.

He recently went to claim his prize, and he told lottery officials that he and his wife plan to save their newfound cash.

Winning is surreal and still hasnt sunk in, so we havent made any plans for the money yet, he said. We are hoping to save most of it so that we can retire a little earlier than we planned.

Fife Lake is about 120 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.

If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website.

He thought he won $3,000 in Iowa lottery on his birthday  but he won much more

Yeah right, skeptical lottery player says after winning millions on April Fools Day

Grandma buys lottery ticket  and massive win sends her running to hug store customer
After previewing a number of changes earlier this year, Manatee Countys conservative leaders have approved the first policy update for the public library system.

Led by Commissioner Amanda Ballard, board members adopted a plan to expand an advisory board that will help determine what content is available in public libraries. In the future, commissioners will also consider adding book genre labels and implementing parental consent forms for children below a certain age.

Ballard said she wants to label books that could be deemed controversial, such as LGBTQ stories, coming of age and young adult books. Consent forms would apply to kids under the age of 16 who want to check out books on certain topics, including human sexuality and gender identity.

In February, the Manatee County Commission held a public workshop meeting where commissioners laid out general ideas for how they would improve the library system, such as expanding the number of books from conservative authors.

Battling against accusations of censorship and fascism from several residents Tuesday, commissioners voted unanimously to begin expanding the existing library advisory board and allowing members to weigh in on what content is added to the library collection.

The modified advisory board would not have the ability to veto an acquisition made by library staff, said Ballard.

If the board overwhelmingly doesnt agree with purchasing items, the hope is that librarians would take that into consideration, but in accordance with free speech principles, the final decision would lie with library staff, Ballard explained.

Commissioner Amanda Ballard, who proposed a series of changes in Manatee County libraries Tuesday, listens during a public meeting on November 29, 2022.

The move comes amid a nationwide culture war against children being exposed to sexual content through literature. Books that reference LGBTQ+ orientations also have been targeted.

I am opposed to children being exposed to any type of sexually oriented materials, Commissioner Vanessa Baugh wrote in an April 15 email to a resident. Parents have more rights than any library regarding their children.

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On Wednesday, state leaders enacted a similar policy, prohibiting Floridas middle school and high school teachers from intentionally teaching students about sexual orientation or gender identity. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law banning those subjects in elementary schools last year.

Genre labels in Manatee libraries?

While most board members had no problem throwing their support behind genre labels, the decision was met with some pushback from a colleague. Commissioner George Kruse disagreed, arguing that children are not exposed to sexual content in libraries.

You dont have random little kids wandering around pulling porn off of our shelves. Thats just not how our library works, said Kruse, who noted that the librarys policy does not allow children under the age of 12 to be left unattended. It sounds like we may have more of a parenting problem than a library problem.

Manatee County FL officials are considering labeling LGBTQ and young adult books with labels and making parents sign children consent forms. The Manatee County Central Library is shown in this Bradenton Herald file photo.

But other commissioners said they would have no trouble supporting the new policy.

I do think we have a problem morally if we dont contain adult sexual orientation books away from the youth. I mean, come on. Let kids be kids for heavens sake, said Baugh.

Commissioner James Satcher compared the genre labels to movie ratings.

Its an additional system so that books can be classified if children have access to it, you can be sure as a parent that youre OK with your child having access to that, said Satcher.

Manatee officials did not take official action on adding genre labels to public library books. The topic is expected to come up for discussion at a future public meeting.

Parental consent for books

Ballard also proposed a parental consent form that would require parents to give prior authorization before a child under the age of 16 can rent a book in any of these sections: young adult fiction, adult fiction, human sexuality, sexual techniques, sexual orientation and sexual hygiene.

Either a parent should be present with the child at the time of rental or the parent should sign a consent form allowing their child to access or rent those materials, Ballard said.

Board members did not take official action on a parental consent form either, but several commissioners signaled their support for the idea.

I definitely agree with what Commissioner Ballard stated and the things she wants to implement. I think its going to be a great thing, said Commissioner Jason Bearden.

I dont want to ban any book, added Commissioner Mike Rahn. Libraries are a repository of knowledge that we all should be able to go to and all be able to use those facilities. My only concern about the libraries is access.

Several residents spoke out against the proposed library changes.

Growing up, I always had my head in a book. I was three or more grade levels ahead on my reading comprehension, said Amanda Langworthy. Limiting books based on age range can be discrimination on that portion of readers.

When you talk about parents rights, you mean only some parents  the close-minded parents that think like you do, David Daniels wrote in an email to commissioners. You are using child protection to hide censorship and fascism.

Some said they favored the restrictions against child access to certain content, pointing to other age-based restrictions implemented by the government.

There are age restrictions for children for driving, drinking and entering sex shops, said Deanna Brinkley.

Manatee officials voted unanimously to expand the library advisory board. The County Attorneys Office will present an updated ordinance to formalize the changes at an upcoming public meeting.

The board is also expected to discuss library genre labels and parental consent forms at a later date.
Parking garage worker Pierre Vancol considers himself twice blessed.

The 55-year-old Flatbush resident survived the Tuesday afternoon collapse at the Lower Manhattan facility  bringing back memories of escaping with his life from 2010s devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Im still shaking, Vancol told the Daily News on Thursday. This is the second time this things happened to me. God saved me two times.

The employee recalled how a normal shift morphed quickly into a terrifying and all too real nightmare.

I think it was shaking one or two minutes, he said. We just ran to save our lives. I was getting a ticket for a customer. I had to move away. I feel like something is going to happen.

The survivor spoke before Enterprise Ann Parking LLC, the garage tenant, issued a statement saying they were fully cooperating with city agencies and other authorities investigating what happened.

This is a tragic event, the statement declared. We are devastated at the loss of one of our long time employees and our thoughts are with his family and those who were injured in the accident. We thank all of the first responders who quickly attended to those who were impacted and appreciate their courageous work.

Vancol wound up at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan with injuries suffered as he fled the collapse of the garage with a rooftop parking lot. He spent six hours at the hospital before heading home.

I got hurt on my back, on my feet, he said. To save my life, I had to run.

The adrenaline kept him from immediately noticing he was hurt.

When things happen, you dont feel nothing at the time, he said. My back is acting up ... It was very scary. Im fine because of God.

Haitian officials put the death toll of the quake 13 years ago at more than 300,000.

The survivor offered fond memories of garage general manager Willis Moore, the lone fatality in the collapse. His remains were recovered and removed from the rubble on Wednesday night after the use of robotic dogs to locate the victim, officials said.

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The two colleagues knew each other for the past three years and shared a good working relationship, said Vancol.

Very nice manager, a good guy, he said of the 59-year-old Queens man. This guy is a friend to everybody, always tried to help everybody looking for jobs and things like that.

Work on the site continued for a third day, with multiple vehicles stranded on the buckled top deck of the garage and tons of concrete waiting for removal. The FDNY remained on site in case of any potential fires as the clean-up continued, with all utilities in the building shut down.

Officials said the city crews were working to remove the debris without causing additional damage or risking injury to the workers.

It was a delicate operation to recover the victim and remove as many as 90 vehicles scattered on the structures buckled top deck and amid tons of shattered concrete. Crews used cranes to pluck cars from the ruins one by one but made only modest progress.

Vancol recalled five co-workers finding their way out of the doomed garage, including one in the basement, one in an elevator and two on the second floor. Several were hospitalized but are expected to recover.

Some of them have an issue, he said. But were still alive.
Marcin Szewczyk killed Suzanne Taylor and seriously injured her daughter in an M6 horror crash after taking speed to stop himself falling asleep. (Reach)

A driver took speed to keep himself awake before he ploughed into a car on the M6, killing a passenger and seriously injuring another.

Marcin Szewczyk, 43, was found to have traces of amphetamine in his system after his Mercedes Sprinter van crashed into the back of a stationary Kia Sportage at 12.31am on 30 October, 2021.

The Kia had stopped in heavy traffic and had been displaying hazard warning lights for over a minute at the time of the collision between junction 17 for Sandbach and junction 18 for Middlewich, Cheshire.

Szewczyk's vehicle pushed the Kia into a lorry, killing 71-year-old Suzanne Taylor, who was sitting in the rear of the stationary car.

Her daughter, the front seat passenger, suffered serious injuries and was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital where she underwent surgery and was only discharged two months later.

Suzanne Taylor, 71, died at the scene of the crash between Junctions 17 and 18 of the M6. (Reach)

The crash took place on the M6 at 12.31am on 30 October, 2021. (Google)

Speed was found in Szewczyk's system after his arrest and officers spoke to key witnesses who stated the van he was driving was weaving all over the road.

GPS data from his employer found that the vehicle being driven by Szewczyk had left the warehouse 22 hours and 31 minutes prior to the collision, travelling more than 450 miles.

It was also found that he did not hold a valid driving licence and his Polish licence was listed as confiscated and invalid.

Szewczyk, of Lancashire Hill, Stockport, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving and has been jailed for seven and a half years at Chester Crown Court.

Marcin Szewczyk was jailed for seven and half years at Chester Crown Court. (Alamy)

Investigating officer PC Faye Clarke, of Cheshire Police, said: Szewczyks actions and decision to continue to drive throughout the 22-hour period prior to the collision has devastated Suzannes family

Whilst employed as a professional driver Szewczyk deliberately chose to ignore the law and continued to drive whilst knowingly fatigued and under the influence of a controlled drug which put lives at risk.

He had ample opportunity to pull in or leave the motorway network but continued to drive.

Speaking after the sentencing, Taylors family said: As a family we are pleased with the custodial sentence of seven and a half years, though no sentence can bring mum back.

Szewczyk was also handed a five-year driving ban which will be in place on his release from prison.
Though legislation being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly this session could legalize medical marijuana for some illnesses, the substance currently remains illegal for both personal and medical uses in North Carolina.

Despite this, you may have noticed that there are other cannabis-adjacent and cannabis-derived products on the market in the state, both in-person at stores and online.

That could include delta-8 gummies, for instance, or CBD oils and creams, among a plethora of other products.

But what, exactly, are those products? How are they related to marijuana? And what are the differences between them?

To help you understand the various cannabis-related products for sale  and not for sale  in North Carolina, weve compiled information on the products, including how they are similar and different from one another.

Heres what to know about the substances.

What is cannabis?

Before breaking down the various cannabis-derived and cannabis-related products you may find online or on store shelves, it may be helpful to first understand what cannabis actually is.

Though the term may be used interchangeably to describe marijuana, hemp or other products, it technically is a separate term used to describe the plant from which those products are derived.

The plants full, scientific name is cannabis sativa, and you may be familiar with its look  described on an N.C. State Extension online plant identification site as having leaves that are palmate, divided into 3 to 7 toothed leaflets.

The relatively sparse foliage allows air flow through the plant, making a more healthy plant that experiences fewer issues with fungus than other varieties, the plants description continues. The flowers are small and green, crowded on axillary clusters.

Though we often associate the cannabis plant with marijuana and other substances, it can also be used for other purposes, such as textiles or bioplastics, according to information on the N.C. State site.

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What is marijuana?

Marijuana, also called weed, pot or a variety of other terms, is derived from the cannabis plant.

The National Institutes of Health describes marijuana as the greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers from cannabis. Those flowers can be smoked in a variety of forms, vaporized or incorporated into food or drinks.

Marijuana contains a psychoactive, or mind-altering, component that can give intoxicating effects  commonly referred to as a high. That psychoactive component is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or delta-9 THC.

THC is a type of cannabinoid, or chemicals that cause drug-like effects all through the body, including the central nervous system and the immune system, according to the National Cancer Institute.

It is currently illegal to grow, sell or use marijuana in most of North Carolina, except on Cherokee land in the western part of the state, where it will soon be available for legal purchase to use for select medical purposes.

What is THC?

Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the the primary chemical compound responsible for cannabis euphoric effects, according to Leafly, a popular website for buying and learning about cannabis.

In other words, THC is one of the main reasons we feel high after using cannabis, Leafly explains.

But there are different types of THC, including:

 Delta-9 THC, which is found in marijuana.

 Delta-8 THC, which is less potent than delta-9 THC and can be produced from hemp. Delta-8 is in a legal gray area, Leafly says, because it can still cause a high. Delta-8 can be used and sold in a variety of products, including edible gummies or candies or vaporized forms.

 Delta-10 THC, which is also less potent than delta-9 THC.

The legality of delta-8 and delta-10 THC in North Carolina is murky, The News & Observer previously reported, because some delta-8 products could be considered synthetic THC, which is illegal, and some delta-8 products could have more THC than is advertised and legally permissible. But delta-8 products are currently available for sale in multiple online and in-person marketplaces in the state.

What is hemp?

Hemp is similar to marijuana, in that it is also derived from the cannabis plant.

But unlike marijuana, hemp is not cultivated for its psychoactive effects. Hemp contains less delta-9 THC, at 0.3% or less in total, than marijuana  meaning hemp-derived products dont contain enough THC to create the high traditionally associated with marijuana, as written in an article on the plants from Michigan State University.

Hemp is used in textiles, and it is also used to extract CBD for use in oils, tinctures, creams and other products, according to Leafly.

As a result of the 2018 federal Farm Bill, it is legal to grow and sell hemp in the United States, and the substance is no longer on the Drug Enforcement Agencys list of controlled substances.

What is CBD, or cannabidiol?

CBD, or cannabidiol, is another type of cannabinoid  remember, THC is also a cannabinoid  which are compounds from cannabis plants that interact with receptors involved in a variety of functions like appetite, anxiety, depression and pain sensation, according to information from Michigan State University.

But unlike THC, CBD is not intoxicating  meaning it will not make the consumer feel high when consumed, according to Leafly. Still, some users say that CBD helps them feel more relaxed or less anxious.

CBD can be derived from hemp or non-hemp plants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is typically derived from the plant in an oil form, which can then be added to a variety of other products, such as creams or even edible products, such as gummies.

CBD derived from hemp is generally considered legal in North Carolina due to provisions regarding the legalization of hemp in the U.S., but the topic still remains some what murky, The N&O previously reported. Various forms of CBD are for sale around the state.

More information

More definitions of cannabis-related terms and products can be found on the Leafly website at leafly.com/learn/cannabis-glossary.
CAIRO, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Most of the Egyptian troops who were sent to Sudan to conduct a joint training with their Sudanese counterparts have returned safely to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, an army spokesperson said on Thursday.

In cooperation with security agencies in Sudan, Egypt dispatched three military planes to Sudan to evacuate the Egyptian soldiers on Wednesday, an army statement quoted Spokesperson Gharib Abdel-Hafez as saying.

The Egyptian soldiers were in Sudan to participate in a joint training with their Sudanese counterparts when clashes erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday the Egyptian troops went to Sudan solely for training purposes and not to support any particular party.

The three planes carried most of the Egyptian troops from Sudan to a military base in Cairo on Wednesday, the statement reads, adding the remaining Egyptian soldiers were evacuated to the Egyptian embassy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and will return to Egypt once the conditions have become more stable in Sudan.

A total of 177 Egyptian soldiers returned to Cairo while 27 remained in Sudan, local media reported.

The Egyptian army statement confirmed that all of the Egyptian soldiers are in good conditions.

In a separate statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Egypt had coordinated and cooperated with the United Arab Emirates to ensure the safety of the remaining Egyptian soldiers in Sudan, who were detained and released by the RSF.

The ministry expressed Egypt's willingness to stop the fighting in Sudan and protect civilians and civil institutions. It also stressed the importance of dialogue and political settlement to resolve all differences and ensure security and political stability in Sudan.

Armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF broke out in Khartoum and other areas outside the capital since April 15, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict. So far, at least 174 people have been killed in the conflict. 
A recruit at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island who died at the base Tuesday was a 21-year-old from Decatur, Georgia, officials said Wednesday.

Pfc. Noah Evans died Tuesday during a physical fitness test, officials said in a news release. Evans was assigned to Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment. Evans cause of death remains under investigation.

Officials did not provide additional details, including whether Evans had any prior medical conditions or what part of the test was being conducted when he died.

Previous deaths at base

This marks the fourth death at the base in two years.

In June 2021, Pfc. Dalton Beals, 19, of Pennsville, New Jersey, died during the last leg of marine recruit training, the Crucible. The exercise involves a 48-mile journey over 54 hours with 45 pounds of gear, 36 stations and problem-solving exercises with four to six hours of sleep and limited nourishment.

On the day Beals died, the temperature on the base was in the 90s. Despite policies in place to alter uniforms and gear when temperatures rise, Beals drill instructor, identified by MCRD Parris Island officials as Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley, instead intensified training, according to investigative report obtained by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Beals fellow recruits described being discouraged from seeking out medical assistance and were mocked. Beals died of hyperthermia.

In November 2022, Smiley was charged with negligent homicide for Beals death. As of Wednesday, those charges are still pending.

In September 2021, another recruit, 21-year-old Pvt. Anthony Munoz, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, died after falling from a balcony in an apparent suicide, MCRD Parris Island officials previously told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Pfc. Brandon Barnish, 26, of Evans, Georgia, was found dead at the training depot on Sept. 29, 2021, according to the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Including Evans, there have been at least 10 deaths on Parris Island since 2000.
Before a 31-year-old Independence man was shot and killed by an Oregon State Police trooper on Interstate 5 April 10, he pointed a firearm at various motorists as he tried to gain access to their vehicles, according to an investigation by the Salem Police Department.

A Marion County grand jury that reviewed the investigation unanimously found OSP officer Andrew Tuttle was justified in the shooting of Felipe Amezcua Manzo on I-5 near the Mission Street exit.

Salem Police investigate a shooting in which an Oregon State Police officer shot and killed an individual on Interstate 5 on April 10.

Jurors heard testimony from 12 witnesses and reviewed video from Tuttle's body camera, the dash camera on his patrol vehicle and the dash camera of a bystander vehicle, recordings, photographs, scene diagrams, an autopsy and ballistic results, according to the Marion County District Attorney's Office.

The investigation found Amezcua Manzo was given verbal warnings and an opportunity to comply, the county attorney's office said in a press release. The grand jury found no reasonable alternatives, such as verbal de-escalation, would have been safe or reasonable and feasible for the officer.

An overhead view along northbound Interstate 5 in Salem after investigators began processing the scene of an officer-involved shooting on April 10, 2023.

The district attorney's office provided the following summary:

Tuttle was driving northbound on I-5 at 8:42 a.m. when he observed what he believed to be a stalled semi-trailer in the middle lane near milepost 254.

As he pulled closer to the trailer, he saw Amezcua Manzo in the roadway pointing a firearm at the driver of the semi-trailer and the driver of a nearby SUV. Amezcua Manzo then tried to force open the passenger door of the SUV.

As Amezcua Manzo started running east, Tuttle activated his lights and siren. Tuttle pulled his vehicle to the shoulder of the freeway before getting out and telling Amezcua Manzo to "get on the ground." Amezcua Manzo continued walking south with his gun drawn.

Tuttle went into a roadside ditch in pursuit, and Amezcua Manzo fired his weapon at Tuttle.

The officer started back up the incline to try to find cover, fell into the water at the bottom of the ditch, got up and ran to his vehicle and reloaded his firearm. Amezcua Manzo aimed and fired and a light in the officer's eyes temporarily blinded him.

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Tuttle returned fire, believing Amezcua Manzo had a laser and was aiming for his head. The officer reloaded his weapon two more times as he fired and Amezcua Manzo fell to the ground.

A firearm that Salem Police said was located next to the body of Felipe Amezcua Manzos after he fled from an Oregon State Police trooper along Interstate 5 on April 10.

Tuttle and a responding retired officer from Washington state stood guard on Amezcua Manzo until medics arrived.

Amezcua Manzo was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said a firearm with an attached laser sight and light was found nearby.

An autopsy identified six gunshot wounds in his chest, head and back. The investigation determined Tuttle fired 47 shots, and Amezcua Manzo fired 13.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Grand jury: Oregon State Police trooper justified in I-5 shooting
Mariska Hargitay honored her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, on what would have been her 90th birthday on April 19.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star shared a photo to Instagram of her mom smiling and leaning over a cake at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in 1956.

Happy birthday Mama. We live to love you more each day, Hargitay, 59, wrote in the caption.

Jayne Mansfield in publicity portrait for the film 'Kiss Them For Me', 1957. (20th Century-Fox Archive Photos / Getty Images)

Mansfield was a legendary Hollywood bombshell known for her roles in films throughout the 1950s and 60s, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and Too Hot to Handle. Hargitay posted a scene from Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? featuring her mother to her Instagram story April 19.

Mansfield died in a car accident at age 34 in 1967, when Hargitay was 3.

Hargitay is one of three children Mansfield shared with her second husband, actor and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay.

The Law & Order star has opened up in the past about how losing her mother so early in life shaped her.

I think I learned about crisis very young, and I learned very young that s--- happens and theres no guarantees, and we keep going. And then we transform it, she told Glamour in 2021. Thats been kind of my superpower, and the gift of having trauma early in life.

She added that she was in a frozen place for much of her childhood as she tried to survive and process her grief.

My life has been a process of unpeeling the layers and trust and trusting again, she said.

Hargitay has paid tribute to her mother in various touching ways over the years, including when she channeled her moms bold spirit in a fierce runway walk.

She also wore hot pink on the red carpet when she was named one of Glamours Women of the Year in 2021, to honor Mansfields known fondness for the rosy hue.

While Mansfield was no doubt an icon of Hollywood glamour, Hargitay shared in her Glamour Women of the Year acceptance speech that Mansfields beauty was so much more than skin deep.

We have many pictures of her in our house, and my God, she is just so unbelievably glamorous, she said. But I think that her glamour, her real glamour, the glamour of her luminous, tender, searching heart, was deeper and more beautiful than she ever knew.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is still smarting after she was silenced and barred from speaking at Wednesdays House Homeland Security Committee hearing by a fellow Republican, Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee.

Mr Green ordered a series of incendiary statements by the second-term congresswoman to be taken down, or officially stricken from the hearings official record, after she broke House rules by calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar while questioning him on the Biden administrations border policies.

After a prior motion to silence her for accusing California Democrat Eric Swalwell of having carried on a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy was tabled by the panels GOP majority, Ms Greene laid into Mr Mayorkas with a series of accusations about his purported responsibility for fentanyl overdoses among American youth.

After she asked him how long he would continue this outrage, the former prosecutor turned Cabinet secretary attempted to defend his departments performance. He told Ms Greene that he could assure her that the department is not letting it go on and is fighting the trafficking. But before he could finish, Ms Greene interjected again, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Youre a liar. You are letting this go on (and) the numbers prove it. You cant lie about the fact, Secretary Mayorkas, while you live in denial and sit over there with this attitude that youre doing everything right ... you are killing Americans with your policies, she said.

After Ranking Member Bennie Thompson asked for that statement to be sticken, Mr Green asked if Ms Greene would withdraw her statement.

She refused, and Mr Green immediately ruled that shed violated the rules and ordered the words stricken from the record.

A day later, she told CNN she had complained to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the incident, and described herself as surprised and angered by Mr Greens decision to actually enforce the House rules to her detriment.

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She claimed Mr McCarthy agreed with [her] and implied the House Speaker did not believe the bodys decorum rules should have been used to keep her from speaking.

She also said she had a conversation about the matter with Mr Green after the hearing.

He basically said that we have two different styles so we have a disagreement still about what took place yesterday, but, you know, I am still new to committees so I will make sure I am following the rules, which I do think is important, but at the same time I am still going to keep pushing, she said.

Mr Green told CNN in a separate interview that he didnt concur with Ms Greenes claim that the House Speaker had sided with the Georgia Republican in the dispute.

He described her actions as a clear violation of House rules.

I had a conversation that was maybe a little different with him, he said, adding that he and Mr McCarthy didnt really get into the details of the incident.

He also said Ms Greene understands the rules and will comply with them going forward.
A third man is facing charges after he was accused of threatening to kill the Volusia County sheriff.

Cristhian Zapata, 23, is accused of posting, I WILL KILL CHITWOOD, MARK MY WORDS, on 4Chan.

Deputies said Zapata, of Connecticut, posted the threat on 4Chan on April 7, and the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange flagged the post for further investigation.

Investigators said they traced the post to a home in Ansonia, Conn., where Zapata had been living in his sisters apartment, along with her fiance and child.

Read: Another 4chan user arrested for threatening to kill Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood

When contacted by police, Zapatas sister said her brother was always on his computer, often participating in extremist chat rooms and talking to unknown people about conspiracy theories and white supremacist ideology. She also told police her brother was fascinated with Adolf Hitler.

When police contacted Zapata, officers said he admitted to posting the threat. He said hed heard about recent events in Florida, including other online threats to kill the sheriff.

Read: Welcome to Florida: Volusia County sheriff comes face-to-face with man who threatened to kill him

Deputies said Zapata was arrested Wednesday evening by the Shelton Police Department on a felony warrant for making a written threat to kill, which carries a $100,000 bond.

His arrest follows those of Richard Golden in South Brunswick, N.J., and Tyler Meyer in San Diego, Calif., on the same charges.

Their threats came following Chitwoods response to extremist activity, hate propaganda campaigns, and harassment of Jewish people and others in Volusia County and Central Florida.

Read: This is pure, pure, pure evil: Sheriff Chitwood responds to recent wave of anti-Semitism

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.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) on Thursday introduced a vote of no confidence resolution for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the first effort in the Senate to mirror impeachment efforts percolating in the House.

The resolution comes after Marshall said during an exchange with Mayorkas in a Senate appearance on Tuesday that the secretary was derelict in his duties and, I would be derelict to not do something about this.

The nine-page resolution lays out a series of complaints about the state of the border, blaming Mayorkas for everything from increased migration, including attempts to clear a camp of some 15,000 Haitians near the Texas border, to drug flows and overdoses.

There isnt one American who believes our southern border is secure, Marshall said in a release.

In the real world, if you fail at your job, you get fired  the federal government should be no different.

The resolution would have little effect if passed  an uphill battle in the Democrat-led Senate, and it would not have any bearing on impeachment efforts in the House, which have still not formally taken shape.

The resolution also points to an argument building in the House that Mayorkas was dishonest before Congress  a case built on the secretary asserting in prior appearances that he has maintained control of the border.

The GOP argues that Mayorkas is failing to meet the definition of operational control laid out under the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which says the standard has only been met if the country prohibits all unlawful entries of both migrants and drugs.

Mayorkas recently told lawmakers that the standard of perfection laid out under the law has never been met, but it encourages the secretary to use all resources at their disposal to improve security.

The Secure Fence Act provides that operational control means that not a single individual crosses the border illegally. And its for that reason that prior secretaries and myself have said that under that definition, no administration has had operational control, Mayorkas said.

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As I have testified under oath multiple times, we use a lens of reasonableness in defining operational control. Are we maximizing the resources that we have to deliver the most effective results? And under that definition, we are doing so very much to gain operational control.

With escalating impeachment discussions, the Department of Homeland Security has also called on Congress to do more to address problems with the U.S. immigration system that exacerbate efforts to enter and remain in the country illegally.

Instead of pointing fingers and pursuing baseless attacks, Congress should work with the Department and pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in over 40 years, the agency said in a statement.

While numerous House lawmakers have expressed an interest in impeaching Mayorkas, the process has not yet begun. If successful, an impeachment resolution would be forwarded to the Democrat-led Senate.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A gargantuan alligator gar caught in Texas may shatter the previous world record for its classification, a Texas fishing guide says.

The 251-pound beast was caught Sunday, April 16, by Kentucky angler Art Weston, who teamed up with Kirk Kirkland for the capture in the Trinity River near Huntsville, Texas, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Kirkland is the self-proclaimed worlds best alligator gar guide who has more than 100 International Game Fish Association world records.

In a social media post, Kirkland described the fish as an absolute monster. He shared several photos of the alligator gar, including one of a scale showing it to be 251 pounds.

Weston told Field & Stream he caught the gar using carp for bait, and he and the fish battled it out for 25 minutes.

Interviewed by the Houston Chronicle, Weston said they initially thought the gar was an actual alligator because of how strong it was. At one point during the battle, the gar was able to turn the boat around in a circle, he told the publication.

We were very lucky to land her while she was still green, Weston told Field & Stream. The first time she surfaced by the boat, Captain Kirk was able to get the lasso around her.

The gar was 90.5 inches long with a girth of 45.5 inches, according to Field & Stream.

Kirkland said the gar is a pending world record with the International Game Fish Association. The current world record for the 80-pound line class is a 191-pound gar caught in the same river in 2015.

Most of the IGFA world records for alligator gar occurred in Texas.

Alligator gar can live for decades, with ones 7 feet long often 40 years old, according to Texas Parks & Wildlife. The Texas state record, captured in a different way than Westons, was 302 pounds and was caught on a trotline in 1953, state officials said.

Westons fish was released back to the river, according to the Chronicle and Fish & Stream. Kirkland specializes in catch-and-release angling, his website says.
Political commentator Matt Walsh addressed what he claimed was a "larger attack" against his family Wednesday night during an appearance on the University of Iowa campus, saying a hacker recently took control of his phone and accessed text messages, emails and more.

Walsh threatened retaliation and also spoke of his anti-transgender beliefs, saying the transgender community cannot defend the logic of trans ideology, during his public appearance in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 at the university's Memorial Union.

The Daily Wire columnist was brought to the University of Iowa by the Young Americans for Freedom at UI, drawing criticisms from many students, including a joint statement from student organizations such as University Democrats and Student Advocates for Planned Parenthood UI, which called for the university to suspend YAF. An online petition opposing Walshs appearance and urging the university to protect transgender students received over 4,100 signatures by Thursday morning.

Walsh discusses Twitter hack, says consequences will come

Conservative speaker Matt Walsh at the Iowa Memorial Union at the University of Iowa, April 19.

A capacity crowd estimated at 1,200 people, made up of both students and nonstudents, attended Wednesdays event in the Iowa Memorial Union's main lounge, forcing officials to turn away potential attendees waiting to enter.

Walsh immediately addressed his recent social media hack, which happened Tuesday. His hacked Twitter account posted offensive tweets about other popular right-wing figures like Andrew Tate and Ben Shapiro, Forbes reported.

Walsh said reporters on Twitter sought his information from the hacker as he discussed a recent article from Wired, in which the hacker known as Doomed was pegged responsible for the takeover of Walshs Twitter. Doomed told the publication Walshs phone was compromised with the help of an insider.

More: Protesters block campus streets during conservative Matt Walsh's appearance in Iowa City

Walsh was adamant he'd find the root of the hack and questioned why the person sought access of his data.

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Now, how did that come about? What sort of insider? What institution was this insider inside of?" Walsh said Wednesday amid applause. "What was motivating the insider to distribute my personal data to a hacker? We can make some educated guesses, but we dont know at this point. Theres still a lot we dont know about what happened but Ill tell you, were going to get answers to all those questions. Were getting them right now. And there are going to be consequences. There are going to be severe consequences."

Walsh added the consequences extend to the journalists who pursued the hacker for information. He discussed ongoing efforts to silence him and us though it was unclear if he was referring to his audience, his body of supporters, or both  including citation of hit posts. He cited an article from Media Matters for America in October 2022, which detailed Walshs history as a co-host on The Matt and Crank Program in early 2010 to 2011 and his comments about teenage pregnancy and marriage and about inciting violence in the name of change.

Walsh says transgender people are attempting to 'restructure society'

Walsh claimed transgender people cannot defend the logic of trans ideology and said theyve embarked on a campaign to restructure all of human society around their demands.

It was unclear as to what Walsh meant by all of human society.

More: Hundreds of people rally in support of transgender-rights outside Matt Walsh event

Walsh discussed gender ideology, a term the Human Rights Watch calls undefinable but dangerous, often used to curtail sexual and reproductive rights as well as LGBTQ equality by playing on peoples fear of social change and claiming a global conspiracy of great influence and scale.

Walsh said gender ideology is the rejection of truth and those who are fighting against the ideology are seen by the left and transgender activists as a danger.

I truly see the fight against gender ideology as the last stand for Western civilization, Walsh said. Because if the sane side loses this, its over.

Before listing arguments about gender and sexuality as well as his rebuttals, Walsh said he believes biological sex is real and its what determines a man and a woman. He claimed his belief is held by nearly every person on Earth, until recently.

A large crowd gather to listen to conservative speaker Matt Walsh at the Iowa Memorial Union at the University of Iowa, April 19.

Walsh said there is no need for the term gender and denounced gender-affirming care, though he used language such as castration and pushed a narrative that children pursuing transition-related care are receiving surgeries or medications. The National Center for Transgender Equality has stated that very young children do not receive surgeries or medications and any surgery for people under 18 is rare and individualized.

Who is Matt Walsh?

Walsh is a right-wing commentator and host of The Matt Walsh Show and columnist for The Daily Wire, a right-wing media company founded by Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing. He describes himself as a theocratic fascist, according to his Twitter.

More: Iowa GOP nears deal on education bill that bans books with sex and limits LGBTQ instruction

He is the author of The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Lefts Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender and What Is a Woman?: One Mans Journey to Answer the Question of a Generation. Walsh was featured in a film of the same name in 2022, shorted to What Is a Woman?, which purports to explore the logic behind a gender ideology movement that has taken aim at women and children, according to the films description.

Walsh is a vocal opponent of transgender rights, and his views are often explored in his show. Walsh does not use preferred pronouns when referring to transgender individuals and reflected so in the titles of recent clips from his show posted on YouTube, including Trans Activists Only Care About Pronouns, Not Dead Kids and Christian Children Murdered by Trans Mass Shooter." The latter is a reference to reports that the person who fatally shot six children and adults at a Nashville, Tennessee, school in March before being killed by police was transgender.

Walshs appearance at the University of Iowa comes a month after Northwest Junior High School was the subject of bomb threats following the Libs of TikTok account sharing on Twitter that the school carries the title This Book is Gay. References to the book caused similar threats and evacuations at Hilton Central School District in New York the same week.

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or 319-519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Matt Walsh discusses anti-trans views, Twitter hack at Iowa event
The fallout continues in McCurtain County, mere days after a print-only newspaper published a controversial recording of an alleged conversation in which local officials were discussing a plot to kill reporters and making hateful comments about Black people.

The sheriff's office announced an investigation of the publisher for possible violations of Oklahoma law, but the newspaper said its publisher consulted with attorneys, who assured him he was doing nothing illegal.

The recording still has not been independently verified by The Oklahoman, but the circulated audio has drawn national attention and was the catalyst for protests in Idabel, with residents demanding the officials resign and many state officials echoing their outrage.

The debate over the recording, shared with numerous news outlets and federal investigators, revolves around how it was obtained and if either the publisher or the recorded individuals could face punishment concerning the recording.

More: From Idabel race riots to a tourist boom in Hochatown, six things to know about McCurtain County, Oklahoma

What are the allegations against McCurtain County officials?

The McCurtain Gazette-News reported that after a March 6 county meeting, officials discussed killing local reporters and making racist comments toward Black people.

According to the newspaper, Sheriff Kevin Clardy, investigator Alicia Manning, Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix and District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings took part in the impromptu discussion.

How was the recording obtained?

Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioners meeting, according to the Associated Press. He said he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after meetings had ended, in violation of the state's Open Meeting Act.

Instead, he said he found McCurtain County officials allegedly discussing how to kill him and his son, Chris Willingham, who has also worked as a reporter at the local newspaper for 18 years. Comments during the recorded conversation also allegedly reference the pastime hanging of Black people and how they have "more rights" than others.

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Bruce Willingham said he spoke twice with his attorneys to be sure he was doing nothing illegal.

More: 'You can't take things like this lightly.' State officials call for resignations in McCurtain County

McCurtain County residents protest Monday, April 17, 2023, outside the McCurtain County Commissioners office to protest comments reportedly made by the sheriff, a commissioner, an investigator and a jail administrator.

How have McCurtain County officials responded?

Protests erupted Monday in Idabel, demanding accountability for the officials. The Oklahoma Sheriffs Association suspended three of the implicated officials, and Jennings tendered his resignation early Wednesday. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt had already called for the other individuals to resign as well, but the McCurtain County Sheriff's Office said in a statement late Monday that the officials were the "victims of criminal activity."

"Our preliminary information indicates that the media(-)released audio recording has, in fact, been altered," the statement read. "The motivation for doing so remains unclear at this point. That matter is actively being investigated. In addition to being illegally obtained, the audio does not match the 'transcription' of that audio, and is not precisely consistent with what has been put into print."

The statement ends with promises that the investigation's findings would be "forwarded to the appropriate authorities for felony charges to be filed on those involved."

What are Oklahoma laws on recordings?

Oklahoma's Security of Communications Act does say that it is illegal to record an in-person or telephone communication without the consent of at least one party or to record a communication with "criminal or tortious intent." Illegal recording is a felony punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both.

It is also a felony to photograph or record, "in a clandestine manner for any illegal, prurient, lewd or lascivious purpose," a person in a place where there is "a reasonable expectation of privacy" and to disclose any images obtained by these means, according to Oklahoma Statute title 21, article 1171, otherwise known as the "Peeping Tom" law.

But the law does not criminalize the use of recording devices for other purposes in areas where the public has access or there is no reasonable expectation of privacy, like recording conversations on public streets or in a hotel lobby, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Christine Pappas, a political science professor at East Central University in Ada, said the space in which the McCurtain County officials meet did not seem to fit the definition of a place where they should have expected privacy, especially if a public meeting of commissioners had just adjourned.

"If a reporter had just been there and then left the room, then your expectation of privacy would be a lot less, because you are in a room where the public is invited," Pappas said. "It's not like your house."

Pappas said that, if the officials were "just in a room chatting," they might have expected privacy, but if the officials were still together discussing local government affairs even after the "official" public meeting had ended, the continued meeting would have been illegal.

Bruce Willingham told News 9 that the conversation in the recording began with discussion of county business, before veering into the incendiary topics the newspaper reported.

More: Transcript of McCurtain County Sheriff, Commissioners discussing lynching, hiring hit men

Can journalists face punishment for recordings of public officials?

According to Oklahoma Statute, title 13, article 176.3, the disclosure of contents from an oral, telephone or electronic conversations obtained through illegal recording is a felony. And repeating or publishing the contents of a discussion overheard while secretly loitering around a building is a misdemeanor, when done with the intent to "vex, annoy, or injure others," according to Oklahoma Statue, title 21, article 1202.

But if a journalist was given an illegally recorded conversation and was not involved in the illegal obtaining of it, publication of the material is "likely protected" by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provided it is truthful and a matter of public concern, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

In 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which includes Oklahoma, said there is a constitutional right to record government officials and law enforcement performing their duties in public, in order to "check abuse of power."

Is Oklahoma a one-party or two-party state for recordings?

Oklahoma law stipulates that it is a one-party consent state with recordings. That means that, in Oklahoma, it is legal to record a conversation if at least one party to the conversation knows about and consents to the recording.

In other words, if a person secretly records a conversation with another person, that recording would be legal. If a person secretly records a conversation two or more unaware people are having, that recording could be unlawful.

Could the journalists face charges in the McCurtain County scandal?

"It could be that both sides broke the law" in the McCurtain County situation, Pappas said. "It could be that the journalist couldn't legally use their recording, but it is also quite illuminating with the information that they brought out."

To Pappas, even if authorities determine Bruce Willingham broke the law in how he obtained the recording, "it still doesn't excuse" the contents of the recording.

"The officials never really said, 'We didn't say stuff like this,' they're just saying the transcript is not exactly like the tape," Pappas said. "That's a weak argument. And if the reporter suspected that there were these 'after-meeting meetings' going on, which seemed to be the case, this may have not been a legal way of confirming their suspicions, but I have a hard time figuring out other possibilities for what they could have done."

Joey Senat, an Oklahoma State University journalism professor specializing in media law, told KFOR he does not believe the scenario qualifies for charges against the Willinghams.

"This conversation occurred in a public room where the county commission had just met, and other people were around. You generally don't have an expectation of privacy when you're talking in a public place like that. That's different from had they been talking in a commissioner's office with the door shut, but that's not what they did."

More: McCurtain County officials suspended from Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association

Can McCurtain County officials be removed after investigations into the recording?

Commissioner Jennings resigned Wednesday morning. That same day, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said they were investigating the matter on request of Gov. Stitt.

If the state were to try to forcibly remove any of the other involved officials for alleged misconduct, it would take Oklahoma's Attorney General filing charges in the local county court or in the state's Supreme Court.

Relevant complaints for the McCurtain County situation could include "violations involving moral turpitude," a phrase that describes "wicked, deviant behavior" constituting an immoral, unethical or unjust departure from social norms to the point of shocking a community.

Bruce Willingham said he believes the local officials were upset about "stories we've run that cast the sheriff's office in an unfavorable light," including the in-custody death of Bobby Barrick, who died in March 2022 after McCurtain County deputies shot him with a stun gun. The newspaper has filed a lawsuit against the sheriffs office seeking body camera footage and other records connected to Barricks death.

Also, a federal lawsuit has been filed by reporter Chris Willingham, alleging that McCurtain County officials have unlawfully retaliated against him by making "false and slanderous" claims that he exchanged marijuana for videos of child pornography in an unrelated case.

Contributing: Staff writer Dale Denwalt; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What are the Oklahoma recording laws? A look at McCurtain County
The first time an assistant McDonalds manager is accused of stealing from the Pennsylvania restaurant, police said she took $20.

Over the next several months, authorities said she began stuffing as much as $1,460 into her shirts when she made her daily cash deposits at the Dunmore McDonalds restaurant.

The manager is accused of stealing $48,625 from September 2022 through March 2023, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by McClatchy News.

The Dunmore Borough Police Department began an investigation into the thefts on March 29 after the store manager and restaurant owner reported an employee may be stealing from the fast food business.

An accountant had noticed discrepancies with the deposits, police said. At the time, they were only aware of about $5,000 in losses, according to the police criminal complaint.

I didnt take the money

While an officer was talking with restaurant management, an employee told the manager that the assistant manager had just found $2,200 on top of a safe, according to court records.

The assistant manager provided a written statement that said, I found 2000 and something on top of the safe in the office. It was brought to my attention that there was money missing off my deposit. I didnt take the money but Im willing to replace the money because it was done on my shifts. I dont believe I gave anyone my code. But I cant be (too) sure.

She was then suspended as part of an investigation, police said.

Authorities said they obtained multiple clips of surveillance footage that show the assistant manager stuffing cash into her shirts before depositing the rest of the money into the safe.

The McDonalds restaurant also provided police with daily deposit transaction records, records show.

While the other employees had the exact amount of paper currency anticipated to be deposited, (the assistant manager) is consistently short, police said.

The assistant manager met police on April 3 for an interview, according to the affidavit.

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Very large shortages

It was clear that (she) thought this investigation was about the $1200 shortage from her most recent deposit of March 27th, police said. I explained to (her) that I had been taking a very close look at the sales and her deposits over the last several months and there are some very large shortages and asked if she could explain them.

She said she couldnt explain the shortages, police said, then the detective told her the department had obtained videos that show her stuffing cash into her clothes.

The assistant manager began crying and said the $2,200 she claimed to have found on top of the safe was actually money she previously stole and put in her car, police said. She said she pretended to find it when she got nervous about a possible police investigation.

She said she didnt know how much money she stole each day as she would just take a handful to count once she got home, police said.

Expressed deep remorse

She stated she had fallen on hard times around October, did it a few times and no one ever noticed, authorities continued. She stated she promised herself she was going to stop after the new year, but then her mother had also fallen on hard times and she was trying to help her financially.

The assistant manager told authorities she missed a lot of work when sick, affecting her finances, and she expressed deep remorse for what she had done and promised to pay it all back, police said.

She also said she does not have any of the stolen money left, according to the report.

She is embarrassed that she would do something like this and feels very guilty, police said.

The woman owes $46,425, authorities said. Shes charged with theft and receiving stolen property.

Dunmore is about 130 miles north of downtown Philadelphia.

Target worker caught stealing from cash registers  over $13K in a month, CT cops say

Manager leaves Walmart with $135,000 cash stuffed into shopping bag, Illinois cops say

Walmart worker stole from registers 3 times a week, pocketing $20,000, Texas cops say
Workers collect the freshly produced ecological charcoal briquettes in boxes in Abomey-Calavi, Benin, on April 19, 2023.

Ecological charcoal is emerging as an effective solution to fight against deforestation in the West African country of Benin, said Roland Adjovi, an entrepreneur in Abomey-Calavi, a city in southern Benin. (Photo by Seraphin Zounyekpe/Xinhua)

ABOMEY-CALAVI, Benin, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Ecological charcoal is emerging as an effective solution to fight against deforestation in the West African country of Benin, said Roland Adjovi, an entrepreneur in Abomey-Calavi, a city in southern Benin.

"We transform plant waste, such as cassava peelings, rice hulls, coconut shells and all kinds of leaves into an ecological charcoal, which is gaining popularity among the housewives," said Adjovi, founder of the company Eco Sika, adding that his original aspiration is to fight against deforestation.

"Every day, dozens of trucks flush into our southern cities, including Abomey-Calavi, Godomey and Cotonou, carrying thousands of tons of charcoal, resulting from the devastation of our forests. It was then that I decided to initiate my business to produce ecological coal to protect our forests", said Adjovi.

With the help of his employees, including some students from the National University of Agriculture of Ketou, Adjovi collects plant waste and burns them into a carbonized material which will be transformed into charcoal briquettes through an artisanal technique.

"Every day we sell more than a ton of ecological charcoal on the local market, which is very popular with housewives and even restaurateurs," he said.

Veronique Ogbogu, a customer of the ecological charcoal, said she was satisfied with the quality of the product which she uses for cooking in her household.

"Unlike wood charcoal, the eco-charcoal is very economical and does not produce smoke that can dirty the bottom of the pots and pans we use to cook our food," she said.

According to a recent study carried out by the Waters and Forests Department of the Beninese Ministry of Living Environment and Sustainable Development, approximately 100,000 hectares of forest are destroyed each year in Benin for various reasons, including bushfires, agriculture, and logging for timber or charcoal.

"The consequences of this deforestation include the loss of biological diversity, the degradation of bare land whose agricultural yield is becoming increasingly low," said the same study, which points out that this low yield is the basis of the persistence of poverty, malnutrition, low access of families to education and health services. 

Workers transform the carbonized material obtained after burning dry leaves into ecological charcoal in Abomey-Calavi, Benin, on April 19, 2023.

Ecological charcoal is emerging as an effective solution to fight against deforestation in the West African country of Benin, said Roland Adjovi, an entrepreneur in Abomey-Calavi, a city in southern Benin. (Photo by Seraphin Zounyekpe/Xinhua)

This photo taken on April 19, 2023 shows the freshly produced ecological charcoal briquettes being dried under the sun in Abomey-Calavi, Benin.

Ecological charcoal is emerging as an effective solution to fight against deforestation in the West African country of Benin, said Roland Adjovi, an entrepreneur in Abomey-Calavi, a city in southern Benin. (Photo by Seraphin Zounyekpe/Xinhua)

Beninese entrepreneur Roland Adjovi burns dry leaves to produce ecological charcoal in Abomey-Calavi, Benin, on April 19, 2023.

Ecological charcoal is emerging as an effective solution to fight against deforestation in the West African country of Benin, said Roland Adjovi, an entrepreneur in Abomey-Calavi, a city in southern Benin. (Photo by Seraphin Zounyekpe/Xinhua)
The Duchess of Sussexs decision not to attend the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla was influenced by potential media scrutiny, it has been claimed.

Buckingham Palace confirmed last week that the Duke of Sussex will attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey without his wife or children, who will remain in California.

The King was said to be very disappointed that Meghan Markle and his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will not be present at his coronation on Saturday 6 May.

However, it is understood that he is happy that Prince Harry will be there, and he understands the situation regarding Meghans absence.

A source close to the Sussexes has claimed that Meghan wants to be there to support the King, but the scrutiny she receives outweighs the support from the media and the public.

People quoted the source as saying: Theres always going to be that other side challenging their reasoning, and who wants to put themselves in that position?

It comes after both Harry and Meghan have spoken out about the invasion of their privacy by the tabloid press in their 2022 Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan.

In the series, Meghan described being fed to the wolves in reference to the tabloid medias treatment of her since marrying the duke in 2018.

The couple also alleged that the palace briefed against them to distract the media and public from less favourable coverage of other royals, with Harry accusing the family of leaking and planting negative stories about Meghan.

King Charles III is said to be disappointed that the Duchess of Sussex will not be present at his coronation, but happy that the Duke of Sussex has confirmed his attendance (Getty)

The decision for Meghan to remain at home during the coronation  which falls on the same day as Prince Archies birthday  became so personal, another source told People.

Maybe what they wanted wasnt achieved, but at the end of the day, hes going there to support his dad.

It comes after reports said Harry held peace talks with his father before confirming his presence at the coronation.

A friend of the couple told The Telegraph that there had been positive conversations between the pair, but these did not extend to Harry and Prince Williams relationship, which remains strained.

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This week, it emerged that a family portrait of the royals featuring the Sussexes is included in the official souvenir programme for the coronation.

A 2018 portrait of Charles and Camilla (formerly the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall); Prince William and Kate Middleton (formerly the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge); and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) features in the official coronation souvenir programme (Chris Jackson/Clarence House/PA)

The photograph, taken to mark Charless 70th birthday in 2018, shows Charles and Camilla, then the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall; William and Kate Middleton, previously the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with their three children; and Harry and Meghan altogether.

The inclusion of the portrait has been seen by some as an olive branch to the Sussexes amid their rift with the family.

Although Harry will be present at the coronation, he will likely not make an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

It was reported that only working members of the royal family will appear on the balcony, with the King having chosen 15 of his closest and most loyal family members.

This means Harry and the Duke of York are both not expected to stand on the balcony.
The Peach State is now offering medical cannabis to those who need it.

However, there are some things you should know. The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission has several answers for you:

What is the difference between medical cannabis and medical marijuana?

Botanically speaking, they are the same, but legally, they are completely different.

Georgia is not a medical marijuana state, but rather, it is a medical cannabis low-THC oil patient registry state. This means that patients can lawfully have cannabis if they are registered with the Georgia Department of Public Health.

How does Georgias medical cannabis law compare to other states?

Georgias law is much more limited since it doesnt allow the growing, sale, or possession of marijuana in plant or leaf form. It is also not legal in Georgia to authorize THC-infused products or vapor and doesnt allow physicians to prescribe THC Oil.

How can I obtain the Low THC-Oil Registry card in Georgia?

Patients must register with the Georgia Department of Public Health after talking to their doctor.

How do I know if I qualify for the card?

To get a Registry card, you must be one of the following:

an adult who has one or more of the diseases specified in the law; legal guardians of an adult who has one or more of the diseases specified in the law; or parents or legal guardians of a minor child who has one or more of the diseases specified in the law.

The diseases covered are:

Cancer, when such diagnosis is end stage or the treatment produces related wasting illness or recalcitrant nausea and vomiting

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage

Seizure disorders related to diagnosis of epilepsy or trauma related head injuries

Multiple sclerosis, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage

Crohns disease

Mitochondrial disease

Parkinsons disease, when such diagnosis is sever or end stage

Sickle cell disease, when such diagnosis is severe or end stage

Tourettes syndrome, when such syndrome is diagnosed as severe

Autism spectrum disorder, when (a) patient is 18 years of age or more, or (b) patient is less than 18 years of age and diagnosed with severe autism

Epidermolysis bullosa

Alzheimers disease, when such disease is severe or end stage

AIDS when such syndrome is severe or end stage

Peripheral neuropathy, when symptoms are severe or end stage

Patient is in hospice program, either as inpatient or outpatient

Intractable pain

Post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from direct exposure to or witnessing of a trauma for a patient who is at least 18 years of age

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How can I buy Low THC-Oil in Georgia?

Patients with a Registry card can purchase Low THC-Oil from a licensed dispensary. The dispensaries have not yet been licensed, but they are coming soon.

Is marijuana now legal in Georgia?

No.

Possession of any form of marijuana is illegal (state and federal law).

Can my Georgia employer fire me for a failed drug test, even if I take medical cannabis?

Simply put, yes.

The Georgia Low THC Oil Law does not prevent an employer from drug testing or even terminating an employee if they dont pass a drug test or are flagged for cannabis in a drug test.

Many employers also have a drug-free workplace policy, which holds employers and employees accountable.

Above all, Georgia is an at-will employer state, which means employers can terminate employees at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all.

Have other questions? Email me at cmadden@mcclatchy.com




Thursday is 4/20. And considering the significance of the number 420 in marijuana culture, this seems like a valid time to rehash the subject of medical cannabis legalization in North Carolina and get an update from state lawmakers.

Its been more than seven weeks since the North Carolina Senate voted twice at exactly 4:20 p.m. to pass its medical marijuana bill.

That was March 1. The bill passed the Senate with broad, bipartisan support by a margin of 36 to 10. Since then, it has had no movement in the House: It has not been heard in committees, placed on calendars or gotten any votes.

Last year, a nearly identical bill passed the Senate but died in the House, after not being allowed a vote.

But Sen. Paul Lowe, one of the primary bill sponsors, said we feel pretty confident it will be dealt with during this session.

Senate Bill 3, the Compassionate Care Act, would allow medical marijuana use statewide for people who have cancer, ALS, Parkinsons disease, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments. Those do not include chronic pain, and the drug would not be allowed for recreational use.

Supporters say it would provide relief to people affected by illnesses. Some House members expressed concern that the bill would shut out local farmers from the cannabis business, with Black farmers rallying in the legislature in February to denounce what they considered an exclusionary bill.

Gut feeling bill will pass

With a whole lot going on with the budget and more, we dont have an exact time what is going to be dealt with, said Lowe, a Winston-Salem Democrat.

I cant give you an exact date, he told The News & Observer.

There is a lot of discussion on it. A lot of folks want to see it move soon, but the budget is kind of taking priority right now, he said.

I feel like were gonna get this bill through, he said.

What made Lowe so confident the bill would pass?

A gut feeling, he said.

Republican Sens. Bill Rabon and Michael Lee, who are primary bill sponsors, could not be reached.

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Rep. Larry Potts said the bill has potential to pass.

Potts, a Republican and senior chairman of the health committee, which would be one of the medical marijuanas first stops if heard in the House, said he had discussed with the bill sponsor what his purpose and intent was and what he hoped to accomplish in the bill. I think he has some good motives and a good message.

In February, House Speaker Tim Moore said that the Senates medical marijuana bill had decent prospects of passage and that there had been a shift in opinion in the House.

Last year when we didnt take it up, it was overwhelmingly opposed by most of the caucus, Moore said. This year, he said, with many new House members, attitudes have changed, and I think some folks have had an opportunity, once they were back home and met with folks, to see that theres some potentially legitimate uses for this, such as the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Which cannabis-related products are legal in North Carolina? Heres what to know

Why does everyone associate 420 with marijuana on April 20? Heres what we learned.
[Source]

With Travis Chen at the helm of the music therapy app SoundMind, thousands of users are lulled into a blissful trance, soothed by lush soundscapes composed of purported healing frequencies that are meant to relax the mind and nourish the soul.

Feeling the beat through music [helps you] really understand and recognize what your body is feeling, whether it's stress, anxiety, happiness, or excitement, Chen, 24, says. You can build an understanding that you need to re-center yourself, relax your body, refocus on what truly matters  to bring your whole self to your work, personal life, and professional life. That's what SoundMind represents.

Speaking of his inspiration, Chen credits his grandfather for his work ethic.

My grandpa is my biggest influence and role model. He actually told me recently that weekends are a new invention. 50 years ago or even 60 years ago when he was driving his business, he worked through every single week, every single day, 24/7/365 days a year.

More from NextShark: Durian Milk Tea protein powder turns the fruit's pungent power into gains

As Chen listened intently to his grandfather's stories, he could almost feel the pulse of the factory floor, the rhythm of his grandfather's hard work and dedication. The rough, splintered surface of the wooden tables where his grandfather slept provided a tangible beat to his narrative, one that would inspire and drive Chen throughout his own entrepreneurial journey.

I actually started my own side business at the age of 10, selling stationery to location schools, bookstores, and libraries, Chen says. I did this because of my own family business, which was already in this industry, but I really, really wanted to learn what it means to do inventory, do sales, putting a website together. I even created a video advertiser with a traditional green screen.

More from NextShark: Japanese singer Ado thought she was being pranked when she snagged role in One Piece Film: Red

At the age of 10, Chen had already proven to be the living legacy of his grandfathers pioneering spirit, spending early mornings, late nights, and weekends pushing pens, pencils and lawnmowers. But as he continued to push his entrepreneurial aspirations further and further, Chen was silently suffering under the weight of crushing personal, familial and cultural expectations.

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Growing up in the Asian American  specifically Taiwanese American  community, mental health is something that we didn't talk about. I still remember growing up and being used to shaking my head saying yes, obeying others, elders especially, and sucking everything in, Chen says. My inner emotions and health bubbled to the point where I had a lot of anxiety and panic attacks that hindered my ability to grow as a person and grow my confidence overall.

It wasnt until Chen was exposed to various different cultural backgrounds and upbringings on the collegiate and corporate levels that he began to reexamine his relationship with his mental health.

More from NextShark: My Hero Academia theme song creator arrested for assaulting girlfriend

I had to almost relearn how to express my emotions and express my own mental health and knowing that it's OK to take a break from my own self, says Chen.

I was used to saying yes growing up, especially in the Asian community, but I had to learn to say no. It got to a point where I was stretched very thin, and there was too much on my plate because I just said yes to everything and agreed with everything everyone else said. So I wanted to readjust.

Chen's realization sparked a passion for mental health advocacy, leading him to champion reforms in the political sphere.

More from NextShark: Burmese pro-democracy rapper and political activist U Phyo Zeya Thaw executed by Myanmar junta

While working on Capitol Hill, he roomed with like-minded congressional intern and University of Southern California schoolmate Brian Femminella.

Brian was doing research presentations on music therapy and the research that he had conducted at USC. And I was like, Have you ever thought about implementing all of these features and all this research into a startup? Chen says. At that time  hell be the first to admit this  he didn't really know what a startup meant, but I knew that there was an opportunity ahead of us that I thought we could potentially make into a real product and company that people and users would really enjoy using.

To tackle such a widespread problem affecting multiple communities, Chen, who had previously worked in big tech, and Femminella created SoundMind  a platform that features a wide array of soundscapes that harness the power of binaural beats.

These beats are generated by playing two different frequencies, creating a third frequency that is claimed to induce or alleviate emotions to address diverse user needs.

Binaural beats are a sound phenomenon that puts your brain into a specific state with different sound frequencies, Chen says. Our technology is unique in the way that we specifically use the sound thats already been researched to help with individuals and stressors.

However, the key to SoundMind's success goes beyond its beats. By tracking user data, the app creates an intuitive mental health profile that provides users with a synopsis that purportedly details their entire mental health journey.

This data-driven aspect is what users love. When we think about different sleep apps, I want to be able to see how sleep has impacted my day and my mood, Chen says. These mental health profiles that we've created, impact individuals more so than what a binaural beats YouTube video can do because we want to see the actual results.

From a humble dorm room dream to a thriving company with over $2 million in funding, Chen's personal growth has been closely tied to SoundMinds.

I was a very risk-averse person in the very beginning, and it's because of my innate nature to say like, Hey, let's take everything slowly and one at a time. But as I look back over the past three years, what I'm really proud of, is the ability to fail fast and pivot fast as much as I can, Chen says.

Building a startup is taking a risk. So the ability to dive deep right into quick decisions makes an impact. Without them, there's no movement or progression. That has really changed my thinking ability and helped me a lot as a person as a human being and as a business leader.

But Chen's journey has also exposed him to the ugly realities of the startup space, forcing him to confront a disproportionate level of racial prejudice all too familiar with the AAPI community.

travis chen nextshark

We had a vendor we were working with and regardless of whether this was making fun or not, it was rude. We were chatting on the streets of San Francisco when he blurts out, Oh Travis, you dont have to be worried about COVID, its already in you, Chen says.

The fact that our country is taking five steps back to what racism was like, let's not forget who built those railroads. Let's not forget who endured torture. Its not just Black Americans, its not just Jews, it's also Asian Americans.

Chen's experiences within the startup space have also uncovered a more insidious form of discrimination, with subtle stigmas and biases that tend to pigeonhole Asians into specific technical roles.

There are instances where I still question why people look at me in certain ways in founder spaces, Chen says. The first thing they ask me is Are you the CTO? Are you the head of engineering? Are you a leading product? And I'm like no, no, I'm not. I'm not a software engineer. Im the COO, and I'm the co-founder, and they all open their eyes.

Chen's Asian heritage and entrepreneurial identity are deeply intertwined, yet even for him, the stigmas and biases have forced him to question his own aspirations and the potential roadblocks he may face because of his race.

That has been something that affects me every single time someone said that and asked that to me. This is a stereotype that people put us and categorize Asians. Oh, you're the engineering guy. You're the person that can do all the data science or the product person. But why can't we also be the CEOs of the world? That's something that I continue to question every single day, Chen says.

I oftentimes think, in the Asian American community, we talk about this bamboo ceiling and I think that at some point in time, as a young Asian American innovator, I will hit that ceiling.

Despite the challenges he has faced, Chen remains unwavering in his commitment to building SoundMind and inspiring the next generation of Asian American visionaries.

When I reflect on those moments, it just reminds me how important it is for people like myself to continue to amplify the fact that we Asians can be anyone and we can be anywhere, Chen says. I want future Asian American founders outside of engineering or CTO or head of product roles to feel and find that they can still have a voice.
By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden announced plans to increase U.S. funding to help developing countries fight climate change and curb deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest during a meeting on Thursday with leaders from the world's largest economies.

During a virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, Biden urged his counterparts to be ambitious in setting goals to reduce emissions and meet a target of limiting overall global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"Were at a moment of great peril but also great possibilities, serious possibilities. With the right commitment and follow-through from every nation ... on this call, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees can stay within reach," Biden said.

The countries that take part in the forum account for about 80% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and global gross domestic product, according to the White House. Thursday's meeting was the group's fourth under Biden's presidency.

Biden announce a U.S. contribution of $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund, which finances projects on clean energy and climate change resilience in developing countries, doubling the overall U.S. contribution.

"The impacts of climate change will be felt the most by those who have contributed the least to the problem, including developing nations," Biden said. "As large economies and large emitters, we must step up and support these economies."

Biden also announced plans to request $500 million over five years to contribute to the Amazon Fund, which works to combat deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and related activities. A senior administration official said Biden's team would have to work with Congress to secure that funding.

"Together, we have to make it clear that forests are more valuable conserved than cleared," Biden said.

Brazil welcomed the pledge.

"It is obviously a great achievement, both for what it means to have the United States contributing to a fund like the Amazon Fund and for the volume of resources to be contributed," said Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva, at a news conference.

Story continues

Biden's announcement comes during a week of tension between the U.S. and Brazil after the latter's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for Western powers to stop supplying arms to Ukraine and said Washington was encouraging the fighting between Ukraine and Russia. He later toned down his comments and condemned Russia's violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Biden, who has made fighting climate change one of his top policy priorities, has set a goal of reducing U.S. emissions 50%-52% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

This month, his Environmental Protection Agency proposed sweeping emission cuts for new cars and trucks through 2032 in an effort to boost electric vehicles. Biden encouraged leaders from the group to join a collective effort to spur zero-emission vehicles and to reduce emissions from the shipping and power industries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new European Union-led initiative to develop new global targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy alongside the International Energy Agency, in time for a global summit on climate change in November.

These targets would complement other goals, such as the phaseout of unabated fossil fuels and the ambitious goals for zero emission vehicles and ships, she said at the meeting.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on rich countries to reach net zero emissions by 2040, a decade before the goal set in the Paris climate agreement, and developing countries to hit that milestone by 2050.

He also called for OECD countries to phase out coal by 2030 and 2040 in all other countries and end all licensing or funding  both public and private  of new fossil fuel projects.

Developing countries have resisted setting specific timelines for these reductions.

Countries and entities that make up the Major Economies Forum include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, the European Commission, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, and Vietnam.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Kate Abnett and Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Robert Birsel, Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy)
The Community Police Advisory Board hosted its first meeting with newly-appointed board members Wednesday, ushering in what chairman Gregory Perkins described as a new year for the board.

The nine-member board's new appointees are William Grace, Bridgette Navejar, Johnathan Pratt and Charmetri Wrice-Bulluck. All but Pratt attended Wednesday's meeting.

The meeting began with alternate member Pat King resigning because he is moving out of the city to be closer to his daughters.

After Kings resignation, Michael Whyte, attorney for the Fayetteville Police Department, provided board members with a summary of the departments $60,000 settlement with Jacqueline McNeill, a woman who alleged her civil rights were violated when detectives mistakenly identified her vehicle as being involved in a violent crime and detained her July 21, 2022. Board member Pablo Arroyo had requested a review of the case, Whyte said.

Whyte told board members the incident stemmed from a shooting at a gas station near Owen Drive. A nearby camera captured a white Nissan Altima in a traffic circle by the gas station around the time of the shooting, Whyte said.

Detectives were searching for the car when McNeill was stopped while driving a Nissan and detained for three hours for questioning as detectives dealt with other matters, Whyte said.

McNeill retained an attorney, and Whyte conducted an investigation into the incident, she said.

By then, the determination was made that it was probably improper to hold her for three hours, she said.

Related: Meet the six people recommended to join Fayetteville's Community Police Advisory Board

The department settled with McNeill in December.

When asked what would be done to prevent similar occurrences, Whyte said that continued training with a focus on clear communication, and the constitutional differences between detainment and arrest would be crucial.

Sometimes its just a matter of, I didnt know what I didnt know till it happened, she said.

Story continues

The board next reviewed the departments use of force policies, with no changes recommended. Chief Kemberle Braden. who took over the department in February. told the board he is in the process of reviewing all department policies, which he said was standard procedure when a change of command occurs.

New faces and new plans

Perkins presented to the board several proposed policies, all of which passed unanimously. Those new policies include:

Three public listening sessions each year, with the sole agenda of hearing community members' concerns.

The board will attend two community events each year to engage with the public.

Each member will refer at least one potential employee to the Police Department each year to contribute to recruitment efforts.

The board will work with the city and the Police Department to create a communication plan to improve engagement with the public and encourage residents to attend meetings.

Members of the public who want to speak at a board meeting can now sign up to do so until five minutes before the public forum at each meeting begins at 7:30 p.m.

The board also elected a new vice chair, Julie Aul, who formerly served as director of special education for Cumberland County Schools.

Related: Fayetteville's Community Police Advisory Board: Who's on it? How will it serve community?

Perkins said the board struggled during its inaugural year because members were unsure of how to achieve its mission but is now in a new era.

I think its now time to pull up our sleeves and get ready to go to work, he said.

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's Community Police Advisory Board welcomes new members
DC Alexander has been suspended from duty

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has appeared in court accused of outraging public decency on Hampstead Heath.

Detective Constable Dariusz Alexander, 48, was off duty at the time when he was arrested by two fellow officers on the north London heath on a Saturday afternoon last month.

He appeared before Thames Magistrates Court on Thursday morning, to face one charge of outraging public decency on March 18.

Mr Alexander, wearing a grey suit, pink shirt and blue tie, spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

The officer, from Archway in north London who is attached to the Met's Operations Command, entered a not guilty plea to outraging public decency on Hampstead Heath.

Varinder Hayre, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Alexander was seen by two police officers on the heath on March 18.

She said: "They were trying to retrieve some CCTV for a different allegation in Hampstead Heath park.

"One said he had seen a couple walking past the area, along with some others passing by. It was a Saturday, so children were off school."

She added: "There is high culpability and abuse of position as he was a serving police officer."

The officer was granted unconditional bail and ordered to appear for trial at Stratford Magistrates' Court on June 22.

District Judge Shanta Deonarine told Mr Alexander: "There is an obligation on you to attend court. You must attend court, otherwise there will be a warrant issued for your arrest."

The Met confirmed prior to the hearing that Alexander had been suspended from duty after being charged via postal charge requisition.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The Mets Directorate of Professional Standards is aware and the officer has been suspended from duty.

"A referral has been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)."

Earlier this year Wayne Couzens, the Met officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, was convicted of three counts of indecent exposure, including one incident in which he was seen by a lone female cyclist performing a sex act in rural Kent.
A metro Atlanta woman credits Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray, with getting her belongings back.

I have a smile, a big smile and its all because of you, Sandy Springs resident Angela Forte told Gray.

He caught up with her as she was unpacking her things in her apartment. Shes been waiting 10 months to do that.

Its a mess, but its a beautiful mess, Forte said.

When Forte reached out to Channel 2 Action News and the volunteer staff at the Consumer Action Center, her apartment was empty.

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

For ten months, MMG movers refused to deliver her things and were threatening to auction everything on April 13.

Theyre just holding it hostage. Holding my things hostage, Forte said on April 5.

The moving company, MMG Movers, demanded more than $14,000 on top of the $5,000 the now-Sandy Springs woman already paid for the contents of a 9 x 10 storage unit.

Forte told Gray that she signed a binding estimate for $4,600 with what turned out to be a moving broker who passed the job on to another company.

But when the movers from MMG Moving showed up late the day of the move from California to Atlanta, MMG claims Forte signed a new contract.

She had already paid more than $5,300, but MMG said she agreed in writing to pay another $5,700 on top of that. They were also demanding thousands of dollars more in storage costs.

When we originally reached out for comment, MMG Movers refused to back down.

100%. We have everything to prove that thats not the way it went, Carter told Gray. She should have never signed and agreed to a price shes not willing to pay.

MORE 2 INVESTIGATES:

MMG Moving has a one out of five-star rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Story continues

After the Channel 2 Action News investigation aired, MMG changed its tune.

MMG agreed to not just return Fortes things but put in writing that she owes them zero dollars.

Everything changes. All of a sudden, I dont owe them anything. They want to sign off everything over to me because they know they were wrong, Forte said.

Lori Silverman from the Consumer Action Center says to avoid this kind of mess, customers need to research companies thoroughly beforehand using the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website

Silverman says never sign a document with blanks on it.

Youve got to read everything in a moving document and the fine print, Silverman told Gray.

Forte is now finally unpacking her home after a 10-month fight.

We did it, Justin. And Im so elated and Im so grateful to you and WSB-TV, because without you, I dont think I would get my things, Forte told Gray.

All movers must be licensed with the Department of Transportation.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
A quarter century after his death, the cultural legacy of Mexican literary giant Octavio Paz is going on display at the poet's former home in Mexico City.

The museum, which opened on March 31, showcases books, documents, works of art and personal items that belonged to Paz, who died on April 19, 1998 aged 84.

The collection is housed in the 17th-century mansion where the 1990 Nobel literature laureate lived with his second wife, the French artist Marie Jose Tramini.

Not all of the items are yet on display, due to an ongoing legal process surrounding the assets left in the possession of Tramini, who died in 2018 without leaving a will.

When the rest of the collection is unveiled to the public will depend on how the legal procedures progress, Leticia Luna, director of the Casa Marie Jose and Octavio Paz museum, told AFP.

In 1997, the Mexican government created the Octavio Paz Foundation to preserve and share his work.

But his death the following year and differences with his widow complicated the administration of the estate, to the point that the foundation disappeared in 2003.

After Tramini's death, a group of intellectuals led by the French-born Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska asked for Paz's legacy to be declared national heritage.

The museum, located in the northwest of the capital, initially has seven rooms open to visitors.

Five exhibit the furniture and possessions of the couple and two contain objects from Tramini's studio.

Paz, an essayist, poet, translator, and diplomat, published more than 60 books.

At the age of 19 the budding author released his first book of poetry -- "Luna Silvestre" or "Forest Moon."

He was best known in the English-speaking world for his 1950 book-length essay "The Labyrinth of Solitude," an explanation of Mexico's national character.

Described by Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa as "one of the great figures of our time," Paz's work has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Story continues

Poniatowska had nurtured a close friendship with Paz since she was in her 20s.

"He provoked great love and sympathy," she told AFP in an interview.

"He liked to talk, discuss and was a born teacher, extraordinary," added Poniatowska, who was on Wednesday awarded Mexico's highest honor, the Belisario Dominguez Medal, by the Senate.

In his youth Paz supported liberalism and Marxism, but later condemned socialist regimes.

In 1968, he resigned from his position as ambassador to India in disgust over the massacre of protesting students in Mexico City in 1968.

"Mexico has lost its greatest thinker and poet," the country's then president Ernesto Zedillo said following his death.

sem-dr/st
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blasted the U.S. on Tuesday with claims that the Pentagon had spied on his country, marking another significant step backward in an increasingly tense relationship.

"We're now going to safeguard information from the Navy and the Defense Ministry because we're being a target of spying by the Pentagon," Lopez Obrador said during his daily news conference.

Obradors comments followed arrests made in a significant drug bust: U.S. prosecutors announced charges against 28 members of the Sinaloa cartel, including three sons  known as the Chapitos  of former drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges at a press conference Friday, and Obrador claimed that the U.S. could not have built its case without information gathering by U.S. agents in Mexico.

SUSPECTED MARA SALVATRUCHA GANG LEADER ARRESTED IN MEXICO CITY

He labeled the investigation as "abusive, arrogant interference that should not be accepted under any circumstances," CBS News reported.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

But he made it clear that he had no plans to rebuke the U.S. on the matter  only that he would discuss the issue at some point as part of clarifying "conditions for collaborative work."

Tensions also increased following the Pentagon files leak in a Discord chat server, which resulted in the arrest of 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member and military technician who allegedly owned the server and leaked the files.

MEXICO SOCCER TEAM COULD FACE STRICT PUNISHMENT IF FANS USE ANTI-GAY CHANT: REPORTS

Five members of the Gulf cartel that the group insists were responsible for the recent kidnapping and murder of Americans south of the border.

The Washington Post reported that the handful of Mexico-related documents included a report that indicated U.S. intelligence agencies had monitored communications between members of the Gulf cartel following the kidnapping of four Americans.

The cartel eventually turned over five members that it claimed were responsible for the kidnapping, which resulted in the death of two of the Americans and an innocent Mexican bystander.

Story continues

The briefing information was allegedly obtained through "FISA-derived signals intelligence," including court-authorized wiretaps, the Post reported, adding that it saw no evidence that the information resulted from intercepted communications of Mexican officials.

SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICAN SAILORS IS SUSPENDED, COAST GUARD SAYS

Police officers keep watch at the scene where authorities found the bodies of two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen, in Matamoros, Mexico, March 7, 2023.

A Pentagon spokesman told Reuters that the U.S. Department of Defense maintains a "strong collaborative defense partnership" with Mexicos Army and Navy, and the groups respect both sovereignty and "respective foreign policy agendas."

The Pentagon has previously called the leak a "deliberate, criminal act."

The Biden administration previously expressed concern about the Mexican military's seizure of an American company's property in Mexico , and suggested the situation could lead to negative impacts on the ability of the country to do business.

A multi-agency investigation targeting the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Obrador separately claimed that his own government does not engage in domestic espionage, despite claims from nonprofit groups that Mexican authorities had hacked communications between prominent activists and journalists.

Journalists in the country have suffered attacks, including outright murder, over the past year, with 15 such deaths in 2022  the most in 30 years.

Reuters contributed to this report.
RABAT, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan navy rescued 552 migrants heading for Spain from April 8 to 18, official news agency MAP reported on Thursday.

The migrants, including women and minors, are mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa, the agency quoted a military statement as saying.

Coastguards units of the Moroccan Royal Navy operating in the Mediterranean and Atlantic have rescued the migrants during different operations, while they were traveling in inflatable boats, kayaks, jet-skis and even swimming, it added.

Some of the migrants were in poor health conditions and received first aid from the navy, before being brought back to different Moroccan ports, according to the report.

Morocco has become an important crossing point for Sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to reach Europe. 
This week, a German tabloid tested the boundaries of AI passing itself off as reality. Celebrity magazine Die Aktuelle published a cover story in its April 15th issue about a supposed interview with Formula One driver Michael Schumacher; only at the end does it reveal that it was a hoax produced entirely by an AI chatbot. Schumachers family told ESPN it plans to take legal action against the gossip rag.

The article promised the first interview with Schumacher, who suffered a severe brain injury on a family ski trip in the French Alps in 2013. Since then, the celebrated driver  arguably the greatest in Formula One history  hasnt appeared publicly as his family guards his privacy.

The publics best description of Schumachers life today came from the 2021 Netflix documentary Schumacher, in which his wife Corinna Schumacher said, Michael is here. Different, but hes here, and that gives us strength, I find. She continued, We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure hes comfortable, and to simply make him feel our family, our bond. Concluding, she stated, Were trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives. Private is private, as he always said.

This weeks issue of Die Aktuelle, showcasing a photo of a smiling Schumacher, promised No meagre, nebulous half-sentences from friends. But answers from him! By Michael Schumacher, 54! according to ESPN. A subheading on the magazine cover reads, Es Klingt tauschend echt, which translates to It sounds deceptively real.

Cover of the April 15th, 2023 issue of German tabloid Die Aktuelle featuring Michael Schumachers face. The headlines (in German) hype an alleged interview with the Formula One great.

Tabloids testing the waters of AI-generated bunk is likely only the tip of the iceberg. As generative AI rapidly advances, separating fact from fiction  whether through chatbot-generated text, fake photos or (very soon) convincing bogus videos  will become increasingly difficult.

Without clear legal and regulatory boundaries, the worlds fascists, propagandists and other nefarious actors will exploit generative AI mercilessly for money and power. For example, what happens if fake images, deep-fake videos or audio recordings about political candidates go viral as voters head to the polls in the pivotal 2024 US election? Without any meaningful consequences for abuse, we find ourselves in a new AI Wild West. And although the Biden administration appears to be taking some initial steps in exploring safeguards against this type of behavior, Im skeptical that Americas senior government leadership will skate to where the puck will be, rather than falling hopelessly behind this quickly evolving new form of misinformation and disinformation.
Former first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday said she hopes enough becomes enough amid recent gun violence incidents and mistaken-address shootings in New York and Missouri.

I hope and pray that, at some point, enough becomes enough, Obama told Gayle King on CBS Mornings, adding that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, wondered when that point would be throughout their time in the White House.

A 20-year-old woman was fatally shot last week by a homeowner in New York after the car in which she was a passenger mistakenly pulled into the mans driveway, according to police. And in Missouri earlier this month, a 16-year-old Black boy was shot twice by a white homeowner after he showed up to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers, authorities said.

We are the only developed country on the planet where its citizens can have unfettered access to firearms. That is not a good thing, Obama said. The former first lady has long been vocal in pressing for legislation to curb gun violence.

And more of us have to feel strongly about it, and particularly our young people. This is where democracy comes in. Voting.  All this stuff is decided in the ballot box.

The mistaken-address shootings are among a number of other recent gun violence incidents, including mass shootings in Louisville, Ky.; Dadeville, Ala.; and Nashville, Tenn.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(AFP via Getty Images)

The future of a widely used abortion drug at the centre of the nations biggest legal battle over abortion rights since the end of Roe v Wade could be in the hands of the US Supreme Court.

Justices on the nations highest court will weigh in on a case targeting the federal governments 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, part of a two-drug protocol for medication abortion, the most common form of abortion in the US.

Following an appeal from the Biden administration and drugmakers, the court paused a lower court ruling that would strip the US Food and Drug Administrations approval of mifepristone, which was first approved by the government agency in 2000.

The Supreme Courts order expires at midnight on Friday, and the justices are expected to issue a decision in the case before then, but the latest pause ensures that the drug can still be accessed, for now.

It is unclear how the Supreme Court will rule on the appeal, but a ruling to strike down the FDAs approval of the drug could drastically impact access to abortion and miscarriage care for millions of Americans across the country, including in states where it is legally protected, and

Key Points

Supreme Court delays decision in abortion drug case until Friday

What is mifepristone?

How the challenge to mifepristone landed at the Supreme Court

What will the Supreme Court decide, and what happens next?

Can the FDA just ignore the ruling?

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Thats what several members of Congress have argued, though President Joe Bidens administration and abortion rights advocates have stressed that the case must play out in court and affirm the FDAs ability to make such decisions.

Democratic senator Ron Wyden, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the FDA, has repeatedly argued that the administration ignore a ruling that undermines the FDAs regulatory powers.

US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has argued that an increasingly partisan-driven federal judiciary weaponised by right-wing activist groups has undermined its legitimacy in making such decisions.

Story continues

Republican US Rep Nancy Mace also has suggested that a ruling that revokes the FDAs approval of the drug should be ignored or tossed out.

What happens if mifepristone is not available?

08:00 , Alex Woodward

Abortion providers and civil rights groups have warned of grave consequences to the loss of widely used abortion drugs from the market.

Providers could turn to a misoprostol-only medication abortion regimen, though that would be considered an off-label pharmaceutical use for the drug in the US. Misoprostol is currently approved by the FDA for the prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers but also is administered for other obstetric or gynecologic care.

Several Democratic-led states are stocking up on mifepristone and proposing legal protections for pharmacists and providers who dispense the drug.

A ruling that undermines the FDAs drug approval process could also open the door for other activist-driven legal battles over other drugs, potentially inviting other destabilising lawsuits to Covid-19 vaccines, contraception, HIV medication, gender-affirming care, and other life-saving drugs.

The Biden administration will continue to fight for abortion rights regardless of the courts decision, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on 19 April.

Abortion access has been nearly eliminated across the South

05:00 , Alex Woodward

Abortion is effectively outlawed in more than a dozen states, mostly in the South, following the US Supreme Courts decision to strike down the constitutional right to abortion care last June.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law that bans abortions in the state at six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they are pregnant.

Abortion patients will now have to travel more than 1,000 miles for legal access to abortion care in the region.

Floridas latest anti-abortion law will nearly eliminate access across the South

Wyoming abortion clinic opens after arson attack and legal threats

03:00 , Alex Woodward

Weeks after the states governor banned abortion drugs, becomgin the first state to do so, a full-service abortion clinic has opened in the state despite an arson attack and laws that could force it to shut down in a state with some of the most severe restrictions on care.

Wellspring Health Access clinic provide both medication abortions and procedural abortions and surgical abortions, at least for now.

The states law against mifepristone will take effect from 1 July. The law makes it illegal to prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.

The law states that doctors or anyone else found guilty of prescribing the medication could be charged with a misdemeanour, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $9,000 (7,387) fine.

(AP)

GOP megadonor leaps to defend Clarence Thomas over real estate disclosures

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Republican megadoor Harlan Crow defended his friendship with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in an interview with The Dallas Morning News and denied any impropriety regarding their relationship.

Mr Crows friendship with the most-senior jurist on the Supreme Court has come under intense scrutiny ever since investigative news outlet ProPublica reported that Mr Thomas had vactioned in luxury on Mr Crows dime without disclosing it. ProPublica later reported that Mr Thomas sold a home to Mr Crow but did not disclose it, despite a 1978 law that required such transactions be disclosed.

GOP megadonor leaps to defend Clarence Thomas over real estate disclosures

Biden should order Clarence Thomass cases to be reviewed'

Friday 21 April 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward

Noah Berlatsky writes:

Clarence Thomas allowing himself to appear compromised strikes at the heart of US democracy and makes a travesty of justice in this country. If the wealthy can wine and dine Supreme Court justices, what hope do ordinary people have of a fair hearing? Are we ruled by laws or by oligarchs? No one elected Harlan Crow to anything. Why should he get unlimited access to influence Clarence Thomas? Thats why its imperative for President Joe Biden to immediately announce a review of all cases involving Thomas and identify ones in which there are egregious conflicts of interest. The administration should then consider refusing to enforce those decisions.

What Biden must do about Clarence Thomas | Voices

Federal judge at centre of mifepristone case failed to disclose interviews with Christian talk radio shows

Thursday 20 April 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk failed to disclose during his Senate confirmation process that he gave two interviews with a Christian talk radio programme where he discussed contraception and gay rights.

He referred to being gay as a lifestyle and claiming that social norms around people who experience same-sex attraction would lead to clashes with religious institutions, a collapse that began with no-fault divorce and permissive policies on contraception, according to CNN.

The comments were made in 2014 on Chosen Generation, a radio show that offers a biblical constitutional worldview, while Ms Kacsmaryk was deputy general counsel as conservative Christian legal group First Liberty Institute.

The revelation of his failure to disclose the appearances, as required during federal judicary hearings, follows reporting that he also failed to disclose that he drafted or helped draft an article attacking abortion rights and transgender healthcare in a right-wing legal journal.

(via REUTERS)

Supreme Court chief justice asked to testify before Senate on ethics rules after Clarence Thomas revelations

Thursday 20 April 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has been summoned to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about the courts ethnics rules following recent revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas finances.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin has asked Roberts to appear before the committee on 2 May.

Supreme Court chief justice asked to testify in Senate after Clarence Thomas scrutiny

What is mifepristone?

Thursday 20 April 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

The future of abortion access is back in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is reviewing a challenge from anti-abortion activists to reverse the federal governments approval of mifepristone, a widely used drug for medication abortion procedures and miscarriage care.

Stripping the governments approval could devastate access to abortion and miscarriage care for millions of Americans across the country, including in states where access is legally protected.

The widely used drug in the abortion rights battle at the Supreme Court

One of the most brazen attacks on Americans health'

Thursday 20 April 2023 20:45 , Alex Woodward

Federal court rulings that undermine the FDAs two-decade approval of a widely used abortion drug could upend the governments drug regulatory process into chaos in ways that extend far beyond the fight over mifepristone, according to Dr Jack Resneck Jr, presidentof the American Medical Assocation.

He writes in an essay for The New York Times on Thuesday that the political volatility surrounding the drug over the last few years could open up the FDA to challenges to many vaccines, including those that reduce the risks of serious illness from Covid-19.

We should expect lawsuits against common types of safe and highly effective hormonal birth control, including emergency contraception, he added. Also at risk: drugs used to treat cancer and arthritis that can incidentally affect unexpected pregnancies, drugs to prevent or treat HIV, and medications aimed at providing gender-affirming care.

The women suing Texas over the states barbaric abortion restrictions

Thursday 20 April 2023 20:11 , Alex Woodward

Last month, five women who were denied abortions under several overlapping anti-abortion laws in Texas filed a lawsuit against the state, marking the first time that pregnant women have sought legal action themselves after a wave of restrictions following the US Supreme Courts decision to strike down Roe v Wade.

The plaintiffs, two of whom are pregnant, told their stories outside the Texas capitol, warning that the states anti-abortion measures expose pregnant patients to severe risk of illness, injury and death.

Women denied emergency abortion care in Texas sue state over barbaric restrictions

Republican lawmaker tells women to get off the abortion conversation as future of critical drug in jeopardy

Thursday 20 April 2023 18:19 , Alex Woodward

A Republican congressman from Texas dodged questions about a federal court decision to revoke a more than 20-year-old approval for a commonly used abortion drug, instead suggesting that women have a whole lot of other issues than just abortion and the US should talk about the other things that are happening in this world.

US Rep Tony Gonzales told CNNs State of the Union earlier this month that the issue was about states rights, but he stumbled when asked how that accounts for a federal court ruling that will have a dramatic impact to abortion access across the country if it goes into effect.

GOP lawmaker tells women to get off the abortion conversation after drug ruling

What will the Supreme Court decide, and what happens next?

Thursday 20 April 2023 17:15 , Alex Woodward

The order from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who presides over the district where the mifepristone challenge was filed, was published on the so-called shadow docket where the court handles both procedural manners and emergency motions that can have profound implications.

Alitos brief order to pause a federal courts decision that would reverse the FDAs approval for mifepristone keeps the status quo in place until midnight on Friday, at the latest.

But it is unclear what the court will do next.

The court will not be ruling on the merits of the case, but it will determine how or if mifepristone can be dispensed while the case continues to play out.

After the court makes a decision, the case returns to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana. Both parties will have a chance to file briefs, and the case will be argued before a three-judge panel on 17 May.

(Getty Images)

Judge who wants to block mifepristone removed his name from anti-abortion article before Senate confirmation

Thursday 20 April 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward

The judge presiding over a challenge to a widely used abortion drug reportedly failed to disclose to members of Congress that he authored an article attacking abortion rights and transgender healthcare in a right-wing legal journal while he was in the running for his Trump-appointed position on the federal judiciary.

Judge in mifepristone case failed to disclose writing anti-abortion article

The latest: Floridas latest anti-abortion law will nearly eliminate access across the South

Thursday 20 April 2023 16:15 , Alex Woodward

Abortion is effectively outlawed in more than a dozen states, mostly in the South, following the US Supreme Courts decision to strike down the constitutional right to abortion care last June.

Shortly after the states Republican-controlled legislature passed the measure on 13 April, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that outlaws abortion at six weeks of pregnancy.

The law will strand Florida residents in a vast abortion desert and force patients to travel more than 1,000 miles for legal access to abortion care, according to Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Floridas latest anti-abortion law will nearly eliminate access across the South

How the challenge to mifepristone landed at the Supreme Court

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:30 , Alex Woodward

Following the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade last year, marking a significant victory for the anti-abortion movement and Christian conservative legal groups who have fuelled that campaign, anti-abortion activists took aim at medication abortion, the most common form of abortion care in the US.

Heres how the case played out over the last several months:

In November, the group Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Amarillo, Texas on behalf of a group of anti-abortion activists incorporated at the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which was organised that month with an address in Amarillo.

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk  a former right-wing activist lawyer who was appointed to the federal judiciary by Donald Trump  held a hearing in the case on 15 March in Amarillo.

Earlier this month, Judge Kacsmaryk issued a ruling to suspend the FDAs approval of mifepristone. His order was set to take effect a week later, pending a decision from on appeal.

But in a separate ruling in Washington state, a federal judge ruled that the FDA cannot change the status quo when it comes to mifepristones approval, setting up potentially duelling decisions over the drug.

Abortion rights advocates, providers, major medical groups and legal analysts condemned the ruling, and the US Department of Justice and Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone, filed an appeal.

That appeal landed at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the Amarillo court.

A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit blocked a part of the judges ruling, but struck against mail-in prescriptions and rules that expanded the drugs approval for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court blocked the Texas ruling while it considers the case.

Abortion advocates and providers brace for Supreme Court decision in major drug case

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:09 , Alex Woodward

Abortion providers, clinics and abortion rights advocates and patients are anticipating a US Supreme Court decision that could provide some clarity about the fate of a widely used drug at the centre of the biggest legal battle for abortion care since the fall of Roe v Wade last year.

Advocates and civil rights legal groups were stunned by lower court rulings that took aim at the FDAs approval of mifepristone, decisions that they say are unmoored by both the law and science, including decades of research and guidance from major medical and public health organisations.

Abortion advocates and providers brace for Supreme Court decision in major drug case

The latest: Supreme Court delays decision in abortion drug case until Friday

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:07 , Alex Woodward

The US Supreme Court has extended its pause on a lower court ruling that would strip the governments approval of a widely used abortion drug, which will remain available, at least for now.

An order from the nations highest court that put the ruling on hold was set to lapse at midnight on Wednesday. An order issued on Wednesday afternoon extended that hold until midnight on Friday.

Supreme Court delays decision in abortion drug case until Friday

Who is Matthew Kacsmaryk, the Trump-appointed judge trying to ban abortion drug?

Thursday 20 April 2023 15:06 , Alex Woodward

A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas whose decision to halt approval of the most commonly used abortion drug in the US has trigged a legal battle posing the most significant threat to abortion rights since the Supreme Court revoked a constitutional right to abortion care last year.

Who is Trump-appointed judge Matthew Kacsmaryk trying to ban abortion drug?
It hasnt been a great week for people who spread false claims about the 2020 presidential election.

First, Fox Newssettled its defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems and acknowledged that the court found some of its claims about the company to be false.

Now a private arbitration panel has ruled that My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell must pay $5 million to a man who won a Prove Mike Wrong challenge at Lindells 2021 cyber-symposium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, according to The Washington Post.

Lindell made the challenge after claiming that his data showed evidence of Chinese interference in the 2020 election. He offered to pay $5 million to anyone who could prove his material was not related to that election.

Robert Zeidman, a 63-year-old computer forensics expert and Donald Trump voter from Nevada, was the only one who filed a claim. He concluded that Lindells data was not proof of voter fraud and, worse (at least for Lindell), that the data displayed no connection to the 2020 election.

In a 23-page decision issued Wednesday, the panel ruled in Zeidmans favor, saying the data used in Lindells challenge unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data.

The panel directed Lindells firm to pay Zeidman within 30 days, but Lindell seems reluctant to go along with the rules of his own contest.

They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court! Lindell told the Post via text.

The paper notes that Lindell is facing a $1.3 billion defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems and a defamation lawsuit from one of Dominions former executives.

The award is the latest humiliation to befall Lindell as a result of his 2021 cyber-symposium.

The three-day event went viral for all the wrong reasons.

For instance, one of the experts hired to decrypt and analyze Lindells data reportedly said he could not prove that it constituted evidence of hacking.

Lindell also told a CNN reporter at the time that he couldnt release the data hed promised to release, because he didnt need the media driving the narrative before my case to the Supreme Court.

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Twitter users had strong feelings about Wednesdays verdict.

BREAKING: Mike Lindells bank account  Windsor Mann (@WindsorMann) April 20, 2023

Im so mad I didnt enter Mike Lindells stupid contest https://t.co/0rL7suKtAf  Mother Jones (@MotherJones) April 20, 2023

Who could have seen this coming?



My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell ordered to follow through with $5 million payment to expert who debunked his false election data https://t.co/SDWbrlzG9j  Scott Sigler (@scottsigler) April 20, 2023

Does Mike Lindell have anyone in his life who loves him and is willing to tell him what he doesn't want to hear or is everyone in his orbit using him for his money? pic.twitter.com/u6BlYOi4WQ  David B. Larter (@DavidLarter) April 20, 2023

I never thought I'd feel bad for Mike Lindell. But I kind of feel bad for Mike Lindell. Because at least he believes his defamatory statements.https://t.co/DItcdfIL8Q  Jonathan V. Last (@JVLast) April 20, 2023

Related...
Deanne Herber smiles with her children Jake, Zach, Vanessa and Paige.

SHEBOYGAN  Family was the only consistent thing in Vanessa and Paige Perezs life growing up.

From places like Wisconsin to El Salvador, they moved around a lot because their parents both served in the military and foreign services. Their mom served active duty, in the reserves and then as a military spouse, and their dad served active duty.

Their family grew closer when they learned Vanessa had a 10-pound tumor while living in Venezuela. She was 15 years old.

After being medevacked out of the country and undergoing surgery, Vanessa was hospitalized for chemotherapy treatment in Washington, D.C., where she was often by herself or with her family.

She befriended another teen, who was receiving treatment for a brain tumor. Together, they founded an Honoree Pediatric Society for other teenagers who had terminal illnesses or were receiving treatment at the hospital.

Vanessa helped bring that idea of community to military kids like her.

Vanessa, Paige and their mom Deanne Herber are co-founders of Kids in Combat Boots, a local start-up aimed at recognizing the sacrifices of military kids, creating community among them and sharing their stories with the non-military community.

Recognizing the sacrifices of military kids

Being together during the pandemic granted Deanne, Vanessa and Paige time to tell stories about the past and relearn about each other, Deanne said. As they shared, they realized they had different perceptions of their experiences growing up and were reflecting on difficult moments years later.

Joking around, they talked about starting a reality television show for military and expat families. But then Vanessa suggested doing a podcast.

They began sharing their stories and discovered theres a great desire for more conversations about challenges military kids face, Deanne said.

She said they were surprised to see military parents, not kids, accounted for most of the feedback on their first episode, thanking them for opening a door, and acknowledging a need for more conversations with military kids about their unique circumstances and challenges.

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We should be giving them (military kids) an avenue to talk about and work through those issues because they (moments) are not all easy, Deanne said. They're not all fun. Some of them are fantastic. But even sometimes when they're fantastic, they're hard.

Deanne said many moments of military families are captured when they reunite or depart, but little is seen in between.

What happens when you go home? she said. What happens when it's hard to integrate mom and dad back into the family?

We've done that multiple times where I've been the only one at home and then after a year, their dad would come home and we'd have to figure out how to be a family again, she added. Where's that conversation?

Military kids, like Vanessa, may also struggle to find friends and community outside of their family moving so much. She said they probably moved 20 times before she graduated high school.

It can be a culture shock, she said. As soon as you finally get your roots somewhere, you're up again."

Uprooting often can also make it difficult for military kids to enter the next chapter of their life, like getting a letter of recommendation for a college application.

Deanne said Vanessa and Paige faced this challenge.

"They had a hard time quantifying what they've done and talking about it in a way that was understandable," she said. "They didn't have the same resume-building items that a civilian kid would have."

On top of that, the otherwise forgettable, or slightly inconvenient, minutiae of life can take on a different meaning, like breaking a dish while moving.

"We had a whole conversation about a cereal bowl that broke in a move and how sad she (Vanessa) was, Deanne said. I didn't even think (about it). It's those types of things that we really opened the door to and shed some light on.

Headed to state business competition

Kids in Combat Boots is still in the start-up phase, but it could offer subscription-based services for different levels of community engagement, avenues for military kids to share stories, and recommendation and scholarship opportunities to give them tangible recognition.

It is one of 26 finalists in the Wisconsin Governors Business Plan Contest. They will submit a pitch video this week, which will determine if theyll present at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Conference in May.

If Kids in Combat Boots doesnt make it to the next round this year, Deanne said theyll be better equipped next year.

The start-up is also wrapping up its participation in the Sheboygan County Accelerator for Learning Entrepreneurship at a May showcase.

All three co-founders have full-time commitments  Deanne works full-time, Vanessa is a second lieutenant logistics readiness officer at Shaw Air Force Base, and Paige is a student and in Air Force R.O.T.C. at Florida State University  so Kids in Combat Boots' launch timeline is dependent on what happens next.

Kids in Combat Boots can be contacted at kidsincombatboots@gmail.com and followed on Instagram and Facebook at Kids in Combat Boots.

More: Plymouth plans to sell Cheese Counter and Dairy Heritage Center to nonprofit led by local cheesemakers

More: Sheboygan's newest Asian restaurant Nyob Zoo Cafe shares family's favorite cuisine

Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @alexx_garner.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan start-up Kids in Combat Boots aims to recognize military kids' sacrifices
Auglaize, Greene and Miami are among 11 counties that will share approximately $50 million for construction, renovation and security improvement upgrades at nearly a dozen jails across Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday.

According to summaries provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Greene County will receive $15 million in matching funds for an addition to and renovation of the Greene County Adult Detention Center, on Greeneway Boulevard. The project will add an estimated 76,307 square feet to the facility, 250 beds and repurpose 232 existing beds for recovery services and mental health counseling programs.

Once completed, the project will allow Greene County to close the county jail, built in 1969 on Market Street. The $15 million award represents 25% of the total project cost.

News Center 7 and whio.com reached out to Sheriff Scott Anger for reaction and comment late Thursday afternoon and were hoping to hear from him.

Auglaize County will receive $2.035 million for renovations at its jail in a project that will increase the number of beds for female inmates and provide additional special needs beds for males and females. The award represents approximately 40% of the overall project cost.

Miami County will receive $175,000 for a needs assessment that will be used to identify current and future needs of the county, including the need for a new jail. The current county full-service jail opened in 1972.

Gov. Mike DeWine and Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, announced the awards Thursday while meeting with community leaders at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, in Stryker, which serves Williams, Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Lucas counties. CCNO will receive more than $4.6 million to enhance inmate the staff safety through the installation of secure cell doors in a unit of the jail that houses high-security inmates. The money also will go toward building an operations center for staff between two minimum-security dorms.

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Its critical that our jails are safe and secure, DeWine said in a prepared statement. But its also important that our jail environments can influence positive change and put inmates on a good path upon release.

With this funding, were helping these local jails move forward with projects that will allow them to better meet the demands of our modern criminal justice system and further support the growing number of inmates struggling with substance use and mental health issues, the governor said.

The grants represent the second round of funding offered as part of the Ohio Jail Safety and Security Grant Program, as part of the states capital budget, according to DeWines office. The first round of grants included $5 million for major construction projects at six local jails and an additional $5 million for smaller-scale projects at six additional facilities.

Heres how the money in the second round of funding will be divided:

Construction/Renovation Projects - Auglaize ($2,035,970); Columbiana ($462,000); Greene ($15,000,000); Lucas ($10,065,000); Wayne ($15,000,000); and Williams ($4,662,756).

Security Upgrades -- Carroll County ($227,300); Hancock ($248,480)

Needs/Feasibility Assessments -- Jackson ($1,000,000); Miami ($175,000); and Ottawa ($350,000_

In September 2022, inflation caused the downsizing of the plan for a new Greene County Jail, WHIO.com and News Center 7 reported.

In December 2021, Greene County commissioners were looking to borrow millions to finance a new jail after voters rejected a sales tax levy.








Maricela Avila of Carson becomes emotional as she speaks during a news conference after her missing daughter, Alinka Angeline Castaneda, 16, was found safe. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

After her 16-year-old daughter disappeared, Marcila Avila waited in agony as time passed with no word.

On the 19th day, Alinka Angeline Castaneda called from a burner phone, saying she was unable to leave her location."

And then, more silence, punctuated by two more phone calls.

Avila estimates she passed out 7,000 fliers at beaches, malls and other places with photos of her blonde, dark-eyed girl.

On Monday, nearly four months after Alinka was seen entering a vehicle outside her Carson home at 5 a.m. Jan. 1, a tip from an anonymous caller led Avila to a bench on the beach in Venice.

Alinka was sitting on the bench.

Back home with her mother and younger sister, Alinka still has not told her family what happened to her.

Avila said that Alinka is struggling with anxiety and depression, and counselors have advised her not to push for details.

They said shell tell me when shes ready, Avila, 58, a cosmetologist, said at a news conference Wednesday. Its difficult, but right now, what I most care about is that shes back and safe.

Asked to describe Alinka, Avila said only that "she has changed a lot during this ordeal."

Maricela Avila, speaking at a news conference with retired LAPD Det. Moses Castillo on Wednesday. Avila said that her daughter, Alinka, is struggling with anxiety and depression since returning home after disappearing on Jan. 1. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Alinka has spoken to detectives, and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. John Silverstein said an investigation is "active."

After the Jan. 19 call, Alinka called two more times from different burner phones, each time saying she was in an unknown place and didn't know how to leave, said Moses Castillo, a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective who has been helping the family.

The phone from the first call was traced to a location several blocks inland from the Venice boardwalk  about 20 miles from Alinka's home.

In an interview Sunday on NewsNation, Castillo said: Dude, we know you have her. Youre an adult male. Its time to just give her up.

On Wednesday, Castillo offered no details on his theory that Alinka was held captive, saying he "did not want to interfere with an active investigation.

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But he said the NewsNation interview may have led to Alinka's safe return.

I dont think its a coincidence that the interview went out  and I put that interview on social media  and then the next day she was returned, he said. I think he was watching social media feeds.

While her daughter was missing, Avila tried to keep her hopes up. She also prepared for the worst, visiting morgues and calling coroner's offices in four counties.

When the anonymous call came Monday, Avila rushed to Venice with Castillo.

LAPD officers received a similar tip. They got there first and began interviewing Alinka.

When I saw her sitting on a bench in Venice, I only wished I had wings to fly to her, Avila said. Since I didnt, I ran as fast as I could to give her a hug, and thank God, she was safe.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Two sisters who went missing over three years ago have been found safe, and their mother is facing charges, Pennsylvania police said.

Hanna Lee and Skye Rex were 7 and 5 years old when they were reported missing on March 17, 2020, the Waynesboro Police Department said in an April 19 news release. They were last seen two days earlier at a Waynesboro home.

Authorities believed the girls were taken by their mother, Lashada Lee, who does not have legal custody of either child.

Its not clear where the girls or their mother have been since their disappearance, though investigators previously thought they were in or near Washington, D.C., WHTM reported.

Lee turned herself in at the Waynesboro police station on Wednesday, Chief James Sourbier told WHP.

The simple fact of the matter is, right now, what I care about is that the children are safe and that she is in custody and will be held to account for the crimes that she has been charged with, Sourbier told the outlet.

Lee is being held in custody until her arraignment, and the girls are in the care of child welfare officials pending a hearing, police said.

The father of the girls, John Rex, said he is grateful for everyones support in helping us get to this day, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Time froze three ago when my beautiful girls were suddenly taken from my life, Rex said. Im overjoyed and now focusing on getting the girls back home with me. I ask for privacy at this time as we navigate the coming days.

Missing womans car with dog inside found near home as search continues, NV cops say

Man missing after being robbed and kidnapped in his own car at gas station, MO cops say

Husband ordered to stay away from wife is now missing with family, Illinois cops say

Texas man bragged about stealing money from cartel. Now hes missing, officials say
North Texas police plan to continue the nearly month-long search for missing 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez  now considered a death investigation  at new locations this weekend.

Noel hasnt been seen by his extended family since November but wasnt reported missing until March. After a saga in which Everman police said his mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, lied to them about the boys whereabouts and then fled the country with Noels stepfather and six of her other children, American authorities are working with the Indian government to have Rodriguez-Singh and her husband, Arshdeep Singh, extradited back to Texas.

Its something Noels grandmother wants to happen now, according to Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV.

Ive felt so much sadness too much. I start to cry, Rodriguez-Singhs mother, who did not want to be identified by name, told WFAA in Spanish.

What she wants now is answers.

Noels grandmother told WFAA she wants Rodriguez-Singh to come back to the U.S. and tell her where her grandson is. She agrees with the police conclusion that he is dead.

I want her brought back so she can tell us where Noel is, Rodriguez-Singhs mother said. Where is he? What was the reason? He was a boy who didnt deserve the bad fortune she gave him. He was an innocent child. Poor boy.

Police in Everman, Texas, are searching for any leads to help them find 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who hasnt been seen since November and is presumed dead. Police said at a news conference on Sunday, March 26, that Noels mother left the country with her husband and six other children.

She told WFAA that Rodriguez-Singh would often call Noel names, abuse him and complain about his developmental and physical disabilities. She often said he was evil or demon possessed and believed he would harm her newborn twins. The grandmother said she is raising Rodriguez-Singhs three oldest children and that she offered to take Noel but his mother wouldnt give him up.

Noel was last confirmed to have been seen in the weeks after his mother gave birth to twin daughters in October.

Police said on April 6 that evidence forced them to transition their investigation from a search for an endangered missing child to a death investigation.

Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer said that according to police interviews with witnesses, Noel was abused and deprived of food and water by his mother, who told people she thought Noel was evil.

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Noels grandmother doesnt care what the reason is that her grandson is missing. She just wants to know where he is.

I want Noel found, whether hes dead or alive, she told WFAA. She needs to confess where that little angel is. That was his name, Noel Angel.

After previous searches near the familys home and nearby woods, Everman police have said that they and partners including the FBI have been poring over data to pinpoint new locations where investigators will conduct searches for Noels remains later this week.
Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) have told the press about a mission during which they evacuated the body of a fallen comrade from the invaders' positions.

Source: An interview with a soldier of the 73rd Marine Centre of the Special Operations Forces named after Kosh Otaman Antin Holovatyi, posted by the press service of the Special Operations Forces

Details: While performing combat missions in Ukraine's south (as the press service of the Ukrainian Armed Forces specified to Ukrainska Pravda, it was the Zaporizhzhia front  ed.), operators from Ukraine's Armed Forces had to move to the specified area, perform assault operations, and, if possible, capture Russians.

According to a story told by one fighter, the operators boldly entered the trenches at the Russian position, where a battle commenced. The Special Forces managed to kill 9 occupants, but due to their own injuries, the SOF fighters had to retreat. In addition, one of the cameramen was killed. His wounded comrades made the difficult decision to leave his body behind during the retreat.

The Russians opened heavy artillery fire on the area, which did not stop for several days. They also deployed a TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system and used chemical weapons.

Despite the extreme danger, the Special Operations Forces operators went on an evacuation mission. The soldiers re-entered the trenches held by the Russians, inflicted more losses on them, reached their comrade and took his body.

Since there was a risk that the invaders could have booby-trapped the body of the fallen SOF soldier, two soldiers hooked the body with carabiners and at first gradually pulled it away from the Russian position. Once at a safe distance, the body was transferred to a stretcher and evacuated from the battlefield.

Quote: "It is an honour for us to pick up our fallen comrades. No one is left on the battlefield."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
LUSAKA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Zambia's boat accident has climbed to 15 following the retrieval of seven more bodies, the police said on Thursday.

Zambia Police Deputy Public Relations Officer Danny Mwale said two bodies were retrieved around 6:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, while five were retrieved in the early hours of Thursday, bringing the total number of retrieved bodies to 15.

He said in a statement that out of the retrieved 15 bodies, 11 have been identified as Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) nationals, while four are Zambians.

The accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday when a boat that was carrying 32 people capsized on Lake Mweru due to strong waves on the lake.

The boat, carrying mostly Congolese nationals, was heading toward the Kashobwe area of the DRC from Kilwa Island on the Zambian side.

This is the third recent boat accident in Zambia. Fourteen people died after a boat capsized on Lake Bangweulu on March 31; eight died after a boat capsized in Luangwa District in Lusaka Province on April 2. 
Moderna and IBM are joining forces to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing into mRNA development, which was used to create Modernas COVID-19 vaccine.

We are excited to partner with IBM to develop novel AI models to advance mRNA science, prepare ourselves for the era of quantum computing, and ready our business for these game-changing technologies, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

We are aiming for breakthrough advances with quantum computing, so we are investing now in building a quantum-ready workforce, to be fully prepared to harness the power of this technology, he added.

Modernas partnership with IBM  a technology company that specializes in AI and hybrid cloud  will include investments in generative AI to improve product design. The agreement signed between the two companies is meant to advance and accelerate mRNA research and science, according to the companies announcement.

IBM will allow Moderna to access its systems for quantum computing, which is an emerging technology that utilizes the principles of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers, according to the announcement.

Moderna will be able to take advantage of our multi-year research efforts in generative AI for therapeutics that can allow scientists to better understand how molecules behave and may facilitate creating entirely new ones, said Dario Gil, Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research, in a statement.

The announcement also said that Moderna and IBM scientists will use the AI model MoLFormer to help optimize mRNA and lipid nanoparticles, which surround and protect mRNA within the body.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Montana Public Affairs Network





Democratic Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr is one of the state's first openly transgender legislator.

She gave an impassioned speech on Tuesday admonishing Republicans for trying to ban gender-affirming care for children.

Following her speech, Montana's Freedom Caucus demanded Zephyr be censured.

A group of Republicans in Montana's House of Representatives are calling to censure state Rep. Zooey Zephyr for admonishing the legislature for attempting to pass a bill banning children from receiving gender-affirming care.

"If you are forcing a trans child to go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. This body should be ashamed," Zephyr said.

Following Zephyr's comments, Montana House Majority Leader Sue Vinton rose in opposition.

"I speak on behalf of our caucus. We will not be shamed by anybody in this chamber. We are better than that," Vinton said.

"If you vote yes on this bill, I hope the next time there's an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands," Zephyr responded.

The GOP-led legislature passed the governor's requested amendments to the Youth Health Protection Act later Tuesday, barring children from receiving access to puberty blockers and other gender-affirming healthcare, though it hasn't been signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte just yet.

Later that day, the Montana Freedom Caucus took to Twitter, demanding Zephyr be censured "For attempting to shame the Montana legislative body and by using inappropriate and uncalled-for language during a floor debate over amendments concerning Senate Bill 99."

Additionally, the caucus also misgendered Zephyr, one of the first openly transgender members of the Montana legislature, in the letter.

House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, in a statement to the Helena Independent Record, admonished the Montana Freedom Caucus for disrespecting her colleague.

"The language used by the so-called Freedom Caucus, including the intentional and repeated misgendering of Rep. Zephyr, is blatantly disrespectful and the farthest thing imaginable from the 'commitment to civil discourse' that these letter writers demand. I find it incredibly ironic that these legislators are making demands of others that they refuse to abide by themselves," Abbott said.

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Zephyr defended herself in a press release on Wednesday, standing by her comments.

"I stand by my accurate description of the devastating consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth," Zephyr wrote. "The recently passed Senate Bill 99 is part of an alarming trend of anti-trans legislation in our state."

Despite the Montana Freedom Caucus' call to censure Zephyr, there's yet to be an official vote on the matter, and it's unlikely a censure vote would pass  the Montana Free Press reported Abbott said there's a "zero percent chance" of it actually happening.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Matthew Pottinger and Xi Jinping. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images and Contributor/Getty Images

China's likelihood of invading Taiwan in the next decade is "more than 50%," Matthew Pottinger said.

Pottinger previously said an invasion depends on how long Chinese leader Xi Jinping stays in power.

Pottinger served for two years as one of the Trump administration's top Asia security advisers.

China is more than 50% likely to invade Taiwan in the next 10 years, said Matthew Pottinger, who served as deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration.

Securing Taiwan is vital to Chinese leader Xi Jinping's goal of rejuvenating his country, and the probability of Beijing trying to take Taiwan by force is "more than 50% in the next decade," Pottinger told Japanese outlet Kyodo News in an article published on Wednesday.

Pottinger, a US Marine veteran and a former China reporter for Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, worked as deputy national security adviser from September 2019 to January 2021. He was the Trump administration's top adviser on China and North Korea at the time and one of its longest-serving aides.

In a March interview with The Washington Post, he tied China's likelihood of invading Taiwan to the predicted timeline for Xi's hold on power.

"I suspect that he is going to make this his legacy achievement," Pottinger told The Post.

The former US adviser said he wasn't sure "what that means in terms of timing" but suspected that Xi is looking to stay in power for another 10 years.

The Chinese leader secured an unprecedented third term for the top position in October and has yet to name a successor  leading observers to predict he'll gun for a fourth term and govern for another decade in total.

And Xi appears to be quietly preparing for conflict with Taiwan, building air raid shelters and field hospitals along the Taiwan Strait, passing new laws enabling the military to bolster troop reserves, and priming the Chinese people for war with "strident language," Pottinger told The Post.

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His comments come as US-China relations continue to strain and as top US lawmakers strengthen ties with Taiwan.

Meanwhile, several leaked US intelligence documents appeared to show gaping vulnerabilities in Taiwan's air defenses, The Washington Post reported.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have flared in the last few months over issues like a Chinese surveillance balloon floating over the US and congressional pressure on the Chinese-made platform TikTok over concerns it could spy on Americans.

In February, State Secretary Antony Blinken warned that China was considering sending weapons and ammo to Russia for its war in Ukraine but did not provide evidence to supplement the claim. China vehemently denied the assertion.

In his recent interview with Kyodo News, Pottinger said he doubts China will directly supply weapons to Russia and that Xi's administration knows such a move would cross a red line.

Providing arms to Moscow would throw China's relationship with the US and Europe into disarray and cripple the Chinese economy, he said.

Pottinger typically holds hard-line stances on China. When testifying before Congress about Sino-American relations in February, he characterized Beijing as "stealthily waging" a new Cold War with the US.

"The CCP should be thought of as a hungry shark that will keep eating until its nose bumps into a metal barrier," Pottinger told congressional leaders.

"But nor do they take it personally when they see divers building a shark cage. For them, it's just business. It's what they do," he added. "The more resolutely and unapologetically we take steps to defend our national security, the more that boundaries will be respected and the more stable the balance of power is likely to be."

Pottinger and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ukrainian military near Bakhmut, April 10, 2023

Read also: Russian army loses most of tank regiment for little progress near Avdiyivka, UK intel

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin eliminated his elite troops with his own hands by unleashing the full-scale war against Ukraine, Yusov noted. While Russians are still capable of planning and carrying out tactical offensive actions, strategically they are turning to defense, Yusov added.

"Their previous tasks have failed, he stated.

The rascists (Russian fascists - ed.) do not have the strength to attempt [assaults] time and again, as it was after Feb. 24, 2022. However, this does not mean that the enemy is defeated or that it imposes no danger to Ukraine. No, it is not [mean that]. It has a lot of manpower, a mobilisation potential, a significant amount of equipment that can be dangerous, albeit outdated.

Read also: Russian great offensive a flop, Ukrainian intelligence reports failure

Invading Russian forces are adapting to their inefficiencies and are storing missiles for mass attacks, Yusov said. He speculated that they will target logistics chains related to military supplies in an attempt to disrupt an upcoming Ukrainian counter-offensive.

In general, Russia has ceased its conducting offensive actions and has gone on the defensive everywhere in Ukraine, except for two areas. The invaders are still trying to seize Bakhmut and half-encircle Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with NV.

Read also: When will Ukraine reclaim Crimea, other occupied lands?  Budanov

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Andrea Torralba Camacho, 24, was sentenced Thursday for the death of her newborn son in 2019.

A woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her newborn son four years ago at an Oxnard hospital was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Andrea Torralba Camacho, 24, appeared in person in a blue jail uniform during a brief hearing in a Ventura courtroom but did not speak on the sentence or show any visible emotion.

Prosecutors said the baby named Diego was strangled in July 2019 in Camacho's hospital room at St. John's Regional Medical Center about 12 hours after she delivered him.

Camacho and a man described as her then-boyfriend, David Luna Villa, 24, were both arrested and charged with murder. Villa pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and faces sentencing on that charge next week.

Camacho was allowed to plead to the lesser charge of second-degree murder because prosecutors took into account medical evidence that she was suffering from post-partum depression as well as her allegation that she became pregnant after being raped by another man.

She will be eligible for her first parole hearing in 11 to 12 years, according to Amber Lee, the prosecutor on the case.

After pronouncing the sentence Thursday, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Bruce Young told Camacho she bore responsibility in the child's death.

"This is a tragedy for all concerned," he said.

Kathleen Wilson covers courts, crime and local government issues for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at 805-437-0271 or kathleen.wilson@vcstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Mother headed to prison for baby's death in case called 'tragedy'
A motorcyclist is dead after crashing into a stopped vehicle on I-75 southbound on Thursday afternoon.

Georgia State Patrol says the crash involved a motorcycle and a Georgia Department of Transportation HERO unit.

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The crash happened on I-75 near Northside Drive, leaving some of the southbound lanes shut down.

GSP identified the motorcyclist as 29-year-old Jonathan Delarosa of Marietta. He died from his injuries.

NewsChopper 2 flew over the area and saw the wrecked motorcycle being carried away.

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The HERO unit is dispatched to crashes with the primary duty to clear crashes from roads and keep traffic flowing like normal.

Authorities are still investigating the crash.

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Over 30 firefighters responded to a commercial fire in Concord on Wednesday night.

According to a release from the Concord Fire Department, around 7 p.m., firefighters went to a structure fire on Pitts School Road NW. Responding firefighters got to the scene within minutes and saw flames and smoke coming from inside the building.

ALSO READ: No one hurt after home under construction destroyed by fire in south Charlotte

It took the department 19 minutes to bring the fire under control. Firefighters searched the property and salvage to look for any hidden fires.

Harrisburg and Charlotte fire departments assisted Concord. The departments used five engines, three ladder engines, one rescue team, four battalion chiefs, and one safety officer.

Firefighters say no employees were in the building during the fire, and no injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

This is a developing story; check back at wsoctv.com for updates.

(WATCH BELOW: Couples belongings destroyed after U-Haul flips, catches on fire)
[Source]

Multiple individuals have been arrested in connection with a series of robberies that have targeted Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose police announced on Wednesday.

Demario Emmanuel, 20, and Jayonae Glaser, 19, were apprehended last Thursday, April 13, after Michael Pruitt, 21, and Ilyaas Mubarez, 19, were first taken into custody on March 30.

The group are believed to be responsible for at least 15 robberies.

More from NextShark: Asian Sixth Grader Allegedly Punched, Called 'Covid Starter' in NY

After arresting Pruitt and Mubarez, police recovered stolen property, around $10,000 in cash, illegal firearms and equipment for creating ghost guns.

Emmanuel was subsequently identified as a co-conspirator. He was booked on a $1,000,000 arrest warrant for multiple robberies.

More from NextShark: China begins crackdown on kids' shows with ban on popular Japanese series 'Ultraman Tiga'

Glaser, identified as Emmanuels girlfriend, appears to become involved after allegedly trying to run over officers while being arrested.

Police recovered a loaded handgun with an extended magazine in her car and she was booked on possession of a firearm, resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

Victims reportedly lost purses and other items in the string of robberies. Police are still determining whether to charge the suspects with hate crimes.

More from NextShark: Filipino Family Chased by Man's Husky, Told to 'Go Back to China' in New Zealand

San Jose police also arrested a separate individual.

Lathan Johnson, 38, is also accused of targeting Asian Americans by forcefully removing jewels from their necks between April and August last year.

More from NextShark: First-ever 'Desi Barbie' released for Women's History Month

The East Palo Alto resident allegedly targeted victims across Santa Clara County. He was charged with 14 counts of robbery  including 14 hate crimes  and three counts of bodily injury.

Story continues

Investigation into the robberies continue. Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Van Brande #4542 of the San Jose Police Robbery Unit at 408-277-4166 or via email at 4542@sanjoseca.gov.
Pop Smoke. Getty/Suzanne Cordeiro

A new mural of the late rapper Pop Smoke has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

"Who that?" wrote one Twitter user, to which another replied: "Nobody."

Others said the mural looked like "Soda Smoke" and not Pop Smoke.

A new mural of the late Pop Smoke has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

Photos of the mural circulated online this week, showing the rapper, who was killed in February 2020, pulling a pose while donning his signature braids and a watch.

The location of the mural and the artist's identity are unclear, but that didn't stop Twitter from dragging the piece through the mud.

"Who that?" wrote one user, to which another replied: "Nobody."

"They put the Snapchat baby face filter on him smh" read one tweet. Another said: "It's the thought that counts right ?"

Other users joked that rather than Pop Smoke, the artwork is instead of "Pop Fog" or "Soda Smoke."

"That's somebody's Pop. But it ain't Pop Smoke," read one tweet.

The Nostalgia Queen (@Snow_Blacck) April 17, 2023

The mural arrives shortly after one of the suspects in Pop Smoke's murder case was officially sentenced.

The "Got It On Me" rapper, real name Bashar Jackson, was shot dead during a home invasion in the Hollywood Hills in February 2020. He was 20.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery in juvenile court on April 6, admitting he entered Pop Smoke's rented Hollywood Hills mansion as a teenager with the intention to rob him.

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The unnamed defendant was sentenced to four years and two months in the Secure Youth Treatment Facility in Los Angeles, but could remain in juvenile custody until he's 25, reported the Times.

Others charged in Pop Smoke's death include Corey Walker, who was 19 at the time, along with a 15-year-old and 17-year-old.

Read the original article on Insider
A probable cause statement filed in court Wednesday sheds more light on a fatal shooting that occurred Monday, but still does not identify the suspected shooter.

Police arrived at the intersection of Calhoun Street and Forest Avenue around 7 p.m. after witnesses heard shots fired. They discovered a vehicle with two occupants, one of whom, Lavelle Rose, 18, of East St. Louis, Illinois, was deceased.

The other person in the vehicle was taken to a local hospital.

Officers canvassed the neighborhood collecting surveillance and doorbell camera footage in an effort to identify suspects. Both footage and residents near the intersection identified a white truck. One witness went outside briefly to look at the truck, and once inside heard about ten gun shots.

The witness told police he looked outside after hearing the shots, and saw the passenger side door of the white truck close before the truck left the scene. He went to an SUV that was still on the scene and found a female victim screaming for help.

More: Jury trial scheduled for man police say shot longtime girlfriend to 'shut her up'

Another witness in the neighborhood told police he had seen a Black male wearing white jeans, a black sweatshirt and a mask covering part of his face, walking in the area. He said the man kept his hands in his sweatshirt and looked at the witness as he walked by.

"(The witness) stated that based on the look given by the male, (he) believed the male was suspicious and armed," the statement says.

The witness said he later heard gunfire and then saw the man at the intersection before he ran out of sight.

When police spoke to the surviving victim of the shooting, she said they were on the way to the store when a white truck blocked their path. She described a man in the same clothing get out of the truck and start shooting at the vehicle she was in. She said the man then got back in the truck before it drove off.

Using a license plate camera system, police identified the plate and eventually tracked it to Justin Bartels, 21, of St. Louis. Through further investigation with the help of St. Louis police, officers located Bartels in a different vehicle in Springfield on Tuesday afternoon.

Story continues

More: Springfield police investigate apparent murder-suicide Tuesday afternoon

When police spoke to Bartels at the police station, he said a man he had never met before forced him at gunpoint to drive to the intersection where the shooting occurred. However, a recorded phone call from the jail pointed to Bartels having more to do with the shooting, including him saying "I was just the driver."

Police then asked him to tell the truth, to which he said, "It ain't going to set me free ... I was still involved ... I am probably going to get at least five years," according to the statement.

Police spoke to someone close to Bartels who said he had told them of his involvement, but that he was not the shooter. Court documents don't provide any other indication of who the shooter might be.

Based on that information, prosecutors have charged Bartels with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action. Both the murder and assault charges carry maximum penalties of life in prison, which in Missouri equals 30 years.

Bartels is in the Greene County Jail with a $250,000 bond. He has a bond reduction hearing scheduled for next week.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Murder charge adds details to Monday shooting that left teen dead
CANBERRA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced funding for a new program to boost water quality on the Great Barrier Reef.

Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water, on Thursday said the government will spend 150 million Australian dollars (100 million U.S. dollars) repairing land in catchments that are dumping large amounts of sediment into rivers that flow into the iconic reef.

Poor water quality is considered one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef and one of Australia's biggest tourism drawcards. However, it has deteriorated in recent years.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2022 recommended that the reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, warning it is in peril without rapid and ambitious action.

Projects supported under Thursday's funding announcement will include fencing, structural works to improve riverbanks, revegetation and grazing management of cattle.

Plibersek said that in addition to improving water quality on the reef, the projects would also restore local habitats and improve carbon sequestration.

"One of the most iconic things about the Great Barrier Reef is the crystal blue water that flows through it. Water so clear and perfect it's like snorkelling through another world," she said.

"But this iconic water and the Great Barrier Reef itself are under threat from sediment and other run-off that is spilling into it. Poor water quality stops coral from regrowing, kills important seagrass, and blocks the sunlight needed for a healthy reef."

The funding is part of a 1.2 billion Australian dollar (804 million U.S. dollar) spend on reef health previously announced by the Australian government. 
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  An arbitration panel has ordered MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell to pay $5 million to a software engineer for breach of contract in a dispute over data that Lindell claims proves that China interfered in the U.S. 2020 elections and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden.

But Lindell told The Associated Press on Thursday that he has no intention of paying and that he expects the dispute to land in court.

Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the 2020 presidential election, launched his Prove Mike Wrong Challenge," as part of the Cyber Symposium he staged in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in August 2021, to further his theories. Lindell offered through one of his companies a $5 million reward for anyone who could prove that packet captures and other data he released there were not valid data from the November 2020 election.

Robert Zeidman entered the challenge with a 15-page report that concluded the data from Lindell did not contain packet data of any kind and do not contain any information related to the November 2020 election. A panel of contest judges that included a Lindell attorney declined to declare Zeidman a winner. So Zeidman filed for arbitration under the contest rules.

After conducting an evidentiary hearing in Minneapolis in January, the three arbitrators on Wednesday ordered Lindell to pay Zeidman $5 million.

He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data," the arbitrators wrote. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prize was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover.

The arbitrators ordered Lindell to pay up within 30 days.

They clearly saw this as I did  that the data we were given at the symposium was not at all what Mr. Lindell said it was, Zeidman said in a statement Thursday. 'The truth is finally out there.

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Zeidman attorney Brian Glasser said the arbitrators' ruling marked another important moment in the ongoing proof that the 2020 election was legal and valid, and that Lindells claims about the validity of his data had been "definitively disproved.

Lindell disputed that and said he intends to release additional data in the coming weeks or months that will prove his claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 elections and validate what he put out earlier.

"It's going to end up in court, Lindell said. I'm not going to pay anything. ... He didn't prove anything.

Lindell is already the subject of a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems in the District of Columbia that says Lindell falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election. He's also the target of a separate defamation lawsuit in Minnesota by a different voting machine company, Smartmatic.

Lindell said it's strange that the arbitrators ruled a day after Dominion settled its defamation lawsuit against Fox News for nearly $800 million. and suggested it's all an effort to get him to end his crusade against electronic voting machines.

I'll spend everything I have to save the country I love, Lindell said.

___

This story was first published on April 20, 2023. It was updated on April 21, 2023 to correct the location of Lindells 2021 cyber symposium. It was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, not South Falls.
The names of the eight Akron officers who fatally shot Jayland Walker, which havent officially been released, can be found in state investigative documents related to the shooting.

Though the names were redacted in most of the documents released by the Ohio Attorney Generals Office, they were visible in slides shown during the attorney generals press conference Monday and in records that were part of the voluminous investigative file.

The Attorney Generals Office released records related to the investigation Monday afternoon after a special grand jury in Summit County Common Pleas Court returned a no-bill, which means the officers wont face criminal charges.

Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office, said his office published hundreds of case files within hours of the grand jurys decision so the public could see the investigation.

We are constantly reviewing our procedures to make the process more efficient, he said.

A recording of the attorney generals press conference was removed from Facebook and some records were taken off the Attorney Generals website, including at least two that contained officers names.

'They didn't sign up for this,' Akron chief says

Akron Chief Steve Mylett reiterated this week that he wont release the officers names because of concerns for their safety and threats that have been made against officers.

I have a responsibility to ensure the safety of my employees, Mylett said in an interview Tuesday with the Beacon Journal. They have a right to be safe. So does their family, as you do, as everybody else. They didn't sign up for that.

More: Akron police chief: 'Nothing is jumping out' yet as policy violation in Jayland Walker case

The FBI told the police department not long after Walkers shooting that death threats had been made against Akron officers.

More: Resignations, shortages and safety: Akron Police face challenges after officer-involved incidents

Story continues

Threatening message mailed to officers' homes

Mylett also pointed to a new threat mailed to the homes of at least four Akron officers in the past week.

A message sent to Clay Cozart, the Akron FOP president, featured photos of Mylett and Walker, with a message at the top that said: We expect the grand to respond in favor of the 8. We dont care about down. Before the end of the years 16 blue badges will have to pay like Mr. W. Semper fi.

This is a message that was mailed to the homes of Clay Cozart, the Akron police union president, and at least three other retired and current officers.

Three other officers, one retired and two still working, received similar messages. One included a picture of the retired officer who was sent the message.

Lt. Michael Miller, an Akron police spokesman, said the department is investigating the threats and trying to determine who sent them.

It definitely has our attention, he said.

Cozart said he thinks the message implies that 16 Akron officers will die like Walker this year. He said this is concerning not just for officers but also for their families.

You cant be by your familys side 24-7, Cozart said. You have to go to work. Thats what were most concerned about.

Cozart said he isnt sure how the person who sent the messages chose which officers to target.

The retired officer, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls, filed a police report.

Cuyahoga Falls Chief Jack Davis said his office is coordinating with Akron on the investigation. He said the messages are particularly alarming because they were sent to officers homes.

Its obviously very disturbing, he said. You realize you got into a public job. You like to think that your home is still your home.

Ohio Supreme Court accepts names lawsuit

The Beacon Journal sued the city in the Ohio Supreme Court in November, challenging the decision not to release the officers names. The Supreme Court accepted the case Wednesday and provided deadlines for each side to file written briefs.

Akron Beacon Journal Editor Michael Shearer said editors will continue to evaluate whether to publish the names.

As we stated months ago, we sought the officers' names to more fully investigate their backgrounds and any past uses of force that may be of concern to the community, he said. We will now be able to more fully embark on that process."

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj. Beacon Journal report Jennifer Pignolet contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Names of Akron officers involved in shooting found in state records
UPDATE 9:30 a.m.- Officials said that the fire has grown to 1,600 acres, but it is still 50% contained. Units have been placed strategically near any homes that could potentially be threatened, but no evacuation orders have been issued. The cause of the fire is still officially unknown despite suspicions that it was started by a car fire. County Road 121 is still closed, but residents living in the area will be allowed to pass with proof of residency.

UPDATE 9:12 a.m.- Florida Highway Patrol reports that County Road 121 and County Road 119 are closed due to smoke levels.

UPDATE 7:51 a.m.- Officials in Nassau County said the wildfire is now 50% contained.

UPDATE 9:00 p.m.: Officials in Nassau County have said that the wildfire off County Road 119 and County Road 112 near Bryceville has more than quadrupled in size from earlier this afternoon to over 600 acres.

However, there are still no calls for evacuations as of yet.

Officials say that this all started from a vehicle fire.

Action News Jax was able to speak to residents in Nassau County where fire personnel are still working to contain the fire.

Anytime theres a fire out here, everybody in this area is worried about their property, neighbor Rich Staley said.

The Florida Forest Service said the fire has grown to over 650 acres and is just 20 percent contained as neighbors watch nervously.

Jim Coleman, another neighbor said, Lots of planes flying, helicopters dumping water, its a big deal.

The memories of this fire carry with them traumatic flashbacks.

I didnt know anything, if my husband was dead or alive, because, I couldnt get in touch with him because there was no power, Pam McCoy, a local neighbor said.

McCoy was talking about the fire that raged in 2017 through Nassau County. It destroyed homes throughout the Bryceville community. She remembers everything and what her husband had to do to save their home.

He had my little Yorkie under one arm and he was fighting the fire in our yard, and he stopped it three feet in front of the house, McCoy said.

Story continues

Personnel on scene say they expect containment efforts to run into Friday, at least.

Original Story: Nassau County officials are currently monitoring two wildfires in two different areas of the county.

An active wildfire northwest of Bryceville has grown to near 125 acres, Nassau County 911/Dispatch is reporting.

That fire started due to a vehicle fire.

The other fire being monitored is a 50-acre wildfire near Hilliard.

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No evacuations, road closures or endangerments have been reported at this time due to either fire.

Action News Jax will update this story with the latest information as it becomes available.

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Entrance to Jacksonville's federal courthouse.

Defense attorneys for the former JEA executives fighting federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges pushed back on Wednesday against a coalition of Jacksonville media companies, including The Florida Times-Union, that have asked a federal judge to keep a key pre-trial hearing next month open to the public.

Former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and CFO Ryan Wannemacher have argued in court filings that federal prosecutors may have violated their constitutional right against self-incrimination, a question set to be resolved in a proceeding next month called a Kastigar hearing. As part of that argument, the two men have told U.S. District Judge Brian Davis they believe years of publicity surrounding sworn interviews they cooperated with in late 2019  during the course of a workplace investigation into Zahn's leadership of the city-owned utility  may have tainted the entire criminal investigation that led to a grand jury indictment last year of both former executives.

In support of that legal theory, they have asked the court to consider closing significant portions of the Kastigar hearing to the public, arguing that the mere publicity alone of their interviews  called, in legal settings, Garrity statements  amounted to a violation of their constitutional rights. That is an expansive view of Garrity rights, which are, in essence, protections against self-incrimination provided to employees of the government when they are compelled to cooperate with investigations. The Times-Union, First Coast News, News4Jax, and Action News Jax challenged their request to close large portions of the Kastigar hearing, questioning whether they had justified the extraordinary step.

"(The media companies) assert that the First Amendment affords the public a right of access to trials and judicial proceedings that is deeply rooted in the principles of freedom and justice," Zahn's defense attorneys wrote. "And they are right."

"Mr. Zahn laments that the wide dissemination of the Defendants Garrity statements, as well as the poisoned fruits derived therefrom, forces the Court to navigate the difficult path of balancing the sacrifice of competing constitutional rights in this case. The unfortunate reality is that the present posture of these proceedings does not permit a full vindication of all competing rights and compels a compromise seeking to minimize further intrusion on the constitutional rights of all interested parties."

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By Wednesday night, federal prosecutors had not lodged an objection to the media companies' request to keep the hearing open, signaling they did not oppose the ask. U.S. District Judge Monte Richardson had ordered the parties to respond to the media filings by Wednesday only if they objected.

Indeed, prosecutors have rejected Zahn and Wannemacher's arguments, casting their various filings as junk legal theory designed to dig them out of trouble. Adopting such an expansive view of Garrity protections, the prosecutors have told Davis, would conveniently render prosecution against the two men effectively impossible.

The two men are accused of being the architects of an opaque, get-rich-quick bonus plan that could have paid out millions if they had successfully sold JEA to a private firm, the campaign Zahn was leading in 2019 that imploded amid controversy. In the immediate aftermath of that failure, city attorneys conducted a workplace investigation into Zahn's leadership, placing him and several other members of JEA's executive team under oath for extended interviews. Those sit-downs were mandatory, triggering Garrity protections  meaning nothing they said in those settings could later be used against them in a prosecution.

The transcripts were quickly made available as public records when city attorneys concluded their own workplace investigation, which resulted in the JEA board of directors publicly firing Zahn for cause, a decision he took to arbitration, which remains unresolved.

Zahn and Wannemacher defended themselves in those interviews and never admitted to any deliberate misconduct. Neither man has said which portions of their interviews they believe prosecutors are using to incriminate them, and the lead prosecutor, A. Tysen Duva, has told Davis he never read the transcripts of those interviews. Still, the two defendants have argued, the publicity their statements have received may have, for example, indirectly found its way into the testimony of grand jury witnesses. It's a speculative and vague argument, but in the Kastigar hearing, the burden of proof will be on the prosecutors to demonstrate the evidence they marshaled was independent of any Garrity protected statements.

Zahn's attorney appeared to argue the mere publicity alone of his sworn interview might be enough to annul the prosecution.

"The continued dissemination of the Defendants Garrity statements in violation of the Fifth Amendment taints the jury pool and deprives Defendants of their Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial," Zahn's defense attorneys wrote.

The media companies have cast doubt on the need to close the hearing next month, arguing the defense team has failed to offer the compelling evidence necessary to justify closing the courtroom  itself an encroachment upon a foundational constitutional right.

"Defendants have not even mentioned, let alone established, any evidence showing a substantial probability that their rights to a fair trial would be prejudiced by the media and public having access to statements that have been in the public realm for years and continue to be accessible to anyone who cares to make a simple internet search," wrote Holland & Knight attorney Jennifer A. Mansfield, who is representing the Times-Union and First Coast News, wrote in the companies' motion to intervene.

"If Defendants only seek to prevent the prosecutors from access to the Garrity statements, ejecting the media from the courtroom does not address that concern. Less restrictive alternatives exist, such as having the prosecutor step out of the courtroom."

Nate Monroe is a metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday and Sunday. Follow him on Twitter @NateMonroeTU.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Indicted JEA execs fight request to keep courtroom open | Nate Monroe
NATO chief Stoltenberg visits Kyiv

The NATO chief was seen paying tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers at St Michael's Square in the center of Kyiv.

Read also: Stoltenberg presents annual NATO report

Stoltenberg has called on NATO members to step up their supply of weapons to Ukraine, CNN reported yesterday.

Read also: NATO to extend again term of office of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

The request comes amid rumors that Ukraines air defense stocks are running low and could be depleted soon.

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
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Ukraine for the first time since Russia invaded the country more than a year ago, pledging that the military alliance is continuing to stand with the Eastern European country.

Stoltenberg tweeted he had the honor of returning to Ukraine and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that Ukraine should become a member of NATO.

#Ukraines rightful place is in #NATO, and over time our support will help to make this possible. We stand by you today & for the long haul, Stoltenberg said in the tweet.

He was seen in pictures from local media outlets paying respects to Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed during the war in St. Michaels Square in Kyiv.

A NATO release states that Stoltenberg emphasized during a press conference with Zelensky in Kyiv that members of the alliance have provided Ukraine with more than 150 billion euros of support since the war began in February 2022.

He also visited the city of Bucha, where many atrocities committed by Russian soldiers have been documented. Ukrainian officials found mass graves and unarmed civilians who were executed after Russian forces withdrew from the city last year.

The release states that Stoltenberg also addressed the International Summit of Communities and Regions, a gathering of dozens of countries to discuss issues like the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, where he praised the countrys work toward rebuilding.

Your determination to fight the aggressor, liberate your land, and work for a brighter future says very clearly to me: Ukraine will prevail, Stoltenberg said.

NATO does not formally have a presence in Ukraine, but Stoltenberg has been a key advocate for the alliance providing Ukraine with the support it needs to defend itself from Russia. Stoltenberg has coordinated aid in the form of weapons, ammunition and training for Ukrainian soldiers from 31 countries.

NATO itself has only provided nonlethal support, like generators, medical supplies, tents and military uniforms.

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Russia has repeatedly declared its opposition to ties between Ukraine and NATO and cited fears that Ukraine would join the alliance as one rationale for invading the country.

Ukraine formally applied to join NATO and the European Union months into the war, a sign of its increasing ties to the rest of Europe.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterated that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO is one of Russias goals for what it has called its special military operation. He told reporters Ukraine joining would be a serious, significant threat to our country.

Finland officially joined NATO earlier this month after the country applied for membership in the aftermath of the invasion. Its acceptance into the alliance doubled Russias land border with the alliance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in a Moscow courtroom on Oct. 18, 2022. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Alexei Navalny, the dissident political leader now languishing in a remote Russian penal colony, has been assaulted by prison guards there, his allies say, suggesting a potential escalation of the tactics the 46-year-old Kremlin foe may be facing.

They grabbed Navalny, they kicked him in the groin, and then they physically pinned him to the wall," Anna Veduta, a Washington-based vice president of Navalnys Anti-Corruption Foundation, told Yahoo News.

She said she could not provide details on his condition, given the difficulty of conveying information out of the penal colony, IK-6, where he has been held for almost a year.

The news comes days after Navalnys associates in the West said he was rapidly losing weight, potentially because prison authorities were administering low doses of poison.

They kill him slowly, Veduta told Yahoo News late last year.

A former attorney, Navalny launched a pro-democracy movement that irked the Kremlin. Despite near-total control of Russian political and civic life, President Vladimir Putin has relentlessly hounded opposition figures and apostates. Many have been poisoned, shot, thrown out of windows or left to die in prison.

This week also saw another dissident, Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years in prison for his opposition to Putin and the war in Ukraine. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia earlier this month on fictitious espionage charges, also appeared in a Moscow courtroom this week.

The news of Navalnys apparently deteriorating health comes just weeks after a documentary about his fight against Putins autocratic regime won an Academy Award, a development that could have hardly pleased Moscow.

Titled simply Navalny, the film chronicles his recuperation in Germany from an attempted Kremlin poisoning in 2020. It ends with Navalnys dramatic return to Russia, where he is promptly arrested. He was sentenced last year to more than a decade in prison on fraudulent corruption charges.

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The penal colony IK-6, where Navalny was transferred in March 2022. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)

Coming home to Russia elevated Navalnys status as a political leader. But it is not clear if he knew that the Kremlin would subject him to such a lengthy sentence and force him to serve it out in a penal colony far from Moscow.

I think it was a miscalculation, the films director, Daniel Roher, recently confessed to NPR. I spend a lot of time thinking about whether or not it was the right decision, whether or not he could have been more effective outside of Russia as a free man.

Since his sentencing, Navalny has been subjected to prolonged stays in solitary confinement. It is routine for Russian dissidents to die in prison, a grim reality that recalls the Soviet gulags where millions perished.

Veduta said the assault by guards, which took place on Monday, was precipitated by the placement of a foul-smelling inmate in Navalnys cell. Navalnys attorney Vadim Kobzev said the inmate  apparently one whom authorities had previously used to torment Navalny  had been brought to a completely animal state.

He added that the smell in the cell was such that it was impossible to enter and that Navalny refused to go in.

This angered his guards, evidently precipitating the assault. By prison rules, [Navalny] had to physically intimidate and beat this person, Veduta said, referring to the complex informal rules that have historically governed prison life in Russia. But he refused."

Kira Yarmish, another close Navalny associate, wrote on Twitter that, as a result of the incident, a new criminal case was opened against him, which she said could result in a possible term of up to 5 years.

Last week, Navalnys attorneys sent a letter to Kremlin human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, complaining about his treatment while also warning that Navalny had learned that a provocation is expected against him with the participation of a cellmate.

The letter was not answered.
Legislation that supporters say will improve school discipline but critics say will kick more Black students out of school was adopted Wednesday by the state House.

The N.C. House passed a bill that removes wording from state law that now lists inappropriate language, disrespecting teachers, dress code violations and minor fights as examples not to be deemed serious violations meriting a long-term suspension.

Rep. John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican and primary sponsor of House Bill 188, said the change is needed because of how lax discipline has gotten in schools.

All it does is simply give teachers some, I guess, power back to control their classrooms, Torbett said.

The 71-42 vote went largely along party lines, with three Democrats joining Republicans in supporting the bill. Rep. Jeffrey Elmore, a Wilkes County teacher, was the only Republican who joined the other Democrats in voting against the bill.

Most Democratic lawmakers argued that it could lead to more suspensions and increase the school-to-prison pipeline.

The worst thing we can do with our children, if they should be in school, is to give them 10 or days more out, said Rep. Marcia Morey, a Durham Democrat. Because as a juvenile court judge, Ill tell you thats when I started seeing kids come into the court.

The House passed a similar bill in 2021 that was not acted on by the Senate. But now the GOP has a veto-proof legislative majority to override any potential veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

Has discipline gotten worse?

In 2011, state lawmakers added the language that the use of inappropriate or disrespectful language, noncompliance with a staff directive, dress code violations, and minor physical altercations that do not involve weapons or injury are not serious violations.

It was a bipartisan effort to say that long-term suspensions, which are for more than 10 days, should be reserved for serious violations. The belief was that if students were in school more, theyd be less likely to have poor grades and drop out when they fell behind.

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Short-term suspensions fell by 24% and long-term suspensions dropped by 78% between the 2010-11 and 2018-19 school years. But the trend has reversed since the pandemic.

A state report released last month shows that school crimes were up 16.9% last school year from the 2018-19 school year. In addition, short-term suspensions are up 7% and long-term suspensions are up 18%.

Torbett said its gotten to the point where disruptive students are allowed to stay in the class and take away from the education of other children.

Just go talk to you local school boards if they think discipline, violence, bad language used to a teacher, disrespect used to fellow classmates, disrespect used against teachers and administrative personnel and ask them if they think thats gotten better over the last five or six years, Torbett said.

Torbett says the bill encourages schools to find in-school alternatives that remove students from the classroom without sending them home.

Impact on Black students

The racial overtones of the bill were discussed during the floor debate. Mirroring national trends, Black students in North Carolina are suspended at higher rates than white students.

Even though the language says use best practices and do not discriminate, it does affect our African American and children of color two to three times the rate of our white kids, Morey said.

But Rep. Ken Fontenot, a Wilson County Republican who is Black, said Democrats are acting as if Black students cant be held to the same standards as white students. Fontenot said his parents, who grew up in a time when they could be found hanging from a tree, taught him that nothing can stop him from succeeding.

We can perform, Fontenot said. I disagree that higher standards hurt African Americans. They help African Americans.

But House Minority Leader Robert Reives, who is Black, said the reality is teachers may treat students differently based on whether they can relate to them. He defended Morey, saying shes not saying that Black students cant accomplish at the same level as white students.

She is just saying that this bill as it is presently written could leave us in a position where it disproportionately affects good, smart well-meaning children, said Reives, a Chatham County Democrat.

As a woman who walks in my Blackness every day, Rep. Carla Cunnigham said she knows shes just as good as anyone else. But the Mecklenburg County Democrat said the quest for perfect people is flawed.

There are no perfect people, Cunningham said. People make mistakes all the time. Kids make mistakes all the time. Every day we wake up we probably make a couple.
North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday he believes Republicans in the House and Senate are really close to reaching a consensus on what new abortion restrictions should look like.

GOP lawmakers have been holding talks within their caucuses for months, and two proposals in particular had emerged as primary contenders: a 12-week ban that would prohibit abortions near the end of the first trimester, and a more restrictive ban that would only allow abortions up until around six weeks.

On Thursday, however, Moore said that House Republicans had coalesced around a consensus position of banning abortion after 12 weeks, and effectively ruled out further consideration of a six-week ban.

The consensus position that weve developed, and I think Ive been saying this now for quite a while, is around a 12-week period, with those exceptions built in for rape, incest, life of the mother, and fetal abnormality, Moore told reporters. I believe theres been pretty well universal agreement on those.

Moore said the final bill will likely include other provisions to make it easier for people to adopt kids, improve access to health care for expectant mothers and young children, and improve foster care.

Asked when he expects Republicans will be able to unveil the actual bill, Moore said that it may happen in the coming weeks, but not before the upcoming May 4 crossover deadline for bills to be passed by one chamber so that they can be voted on by the other chamber.

House Republicans unifying around a 12-week ban is notable, since a considerable number of GOP lawmakers in the House had been vocal in their support for a six-week ban. Some even suggested that shelving the six-week proposal in favor of a more moderate bill would be a mistake. But Moore, who has said he personally supports a six-week ban, has also said he wants to pass something that can be enacted over a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper.

A 12-week ban with exceptions is also supported by Senate leader Phil Berger. In past weeks, Berger has said Senate Republicans are still holding talks, but Moore indicated that a consensus between Republicans in both chambers is not far off.

I think were really close to being on the same page, Moore said.
Almost 1,500 school book bans were put into place around the U.S. in the first half of the current academic year, according to PEN America.

An analysis from the group released Thursday found 1,477 book bans were implemented in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, affecting 874 unique books. In the six months prior, from January to June 2022, there were 1,149 instances of book bans found by the free speech organization.

While PEN America put together a comprehensive report, it says the number of book bans is unquestionably much higher than what it was able to gather from public information.

It distinguished among four types of book bans: banned in libraries and classrooms, banned in libraries, banned in classrooms and banned pending investigation.

Banned pending investigation was the most popular category for the first half of the current school year, making up 52 percent of the book bans, the organization found.

Though timelines vary across districts, investigations can be time-consuming, resulting in bans on particular titles that last months at a time. These restrictions are recorded as bans because they 1) remove access to books, even if temporary, and 2) are counter to procedural best practices for book challenges from the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), PEN America said in a statement.

Among the almost 900 unique books taken off the shelves, 44 percent have themes of violence, 38 percent involve health and well-being, 30 percent have themes of death and grief, 30 percent discuss racism and have characters of color, 26 percent include LGBTQ themes and characters, 24 percent had to do with sexual experiences between characters and 17 percent dealt with teen pregnancy and abortion.

Much of the discussion around banning books in the U.S. has to do with the perceived appropriateness of books for certain age groups. Some Republicans have asserted there are books with pornographic material on the shelves in schools.

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Over the last year, however, terminology such as obscene, pornographic, harmful to minors, and sexually explicit is being utilized to restrict a range of content, including books on LGBTQ+ experiences, stories that include any sexual references, sex education materials, books that include portrayals of death or abuse, and art books, PEN America said.

The report found the states with the most book bans include Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina, which have all implemented laws that put some restrictions on the type of material allowed in the classroom.

Much of the legislation around what books can be on the shelves in schools is vaguely worded, causing librarians and teachers to preemptively take books off the shelves for fear of political backlash.

The heavy-handed tactics of state legislators are mandating book bans, plain and simple, said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America. Some politicians, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have tried to dismiss the rise in book bans as a hoax. But their constituents and supporters are not fooled. The numbers dont lie, and [they] reveal a relentless crusade to constrict childrens freedom to read.

The top five books that have been banned in the first half of the school year are Gender Queer: A Memoir, Flamer, Tricks, The Handmaids Tale: The Graphic Novel and Crank.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A woman carries ration bags donated by the All Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association (APCEA) in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on April 19, 2023.(Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

by Misbah Saba Malik

ISLAMABAD, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Aansa Perveen, a 35-year-old Pakistani widow, was overwhelmed when a Chinese lady handed over two big bags carrying all basic food items to her at a ceremony held days ahead of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr.

Perveen looked closely at the bags, adorned with China and Pakistan's flags, contemplating their importance for her family of four during the Eid holiday after a financially tough Ramadan and feeling a strong sense of gratitude towards the Chinese for their kind gesture during the trying times.

"It is a great Eid gift from the Chinese for my three daughters and me. It is just like a token of love coming from a dear friend at the right time," she added.

Perveen and many others like her received the ration bags from the All Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association (APCEA) at the ceremony in collaboration with the state-owned charity office Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM).

The Chinese association handed over 1,300 bags to the Pakistani office, carrying various food items, including cooking oil, pulses, flour, rice, sugar and tea.

Amir Fida Paracha, managing director of the PBM, told Xinhua that people whose income is less than 30,000 rupees (106.92 U.S. dollars) a month are eligible for the Chinese-donated Eid package, and special preference will be given to widows and orphans.

He said around 100 ration bags were distributed during the ceremony mainly to the people in the low-income group whose kids are suffering from thalassemia and are being treated by a non-government organization in the capital.

"They are very poor. Some of the kids are orphans, so helping them with food items shortly before Eid means a lot to them, and because of it they can enjoy good meals during the holidays," he added.

Saeed Azam, a daily wage laborer, was also among the people who received the relief package from the APCEA.

Azam told Xinhua that the Eid holidays will be extended to five days this time, and he was so concerned that he might be unable to find any work during the holiday that his seven-member family might have struggled to afford food.

"The act of generosity by the Chinese is of significant value to us. It not only gave us a sigh of relief but also elevated the joy by transforming our bleak Eid into a jubilant occasion," he added.

The APCEA has more than 200 members comprising Chinese enterprises and organizations based in Pakistan, striving to enhance economic and social cooperation.

Wang Huihua, vice chairman of the APCEA, told Xinhua that through the donation, they want to remove the financial concerns of the underprivileged people during Eid to help them enjoy the festival.

"The theme of Eid's donation is 'No Empty Stomachs, Only Full Hearts,' and we want people to feel the joy of Eid with hearts filled with love and happiness, without any worry about food, as a gesture to share the joy of the festival with our friends," he added. 
[Source]

Netflix has decided to cancel two of its popular reality shows, Bling Empire and its spinoff Bling Empire: New York.



"Bling Empire," which first premiered in January 2021, focuses on the lives of wealthy Asian Americans in Beverly Hills, while the spinoff Bling Empire: New York, which debuted in January 2023, follows a similar theme in the Big Apple.



Described as the "real-life Crazy Rich Asians," "Bling Empire" depicts the lives of a group of extremely wealthy Asian Americans, including Christine Chiu, Kane Lim, Kelly Mi Li, Kevin Kreider, Gabriel Chu, Anna Shay, Cherie Chan, Jessey Lee, Kim Lee, Andrew Gray, Jamie Xie and Guy Tang.



The show's first two seasons were well-received by audiences, leading to a third season with 10 episodes, compared to the previous two seasons which had eight episodes each.



Netflix has decided to cut the series and its spinoff, with no fourth season for "Bling Empire" or a second season for "Bling Empire: New York" in the works.





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A new Netflix series has ignited backlash after portraying Queen Cleopatra as a Black woman.

An Egyptian lawyer filed a legal complaint against the streamer, accusing the company of trying to erase the Egyptian identity, the BBC reported.

Mahmoud al-Semary made his complaint Sunday, shortly after Netflix released a trailer for the upcoming documentary Queen Cleopatra, which depicts the ruler as a Black woman.

Al-Semary launched the legal complaint with the countrys public prosecutor, calling for Netflix to be shut down in Egypt and for the shows creators to be penalized.

Most of what Netflix platform displays do not conform to Islamic and societal values and principles, especially Egyptian ones, Al-Semary said in his complaint, according to Egypt Independent.

The series stars British actor Adele James as the iconic monarch.

Last week, the 37-year-old thwarted criticism on Twitter, telling naysayers if they dont like the casting dont watch the show.

Just FYI, this kind of behaviour wont be tolerated on my account. You will be blocked without hesitation!!!



If you dont like the casting dont watch the show. Or do & engage in (expert) opinion different to yours. Either way, IM GASSED and will continue to be!  pic.twitter.com/zhJjaUkxyc  Adele James (@Adele_JJames) April 13, 2023

Jada Pinkett Smith, an executive producer on the show, recently explained the controversial depictionon Netflixs promotional website Tudum.

We dont often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them! the actor and talk show host said.

However, some historians argue that Cleopatra was likely not Black  though others have said it would be hard to know for sure, given that the queens race was unlikely to be documented.

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Given that Cleopatra represents herself as an Egyptian, it seems strange to insist on depicting her as wholly European, said Sally Ann Ashton, an Egyptology expert who Netflix said was interviewed in the series.

She added: Cleopatra ruled in Egypt long before the Arab settlement in North Africa. If the maternal side of her family were indigenous women, they wouldve been African, and this should be reflected in contemporary representations of Cleopatra.

Al-Semarys complaint also accuses Netflix of trying to promote the Afrocentric thinking ... which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity, BBC reported.

Netflix did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

Queen Cleopatra, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was born in 69 BC and died in 30 BC.

She was famously portrayed in films by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 historical drama Cleopatra and Vivien Leigh in 1945s Caesar and Cleopatra.

The outrage over Netflixs production comes three years after Israeli actor Gal Gadot came under fire for nearly starring as the queen.

After people contended the role should go to an Egyptian actor, Gadot tried to defend her casting, insisting that she was slated for the role because they couldnt find a Macedonian actor who could fit Cleopatra.

We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasnt there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra, she told BBC in December 2020.

Queen Cleopatra is set to debut on Netflix May 10.

Language in this story has been updated to clarify the nature of the legal complaint.

Related...
Netflix has found itself at the centre of a debate over the casting of Cleopatra in a new documentary series.

Arriving on the streaming service in May, the four-part documentary Queen Cleopatra (a part of the African Queens series) will investigate the life of the Egyptian ruler.

The series is being narrated by actor Jada Pinkett Smith, who said that she wanted to use the show to represent Black women.

We dont often get to see or hear stories about Black queens the sad part is that we dont have ready access to these historical women who were so powerful and were the backbones of African nations, she told NetflixsTudum in February.

In Queen Cleopatra, the ruler is portrayed by Casualty star Adele James, who is biracial. Her casting has sparked debate in Egypt, due to the contested nature of the real-life Cleopatras racial identity.

Cleopatra was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC, succeeding her father Ptolemy XII in 51 BC and ruled until her death in 30 BC.

The identity of Cleopatras mother is unknown, leading historians to suggest that she may have been Egyptian or from another part of Africa. Others, however, have suggested that her mother may have been Greek as her race was never documented.

On Sunday (16 April), days after the trailer for Queen Cleopatra was released, lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint demanding that the public prosecutor take the necessary legal measures and block access to Netflixs services in Egypt.

James (left) as Cleopatra (Netflix)

Discussing the Netflix show, Egypts former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass told Egyptian press (via BBC News): This is completely fake. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not Black.

Sharing screenshots of racist abuse she has received on Twitter, James wrote last week: Just FYI, this kind of behaviour wont be tolerated on my account. You will be blocked without hesitation!!!

If you dont like the casting dont watch the show. Or do and engage in (expert) opinion different to yours. Either way, IM GASSED and will continue to be!

Story continues

Netflixs Queen Cleopatra does not ignore the debate over Cleopatras heritage.

Just FYI, this kind of behaviour wont be tolerated on my account. You will be blocked without hesitation!!!



If you dont like the casting dont watch the show. Or do & engage in (expert) opinion different to yours. Either way, IM GASSED and will continue to be!  pic.twitter.com/zhJjaUkxyc  Adele James (@Adele_JJames) April 13, 2023

The broadcaster said that Jamess casting was a nod to the centuries-long conversation about the rulers race.

During the time of her reign, Egypts population was multicultural and multiracial, it said. Cleopatras race was unlikely to be documented, and the identities of her mother and paternal grandparents werent known. Some speculate she was a native Egyptian woman while others say she was Greek.

Sally Ann Ashton, an academic interviewed for the series, said: Given that Cleopatra represents herself as an Egyptian, it seems strange to insist on depicting her as wholly European.

Cleopatra ruled in Egypt long before the Arab settlement in North Africa. If the maternal side of her family were indigenous women, they wouldve been African, and this should be reflected in contemporary representations of Cleopatra.

Queen Cleopatra is released on Netflix on 10 May.
KIT KARZEN/NETFLIX - Netflix

Bling Empire, the Netflix reality series about the lives of rich Asian Americans in Los Angeles, and its New York-set spinoff are ending (via Deadline).

Inspired by the big-screen success of Crazy Rich Asians, Bling Empire launched its 10-episode third season in October 2022.

The show followed the cast as they juggled no-expenses-spared parties, multi-billion-dollar businesses, holidays and relationships. Its cast members have used the reality show as a platform to advance their profiles, with Christine Chiu appearing on Dancing with the Stars in 2021.



Courtesy of Netflix - Netflix

Related: New on Netflix this week: All the new and upcoming shows

Bling Empire: New York released its only season in January 2023, and followed original cast member Dorothy Wang as she relocated to the Big Apple.



Bling Empire and its spin-off are not the only shows to be cancelled by the streamer. Netflix also recently cancelled On My Block spin-off Freeridge, raunchy drama Sex/Life, animated comedy Inside Job and international drama 1899.

Netflix

Last month, Netflix confirmed that Penn Badgley series You is ending next year with season 5.



Were proud to see how You has captivated audiences around the world, becoming an instant sensation on Netflix with a resounding cultural impact that has grown season over season, executive Peter Friedlander said at the time.

Were excited  and a bit terrified  to see how it all ends for Joe Goldberg, but one thing is for sure: You are in for an unforgettable ending.

Jon Kopaloff - Getty Images

Related: Netflix's new queer dating show gets first-look teaser

Meanwhile, Bling Empire star Kelly Mi Li revealed that she has given birth to a baby girl named Mili.

"Welcome to the world, Mili! She's finally here after being fashionably late to her own due date," she told People last week.

Bling Empire is available now on Netflix.

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Love is Blind live reunion John Salangsang/Variety via Getty Images

Netflix's foray into live streaming is off to a rocky start. On Sunday, the streamer made one of its first attempts at hosting a live event on its service, and it was an abject disaster, raising questions about whether the company will continue down this path and if it can avoid similar issues in the future. What happened, what went wrong, and what does it mean for the future of Netflix?

What happened during Netflix's 'Love Is Blind' reunion?

Netflix on Sunday hosted a live reunion special for its dating show Love Is Blind, which was highly anticipated among fans considering it essentially served as the big finale of its most recent season and would answer questions about the status of its various couples. This was one of the first times Netflix attempted to broadcast anything live.

Spoiler alert: It did not go well. Viewers were quickly frustrated when the event failed to start on time and they were presented with error messages, and in a since-deleted tweet early in the night, Netflix assured fans it would "be on in 15 minutes." But 15 minutes passed, and the issues persisted. "Everybody broke the internet to see this reunion," host Vanessa Lachey said on Instagram.

More than an hour later, the show still wasn't on. About 90 minutes after the scheduled start time, Netflix finally addressed "everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon," saying it was "incredibly sorry" the event "did not turn out as we had planned." Netflix added, "We're filming it now and we'll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible." The special finally came on for some viewers, but not others. Hours later, Netflix said it would be available on the service, no longer live, later in the day on Monday.

Netflix was widely mocked for the broadcast's failure throughout the evening, with other brands, including even a Twitter account for Blockbuster, weighing in. "Remember renting vhs' from us," Blockbuster tweeted. "You could start it on time no problem  This is what we get." Some fans wondered why Netflix hosted the event live in the first place. "The most frustrating part....NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS!!!" one fan commented on Reddit. "We would have been fine with prerecorded!"

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When it was finally available, the special also received some criticism for not being especially compelling as a broadcast. "Nothing was worth seeing live," Kathryn VanArendonk wrote at Vulture, suggesting live broadcasting is a technology that Netflix "does not need and should not be using."

Why is Netflix trying to do live events at all?

So given Netflix has become so famous for its binge-watching model, why is the streamer attempting to get into live broadcasting anyway? Well, one factor is the company's desire for more buzzy, must-watch programming that will make people feel they have to stay subscribed to Netflix all year long so they're not missing out on major water cooler conversations, as opposed to binge-watching the new season of Stranger Things in a weekend and then canceling for months at a time.

"Netflix is looking for ways to be competitive and to show consumers why they need to stay subscribed to Netflix, because now there's so many choices," Interpret vice president Brett Sappington explained to the Los Angeles Times, adding, "If you can only see it on Netflix, then everyone who saw it has to go to Netflix to make sure that they are part of it. They don't want to miss out."

In a Tuesday earnings interview, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos argued that sometimes "results-oriented shows do play out a little bit better on live," generating "a lot of conversation." He previously said that Netflix wants "to create the excitement around live for those things that are uniquely more exciting to be live."

Since last year, Netflix has been exploring new ways to boost revenue and retain subscribers after recording its first subscriber loss in over a decade, which is also why it plans to crack down on password sharing. The Love Is Blind reunion was Netflix's second live event ever, with the first being a Chris Rock comedy special broadcast on the service in March. Disney+ also began streaming content live for the first time last year with Dancing with the Stars, and TechCrunch noted the first live episode "had minimal hiccups" outside of "a few minor delays and lags."

What was the cause of the 'Love Is Blind' issues?

Netflix addressed its live stream disaster in a Tuesday earnings interview and provided an explanation of what went wrong. According to co-CEO Greg Peters, the issues were due to a "bug that we introduced when we implemented some changes to try and improve live streaming performance after the last live broadcast," the Chris Rock special.

"We just didn't see this bug in internal testing because it only became apparent once we put multiple systems interacting with each other under the load of millions of people trying to watch Love Is Blind," he added. According to Netflix, 6.5 million people watched the special. "We hate it when these things happen but we'll learn from it and get better," Peters said.

Will Netflix continue attempting live events?

After Sunday's disastrous broadcast, Puck's Matthew Belloni predicted on The Town podcast that Netflix will "quietly pause" its plans for live events "for now."

On Tuesday, though, Sarandos said the streamer is open to more live events without specifically naming any in the immediate future. "We've said we want to use live when it makes sense creatively, when it helps the content itself," he said. "So a reunion show that's going to generate news and buzz, it really does play better live when people can enjoy it together."

Sarandos added that "some" other unscripted shows will be live going forward. Peters also insisted Netflix has "the infrastructure" needed for live events. Netflix didn't have these sorts of widespread issues with its Chris Rock special, with the only major hiccup being that Rock at one point flubbed a joke. But the special began at its scheduled time and was mostly broadcast smoothly, suggesting this isn't something that's completely out of the company's reach to pull off.

They better hope it's not considering the streamer already has one major live event in sight, as Netflix is expected to stream the prestigious Screen Actors Guild Awards live on the service in early 2024.

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If you were to ask San Luis Obispo County developers what their biggest challenge in their business is, youd likely get the same answer: CEQA.

The California Environmental Quality Act, originally written into law in 1970 under then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, has since been described by state Sen. Scott Wiener as the law that swallowed California  and youd be hard-pressed to find a developer who doesnt agree with him.

The law most recently came into the public eye for its role in killing a large UC Berkeley housing development that would have had room for 1,100 students and 125 formerly homeless individuals, which prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to call the law broken in a statement posted to Twitter.

California cannot afford to be held hostage by NIMBYs who weaponize CEQA to block student and affordable housing, Newsoms statement read. This selfish mindset is driving up housing prices, and making our state less affordable.

In that same Feb. 25 statement, Newsom said the law needs to change, and he said he would work with lawmakers to make adjustments to allow for more building.

Newsom isnt the first governor to go head-to-head with the law  former Gov. Jerry Brown tried to make reforms to CEQA in 2012, and in that same year, former governors George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Gray Davis co-authored an op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune criticizing the law  which speaks to its longevity and deep ties to Californias legal status quo over the past 50 years.

But what would the housing market in the state of California  and, more specifically, its tightest housing market in San Luis Obispo County  look like without CEQA in place?

How is CEQA used to stop development?

Chris Guillen, a natural resources shareholder and environmental legal adviser at Los Angeles-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, said that while the laws original intention of protecting the environment is good, its broad-yet-rigid legal status makes it difficult to circumvent when used to block development.

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When a developer begins the planning process, Guillen said, they need to procure a land-use permit or a conditional use permit, which usually involves producing an environmental impact report.

The environmental impact report can receive a negative declaration, meaning the project will not have a significant environmental impact, or developers can make efforts to offset and mitigate the projects impact, Guillen said.

This, Guillen said, is usually where the lawsuit comes in.

One tactic that opponents use is they wait with the entitlement process until like the day before the hearing, Guillen said. Youll have a mad scramble the day of the hearing to try to figure out how we can respond to these comments, these 50-page comment letters that come in.

Guillen said that starts the long lawsuit and appeal process. The initial lawsuit will likely take at least a year or two at trial court, and the following appeal by a developer will typically take an additional one to two years.

Even with an aggressive approach to the litigation, a development could be tied up in legal holdups for at least a couple of years, Guillen said.

Chris Guillen, a natural resources shareholder and environmental legal adviser at Los Angeles-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, said CEQA lawsuits can be the nail in the coffin for many California developments. Guillen said CEQA-related litigation can take one to two years to resolve at a minimum in most cases.

During the lawsuit, developers can still act on their permits and begin construction, but that presents two problems, Guillen said.





First, obtaining financing for the project can be extremely difficult if not impossible with a lawsuit hanging overhead, he said.

Second, the petitioners can go to court during the lawsuit to request a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, which would again bring development to a halt.

The delay alone could be a nail in the coffin, Guillen said.

Jim Moresco, chief operating officer of Atascadero residential construction company Midland Pacific Building Corp. said in development, time is money, meaning all a lawsuit must do to effectively kill a development is wait.

The state always updates their CEQA guidelines, and they always get more stringent, more cost added on, Moresco told The Tribune. If you wait long enough, CEQA will make sure that a project does not pencil out.

Exemptions come with strings attached

As CEQA has been used more and more to halt development over the past five decades, legislators have made attempts to rein in the legal power of the law and make working around it easier, Guillen said.

If CEQA cant be repealed or meaningfully changed to lessen the frequency of housing lawsuits  which, Guillen said, is nearly impossible due to decades of pro-CEQA lobbying in the Legislature  then creating ways to streamline environmental reviews and provide exemptions to CEQAs jurisdiction is one of the few options pro-building legislators have.

Most of the time, what youll see is that in order to fall into one of these exemptions or streamlined review provisions, you have to pay prevailing wage, Guillen said. Thats how you get the labor unions to sign on to the legislative amendment.

This raises its own problems, though, Moresco said. A project that qualifies for CEQA exemptions might be clear of the legal holdups, but paying prevailing wages or using union labor may not pencil out for the developer, especially on the Central Coast.

Engaging in a project labor agreement with unions may make sense in areas that support large union labor populations, such as Los Angeles or the Bay Area, Moresco said, but San Luis Obispo County has a relatively low construction union presence.

If a developer in an insular market such as SLO County wants to qualify for CEQA exemptions, they are left without many local construction labor options to choose from, Moresco said.

From a single-family residential standpoint, if were looking at a project and it has a (project labor agreement) attached to it, thats going to be an instant project killer, Moresco told The Tribune. Our margins are already razor thin. Our biggest cost is the physical construction of the home, and within that, the biggest cost is the labor.

Moresco said adding another 20% to 30% to construction wages, would likely raise the cost of building a home by around $100,000, a margin the developer cannot sustain.

He added doing so would mean passing on the costs to home buyers, who in San Luis Obispo County already pay some of the highest prices in the state.

Midland Pacific Building Coroporation CEO Jim Moresco stands at the San Miguel site of an unfinished housing project. Moresco said the project has been sidelined for 20 years by a combination of poor market conditions and CEQA-related environmental issues.

How has CEQA changed development in SLO?

The local impact of CEQA lawsuits can be hard to gauge, but statewide, the impact is easier to discern.

According to a 2022 report by the Center for Jobs & the Economy and Holland & Knight partner Jennifer Hernandez, CEQA lawsuits challenged the development of around 50% of all housing units built in California in 2020  around 47,999 total.

One of Morescos projects in San Miguel has been sitting on the shelf since 2005 for a mix of reasons, he said, partly due to the obstacles presented by CEQA.

The project had just cleared the entitlement process when the housing market crash of 2008 hit, Moresco said, putting all further plans on hold for the next 15 years.

Home values eventually recovered, but construction costs rose alongside them, Moresco said, leaving the project without a clear path to completion while Midland Pacific waited for the price of homes to outpace the cost of building.

Eventually, Midland Pacific decided to maximize the density of the development because the cost per lot was not going to meet the cost of building, Moresco said, in an effort to achieve profit margins that the bank could stomach.

Restarting development would require a new, likely expensive CEQA analysis, Moresco said, and would require the project to comply with a newer state transit regulation, vehicle miles traveled or VMTs.

Senate Bill 743, which introduced VMTs, is designed to work with CEQA to make California less dependent on single-vehicle car commutes.

However, by adding VMTs to the CEQA review process, Moresco said the additional step of conducting environmental reviews on the greenhouse-gas levels produced by cars going to and from a new developments just raises the cost of the project.

It also makes it harder to justify building in less dense areas such as San Miguel, Moresco said, because more suburban, isolated developments will incur higher fees than more densely packed projects that are near major population centers.

Thats a problem for navigating the delicate balancing act between environmental analyses, costs of building and keeping housing affordable while maintaining a sustainable profit margin, he said.

The truth of the matter is, when we build a home, we can only build the home and sell it for as much as the home next door sells for, Moresco said. If you want to build affordable by design, you need to build in places like San Miguel, Creston  build out in the outlying areas.

Combined with VMTs, Moresco said modern abuses of CEQA have made it more expensive, risky and difficult to build in San Luis Obispo Countys already-challenging development scene.

Kevin Buchanan, an organizer with SLOCo YIMBY, said there is growing momentum to change the California Environmental Quality Act to make building easier.

What can be done to fix CEQA?

Kevin Buchanan, an organizer with SLOCo YIMBY  which stands for for yes in my backyard   said although CEQA provides a huge leverage point for any party involved in the building process, most of all labor unions, projects should still have to adhere to good labor practices and wages.

Ideally, Buchanan said, these labor protections would exist without the constant misuse of the CEQA process.

I agree with the intent there, but I think CEQA is just kind of too blunt of a tool to to get at those specific aims that we have for labor, Buchanan told The Tribune.

Buchanan said though theres growing momentum to reexamine CEQAs impact on building  and more specifically, building housing  the reforms so far havent been enough.

That doesnt mean a change is going to come, however, regardless of Gov. Newsoms willingness to take on the law.

Buchanan said recent laws such as 2019s AB 881 and AB 68, which circumvent some of the lengthy approval processes for accessory dwelling units, are a good example of what can be done without the daunting and politically unlikely goal of making substantial changes to CEQA itself.

Krista Jeffries, lead organizer for SLOCo YIMBY, said CEQAs fundamental flaw is that it assumes the status quo is the best option.

There are always growing pains and temporary inconveniences with new development, but the end goal is better than what exists today, Jeffries told The Tribune in an email. CEQA doesnt care about that. It forces new projects that are dramatically better than what currently exists to perform questionable accounting methods of all potential impacts, even temporary or minor ones, and identify ways to mitigate them (i.e., change the entire project). 

Jeffries said the public misunderstands CEQA: The purpose of the law is to account for and offset the environmental changes brought on by building projects, but is not supposed to be a pass/fail mechanism.

Krista Jeffries, lead organizer for SLOCo YIMBY, believes the California Environmental Quality Act needs to be reformed. Here, shes pictured in 2020 in front of a painting she did for the selfie wall on the back of the First Class Seconds building in Grover Beach.

One way local governments can combat this aspect of CEQA misuse is by simplifying their development standards and allowing more projects to be approved over the counter, as only projects that get public hearings can be sued under CEQA, Jeffries said.

Doing so would save time and money, along with lowering construction and legal costs associated with development, Jeffries said.

I dont think CEQA is going to fully leave us, nor should it, Jeffries said. It does need very specific reforms, though. We should judge it on its outcome, not its intents.

Moresco echoed that sentiment.

Obviously, were never gonna get rid of CEQA and nor should we  its a very good environmental law for California, Moresco said. Its just abused by outside parties that use it to block housing; they want their slice of the pie.
Leon Draisaitl was up to his old tricks in the Oilers' Game 2 win. (Photo via USA TODAY Sports)

It was a little too close for comfort, but Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and the Oilers squeaked out a crucial Game 2 win on Wednesday night to even their first-round series with the Kings.

Derek Ryan opened the scoring just two-and-a-half minutes in, cleaning up a Draisaitl miss off the end boards to send Rogers Place into a frenzy. Draisaitl converted his second of the postseason just under 10 minutes later, burying a perfectly executed cross-ice feed from McDavid as the Oilers' historically good power play came through.

Leon Draisaitl blasts home Connor McDavid's perfect feed on the power play, doubling Edmonton's lead to 2!#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/QNU9ah1WWX  Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) April 20, 2023

For about half of Game 2, the Oilers looked a lot like the team plenty of people picked to reach this year's Stanley Cup final, if not win it all. Then the mistakes started pouring in, leading to Phillip Danault and Gabriel Vilardi converting just over five minutes apart to even things up at 2-2 entering the third period.

While things were close for the rest of Game 2, Klim Kostin tallied the eventual game-winner early in the third while the Oilers held on for dear life for the remainder of the frame until Evander Kane iced the contest with an empty-netter.

Despite all thats changed for both teams (particularly an Oilers team with powerhouse expectations), this looks a lot like last years series, where Edmonton could not get away with taking Los Angeles lightly.

Draisaitl's even scarier with two working legs

Memorably, Draisaitl kept producing buckets of points while dealing a painful high-ankle sprain during the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. While that sort of work gains plaudits from those who value gutting it out, the sizable scorer must be relishing the added benefits of two healthy wheels. (Or, at least healthy for just about anyone around playoff time legs.)

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McDavids jaw-dropping speed understandably draws plenty of attention in transition, but Draisaitl can break through opposing defenses in his own right. His work on the Oilers first goal of Game 2 was a testament to that. Draisaitl gathered the puck around his own blueline and zipped up the ice before making a tremendous cutback move to set himself up for a powerful shot attempt. Derek Ryan eventually cleaned things up after all the havoc Draisaitl created, giving Edmonton a 1-0 lead 2:34 into the first period.

Being able to change the pace (and angles) so abruptly can really create headaches for a Kings defense thats generally so structurally sound.

More Draisaitl playoff history

Generating slightly more playoff points per game than Mario Lemieux is patently absurd.

Highest career postseason points per game: NHL history (Minimum 30 GP)



Wayne Gretzky 1.84

Leon Draisaitl 1.62

Mario Lemieux 1.61#LetsGoOilers  Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) April 20, 2023

Oilers keep taking careless penalties

In Game 1, the Kings sent things to overtime and subsequently notched the game-winner via the power play. You can complain about borderline calls (and game management earlier when Edmonton was more dominant), but its glaring that the Kings received six power-play opportunities to three for the Oilers. Special teams often make a huge difference in the NHL postseason, but Edmonton didnt draw it up like that.

After dominating the first period where both teams took one penalty apiece, the Oilers took all of the second periods three penalties. Most of those infractions boiled down to poor decisions, particularly a wildly unnecessary puck-over-the-glass by Evander Kane, who was on the penalty kill to boot.

In the second period of Game 2, the Kings didnt ride power-play tallies to erase a two-goal Edmonton lead. However, taking all of those penalties hurt the Oilers flow (including impairing Draisaitls ice time, as he didnt kill penalties during the middle frame).

For better or worse, no penalties were called in the third period. It will be fascinating to see how the whistles go as the scene shifts to California.

Tough goals to accept at a playoff level

If you just take this season (or block everything out except some outstanding past playoff performances against the Maple Leafs), you might look at Joonas Korpisalo as a near-elite option in net for Los Angeles. Korpisalos larger body of work, however, gives the impression of a below-average starter. Stuart Skinner enjoyed some strong stretches for the Oilers, but theres no sense ignoring that the team entered the season expecting Jack Campbell to be their top option.

In other words, you could raise questions about both goalie options. During Game 2, each goalie allowed at least one really rough goal.

You can ding Skinner for the first two goals, especially when he didnt seal the post on this Gabriel Vilardi 2-2 tally. You can see that most clearly later in the video of the goal.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO



 pic.twitter.com/pZE94Kv1QO  x - LA Kings (@LAKings) April 20, 2023

While the Oilers lost that lead on a painful goal allowed, Korpisalo got beat by Klim Kostin in a situation and from a spot where netminders are expected to make the stop.

Klim Shady gets it done  pic.twitter.com/27okhLIk9P  Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 20, 2023

Neither goalies been a disaster, yet its worth watching where their confidence is at as this series goes along. Thats especially true with Skinner, considering how much Jack Campbell struggled this season.
Turki finally summoned the courage last year to come out as gay, but his family's refusal to accept him forced the 20-year-old to seek safety -- and freedom -- outside conservative Saudi Arabia.

Soon after his disclosure, Turki found himself effectively detained by his parents and brothers, confined to a room and barred from attending his university classes.

"When my mother learned of my sexual orientation, she said to me, 'You are not my son,'" he recalled.

"My father and brothers beat me, and I was prevented from going out and meeting my friends for weeks."

LGBTQ rights remain a social taboo in the Gulf kingdom -- the birthplace of Islam governed by an interpretation of sharia law -- even after social changes ushered in by de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The reform agenda has included the sidelining of religious police, the introduction of cinemas and all-night desert raves.

But it has failed to translate into expanded liberties for people seeking to proclaim their gender and sexual identities without fear.

Some LGBTQ Saudis felt they were left with no option but to flee their home country, as Turki did within months of coming out, after saving enough money for an international flight.

"I left in the night and travelled to London for good," he told AFP from his new home.

Now Turki, who asked to be identified by first name only for safety reasons, enjoys "a modest life in a shared flat" that he said, most importantly, is "full of freedom".

- 'Very sensitive' -

Under Saudi law, homosexuality is an offence potentially punishable by death, but rights groups say it is hard to determine the extent to which authorities enforce it.

In its most recent report on human rights in Saudi Arabia, the US State Department said there were "no known prosecutions under these laws" in 2021 "except when individuals posted photos of so-called cross-dressing on social media".

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And in an opinion piece published in Saudi newspaper Okaz, columnist Fahad Deghaither argued earlier this month that while his country opposes such "lack of modesty", homosexuality "has existed since before the emergence of some prophets, and we have not heard of any homosexual held accountable for his behaviour which he did not choose in the first place".

Still, it seems impossible for sexual minorities to feel welcome, with censorship of LGBTQ references in films and even a state media report last year showing a crackdown on rainbow-coloured toys and clothing in shops in the capital Riyadh.

The reported death by suicide of a transgender woman last month after her return to the kingdom has further exacerbated fears.

"Despite the radical social reforms and the electric shock approach (Prince Mohammed) has to soften the social norms in Saudi society," anything related to LGBTQ rights is "very, very sensitive", said Yasmine Farouk of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"It is still an Arab Muslim society within a region where this issue remains a... tense one."

- Escaping 'death' -

Turki, like some other LGBTQ Saudis, sees little hope for change.

"No matter what reforms happen, I can't imagine that society will recognise us," he said.

"We have no place."

Several LGBTQ exiles told AFP the story of Eden Knight, a transgender Saudi woman feared to have killed herself after returning from the United States, showed their concerns were justified.

In a note posted on Knight's Twitter account on March 12, she complained of being "subjected to daily searches" and "berated for being a freak" by her family.

"I have tried killing myself in the past, but... I survived," the note said. "This time, I am done."

Knight has not been heard from since.

AFP has not been able to confirm what happened to her. Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment.

It is "very difficult" for many Saudis to understand transgender identity, said a transgender woman who requested anonymity.

She told AFP she ultimately gave up on being accepted in her home country and travelled to Britain in September after saving enough money.

"My only hope was to leave and start a new life in a country that understood me."

Hind, a Saudi lesbian now based in Wales who asked to use a pseudonym for safety concerns, said fleeing was a matter of survival.

"Exposing our affairs in Saudi Arabia meant death," she said.

Now Hind feels free to share pictures holding hands with her girlfriend, but her fears have not fully gone away: the couple's faces are covered with smiley faces, ensuring no one can recognise them.

bur/th/ami/lb
By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea's position as a nuclear weapons state will remain an undeniable reality as it builds up its forces until military threats from the United States and its allies are eliminated, state news agency KCNA said on Friday.

It was quoting comments by North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in a statement criticising the United States and other Group of Seven countries, following a statement at the end of their meeting in Japan on Tuesday.

The G7 foreign ministers had condemned the North's April 13 test of what Pyongyang said was a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, and urged denuclearisation.

Tension has flared as North Korea has ramped up military activities, and threatened "more practical and offensive" action as U.S. and South Korean forces hold annual spring military exercises it called a rehearsal for "an all-out, nuclear war."

Choe said North Korea's status as a nuclear power was "final and irreversible," and would stay an "undeniable and stark reality" even if Washington and others in the West denied it.

Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons is only intended to guard against U.S. threats, she added, telling Washington to drop its "hostile policy" against the North to ensure its own security.

"We will never seek any recognition or approval from anyone, as we are satisfied with our access to the strength for a tit-for-tat strike against the U.S. nuclear threat," KCNA quoted her as saying.

Choe accused the G7 countries of illegally interfering in North Korea's internal affairs by demanding denuclearisation, saying Pyongyang would respond if they attempted to violate its sovereignty and fundamental interests.

"We will continue to take action measures based on all legal rights granted to a sovereign state until the military threat posed by the U.S. and its allied forces hostile toward us is completely removed," Choe said.

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Seoul's unification ministry, charged with handling relations between the neighbours, denounced the North's statement as "far-fetched," urging it to stop making threats and developing unlawful weapons programmes.

"North Korea will never get what it wants through nuclear and missile development, and it will only become more isolated from the international community," ministry deputy spokesperson Lee Hyo-jung told a briefing.

Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said it was not possible to rule out a major provocation by North Korea ahead of a U.S. visit next week by the South's president, Yoon Suk Yeol, for a summit with President Joe Biden.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Grant McCool, Sandra Maler and Gerry Doyle)
In the evening of April 19, a bright flash was noticed over Kyiv and the Oblast

A mysterious flash lit up the skies over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv late on April 19.

The event was recorded at 9.57 p.m. with Kyiv Oblast at the epicenter of the explosion, the group said.

Initial speculation that the explosion was the result of an old NASA satellite has been replaced with a growing belief that the object was a meteor.

The event is probably related to the entry of a space body into the dense layers of the atmosphere. Information is being clarified, State Space Agency scientists said.

Read also: Kyiv municipal authorities explain bright flash over Kyiv as NASA satellite crash  video

Kyiv City Military Administration chief, Serhiy Popko, said that the flash was not the citys air defenses knocking out enemy missiles, but rather the result of a NASA satellite crash landing on earth.

NASA spokesperson Rob Margetta said the RHESSI satellite, which was expected to re-enter Earth atmosphere that day, was still in orbit when the phenomenon was visible over Kyiv, he told the BBC.

NASA and the U.S. defense department continued to track RHESSI, he added.

The Alpha Centauri, a popular science channel, reported that the NASA satellites orbit did not pass over Ukraine on the evening of April 19 and speculated that the object in the sky was a bolide  a type of meteor.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
G7 foreign ministers vow to address global challenges through collective action

Xinhua) 09:19, April 20, 2023

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during a press conference at the Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the resort town of Karuizawa in central Japan, April 18, 2023. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP/Pool via Xinhua)

KARUIZAWA, Japan, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations on Tuesday vowed to address global challenges, including climate change, pollution, loss of biodiversity, health, and food and energy security, through collective action.

In a communique released after their three-day meeting in the resort town of Karuizawa in central Japan, the top diplomats called on all partners to join in addressing these pressing global challenges and to work together to build a better, more prosperous, and more secure future.

The ministers are also committed to promoting free and fair trade, stating that it is key to resilient and sustainable development for all, particularly the most vulnerable.

"We recognize that free and equitable public access to scientific knowledge is integral to solving global challenges," added the statement.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his G7 counterparts arrived in Karuizawa on Sunday afternoon for the foreign ministerial meeting, in advance of a G7 summit to be held in Hiroshima in May.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
HANOI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam is finding ways to maintain the competitiveness of its investment environment amid concerns that the country would lose its edge as a tax-friendly place when global minimum corporate tax rules take effect, Vietnam News reported on Thursday.

More than 140 countries and territories have signed on to a cross-border tax plan which would allow governments to apply a top-up tax to the minimum of 15 percent on profits that a company has recorded in a foreign country with a lower tax rate.

Vietnam's corporate income tax is set at 20 percent but the government also offers various deductions, exceptions and tax breaks to lure foreign investors.

About 7 percent of 1,015 foreign-invested companies in Vietnam, whose parents will be subject to the minimum corporate tax, may be impacted, said Vietnamese Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc.

The finance minister also estimated that when other countries move ahead with the minimum tax rate, they would be able to collect additional top-up taxes from these businesses worth up to over 12 trillion Vietnam dong (508 million U.S. dollars) when the rules come into force in 2024.

Among those having signed on to the tax deal, South Korea, Singapore and Japan are Vietnam's top source of direct investment pledges and these countries hence would have the largest number of businesses in Vietnam affected by the global minimum corporate tax rate.

"This will present a considerable challenge for us to keep the investment environment competitive," said the finance minister.

Official statistics showed Vietnam has offered a tax rate lower than 15 percent to 335 foreign-invested projects worth over 100 million U.S. dollars in manufacturing and processing industries.

These projects currently account for almost 30 percent of Vietnam's total registered foreign investments inflows, said Dang Ngoc Minh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Taxation.

When Vietnam enacts the global minimum corporate tax agreement, tax incentives would no longer give Vietnam a competitive advantage in attracting foreign investment, he added.

However, the senior tax officer said Vietnam would also have benefits baked into with the minimum tax plan because as other countries enact the rules, they would be taxing the profits of the companies operating in Vietnam, while Vietnam would be missing out on these tax revenues.

Lawmakers have another incentive to implement the tax as they could collect top-up taxes from Vietnamese businesses operating overseas that would otherwise be kept in low tax countries, he added.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a business forum last month said that the government is developing new policies, scheduled for completion this year, in line with the global minimum tax and on the principle of creating a favorable business and investment environment in Vietnam.

Vietnam was named among the world's top 20 host economies for foreign direct investment for the first time in 2020.

Foreign investment pledges in the Southeast Asian country rose 9.2 percent to more than 31 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 before dwindling to 27.72 billion in 2022 due to impacts of the pandemic and a global economic slowdown, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. 
A nursing home employee in Indiana reportedly swiped wedding rings from sleeping residents, officials said.

The 25-year-old woman from Michigan City allegedly pocketed four rings from residents at a La Porte nursing home, according to WVPE.

The thefts occurred over a period of three weeks in January, according to the outlet, citing police.

Two rings were lifted from a woman who said she had not removed them in years, according to WSBT. One of them had been yanked so hard that it caused her finger to bleed, the report said.

Another woman said she had a ring taken that is a family heirloom, according to the outlet.

The employee, who allegedly had been pawning the stolen jewelry, was reportedly caught red-handed when a resident woke up as her wedding band was being snatched, according to 95.3 MNC.

Dear Miss Thief in the Night. One cold February evening, you quietly snuck into my mothers room at the nursing home where she now lives, the daughter of one of the elderly women wrote on Facebook.

As she slept dreaming of her glorious permanent home, she added, you knelt beside my mothers bed, gently took my moms hand, and carefully worked a sparkling diamond ring off her finger!

She then stated that she hoped the employee would return her mothers ring, which is of great sentimental value.

Did you know that hand held mine when I was a child happily skipping down the street next to my mommy? Did you consider that that ring is the last daily touch from my dad from an over 70 years life of love, a reminder of his eternal love to her? she wrote.

The woman has been charged with felony robbery and theft, according to court records.

She has a hearing scheduled for April 21.

A spokesperson for the LaPorte County Sheriffs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

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A Brooklyn woman convicted of trying to kill her lookalike friend with a poisoned cheesecake was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in prison, CBS New York's Jesse Zanger reports.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, was found guilty of attempted murder in February.

Viktoria Nasyrova in undated photo from her Facebook page / Credit: Viktoria Nasyrova / Facebook

Prosecutors said she hoped to kill Olga Svyk with a cheesecake laced with a potentially fatal drug so she could steal Svyk's identity, passport and other documents and return to Russia.

According to prosecutors, Nasyrova visited the Queens apartment of the then-35-year-old victim in 2016, cheesecake in hand. At the time, they strongly resembled each other  both had dark hair and similar complexions  and both spoke Russian.

The district attorney said Svyk ate the cake, then vomited and hallucinated but survived, and evidence led authorities to Nasyrova.

In court Wednesday, Svyk said, "For her, it was an easy thing to try and take the life of another person. It was an easy thing to gain the trust of another person."

After the sentencing, she said, "I wait so many years to say that. ... It feels good."

During sentencing, the judge referred to Nasyrova as extremely dangerous.

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The Oakland Athletics are leaving for Las Vegas. President Dave Kaval announced Wednesday night that the team signed a binding agreement to purchase a plot of land near the Las Vegas Strip, which will be the site of the future ballpark.

For a while we were on parallel paths [with Oakland], but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the As and find a long-term home, Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday. Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed, and we feel theres a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.

The purchase agreement is for 49 acres of land owned by Red Rock Resorts. (The purchase price has yet to be reported.) Kaval said the team plans to build a $1.5 billion stadium with a partially retractable roof that can seat 30,000 people, and other development around the stadium  such as restaurants, shops and a movie theater  could be constructed later.

The Oakland A's will become the Las Vegas A's sometime in the next few years. (Photo by Cody Glenn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Its really exciting to have a site, Kaval told the Review-Journal. Weve spent almost two years doing our due diligence, working with community leaders, elected officials and everyone in town to really determine a location that could be a win for the As as well as the community and public officials.

Oakland mayor Sheng Thao didn't share Kaval's excitement.

"I am deeply disappointed that the As have chosen not to negotiate with the City of Oakland as a true partner, in a way that respects the long relationship between the fans, the City and the team," Thao said via Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle. "The City has gone above and beyond in our attempts to arrive at mutually beneficial terms to keep the As in Oakland. In the last three months, weve made significant strides to close the deal. Yet it is clear to me that the As have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game  the fans and our residents deserve better.

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"I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished as a City, including securing a fully entitled site and over $375 million in new infrastructure investment that will benefit Oakland and its Port for generations to come. In a time of budget deficits, I refuse to compromise the safety and well-being of our residents. Given these realities, we are ceasing negotiations and moving forward on alternatives for the redevelopment of Howard Terminal.

Velena Jones, a reporter for NBC Sports Bay Area, asked the mayor Thursday if there was anything the A's asked for that the city of Oakland wasn't able to give them. Thao answered with three words: "A blank check."

The Athletics' long stadium saga

The A's have been struggling in Oakland for years due to a crumbling stadium (RingCentral Coliseum) that's nearing its 60th birthday, a team that has frequently been at the bottom of the standings and an owner who hasn't been willing to provide the team the resources it needs to climb out of the basement. The stadium itself has been less-than-welcoming for the past decade, with reports of overflowing sewage and decrepit visitor's facilities coming from ballplayers.

Not surprisingly, fans weren't too keen to spend money on a trip to the Coliseum. Attendance was on the low side prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but once fans were allowed back into ballparks in 2021, they stayed away from Oakland in droves. Average attendance for 2021 and 2022 was fewer than 10,000 fans per home game, at least in part due to an ongoing boycott by some of the team's local fans.

Attendance hasn't improved with the start of the 2023 season. On April 4, their fifth game of the season, the A's drew 3,407 fans. The same night, 11 Triple-A teams had more fans in their ballparks (some twice as many) than the A's did.

Negotiations for a new ballpark in Oakland, which would be part of the $12 billion Howard Terminal project, have been ongoing for several years. The project features a new ballpark on the waterfront, but the city of Oakland approved its version of the project in July 2021 without input from the A's, who had multiple issues they wanted worked out.

Commissioner Rob Manfred, who made a new A's ballpark one of his main priorities, gave the team permission to pursue Las Vegas stadium sites in May 2021. With the Howard Terminal stadium still in limbo, the A's began focusing on Vegas in earnest. According to the Review-Journal, they identified more than 20 possible stadium sites before deciding to focus on areas near the Strip.

When will the Athletics' new ballpark open?

Currently, there is only a loose timeline for the A's to move to Vegas, though the team is working against the clock. MLB set a deadline of 2024 for the A's to get their stadium deal finalized, as that's when their stadium lease runs out for RingCentral Coliseum. But because it appears that a deal is in the offing, it's likely the A's will extend their lease for several years until they can relocate to their new stadium.

There are still several obstacles to be traversed, such as getting 75% of other MLB owners to approve the relocation, but if all goes according to plan, Kaval estimated that the organization could break ground on a new stadium in 2024 and open for the first Vegas season in 2027.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the so-called governor of Russian-occupied Sevastopol in Crimea, reported that the occupying authorities of the city made a final decision not to hold a Victory Day parade on 9 May.

Source: Russian Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti

Quote: "The Ministry of Defence made a decision not to hold a parade in the city of Sevastopol so all plans of preparation for this event will be reconsidered."

Details: At the same time, the head of the occupying administration calmed the public by saying celebrations will be held in the city, mainly in the format of "memory parades" near houses of the veterans.

Background:

On 12 April, Sergey Aksionov, the so-called head of Crimea and subordinate of the Kremlin, reported that the Labour Day demonstration on 1 May and the Victory Day parade will not be held on the occupied peninsula this year. Yet back then Razvozhaev claimed that "the decision about cancelling the military parade on 9 May in Sevastopol has not been made", and that the occupying authorities were consulting the Russian Defence Ministry.

Before that, the governors of Kursk and Belgorod oblasts in Russia decided to cancel Victory Day military parades on 9 May to "not provoke the enemy" with concentration of military personnel and equipment.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
As deadly clashes erupted in Sudan between the army and paramilitary troops in April 2023, images emerged online alongside a claim that they show fire razing an oil pipeline in Port Sudan. But this is false: AFP Fact Check found the photos were old and unrelated to the unrest in the country. There were no reports of a fire affecting the pipeline as of April 20, 2023.

Sudan oil pipelines that carry South Sudan oil have been razed down by locals in Port Sudan as fighting intensifies across the country, reads the post published on Facebook on April 15, 2023.

It features two pictures showing what looks like a huge fire at an oil pipeline and a leak from a massive pipe.

Screenshot showing the false post, taken on April 19, 2023

Sudan conflict

Port Sudan is the countrys main seaport (archived here). It has a petroleum refinery and a pipeline that transports oil to Sudans capital Khartoum.

There have so far been no reports (archived here) of Port Sudans oil infrastructure being damaged since the fighting broke out.

The clashes erupted on April 15 after a weeks-long power struggle between two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Burhan and Daglo disagreed over the planned integration of the RSF into Sudan's regular army -- a key condition for a final deal aimed at resuming the countrys democratic transition.

Gunfire, missiles and airstrikes have characterised the deadly unrest (archived here).

The conflict derails an internationally backed plan for a transition to a civilian democracy four years after the ouster of former Sudan president Omar al-Bashir through mass protests.

But the pictures do not show a recent oil pipeline fire in Sudan.

Old images

Using reverse image searches, AFP Fact Check found that the two pictures were from unrelated events and have been online for more than a decade.

The pair of images appear on the iStock photo archive here and here (archived here and here).

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The first image, which was uploaded to iStock in 2006, also appears in the Getty Images archives (archived here). On both Getty and iStock, it is credited to jccommerce and described as a leaking fuel pipe, without further details.

Screenshot showing the original image on the Getty Images photo archive

The second image was uploaded on iStock in 2010, where it is described as showing an oil leak from a tanker. It is credited to ferdinandas, with no further details.

Screenshot showing the original oil leak image on the iStock photo archive

AFP Fact Check contacted iStock for clarification about where the images were taken. We will update this article in case of response.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department have arrested one person in connection with a shooting incident that happened on Ocean Boulevard on Saturday.

Edward Arnell Williams Jr., of Charlotte, North Carolina, was charged with attempted murder, discharging a firearm into an occupied motor vehicle and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Williams was denied bond Thursday morning by a judge in Charlotte. He is awaiting an extradition hearing Friday at 9 a.m.

This arrest is the direct result of the willingness of our visitors and citizens to cooperate with our police department by sending in video and other information to our investigators, Chief Amy Prock said in a release sent Thursday. Cases like this prove to our community that we will seek out those individuals who wish to do our community harm and hold them accountable.

The Violent Criminal Apprehension Team from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department aided in the arrest.

The shooting occurred on 12th Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Its not clear if anyone was injured.

The Myrtle Beach Police Department said they are seeking additional traffic-related charges for the driver of the pick-up truck involved in the incident.
NEW BEDFORD  An elderly man has died as a result of a fire Thursday afternoon at 260 Chestnut St. in the city's West End that also resulted in three others being hospitalized.

The fire appears to have started on the second floor of the single-family home at the corner of Chestnut and Robeson streets at 1:40 p.m. The Fire Department was alerted to the fire by 911 calls, according to fire officials.

Upon arrival, crews found a fire heavily involved in the second floor. Engines 1, 7, 8, Ladders 1 and 4, made entry into the building through the windows on Robeson Street and also by an interior stairway. Upstairs, the crews rescued two elderly residents, a man and woman, who were trapped in a bedroom. They were both transported to St. Luke's Hospital where the man was pronounced dead. At last update from fire officials, the woman was in critical condition.

New Bedford fire respond to a fire on the second floor of a single family residence at 260 Chestnut Street Thursday. Four people were removed from the building and taken to St. Luke's Hospital. Fire officials confirm one of the residents has died.

Two other adults were able to escape. New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger on Thursday told reporters a total of four people were transported to St. Luke's Hospital, including the deceased, two said to be in critical condition, and one in serious condition.

New Bedford fire respond to a fire on the second floor of a single family residence at 260 Chestnut Street Thursday. Four people were removed from the building and taken to St. Luke's Hospital. Fire officials confirm one of the residents has died.

Kruger confirmed the smoke alarms in the house were functioning properly at the time, and said they were what first alerted the occupants of the fire. Kruger also said firefighters found an open dog crate in the house, but hadn't yet located a pet.

According to a press release from the New Bedford Fire Department, the American Red Cross of Massachusetts assisted five displaced residents.

State Police document the scene of a fire at 260 Chestnut Street in New Bedford. Four people were removed from the building and taken to St. Luke's Hospital. Fire officials confirm one of the residents has died.

A look back at the March 28 fire: Officials release cause of deadly New Bedford rooming house fire. Here's where it started

Mayor Mitchell on scene of deadly New Bedford house fire

"This is happening entirely too often," said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell at the scene Thursday. "The fire department did another fantastic job responding to this fire. ... It is pretty evident that their quick response did make a difference here."

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Mitchell also commended New Bedford police, EMS, and New Bedford Emergency Management. The Fire Department later added that the Special Signal Fire Association/Providence Canteen also responded to the scene.

Officials weigh in: Did New Bedford drop the ball on fire code enforcement of rooming house?

Fire marshal: Have a home escape plan

We dont yet know exactly how this fire started, but we do know that most fire deaths take place at home, said State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey. In addition to working smoke alarms, every household should have a home escape plan. Create a plan that includes two ways out, and practice both of them so you know what to do and where to go in an emergency. Remember that older adults face the greatest risk of death or serious injury in a fire and may need assistance getting out quickly.

What to do in a fire: These lesser known fire safety tips could help save your life

Cause of Chestnut Street fire under investigation

The fire does not appear suspicious, but the exact origin and cause are under investigation by the New Bedford Fire Department, New Bedford Police Department, the State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshals office, and State Police assigned to the Bristol County District Attorneys office.

New Bedford rooming house fire kills two

The Chestnut Street fire was the second deadly fire in less than a month. On March 28, a fire that destroyed a rooming house at 1301-1307 Acushnet Ave. resulted in two deaths.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford house fire kills one, three others injured
A fire tore through a New Bedford home Thursday afternoon killing one person and leaving three people in critical condition, fire officials said.

This is a devastating tragedy for a whole family, said Chief Kruger. Our thoughts are with them and their loved ones right now.

Firefighters were called to a two-story home on Chestnut Street where two people were trapped on the second floor with flames shooting out of the windows. Crews used ground ladders to make entry through windows and up an interior stairway where they rescued one man and one woman from a second-floor bedroom.

Both victims were transported to a hospital, where the man was pronounced dead while the woman is in critical condition.

Two other adults were able to escape the building and were also transported for serious injuries.

The home had working smoke alarms, which may have helped prevent an even greater tragedy, said Chief Kruger.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known and remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshals Office.

The American Red Cross of Massachusetts is assisting five displaced residents.

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

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Half a year ago, Gleb Karakulov was a captain in the Federal Protective Service (FSO) of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He worked as an engineer providing secure communications for the Kremlins despot

In mid-October 2022, Karakulov fled from Kazakhstan while Putin was visiting the capital of Astana.

Karakulov is the most senior intelligence officer to have fled Russia and denounced the war since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine,. As a result, a criminal case has been brought against him in Russia for desertion.

Ilya Rozhdestvensky from the Russian project Dossier Center interviewed Karakulov in December 2022. Rozhdestvensky gave an interview to Radio NV about the details of Putins life he managed to learn.

NV: I want to ask you about Gleb Karakulov. How did you find him?

Rozhdestvensky: We found him when he escaped from Astana. On the last day of his trip with Vladimir Putin, he fled Kazakhstan, boarded a plane, and flew to Istanbul. He wanted to convey his opposition to the war to the widest possible audience  to the people of Russia, his colleagues in the FSO, and other military officers. So he wrote to various media outlets, trying to get his message out, to say that the war is a crime and what Vladimir Putin is doing is terrible.

The Dossier Center was connected with Mr. Karakulov by human rights activists from the Avtozak LIVE project, for which we are very grateful. Then we helped him with this interview to convey his position.

Read also: FSO officer defects, condemns Putins war, and spills some secrets about the dictator

NV: The Dossier Center staff reportedly spent 10 hours with him. I understand that your conversation was part of this. What impression did he make on you?

Rozhdestvensky: We spent quite a lot of time with him, speaking several times in November and December 2022 for a total of over 10 hours. We must admit that during this time we rather liked him. And as a human being, I probably even sympathize with him.

He said that his motivation partly stemmed from having a small child, a daughter who is now three or four years old. And he does not want her to grow up in a country at war, where children are turned into zombies. As a young father myself, his concern for his child resonated with me.

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Of course, we did not take his words completely on faith. We checked absolutely everything he said. We checked every detail of his story, checked his documents, and verified his biographical details using various databases, social networks, and a variety of other sources. And before publishing all this, we conducted a full fact check. I've been doing this for several weeks. Now we are sure that what he said is true and that he is speaking sincerely.

NV: He talks about how his colleagues from the Federal Security Service feel about the war. There are several rather vivid quotes of them discussing the details of what is happening in Ukraine. Why didn't he come to the same conclusion as his colleagues that this was just not his business?



Rozhdestvensky: He talks about this at the beginning of the interview. On February 24, he sat utterly dumbfounded and in shock. He did not expect that there would be a full-scale invasion. It was a turning point for him. At that moment, he had already decided for himself that everything was over with this work.

Read also: Russia claims Putin visited occupied territories in Kherson and Luhansk oblasts

In addition, he says that he served for 13 years in the FSO, one of the most insular Russian special services, perhaps even more closed than the notorious FSB. During his service, he saw many things that made him doubt official state positions. He saw things that made him realize that the state was doing something wrong.

He saw the referendum in Crimea in 2014. He believes that its results were fictitious. The population of Crimea was not going to vote that way, and they were not rushing to become part of Russia, as it was drawn up on paper. He saw corruption by the Russian state, with incredible amounts of money spent on officials' private lives, including Vladimir Putin. In principle, he was already ready for the fact that this work had to be gradually ended.

Read also: Russia is losing the energy war as Putins winter gas attack backfires  opinion

He thought he would see himself through until retirement. Military members dont have to wait very long before retirement in Russia. He had, as he says, only two years left. And he is almost my age. He is now 34 and will soon be 35.

In any case, February 24 last year was a turning point for him, and he decided that he needed to end his service then and there. He then tried to convince his wife that the time had come. Finally, they came to an understanding of what their plan of action would be. Then the government declared mobilization, so he would have gone to the front if he had just quit. And so he came to this escape.

Maybe he is now in a little more danger than if he had just remained as an officer of the FSO, if he had continued to perform his official duties.

On the other hand, he says in this interview, his lower-ranking colleagues, who are from the regional divisions rather than the central office of the FSO, have been sent to war to run secret communications for the generals and command staff of the Russian army.

On one of his last trips to Russia, he says his colleagues showed him photographs of destroyed special communications systems and their destroyed crews. His FSO colleagues have died in this war. So there is probably not a zero probability that he could have been in their place at some point.

NV: At the same time, we see that the security men around Karakulov idolize Putin, call him the boss, repeat propaganda cliches, and talk about how happy they are about what is happening. Where does the security forces' loyalty to Putin come from?

Rozhdestvensky: The Russian state has been working for many years to increase loyalty among the ordinary population, ordinary citizens, and especially among those in power structures like law enforcement agencies and military structures. And the FSO is a military structure.

Read also: Russian sociologist explains when Putins entourage may overthrow him

There are a few points here. On the one hand, propaganda has been working for years. Free media have been banned in Russia for years, leaving only state-controlled publications  mainly federal television  as the only source of information.

On the other hand, these structures are quite selective. In this situation, its a rather negative sort of selection. Selected military personnel are ready to carry out orders and obey the authorities, who are themselves subordinate to Vladimir Putin. They do not question the orders of these authorities, and do whatever they are told.

But there is another crucial point. It seems to me that when the people of the FSO  which has dealt exclusively with Putin for over 20 years  communicate with each other, they cannot afford much frankness.

Thus it was with Mr. Karakulov. Despite the fact that he was so sure of his opposition to the war that he risked his life and those of his family members and abandoned everything they had in Moscow to run away to nowhere, he never mentioned that he was against the war to any of his colleagues. He could not afford such frankness.

I think that even if some of his colleagues do not support this war, they cannot allow anyone to talk about it. At best, they will simply be fired and deprived of all possible material benefits. Worse, they will be put before a tribunal, a court-martial, and more. There are now many laws in Russia that allow you to lock up a person for a very long time.

Therefore, he says that the mood in the FSO is gung-ho, jingoistic, and z-patriotic. But we must make some allowance for the fact that people cannot be frank with their colleagues in this organization.

NV: Russia has already launched an app called Moy Donos (My Denunciation) for completely anonymous denunciations. Why did I talk about the security forces, that even in the smoking room, they do not discuss any oppositional thoughts?[5] We heard very different things from that private conversation between music producer Iosif Prigozhin and Azeri-Russian businessman Farhad Akhmedov. Can we imagine that in their kitchens, these FSO officers are actually telling the whole truth?

Rozhdestvensky: Perhaps, but it is impossible to guess what percentage of intelligence officers can do this, or which of them are ready for more decisive action like leaving the country, speaking out after their escape, or making an attempt on Putin. And that is if there even are such people, or if there are those murmuring amongst themselves that the war is a crime and should never have happened.

NV: At some point, you discuss the most burning topic with Mr. Karakulov: rumors about Putin's fatal illnesses. What does he say about this?

Rozhdestvensky: Karakulov tells us many things which we had known only by indirect evidence, or based only on anonymous sources, or which we did not know.

For example, he confirms that Vladimir Putin has palaces and he has a relationship with Alina Kabaeva. I wont spoil the rest, so your listeners can watch the interview on our YouTube channel.

Read also: Putin personally approved arrest of WSJ reporter

There are a lot of rumors about Vladimir Putins health  that he is terminally ill, that he has back problems, and that doctors constantly trail him. Karakulov offers only indirect evidence on the state of Putins health, but it is nonetheless very important.

Karakulov worked in an FSO field unit. He worked on providing special communications for the president during travel. For 13 years, Karakulov took more than 180 of these trips with the FSO. In 13 years, one or two of these trips have been altered by Putin being ill. Perhaps they ran back-to-back.

Accordingly, we can assume that Vladimir Putin is actually as healthy as a horse. Because if a person falls ill just once or twice in 13 years, then we can only be envious of his health.

In addition, Karakulov tells us that Vladimir Putin regularly undergoes medical examinations. About once a year, he goes to the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. There, he undergoes a full examination. The conclusion from this is very simple: his health appears to be better than that of most people his age, and there appears to be no basis to believe he will soon leave us for natural reasons.

NV: Karakulov confirmed that he had never seen Putin with a mobile phone, that he does not use the Internet, and that everything is brought to him in folders. Access to three or four Russian television channels is mandatory anywhere he is hosted. From this, we can also draw the rather unsurprising conclusion that he lives in a fantasy land and believes what is broadcast by Russian propaganda. He gets confirmation from what he sees on Russian television, which he never goes anywhere without.

Rozhdestvensky: Yes. He focuses on analytical notes and reports that intelligence officers  perhaps Karakulovs own colleagues  bring him. And, yes, he may not be the only viewer of several Russian federal TV channels, but he is the most important one.

According to Karakulov, Putin lives in an information vacuum. He has been in constant quarantine for more than three years. People sit in isolation for several weeks for a 10-minute appointment with him. He constantly moves between his residences as discreetly as possible using an armored train.

Read also: Erdogan says Putin may come to Turkey in late April

His entourage was never large, but it has become even narrower. There are fewer and fewer people in his orbit. He is guided by the words of literally a few of his closest adviser friends and what is sent to him by the special services, which, of course, want to look as good as possible in his words. And then, after reading these reports from the special services, he listens to speeches on Russian federal television channels, which are also dictated by what Russian officials broadcast from above to national television.

Yes, he is in an information vacuum. He lives in his own world.

NV: Karakulov has a message for his colleagues, calling upon them to share information. There have been several people from various elements of Russian authority that have spoken out. What do you think we will be able to see in the next year from the security forces?

Rozhdestvensky: To be an editor at Channel One like Marina Ovsyannikova or a banker and oppose the war is significantly easier. Being just anyone and speaking out against the war, even working for the Russian state before, is much easier and safer than being a Russian security official and speaking out against the war.

The Russian state has a very special approach to law enforcement officers, especially to employees of military departments and special services. They are perceived as traitors. They can be hunted down worldwide with ice axes, and in modern times with vials of Novichok poison. And then they smear whole British cities with Novichok poison.

Read also: German ambassador confirms that Putin would be arrested if he entered Germany

This is the reason why the interview is coming out only now, even though it took place at the end of last year. All these months, we waited for him to be able to hide, to hide his family, so as not to become the subject of tragic news.

Thus, one should not expect much from Russian law enforcement agencies. I assume that there is some  likely a tiny  percentage of them who oppose Russian aggression in Ukraine. But we shouldnt expect them to start fleeing or giving interviews en masse and urging their colleagues to follow them in opposing Putin.

Karakulov is not only calling upon people to speak up and complete my story. He is saying, Go to Putin and stop this war. I partly see this as him suggesting that they take a forceful approach to solving this issue and kill the president. You could see it that way.

But overall, it seems that we can hardly expect other Russian special services and law enforcement agency employees to behave the same way as Karakulov. For them, the threshold to exit from this story and the price of this escape is very high. They could simply be killed, and in a rather cruel and harsh way. Revenge would be taken not only on them, but also on their relatives. It is unlikely that many of them are ready for such sacrifices. But let's hope for the best.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Courtney Clenney, the OnlyFans model accused of killing her boyfriend Christian Obumseli, also used racial slurs while the couple was in the midst of a heated argument, a newly-released audio recording reveals.

Clenney, who is heard using the N-word, appeared to be angry because Obumseli said hello to a woman they knew while riding a bicycle, TMZ reported.

Obumseli recorded several of the couples arguments in the months before his death. Police recovered the recordings after it was first obtained by the Miami Herald.

The audio also reveals Clenney saying man up, bitch, threatening to slap Obumseli and demanding for him to find her phone.

Clenneys lawyer, Frank Prieto, continued to speak up for his client after the recording became public.The evidence makes it very clear the two were in a toxic and dysfunctional relationship, from which Courtney had asked for help from both police and her family to leave, Prieto told TMZ. Shes not going to trial for her lifestyle, her previous arguments, or recorded rants. She is going to trial for defending herself against a violent struggle with her ex-boyfriend for which she feared for her life; Courtney is a victim of domestic abuse.

As Blavity previously reported, the OnlyFans model is charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing and killing her boyfriend. Obumselis family is suing Clenney, as well as the luxury Miami apartment where the stabbing took place and its security team, for negligence related to his death.
BRUSSELS, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Hainan free trade port (FTP) in southern China "is a national strategy and a will of the Chinese government to promote high-quality opening and opportunities to the rest of the world," said a China trade representative here on Thursday.

Zhao Feng, deputy chief representative of the Representative Office in the European Union (Belgium) of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), made such comments to Xinhua on the sidelines of a ceremony to present the port's assets.

The port offers incentives to the global business community, such as a low tax rate, high-tech transportation and industry, and highly qualified personnel.

China released a plan for the port in 2018, aiming to turn the island province into a top-tier FTP with global influence by mid-century. Over the past five years, the free trade zone in Hainan has made significant progress in liberalizing and facilitating investment and trade.

The example of the Belgian company PB Leiner, which has been operating in China since October 2022, is indicative of the benefits of the Hainan FTP.

"The reason we went to Hainan is that there is a large base for aquaculture, especially tilapia," explained Wim Poot, executive vice president of PB Leiner and producer of gelatin and collagen from pigskin, beef and fish.

China is a large market with "less political risk." "It's a guarantee of stability, and for someone who wants to invest, it's a guarantee of security," he said.

The Hainan free trade zone enables foreign companies "to produce in China, and not only for China, but also to export to other countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and also to North America and Europe," said Poot.

The ease of doing business, the availability of workers are advantages the port offers. "Even in Europe or North America we still have problems finding employees and workers, but we have not had this problem in Hainan," said Poot.

Since its establishment in 2018, the Hainan FTP has offered many enviable prospects for commerce and free trade with the rest of the world. As of January 2023, Hainan had exempted nearly 3 billion yuan (436 million U.S. dollars) of import duties for the goods subject to zero tariffs as well as for the processing trade. 
Im Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.

For months, the Federal Trade Commission has asked the public to share thoughts on the agencys proposal to ban noncompete agreements from workers contracts. People submitted thousands of comments, all of which can be read here.

The potential ban has proven controversial, nationwide and in North Carolina. Business advocacy groups like the NC Chamber say it is misguided and a legal overreach. Others strongly agree with the FTC, arguing noncompetes suppress workers wages and competition by unfairly limiting peoples ability to find new jobs.

The agreements are prevalent in health care, tech, manufacturing ... everywhere.

Im glad that a lot of these noncompete issues are coming to light because they really do severely limit our ability to move around, one UNC Health physician in Cary said. We dont have any proprietary information. Were just workers, physicians for the most part, so I think its kind of silly.

Multiple employment lawyers told me most of their clients werent aware they had noncompete restrictions in their contracts.

These restrictions can be expansive in scope. In Western North Carolina, for example, Harrahs Cherokee Casino Resort limits departing employees from working for any competitors within 600 miles of the casino. For context, Raleigh is about 300 miles away.

Other clauses by North Carolina employers limit workers from joining competing firms anywhere in North America  or in the entire world for a period after their employment ends. However, these geographically broad limitations dont always hold up in North Carolina court.

Bandwidth is one of several Triangle businesses, along with Wolfspeed, IQVIA, UNC Health and Prometheus Group, that uses noncompete agreements to limit where employees can work for a period of time when they leave the company. The Federal Trade Commission is considering banning noncompete agreements in all workplaces. Bandwidth declined to comment.

Wolfspeed fined for fatal accident, parents satisfied with citations

Last week, the North Carolina Department of Labor released its initial findings into the Oct. 13 accident at the semiconductor chip manufacturer Wolfspeed that killed a 45-year-old Durham native named Vincent Farrell.

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The department cited Wolfspeed with two serious violations that carry a combined penalty of $27,554. Under state law, the maximum penalty for a serious violation is $14,502. The penalties are in no way designed to make up for loss of life, NCDOL spokesperson Erin Wilson said in a statement.

Farrells parents have reviewed the citations and the initial investigation into their sons electrocution. Bryant Farrell, Vinces father, said they were satisfied after seeing the violations.

Wolfspeed will now decide whether to pay the fine, appeal the findings or request an informal conference with the state.

We are currently engaging with NCDOLs OSH division to discuss the citation(s) issued, and we expect those conversations to continue over the next several weeks, Wolfspeed spokesperson Melinda Walker told The News & Observer.

Patricia Farrell of Durham holds up memorial plaque of her late son, Vincent, who died while at work at Wolfspeed.

Fewer tech jobs for the taking

Open tech jobs are becoming more difficult to find, in North Carolina and the Triangle specifically.

Between March 2022 and March 2023, IT job postings fell by half, according to the industry group North Carolina Technology Association.

Its a bit of a shock to see the March IT job postings at half the March 2022 level, said NC Techs Andrea Fleming in a statement. But its important to note first that 2022 was a record-setting year for IT job postings.

There are still thousands of jobs available. In the Triangle, there were 6,767 available tech jobs in March, down from 14,189 openings in March 2022:

IT Jobs by month in Triangle

Short Stuff: Indian ambassador in town, Stein sues Google, REI seeks union

The Indian Ambassador to the United States was in the Triangle on Thursday, attending the US-India Business Connection event in Morrisville. The governor also stopped by to make remarks. Morrisville is home to a rich Indian-American community, which comprises about a third of the towns population.

Not only are Indian-Americans one of the fastest emerging demographics of small business owners in this region, these business owners are bringing diversity and inclusion as well as growth in manufacturing jobs, innovation and investment, Morrisville council member Steve Rao told The News & Observer.

This week, VinFast shipped its second batch of electric vehicles to North America, and on Wednesday, Gov. Cooper was in Lee County to promote the states workforce partnership with the Vietnamese automaker that is building its first U.S. assembly plant in North Carolina. Cooper test drove a VinFast SUV model.

IBM posted quarterly earnings this week, and Raleighs Red Hat (which IBM owns) grew its revenue by 11%.

N.C. Attorney General (and gubernatorial candidate) Josh Stein is part of a coalition of state AGs suing Google for allegedly maintaining a digital advertising monopoly.

REI workers in Durham filed to unionize last week. If successful, the 37-person staff would be represented by United Food and Commercial Workers. Its the second Durham workforce to file to unionize this year, after Duke Ph.D. students.

National Tech Happenings:

Apple opened its first retail store in India. CEO Tim Cook was in Mumbai to mark the occasion. The tech giant has struggled to gain traction in the worlds second-most populous country.

Sticking with India If artificial intelligence replaces workers (a so-called AI jobpocalypse) no country will be more impacted than India, which is home to an estimated 5 million coders, writes Bloomberg.

The Montana legislature is the first state to pass a ban on personal-use TikTok. The social media company suggested it would challenge the bill in court if it becomes law. Others are doubtful a state ban will be effective.

Thanks for reading!

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This article was originally published in The Conversation.

The National Commission on Excellence in Educations release of a report titled A Nation at Risk in 1983 was a pivotal point in the history of American education. The report used dire language, lamenting that the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.

Using Cold War language, the report also famously stated: If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.

The report ushered in four decades of ambitious education reforms at the state and federal levels. Those reforms included landmark policy shifts like George W. Bushs No Child Left Behind Act, Barack Obamas Race to the Top program and major state reforms in areas including teacher quality, school choice and test-based accountability for schools and teachers. But what is the legacy of A Nation at Risk 40 years after its publication? And what are the implications for school reform in the coming years?

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As a scholar of education who specializes in standards-based reform and accountability, I believe important lessons can be learned about American education by examining what has taken place since the release of the report. Here are three:

1. Education reform has improved outcomes, but progress has slowed or reversed in the past decade

The U.S. has had major challenges with educational performance that long predate A Nation at Risk. One is that too many students are not mastering grade-level material. Another is that not enough are enrolling in and completing college given the benefits of college to individuals and society. Additionally, large gaps exist in both of those areas based on race and ethnicity and income.

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Since the report, students from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups have continuously made achievement gains, and gaps have narrowed considerably since the 1970s  especially in the early grades. Yet low levels of achievement and gaps in achievement remain. For instance, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 34% of fourth graders scored below the basic level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, meaning they werent reading at grade level. Since COVID-19, national assessment results in reading and math indicate the pandemic erased two decades of achievement gains; for instance, in eighth grade math the number of students scoring below basic increased from 31% in 2019 to 38% in 2022.

The nation has also made tremendous progress in outcomes beyond academic tests. For instance, the high school dropout rate has plummeted, dropping from about about 14% around the time of the report to about 6% now. Meanwhile, the proportion of 25-to-29-year-olds with a four-year college degree has doubled to about 38%.

2. The reforms did not address the root causes of the problems

The report spurred four decades of intense reform led by states and the federal government. But these reforms have largely not addressed the major causes of poor educational performance  poverty and other factors outside of school, as well as highly decentralized educational systems that thwart meaningful school improvement.

For example, child poverty is still widespread; many students lack access to quality early childhood education; and many children live in polluted environments that affect their learning.

The result of these factors in the early years is that only about half of children enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn, and even fewer among children from low-income families.

While schools can help lessen these disparities in school readiness between more and less advantaged children, the report failed to look beyond schools for solutions to problems that stem from social inequality.

The narrow view of A Nation at Risk is notable because the widely accepted wisdom of the time, especially among Republicans, and going back to the 1966 Coleman Report, was that schools arent a primary driver of inequality. After all, the Coleman Report found that differences in school resources, like money and books, didnt account for differences in student achievement between more and less advantaged children.

Even the education efforts since the report have not been able to address the structural barriers in U.S. education to large-scale improvement. For instance, in a recent book I show that state and federal policies over the past 30 years that focus on improving schools through better and clearer standards have only modestly improved teaching.

A big part of why standards and other education reforms have failed has to do with the fact that school systems in the U.S. are remarkably decentralized. About 13,000 school districts and their individual teachers exercise substantial control over what actually happens in classrooms. The inability of policymakers at higher levels  such as states or the federal government  to meaningfully change school practice partially explains why other major reforms have failed to achieve real results. Examples include the Obama administrations US$7 billion school turnaround plan and teacher evaluation reforms. In a more centralized system, policies enacted at the state and federal levels could be implemented as intended; that is rarely the case in U.S. education.

3. The political coalitions that brought reform have fallen apart

As on other topics, Americans are highly polarized on education policy. From A Nation at Risk through even much of the Obama administration, many aspects of the education reform agenda had bipartisan agreement. Governors of both parties came together to enact standards and testing reforms that set expectations for student learning and measured student progress against those expectations in the 1980s and 1990s. Congress voted overwhelmingly for the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, calling for more rigorous standards and more frequent testing to drive educational improvement.

And some versions of school choice  especially charter schools  were supported by Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington and nationwide. Even the now-controversial Common Core standards, which aimed to create consistent expectations for student learning in math and English nationwide, were originally bipartisan. That is, they were created and endorsed by leaders from both parties.

This broad reform coalition is no more.

Debates over what to teach children in schools are driving a partisan wedge between schools and parents. Republican states are removing racial and LGBT-related topics from the curriculum. Meanwhile, Democratic states mandate their inclusion.

And expanding choice programs continue to drive down public school enrollment in states across the nation. Over a million students have been lost from public schools, and private school enrollment has increased 4% since the onset of COVID-19.

The result of these trends is that the reform consensus that brought about a broadly national approach to education reform is splintering into red state and blue state versions. I expect red state reform will likely emphasize school choice and a back-to-basics curriculum focused on reading, math and the avoidance of controversial topics. I expect blue state reform will likely emphasize whole-child supports like mental health, social-emotional learning and curriculum that is intended to reflect the culture of the nations increasingly diverse student body.

The problems raised in A Nation at Risk remain as important as they were in 1983. In my view, national leaders need to continue to improve educational opportunity and performance for Americas schoolchildren. Improved education benefits individuals  those with college degrees have longer life expectancies, higher earnings and wealth and even more happiness than those with a high school degree or lower. Education also benefits societies, leading to greater economic growth. But 40 years after the report, policymakers dont seem to have learned the lesson that schools alone wont solve the nations educational problems. And if thats true, the nation remains at risk.

The Conversation

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


Back in 2016, the most moderate Republican candidate in the race was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who lost everywhere except his home state.

Perhaps the most moderate candidate in the GOP field as of this moment is former President Donald Trump.

He established himself as a different sort of Republican beginning in 2015. If you want a Republican who wont cut spending or start foreign wars, he is still your man.

Added to this now is clearly a discomfort with the fight over abortion in the post-Roe environment.

Trumps main line of attack against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is from the left. Hes hitting the Florida governor hard for his past support for reining in Social Security and Medicare. His super PACs ad on this theme is functionally indistinguishable from the countless spots Democrats have run over the years attacking Republicans for even looking at entitlements crosswise.

All thats missing is an image of DeSantis pushing an elderly person in a wheelchair over a cliff, although Trump made a favorable reference to that infamous anti-Paul Ryan ad in a Truth Social post.

Hes also called the governors culture-war clash with Disney so unnecessary and a political stunt, while not entering the fray in the conservative war with Bud Light.

Of course, Trumps personal power is such that hes made loyalty to himself and to his claims that the 2020 election was stolen the standard for being considered right-wing  orthodox conservatives who reject Trump are more apt to be labeled moderates than Trump himself.

The substantive definition of the right is also up for grabs. What is the more right-wing position? Trump saying that hell end the Ukraine war in a day through his personal diplomacy  the kind of naive position once associated with soft-headed Democrats  or a hawk saying that hell continue to arm Ukraine to the hilt? It depends who you ask.

All of this is an indication of how Trump can be ideologically difficult to pin down, which benefited him in 2016  both in the primaries and in the general  and could work for him again.



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The alleged radicalism of Donald Trump has mostly to do with his personal conduct, his outrageous statements, his conspiracy theories and his contempt for norms and rules. None of these are to be dismissed lightly  indeed, they made for a toxic brew after his loss in the 2020 election  but none of them is ideological, either.

In theory, itd be possible to be perfectly polite and support a border wall (in fact, this describes most Republicans), or be in favor of open borders and be just as fond as Trump is of coming up with insulting nicknames for rivals.

If Trump were given a magic wand to move America in his direction policy-wise on his core commitments, and we had a secure border, more tariffs, fewer foreign entanglements, greater domestic energy production, the status-quo on entitlements, and a step toward the center-right and away from what Trump calls the radical-left lunatics on most cultural issues, no one would think he or she were living in a right-wing dystopia  at least not if they didnt know who was wielding the wand.

Its Trumps unique contribution to take an issue mix that could have broad appeal and make it toxic by association with himself.

In the 2016 nomination fight, Trumps approach  getting to the rest of the fields right on some issues (immigration, China) and to its left on others (especially entitlements)  paved his path to the nomination. That road didnt run through self-described very conservative voters, but somewhat conservatives.

Ted Cruz put up the stiffest resistance, but winning the very conservatives, or winning them overall by a relatively small margin (42-36 percent according to an ABC News analysis), wasnt enough for him to overcome Trumps standing with the somewhat conservatives and moderates.

The crucial South Carolina primary illustrated the dynamic perfectly. According to the exit polling, Cruz won very conservative voters, with 35 percent to Trumps 29 and Rubios 19.

Trump won somewhat conservatives, with 35 percent to Rubios 25 and Cruzs 17. And Trump won moderates, with 34 percent to Rubios 23 and Kasichs 21.

In other words, Trump was competitive with the very conservatives while besting the other candidates with the other two factions.

Now, Trump has reversed the poles of his support. Hes most formidable with very conservatives and DeSantis is strongest with somewhat conservatives. The governors strategy of trying to peel off Trump supporters among the very conservative voters by getting to his right on substance, while appealing to the center-right with an electability argument, makes sense in theory.

On the one hand, its possible that Trump, by softening on abortion and other culture-war issues, is doing DeSantis work for him, especially in the crucial early state of Iowa. On the other hand, the governor could lose voters who care about electability if a sense takes hold that his six-week abortion ban, anti-woke educational initiatives and war on Disney go too far for voters in a general election; there are mutterings about this among donors and politicos. Trumps distinctive moderation plays into his counter-electability case  according to the latest Yahoo poll, a majority of Republicans think Trump is a better bet to win a general than DeSantis.

Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue, Barry Goldwater famously said in his signature riff in his 1964 acceptance speech. That may be true enough, but Donald Trump, of all people, is out to demonstrate that it could be a virtue in pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination.
If a Texas judge's interpretation of the 1873 Comstock Act stands, it could ban abortion even in states where it's legal. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled to preserve access to mifepristone, a drug used in half of all U.S. abortions. The decision sends the case back to the lower courts, and the legal battle over U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryks ruling this month to block FDA approval of the drug will continue.

Kacsmaryks attack on the abortion pill is chock full of audacious legal assertions. One of its most alarming aspects is its resurrection of the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law that, if taken to the logical end advanced by antiabortion forces, would make a federal crime out of every abortion performed in America.

Enacted as part of an anti-vice crusade in 1873, the Comstock Act prohibits, among other things, the mailing or interstate carrying of every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion. As Mary Ziegler, a law professor at UC Davis, warned in these pages, Kacsmaryk's Comstock Act interpretation is "explosive" because all such procedures rely "on drugs and devices that might be mailed to clinics, hospitals and doctors offices."

On the Biden administrations watch, the Comstock Act will never be enforced this way. Administration attorneys argue that the law applies only to the mailing of drugs with the intent that they be used unlawfully. Because mifepristone has multiple legitimate uses, the mere act of mailing it to a jurisdiction where abortion is banned is insufficient to show that the sender intended it be used illegally. Such a reading is rooted in nearly a centurys worth of judicial precedent that Congress has never overturned.

But if Kacsmaryks interpretation of the act is allowed to stand, once a Republican is back in the White House, all bets would be off. Abortion, no matter the method, could be criminally punished even where the procedure is legal as a matter of state law.

There is, however, a way to counter Kacsmaryks ruling that would be difficult for even the current antiabortion Supreme Court majority to evade.

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Remember that before last years Dobbs vs. Jackson Womens Health Organization ruling, the right to abortion was protected by two provisions in the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment due process clause recognized abortion as a "liberty" protected against state deprivation. And the 5th Amendment due process clause protected abortion as a "liberty" against encroachment by the federal government.

In upholding Mississippis 15-week abortion ban, Dobbs overturned the 14th Amendment right to abortion. But because no federal law was at issue, Dobbs did not overturn the 5th Amendment right. Quite the opposite: The "history and tradition" test that Dobbs announced strongly suggests that a 5th Amendment abortion right is on firm footing.

Dobbs says that the test for knowing if abortion is a constitutionally protected "liberty" is whether it was "deeply rooted in history and tradition" at the time of the relevant constitutional amendment's enactment. Dobbs asserted that the "most important historical fact" that negated a 14th Amendment right to abortion is that many states banned abortion throughout pregnancy when that amendment was ratified in 1868.

But if that is the correct test, then to decide if there remains a 5th Amendment right to abortion, the court would have to ask about the history and tradition of access to abortion in 1791, when that amendment was ratified. And as Dobbs concedes, at that point in time every single state in the union embraced the quickening rule: Medically safe abortions were punished only if they were performed after the fetus moved in the womb, usually at 16 to 18 weeks in pregnancy.

Under the Dobbs test, then, the centuries-old, uniform tradition of permitting pre-quickening abortion supports a 5th Amendment right to abortion well into the second trimester of pregnancy. And that means efforts by antiabortion forces to ban abortion nationwide via the Comstock Act would be unconstitutional.

Antiabortion advocates might argue that the mere absence in 1791 of state bans on pre-quickening abortion should not create a countervailing right to abortion. But the conservative Supreme Court justices rejected a similar argument in another case last year that hinged on history and tradition, this time with the effect of radically expanding access to guns.

New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. vs. Bruen challenged a New York law that restricted "public carry" to those who could demonstrate a need for self-protection. The Supreme Court held that the 2nd Amendment rendered that law unconstitutional because similar restrictions were not in place during early U.S. history. New York's gun safety law was therefore not consistent with this Nations historical tradition. Already federal courts have applied this rule to extend constitutional protection to eye-opening forms of conduct, including a domestic violence offenders desire to possess a gun, all for the mere reason that states did not enact comparable bans centuries ago.

Yet if the absence of particular gun control laws at the founding means such laws are unconstitutional today, then the absence of any total ban on abortion in 1791 means that such a law would also now be unconstitutional. In other words, either the court can uphold the Comstock Act as a nationwide abortion ban or it can offer sweeping new constitutional protections to gun owners. It cannot logically or consistently do both.

In the end, hand-wringing over the Comstock Act and how the Supreme Court may interpret it is entirely avoidable. Congress can  and should  repeal the 1873 act for many reasons. To the extent the law can be read to block access to safe medication used by pregnant people, it intrudes dangerously on private, medical decisions. Its criminal penalties for abortion are completely out of step with the attitudes and beliefs of the American people.

And by flouting the history of access to abortion at the founding, it is inconsistent with even the current Supreme Courts ultraconservative approach to constitutional rights.

Aaron Tang is a law professor at UC Davis, and a former law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This essay is based on a forthcoming article in the Stanford Law Review. @AaronTangLaw.

Updates:

5:01 p.m. April 21, 2023: This article has been updated to reflect the Supreme Courts ruling on Friday.



This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
President Joe Biden arrives to speak outside St. Muredachs Cathedral in Ballina, Ireland, Friday, April 14, 2023. | Patrick Semansky, Associated Press

President Joe Bidens four-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which began on April 11, has provided overall opportunity to highlight our important, and complex, relationships with both Ireland and Britain. These ties span significant economic, military security and, above all, historical dimensions.

Northern Ireland is geographically part of the island of Ireland, but under the sovereignty of Britain. Together with England, Scotland and Wales, these regions comprise the United Kingdom. The majority of Northern Irelands population is Protestant, while Ireland is overwhelmingly Catholic.

Ireland overall was under British rule until 1921. Independence relieved considerable political pressure, but Northern Ireland has remained a source of tension and  periodically  violence. United States leaders have been influential in efforts to broker and maintain peace, over many years.

Former Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, was central to the successful peace negotiations. On St. Patricks Day in 1977, Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Pat Moynihan, D-N.Y., joined with fellow Democrats Gov. Hugh Carey of New York and U.S. House Speaker Tip ONeill of Massachusetts in urging Irish-Americans and others to stop sending money to violent groups.

Bidens successful trip has reflected both these political and more personal dimensions. The president addressed an enormous audience at a cathedral in County Mayo, where his family has strong roots. Over the years, he said, stories of this place have become part of my soul, part of my family lore. During a visit to Knock Shrine, Biden had the opportunity to talk with former Father Frank OGrady, a retired U.S. Army chaplain who gave last rites to his late son Beau Biden.

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Former President Bill Clinton arrived on April 14 for celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, that ended the sectarian violence that had plagued the territory  and both Ireland and Britain  from the late 1960s.

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The understanding, actually two agreements, signed on April 10, 1998, involved the details of power sharing among Northern Irelands political parties and also the governments of Britain and Ireland. Despite challenges and occasional crises, this historic peace accord overall has held. Biden made a point of visiting with five leaders from the main political parties of Northern Ireland.

Events related to Northern Ireland reach well beyond the province. Britain after a long ordeal implemented Brexit, departing the European Union. Ireland remains a staunch EU member. Britain is a military power within NATO, while Ireland is a neutral nation.

Wider relationships may prove crucial. The Group of Eight nations held a summit in Northern Ireland in June 2013. Members emphasized economic cooperation. The venue selected also underscored progress toward peace.

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The Northern Ireland summit also reconfirmed commitment to wider strategic cooperation. The participants agreed to work to ensure negotiations to end the Syrian civil war became an urgent priority.

Britain and the U.S. are historically close military partners. Such alliance began in World War I, and became close, vital and lasting during World War II.

Intelligence operations were important in both wars, and were the initial source of cooperation in the second war, which evolved into our continuing Special Relationship. Current developments in Europe provide sound reasons to reemphasize this cooperation.

Both Britain and Ireland are closely tied to the U.S. in the most human dimension of international relations, immigration. President Biden and former President Clinton have done a fine job of reinforcing these relationships.

Arthur I. Cyr is author of After the Cold War  American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia. Contact acyr@carthage.edu
Armenian Ambassador to the United States Lilit Makunts is interviewed by Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks at the news organizations offices in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 7, 2023. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

It might take a bit of time for a U.S. resident to find Armenia on a map. This landlocked country has Georgia to the north, Turkey to the west and Iran to the south. Its eastern border is with Azerbaijan, where border conflicts and battles over territory have marked both past and recent history.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, named from the border region in dispute, has been sought by both Armenians and Azerbaijanis for decades, and most recently erupted in violence again in 2021. The search for peace, then, is top-of-mind for those from Armenia, including Lilit Makunts, the young Armenian ambassador who earlier this month landed in Utah at the invitation of World Trade Center Utah to build relationships and future opportunity between Utah and Armenia, a country of about 3 million people, similar to Utahs size, if not geography.

Makunts, 39, was born in the Armenian capital of Yerevan and from a young age learned the value of family, faith and the necessity of peace and independence. In a conversation with the Deseret News, we explored the potential opportunities that exist for Utah and Armenia, and her own story as a former minister and now ambassador, based in Washington, D.C., until her term ends.

This interview was conducted in English and has been edited for length and clarity.

Armenian Ambassador to the United States Lilit Makunts is interviewed by Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks at the news organizations offices in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 7, 2023. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Deseret News: What were some of the things that you feel like you were able to accomplish while you were here in Utah?

Ambassador Makunts: Well, my hope is that first of all, we wanted Armenia to be more comprehensible  todays Armenia  to be more understandable for Utah, and to try to explore each other since this is my first visit to Utah, to try to explore each other and what we can do together what we can do more, because theres very little that we are doing together. And we can do more, be it education, science, economy, economic partnership, or trade partnership, or anything else. So the ties need to be strengthened. Thats my understanding. And despite the fact that we have very small diaspora here, I think, well, they can be helpful, too, in terms of, you know, crystallizing those ties.

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DN: My understanding is that Armenia is a country of about 3 million people and you are trying to build your technology sector. Do you see any opportunity to tie with Utahs technology industry?

AM: Absolutely. Well, the first thing when we were exploring Utah, the first thing that we heard is that, you know, is Utah is the tech hub. And given the the ambition of the Republic of Armenia to develop that sphere in our country, given the potential of the young people and the innovative potential. So we think we need to go somewhere with Utah with this, maybe starting with education, maybe starting with startups, but also going beyond that. So hopefully, by the time we plan the trip of the high tech minister to the United States, (we hope we will) also be able to bring the delegation to Utah and see what we can do together. ... Thats an idea. But we if were ever able to take take trade missions from Armenia to Utah, and vice versa, from Utah to Armenia, which does not necessarily mean that we can accomplish things instantly. But at least starting working in that direction would be helpful as well.

DN: Speaking here to an American audience, can you tell us more about what Armenia has to offer, what you bring to the world?

AM: So todays Armenia, despite the challenges, brings a lot of hope and optimism. Its because of the young people. Its because of the commitment to develop the country as a democratic country. Its because of our commitment and ambition to fight corruption. And its because of our ambition to be really sovereign and independent democratic state. So thats one thing.

Another thing is, when Im talking about really high degree of optimism, that first of all refers to the young generation that get a really qualified education. Most of them who decide to take education abroad, for example, their bachelors or masters degree, they choose Western countries. And then they bring that potential back to the country. And that potential needs to be utilized.

Definitely the capacity that we have, in a semi-blockade situation, because our country is in a semi-blockade situation, we have close borders with two of our neighbors, it is very difficult to utilize that capacity. And this is where there is both an opportunity for the country to develop it, but also the opportunity for the partners, potential partners to develop stronger and mutually beneficial partnership. So thats the first thing.

Armenian young people are very prone to technology, high tech field, they like working from their homes, they do work for a lot of companies in the United States living in the Republic of Armenia, so why not try to do that, you know, to use that in a in a different way, and to create opportunities for them and for the country. Also, you know, education is another field that we are very much focused on. The vast majority of the Armenian population has higher education. And by seeing higher education, I mean, at least a bachelors degree. Young women are very much into education and into the banking and business sphere as well. So there is another potential there to explore.

And again, innovation is something that we can focus on. Last May, we launched the first satellite ever of the Republic of Armenia, which is a basic satellite. But I think ... we should move in that direction, and we need education and basic skills, as well. So thats another thing that we can do with Utah.

DN: You mentioned young people several times. You yourself are quite young, and Im sure have become a face of Armenia for the younger generations. What are some of the things they talk to you about? Are there obstacles that theyre having to overcome? Whether it be for education or for employment? What do you see that you need to accomplish to help that younger generation?

AM: Well, I come from the parliament to the United States. So in my previous job (as majority leader from 2019 to 2021), it was my responsibility and obligation to talk more to the people to the voters to the citizens of the republic.

I was back then trying to explore what are the hardships of the people, what kind of conditions we should create for the young people to stay in the country and not emigrate. And one of the things is how (to engage) education and work together. So how to help them to get education, but not deprive them of work at the same time, because most of the work they would be doing requires a full-time job. So they have to start as well. And the education system of the Republic of Armenia is a little bit different, that doesnt allow them to be engaged in full-time working.

So thats thats one of the things and we made certain legislative amendments and adopted trusts that would allow them to get, for example, a masters degree and in certain directions in certain fields, and at the same time work and pay their income tax. So the legislative bill was about the following: We adopted a bill which said those students who, for example, studying high tech  certain subjects  they can pay for their education from their income tax, and that helped them a lot. And we also boosted certain fields and certain spheres that we think that have great potential or are underrated, underestimated.

Another thing was how to support the young families and support the demography of the country, so that they work, they have families, and nothing is done at the expense of the other. So we introduced other bills and other decisions by the government, helping financially with every birth of the kid. That was one time that is one time payment. At the same time, help with the health insurance of all the kids in the country all the time. Young people in the countries starting from the birth till age 18, health insurance, but also covering them and giving them a monthly stipend up to age 8.

So those are the things that were trying to do. But most of them are social packages, lets say this way, so that we help them not to think in that direction. So to help them with their professional growth.

DN: Ambassador, youve been involved as a youth and very young age in your country. Where did you get your interest in politics and in helping your country?

AM: So when Armenia proclaimed its independence, almost every family, every person in the Republic of Armenia was engaged in the independence movement. And my family too. And my father, too. I was very young, I was a kid, I didnt understand much of what was happening. But I saw how excited my family was. And I saw my father with a blanket going to the Freedom Square to the Republic Square, and supporting the independence movement. And we got that independence. So if I dig deeper, where it started from it probably started back then.

And then later, when I was a student at the university, I participated in my first ever youth movement, social movement, which was called in the benefit of science and education. And that movement succeeded. And that movement won the cause that it was preaching for. It was back then that I figured out that, you know, by exercising your rights, and doing it in a peaceful way, it is possible to achieve success. And thats what democracy is. So it was back then the interests that I got engaged in politics, and at the same time doing academia and doing my Ph.D. (in cognitive linguistics).

So starting in 2003, I was participating in basically all social and political movements. And thats where I know the current administration, and then the government was a team back then. So in 2018, the Velvet Revolution happened, a nonviolent revolution, the permanent government was formed, the cabinet, it was for six months. And the prime minister offered me to join the cabinet and become the minister of culture for six months. That was back then.

One of his major goals was to eliminate and eradicate corruption in the country, which was, in my opinion, the basic reason for the nonviolent revolution. And thats why he brought in people who were, who had zero experience in the corruption. ... But that also meant that we had no experience in the state government. So it was a growth process at the same time growing process.

And at the end of 2018, we had snap elections. We got the 72% of votes. And I became the majority leader back then. By the way, the it was the biggest majority in the history of the Republic of Armenia. And then after the war, the government and the prime minister decided that we need to have a political appointee in Washington, D.C. And when we had another snap election, because you want to make sure that the people want the current government to continue the job. And when he got reelected, and the majority party got reelected. Then I came here.

DN: And youve been an ambassador two years?

AM: Almost two years.

DN: Our audiences are a pretty faithful audience, a Christian audience, among others. Can you tell me a little about Armenias faith community. Just learning about its commitment to Christianity, the past apostolic origins, can you talk to me about the faith of the people, and, if youre comfortable, even your own upbringing in that faith, and what we might learn working together with that perhaps as a foundation?

AM: Sure, with pleasure. Well, we are known to be the first nation that adopted Christianity officially. And were very proud of that fact. Were a conservative society. ... Its interesting how its possible to be conservative and progressive at the same time. But this is what you can see in todays Armenia, and how welcoming and diverse the Armenian society at the moment is. ... We cherish our values that we have, we cherish the family values. Family is the most important thing for us.

If it werent for it, for our commitment to the family, dedication to the family, we wouldnt probably be able to survive the way we did. Definitely the church played a big role in this. And thats one of the things I want to underscore here. Because the times when we didnt have independence, the times when we, when we were under attack, our identity was preserved because of those, and due to those dedicated people and clergyman in the church that preserved our alphabet, preserved our literature that preserved our faith and identity and culture and traditions. So thats where the history comes from. And we are, were very grateful for that.

The Constitution separates the church from the state. So they do not rule the country together. Its only the government that rules the country. But we have deep respect for the institution of church for the reasons that I just mentioned. And even today in the diaspora, I mean, back in the Republic of Armenia, its a little bit different in terms of the role, its more about the faith. Its more about the values. And its more about disseminating those values. However, here in the diaspora, the church still takes the role of keeping the identity of reminding people, reminding the Armenians who we are, where we come from, and what our main goal is, what the main mission is.

DN: How would you describe those values?

AM: Well, those values are about tolerance, are about patience, are about humility, are about service, and are about resilience. But resilience not in a negative sense, but in the most positive sense, the kindness. You know, a couple of minutes ago, we were talking about peace. I dont want to talk to about naming conflict, I want to talk about peace.

After the war in 2020, both Azerbaijan had POWs in the Republic of Armenia, and we still have POWs in Azerbaijan, and back then we had even more POWs. So what we said publicly  the government and we as people  we said, you know, humanitarian issues are out of negotiations, humanitarian issues should not be treated, those issues need to be resolved. And as an example of that, we said if we are talking about that, if we think thats the right thing to do, we are going to do that first. And unconditionally, because thats thats a matter of dignity for us. And as a matter of dignity of those people who are under hostage, including from Azerbaijan in Armenia.

We released all the POWs, all of them from all of the years, including the 2020 war, and we resolved all the humanitarian issues regarding the maps and mind maps that would save lives of the future soldiers serving from Azerbaijan. Thats what our values are. And, unfortunately, we didnt get all of the POWs back and we still have 33 POWs confirmed also by Azerbaijan. But but thats how Im depicting what we believe in. And we think that we need to show our own example. What humility is, what kindness is, or tolerance is, what patience is with faithfulness and loyalty. And were a very loyal nation.

Armenian Ambassador to the United States Lilit Makunts looks over a replica of a vintage press with Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks at the newspapers offices in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 7, 2023. Wilks detailed the pioneer origins of Utah, the Deseret News, highlighting some of the shared values expressed by the ambassador. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

DN: Do you have a personal faith that you draw upon as you go about your work?

AM: Well, I am Christian. And Im a follower of Armenian Apostolic Church. And I talk about that with deep pride and respect. And the values that I spoke about, you know, life is so that sometimes you can get distracted. But its important to constantly remind yourself that, you know, those are the values that you need to pursue every day, including during your work, including during the times when you just cant help being that, but you but you have to pursue those values. And those are the times that the church helps. And those are the times that you know, getting together and sharing with each other, reminding each other about them about the values that are important for all of us helps to be focused and not get distracted.
An organization in Charlotte that addresses the affordable housing crisis says maximizing space in the city is a way to get more families into homes.

Channel 9s Elsa Gillis spoke with Tameka Gunn, the president and CEO of the housing nonprofit Community Link, to discuss solutions.

Gunn said space should be maximized as Charlotte continues to grow in population but not in size.

READ MORE: The Carolinas Get Real: Priced out of Charlotte

Theres not going to be any more land out here, but we can maximize by changing the way some neighborhoods look, Gunn said. A lot of neighborhoods are just single-family but if you take a lot and you are able to divide it up and you put in a quadruplex, thats four units on one lot.

That is something Community Link is participating in.

Part of their work is to educate people to become and stay homeowners and to help find safe, affordable housing.

Theyve partnered with a builder to construct six single-family homes in a west Charlotte neighborhood. Two of them have accessory dwelling units in the back, which is a one-bedroom apartment for a tenant.

What happens is, the owner of the home, they own that, Gunn said. But throughout this time, they are getting some ground lease, ground money. They are getting money every single month toward this home, so this is another way to help families build wealth. And again, those types of creative solutions are whats going to be the answer.

Gunn said another significant piece of the puzzle is public transportation.

Priced Out of Charlotte: County-by-County Resource Guide

Many people are moving out of Charlotte, or out of Mecklenburg County for more affordable housing.

What do they do if they work in the city and dont have a car?

Gunn said talking with officials from surrounding towns, cities, and counties about coming together is important.

VIDEO: Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte hosts meeting to discuss affordable housing crisis
Update: On April 20, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed HB 1365 into law.

A concerning trend has emerged at Indianapolis crime scenes.

Semi-automatic handguns have been found modified and given the ability to automatically spray bullets in mere seconds due to a small device inserted in the firearm.

The devices, coined machine gun conversion devices, can be made illegally through 3D printing or shipped from overseas and sold on the street.

Glock switches: 5 questions answered about the devices showing up at Indy crime scenes

The presence of these gun accessories has since skyrocketed and officials are sounding the alarm. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has determined a machine gun conversion device can make a handgun fire 31 rounds in 2.1 seconds.

The devices, commonly called Glock switches or auto sears, are already illegal under the federal National Firearms Act.

Some Indiana lawmakers, however, are hoping to pass a nearly-identical law in the state to target these devices on a local level.

Here's what to know about the bipartisan bill making its way through the Indiana legislature:

What does House Bill 1365 do?

HB1365, authored by Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis, would expand the states definition of machine gun to include conversion devices. If passed, possession of a conversion device would be a Level 5 felony and violators would face a sentence between one to six years.

How would the bill impact crime in Indianapolis?

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said as law enforcement takes more of these devices off the street, the weapons will be handed to investigators, who can test the guns against unsolved homicide and non-fatal shootings.

I think thats a tremendous benefit to everyone in Marion County and will have a direct impact on violent crime because were going to be able to solve more cases, he said.

Right now, theres no clear law on the books defining how prosecutors in Indiana can charge someone who has a firearm with conversion devices attached. Mears said his office has responded by charging people with possessing a machine gun. Since January 2020, the office has filed 78 machine gun possession cases.

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He called the move an admittedly aggressive interpretation of the law.

The bill would give a definitive answer about how to prosecute possession of the devices, he said.

Right now, we are in a position where were defending these charges and certainly having to explain and rationalize in front of the judge in the Court of Appeals to say This is why we believe this fits the current statutory definition, Mears said. (The bill) is going to provide certainty.

How did we get here?

Gore said the dangers of machine gun conversion devices, as well as the ease people can get them, prompted him to file the bill. All anyone needs to get a Glock switch, he said, is $20 and access to a 3D printer.

Though the devices are not machine guns themselves, he thinks the bill matches the spirit of the current law.

When we criminalized the possession of automatic firearms in Indiana, we did not conceive of devices that were seeing on the streets now, he said.

As a deputy for the Marion County Sheriffs Office, Gore said hes keenly aware of these devices' dangers to law enforcement.

They're being outgunned, he said.

Bill on path to the governor's office

The bill, co-authored by two Republicans and a Democrat, passed the Indiana House in a 68-24 vote Feb. 21 and was referred to the Senate.

On March 14, it unanimously passed out of the Corrections and Criminal Law committee.

A message sent to Gov. Eric Holcomb's office about whether he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk was not returned at time of publication.

Whats next?

If the bill does not pass, a court case could limit the Marion County Prosecutors Office's ability to file the cases.

A man in Marion County was charged with possessing a machine gun, but his attorney argued the device was not a machine gun. The issue is now pending in the Court of Appeals, where its ruling could determine how cases are handled if the states law remains unchanged.

Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Bill targets machine gun conversion devices, such as Glock switches
Republican lawmakers in Florida have sparked outrage after passing a bill that LGBTQ advocates say will strip trans children from their parents' custody.

SB254  which one former lawmaker has called "fascist" legislation  would allow the state to rip children from their parents when they are "at risk" or "subjected" to gender-affirming health care. The bill is written so that even a child of Floridian parents living out of state could trigger the law.

I cant believe Im writing this, Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former House lawmaker, and the states first Latino LGTBQ representative, wrote on Twitter last month. This is fascist.

Kara Gross, the legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU in Florida, called the state's assault on trans existence "shameful."

It is shameful that our Florida Legislature continues to pass dangerous bills designed to silence, harm, and erase trans people in Florida," she said in a statement. "These bills directly threaten transgender Floridians fundamental human rights and safety. The Florida Legislatures insistence on targeting trans people is bizarre, unnecessary, unconstitutional, and extremely dangerous."

She said bills like Florida's make it "impossible for transgender people to go about their daily lives like everyone else," and that it invites abuse and hostility from the public.

"This is state sanctioned discrimination against Florida's vibrant trans community," she said.

The Florida legislature approved three bills on Wednesday that aim to eliminate any expression of non-cis, non-hetero expression from public life.

HB1521 is the state's restroom bill, which prohibits businesses from utilising gender-inclusive bathrooms.

SB1438 empowers the state to take punitive measures against businesses that host LGBTQ friendly shows or drag performances. It also gives the state the power to prohibit minors from attending events it deems "inappropriate." Minors will be barred from events even if their parents consent, a policy that flies in the face of Governor Ron DeSantis educational agenda that favors parental consent to an extreme degree.

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If SB1438 is made law, it would also likely mean the end of most Pride parades.

Alejandra Caraballo, a former staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, noted on Twitter today that Treasure Coast Pridefest has already cancelled its parade for this year.

She previously condemned HB254 as a Florida-approved pass for kidnapping trans children.

This is a greenlight to transphobic family members to engage in state sponsored kidnapping, she wrote.

The bills were approved shortly after the state renewed its controversial "Don't Say Gay" law, which prohibits teachers touching on sexual or gender identity issues while teaching young children.
A man was arrested last week after authorities found many stolen firearms in his home.

Crisp County Sheriff officials said on April 12, deputies, Mid-South Special Response Team officers and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a search warrant at a home on Sheppard Drive.

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

Officials secured the warrant after Bibb County Sheriffs Office reported a burglary at Howards Pawn & Jewelry on April 5.

The investigation revealed that the homeowner, 32-year-old Rontavious Jackson of Cordele, had 31 stolen firearms, one additional firearm and several boxes of ammunition.

TRENDING STORIES:

Authorities confirmed that all of the firearms in Jacksons home were reported stolen by Howards Pawn & Jewelry.

Jackson was arrested and charged with 32 counts of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and one count of theft by receiving stolen property.

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I am incredibly proud of our agency and the successful collaboration between our local and federal partners, Crisp County Sheriff Billy Hancock said.

The investigation remains ongoing.

IN OTHER NEWS:
OTTAWA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The international community should continue to keep an eye on the Indian residential school investigation, a Canadian scholar on indigenous archaeology has said.

"The international attention on this issue has been very important," Kisha Supernant, director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology at the University of Alberta, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"To have the ugly history of Canada shared across the globe has spurred more action on this issue than if the news had primarily been focused on nationally. It has also led to an increase in the pace of investigations," said Supernant, who was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves.

In May 2021, the world was shocked when 215 suspected unmarked graves of Indigenous children were identified at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. The actual number of the suspected unmarked graves was later revised to 200.

Recently, another 171 "plausible burials" were uncovered at the site of a former northern Ontario St. Mary's Indian Residential School. As of January 2023, over 2,400 potential unmarked graves have been found at Indian residential school sites around Canada.

Supernant said that the rise in reporting of investigations for unmarked graves is due to several factors.

"First, many of the announcements since May 2021 are the result of years of work undertaken by the First Nations that they had not previously made public. For example, investigations had been underway at the Brandon Industrial School in Manitoba since 2012 and at the Kuper Island Residential School in British Columbia since 2014," said the scholar.

"Second, many Indigenous communities had wanted to undertake this work but lacked access to funding to conduct the investigations. Funding is now available, so many are beginning their searches now," she said.

"Finally, there is a lot more public awareness and support for the First Nations in this difficult work, so the announcements of unmarked graves receive a lot of media attention," Supernant added.

Supernant called for more support to the First Nations.

"There are challenges they face in terms of access to records, training in the various techniques, and management and safeguarding of data," she said.

She believed that the legacy of residential schools and the genocide against Indigenous peoples is at the root of so many challenges that Indigenous peoples face, as the trauma of genocide continues to impact their communities.

"There is also enduring structural racism in Canadian society, from the justice system to health care to education. All of this needs to be addressed in order for Indigenous communities to have healthy, vibrant futures," she said.

Over 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were separated from their families and forced to attend government-funded schools between the 1870s and 1997.

In 2015, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission appointed by the Canadian government concluded that children were physically and sexually abused and died in the schools.

While it has documented at least 4,100 deaths, the commission said the real numbers may never be fully known. 
Workers place a rebar frame before pouring a concrete pylon while building the replacement for the destroyed Irpin Bridge, which was demolished to stop Russian forces from crossing the Irpin River, in Irpin, Ukraine, April 24, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)

KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine  Standing outside her home, pointing out the rocket crater in her driveway, a Ukrainian resident of the front-line town was angry and quick to assign responsibility for the attack.

They are killing us, she said. Our own guys are shelling us.

The woman, named Natasha, blamed the rocket strike in Kostyantynivka not on the Russian forces that have been attacking the nearby city of Bakhmut and surrounding towns for the past eight months, but on her own forces, the Ukrainian army.

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A year into the war, despite suffering months of artillery and rocket strikes at the hands of the Russian military, some residents of towns along the front line in eastern Ukraine still confound officials and the police with their support for Russia.

They repeat Russian propaganda lines, accusing the West of causing the war and the Ukrainian army of shelling homes in order to force people to leave.

They are doing it on purpose, Natasha said. They said people need to be evacuated. They need the land.

Ukrainian soldiers call them waiters, people who refuse to be evacuated and are holding out in their homes in anticipation of a Russian takeover of their region, even as the Russian bombardment endangers their lives. They represent a diminishing minority in Ukraine, which overwhelmingly supports independence from Russia, but nevertheless amount to thousands of civilians.

The eastern Donbas was already the most pro-Russian region in Ukraine, close geographically to Russia and featuring families with ties to both countries. Russian was spoken more often than Ukrainian in the cities.

But the local police chief, Dmytro Kirdiapkin, attributes the view of civilians like Natasha largely to the relentless and insidious Russian propaganda campaign that has been imposed on the local population for more than a decade. It has turned them against their own government, he said, and pushed them into the arms of the Russian proxy forces that took hold of parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014.

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In my opinion, its the most brutal weapon the Russian Federation uses on our people, Kirdiapkin said in an interview last month in his office in Kostyantynivka.

A native of the Donetsk region, Kirdiapkin, 35, has seen firsthand the effects of the Russian information war while serving in the police force in the front-line Ukrainian cities of Mariupol, Druzhkivka and, now, Kostyantynivka.

He recalled turning on a television set in a recaptured town in 2014 and finding only a pro-Russian channel that showed a drumbeat of horrific images of nuclear destruction and terror, juxtaposed with a Ukrainian flag. The images were not even from Ukraine, he said, but the messaging was designed to stir fear of the Ukrainian leadership and to push people to support union with Russia.

We lost the information war in 2014, he said.

He also recalled a false tale that was promoted on Russias main television channel, available to many Ukrainians, of a small boy being crucified by Ukrainian soldiers.

I dont understand how back then and still now, a lot of people believe in those tales, he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has often been praised for his communication skills and his success in uniting the country behind the Ukrainian cause. But in parts of the east, most officials concede that Russia still has the upper hand in the propaganda war.

Russian television channels, which dominate the airwaves in Russian-controlled territory, have long been banned in Ukraine, as have popular Russian social media networks. Yet in eastern Ukraine, anyone with a satellite dish can still watch pro-Russian channels or tune in to pro-Russian radio programs in towns even 50 miles from the front line.

The police have found that social media channels are used by Russia to directly manipulate the residential community, Kirdiapkin said. The Ukrainian intelligence service has blocked social media accounts it considers hostile, but many more remain unchecked.

One pro-Russian channel, the Kostyantynivka Telegram channel, has 4,500 subscribers and posts a strange mix of pro-Russian images and videos, warnings of artillery and rocket strikes, Orthodox prayers and threats against local officials for not providing adequate utilities.

The channel often announces that the Ukrainian army is firing mortars just before a Russian missile strike hits and then claims afterward that the crater is from a mortar when it is the size of a much bigger missile, Kirdiapkin said. Hours before the shells slammed into Natashas neighborhood, for instance, someone posted a warning on the Kostyantynivka channel that Ukrainian troops were preparing to shell the city and advised residents to stay inside.

#Konstantinovka  we received information that tonight the Ukrainian Armed Forces could again shell the city, the message read. Be careful. Dont go to balconies and courtyards. Stay away from windows.

Around 10 p.m., when the shells hit, the channel posted comments that it was loud and a fire was burning. In the morning, the channel listed the damage.

Kirdiapkin said he spent much of his time rescuing victims from missile and rocket attacks and tracking down the informants who work as Russias eyes and ears on the ground.

The police chief has a team monitoring the Telegram channel to try to catch the informants, whom he described as scoundrels.

Last summer, when he was in charge of the neighboring town of Druzhkivka, his force arrested five local residents; authorities discovered that they were providing targeting information to Russian intelligence, he said.

They were a diverse group of people: a factory engineer; a young woman; a 30-year-old man; a registered psychiatric patient; and a former taxi driver, the police chief said, adding that all five went through a judicial process and were found guilty.

The former taxi driver, a 50-year-old woman, was detained by the police after they noticed her visiting bomb sites in different parts of the town, he said. The woman admitted supplying information to Russian intelligence, he said, and a voice message on her cellphone from her Russian handler asking for confirmation of the number of victims gave her away.

Some of the other informants had been motivated by money. The police traced payments and messages to and from Russia. One man said he had been offered $5,000 to pass information on Ukrainian military movements, Kirdiapkin said.

But the female taxi driver denied being offered any incentive and seemed to have been swayed by Russian propaganda, the police chief said. He showed New York Times journalists a video recording of her interrogation. She had been recruited in 2014 by a Russian intelligence agent, who contacted her again last year after the full-scale invasion.

The woman, whom the chief did not name, said her Russian handler had promised the strikes would be precise and would only damage equipment.

I thought maybe something would change for the better in my country this way, and peace would come, she says in the video recording. I didnt want my children to live in war.

The police chief dismissed her comment as insincere. She wanted world peace, but she decided to direct enemy fire, he said.

The Russian strikes became less frequent after the arrests, Kirdiapkin said.

He also said that his force had worked to help people evacuate to safer cities and that word had spread that the Ukrainian government was not all bad.

Fighting the propaganda war is costly in time and money and not the immediate priority as they face a full-scale confrontation on the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said. But there are some signs of a battle for minds on the streets of front-line cities.

The Ukrainian army has put up glossy billboards on the main streets of many cities celebrating military heroes as part of a campaign to encourage enlistment. Graffiti scrawled on the walls of residential buildings in Kostyantynivka are mostly pro-Ukrainian, repeating familiar phrases such as Glory to Ukraine and Russian warship, go screw yourself.

But one piece of graffiti stands out for its message to the pro-Russian community. The Russians are traitors, it reads, a reference to the betrayal felt by the pro-Russian population at Moscows failure to meet its promise of a better life.

No one is sure who wrote the graffiti, but most agree that Russias own actions  its indiscriminate bombing and shelling of Ukrainian civilian centers  have slowly turned many former supporters in eastern Ukraine against it.

If people were for Russia before, now they have changed, said Olha, 67, one of a few residents still living in a central apartment block. Now they are for Ukraine and for some calm.

The police chief said he had also seen a change in the townspeople. They understand many people died around them; everything is destroyed in their city, he said. They are convinced by their own eyes.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
(Reuters) - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is in preliminary talks with Japanese drugmaker Takeda over potential orders of its dengue vaccine, PAHO's director said on Thursday, though it has yet to decide whether it will recommend the shot.

"The data is really very impressive," PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa told a news conference, citing a study that found Takeda's recently developed QDENGA shot prevented 61% of dengue infections and 85% of severe cases.

Now approved by regulators in Brazil, Indonesia and the European Union, the shot follows Sanofi's Dengvaxia. However, Dengvaxia's use was scaled back considerably after Sanofi disclosed in 2017 it increased the risk of severe dengue in children who had no prior dengue exposure.

While the flu-like viral disease is mostly mild, some people can develop life-threatening complications and there are no antivirals or specific treatments. Some 20,000 to 25,000 people, mostly children, are estimated to die each year from the virus.

Barbosa said that while a World Health Organization strategy group would likely discuss potentially recommending the vaccine in the second half of this year, PAHO had already begun initial talks with Takeda on the price.

If larger countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Colombia combine purchases through PAHO's revolving fund, it would give them leverage to lower prices, he said.

PAHO officials also warned that misinformation about vaccines, which surged during the coronavirus pandemic, impacted the take-up of other vaccines such as for polio and measles.

PAHO immunization adviser Margherita Ghiselli said the Caribbean, where the pandemic hit its health infrastructure, was especially vulnerable as people are increasingly reluctant to immunize their children and as tourism raises the risk of imported diseases.

Barbosa warned of wealthy families not immunizing their children believing they were less at risk than poorer children - though they can also contract life-threatening disease.

"Vaccinating children protects them, and the other children in that community," he said.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Josie Kao)
ISLAMABAD (AP)  A lawmaker from the party of Pakistans former Prime Minister Imran Khan was elected to the top post in the Pakistani-administered section of Kashmir Thursday, officials said.

Local lawmakers elected Anwarul Haq to replace Tanveer Ilyas, who was removed as the territory's chief last week by a court for insulting judges. Haq is from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf opposition party of former premier Khan, who was ousted from power last April.

Since then, Khan has led protests against the current national government that have thrust the country into a political crisis.

Kashmir's disputed Himalayan region is split between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety. The South Asian powers have fought two wars over Kashmir since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
A few months after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) sued Paramount over the streaming rights for South Park, Paramount is now striking back.

On Wednesday, April 19, Paramount counter-sued WBD, alleging that the company is withholding two required payments of $26 million each, bringing the total unpaid fees to $52 million.

South Park Studios has abided by the terms of the written Term Sheet. WarnerMedia has not, the countersuit writes. Instead, despite continuously exploiting and profiting from the 300-plus episodes of South Park that is still available for streaming on HBO Max, Warner Media is refusing to pay tens of millions of dollars in license fees owed to South Park Studios for the right to exploit that content.

The counterclaim, filed in New York Supreme Court, argues that the unpaid fees cover the 318 South Park episodes streaming on HBO Max.

The more than 300 episodes are from seasons 1 through 26. HBO Max is also streaming the made-for-television documentary 6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park, which Paramount mentioned in the document.

To purportedly justify its non-payment, WarnerMedia has accused South Park Studios of breaching certain alleged obligations in the Term Sheet, it added.

In 2019, WBD paid $500 million for streaming rights to stream 23 seasons of the animated sitcom, as well as three new seasons (seasons 24, 25 and 26) that had yet to air. The deal was set to last through June 2025.

In February of this year, WBD filed a lawsuit (Deadline acquired the document) that accused Paramount of breaching the deal, alleging that Paramount stole South Park content from HBO Max to put on its own streaming service, Paramount+. To be more specific, WBD said Paramount released new South Park specials on Paramount+, which WBD believes shouldve streamed on HBO Max.

In 2021, Paramounts MTV Studios paid a whopping $900 million in a deal with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The agreement, which runs through 2027, included six seasons of the show as well as 14 made-for-streaming movies that would stream exclusively on Paramount+.

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We believe that Paramount and South Park Digital Studios embarked on a multi-year scheme of unfair trade practices and deception, flagrantly and repeatedly breaching our contract, which clearly gave HBO Max exclusive streaming rights to the existing library and new content from the popular animated comedy South Park, a WBD spokesperson said in a statement that was shared with TechCrunch.

Warner Bros. Discoverys argument that Paramount Global was required to deliver additional South Park content is baseless and wholly unsupported by the parties agreement. Furthermore, it certainly does not justify WBDs refusal to pay for immensely valuable content, all of which it has received and from which it continues to profit, a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement.

In the February 2023 lawsuit, WBD declared that the company bid on the South Park streaming rights because it had assurance that the three yet-to-air seasons would consist of 10 episodes each. However, the company claims that Paramount failed to deliver on a number of episodes.

WBD added it continues to take on damages of over $200 million as a result of Defendants misconduct, wrote the lawsuit. According to the company, the new episodes hold a higher value than the older ones. Therefore, WBD overpaid for the streaming rights.
Patrons fill up at an Ultramar gas station, one of the fuel brands owned by Calgary-based Parkland. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)

A U.S. activist investor is growing impatient with Calgary-based fuel retailer Parkland (PKI.TO).

Engine Capital sent a follow-up letter to the company's board of directors on Thursday, alleging an ignored request for a meeting, and questioning CEO Bob Espey's rising pay.

Engine says it owns about two per cent of Parkland's outstanding shares. The New York-based firm plans to oppose the re-election of Parkland's incumbent directors at the company's upcoming annual meeting.

Engine launched its first salvo against the company last month, calling out "sustained underperformance" versus rivals like Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), and an M&A strategy of acquiring non-core assets.

The company's footprint spans thousands of stores and gasoline stations in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean under brands like On the Go, Pioneer and Ultramar, as well as frozen food retailer M&M Food Market. Engine's March 22 letter to Parkland's board suggests selling or spinning off its Burnaby, B.C. refinery as part of a transition to a pure-play gas station and convenience store operator.

Engine says it held a meeting on March 30 with Parkland CFO Marcel Teunissen, during which it reiterated its request to meet with the board as soon as possible.

"Engine has engaged with more than 50 boards of directors over the last decade, and we have never encountered a situation where one has been so unresponsive," Engine managing partner Arnaud Ajdler and partner Brad Favreau wrote in a letter published Thursday

"The response from an engaged and competent board of directors should be to engage with a major shareholder, not to hide behind its CFO," Ajdler and Favreau added in the letter. "As of today, we still have yet to hear back about a meeting with Parkland's directors."

Parkland spokesperson Simon Scott said on Thursday that the company has engaged with Engine "frequently over the past several months."

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In its latest letter, Engine also took aim at Espey's $5.3 million in direct compensation in 2022, as outlined in company regulatory filings, an increase from $4.3 million the previous year.

"Mr. Espey's compensation has consistently increased over the last few years as the business has grown through M&A and has become more complex  the very issues that are hurting shareholders," Engine wrote.

As part of its push to shake up Parkland's board of directors and limit tenure to 10 years, Engine says it's "disappointed" that chairman Jim Pantelidis intends to add three more years to his 24 years on the board.

Scott notes the company's slate of directors and their compensation have the support of proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis heading into the May 4 annual shareholder meeting. Simpson Oil, Parkland's largest shareholder, has said it will nominate two directors to the board. Engine on Thursday said that it will support those nominees.

"We appreciate the many expressions of support we have received from our shareholders, including our largest shareholder, both for all our directors and for our overall strategy to build long-term shareholder value," Scott wrote in an email to Yahoo Finance Canada.

Engine adds the nearly 10 per cent increase in Parkland's share price following the release of its March 22 letter "speaks volumes to shareholders' frustration with the status quo and desire for change."

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

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Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Thursday became the first woman in Senate history to cast 10,000 votes in the chamber.

Murray, who is the first female Senate president pro tempore, announced the milestone in a post on her Twitter account, vowing that she will not be the only woman to reach the achievement.

I just cast my 10,000th vote on the Senate floorthe first woman in history to reach this milestone, but certainly not the last! During every single one of these votes, Im thinking first and foremost of how I can make life better for the people of WA state, she said.

The vote came on a proposed amendment to the Fire Grants and Safety Act, according to the Senate Periodical Press Gallery. The bill, which calls for extending federal programs that support local fire departments throughout the country, passed.

Senators applauded Murray during the session for her accomplishment.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) congratulated Murray in remarks on the Senate floor.

Were not supposed to clap, but every once in a while breaking protocol is appropriate as it is now. So it is a remarkable accomplishment for a truly remarkable public servant. Her accomplishments go  if she just cast 10,000 votes that would be pretty good  but her accomplishments go way beyond that and often dwarf it, Schumer said.

He noted Murray was also the first female chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Budget committees.

Shes a voice the Senate, the country, rely on, on some of the biggest issues weve faced. When she speaks, everyone listens: Democrats, Republicans, liberals, independents, because they know that she has studied it carefully and it comes right from the heart, Schumer said.

Senate Republicans also applauded Murray for reaching the milestone, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noted that 1992, the year Murray was elected, was called the year of the woman because five women were elected to the Senate for the first time.

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You were the leader of the group, he said. Youve had an extraordinarily successful career, and I wanted you to know that people on both sides of the aisle admire your service.

The Senates website states 32 people, not counting Murray, have cast more than 10,000 votes in the Senates history. They include McConnell, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and President Biden.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Paul O'Grady's funeral has taken place near his home in Kent after fans lined the streets to pay their respects - many with their dogs.

The comedian and presenter, who died last month at the age of 67, was laid to rest following a private service.

Fellow comic Julian Clary and actor Michael Cashman delivered readings.

Hundreds of mourners, and their pets, turned out in the village of Aldington to view the cortege and say farewell to the host of ITV's For the Love of Dogs.

O'Grady's husband Andre Portasio (right) rode with their pet Conchita on the funeral carriage

One of the floral tributes was of O'Grady's beloved dog Buster

A horse-drawn carriage carried O'Grady's wooden coffin, along with husband Andre Portasio and their dog Conchita, through Aldington and to St Rumwold's Church in nearby Bonnington.

O'Grady's daughter, Sharyn Mousley, entered with a young man, reported to be O'Grady's grandson, holding the wig of Lily Savage - the comedian's drag alter ego.

Melanie Sykes and Alan Carr attended the funeral

His coffin was then placed next to the grave of his former partner Brendan Murphy, who died in 2005.

The funeral was also attended by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, actress Dame Sheila Hancock and comics Alan Carr and Jo Brand.

Coronation Street's Sally Lindsay, TV presenter Gaby Roslin, celebrity chef Andi Oliver, LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and EastEnders actresses Cheryl Fergison and Linda Henry were also there.

Rolling Stones star Ronnie and wife Sally were among those at the service

A dog called Ernie, from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, where O'Grady filmed his ITV series, greeted people arriving for the funeral.

Ali Taylor, head of canine behaviour at Battersea, said: "Ernie met Paul two years ago when he was about five weeks old. He's met him several times. We felt he should come along today.

"We're here to really honour Paul and everything he has done for everyone, all the different communities, and especially Battersea."

Analysis box by Colin Paterson, arts and entertainment correspondent

Clapping, tears and a lot of dogs.

That was the scene in Aldington, where a crowd of around 300 to 400 turned out on a bitingly cold day to pay their respects to Paul O'Grady.

Just after 14:30 BST, his horse-drawn hearse made its way through the village he called home for more than two decades. His husband Andre Portasio sat in dignified silence at the front of the carriage, looking out over the gathering. Through the back window of the hearse, a dog-shaped floral tribute to O'Grady's beloved Buster could be seen.

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"That was amazing. I had to be here to say goodbye. And I'm so glad I did." That was the reaction immediately afterwards of Laura Morrison, who had come from London with her two daughters. They were wearing their own "In Our Hearts" Paul O'Grady T-shirts.

She had brought flowers to throw at the procession, but they were then returned to her.

"A kind lady just gave them back and told us to press them and we're going to frame them to remember the day."

That is how much being here meant to people.

One small moment to note - about 30 seconds before his hearse arrived, fans trying to get a better view pushed against a Mini, meaning the whole scenario was soundtracked by a car alarm going off. As soon as the procession went past, it stopped.

I suspect Paul O'Grady would have laughed at that.

Another mourner, Astrid Allen, travelled with her dogs from Margate to line the streets in Aldington.

She told the BBC that O'Grady had "put rehoming dogs on the map, and did so much for Battersea, for the LGBT community".

Fleur Boyd (left) and her mother Astrid Allen travelled from Margate

The Reverend Canon Roger Martin described the funeral as a "very fitting send-off" to O'Grady.

The vicar told the PA news agency: "The mood was very jolly. There were some recordings of Paul, favourite clips, a good selection of varied music, it was light-hearted. It was a moving occasion."

The eulogy from Clary as "very entertaining", he said, while Lord Cashman read Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, which begins "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

O'Grady reportedly died of sudden cardiac arrhythmia

The music included You Gotta Get A Gimmick from Stephen Sondheim's 1959 musical Gypsy, which O'Grady famously performed as Lily Savage alongside Cilla Black and Dame Barbara Windsor at the 2001 Royal Variety Performance.

The other musical choices included Meditation from the opera Thais by French composer Jules Massenet, which was O'Grady's favourite when he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2003.

The closing music was Looking For Trouble by Elvis Presley.

A sign saying "Thank you Mr O'Grady" and collages of dog drawings were placed outside Aldington Primary School

Pupils from Aldington Primary School paid their respects by displaying banners and pictures.

Co-headteacher Ben Dawson recalled: "Everyone who met him would say, what you see on the screen is what you see in real life. He was a larger-than-life character who lit up a room.

"As a community, we took him into our hearts and he took us into his."

Claire Gates, a year two teacher, said: "He was lovely and very, very appreciative of teaching, and always said how he could never do it. He could have lived up the top of the hill and had nothing to do with us, but he didn't. He made a conscious effort."

O'Grady had a strong connection with animals, including those on his TV show

The presence of a number of dogs from Battersea signified O'Grady's role as an ambassador for the animal home, as well as the connection through his popular TV series.

Following his death, Battersea set up a "tribute fund", which has raised more than 270,000 for the charity.

Mourners also gathered with their dogs as part of a community event in Birkenhead in Merseyside, where the star was born and grew up.

People (and their dogs) are gathering in Birkenhead this afternoon to remember Paul OGrady on the day of his funeral, which is being held in Kent



Such a lovely tribute!



(Prepare to go awwwww)  @bbcmerseyside pic.twitter.com/mbjGj5kYRI  Katie Haseldine (@katghas) April 20, 2023

They had a minute's applause before a sing-along to songs like Who Let The Dogs Out, with fans shouting "Paul!" in response.

As well as For The Love of Dogs, O'Grady was known for his appearances as Lily Savage and for hosting chat and game shows.

According to multiple reports, he died of sudden cardiac arrhythmia. The British Heart Foundation describes sudden arrhythmic death syndrome - or SADS - as when a person dies suddenly following a cardiac arrest where no obvious cause can be found.
Public and private sector leaders converged Wednesday at the Miami Tech Summit.

Held at Miamis Perez Art Museum, the invitation-only event featured billionaire venture capital investor and Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

The summit, which started last year and is among a full menu of events during Miami tech month in April, connects private- and public-sector leaders interested in making sure Miamis burgeoning tech sector serves as a community resource.

With stints at PayPal, LinkedIn and Square, Rabois has extensive experience as a tech entrepreneur and investor. He had pivoted from a career in law into the technology field in February 2000, and saw the dot-com bubble burst that year.

As Miamis tech ecosystem still recovers from the shockwaves of the November 2022 implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which had its name on the Miami Heat arena under a naming-rights deal that was recently nullified, Rabois thinks now is as good a time as any to enter the tech industry.

Its always a good time to start a company, if you have an original idea thats differentiated from whats already there, he said. Be realistic about how much capital you need to receive the inflection milestones that create value for investors.

Justin Sayfie and Jose Felix Diaz launched the local tech summit last year with the help of eMerge Americas President Melissa Medina. To each summit attendees surprise Wednesday, it came with free admission to eMerge Americas annual tech-networking conference Thursday and Friday in Miami Beach.

From last year to this year were looking at a totally different tech ecosystem, Diaz said. Last year, this room [for the summit] was full of crypto and Bitcoin people. Silicon Valley Bank was in attendance. FTX had just named the stadium. ... Even though tech is here to stay, its an ever-evolving market.

Of course, California-based Silicon Valley Bank experienced a run on its deposits in early March, causing its failure and takeover by federal banking regulators. For four decades, the bank catered to startup tech firms, and since late 2021 it operated a branch in Miamis Brickell financial district.

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Santiago Leon, owner of Fort Lauderdale-based web development firm Sleon Productions, has seen the growth of Miamis tech scene over time. He recalled there being only one Miami tech meetup group in 2008. He came to this years tech summit with high hopes.

Theres been a big shift in technology with ChatGPT and AI, Leon said. I want to hear some new stuff and hopefully learn ways we can implement these new tools in a positive way.

Meanwhile, on the hot topic of social media giants, Rabois and Bush on Wednesday expressed divergent thoughts. As a friend of entrepreneur and Twitter owner Elon Musk, Rabois thinks Musk  who also operates Tesla  has succeeded in making all the right enemies.

When considering Facebooks part in shaping its users political viewpoints, Bush was more critical of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

I do think creating suggestions on how Facebook should be governed should be one of Zuckerbergs priorities, the ex-governor and Miami resident said.
Jack Teixeira, 21, has been charged in connection with the leak of secret Pentagon documents. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

The leak of a trove of secret Pentagon documents has the US scrambling to contain the fallout.

The leaked documents revealed US spying on adversaries and allies alike.

The documents largely related to the war in Ukraine, but covered a range of issues.

A trove of Pentagon documents were leaked online in recent months, representing the worst intelligence breach for the US military in roughly a decade.

Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested and charged in connection with the leak.

The Pentagon said the leak poses a serious risk to US national security, and the Biden administration has scrambled to mitigate the fallout even as more classified documents trickle out and reveal the depths of US spying on both allies and adversaries.

Many of the documents date back to March or earlier and relate to the war in Ukraine. The leak also offered compromising details on the extent to which the US has infiltrated Russia's military and intelligence apparatus.

The classified details and then images of the documents themselves were reportedly first shared with a private group of video gamers organized by Teixeira, before one of the users uploaded some of them to a fan group for a popular YouTuber known as wow_mao.

Insider obtained and reviewed copies of photographs of dozens of the leaked documents. It's unclear precisely how many documents were leaked, which largely appear to be authentic. The Washington Post says it has reviewed roughly 300 documents, though the criminal complaint against Teixeira refers to "dozens" of documents. Teixeira was arrested at his home on Thursday.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the documents, based on Insider's own review and other reporting:

The US is pessimistic about the state of the Ukraine war

The US assessed that Ukraine's air defenses are vulnerable and it's facing problems with dwindling supplies of munitions, exposing how dire the needs of Ukraine are against their public and repeated calls for more air defense systems.

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An assessment from early February suggested Ukraine would only make "modest territorial gains" in a spring counteroffensive due to issues with recruitment, equipment, and ammunition, per the Post.

The US spies on its friends

It's no secret that US intelligence agencies spy on both friends and foes, but it's still embarrassing and uncomfortable for Washington when it's forced to address this publicly.

The documents revealed the US is spying on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and showed that he wanted to launch drone strikes against Russian forces in Russia.

One document depicted a potential path for convincing Israel, a US ally that's been reluctant to get to involved in the war, to provide lethal aid to Ukraine.

The leak also revealed concerns within South Korea over the US's push for it to supply ammunition to Ukraine.

Another document appeared to show that Egypt secretly negotiated a deal to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder  a revelation that could have a detrimental impact on US-Egypt relations if true.

Though the US and Hungary are NATO allies, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban dubbed the US as one of his party's "top three adversaries," per the Wall Street Journal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets soldiers during a visit at a military training centre of the Western Military District for mobilised reservists, outside the town of Ryazan on October 20, 2022. MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

The US has deep knowledge of the Russian military's plans

The documents showed the US has been able to warn Ukraine about upcoming Russian strikes, down to specific locations and dates.

The US assessments on Russia were largely based on signals intelligence, or intercepted communications. The leak could lead Russia to change the way it communicates, making it harder to predict Moscow's next move.

The US is keeping a watchful eye on China

A number of the leaked documents pertained to China, amid historic tensions between the US and Beijing. One document showed the US is concerned that China could use Ukrainian strikes on targets within Russia as an "opportunity to cast NATO as the aggressor, and may increase its aid to Russia if it deems the attacks were significant," CNN reported.

The documented revealed US concerns that Beijing could provide Moscow with lethal aid if NATO-supplied weapons were used by Ukraine for a major strike in Russia.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The U.S. is putting troops in place over the potential to evacuate American embassy personnel sheltering in place in Khartoum, amid days of intense fighting between opposing Sudanese military forces in the countrys capital, the Biden administration confirmed Thursday.

U.S. Africa Command is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Phil Ventura said in a statement. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it.

American diplomats and staff are among the millions of civilians caught in the crossfire that erupted late last week, with the United Nations estimating at least 185 people have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded in a battle that has turned streets into war zones.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday the U.S. has good accountability of its diplomats who are sheltering in place, and the State Department is trying to get them all co-located together for their own safety.

Obviously were still very concerned about the violence there, the continued fighting. There was a so-called cease-fire last night that didnt hold very long, and so people are still being hurt, he said.

Security alerts from the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum have indicated the government is unlikely to coordinate an evacuation for U.S. citizens, but U.S. officials have expressed grave concern for the safety of American diplomats serving in the capitol.

An American diplomatic convoy was fired upon, Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on Wednesday, although no one was harmed.

But this action was reckless, it was irresponsible, and of course unsafe  a diplomatic convoy with diplomatic plates, a U.S. flag, being fired upon, the secretary said in remarks to the press while on diplomatic travel in Japan.

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Blinken, along with other U.S. officials, has engaged intensely with the warring military commanders and partner nations to achieve a cease-fire, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and African Union.

The imperative is getting quickly to a cease-fire so that the guns stop firing, people can move about safely, reunite with their families, get the assistance they need, and all of us can continue to engage in supporting Sudan as it makes its transition.

Fighting broke out Saturday, April 15, between forces loyal to Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, against Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also referred to as Hemedti, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Gen. Burhan has been at the head of a military-civilian government that has stalled in transitioning to a full, civilian, democratically elected government since a grassroots revolution between 2018 and 2019 succeeded in turning the military, led by Burhan and Hemedti, to depose Sudans then-dictator Omar al-Bashir.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The proportion of jailed people who are Black or Latino in the United States increased during the COVID pandemic, Nature, a leading scientific journal, has reported.

Around the start of the pandemic in early 2020, the proportions of Black and Latino people in the U.S. prison population began to increase, while the proportion of white people started decreasing, according to an article published Wednesday by Nature.

The researchers who made the surprising discovery attribute it largely to the shorter sentencing, on average, that white people receive in the U.S. courts.

"Black people are, on average, serving sentences that are 20 percent longer than white people," Brennan Klein, a network scientist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a co-author of the study, was quoted as saying.

Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, a sociologist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said the results could also change how policymakers focus efforts to reduce racial inequities in the system.

"I think what makes this paper really powerful is that we can see that ... the sentencing still had this enormous, enduring effect of racism," she said. 
Fans of McDonalds are expressing their disappointment with the fast-food chain after learning that the fries are cooked with beef flavouring, making them not suitable for vegans.

The use of natural beef flavour as an ingredient in the fries was recently brought to the publics attention on TikTok by a man named Jordan, who goes by @jordan_the_stallion8 on the app.

In a video posted last week, the TikToker joked about knowing so many fast-food secrets, before claiming that he knows why McDonalds fries taste different than everybody elses fries.

Its because McDonalds cooks [its] fries with beef flavouring mixed within their vegetable oil, Jordan said. So thats why the fries taste so good, but also so different from everybody elses.

The TikToker then noted that the revelation was probably bad news for vegetarians.

In the comments of the video, which has since been viewed more than nine million times, some viewers were initially skeptical of Jordans claim. However, others noted that it is true, as the ingredient is listed on McDonalds website, where it states that its fries are made using potatoes, vegetable oil, natural beef flavour, which contains wheat and milk derivatives, dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and salt.

The realisation was met with dismay from vegan and vegetarian customers, with one person writing: Wait.. whaaaat!? Im vegan and all I can eat from McDonalds are fries, while another said: WTF. Never again.

Bro McDonalds is gonna be in TROUBLE with the vegans, someone else wrote.

However, many others revealed that it is a well-known fact that McDonalds fries are not vegan in the US.

I thought everyone knew this, one person wrote, while another said: This has been known for at least a decade.

In the video, Jordan also noted that the ingredient is used primarily in the US, and that McDonalds locations in the UK, Canada and Australia do not use the ingredient in their fries, which makes the menu item vegan.

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McDonalds UK French Fries are made by McCains using Russet Burbank, Pentland Dell and Shepody potatoes, which are chosen for their quality, taste and long shape when cut. The fries are not coated in any fats or substances from an animal. Once at the restaurant, our fries are simply cooked in dedicated frying vats in a non-hydrogenated blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil which is 100 per cent suitable for vegans, McDonalds UK website reads.

This was an emotional rollercoaster as a Canadian vegetarian, one person joked.

As for whether McDonalds US fries are suitable for vegetarians, the fast-food chain does not specify whether there are meat derivatives in the beef flavouring. Gary Reineccius, a food chemist specialising in flavour research, previously told Eater that the flavouring may not actually be from beef, as food scientists have previously created beef flavour without using meat.

The flavour in beef is created during the cooking process. Food scientists identified the amino acids found in beef, added some very common sugars - starch hydrolysate - put it in a pot, added some citric acid to drop the pH, controlled moisture content, and heated it to the same temperature as meat. Then...*poof* we have meat flavour, he explained.

The Independent has contacted McDonalds for comment.
TC Energy's compressor station has expanded over the years. If the Virginia Reliability Project gets approved, that would allow them to double the horsepower of the station, emitting more pollutants in the air.

Petersburg and Prince George residents could very likely see an increase in toxic pollutants in their area soon, as a natural gas company plans to upgrade its compressor station located in Prince George bordering Petersburg.

What is a compressor station and why is this important?

TC Energy delivers natural gas to the Hampton Roads area by way of underground pipelines that run through Petersburg, Prince George, Surry, South Hampton, and Sussex. This natural gas is used for the Hampton Roads residents and businesses for heating, electricity generation, and to power stoves.

Gas is moved through the pipelines by compressor stations, which pressurizes the gas so that it can travel. Natural gas needs to be pressurized every 40 to 100 miles.

TC Energys compressor station is located at 1596 Baxter Road in Prince Georgeright next to the Petersburg border. This location has gas-fired turbines, responsible for compressing the gas, and the turbines have smoke stacks, or chimneys that emit pollutants.

Though the compressor station is technically in Prince George county, TC Energy brands it as the "Petersburg Compressor Station."

Tens of thousands of miles of pipelines, dozens of leaks and spills

TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, has nearly 58,000 miles of natural gas pipelines and supplies about one-quarter of natural gas to consumers in North America, according to their website. It also has 3,000 miles of pipeline that transport crude oil.

Perhaps TC Energys most infamous pipeline is the Keystone Pipeline. This 2,687-mile pipeline, which pumps crude oil from Canada into refineries across the U.S., has been known for its oil leakages. It's had nearly two dozen spills since it started operating in 2010.

TC Energys most recent oil spill and the largest in its history happened this past December, when the Keystone Pipeline leaked about 500,000 gallons into a creek in rural Kansas. Its also the largest oil spill in the U.S. in the past decade.

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The plan to widen the pipeline requires more power to keep the gas moving

TC Energy says they need to bring more gas to the Hampton Roads region to accommodate a greater demand. In order to do so, they will widen the pipeline from a 12-inch diameter to 24 inches. Fifty miles of the pipeline will be replaced, starting from Sussex to Chesapeake.

They have dubbed this project the Virginia Reliability Project, and they intend to start construction mid-2024 and finish by the end of 2025.

The compressor station will have to power more gas through the wider pipeline. This in turn will increase the pollutants emitted at the compressor stations. They have two compressor stations in the area--one located in Prince George and the other in Emporia.

How will this affect the immediate surrounding area?

Those living around the compressor station will bear the brunt of the health impacts, says Itai Vardi, a researcher at the Energy and Policy Institute.

Doubling the horsepower of the compressor station in Prince George will see an increase of pollutants in the air. The pollutants emitted by the compressor station include particulate matter, gases and chemicals harmful to human health such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide. In addition, it emits pollutants harmful to the ozone layer such as carbon dioxide and methane.

The ozone levels for Petersburg are already elevated. So any additional sources of ozone precursors is not ideal, said Amy Townsend-Small, an Environmental Science professor at the University of Cincinnati who looked at the citys ozone levels.

Carbon monoxide levels will be increased to 98.63 tons per year with more horsepower, according to the emissions chart provided to the Federal Emissions Regulatory Commission (FERC) by TC Energy. This measurement is just a smidgen under the Title V threshold of 100 tons per year.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless. Though undetectable to the human senses, low exposures to this poisonous pollutant can cause fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Inhaling high levels of CO may cause vomiting, confusion, a loss of coordination and consciousness, and even death.

The levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide will exceed the safety integrity level (SIL) standards for those living within .6 miles of the compressor station, according to the report released by FERC, the government agency tasked with regulating the transmission of natural gas and electricity. These gasses can also affect the lungs.

The fine particulate matter and the formaldehyde emitted at the compressor station threaten human health at any level of exposure, said Claire Horan, an associate attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. At low levels, breathing in formaldehyde can cause irritation in the eyes and throat. Higher levels of exposure can cause wheezing and change the lung function.

These increases in localized air pollution are of even greater concern because the Petersburg Compressor Station is located in and near to environmental justice communities," said Horan. Environmental justice communities often disproportionately bear the adverse environmental impacts of gas infrastructure projects and are often particularly vulnerable to the health risks of these pollutants."

Should a region already vulnerable to health risks take on more?

The compressor station sits right across from homes that are situated all along Baxter Rd.

The compressor station is situated in a residential neighborhood. Homes stand nearby along Baxter Rd. and adjacent streets. Less than a mile away sits a high school academic learning center, a nursery, churches, and two apartment complexes: Liberty Pointe and Pinetree Apartments.

Residents of this majority-Black city already suffer many health disparities, and a more powerful compressor will put the residents health at a greater risk, says community advocate Lafayette Jefferson.

Petersburg has consistently ranked as the unhealthiest or one of the lowest out of all 133 cities or counties in Virginia each year since the Population Health institute began compiling data in 2010.

Petersburgs average life expectancy, at 66.2 years, is over a decade behind the states average, at 79 years. And the city already has the highest asthma hospitalization rate in the Central region, according to a 2018 report by the Virginia Department of Health.

We already have severe disparities and this could cause greater impact, especially in low income and communities of color, said another community advocate Pat Hines, who is leading the effort to resuscitate the local chapters NAACP.

Exposure to these types of pollutants over longer periods of time results in larger impacts, and some age groups including the elderly and children are more vulnerable, says Horan.

The compressor station has been running since the 50s, with no end in sight.

Why doesnt TC Energy install an environmentally friendly compressor station in Prince George?

TC Energy will be building a new hybrid compressor run by electricity that would not produce emissions in their other station in Emporia.

So why doesnt TC Energy also install a hybrid compressor in Prince George?

Vardi thinks its because only a few years ago, TC Energy spent millions of dollars to install new gas-fired turbines. TC Energy spent around $45 million on the new turbines, according to a letter the company sent to FERC the regulating body.

Theyre not going to change that, not for the health of the people around the station, said Vardi. So at the end of the day, this boils down to money and whose health is being valued.

Living in the 'sacrifice zone'

TC Energy's compressor station located at 1596 Baxter Rd., Prince George.

TC Energy is planning to ship all the increased gas capacity down to the Hampton Roads area and sell it to the gas utility in that region.

In that sense, Petersburg is not "benefitting" at all from an increase in the gas supply, it's only left with the pollution  which, by definition, is what a 'sacrifice zone' is, said Vardi.

TC Energy says that this project will bring 26 jobs to the region and a one-time pulse of economic activity to Prince George, including $1.1 million in associated labor income.

There is no major construction needed on the compressor station. TC Energy plans to install two new gas coolers.

That is minimal work, said Vardi. This is certainly not a boom to the local economy or workforce in any way. It's minimal and temporal.

Public hearing on April 25 will give you 3 minutes to speak your mind

FERC will be holding a public hearing on Tuesday, April 25 from 5-8 p.m. at the Appomattox Event Center located at 9 W. Old Street in Petersburg. Citizens will get three minutes each to present their thoughts.

My major concern is that I didnt even know that this was going on, said Hines, who only found out about TC Energys plans a week ago when the company is already far along in its process of getting their plans up and running.

According to Vardi, TC Energy says that it does not need a new air permit for the doubling of the horsepower since it already received one from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in March 2020, shortly after it installed two new gas-fired turbines.

At that time, however, TC Energy stated that only one of the turbines will be operational while the other will be turned off and serve as back up. Now, TC Energy is asking FERC to approve the certification of turning on the second turbine without going back to the VDEQ for a new air permit.

That's problematic since a VDEQ air permit requires a robust public notification and comment process, which has been taken away from the residents of Petersburg," said Vardi.

Joyce Chu, an award-winning investigative journalist, is the Social Justice Watchdog Reporter for The Progress Index. Contact her with comments, concerns, or story-tips at Jchu1@gannett.com or on Twitter @joyce_speaks.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: TC Energy to up the horsepower and pollutants of the Petersburg Compressor Station
President Joe Biden is open to increasing pressure on Venezuela if Nicolas Maduro fails to take concrete steps toward democratic elections, the Biden administration said on Thursday, as Colombias President Gustavo Petro visited the White House.

Petro came to Washington hoping the Biden administration would express a willingness to relieve sanctions on Maduro, whose grip on power has thrown the South American country into economic turmoil and the region into a humanitarian and migration crisis. But U.S. officials said they had not yet seen concrete steps taken by Maduro toward democracy to justify any relief.

Wed like to see more, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters at a press briefing before the meeting began.

Biden officials say the administration has already demonstrated its willingness to ease sanctions in exchange for progress toward democracy, noting its decision last fall to grant sale and production licenses to Chevron in Venezuela after Maduro agreed to resume talks with the countrys opposition. But Kirby said the administration could also ratchet up sanctions if no action is taken.

Weve long been clear that we would review our sanctions policies in response to constructive steps by the Maduro regime, and if the Venezuelan parties can make meaningful progress and return to democracy in the country, Kirby said. But I think weve also made very, very clear that were not afraid to take action should the Maduro regime fail to negotiate in good faith, or follow through on its commitments.

Read More: U.S. eases oil sanctions on Venezuela as talks resume between Maduro, opposition

Biden hosted Petro in the Oval Office, where they spoke with the press at the beginning of their meeting of their shared commitment to democracy and the fight against climate change. The U.S. president has long referred to Colombia as the linchpin of the region and one of Americas closest allies.

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Petro, a former M19 guerrilla leader that in August became Colombias first leftist president, is meeting Biden a few days before he is expected to host a summit in Bogota to discuss a solution for the prolonged Venezuela crisis. Comments he has made in the past few days have led observers to believe that Petro aims to convince the Biden administration that Maduro can be talked into holding free and fair elections if Washington allows the sanctioned estate-run oil company PDVSA to regain access to the international financial system.

Petros aims, however, are not at all that clear for many inside Colombia, who are wondering what it is exactly that the Colombian president aims to achieve in Washington.

Kirby said the United States was supportive of the conference, but did not say whether a U.S. delegation would attend.

We dont know what President Petro is up to. We do not know if he is going to meet with President Biden as Maduros foreign minister, or if he is going to defend Colombias interests, said Francisco Santos Calderon, Colombias former ambassador to the United States and former vice president. The only thing he has said about his trip is: Less sanctions, more democracy, as if there were democracy in Venezuela, and the truth is, no there is no democracy there. So it seems that he is acting more as Maduros chancellor than the president of 50 million Colombians.

Read More: Intelligence sharing with Venezuela leaves Colombia vulnerable to spying, ex-president says

Petros meeting with Biden also caused alarm in Florida among some circles, where the Colombian president is eyed with suspicion.

In an Oped ran by the Colombian daily El Tiempo, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio warned Biden to be careful when dealing with Petro, claiming that he is an agent of chaos.

Petro has been the foremost Latin American advocate of engagement with narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and puppet dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba, Rubio said. Its a fools errand, because internationally ostracized dictators have nothing to gain from increasing stability in the region.

Petros efforts to try to promote a negotiated solution that would allow the regime to regain legitimacy in the international community is seen with suspicion among Venezuelan circles, given Caracas track record of unfulfilled promises.

Last year, a series of meetings between the regime and U.S. officials in Caracas led Washington to allow Chevron, a U.S. company, to restart operations in Venezuela in exchange for Maduros commitment to renew talks with opposition leaders in Mexico City.

The diplomatic effort did lead to the liberation of a number of U.S. citizens unjustly held in Venezuela, but the talks in Mexico quickly stalled, and remain at a standstill.

Read More: U.S. fears Venezuela is increasing efforts to lure and entrap Americans as bargaining chips

Antonio de La Cruz, executive director of the Washington-based consultancy firm Inter American Trends, said Maduro is interested in getting a commitment from Washington to allow PDVSA to conduct transactions in the international banking system, given that oil sales they have been conducting through smugglers in defiance of U.S. oil sanctions have proven to be disastrous.

That is Maduros new strategy, who before had said that he was not going to Mexico because the next phase in [the talks] is the electoral agenda, and they were refusing to go unless they were given access to the $3 billion in humanitarian aid that had been agreed as part of the deal for the Chevron license last year, de La Cruz said.

At some point, the regime realized their objective of getting access to humanitarian funds was too difficult to achieve, so they changed the goal to getting Washington to lift the sanctions, de La Cruz said.

In particular, they are aiming to get Washington to allow PDVSA to have access to the Swift banking payment system, given that their oil smuggling operations, which were handled in cash and cryptocurrency, have led to huge corruption problems, those payments dont leave records, he said.

The Maduro regime has launched a massive anti-corruption crusade among its own ranks after discovering that the proceeds of at least $3 billion in oil shipments never reached the country.
A social media post claims that a series of pictures show Rotimi Akeredolu , the governor of Ondo state in southwest Nigeria, at a beach resort in his state. But the claim is misleading : the pictures were taken w hen Akere dolu visited a resort in Lagos state in 2019 .

Not Seychelles, not Mauritius, not Cape Town, not Hawaii, not Maldives, not Tarkwa Bay, not even Oniru beach - this is Aiyetoro Beach in Ondo State...(sic), reads a tweet published on April 14, 2023.

A screenshot showing the misleading tweet, taken on April 19, 2023

The four pictures in the tweet show the governor visiting what appears to be a beach resort.

The tweet was published by a Twitter account named Abiola Osohodi that regularly shares content in support of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to which Akeredolu belongs.

The tweet has since gathered over 1,300 retweets and over 4,900 likes.

Many people commenting on the pictures were enthusiastic about the beach resort and promised to visit for their holidays.

A screenshot showing comments on the misleading post, taken on April 19, 2023

The claim also appeared elsewhere on Twitter and Facebook.

Aiyetoro -- where the post claimed the pictures were taken -- is a coastal community in the Ilaje area of Ondo state.

But the claim that the pictures were taken at a beach in Aiyetoro is false.

Beach in Lagos, not Ondo

Using reverse image searches, AFP Fact Check found the original photos in Nigerian media articles from 2021.

The pictures show Akeredolu visiting La Campagne Tropicana beach resort on May 15, 2021.

Fikayo OWOEYE

This resort is in the village of Ikegun, located in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos state.

The visit was widely reported in major local newspapers, including here and here (archived here and here).

According to the reports, Akeredolux said during his visit that his administration wanted to further develop tourism in Ondo state.
A Spanaway Lake High School teacher last month recounted her sons troubled life and eventual death by police, revealing intimate personal details for nearly an hour in a lecture to students that broached sensitive themes of mental health, drug use and gun violence.

When Rose Triana-Boman finished the presentation, which left her often visibly emotional and had been intended to explain why she went into teaching, she asked her fifth-period algebra class of mostly freshmen if anyone had questions. No one raised their hand.

Now, the Bethel School District is seeking answers.

The longtime math teacher is on paid administrative leave as the school district investigates whether any rules were broken after her presentation was secretly recorded by a student and posted to YouTube under the title, Teacher Mental Breakdown.

Were reviewing the teachers conduct and the conduct of the student who made the recording in class, Bethel School District spokesperson Doug Boyles told The News Tribune.

A recording of Triana-Bomans lecture was uploaded on March 29, the day after she gave the speech, onto an account called, Bethel Schools. It was unclear if the student who made the recording was also who posted it.

Triana-Boman was placed on leave the same day that the video went online, according to Boyles.

He said that school district officials had reported the video to YouTube, seeking to get it taken down, and also reported the account for imitating the districts official channel on the social media platform.

The video, which was no longer up after the account was terminated on either Monday or Tuesday, had been viewed over 1,300 times and garnered more than 40 comments. The comment section appeared polarized, raising questions about privacy issues, use of electronic devices in class and whats fit for high school kids to hear from their educators.

A person writing under the now-defunct account, Bethel Schools, said the teachers personal story had been inappropriate, potentially harmful to students and a waste of class time. They criticized the teacher for giving the lecture without seeking parental or guardian approval and for using language they said was impermissible for students.

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Some agreed, with one person writing that Triana-Boman deserved to be fired.

Others expressed concern that she was being unfairly chastised for imparting a valuable, if raw, cautionary tale, with some believing that posting the video under such a title was disrespectful and a disservice to the teacher, students and the community.

Shes a great teacher and telling kids about her personal experiences through her life can help others get through similar experiences, wrote one person, who suggested they had been in the classroom and that Triana-Boman had informed students that she planned to tell the story.

Prior to the account being deleted, The News Tribune twice reached out to the person who uploaded the video but did not get a response.

Thus far, the teachers presentation and its emergence online has prompted little offline backlash, with the district receiving only a small number of comments from community members and parents on both sides of the issue, Boyles said in a statement.

But the speech and how it ended up on YouTube is now at the center of a district investigation that could prematurely end Triana-Bomans career.

In the video, which was viewed in full by The News Tribune, the teacher informed students that theyd be the last to hear the story because she planned to retire when the school year ended in June. She has been employed with the district for nearly 20 years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Bethel Education Association president Janet Caldwell said by phone that the union was aware of the situation. The BEA did not address The News Tribunes questions and Triana-Boman, through Caldwell, declined an interview.

What did Triana-Boman say?

Neil Triana, Triana-Bomans son, was 22 years old when he was shot and killed by two Tacoma police officers during Memorial Day weekend in 2005. The incident spurred a coroners inquest, with a six-person jury concluding that the officers had done nothing wrong.

In her lecture, Triana-Boman reflected on her divorce from Trianas father, the familys move from Tacoma to escape gangs and having her son arrested for domestic violence when he broke household items in anger over switching schools.

She detailed his grapples with depression and thoughts of suicide, her regular searches of their home for drugs she suspected he might be using and the regret she carried after sending him to live with his father.

Triana-Boman also recollected that her son was injured in a shooting prior to his police encounter, and she showed the class a photo of him hooked up to tubes in a hospital bed.

Several years after that shooting, police pulled over a vehicle Triana was in for expired tags. He and a friend had been smoking marijuana. Triana-Boman said her son had a gun on him, panicked and pulled the weapon on the officer.

Triana was shot at close range, and the officer was struck in the leg. The officer kept shooting after her son, who was still holding onto the gun, had fallen to the ground, according to Triana-Boman.

What are you going to do when someone keeps shooting at you? she asked the class. Youre gonna shoot back.

Authorities had said the traffic stop in the 4700 block of South Cushman Street turned deadly after Triana pulled the gun and threatened to shoot the officer. The officer, Ryan Lane, shot Triana and then was struck in the leg by gunfire.

Officer Chris Karl responded to Lanes radio call for backup and later testified that he shot Triana after Triana raised his gun at him.

Ultimately, Triana was shot 13 times, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Although painful, Triana-Boman concluded that the story of her son was one of hope because it led her to join the teaching profession.

Thered been at least a dozen students that shed been able to help with their own mental health challenges, she said, and she personally knew what it meant to be depressed and suicidal. She encouraged students to share their problems with people they trusted and to be your best you.

I became a teacher because you need somebody who believes in you, she said, wracked by emotion, and I believe in you.

Broken rules?

Triana-Boman had given this lecture in previous years. By her own telling, it was not well received by administrators at Spanaway Middle School. She said she had been banned for a couple of years from the school because the story was deemed too traumatic.

It was unclear whether she was prohibited from teaching at the school or merely from telling the story there, but she said more than 200 young students had subsequently signed a petition seeking to allow the lecture to continue to be delivered.

Boyles said the district was unaware that Triana-Boman had given the presentation to students in the past or that it had received flak at the middle school.

Its investigation will determine what, if any, school policies might have been violated.

Bethel School Board president Brenda Rogers told The News Tribune that she expected the board would be notified of the districts findings.

This is a matter of concern to the board and to the administration, Rogers said.

The district board policy manual says that instructional certificated employees must prepare daily lesson plans in a format specified by a principal or program director.

Its obvious from a warning on the dry erase board seen in the student-recorded video that students were not allowed to use electronic devices in class during the lecture. District policy also forbids use of such devices during regular school hours except in cases of an emergency or unless authorized by a teacher or administrator. Using devices to violate another individuals privacy is also not permitted.

Expectation of privacy was the subject of debate between two YouTube commenters, who sparred over whether a classroom was a publicly accessible space and if capturing a class lecture or teachers behavior was warranted in this instance.

Secretly recording the incident then posting it on a public forum in such a way as to mislead the public was not only inappropriate but will certainly lead to consequences, one person wrote.

In response, a commenter who appeared to be the person who uploaded the video, writing under a different account name, rejected any notion that their actions were irresponsible or potentially libelous and claimed they acted in good faith to bring attention to a serious issue.

[T]he issue at hand is not solely about the legality of the recording, but also about the safety and well-being of the students in the classroom, they wrote. The behavior exhibited by the teacher in the video raises concerns about her ability to provide a safe and appropriate learning environment for her students.

In 2019, the ACLU of Washington published a tech guide for students that outlined their rights and responsibilities in the digital age. The guide noted that it is against state law to audio-record a private conversation without the consent of everyone who is recorded. On the subject of videotaping, the document suggested that schools might have rules in place.

If such policies exist, you could get in trouble by breaking the rules against taking a photo or video, it said. For example, if you use a cell phone secretly to capture a video of your teacher and post it on YouTube from home, you could face discipline.
The Pittsburgh Pirates (12-7), head home after a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, to face the Cincinnati Reds (7-11) for a four-game series.

The Pirates obliterated the Rockies in game three by a score of 14-3, after an early flurry in the first inning, where the Pirates batted around and scored five runs, and then scored four in the second inning.

Batters 3-9 each recorded at least one RBI, with Rodolfo Castro leading the way with four RBIs on two hits.

First pitch at PNC Park is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

Read more from our partners at Sports Now Group Pittsburgh.

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EVANSVILLE  Police have arrested an Evansville man accused of fatally striking a bicyclist while reportedly driving drunk Wednesday night.

Officers booked Scott C. Lane, 37, into the Vanderburgh County jail just after 4:10 a.m. Thursday, according to booking records. Lane is preliminarily charged with multiple offenses, including operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated resulting in death.

Evansville police had not publicly identified the victim as of Thursday morning.

According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by the Courier & Press, Lane faces four preliminary charges:

Leaving the scene of an accident while intoxicated, a Level 3 felony

Operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing death, a Level 4 felony

Operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing endangerment, a misdemeanor

Refusal to submit to a chemical test

More: Sheriff vows to implement changes in wake of Deputy Asson Hacker's death

Lane allegedly struck the bicyclist with his truck Wednesday night at the intersection of Boeke Road and Sweetser Avenue. Evansville police officers who responded to the area at 8:32 p.m. said they found the bicyclist lying on the street, the affidavit states.

The victim later died at a local hospital, police said.

While Lane was not present at the scene when officers arrived to investigate, eyewitness accounts, a called-in tip and license plate cameras traced the collision to Lane's truck, according to EPD detectives who said Lane had consumed a mix of alcohol and prescription anxiety medication prior to the fatal collision.

Onlookers said Lane approached the downed cyclist before leaving scene

EPD Detective Ryan Eagleson, who wrote the probable cause affidavit filed in support of Lane's charges, said eyewitnesses claimed a blue-colored pick-up truck struck the bicyclist.

One of the witnesses identified the truck as a Dodge and said it had "writing on the wheel well, and the right rear bumper was curled up as if someone crashed it," Eagleson wrote in the affidavit.

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The witness also claimed the driver of the truck exited the vehicle and approached the injured cyclist in a failed attempt to "get him walking." At one point, a female passenger seen riding in the truck's front seat exited the vehicle, too, a witness reportedly said, before the driver ushered her back into her seat.

More: Indiana college soccer team alleges coach was 'forced to resign based on her sexuality'

One of the witnesses told police the driver of the truck yelled to them, "He's OK! He's OK!" before they left the scene of the collision. The witness also claimed the driver smelled of alcohol and believed he was "drunk driving," according to Eagleson.

As police continued their investigation, Evansville-Vanderburgh Central Dispatch received a call from a woman who believed Lane may have been involved in a hit and run, the affidavit states. The female passenger riding in Lane's vehicle reportedly called the tipster earlier in the evening and said Lane was driving "erratically."

Flock Safety cameras photographed Lane's truck, police say

The tip reportedly led police to identify Lane as the owner of a blue, 2009 Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

Detectives said they entered the vehicle's license plate into the EPD's Flock Safety camera system, which showed Lane's truck near the scene of the crash minutes before dispatchers began to receive 911 calls.

The Flock cameras, which automatically scan the license plates of passing vehicles, showed the damage incurred by Lane's truck matched the description given by eyewitnesses earlier that evening, according to Eagleson. The cameras are also capable of recording other information, such as a vehicle's make, model and aftermarket alterations.

More: Police: License plate cameras lead to recovery of missing child, arrest of sex offender

EPD officers arrested Lane at his residence in the 1200 block of North Second Avenue Wednesday night and transported him to a local hospital, where he allegedly refused to take a blood-alcohol test as required by Indiana law.

Detectives said Lane's eyes were "red and bloodshot" and claimed his breath smelled of alcohol.

"His speech was slurred as well," Eagleson wrote in the affidavit.

More: License plate cameras are up and running in Evansville, but police won't say where

Detectives said they interviewed the female passenger seen riding in Lane's truck at the time of the collision. She reportedly told detectives Lane had been taking a combination of pills and alcohol  including a prescription anxiety medication.

"(She) said Scott had been drinking beer throughout the whole day," Eagleson wrote. "Right before the accident occurred, Scott was on his second case of beer."

For Subscribers: They're oh so close to Evansville city limits, but these locals can't vote this year

While detectives waited to receive a search warrant authorizing the collection of a blood sample, Eagleson said Lane made an unprompted statement implicating himself in the collision.

"Scott made an excited utterance asking if this whole incident was because of him hitting the guy and stopping to check on him," Eagleson wrote.

A nearby officer's body camera captured audio of the statement, according to Eagleson.

As of Thursday morning, the charges against Lane did not appear in online dockets for Vanderburgh County Circuit or Superior Court.

Houston can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Police say Evansville man charged in fatal hit, run was intoxicated
Police are investigating a massive gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport, a location often used to ship gold mined in the province of Ontario.

Canadian officials say more than C$20m ($15m, 12m) of gold and valuables were stolen on Monday 17 April.

An aircraft container carrying the goods arrived at the airport in the evening and was transported to a cargo holding facility.

Police believe that is where the heist took place.

The theft could mark one of the bigger heists in Canadian history, a list that includes the 2011 and 2012 Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist when 3,000 tonnes of syrup valued at $18.7m were stolen from a storage facility in Quebec.

Peel Regional Police inspector Stephen Duivesteyn said their team is investigating "all avenues" and described Monday's incident as isolated and rare.

At a press conference on Thursday at the airport, Mr Duivesteyn said the missing aircraft container was about 5 sq ft (.46 sq m) in size, and "contained other items of monetary value" in addition to the gold.

Officials have refused to say what airline shipped the cargo, where the load had come from, or its intended destination.

"Our goal is to solve this theft," Mr Duivesteyn said. "We want to solve it. I cannot provide exact details."

In 2020, Toronto Pearson International Airport handled 388,700 tonnes (857 million pounds) of cargo

But travellers are not in danger, he continued. "We do not consider this a public safety matter."

The Toronto Sun reported earlier on Thursday that police thought organised crime groups were involved. Mr Duivesteyn said it was too early to tell.

"We're three days in, so our investigators have their eyes open to all avenues," he said. "We're kind of keeping a broad outlook on it, so we're looking on all angles on how this item was stolen."

In a statement, the airport said that thieves did not gain access to the airport itself but "accessed the public side of a warehouse that is leased to a third party, outside of our primary security line".

The BBC has contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for comment.
Seattle police arrested a suspect who is believed to have stabbed a man to death during a carjacking in Edmonds on Wednesday night.

Ian S. Bramel-Allen, 43, was arrested late Thursday morning near Volunteer Park.

Seattle police found the vehicle that was stolen during the carjacking  a Kia Sorento  near Volunteer Park at around 5:30 a.m. Thursday. Officers searched for the suspect but he was not found.

Shortly after 11 a.m., officers returned to the 1500 block of East Highland Drive to look for Bramel-Allen after receiving a call from someone who had seen Bramel-Allens photo after Edmonds police posted it on Facebook and Twitter.

The first officer to arrive spotted Bramel-Allen, who refused commands to stop and ran into Volunteer Park, according to Seattle police.

He was taken into custody in the 1400 block of East Prospect Street after stabbing himself in the neck. As of Friday, Bramel-Allen remained at Harborview Medical Center under guard.

Bramel-Allen is expected to be charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery, according to the Edmonds Police Department.

The 37-year-old victim was stabbed in the Winco Foods parking lot along Highway 99 and 220th Street Southwest at around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Edmonds police said the victim and the suspect knew one another but its unclear what their relationship was.

Ian S. Bramel-Allen, 43, was arrested by Seattle police near Volunteer Park Thursday morning.

A man who was in the grocery store parking lot during the attack told KIRO 7 that he and others tried to save the victim.

He said, You cant stab people in the chest! And then it kinda alerted myself and another gentleman coming down that we better get down there and figure out whats going on, said John Coyle. We went down there, and hes on his stomach. So we just kind of rolled him over and tried to put some pressure on the chest.

Edmonds police said the car that was stolen Wednesday night did not belong to the man who died, but he had been allowed to use it.








Crime

Phoenix police identified a suspect in a Tuesday shooting in front of a Budget Lodge motel that left one person dead.

According to police, officers responded to the area of Dunlap Avenue and Black Canyon Highway just before 3:30 p.m., after receiving an emergency call regarding a shooting in front of the motel room. Upon arrival, they located Elijah Johnson, 18, on the ground with a gunshot wound.

On Wednesday, police identified Johnson's 17-year-old cousin, Sir Amir Williamson, as the suspect.

According to police, detectives learned that Williamson was involved in a verbal argument with Johnson inside one of the motel rooms before the shooting. He left the area before police arrived.

What's in store for Phoenix's future? What the mayor wants you to know

Phoenix police asked anyone with information to contact the Phoenix Police Department or Silent Witness if they wish to remain anonymous at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish.

Police said the 17-year-old was considered armed and dangerous.

Reporter Kye Graves contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police search for 17-year-old suspected of killing cousin in Phoenix
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual expressed his support for the extension of SIM registration as the possibility of mass deactivation of mobile numbers after the April 26 deadline could pose a major concern, hindering the Philippines push for a digital economy.

If not all SIMs are registered, I think its a major concern. That has to be evaluated by telcos and concerned agencies in charge of ICT, he said during a Palace briefing on Thursday.

The trade chiefs remarks came after he was asked about the possible impact if the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) remains firm about its decision not to extend the SIM registration.

On Wednesday, the DICT rejected the call of telcos to extend the deadline and urged Filipinos to maximize the remaining week before the registration ends on April 26.

Data from the DICT showed that only 74 million users as of Tuesday have been registered, not even half of the more than 168 million SIMs.

If we really need registration, personally I would go for it," Pascual said. "The campaign has to be done and we need to make sure that registration happens."

"Its like voters registration," he added. "We need voters to register for us to exercise the democratic process. And here for security, we need SIMs registered."

Pascual stressed that SIM registration is very important as the country moves towards digital payment.
As Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to keep the heat on Walt Disney World in his protracted feud with one of the states largest employers, rivals from both sides of the political spectrum are taking advantage of the moment to court Disney or call DeSantis out.

Democratic legislators in North Carolina on Wednesday proposed a bill, called the Mickeys Freedom Restoration Act, that would fund a study commission to develop a plan to attract family amusement parks to the state.

Former President Donald Trump suggested the governor had been outplayed, outsmarted, and embarrassed by Mickey Mouse, calling the governors effort to pass new legislation aimed at the company a political STUNT.

DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney, Trump wrote on Tuesday on Truth Social, his media site, using a nickname he has given the governor. Disneys next move will be the announcement that no more money will be invested in Florida because of the Governor  In fact, they could even announce a slow withdrawal or sale of certain properties, or the whole thing. Watch! That would be a killer.

DeSantis, who is expected to announce his intentions to run for the GOP nomination for president in the next month, is seen as Trumps closest rival, but other Republicans interested in a White House bid in 2024 have also lobbed criticism at the Florida governors actions.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has suggested he is interested in seeking the GOP nomination for president, said the Disney dust-up signals a judgment failure on DeSantis part.

Look, this has gone from kind of going after a headline to something that has devolved into an issue, and it convolutes the entire Republican message, Sununu told CNN on Monday night. ... its not good for Gov. DeSantis. I dont think its good for the Republican Party.

Christie: A violation of Republican principles

On Tuesday, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie accused DeSantis of violating conservative Republican principles by taking aim at a private company in retaliation for speaking out against DeSantis.

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Thats not the guy I want sitting across from President Xi, Christie said, referring to Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.  ... or sitting across from [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin and trying to resolve whats happening in Ukraine, if you cant see around a corner [Disney CEO] Bob Iger created for you.

I dont think Ron DeSantis is a conservative, based on his actions towards Disney, Christie added during an interview that was streamed on the media platform Semafor.

Meanwhile, if DeSantis has heard the criticism, he has been unfazed by it. On Monday, he announced that among the infrastructure projects the districts new board could consider on the 39-square mile property owned by Disney and controlled by the district would be a prison adjacent to the theme park.

Disneys sloppy and futile attempt to subvert the will of the Legislature and Floridians was uncovered by our state oversight board and their 11th hour agreements will be nullified by the Legislature, DeSantis wrote on Twitter this week. Disneys corporate kingdom is over.

The board DeSantis appointed to control the special taxing district on Wednesday announced a list of infrastructure projects it intends to pursue that will require it to raise taxes on the major property owner in the district, Disney.

Also Wednesday, legislators barreled ahead with his plan to pass legislation that attempts to remove the legal hurdles to invalidate an agreement the Disney-controlled board made with the company before the governors hand-picked board took over.

Democrats take advantage

Democrats, however, see the governors sustained attention to Disney as an opportunity to focus on what he is not talking about.

As part of his revenge, Ron DeSantis wants to build a prison right in the heart of Floridas tourist mecca and drive out our largest employer, said Florida Democrat Party Leader Nikki Fried. He continues to ignore the most critical needs of Floridians but is succeeding in hurting Floridas business climate, deterring visitors from our state, and chasing out world-class professors from our state university system.

In North Carolina, the bill filed by state Sen. Michael K. Garrett, a Democrat from Greensboro, faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Legislature. But the measure hits at many of the hot buttons Democrats see as a weakness in the governors strategy.

The bill cites the Disney CEOs comments from earlier this month criticizing Floridas anti-business and anti Florida actions against the company and, without directly condemning the Florida Legislature, it references some states [that] have recently begun to prioritize culture war politics over economic development.

Politicians who put their states economy at risk to boost their own selfish political ambitions are a liability. In North Carolina, weve learned this lesson the hard way, Garrett said when filing the legislation. I welcome The Walt Disney Company and all other businesses seeking refuge from the culture war madness currently gripping the great state of Florida.

If passed into law, the bill would empower an 11-person committee with $750,000 to investigate strategies for securing Disneys relocation. But in North Carolinas Republican-controlled Legislature, its unlikely the bill will move forward.

Florida doesnt seem a good fit for the happiest place on earth these days, North Carolina Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue tweeted Wednesday. In NC, yall still means all.

Lars Dolder at The Raleigh News & Observer contributed reporting.

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@miamiherald.com and @MaryEllenKlas
Joy Viera and her family were excited to move into base housing at Fort Gordon, Georgia, last May after living in hotels for five weeks.

It didnt last long.

That night, things took a turn, she said. Around 8 p.m., after an upstairs toilet had failed to flush, she noticed a liquid leaking from multiple spots in the kitchen ceiling.

It was brown, it was disgusting, and it was flowing uncontrollably, including into the bathtub.

Water with poop was falling into our kitchen, with our groceries wed just bought and onto our dog bed, she said. She immediately notified the privatized housing company on base, Balfour Beatty Communities. Before midnight arrived, they were told they were being displaced, that we should move to a hotel in an unfamiliar area, with two kids, two dogs and everything we had brought with us, she said.

So, after moving from Washington state across the country in the middle of the school year and living in a hotel, she had to tell her children they had to move to a hotel again.

We cant use any of the bathrooms, she said. We cant live with poop falling from the ceiling.

Viera and two other Army wives spoke about their experiences during a military housing oversight session on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., conducted by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia. Since taking office in 2021 and meeting with troops and families, Ossoff and his staff have been investigating housing problems at Fort Gordon and across the nation.

Issues like those faced by the Vieras continue despite the massive reforms enacted by Congress more than three years ago, which required the Defense Department and military services to address a raft of tenant concerns and improve their oversight of privatized housing. The Army wives, all current or former residents of Fort Gordon, described their problems with mold, water intrusion, sewage backups and leakage within the past year. And their problems also occurred after the senators April 2022 investigation at Fort Gordon that spurred the Army to take action.

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Ossoff said some progress has been made to resolve problems with mold evaluations, mold remediation and documentation of work orders uncovered in that initial eight-month investigation.

We have seen some signs of apparent progress, as you noted, more technicians on staff, more full-time management focus, Ossoff told Army leaders who participated in the session. We still have a long way to go  the quality of the maintenance work, the timeliness of the responses to requests for work orders.

Weve heard from families about the emotional toll this takes on parents, the health impact on kids and on childhood development, and the impact it has on the morale and readiness of U.S. Army soldiers who defend the nation.

Military families still suffer from lack of response to mold, leaks, report finds

Ossoff criticized Balfour Beatty officials for declining his invitation to participate, although they have met with his staff and provided documents in response to requests, he said.

But given that this same company pled guilty to [Justice Department] charges for defrauding the U.S. military and [company officials] say they take seriously the need to improve their operations, their unwillingness to answer questions in a public setting calls into question their commitment to transparency and  improvement.

In a statement provided to Military Times, Balfour Beatty officials said they declined the invitation because we have multiple two-way communication channels in place to maintain transparency into maintenance requests, keep residents informed, and allow them to share their feedback and raise concerns.  They also continue to meet routinely with the local military housing office and command to ensure any resident housing concerns are being appropriately addressed by our team.

Its not clear why the sewage problems werent detected by Balfour Beatty or Army inspectors.

Balfour Beatty Communities has always inspected every home before a new resident moves in, according to their statement.

Viera said that when Balfour Beatty provided a second home on post, they found dead bugs on the floor, dust and dirt, and mold in the vents.

The wives descriptions were reminiscent of the 2019 testimony of spouses from around the country who told Congress about their frustrations with mold, sewage backups, water intrusion and vermin infestation, and dealing with privatized housing managers and maintenance staff who dismissed their concerns.

While this session was about conditions at Fort Gordon, the problems arent isolated to that post, said Breanna Barnhart, director of operations at the Safe Military Housing Initiative, a group that advocates for military families who have problems with their housing. This is national in scope, she said.

Gaps in military housing improvements lead to frustration, confusion

Living on the porch and in the car

And like many other families who have testified before, these spouses described hiring their own independent inspectors to evaluate their homes. Two of the homes were determined to be unfit for human occupancy.

Erin Greer said that rather than being concerned for her familys health and safety, local company employees were upset that we allowed an independent inspector to come in and drill holes in the walls. In September, 2022, that independent inspector told them the home was unfit for occupancy, but Balfour Beatty didnt agree to move them.

So they stayed out of the house as much as they could, limiting themselves to the front porch and sometimes sleeping in the car. We didnt have the financial ability to pay for a hotel, she said.

The company later arranged for them to move while repairs were made. When the Greers returned, there were still problems, including mold on the carpet, she said.

On April 6, the Greers put in a work order for sewage that was flowing into the downstairs bathroom, and into the hallway and an area in the dining room. The repairs werent completed. To this day, the bathroom floor is still covered in liquid sewage, Greer said.

In their follow up investigation into housing conditions at the base, Ossoffs staff also found there have been numerous incidents where Balfour Beatty failed to properly respond to or handle environmental hazards like mold growth. Ossoff said he held a town hall with enlisted personnel at Fort Gordon last week and heard about frustration with the quality of maintenance work, and the lack of professionalism of those who do the work, and the need for better communication with residents.

Many of the families want and need to live on base at Fort Gordon, which is a training base, and generally a short-term assignment. They cant afford to live off post. We were fortunate to find something we could afford short-term, Viera said. This is not an isolated incident, she said.

Our families are at the mercy of companies like Balfour Beatty, Viera said. Its undoubtedly affecting soldiers morale. How can they focus on the mission when theyre unsure if their families have a safe living environment?

Committed to fixing this situation

Rachel Jacobson, the Armys assistant secretary for installations, energy and the environment, listened to the wives discuss their housing problems.

Im very, very sorry for the hardship these families have endured, she said. What you have described today and what youve experienced is unacceptable. And we at Army are committed to fixing this situation.

Following Ossoffs initial investigation, Army officials launched their own investigation. They suspended incentive fees for Balfour Beatty at Fort Gordon and agreed to conduct home-by-home inspections of all living quarters, which began at the Georgia post the week of April 10. Ossoff observed the beginning of those inspections.

The Army has also revised language in ground lease documents, the foundation for oversight of the privatized housing program, specifically outlining the consequences for not complying with the requirements, which could lead to default, Jacobson said. She used this enforcement tool in July 2022 to inform Balfour Beatty it was in jeopardy of default at Fort Gordon.

Following the two investigations, we demanded the development and implementation of a comprehensive quality assurance and quality control plan, she said. Balfour Beatty complied with requirements and briefed Army officials on their quality assurance plan in December, she said.

Lt. Gen. Kevin Vereen, Army deputy chief of staff for the G-9 directorate, said Balfour Beatty has made significant housing leadership changes at Fort Gordon. A full-time manager with the needed expertise is now there on the ground, and that has been a game changer, he said, helping ensure not only the quality of the work but also the customer service.

Ossoff said hes encouraged by the initiative to build 76 new homes at Fort Gordon because the underlying problem is the age of the homes. Although its no excuse for poor repairs, he said, the base needs new houses. But he questioned how the Army is going to ensure the homes will be well-built, which has been a problem with some of the privatized housing at Fort Gordon and elsewhere.

Jacobson responded that the Army is hiring 23 engineering specialists to focus on housing across the service. They will oversee construction activities and make sure it adheres to Army standards. The consultants who are overseeing the ongoing inspection program will also be on site to oversee the construction, she said.

It will be yalls responsibility to ensure this construction is well-executed. If its not, were going to be right back where we have been, Ossoff said.

Apparent signs of progress need to become real, specific, measurable progress that is felt by the families on post, he said. When I return to hold another town hall with enlisted personnel, and Ill do it again later this year, I need to hear from them that [their] experience has changed, he said.

Viera urged Ossoff to hold privatized housing companies accountable for the negligence and failure to maintain the housing our families live in.
A postal worker was knocked out of his vehicle after he was hit by another driver in Pittsburgh, police say.

Pittsburgh police say the driver told them he was hit by a blue pickup truck on Middletown Road at around 9:45 a.m. on Thursday.

The force was so hard that the worker fell out of the vehicles side door and hit the ground. The driver of the truck fled the scene, leaving behind broken glass and a side passenger mirror.

The postal worker was taken to the hospital to be treated for lower back and leg pain.

Police said they used city cameras to track where the truck went after the crash. They found the driver who gave them a statement.

The driver of the pickup truck faces charges including accidents involving damage to an attended vehicle.

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The parents of a premature baby, born 12 weeks early weighing just 1lbs 13oz say they "couldn't be happier" their son is now home from hospital and doing well.

Sam Dudgeon, 42, from Ware Hertfordshire, was just 28 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to her son on 3 January 2023, having gone into premature labour. Her newborn was born so small he fit entirely in his dad's hands.

Baby William was immediately transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at St Thomas' Hospital in London, where he was incubated whilst a valve in his heart closed up and he recovered from an early infection.

After continuing to grow, William was transferred to the Lister Hospital on 23 March, where he spent two weeks before being finally discharged from hospital on 3 April.

Read more: Baby born weighing less than a loaf of bread defies odds to celebrate 1st birthday

Sam Dudgeon, 42, gave birth at St. Thomas' Hospital, London, at just 28 weeks in January this year. (Sam Dudgeon/SWNS)

His parents, Sam and Chris, 35, a brand ambassador, were thrilled to be able to welcome William home and say the tot has settled in nicely and now weighs a healthy 7lbs.

"It has been an emotional rollercoaster and still is to some extent," Sam, a finance manager explains.

"We both cried when he was in the car ready to come home."

Though the couple were warned their new baby would be small, they were unsure just how tiny their newborn might be.

"My husband, Chris, could hold his entire body in his hands," Sam says.

"He looked so fragile and when he breathed you could see his ribs."

Read more: Millie Mackintosh shares important message about caesarean births: The narrative around C-sections needs to change

Baby William's body could fit into his dad's hands at birth. (Sam Dudgeon/SWNS)

But now that he's home and continuing to grow, the couple say William seems so "big and heavy" in comparison to his size at birth.

"Most people who see him say he's small and very light to them, to us he's our chunky monkey," his mum continues.

The couple had been trying for a baby on and off for four years and were ready to potentially undergo IVF when they conceived naturally in July 2022.

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But at 28 weeks, a complication meant baby William was not getting enough blood flow from the placenta, and he had to be born early.

Sam went to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, at the end of December 2022 for a routine checkup but was kept in for monitoring.

Read more: Baby born with heart wired the wrong way round survives major surgery: 'So strong'

William was incubated whilst a valve in his heart closed up and he recovered from an early infection, pictured with his mum. (Sam Dudgeon/SWNS)

On New Year's Day, Sam was transferred to St. Thomas' Hospital in Central, London, for William to be born there as his pre-birth weight prediction (750g) was lower than the Princess Alexandra Hospital minimum (800g).

Despite his small size, William didn't require the need for a ventilator and was able to breathe on his own, only requiring basic oxygen support.

"When he was born, he was breathing on his own and continues to," Sam explains.

"He needed and still needs some oxygen support because his lungs are small and can't provide the requirements he needs but when they grow, he will need it less."

The couple describe their son's arrival as a "rollercoaster".

"The first couple of weeks were the hardest as we knew if he got through those first two weeks then we would be out of the danger zone," William's mum explains.

"He had an infection in the beginning and was incubated which was scary. We were also told about the open valve in his heart, which is very normal for premature babies."

Read more: Alexandra Burke pregnant and first baby is only eight months old: Benefits of a small age gap

Baby William was born weighing just 1lbs 13oz and was immediately transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit. (Sam Dudgeon/SWNS)

Having recovered from his infection and seeing his heart valve close, William was moved out of NICU into high dependancy where he continued to grow.

"The doctors were very happy and said he was doing really well," Sam continues.

William's progress meant the family were soon transferred to Lister Hospital in Hertfordshire, where he continued to progress.

"He upped his feeding by bottle so well that his feeding tube came out and his oxygen support decreased so much that they could put him on standard oxygen," Sam says.

"He had to come home on oxygen which is a shame as we were hoping he might be wire free, but we were told this probably would be the case and hopefully he won't be on it long."

Read more: Kate Ferdinand praised for helping to break the pregnancy 12-week rule: I told people close to me

Parents, Sam and Chris, were thrilled to take their son home from hospital, earlier this month. (Sam Dudgeon/SWNS)

The couple say they feel "blessed" with the help they received from the doctors and other medical staff for the first three months of William's life.

"We were taught how to look after him," Sam explains. "From changing his nappy to feeding him and giving him a bath.

"Other parents have to learn that when they come home from hospital after having their babies."

And now that William is at home the couple are getting used to life as new parents.

"It's wonderful," Sam says.

"We're trying to get used to the lack of sleep, but I don't mind it one bit.

"He has settled in and we couldn't be happier."

Additional reporting SWNS.
Responsibility and independence are indications that your teen may be ready for their first job.

Responsibility and independence are indications that your teen may be ready for their first job.

Theres no replacement for on-the-job learning, and theres no better way for your teen to gain certain skills than by working that first job. Whether its bussing tables, babysitting, mowing lawns or making lattes, employment offers a taste of independence and a chance to prove how responsible and mature they can be.

A teen who doesnt show much interest in household chores or keeping track of homework may surprise you with a sudden surge of initiative when they see the promise of a paycheck on the horizon.

That said, dont assume that your teen will know how to act in a professional setting. Youll want to set them up for success by talking through a few fundamentals before they begin.

A great place to start is by sharing your own early work experiences. Give examples of successes and failures, Sarah Kirk, a former school counselor in Oklahoma, told HuffPost. What do you wish you would have known?

Here is some more guidance you may want to share:

Wait until youre ready and find the right fit.

Steve Sharp, a school counselor in Pennsylvania, told HuffPost, Teens who are ready to work have often demonstrated readiness through household chores, volunteer activities or involvement in school or community clubs or organizations.

Before they start job-hunting, teens should be prepared to follow basic multi-step directions, be able to communicate with adults, and manage their time, Sharp added.

Some jobs, like mowing lawns or babysitting for neighbors, are better suited as starter positions for kids who dont have as much experience. They also let kids try out a certain kind of work before making a commitment.

Among businesses, some are more open than others to working with young people. Try to find a job that is open to helping teens build skills needed in the workplace, said Kirk.

In addition to getting any necessary work permits from the school or labor department (laws vary by state), teens should think about how many hours they realistically can balance, transportation and related safety concerns, said Sharp.

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He added, The current labor market has made it possible for youth to start in many jobs with higher wages than ever before and even sign-on bonuses. Sites like Snagajob offer teens a place to look for entry-level work. You can help your child draft a resume, listing their skills and aptitudes if they dont have work experience yet, and role-play a job interview with them.

Volunteering events like the MLK Day of Service can also give you the chance to explore different kinds of work alongside your kids.

Complete your chores at home, regardless of what else is going on.

Assigning chores at home can help teens build up some of the skills they will need for the workplace.

The key here is the chores and responsibilities being routine and expected. Suppose the child does not have to complete the chores and responsibilities when they are busy. In that case, it does not help them to learn time management and the importance of fulfilling responsibilities despite other obligations, explained Kirk.

Sharp added that providing the child with meaningful feedback can be beneficial. If the dishes arent clean, say so and explain what they need to do differently. This prepares them for learning similar skills at a real job.

Be on time.

Teens may be used to making loose plans with friends and need to learn that its not considered fashionably late when reporting to a supervisor. Its also not the minor infraction of arriving tardy to class.

Remind them that others are dependent on their timely arrival, and return from breaks, in order to meet their own obligations. A mother cant leave home to make her meeting until the babysitter has arrived.

A job requires you to make sacrifices. This means that sometimes you will have to miss something desirable due to your responsibility of going to work, said Kirk.

Establish good phone etiquette.

Theres nothing stronger than the bond between a teen and their phone. Giving your teen opportunities to practice setting their phone aside, perhaps for family dinners, can help them learn to withstand being offline while on the job. Getting caught texting by a supervisor isnt quite the same as being spotted hiding your phone under your desk during social studies class.

Remind them to take off their headphones and silence or turn off their phone as soon as they arrive at their worksite.

Review when an appropriate time for them to check their phone might be at their specific job. Do they get an official break? If theyre babysitting, they should wait until the kids are in bed and any cleanup is taken care of before they start scrolling.

Taking pictures or video of co-workers, the workplace, or any children they are in charge off is probably off limits, too, and certainly shouldnt be posted to social media.

Any thoughts or feelings they have about their work, or the people they work for, also need to stay offline. Complaining about a work-related situation on social media, thinking no one they work with will see it, could spell disaster.

Ask, dont assume.

Teens should know that theyll have a lot of questions those first days on the job, and should err on the side of asking for clarification rather than guessing what to do. This may not feel natural to shy teens, or those likely to think that they are being a bother, but its essential in the beginning  and employers will expect it.

Keith Howard is commissioner of New York Citys Department of Youth and Community Development. He oversees the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), which provides jobs to 100,000 teens every year and is the largest and longest-running program of its kind in the country.

If you have a question, ask the question. Dont be afraid to ask a specific question, Howard told HuffPost of his advice for young people.

Your teen will do a lot of job learning by carefully observing managers and co-workers, but any remaining questions need to be asked.

There are often unspoken rules at places of employment, said Kirk. Teens can ask their supervisor and other employees about the expectations of the job, including attire, logistics and other important questions.

Practice problem-solving skills.

A big part of job success is knowing how to work with others.

Talk through difficult situations with peers at school and in activities, recommended Kirk. Think about different ways to respond in similar situations.

You might ask, How do you respond when someone has a different way of doing things than you? Kirk suggested, and share examples from your own experience to get them thinking.

Often underdeveloped communication skills or difficulty responding to feedback appropriately are the biggest barriers to youth Ive worked with in entry level positions, Sharp said.

Show initiative, but dont overstep authority.

Its good to show enthusiasm for the job, but dont start out by coming up with your own tasks, or beginning your own projects before getting the go-ahead from a supervisor.

Simply asking something like, Should I go ahead and fill the salt shakers now, too? or Should I put the laundry in the dryer once the cycle is complete? is a way to show initiative at the same time as respect for authority.

Likewise, when they finish with one task, they should ask a supervisor what they should tackle next instead of deciding for themselves or waiting for someone to hand them something else to do.

Clean-up conscientiously.

Whether its a break room or a neighbors kitchen, help teens practice leaving spaces as clean, or cleaner, as they found them  especially when those spaces arent theirs.

Master a few financial basics.

Its a new feeling to earn your own money, said Howard, who got his own first job via SYEP when he was a teen.

Youth who participate in SYEP get a course in financial literacy before they start working at their job sites. Your teen may not want to hear all the wisdom you have to impart about finances, but youll probably want to help them out with a few pointers.

Before they get that first paycheck, remind them that some of their money will be taken out to pay taxes, or this may come as an unwelcome surprise.

Help them plan how to cash or deposit their check. Ask what they think they want to use their money for. If they have a long-term goal like getting a used car or paying college costs, you can help them calculate how much they should be putting into savings and how much they can use on other purchases.

Its often a good time for them to open up a bank account. You can walk them through checking their balance online so they can keep track of their spending and saving.

Know when to call for help or any other emergency procedures.

If your child is working as a lifeguard or camp counselor, this will likely be covered in their training. In SYEP programs where youth are working with younger children, the first step, Howard explained, is to notify a supervisor without delay when an issue arises so that a teen can get guidance on how to handle the situation.

If your teen is off to babysit for a neighbor or relative, however, its worth making a list of emergency phone numbers, both on their phone and an old-fashioned piece of paper to stick on the fridge, just in case. These include the parents numbers, your number, the number of another adult who is responsive and lives nearby, poison control and perhaps a doctor or dentist.

As always, youll need to strike a careful balance, both letting your teen know that you are there to support them, and, at the same time, that you believe that they can do this on their own.

Let the teen explore and experience their first job independently, advised Kirk. A big part of a first job is letting teens learn from their mistakes.

Related...
Dame Deborah James died from bowel cancer aged 40. (Getty Images)

Prince William said the late Dame Deborah James would be "so proud" as he praised TV presenter Lorraine Kelly for the ongoing bowel cancer campaign in her memory.

Mum-of-two and cancer campaigner James died in June at the age of 40 after battling the illness, and it was recently revealed that she helped to raise more than 11m with her Bowelbabe fund.

The latest instalment of ITV's Lorraine saw the presenter  who was close to James  talking about the No Butts campaign, which aims to raise awareness signs and symptoms of the disease.

Read more: Lorraine Kelly celebrates life of Dame Deborah James

A special video message from the royal then aired.

 @lorraine. Dame Deborah James would be so proud of what you and the team are doing to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Keep up the great work #NoButts@bowelbabe @BowelbabeF pic.twitter.com/202jBIPnad  The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) April 20, 2023

"Hi Lorraine, I just want to say a big thank you to you and your team for all youre doing to raise awareness around bowel cancer through your No Butts campaign," said the Prince.

As you know I got to meet Dame Deborah, so I know how important this was to her. Forty-six thousand people each year get diagnosed with bowel cancer and yet many of us dont know the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, particularly in us men.

So if youre watching this, please take a second to listen and learn about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, it could save your life.

The royal also tweeted the video, captioning the clip: "@lorraine. Dame Deborah James would be so proud of what you and the team are doing to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Keep up the great work #NoButts."

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Prince William met James in the weeks before she died, when he visited her as she was officially made a Dame.

Writing on Instagram at the time, James said she was "utterly honoured" and that William was "so kind".

Lorraine Kelly was close to Dame Deborah James. (ITV)

James was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and in 2018 launched the You, Me And The Big C podcast with fellow cancer patients Lauren Mahon and Rachael Bland.

Bland died aged 40 in 2018 after battling breast cancer.

Watch: Dame Deborah James' Bowelbabe cancer research fund raises 11.3m
In this file photo, Jeff Pelley arrives at the St. Joseph County Courthouse on July 19, 2006, in South Bend.

SOUTH BEND  After testifying at a Wednesday hearing that will determine whether or not Jeff Pelley will get a new trial in the 1989 killing of Pelleys father, mother and two stepsisters, Jacque Delp had an unusual request for St. Joseph County Superior Judge Stephanie Steele.

I havent been in a room with my brother for eight years, can I hug him? she asked.

Steele then called for a five-minute recess while the pair embraced.

Delps emotional request stood in contrast to a day of disjointed testimony and objections surrounding the question of whether Pelleys lawyers provided him effective counsel at his original trial in the 'prom night murders' case.

Jeff Pelley, with his wife Kim, enters the St. Joseph County courthouse during his 2006 trial. He was convicted of murdering his father, stepmother and two stepsisters in 1989.

In a post-conviction evidentiary hearing this week, Pelley has argued that his lawyers failed to follow up on leads, and prosecutors withheld key testimony about his fathers illegal financial activities in Florida.

Pelley, now 50, has already appealed his 2006 conviction, meaning this weeks four-day hearing is his best remaining chance at receiving a new trial.

Rob Pelley mob connections

One of the witnesses Pelleys trial lawyers could have interviewed was Kathy Hawley, a close friend of Rob Pelleys when the Pelleys lived in Cape Coral, Fla.

Under questioning from Frances Watson, Jeff Pelleys current attorney, Hawley said she and Rob Pelley worked together at a bank. At one point in the mid-1980s, Pelley confided in her that he had hidden some computer discs from the bank that caused him to worry about his job and his family.

He didnt want to give me a lot of detail because he was concerned they would come and question me about things, Hawley recalled. But he told me because we were close.

Adding to Rob Pelleys possible connections to organized crime in Florida, an investigator from Florida testified that a business partner of Hawleys husband was murdered  shot in the head and buried in cement  less than a year before the Pelley family was killed.

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However, prosecutors objected to much of Hawleys testimony, arguing her hearsay conversations with Rob Pelley would not be admissible at a new trial and shouldnt be considered by Steele.

On Tuesday, Steele heard testimony from Toni Beehler, who said Rob Pelley told her the mob was chasing him.

Pelley legal team: Hopes to show prosecutors lied, hid evidence in 'prom night murders' case

Ineffective counsel

Why Alan Baum, Jeff Pelleys lead counsel during the trial, didnt interview witnesses in Florida is unclear.

On Wednesday, Baum said he recalled sending one of his investigators to Florida to research tips given by Delp, but that the endeavor turned out to be a dead end. In conflicting testimony, Pelleys legal investigator on the case, Scott Campbell, said he was never told to look into leads in Florida.

Ultimately, Steele will decide whether Baums failure to interview witnesses about Rob Pelleys dealings in Florida means he did not provide Jeff Pelley the constitutional right to effective counsel.

Jeff Pelley

The rest of Baums testimony included probing by Watson about why he didnt call certain witnesses at Pelleys trial and why he didnt object to certain pieces of evidence that was presented to jurors.

Baum lives in California and was hired by Pelleys family when he was arrested in Los Angeles in 2002. In response to Watsons questions, Baum said he thought he did his best, but admitted with hindsight he should have noticed certain discrepancies.

I think its obvious now that I didnt note that or use that in the trial, Baum said, referring to a police report that says no clothes were taken from the washing machine in the Pelley house. The report conflicted with prosecutors statements that a pair of jeans was washed and found in the machine, Watson asserted.

Current magistrate Andre Gammage, who was Pelleys local counsel at the trial, is expected to testify Thursday, as are the prosecutors in the original case.

I am Jessica: New book describes impact of 1989 Lakeville murders on surviving sister

Pelleys sisters split

While Delp testified on her brothers behalf Wednesday, other members of the Pelley family, including Jeff Pelley's surviving stepsister, Jessica Pelley, feel he is guilty of the murders.

Jessica, now Jessi Toronjo, was 9 years old and away at a sleepover the night of the murders. She feels her brother is guilty and said in a statement to the Tribune she hopes he remains in prison.

The family and close friends of Dawn, Janel, and Jolene Pelley believe that Jeff is exactly where he belongs  serving out his life behind bars, the statement reads in part. And we are each left to serve a lifetime without our loved ones. We have faith in the legal system and the prosecution team, and sincerely hope that justice will not be undone.

Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Lakeville, Indiana murder case explores Florida mob connections
Alec Baldwin. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Prosecutors are dropping involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin was charged in the "Rust" movie set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

"We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin," said Baldwin's lawyers.

New Mexico prosecutors are dropping involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin in connection to the October 2021 "Rust" movie set shooting that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins,

Prosecutors have decided to dismiss two counts of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin, which they had filed in February 2023, Baldwin's attorneys told Insider in a statement on Thursday.

"We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident." Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, attorneys for Baldwin, told Insider in a statement on Thursday.

The shooting happened as Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw technique that involved his pointing a Colt .45 revolver at a camera on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set, according to affidavits previously released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.

A bullet from the gun struck Hutchins, a 42-year-old married mother-of-one, mortally wounding her. The movie's director, Joel Souza, was also injured by the bullet.

Prosecutors said that after new evidence came to light, the charges against Baldwin were dropped.

"Over the last few days and in preparation for the May 3, 2023, preliminary hearing, new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis in the case against Alexander 'Alec' Rae Baldwin. III. Consequently, we cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form," New Mexico First Judicial special prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis said in a statement to Insider.

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"We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin to conduct further investigation. This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled," they added.

An attorney for Baldwin previously told Insider that prosecutors' decision to bring charges against the actor "distorts Halyna Hutchins' tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice."

Baldwin  who had pleaded not guilty to the charges  scored a legal win in the case in February after prosecutors dropped the gun enhancement charge filed against him in connection to the shooting on the Santa Fe film set.

In a motion, Baldwin's defense team had argued that prosecutors made an "unconstitutional and elementary legal error" with the application of the gun enhancement because the statue did not exist at the time of the shooting.

Additionally, Andrea Reeb, a former district attorney and Republican lawmaker, resigned as a special prosecutor in the case in March following complaints from Baldwin's lawyers that her appointment was "unconstitutional."

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies later appointed longtime New Mexico attorneys Morrissey and Lewis to serve as special prosecutors in the case.

The armorer on the "Rust" movie set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was hit with the same charges as Baldwin was over the shooting. The firearm enhancement was also dropped for her. The prosecutors added on Thursday that the standing charges against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed "remain unchanged."

"The new special prosecutor team has taken a very diligent and thorough approach to the entire investigation, which we welcome and have always welcomed," Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion told Insider in a statement on Thursday.

The attorneys added, "They are seeking the truth and we are also. The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered. We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated."

Read the original article on Insider
Florida State Attorney Jack Campbell moved quickly Wednesday night to counter allegations his office singles out Hispanic defendants in rural North Florida for stiffer penalties in plea bargain offers.

Campbell confirmed the authenticity of a document released by a former prosecutor that lists three tiers of misdemeanor plea offers.

A photograph of the document that was said to be tacked on the wall says to exclude those with Extensive Criminal History and/or Hispanic from diversion programs designed to give defendants chances to exit the legal system, or to have adjudication of cases delayed or withheld.

Campbell explained a junior prosecutor who was leaving the position in Jefferson County wrote procedural guidelines for their successor and had used the wrong words and misstated the policy.

State Attorney Jack Campbell speaks during a press conference on Friday, May 27, 2022 after the jury found Katherine Magbanua guilty of all charges in her retrial for the 2014 murder of Dan Markel in Tallahassee, Fla.

"Undocumented immigrant," not "Hispanic," should have been coupled with extensive criminal history, said Campbell, after a photograph of the document was published on the Our Tallahassee website.

I understand completely the public shock and concern. Its concerning to me too. Its not what we do. Were not prosecuting people because of race. Were prosecuting differently because of their legal status. Because as undocumented, I dont know what their history is, said Campbell, who told the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network, he takes full responsibility for the mistake.

Prosecutor still employed but was reprimanded

Campbell said he reprimanded the prosecutor and has clarified the policy for the six-county Second Circuit, home to thousands of migrant agricultural workers.

He wasnt treating Hispanic people differently than anybody else. If he was, then I would have fired him. He was treating undocumented people consistently based on the fact that we have concerns on not knowing their history, said Campbell.

Campbell declined to identify the prosecutor and said he would not discuss HR matters related to this story.

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Former prosecutor who blew whistle on document calls it a 'racism policy'

The document's existence was revealed by Mackenzie Hayes, who went to work in the Jefferson County office in January as a misdemeanor prosecutor and found the three-tier guidelines.

A copy of the document photographed in the State Attorneys Office in Jefferson County by Mackenzie Hayes.

Campbell hired Hayes in December, and she said she was content working in the Tallahassee office before transferring to Jefferson County.

She does not accept Campbells explanation that it was a mistaken use of language by a junior staffer when "Hispanic" was used instead of "undocumented immigrant." Hayes called it a "racism policy" and points out that undocumented immigrants have constitutional rights, too.

She said the office of two attorneys, an investigator and two secretaries routinely talked about Mexicans, differently than other defendants.

Hayes quit after six days working in the Jefferson County office.

The document speaks for itself, she told the Tallahassee Democrat.

I thought it fit right in with what I had experienced. You know, the week that I was out there. There's a reason that he worded it the way he did, and it's not just because he's some dumb idiot who doesn't know the difference between someone who's undocumented and someone who is Hispanic, said Hayes.

Public defender calls for 'independent investigation'

Jefferson County is 25 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida, and is a patchwork of farms, plantations, and forests. There are no no traffic lights in the county. Agriculture makes up a quarter of the countys economic output, according to economic development officials. The annual watermelon festival is the highlight of the summer social calendar for the countys 15,000 residents.

Nearly two-thirds of residents are White, 32% African American, and 4% Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The plea-bargain memo emerged while racial tensions simmer in Florida and across the country. A proposal to place restrictions on buying property in the state that is moving through the Florida Legislature has Chinese residents fearful of potential loss of rights.

Black residents have protested a loss of minority-access congressional districts, and how a new Florida law restricts how racial history is taught in public schools.

The Second Circuits Public Defender said she was deeply disturbed by the reports that Jefferson County prosecutors sought harsher sentences based on the accuseds race.

These policies are illegal and discriminatory. There needs to be an independent investigation that holds people accountable, said Jessica Yeary.

Campbell said he takes responsibility for his employee's actions.

"I've disciplined him for it. He wasn't speaking for the office. Clearly that's not our office policy," Campbell said. "It's the misstatement by one prosecutor, one junior prosecutor in one county. Now that I know about, it's been corrected and clarified."

This article originally appeared on USATNetwork: Florida prosecutor leaked memo: Exclude Hispanics from plea deals
Jeff Pelley, with his wife Kim, enters the St. Joseph County courthouse during his 2006 trial. He was convicted of murdering his father, stepmother and two stepsisters in 1989.

Questions about blue jeans, Florida mobsters and criminal evidentiary standards are now officially up to St. Joseph County Judge Stephanie Steele as she decides whether Jeff Pelley should get a new trial after he was convicted of the 1989 murders of his father, stepmother and two stepsisters.

Prosecutors early this month filed their final legal arguments regarding the case that's come to be known by the "prom night murders" moniker, arguing that Pelley's conviction following a 2006 trial should stand.

Previously: 'Prom night murder' case delves deeper into father's connections with Florida mob

Pelley, meanwhile, has been on a years-long quest for exoneration that culminated in March of last year with a four-day hearing in front of Steele. There, Pelley and his legal team argued that prosecutors lied or misrepresented key pieces of evidence in the case  including a pair of blue jeans  and that Pelley's lawyers at trial were ineffective.

Pelley says both items violated his constitutional right to a fair trial and he will now wait to find out if Steele agrees with him. Steele could take months to review the court record in the case and make a decision.

If the judge sides with Pelley, the now 51-year-old will get a new trial, though it's possible prosecutors drop the charges against him at that point. If she sides with the state, Pelley will remain in prison and will have lost his last best chance at exoneration.

Lakeville, Indiana murder

Rob Pelley was found dead in an upstairs hallway of his house in Lakeville on April 30, 1989. Dawn Pelley  who was Robs wife and Jeff Pelleys stepmother  was found dead in the basement of the house, along with her daughters (Jeff Pelleys stepsisters) Jolene and Janel. All four were killed with a shotgun believed to belong to the family.

The case quickly garnered media attention, because Bob Pelley was the minister of Olive Branch Church in Lakeville and the murders occurred on the night of Jeff's high school prom. Rob Pelley had reportedly grounded his son, prohibiting him from attending activities with his friends surrounding the upcoming prom. Investigators believed the friction between Jeff Pelley and his father surrounding the dance could have been motive for the murders.

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Though the murders happened in 1989, Pelley was not charged until 2002, and his trial did not take place until 2006, when he was convicted after a jury deliberated for multiple days.

Contested evidence

As stated in both oral testimony and the court files, Pelleys push for a new trial rests on the claim that his constitutional rights were violated.

Namely, Pelley alleges, prosecutors falsely told jurors that a pair of Jeffs jeans was found in the washing machine of the Pelley house and had been washed  the implication being that Pelley would have washed them to clean off blood or other evidence after he committed the murders.

Pelley's attorneys pointed to a 2002 evidentiary memo that said 34 coins and a legible receipt were found in the pocket of the jeans  disproving the claim the pants had been washed in the machine

The state's filing, however, says prosecutors at Pelley's original trial said just once in their opening arguments that the jeans had been washed, but otherwise did not present evidence to support that claim. Judges typically give jurors instructions not to treat statements by attorneys as evidence in and of itself, the state wrote, and argued that Pelley's lawyers were free to argue against that claim.

Instead, Pelley's lawyers did not object to the jeans being admitted as evidence because laboratory testing showed no traces of blood on them  a fact that helped Pelley's case, prosecutors said.

Andre Gammage, Pelleys local counsel during his trial, testified during the March hearing that he didnt remember why neither he nor lead counsel Alan Baum objected to prosecutors assertions that the blue jeans had been washed. When asked if he now thinks that was a mistake, Gammage, who is now a magistrate, answered, Potentially.

'Florida facts'

The other main objection from Pelley is that his trial attorneys didn't adequately investigate alternative suspects and motives for the murders and that prosecutors never turned over a key interview with a woman claiming Robert Pelley, Jeff's father, had dealings with organized crime in Florida.

That woman, Toni Beehler, testified at the hearing in March and recalled Rob Pelley telling her the mob was going to have him killed because he used to move money for them but had tried to escape.

For Jeff Pelleys chances at a new trial, the specifics of Beehlers testimony are less important than the issue of whether or not it was disclosed to his defense attorneys. Pelley's lawyers have argued the tape of Beehler's interview was never handed over.

But the state's most recent filing maintains the testimony was disclosed and even if it wasn't, Beehler's statements are based on hearsay and shouldn't be admissible at a new trial. Pelley's trial lawyers also investigated leads regarding the Pelley family's connections in Florida, but they were a "dead end," prosecutors said.

Steele will now review the extensive record of the case including both recent filings from Pelley and the state, as well as the case's original trial transcript. There is no set timeline for when the judge will reach a decision.

Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Prosecutors argue against new trial in Lakeville, Indiana murder case
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the proposed executive order operationalizing the Philippines' tariff commitments under the mega-trade pact among 15 Asia-Pacific economies, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced.

"During its meeting today, the NEDA Board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., approved two landmark measures that will advance our efforts towards achieving deep social and economic change, leading to a prosperous, inclusive, and resilient Philippines," NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said during a Palace briefing on Thursday.

He was referring to the proposed EO on the Philippines' tariff commitments under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the recommendations for the Social Protection Floor.

READ: NEDA Board greenlights social security measures for vulnerable Filipinos

RCEP, which is set to take effect in the Philippines by June 2, is designed to eliminate tariffs  or the taxes imposed on imported products  on 90% of goods between the signatories within 20 years.

READ: EXPLAINER: What is RCEP? Will PH benefit from it?

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said RCEP would provide opportunities for the country as this is a "modern, comprehensive, high quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement" between Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) including the Philippines.

Asked when Marcos would sign the EO, Pascual said: "Anytime now."

"Hopefully earlier, so the Customs can also prepare their administrative order," he said.
Centre County school board candidates are divided on a local school board boot camp that was planned to instruct candidates and school board members how to oppose DEI, critical race theory and LGBTQ policies.

The event hosted by author Chuck Mason was scheduled for Sunday at the Boalsburg Fire Hall but has been postponed after local activism groups planned to protest outside the event. Masons event was marketed as a way for current and future school board members to implement policies and strategies to deal with CRT, LGBTQ theory, and DEI in an intelligent and informed manner.

Critical race theory, or CRT, is an academic concept that teaches that racism is a systemic part of American society and embedded in legal systems and policies, according to Education Week. In recent years, conservatives have used the the term broadly and school districts around the country have cited it while passing policies about what teachers can and cannot teach about U.S. history.

DEI refers to diversity, equity and inclusion policies that aim to combat any type of inequality students may face, from racial, sexual, gender to class. Several Centre County districts have some sort of DEI policy stating all students should be treated equally and that the district will intervene to address inequalities.

The 3/20 Coalition, with support from the Centre LGBTQ Support Network, planned a protest outside of Sundays event, calling for people to come and show support for students who could be harmed by the policies.

Ultimately, what it becomes is finding ways to violate public school policy and discriminate against children who are already marginalized and harmed on a regular basis, Melanie Morrison, co-founder of the 3/20 Coalition, said.

Morrison said Centre County schools and students have worked to hard to address these issues and that rolling back DEI policies will harm students.

Mason, a State High graduate, said the idea for the event came after conversations with local school board candidates and community members, but declined to name them. The cost to attend the event is $25 and Mason said the goal is to help bring diverse academic thought and balance to candidates and the districts they serve.

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My effort really was to help the school board candidates that are running, Mason said. They want to bring balance to schools into curriculums to help them formulate intelligent policy positions that help to address their concerns to place boundaries and to bring balance to the district policies into curriculums.

The event will be held on another date that will not be made public, Mason said, out of concern for attendees safety. In a Facebook post announcing the postponement, he took aim at the 3/20 Coalitions planned protest.

They are labeling Centre County residents who care about the future of children as hateful extremists, Mason wrote. Such language is a call to violence and aggression.

The Centre Daily Times recently sent out a survey to all Centre County school board candidates, which included a question about if they planned on attending Masons event. Eighteen candidates did not respond to the survey.

Of the 24 that responded, most said they opposed the event or could not attend.

SCASD candidates Anne Demo, Laurel Zydney, Amy Bader, Gretchen Brandt, Aaron Miller and Dan Kolbe opposed the event while Nathan Bish and Michelle Young said the question was not applicable.

For Bald Eagle Area candidates, Gary Heverly Jr., Jason Pendland and Erika Danneker said they would not attend.

Bellefonte Area candidates Julie Fitzgerald and Donna Smith opposed the event. Nate Campbell, Jennifer Barnhart, Kim Weaver said they were busy on the day of the event. Candidate Joe Yech said he was not planning on attending.

Penns Valley candidate Micheal Pase and Philipsburg Osceola candidate Tiffany Warlow also said they were busy on the day of the event.

Bellefonte Area school board candidates Darrell Sharp and Patrick Buck said they planned to attend. Penns Valley Area candidate Kim Kellerman-Domin and SCASD candidate John Krajcovic said they would be unable to attend but were interested in the event.

I would have liked to have taken advantage of this opportunity since it is truly a unique educational offering, Kellerman-Domin said. An opportunity such as this would have been a great addition to my personal skill set as I seek to further understand the responsibilities and the qualifications that are needed to be an effective member of a local school board.

Other candidates questioned Masons experience in education and the topics of the event. Mason does not have a background in education but said his background in philosophy while at seminary school gives him an understanding of the issues.

I think any training or professional development for a school director should be conducted by experienced individuals or organizations with concrete expertise, Bader said. Mr. Mason has not demonstrated he can offer that expertise in my opinion.

Others said the community did not need an event that intended to divide people and would rather focus on issues like student success and safety.

We need to focus on unity and working together to ensure academic success for all, Kolbe said.

The protest by the 3/20 Coalition and supporters will continue as planned at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, as Morrison said she is not convinced Mason has truly postponed the event.

If they dont hold it, its not a loss that were there, Morrison said. If they do hold it, its certainly not a loss that were there because I do think that it is very important to see who will attend these meetings, who really wants to learn what this man is teaching for the sake of utilizing it.
DENVER (AP)  Jeremy Webster got angry when a driver getting out of the way of an emergency vehicle almost hit his car, his outrage intensified by worry about getting into an accident since he wasn't paying his car insurance bill. Webster followed the SUV, feeling like he was being directed by something outside of himself, a court-appointed psychologist testified Thursday at Webster's murder trial.

Webster has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to shooting the driver of the SUV and two of her sons, killing one of them, a 13-year-old, with a point-blank shot to the head after they pulled into the parking lot of a suburban Denver dental office in June 2018.

But the psychologist, Christina Gliser, concluded after interviewing Webster twice that he was legally sane at the time of the shooting, in touch with reality and able to make decisions.

Webster, now 27, is accused of shooting Meghan Bigelow and two of her sons, killing Vaughn Bigelow Jr. and wounding 8-year-old Asa Bigelow. Prosecutors say Meghan Bigelow was shot in the back, and, after falling to the ground, shot in the head.

Webster also is charged with wounding a witness, John Gale, who was shot after Webster locked eyes with him, according to prosecutors. Gale was in his truck with his 9-year-old daughter, waiting for an appointment.

Webster's insanity plea requires prosecutors to prove that he was sane at the time of the shooting  that he knew the difference between right and wrong and was able to make decisions.

Hours after the shooting, Webster described being disconnected from his body during the incident, telling police that he had seen his arm do the shooting, Gliser testified.

But Gliser said that claim was likely inaccurate and untrue since Webster did not have a long history of trauma that could cause disassociation to that degree. Questioned by prosecutor Jess Redman, Gliser said that Webster told police after the shooting that What happened today was wrong."

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Defense attorney Rachel Oliver pointed out that previous therapists had diagnosed Webster with bipolar disorder, that he had attempted to kill himself in late 2017, and that he was put on suicide watch when he was booked into jail after the 2018 shooting.

Gliser said she did not think that Webster had bipolar disorder, finding that Webster had trouble controlling his anger and concluding that he had borderline personality disorder. She said people with bipolar disorder have depressed and manic periods that are not influenced by the situations they are in  but also have periods of stability and normalcy.

In contrast, intense, emotional reactions to life stressors are the norm in people with borderline personality disorder, she said.

After Webster and Bigelow initially argued in the parking lot, Gliser noted, Webster told her he was about to leave until Bigelow used her phone to take a video of his car. His anger flared again because he told her he thought he might get into trouble with the police, she said.

He said he shot Bigelow once, and after his car would not start, paced, felt numb and then began shooting again, Gliser said. Bigelow was shot in the back, and, after falling to the ground, shot in the head.

Gliser said Webster told her he did not know why he did it.

After the shootings, Webster continued on his way to a Home Depot where he had been headed to buy a new saw for a home renovation project he was working on for his cousin's construction company. He bought the saw, returned to work on the project and was arrested by police after his car, identified with the help of Bigelow's video, was spotted in rush hour traffic that evening.
It may have ceded to the BBC, but Elon Musks Twitter is back under pressure from the worlds public service broadcasters.

The Global Task Force for Public Media has called on the social media platform to correct the designation of four of its members on the site.

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The ABC in Australia, CBC/Radio Canada, Korean Broadcasting System and Radio New Zealand are currently labeled as Government-funded Media on their official Twitter accounts, the same title that was bestowed on the UKs PSB, The BBC.

Labeling them as such misleads audiences about their operational and editorial independence from government, the Global Task Force said in a statement signed by its eight members, which include the four networks impacted, the BBC, France Televisions, ZDF in Germany and SVT in Sweden.

The Global Task Force statement notes Twitters own policy defines government-funded media as organizations that may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content. This is not the case with the ABC, CBC/Radio Canada, KBS or RNZ.

This comes after Twitter this week upped its efforts in labeling public media bodies on its site. The Public Media Alliance has analyzed 50 public service media accounts and found what it calls an inconsistent and incoherent patchwork of labels. For example, PBS and NPR are labeled as Government-funded, though neither directly receive money from U.S. state, as are Italys Rai, Spains RTVE and Australian diversity-focused network SBS.

Earlier this month, a huge row broke out when the BBC, which is funded by license fee payers but is editorially independent, was labeled as affiliated with government. After several objections and a BBC reporter challenging Twitter CEO Musk about the label during an impromptu interview, it was changed to read Publicly-funded Media.

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The four networks said the most accurate and appropriate label Twitter has available is that same Publicly-funded Media one. Each network has a slightly different funding mechanism, but broadly remain editorially separate from their government. The same essentially applied to the BBC.

The ABC receives funding from government after a charter negotiation, CBC has a mix of public funding and commercial ad revenues, KBS uses a mandatory license fee and tops up with ad revs, and RNZ gets government funding and employs ads. RNZ was due to merge with TVNZ to form a new public media group, Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media, but this was scrapped in February less than a month before it was due to take place.

The Global Task Force added: Twitters approach to labelling on the basis of funding misunderstands the fundamental concept of public service media: they are publicly funded organisations that are statutorily independent of government influence. This model has served audiences well in democratic countries for much of the last century.

Deadline reached out to Twitter for comment but received the standard poo emoji response, as has been the case for months now.

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French President Emmanuel Macron's recent public appearances have been met with a clamour of pot clanging by demonstrators furious over his decision to hike the retirement age.

As authorities try to put the lid on the protests, we look at how the humble kitchen utensil became a global symbol of resistance.

- Bashing the French king -

The saucepan's second life as a symbol of politically charged protest began in 1830s France after the July Revolution that led to the abdication of Charles X.

Republicans opposed to the new king, Louis Philippe, "sought to make their voices heard by borrowing from reality a customary ritual" known as charivari, or making loud noise, French historian Emmanuel Fureix explained to France Culture radio in 2017.

The ritual dated from the Middle Ages when villagers sought to humiliate an ill-matched marriage -- generally a widower to a much younger bride -- with a thundering concert of c, known in French as "casseroles".

- Hullabaloo in Latin America -

The saucepan's leap to global usage came in the 20th century.

In the 1950s and 1960s there was pot-bashing in Algeria during the country's war of independence, by supporters of the French far-right paramilitary group OAS who wanted to keep the country French.

But the pot only really began to make a racket when it crossed the Atlantic to Latin America, where the ear-splitting tradition of mass "cacerolazos" -- banging pots with wooden spoons or bashing them together like cymbals -- was born.

The first major breakout came in 1971 in Chile against food shortages during the regime of Salvador Allende.

Forty years later, tens of thousands of pot bangers took to the streets of Buenos Aires after finding themselves cut off from their bank savings in the midst of a severe economic crisis.

Since then the saucepan has been a tool of protest across the globe, from Myanmar to Canada.

- Pots in the closet -

Clanging pots have returned loudly in France in recent decades to express discontent with politicians and policies.

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In 2017, the campaign rallies of conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon drew sporadic saucepan protests, in a play on the French expression "trainer des casseroles" (skeletons in the closet).

Fillon's "saucepans" related to a scandal that would scupper his candidacy and land him with a jail sentence, when it was revealed he had given his wife a fake job as a parliamentary assistant.

- From street to smartphone -

Six years later, President Emmanuel Macron's widely unpopular pension reforms have elicited a new chorus of pot banging.

Pot concerts were organised countrywide on Monday evening to drown out the president when he addressed the nation after signing into law a bill that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

On Thursday, authorities in the southern Herault region announced a ban on "portable sound equipment" ahead of the president's visit to the area.

While the move may force protesters to shelve their pots, smartphone apps such as "iCacerolazo" and "Cassolada 2.0" that reproduce the metal clanging suggest they won't be easily silenced.

eab/cb/yad
Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, is convinced that it was not Russian President Vladimir Putin who visited the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Luhansk oblasts but one of his doubles.

Source: Danilov on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote from Danilov: "Well, first of all, Putin was not there. This is a well-known fact. In order to communicate with the real Putin, you must spend at least 1014 days in quarantine. There was no Putin there. There was an ordinary double, of which he has more than one; this is also a well-known fact."

Details: Danilov stated that Putin is "a frightened person", and it is simply impossible to think that he could come in such a way.

The NSDC Secretary recalled how foreign guests are seated at a table at a great distance from the Russian dictator, and Putin's trips, he said, are "a whole procedure", where the preparatory process starts "in two to three weeks" and "there are no impromptu events there for a long time".

"This is the exact opposite of our president, who can visit the contact line at any time and be directly with our military personnel. This is our difference. The difference from Putin's bunker old man, who will soon be afraid of himself," Danilov summed up.

Background:

On 18 April, Russian propaganda media reported that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had allegedly visited the headquarters of the Dnepr group of forces in Kherson Oblast and the Vostok [East] group in Luhansk Oblast.

The Kremlin decided to hide the fact that Putin had been in the Kherson Oblast before Easter, but Russian media discovered that the Russian dictator had been in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine before 16 April and was not far from the border with Crimea.

On 19 April, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had visited the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine to meet with the military and not to distract them from their deployment site for a long time.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the occupied territories of Ukraine has shown that the initial organisation structure of Russian forces in Ukraine has changed, probably due to heavy losses.

Source: UK Defence Intelligence, as reported by European Pravda

Details: On 18 April 2023, the Kremlin issued a press release on President Putins visit to Russian-occupied southern Ukraine. The release described the president as having visited the "Dnepr Group of Forces".

This is one of the first references to the existence of a Dnepr Group of Forces. Russia uses the term "group of forces" in a specific way, indicating a large, task-organised operational formation, UK Defence Intelligence explained.

Early in the invasion, the Russian force was organised into groups of forces each aligned to their home military districts in Russia, for example, the Western and Central Groups of Forces. The existence of an apparently new Dnipr Group of Forces suggests that the original force organisation has evolved, probably due to heavy losses, UK Defence Intelligence noted.

Dnepr Group of Forcess mission is likely to defend the southern sector of the occupied zone, and especially the south-western flank, which is currently marked by the Dnipro river.

Background: The White House believes that the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the occupied territory of Ukraine means that he is aware that the Russian army is not in the best condition.

Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Simonyte has stated that Russian propaganda is trying to compare Putin's visit to the occupied territories of Ukraine with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's trips across the contact line.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Tom Parker Bowles, Queen Consort Camillas son, has addressed protests that will reportedly take place on King Charles IIIs coronation next month. In a new interview, the food critic also hit back at claims Camilla played an end game to become Queen.

On Thursday 20 April, the 48-year-old British food writer appeared on The News Agents podcast where he spoke about anti-monarchy demonstrators plans to disrupt the Kings coronation on Saturday 6 May in London. Everyone has a right to think what they want, he told podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. You know, we live in a, thankfully, a free country.

Republic is an activist group that calls to see the monarchy abolished and the King replaced with an elected, democratic head of state. The group says its supporters will march along The Mall on 6 May, which the King will proceed down from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. The demonstrators have been known to carry yellow protest signs emblazoned with the words, Not My King.

When asked whether he was worried that anti-monarchy demonstrators would get in the way of the King and his mothers coronation, Parker Bowles backed their right to protest. If people want to protest, thats their right to do so, I think, he added. If people protest, people protest. Youre allowed to protest, were all allowed to have different views. I think that makes for an interesting and civilised country.

Republic is set to stage the largest protest action in its history by lining the coronation procession route and gathering in Trafalgar Square. From there, they will march down the procession route towards Westminster Abbey  the site of the coronations of England and Britains monarchs since 1066.

Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, has said that more than 1,350 people have pledged to take part in the peaceful demonstration. Smith has also branded the crowning of Charles and the Queen Consort a pointless piece of theatre which will cost tens of millions of pounds and be a slap in the face for people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

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Protesters have already gathered at public appearances attended by the royal family in the lead up to the coronation. Earlier this month, demonstrators heckled the Prince of Wales outside Westminster Abbey at a service celebrating the Commonwealth. In a viral video posted to TikTok, Prince William and Princess Kate were seen exiting a car, as a member of the protest was heard shouting at William over a megaphone: Youre never going to be our king!

Down with the monarchy, William! they added.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Tom Parker Bowles revealed whether he finds it weird to think of his mother as the Queen, to which he replied: Not really because shes still our mother. I say our but not the royal we, speaking for my sister and me. Shes our mother.

The cookbook author also denied claims that Camilla played an end game to become Queen, saying she just married the person she loved.

I think change happens but I dont care what anyone says  this wasnt any sort of end game, he said. She married the person she loved and this is what happened.

Parker Bowles is the eldest child of Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles, who were married from 1973 to 1995. They also share daughter Laura Rose Lopes (nee Parker Bowles).

His comments come after the Duke of Sussex labelled his step-mother as the villain in his highly-publicised memoir, Spare, which was released last January. In the tell-all memoir, Prince Harry claimed that the Queen Consort leaked stories about the royal family to the media to bolster her image. I have complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar, he wrote.

However, sources close to the Queen Consort have said that Camilla was hurt to be branded as the villain by Harry.

Tom Parker Bowles denied claims his mother played an end game to become Queen (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

The Duke of Sussex has confirmed his attendance at King Charles and Queen Camillas coronation on Saturday 6 May. In a statement, Buckingham Palace announced Prince Harry will attend the ceremony while his wife, Meghan Markle, will stay at home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, the Palace said on 12 April. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Prince Harrys confirmation at the Kings coronation comes after months of speculation over whether the royal couple would attend the ceremony. It was reported that Harry was seeking an apology from Charles and Prince William before he made any commitment to the ceremony. Ahead of the publication of his memoir, Harry said in an interview that the door is always open for reconciliation.

Additional reporting by PA.
Quentin Tarantino will attend Cannes Directors Fortnight as a guest of honor on May 25 for a special event consisting of a secret screening and a discussion on his counter-history of cinema, the parallel sidebar has announced.

The discussion will spin off Tarantinos recent book Cinema Speculation, which was published last November, and explores key American films of the 1970s.

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In 1969, in Cannes, the Directors Fortnight was born, a counter-programming of free-spirited films from all over the world. In 1969, in California, a new generation of filmmakers rose against old Hollywood, the Cannes parallel sidebar said in a statement.

Of this, Quentin Tarantino has recently published a captivating analysis in a critical essay on 1970s cinema. As an exceptional and generous cinephile, Tarantino is at home at the Fortnight. He will be our guest this year to present a secret screening and discuss his counter-history of cinema. A rockabilly vibe on closing day.

Tarantino has a long history with Cannes having shown six of his films in Official Selection and was last at the festival with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood in 2019.

His attendance at Directors Fortnight coincides with a strong showing for US indie cinema in the section this year.

Three US indie titles have made the cut: Sean Price Williamss The Sweet East, Joanna Arnows The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed and Weston Razoolis Riddle Of Fire.

The sections incoming Delegate General Julien Rejl told Deadline this week that he felt there was something of a revival going on in the American indie scene, albeit on limited resources.

The section  unveiling 20 features and 10 short films  runs from May 17 to 26.

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Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon and chief data officer Jonathan Kringen update the community on the partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety during a news conference Friday at Austin City Hall.

Just days after Austin police leaders touted early success in their partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety, authorities told the City Council that they are not targeting certain neighborhoods.

However, police did not provide specific data to support that assertion, despite demands from city leaders, other than providing anecdotal data from officers responding to calls for service.

The law enforcement task force was created about three weeks ago after Mayor Kirk Watson met with Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick about how the Austin police shortage was deteriorating trust in law enforcement among the people they serve.

In late March, the Austin Police Department announced it would partner with the DPS to provide routine patrols and respond to 911 calls as police struggle with staffing woes. The partnership is at no cost to the city.

Police Chief Joe Chacon told the council Tuesday that his department has more than 300 officer vacancies, with the bulk being for patrol officers. The chief said that means taking police officers away from other assignments, such as investigations into sexual assaults and robberies, to patrol.

The staffing challenges have led to longer wait times for assistance, more traffic injuries and deaths, and an increase in gun crime, officials say.

Tuesday was the first time City Council members had a chance to publicly ask questions about the partnership since it started. Council members said the collaboration was created without their input, and many expressed concerns about how and where troopers were responding to calls.

Last week several council members, in a letter to interim City Manager Jesus Garza, requested several data points, including hot spots where the DPS is working, arrests and citation data, and the demographics of people being stopped.

Vanessa Fuentes and other council members who represent the east side of the city are worried about overpolicing in certain neighborhoods after many residents reported seeing an increased presence of officers, causing them to feel that their neighborhood was being targeted.

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More: Austin Police Chief Chacon calls DPS partnership 'a success' after first 2 weeks

We have to go back to our community and explain where these troopers are patrolling, why they are patrolling in our neighborhoods, and if there is a disproportionate impact in our community, Fuentes said. These are the questions we have to be responsible for, and we are held accountable for the safety of our communities and by the voters.

Council Member Chito Vela shared similar thoughts, saying that residents in the Lamar-Rundberg area in North Austin have seen a similar pattern, and that specific data on calls, citations and arrests would help transparency.

Additionally, Vela said police need a more robust data dashboard to share this information with the community, a task police officials said Tuesday could take up to two years to complete.

While Chacon could not provide specific data, he assured council members that officers were not targeting certain neighborhoods. He said that the response is call-driven, and that DPS officers reported they had worked calls for service in seven of the nine sectors of the city. The DPS is working to get that information to the council as soon as possible, he said.

Despite dissatisfaction among some of the council members, including concerns about not having a written agreement in place, Garza and Watson said they should give it time because the program is working.

Jonathan Kringen, the Police Department's chief data officer, said since DPS stepped in, the city has seen the number of violent crimes drop 25% from the average weekly number for the past year. There were 89 violent crimes a week, on average, in Austin last year. In the first week under the partnership, the number was 67, Kringen said. Violent crimes include aggravated assault, murder, sexual assault and robbery.

Since the beginning of the partnership, the DPS has conducted 4,016 traffic stops with a focus on interventions and warnings, writing tickets about 25% of the time, Chacon said in a Friday update.

Calls for emergency assistance and other urgent calls also decreased. Response times have dropped by as much as two to seven minutes, depending on the type of call, Kringen said.

Police also were operating as uniformly as possible to ensure equity across responses, including on immigration status and marijuana enforcement, officials said.

But Council Member Alison Alter said Tuesday that she was not comfortable waiting six months to see how the program plays out. Instead, she said the city should be looking for other ways to prevent crime, such as investing in violence prevention programs in tandem with police recruitment efforts.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that we have other tools, and we have other things that our community has said are important for them to feel safe, Alter said We dont have a clear solution to the officer (shortage) between recruiting, etc., and so we should be making those investments now so that we can really address issues here in our community."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Some questions still surround DPS partnership among city leaders
Rachel McAdams says in a new interview that she asked for minimal editing on her Bustle photo shoot. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press)

Rachel McAdams is proudly putting it all out there.

The Mean Girls actor made a statement Tuesday when she showcased some of her natural features in Bustle  ahead of the release of her film Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, based on Judy Blume's acclaimed 1970 coming-of-age book that depicts the transition from girlhood to adolescence.

For the photo shoot, McAdams lounged in a black corset with her arm out to the side, her underarm hair on full display. The glam star also asked Bustle to edit the images as minimally as possible.

"I love that juxtaposition of beauty, glam, fantasy, and then truth, the 44-year-old said. "With this shoot, I'm wearing latex underwear. But I've had two children. This is my body, and I think that's so important to reflect back out to the world."

"It's OK to look your best and work at it and be healthy, but that's different for everyone."

In a video segment titled "Hi Rachel, it's me Rachel" that Bustle produced in tandem with the feature, McAdams gave advice to her preteen self, whos worried about being "normal." The Wedding Crashers actor said, Normal is boring."

"I know all you want to do is be like everyone else but its pretty much impossible. Youre a snowflake so just embrace it. What makes you different is what makes you best," she said.

McAdams also had a few words of wisdom regarding shaving: Life is long, shaving is intense, she said. If you want to stop shaving one day, thats OK too.

In 2018, McAdams made a splashy statement when she posed for the cover of Girls. Girls. Girls. magazine. Decked out head-to-toe in Versace and Bulgari jewelry, McAdams managed to make the breast pump affixed to her chest a high-fashion moment.

The magazine's founder, editor and photographer, Claire Rothstein, who shot that image of McAdams, praised the "Notebook" star on Instagram at the time by sharing that McAcdams was six months postpartum and was expressing, pumping and breastfeeding between shots.

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"Breastfeeding is the most normal thing in the world, like breathing and I cant for the life of me imagine why or how it is ever frowned upon or scared of," Rothstein wrote.

McAdams had given birth to her daughter five months prior to filming "Are You There God" and told Bustle she "felt like a milking machine" while pumping on set. Then, the costume designer decided that her character  Margaret's mom, Barb  shouldn't wear a bra, which poses unique and messy challenges for a lactating parent.

The great irony is Margaret just cant wait to get into a bra. But Im playing a kind of wild child, hippie artist mom [who] doesnt wear a bra throughout the whole film," she said. "[We] really wanted Barb to feel like a real person whos still figuring herself out, to put Margaret and her on similar trajectories.

McAdams is comfortable saying no when she needs to, and over the years shes said no quite a bit.

In 2015, she told the Los Angeles Times that she walked off a Vanity Fair cover shot she was set to pose for alongside Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley after learning upon arrival that the other two women had agreed to pose nude. And, according to Bustle, she turned down roles in The Devil Wears Prada, Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible III, Iron Man and Get Smart.

Expressing some regret about passing up the hit movies, McAdams said she took a step back and believed that each one's respective star "was the right person for that" film.

McAdams also said no to acting altogether when, in the early aughts at the height of her career, she took a two-year break to preserve her sanity.

"I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot. But I also knew it wasn't quite [jibing] with my personality and what I needed to stay sane," she said.

"There were definitely some anxious moments of wondering if I was just throwing it all away, and why was I doing that?" she added. "It's taken years to understand what I intuitively was doing."

Are You There God? Its Me Margaret hits theaters April 28.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(CNN) -- Turns out even good-looking, famous guys who play superheroes can get ghosted.

Chris Evans, named People magazine's 2022 Sexiest Man Alive and star of the new movie "Ghosted," said that just like many of us, he has been humbled by a romantic interest who stopped communicating with him.

In other words, Captain America himself has been jilted.

"I feel I've experienced something much worse," Evans revealed in a recent interview. "I think I'd prefer being ghosted because you can make up any story you want. I've had the slow decline in text responses, and you just know the person is pushing you aside casually."

In order to deal with it, he said, "You tell yourself a story, whatever you have to do to get by."

The actor, who has now been dating girlfriend Alba Baptista for over a year, explained he approaches communication in a relationship with sensitivity.

"I don't like to argue, I don't like to raise my voice or any forms of manipulation," Evans said. "I love love. I'm a bit of a sap like that. I like being sentimental, I cry pretty easily. At a good song, nice sunset, yeah, my emotions are bubbling."

He added that he's gotten better at apologizing with age.

"I also really see the value and strength behind saying 'I'm sorry,'" Evans said. "If you're able in those vulnerable moments to stay calm and listen, I think that opens up a door in a very healthy way."

In "Ghosted," Evans plays a farmer who goes on a date with a character played by Ana de Armas. When she ghosts him, he finds out she's a secret agent.

"Ghosted" streams on Apple TV+ April 21.

This story was first published on CNN.com. "Chris Evans says he too has been ghosted"
Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the Madrid Masters (Jean-Francois Badias/AP) (AP)

Rafael Nadal is a major doubt for the French Open after admitting treatment on the hip injury he suffered in January has not worked.

The 22-time grand slam champion had hoped the issue, which occurred during his second-round defeat by Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open, would only take six to eight weeks to heal.

But three months later he is stopping training and, having already missed the first two clay-court events in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, has now pulled out of next weeks Madrid Open.

In a post on Instagram, Nadal said: It has been a difficult few weeks and months.

As you know, I suffered a major injury in Australia, in the psoas (muscle). Initially, it had to be a six to eight week recovery period and we are now on 14. The reality is that the situation is not what we would have expected.

All medical indications have been followed but somehow the evolution has not been what they initially told us and we find ourselves in a difficult situation.

I have no choice but to try to have the right attitude throughout this time, try to give myself the opportunity to compete in one of the tournaments that remains of the clay season.

The weeks are passing and I had the illusion of being able to play in tournaments that are the most important in my career such as Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros, and for the moment I have missed Monte Carlo and Barcelona. I will not be able to be in Madrid, unfortunately.

The injury still hasnt healed and I cant work out what I need to do to compete. I was training but now a few days ago we decided to change course a bit, do another treatment and see if things improve to try to get to what comes next.

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Nadal won his 14th title at Roland Garros last summer but has struggled since, pulling out of Wimbledon ahead of the semi-finals after suffering an abdominal tear and winning only five matches following his return in August until now.

The 36-year-old admits he does not know when he will be able to return to the match court, saying: I cant give deadlines because if I knew I would tell you but I dont know. This is how things are now.

I have no choice but to try to have the right attitude throughout this time, try to give myself the opportunity to compete in one of the tournaments that remains of the clay season and I have no choice but to work and be with the right mentality.

Nadal dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since 2005 in March and is currently ranked 14th.
Before Theo Davis moved from Washington, D.C., to help pastor a church in Kansas Citys predominantly white neighborhoods north of the Missouri River, a Black church elder called him with a warning:

Davis might encounter a bit more racism in the Northland than he was used to.

You dont have to look over your shoulder, but just dont be surprised if you encounter certain things, the elder told him, foreseeing the stares and false accusations that would be leveled against Davis.

Davis quickly learned that how he was treated south of the Missouri river, in Kansas Citys diverse city center, was different from what he experienced living and working in Clay and Platte counties, where the population is whiter and tends to vote more conservative.

Conversations about such racism are being shared more widely now as members of the Kansas City community, particularly the Black and Liberian communities, process what happened to Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Staley High Schooler whose parents moved to the U.S. from Liberia.

Yarl was shot in the head and arm last week after mistakenly ringing the doorbell at the home of an 84-year-old man in the 1100 block of Northeast 115th Street, where he thought he was picking up his twin brothers. Yarl had intended to go to a home one street over, on Northeast 115th Terrace.

Andrew Lester, the white homeowner accused of shooting Yarl, was charged four days later with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Lester told police he saw Yarl through the glass front door and was scared to death.

Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Monday there was a racial component to the shooting, but didnt elaborate.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney representing the Yarl family, said the teenager was shot because he was armed with nothing other than his Black skin.

Ralph Yarl

Amid calls for justice for the teen following the shooting, many Black Kansas Citians living in the Northland have shared their own experiences with racism in their neighborhoods. Theyve told their stories of feeling unsafe and excluded at protests, in churches and among their family and friends.

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Dee Porter, a social worker and mother to an 18-year-old son, helped organize a protest on Yarls behalf Sunday. Porter, 39, said she knows all too well the challenges of being Black in certain neighborhoods north of the river.

To see that he was shot in the head in my neighborhood, I have to say something, Porter said, later adding, Clay County needs to do better, especially when it comes to people of color.

I could be shot

When Davis, his wife and their children moved to Missouri about five years ago, their initial impressions were positive.

But it didnt take long before Davis, who describes himself as a big, Black man with dreadlocks, started having racially charged interactions.

There was the time a white employee at a Northland Walgreens followed him around the aisles and then out to his car, where she watched him back out with her arms crossed.

Or when he took his young children to play in a grassy area of a Northland educational institute where white families were playing. When they later tried to leave, a campus security vehicle blocked them in and questioned him extensively about why they were there, Davis said.

Perhaps the most alarming incident happened when Davis and his wife helped run a transitional housing facility. When one young adult attempted suicide with a knife, Davis called 911 and clearly explained that the person in need was white and that he, the caller, would be standing outside waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Davis even explained what he was wearing to dispatchers. Instead, two officers pulled in, jumped out of the car and pointed their weapons at an empty-handed Davis, shouting for him to drop the knife, he recalled.

After Davis helped de-escalate the situation, the officers acknowledged they had the wrong person, but it didnt mend the trauma Davis and his wife  who watched the situation unfold from a nearby window  experienced as they both wondered if he was about to become the latest innocent Black man shot by police.

Theo Davis, a pastor Restore Community Church in the Northland, said he often engages his congregation in conversations around racial reconciliation.

Up until he learned what happened to Yarl, who Lester allegedly immediately shot after coming to the door, the pastor helped go door-to-door raising money for charities across the Northland on behalf of the church.

I didnt think my life was in danger. I was more concerned about making people afraid and seeing the fear on their face, he said. I wasnt as concerned about I could be shot.

Davis wont be knocking on strangers doors anymore.

This is a cultural thing that has been deeply embedded in the Kansas City and the American psyche for so long, and its going to need very thoughtful and reflective leadership of people in our community to speak up, to point out injustices, to very carefully and methodically break down negative and wrong arguments when they come up, he said.

A segregated history

On Sunday, as hundreds of people marched through the block where Yarl was shot, a white woman in her 60s, whose elderly mother joined her in the protest, said she has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years.

Until recently, the area has all been white, the retired school teacher said. Then a Black family moved into a house at the end of the street less than a year ago. She stopped by to welcome them to the neighborhood, but another person on the street took pictures of them wordlessly as they were moving in, she said.

I would not say that theyre very tolerant of difference, she said of some people in the neighborhood.

Since the late 1980s, Cecelia Robinson, a professor emeritus at William Jewel College in Liberty and a volunteer historian, has been collecting and compiling the histories of African Americans in Clay County dating back to slavery.

The Northland includes Kansas City proper north of the river, as well as the surrounding Clay and Platte county towns, such as Liberty, which used to have a much larger Black population, and Gladstone.

We have a rich history in this community, but its also always been a segregated community. A community within a community, said Robinson, who is Black.

The Northland has a history of excluding people of color, she said, particularly from positions of power and politics, where most elected officials are white.

Two decades ago, just shy of 3% of the population of Clay and Platte counties was Black, according to U.S. census data. As of 2021, that Black population grew to about 7.5%. Slowly but surely, the Northlands Black population is growing.

By comparison, across the entire city now, 26% of Kansas Citians are Black.

Robinson doesnt think Kansas City, or the Northland, should be painted one of the worst areas when racism happens everywhere.

Whether the shooting was racially motivated or not, every city still has systematic racism to eradicate.

This one incident that happened does not represent every single person in the Northland, she said, adding that while the shooting might cause Black people looking to move to the Northland to think twice, she doesnt think its going to stop progress.

Cecelia Robinson, a professor emeritus at William Jewel College in Liberty, has been collecting and compiling the histories of African Americans in Clay County dating back to slavery.

We want to live together

As a Liberian immigrant and pastor at House of God Community Church, Jouty Jalarue, known by most as Pastor Jay, said hes never felt unwanted in the 11 years hes lived in the Northland. Most people are pleasant.

But his greatest fear of what could happen because of the color of his skin just did. And it happened very close to home.

In recent days, members of Kansas Citys Liberian community, Jalarue included, have been engaged in tough and painful conversations with their families that they never imagined having when they first moved to America, Jalarue said.

Jalarue and his wife have known Yarls parents for more than a decade. He called Yarls mother, who helped his wife find work at a local hospital when they relocated, a blessing. Yarls father, he said, helped create the churchs initial marketing and social media presence. Together, they all built a life in KC.

Many of us fled from our countries of origin looking for a better life in America. And for us to sometimes be viewed as  though we are slaves, is almost like, it would have been better for us to stay where we were than to come here and be murdered, Jalarue said. I dont want to sound like America is a bad country. The best that Ive ever had in my life came from America: my education  building up a family, all of that started right here. Thats where I go to know myself and experience who I was.

Jouty Jalarue, known by most as Pastor Jay, serves at House of God Community Church in Kansas Citys Northland. He, like the parents of Ralph Yarl, moved to the United States from Liberia before starting a family.

Jalarue said he doesnt plan to run from the Northland. Its where his 10-year-old son rides bikes and shoots hoops with his friends, most of whom are white. He wants his son to continue playing with children from every race without thinking twice. Without an inkling or hate or fear.

He said the conversations around safety and racism need to be had, they just need to be in a way that doesnt leave his son growing up feeling like he cant be friends with white people, or marry a white person.

He wants to tell his son stories like that of the Eagle Scout who, like the Good Samaritan in the Bible, saw only a fellow human in need and stayed with Yarl after he was shot until help arrived.

Hes careful not to spread a message that white people dont want Black people in the Northland, because he doesnt believe thats true for most people, and he fears it will worsen whatever division already exists.

The bottom line: We want to live together in peace and unity, Jalarue said.

A focus on empathy

As she was leaving Sundays protest, a woman approached Nicole Price.

I know youre on this empathy journey, but I cant be empathetic this week, the woman told Price, an author and owner of a leadership development company with a background in diversity and inclusion work. Price lives in the Northland and has a laundry list of racist experiences to show for it.

Price reflected on the statement. People often think empathy absolves others of wrongdoing, but she believes empathy instead demands accountability.

She tried putting herself in the shoes of the man now charged with two felonies, including first-degree assault, in the shooting.

Prices Platte County address is very similar to another address nearby. She knows what its like for someone to mistakenly come to her home looking for someone else. She grew up near Kansas Citys racial dividing line, on the east side, and knows what its like to sometimes feel in danger as homicide counts in the area rose.

Portrait of Dr. Nicole Price, who has faced racism in Kansas City, particularly as a Black homeowner and parent in the Northland. She has also written numerous books on the Black experience, and she teaches leadership development focused around equity and inclusion.

Its because of this lens, Price said, that she cant ever imagine she would have pulled the trigger once, let alone twice.

She fears, depending on how the case unfolds, that it could play into the stereotypes that the Northland is white and it needs to stay that way, she said.

Kansas City, as the heart of the nation, can be an example of what empathy looks like to the world, and that includes instituting the law justly and fairly, she said, adding Weve got a lot of work to do.
Meandering around southern Wales, a fluffy creature quickly caught local attention. The rare animal wandered through streets and yards, stared back at those filming and  so far  evaded capture.

The rare black fox was spotted in the Vale of Glamorgan on Sunday, April 16, BBC reported. Black foxes, also known as silver foxes, are an uncommon sight in the U.K.

The animals are something of a mythological creature, according to the organization Black Foxes U.K. Sightings of black foxes are either escaped exotic pets that need to be returned or native wild foxes.

The black fox seen around the Vale of Glamorgan appears to be an escaped pet, BBC reported.

The black fox was seen walking across a yard and approaching a chicken coop in a TikTok video shared by The Independent on April 19. The surprised  but unharmed  chickens clucked at the fox, which continued walking through the yard.

Other video clips shared by BBC show the creature walking around, scratching its side and staring at the camera. In one clip, the fox slipped around the corner and through a hole in the wall.

The fox has dark black ears, paws and tail with silver-gray fur along its body. The tip of the foxs tail is bright white, video shows.

Wales Shared Regulatory Services said it was aware of the creature and working to ensure its safety, according to a post on Twitter.

RSPCA, an animal welfare organization, told ITV that pet foxes are wild animals with very specific needs that are no different to those of foxes living in the wild and they require specialist care.

Even the most experienced fox experts have had difficulty keeping adult foxes successfully. Therefore, the RSPCA does not advise or condone keeping foxes as pets, the organization told the outlet.

Black Foxes U.K. told BBC it has a temporary holding home lined up for the fox once it is caught.

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Regulatory officials advised people not to approach or feed the fox.

The Vale of Glamorgan is about 165 miles west of London.

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A rare solar eclipse passed over Australia and southeast Asia, stunning skygazers and panicking birds along the way.

The hybrid solar eclipse started in the Indian Ocean around sunrise, crossed western Australia, Timor-Leste and Indonesia before ending in the Pacific Ocean, according to a fact sheet from the Astronomical Society of Australia.

The partial eclipse was visible for about three hours beginning just after 10 a.m. local time Thursday, April 20. The total eclipse was much shorter and lasted only about one minute, according to the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

The path of totality  the area where the total eclipse is visible  passed over western Australias Ningaloo region, according to local authorities. The small town of Exmouth was the only town within the line of totality, officials said. Visitors flocked to Exmouth to see the extraordinary sight.

Nature filmmaker Chris Lewis captured the scene along the Exmouth Gulf as the total eclipse began. Video shared on Twitter shows the sky darkening within a minute, quickly changing from sunny to dusk-like.

Here is the solar eclipse in real time from the Exmouth Gulf. #SolarEclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/5A583Z2E8u  Chris Lewis (@a_film_maker) April 20, 2023

Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between Earth and the Sun, casting a shadow across the Earth. When the moon only blocks out some of the Sun, this is called a partial eclipse. When the moon blocks out the entire Sun, this is called a total eclipse. Viewers will see a different type of eclipse depending on when and where they are watching.

A composite photo from Terra Australis shows each stage of this progression.

A composite photo shows the different stages of the eclipse.

Another viewer filmed the total eclipse, a video shared by CBS News on Twitter shows.

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Oh my goodness its getting so dark, the person said in the video. We have totality. Can you hear the birds? They are going crazy.

In the background, the frantic and panicked screeches of birds can be heard.

The Western Australia Tourism Department explained that animals may change their behaviour during the total eclipse. At the same time, the air temperature drops and some stars and planets become visible, officials said.

A glowing dark orb emerged over Exmouth, Australia, on Thursday as a total solar eclipse hit totality and sent birds in a frenzy. pic.twitter.com/LpZU4Gz4lV  CBS News (@CBSNews) April 20, 2023

The hybrid solar eclipse was also visible from Jakarta, Indonesia, where it was a partial eclipse. Photos show the almost-ominous sight of the partially obscured sun shining through the clouds.

A partial solar eclipse is seen through the cloud over Jakarta, Indonesia.

Hybrid solar eclipses are a very rare type of eclipse that occur once every 10 years, according to the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

The term hybrid refers to the path of the eclipse. Hybrid eclipses cannot be observed at any point along the path, according to the Astronomical Society of Australia.

Satellite footage shared on Twitter by Earth Shaker PH shows what the eclipse looked like from space. The shadow appears reddish-black and covers a portion of Australia, Indonesia and the ocean.

LOOK: Amazing sight of "dimming" during a Hybrid Solar Eclipse that started from W. Australia from JMA Himawari 9 satellite's perspective.#SolarEclipse2023 #GAM pic.twitter.com/sou91GPOeF  Earth Shaker PH (@earthshakerph) April 20, 2023

The next solar eclipse visible in the U.S. will take place Oct. 14, according to NASA. During this event, a partial eclipse will be visible in all 48 contiguous U.S. states plus Alaska.

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HONOLULU  Ray Borg expects to emerge as a title contender with a win over Kyoji Horiguchi.

Borg (16-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) draws former champion Horiguchi (31-5 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) in a flyweight bout in his promotional debut at Saturdays Bellator 295 event. The card takes place at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu with the main card on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Bellator doesnt have a flyweight division, but it appears Borgs sights are set on 135-pound gold. On the same night Borg competes, the Bellator bantamweight grand prix will be settled when interim champ Raufeon Stots meets Patchy Mix in the final. The winner of that fight will face champion Sergio Pettis or upcoming title challenger Patricio Freire.

Borg plans on entering the title discussions, too, if hes victorious.

I dont see why winning this fight wouldnt throw me right in that mix, Borg told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. I dont know why winning this fight wouldnt catapult me into the front of the line or at least close to the front of the line. Theres some good fights this weekend in terms of this division, but right now I have my eyes set on Horiguchi and well worry about all that later.

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Bellator 295 pre-event facts: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane adds to records in Hawaii Bellator 295: Make your predictions for Stots vs. Mix grand prix final Former UFC title challenger Ray Borg signs multifight deal with Bellator

A former UFC flyweight title challenger, Borg wouldnt have it any other way than to take on a stern test like Horiguchi right off the bat.

I wouldve been kind of bummed if they didnt give me someone like Horiguchi, Borg said. Ive been in this sport a long time, Ive fought some really high-level competition, and the fact that me and Horiguchi hadnt fought in the past was surprising. I couldnt have asked for a better opportunity to make my Bellator debut. Hes a great fighter, hes been in the sport a long time, hes a veteran as well. I just think its a great matchup.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkies event hub for Bellator 295.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
Induction ranges give cooks more precise heat control than previous styles of electric burners, while also being better for health and safety than other electric or gas ranges. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

By rejecting Berkeley's ban on natural gas lines in new buildings, a federal appeals court has thrown into doubt dozens of similar prohibitions across California, including in Los Angeles. But what does it mean for you?

The ruling won't stop gas appliances from polluting homes and emitting greenhouse gases. And the sort of ordinance at issue applied only to new construction, not the gas appliances already in homes.

So the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision doesn't have any bearing on current California homeowners considering a switch to electric appliances. Nor is it going to stop developers from building natural-gas-free homes, given that there is demand for them  witness the all-electric developments popping up around Southern California.

There are still health and climate reasons to take the leap, along with subsidies to trim the cost. Yet there are other considerations that may keep you wedded to natural gas, at least for now.

Here's a guide to what's involved in switching away from natural gas in your home, including the financial incentives offered by utilities and government agencies.

Which appliances use natural gas?

The appliances most likely to be powered by gas in your home are the furnace or wall-mounted heater, water heater, clothes dryer, oven and cooktop. Other possibilities include pool heaters, fireplaces, outdoor lights and outdoor grills.

A gas line for a clothes dryer, left, and a water heater in a Los Angeles home have yellow shut-off valves. (Matthew Ballinger / Los Angeles Times)

To tell whether your appliances are gas or electric, it's not enough to look for a cord plugged into the wall  even gas-powered units may still require some electricity. Instead, you'll need to see if the appliance is connected to a gas pipe, typically made of corrugated metal and equipped with a shut-off valve that is often yellow. Or you can look up the specifications for your appliance on the manufacturer's website.

What are the environmental and health risks?

Appliances that burn natural gas emit carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and other greenhouse gases. But in the big scheme of things, home natural gas use is not a leading contributor to climate change. Homes accounted for 6% of the greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, although other estimates put the residential share closer to 20%.

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Within the home, the big dogs in terms of carbon emissions are the furnace and the water heater, which account for two-thirds of a home's energy use. A gas stove and cooktop are more parsimonious, accounting for only 7% of home energy consumption.

But cooking appliances can create hazardous byproducts when they burn gas, including carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, that are especially risky if they are not vented. Those byproducts have been correlated with childhood asthma, but research looking for a direct link has been inconclusive. Worse, a study published last year found that gas stoves routinely leaked benzene and other harmful gases even when no one was using them.

Don't electric appliances contribute to climate change?

They do, because electricity-generating utilities still rely on fossil fuels to produce power. In California, about 40% of the electricity generated in the state comes from power plants that burn natural gas. So if you're going to swap out appliances, it's important to make sure you're buying electric ones that use power efficiently.

And in the case of clothes dryers, switching from gas to electric could increase your energy use significantly. Gas dryers dry clothes roughly twice as fast as conventional electric dryers, according to Home Depot, making them much more energy efficient.

On the other hand, replacing your gas furnace with an electric heat pump will slash your energy use and emissions. A 2020 study by UC Davis found that, on average, CO2 emissions from heat pumps were 37% to 53% lower than from gas furnaces. "The impact of fugitive emissions from the furnace is significantly higher than that of the heat pump," the study said, adding that the greenhouse gas reductions would be seen "under a wide range of geographic and climatic conditions."

(And if you really wanted to cut your power bill and carbon footprint, you could install solar panels on your roof and a storage battery in your garage. But that's a whole 'nother project with a unique set of benefits and trade-offs.)

What's a heat pump?

It's a machine that draws warmth or coolness from the environment  the air in most cases, but some higher-end models pull from the ground. It can then send heating or cooling air through your home, either through existing ducts or through wall units ("mini-splits").

Early versions of the technology didn't work in cold climates, and heat pumps are still not a good option in the coldest parts of the country. Another shortcoming, according to Consumer Reports, is that heat pumps are not well suited for poorly insulated homes, a description that applies to many Southern California houses.

"Heat pumps heat more gently than other systems  its a constant trickle of warm air, rather than blasts of heat every few hours," Consumer Reports explained. "If you have poor insulation, youll notice drafts and cold spots more often than you would with the higher temps of a traditional system."

A heat pump can also be used to power a hot water heater. You can get a water heater with a dedicated heat pump, or you can add a water tank to an existing heat pump system.

The technology has also been incorporated into higher-end clothes dryers. Heat pump clothes dryers push warm air through the spinning tub of clothes to absorb some of the moisture, then pump the air through a condenser to remove the moisture so that it can be cycled back through the clothes. The technique requires significantly less energy to heat the air, making these models far more efficient than conventional electric dryers.

Can I just unplug a gas appliance and plug in an electric one?

Nope. It's a much bigger job than that.

Although you'll have no trouble finding electric heaters, dryers and stoves to fit into the spaces now occupied by your gas appliances, your house's electrical panel, wiring and outlets may not be ready for the additional demand for current. That's especially true if you have an older house with a 100-amp electrical panel, which has half the capacity of a contemporary home's panel.

If you do require a new electrical panel, that could add well over $1,000 to your costs, according to the Angi website. You'll probably need a permit from your local government to do the work too.

You will also need higher-voltage wiring, circuits and outlets to install a heat pump and to switch your dryer, stove and cooktop from gas to electric. These appliances typically need a 220- to 240-volt circuit, and they don't plug into the standard three-prong outlet. (Some new manufacturers, including Channing Street Copper Co. in the San Francisco Bay Area, are addressing these issues, but the products are not yet widely available.)

One way to reduce the need for new electrical capacity is to plug the leaks in your drafty home by sealing cracks, weatherstripping windows and doors, and adding insulation. According to the advocacy group Efficiency First California, "A very high-performing, average-sized home (1,800-2,000 square feet) can be heated or cooled with 1,500 watts of power  about what a hairdryer or toaster uses!"

Aren't gas stovetops better for cooks?

That might have been true in the days when electric cooktops relied on coils that couldn't raise or lower their temperatures quickly like a gas flame. Now, however, there are electric cooktops that use induction to give you far more precise control over the heat you're applying, while also being better for health and safety than other electric or gas ranges. (Induction uses an electromagnetic field below the glass surface of the cooktop to heat the iron in the pot directly above it.)

These appliances are more energy efficient than other stovetops, although they can be costlier to operate when electric rates are higher than gas rates. But they're also more expensive  prices for a name-brand four-burner version start at $600 and increase rapidly after that  and they work only with flat-bottom pans that a magnet can stick to.

And as noted above, you'll probably need to do some rewiring to switch from gas to electric. "Most kitchens that are set up for gas cooking dont have the right connection for an electric range  you cant just plug it into a regular wall outlet," Consumer Reports observes. "An electrician will need to set up a high-amperage circuit (40 or 50 amps, 240 volts) connected to a four-prong outlet, using a very thick wire that can safely handle the amount of energy that a range will need."

How much will the new appliances cost?

The biggest hit to your bank account will come from an electric heat pump. The cost will depend on how big a unit you need, which in turn depends on how large and well-insulated your home is. The Angi website reports that most L.A. homeowners spend between $3,000 and $8,000 for a unit that draws heat and cooling from the air; installing a geothermal unit can cost $20,000 or more.

Plenty of name-brand electric stoves are available for $500 to $700, but adding an induction cooktop will drive the price over $1,000. And although name-brand conventional electric clothes dryers start at around $500, most sell in the $900-to-$1,200 range, which is also the starting price range for heat pump dryers.

That's just the cost to buy the appliances. Because electric rates are typically higher than gas rates, you can expect higher bills for the energy used to cook and do the laundry if you replace your gas dryer, stove and cooktop with electric ones. A heat pump, on the other hand, should reduce the cost of heating and cooling your home.

Are there rebates for electric appliances?

Yes, although they are limited at the moment.

California's Golden State Rebates program offers $500 for an electric heat-pump water heater to replace a gas-powered one.

Some local utilities offer their own rebates for qualified high-efficiency electric appliances; for example, to encourage customers to buy heat pumps, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power offers a rebate of $100 per ton and Glendale Water and Power offers $150 to $170 per ton. Glendale also offers $200 to $220 for a heat pump dryer, $400 to $450 for an electric water heater, and $200 to $220 for an electric range or oven.

The federal government has allocated about $290 million to California to help low- and moderate-income families purchase energy efficient appliances. That money isn't expected to be available to states until this summer, though, because the feds are still working on the details. Then California will have to develop its own rules for distributing the money, which could delay the rebates further.

According to the California Energy Commission, the federal rebates will be available only to households with incomes below 150% of the area median income; in Los Angeles, that translates to roughly $137,000. And only projects that are certified as efficient by Energy Star qualify for rebates. The most you can receive from the program, the commission says, is $14,000.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the rebates will include up to $8,000 for an electric heat pump for space heating and cooling, up to $1,750 for a heat-pump water heater, up to $840 for a heat pump clothes dryer, and up to $840 for an electric stove, cooktop, range or oven. The program will also offer up to $4,000 to upgrade an electric panel and up to $2,500 to upgrade wiring.

In addition, the feds offer a 30% tax credit for a number of these purchases. The maximum credit is $2,000 for a central heat pump or heat pump water heater and $600 for a panel upgrade.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Covid Year Three

Mailboxes in rural Macon County near Tuskegee, Alabama. Credit - Julie BennettThe Washington Post/Getty Images

Policymakers often blame the problems facing Americas struggling places on the natural advantages of todays superstar cities. As Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman recently said, the economic forces that have been hollowing out rural America are deep and not easily countered.

But it wasnt just inevitable economic forces that left many mid-sized cities, small towns, and rural areas struggling to keep up. It was also a set of public policy choices that sowed the seeds of rising regional inequality, including deregulatory efforts in the late 20th century.

From the early 20th century until about the 1970s, one of the goals of regulation was ensuring that economic activity was dispersed across the country. Policymakers believed that basic infrastructure and utilitiesrail, buses, airlines, telephone, bankingwere critical to commerce and economic development. In those sectors, they adopted regulations to ensure that communities all over the country benefitted from these services.

The model was the venerable U.S. Post Office. Since the founding of the country, the postal system has been designed to help stitch together even small, far-flung places. Think about it this way: its cheaper for the postal service to send a letter from New York to Boston than from New York to Alaska. But the price for a stamped letter is the same. In an era of email and text messages that might seem quaint, but throughout the 19th and 20th century, it meant that people could communicate at an affordable price, regardless of where they lived. This created opportunities everywhere.

Read More: Bootstrapping Has Always Been A Myth. The New American Dream Proves It

A similar approach governed other infrastructure. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for example, railroads were perhaps the most important way to transport goods. Before regulation, railroads would often charge more for short legs from small towns to the city than they would charge for the whole route. This meant higher prices for farmers along the route who were trying move their goods to market. Regulators banned this practice, and restricted the ability of railroads to exit from service. Regulation ensured fairly-priced and reliable railroad service throughout the country.

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Air and bus service to smaller places benefitted from a similar system of entry-restriction and cross-subsidies. Under the regulated era, companies needed federal approval to offer service on routes between places (thats entry-restriction). Companies also had a duty to serve some less profitable routes, usually to smaller places, but were then given some highly profitable routes to offset their losses (thats a cross-subsidy). This system ensured that smaller places had affordable, reliable serviceand it simultaneously kept companies afloat.

This approach was not limited to transportation. From banking to telephones and communication more broadly, regulation ensured that economic opportunity was not just concentrated in a few places.

The result of this system was an extraordinary period of geographic convergence. Consider just one example: In 1940, residents in Mississippi earned merely 26% of what Massachusetts residents made. By 1979, however, the state had witnessed significant economic gains, and Mississippians earned nearly 70% as much as their East Coast counterparts.

But then, in the 1970s and after, deregulation undid this Progressive-Era and New Deal regulatory system.

Deregulation allowed railroads to discontinue service and even abandon rail lines altogether. This meant that some smaller towns lost access to rail. Between 1980 and 2008, the U.S. rail network shrunk by more than 40%. For producers, losing rail service is a disaster. For investors, lack of access to transportation networks is a deterrent, concentrating investments in more connected places.

Airline deregulation also had disparate geographic impacts. As airlines consolidated over time into the big four and into fortress hubs like Dallas or Atlanta, service even to big cities like St. Louis, Memphis, and Cincinnati has shrunk. Some small cities, like Cheyenne, Wyoming, now guarantee revenue for the airlines just to get a bare minimum of flights. Fewer convenient flights, of course, makes it harder to run a global business or to host national conventions.

The story was similar with bus deregulation. The head of Greyhound observed during the debates over bus deregulation in the late 1970s that the rural areas are going to have to suffer. Even one of the biggest champions of deregulation, Alfred Kahn, had second thoughts about intercity bus service. Im not sure I would ever have deregulated the buses, he said, because the bus is a lifeline of many small communities for people just to get to the doctor or to the Social Security office.

In short, 40 years of deregulation has contributed to increasing economic divergence, with thriving places increasingly pulling ahead of struggling ones.

Today, we seem to have forgotten the tradition of regulation to promote geographic equality. Broadband, one of the most important modern communications technologies, emerged in the era of deregulation. Instead of legal obligations to provide universal service at regulated prices, broadband internet has remained patchyat bestin smaller towns and rural places. Only now, decades later, is the federal government finally addressing this problem. But importantly, we are doing it through massive taxpayer subsidies, not through legal obligations on highly-profitable companies.

People in smaller places and rural communities have suffered considerably. Data shows that economic opportunity is worse in these places, and opioid addiction and deaths of despair are higher. The harms are national, too. Divergence in economic opportunity drives surging home prices in thriving places, compounding the affordability crisis. It saps the country of talented people who dont have the full range of opportunities. And the increasing concentration of wealth and economic activity breeds resentment and makes the country as a whole less resilient to economic, political, and social challenges. We can change direction. But to do so, we need to stop blaming economic forces for these problems and start thinking about how public policy can fix them.
Reata Restaurant is looking in the downtown area for its new 2024 location, the restaurant announced this week in its first response to an public invitation last week from the Omni Fort Worth hotel.

In a two-line announcement at the bottom of a newsletter, the restaurant emailed: Reata continues to look at some great locations in and around Downtown Fort Worth.

We are reviewing architectural drawing and renderings, the announcement read, to find a great new home for Reata.

Reata owner Mike Micallef has said the restaurant will leave its current location, 310 Houston St. in Sundance Square, when that lease ends in June 2024.

Micallef had declined to respond after Omni executive Bob Rowling told a downtown business audience April 15 the hotel is talking to some downtown restaurants about relocating to help activate the West Lancaster Avenue side of new 400-room second tower, 1500 Houston St.

It would be really exciting for that to happen, Rowling said, without naming a particular restaurant.

Micallef has not hinted at a decision.

But he has already said the increased convention and tourist business downtown still make the city center attractive to Reata, the restaurant that launched cowboy cuisine and produced a generation of chefs known for contemporary Western cooking.

In March 2022, when Reata announced the search for a new location, Micallef said the restaurant would be seeking 2 acres of land or a 12,000-20,000-square-foot building with up to 200 parking spaces.

At the time, Micallef and other retailers said that the increased price of valet and surface parking hurts business in Sundance Square.

Sundance garage parking is free weekdays with validation, weeknights and weekends. But the garages are a two-block walk from Reata.
BATTLE CREEK  The American Red Cross will install free smoke alarms for Battle Creek residents in need next week as part of a nationwide effort to reduce the number of fire-related injuries and deaths.

House fires claim approximately seven lives each day nationally, and most of them occur in homes without working smoke alarms, according to the Red Cross. To address this threat, the organization is installing free smoke alarms in homes and increasing awareness with a smoke alarm installation and fire safety education drive dubbed Sound The Alarm.

This year's campaign kicked off April 15 and will pay a visit to Battle Creek from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 29 at The Fire Hub, 175 S. Kendall St. Volunteers are needed for the event; free training will be provided and no experience is necessary.

Those interested in volunteering can register online at rdcrss.org. To schedule a smoke alarm installation appointment, call 1-800-733-2767 or click here.

This is an opportunity to teach families and their loved ones about how to protect themselves from these everyday crises, Mary Lynn Foster, regional chief executive officer for the Red Cross in Michigan, said in a release. We are grateful for the support of our volunteers and community partners to help save lives.

Home fires account for the vast majority of the 60,000 disasters the Red Cross responds to annually in the United States. In 2022, the Red Cross in Michigan helped 7,542 people displaced by 2,088 home fires.

Sound the Alarm is part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, launched in 2014 to reduce fire-related deaths and injuries by installing free smoke alarms and teaching families about home fire safety. Since the start of the campaign, the organization has installed 2.5 million smoke alarms in homes and made 1 million households safer nationwide.

In Michigan alone, the Red Cross has installed 70,462 smoke alarms and made 27,426 households safer since 2014.

Every second counts when theres a home fire, Darwin Roche, regional disaster officer for the Red Cross in Michigan, said in a release. Home fires are so dangerous and claim more lives in a typical year than all natural disasters combined. But working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 50 percent.

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Free smoke alarm installations are made possible by donations to the Red Cross. Those interested can text the word HOMEFIRE to 90999 to make a $10 donation or donate by visiting rdcrss.org.

Contact reporter Greyson Steele at gsteele@battlecreekenquirer.com

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Red Cross to install free smoke alarms in Battle Creek April 29
For generations, Black Americans have been disproportionately profiled, surveyed, policed, lynched, choked, brutalized and murdered, said Congresswoman Pressley.

Advocates have long decried the lack of accountability for police officers involved in violent or deadly encounters with civilians and called for the end of qualified immunity.

This week, U.S. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA, and Senator Ed Markey, D-MA, introduced legislation to do just that.

Congresswoman Ayanna Presley, D-MA (left) and Senator Ed Markey, D-MA (right) hold a press conference on the Ending Qualified Immunity Act on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Credit: Ashlee Banks

Both lawmakers re-introduced the Ending Qualified Immunity Act, which would strip police officers of civil liability protection and allow victims of police brutality to seek justice in the court of law.

On Wednesday, Pressley held a press conference at the U.S. Capitol building to announce the legislation, which she lifted up as racial justice issue.

For generations, Black Americans have been disproportionately profiled, surveyed, policed, lynched, choked, brutalized and murdered, said Pressley.

These practices are systemic and rooted in our countrys legacy of slavery and racial terror.

The congresswoman noted that Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1871  also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act  which granted citizens the power to sue any person acting under the authority of state law who deprives them of their constitutional rights, including public officials like police officers.

Sen. Markey noted that qualified immunity is not a law, but instead a doctrine that was established by the Supreme Court in 1967, undermining the Civil Rights Act of 1871.

The Supreme Court made it so that officers would only be held accountable for their actions if the victim or victims family could clearly establish that the officer in question violated the Constitution.

As a result, lawsuits filed against officers accused of criminal abuse or murder of unarmed citizens, particularly African Americans, are oftentimes dismissed due to the qualified immunity doctrine.

However, Markey said this is contrary to what Congress intended when it passed the Civil Rights Act in 1871.

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The U.S. Supreme Court is seen at sunset, March 27, 2019, in Washington. Dance Laboratories is asking the Supreme Court to preserve access to its abortion pill free from restrictions imposed by lower court rulings, while a legal fight continues. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Congress sought to empower civilians to seek justice in the face of state violence, he asserted.

The Massachusetts senator told reporters that the law did not include providing immunity to state and local officials, effectively shielding police officers from lawsuits brought by victims of brutality and excessive force.

Pressley first introduced the Ending Qualified Immunity Act in 2020 with former Rep. Justin Amash, L-MI, days after the murder of George Floyd, who was killed by ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Markey and Pressley were notably accompanied by the families of Andrew Joseph III and Isaiah Lewis, two teens who lost their lives after encounters with law enforcement.

On Feb. 7, 2014, Joseph, 14, was fatally struck by a car while crossing a major interstate after Hillsborough County, Florida deputies removed him and other teens out of the Student Day at the State Fair following an alleged commotion.

Josephs family tried to hold the deputies accountable in his death for failing to notify them at the time that the teen was removed from the park; however, the officers were protected under qualified immunity.

You would think that if a child had not been committing a crime, this [would] be a clear-cut case. However, there is never a clear-cut case of justice and accountability when youre dealing with the system of policing, said Josephs mother Deanna Joseph.

She continued, Qualified immunity has been the culprit. It has been the repeat offender to the repeated perpetrators who perpetrate the murders and crimes.

Qualified immunity became a pressing topic on Capitol Hill in 2021 when Democrats and Republicans failed to pass the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act due to differences over the bill provision to eliminate qualified immunity.

WASHINGTON, DC  AUGUST 24: Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), questions U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy as he testifies during a hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on August 24, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee is holding a hearing on Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail, Medicine, and Mail-in Ballots. (Photo by Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)

The family was later awarded $15 million in a wrongful death lawsuit; however, they say its not enough. The family wants to see an end to qualified immunity.

In the meantime, Markey said to move forward, We must not wait in vain for the Supreme Court to fix its own mistake.

He continued: There will be no true justice until there is racial justice, and there will be no racial justice until we end qualified immunity once and for all in the United States of America.

Pressley said she will continue to fight for justice on behalf of police brutality victims and will, not let up until Black fathers, sons, children, women our mommas have the same rights as everyone else.

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The post Rep. Ayanna Pressley demands an end to qualified immunity appeared first on TheGrio.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 19)  At least 49 Filipinos in Sudan wish to be relocated while another 37 are seeking repatriation, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), as a deadly power struggle grips the North African country.

"There have been at least 37 repatriation requests, I'm looking at the data. Less than 10% of the Filipinos in Sudan have indicated that they want to go home," DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega told CNN Philippines' The Final Word.

"There have been about 49 who have been asking to be relocated," he added.

The DFA said majority of Filipinos are emailing the department to report that they are "not in good condition"  as clashes continue between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.

De Vega said the government will shoulder the Filipinos' trip back home once airlines resume operations. Repatriating or relocating them by land would be an option if airports remain closed, he added.

The DFA said there are about 500 Filipinos in Sudan. They have been told to stay indoors.
Book Banning and a New Jersey High School Library

Books which were attempted to be banned from the library at North Hunterdon Regional High School in Annandale, N.J., on Wednesday, June 14, 2022. Credit - Bryan AnselmRedux

Over the past nearly two years, Republican politicians have pushed to remove books about the history of racism and LGBTQ identities from school library shelves. A new report by PEN America, a nonprofit focused on free expression rights, shows that these book bans in the U.S. have reached their highest levels yet.

According to a report out April 20, the nonprofit calculated 1,477 instances of individual books banned during the first half of the 2022-23 school year, involving 874 unique titles about 100 books being banned a monthup from 1,149 instances of book banning from January to June 2022. PEN America defines book banning as the removal of a book that was previously available, or reducing access to a book, either temporarily or permanently. Since the organization started tracking book bans in July 2021, it has recorded more than 4,000 instances, involving 2,253 unique titles and affecting 182 school districts in 37 states and millions of students. Most of the bans are occurring in states including Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina.

This fall, weve seen more instances of books being banned than in prior semesters, says Kasey Meehan, Program Director of PEN Americas Freedom to Read initiative and lead author of the new report titled Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools. The purpose of the report is to continue to raise awareness and alarm that book banning is, in fact, happening.

Read More: A Visit to the Banned-Book Bus With a Scholar Who Helped Develop Critical Race Theory

Historically, parents have been behind most of the efforts to pull books off shelves. But researchers found a shift between the 2021-2022 school year and the 2022-2023 school year: now more of the bans are coming from legislators. Last year, Missouri enacted a law banning sexually explicit books in public and private schools, with penalties including jail time and fines. In February, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos co-sponsored a bill aimed at prohibiting publishing houses from sending books with sexually explicit books to schools. In March 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for president in 2024, opened a press conference by slamming what he called pornographic content in books in schools.

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One of the biggest ways that the censorship movement is escalating is the jump from being driven predominantly by grassroots organizing, by individual parents, by parent-led advocacy groups, says Meehan. More and more we are tracking proposals, as well as enacted legislation.

Conservative activists are targeting books not only in school libraries, but also in public libraries. Missouri lawmakers have proposed withholding state funding from libraries, and libraries in Llano County, Texas, were close to closing after books like Isabel Wilkersons Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents were removed from shelves.

Among the books most frequently targeted are Maia Kobabes Gender Queer: A Memoir (2019) and Mike Curatos Flamer (2020). While previous reports on the state of book banning by PEN America found most of the targeted books featured the history of racism and LGBTQ issues, books banned during the 2022 school year covered broader topics. Forty-four percent of the targeted books have involved violence and abuse, 38% discuss health related content, and 30% contain themes about death and grief. According to Meehan, PEN America essentially saw an increase in efforts to ban books with things that make people uncomfortable.
The Senate rejected a Republican effort on Wednesday to reverse a Department of Veterans Affairs policy that has expanded some abortion services to veterans, a victory for President Joe Biden and Democrats who say the services are necessary medical care.

The vote was one of several that Republicans have forced in recent months to reverse Biden administration policies. The Senate rejected 51-48 the GOP bid to scrap the expanded services, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting with Democrats to preserve the rule.

The Sept. 2022 rule was put in place as Democrats have tried to find ways to maintain abortion access after the Supreme Court last year overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed the right to an abortion. The Biden administration says the rule is in direct response to new restrictions on abortion in some states that are creating serious risks to the life and health of our Nations veterans.

The policy would allow the VA to provide access to abortion counseling and also some abortions if the life or health of the parent would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. The rule, which applies regardless of state laws, would also allow abortion access in the case of rape or incest.

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican who led the effort to reverse the policy, said the government should focus on other ways to care for veterans. He and other Republicans argued that taxpayers should not be funding the abortions.

Tuberville said that allowing abortion at VA medical facilities is illegal and wrong, and that the rule does not provide enough protections for doctors and nurses with religious objections.

This rule is wrong on every level, he said.

In a statement of policy, the White House said Biden would veto the GOP resolution if it had come to his desk.

The effort to undo the rule undermines patient safety and invites political interference into deeply personal decisions made by pregnant veterans, the White House said, threatening their health and lives.

Buoyed by better-than-expected midterm election results in the wake of the Roe decision, Democrats enthusiastically opposed the resolution. In a news conference ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that reversing the rule would take away reproductive care for hundreds of thousands of veterans and their families.

The hard right is telling our veterans that theyll be treated as second-class citizens, Schumer said. And we say, no way, no way, no way!
In a tense exchange that seemed to scramble partisan lines, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) lit into Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm over the staff at her agency trading stocks in companies flagged by ethics officers  including oil giants.

It was a brief moment of political theater near the end of a two-hour hearing on the Energy Departments annual budget, an attempt by the right-wing lawmaker to burnish his bona fides as a populist and call out apparent Democratic hypocrisy about fossil fuels.

But the back-and-forth highlighted yet another gap in federal ethics rules at a time when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas dealings with a billionaire donor are stoking fresh debate over how to police corruption, and it showed how Republicans turn progressives tactics against Democrats.

From 2017 to 2021, more than 130 staffers collectively reported trades of shares, bonds and options in firms that Energy Department ethics officers flagged as related to their agency work, a Wall Street Journal investigation published in February found.

Limited to officials who file annual disclosures, the analysis represents only a partial picture of a period when the Trump administration was in office but concluded that one-third of the departments senior officials had received such warnings about personal stock trades.

I think its easier if you dont own individual stocks, said Granholm, who said she misunderstood the frequency of filing requirements and missed a few deadlines herself before selling off all her stock a few months after taking office.

But she said the departments very rigorous in-house ethics team allows, for example, staffers working at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which handles atomic weapons, to own shares of companies involved with the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) spoke at the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Tuesday.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) spoke at the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Tuesday.

If somebody owns an individual stock and they work in the NNSA and that stock happens to relate to something over in the EERE and theyre not involved in it at all, its not considered an ethics violation, Granholm said, using the units acronyms.

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That sounds like an easy call, but the Journal report detailed trades by high-ranking lab officials whose work ethics officers specifically flagged as related company stock trades.

All of that has been vetted, Granholm said.

And its OK? Hawley said.

Because theyre not trading in areas where they have influence or are touching, Granholm continued.

Hawley said it looks bad that 28 agency officials owned stock in Exxon Mobil Corp. while 17 owned Chevron Corp. shares and 15 held stock in both.

It doesnt involve or influence in any way our actions, Granholm said.

Hawley balked. It doesnt influence their actions? Owning the individual stock doesnt?

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at a Senate hearing Thursday that she divested her stock holdings after her appointment. I think its easier if you dont own individual stocks, she said during an exchange about department officials who own stock in energy companies.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at a Senate hearing Thursday that she divested her stock holdings after her appointment. I think its easier if you dont own individual stocks, she said during an exchange about department officials who own stock in energy companies.

Absolutely not, Granholm replied.

Then why did you sell yours? Hawley asked.

Because I had an ethics agreement with the president of the United States saying I would divest, she said.

Well, Hawley responded, presumably because he was rightly worried that owning these individual stocks would affect your decisions, dont you think?

Its different when youre the head of the department and have a whole agency versus when youre one part of an agency and you trade a stock that happens to be dealing with a completely different part, Granholm said.

We have 100,000 people in the department, a very vast agency, and theyre strewn about the country, she added before returning to her previous example: If somebody over in the NNSA buys some stock in Exxon, it doesnt involve their particular area of influence. Thats the influence part youre objecting to.

Hawley returned to the optics: I guess I dont understand your position. Your position is youre not concerned about 130 officials in the Energy Department trading 2,700 shares, including in Chevron, Exxon and others?

Granholm said she would only be concerned if our ethics office was concerned.

Ive got a solution: Lets just ban it, said Hawley, who previously authored legislation to ban federal lawmakers from trading stocks and embarrass former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for doing so. Lets ban it for all executive department officials. Lets ban it for all members of Congress. How about that?

Concluding a hearing that spanned everything from funding for nuclear waste storage to hydrogen fuel subsidies to how Republicans willingness to drive the federal government into default could harm the U.S. atomic arsenal, Granholm replied: I would not object to that.

Related...
Minority Leader McCarthy And Florida Gov. De Santis Hold Press Conference On Cuba

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy listens during a press conference on August 05, 2021 in Hialeah, Florida Credit - Joe RaedleGetty Images

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIMEs politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

A week after the midterm elections, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri offered a coldbut probably correctdiagnosis of the wreckage facing his party. Working-class, independent voters who had previously cast ballots for Barack Obama and Donald Trump had stayed home, thwarting the GOPs hopes of a broad House majority and a narrow one in the Senate. The Red Wave forecast by so many never materialized, and the soul-searching had begun.

I think that this election was the funeral for the Republican Party as we know it, said Hawley, adding: We need to have a conversation about our core convictions as a party. Clearly, this party is going to have to actually be different or we are not going to be a majority party in this country.

It was a bold statement considering the narrow majority Republicans had secured in the House, prompting some to accurately predict that Speaker-in-Waiting Kevin McCarthy was going to have to capitulate to the partys fringe to secure the gavel. Ahead of his shambolic leadership election, McCarthy hustled and caved to his far right. As for the White House, McCarthy told reporters he could work with anybody who wants to work to make America better, and expected a cool relationship with the Biden White House to warm once he held the gavel.

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Well, that hasnt exactly unfolded as planned; Biden and McCarthy havent spoken since their first chat in February. And, it turns out, McCarthy and his fellow Republicans continue to push an agenda that may well serve the partys loudest voices cheering for conflict, but not its chase of a stable, predictable governing majority.

With headwinds facing Bidens likely re-election campaign and frustrations with Washington showing no signs of weakening, the fortunes of the modern GOP should be far brighter than they are. Sure, a tarnished ex-President who is under criminal indictment and maintains a vise-like grip on the party is partly to blame, but that alone doesnt explain the ways in which GOP leaders are choosing to present themselves to voters at every turn.

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Just consider the messages coming from House Republicans on Monday. McCarthy traveled to the beating heart of the global economyWall Streetto demand deep cuts in government spending in exchange for a vote that would let the government pay bills already accrued, a threat evocative of the 2011 debt ceiling showdown that sent markets into a crisis and cost Americans $1.3 billion. Meanwhile, his fellow House Republicans gathered nearby in lower Manhattan, employing dodgy crime stats at a show trial-esque hearing aimed at discrediting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Donald Trumps fraud case.

Not to be too blunt, but neither of these headlines seem geared toward a Hawleyan reboot of the Republican Party. Spite can be fun, but it isnt a policy. A global economic crisis is never good, but whats potentially in the hopper amid the debt ceiling standoff would be a fiscal doomsday, with one analysis of the still-forming GOP debt plan agreement predicting it could cost more than 700,000 jobs. The policies put forward by McCarthyno raised taxes, no touching of Social Security or Medicarewould demand a whopping 52% cut from everything else on the federal books to meet the goal of a balanced budget within a decade. And polls show a majority of Americans approve of Braggs prosecution of Trump.

But the tone-deaf messaging is not exclusive to the House. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisperhaps the most serious potential challenger to Trumps re-nomination at the momentsigned a six-week ban on abortions in his state during a private ceremony last week, and followed that days later by threatening to build a prison next to the spot many families regard as the happiest place on Earth. Floridas abortion ban comes in the immediate wake of a stunning upset in Wisconsin, where voters showed that tightening access to abortion is a political loser, and a year after voters in Kansas did the same. The culture wars in general have left parents exhausted, and the coordinated anti-trans rights campaigns coming out of Florida and other states may work with the partys base but do little to help expand the GOP tent.

Then consider the personal. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the groundbreaking California lawmaker who is retiring at the end of this term, has been absent from Washington since being hospitalized in February for shingles. Feinsteins absence has left Democrats in something of a limbo, given Senate rules, and incapable of doing one of only things they actually have the power to do with a Republican-controlled House, which is to confirm judges. Reluctantly, Feinstein asked to be temporarily removed from the Judiciary Committee so another Democrat could serve and push through nominees; Republicans on Monday blocked that effort, and may pull the same move if Feinstein resigns and Democrats try again to fill her seat on the committee. (After all, there is precedent for denying lawmakers requests to change committees, dating back to 1891.) While this is a fight mostly being consumed in Washington, the decision by Senate Republicans to pull the kind of hardball tactics more in league with their House brethren further signals to those in the political middle about the partys goals, and governing isnt on the list.

Put plainly, Republicans from Washington, D.C. to Tallahassee seem to be chasing political duds in order to placate the partys fringes. It may feel good to go on cable and insinuate Biden is senile or criminal, and the partys hacks may giggle. But thats not a formula to win over swing voters who are watching from afar and just hoping Washington can remember that there are real people with real interests that need some real tending. This performative version of conservatism may feel fun in the moment, but its no substitute for long-term control of the gavels.

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MAGA firebrand Doug Mastriano is inducing panic among GOP officials as he inches closer toward a 2024 bid for the Senate after a disastrous showing in his Pennsylvania governor run in 2022.

Among the concerned is none other than Donald Trump.

The former president has privately told Republicans he fears that Mastriano, a far-right state lawmaker in a critical battleground, would hurt him in a general election if they were on the top of the ticket together next year, according to three people familiar with the conversations.

Mastriano, who attempted to overturn the 2020 election and sought to outlaw abortion with no exceptions, lost Pennsylvanias gubernatorial contest last November by 15 percentage points. His tease of a comeback bid has sparked alarm within GOP circles that he would cost the party any conceivable chance they had of unseating Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in 2024.

Trumps not dumb, said a top GOP donor who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about private deliberations. He knows Mastriano will hurt him in Pennsylvania.

Trump has also relayed to Republicans, including at least one senator, that he would be reluctant to endorse Mastriano for Senate because of his concerns that he would pull him down, the three people said. Thats not the only reason he may stay out: A person close to Trump said it is unlikely he will be as involved in 2024 down-ballot races across the country since he is busy running himself. Trump is currently more interested in seeing who endorses him.

Snubbing Mastriano would be a 180 from last year, when Trump defied Republican leaders in the state and D.C., and officially backed him days before the primary.



He regrets endorsing him in [2022], said an adviser to Trump who was granted anonymity to speak openly. He says, Doug blew it.

The adviser, along with another person close to Trump, said the former president took issue with Mastriano embracing a platform that included no abortion exceptions, including for the life of the mother. The person close to Trump insisted that was not how Mastriano presented his position privately to the former president. Though Mastriano did state his no-exceptions position in a primary debate prior to Trumps endorsement, the adviser said that Trump never would have endorsed had he been more aware of Mastrianos support for that policy.

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Trump, after appointing the Supreme Court justices needed to overturn Roe v. Wade, has nevertheless taken to social media to blame GOP losses in the midterms on Republicans who firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother.

The Trump campaign declined to provide a comment for this story.

In the conversation with the senator, which took place in recent weeks, Trump expressed reservations about Mastriano being a drag on him as the nominee, according to a GOP strategist familiar with the discussion. Those reservations extend to others associated with the Pennsylvania Republican. Trump, according to an adviser, is done with Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney who pushed for Mastriano during the primary and served as a lawyer for the then-president during his post-election efforts to contest the 2020 vote.

Mastriano did not respond to a request for comment. Ellis said that since declining to work for Trumps 2024 campaign, she has been called a porn star, sexually harassed, and stalked in the media by the unnamed male Trump Advisors.

If President Trump was so done with me, why did he literally call me two days ago? she added. These advisors are clearly misrepresenting their positions and proximity in an effort to intimidate women who stand on principle by attacking them on social media and anonymously in the press.

Trumps machinations in the Keystone State could have a major effect on the GOPs efforts to take back the Senate. Republicans need to flip just two seats to win the chamber and Casey is among their top targets. After a disappointing midterm election, the Senate Republican campaign arm sees Mastriano as unelectable. The group is recruiting ex-hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick, who narrowly lost the Pennsylvania Senate primary to celebrity physician Mehmet Oz in 2022, to challenge Casey.

"Republicans are scared to death of Mastriano being on the ballot again," said Josh Novotney, a GOP consultant in Pennsylvania. "He tanked the entire ticket last year.



It is far from certain that Trumps reservations about Mastriano mean he would endorse McCormick in the primary. Last year Trump backed Oz while blasting McCormick as a liberal Wall Street Republican. The former president also has his own intraparty politics to consider. If the primary is still competitive during Pennsylvanias primary in late April  or state lawmakers move up the voting date like they are considering  Trump may determine he needs to avoid disappointing Mastrianos base.

Trump has had no problem abandoning allies in the past after theyve lost elections. Last year, he decided not to endorse former Rep. Lou Barletta in his bid for governor of Pennsylvania after he had backed him in an unsuccessful Senate run four years prior. Trump privately called Barletta a loser, according to multiple sources.

Were Trump merely to stay out of any potential primary between Mastriano and McCormick, many Republican officials in the state and nationally would be relieved.

There's a lot of concern amongst party leaders about the effect that Mastriano would have on the down-ballot, said Rob Gleason, former chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. I dont think [Trump] is going to endorse anybody. He has to worry about himself.



Trump was ambivalent about Mastriano before he endorsed him. Mastriano had been a loyal soldier in the MAGA movement, using his position as a state senator to become the face of the effort to overturn the 2020 election in Pennsylvania. But Trump wanted more action from Mastriano on his promises surrounding an audit of the election results, and some of Trumps advisers were concerned that Mastriano was unelectable.

Several Republicans in Trumps orbit believe the former president ultimately endorsed Mastriano because he wanted to burnish his win-loss record in Republican primaries. Trumps move enraged GOP officials in Pennsylvania who were attempting to mount a last-ditch effort to stop Mastriano in hopes of avoiding an onslaught in November.

This time around, Trumps circle is more dubious about Mastrianos chances of winning a general election, believing he simply can not beat Casey. A recent poll by Franklin & Marshall College found that Casey leads Mastriano by 16 percentage points in a hypothetical matchup, while he is ahead of McCormick by 7 points.

Mastriano has also come under blame by some people around Trump for contributing to Ozs loss, a sore spot for the former president, who himself has blamed his wife and others for counseling him to back Oz.

But there are still a handful of Mastriano fans in Trump world. Christina Bobb, who has worked as a lawyer for Trump, was a featured speaker at a rally Mastriano held in south-central Pennsylvania last month. She praised Mastriano as a MAGA warrior who bravely fought to rectify the 2020 election.

She told the crowd that she had talked to Trump before the event. He goes, Tell him I love them, tell him I love them all, she said.
On the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and with it the constitutional right to an abortion, Sen. Josh Hawley was thrilled.

The Missouri Republican got into politics because of his opposition to abortion. Its one of the reasons both he and his wife, Erin Morrow Hawley, became lawyers. He believes its the greatest social justice issue of our time.

And in the immediate aftermath of a ruling Hawley had been waiting his life to see, he said he wanted to give the ruling a little time for the issue to breathe and for states to start setting their own policies.

In my lifetime, nothing that any voter in my state has ever voted on has mattered with regard to abortion, Hawley said in June of last year. Because weve never had any say. The voters of Missouri and every other state now, what they decide on this is going to be law. And thats a big change.

His comments match the Republican line since the ruling, known as the Dobbs decision  the issue is going back to the states and voters will decide. But less than a month later, a case going through the courts could restrict abortion access even in states like Kansas, where abortion rights are legally protected.

A Texas case, argued by Erin Morrow Hawley, is seeking to overturn FDA approval of mifepristone, a pill used for medication-induced abortions. A favorable ruling has the potential to either prevent the drug from being used for abortion or could prevent abortion pills from being mailed across the country.

I think the irony of the activity in the courts is that what the Supreme Court made it sound like in Dobbs was that basically this has to be an issue decided by the people, Aziza Ahmed, the co-director of the Boston University law program on reproductive justice. And it sort of betrays that to see that the conservatives are actually rising up through the courts to essentially try to make the case to ban, in the most recent state of activity, medication abortion.

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Hawley has not been shy about his support for a potential federal ban. In September, after Sen. Lindsay Graham, a South Carolina Republican, introduced a bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks, Hawley was one of just nine senators who signed onto the bill, even though most Republican senators signed on to a version of the same bill prior to the Supreme Courts decision.

The lack of co-sponsors reflected a larger uncertainty among some Republican lawmakers, particularly as abortion emerged as a galvanizing issue for Democrats in the 2022 mid-term elections. Even in Republican-leaning states, like Kansas and Kentucky, ballot measures that would have allowed the legislature to further restrict abortion rights were shot down by voters.

Kansas was the first state in the country to vote on an abortion ballot measure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion and Kansans overwhelming rejection of a provision that would have enabled the legislature to ban the procedure signaled a turning point for the abortion rights movement. Mifepristone is used in 70% of Kansas abortions.

While Kansans made it clear last August that their health care decisions should be between them and their doctor, not politicians, this new ruling threatens to restrict access to reproductive health care nation-wide, Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, said of the Texas judges ruling. Far-right politicians continue to push these extremist and unpopular policies at every level of government. Ill continue to oppose any attempt to strip away the rights and freedoms Kansans have fought so hard to keep.

Many Republican-controlled state legislatures have continued to pass stricter abortion laws  Florida recently passed a ban on abortion after 6-weeks and Idaho passed a bill preventing women from traveling for an abortion  federal efforts have largely been left up to anti-abortion activists in the courts.

In Kansas, where the state Supreme Court has protected abortion rights, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, joined a brief in support of the legal effort to ban mifepristone.

This is just another piece of the puzzle for anti-abortion politicians, judges, the movement, to achieve their ultimate goal, which is to enact a national abortion ban, said Gabby Richards, a national spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood.

Anti-abortion groups have openly pushed for a federal ban on abortion. Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the Republican Party has long endorsed federal abortion restrictions, from the presidency of Ronald Reagan to the presidency of Donald Trump, who appointed the conservative justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

What the Supreme Court said in Dobbs is that the people and their elected lawmakers  state or federal  have the right to find consensus on what the law should be, Dannenfelser said. Most Americans want laws that are far more protective of the unborn and their mothers, while almost every congressional Democrat backs legislation to impose the abortion-on-demand policies of China and North Korea nationwide. Respectfully, life isnt a states rights issue, its a human rights issue.

The most prominent case moving through the courts was filed last year by anti-abortion groups and doctors in Texas. It argues that the FDA erred in 2000 when it approved mifepristone, the first pill used in the process of medically induced abortion. They argue, using their own studies, that the pill is unsafe, despite evidence that it has a .4% risk of major complications.

In the years since, the FDA has expanded access to the drug from strict requirements where women could only be prescribed the drug by certain medical providers and had to receive it in person. In January, the FDA allowed for people to obtain the drug without visiting their physician in person.

A Texas judge sided with the anti-abortion groups and issued a temporary ban on the medication. An appeals court partially overruled the ban, making the pill legal, but imposing some restrictions on how it could be received and prescribed.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday punted until Friday on whether to impose restrictions on the pill while the cases make their way through the court.

Hawley said there is a distinction between legislative efforts and legal efforts to limit abortion rights. He said the mifepristone case is about the regulatory process and blamed the Biden administration for loosening restrictions on access to the drug.

I think what the Fifth Circuit did in this case, was really reasonable, Hawley said. They just returned it to the rule from 10 years ago.

Sen. Roger Marshall, an OB/GYN who also signed on to the 15-week abortion ban, said he supported states ability to ban the drug, but didnt necessarily support the courts overruling the FDA.

Its the job of the FDA to determine if its safe or if its not safe, if it does what its supposed to do, Marshall said. So I think it would be okay with me, even though its FDA approved, that doesnt mean that it would be legal in Kansas.

But federal lawmakers have largely appeared to leave any further restrictions up to the courts. While the Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a bill requiring doctors to save the life of an infant in the unlikely event that its born during or after an attempted abortion, Republicans have not attempted to pass a more stringent ban.

Already, the issue is a complicating factor in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the six-week ban in Florida, one donor said he would no longer support the candidate many see as best positioned to take down former President Donald Trump in a primary. Trump, too, is struggling with religious conservatives on the abortion issue.

My sense is that theres going to be some pressure at least on some of the Republican congresspeople to not wade into that territory, Ahmed said. I dont think its always a guaranteed win, even for conservative legislators, to be dabbling in the most extreme types of abortion restrictions. It alienates people.

But even if Republicans back away from a federal ban, the decades long effort to approve conservative judges could still play an important role in abortion laws across the country.

This is a foreshadowing of the battles and the fights that are yet to come, Richards said. So how this is decided is really, really critical. Its either going to send a message to the people who are continuing to attack our rights and our bodily autonomy that hey, this isnt going to stand. Or its going to be open season for these attacks to continue.
Having a home is about more than just putting a roof over your head; it also means having somewhere to go where you feel safe.

For months, Channel 9s Almiya White has investigated claims from renters who describe uncomfortable and even dangerous conditions inside their apartments. Now, shes bringing those concerns directly to our local leaders.

You may recall our conversation back in February with Charlotte tenants who are all from different complexes but living in very similar conditions.

READ MORE: The Carolinas Get Real: Priced out of Charlotte

If we can pay our rent, they should be able to provide the service that they signed off on, Brittani Barnett said then.

After months of investigating, White took tenants concerns about the alarming living conditions to city and county leaders.

Its appalling. Its appalling. I dont know any other way to frame it, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Mark Jerrell said.

Jerrell represents District 4, which is where two of those tenants live. White showed him photos of mold covering doors and cabinets, bugs across counters, walls ripped apart, and no heat.

Priced Out of Charlotte: County-by-County Resource Guide

This certainly reflects a lack of humanity and concern and care, Jerrell said.

White took those same concerns to Charlotte City Councilmember Malcolm Graham.

Its unfortunate and its heartbreaking that in 2023, that people are living in these types of conditions. And there should be some accountability, Graham said.

>> In the video at the top of the page, who is held accountable when maintenance requests are ignored, and the resources available to tenants.

(WATCH BELOW: 11 Charlotte affordable housing developments short $32 million, city says)
Jeremy Daniel

Bang, crash! Watch out for the falling light! Dont stand under that toppling tree! Those trapeze wires dont look very reliable! There should be at least one special Tony Award for Mischief Theatres Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, booking to July 9)not just for its technical brilliance, and the raucous, daffy, side-splitting pleasures it delivers to the audience, but also as a badge of proof that the British may have finally, successfully exported pantomime to America.

The children (and adults) at the performance this critic attended were absolutely on point with their Behind you shouting at the right moments in this deliciously ridiculous, joke-, absurdity-, and physical comedy-stuffed awfully big adventure on Broadway written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, adapted from the original stage play by J.M. Barrie.

The actors in the show, which include its writers, are playing multiple charactersboth the members of a hapless, accident-prone, utterly unprofessional British college dramatic society, and the characters in Peter Pan these amateurs are trying to play in a production that has disaster written multi-definitionally all over it. With every small and large-scale mishap that befalls the end result, the title of the Broadway show more than lives up to its name.

The Play That Goes Wrong on Broadway Is So Right

Just as in the Mischiefs previous, just-as-fizzing The Play That Goes Wrong (also written by Lewis, Sayer, and Shields), it is not just the cataclysmic stuff of sets falling to pieces that are done so well, but the smaller, visually satisfying gags, the silly jokes (such as the face of a dog outfit falling off), the quieter moments of humor (lines being missed; props being misued, broken, or lost; lights and electronic contraptions on the blink), that are just as well-executed as the bravura sequences, such as when the Darling childrens bunk beds concertina into each other squashing each of them. Despite all the loud chaos, Peter Pan Goes Wrong celebratesvery sweetly in its closing momentsthe joy of putting on a show.

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Henry Shields Chris plays Captain Hook in the amateur production, but exasperatedly turns on the children out of characteras an actor and president of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, frustrated that what he intended to be a searing piece of adult drama has become a boo-hiss pantomime. Dont shout out the wrong things, he rails at the children, some of whom he deems ugly.

He is striving for excellence in theater, dammit, and how flawed and fruitless this aspiration is makes for great comedy. A sequence in which, as Hook, the Olivier Award-winning Shields cannot remove something because of his actual hookseeking the help of the audiencebecomes unfeasibly hilarious and excruciating. (There is a reason why Mischiefs productions have played in 40 countries around the world, delighting adults and children.)

Neil Patrick Harris in 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong.' Jeremy Daniel

Until April 30, Neil Patrick Harris is in the show, playing the Narrator, and he, like everyone else, quite literally throws himself into the showthrowing handfuls of glitter to announce his arrival, while also imperiled by a chair that appears with random intent, ready to fell him at any given moment. The Olivier Award-winning Henry Lewis as Robert, co-director of this Peter Pan alongside Chris, first of all addresses us gravely, with a litany of foreboding news making clear how amateurish things may turn out to be; we learn that one actor, Dennis, will be wearing a headset, so the producers can feed him lineshis true portrayer, the Olivier Award-winning Jonathan Sayer, makes this is a not-tiresome ongoing joke, right up until its crescendo, when he repeats word-for-word a backstage marital breakdown.

Robert also plays Nana the dog, who gets stuck in a door, causing anguished minutes of practical upheaval. Later, he plays Peter Pans shadowa shadow who is not only a terrible shadow, but also determined to hog scenes. Mischief co-founder Nancy Zamit as Annie provides early wows for a sequence of blinkingly fast costume changes between Mrs. Darling and maid Lisa.

Shieldswho is a dead ringer in looks and tone for John Cleese as Basil Fawltyis also the archetypal Cleese-ian ringmaster of chaos, desperately and futilely wanting this production of Peter Pan to be as professionally executed as possible. But everything goes wrong: scenery shakes and fails, lights fall, flashes of sparks appear.

To construct and then merrily destroy a production from within takes even more skill than a conventional productionAdam Meggidos direction is a mischief- and stage madness-embracing wonder, with the vital support of Simon Scullions stage design, Roberto Suraces versatile costuming, Matthew Haskins lighting, Ella Wahlstroms sound, and Adam John Hunters stage management. Keeping things so tightly together under the guise of tearing things apart takes a very special set of skills.

The show does not just dwell in chaos. Mischiefs co-founder Charlie Russell plays Sandra playing Wendy as an intense and self-contained actor, who off-stage is involved with a Peter Pan (Greg Tannahill), who when it comes to Jonathanthe actor playing himis no hero.

Instead, the audience hopes she gets it together with the actor Max (Matthew Cavendish), who plays Michael Darling and the Crocodile (in ridiculous, fluffy crocodile outfit, appearing on stage maneuvering on a little trolley). Max is the charmed presence at the heart of the Cornley theatrics; we learn first the production has been made possible by a sizeable donation from the uncle; quite unlike Roberts underfunded Jack and the Bean (get it?). There is a rumble of wounded outrage among the audience when Roberts true feelings about MaxHe cannot act to save his life. Hes terrible as Michael, and the crocodile. Hes playing it like a mammalare overheard by Max.

Chris Leask plays Trevor, Cornleys stage manager, who emerges as a quiet hero as he tries to save the actors from various disasters, until he makes the fatal errorafter injury fells Jonathanof playing Pan himself. Oh Trevor, bad move! Ellie Morris plays Lucy, Chris niece who is frozen with stage fright, and also a magnet for every possible physical injury a badly overseen production could cause an already terrified human. (One thing: Bianca Horn as Gill, a stagehand and paramedic, should have more fun things to do.)

The production excels in the melee it conjures from the harum-scarum flying scenes, and thenat the enda thrilling and crazy sequence where the out-of-control revolving stage brings together all the on- and offstage dramas in a whirling dervish of kinetic and frozen tableaux, as characters scramble from one set to another, eventually just trying to escape further injury and finish the play physically intact.

The real surprise is that the ending of both Cornley and Broadway show is quiet and resonant, as a moment of victory for one character we have felt so bad for, and an underlining of the spirit of magic within Barries originaland the art and passion of creating theater. No joke.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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An international human rights organization is asking Missouri officials to stop the execution of Michael Andrew Tisius because, it says, the state violated his rights starting early in his life.

Tisius is scheduled to die by lethal injection June 6.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued the resolution in response to a petition from Tisius legal team, saying the state violated his rights by not protecting him from severe neglect and abuse as a child and using exaggerated evidence about his behavior in prison during resentencing.

The organization also said Tisius shouldnt be executed because he had an incompetent defense lawyer who withheld information that could have helped his case and because he has a history of severe mental illness and trauma.

Tisius was convicted in the deaths of two Randolph County jail workers in June 2000. The two men were fatally shot in a failed attempt to free another prisoner, according to archives from The Star.

Tisius was 19 at the time. His legal team has argued that, at the time, he lacked an adult capacity to make reasonable judgments.

Larry Komp, an attorney for Tisius, said last month that his team was planning to send a clemency petition to Gov. Mike Parson.

We are profoundly saddened at the setting of the date, Komp said in a statement. The legal challenge that was presented to the Missouri Supreme Court was overwhelmingly supported by science and uncontradicted experts. We are disappointed that a legal claim supported by so much was denied by a check the box order.

Two people have been executed so far this year in Missouri. Amber McLaughlin, 49, was the first openly transgender woman to be executed on Jan. 3, and Leonard Raheem Taylor, 58, was put to death despite maintaining his innocence in a quadruple killing.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Senate Judiciary chairman has invited Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month on ethical standards at the court, a hearing that would undoubtedly focus on business transactions and travel involving Justice Clarence Thomas.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said that there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Supreme Court justices falling short of ethical standards expected of other federal judges."

The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Court's ethical standards. I invite you to join it, and I look forward to your response, Durbin wrote in a letter Thursday to the chief justice.

Court officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In recent weeks, news reports have focused on the purchase by a conservative donor of three properties belonging to Thomas and his family in a transaction worth more than $100,000 that Thomas never reported, according to the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica.

ProPublica also previously revealed that Thomas and his wife Ginni were gifted with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of annual vacations and trips by donor Harlan Crow for decades  including international cruises on his mega-yacht, private jet flights and stays at Crows invitation-only resort in the Adirondacks. But the 2014 real estate deal is the first public evidence of a direct financial transaction between the pair.

The letter from Durbin asked Roberts  or another justice he chooses to testify instead  to appear before the committee on May 2. He told Roberts that the scope of his testimony would be limited to the ethics rules governing justices of the Supreme Court and potential changes to those rules.

It is rather unusual for sitting Supreme Court justices to testify before Congress. Durbin's letter said the committee most recently heard from sitting justices on Oct. 5, 2011, which he said included robust exchanges" about ethics matters.

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The opportunity for the American people to hear from Justices in this setting presents a moment that could strengthen faith in our public institutions, Durbin wrote.

Durbin has for years pressed the court to adopt an ethics code, including in that 2011 hearing.

Do you believe the Supreme Court should be required by law to follow the same financial restriction as everyone else in government? he asked Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia at the hearing in October 2011.

Breyer responded that the justices must file extensive reports every year and said he did not think that federal judges lived under more lax rules.

Four years ago, Justice Elena Kagan told a House appropriations panel that Roberts was considering whether to create an ethics code, though nothing has happened since. Kagan was responding to questions about judicial accountability in the MeToo era rather than ethical lapses on the financial front.

Some Senate Republicans are skeptical of the Democratic majority's intentions and see the hearing as mainly an effort to put a critical spotlight on Thomas.

"If we were engaged in an objective discussion about the appropriate standards for judicial ethics, that would be perfectly appropriate. I dont believe that Democrats have any interest in an objective or fair discussion," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a member of the Judiciary panel. "This is all about a political smear job directed at Justice Thomas.

Supreme Court justices, like other federal judges, are required to file an annual financial disclosure report which asks them to list gifts they have received, but provides exemptions for hospitality from friends.

Ethics experts have offered conflicting views about whether Thomas was required to disclose the luxury trips funded by Crow. Thomas said in a statement that he was advised by colleagues that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. Thomas did not name the other justices or those in the judiciary with whom he had consulted.

Last month, the federal judiciary bolstered disclosure requirements for all judges, including the high court justices, although overnight stays at personal vacation homes owned by friends remain exempt from disclosure.

Durbin did not elaborate on the steady stream of ethical failings that he mentioned in his letter. Over the years, several justices have omitted travel from their annual disclosure reports, or failed to step aside from a case in which they held a financial interest.

When the court took up its first major case over the Affordable Care Act, Thomas and Kagan faced pressure to step aside from the case. Critics cited Kagans role in the Obama administration when the law was enacted and the public advocacy of Thomas wife, Ginni, against the Affordable Care Act.

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Thursday confirmed the deaths of two of its high-ranking leaders, Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, saying they were captured and killed by the military, contrary to earlier reports they may have died in a boat explosion.

In a statement, the CPP claimed the Tiamzons were among the 10 people brutally tortured and killed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after their capture in Samar province in August 2022.

Benito, 71, was the chairman of the CPP executive committee, while Wilma, 70, was the partys secretary general, the CPP said.

According to the group, the two were travelling in separate vehicles with eight other members of the CPP central headquarters guerilla force when they were taken captive.

It said all of them were unarmed.

According to the information gathered by the (CPP) Central Committee, the Tiamzons suffered severe beating in the hands of their captors," the party said.

"Internal reports cited witnesses who saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed, apparently beaten with hard objects, it added.

In August last year, the military reported that a boat exploded in waters off Catbalogan, Samar following an alleged gunfight between soldiers and the group of passengers, which may have included the Tiamzons.

Authorities said the passengers fired at the soldiers after being told that a plain view inspection of the boat would be conducted. They called off search operations shortly without finding the bodies of the Tiamzon couple.

READ: Army calls off search operations involving Samar boat blast without Tiamzon couple sighting

However, the CPP said the reported mid-sea firefight and explosion "were all a drama hatched by the AFP and its US military advisers to hide all evidence of the ignominy of their fascist crime." According to the group, the Philippine troops involved in the supposed armed encounter were trained and commanded by the US military.

The communist party claimed that the bodies of the Tiamzons and their group were dumped on a motorboat filled with explosives, and tugged from Catbalogan midway towards Taranganan island before it was detonated.

The CPP demands justice for the Tiamzons and the Catbalogan 10, and calls for their indictment in all relevant courts, its statement read.

Meanwhile, Col. Jorry Baclor of the AFP public affairs office said they will get updates from the Philippine National Police regarding the DNA tests on the remains of those killed in the August 2022 Catbalogan clash.

The Tiamzons, who were tagged by the Anti-Terrorism Council as "terrorists," were considered fugitives.

Concocted

Retired Major General Eduardo de Leon, who commanded the 8th Infantry Division in its operation involving unnamed high-ranking rebels in Samar waters, maintained that it was not clear if the Tiamzons were among the casualties.

Paano nila nasabi na doon sa operation na yun ay yung mag-asawang Tiamzon ang namatay? Hindi ko alam kung kasama ba sila sa operation na yun dahil ako mismo, bilang commander at that time, hindi ko makumpirma kung kasama ang mag-asawang Tiamzon doon sa naka-engkwentro ng tropa sa dagat sa Samar, De Leon told CNN Philippines News Night.

[Translation: How can they say the Tiamzon couple died in that operation? I do not know if they were included in that operation because I myself, as the commander at that time, could not confirm if the Tiamzons were there in the encounter with troops in the waters of Samar.]

De Leon reiterated that the operation was based on a very reliable tip about a group of VIP leaders attempting to escape through Samar's seas while bringing along explosives.

The former Storm Trooper Division commander also stressed that the operation happened at sea and not on land as the CPP said, where the Tiamzons were reportedly captured and tortured to death.

As usual, katulad ng kanilang nakagawian [as they did in the past], they want to glamorize the deaths of their comrades by concocting stories, dramatization, De Leon said.

The National Security Council welcomed the confirmation of the Tiamzon couple's deaths but maintained that it stands by the official reports of the AFP.

As is their practice, the terrorists propaganda machinery has concocted and fabricated an elaborate story which even implicates the United States in their deaths in order to squeeze whatever propaganda value they can muster from their deaths, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said.

A Quezon City court sentenced the Tiamzon couple to up to 40 years imprisonment in November 2020 for the kidnapping of four Army lieutenants in 1988. In August 2016, the couple walked free after being allowed to post bail to attend peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway as consultants of the National Democratic Front.

They were ordered rearrested in 2018 when then President Rodrigo Duterte terminated the peace talks after the rebels and government forces accused each other of ceasefire violations.
On August 20th, The Avenue Blackbox Theatre hosted a block party on Joseph Avenue.

Rochester police officers executing a search warrant at The Avenue Blackbox Theatre on Joseph Avenue Wednesday said it was a necessary part of a homicide investigation. Reenah Golden, the theaters owner and founder, called it a show of force that damaged the building for what she felt was tangential video footage.

Police officers pried open an exterior door to enter the business at 780 Joseph Ave. on Wednesday afternoon to collect potential evidence connected to the citys most recent homicide, said Lt. Greg Bello of the Rochester Police Department. Jose Arroyo was killed on nearby Wilkins Street Saturday night, and his death is being investigated as Rochesters 12th homicide of the year.

Bello said he could not comment on what evidence was collected. Golden said a hard drive containing video footage from The Avenue's ADT surveillance system was taken in the search.

What does The Avenue's founder say happened?

In a Thursday interview with the Democrat and Chronicle, Golden said she felt police rushed to execute the search warrant when she questioned why they needed to review surveillance footage she believed was unrelated to the homicide investigation.

The Democrat and Chronicle often partners with The Avenue Blackbox Theatre to host community events and programs.

The theater was closed at the time of the fatal shooting, Golden said, which occurred about 500 feet away from the crime scene. She said cameras on her property only cover the doors, windows and interior of the building.

While someone told her on Tuesday that police had been trying to reach her about the investigation, she first spoke with a police investigator around noon on Wednesday, Golden said.

When he did not explain why the footage was needed, Golden escalated her concerns saying she does not feel safe with police surveillance," she said.

According to Golden, about an hour later RPD Chief David Smith and Capt. Frank Umbrino called and told her they were going to execute a search warrant and asked Golden to be at the theater within 20 minutes if she wanted to be present for the search.

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Golden said she was unavailable and asked them to schedule an appointment or visit later that afternoon, when the theater would be open.

By 1:11 p.m. the theaters alarm system activated, showing that officers were inside the building, The Avenue's founder said. Police did not provide a list of what was taken, so she is not sure if anything else was removed, Golden said.

If they came in the afternoon or a mutually agreed upon time, a warrant wouldnt have been necessary, she said on Thursday. I feel the warrant was a show of force and them flexing and painting this very damaging image that they wanted to portray on The Avenue based on their personal feelings about me and my values and how I feel about policing in Rochester.

What does RPD say happened?

Bello confirmed that officers were in the neighborhood looking for evidence related to the homicide investigation and needed to obtain a warrant signed by a judge to collect potential evidence from the theater Wednesday.

He declined to comment on the interaction between the police and Golden.

Umbrino, who leads the departments Major Crimes Unit, said that investigators had been attempting to reach Golden since Sunday to collect potential evidence. He said they left direct messages and messages through third parties, all of which went unanswered for days.

Umbrino said that at least a dozen residents and businesses in the neighborhood fully cooperated with police and shared potential evidence with the department as part of the investigation.

Every other business and person we approached in the neighborhood on this investigation cooperated once they knew what we were doing and why, Umbrino said. Its a puzzle. Every piece, no matter how small, can help.

Whats next for The Avenue?

Golden said the search damaged the buildings only emergency exit and disabled her security cameras, forcing her to temporarily suspend all programming at the theater.

She said RPDs comments to local journalists falsely implied the theater had something to do with the homicide.

All the attention has now been pushed toward what I feel is a distraction from what is really the issue, which is that someone has been killed and a family is still waiting for some sort of resolution to that, Golden said.

Reenah Golden is the founder of Avenue Black Box Theatre on Joseph Avenue in Rochester, New York. The inclusive community theater leans into social justice and various artistic narratives. Reenah Golden is the founder of Avenue Black Box Theatre on Joseph Avenue in Rochester, New York.

Golden established Avenue Blackbox Theatre in 2018 as a venue for emerging artists of color, offering programs and safe space for Rochester children and teens in what she calls an arts desert with few resources or creative outlets.

Whether they believe it or not, the work that I do is preventing violence, she said. The work that I do is providing a long-term impact that our community needs for healing and for restoration and transformation.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Avenue Blackbox Theatre damaged during police investigation, owner says
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., listens as the Senate Judiciary Committee begins debate on Ketanji Brown Jacksons nomination for the Supreme Court, in Washington, April 4, 2022. Senate Republicans have blocked Democratic efforts to replace Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee while she is absent due to health issues. | J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney joined other Republicans in saying he would not approve of replacing Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee, because he did not want to make it easier to appoint more liberal judges.

Republicans blocked a measure to temporarily replace Feinstein, who is recovering from shingles, with Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin.

Theyd like Republicans to help them speed the appointment of more liberal justices? Yes  when hell freezes over, Romney told NBC News.

Similarly, Romney told CNN, I dont think Republicans are going to lift a finger in any way to get more liberal judges appointed, so whether shes resigned or leaves temporarily from the Judiciary Committee, I think we will slow walk any process that makes it easier to appoint more liberal judges, he said.

Romneys office told the Deseret News he had no comment beyond what he has already said.

Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said that the proposal to install a substitute for Feinstein is extremely unusual.

Lets be clear, said McConnell on the Senate floor, per PBS. Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague off a committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees.

Since the Judiciary Committee is evenly split without the California senator, the committee has had to postpone voting on judicial nominees, per CNN.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., previously said, I cant consider nominees in these circumstances because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee.

On whether or not Feinstein should retire, Durbin said, This is her decision. Shes had a remarkable career in the Senate. Im not going to make that decision or even suggest it, per Politico.

Feinstein is 89 years old and hasnt attended hearings in Washington, D.C., since February.

But Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said there may be a political agenda at play for putting pressure on Feinstein, the first and longest-serving woman senator in U.S. history.

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Its interesting to me, I dont know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way. Ive never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way, she told KTVU News.

Related

Other women lawmakers, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., echoed Pelosis statements, saying Feinstein should decide when to step down.

Yet, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who was the first Democratic lawmaker to call for her to step down, said that Feinstein should retire simply based on her missing over 75% of votes, not having a clear return date, and having had years of issues fulfilling her duty, as he told Axios.

In response to the growing pressure, Feinstein issued a statement last week and requested that another Democrat replace her until she can resume her committee work.

Feinstein added that she remained committed to her job and would carry on working remotely from San Francisco.

The White House said Feinsteins request for a replacement was reasonable, as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing. And it is flat wrong to seek partisan advantage from health issues of a colleague, she added.

.@PressSec: "This is a request we think that is reasonable. This is something Sen. Feinstein asked for. This is her request. And it is flat wrong to seek partisan advantage from health issues of a colleague." https://t.co/ziHW8UPoBk pic.twitter.com/e9wVP6iLJn  CSPAN (@cspan) April 18, 2023

If the GOP prevents Feinsteins replacement from stepping in, she will need to retire or return to the Senate for the committees work to continue.

The situation of just letting the nominations stall endlessly is not tenable, Brian Fallon, the executive director of the progressive advocacy group Demand Justice, told The New York Times. The conversation needs to be shifted to what can be done now. That concern hasnt gone away, and this option isnt going to solve it.

After Feinstein said she will step down from the Senate after serving the remaining two years of her term, three Democratic candidates  Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County, Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland and Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank  launched their campaigns for the seat.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint a replacement should Feinstein, who was elected to the Senate in 1992, resign before the end of her term in 2024. The Golden State governor has previously said his pick might be an African American woman.

Lee told KQED she would accept the appointment if Newsom offered.

I am really hoping and praying that Sen. Feinstein has a speedy and full recovery, Lee said. And the concern right now for me personally is about her health.

Suzanne Bates contributed to this article.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is getting roundly mocked on Twitter for a speech in which he managed to use the word woke seven times in just over 20 seconds.

DeSantis said in South Carolina on Wednesday that hes waging a war on woke in Florida.

Then, in a bizarre twist on Winston Churchills famous We Shall Fight On The Beaches speech of 1940, DeSantis listed all the places he will fight woke.

here's Ron DeSantis in South Carolina saying "woke" 7 times in 20 seconds pic.twitter.com/pzVI58LR8T  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2023

We fight the woke in the schools. We fight the woke in the legislature. We fight the woke in the corporations, he declared. We will never ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.

DeSantis critics on Twitter mocked him for the overly dramatic take  and for giving a speech about woke in South Carolina while some Florida residents are struggling with weather-related gasoline shortages:

national review keeps pushing this guy as the future of the republican party and he's out here resorting to the buzzword diarrhea of the mouth strategy already   darth (@darth) April 20, 2023

Are Ron DeSantis' advisors telling him it's a good idea to say woke as often as possible, and then partying at home playing drinking games based on how often he'll actually say it? https://t.co/mvPpatUCnh  Never Trump - Never Again! (@NeverTrumpNeve1) April 20, 2023

On the top: Ron DeSantis says 'woke' a bunch of times in a very bizarre speech in South Carolina.



On the bottom: Floridians suffer from devastating gas shortages and face long lines at the pump.#DeSantisGasCrisispic.twitter.com/iOvCKkFvdm  MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 20, 2023

Wait, is he non-sarcastically doing the Churchill "We will never surrender" speech but for wokeness? Cmon this can't be real. https://t.co/zQ7rWUiEIg  Daniel Miller (@DanielMillerEsq) April 20, 2023

You can always count on Ron DeSantis to focus on the issues that matter. pic.twitter.com/nEigbxhsdT  Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) April 20, 2023

Looking more & more like Ron never back down from a serving of pudding DeSantis is Floridas Scott Walker. It might take a decade to clean up his mess, but with this material hell be lucky to make it past the South Carolina primary. #NoCharisma@RonDeSantisFLhttps://t.co/WVu6MmOQfe  Doug Anderson  (@DAndersonDuval) April 20, 2023

Theyre becoming the celebs featured in Team America that can only say one or two words. https://t.co/6PT2xw3Gvb  Dan Wilbur (@DanWilbur) April 20, 2023

The ghost of Churchill rises from the grave to slap DeSantis for chomping his flavor. https://t.co/CmV4CZXE0s  Keegan Lannon (@KeeganLannon) April 20, 2023

All I hear is dude is fighting with Mickey Mouse, wont allow press and eats pudding with fingers whilst having a sketchy record as a JAG at Gitmo? Just me? https://t.co/BmWoYjg5gO  Emily (@MfromPa) April 20, 2023

woke woke woke-ity woke woke https://t.co/BKHvPiddUB  John DeVore (@JohnDeVore) April 20, 2023

Forget the contrast bit, just watch the bit of DeSantis speaking. Weird and flatly delivered play on a famous Churchill speech that iscringy (and beating the woke thing to death as if this is how people not named Chris Rufo and James Lindsay actually talk). https://t.co/EokVSWkotK  Eric Earling (@ericearling) April 20, 2023

A word rendered so meaningless by overuse it has become a verbal tick https://t.co/sKHnmi3ehN  Nunca Trumpismo (@NeverTrumpTexan) April 20, 2023
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives want to make big cuts to the federal budget as a condition of raising the national debt ceiling. Where do they want to start? Food stamps, of course. And that could have a big impact on Kansas and Missouri.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is reportedly eyeing stringent new work requirements for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, the formal name for what many folks still refer to as food stamps. We dont know the precise details of what he and the House GOP plan to propose  after months of dithering, Republicans still havent offered the public a precise list of cuts they want to make.

But we do know that any effort to tighten up access to the food program will inevitably make life harder for poor and hungry people in Kansas and Missouri. In 2022, nearly 200,000 Kansas residents  roughly 7% of the population  were served by the program. In Missouri, SNAP served more than 650,000 residents, or about 11% of the population. And in both states, two-thirds of those recipients were in families with children.

The good news, as Politico reports, is that Senate Republicans are pushing back against food stamp cuts, recognizing the proposal will be a non-starter with Democrats who control the upper chamber.

More discomfiting, though, is one prominent argument for preserving SNAP in its current form: a reminder from agricultural interests that food stamps arent just a city thing.

Eric Ooms, vice president of the New York branch of the American Farm Bureau Federation, told lawmakers at a recent listening session for the next farm bill that rural America  a designation that includes broad swaths of Kansas and Missouri  is also a big user of food stamps.

When it comes to rural America, we talk about SNAP and everybody thinks thats a city thing and it is, but it also is a rural America (thing), Ooms told lawmakers. Food insecurity in rural America is higher than its ever been.

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On one hand: Hes right. Feeding America, the nations largest hunger relief organization, reports that food insecurity is actually higher in Americas rural areas than in cities. Rural communities make up 63% of all U.S counties, the organization says in an explainer, but 87% of counties with the highest food insecurity rates.

Food stamps also have remarkable power to lift rural communities: A 2021 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that SNAP benefits increased economic output by 1.25% in rural areas, compared to 0.53% in urban areas.

Still, were uncomfortable with the contrast between city and rural SNAP users  as though the program wouldnt be quite as worthy of congressional support if only residents of places like Kansas City, St. Louis, Topeka and Wichita were going hungry without food assistance.

Republicans these days like to pick on Americas cities, places of racial and sexual diversity where the party often cant seem to attract many votes. And the United States has a long history of undermining the broader social safety net rather than extending its protections to minorities. It is easy to hear echoes of that sordid past in references to food stamps as a city thing.

Obtaining SNAP benefits is already a challenge. Nationwide, a pandemic-era boost to the program came to an end in March  cutting the grocery budgets of 16 million households. Closer to home, Kansas lawmakers recently passed legislation imposing work requirements on able-bodied food stamp recipients over the age of 50. Making an onerous process even more difficult would be yet another attempt to balance the federal budget on the backs of the poor.

We hope House Republicans dont make that choice.

Hunger is hunger, after all, whether in the city or in the country. And hungry people  no matter where they live  dont need Congress to make it harder to feed themselves.
By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian military has launched a video campaign to lure more professional soldiers to fight in Ukraine which challenges those interested to show they are "a real man" and swap what it casts as hum-drum civilian life for the battlefield.

The ad, set to stirring music, follows a report from British military intelligence and Russian media reports that suggest Moscow is seeking to recruit up to 400,000 professional soldiers - on a volunteer basis - to bolster its forces in Ukraine.

The ad has so far been released on major Russian social networking sites.

Russia, which says it is prosecuting what it calls "a special military operation," does not disclose full casualty figures. But up to 43,000 Russians have been killed in the war so far, according to a recently leaked estimate from the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency.

It estimated up to 17,500 Ukrainians had been killed too.

The ad, which invites men to sign a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry for a salary starting at 204,000 roubles ($2,495) a month, shows a man in supermarket dressed in military uniform holding a heavy machine gun. He is then shown in the uniform of a security guard with the question:

"Is this the kind of defender you dreamt of becoming?"

Next in the video, a man is walking through the fog with other soldiers on what looks like a battlefield. He is then shown as a gym instructor helping a client lift weights.

"Is this really where your strength lies?" the video asks, before cutting to a taxi driver taking a client's fare who then transforms into a soldier on the battlefield.

"You're a real man. Be one," says the ad.

After launching a partial mobilisation drive in September which prompted tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country to avoid being drafted, the authorities are playing down the possibility of a second mobilisation call - despite a move to introduce electronic call up papers to clamp down on draft dodgers - and are seeking to recruit volunteers instead.

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Posters seeking professional soldiers have sprung up in the Russian capital in recent weeks declaring that "Our Profession is to defend the Motherland."

The posters, which say the army is looking for gunners, sappers, military medics, drivers and tank commanders, promise potential recruits "respect, an honourable profession and decent pay."

($1 = 81.7500 roubles)

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Raissa Kasolowsky)
A top official on Thursday accused Russia of intensifying its efforts to force children in occupied areas of Ukraine to receive "military patriotic education" by sending them to camps in Crimea in a move to enhance its propaganda campaign.

Moscow has been repeatedly accused of targeting children in its war against Ukraine by illegally deporting them to Russia, escalating fostering and adoption programs, and forcing children to attend "re-education" camps in occupied areas  prompting the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant last month for President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights to the U.N. Maria Lvova-Belova.

But on Thursday, Ukraines Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar accused Russia of further "intensifying" its efforts to plant "aggressive Russian ideology" in the minds of Ukrainian children.

People light candles in Schuman Roundabout, the heart of the EU district in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 24, 2023, in protest of Russia's treatment of Ukrainian children.

UKRAINE RESCUE TEAM BRINGS BACK 31 CHILDREN FROM RUSSIA AMID WAR

"A powerful propaganda campaign has been launched," she said in a Telegram post Thursday, adding that Russia was sending "schoolchildren from the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories to specially equipped camps in the temporarily occupied Crimea."

"In these camps, it is envisaged that children will live in spartan conditions and carry out with them intensive activities of the so-called military-patriotic education under the leadership of servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation," Malyar added.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The deputy defense minister said parents who do not "volunteer" to send their children to these military education camps in Crimea are threatened by occupying Russian administrative officials, and claimed that "soon all schoolchildren will be sent to these camps by force."

According to a report released in February by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab with the support of the State Department, some 6,000 Ukrainian children were found to have been forced to attend these "re-education camps" following Russias February 2022 invasion.

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A bus arrives in Kyiv, delivering more than a dozen children from Russian-held territory on March 22, 2023. More than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion, according to Kyiv.

YOURE CHILDREN OF RUSSIA: ONE UKRAINIAN COMPANYS MISSION TO RESCUE THE FUTURE GENERATION

At least 43 of these facilities were found in Russia and Crimea  which Russia has occupied since 2014.

The Yale team found that they have largely served as "re-education" camps in an effort to "ostensibly make children more pro-Russia in their personal and political views."

The report showed the camps stretch across Russia with one located as far east as the Magadan oblast along Russias eastern border with the Pacific Ocean  some 3,900 miles from Ukraine and roughly "three times closer to the United States than it is to the border of Ukraine."

Some children were held at these camps for months while others attended the "re-education" courses for several weeks.

Denys Zaporozhchenko meets his children Nikita, Yana and Dayana after they and other children arrive in Kyiv from Russian-held territory on March 22, 2023.

The children at these camps include Ukrainian orphans, those separated from their parents or guardians at the onslaught of the invasion, as well as children who were given parental "consent" to attend the camps.

Roughly 10% of the children who were supposed to return to their parents from at least two of the camps have been "suspended indefinitely" and apparently held at the camps.
By Dave Sherwood

HAVANA (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met on Thursday with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Havana, the latest in a series of visits to shore up support among Russia's closest allies in Latin America.

Russia, hit by Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, is looking to strengthen political and economic ties with other countries opposed to what it calls U.S. hegemony.

Lavrov told reporters that Russia and Cuba, both facing sanctions from the United States, understood one another.

"We cannot agree that the world should continue to live permanently according to these American 'rules,'" Lavrov said in the televised conference. "Tensions are being escalated in the international arena, and the West's attempts to dictate its will and ignore the legitimate positions of others not only persist, but are growing."

Russias foreign minister earlier this week visited Brazil, Venezuela and Nicaragua, meeting with the presidents and top officials in each country.

Cuba, which has been under a U.S. economic embargo since shortly after Fidel Castros 1959 revolution, has repeatedly expressed support for Russia in Ukraine and a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

"I do not believe that Putin provoked the conflict with Ukraine," Diaz-Canel told Arab news outlet Al Mayadeen in March, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He characterized Cubas relationship with Russia as "magnificent."

Russia donated oxygen and medical supplies to Cuba during the coronavirus pandemic, and days before invading Ukraine agreed to postpone debt payments owed by the Caribbean island nation until 2027.

Russia in February gave Cuba an "emergency" donation of 25,000 tons of wheat to combat shortages, and has provided several cargoes of fuel.

Lavrov told reporters in Havana that another such deal to provide wheat to Cuba was in the works.

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Cuba, whose industry and agriculture have largely collapsed, desperately needs such aid.

Long lines for fuel, food and medicine have fanned tensions on the island and contributed to the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the past year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to address lawmakers in Mexico on Thursday by video, as both sides seek to drum up support, and allies, across the globe.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Havana, additional reporting by Nelson Acosta in Havana and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Leslie Adler)
A container and an antenna on a building in Warsaw where diplomats of the Russian Federation live

While antennas on embassy buildings are common, as diplomats need to communicate with leaders through secure and fast channels, the number of antennas on Russian diplomatic missions has raised concerns among experts.

Read also: Poland uncovers covert Russian cyber intelligence program

The Dossier Center noted that it is difficult to determine whether the antennas are being used for electronic espionage strictly from their observable appearance.

After studying satellite images, journalists found at least 182 visible antennas on 39 buildings of Russian embassies in Europe.

The largest number of antennas was found at the Russian Embassy in Belgium (17 antennas). At least 10 antennas were observed at Russian missions in Madrid, Prague, Lisbon, Sofia, and Nicosia. The actual number of antennas on any mission could be higher, as not all are visible from outside.

Read also: Russian, Belarusian spies trying to recruit officials in Latvias border regions  State Security Service

Parabolic antennas, as was observed at the Russian Embassy in Belgium, can be used to intercept satellite phone signals. These antennas allow Russians to eavesdrop on conversations from almost all of Western Europe, the Dossier Center says.

Whip, magnetic loop, and Yagi antennas located on most Russian embassies allow for signal interception.

Parabolic antennas on the building of the Russian Embassy in Macedonia Google Earth

Parabolic antennas and Uda-Yaga antennas at the Russian embassy in Croatia Google Earth

Vertical and magnetic loop antennas on the roof of the Russian Embassy in Sweden Expressen

Expressen

Brussels is a key site for this possible espionage, as the city hosts many European institutions.

However, information interception operations are not new and have been ongoing since the Cold War, said Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

We should not be naive; this is still happening today, he said.

The building where Russian diplomats reside in Warsaw, too, may have technical intelligence posts on the roof, said the former head of Polands Military Counterintelligence Service, General Piotr Piatrou. These posts are used for intercepting mobile phone calls and radio conversations of intelligence agencies.

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Read also: Russian spies use Tinder to recruit German politicians and military

Russians use equipment that looks like small antennas surrounding a large container at diplomatic missions worldwide, particularly in countries with high intelligence activity, mostly to secure their special operations, he said.

Experts and sources from Israeli digital media firm Frontstory believe that the Russians are conducting audio surveillance activities with equipment on the embassy roof in Warsaw, within a radius of up to 30 km.

Journalists have noticed similar containers on the roofs of Russian diplomatic missions in Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and Portugal.

A former intelligence officer from a Central European country said that Russia can intercept mobile phone connections using this sort of equipment. He stated that in his country, intelligence services flew helicopters over the embassy to see what had changed on the roof.

His agency had limited information, perhaps from international partners, that the container had equipment that could intercept and record phone conversations in the capital  not just the metadata from mobile phones, but also the conversations themselves.

Read also: Russian spies sought to paralyze supply of weapons to Ukraine, Poland says

The Russians have been using such technology for years, and they use it in European countries, according to security experts.

A former employee of Hungarian counterintelligence services confirmed that Russia is monitoring protests using phone traffic and collecting information about local critics and Ukrainian groups in at least his country.

This capability also lets the FSB can monitor the actions of foreign counterintelligence by monitoring radio or mobile phone conversations around the embassy and other important facilities.

In the [2010s], officers often had to change their mobile phones because if any of these numbers were identified and were near the embassy, the Russians knew for sure that they were being monitored, a source told the journalists.

Since early 2022, about 400 Russian diplomats have been expelled from European countries.

Read also: Two foreigners suspected of spying for Russia detained in Slovenia

Among the 45 expelled from Warsaw, 20 were technical personnel who serviced equipment for surveillance and interception, according to Frontstory. Investigators found that among people with education in computer technology or radio communications and experience in Russian intelligence where among the Russian embassy staff expelled in 2022, including in Belgium, Sweden, and Estonia. Daniel Stenling, the head of Swedens counterintelligence department, confirmed to journalists that a significant portion of Russian diplomatic missions are made up of intelligence personnel, including the FSB, SVR, and GRU.

The Dossier Center notes that Russia may also be conducting intelligence gathering using monitoring stations in border regions of Russia, reconnaissance ships, and other less noticeable equipment, but diplomatic territories are safer for this purpose because intercepting signals from diplomatic territory is officially prohibited.

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The occupiers will be moved to defensive positions in Crimea

About 400 conscripts of Russias invading forces in eastern Crimea will be transferred from the Scythian Valley recreational center in Izyumivka to defensive positions in Volodymyrivna in western Crimea, the message reads.

Read also: When will Ukraine reclaim Crimea, other occupied lands?  Budanov

Ukraine will use any weapon allowed by international law to liberate the temporarily occupied Crimea, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said.

Read also: Crimean Tatar leader Chubarov predicts how Ukraine will liberate Crimea

First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova said on April 14 that Ukraine is considering both military and diplomatic means to liberate Crimea.

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The Commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sergei Avakyants, has been dismissed less than a week after a

Avakyants has been demoted to leading the headquarters that oversees military sports training and patriotic education centers.

The Baltic Fleet commander, Admiral Viktor Liina, is being considered for his place, Russia's RIA-Novosti reported.

Read also: Meeting with the puppet leader of DNR attempt to legitimize Russias illegal occupation of Donetsk

Avakyants, 65, had been the Russian Pacific Fleet Commander since 2012.

Read also: Russia planning sabotage in Scandinavia seas to escalate conflict with West, Scandinavian media reports

The Russian Pacific Fleets elite 155th Marine Brigade was almost completely destroyed during the storming of Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast in February 2023. The unit had already suffered heavy losses in the battle for Pavlivka also in Donetsk Oblast in November.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced a surprise inspection of the Pacific naval fleet on April 14, while putting the fleet on full alert.

On hearing Shoigu's report about the Pacific Fleets April 17 drills , Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that the "fleet is strong" and "capable of solving any tasks."

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  The Office of Public Counsel for Victims of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has joined the call to dismiss the Philippine government's appeal against the tribunal's investigation into the controversial war on drugs.

In a 28-page filing dated April 18, Principal Counsel Paolina Massidda said the possible reversal of the pre-trial chamber's decision to resume the probe into the killings may jeopardize victims' rights to "truth, justice, and reparations."

"The issues on appeal fundamentally affect the general interests of the victims," Massidda said.

[V]ictims may be denied the opportunity to uncover the truth, present their views and concerns throughout the proceedings, ensure that those responsible are held accountable, and ultimately claim reparation, she added.

The pronouncement comes following the recent move of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who earlier this month pushed for the resumption of the drug war inquiry while rejecting the arguments raised by Manila in its petition.

Massidda echoed the findings and likewise opposed the grounds of the appeal.

For one, she said the Philippines failed to demonstrate that the pre-trial chamber committed any error in making its decision.

"The appellant must establish an error of law that has materially affected said decision, in that without that error, the chamber would have rendered a substantially different decision. Likewise, for any alleged errors of fact, the appellant must show that the chamber erred in misappreciating the facts, took into account irrelevant facts or failed to consider relevant facts. The appellant fails to meet these applicable standards," Massidda further wrote.

The counsel also agreed the court has jurisdiction over this case as the Philippines was still part of the Rome Statute  the treaty that governs the ICC  when the alleged crimes were committed since the launch of the anti-illegal drugs campaign in 2016. The country's withdrawal only took effect in March 2019.

READ: Relatives of drug war victims tell ICC: No genuine probe in PH

Last month, the Philippines formally appealed the decision to reopen the drug war investigation, arguing how this would violate the country's sovereignty.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had said the Philippines will "disengage from any contact" with the ICC after it rejected the government's deferral request.
The Russian invaders attacked the south of Ukraine at night with Iranian Shahed drones (archive photo)

The previous pause in Russian attacks was due to Russias need to accumulate reserves and the wait for this new batch, she said.

Read also: Russia deploys two submarine missile launchers in the Black Sea

"The occupiers have received a new batch of Iranian drones, as evidenced by the markings found on the downed drones, she explained.

These drones were used by Russians to attack Mykolaiv Oblast as we've seen. The same marking was on the drones that attacked Odesa Oblast.

Read also: SBU detains enemy informant who guided in Shahed drone attacks on Odesa

Its now possible that Russia will once again step up attacks, she added, as threat of suicide drone attacks place psychological pressure on Ukrainian civilians, as well as allow Russia to conduct reconnaissance of Ukraine's air defense systems and crucial infrastructure facilities.

Overnight on April 19, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 21 out of 26 Shahed drones launched by Russia.

Read also: Ukraine shoots down 10 of 12 Iran-made drones fired by Russia, rec facility hit  photos

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(Reuters) -The governor of the giant Russian territory of Krasnoyarsk has quit, authorities said on Thursday, shortly after his businessman son dodged Italian authorities trying to extradite him to the United States and fled to Russia.

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree accepting the resignation of Alexander Uss but gave no details.

His son, Artem Uss, was due to face charges in the U.S. for shipping oil from Venezuela in breach of sanctions, and for bank fraud. An Italian court allowed him out on house arrest last month but he quickly fled.

In a video released on April 9, after Artem Uss was back in Russia, Alexander Uss thanked those who had helped him return. He also said he was grateful to Putin, describing him as "a man with a big and open heart".

Uss wrote on Telegram on Thursday that had talked to Putin recently and received an offer to continue working at the federal level, dealing with socio-economic development.

Italy's justice minister has begun disciplinary action against three judges who granted Uss house arrest, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

Earlier this month Artem Uss told Russia's RIA news agency that the U.S. charges against him were politically motivated.

The territory of Krasnoyarsk covers just under 2.4 million sq km (930,000 sq miles) in Siberia.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis)
Ukrainian military personnel are training at a training ground in the Donetsk Oblast, preparing for a counter-offensive

Read also: Military expert explains failure of Russian offensive and why aggressor is losing war of attrition

In his blog, Prigozhin recently published a long text about the events in Ukraine, in which he suggested, among other things, that the Kremlin should end the war against Ukraine and focus on consolidating the territorial gains it has managed to eke out. He also stated that the Russian people are tired of war and are losing their taste for victory.

What emerges from Prigozhins incoherent narrative (probably created by a group of hired copywriters) is a deeper worry about the upcoming Ukrainian counter-offensive and possible breakthrough than the concerns that most Moscow experts dare to express, Baev said.

The head of the Wagner PMC warns that the defeatist mood in the army can lead to a worsening of the situation on the battlefield, as it happened in the trenches of World War I in 1917.

Read also: Ukraine delaying spring counter-offensive for three reasons  media reports

According to the expert, the main drawback of Prigozhins proposal is that Ukraine will not accept Moscows unilateral declaration of victory and will not give it time to rehabilitate its exhausted troops. Although the long-awaited counter-offensive has not yet begun, Ukrainians remain optimistic, recalling past victories in this war.

Baev believes that psychological pressure on the Russian leadership is growing, since it is Kyiv that now decides when and in which direction to start its counter-offensive operation, and this proves that Russia has lost the initiative and is approaching the loss of the war.

Time is an elusive factor for clear estimates, but Prigozhins sense of impending disaster may be a better indicator than (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putins perception of declining Western support for Ukraine, which his own courtiers seem to be misinforming him about, Baev wrote.

Thus, procrastination can serve not only as a useful tactical trick, but also as a winning strategy for Ukraine, provided that its leadership accurately assesses Russias vulnerability and will rush into battle at the right time.

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REUTERS/Yulia Morozova

A 23-year-old student from Kazakhstan has been kidnapped by Russias notorious Wagner Group and forced to join the war against Ukraine, his family is alleging.

Margulan Bekenovs mother, Almira, says shes already appealed to military prosecutors, police in both Russia and Kazakhstan, and the presidents of both countriesbut to no avail, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

She says her son, a student at a university in Tomsk, mysteriously wound up in a region close to the border with Ukraine last month.

At first, we were surprised that in March, instead of Tomsk, he suddenly wound up in the Krasnodar region, supposedly having gone to see his girlfriend, who none of the family even knew. When I started to look into it, it turned out that unknown people essentially kidnapped him and recruited him into Wagner, she said, citing her sons friends.

I arranged a meeting with him in Molkino, there are signs of these Wagnerites everywhere. They didnt let me talk to my son properly, hes in a terrible state, but he confirmed that he didnt sign any contracts, Bekenova was quoted saying.

Dulat Bekenov, Margulans uncle, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the meeting lasted five minutes and his nephew was accompanied by his commander, who interrupted the conversation the whole time.

Russian Draftees Sold Like Cattle to Wagner Group, Families Say

Almira managed to find out from him that he did not sign a contract. He asked for food and money. He was all haggard, badly dressed. It is obvious that Margulan is being held by force, he said.

Warn your relatives whose children are studying in Russia, the uncle said in comments published by Kazakh media. Since PRIGOZHIN is no longer given convicts to make up for his losses, hes started to snatch up Asians and recruit them into the group against their will. Damn this fucking Russian World!

The family says the 23-year-old student was sent onto the battlefield last week.

A representative for Kazakhstans foreign ministry said officials were currently working to verify information from Russian authorities that Margulan Bekenov voluntarily signed a contract with Wagner.

Story continues

The allegation comes after reports earlier this week of several draftees from Yakutia being forced into the Wagner Group against their will and sent to the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary groups founder, dismissed the claims as nonsense, insisting there has not been a single case of anybody forced to join Wagner.

But the allegations of forced recruitment appear to be piling up. Earlier this month, the independent outlet Astra reported that dozens of Russian draftees had been tossed into a factory in Ukraines Luhansk region and pressuredat gunpointto join Wagner.

Some of the men reportedly managed to send out frantic messages to family members before their phones were confiscated. We dont have a choice. Those who said notheyve already been taken away and I dont know what is happening to them now. Wagner arrived. You see, they dont give a fuck, theyll kill us and dump us in the field and thats it, one soldier was quoted saying.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, April 12, 2023

The main reason for these roach races in the Russian special services is that, first of all, Russian counterintelligence is shocked by the extent to which the entire Russian decision-making system, as it is called, is in the palm of the U.S. opponents, he said.

Read also: The leak of classified US documents. How would it affect the course of the war?

It became clear after the leaks of the classified Pentagon documents that U.S. intelligence had penetrated almost all levels, except for the highest and narrowest circle (in the Kremlin). But everything below is (known) to U.S. intelligence and allies.

The leak of U.S. documents showed that Washington receives prompt information about almost all decisions made in Moscow, he believes.

Read also: Only Moscow benefits from US intel leaks, Ukraines intelligence chief says

This leak, like no other, emphasized the fact that the United States actually receives information about what decisions are being made: starting with global ones and ending with what objects on the territory of Ukraine will be hit, he added.

Russian propaganda initially tried to present this story as its own triumph, but it quickly became clear that the leak contained a lot of negative information for Russia, he said.

Its clear that such materials could not but cause concern among the staff paranoiacs of the Russian special services, and its clear that the Russians began to deal with these documents and that they supposedly confirm everything that Russian propaganda claimed, the expert said.

They tried to make a propaganda story out of it, but they read it to the point where it became clear to them that it was actually the United States that made it clear to the Russian regime that it was almost scanned. And now Russian propaganda has made a 180-degree turn, Zhovtenko said.

Read also: Pentagon leaks nothing more than standard special operation, says military intelligence chief

Its clear that the Russian special services will see inner sharp movements amid all of this to try to find out what happened and in the best Russian traditions  who is to blame?

Story continues

So, these things are related to this story about the leaks.

The Pentagon is investigating a leak of classified documents relating to U.S. and NATO efforts to prepare the Armed Forces of Ukraine for an expected counteroffensive, NYT reported on April 6, citing White House Sources.

Read also: The main consequence of the Pentagon classified information leak

Ukrainian Defense Intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov has said that the documents were forged by Russian special services, pointing out that the documents contain false data on combat losses for both sides, with some other information gathered from open sources.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the documents contain a mix of truth and lies.

Another batch of secret documents that appear to detail U.S. national security secrets on Ukraine, the Middle East, and China surfaced online on April 7.

Read also: Leaked classified documents are actually virtual pseudo-leaks, says Presidents Office

The number of leaked documents ranges from 50 to several hundred, and they are similar to information used for reports to senior management.

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Nasyrova tried poison to Olga Tsvyk with cheesecake in a plot to steal the latter's identity. Rebeca Mello/Getty Images

A woman in New York was sentenced to 21 years in prison for trying to kill with poisoned cheesecake.

Russian-born Viktoria Nasyrova tried to poison her lookalike in an attempt to steal her identity.

Nasyrova also faces murder charges in Russia, from which she fled, per a CBS documentary.

A Russian-born woman who tried to poison her doppelganger in New York City with cheesecake has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, gave a cheesecake laced with a powerful sedative in 2016 to Olga Tsvyk, a woman living in Queens, in an attempt to steal the latter's identity, prosecutors said in a statement.

Nasyrova was sentenced on Wednesday by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder. She faced up to 25 years in prison after being found guilty in February for attempted murder, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and larceny charges.

She approached Tsvyk  an eyelash stylist  in 2016, asking for help with an "eyelash emergency," according to the Queens district attorney's office. Nasyrova then brought the poisoned cheesecake to her victim as a thank-you gift, prosecutors said.

The two women looked alike at the time, with "dark hair, the same complexion, and other similar traits," the district attorney's office said. They also both spoke Russian.

Tsvyk, who was 35 at the time, felt sick after eating the cheesecake and passed out, prosecutors said.

Tsvyk was later found unconscious in her bed with pills scattered around her body, which made it look as if she had attempted suicide, according to prosecutors. But Tsvyk survived, and was taken to hospital.

The last thing she remembered before slipping into unconsciousness was Nasyrova walking around her room, prosecutors said.

Tsvyk later discovered that her Ukrainian passport, employment authorization card, gold ring, and other valuables were missing, prosecutors said.

Investigators later found Phenazepam, a potent sedative, in the cheesecake crumbs left in the container, per prosecutors.

Story continues

"A ruthless and calculating con artist is going to prison for a long time for trying to murder her way to personal profit and gain," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said on Wednesday.

After hearing her sentence, Nasyrova swore at the judge, the BBC reported. The New York Post reported that she also directed a profanity at Holder as she left the courtroom.

Nasyrova's lawyer, Jose Nieves, told Insider she would appeal her conviction and sentence. He described Nasyrova's sentence as excessive, citing a history of mental illness and a traumatic past.

When reached by Insider, the Queens district attorney's office pointed to its Wednesday statement.

Nasyrova has separately been accused of the 2014 murder of another of her friends in Russia, Alla Aleksenko, CBS's "48 Hours" reported in a 2017 documentary. The Russian authorities questioned Nasyrova on Aleksenko's disappearance, but she fled Russia before she was charged in 2014, CBS reported.

A private eye who investigated Nasyrova said she worked as a dominatrix escort in Russia and would drug and rob men she found on dating websites, per CBS. In 2015, Interpol issued a red notice for Nasyrova's arrest.

Nieves declined to comment on the 2017 CBS documentary about Nasyrova.

April 21, 2023: This article was updated to reflect comment from the Queens district attorney's office and Nasyrova's defense lawyer.

Read the original article on Insider
Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin addressing former convicts, according to state-controlled media. RIA Novosti

Leaked US intelligence documents say the Wagner Group approached China for weapons, per the FT.

China reportedly rebuffed the group's request earlier this year for lethal aid in Ukraine.

It comes as the US warns against any Chinese efforts to further Putin's war.

Leaked US intelligence documents reveal that a key mercenary group fighting on Russia's behalf in Ukraine asked China to supply weapons to it earlier this year, but was rejected, according to the Financial Times.

The infamous Wagner Group "sought munitions and equipment" from China in "early 2023," the leaked documents reportedly say.

But as of January, China had not sent weapons, "not even for testing, and had no contact with [Wagner] regarding weapons deliveries," the FT reported the documents as saying.

The Wagner Group is the main pro-Russian force currently fighting to capture the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a battle that US Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called a "slaughter-fest" for Russian forces.

China has long professed neutrality in the conflict in Ukraine, and has publicly rebuffed the idea that it would send lethal aid to Russia.

But at the same time, it has prompted Western skepticism by not sanctioning the country as well as avoiding overt criticism of its invasion of Ukraine.

On Tuesday, China's Defense Minister Li Shangfu even lavished Russian President Vladimir Putin with praise over what he described as his efforts in "promoting world peace," as Bloomberg reported.

The US has increasingly signaled concern over the potential for China to aid Russia with weapons.

In February, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that the US is "very concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia in its aggression against Ukraine."

He warned it would have "serious consequences" for the US-China relationship.

Story continues

And in mid-March US officials told The New York Times that Russia had approached Beijing with a weapons request, something that Chinese officials denied had taken place.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported, based on the leaks, that US intelligence intercepted a Russian intelligence document claiming that China had approved the sending of lethal aid to Russia, to be disguised as civilian help.

While the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to the paper's request for comment, an unnamed administration official denied that the US had so far seen evidence of China providing weapons to Russia.

The Wagner Group's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly complained of being ill-equipped and poorly supported by the Russian Ministry of Defense, raising the possibility that he sought aid elsewhere.

The Pentagon has refused to confirm or discuss any of the content of the leaks, which it described as "a criminal act" last week. Several governments have also questioned their accuracy.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not immediately available for comment, and the Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Russian occupation regime has introduced a school subject covering the so-called "Special Military Operation" [Russian propaganda term for the war in Ukraine  ed.] in the history curriculum in schools on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Source: National Resistance Center

Details: The National Resistance Center has said that Russian occupiers previously imposed their propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine on Ukrainian schoolchildren as part of "conversations about important things", a special lesson held once a week, which was mandatory for attendance.

Now the Russians have included a subject covering the "Special Military Operation" in the history curriculum.

Starting from next year, the Russian occupation regime is also planning to introduce compulsory military training for high school students to prepare them for conscription into the Russian army.

The Russians also continue to set up branches of the "Young Army" military units linked to schools ("Young Army", or Yunarmia, is the Russian youth nationalist movement  ed.)

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Russia has intensified its air attacks on Ukraine after a recent lull, having received a new batch of Iranian-made kamikaze drones.

Source: Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the Joint press centre of the Defence Forces of Ukraine's south, on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast on 20 April

Quote from Humeniuk: "The night was restless. The enemy continues to attack, and keeps terrorising peaceful civilians.

They [the occupiers  ed.] have been accumulating reserves. We see that their missile stockpiles, which have been brought to a critical minimum, are forcing them to take such pauses and look for new ways to put pressure on the rear areas of Ukraine. That is why they were taking such a pause while waiting for an additional batch of Iranian-made kamikaze drones. Now they have received the UAVs and are starting to use them."

Details: Humeniuk states that Shahed drones with new markings have already been spotted in Mykolaiv and Odesa Oblasts.

The Head of the Joint Press Centre of the Defence Forces of Ukraine's south emphasised that the occupiers were using kamikaze drones to keep the civilian population in suspense, as well as to search for air defence systems and critical infrastructure.



Background:

On the morning of 20 April, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that over the past day, Ukrainian defenders had destroyed 21 Russian Shahed UAVs out of 26 launched.

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(Reuters) - Almost nothing has been done to address Russia's concerns over the Black Sea grain deal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, the latest in a series of downbeat comments by top Moscow officials about the pact that enabled Ukraine to resume exports.

Russia has repeatedly said it will not renew the deal beyond May 18 unless the West agrees to lift a host of restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance which it says are hindering its own agricultural exports.

"Here, practically nothing has been done," Lavrov told reporters in Havana during an official visit. Footage of the news conference was broadcast by the Russian foreign ministry.

Inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea resumed on Wednesday under the grain deal, which was brokered by the United Nations last July, five months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov will meet with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Monday, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by David Ljunggren and Grant McCool)
China, Gabon agree to bolster ties

09:50, April 20, 2023 By XU WEI ( Chinadaily.com.cn

President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a photograph with Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. [Photo by Feng Yongbin / China Daily]

President Xi Jinping and Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership on Wednesday as the two nations pledged to bolster cooperation on infrastructure, agriculture and the response to climate change.

In talks with Bongo at the Great Hall of the People, Xi also reiterated Beijing's unwavering support for African nations in following an independent path of development and its firm backing for Africa's efforts in advancing food security, industrialization and green development.

Before their talks, the president gave the Gabonese leader, who is on a four-day state visit to China, a grand welcoming ceremony with a 21-gun salute, a review of the guard of honor and the performances of military bands.

The two heads of state also witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements covering investment, agriculture, housing, urban development and climate change.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi told Bongo that the two sides, which are set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations next year, have built their friendship on a rock-solid foundation.

Calling Bongo "an old friend" of the Chinese people, Xi said the Gabonese president was the first African head of state he had hosted since being reelected as the Chinese president, which fully demonstrates the importance and high level of the China-Gabon relations.

China is willing to enhance exchanges of state governance experience with Gabon, deepen strategic mutual trust, and extend firm support over issues concerning respective core interests and major concerns, Xi said.

He expressed readiness to further strategic alignment with the Gabonese side, move forward with cooperation in infrastructure construction, forestry, fisheries, the digital economy and the development of industrial parks and support the nation in the diversification of its economy and industry upgrading.

The two sides should step up people-to-people exchanges and work more closely together on tourism, rural vitalization and poverty alleviation, said the president.

It is important for the two countries to strengthen strategic cooperation on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, safeguard global peace, development and international fairness and justice and protect the common interests of developing countries, he said.

Speaking of China-Africa ties, Xi pointed out that with the world now facing multifaceted challenges and various crises, it is even more necessary than ever for China and Africa to reinforce unity and cooperation.

He appealed to both sides to resolutely oppose hegemony and power politics in any form, oppose interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Beijing firmly supports Africa becoming a key force in global political and economic development and is willing to offer new opportunities to Africa with its own development, he said.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, trade between China and Gabon reached $4.55 billion in 2022, registering a year-on-year increase of 50.8 percent. China has been a major purchaser of crude oil, manganese ore and wooden products from Gabon.

Bongo noted that the two sides, with a high level of political mutual trust, have always respected and supported each other.

He expressed his hope that both nations can further build up cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture and tourism, saying that his country welcomes Chinese businesses to take part in the construction of industrial parks and is willing to offer a good environment for Chinese firms.

Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, also had separate meetings with the Gabonese president on Wednesday.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  The National Privacy Commission (NPC) urged all government bodies to review and strengthen their data privacy and security measures, as it investigates the alleged leak of over 1.2 million employee and applicant records of various agencies.

The NPC on Thursday met with representatives from the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Civil Service Commission (CSC), and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to probe the massive "breach."

"[T]he Philippine National Police requested for time to validate and review its system for possible security compromise considering that the police was highlighted in the report alleging the data leak," NPC Commissioner John Henry Naga said after the meeting.

The commission said it ordered an onsite investigation into the PNP's data processing system on April 24.

It also asked cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler  who reported the data leak on Tuesday  to appear before the commission on April 21 to help in the probe.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which expressed "grave concern" over the incident, conducted its own investigation through the National Computer Emergency Response Team (NCERT).

"The NCERT started its investigation on the alleged breach after receiving links to an Azure blob storage containing sample photos of IDs, including PNP and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearances, from a security researcher last 22 February 2023. The said security researcher did not disclose to NCERT the source of the data and what information asset was compromised," the DICT said.

"Further, the information sent by the security researcher is identical to what was reported by Mr. Jeremiah Fowler and which has since been credited by recent news reports," it added.

In a report on cybersecurity research firm vpnMentor, Fowler said a database with a total size of over 800 gigabytes and containing over 1.2 million records relating to affairs of law enforcement agencies had been exposed for a minimum of six weeks. He warned that it could be used in criminal activities and carries national security risks.

The leaked documents reportedly include personal information such as names, addresses, contact details, and medical records of public officials and employees  including police officers, prosecutors, and judges.

'No breach'

In separate statements also on Thursday, the BIR, CSC, and the NBI said they found no breach within their agencies. The BIR and CSC are also coordinating with investigators.

The CSC added that NCERT itself confirmed the CSC system and database were not compromised.

For the NBI, it was "reasonably certain" that the breach did not involve any of its systems as the "nature of the compromised dataare not included in our hiring and selection process."

"While the breached records supposedly include copies of NBI Clearance IDs, these are normally released to the applicant, who may then submit or upload the same for their stated purposes," it said.

Fowler earlier warned that individuals whose data were leaked could be potential victims of identity theft, phishing attacks, and a range of other malicious activities.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Final Word, Fowler said only a forensic audit would determine how long the data has been exposed and who owned the data.

He added that the data could have been accessed by a third party contractor or an individual developer working from home.

CNN Philippines correspondent Paige Javier contributed to this report.
A Saginaw optometrist is going to federal prison for 10 months for threatening to harm Black Lives Matter supporters in a series of rants he made over the phone to Starbucks employees, who got an earful about his beef with workers wearing BLM T-shirts.

According to court records, 62-year-old Kenneth Pilon admitted to calling nine Starbucks stores in 2020 and telling those who answered his calls to relay this message to employees wearing BLM T-shirts: The only good (N-word) is a dead (N-word).

Pilon also admitted to telling one Starbucks employee, Im gonna go out and lynch me a (N-word).

Don Simon of Saginaw is among people to find a noose left by Kenneth Pilon, according to charges against the Saginaw optometrist. His wife, Regina Simon, said her husband was going out for a cup of coffee one morning and found a noose inside his truck with the handwritten note attached.

Starbucks stores weren't his only target. The FBI says Pilon also left nooses at Kroger and Walmart parking lots in Saginaw, and also tucked one inside a beverage cooler at a 7-Eleven store with a handwritten note attached that read: An accessory to be worn with your BLM T-shirt. Happy protesting!'"

Threatening messages to numerous Starbucks stores

Pilons hateful conduct, motivated by racial intolerance, was intended to intimidate the victims as well as create fear within the African-American community, said Detroit's FBI chief James A. Tarasca.

According to court records, Pilon launched his hate campaign two days after Starbucks announced that it would provide 250,000 BLM T-shirts to employees who wanted to wear them during their shifts. It was the summer of 2020, and the nation was witnessing a wave of protests condemning the May 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Pilon was miffed by the movement, and left threatening messages at Starbucks stores in Saginaw, Flint, Birch Run, Allen Park, Oak Park and Ann Arbor. One month after calling the coffee stores, he started dropping nooses in parking lots.

More: Lawsuits: Repo man took Flint woman's car with her in it. It got worse when cops arrived.

More: His job was to keep an eye out for crooked Detroit cops  but he was one of them

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington sentenced Pilon to 10 months in prison for his crimes, along with one year of supervised release. Pilon had previously pleaded guilty to willfully intimidating and attempting to intimidate citizens from engaging in lawful speech and protests in support of the BLM movement.

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The nooses, the threat letters, and the calls to Starbucks were all intended to terrorize the targeted victims solely because of their race, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division. The Civil Rights Division will always stand up to race-based threats of violence, which have no place in civilized society.

What his attorney said on his behalf

As Pilon's lawyer tried to keep his client out of prison, prosecutors argued he deserved to be locked up.

"A custodial sentence is necessary to account for the seriousness of the conduct at issue here: repeated death threats to Black people and Black Lives Matter supporters," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy M. Turkelson wrote in a sentencing memo, adding: "He weaponized the vile language and visceral symbols of the Jim Crow era to communicate his death threats."

The prosecutor also noted that the government concedes that part of Pilon's sentence should include mental health treatment.

The judge gave Pilon exactly the punishment that federal prosecutors had sought  10 months in prison.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, he faced a maximum of one year in prison.

Pilon's lawyer, however, asked the judge to spare his client from prison and give him home confinement instead, arguing Pilon suffered from depression, anxiety, physical pain and isolation, and that his "irrational and repugnant" behavior was "totally out of character."

"Pilon is deeply remorseful and embarrassed by his actions," defense attorney Barry Wolf wrote in a sentencing memo.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Saginaw optometrist who threatened BLM supporters heads to prison
Im a little nervous to eat this ham and cheese sandwich. I purchased it at the Cancun airport, and its flown back to JFK in New York with me in my carry-on bag. This was no accident: The sandwich had been plane-curing, or sitting in a flight cabin and now at regular room temperature, for 48 hours at this pointbecause a small but vocal group of enthusiasts said it would taste better like this.

Like most people, Ive been indoctrinated that fresh is best, and the mantra has served me well. But Ive been curious to see howin fact, whethera sandwich can be improved via time spent in flight. Allegedly, during this time, the pressurized cabin and air temp changes help to create a stellar sandwich.

The first person I ever heard advocate for this was The New Yorkers Helen Rosner, when she tweeted a few years ago: A plane trip changes a muffuletta in profound and glorious ways. I had filed that pronouncement away, figuring it to be exaggerated, the way anything enjoyed on vacation seems to take on extra glow. But last July, when bartender and chef Sother Teague returned to NYC after attending the Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans, he too posted on social media about the muffuletta hed purchased from French Quarter stalwart Central Grocery & Deli. He had packed it in his carry-on, but he didnt want to eat it on the plane: He intended to cure it on the flight and savor it at home, one quarter at a time.

For me, the fourth day is best, Teague says. He rests the sandwich on his kitchen counter, at room temp for that many days, after he returns home. The bread is crisp on the outside yet tender inside due to the oil and brine. Its a way of extending his trips to New Orleans, he addsand its even become a souvenir: Ive also become responsible for bringing a few back for other friends.

That sent me down a rabbit hole. I dug into Italys tradition of pressed and pressurized sandwiches, from the panino, originally meant to take along on a train journey, to so-called shooter sandwiches, typically assembled by hunters the night before a shoot and squashed for easy transport in a pack. It also had me thinking about how other sandwiches might fare, like the banh mi or pan Bagnatanything with a hearty bread, savory fillings, and some measure of fat or oil.

Then I finally had an opportunity to try this technique on a January trip to Mexico. At the Cancun airport, I purchased two identical sandwiches from the same vendor.

Knowing it would sit for a while, I selected a picnic-worthy ham and cheese on a substantial multigrain rollwhich translated into jamon Serrano and Parmesan with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and cranberries, dressed with a tongue-tingling chile oil. I avoided anything delicate, anything that might wilt or spoil quickly: no browning avocado, no soggy white bread, no tuna, shrimp, or mayo.

Sandwich No. 1, consumed at the airport as a control variable, wasfine. It was pleasantly salty from the cheese, a little spicy from the chile oil. The fat from the jamon peeled off in long strings, while the crusty bread blanketed my lap with a mess of crumbs. I tucked Sandwich No. 2 into my carry-on for the three-and-a-half hour flight to JFK (plus a couple more hours for immigration and a taxi ride home to Manhattan).

Forty-eight hours later, it was time to see if airplane alchemy could achieve a superior sando.

The result: It tasted better. But the improvement was, to say the least, subtle. Overall, it tasted a bit richer, as the chile oil had soaked into the bread, and the jamon seemed to have melted into the sandwich, becoming more pliable and almost grooving into the bread. No more fatty strings. Meanwhile, the salt from the cheesethe primary flavor two days earlierwas much less pronounced, though there was still plenty of zing from the chile pepper oil. All the flavors seemed to have melded, yielding a softer, chewier, more succulent sandwich.

So what's the science behind plane-curing a sandwich? I asked Molly Brandt, a culinary scientist and executive chef with airline caterer GateGourmet. Her response: Its not really about the cabin pressureits more about time plus temperature plus a good selection of deliciously fatty ingredients (oils, cheeses, etc.).

While aircraft are pressurized, its to a higher altitude than sea level, Brandt explained. In other words, its the equivalent of taking a sandwich into the Rocky Mountains for a few hours.

Our taste buds for sweet, bitter, and umami flavors work best when food is between room temperature and body temperature, she says. So storing an already umami-rich sandwich at room temperature for an hours-long flight can increase perception that it has become more flavorful. But it can also actually make it more flavorful, particularly if a sandwich (like a muffuletta) is made with plenty of fat. Fat stretches flavor, Brandt says, and that time on a flight helps infuse the bread with the delicious bits.

From a food-safety perspective, though, she strongly advises against leaving a sandwich at room temp for four days, despite Teagues technique. When I got home, my ham and cheese went directly into the fridge, where it sat for two days.

So, is it worth scouting cheap airline tickets in pursuit of a better sandwich? Absolutely not. But if a short-haul flight is in your near future, by all means, give this technique a try. Or, if you have the patience, you could simulate the conditions at home, leaving a sandwich (extra cheese, extra pickles, extra dressing) tightly wrapped in wax paper on the counter at room temp for three to four hours, then transferring it to the fridge to finish curing for another day or two. You might end up with something profound and glorious, as Rosner saidor at least a lunch thats a little more interesting.

Originally Appeared on Bon Appetit
Sarah Ferguson has broken her silence about why she wasnt invited to King Charles IIIs coronation next month.

The 63-year-old book author confirmed that she wouldnt be attending the event at Westminster Abbey on 6 May during Thursdays episode of ITVsGood Morning Britain. She said she didnt get an invitation and wasnt offended about it, as she and Prince Andrew, who is the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, have been divorced since 1996.

Its a state occasion and being divorced, I dont think you can have it both ways, she said. I am divorced, and Im really loving being divorced to my ex-husband, not from my ex-husband, its quite a differentiate.

Ferguson and Andrew got married in 1986 and divorced 10 years later. They share two daughters: Princess Beatrice, 34, and Princess Eugenie, 33.

During her appearance on Good Morning Britain, the Duchess of York said shes been focused on her writing in the wake of the release of her latest novel, A Most Intriguing Lady. She also shared her hope that people will be inspired by her dedication to her career.

Getting out there as a new novelist, she said. And also to really say, Its OK, I can start a new career now. And I really hope that many people watching will go, Right, we get it. We can do this. Why are we saying were too old or retiring? No. Get out there and seize it.

She also praised the King and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, who will become Queen at the coronation.

I think that Charles and Camilla are doing an exceptional job at unifying the family, she said. And they do.

Ferguson even highlighted the close relationship that she has with the royal couple and her plans to celebrate with them.

Just because Im not there on the state occasion, in private, I can be there, he said. And thats a lovely feeling to be a part of the family. It really is.

'I think that Charles and Camilla are doing an exceptional job at unifying the family.'



Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York says she will not be at the coronation because she is divorced to Prince Andrew and 'you can't have it both ways'. pic.twitter.com/Ruk04MRXYm  Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 20, 2023

Earlier this month, Ferugson said that she didnt expect to be invited to the coronation in the first place.

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I personally will be having a little tearoom and coronation chicken sandwich and putting out the bunting, thats what Im going to be doing. Because that would make me very happy, she explained, during an episode of ITVs Loose Women on 5 April.

She doubled down about not being invited because of her split from Andrew, adding: You cant have it both ways. You cant be divorced and then say, I want this.

Although Ferguson wont be attending the coronation, her ex-husband and two daughters, who are 10th and 11th in line for the throne, will be there.

Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace revealed that Prince Harry will be attending the event while his wife, Meghan Markle will stay home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Reports claim that Ferguson will be attending Charles coronation concert on 7 May, the day after the ceremony. The concert will take place at Windsor Castle and feature multiple musical acts, including Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and reformed pop group Take That.

Prior to speaking out about missing the coronation, Ferguson has been very open about her close relationship with the royal family. During an interview with The Telegraph in March, she claimed that the Queen was very relieved to have her help with Andrew as the disgraced royal navigated his sex abuse scandal.

Because also, during the last three years, her poor son [Prince Andrew] has been going through such a tumultuous time, and I think HM was very relieved I could help her with him, so we became even closer, then, she explained. But Ive always admired and adored her. Really, she was more of a mother to me than my mother.

According to Ferguson, the Queen also knew that she would always support her son, which strengthened the late monarchs bond with her daughter-in-law.

She knew. I will always be there. Always. Because I love her, she said.
A Facebook post shared in Ethiopia claims the United States is offering free travel opportunities to two million Africans. The post includes a link that purportedly leads to an application to register for the green card lottery. However, the US embassy confirmed that the post was a scam. Moreover, the link leads to a job search application unrelated to US visas.

The post in Afaan Oromoo translates to: "Our people who are interested in travelling to America without any expense, please download an application that leads to travel opportunities that America provides to two million Africans and register by fulfilling the DV requirements."

"DV" refers to the Diversity Visa programme (archived here) which every year grants US visas to 55,000 foreigners who are picked via a lottery system.

Screenshot of the false past taken on April 19, 2023

The post includes a link purportedly leading to an application, with the URL featuring the words "USA-jobs-visa-form-opportunity-2023".

It also shows a photo of two armed men in military uniform seated on a motorbike.

The post has been shared more than 120 times since it was published on Facebook on April 16, 2023.

A review of the posts edit history shows that it was modified several times. It started off with just the photo of the armed men accompanied by a long list of popular hashtags, including #bestphotochallenge  but nothing about the US or visas.

The first version of the post drew more than 9,000 interactions. A few hours later, it was edited to replace the list of hashtags with a claim about an application that supposedly would help people earn 11,500 a day  currency not stated  by working online. It was edited again on April 18 to replace the job claim with the US travel opportunity one.

The post appeared to use popular hashtags to attract social media engagement before then changing the text of the post to promote a hoax or scam. This is a common practice among online scammers.

Screenshot of the post history of false past taken on April 19, 2023

The United States is the top destination for migrants worldwide, with 51 million international migrants living in the country by 2020, according to United Nations data (archived here)

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Around 2.1 million immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa lived in the US in 2019, or some five percent of the total foreign-born population in the country, according to the Migration Policy Institute (archived here).

However, America is not currently providing free travel opportunities to two million Africans, as claimed in the Facebook post.

Scam post

The US Embassy in Addis Ababa confirmed that the claim was unfounded.

These posts and messages are NOT affiliated with the US Embassy and are not valid. They are scams, it told AFP Fact Check in an email.

It also advised social media users to beware of such scams as they risked seeing their personal information used for fraudulent or malicious purposes.

The time for entering the 2023 DV lottery has passed. Please be advised that all visa and travel-related information is available on the US Embassy Addis Ababa website, it added.

Job search application

The link in the post opens a page titled "USA Jobs & Visa Form Opportunity-2023". But the text on the page, in English and Afaan Oromoo, lists unrelated job opportunities. It also provides a link to a supposed application form that in fact leads to an alleged Android app for job seekers.

Screenshot of the website headline taken on April 19, 2023

Again, the "Jobs in USA" Android application provides neither travel opportunities to the US nor assistance with the green card lottery.
Scarlett Johansson attends a Vanity Fair Oscar party on Feb. 9, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California.

Scarlett Johansson attends a Vanity Fair Oscar party on Feb. 9, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California.

Scarlett Johansson recalled a chance meeting she had with her former co-star Bill Murray nearly a decade after working with him on the 2003 film Lost in Translation.

It was so weird, Johansson told Gwyneth Paltrow on Tuesdays episode of the Goop podcast. She described seeing him sitting by himself at a bar, and said she had to walk out before then going back inside to talk to him.

It was such a weird moment. It was like a dream, Johansson said, adding that Murray was also surprised to see her there.

It was kind of therapeutic, she continued. We had a cathartic experience in that weird bar.

She added that the two talked through the time they spent shooting Lost in Translation in Japan.

Filming was hard for him ... because he had a lot of stuff going on with his family and his marriage, Johansson said, suggesting that Murray wasnt sure what we were doing out there in Tokyo over those weeks.

I think his way of coping was being really sort of manic, she said, noting that it was definitely a hard shoot for her too, at just 17 years old.

While Johansson didnt delve into what she meant by Murray being manic, other actors have spoken out about the Groundhog Day stars behavior in recent years, including Seth Green, Geena Davis and Lucy Liu.

Green claimed that the former Saturday Night Live cast member dangled and then dropped him in a trash can when he was just 9 years old. Davis alleged that Murray once screamed at her for being late and insisted on using a massage therapy tool on her, despite her refusals. Liu said the actor hurled inexcusable insults at her when the two were working on 2000s Charlies Angels, without elaborating on the language used.

Last year, Murray was accused of inappropriate behavior by a female staffer, with an October news report saying that he had allegedly straddled and kissed her, through face masks. He settled with the woman for a little over $100,000.

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Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website.

Related...
Another instance of a mass slaughter of three unprotected children in a school has taken place. By the way, the school is a gun-free zone. Feel any better?

In the movie,"American Sniper," in an early scene set at the dinner table, Chris Kyles father tells him there are three kinds of people in the world: wolves, sheep, and sheepdogs.

The sheepdog speech comes from Lt. Col. David Grossmans book, "On Combat," published in 2004.

Grossman writes:

"If you have no capacity for violence, then you are a healthy, productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath  a wolf. But, what if you have a capacity for violence and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, protecting the sheep from the wolf."

March 28, 2023: 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. - A heavily armed former student killed three young children and three staff in what appeared to be a carefully planned attack at a private elementary school in Nashville on Monday, before being shot dead by police. Chief of Police John Drake named the suspect as Audrey Hale, 28, who the officer later said identified as transgender.

As a former New York City police officer, it's remarkable to me, that in all the recent and previous slaughter of children (the sheep) in schools by one shooter (the wolf), there was no sheepdog (an armed officer or civilian) to stop him.

Not one teacher, not one employee of those schools, was equipped to kill the wolf. Not the three staff members who were slaughtered. Not the three children in the school. Not even for self-defense. Like sheep.

On average, slaughters like this take about 5 minutes. The average police response is 11 minutes, but by the time the police arrive, the real slaughter is done ... it's too late. And, it could be your child you sent to school that morning who's dead. You could wonder of the child's last words or thoughts ... "Mommy?" "Daddy?"

Just put yourself in the position of those helpless three children and three educators in those first 5 minutes of horror. You would be hoping for a gun or a sheepdog.

In Grossmans telling, the wolves will do anything they can to hurt sheep. Grossman makes it clear that, no matter how much society fears its sheepdog, protectors carrying guns, the sheep need their sheepdogs.

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I say, never mind those, "feel good" schools that proudly proclaim, "This is a gun-free zone." Get over it! That stops no one with evil intentions and a killing attitude. It should read, "We're armed to the teeth and will fight back."

It's time parents and teachers recognize there are wolves in the world. We need more sheepdogs (non-uniformed, armed staff) in schools to kill the (shooter) wolf when he strikes, and not to wait for the police to arrive.

Those children, like others before them, were not killed; they were slaughtered. You get killed in an auto accident, or when a plane drops from the sky or a building falls on you.

Jim Grant, Jensen Beach

All too often, there are no sheepdogs present when these mass shootings occur. In the case just before I wrote this, the Nashville police were right on top of it and aggressively hunted down the killer. Still, six were slaughtered before they arrived. Three adults and three children.

We need more sheepdogs to act within the first 5 minutes of an attack.

Our politicians and president talk of more gun control. What we need is more guns in the school so when someone shoots out a glass door to gain entry, those with the guns take up an attack position.

Let the wolf beware!

Jim Grant Jensen Beach, was a New York City police officer for 24 years, including 10 years in the homicide department.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Nashville shooting: No gun control; arm sheepdogs to take out wolves
The U.S. Coast Guard says the search for three missing American sailors in waters off Mexico has been suspended after responders conducted an "exhaustive search" covering an area larger than the state of California.

Kerry OBrien, Frank OBrien and William Gross, who set sail on their vessel Ocean Bound, were last heard from on April 4 when they were near Mazatlan, Mexico.

The three were heading for San Diego but failed to make contact on April 6 when their 44-foot ship was supposed to stop in Cabo San Lucas.

"The U.S. Coast Guard has been informed that the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) has suspended their search for three American mariners aboard the sailing vessel Ocean Bound," the Coast Guard said in a statement Wednesday.

MOTHER IN PURE AGONY DURING SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICAN SAILORS

Kerry and Frank O'Brien, two of the missing individuals aboard the vessel Ocean Bound that was last contacted on April 4 as it passed Mazatlan.

"The search was suspended pending further developments after SEMAR and U.S. Coast Guard responders conducted 281 cumulative search hours covering approximately 200,057 square nautical miles, an area larger than the state of California, off Mexicos northern Pacific coast with no sign of the missing sailing vessel nor its passengers," the statement added.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Cmdr. Gregory Higgins, the command center chief of Coast Guard District 11, said "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of William Gross, Kerry OBrien and Frank OBrien."

"An exhaustive search was conducted by our international search and rescue partner, Mexico, with the U.S. Coast Guard and Canada providing additional search assets," he also said. "Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans whereabouts or what might have happened."

3 AMERICANS GO MISSING ON SAILING VOYAGE FROM MEXICO TO SAN DIEGO

The 44-foot Le Fitte vessel Ocean Bound, which went missing after making last contact on April 4.

The Coast Guard also said in their statement Wednesday that the situation "underscores the importance of carrying a registered 406MHZ electronic position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) for automatic notification in emergencies."

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Ellen Argall, mother of Pennsylvania native Kerry O'Brien, said her daughter has had a love of the water her whole life and told a local CBS News outlet earlier this week that she is confident her daughter is safe.

"I just keep hoping and praying that I'll hear some good news. I want good news, not bad news," she reportedly said, adding that waiting for news was "pure agony."

"I'm trying to hold myself together," Argall added.

The Ocean Bound was supposed to arrive in Cabo San Lucas two days after the sailors were last heard from.

In an earlier interview with Fox5 San Diego, Higgins said it should have taken two days to get from Mazatlan to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, but winds at the time were estimated to be around 35 mph (30 knots) and waves were reaching heights of up to 20 feet.

"It would be arduous, it wouldnt be a comfortable trip," Higgins told the station. "The three persons onboard have experience in the maritime industry, so they understand navigation of vessels another person has years and years of experience on sailboats."

Fox News' Peter Aitken contributed to this report.
The search has been suspended for three Americans who set sail from Mexico bound for San Diego more than two weeks ago and have not been seen since, authorities said Wednesday.

Kerry OBrien, Frank OBrien and William Gross left Mazatlan on Mexicos Pacific coast on April 4 aboard Ocean Bound, a 44-foot sailing vessel.

Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans whereabouts or what might have happened, Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregory Higgins said in a statement.

The sailing vessel Ocean Bound. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of William Gross, Kerry OBrien and Frank OBrien, Higgins said.

The three sailors intended to stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6, report in and get more provisions, but they did not arrive there, the Coast Guard said.

Our hope is for our Dad, and Kerry and Frank to be sailing into port soon, tired and sore, but safe, Gross three children said in a statement Tuesday.

The Coast Guard said it and the Mexican Navy searched about 200,057 square nautical miles off Mexicos northern Pacific coast.

The Americans left a "float plan" with people ashore, which helped searchers, the Coast Guard said. It urged all mariners to do the same. People should also ensure they're carrying an "electronic position indicating radio beacon," or EPIRB.

Mexico's navy conducted the search with assets from the U.S. Coast Guard and Canada, the Coast Guard said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans whereabouts or what might have happened, said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregory Higgins

United States Coast Guard Northern California/Twitter Kerry OBrien, Frank OBrien

The search for three Americans who went missing at sea after setting sail from Mexico en route to San Diego over two weeks ago has been suspended.

Frank O'Brien and Kerry O'Brien  who are husband and wife  as well as their friend, William Gross, left Mazatlan, Mexico, on April 4, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. They have not been heard from since.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced on Wednesday that the Mexican Navy had suspended their search.

"An exhaustive search was conducted by our international search and rescue partner, Mexico, with the U.S. Coast Guard and Canada providing additional search assets," Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregory Higgins said in a statement.

United States Coast Guard Northern California/Twitter Frank O'Brien and Kerry O'Brien

Related:Kayaker's Body Found in Gulf of California; Her Husband, Who Rescued Their Daughter, Is Still Missing at Sea

As part of their efforts, the Coast Guard spent 281 cumulative hours searching, covering about 200,057 square miles, which is larger than the state of California, per the statement. Still, responders found "no sign of the missing sailing vessel nor its passengers."

"Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans' whereabouts or what might have happened," Cmdr. Higgins said. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of William Gross, Kerry O'Brien and Frank O'Brien."

On April 4, the same day they set sail, the group made calls about a planned stop in Cabo San Lucas for supplies two days later, according to CBS News. However, their 44-foot sailing vessel never arrived.

"Search and rescue coordinators contacted marinas throughout Baja, Mexico, which resulted in no sightings of the vessel," the Coast Guard said. "Urgent marine information broadcasts were also issued over VHF radio, but yielded no additional information."

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Higgins told CNN that when the group set sail, "conditions were not optimal for that type of trip" with winds "potentially over 30 knots."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Gross' daughter Melissa Spicuzza previously told NBC San Diego that the O'Brien family invited her father to join them at sea, and that all three sailors had decades of experience.

Frank and Kerry, who are licensed boat captains, asked Gross  who has been sailing for five decades  to join them on the trip, her mom, Ellen Argall told CBS News earlier this week while the search was still ongoing.

Related:Dad and Daughter, 13, Rescued While Treading Water in 'Alligator-Ridden Lake' After Jet-ski Sinks

"If anybody can survive this, they can," Argall told the outlet.

"Our hope is for our Dad, and Kerry and Frank to be sailing into port soon, tired and sore, but safe," Gross' three children said in a statement on Tuesday, reported NBC News.

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Read the original article on People.
The search for three Americans who went missing earlier this month while sailing off the coast of Mexico has been suspended, authorities said Wednesday.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that it was informed by the Mexican Navy that it had suspended its search for Kerry O'Brien, Frank O'Brien and William Gross. The Coast Guard had been assisting in the search effort.

The three were last heard from on April 4 near Mazatlan, Mexico, according to the Coast Guard. They had been sailing aboard the "Ocean Bound" a 44-foot Lafitte sailboat.

An undated photo of Frank and Kerry O'Brien, two of the three U.S. sailors who went missing while sailing off the Pacific coast of Mexico in April 2023. They had been sailing aboard the

The sailors had left Mazatlan en route to San Diego, the Coast Guard said, and had been scheduled to stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6, but they never arrived. Their last known communication came April 4, when they made calls requesting a stop in Cabo San Lucas for food and fuel.

The Coast Guard said Wednesday that its joint search effort with the Mexican Navy consisted of a cumulative 281 search hours, and covered just over 200,000 square nautical miles.

The search focused on Mexico's northern Pacific coast, and resulted in no sign of either the missing sailors or their sailboat, the Coast Guard said.

Kerry and Frank O'Brien are a married couple. Kerry's mother, Ellen Argall, told CBS News earlier this week that her daughter and son-in-law have sailed together for nearly 20 years and are both licensed boat captains. They asked Gross, who had 50 years of experience, to journey with them.

"It's agony, pure agony," Argall said. "I've been trying to hold myself together."

There were reports of poor weather conditions the day they departed Mazatlan, the Coast Guard had said, and Ocean Bound's navigational equipment was older.

"It's a long trip for even in good conditions," a Coast Guard spokesperson told CBS News.

 Elise Preston contributed to this report.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  International law expert Harry Roque on Thursday urged the government to review the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) amid a possible shooting war between the United States and China due to rising tensions over Taiwan Strait.

EDCA will expire next year and that is why I join the call of Sen. Imee Marcos that we have to very carefully re-examine now the provisions of EDCA in lieu of the tension in the Taiwan Strait, Roque told CNN Philippines The Source.

During an inquiry on Wednesday, Sen. Marcos, the head of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, questioned the locations of the new EDCA sites in Luzon.

She said the four additional areas seem to be random and were no longer in line with the militarys modernization program.

The conflict between the US and China was most recently fueled by the visit of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to Washington to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Following the visit earlier this month, Beijing launched military drills around self-governing Taiwan, which it considers China's renegade province.

READ: PH urges US, China to 'manage rivalry' amid rising tensions in Taiwan

Roque, who is currently in China, said he recently spoke to leaders and Filipino journalists based there who have said that there is inevitable conflict in the Taiwan Strait, a conflict that we (the Philippines) should never be involved with.

He pointed out that when the initial EDCA was signed in 2014, there was not much tension at that time in the Taiwan Strait.

However, the situation is different now so President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should carefully evaluate matters to keep the Philippines from getting involved in a possible war between the two superpowers, he added.

Roque said that if the tensions progress, overseas Filipino workers and communities with EDCA sites will be part of the collateral damage.

While he said he will not challenge the Presidents policies, Roque urged Marcos to listen to views of other individuals regarding the issue of the establishment of EDCA sites.

I will defer to him, however, I will speak out in the hope that he will listen to me He knows me, he knows that I only have the national interest at heart and at some point, he has to listen to alternative views other than those expressed by our ambassador to the United States and his other relatives, Roque said.
The arrest last week of 21-year-old air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira on charges of espionage has sparked a debate in the intelligence community and elsewhere about whether his behavior is criminal or heroic. He apparently shared top-secret intelligence and military briefings  to which he had lawful access  with folks in his chatroom, at least one of whom let the cat out of the bag.

Is Teixeira a pawn for folks in the government far senior to him who believe that the United States needs to cease its criminal foray into the Russia/Ukraine war? Or should he be prosecuted because government agents have risked their lives to amass data about Russia and the compromise of this data can be fatal to them and their sources?

I look at this from the perspective of the natural human right to search for and reveal the truth.

What we have here is either Teixeira operating on his own in an effort to impress acquaintances whom he barely knew or Teixeira as a pawn for government officials repulsed by Biden administration policies.

This photo illustration created on April 13, 2023, shows the suspect, national guardsman Jack Teixeira, reflected in an image of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

What are these policies? During the past 15 months, the U.S. has spent more than $68 billion in military hardware and ammunition, and in cash, all in an effort to help the Ukraine government resist the Russian military. The administrations argument is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to reassemble the old Soviet Union. If he succeeds in Ukraine, this argument goes, he will soon choose another European country to occupy. This is the discredited domino theory that President Lyndon Johnson used to justify the Vietnam War.

The counterargument offers that the American promise that triggered the non-bloody dissolution of the old Soviet Union was that NATO would not move one inch closer to Moscow than it was in 1989. Of course, it is hundreds of miles closer to Moscow today  complete with a U.S.-instigated coup in Ukraine in 2014  and just recently added Finland and its 800-mile border with Russia. NATO countries have easy access to Western military hardware  aimed at Moscow.

Story continues

More perspective: The Pentagon Papers  again | Andrew Napolitano

Even though NATO is a defensive organization, its weapons are deployed in an ancient border dispute between Ukraine, a non-NATO country, and Russia  a dispute that has no bearing on the national security of the U.S.

Rather than permitting American businesses to trade with Russia, the Biden administration has delivered cash to Ukraine, whose officials  including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  the U.S. believes have stolen $400 million of it.

Has the U.S. asked for this stolen money to be returned? No. Does the Biden administration deny the thefts? No. Does the U.S. continue to send arms and cash to the same thieves? Yes.

Add to all this, the presence of U.S. troops and CIA personnel in Ukraine. The troops are aiming and firing sophisticated military armaments at Russian troops. The CIA is stealing Russian secrets and sharing them with Ukraine. Stated differently, without a congressional declaration of war and without telling the American people, the Biden administration has the U.S. fighting a war against Russia.

The family of Jack Teixeira leaves John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston after Teixeira was arraigned for allegedly leaking Pentagon documents on Friday, April 14, 2023.

The espionage charge against Teixeira is basically theft of secrets. Yet, in the subjective morality of the National Security State  thats the government within the government that has grown exponentially since it was created in 1947 and flourishes no matter who is in the White House  stealing and revealing is not morally wrong; it just depends what side youre on.

Can the government make it moral to steal property and kill innocents? Of course not. Morality is determined by the laws of nature. All rational adults know that stealing property and killing innocents is wrong. But to the Security State, it can be lawful  lawful when we do it to them, but not when Daniel Ellsberg or Edward Snowden or Bradley Manning or Julian Assange or Jack Teixeira embarrass the government.

In legal theory, every criminal act is either malum in se  wrong in and of itself; or malum prohibitum  wrong because it is prohibited. Only government thinks it can turn right into wrong and wrong into right  to suit its purposes.

For example, two weeks ago, Victoria Nuland, the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, publicly revealed the existence and location of Iranian drones in Crimea, as well as the location and size of Russian troop movements there. She acquired that information from secret sources.

What she revealed was no doubt truthful, but she revealed it as part of the Biden administrations subterfuge that the U.S. needs to participate in an attack on Russian troops in Crimea even though Crimea has been a part of Russia since before the American colonies seceded from Great Britain.

Among the truths Teixeira revealed is the conclusion by senior U.S. officials that Ukraine will soon have no meaningful air defenses and is losing this war badly. These truths are the opposite of what Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Whats going on here?

Whats going on is the government itself selectively revealing top-secret military data in order to further a lie and selectively lying to Congress about the true state of the war in Ukraine in order to get funds appropriated for more killing.

Is there a moral difference between Nulands revelations and Teixeiras? Both are truths derived from secrets, yet one furthers killing and the other lets the public judge for itself if the government is worthy of belief. Is there a moral difference between what Teixeira told his buddies and what Austin told Congress? Yes, Teixeira told the truth and Austin lied.

Pontius Pilate famously asked Jesus: What is truth? St. Thomas Aquinas defines it as identity between intellect and reality. When the government is manipulating the consent of the governed to fight an illegal war and lies about it, we should praise those who identify reality, not punish them.

Andrew P. Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court Judge, has published nine books on the U.S. Constitution.

Andrew P. Napolitano

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Jack Teixeira: Secrecy versus truth
Students at Pittsburgh Brashear, Pittsburgh Brashear Early Head Start and Pittsburgh South Hills 6-8 will learn remotely on Thursday because of an air conditioning outage.

The district made the announcement Wednesday night, saying the facility is designed for air conditioning, and the number of windows does not allow for proper airflow.

Temperatures are projected to be in the 80s Thursday, prompting the change.

Pittsburgh Public Schools said the lack of air conditioning is a concern with the current forecast.

Teachers will facilitate live remote instruction on Microsoft Teams.

Any Pittsburgh Brashear students planning to attend a field trip to the zoo were told to report to the school at 9:15 a.m. to get on the bus.

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Selma Blair has continued to speak out about her Multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis and shared that she was initially advised by her doctor to keep it a secret.

During a recent interview with British Vogue, the 50-year-old opened up about how people close to her have responded to her in the wake of her diagnosis with MS in 2018.

Groups of friends and love interests lost interest, she said, before adding that her own doctor told her to keep her diagnosis a secret. The advice was to keep it to myself. That work wouldnt have to know. People didnt feel safe sharing that stuff.

MS is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body, as noted by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Although symptoms vary for everyone, some of them can include numbness in the body, memory problems, and blindness.

Blair also reflected on some of the physical challenges she faced throughout her childhood, decades before being diagnosed with MS. At the age of seven, she told Vogue, she lost use of her right eye, left leg and her bladder.

While the Legally Blonde star didnt realise this at the time, the symptoms she had were a result of juvenile MS. Her then-doctor didnt take her health struggles seriously, so her condition as a child went undiagnosed.

If youre a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI. If youre a girl, youre called crazy, the actor told Vogue.

She continued to reflect on how her health changed throughout her childhood, saying shed wake up laughing hysterically in the middle of the night. As an adult, she found herself uncontrollably crying at random points.

I just thought I was a hugely emotional person, Blair confessed. However, it wasnt until 40 years later that she realised that this crying was due to damage to her frontal lobe, caused by undiagnosed MS. I looked like a normal girl to them, but I was Disabled this whole time.

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While it isnt very common, MS can affect the way in which people express emotions, per the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. More specifically, approximately 10 percent of people with MS experience uncontrollable episodes of laughing and/or crying.

This isnt the first time that Blair has discussed her doctors reactions to her MS symptoms. Speaking to BBC 100 Women in December 2022, the Cruel Intentions star said doctors assumed her symptoms were psychological and would not give her any real neurological tests

[The doctors] would say, OK, what kind of trauma have you had? We do think this is psychosomatic. But without any real neurological tests, she recalled.

When she was diagnosed in 2018, Blair said that she felt unburdened with a little bit of panic. Still, she was relieved to have a diagnosis.

Like how will I have the energy to ever even deal with this? she explained. I have been down that road for so many years without a diagnosis that I did feel kind of hopeless still, but I was hoping that the diagnosis of MS would give me so many more options.

Elsewhere in the interview with British Vogue, the actor said she hid her MS symptoms throughout the early 2000s and was also struggling with alcoholism.

Sets were excruciating sometimes with the exhaustion and the tics, she said. I took benzos and Klonopin [a medication used to prevent seizures and anxiety disorders]. I didnt abuse those things, just alcohol. But I was lost and sad and could hardly ever smile. Hence my roles, I imagine.

She confessed to hiding her MS symptoms when working on her 2004 film, Hellboy, due to her fear of losing her insurance.

I remember [feeling] very, very poorly on Hellboy and was diagnosed with cat scratch fever and possible leukaemia in Prague, she added. I couldnt tell anybody. I couldnt admit alcoholism or [access] treatment in my insurance for fear Id be deemed an insurance risk. I fell apart once I got back to LA.
Actors Christina Applegate, left, and Selma Blair have both been diagnosed with MS. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP; Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP)

In 2021, Christina Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. But that might not have happened without the help of her friend and fellow actor with MS, Selma Blair.

In a recent voice message to British Vogue, Applegate recounted the day Blair urged her to get tested for the disease while their kids were on a play date. Blair, who went public with her own MS diagnosis in 2018, graced the digital cover of British Vogue on Thursday.

I was sitting in Selmas living room, our children playing, and I told Selma Id been having this weird tingling in my feet," the "Dead to Me" star recalled.

"She said, You must get tested for MS. ... In essence, because of her Im going to have a better quality of life.

Even though her "doctor doubted it," Applegate followed Blair's advice, and now both celebrities have become prominent advocates for the MS community.

I didnt imagine I could ever make a difference by showing up as myself and being open about my experiences," Blair told British Vogue.

"But when others with mobility aids rallied around my presence on the red carpet with a cane and in the midst of an MS flare, I noticed. I felt empowered to share.  Now its a conscious choice to.

While speaking with the fashion publication, Blair described how she concealed her debilitating MS symptoms for years before she was formally diagnosed. During a high point in her career  when she was starring in hit films such as "Cruel Intentions" and "Legally Blonde"  Blair was privately struggling with "body issues," vomiting, baldness and rashes.

"Sets were excruciating sometimes with the exhaustion and the tics. I took benzos and Klonopin [a medication used to prevent seizures and anxiety disorders]. I didnt abuse those things, just alcohol, she told British Vogue. But I was lost and sad and could hardly ever smile. Hence my roles, I imagine."

While filming "Hellboy" (2004), Blair was diagnosed with cat scratch fever and possible leukemia  but she didn't dare tell anybody out of constant fear she would be "found out" and "deemed an insurance risk."

Story continues

I was worried since the beginning of time that a glaring fault would remove me from the workforce," Blair said. "And usually it was my incoordination or getting stuck, too weak or sick."

"I was always terrified I would be deemed incapable. Or mentally unsound," she added. "My mother taught me that was death for a woman career-wise.

By the early 2010s, Blair's "autoimmune system was misfiring" and she was losing large amounts of hair and energy. She calculated how many naps she could "fit in on the side of the road" while driving to and from auditions.

"My self-hatred was extreme," she continued. "I could not manage well and I couldnt even try to find work.  [When I quit acting,] I spent my days in bed, crying, sometimes binge drinking, sometimes reading and sleeping, seeing doctors and healers.  I gave up almost until the diagnosis."

Since announcing her MS diagnosis and making high-profile appearances with her signature cane, Blair has become a vocal member of the disabled community. She credits her allies in the community with empowering her and helping her move forward, and she has considered making a return to the screen.

[I think producers] are open to it now, she said.

The reality of a set is another thing: the hours, the nights, the logistics of somewhere to curl up and reset my nervous system once over-activated. I havent actively pursued work in acting  it hasnt been the right time yet  but its absolutely doable for me. I have to take the leap.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
After years of growing violence against nurses and stalled attempts to address the issue in Congress, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced a new bipartisan bill this week that aims to protect healthcare workers from attacks at the workplace.

The issue has long concerned healthcare and social services employees, who say they are increasingly running understaffed and underpaid, putting both patients and themselves at risk. Healthcare workers were four times more likely to be seriously injured than workers in any other industry, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Journal Sentinel has been investigating violence against hospital workers since the fatal attack on nurse Carlie Beaudin in a dimly lit Froedtert Hospital parking garage in 2019. The newspaper's reporting detailed how cash-rich hospitals have done little to prevent violence against staff under weak OSHA protections.

Randy Atlas, a security consultant, checks the lights at an Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital parking garage in 2021.

Baldwin's proposed legislation would require OSHA to mandate that healthcare and social services employers implement a workplace violence prevention plan. The plan must include an assessment of the facility's level of security and staffing and would require that employers log violent incidents and investigate them as soon as possible.

The new federal standard would cover many types of facilities, including hospitals, Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities and home-based hospice work. It is not intended to cover the offices of individual physicians or other medical providers.

Currently, just eight states require employers to have workplace violence prevention plans. Wisconsin is not among them.

Previous legislative attempts to protect healthcare workers stalled after being opposed by the American Hospital Association and other hospital lobbies. A similar bill reintroduced by Baldwin last year passed in the House but not in the Senate.

The bipartisan legislation is sponsored by Baldwin and Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) with support from three Republican representatives. The bill does not currently have any Republican co-sponsors in the Senate.

Story continues

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tammy Baldwin introduces legislation to protect nurses from attack
Americans are living longer and therefore often working longer.

On Thursday, members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging looked into ways the government can better empower older Americans in the workplace and during their retirement years.

Many seniors seek to remain in the workforce to make ends meet or to regain income lost while caregiving, said Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Chair of the committee.

Sen. Casey pointed to data showing around 45 percent of Americans age 65 or older are now retired, compared to 58 percent in 2000.

They discussed economic barriers facing older Americans and their options for employment.

Many elderly may want to do something that has great flexibility, said Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), Ranking Member of the committee.

Lawmakers heard testimony from Dave McLimans, a Vietnam veteran and a retired steelworker.

He urged lawmakers to ensure benefits like Medicare and Social Security stay intact for older Americans.

I didnt serve my country to work and pay taxes for 44 years as an active steelworker just to let my voice fade away and see younger generations lose benefits I fought for, said McLimans.

Workplace discrimination for older Americans was another focus in the discussion.

Age discrimination is bad for people and its bad for the economy, said Dr. Ernest Gonzales, Director of the Center for Health and Aging Innovation at New York University.

There is now bipartisan legislation under consideration aimed at better protecting older Americans in the workplace against age discrimination.
Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch; former US President Donald Trump Getty Images

Fox News settled Dominion's defamation suit about election conspiracy theories for $788 million.

Several Senate Republicans predicted the settlement wouldn't change much at Fox or in journalism.

"A bad settlement is a lot better than going to court," one Trump backer told Insider.

Several Senate Republicans who rallied to Trump's side when he baselessly claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him said Fox paying nearly $800 million to avoid explaining its corresponding coverage was a straight-up business decision, and unlikely to hurt the functioning of a free press.

"I don't know whether this has what I'd call 'landmark qualities' to it," Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana said of the conservative news outlet's blockbuster defamation suit settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Braun initially planned to reject the 2020 election results but switched sides after MAGA supporters swarmed the US Capitol in January 2021.

Braun told Insider that the price tag, though steep, probably wouldn't have an "earthshaking impact on Fox." The media giant has dodged potentially ruinous scandals for decades.

"I think that it leaves a few things a little murky," Braun said while walking through the Senate subway. He added that other news companies should take note because "if you are taking a certain point of view, you better make sure you got all your facts and ducks in a row."

Three GOP senators who voted to overturn the 2020 election results, Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, danced around the specifics of the case but weighed in on aspects they felt most comfortable with.

Hawley, a Yale Law School graduate who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Insider he didn't know enough about Fox's arguments to offer any kind of expert opinion.

"I will leave Fox's legal strategy to Fox," he said, stressing that he didn't have any inside information or "anything to compare it to."

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Hawley loosened up a bit when asked if this was an example of lawyers wreaking havoc on freedom of speech.

"Lawyers are always running amok. I mean, that's what we do for a living. Especially plaintiff's attorneys," he said with a laugh.

Cruz, a Harvard Law School graduate who also serves on Judiciary, said it made sense for Fox to bail out before things got any worse.

"The trial was likely to be pretty ugly," Cruz told Insider. "And I understand Fox making the decision not to go through a trial where there's lots of testimony that's harmful to the station."

Fox took a beating leading up to the trial as private messages from founder Rupert Murdoch and talk show hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity leaked out, showing Fox bigwigs were more interested in appeasing their Trump-obsessed audience than factual reporting.

"I get that it's salacious. And everybody kind of enjoys a chance to see private texts back and forth, particularly of famous people," Cruz said of the media frenzy surrounding the internal communications.

But he said he's fairly certain no rational being would invite that level of scrutiny.

"I think a lot of people say things in private to their friends that they don't particularly want broadcast to the world," Cruz said. "I would suggest you probably don't want your texts made public. I certainly don't want mine."

Tuberville held his tongue when asked about news-gathering practices and legal precedents. But said he fully understood wanting to escape a public drubbing.

"I've been in a couple of lawsuits before. And a bad settlement is a lot better than going to court," Tuberville said with a chuckle.

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who voted to impeach Trump following the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress, offered the most pointed analysis of Fox's legal challenges.

"It's no problem  if you don't lie," Romney told Insider between votes.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Senate struck down a Republican resolution on Wednesday that would have repealed a rule from the Biden administration that forces the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide abortions.

The resolution failed in a 48 to 51 vote. It had been introduced by Senator Thomas Tuberville (R., Ala.) in February and was sponsored by 34 Republicans, as well as Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.).

In September, the Biden administration issued a rule to remove the prior exclusion of abortion under the VAs medical services. The rule came just three months after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving Democrats searching for new ways to increase abortion access.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its medical regulations to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and establish exceptions to the exclusion on abortions in the medical benefits package for veterans who receive care set forth in that package, and to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and expand the exceptions to the exclusion on abortions for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) beneficiaries, the Biden admins update read.

Tuberville argued ahead of the vote that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortions.

Were going to vote to overturn it because it is illegal, it is wrong, and it abuses taxpayer dollars, Tuberville said at a press conference ahead of the vote. In September, the VA announced they were going to start performing abortions. The VA had never done abortions before.

Congress banned abortion at the VA 30 years ago. It was unanimous. One of the senators who voted for that bill was Joe Biden, Tuberville added. We have never repealed this law. It is still on the books, and the administration needs to follow it. The administration doesnt get to change the law without a vote in Congress.

Manchin said that while he believes abortion is a personal decision, tax dollars should not go toward funding abortions.

Story continues

The Hyde Amendment was that protection. It was that buffering that we werent forcing your dollars to be used for an abortion that you deeply, deeply disbelieved in, Manchin said at the press conference.

If this has to be changed, it should be voted upon. If the legislation that the president wants to do and this administration, then bring it before in a piece of legislation, and lets go through the process, he added.

On Wednesday, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said that the department is committed to providing abortions.

As VA Secretary Denis McDonough has said, Pregnant Veterans and VA beneficiaries deserve to have access to medically necessary world-class reproductive care when they need it most, Hayes said. Thats what our nation owes them, and thats what we at VA will deliver.

More from National Review
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has placed an employee on administrative leave as it investigates a reported security incident.

DHS is following its standard operating procedure after reports of a security incident by placing the individual on administrative leave, according to a department spokesperson. This news comes after multiple outlets reported that a senior DHS border official was escorted on Monday from his office, which was reportedly left sealed with crime tape.

DHS is committed to ensuring all operational security protocols are followed and is conducting an inquiry into a reported security incident, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill, adding the department wouldnt comment on ongoing internal investigations.

Rolling Stone magazine first reported that the DHS official placed on leave was Brian Sulc, the executive director of the Transnational Organized Crime Mission Center within DHSs Office of Intelligence and Analysis. According to four sources familiar with the matter, Rolling Stone reported Sulc is under investigation for an alleged security violation of bringing a personal device into the office that prohibits electronic devices and phones.

The report said Sulc was escorted from the office to be questioned at a second location after three squad cars from the Federal Protective Service pulled up to the DHSs northwest Washington office. The magazine reported that Federal Protective Service officers joined the offices security team to search Sulcs office, which was then sealed with crime tape and evidence seals on the keyhole and door to prevent people from entering.

He is a big deal, a source with direct knowledge of the incident told Rolling Stone. He does the border, all the big issues and crises. This is why this is all so shocking.

Sulc is tasked with overseeing intelligence assessments on transnational organized crime, border security and terrorist travel threats, has been in his role since 2022 and has worked at DHS since 2008, according to his LinkedIn.

Politico also reported a source familiar with the matter said Sulc was placed on leave and is under investigation. The source also said Sulc was escorted from his office Monday, according to Politico.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  An international law expert on Thursday said the Philippine government should at least stop deploying Filipino workers to Taiwan amid a possible war between the United States and China.

In case of a shooting war, amongst the casualties in Taiwan will be Filipino workers. Thats inevitable in an armed conflict and thats why Im saying as early as now, if we cannot start repatriating our kababayans (countrymen) from Taiwan, we should at least stop further deployment, lawyer Harry Roque told CNN Philippines The Source.

He also said the government should already have contingency plans for those who will be affected in case the conflict escalates.

This was Roques response when asked about the statement made by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, who claimed the United States intends to take advantage" of the new sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) amid rising tensions in Taiwan.

The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose Taiwan independence rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs [overseas Filipino workers], Huang said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he will speak to the Chinese envoy to hopefully clarify his recent remark about the situation of OFWs.

READ: Lost in translation? Marcos to speak to China envoy over remarks on Taiwan OFWs

Roque, who is currently in China, said he has spoken to leaders and Filipino journalists based there who have said a shooting war will most likely happen between Washington and Beijing.

While the Philippines is not obliged to take sides, the country may still end up being a military target of China due to the EDCA sites across the country, he noted.

In effect, communities near EDCA sites and OFWs in Taiwan will be the collateral damage, he added.

Roque urged the Marcos administration to review the existing EDCA to reflect the current situation.

The conflict between the US and China was most recently fueled by the visit of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to Washington to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Following the visit earlier this month, Beijing launched military drills around self-governing Taiwan, which it considers China's renegade province.
Manchester United were knocked out of the Europa League by a rampant Sevilla who showed once again why they have won this tournament a record six times.

United were nervous all night and an early mistake from David De Gea and Harry Maguire gave the hosts the lead after just eight minutes. Youssef En-Nesyri pressing high to win the ball and tap it past the goalkeeper.

Lucas Ocampos believed he had added a second just before the break but a close VAR call ruled his strike out for offside. Sevilla didnt need long after the restart tp score though. A corner ball came to Loic Bade who shouldered an effort over the head of De Gea to give the hosts a firm grip on the match.

Things got worse for Uniteds goalkeeper when, late in the game, he stormed out of his box, miscontrolled the ball and gave En-Nesyri an open goal to secure the win and a spot in the semi-finals.

Relive the action as Sevilla host Manchester United in the Europa League quarter-finals:

Sevilla vs Manchester United

Sevilla dominate Manchester United to knock them out of Europa League

81 GOAL! - Another De Gea mistake sends Sevilla into the semis (SEV 3-0 MUN)

72 CLOSE! - Eriksens free kick curls wide of the post (SEV 2-0 MUN)

53 CHANCE! - Ocampos should poke one home but its cleared off the line (SEV 2-0 MUN)

47 GOAL! - Bade adds a second from a corner (SEV 2-0 MUN)

42 DISALLOWED - Ocampos goal is chalked off after an offside in the build-up (SEV 1-0 MUN)

40 GOAL! - Ocampos doubles Sevillas lead (SEV 2-0 MUN)

23 CHANCE! - Wan-Bissakas effort finds the goalkeeper (SEV 1-0 MUN)

8 GOAL! - En-Nesyri sends the hosts ahead after a quality press (SEV 1-0 MUN)

Sevilla FC 3 - 0 Manchester United FC

Reaction from Paul Scholes

22:03 , Mike Jones

As part of his punditry with BT Sport former Manchester United star Paul Scholes had his say on Uniteds performance: It was a difficult night for United.

They didnt handle the passion and just couldnt handle the aggression of a brilliant Sevilla team tonight.

Story continues

Sevilla vs Manchester United player ratings from shambolic Europa League exit

21:58 , Mike Jones

A shambolic Manchester United side crashed out of the Europa League after a woeful defeat to Sevilla in Spain.

Harry Maguire was caught on the ball on the edge of his box as Youssef En-Nesyri fired Sevilla ahead early into the game.

David De Gea was then beaten by Loic Bades looping header as United conceded within two minutes of the restart. The goalkeeper then miscontrolled a long ball as En-Nesyri sealed Uniteds defeat.

United, who at one point were 2-0 in the tie, barely threatened in one of their worst performances of the season under Erik ten Hag.

Here are how the players rated as Sevilla progressed to the semi-finals:

Sevilla vs Manchester United player ratings from shambolic Europa League exit

Full-time: Sevilla 3-0 Man Utd (5-2 agg)

21:55 , Mike Jones

90+4 mins: There goes the final whistle. Manchester United have been humbled in Spain. Their European journey is over for this season.

Sevilla were just better than them in every single way tonight. Erik ten Hag will not be at all pleased with what hes seen but he cant be too critical as these players need to turn up against Brighton at the weekend in the FA Cup.

Sevilla go through having won 5-2 on aggregate.

Sevilla 3-0 Man Utd (5-2 agg)

21:50 , Mike Jones

90 mins: Four minutes of stoppage time to play before the end of this tie.

Sevilla 3-0 Man Utd (5-2 agg)

21:47 , Mike Jones

87 mins: Anthony Elanga comes on to replace Christan Eriksen for the final few minutes. The Sevilla fans are having a whale of a time now.

Theyre bouncing up and down in the stands. This is a win to remember and theyll be confident of going on to win the whole thing.

Sevilla 3-0 Man Utd (5-2 agg)

21:46 , Mike Jones

84 mins: Man Utd need this game to end. Its been a terrible performance from them and they need to shake it off quickly. An FA Cup semi-final is still to come on Sunday and this performance needs forgetting.

Sevilla are just a class above in the Europa League. Theyve never lost the competition when theyve reached the quarter-final stage.

GOAL! Sevilla 3-0 Man Utd (5-2 agg) - En-Nesyri, 81

21:42 , Mike Jones

81 mins: Game over! Manchester United are out of Europe.

A long ball comes up the pitch and drops over the heads of everyone. David De Gea comes out to clear the danger but miscues his clearance and gives the ball to Youssef En-Nesyri.

Hes got an open goal ahead of him and slots it home with ease.

What is De Gea doing?

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:41 , Mike Jones

80 mins: Erik Lamela came out of the Shaw challenge with a limp and is replaced with Bryan Gil for the final 10 minutes or so.

Sevilla are marching towards victory, theyve been too good for Man Utd tonight and the visitors are at the needing a miracle stage of proceedings.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:39 , Mike Jones

78 mins: Luke Shaw and Erik Lamela have a tussle deep in inside Uniteds half. Shaw gets the better of the battle and wins a free kick.

United work it quickly over to Antony who drives into the box and pulls the ball back to Casemiro. Casemiro drills a pass across the face of goal but Eriksen cant get on the end of the pass.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:34 , Mike Jones

75 mins: 15 minutes to play and Man Utd are still yet to challenge Bono in between Sevillas sticks. The hosts are totally in control of the game and dont even look troubled.

They win a corner that Rakitic whips in. It drops to En-Nesyri who lays the ball off to Fernando. He shoots from range and the ball deflects behind for another corner.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:32 , Mike Jones

72 mins: Fred is fortunate to win a free kick about 30-yards out from goal after slipping and losing the ball. Theres a long converstion about what to do with this set piece.

Harry Maguire is in the box as four players stand over the ball. Its left to Marcus Rashford and Christian Eriksen.

Eriksen strikes it but curls his effort wide of the far post! Close but not close enough.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:30 , Mike Jones

69 mins: A shapr counter-attack from Sevilla sees Suso drive the ball down the pitch before slipping it out wide to Ocampos. He nudges the ball into the box then lifts a cross over to the far side but theres no-one there to get on the end of the pass.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:28 , Mike Jones

66 mins: Man Utds players look a little despondent. Theyll all know that theyve been poor tonight but the game isnt over yet.

Erik ten Hag calls on reinforcements and brings Fred on to replace Marcel Sabitzer.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:25 , Mike Jones

63 mins: What can Man Utd muster up in the final stages of this quarter-final? If they can score one, theyll push to get a second. The more pressure Sevilla are put under the more likely they are to buckle.

Its all a bit toothless from Erik ten Hags side at present.

(Action Images via Reuters)

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:20 , Mike Jones

60 mins: Christian Eriksen wins throw in deep in Sevillas half but United are forced backwards by the still impressive closing down from the hosts.

Sabitzer gives away a needless foul and United are on the back foot again. 30 minutes to play.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:17 , Mike Jones

57 mins: Casemiro is booked. He dangles a leg in on Nemanja Gudelj as the midfielder storms through the middle of the pitch. Gudelj hits the deck but theres no contact from Casemiro.

The referee awards the free kick anyway and Casemiro complains heavily. His yellow card comes for dissent more than anything else.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:14 , Mike Jones

55 mins: Anthony Martial is limping around, hes probably injured again. Erik ten Hag wastes no time replacing him as Wout Weghorst comes on just before the visitors send in a corner.

Yassine Bounou deals with the set piece well.

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:13 , Mike Jones

53 mins: Chance! Sevilla should be three up!

Another corner gets swung into the middle where En-Nesyri wins the header. His effort is blocked by Luke Shaw but the rebound falls to Lucas Ocampos who prods it at goal and somehow United scramble it clear.

How has that not gone in?

Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg)

21:11 , Mike Jones

51 mins: Man Utd will believe that if they score one theyll be able to score a second. Sevilla will get nervous if United can cut the gap.

Sevilla have just picked up where they left off in the first half though. These opening minutes of the second 45 belong to them as well.

GOAL! Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg) - Bade, 47'

21:09 , Mike Jones

47 mins: This one will stand! Sevilla win an early corner that gets whipped into the penalty area. Loic Bade leaps into the air and misses his header.

The ball hits him on the shoulder though and loops over th David De Gea, hits the underside of the crossbar and bounces over the line!

Second half: Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

21:07 , Mike Jones

Erik ten Hag makes a couple of changes at the break. Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford come on to replace Jadon Sancho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Will those substitutions help out the visitors?

HT Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

21:02 , Mike Jones

Sevilla are just 45 minutes away from a place in the Europa League semi-finals. Based on the first 45 minutes they wont be worried about conceding either, Man Utd were woeful.

A big turnaround is needed from the visitors.

HT Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:58 , Mike Jones

Harry Maguire or David De Gea? Fault for calamitous Sevilla goal divides opinion

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was involved in another calamitous moment against Sevilla as the Premier League side went behind in their Europa League quarter-final, but the England international was quickly defended by Gary Neville and Robbie Savage - who said David De Gea was to blame.

After scoring a late own goal in last weeks 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, Maguire was again at fault as United conceded the opening goal inside the first 10 minutes of the second leg at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.

After receiving a pass from goalkeeper De Gea just outside the box, Maguire was quickly swarmed by three Sevilla attackers, with the former Tottenham forward Erik Lamela winning the ball back on the edge. It was then fed to striker Youssef En-Nesyri, who finished past De Gea to put Sevilla ahead in the tie.

Maguire initially looked to be at fault, but former United captain Neville argued the defender should never have been passed the ball from De Gea. He tweeted: Maguire will get battered but that pass from DeGea I wouldnt like!

Harry Maguire or David De Gea? Fault for calamitous Sevilla goal divides opinion

HT Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:54 , Mike Jones

It was a difficult 45 minutes for Manchester United. Erik ten Hag needs to give them a good talking to during this break or else the Red Devils are getting knocked out of the Europa League.

(Action Images via Reuters)

(Action Images via Reuters)

(Action Images via Reuters)

Half-time: Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:50 , Mike Jones

45+4 mins: Casemiro has a late effort that gets deflected behind for a corner. Christian Eriksen swings the set piece into the middle and Harry Maguire wins the header. He nods it down but Sevilla work the ball away and counter-attack.

Lucas Ocampos drives down the right side than blazes a pass across the front edge of goal. The resultant corner is cleared as far as Rakitic who volleys a shot back towards goal and sees his effort blocked by Casemiro!

The half-time whistle goes and United take a breath. Theyve been played off the park in that half.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:47 , Mike Jones

45 mins: Four minutes of added time to be played before half-time. Man Utd are hanging on at the minute. They need to get into the break without conceding again.

DISALLOWED! Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:44 , Mike Jones

42 mins: Reprieve for Man Utd! VAR takes a look at the goal and spots that Acuna had just drifted offside. Man Utd are so, so lucky. Theyre still in this game.

GOAL! Sevilla 2-0 Man Utd (4-2 agg) - Ocampos, 40'

20:42 , Mike Jones

40 mins: Two! United give the ball away yet again with En-Nesyri carrying it up the inside left. He sends the ball out to Acuna who whips a cross over to Lucas Ocampos.

Ocampos drags the ball down then smokes it past David De Gea to send the host two goals to the good!

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:40 , Mike Jones

38 mins: Close! A decent counter-attack from Sevilla make use of the spaces in between Uniteds lines. Erik Lamela receives the ball on the edge of the box.

He cuts across the front edge and pokes a shot through the defence only for David De Gea to drop low and scoop up the ball.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:37 , Mike Jones

35 mins: Chance! United do well to sweep the ball over the pitch and find Antony on the right wing. Antony dances inside of Acuna and lifts a cross into the penalty area.

Casemiro arrives for the header and wins it in the air but he cant control the effort and nods the ball over the top.

The Red Devils are showing signs of life though yet that early goal could come back to haunt them.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:34 , Mike Jones

32 mins: Sevilla are totally in control. This game has exceeded the half-hour mark and Man Utd still havent had a shot on target.

Maybe they can create one here?

Marcel Sabitzer is shoved off the ball by Fernando and United win a free kick just inside Sevillas half.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:31 , Mike Jones

29 mins: Sevilla have an injury to deal with. Marcao pulls up clutching his hamstring after marshalling the ball out of play. He cant continue and Suso is brought on to replace him.

To compensate Nemanja Gudelj slots back into the centre-back position with Suso filling in in midfield.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:27 , Mike Jones

26 mins: Man Utd are winning all the battles in the middle of then pitch and are causing United to give away simple free kicks. The visitors need to get control of the ball in midfield.

Sevillas set piece is one from training ground but comes to nothing as Marcel Sabitzer gets it clear.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:24 , Mike Jones

23 mins: Chance! Casemiro gets on the ball and flicks it forward to Jadon Sancho. Sancho weaves into the box and lays the ball off to Marcel Sabitzer.

He flicks it over to the far side of te box where Aaron Wan-Bissaka arrives and drills a low shot straight at Yassine Bounou.

Better from United.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:22 , Mike Jones

22 mins: Sevillas pressing game has been exceptional tonight. Man Utd have hardly been able to string a couple of passes together when trying to get out from defence.

Casemiro is waving his arms around for his defenders to move the ball quicker, its all too easy for the hosts at the minute.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:21 , Mike Jones

20 mins: Marcos Acuna drives down the left wing and whips a deep cross into the box to Lucas Ocampos. Ocampos brings it down nicely and takes on Diogo Dalot whos playing at left-back tonight.

Dalot holds him up well and blocks the ball out of play but the referee awards a goal kick. Thats the second time Sevilla have been robbed of a corner.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:17 , Mike Jones

17 mins: Rakitic decides to take the free kick himself and blazes it into the wall. The rebound comes back out to him but Casemiro charges down his second effort as well.

United then storm up the pitch and Antony dribbles to the byline before winning a free kick as his cross is blocked by a handball.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:15 , Mike Jones

14 mins: There seems to be a lack of confidence in the United players. Its as though this group arent as attuned to each other as they should be.

Wan-Bissaka brings down Rakitic about 25 yards out from goal. Big chance coming up for Sevilla.

Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg)

20:12 , Mike Jones

11 mins: The good news for Man Utd is that they have plenty of time to reduce the deficit once more. The mistake will shake Uniteds already shaky defence though.

Erik ten Hags men need to score next.

GOAL! Sevilla 1-0 Man Utd (3-2 agg) - En-Nesyri, 8'

20:10 , Mike Jones

8 mins: Shockingly poor from Man Utd! They look to play out from the back and David De Gea sends Harry Maguire down the river. He gives the defender the ball as three white shirt press him.

Maguires attempted pass out is blocked by Erik Lamela who nudges the ball to Youssef En-Nesyri. The striker just has De Gea to beat and guides the ball into the bottom corner.

Sevilla take the lead.

Sevilla 0-0 Man Utd (2-2 agg)

20:06 , Mike Jones

6 mins: Marcel Sabitzer takes a knock and needs a moment on the sidelines to recover himself. Christian Eriksen swings the resultant free kick into the penalty area but Yassine Bounou is free to punch the ball away.

Man Utd didnt have the runners attacking the six-yard box.

Sevilla 0-0 Man Utd (2-2 agg)

20:03 , Mike Jones

3 mins: Ivan Rakitic comes down the left side for Sevilla and takes on Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He gets to the byline and knocks the ball out of play off the Man Utd defender.

The referee awards the visitors a goal kick though which the Sevilla midfielder isnt all too pleased about.

Kick off: Sevilla 0-0 Man Utd (2-2 agg)

20:01 , Mike Jones

The 43,000 seater stadium is packed. The Sevilla fans were asked to dress in the club colour and there is a circle of white surrounding the pitch.

Its an imposing sight for Manchester United and theyll need to silence this crowd in order to get themselves into the game.

United get the ball rolling for this second leg.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:57 , Mike Jones

Here come the teams. The atmosphere is electric inside the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. Can Manchester United knock yet another Spanish side out of the Europa League this season?

Lets find out, kick off is up next...

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:53 , Mike Jones

The warm-ups are done and the players are about to head back onto the pitch. This is going to be an intriguing contest and could come down to who scores first.

Sevilla will be more confident as theyre at home but Manchester United - even a depleted United like this - will believe they can get through.

(PA)

(PA)

Playing football again is a dream says Eriksen

19:50 , Mike Jones

A year ago I dreamed of being where I am today, said Christian Eriksen before todays Europa League clash. It was a dream to come back and play football and I was lucky that the manager wanted me here.

We let them [Sevilla] into the game in the first game as we had good control in the first hour. They have had a lot of different coaches this season, but they are now starting to win games.

They have a good team, a good shape and some very good individuals but we have already won a trophy and I am aiming for two more.

Manchester Uniteds season rests on the trials and tribulations of Harry Maguire

19:45 , Mike Jones

By the end, the Manchester United supporters were customising a chant, one they like to deliver with the arrogance of winners. Youve seen United, now go off home,  albeit with a different verb  was adjusted to incorporate Harry Maguires name. Their Nottingham Forest counterparts had indeed seen Maguire: Leicester reject echoed around the City Ground, and Leicester would probably like more rejects if they could pocket 80 million for each of them.

But the taunts turned into a triumph of sorts. Maguire could be used to insult the Forest fans but United have won each of the last 11 games he has started. That is not to say they have won because he was starting: he was abject for the first half-hour in Nottingham, decent thereafter. A terrible beginning could have cost United and, when he was booked for wrestling the quicker Taiwo Awoniyi to the ground, leaving him with 87 minutes to survive on a yellow card, there was the chance that sights of Maguire could have been confined to a relatively short period of time.

And, suddenly, Uniteds season has started to rest on Maguire. Take Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez out, and injuries have, and the most expensive back-up centre-back in the world is suddenly as pivotal was he was in Ole Gunnar Solskjaers plans. Erik ten Hag has prospered by getting upgrades in two partnerships, in the middle of defence and midfield, but as Casemiro was reunited with Christian Eriksen, it was to shield Solskjaers long-time centre-back duo. More potent teams than Forest could test Maguire and Victor Lindelof.

Manchester Uniteds season rests on the trials and tribulations of Harry Maguire

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:40 , Mike Jones

Manchester United have scored in each of their five away games in the Europa League this season for a total of nine goals.

"Defensively, we are good, we have the most clean sheets in the Premier League, so our organisation all over the pitch is good, and in attack, we should have scored more goals over the season," says boss Erik ten Hag.

"I am confident, especially now we have all the players on board, we [will] score every game."

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:35 , Mike Jones

Manchester Uniteds last five European campaigns have all been brought to an end by Spanish clubs.

Sevilla started that run in 2017/18 and Atletico Madrid extended it in last seasons Champions League round of 16.

The elimination of Barcelona and Real Betis this season means Uniteds overall record in two-legged European ties against Spanish teams is now won 10, lost 10.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:30 , Mike Jones

Manchester United are unbeaten in six matches against Spanish clubs (four wins, two draws).

However, they have still managed just 22 wins overall in 73 Uefa matches against Spanish opposition (27 draws, 24 defeats).

Although the Red Devils have won only seven of their 32 games in Spain (13 draws, 12 losses), four of those victories have come on their last six visits, with the other two matches drawn, including 2-2 earlier this year at the Camp Nou.

Their record in Spain this season is won two. drawn one, the other fixtures bringing 1-0 wins at Real Sociedad and Real Betis.

Erik ten Hag reflects on the first leg

19:25 , Mike Jones

Yeah, definitely. We also said after that we had to look in the mirror, but also it was bad luck as well, replied Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag when asked if his team can take confidence from the first 60 minutes at Old Trafford in the first leg.

In the end with 10 [men], we conceded the goal. It was, I think, a really unlucky goal. It was a deflected goal, but it is what it is. You can do nothing for it, the only thing you can change is the future so we have to be ready for that game.

Always when a fanatic crowd is against you, youre looking forward [to it]. I think what you said, the atmosphere will be brilliant.

The pitch is great and we have to be ready for that game. We want to go to the semi-final and then you have to give everything, because 99 per cent is not enough.

Jose Luis Mendilibar: Sevilla wont change mentality if Marcus Rashford returns

19:20 , Mike Jones

Sevilla head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar believes Marcus Rashford is one of the best players around but says his potential return will not alter their approach against Manchester United.

The 25-year-old has recovered from a difficult campaign in stunning fashion, scoring 28 goals in all competitions before pulling up injured against Everton 11 days ago.

Rashford missed last weeks chaotic, and potentially costly, 2-2 first-leg draw with Sevilla in the Europa League quarter-finals but there is a chance he will return in Spain on Thursday.

The England international trained with his team-mates ahead of the trip to Seville, where he scored a stunner as United won 1-0 at city rivals Real Betis in the previous round.

Jose Luis Mendilibar: Sevilla wont change mentality if Marcus Rashford returns

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:15 , Mike Jones

Sevillas home record against English sides is won four, drawn two and lost three.

However, a 1-0 win in the first leg of last seasons Europa League round of 16 against West Ham is the clubs only victory in their last five such fixtures (two draws, two defeats).

Tthe two defeats were their joint heaviest of all time in Europe, both 0-4 in the Champions League group stage  against Chelsea in 2020/21 and Manchester City on Matchday 1 this season.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

19:10 , Mike Jones

The clubs have met twice before in Uefa competition.

The first time in the 2017/18 Champions League round of 16 where after a goalless first leg in southern Spain, Vincenzo Montellas Sevilla took the tie with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford against Jose Mourinhos United thanks to a quickfire double from French striker Wissam Ben Yedder seeing the visitors to victory despite a late reply from Romelu Lukaku.

The second occasion was in the 2019/20 Europa League semi-final, a Sevilla side led by Julen Lopetegui won a single-leg tie 2-1 in Cologne against Ole Gunnar Solskjrs United. The English side took the lead through Bruno Fernandess ninth-minute penalty, only for Suso to equalise on 26 minutes and Luuk de Jong to complete the comeback with a 78th-minute winner.

Eriksen on importance on tonights clash

19:05 , Mike Jones

Christian Eriksen was on media duties this week with manager Erik ten Hag and gave his thoughts on playing in such a crucial match for Manchester United.

Yeah, its going to be a very big game, Im really looking forward to it. he said, Its a nice pitch, a nice stadium and nice weather, so perfect.

You want to play in big stadiums, with a lot of people  cheering or booing, or whatever, one or another. It will be nice, its definitely going to help the atmosphere and also the football.

Pre-match thoughts from Erik ten Hag

19:00 , Mike Jones

Manchester United boss, Erik ten Hag, spoke about how he uses motivation as a tool to get the best from his players and why it needs to be used ahead of big games such as tonights Europa League quarter-final.

We have to use motivation as a tool and control it. he told the media earlier in the week, The timing of that is important. In big games especially, we have to know how to use it.

We need to focus on the game and play the best game we can. Our organisation all over the pitch is quite good. We need to do better attacking.

I am confident that we can score goals tomorrow.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

18:55 , Mike Jones

David De Gea could be a key player for Manchester United tonight with Sevilla expected to be on the front foot as they look to enhance their already formidable Europa League reputation.

The Spanish keeper has played more minutes (990) than anyone else in this seasons competition, narrowly ahead of former United defender Chris Smalling (945).

De Gea has kept five clean sheets in his last eight matches for the club.

(REUTERS)

Sevilla vs Man Utd team changes

18:50 , Mike Jones

Jose Luis Mendilibar makes three changes to the Sevilla line-up that started the last game. Jesus Navas and Loic Bade slot into defence in place of Gonzalo Montiel and Tanguy Nianzou while Oliver Torres drops out for Youssef En-Nesyri.

Erik ten Hag meanwhile makes four changes to the Man Utd line-up. Injuries have forced Tyrell Malacia, Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez out of the back line so Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Diogo Dalot and called in to substitute.

Elsewhere Christian Eriksen returns in place of Bruno Fernandes.

Sevilla vs Man Utd line-ups

18:48 , Mike Jones

Sevilla XI: Bounou; Navas, Bade, Marcao, Acuna; Fernando, Gudelj; Ocampos, Rakitic, Lamela; En-Nesyri

Man Utd XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot; Casemiro, Eriksen; Antony, Sabitzer, Sancho; Martial

 Your United XI for tonight's huge game #MUFC || #UEL  Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 20, 2023

Christian Eriksen is Manchester Uniteds secret weapon in Sevilla showdown

18:40 , Mike Jones

If Manchester United find themselves in the position of needing to respond to a dramatic setback, Christian Eriksen feels an apt figure to turn to.

In the last two years, he has diced with tragedy but may end the season with the triumph of a treble. In the last three months, there was the fear his season might be over after a shocking challenge by Andy Carroll. But he has a propensity to stage comebacks, often sooner than anticipated. They can go better than most expect.

It is a habit that could come in handy for United in Seville. They were 2-0 up and cruising when Eriksen entered the fray at Old Trafford last week. Half an hour later, they had lost Lisandro Martinez for the season  Raphael Varane, who had gone off earlier, was then ruled out for several weeks  and conceded two goals which to add to the sense that events had taken on a life of their own, were both own goals.

It might not quite make Sevilla, the six-time champions, favourites against a depleted United team at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan but a tie is suddenly in the balance.

Christian Eriksen is Manchester Uniteds secret weapon in Sevilla showdown

Its 50-50 says Mendilibar

18:35 , Mike Jones

Sevillas coach, Jose Luis Mendilibar, cannot pick which way this match and quarter-final tie will go and believes that the home sides fans will play a big part in deciding the result tonight.

Its 50-50. he said, It will be very complicated and even after drawing 2-2 away we are not ahead in the tie.

The fans will help, but on the pitch it is 11 against 11. This United team have experience on their side.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

18:30 , Mike Jones

Sevilla are unbeaten in all four previous encounters between the sides.

The first  and only prior meeting at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan between the pair  was a 0-0 draw in the Champions League round of 16 in 2017/18.

Can Man Utd break that cycle and earn a spot in the final four tonight?

Ten Hag on Uniteds injured players

18:25 , Mike Jones

As we wait for the team news to drop heres Erik ten Hag speaking about the possibility of Tyrell Malacia, Marcus Rashford, Marcel Sabitzer and Luke Shaw possibly playing a role this evening.

All four were nursing injuires but have been included in the matchday squad.

They are available because thats why theyre on the airplane, Ten Hag told reporters in Seville yesterday. I will take my decisions tomorrow, today we trained and we will see what the reaction is and then tomorrow we will take a decision.

You always want to keep players fit, which is the main objective, besides of course the main objective: win the game.

Marcus Rashford included in Manchester United squad for Sevilla second leg

18:20 , Mike Jones

Marcus Rashford has travelled with Manchester United to Spain after training on the eve of the crunch Europa League quarter-final against Sevilla.

The 25-year-old pulled up holding his groin against Everton 11 days ago, with the club announcing he was expected to be out for a few games.

Rashford missed last weeks 2-2 first-leg draw with Sevilla and Sundays 2-0 Premier League win against Nottingham Forest, but United appear to have received a major fitness boost.

The England forward trained with his team-mates at Carrington on Wednesday morning and the club later confirmed he is part of the 21-man group making the trip to Spain.

Marcus Rashford included in Manchester United squad for Sevilla second leg

Sevilla vs Man Utd prediction

18:15 , Mike Jones

A Manchester United side missing key figures in Bruno Fernandes, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Marcus Rashford, although only from the start, is stunned by Sevilla in extra time.

Sevilla 2-1 Manchester United

Sevilla vs Man Utd predicted line-ups

18:10 , Mike Jones

Sevilla XI: Bounou; Navas, Bade, Marcao, Acuna; Fernando, RakitiA, Gudelj; Ocampos, En-Nesyri, Suso

Man Utd XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw; Casemiro, Fred; Antony, Eriksen, Sancho; Martial

What is the early team news?

18:05 , Mike Jones

Marcus Rashford returned to Manchester United training ahead of the trip to Spain and is in the squad to face Sevilla after missing the past two games.

Tyrell Malacia missed Sundays trip to Forest with a sore knee but also trained on Wednesday.

Marcel Sabitzer, who pulled out of the starting line-up at the City Ground after picking up an issue in the warm-up, also worked with the group, but Scott McTominay did not.

Bruno Fernandes is another out of Thursdays match as he serves a one-match suspension at Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.

Lisandro Martinez and Donny van de Beek are out for the rest of the season, while Alejandro Garnacho and Raphael Varane remain sidelined.

How to watch Sevilla vs Man Utd

18:00 , Mike Jones

The match will kick off at 8pm BST on Thursday 20 April.

It will be shown live on BT Sport 1, with coverage starting from 7pm. BT Sport customers can also stream the match live on the BT Sport website and mobile app.

Sevilla vs Man Utd

17:20 , Mike Jones

Hello and welcome to The Independents coverage on tonights Europa League action where Manchester United look to book a spot in the semi-finals.

Erik ten Hags men threw away a two goal lead at Old Trafford last time out as two late own goals cost them a victory. Sevilla, who were the second best team by far, left Manchester with a handy draw and will be confident of overcoming the Red Devils in Spain tonight.

Bruno Fernandes is suspended and leaves a big gap in Uniteds midfield. Christian Eriksen and Casemiro should be able cover and United are boosted by the return of Marcus Rashford.

They have work to do though and will need to beat Sevilla away from home in order to progress. Well have all the action and build-up throughout the night so stick with us.
Melinda Henneberger, who won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her work at The Star, has returned to Kansas City and this week rejoined our staff as metro columnist and member of the editorial board.

Ten years ago, in September of 2013, Christopher Lyman was a decorated Army sergeant, the recipient of a Bronze Star for valor, reporting for duty at Fort Riley after 16 months in Afghanistan. Hed survived three IED attacks during his three tours of duty and was looking forward to some family time with his wife and their 15-month-old son Evan.

His wife, Tammarisk Lyman, had been through her own ordeal: a nonviable, ectopic pregnancy with twins during the months they spent with family in Ohio after his return from overseas. Still, she and Chris had agreed to take in her sisters baby for six or eight weeks, while little Johnathans 21-year-old single mom, Meggan Swan, was trying to get her life together after a second DUI.

In Meggans small town of Conneaut, Ohio, on Lake Erie, it was hard to find anyone willing to watch Johnathan while she worked, she later said in court, because he had medical issues and everyone was scared. They were right to be.

All of his brief life, 8-month-old Johnathan Swan was in and out of the hospital with severe respiratory problems. He stopped breathing sometimes, and at one point had been on full life support. Taking him in was a last-minute arrangement, brokered even after the Lymans had left Ohio for Kansas. But Meggan was desperate, and in the months before Chris had to report to Fort Riley, he in particular had bonded with the baby.

My son wouldnt cuddle with me, but he would with him, Meggan testified, sobbing, at her brother-in-laws 2015 murder trial. He called him dad. Thats the only word he ever knew.

Around 2 a.m. on Sept. 15, just two weeks after Johnathan had joined them in Kansas, Chris Lyman says, their son Evan woke them up pounding on his door, so while Chris was up he checked on Johnathan, too, and found him kind of limp and unresponsive in his bed.

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He tried CPR, but heard an ominous gurgling sound, like bubbles when you blow through a straw, and yelled for his wife to get the baby to the hospital. Hed throw on some clothes, grab Evan and be right behind them. Which, after setting off their own alarm system in a panic, he did and was.

By 4:20 that afternoon, he was sitting opposite a homicide detective in a police interrogation room. Where Lyman, who thought he didnt need an attorney, talked and talked.

First, he volunteered that he hadnt exactly been eager to take responsibility for always fussy Johnathan, especially since we moved out to Kansas to kind of like, I guess, just to get to know each other again after so much time apart during his two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Sometimes they worried, he said, about whether they were going to have the boy with them for more than just a couple of months. And then, just five days earlier, Lyman said, theyd learned that Tammarisk was pregnant again.

If taking in their nephew had to be permanent for a freak accident, fine, he told the detective, like they were having beers in the backyard. But its like everyone in her family is just trying to take advantage of our goodwill. Still, he added, he and the wife did feel for the poor kid, who had been rejected by his father before he was even born.

He and Tammarisk had talked about setting up some kind of college fund for Johnathan, and they didnt want Meggan to have to leave him with sitters she barely knew. You dont know what kind of people they are, he told the Junction City police detective, Cory Odell. Right, Odell said.

Reading the transcript of that interview is like reading a horror story where you know that something is about to pop out from under the bed, but for what seems like forever, the main character does not. Though when Odell stepped out of the room but kept the tape running, Lyman did make the sign of the cross.

Shaken baby industrial complex

Without hesitation, Lyman told Odell that hed insisted that his wife go ahead and catch her planned flight to California for a business trip that morning, which is exactly what shed done. I told her, I said, you know, theres nothing we can do medically. We did our part.

Uh-huh, the detective said again.

When Odell finally stopped agreeing, he told Lyman that he knew his whole story was a lie, and that the only real question was whether he was going to be man enough to admit abusing Johnathan both physically and sexually.

Why? Because at Childrens Mercy in Kansas City, where Johnathan had been life-flighted, they specialize in child abuse cases. The doctors, who are specifically trained and do this for a living, tell me this is child abuse. Somebody hurt this kid on purpose. That is the medical truth. Somebody hurt him and they hurt him so bad that he is fighting for his life. That is what happened.

Is it? Lyman kept trying to tell him about the childs many serious medical problems, and Odell kept saying, I dont care about his medical issues. Lyman kept saying that the doctors had to be wrong, and Odell kept repeating that they were the experts, and so were not wrong.

Whenever someone tells me that doctors cant be wrong, I think how lucky they are never to have learned otherwise. This isnt a story about one doctor who flubbed a diagnosis, though. Instead, its one about how much of the medical establishment refuses to update its understanding of what they used to call shaken baby syndrome.

The name has been changed, to abusive head trauma, or non-accidental or inflicted trauma, because of the growing criticism of this diagnosis. But the criteria for diagnosing abuse have not changed, even though we now know that there are many other conditions that can cause the three markers for shaken baby, which are retinal hemorrhages, brain swelling and a subdural hematoma. The classic triad, its called.

The result isnt just that this one man may well have been wrongfully convicted, but that hundreds of people every year continue to be sent away for crimes that those doctors and researchers who are critics of what they call the shaken baby industrial complex argue never happened at all.

The National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the University of California Irvine Newkirk Center for Science & Society, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University Law School, lists shaken baby convictions of injuring or killing an infant by violent shaking, based on a medical diagnosis that is now highly controversial as a major subset of exonerations.

A pathologist testified that the small triangle at the top of this CT scan of Johnathan Swans head was a massive subdural hematoma that killed him.

No evidence of traumatic brain injury

In January of this year, now 38-year-old Lymans conviction was overturned by District Court Judge Courtney Boehm. She ruled that Lyman had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel because his original defense attorney, Linda Eckelman, was suffering from dementia at the time of his 2015 trial.

It turned out to be Eckelmans last trial, and its plain from the transcript that she was not at all well, interjecting God, Im bored apropos of nothing, using words incorrectly, accusing the judge, Steven Hornbaker, of being mad at her, and frequently losing her train of thought.

Eckelman was deficient, Boehm found, in her failure to adequately vet and investigate the states only expert as to the cause of death. That expert was Erik K. Mitchell, the notorious Kansas pathologist Ive written about several times before, who has made a door-to-door career of getting it wrong.

Eckelman also fell short, the judge found, in failing to subpoena and admit the childs medical records, and in refusing to take the time the original judge had offered to give her to find a new expert after hers was disqualified, not because of his medical opinions, but because of the odd and bizarre ideas contained on his website, including that he could scientifically prove Earth was created in six days.

If a defense expert like any of the three who now say Johnathan Swan actually died of acute pneumonia and lung disease had testified at Lymans original trial, there was a reasonable probability that the verdict would have been different, the judge ruled.

All three also say shaken baby syndrome is not supported by current medical science.

Neither Mitchell nor the child abuse pediatrician at Childrens Mercy, Dr. Terra Frazier, ever reviewed Johnathans medical records from Ohio.

Dr. Janice Ophoven, a pediatric pathologist from Minnesota, found, based on tissue slides of five lobes of Johnathans lung, that all five sections are remarkably abnormal and, in my opinion, clearly represent the cause of little Johnathans fatal distress and cardiopulmonary collapse.

There is no evidence to support a diagnosis of traumatic injury to the brain tissues, she said, and no evidence to conclude that Johnathan Swan suffered any abuse at the hands of Christopher Lyman.

The swelling to the brain that signaled child abuse to Childrens Mercys Frazier, Dr. Ophoven said, was instead associated with respiratory and cardiac failure and efforts to resuscitate him. Yet as soon as the presence of intracranial blood and brain swelling were observed, she wrote, the case became one of abuse.

In fact, by early afternoon on the date of hospitalization, the medical records contain numerous references to what appeared to be a confirmed diagnosis of child abuse. My review indicates that there was a combination of misdiagnosis and a rush to judgment.

Ophoven also dismissed the finding of sexual abuse: Unfortunately, inexperienced observers raised questions regarding purported anal lacerations even though the medical examiner documented a normal anus.

Inexperienced eyes, she said, will misinterpret the natural dilation in a brain dead child as suspect, but the autopsy findings typically allay any such concerns. This did not occur, and the jury was told that the child had evidence of blunt force injuries to the anus suggestive of sexual abuse. This was incorrect.

All the same, Lyman was found not guilty of the aggravated criminal sodomy charge against him, which was filed 18 months after his arrest.

Stuck in a time capsule for almost 10 years

There is one thing that does bother me about Lymans version of events: A computer expert for the prosecution testified that Lyman had searched, both on his laptop and on his phone, for information about shaken baby syndrome right before Johnathan Swan arrived in Kansas.

Lyman says he has no idea what that was about; was he looking for something about sick babies and it led him to that page? Child abuse is not something you normally think of as a premeditated crime, but if he did search for shaken baby deaths right before being accused of one, well, that would need explaining.

What defense experts said about the actual cause of Johnathans death is still convincing, though. And the judge wrote this in her decision overturning Lymans murder conviction: The court finds that there is a reasonable probability that without trial counsels unprofessional errors, the result would have been different.

For Lyman, of course, the cost of those errors was only nearly everything. Not only did he spend almost a decade behind bars, but his wife divorced him, he hasnt seen his son Evan in years and has never met his younger boy, Maik. His mothers savings were wiped out, and just like me, she was stuck in a time capsule for almost 10 years.

Lyman is free for now, awaiting a possible retrial back at his moms in Ashtabula, Ohio, sleeping in the room he grew up in. People want to see me, but he has to space out those visits with old friends, because answering the same questions over and over is so exhausting.

At a hearing in Junction City on Thursday, Judge Keith Collett agreed to grant Lyman a new probable cause hearing, and the state did not object.

At his initial such hearing, which is the preliminary hearing at which a judge decides if theres enough evidence to go to trial, Mitchell testified that Johnathan was admitted to the hospital with a massive subdural hematoma that turned out to be smaller than a dime. He also said that Johnathan was, in fact, beaten in order to get those injuries.

Thats what the probable cause finding by Judge Charles Zimmerman was based on, the judge said: Theres a child who had a massive subdural hematoma which Mitchell clearly stated that this was the cause of death. And it strains credulity for me to believe that there was no outside force that caused the childs injuries.

Medical examiner Erik Mitchell has a history of making incorrect diagnoses.

Mother begs prosecutor: not another trial

In January, Meggan Swan, little Johnathans mother, who was never convinced of Lymans guilt, sent the prosecutor, Geary County Attorney Krista Blaisdell, a heartfelt letter begging her not to put her through another trial: I am asking you to do the right thing, it says, and please not force me to continue to live through the trauma of Johnathans passing. So far, shes received no response.

When she showed up at Childrens Mercy Hospital on the day he was admitted, she told me, they didnt let me in to see him, because they had automatically made it a murder. Why a distraught mother whod been in another state when her son was admitted would be treated like a criminal I cant fathom, but she says thats what happened. They told me my son had been brutally murdered and raped, she said, and treated me like I was the one that hurt him.

I got there with $100 in my pocket and was kicked out of the hospital in the pouring rain with my phone at 5%. Chris, who had planned to pick her up at the airport, was unavailable on account of incarceration. Evan was in the states custody, and Meggan, on the worst day of her life, had to call around to figure out which kill shelter the family dog had been taken to.

The next day, after her child was already dead, my first sight of him was them ripping his legs apart to say hed been raped. I tried to tell them hed been sick, but they null and voided anything I said. She turned to heavy drugs after her sons death, she told me, but has been in recovery and part of a church community for the last five years.

Its hard not to see a class issue at work here: The first doctor who saw Johnathan, at Geary Community Hospital, reported that he found it suspicious that when Meggan was told about her sons condition, she didnt say shed hop right on a plane. She was kind of, OK, well, Ill see if I can get there, he testified. Could that be because she had no money and had never hopped anywhere on a plane in her life?

Blaisdell told me in an email that she couldnt comment on the case since it has been remanded back for a new trial, and that trial date has not been set. Which certainly sounds like she intends to take Lyman back to court.

Attorney Richard Ney, left, picked up Christopher Lyman when he was released from Ellsworth Correctional Facilty in February.

Skepticism, exonerations, not guilty verdicts

But whatever happens in Junction City, the even bigger question, given the growing number of exonerations and not guilty verdicts in shaken baby cases, is when the verdict on the markers for child abuse is going to be reconsidered.

Neither a spokeswoman for Childrens Mercy nor Dr. Terra Frazier, the child abuse pediatrician who found and testified that Johnathan had been abused, answered my messages asking whether they had in the decade since Johnathan died in any way changed their view of what child abuse looks like. Mitchell, who is now working in Georgia with a medical transplants company, didnt answer me either.

Medical schools still teach, as they have since the 1990s, that if you see retinal hemorrhages, brain swelling and a subdural hematoma, then what youre seeing is the result of abuse, period. In fact, doctors who do not report suspected abuse when they see these can be held liable.

The medical establishment has pushed back hard against doctors who cite hard evidence that many of these deaths instead result from natural causes; the official view is that anyone who finds a reason other than abuse for these cases is just in denial, because we as a society dont want to admit how prevalent abuse really is.

Ive probably written more about abuse  clerical, on campus, in the military, in law enforcement, in relationships and in families  than I have about any other single topic, and I am not in denial.

But I am persuaded by shaken baby skepticism for a few reasons: One, the advent of nanny cams has shown that in cases where babies really were shaken by caretakers, we just dont see the injuries on CT scans that the shaken baby pioneers said were a given in such cases.

Two, Ive seen this psychological horror movie before, in real life, in the Kansas case of Carrody Buchhorn, who was also convicted of murdering a child in her care on the say-so of Erik Mitchell, and is now among those who have been exonerated in such cases. The child in that case, Oliver Ortiz, actually died of a congenital heart defect.

The excellent 2014 documentary The Syndrome, based on the work of investigative journalist Susan Goldsmith, shows how the doctors who pioneered shaken baby orthodoxy were the same individuals who dreamed up the Satanic panic of the 1980s, when, as Ive written before, much of America bought into reports that an improbable number of day care workers were Satan-worshiping pedophiles.

Christopher Lymans nephew Johnathan, left, and his son Evan

I served the same system that did this to me

The film documents case after case of people whove been wrongfully accused as the result of shaken baby panic. One of them was Kathy Jo Hyatt, a mom from Macon, Missouri, whose husband Kevin had spent 31 years with the Missouri State Highway Patrol by the time he retired in 2014.

In the film, the Hyatts tell the story of how, after the 11-month-old in Kathys care fell off the couch and then had trouble breathing, she rushed the girl to the ER and was promptly charged with abuse of a child/shaken baby syndrome.

It was, the doctor said this, so it had to be shaken baby, and tell us why you did it, Kevin Hyatt says in the movie. Ive been involved in law enforcement for soon to be 29 years, and it floored me that the finger could be pointed at somebody over so little information. If one of these bigwig doctors could go through what they put us through, maybe they would see how wrong they are. Hyatt was arrested in 2004 and ultimately found not guilty, but others continue to be arrested on so little information.

The first time I interviewed the Buchhorns, one of the things I found saddest was what Carrodys husband Tim, an active duty Army sergeant, said about how his wifes wrongful conviction had shaken his faith in our system: Ive spent my entire adult life defending our justice system and believing in the Constitution and believing in the Declaration of Independence. So when his wife went to prison, it made me question everything Id done, because the system didnt work.

Lyman told me almost exactly the same thing: I served my country. I served the same system that did this to me, and that was more depressing than seeing Afghanistan fall to the Taliban. I just felt betrayed.
The daughter of Letecia Stauch, the Colorado woman accused of killing her stepson, testified on Monday about her mothers conflicting explanations of the incident.

Stauchs 11-year-old stepson Gannon Stauch was stabbed 18 times and shot in the head hours before the 39-year-old reported him missing on Jan. 27, 2020. Stauchs descriptions of the incident include several disconnected details, according to previous Oxygen.com reporting. Officials have described the crime scene as bloody.

RELATED: Colorado Stepmom Standing Trial In Gannon Stauchs Murder Criticized Police For Repeatedly Questioning Her

Ive been to crime scenes with a single gunshot wound that has no blood. Ive been to crime scenes with a few stab wounds that have no blood, senior crime scene investigator Alisa Berriesford, from the Metro Crime Lab in Colorado Springs, testified on Tuesday, according to Law&Crime. To have blood at that scale and of those types of patterns, there has to be some movement within that scene.

Stauchs daughter Harley Hunt, who was 17 at the time of Gannons death, testified about her mothers inconsistencies.

Gannon Letecia Stauch Pd

Gannon and Letecia Stauch Photo: El Paso County Sheriff's Office

She just kept saying she was set up, that this video thats going to surface will show that Gannon came home. Just things along that line, Hunt explained to the court during her testimony.

After Gannons murder, Stauch allegedly stuffed his body into a suitcase and disposed of it off a bridge in Florida. The suitcase was recovered on March 17, 2020 by a worker conducting a safety check on the Escambia River Bridge in Pace, located in Santa Rosa County.

Around the time of this discovery, Stauch and Hunt traveled 1,400 miles from their Colorado Springs home in a rented van to start a new life, close to where Gannons remains were found.

Hunt testified that she was unaware that Gannon was in the suitcase, as she never checked the back of the van, where their luggage was, and that she never expected her mother could be capable of such a crime, according to Yahoo.com.

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Oxy App

Im still in shock, Hunt explained. I defended her for years. I just feel manipulated and lied to.

She also stated that her mother insisted that they keep the air conditioning turned on during the ride to Florida, though Hunt did not notice any unusual smells.

Stauchs brother, Dakota Lowry, also testified previously about her behavior after Gannons disappearance. He recalled watching Stauch struggle to lift the same suitcase that was used to move Gannons body, Law&Crime reported.

I didnt feel right about it, he testified, explaining that Stauch refused his offer to help, claiming the luggage was full of softball equipment.

Stauch has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in Gannon's murder.
A man took his own life Wednesday night at Sacramento International Airport after deputies responded to 911 calls about a possible shooter in the facilitys parking structure.

The gunman fired two shots just before 9 p.m. while inside a parked truck in the parking structure across the street from Terminal A, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office. The rounds were contained within the vehicle, according to deputies initial reports.

The Sacramento County Coroners Office on Thursday afternoon released the name of Kevin Terry Stead, 53, of Sacramento as the man who died in Wednesdays incident at the airport. No one else was injured, Gandhi said.

There were no delays to movement or operation within either passenger terminal, county spokesman Scott Johnson said, and air traffic operations for Californias sixth-busiest airport were routine at 9 p.m., according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

Travelers and car traffic were diverted away from Terminal A for a brief time, Johnson said, adding that Terminal B was operating without incident. Terminal A carries flights for four air carriers: United, Delta, American and Air Canada.

Shortly before 9:30 p.m., Gandhi announced that authorities found the suspect dead in the vehicle from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Speaking to reporters, Gandhi said the investigation was preliminary but initial 911 calls to authorities indicated the possibility of an active shooting situation but the man was not known to the Sheriffs Office.

Once deputies responded, moving toward a white Ford F-150 suspect vehicle, shots rang out within the pickups cabin, Gandhi said.
Six people have been indicted on federal drug and weapons charges, including several Bellingham residents, as part of a fentanyl-trafficking operation in Western Washington.

All six defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl by a grand jury in Seattle, according to a U.S. Justice Department statement released Thursday, April 20.

I commend the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office Drug and Gang Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration for a fast-moving investigation that worked to interdict potentially deadly pills over the last four months, said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

Three of the suspects have been arrested and more arrests were possible, according to the statement that was posted on the Justice Department website.

Brown said the suspects have been under investigation since late last year, and were moving drugs from Seattle to be sold in Bellingham.

These alleged traffickers also possessed guns  some stolen, some with extended magazines  a dangerous combination with the narcotics, Brown said.

Six defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and other crimes, according to the statement:

 Matthew Anderson, 35, of Bellingham, was charged with two counts of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.

 Daniel John Faix, 39, of Bellingham, was charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute; unlawful possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

 Natasha Parkhill, 37, of Bellingham, was charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.

 Robel Sisay Gebremedhin, also known as Robel Sisay Gebremedhui, 40, of Burien, was charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a firearm, and carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

 Mohamed Abdirisak Mohamed, 34, of Seattle, was charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a firearm, and carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

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 Ahbdurman Ahmed, 32, of Seattle, was charged with two counts of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute and unlawful possession of a firearm.

State charges are anticipated on seven additional defendants, according to the statement.

Fentanyl, a cheap and addictive synthetic opioid, has been blamed for a sharp rise in overdoses and overdose deaths in Whatcom County in recent months.

While our community struggles with the impacts of fentanyl overdoses and deaths, the Whatcom County Sheriffs Office Gang and Drug Task Force continues to work closely with our local, state, and federal partners to hold those distributing this dangerous drug accountable for their actions, Whatcom County Undersheriff Doug Chadwick said in the statement.

We aggressively investigate those that bring these deadly drugs and criminal enterprises into our communities that prey on our most vulnerable, Chadwick said.

Details werent disclosed concerning the number and type of firearms that were confiscated or the weight and street value of the drugs.

A photo with the Justice Department statement shows several zip-lock plastic bags containing baby-blue pills and a single semiautomatic pistol.
Sinzae Reed, a 13-year-old who was fatally shot on Oct. 12 in Columbus' Hilltop neighborhood.

Six months after 13-year-old Sinzae Reed was fatally shot in Columbus' Hilltop neighborhood, Franklin County prosecutors have not brought the case before a grand jury, which would decide whether to charge the shooter. Online activists have drawn comparisons this week between the fatal shooting of Sinzae in October and the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in Kansas City. Both cases involve a white man who admitted to shooting a young Black teen, saying they did so in self-defense.

Here's what we do and don't know about Sinzae's death.

What is the status of the investigation into Sinzae's death?

According to Columbus police, 36-year-old Krieg Butler fatally shot Sinzae on Oct. 12 at the Wedgewood Apartments complex in Columbus' Hilltop neighborhood.

Police arrested Butler and charged him with murder within a few days of the shooting. After Butler told authorities he shot in self-defense, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyacks office dropped charges a few days later to await additional evidence, including the autopsy report and the results of ballistic tests.

The autopsy report was released publicly on Jan. 17. Columbus police said they wrapped up their investigation in February.

Franklin County First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Janet Grubb, who oversees the office's criminal division, told The Dispatch this week that the office has no comment on the case at this time.

"The matter is still under active review and investigation," Grubb said.

What do we know about the shooting?

Columbus police were called at about 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 12 to the Wedgewood apartment complex in the Hilltop on a report of a shooting. According to court records, an eyewitness saw Butler exit a red truck and fire multiple times at Sinzae.

Butler then entered his vehicle and fled the scene, according to court records. Officers responding to a report of a shooting found Sinzae with gunshot injuries and provided medical aid until paramedics arrived. Sinzae was rushed in life-threatening condition to OhioHealth Doctors Hospital, where he died at 6:26 p.m.

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Related for subscribers: 'There's no heroes out here,' Sinzae Reed's death adds to toll at Hilltop apartments

Was Sinzae armed?

Columbus police have not said whether Sinzae had a gun or other weapon. Megan Reed, the boy's mother, told The Dispatch he did not have gun.

She did say that a police detective asked why she would let her son carry a gun. Reed said Sinzae did not have a weapon on him when he was shot.

"Why would I let him carry a gun? They wouldve found it over there. He didnt have nothing on him, Reed said.

What does the autopsy report reveal?

An autopsy report released publicly on Jan. 17 by the Franklin County Coroner's office determined that Sinzae was shot twice, including a fatal wound to his chest.

One of the shots hit Sinzae in the wrist on his right, predominant hand. The bullet was found lodged in his wrist. The other shot struck Sinzae on the right side of his chest, damaging his heart and a lung before exiting through his back, ultimately causing his death, the report states.

Both of the bullet wounds struck Sinzae in a trajectory that went front to back, according to the report, dispelling rumors that Sinzae was shot in the back.

Megan Reed, center, receives a hug while speaking during a community press event about her 13-year-old son Sinzae Reed who was shot and killed on Oct. 12, 2022.

Why were charges dismissed against Butler?

Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case against Butler in Franklin County Municipal Court on Oct. 19. Authorities said Butler alleged that he had fired shots at Sinzae in self-defense.

Why wasn't Butler charged for illegally having a firearm?

Butler has a prior conviction from 2019 for misdemeanor domestic violence in Franklin County Municipal Court. Federal law bars people with domestic violence convictions from carrying firearms, putting them under what is commonly called disability.

Ohio law does not have a prohibition against people with misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence from carrying firearms. Ohio law prohibits convicted felons from having firearms in their possession.

Because Butler's conviction would bar him from having a gun only under federal law, Franklin County prosecutors cannot file that charge against him.

No charges have been filed in federal court.

Who was Sinzae Reed?

In his obituary, family members remembered Sinzae, who went by "Zay," as a boy who loved music, video games and spending time with his friends. Sinzae attended KIPP Columbus, a charter school on the Northeast Side.

How has the Kansas City case been handled?

Andrew Lester, 84, shot Yarl in the head and arm after the teen knocked on the wrong home's door on the evening of April 13. Yarl mistakenly went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings.

Lester told police that night he shot Yarl immediately after answering the door when he saw Yarl pulling on the door handle. Lester was released that night.

On Monday, the prosecutor in Kansas City announced two felony charges against Lester, assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot when he went to the wrong house in Kansas City, Missouri to pick up his brothers.

Going deeper: How Ohio laws make it easier to claim self-defense in cases like Sinzae Reed's death

Why have prosecutors not presented the Columbus case to a grand jury?

The Franklin County Prosecutor's office declined to comment on why they haven't yet taken this case before a grand jury, which would decide whether to charge Butler with a crime.

Prosecutors must tread lightly with claims of self-defense since Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly passed laws in recent years making it easier for defendants to claim they used force in self-defense, Robert Barnhart, a Capital University Law School assistant professor, told Dispatch for a special report in January.

Grubb told The Dispatch then that claiming self-defense is not a "get out of jail free" card. There is no statute of limitations for bringing a murder charge against someone, she and other law experts have noted.

But Grubb added that youd be surprised how many cases  not just cases with self-defense claims  the office must dismiss while gathering evidence.

Its a case-by-case consideration, Grubb said. Some cases have more evidence than others that are readily apparent. Some cases will have the surveillance video or cooperative witnesses.

Franklin County assistant prosecutor Janet Grubb poses for a portrait inside her office in 2021.

The Columbus Dispatch staff writers Bethany Bruner and Cole Behrens contributed to this report.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: No charges six months after fatal shooting of 13-year-old Sinzae Reed
More than four months after a mother with a gun stopped two people who allegedly were trying to steal her child in the Des Moines skywalk, court records show the prosecution of both suspects has run into delays.

Laurie Potter, 56, and Michael Ross, 43, were charged with child stealing after the Jan. 5 encounter, which took place at the skywalk entrance to the Hubbell Tower Apartments building at 904 Walnut St.

According to court records and police statements, Hubbell manager Shay Lindberg saw Potter and Ross at the door of her office waving at her young son, who was at work with her, and thought the two were there to apply for jobs. But when Lindberg opened the door, Potter allegedly told her to give her the child, saying she was his real mother, then grabbed his arm and tried to take him with her.

Lindberg, who was legally carrying a firearm, drew the weapon and told the two to leave. Police arrested them soon after.

Ross and Potter have now had preliminary hearings in court, but both cases have run into delays. Court records show a new warrant for Ross' arrest after he failed to report to a treatment program as ordered, and Potter has been found incompetent to stand trial, at least for now.

More: At what age can a child stay home alone in Iowa? Here's what state law says

Laurie Potter on months-long waitlist for treatment

Court records show that an attorney for Potter  who allegedly claimed the child's real father was "Thor" filed a motion Jan. 13 asking that she be evaluated for competency.

After a hearing in February, Judge Jeffrey Farrell suspended proceedings, finding Potter "is suffering from a mental disorder which prevents her from appreciating the charges, understanding the proceedings or assisting effectively in her own defense" and that she "poses a danger to the public peace and safety" and "refuses to cooperate in treatment."

Farrell ordered Potter be treated at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, the state's primary correctional medical facility, but it's not clear when that will happen. The Department of Corrections has limited capacity for competency restoration treatment, making it a bottleneck that frequently causes lengthy case delays.

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In one Polk County murder case, defendant Eric Stricklin was ordered to receive competency treatment in October 2022. In January, his attorney let the court know that Stricklin was then 36th of 42 people on the IMCC's waiting list. It was not until this month that Stricklin finally was admitted for treatment.

As of April 19, Potter remains in the Polk County Jail, according to jail records and court filings. Her competency hearing has been postponed repeatedly and currently is set for May 10.

More: Parental consent for kids to be on social media? Iowa House GOP weighs making it the law

Michael Ross disappears after pretrial release

Attorneys have not raised concerns about Ross' mental competence, but court records show that on April 3, Farrell approved him for pretrial release after prosecutors and his attorneys agreed he should be permitted to seek inpatient treatment at an addiction recovery facility.

That has not gone according to plan. On Monday, pretrial release services reported to the court that Ross had not gone to the agreed-on facility for treatment, and that they do not have any records of him as a patient. Ross also is not living at the men's shelter he identified as his current residence, and he provided no phone or email address where he can be reached.

"His current location is not known," the pretrial officer wrote.

In response, Farrell on Tuesday revoked Ross' pretrial release and issued a warrant for his arrest. He is currently scheduled for trial Aug. 10.

Attorneys for Potter and Ross did not return messages inquiring about the status of the cases. Lynn Hicks, a spokesman for the Polk County Attorney's Office, declined to comment on the cases beyond what is contained in court filings.

"We hope both defendants receive the treatment they need," he said.

More: Senate passes bill loosening child labor laws to let Iowa teens work longer hours

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines skywalk child-stealing case delayed for both defendants
Denser and more affordable housing could be on the way to San Luis Obispo following Tuesdays City Council meeting.

Three different means of adding new housing to San Luis Obispo were approved at the meeting, paving the way for hundreds of new affordable units in the city.

The council voted unanimously to approve the Downtown Flexible Density Program, allocated funding awards for two Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo affordable housing projects and adopted a resolution to work with housing provider Peoples Self-Help Housing.

Combined, these three measures could add hundreds of housing units to San Luis Obispo over the next decade.

We simply could not do this without your support, HASLO executive director Scott Collins told the council.

How could new density rules change downtown SLO?

The City Council voted unanimously to approve the Downtown Flexible Density Program at the meeting, paving the way for hundreds of new, low-density housing units.

The program was introduced as an ordinance in January and incentivizes the creation of as many as 500 studio or one-bedroom units in downtown San Luis Obispo.

The program, which expires Jan. 1, 2029, eliminates density restrictions for homes under 600 square feet, limiting the number of high-density units only by the area of the building.

Recently, the program was amended at the March 21 City Council meeting to exclude homestay rentals from units that qualify for the program.

Importantly, the program could change the makeup of who lives downtown, housing coordinator Kyle Bell told The Tribune in January.

The program is intended to encourage the development of smaller units by offering housing developers more flexibility from standard density limitations, without imposing any increase to the scale or height of structures within the downtown, Bell said in January.

The ordinance will go into effect May 18.

City, Peoples Self-Help Housing to team up on Homekey project

The City Council also voted unanimously to approve a resolution authorizing a joint application and participation in Homekeys third round of housing.

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Homekey is statewide funding program that allows state, regional and local public entities such as governments and nonprofits to purchase properties such as hotels, motels and vacant apartment buildings and convert them into permanent, long-term housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It also allows for the construction of new single-family or multifamily housing in some cases.

The Homekey funding would be used to create a 20- to 30-unit supportive and transitional housing project at 920 Olive St., which would have a value not exceeding $18 million, according to the council agenda report on the resolution.

The city of San Luis Obispo and Peoples Self-Help Housing will apply for Homekey funding to build a supportive and transitional housing project at 920 Olive St. following the City Councils approval April 18.

This potential project would be located at the Homestead Motel site, rehabilitating and repurposing the structure to house approximately 15 families in permanent supportive housing.

Peoples Self-Help Housing would manage the site and provide supportive services, and will eventually include the rapid deployment of 15 tiny modular units for transitional housing, which would serve families, the report said.

Funding would be used to spruce up the property, expand existing motel rooms to include kitchenettes for family units, for demolition and utility connections, and for landscaping and property upgrades, the report read.

HASLO gets $3.2 million for two projects





The councils approval of a $3.2 million funding award for HASLO will be split between two projects in San Luis Obispo.

The first project will be located at 736 Orcutt Road  the former site of the Maxine Lewis homeless shelter  and will create more than 40 affordable units for unhoused individuals and residents at risk of becoming homeless.

According to HASLO director of finance and chief financial officer Ken Litzinger, the Orcutt Road project will cost around $19.6 million.

A new Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo project at 736 Orcutt Road  the former site of the Maxine Lewis homeless shelter  will provide more than 40 affordable units for homeless individuals and residents at risk of becoming homeless.

The project at 279 Bridge St. will provide 94 units of affordable housing for large families and seniors in a mixed-use development when fully completed, though this funding award is only for the first of three phases.

The first phase of the project will bring 34 affordable units of one, two and three bedrooms geared toward families, HASLO director of Litzinger told The Tribune.

The first phase alone will cost around $25.6 million, he said.

Phases two and three of the project will consist of units geared toward seniors and families, respectively, Litzinger said.

If these projects receive tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee when those awards are made in June, Litzinger said they could be completed in around 18 months, provided they start construction within 194 days of gaining the credit.

Tax credits are really competitive, but we hope with this funding that these projects will be competitive and receive tax credit awards, Litzinger said.

Collins thanked the city for its support for affordable housing during public comment.

Collins said local government funding is critical during the state and federal funding process, which often requires matching funds from local governments.

Thank you to your staff for recommending the affordable housing funding for two HASLO projects  the Maxine Lewis (project) at 263 Orcutt Road and at 279 Bridge St., Collins said. The Maxine Lewis (project) is going to be housing for homeless (individuals) and those who could fall into it very easily, and we desperately need more of these kinds of projects.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says a U.S. ban on TikTok would be beneficial in the short term but shared his concerns about the longer-term implications of singling out a single technology company.

Wed love that in the short term, Spiegel said in an interview with Kara Swisher at the tech and social platforms Snap Partner Summit on Wednesday. I do think it is important for us to be thoughtful and really develop a regulatory framework to deal with national security concerns, especially around technology. And I think based on the information that is publicly available, there are legitimate national security concerns far above my pay grade and security clearance.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

TikTok has faced massive scrutiny from Congress based on data and privacy concerns due to its ownership by the Beijing-based company ByteDance, even though there has not been evidence that TikTok has handed over American user data to the Chinese government. To help assuage concerns about user data safety, TikTok has also been in the process of rolling out Project Texas, a $1.5 billion plan meant to keep TikToks U.S. operations and data protected from foreign interference.

As TikToks fate in the U.S. still remains uncertain, state governments have already taken steps to ban the app. Last week, the Republican-controlled Montana House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it illegal to download the TikTok app in the state. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is expected to sign the bill into law. In a statement on April 14, TikTok said the bills champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and asserted that the move would be decided by the courts.

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With the series finale of FXs hit drama, Snowfall, we found out what happens at the end with Franklin, Leon, Louie and more.

The episode concluded with a time jump that sees Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) and Leon Simmons (Isaiah John) walking around the neighborhood and stumbling upon a movie thats in production. This comes after Franklin has hit rock bottom after never getting his money back. Leon, returning from a trip to Ghana, pays Franklin a visit to check on him and to also offer him a job to get back on his feet and save the house. Franklin opposes this idea, and in a moment pulling all of the heartstrings, he thanks Leon for being his best friend and tells him how proud he is of him. He then walks off as Leon cries and calls his name.

But back to the movie that they saw in production the moment was a nod to series co-creator John Singletons hit film Boyz In The Hood, which was released in 1991 the same year Snowfall ends.

Showrunner Dave Andron shared how the John Singleton tribute came to be with The Hollywood Reporter.

You know, we were just looking for a way to kind of tip our cap to him. This show brings his career full circle. His career started by telling the story of South Central, Andron explained. I know Boyz n the Hood opens in the 80s but really, it was South Central in the early 90s and what had happened and this story was very much the prologue to that how did that neighborhood become the place that we inhabit in Boyz n the Hood so it felt only right. We jumped time there obviously in the last couple of acts. September 1990 is the [Los Angeles] Times paper that Leon walks by. Its a real LA Times from September 1990 when he starts shooting Boyz n the Hood. So it just felt like the proper way to bring his oeuvre full circle and to really hand it off.

Andron gave a similar response to Deadline when asked about it.

If you think about it in some ways, Snowfall is a little bit of a prologue to Boyz, and how the neighborhood got to the point you experience in the film, he said. We did jump forward in time a number of years and we didnt put an actual date on it but the newspapers that Leon steps on the street are from September 1990, which was when John started filming Boyz in the Hood. It was very intentional to drop back into that moment in time to pick up that story where John picked it up with the movie. That was a little tip of the hat to him.

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He also spoke about how the last moments of the show also set up the potential spinoff, which is said to be in early development and would star Gail Bean, who may reprise her role as Wanda.

Leon tells Franklin that they are back in LA so that Wanda can get her start in the music industry.

She came back from Africa at the very end, and even though we dont see her we hear about her from Leon, shes back and shes got a dream, Andron said. Shes gonna have a whole life and shes found something shes passionate about, something she wants to be a part of. This for me goes back to the Wanda whom we first met. If that creativity and heart go into music, I feel like she might actually be able to carve something out.

He added, And you know, West Coast hip hop is about to explode. So telling the story of whats been going on in South Central in the way that Singleton told it with Boyz N The Hood. And so as you know, it leaked out there that we may try to continue telling that story because it felt worthy of Snowfall, and I felt worthy of John Singleton. So were gonna see if we can figure that out.

No word yet if Isaiah John would join Bean in the spinoff.

Earlier this season, Amin Joseph and Angela Lewis both spoke to S&A about what they hoped for Snowfalls legacy.

I hope [this] is not the final tribute. I know that John was working on many things other than just Snowfall, Joseph recently told Shadow and Act. I feel like this is one of the bound volumes of his legacy that is now closing a chapter. Its coming to an end, but I would hope that his legacy endures well beyond Snowfall. And like you said, it was already established 20, 30 years before this show. So [he was] just a monumental man thats given so much to TV and to the cinema.

Lewis told us, I hope people are proud of the work that were doing and able to, and what the show set out to do. It was created to give a message, to say something and to reveal a part of history that had been hidden for a long time in the community and the world at large. I think some people in our community knew about the CIAs impact on and involvement in bringing crack cocaine into the community, but it was not a really widespread nugget of information. So I feel good that we were able to bring that to the forefront and talk about it. And then in our storytelling, with vivid characters and amazing acting abilities and amazing writing, I hope that our community and the TV-watching community at large has been impacted in a way that we get to see ourselves do really amazing work. Franklin will live on forever, I hope, and Louie will be in there too. I like to think that we left a lasting impression on the culture.
(CNN)  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer, described himself as a truth-teller who will "end the division" as he launched his bid for the United States' 2024 Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday in Boston.

Kennedy used his campaign launch speech to lambast school and business closures during the coronavirus pandemic and to insist that government and media "lie to us."

"My mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency," he said, "will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now -- threatening now -- to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country; to commoditize our children, our purple mountain's majesty; to poison our children and our people with chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs; to strip-mine our assets; to hollow out the middle class and keep us in a constant state of war."

The 69-year-old Kennedy is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former US attorney general and assassinated 1968 presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.

He joins self-help guru Marianne Williamson in a presidential primary that President Joe Biden is soon expected to enter as the overwhelming favorite.

One hurdle likely facing Kennedy as he attempts to win over Democratic voters: his own family. Some Kennedy family members have denounced his views on vaccines. He has also clashed with his mother and siblings over his support for the release of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed his father in a moment that changed US history.

He acknowledged in his speech the opposition within his own family to his presidential bid.

"Other members of my family who are not here today -- I'm going to make a confession because I know most American families, they never have any differences with each other," he said. "So when that happens with a family, it's really huge news, like everywhere."

Still, he said he bears "no ill will or any kind of disappointment" toward family members who oppose his run.

He also pointed out a list of family members who he said were on hand Wednesday, including children, grandchildren, siblings and cousins.

"I told them to wear name tags," he said of his children.

'Heal the divide'

Kennedy made the announcement Wednesday in a ballroom of the Boston Park Plaza hotel, which was bathed in red, white and blue lights, before a backdrop of American flags, patriotic bunting and signs celebrating Kennedy 2024.

More than 500 people filled chairs, with a few hundred more standing in an overflow area, as signs were passed out to the crowd with a succinct campaign message: "Heal the divide."

A brass band played as Kennedy family photographs played in a loop on large screens at the front of the room. Volunteers distributed Kennedy 2024 signs and bumper stickers.

Kennedy lives in Los Angeles, but he chose Boston as a nod to his family's deep political roots in the city, even though his father, Robert F. Kennedy, declared his presidential ambitions in the Senate Caucus Room on Capitol Hill in 1968, the same place his uncle, John F. Kennedy, launched his presidential campaign in 1960.

He's hardly the first Kennedy to take on a sitting Democratic president. Another uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, challenged Jimmy Carter for the party's nomination in 1980 and lost decisively in a bitter campaign that divided the party for years to come.

For more than six decades, the reverence to the Kennedy name remains unparalleled in American politics, but the presidential announcement on Wednesday was met with resistance from some admirers of the family.

"I'm a lifelong Democrat, but I will not be voting for Robert Kennedy Jr. because I cannot stomach the anti-vaccine thing," said Tyson Humble of Portland, Oregon, who was visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. "The Kennedy name isn't enough. If he's going to go around saying crazy stuff like that, it's kind of a distraction more than anything."

Others acknowledged they didn't know much about Kennedy's environmental activism or controversial stance on vaccines.

"I'm willing to listen to what a person has to say, but I see no reason to displace Joe Biden," said Bob Howland, who was visiting the Kennedy library from Pittsburgh.

Tricia Santi, who took the train from Maine to attend the announcement, said she's a longtime admirer of the Kennedy family and a strong supporter of his message against government mandates for vaccinations. But she said his presidential candidacy excited her for other reasons, including shining a brighter spotlight on his environmental activism.

"I've been following him for many years with his advocacy work," Santi said. "I think he would make an excellent candidate to bring the country together to tell the truth about everything."

She knows his views on vaccinations are controversial, but she called him "a choice candidate" who favors personal autonomy.

Judy McIntyre stood in the ballroom, wearing a Kennedy button and a white T-shirt saying "question everything." She said she hoped his presidential campaign would draw more attention to not only vaccination mandates, but also other progressive positions.

"Don't fall for the one-subject anti-vax thing," McIntyre said. "Keep an open mind, listen to him, listen to his message. He's been cleaning up the environment for years."

A Boston native and long admirer of the Kennedy family, McIntyre said she was not bothered by the criticism from his family.

"I put nobody on a pedestal, but I really believe in his message," McIntyre said. "I come from a big Irish family, too. Everybody is entitled to how they feel. Agree to disagree -- that's what you have to do."

Longtime vaccine skeptic and environmental activist

Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic. He has promoted discredited claims linking vaccines and autism and founded the anti-vaccine organization Children's Health Defense.

In 2019, three members of his family -- his sister Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, brother Joseph P. Kennedy II and niece Maeve Kennedy McKean -- forcefully denounced his anti-vaccine views in a Politico Magazine op-ed, arguing that he was "part of a misinformation campaign that's having heartbreaking -- and deadly -- consequences."

Kennedy was a strident critic of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci. He also railed against the coronavirus vaccine and vaccine mandates.

In 2022, Kennedy invoked Nazi Germany in an anti-vaccine speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The previous year, Instagram took down his account "for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines."

Kennedy is the latest in a long line of family members to seek to enter politics.

His sister Kathleen served as the lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. His brother Joseph was a congressman from Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999. And more recently, his brother Chris Kennedy was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Illinois in 2018.

The last Kennedy to hold elected office was his nephew former Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who lost a Democratic Senate primary in 2020. (He is now the US special envoy for Northern Ireland.) Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of former President Kennedy, is currently the US ambassador to Australia.

The 2024 Democratic presidential primary is only beginning to take shape. Williamson launched her second long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination last month. CNN previously reported that Biden has told several elected officials in private conversations that he is "definitely running" for reelection but some Democratic officials have said a formal announcement is more likely to come this summer.

On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump jump-started the race for the party nomination, announcing his third bid for the White House last year. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are also in the race, while South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott launched an exploratory committee earlier this month. Other high-profile Republicans said to be weighing bids include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launches 2024 US presidential bid"
The Hickman Mills School District has stepped up security at Ruskin High School in south Kansas City after a student posted a threat on social media Wednesday.

When the district became aware of the threat, it contacted police and a note was sent to families explaining that a threat had been made.

Our school, along with Kansas City Police Department, has been investigating a social media incident, Ernest Fields, principal at Ruskin High School, wrote. It has been determined that there is no danger to the safety of our students or staff members.

The school had an additional police presence Thursday on its campus at 7000 E. 111th St. It also planned to have resources, including school counselors, available for students and staff who needed them.

The school knew who made the threat and Kansas City police were investigating, said Justin Robinson, a spokesman for the district.

Letter from Ruskin High School's principal by The Kansas City Star on Scribd
Sofia Richie has made her TikTok debut with her new married name ahead of her wedding weekend.

On Thursday 20 April, the model, 24, uploaded her first video to the platform, where she joined with the name Sofia Richie Grainge. The addition of her soon-to-be husband Elliot Grainges last name to her name comes as Richie is set to exchange vows with her fiance this weekend in France.

In her first-ever TikTok video, Richie informed her new followers that she is in the South of France for the couples wedding weekend and needed help picking a dinner outfit.

Guys, help me pick out an outfit. Im in the South of France and were going out on a little dinner excursion, Richie said, before trying on a blue halter-neck dress and sharing a quick hair tutorial with viewers.

The 24 year old daughter of Lionel Richie then tried on jewellery to go with her outfit before filming herself walking into the room to show off her final outfit choice.

After twirling for the camera, Richie asked: Do we like? Do we not like? Let me know.

Richie then chose a pink Hermes bag to complete the look, before informing her followers that she would be off to enjoy a glass of wine as she blew a kiss to the camera.

In the caption of the video, which has already been viewed more than 500,000 times, she wrote: France GRWM.

In a second video, in which she showed her makeup routine, Richie acknowledged her upcoming nuptials, with the model revealing it is the night before my wedding weekend starts.

In the TikTok, Richie said that her family would be arriving soon as she applied her makeup ahead of her dinner plans. I went to town on my skin today in the sun, which was a mistake, Richie said as she applied concealer.

The soon-to-be bride then informed her followers of her talent for doing her makeup fast, before admitting that the skill is likely because she doesnt apply that much.

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As she applied her makeup, Richie revealed that she is very excited for her family to arrive, and feels like she is running on pure adrenaline. GRWM for pre-wedding festivities, Richie wrote in a text caption, adding: Let the festivities begin.

Richies TikTok debut and behind-the-scenes look at her pre-wedding preparations have been met with excitement from fans, with many taking the opportunity to congratulate the model ahead of her nuptials.

Soo excited for this wedding content, one follower wrote, while another said: You are gorgeous! Happy wedding weekend!

This is the US royal wedding, someone else joked.

This is not the first time that Richie has shared a glimpse of her pre-wedding week in France, as she has also shared insight into the festivities on Instagram. On Thursday, Richie also shared an album of photos of herself wearing a pale blue gown along with the caption: Something bleue.

Richie has also reposted photos from her friends and loved ones to her Instagram Stories about the upcoming wedding festivities.

Richie and Grainge, a music executive, began dating in April 2021, with the pair announcing their engagement a year later, in April 2022. Forever isnt long enough, Richie captioned a photo announcing the engagement on Instagram, which showed the pair kissing and her new diamond engagement ring.

Richie also revealed earlier this month that she had converted to Judaism ahead of her upcoming nuptials, with the model describing the day as magical.
Action News Jax Ben Becker has confirmed with multiple law enforcement sources that political powerbroker Kent Stermon, 50, killed himself in December amid a Jacksonville Sheriffs Office (JSO) investigation into allegations he asked a teenager to undress while at his office in exchange for Taylor Swift concert tickets.

Beckers sources cannot be more specific about the girls age due to the sensitive nature of the investigation.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Becker obtained more than 160 pages of documents from the Atlantic Beach Police Department that includes pictures of the gun Stermon used to shoot himself in the head, as well as, a suicide note to his loved ones that read I love you both too much to put you through this. You are better off without me.

Window of Stermon's Ram truck shattered by the deadly bullet that killed him.

Money that was found at the scene.

Picture of the hand gun used to kill himself.

Ram truck where Stermon was found in.

Stermon's suicide note to loved ones.

Picture of the hand gun used to kill himself.

A collection of items found on Kent Stermon.

The cache of documents include graphic pictures of Stermon slumped over the wheel of his Ram pick-up truck with a window blown out from the fatal bullet.

Related Story: Jacksonville businessman Kent Stermon found dead in Atlantic Beach, was being investigated by police

Stermon aided the rise of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He was also a friend of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry. Stermon was also issued a badge for access to JSO headquarters by former Sheriff Mike Williams and was a supporter of current Sheriff T.K. Waters.

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The Daily Mail first reported the Taylor Swift concert connection but contrary to the Daily Mail report, Beckers sources say theres likely no other alleged victims. The final JSO investigative report is expected to be released in late April or early May.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories
Ukrainian refugees wait in a gymnasium Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico. Many of the Ukrainians who have resettled in South Dakota have settled on the western side of the state, because thats where their sponsors are located  many of whom are Ukrainians themselves.

South Dakota welcomed its lowest number of international refugees in recent memory last year, despite an increase in the number of refugees allowed in the U.S., according to a state report. But resettlement numbers are three times higher in the state when factoring in nontraditional programs, such as Ukrainian resettlements.

The president decides the maximum number of refugees the country will accept before each fiscal year. President Donald Trump slashed the refugee ceiling to 18,000 for fiscal year 2020 and 15,000 for fiscal year 2021, the lowest an administration has ever set. President Joe Biden later increased that years maximum to 62,500. Despite this increase, both years saw about 11,000 refugees arrive in America.

Biden set a goal of 125,000 for fiscal year 2022, but the number of refugees admitted has been slow to bounce back. About 25,000 arrived in the country and 49 arrived in South Dakota, down from 52 the previous year and a recent high of 439 in 2016.

Minnehaha County Commissioners listen in 2020 to a presentation from Lutheran Social Services on refugee resettlement in South Dakota.

Thats because South Dakota, the federal government and national organizations lack resources, said Lutheran Social Services president Rebecca Kiesow-Knudsen. LSS has overseen refugee resettlement in South Dakota since 2000, providing case management, employment services, interpreter services and English language training. The program is funded at the federal level.

A lot of this takes manpower, Kiesow-Knudsen said. Over the course of the last five years, theres been fewer refugees arriving nationally, which means organizations have scaled back staffing to meet the appropriate level of response, so they had less capacity for this increase and its hard to rebuild capacity.

National organizations were also tied up in new, nontraditional resettlement programs specifically for Ukrainians and Afghans in the last year. Those dont factor into the official resettlement numbers highlighted in the report, Kiesow-Knudsen said.

The state accepted another 68 Ukrainian cases last year through the national sponsorship program  115 Ukrainians total. Kiesow-Knudsen said South Dakota didnt see very many arrivals at all of Afghan cases.

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Ukrainians affected by the Russian invasion and Afghans extracted by the United States in 2021 dont have a legal refugee status, but rather a humanitarian parole status, which is a temporary immigration status used in urgent crises. Traditional refugee status offers a path to permanent U.S. residency, whereas parolees are granted permission to live and work in the U.S. for two years. Refugees are defined as individuals who are unable to return to their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution.

The Ukrainian sponsorship program, Uniting for Ukraine, is an unprecedented federal policy allowing tens of thousands of Americans to support an unlimited number of refugees. Its also become the largest private refugee sponsorship program in U.S. history, according to CBS News.

Many of the Ukrainians in South Dakota have settled on the western side of the state, Kiesow-Knudsen said, because thats where their sponsors are located  many of whom are Ukrainians themselves. The shift to western South Dakota resettlements has meant more drive time and effort for Sioux Falls-based LSS, including accessing telecommunications and telehealth services.

Of traditional resettlement, Congolese people made up the largest demographic group arriving in South Dakota last year, accounting for 25 of the 49 resettlements. Almost half of the refugees who arrived in the United States in fiscal year 2022 hailed from the Democratic Republic of Congo or Syria. The recent Congolese refugees are fleeing from outbreaks of violence in the eastern side of the country.

While the number of U.S. resettlements more than doubled in the last year, one reason South Dakota experienced fewer resettlements may be because many are family tie cases, Kiesow-Knudsen said.

An individual who has been approved might have a family member in another state, so typically thatll be given priority of where theyll be resettled, she said.

Knudsen added that resettlement organizations are signaling they anticipate therell be an increase in traditional refugee resettlement in the coming years. Resettlement can take 18 months to two years, so it will take time, she said.

South Dakota is a very welcoming place for individuals who are fleeing their home not by choice but because of violence in their home country, Kiesow-Knudsen said. We have a strong track record of providing community for these individuals, and I think that stands.

More than 216,000 Ukrainians were sponsored and entered into America as of February. The Biden administration discontinued parole for Afghan refugees in October 2022, focusing on resettling evacuees who qualify for immigration programs with permanent legal status. The U.S. resettled roughly 86,000 Afghans as of September 2022.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SD sees continued decline in refugee arrivals while Ukrainian sponsorships grow
South Florida is facing gas shortages across the region after it was pummeled with severe storms last week that brought historic rainfall and widespread flooding.

About 55 percent of gas stations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale are without fuel as of Thursday morning, according to GasBuddys Southeast Florida Live Gas Station Outage Tracker. Another about 34 percent of gas stations are also without fuel in West Palm Beach as demand for gasoline increased after the storms.

Intense storms dropped a historic range of 15 inches to 26 inches of rain in the Fort Lauderdale region last week, with much of the rain falling on Wednesday. The Fort Lauderdale airport closed for nearly two days due to flooding from the rain, and schools closed after the storms.

The demand for fuel rose largely from panic buying among South Florida residents, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said on Twitter.

[T]heres plenty of supply, but amidst intense panic buying, theres no way to make much progress, especially since theres a limited amount of capacity at the Port right now due to pump failure, he tweeted.

Fort Lauderdale said in an update to the storms Tuesday that the Florida Division of Emergency Management deployed fuel trucks to re-fuel stations in the area. The city said that the first delivery of 62,000 gallons arrived Tuesday evening and an additional 500,000 gallons would be delivered over Wednesday and Thursday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has been met with scrutiny for his response to the Florida storms last week as he was promoting his book in Ohio when the flooding occurred. Critics have taken to social media platforms to slam the governors response, with some of them posting photos of long lines outside fueling stations.

DeSantis announced a State of Emergency for Broward County in response to the flooding last Thursday on Twitter.

Fort Lauderdale is under water and DeSantis is campaigning in Ohio right now instead of taking care of the people suffering in his state, Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter last week.

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday that consumer panic is not to blame for the gas issue in the state. He said if there is a panic, its because for FOUR days now you either cant find gas or have to wait hours in line.

Whats happening in South #Florida right now with gas is crazy, he tweeted. Stop blaming a consumer panic.'

The Hill has reached out to DeSantiss office for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A South Florida woman will spend more than a year behind bars for cheating her husbands cystic fibrosis nonprofit  best known for its annual paddle challenge from the Bahamas to the Sunshine State  out of thousands of dollars to maintain her lavish lifestyle, according to investigators.

Elizabeth Genna Suarez, a former board member of Pipers Angels Foundation, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.

At the time the crimes were committed, the 34-year-old woman, formerly known as Elizabeth Mirson Suit, was married to Travis Suit, the organizations founder and executive director. The foundation, named after Travis Suits daughter, maintains Suarez acted alone, and he was neither arrested nor charged in connection to the fraud.

Suarezs attorney, Gregg Lerman, declined to comment Thursday afternoon.

From August 2018 to November 2019, the Palm Beach County woman used the foundations credit card to make an $8,000 deposit for cosmetic surgery, pay $1,680 for a cosmetic laser procedure, and spend $800 on a necklace. She also used the organizations funds to buy sunglasses and a $3,000 mattress, as well as pay for improvements to a vehicle. In total, Suarez misappropriated nearly $160,000, federal agents say.

Investigators say Suarez convinced Pipers Angels to give her the company credit card and offered to do its bookkeeping, obtaining access to the nonprofits software. To hide the illegal purchases, she made falsified statements so the expenditures would look legitimate. She also gained access to Pipers Angels checks and debit card, which she later used to make additional illegal purchases, court records show.

This was difficult, and we have absolutely encountered situations and circumstances where this caused us to lose supporters, Pipers Angels Board President Paul Smolchek told the Miami Herald in an email Wednesday night. We understand that, we respect it, and we will always lean into it with everything we have to correct it and hopefully someday we can welcome those individuals back.

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Smolchek said in a statement that the board ordered a private investigation immediately after Travis discovered his wifes unauthorized transactions, and in March 2020 the organization made a referral to law enforcement after Suarez paid back the money she stole. She was also banned from having any involvement with the organization. In early 2020, Travis and Suarezs divorce was finalized, Smolchek told the Miami Herald.

We identified and acknowledged what happened, we took immediate steps to rectify it, and through the support of our community we have not only weathered the storm but have come out much stronger for it, Smolchek said.

Following the investigation, Pipers Angels created a financial committee to oversee budgeting and expenses, and instituted a dual authorization requirement from two members of the committee for any expense over a certain dollar amount, Smolchek noted.

Suarez was charged on Nov. 30, and a jury found her guilty of three out of four counts of wire fraud on Feb. 1. A trial judge later ruled that she also lied on the stand and submitted fake character letters to the court.

She was sentenced on March 6, and must surrender herself to begin her prison sentence before 2 p.m. Dec. 1.

What to know about Pipers Angels

Background: The Pipers Angels Foundation has been in the news in the past, but for a good reason. It was founded in 2016 after Travis Suits daughter, Piper, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of four, according to the nonprofits website.

Illness: This genetic condition alters a protein in the body, affecting the bodys cells, tissues, and the glands that make mucus and sweat, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says. As a result, thick, sticky mucus builds up and leads to blockages, damage or infections in the affected organs, and causes inflammation in the lungs and pancreas.

Paddle challenge: In 2013, Suit and three friends started an 80-mile paddle challenge from Bimini, Bahamas, to Floridas east coast to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundations Palm Beach chapter. The event was formalized in 2017 as Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis. Since then, Pipers Angels has raised just north of $2.5 million to provide urgent financial assistance and scholarships to people who have cystic fibrosis and their families, according to Smolchek.

Rating: Charity Navigator, a foundation that rates charities, appraises Pipers Angels transparency as Platinum, its highest level of recognition. The nonprofit also continues to hold its tax-exempt status since 2017, the IRS website shows.

Student: Piper, now a 15-year-old high-schooler and cheerleader, will be paddling in this years Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis as part of a four-person relay team, Smolchek said.

Reaction: While we have always had to section off a measure of time and resource to continue walking through this long process, the rest of our team and organization has continued moving forward without looking back, Smolchek said. We have a responsibility to the community and to our CF (cystic fibrosis) families and we would have served no one to have allowed this to stop the work we were doing.
 Not NASA space junk  Ukraines State Space Agency explains mysterious flash as high-energy acoustic event

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 Burned by U.S. bank meltdowns, Ukrainian tech startups turn to the EU

Last months banking collapses in the U.S. kicked the legs out from under tech companies worldwide. The end of Silvergate, Signature, and especially Silicon Valley Bank severed key financial arteries pumping capital to tech firms too young and risky for many more established banks.





 EU to take preventive steps against Ukrainian agricultural products

The European Union will take preventive steps against agricultural products from Ukraine and add EUR 100 million in financial aid to protesting farmers, Interfax-Ukraine reported on April 19.





 Ukraine receives first Patriot air defense system from Germany  what to know

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 What is narrative laundering and why does Russia use it as part of its disinformation strategy?

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 Editor-in-chief of Shariy's propaganda website rebels against his boss, video address

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Story continues

 Pentagon leaks nothing more than standard special operation, says military intelligence chief

The leak of classified U.S. Pentagon military documents is nothing more than a "standard special information operation", Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) told Radio NV in an interview on April 17.





 Ukraine needs more soldiers  Humeniuk comments on mobilization in Ukraine

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 A soul and a future (OP-ED)

UAF volunteer and writer Sarah Ashton-Cirillo on Ukraine and American values.





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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
SpaceX (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Elon Musks SpaceX is about to launch its most daring rocket ever.

Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. Eventually, SpaceX hopes it can carry people to the Moon and Mars.

But first it must conduct the short orbital test  which Mr Musk says it is as likely to fail as it is to succeed.

SpaceX is targeting Monday morning local time. It will set off at 9am eastern, or 2pm in the UK.

It will be the first launch with Starship's two sections together. Early versions of the sci-fi-looking upper stage rocketed several miles into the stratosphere a few years back, crashing four times before finally landing upright in 2021. The towering first-stage rocket booster, dubbed Super Heavy, will soar for the first time.

For this demo, SpaceX wont attempt any landings of the rocket or the spacecraft. Everything will fall into the sea.

Im not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement. It wont be boring, Musk promised at a Morgan Stanley conference last month. I think its got, I dont know, hopefully about a 50% chance of reaching orbit.

Heres the rundown on Starships debut:

Supersize rocket

The stainless steel Starship has 33 main engines and 16.7 million pounds of thrust. All but two of the methane-fueled, first-stage engines ignited during a launch pad test in January  good enough to reach orbit, Musk noted. Given its muscle, Starship could lift as much as 250 tons and accommodate 100 people on a trip to Mars. The six-engine spacecraft accounts for 164 feet (50 meters) of its height. Musk anticipates using Starship to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit, including his own Starlinks for internet service, before strapping anyone in. Starship easily eclipses NASAs moon rockets  the Saturn V from the bygone Apollo era and the Space Launch System from the Artemis program that logged its first lunar trip late last year. It also outflanks the former Soviet Unions N1 moon rocket, which never made it past a minute into flight, exploding with no one aboard.

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Game plan

The test flight will last 1 1/2 hours, and fall short of a full orbit of Earth. If Starship reaches the three-minute mark after launch, the booster will be commanded to separate and fall into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft would continue eastward, passing over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans before ditching near Hawaii. Starship is designed to be fully reusable but nothing will be saved from the test flight. Harvard astrophysicist and spacecraft tracker Jonathan McDowell will be more excited whenever Starship actually lands and returns intact from orbit. It will be "a profound development in spaceflight if and when Starship is debugged and operational, he said.

Launch pad

Starship will take off from a remote site on the southernmost tip of Texas near Boca Chica Beach. It's just below South Padre Island, and about 20 miles from Brownsville. Down the road from the launch pad is the complex where SpaceX has been developing and building Starship prototypes for the past several years. The complex, called Starbase, has more than 1,800 employees, who live in Brownsville or elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley. The Texas launch pad is equipped with giant robotic arms  called chopsticks  to eventually grab a returning booster as it lands. SpaceX is retooling one of its two Florida launch pads to accommodate Starships down the road. Florida is where SpaceX's Falcon rockets blast off with crew, space station cargo and satellites for NASA and other customers.

The odds

As usual, Musk is remarkably blunt about his chances, giving even odds, at best, that Starship will reach orbit on its first flight. But with a fleet of Starships under construction at Starbase, he estimates an 80% chance that one of them will attain orbit by years end. He expects it will take a couple years to achieve full and rapid reusability.

Customers

With Starship, the California-based SpaceX is focusing on the moon for now, with a $3 billion NASA contract to land astronauts on the lunar surface as early as 2025, using the upper stage spacecraft. It will be the first moon landing by astronauts in more than 50 years. The moonwalkers will leave Earth via NASAs Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket, and then transfer to Starship in lunar orbit for the descent to the surface, and then back to Orion. To reach the moon and beyond, Starship will first need to refuel in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX envisions an orbiting depot with window-less Starships as tankers. But Starship isn't just for NASA. A private crew will be the first to fly Starship, orbiting Earth. Two private flights to the moon would follow  no landings, just flyarounds.

Other players

There are other new rockets on the horizon. Jeff Bezos Blue Origin is readying the New Glenn rocket for its orbital debut from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the next year or so. Named after the first American to orbit the world, John Glenn, the rocket towers over the companys current New Shepard rocket, named for Mercury astronaut Alan Shepards 1961 suborbital hop. NASA will use New Glenn to send a pair of spacecraft to Mars in 2024. United Launch Alliance expects its new Vulcan rocket to make its inaugural launch later this year, hoisting a private lunar lander to the moon at NASAs behest. Europes Arianespace is close to launching its new, upgraded Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana in South America. And NASAs Space Launch System moon rocket that will carry astronauts will morph into ever bigger versions.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
SpaceX

We have liftoffkind of.

SpaceXs Starship rocket successfully launched from the companys launch site in Boca Chica Village, Texas on Thursday morning. The two-stage rocket successfully fired its first stage, climbing roughly 24 miles into the air before falling back down to Earth and exploding in a ball of expensive fire.

Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, John Insprucker, SpaceXs principal integration engineer, said in the companys live broadcast of the test flight.

The issues occurred after Starship failed to separate from its Super Heavy booster after it completed its climb. As the rocket careened and flipped through the air, Insprucker noted that it did not appear to be a nominal situation. A few seconds later, Starship exploded.

FTS abort. Well done Booster 7 (and Ship 24)! That was still a big win. Launch site is fine and got a lot of first stage data!



Next up, Booster 9!https://t.co/npUj2AHByW pic.twitter.com/KRxBwsLlKq  Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) April 20, 2023

The exact cause of the explosion is unclear. However, some experts suspect that it was the automated flight termination system, which is essentially a self-destruct mode thats triggered based on a multitude of parameters indicating the mission has gone awry.

Despite the explosion, the company and aerospace experts at large are hailing the launch a success. This particular take off allows SpaceX to gather more data about their first-stage and, hopefully, what went wrong with separation.

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary, the company said in a tweet.

Musk, who also called for 4/20 as the day to purge legacy bluechecks on Twitter, did not appear thrilled by the outcome.

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SpaceX

Starship is the largest rocket ever built and stands at nearly 400 feettaller than the Statue of Liberty. The rocket consists of a lower-stage Super Heavy booster using 33 Raptor engines, and the second-stage Starship craft where astronauts and cargo will be seated during future missions. Both stages are reusable like SpaceX's smaller Falcon 9 booster that are regularly used to send satellites into orbit.

However, this first flight test was designed to be disposable. Starship was intended to fly nearly a full orbit of Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Of course, that didnt happen with both stages exploding over the Gulf of Mexico.

Musk is hailing the launch as a victoryeven if his expression suggests otherwise. He even hinted at a future launch to occur within the near future. Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! he wrote on Twitter. Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The SpaceX Starship  the largest and most powerful rocket ever built  exploded in mid-air Thursday morning after taking off from a launchpad in South Padre Island, Texas, for its first test flight.

Minutes after launch, the 400-foot unmanned rocket, which was designed to transport people and material to the Moon and Mars, exploded.

The tallest and most powerful rocket ever built launching. The liftoff of SpaceX Starship pic.twitter.com/meav59yVmn  Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 20, 2023

The initial plan following the Starship launch was for the rocket to conduct a single lap across the entire world before touching down in Hawaii.

Despite the technical failure, SpaceX released a statement on Thursday morning remarking that the launch was the first step in a longer process and should be considered a success.

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation, the technology companys official Twitter account wrote.

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship!

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary  SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder, was on site and expressed similar optimism in spite of the unsuccessful rocket test.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for the next launch in a few months, Musk wrote on his social-media platform, Twitter.

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Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

Musk recently pledged to donate $10 million to revitalize Brownsville, the Texas border town where SpaceX is based, as locals have begun complaining that the company snapped up the majority of houses in the area.

This is the type of generational change that can impact the community for a long, long time, Cameron County judge Eddie Trevino told CNN. And for a community such as ours, thats been economically distressed  unfortunately, one of the poorest areas in the country  the investment, the commitment to the community has been a very positive economic development.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Musk with the goal of revolutionizing space technology. The rocket companys mission is to dramatically lower the costs of space transportation and eventually to help humanity colonize Mars.

In April 2021, SpaceX beat out Blue Origin, a rocketry company founded by Amazon executive Jeff Bezos, and won a nearly $3 billion contract with NASA for its Starship rocket design. The NASA mission is to use the SpaceX rocket to land astronauts on the moon, a first in nearly five decades.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted SpaceXs request last week to permit an unmanned flight test.

More from National Review
(CNN)  Dozens of people were killed in a crowd surge in Yemen's capital on Wednesday as needy residents flocked to receive charity handouts from local merchants during the holy month of Ramadan, officials have confirmed.

Video of the tragedy in Sanaa showed a chaotic scene with dozens of people packed tightly together, unable to move and shouting for help.

Those trapped form a wall of bodies with some desperately stretching out their arms for help. A couple of men who are free can be seen attempting to pull others out of the crush.

"What happened tonight is a tragic and painful accident, as dozens of people were killed due to a large stampede of a number of citizens caused by a random distribution of sums of money by some merchants and without coordination with the Ministry of Interior," the spokesman of the Houthi-run Ministry of Interior, Abdul-Khaleq al-Ajri, said in the statement.

At least 78 people were killed in the crush and dozens injured, Mutahar al-Marouni, the director of the Houthi-run Health office in Sanaa, told the Houthi-run Al-Masirah news agency.

According to Reuters, hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive donations of 5,000 Yemeni Riyal (about $9).

The incident came just a few days ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. During this time of the month, people start giving away Zakat al-Fitr, or the Zakat of Breaking the Fast of Ramadan, to people who are in need.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the scene, according to the Interior Ministry statement.

"The dead and injured people were transferred to hospitals, and two merchants in charge of the matter were arrested," the statement added.

The head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, ordered an investigation into the incident on Thursday.

The Houthi-run General Authority for Zakat announced in a statement it would give one million Yemeni Riyal ( about $4,000) to each family of the crowd surge victims.

It also said it would take care of the treatment of those injured and pay 200,000 Yemeni Riyal ( about $800) to each injured person.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

This story was first published on CNN.com. "At least 78 killed in Yemen crowd surge during packed Ramadan charity event"
The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

SpaceX's Starship launch kicked up soil and sand that rained down on a town 5 miles away.

Port Isabel residents shared pictures of the "particulates" that rained down in the area.

One representative from a nearby elementary school said cars were covered in the dust.

Port Isabel, Texas, residents got an unexpected surprise from Thursday's SpaceX Starship launch and explosion: ash-like dust rained down on them, coating cars in the beachside city over five miles from the launch site.

According to Port Isabel's city government's Facebook update, officials were aware of reports about the debris and had said the thin layer of dust was related to the SpaceX launch.

"Cameron County Emergency Management Division has confirmed that the dust that fell this morning in Port Isabel was sand and soil from near the Space X launch site that was lofted into the air by the force of lift-off," the city wrote.

On Thursday, SpaceX attempted to launch its mega-rocket Starship into space. The massive rocket cleared the launch page, but about 2 minutes and 49 seconds into the flight, it began to tumble through the air, falling back to Earth.

Seconds later, the rocket exploded into a fireball  the latest in the rocket's history of explosions during testing.

On social media, users shared photos of a film of dust covering cars, outdoor furniture, and more.

Pablo De La Rosa (@pblodlr) April 20, 2023

One representative from nearby Derry Elementary School in Port Isabel told Insider people's cars were covered in the ash-like particles.

"When the rocket launched, after it exploded, all the vehicles got a whole bunch of ash on them. Inside the school, we didn't get anything. It was just the outside."

The representative added: "We were waiting for the rocket until it launched, then it did, it exploded, and the ash started coming down."

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Starship's explosion shortly after launch also caused a disturbance for Port Isabel residents.

"The doors were shaking," the Derry Elementary School representative told Insider. "I thought it was going to break but they didn't."

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Insider's questions about the particles or whether the company was aware its launch would thrust sand and soil into the air.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A member of Alpha Phi Alpha

The semester is coming to a close, spring is in bloom, and you know what that means: the 2023 probate season has arrived.

New initiates of Black fraternities and sororities are having their probates, a staple in Black Greekdom. They are a celebration of membership in a new family that shares a sacred bond to follow the same mission of helping others and serving the community.

The Divine Nine, a collective unit of historically Black fraternities and sororities, have provided safe spaces and community for Black students since the early 1900s. These new member presentations showcase to family, friends and the greater campus the members commitment to the sorority or fraternity for a lifetime.

Here are the best Black probate photos and videos of the spring 2023 season:

Epsilon Sigma Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity at Bowie State University

The Glorious Epsilon Sigma Chapter at Bowie State captioned their Instagram post celebrating their seven Sadistic UnQonquerable Hounds of Omega. Decked out in purple, camo, and elaborate face coverings, comments quickly offered the new line their qongrats.

Zeta Delta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The motto of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc has been achievement in every human endeavor since 1911. Zeta Deltas at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte welcomed the 12 GOOD men that made up their Spring 23 initiates to the family. The 12 GAUGE posed in jean ensembles topped off with a red cap and classy black loafers.

Eta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at Louisiana State University

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc is the first Black sorority, conceived in 1908. Vice President Kamala Harris and activist Coretta Scott King are notable members. Elegantly styled in forest green pants, black tees, bright pink hair scarves and reflective sunglasses, the LSU chapter shared a warm welcome to Instagram.

Beta Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at Florida A&M University

The Beta Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. at Florida A&M, or BADST, welcomed their Spring 23 line T-65 with a fiery video slideshow of photos and videos of the new probates in a proper soror welcome. The girls shone in black and white ensembles with bright red leather gloves and white framed, red-tinted sunglasses.

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Kappa Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Mississippi State University

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is the first Black Greek fraternity. The Alphas goal is to promote brotherhood and academic excellence while providing service and advocacy for the communities they serve. The Kappa Beta Chapter publicly announced its new members. The men in black were covered by full-face black and yellow headgear and vests painted with the Alpha Phi Alpha letters.

Lambda Eta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity at Arkansas State University

Chartered in 1979, the Lambda Eta Chapter at Arkansas State University promises to uphold the ideals of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.s founders, to sponsor an international organization of leaders. The NF4MOU MAB of the Lambda Eta Chapter at Arkansas State University included four new members to the line. The men dressed in varying outfits of blue and black as they held changing accessories per photo.

Iota Chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity at Miles College

The Arrogant Iota Chapter at Miles College introduced their new line of three. The new members stood out in gold-hued jeans and white shirts as they proudly hold up the Iota Phi Theta Fraternity shield.

Gamma Sigma Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority at the University of North Florida

Chartered in 2003, the Glamorous Gamma Sigma Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. welcomed two Spring 2023 initiates to the Blu Renaissance. They donned white masks and sheer white gloves as they posed in blue and white polka dot dresses.

Tenacious Theta Rho Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority at Cleveland State University

Founded in 1922, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. celebrated its centennial year in 2022. The tenacious women of the Theta Rho Chapter at Cleveland State University uphold the sororitys beliefs of sisterhood, scholarship and service. This years line includes two new members, masked in glitter and clad in yellow and blue.
This image, released by Ansar Allah Houthi Media Office, shows the aftermath of a deadly stampede in Sanna, Yemen, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. A crowd apparently spooked by gunfire and an electrical explosion stampeded at an event to distribute financial aid during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Yemens capital late Wednesday, according to witnesses and Houthi rebel officials. | Ansar Allah Houthi Media Office via Associated Press

A crowd in Yemen grew panicked on Wednesday after hearing gunfire and an electrical explosion, causing a stampede that killed at least 80 people and injured at least 73 people. The crowd was attending a charity event during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when the stampede occurred.

It was the deadliest tragedy in years for the country that wasnt connected to the war, The Associated Press reported.

The gunfire and electrical explosion were caused when armed Houthis fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently striking an electrical wire and causing it to explode, per AP.

The actual death toll has not been officially confirmed and could rise. The people had gathered in the Old City in the center of Sanaa in order to receive less than $10 each from a charity funded by local businessmen, according to CBS News.

We are experiencing a great tragedy, a large number of our citizens have died during this stampede, Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Habtour said, per CBS News.

According to Reuters, large numbers of people are impoverished in the war-torn country  two-thirds of the 21 million people in the country live in poverty since the war started eight years ago.

Saudi Arabia is backing a military coalition that is fighting against an Iran-backed Houthi rebel group, and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, wrecked the economy and pushed millions into hunger, per Reuters.
Ralph-Yarl-Wrong House

Andrew Lester appears in court to answer charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 in Liberty, Mo. Lester, 84, accused of shooting Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager, pleaded not guilty. (KMBC via AP, Pool) Credit - KMBC/AP/Pool

As protesters took to the streets of Kansas City, Mo., to demand charges against the white homeowner who shot Black teenager Ralph Yarl after he accidentally stopped at the wrong house, the citys police chief said that investigators were considering whether Missouris Stand Your Ground law could factor into the case.

Ralph, 16, was shot twice by 84-year-old Andrew Lester and sustained life-threatening injuries. Ralphs family said he mixed up addresses when he went to pick up his twin brothers on the night of April 16. Lester told police that he opened fire because he was scared to death after he saw a Black male, whom he described at 6 feet tall, trying to open his front door.

After Lester was initially detained and released, prosecutors charged him with first-degree assault on Monday. He could face upto life in prison if convicted.

Ralph, who was later released from the hospital after being treated for gunshot wounds to his head and arm, is only the latest victim to be shot by someone who claimed self defense. On Saturday night, a 65-year-old man who lived in an upstate New York town fatally shot 20-year-old Kaylin Gills, who had mistakenly driven into his driveway. The shooter was charged with second-degree murder. On Tuesday, just after midnight, a 25-year-old man shot two teenage cheerleaders in a supermarket parking lot near Austin; one of the girls had accidentally opened the door to the mans car, incorrectly thinking that it was hers. They survived, and the gunman in that case was arrested.

Stand Your Ground laws are in place in at least 28 states. Those laws, and the related Castle Doctrine statutes, seek to enshrine peoples rights to defend themselves, including using deadly force, according to proponents. However, studies have shown they are associated with higher homicide rates and they have frequently come to the forefront in high-profile trials, perhaps most notably the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

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Ralph Yarl, the teenager who was shot in the head and arm by a white homeowner on April 13, 2022. Gofundme

Scholars who have studied these laws also point out that these laws have been applied differently depending on the race of the shooter and the person being shot. Authorities have said there was a racial component to Lesters decision to open fire on Ralph.

What were seeing is legislatures saying: Its okay to shoot first and ask questions later, Kami Chavis, director of the Center of Criminal Justice Policy and Reform at William & Mary Law School, says.

Lester pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday after turning himself in and posting $200,000 bond. Its not known whether he will seek to use stand your ground or similar self-defense laws as a defense in the charges against himbut legal experts say he will have a difficult time clearing even the lower legal hurdle proving that he was acting in self-defense.

How do Stand Your Ground laws work?

Stand Your Ground laws are an expansion of the common law principle of Castle Doctrine, which allows individuals to use reasonable force, including firearms, to protect themselves from an intruder in their home. There is no duty to retreat in ones home under the Castle Doctrine.

Stand Your Ground laws take this notion, and push its geographical boundaries to apply in public spaces. While many legal experts note that the Castle Doctrine and not Stand Your Ground laws are more relevant in the Yarl case, these terms have sometimes been used interchangeably in public discourse when talking about self-defense and whether use of force is justified.

Some experts say the legal expansion is dangerous because self defense is supposed to be a last resort and Stand Your Ground laws can make individuals less likely to think twice before using violence. When you expand this and say you dont have a duty to retreat you are unnecessarily going to have more confrontations and loss of human life, says Chavis.

Studies bear this out. A 2022 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that stand-your ground laws are associated with an 11% increase in monthly firearm homicide rates. A review of 16 studies by RAND researchers also found a significant link between these laws and an increase in deaths and gun fatalities.

Florida was the first state to enact a stand-your-ground law in 2005. It allows the use of deadly force in any public place if a person feels their life is threatened. The NRA has put its weight behind stand your ground laws as part of its broader agenda to increase gun rights. Supporters of the law say it will deter crimes, although some studies have called that into question.

How stand your ground applies to Ralph Yarls case

Missouris self-defense law specifies that a person may use deadly force if they reasonably believe that such deadly force is necessary to protect himself, or herself or her unborn child, or another against death, serious physical injury, or any forcible felony. This includes threats to property. Under Missouri law you can use deadly force to repel burglary and unlawful entry into your house, says Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA.

Legal experts tell TIME that the key question is understanding what justifies reasonable fear and use of deadly force. To have self-defense at all you have to be met with a reasonable threat, Chavis says. Ringing a doorbell doesnt justify using deadly force, she and other legal experts say. (Lester told police that Ralph also attempted to open his door, though prosecutors say he did not cross into the home and that shots were fired through a glass door.)

A justification of self defense requires that a reasonable person would feel its necessary to avoid an imminent threat of death or bodily harm, says Donald Jones, a law professor at the University of Miami who teaches criminal law.. You have to have all of those things. He has none of them, Jones says, based on his understanding of the facts that have been made public so far.

Inconsistent applications of the law

The relatively recent history of Stand Your Ground laws also carries concerns that it is applied unequally depending on the race of the shooter and the person shot. The 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman while he was walking home from a convenience store, was perhaps the first Stand Your Ground case to gain national attention.

Historically, prosecutors value Black lives less than white livesand so if a Black person was killed, it didnt register the same level of concern, Jones says.

The likelihood of a white person killing a Black person and it being considered justified is 281% greater than a white person killing another white person, according to a 2013 study from the Urban Institute, which analyzed the percentage of homicides ruled justified in cases that occurred between 2005-2010. A 2017 analysis of 400,000 homicides committed by civilians between 1980 and 2014 from the Marshall Project and The New York Times found that when a white person kills a Black man in the U.S., one in six of the killings involve no criminal repercussions.

Laws around justifiable use of force are often not used consistently not only in the context of race but also gender. Stand Your Ground laws were initially touted by its supporters as protecting women, says Caroline Light, a Harvard University professor who teaches gender and ethnic studies and author of Stand Your Ground: A History of Americas Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense. But when a woman uses lethal violence to protect herself from her largest statistical threat, who is her boyfriend, husband or ex-partner, she goes to jail, so theres a big lie at the heart of this idea of protecting women, Light says. She gives the example of Marissa Alexander, a Black woman who fired a warning shot to get away from her abusive estranged spouse in 2010 and went to prison for three years.
Workers at a Starbucks store in downtown Sacramento voted to unionize this week, becoming the first unionized store in the region and 300th nationwide.

Employees of the store at 630 K St. in Downtown Commons joined Starbucks Workers United via an 11-2 vote last Friday.

A midtown Starbucks at 19th and J streets simultaneously voted 7-7 on unionization, just shy of the 51% majority required to form a collective bargaining unit.

Downtown Starbucks employees voted to form a union mostly due to safety concerns, barista and union organizer Maizie Jensen said.

Weve seen a lot of aggression toward different people (working) in our store or toward different customers, and we decided at one point that enough was enough, Jensen said.

Starbucks trimmed the DoCo stores hours, locked bathrooms and removed all seating after what Jensen decribed as a safety incident in February, making it open exclusively for to-go orders. She declined to elaborate. While those changes have helped, Jensen said, employees were still unnerved enough to file paperwork that week for a future union vote.

Coffee shops around Sacramentos urban core have become de facto  sometimes reluctant  refuges for the citys homeless population and worries about crime have followed. Starbucks closed a store on Broadway in August due to neighborhood safety concerns, a first for the chain in Northern California.

The DoCo store recently closed for a day for employees to receive deescalation training, review safety protocols and get guidance on how to report incidents. Yet union organizers say Starbucks should hire security guards to handle problem abatement, not task baristas with that responsibility.

Most of the time I feel fine, but the times that we experience crime or violence in our store are severe, and we dont have the training or protocols to handle them  nor should we have to, Jensen said. Im a barista. Im there to serve coffee and talk to people about their day and be a bright spot in their day

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Related story lead image

About the Writer

Benjy Egel, a Sacramento native, covers local restaurants and bars for The Bee.

Only 1.2% of food service industry employees had unionized as of 2021, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That rose slightly to 1.4% in 2022, a small but palpable shift coming out of the pandemic.

Unions formed out of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Trader Joes, McDonalds and other chains across the country. California voters will decide later this year whether to create a government council that would set standards for fast food workers pay and workplace safety.

Momentum has built locally as well, with a Peets Coffee shop in Davis becoming the chains first unionized location in January. But collective action hasnt been a slam dunk. Another Peets in Davis voted against unionization at that same time.

Starbucks employees  or partners, as the company calls them  at an El Dorado Hills location previously voted against unionization last July, and a petition to organize a Roseville store was withdrawn two months after being filed last February.

Then theres the midtown Starbucks, which decided not to unionize last Friday. Thats the outcome Starbucks would prefer to see, director of corporate communications Rachel Wall wrote it an email.

We believe that a direct relationship with our partners  where we have the flexibility to share success, as we always have  is the right path forward for our company, one another and the millions of people our brand uplifts, Wall wrote.

To that end, our partners at our 19th and J street store voted to maintain a direct employment relationship with Starbucks. For the 3% of our U.S. stores that have elected representation, we are committed to engaging in good faith collective bargaining wherever a union has been appropriately certified.

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Stark County Sheriff's Office

CANTON TWP.  Stark County sheriff's deputies arrested a 65-year-old man Thursday afternoon after he was accused of robbing a bank.

Authorities responded to KeyBank, 3001 Cleveland Ave. SW, around 12:15 p.m. for a robbery in progress.

A half hour later, deputies located Rickey Hampton at an apartment in the 700 block of Alan Page Drive SE in Canton. He is charged with felony aggravated robbery.

I want to commend the quick response and investigative skills of our Stark County Sheriffs Office deputies and 911 dispatchers involved in bringing this case to a quick and safe resolution, Sheriff George Maier said in a prepared statement.

Bank robbery arrest: Police arrest suspect in Canton Giant Eagle bank branch robbery

Details about the robbery were not immediately available.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information can contact the Stark County Sheriff's Office at 330-430-3800 or through the sheriff's app.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County deputies arrest suspect 30 minutes after KeyBank robbery
The State Department on Wednesday violated a congressional Republican subpoena to hand over a sensitive diplomatic cable about the U.S. exit from Afghanistan.

The subpoena was issued late last month by chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and is part of Republican efforts to investigate the Biden administration over the chaotic and deadly pullout from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021.

State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement to The Hill that, Discussions with the committee about next steps are ongoing, and said Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered to brief the chairman and the committee next week on the contents of the dissent cable without providing the actual document.

Blinken had earlier told the chairman that he opposed providing the cable that was sent through the State Departments Dissent Channel and that reportedly documents at least 23 U.S. Embassy Kabul diplomats raising in July urgent alarm that the Afghan government was at risk of collapsing under threat from the Taliban.

Blinken said he opposed providing the cable to protect the integrity of the Dissent Channel, a sensitive communication mechanism that allows diplomats to raise grave concerns about U.S. foreign policy issues that are directly raised to the secretary and other senior State Department officials.

The secretarys reasoning is being supported by the American Foreign Service Association, the labor union for foreign service officers.

McCaul, however, has rejected that reasoning.

We have told the State Department repeatedly that a briefing or summary does not in any way satisfy the subpoena, McCaul said in a statement to The Hill on Thursday morning. I am currently discussing next steps with my staff and House legal counsels to decide on what action to take if the State Department continues to refuse to comply with the subpoena despite their legal obligation to do so.

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Its not clear what steps the chairman will take in response to the State Departments failure to supply the cable.

Following the violation of a congressional subpoena, the committee can hold a vote on a resolution to hold the recipient of the subpoena in contempt of Congress.

That resolution would then have to be voted on by the full House of Representatives and act as a referral to the Department of Justice for consideration of possible prosecution.

Yet the committee is not obligated to take that course of action and the chairman could seek to find other pressure points on the State Department related to its pursuit of attaining the cable.

Updated on April 20 at 12:09 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
mature couple watching coastal view - Colin Hawkins

The Government could be forced to increase the state pension age to 70 by 2050 to balance public finances, a major report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

Millions of people in their 30s and 40s will face a delayed retirement, the think tank said, as anyone born after 1980 should expect to keep working until they reach 70.

The state pension age will increase from 66 to 67 by 2028 and is legislated to rise again in the mid 2040s to 68. However, Britains ageing population means a rise to 70 by 2050 will likely be needed to maintain the proportion of people still in work, the IFS said.

Just 24pc of the adult population was aged 65 or over in 2020, it found. However, this is forecast to rise to 31pc in 2050 and 34pc in 2070, placing huge pressure on public finances unless the retirement age is raised.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, said that a state pension age of 70 would be draconian.

These rigid rules do not work for real human beings, he said.

Spending on the state pension and pensioner benefits is expected to rise from 5.6pc of national income today to 9.6pc over the next 50 years, increasing by around 100bn a year in todays terms, the IFS said.

The report, which called for a major review of the British pension system, said: In 2050 a state pension age as high as 70 would be required to keep the share of adults aged over the state pension age at its current rate of 24pc.

Ministers recently abandoned plans to accelerate rises in the state pension age, after official data revealed a drop in life expectancy. However, over the long-term an ageing population is expected to add even more pressure to national finances.

A higher state pension age is one of the most effective ways of controlling the cost of the state pension, but critics have argued that it could deepen social inequality. The elderly will also find it physically harder to remain in work for longer, the IFS said.

The IFS also warned that millions of younger workers were not saving enough money to survive old age. More than three million workers fail to save any money into a pension each year, it found.

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Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor who advised the report, said: Too many are saving too little for retirement. Whilst today, many pensioners are doing well on average and pensioner poverty has been cut drastically, we need a major review to avoid a future where too many wont have enough to live on in their old age.

In recent decades gold-plated defined benefit pensions, which paid a stable salary in retirement, have largely been replaced by defined contribution schemes, which are reliant on the performance of the stock market to deliver an income.

The report warned that defined contribution pensions have not performed as well as expected, leaving many retirees facing a shortfall.

Workers aged around 50 are in particular danger of poverty in retirement, the IFS added, as this generation missed out on both final salary pensions and the full benefit of auto-enrolment, a more recent Government scheme which requires workers to pay a set amount into their pension each month.

The report added that rapidly falling rates of home ownership will also push up the cost of retirement, it found. Among those born in the 1930s and 1940s, less than 5pc were private renters in their late 60s and early 70s, compared with 10pc of those born in the 1960s.

The IFS said that it now expects the share of people reaching retirement while in private rented accommodation to double over the next 10 years alone.

A Government spokesman said that automatic enrolment had transformed retirement saving, with more than 10.8m workers now enrolled into a pension, and that it had supported proposals to expand the policy to include more workers.
A Ukrainian brigade that vows to "destroy Russian troops" simulated a skirmish in the woods near Kyiv on Thursday, as the country pushes ahead with plans for a counteroffensive.

In a glade of pine trees, reconnaissance troops from the Bureviy brigade, playing the "enemy," covered their faces in camouflage makeup and balaclavas, donned yeti-style suits and rolled in marsh water to blend in with their surroundings.

Then another group representing Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack on them, shooting blanks and flinging smoke grenades.

Part of the National Guard internal troops, Bureviy, or storm, brigade is also known as the "first presidential brigade". President Volodymyr Zelensky praised its "resilience" this week.

Bureviy says its name in Ukrainian can also be deciphered as "brigade to destroy Russian troops".

The interior ministry in February announced the creation of several new armed formations, including Bureviy, run by the National Guard, police and border force.

It advertised for volunteers to join snappily titled brigades -- with names such as Spartan, Steel Border, Rage -- saying they would "strengthen us during the coming offensive."

More than 23,000 people applied.

Ukraine has said they will aim to liberate regions that are now under Moscow occupation -- including Crimea.

"It's time to return what's ours," reads the National Guard's recruitment site.

An online ad for the Bureviy brigade warns: "Occupiers, a storm is coming!"

"At the beginning of the war, we took a defensive position. Our task was to restrain the enemy," said one of the Bureviy soldiers, Taras, 41, who joined up soon after Russia's invasion in February 2022.

- 'Motivation is good' -

Taras has fought in eastern hotspots including Bakhmut and Sieverodonetsk.

"Now we must go on the counteroffensive. We need to win back what was taken from us," said the former manager in a factory making armoured doors.

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While it has been renamed, the National Guard brigade traces its history back to 2014, when defenders of Kyiv's Maidan central square went to fight.

This year, Kyiv has poured in resources, soldiers said.

"Now all our specialists (such as medics) are going abroad for training," Taras said.

"Now there is full supply of uniforms, body armour and helmets, and food."

"Everything has changed a lot. The motivation is good."

New recruits are not immediately going into battle, he said.

"The units are divided so that there are fighters who have already been through battles and have experience, and we add recruits there."

"It has become much better, our unit has grown four times larger, we have more instructors from the West. In general, the level of training has increased, there are more weapons," said a 21-year-old intelligence officer with the call sign Bazooka, who joined almost three years ago.

Taras estimated that the brigade would not return to the front line for at least another month, while its specialists train abroad.

am/as/yad
Six months after walking off the job at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the fight for a new contract took another turn for union employees. Disturbing allegations surfaced Thursday morning about the series of events that unfolded outside of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Distribution Center Wednesday night. Workers on strike said Pittsburgh police got physical with picketers, saying they shoved several people and even used a baton on one woman.

About 25 @PghPolice came down to break the @PittsburghPG strike picket line tonight outside the company's distribution center at 1600 W Carson St. One officer batoned a woman to the ground as the truck drove thru. More photos, videos and @WPXI coverage in the morning.  Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh  (@PGHGuild) April 20, 2023

We were walking the line and the police came and broke out line and assaulted us, pushed me around, knocked me down on the ground, said Kristen Affrime, CWA LOCAL 1038, Philadelphia.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Dozens of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers go on strike

People provided a cell phone video to Channel 11 that shows an officer pushing a picketer. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh said another officer batoned a woman to the ground along West Carson Street.

[This is] the 100th time Ive been on a line, and Ive never seen police response like this  ever, said Lou Mondragon of California

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette provided the following statement:

Last night, 19 City of Pittsburgh police cruisers were dispatched to our distribution center on West Carson Street where union picketers were attempting to block the delivery of newspapers. This type of activity by the union has been persisting since the beginning of the strike, which began in October. We are shocked that the City of Pittsburgh continues to allow this unlawful conduct by the unions, which is putting individuals in harms way.

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On Friday, February 17, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette filed a Complaint for Injunctive Relief against five unions representing striking employees at the company. This legal action seeks an order to stop the unions and their supporters from trespassing onto the companys property. As of yesterday, no decision had been reached on this matter.

But attorney Joe Pass of Jubelirer, Pass & Intrieri, who represents the five unions on strike, said union employees have a right to be on the property.

They picket in front of the driveway, it does slow down the process, and yes, they have a right to do that. They are not stopping it though, Pass said.

This city needs a good newspaper. This city needs its good journalists here covering things  thats not happening now. Thats not happening with the Post Gazette, said Steve Mellon of The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.

Channel 11 asked Pittsburgh Public Safety officials if officers followed the proper police protocols, if anyone was arrested, and we requested body camera footage. They sent us this statement

We are aware of questions regarding a protest on West Carson Street last night. We are currently in the process of reviewing all video footage and other resources available to us in order to ensure a complete assessment of events. While we understand the concern surrounding this issue, we ask for patience as this process progresses.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

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Streets, campus buildings reopen after planned demonstration at Pitt Aaron Carters cause of death revealed What if it was your baby boy?: Father of 16-year-old killed in McKeesport pushing for justice VIDEO: Southwest Airlines technical issue impacts Pittsburgh travelers DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
High-school and college students across the state of Florida plan to walk out of school on Friday to protest Governor DeSantis and Floridas authoritarian takeover of its public education system.

Organized by a left-wing advocacy organization called Walkout 2 Learn, the event will feature a five-minute banned history lesson taught outside schools across the state.

Right now, Floridas people do not have control over their legislatureour governor does. So as we spend all of our time protesting, rallying, and walking out in an attempt to stop our legislature from abusing their power and us, Ron DeSantis is cackling because he knows it wont work, the organization states. Walkout 2 Learn recognizes the harmful fascism that Floridians are experiencing every day and will provide immediate, short-term solutions to every participant so that they may protect themselves and their communities.

Black, queer, trans, and female-identifying people and their histories are the targets of government censorship, the organizations website states.

During the walkout, organizers will deliver a five-minute lecture on a piece of history banned by Floridas legislature. Additionally, protesters will sign an active voter pledge and assert their electoral power to their elected officials. Florida students will be able to enroll in an online college-level African American history course and earn course credit.

The organization has prepared two scripts for the Banned Curriculum Speeches, one for an impacted perspective and another for an advocate perspective, which have nearly identical language.

Youre going to hear them claim they are banning the AP African American Studies course due to LGBTQ themes within the curriculum. They cannot simply erase LGBTQ themes from history, the script for both perspectives states. History shows us that people like Desantis wont stop with banning books and making laws against the inclusion of black, brown, or LGBTQ+ people. They want to stop us from learning empathy and respect for others that they themselves lack while increasing our fear of each other.

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In a message sent on the Walkout 2 Learn Slack, which is open to join and has nearly 600 members, an organizer wrote that the speeches were made in collaboration with the African American Policy Forum, of which Kimberle Crenshaw serves as the Executive Director, and the Missouri Equity Education Partnership, which was founded in 2021 to promote anti-racist and anti-bias approaches to education.

Their prejudice blinds them to our intersectionality. In fact the entire concept of intersectionality developed by African American professor, scholar, and writer Kimberle Crenshaw was one of the first things they wanted removed from the curriculum, reads the script for the speeches. And Desantis definitely doesnt want you to know about the success of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Although the protest is in opposition to DeSantis, students in high school and college nationwide are encouraged to walkout because the facism [sic] thats devouring Florida will not be satisfied at the borders of our state. Additional off-campus rallies are scheduled in Miami, Tallahassee, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Sarasota.

The organization lists talking points to consider for students creating social media posts. Suggestions include Banning Drag Artists silences and erases the queer community, a reference to the recent legislation that prohibits children from attending drag performances, and the so-called Dont Say Gay Bills, which the organization claims aggressively censor our classrooms banning any books mentioning the LGBTQ+ community and prohibiting teachers from speaking on LGBTQ+ related topics.

More from National Review
A brawl in a high school classroom led to charges against a student and a substitute teacher, officials said.

A video shared on social media reportedly shows the North Carolina student approaching the teachers desk. She can be heard talking about a cellphone before the teacher said: Dont touch me, the Rocky Mount Telegram reported.

The two later started hitting each other, eventually landing on the classroom floor, according to the minute-long video that ABC11 and WITN said showed the April 17 incident.

The fight was reported at Rocky Mount High School, roughly 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. Rocky Mount police said the incident involved a substitute teacher who had worked with Nash County Public Schools for about a year.

When a McClatchy News reporter reached out to the school district for comment on April 20, a person who answered the phone declined to comment.

Though police didnt immediately respond to McClatchy News requests for additional information about the video, officers reported responding to an on-campus fight between a substitute teacher and a student.

The Rocky Mount Police Departments school resource officer and investigators consulted with the district attorneys office and after reviewing the totality of the circumstances decided that both parties involved will face assault charges, officers wrote April 19 in a news release.

Police said the teacher was charged with misdemeanor simple assault, received a written promise to appear in court and was released. The student faced the same charge in a juvenile case.

Teacher accused of using extension cord to assault teens is charged in North Carolina

High school librarian sent nudes to student she sexually abused for months, NC cops say
Ongoing fighting in Khartoum is causing food shortages, locals say

Ongoing fighting in Sudan's capital is now severely affecting food supplies, as well as disrupting access to water and electricity, according to Khartoum residents who spoke to the BBC.

"We only have enough food for two days," Nisreen Al-Saim said.

Ms Saim added that she and her family were now reducing the amount of food they consume in the hope that their supplies last longer.

Water and electricity cuts have affected many Sudanese homes since clashes began between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and the Sudanese army on 15 April.

The two sides had been sharing power with the head of the army, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, as de facto leader and the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as his deputy, but they have since started fighting each other.

More than 270 people had died, according to a statement from the US embassy in Khartoum.

Shops shut down

In Bahri, northern Khartoum, eyewitnesses told the BBC that the main water pumping station had been hit.

Hind, a local resident, said the frequent water outages forced her and her family to rely solely on their reserves of abri - a corn-based drink usually consumed during Ramadan - to quench their thirst.

The clashes in Khartoum have already left at least 270 people dead

Hind added that all the shops in her neighbourhood had closed except for some bakeries, and even they had little flour left.

A few days before the fighting started, the army had warned civilians to stockpile food following the deployment of RSF personnel to different points of the capital.

But Heba, another Khartoum resident, told the BBC that "only a few families" took the advice seriously, as no-one imagined that the situation would escalate to the current extent.

"We did not want to go out in the heat as we had already stocked up on food for Ramadan," Heba added.

UN aid suspended

However, Heba's neighbourhood is only getting power for two hours a day, which means the food that some families have stored may spoil.

It is not clear for how long supplies will have to hold out, given that there's no clear end to the clashes.

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Two ceasefires have been announced, but both collapsed as fighting continued between the warring factions.

Eyewitnesses reported that in the Khartoum neighbourhoods where fighting has calmed enough for grocery stores to reopen, there are queues and products like bottled water are scarce.

In others, residents are still too afraid to even leave their front door.

In some neighbourhoods, long queues form outside business who dare to open their doors

Residents also reported that some shop owners in the Riyadh neighbourhood, north of the capital, have increased their prices, sometimes charging up to twice the usual amount for eggs, meat, and drinks.

"Some of them doubled their prices which is awful, while others are giving some food for free to help people in need," said Shakir, a Khartoum resident.

"People are getting very angry about it".

Shakir said he had heard similar report of price hikes in other Khartoum neighbourhoods such as Azhari, Kafouri and Bahri.

"We are all hoping this conflict will end soon but stocks are running low, and families should decrease their daily consumption if they want to survive this," he added.

Further complicating matters, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) announced the suspension of aid provision to Sudan on 16 April following the death of three of its staff in the region of Darfur.

Earlier this year, the UN said that two-thirds of Sudanese (around 15.8 million people) had already needed humanitarian aid in 2023, a situation made worse after international aid from donor countries ceased following the 2021 military coup that ousted civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Abla Karrar, a spokesperson for the political coalition known as the Forces for Freedom and Change, expressed her regret at the UN's decision to suspend aid in light of what she called a "critical situation".

"Sudan is already experiencing great economic hardship, and therefore the food stock in homes, no matter how large it is, will not be enough," she said in a statement.

Karrar also stressed the need for a truce before the country goes into a "deep humanitarian crisis".

Additional reporting by Marina Daras
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Three flights carrying 177 Egyptian troops from Sudan have arrived in Cairo and a separate group of 27 air force personnel are in the care of the Egyptian embassy in Sudan, according to military statements.

Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri have been rocked by fierce battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving many stranded and causing food supplies to run short.

The RSF said it had detained 27 Egyptian air force personnel after storming Merowe air base in northern Sudan on Saturday.

The Sudanese army released a statement on Thursday correcting an earlier statement that said the 177, who were evacuated from the town of Dongola, had been captured by the RSF at the Meroe base.

The Egyptian military has said the soldiers were in Sudan for training according to a joint protocol between the two countries. Egypt and Sudan have carried out multiple joint exercises since the beginning of diplomatic tensions with Ethiopia.

The handover of the troops took place with mediation from the United Arab Emirates, the Egyptian foreign ministry and UAE news agency WAM said. The RSF said it had handed over the men to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the capital Khartoum, and the Egyptian army said 27 were now at the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum.

They would be evacuated "as soon as the situation is stable and the necessary security circumstances are available", the Egyptian army said.

The Egyptian army said the 177 had been evacuated in three military flights on Wednesday night.

(This story has been refiled to correct attribution in the headline and paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Hatem Maher, Clauda Tanios, Omar Abdel-Razek, and Jana Choukeir; writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Mark Porter, Cynthia Osterman and Nick Macfie)
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan received separate phone calls on Thursday from the United States, Saudi and Qatari foreign ministers, also from the Turkish president and the Egyptian intelligence chief, an army statement reported.

The calls come amid efforts to get both the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to agree to a three-day ceasefire across the Muslim Eid that starts on Friday.

All parties, including calls from the U.N. secretary general and South Sudan and Ethiopia leaders, affirmed the necessity to stop the violence and resort to dialogue.

(This story has been corrected to change the country name in paragraph 3)

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz ; Writing by Alaa Swilam; Editing by Chris Reese)
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP)  Sudan's military ruled out negotiations with a rival paramilitary force on Thursday, saying it would only accept its surrender as the two sides continued to battle in central Khartoum and other parts of the country, threatening to wreck international attempts to broker a longer cease-fire.

A tenuous 24-hour cease-fire that began the previous day ran out Thursday evening with no word of an extension. The military's statement raised the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudan's population to the breaking point. Alarm has grown that the country's medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies.

The truce had failed to put a stop to fighting throughout the day and brought only marginal calm to some parts of the capital, Khartoum. But many residents took advantage to flee the homes where they have been trapped for days. Massive numbers of people, mostly women and children, were leaving in search of safer areas, said Atiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors Syndicate.

Thursday afternoon, the military said in a statement that it would not negotiate with its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, and would only discuss the terms of its surrender. There would be no armed forces outside (of) the military system, it said.

The demise of the truce, the second attempt this week, underscored the failure of the United States, U.N., European Union and regional powers to push Sudan's top generals to halt their campaigns to seize control of the country. Instead, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo each appear determined to win outright military victory over the other.

In a sign they expect violence to escalate, the U.S. and other countries were making preparations to evacuate their citizens in Sudan  a difficult prospect since most major airports have become battlegrounds and movement out of Khartoum to safer areas is dangerous.

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The U.S. military is moving assets to a base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti for a possible evacuation of American Embassy personnel, administration officials said. Japan plans to send military planes to Djibouti, and the Netherlands has dispatched its own to Jordan.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for the combatants to commit to a three-day cease-fire to coincide with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, beginning Friday, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. We are living a very important moment in the Muslim calendar. I think this is the right moment for a cease-fire to hold, he told reporters.

But so far direct communications to the rival generals by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Turkish president and others over the past days have been unable to secure even 24 hours of calm, much less a longer truce or negotiations to resolve the crisis. Each side's main regional allies, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have called in vain for talks.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began Saturday, the World Health Organization said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

Through the day Thursday, gunfire could be heard constantly across Khartoum. Residents reported the heaviest fighting around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum. Military warplanes struck RSF positions at the airport and in the neighboring city of Omdurman, residents said. The military said its warplanes also struck a convoy of RSF vehicles heading to the capital, though the claim could not be independently confirmed.

Khartoum residents have been desperate for a respite after days of being trapped in their homes, with food and water running out.

Aid groups have been unable to deliver help to Sudans overwhelmed hospitals, Atiya said. Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water. Around 70% of hospitals throughout the country are out of service because of the fighting, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said, adding that at least nine hospitals were bombed.

The two sides are battling elsewhere in the country as well, and there were reports of heavy fighting in the city of Obeid, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Khartoum.

The Doctors' Syndicate said at least 26 civilians and 17 police were killed in Obeid, and that four hospitals and a church were damaged, some by airstrikes. Two markets were looted, and more than 3,300 people fled their homes, with many sheltering in a school and a sports facility, it said.

The fighting has been disastrous for a country where the United Nations says around a third of the population  some 16 million people  are in need of humanitarian aid. The U.N. childrens agency UNICEF warned that critical care has been disrupted for 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children, who need round-the-clock treatment.

Save the Children said power outages across the country have destroyed cold chain storage facilities for lifesaving vaccines, as well as the national stock of insulin and several antibiotics. Millions of children, the aid group said, are now at risk of disease and further health complications. It said 12% of the countrys 22 million children are suffering from malnutrition and are vulnerable to other diseases.

The Egyptian and Sudanese militaries said that Egypt succeeded in repatriating dozens of its military personnel who had been detained by the RSF when it attacked Merowe airport, north of the capital, early in the fighting. Egypt said its personnel were there for training and joint exercises.

The conflict has once again derailed Sudans attempt to establish democratic rule after a popular uprising helped depose long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir four years ago. Burhan and Dagalo jointly carried out a coup purging civilians from a transitional government in 2021.

The explosion of violence came after weeks of growing tensions between the two generals over a new international push for a return to civilian government.

Both sides have a long history of human rights abuses. The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudans western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

The conflict has raised fears of a spillover from the strategically located nation to its African neighbors.

Sudans fighting has caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, the U.N. said Thursday. At least 320 Sudanese soldiers fled to Chad, where they were disarmed, said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chads defense minister. The troops were apparently fleeing from Darfur, where the RSF is the most powerful armed force.

Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral  (but) Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war, said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondent Fay Abuelgasim in Beirut contributed to this report.
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is weighing a critical decision on the fate of his top deputy, taking longer than expected to respond to the conclusion of an independent investigation into bullying allegations against Dominic Raab.

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A day after receiving the findings of a five-month investigation by employment lawyer Adam Tolley into civil servants complaints Thursday, Sunak had rendered no verdict on Raab. The case against the deputy prime minister and justice minister wasnt clear cut, according to a government official familiar with the reports content.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Times Radio on Friday morning that its reasonable that the prime minister would want to read the report in full himself and go through all of the detail before he reaches a conclusion.

After reading the report, Raab hasnt changed his position and maintains his innocence, a person familiar with his thinking said late Thursday. The deputy prime minister has previously said that he has always acted with professionalism and integrity. He said in February that if an allegation of bullying was upheld he would resign.

Raab, 49, has been the subject of multiple formal complaints about his allegedly abrasive treatment of civil servants, which led Sunak to commission an independent investigation in November. An announcement by Sunak is now expected to come Friday.

Sunak spokespeople said twice Thursday that the prime minister retained full confidence in Raab, suggesting he might yet survive. Raab himself maintains he has never shouted or cursed at officials, and that his behavior has not broken the ministerial code of conduct, according to the person familiar with his thinking.

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If Sunak fires Raab  an early backer in last years Conservative Party leadership campaign  he would damage the political career of one of his closest allies. He would also alienate some Tories who have urged him not to bow to pressure from officials to dismiss his deputy.

If he stands by Raab, hes likely to face accusations from opposition parties that his day-one promise to run a government based on the principles of integrity and accountability has fallen by the wayside.

Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner accused Sunak of dithering as he tries to summon up the guts to sack his own deputy, leaving the Tories yet again mired in chaos.

(Updates with comment from minister in third paragraph.)

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A bipartisan group of political operatives  spanning the ideological spectrum from former members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus to a Democrat who challenged Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia  has started a political action committee aimed at stopping MAGA and eradicating what the operatives call an authoritarian streak among some Republican lawmakers.

The group, Mission Democracy PAC, will challenge far-right members of Congress in their often deep-red home districts, running ads and messaging campaigns that accuse the politicians of holding anti-democratic and extreme positions.

Mission Democracy PAC begins with just over $500,000 in the bank, but the advisers say they hope to raise $18 million for the coming election cycle, and plan to spend all of it within the targeted congressional districts.

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Whos behind the group? The leaders are former Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia, who once belonged to the Freedom Caucus but has since left the Republican Party and spoke out against conspiracy theories from the House floor; Olivia Troye, a former official in Donald Trumps administration who has been critical of him; and Marcus Flowers, an Army veteran and Democrat who lost heavily to Greene last year.

If we dont do something now, if we dont get these extreme MAGA members out of Congress, we stand to lose our very democracy, Flowers said in an interview. Its time to hold those members accountable, take them to task, attack them in their districts.

First shots fired. The first ad from the group, a minute-long spot that ticks through several Republican moves to restrict abortion rights, strikingly uses an F-word that is rarely wielded in political advertising.

Our government is held hostage by a band of politicians so extreme that only the word fascist describes them, the ad says.

The ad then lists its targets: Greene, described as the avatar of these extremists, as well as Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Paul Gosar of Arizona.

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Only Gaetzs office responded to requests for comment, pointing to his large margins in victories in past elections and stating that special-interest PACs arent trusted by Floridians  Congressman Gaetz is.

The group has booked what it describes as a mid-five-figure buy for the ad in Greenes district, a relatively small opening salvo.

In an interview, Troye said the group was focused on defeating the worst of the worst, and expected to add more officials to target in the future.

Uphill battle: All of these House members come from heavily Republican districts, and all except Boebert and Perry won reelection last year by more than 30 percentage points. (Boebert eked out a victory by 546 votes.) None of them faced a serious threat in their primary elections.

In short, while many Democratic voters dream of toppling these pugilistic Republicans, it is often all but impossible.

Flowers, for example, raised nearly $17 million in his race against Greene. She crushed him by 32 points.

But the group argues that pouring money and negative advertising into such races can still weaken politicians: They are forced to spend more time defending their seats, raising money and campaigning at home instead of traveling the country and expanding their political profiles with endorsements and speeches.

Theres always money in the banana stand. In liberal politics, there are few better ways to rake in mountains of cash than by targeting far-right Republicans.

For example, the Lincoln Project, a group of former Republicans that has pumped out stinging ads attacking Trump and his allies, has raised $118 million since forming in 2019.

The leaders of Mission Democracy expressed confidence in their ability to raise money.

Were all pretty prolific with our lists, we know a lot of people to call and we all have pretty good reputations for sticking to facts, not fantasy, Riggleman said. Weve all had incredibly insane real jobs in the real world. And I just think its given us a unique way not only to do the mission, but also fundraise and get the monies that we need to continue.

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President Joe Bidens nomination of Julie Su for labor secretary appears to be in jeopardy as she prepares to testify at her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, with some Democrats on the fence about supporting her in the narrowly split chamber.

Su is the acting labor secretary and was nominated by Biden to replace Marty Walsh, who stepped down this year to lead the National Hockey League Players Association.

Su is expected to face opposition from Republicans and possibly from some senators who caucus with Democrats once the nomination makes its way to the Senate floor.

Support for Biden's labor secretary nominee in doubt heading into confirmation hearing (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file)

Although progressives support Su, moderate Democrats have expressed skepticism about her nomination. NBC News reported last month that Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Jon Tester, D-Mont., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said they were undecided when asked whether they will back Su, despite supporting her confirmation to the deputy post in 2021.

Su was narrowly confirmed that year to be deputy labor secretary by a three-vote margin. She did not receive any votes from Republicans. In the current Senates 51-49 breakdown, Democrats have little room for error for Sus confirmation vote to succeed.

Asked about Su this week, Manchin told reporters no comment, while Tester said he will meet with her right after she testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Opponents of her nomination accuse Su of being a partisan activist and take issue with her past performance overseeing Californias unemployment program, which resulted in significant losses of money in fraud.

The top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, will question Su at the hearing about whether she would pursue a political agenda leading the Labor Department and point out that she has no direct experience negotiating or handling labor disputes, committee spokesperson Ty Bofferding told NBC News.

Outside of Capitol Hill, a coalition of workers and businesses banded together with a Stand Against Su campaign. They condemned the nominees view of the tip credit system, which allows employees to be paid a lower minimum wage as long as they are earning at least the full minimum wage when tips are included.

Local trade groups in West Virginia and Arizona  the home states of Manchin, Kelly and Sinema  also recently sent letters to their senators urging them to oppose Sus nomination.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Thurgood Marshall, left, had a very different view of the purpose of the Supreme Court than his successor, Clarence Thomas. U.S. Supreme Court via Wikimedia Commons

As public attention focuses on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas close personal and financial relationship with a politically active conservative billionaire, the scrutiny is overlooking a key role Thomas has played for nearly three decades on the nations highest court.

Thomas predecessor on the court, Thurgood Marshall, was a civil rights lawyer before becoming a justice. In 1991, in his final opinion before retiring after a quarter century on the court, Marshall warned that his fellow justices growing appetite to revisit  and reverse  prior decisions would ultimately squander the authority and legitimacy of this Court as a protector of the powerless.

His prediction has been quoted by Supreme Court decisions since, including a three-justice dissent from the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization ruling that declared there was no constitutional right to reproductive choice and overturned Roe v. Wade.

In his concurrence with the majority decision in that case, Thomas declared his opposition to Marshalls principle, lamenting that the court had not done more to pare back its prior work. In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Courts substantive due process precedents, Thomas wrote  directly implicating Americans rights to sexual privacy and same-sex marriage.

Throughout Thomas tenure he has pushed the Supreme Court to revisit prior decisions that embraced robust rights for societys most vulnerable, and to replace Marshalls vision with one more amenable to the powerful than the powerless. And in writing my book tracing the lives and work of both justices, I have seen the fruits of this effort multiply over the past decade.

A shield for those in need

Few phrases could so aptly capture Thurgood Marshalls vision of the courts work as protector of the powerless. And few, if any, Americans have done as much to make that vision a reality.

Marshalls work to advance Black citizenship is well known, but he also fought for expanded rights for women and the indigent, the accused and convicted, adherents to marginalized religions and those with unpopular viewpoints.

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At the root of Marshalls jurisprudence was a hope that while law could be a powerful tool of oppression, it might also be a shield.

As he wrote in that final dissent, in Payne v. Tennessee, enforcement of constitutional rights frequently requires this Court to rein in the forces of democratic politics, to protect the powerless from the tyranny of the majority.

While his Payne dissent criticized the court for reversing itself, Marshall was no stranger to calling for reconsideration of established law. Marshalls signature accomplishment as a lawyer in Brown v. Board of Education was to convince the court to overturn the doctrine of separate but equal that had emerged after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

The three attorneys who won Brown v. Board of Education stand outside the Supreme Court after their victory: from left, George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall and James Nabrit Jr. Bettmann via Getty Images

As a justice, Marshall argued passionately and repeatedly that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendments prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, leading to a brief period where it was considered unconstitutional.

The distinction between Marshall and Thomas is not really about whether the court should reverse past decisions but simply which ones.

While Marshall willed the court to become a protector of the powerless, Thomas has, I believe, argued not only to scale that vision back, but to advance the interests of the powerful.

Power as a key factor

While last summers abortion decision is an obvious example, Thomas has led the courts assault on precedent in other areas as well.

For example, years before the court invalidated portions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, Thomas had argued that the lack of modern voting discrimination made the act unnecessary.

Similarly, recent decisions have followed Thomas lead in weakening the vitality of the First Amendments Establishment Clause, which fortifies the separation between church and state.

Thomas has even called for the court to reconsider its ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, which established a constitutional right to a lawyer for indigent criminal defendants.

In each case, it is the powerless who stand to be most significantly affected.

Those in need of constitutional protection in Thomas view are more likely to be property owners, corporations making campaign contributions or gun owners.

On affirmative action

Perhaps no topic better captures the distinction between the two mens views than affirmative action, which the court is considering in a pair of cases from Harvard and the University of North Carolina to be decided this term.

The distrust of government that fuels many of Thomas perspectives is never more personal than in cases about the use of race in college admissions. He has railed against affirmative action, saying it brands Black people in prominent positions with a stigma about whether their skin color played a part in their advancement.

Indeed, Thomas claims his position requiring colorblindness is a better path toward full Black citizenship. He has made that claim even in situations where he knew it would result in more limited access to opportunities for Black students in the short term.

Marshall always looked at the issue from a different perspective, arguing that access to opportunities was essential not only for the Black students affected but for the nation at large.

If we are ever to become a fully integrated society, one in which the color of a persons skin will not determine the opportunities available to him or her, Marshall wrote in 1977, we must be willing to take steps to open those doors.

It was access for the powerless that Marshall thought ought drive the thinking of the court.

But this summer, the court may finally embrace a different vision on affirmative action, coming again to a position Thomas has been advocating for decades.

That turn would be yet another reversal squandering Marshalls vision of the court.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Daniel Kiel, University of Memphis.

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Daniel Kiel 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.
After the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside killed 98 people almost two years ago, scrutiny of the buildings history unearthed a series of controversial decisions and lax oversight by local governments.

At the buildings inception in 1981, the town granted an exception to its 12-story height limit to allow a penthouse floor. Decades later, in 2014, officials in neighboring Miami Beach ceded a street to developers of an adjacent condo tower, allowing vibrations from its construction to move closer to the Champlain property line.

Its not clear whether those decisions ultimately contributed to the collapse. But now, as developers pursue a new luxury tower at the oceanfront site, Surfside officials are under pressure from victims family members and the public to ensure the project is safe, transparent and sensitive to the tragedy.

Theyve already faced some critique. Earlier this year, Mayor Shlomo Danzinger was condemned by some victims family members for failing to disclose a meeting in Dubai with the sites billionaire owner, Hussain Sajwani. Danzinger said he was there to advocate for a memorial at or near the site, as the families have called for.

Now, a proposed zoning change that is tailored to the former Champlain property is raising fresh concerns.

The item would effectively exempt Sajwani and his team at DAMAC Properties from a code provision that forces some developers in Surfside to deploy a wedding cake design, which sees buildings become narrower as they get taller by sloping inward  part of the towns attempt to maintain space and sunlight between buildings.

One product of that provision is Arte, the pyramid-shaped tower where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner recently sold a condo for $17 million.

An architectural rendering of the Arte Surfside at 8955 Collins Avenue.

Under the town code, the wedding-cake rules dont apply to the north side of the former Champlain Towers site because it fronts a street  88th Street  and not another building.

But town officials say the south side of the property doesnt appear to qualify for the exemption. The south side abuts the land Miami Beach ceded in 2014, formerly a 50-foot-wide street known as 87th Terrace that was dug up and turned into a 10-foot walkway.

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We are reviewing this matter further, but our preliminary research suggests classifying 87th Terrace as a [street] frontage is questionable, officials wrote in a memo to the developers late last year.

Normally, that would mean the developers must apply for a variance from the code and state their case during the towns approval process if they want to avoid the rule.

But the proposed change would remove that burden by adding language that says sides of oceanfront buildings that abut a public access easement at least 10 feet wide are exempt from the wedding-cake provision.

Town Manager Hector Gomez said at a commission meeting Tuesday that the former Champlain site is the only property known to be immediately affected.

In an interview Thursday, Gomez said the developers didnt explicitly ask for the change, but did request clarification on the language.

That is an ambiguity were seeking to define, he said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for DAMAC  which paid $120 million to buy the property at 8777 Collins Ave.  said the company rejects any suggestion that a backroom deal may have been cut, related to zoning or otherwise, during the mayors visit to Dubai last year.

DAMAC wishes to set the record straight and strongly objects to any inference that something unprincipled transpired when the Mayor visited the Chairman of DAMAC on his way to Israel to visit his son last October, spokesperson Niall McLoughlin said.

McLoughlin added that the company extended a lunch invitation when it learned Danzinger was coming to Dubai and didnt pay for his airfare or accommodations.

In no way was any favor discussed or exchanged and any attempt to disparage the company will not be tolerated, McLoughlin said. Over the last six months DAMAC has had a number of discussions with the Town in respect to interpretation of multiple clauses of its zoning regulations as part of preparing its planning application.

After the Herald requested public records related to the mayors trip, the town said in February that none exist.

Elected officials voice concerns

Commissioners were initially split on the zoning proposal Tuesday but voted unanimously to defer it to a meeting next month after some officials voiced concerns.

I expect applicants to follow the code we have, Commissioner Marianne Meischeid said. I dont know why we would change anything to accommodate a specific entity.

Town Attorney Lillian Arango emphasized that the change would not constitute spot zoning  a legally questionable practice of carving out zoning exceptions for certain properties  because it would apply equally across a zoning district along the east side of Collins Avenue, where the maximum building height is 120 feet.

Regardless, Meischeid said, it will still be a benefit to this property ... so Im not comfortable with it.

The change would require two rounds of approval to take effect.

Danzinger said he would have been willing to approve the item on first reading and ask town staff for an analysis of the impacts before a final vote. But he said he, too, has reservations.

I dont feel comfortable if its just for one property, he said.

Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger was elected in March 2022.

Vice Mayor Jeff Rose said he supports the change in the spirit of clarifying and cleaning up some of that ambiguity in the code.

Commissioner Fred Landsman added that Miami Beach, not Surfside, decided to vacate 87th Terrace, which affected our ability to consider it a street.

Do we allow Miami Beach to dictate Surfside? I dont think we should, Landsman said.

Developers plans are unknown

The extent of the potential benefits to DAMAC was not immediately clear.

If the change is approved, the developers could build straight up along the south end of the property instead of deploying a wedding cake design. That would grant them more room for valuable units on the upper floors.

At the same time, the change would increase a current 10-foot setback requirement at the southern property line to 20 feet, according to town zoning attorney Tony Recio. Calculations by the Herald found that the buildings maximum allowed square footage may be similar whether the change is approved or not, although exact numbers are difficult to determine without the developers plans.

Its not clear exactly what the developers want to build. DAMAC has said it plans to build ultra-luxury condos, but has yet to file an application with the town or release renderings.

Leonardo Morejon touches the name of his friend Miguel Pazos on a memorial outside an event on June 24, 2022, to mark the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside.

Eliana Salzhauer, a former town commissioner, said the proposal has the appearance of a favor to the developers.

This zoning correction is a gift to the one property in town thats actually impacted by this, she said.
The upper portion of the Mississippi River, as well as the Red River and others in the north-central United States, will experience major flooding into this week, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. The surge of high water will slowly progress southward along the Mississippi in the coming weeks.

AccuWeather's long-range forecasters have been sounding the alarm for the likelihood of significant spring flooding since early this winter due to anticipated heavy snowfall as well as the risk of rain events that would accompany the spring thaw.

Even though record-high levels are not likely on most of the rivers, there will still be significant impacts due to major flooding along hundreds of miles of waterways.

The long-range team, led by Senior Meteorologist Paul Pastelok, has insisted that while water levels may be contained by most levee systems during this spring's flooding, unprotected regions, such as farmland and small rural communities, could suffer the most.

Flat terrain in the region causes the streams and rivers to flow more slowly than in hilly terrain. Not only does the flooding cycle take much longer to progress when compared to a mountainous region, but vast stretches of water may persist in areas that drain poorly for days and weeks.

Some locations along the large rivers, such as the upper portion of the Mississippi and the Red River, could remain in major flood for a week or more and above flood stage for close to a month.

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These conditions may prevent access to agricultural areas and may cause some roads to remain impassable for an extended period this spring.

Bismarck, North Dakota, and Minneapolis are both experiencing a top three-snowfall season. With more chances for snow likely this spring, the snowfall amounts could end up being the heaviest on record. Duluth, Minnesota, is now experiencing its snowiest season on record as it recently surpassed the 135.4-inch mark set in 1995-1996.

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Much of the snow from the winter season has melted as well as a recent burst of heavy snow that brought 1-2 feet in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota the weekend before last. The melting has already set into motion a major flooding event for portions of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin due to rising waters on area rivers.

Those rivers include the Minnesota, Crow, St. Croix, Red River of the North and the upper portion of the Mississippi.

At least 36 gauge locations across rivers in the north-central U.S. were forecast to hit major flood stage, including numerous locations on the Mississippi and Red rivers, according to the National Weather Service.

The melting process of the winter snowpack has been gradual enough to avoid a worst-case scenario along the Red River, including the Fargo, North Dakota, area. The heavy snow that fell early last week largely avoided the Red River basin.

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney told AccuWeather that the city deals with a "major" flooding event every four to five years, and officials are busy preparing for this year's flooding. Mahoney said that original projections by the National Weather Service of a 38-foot crest on the Red River would be serious, but due to a more gradual thaw that has unfolded, the river crested just shy of 30 feet on Saturday and has been manageable.

Major flood stage at Fargo is 30 feet. Record-setting flooding occurred in the city back in 2009 when waters reached 40.84 feet.

Major flooding is a concern all the way along the Mississippi River to areas south of the Quad Cities region in Iowa and Illinois in the next couple of weeks, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz.

A top-three crest is projected for the Mississippi River at LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and Dubuque, Iowa. Water levels are expected to reach within 2 feet of the record at both locations, which are 17.89 feet and 26.81 feet, respectively. Both record floods occurred in April 1965.

"How high the Mississippi River gets from places such as Dubuque, Iowa, on south will be greatly dependent on the amount of moisture that is injected into the river system over the next one to two weeks," Benz added.

The level and timing of crests are subject to adjustment and may change significantly as rainstorms, rapidly melting snow and freezes affect the region. Typically, National Weather Service hydrological data from rainfall and runoff are highly scrutinized out to about 48 hours. Specific forecasts for river levels extend out for a week or more with long-term estimates and probabilities that extend out for a few months.

"There are a number of locks and dams along the upper Mississippi River between La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Davenport, Iowa, with some big pools that can hold some water back," Benz said. "The mitigation measures have likely captured some of the local spring melt up to (last) week, but these locations may need to discharge more water as the surge comes down from the north in the next couple of weeks."

High, fast-flowing water may inhibit barge traffic from above St. Louis to near St. Paul, Minnesota, over the next few weeks.

"As a result of the high water on the upper Mississippi and flooding of low-lying farms, roads and rail systems, there may be a significant economic impact on the region which could echo throughout the nation," Benz said.

Water levels remain very low along much of the Missouri River due to increasing drought over the southern and western portions of the watershed.

Waters have receded from minor flood stage, which was observed several weeks ago along much of the Ohio River.

Both the Missouri and Ohio rivers are the major tributaries to the middle portion of the Mississippi River. Unless heavy rain falls in these river basins at approximately the same time as the surge of water from up north arrives, the level of water rise in the middle Mississippi should be less extreme when compared to locations farther north in Iowa, northern Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Several storm systems with episodes of rain and dryness are likely to affect the region from late April to the first part of May, Pastelok explained.

"This storm track represents a bit of a pattern flip from recent weeks and months with the bulk of the storms avoiding the northern tier of the Central states," Pastelok said. "The intensity of these systems and the amount of rain they bring over the middle and lower portion of the Mississippi River basin will be monitored closely for potential add-on flooding problems."

Near and below where the Ohio River joins in around Cairo, Illinois, the width of the Mississippi River broadens significantly - and the volume of water that it can handle increases substantially.

Historically low water levels along much of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers from last summer to the start of this past winter greatly hindered and in some cases forced a stop to the transport of goods and grains via barge.

The period of high water along the Mississippi River in areas north of the Ohio River may last well into May. It could take until late May for the surge of water and perhaps minor flooding issues to reach the lowest portion of the Mississippi.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
(Bloomberg) -- Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who scored a resounding reelection victory last month, is coming under pressure as critics say she broke a promise not to raise taxes.

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The premier met a clutch of protesters led by her predecessor, Juri Ratas, as she arrived for the first meeting of her new government in Tallinn on Thursday. Kallass Reform Party dropped 2 percentage points to 24%, according to a Norstat poll published Tuesday, after unveiling an increase in income and sales taxes this month.

Her party was a champion of fiscal austerity after the 2008 global financial crisis as the nation sought to join Europes single currency. Kallas has similarly styled herself a fiscal hawk, including in the run-up to the March 5 election.

Read my lips: taxes will not rise. Period, she told parliament in October, parroting a famous line from former President George H. W. Bush. Bush served one term as US leader. His 1992 defeat by Bill Clinton was attributed by many to his break with the tax pledge.

Also echoing the 41st US president, Kallas said Thursday she had to make unpopular decisions to bring to heel a budget deficit that stands at 4.3% of gross domestic product and has prompted unease at the countrys central bank as well as Fitch Ratings.

In the shadow of the war in Ukraine, Kallas cited Estonias ambition to ramp up defense spending to 3% of GDP.

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A group that advocates for victims of sexual abuse asked Belleville Bishop Michael McGovern on Wednesday to add five names, including those of two men in prison and a deceased nun, to the dioceses public list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

The Diocese of Belleville said in a statement it will review the request from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Four of the five clergy members have been accused of sexual misconduct that occurred outside of the diocese, but they all had spent time in the Diocese of Belleville at one time, including a priest who once taught in East St. Louis and is now serving a federal prison sentence for possession of child pornography.

All of the clergy members on the Belleville Dioceses current list of credibly accused persons are men. The nun cited by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests would be the first woman on the list.

In alphabetical order, here are the five persons the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests wants added to the Belleville Dioceses list:

The Rev. James T. Beighlie

Robert J. Lanter, resigned deacon

Frederick A. Lenczycki, laicized priest

Dennis J. McClintock, laicized priest

The late Sister Cheryl A. Porte

While noting this year is the 30th anniversary of when the Belleville Diocese began removing priests from ministry in 1993 for sexual abuse of children, five volunteers with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests conducted a news conference outside the dioceses headquarters in downtown Belleville. They then hand delivered a letter to dioceses office asking the five names be added to the dioceses list.

None of them are on the official Belleville Diocesan list, said David Clohessy.

Clohessy, the Missouri volunteer director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and former national director of the group, spoke during a news conference.

The group wants people to know that the four priests and nun spent time in the Belleville Diocese so that possible victims know who to contact.

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This is a huge, huge issue, said Joe Dahlem of St. Louis during the news conference. Hes a volunteer with the advocacy group.

Belleville Dioceses response

In response to the letter, the diocese released a statement on Wednesday.

The Diocese of Belleville takes seriously any information we receive concerning possible sexual abuse of minors by clerics who ministered or served in our diocese, the statement said.

The statement said the diocese in recent years has added clerics to the dioceses list based on information provided by third parties, including the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Once we receive this information, we investigate to determine: first, whether the cleric in question had a meaningful connection with our diocese; and second, whether a civil or other religious body has made a determination that the allegation of abuse against the cleric is credible, the statement said. If we are able to make those two determinations, we add the cleric to our dioceses credibly accused list. We have added to our list as recently as the autumn of 2022.

The diocese will follow this process with the latest information from the advocacy group and will make a decision as soon as we are able.

The current list is posted on the dioceses website under the child protection/safe environment section on a link called diocesan clergy with credible/substantial allegations. It was last updated in September.

It has 42 names of priests and deacons, including 21 who were formally associated with the Belleville Diocese and 21 who were not officially part of the diocese but had a meaningful connection to it.

Names to add

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests previously held news conferences in 2019 and 2021 outside the dioceses headquarters asking for names to be added to the list and Clohessy said the diocese has made some additions as requested but not all.

We shouldnt have to remind you of this Bishop, but every time an abuser remains hidden, kids remain at risk, the advocacys groups letter to McGovern stated. Disclosing the truth  the full truth  is the best way to safeguard the vulnerable, heal the wounded and help the church move forward.

Heres additional information on the five persons, including their ties to the Belleville Diocese:

The Rev. James T. Beighlie

The Rev. James T. Beighlie, a member of the Congregation of the Mission order of priests who once taught in East St. Louis, was serving a parish in St. Louis when he was arrested after leaving a nude photo of himself on a church printer in 2021, according to The Kansas City Star, which is part of the company that owns the Belleville News-Democrat.

He created two PowerPoint slideshows that contained thousands of slides filled with child erotica, according to the priests plea agreement cited by The Star. The male and female children were nude in the images, The Star reported.

Beighlie subsequently pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of child pornography and he was given a five-year prison sentence in January. He is in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and he is still a priest, Chris Duggan, spokesman for the Congregation of the Mission Western Province, said Wednesday.

Beighlie was a teacher at the Vincent Gray Academy in East St. Louis in the 2008-09 school year, according to Duggan.

A representative from the high school on State Street could not be reached for comment. A web page linked to the Vincent Gray Academy describes it as a private, nonprofit school that aims to educate youths who are high risk economically or socially oppressed.

Robert J. Lanter

Robert J. Lanter, 72, resigned as the Belleville Diocese deacon coordinator in 2019 after he was charged in St. Clair County with criminal sexual assault of a 29-year-old woman who was unable to give consent in Swansea, according a Belleville News-Democrat article.

Lanter subsequently pleaded guilty in December 2019 to a lesser charge of attempted sexual assault. He was sentenced to serve 120 straight days in St. Clair County Jail. The St. Clair County States Attorneys Office reported that Lanter would be required to register as a sex offender for life.

On Wednesday, the Illinois State Police sex offender registry showed that Lanter was living in Swansea.

Lanter had been the dioceses deacon coordinator and was assigned to St. Luke Church in Belleville. He also served at St. Teresa Church in Belleville, which has a partnership with St. Luke. He was ordained in 1997, according to the News-Democrat.

Frederick A. Lenczycki

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests had asked the Belleville Diocese in 2019 to include Frederick A. Lenczyckis name on the credibly accused list but the diocese has not done so.

Lenczycki is on the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Joliet Diocese lists of clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse.

Lenczycki, 78, pleaded guilty in 2019 to two counts of sodomy for abuse of two boys that occurred at a St. Louis County parish in the 1990s and was given a 10-year sentence, The Associated Press reported.

As of Wednesday, Lenczycki was in the Farmington Correctional Center in Farmington, Missouri.

Lenczycki also pleaded guilty in 2004 of abusing three altar boys in Hinsdale, Illinois, in the 1980s and was sentenced to five years in prison, the Daily Herald reported.

A prosecutor in DuPage County told a judge that Lenczycki was assigned to a pastoral center in Belleville from August 1991 through July 1992, according to court records listed by BishopAccountability.org, a group that tracks cases of sexual abuse by clergy members.

Lenczycki was removed from ministry in 2002 and laicized in 2016, according to BishopAccountability.org.

Dennis J. McClintock

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests had asked the Belleville Diocese in 2021 to include Dennis J. McClintocks name on the credibly accused list but the diocese has not done so.

McClintock is named on the Archdiocese of St. Louis list of credibly accused priests.

McClintock was general manager of a hotel thats used for retreats at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville until around 2009, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in 2019.

The St. Louis list states that McClintock was removed from ministry and laicized.

The archdiocese has stated that McClintock is among the clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Three women told the Post-Dispatch that McClintock had crossed boundaries at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church and grade school in south St. Louis County, according to the 2019 newspaper article.

Sister Cheryl A. Porte

Sister Cheryl A. Porte, of the Marianites of Holy Cross, died in 2020 in New Orleans. She was 69.

Porte is listed on the BishopAccountability.orgs list of persons credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

She was living in OFallon in 2002 when the leader of her religious order said Porte committed inappropriate sexual behavior, in the 1970s in Louisiana, according to a Belleville News-Democrat article.

Porte had been dismissed from a Louisiana middle school in 1979 after complaints she had a two-year sexual relationship with a girl who was 12 when the contact began.

In 2002, the victim gave The Times of Acadiana newspaper in Louisiana her account of what happened and described how she tried to kill herself three times when she was teenager.

While in the metro-east, Porte had been an occasional guest speaker at adult religious seminars at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in OFallon, the News-Democrat reported.

Belleville News-Democrat reporter Lexi Cortes contributed information for this article.
The east side of the Ohio Statehouse near High Street in a 2015 file photo.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol has arrested a teenage suspect in connection with the May 2022 fatal shooting of another teen outside the Ohio Statehouse.

Troopers arrested 17-year-old Travon A. Robinson, of Columbus, Wednesday for the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Broderick M. Harper, a Licking Heights High School student.

Previous reporting: One dead in reported shooting on grounds of the Ohio Statehouse

Around 10 p.m. on May 29, 2022, Ohio Highway patrol officers responded to gunshots at the northwest corner of the Ohio Statehouse grounds and found Harper suffering from a gunshot wound. They rendered aid, but Harper later died of his injuries.

An image from surveillance footage provided by the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board shows Broderick Harper, 16, and three other people on electric scooters on the Ohio Statehouse lawn around 10 p.m. May 29, 2022. Harper, 16, a Licking Heights High School student, was shot and killed moments later.

Grainy surveillance video released by the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board, which oversees the Statehouse grounds, showed Harper and three other people on electric scooters pull up in front of the Statehouse just to the left of the front steps. Harper suddenly falls backward off the scooter into the grass after being shot.

One of the other scooter drivers with Harper can be seen in the video driving off. A second is seen getting off his scooter and backing away as Harper is shot. That individual then flees the scene on foot, running back in the direction the scooters originally came from.

The others in the video were then seen fleeing the scene.

Previous reporting: Victims in Ohio Statehouse lawn shooting, Prairie Township shooting and crash identified

The Ohio Highway Patrol, which provides security at the Statehouse and its grounds, worked with the U.S. Marshal Service and Columbus police on the nearly yearlong investigation

Robinson is currently being held on delinquency murder charges at the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Teen arrested in 2022 shooting of 16-year-old outside Ohio Statehouse
WEST BATH, Maine (AP)  A sister who discovered a crime scene in which four people were shot to death arrived to broken glass, bullet holes, blood and guns strewn about the home, and the suspect was later arrested at the scene of a highway shooting with what appeared to be blood on him, according to state police.

Police found multiple cartridge casings of varying calibers in the vehicle driven by the suspect after shots were fired at vehicles along Interstate 295, wounding three people, state police said.

A state police affidavit released Thursday as the suspect, Joseph Eaton, made his first court appearance contained grisly details, a note found at the scene and a timeline for the events. Eaton showed no emotion during the brief hearing other than to acknowledge to the judge that he understood the charges.

One of his court-appointed attorneys, James Mason, acknowledged after the hearing that the shootings shook the state.

What happened in Bowdoin is undeniably tragic. But I ask everybody to please reserve judgement, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said the next step for law enforcement is to complete the investigation and present the case to a grand jury while victim advocates provide support to family and friends of the victims. "This is a horrible crime, unimaginable loss being faced by the victims, and our hearts go out to the victims, Robbin said.

Police have yet to discuss what might have been a motive behind the shootings on a rural property in Bowdoin and then along a busy interstate highway about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Maine's largest city, Portland. Police also have not discussed what gun or guns were used, or how Eaton obtained them.

Eaton, 34, has been jailed since his arrest Tuesday at a chaotic scene along Interstate 295, where traffic backed up as heavily armed law enforcement searched the area.

Police say Eaton confessed to killing four people, including his parents, in Bowdoin and wounding three people while shooting at vehicles. Eaton is charged with four counts of murder for the killings in Bowdoin but has not yet been charged in the highway shootings, officials said.

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He had been released four days before the shootings from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Police say his mother picked him up from prison April 14 after he completed a sentence for aggravated assault.

The latest in a string of mass shootings in the U.S. began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims were identified as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said. The two couples were described as best friends.

Police previously said Eaton told them he began firing on several cars along I-295 soon after that because he thought he was being followed by police. Bullets struck a family in one of the vehicles, wounding Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey was critically wounded, police said.

The crimes left the victims' families and friends stunned.

Friends who knew Patricia Eger through her work as a dedicated volunteer and board member of Lisbon Area Christian Outreach, which operates a food pantry, described her as the deeply religious daughter of a lighthouse keeper, passionate about charity work and tirelessly helping others.

She knew, automatically, what anybody needed, said Carol Day, a fellow volunteer and one of several who gathered to remember their friend Thursday evening. I think our community has lost a good person who cares so much about them.

A state police affidavit indicated the discovery of the deaths in Bowdoin was made by Patricia Eger's sister, who first noticed something was amiss when she saw blood on the steps leading into the home and then saw the carnage and a body. The affidavit noted all bodies were covered and that the family dog had been killed as well.

Investigators who arrived on the scene discovered an unsigned note on an island in the kitchen that referenced that someone had been molested, nothing was done about it and the writer wanted to be freed of pain.

The day before the shooting, a man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted an anguished live video on social media that referenced trauma including molestation. Being molested and stuff, you know, it destroys somebody, the man said. He also criticized people who call themselves Christians but are unwilling to forgive.

___

This story has been corrected with the correct spelling of Leanne Robbin's name.
PATERSON  A man arrested on gun possession charges outside John F. Kennedy High School last December now stands accused of being involved in two subsequent city shootings, according to authorities.

Desmar Fergusons December arrest outside Kennedy was part of a three-gun seizure at the school that resulted in heightened security and the removal of JFKs principal at the time.

Ferguson, 19, was on pretrial release on the gun possession charges when Paterson police detectives found him and a 13-year-old on East 18th Street after they were injured a 4th Ward shooting on the night of April 14, police said.

The two victims were taken by ambulance to St. Josephs University Medical Center for treatment, authorities said.

Further investigation by Paterson detectives revealed that Ferguson allegedly was a combatant in the April 14 shooting and reportedly also shot someone in the city a week earlier, on April 7, according to the affidavits of probable cause filed against him this week.

More from Paterson Press: A school nurse was struck by a DPW truck. Now, a footbridge is sought

Detectives searching the scene of the April 14 crime discovered bullets and fired fragments of bullets in the area where they found Ferguson, the affidavit said. On April 17, they tracked down video footage that showed Ferguson and the 13-year-old coming under fire as they walked along East 18th Street, the affidavit said.

Mr. Ferguson is then seen shooting back in the direction of the two male suspects, the affidavit said. Muzzle flash can be seen from the gun in his right hand  As Mr. Ferguson gets shot and falls to the ground, the gun falls into the middle of the road.

A separate affidavit about the April 7 shooting said detectives identified Ferguson as the suspect in that crime from video footage as well.

Ferguson turned himself in at the Paterson Police Department on Wednesday, according to the Passaic County Prosecutors Office. He was charged with attempted murder and other weapons crimes in the April 7 case and gun crimes in the April 14 incident, the Prosecutors Office said.

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Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Suspect in JFK HS gun case charged in two other Paterson shootings
When you think about sweat in relation to skin, oil buildup and breakouts may come to mind. However, experts say perspiration can expel dirt and dead skin cells from the body, andnormal sweat production might have an aesthetic effect that can appear to be anti-aging.

Perspiration, of course, is a normal physiological response that plays a crucial role in maintaining your bodys health. The purpose of sweat is to help your body maintain a normal body temperature and cool you down when your body temperature goes up, which can occur in the setting of exercise, work, stress or hot temperatures outside, among other causes, said Dr. Marisa Garshick, a New York-based dermatologist.

But if there are aesthetic advantages to sweat, we want to hear about them. HuffPost reached out to Garshick and other dermatologists to explain.

Sweat can flush out bad-for-skin bacteria

The average person has between 2 million and 4 million sweat glands. There are three types: eccrine, apocrine and apoeccrine. The latter two types play a lesser role in overall sweat production and are limited to specific regions of the body, but the eccrine glands play a role in the skin-friendly benefits of perspiration that were talking about.

Sweat contains a natural antibacterial peptide called dermcidin. This peptide naturally destroys bacteria and other harmful contaminants, explained Dr. Dylan Alston, a Salt Lake City dermatologist. As a result, it helps minimize infections and may even help acne breakouts.

You may have heard people talking about sweating out their toxins, but dont place too much importance on sweat as a means of detoxification. Heres why: While studies have shown that toxic elements and heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic can be expelled from the body through sweat, the majority of your bodys toxins are expelled through your liver, kidney and intestines. There is no need to sweat them out.

Sweat can have hydrating effects on your skin

One potential benefit of sweating, according to board-certified dermatologist Dr. Michelle Henry, is that sweat plays a key role in sustaining the skins hydration levels and fortifying the skin barrier function. Sweat increases blood circulation to your skin, which even gives it a healthy glow, she said.

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So what does circulation have to do with your skin? Garshick explained that with improved circulation, the skin is getting the nutrients it needs to look and feel more hydrated and healthy. When circulation is impaired, the skin can be impacted and appear dry and dull.

In regards to skin and aging, sweat is the most effective and natural moisturizer available, Alston said. By increasing skin surface hydration, sweating provides a protecting advantage by helping prevent allergen entry into the skin. If youre wondering what allergens have to do with your skin, Alston explained further: Both reduced hydration and increased allergies stress the skins ability to regenerate and recover. These two factors directly affect the rate of cellular differentiation and revitalization.

So why does sweat have such a bad reputation with skin?

Sweat can cause some unfavorable consequences if not properly managed. According to Henry, excessive perspiration can result in skin irritation, rashes and obstructed pores, leading to acne formation. Additionally, it can promote bacterial and fungal growth, causing infections or skin conditions such as tinea pedis  also known as athletes foot.

To mitigate risks of skin irritation from healthy amounts of sweat, it is crucial to maintain adequate hygiene. Cleanse the skin regularly and wear moisture-wicking, breathable fabrics during physical activities or in hot climates, Henry said.

And dont go too hard with oil-stripping cleansers  you want to keep your skins protective barrier intact. Its important to strike the balance of cleansing the skin to eliminate buildup and sweat, but not stripping the skin of its natural oils, Garshick said.

For those who have a condition known as hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, there are treatment options, and it is best to speak with a board-certified dermatologist, Garshick said.

The takeaway

Sweat has some positive benefits for your complexion, but dont neglect skin care and just bathe in your sweat all day. The act of sweating can boost skin radiance and provide temporary hydration, but it is not the sole agent responsible for a glowing complexion.

HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently selected by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change.

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ROCKVILLE, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut man who viciously and randomly attacked two people with a Samurai-style sword, killing one and severely wounding the other, was sentenced Thursday to 55 years in prison, the same sentence he received for a fatal shooting and kidnapping that occurred two days after the attack.

Peter Manfredonia struck 62-year-old Ted DeMers in the head with the sword, completely severed his right hand, sliced off his left thumb and index finger and repeatedly slashed his back during the attack in Willington on May 22, 2020. Manfredonia then wounded 80-year-old John Franco, who had severe injuries to his hands and wounds to his head and neck. DeMers was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.

Manfredonia, now 26, who was a University of Connecticut senior in 2020 studying finance and mechanical engineering, later held another local man hostage for 24 hours. He then drove across the state to Derby, fatally shot a school classmate and kidnapped that victims girlfriend. He was caught in Hagerstown, Maryland, ending a six-day manhunt in several states.

Manfredonia appeared in state Superior Court in Rockville on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in both the Willington and Derby cases and agreed to 55-year sentences. Judge Kathleen McNamara imposed the prison term for the sword attack Thursday, which will run concurrent with the sentence for the fatal shooting and kidnapping.

Although Connecticut no longer has capital punishment, both DeMers' widow, Cindy, and Franco told the judge they believed Manfredonia deserved the death penalty.

Cindy Demers described rushing to the scene of carnage outside her home that day.

It was like being in a war zone, she said. "All I could focus on was reassuring Ted that he was going to be OK and we would put his body back together. We will get through this. We had gotten through so much together up until this point.

Dying was not an option, she continued. And even seeing him and his injuries, I couldn't even imagine that was a possibility. He was still alive when he was taken away, but he never came home. ... My husband's life was stolen from him viciously. Life as I knew it stolen from me. My world as I knew it came to an end.

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Franco, a U.S. Navy veteran who is now 83, attended the hearing and added, "He should be terminated. I'm a true believer in capital punishment, especially in a situation such as this. Franco was called a hero for coming to DeMers' aid when he saw the attack.

Family and friends described DeMers as a kind and generous man who coached Little League in town and would help anybody who needed it. He tried to help Manfredonia that day because he thought Manfredonia had crashed his motorcycle, witnesses said.

It was the second straight day that victims of Manfredonia's violent spree offered emotional testimony in court. Manfredonia apologized at both hearings. He was sentenced on Wednesday for shooting 23-year-old Nicholas Eisele to death in Derby and kidnapping Eisele's girlfriend, whom he released unharmed a few hours later in New Jersey.

Tolland State's Attorney Matthew Gedansky said Thursday that Manfredonia went to DeMers' neighborhood that day to see his ex-girlfriend, who lived nearby. Gedansky said it appeared Manfredonia had plans to kill the woman but was interrupted by Demers, who had approached him on the street to see if he needed help.

Manfredonia's lawyer, Michael Dolan, said Manfredonia's actual plan was to commit suicide in front of his ex-girlfriend. Dolan said Manfredonia has bipolar disease and anxiety, and was having a psychotic episode at the time of the killings.

Gedansky said he believed Manfredonia was desperate when he went to Eisele's apartment two days later, knowing Eisele had money. Manfredonia and Eisele grew up together in Newtown, Connecticut.

Manfredonia's apology on Thursday was similar to the one he made on Wednesday. He directed separate comments to DeMers' family, Franco and Donald Hipsky, the man whose home Manfredonia broke into after the sword attack and who was held hostage for 24 hours but not physically hurt.

There are no words that can possibly atone for what I have done. Know that I am sorry nonetheless, he said to DeMers' family. You have done nothing to deserve the pain that I have caused. My actions were nothing short of reprehensible. I do not expect forgiveness for my actions and I will regret them every day for the rest of my life.

As part of his plea bargains, Manfredonia agreed not see seek early release through requests for parole or sentence modification.
Five St. Teresas Academy students met at a Kansas City coffee shop just two days after a 16-year-old was shot in the Northland for ringing the wrong doorbell  each intent on staging a school-wide rally against gun violence.

The 18-year-olds  AJ Ward, Ava Martinez, Riyan Jones, Stella Hughes and Annamarie Hotze  barely knew each other. They had only a week and a half left before graduating from the school, where theyd rarely spoken. But between a school career laden with shooting drills and the news of fellow Kansas City teen Ralph Yarl being shot in the head, the group said, they were tired of pretending to feel safe.

Theres this fear that it can happen anywhere. Like you go to the grocery store or you go to church and you have that constant fear in the back of your mind that you could be killed at any moment, said Riyan Jones.

St. Teresas Academy rallied against gun violence Wednesday afternoon following the Northland shooting that left a 16-year-old with gun shot wounds after ringing the wrong doorbell.

They continued throwing out ideas for their student-led rally back and forth over selfies in a Snapchat group. Within days, the teenagers had organized a rally, unity walk and had written letters to their legislators seeking justice for Yarl.

At least 100 students and a few teachers attended the rally. In front of the schools Music and Arts Building, each of the five seniors made speeches recounting their hopes for a solution to the rampant gun violence in Kansas City and across the nation.

Theres no better time than now to act, said Stella Hughes from behind a podium.

For Ralph. For the students and faculty in Nashville, Uvalde, Parkland, Sandy Hook, and the countless others. We gather together and promise to act.

Constant paranoia

The event started with speeches from school officials and a spokeswoman for Moms Against Violence, encouraging students to demand change.

St. Teresas Academy teacher Robert Flynn spoke about his experience with gun violence, holding up printed images of former colleagues and students who had been killed in shootings around the Kansas City area.

People want to talk about the victims killed from gun violence. But there are living victims too, he said, placing his hand over his heart.

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A three minute moment of silence honored Yarl, showing solidarity.

St. Teresas Academy rallied against gun violence Wednesday afternoon following the Northland shooting that left a 16-year-old with gun shot wounds after ringing the wrong doorbell.

Us five are reading speeches that we organized in a Snapchat group chat. Were probably repeating ourselves but we wanted to do this so that you feel compelled to show each other that none of us stand alone in facing the hardships thrown at us, Ava Martinez said to the group.

Despite the fact that many of her Brookside secondary school peers hail from wealthier backgrounds, Martinez noted the citys gun violence will affect them all sooner or later.

Our entire generation is living with the constant paranoia of when the next shooting will occur.

As the speeches drew to a close, the crowd broke into a march around the lawn, mimicking the walk held by Staley High School students one day earlier in honor of Yarl.

I wont pretend that I knew Ralph personally, but he was just another kid like me and many of you, said Martinez.

No one should fear that they wont be protected by their community.

Riyan Jones agreed, following the event she told The Star that Yarls shooting weighed heavy on her mind.

Being another young Black kid, I have an older sister and Ive been thinking about if she was going to pick me up from a friends house and was shot ringing on the wrong doorbell, said Jones.

She explained her parents were always training her to act a certain way to stay safe, especially around those who may see her skin tone as a threat. In the past few days, shes felt more on edge: opting not to walk in certain areas and questioning her safety.

But it seems like no matter what you do, no matter how you prepare your child, you cant keep them safe, she said.

Thats the scary part about it. I feel like theres nothing you can do.

Its just, you have that constant fear of gun violence on top of race And you wonder, when will it be enough?
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan said on Thursday it was perplexed by Paraguay's main opposition presidential candidate questioning the benefits of keeping relations with Taipei, just a month after Beijing prised away its ties with another Latin American country.

Efrain Alegre, who leads the centre-left Concertacion Nacional coalition, is seen neck-and-neck in opinion polls with ruling party candidate Santiago Pena in the election at the end of the month.

Alegre has criticised Paraguay's current diplomatic relations with Taiwan going back over 60 years, which have made it hard to sell soy and beef to China, a major global buyer, and has said Paraguay does not benefit enough from its Taiwan ties.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Alegre's public comments "certainly have caused some perplexity".

"But our colleagues in Paraguay have very close ties with the political parties, the camps and the candidates," he added.

"Paraguay has had a long-standing relationship with us, and this relationship is also very stable. We will do our best to maintain diplomatic relations with Paraguay."

Paraguay is one of only 13 countries to maintain formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, and China has been stepping up efforts to win over the island's remaining allies.

Honduras severed ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing last month.

China has long argued that democratically ruled Taiwan is part of its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taipei strongly rejects.

China demands that countries it has ties with must adopt its position that Taiwan is Chinese territory.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Tarana Burke (center) and others march against sexual assault and harassment in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles in 2017.

When the #metoo hashtag went viral in 2017, activist and author Tarana Burke saw a great opportunity to bring national attention to the pervasiveness of sexual violence.

What she didnt consider was the impending backlash.

People kept saying, Well, you know the backlash is coming, dont get too comfortable, said Burke, a native of the Bronx in New York CIty, who started using the me too phrase in 2006 as part of her work connecting and empowering survivors of sexual assault. In my naivete, I (said), What could the backlash be to saying we demand consent, we want to stop rape?

The backlash includes people complaining that cancel culture has gone too far, looking for any reason to call survivors liars, and lamenting the lack of due process of law  without clear understanding of the principle, Burke said.

More on #MeToo movement: Columbus advocates say #MeToo changed awareness of sexual assault

It also includes inadequate funding for sexual violence prevention and even the good guys not wanting to talk about it, she added.

It makes people uncomfortable, she said. Even folks who haven't committed any kind of harm  because they can't sit in their own discomfort with just how pervasive and how insidious this is, they'd rather not deal with it.

Tarana Burke coming to Columbus

Its Burkes mission to keep talking about it, which she will do in Columbus on Wednesday, April 26, as the featured speaker at the Womens Fund of Central Ohios Keyholder fundraiser. The annual event, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at Mershon Auditorium at the Wexner Center for the Arts, raises money to support grantmaking, research and advocacy that benefits women and girls. Tickets can be purchased at womensfundcentralohio.org/keyholder.

It's fitting that Burkes appearance will happen during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Through her nonprofit, me too. International, she is leading a survivor-focused, global movement committed to healing, political organizing, fundraising and more.

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The origin of 'me too'

A survivor herself, Burke has said a catalyst of her advocacy was meeting a young Black girl who shared her story of abuse, which prompted Burke to confront her own experience and support Black and brown girls who were survivors of sexual assault.

Years later, Burkes me too phrase took over social media after actress Alyssa Milano used it as a hashtag in a tweet.

Pretty soon, an avalanche of posts from women all over the world descended upon social media.

After addressing valid concerns that her work had been co-opted, Burke wrote in her book "Unbound" that seeing women come forward gave her even more conviction in her advocacy.

Soon after, the me too movement included women speaking out against film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein and other famous men accused of abuse.

I think it's important for people to remember that most survivors of sexual violence don't see justice through the legal system, Burke said. And so, some of the cases that we saw elevated into the media  the reason why they were celebrated is because it's so surprising to see any type of accountability on any level when it comes to sexual violence.

But that's not the extent of the movement's impact.

I think we also have to look at the way in which people talk about sexual violence now  the way in which we have this opening for survivors to express the things that they've been holding for all of these years, Burke said.

'Me Too' founder Tarana Burke will speak at the Women's Fund of Central Ohio's Keyholder event on April 26.

'The backlash is rooted deeply in fear'

Despite that progression, there have been prominent naysayers of the movement, including former President Donald Trump, who said, It is a very scary time for young men in America.

He speaks to a particular group of white women, Burke said. I remember having white women stop me in the airport and say, You won't ever take my sons.

Burke said the backlash is "rooted deeply in fear and willful misunderstanding."

They have twisted the narrative," she said. "And there's a way in which people are attracted to fear. It feels better to be scared of this thing than to interrogate it.

Local impact: Columbus victims of abuse say 'Me Too'

Women of color remain marginalized

Although Burke launched me too to center Black and brown women and girls, women of color remain marginalized, she said.

Among women and girls, Native American women experience the highest rate of sexual violence, followed by Black women, according to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

Black women, marginalized women, people of color  have never had the benefit of the gaze of the mainstream to elevate our issues, Burke said. We had to assert that our lives mattered in order for the people to care about us being killed and left in the street. So, it certainly wasnt going to happen after white women were pushed to the forefront in the matter of sexual violence.

Mobilizing in Columbus: Activists see #MeToo as launch point

But Burke stresses the importance of getting validation within communities of color.

Before we look to the mainstream media, we have to look at what's happening inside of our community as the first barrier to why we don't have the space and place to tell our stories, she said. We spend a lot of time saying, Why don't they look at us? Why don't they listen to our stories? And we're not looking right around us and saying, Why aren't we dealing with this issue in our community?

Burke addresses vulnerability and shame in the Black community in "You Are Your Best Thing," a collection of essays she edited with Brene Brown.

As a Black person, where are the spaces where we can actually be vulnerable? she said. We don't grow up talking about that. We grow up hearing we have to be strong all the time.

Even as they witness perpetual killings of people who look like them, Black people are often called upon to teach white people about racism, Burke said.

What's more important than you being a better person is me tending to my own humanity, said Burke, who recalled having a "panic attack" when 16-year-old Columbus resident MaKhia Bryant was fatally shot by a Columbus police officer in 2021.

She looks so much like my niece," Burke said. "Black people don't have time to grieve. ... I don't want to hear about your investment in anti-racism if you haven't invested in Black humanity.

Ma'Khia Bryant

The future of 'me too'

Today, Burke continues to develop initiatives through me too. International, including the Survivors Agenda, a collective of organizations centering and empowering survivors.

Burke also created the nonprofits Social and Political Framework, which can be found on metoomvmt.org.

As much as the hashtag was an amazing vehicle to amplify the issue of sexual violence, it also muddied the waters about what 'me too' is, and has made it synonymous with the names of people who cause harm, as opposed to the people who survive harm, Burke said. "We really want to turn that ship around."

Burke also emphasized that "me too" is not a gender war, but a social justice issue.

Were talking about children, elders, people with disabilities, she said. We're talking about the most vulnerable people in our society. And we're also talking about millions of people who are walking around currently holding this trauma who we have just ignored. That's really what this movement is about.

ethompson@dispatch.com

@miss_ethompson

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Me Too' founder Tarana Burke joins Women's Fund of Central Ohio event
Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, pictured with the BBC's Lara Lewington, is trying to reduce his biological age

Our ultimate demise is inevitable, but a growing number of experts believe how we feel in our later years may not be.

They talk of "healthspans" - the number of healthy years of our lives.

Life expectancy may have doubled over the last 150 years, but many of us have seen the undignified and devastating decline of our loved ones as they aged.

To avoid that fate a new industry is emerging, promising a longevity revolution with techniques they say lead to healthier, longer lives.

Business is booming for those in this space, with supplements being touted as having the ability to battle our cellular decline, and all sorts of hot and cold therapies trying to help us reduce inflammation and disease risk in our bodies.

So I set out on a trip to the centre of it all, California, unsure as to whether I was arriving at the heart of a money-spinning cult, or the next frontier of medicine.

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson is spending millions a year trying to reduce his biological age - how old his body seems, rather than his actual chronological age, which is 45.

There's a good reason for any of us to do this. Age is the highest risk factor for disease, whether it's cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or dementia, so if ageing as a whole could be delayed, then so could the risk of onset of these conditions. For him though, it's a sport.

In Mr Johnson's luxurious Venice Beach home, a bedroom has been converted into a clinic where he spends many hours.

He wakes at 5am, eating his first meal an hour later, followed by a second, and final one at 11am. This, combined with a forensically selected 54 pills, a mix of supplements and off-label medication, are all planned based on readings from a catalogue of tests.

His days consist of a torturous exercise regime, monitoring and numerous treatments.

Lara visited labs and companies in California focusing on longevity

He told me the all-over skin laser treatment he's been having has reduced his skin age by 22 years, the greatest age reduction in any part of his body.

Story continues

The aesthetics are just a small part of it all though, as he reminds me "our skin is our biggest organ".

Mr Johnson was warm, logical and likeable. I left his house wanting to be (a bit) like him. Maybe I am already - I run 5km a day, try to avoid sugar, and test extreme tracking devices for fun.

My colleagues considered Mr Johnson's existence joyless, so his life is clearly not for everyone.

While his routine might seem extreme, every conversation I had still came back to lifestyle.

"Lifestyle is responsible for about 93% of your longevity - only about 7% is genetics," says Eric Verdin, chief executive of The Buck Institute for Ageing Research.

"Based on the data [if we live healthily], I would predict that most people could live to 95 in good health. So there's 15 to 17 [extra] years of healthy life that is up for grabs for all of us," he told me.

The big question, which Mr Verdin and others are investigating, is what does a healthy lifestyle mean? Take exercise for example - should that be a daily stroll, or a HIIT class?

How you age is closely linked to lifestyle, says Eric Verdin, chief executive of The Buck Institute for Ageing Research

The same goes for healthy eating. Is fasting as important as avoiding sugar? And what about a good night's sleep?

You can't underestimate the obsession with sleep I came across. I met many people setting their alarms not to wake up in the morning, but to remind them to go to bed on time for a full eight hours.

Well, we all set the bar at different levels.

Mr Verdin practises what he preaches, his regime consisting of "a whole lot of exercise, some fasting, good sleep, lots of social connections, very little alcohol".

His suggestion for others? "Try to spend at least 14 hours of your 24 hours without ingesting any calories as this has a profound effect on your metabolism."

The jury is out on how healthy this is for some women though.

Keeping better track of our bodies as they age might help. Health risks could be flagged in advance and any new drugs could be applied just at the right time.

Make it personalised, make it pre-emptive, make it better is the mantra.

It was interesting to see that pretty much all of those working in longevity science wear more than one tracker themselves - commonly a smartwatch and a smart ring (way more convenient for sleep I can tell you - and these people are obsessed with prioritising sleep).

More technology of business:

For my part I've found health tracking illuminating. I am not diabetic, but have been fascinated by the findings of a continuous glucose monitor I wore for a while.

The assumption is progress on longevity will come, albeit in a less sensational form than some may be hoping for.

Experts suggest that a drug might emerge that will initially make a year or two's difference, then a few years more with the next generation, and so on.

But along with such progress will come practical and ethical dilemmas.

One fundamental question is whether ageing can be defined as a disease. This might simplify the approval of drugs by regulators, but risks labelling people over a certain age "diseased".

The cost of such treatments may or may not (for developed medical systems anyway) be an issue, depending on what it turns out to be.

Meanwhile, a healthier life is likely to lead to a few extra years of existence, so we may need to work longer.

On my longevity learning mission, my expectations were upturned.

I'd seen the sensationalist headlines, suggesting tech billionaires lounging on their yachts, deliberating over whether they fancied saving the world, going to space, or "curing" ageing.

This wasn't the reality I saw. The wealthy have been giving money to medical research for years. This is just a new generation of wealth, and a potential new specialism of medicine.

Plus it's really interesting, and affects us all.

But right now, extending your healthspan involves hard work. As Silicon Valley-based journalist Danny Fortson put it: "Exercise is hard, magic pills are easy, so that's why everyone is so excited about the pill."

So I returned home feeling more determined than ever to live my healthiest life - sleep better, exercise without excuse, eat well, cherish social connections (yes, this was on the longevity prescription).

With a bit of luck that might buy me enough time to benefit from any scientific breakthroughs.
Investigators have determined that two teenagers killed over the weekend in Olathe shot each other inside a car, a spokesman for the Olathe Police Department said Thursday.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths of 19-year-old Jessica Hicks of Olathe, Kansas, and 18-year-old Monterrio Spencer Jr. of Kansas City, Missouri, remain under investigation, Sgt. Joel Yeldell said in a news release.

The investigation revealed that the two teens did not know each other, Yeldell later said.

Investigators determined that the incident began in a parking lot at the Clarion Park Apartments at 16700 W. 127th Street and continued until the car came to rest near the Sola Salons at Rogers and Strang Line roads.

Officers responded to the area about 4:45 p.m. Saturday where they found the two teens. Hicks was pronounced dead at the scene and Spencer was taken to a hospital where he later died. The investigation into their deaths revealed they had shot each other, Yeldell said.

The killings are Olathes second and third homicide of the year, according to data tracked by The Star.
WEST PALM BEACH  In 2017, detectives traced a string of fatal shootings in Lake Worth Beach to six teenagers with ties to the gang MS-13. Though only one is suspected of pulling the trigger, three have pleaded guilty to murder  the latest earning a prison sentence a few years longer than he's been alive.

Natividad Umanzor Yanes, 23, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery Monday. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen sentenced him to 25 years in prison with credit for the five and a half years he has spent in jail since his arrest.

Chris Haddad, his court-appointed defense attorney, said Yanes traveled alone to America from El Salvador in search of a better future. His proximity to the gang robbed him of it.

Dive deeper: Confessions show how MS-13 gang members killed two in Lake Worth

More: Man who killed his wife's boyfriend will go to prison, but not for murder. Here's why.

Yanes is the third young man to plead guilty for the deaths of 33-year-old Lucio Velazquez-Morales and 25-year-old Octavio Sanches-Morales. Though none is the suspected gunman, all were charged with murder because of their participation in the robberies during which the shootings occurred.

Bullet casings at the scenes tied the two murders together, and the recorded confessions of six young men soon followed.

Teens described robbery-turned-murder in interviews with police

The plan was simple: Drive around Lake Worth Beach in search of Guatemalans to mug, and then make off like bandits. Guatemalans won't call the police if they aren't in the country legally, Victor Fuentes told detectives later.

Yanes' job was to empty their pockets. He said he'd fish around for a wallet or a phone while Fuentes, the oldest among them, held the victim at gunpoint.

Fuentes said he strayed from their plan twice, killing two of their targets during muggings one week apart. The first was Velazquez-Morales on Oct. 30, 2017, then Sanches-Morales on Nov. 5, 2017.

Story continues

Fuentes told deputies that a demon made him pull the trigger. His co-defendant Victor Hernandez Castro said Fuentes believed Sanches-Morales belonged to a rival gang.

Murder or self-defense? A father's rage against his daughter's boyfriend receives its final judgment

Fighting murder charge at trial too risky, defense attorney says

When investigators asked Yanes to identify a photo of Fuentes, he began "visibly shaking and crying," a deputy wrote. Yanes said he was afraid of the older boy because he belonged to MS-13 and had threatened to hurt him and his family.

MS-13 is an international gang notorious for violent crime. Investigators with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said some of the six teens were members, and others were still being recruited.

"The grips of some of these gangs are so strong," Haddad said Tuesday. "I think there was a real element of duress involved."

The attorney said he planned to raise a duress defense had Yanes gone to trial, arguing that the teen committed the robberies under the threat of imminent harm to himself or others. But losing would have guaranteed that Yanes spends the rest of his life in prison, Haddad said.

He negotiated the plea deal with Assistant State Attorney Francine Edwards instead, agreeing to the lesser offense of second-degree murder.

Defense attorneys say deputies threatened Victor Fuentes into confessing

Victor Hernandez Castro, 22, was the first to plead guilty in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence in 2020. Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd sentenced Edwin Manzanarez, 22, to 22 years in prison next. Like Yanes, each man risked a lifetime behind bars had they fought the first-degree murder charge at trial and lost. None afforded a private defense attorney.

Henrry Cardoza, 21, Jorge Santos Cruz, 22, and Victor Fuentes, 25, each await trial on their own first-degree murder and armed robbery charges. The State Attorney's Office says it will seek the death penalty if Fuentes, who prosecutors believe was the gunman, is found guilty at trial.

Fuentes' attorneys have tried to keep his statements from being used against him, arguing that he only confessed to the killings after deputies threatened him and his family with deportation. Gillen questioned the credibility of the allegations and denied their request after an hours-long hearing. Fuentes and the attorneys were scheduled to appear in court Thursday to discuss the status of his case.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: MS-13 murders of undocumented Lake Worth men land third conviction
Some Republican leaders say Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's 11th-hour proposal to keep firearms out of the hands of people who are a threat to themselves or others likely does not have support to pass before the end of the legislative session  or, some say, ever.

Lee proposed legislation on Wednesday to create a temporary mental health risk protection order, an expansion of existing state code that would allow law enforcement to block certain individuals from legally possessing firearms for a temporary period, if they're found to have threatened substantial harm to themselves or others.

The proposal surfaced hours before both chambers were scheduled to take up the state's operating budget signaling the end of session, and Lee urged asked lawmakers to pass the proposal before adjourning for the year. The governor's push comes just over three weeks after a deadly shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville.

"We owe Tennesseans a vote," Lee said. "The tragedy at Covenant didnt create the problem. Rather, it has shown  more clearly than ever before  that we can do more to protect students, teachers, communities and Constitutional rights. This moment doesnt have to be defined by tragedy alone. It can also be defined by hope and results."

As of Wednesday evening, multiple members confirmed to The Tennessean the governor's amendment lacked a bill vehicle for its introduction. At such a late hour of the legislative session, several Republican leaders are skeptical that Lee's proposal could pass either chamber.

The House Republican Caucus released a statement Wednesday that "any red flag law is a non-starter for House Republicans," referring to Lee's proposal with a colloquial term the governor stridently rebuffed in an earlier statement.

Extreme risk protection orders, or ERPOs, are heavily opposed by gun rights advocates, though multiple polls in recent days show a majority of Tennesseans on both sides of the aisle would support some form of extreme risk legislation.

Story continues

Lawmakers in the Tennessee state House on April 17.

We're about to land the plane and finish up for this year. Talking with the majority of my caucus members, they feel like it's not possible to analyze a 15-page bill, bringing in all the aspects of everything that takes place on a bill as monumental as this, House GOP Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, told The Tennessean in an interview. Do we have time to get it correct? The answer to that is no.

Tennessee lawmakers are not held to a set schedule, meaning they could choose to stay longer to take up Lee's proposal. The session was generally expected to continue later into April until lawmakers last week began eyeing an attempted close within days, following weeks of contentious Capitol protests and the public backlash to the expulsions of two Tennessee Democrats for breaking House rules and leading a gun reform protest from the chamber's floor.

Lee push: Gov. Lee backs new gun-reform legislation in 11th-hour push

Faison asked the governor on Wednesday afternoon to appoint a task force of stakeholders to study the matter, and reconvene the legislature for a special session later this year to give lawmakers more time to fully consider the proposal.

I did encourage the governor that the best way to do that and work for the people of Tennessee, making sure all the voices are heard, is to create a task force between now and the first of the summer, come back and have a special session dedicated to this and this alone, Faison said. From educators to parents, to law enforcement, legislators, people who are going to be impacted by this. Let's look at it. Have a discussion.

If he calls a special session, we'll come back up here and put the work in, he said.

Late Wednesday, Lee's office continued to push lawmakers to take up the proposal before adjourning.

"Gov. Lees proposal includes input from legislative leadership collected throughout the last several weeks, and the Governor continues to have conversations with members from both chambers about a vote on the Order of Protection bill during this legislative session," Lee spokesperson Jade Byers said. "As he said, 'We owe Tennesseans a vote.'

Democrats call for a vote

Senate Democrats are calling for vote on the governor's proposal sooner rather than later. In a joint statement, Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, and Democratic Senate Caucus Chair London Lamar, D-Memphis, asked their colleagues to consider the proposal before ending the session.

Lobbying effort Amy Grant, Sheryl Crow and other top artists push lawmakers for gun reform measures

We urge Republican leadership to put the governors order of protection legislation in a committee for immediate consideration," the two said. "Tennessee students and families are desperate for solutions to stop gun violence and they deserve a public debate  and vote  before this session ends.

Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, told The Tennessean that he would support a special session on the matter if the governor were to call one, but is skeptical that the legislature has adequate time to pursue the matter now.

I dont think the General Assembly has enough time to properly digest possible legislation and separate misinformation from factual language, Haile said. Time is needed for discussions to take place to properly address mental health issues without violating individual freedoms.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, is supportive of the governor's proposal, and did not comment on the likelihood of a special session.

"I am in support of the Governor's proposal and will continue to be," McNally told The Tennessean in a statement. "I trust the Governor to determine the best path forward for this legislation."

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, indicated in a statement his office received the governor's proposal midday on Wednesday.

"As we have said from the beginning, we are working with his administration and the Senate to find the best path forward to protect Tennessee children," Sexton spokesperson Doug Kufner said in a statement.

Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, declared shortly after the governor's proposal that "red flag/order of protection legislation will not pass the TN House," adding that neither he nor "a vast majority of colleagues" support it.

"A red flag law/order of protection does not address our mental health crisis or the evil that drives people to commit horrific acts," Zachary told The Tennessean. "I do not foresee a time when the House GOP will support any legislation that does not preserve due process, protect your 2nd amendment rights, or truly address our mental health crisis."

Faison noted that he personally also opposes red flag laws.

TN puts a high premium on constitutional rights. I will not support a law that denies a person of their rights without due process, he said in a text message.

Lee proposal differs from other states

Lee's proposal differs from order of protection, or extreme risk protection order (ERPO), laws found in nearly two dozen other states, the majority of which include emergency hearings at which the person accused of harmful behavior does not have to be present or legally represented.

Instead, Lee's proposal would allow law enforcement to petition a court for a risk protection order, after which a judge would set a hearing within three to five days. The individual could hire an attorney or be appointed a free attorney at that time, and would also be required to undergo a mental health evaluation prior to the hearing.

If the court finds an order should be issued, the respondent would be required to "terminate physical possession of all firearms" within 48 hours and would also be blocked from purchasing firearms and ammunition for the length of the court order. The person could give their firearms to a third party, who would be held criminally liable for returning them or assisting the person in purchasing new firearms.

Criticism of the existing legal framework of firearm dispossession laws, which currently affect some domestic violence case, has arisen in recent over what some see as a weak enforcement mechanism.

On Wednesday, a conservative-leaning group of faith leaders were among the bipartisan groups calling for lawmakers to support some form of extreme risk protection laws. Voices for a Safer Tennessee, a nonpartisan group founded by a group of local mothers in the wake of the Covenant shooting, has in recent days organized substantial lobbying and public relations campaigns calling for "extreme risk" laws.

Covenant School student Alex Eissinger-Hansen holds her mother's leg during a demonstration for gun safety and common sense gun laws Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. People locked arms and held hands as they formed a three-mile human chain from the Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital at Vanderbilt to the Tennessee State Capitol.

In a statement, the group commended Lee for "recognizing the need" to strengthen gun safety laws in Tennessee, and pointed to new polling by a former Trump pollster that found strong support for gun safety measures like strengthening background checks, 72-hour purchase waiting periods and extreme risk protection orders.

"Our recent poll establishes that Tennessee voters overwhelmingly support common sense gun policies," said Jenn Hellmer.

The group was still reviewing the specifics of Lee's proposal on Wednesday, but Hellmer said they had concerns the hearing timelines would not "adequately address emergency situations where the threat is imminent."

"Our hope is any legislation that passes will have a means by which to do that," Hellmer said.

Reach Vivian Jones at vjones@tennessean.com and Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee gun proposal: Top Republicans say not enough support
A Texas man accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot is now facing a federal firearms charge after prosecutors said he fired several shots toward law enforcement days before his first court appearance, according to a news release.

Nathan Donald Pelham, 40, of Greenville, shot at Hunt County Sheriffs Department officers April 12 when they arrived at his home to do a welfare check, according to the news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas. The shooting happened days before he was scheduled for his first court appearance for charges relating to the U.S. Capitol riot.

Pelham is facing four misdemeanor charges for the part he is accused of playing in the breach of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Authorities said Pelhams family called the sheriffs office for a welfare check, telling dispatchers he had a gun. When officers arrived, they found the house was dark. After officers turned on their emergency lights, Pelhams juvenile daughter exited the home, according to the news release. Officers then heard gunshots from the house and took cover.

About an hour later, Pelham walked onto the porch and fired toward officers, according to the news release. Sheriffs deputies told him to put the gun down, but Pelham continued to wave it around until he went back into the home. Another hour later, Pelham came out of the house again and fired multiple rounds, authorities said.

No injuries were reported.

A later search of Pelhams home turned up a 9 millimeter Smith & Wesson handgun and four boxes of ammunition, as well as bullet holes in the walls.

Pelham, who is a convicted felon and therefore is not legally allowed to own firearms, was charged via criminal complaint, according to federal prosecutors. He made his first court appearance on the gun charges Thursday. If convicted of the gun charges, Pelham could spend up to 15 years in prison on top of a potential sentence of three years on the misdemeanor charges related to the Capitol Building breach.
A Texas man charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol allegedly shot at law enforcement ahead of his first court appearance and has been hit with an additional federal firearm charge, officials said.

Nathan Pelham, of Greenville, Texas, has now been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in addition to the four misdemeanor counts related to his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a release. According to the attorneys office, Pelham, 40, is a previously convicted felon.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia charged Pelham with the Jan. 6 misdemeanors earlier this month. An FBI agent notified him of the charges on April 12 and told him to self-surrender five days later, which he agreed to do, according to the release.

But on the night of the April 12, local law enforcement went to Pelhams residence for a welfare check in response to a call from a relative, who advised deputies that Mr. Pelham had a gun, the release reads.

Deputies allegedly heard gunshots emanating from the residence upon arrival. An hour later, Pelham walked onto the porch and allegedly fired towards several deputies, who could be heard on body-worn camera video noting bullets whiz by them.

According to the attorneys office, Pelham was asked to put his gun down but continued to waive it and reentered his home  he then exited his home again that night and allegedly fired multiple rounds.

A subsequent search of Mr. Pelhams home revealed a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol and four boxes of ammunition, as well as several 9mm sized holes in the walls, the release notes.

If convicted, Pelham could face up to 15 years in prison on the gun charge and three years on the misdemeanors.

The Department of Justice has sought to crack down on Jan. 6 participants and reports more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested for related crimes, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
After being recaptured in Tanzania Thabo Bester appeared in a South African court

The daring prison break, the celebrity girlfriend and the escape across borders had all the elements of a fictional thriller.

But in some ways that tempting description serves to glamorise and trivialise what South African rapist and murderer Thabo Bester actually did.

While many were open-mouthed after each revelation about how this man managed to flee prison and live undetected for a year, his victims saw it a different way.

It also exposed a stunning level of official incompetence.

One of the women he attacked spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity.

Bester, known locally as the "Facebook rapist" for using the site to lure his victims, had pretended to be an agent who was going to help her find a job in television.

"Reading his stories in the news is bringing back a lot of triggering memories," she said.

"The escape left me triggered and traumatised.

"My only prayer is that he stays in jail and doesn't get a chance to hurt any more people."

He was never convicted of her rape, but in 2011 Bester was found guilty of raping and robbing two women.

A year later he was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of his then girlfriend, model Nomfundo Thyulu.

Bester went by many aliases and was a charming, charismatic smooth talker - a personality that got him what he wanted.

But behind the charm was a cunning career criminal, a dangerous and ruthless man.

"He's a person who clearly doesn't really feel much remorse and has gotten worse, not better over time," clinical psychologist Dr Gerard Labuschagne, who first met Bester in 2011, told the BBC.

"The punishment [of prison] didn't have the effect that I guess we would like it to have had upon him."

Dr Labuschagne interviewed Bester while working at the police's profiling department.

He said that even 12 years ago Bester showed indications of "impression management". He was manipulative, never fully taking responsibility for his crimes, even as he pleaded guilty.

Story continues

After the conviction many in South Africa forgot about him, until the news that the man who once preyed on desperate women, enticing them with promises of job opportunities, was back living among the free.

Confirmation of his daring escape made headlines last month.

"He's gotten worse in terms of his criminal behaviours," Dr Labuschagne said.

"There's something with his personality that is very different to the rest of us, and that's never going to change."

Bester escaped from Mangaung prison last year

Last year, in the early hours of 3 May a fire broke out in an isolation cell at the Mangaung Correction Centre.

It was thought that Bester was inside.

After frantic attempts to douse the flames, the prison authority notified the police and other officials that the man in the cell was dead and that he had killed himself.

The existence of the gruesome, charred body opened the door to a series of months-long investigations about how this could have happened. These were conducted by the police, the prisons watchdog, as well as one by the firm in charge of running the prison, British multinational security company G4S.

GroundUp, a South African news agency that focuses on human rights issues, was one of the first to report on the fire at the time, to shine a light on the death. It wanted to try to get answers about how a fire had started in an isolation cell and how a prisoner had been allowed to die.

"Even when it was believed it was Bester who died in that fire, we covered it because we believed it was an issue of public interest," GroundUp editor Nathan Geffen told the BBC.

"This was supposed to be a maximum-security prison, run by the one of the world's largest security companies, G4S. And yet by their telling, someone managed to kill himself by setting himself alight in the prison and no proper investigation had been done," he said.

A few things did not add up in the weeks that followed the fire.

The autopsy report showed that the man in the cell had died from blunt force trauma to the head, not in the fire. His body smelled of accelerant, possibly paraffin, and his lungs were clear with no sign of smoke inhalation.

This suggested a dead body had been placed in the cell before the fire.

It turned out it was an elaborate ruse to allow Bester to escape that same night dressed in a warder's uniform.

The body had been smuggled into the prison in preparation for the breakout and Bester had conned his way into the isolation cell, which was located near a fire escape. It also happened to be in a part of the prison where CCTV coverage was not the best.

He allegedly greased a few palms, from warders to camera operators, and bought his way out of prison.

But it would be months before officials admitted not only that the corpse was not Bester's but also that they had no idea where this dangerous man was.

With no-one really looking for him for nearly a year, Bester appeared to be living it up under a new name in the millionaire Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park.

Bester's girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana is a famous doctor

He hid there in plain sight with his celebrity girlfriend, 35-year-old doctor, Nandipha Magudumana. She specialised in medically treating things such as skin conditions to improve the way that people look. She had worked for Bester in 2006 when he was an events manager and then started visiting him in jail in 2017.

But GroundUp did not stop asking questions and it was the first to publish an article on the story complete with photos that included a man, who bore a striking resemblance to Bester, out grocery shopping with Dr Magudumana, her children in tow.

It was shared by a fan of the celebrity doctor, who was curious about the man she was with as she did not recognise him as the doctor's husband.

"Quite frankly, what's happened is depraved and South Africans should be extremely concerned that Thabo Bester managed to get out in the way that he did, and that G4S ran the prisons so incompetently that this was allowed to happen," said Mr Geffen.

The expose would be the beginning of the end of the pair's secret life.

Other local newspapers followed GroundUp's lead and Bester and his partner went on the run.

The media coverage also led to some uncomfortable questions for the people in charge of the country's prisons.

"There are authorities who knew what happened, did nothing for months and months and months until the story was broken," said Mr Geffen.

He was referring to an ongoing investigation by a parliamentary committee looking at Bester's escape, which has heard evidence by officials claiming that the police and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola knew of Bester's escape last October - and sat on the information.

Mr Lamola has apologised to Bester's victims, saying that more information should have been shared at the time.

G4S - which was summoned to appear before the committee - has admitted to a number of security failures on the day of the escape but it has denied that it should be held accountable.

Some of its employees have been sacked over the incident and the government has taken over management of the prison following the scandal.

Defending the decision to keep Bester's prison break quiet, the police said it was to gather more information for their investigation before acting. However they have been criticised by MPs for moving too slowly, while the rapist and murderer was living freely.

It may have been a mix of public pressure and relentless media coverage on the story that pushed officials to finally act with haste. The couple were arrested in the Tanzanian city of Arusha late on 7 April, in possession of multiple passports with fake identities, the authorities said.

They apparently left South Africa by car via the Zimbabwean border, then travelled north to Zambia and finally to Tanzania.

They were arrested, officials have said, after a joint operation with Interpol and private security companies and the two are now back in South Africa where they are facing new charges.

This week, Bester's alleged accomplice Dr Magudumana returned to court for her second appearance since their Arusha capture.

Isolated from Bester she appeared in a crowded courtroom where there were more armed security officers than the general public. She sat with her face covered, head bowed, in the dock with thick shackles around her ankles.

Nandipha Magudumana (in blue) was comforted by her father in court

It was a huge contrast from her glamourous social media image of champagne lunches and frequent international holidays - a far cry from the glitzy image of a sought-after doctor, a "super mom and wife".

In court she looked small, tired and shrunken.

She is yet to plead to the charges, which include fraud and murder.

These are in connection with three bodies the doctor allegedly tried to claim over the last few months as part of the escape plan, including the corpse found in Bester's cell.

At least four other people, including a former G4S supervisor and Dr Magudumana's father, Zolile Sekeleni, have been arrested so far over their alleged roles in Bester's escape. They have not commented on the accusations.

Sixty-five-year-old Mr Sekeleni sat beside his daughter, stroking her hand and leaning in occasionally to comfort her. Perhaps both questioning how that moment came to be.

As for Bester, he too will have his day in court. He is being held in another high-security prison.

In contrast to his seemingly shy alleged accomplice, at his brief first appearance last Friday, Bester scanned the room boldly as photographers snapped away, apparently unfazed by all the attention.

There was something dark in his demeanour as he sat there.

"We have to accept that some people can't be rehabilitated. I don't think Correctional Services or society likes it [but] some people are bad," said Dr Labuschagne.

"It's a small portion of offenders, but some people should never be released back into society."

But South Africa's prison system does not allow for life without parole - a position that many have said should be re-evaluated, especially when it comes to dangerous criminals.
Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) in The Diplomat (Netflix)

 Where to watch: Netflix from 20 April



 Our rating: 4/5



 Watch it if you liked: The West Wing, Homeland, Veep



 Who's in it?: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, Rory Kinnear, Michael McKean



 How long is it? 8 x 1 hour episodes



 What's it about? In the midst of an international crisis, a career diplomat lands in a high-profile job shes unsuited for, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.

Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is The Diplomat with more than most on her plate, when a new political drama launches on Netflix from 20 April. As this international negotiator charms the savvy, cajoles the cagey, and avoids global conflict when catastrophe coming calling.

With an Emmy-nominated writer in Deborah Cahn (The West Wing), and an embarrassment of top-drawer talent populating this world, The Diplomat introduces Hal (Rufus Sewell) and Kate Wyler minutes in.

Read more: New on Netflix in April

A television news report is outlining facts on an attack in the Persian Gulf, involving British military personnel. As details pour in, and Hal watches his wife pack for her departure to Middle Eastern waters his phone rings and plans change.

Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) in The Diplomat. (Netflix)

Kate is now to be appointed US ambassador in London with immediate effect, which starts the ball rolling on a cavalcade of introductions, as The Diplomat unpacks its intricate plot and quickly defines a ream of complex relationships.

Between the concisely polished dialogue, politically astute storytelling, and world building elements audiences are effectively introduced to key players early on. From chief of staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah) through to secretary of state Miguel Ganon (Miguel Sandoval), before finally dropping in on president Rayburn (Michael McKean).

Read more: Why everyone is talking about Netflix's Obsession

At the centre of this maelstrom is Keri Russell on charismatic form as Kate, either engaged in intellectual guessing games with her conniving husband Hal, or firefighting culture clash diplomacy from the British government.

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With the added element of a livewire in prime minister Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear), a coldly detached foreign secretary in Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), and a sceptical CIA agent in Eidra Graham (Ali Ahn)  they prove to be dangerous diplomatic waters.

Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah) in The Diplomat (Netflix)

What becomes immediately apparent is how comfortable Deborah Cahn is in this environment, spinning sub-plots from thin air, lacing relationships with opportunities for betrayal, while offsetting anything to heavy with situation comedy.

Beyond the political back biting, underhanded subterfuge, and face saving press exercises  The Diplomat works because there is humanity holding it together.

Personal and professional interests constantly interfere with decision making, while the lives of those on board that stricken vessel are often secondary to whether or not world leaders should really be left alone to talk.

The Diplomat is also constantly pointing out how unstable regimes really are and how little people in power really know.

Read more: When will Netflix stop password sharing?

Politics, like many things in this life, are defined by compromise and settled through negotiations, where each party potentially walks away with an equal share. Similar in some ways to Armando Iannuccis Veep or The Thick of It, this world is both deadly serious yet comedically off-kilter, as agendas impact every decision people make.

Miguel Ganon (Miguel Sandoval) and Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) in The Diplomat (Netflix)

However, what The Diplomat does is also touch on contemporary political situations amongst the convoluted double-dealing. Russia and Ukraine get mentioned, while prime minister Trowbridge and president Rayburn mirror certain other aspects without resorting to caricature. They both prove to be low grade loose cannons, who are kept on track by those around them through luck as much as judgement.

Read more: New on Prime Video in April

With unexpected abductions, some Middle Eastern interactions, and an off-script domestic squabble between cohabiting ambassadors amongst manicured woodlands  The Diplomat is constantly mixing things up and delivering a diverting slice of political intrigue into the bargain.

It negotiates the awkward waters of politics within a contemporary scenario, and also eloquently voices relevant concerns through character, which might encourage audiences to go back and re-evaluate The West Wing once again.

Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) and Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) in The Diplomat (Netflix)

Unlike House of Cards  which originally featured Sir Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart, then Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood in the David Fincher reboot  The Diplomat is unconcerned with a single person and their pursuit of power, but rather how that power can be persuaded or circumvented through reasoned arguments. Which is why, in the main, this show exhibits a lightness of touch in depicting politics without resorting to satire.

What other critics thought of The Diplomat

The Hollywood Reporter: Keri Russell toplines Netflixs smart and diverting political drama (7 min read)

The Telegraph: Homeland meets Emily in Paris  with a fair bit of Britain-bashing (3 min read)

Indiewire: Keri Russells slick Netflix series makes a meal out of political parlance (6 min read)

Variety: The Diplomat is not the second coming of The Americans (4 min read)

Key in selling that subterfuge, aside from the Golden Globe-winning Russell (The Americans) as Kate are those supporting players. Either having a ball as underhanded husband Hal, which Sewell appears to relish throughout, or embracing the buffoonery of high office as Trowbridge, which Kinnear does in scene stealing fashion.

Not to mention Ato Essandoh as Stuart Hayford, who brings a quiet tolerance and understated presence to the fray, which enriches and escalates this drama without grandstanding.

The Diplomat is a solid choice for fans of The West Wing proving that Netflix is still capable of making an Emmy-contender when they put their mind to it.

The Diplomat is available to stream on Netflix from 20 April.
The controversial EARN IT Act, first introduced in 2020, is returning to Congress after failing twice to land on the presidents desk. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act, (EARN IT) Act is intended to minimize the proliferation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) throughout the web, but detractors say it goes too far and risks further eroding online privacy protections.

Here's how it would work, according to the language of the bill's reintroduction last year. Upon passing, EARN IT would create a national commission composed of politically-appointed law enforcement specialists. This body would be tasked with making a list of best practices to ostensibly curb the digital distribution of CSAM. If online service providers do not abide by these best practices, they would potentially lose blanket immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, opening them up to all kinds of legal hurdles  including civil lawsuits and criminal charges.

Detractors say EARN IT places a whole lot of power to regulate the internet in the hands of the commission the bill would create as well as state legislatures. Additionally, language in last year's bill suggests that these guidelines would likely extend to encrypted information, so if an encrypted transmission runs afoul of any guidelines, the platform is on the hook. This will force providers to monitor encrypted communications, which goes against the whole point of encryption in the first place. Additionally, end-to-end encryption is designed so that not even the platform can read the contents. In other words, providers might not be able to offer those protections.

This was a dangerous bill two years ago, and because its doubled down on its anti-encryption stance, its even more dangerous now, The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School wrote in a blog post last year, a stance also mirrored by the Center for Democracy and Technology. The American Civil Liberties Union, pushing back on a prior version of the bill, said that it "threatens our online speech and privacy rights in ways that will disproportionately harm LGBTQ people, sex workers and others who use the internet to privately communicate and share information and resources."

The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) has come out in defense of the bill, saying that it will incentivize technology companies to proactively search for and remove CSAM materials. Tech companies have the technology to detect, remove, and stop the distribution of child sexual abuse material. However, there is no incentive to do so because they are subject to no consequences for their inaction, wrote Erin Earp, RAINNs interim vice president for public policy.

The bipartisan Senate bills have consistently been introduced by Republican Senator Lindsay Graham and Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal, and their companion bills in the House likewise have been sponsored by Republican Representative Ann Wagner and Democrat Representative Sylvia Garcia. The full text of H.R.2732 is not publicly available yet, so it's unclear if anything has changed since last year's attempt, though when reintroduced last year it was more of the same. (We've reached out to the offices of Reps. Wagner and Garcia for a copy of the bill's text.) A member of Senator Graham's office confirmed to Engadget that the companion bill will be introduced within the next week. It also remains to be seen if and when this will come up for a vote. Both prior versions of EARN IT died in committee before ever coming to a vote.
Graham Bezant/Toronto Star via Getty Images

The dreams of an aspiring actress who moved to New York City in 1973 took a sharp detour after she was allegedly raped multiple times by the chief executive of a celebrated acting school, a lawsuit filed on Tuesday claims.

The woman, identified in the complaint only as a Jane Doe for fear of embarrassment and further psychological damage, identifies her alleged rapist as Mitchell Nestor, then the artistic director of the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.

Nestor, a high-ranking faculty member who the lawsuit says controlled Does education, studies and her future as an actress, went to her apartment in early 1974 under the pretense of giving her private instruction. Once there, however, he then allegedly raped and tried to sodomize Doe.

A week later, according to the suit, Nestor attacked her again, luring her to his office where he forcefully kissed her and penetrated her with at least one finger. He allegedly warned her afterward that she would be expelled from the institute if she ever told anyone about the rape in her apartment.

Nestor is believed to be deceased, according to the lawsuit, which calls him a brazen and chronic sexual harasser and sexual abuser of women, including some of his female students. The Daily Beast could not independently confirm his death.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit instead are the school itself and co-founder Anna Strasberg, Lees widow and the schools current artistic director emeritus.

The lawsuit alleges that it was a well known fact that Nestor was frequently sexually inappropriate with students, but that his misconduct was ratified, condoned and/or covered up by the school. Nestor was permitted and empowered to remain in charge of Does education, it states. It is not clear when, or why, she eventually left the institute.

Since 1974, the lawsuit claims, due to the sexual abuse and sexual assaults of Mr. Nestor, Ms. Doe has suffered emotional distress including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

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The lawsuit was filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which last November created a one-year window for sexual assault survivors to sue their abusers, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.

My client has waited nearly a half century for justice for the heinous acts committed against her, attorney Andrew M. Stengel told The Daily Beast in a statement. The Adult Survivors Act means that its not too late for the voice of a victim in New York to be heard, no matter the prestige of an institution or the fame of people behind it who are responsible for or contributed to a sexual assault.

The school did not return a request for comment sent to a general email, but told New York Magazine, which first reported the lawsuits existence, that it had no immediate comment on the matter.

An acting teacher whod spent decades developing The Method, the style of performance more commonly known as method acting, Lee Strasberg founded his school in Manhattan in 1969. It boasts a wealth of alumni who went on to become stars, including Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Al Pacino, Lady Gaga, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Armie Hammer.

The Method, which encourages actors to dredge up their own memories, experiences, and past traumas to more fully inhabit their characters, is associated with powerful performances, but has increasingly come to be known in recent years as the excuse actors use to treat their co-stars poorly.

Strasberg himself, though never accused of assault, would often allegedly comment on how desirable he found his female students in a scene as a means of evaluating their performance. Actress Patricia Bosworth once described how she was forced to strip and perform to the class in her underwear to understand her characters shame, according to The New York Times. Strasberg was also known to shriek at actors, both male and female, in order to break them down.

He died in 1982 at the age of 80.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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ST. LUCIE COUNTY  A new candidate in the election for sheriff next year has joined the race, as two others have withdrawn their candidacies.

After Sheriff Ken Mascara, a Democrat, was sworn in for a sixth term in January 2021, he said this term would be his last.

The latest entry is Steven Giordano, a Democrat and former St. Lucie County sheriff's deputy, who filed paperwork in March and April with the supervisor of elections office.

Steven Giordano

A political newcomer, Giordano said he is a security officer and works at the nuclear power plant on Hutchinson Island.

I know the job, I know the people, Giordano said. I'm here to help the community and I'm not here for any political reasons, I'm here for the people.

'Flesh-eating zombie drug' is here: Xylazine is showing up on Treasure Coast, law enforcement officials say

Being sheriff carries a four-year term and $199,355 annual salary to oversee a nearly $98.8 million budget and staff of 537 sworn officers and 201 civilians.

Along with Giordano, Indony Pierre Jean Baptiste, who lost a Port St. Lucie City Council primary bid last year, is running as a Democrat.

Jean Baptiste, who said he is a minister, has said he worked for the state Department of Corrections for about a year beginning in 2005 and as a detention deputy at the Indian River County Sheriffs Office from 2006 to 2008. He has said he worked at a sheriffs office in Virginia, primarily as a detention deputy. He was injured during training in 2009 and was put on disability.

Former Chief Deputy Brian Hester declared his candidacy as a Democrat, but withdrew in April 2022, citing family issues. Hester earlier this year accepted a county administrator job in South Carolina.

Giordano, who was hired in 2005 as a corrections deputy at the jail, resigned in 2015, before the completion of an internal affairs investigation that ultimately found he committed a number of violations, including a felony. He was not charged with any crimes and was not arrested.

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Then Lt. Mike Sheelar, sheriffs spokesperson at the time, said Giordano was compelled under special law enforcement administrative rules to give a statement in the case. Sheelar said under these rules, incriminating statements cant be used against him in a criminal proceeding. Thus, Giordano wouldn't be arrested, he said.

Growth, good community relationships: PSL Police Chief John Bolduc reflects on more than 10 years as city's top cop

During the internal affairs investigation, they found Giordano frequently associates with several people who have extensive criminal histories," which is a policy violation, records show.

Investigators also found Giordano helped a bail bond worker in getting a man for not paying his bail in full. Giordano said he received $100 for the work. Florida law prohibits a deputy sheriff from working for a bail bond agent or business and also from getting any benefit from it. That is a felony.

Giordano said this week he resigned because he wanted to take time off to start a family.

I've made mistakes in my past, like a lot of people I'm sure can relate to that, Giordano said. It's been almost 10 years. I'm a family man now. I have a 7-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter and we've all grown and we've learned from our mistakes.

He said if he becomes sheriff he would donate half his first year's salary to the community to various organizations and people. He also said he plans to give away 100 turkeys at Thanksgiving and 100 Christmas trees for that holiday.

Im going to be helping with kids with autism, donating to families, kids with mental health issues and disabilities, Giordano said. Im a local resident that actually cares about everybody, and I'm here to keep the community safe.

Cody Brown, a Republican, withdrew his candidacy in December 2022, records show.

Doughnuts, drifting, danger: 'Street takeover' in St. Lucie County first in area, law enforcement agencies say

In a recent interview, Brown, who said he is a Florida Highway Patrol trooper working on the Treasure Coast, said he had to attend to some family issues that required his full attention.

"Family comes first before any job or employment," he said.

Browns departure leaves Acting Port St. Lucie Police Chief Richard Del Toro, who joined the police department in 1999, and Richard Williams, who has a history in law enforcement and the military, running as Republicans.

Del Toro was named acting police chief after Chief John Bolduc announced he was retiring at the end of April. Del Toro, who has been endorsed by the International Union of Police Associations and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, has said the acting chief position would not impact his sheriffs candidacy.

Williams, who has declined to speak with TCPalm, unsuccessfully ran against Mascara in the 2016 Democratic primary. He switched parties and was unable to defeat Kevin Carter in the 2018 Republican primary.

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on Twitter @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-692-8936. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: New entry in 2024 St. Lucie County Sheriff's election
Mailboxes have been a target for thieves in Bucks County recently, and police are urging residents to be vigilant with their outgoing mail.

Thefts have been reported in Solebury, Doylestown Township, Northampton, Lower Makefield and Warwick in recent weeks.

Its been an ongoing problem for quite some time now around the region," said Philadelphia Division Postal Inspector George Clark.

Why are thieves targeting mailboxes in Bucks County?

Solebury Detective Cpl. Jonathan Koretzky said thieves are driving through neighborhoods and looking for mailboxes with their flags up, indicating outgoing mail for the carrier to pick up.

Thieves will go through the mail and find ones that contain checks and will discard the ones that do not have checks. They will then take the checks and "wash" them, removing written information like the payee and the amount. They will then put someone else's information on the payable line, according to the detective.

Clark said some thieves have even hit the blue postal collection boxes seen on corners and outside businesses. Thieves are generally not looking for tax or Social Security information in the mail, just checks that can be altered.

The United States Postal Service

Theyre looking for easy money," he said.

Some of these thefts can lead to federal charges or lengthy prison sentences. A Philadelphia man was charged in December with impersonating a USPS mail carrier and stealing mail. He faces a maximum sentence of 31 years in prison.

There are a lot of different charges that could apply to these schemes," Clark said.

Postal inspectors are working alongside police in Bucks County to solve mail thefts.

More: Is New Jersey man preparing to take plea deal in Bristol Township hit-and-run death?

More: Solebury woman, 73, killed in single-vehicle crash

More: Body found in Delaware River in Solebury ID'd as missing Northampton County man

What should people do to prevent these thefts?

Both Clark and Koretzky encouraged anyone concerned about sending mail from their home mailboxes to instead take them directly to their local post office. Koretzky also said handing the letters directly to the mail carrier would be a good alternative.

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Clark urged residents to keep an eye on their finances to make sure no one has taken their checks.

If your check has been stolen you should report that immediately to your bank as well," he said.

Koretzky said people should keep an eye out for suspicious activity in their neighborhoods. That would include someone walking through neighborhoods and opening mailboxes.

People may also sign up for the postal service's informed delivery, a free service that sends preview images of incoming mail to whoever signs up for it. It also lets people track the status of incoming and outbound packages.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Thieves are targeting Bucks County mail. Here's why and what to do
Pakistan's foreign minister will attend an international conference in India next month, the first official visit by one of Islamabad's top diplomats since 2016.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will go to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers gathering in Goa from May 4-5, ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told a briefing Thursday.

Islamabad suspended trade and diplomatic ties with India in 2019 when New Delhi imposed direct rule on the part of Muslim-majority Kashmir it controls and enforced a heavy security lockdown.

Both countries withdrew their top diplomats and several consular staff were expelled or withdrawn in tit-for-tat measures.

Although it is not clear if Bhutto will have any bilateral meetings with Indian officials on the sidelines of the SCO meeting, analysts said the visit was significant.

"Broader confidence-building measures are required to engage economically with India, but this is an important milestone in the history of Pakistan-India relations," said Qamar Cheema, an Islamabad-based analyst.

Relations between the nuclear-armed nations have been chilly at best ever since they were created out of the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

Their conflict over Kashmir has resulted in three full-fledged wars and numerous minor skirmishes.

The most recent visit to India by a high-ranking Pakistan diplomat was in 2016, when Sartaj Aziz -- then the senior adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs -- travelled to New Delhi.

India currently holds the rotating presidency of the SCO, which was established in 2001 and is considered a political, economic and security organisation to rival Western institutions.

"Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said.

zz/fox/pbt
An Indianapolis man who was accused of aggravating a road rage incident that ended with the death of a 7-year-old girl has been found not guilty of all charges by a jury.

Torrell King was originally charged with four felonies, including one of reckless homicide and three of criminal recklessness, in connection with the Sept. 14, 2021, crash. Police said King was pursuing another driver westbound on Washington Street when the other driver ran a red light at Ritter Avenue and crashed into an SUV.

That SUV then ran over 7-year-old Hannah Crutchfield and her mother, Cassandra Crutchfield, while they were walking home from George W. Julian School 57 in Irvington.

More: Mother of 7-year-old Hannah Crutchfield shares last moments before fatal Irvington crash

A crossing guard, Michael Sykes, was also hit. He was thrown in the air and landed on the sidewalk, according to police. Sykes and Cassandra Crutchfield survived their injuries. Hannah suffered a severe head injury and died shortly after she was brought to Riley Hospital.

The jury deliberated for nearly four hours Wednesday before announcing a not guilty verdict on all counts later in the evening.

As they questioned witnesses on the stand this week, King's attorneys pointed out that King wasn't driving the vehicle that struck the pedestrians. Nor was he driving the vehicle that struck the SUV.

"We are grateful to the jury for its verdict," John Razumich, one of King's attorneys, told IndyStar over text message. "The death of Hannah Crutchfield is an incredible tragedy, but we are glad that the jury made the correct decision and didn't find Torrell guilty of a crime that he didn't commit."

IndyStar has requested comment from the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.

More: 'I love you infinity times infinity:' Hannah Crutchfield's father shares emotional goodbye

The other driver involved in the road rage incident was a minor. They were charged with felonies of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, reckless homicide and five counts of criminal recklessness. They were also charged with misdemeanors of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing endangerment and operating a vehicle having never received a license.

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The minor's case was already adjudicated in juvenile court, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office told IndyStar. But the office did not share what the outcome was. A spokesperson for the Marion Superior Court told IndyStar said they were unable to share the outcome because the case was confidential.

Juvenile court records are generally kept confidential in Indiana.

Call IndyStar courts reporter Johnny Magdaleno at 317-273-3188 or email him atjmagdaleno@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @IndyStarJohnny

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jury finds Torrell King not guilty in Hannah Crutchfield crash
TOKYO (AP)  Washington is not seeking to decouple the American economy from Chinas, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Thursday while on a visit to Tokyo.

Tai, who is on her fourth visit to Japan after being appointed the top U.S. trade envoy, said all members of President Joe Biden's administration have been very clear that it is not the intention to decouple China's economy.

U.S. trade sanctions against China are narrowly targeted, she said.

Given its huge size and importance, unraveling the ties with China that keep the world economy running is not a goal or achievable, Tai said in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan.

Chinese officials have often lashed out at the U.S. over trade sanctions and other restrictions on sharing of advanced technology with China, accusing Washington of trying to contain China and hinder its path toward greater affluence.

Tai said that regular trade work between the U.S. and China was continuing and she was completely open to engaging with my counterparts in Beijing, though she has no immediate plans to visit China.

At the same time, the United States is seeking to strengthen and expand economic security cooperation with its Asian allies and partners in response to China's growing assertiveness and its dominance in many manufacturing industries.

Security and stability of supply chains is an issue that has gained urgency after disruptions caused by the pandemic and controls imposed to try to fight outbreaks of COVID-1 resulted in shortages of computer chips and other goods.

A recent agreement on trade in critical minerals will allow electric vehicles using metals sourced or processed in Japan to qualify for tax breaks under the Inflation Reduction Act. That deal is one evidence of the U.S. commitment to building collective resilience and security, Tai said.

We have all experienced the fragility of our dispersed supply chains in recent years, especially through the pandemic and Russias brutal, unjustified attack on Ukraine. And weve become too reliant, we have discovered, on certain countries for the supply of critical minerals needed to fuel our clean energy future," Tai said.

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The Biden administration has been adopting a new approach to global trade, arguing that Americas traditional reliance on promoting free trade pacts failed to anticipate Chinas brand of capitalism and the possibility that a major power like Russia would go to war against one of its trading partners.

Tai recently gave a speech at American University, where she spoke of friend-shoring  building up supply chains among allied countries and reducing dependence on geopolitical rivals such as China.

Tai pointed to a new trade partnership with Japan that she said has brought tangible results for our workers, small businesses, and producers on both sides of the Pacific. That includes an agreement to lift limits on U.S. exports of beef to Japan and a new biofuels policy to facilitate exports of more ethanol to Japan, she said.

Tai also reviewed the status of negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, a new trade pact proposed by Washington.

She said a third round of negotiations on the accord was planned in two weeks' time in Singapore.

The framework has 13 members, including the U.S., that account for 40% of global gross domestic product: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The U.S. has stepped up diplomacy across the region, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopping over the weekend in Vietnam, which Washington sees as a key component of its strategy for the region given the country's traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China.

Tai's Tokyo visit follows a trip to the Philippine capital, Manila, to help fortify trade relations among the three countries as they build both economic and defense ties.

During her stay in Japan Tai met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and discussed making supply chains more resilient and secure, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

She also met with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The trade ministry said the two also spoke about strengthening supply chains  an issue that gained urgency amid shortages of computer chips and other goods during the pandemic. They also discussed ways to cooperate in the protection of human rights in business, the ministry said.

Japan and the United States have set up a taskforce that aims to eliminate human rights violations in international supply chains and to ban use of materials from suppliers that subject their workers to inhumane conditions.

To highlight such efforts, Tai toured an outlet of outdoor equipment and clothing retailer Patagonia in Tokyos popular Shibuya shopping and business district.

___

Associated Press journalist Haruka Nuga and AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  A transgender Montana lawmaker was silenced for a second day Friday as her Republican colleagues refused to let her speak on the chambers floor until she apologizes for saying lawmakers would have blood on their hands" if they passed a law to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.

The standoff is expected to continue next week, with neither side ready to back down.

The bill at the heart of the issue is in the hands of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who has indicated he will sign it.

Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr sought to speak on a bill Friday that would prevent minors from seeing pornography online, but the chair blocked the request and House Speaker Matt Regier asked lawmakers to uphold the decision he made a day earlier not to recognize her requests to speak.

Im still going to expect the same standard for all representatives in this House. Im still going to stand for the dignity and integrity of this House, Regier said. He said earlier that the silencing was necessary to maintain decorum."

The Republican majority in the House upheld his decision, as they did on Thursday.

Zephyr and House Minority Leader Kim Abbott have said Regier won't allow her to speak on bills until she apologizes.

It sounds like currently the speaker has made his intent clear, Zephyr said after Friday's floor session.

Zephyr said she would continue to request to speak on legislation, because I was elected to represent my constituents and speak on their behalf. If she is denied, she said, the Democrats will ask the House to vote on the decision.

The Legislature is expected to adjourn in early May.

Regier first shut down Zephyr on Thursday, when she wanted to comment on a bill seeking to put a binary definition of male and female into state code. The speaker also declined to recognize her on a second bill.

The issue came to a head Tuesday when Zephyr, the first transgender woman to hold a position in the Montana legislature, referenced the floor sessions opening prayer when she told lawmakers if they supported the bill to band gender-affirming care for minors, I hope the next time theres an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.

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She had made a similar comment when the House debated the bill the first time.

Conservative lawmakers, who demanded she be censured for her comments, deliberately misgendered her, using male pronouns when referring to her.

Hate-filled testimony has no place on the House floor, Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle, a member of the Montana Freedom Caucus that demanded the censure, said in a statement.

Zephyr said she stands by what she said about the consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth.

The bill would prohibit transgender minors in Montana from receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgical procedures. Those are treatments for gender dysphoria, the clinically significant distress caused by feeling that ones gender identity does not match ones biological sex. Medical professionals who provided such care would lose their medical licenses for at least a year.

When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community, Zephyr said. And I choose my words with clarity and precision and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring.

The legislature has also passed a bill stating a student misgendering or deadnaming a fellow student is not illegal discrimination, unless it rises to the level of bullying. Deadnaming is calling a transgender person by their previous name when they have changed their name as part of their gender transition.

At the end of Friday's House session, Democratic Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy asked for a definition of the integrity and dignity of the House.

As has been said before, this House will move forward with dignity and integrity, which means there will be no belittling of people's votes or belittling of people's motives, Regier said. We will keep it to the issues at hand, and if you cannot follow that, you will not be recognized.

Regier refused to speak with an Associated Press reporter after the floor session.
Police from 15 nations took part in the international operation

Police in Latin America have seized cocaine and other drugs worth $5bn (4bn) in an operation lasting three weeks and spanning 15 countries.

They also seized more than 8,000 illicit firearms and carried out almost 15,000 arrests.

Police forces from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south exchanged information in the operation, which was co-ordinated by Interpol.

Interpol said the arrests had disrupted the workings of several powerful gangs.

Dubbed Trigger IX, the international effort was mainly aimed at fighting the trafficking of illicit firearms.

Experts from the participating countries gathered at a centre of operations in Foz do Iguacu, a city on Brazil's border with Argentina and Paraguay, from 12 March to 2 April.

There, they exchanged intelligence on the workings of international crime gangs, such as First Capital Command (PCC), and Mara Salvatrucha with the aim of disrupting the flow of illicit firearms.

Interpol has long warned that the smuggling of weapons strengthens the gangs' power and further fuels their criminal activities.

"The fact that an operation targeting illicit firearms resulted in such massive drugs seizures is further proof, if needed, that these crimes are intertwined," Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock said of the 203 tonnes of cocaine and other drugs found.

Criminal gangs in Mexico, Central and South America are increasingly well armed and local police often find themselves outgunned and overpowered when confronting them.

In Brazil and neighbouring Paraguay for example, members of the PCC have staged large-scale bank robberies and prison breaks.

The gang first emerged in Brazil but has expanded to operate internationally and has been linked to the murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor while he was on his honeymoon in Colombia.

Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, continues to control much of the human trafficking as well as the smuggling of drugs and weapons in Central America.

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Interpol said that its operation had led to the seizure of large amounts of ammunition even in countries which have so far largely not been associated with large-scale gun violence.

Police in Uruguay secured 100,000 pieces of ammunition, the largest ever amount seized in the country.

It had been smuggled into the country by two European nationals, highlighting the need for international intelligence-sharing, Interpol said.
By Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mike Lindell, a prominent ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has been ordered to pay $5 million to a man who debunked Lindell's false claims of election fraud, the plaintiff's law firm said on Thursday.

An arbitration panel ordered Lindell, the founder of pillow manufacturer My Pillow and a well-known election conspiracy theorist, to pay cyber expert Robert Zeidman after he won a contest Lindell hosted in Nevada in July 2021.

As part of that contest, Lindell gave technical experts what he described as evidence that the Chinese government had switched votes from Trump to President Joe Biden during the 2020 election, and Lindell offered to pay $5 million to anyone who disproved his theory.

The arbitration panel found Zeidman did in fact debunk his claims and that Lindell's interpretation of the contest rules had been "unreasonable."

"The lawsuit and verdict mark another important moment in the ongoing proof that the 2020 election was legal and valid, and the role of cybersecurity in ensuring that integrity," Brian Glasser, Zeidman's attorney, said in a statement.

"Lindell's claim to have 2020 election data has been definitively disproved."

Lindell could not immediately be reached for comment. He told The Washington Post, which first reported the decision, that he disagreed with the decision and that the matter "will be going to court."

A significant portion of self-identified conservatives in the U.S. continue to falsely believe that the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost, was marred by widespread fraud.

In 2021, Dominion Voting Systems, which just reached a $787.5 million settlement with Fox Corp and Fox News, sued Lindell for damages related to his vote-rigging claims.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Josie Kao)
An attorney for Donald Trump indicated Wednesday that the former president might take the witness stand in a civil rape trial scheduled to begin next week.

In a letter to the judge presiding over writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit, Joe Tacopina said it would be too difficult for Trump to attend the entire trial for logistical reasons tied to his former office, but he left the door open to the possibility he could testify in person.

Tacopina asked senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan to tell jurors: "While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City. Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify.

Tacopina declined to comment on the letter, saying he's busy preparing for trial.

Trump, who is on the defense witness list, sat for a videotaped deposition over Carroll's claims that he raped her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s and then defamed her by accusing her of making the story up for personal profit.

Trump has denied the rape claim, and he repeatedly insulted Carroll during his October deposition, calling her a whack job whos not my type. He also mistook a picture of Carroll from the 1990s as being a photo of his former wife Marla Maples, according to deposition excerpts that were unsealed in January.

Trump was not on Carroll's witness list. Language in a February court filing appears to allow her the possibility of calling witnesses from Trump's list.

In a letter to Kaplan, the judge, later Wednesday, Carroll's lawyer signaled that they were not planning to call Trump as a witness and that his taped deposition should suffice.

Roberta Kaplan said that Carroll has a right to play Donald Trumps deposition at trial and that there's no need for him to testify live.

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Kaplan asked both sides whether their clients planned to attend the trial, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

In his letter, Tacopina recounted his experience with Trump this month in Manhattan criminal court, where Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Tacopina said Trump "was always accompanied by approximately a dozen Secret Service agents," a major highway was briefly shut down, and the courthouse "was frozen while he was present" while traffic was shut down for a three-block radius.

Kaplan, in her letter, said "the notion that Mr. Trump would not appear as some sort of favor to the City of New Yorkand that the jury should be instructed as much'taxes the credulity of the credulous.'

"Mr. Trump has no right to a judicial endorsement of his (flimsy) excuse," Kaplan wrote, adding that Carroll "has made clear that she will attend the entire trial and will testify under oath before a jury of her peers."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Decades after she was allegedly raped by a New York real estate mogul who would go on to be the 45th President of the United States, E Jean Carroll is getting her day in court.

Ms Carroll, a writer and former advice columnist for Elle magazine, is the plaintiff in a pair of civil lawsuits against former president Donald Trump that will be presented in a New York City federal courtroom starting Monday 24 April, when a jury will be chosen under the supervision of US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.

Those jurors, who will remain anonymous on Judge Kaplans orders due to the risk of threats, intimidation or outright violence against anyone seen as an enemy by Mr Trump and his supporters, will hear evidence presented on two separate sets of allegations made by Ms Carroll against the twice-impeached and indicted ex-president.

One set of claims stems from a defamation lawsuit she filed against the then-president in November 2019, five months after she came forward to allege that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s.

In that lawsuit, she alleged that Mr Trump defamed her when he responded to her allegation by accusing her of lying in a bid to bolster sales of her forthcoming book.

The allegations against against Mr Trump were first laid out in an excerpt from her book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, that ran in New York magazine in June 2019.

In the book excerpt, she said she was shopping at the Bergdorf-Goodman department store in New York when Mr Trump approached her and struck up a conversation, with him asking her for help picking out a gift for a woman.

She then alleged that he took her to the lingerie section of the store and asked her to try on an item for him in a dressing room before pinning her up against a wall and sexually assaulting her for three minutes.

At the time, Ms Carroll said the emergence of the #MeToo movement in late 2017 motivated her to tell her story publicly.

Mr Trump addressed the allegations days later when pressed on them by reporters at the White House.

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He claimed he had never met her and denied raping her by telling the White House press corps that Ms Carrol was not [his] type.

He also accused her of lying to boost sales of her memoir.

She is trying to sell a new book  that should indicate her motivation, the then-president said, adding that her book should be sold in the fiction section.

Ms Carroll pushed back on his claims, sharing a photo of herself and Mr Trump together with his then-wife Ivana Trump and her then-husband John Johnson at an NBC party in 1987 to show they had met.

In her defamation suit against Mr Trump, she alleged his denials had caused her to suffer reputational, emotional, and professional harm and said she was suing to obtain redress for those injuries and to demonstrate that even a man as powerful as Trump can be held accountable under the rule of law.

Justice Department involvement delayed the defamation suit

Although a Clinton-era Supreme Court case, Jones v Clinton, allows presidents to be sued for conduct which occurred before the start of their time in the White House, Mr Trumps legal team asked the Department of Justice to aid in his defence.

The department filed papers seeking to shield him from liability on the grounds that he was acting in an official capacity as president when he made the allegedly defamatory statements about Ms Carroll. But Judge Kaplan rejected those arguments and said the suit could proceed. An attempt by Mr Trump to appeal that decision failed in September 2021 as well.

Then, Ms Carroll filed a new lawsuit against Mr Trump under a New York law that allows sexual assault survivors a chance to bring civil suits after the statute of limitations has expired on alleged offences. The new case accuses him of battery  and also adds a new defamation claim based on recent posts in which he called her a con job.

His legal team took up yet another approach in February of last year, when they moved to countersue Ms Carroll.

But Judge Kaplan blocked that bid in a scathing decision on 11 March 2022, in which he slammed Mr Trumps continuing attempts to delay the 2019 case as futile and in bad faith.

The defendants litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less, Judge Kaplan wrote.

Granting leave to amend without considering the futility of the proposed amendment needlessly would make a regrettable situation worse by opening new avenues for significant further delay.

Letting Mr Trump countersue would make a regrettable situation worse, the judge added.

Ms Carroll is also suing Mr Trump for the alleged rape itself

Last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year suspension of statutes of limitations for rape and other civil claims arising from allegations of sexual misconduct.

The law allows sexual assault survivors to sue their attackers regardless of when the alleged assault may have taken place.

Shortly after the bill signing, Ms Carroll filed a second lawsuit against Mr Trump for rape.

Both lawsuits are seeking monetary damages from the ex-president.

Judge Kaplan rejected Trumps last-minute delay bid

After Mr Trumps lawyers made an 1th-hour attempt to once again postpone his long-delayed civil defamation and rape trial on the grounds that publicity surrounding his recent indictment necessitated a cooling-off period to ensure an impartial jury, Judge Kaplan said the one-month delay Mr Trumps attorneys had asked for would have no impact on the potential jury pool in the case, which will be tried in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

There is no reason to assume that a sufficient number of fair and impartial jurors cannot be found on April 25, 2023 or that it would be materially easier to find such jurors on May 23, 2023, he said.

Will Mr Trump attend the trial?

Its not yet known whether Mr Trump will avail himself of his right to be present in Judge Kaplans courtroom for the trial. But the judge has asked by Mr Trump and Ms Carroll to notify him of whether they intend to attend the proceedings by 20 April, five days before the trial is set to begin. Ms Carroll plans to attend the trial.
By James Oliphant and Nathan Layne

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump still commands the support of a significant share of conservative Christian voters, Reuters interviews with evangelical leaders and opinion polls show, but a window of opportunity remains for a challenger to peel some of that support away.

Evangelical voters are key to winning Iowa, which holds the first the presidential nominating contest of the 2024 election early next year, and other Republican early-voting states such as South Carolina.

The stakes are high. Strong evangelical support early in the Republican primary could give a challenger a chance to strike a blow against Trump, the front-runner for the nomination, and slow his momentum.

But Trump, who has been divorced twice and is now under indictment as part of an alleged scheme to pay hush money to a porn star, has shown resilience with evangelicals, who credit him for a series of conservative policy victories including the U.S. Supreme Courts decision overturning federal abortion protections.

Trump won 76% of the white evangelical vote in 2020, down from 80% in 2016, according to Edison Research exit polls. About one-third of U.S. adults identify as born-again or evangelical Christians, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in November 2020.

At the moment, an opening exists for another candidate such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest rival, to pull some evangelical votes away from the former president, interviews and opinion polls show.

But there are signs that there may not be much time before those voters coalesce behind Trump.

Pastor Robert Jeffress, an influential evangelical who heads a 14,000-member church in Dallas, earlier this year said he was uncommitted in the 2024 Republican primary. But Jeffress told Reuters this week that he is now solidly behind Trump, saying that he has found DeSantis, who has yet to formally announce a presidential bid, to be lackluster.

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A lot of people really dont know him, Jeffress said. There is nothing he has done lately to sway evangelicals.

Trump seems to be gaining ground with evangelicals, according to national polling by Monmouth University. In a March poll, Trump edged DeSantis among evangelicals in a two-way matchup 51% to 42%, a nine-point improvement for Trump from the month before.

A Des Moines Register poll of Iowa voters in March also underscored Trump's continued popularity among evangelicals, with 58% of them reporting a favorable assessment of the former president, though 39% viewed him unfavorably and 3% were unsure.

Bill Bolin, an evangelical pastor in Howell, Michigan, who made headlines in 2020 by refusing to close his church to comply with state health regulations at the start of the pandemic, said his congregation is divided over the way forward.

A lot of people are hoping its Donald Trump and a lot are hoping its somebody else, he said. I think its split right now.

Trump is credited by evangelicals for nominating Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional abortion safeguards of Roe v. Wade and for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

But pastors who spoke to Reuters said that with abortion no longer a pressing federal issue, evangelicals now are increasingly animated by issues surrounding transgender athletes and gender identity.

That is the issue that will drive evangelicals to the polls in large numbers, Jeffress said.

An aide to DeSantis declined to comment. A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

'WIDE OPEN'

Former Vice President Mike Pence, a devout evangelical who may soon launch a presidential bid, and Senator Tim Scott, who is exploring a run, will headline the list of attendees at a presidential forum on Saturday in Iowa sponsored by a conservative nonprofit group, the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.

The gathering is traditionally an important stop for Republican presidential candidates, although this year DeSantis, who was invited, will not be going. Trump will participate, but only by video link.

DeSantis instead is scheduled to travel to Iowa in May to attend a fundraiser held by U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra.

Bob Vander Plaats, a longtime evangelical leader in Iowa, said he doesnt yet see any galvanizing around Trump and believes the evangelical base is exceptionally wide open to hearing from all the candidates.

Prominent evangelical leaders such as Franklin Graham and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, have said they are not endorsing Trump or any other candidate at the moment as the race moves forward.

Vander Plaats said evangelicals will consider whether Trump can prevail next year after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. He said some evangelicals were upset with Trump for blaming a lackluster performance by Republicans in the 2022 midterms on the party's focus on restricting abortion.

Vander Plaats said he was among those looking for someone new in 2024.

"I think America is ready to turn the page, he said.

Presidential candidates such as Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum successfully leveraged the Christian vote in 2016 and 2012 in Iowa to score surprising victories against more established Republican contenders in the caucuses.

While DeSantis, a Catholic, has not been steadily courting evangelicals, his national book tour has included stops at the evangelical Liberty University in Virginia and Hillsdale College, a Christian school, in Michigan.

Last week, he signed a bill passed by the Florida legislature that bans nearly all abortions in the state, a measure backed by religious conservatives, although DeSantis has largely avoided discussing the ban publicly.

Tom Ascol, a pastor in Cape Coral, Florida, gave the invocation at DeSantis second inauguration in January and said he supports the governor over Trump.

I dont think President Trump is a principled man -- I think he was a great president, Ascol said. DeSantis, he said, seems to be a man of sincere faith.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne and James Oliphant, editing by Ross Colvin and Deepa Babington)
Donald Trump has said that he doesnt want to burden New York by attending his upcoming rape trial against E Jean Carroll.

In a letter to the judge on Wednesday, Mr Trumps attorney Joe Tacopina said that the former president wishes to attend the civil trial beginning next week  but fears it will be a burden on the city.

Defendant Trump wishes to appear at trial but is concerned about the logistical and financial burdens of his attendance on the courthouse and New York City.

Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify, the letter read.

Jury selection will begin next week in the case.

Ms Carroll has accused Mr Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s and then defaming her by denying the assault took place. The former president denies the allegations.

This comes as Mr Trumps attorney and adviser Boris Epshteyn is expected to meet special counsel Jack Smith for an interview on Thursday over at least one of the investigations involving the former president.

Key Points

Trumps financial disclosures reveal his post-White house earnings

Fox News settles with Dominion Voting Systems for stunning $787m

Judge rejects another effort by Trumps lawyers to delay E Jean Carroll trial

What happened to Donald Trump? DeSantis supporting super PAC launches attack ad against former president

Trumps presidential campaign has raised $34m so far this year

Trump's former financial chief Weisselberg gets out of jail

08:15 , John Bowden

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at Donald Trumps company, got out of jail Wednesday but might not have freed himself from the legal morass surrounding the former president.

The 75-year-old emerged from New York Citys Rikers Island jail complex facing the same pressures he was under three months ago, when he started serving time for tax evasion.

Read more in The Independent:

Trump's former financial chief Weisselberg gets out of jail

Story continues

Trump touts poll claiming Bragg prosecution is motivated by politics

07:15 , John Bowden

On Wednesday afternoon Donald Trump released a video message to supporters on Truth Social; in it, he touted a recent poll from Quinnipiac University revealing that a majority of Americans believe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be primarily motivated by political reasons as he pursued a prosection of the former president.

He did not mention, however, that the motivations of a prosecutor have little bearing on the case itself, and will likely do little to dissuade a jury if evidence of criminality is presented.

Nor did he mention that in the same poll, a majority of Americans still said that they approved of the indictment.

Trump claims absence of evidence proving Bidens criminality is really Watergate'

06:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump bizarrely claimed that James Comers admission of the GOP-led House Oversight Committees inability to find hard evidence of crimes committed by Joe Biden or his family on Tuesday was actually proof of a scandal bigger than the Watergate break-in.

He made the statement in a short tweet-like offering from his 2024 campaign, a sign that he still expects to be facing Mr Biden in the 2024 general election.

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/2fqD9n8PhF  RSBN  (@RSBNetwork) April 19, 2023

House GOP readies border enforcement push

05:15 , John Bowden

House Republicans for months have railed against the Biden administrations handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, holding hearings, visiting border communities and promising to advance legislation to clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

But so far, they have failed to unify behind a plan, delaying efforts to pass legislation.

Now they are hoping to change that.

Read more:

House Republicans ready border enforcement push after delays

Voices: Trumps election lies cost Fox $787m - will they also cost him the White House in 2024?

04:15 , John Bowden

The Independents Washington DC correspondent Andrew Feinberg writes that the Dominion/Fox lawsuits end in a settlement in Dominions favour illustrates one thing: That Donald Trumps false claims about election fraud have real life consequences, and will be an albatross around his neck in 2024.

Read more:

Trumps election lies cost Fox $787m  will they also cost him 2024?

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she saw marijuana zombies in NYC

03:15 , John Bowden

Republican lawmaker and conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene has again lashed out at New York City, claiming to have encountered marijuana zombies on her recent visit to the Big Apple.

The Georgia congresswoman was seen in Manhattan on 4 April when she attempted to address a rally staged by the New York Young Republicans Club in support of Donald Trump during his arraignment over alleged hush money payments, only to be drowned out by counter-demonstrators with whistles and drums.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she saw marijuana zombies on ill-fated NYC trip

Trump releases video attacking DeSantis

02:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump released a second video on Wednesday which appeared to be shot in the same location and time as a previous video message released earlier in the day attacking the Manhattan DA investigation; in the second set of remarks, he went all in attacking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

While mocking Mr DeSantis for hiring a GOP operative the former president described as the kiss of death to political campaigns, Mr Trump asserted that numerous DeSantis staffers were approaching his campaign for jobs.

A Succession-worthy finale: The almost-trial of Dominion v Fox News

01:15 , John Bowden

Mountains of evidence boxes were wheeled into a seventh-floor courtroom on Tuesday morning, moments before lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems planned to eviscerate Fox News and its Fox Corporation leadership for the volley of false claims about the company in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Later that morning, jurors were sworn in. They ordered lunch. Hours later, it was over.

Alex Woodward reports from Wilmington, Delaware.

The Succession-worthy finale of the Dominion v Fox nearly-trial

Will Donald Trump testify in the E Jean Carroll rape trial?

01:10 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trumps legal team left open the possibility the former president would testify in person in an upcoming trial over allegations he raped writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s.

In a letter to Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday, attorney Joe Tacopina asked that jurors be instructed the following: While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City. Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify.

Mr Trump appears on the defences list of potential witnesses, but does not on that of Ms Carroll, who alleges the businessman-turned-politician raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

In a separate letter to the court on Wednesday, the writers attorney indicated they would probably ask a pre-taped deposition of Mr Trump be played for jurors in lieu of in-person testimony, writing that Ms Carroll has a right to play Donald Trumps deposition at trial but that theres no need for him to testify live, NBC News reports.

More details in our full story.

Donald Trump might testify in impending E Jean Carroll rape trial

Tent cities for rehabilitation and jail for those who refuse: Trumps new homelessness policy

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:45 , John Bowden

Former President Donald Trump has released the outlines a new homelessness policy based on banning urban camping, setting up tent cities, and sending people who decline treatment to jail.

Mr Trump has increasingly focused in his current campaign for the White House on rising levels of homelessness in major cities and is taking a characteristically authoritian approach to dealing with them.

In a new video, Mr Trump proposes banning camping wherever possible; arresting anyone found sleeping in unsanctioned areas outdoors; and presenting people with a choice: either agree to enter treatment programmes or go to jail.

Abe Asher reports.

Trump reveals new homelessness policy: Tent cities and jail for those who refuse

Trump's former financial chief Weisselberg gets out of jail

Thursday 20 April 2023 00:15 , John Bowden

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at Donald Trump's company, got out of jail Wednesday but might not have freed himself from the legal morass surrounding the former president.

The 75-year-old emerged from New York City's Rikers Island jail complex facing the same pressures he was under three months ago, when he started serving time for tax evasion.

Read more in The Independent:

Trump's former financial chief Weisselberg gets out of jail

No one is above the law: Former New York prosecutor on Trump case must comply with House GOPs subpoena

Wednesday 19 April 2023 23:42 , John Bowden

A federal judge in New York ruled on Wednesday that a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorneys office that indicted Donald Trump must comply with a subpoena from Congress.

No one is above the law, District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote in her ruling.

The ruling means that former Manhattan special assistant district attorney Mark Pomerantz may have to appear before the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee, which has launched an investigation into the Trump probe in Manhattan.

Current Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has called the effort to subpoena Mr Pomerantz and others connected to his office an unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress aimed at disrupting his prosecution of Donald Trump.

Former New York prosecutor on Trump case must comply with House GOPs subpoena

Congressional hearing features Trumps greatest hits of Covid misinformation

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:52 , John Bowden

Florida Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz listed off a series of former president Donald Trumps lies about Covid-19 during a House subcommittee hearing on the origins of the pandemic.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic convened on Tuesday to discuss the origins, with Republicans largely focusing on the likelihood that a lab leak in the Wuhan province caused the virus to spread.

Eric Garcia reports from Capitol Hill.

Trumps greatest hits of Covid misinformation are read out at congressional hearing

VOICES: Trump eats Ron DeSantis lunch in the endorsement contest

Wednesday 19 April 2023 22:05 , John Bowden

The Independents Washington correspondent Eric Garcia writes about Ron DeSantiss visit to Washington:

Mr DeSantis should have been greeted as a conquering hero. After serving in the House from 2013 to 2018 and as a founding member of the barn-burning House Freedom Caucus, he took his talents back to South Beach and ran for governor and served as a staunch conservative, mostly keeping the state open during the Covid-19, restricting abortion and targeting LGBT+ communities. That propelled him to win an overwhelming re-election this last November when other Republicans faltered.

Instead, he was greeted by a torrent of Republicans from his states congressional delegation lining up one after another behind former president Donald Trump.

Read more:

Trump eats Ron DeSantis lunch in the endorsement contest

Trump touts poll claiming Bragg prosecution is motivated by politics

Wednesday 19 April 2023 21:20 , John Bowden

On Wednesday afternoon Donald Trump released a video message to supporters on Truth Social; in it, he touted a recent poll from Quinnipiac University revealing that a majority of Americans believe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be primarily motivated by political reasons as he pursued a prosection of the former president.

He did not mention, however, that the motivations of a prosecutor have little bearing on the case itself, and will likely do little to dissuade a jury if evidence of criminality is presented.

Nor did he mention that in the same poll, a majority of Americans still said that they approved of the indictment.

Trump claims absence of evidence proving Bidens criminality is really Watergate'

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:44 , John Bowden

Donald Trump bizarrely claimed that James Comers admission of the GOP-led House Oversight Committees inability to find hard evidence of crimes committed by Joe Biden or his family on Tuesday was actually proof of a scandal bigger than the Watergate break-in.

He made the statement in a short tweet-like offering from his 2024 campaign, a sign that he still expects to be facing Mr Biden in the 2024 general election.

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/2fqD9n8PhF  RSBN  (@RSBNetwork) April 19, 2023

Damn it! I want my trial!: Stephen Colbert shares frustration at Fox-Dominion settlement

Wednesday 19 April 2023 20:00 , John Bowden

Stephen Colbert could barely contain his laughter as he discussed the news that Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion for $787.5m (633m).

Isobel Lewis watched The Late Show hosts reaction.

Stephen Colbert shares frustration at Fox-Dominion settlement

Marjorie Taylor Greene shut down by GOP committee chair after she calls Homeland Security Secretary a liar at hearing

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:36 , John Bowden

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Wednesday was blocked from further participation in a House Homeland Security Committee hearing after she broke House rules by calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar while questioning him on the Biden administrations border policies.

Her words were stricken from the record and she was barred from speaking further by the committees Republican chairman  a rare move.

Andrew Feinberg has the story:

MTG shut down by GOP committee chair after she calls Mayorkas a liar at hearing

Cuomo aide says nothing goes unaddressed in her memoir

Wednesday 19 April 2023 19:15 , Oliver O'Connell

A memoir from the top aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the deadliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an investigation that concluded he sexually harassed 11 women, will come out in the fall.

Union Square & Co. will release Whats Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics, and Crisis, on Oct. 24.

Melissa DeRosa was secretary to the governor from 2017 until she resigned in August 2021, just before Cuomo announced his own resignation. She was the first woman to hold the powerful position  and was known for appearing at the governors side during his daily pandemic briefings, occasionally answering reporters detailed policy questions.

Read more:

In memoir, former Cuomo aide says 'nothing goes unaddressed'

Trump boasts about making $4.6m from bizarre NFT cards

Wednesday 19 April 2023 18:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump released a second iteration of his NFT trading cards, leading to mockery online.

The former president announced on Tuesday 18 April that he was selling another series of the NFT trading cards he released this past December.

Ariana Baio has the story.

Trump mocked over nightmare fuel NFT trading cards  all priced at $99

What you need to know about the E Jean Carroll rape defamation case

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Decades after she was allegedly raped by a New York real estate mogul who would go on to be the 45th President of the United States, E Jean Carroll is getting her day in court.

Andrew Feinberg explains the background to the case.

Trump facing trial: What to know about the E Jean Carroll rape defamation case

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she saw marijuana zombies in NYC

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican lawmaker and conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene has again lashed out at New York City, claiming to have encountered marijuana zombies on her recent visit to the Big Apple.

The Georgia congresswoman was seen in Manhattan on 4 April when she attempted to address a rally staged by the New York Young Republicans Club in support of Donald Trump during his arraignment over alleged hush money payments, only to be drowned out by counter-demonstrators with whistles and drums.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she saw marijuana zombies on ill-fated NYC trip

Trump threatens federal workers with mandatory tests if he wins in 2024

Wednesday 19 April 2023 17:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Former president Donald Trump said that if he returns to the White House in 2025, he will mandate that federal employes take a civil service test and workers who do not pass would be fired.

The former president made the remarks in a video released on Friday.

Eric Garcia reports.

Trump says he will make federal workers take political test and fire those who fail

Voices: Trumps election lies cost Fox $787m... will it also cost him the White House in 2024

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Trumps election lies cost Fox $787m  will they also cost him 2024?

Trump remains silent on Foxs settlement with Dominion

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:30 , Oliver O'Connell

But for how long?

Trump remains silent on Foxs Dominion lawsuit settlement

CNNs Jake Tapper struggles to keep a straight face as he reads Fox reaction to Dominion victory

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:15 , Oliver O'Connell

CNN anchor Jake Tapper couldnt help but chuckle on Tuesday as he announced the news that Fox News averted a bruising defamation trial over false election claims by paying a $787.5m (633m) settlement to voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems.

The host hesitated multiple times as he read a statement from Fox News, which framed the settlement as a sign of Foxs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards and a move which allows the country to move forward from these issues.

Josh Marcus reports.

CNNs Jake Tapper laughs as he reads Fox reaction to Dominion settlement

A Succession-worthy finale: The almost-trial of Dominion v Fox News

Wednesday 19 April 2023 16:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Mountains of evidence boxes were wheeled into a seventh-floor courtroom on Tuesday morning, moments before lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems planned to eviscerate Fox News and its Fox Corporation leadership for the volley of false claims about the company in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Later that morning, jurors were sworn in. They ordered lunch. Hours later, it was over.

Alex Woodward reports from Wilmington, Delaware.

The Succession-worthy finale of the Dominion v Fox nearly-trial

Congressional hearing features Trumps greatest hits of Covid misinformation

Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Florida Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz listed off a series of former president Donald Trumps lies about Covid-19 during a House subcommittee hearing on the origins of the pandemic.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic convened on Tuesday to discuss the origins, with Republicans largely focusing on the likelihood that a lab leak in the Wuhan province caused the virus to spread.

Eric Garcia reports from Capitol Hill.

Trumps greatest hits of Covid misinformation are read out at congressional hearing

Premium: The Dominion settlement is not the end of the legal circus for Fox News

Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The Dominion settlement is not the end of the legal circus for Fox News | James Moore

House GOP readies border enforcement push

Wednesday 19 April 2023 15:15 , Oliver O'Connell

House Republicans for months have railed against the Biden administrations handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, holding hearings, visiting border communities and promising to advance legislation to clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

But so far, they have failed to unify behind a plan, delaying efforts to pass legislation.

Now they are hoping to change that.

Read more:

House Republicans ready border enforcement push after delays

Tent cities for rehabilitation and jail for those who refuse: Trumps new homelessness policy

Wednesday 19 April 2023 14:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Former President Donald Trump has released the outlines a new homelessness policy based on banning urban camping, setting up tent cities, and sending people who decline treatment to jail.

Mr Trump has increasingly focused in his current campaign for the White House on rising levels of homelessness in major cities and is taking a characteristically authoritian approach to dealing with them.

In a new video, Mr Trump proposes banning camping wherever possible; arresting anyone found sleeping in unsanctioned areas outdoors; and presenting people with a choice: either agree to enter treatment programmes or go to jail.

Abe Asher reports.

Trump reveals new homelessness policy: Tent cities and jail for those who refuse

Mother and son who took zip ties into Senate on Jan 6 convicted

Wednesday 19 April 2023 14:25 , Oliver O'Connell

A Tennessee man and his mother were convicted on Tuesday of charges that they stormed the Capitol, where they brought plastic zip-tie handcuffs into the Senate gallery as a mob attacked the building, court records show.

Read more:

Mom, son who took zip ties into Senate convicted in 1/6 riot

Trump says if elected he will force federal workers to pass a political test

Wednesday 19 April 2023 13:45 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump said that if he returns to the White House in 2025, he will mandate that federal employes take a civil service test and workers who do not pass would be fired.

The former president made the remarks in a video released on Friday.

Eric Garcia has the story.

Trump says he will make federal workers take political test and fire those who fail

Wednesday 19 April 2023 13:15 , John Bowden

Senator Chuck Schumer hit out at Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy over his debt ceiling speech delivered on Monday at the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.

He went all the way to Wall Street and gave us no new details, no new facts, no new information at all, said Mr Schumer, warning of a Republican default crisis.

President Biden and I are happy to meet with the speaker when he has something to talk about  a plan.

The senator added that without a House GOP debt plan what are we going to talk about? The furniture?

What we saw this morning is clear:



Democrats want to avoid defaulting on our countrys debts.



Meanwhile, Speaker McCarthy continues to bumble us towards a catastrophic default that would cause the economy to crash, spike job loss, and raise costs for American families. pic.twitter.com/XB8ce3DeBQ  Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 17, 2023

McCarthy hits Biden for not negotiating with GOP on debt limit

Wednesday 19 April 2023 12:45 , John Bowden

The White House may be on track for a political victory over the debt limit as the GOP Speaker of the House looks at least somewhat unwilling to threaten Americas credit by blocking an increase to the debt limit.

But that didnt stop Kevin McCarthy from hammering President Joe Biden on the issue of not negotiating with Republicans over spending decreases at all, as the White House has maintained that the president wants to see the GOPs budget proposal in full before any such talks begin.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

Kevin McCarthy hits Biden for not negotiating with GOP on debt limit

Dominion wins $787m from Fox as election lies lawsuit settled: Lies have consequences

Wednesday 19 April 2023 12:15 , John Bowden

Moments before opening arguments in one of the biggest defamation trials in US history were set to begin, Fox News agreed to settle a lawsuit from a voting machine company that accused the network of spreading false statements about its business in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Fox settled for $787.5m, about half of Dominions original demand of $1.6bn.

Alex Woodward has the story:

Dominion wins $787m from Fox as election lies lawsuit settled

Donald Trump suggests Disney could ditch Florida as he mocks DeSantis over Reedy Creek humiliation

Wednesday 19 April 2023 11:45 , John Bowden

Donald Trump mocked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday for the recent debate over changes to the Reedy Creek Improvement District by suggesting Walt Disney World could retaliate against the Florida Governor.

Mr DeSantis held a press conference this past week threatening Disney should they not cooperate. The ideas he raised in retaliation included potentially raising the parks taxes, building a prison next door, or selling the land around Disney to a different theme park.

Read more:

Trump suggests Disney could ditch Florida as he mocks DeSantis over Reedy Creek

Earlier: Judge rejects Trumps last-minute bid to delay rape and defamation trial

Wednesday 19 April 2023 11:15 , John Bowden

A federal judge in New York City has rejected former president Donald Trumps 11th-hour attempt to once again postpone his long-delayed civil defamation and rape trial on the grounds that publicity surrounding his recent indictment necessitated a cooling-off period to ensure an impartial jury.

Judge Lewis Kaplan on Monday ordered the trial, which stems from two civil lawsuits brought against the ex-president by writer E Jean Carroll, to commence on 25 April as previously scheduled.

Andrew Feinberg has the latest:

Judge rejects Trumps last-minute bid to delay rape and defamation trial

Trump silent on Fox News Dominion settlement

Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:45 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump has remained silent on the settlement reached between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems.

The former president is yet to comment on the news  despite the lawsuit being directly related to his election lies.

On Monday, Mr Trump had suggested Fox News should stand by his election fraud lies to weaken Dominion Voting Systems arguments in the case.

If Fox would finally admit that there was large scale cheating & irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, which would be a good thing for them, & for America, the case against them, which should not have existed at all, would be greatly weakened, he had claimed.

Back up those patriots at Fox instead of throwing them under the bus - & they are right! There is sooo much proof, like mass ballot stuffing caught on government cameras, FBI colluding with Twitter & Facebook, state legislatures not used, etc.

Trump returns to Instagram after two-year break

Wednesday 19 April 2023 10:15 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump has returned to Instagram for the first time since the January 6 Capitol riot  to plug his latest release of NFT trading cards.

The former president was banned from the social media platform back in January 2021 after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in a riot that resulted in several deaths.

The social media platform allowed his account back earlier this year but Mr Trump was yet to post on it  instead continuing to post on his Truth Social platform instead.

On Tuesday, he finally made his return to Instagram with several posts pushing his new digital trading cards.
(Reuters) - Donald Trump continued to rack up endorsements in Florida for his presidential campaign on Wednesday, outmaneuvering the state's Governor Ron DeSantis on his home turf.

Vern Buchanan, co-chair of the state's congressional delegation became the eighth Florida lawmaker to come out in support of the former president, announcing his endorsement on Wednesday, hours after a personal call from Trump.

"If we want to get our economy back on track, Donald Trump is just the guy to get it done," Buchanan said.

Trump launched a bid for the 2024 Republican nomination in November, and polls show he is leading the field of declared and as-yet undeclared candidates. DeSantis is expected to launch a run and is in second position in polls.

The string of Trump endorsements, including four in Florida and five in two other states this week, have come as DeSantis faces a barrage of insults on social media and attack ads from Trump's camp.

"When your calling card is Florida and folks in your own backyard defect that is never a good sign," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican consultant who was a Trump campaign surrogate in 2020. "They have the DeSantis campaign in a vulnerable position."

DeSantis' team had asked members of Florida's congressional delegation to hold off announcing any endorsements, according to a person familiar with the effort. Only one, Laurel Lee, stuck with DeSantis, announcing her endorsement on Tuesday.

Trump contacted the lawmakers personally, inviting them to a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday night.

A DeSantis aide declined to comment.

A source familiar with DeSantis thinking said the wave of endorsements had not persuaded the governor to accelerate his timetable for a presidential announcement. DeSantis is expected to make clear his intentions after the Florida legislature wraps up its session in early May, followed by a more formal campaign launch in June.

DeSantis, the source said, is currently limited by law as to what he can do as a non-candidate and cant explicitly ask for endorsements. "We havent gotten started yet," the person said.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut and Jim Oliphant in Washington; Editing by Sonali Paul)
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump is already the first former American president to face criminal charges. Jurors are expected to soon decide in an unrelated civil case whether he lied about committing rape.

A trial is scheduled to begin on April 25 in one of former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll's two lawsuits against Trump over his denials that he raped her in the mid-1990s.

Trump may owe damages if Carroll convinces a Manhattan federal jury it was more likely than not that he defamed her in an October 2022 post on his Truth Social platform.

There, he called Carroll's rape claim a "Hoax and a lie" for promoting her memoir, and maintained that she was "not my type!"

Carroll is also suing for battery under a new state law in New York that gives adults a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers even if legal deadlines to sue, known as statutes of limitations, have long since passed.

Now 79, Carroll has said Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in midtown Manhattan in late 1995 or early 1996.

She said that after Trump asked for help in buying a gift for another woman, he "maneuvered" her into a dressing room, where he closed the door and penetrated her before she escaped.

Carroll first sued Trump for defamation in November 2019, five months after he first denied her rape claim.

She has long accused Trump of stalling, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan has rejected multiple efforts by Trump to delay Carroll's case.

"Trump has a strong incentive to settle the case to avoid the airing of that evidence, whether it is true or not," said Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. Attorney in Detroit.

"Carroll may decide that she cares more about airing her story publicly than any monetary settlement can buy," she added.

Trump is not required to defend himself in person, and will decide during the trial whether to attend, his lawyer Joe Tacopina said in a letter on Thursday. Carroll plans to attend every day.

Story continues

Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, declined to comment for this article. She is unrelated to the judge. Trump's lawyers were not available for comment.

'I DON'T SETTLE CASES'

It was not immediately clear whether Trump, 76, who has bragged that "I don't settle cases" although he sometimes does, would settle with Carroll.

Her case is one of several criminal and civil inquiries Trump faces. None has disturbed his status as the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race.

Last year, Trump refused to let his Trump Organization concede wrongdoing in a New York criminal tax fraud case, which ended in a conviction that is being appealed.

He also faces Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal case over hush money payments to a porn star; civil fraud charges by New York Attorney General Letitia James; and inquiries into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and whether he tried to sway 2020 election results in Georgia.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing.

He recently hired Tacopina, a prominent outspoken lawyer, to join Alina Habba in helping defend against Carroll's and Bragg's cases.

At trial, they could challenge Carroll's memory, including her inability to remember the date or even the month of the alleged attack.

And while the jury could have six to 12 members, it would take only one Trump supporter for Trump to avoid liability.

According to a Thursday court filing, Carroll estimates the trial may last five to seven days, while Trump estimates 10 to 12 days.

Carroll is expected to testify, as are two friends she spoke to soon after the alleged rape: Lisa Birnbach, who wrote "The Official Preppy Handbook," and former New York news anchor Carol Martin.

Two women who say Trump sexually assaulted them, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, are also on Carroll's witness list. Trump has denied their claims.

And jurors will be able to hear the infamous 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape where Trump made graphic, vulgar comments about women.

Carroll's first lawsuit is pending.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Richard Chang)
Photograph: James Devaney/GC Images

Donald Trump on Thursday was rebuked by the judge in his looming civil rape trial over a request for jurors to be told that if the former president did not testify, it would be out of concern that his presence would adversely affect New York City.

Related: I accused Donald Trump of sexual assault. Now I sleep with a loaded gun

This week, a lawyer for Trump, Joe Tacopina, first tried to delay the trial then requested the jury instruction.

In a letter to federal judge Lewis A Kaplan on Wednesday, Tacopina said jurors should be told: While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City.

Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify.

The next day, Kaplan responded: The decision whether to attend or testify is [Trumps] alone to make.

Noting that Trumps accuser, the writer E Jean Carroll, has said she does not intend to call him, Kaplan said: There is nothing for the court to excuse.

Kaplan also said he did not accept Trumps claim about alleged burdens on the courthouse or the city because he was confident the US Secret Service  which protects all former presidents  and the US Marshals Service, in charge of federal courthouse security, would cope.

Trump, Kaplan said, will speak at a campaign event in New Hampshire on 27 April, the third day of the scheduled trial in this case. If the Secret Service can protect him at that event, certainly the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the city of New York can see to his security in this very secure federal courthouse.

The case concerns an alleged rape in the changing rooms of a New York department store in the mid-1990s, a claim Carroll made in 2019.

Trump denies it. Carroll sued him for defamation, then sued again, for defamation and battery, under New York states Adult Survivors Act, a law that eliminates civil filing deadlines for alleged victims of long-ago sexual assaults.

Story continues

The trial in the first suit has been delayed while lawyers wrangle over whether Trumps remarks were part of his duties as president, and thus protected. The trial next week concerns the second suit.

Kaplan said the start date had been known since early February.

There has been quite ample time within which to make whatever logistical arrangements should be made for [Trumps] attendance, he said, and certainly quite a bit more time than the five or six days between recent indictment on state criminal charges and his arraignment on that indictment approximately one block from the site of this case.

In the other case mentioned by Kaplan, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsification of business records, related to his hush money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims an affair he denies.

Related: Trumps indictment and the return of his biggest concern: the women

Since then, Trump has surged in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, notwithstanding the fact he also faces state and federal investigations of his 2020 election subversion, a federal investigation of his handling of classified material, and a civil suit in New York over his business and tax affairs.

In the Carroll case, Kaplan stressed, the question of the requested jury instruction is premature. Mr Trump is free to attend, testify or both. He is free also to do none of these things.

Trumps attorneys, Kaplan said again, would not be allowed to tell the jury he wanted to testify but had chosen to spare court and city the burdens of his presence.
Former President Trump is touting the support that he has picked up from Florida lawmakers in Congress, showing strength in the home state of possible 2024 GOP rival and Sunshine State Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A great group of supportive Florida Congressmen and Congresswomen, all who have Endorsed me, will be coming to Mar-a-Lago tonight, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday. Our support is almost universal in Florida and throughout the USA.

Congressional Republicans have started to line up behind Trump, even after DeSantis made a trip to Washington this week to meet with lawmakers. At least seven Florida Republicans have declared their support of the former president, foregoing backing their home state governor.

More than 50 Republicans in Congress have publicly endorsed Trump, including Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), John Rutherford (R-Fla.), Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.)

The Florida Republican support of Trump could represent a danger sign for a DeSantis White House bid. The Florida governor has long been expected to jump into the Republican Primary.

Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who served as the Florida secretary of state under DeSantis, announced this week she planned to endorse the governor for president, making her the only Florida Republican thus far to back the former Congressman.

While polling shows Trump as the favorite for the GOP nomination, DeSantis is the clear top rival to the former president. DeSantis has largely steered clear of clashes with Trump, while Trump has taken a more direct approach in confronting the rising Republican governor.

It was unclear which Republican lawmakers were invited to Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Thursday night.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Tucker Carlson praised a Democrat running for president on Wednesday  the extreme anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Watch the video below.)

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and son of slain 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, this week announced his long-shot bid to oppose President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024.

The right-wing Fox News host had Kennedy on his show and gushed over him as if he were a hard-line Republican.

If youre an honest person, you understand this is exactly the moment in our history when we need serious adult conversations about the world around us, a world that is changing to our detriment and how we ought to respond to those changes, Carlson effused after airing a clip of Kennedys opposition to U.S. policy in helping Ukraine repel the Russian invasion.

Bobby Kennedy would love to have those conversations, Carlson continued. Hes not running to get rich. Hes running to make things better. But hes not allowed to have those conversations. Hes been censored. Other media wont even talk to him.

Carlson then unspooled a montage of TV journalists pointing out Kennedys troubling campaign against COVID-19 vaccines.

Notice not there, not anywhere, is a point-by-point rebuttal of his actual points, Carlson said. They never engage among the facts. They cant. They would lose. Instead, they impugn his character. Now that man they call dangerous is Joe Bidens leading primary opponent and their view remains the same: Shut up youre not allowed to talk. We disagree with that. Were not Democrats, but Bobby Kennedy is one of the most remarkable people we have met and we are honored to have him on our show tonight.

Kennedys presence on Fox News, a prominent sower of vaccine doubt, is no shocker.

He blasted the coronavirus vaccine  found to be safe and effective in preventing hospitalization and death  and mandates, comparing them to extremes in Nazi Germany, outlets noted. He got his Instagram account suspended for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines. He devoted a book to discrediting White House infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. (He also pushed unproven COVID-19 treatments like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in the book, The Associated Press noted.)

Story continues

His own brother and sister have deplored his anti-vax activism as part of a misinformation campaign thats having heartbreaking  and deadly  consequences.

And thats on top of a second career of sorts already built on vaccine skepticism  promoting the widely discredited assertion that childhood vaccines are responsible for autism.

Fast-forward to 7:00 for Carlsons introduction:

Related...
Fox News host Tucker Carlson cracked a smile as he listened to Elon Musk describe slashing 80 per cent of Twitters employees after taking over.

Turns out you dont need all that many people to run Twitter, Mr Musk said. If youre not trying to run some kind of glorified activist organisation, and youre not caring that much about censorship, you can really let go of a lot of people it turns out.

.@TuckerCarlson asked @elonmusk how he was able to cut 80% of Twitter staff.



Elons answer?



If youre not trying to run some sort of glorified activist organization and you dont care that much about censorship, you can really let go of a lot of people, it turns out.



Spot on pic.twitter.com/YbobS8ow8P  Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 18, 2023

Carlson, in an interview that aired this week on the network, called the layoffs one of the great business stories of the year, and recounted a story of having dinner with an executive who praised Mr Musk for firing the staff stuff.

During the conversation, Mr Musk referred to the thousands of employees who were fired or quit as part of a Twitter organisation that was absurdly over-staffed, and said running the company was as simple as a glorified group text.

As The Independent reports, many Twitter employees were let go with little warning, leaving some of the companys workers on employment visas in limbo.

"It was like this tidal wave coming across the United States, advancing towards you, and you had no idea if you were going to be drowned or if you were standing on high enough ground to escape this," 48-year-old data scientist Melissa Ingle told The Independent in December.

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Mr Musks conversation with Fox News featured a number of other eye-catching moments.

In one section, the Twitter owner claimed abortion and birth control were bringing about the collapse of civilization because of their purported impacts on population rates.

(Despite the mass production of oral contraceptives and hormonal birth control methods, the human population has actually more than doubled in the last 50 years from 2.5 billion to 8 billion, according to the United Nations.)

In another aside, Mr Musk said he was one of the people most likely to find evidence of alien life, but hadnt seen any so far.

I would immediately tweet it out, he said. That would probably be the top tweet of all time, found one guys.

The high-profile interview with the tech mogul came as Fox News was in the spotlight for other reasons, principally its $787m settlement of a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for its inaccurate 2020 election reporting.
China's top legislator holds talks with president of Uruguayan House of Representatives

Xinhua) 10:36, April 20, 2023

Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, holds talks with the president of the Uruguayan House of Representatives, Sebastian Andujar, via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), on Wednesday held talks with the president of the Uruguayan House of Representatives, Sebastian Andujar, via video link.

Noting China has always attached great importance to the development of China-Uruguay relations, Zhao said China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Uruguay further and take the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries as a new starting point to push forward bilateral relations and bring more benefits to the two peoples.

Zhao said China appreciates Uruguay's firm adherence to the one-China principle and stands ready to strengthen political mutual trust with Uruguay, support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns, and respect each other's choice of development path.

He called on the two sides to promote mutual benefit and win-win results, achieve common development, and better align their development strategies within the framework of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

The two sides should strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, deepen mutual learning among civilizations, and consolidate popular support for friendship between the two countries, Zhao said. "We should work together to strengthen multilateral cooperation and jointly cope with global challenges," Zhao added.

The NPC of China is willing to continue the tradition of friendship with Uruguay's National Congress, deepen exchanges between the top level of the legislature, special committees, friendship groups, and lawmakers, and timely approve and revise legal documents promoting bilateral cooperation; exchange experience on coordinated economic and social development, democracy and rule of law, and poverty eradication; and strengthen communication and cooperation in multilateral parliamentary organizations, Zhao said.

He introduced the development of China's whole-process people's democracy, and said that China is willing to work with Uruguay to advocate the promotion of the common values of mankind, practice true multilateralism, and work to make the global governance system more just and equitable.

Andujar said Uruguay firmly adheres to the one-China principle. He thanked China for its generous assistance in the most difficult time for Uruguay to fight the pandemic.

Uruguay hopes to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries, so as to promote better understanding of each other between the two peoples, and common progress and development, Andujar added.

Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, holds talks with the president of the Uruguayan House of Representatives, Sebastian Andujar, via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
After ousting the authoritarian President Ben Ali in 2011, Tunisia built a democracy

Tunisia is the only country which overthrew an authoritarian ruler during the 2011 Arab Spring and went on to build a democracy.

However, the raiding of the headquarters of the opposition Ennadha party and arrest of its leader indicates that the country is being taken back to an illiberal form of rule, critics say.

How did Tunisia build a democracy after the Arab Spring?

In January 2011, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali resigned as Tunisia's president and fled to Saudi Arabia, after failing to quell weeks of mass protests.

He had ruled the country as a one-party state for 23 years.

The incoming "transitional government" allowed new political parties, and free speech.

Several elections were held, in which the moderate Islamist party Ennahda (Rennaisance) gained the most parliamentary seats but never won a majority. It had to share power with secular parties.

"After the revolution a new consensus emerged, in which the Islamist party and the secular ones agreed to work together to create new democratic institutions," says Riccardo Fabiani of the think tank, the International Crisis Group.

The parties put a new constitution in place, which gave new powers to Tunisia's parliament - the National Assembly - and gave democratic rights to citizens.

However, Melek Saral of SOAS, University of London, says the politicians failed to agree on how to set up a constitutional court.

"The court was needed to provide checks and balances on the government, and to guarantee human rights," she says.

"Not getting an agreement on the constitutional court was one of the main failures when setting up the democratic system."

The politicians who ruled after 2011 also failed to improve economic conditions and to create jobs, eroding people's faith in their new form of government.

A Pew Research Center poll suggests that while 70% of Tunisians supported democracy in 2012, only 48% still did in 2014.

Story continues

"People expected democracy automatically to bring economic growth," says Intissar Fakir of the Middle East Institute. "When it didn't, they thought that democracy hadn't paid."

How did President Kais Saied come to power?

Kais Saied was an expert in constitutional law who won the presidency by a landslide in 2019.

He said in his campaign that the democratic system was not working because the political parties in parliament had too much power.

Kais Saied is accused of amassing power for himself

""He pointed to himself as the man who could take the reins when everyone else was incompetent and corrupt," says Dr Yerkes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In 2020, the Covid pandemic severely damaged Tunisia's economy and overwhelmed its health services.

"It caused a near collapse of state institutions," says Mr Fabiano, "and many people thought the presidency needed to be strengthened to take vital decisions."

In 2021, Mr Saied exercised emergency powers to sack the prime minister, close the National Assembly and suspend the constitution.

He said he was acting to "save the state" - a message which resonated with many Tunisians.

How did President Saied reverse democratic reforms?

After this he passed laws by decree. Several opposition politicians and journalists who criticised him were detained or jailed.

In July 2022, he won a referendum which allowed him to introduce a new constitution.

Tunisia's parliament has been stripped of much of its power

This created a "super-presidency" and lessened the powers of the parliament and judiciary.

"[President Saied] has the idea that the president has a direct link with the grassroots, and rules in their name," says Mr Fabiani. "He thinks that parliament's role is to help him to do that."

"The National Assembly is now simply an advisory body for the president," says Ms Fakir. "They put forward ideas for laws which they think he might want to pass."

Mr Saied reconvened the National Assembly in March this year. However, fewer than 9% of voters turned out for the elections, and many members refused to attend.

On 17 April, the leader of the opposition Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, was arrested, accused of plotting against state security and making "inciting statements", while the party said its headquarters had been raided by police.

A judge has now ordered Mr Ghannouchi to be imprisoned - a move the US has condemned as "troubling".

Mr Saied has also attracted international criticism for demanding "urgent measures" to remove migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, saying they are part of a "conspiracy" to change the demographic composition of Tunisia (which is mostly Arabic and Muslim).

"He thinks his base will like him making black Africans a scapegoat," says Ms Fakir. "He blames them for the troubles the country is going through."

Is this the end for democracy in Tunisia?

There are widespread protests against President Saied's political reforms

President Saied unwound 10 years of building democracy in little over a year.

However, says Dr Yerkes: "You still have civil society groups and a media in Tunisia which can act as a check on his power, and there are still protests by the public.

"This is not the end of Tunisia's democratic story."

The next presidential election is in 2024. Even if Mr Saied wins another five years in power, he cannot serve for more than two terms.
By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) -A Tunisian judge on Thursday ordered opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi be detained before his trial on charges of plotting against state security, his lawyer said, the latest move on opponents of President Kais Saied.

The 81-year-old head of the Islamist Ennahda party was the speaker of the elected parliament, which was shut down in 2021 by Saied when he seized all powers.

Ghannouchi, who was arrested on Monday, was ordered detained following an investigation by the judge that lasted eight hours, lawyer Monia Bouali said. No date has been set for any trial or the next hearing.

"The issue is related to a call for civil war ... honourable judges have applied the law", Saied said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday, which was broadcast on state-run TV.

The Ennahda party condemned the "unjust decision" and said it was intended to cover up failure in a stifling economic and financial crisis that is leading Tunisia towards bankruptcy.

It said that targeting a "national symbol" who has spent decades resisting dictatorship would not resolve Tunisia's problems and would not weaken the opposition.

Ghannouchi's official Facebook page published a comment by him after the judge's decision which said: "I am optimistic about the future ... Tunisia is free."

An interior ministry official said Ghannouchi had been arrested after "inciting statements".

Ghannouchi said in an opposition meeting last week that "imagining Tunisia without this or that side ... Tunisia without Ennahda, Tunisia without political Islam, without the left, or any other component, is a project for civil war".

Police have this year detained several leading political figures who have accused Saied of a coup for his moves to close parliament and rule by decree before rewriting the constitution.

Saied says his actions are legal and necessary to save Tunisia from chaos, and has called his enemies criminals, traitors and terrorists, urging the authorities to take action against them.

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Tunisian authorities on Tuesday banned meetings at all Ennahda offices and police closed the headquarters of the Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition.

Ennahda says it fears the move could lead to it being banned.

Since Tunisia's 2011 revolution, Ghannouchi has been a major political player, leading his party to participate in successive coalition governments with secular parties.

He has faced repeated rounds of judicial questioning over the past year on charges relating to Ennahda's finances and to allegations it helped Islamists travel to Syria for jihad, charges he and the party deny.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara, additional reporting by Clauda Tanios: Editing by Alison Williams and Grant McCool)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan called on both sides in Sudan to end conflict and return to negotiations, the Turkish presidency said on Thursday.

Khartoum and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri, one of Africa's most populous urban areas, have been rocked by battles this week between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Erdogan held separate phone calls with Sudan's head of state and army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.

Erdogan told both sides that Turkey was following events in Sudan with concern, and invited them to end the conflict and return to dialogue, the statement said.

Turkey was ready to provide all kinds of support, including hosting possible mediation initiatives, he also told Sudanese parties, the statement added.

Erdogan called on conflicting parties in Sudan to take appropriate measures for safe use of Khartoum Airport to ensure the transfer of Turkish citizens from the country, the Turkish presidency also said.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
BOSTON (AP)  Kenta Maeda was coming out of the game.

But first, he wanted to get the out.

The Twins right-hander took a 111 mph line drive off his left ankle in the second inning of Thursday's 11-5 loss to the Red Sox. He steadied himself with his hands, then pounced on the ball to get Boston batter Jarren Duran for the third out.

Maeda then collapsed onto his back and rolled onto his side.

I am not surprised to see him, on one leg making the play, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. You get nervous when guys are doing that and their leg might be broken. Honestly, Id prefer he not damage himself trying to do that. But he is highly competitive, and hes not going to stop playing until that leg stops moving.

The Twins training staff rushed out to attend to Maeda, who was able to walk off the field on his own after a few minutes. The team said Maeda had a left ankle bruise and X-rays were negative.

I wasnt sure if I cracked the bone or not. It just happened so quickly, Maeda said through a translator. I saw the ball drop right in front of me, and my first instinct was grab the ball, throw the ball, get the out. ... You saw me collapse after making that play, so there was excruciating pain there.

Baldelli said he hadnt decided what to do with his rotation, but the Twins play 10 more games before their first off day on May 1.

The decision-making on Kenta will be a logical, medical decision based on how hes doing, Baldelli said. We dont know those answers today.

Maeda, who missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, said there was swelling, but he would see how he feels on Friday.

Theres no bone damage, he said. I dont expect to be out for a very long time.

The play ended the second inning. Emilio Pagan came in to start the third and gave up six runs in the inning, including Duran's two-run double off the Green Monster.

Having used long reliever Brent Headrick for three innings in a 10-4 win on Wednesday, Baldelli went with third baseman Willi Castro to get an out in the eighth.

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I was highly impressed by his bullpen session in Fort Myers, Baldelli said with a straight face, then declined to reveal whether he was joking or not. I watched him throw about 10 eephus pitches in a row and the catchers glove didnt move. And I thought, Ive never really Ive never seen someone be able to do that before.

Castro opened with three pitches that didn't top 45 mph and were identified on the scoreboard as sliders.

I will not watch it later, Baldelli deadpanned.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Two Fresno men with gang ties pleaded not guilty Wednesday to multiple charges stemming from a Sunday of violence that culminated with a shooting death.

Malcolm Jamal McCoy, 33, and Faheem Karim Muhammad, 39, appeared in Fresno County Superior Court amid angry looks and heated words from relatives and friends of 41-year-old Adavier Thomas of Fresno.

You didnt even know my brother, one woman shouted at the defendants. You bitch ass.

The bailiff had to escort four people out of the courtroom and into the hallway before the arraignment could continue.

The defendants entered their not guilty pleas and were quickly ushered back out of the courtroom. As they were being led away, a defiant McCoy turned and stared at one of the women, mouthing something at her.

Police said Thomas was shot and killed outside Zacks Smoke Shop on California Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard about 5:20 p.m. Sunday. Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots in the area.

Adavier Thomas, 40, of Fresno was the victim of a fatal shooting, April 16, 2023, according to police.

Muhammad and McCoy were arrested by police after a brief car chase. Surveillance video helped identify them as the shooters.

According to the criminal complaint against them, the alleged murder of Thomas was one of several crimes they are charged with.

Prosecutors allege that also on Sunday they attempted to murder a Fresno man, identified only as John Doe in the complaint. They also are facing assault with a firearm charges stemming from an incident with two other men on Sunday.

McCoy involved in notorious 2000 murder as a 10-year-old

The two men have also been charged with several gang enhancements and have prior felony convictions. McCoy was involved in the 2000 robbery and beating death of 69-year-old Alejandro Escareno, the father of a Fresno police officer.

McCoy was 10 years old at the time. Two teenagers were convicted in that case: Raheem Muhammad, 20, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and Odell Muhammad, 19, was convicted of second-degree murder.

McCoys and Muhammands next court appearance will be April 28 for a pre-prelimiminary hearing. They remain in the Fresno County Jail with bail for Muhammad set at $2.6 million and $3.3 million for McCoy.

If convicted on all charges and enhancements, both defendants face life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, if the district attorneys office decides it will seek that option.
(Natalie Barry/Caitlin Hartley)

Natalie Barry and her husband Aaron Bazzone became infected with Covid-19 in the very early days of the pandemic in 2020.

Without much knowledge of the virus or the toll that it would take on their bodies, they decided to quarantine at their home in California until their symptoms subsided. Despite initially experiencing harsh fatigue and congestion, Bazzone improved within days.

But just weeks after his recovery, he began exhibiting psychiatric symptoms that he never had before, Ms Barry tells The Independent. Bazzone would see demons, spend the night at hotels convinced their San Francisco home was bugged, and pick holes in his face because he believed that aliens were implanting in him.

On 30 April 2022, two years after his first psychiatric onset, police knocked on Ms Barrys door with the gutwrenching news that Bazzones body had been found in an isolated mountain area. He was 52 years old.

Ms Barry believes that her husband died by suicide following a long fight with a condition known as Covid psychosis.

It was two years of hell, Ms Barry recalls three years later as she fights back tears. He was wielding an axe and knocking out peoples lights around their houses because he was afraid of EMF [electric and magnetic fields] he claimed came from his phone and at night he had this ringing in his ears.

Like Bazzone, North Carolina teacher Jonathan Hartley, 35, had an unexplained, out-of-the-blue psychotic break following his recovery from Covid-19 nearly a year and a half ago. His wife Caitlin advocated for him with physicians who insisted Mr Hartley suffered from Bipolar disorder, despite having no previous history.

After their concerns about a potential link between Mr Hartleys Covid-19 infection and his sudden symptoms were dismissed for months, Mr Hartley was eventually diagnosed with Covid psychosis.

Nobody would listen. Theres research out there saying that Covid can cause psychosis in some people, Ms Hartley tells The Independent. They just kept telling me, No, we havent seen that, thats not a thing. This cant be due to Covid.

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According to the National Library of Medicine, there is a causal link between Covid-19 infections and mental disorders. The institute cites a study conducted in China, which found Covid had effects on patients attention, depression and anxiety levels and potentially caused memory impairments and insomnia.

Another study by British researchers in 2021 also found that 0.42 per cent of Covid patients developed a first psychotic episode within six months of testing positive for the virus. While that percentage may appear small, it is not when put in context of the nearly 700 million Covid cases reported worldwide.

Covid psychosis has left an irreparable impact on Ms Barry and the Hartleys. Now, theyre trying to raise awareness about the rare and devastating condition.

I knew this wasnt my husband

Bazzone was both a web designer and a talented musician, having attended Berkeley College of Music, according to his wife.

At the time he became infected with coronavirus in February 2020, he was working from home for the biotechnology corporation Genentech. He had briefly worked with other companies, including Google, Cisco, Apple and Walmart Labs.

It was early on in the outbreak, so Genentech being involved in the medical field and genes, they had us quarantined anyway, Ms Barry says. Id been with him for 21 years and at that point, I had never seen him have the flu, or stay in bed. He went to bed for three days. He would not seek medical attention.

The symptoms soon passed, but Bazzone then began to behave bizarrely. He would stare blankly at his computer for long periods of time and become paranoid about his surroundings.

He lived in hotels for four months, running from the aliens, Ms Barry says. I saw him alienate his family members. And the more he alienated them, the more he stayed on the run.

Natalie Barry and her late husband Aaron Bazzane (Natalie Barry)

Bazzone was committed to mental health institutions several times, but physicians dismissed his wifes emphasis on the fact that his symptoms showed up just weeks after he recovered from Covid. He was prescribed psychiatric medication but refused to take it once he was released from treatment centres.

Ms Barry says she tried to be supportive of Bazzone and educated herself on Covid psychosis. But despite her best efforts, his condition continued to worsen.

I knew the time. This is not my husband, he changed overnight. I knew right away because I saw the link, she says. We both were sick and we were told to consider ourselves positive and he started having these symptoms and they never stopped.

After suffering from a heart attack, Ms Barry became unable to continue caring for Bazzone as she intended. In the last stages of his life, they stayed in separate parts of their home as Bazzone battled his condition and his wife recovered from her health scare.

The last six months he was not nice to me, Ms Barry recounted. But those two weeks before he died, he told me I love you twice.

Ms Barry believes that her husband died by suicide following a long fight with a condition known as Covid psychosis (Natalie Barry)

When authorities showed up at her door in April 2020, Ms Barry was expecting to hear her husband had been committed again. Instead, she was informed he had died as a result of emphysema, a lung condition that causes shortness of breath, and emaciation.

His body was found in a remote area.

Ms Barry believes her husband starved himself to death.

She only realised after her husband was dead, but he had finished his coffee can down to the last grain, and fixed things around the house that she forgot were broken. On her bed, he left behind tiny squares which he claimed protected humans from aliens.

I want people to know about this if I can stop some suffering, Ms Barry says. People can get help right away.

Im now dealing with the trauma

Jonathan Hartley continued working after he tested positive for Covid. He led remote classes for his high school students and when his quarantine ended, he returned to teaching in person.

I returned back to school on a Friday. And I came home and just felt really tired, Mr Hartley tells The Independent.

The following Monday, Mr Hartleys symptoms persisted and he called his wife so she could take him to the emergency room. By the time Ms Hartley picked him up, her husbands mind was running fast and he felt almost as though he could see the future.

He would start to say something, but then his brain was already on something else, Ms Hartley says. And so then his mouth would go to that. He wasnt finishing all of his statements and we had a friend who had bipolar disorder so I got really scared because it did seem he was kind of like manic.

Ms Hartley says she feared her husbands cancer had returned and it was in his brain, but her request for an MRI was denied. She asked whether Covid could have affected his brain, but doctors told her that her husband was having a manic episode.

Mr Hartley was initially committed for a week and was discharged with medication for bipolar disorder. He alleged he was told by nurses to take a medication that previously caused him temporal paralysis on his face and aphasia  or problems with his speech.

He was hospitalised a second time for nearly three weeks after failing to adjust to another medication, with physicians at the mental health facility allegedly refusing to even consider the possibility that his mental breakdown stemmed from his previous Covid infection.

Jonathan Hartley was diagnosed with Covid psychosis (Cailtin Hartley)

I requested medical testing while he was there and they refused, Ms Hartley says.

Mr Hartley says that his mental health declined while hospitalised, as he could not see or speak with his wife and children. Even after he was discharged and received treatment for Covid psychosis, Mr Hartley said he struggled to integrate back into his life.

For three months, he was unable to return to work and was left feeling depressed and anxious.

We struggled as a family unit for about a year afterwards. One of our daughters is in therapy and she was having extreme anxiety  they saw their daddy like that and then he was gone and they, Ms Hartley says. Any time he left home, they freaked out. Theyd say, Daddys not coming back to us. Daddys not coming back. It was rough.

The Hartleys say medical professionals denial to explore a link between Covid-19 and Mr Hartleys sudden break, and the medication that was prescribed to him exacerbated his mental anguish for months. The family consulted with an attorney about the possibility of suing the hospital but were told that no case could be filed due to North Carolinas Covid liability law, which gives providers exemptions from civil liability.

A year and a half after becoming infected with Covid, Mr Hartley is still grappling with the aftermath of his experience. To cope with the frustration he faced as his wife desperately advocated for him, he often volunteers at local mental health facilities.

Im kind of dealing with residual from it. Ive been having a lot of anxiety and my therapist basically said Im in survival mode, Mr Hartley says. And so now Im dealing with all the trauma from when I didnt take the time or really had the choice to deal with it then.

I was grateful to have somebody, [My wife] helped me, he added. But theres a lot of people out there who dont have anybody and theyre just stuck in the system.
Lawyers for Nichols mother, RowVaughn Wells, claimed the city of Memphis and its police officers deliberate indifference and unlawful actions led to her sons death.

Tyre Nichols family has brought a $550 million federal lawsuit against Memphis, its police force and the officers  who at the time were members of a special unit who brutally beat the unarmed Black man and drew considerable criticism from the general public and law enforcement.

According to CNN, lawyers for Nichols mother RowVaughn Wells filed the lawsuit Wednesday, claiming that the city of Memphis and its police officials deliberate indifference and unlawful actions led directly to the deadly beating of her son.

This has nothing to do with the monetary value of this lawsuit, Wells said, according to CNN. But everything that has to do with accountability. Those five police officers murdered my son. They beat him to death, and they need to be held accountable, along with everyone else that has something to do with my sons murder.

(L-R) The Rev. Al Sharpton, RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells are shown at the funeral service of Tyre Nichols  RowVaughn Wells son  on Feb. 1, 2023 at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Lawyers for Nichols mother have filed a $550 million lawsuit against the City of Memphis and its police force. (Photo: Andrew Nelles-Pool/Getty Images)

The suit claimed that when Nichols arrived at a hospital on Jan. 7, he had no pulse and had experienced cardiac arrest, his face was swollen to the point of being unrecognizable. In comparison to the killing of Emmett Till in 1955, it stated, the 29-year-old FedEx employee endured a brutal beating at [the] hands of a modern-day lynch mob.

Unlike Till, the suit contended, CNN reported, this lynching was carried out by those adorned in department sweatshirts and vests, and their actions were sanctioned  expressly and implicitly  by the City of Memphis.

The traffic stop involving Nichols has never been substantiated, the lawsuit said, alleging police yanked him from his vehicle and used excessive force against him, acting like a pack of wolves trying to hunt down their wounded prey.

A Jan. 26 criminal indictment followed an internal investigation that resulted in the firing of five police officers, all of whom are Black.

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The five indicted officers were members of the departments permanently disbanded SCORPION Unit, established in 2021 to address increased violent crime in Memphis. However, the lawsuit contends that the unit brought terror rather than restore peace to the city.

The suit called the unit an authorized gang of inexperienced, untrained, hyper-aggressive police officers roaming free in the Memphis neighborhood without supervision. They were instructed to strike without warning, it contended, and, many times, without any valid constitutional basis.

Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr. entered not guilty pleas to the charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. In Tennessee, second-degree murder carries a sentence of 15 to 60 years in prison.

Police identified Preston Hemphill, who is white, as a sixth officer terminated for his role in Nichols beating for allegedly violating departmental rules about honesty and personal conduct. They also dismissed a seventh, unnamed officer.

Attorney Antonio Romanucci, one of the lawyers representing the Nichols family, said the lawsuit is extraordinary not only for the monetary damages sought, but for the breadth and depth of disregard that was shown on Jan. 7. Nichols died days later.

Attorney Ben Crump, who is also representing the family, noted that the landmark suit would do more than get justice for Nichols in civil court, CNN reported.

It is also a message that is being sent to cities all across America who have these police oppression units that have been given the license by city leaders to go in and terrorize Black and brown communities.

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The post Tyre Nichols family sues Memphis, police for $550M appeared first on TheGrio.
The U.S. is deploying additional troops to an East African base in case they are needed to evacuate U.S. diplomatic officials or civilians from Sudan, the Defense Department said Thursday.

We are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it, a department spokesperson said.

The troops will be forward based at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, according to three U.S. defense officials. One possible response force would be a combination of Marine air power and Army ground units.

The U.S. already has hundreds of Marines at Lemonnier, including an aviation combat element known as Crisis Response Africa, one of the quick reaction forces set up after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Another possible response would be to bring in U.S. special forces if the environment is too dangerous, said the officials.

A destroyed military vehicle in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 20, 2023. (Marwan Ali / AP)

While the military is preparing for the possible evacuation of the U.S. Embassy or American citizens, the officials said there has been no official request for either from the State Department.

Sudan has been roiled by armed conflict since last week. The nations military is fighting a rival paramilitary force. Some hospitals have been overwhelmed by casualties, and many residents fled the capital, Khartoum, during a brief cease-fire declared Wednesday.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An exiled Chinese businessman charged by U.S. prosecutors with leading a more than $1 billion fraud will remain in jail after a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday rejected a proposed $25 million bail package.

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said prosecutors had shown it more likely than not that Guo Wengui was a serious flight risk, and shown by clear and convincing evidence that he would pose a risk of economic harm to the community if released.

Torres also said Guo's "obstructive behavior" in the criminal case--including a false claim he had just $10,000 of assets--and in civil and bankruptcy proceedings left her with no "reasonable assurance" he would comply with any bail conditions.

Guo had also proposed 24-hour guard, and being subjected to detention with GPS monitoring at his wife's Connecticut home.

The 52-year-old defendant, whose other names include Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Kwok, is a prominent critic of China's Communist Party.

He had also been a business associate of former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was arrested in a 2020 fraud case while aboard Guo's yacht. The former U.S. president later pardoned Bannon.

In seeking bail, Guo's lawyer Stephen Cook said Guo would remain in the United States if released on bond "because the risk to his life is simply too great for him to leave."

Cook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. prosecutors charged Guo last month with defrauding thousands of followers since 2018 by promising "outsized" investment returns, and diverting much of their money to fund lavish lifestyles for himself and his family.

Authorities said Guo's purchases included a $37 million yacht, a 50,000 square-foot mansion and two $36,000 mattresses, and that they have seized $634 million of his alleged fraud proceeds from 21 bank accounts.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including securities fraud, wire fraud and concealing money laundering.

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Guo left China in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown under President Xi Jinping.

Officials there have accused Guo of crimes including bribery and money laundering. Guo has denied wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
The Pentagon is positioning U.S. forces in Djibouti in anticipation of a potential mission to evacuate U.S. Embassy personnel in Khartoum, two people familiar with the military plans said.

The security situation in Sudans capital has cratered over a week of fighting, as two rival generals  Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, in charge of the nations armed forces, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dalago, who leads the Rapid Support Forces military group  battle for control of the country. The heavy fighting in Khartoum has left many stranded in the city of 5 million people, including embassy staff who are sheltering in place at the compound eight miles from the international airport.

Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of State, privately told lawmakers Wednesday that troops would be moving to Djibouti, home to Camp Lemmonier, to provide the administration an option to launch an evacuation operation, according to one of the people familiar with the situation. The person, along with others POLITICO spoke to for this story, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive military planning and internal deliberations. Sherman stressed that the mission would whisk only embassy staff to safety and that there wont be a military-led general evacuation of American citizens, the lawmaker added.

A Defense Department spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. was prepositioning troops, but stopped short of saying they were heading to Djibouti.



The Department of Defense, through U.S. Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it, said DoD spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn.

Some in the administration are hoping to avoid scenes reminiscent of the evacuation from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2021. The crush of thousands pleading to leave the city as the Taliban took control became a defining image of Americas withdrawal.

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Lawmakers, meanwhile, are worried about the safety of U.S. staffers in Khartoum.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said worried senators took a detour to a Capitol briefing Thursday on the document leaks to ask about the safety of U.S. personnel in Khartoum. Declining to provide specifics because of the classified setting, Kaine said there was a plan in place to take care of them.

Arrangements have been made. They're sheltering in place and currently all secure, all accounted for and in communication with them, he said. Theres a whole-of-government effort to figure out exactly how to make sure that they continue in safety. Were very much on top of it.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), also on the committee, added I, of course, have concerns about our personnel there. He declined to discuss specific plans.



A military evacuation seems more likely by the hour.

The airport, located in central Khartoum, is closed but would be inoperable even if it reopened due to damage from bombardment and fighting. The roughly 70 U.S. staff at the embassy have no options to leave Sudan on their own without immense risk to their safety. For the most part, U.S. diplomats in Sudan are unaccompanied, meaning they do not have their family with them at whats considered a challenging post, a State Department official said.

The American mission in the capital warned Thursday that due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens.

Also on Wednesday, Molly Phee, the top State Department official for African affairs, told congressional staffers that it was too late to order a departure of the mission because of the deteriorating security situation that has already led to around 300 deaths and about 3,000 more wounded, two congressional aides said.

Another U.S. official familiar with the planning said papers had been drawn up at the State Department for an evacuation order. The official added that State Department leadership held a call with embassy staff Thursday morning to discuss options, including a ground evacuation. But the assessment, per the official, was that travel by road was currently more dangerous than by air.

A potential option would be to move the personnel to Wadi Seidna Air Base for an air evacuation. Dozens of Egyptian soldiers captured by the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group were released this week and flew home from that base, which is 14 miles north of Khartoum.

The United States was also in touch with other countries with embassies in the Sudanese capital about evacuation plans, a different U.S. official said.

The State Department didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Biden administration has faced similar situations multiple times since the chaotic Kabul evacuation.

As the situation deteriorated in Ethiopia amid a major conflict, the State Department urged Americans to leave the country while preparing U.S. forces and diplomats for a potential full embassy closure that ultimately did not have to happen. (A partial drawdown of non-emergency embassy personnel was ordered .)

The administration shut down the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in the days before Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Within months it had reopened the embassy , though not at full staffing.

The Biden administration in both cases said it would not stage another Kabul-style evacuation that involved people beyond U.S. government employees. To that end, it sent out warnings for weeks and months telling Americans to leave Ethiopia and Ukraine.

The political situation in Sudan has been volatile for years, and the State Department has long urged Americans not to travel there . The last time a similar fight broke out in the region between two top leaders, 400,000 people died  and that was in South Sudan.

Nahal Toosi and Joe Gould contributed to this report.
Uber is expanding its partnership with sidewalk delivery robot startup Cartken to Fairfax, Virginia.

Starting Thursday, Uber Eats customers around the Mosaic District can choose to have food from select merchants delivered via one of Cartken's small, six-wheeled, autonomous bots.

This is the second city where Uber and Cartken are partnering for commercial deliveries. The companies first launched a pilot in Miami in December, which is ongoing.

The Mosaic District is a shopping and dining center, and the bots will deliver food from restaurants to homes and businesses "in an around" the district, according to an Uber spokesperson. Uber did not specify what the delivery radius would be, but the district is about 31 acres, or 0.5 square miles, according to the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development.

Cartken's robots are electric and have a cargo capacity of around 1.5 cubic feet, or about two paper grocery bags. The robots have a number of cameras used to identify objects and help them reach their destination. Cartken has said before that its robots operate fully autonomously under certain conditions. If the bot meets something it hasn't yet encountered, it can reach out to a remote operator for assistance.

Aside from its partnership with Uber, Cartken has also linked up with Grubhub to bring bots to college campuses like Ohio State University. Sidewalk delivery robots are becoming increasingly common on college campuses, where the neatly lined pavements and closed environment make for a safe place to test autonomous tech.

That's also likely why the Mosaic District also makes for an attractive location for Uber and Cartken to launch their latest partnership.

Uber Cartken at Mosaic Order tracking - AV matched

At launch, merchants like Our Mom Eugenia, Pupatella and RASA will participate in the program. Image Credits: Uber

The companies wouldn't share the size of Cartken's fleet to be deployed, but Uber said it can be scaled to match customer demand. A spokesperson also told TechCrunch the robots can operate in all types of weather, even snow or rain. The spokesperson declined to provide exact hours that the bots will operate, but did say customers would be able to access them for lunch and dinner orders.

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From the customer's perspective while ordering, nothing will change much. The customer will still pay the merchant for the cost of food, and may also pay a delivery charge to Uber. If a customer adds a tip, however, they'll receive a refund on that tip.

When the order is delivered, the customer will have to meet the bot outside and Uber will provide instructions for how to access their order.

Uber has been increasingly adding to its autonomous vehicle pilot portfolio in recent years. Last May, the company began a pilot in Los Angeles to deliver food via Serve Robotic's autonomous sidewalk robots and Motional's self-driving cars. At the end of last year, Uber and Motional also launched a robotaxi service in Las Vegas, part of the companies' 10-year plan to co-scale across major North American cities.
KAMPALA (Reuters) -Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni supports a bill containing some of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation but will send it back to parliament for "strengthening", the ruling party's chief whip said.

A group of lawmakers from Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) discussed the bill with the president and agreed in principle to make it law, chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said.

"Before that is done we also agree that the bill will be returned in order to facilitate the reinforcement and the strengthening of some provisions in line with our best practices," he told a news conference after the meeting.

He did not elaborate on what about the bill required reinforcing. Another NRM lawmaker, Kwizera Eddie Wagahungu, said before the meeting that Museveni could ask for changes to provisions that contradict existing law and thus avoid a successful court challenge.

Obua said Museveni would hold a meeting on Tuesday with parliament's legal and parliamentary affairs committee to draft the amendments.

The United States, United Nations, European Union and a long list of corporate giants have condemned the bill, which would impose the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality and 20-year sentences for "promoting" homosexuality.

Among the offences defined as aggravated homosexuality is having gay sex when HIV-positive.

The bill's passage last month with near unanimous support in parliament has already triggered a wave of arrests, evictions and mob attacks against LGBTQ Ugandans, members of the community say.

Museveni is a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights. Last month, he called gay people "deviations from normal".

He signed a law in 2014 that strengthened penalties for same-sex relations but has also suggested at times that homosexuality should be addressed through treatment rather than legislation.

He faced a possible juggling act trying to keep lawmakers happy over legislation that has broad popular support while not antagonising foreign donors who provide billions of dollars in aid each year.

Story continues

Western governments suspended aid, imposed visa restrictions and curtailed security cooperation in response to the law Museveni signed in 2014. The measure was nullified within months by a domestic court on procedural grounds.

Same-sex relations are already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but proponents of the new bill said stronger legislation was needed to combat the threat homosexuality presents to traditional family values.

Lawmakers in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania have recently called for similar measures in their countries.

A coalition of international companies, including Google, criticised the legislation last month, warning it would put those with operations in Uganda in an impossible position and hurt the country's economy.

(Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Christina Fincher, William Maclean, Nick Macfie and Jonathan Oatis)
By Catherine Schenck and Rachel Savage

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - DeLovie Kwagala (Papa De), a queer Ugandan photographer and activist, was living in South Africa when the news came that Uganda's parliament had passed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ bills.

The bill, which passed in March, imposes severe penalties including 20 years in prison for "promoting" homosexuality and for certain crimes that involve gay sex, the death penalty.

President Yoweri Museveni must either sign, veto or send back the bill to parliament this week. The bill has been denounced by pressure groups and Western governments which say it will undermine human rights.

Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, but supporters said a tougher new law was needed to punish a broader array of LGBTQ activities, which they say threaten traditional values in the conservative and religious East African nation.

For Kwagala, who had moved to South Africa in 2021 for work, the bill means no longer feeling safe to go home.

"There's a lot of stories that I wanted to tell in that place so it really hurts me that I can't go back," said Kwagala, who is non-binary.

"I wanted to tell stories about queer joy, about bravery, about those of us who are braving... prejudice and ill-treatment to still be able to show up as ourselves," they said from their Johannesburg apartment.

Kwagala said they had experienced a litany of discrimination in Uganda, including being jailed for two days after being arrested at a gay bar, getting evicted for living with a girlfriend and being sexually assaulted by bureaucrats.

Members of the LGBTQ community in Uganda say since the bill was passed they have had to lie low, flee their homes or disguise their identity to not draw attention to their sexuality which could potentially trigger violence against them.

There has also been an increase in local media reports of people being arrested for engaging in same-sex relations.

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Kwagala is working with friends to raise and distribute money to LGBTQ Ugandans, some of whom have been evicted, while others are in hiding, they said.

They have received more than 50 requests for support and have helped run crowdfunding campaigns.

"I'm really, really heartbroken and sad and I feel called to act to help ease the situation for others," they said.

(Reporting by Rachel Savage and Catherine Schenck; Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Kampala, Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
A collection of extremely rare Magic: The Gathering cards are expected to fetch as much as $180,000 when they are auctioned off on Friday, April 21.

Included among the cards that are going up for auction is a complete 310-card set of "Legends," the third expansion pack sold by Magic: The Gathering, which was released in June 1994.

The auction will also feature a factory-sealed unlimited starter deck, which is expected to sell for at least 10,000-12,000, or about $15,000 U.S. dollars.

A starter deck is a random collection of 60 cards from a set.

QUIZ! WHAT'S IN A NAME? TRY YOUR HAND AT GUESSING THE REAL STORIES BEHIND SOME FAMOUS NAMES

Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game produced by Wizards of the Coast.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The first set of these collectible cards were released in August 1993, according to the Wizards of the Coast website.

Some 40 million people around the world play Magic: The Gathering in both paper and digital formats, said the news agency SWNS.

Millions of dollars are awarded each year in major tournaments, the news service also said.

The collection that will be auctioned on Friday is "a phenomenal catalogue of rarities," said Roy Raftery, the head of trading cards at Ewbank's, the Surrey, England-based auction house that is selling the cards.

WORDLE'S LATEST PUZZLE: HAS THE GAME GOTTEN HARDER?

Raftery told SWNS that he helped curate the cards that are being sold.

"We have been able to bring together some of the rarest cards and sets you will find anywhere in the world, sourced from key people in the history of Magic: The Gathering going back to its earliest days, as well as from the most dedicated collectors over the years," he told SWNS.

Raftery hinted that even rarer items may be coming in the near future. "Id like to say it doesnt get much better than this, but then I know what we have in store for later in the year."

That information will be "unveiled soon," he said.

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Another item being sold, a complete set of the Magic: The Gathering's first-ever expansion pack "Arabian Nights," is estimated to sell from anywhere from 5,000-10,000, or approximately $12,500 U.S. dollars.

The set was released in December 1993.

GAMING YOUTUBER IN JAPAN CLAIMS PET FISH TOOK OVER NINTENDO SWITCH, WENT ON SHOPPING SPREE

The auction also features highly sought-after collectible single cards, including a 1993 Unlimited edition "Mox Sapphire" card, a 1993 Beta "Mox Emerald Card," an "Ancestral Recall" unlimited edition card and a "Mox Jet" unlimited edition card.

Those cards are estimated to be worth anywhere from 2,500-5,000 each  or about $3,000 to over $6,000 in U.S. currency.

KIDS MAY LIKE VIDEO GAMING, BUT HEALTH EXPERTS FRET ABOUT THE 'FUEL' THEY MAY BE USING TO 'WIN'

The England-based auction house has timed its scheduled auction due to an anticipation of interested buyers in the United States.

The auction will begin at 6 p.m. local time, which is 1 p.m. EDT, said SWNS.

The cards' rarity is one thing that's driving interest.

Ancestral Recall, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet and Mox Sapphire are four of the "Power Nine" cards in Magic: The Gathering, according to the Wizards of the Coast website.

MARK ZUCKERBERG BASEBALL CARD GOING UP FOR AUCTION

While these cards are not legally playable in most formats, they remain highly sought-after collectors' items, notes the website.

Some may balk at the thought of spending thousands of dollars for a piece of embossed cardboard  yet the valuation of the cards being sold at Ewbanks are not even close to being the most expensive Magic: The Gathering cards ever sold.

A sealed box containing 10 sealed Magic: The Gathering Unlimited Starter Decks from 1993 sold for $150,000 in July 2021, according to the website for Heritage Auctions, the auction house facilitating the sale.

"It is difficult enough to come upon a still sealed Unlimited Starter Deck, but even more amazing to find a full box still sealed. Do not let this chance pass you up," said Heritage Auctions.

HASBRO DELAYS UPDATE TO DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS OPEN GAME LICENSE AS FAN BASE REVOLTS

In March 2023, an extremely rare alpha edition "Black Lotus" card in mint condition was sold for $540,000, the gaming website Polygon reported.

The card was stored in a plastic case, which was signed by Christopher Rush, who illustrated the card's design.

Black Lotus is also part of Magic: The Gathering's "Power Nine."

"This record sale reinforces the Alpha Black Lotus as an investment-quality asset, fortifies its claim as a true work of art, and shows exactly how important Magic: The Gathering is to the culture of gaming and trading card games," said Jesse Craig, vice president of sales at PWCC Marketplace, the auction house behind the record sale.

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Craig referred to the signed cards as the "crown jewels" of a collection of Magic cards, and said they are "museum-caliber pieces."
Wagner PMC

If they are not removed, the video platform may face lawsuits and huge losses, British lawyer Jason McCue said in an interview with NV on April 20.

McCue, a well-known lawyer who once won a case against Facebook, said that the British law firm McCue Jury & Partners sent an official letter to YouTube on April 18, demanding that videos promoting the Wagner mercenaries be removed within 24 hours.

Read also: US declares Wagner PMC criminal organization

I dont think its acceptable for any media platform to post videos that are commercial ads for the Wagner Group, showing its deadly terrorism for recruitment and promotion around the world, he said.

The legal appeal was submitted following an article in the British newspaper The Times released on April 16. It refers to videos on YouTube with songs glamorizing and raising funds for the Kremlin-backed mercenaries.

This cannot happen in a civilized society, McCue said indignantly.

They cant show videos promoting the business (of Wagner PMC). This is a legal argument and the promotion of illegal commercial activity.

In their letter, the British lawyers demand that YouTube remove unacceptable videos within a day and respond to their request within a week. They are convinced that their demands will be met, otherwise they promise to take the issue to court.

Read also: Assaulting Bakhmut will exhaust Wagner Group PMC in two months, officer says

If they (YouTube) do something illegal, well file a lawsuit against them on behalf of Ukrainians and they will suffer huge losses, McCue emphasized.

If they think Im kidding, let them remember how we litigated Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.

In April 2018, British and American lawyers filed a joint class action lawsuit against Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and two other companies over the sharing of the personal data of more than 71 million users. McCue led the British part of the lawsuit.

In the end, Facebook agreed to pay a record fine of $5 billion to settle the charges, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced in July 2019.

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Read also: Wagner PMC sued over recruiting Serbs

McCue expects that the blocking of YouTube videos about the Wagner Group will become a small victory for him and like-minded people in the fight against this terrorist group.

In November 2022, Mcue Jury & Partners initiated a lawsuit against Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and his terrorist organization in a London Court.

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Ukraine has officially joined the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union, becoming its 36th member.

Source: Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management and Matti Maasikas, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, as European Pravda reported

Details: The EU ambassador said that the memorandum on Ukraine's accession to the mechanism was signed by Janez Lenarcic on behalf of the EU and by Ihor Klymenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on behalf of Ukraine.

Quote from Lenarcic: "I congratulate Ukraine on its accession to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism! The EU civil protection now forms a team of 36 countries, working towards one common goal  to help people in need wherever they are. Because we are stronger together," the European Commissioner said.

I congratulate #Ukraine on its accession to the #EUCivilProtectionMechanism!



The  civil protection now forms a team of 36 countries, working towards one common goal  to help people in need wherever they are. Because we are stronger together.



Welcome ! pic.twitter.com/LDmode6Aut  Janez Lenarcic (@JanezLenarcic) April 20, 2023

Quote from Maasikas: "The Mechanism has provided thousands of tons of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since 2022, now Ukraine will have a seat at the table as well," Matti Maasikas said.

The Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union is called the world's largest system of coordinated international assistance in emergencies. It includes the countries of the European Union and nine close partners of the EU (Norway, Iceland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkiye, and Ukraine).

Story continues

Background: Ukraine received the roadmap for joining the Mechanism in October 2022.

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Andriy Melnyk, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

The so-called Global South is a promising global region of which Ukraine has not had active relationships, the diplomat said.

Read also: Former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany Melnyk proposes Berlin next give submarine to Ukraine

It was President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who held dozens of phone talks with the leaders of South and Central American countries, feeling the importance of this region, personally instructed our foreign policy department to develop a separate strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, he said.

Read also: How to get Putin to stop the war and what's wrong with Scholz, explains ex-ambassador Andriy Melnyk  NV interview

The Foreign Ministry has been working on this fundamental strategy for months, Melnyk said.

Today we are, so to speak, at the finish line, he said.

The Foreign Ministry has also developed and approved two separate strategies for countries in Asia and Africa, the other regions of the so-called Global South, he said.

The deputy foreign minister added that the agency has also developed and approved two separate strategies for the countries of Asia and Africa, the other two regions of the Global South.

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MEXICO CITY (AP)  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a swipe Thursday at leaders who have adopted postures of neutrality regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling them populists.

Zelenskyys comments, in a video link before a committee of Mexican legislators, were an apparent reference to leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian leader has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine, has appeared to ascribe blame to both sides and has proposed a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.

Mexico, under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has voted to condemn the invasion, although it has declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

There are some leaders who have not visited Ukraine once and who have not seen what the brutal Russian aggression brought, and why it is important to defend lives, Zelenskyy said, adding "but simply seeking to achieve some sort of populism they say things like Ukraine is supposedly not ready to go for peace.

Zelenskyy also slammed different companies and big multinational firms that want to make millions by trading with Russia, adding unfortunately, the world is full of hypocrisy.

Earlier this month, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations  Russia and Ukraine  had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop stimulating the continued fighting and start discussing peace.

Lula has also suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, something the spokesperson for Ukraines foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.

The Ukranian president got an expected standing ovation from the legislators of the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group, most of whom belong to opposition parties.

In 2022, Lopez Obrador decried NATO policy of supporting Ukraine, claiming it was equivalent to saying Ill supply the weapons, and you supply the dead. It is immoral.

How easy it is to say, Here, Ill send you this much money for weapons, Lopez Obrador said. Couldnt the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could.

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Lopez Obrador did not say how, other than Russia not invading. In 2022, a half-dozen legislators from Lopez Obradors Morena party helped create a congressional Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee.

The Morena party said we respect the freedom of thought of our members after a youth group apparently affiliated with the party sent an open letter to the Russian ambassador supporting the invasion.

Russia has been making a sort of diplomatic push in Latin America this week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.

Lavrov on Thursday met with recently reelected Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the last leg of a Latin American tour that took him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Members of U.S. 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command stand next to a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery during the NATO multinational ground-based air defense units exercise Tobruq Legacy 2017 at the Siauliai airbase some 230 km. (144 miles) east of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 20, 2017. Ukraines defense minister said Wednesday, April 19, 2023, his country has received U.S-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile systems it has long craved and which Kyiv hopes will help shield it from Russian strikes during the war. | Mindaugas Kulbis, Associated Press

A new shipment of Western war tech made its way to Ukraine on Wednesday, which included Patriot missiles from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, said Ukraines Minister of Defense, Oleksii Reznikov.

Patriots for patriots, he tweeted, with an image of the new missile system.

Earlier this year, 65 Ukrainian troops traveled to the United States to train on the missile system and completed training in late March, reported Newsweek.

This has been a long time coming for Reznikov, as he also mentioned in his tweet that Ukraine had been asking for this system since in August 2021, before the war began, making the arrival of the system a dream come true, he said.

Patriots for patriots



Do you know how to visualize a dream? We must tell about it to the world and give it life! This is exactly what happened with the Patriots, even before the large-scale war, even before my appointment to the most important position of my life at the most pic.twitter.com/m6H63erV6Z  Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 19, 2023

Over the course of the war, Russian missiles have caused damage to Ukrainian infrastructure and contributed to many civilian deaths, as reported by The Associated Press. With the new air defense system, Ukraine will be able to fight back against Russian air attacks at the steep price of $4 million a missile, which may make them a little selective.

Russias air attacks have used multiple drones recently, which are less expensive at around $50,000 each. Some of the drones have allegedly been from China, but China has denied the allegations and said in a statement Wednesday that it is advocating for peace, reported AP.

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Vadym Novynskyi

The amount represents the value of the seized 18 million cubic meters of gas, which Novynskyis companies stored in JSC Ukrtransgaz warehouses and tried to isolate for the benefit of third parties to avoid Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council sanctions.

Read also: Court sizes hidden assets of Oksana Marchenko worth over UAH 442 million

To do this, the oligarch re-registered his own gas production enterprises to several affiliated persons directly connected to Russia.

To implement the arrangement, he involved controlled private notaries and state registrars, the SBU said.

Read also: Bihus.Info investigation reveals hidden assets of MP Boyko

The SBU officers exposed the criminal scheme and blocked it.

The criminal investigation continues under the assistance to the aggressor state article (Art. 1112) of Ukraines Criminal Code.

On April 13, the court seized Novynskyis property worth over UAH 3.5 billion ($95.7 million), including corporate rights to 40 Ukrainian enterprises and 30 gas wells.

The SBU searched the enterprises, places of work, and residences of those involved in the criminal case.

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Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, had a phone conversation with Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of the United States European Command, on the eve of the Ramstein-format meeting of the contact group.

Source: Zaluzhnyi on Telegram

Quote from Zaluzhnyi: "We have discussed Ukraine's priority fronts in regards to arms, equipment and ammunition. I have briefed General Cavoli on the operational situation at the contact line."

Details: The Commander-in-Chief has stated that the parties agreed to continue the dialogue and actively cooperate.

Background: The next, 11th meeting of the Contact Group for the Defence of Ukraine will be held at the Ramstein airbase in Germany.

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated that the main priority of the Ukrainian delegation will remain air defence systems. The issue of providing Ukraine with armoured vehicles and shells for 155-calibre heavy artillery and means of radio-electronic warfare will also be raised.

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Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has expressed his disappointment that the launch of the EU's decision on joint purchase of ammunition for Ukraine is still being slowed down by disputes between member states.

Source: Kuleba on Twitter, reported by European Pravda

Details: Kuleba has noted that this situation is a test for the EU itself, and Ukraine is paying for all the delays with human lives.

Quote: "The inability of the EU to implement its own decision on the joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine is frustrating. This is a test of whether the EU has strategic autonomy in making new crucial security decisions. For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives."

The inability of the EU to implement its own decision on the joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine is frustrating. This is a test of whether the EU has strategic autonomy in making new crucial security decisions. For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives.  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 20, 2023

Background:

Although the EU has already approved the overall procurement mechanism and allocated 2 billion for this purpose, member states continue to argue over some details, such as how much these contracts should be limited to EU producers and whether companies from the US and the UK should be included in the programme.

Politico has cited its sources among diplomats and stated that France and Poland had squabbled on Wednesday when the country's ambassadors to the EU failed to settle a dispute over joint EU contracts to purchase ammunition for Ukraine.

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Nova Poshta

"We're waiting for further clarifications from the governments of Poland and Ukraine to specify the possible terms of resuming such shipments, the company said.

Read also: Polish agriculture minister resigns amid anger over Ukrainian grain imports

Poland banned grain imports from Ukraine on April 15, caving to the demands of Polish farmers who had protested Ukrainian agriculture shipments for months.

They claim that a significant part of Ukrainian grain does not transit further, remaining in Poland to flood the market and depress prices.

Later, Hungary and Slovakia also announced a temporary ban on the import of grain and oilseeds, along with other agricultural products from Ukraine. Bulgaria joined these countries on April 19, allowing only transit for these goods.

The EU has slammed the bans, saying they contravene both EU and international law, said EU spokesperson for trade issues, Miriam Garcia Ferrer.

Read also: EU to take preventive steps against Ukrainian agricultural products

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine reported on April 18 that Ukraine and Poland had reached an agreement on resuming transit of Ukrainian agricultural products, though the ban remains in place.

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KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's future lies in NATO, the Western military alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg underscored on Thursday during his first visit to the country since Russia's invasion 14 months ago.

"Let me be clear: Ukraine's rightful place is in the euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help you to make this possible," Stoltenberg told reporters during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.

He pledged continued military support for Ukraine, saying that, so far, NATO allies had trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops and provided 65 billion euros ($71.31 billion) of military aid alone.

"NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes," Stoltenberg stated, before inviting Zelenskiy to the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

Ukraine's NATO membership bid and robust security guarantees for the country will be high up on the summit's agenda, he added.

In 2008, a NATO summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest agreed that Ukraine would eventually become a member of the alliance.

However, leaders have since stopped short of taking any concrete steps such as giving Kyiv a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing the country closer to NATO.

"We do not know when this war will end but we know that Russian aggression is a toxic pattern that must be stopped," Stoltenberg said.

($1 = 0.9115 euros)

(Reporting by Reuters TV, writing by Sabine Siebold and Benoit Van Overstraeten)
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has exposed a former employee of the "migration service" of Donetsk Oblast militants who fled to Kyiv as an internally displaced person (IDP) and tried to go abroad.

Source: SSU press service, National Police press service, Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office press service

Details: According to the investigation, in September 2014, a resident of Donetsk Oblast voluntarily joined the ranks of the so-called "Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Donetsk Peoples Republic" created by the aggressor. She was appointed a "senior inspector of the department of address and reference work".

In this "position," she carried out the instructions of local commanders to suppress the resistance movement in the region.

In particular, Russias accomplice collected information from the "district passport departments" of occupied Donetsk about the identity of local residents.

She then summarised the information into a single address database, which the militants used to illegally detain city residents.

She also kept records of the so-called "watch cards", which contained information about Ukrainian patriots wanted by the "DPR" punitive bodies.

The prosecutor's office reports that in 2017 she was dismissed from this position.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the 55-year-old woman moved to Kyiv under the guise of an internally displaced person from the east. She settled in a rented apartment and began to prepare documents for moving abroad. At the same time, she did not inform the Ukrainian authorities about her cooperation with the occupiers.

She was exposed while processing IDP documents. During a search on her property, a "labour book" was found, which testifies to her being a member of the occupation authorities.

The woman was served with a notice of suspicion under Art. 260.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (participation in the activities of paramilitary or armed groups not provided for by law). She faces up to eight years in prison.

Story continues

She pleaded guilty in full.

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday urged Mexico to help make the case in Latin America for his peace plan for Ukraine, even as tensions persist within the country's ruling party about offering support to Kyiv.

Mexico's government has said it wants to remain neutral in Ukraine's war with Russia. Some Ukraine supporters have criticized leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for finding fault with European arms shipments to Kyiv.

Still, Mexico has voted with the United States and other Western countries on a number of major U.N. resolutions criticizing Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In his first speech to Mexican lawmakers since the invasion, Zelenskiy thanked Mexico for its backing on U.N. votes and humanitarian aid, and invited it to show "leadership" by contributing to his "formula for peace".

The plan includes Russia withdrawing all of its troops from Ukraine's territory, and he set it out to world leaders last November.

Zelenskiy noted that he in February called for a summit of Latin American leaders to make the case for peace, national sovereignty and territorial integrity - parts of his plan that are also issues close to Lopez Obrador's heart.

"I think with Mexico's help, this could be much quicker," Zelenskiy said via videolink, speaking through an interpreter.

Nevertheless, a house leadership body presided over by Lopez Obrador's National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) issued a terse statement distancing itself from the event, saying Zelenskiy's address only took place at the invitation of a congressional friendship group between the two countries.

"The meeting of the Mexico-Ukraine friendship group does not represent a consensual position of the lower house," it said.

Lopez Obrador last year pitched a plan to halt the fighting in Ukraine, although Ukrainian officials opposed it, arguing it would benefit Russia. Zelenskiy has said he will only consider peace settlements once Russian troops leave Ukrainian territory.

Story continues

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard met separately with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the peace plan at the U.N. General Assembly last year. Nothing has come of it.

Zelenskiy made his address as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a Latin American tour, visiting Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Ukraine needs a more significant supply of both air-defence systems and of ammunition for them, as a lot of them have been actively used to deflect Russian large-scale missile attacks in winter and spring.

Source: Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on air during the national 24/7 news broadcast

Quote: "We expect a growth in supply of not only air-defence systems themselves, but ammunition for them from our partners. Because the consumption [of ammunition  ed.] is pretty significant. In spring and winter, the enemy attacked our infrastructure. If we take the Iranian kamikaze drones and missiles alone, 750 of them were destroyed by our air-defence [Russia has launched 850 cruise missiles in total over that period of time  ed.]. This is 1,500 [Russian  ed.] aerial targets. Throughout the war, 600 more units of flying machinery [jets, helicopters] and at least 1,500 more UAVs were destroyed by defence forces.

In the result we have significant consumption of ammunition and therefore need significant replenishment. We hope that the forthcoming Ramstein meeting will bring good results."

Financial Times informed that according to their data, Ukraine will plead for urgent shipments of surface-to-air missiles, which are in acute shortage, at the Ramstein-format meeting.



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Meeting of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov with the Sudanese general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on February 24, 2022

Skirmishes between the regular army of Sudan under the leadership of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Reaction Force (RSF), which answers to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, began on April 15. The clashes are rooted in a lack of agreement on a timeline for the integration of the RSF into the Sudanese Armed Forces as part of the countrys transition to civilian rule.

As Subkh explained to Radio NV, Dagalo had an agreement with Russia to establish a Russian naval base in Sudan.

The diplomat noted that this agreement was announced during a meeting between Dagalo and Russian officials on the day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

According to him, the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces of Sudan, General Burhan, strongly opposed this project.

Accordingly, Russia could and, most likely did, make a bet on the rebels and on General Dagalo in order to...continue the implementation of their plans in Sudan, Subkh said.

Read also: Ukrainian SkyUp aircraft reportedly damaged in Sudan, crew evacuated

As the diplomat explained, General Burkhan adheres to more pro-Western views, and it is important for him to maintain normal relations with the U.S. and the European Union.

He also said that Russia needs a naval base in Sudan to gain access to the Red Sea and control the export of oil from South Sudan, which goes through the Republic of Sudan.

Therefore, Russia's control over the flow of energy resources and hydrocarbons is one of the primary goals, Subkh said.

Secondly, Russias military presence there makes it possible to influence the policy-making of at least the region of East and North-East AfricaThe Russians are doing everything to expand their presence, including their military presence, on the African continent.

Russia also sees benefit in a coup in Sudan because it would allow them to pump out natural resources from the country, including gold, thanks to the presence of Wagner Group mercenaries in the country, he explained.

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Subkh believes that the integration of the RSF into the ranks of the Sudanese Armed Forces has turned out to be a problem, most likely because RSF commanders have realized that after that they would lose control over resource deposits which they now control.

Read also: Kremlin has plans to turn Moldova into Russian satellite, investigative media reveals

The diplomat said that Wagner mercenaries provide certain logistics and security at these locations, which means that they are an income stream for Russia, as well.

They also say that there were also channels for trade in other prohibited goods, which were controlled by Wagner along with local leaders, Subkh said.

It seems that Russia has bet specifically on this regional dimension of the Sudanese army, and over the past year or two, the Russian side has concluded certain agreements with troops subordinate to General Dagalo, which guaranteed Russia the unhindered opportunity to pump out and illegally export in particular gold, but also other minerals, from Sudan.

He added that the scale of the theft of natural resources from Sudan by Wagner forces cannot be estimated, because the numbers vary widely and official data can hardly be found.

These are mostly private investigations and information that one or another of the world's leading publications got hold of, Subkh noted.

On April 15, clashes broke out in Sudan between the regular army and the Rapid Reaction Force (RSF). The conflict flared up after several days of tension.

The Rapid Reaction Force said it had taken control of the presidential palace, the residence of the commander of the army, and the international airport in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, as well as airfields in the northern city of Merov and in El Obeid.

Read also: Russia continues to use Black Sea to export oil despite EU sanctions, says expert

Witnesses say they saw armored vehicles on the streets and heard the rumble of heavy weapons. "Heavy fighting" was reported near the presidential palace and army headquarters. Fighter aircraft were spotted in the sky, presumably attacking targets associated with the RSF.

The army said that the RSF tried to attack its troops at several positions, but the Rapid Reaction Force said that one of their bases had been attacked earlier. A confrontation could significantly aggravate the security situation in a country already facing an economic crisis and outbreaks of violence.

The military has been leading Sudan since a 2021 coup that ended a power-sharing deal negotiated after the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.

The army is subordinate to the military government (Sovereign Council) headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Reaction Force - to Vice President General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. As part of the proposed transition to civilian rule, the RSF is supposed to be integrated into the Armed Forces, but the generals cannot agree on when this should happen. The dispute has escalated into an armed struggle.

On April 16, it emerged that hostilities in Sudan had killed three employees of the UN World Food Program (WFP) and wounded two others.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russian forces deployed drones in an attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on the night of 1920 April, but Ukraine's defence forces shot down all six of them.

Source: Serhii Lysak, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote from Lysak: "Last night, the Skhid (East) Air Command forces and Territorial Defences anti-aircraft systems downed six enemy unmanned aerial vehicles targeting Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The drones that had been shot down over the oblast are likely Shahed drones."

Details: Lysak said that Ukraine's defence forces did an "excellent" job.

He added that Dnipropetrovsk Oblast did not suffer any other attacks overnight.

Background:

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on the morning of 20 April that Ukraines defence forces shot down and destroyed 21 Russian Shahed drones out of the 26 Russia launched over the course of the previous day.

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Editor's Note: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence. The names of the teenagers who figure in the case are not mentioned as Ukrainian law does not allow them to be made publicly available.

On a summer day in 2021, three teenage boys sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl, filmed it on camera, and posted the video online.

Their prison sentence? None.

In March, 1.5 years after the assault, a local court in western Ukraine sentenced the trio to two years of probation and a fine.

The case caused a public outcry and a nationwide scandal. Television channels rushed to interview the girl and her family, and lawyers offered to take her case pro bono and fight for a stricter verdict.

The scandal highlighted a striking flaw in the Ukrainian justice system: tolerance of sexual violence.

According to Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, the local court in the western Zakarpattia Oblast initially sentenced the boys to five years in prison but released them from punishment, placing all three on probation for two years.

The official reason for the soft sentence was that the crime was rendered as sexual violence, not rape. These are covered by two different articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. Rape comes with a more severe punishment.

According to the Criminal Code, rape committed by a group of people or rape of a minor is punished by 7-12 years of imprisonment, while sexual violence against a minor or committed by a group, is 5-7 years behind bars. The only difference between them is that rape implies the act of penetration into the victim's body, which, according to the statement published by the Volovetskyi District Court, did not take place.

As stated by the court, the girl was hit in the stomach and bent over with her head squeezed between one of the boys' legs. Then, they took off her clothes and underwear and "committed acts of a sexual nature, not related to penetrating the body," causing her physical pain, the document reads.

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"The idea that rape is horrendous and sexual violence is not  is wrong," attorney Anna Kalynchuk told the Kyiv Independent. "Pain, humiliation, and severe stress are the same for rape and sexual violence," she said.

And two years of probation is an unfair punishment for such a serious crime, according to Kalynchuk, who is among the attorneys who stepped in to help the girl and her relatives fight for justice following the scandal. They are now preparing to appeal, Kalynchuk says without disclosing further details.

According to Kalynchuk, there is a culture of tolerance of sexual violence that thrives in Ukraine due to the lack of sexual education programs and the courts' systematic failure to punish such crimes and, therefore, prevent other crimes of the kind.

"What outrages me the most is that when we talk about the punishment (for sexual violence crimes), people start saying, 'Why should we ruin (the offenders) lives by sending them to prison," Kalynchuk says.

"At the same time, no one talks about how victims can overcome what was done to them. No one thinks about how their lives are broken already," she adds.

According to a 2021 report by the Ukrainian research agency Fama, 23% of respondents reported being victims of sexual violence or sexual harassment as children, while 4% of respondents were victims of rape.

10 popular misconceptions about Ukrainian history, debunked Editors Note: This is episode 1 of Ukraines True History, a video and story series by the Kyiv Independent. The series is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis. The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy o Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima

What happened?

On Aug. 24, 2021, Ukraine's Independence Day, a 14-year-old girl from the village of Verkhni Vorota in Zakarpattia Oblast was invited to the house yard of a local teenager from her school. His two friends joined, and the group went to the basement.

According to the court's statement, the girl said she was "on friendly terms with the boys and came to the basement voluntarily, not knowing what they were planning to do."

In the basement, they hit and undressed the girl. Then, each of them "committed acts of sexual nature," allegedly without penetrating her body.

"She did not tell anyone about the event, feeling fear and shame," reads the courts statement.

However, the assault became widely known after the teenagers posted a video of them sexually assaulting the girl online.

Kalynchuk says it was the police who contacted the girl's relatives at first. After that, the relatives reported the crime. Around Sept. 14, nearly three weeks after the assault, the boys were detained, says Kalynchuk.

It is unknown whether they interacted with the girl before their detention.

Kalynchuk says that since Verkhni Vorota is a relatively small village with around 2,000 residents, the victim and her offenders are "practically neighbors" and that she "can see their house from her yard."

According to the attorney, the teenagers were not classmates, as often stated in Ukrainian media: The girl was in the ninth grade, and the boys were in the 10th at the time the crime was committed.

Even almost two years after that terrible event, the girl can not discuss it freely, says Kalynchuk.

"It caused her so much stress," she explains.

"In the end, she did not even see that justice has been done because these people hadn't been punished."

What did the court rule and why?

During the trial, "due to the lack of evidence," the Zakarpattia Oblast Prosecutor's Office changed the allegation from rape to sexual violence, reads the court's statement. According to the courts verdict, medical expertise concluded that there was no penetration.

However, Kalynchuk says that the first medical expertise was conducted in mid-September, about three weeks after the incident. According to the lawyer, the fact of penetration or its absence could not be established at that stage since time passed and the biological samples washed away.

"If she had been examined immediately that day or the next, this could have been established," Kalynchuk says.

This Week in Ukraine Ep. 3  What US intelligence leak reveals about war in Ukraine This Week in Ukraine is a video podcast hosted by the Kyiv Independents reporter Anastasiia Lapatina. Every week, Anastasiia sits down with her newsroom colleagues to discuss Ukraines most pressing issues. Episode #3 is dedicated to the massive leak of U.S. military intelligence, and what it re Kyiv IndependentAnastasiia Lapatina

Even charged with sexual violence, the teenagers who had committed the crime were expected to get a sentence of up to seven years, not probation.

However, some conditions mitigate a crime's punishment, one of which is that the crime was committed by minors, says Kalynchuk.

Another one is that the local probation center concluded that correcting the behavior of accused teenagers' is possible even without imprisonment and "does not pose a serious danger to society."

"How they reached this conclusion is one part of the issue, but it played an important role (for the court)," says Kalynchuk.

The three of them also together paid Hr 60,000 ($1,640) in compensation to the victim during the early stages of the trial, which is considered to be a condition that mitigates the punishment since it shows that they "understand what they did and are trying to fix it," according to the attorney.

However, Kalynchuk says the girl initially asked for a total of Hr 450,000 ($12,300), but the court did not satisfy her request, ordering the offenders to each pay Hr 60,000 more (which makes a total compensation of Hr 240,000 or $6,560).

"They also admitted their guilt," says Kalynchuk.

All these mitigating circumstances combined do not allow sentencing offenders more than two-thirds of the maximum term implied in the article they are charged with, Kalynchuk says.

So in the end, the judge could sentence them to a maximum of 4.6 years, Kalynchuk says. That allowed the offenders to apply for a probation term, since to be able to do so, they have to be facing a term of no more than 5 years.

"And this is what happened in this case," she says.

Changing the system

While the court's decision " was made within the norms of Ukraine's Criminal Code," it is far from fair, according to Kalynchuk.

"It was committed by a group of people. It was filmed and posted online," she says.

"It will remain on the Internet and, in addition to what she's already been through, the girl will potentially be harmed by the fact that it's available to everyone," Kalynchuk adds.

The teenagers who committed the crime spent around three months in a pre-trial detention center, which Kalynchuk says was the only "actual" punishment they got.

Kalynchuk says stealing over Hr 200 ($5) is considered a "serious crime" in Ukraine, just like sexual violence.

"If we analyze the register of court decisions, there are many more actual terms for theft of about Hr 1,000 ($27) than for sexual violence," Kalynchuk says.

"So for stealing someone's phone, one would go to jail, but for committing sexual violence, one gets probation," she goes on.

"But when we talk about the threat to society, what could potentially harm a person more  the fact that their phone got stolen or that they were sexually abused?"

Kalynchuk, who is also working on other cases of sexual violence and rape, says the victims  primarily women  often do not believe that justice would prevail and do not even report to the police.

"And this needs to be changed," she says.

"There should be real imprisonment for such crimes, and there should be a feeling of inevitability of the punishment," Kalynchuk adds.

"Then, people will know that if they commit such a crime, they will go to jail, and it will help to prevent such cases in the future."

Was there corruption?

Since the case hearing was closed, the name of the judge was not publicly available.

However, Ukrainian TV presenter and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador Masha Efrosinina claimed that the judge behind the courts verdict was Oksana Sofilkanych.

Soon after that, local media outlet in Zakarpattia Oblast, Mukachevo.net, reported that it wasnt the first scandalous ruling of this judge.

According to the media, Sofilkanych ruled to acquit local official Mykhailo Popelych, who was accused of bribery in 2020.

Popelych, then-newly-elected head of the Volovets territorial community with President Volodymyr Zelenskys Servant of the People party, was detained when receiving money from corruption schemes from restoring the road and transport infrastructure of the region, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) reported in November 2020.

The alleged verdict, published by the local media, shows that the court acquitted Popelych and his accomplice due to the failure to prove that he committed a criminal offense. It was signed by Sofilkanych, according to the media.

Following the public outrage regarding the verdict in the teenage sexual violence case, Ombudsman Lubinets wrote on Telegram that his team will carefully analyze the actions of the judge and local Prosecutors Office. Lubinets also said he doubts the professionalism of the actions of the regional authorities, since the event took place almost two years ago but the court has only passed a verdict on the case now.

The case is under my control. A violation of the child's right to protection and a fair trial was recorded, Lubinets wrote.

The rights of the underage girl must be restored, he added.

Note from the author:

Hi, Daria Shulzhenko here. I wrote this piece for you. Since the first day of Russia's all-out war, I have been working almost non-stop to tell the stories of those affected by Russias brutal aggression. I have also been telling other stories of human suffering in Ukraine. By becoming the Kyiv Independent's patron, you can help us continue giving voice to those who need to be heard the most.
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Yuriy Sorochynskiy says that drinkers around the world are buying his Ukrainian vodka to show their "solidarity"

When Russia invaded Ukraine last year its vodkas were quickly removed from shelves around the world. It was an opportunity for rival Ukrainian brands to take their place.

Yuriy Sorochynskiy says that he and his colleague are "filled with immense pride" that their Ukrainian vodka Nemiroff continues to see sales soar around the world.

"We are thrilled and excited to see our brand being recognised globally," adds the company's chief executive.

"And we are grateful to our customers abroad who are choosing Nemiroff out of solidarity with Ukraine."

Vodka, the neutral, clear spirit that a great many people would say only tastes of alcohol, doesn't normally make newspaper headlines.

With annual global sales of $46.6bn (37.5bn), its a ubiquitous product that drinkers around the world add to soft drinks, use as the base for a cocktail, or down neat as a "shot".

Yet last year, vodka suddenly found itself in the international media spotlight following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The start of the conflict resulted in Western consumers, retailers and governments boycotting and banning Russian vodkas.

At the same time, Western vodka brands that have Russian sounding names, such as global bestseller Smirnoff, were quick to point out that they aren't actually from Russia. Smirnoff is instead owned by UK drinks giant Diageo.

The national origin of vodka is both hotly contested and difficult to define due to changing borders and countries over the centuries. But most drinks historians would agree that today's Poland, Russia and Ukraine are the historic heart of vodka production.

With Russian vodkas still mostly absent from international shelves, previously little-known Ukrainian brands are continuing to take their place. Yet maintaining production in a war-torn country is, unsurprisingly, not without its difficulties.

Immediately following the Russian invasion, Nemiroff had to close its main distillery for a month. This is located in the city of Nemyriv, some 250km (155m) south west of the capital Kyiv.

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The geographic and national origin of vodka is hotly contested

Like most businesses in Ukraine it has subsequently been affected by power cuts due to Russian attacks on electricity infrastructure. Despite this, the firm says it has seen a big rise in exports, including a two-fold increase in sales in the UK.

"It's heart warming to see people supporting our country through their purchasing decisions," says Mr Sorochynskiy.

Fellow Ukrainian vodka boss Dima Deinega says that his distillery, based in the city of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, "has showcased amazing resilience".

"We've dealt with shelling and no power supplies but are still able to produce and export vodka," says Mr Deinega, whose brand is called Dima's.

Since the start of the conflict he has been giving a share of the profits to Ukrainian charities.

"[Global] sales were rising consistently before the war, but have increased significantly with people looking for ways to support Ukraine via our charitable initiatives, as well as to support Ukrainian products as a whole," says Mr Deinega.

Dima Deinega says his vodka firm has shown its "resilience"

Katherine Vellinga grew up in Canada, the daughter of Ukrainian emigrees. Back in 2005 she had decided to move to Ukraine, and she became increasingly interested in Ukrainian vodka. So much so, that she and her husband bought a small distillery and brand called Zirkova.

Following Russia's invasion the distillery had to close. To maintain some production, Ms Vellinga decided to open a second facility, this time more than 7,000km (4,000 miles) away in Ontario.

Supervised by the firm's master distiller, the company's Canadian brand is called Zirkova Unity, and all its profits go to Ukrainian charities. Production has continued in Canada despite the firm's main distillery, in the Ukrainian city of Zolotonosha, south of Kyiv, reopening last September.

Commenting on the move to Canada, Ms Vellinga says that "necessity was the mother of invention". She adds: "Our people in Ukraine encouraged us to keep fighting, to be resilient, to find a way to survive as that was the only way we could help Ukraine.

"We made a decision to survive and Ukrainians encouraged us to keep going."

But does all vodka taste the same? "Absolutely not!" says Tony Abou Ganim, a US-based vodka expert.

"All you need to do is line up six vodkas, made from different raw materials, and coming from different parts of the world, to very quickly realise that all vodkas are not the same!"

Global Trade

More from the BBC's series taking an international perspective on trade.

In Poland, Russia and Ukraine, the heart of the so-called "vodka belt", the spirit is traditionally drunk neat.

And although the origin of the drink is hotly debated, Poland certainly has the strictest legal rules that govern vodka's production. Polish vodka can only be made from wheat, rye, oats, potatoes or triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), water and yeast.

This contrasts with vodkas from around the world that can use maize, rice, sugar, grape juice or even milk, plus any number of other ingredients or additives.

Zirkova's Katherine Vellinga says that decent vodka does have flavour

"Vodka is not a flavourless drink," says Mariusz Dampc of the Polish Vodka Museum in Warsaw. "That is a very Western view," he adds. "Polish vodka is all about the soil, the water, the climate and the human element: the terroir."

Ms Vellinga adds that many "new world vodkas" - which she defines as those made outside of the drink's historic heartland shouldn't use the name.

"You can taste the difference between true vodka made out of grain or potato, and poor substitutes that use cheap ingredients such as corn, sugar beet, rice and sorghum," she says. "Newer vodka brands adhere to this modern mistaken notion that vodka should be utterly tasteless and neutral, which is far from the truth.

"The subtle but important complexity and character of the world's greatest vodkas prove it."
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faces a daunting task this week as he heads to Germany to host a meeting of international defense chiefs supporting Ukraine: convince Kyiv that U.S. confidence is unbroken after its secret doubts spilled into the open.

Austin arrived in Europe on Tuesday less than two weeks after the leak of a trove of highly classified military plans rocked the Pentagon. Many of the documents were printouts of top secret slides developed by the Joint Staff to brief senior leaders on the situation in Ukraine. Some included detailed information about the Wests plans to send weapons to Kyiv; others contained sensitive information about Americas efforts to spy on its partners.

During Fridays meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, the defense secretary will need to show that the U.S. is confident in and committed to Ukraine, after the leaked documents appeared to show pessimistic assessments about Kyivs ability to win the war this year as well as concerns over the countrys dwindling weapons stockpiles. The assessments angered officials in Kyiv , POLITICO reported.

Austins other challenge will be assuring allies that the Defense Department is doing more to safeguard classified materials, particularly those related to foreign partners. He must also relay to his counterparts that those measures will not hamper their own access to the Pentagons plans for Ukraine, or other international cooperation.



Law enforcement last week arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in connection with the Justice Department investigation into the online leaks. Teixeira, an IT specialist, allegedly took photos of the classified materials and shared them to a private chatroom on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers.

Speaking to reporters at Swedens Musko Naval Base on Wednesday after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Austin declined to provide details about the investigation. Asked whether a 21-year-old should have access to the nations top secrets, Austin noted that the vast majority of our military is young.

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It's not exceptional that young people are doing important things in our military. That's really not the issue, Austin said, noting that Teixeira is a computer specialist who worked in an intelligence unit and held a top secret clearance. Part of his responsibility was maintaining the network that the unit operates on, Austin said.

The issue is how you responsibly execute or carry out your duties and how you protect the information, Austin said. All of us have a requirement to do that, and supervisors have a requirement to make sure that that's being done.

So far, DoD officials say they are not overly concerned that the leak will hurt relationships abroad, or Austins ability to rally Western partners to donate weapons to Ukraine.

While Austins role as leader of the year-old Ukraine Defense Contact Group is already a challenging one, there are no signs that job has gotten any harder in the last few weeks, said one senior DoD official, who was granted anonymity to speak about the discussions ahead of the trip.



He remains determined. He remains very focused on what needs to get done, the DoD official said. We all in the secretarys team continue to be highly motivated, very confident. We know how to do this. Weve been doing this for a year.

The Pentagon is also not seeing any wavering from allies after the leak, the official said.

All the signs we are seeing from allies and partners is absolute firmness and determination to keep doing it. The fact that we are meeting again  is itself a sign of that commitment, the official said.

Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said the leak was not on the agenda during his Wednesday meeting with Austin. He also said he is not concerned about the leak potentially affecting Stockholms access to intelligence.

We have good intelligence cooperation between Sweden and the United States, as we have a strong defense and security cooperation, and we rest assured of U.S. commitment to taking this seriously, Jonson said during the joint press conference. We have [been] reassured on the bilateral basis, and feel completely sure of the U.S. commitment on handling the situation.

Since news of the leak emerged, the Pentagon has clamped down on access to classified information by narrowing distribution lists and reviewing how the information is shared and with whom. DoD is also reexamining how it vets service members, including whether background checks for those seeking security clearances need to be strengthened, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Monday.

Teixeiras unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing, has been ordered to halt its intelligence mission as the Air Forces inspector general conducts an investigation, the service said Tuesday. All units will also have to conduct a security-focused standdown in the next 30 days.

Those steps could prompt worries from allies who fear they will be shut out of important conversations. Investigators have already examined whether Teixeira interacted with anyone from a foreign government or entity before allegedly posting classified material online, POLITICO reported.

Top Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with both the leak itself and the Pentagons downbeat assessment of Ukraines chances on the battlefield. U.S. intelligence assessed that Ukraine would see only modest gains from a planned spring counteroffensive, The Washington Post reported.



The same people who said Kyiv would fall in three days are now leaking harmful and equally ridiculous information ahead of an offensive critically important for the entire free world, a person in regular contact with senior officials in Kyiv told POLITICO.

Yet this is not the first time DoD has expressed reservations about Ukraines capabilities: Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley, who will also be leading the meeting at Ramstein alongside Austin, said last fall that he did not think Kyiv could expel Russian forces from all of Ukraine.

Austin is scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, on Friday ahead of the larger group meeting.

In an outward sign of the Pentagons continuing support for Ukraine, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced another $325 million in additional military aid for Ukraine , the 36th drawdown of equipment from U.S. stocks since the conflict began and the first since the leak came to light.

The package, which primarily includes munitions, missiles and anti-armor capabilities, is focused on boosting Ukraines weapons stocks ahead of a widely anticipated spring offensive.

Also on Wednesday, Kyiv received two Patriot missile defense systems , one from the U.S. and one as part of a combined effort from Germany and the Netherlands, which will be used to defend against Russian air and missile attacks.

European security officials, on the other hand, are less disturbed by the leaks and what they contain.

I cant detect any change in mood, said one senior European diplomat, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal alliance dynamics.

The U.S., the diplomat said, has informed allies about the leak and about their efforts to clarify what happened. Within the alliance and in the Ramstein format, work continues with the aim of keeping up the support to Ukraine.

A second senior European diplomat also said they did not see a shift as a result of the leaks.

In any case no classified NATO documents were leaked, this person said, adding that its not a big concern in the house.

While some officials do say the leaks are an issue, they also argue that risks for intelligence-sharing already exist within the large Ramstein group format and the U.S. leak doesnt change the bigger picture.

The leaks have a negative impact, but they will not affect that much of the information sharing with the U.S., nor the plans to continue the support for Ukraine, said a third senior European diplomat. Fridays Ramstein meeting, the diplomat said, will go along just fine.

There is a strong focus now, officials say, on addressing industrial production challenges.

Resolve is not diminished in any way, said the first senior European diplomat. The alliances national armaments directors will work even harder on ramping up defense industry capacity and on getting the right signals to industry, the diplomat said.

There is, they added, a very palpable sense of urgency.
A baby receives an oral polio vaccine during the Malawi Polio Vaccination Campaign Launch in Lilongwe, Malawi, on March 20, 2022. A new report from UNICEF says nearly 13 million children missed one or more vaccinations in Africa between 2019 and 2021 because of the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. | Thoko Chikondi, Associated Press

Africa is experiencing a child survival crisis after 12.7 million children missed taking one or more vaccinations from 2019-2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund said on Wednesday.

The Associated Press said UNICEF called this crisis the worst regression of childhood vaccination in 30 years.

The UNICEF press release about the report said the lack of vaccinated children makes the continent more susceptible to disease outbreaks, an effect theyre already experiencing after 700 children died from measles last year in Zimbabwe and more than 1,000 people died from a cholera outbreak earlier this year in Malawi.

Related

The report said Africa has the most unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children in the world, with 8.7 million of them called zero-dose children after never having received any vaccinations between 2019-2021.

Two out of five zero-dose children in Africa live in Ethiopia or Nigeria, making them the countries with the highest number of zero-dose children, according to UNICEF.

Reversing the crisis

The World Health Organization predicts Africa needs about 33 million children vaccinated by 2025 in order to recover from the setback and get back on track, according to The Associated Press.

ABC News said, UNICEF noted that children born just before or during the pandemic were now moving past the age when they would normally be vaccinated and stressed the need for health authorities to catch up with those missed vaccinations to prevent more deadly disease outbreaks.

Related

UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa Marie-Pierre Poirier said in the report, We must act urgently to make sure that every child who has been left out is vaccinated. Using routine immunization as an entry point to strengthen primary health care and community systems will also help deliver other essential services, so that together with governments and partners, we can address multiple child deprivations and accelerate progress for children.

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The recent resurgence of measles, cholera and poliovirus in Africa is a warning that we need to step up our efforts. African leaders must act now and take strong political action to reduce the gap in vaccination and make sure that all children are immunized and protected, Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said in the report.

Global effect

The report said globally, vaccination coverage levels dropped in 112 countries, with a total of 67 million children missing one or more vaccines between 2019-2021.

The UNICEF said different contributors to the missed vaccinations worldwide included:

Climate change.

Health worker shortages.

Vaccine hesitancy.

The report said solutions for the crisis include using effective immunization programs and catch-up campaigns to vaccinate children, building resilient health systems and investing in immunizations and health.
A Bethel School District teacher returned to work Thursday after three weeks on paid administrative leave while the district investigated a recording that surfaced online last month of her deeply personal class lecture, according to the districts union.

Bethel Education Association president Janet Caldwell said that math teacher Rose Triana-Boman, who had shared an emotional story about her late sons mental health struggles and death by police, was back at Spanaway Lake High School.

She returned to work today, Caldwell wrote in an email Thursday in response to a News Tribune inquiry seeking confirmation on a tip from a source.

The longtime teachers reported return came on the same day that The News Tribune published an article revealing the districts probe into Triana-Bomans conduct and into the actions of the student who secretly recorded the classroom presentation on March 28.

It was unclear what exactly the district concluded about the behavior of either the teacher or student, or if its full investigation had wrapped up. Caldwell did not respond to a follow-up question seeking details about Triana-Bomans return, and district spokesperson Doug Boyles said that he would not be able to confirm her status or gather any related information until Friday.

Triana-Boman, who has been employed by the district since 2003, was placed on leave on March 29, the same day that a video of her fifth-period class lecture to mostly freshmen algebra students appeared on YouTube.

The video, which had been titled Teacher Mental Breakdown on the social media platform, captured Triana-Bomans nearly hour-long speech to students intended to explain why she went into teaching. The presentation broached sensitive themes, including drug use and gun violence, and whomever posted it online criticized the lecture as being inappropriate, potentially harmful to students and a waste of class time.

Some agreed, while others defended the teachers remarks as a valuable cautionary tale, according to the 40-plus comments on the video, which had garnered more than 1,300 views before it was taken down.

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Boyles had said Monday that the district had only received a small number of offline comments from community members and parents. Their feedback also reflected divisiveness on an issue that has raised questions about expectations of privacy, use of in-class electronic devices and whats appropriate for school discussions.

In the recording, which was reviewed by The News Tribune, Triana-Boman told her class that she had given the lecture in the past and that she planned to retire at the end of the school year.

In a response to questions from The News Tribune, Caldwell said Thursday that the online posting of the student-recorded video was clearly a smear that presents a chilling effect on how educators do their jobs, as she called on the district to stand up for educators when such cases occur.

This is emerging as a serious issue in our schools, particularly considering the growth of extremist anti-public education sentiment among a few people, she said in a statement. We are professionals, and the district is our employer; as such, the district needs protections in place that allow us to do our jobs and support our students, and it needs to have our backs when incidents like this arise.

Caldwell also said that it did not appear that Triana-Boman had broken any school district rules or policies but that the student did so by recording the presentation.

Educators already support full transparency; we readily respond to family inquiries, she said. With social media, the capacity for misrepresentations, doxxing, smear campaigns, and more presents a threat to educators work and safety that reaches far beyond our school community.

Instances of students recording teachers, largely political in nature, have made several news headlines in recent years. Educators have been taped requesting students turn Make America Great Again shirts inside out; professing allegiance to antifa; castigating President Trump; and cursing at students.

The ACLU of Washington warned students in a tech guide published in 2019 that secretly recording their teachers could land them in trouble.

Molly Quinton, a spokesperson for the organization, told The News Tribune in a statement Thursday that Washington is a two-party consent state for recording under ever-evolving law.

Generally, it is unlawful to record someone where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. This may change depending on the context, Quinton said. Schools across the state also have differing policies on this particular issue, which has not been directly addressed by the courts.

The districts investigation was expected to review whether any district or school policies were broken.
A real-life Succession is playing out on the other side of the Atlantic.

Bernard Arnault, the head of the luxury conglomerate LVMH and the richest man in the world, has long been preparing his five children to take over once he steps down, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Its not clear exactly when that will be, but Arnault is making sure that any one of his kids could soon be in his position.

More from Robb Report

Beginning when they were little, Arnault would test his children in math and bring them along on business trips and to negotiations. Now, they all hold roles within the LVMH empire: Delphine is the CEO of Christian Dior; Antoine is the CEO of the listed company that holds the familys stake in LVMH; Alexandre is the executive vice president of Tiffany & Co.; Frederic is the head of TAG Heuer; and Jean is the director of marketing and development for Louis Vuittons watches division.

Once a month, the six get together for a 90-minute lunch at LVMHs Paris headquarters, where Arnault asks his kids for advice on everything from specific managers within the company to whether a major shake-up should occur. And despite the fact that theyre all ostensibly vying for the top job, the kids themselves get along swimmingly, according to Sidney Toledano, who oversees a number of LVMHs fashion brands.

Arnault, 74, isnt required to retire until he reaches the age of 80, and he hasnt explicitly said that hell name one of his children as his successor. The only thing hes noted is that the next LVMH chief will be chosen based on merit, the WSJ wrote.

You have to choose whoever is best at a given point in time considering the challenges, Toledano told the newspaper. Its what he does with his managers, his advisers, and I think its what hell do with his children.

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Whoever ends up stepping into Arnaults shoes, theyll be taking over a company currently valued at $480 billion. (Arnault himself is worth $208 billion.) More than that, though, theyll be tasked with carrying on the businessmans legacy in the luxury world. Thankfully, hes been training his kids for decades to do just that.

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Rossi has appeared at court in a wheelchair and using breathing equipment

A fugitive wanted by the US authorities has been reported to prosecutors over an alleged altercation involving court staff.

Nicholas Rossi - who insists on using the name Arthur Knight - was due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for the latest hearing in a long-running extradition case.

A sheriff was told Rossi was absent from court due to a disturbance.

Security staff refused to take him to into a court room.

Police Scotland said officers were called to the court at about 13:10 following a report of a disturbance.

US authorities are seeking Rossi's extradition over allegations of rape and sexual assault, and say he faked his own death and fled to Scotland.

The hearings in Edinburgh are examining whether he should be sent back to face trial.

Prosecutor Paul Harvey told Sheriff Norman McFadyen there had been an incident involving Rossi in the court room cells in the moments after he arrived in a wheelchair at the court from HMP Edinburgh.

Mr Harvey said: "There has been an altercation this morning."

The submission came shortly after it emerged that Rossi had appointed another lawyer to represent him - an Aberdeen-based solicitor called Stuart Murray.

Mr Murray - who is thought to be Rossi's seventh legal representative - asked for bail for his client.

The lawyer said he did not want to discuss the details of the incident but said that it was his client's position that he had been assaulted by court security staff.

Sheriff McFadyen said it was his understanding that security staff were "not prepared to bring him to court".

'Media circus'

Mr Murray told the court he had received sanction from the Legal Aid Board to get a psychiatrist based in Surrey to examine his client. But he said that prison staff had been unable to arrange a virtual meeting for the medic to assess Rossi.

He said that a GP was due to assess Rossi's general health. The court heard the doctor had said Rossi had refused to meet him, but Mr Murray said his client maintained this was not the case.

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Mr Murray added: "It has been hard to obtain an expert to go and see him. This is due, in part, to the media circus that is surrounding the case."

The lawyer told the court he was also trying to obtain a more specific report about prison conditions in the state of Utah - but he said he had difficulty obtaining this as Rossi's US lawyer was reluctant to provide help until he had received payment.

Rossi, who insists he is really an Irish orphan called Arthur Knight, is potentially facing extradition to the US

Mr Harvey asked the court to deny Rossi bail saying that he believed that the accused's actions showed that he was trying to frustrate the legal process from operating correctly.

Sheriff McFadyen refused the motion for bail and told the lawyers that any new reports in the case would have to be lodged by 4 May.

He also arranged for another procedural hearing to take place in the matter on 4 May.

Rossi was originally arrested by Police Scotland in December 2021 after staff at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital recognised his tattoos - images of which had been circulated by Interpol - while he was being treated for Covid-19.

He has repeatedly insisted that he is Arthur Knight, an orphan from Ireland who has never been to the US.

He claimed he had been given distinctive tattoos matching those on the arms of Rossi while he was lying unconscious in hospital after receiving Covid treatment, in an attempt to frame him.

But after a three-day hearing, Sheriff McFadyen said he was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that he was indeed Nicholas Rossi.
The U.S. military is preparing to place additional forces in Djibouti for a potential mission to evacuate U.S. Embassy personnel in Khartoum, Sudan's capital city, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.

Embassy staff has been sheltering in place since Saturday, when gunfire and explosions erupted in the capital amid conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudan's army. The two sides are battling for control of the country, with 5 million city residents and U.S. personnel caught in the crossfire.

"The Department of Defense, through U.S. Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it," Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Phillip Ventura said.

"As a matter of policy and security, we do not speculate on potential future operations," he added.

SUDAN CONFLICT: US CONDUCTS PRUDENT PLANNING AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES

This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage on Thursday shows an aerial view of black smoke rising above the Khartoum International Airport amid ongoing battles between the forces of two rival generals.

Politico first reported plans to rescue embassy staff, who are sheltering just eight miles from Khartoum's international airport. The airport has been left inoperable by heavy fighting, and military evacuation appears to be the only way the 70 or so embassy staffers can escape Sudan without serious risk to their lives.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

According to Politico, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with lawmakers privately Wednesday and said that troops would be moving to Djibouti, where Camp Lemmonier is located, to give the Biden administration options to launch an evacuation operation. "Sherman stressed that the mission would whisk only embassy staff to safety and that there wont be a military-led general evacuation of American citizens," Politico reported.

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"The Department of Defense, through U.S. Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning," Ventura previously told Fox News. "The U.S. military maintains a constant state of readiness to support any number of missions around the world. As a matter of policy and security, we do not speculate on potential future operations or force movements."

"Within Sudan, the Department of Defenses mission is primarily focused on providing security at the U.S. Embassy," Ventura added. "While operational security prevents us from going into detail, the Department of Defense, through the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, provides ongoing security for diplomatic facilities worldwide."

BLOODY SUDAN CONFLICT CONTINUES DESPITE TRUCE, INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

The White House made similar comments Wednesday and condemned the violence, which has claimed the lives of at least 270 people and left as many as 2,600 injured. The Sudanese Doctors' Union reported that nine hospitals have been damaged during the fighting and 16 have been evacuated.

"The United States condemns in the strongest terms violence between the Sudanese Armed Forcesand the Rapid Support Forces," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday, adding that the violence "recklessly" endangers Sudanese people.

180 DEAD, ALMOST 2K INJURED AS SUDAN CONFLICT RAGES ON

This file picture composite shows General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, left, the head of Sudan's ruling military council, greeting his supporters in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on June 29, 2019, and Sudanese paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo raising a cane during a meeting with his supporters in Khartoum on June 18, 2019.

Jean-Pierre encouraged Sudanese leaders to "engage in dialogue without delay" for the safety of their country.

An attempt at a ceasefire between the two armed forces failed on Wednesday. The 24-hour ceasefire was supposed to begin at 6 p.m., but eyewitnesses told Reuters that there was still fighting.

The conflict has disheartened hopes for democracy in Sudan after decades of dictatorships. Bombardments were reported in central Khartoum, the country's capital, as residents struggle with power outages and a dwindling food supply.

Fox News' Andrea Vacchiano and Reuters contributed to this report.
The United States seeks a "constructive and fair economic relationship" with China, even as Washington holds firm in defending the country's national security, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday.

Her speech comes as relations remain strained between the world's two biggest economies over a variety of issues, from Taiwan to trade to spying.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang last month accused Washington of stoking tensions between both powers, warning of "conflict and confrontation."

But Yellen said that the United States remains firm in its conviction to defend its values and national security.

"Within that context, we seek a constructive and fair economic relationship with China," she said in a speech at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

She also raised the need for both countries to be able to "frankly discuss difficult issues" and work together when possible.

Stressing that "healthy economic competition" is only sustainable with fairness, she said: "We will continue to partner with our allies to respond to China's unfair economic practices."

Yellen noted that China has expanded support for its state-owned enterprises and domestic private firms, to "dominate foreign competitors."

- Driven by security, values -

On the possible economic impact of some US national security decisions, Yellen insisted that those moves were "motivated solely by our concerns about our security and values."

The US administration is considering a program to restrict certain US outbound investments involving specific sensitive technology with significant national security implications.

But Yellen added: "Our goal is not to use these tools to gain competitive economic advantage."

She also pushed back on the notion that Washington was seeking to stifle China's economic and technological modernization, and said America does not "seek to decouple" its economy from that of China.

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"A US strategy that recognizes China's right to modernize and acknowledges that there are economic costs to (the) pursuit of worthy national security goals is a reality-based sustainable starting point," Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in a statement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping previously slammed the United States for leading what he said was an effort to contain and suppress China.

Beijing's technology ambitions have been hit with restrictions by the United States and its allies, and Chinese authorities have doubled down on the need to move away from imports for sectors seen as key to national security, such as semiconductors.

- 'Worrisome indication' -

On differences between Washington and Beijing over the conflict in Ukraine, Yellen said that China's "no-limits partnership" and support for Russia is a "worrisome indication that it is not serious about ending the war."

She emphasized that China and others must not provide Moscow with material support or help it to evade Western sanctions, but nevertheless stressed the need for the United States and China to cooperate on urgent global challenges.

The two countries have clashed in recent years over trade, human rights and other issues, and relations soured even more this year when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon it said was used for surveillance - a claim Beijing strongly denied.

While both countries have agreed to boost communication on macroeconomic issues, along with cooperation on climate and debt distress, Yellen said "more needs to be done."

"We call on China to follow through on its promise to work with us on these issues - not as a favor to us, but out of our joint duty and obligation to the world," she added.

Saying she plans to travel to China at the appropriate time, Yellen added that she hopes to engage in "substantive dialogue" with her new counterpart to help "lay the groundwork for responsibly managing our bilateral relationship."

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US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was asked Thursday to testify to a Senate committee after news reports raised questions about conservative Justice Clarence Thomas's dealings with a real estate tycoon.

In a letter the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Democrats, asked Roberts or another justice of his choosing to appear on May 2 to testify publicly regarding the ethical rules governing the nine justices.

Since the last time justices appeared before Congress in 2011, also on ethics questions, "there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards expected," wrote Senator Richard Durbin, chair of the committee.

"These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the court's decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence," Durbin wrote.

Thomas, the longest-serving justice on the court and one of its most conservative voices, came under scrutiny after reports by the independent ProPublica news outlet on him and his wife Ginni taking luxury trips with billionaire Harlan Crow.

Thomas, who had crafted an image of a humble justice who prefers to travel around the US in his camper, went island-hopping in 2019 in Indonesia on Crow's 162-foot (49 meter) yacht after flying to Asia on Crow's private jet, ProPublica reported.

Thomas has also vacationed at Crow's ranch in Texas and "typically spends about a week every summer" at Crow's private resort in New York's Adirondack mountains, it said.

Crow, a major donor to the Republican party and conservative groups, also bought properties in Savannah, Georgia from the justice, including the home occupied by Thomas's mother, ProPublica reported.

But Thomas didn't report any of the transactions or gifts, according to ProPublica and other media reports.

In an April 7 statement, Thomas defended the relationship with Crow, and said he had understood that such "hospitality" from a good friend did not require reporting under official guidelines.

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"These guidelines are now being changed," he noted.

"It is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future."

However, Roberts could face more questions about the activities of both Thomases. When two justices were questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2011, a major focus was over the Thomases' relations with Crow and other powerful Republican donors.

A specific focus then was Crow's donation of $500,000 to fund Ginni Thomas's new Liberty Central advocacy group.

Roberts could also be asked about Ginni Thomas's role in former president Donald Trump's late-2020 campaign claiming, without evidence, that Joe Biden's election victory over him was fraudulent.

That campaign led directly to the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress by Trump's supporters.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman called on U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts to testify at a May 2 hearing on Supreme ethics reform after earlier urging him to investigate ties between Justice Clarence Thomas and a wealthy Republican donor.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, the panel's chairman, said the hearing follows "a steady stream of revelations regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges" and "a crisis of public confidence" in the top U.S. judicial body.

The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Roberts. The chief justice is a member of the court's 6-3 conservative majority.

In inviting Roberts to testify, Durbin also said the chief justice could designate another justice to appear instead.

Thomas, the longest-serving of the court's nine justices, has been under pressure after published reports by news outlet ProPublica detailing his relationship with Harlan Crow, including real estate purchases and luxury travel paid for by the Dallas businessman.

ProPublica reported that Thomas did not publicly disclose the 2014 purchase by one of Crow's companies of properties in the Georgia city of Savannah from Thomas and his relatives, calling it the first known instance of money going directly from Crow to the justice.

ProPublica also reported that Thomas has for decades accepted luxury trips from Crow, who he considers a close friend, also without publicly disclosing them.

Durbin and other committee Democrats on April 10 had urged Roberts to investigate the Thomas situation and said that if the court does not resolve this issue on its own the panel would consider legislation to address it,

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Jasper Ward; Editing by Scott Malone)
This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage on April 20, 2023, shows an aerial view of black smoke rising above the Khartoum International Airport amid ongoing battles between the forces of two rival generals. Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images

US troops are deploying to positions near Sudan amid a worsening situation there.

Forces are being deployed for possibly 'securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel,' the Pentagon said.

Intense fighting in Sudan has left hundreds dead and thousands more injured.

US forces are being deployed to positions near Sudan in case they are required to rapidly evacuate American diplomatic staff, a Pentagon official said on Thursday.

The east African country has been gripped by intense and deadly violence for nearly a week after fighting broke out between Sudan's national army and a rival paramilitary group.

The Department of Defense, through US Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies, Pentagon Spokesperson Lt. Col. Phil Ventura said in a statement.

"As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it," he said, adding that the Pentagon does not "speculate" on potential future missions "as a matter of policy and security."

The Pentagon did not clarify where, exactly, its forces would be sent or how many troops would be included. The New York Times reported that American soldiers are being deployed to nearby Djibouti, where the US has a military installation.

Violence in Sudan first broke out on Saturday with clashes broke out between forces loyal to two rival generals  Gen. Abdel Fattah al Burhan, who commands Sudan's army, and Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary. These two individuals have been jockeying for power since they orchestrated a 2021 military coup together, which led to tensions over how to integrate the RSF into the regular army.

A view of vehicles of RSF, damaged after clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan on April 18, 2023. Photo by Omer Erdem/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

More than 330 people have been killed and nearly 3,200 more have been injured so far during the sudden outbreak of fighting, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a Thursday statement.

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The American embassy in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, said in a security alert that it is closely monitoring the situation on the ground and noted reports of gunfire, assaults, home invasions, and looting. It "strongly advised" that US citizens stay inside and shelter in place, while also discouraging travel to the embassy.

On Tuesday, the top US diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that a US diplomatic convoy had come under fire earlier in the week, but clarified that there were no injuries to American personnel. "This action was reckless, it was irresponsible, and of course unsafe  a diplomatic convoy with diplomatic plates, a US flag, being fired upon," he said.

The US embassy noted in its security alert that it was under a "shelter in place order" and is unable to provide emergency services. "Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a US government-coordinated evacuation of private US citizens," the embassy said.

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These superstars are about to become one degree hotter.

According to Berklee College of Music, legends Usher and Roberta Flack are set to receive honorary doctorate degrees from the institution.

The Ceremony

Set to take place on May 13, the Berklee College of Music will not only present the pair with their degrees, but the recipients will also have an opportunity to address fellow graduates, current students, staff, and more during the commencement ceremony, which will happen at Boston Universitys Agganis Arena.

Meet The Honorees

Usher, an eight-time Grammy award winner, will be recognized for not only his contributions to music but for his contributions to film and activism as well. Since 1999, his New Look Foundation has provided young people from underserved communities with opportunities of a lifetime.

More recently, in 2020 he wrote an essay for The Washington Post to push for the recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

Roberta Flack has been hailed as one of the most prolific songstresses of all time and is the recipient of four Grammy awards. No stranger to music or education, Flack attended Howard University on a full scholarship.

She will be recognized for both her extraordinary work as a musical artist and for her humanitarian efforts as well. A former school teacher, she founded the Roberta Flack School of Music at the Hyde Leadership Charter School, which is located in the Bronx, New York City.

In addition to Flack and Usher, Gambian native Sona Jobarteh will also be honored with a doctorate degree during the Berklee School of Music 2023 commencement ceremony.

The honorees will now join fellow superstars including John Legend, Aretha Franklin, and more who have received distinguished honors from the educational institution.
A memorial outside of Robb Elementary School for the 21 lives taken by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, United States on September 06, 2022 Pedro Salazar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The mother of a Uvalde victim waited 13 hours to demand stricter gun laws.

Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed in the mass shooting, says the delay reminded her of waiting to learn if her daughter had been killed.

The Texas state legislature held a hearing on Tuesday on whether to raise the minimum age allowed to buy semiautomatic rifles.

The mother of a young Uvalde school shooting victim said she was forced to wait 13 hours to testify in favor of stricter gun laws, chastizing Texas lawmakers for the delay.

"Did you think we'd go home?" asked Kimberly Rubio through tears.

Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed in the attack that left 19 children and two teachers dead, said the wait to testify reminded her of waiting to hear if her daughter had survived.

The bill, H.B. 2744, would make it illegal to sell, rent, or lease a semiautomatic rifle to anyone younger than 21 years old, according to The Texas Tribune.

The Texas House has yet to vote on the legislation.

During her testimony, Rubio asked if the lawmakers watched coverage of the shooting, and urged them to consider what it would be like to suffer her loss as they cast their vote on the legislation.

"Did you imagine what it would feel like to bury your child?" she asked. "Sit with that image as we do because only when you imagine will you as lawmakers take the necessary action, including voting for [this bill]."

Another parent, Nikki Cross, mother of Uziyah Garcia, said she was upset that children are having to go through active shooter drills as politicians do nothing to solve the problem of mass gun violence, according to CBS Austin.

"I don't want any more children to hide under their desks in fear," Garcia said. "I don't want any more teachers to worry about how they're going to protect several students at once when they're just one person."

Texas has the highest number of deaths linked to firearms in the country. There were 4,613 firearm-related deaths in the state in 2021, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Editor's Note: This story has been refocused around the testimony of the parents of children who died in the Uvalde shooting.

Read the original article on Insider
James Kennedy suggests that Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss have gotten pretty chummy in the latest episode of "Vanderpump Rules."

Kennedy, who was once engaged to Leviss, comments on his ex-fiancee's growing bond with Sandoval in the 11th episode of Season 10, titled "Mistress in Distress," which aired April 19.

Ive noticed how much Raquel has been hanging out with the Toms, both of them (Sandoval and Schwartz), so theyre the best of buds these days arent they? Kennedy says to his girlfriend Ally Lewber.

However, he doesn't seem too concerned and adds, "I wouldnt put too much to it.

Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss and Tom Schwartz. (Araya Doheny / Getty Images)

In case you're new to the Bravo show, Sandoval and Leviss have been involved in a cheating scandal known as Scandoval since March after rumors spread that Sandoval cheated on Ariana Madix, his girlfriend of nine years, with Leviss. Both Sandoval and Leviss have since apologized to Madix. The scandal is expected to play out on camera through Season 10.

Kennedy's comments come about after Lewber tells him that she saw Sandoval and Leviss out dancing together  without Madix.

I personally wouldnt be comfortable with it, I guess, to have my boyfriend out at 1 a.m. with girls but everyones different," she says in a confessional.

The past two episodes have focused on Leviss kiss with Tom Schwartz, Sandoval's best friend, in Mexico and the fallout that ensued. This week's episode continues that theme as Sandoval defends Leviss' actions to Schwartz's ex-wife, Katie Maloney, when she comes over to visit Madix.

I dont think it was really like a big deal. Theyre just two single people that are decent looking in Mexico that just decided to make out, he tells Maloney.

Its too close to home, she replies. Its the aftermath.

What aftermath are you gonna have to deal with? he asks.

Madix then chimes in and says, Well, (Katie and Schwartz are) not friends anymore. Theres an aftermath. And now its gonna make it really difficult for her and Raquel to be friends.

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When Maloney says Leviss is a f------ whore, Sandoval defends her and says Shes not a f------ whore, dude.

Later, Sandoval sees Leviss when hes out to dinner and tells her what Maloney said. Lisa Vanderpump suggests that Sandoval didnt have to share the hurtful details, and he touches Leviss arm and asks if shes OK.

I dont appreciate being called a whore and being slut shamed for making out with somebody. Thats not cool, she says, and Sandoval agrees.

In a confessional, Sandoval says he thought Leviss would shrug off the statement and adds that he wanted her to know what people are saying about her.

I feel like Raquel doesnt have a lot of people in her corner, and shes a really sweet girl. She doesnt have a bad bone in her body, he says.

Later in the episode, Sandoval and Madix disagree while talking about whether or not to have children. Madix mentions that she froze her eggs a few years ago and asked Sandoval to fertilize them with his sperm.

Although she was previously vocal about her desire not to have children, Madix mentions that she wants to be prepared just in case she changes her mind. Sandoval seems skeptical, though.

"Are we ever gonna even like use these eggs for anything?" he says.

Madix replies, "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. I don't really care if we do, I guess. I mean I'm not gonna get pregnant."

In a confessional, Sandoval questions Madix's motivation to take this big step.

"Why would Ariana want me to fertilize her eggs when we might or might not have kids or whatever she decides?" he wonders.

When Madix tells Sandoval that he needs to cut back on drinking to improve their chance of fertilization, he gets annoyed.

"I don't know dude. It's tough sometimes to talk to you about stuff because you never agree with me," he says.

Madix doesn't see things the same way, though. "We have agreed plenty of times on this conversation... We are allowed to have different perspectives," she says.

The conversation soon turns takes a more argumentative turn.

"It feels like for the past few months, it's like I will explain to you a situation... (and you) are very quick to take the other person's point of view when I tell you something," he says. "And I don't want anybody to ever have my back unconditionally but it sometimes makes me feel that you question my intelligence (and) think I'm an idiot in ways."

Madix says she would never be with Sandoval if she thought he was "an idiot." He says that he feels like he annoys Madix sometimes.

She says, "Well Tom, you annoy me on purpose."

"I'm saying when I'm not, when I'm not doing it on purpose," he explains.

Madix lightens the mood a bit, and before the scene ends, she says, "Well Tom, we've been together for a long time. I can only imagine how annoying I am."

In the last few scenes of the episode, Leviss shows up at Lala Kent's birthday party. As Maloney complains about Leviss crashing, Sandoval seems to come to her defense.

"You get a lot of joy out of Raquel as well, I think," Maloney says before bringing up Lewber's earlier observation of seeing Leviss and Sandoval out dancing late at night.

"Dude, what the f--- are you saying? Get the f- out of here, man," he responds.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
For many music fans, any day can be Record Store Day. Even if every vinyl album, CD and cassette being produced in 2023 can be found online in nanoseconds, theres still nothing like going into a shop and browsing the bins while chatting with an in-the-know clerk whos probably at least as big a music nerd as you are.

The officially-designated Record Store Day, however  the next one happens Saturday, April 22  ratchets that nerddom all the way up to 11. Artists past and present, world-famous and largely-obscure, are featured in unique Record Store Day vinyl releases that draw collectors willing to wait in huge lines to scoop them up.

Five northern Vermont shops are among hundreds nationwide who took a pledge saying they will sell only to in-person customers, not to gouge them, or hold product back to sell them online, according to the Record Store Day website. The Burlington Free Press asked each of them by email which releases theyre especially excited about this go-round. (All responded except for Buch Spieler Records in Montpelier, which did not reply to several requests for information.)

Buch Spieler Records in Montpelier, shown March 8, 2023.

If you cant make it to these stores on April 22, dont forget that theyre there all year round for those moments when the impersonal internet algorithm just doesnt cut it.

Burlington Records on College Street, shown April 6, 2023.

Burlington Records

Ian Doerner, owner

I'm looking forward to the David Byrne Catherine Wheel release. It was originally released on a single disc LP back in the 80s but was only the abridged score so they could fit it onto 1 single disc. After discovering the recording in the mid-2000s, I found a copy on a CD and lo and behold, there were tons more songs than I knew of before. The full version is significantly better than the abridged version, so this finally being released as the full 2 disc LP version is music to my ears. Super pumped! RSD has a pretty good selection this year, and we are excited to participate.

Burlington Records, 194 College St., Burlington. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Saturday. (802) 881-0303, www.burlingtonrecords.com

Exile on Main Street, Barre

Sandy Thurston, owner

Personally, I dont usually zoom in on any particular releases. I enjoy checking them all out when they get here. My customers thus far are looking forward to Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Van Halen, Eric Carr, Jason Isbell, Ringo Starr, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam and Dolly Parton, to mention a few. I have a couple of people who would like the John Lennon but it will be a miracle if I get my hands on that!

Exile on Main Street, 94 N. Main St., Barre. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. (802) 479-3107.

DJ Taka presents a set at Autumn Records during the Waking Windows festival in Winooski on May 5, 2019.

Autumn Records, Winooski

Greg Davis, owner

Im looking forward to Albert Ayler, Chet Baker, Arooj Aftab, Miles Davis, Brian Eno, Max Roach / Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, & Ali Farka Toure!!

Autumn Records, 11 E. Allen St., Winooski. noon-6 p.m. daily. (802) 399-2123, www.autumnrecordsvt.com

Pure Pop Records, Burlington

Michael Crandall, store manager

Jerry Harrison, Ian McCulloch, Various (Artists) Jazz Dispensary, Dolly Parton.

Pure Pop Records, 115 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington. Noon-6:30 p.m. Monday; 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. (802) 658-2652, www.purepoprecords.com

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Record Store Day arrives with unique vinyl albums at Vermont shops
After working together for nearly one decade, three former managing directors of Amex Ventures in early 2022 branched out to form their own fintech-focused venture firm, Vesey Ventures. The trio had made early investments in more than 50 fintech companies, including the likes of Stripe, Plaid, Melio and Trulioo. During that time, they also helped engineer over 100 partnerships between startups and financial services institutions.

Their goal was to take that 10 years of experience investing through the venture capital arm of one of the worlds largest credit card companies, and apply it firsthand to new early-stage investments -- but with a twist. The firm says its intent is to go beyond term sheets to issuing bespoke Strategy Sheets, which outline how Vesey Ventures aims to leverage its network to act as a companys first business development team. In other words, it wants to invest in early-stage fintech and enabling technology companies where opportunities for early partnerships with financial incumbents exist.

And today, the firm -- formed by founding partners and friends Dana Eli-Lorch, Lindsay Fitzgerald and Julia Huang, who all left AMEX Ventures at the same time in late 2021 -- has announced the closure of its $78 million debut fund. They named the firm Vesey Ventures after the street where American Express has its headquarters in New York. (They declined to say whether Amex is a limited partner in the new fund.)

Veseys self-described mission is to back companies transforming financial services at the seed to Series B stages. It plans to invest $1.5 million to $3 million as initial checks, and larger amounts for follow-ons. Based in the United States and Israel, the fund has so far backed five startups, including Coast, Cyrus, Grain, Equi and Proper.

Vesey defines fintech in its broadest sense -- meaning that it invests outside of traditional categories of financial services such as consumer and B2B, said Eli-Lorch in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. It also looks at vertical software, embedded fintech, the future of commerce and the infrastructure layer -- basically, cybersecurity, risk and compliance, or, as Eli-Lorch describes it, all that back office operations of financial services.

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Another lens that we take is basically any type of technology software innovation that sells into financial services, meaning either financial institutions or fintechs, she said.

Bridging a gap

The founding partners all agreed on one thing when starting the new firm: that it was clear that startups with better business development strategies had better outcomes.

And that's ultimately the insight that we built a thesis on, said Fitzgerald. In this industry, this development is not a nice to have, it is a need to have. 

The traditional corporate VC model can be limiting, though, so we saw an opportunity, she added. We took the best of what was clearly working -- business development, our team, our network -- including other VCs and angels, and expanded on itto sort of bridge the gap between companies in need of new technologies and the startups building those new technologies.

Today, the partners recognize an interesting phenomenon taking place -- senior execs of what they describe as "gen one" fintech startups. And, despite the recent volatility the fintech space has seen in the past couple of years (funding was down significantly in 2022 compared to the heyday of 2021), Vesey is naturally long-term bullish on fintech.

You only need to look at the past quarter of volatility and upheaval in the financial services industry to really reference that there are many, many problems that still need to be solved, Huang told TechCrunch. Having said that, things are cyclical...its like when the tide goes out, you see who's sort of naked right? And for us, that is the infrastructure layer...that we always help our companies build and reinforce so that they can become trusted financial institutions for the long term. That has become a really important pillar, and now its back in vogue.

Huang also acknowledges that in 2021, the trio stepped back from investing because it was getting way too frothy.

Every company was sort of a me too company, she recalls. So we decided to take a step back and think about our value proposition and what has legs and what doesn't."

Vesey intentionally chose to be on the ground in Israel (Eli-Lorch is based there), a market the partners view as being home to one of the worlds fastest growing tech hubs, with many companies focused on fintech, enterprise software, cybersecurity and data. It aims to help startups there partner, expand and commercialize in the U.S.

The new firm is staying mum about its LPs, saying only they include seven very prominent financial institutions, as well as founders and executives from financial incumbents, family offices and institutional investors.

Reporter's note: This story originally reported that Vesey Venturess debut fund represented a more than doubling of all money raised by women-led firms so far this year - but this is no longer accurate. On April 18, Define Ventures announced it had raised $460 million across two funds.

Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up here.

Got a news tip or inside information about a topic we covered? Wed love to hear from you. You can reach me at maryann@techcrunch.com. Or you can drop us a note at tips@techcrunch.com. Happy to respect anonymity requests.
The Morgan project could sit 13miles (22km) from the Isle of Man

People are being asked to share their views on proposals for three wind farm developments in the Irish Sea.

Plans could see more than 200 wind turbines installed between the Isle of Man and England and Wales.

The energy companies behind the projects, which are named Morgan, Mona and Morecambe, said the projects could power the equivalent of over three million homes.

But concerns have previously been raised that the developments could disrupt rough weather ferry routes.

In November, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company boss Brian Thomson described the plans as a "potential threat" to key sea routes.

The Morgan and Mona proposals have been developed by BP and German energy firm EnBW, while Spanish company Cobra and Scottish wind power developer Flotation Energy are behind the Morecambe wind farm plans.

Energy firms have plans for three wind farm projects in the Irish Sea

Three statutory consultations are seeking comments on the impact of equipment to generate and transport electricity for the Mona project, which would connect to the national grid in Wales, and wind turbines for the Morgan and Morecambe farms.

Another non-statutory consultation asks for feedback on undersea cables connecting Morecambe and Morgan to the grid via Penwortham in Lancashire.

Questions asked seek opinions on a range of factors such as the visual impact of turbines and how marine life might be affected.

Richard Haydock from BP said the surveys were "the next step" for the projects and the supply of "home-grown renewable energy".

Development permissions are expected to be submitted by the companies for each project in 2024.

In May, events will be hosted in north west England, the Isle of Man and Wales for people to learn more about the proposals, meanwhile the consultations are available online until 4 June.

Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to IsleofMan@bbc.co.uk
Escambia Circuit Judge Jennie Kinsey sentenced a Pensacola man to life in prison after he was found guilty of regularly raping three children over a six-year period.

Kinsey levied the life sentence on 65-year-old James Randall Moehle after a jury found him guilty Jan. 12 on six counts of custodian sexual battery of a victim between 12 and 18 years old and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim between 12 and 16 years old. The abuse occurred between 2008 and 2014.

"A victim and survivor of child abuse will never be the same after their traumatic experience, and this defendant should never be allowed to carry on with his life like normal," said Assistant State Attorney Carrie Gilmore. "We are here for his punishment, and that is why the state is asking the court to designate him a sexual predator ... and sentence the defendant to life in state prison."

Moehle convicted: Pensacola man convicted of molesting three children for 'several years'

Activist arrested: Pensacola environment activist and former ECUA candidate charged with felony assault

During the sentencing hearing, all three victims, who the News Journal will not name to keep their identities anonymous, chose to make a statement to the court, describing what Moehle's "disgusting" actions have caused in their lives.

"Daily tasks, such as taking a shower, have become monument tasks for me because of the countless times (Moehle) would sneak into the bathroom while I was in the shower," the first victim told the court. "I struggle to live a normal life, because I have no concept of what a normal life is."

The second victim told the court about her diagnosed childhood post traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety due to Moehle's actions.

"(Moehle) has done evil and horrible things," the second victim said. "It is my hope that he remain in prison so he can never again hurt anyone the way he hurt me."

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James Moehle waits in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Jennie Kinsey for sentencing after he was found guilty on Jan. 13 of molesting three children for eight years.

The final victim told the court that the whole situation has kept her speechless while "trying to express this pain and trauma."

"The horrors that ... I endured can only be described as vile, evil and disgusting," the third victim told the court. "(Moehle) is a sick and twisted man who has no concern or remorse for the severe trauma and abuse he inflicted on (us), and I have no doubt he would continue to ruin more lives without a second thought given the chance."

One of Moehle's attorneys, Barry Beroset, told the court that Moehle's wife maintains his innocence and that it's "incredible" that no one else in the house saw or heard what happened.

"When you look at the evidence in this case and what we tried to present is that the allegations occurred so many times, hundreds if not thousands of times, but not one person saw it," Beroset told the court. "I think that's incredible."

The statutory minimum sentence Kinsey could have given was 421.5 months, or just over 35 years, in state prison, but she decided to levy the maximum. Moehle will also be designated as a sexual predator.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola man James Moehle gets life in prison for raping children
Villa Aurora is at the centre of a dispute between Princess Rita Jenrette and the sons of her ex-husband

A US-born princess has been evicted from a villa in Rome housing the only ceiling mural by the artist Caravaggio.

Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi called her eviction from Villa Aurora a "travesty".

The property has been at the centre of an inheritance dispute between Princess Rita and the sons of her ex-husband, who died in 2018.

As part of the row, it was previously put up for auction for 471m (394m), but attracted no bids.

In a video posted to social media, Princess Rita said she was being "brutally evicted from a home which I have lovingly taken care of for the past 20 years," adding that the move was "illegal" and "unnecessary".

"Someone said it's because I'm a woman and I'm American - I don't know," she said, before adding that it was "all about money, obviously".

The eviction notice was issued in January by a Rome court, which said Princess Rita had failed to maintain the building following the collapse of an outside wall. It also said she had violated a previous order forbidding her from giving paid tours of the mansion.

She told Reuters news agency in January that the tours were organised to raise money for maintenance.

Caravaggio's mural depicts Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto

The legal battle began after the death in 2018 of Prince Nicolo Ludovisi Boncompagni, a descendant of Pope Gregory XIII, who was head of the family which has owned Villa Aurora for generations.

Princess Rita's dispute is with Prince Nicolo's three sons from his first marriage.

She has argued that her late husband's will gives her the right to live in Villa Aurora for the rest of her life, and that if sold, the proceeds would be split between her and her stepsons.

However, an agreement could not be reached between the parties and a court ruled that an auction should be held. The princess says she would like the villa to be owned by the state.

The highlight of the six-storey villa's many treasures is the painting by the 16th and 17th Century artist Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio.

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The oil painting depicts the gods Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, with the world at its centre and marked by signs of the zodiac. The artist is said to have painted the gods to look like himself.

It is the world's only surviving Caravaggio mural, itself estimated to have a value of 310m. It was painted in 1597 after the villa's first owner commissioned it for his alchemy room.

Remarkably, the painting was only discovered in the late 1960s, before which it had been covered up.

However, Villa Aurora got its name from another of the property's artworks, a fresco painted by the Italian Baroque artist Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino. The painting depicts the goddess Aurora, or Dawn, on her chariot.

Art-lovers are demanding that the Italian government buys the villa so that its many treasures can be made available for public viewing.

Princess Rita, born as Rita Carpenter in Texas, worked as an actor and journalist in the United States, before moving into the property business.

But after marrying Prince Nicolo and moving to Italy, she dedicated her life to the restoration of Villa Aurora, which was in a state of disrepair when she first saw it in 2003, she says.
TikTokers mimicking Wes Anderson's film style to romanticize everyday life. Screengrabs/avawillyums, irinahp

TikTokers are romanticizing daily life by filming everyday activities like Wes Anderson movies.

The #wesanderson trend features symmetrical videos, vintage fonts, color blocking and chirpy music.

Most of the videos use the same sound, a soundtrack from Anderson's 2021 film "The French Dispatch."

A curious and visually-pleasing trend is emerging on TikTok  people filming the mundane happenings of their everyday lives as though they are the main characters of Wes Anderson movies.

The videos feature people filming their surroundings in Anderson's signature style, using warm color grading, and symmetry.

TikToker Ava Williams was one of the people who spearheaded the trend  she posted a video on April 8 of herself riding on a train with a warm red interior.

"You better not be acting like you're in a Wes Anderson film when I get there," the text at the beginning of the video says.

It then cuts to a title card and aesthetically pleasing shots of her taking the "first train along the Shoreline East To Grand Central Terminal."

As of press time, Williams' TikTok had been viewed 11.8 million times and liked more than 2.2 million times. It received comments like: "What scene in grand Budapest hotel is this from??" a reference to Anderson's 2014 film.

Other TikTokers quickly jumped on the #wesanderson bandwagon.

A TikToker named Josh Rimmey filmed his day in his carpentry shop.

Other TikTokers filmed everything from lunch dates with their partners to weekend getaways, all in the same cinematic style.

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Most of the videos following the trend use the same sound  "Obituary" by Alexandre Desplat  an upbeat soundtrack from Anderson's 2021 film, "The French Dispatch."

Representatives for Anderson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Insider
PANAMA CITY  Along with a list of elected positions, a handful of referendums also appeared on ballots for the 2023 municipal elections.

According to the Bay County Supervisor of Election's website, residents voted on referendums in Panama City, Lynn Haven and Panama City Beach.

Here's what we know:

Bay County residents across three municipalities voted on multiple referendums in the 2023 municipal elections on Tuesday.

What did Panama City voters decide?

A referendum was approved in Panama City to allow property tax exemptions for select new and expanding businesses within the city limits.

Almost 53%, or 2,183 residents, voted in favor of the exemptions, while more than 47% or 1,969 residents voted against.

The approved tax exemptions were offered in Panama City for about three decades before the 2021 municipal elections, when they were turned down by residents. The same benefits are offered in unincorporated Bay County and Lynn Haven.

Officials have said they play a crucial role in helping the Bay Economic Development Alliance attract new industries to the area. Tax breaks will be given only to select businesses that apply and qualify for them.

Election results: Unofficial results are in: Who won in the 2023 municipal elections in Bay County?

Local projects: FDOT projects will cause traffic delays this week near Northwest Florida Beaches airport

What did Lynn Haven voters decide?

Four referendums were approved in Lynn Haven, with one of the most anticipated setting a two consecutive term limit for members of the Lynn Haven Commission.

Before Tuesday, the city did not have any term limits listed in its city charter. A total of 88%, or 2,750 voters, were in favor of the limits, while 12%, or 374 voters, were against.

The other three referendums:

To mandate periodic charter reviews every five years, require background checks for the city manager and department heads, allow 30 days to fill commission vacancies, clarify the canvass of returns for elections, and approve formatting and grammatical revisions of the charter. More than 92% (2,885 residents) voted in favor of this referendum.

To fix compensation for the mayor and commissioners, rather than the city commission having the ability to set those rates. More than 80% (2,495 residents) voted in favor.

To approve the appointment of a mayor pro tempore and interim city manager to serve in the absence of the mayor and city manager. Almost 85% (2,623 residents) voted in favor.

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What did Panama City Beach residents decide?

Panama City Beach residents were the only local voters to reject referendums in the 2023 municipal elections. Two proposed referendums were shot down for the Beach.

Both would have allowed the city to purchase select goods and services without going through a competitive bidding process. The city instead would have hired a broker to find the best and most affordable deals in each category.

One referendum was for insurance purchases, which only 30.61% (165 residents) favored. The other was for software and IT purchases. Only 35% (189 residents) were in favor.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: How did referendums on the 2023 municipal election ballot fare?
In a recent poll, The Star asked readers to name their favorite dispensary in the Kansas City metro.

Out of more than 5,000 votes, Stairway Cannabis based in Blue Springs was the top-voted dispensary out of the nine nominated dispensaries.

Stairway Cannabis is a local dispensary aimed at using marijuana to help empower people to make healthy choices for a happy and holistic lifestyle, according to the business website.

We are all about making our patients and adult consumers feel like one of the familythe word strange isnt even in our vocabulary, the website reads.

Stairway Cannabis racked in 2,110 votes from readers, knocking out From the Earth Dispensaries by only 22 votes.

That means the world to us here, Stairway Cannabis Budtender Christian Williams told The Star. We try our best to make sure that were doing the best for the community.

This week Stairway Cannabis hosted a Spirit Week leading up to 4/20. Thursdays theme will be Pajama Day. All customers who stop by with pajamas on will receive 25% on their purchase. There will also be special giveaways and snacks.

Stairway Cannabis is located at 490 SW MO-7 Highway in Blue Springs.

(We want to) make sure people feel comfortable and they like the experience when they walk in and out because in the end thats what matters, thats what brings back business and what makes people happy, Williams said.

Coming in at a close second with 2,088, From the Earth is a dispensary franchise based in both Missouri and California. From the Earth has five local locations, including three in Kansas City, one in Independence and one in Raytown.

The dispensary prides itself on being built with community in mind and being made up of Missouri locals of all ages and walks of life, according to its website.

Greenlight Marijuana Dispensary, Fresh Karma and BesaMe Wellness came in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively. See how all the nine nominated dispensaries stacked up below and where you can visit them.

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1. Stairway Cannabis

490 SW MO-7 Highway in Blue Springs.

2. From the Earth

1222 McGee St., Kansas City

2918 Southwest Blvd., Kansas City

6200 Troost Ave., Kansas City

9010 E. State Route 350, Raytown

19341 E. US Highway 40, Independence

3. Greenlight Marijuana Dispensary

4900 Bannister Road, Kansas City

3721 S. Noland Road, Independence

4. Fresh Karma

240 Linwood Blvd., Kansas City

10915 NW 45 Highway, Parkville

5. BesaMe Wellness

5901 NW Barry Road, Kansas City

1041 Burlington St., North Kansas City

5918 Southview Drive, Liberty

13500 US 69, Smithville

219 W Young St., Warrensburg

6. The Forest Dispensary

706 Westport Road, Kansas City

7. ReLeaf Resources Dispensary

13836 S. US 71 Highway, Grandview

8. Elevate Missouri

4716 NE Vivion Road, Kansas City

5408 Prospect Ave., Kansas City

114 E. North Ave., Belton

9. Riverside Wellness

4403 NW Gateway Ave., Riverside
House lawmakers voted 56-42 to pass a final version of an assault weapons ban in Washington state on Wednesday, just days before the adjournment of the 2023 legislative session.

House Bill 1240 will now head for Gov. Jay Inslees desk, where he is all but certain to sign it. It will become law when signed, due to an emergency clause written into the legislation.

The measure will ban the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, or offer for sale of any assault weapon in the state of Washington.

Sponsored by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, the proposal is also co-sponsored by 25 other Democratic lawmakers in the House at the request of Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Because changes were made to the legislation in the Senate during the floor debate on April 8, it was sent back to the House for concurrence where one amendment was ruled beyond the scope and object of the bill.

That amendment was introduced by Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Wooley, and would have provided exceptions to the ban for military retirees moving to the state and active duty military members on orders to Washington.

House lawmakers instead asked the Senate to withdraw the amendment. Senate lawmakers on Tuesday receded the amendments, the bill was placed back on second reading, and the amendments were re-debated.

The bill passed the Senate again on Tuesday with a 28-21 vote.

An amendment was adopted by Senate lawmakers that clarified the definition of importation. That clarification said that individuals who live in Washington but travel back and forth from other states with the assault weapons they currently own would not be importing the weapons.

Additionally, the amendment clarifies that dealers in the state can still sell or transfer stock that was acquired prior to Jan. 1 of this year for up to 90 days after the bill goes into effect, but that stock can only be sold or transferred out of state.

Votes to concur on the bill crossed some party lines, with House Democratic lawmakers Rep. Alicia Rule, D-Blaine, and Rep. Clyde Shavers, D-Oak Harbor, voting against the bill.

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Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, spoke against the legislation on the floor Wednesday.

He said that every time lawmakers are re-elected they must give an oath of office to uphold the state constitution, and that the Washington constitution is more clear than the federal one about rights of the individual to bear arms in defense of themselves from the state.

Thats pretty clear, yet we keep chipping away at what our firearm rights really are, Dent said.

He said the legislation bothered him because it came forward without any input from his party, and that both parties should be working together on issues such as behavioral health and substance abuse instead.

In House debates last month, the bills prime sponsor said he first introduced the legislation after a 2016 shooting in Mukilteo that killed three and wounded another. The shooter used an AR-15.

This has been happening in our communities and happening around the state and around the country for far too long, Peterson said.

He noted mass shooting statistics in the U.S.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, 693 mass shootings occurred in 2021. In 2022, there were 647 mass shootings. As of Wednesday April 19, 163 mass shootings had been recorded in the U.S. for the 2023 year. According to ABC News, there have been more mass shootings than days this year.

Weve seen the kids walking out of school, weve seen the kids amassed on the mall in Washington, D.C., Peterson said. We see them, we hear them, we have to pass this legislation.

Lawmakers included several specific types of assault weapons in the bill that would be banned, regardless of which company produced and manufactured the firearm:

AK-47 in all forms

AK-74 in all forms

Algimec AGM-1 type semiautomatic

American Arms Spectre da semiautomatic carbine

AR15, M16, or M4 in all forms

AR 180 type semiautomatic

Argentine L.S.R. semiautomatic

Australian Automatic

Auto-Ordnance Thompson M1 and 1927 semiautomatics

Barrett .50 cal light semiautomatic

Barrett .50 cal M87

Barrett .50 cal M107A1

Barrett REC7

Beretta AR70/S70 type semiautomatic

Bushmaster Carbon 15

Bushmaster ACR

Bushmaster XM-15

Bushmaster MOE

Calico models M100 and M900

CETME Sporter 4CIS SR 88 type semiautomatic

Colt CAR 15

Daewoo K-1

Daewoo K-2

Dragunov semiautomatic

Fabrique Nationale FAL in all forms

Fabrique Nationale F2000

Fabrique Nationale L1A1 Sporter

Fabrique Nationale M249S

Fabrique Nationale PS90

Fabrique Nationale SCAR

FAMAS .223 semiautomatic

Galil Heckler & Koch G3 in all forms

Heckler & Koch HK-41/91

Heckler & Koch HK-43/93

Heckler & Koch HK94A2/3

Heckler & Koch MP-5 in all forms

Heckler & Koch PSG-1 Heckler & Koch SL8

Heckler & Koch UMP

Manchester Arms Commando MK-45

Manchester Arms MK-9

SAR-4800

SIG AMT SG510 in all forms

SIG SG550 in all forms

SKS Spectre M4

Springfield Armory BM-59

Springfield Armory G3

Springfield Armory SAR-8

Springfield Armory SAR-48

Springfield Armory SAR-3

Springfield Armory M-21 sniper

Springfield Armory M1A 7Smith & Wesson M&P 15

Sterling Mk 1

Sterling Mk 6/7

Steyr AUG

TNW M230

FAMAS F11

Uzi 9mm carbine/rifle

The legislation further defines assault weapons as semiautomatic rifles with an overall length of less than 30 inches; conversion kits and parts that can be used to assemble an assault weapon or convert a firearm into an assault weapon, if the parts are in the possession of or under the control of the same person; semiautomatic centerfire rifles that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic centerfire rifles with a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds; semiautomatic pistols that have the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and have one or more additional features listed in the bill; semiautomatic shotguns that have one or more additional features listed in the bill.

Some of those additional features listed in the legislation include folding or telescoping stocks, flash suppressors, muzzle brakes and thumbhole stocks.

According to Giffords Law Center, nine other states including Hawaii, California and New York, as well as the District of Columbia, have passed general assault weapons bans.

The last day of the legislative session is Sunday, April 23.
Over the past several years, Washington state has been reckoning with an affordable housing crisis. Earlier this year, Gov. Jay Inslee proposed funneling $4 billion of the states budget toward affordable housing reform. Overall, the topic of reasonable housing has been a hot-button issue for Washingtonians, and has been a prominent point of discussion for writers at The News Tribune.

Over the past three years, average home prices in Tacoma have risen in value by over $100,000. Tacomas median home sale price has soared to a whopping $460,000, according to real estate website Redfin. The average price dropped from over $500,000 in June 2022 to $425,000 in December. The rate has been rising ever since.

If these dollar amounts seem steep, its because they are.

In fact, according to a new report from personal finance website Moneywise, which found that Washingtonians pay the third-highest down payments for homes. The study examined all 50 states median house prices and calculated a down payment of 13%, which is the average down payment percentage, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Across the U.S., average home down payments hover around $43,870. But Washingtonians should expect to cough up significantly more cash to settle into a home. Moneywise calculated the nations median house prices on Zillow and found that Washingtons median home value is $595,732, a sum much higher than Tacomas average. Down payments in the Evergreen State average around $77,445.

Compare Washington to West Virginia, which boasts upfront house payments of just $16,783  a rate four times cheaper than Washingtons. The report states the Mountain State is the most affordable place in America for first-time home buyers, with its average home price gravitating around $129,000.

The only states more expensive than Washington are Hawaii, which processes down payments exceeding $110,000  nearly the same amount of money of an entire West Virginia home  and California, just shy of hitting $100,000 cash payments at $98,900.

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Puget Sound regions median house sale prices

Despite Redfin finding the median sale price of a house in Tacoma to be $425,000, that figure shifts depending on where in the city youre looking at homes. The following graph uses data from Zillows home value index and automatically updates every month:

ZIP code 98408, which encompasses sections of central and south Tacoma, has an average home value of $410,407. But ZIP codes in northern Tacoma, near Proctor and Stadium districts, have median home values exceeding $500,000.

Cities surrounding Tacoma, such as Puyallup and Graham, also have home prices above $500,000. But ZIP codes in University Place, Federal Way and northeast Tacoma garner median house prices that close in on or rise above $600,000.

Other high-priced states

Although buying a home in Washington is becoming pricier every month so far this year, the Evergreen State isnt the worst off. Here are the top ten most-expensive states for median home prices:
Members of the infamous Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) illegally deported several families with minor children from the city of Bakhmut in April. A total of three boys and one girl have been deported.

Source: Ukraines Prosecutor General's Office

Quote: "Prosecutors have found a video while monitoring the media and pro-Russian Telegram channels.

On 16 April 2023, members of the infamous Wagner PMC, guided by their leader, illegally deported two families of local residents, including two minor children, from Bakhmut."

Details: The juvenile prosecutors of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office launched a pre-trial investigation into the violation of laws and customs of war (Art. 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

It has also been established that on 17-18 April 2023, two more families of Bakhmut residents with minor children were taken from the city by armed Wagner Group fighters to an unknown destination.

A total of three boys and one girl have been illegally deported.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Officials have released new details on how to buy the new Walt Disney World annual pass.

STORY: Victim not hurt after armed robbery attempt at UNF, campus police say

Channel 9 reported earlier this month the resort plans to sell new passes starting Thursday.

The new sales will include the Disney Incredi-Pass, Disney Sorcerer Pass and Disney Pirate Pass.

New sales of those passes were paused in November 2021.

We are so grateful for our Passholders who have a deep, strong connection to Walt Disney World, and we are looking forward to welcoming more of you to the Annual Passholder family, just in time to experience the feelings of a Disney Thrill this spring and summer, officials said in their announcement.

STORY: Officials apologize after Emergency Alert test sent in error to cell phones at 4:45 a.m.

You can get passes online, starting at 6 a.m. Thursday.

Disney says it is only selling a limited number of passes, so they could sell out quickly.

Heres what you need to know about each pass:

Disney Pixie Dust Pass

$399 plus tax

Eligibility: Florida Residents only

Use: Reservation-based admission most weekdays (subject to blockout dates including peak and holiday periods)

Benefits: Up to 20% off select dining and merchandise

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Disney Pirate Pass

$749 plus tax

Eligibility: Florida Residents only

Use: Reservation-based admission most days (subject to blockout dates including peak and holiday periods)

Benefits: Up to 20% off select dining and merchandise

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Disney Sorcerer Pass

$969 plus tax

Eligibility: Eligible Disney Vacation Club Members or Florida Residents only

Use: Reservation-based admission most days (subject to blockout dates including select holiday periods)

Benefits: Up to 20% off select dining and merchandise

STORY: Rapid unscheduled disassembly: SpaceX Starship explodes after test flight launch

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Disney Incredi-Pass

$1,399 plus tax

Eligibility: All guests

Use: Reservation-based admission. No blockout dates apply.

Benefits: Up to 20% off select dining and merchandise

STORY: 121 Financial Credit Union to merge with Vystar Credit Union

You can click here to learn more.

CLICK HERE for the original WFTV article.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories
Warmer weather has started to become the trend in the Miami Valley, and people will surely enjoy the sun, but they have to be on the lookout for parasites.

Ticks and Mosquitoes are back, and News Center 7s Kayla McDermott spoke with one local expert about the dangerous disease they can carry.

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Inside John Bryan State Park, people are hiking and picnicking. However, this is a breeding ground for ticks and mosquitos. You might think ticks are just creepy or mosquitoes are a nuisance, but they can be much more.

We have had over 500 cases of Lyme disease in Ohio in the last two years, Larry Shaffer said.

Shaffer is the Director of Environmental Health at the Clark County Combined Health District. He said blacklegged ticks that carry Lyme disease are new to our area.

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Theyve not been in southwest Ohio, Shaffer said.

They have been spotting more over the last few years.

Now they have the opportunity to get Lyme disease right here, Shaffer said.

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Lance Harper was out with his family Thursday.

I did find my first one. My dog yesterday came home with a tick, Harper said.

He makes a point to check for ticks.

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We definitely check him once he gets inside and ourselves, but luckily, I havent had any problems, Harper said.

Ticks that are not found make themselves known if they carry Lyme disease. A skin reaction that looks like a bullseye and other symptoms pop up.

It can go on to cause chronic diseases such as chronic joint pain, chronic inflammation, and problems really for the rest of your life, Shaffer said.

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Story continues

The treatment for Lyme disease is antibiotics if you catch it soon enough.

Get to the doctor. Get the prescription for antibiotics and get that taken care of, Shaffer said.

Shaffer said to prevent mosquitos, use spray or wear long sleeves, but if you have a tick on you, use tweezers to take the tick off by the head and then send it to your local public health to see if it had any diseases.
Lawmakers in Washington state have passed a bill that would ban assault weapons in the state, with some exceptions, putting it on the verge of becoming one of the few states that have broad restrictions on the weapons.

The bill, which was given final approval by the House on Wednesday after passing the Senate earlier this month, places a ban on at least 60 types of assault weapons and would go into effect immediately with the signature of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D).

The legislation provides notable exceptions to the ban, including not affecting the weapons that are owned by people in the state or those who inherit them. It also would allow law enforcement agencies to continue to purchase such weapons.

Inslee, who voted for a national assault weapon ban when he was in Congress in the 1990s, said he intends to sign the bill.

WA does not and will not accept gun violence as normal, Inslee said on Twitter after the bill passed. Banning the sale of assault weapons, our bill to enact training requirements and a wait period, and the bill to improve accountability of manufacturers and retailers will save lives.

Even with the exceptions built into the bill, it would be one of the most comprehensive statewide bans on assault weapons in the country.

The move to pass the bill in Washington comes after several headline-making mass shootings in the U.S. that have included the use of assault weapons, including a shooting at a private school in Tennessee earlier this year that left three children and three adults dead and an attack at a bank in Kentucky that killed five.

There have been 165 mass shootings in the first 110 days of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The signing of the bill would see Washington join nine other states  including California and New York, and the District of Columbia  that have broad restrictions on assault weapons, according to Giffords Law Center.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Three previous explosions of Starship prototypes. Gene Blevins/Reuters; SPadre.com

SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded above Texas on its first attempted orbital launch.

But this isn't Starship's first explosion. Four other prototypes have blown up on smaller flights.

Even Elon Musk anticipated this, previously hinting that there was a 50% chance it would explode.

SpaceX's Starship rocket  which is supposed to realize Elon Musk's dream of building a human settlement on Mars  exploded into a giant fireball on Thursday, when it launched toward orbit for the first time.

The space exploration company launched Starship from its base in Boca Chica, Texas. This wasn't the first time SpaceX has launched one of its Starship rockets, but it was the first time it launched both Starship and its Super Heavy booster together, in an attempt to reach orbit.

The Starship blasted off from Texas this morning, but exploded less than 3 minutes later. PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

But about 3 minutes after liftoff, the booster failed to separate from the spaceship, and the mega-rocket tumbled back toward Earth and exploded in flames  an outcome that Musk himself had anticipated.

Watch the rocket's nail-biting final minutes in the video below:

"I think it's got, I don't know, hopefully about a 50% chance of reaching orbit," Musk said in an interview at the Morgan Stanley Conference in March. "I'm not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement," he said, adding, "Won't be boring!"

SpaceX is no stranger to exploding Starships. The company first tested the spaceship's unprecedented ability to launch and land itself in 2020, and four of the early prototypes flew into the Texas skies and exploded, crashed to the ground in a fireball, or exploded in flames after landing.

There's spectacular video footage of each incident. Here's the first one:

In that first test flight, on December 9, 2020, a Starship prototype called Starship serial no. 8, or SN8, soared about 7 miles above SpaceX's Texas facilities. It hovered at the peak of its flight for about 30 seconds, then cut its engine and belly-flopped toward the ground.

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The rocket reignited its engines in an attempt to quickly turn itself upright. But it wasn't powerful enough, and it slammed into the concrete landing pad, crumpling and exploding.

The next prototype, SN9, met a similar fate just a few months later on February 2, 2021. This time, though, it seemed that one engine was faulty, causing the ship to lean to its other side and hit a concrete pad at an angle, exploding its remaining fuel reserves.

The third prototype, SN10, landed in one piece on March 3, 2021. But a fire persisted around the rocket's skirt. About 10 minutes after landing, an explosion thrust the rocket back into the air and slammed it back to the ground.

Later that month, on March 30, SpaceX's fourth attempt, SN11, also blew up, raining down debris. SpaceX cut out its broadcast before that happened, but a live feed from NASASpaceflight showed debris falling around the foggy pad.

SpaceX finally landed its fifth prototype with no explosions on May 5, 2021.

Now the company may have to undergo a similar process of trial-and-error with Starship atop its Super Heavy booster. There could be more explosions to come before the historic launch system reaches space.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Modesto area can expect several days into the low 80s, but not a sudden warming that speeds up the snowmelt.

The National Weather Service forecast a high of 79 degrees Thursday. Friday looks to be near 80, too, followed by highs between 79 and 83 through Wednesday, April 26.

Thats ideal weather for celebrating Earth Day on Saturday and for catching up on yardwork after the very rainy winter.

Too warm a spring could loosen the huge Sierra Nevada snowpack faster than the reservoirs and lower riverbeds can handle it. Thats not in the current projections from the California Department of Water Resources.

It said the Tuolumne River will be 0.4 feet below flood stage at the Ninth Street Bridge into next Tuesday morning. The managers of Don Pedro Reservoir control the flow. It might seem scary, but it is part of a coordinated system for preventing flooding around the Central Valley.

DWR expects the San Joaquin River to be 1.5 feet below flood stage at Vernalis into Tuesday. The Stanislaus River is well within its channel thanks to unused space in New Melones Reservoir.

The central Sierra snowpack was at 250% of the historical average as of Thursday, DWR said. The percentage is expected to shrink as the weather warms. The record is 230% in 1983, when spring storms added to the total and delayed the melt.

The Weather Service sees an above-average chance of storms from April 27 to May 12. Its too early to guess rain and snow totals if this pattern does emerge.

The week-ahead forecast shows no more chilly mornings, which were in the mid-40s as recorded by the Modesto Irrigation District downtown. Lows in the 50s are expected.

MID has reported 18.43 inches of rain in the water year that began July 1. The historical average is 12.12 inches. The record is 26.01 inches in 1982-83.
Properties in the outlined areas of west and southwest Jefferson County are being reassessed this year by the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration.

Its that time of year again. Homeowners in west and southwest Louisville will soon receive postcards in the mail telling them their homes new assessed value.

The Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration is reevaluating some 63,000 residential parcels this year, including single-family homes, condominiums, and undeveloped or vacant residential lots. About 8,000 commercial parcels in the area are also getting reassessed.

"There is a substantial increase in both of the areas thats due to the robust market and the higher prices that are coming from these bidding wars," said Colleen Younger, Jefferson County property valuation administrator, noting the degree of increase will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Here's what you need to know about this year's reassessment:

Why is my house being reassessed?

State law requires properties to be reassessed at least once every four years. The Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration is tasked with assessing Jefferson County properties. This value becomes the basis for your property taxes.

Outside of the two geographic areas up for reassessment this year, properties that were recently sold and those that had renovation permits pulled will also be reassessed.

How are properties reassessed?

Assessments are based on recent "fair arms-length" sales. The PVA compares recent sales of similar house types in the area to calculate the new assessed value. Typically, this analysis takes into account a year's worth of sales in the year before the assessment, meaning the 2023 assessment is based on 2022 sales.

Inspectors do not make house calls and inspect all homes throughout the county for annual reassessments. Field inspections happen when a property sells or is damaged, when a building or wrecking permit is issued, or by the owners request.

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Which areas are getting assessed this year?

The Jefferson County PVA divides the county into nine "market areas" that are grouped and reassessed once every four years. Property owners can use a tool on the PVAs website to see when their home will be reassessed.

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Areas being reassessed this year are west of Interstate 65, north of Interstate 264, and west of the railroad tracks that run parallel to Dixie Highway.

Market area one includes Louisvilles West End neighborhoods as well as Old Louisville and downtown.

Market area four includes western and southwest Jefferson County, covering Pleasure Ridge Park, Shively, Valley Station, Lake Dreamland, and Valley Village.

These areas were last assessed in 2019.

What is the homestead exemption?

Those 65 and older (and those turning 65 this year) can apply for a "homestead exemption," which helps reduce the amount property owners will pay in taxes on their primary residence.

The exemption amount for 2023-24 is $46,350, which is subtracted from a propertys assessed value, reducing the amount that gets taxed. This equates to between $533-$630 in savings, depending on which taxing jurisdiction a person lives in, according to the PVA.

This years exemption is up from 2021-22s amount of $40,500.

You must apply for the exemption as it is not automatically applied. You also need to have owned your home as of Jan. 1, 2023, to qualify for the exemption this year. One exemption is allowed per household.

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What is the disability exemption?

The disability exemption allows property owners who are classified as totally disabled under any public or private retirement system to receive a discount on their property taxes.

The exemption amount is the same as the homestead exemption.

Applicants need to maintain their disability classification for the whole year and have received disability payments. Online and print applications are available.

How much will my home's assessed value rise?

Against the backdrop of a hot housing market that saw steep rises in median home sale prices across the county, it's likely that assessed values will rise in this year's assessment.

"There will some values that decrease," Younger said. "I dont think its a substantial amount, but there will be some whose property values go down. But by and large, property values have increased over the last year and a half."

New values for 2023 will be released on April 21. The PVA will mail postcards to property owners, who can also check their new assessed value online at the PVA's website.

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Is my house being compared to the newly renovated house down the street?

The Jefferson County PVA has implemented a system intended to flag renovated homes (using permits and real estate listing descriptions) so they are only compared to other fixed-up homes.

"We do not compare those renovated house types to everyone else's," said Jason Hancock, PVA chief of staff.

When are property taxes due?

While the PVA is notifying homeowners about their reassessed property values in April, the tax bill based on those new values won't hit until Nov. 1.

This year's reassessment adds approximately $6 billion to the now-$85 billion tax assessment roll ($55 billion of which is from residential properties).

How does the West End Opportunity Partnership tie into property value reassessments?

Part of the legislation that created the West End Opportunity Partnership and the tax increment financing district also tasked the partnership with creating a program to assist homeowners with rising property taxes. This program is still in the planning stages but expected to be operational by the fall, said Interim Board President and CEO Laura Douglas.

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Is there an appeal process?

Yes, property owners have the right to appeal under state law if they believe the new assessment value doesnt reflect the fair market value of their property (the price it would sell for if put up for sale) as of Jan. 1, 2023.

The appeal period runs from noon on April 21 through 4 p.m. on May 15.

How do I appeal?

Those wishing to appeal need to first complete an "online conference," which can be completed online at jeffersonpva.ky.gov. Supporting documentation is required. For example, those wanting to show interior or exterior deferred maintenance should provide pictures of the home's condition. More information on the appeal process can be found on the PVA website.

In-person help with this process is also available at the following locations:

Shawnee Library, 3912 W. Broadway

WHEN: April 21: 12-4 p.m.; April 24-May 15 (Mondays-Fridays): 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Southwest Regional Library, 9725 Dixie Highway

WHEN: April 21: 12-4 p.m.; April 24-May 15 (Mondays-Fridays): 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

PVA Office, 815 W. Market St., suite 400

WHEN: April 21-May 12 (Mondays-Fridays): 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; May 6 and May 13: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Call 502-574-6224 to schedule.

Shively City Hall, 3920 Dixie Highway

WHEN: May 9: 5-7 p.m.

Republic Bank Foundation YMCA, 1720 W. Broadway

WHEN: May 11: 5-7 p.m.

Those with disabilities and without access to technology can set up a telephone conference with the PVA by calling 502-574-6224 by May 8.

Business reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at mglowicki@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4000 or on Twitter @mattglo.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 2023 property value reassessments in Louisville: Here's what to know
An illustrated image of a stack of books topped by a mortarboard alongside a coin PaperFox/Getty Images

Kiplinger logo

One way to make college more affordable is by attending an in-state college or university, which tend to have lower tuition than out-of-state schools or private colleges. Out-of-state tuition "can cost double, or even triple, the cost of in state tuition," according to Kiplinger.

However, the amount of savings in-state tuition offers can vary a lot state to state. While the cost of in-state tuition and fees can run as low as $6,370 in Florida, it will be nearly three times higher in Vermont, at $17,650 on average, Kiplinger reports, based on data from CollegeBoard.

If college savings are what you're after, here's a look at the states where in-state tuition is the cheapest, as well as some other tips for saving on college.

Which states have the least costly in-state tuition?

Based on data from Collegeboard, Kiplinger ranked the following states as those with the most affordable average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions:

1. Florida

Florida snagged the top spot for affordable in-state tuition. On average, in-state tuition and fees in Florida run $6,370, Kiplinger reports. Notable state schools in the Sunshine State include Florida State University and the University of Florida.

2. Wyoming

Wyoming lands second, with in-state tuition and fees averaging around $6,440. Students might also enjoy the views while they study  the University of Wyoming is situated in the Rocky Mountains.

3. North Carolina

In third is North Carolina. In-state tuition and fees run around $7,360, which is a bit of a step up in cost compared to Florida and Wyoming. However, North Carolina's academic offerings are impressive. Kiplinger reports that North Carolina State University "ranked the No. 1 college in North Carolina and also No. 10 in the nation for undergraduate entrepreneurship." Another option in North Carolina is the well-known University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

4. Montana

In Montana, in-state tuition and fees average $7,640. The state offers two "top-tier research universities," Kiplinger reports  the University of Montana and Montana State University.

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5. Utah

Utah, which has in-state tuition averaging $7,660, is home to both Utah State University and the University of Utah. Kiplinger notes that the former, Utah State University, "is one of 146 colleges in the nation with the Carnegie R1 classification, making it one of the highest level research institutions in the country."

How do you qualify for in-state tuition?

Of course, saving on college by snagging in-state tuition requires that you actually live in that state. To qualify, it's necessary to prove residency (and if you're a dependent, your parent(s) will also need to provide proof of residency). Generally, it's necessary to have lived in a state for 12 consecutive months prior to starting school to claim in-state tuition, though exact requirements can differ depending on the state.

If you're not a resident of the state, there's no way to get the lower sticker price offered to in-state residents. That's because public universities "receive a good deal of their funds from taxes paid by in-state residents," Kiplinger explains.

What are some other ways to save on college?

Of course, opting for an in-state school isn't the only way you can make college more affordable. If you're worried about college costs, here are some other expert tips for saving:

Use high school to your advantage. Sallie Mae recommends that students "plan ahead with high school classes," since "credit for your high school's Advanced Placement classes or credits for community college courses taken while in high school can transfer as college credits." The fewer classes you have to take when you're in college, the less you'll owe in tuition.

Get started at a community college. These tend to be less expensive than four-year colleges. Students can later transfer to a four-year college or university to finish out their degree. Sallie Mae just notes that students should make sure the college they're hoping to attend will allow them to transfer their credits.

Research regional tuition exchange programs. Students looking to attend a school not far from their home state may look into tuition reciprocity programs, which SoFi explains "is when states offer students from a partner state in-state tuition." For instance, Minnesota and Wisconsin have an agreement that offers in-state tuition rates to out-of-state students.

Reconsider living on campus. Instead of automatically signing up for on-campus living, students might first do some price-comparison shopping. See how much you could save by living at home and commuting to school, or even living off campus. "Depending on where your school is located and what the rental housing market is like, living off-campus may be less expensive than paying for on-campus housing," SoFi says.

Don't delay applying for financial aid. Last but certainly not least, don't drag your feet on applying for federal financial aid, which ranges from scholarships and grants to work study opportunities and federal student loans. Per SoFi, "some aid is awarded on a first-come-first-served basis, so applying early could potentially help you qualify for more aid than if you had applied closer to the deadline."

Becca Stanek has worked as an editor and writer in the personal finance space since 2017. She has previously served as the managing editor for investing and savings content at LendingTree, an editor at SmartAsset and a staff writer for The Week. This article is in part based on information first published on The Week's sister site, Kiplinger.com.

New Tax Rules for 2023: Download your free issue of The Kiplinger Tax Letter today. No information is required from you.

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President Joe Biden this week signed a new executive order promising to expand caregiver services for veterans, but some advocates say the move does not clear up uncertainty surrounding Veterans Affairs long-term support for those families.

During a White House ceremony on April 18, Biden said the new order on caregiver services included 50 separate actions by federal agencies designed to aid childcare workers, nurses, home care workers and family caregivers.

Nationwide, an estimated 5.5 million individuals are providing caregiver services to injured service members and veterans, often giving up their own careers to provide around-the-clock medical and emotional support. Biden said his new order would cut red tape and give veterans who need assistance at home more flexibility to pick their own caregivers.

It also includes instructions for VA to develop a pilot program to provide psychotherapy support via video telehealth for caregivers of seriously ill or injured veterans. In a statement, VA officials said the moves are already underway at the department, and the new order would help strengthen and improve the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.

VA to suspend all caregiver reassessments amid concerns about program rules

Steve Schwab, CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation  an influential policy voice on veterans caregiver issues  said the executive actions have the potential to provide relief in some of the areas of greatest need for military caregivers, including expanded respite care services, better mental health support and improved financial support for veterans in need.

But the moves do not include a new timeline for new rules regarding VA caregiver support eligibility, an issue that has been looming over the program for more than a year.

The program provides stipends to family members of some veterans with service-connected injuries that limit their ability to live independently. The payouts generally hover around $3,000 a month for the most severely wounded individuals, and about $1,800 for others with less catastrophic injuries.

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About 30,000 families receive benefits through the program. Last March, amid a review of participant eligibility that threatened to change benefits for up to 90% of enrolled veterans, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced a halt to any dismissals from the program and vowed to rewrite program rules.

Last September, with details of those looming changes still unclear, department leaders announced that legacy participants of the VA caregiver program would remain eligible for benefits through September 2025, except in select cases such as fraud or caregiver changes.

Following the White House announcement, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said that the ongoing caregiver program review is coming to a conclusion and based on the outcome of [that] review, we will determine whether proposed changes through rule-making are necessary.

The executive order instructs VA officials to consider making those decisions by the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept. 30.

Holly Ferrell, executive director of Veteran Warriors  whose members include more than 3,500 caregivers in the VA program  said the continued questions about that review overshadow the potential benefits of the new presidential order.

These services are either starting to expand or are slated for expansion, she said. But caregivers she speaks with are less concerned with improvements to the program than with wholesale eligibility changes in the future that could boot them from receiving any support.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) pictured in May 2022 on Capitol Hill. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's health issues are threatening to imperil President Biden's quest to remake the federal judiciary  but so far the White House is willing to be patient.

"It is her decision to make when it relates to anything about her future," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. "It is flat wrong to seek partisan advantage from the health issues of a colleague."

Republicans blocked a Democratic effort on Tuesday to temporarily replace Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the absence of the Democrat's tie-breaking vote has left some of Biden's judicial nominees languishing. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) could bring the matter to a floor vote, but Democrats do not have the 10 Republican votes needed to succeed.

Democrats have few options other than waiting on Feinstein's return, but when that might be remains unclear as she works from home in San Francisco. The quandary has left Democrats divided on how to deal with the 89-year-old senator's extended absence, which threatens to derail judicial nominations at a moment when the party's priorities, including abortion rights, are being challenged in federal courts.

Feinstein hasn't cast a vote since Feb. 16, and has missed about 60 of the 82 votes held in the upper chamber so far this session. She announced in March that she had been hospitalized with shingles, and said last week that her return to Washington was delayed due to related complications.

A few congressional Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), have called for Feinstein to step aside. Co-chair of Oakland Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee's campaign to replace Feinstein, Khanna has been perhaps the most vocal of the group, tweeting last week that "not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people."

For now, the White House has sided with most Democratic lawmakers, who say Feinstein should be allowed time to decide whether she's able to serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in 2024. Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Democrats would try to give Feinstein an opportunity "to return as quickly as possible," while Schumer said that he had spoken with her last week and that she hoped to return "soon."

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But that sentiment may change depending on the length of Feinstein's absence and the profound impact it has on the Senate's ability to pursue the White House's agenda. Biden has made it a priority to reshape the federal bench, both in the number and diversity of judges.

Democrats have confirmed the president's judicial nominees at a relatively fast clip, seating 97 judges  including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson  on the federal bench during Biden's first two years in office, and confirming 22 more this year. Democrats have sought to outpace the 231 judges, including three Supreme Court justices, whom Senate Republicans confirmed to key judicial vacancies under former President Trump.

Biden is unlikely to top his predecessor, according to Russell Wheeler, a Brookings Institution scholar who follows the judiciary. While Feinstein's absence has slowed momentum, a dearth of vacancies to be filled will also make it difficult to keep pace with Trump.

"It's probably too early to get too concerned about the problems created by Feinstein's absence," Wheeler said. "The bigger problem is, without a vacancy, nobody's going anywhere."

Though Republicans are unwilling to accommodate Feinstein's request to appoint a temporary replacement in her absence, GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have agreed to move forward with nominees who have bipartisan support, according to a Durbin spokesperson.

Conversations are still ongoing about which nominees would be up for a vote, the spokesperson said, but about 10 are eligible.

There are 15 judicial nominees who have had hearings but are waiting for a committee vote, according to the American Constitution Society, a progressive legal organization. Eighteen judicial nominations have already had a panel vote and can be brought to the Senate floor for a full vote, and some of them could be cleared without Feinstein.

But the episode is not the first Democrats have grappled with in regard to Feinstein, the party's eldest member and the longest-serving woman in the upper chamber.

In recent years, she has received an increasing number of questions about her cognitive health, and in 2020 she stepped down as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee after facing pressure to do so. The most senior member of the Democratic Caucus, she also passed up the role of Senate president pro tempore, which would have placed her third in the line of presidential succession.

Feinstein's mental fitness and age are a politically sensitive subject for Biden, who at 80 is the nation's oldest president and has faced questions about whether he should seek another term.

While in the Senate, he recruited Feinstein to the Judiciary panel, and the two former colleagues are longtime friends. She endorsed Biden over Vice President Kamala Harris when the then-junior California senator was running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

But as the White House and Democrats continue to urge patience with Feinstein's recovery, speculation has begun about what might happen if she chooses not to return. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to appoint a Black woman if there's a Senate vacancy.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who spent more than a decade in the House, weighed in on Wednesday during a visit to Capitol Hill.

When asked whether Newsom should stick to his pledge to appoint a Black woman, Bass said: "Thats what he said. He pledged.

As for Feinstein, Bass said, "I just hope that she gets better soon. And obviously we need her back here so we can get those judges going."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Lake Murray has long been known as a fine fishing spot, but this week that local knowledge will be broadcast to the whole country and beyond.

The lake is hosting the Bassmaster Elite Series, the Super Bowl of professional bass fishing. The event, which started Thursday and runs through Sunday, features 104 professional anglers from around the world casting their lures into Lake Murray, with eight hours of the competitive fishing competition set to be broadcast on cable sports outlet Fox Sports 1.

The event is not just a big deal for the fishing community. Hosting such a big event also has a major economic impact on the surrounding communities.

The Lake Murray Country Tourism Board estimates that $1.1 million in tourist money will be spent in the area surrounding the lake during the four-day tournament, with another $5.5 million in marketing value for all the exposure the Midlands will receive. More than 3 million viewers have watched Foxs Bassmaster coverage so far this year, while 13.5 million impressions have been generated on social media for the Elite Series.

While the more than 100 anglers who started out Thursday will be whittled down over the course of the four-day event, the biggest public event around the tournament will be this weekend at Dreher Island, when the park hosts food trucks and interactive exhibits, topped off by a free concert by Kristian Bush of Sugarland at 1 p.m. Saturday, before the daily weigh-in at 3 p.m. Shuttles will move people from designated drop-off sites to the park.

Shuttle locations for the Bassmaster Elite Series on Lake Murray April 22 and April 23, 2023.

Its not just that we host and it comes and it goes, said Miriam Atria, the president of Lake Murray Country. It impacts the local economy. Many come and fish weeks before, because they want to get to know the lake so theyre ready to go and know their way around. They stay in hotels and rental homes, restaurants get the business from it, the bait and tackle shops get business, they buy gas  it crosses all state revenue sources.

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Davy Hite grew up by Lake Murray and found success as a Bassmaster fisherman before becoming the broadcast commentator for coverage of fishing events. He says there are any number of reasons why events like the Elite Series want to come to the South Carolina Midlands.

One is that they want good fishing, and there is really good fishing this time of year on Lake Murray, Hite said. If you look at tournament results, in local tournaments, the winning weights have been really good.

But its also the people of South Carolina who make Lake Murray appealing. Hite said visitors always comment on the hospitality, the food and the landscape.

Its just the beauty of the lake, the recreational boating on the lake, the good water quality, Hite said. There are areas around the country people dont even feel comfortable swimming in their lake.

The Bassmaster Elite Series kicks off at Lake Murray on Thursday, April 20, 2023. Professional fishers will compete throughout the weekend.

Local sportswriter Pat Robertson recalls past tournaments drawing hundreds of people turning up at 6 a.m. to greet boaters at the launch site.

Lots of these guys are extremely fan-friendly, Robertson said. You see two or three or four or five people following the boat as they back it down (into the water), asking him how he was doing.

But bass fishers want to fish on Lake Murray because the lake has established a reputation as a bass factory, Robertson said, that has produced record catches in the past. Hite estimates some 500 fish a day could be caught in the early rounds  although they will be thrown back after being weighed.

Lake Murray has been one of the premier lakes that people come to because it always produces good catches, Robertson said. You get good pictures on the weigh-in stands.

The influx of visitors to the area is boosting Chapins push to bring a hotel to the area, town administrator Nicholle Burroughs said.

I certainly feel like Chapin is well positioned to recruit a hotel, she said, noting that all traffic heading to the launch point at Dreher Island State Park passes through the small community of 2,000 people. Chapin is considered the capital of Lake Murray for a reason. We just need the lodging.

The Bassmaster Elite Series kicks off at Lake Murray on Thursday, April 20, 2023. Professional fishers will compete throughout the weekend.

All that traffic means local businesses are already seeing a boost, as fishermen traveled to the area ahead of the tournament to get a feel for the best fishing spots on the 78-square-mile lake. Burroughs said that local restaurants and shops are already seeing more visitors as the fishing crowd descends on the lake.

Weve certainly seen a lot more boats in the area, she said.
St George's Day is the annual celebration of England's patron saint. (Getty Images)

St George's Day will be marked across England on Sunday, 23 April.

The annual celebration of the country's patron saint  mythologised as a dragon-slaying knight  falls on the anniversary of his death in 303 AD.

But why is there no bank holiday in St George's honour, and who actually was he?

Why isn't St George's Day a bank holiday?

St George's Day was declared a national feast day and holiday in 1415, following England's victory at the Battle of Agincourt, a key battle in the Hundred Years' War.

The day took on less significance when England unified with Scotland in 1707  leading to the creation of the UK  and is no longer marked as a national holiday.

In recent years, though, there have been calls for workers to given a day off to celebrate the occasion.

Labour's manifestos for the 2017 and 2019 general elections included a pledge to introduce four new UK bank holidays to mark the patron saints of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Charles and Camilla watch a performance of St George and the Dragon by school pupils. (Getty Images)

In a 2018 poll carried out by YouGov Omnibus, 49% of English respondents said St George's Day should be a bank holiday in England only, while 24% said it should be a bank holiday for the whole of UK.

If the proposal was to be adopted by the current government, it would have to be backed by the King  who must declare all new bank holidays by royal proclamation  and the devolved governments.

Who was St George  and was he even English?

The legend of St George paints him as a fearless English knight who slayed a dragon and rescued a princess from death.

But most historians believe he was actually a Roman soldier, not a knight, and he wasn't English  he is said to have born in Cappadocia, in modern-day Turkey, in the late third century.

He worked as a guard to Emperor Diocletian who, according to the BBC, ordered the systematic persecution of Christians.

George is thought to have been tortured and executed in Palestine in 303 AD after refusing to renounce his faith.

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Upon his death, he became a Christian martyr and was canonised as a saint in 494 AD by Pope Gelasius.

The St George's cross flag is popular with England football fans. (AFP via Getty Images)

As English Heritage notes, St George never even visited England, although "his reputation for virtue and holiness spread across Europe" and he became popular with English kings.

The now-iconic emblem of St George  a red cross on a white background  first appeared on banners during Edward I's reign, while Edward III owned a relic of George's blood.

The myth about his apparent dragon-slaying was popularised by The Golden Legend, a collection of stories about saints first published in the 13th century, turning him into an icon.

Outside of England, St George's Day is commemorated in countries including Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia, the Palestinian territories and parts of Spain.
The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023.

The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023. Credit - PATRICK T. FALLON/AFPGetty Images

To hear the folks in charge tell it, youd think that SpaceXs Starship rocketthe biggest, grandest, most powerful rocket ever builtdidnt blow up over the Gulf of Mexico this morning, just four minutes into its maiden flight and barely 39 km (24 mi.) above ground on what was supposed to be an around-the-world orbital journey.

For one thing the company didnt call the incident an explosion. Starship instead experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly SpaceX tweeted.

For another thing, the apparent failure was met less with hung heads than high fives. Congrats to @SpaceX on Starships first integrated flight test! tweeted NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight testand beyond.

SpaceX founder and boss Elon Musk was no less sanguine. Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! he tweeted. Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.

Again, just for the record, the 40-story rocketwhose upper stage is intended to serve as the lunar landing vehicle on NASAs crewed Artemis 3 mission in the late 2020sblew up rather than going to space. There is no prettifying that unhappy fact. But there is no arguing with one other fact too: Blowing up or crashing is what rockets dolots of times, over and over, throughout the history of uncrewed space flight. And this inevitable part of the testing process is essential to success in space.

On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, launching aboard an Atlas rocket that had previously exploded in roughly 50% of its uncrewed test flights. On March 23, 1965, Gus Grissom and John Young strapped themselves into their Gemini 3 spacecraft, becoming the first astronauts to fly atop a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile that had failed in more than a dozen of the test launches intended to qualify it to carry humans. On Dec. 21, 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, the Apollo 8 crew, became the first astronauts to fly the Saturn 5 moon rocket, one flight after an uncrewed Saturn 5 suffered engine failures and vibrations violent enough to nearly cause it to shake itself to pieces. But Borman, Lovell, and Anders flew anyway, becoming the first human beings to orbit the moon and returning safe and whole to Earth.

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Space travel, as has been said again and again and again, is hard. And SpaceX knows that as well as anyone, following a build fast, fly fast, fail fast, and fly again R&D model that has today made it one of the worlds leading launch providers; its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has successfully flown 217 times since 2010, including 61 launches in 2022 alone.

Falcon saw three launch failures before it became the star performer it currently is, and Starship has failed multiple times already. From 2020 to 2021, five upper stage Starship rockets were launched on short test flightsto a maximum altitude of 10 km (6.2 mi.)four of which ended in explosions or crashes before a fifth finally succeeded, and even that one included a small fire at the base of the rocket after landing.

Thats why we test, you know, says Lisa Watson-Morgan, NASAs program manager for the Artemis lunar landing system. You learn more from a test that doesnt go well than from one that does go well, and then you regroup and go again.

And Starship requires more of this repeated testing than most machines. The rocket is an exceedingly complex beast, with a first stage equipped with no fewer than 33 enginesan as-yet uncounted number of which seemingly did not burn during this mornings launch. Its second stage is powered by nine engines. That, as Pablo de Leon, the chair of the department of space studies at the University of North Dakota, puts it is a nightmare for the plumbers, reminiscent of the Soviet Unions 30-engine N1 moon rocket, which was intended to carry cosmonauts to the moon but is best remembered for blowing up spectacularly in a 1969 test flight, causing the largest explosion in space history.

Starship did not do nearly as badly today. The Soviet N1 erupted just seconds after liftoff, collapsing back to the ground and destroying the launch pad. SpaceX meanwhile never promised that Starship would succeed, but it did set clearing the launch tower and keeping the pad intact as one of the main goals of the mission. Starship has cleared the pad and beach! Vehicle is on a nominal flight path, the company tweeted in the first moments of the flight, officially marking the achievement of the modest goal it set for itself.

I think [the explosion] was something that SpaceX anticipated as a realistic possibility, says John Logsdon, professor emeritus and founder of the George Washington University Space Policy Institute. They did a very good job of lowering expectations prior to the launch. And I think its because they realized that testing a complex system like this, there are multiple things that can go wrong. And something did.

More still could. The company is continuing to build Starships at a furious pacereminiscent of NASAs Apollo era, when 13 Saturn 5s were flown from 1967 to 1973, nine of which carried crews to the moon in just a four-year window. I think they have a factory full of multiple duplicates of these systems, says Logsdon. Its not like they lost something thats irreplaceable.

Musk may or may not make good on his tweeted promise to launch a Starship again in a few months, but the company has staked its futureand NASA has staked its Artemis moon programon the promise that the mammoth rocket will indeed fly, and fly well. Rockets explode and rockets soar. Today Starship suffered the less fortunate of those outcomes. If history is a guide, it will ultimately achieve the other.
IDABEL, Okla. (AP)  The widow of an Oklahoma man who died following a 2022 arrest filed a lawsuit Thursday against the rural sheriff who a newspaper says it caught on tape talking about killing journalists who were reporting on her husbands death.

Last March, outside the rural area of McCurtain County, Bobby Barricks death drew scant attention. The 45-year-old had died in a hospital days after deputies shocked him with a stun gun.

But the wrongful death lawsuit that Barbara Barrick filed in federal court Thursday comes as national attention is drawn on the county, more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, by a recording of local officials discussing killing journalists and lynching Black people.

Its been a hard year not knowing what happened to my husband, Barbara Barrick said during a Thursday news conference in front of the sheriff's office. She praised the persistent and brave efforts of local newspaper reporters to find out more about her husband's arrest and death.

Over the weekend, the McCurtain Gazette-News published recordings revealing County Commissioner Mark Jennings, Sheriff Kevin Clardy and deputies seeming to discuss killing reporters with the paper and hanging Black people.

The officials have not publicly addressed the content of the recordings, which prompted calls for their resignations, including from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Unfortunately, all of our attorneys are telling us we are supposed to stay quiet, Undersheriff Mike Manning told The Associated Press Thursday, declining further comment. Id love for everybody to hear both sides of the story.

The recorded comments from March 6 were captured after the paper's publisher, Bruce Willingham, says he left a recorder inside the room after a county commissioners meeting because he suspected the group was continuing county business after the meeting ended, in violation of the states Open Meeting Act. They included discussion of two or three hit men.

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Willingham said he believed the officials were upset by stories weve run that cast the sheriffs office in an unfavorable light, including coverage of Bobby Barrick's death.

McCurtain County is in far southeast Oklahoma, in the forested foothills of the Ouachita mountains, bordering Arkansas and Texas. The part of the state is often referred to as Little Dixie, because of the influence in the area from white Southerners who migrated there after the Civil War, and Barbara Barrett's lawyer suggested Thursday that racial tension may have played a role in her husband's death.

Barrett was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation and his wife alleged in her lawsuit that the sheriff's staff have stated their resentment for members of the Native American community in a racial manner.

Barbara Barrick sued Clardy, three deputies and a state game warden, claiming they violated her husband's constitutional right and used excessive force during his arrest. The suit says the deputies found her husband hog tied on the ground outside a convenience store, where he'd been beaten by a crowd.

The deputies then handcuffed, beat and shocked Bobby Barrick, according to the suit, and deactivated their body cameras

The Gazette-News, a small newspaper with limited online presence, sued the sheriffs office last month, seeking body camera footage and other records of the arrest. On Thursday, the newspaper released the full recording of the meeting where officials threaten its reporters.

On Wednesday, Jennings resigned, according to Gov. Stitts office. The day before, the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association voted unanimously to suspend Clardy and two of his deputies.

In a post on the sheriffs office Facebook page on Tuesday, officials did not address the recorded conversation but claimed the recording was illegally obtained. Willingham said he twice spoke with his attorneys to be sure he wasn't doing anything illegal in making the recording.

None of the officials on the recording have responded to telephone calls or emails from the AP seeking comment.

___

Bleiberg reported from Dallas.
William Salibas season could be over (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Wire)

Mikel Arteta admits he is unsure if William Saliba will play again this season as his recovery from a back injury has not progressed as hoped.

The France defender had started every Premier League game this season before being forced off during the Europa League defeat to Sporting Lisbon last month.

He has not played since, has been ruled out of Fridays clash with bottom club Southampton and is now a major doubt for the top-of-the-table clash at Manchester City next week.

Initially it was hoped Saliba would be in contention at the Etihad Stadium, but Arteta has cast doubt on the 22-year-old featuring again in the title run-in.

The picture hasnt changed from last week. Regarding William, we still have to wait a little bit more, Arteta said on the eve of the Southampton game.

He is not progressing as quick as we hoped. Its a bit delicate and we want to be very certain when we push him that he is ready to absorb the load and the risk that we will take and at the moment thats not possible to do.

Asked if the issue could now leave Saliba sidelined until next season, Arteta added: I dont know, its a bit early (to make predictions).

Probably next week we are going to have more certainty. There is some evolution, he is doing more activity.

But he is not there yet to start to throw him on the pitch at the level that the sessions demand to compete in this league.

Arsenal welcome Saints having drawn their last two games despite leading 2-0 against both Liverpool and West Ham.

Bukayo Saka missed a penalty that would have put the visitors 3-1 up at the London Stadium, his first failure from the spot since his effort was saved in the Euro 2020 final shoot-out.

Arteta, though, feels the miss could prove a blessing in disguise for a player who bounced back from being racially abused following his miss for England.

Experiences help, obviously, and what he went through was tough but in a different way it was something beautiful and a great experience for him, added Arteta.

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I think that helped him, not only him but the people around him as well to understand what the reaction has to be, the support and protection that he needs and he will go again.

He loves responsibility but he puts a lot on his shoulders as well. Again, if he had any doubt about how much people love him, respect him and admire him at the club I think he had a very overwhelming reaction from everyone in the building and the club.

In the end I think it can be something very positive that can give him a big lift because everyone acted in an unbelievable way towards him because he deserves it because of the way he is.

Asked if Saka will remain Arsenals penalty taker, the Spaniard said: Yes. If not, I will go on the pitch and throw him the ball to make sure he takes the next one!
A court date for a 39-year-old man accused of shooting a woman is scheduled for Monday, April 24.

A 39-year-old Wilmington man is awaiting trial for allegedly shooting a woman in a neighborhood by Greenfield Lake in April 2020.

Ray Anthony Southers is scheduled to face a judge in New Hanover County Superior Court on Monday, April 24. He is being charged with first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The District Attorney's Office did not have any additional information to release about the case.

According to previous reports from the Wilmington Police Department, Southers allegedly shot and killed Jody Marie Lopez. Officers arrived on the scene in the 1300 block of South Fourth Street. Lopez was alive and life-saving measures were performed while they waited for an ambulance.

Lopez was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where she later died. She was 36.

Officers found Southers quickly and was taken into custody. The weapon he was accused of using was also recovered.

Southers is currently being held at the New Hanover County Jail.

According to an obituary for Lopez, she was born in Los Angeles and raised in Wilmington, starting at age 2. She went to New Hanover High School and Cape Fear Community College.

"Jody was loved by many people," the obituary said. "She was full of life. She was intelligent, wild and now finally free."

STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the areas latest news by signing up for the StarNews newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram.

Reporter Chase Jordan can be reached at cjjordan@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington man accused of shooting woman to face judge
A federal appeals court on Thursday issued an administrative stay temporarily blocking the deposition of Mark Pomerantz by the House Judiciary Committee less than two hours before it was set to begin.

The subpoena of Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office, is part of an investigation into the criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump by the Republican-led committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan.

Pomerantz was a special assistant district attorney who resigned in 2022 over Bragg's unwillingness to pursue a case against Trump. After Pomerantz left Bragg's office, he wrote a memoir about his experience, telling ABC News in February he felt "strongly you do have to apply the same legal standards to everyone, regardless of your president or pauper."

PHOTO: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to reporters during a news conference at police headquarters, Apr. 18, 2023, in New York. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sought to block the congressional subpoena, but on Wednesday a federal judge had denied his request -- marking a win for Jordan, who is leading what he's claimed is a probe into whether Bragg's office used federal funds in the investigation of Trump.

Bragg has sued Jordan over the congressional probe, calling it a "transparent campaign to intimidate and attack" the office.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on Wednesday declined to enjoin the subpoena for testimony about Trump's indictment.

"In our federalist system, elected state and federal actors sometimes engage in political dogfights," Vyskocil said in her ruling on Wednesday. "The Court does not endorse either side's agenda. The sole question before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to quash a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose. He does not."

PHOTO: Rep. Jim Jordan, speaks during a House Select Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus pandemic investigation of the origins of COVID-19, Apr. 18, 2023, in Washington. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

"It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law," Vyskocil's decision said.

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A spokesperson for Jordan celebrated the judge's ruling.

"Today's decision shows that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomeranz, and we look forward to his deposition before the Judiciary Committee," said spokesman Russell Dye.

PHOTO: Attorney Mark Pomerantz arrives at Federal Court in New York, Aug. 12, 2002. (David Karp/AP, File)

Bragg's office, on the other hand, immediately said it would seek a stay of the judge's decision.

"We respectfully disagree with the District Court's decision and are seeking a stay pending appeal," a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The appeals court wrote Thursday a three-judge panel will consider Bragg's appeal of a Wednesday ruling allowing the subpoena to move forward, and that its Thursday order "reflects no judgment regarding the merits of the parties' respective positions."

ABC News' Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.

Appeals court temporarily blocks GOP deposition of former Trump prosecutor originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Students in the lounge area space at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee-Washington County in West Bend during the fall 2022 semester.

Funding for Wisconsin's public higher education systems is a tale of two stories, one that is funded eighth worst in the country and another that is fifth best, according to a new report.

The report found that the University of Wisconsin System ranked 43rd nationally for per-pupil funding in 2021. Conversely, only four other states funded their two-year community or technical colleges better than Wisconsin.

The report by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum was released Thursday, a few weeks before the Legislature decides how much money to allocate to the Wisconsin Technical College System and the UW System for the next two years.

Here are five takeaways from the report:

Per-student funding in Wisconsin is now slightly better than national average

Public higher education institutions received about $16,000 per full-time student in the 2020-21 school year. That's about 2% higher than the national average and places Wisconsin in the middle of the pack at 24th best, the report said.

But the overall ranking conceals a sharp divide between the state's two systems.

Technical colleges received $17,153 per student in state and local tax and tuition funding  well above the U.S. average of $11,714.

Compare those figures to the UW System's two- and four-year campuses, where per-pupil funding was $15,079 while the national average was $17,733.

The key difference: Technical colleges receives local property tax support in addition to some state money while the UW System receives only state money. The report also noted that technical colleges are required by state law to provide a range of services to students free of tuition, such as English as a second language classes and adult high school.

UW System calls for investment

UW System President Jay Rothman called the report's findings on four-year campus funding levels "discouraging."

Support for the UW System should not continue to fall further behind nationally if we are to be competitiveand thrive economically," he said in a statement. "Wisconsins future depends on developing and attracting talent now, and the UW is on the front lines of educating and graduating tens of thousands of students. However, UWs talent pipeline that helps sustain Wisconsins economic vibrancy is stressed at a time when it is needed more than ever to meet workforce needs."

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Gov. Tony Evers proposed a $305 million increase for the UW System over the next two years. Republicans will likely pare that back significantly.

Technical colleges offer context

The Wisconsin Technical College System cautioned against comparing its funding levels to others states, as the Wisconsin Policy Forum report did.

Most other states offer a more traditional community college system. Wisconsin technical colleges have expanded into liberal arts programming, but the campuses still mostly focus on skilled trades programs, which are more expensive, state Technical College System spokesperson Katy Pettersen said.

"We're not really talking apples-to-apples," she said.

The report is based on data from 2020-21, a year that she said may not best capture long-term trends due to the pandemic.

Another caveat is that the analysis is based on full-time equivalent enrollment. About 76% of technical college students in Wisconsin are part time, Pettersen said, but they still need access to the same services  career advising, tutoring, food pantry and more that a full-time student may need.

Enrollment declines outpacing rest of country

Wisconsin's four-year campuses increased enrollment about 2% from 2019 to 2021, ranking eighth nationally. But the gains were offset by losses at two-year campuses. A 19% drop during this time period was third-worst in the country.

For both systems, enrollments are at their lowest point since 2000.

The UW System is trying a variety of strategies to fill more seats, Rothman said. UW-Green Bay is piloting direct admissions, which will automatically accept local high school students into college, no application needed beforehand. Other campuses are expanding dual-enrollment programs through which high school students can simultaneously earn high school and college credits.

Where do UW branch campuses fit into this picture?

Some of the largest enrollment declines have come at UW System's branch campuses. These previously operated as two-year campuses and were known as the UW Colleges.

A 2018 restructuring put the branch campuses under the oversight of specific four-year institutions. Enrollment had fallen even before the merger and has continued since then.

Rothman earlier this week ordered chancellors to audit the viability of the UW System's branch campuses and devise plans for how each campus could continue to operate. Among the suggestions he offered: moving the campuses to an online format, providing reskilling programs, partnering with a technical college or adding graduate programs. Some of the branch campuses have already adopted at least one of the approaches Rothman suggested.

There's no deadline for chancellors to submit their plans, UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch said. The process will occur over the next few months.

"All options should be on the table," Rothman's memo said. "It is imperative that we are innovative and aggressive."

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.

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: UW System funding ranks 43rd nationally, report finds
In Gov. DeSantis Florida, angry voters  make that some angry voters  support bans on books, bans on pride flags, bans on talk of race and sexual orientation, all under the, um, banner of parental rights.

The term has become a most useful tool in the states education politics. DeSantis has used the term to describe his efforts to give parents more control over how their child is educated at school.

On its face, its well-founded desire. Teachers and faculty want involved parents. However, the governor has turned that useful tool into a blunt instrument with which parents  especially white ones in his base  have struck blows against so much of what education is supposed to be about  expanding young, curious minds  both in grades K-12 and at the university level.

The Parental rights in education law passed last year prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3. It bans any instruction that is not age-appropriate for students. Theres also legislation that would bar children from attending drag shows with lewd performances.

This years expansion of the law bars educators from using a childs preferred pronouns, bans talk of sexual orientation through high school and gives the state more control over sex-education materials. Trust us, thanks to social media, Cardi B and Little Nas X, high school students are well informed about the birds and the bees  and the bees and the bees, for that matter.

But not every parent feels included when it comes to parental rights, especially if their child is LGBTQ, Black or another student of color.

School districts must be receptive and responsive to the fears and concerns of these families, too. Otherwise, parental rights will be meaningless for them.

Woke Wars, a weekly opinion podcast by the Miami Herald Editorial Board, explores the culture wars that are dominating the Florida Legislature. Listen to new episodes every Thursday on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question? Want to share some feedback? Email heralded@miamiherald.com with the subject line WOKE WARS.
A woman is charged with hitting a garbage truck driver with her car is set to turn herself in. Police say the womans blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit.

Mount Lebanon Police say Vernell Moore was reportedly under the influence of alcohol and drugs when police say she hit the man.

The criminal complaint says Moore admitted to smoking crack consistently for 72 hours right before the crash.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> Waste Management driver hit by car in Mt. Lebanon, driver facing charges

The 54-year-old was reportedly driving her car along Kenmont Avenue on the morning of Wednesday, January 11th when she hit Isaac Vanwasshenova, who was working for Waste Management.

Vanwasshenova was collecting the garbage cans after 9:30 a.m. when authorities say Moore hit the garbage collector with her car. The impact knocked him to the ground  leaving him with serious head trauma and bleeding.

Through witnesses, crash reconstruction as well as video footage, police were able to trace Moore to the accident.

She now faces several charges for her involvement in the crimes. Mount Lebanons police chief explains why charges are just being filed now.

Chief Jason Haberman with the Mount Lebanon Police Department said, These types of cases it does take awhile. Really for us to do what we have to do sometimes the process is lengthy. We know that there are a number of things we have to do from a legal perspective whether its a search warrant, whether its subpoena we have to obtain to legally get the information we need to point to charges.

Mount Lebanon Police have made arrangements for Moore to turn herself in. The victim - is still recovering. His fiance says he has permanent brain damage, about 10% hearing in his right ear and has also lost the ability to smell. His attorney told me today he has no comment.

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Prosecutors said Viktoria Nasyrova put sedatives in the cheesecake that was gifted to Olga Tzvyk and then surrounded her body with pills to make it look like a drug overdose. Photos taken from the crime scene are pictured.

Prosecutors said Viktoria Nasyrova put sedatives in the cheesecake that was gifted to Olga Tzvyk and then surrounded her body with pills to make it look like a drug overdose. Photos taken from the crime scene are pictured.

A New York City woman has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for poisoning a woman who physically resembled her with sedative-laced cheesecake in an alleged bid to steal her identity.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, who faces a separate murder investigation in her native Russia, reportedly shouted a defiant f**k you! at Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder on Wednesday after learning her fate for attempted murder and assault, The New York Post reported.

Her sentencing came nearly seven years after she carried out the failed murder plot that left a Queens woman  who prosecutors said physically resembled Nasyrova and also spoke Russian  briefly hospitalized.

A ruthless and calculating con artist is going to prison for a long time for trying to murder her way to personal profit and gain, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Wednesday. Thankfully, the victim survived the attack on her life and we were able to deliver justice to her.

Nasyrova was convicted back in February of attempted murder in the second degree, attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment in the first degree and petit larceny.

Her victim, Olga Tsvyk, said Nasyrova gave her the cheesecake at her home in August 2016. Shortly after eating it she became sick and passed out. She was discovered the following day unconscious in her bed with pills scattered around her body, as if she had attempted to kill herself, authorities said.

After coming to in a hospital, Tsvyk said she returned home to find her passport and employment authorization card missing, along with a gold ring and other valuables. A later test on cheesecake residue left behind in the dessert container identified phenazepam, a highly potent sedative that was also found in her system, authorities said.

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God gave me life when Viktoria Nasyrova tried to end my life, Tsvyk told the court in a victim impact statement, according to The Post. For her, it was an easy thing to try and take the life of another person.

Others have come forward also accusing Nasyrova of theft, drugging and even murder in recent years.

In 2019, while awaiting sentencing in jail for Tsvyks poisoning, she took a plea deal in another case where she was accused of drugging and robbing men that she met on dating apps. She was sentenced to 90 days in jail, which at the time was considered time served, the Post reported.

Nasyrova also remains accused of murdering and stealing from a 54-year-old woman in Russia back in 2014.

#48hours goes on the hunt for a Russian woman on Interpols radar.@PeterVanSant's interview with Viktoria Nasyrova https://t.co/GIrmjnfYympic.twitter.com/3zHrn5VBzZ  48 Hours (@48hours) October 25, 2017

Alla Alekseenkos daughter, in an interview with CBS News in 2017, said Nasyrova stole from her mother, murdered her and then burned her body to cover up her crimes. Nasyrova then fled to New York City using a fake passport, she said.

Interpol issued a red notice for Nasyrova, which is a request for worldwide law enforcement to locate and provisionally arrest a person. Russia plans to request that she be sent back to stand trial for Alekseenkos murder as well, CBS News previously reported.

Related...
(BBC)

A mother who was living with an undiagnosed terminal cancer is urging women to seek further investigation if they have health concerns.

Kelly Pendry, 42, from Ewloe, North Wales, was diagnosed with uterine leiomyosarcoma in 2021.

Her initial symptoms of heavy, prolonged periods and a lot of pain began in 2016, reports BBC.

Leiomyosarcoma is a rare cancer affecting 600 people in the UK each year.

According to the bone and soft tissue cancer charity, Sarcoma UK, leiomyosarcoma develops in the smooth muscle cells, which are sometimes called involuntary muscles because they cause the organs to contract without our control.

Involuntary muscles are most commonly found in the limbs, the abdomen, the uterus, and the retroperitoneum (which is found deep in the abdomen and pelvis, behind the abdominal lining).

Common symptoms include a lump or swelling in the soft tissue under the skin. For uterine leiomyosarcoma, symptoms may include vaginal bleeding post-menopause, vaginal bleeding between periods, unusual vaginal bleeding and pain around the pelvis or stomach.

Leiomyosarcoma affects around 600 people in the UK per year.

The mother of two said that she was told by a doctor that her body was experiencing side effects post-pregnancy. Elsewhere, she was advised to consider different contraception and was prescribed antidepressants.

I felt like I was a drama queen, she said. I felt like I was overthinking it, I felt like is this in my head a bit, is this stupid?

Her initial symptoms of heavy, prolonged periods and a lot of pain began in 2016 (BBC)

Pendry was diagnosed with benign fibroids in November 2020, but the pandemic delayed her surgery.

By June 2021, Kelly said she was bleeding every day and looked nine months pregnant. It was around this time that a doctor mentioned the possibility of a sarcoma.

After a lung biopsy, Kelly was diagnosed with stage four and terminal cancer.

I was told by a nurse not to make plans for Christmas, she said.

She underwent six rounds of chemotherapy to maximise the time she has to live. One year on from the treatment, Kelly experiences side effects including tiredness, hot flushes, aches and pains.

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At present, her husband is raising money for Kelly to get access to treatment in the US, which they believe could extend the time she has to live.

On 16 March, Michael Pendry will run from where they live in Ewloe, North Wales to where the couple met in Hanham, Bristol. The run is approximately 180 miles and he will be running it across four days. At the time of writing, he has raised nearly 60,000 ($72,000) out of a goal of 75,000 (90,000).

In a statement, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board told the news outlet: Were very sorry to hear about Ms Pendrys experience and would encourage her to contact her GP practice, which is an independent contractor of the health board, so her concerns can be investigated.
Woody Harrelson has responded to pal Matthew McConaugheys claim that they could be biological brothers and has called for them to do a DNA test.

The actor, 61, addressed the idea during an appearance on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert alongside his White Plumbers co-star Justin Theroux on Tuesday night.

The EdTV star explained that he first considered McConaughey possibly being his sibling after a conversation with the Oscar winners mother Mary Kathlene McCabe in Greece many years ago.

He explained: Well, Ill just say there is some veracity to that thought because we talked to Ma Mac, Matthews legitimate mother, and she let us know one time I mean, this is crazy.

We were in Greece watching the US team win the World Cup and, I dont know, I mentioned something about regrets. And I said, You know, its odd that my father has no regrets.

And I have known Ma Mac a long time, and she goes, I knew your father. And it was the ellipses I found a little troubling, or interesting, I knew your father.

Harrelson confirmed his pals claim during an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

Harrelson said it was the pause, which Colbert quipped was a pregnant pause, that planted a seed as it was filled with innuendo.

The Texan star continued: The year of [Matthews] birth, nine months before, she was on a sabbatical from her relationship with his supposed father, Jim.

When McConaughey made the revelation recently, the actor explained his reluctance over having a DNA test.

However, Harrelson admitted he doesnt have the same reservations  explaining what McConaughey would get in return if they were to be biological brothers.

He said: We want to go for a [DNA] test, but for him, its a much more big deal. I mean he feels like he is losing a father. But Im like, no, youre gaining a different father and a brother.

Harrelsons comments come after McConaughey made the claim last week during an appearance on Kelly Ripas Lets Talk Off Camera podcast.

McConaughey raised eyebrows when he made the claim last week (Getty Images for Lincoln)

The Failure To Launch star said his mothers comment prompted him to investigate his family history, and whether she might have had a fling with Harrelsons father.

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McConaughey added: We went on to unpack what this knew meant and did some math and found out that [Harrelsons] dad was on furlough at the same time that my mom and dad were in their second divorce.

Then theres possible receipts and places out in West Texas where there might have been a gathering, or a meeting, or a knew moment.

The actor then admitted that hes hesitant to take a DNA test out of fear the man, who he believed is his father, isnt. McConaugheys dad James passed away in 1992.

Meanwhile, Harrelsons father, a hitman called Charles, died in prison 2007. His mother is Diane Lou Oswald.
A worker was hit and killed during a forklift accident at the Hyundai MOBIS plant in west Georgia Wednesday night, according to the LaGrange Daily News.

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

Keith Wheeler, 62, was driving a stand-up forklift when the Troup County Coroner says he may have backed into a shelf and got pinned.

Wheeler was found trapped between a large shelf and a stand-up forklift with no pulse and not breathing.

He was taken to the emergency room, where he died.

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Workers told Channel 2 Action News that they were told about Wheelers death during a safety meeting Thursday morning.

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OSHA and the Troup County Sheriffs Office are investigating the accident.

Wheelers body is being sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for autopsy.

The Troup County Sheriffs Office said Wheelers death appears to be a tragic accident.
Iryna Kalinina (32), an injured pregnant woman, is carried from a maternity hospital that was damaged during a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, 09 March 2022.

Evgeniy Maloletka's picture, Mariupol Maternity Hospital Airstrike, has been named World Press Photo of the Year.

Taken on assignment for the Associated Press, the image shows Iryna Kalinina, a wounded pregnant woman aged 32, being carried on a stretcher, across debris from a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, that was damaged during a Russian airstrike.

Her baby, named Miron after the word for "peace", was stillborn, and half an hour later Iryna also died.

Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka was one of the very few photographers documenting events in Mariupol at that time.

"We came to Mariupol just one hour before the invasion," says Maloletka.

"For 20 days, we lived with paramedics in the basement of the hospital, and in shelters with ordinary citizens, trying to show the fear Ukrainians were living with."

The World Press Photo recognises the best photojournalism and documentary photography.

This year's winners were chosen from more than 60,000 entries by 3,752 photographers from 127 countries.

The Story of the Year, was awarded to Mads Nissen for a series entitled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan.

Khalil Ahmad (15) shows his scar from an operation to remove his kidney

The series depicts life in Afghanistan under the Taliban and a lack of international aid.

Unable to afford food for the family, the parents of Khalil Ahmad, 15, decided to sell his kidney for US$3,500 (2,800).

The lack of jobs and the threat of starvation has led to a dramatic increase in the illegal organ trade.

The jury chose Battered Waters by Anush Babajanyan as the winner of the Long-Term Project Award.

Sonunbek Kadyrov pilots his water taxi, serving the village of Kyzyl-Beyit, Kyrgyzstan, on 16 March 2021.

The project, shot for VII Photo and National Geographic Society, explores the impact of water management after the end of the Soviet Union which has been made worse by the climate crisis.

Babajanyan's work, spanning years, documents the resilience of people living in Central Asia.

"Water intertwines with their lives," explains the photographer.

"People's lives are also changing because the climate is changing, and they have to adapt to that, too. I wanted to capture this powerful spirit."

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The Open format award went to Mohamed Mahdy for Here, The Doors Don't Know Me - a project in collaboration with residents of Al Max in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, to preserve the memory of their fast-disappearing fishing village.

A young boy jumps into water, Alexandria, Egypt - 16 Mar 2021

The World Press Photo regional winners were also announced, some of which can be seen below, with captions from the competition.

Africa, Singles: The Big Forget by The Lee-Ann Olwage, Bob & Diane Fund, for Der Spiegel

Sugri Zenabu, a mangazia (female community leader) of the Gambaga "witch camp", sits encircled by residents in Gambaga, Ghana, 27 October 2022

Sugri Zenabu, a mangazia or female community leader of the Gambaga "witch camp", sits encircled by residents in Gambaga, Ghana.

Zenabu shows some signs of confusion and memory loss associated with dementia.

Asia Singles: Shireen Abu Akleh's Funeral by Maya Levin for Associated Press

Israeli police clash with mourners as they carry the coffin of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in east Jerusalem, 13 May 2022.

Israeli police clash with mourners carrying the coffin of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in east Jerusalem, 13 May 2022.

Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter who covered the Mideast conflict for more than 25 years, was shot dead two days earlier during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin.

North and Central America, Singles: The Dying River by Jonas Kako for Panos Pictures

Alfredo, Ubaldo, and Jose tend beehives near Wenden in the Arizona desert, USA, 11 March 2022

Alfredo, Ubaldo, and Jose tend beehives near Wenden in the Arizona desert, USA.

A substantial decrease in rainfall in the area means that the men must now provide water for the bees in troughs.

This image is part of a broader project on how the climate crisis and increasing water demand are affecting the Colorado River.

South America, Singles: Oil spill in Lima by Musuk Nolte for the Bertha Foundation

Workers deal with the environmental disaster caused by an oil spill at Repsol's nearby La Pampilla refinery at Playa Cavero, Peru, 21 January 2022

Workers deal with the environmental disaster caused by an oil spill at Repsol's nearby La Pampilla refinery at Playa Cavero, Peru.

On 15 January, nearly 12,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into the sea while a tanker was unloading at the refinery.

Repsol, the Peruvian government and the Italian tanker company each disputed the cause of the spillage, trading accusations of negligence, inadequacy of equipment, and mismanagement.

An exhibition of the winning photographs and stories from the 2023 contest, will open at De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam in the Netherlands on 22 April 2023

All photos subject to copyright
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  Wyomings first full-service abortion clinic in years defiantly opened Thursday nearly one year after an arson attack ravaged it and despite looming laws that could shut it down with some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the U.S.

The clinic in a small stucco building on a busy street in Wyoming's second-biggest city of Casper is less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Interstate 25, where the occasional anti-abortion billboard stands against the open, sparsely populated landscape.

Last May, a few weeks before the clinic was set to open, a fire tore through building, leaving soot-stained, smashed windows and police tape to mark the clinic site in downtown Casper. A woman who has since been arrested had broken a window, filled aluminum pans with gasoline and set it ablaze, authorities say. She told told investigators that she opposes abortion and was experiencing anxiety over the facility opening.

With its fire damage repaired, the Wellspring Health Access clinic will be able to provide both abortion-pill and surgical abortions  at least for now. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule Friday on federal approval thats been disputed for one of two drugs used in pill abortions. Wyoming last month became the first state to pass an explicit ban on abortion pills, which have become the predominant choice for abortion in the U.S. in recent years.

Until now, only one other clinic in Wyoming  a womens health center in Jackson, some 250 miles (400 kilometers) away  has provided medication abortions. Surgical abortions havent been available in a dedicated Wyoming clinic in at least a decade, according to Wellspring.

Although Wyoming has had just one clinic providing abortions for at least a decade, access never fully ended. There were at least 88 medication abortions reported by state medical professionals in 2020; and 98 medication abortions were reported in 2021, according to the most recent data from the Wyoming Department of Health.

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Still, thats not the whole picture of abortion in Wyoming. Hundreds of women travel each year to Colorado and other states for abortions and the numbers dont include medication abortions conducted at home without medical supervision.

Wellspring Health Access will begin taking appointments for services not widely available to Wyoming women in years. The clinic opened immediately after receiving a city occupancy permit. Medical procedures are set to begin after a doctor arrives at the clinic next week, according to Wellspring.

Its been a long journey, filled with obstacles and challenges, but we at Wellspring Health Access refused to give up because we believe that Wyomingites deserve access to abortion care, Wellspring President Julie Burkhart said in a statement.

Last year's fire caused almost $300,000 in damage to the building as it was being renovated, delaying the clinic's opening by about 10 months.

For months, police had no suspects. Then in March, an anonymous donor increased the reward for information in the case from $5,000 to $15,000, leading to several tips.

Within weeks they arrested Lorna Roxanne Green, a 22-year-old college student who allegedly told a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent that the clinic was giving her anxiety and nightmares, so she decided to burn it. Charged with arson, Green has been released from jail while her case proceeds.

Wellspring has meanwhile faced multiple other obstacles.

The clinic was first set to open as the U.S. Supreme Court was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, triggering a new state abortion ban that took effect July 27. Within hours that day, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens blocked the ban pending a lawsuit filed by four women, including two obstetricians and two nonprofits  Wellspring among them.

The same women and nonprofits are now suing over two new state abortion laws  a first-in-the-nation abortion pill ban and an overall abortion ban the state Legislature passed this winter to sidestep legal issues arising from the earlier law. The overall ban would prohibit abortion at all stages of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest that are reported to police, or to save a womans life.

As before, three days after the new ban took effect March 19, Owens suspended it, ruling that the law may still violate a state constitutional amendment saying residents have the right to make their own health care decisions. Owens didn't rule on the pill ban but it doesn't take effect until July 1.
NEW YORK (AP)  Sidelined with injuries for the 11th time in 14 seasons, Giancarlo Stanton is openly frustrated.

"Its unacceptable this often," he said Thursday, five days after straining his left hamstring during a game against the Minnesota Twins. The team relies on me and I cant have this continue to happen and put us in a tough spot ... its my duty and responsibility to be out there.

Stanton was hurt Saturday while pulling into second base with a two-run double in the seventh inning and went on the injured list the following day. Yankees manager Aaron Boone estimated Stanton will be sidelined for six weeks.

It's a tightness. It's a grab," Stanton said. It's not a normal feeling or a fun one.

A five-time All-Star, the 33-year-old has been on the injured list or disabled list seven times in five seasons with the Yankees. As he spoke to media for the first time since getting hurt, he pinched a cheek with his right hand, then rubbed his hands together.

The disbelief and disappointment at this stage is hard to put into words and kind of comprehend," he said. "It's very frustrating.

Stanton missed 223 of 546 games in the previous four seasons because of a strained right biceps and strained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee (2019), strained left hamstring (2020), strained left quadriceps (2021) and right ankle inflammation and left Achilles tendinitis (2022).

The one thing I can say in Giancarlo's case is I dont question his professionalism and his commitment to doing all he needs to do to stay healthy and to be healthy, Boone said. "He feels a responsibility to this team, this organization to be the great player that he is but to be able to do it more and more often."

With the Marlins, Stanton sat due to right knee surgery (2012), a right hamstring strain (2013), broken left hand (2015) and strained left groin (2016).

I cant control it. At the same time, it shouldnt be happening, Stanton said. ... I prepare my whole life. This is everything I've put in for.

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Stanton is hitting .269 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 13 games this season; his career average is .264 with 382 homers and 982 RBIs.

NOTES: LHP Carlos Rodon, who's been out since his only spring training outing on March 5 with a strained left forearm, was to have a CT scan of his back, which has bothered him during the past week. Hes not going to throw for the next couple of days, Boone said. Throws a wrinkle in and slows it, but I dont think its going to be anything that prevents him from hopefully in the next several days building back up. ... CF Harrison Bader will start a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment on Friday at Double-A Somerset; he's been sidelined since March 10 by a strained left oblique muscle. ... RHP Luis Severino threw 20 pitches of live batting practice, then 15 more in a bullpen. Severino will have at least one more BP session at the team's complex in Tampa, Florida, followed by several minor league rehab outings. ... OF Kole Calhoun agreed to a minor league contract and was assigned to the Florida Coast League Yankees. The 35-year-old left-handed hitter batted .286 (10 for 35) with two RBIs in 13 spring training games with Seattle, then was released after exercising his right to opt out.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. seeks "constructive and fair" economic ties with China, but will protect its national security interests and push back against Chinese actions to dominate foreign competitors, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Yellen laid out the Biden administration's principal objectives for what she called an "essential" economic relationship between the world's two largest economies, as China strikes a more confrontational posture toward the United States and its allies.

"Our relationship is clearly at a tense moment," Yellen said. "My goal is to be clear and honest, to cut through the noise and speak to this essential relationship, based on sober realities."

She said she intended to travel to Beijing "at the appropriate time" to meet with her new Chinese counterparts to help "responsibly" manage the relationship, but Treasury offered no details on the timing of a trip.

Yellen made her remarks amid heightened tensions and pessimism in the U.S.-China relationship over national security issues, including Taiwan, Russia's war in Ukraine, growing U.S. export bans on advanced technologies and China's state-led industrial policies.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned last week that such tensions and supply chain "friend-shoring" could spill into a new Cold War that would stunt global growth.

Yellen contrasted strong U.S. growth with China's slowing GDP output, arguing that the U.S. would remain the world's unparalleled economic leader in metrics from wealth to technological innovation. But she said a growing China was in the interest of both countries, as long as it followed global rules.

She took aim at China's "no limits" partnership with Russia, calling it "a worrisome indication that it is not serious" about ending Russia's war against Ukraine.

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"It is essential that China and other countries do not provide Russia with material support or assistance with sanctions evasion," she said, warning that the consequences of any violations would be "severe."

'HEALTHY' COMPETITION

Yellen's remarks were the most comprehensive articulation of the Biden administration's China strategy to date, marking a shift from a sense of "fatalism" and "great power competition" that has permeated the relationship, said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"This is no call to return to the previous policies of unconditional engagement," Kennedy said. "It was quite tough and unapologetic about U.S. efforts to defend national security and human rights."

Yellen said the administration sought to foster "healthy competition" and cooperation, where possible, on global issues such as climate change, debt relief and macroeconomic stability, though she labeled China a "roadblock" to debt restructurings for poor countries.

Washington will clearly communicate its concerns about China's increased support for state-owned enterprises and domestic firms to dominate foreign competitors, as well as "aggressive" efforts to quire American technology, including through intellectual property theft, Yellen said.

But she underscored that Washington's actions against China were motivated solely by national security concerns, not gaining a competitive economic advantage.

At the same time, she said the Biden administration was not seeking a "winner-take-all" competition, and believed that healthy economic competition with a fair set of rules could benefit both countries over time.

"Sports teams perform at a higher level when they consistently face top rivals. Firms produce better and cheaper goods when they compete for consumers," she said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Jamie Freed, Paul Simao and Jonathan Oatis)
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gavels in a House Judiciary Committee Field Hearing, Monday, April 17, 2023, in New York. Republicans upset with Donald Trump's indictment are escalating their war on the prosecutor who charged him. John Minchillo/AP

A NY court has blocked the first subpoena issued by a House GOP inquiry into Trump's hush-money prosecution.

Ex-Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz had been ordered to submit to Judiciary Committee questioning Thursday.

That's now on hold while committee chair Jim Jordan and DA Alvin Bragg continue fighting over the inquiry.

A federal appeals court has hit the brakes, for now, on Republican plans to question former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, a move that stymies the House Judiciary Committee's probe of Donald Trump's Manhattan hush-money prosecution.

Pomerantz, who recently published a book critical of the prosecution, had been summoned to testify in Washington at 10 a.m. Thursday morning, by order of the committee's first investigatory subpoena.

His testimony is now on hold while a panel of three federal appellate judges in Manhattan reviews a lower court decision that on Wednesday had compelled Pomerantz's testimony.

The 2nd US Court of Appeals' last-minute stay of Pomerantz's testimony "reflects no judgement regarding the merits of the parties' respective positions," the court's decision says.

Bragg's office must file court papers by Friday explaining why Pomerantz should not testify, and why Wednesday's decision should be overturned. The Judiciary Commitee will have until Saturday to respond.

The halting of Pomerantz's questioning is the latest turn in a fight between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office this month won the first prosecution of a former president, and judiciary committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, a pro-Trump Republican whose inquiry aims to challenge that prosecution.

On Monday, Jordan brought the committee to Manhattan for a field hearing, at which he criticized Bragg as "soft on real crime." He met with strong pushback from committee Democrats, who pointed out that crime in Manhattan and the rest of New York City is far lower than crime in cities in Jordan's home state of Ohio.

Bragg has sued to fight the committee's inquiry into the hush-money prosecution, under which Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Bragg's challenge of the Pomerantz subpoena is his first effort in that lawsuit.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A New York City man has been arrested and faces multiple charges after police discovered his battered teen siblings in a Bronx apartment, where they had allegedly been trapped since January.

Police charged 34-year-old Michael Ramos with endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful imprisonment, assault and several counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to a criminal complaint from the Bronx District Attorney's Office.

Police responded to a call of a dispute and, when they entered Ramos' Bronx apartment, they found an unregistered, defaced and loaded pistol on the dining room table, according to the criminal complaint. Two children, a 14-year-old and a 13-year-old, were also in the apartment.

Ramos'14-year-old sister told police that she and her 13-year-old brother had not been allowed to leave the apartment since January 2023.

The 14-year-old described the horrifying abuse the pair allegedly endured for months, including multiple occasions when Ramos took his pistol and held it to her and her brother's heads, telling them "Someone is going to die today. Do you want to die today? Open your mouth," prosecutors said.

When the teens refused to open their mouths, Ramos would repeatedly strike them in the forehead, side of the head and ears with the bottom of the pistol, the sister told police.

The 14-year-old also told police Ramos on multiple occasions repeatedly struck the pair on their heads and other parts of their bodies with a wooden bat, a metal bat, a black tension rod and an electrical cord, prosecutors said.

She also claimed Ramos would apply ointment cream to his hands before putting on motorcycle gloves and repeatedly punching the siblings on their heads and bodies.

The 14-year-old said Ramos jabbed a fork into the right side of her face and knees, leading to bleeding puncture wounds and lacerations, according to prosecutors. She also witnessed Ramos jab her brother as well, she said.

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Ramos even used a samurai sword to cut different parts of his sister's body, making her bleed, she told police.

A local child abuse pediatrician treated the siblings and said they had "patterned injuries in various stages of healing about their bodies in the form of linear marks and that said injuries and marks are consistent with being whipped by an electrical cord."

The pediatrician said the 13-year-old boy suffered a "subgaleal hematoma" after getting hit in the head and skull, according to prosecutors.

The pediatrician also observed that the boy had injuries on his thighs and shins consistent with being hit by a belt that was found in the apartment. The sister had a puncture wound on the side of her cheek consistent with being jabbed with a fork, the complaint said.

Police also found that the siblings' bedroom door had a lock on the outside of the door, making it so they could not unlock the door from inside the bedroom, the complaint said.

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The New York State Police have made an arrest in the 2003 murder of Megan McDonald, the 20-year-old daughter of a New York Police Department detective.

McDonald was beaten to death in the backseat of her white Mercury Sable and dumped on the side of the road in Orange County, New York, March 14, 2003.

Authorities on Thursday arrested Edward V. Holley, 42, in her murder.

"We used modern-day technology and applied it to 2003, and we were able to come up with good results to assist the casewithin the past year," New York State Police Lt. Brad Natalizio, who helped lead the investigation, told Fox News Digital.

NEW YORK POLICE CLOSE TO CRACKING DECADES-OLD MURDER OF COP'S DAUGHTER: WERE COMING FOR YOU'

Megan McDonald was murdered in Orange County, N.Y., in March 2003.

Natalizio added that McDonald's family "never gave up," and authorities are "very grateful" for their help with solving the case.

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A felony complaint filed in Orange County alleges Holley "did knowingly and intentionally cause the death of Megan McDonald by striking her multiple times in the head with a blunt instrument."

OKLAHOMA COLD CASE GETS RENEWED ATTENTION AFTER TIKTOK USER'S SEARCH FOR HER PARENTS

The 42-year-old suspect is charged with second-degree murder.

Edward V. Holley is charged in the 2003 murder of Megan McDonald, an NYPD detective's daughter.

McDonald and Holley had been in a "romantic relationship" that McDonald apparently tried to end just days prior to her murder. They got into an argument on March 10, 2003, according to the complaint.

Holley also "owed the victim a substantial amount of money that was causing hostility between the two leading up to the homicide," the document states.

TEXAS MAN ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH 1981 COLD-CASE MURDER OF TEEN GIRL FREED ON BOND

Additionally, witnesses saw Holley's purple Honda Civic, described as "the loudest car in town," following McDonald in her white Mercury on March 14, the morning of her murder.

"We're getting to the point now where we see the finish line in sight," NYSP Lt. Brad Natailizio told Fox News Digital.

Authorities found McDonald's vehicle at the Kensington Manor apartment complex parking lot in Wallkill, New York, two days after they discovered her body.

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A medical examiner determined her cause of death to be repeated blunt-force trauma to the head.

READ THE COMPLAINT:

McDonald had been a student at SUNY Orange Community College and was working as a waitress to pay for her tuition.

FLORIDA POLICE WANT TO SPEAK TO WOMAN WITH LONG BLONDE HAIR' IN 35-YEAR-OLD COLD-CASE MURDER INVESTIGATION

Natalizio previously described her murder as a "crime of passion" and "intimate partner violence" in an interview with Fox News Digital.

The lieutenant was the same age as McDonald, grew up in Orange County, and worked for the NYPD in 2006 before he eventually moved back upstate. He described Thursday's arrest as "emotional," but there is still "a lot of work to be done," so police are "taking it day by day."

A medical examiner concluded that Megan McDonald's cause of death was repeated blunt force trauma to the head.

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Holley "flew under the radar for the first several years of the investigation because there was an original suspect that the police and even the suspect were focused on," Natalizio explained in March when he believed authorities were close to an arrest.

Natalizio on Thursday thanked various law enforcement agencies and McDonald's family for their effort in helping to track down and arrest Holley.

McDonald's father died in 2002, a year before she was killed.
Severe storms moved through Oklahoma City Wednesday, bringing damage from large hail reported across the metro area.

Oklahoma is ranked No. 3 in the United States for automobile hail damage claims and No. 5 for hail-related property damage overall, according to some insurance industry data.

Here are answers to the most commonly asked questions by vehicle and home owners after hail and wind damage, from the Oklahoma Insurance Department website:

Does liability insurance cover hail damage to vehicles?

Liability insurance alone will not cover hail damage, nor will a collision policy. Vehicle owners with comprehensive coverage may, however, be eligible for help with repairs to the interior, exterior and glass of their automobiles.

Is my home covered for wind and hail damage by my homeowners' policy?

Typically, hail and wind damage is covered by a standard homeowners' insurance policy. However, the policy may have limitations. Check with your provider to see if you have higher deductible for hail or if there are exceptions for cosmetic damage to structures. Some areas may even have separate hail-specific deductibles, or exclusions because of the frequency of this kind of claim.

The Insurance Department recommends filing a claim with your insurance provider as soon as possible after a storm occurs. For those needing assistance with the process, the agency is available to help at 800-522-0071.

"Insurance carriers have 30 days to acknowledge claims and 60 days from proof of loss before they must pay, deny, or investigate the matter further," said Liz Heigle of the Oklahoma Insurance Department in an email. "If they need to investigate further, they have up to 120 days to do so. Most claims are resolved within 45 days."

If a claim takes an unreasonable amount of time, Heigle recommends property owners contact the claims adjuster's supervisor to escalate the issue. If the problem is still not resolved, a formal complaint against the company can be filed with the Insurance Department.

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Norman hail damage: Large hail in Norman leaves path of damage

Storm damage is seen at an apartment complex in Norman on Thursday after a hail storm.

If you don't own your home, a renters' insurance policy will typically cover your belongings inside the dwelling in the case of damage caused by a weather-related event including hail and wind, according to StateFarm.com and Allstate.com.

The State of Oklahoma is currently asking residents and business owners to report the damage or loss of property at damage.ok.gov.

The website is designed as a survey to collect information to provide state and local authorities a clearer picture of where and to what extent damage has occurred.

Different survey entries are requested for those with multiple agricultural, business and residential losses at the same address. Should disaster relief be made available, participation may help government officials expedite the process for home and business owners to access aid.

A construction worker frames a house in the Castleberry addition in north Oklahoma City.

How do I choose a contractor?

When dealing with damage after a storm, the Oklahoma Attorney General's office advises consumers to get multiple estimates in writing from local, well-established companies.

Heigle added that homeowners should be careful of those contractors who seem to appear on consumers' doorsteps overnight.

"Do not sign any forms from door-to-door roofing companies. Call a contractor you know or trust to inspect your roof," she said. "Companies offering to pay your deductible to get your business may cut corners on repairs or use inferior materials to offset the deductibles."

No contractor should ever expect payment up front, Heigle added. Instead payment should be held until after the job has been completed to your standards.

If approached by a contractor that seems to be operating a fraudulent business, try to research the company through the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board.

"(The Construction Industries Board) maintain a database of registered roofing contractors and if companies have had complaints filed against them," Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement.

Hunter added that while it can be hard to stay patient, it is important to take time in making the decision about who to allow to work on your home. It may keep you from falling prey to common schemes.

"A good company or contractor will let you take your time and make your own decision," he said. "If a deal sounds too good to be true, it most likely is."

Hunter also said to be sure to ask companies if they are insured and licensed. You have a right to know this information as it protects you from being held liable should someone get hurt or cause further damage to your property.

Ultimately, if you or someone you know falls victim to a scam, you can file a complaint with the AG's office consumer protection division by calling 405-521-3921 and asking to speak with a consumer representative.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Severe weather, hail in Oklahoma: What to do if you have hail damage
Leonids Kalnins, Commander of the Armed Forces of Latvia, visited Ukraine for his first time. He met with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi, who told him about the situation on the Ukrainian front, the need to strengthen air defences and the supply of weapons.

Source: Telegram channel of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

Quote: "I met with the Commander of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia, Lieutenant General Leonids Kalnins, who paid an official visit to Ukraine for the first time.

I spoke about the current situation at the front. I also stressed the importance of strengthening the air defence system of our state, the supply of shells and weapons. "

Details: Zaluzhnyi and Kalnins agreed to continue dialogue and cooperation to strengthen Ukraine's defence capability.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine thanked General Kalnins and the entire Latvian people for their solidarity and support of Ukraine.

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KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday it was time for NATO to take the political decision to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance, and that Kyiv wanted to know when it would become a member.

The Ukrainian leader told a joint news conference in wartime Kyiv with visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg that a NATO summit in Vilnius in July could become "historic", and that he had been invited to attend.

"I am grateful for the invitation to visit the summit, but it is also important for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation," he told reporters as Stoltenberg visited Kyiv for the first time since Russia's invasion in February last year.

"There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions."

Ukraine, which gained independence from the Moscow-led Soviet Union in 1991, announced a bid for fast-track membership of NATO last September after the Kremlin said it had annexed four Ukrainian regions that its troops have partially occupied.

"We interpret this visit of the secretary-general, the first of the full-scale war, as a sign that the alliance is ready to start a new chapter in relations with Ukraine, the chapter of ambitious decision," Zelenskiy said.

He said Ukraine also wanted security guarantees on its path to becoming a NATO member one day.

Zelenskiy said he had urged Stoltenberg to press some NATO members who he said were being slow to provide heavy weaponry.

"The hold-up of the corresponding decisions is time that is lost for peace and this means the lives of our warriors who have so far not received the necessary defensive instruments in the necessary volumes," he said.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A parliamentary group promoting friendship between Mexico and Ukraine asked Zelenskyy to speak during a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged the Mexican government to stand with Ukraine and Europe in Russias war, as has the U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

Read also: US, Germany oppose NATO Membership Action Plan for Ukraine

Read also: Germany transfers another critical IRIS-T air defense system to Ukraine

Mexico, however, chafed at "taking orders" from other countries, especially from the U.S.

Despite condemning the full-scale invasion, Mexico has refused to sanction Russia. The country remains neutral and has slammed NATO's military support of Ukraine, calling it "immoral."

Attempts to shift public opinion on the issue of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine have caused some notable disputes in Mexicos Congress.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the Congress of the Union [the General Congress of the United Mexican States, the legislature of the federal government of Mexico - ed.] on Thursday via a video call.

Source: Reuters, citing sources

Details: Reuters reported that the address will take place around noon on Thursday, 20 April.

Sources "close to the matter" told Reuters that Zelenskyys address to the lower house of Congress "came at the invitation of a congressional friendship group between Mexico and Ukraine".

Reuters reported that there are similar groups in the Mexican Congress for other countries, including Russia.

According to Reuters, the Mexican government wants to maintain neutrality with regard to Russias war in Ukraine. Some of Ukraine's supporters are criticising Mexicos leftist president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, for casting doubt over the appropriateness of supplying European weapons to Kyiv.

On the other hand, Mexico voted with the US and other Western countries on a series of key UN resolutions.

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Jens Stoltenberg and Volodymyr Zelenskyy

We interpret this visit of Jens Stoltenberg  the first during the full-scale war  as a sign that the [NATO] Alliance is ready to start a new chapter in relations with Ukraine, a chapter of ambitious decisions, Zelenskyy said.

Read also: NATOs Stoltenberg reaffirms support for Ukraine in possible return of Crimea, even by force

The Ukrainian president discussed four key issues with Stoltenberg:

the Ramstein format meeting of Ukrainian partners scheduled for April 21

encouraging allies to supply certain types of weapons

preparation for the NATO summit in Vilnius in July

security guarantees for Ukraine on the path to the Alliance.

Office of the President of Ukraine

Zelenskyy noted that there is not a single objective barrier that would prevent the adoption of political decisions to invite Ukraine to NATO.

Security guarantees in no way replace or delay Ukraines membership in NATO, he said.

Security is already required as long as the implementation of solutions continues. And, as history has proven, this is necessary not only for our state, but also for everyone in Europe, for the entire free world.

Stoltenberg assured that the Alliance would continue to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Read also: NATO-Ukraine meeting to go ahead in Brussels after years of delays by Hungary

He also discussed a long-term support initiative that would help Ukraine switch from Soviet-era equipment and doctrine to NATO standards.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Kyiv is evidence that the Alliance is ready for a new chapter in its relations with Ukraine.

Source: video of the meeting with Stoltenberg posted on the president's Telegram

Quote from Zelenskyy: "This visit of Jens Stoltenberg is the first since the full-scale war [begun]  we interpret it as a sign that the Alliance is ready to start a new chapter in relations with Ukraine  a chapter of ambitious decisions."

Details: As the video shows, Zelenskyy urged the NATO Secretary General to support the Ukrainian peace formula in every way possible.

Stoltenberg replied that he would support the brave and courageous people of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said that they discussed four main issues during his conversation with Stoltenberg.

In particular, the Ramstein-format meeting that is expected to be held on 21 April and the decisions that Ukraine expects from its partners, especially regarding military support.

Zelenskyy also asked the NATO Secretary General to help Ukraine "overcome the restraint of its partners in the supply of longer-range weapons, modern aircraft, artillery, and armoured vehicles".

The third question concerned the Vilnius NATO summit, which, as Zelenskyy believes, "could be historic".

The President thanked for the invitation to attend the Summit but added that it was important that Ukraine receive a corresponding invitation.

The fourth question concerned security guarantees for Ukraine and Ukrainians on their way to NATO.

Background: On 20 April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit.



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Louis Vuitton has unveiled Zendaya as its newest brand ambassador, and to celebrate the major fashion moment, the French fashion house has dropped a stunning new campaign starring the Euphoria actor. Now, fans everywhere have suggested Zendaya make a career switch from actor to model.

On 20 April, Louis Vuitton debuted Zendaya as its latest House Ambassador with a jaw-dropping oceanside photoshoot, in which she was pictured modelling the brands iconic Capucines bag in a series of black and white looks. Photographed by duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, the campaign also gave styling credit to Zendayas longtime friend and semi-retired stylist, Law Roach.

The glamorous photoshoot was shot at the Roquebrune-Cap-Martin house, designed by architect Eileen Gray, in the Cote dAzur region of France. With a vibrant blue sky and clear ocean as her background, Zendaya was seen posing with several iterations of the Capucines bag, including the miniature Capucines BB which also made its debut alongside Zendaya.

In one of the images, the Disney Channel alum is dressed in a one-shoulder, black dress with a gold zipper on the side and matching gold buckle on the strap, as she held the baby blue Capucines BB in her hands. Another photo showed Zendaya in a black power jumpsuit with a matching black version of the Capucines BB handbag. The brand also released a short film as part of the campaign, which saw Zendaya in a mini black strapless dress with gold zippers as she danced through the modernist home in the south of France.

After photos and videos of the new campaign were shared on social media, thousands of fashion-lovers and Zendaya fans alike praised the actor for her expert modelling skills. The Spider-Man star drew comparisons to femme fatales like Bond girls and Charlies Angels, while others suggested she make a full-time career change to modelling altogether.

Being a great model is having the ability to make the most of a campaign with little to no imagination or creative direction. Zendaya ate this, said one Twitter user, adding in a separate tweet: Oh Zendaya is giving Bond Girl here. The brows! And the smize! Charlies angels cmon.

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Ill say it once and Ill say it againa lot of ppl should be lucky zendaya isnt a professional model, another fan wrote, while someone else tweeted: Fire all models, hire Zendaya instead.

Being a great model is having the ability to make the most of a campaign with little to no imagination or creative direction. Zendaya ate this pic.twitter.com/KU9cGZ7del  Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) April 20, 2023

Oh Zendaya is giving Bond Girl here. The brows! And the smize!  Charlies angels cmon pic.twitter.com/ayojNYzyrK  Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) April 20, 2023

Ill say it once and Ill say it againa lot of ppl should be lucky zendaya isnt a professional model pic.twitter.com/PrQS7fnOse  court | RORY & CAMI DAY  (@voidsinclair) April 20, 2023

Fire all models, hire Zendaya instead https://t.co/Q0pAjmr90C  #protect*Nelli*atallcost  (@Ellenyannelle) April 20, 2023

Others were simply taken aback by Zendayas gorgeous appearance in the Louis Vuitton campaign, like one person who commented on Instagram: Shes stunning

She can do no wrong, one person tweeted.

This girl is perfect in everything shes doing, tweeted another.

She can do no wrong https://t.co/xFQ4CbQXc3  lian (@1iannm) April 20, 2023

This girl is perfect in everything she's doing https://t.co/L4jRU8o1K0  Sana  (@BADLENALAIR) April 20, 2023

The Capucines bag, which launched in 2013, is named after Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, the street in Paris where Louis Vuitton opened its first store in 1854. Since then, the Capucines bag  which comes in hand, shoulder, and messenger styles  has become one of Louis Vuittons most recognisable accessories, largely due to its LV logo emblazoned on the front.

Following the launch of Zendayas new partnership with Louis Vuitton, the actor explained to Vogue how becoming House Ambassador for the French luxury label felt almost like a full-circle moment.

I remember growing up around LV campaigns, she said in an interview with Vogue on Thursday. There was this one that I loved from the early 2000s of Naomi Campbell, and shes like sprawled out over a trunk. I can still see it. I can see the image in my head and I remember seeing it in magazines as a kid.

Everyone had the LV-print on their Myspace page, Zendaya recalled. At least I had that! Let me not try to put that on nobody else. That was definitely me.

At just 26 years old, Zendaya has already become a fashion icon. The Dune star has turned heads over the years with her memorable red carpet looks, wearing everything from Valentino to Bulgari. Her chic yet daring style is largely in part due to her stylist and frequent collaborator, Law Roach.

The 44-year-old celebrity stylist shocked the fashion world when he announced in March that he was retiring from fashion. Roach shared the news in an Instagram post, which featured a graphic of a red sign with the word, Retired. In the caption, Roach thanked his peers and clients for their support over the years, but made a subtle reference to what encouraged him to leave the fashion industry.

My Cup is empty, he wrote. Thank you to everyone whove supported me and my career over the years. Every person that trusted me with their image, Im so grateful for you all.

He continued: If this business was just about the clothes I would do it for the rest of my life but unfortunately its not! The politics, the lies and false narratives finally got me! You win  Im out.

The retirement announcement came just days after a video surfaced of Roach appearing to be snubbed by Zendaya at Louis Vuittons Paris Fashion Week show. The now-viral clip showed the two arriving at the fashion show and Zendaya taking her seat in the front row. As Roach searched for his seat, Zendaya appeared to gesture for him to sit in the second row behind her.

While many fans were worried that the awkward interaction led to Roachs retirement, he assured fans that the two are on good terms.

So yall really think Im breaking up with Z..we are forever! he tweeted. Shes my little sister and its real love, not the fake industry love.
Lumos, a local internet service provider, has connected 1,800 of about 9,000 homes on the eastern side of Bedford County that are a part of the companys latest expansion area, according to an April 14 news release posted on the countys website.

According to David Smith, Lumos chief executive officer, the remaining addresses will be connected in the next 12 months.

The Lumos team shared their progress with members of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors and county staff during an April 13 roundtable discussion and project tour in Forest. The tour included visiting recent construction in the Farmington neighborhood, the release said.

In October, Lumos announced plans to bring ultra-high-speed 100% fiber optic internet service to about 18,000 residents and businesses across the greater Lynchburg region, specifically Bedford and Campbell counties where many communities remain unserved or underserved.

For residents and businesses in the Forest area, the Lumos expansion brings more competition to the high-speed internet market. However, for rural communities on the eastern side of Bedford County, the Lumos expansion will be their first high-speed fiber internet option, according to the release.

We are thrilled to see how quickly Lumos is moving with this project and applaud their work on the eastern side of the County, Edgar Tuck, chair of the board of supervisors, said in the release. Not only is our Board committed to bringing high-speed internet to unserved areas of the County, but we also encourage competition amongst internet service providers in our area.

Most of the Lumos fiber cable  about 95%  will be buried and remaining lines will be aerial and attached to power poles.
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While Kenyas government is targeting Chinese investors to establish manufacturing plants in its special economic zones to boost exports, thousands of local traders have protested in the capital Nairobi against the unfair competition from Chinese traders.

The government is offering Chinese investors a value proposition that the East African country is the premier investment destination for foreign investors in Africa. It is part of the governments initiative to transform Kenya itself into a newly industrialized, middle-income country by 2030 and establish 10 special economic zones across the country. Kenya is seeking to attract Chinese investors to establish manufacturing plants in its special economic zones as part of its push to boost exports. It is targeting Chinese investors in the electronics, textiles, pharmaceutical, and medical devices, as well as the lift and escalator sectors. The hope is that Chinese manufacturers will help Kenya diversify its exports and move away from agricultural products.

But, at the same time, many Kenyan businesses feel that Chinese owned companies receive preferential treatment and are able to operate with fewer regulations and lower costs, disadvantaging their local equivalents.

The recent protests in Nairobi against the superstore China Square have highlighted Kenyas dichotomy between foreign investment and dependency. The demonstrations were held in the wake of controversy elicited by the coming of China Square, a giant Chinese retail outlet of general merchandise, whose prices are on average 45% lower than those prevailing in locally-owned enterprises. China is Africas top trading partner and more than 1 million Chinese are estimated to reside on the continent. Kenyas relationship with China was in focus during last years presidential election, won by William Ruto. Ruto promised to publish government contracts with China agreed upon under his predecessor and to deport Chinese nationals working illegally.
The Iranian regimes export of drones to destabilizing actors is shaking the entire MENA region, and as the war in Ukraine has shown, shakes even Western countries, warns Alex Grinberg, expert on Iran based at the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy, who underlines that after Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Iranian regime has recently delivered equipment to the Polisario Front in Algeria, threatening stability in North Africa.

Drones and missiles are an integral part of Irans asymmetric power race, helping the regime carry out its regional policies in support of terrorist proxies, promoting chaos and conflict, writes the expert in a recently published analysis, adding that the Iranian regime bet on drones as strategic military asset. Thus, exporting these drones to terror proxies has been an integral strategy of Irans drone production from day one. Irans drone diplomacy empowers the regimes quest to expand its power base in the region, the expert explains, recalling that Iran has supplied drones to its loyalists across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq.

More recently, news about Iranian drone supply to the Polisario Front in Algeria has been triggering concern about stability in North Africa, he states, pointing out that while Iranian drones in the region have been promoting conflict and chaos since 2017, until the supply of Iranian drones for Russias war against Ukraine, this happened under the radars of Western media and decision-makers attention.

Other destabilising actors in the region who historically were recipients of Russian arms, now increasingly show interest in Iranian drone supply. Iranian media have boasted that the country is becoming a drone superpower. Top military adviser to the Supreme Guide of Iran Rahim Safavi announced that more than 20 countries are interested in purchasing Iranian drones.

For the pundit, Algeria is among the countries forming Irans top client list. The state is notorious for human rights abuses, including restrictions on freedoms of speech and religion for Christians and other minorities, and with its people suffering abysmal socio-economic hardships, Alex Grinberg writes, recalling that Tasneem, an Iranian IRGC-affiliated outlet, reported that Algeria intends to establish a center for the research and development of UAVs in the city of Sidi Abdellah in Northern Algeria.

Iranian supply of both loitering munition and attack drones to Algeria will intensify ties between the two authoritarian regimes. For example, piloting drones requires lengthy training onsite, and Iran is likely to dispatch Arabic-speaking Hezbollah instructors for this purpose. In either case, this growingly bold axis is bad news for Western interests in the region, argues the author of the analysis.

The Polisario Front, an Algerian benefactor and Iranian ally in the region will not shy away from using Iranian drones against Morocco, he states, arguing that this may threaten stability and security in North Africa, potentially posing an acute threat to Western interests in the region: a potential escalation of the Sahara conflict; undermining the energy security for which Western countries like Germany have been looking to Algeria; and perhaps even humanitarian repercussions, including immigration waves resulting from regional instabilities.

While no country with an interest in regional peace and stability should purchase drones from the Iranian regime, the US should exert pressure to prevent this unholy axis of authoritarian regimes to gain cutting-edge destructive capabilities made in Iran. And not just due to the moral dimension of geopolitics.

Iranians often use Hezbollah personnel to instruct Arabic-speaking militias. For this reason, delivering weapons from Iran to Polisario through the incontestable mediation of Algeria also means increasing the presence of Hezbollah in North Africa. Algeria may encourage Polisario to attack Morocco more violently now that it has Iranian drones. In turn, this will lead to a harsher Moroccan response. As a result, the already existing tension between the two countries due to Algerias support for the Polisario guerillas risks spinning out of control.
Ivorians will head to the polls on September 02 for local and regional elections, government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly said Thursday following a Cabinet meeting.

The polls were initially scheduled to take place in October 2023 but have been advanced owing to the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 the country is set to host. The competition is slated from January 13 to February 2024.

Under the Ministry of Interior and Security, the Council adopted a decree convening the electoral colleges for the elections of regional councilors and municipal councilors in 2023. In accordance with national electoral legislation and on the proposal of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI), this decree convenes the electoral colleges on the date of Saturday, September 02, 2023 for the election of regional councilors and municipal councilors, Coulibaly said.

The West African country has 31 regions and 201 communes. The ruling party, RHDP (Rassemblement des Houphouetistes pour la Democratie et la Paix) unveiled names of its candidates. 31 people including 11 members of the cabinet among whom Prime Minister Patrick Achi, are on the partys ticket.
South Africa: NYDA called to expand its reach to rural areas

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Chairperson, Nonhlanhla Ncube-Ndaba, says the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) can contribute to the fight against drug and alcohol abuse through its youth empowerment and development programmes.

Ncube-Ndaba made the remarks during an oversight visit to the NYDAs provincial offices in Mpumalanga, and beneficiaries supported by the agency on Wednesday.

Ncube-Ndaba said that while the NYDA is performing fairly, it must improve its presence in rural areas to rescue disadvantaged young people from poverty, drugs and alcohol abuse.

Young people in the rural areas need your service. It is important that you reach out to everyone and dont spend much time in the offices but go to the people. The NYDA is the only agency that can save our young people, Ncube-Ndaba said.

The Chairperson added that the NYDA also needs to fight harder to empower youth living with disabilities as they are more disadvantaged.

During visits to young people who received support from the agency, the committee was impressed by how their businesses were progressing and commended the NYDA for its good work.

The committee also encouraged the NYDA to get more young people in forestry, agriculture and in mining industries in the province.

It also urged the agency to explore the development and expansion of programmes to get young people into nature and conservation studies and training, given the location of the Kruger National Park in the province.

On Tuesday, the committee conducted an oversight visit to the centres that provide support to victims of violence and abuse, and a police station to assess the handling and processing of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) cases.

After meeting with the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) leadership, the committee visited the Greater Rape Intervention Programme (GRIP) centre for victims of abuse in KaMagugu, the Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) in Themba Hospital, as well as the Masoyi Police Station.

The committee expressed concern with the conditions of the TCC, but commended the Masoyi Police Station for the work it is doing with limited resources.

The committee also commended CGE for its good work in supporting programmes that provide support to survivors of domestic violence and abuse in the province.

The committee continues its oversight visit in the province until Friday, where a meeting will be held with Rapid Response Team (RTT) in Nelspruit on their programmes to deal with GBVF matters.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-04-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Peng Liyuan meets with Gabon's first lady

Xinhua) 10:44, April 20, 2023

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, meets with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Sylvia is accompanying Bongo on his state visit to China. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, met with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Peng recalled with pleasure her interactions with Sylvia and their joint efforts to promote the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, and said she appreciated Sylvia's longstanding enthusiasm for public welfare.

Peng spoke about China's achievements in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and the fight against COVID-19, as well as her work as a World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Peng said that China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Gabon, share experience, promote cooperation and bring more benefits to the two peoples. She voiced confidence that under the leadership of the leaders of the two countries, bilateral cooperation in various fields will continue to deepen, and that this friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Sylvia, who is accompanying the Gabonese president on his state visit to China, thanked Xi and Peng for their hospitality and said she was impressed with China's friendly ties with Gabon.

Gabon admires China's great achievements in public health, and is willing to learn from China's successful experience and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China, she said.

Sylvia said she looks forward to having the opportunity to see more of China and to appreciate the Chinese culture and the country's development.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Several British lawmakers were briefed earlier this week at the UK Parliament on the social and economic development achieved in Moroccos southern provinces, and on the autonomy plan offered by Morocco for the Sahara under its sovereignty.

After presentations made by member of Dakhla Oued-Eddahab regional council Mrs. Ghalla Bahiya, and Moroccos Ambassador to UK Hakim Hajoui, the British MPs commended the pragmatic autonomy plan offered by Morocco for the southern provinces and the royal vision which spurred an impressive development in the Sahara that deserves backing and applauding.

In her presentation, Mrs. Ghalla Bahiya, member of Dakhla Oued-Eddahab regional council, said Morocco invested heavily in its southern provinces enabling the region to build and boast modern industrial units, technology poles, hospitals, schools, roads, ports, solar & wind power plants, turning the Moroccan Sahara into an attractive regional investment hub.

The Moroccan diplomat Hajoui on his part focused on the huge investment injected in the Saharan territories, explaining that the investment benefited the local inhabitants and contributed to improving their living conditions.

He also spoke about the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco under its sovereignty for a lasting and peaceful resolution of the Sahara regional conflict, saying the Moroccan plan is the only realistic and feasible solution to the Sahara dispute.

The diplomat said the support of the United Kingdom to the Moroccan autonomy plan is essential to advance the settlement of the Sahara conflict and strengthen regional peace and stability.
Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki deplored his countrys descent to authoritarianism under Kais Saied and his mentor Algeria which he said never stopped intervening in our internal affairs.

Algeria opposed us after the revolution and spared no effort to foil Tunisian democracy, Marzouki told Algerian opposition channel Canal 22 Algerie.

The Algerian regime was intent on undermining the nascent Tunisian democracy as it feared a spillover of the pro-democracy momentum, he said.

Commenting on Algerias condescending and paternalism, Marzouki said no one has assigned the guardianship of Tunisia to Tebboune and that he had better look after his own country.

The (Algerian) President speaks like a protector of a dictatorship which the Tunisian people do not wantAlgeria is a dictatorship that wants to maintain another dictatorship in Tunisia, he said.

He also deplored the worsening ties between Morocco and Tunisia after the latter gave up to Algerian pressure leading to Kais Saieds blunt reception of Polisario separatist leader last summer.

Marzouki, who is in exile in France, was sentenced in absentia to four years in Prison after he called for protests against Saied, describing his power grab as a coup.

Saied intensified his crackdown on all major opposition figures, sending scores to jail. The most recent was leader of the Ennahda Islamist opposition party Rached Ghannouchi who has been indicted with high treason based.

The Islamist leader was arrested last Monday following a lawsuit against him by the ministry of justice over a video in which he warned that the country will slide into civil war should the state attack any political party.

Meanwhile, the country faces dim financial prospects as its talks for an IMF lifeline stalk, triggering fears of an economic collapse that would further undermine Tunisias social peace.
Rached Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisias largest opposition Ennahdha party, has been indicted with high treason based on articles 68 and 72 of the North African countrys Constitution.

The Islamist leader was arrested last Monday following a lawsuit against him by the ministry of justice over a video in which he warned that the country will slide into civil war should the state attack any political party.

Several other people have been also arrested in connection with investigations. The defendants are accused of high treason, attempt to change the state, and call for uprising.

Several countries including the U.S have condemned Ghannouchis arrest. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel is fundamentally at odds with the principles Tunisians adopted in a constitution. He said the arrests represent a troubling escalation by the Tunisian government against perceived opponents.

The former Speaker of parliament is the highest profile Tunisian currently hauled in custody. Since early February, authorities in the North African country have arrested more than 20 political opponents and personalities.
Biology programs at Cedar Point near Ogallala have been going on for more than 45 years. The experience-based programs are among many reasons the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was this years recipient of a prestigious award.

The school is receiving the 2023 Universitywide Departmental Teaching Award, according to a press release from the university.

Cedar Point, at Lake Ogallala on the downstream side of Kingsley Dam, sits in the heart of the western High Plains near the juncture of tall grass and short grass prairie, reads an online description at cedarpoint.unl.edu. The success of the Cedar Point Experience draws on the wide variety of local habitats with an abundance and diversity of flora and fauna.

Each summer the School of Biological Sciences offers eight experience-based field courses in biology that focus on student-based research, according to the website. The station is also open for other events from May to October.

Some of the other accomplishments that qualified the School of Biological Sciences for the UDTA award are:

A partnership with the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources to create a LIFE team, responsible for delivering cutting-edge curricula for life science education.

It serves as a model for other university departments in training students to be teaching assistants and developing future anatomy faculty.

The school developed a new program called STEM-POWER, which provides paid internships to young people in the summer before their freshman year, enhancing their future academic and workplace success.

Faculty at the school are highly engaged in the community, participating in activities like Sunday with a Scientist at Morrill Hall and a SciComm conference that promotes effective communication of science to students and the public.

Each year since 1993 the UDTA has honored university departments or units that demonstrate outstanding commitment and innovation in educating students.
Its even more vital for Nebraskans owning firearms to use them responsibly once a newly passed bill allowing greater freedom to conceal them takes effect in late summer, Lincoln Countys top two law enforcement officials say.

State senators Wednesday morning passed Legislative Bill 77, the constitutional carry bill that state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon had sought to enact throughout his seven-year Unicameral career.

Lawmakers broke one final filibuster with a 33-14 vote  exactly the two-thirds majority needed  and then sent the bill to Gov. Jim Pillen on an identical vote.

Sens. Mike Jacobson of North Platte, Brian Hardin of Gering, Steve Erdman of Bayard and Teresa Ibach of Sumner joined Brewer in voting to end debate and then to pass the bill.

I feel like I can kind of take down the guards now that LB 77 has passed, a relieved Brewer said by telephone Wednesday afternoon.

Its something that Nebraskans  especially Nebraskans outside of Lincoln and Omaha  really wanted bad. From the day I took office, people approached me and said this is a constitutional right that we have.

And its not right that (opponents) use all the horrible things happening around the country to keep Nebraskans from exercising their constitutional rights. Nebraskans generally have been law-abiding.

Jacobson, whose District 42 grew beyond Lincoln County to include four of Brewers former District 43 counties, congratulated his colleague.

I am happy for Sen. Brewer and glad that all his hard work and dedication over the past seven years has finally reached the finish line, he said Wednesday afternoon.

Hardin, in his first year representing the Scottsbluff-Gering area in District 48, welcomed Wednesdays vote.

The law provides common-sense application of our most basic Second Amendment rights, Hardin said.

He thanked Brewer, a retired U.S. Army colonel who suffered seven bullet wounds in combat in Afghanistan, for your persistent leadership to get this done over the seven-year journey to pass LB 77 into law.

Brewer, who visited Pillen after LB 77s passage, said the governor plans to sign the bill into law in a 2 p.m. CT ceremony April 26 in the State Capitols Warner Chamber.

But Nebraskans who can lawfully carry firearms still wont be able to conceal them without a permit until late August or early September.

LB 77 was written without an emergency clause that would have allowed it to go into effect immediately upon the governors signature. Bills passed without such a clause take effect three months after the end of the session, currently set for June 9.

That delay is one of the things gun-carrying Nebraskans need to keep in mind as the law changes, North Platte Police Chief Steve Reeves and Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer said after Wednesdays Unicameral vote.

Neither saw LB 77s passage as a great reason for concern. I have to tell you honestly that I didnt really have a lot of concerns with the bill as it proceeded with its amendments, Reeves said.

The way things are these days, I kind of encourage people to carry anyway, Kramer added.

But both stressed the importance for licensed gun owners to become familiar with their weapon and get training in how to use it. Kramer said he would have liked to see more training requirements in LB 77.

Brewer said during debate that Nebraskans still will need permits to buy firearms, a process that includes background checks.

You go down and try to buy a gun without a background check and see what happens, he said. It isnt going to happen.

Even with greater freedom to keep their guns concealed, Kramer and Reeves said, gun owners also need to think about the possible consequences if they wind up in a shooting incident.

Much like a police officer, you can use it, but you have to use it under the right circumstances, Reeves said.

Law enforcement agencies take out insurance policies against civil liability, but that doesnt mean you arent going to get sued and have to protect yourself, he said. A guy has to be educated and give it some serious thought before he thinks about pulling the trigger.

Kramer said law enforcement officers are trained to assume people are armed when they respond to a high-stress call or one involving violence.

Quite honestly, we dont know the bad guy from the good guy when we arrive, the sheriff said. So we just proceed with caution.

All 32 registered Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature voted to pass LB 77, as did Sen. Mike McDonnell, a registered Democrat representing south Omaha.

Not voting Wednesday were the Unicamerals two Black members, northeast Omaha Sens. Terrell McKinney and Justin Wayne. They helped break filibusters at earlier stages of debate, saying the bill would give Omaha police fewer reasons to target people in their largely Black districts.

A 2022 constitutional-carry bill (LB 773) by Brewer, whose District 43 covers the northern Panhandle and Sandhills, won first-round approval last spring but fell two votes short of breaking a filibuster at the second of the Legislatures three stages of debate.

The year before that, Brewer offered a bill (LB 236) to allow county boards to authorize their residents to carry concealed weapons without a state permit.

He had to abandon that goal after an attorney generals opinion said it would have amounted to an unconstitutional delegation of the Legislatures powers on gun laws to counties. Rewritten to make less sweeping changes to gun laws, LB 236 was passed and signed by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts in May 2021.

In his last speech before the vote, Brewer noted that senators were in the 44th hour of floor discussion on his various constitutional-carry bills  most of them during filibusters.

Ive got to tell you Im tired, said Brewer, who also has been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Its been a long fight. Im ready to get to a vote on this bill.

He once more repeated his contention that Nebraskans who arent minors, havent committed felonies and have obtained permits to buy firearms shouldnt be punished for keeping them out of public view.

You can say what you want about being too committed to the Constitution, Brewer told his colleagues. But some of us have paid a very dear price for that Constitution.

Besides the Second Amendments right to keep and bear arms, Article I, Section 1 of the Nebraska Constitution since 1988 has guaranteed that right for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any (political) subdivision thereof.

LB 77 strips counties, cities and villages of their powers to regulate firearms use beyond what state law already provides.

Urban lawmakers opposed to LB 77, led by Lincoln Sen. Jane Raybould, allowed that constitutional carry might make sense in rural Nebraska but continued to insist that the bill makes urban residents less safe.

Children, families, law enforcement and communities will be at greater risk if we pass this bill, Raybould said.

We have become one nation under guns, and that is not a Nebraska value or even a moral value.

She accused senators supporting LB 77 of ignoring statistics cited by her and other opponents that gun deaths  and particularly those of children  are highest in states that have loosened concealed-carry laws.

I have to tell you (that) in my 12 years of government service, I have never seen a chamber where people have distorted the truth so much, said Raybould, a former Lincoln city councilwoman, one-time Lancaster County commissioner and past Democratic U.S. House candidate.

Omaha Sen. John Cavanaugh contended that LB 77 unintendedly lessens penalties for minors or prohibited persons who carry concealed firearms or other weapons.

The bill adds a new subsection 2 in section 28-1202 of state law, saying such people would face up to a year in jail for a first offense and up to two years in prison for subsequent offenses.

That is a pretty substantial decline in the penalty for the same conduct, Cavanaugh said.

But identical penalties already appear in subsections 4 and 5 of 28-1202  both of which are shown as being eliminated in LB 77s final text. The changes amount to combining the penalties into a single new subsection.

Jacobson said he was truly amazed at all of the new, unique nuances gun-control advocates produce whenever a gun-rights bill comes up.

(They say,) If we could just send it back to committee and spend one more year thinking about it, it will fix everything. Lets forget about peoples constitutional rights, Jacobson said.

We have a significant drug problem in this country, led by fentanyl. We have laws, as I recall, and theres laws out there that say you cant possess illegal drugs. How well has that worked?

If the Legislature did what LB 77s opponents want, were going to restrict the law-abiding citizens from having their constitutional right, Jacobson added. But guess what? The criminals dont care.
A 14-year-old North Platte girl has been located and is safe, the North Platte Police Department said Wednesday evening.

A 26-year-old Topeka, Kansas, man, Cameron Quintin, was taken into custody on suspicion of kidnapping and violation of child custody.

The girl, Gertie Werkmeister, had left Adams Middle School on Wednesday morning of her own free will, for what appeared to be an arranged meeting with a white man in his mid-to-late 20s, the police department said earlier in the day.

They met at the North Platte Recreation Center across the street from the school and were seen at 10:42 a.m. headed east on Francis Street in a dark-colored Toyota Tacoma pickup with out-of-state plates.

The North Platte 911 Center issued a citywide RAVE alert to all cellphones and land lines that are registered with the Smart 911 system.

The North Platte Police Department was assisted by the Topeka Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: BuzzFeed

Maybe it shouldnt have come as a surprise that BuzzFeed News shut down today. The timing of its demise came coincidentally a week or so before its founding editor Ben Smith was to publish his book, Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. He quickly wrote a piece for his digital-news start-up, Semafor, declaring, The End of the BuzzFeed Era in News.

But really, hadnt it been over for a while? Facebook and Google stopped acting like partners with digital-news operations a while back, preferring to keep ad revenue for themselves. Meanwhile, the Trump years gave the average resistance reader a reason to pony up for a subscription to legacy places like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and even The New Yorker. And the SPAC market and venture capital both arent nearly as flush with cheap money to put somewhere as they were not so long ago.

Had Smith seen the writing on the wall back in 2020, when he left the newsroom he started for a job at the Times? Ive been surprised, he tells me, even since then, at the sort of withdrawal of Facebook from the news space and of Twitter in some ways  Twitter erased blue check marks from journalists accounts today  I think you could kind of see the direction, but I didnt think it was going to happen this fast.

There was always the sword of Damocles hanging over BuzzFeed News, says a newsroom employee, one of about 60 who will be affected (120 jobs across other divisions are also being cut). Everyone in news knew it wasnt profitable, the board hates it, Jonah kind of keeps it around cause he likes it, and eventually the day would come where its a terrible line item in red. And, you know, I guess the day came.

It was back in 2011 that Jonah Peretti first hatched his plan for BuzzFeed News. By then, hed built his website into a successful meme-and-listicle factory, but he wanted his operation to grow up. News seemed like a natural evolution  and a way for BuzzFeed to burnish its cred with advertisers. Peretti hired Ben Smith, then 35 years old and working for Politico; the two launched their newsroom during the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. It got off to a scoopy start. (McCain To Endorse Romney Tomorrow.) Many more scoops were to follow from the other digital hustlers, each competing to get something  almost anything  out on Twitter first. It changed reporting, for better and for worse.

Peretti, in his letter to staff today, wrote, I made the decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much. In doing so, he had managed to build a serious, investigative, and political news operation on the back of those listicles and memes. He was well intentioned and idealistic about it, meeting early on with top figures at the Times to learn the ins and outs of the news business, even as the old newspapers were hemorrhaging advertising dollars and journalistic talent. A new generation of young reporters came up at BuzzFeed News. NBCUniversal invested hundreds of millions in BuzzFeed while it attempted different ways to alchemize its digital heat into dollars. (In 2018, BuzzFeed began selling cookware at Walmart; Peretti set up a mini movie studio in Los Angeles in 2020.)

But BuzzFeeds life force was always tied tightly to its ability to go viral; it was heavily dependent on platforms like Facebook, which could send BuzzFeed tumbling with the simple tweak of an algorithm. And eventually, the social-media giants began sucking up more and more digital ad revenue. The era of the paywall took hold, but not at BuzzFeed News.

News-gathering is expensive, and as the picture for BuzzFeed grew bleaker, its newsroom underwent a yearslong lingchi. As it bled out, the journalists who remained managed to write ambitious stories, even winning a Pulitzer in 2021. That was also the year that Peretti took BuzzFeed public by merging it with a SPAC, which combined it with Complex Networks in the process. Peretti was attempting to roll up the other digital shops in order to have one entity that could withstand the changing forces of the new media landscape. (BuzzFeed had already acquired HuffPost a year earlier.)

Many experts at the time saw the move for what it was  a sign of weakness. The stock price instantly plunged, and its all been downhill ever since. Still, while employees arent shocked that their newsroom ultimately was killed, some are surprised that it happened now, since editor-in-chief Karolina Waclawiak had just told the newsroom in March that it was time for a pivot, encouraging staffers to crank out more stories in order to boost traffic as opposed to focusing on longer features. There are so many things outside of our control  the advertising market, the economy, a recession, shed told them. But what we can control is how many stories we publish each day.

Now, staffers are in a sort of limbo  their emails and Slack accounts are still functional, and some reporters whove got stories in the hopper are wondering if they should go ahead and publish. The Zoom call between the journalists and Peretti this morning weirdly was not as contentious as some other ones, which was strange, cause we all lost our jobs, says the employee. He was very contrite.

Is it the end of an era, or just deja vu? Peretti initially worked out of an apartment in Chinatown, and first lured Smith to start BuzzFeed News over a meeting at Lure Fishbar in Soho. Now, Smith is back in lower Manhattan, running a tiny digital upstart from an inexpensive office space above an Italian restaurant. And hes still giving his content away for free. I think people are always going to want news, says Smith, and we and many others are trying to deliver it to them, but I think the era thats over is the era where news and social media were profoundly entangled, and thats what Jonah saw, and what lured me to BuzzFeed in the first place. He adds, If you look at us, or at other places trying to do journalism in 2023, we arent primarily focused on the web. We have a great website, we get a good amount of traffic  more than I expected  but were very focused on delivering email newsletters directly to our audience, were really focused on building communities at these events.

Obviously, I do think these venture-backed businesses sort of bet on a line that kept going up and to the right, Smith says. You learn the lesson of the thing you did before, and I certainly, if you ask my staff, at some point theyll tell you Im very focused on building a sustainable business. And on staying small as we do it.

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Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Back in 2021, MyPillow founder, MAGA influencer, and election-denial bankroller Mike Lindell was so sure he had data proving Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election that he announced a contest offering a $5 million bounty to anyone who could Prove Mike Wrong. He then presented his supposed proof at a cyber symposium in South Dakota where Lindell expected, as he later said in a deposition, that cyber guys would gather to confirm he was right.

But only one expert took the Prove Mike Wrong Challenge seriously: software forensics consultant Robert Zeidman, a 63-year-old Trump voter in Nevada. Despite his political allegiance, Zeidman did indeed prove that Mike was wrong. What happened next wasnt much of a surprise, either: Lindell never made good on the reward. Now, a private arbitration panel has ruled that was wrong, too.

Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract, he proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data, the arbitrators concluded, and ordered his company, Lindell Management, to pony up the $5 million to Zeidman within 30 days.

Zeidmans attorney, Brian Glasser, celebrated the ruling and said it and their lawsuit mark another important moment in the ongoing proof that the 2020 election was legal and valid, and the role of cybersecurity in ensuring that integrity. The ruling has also triggered regret, since apparently no one other than Zeidman thought the contest would be fair enough to be worth entering.

Reached via text message by the Washington Post, Lindell called the ruling a terrible wrong decision and vowed to challenge it in court  except the contest rules dictated that disputes be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration.

Lindell said in a deposition that he never doubted his own claims about the data and conceived of the challenge and big payout as a way to make the news. He wasnt wrong about that.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer

In his speech shortly before being expelled from the Tennessee legislature for protesting against inaction on gun violence, Democrat Justin Jones ran down some behavior that the Republican majority did not consider expulsion worthy in recent years. He described an admitted child molester who spent years in the legislature without expulsion. Another member allegedly urinated on a members chair in the chamber. No expulsion, Jones said.

A new report from NewsChannel 5 Nashville adds to that list. According to a memo obtained by the station, a bipartisan ethics subcommittee investigation found that GOP representative Scotty Campbell had sexually harassed at least one intern. Based on the completed staff investigation, the Ethics Subcommittee finds that Representative Campbell violated policies against workplace discrimination and harassment, the memo stated. Following the investigation, Republicans did not remove Campbell from his position in leadership or from his committee assignments. Two weeks ago, the 39-year-old representative voted to expel Jones and fellow Democrats Justin Pearson and Gloria Pearson after their demonstrations over gun control.

Hours after Campbells alleged conduct became public knowledge, he announced his resignation.

In an email from the alleged victim to officials at her university, which was obtained by NewsChannel 5, the victim claims that Campbell, who was her neighbor in a building near the Capitol, recently saw her and another 19-year-old intern enter her apartment. When Campbell and the alleged victim later saw each other in person, Campbell told her he imagined that the two interns were performing sexual acts on one another and how it drove him crazy knowing that was happening so close to him. The alleged victim then said that was not the case, to which Campbell described how sexually attractive he found her 19-year-old friend. The email states that Campbell repeatedly told her that he wished he had someone with whom he could just cuddle and how he is very, very lonely.

On March 15, the victim remembers that she went to Campbells apartment to return a wrench she borrowed. He then proceeded to ask how many men Ive slept with. She said zero, and claims Campbell told her not to lie. He then proceeded to ask how many women Ive slept with and said he bets girls go crazy over me, she recalled. She claims that Campbell offered her cannabis gummies in exchange for seeing her tattoos and piercings. When she said no, she claims he reached out his hand towards me and grabbed me around my neck. The investigation found that taxpayers paid to relocate the alleged victim from her apartment building, to ship her furniture to her familys home elsewhere in Tennessee, and for a hotel for the rest of her internship.

When confronted with the allegation, Campbell told NewsChannel 5 that the allegations were not true, adding I had consensual, adult conversations with two adults off property.

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OSHAs Beat the Heat Contest Seeks to Further Heat Hazard Education, Encourage Action

Stakeholders have until June 9, 2023, to submit a resource or idea.

Exposure to heat has resulted in the illness and death of many workers over the years.

In 2020 alone, 1,940 injuries and illnesses related to environmental heat caused people to miss work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That same year, environmental heat exposure led to the death of 56 workers, up 13 from the year prior. Over eight years (2011 to 2019), 344 workers lost their lives to heat exposure.

As temperatures rise across the country, employers and workers need to prepareif they havent alreadyfor working in the heat.

This can mean taking measures such as teaching workers about heat-illness symptoms, crafting a heat-illness prevention plan and ensuring workers have access to resources like water and shade.

To uncover more resources to further awareness of worker safety and hazards in the heatwhether indoor or outdoorOSHA launched the Beat the Heat contest, the agency announced in a news release yesterday.

For the contest, stakeholders are invited to submit any tools or resources that would contribute to educating workers and employers on heat hazards. In addition to education, the purpose of the contest is to raise industry and general public awareness of the dangers excessive heat presents to workers and motivate employers and workers to act to prevent heat illness, per the news release.

A panel comprised of OSHA and other federal agency workersall of whom have expertise in relevant subject matter areaswill judge the entries based on the following, according to the contests web page.

How well does the submission:

Identify heat as a risk to workers.

Provide an informative message.

Utilize a creative communication method.

Engage with employers, workers, and other stakeholders to work together and form effective communications about the risks of hazardous heat exposure in the workplace.

Apply effective message and communication strategies that are accessible and easily understood for workers, employers, and other stakeholders.

Consider geographic locations and industry sectors.

Award categories include:

Most Innovative

Most Creative

Strongest Message

Best Non-English Submission

Highlighting Indoor Heat Hazards

Highlighting Young Workers

Those interested in submitting an entry have until June 9, 2023.
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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has warned that the world is currently off track to meet its climate goals and prevent the worst impact of the climate emergency. IRENA said that significant work would need to be done to redirect the course of the existing track. Not only will this require more ambitious climate policies from countries worldwide, but a significant boost in investment will be needed as well as global support for a green transition in lower-income countries.

IRENA published a report in March outlining the current climate situation, taking into account new climate policies and action being taken by the major world powers. The report found that an extra $35 trillion of funding will be needed in transitional technologies by the end of the decade to reduce global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as stated in the Paris Agreement targets. The organisation acknowledged the progress of recent years, mainly in the power sector where renewables now account for 40 percent of installed power globally. However, the green energy pipeline is far below the amount required to stick to the 1.5oC limit.

To achieve the targets required to limit climate change, renewable energy deployment levels must increase from some 3,000 gigawatts today to over 10,000 GW by 2030. Most of the progress to date has been concentrated in a few specific regions, with China, the EU and the U.S. accounting for two-thirds of all new green energy in 2022. Meanwhile, many developing economies are falling behind, and many continue to rely on fossil fuels as their main source of energy. Despite big promises from the worlds richest economies to support the development of green energy in lower-income countries following the COP climate summits, little investment has been seen.

Experts worry that too much money is still being pumped into fossil fuel projects, with the risk of leaving stranded assets as the world transitions to green. Worse still, the availability of fossil fuels thanks to new developments could lead to continued reliance on oil, gas, and coal and could deter companies from investing in renewable energy projects. This is perhaps seen nowhere more so than in the natural gas sector, which has experienced a resurge in the last year. As the movement away from Russian gas highlighted the Wests reliance on Russian energy, the U.S. and Europe quickly looked elsewhere for their gas supply and developed plans for new LNG infrastructure to ensure their energy security. But many think that the move reflects an overreliance on gas rather than renewable alternatives.

The IRENA report came shortly after the publication of a landmark UN Synthesis Report last month, which urged governments to act more radically on climate change. The U.N.s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggested that current action is not enough to prevent a severe climate crisis, particularly if countries continue to emit vast quantities of greenhouse gasses. The findings were based on an analysis of 10,000 pages of research from six assessment reports. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres explainedThe climate time bomb is ticking. But todays IPCC report is a how-to guide to defuse the climate time bomb. It is a survival guide for humanity. Guterres added As it shows, the 1.5-degree limit is achievable. But it will take a quantum leap in climate action.

Following the report, the EU unveiled plans to ramp up its 2030 renewable energy targets. This move is not only in response to the need to prevent a devastating climate situation but also to ensure the regions mid-term energy security by reducing its reliance on Russian energy. The European Council and Parliament reached a provisional deal to source 42.5 percent of the EUs energy from renewable sources by 2030. This replaces the 2018 target of a 32 percent share. The proposal is still awaiting approval from member states.

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the EU aims to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by the end of the decade. So far, the region has been using the Fit for 55 package to ensure it introduces climate and energy policies that align with its climate targets. However, the abrupt disruption of the regions gas supply, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russian energy, has demonstrated the need to accelerate the rollout of renewable energy.

Recent reports on the progress of the green transition and its impact on climate change have shown that not enough is being done around the globe to avoid a climate crisis. While many countries have set decarbonisation and renewable energy targets, many are not acting fast enough to meet these goals, and several low-income countries do not have the resources to pursue a green transition. While more ambitious goals from the EU are a step in the right direction, stronger climate policies and more significant funding are required at the global level to ensure that we meet climate goals and avoid a crisis.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Previously, we reported that energy agencies have been growing more bearish with their forecasts on oil demand growth with four experts including IEA and OPEC Secretariat giving divergent views. Alarmingly, the normally bullish U.S.-based Energy Information Agency (EIA) has cut its forecast in each of the past nine months.

The EIAs latest growth prediction of a decline of 420,000 barrels per day (kb/d) in what experts refer to as the call on OPEC (i.e. global demand minus non-OPEC supply) in the current year, a level 1.87 million barrels per day (mb/d) lower than its July 2022 forecast.

Other agencies expect lackluster growth: Standard Chartered sees the call growing by just 63,000 b/d, 1.41mb/d less than its July 2022 forecast, while the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects growth of 400kb/d, 2.326mb/d below its July 2022 forecast.

The upshot of it all is that all four agencies at least expect some growth, though they cant seem to come close to finding consensus on the magnitude.

But heres the best part: at least one expert has predicted that oil demand will hit an all-time high in the current year. Commodity experts at StanChart have predicted that global oil demand will set a new all-time high of 102.24mb/d in August, surpassing the previous record of 102.2mb/d set in August 2019.

Source: Standard Chartered Research

Regarding the question of whether fundamentals are improving or weakening, StanChart says we can put on both our bullish and bearish lenses.

The bullish interpretation simply is that this is an all-time high; the bearish one is

that it has taken no less than four years for global demand just to get back to the previous high. Indeed, StanChart reckons that had it been business-as-usual during those four years, global oil demand would have increased by another 5mb/d. Even better, StanChart sees oil demand setting fresh all-time highs in both November and December with demand set to rise above 103mb/d for the first time in June 2024.

On the natural gas front, natural gas futures pared their Tuesday gains in early trading in Wednesdays intraday session as traders continued to mull the impact on balances of a chilly late April weather pattern. Gas prices jumped more than 9% on Tuesday after weekend weather forecasts pointed to a second consecutive period of strong demand for natural gas due to colder weather. Mild weather-driven demand has taken a toll on gas markets, with Henry Hub prices trading as low as $1.84 on Friday.

Wednesdays fall marks an end to a three-session rally. From a technical standpoint, ICAP Technical Analysis analyst Brian LaRose has told Natural Gas Intelligence that the bulls still have some work to do to take control of the market:

Still peg the 50-day moving averages as the immediate challenge. These moving averages are presently converging with the upper bollinger bands. Run into resistance and Henry Hub has the potential to be violently repelled. Bust through these moving averages and we will have the first hard evidence suggesting a major shift in the narrative may be taking hold, LaRose said.

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Although the short-term outlook remains soft with a swing back to light national demand expected due to warm weather in southern and eastern halves of the U.S., the medium term outlook is likely to improve with NatGasWeather predicting that much more of the U.S. will experience cooler than normal lows of 20s to lower 40s as the cold front progresses eastward, triggering relatively strong late season demand.

Meanwhile, Russias state-owned gas supplier, Gazprom has warned Europe that there ...is no guarantee that nature will make such a gift again, referring to the continent successfully making it through winter despite cuts in Russian gas supplies thanks to a warmer-than-expected winter. Europe has failed to secure enough long-term LNG contracts to offset cut-off Russian gas imports, with Reuters predicting this may prove costly next winter and could sharply tighten the market. The European Union views natural gas as a bridge fuel in the transition to renewable energy, and buyers generally struggle to commit to long-term contracts. This means that Europe might be forced to buy more from the spot markets like it did in 2022, which in turn is likely to push prices up.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
Chinese authorities are expected to give much lower fuel export allowances to refiners in the second batch of quotas in the coming weeks amid rising domestic demand, a Reuters survey of state refiners and consultancies showed on Thursday.

Following a rather generous first batch of export quotas early this year, when a total of 18.99 million tons in allowances were issued, China is now set to limit quotas in the second batch to between 8 million tons and 12 million tons, according to the survey.

In the first batch, China increased its fuel export quotas by as much as 46% compared to the first batch of 2022, as authorities sought to keep refining output high amid sluggish domestic demand. Major state refiners and some of the largest private processors, such as Zhejiang Petrochemical, are typically given fuel export quotas several times a year, with deadlines to use up the allowances.

It is not clear yet when China will issue the second batch of quotas for 2023. Last year, China announced the second batch of fuel export allowances in June.

With demand rising from the second quarter and Chinese economic growth beating expectations in the first quarter of 2023, the need to spur the economy through oil products has declined.

Refineries will be granted around 10 million tonnes of new export quotas in coming weeks, as they could use over 80% of 2023 quotas by the end of April, Energy Aspects analyst Sun Jianan told Reuters.

With the potentially lower export quotas for the summer period, refining margins across Asia could rise again, following a period of weaker margins in recent weeks. Domestically, the biggest Chinese refiners are set to benefit from the rise in demand, which has improved margins in China.

Economists expect China to account for around half of global oil demand growth this year.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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On March 30, Azerbaijan officially inaugurated its first embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, after avoiding the move for three decades. Although the decision highlighted the importance of Azerbaijani-Israeli relations, it quickly became a catalyst behind the renewed war of words between Iran and Azerbaijan (Themedialine.org, March 30). Since 2021, diplomatic relations between Tehran and Baku have steadily become embittered. Iran is primarily concerned with the decline of its influence in the South Caucasus, which has suffered since the end of the Second Karabakh War in 2020. As such, in an attempt by Tehran to flex its muscles and intimidate Azerbaijan, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted large-scale military drills on the border with Azerbaijan in October 2022 (Eurasianet, October 20, 2022). Unlike previous years, the exercises provoked an uneasy reaction within Azerbaijan and triggered anti-Iranian sentiments throughout the country.

Diplomatic relations between the two sides were almost put on hold when Azerbaijan shut down its embassy in Tehran following the armed attack that left one dead on January 27 (Caspian News, January 30). The embassy attack signaled that escalating tensions between the two states would not be resolved anytime soon.

Since 1991, Baku has pursued a more balanced foreign policy toward Iran, maintaining influence among Azerbaijani Shia Muslims. The balanced approach gradually shifted to a pragmatic partnership with Tehran, particularly during Hassan Rouhanis presidency (20132021) in Iran. Nevertheless, the conservative and hard-liner administration of President Ebrahim Raisi has demonstratively walked away from this approach, citing national security concerns (Cacianalyst.org, January 26, 2022).

Irans security concerns stem from deepened ties between Azerbaijan and Israel, particularly in defense and military matters over the past two years. The narrative also claims that Azerbaijan has allowed Israeli intelligence to conduct surveillance of Iranian territories (Aawsat.com, April 2). Although Tehrans accusations regarding the presence of Israeli intelligence on Azerbaijani soil is not a new phenomenon, recently, this pronouncement was followed with several further provocations from the Islamic Republic. For example, on March 30, the commander of Iranian land forces, Kioumars Heydari, publicly warned that Iran will not allow the change of borders in the South Caucasus (Amwaj.media, April 4).

Consequently, the recurrence of hostile rhetoric between Baku and Tehran inevitably raised concerns of a direct conflict in the fragile region. While, at this point, diplomatic tensions between the two countries have yet to be fully exacerbated, the risk of minor border clashes is still real. However, considering several essential factors, including Russian influence in the region, the burgeoning Azerbaijani-Turkish alliance and Irans stagnating economy and political instability, a full-scale conventional war between Iran and Azerbaijan is unlikely (Jns.org, March 13).

For Iran, the prospect of missile attacks against alleged Israeli military facilities on Azerbaijani territories also represents an undesirable option. Tehran understands that, in the case of such an attack, the Westnamely the United Stateswill almost unanimously support Baku. This hypothesis falls in line with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkens recent comment that Azerbaijan has a long border with Iran, which needs defending. (News.az, March 23). Blinkens remarks should not come as a surprise in light of Iranian troops amassing near the border with Nakhchivan, which is considered one of Azerbaijans most vulnerable points (Baku Post, April 4).

Iran is highly concerned about the possibility of border changes in the regionnamely, the establishment of the Zangezur transit corridor via Armenias Syunik province and linking Azerbaijan with Turkey. This corridor would eventually fence off Tehran from Armenia, de facto isolating Iran from cargo and energy transit through the region. In this regard, Tehran strongly believes that the strengthening of the Azerbaijani-Turkish-Israeli axis will significantly limit its influence over extended sleeper cells, which were reportedly created by Iran on Azerbaijani soul in the past three decades (Times of Israel, April 6).

Of even greater concern to Tehran is the fact that the recent diplomatic standoff with Azerbaijan has provoked a harsh reaction in Baku with the continuous mass crackdown on pro-Iranian groups, which are accused of being part of an Iranian spy network within the country (Caspian News, February 2). The spy networkrelated arrests and mounting anti-Iranian sentiments culminated on March 28 when Fazil Mustafa, an Azerbaijani member of parliament (MP) and staunch critic of Iran, was gunned down in front of his house but managed to survive. In response, the Azerbaijani government pointed the finger of blame at Tehran as the main perpetrator of the assassination attempt (Eurasianet, April 3).

The MPs assassination attempt coincided with the inauguration of the Azerbaijani embassy in Tel Aviv and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohens statement that Azerbaijan and Israel had agreed to form a unified front in the face of Iran. As a result, these events triggered even more bellicose rhetoric from Tehran (Mfa.ir, March 31).

The statement from the Israeli foreign minister became genuine proof for Iran regarding the deepening of the Azerbaijani-Israeli partnership. Undoubtedly, enhanced ties with Israel in this uncertain environment provide Azerbaijan with additional security guarantees and access to Israeli-made sophisticated weaponry and defense technology (Haaretz, March 6). Irans continuous threats against Azerbaijan and the mass arrests of members from pro-Iranian groups in Azerbaijan, including the well-known pro-Iranian cleric Haji Ali Beheshti who was later charged with treason, resulted in the expulsion of four Iranian diplomats from Azerbaijan (Al Jazeera, April 6; Globalinfo.az, April 11).

Overall, this expulsion is largely unprecedented in the history of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations, which decreases the chances for a significant diplomatic thaw in the near future. In truth, Bakus resolute stance on its position in the region suggests that Iran has gained little from its intimidation tactics; on the contrary, it has in fact boosted anti-Iranian rhetoric within Azerbaijan. As a result, the most recent phone conversations between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on April 7 and 8 could indicate Tehrans efforts to de-escalate tensions. This sentiment was solidified shortly after by comments from Elchin Amirbayov, aide to the vice president of Azerbaijan and a top diplomat, that Azerbaijan wants to maintain positive relations with Iran (Haqqin.az, April 13). Hence, though the risk of immediate armed conflict between Baku and Tehran has decreased slightly for now, the war of words between the two sides will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

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By the Jamestown Foundation

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Despite all the talk about phasing out oil and gas and a just transition, government reports show that the Canadian oil and gas sector is short tens of thousands of workers.

Asked by Canadian Member of Parliament Martin Shields, Labour Minister Seamus ORegan, who represents St. John's SouthMount Pearl said that The oil and gas industry is going to be with us for quite some time, and I would argue proudly so,.

The Minister went on to say that Canada is one of the worlds oil and gas producing nations, and even admitted that his own government is sometimes alienating the workers of the oil and gas industry. Responding to what he thinks about the federal governments just transition to decarbonize the Canadian energy industry, ORegan said that Just transition is a word that workers hate and my constituents dont like, so I dont like it either.

ORegan concluded by saying I need more workers in the oil and gas industry, not less. We need more..

According to Canadas The National, models produced by Employment and Social Development Canada across nearly 300 national occupation groups projected 14,000 job vacancies in the oil and gas extraction industry over the 2022-2031 period.

The Ministers statements come at a rather surprising moment, just as Canadas leading oil province Alberta has set net-zero goals for 2050, without specifying any interim goals. On Wednesday, Oilprice.coms Julianne Geiger wrote that while Canadas national Net-zero plan calls for milestone dates in 2035, 2040, and 2045, Albertas plan has no such interim targets, nor is there any legislative or regulations in place that would enforce this 2050 target. And Albertas current government isnt looking to legislate it.

Despite some outlandish predictions that most oil and gas industry jobs in Canada will vanish by 2050, IEA data from 2022 predicts that, under current policies, Canadian oil production will increase to 6.4 million bpd in 2040, before falling back to 5.5 million bpd in 2050.

Image courtesy: Canadian Energy Centre

The global energy transition and decarbonization efforts will most likely lead to major changes in the Canadian energy job market and possibly change the very nature of some of the jobs, but barring a complete global collapse in demand for oil and gas, even in 2050, there will be a sizeable workforce employed in Canadian oil and gas.

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By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com

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The largest semiconductor makers in the global technology supply chain are seeing emissions soar as their consumption of electricity, also derived from fossil fuels, is set to more than double by 2030, Greenpeace said in a report on Thursday.

The chip-making industry does not have meaningful climate targets aligned with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)s recommended emissions cuts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, Greenpeace said. None of the suppliers reviewed in Greepeaces report have committed to 100% renewable energy across their operations by 2030.

Many semiconductor manufacturers operate in East Asia, where the majority of grids rely on fossil fuels, including coal. This makes the chip-making industry a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, the environmental organization added.

As electricity consumption in the industry is set to surge this decade, emissions will also rise, according to Greenpeace.

Semiconductor manufacturing is projected to emit 86 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) globally by 2030, more than Portugals total emissions in 2021, the report showed. The sector is expected to consume 286 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity worldwide by 2030, higher than Australias total electricity consumption in 2021.

Emissions from electronics manufacturing are soaring, but the companies responsible are hiding from view. Tech giants like Apple depend on TSMC, Samsung, and other suppliers to build critical components of their phones and laptops, said Greenpeace East Asia Global Tech Project Lead Xueying Wu.

Both Samsung and TSMC consume more electricity than some entire countries, but they have largely escaped scrutiny in the climate debate despite their reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. TSMC and Samsung need to target 100 percent renewable energy worldwide by 2030, just as their clients Apple and Microsoft have done.

Greenpeace called on TSMC and Samsung to commit to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030 as these chip-making giants have the sway that is needed to accelerate renewable energy development in the region.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Japans Mitsui has bought a 92% stake in a shale gas field in Texas, from which it eyes production of over 200 million cubic feet daily, Reuters has reported, citing the company.

The size of the deal was not disclosed but the Japanese company said the acquisition was a pragmatic solution for the transition away from fossil fuels.

Japan is one of the most heavily import-dependent nations in the world when it comes to energy, and natural gas is one of its biggest imports.

Last year, the country regained the top spot of LNG importers globally, overtaking China after it imported 71.99 million cubic meters of the superchilled fuel, while China imported 63.44 million tons.

According to Mitsui, one of Japans biggest natural gas traders, natural gas and LNG will have a major role to play in the energy transition and the company was set to "continue to contribute to stable energy supply ... by further promoting our global natural gas and LNG businesses".

Last year, with fellow trader Itochu and JERA, Japans biggest power utility, Mitsui sealed a long-term LNG deal with Oman as part of that natural gas strategy.

The Japanese company was also allowed by the Japanese government to retain its stake in the Sakhalin-2 project in Russia despite G7 sanctions on Moscow. The stake will ensure continued deliveries of LNG over the long term.

Energy Intelligence reported earlier this year that Japanese commodity traders were on the lookout for longer-term LNG supply deals amid the heightened uncertainty on energy markets sparked by the war in Ukraine.

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Mitsuis acquisition deal in Texas may well be one version of securing long-term gas supply. The company said the field has a connection to LNG export plants on the Gulf Coast as well as ammonia production facilities.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Things are heating up in Florida over the widespread gasoline shortages plaguing the state, with Republicans calling out other Republicans for not finding a resolution to the problem already.

In a video clip that Marco Rubio shared on Twitter on Sunday, the Senator lashed out at the people that had failed to resolve the gasoline shortages.

"FOUR DAYS and they still can't figure out how to get gasoline to South #Florida #GasShortage" Rubio tweeted, leaving most readers to assume the "they" in that sentence was referring to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

"What's happening right now in Miami and in Fort Lauderdale with gasoline is crazy," Senator Rubio explained. "You can't find gasoline anywhere."

Rubio cautioned against blaming the gasoline shortages on "consumer panic."

By Thursday afternoon, gasoline shortages in southeast Florida headed towards easing, but 49.4% of gas stations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale were still without gas, according to GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis Patrick DeHaan. That's an improvement from the 60.6% that were out earlier today. In West Palm Beach/Fort Pierce, 29.1% of stations were still without gasoline.

"There is gasoline," Patrick DeHaan said as the panic took hold of the Florida area, adding that most of the problems were not born out of a physical shortage. A lot of this stems from record-setting rainfall that the area recently saw, exacerbated by the huge increase in population that the area saw that places a burden on supply chains.

Most of the gasoline is sitting in storage facilities. But even a small disruption in the flow of fuel can create major headaches for the industry as thousands of tankers struggle to get gasoline from the ports to the stations, De Haan explainedamid a trucker shortage, no less.

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Rubio came under fire for his video clip that chastised those who had as of yet failed to fix the gasoline shortages, with some pointing out that Rubio should be considered one of the people responsible for finding a solution to the problem.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Pakistan expects to receive in May its first cargo loaded with discounted Russian crude after placing its first order for oil from Moscow under a new bilateral deal, Pakistans Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik told Reuters.

For several months, Pakistan has been negotiating for the purchase of Russian crude at discounts. Pakistan hasnt been a major importer of Russian oil and gas so far.

Last month, reports emerged that Pakistan is looking to buy Russian oil at $50 per barrel, as the South Asian country is grappling with an economic and foreign reserves liquidity crisis.

Pakistan is desperate to import energy at low costs after it was outspent on the market last year when oil and gas prices surged while Pakistani foreign exchange reserves dwindled.

A potential purchase of $50 oil from Russia would be $10 below the G7 price cap on Russian crude, below which shipments are still cleared to enjoy insurance and financing services from Western companies.

Pakistan hopes for good discounts from Russia, earlier reports have said.

Russia, for its part, was initially uncertain whether Pakistan would want to proceed with an oil deal, according to a report in The Express Tribune. Following a meeting between Russian and Pakistani officials, Russia has asked Pakistan to purchase and import one cargo as a test case.

This week, Pakistani minister Malik told Reuters that the country had already placed its orders and confirmed reports that Pakistan would buy only crude, not refined products.

The minister, however, declined to disclose any commercial details about the oil purchase.

Russian officials have advised Pakistan not to divulge to the media any details about the discount at which the South Asian country is buying Russian crude, nor the mode and the currency of the payment, sources told Pakistani news outlet Dunya News earlier this week.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has visited Kyiv for the first time since Russia's invasion last year, telling Ukrainians their country's future belongs in the alliance as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy proclaimed that "it is time" an invitation was extended to join the group.

Stoltenberg arrived in the Ukrainian capital early on April 20 on an unannounced visit as fighting raged in the east and Moscow continued to launch attacks with dozens of drones on civilian infrastructure in several regions.

Stoltenberg reaffirmed the alliance's position that Ukraine's future lies in NATO, but stopped short of offering a clear timeline while reiterating that the 31-member bloc will continue to offer support to Ukraine in its fight against the 14-month Russian aggression for as long as necessary.

"Let me be clear: Ukraine's rightful place is in the euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help you to make this possible," Stoltenberg said.

"NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes," Stoltenberg said, adding that the alliance had trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and given 65 billion euros ($71.31 billion) in military aid alone.

Moscow has given several reasons for launching what it calls a "special military operation" against Ukraine, including saying several times that it needed to prevent Ukraine's accession to NATO, which would pose an existential threat to Russia.

Stoltenberg also invited Zelenskiy to attend a NATO summit scheduled for July in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius.

"There isn't a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance," Zelenskiy told a news conference with Stoltenberg in Kyiv, adding, "it is the time for the corresponding decisions."

Speaking a day before a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Zelenskiy also appealed to the alliance chief to help overcome the hesitancy of some members to provide long-range weapons to Ukraine to help it repel Russian forces.

"I addressed the secretary-general with a request to help us overcome the reluctance of our partners regarding the delivery of certain weapons, namely long-range weapons, modern aviation, artillery, armored vehicles," Zelenskiy said.



Earlier during his visit, Stoltenberg paid his respects at a memorial for fallen soldiers in downtown Kyiv and talked to Ukrainian officials, images published by Ukrainian media outlets showed.

Stoltenberg's visit came hours after Russia used Iranian-made drones for a second day in a row to attack civilian and infrastructure targets, the Ukrainian military said on April 20.

The southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region was targeted by six drones, Serhiy Lysak, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram.

"This night, troops from the Eastern Air Command and antiaircraft defense forces downed six attack drones, most likely, [Iranian-made] Shaheds," Lysak wrote on Telegram.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.



Separately, the Ukrainian Air Force Command reported that its air defenses had shot down about 10 Iranian-made Russian drones in southeastern Ukraine.



The drone attack was the second in as many days, after swarms of Shaheds were reportedly shot down the previous day by the Ukrainian air defense above the southern port city of Odesa.

Russian surface-to-air missilesn hit civilian targets in Ochkiv, a small town in the southern Mykolayiv region, the head of the regional military administration, Vitaliy Kim, said on April 20, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

In Donetsk, one civilian was killed as a result of Russian shelling, the region's military governor, Pavlo Kyrilenko said on April 20.

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In the east, Moscow's troops continued to press an offensive in Donetsk region with renewed momentum to try and break a monthslong stalemate in the battle for the city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian defenders meanwhile repelled more than 55 Russian assaults in Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka -- the theater of operations where the fiercest battles for the Donetsk region have been under way for months.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update that Russian troops have been unsuccessfully trying to improve their tactical positions using a combination of shelling and air strikes.

The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

By RFE/RL

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Officials from the G7 group of the worlds most industrialized nations are discussing the idea of an outright ban on nearly all exports to Russia in another move aimed at hurting the Russian economy over Putins invasion of Ukraine, sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Thursday.

The G7 officials are discussing the idea ahead of a summit of the leaders in Japan next month, with the goal of bringing the EU into the fold of countries banning nearly all exports to Russia, according to Bloombergs sources.

However, an EU implementation of such sanctions would need the approval of all 27 member states, which would create a lot of differences among EU nations and fears of retaliation from Russia.

Under the current sanctions against Russia, all exports to Russia are allowed unless sanctioned. If a near-total ban on exports is adopted, it would upend the sanctions mechanismall exports would be banned unless exempted, according to Bloomberg.

Food, agricultural products, and medicines will almost certainly remain exempted from any bans and sanctions, one of the sources said.

The EU and G7 have already banned some exports to Russia. The EU, for example, cannot export cutting-edge technology, technology needed for oil refining, energy industry equipment, technology and services, luxury cars, watches and jewelry, and aviation and space industry goods and technology, among others.

Despite the existing export bans, Russia has managed to import indirectly some of the banned goods via third countries.

Some of the most significant bans against Russia, intended to hurt a large part of Russian revenues, are the embargoes on the import of Russian crude oil and fuels in the EU. The bloc, G7, Australia, and other allies also banned from December 5 maritime transportation services from shipping Russias crude oil to third countries if the oil is bought above the price cap of $60 per barrel. Seaborne imports of Russian refined oil products are also banned in the EU as of early February. The flow of Russian fuels to third countries is also regulated by price caps, similar to the cap on Russian crude, if the trade is carried out through Western insurers. The cap on Russian diesel is $100 per barrel, while the cap on lower-cost petroleum products is set at $45 a barrel.

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By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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The Biden administration plans to begin year-round sales of E15 fuels across eight states in the Midwest next year, Reuters has reported, citing the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the EPA, the move will help reduce retail fuel prices, Reuters noted in its report, but there was not enough time to finalize all the necessary regulations by this summer, so the start had to be postponed until 2024.

"There would be a significant disruption to consumer pricing and the like if we moved too quickly in 2023," the Administrator of the EPA, Michael Regan said, as quoted by Reuters. "We feel very confident that E15 being sold year-round will be eligible and ready to go in 2024."

Currently, the EPA has an effective ban on E15 fuel sales for the summer season because it contributes to smog but last year the ban was lifted to lower prices at the pump.

Also, Reuters noted that research had emerged suggesting E15 fuels did not contribute to smog formation any more than E10 fuels that contain 10% ethanol instead of 15%.

Yet for some, this is a political win for the corn lobby: the eight states that will see year-round E15 fuel sales include the biggest corn producers in the country: Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.

The increase in ethanol blending mandates that the EPA approved last year boosted the price of corn considerably, as well as the price of other crops.

Oil refiners, on the other hand, are pushing against the E15 mandates, which hurt their profit margins. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners are required to blend growing amounts of renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel.

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Refiners that dont have the infrastructure to blend biofuels must purchase tradeable blending credits known as Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs. These do not come cheap but small refiners can get exemptions if they show proof the expense for RINs is hurting their bottom lines.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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The Biden administration has dismissed concerns expressed by Republican lawmakers that the record drawdown in crude oil stocks from the strategic petroleum reserve had damaged the salt cavern system where the oil is stored.

Citing a letter to that effect, Reuters reported that some Republican members of Congress had become worried that the release of 180 million barrels of crude from those caverns had damaged their structure. The cause of worry is the fact that oil is withdrawn from the caverns through the injection of water, and water can dissolve the walls of the caverns, which affects the storage space.

The SPR withdrawals from last year led to a "rapid depletion of the SPR that may have caused damage to SPR's pipelines and caverns, compromising its ability to meet its energy security mission in the event of a true energy supply interruption," Republican Senator John Barrasso and Representative Cathy McMorris wrote to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm last year.

The response of Granholms department came from another official, Kathleen Hogan, who said that "The necessary emergency sales that took place in 2022 did not damage our SPR pipelines or caverns."

"The Nation's top geoscientists at DOE's Sandia National Laboratory continue to closely monitor cavern integrity, and the SPR remains operationally ready to respond to future supply disruptions, should they occur," she added.

The SPR currently holds 372 million barrels of crude oil, down from 638 million at the beginning of 2021. It is the lowest level since December 1983. Oil was first delivered to the U.S. SPR in 1977.

Last year, the Biden administration released a total of more than 220 million barrels from the system to counter rising retail fuel prices. Plans were to start replenishing the SPR as soon as prices fell to between $67 and $72 per barrel but when price did fell to these levels, the administration deflected, indicating it was in no rush to start buying.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Via AG Metal Miner

The Stainless Monthly Metals Index (MMI) fell 7.53% from March to April. Downside momentum continued to pressure the nickel market, sending prices down into support zones. Meanwhile, no bullish reversal patterns have formed, leaving the global stainless steel price at high risk of further decline.

Nickel Market Shifted into Surplus, While Inventories Declined

According to the International Nickel Study Group (INSG), the nickel market shifted from deficit to surplus in 2022, and thus the stainless steel price index was effected. Supply overtook demand by 112,000 tons, marking the largest surplus since 2014. A boost in mining and production in Indonesia, which alone accounted for roughly 48% of global nickel output in 2022, significantly supported supply.

However, the surplus provided little relief for LME inventories, which continued a decline that started in 2020 and now sit at their lowest level since 2007. The class of material is the main reason for the disparity between global supply and inventories. Both the LME and SHFE trade Class 1 refined nickel. However, the boom in Indonesia has largely related to Class 2 material, which impact stainless steel prices.

Moreover, only around 21% of global nickel output is currently deliverable against the LME nickel high-grade contract, compared to around 50% in decades past. Such shifting market dynamics have eroded the LMEs use as a benchmark. According to Reuters, around 70% of the nickel supply chain is now priced at a discount to the LME benchmark.

LME Makes Big Changes a Year After Crisis, Stainless Steel Price Effected

Just over one year ago, the nickel market witnessed a squeeze that saw prices roughly triple before the LME promptly halted and canceled trades. The controversial move by the exchange triggered an exodus across many of its contracts, but especially nickel. In an ongoing bid to strengthen markets and boost participation, the LME announced a new round of changes on March 30.

Here are some of the changes set to occur over the next few years:

The LME plans to fast-track the approval of new brands it allows suppliers to deliver against its contracts to three months, the first being coarse nickel powder. The organization also announced a fee waiver for new brands.

The exchange will launch a new Class 2 spot market in China for both nickel matte and nickel sulfate.

The LME will make daily price limits permanent and revise them down to 12% for copper and aluminum.

The LME will reassess and recalculate the amount of cash required for dealers to post for trading losses. This could see the exchange shift to a realized variation margining model used by other clearinghouses.

While the LME is yet to implement many of these changes, the announcement saw no major market shift. Nickel prices continued to edge downward during the first week of April, before they hit a bottom on April 6. Liquidity, meanwhile, has shown no meaningful signs of recovery, as both open interest and daily trading volumes sit significantly beneath their pre-crisis averages.

Curious about stainless steel price movements? Check out MetalMiners stainless steel should cost models by scheduling a demo of the Insights platform.

GCHL to Create Indonesian Nickel Indices

As the LME works to maintain its dominance, Global Commodity Holdings Limited (GCHL) continues to make moves to build its own position in the market. According to a recent release, the UK-based company signed an exclusive deal with PT Indeks Komoditas Indonesia (PT IKI) to develop indices for Indonesian nickel.

The statement claims the purpose of the indices is for transactions, budgeting, forecasting and as a tool for the Indonesian government to control and monitor nickel mines and downstream activities. One index will relate to nickel produced in Indonesia, while the other will relate to Indonesian nickel ore.

Like the LME, GCHL has taken note of increased nickel output from Asia. Should the upcoming indices gain traction and start being used to value exports for taxation, they could become a benchmark. Exchanges could also develop the indices to create futures. Meanwhile, the market still awaits the launch of GCHLs Class 1 nickel trading platform, which it expects to go live later this month.

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By Nichole Bastin

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A year after starting construction of its new headquarters, Community Alliance is seeking help from the community in raising the last $2 million of a capital campaign aimed at expanding its physical space and the behavioral health services it offers.

Once it opens next spring, Community Alliances Center for Mental Health at 71st Street and Mercy Road will allow the nonprofit to serve up to three times the number of people that it can today.

Carole Boye, Community Alliances CEO, said the organization has raised 95% of its $65 million campaign goal and now is turning to friends and supporters in the larger community.

The organization received $10 million of the $40 million in American Rescue Plan Act money the Nebraska Legislature allocated last year for expanding mental health services and building new treatment facilities. The rest of the campaign funds raised so far have come from philanthropists.

Its just been amazing to me and rewarding to me how much recognition there is about the mental health needs of our community and how generously people are stepping up and saying, Lets do something about it, said Boye, who has been with the organization since it began 42 years ago.

When Community Alliance completes its move, she said, all of its nonresidential services, which now are spread across three locations, will be housed under the same roof.

The new building and a series of federal grants will allow the organization to offer a fully integrated services system, Boye said.

The organization will expand its primary care offerings, with primary care providers working alongside mental health providers.

The new facility also is central to Community Alliances development as a community behavioral health center, a new federal program focused on increasing access to care. The designation is the mental health equivalent of federally qualified health centers, which in Omaha include OneWorld Community Health Centers and Charles Drew Health Center.

As a community behavioral health center, Community Alliance is committed to providing expanded and timely access for anyone seeking mental health care or substance use services and to reducing wait times so those seeking care can get it when they need it.

The center will include a dedicated health and wellness area; expanded access to employment, rehabilitation, family education and care coordination services; an on-site pharmacy and easy connections between services for clients and staff.

As part of the planning process, the building grew from 120,000 square feet to 127,000 square feet. Initially, Boye said, the third floor was planned as a partial floor. But participants recommended building out the full third floor, which will leave some unfinished space.

While hiring in the current market is challenging, she said, the organization has expanded its psychiatry and therapy staffs. She said the organization had a good team to begin with and now is growing it.

Our vision for the future and the new building helps that, she said.

Dr. Juvet Che already has begun work as medical director. Che worked as a primary care physician for several years before deciding to pursue psychiatry, completing the Creighton/University of Nebraska Medical Center Psychiatry Residency Program. As part of his training, he completed a rotation at Community Alliance in 2017.

The new direction that Community Alliance is moving in, integrating care across the spectrum of physical and mental health, is very exciting, he wrote in a blog post last month.

UNMC has purchased Community Alliances current headquarters near 41st and Leavenworth Streets. The organization now is leasing the property from the university. A UNMC spokesman said the university currently has no plans for the location.

Boye said timing was right for the organization, which will remain at the location until it is ready to move.

But with construction of the new center on time and on budget, she said she has been telling staff members its time to start thinking about cleaning out their offices.

Its starting to get exciting, she said.

To learn more about the new center and to donate to the campaign, visit community-alliance.org/flourish
A 23-year-old man from Mexico who was living in Omaha was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to more than 12 years in prison for possessing and intending to distribute 28 1-pound bags of methamphetamine.

Bartolo Roman-Tapia will be subject to deportation after his sentence concludes, a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

Roman-Tapias sentence stems from a law enforcement raid, which was authorized by a search warrant, at an apartment in South Omaha on June 22, 2021. Agents found Roman-Tapia locked inside the apartments bedroom.

The Attorneys Office said agents also found the meth, $18,754 in cash generated from narcotics sales, money transfer receipts, a drug payment ledger and other items in the bedroom. The $18,754 was forfeited to the federal government.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signing off as expected, older Nebraskans and those with weakened immune systems soon could opt to get a second COVID-19 booster dose.

Douglas County health officials said they may be able to begin offering the booster doses to those groups as early as Friday. Agency approval came late Wednesday, after an advisory panel supported but did not vote on the recommendation.

Kohlls Rx planned to begin offering the boosters shortly after final approval from the agency.

David Kohll, a pharmacist with the local pharmacy chain, said local residents already had begun to sign up for the second booster. Long-term care facilities also had begun contacting the pharmacy chain about second booster shots for residents.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday cleared the way for people who are at least 65 to receive a second updated booster for the coronavirus as long its been at least four months since they got their first updated shot. Most people with compromised immune systems can get a second dose if it has been two months since their first one.

Kohll said those seeking a second booster will not have to present proof that they have a condition that impacts their immune function.

They want us to make it easy for people, he said.

The Health Department, meanwhile, officially launched a new data dashboard Wednesday that offers much of the COVID-19 data it had been providing as well as information about other respiratory illnesses, namely influenza and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. Its available on the departments main website  douglascountyhealth.com  or at douglascountyhealthportal.com.

Some health officials had called for a spring booster to protect older people and the immune-compromised out of concern that early adopters who got the updated shots soon after they were released in September might be seeing their protection wane.

What uptake will look like is unclear. Only 16.7% of the nations population has gotten an updated booster, including 42.6% of those 65 and older. Nebraska has done slightly better than the nation, with 17.4% of the population getting a booster.

The move also comes as COVID cases and hospitalizations are decreasing both nationwide and in Nebraska, after some worrisome increases over the winter.

Nebraska reported 736 cases last week, according to CDC data. That marked the first time the state dropped below 1,000 weekly cases since a lull in late January and early February. Last weeks tally also was the lowest since mid-April 2022. Case counts, however, are a less accurate accounting of the viruss activity now because fewer people are testing and those who do are using at-home tests not reported to health departments.

The disease nonetheless continues to prove deadly, particularly for the elderly and under-vaccinated. Nebraska has recorded 302 deaths due to the virus over the past 12 weeks. That pushed the state to a total of 5,034 deaths for the pandemic.

Boosters are one of the tools health officials have continued to stress as offering significant protection against serious illness and death.

Over the 20-week period from September through January, according to state data, Nebraskans who were vaccinated but didnt have an updated booster were two times less likely to die from COVID-19 than those who were unvaccinated.

But those who were vaccinated and had the updated booster had an even greater advantage. They were 17 times less likely to die than people who were unvaccinated. Some 17% of Nebraskans have gotten the newest shot, slightly higher than the national rate of 16.4%.

The FDAs action Tuesday was intended not only to ease the process of getting vaccinated, but also to simplify the process of switching the nation to an annual fall vaccination schedule like that currently used for influenza.

According to that agency, anyone getting a Pfizer or Moderna dose  whether its a booster or a first-ever shot  will get the updated formula. Those shots are called bivalent boosters because they target both the original virus and some omicron-derived versions of the virus.

The agency will retire the initial original mRNA vaccines, known as monovalent shots because they target only the original virus. Many of those doses have expired or are set to expire, CDC officials noted Wednesday. The upshot: Anyone who is not vaccinated will get a single updated shot.

In addition, people who are immunocompromised will be able do get additional boosters going forward, if their health care provider determines they are necessary.

The schedule for young children, however, remains complex. Both the number of vaccines for children 5 and under and the eligibility for boosters differ according to which brand of vaccine the child received. CDC officials acknowledged that they continue to work on schedules for kids, including those who are immune-compromised.

World-Herald staff writer Henry J. Cordes contributed to this report, which also contains material from the Associated Press.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2023
LINCOLN  Its been a long slog to get Virtual Incision Corp. to where it is today.

The Lincoln-based company that makes a minimally invasive surgical robot for abdominal surgeries was founded in 2006 by Dr. Dmitry Oleynikov, who was then a professor of surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Shane Farritor, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But its beginnings actually go back a few years earlier, to 2001, when the two started working together.

Oleynikov had come to UNMC to help start its surgical robotics program after it became one of the first facilities in the world to start using the DaVinci surgical robot.

Farritor said the two began collaborating shortly thereafter, which eventually led them to form Virtual Incision.

The pair spent years refining and perfecting their invention, the worlds first miniaturized robotic-assisted surgery platform  called the MIRA Surgical System  and then several more years testing it.

Now the company is on the cusp of being able to sell its MIRA system commercially, which is leading it to take a big step forward.

Later this month, Virtual Incision plans to move out of its offices at Nebraska Innovation Campus, where its been based since 2016, and into an office building at 1501 Old Cheney Road.

The building, which used to be home to a local software company, looks modern and high-tech, befitting a company thats in the medical technology space.

It also has more than twice the amount of space of Virtual Incisions digs at Innovation Campus, giving the company room to grow.

Thats really the impetus for our move, Farritor said. Were stacked on top of each other at our current location.

The company, which started as just Farritor and Oleynikov, now has about 60 employees, including executives, engineers, salespeople and others.

Virtual Incision up to this point has operated off of government grants and more than $100 million in venture capital, but its getting close to being able to sell its products commercially.

The company earlier this year finished its Food and Drug Administration Investigational Device Exemption clinical study, which is the last hurdle it has to clear to be able to submit a market authorization request.

Farritor said he expects the FDAs review process to take about 8-10 months.

So potentially early next year well find out if the FDA has approved our device for sale, he said.

Assuming that happens, Farritor said the company is planning a very controlled launch of the device.

Well pick a few select sites and people we can work with to be the early adopters of our technology, he said.

While sales may start off small, there is a big potential market.

Currently, less than 10% of the 90,000 operating rooms in the U.S. are equipped with mainframe RAS (robotic-assisted surgery) systems, John Murphy, president and chief executive officer of Virtual Incision, said in a February news release announcing completion of the FDA study.

And most of the units that are currently used are large systems that can only be used in a single operating room. The advantage of Virtual Incisions robotic system is that it weighs just 2 pounds, meaning it can be used in virtually any operating room.

The company is currently focused on using its system just for colon resection procedures, of which Farritor said there are anywhere from 400,000-600,000 a year in the U.S.

That in and of itself is a large market, he said.

But it has plans to develop additional robotic surgery systems that could be used for other abdominal surgeries, such as gynecological procedures and hernia repair.

We kind of have a vision for performing a lot of surgeries in a lot of different domains, he said.

In fact, Virtual Incision announced last month that Oleynikov, who now is chair of the Department of Surgery at Monmouth Medical Center, will transition to a role of chief surgeon, focusing on the research and development of new robotic-assisted surgery technology.

To fill his former role of chief medical officer, the company hired Dr. Piet Hinoul, who has more than 30 years of experience in the health care industry, including working for the surgical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Murphy, the companys CEO, called Hinoul, an accomplished global physician executive with a demonstrated track record of success.

I am confident Dr. Hinouls broad experience with post-market medical affairs activities, in addition to his clinical background in womens health, will critically boost our ability for future planning and execution in the U.S. and internationally on a variety of indications for MIRA.

One fairly unique thing about Virtual Incision is that it not only designs its devices in house, it also manufactures them.

Farritor said that while some of the components come from other places, the devices are built and assembled in Lincoln and will continue to be in the new building.

Thats one of the things we are really excited about, is to build our robots, he said.

We plan to do that internally all the way into the future.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2023
LINCOLN  Lawmakers reached a compromise to advance a bill that aims to keep roughly 10,000 Nebraska families eligible for food assistance.

The Legislatures Health and Human Services Committee advanced Legislative Bill 84 out of committee in a 6-0 vote Thursday. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Jen Day of Omaha, will continue the income eligibility level for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at 165% of the federal poverty level until 2025.

SNAP, also known as food stamps, aids low-income families dealing with food insecurity. In Nebraska, the income threshold to qualify for the program is set to drop to 130% of the federal poverty level at the end of September. Day estimated the change would cut about 10,000 families out of the program.

LB 84 is Days priority bill. She said Nebraska is in the midst of a food insecurity crisis, with local food banks struggling with growing demand. The OpenSky Policy Institute said in a tweet Thursday that SNAP provides aid to about 170,000 Nebraskans.

In the weeks before Thursdays vote, Day and her allies have criticized the lack of action on the bill and questioned the Legislatures priorities in how her fellow lawmakers are allocating the high revenues available for the upcoming state budget.

After the bill advanced, Day expressed gratitude for committee members coming together to move the bill forward.

You honestly did make Senator Days day, she said.

LB 84 was stalled mainly because of concerns about cost, although some committee members, including HHS Chair Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, had some philosophical issues with the SNAP program as well.

The bills original fiscal note estimated LB 84 would cost the state roughly $544,000 in its first year, and about $680,000 in its second year. Day worked with the Legislative Fiscal Office to find the needed money.

Under the amendment, state money for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will be used to continue the program's current income eligibility level. The money was available because federal pandemic relief money had replaced other planned state spending.

The shift in funding allocation was added to LB 84 Thursday. Hansen said he still has issues with the bill, even with the funding amendment, but he wanted to respect the compromise that Day worked out.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2023
LINCOLN  Just three days into his new job as Nebraska corrections director, Rob Jeffreys didnt have answers for every question from lawmakers at his confirmation hearing Wednesday.

But he made clear to the Judiciary Committee that he supports plans to build a new $350 million prison to replace the Nebraska State Penitentiary. He said he has already visited the aging prison to see in person the deterioration of the buildings, lack of accessibility for disabled inmates and lack of space for programming.

We already know what the conditions are at NSP, Jeffreys said. We have to move forward with building a new prison. Those problems are not going to go away.

Among the problems at the penitentiary, a major water leak in one housing unit forced the relocation of 140 men in November. Prison officials have said that break could take two years to fix. Another leak displaced 600 men temporarily in March, while a leak in 2021 left the Lincoln prison without running water for nearly two days.

The Appropriations Committee voted earlier this month to appropriate money in their state budget plan for building a new prison to house 1,512 men. That plan next heads to the full Legislature for approval.

Gov. Jim Pillen announced Jeffreys as the new Department of Correctional Services director earlier this month. He replaces former Corrections Director Scott Frakes, who resigned in October. Jeffreys was the Illinois corrections director for about four years, after working 24 years in Ohios corrections department as chief of staff and regional director.

In Nebraska, he is taking on a prison system that is the most overcrowded and fastest growing in the United States, according to a World-Herald analysis. It also is plagued by staffing shortages that have eased  but not disappeared  after the state significantly boosted wages for front-line workers.

Nebraskas prison system is considerably smaller than the one Jeffreys left, with just over 5,500 inmates, about 2,300 employees and a $294 million annual budget, compared with Illinois 29,500 inmates, about 13,000 employees and a $1.6 billion budget. But the Nebraska system is projected to grow another 1,300 inmates by 2030.

On Wednesday, Judiciary Committee members asked about his experience with shrinking the prison population in Illinois. He oversaw a reduction in inmates from about 38,000 in 2019 to roughly 29,500 in 2023, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report.

Jeffreys said Illinois used a variety of methods during the pandemic to create space in prisons. Those included expanded use of discretionary good-time credits, medical parole and alternatives to imprisoning parole violators.

Executive orders from the governor enabled the expansion of those methods. Later, he said, they were reviewed to see which could be continued, allowing the state to keep numbers down.

Among other achievements, Jeffreys talked about creating a reentry system in Illinois to help ease inmates transition from prison life back to the community.

He said the system included such elements as stable housing, job training and access to critical documents. It also included getting inmates lined up with services and supports in the community to continue addressing problems, such as drug use, that helped land them in prison.

Our No. 1 mission is to ensure that people go back out to the community better than what they came in, he said.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2023
GENOA, Neb.  Dazhon Lasley flipped through a binder of documents that sat atop a display case in the Genoa Indian School Interpretive Center.

A few feet away, his fellow students from Omaha Nation High School were gathered around a scale model depicting the Genoa schools 640-acre campus.

And theres the old barn that you can see is still standing. And theres the railroad tracks that are still in use, a volunteer with the center explained to the students.

But Lasley wasnt keenly interested in the model. For months, the high school senior had been gathering information on his ancestors, filling in the gaps on relatives who had attended the boarding school in the town of Genoa, Nebraska, and how the experience had shaped their lives. He wanted to see what new records the interpretive center had to offer.

He paused his search through the binder when he came across an enlarged photo of a name penned in cursive: Henry Lasley.

His great-grandfather.

The fourth federal boarding school to be built in the U.S., the Genoa Indian Industrial School operated from 1884 to 1934. At its peak in 1932, the school housed 599 students, who ranged in age from 4 to 22 years old.

Students were brought to the Genoa campus from more than 40 tribes that spanned the United States, including children of the Umoho (Omaha) Nation.

On a sunny morning earlier this week, Lasley and 18 other students from the Omaha Nation High School walked through the doors of the Genoa interpretive center. The center serves as a museum and an education center located within a two-story brick building that once held the boarding schools manual training classes.

It was the first field trip to the center organized by tribal government teacher Brent Wojcik, and for a majority of the students, the trip was their first time visiting the Genoa school grounds.

I look at it as a full-circle process, Wojcik said. Kids were forced to come here 100 years ago, and now were choosing to come here on our own accord.

Like Lasley, many of the students have identified one or more relatives who attended the Genoa school. The best way to teach history is to help students find a direct connection, Wojcik said.

Through a class assignment, Lasley has filled his own binder with his familys connection to the school.

His maternal great-grandparents, Henry Lasley and Bertha Wolfe, met at the school. There were records of Henry participating on the track team and of Berthas parents saving money to bring her home for the summer.

The federal government would pay to send students home only once every three years unless parents or guardians were able to pay travel expenses for more frequent trips.

Lasley compared his own time at a boarding school with the experience of his grandparents.

For four years, Lasley attended Riverside Indian School near Anadarko, Oklahoma. He transferred to the Omaha Nation High School in Macy, Nebraska, which is on the Omaha Indian Reservation, soon after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Riverside still operates as a boarding school today, but encourages education around tribal cultures and spirituality as well as traditional academics.

My experience at Riverside Indian School is like same place, but different time, Lasley said. The school I went to was great for me, it was the best place for me to go. It was also a choice for me, but for others, it wasnt.

The federally funded Native American boarding schools have been criticized as a form of cultural genocide. Children were taken there in the name of assimilation, at times involuntarily. While the experiences of students differed, abuse was recorded.

On arrival, children were forced to cut their hair, traditional clothing or possessions were taken away, and the use of Native languages was met with varying degrees of discipline.

That loss of language is still mourned today.

Michelle Walker-Alley, a field trip chaperone and cultural aide with Omaha Nation Schools, is gradually taking her language back.

I dance at powwows, I know how to bead, I know how to sew, but the one thing that was missing was the language, and thats something thats very important for us to keep alive, not only our Omaha language, but all the tribes, Walker-Alley said.

In recent years, the Omaha Nation has renewed efforts to teach and preserve the Umoho language. In 2018, it was estimated only 150 tribal members could understand or speak it.

The full legacy left by the nations federal Native American boarding schools is still being uncovered.

When the Genoa school closed in 1934, documents were scattered across the United States. Locating them has proved challenging for researchers.

Renewed efforts to locate the schools cemetery and identify students who died on the campus have uncovered at least 86 students who are believed to have died at the school. Nine are recorded as having been buried on school grounds. The remains of 37 were sent home, and the final resting place of about 40 is still unknown.

Records found show that disease played a large role in the deaths of those at the Genoa school. An accidental shooting and a drowning were recorded as well.

With the help of an old plat map and a specially trained dog team, a potential site of the schools cemetery was identified last May.

Data gathered from ground-penetrating radar surveys last year shows four anomalies consistent with the presence of graves.

If remains are found, tribal leaders may choose to leave the buried where they lie and construct a memorial to mark the site.

Another option would be to excavate one of the four anomalies to see if burials remain, if the children were exhumed, or if the anomalies arent graves but something else entirely.

The U.S. Indian Boarding Schools served as a blueprint for Canadas Indigenous residential schools, where the discovery of hundreds of Indigenous children buried in unmarked graves brought renewed attention to practices that historians have described as cultural genocide.

Shortly after the discovery in Canada, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative. The effort led to a massive report, released last spring, on the U.S. schools.

The federal investigation has so far identified more than 500 deaths at 19 schools, though the Interior Department said that number could climb to the thousands or even tens of thousands. The department has so far found at least 53 burial sites at or near U.S. boarding schools.

Today, the Genoa Indian School Interpretive Center gathers and presents artifacts and records on the Genoa school, while educating the public on Native American culture and history.

The Genoa U.S. Indian School Foundation, a nonprofit formed in 1990, purchased the schools manual training building from the City of Genoa in 1999 and worked to restore it. The building now houses the interpretive center, which begins its 2023 season for public visits in late May.

Tribal flags hang from the buildings ceiling, traditional clothing has been donated and displayed by descendants, photos of former students in their later years hang above a display, and the walls hold the memory of students who carved their names into the brick.

An effort to understand the history of what happened at the Genoa school should be made by all, said Paris Walker, a senior at the Omaha Nation High School.

Walker presented a painting for display in the interpretive center.

Were still here, we still need to be known, Walker said. Its just not something that should be swept under the rug. Come check it out, come see what they were doing here.

Photos: Omaha Nation students visit Genoa Indian Boarding School

Photos: Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial School, search for the cemetery
The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the hearing of the substantive suit filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the governor of Bauchi State, Muhammed Abubakar, to March 21.

This was after an appeal by the counsel to the APC, Ahmed Raji, that he was served with a preliminary objection and a counter affidavit by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and that he would need time to reply.

The judge, Inyang Ekwo, had granted an interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding and announcing the governorship election result in the state, pending the determination of all issues raised by the plaintiffs in their originating summons.

The plaintiffs in the suit are challenging the decision of INEC to resume collation of results of an election that was earlier declared inconclusive.

Mr Ekwo added that the substantive matter shall be taken alongside the preliminary objection raised by INEC.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also appeared in court seeking to be joined in the suit as an interested and affected party.

The PDP also petitioned the National Judicial Council over what it described as a violation of the Constitution and Electoral Act by Mr Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The party made this known in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Wednesday morning.

The party accused the judge of sitting on a matter that ought to have been handled by an election petition tribunal, as created by the provisions of the laws.

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission not to go ahead with its plan to collate, conclude and announce the results of the governorship election in Bauchi State, which held on March 9.

The judge, Mr Ekwo, made the order based on an ex-parte application filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar.

The restraining order is to last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs.

The INEC, however, said while it would halt the collation of the governorship election results in Tafawa Balewa local government in obedience to the court order, it would go ahead with the councils constituency election results.

But, the PDP noted that in granting an ex parte order stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from concluding the governorship election in Bauchi State, the judge violated Section 87(11) of the Electoral Act, which states that no court has the power or jurisdiction to stop any election pending the determination of a suit.
A journalist with News Guru, Ediri Oyibo, has been admitted in hospital for the last five days since his release from police detention after he was arrested for writing a report that Tunde Ayeni had denied paternity of Adaobis daughter.

It was learnt that Oyibo and another journalist, Paul Utebor, were detained for seven days after Adaobi wrote a petition against the journalists and submitted to the AIG Zone 7, Kayode Egbetokun, who has since been promoted to a DIG and tipped to become the next Inspector-General of Police.

The entire saga has since been condemned by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) which wondered how Adaobi was able to get the police to abuse the rights of innocent journalists and raid their houses.

Adaobi, who was a law school classmate to Tunde Ayenis daughter before their affair began, was reported to have gotten pregnant and given birth to a girl for the business magnate but things soon degenerated between the two lovers.

However, last December, News Guru reported that Ayeni had denied paternity of Adaobis daughter, a report which was said to have infuriated the Abuja big girl.

She subsequently wrote a petition to the AIG Zone 7. The police through a letter signed by DCP Kabiru Shehu dated February 15, 2023 invited Utebor and his supervisor, Oyibo, for an interview with the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Charge of Zonal Criminal Investigation Department after which they were detained.

In a first incident report signed by Adamu Sani, a police superintendent dated February 28, 2023 which was obtained by our correspondent, the police accused both Oyibo and Utebor of criminal defamation.

It read in part, On the 10th day of February 2023, a petition addressed to the office of the Assistant-Inspector General of Police Zone 7 headquarters by Adewale Ojeleye Esq on behalf of Adaobi Alagwu female against Paul Utebor and Ediri Oyibo both males with office at Sun City Estate Lokogoma FCT Abuja that both of you conspired among yourselves to commit defamation to the character and personality of the said complainant by publishing on an online news medium named News Guru.

Complainant further stated that both defendant did publish a defamatory publication titled, Who is the real father of Adaobi Alagwu daughter which was published on the 2nd day of December 2022 and further made another publication to wit Tunde Ayeni Debunked the Paternity of Abuja Big Girl wherein you mentioned Adaobi Alagwu as having fatherless child which lowered her personality and ridiculed her.

That when the complainant inquired why they wrote such defamatory publication which was false, they criminally intimidated her by promising to deal with her. During police investigation, it was discovered they actually committed the offences of criminal conspiracy, defamation of character and criminal intimidation contrary to Sections 97, 292 and 397 of the Panel Code Law.

Court documents show that after the two journalists were arrested, the police obtained an ex parte order from a magistrate court in the FCT to detain them for seven days.

In the affidavit in support of the motion ex parte, the investigating police officer, SP Sani, did not attach a statement from Adaobi or her petition to the AIG.

Rather, he obtained the permission of Adaobi to depose on her behalf.

The affidavit read in part, I have the consent of the complainant (Adaobi) to depose to this affidavit pending before this honourable court.

That the above named office is investigating the above offences and investigation is not concluded sequel to which we seek a remand order for seven days to enable us conclude the investigation and arrest those at large.

That if the defendants are released on bail or charged to court, it would jeopardize the investigation of this case.

The journalists subsequently spent seven days in detention and were not given food by the police even as their families had to bring home cooked meals.

It was learnt that the court eventually granted bail to the journalists to the tune of N3m with two sureties in like sum.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Monday signed the 2019 Appropriation Bill containing a total budget of N873,532,460,725 into law.

In a statement on Monday sent to National Daily, it was noted that the 2019 budget of N873,532,460,725 has 55 per cent capital expenditure and 45 per cent recurrent expenditure.

The sum of N393,841,387 was indicated to be allocated for recurrent expenditure while N479,691,730,705 is allocated to capital expenditure.

National Daily gathered from the statement that the governor, after signing the bill, commended the Lagos State House of Assembly for passage of the bill, adding that his administration can take off with implementation.

I want to thank you on behalf of Lagosians. We will ensure speedy implementation of the bill by ensuring a quick distribution to all ministries and agencies so that Lagosians can enjoy the full benefits of it, the governor promised.

He expressed appreciation and applauded the efforts of the Lagos State House of Assembly in passing this law and three others which he assented to, describing them as laws to put the state on the path of progress.

While presenting the appropriation bill, Chairman House Committee on Appropriation, Honourable Gbolahan Yishau, who represented the Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, said the budget would help the state government to handle some sensitive issues and consolidate on the gains of democracy in Lagos State

Sanwo-Olu also signed into law the Domestic Staff Service Provider Bill.

The law, according to Hon. Moji Meranda, would make it mandatory for providers of domestic staff to register with the state government.

The government would be able to collect and collate data of domestic staff in the State, monitor and control activities of domestic staff service providers, give access to their premises, sanction the providers and renew their certificates.

This law will help to protect lives of all Lagosians. The government would be able to do background check on domestic staff being employed so that people can have confidence in who they are employing, she said.

Also signed into law was the bill establishing the Lagos Neighbourhood Watch Agency. The law enables the Lagos Neighbourhood Service Corps to assist security agencies in providing safety in the state.

The Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission amended bill was also signed into law by the governor.

According to the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu, the law would extend the tenure of the chairman of the commission to five years as well as allowing staff of the House of Assembly to enjoy welfare benefits enjoyed by other staff of the state government.

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Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi has urged his supporters to abide by law.

He however tasked them to return all forms of attack by the opposition with equal measure.

The Labour Party Presidential Candidate who addressed the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Party in Asaba, said while they do this, they should ensure that they abide by the law of the land.

He pointed out that he has never knowingly broken any law of the land and encouraged his supporters to be law-abiding.

This is according to a statement released by the Obi-Datti Media office, titled: Obi at Labour Party NEC Meeting, calls for Calm and Steadfast to the Course

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has encouraged Nigerians not to be deterred but to remain calm and steadfast in their journey of reclaiming their mandate of a New Nigeria.

Obi in spirit-lifting words to Nigerians particularly the Obidients, noted that he will never give up on the journey until victory is achieved.

The LP standard-bearer, who spoke in Asaba while addressing the NEC of the Party, said that he never expected the journey to New Nigeria to be an easy one, adding that the forces who had, over the years, lived off the old order, were bound to fight back, as is being experienced now.

Underscoring the determination of the group involved in this project to resist intimidation or harassment of any kind and from any quarter, Obi said, If they come at us through land, air, and sea, we will respond to them through land, air, and sea, but we will remain law abiding and will never give up on the nation.

We are on the right path, and we will remain committed to the course, LP presidential candidate stated.

The former Anambra State Governor reiterated his commitment to a Nigeria that will be beneficial to every Nigerian, as he maintained that the struggle to reclaim the mandate was not about him, as a person, but about millions of Nigerians who reposed their trust on him through their votes.

The millions of Nigerians who voted for me did not just cast their votes, but they invested their hope in me. They deserve justice. So we must stay the course. And beyond regaining our mandate, I am committed to lifting people out of poverty. I remain committed to transforming Nigeria, starting from the North to every part of the nation,

According to the statement, he further revealed that there may be more mudslinging on him from those who are against the emergence of the New Nigeria, but he noted that he would never be deterred by the obstacles along the way to victory.

I have always lived my life in the most law-abiding manner possible. Sometimes, as humans, we make mistakes, but I will never knowingly break any law. I am, therefore, not afraid of the lies and propaganda against my person. They are part of the journey to a New Nigeria, the statement concluded.
According to this new information the Russians have known about alien civilizations for several decades, to many this comes as no surprise,...
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Isa Jere Idris has been directed to hand over to the most senior officer in the Service as his tenure expires April 24.

This would end weeks of speculations that Idris was scheming for a tenure extension.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, through the Board of the Civil Defence, Correctional Service, Fire and Immigration Service, ordered the change of leadership in a April 17 letter signed by the Boards Secretary, Obasi Edmond.

Idris should have retired in April 2022 but his tenure was extended by President Muhammadu Buhari.

As at last night however, there was still no official confirmation from the Office of the Comptroller-General. The spokesperson, Tony Akuneme, is said to be on vacation in Canada.

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The Debt Management Office (DMO) has described as false, a report claiming that Nigeria is defaulting on Chinese loan repayment and risks a penalty amounting to N41.31 billion.

The story, published in some national media, quoted a DMO report, which said Nigeria has failed to fully service its debt to China, that has accumulated to N110.31 billion in the last two years.

According to the report, the China debt stock included the principal and repayment charges. It puts the principal fee from January 2021 to December 2022 at N69 billion ($153.85 million), while the interest charges amounted to N41.3 billion ($92.1 million).

But the DMO, in a rebuttal posted on its website yesterday, urged the general public to ignore the publication describing it as false.

A closer look at the media publications will show that the body is completely detached from the headline which gives the impression that the publishers may have set out to mislead the public, the debt office said.

It stressed that Nigeria is fully committed to honouring its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its obligations.

As at December 31 2022, Nigerias total public debt stock stood at N46.25 trillion.

Many Nigerians have expressed worry over the rising debt stock and a huge percentage of the revenue spent on servicing it.
At least 78 people have been killed in a stampede at a Radaman charity event in Yemens capital, Sanaa.

It was gathered that the stampede occurred on Wednesday night just days before the Eid al-Fitr festival, killing at least 78 people and injuring at least 73 others.

The incident happened in a school in the Bab al-Yemen district of Sanaa where hundreds of people gathered to get a charitable donation of about $10 that was being handed out by merchants to mark the final days of Ramadan.

A video posted by Houthi television on the Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety. Security staff fought to push people back and control the crowd.

Separate footage released by the Houthis, who control the capital, showed bloodstains, shoes, and victims clothing scattered on the ground while investigators examined the area.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said it was the result of the Yemeni people suffering the worst global humanitarian crisis after eight years of fighting.

We hold the countries of aggression responsible for what happened and for the bitter reality that the Yemeni people live in because of the aggression and blockade, al-Houthi said on Twitter.

There were also claims that the crowd had been startled by gunfire and an electrical explosion.

Armed Houthis fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently striking an electrical wire and causing it to explode, according to two witnesses, Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen.

The incident sparked panic, and people, including many women and children, began stampeding, they said.

Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Interior Ministry, blamed the crush on the random distribution of funds without coordination with local authorities.

The interior ministry said the two merchants responsible for organizing the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway.

The Houthis announced they would pay some $2,000 in compensation to each family who lost a relative, while the injured would get about $400.

At least 73 of the injured were taken to the al-Thowra Hospital in Sanaa, according to hospital deputy director Hamdan Bagheri, with families rushing to hospitals looking for their loved ones.

KanyiDaily had also reported how 151 people were killed in a chaotic stampede during Halloween celebrations in Seoul, South Koreas capital.
The Federal Government has declared Friday and Monday as public holidays for Muslims to celebrate the end of Ramadan fasting in Nigeria.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Shuaib Belgore, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, said the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola made the announcement on behalf of the Federal Government.

According to him, Aregbesola wished the Muslim faithful a happy celebration and asked them to imbibe the virtues of kindness, love, tolerance, peace, self-denial, and sacrifice, adding that the deep spiritual consciousness of the fasting period should not end but be maintained.

The statement reads, The federal government has declared Friday 21st and Monday 24th April 2023, as public holidays to mark this years Eid-al-Fitr celebration.

Ogbeni Aregbesola assures that President Muhammadu Buhari is fully committed to a peaceful transition of government following successful elections.

He assures of the governments commitment to the provision of security for the life and property of every citizen and foreigner in the country.

The minister commends all security agencies for the successes recorded in the fight against criminals across the country.

He urges Nigerians to be part of the nations security architecture by being vigilant and reporting suspicious individuals and activities to law enforcement agencies nearest to them, noting that security is everybodys responsibility.

He admonishes Nigerians also to report suspicious activities and persons to the N-Alert application.

KanyiDaily recalls that Zamfara State Government had spent N2.9 billion on the purchase of essential commodities for distribution as Ramadan welfare.
The Police Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos, has arrested a model, Cynthia Chioma Atuonah, for allegedly defrauding a 50-year-old German man of $220,000.

The spokesperson for the unit, SP Eyitayo Johnson, in a statement on Wednesday, said the 21-year-old model is a 2019 graduate of Economics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

According to him, the suspect lured the victim to Nigeria after meeting him on Instagram by allegedly feigning romantic intentions toward him and promising to marry him.

Johnson said that Chioma introduced herself to the German man as a model and proprietress of a Massage Spa known as The-Chi-Place before promising to marry the foreigner.

The statement reads, The suspect, a 2019 graduate of Economics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; who claimed to be a model and proprietress of a massage spa known as The-Chi-Place, lured the 50-year-old victim on Instagram by feigning romantic intentions towards him, thereby gaining the victims trust and goodwill.

Miss Atuonah promised to marry the victim, invited him to Nigeria for visits on several occasions and convinced him to relocate permanently to Nigeria to live together as husband and wife.

In a ploy to dispel suspicion, the victim was made to meet with Atuonah Chiomas parents at Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, where he received their blessings to marry their daughter.

The victim was persuaded by the suspect to return to Germany to sell his house in Stuttgart, and forward the proceeds of sale, together with his pension and life savings to her domiciliary account in bank; for the purpose of purchasing a house in Nigeria where they will both live as husband and wife as well as to establish a joint business outfit as indicated in the bank transfer narration.

The police said during an interview session, the suspect admitted in her statement that the sum of $220,000 was transferred to her account by the victim.

Part of the proceed was then used to buy a two-bedroom Terrace apartment at Zara Estate, Ikota Villa, Lekki Phase II, while some of the funds was sent to support her mothers business and to pay medical bills of her father.

Efforts are ongoing to recover other proceeds of the crime, the statement added.

KanyiDaily had also reported how a Yahoo boy, Aiosa Kelvin Orhue (aka Fredrick Leonard) defrauded a white lady of $26,020, N104m with the promise of marriage.
Recall, Buhari returned to Abuja after his eight-day official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he also performed the Umrah (Lesser Hajj).

Following President Muhammadu Buharis return from Saudi Arabia, Nigerias first lady Aisha Buhari has shared family photos.

Recall that Buhari returned to Abuja after his eight-day official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he also performed the Umrah (Lesser Hajj).

The presidential aircraft landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at 5:08 pm, after nearly seven hours for a four to five-hour Jeddah-Abuja flight due to the ongoing crisis in Sudan that warrants the avoidance of the countrys entire airspace by air traffic.

Celebrating his return, Aisha via her Instagram post on Wednesday night shared a family photo, thanking Allah for the safe return of her husband.

Thanks be to God Baba has returned safely, she wrote in Hausa.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has revealed why the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa, Aisha Dalhiru Binani should be probed following allegation of N2 billion bribe.

It was alleged that she paid the money to be declared as winner of the Adamawa gubernatorial election even when the collation of results was still ongoing.

The resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, on Sunday, declared Binani as winner of the election before INEC annulled the announcement.

Following the development, there were claims that Yunusa-Ari is a sympathizer of the APC candidate and allegedly collected a bribe of N2 billion to make the controversial announcement.

However, Senator Binani denied bribing Yunusa-Ari with N2 billion to procure a favourable declaration as governor-elect, stating that the allegation is very bizarre and unfounded.

Speaking on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Falana said the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the bribery allegation.

He asserted that the denial by Senator Binani was not enough, stressing that the allegation must be investigated by the anti-graft agencies to know the truth and to ensure that all those who breached the law are prosecuted.

Falana said Yunusa-Ari and others involved in the declaration of Binani as the winner should be investigated and prosecuted, adding that Binanis acceptance speech confirmed that she was party to the disarray.

He said: There are allegations that the sum of 2billion naira is fetching hands, so it is not enough for Binani to deny, there must be an investigation.

Was there inducement? That has to be investigated. The officers who were at the high table with Mr Yunusa Ari, the commissioner of Police, the Director of the State Security Service, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

All those involved in the criminality that occurred, they all have to be tried under the law. It is not enough for the IGP to simply redeploy the commissioner of police involved or for the director of state security to be withdrawn from the state.

This is not the first time that it has happened, there have been false declarations of results before now.

The EFCC and the ICPC will have to be brought in to investigate the allegations of inducement of the sum of 2 billion naira. It is also in the interest of the APC candidate to ensure this matter is fully investigated.

The IGP would have to speed up the investigation. By now, we expect him (Adamawa REC) to have been arrested and if he cannot be found, they have to get a court order to declare him wanted.

All the security officers involved will have to be investigated and prosecuted. INEC has done the right thing by suspending him so that he does not further taint the democratic process.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has called for embattled Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari to be sanctioned.

This comes after the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Hudu Yunusa-Ari had on Sunday, declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa, Aisha Dalhiru Binani, as the winner when the collation of results was still ongoing.

Following the development, INEC, in a statement on Sunday, discontinued the collation of results and nullified the declaration made by the Adamawa REC.

On Tuesday, the electoral body continued the collation of election results and announced the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Ahmadu Fintiri as the winner.

During an appearance on Channels TV on Thursday, Falana demanded that Yunusa-Ari, who is a lawyer, should be sanctioned by the disciplinary committee of the Nigerian Bar Association.

The senior lawyer stated that the law recommended strict sanctions for any form of electoral conspiracy, malfeasance, and financial inducement.

Falana also commended INEC for the swift action taken to ensure that proper response was implemented, adding that except actions are taken holistically, impunity and aberrations would be repeatedly committed.

He said: The Nigerian Bar Association has to come in, the NBA has to write a petition, to the legal practitioner disciplinary committee for immediate sanction to serve as a lesson because he has brought the legal profession into disrepute.
The Benue State Government has broken its silence after the presidency mocked Governor Samuel Ortom over his failed bid to become a senator.

Also, Ortoms government reacted to comments made by the presidency on the issue of killings taking place in the state.

The presidency had blamed the poor intervention by president Buhari on Governor Ortoms stiff opposition to intervention.

But a statement issued and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nathaniel Ikyur, on Thursday in reaction to the presidencys comment, says with the latest position of the presidency, it has become glaring that killing in the state by suspected Fulani militias has the full endorsement of the Buhari government.

It further said that its common knowledge that as the Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings.

It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue state in particular, it said.

Read full statement below

Shehu Garbas infantile statement on the security situation in Benue State has once again confirmed our position that the killings; mass murder in Benue by the Fulani militia has the full endorsement of the Buhari government. It also goes to confirm that the Presidential spokesman does not only speak for Buhari but for some terrorist Fulani groups too.

Indeed, the Presidential spokesmans futile attempts to twist events and history in Benue State is unfortunate and reprehensible. It shows how much he and others in that league have misled the government and Nigerian people in the last inglorious eight years.

It is common knowledge that as the Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings. It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue state in particular.

It is on record that Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly pleaded with the Buhari government to intervene in the incessant invasion of Benue State by Fulani militias. The President sadly chooses to endorse the invasion and merely asks our people to learn to accommodate their neighbours who derive pleasure in killing and dispossesing them of their ancestral lands.

What the Buhari administration has done to our people through the Fulani militants as confirmed by Shehu Garba is to spit on the graves of our compatriots mowed down needlessly by Fulani militia. We shall not forget these atrocities.

Besides unleashing Fulani killers on our people, the Buhari government denied Benue State any meaningful project in the last eight years, including the repair of federal government roads in the state which are now death traps. We have tried in vain to find out the offense of Benue people, but we found none, except that our people are responsible, law abiding citizens.

For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Samuel Ortom was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 to defend the interest of the people of Benue and never to be a lackey in the hands of expansionists using every means to perpetrate evil against the Benue citizens.

By Garba Shehus latest statement, the presidency has clearly demonstrated that Governor Ortom is right when he consistently accused the APC-led federal government of complicity in the killings orchestrated against Benue people by the Fulani herdsmen as represented by Miyetti Allah Kautal, Fulani Nationality Movement, FUNAM and other Fulani socio cultural groups.

If the Presidency can find it convenient to lay the blame of the massive killings that the Fulani have continued to perpetrate in Benue on Governor Ortom, what can it say of the massacre and kidnappings in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto and President Buharis home state of Katsina among other states where the killing of innocent citizens has continued unchallenged?

The Presidency has shown in this recent public statement that they have placed cows above human lives and made the animals to urinate on the graves of those they massacred in Benue and elsewhere across the country. If not, they wouldnt have gone to town to mock the slain in their graves.

It is an insult on Benue people including those killed and butchered children, the maimed, raped and abused women and the over two million people living under squalid conditions in Nigerias largest Internally Displaced Camps in the state.

The Presidencys statement is a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims.

Let Garba Shehu and occupants of the current Presidential Villa be informed that the ongoing pogrom in Benue State is a designed plot by the Fulani against the Benue people to disposses them of their lands and these atrocities are well documented. The perpetrators are also well known to local and international authorities. By this recent posturing, everyone is now aware that the perpetrators have the backing and sympathy of the Federal Government.

The Presidencys attempt to mock Governor Ortom over the loss of his senatorial seat and the PDP in the Governorship has furthermore strengthened our belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC.

But let the Presidential spokesman remember that Governor Ortom is extremely grateful to the people of the State for always giving him the opportunity to serve them. As he has often quoted Psalm 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. The Governor stands for justice, equity and fairness and no amount of blackmail and impunity as orchestrated by the Buhari administration can make him to change his advocacy against injustice and oppression.

In fact, before the elections, Governor Ortom had publicly stated that he was ready to sacrifice his senatorial ambition for the sake of the survival of democracy where the likes of Garba Shehu and their collaborators would rather want it truncated. It is public knowledge that the 2023 elections were heavily rigged using some security operatives, money, federal might and electronic means. Governor Ortoms decision not to challenge the result of the Benue North West Senatorial election in court again points to the fact that he is not a selfish and desperate politician.

Benue people are well aware that Governor Ortom has been a target of the Buhari presidency since 2017 when he boldly signed a law banning open grazing of livestock in the state. The Governor has been subjected to many coordinated media attacks, probes, freezing of state accounts and other punitive measures to frustrate and cripple his administration. While other states were given infrastructural loans, Benue under Governor Ortom was denied access to the funds. The same thing happened when the Benue State Government met all requirements to secure N42 billion to clear the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuity.

In a nutshell, the presidencys statement is the height of recklessness and gross insensitivity against the people of Benue. It is on record that Governor Ortom has given full cooperation to all layers of security agencies working in the state to help curtail the menace of the Fulani killing squad displacing various communities in the state and other internal security skirmishes.

Between 2015 and this year, Governor Ortom has constantly held security meetings and gathered intelligence to support security agencies operating in the state. He has however consistently pointed out that the security agencies are grossly underfunded and deserve to be better equipped and motivated to tackle insecurity in the country.

It is therefore laughable when Shehu ignorantly tries to whip up an unfounded lie against the Governor.

Governor Ortom is performing his duty as Governor of Benue State and will continue to do so until May 29, 2023 when he leaves office. We expect the outgoing President to also do what he was voted to do for Nigerians.

Lastly, we are tempted to conclude that President Buhari was not aware of Garba Shehus statement, because if the President were aware, he would not have permitted his media aide to release a statement that rather indicts him as Commander-in-Chief of Nigerias Armed Forces for abdicating his constitutional duty of providing security to Benue State and other parts of the country, admitting failure and opting to blame a state Governor.
A Nigerian Twitter user has taken to the microblogging site to disclose that he was almost robbed on Otedola bridge by traffic robbers on Thursday morning, April 20.

The Twitter user shared a photo and video of his car, with the drivers side window broken. He said the traffic robbers used a cutlass to destroy the window in their attempt to rob him.

He also called out the Lagos state governor, Babajide SanwoOlu, stating that the robbers would have used a cutlass to finish him off.

Almost got robbed this morning just before Otedola bridge. Thank God for Grace, street OT and my tinted nylon. Thank you

@jidesanwoolu i took your advise I rolled up my glass but dem for don use cutlass tear my head this morning. Yall be safe out there

He also shared his encounter with the police after the incident happened.



Shout out to Nigerian police @PoliceNG too. There was literally a check point like a minute walk away from the scene and all they told me was eya sorry, dem carry bike abi

Best in therapy

See Post Below;
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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has demanded that the Adamawa State gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, should be investigated by the police.

Falana claimed that Binanis acceptance speech confirmed that she was party to the illegal declaration, which he described as a charade.

The legal expert made the statement on Thursday while fielding questions on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily program monitored by National Daily.

Recall that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Barrister Hudu Yunusa, shocked the nation with what many had described as a coup when he usurped the power of the Returning Officer to declare Binani, winner of the State guber election.

READ ALSO: Lawyer Femi Falana reveals why his son, Falz is always embarrassing the government

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, swiftly denounced the purported declaration of Binani as the winner of the Adamawa election by the REC.

The Commission said the action of the REC amounts to usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer, insisting it is null, void and of no effect.

Meanwhile, Falana said she has to be brought in by the police and investigated.

He said, With respect to the acceptance speech, the acceptance speech already confirmed that she was party to the charade. She has to be brought in by the police and investigated. How did you prepare a speech if you did not know that you were going to be declared the winner because, at that stage, the coalition had not been concluded?

The last point is the role of NTA, the NTA televised the acceptance speech. I expect the NBC to move in speedily and sanction the NTA because, at that time, collation was still ongoing.
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Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has reiterated the need for his supporters, as well as Nigerians, to remain calm in the face of surmountable provocation.

Since the conclusion of the February 25 presidential election, the former Anambra State governor had been criticized for allegedly playing religious politics.

Several post-election incidents, including his recent encounter in the United Kingdom regarding alleged impersonation had also generated a lot of comments from Nigerians.

Obi, who advocated strict adherence to the rule of laws in a series of tweets on Wednesday night, said people plotting the downfall of the country will never succeed. Citing recent electoral activities in the country including Adamawa supplementary polls, Obi urged Nigerian youth to remain resolute and committed to a new country.

He recalled the cases of violence, voter suppression and intimidation which characterised the 2023 general elections, pleading to Nigerians to be optimistic.

Obi wrote, Recent events in our country, including political developments in Adamawa state, underline the importance of adhering to the rule of law.

As a patriotic Nigerian who has served this country diligently, I remain committed to serving the Nigerian people and achieving a greater Nigeria in which everyone will be a beneficiary of our God-given wealth of abundant human and natural resources.

READ ALSO: Obi opens up amid row over detention in UK

Nigeria is a truly blessed and potentially great nation. With the Almighty God on our side, Nigerias greatness will soon manifest fully, thus ensuring that she is well-respected globally. In view of this, l ask all well-meaning Nigerians to commit their heart to prayers for a better and greater Nigeria.

H.E. President Muhammadu Buhari asked Nigerian youths to have faith in Nigeria and prepare for leadership roles when he signed the Not Too Young to Run Act into law. I agree with him that we have enough vibrant and intelligent Nigerian youths ready to propel Nigeria to greatness, and it is my desire and commitment to empower Nigerian youths to leadership.

Yet, we must do our utmost to be calm even under provocation; we must also not allow those bent on using any pretext to plunge our country into chaos and leave our youths without a future to succeed.

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We were provoked during the elections, but we showed restraint, patriotism and wisdom because we were voting for a greater Nigeria and not for the destruction of Nigeria. They deployed agents who killed and maimed many, including innocent women, but we kept our cool.

I plead to every Nigerian to keep the faith and hope in Nigeria alive. We are on this journey together, and better and happier years await all of us.
President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of failing Nigerians throughout his two tenures as president

The allegation was levelled against the president by the governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom on Thursday, April 20

Ortom noted that a recent comment by Buharis spokesperson is an indication that the current administration is backing herdsmen who have been on a killing spree in Benue state

The governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for mocking his failed 2023 senatorial ambition.

Ortom in a statement signed by his chief press secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur and seen by Legit.ng said the president and his spokesperson, Garba Shehu are in futile attempts to twist events and history in Benue state.

Governor Ortom has alleged that killings in Benue by armed herdsmen have the backing of the Buhari-led administration.

Photo: Muhammadu Buhari, Vanguard

Source: Facebook

Stating that killings by herdsmen in Benue state have the backing of the Buhari-led administration, Ortom the comment by Shehu on behalf of the president shows how much he and others in that league have misled the government and Nigerian people in the last inglorious eight years.

His words:

PAY ATTENTION: heck out news that is picked exactly for YOU  find the Recommended for you block on the home page and enjoy!

It is common knowledge that as the Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings. It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue state in particular.

It is on record that Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly pleaded with the Buhari government to intervene in the incessant invasion of Benue State by Fulani militias. The President sadly chooses to endorse the invasion and merely asks our people to learn to accommodate their neighbours who derive pleasure in killing and dispossessing them of their ancestral lands.

What the Buhari administration has done to our people through the Fulani militants as confirmed by Shehu Garba is to spit on the graves of our compatriots mowed down needlessly by Fulani militia. We shall not forget these atrocities.

Besides unleashing Fulani killers on our people, the Buhari government denied Benue State any meaningful project in the last eight years, including the repair of federal government roads in the state which are now death traps. We have tried in vain to find out the offence of Benue people, but we found none, except that our people are responsible, law-abiding citizens.

Buhari speaks on Ortoms Senate bid, reveals why Benue people rejected PDP gov

Ortom was earlier mocked by President Muhamamdu Buhari over his failed senatorial bid.

Reacting to Ortoms loss, Buhari claimed Benue people rejected him because of his bad performance in the state in the last eight years.

In a statement by his aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, the president also accused the PDP governor of frustrating all the efforts FG made towards solving the security situation in Benue state.

Save Nigeria Movement berates Ortom for advocating postponement of national census

Benue state Governor, Samuel Ortom, has been berated for calling for the forthcoming national population and housing census.

The governor was blasted by the Save Nigeria Movement who described his call as highly insensitive, unreasonable and antithetical to Nigerias development.

The governor had recently noted that a large number of Benue people were still in the Internally Displaced Persons IDP camps and may not be eligible to participate in the exercise because they are not in their localities.

Source: Legit.ng
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By Izunna Okafor, Awka

The Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Maazi Nnamdi Kanu has raised alarm over a recent surge of tuberculosis ailment in the facility of the Department of State Service (DSS) where he is detained.

Maazi Kanu raised the alarm through his special counsel, Barr. Aloy Ejimakor whom he briefed about his health status and the general condition of the detention facility when he visited him.

Announcing this in a short statement issued on Thursday, Barr. Ejimakor, who visited the IPOB Leader alongside Prince Emma Kanu and one other co-lawyer, said Kanu told him that numerous detainees at the DSS have now tested positive for tuberculosis.

He said, I visited with #MNK today in the company of Prince Emma Kanu & one of his other Lawyers. Onyendu directed that I extend his profound condolences to Mrs Rachel Nwosu on the demise of her gallant husband. He disclosed that numerous detainees at the DSS have now tested positive for Tuberculosis.

He hopes the Nigerian government would alert the WHO & Red Cross to intervene before it becomes a pandemic inside the DSS. Onyendus poor health persists & hes still not getting the required care. While I was with him, I observed his noticeable discomfort, malaise & general ill health. He salutes all who remain faithful & steadfast.

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By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri

There was a heavy gun-battle on thursday in Owerri, the Imo State capital city as suspected armed robbers engaged the men of Nigeria Police from Nekede Divisional Headquarters on gun a duel.

The tragic scene was confirmed in a press release signed by the Police public relations officer in Imo State command, ASP Henry Okoyo, and made available to the Newsmen in Owerri.

Police statement read, In a follow up to a distress call received on 18/04/2023 at about 0430hrs, from the Commands Emergency control room that robbery was on going at Sokotext Lodge, along Amaeze Road, by Federal Polytechnic Nekede back-gate, Operatives of Nekede Police Divisional Headquarters swiftly mobilized to the scene.

The hoodlums opened fire on sighting the Operatives, but were overpowered by the superior fire power of the Police who engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun duel that led to one of the armed robbery syndicate being neutralized and others escaping to the adjourning bush with various degrees of gunshot injuries.

On searching the surroundings, the following items were recovered; one (1) Locally Made Pistol, one (1) machete, one mask, criminal charms, four (4) laptops, three (3) power banks, one IPhone, three (3) pairs of canvass, two (2) bags, clothes and beverages and a pair of palm slippers. The corpse was recovered and deposited at Federal Medical Center Owerri.

Meanwhile, discreet investigation is ongoing and concerted effort is intensified to arrest the fleeing suspects and bring them to face the full wrath of the law.

The Commissioner of Police CP Mohammed Ahmed Barde PSC (+) while commending the operative for their courageous display of gallantry, assertively stated that the command will not relent in flushing out all criminally minded elements from the state. He then charged the Commands Operatives to sustain the tempo in stemming down the tide of arm robbery in the State and beckons on the well-meaning residents of the State in particular Hospitals, Clinics and other first aid outlets to report any person seen with or treating gunshot injury in their vicinity to the nearest Police Station or via the Commands emergency lines 0803773600 or 08098880197.

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Two drivers attached to First Bank Plc, Awka, Anambra State have been arrested over alleged threat to kidnap the branch Manager, Chinwe Ezenwa.

The suspects, Izuchukwu Nebolisa and Simeon Obiakor, reportedly conspired and continuously threatened the manager through anonymous text message.

The Nation gathered the suspects were said to have demanded the sum of N2million as a condition to withdrawing the threat.

Confirming the incident, Police spokesperson, Haruna Mohammed, said the suspects were arrested in Idemili North Council area of the state via modern technology.

He said the case was being investigated.

He said, On the 16/6/2019 at about 8:15pm, Police detectives attached to the Command Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) arrested at Jesus Estates Oba in Idemili North LGA of Anambra State one Izuchukwu Nebolisa m aged 33 years and Simeon Obiakor m aged 35 years respectively.

ALSO READ: Gunmen abducts final year student in Sokoto

Suspects who are drivers attached to First Bank PLC Awka branch conspired and continuously threatened to kidnap their branch manager one Chinwe Ezenwa f through anonymous text messages that they will kidnap her unless she pays #2million to them.

They were triangulated and subsequently arrested after sustained intelligence with the aid of modern technology.

Mohammed said the suspects had confessed to the crime, adding that the sim card used in sending the messages had been recovered.

The Commissioner of Police CP Mustapha Dandaura implores the public to be wary of their close aides, including domestic staff and do thorough background checks before employing them in order to avert this kind of ugly situation, he added.
Muhammed Babandede

According to a report by The PUNCH, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Muhammed Babandede, has tested positive for coronavirus.

The CG, who disclosed this in a WhatsApp message to our correspondent this morning, explained that he is already on self-isolation since he returned from the United Kingdom on March 22.

The PUNCH later called him on phone and Babandede confirmed the message he sent on WhatsApp.

He stated, Today, I tested positive for COVID-19. I have been on self-isolation since my return from UK on Sunday 22nd of this month with British Airways in Lagos.

I urge my loved ones, Immigration Officers and Nigerians to pray for me and all those affected.

Babandede urged immigration officers to continue working with his deputy to move the service forward.

He added, It is a very difficult time but we cant change what God destined for us.

I urge officers to continue working with my able Deputy to further move our Service to another level. As advised by NCDC, I am totally isolated.

This is happening barely 12 hours after the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, tested positive for COVID-19.
<! President Buhari. Traducers say the four-colour flag is Cubas >

By Taiwo Okanlawon

President Muhammadu Buhari will address Nigerians by 7pm today on what to do next as the two weeks lockdown comes to an end.

Buhari had on Sunday, March 29, 2020 declared a total lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, and Ogun during a nationwide broadcast to contain the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in the country.

There have been anxieties in many quarters whether the lockdown would be extended or lifted.

According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina in Abuja, Monday, the president will by 7pm address Nigerians on the next line of action.

He said, President Muhammadu Buhari will broadcast to the nation Monday, April 13, 2020 at 7pm.

Television, radio and other electronic media outlets are enjoined to hook up to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) respectively for the broadcast.
BLOOMINGTON  A 39-year-old Bloomington woman was found dead Thursday after she was reported missing earlier this week.

A press release from the Bloomington Police Department confirmed that a body was located after an extensive search by BPD, the McLean County Sheriff's Office, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. The release said Melissa S. Ostrom was identified as that person.

The McLean County Coroner's Office pronounced her dead at the scene. An autopsy is pending.

In an update Thursday afternoon, BPD requested information from the public on Ostrom's whereabouts between 1:45 a.m. Monday and 11 p.m. Wednesday. Bloomington police said during that time, the woman was wearing black and white Nike tennis shoes, gray sweatpants, a black sweatshirt, and a red-and-white-striped Baja hoodie.

BPD also said Ostrom's whereabouts during that period may have been connected to a dark gray 2017 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck with Illinois license plate 3228994B, and/or a burgundy 2010 Chevrolet Camaro with Illinois license plate E207788.

In a separate case, The Pantagraph reported Thursday a Danvers man is charged with two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle, including a 2017 Chevy Colorado and a 2010 Chevy Camaro with the same license plates as listed above. BPD spokesman Officer Brandt Parsley could not confirm Thursday whether that case was connected to Ostrom's death investigation.

Bloomington police said the investigation into Ostrom's death continues, in coordination with the coroner's office.

No further information about the circumstances preceding her death was available Thursday.

Bloomington police had announced Tuesday that Ostrom had been reported missing Monday. BPD then added she was known to frequent small towns near Bloomington-Normal.

BPD asks anyone with information about Ostrom's death to contact Det. P. Diaz by calling 309-434-2532 or emailing pdiaz@cityblm.org.

Anonymous tips can also be left with the Crime and Intelligence Analysis Unit at 309-434-2963 and CIAU@cityblm.org or by texting "Tip" to 847411.

Photos: Police scanner allowed Pantagraph photojournalist to cover the news
WAUKEGAN  A body identified as a missing U.S. Navy sailor was recovered Wednesday evening from Lake Michigan near Waukegan Harbor, Lake County officials said.

Around 7:10 p.m., Waukegan police officers who were conducting a traffic stop were flagged down by ComEd workers doing work near the harbor and saw a body in the water. An officer was able to bring the body to shore, according to a release from the Lake County sheriffs office.

The Lake County Coroners Office was alerted and the body was identified as 21-year-old Navy Sailor Seamus Gray, who went missing March 18.

Gray was last seen after he left a bar on Genesee Street in downtown Waukegan at about 1:30 a.m. He was spotted on security cameras near the docks area.

At a media briefing last month, Waukegan police Deputy Chief Brian Mullen said Gray had gone to the bar with other people and that police were interviewing them to gather information about the night.

Other video showed Gray at the intersection of Washington Street and Sheridan Avenue, and video from the marina showed Gray right on the waters edge, Mullen had said.

Gray was supposed to have been back on base by 2 a.m. March 18. Navy authorities alerted police the following Tuesday about the missing man.

Gray, of Jupiter, Florida, was stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes. His family was notified and an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, according to the release.

Thursday morning officials said preliminary results indicate that Gray died from drowning. There was no evidence of significant injury which would have contributed to his death.

Seamus death remains under investigation by the Waukegan Police Department, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Lake County coroners office.

On behalf of the City of Waukegan, I extend our deepest condolences to the family of Seamus Gray, said Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor on Thursday. As a mother, I cant begin to imagine feeling the sadness and pain that Seamus family has and will endure. Our prayers are with Mr. Grays family.
Ghana's Minister of Health, Kweku Agyemang Manu says he pays physical cash whenever he visits the hospital despite being a National Health Insurance Scheme card holder.



He was emphatic that his health visits to the Ridge Hospital and the University of Ghana Medical Center (UGMC) have seen him pay cash.



"I pay when I go to Ridge Hospital. I pay when I go to UGMC. I dont even present my insurance card," he told a meeting of Ghana Health Service Senior Managers on Tuesday, April 18, 2023,



The health minister also not happy with some service providers under Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), whom he accuses of extortion.



There are complaints that are coming about how those who are subscribed to health insurance are treated in almost all our facilities. So why shouldnt we use the harsh word extorting from the poor patients. He noted



Adding that, From the end-user point of view, it looks like the health insurance is not working. I am a patient and I know what it is, he said.

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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Minister of Health, Kweku Agyemang Manu has revealed that he pays cash whenever he visits the hospital despite being on the National Health Insurance Scheme.



He mentioned specifically that visits to the Ridge Hospital and the University of Ghana Medical Center (UGMC) have seen him pay cash after receiving the necessary service.



"I pay when I go to Ridge Hospital. I pay when I go to UGMC. I dont even present my insurance card," he told a meeting of Ghana Health Service Senior Managers on Tuesday, April 18, 2023,



Agyemang-Manu expressed his dissatisfaction with certain service providers under Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), whom he accuses of extortion.



There are complaints that are coming about how those who are subscribed to health insurance are treated in almost all our facilities. So why shouldnt we use the harsh word extorting from the poor patients.



He lamented how poor subscribers are being overcharged and denied necessary services that they have already paid for.



From the end-user point of view, it looks like the health insurance is not working. I am a patient and I know what it is, he said.





Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The National Fisheries Association of Ghana (NAFAG) has started lobbying for the establishment of a Blue Economy Authority.



When set up, the Blue Economy Authority is expected to act as the regulator of all entities carrying out economic activities in the countrys water bodies.



The group tabled the suggestion when they paid a courtesy call of President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House Monday evening.



NAFAG Acting Secretary, Richster Nii Armah Amarfio said the industry is currently regulated by multiple ministries and agencies even though their mother Ministry is the Ministry of Fisheries.



That, he said was because, the vessels [used for fishing in Ghana] are the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and the Ghana Maritime Authority and the Ministry [Fisheries Ministry] is responsible for their licensing but all the processes leading to the issuance of licenses are regulated by different agencies.



It is for this reason, he said I will suggest that we probably look at a Blue Economy Authority because the Blue Economy is becoming an emerging issue and those of us in the fishing industry are getting worried especially with the in-flacks of oil and gas activities.



Our fear is that if we do not manage the Blue Economy as a common entity, we are likely to have a situation of conflict over space and usage Amarfio noted with a genuine concern.



President Akufo-Addo welcomed the suggestion and asked the group to engage the sector Minister to see the way forward.



It is an important discussion and I think we should get on with it because at the end of the day, if your suggestion is the one that makes sense, the Ministry will be the one that will have the ultimate responsibility he admitted.



Engage the Ministry of Fisheries now and put the plans that you think makes sense before them and lets develop the discussion President Akufo-Addo suggested to the association.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Aspiring Member of Parliament for Adentan in the Greater Accra Region, Kwasi Obeng-Fosu, Popularly known as Baba Tauffic the HOMEBOY, has donated food items to Muslims in the constituency, as they prepare to bring their fasting to an end.



The items, which include bags of rice and boxes of cooking oil were presented to the constituency Nasara coordinator, Alhaji Ing. D.D Adams and his deputy Hajia Baratu as well as leaders and members of the constituency Nasara from the various electoral areas in the constituency.



Presenting the items, Kwasi Obeng-Fosu, Baba Tauffic the HomeBoy said the gesture was in support of his Muslim brothers and sisters as they prepare towards the Eid al-Fitr Festival first of two canonical festivals of Islam.



He asked for their prayers towards the first three days of Shawwal, and affirmed his trust in them as they approach their internal primaries to be bold and defend the good works of their Zongo brother and former Constituency Youth Organiser whenever they get the opportunity to do so.



 Adentan seat is not a seat to win so easily, you need experience, cordial relationship with the constituents, track record of service within the constituency, a courageous and presentable personality to win. He stated.



The former Regional Nasara Coordinator for Greater Accra, Alhaji Aminu alias Bumper to Bumper, who was also present charged them to reward long service, dedication and selfless service to the constituency. These are the main attributes of Baba Tauffic who led the Youth Wing in opposition to win the 2016 elections for the NPP, both parliamentary and Presidential for the first time.



He has served as the deputy PRO and later became the substantive for the Ministry of Education under his boss the sector minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh in the first term of this government.



He was very instrumental in disseminating information to the public during the implementation of the flagship policy FREE SHS at a record time of just nine months in office.



He is now the PRO for the Energy Ministry and the youngest Member of Patrons in the NPP, Adentan and also tipped by most people across the political divide to win the 2024 elections as the next MP for Adenta.



The items, which include bags of rice and boxes of cooking oil were presented to the constituency Nasara coordinator, Alhaji Ing. D.D Adams and his deputy Hajia Baratu as well as leaders and members of the constituency Nasara from the various electoral areas in the constituency.



Presenting the items, Kwasi Obeng-Fosu, Baba Tauffic the HomeBoy said the gesture was in support of his Muslim brothers and sisters as they prepare towards the Eid al-Fitr Festival first of two canonical festivals of Islam.



He asked for their prayers towards the first three days of Shawwal, and affirmed his trust in them as they approach their internal primaries to be bold and defend the good works of their Zongo brother and former Constituency Youth Organiser whenever they get the opportunity to do so.



 Adentan seat is not a seat to win so easily, you need experience, cordial relationship with the constituents, track record of service within the constituency, a courageous and presentable personality to win. He stated.



The former Regional Nasara Coordinator for Greater Accra, Alhaji Aminu alias Bumper to Bumper, who was also present charged them to reward long service, dedication and selfless service to the constituency. These are the main attributes of Baba Tauffic who led the Youth Wing in opposition to win the 2016 elections for the NPP, both parliamentary and Presidential for the first time.



He has served as the deputy PRO and later became the substantive for the Ministry of Education under his boss the sector minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh in the first term of this government.



He was very instrumental in disseminating information to the public during the implementation of the flagship policy FREE SHS at a record time of just nine months in office.



He is now the PRO for the Energy Ministry and the youngest Member of Patrons in the NPP, Adentan and also tipped by most people across the political divide to win the 2024 elections as the next MP for Adenta.

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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Access to clean water is vital for maintaining good health, but in many Ghanaian communities, it remains a luxury. Gavikope and its neighbouring areas in the Akatsi North District of the Volta Region have long struggled with a lack of potable water, forcing residents to travel several miles to collect water from a contaminated pond.



This issue is intensified during the dry season when the pond dries up, and in the rainy season, the pond becomes increasingly polluted and murky, putting the local population at risk of water-borne diseases.



However, the situation has improved thanks to the Vodafone Ghana Foundation Kindred Initiative, a staff volunteer programme focused on addressing community challenges.



Through the efforts of Bright Aheto, Kindred Volunteer and Vodafone Ghanas Zonal Sales Manager for the Volta Region, the Vodafone Ghana Foundation launched a project to supply clean water to Gavikope and its nearby communities.



The project, known as the Gavikope Borehole Project, entailed the installation of a basic manually operated borehole system to provide the community with clean water. The Kindred Volunteer, Bright Aheto, took part in various activities, including hydrogeological studies, borehole drilling and construction, water quality analysis, and the provision and installation of a hand pump and related equipment.



After hours of labour, the project was fruitful, accessing underground water at approximately 80 metres depth, and a hand pump was installed to extract clean water for communities use.



The projects success was made possible by the collaborative efforts of the Kindred Volunteer, the Vodafone Ghana Foundation, and the Gavikope community members, who contributed communal labour to clear the path leading to the project site and assisted in the hand pump installation.



The projects impact on the community is profound. Gavikope and its adjoining communities now have access to clean, potable water for daily use, alleviating their struggle with water scarcity and pollution. The community expressed their utmost gratitude to the team and the foundation for providing them with clean drinking water.



The Gavikope borehole project is one of many projects undertaken by Vodafone Ghana Foundation staff volunteers to bring about positive change in the communities they serve. The Kindred initiative aims to give back to society by addressing the needs of underprivileged communities through volunteerism, donations, and community service.



The Vodafone Ghana Foundation Kindred Initiative has once again demonstrated its dedication to tackling community challenges and improving lives, an achievement well worth celebrating.

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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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.
The Electoral Commission of Ghana has refuted the allegation that it is secretly registering Ghanaians at its headquarters.



Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana (CARE GHANA) has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of engaging in secret registration. An exercise they have described as "a breach of the law"



According to them, the EC "is secretly registering voters at the EC head office while we await the passage of the Electoral Commission's C.I. that will establish clear rules and notice of how the voters' registration exercise will be carried out".



A voter registration exercise shredded in secrecy is a significant opportunity to manipulate election results.



"We, therefore, call on the Electoral Commission to immediately halt the ongoing voter registration exercise and provide an explanation for its conduct.



The Director of Electoral Services at the Commission, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe speaking to this in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo' explained the only people who were registered were 5 Ghanaians who were living abroad and missed the opportunity to register.



"If you would recall, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Tehn Addy and per the judgement, if a Ghanaian living abroad applies to the Commission to be registered, we have to do it. Since then, when they apply we do it for them. The new C.I. has not been passed; we are using the current one which is C.I 91".



According to him, "So far 5 have been registered using the Supreme Court judgement".



"So we are not engaging in any secret registration," he emphasized.



Listen to him in the video below







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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Former NDC Central Regional Chairman, Bernard Allotey Jacobs has warned political parties against making statements that potentially stoke violence and chaos.



Allotey Jacobs, who has ceased joining the NDC, bemoaned the political theatrics and strategy by politicians to charge up their supporters and incite them to action.



He noted that their kind of politics needs a major transformation.



"We have maligned people in this country. We've character assassinated people in this country but we have reached a stage where there should be clean politics," he snapped while making his submissions on Peace FM's show "Kokrokoo" Wednesday morning.



He feared politicians are leaving a bad imprint on the youth and generations to come, hence emphasizing that "we have reached a stage where our politics should be clean. Clean politics, not politics of deceit but truthful politics. Let us digest the truth and tell the people the truth".



Allotey Jacobs made these comments in relation to the Ghana Police Service engagement with the two largest political parties, the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress on Monday, April 17 where the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. George Akufo Dampare assured them of their impartiality to enforce law and order.



The IGP also cautioned the parties against interfering in the work of the Police and further briefed them on some initiatives the Police Service has implemented under its Police Transformation Agenda to enhance security in all elections.



Watch video below





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng has named some top government officials as being engaged in the illegal mining canker, popularly known as galamsey.



The renowned professor who served under President Akufo-Addo during his first term insisted that the rot goes as high as the government seat, Jubilee House.



President Akufo-Addo, last month, tasked the police to investigate allegations, but MyJoyOnline.com has intercepted a 36-page document written by Prof. Boateng addressed to the president, the Chief of Staff, and the police.



In the said document, the renowned surgeon mentioned some individuals he claims frustrated his effort and the committee he chaired from addressing the canker.



Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the Presidents commitment to protecting the environment.



I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the national to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers, or relatives engaged in illegal mining. Most of them engaged Chinese working for them.



I am not referring to party people who had their legitimate concession and were mining sustainably as they were instructed to do.



There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining or interfering with the fight against the menace, excerpts of the document said.



Professor Frimpong also accused a former NPP MP in the Ashanti Region who was also a board member of the Minerals Commission of selling illegally acquired concessions at GH200,000 each.



According to him, this infuriated the party in the constituency so during the 2020 primaries to select a candidate the electorate voted against NPP MP, the then sitting MP, who was more resourced than other candidates.



Although there were allegations that he camped delegates and attempted to bribe them, he lost to a lesser-known individual who did not have any financial muscle.



Prof Frimpong Boateng, earlier in March, insisted that the rot goes as high as the government seat, Jubilee House.



In an interview with state broadcaster GBC, the former Minister said these individuals supervised his ousting from the Ministry in order to continue perpetuating the canker.



Prof. Boateng stressed that the allegations of some 500 missing excavators from illegal miners in 2020 were fabrications of persons in the government to get him out of the way.



Following the revelation, there were calls from a cross-section of Ghanaians for state security agencies to look into it.



On the back of this, the President asked the Ghana Police Service to probe the matter.



This, the former Minister has written to the Presidency, naming the specific individuals he referred to in his claim.





Source: myjoyonline.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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Presidential Candidate hopeful Hon. Alan Kyerematen has joined the Muslim community in a solem prayer session (Iftar) programme at Ayawaso West Wougon in Accra.



The former Trade and Industry Minister, who resides in Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency joined the Muslim community and office of the National Chief to break their fast on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.





He was joined by top ranking officials of his campaign team at the Iftar and used the program to preach for religious coexistence and love for each other.



The Chief Imam was represented by Alhaji Abdul Lateef and Imam Muktari Abbass both senior officials of the Office of the Chief Imam .



Speaking at the gathering, Hon. Alan Kyerematen called on the Muslim community to keep their love for each other and extend it to other religious faiths within the country.



He urged the youth to see the sacred month of Ramadan as a cleansing month and keep their good behaviour even after the fasting period.



The former Trade and Industry Minister is reportedly in the lead as New Patriotic Party heads to the National Presidential Primaries slated for November 2023.

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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As Muller says, just about anybody can run for political office in America, but is there a difference between running and winning? And if a criminal or suspected traitor is elected to office, are there other ways to remove them or disqualify them from running again?

Yes, says Muller. Impeachment is the big one. According to the Constitution, Congress has the authority to launch impeachment proceedings against "The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States." If a majority of the House votes to impeach, that's followed by a trial in the Senate. If the Senate votes to convict the official of "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors," the person is removed from office.

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Civil officers who have been impeached by the House include 15 federal judges; three presidents (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump who was impeached twice); a cabinet secretary and a U.S. senator, according to the U.S. House of Representatives. Only eight of this group, all federal judges, were convicted and removed from office by the Senate.

Disqualification from future office is an optional punishment with impeachment. In its history, the Senate has only barred three people from serving again in the federal government, all federal judges.

Impeachment is the only legitimate constitutional tool to bar someone from office, but that doesn't mean that Congress hasn't experimented with other methods. In the 1960s, an outspoken Harlem congressman named Adam Clayton Powell embarrassed his colleagues in the House with some "suboptimal public dealings," says Muller.

First, the House voted to strip Powell of his committee posts, and then it took an unprecedented step  the House voted to "exclude" Powell from the next Congress. In other words, they tried to disqualify him from office. Powell sued and the case made it to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the House's actions were unconstitutional. (Powell was so popular in his home district that he was elected back to Congress with 86 percent of the vote.)

Congress could try to do the same thing with a president. In 2020, on the same day as the Jan. 6 insurrection, 147 Republican congressmen and women raised objections to certifying President Joe Biden's victory over allegations of voter fraud. Congress came close, in other words, to refusing to seat an elected president.

"You're really in uncharted territory at that point," says Muller. "If a majority of the Electoral College, which represents the people and the states, has chosen a president, it's very hard for Congress to turn around and say we're going to reject that  as a political matter, which is different from the legal question."

Now That's Rough While prisoners and felons can run for office, millions of Americans behind bars or with felony convictions on their record are barred from voting by state disenfranchisement laws.

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Originally Published: Aug 22, 2022
The legend of La Llorona is a centuries-old tale that dates to the conquistadors. While the story varies depending on the source, the most common says the ghost is of a woman, Maria, who used her beauty and charm to capture the heart of a wealthy man, with whom she had two sons. He lavished her with attention and gifts until their marriage went south.

He began a life of drinking and womanizing, spending more time away from home. Even when he was home, he ignored his wife for his children.

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Eventually Maria saw him with another woman and was heartbroken  and enraged. So, Maria decided to inflict the same type of pain on her husband  she drowned their children in the river. But right after she realized what she'd done, she cried out "Ay, mis hijos!" ("Oh, my children!") and drowned herself, too.

Now, the legend says, La Llorona floats in water in her white gown, searching for her children. "Her still-weeping ghost is said to still be out there, murdering children whom, in her madness, she confuses as her own," Acosta says.

Like most cultural oral stories, the legend of La Llorona has multiple variations depending on who's telling the story. "Variance and differences in the story don't really come from world regions as much as they come from being a centuries-old folktale passed down over so many years," explains Tomas Prower, author of "Morbid Magic: Death Spirituality & Culture From Around the World."

Some versions say La Llorona blamed her children for why her husband left her, while others suggest she attacks cheating husbands. But the general message is the same: If you hear the cries of La Llorona, run.
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This is the paleo-historical picture of the geographical range of African penguins over the past 22 000 years. Scientists at Stellenbosch Universitys (SU) School for Climate Studies hope to provide new insight into the current vulnerability of the last remaining penguin species in Africa. The study, titled A natural terminal Pleistocene decline of African penguin populations enhances their anthropogenic extinction risk was published in the African Journal of Marine Science on 20 April 2023. Credit: Infographic: Jenny Frost

Imagine the view from the western coastline of southern Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) over 20,000 years ago: In the distance you would see at least 15 large islandsthe largest 300 square kilometers in areaswarming with hundreds of millions of marine birds and penguin colonies.

Now imagine sea levels rising up to a hundred meters between 15,000 to 7,000 years ago, gradually covering these large islands until only small hill tops and outcrops remained above water. Over the past 22,000 years, this has resulted in a tenfold reduction in suitable nesting habitat for African penguins, sending their population numbers into steep decline.

This is the paleo-historical picture of the geographical range of African penguins, created by scientists in the evolutionary genomics research group in the Department of Botany and Zoology and the School for Climate Studies at Stellenbosch University (SU). With this effort, they hope to provide new insight into the current vulnerability of the last remaining penguin species in Africa.

The study, titled "A natural terminal Pleistocene decline of African penguin populations enhances their anthropogenic extinction risk," appears in the African Journal of Marine Science on April 20, 2023.

Dr. Heath Beckett, first author of the article and postdoctoral fellow at SU's School for Climate Studies, says this paleo-historical image of multiple millions stands in stark contrast to the current reality of a post-1900 collapse of the African penguin population.

In 1910, Dassen Island (an island off the West Coast, about three square kilometers in area) was teeming with an estimated 1.45 million penguins. However, by 2011 South Africa's entire African penguin population had collapsed to 21,000 breeding pairs, and by 2019 they further declined to only 13,600. Approximately 97% of the current penguin population in South Africa is supported by only seven breeding colonies.

In May 2005 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature classified the African penguin as endangered.

Paleo-historical estimates of penguin population sizes

So how did the southern and western coastlines of southern Africa look during the last Ice Age? And what can it tell us about penguin population numbers?

As penguins prefer to breed on islands to escape mainland predators, the researchers used topographic maps of the ocean floor off the coast of southern Africa to identify potential historical islands lying at ten to 130 meters below current sea levels.

For islands to qualify as suitable for penguins, they needed to offer protection from land-based predators and had to be surrounded by suitable foraging grounds for sardine and anchovy within a 20-kilometer radius.

Assuming that sea levels were much lower during the last Ice Age, the researchers identified 15 large islands off the West Coast, the largest a 300 km2 island lying 130 meters below the sea surface. Then, taking into account rising sea levels over the past 15,000 to 7,000 years, they identified 220 islands that would have provided suitable nesting conditions for penguins. Of the islands, 216 are less than a square kilometer in area, while some are as small as 30 m2, barely more than a rock.

Today the five largest islands off the West Coast of Southern Africa are Robben Island (~5 km2), Dassen Island (~3 km2), Possession Island (~ 1.8 km2) and Seal Island and Penguin Island (both below 1 km2). Possession, Seal and Penguin Island are all off the coast of Namibia.

Based on the earliest available population density estimates, the researchers then calculated penguin population estimates based on available island area, assuming that penguins usually nest at most 500 meters from the shore.

Following this approach, they estimate that between 6.4 million and 18.8 million individuals could have occupied the southern Cape waters during the Last Glacial Maximum. However, due to rising sea levels 15,000 to 7,000 years ago, the habitat for the African penguins to nest on went into a steep decline.

According to Dr. Beckett, the main objective of the study is to show that there have been major changes in habitat availability over the last 22,000 years. "This could have had a massive effect on penguin populations. These populations are now experiencing additional human pressures on top of this in the form of climate change, habitat destruction and competition for food," he explains.

Implications for conservation management

While this finding raises grave concerns, the researchers argue that it also highlights the potential for a reserve of resilience in African penguins that may be leveraged for its conservation and management in an uncertain future.

Dr. Beckett explains, "Changing sea levels would have necessitated the need for multiple relocations of breeding colonies of African penguins on time scales of centuries, if not even shorter time scales, and intense competition for breeding space as island habitat became greatly reduced in size. This historical flexibility of response provides some leeway for conservation managers to make available suitable breeding space, even in mainland sites, as long as appropriate nesting sites are made available."

According to Prof. Guy Midgley, interim director of SU's School for Climate Studies and a co-author, this millennial-scale set of selection pressures would have favored strong colonization ability in the species. "It's a total survivor and given half a chance, they will hang on. Island hopping saved it in the past, they know how to do this," he emphasized.

But even given the chance of relocation, how much more will it take to persist given the rise of modern human pressures? When competing against the commercial fishing industry and humanity in general for the same food source, penguinsand other marine lifemay not stand a chance.

Therefore, "for any relocation measures to be successful," the researchers warn, "sufficient access to marine food resources remain a vital element of a coordinated response to prevent extinction of the species."

More information: A natural terminal Pleistocene decline of African penguin populations enhances their anthropogenic extinction risk, African Journal of Marine Science (2023). DOI: 10.2989/1814232X.2023.2171126
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Historic and current tiger distribution and range expansion areas. Historic tiger distribution (as described in the text), current tiger distribution from Goodrich et al. (2015) amended per text. Tiger range expansion (1,293,921-km2) per our analysis. Frontiers in Conservation Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2023.1124340

Dr. Thomas Gray is a conservation biologist and Tiger Recovery Lead at the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative. His current research focuses on the active recovery of threatened Asian species and sustainable financing for landscape-scale conservation. In this newest guest editorial, he explains how habitats from which tigers have been lost could be restored and how this may help biodiversity and landscape restoration at large.

Tigers are Asia's iconic predator and, perhaps, the most recognizable species on the planet. Tigers used to occur over vast areas of Asia: from the Black Sea of Turkey to the Korean Peninsula and south through the rainforests of south-east Asia to the islands of Java and Bali. However, as a result of centuries of persecution and habitat loss, tigers currently occur in only a tiny fraction of this historic range.

More tigers, but difficult circumstances

Since 2010, a 'year of the Tiger' under the Asian lunar calendar, there has been considerable global attention on tiger conservation. This attention appears to have reversed the decline in tiger numbers with the 2022 IUCN Red List Assessment estimating around 4,500 wild tigers remain in the world (an increase from around 3,200 in 2010).

This increase is largely a result of strong protection of source breeding populations in protected areas in south and east Asia and is exemplified by India which, in April 2023, announced a minimum population estimate of 3,167 tigers.

But despite global tiger populations increasing, the species occurs in fewer places than ever before. During my career as a field biologist in south-east Asia, we have seen the last tigers lost from entire nations, such as Cambodia and Laos, as well as from many of the region's protected areas such as Kuiburi National Park in Thailand. Breeding tigers now only occur in 10 countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Russia.

If we are to sustain tiger recovery, we need to expand the species' occupied range. Increasing the distribution, and the ecological breadth of places where tiger occur and are functional, is necessary to recover the species globally. And there are templates for success. In many parts of Europe and North America carnivore populations have recovered and expanded their range due to both reintroductions (ie releasing either captive-bred or wild caught carnivores into landscapes from which they have been lost) or through natural movements and dispersal.

This process of natural range expansion is already being seen in tigers with individuals from the Russian far east known to disperse into adjacent areas of north-east China and establish new breeding populations. Meanwhile tiger reintroductions in India, such as those into Panna Tiger Reserve in the central Indian tiger landscape, have led to rapid increase in populations and distribution.

Opportunities for tiger range expansion

In our recently published paper in Frontiers in Conservation Science, I, together with co-authors, examined where else across the vast historic range of tigers there are opportunities for the species to return: either through natural dispersal from currently occupied areas or through active reintroductions implemented by governments and conservation agencies.

We found that there are more than 1,290,000sq km of former tiger range with similar characteristics to places currently occupied by tigers. These range expansion landscapes are found in 14 countries: the ten which currently have breeding tigers as well as Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Tiger range expansion represents an opportunity for conservation which would not only help recover tigers but also meet the goals of the new Global Biodiversity Framework. Less than 20% of the range expansion landscapes we identified are currently within formal protected areas. By partnering with local communities to establish and formalize Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMS) these landscapes can be protected and thus contribute towards the 30 by 30 goal of increasing protected area coverage and representativeness.

Ensuring food for tigers

For all of the landscapes we have identified, there is a need to understand why tigers are absent and implement conservation and social programs to address these factors. One of the most important constraints on tiger recovery is lack of food. Across vast areas of Asia huntingin many cases driven by the illegal wildlife tradehas significantly reduced populations of the main tiger prey species, particularly wild cattle and large deer.

For example, while no Asian carnivores are critically endangered globally, there are seven critically endangered ungulate tiger prey species in south-east Asia alone. Additionally, half of the mammalian prey species of tiger are threatened with extinction, and roughly 80% have decreasing population trends.

Recovering tiger populations in many places will therefore require increasing prey populations. This can be achieved through a combination of stronger law enforcement and protected area management, habitat restoration or active prey translocations, and targeted behavior change campaigns in order to reduce demand for wildlife meat particularly among the growing urban middle classes.

Opportunities for reintroduction

Tiger reintroduction is the most complicated tiger conservation activity, but it can be successful. The lessons learned and approaches implemented for carnivore translocations globally are likely to increase the success of such approaches. At least four landscapes which we identified in our analysisthe Ile-Balkash Delta of Kazakhstan, the Cardamom Rainforest and Eastern Plains Landscapes of Cambodia, and the Greater Khingan Mountains of China and Russiaare the focus of current tiger reintroduction plans. Those in Kazakhstan, where initial tiger releases are planned before 2030, are the most advanced.

We believe that securing a viable and ecologically representative future for tigers requires both securing current populations and expanding the occupied range. We hope our findings can be used to support a proactive planning for future tiger range expansion. This should include both places into which tigers may naturally disperse and those which may be suitable for future reintroduction.

Tiger reintroductions can galvanize conservation efforts, help protect additional habitat and support the expansion of protected habitat. Focusing conservation efforts on some of these places could prepare them for the return of the tiger while also securing critical conservation landscapes and benefiting both people and wildlife.

More information: Thomas NE Gray et al, Restoring Asia's roar: Opportunities for tiger recovery across the historic range, Frontiers in Conservation Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2023.1124340. www.frontiersin.org/articles/1  sc.2023.1124340/full

Provided by Frontiers
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The sun and moon are photographed near Exmouth, Australia, during a solar eclipse on Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse will either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or they'll see a "ring of fire" as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: Aaron Bunch/AAP Image via AP

Under a cloudless sky, 20,000 eclipse chasers crowded a tiny outpost to watch a rare solar eclipse plunge part of Australia's northwest coast into brief midday darkness Thursday while temporarily cooling the tropical heat.

The remote tourist town of Exmouth, with fewer than 3,000 residents, was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crossed remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.

An international crowd had been gathering for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.

NASA astronomer Henry Throop was among those at Exmouth cheering loudly in the darkness.

"Isn't it incredible? This is so fantastic. It was mind-blowing. It was so sharp and it was so bright. You could see the corona around the sun there," the visibly excited Washington resident said.

"It's only a minute long, but it really felt like a long time. There's nothing else you can see which looks like that. It was just awesome. Spectacular. And then you could see Jupiter and Mercury and to be able to see those at the same time during the dayeven seeing Mercury at all is pretty rare. So that was just awesome," Throop added.

First-time eclipse chaser Julie Copson, who traveled more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) north from the Australian west-coast port city of Fremantle to Exmouth, said the phenomenon left her skin tingling.

A partial solar eclipse is seen through the cloud over Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

"I feel so emotional, like I could cry. The color changed and seeing the corona and sun flares ," Copson said.

"It was very strong and the temperature dropped so much," she added, referring to a sudden 5-degree-Celsius (9-degree-Fahrenheit) fall in temperature from 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) when the moon's shadow enveloped the region.

It was the fifth eclipse for Detroit resident Shane Varrti, who began planning his trip to Exmouth a year ago.

"It's very exciting. All this effort has come to fruition," Varrti said.

In Indonesia's capital, hundreds came to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse that was obscured by clouds.

Azka Azzahra, 21, came with her sister and friends to get a closer look by using the telescopes with hundreds of other visitors.

"I am still happy to come even though it is cloudy. It is happy to see how people with high enthusiasm come here to see the eclipse, because it is rare," Azzahra said.

A hybrid solar eclipse is seen from Lautem, East Timor, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon. Credit: AP Photo/Lorenio L.Pereira

The call to prayer resounded from the city's mosques when the eclipse phase began as Muslims in the country with the world's largest Muslim population said eclipse prayers as a reminder of God's greatness.

In East Timor, people gathered around the beach in Lautem municipality, waiting to witness the rare solar eclipse through their eclipse glasses. Some of them came from other countries and gathered with locals to have a clear view of the eclipse.

"Timor Leste is one of the unique countries where the experience is less humid, less cloudy, so we are expecting a clear sky, that's why many international astronomers wish to converge here. We are hoping that there is going to be a clear sky," Zahri Bin Ahmad, astrophile from the South East Asia Astronomy Network of Brunei said as they waited Thursday.

A hybrid solar eclipse in seen from Lautem, East Timor, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon. Credit: AP Photo/Lorenio L.Pereira

People cheered as the sun and moon reached maximum eclipse.

"This is a very new natural phenomenon for Timor Leste. It is very important for us to be able to watch and experience it firsthand," said Martinho Fatima, a civil protection authority officer.

The hybrid solar eclipse tracked from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and was mostly over water. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a "ring of fire" as the sun peeked from behind the new moon.

Such celestial events happen about once every decade: The last one was in 2013 and the next one isn't until 2031. They occur when Earth is in the "sweet spot" so the moon and the sun are almost the exact same size in the sky, said NASA solar expert Michael Kirk.

At some points, the moon is a little closer and blocks out the sun in a total eclipse. But when the moon is a little farther away, it lets some of the sun's light peek out in an annular eclipse.

A woman and man use protective glasses to view a solar eclipse near Exmouth, Australia, on Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse will either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or they'll see a "ring of fire" as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: Aaron Bunch/AAP Image via AP

Children watch solar eclipse reflected on the base of a telescope in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon. Credit: AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi

A partial solar eclipse is seen through the cloud over Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

People use protective glasses to watch a hybrid solar eclipse in Lautem, East Timor, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon. Credit: AP Photo/Lorenio L.Pereira

A woman uses protective glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse would either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or see a ring of fire as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

People prepare their viewing equipment in Exmouth, Australia, ahead of a solar eclipse on Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse will either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or they'll see a "ring of fire" as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: Aaron Bunch/AAP Image via AP

Indonesian women use protective glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse would either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or see a ring of fire as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

People wear protective glasses as they look up at a solar eclipse in Exmouth, Australia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse will either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or they'll see a "ring of fire" as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: Aaron Bunch/AAP Image via AP

A man uses a telescope to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

People use protective glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few in the path of the hybrid solar eclipse would either get plunged into the darkness of a total eclipse or see a ring of fire as the sun peeks out from behind the moon. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

A man uses special glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

People take turn to use a telescope to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

A man uses a protective glasses to watch a hybrid solar eclipse in Lautem, East Timor, Thursday, April 20, 2023. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon. Credit: AP Photo/Lorenio L.Pereira

People lie on the ground as they use protective glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

Indonesian youths wear protective glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

A woman assists her daughter to see through a telescope to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

People use protective glasses to watch solar eclipse in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, April 20, 2023. A rare solar eclipse will cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday. Credit: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

"It's a crazy phenomenon," Kirk said. "You're actually watching the moon get larger in the sky."

Several other upcoming solar eclipses will be easier to catch. An annular eclipse in mid-October and a total eclipse in April 2024 will both cross over millions of people in the Americas.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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British physicist Jessica Wade has made it her mission to increase women scientists' visibility online.

By day, Jessica Wade spends her time in a laboratory at Imperial College London surrounded by spectrometers, oscilloscopesand men.

At night, she writes biographies on Wikipedia about women researchers like her who don't have an online presence.

"We can't just do the shouting about how we need more women in science. We have to do the point of honoring and celebrating the women scientists that we have," she told AFP.

"And I think writing their stories, making sure the world recognizes what they've done is a really important way to do that."

Wade, 34, has worked at Imperial's imposing campus in west London since 2016.

As a physicist, she is involved in developing new generations of carbon-based semi-conductors to make optical and electronic devices such as televisions and solar panels more energy efficient.

She leads a team of five people in a wider team of about 15. Of them, only one other scientist is a woman.

Science "is very male-dominated," Wade said, lamenting the lack of interest in it among girls whose parents are not scientists.

"As soon as I walked into a physics department that had a majority of men and a majority of people from white privileged backgrounds, I suddenly realized that not everyone's getting the opportunity to study physics, not everyone's getting excited about it," she added.

"That lack of diversity impacts the science we do, the questions we ask, the directions we go in, the way we translate our innovations into society, where those kinds of devices are actually used in the world and who they benefit."

Wade writes biographies of women scientists on Wikipedia.

Visibility

Wade now seeks to "take science to more people" but came across "knowledge gaps" in the internet's free, multilingual, collaborative encyclopedia.

"Wikipedia is an amazing platform because it's used by everyone in society," she said.

"It's used by 15 billion access points a month. Parents, teachers, policymakers, journalists, scientists, Amazon, Alexa, Google Home, they all use Wikipedia when they're looking for information."

But there is one big problem, she added: "About 90 percent of Wikipedia contributors and editors are men, and about 19 percent of the biographies on English language Wikipedia are about women."

Wade set out to redress the imbalance in 2018 and has since written almost 2,000 pages by herself at the rate of one a night, at home, after dinner.

"They take more than one hour each, so that's already too many hours of my life," she laughed.

But she is undeterred by the daunting task.

"I don't see it stopping anytime soon," she said.

In fact, the research itself creates more work, as she often discovers more women scientists when writing another biography.

Wade hopes greater visibility for women scientists will encourage more girls.

Wades' first Wikipedia biography entry was the American climatologist Kim Cobb.

She saw her at a conference but after looking her up on Wikipedia found there was nothing on her oceanographic research.

Acknowledgement

Wade, who is now part of a network of women editors and leads workshops on how to write for Wikipedia, says a person's presence and their work on the internet means they are discoverable.

"Little girls who are googling something, let's say about sea urchins, will click through and then land on a Wikipedia page about an awesome woman scientist who had contributed to that," she said.

"If you're trying to nominate someone for an award or to become a fellow or to invite someone to give a lecture, you always google them and if they've got a biography nicely summarized on somewhere like Wikipedia, it's so much easier to write someone's citation or reference."

That happened for Gladys West, a 92-year-old black American mathematician, whose profile was one of Wade's first.

Starting in 1956, when racial segregation was still imposed in the United States, she worked for 42 years on navy navigation systems. Her calculations eventually led to the development of GPS.

"I researched Gladys to write her page and there was so little about her online, she was almost 90 and no one had celebrated her," she said.

"I put her Wikipedia page online in February 2018 and in May 2018 she was in the BBC top 100 women in the world.

"And then she was inducted to the US Air Force Hall of Fame, and she won the Royal Academy of Engineering Prince Philip medal, which had never before gone to a woman."

 2023 AFP
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Red junglefowl, the species from which the chicken was domesticated. Credit: Masaki Eda

Conclusive evidence of chicken breeding in the Yayoi period of Japan has been discovered from the Karako-Kagi site.

The chicken is one of the most common domesticated animals, with a current estimated population of over 33 billion individuals. They are reared for their meat and eggs, and may be kept as pets.

The chicken is believed to have been domesticated in Southeast Asia about 3,500 years ago, following which they were carried to all corners of the world. The exact date of introduction of chicken breeding to Japan is under debate, as there are no historical records and archaeological evidence is inconclusive.

Professor Masaki Eda at the Hokkaido University Museum led a team to uncover the earliest conclusive evidence of chicken breeding in Japan. The findings, which show chickens were bred in the Karako-Kagi site, a settlement from the Yayoi period [5th century BCE to around 2nd century BCE], were published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Sciences.

"Chickens and their wild relatives belong to a family of birds called Phasianids, which includes pheasants, turkeys and quail," explains Eda. "Bones of juvenile phasianids recovered from archaeological sites could not indisputably be identified as belonging to chickens or to similarly sized wild pheasants. Identification of juveniles is important, as it would indicate that breeding of chickens took place."

The bones examined in this study were discovered at the 58th research point in the Karako-Kagi site. Credit: Masaki Eda, et al. Frontiers in Earth Science. April 20, 2023

The Karako-Kagi site, in what is now Tawaramoto Town, Nara Prefecture, is considered to be a settlement that played the role of a leader of the Kinki region during the Yayoi period. There are multiple archaeological digs in the area; one such dig, at the 58th research point, yielded ten phasianid bones, four of which belonged to juvenile birds.

The team used a technique called Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to analyze the collagen in two of the juvenile phasianid bones. Previous work by Eda had shown that domestic chicken and Japanese wild pheasants had different ZooMS fingerprints; ZooMS revealed that both the two bones belonged to chickens. The collagen from one of the bones was also carbon dated to 381204 BCE, corresponding to the middle Yayoi period.

The two bones from the Karako-Kagi site identified as belonging to juvenile chickens by the Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry technique. Credit: Masaki Eda, et al. Frontiers in Earth Science. April 20, 2023

"Ten of the eleven previously-discovered bones of adult chickens from this period have all belonged to males; hence, it was thought chicken breeding could not have occurred on the Japanese archipelago," Eda said.

"By identifying bones from juvenile chickens, we provide clear evidence that breeding did occur in that time periodwhich is also the earliest time chickens could have been introduced to Japan. In addition, Karako-Kagi is considered an important trade hub of the Yayoi period, so there is a possibility that this status is a factor in chicken breeding during the period."

The archaeological discoveries of chickens in Japan show that the human-chicken relationship was very different from that revealed by archaeological studies in China and in Europe. Future research will focus on understanding these differences.

More information: The earliest evidence of domestic chickens in the Japanese Archipelago, Frontiers in Earth Science (2023). DOI: 10.3389/feart.2023.1104535 Journal information: Frontiers in Earth Science
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Representation of the compatibility relations between all measurements in the experiment. Each measurement is represented by a vertex, and vertices connected by an edge represent compatible measurements. Both measurements of Alice (white vertices) are compatible with all measurements of Bob (black vertices); compatibility of measurements of Bob is represented by a pentagon. Sets of measurements that are two-by-two compatible are jointly compatible (e.g., {A0,B0,B1}. Credit: Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.040201

Quantum theory, which was formulated in the first three decades of the twentieth century, describes a wide array of phenomena at the molecular, atomic and subatomic scales. Among its many technological applications, three have become ubiquitous in daily life: laser barcode scanners, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the global positioning system (GPS).

Nevertheless, quantum physics is still not entirely understood, and some of the phenomena concerned appear to fly in the face of common sense or everyday empirical experience, surprising not only the average layperson but also physicists and philosophers of science. Some of the counterintuitive aspects of quantum theory are due to its probabilistic nature. It offers a set of rules for calculating the probabilities of the possible measurement outcomes of physical systems and in general cannot predict the actual result of a single measurement.

One of the challenging ideas presented by quantum physics is non-locality, an aspect of reality manifested when two or more systems are generated or interact in such a way that the quantum states of any system cannot be described independently of the quantum states of the others. Technically speaking, scientists call such systems entangled, since they are strongly correlated even at a distance and their quantum state is not defined by the quantum states of their component parts.

Another challenging idea, which seems to point in the opposite direction, is contextuality, according to which the outcome of measuring a quantum object depends on the context, meaning other compatible measurements performed at the same time.

Non-locality and contextuality were born with quantum theory but followed independent paths for several decades. In 2014, scientists conducted a study involving a particular case in which they showed that only one of them can be observed in a quantum system. This finding became known as monogamy. The authors conjectured that non-locality and contextuality were different facets of the same general behavior observed either in one way or the other.

Now, however, a study by Brazilian and Chinese researchers has shown both theoretically and experimentally that this is not so. An article on the study is published in Physical Review Letters and highlighted as an Editors' Suggestion.

The research was led by Rafael Rabelo, last author of the article and a professor at the State University of Campinas's Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics (IFGW-UNICAMP) in Brazil.

The first authors are Peng Xue and Lei Xiao of Beijing Computational Science Research Center in China. The other co-authors, all affiliated with Brazilian institutions, are Gabriel Ruffolo and Andre Mazzari, also researchers at IFGW-UNICAMP; Marcelo Terra Cunha of the same university's Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (IMECC-UNICAMP); and Tassius Temistocles of the Federal Institute of Alagoas.

"We proved that both phenomena can indeed be observed concurrently in quantum systems. The theoretical approach was developed here in Brazil and validated in a quantum optics experiment by our Chinese collaborators," Rabelo told Agencia FAPESP.

The new study shows definitively that two of the fundamental ways in which quantum physics differs from classical physics can be observed at the same time in the same system, contrary to the usual belief. "Non-locality and contextuality, therefore, are clearly not complementary manifestations of the same phenomenon," Rabelo said.

In practical terms, non-locality is an important resource for quantum encryption, while contextuality is the basis for a specific quantum computing model, among other applications. "The possibility of having both at the same time in the same system could pave the way to the development of new quantum information processing and quantum communications protocols," he said.

Bell's theorem

The idea of non-locality was a sort of answer to the objection raised by Albert Einstein (1879-1955) to the probabilistic nature of quantum physics. In a seminal article published in 1935, Einstein, Boris Podolsky (1896-1966) and Nathan Rosen (1909-1995), or EPR, questioned the completeness of quantum theory.

They proposed a thought experiment known as the EPR paradox: to justify certain non-classical correlations deriving from entanglement, distant quantum systems would have to exchange information instantly, which is impossible according to the special theory of relativity. They concluded that this paradox was due to the incompleteness of quantum theory. The incompleteness, EPR argued, could be corrected by including local hidden variables that would make quantum physics as deterministic as classical physics.

"In 1964, British physicist J.S. Bell (1928-1990) revisited the EPR argument, introducing an elegant formalism that encompassed all theories of local hidden variables regardless of the particular properties each variable might have. Bell proved that none of these theories could reproduce the correlations between measurements performed on two systems predicted by quantum physics. In my view, this result, later known as Bell's theorem, is one of the most important pillars of quantum physics. The property of having strong correlations that can't be reproduced by any local theory is now known as Bell non-locality. Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger were awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for observing Bell non-locality experimentally, among other achievements," Rabelo said.

Another important result deriving from the discussion of hidden variables was presented in an article by Simon Kochen (1934-) and Ernst Specker (1920-2011), published in 1967. The authors demonstrated that, owing to the structure and mathematical properties of quantum measurements, any theory of hidden variables that reproduces the predictions of quantum physics must exhibit a contextuality aspect.

"Despite the common motivation, studies of Bell non-locality and Kochen-Specker contextuality followed independent paths for quite a long time. Only recently has there been growing interest in finding out whether both phenomena could be manifested concurrently in the same physical system. In an article published in 2014, Pawel Kurzynski, Adan Cabello and Dagomir Kaszlikowski said no. They showed why through a particular case but an interesting one, nonetheless. We've now refuted that 'no' in our study," Rabelo said.

More information: Peng Xue et al, Synchronous Observation of Bell Nonlocality and State-Dependent Contextuality, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.040201 Journal information: Physical Review Letters

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Observations of the dwarf galaxy Markarian 71 with infrared and optical telescopes resolve a problem in infrared astronomy and allow better measurements of the composition of galaxies and interstellar dust clouds. Composite image of Markarian 71 from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope/NASA

A study using data from telescopes on Earth and in the sky resolves a problem plaguing astronomers working in the infrared, and could help make better observations of the composition of the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope and other instruments. The work is published April 20 in Nature Astronomy.

"We're trying to measure the composition of gases inside galaxies," said Yuguang Chen, a postdoctoral researcher working with Professor Tucker Jones in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis.

Most elements other than hydrogen, helium and lithium are produced inside stars, so the composition and distribution of heavier elementsespecially the ratio of oxygen to hydrogencan help astronomers understand how many and what kinds of stars are being formed in a distant object.

Astronomers use two methods to measure oxygen in a galaxy, but unfortunately, they give different results. One common method, collisionally excited lines, gives a strong signal, but the results are thought to be sensitive to temperature changes, Chen said. A second method uses a different set of lines, called recombination lines, which are fainter but not thought to be affected by temperature.

The recombination line method consistently produces measurements about double those from collisionally excited lines. Scientists attribute the discrepancy to temperature fluctuations in gas clouds, but this has not been directly proven, Chen said.

Chen, Jones and colleagues used optical and infrared astronomy to measure oxygen abundance in dwarf galaxy Markarian 71, about 11 million light years from Earth. They used archived data from the recently retired SOFIA flying telescope and the retired Herschel Space Observatory, as well as making observations with telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy) was a telescope mounted in a Boeing 747 aircraft. By flying at 38,000 to 45,000 feet, the aircraft could get above 99% of the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere, which effectively blocks infrared light from deep space from reaching ground level. A joint project of NASA and the German space agency, SOFIA made its last operational flight in September 2022 and is now headed for a museum display in Tucson.

The Herschel Space Observatory, named after astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, was an infrared space telescope operated by the European Space Agency. It was active from 2009 to 2013.

A surprising result

With data from these instruments, Chen and Jones examined oxygen abundance in Markarian 71 while correcting for temperature fluctuations. They found that the result from collisionally excited infrared lines was still 50% less than that from the recombination line method, even after eliminating the effect of temperature.

"This result is very surprising to us," Chen said. There is no consensus on an explanation for the discrepancy, he said. The team plans to look at additional objects to figure out what properties of galaxies correlate with this variation, Chen said.

One of the goals of the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2022, is to make infrared observations of the composition of distant galaxies in the first billion years of the universe. The new results provide a framework for making these measurements with the JWST and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile.

Additional co-authors on the paper are: Ryan Sanders and Erin Huntzinger, UC Davis; Dario Fadder, Jessica Sutter and Robert Minchin, SOFIA Science Center, NASA Ames Research Center; Peter Senchyna, Observatories of the Carnegie Institute for Science, Pasadena; Daniel Stark and Benjamin Weiner, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona; Justin Spilker, Texas A&M University; and Guido Roberts-Borsani, UCLA.

More information: Yuguang Chen, Accurate oxygen abundance of interstellar gas in Mrk 71 from optical and infrared spectra, Nature Astronomy (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-01953-7. www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-01953-7 Journal information: Nature Astronomy
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The plot shows the DarkSide-50 90% C.L. exclusion limit for the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections, compared to the existing limits. The labels QF (quenching fluctuations) and NQ (non quenching fluctuations) are associated to models for describing the energy response to WIMP interactions. Specifically, the NQ model is the most conservative one in terms of sensitivity to WIMP interactions. Therefore, even assuming the NQ model, our result excludes a new region in the parameter space of dark matter interactions. Credit: DarkSide Collaboration.

The DarkSide experiment is an ambitious research effort aimed at detecting dark matter particle interactions in liquid argon using a dual-phase physics detector located at the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory. These interactions could be observed by minimizing background signals, and this could be possible thanks to the remarkable discrimination power of the scintillation pulse of liquefied argon in the DarkSide-50 detector, which can separate nuclear recoil events associated with these interactions from more than 100 million electronic recoil events linked to radioactive background.

The large team of researchers involved in the DarkSide experiment has recently been using the detector to search for lighter dark matter particles. The results of a new search for dark matternucleon interactions, published in Physical Review Letters, allowed them to set new constraints for sub-GeV/c2 dark matter.

"The DarkSide-50 experiment was designed as a test for the use of argon from underground sources, naturally depleted in the radioactive 39Ar, for very large scale dark matter searches," Cristiano Galbiati a Researcher at Princeton University and the Gran Sasso Science Institute, told Phys.org. "It is remarkable to see how a group of young researchers within the collaboration was able to exploit the apparatus to extract the best limit for dark matter searches that were not part of the original scope of the experiment. If anything, the ingenuity and resolve of this group should be credited for this important result."

Theoretical predictions suggest that dark matter interactions are extremely rare, several orders of magnitude less frequent than interactions caused by the radioactivity of materials in the detectors and in the surrounding environment. To reliably search for dark matter interactions, therefore, researchers must be able to suppress these confounding environmental signals, known as radioactive background.

The DarkSide experiment specifically searches for dark matter interactions using a noble target, specifically argon liquefied at cryogenic temperatures, at nearly 200 Celsius degrees below zero. Noble liquids are ideal targets when searching for rare physical events, as they respond to particle interactions by both emitting light, through a process known as scintillation, and liberating charges via ionization.

"Dual-phase time projection chambers are detectors able to measure both the scintillation light and the ionization charges," Paolo Agnes, a researcher at Gran Sasso Science Institute, told Phys.org. "The bulk of the target mass is in the liquid state. A thin layer of gas is sitting on top of the liquid. The detector is equipped with light detectors, typically sensitive to single photons. By measuring the scintillation light produced in the liquid we can reconstruct the interaction energy."

Credit: Yury Suvorov, DarkSide Collaboration.

By means of an electric field, the ionization electrons inside the DarkSide detector drift towards the surface of the liquid argon. This creates a stronger electric field on the surface of the liquid, enabling the extraction and subsequent acceleration of these ionization electrons in a gas. These accelerated electrons generate a second light burst, which generally consists of hundreds of photons for each extracted electron.

"By combining the scintillation and ionization signals, event vertex reconstruction is possible with precision better than 1 cm, allowing for very efficient suppression of some backgrounds, particularly the one coming from the detector surfaces," Agnes explained. "A prerogative of liquid argon with respect to other liquids is the very powerful rejection of backgrounds induced by beta and gamma radioactivity, which can be suppressed by nine orders of magnitude by using the shape of the prompt scintillation signal. To further reduce the target intrinsic radioactivity, DarkSide-50 uses a specialized batch of argon, extracted from a CO 2 well in Colorado, 1,000 times less radioactive than the argon, commercially available, extracted from the atmosphere."

The DarksSide-50 detector was operated for five consecutive years at the underground National Laboratory of Gran Sasso in Italy. The data collected during this time was then analyzed by researchers who are part of the DarkSide collaboration to search for dark matter interactions.

In 2018, the collaboration published the findings of the first background-free search for dark matter in their dual-phase liquid argon detector. By specifically focusing on argon scintillation, they can search for interactions of WIMPs inducing recoils with energy higher than 40 keV, corresponding to WIMP masses larger than 20 GeV/c2.

Recently, the detector's potential was increased further, allowing the team to search for far lighter dark matter particles by only leveraging argon ionization. While the ionization channel is not as great as the scintillation channel for distinguishing meaningful signals from radioactive background, it lowers the threshold for the analysis of collected data down to the sub-keV range.

"A great effort was devoted to accurately characterize the ionization response to both electronic (background-like) and nuclear (signal-like) recoils, poorly known in such a low energy range," Davide Franco, a researcher at Laboratoire Astroparticule et Cosmologies CNRS / Paris 7, told Phys.org. "The work done in this direction in 2021 allowed the detector to be calibrated to a few tens of eV], a key element for the recent results. In addition, this work extends the potential of the next generation 50-ton LAr detector (DarkSide-20k) to the detection of core-collapse supernova neutrinos via coherent elastic scattering off nuclei."

Credit: Yury Suvorov, DarkSide Collaboration.

In one of their previous studies, published in Physical Review D in March 2023, DarkSide researchers accurately modeled all background components in excellent agreement with the expected rates from previous detector material screening efforts. Collectively, these works improved their overall understanding of the detector, offering precious insight that is informing the creation of the DarkSide-20k, an even more advanced detector with a target 1,000 times greater than that of DarkSide-50.

One key novelty of the team's recent search for dark matter-nucleon interactions is that it was the first to specifically search for nuclear recoils accompanied by the emission of an electronic component (i.e., the Migdal effect) in liquid argon. While the team did not detect meaningful interactions, they were thus able to set new limits on weakly interactive massive particles (WIMPs), bringing them down to a mass of 40 MeV/c2.

"This result broke the generally recognized paradigm of direct dark matter searches, for which the sub-GeV/c2 range is dominated in sensitivity by solid-state technology," Franco explained. "At the same time, it demonstrated the potential of a few tens of kilograms of liquid argon in such a range, compared with ton-scale liquid xenon detectors. It should not be forgotten among the achievements, those related to the search for interactions of 'leptophilic' dark matter particles, i.e., with electron final states."

The recent work by the DarkSide collaboration represents an important milestone in the ongoing quest to detect WIMPs, as it was the first direct search for sterile neutrinos interpreted as possible dark matter candidates. Currently, the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration is building DarkSide-20K, which will be the most advanced detector to date, set to contain a total target mass of 50 tons of liquid argon.

"We have designed a detector that, for a 100 t yr exposure, should see <0.2 background events (mis-identified electron-recoils (ER) and untagged neutron-induced nuclear recoils (NR)) within the 20.2 t fiducial volume, plus an expected 1.7  0.3 events from the unavoidable physics background of nuclear recoils produced by coherent scattering of atmospheric neutrinos (the 'atmospheric neutrino fog')," Claudio Savarese, a researcher at Princeton University, told Phys.org. "A statistically significant excess of events observed in the detector then becomes a potential dark matter discovery. DarkSide-20k is designed to be most sensitive to standard WIMPs, with masses above 100 GeV/c2. Nonetheless, as for DarkSide-50, we will exploit the ionization channel to perform searches of Light Dark Matter candidates with masses down to tens of MeV/c2."

Galbiati, Agnes, Franco, Savarese and their colleagues are now evaluating the sensitivity of the DarkSide-20K detector, with the hope that it will allow them to further improve existing constraints on sub-GeV dark matter. Concurrently, they are designing DarkSide-LowMass, a new dedicated experiment that will specifically focus on the search for light dark matter.

Credit: Yury Suvorov, DarkSide Collaboration.

"This new apparatus builds on the technological breakthroughs of DarkSide-50 and DarkSide-20k and extends its sensitivity down to the 'solar neutrino fog,' meaning that it is so sensitive that neutrinos produced in the solar core become the main detector background," Savarese said. "The studies detailing the conceptual design of DS-LM and its reach in the dark matter parameter space have been recently posted on arXiv and are currently being reviewed for publication on Physical Review D."

The DarkSide-LowMass detector will be a dual-phase time projection chamber containing an active mass of 1.5 tons of argon extracted from underground. This argon is set to undergo an active isotopic purification process, which should reduce by its content of 39Ar by a further factor of 10.

Compared to the DarkSide-50 and DarkSide-20k detectors, DarkSide-LowMass will have an extremely light time projection chamber structure, which is expected to reduce gamma activity due to impurities in the detector materials. It will also feature a new low-threshold gamma veto system designed to further suppress the residual background rate.

"Additional studies and technological developments will allow to enhance DS-LM sensitivity to sub-GeV candidates for a second stage of the experiment after the first scientific runs," Savarese added. "These efforts aim to boost the signal by increasing the amount of charge readout per unit of deposited energy and to lower the detector energy threshold. In essence, the power DS-LM lies in its unrivaled low rate of background events and in its agility to exploit new techniques to boost the DM signal. The road ahead is clear, and I find truly exciting to be able to push the boundaries of science to new lengths."

 2023 Science X Network
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A boat navigates at night next to large icebergs near the town of Kulusuk, in eastern Greenland on Aug. 15, 2019. A new massive study finds that Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are now losing more than three times as much ice a year as they were 30 years ago. Credit: AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are now losing more than three times as much ice a year as they were 30 years ago, according to a new comprehensive international study.

Using 50 different satellite estimates, researchers found that Greenland's melt has gone into hyperdrive in the last few years. Greenland's average annual melt from 2017 to 2020 was 20% more a year than at the beginning of the decade and more than seven times higher than its annual shrinkage in the early 1990s.

The new figures "are pretty disastrous really," said study co-author Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute. "We're losing more and more ice from Greenland."

Study lead author Ines Otosaka, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, said speeded-up ice sheet loss is clearly caused by human-caused climate change.

From 1992 to 1996, the two ice sheetswhich hold 99% of the world's freshwater icewere shrinking by 116 billion tons (105 billion metric tons) a year, two-thirds of it from Antarctica.

But from 2017 to 2020, the newest data available, the combined melt soared to 410 billion tons (372 billion metric tons) a year, more than two-thirds of it from Greenland, said the study in Thursday's journal Earth System Science Data.

Graph from IMBIE satellite data research showing the increasing contribution of ice sheets to global sea level from 1992 to 2020. Credit: IMBIE / CPOM at Northumbria University

"This is a devastating trajectory," said U.S. National Snow and Ice Center Deputy Lead Scientist Twila Moon, who wasn't part of the study. "These rates of ice loss are unprecedented during modern civilization."

Since 1992, Earth has lost 8.3 trillion tons (7.6 trillion metric tons) of ice from the two ice sheets, the study found. That's enough to flood the entire United States with 33.6 inches (almost 0.9 meters) of water or submerge France in 49 feet (nearly 15 meters).

But because the world's oceans are so huge, the melt just from the ice sheets since 1992 still only adds up to a little less than inch (21 millimeters) of sea level rise, on average. Globally sea level rise is accelerating and melt from ice sheets has gone from contributing 5% of the sea level rise to now accounting for more than one-quarter of it, the study said. The rest of the sea rise comes from warmer water expanding and melt from glaciers. The latest Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (IMBIE) reports that ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica has increased fivefold since the 1990s, and now accounts for a quarter of sea-level rise. The assessment states that between 1992 and 2020, the polar ice sheets lost 7560 billion tonnes of ice  equivalent to an ice cube measuring 20 km each side. Melting of the polar ice sheets has caused a 21 mm rise in global sea level since 1992. Ice loss from Greenland is responsible for almost two-thirds (13.5 mm) of this rise, and ice loss from Antarctica is responsible for the other third (7.4 mm). The polar ice sheets have together lost ice in every year of the satellite record, and the seven highest melting years have occurred in the last decade. Credit: ESA/Planetary Visions

A team of more than 65 scientists regularly calculates ice sheet loss in research funded by NASA and the European Space Agency with Thursday's study adding three more years of data. They use 17 different satellite missions and examine ice sheet melt in three distinct techniques, Otosaka said, and all the satellites, radar, on the ground observations and computer simulations basically say the same thingice sheet melting is accelerating.

Greenland from 2017 to 2020 averaged about 283 billion tons (257 billion metric tons) of melting a year, compared to just 235 billion tons (213 billion metric tons) annually from 2012 to 2016.

The latest figures also showed what looks like a slowing of melting in parts of Antarctica, which has much more ice than Greenland. That's mostly due to smaller and fleeting weather changes and the overall longer-term trend still shows an acceleration of melting in Antarctica, Mottram said.

Areas in red highlight the zones of cumulative change in ice sheet thickness in Greenland, between 1993-2019. Credit: IMBIE / CPOM at Northumbria University

Antarctica from 2017 to 2020 is still losing about 127 billion tons (115 billion metric tons) of ice a year, down 23% from earlier in the decade, but overall up 64% from the early 1990s.

"While mass loss from Greenland is outpacing that from Antarctica, there are troublesome wild cards in the south, notably behavior of the Thwaites glacier," which is nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier, said Mark Serreze, director of the U.S. snow and ice center, who wasn't part of the study.

Study authors used changes in gravity and in ice height and measured how much snow fell, how much snow melted, how much ice was lost in icebergs calving and eaten away from underneath by warmer water etching through the ice.

"This matters because rising sea levels will displace and/or financially impact hundreds of millions of people, if not billions, and will likely cost trillions of dollars," said University of Colorado ice researcher and former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, who wasn't part of the study.

The study "is not so much surprising as it is disturbing," Abdalati said in an email "A few decades ago, it was assumed that these vast reservoirs of ice changed slowly, but with through the use of satellite observations, field observations and modeling techniques, we have come to learn that ice responds rapidly to our changing climate."

More information: Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets from 1992 to 2020, Earth System Science Data (2023). DOI: 10.5194/essd-15-1597-2023 , essd.copernicus.org/articles/15/1597/2023/

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Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and otariids (fur seals and sea lions) keep one side of their brains awake while the other is asleep (unihemispheric sleep). In most other mammals, including phocids (true seals) and humans, both hemispheres of the brain are asleep at the same time. Credit: Graphic by Jessica Kendall-Bar

For the first time, scientists have recorded brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, revealing the sleep habits of elephant seals during the months they spend at sea.

The new findings, published April 20 in Science, show that while elephant seals may spend 10 hours a day sleeping on the beach during the breeding season, they average just 2 hours of sleep per day when they are at sea on months-long foraging trips. They sleep for about 10 minutes at a time during deep, 30-minute dives, often spiraling downward while fast asleep, and sometimes lying motionless on the seafloor.

First author Jessica Kendall-Bar led the study as a UC Santa Cruz graduate student working with Daniel Costa and Terrie Williams, both professors of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC.

"For years, one of the central questions about elephant seals has been when do they sleep," said Costa, who directs UCSC's Institute of Marine Sciences. Costa's lab has led the UCSC elephant seal research program at Ano Nuevo Reserve for over 25 years, using increasingly sophisticated tags to track the movements and diving behavior of the seals during their foraging migrations, when they head out into the North Pacific Ocean for as long as eight months.

"The dive records show that they are constantly diving, so we thought they must be sleeping during what we call drift dives, when they stop swimming and slowly sink, but we really didn't know," Costa said. "Now we're finally able to say they're definitely sleeping during those dives, and we also found that they're not sleeping very much overall compared to other mammals."

In fact, during their months at sea, elephant seals rival the record for the least sleep among all mammals, currently held by African elephants, which appear to sleep just two hours per day based on their movement patterns.

"Elephant seals are unusual in that they switch between getting a lot of sleep when they're on land, over 10 hours a day, and two hours or less when they're at sea," said Kendall-Bar, who is currently a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Elephant seals are most vulnerable to predators such as sharks and killer whales when they are at the surface in the open ocean, so they only spend a minute or two breathing at the surface in between dives. Data-driven animation showing the phases of a sleeping dive to 263 meters. Credit: Animation by Jessica Kendall-Bar.

"They're able to hold their breath for a long time, so they can go into a deep slumber on these dives deep below the surface where it's safe," Kendall-Bar said.

Kendall-Bar developed a system that can reliably record brain activity (as an electroencephalogram or EEG) in wild elephant seals during their normal diving behavior at sea. With a neoprene headcap to secure the EEG sensors and a small data logger to record the signals, the system can be recovered when the animals return to the beach at Ano Nuevo.

"We used the same sensors you'd use for a human sleep study at a sleep clinic and a removable, flexible adhesive to attach the headcap so that water couldn't get in and disrupt the signals," Kendall-Bar said.

In addition to the EEG system, the seals carried time-depth recorders, accelerometers, and other instruments that allowed the researchers to track the seals' movements along with the corresponding brain activity. The recordings show diving seals going into the deep sleep stage known as slow-wave sleep while maintaining a controlled glide downward, then transitioning into rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, when sleep paralysis causes them to turn upside down and drift downwards in a "sleep spiral."

"They go into slow-wave sleep and maintain their body posture for several minutes before they transition into REM sleep, when they lose postural control and turn upside down," Kendall-Bar said.

At the depths at which this happens, the seals are usually negatively buoyant and continue to fall passively in a corkscrew spiral "like a falling leaf," Williams said. In shallower waters over the continental shelf, elephant seals sometimes sleep while resting on the seafloor.

"It doesn't seem possible that they would truly go into paralytic REM sleep during a dive, but it tells us something about the decision-making processes of these seals to see where in the water column they feel safe enough to go to sleep," said Williams, who directs the Comparative Neurophysiology Lab at UCSC.

In developing the new EEG instrument, Kendall-Bar first deployed it on elephant seals housed temporarily in the marine mammal facilities at UCSC's Long Marine Laboratory. The next step was to deploy it on animals in the elephant seal colony at Ano Nuevo Reserve north of Santa Cruz, where researchers could observe the animals on the beach.

When elephant seals go into rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep during deep dives, sleep paralysis causes them to turn upside down and drift downwards in a sleep spiral. This data-driven graphic shows sleeping postures every 20 seconds, with accompanying 30-second segments of EEG traces in the background. Credit: Jessica Kendall-Bar

"I spent a lot of time watching sleeping seals," Kendall-Bar said. "Our team monitored instrumented seals to make sure they were able to reintegrate with the colony and were behaving naturally."

Some of those seals took short excursions into the water, but to observe diving behavior the researchers used a translocation procedure developed by Costa's lab. Juvenile female elephant seals outfitted with the EEG sensors and trackers were transported from Ano Nuevo to Monterey and released on a beach at the southern end of Monterey Bay. Over the next few days, the animals would swim back to Ano Nuevo across the deep Monterey Canyon, where their dive behavior is very similar to that seen during much longer foraging trips in the open ocean.

With data on brain activity and dive behavior from 13 juvenile female elephant seals, including a total of 104 sleep dives, Kendall-Bar developed a highly accurate algorithm for identifying periods of sleep based on the dive data alone. This enabled her to estimate sleep quotas for 334 adult seals using dive data recorded over several months during their foraging trips.

"Because of the dataset that Dan Costa has curated over 25 years of working with elephant seals at Ano Nuevo, I was able to extrapolate our results to over 300 animals and get a population-level look at sleep behavior," said Kendall-Bar, who now plans to use similar methods to study brain activity in other species of seals and sea lions and in human freedivers.

Williams called Kendall-Bar's work on the project a tour de force. "It's an amazing feat to pull this off," she said. "She developed an EEG system to work on an animal that's diving several hundred meters in the ocean. Then she uses the data to create data-driven animations so we can really visualize what the animal is doing as it dives through the water column."

The results may be helpful for conservation efforts by revealing a "sleepscape" of preferred resting areas, Williams said. "Normally, we're concerned about protecting the areas where animals go to feed, but perhaps the places where they sleep are as important as any other critical habitat," she said.

More information: Jessica M. Kendall-Bar, Brain activity of diving seals reveals short sleep cycles at depth, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adf0566. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf0566 Journal information: Science
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Social media influencers can significantly nudge the purchasing decisions made by their followers through the emotional connection they create and the quality of information they provide, according to a study in the International Journal of Technology Marketing.

As more people turn to social media for recommendations and advice on the products and services they need, businesses must increasingly consider how best to use influencers to help them reach their target audiences and perhaps even open up new markets. The study by Juan Sebastian Roldan-Gallego of the Institucion Universitaria Politecnico Grancolombiano, Javier A. Sanchez-Torres of the University of Medellin both in Medellin-Antioquia, Colombia, and Ana Argila-Irurita and Francisco-Javier Arroyo-Canada of the University of Barcelona, Spain, has implications for technology marketing, as brands seek to capitalize on the influence of social media in the world of business.

Social media influencers are individuals with a large and loyal following on social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Many have created a personal brand in a particular niche on social media and have gained a lot of traction and reach rather than starting out as de facto celebrities. Influencers are often young and attractive or have some unique selling point and appeal for their output. They can often drive public opinion among their followers through their behavior and updates. To be a true influencer it is common that their output reaches way beyond the core audience and "goes viral" on the internet spreading to people way beyond the influencer's usual reach.

Commonly, influencers focus on a particular niche or topic, such as beauty, fashion, fitness, or technology, and build a large following by creating engaging and entertaining content that resonates with the audience. Once they are perceived to have influence, they often collaborate with brands to promote products or services to their followers, earning a commission or fee in the process.

The influence of social media influencers has grown significantly in recent years, as more people turn to social media for product recommendations and advice. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the potential of influencers to reach and engage with their target audiences, making influencer marketing a popular and effective strategy in the world of technology marketing.

The team used the information acceptance model to analyze data from a survey of 381 social media users to investigate the impact of influencers on purchase intentions and actual purchases. The model homes in on attitudes, needs, credibility, and intentions, and was tested using structural equation modeling.

The analysis revealed that all factors in the information acceptance model are directly related to how influencers connect with their audience. Moreover, the researchers discovered that the emotional relationship between influencer and follower is critical to whether or not the follower accepts the information they provide.

More information: Francisco Javier Arroyo Canada et al, Are social media influencers effective An analysis of information adoption by followers, International Journal of Technology Marketing (2022). DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2022.10049868

Provided by Inderscience
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Tasmanian devil (Freycinet, Tasmania). Credit: Max Stammnitz

Transmissible cancers, which occur only rarely in the animal kingdom, are spread by the transfer of living cancer cells. In the case of Tasmanian devils, the cells are transferred through bitinga behavior that is common in devils especially in fights over mates and food.

Tasmanian devils are susceptible to two fatal transmissible cancers called devil facial tumor 1 (DFT1) and devil facial tumor 2 (DFT2) that have caused rapid population decline in recent decades. The two cancers both manifest with disfiguring facial tumors.

In a new study, University of Cambridge researchers mapped the emergence and mutations of DFT1 and DFT2 and characterized these cancers' ongoing evolution. The findings underline the continued threat that transmissible cancers pose to Tasmanian devils. The results are published today (April 20) in the journal Science.

"The incredible fact that Tasmanian devils have not one, but two, transmissible cancers, makes it possible to compare their evolution, and this gives us new insights into the key mechanisms involved," said lead author Elizabeth Murchison, Professor of Comparative Oncology and Genetics at the Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.

"By looking at the mutations that have accumulated in these cancers' DNA, we can trace the origins and evolution of these diseases. Our results show that the two cancers arose through similar processes and that both have striking signals of ongoing evolution. It is difficult to predict how this continued cancer evolution will impact devils."

Tasmanian devil with a facial tumor (Freycinet, Tasmania). Credit: Max Stammnitz

The researchers created an improved "reference genome"essentially a map of the entire DNA sequenceof the Tasmanian devil and compared this to DNA taken from 119 DFT1 and DFT2 tumors. DFT1 was first observed in 1996 in Tasmania's northeast and is now widespread throughout Tasmania. DFT2, on the other hand, was first observed in 2014 and remains confined to a small area in Tasmania's southeast. The scientists identified mutations in the tumors and used these to build "family trees" of how the two cancers had each independently arisen and evolved over time.

By tracking mutations the researchers discovered that DFT2 acquired mutations about three times faster than DFT1. As mutations usually occur during cell division, the most likely explanation is that DFT2 is a faster growing cancer than DFT1, say the researchers, underlining the importance of DFT2 as a threat.

"DFT2 is still not widespread in the devil population, and very little is known about it. We were really startled to see just how quickly it was mutating, alerting us to what could be a very unpredictable threat to the devils in the long term," said Maximilian Stammnitz, first author of the study.

The team found that DFT1 arose in the 1980s, up to 14 years before it was first observed, whereas DFT2 emerged between 2009 and 2012, only shortly before it was detected.

Mapping the mutations revealed that DFT1 underwent an explosive transmission event shortly after it emerged. This involved a single infected devil transmitting its tumor to at least six recipient devils.

Tasmanian devil (Freycinet, Tasmania). Credit: Max Stammnitz

DFT1 has now spread throughout almost the entire devil population and has recently been reported in the far northwest of Tasmania, one of the few remaining disease-free regions of the state.

Researchers also identified for the first time an instance of DFT1 transmission between a mother and the young in her pouch. Additionally, they found that the incubation periodthe time between infection and the emergence of symptomscan in some cases be a year or more. These findings have important implications for conservation scientists working to protect the species.

"I come from Tasmania and love Tasmanian devilsthey have a special place in my heart," said Murchison. "Transmissible cancers pose an unprecedented and unpredictable threat to Tasmanian devils. This research highlights the continuing importance of monitoring and conservation programs. It also gives us new insights into the evolutionary mechanisms operating in cancer more broadly, including in human cancers."

More information: Maximilian R. Stammnitz et al, The evolution of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abq6453. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq6453 Journal information: Science
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Deanna and Campos identified this chili pepper fossil in the CU Boulder Museum of Natural History collections by the unique shape of its calyx teeth: spikes on the end of the fruiting stem that hold on to the pepper. Credit: R. Deanna

Botanists and paleontologists, led by researchers from CU Boulder, have identified a fossil chili pepper that may rewrite the geography and evolutionary timeline of the tomato plant family.

The team's findings, published last month in the journal New Phytologist, show that the chili pepper tribe (Capsiceae) within the tomatonightshade (Solanaceae)family is much older and was much more widespread than previously thought. Scientists previously believed that chili peppers evolved in South America at most 15 million years ago, but new research pushes that date to at least 50 million years agoand suggests that chili peppers were in fact present in North America at that time.

Rocio Deanna, a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology, and Abel Campos, an undergraduate double majoring in evolutionary biology and molecular, cellular and developmental biology, weren't planning to rewrite history when they met up one afternoon at the CU Boulder Museum of Natural History in 2021. Yet among a group of specimens in its collections gathered from the Green River Formationgeological treasure trove in northwestern Colorado and southwestern WyomingDeanna spotted a specific, solanaceous trait embedded in one fossil: little spikes on the end of a fruiting stem.

"At first, I thought 'No way, this can't be true,'" said Deanna, lead author of the study. "But it was so characteristic of the chili pepper."

After they discovered two of these fossils in the CU Boulder collections, Deanna and Campos, a co-author of the study, found one more from the chili pepper tribe in collections at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS). All three fossils are from the Green River Formation in Colorado: the CU specimens from Garfield County and the DMNS fossil from Rio Blanco County.

These chili pepper fossils from the Eocene geological epoch (34 to 56 million years ago) match the timeline of another nightshade fossil found in the Esmeraldas Formation in Colombia, revealing that the family was already distributed across all of the Americas by as early as 50 million years ago.

"The family is way older than we thought," said Deanna, also a faculty member at the National University of Cordoba.

Rocio Deanna, a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology, examines a chili pepper fossil that is at least 40 million years old. Credit: R. Deanna

A fruit-fossil history

The nightshade family comprises 3,000 species and almost 100 different genera, including chili peppers. The ancient chili pepper was technically a fruitand a berry, at that. While tomatoes and peppers are commonly associated with vegetables, they have seeds on the inside, which officially categorizes them as fruits.

The researchers cannot be sure of the chili's exact shape or color, but it was probably on the smaller end compared to modern day chili peppers. Like its relatives, it could have been quite spicy, according to Deanna.

Deanna and Campos identified the fossil by the unique shape of its calyx teeth: spikes on the end of the fruiting stem that hold on to the pepper, like those that hold a gemstone in a ring.

"The world has maybe 300,000 plant species. The only plants with that kind of calyx is this group of 80 or 90 species," said Stacey Smith, senior author of the paper and associate professor of evolutionary biology at CU Boulder.

Paleontologists collected the CU Boulder fossil from the Green River Formation in the 1990s. But its exact identity remained a mystery for years, in part because there are only a handful of "solanologists," botanists who study the nightshade family, in the world. When Deanna found these Colorado-based fossils, she had just returned from a global search for tomato family seed fossil specimens, only to find some "just ripe for the picking" right on campus.

"A lot of discoveries happen decades after the specimens have been collected," said Smith. "Who knows how many other new fossil species are sitting in any of these museums? They're just waiting for the right eyes to look at them."

Trickle-down evolution

The chili peppers in these fossils grew during the Eocene, a geologic epoch that lasted from about 34 to 56 million years ago as the continents drifted toward their present positions. During this balmy time in Earth's history, carbon dioxide levels ranged between 700 and 900 parts per million (twice as high as they are today), and palm trees grew as far north as Alaska. Because little to no ice was present on Earth, sea level was as much as 500 feet higher than it is today.

Scientists had assumed that the origins of chili peppers began in South America roughly 10 to 15 million years ago, where they then dispersed over land and water to the other continents. While Colorado today is home to very few native nightshades and no chili peppers, this new discovery hints that a plethora of plants from the tomato plant family may have existed in North America 40 to 50 million years ago, which have since largely disappeared.

But how did these peppers first get to North America? It's now a case of "the chicken or the chili pepper?"

Experts have theorized that fruit-eating birds, which existed as early as 60 million years ago, may have carried seeds and plants around the world with them in their guts, stuck to their feathers or in the mud on their feet. But these birds also had to be eating something to fuel their journeysand fleshy berries, or peppers, make the perfect fuel. Birds may have distributed peppers from continent to continent, but peppers may also have been crucial to the success of those same birds.

So the nightshade family could have easily started in North America instead of South America, then dispersed in the other directionand with this discovery, scientists can no longer say for sure, said Smith.

"These chili peppers, a species that we thought arose in an evolutionary blink of an eye, have been around for a super long time," said Smith. "We're still coming to grips with this new timeline."

More information: Rocio Deanna et al, Fossil berries reveal global radiation of the nightshade family by the early Cenozoic, New Phytologist (2023). DOI: 10.1111/nph.18904 Journal information: New Phytologist
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The pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is rarely sighted and has hardly been researched so far. Now, the analysis of its genome shows interesting results for tumor research. Credit: World Register of Marine Species, Robert Pitman, NOAA Fisheries, licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is the smallest of all baleen whales although it can grow to six meters in length and weigh up to three tons. The species occurs circumpolar in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Hemisphere, and only a handful of sightings have ever been reported.

It is considered to be the last surviving member of an otherwise extinct branch of baleen whales and has received little to no attention from the scientific community. However, its genetic material could provide interesting information for cancer research, as a team of scientists from Frankfurt and Lund, Sweden, has now discovered. Their study on the evolution and tumor resistance of baleen whales was recently published in the journal BMC Biology.

With their huge bodies, whales should be predestined for tumor diseases. The more cells you have, the greater the chance that one of your cells will contract a mutation at a critical point in the genome, leading to tumor development. Contrary to their size and cell numbers, the giant whales seem to have an unusually low risk of cancer. This phenomenon of oncology and statistics, named after its discoverer Richard Peto, is also known as "Peto's paradox." How this resistance works at the genetic level is still unknown, but deciphering it holds great potential for cancer research.

To unravel this mystery, researchers from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center (SBiK-F), the Hessian LOEWE Center for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) and the Universities of Frankfurt am Main and Lund, Sweden, analyzed the genome of the pygmy right whale. Using modern methods of genomics, bioinformatics, phylogenomics and selection research, they discovered numerous genes that have significantly more mutations in large whales, such as the blue whale, fin whale or bowhead whale, than in the small pygmy right whale.

While genetic mutations are generally considered harmful, a high number of mutations within a gene is usually associated with a positive effect for the species. According to the researchers, the results suggest that these "positively selected" genes may play a special role in whale cancer resistance.

"Our new findings demonstrate that almost every large cetacean species seems to have other positively selected genes in their genome. This could be explained by an idea already discussed in paleontology, namely that the iconic gigantism of whales has evolved several times independently," explains Magnus Wolf, researcher at the SBiK-F and Goethe University in Frankfurt, first author of the study.

"This means that each larger whale may have its own adaptations against tumor that we could one day use," he says. In fact, most of the genes identified by the team are already known in tumor research but have not yet been extensively studied. Whale genomes could therefore provide useful information for medical research in the future.

In their study, the scientists were also able to decipher the relationships within baleen whales such as gray whales, right whales and rorquals, more precisely than before. They identified a point in the evolution of the rorquals where their common ancestor split into three lineages at the same time. These results also show that genetic exchange between the ancestors of today's species was still possible for a long time.

"Our study is exactly in line with the motto of the LOEWE Center TBG: 'DocumentProtectUse.' Genomic data is the basis for understanding biodiversity and contributes to precise conservation efforts. At the same time, these findings are valuable for medicine in an application-related perspective," explains study leader Prof. Dr. Axel Janke, also a scientist at SBiK-F and Frankfurt University, who helped establish and lead the Hessian LOEWE Center of Excellence TBG and has been its spokesperson for six years.

However, the research and medical potential of biodiversity genomics is at risk of being lost with the loss of biodiversity, Janke says. "Even though baleen whales are now strictly protected, and their populations seem to be recovering, there are still traces of their former hunting within their genomes, such as a certain loss of genetic diversitywith possible long-term consequences for these whales. Therefore, a precise genomic monitoring is important," Janke says.

More information: Magnus Wolf et al, The genome of the pygmy right whale illuminates the evolution of rorquals, BMC Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01579-1 Journal information: BMC Biology
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Credit: UNODC World Wildlife Crime Report 2020

African countries are estimated to lose US$17 billion each year to illegal logging. High-value timber species are in global demand.

Illegal logging is most prevalent in the continent's tropical rainforests. Foreign demand for rare hardwoods from these forests has dramatically increased. A significant driver is Chinese demand for teak, redwood and mahogany. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Africa's share of rosewood exports to China rose from 40% in 2008 to 90% in 2018.

Illegal logging has negative environmental effects that weaken human security. Deforestation in the world's second largest carbon sink, the Congo Basin, is an urgent example.

Beyond environmental degradation, timber trafficking also affects national security. Drawing from our recent report, which is based on our recent research and programmatic work at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, we have analyzed three ways that illegal logging affects national security and what that means for current measures to counter it.

Firstly, illegal logging amplifies threats posed by organized criminal groups and violent extremist organizations. Secondly, illegal logging amplifies governance problems. This is because it facilitates collusion between senior corrupt officials and criminal networks. Thirdly, such collusion weakens accountable governance of natural resources in African countries. That's a key ingredient of peace and security and a source of resilience to national security challenges.

Countering illegal logging requires two things. One is dismantling the high-level criminal networks driving it. The other is stopping the government-embedded actors who facilitate it. Oversight and accountability are therefore vital. Here, civil society can play a role.

The knock-on effects

Illegal logging happens through small-scale and commercial operations.

The ENACT Organized Crime Index is a well-known measurement tool for assessing criminality and resilience. It identifies and tracks criminal networks, state-embedded actors, foreign actors and "mafia-style" armed groups that are locally well known and that control territory.

The work of these groups has several knock-on effects.

Violent extremism and insurgency: The illicit timber trade fuels conflict and instability by providing resources for violent actors. For instance, trafficking networks in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo linked to Ahlu-Sunnah Wa-Jama and related militant groups in Mozambique made an estimated US$2 million per month from illegal logging in 2019.

In Senegal, the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance recently funded its insurgency through the illicit logging of rosewood. Warlords and militias in Liberia, Central African Republic and the DRC have also used the trade for financing.

Collusion and corruption: Illegal logging often relies on government corruption and elite collusion with criminal networks. This subverts the rule of law and accountable governance.

Criminal networks are often aided by high-level state actors. For private gain, they help criminals purchase commercial concessions, acquire fake permits, or falsely declare the species of timber exports to launder them.

Elites colluding in this trade then use the international financial system to move the profits into private bank accounts. This contributes to the estimated $88 billion in illicit financial flows leaving Africa yearly.

In Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of President Obiang, profited immensely from the transport and export of rare hardwoods. As minister of agriculture and forestry, he sold some national forests to private companies and used a shell company linked to the ministry to charge fees for processing, loading, and transporting timber.

In 2021, the Zambian Anti-Corruption Commission seized 47 trucks illegally laden with rosewood bound for Namibia and Zimbabwe. The operation was allegedly facilitated by certain ministers and family members of former Zambian president Edgar Lungu.

In 2019, Gabon's vice-president and minister of forestry were part of a rosewood trafficking scandal. Since then, the government has sought to increase transparency in natural resource governance.

Solutions

Many African states have tried to halt loggingwith limited success.

Guinea-Bissau, the DRC and Kenya have controversially ended moratoria on logging. Mozambique lacks the capacity to enforce existing bans.

It's easy to get around a moratorium when state security and justice systems do not operate transparently. A moratorium can even harden criminal networks without addressing the corruption and livelihood challenges that facilitate illegal logging.

Several other approaches to forest monitoring are being tried at smaller scale. These include using satellites or genetic markers of protected trees.

The Kenya Forestry Service is pioneering an app for officers to use satellite data in community-based initiatives.

Regional responses have potential. In 2008, the Central African Forests Commission established an agreement involving the environment and forestry ministries of eight countries to help coordinate law enforcement.

The agreement emphasizes cross-border and interagency coordination between security, justice, and forestry officials. These harmonized forest management practices are also promising in southern Africa.

Agreements like these are valuable but politically difficult to implement.

An example is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora . It is a binding agreement about the international trade of certain timber products. But it depends on states adopting relevant domestic legislation and policies.

Nonbinding instruments like the Zanzibar Declaration on the Illegal Trade in Timber and Forest Products and the Accra Declaration on Combating Illegal Trade in Rosewoods, Timber, and Forest Products also signal countries' intent to honor commitments.

But doing so requires credible enforcement mechanisms.

Bridging gaps

Stronger oversight of actors involved in natural resource governance can help. Civil society has a role here.

For example, in Gabon, civil society has pressured the government for greater transparency in logging contracts. In Cameroon, it has facilitated independent monitoring of forest regulations.

In Ghana, legal cases have been filed that aim to preserve forests. And independent journalism has pressured officials to curtail illegal transport of rosewood.

Civil society also builds economic resilience to illegal logging. In Tanzania and the DRC, civil society has enhanced community control over land management and made legal livelihoods in the logging sector more feasible.

Uganda's afforestation projects have also helped.

Key takeaways

External oversight is a key part of countering illegal logging. It works best where civil society is strong.

Internal oversight is also important. Inspectors general, specialized prosecutors and independent anti-corruption bodies can help expose the kingpins organizing illegal operations.

International cooperation between security, justice, and forestry officials should accompany oversight, so that these actors can share intelligence and facilitate the arrest, investigation, and prosecution of those engaged in illegal logging.

Regional and international agreements are working in the right direction. What they need is better implementation.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Animal coffin EA36151, surmounted by a human-headed part-eel, part-cobra creature wearing a double crown, associated with the ancient Egyptian god Atum. Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum.

The contents of six sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffinswhich were imaged using a non-invasive techniqueare described in a new study published in Scientific Reports.

The mummification of animals was a widespread practice in ancient Egypt, and previous research has suggested that some mummified animals were believed to be physical incarnations of deities, while others may have represented offerings to deities or have been used in ritual performances. Slice-by-slice neutron tomography of animal coffin EA27584, surmounted by two lizard figures (side view), revealing textile wrappings and lizard bones. Credit: OFlynn et al.

Daniel O'Flynn and colleagues imaged the contents of six sealed animal coffins using neutron tomographya technique that creates images of objects based on the extent to which neutrons emitted by a source can pass through themafter previous attempts to study the coffins with X-rays were unsuccessful. All six of the coffins are made of copper compounds. The authors note that it is rare for such coffins to still be sealed.

Three of the coffins, topped with lizard and eel figures as well as loops, have been dated to between 500 and 300 BCE and were discovered in the ancient city of Naukratis. A fourth coffin, topped by a lizard figure, has been dated to between 664 and 332 BCE and was discovered in the ancient city of Tell el-Yehudiyeh.

Animal coffin EA27584, surmounted by two lizard figures (top and side view). Neutron imaging shows textile wrappings and an 8mm long bone (arrow). Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum and OFlynn et al.

The two other coffins, topped with part-eel, part-cobra figures with human heads, have been dated to between approximately 650 and 250 BCE and are of unknown origin.

The authors identified bones in three of the coffins, including an intact skull with dimensions similar to those of a group of wall lizards containing species that are endemic to North Africa, as well as evidence of broken-down bones in a further two coffins. Slice-by-slice neutron tomography of animal coffin EA27584, surmounted by two lizard figures (top view), revealing textile wrappings and lizard bones. Credit: OFlynn et al.

They also identified textile fragments within three coffins that were possibly made from linen, which was commonly used in Ancient Egyptian mummification. They propose that linen may have been wrapped around the animals before they were placed in the coffins.

The authors also found lead within the three coffins without loops, which they suggest may have been used to aid weight distribution within two of them and to repair a hole found in the other. They speculate that lead may have been selected due to its status in ancient Egypt as a magical material, as previous research has proposed that lead was used in love charms and curses. Slice-by-slice neutron tomography of animal coffin EA36167, surmounted by a lizard figure (top view), revealing textile wrappings, lead, and lizard bones - including a lizard skull. Credit: OFlynn et al.

The authors did not identify additional lead within the three coffins topped with loops. They suggest that the loops may have been used to suspend these lighter coffins from shrine or temple walls or from statues or boats used during religious processions, while the heavier lead-containing coffins without loops may have been used for different purposes.

The findings provide further insight into the manufacture and use of animal coffins in ancient Egypt.

More information: Daniel O'Flynn, Neutron tomography of sealed copper alloy animal coffins from ancient Egypt, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30468-4. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30468-4 Journal information: Scientific Reports
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Complex, delayed impacts of environmental change on mammal and bird abundance trends. (a) Predicted population trends in response to combinations of scaled environmental change. While warming and land conversion (upper right of each panel) are generally associated with strong population declines, small mammals might benefit from such conditions. (b) Projected indices of relative abundance, based on modeled populations and alternative socio-economic scenarios, highlight important consequences of ecological lags. First, population trends up to 2050, both increases and declines, may already be largely "locked-in" (gray shading) due to their dependence on environmental change that has already occurred. Second, lags of 30 years or more mean that current environmental change will substantially affect abundance trends in 2050 and beyond. In (a), colored lines correspond to IUCN Red List threat categories based on population declines of 30% (yellow; Vulnerable), 50% (orange; Endangered) or 80% (red; Critically endangered) over 10 years (A2 criteria). In (b), the horizontal line is set at 1, the baseline for our projections. Shaded areas show future projections that are fully (dark) or partially (light) dependant on environmental change prior to 2010 (in all but medium mammals, CC is associated with longer lags and thus the lighter shading). The y-axes in each panel of (b) are kept constant to emphasize the variability between projections for different size classes. Credit: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0464

A team of zoologists and life scientists from the Zoological Society of London, the Natural History Museum in London and Our World in Data at the Global Change Data Lab has conducted an assessment of how time lags influence the response of mammal and bird populations to both climate and land-use change. In their study, reported in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group analyzed data from the Living Planet Database and used it to manipulate models to assess the true impact of change on mammal and bird populations.

A large number of animals are at risk of extinction due to human activities. The researchers in this new effort suggest that there are currently two main drivers that put mammals and birds at risk: loss of habitat and global warming. They also note that models that are currently used to assess animal population risks do not include time lag influences, which, they contend, lead to serious miscalculations. In their work, time lags are defined as periods of time that it takes for a given population of creatures to start declining due to external factors, such as loss of land or reductions in available food.

Prior to diving into the data, the team set themselves the goal of answering five general questions: Do lag times better explain changes in population than other factors? Are lags better described in years or generations? Are there differences in lags between species? Do environmental changes vary across lags? And what are the ecological repercussions of lags on future population trends?

In analyzing entries in the database, which stores information on more than 600 species of mammals and birds, the team narrowed their focus to 751 populations, including 712 species in 664 locations. They found that lag times varied widely from less than 10 years to more than 40, depending on the species. They note that the longer lag times for some species suggests that many of them may already be at risk.

The team then used the results of their analysis to reconfigure current models and found that inclusion of lag times shows that many more species of mammals and birds are at risk than has been shown in other studies. They suggest that unless changes are made soon, targets adopted by governments to protect certain species might already be out of reach.

More information: Richard Cornford et al, Ongoing over-exploitation and delayed responses to environmental change highlight the urgency for action to promote vertebrate recoveries by 2030, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0464 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

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Level scheme of the 40Ca+ ion. Encoding quantum information in the sub-levels of the S 1/2 and D 5/2 manifold allows us to increase the size of the computational Hilbert space. Coherent operations between the sub-levels can be performed using 729 nm laser light, while 401 nm light is used to generate the light shift for the state-dependent force. Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37375-2

In the world of computing, we typically think of information as being stored as ones and zerosalso known as binary encoding. However, in our daily life we use ten digits to represent all possible numbers. In binary the number 9 is written as 1001 for example, requiring three additional digits to represent the same thing.

The quantum computers of today grew out of this binary paradigm, but in fact the physical systems that encode their quantum bits (qubit) often have the potential to also encode quantum digits (qudits), as recently demonstrated by a team led by Martin Ringbauer at the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck.

According to experimental physicist Pavel Hrmo at ETH Zurich, "The challenge for qudit-based quantum computers has been to efficiently create entanglement between the high-dimensional information carriers."

In a study published in the journal Nature Communications the team at the University of Innsbruck now reports, how two qudits can be fully entangled with each other with unprecedented performance, paving the way for more efficient and powerful quantum computers.

Thinking like a quantum computer

The example of the number 9 shows that, while humans are able calculate 9 x 9 = 81 in one single step, a classical computer (or calculator) has to take 1001 x 1001 and perform many steps of binary multiplication behind the scenes before it is able to display 81 on the screen. Classically, we can afford to do this, but in the quantum world where computations are inherently sensitive to noise and external disturbances, we need to reduce the number of operations required to make the most of available quantum computers.

Crucial to any calculation on a quantum computer is quantum entanglement. Entanglement is one of the unique quantum features that underpin the potential for quantum to greatly outperform classical computers in certain tasks. Yet, exploiting this potential requires the generation of robust and accurate higher-dimensional entanglement.

The natural language of quantum systems

The researchers at the University of Innsbruck were now able to fully entangle two qudits, each encoded in up to 5 states of individual calcium ions. This gives both theoretical and experimental physicists a new tool to move beyond binary information processing, which could lead to faster and more robust quantum computers.

Martin Ringbauer explains, "Quantum systems have many available states waiting to be used for quantum computing, rather than limiting them to work with qubits." Many of today's most challenging problems, in fields as diverse as chemistry, physics or optimization, can benefit from this more natural language of quantum computing.

More information: Pavel Hrmo et al, Native qudit entanglement in a trapped ion quantum processor, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37375-2 Journal information: Nature Communications
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Moire superlattice of graphene/h-BN. a Schematic showing the formation of a Moire pattern in a heterostructure of two honeycomb crystals with similar lattice constants and a small rotational misalignment. The black arrow denotes the period of the resulting Moire superlattice. b Schematics of the energy bands of monolayer graphene (left) and a graphene/h-BN heterostructure (right). The linear bands observed near the K-point in the monolayer are dramatically modified for the heterostructure, with inequivalent gaps appearing at the original Dirac point () and in the conduction ( e ) and valence ( h ) bands. c Schematic illustration of the transistor geometry utilized in our studies. Monolayer graphene is fully encapsulated between thick layers of h-BN and contacted with lithographically designed edge contacts. A top-gate is biased at a variable voltage (V g ) to sweep the Fermi level through the bands of (b). The pulsed voltage (V in ) is applied to the input signal line of a coplanar waveguide and the transistor current is measured by feeding it into the 50- input of a fast oscilloscope. d The essential elements of our self-consistent theoretical model for electronphonon energy exchange in graphene. Under non-equilibrium conditions, the electrons and phonons in graphene attain respective temperatures T e and T ph , determined by the strength of the electronphonon coupling and the loss rates  and  p 1 to electron and phonon reservoirs, respectively. These reservoirs can be taken to be held at some common (fixed) equilibrium temperature (T o ). Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37292-4

Moire patterns occur everywhere. They are created by layering two similar but not identical geometric designs. A common example is the pattern that sometimes emerges when viewing a chain-link fence through a second chain-link fence.

For more than 10 years, scientists have been experimenting with the moire pattern that emerges when a sheet of graphene is placed between two sheets of boron nitride. The resulting moire pattern has shown tantalizing effects that could vastly improve semiconductor chips that are used to power everything from computers to cars.

A new study led by University at Buffalo researchers, and published in Nature Communications, demonstrated that graphene can live up to its promise in this context.

"Our recent work shows that this particular sandwich of graphene and boron nitride elicits properties that are suitable for use in new technological applications," said Jonathan Bird, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering at UB.

Graphene is made of carbon, just like charcoal and diamonds. What distinguishes graphene is the way the carbon atoms are put together: they are linked in a hexagonal or honeycomb pattern. The resulting material is the thinnest material known to exist, so thin that scientists call it two-dimensional.

Left alone, graphene conducts electricity welltoo well, in fact, to be useful in microelectronic technology. But by sandwiching graphene between two layers of boron nitride, which also has a hexagonal pattern, a moire pattern results. The presence of this pattern is accompanied by dramatic changes in the properties of the graphene, essentially turning what would normally be a conducting material into one with (semiconductor-like) properties that are more amenable to use in advanced microelectronics.

This research establishes how the moire pattern in graphene can be adapted to use in technological applications such as new types of communication devices, lasers and light-emitting diodes. "Our work demonstrated the viability of this approach, showing that the graphene/boron nitride sandwich that we are studying does indeed have the favorable properties needed for microelectronics," said Bird.

The semiconductor chips in question are essential not just in smartphones and medical devices but also in smart-home gadgets such as dishwashers, vacuums, and home-security systems. "Modern technology relies on the semiconductor chips that form the heart of their systems and control their operation," said Bird. "When you talk into your cell phone, it's the chip that converts your voice to an electronic signal and transmits it to a tower."

The graphene/boron-nitride heterostructure appears to have properties that are amenable to engineering. Developing future technology based on these materials may depend on discovering and harnessing properties that allow for greater speed and functionality. Bird noted that there is typically a lag between a discovery, the excitement about a discovery, and realizing the promise of the discovery. Grapheneso common that it's in any note scribbled with pencilwasn't discovered until 2004.

Bird earned a Ph.D. in physics, but he was drawn to electrical engineering because it allowed him to explore quantum physics through research on semiconductors. Quantum physics"the kind of magical physics that occurs at the atomic scale," he explainedcan be observed through experiments using technology that explores material and processes at the atomic level.

"We can get a system to respond to actions we take, and that response reflects details of the atomic and quantum nature of the system," he said. Graphene attracted his attention because it appeared to be a way to study quantum effects through work on semiconductors. At UB, he established a lab called NoMaD, where he, his colleagues, and their students study "quantum phenomena occurring at the nanoscale." Graduates have gone on to careers at Intel and IBM as well as other universities.

In this research, Bird and his team have explored the properties of graphene within a certain limit that must be achieved to create new technologies. The semiconductor chip industry is a massive industry that continues to grow, demanding new materials, new ways to use existing materials, and a new workforce capable of developing both.

More information: Jubin Nathawat et al, Signatures of hot carriers and hot phonons in the re-entrant metallic and semiconducting states of Moire-gapped graphene, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37292-4 Journal information: Nature Communications
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A decade's worth of research at oil and gas operations in the central and eastern United States has confirmed that fluid injection from hydraulic fracturing and wastewater disposal can induce seismicity.

Now, data from hydraulic fracturing wells in eastern Ohio indicate that extraction activities also can influence the seismicity rate, according to a presentation at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2023 Annual Meeting.

During hydraulic fracturing, well operators inject a pressurized liquid into a rock layer after drilling vertically and often horizontally through the rock. The liquid breaks apartfracturesthe rock layer and allows natural gas or petroleum to flow out more freely. This process can induce seismic activity large enough for people to feel, possibly by increasing fluid pressures within the rock that helps to unlock faults and allow them to slip.

When seismologists detected a flurry of seismicity last fall in eastern Ohio, however, there was no clear link to injection, said Michael Brudzinski of Miami University.

"The amount of seismicity kind of looked like patterns we would see when an injection operation was ongoing," he explained. "However, when we asked the regulator what kind of activities were going on, he shared with us that there wasn't anything new going on."

Puzzled, Brudzinski and his colleagues began to look for other well processes that might influence seismicity. One idea they had was that "fluctuations in the amount of extraction from the reservoir might be influencing when seismicity is occurring," said Brudzinski.

Because fracturing is so pervasive in newer wells, he explained, the amount of oil and gas that can be extracted "is large initially but it diminishes fairly quickly. So sometimes operators will stop extracting for a month or two, then start it up again, and when they start it up again it tends to produce a little bit better."

Comparing seismic data to publicly available oil and gas operations records for the Ohio wells, the researchers saw that the unusual change in seismicity rates was associated with this "charge-up" process.

"When a particular well was temporarily halted in terms of their extraction, that's when we see an increase in seismicity afterward," said Brudzinski.

The researchers also noted an increase in the seismicity rate accompanying initial flowback, when liquid injected for fracturing makes its way back up to the surface when extraction starts after the fracturing process.

Extraction-related seismicity isn't a new finding, Brudzinski said, noting studies of extraction earthquakes at the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands as one example.

"But what's new for us is that we were not really thinking about the extraction process having an influence on seismicity in these cases where injection has been the primary cause of seismicity," he said.

The earthquakes induced by extraction activities in this region are magnitude 2.6 or smallerlarge enough to be felt but not damaging. The magnitude distribution of extraction-related earthquakes is similar to the distribution of earthquakes occurring when the wells were initially fractured.

This was surprising to Brudzinski and colleagues, who thought the extraction earthquakes might be smaller. But it suggests that the same fault activated in fracturing might be activated again during extraction, he said.

The flurry of extraction-related seismicity only lasts for a few days, and then decays over one to two weeks, compared to the several weeks to months of injection and accompanying seismic activity.

One of the bigger questions Brudzinski and his colleagues want to answer is whether they've discovered a unique situation in eastern Ohio, or whether extraction influencing seismicity rates is a more widespread phenomenon.

In other parts of the country where the scale of both fracturing and wastewater disposal is much larger, he said, it could be hard to detect this seismic signal of extraction.

"If we found that a few percent of the time they shut in wells and start them up again, and there's an increase in seismicity, that would sort of suggest to me that we do need to look even in places where there's more prevalent injection just to see if we can pick that signal up even in those places," Brudzinski said.
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The top two rows show extracted image frames from the background video clipsi.e., video clips of fields with no wheat plants. The third row shows examples of image frames extracted from the video clip of a wheat field. Credit: Plant Phenomics (2023). DOI: 10.34133/plantphenomics.0025

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), alongside drones and digital cameras, have greatly extended the frontiers of smart agriculture. One attractive use case for these technologies is precision agriculture. In this modern approach to farming, the idea is to optimize crop production by gathering precise data about plants and the state of the field, and then act accordingly.

For example, by analyzing aerial images of crops, AI models can determine what parts of a field need more attention, as well as the current stage of development of the plants.

Among all the crop monitoring functions that AI can do, crop head counting remains as one of the most challenging to implement. Images of crops contain densely packed, repeating patterns that are usually irregular and overlapped, making it difficult for deep learning models to automatically detect specific plant organs. Ideally, one would train such models using thousands of manually annotated images, in which pixels belonging to crop heads are pre-specified. In practice, however, annotating crop images is extremely tedious and time-consuming.

To address this issue, a research team including Assistant Professor Lingling Jin from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, developed an innovative technique that can simplify the training and development of deep learning models. Their approach, which is described in a paper recently made available in Plant Phenomics, could promote a more widespread adoption of AI in agriculture.

To illustrate their idea, the team focused on the identification (or 'segmentation') of wheat heads in crop images as an example use case. Their strategy revolves around generating a synthetic annotated dataset. That is, instead of manually marking pixels belonging to wheat heads in hundreds of images, they devised a convenient way to produce artificial images in which the wheat heads are automatically marked.

First, the researchers recorded short videos of a wheat field and of other locations without wheat plants (also called 'background' videos). From the footage of the wheat field, they extracted a small number of still frames and manually annotated them, identifying all the wheat heads.

Then, using frames from the background videos as a canvas, they generated synthetic wheat images by pasting 'cutouts' of the manually segmented wheat heads onto them. This approach enabled the team to produce thousands of training images for a deep learning model with minimal effort.

To further improve the model, which was based on a customized U-Net architecture, the researchers also employed various domain adaptation techniques. These techniques fine-tuned the algorithm so that it would perform better on images from various real-world wheat fields, even though it was trained mainly on synthetic images.

Numerous tests on an open-access dataset revealed impressive gains in accuracy, as Jin notes, "Our approach establishedand by a wide margin in performancea new state-of-the-art model for wheat head segmentation."

Worth noting, the techniques showcased in this work are not limited to identifying wheat heads. In this regard, Jin says, "While we showed the utility of the proposed method for wheat head segmentation, it could be applied to other applications that have similar dense repeating patterns of objects, such as segmenting plant organs in other crop species or segmenting molecular components in microscopy images." Hence, this work paints a bright future for deep learning both in agriculture and other fields.

More information: Keyhan Najafian et al, Semi-Self-Supervised Learning for Semantic Segmentation in Images with Dense Patterns, Plant Phenomics (2023). DOI: 10.34133/plantphenomics.0025
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WVU experts on adapting physical activity for individuals with disabilities saw gym teachers and other educators make creative use of apps during the pandemic. They said they believe app accessibility features benefit students with disabilities, but their research shows those features often arent all they could be. Now theyre training a rising generation of physical education teachers to use apps in a way that benefits all learners. Credit: WVU Photo/Aubree Johnson

After COVID-19 moved classes online in 2020, a West Virginia University expert in adapted physical activity discovered that apps aren't created equal when it comes to accessibility.

Even so, Samantha Ross, an assistant professor in the College of Applied Human Sciences, knew apps like Chrome or YouTube could still benefit users with disabilities, delivering multiple alternative ways to access information, from screen readers that turn written words into spoken language, to closed captions that convert spoken words into text. And once schools reopened classrooms, she observed that apps continued to be a big part of how K-12 teachers engaged classes.

Ross now ensures the undergraduate students she prepares for careers as physical education teachers understand how to choose classroom apps that enhance learning for all students, including those with disabilities such as dyslexia, low vision or hearing impairments.

Her paper in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance offers physical educatorsand all teachersa practical toolkit for evaluating app accessibility and for implementing features such as closed captioning, keyboard navigation or text enlargement in the classroom.

"After the pandemic moved classes online, gym teachers started using Zoom and other technologies to lead their physical education classes," Ross recalled. "I saw creative strategies, like scavenger hunts, that involved students participating in short exercise bouts within their homes."

However, watching and evaluating students' engagement in front of computers was much different than monitoring activity in a classroom.

"For one thing, the kids hardly ever stayed in the video frame," Ross said. "It was a huge challenge, not just for physical education teachers, but for every teacher. Faced with that challenge, many educators found that, when designed well and used thoughtfully, apps could enhance the learning experience for everyone, and provide an alternative format for evaluating student performance."

Ross researched two free education apps, Flipgrid and Padlet, which create private digital spaces where teachers share activity and discussion prompts. Students post content in response to those prompts and each other's posts. She found that Flipgrid and Padlet omit major accessibility features, raising barriers to learning for students with disabilities.

For example, neither enables adding "alternative text" that describes an image, preventing students with vision impairments from getting audio descriptions of pictures.

And even existing features can be tricky. For instance, auto-captioning features for most apps produce inaccurate transcriptions of video or audio posts when the speaker has a speech impairment, accent or is in a noisy space.

"This may hinder the exchange of ideas from a diverse student group or demotivate participation among students with disabilities," Ross said.

Ross' paper provides tips and workarounds that empower educators to make the most out of these features and to help their students learn to do so.

"It's hugely frustrating that accessibility features aren't embedded at the front end of app developmentthat apps are developed and then there's repair, back-end work to make them accessible, or we have to go through roundabout ways of using them accessibly.

"But as accessibility features become more user-friendly and straightforward to implement, that's going to drive adoption. For example, Twitter now allows you to attach text descriptions to pictures and makes that easy for end users. There's a ton of discussion out there about equity accesshealth that reaches alland the new generation wants to be part of that movement."

The paper's co-authors included WVU doctoral student Kayla Abrahamson and Assistant Professor James Wyant.

"Zoom, Google Meet and YouTube became standard practice for instructing students," Wyant said. "Now K-12 teachers have a higher comfort level with digital technologies, and the marketplace for educational technology, especially mobile apps, keeps getting bigger. Although cost has been a roadblock, access to open-source, free-to-use technology has grown substantially."

Ross said she believes technology has become indispensable for adapting instruction to each student's individual learning strengths, whether those are shaped by ability, disability or learning preferences.

"I like to think about whether there's more than one way for students to participate," she said. "Some students are comfortable in the classroom and comfortable leading. Some prefer time to process and reflect and would rather contribute afterwards. Some are comfortable typing, others want to verbalize. Apps provide multiple ways students can share content on a flexible timeline."

Ross added, "As teachers, the goal is to engage every student. The tools we use will make the difference in whether we are successful or unintentionally create barriers to participation, and therefore unequal learning opportunities. Apps are very useful in that regardthey're fun, they add engagement and we can use them responsibly when we consider the accessibility of the content we're posting there to maximize engagement of all learners."

More information: Samantha M. Ross et al, Practical Physical Educator Tools for Evaluating and Using App Accessibility Features, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (2023). DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2022.2146609
Stories of state gifts from Xi: Model of Fuxing bullet train advances joint construction of Belt and Road

People's Daily Online) 13:14, April 20, 2023

From Nov. 17 to 19, 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand and paid a state visit to Thailand. During his first trip to the country as Chinese President, Xi presented a state gift- a model of a Fuxing bullet train, to Thailand.

Photo shows a model of a Fuxing bullet train presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as a state gift. (Photo/CCTV)

The model is painted the same color as the national flag of Thailand, and the Fuxing bullet train based on which the model was created will run along the China-Thailand railway after the route opens to traffic.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 19, 2022. (Photo/Yao Dawei)

As a flagship Belt and Road project jointly conducted by China and Thailand, and Thailand's first standard-gauge high-speed railway, the China-Thailand railway relies on the advanced technology of the Fuxing bullet train.

When completed, the China-Thailand railway will take trains to the border town of Nong Khai, where a bridge will connect it with the China-Laos railway. The two railways, when connected, will become an artery that is able to drive the development of the region.

This aerial photo taken on Nov. 10, 2022 shows a construction site of the China-Thailand railway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

As China and Thailand further strengthen infrastructure connectivity, trade and cultural cooperation between the two countries has entered the fast lane of development. In 2021, trade between China and Thailand reached $131.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33 percent.

China and Thailand are good neighbors, good friends and good partners, and the joint construction of the Belt and Road has brought the two countries even closer to each other.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
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A worker stands in a trench near a bioreactor flow control structure, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, in a field near Nevada, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Nick Helland's central Iowa farm looks much like every other nearby farm on this chilly March day, with corn stubble stretching from a gravel road up over a low hill to the northern horizon.

But look closely, and you can see patches of muddy ground where a few months ago crews buried low-tech systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers that filter fertilizer-borne nitrates from water as it drains from Helland's field into nearby Big Creek and eventually the Des Moines River.

The underground devices work. The question is whether one Iowa county's promising new approach to an old problem can be expanded enough to finally address nitrate pollution that, for years, has endangered drinking water, made more than half the state's waterways unfit for fish or humans, and fueled a giant dead zone nearly 1,000 miles away in the Gulf of Mexico.

Polk County is doing it by making it painless for farmershandling all the logistics and arrangements for the systemsand throwing in payments of $1,000 per site. Installations have exploded in the past two years, to 104, after only a handful were installed the eight years before that.

"They paid me and they paid the cost of all the installation," Helland said. "That's sort of a no-brainer to me that with very little lift, very little time, I can have this installed on my farm and it will ensure better water quality for everyone else downstream."

A worker shovels wood chips in a bioreactor trench in a farm field, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, near Roland, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

The big challenge now is encouraging counties to launch and fund similar efforts to reduce runoff from Iowa's 10 million acres of tile-drained farmland and combat the state's multi-billion dollar problem with nitrogen pollution.

Nitrogen-based fertilizers and manure can lead to excessive nitrates in groundwater that can be toxic to livestock and humans. High levels have plagued waterways in Iowa and throughout the Midwest for decades from chemical fertilizers and animal manure sprayed on fields. Modern tractors let farmers assess their soil and apply only as much fertilizer as needed, but it's still common to overspray.

It's easy to see why. Yields of cornthe king crop in these parts, and planted on about 90 million acres nationwideare at least doubled by fertilizer, and farmers want to be sure their crops have enough nutrients. Adding to the problem are the quick drainage systems that lie beneath so many fieldsknown as tiles, but actually plastic pipesthat whoosh excess water away and into streams.

A worker installs parts that will be used with a bioreactor, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, near Nevada, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Numerous studies have found the low-tech systems remove half the nitrate or more from runoff before it reaches waterways. In bioreactors, the water passes through a buried mound of wood chips that break down much of the nitrate. In the buffers, it moves through a grassy area parallel to a stream.

Too much nitrate and phosphorous in rivers and streams makes great food for algae and other plant growth that cuts oxygen in the water and blocks sunlight. Combined with industrial farming practices that have altered waterways by straightening streams and removing wetlands, that's bad news for fish that need clear water and slower currents.

It hurts humans, too. Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome where an infant's blood doesn't have enough oxygen. More than half of Iowa's rivers, streams and lakes are too polluted to properly support aquatic life or fishing and swimming, according to the state.

Nick Helland drives through a field as he talks about the bioreactor system installed in one of his fields, Thursday, March 2, 2023, near Slater, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Iowa is among the largest contributors of nitrate runoff that flows to the Gulf, leading to the so-called dead zone by depleting oxygen necessary for marine life across several thousand square miles.

Pressure to reduce the dead zone led Iowa's agriculture and natural resources departments to join in 2008 with Iowa State University for a strategy to address the problem. The effort has focused on voluntary actions; Iowa's legislature has consistently rejected proposals to require farmers to reduce runoff.

Fifteen years into the program, Iowa hasn't significantly reduced nitrogen runoff, according to a 2019 estimate. The problem in some ways has worsened as strong commodity prices encouraged farmers to plant corn and soybeans on more land. Meanwhile, Iowa's giant hog industry has grown to about 24 million pigsroughly triple the number in any other statewhich means more manure gets spread over farmland.

Workers install wood chips in a bioreactor trench in a farm field, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, near Roland, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

In Polk County, exasperation with nitrate pollution came to a head in 2015, when the agency that provides drinking water to 600,000 people in the Des Moines area went to court over the millions of dollars it was being forced to spend to filter unsafe levels from drinking water taken from the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. A judge ultimately dismissed the lawsuit against three northwest Iowa counties, ruling the issue was one for the Legislature to address.

Without hope of state mandates, local officials in Polk County sought to work cooperatively with agricultural groups. Part of that was studying why so few farmers were installing bioreactors and streamside buffers. They found an inefficient system for installation that made it expensive and bothersome for farmers, who had to arrange contractors and then seek reimbursement.

Polk County's solution: Handle all the arrangements to make it easy for farmers, and group projects together for economies of scale. Even with the $1,000 inducement to get farmers to sign on, they found the new process was about 15% cheaperless than $10,000 for a typical saturated buffer, and up to $15,000 for a bioreactor.

Nick Helland walks near a bioreactor system outflow pipe draining in a nearby stream, Thursday, March 2, 2023, near Slater, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

"Our success came from realizing we had been doing it wrong for like six years," said John Swanson, Polk County's water resources supervisor.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig, who has strongly opposed requiring farmers to filter runoff, has embraced Polk County's effort and encouraged it elsewhere. In March, he promoted bioreactors and buffers at an event in Story County, north of Des Moines, where conservation officials have adopted the new program.

"We're making it easy for a landowner to say yes, and then we bring the resources," Naig said. "These are essentially 100% paid for. Either way, the work has to get done, and to have willing landowners and willing producers get involved, that will work much better."

But clean water advocates note that Iowa needs thousands of the systems added each year, not hundreds, and question whether voluntary efforts can reach even a small percentage of the state's farmslet alone those in other states.

Workers install wood chips in a bioreactor trench in a farm field, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, near Roland, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

"There's a lot of people who are doing really good work," said Alicia Vasto, the water program director at the Iowa Environmental Council. "The fact of the matter is that it's just not at the pace and scale that's necessary to fix the problem."

The projected cost of scaling up is staggering. To significantly reduce nitrogen and phosphate runoff, a 2017 analysis found that upfront costs could be as high as $4 billion. That would include more than 100,000 bioreactors to deal with runoff on two-thirds of tile-drained farmland, as well as other solutions, like cover crops.

Swanson, the Polk County official, is now working with state officials to build more wetlands, which cost more and require more land but can filter much more runoff than the bioreactors and buffers. Helland wants such a wetland on his property and wants farmers to do more, but he thinks efforts should remain voluntary. Each farm is different, he said, and if governments try to require action, it could cause more problems and ultimately not be effective.

Workers install a bioreactor in a field, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, near Nevada, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Workers prepare to install wood chips in a bioreactor trench in a farm field, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, near Roland, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Audience members listen to a presentation during an edge-of-field workshop at the Ames Water Treatment Plant, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Ames, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

A bioreactor model is seen during an edge-of-field workshop at the Ames Water Treatment Plant, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Ames, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Farmer Jerry Hill listens to a speaker during an edge-of-field workshop at the Ames Water Treatment Plant, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Ames, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. He liked the idea of filtering the water at little cost to his bottom line. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Audience members and staff listen to a presentation during an edge-of-field workshop at the Ames Water Treatment Plant, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Ames, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Workers install wood chips in a bioreactor trench in a farm field, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, near Roland, Iowa. Simple systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers help filter nitrates from rainwater before it can reach streams and rivers. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Jerry Hill, who has farmed for 52 years, attended the Story County meeting with other farmers and is leaning toward installing a bioreactor along a creek that borders his property. He liked the idea of filtering the water at little cost to his bottom line.

"We're going to have to do a better job of keeping things clean," Hill said. "From what I've heard, what they have going now is as good as it gets."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Creation of thinnest freestanding film with ferroelectric properties ever opens the door to smaller, more efficient devices. Credit: Dr. Minoru Asada

Researchers at the Institute for Future Materials and Systems at Nagoya University in Japan have successfully synthesized barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) nanosheets with a thickness of 1.8 nanometers, the thinnest thickness ever created for a free-standing film. Given that thickness is related to functionality, their findings open the door to smaller, more efficient devices. The research was published in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials.

The development of ever-thinner materials with new electronic functions is a highly competitive area of research. Such devices are especially important in ferroelectrics, materials that have a polarization that can be reversed by an electric field. This ability to reverse polarization makes these materials useful in memory and vibrational power generation.

However, as the materials used in these devices become smaller, they exhibit unexpected properties that complicate their industrial use. A big problem is the "size effect," as when the material's thickness is reduced to a few nanometers, its ferroelectric properties disappear.

Now, a team from Nagoya University's Department of Materials Chemistry and the Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability (IMASS), led by Professor Minoru Osada (he/him), has successfully synthesized defect-free BaTiO 3 nanosheets with ferroelectric properties at a thickness of 1.8 nm using an aqueous solution process. The result is the thinnest free-standing film ever made. Although thin, the film exhibits ferroelectric properties, representing an important breakthrough in the fabrication of thin, ferroelectrically active films.

"However, for BaTiO 3 , a typical ferroelectric material, it is difficult to synthesize nanosheets by the conventional synthetic method. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a new synthetic method," Osada said. "Generally, the synthesis of BaTiO 3 requires a calcination process that requires temperatures of 1,000C or higher. In contrast, we synthesized BaTiO 3 nanosheets at a low temperature of 60C using our process. Since the thickness of the film can be controlled using this method by varying the reaction time, the synthesis of nanosheets with two to six lattices was achieved."

"If nanosheets with a thickness of a few nanometers can be synthesized in ferroelectrics, new properties and applications are expected to be discovered. Our findings should provide an important technique for the miniaturization of devices such as memories and capacitors," he continued.

"As existing technologies have already reached their limits both in terms of both materials and processes, techniques such as ours are essential. They offer a dramatic increase in performance and technological innovation by the means of new materials and processes."

More information: Kazuki Hagiwara et al, Molecularly Thin BaTiO 3 Nanosheets with Stable Ferroelectric Response, Advanced Electronic Materials (2023). DOI: 10.1002/aelm.202201239
By Umaru Fofana

Minister of Gender and Childrens Affairs, Manty Tarawally says the much-needed forensic laboratory will soon be set up in Sierra Leone.

Speaking to Politico, she said We have put together a committee. And theyre actually working towards the end of year or first quarter next year to set it up.

Ms Tarawally said it was a highly technical project with different components needing to be put together or considered when doing this.

Weve put together a good team and we are doing research. It needs to be from an accredited lab to support another accredited lab in Sierra Leone, she said, adding that the team were already working round the clockso that we can meet the deadline.

On funding for the lab, Ms Tarawally said that had bene secured, and so its just to get the right component and lab that can work for us. Because when you talk about forensic lab its not just for SGBV  it could be for a wide range.

She said they wanted to only do what we have money for. Just do something that can work for SGBV. And the police and other people that want to use forensic lab can build upon that. So thats what were working towards.

The gender minister stressed the extreme need for a forensic lab amid the several cases of rape of women and children. The major component that is missing from the structure that we have right now is the credibility of evidence. And so far what we havent been able to put together very well and that is what the forensic lab will do she said.

She said that from talking to the lawyers, talking to the judiciary that is the bit that is missing. How do you prove that this particular person is the person that raped this individual? You can prove that this person has been raped but how do you link it to an actual person, that particular person. And I think only a forensic lab can do that, she added.

Thousands of women and girls are raped in Sierra Leone every year. Alarming a sthe numbers may be, they are only captured in the few available centres run by the Rainbo Initiative.

Copyright  2020 Politico Online
The state Department of Environmental Conservation is reminding residents that there is a state-wide burn ban in effect until May 14.

From April 11 to 17, DEC responded to 26 wildfires in 16 counties that burned nearly 1,000 acres of land. The largest fires were in Orange County at 300 acres and in Otsego and Schoarie counties at 241 acres.

Last week, firefighters responded to some local brush fires including one April 12 on Feeder Dam Road in South Glens Falls. The West Glens Falls Fire Department was one of the responding agencies and while on the scene, they were dispatched to another brush fire at the nature reserve on Hudson Pointe Boulevard in Queensbury, according to the departments Facebook page.

Firefighters from the Queensbury, Bay Ridge, South Queensbury, Lake George and Corinth departments also responded. Firefighters were on scene until about 7:30 p.m.

This winter was warmer and drier than most, but regardless of the winter weather, we are always at a greater risk of wildfires in the spring, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement. This ban helps protect our communities, natural resources, and the rangers and other firefighters who extinguish the fires. Were encouraging all New Yorkers to think about safety first, before starting a potentially dangerous fire.

DEC is also reminding people to follow some simple guidelines for staying safe while enjoying the states recreational offerings.

With more people visiting state lands and enjoying New Yorks myriad, world-class outdoor recreational opportunities, DECs forest rangers are on the front lines to help visitors get outside responsibly and get home safely, Seggos said in a news release. Each day, these highly trained first responders are protecting irreplaceable natural resources and utilizing their expert knowledge of wildland fire suppression, wilderness first aid, land navigation, law enforcement, and technical rescue techniques to successfully execute critical missions, for DEC and our countless local, state, and national partners.

DEC rangers respond to search and rescue incidents statewide. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations, and volunteer search-and-rescue groups, forest rangers locate and extract lost, injured, or distressed people from across New York state.

In 2022, DEC forest rangers conducted 359 search and rescue missions, extinguished 162 wildfires covering more than 1,300 acres, participated in 53 prescribed fires that served to reclaim nearly 900 acres of land, and worked on cases that resulted in hundreds of tickets and arrests.

When hiking and camping, remember to be properly prepared for the terrain in which you are visiting. Bring maps, stay hydrated and nourished, and wear appropriate attire, including footwear.

If a person needs a forest ranger, whether its for a search and rescue, to report a wildfire, or to report illegal activity on state lands and easements, contact DEC by calling 833-NYS-RANGERS.

For more information, visit, www.dec.ny.gov.
HEBRON  A Hebron man was sentenced recently to 3  years in prison on a weapons charge.

Dane Nelson was arrested on May 21 after police said he drove to a residence while under the influence of alcohol and used a rifle to menace a visitor who was at the home.

Nelson was charged with felony third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, misdemeanor second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor, and a violation of driving while ability impaired-alcohol in connection with the incident.

Nelson pleaded guilty in Washington County Court to felony third-degree criminal possession of an assault weapon in satisfaction of the charges. He also was sentenced last month to 2 1/2 years of post-release supervision
FORT EDWARD  An inmate at the Washington County Jail has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a fellow inmate for the second time in less than two months.

Damien Beayon, 37, of Whitehall, was arrested on April 11 on charges of second-degree assault, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree promoting prison contraband after an investigation into an assault that occurred that same day inside the Washington County Jail.

Police said Beayon was found to have assaulted and injured another incarcerated individual.

Beayon was arraigned in Washington County Centralized Arraignment Part Court and will appear in the Fort Edward Town Court at a later date.

Prior to this week's incident, police said that on Feb. 27 Beayon assaulted another incarcerated individual and injured that person.

Beayon on Feb. 24 had pleaded guilty in Washington County Court to a felony count of DWI-previous conviction, according to the Washington County District Attorneys Office. He was sentenced on March 30 to 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison.
The history of animal control in Warren County has been called a little complicated and a recent meeting between the countys Criminal Justice and Health Services committees, proves it will continue on that way.

On Tuesday, the two county committees met to discuss the future of animal control and shelters, after the SPCA of Upstate New York relayed to the county it cannot continue operations with the funds obtained through donations.

Director of Public Health Ginelle Jones spoke to the committees to help shed some light on the current situation as well as explain some of the past to help the county supervisors better understand the role SPCA plays and what would be needed to replace the contract with the nonprofit agency.

Law enforcement predominantly handles the animal cruelty cases in the sense of an arrest, but I think they rely on the advisement of the SPCA to say here are the (agriculture and market) laws being broken here, and they also work with the District Attorneys office, Jones said.

Also, SPCA would show up to get the animals if sheriffs deputies responded to an animal cruelty complaint.

She also noted Health Services has had the responsibility of running and enforcing the countys rabies program since 1993  with assistance from the SPCA.

Jones said the Public Health Department and the Warren County Sheriffs Office just want to know adequate resources are in place.

So many different agencies are relying on this organization (SPCA) right now. They have, like all of us, problems with staffing and expenses and they have lost their security in knowing that they have the financial security to pay their rent. Its like theyre on a day-to-day basis, Jones said. Ive worked with this agency a long time, and I do know that most of the leaders of this agency are foregoing their paychecks to buy food for these animals or pay the buildings rent.

Jones suggested if the county was going to continue to rely on the SPCA, a callout fee should be paid to the nonprofit to be assured someone is going to show up, as well as a shelter fee, as it is currently the only one available for use in Warren County.

If the shelter folds, we have nothing, she said.

County-funded and staffed shelters can cost upwards of $400,000 a year, according to Jones. She said the SPCAs monetary request was reasonable and beneficial to the county.

Warren County Undersheriff Terry Comeau also vouched for the agency.

Ive been dealing with the SPCA for several years and Ive had nothing but positive (things) to say, he said.

In the last two years, the county has had 1,111 dog complaints and 640 complaints involving all other animals, according to Comeau.

I can tell you that I can get a call at 6:30 in the morning from the SPCA, and theyll tell me before I even have a chance to look theyve sent their investigative team out, he said. Its not a job for these folks. Theyre really passionate about it.

Bolton Town Supervisor Ron Conover said this meeting was like deja-vu.

Some of these issues were visited several years ago. The statistics the undersheriff just reported, you have to remember when that patrol officer responds, it ties up that officer for a period of time. You can imagine if theres no one on the animal side to respond that period of time will be even longer, he said.

The SPCA submitted a proposed fee schedule for their services to the county with a yearly amount of $90,000 along with $200 per call for up to three hours on the scene, with an additional $50 per hour on calls that run over. The agency also outlined costs for transporting animals and gas mileage reimbursement. They currently provide these services to the county free of charge. Prior to the pandemic, the county paid up to $100,000 for animal control and shelter services.

Glens Falls 2nd Ward Supervisor Peter McDevitt said its the right thing to do as he spoke in support of the nonprofit.

The committee decided to turn negotiations over to the Public Health Department, the Sheriffs Office, the county attorney and purchasing department before taking any action.
ATLANTIC CITY  Pungent clouds of resinous smoke wafted on the breeze Thursday afternoon as New York Avenue became weed central.

The third Atlantic City 420 Festival returned to a parking area on that block, while across the street, a line awaited access to the citys first adult-use cannabis business, recently licensed by New Jerseys Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

The days of cannabis paranoia appeared over, with pipes, joints and bongs getting sparked in easy view of the Atlantic City police officers keeping an eye on the fest.

Organizer Stephen Weiss said before the event that hundreds of advanced tickets had been sold, and he expected more walkup visitors with sunshine in the forecast. Weiss expects the fest to continue to grow, envisioning a crowd of 10,000 by next April or by 4/20/25.

While this one is listed as the third annual festival, Weiss said he had organized other events before New Jerseys 2020 referendum, in which voters said yes to legal marijuana.

Since then, hes brought the event to the Orange Loop, a three-block area of restaurants, bars, music and attractions named for the orange streets on a traditional Monopoly board.

Part party, part call to action: A look at pot holiday 4/20 Its 4/20, the high holiday for marijuana enthusiasts, and its falling this year as the U.S. government reviews its cannabis policy and as more states have legalized the drug. People are lighting up Thursday for a celebration that traces its origins to some bell-bottomed California high-schoolers. The day has come to cover both political calls-to-action and festivities like block parties, music festivals and pot shop discounts. There has been a proliferation of legal marijuana measures since Washington and Colorado in 2012 became the first states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis by adults. Things have progressed much more slowly at the federal level.

Weiss NorStep Productions has been booking acts in the area for a little over a decade.

In the afternoon, booths selling T-shirts, handmade items, fashion and art lined the festival area. But the most popular spots were weed focused.

Officially, the only place to get cannabis in Atlantic City without a medical card was at MPX NJ, but there were plenty of buds available inside the festival, with VIP ticket holders given a gram, a pipe and a lighter. Several of the booths asked for donations for containers of marijuana, or the purchase of an unrelated item like a sticker to receive a gift of weed.

State law prohibits those kinds of work-arounds. It is legal to give up to an ounce of marijuana as a gift in New Jersey, if the receiver is 21 or older, but in 2021, the state attorney general warned against giving weed if it is connected to the purchase of another item.

The crowds grew, and the smoke clouds thickened, throughout the day.

Participants expected the biggest crowds later in the day and into the evening, as live music started. There were also plans for a joint rolling contest, as well as raffles and other events.

Could Better Access to Marijuana Be Linked to Rising Suicide Rates? THURSDAY, April 20, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Suspected suicide attempts linked to marijuana overdoses have been steadily increasing over the past decade, a new study reports.

Nelson Cuesta, of Reading, Pennsylvania, sporting a jacket emblazoned with bright green marijuana leaves, planned to enjoy the festival well into the night, and likely continue on for the after party or other Atlantic City nightlife.

Atlantic City-based comedian Michelle Tomko served as the announcer at the event. She said the festival participants included all walks of life, and that people appeared to be very excited to be back for another year.

Some were in Atlantic City from out of state, enjoying the fest, she said.

Ages ranged from 20-somethings to grandparents.

Ashley Ben, of Newark, Delaware, who had a booth at the festival, said she was surprised by the variety of people at the event, assuming most were probably cannabis indulgers.

With some people, theres just kind of a certain look, she said. But along with the red, gold and green sweat suits, pro-weed T-shirts and brightly colored hair were several people who dressed downright conservatively. Im like, Im surprised youre here.

Weed sales to adults to kick off in Atlantic City on 4/20 ATLANTIC CITY  The citys first legal cannabis shop looks set to also be the first to leave

Several of those attending said people have gotten used to cannabis being legal, and that most accepted it as no big deal.

According to the advocacy group NORML, there were more than 30,000 people arrested on marijuana possession charges in 2018. By 2021, that number dropped to 200.

Brandon Astin had T-shirts and other merchandise for sale featuring images of Atlantic City. He said he and his wife founded Homegrown AC. Things were a little slow early in the day, he said, at a booth with no specific weed connections.

Its still early, Astin said. So far, everybodys been nice.

Atlantic City officials are bullish on weed, with a vision of making the city a cannabis center for the East Coast. Weed retail, manufacturing and consumption lounges are approved uses in the citys Green Zone, which includes much of the citys extensive commercial area, aside from the Boardwalk.

At MPX NJ, work is already underway on a new location behind the current spot on New York Avenue, with plans to triple the space in a new dispensary for the recreational market.

Atlantic City mayor signs license for city's first recreational marijuana business ATLANTIC CITY  Mayor Marty Small Sr. on Wednesday signed the cannabis business license for 

Long lines remained in place through the day, the first day of recreational sales at the site.

Its been steady all day, said Steven Parrish, a security guard keeping an eye on the line at MPX. He said the business opened in the morning for medical marijuana patients only for the first couple of hours. Sales to adults without medical cards began at 11 a.m. The line remained all day, Parrish said, with no problems.

Johnathan Caldwell, chatting with Parrish at the back of the line in the early afternoon, said he had not been waiting long.

About 15 minutes. Not bad, he said. A New Jersey resident, he had visited a legal dispensary on a visit to Las Vegas, going to Planet 13, billed as the largest dispensary in the world.

He was not sure what he would get at MPX.

Ill maybe get some flower. Maybe some edibles, he said.

MPX may be the first to offer adult use sales in Atlantic City, but it does not appear likely to be the last, with multiple other businesses seeking state licenses to operate in Atlantic City.

GALLERY: Third annual 420 Festival in Atlantic City
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
ATLANTIC CITY  As offshore wind development advances on the East Coast, rsted and other companies tasked with building a clean-energy system in South Jersey on Wednesday offered insights on their jobs and opened themselves to local businesses who may want to get involved.

Nearly 100 people heard presentations from rsted, Burns & McDonnell, and Jingoli Power during a New Jersey Economic Development Authority event at the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel.

Over a roughly three-hour event dubbed "Meet the Buyers," the companies discussed their role in offshore wind development and what New Jersey envisions as its clean-energy future.

The event was held while offshore wind energy is being criticized by lawmakers, opponents and marine mammal advocates, who have tied ocean surveying for the mounted turbines to numerous whale and dolphin deaths over the past four months along the East Coast.

Federal officials and scientists have said no evidence supports the theories of wind-power opponents.

Despite political battles by state and federal lawmakers, offshore wind enterprises are pushing ahead with the support of Gov. Phil Murphy.

Still waiting for rsted's four-way stops in Bungalow Park ATLANTIC CITY  The truck traffic to the site of rsteds operations and maintenance hub, go

While the wind farms themselves are still in a planning phase, work has begun at the New Jersey Wind Port, a facility in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County. The turbines' parts are coming from other nations but will be assembled locally.

"It's going really, really well down there, and we hope to see that the port will be ready for action here next summer," said Flemming Breum, EPC director for Ocean Wind 1, what is intended to be the offshore wind farm off the city's coast.

NJEDA officials said the Wind Port will become home to as many as 1,500 new manufacturing and operations jobs. The energy system will generate more than $500 million annually for the state.

The port also will be a hub for offshore wind on the East Coast, the NJEDA said.

During their presentations, speakers detailed needed services, giving local businesses a chance to connect with them. Jen Becker, NJEDA vice president of offshore wind, said the event was the best way to connect the business community with key people working to bring clean energy to New Jersey.

"There are definitely lots of ways for businesses to connect and find out opportunities," Becker said. "I think getting people face to face, and then hear information firsthand, is one really important way. This is not the only thing that we're doing to get the word out to companies about the opportunity, but this is definitely a great one to get people in a room, to hear directly about the various types of goods and services that are going to be procured."

Second implosion set to take down B.L. England landmark UPPER TOWNSHIP  A Cape May County landmark is set to go away soon, with the coming demoliti

Offshore wind electricity is a complex endeavor, requiring power companies to provide connections from energy-generating turbines in the Atlantic Ocean to the mainland.

To bring power onshore, cables will run underwater, connecting the turbines to two decommissioned power plants, the B.L. England Generating Station in Upper Township and the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township.

While rsted subsidiary Ocean Wind LLC will oversee permitting and offshore construction and testing, Burns & McDonnell will manage onshore engineering, construction and procurement, according to their presentation.

Meanwhile, Jingoli Power, which is based in Lawrenceville, Mercer County, will handle connections to the B.L. England site in Cape May County, focusing on a cable station running from the beach to the onshore substation.

Jingoli is seeking contractors for various services, including onsite security, office supplies and temporary fencing, according to their presentation.

"We've given an opportunity for the local contractors to see what we're doing and make sure they're aware of the project and some of the opportunities we have as we go into construction, Jingoli President Brian Gibson said from a company table set up inside the conference room.

With concerns climbing about whales, watchers say population climb continues as well In the waters off Cape May, things look much like they have in previous years, according to 

BJ Haegele, president of American Pile & Foundation LLC, based in Branchburg, Somerset County, said he found Wednesday's event helpful.

His company is already signed on as a subcontractor for foundation work, he said, but the meeting gave insights to curious people who want to find ways they can support their business through offshore wind development.

"I think that it was good that they explained what the project is, so that people that don't necessarily know if they can be involved, or they're apprehensive in getting involved, gives them an idea of what it is," Haegele said.
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  A judge agreed to drop charges against a Millville man accused of sexually assaulting a woman found dead during a Memorial Day weekend visit to the Jersey Shore in 1990.

Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury dismissed a criminal complaint filed against Jerry Rosado, 63, court spokesperson MaryAnn Spoto said Wednesday. Rosado was arrested about 30 years after Susan Negersmith, a tourist from New York, was found dead near a Dumpster behind a Wildwood restaurant. She had been strangled.

DeLurys order was signed about a month after an appellate court ruled in favor of Rosados motion for dismissal, which was made on the grounds that his sexual assault charge exceeded the statute of limitations governing crimes in 1990, when Negersmiths body was found.

Rosado was released from the Cape May County jail March 30, a day after the appellate panel published their opinion siding with the defense.

County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said after the appellate ruling that his office would ask the state Supreme Court to hear the matter.

Man charged in Wildwood cold case released following case dismissal CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  A 63-year-old Millville man was released from the Cape May County jai

Rosado wasnt arrested until technological advances in criminal investigations identified him through DNA samples retrieved from Negersmiths body.

Prosecutors say Negersmith was severely intoxicated the night she died, with marijuana in her system and a blood alcohol level of 0.285%. Now, someone with a blood alcohol level exceeding 0.08% is considered too drunk to drive.

Her death had originally been ruled accidental but was amended in 1996 to homicide.

Rosado became a person of interest in the case when, in August 2018, an unknown DNA profile collected in the 1990s was tested at a different laboratory. State Police test results showed Rosados samples had a high statistical probability of matching the DNA found on Negersmith.

No one has been charged with her murder.

Juggling facts and hearsay in the Susan Negersmith homicide investigation | Chapter 2 Your browser does not support the audio element.
MAYS LANDING  A former Pagans motorcycle club leader convicted in the 2012 murder of April Kauffman has been denied an evidentiary hearing by an Atlantic County Superior Court judge.

Ferdinand Freddie Augello was running a drug ring with Dr. James Kauffman when prosecutors say he orchestrated April Kauffmans murder in the couples Linwood home.

Augello, of Upper Township, is currently housed in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton for racketeering, leading a drug trafficking network, distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, conspiracy to distribute CDS, murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was found guilty in October 2018.

In applying for post-conviction relief, the defense argued that information protected by Brady v. Maryland, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that granted defendants right to evidence that could exonerate them during trial, was withheld from the jury when he was tried.

Adam Toraya, Augellos attorney, did not return a request for comment Wednesday.

In a post-conviction relief hearing in late March, Toraya cited a lawsuit filed against the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office by three former employees who alleged that former Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner hid evidence in the case. That evidence, Toraya argued, would have violated Brady.

Man who plotted Kauffman murder asks for evidentiary hearing MAYS LANDING  An Upper Township man and former Pagans motorcycle club member previously co

In her ruling, Judge Donna Taylor said the defense should have aired the concern on direct appeal, which wasnt filed until Jan. 5, 2021. The original complaint letter against Tyner was released Oct. 4, 2018.

Trial counsel previously raised the issue of Brady violations before sentencing, Taylor wrote, saying Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury rejected the claim.

Judge DeLury ruled, at the time, that there were no Brady violations, Taylors decision states. Therefore, this ruling is conclusive since these allegations are the same ones being raised in the present motion.

Prosecutors say James Kauffman wanted April Kauffman dead amid mounting divorce threats and warnings that the former talk-show host would expose her husbands role in the drug scheme, in which the endocrinologist supplied narcotics, including OxyContin, to Pagans members.

James Kauffman was arrested in 2017 following a standoff outside his Egg Harbor Township endocrinology office. He later was found dead in January 2018 in a Hudson County jail of an apparent suicide.

New discovery+ show to document April Kauffman murder case One of the most high-profile murders in Atlantic County history will be featured next month 

Augello has denied aiding James Kauffmans plot to kill his wife.

Augellos legal team also accused the state of other prosecutorial misconduct, including Tyner appearing on national television before his trial, seeking to illegally seize his house and fabricate evidence against him.

Taylor ruled the defense, however, failed to show that Tyners television appearance had any bearing on Augellos case. The other claims involving the house and evidence are bald assertions of alleged misconduct, she said.
The Office of the State Comptroller issued a report Wednesday reviewing the awarding of insurance broker contracts and the administration of health insurance and lunch programs in the Buena Regional School District.

The report, a follow-up on a Comptrollers Office audit of the district in 2020, indicates that Buena Regional largely complies with state standards. It still, however, falls short of certain transparency requirements with respect to insurance-broker contracts.

Acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh admonished Buena Regional on the latter point in a news release issued Wednesday.

Local governments need to be transparent so taxpayers can see how their taxes are being spent, Walsh said.

Buena Regional Business Administrator Donna Phillips declined comment when contacted Wednesday.

The 2020 Comptrollers Office audit, which investigated Buena Regional in fiscal years 2016 and 2017, had three findings paired with five recommended corrective actions.

The comptroller's report issued Wednesday found Buena Regional fully implemented four of those recommendations and partially implemented the fifth.

The partially implemented recommendation was about transparency in awarding insurance-broker contracts. The initial finding in the 2020 audit determined the district did not file certification with the board when looking to forgo formal bidding procedures when awarding a pair of insurance broker contracts in fiscal year 2017. It also did not send notices about the contracts to local newspapers.

South Jersey Gas provides grants to local youth sports organizations ATLANTIC CITY  South Jersey Gas is awarding 20 grants of $1,000 each to winners of its annu

The comptroller's review found Buena Regional was generally not requiring bidders on the broker contracts to list fees or commissions in their proposals. This obscured the actual value of the contracts and left the district less able to determine which broker submitted the best, most cost-effective proposal. The Comptrollers Office reported that the district awarded a pair of brokers commissions of $140,000 and $50,000 in fiscal year 2022. Buena Regional also did not include the value of the contracts when sending notices to the local newspapers.

Walsh said Buena Regionals failure to fully implement his offices recommendation was inefficient and left the district vulnerable to reckless spending decisions.

The district created an opportunity for wasteful spending by not requiring brokers to disclose the amount of their fees or commissions in their proposals, he said.

The district did revise policies requiring health insurance brokers to disclose their commissions and fees from the purchase of health insurance coverage to later in the process. The comptroller's report considered its recommendation on this topic implemented. While those figures were disclosed, this was done via undated letters after the signing of the broker contract. This is legal, according the comptrollers report, but did not adhere to best practices as established by the state Department of Banking and Insurance. The report also noted that new federal law requires disclosures prior to contract approvals.

The district should revise its policies and procedures to ensure that the brokers commission and financial self-interest are revealed as soon as possible and considered at every step of the procurement process, the comptroller's report states.

The district had also been imposing unreasonable standards requiring contractors to be located within a certain distance of the school without first demonstrating that physical proximity was needed for performance. The districts request for proposal for the employees benefits broker required the brokers office to be located within 30 miles of the Buena Board of Education. The health insurance broker was required to be located within 20 miles. The Comptrollers Office maintains extraneous proximity requirements could undermine competition in the awarding of insurance-broker contracts. It determined the two distance requirements created in 2022 were not justified and an unlawful restraint on competition.

Walsh suggested distance restrictions could be leveraged to the benefit of certain candidates for the position.

Mileage restrictions can be used to favor certain brokers, Walsh said. Local governments should avoid these sorts of constraints on competition whenever possible.

Man who hid in Mexico after 1994 Atlantic County stabbing pleads guilty A fugitive featured on Americas Most Wanted whom authorities say hid in Mexico after he a

Buena Regional did publish notice of the broker contract awards in its designated newspaper, though it did not disclose the value of those contracts.

The new recommendations ask that Buena Regional ensure that brokers list their fees and commissions, use proximity limits sparingly and with clear justification, and more fully notify the public of broker awards in its designated newspaper.

The four recommendations Buena Regional did implement stemmed from two findings.

The first finding concerned whether Buena Regional complied with federal income-verification regulations when administering the National School Lunch Program. In fiscal years 2016 and 2017, Buena Regional did not apply federally mandated scrutiny to applications for free or reduced-price lunch. The district specifically needed to further examine error prone applications, which are applications where the listed income is too close to the eligibility limit; and applications requiring verification for cause, which focuses on applicants with zero reported income or applicants the district believes are receiving unreported income.

The comptroller's report found the district had participated in required training and is applying appropriate scrutiny to applications.

The second finding concerned duplicate health insurance benefits. The Comptrollers Office found Buena Regional issued health benefit waiver payments to nine employees who were already receiving district health insurance benefits, costing the district $35,469 in fiscal year 2017. Six cases of duplicate benefits were enabled by the collective bargaining agreement with the Buena Regional Education Association that allows for spouses to individually opt out of the district insurance plan.

We note that this practice is permissible under the current collective bargaining agreement and that the individuals were previously identified in the 2020 audit, the comptroller's report states. We note, however, that this practice is wasteful and contrary to the purpose of a waiver payment as these employees were able to receive health benefits while collecting payment for opting out of the same benefits.

The Comptrollers Office recommended that Buena Regional develop policies to avert the double benefits awarded through administrative mistakes. Buena Regional said in its corrective action plan it would do so by subjecting each health insurance waiver request to direct review by the business administrator. In its Wednesday report, the Comptrollers Office found that recommendation had been implemented.

Students lead summit at Atlantic Cape to focus on mental wellness MAYS LANDING  The Coalition for a Safe Community hosted its annual teen summit at Atlantic 

The Comptrollers Office also asked that the district negotiate with the teachers union to amend their collective bargaining agreement and bar spouses from receiving duplicate benefits. While the comptroller's report determined that recommendation had been implemented, district negotiations with the union on that front have not been successful for the district.
ATLANTIC CITY  Just over a year into his tenure as the executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Sean Pattwell appears comfortable behind the scenes.

He rarely offers interviews, and does not appear to have spoken at a board meeting since starting the job last April. The meetings are still held remotely, and minutes of the meetings show Pattwell in attendance.

Pattwells approach seems a significant departure from that of former director Matt Doherty, who left the job in January 2022.

Doherty participated in public meetings and would speak with reporters, although at times would only speak off the record about some specific topics.

Its certainly a different style, said former CRDA board member Richard Tolson, who was off the board at the same time as Doherty.

Tolson praised Pattwells business experience, and suggested there could be some benefits to an executive director who shies away from the spotlight.

As if to illustrate the point, Pattwell could not be contacted for an interview for this story. So far, he has not responded to previous requests for comment on news stories about CRDA issues, and staff members said no interview could be arranged for this story until June.

Later, that was amended slightly, with a possibility put forward of speaking directly to Pattwell in late May.

Several current board members either did not respond to requests for comment for this story or declined to speak on the record, and members of staff are not permitted to speak with reporters without authorization from spokesperson Karen Martin, who was not available this month.

Attempts to reach Pattwell directly were also unsuccessful. He has issued statements in the past, in which a quote for his attribution is already written out.

Pattwells background is in the insurance industry, working for years with Herbert L. Jamison and Co.

Information released by Gov. Phil Murphys office also cited Pattwells educational and community work, saying he was on the Board of Trustees for the Rutgers Foundation and other organizations.

Public records show he contributed to Murphy and the Democratic state committee, giving close to $60,000 over a 10-year period. Over that same time, his wife, Janice Pattwell, shows an additional $15,000 in contributions.

As the CRDA executive director, Pattwells salary is $175,000 a year, according to state records. Thats also what Doherty made.

Longtime director John Palmieri made $225,000. When he stepped down in 2016, the salary for his replacement, Christopher Howard, dropped to $175,000, where it has remained.

About the same time that Palmieri left, a change in state law diverted about $20 million a year from the casino Investment Alternative Tax to help pay Atlantic City debt.

Attorney is out at CRDA ATLANTIC CITY  Monica de los Rios is no longer with the Casino Reinvestment Development Aut

In conversations since Pattwell started at the authority, board members cited his intelligence, describing his encyclopedic knowledge on a variety of topics.

He has decades of executive expertise and has received a bachelors degree, three masters degrees, and is currently pursuing a fourth degree in literature at Harvard University, reads his bio on the CRDA website.

While he has not been a noticeable presence at CRDA board meetings, he has attended a variety of events within the city and nearby, including fundraisers for local organizations.

Another former board member, Gary Hill, said he urged Pattwell to forge connections with the community, to better understand CRDAs role in the city and the impact of some of the programs the organization supports.

Hill said he was happy to give Pattwell a chance but added he would have liked to see someone with lifelong connections to Atlantic City in the position.

In announcing Pattwells appointment last year, Murphy and Lt. Gov. Shelia Oliver praised Pattwells experience, saying he would serve the residents of Atlantic City.

He is the right person to lead the CRDA as it plays a critical role in Atlantic Citys recovery from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Murphy said in a statement. I look forward to working with Sean on our administrations efforts to attract investment to Atlantic City that will be for the benefit of the citys residents and workers.

There was no response to a request for comment on Pattwells performance from the governors press office, nor to questions about the process for choosing an executive director. Pattwells appointment was approved by the CRDA board.

Police substation planned for Boardwalk Hall ATLANTIC CITY  Police will have a new, more visible substation on the Atlantic City Boardwa

One of the authoritys highest-profile efforts over the past year has been a plan to bring a full-service grocery store to the city for the first time in years. An $18.5 million deal Pattwell inherited from the previous administration fell apart in 2022. The authority is looking for a new grocery store operator, with proposals due June 8.

Board members speaking on background say Pattwells behind-the-scenes approach has worked well for the authority, describing his style as collaborative, with little interest in swing-for-the-fences plays and more emphasis on achievable steps.

Tolson said he has met Pattwell a couple of times.

I really dont know him, he said in a recent interview.

Now outside the authority, he said Pattwell appears to be competent but said he, too, would have liked to see someone with local roots in the job.

Tolson added there appears to be a shift away from South Jersey representation on the CRDA Board of Directors, a 17-member body that includes appointed members and others, such as the mayor of Atlantic City, the state attorney general and others, who are members of the board by virtue of their other positions.

The governor appoints six members, with advice and consent of the state Senate, while the Senate president recommends two members to the governor.

Both Tolson and Hill praised the appointment of Maisha Moore to serve as deputy executive director of the CRDA, citing her extensive knowledge of the community.

Long and winding road to demolition in Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY  The saga surrounding a single blighted building that has played out at city 

A Pleasantville resident, Moore had served as chief of staff to a former Atlantic City mayor and has worked with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

The CRDA saw extensive changes in 2022. Pattwell replaced Monica de los Rios, who stepped in as acting director after Dohertys departure. She had been the authoritys general counsel, and briefly returned to that role when Pattwell became executive director, but was out of that post before the year was out.

There was no formal announcement of de los Rios departure.

Moore replaced former deputy director Rosa Farias.
MIDDLE TOWNSHIP  Township officials have tapped police Capt. Jennifer DeLanzo as the next chief of police.

Longtime Chief Christopher Leusner is set to leave the department May 31 after a 26-year career.

DeLanzo began with the department as a patrol officer after graduating from the Cape May County Police Academy in 2000. She will be the first woman to serve as chief in Middle Township.

According to township officials, Leusner will work with DeLanzo in the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition when she starts the new job June 1.

I want to congratulate Capt. Jennifer DeLanzo on being chosen to serve the residents of Middle Township as the next chief of police, Leusner said in a statement Thursday. Capt. DeLanzo is a skilled police executive who has played a critical role in the success of the Middle Township Police Department. She understands the importance of engaging our residents and partners in the community to provide the very best police services. I have full confidence Jen will be an outstanding chief of police and the type of leader our officers, civilian staff and the residents of Middle Township deserve.

Leusner announced his plans to retire this year. In March, Mayor Tim Donohue changed his plans to run for a fifth term on the three-member Township Committee, instead supporting Leusners decision to run for office as a Republican.

No Democrats filed to run for the seat by the March deadline for a spot on the ballot.

A statement announcing the appointment cited DeLanzos background in community policing.

I believe that a clear vision, emphasis on teamwork and gratitude are essential qualities of a successful Chief of Police. I am focused on the larger picture of creating a safer community for everyone, DeLanzo stated in her resume.

DeLanzo served as an instructor of anti-drug education programs and has experience as a hostage negotiator and firearms instructor. In 2016, she was promoted to sergeant and, while serving in the position, graduated from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police Command and Leadership Program. DeLanzo was promoted to lieutenant in 2020 and became a captain in 2022.

DeLanzo spearheaded several community programs, such as organizing the Rachels Challenge presentation for Middle Township Middle School and Middle Township High School. The presentation focused on reducing bullying and creating a school environment where everyone is accepted. She also initiated a collaborative approach with community group CURE (Christians United for Recovery) to accelerate access to treatment for people with addiction.

As director of Public Safety, Im proud to announce the promotion of Captain Jennifer DeLanzo to the position of chief of police, Donohue said Thursday. Throughout her distinguished career, Capt. DeLanzo has demonstrated the leadership skills, work ethic, courage, compassion, and integrity that personify the values of the Middle Township Police Department. As Chief Leusner retires, we move forward with full faith and confidence that the department will proudly remain one of the best in our state.

Donohue to step back in favor of Chris Leusner for Middle Township Committee MIDDLE TOWNSHIP  Mayor Tim Donohue has decided not to seek a fifth term on the Township Com

DeLanzo will lead a department with 53 sworn full-time officers, along with civilian staff and Class II officers. The township encompasses 72 square miles with more than 20,000 residents, with diverse communities that include densely developed commercial sections, woods and farmland, as well as the county seat.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday announced nearly $2 million in additional funding for what they said are efforts to ensure the safe and ecologically responsible development of offshore wind energy.

The Offshore Wind Research and Monitoring Initiative will research the potential impacts of offshore wind energy, adding to work by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The initiative is part of a larger collaboration among state, regional and federal entities seeking to protect marine mammals as offshore wind farms develop along the eastern seaboard.

An updated request for proposals was also issued to deploy passive acoustic listening devices that prioritize detection coverage to better monitor and understand whale species habitats, including those of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

Opponents of offshore wind have tied the industry's development to the deaths of dozens of marine mammals off the East Coast since December, though federal and state officials have said there is no evidence tying the two together.

The state is looking to generate 11 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040, according to a news release from the Governor's Office.

Development of offshore wind energy is a vital component of the Murphy administrations work to mitigate and respond to the worsening impacts of climate change, said DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. These projects will continue to advance the collection of baseline scientific information that will help ensure the responsible development and operation of offshore wind facilities that protect our coastline and its natural resources.

Business meeting highlights economic opportunities of New Jersey's offshore wind industry ATLANTIC CITY  As offshore wind development advances on the East Coast, rsted and other co

A total of $602,135 was awarded to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to be facilitated by the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, for a whale detection buoy that will gather data off Atlantic City. By listening for whales, the state says, the detection system will lessen the risks for potential boat collisions and interference from construction noise by informing NOAA's Slow Zones for Right Whales program.

About $1.2 million was awarded to Monmouth University to monitor the ecology of species in the water near offshore wind development areas, in addition to traditional surveying methods, through an environmental DNA study. The results from the study will be used to analyze potential impacts of offshore wind energy development during and after construction.

About $682,890 was awarded to Stockton University and the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society to study the movements of harbor seals to better understand how they use the space where offshore wind development will occur.

Another $100,000 will go toward a two-year membership in the Responsible Offshore Science Alliance, a nonprofit that researches and monitors the potential effects of offshore wind development on fish and fisheries.

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind and Ocean Wind II have committed about $26 million to regional research and ecological monitoring. The Offshore Wind Research and Monitoring Initiative has provided $8.5 million in funding for offshore wind-related projects, including research and monitoring.

We are deeply committed to doing all we can to ensure our offshore wind projects are implemented in as ecologically responsible a way as possible, BPU President Joseph L. Fiordaliso said.
The jewelry shop owner, Swapnil Kothari, lodged a complaint with the police when they did not return for a few days. The police have registered a case of cheating against the two. The duo was arrested following the complaint.

According to the reports, the duo had with them large beads of golds to make jewellery. After making few jewelers Gaykar and his accomplice divided the remaining gold amongst them and fled.

Police have initiated a process to recover the gold chain from Gyakar.
CHICAGO  Last year at the end of Ramadan, Faiza Siddiqui  like millions of Muslims each year  was waiting intently for the moon sighting announcement determining if the next day will be Eid al-Fitr, the holiday after the month of fasting.

Siddiqui, a resident physician at the University of Chicago, refreshed her browser every few seconds as the window to call off work for the holiday dwindled. Finally, around 10 p.m. May 1, the announcement was made by Chicago Hilal, Crescent Watch and other moon-sighting organizations that the moon was spotted in California and other parts of the country, meaning Eid would be the next day.

But for Siddiqui, it was too late.

I was on a very time-sensitive rotation. ... I ended up going in to work. I had to go in, she said. It was 10 p.m. ... I felt it would be very unprofessional to ask someone to cover for me that last minute!

That is a routine dilemma for Muslims across non-Islamic majority countries who celebrate Ramadan and both Eid holidays based on the actual moon sighting rather than the calendar date, which means they wont know which day Eid falls on until the night before.

Some Chicago-area Muslims feel that stress this year as the end of Ramadan approaches this week, while others say they already see a shift taking place that has made it easier to have conversations at work to request time off. Whether following the moon sighting or the pre-calculated date, Muslims in the workforce are growing in size and looking for the same consideration and awareness their co-workers get for their major holidays.

Those who follow the moon sighting do so based on the Sunnah, or the traditions and practices of the Prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims. Others rely on a predetermined date for when the moon could be visible.

Youssef Ismail, an astronomy professor at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, and one of the founders of Crescent Watch, said sighting the new moon at the start and end of Ramadan is an extremely important and intricate responsibility.

The moon sets after the sun on the first day, so there is a very short window to spot it, he said. Crescent Watch relies on visibility forecasts to indicate whether a sighting of the new moon will be probable in most of North America.

On Thursday evening, when moon sighters like Ismail go looking for the new moon to determine the end of Ramadan, they will search for a thin-as-hair crescent.

Its a very thin sliver  the new crescent moon is like a little eyelash in the sky, Ismail said. From the moment the moon crosses between the earth and the sun when they are lined up longitudinally  thats called a conjunction. Thats when you say the new moon has been born.

Ismail explained that lunar months are 29 or 30 days and it depends on when the moon is actually born.

The Prophet said, Dont fast until you see the new moon, and dont break your fast until you see the new moon. If the sky is blocked by clouds and you cant see the new moon, complete the month as 30 days, Ismail said.

That means, if the moon is spotted on the 29th of Ramadan, which this year is Thursday, Eid will be Friday.

The caveat to doing this the right way is that the new moon must be seen with the naked eye, not with the use of binoculars or telescopes, and it has to be seen by at least two people, he said.

Part of the role of moon-sighting organizations like Crescent Watch is to inform its followers of moon sightings as observers station themselves in different time zones. Its usually on the West Coast with its mostly clear, mostly sunny skies that make for better viewing conditions than in the Midwest or East Coast, which means people in the Chicago area often have to wait until sunset on the West Coast to know for sure.

Literally, we are the last word for North America  sometimes its a blessing and other times, its a real burden because everyone in the country is waiting for us to come up with a report, Ismail said. Its a lot of pressure.

Des Plaines resident Ayesha Ibrahim, who works at Expedia Group in Chicagos Loop, said she usually just requests both possible days off to be safe.

It shouldnt be complicated even though it feels like it is because youre giving them two options  either Friday or Saturday, she said. But she has learned that requesting time off for Eid is better suited for a one-on-one with her manager, as opposed to a Teams message.

I try to set aside 10 to 15 minutes to explain why I need to block off two days and that I follow the moon sighting, and that we will know exactly the night before whether youre off work or not, Ibrahim said.

Recently, Expedia Group held a panel discussion on Ramadan that included Muslims talking about the importance of fasting and how co-workers and supervisors could be more accommodating. They also talked about requesting time off for Eid.

Its just complicated when you have to explain the moon  that there is no specific date for it, unlike Christmas or other holidays, Ibrahim said.

Rohemat Omowabi, 28, who lives in West Loop and works as a project manager in Des Plaines, formerly worked at Amazon, where she felt Ramadan was better acknowledged compared to her current, smaller company.

I had to remind my boss that its Ramadan and I might need to work a different schedule in the last 10 days, Omowabi said, as the last 10 days of the month traditionally include increased prayer and observance. It was still a mostly work-focused conversation, like making sure I dont miss any meetings so I wouldnt need to get caught up later. It was different when I was at Amazon, a lot easier, I would say.

Many Muslims such as Omowabi have to reconcile with the fact that their religious holidays are not given the same importance as other major holidays.

Reem Subei is a senior staff attorney with Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights organization focused on advocating for Muslims in any city. She said the first step to solving this isolating issue is for management and higher-ups to recognize Islamic holidays along with all other religious holidays on company calendars, which can set the tone and create space for open conversations about how religious holidays can be accommodated, because failure to even recognize these holidays on a calendar impedes the process from starting.

She said its important for Muslims, just like anyone else, to know and understand they are entitled to religious accommodations, whether it be in the office or elsewhere.

When I say entitled, that comes with a huge clause because there are so many restrictions and we are nowhere near the position that we would like to be in for folks to have the best means of access of accommodations, Subei said. But there are rights, and we and other organizations work really hard to educate folks on those rights.

Most employers have to make reasonable accommodations for their employees on the basis of religion, but Subei said even that is a balancing act. The accommodations shouldnt cause any undue hardship to the employer, she said. However, she wants to see employers themselves putting policies in place that allow everyone to celebrate their religious holidays without any negative consequence.

We would like to have an environment that invites people to engage in celebrating and practicing religious values in a fashion that takes everybodys needs into consideration, Subei said. That requires a culture shift. That requires training. That requires procedures and recognition by those in administration that in fact fostering diversity and inclusion is a pathway to success and growth and positivity and is going to bring immediate and direct benefits to their places of employment.

Salman Azam, 41, is a corporate attorney and board member for the Downtown Islamic Center who pushed for the Chicago mosque to adopt the calendar calculation method as opposed to the moon sighting method. He said he announced at the mosque last week that Eid al-Fitr will be Friday.

This makes it very easy for people to request time off, Azam said. The biggest problem was that we didnt know exactly when it would be, which poses a challenge for managers and bosses to approve. When you have a specific date, it at least makes it a little easier.

Although Ismail understands the appeal of a convenient, predetermined date for Eid, from an astronomical standpoint, not just a religious one, it doesnt add up, he said.

If you go to the U.S. Naval Observatory website, they have a section on the Islamic calendar and sighting new crescent moons, Ismail said. This is one of the premier science-based observatories in the world, and they also say that there is no way of predicting where or when the moon will be seen. And if you are wrong  if someone makes an error whether in sighting or announcing  weve got everyones mistake on our shoulder and its a big thing.

As millions of people look to moon sighting committees as Ramadan nears its end, Ismail said the process reinvigorates his spirituality. On Thursday around 7:30 p.m., 20 minutes before sunset, Ismail, who lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains with his family, will drive up to a ridge overlooking the Western horizon, 1,300 miles above sea level.

His team of moon watchers will first locate where the sun will set, as it provides a landmark of where the moon will be. And the rest will follow, he said.

You cannot get it wrong if people go out and engage in the Sunnah, Ismail said. You either see the moon, or you dont.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
Both people charged in a violent attack on an employee last year at the Wide River Winery in Davenports Village of East Davenport have negotiated plea agreements with Scott County prosecutors.

Christopher Mitchell, 36, has entered a plea of guilty to reduced third-degree kidnapping, as well as guilty to the original charge of first-degree robbery. The agreement was reached Thursday.

He originally was charged with first-degree kidnapping, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

A date for Mitchell's sentencing does not yet appear in court records.

Emilee Rose Haberling, 21, tendered her plea to kidnapping and robbery in the case Tuesday during a hearing in Scott County District Court. She will be sentenced June 14.

The trial for Mitchell and Haberling was scheduled to begin Monday, April 24, 2023.

First-degree robbery is a Class B felony that carries a 25-year sentence with a judge determining the mandatory minimum of 50% or 70% of the sentence served before parole can be granted.

According to Mitchell's plea agreement, prison is mandatory.

In her plea agreement, Haberling pleaded guilty to one count each of the lesser-included charge of third-degree kidnapping and the lesser-included charge of second-degree robbery. Both charges are Class C felonies that carry a prison sentence of 10 years.

The theft charge was dismissed.

According to Haberling's plea agreement, prison is mandatory. Prosecutors agreed to a recommended five-year mandatory minimum under Count 2, second-degree robbery.

The police were sent to the winery, 1128 Mound St., at 5:35 p.m. on April 28, 2022.

Mitchell and Haberling entered the winery and punched the employee in the face, investigators said. Her head was slammed against the ground, and she was dragged by her hair to the cash register. Mitchell took money from the drawer.

The violence did not end when Mitchell had the money.

Investigators said Mitchell and Haberling made the employee crawl on her hands and knees and held her by her hair while they punched her in the head and slammed her head into the floor.

Mitchell choked her with both hands and stopped her from breathing at various times, records show. Haberling took the employee's cell phone and smashed it on the ground, preventing her from calling 911.

Mitchell demanded the employee tell him where the winery's camera surveillance system and video recordings were located, and the employee told police she heard Mitchell tell Haberling he was giving her a knife and said, "If she tries to get away, stab her."

The employee said Haberling and Mitchell moved her throughout the business as the assault continued.

While Mitchell checked for the surveillance system, Haberling held the employee on the ground, affidavits said. Mitchell returned and said, "Ill rape you, Ill kill you, Ill do what I want; I have a knife." Before he left again, he gave Haberling a knife and told her to stab the employee.

The employee told police she threw a chair to escape the winery, and Mitchell and Haberling followed her. They pulled her back in the building, but she was able to get away as she heard police sirens nearing the scene.

Mitchell and Haberling retreated inside the winery and were quickly located, police said. Both were uncooperative and resisted arrest. Physical force, including a taser, was used to make the arrests.

Officers found about $317 in Mitchell's sweatshirt pocket with some of the money wrapped in money bands and consistent with the amount stolen during the robbery. Both suspects refused to identify themselves.

The employee was transported to a hospital with injuries that included bruising to both eyes, a cut on her tongue, a left orbital fracture and a broken clavicle, bleeding and bruising to the right side of her face.

Mitchell is on parole until Feb. 28, 2025, for robbery convictions, according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records.
Emilee Rose Haberling, one of two people charged in a violent attack on an employee at the Wide River Winery in Davenports Village of East Davenport last year, has negotiated a plea agreement with Scott County prosecutors.

Haberling, 21, tendered her plea to kidnapping and robbery in the case Tuesday through her attorneys during a hearing in Scott County District Court. It was accepted by District Judge John Telleen, who scheduled a sentencing date for June 14.

The trial for Haberling and her co-defendant, Christopher Lavelle Mitchell, 36, was scheduled to begin Monday, April 24, 2023.

As of Wednesday, Mitchells trial remained on the docket.

According to Scott County District Court electronic records, Mitchell will rely on a defense of diminished responsibility, which under Iowa law means he is alleging he is unable to form the necessary criminal intent to commit a crime, because of a limited capacity to think.

Haberling had been charged with:

First-degree kidnapping, a Class A felony that carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

First-degree robbery, a Class B felony that carries a 25-year sentence with a judge determining the mandatory minimum of 50% or 70% of the sentence served before parole can be granted.

First-degree theft, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

In her plea agreement, Haberling pleaded guilty to one count each of the lesser included charge of third-degree kidnapping and the lesser included charge of second-degree robbery. Both charges are Class C felonies that carry a prison sentence of 10 years.

The theft charge was dismissed.

According to the plea agreement, prison is mandatory. Prosecutors agreed to a recommended five-year mandatory minimum under Count 2, second-degree robbery.

It will be up to the sentencing judge to determine if Haberling will serve her 10-year sentence under Count 1, third-degree kidnapping, concurrently to the robbery conviction or consecutive to the robbery sentence, meaning back-to-back.

Haberling continues to be held without bond in the Scott County Jail.

Affidavits filed by Davenport Sgt. Bryant Wayland indicated the police were sent to the winery, 1128 Mound St., at 5:35 p.m. on April 28, 2022.

Wayland said Mitchell and Haberling entered the winery and punched the employee in the face. Her head was slammed against the ground, and she was dragged by her hair to the cash register. Mitchell took money from the drawer.

The violence did not end when Mitchell had the money.

According to the affidavits, Mitchell and Haberling made the employee crawl on her hands and knees and held her by her hair while they punched her in the head and slammed her head into the floor.

Mitchell choked her with both hands and stopped her from breathing at various times. Haberling took the employee's cell phone and smashed it on the ground, preventing her from calling 911.

Mitchell demanded the employee tell him where the winery's camera surveillance system and video recordings were located. The employee told police she heard Mitchell tell Haberling he was giving her a knife and said, "If she tries to get away, stab her."

The employee said Haberling and Mitchell moved her throughout the business as the assault continued.

While Mitchell checked for the surveillance system, Haberling held the employee on the ground, affidavits said. Mitchell returned and said "Ill rape you, Ill kill you, Ill do what I want; I have a knife." Before he left again, he gave Haberling a knife and told her to stab the employee.

The employee told police she threw a chair to escape the winery and Mitchell and Haberling followed her. They pulled her back in the building, but she was able to get away as she heard police sirens nearing the scene.

Mitchell and Haberling retreated inside the winery and were quickly located, police said. Both were uncooperative and resisted arrest. Physical force, including a taser, was used to make the arrests.

Officers found about $317 in Mitchell's sweatshirt pocket with some of the money wrapped in money bands and consistent with the amount stolen during the robbery. Both suspects refused to identify themselves.

The employee was transported to a hospital with injuries that included bruising to both eyes, a cut on her tongue, a left orbital fracture and a broken clavicle, bleeding and bruising to the right side of her face.

Mitchell is on parole until Feb. 28, 2025, for robbery convictions according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records. He continues to be held without bond in the Scott County Jail.
The following are the Black Hills soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors killed or missing in action for April provided by the Black Hills War Monument Association.

Marine PFC Herbert Littleton of Spearfish. Littleton was killed in action on April 22, 1951 during the Korean War. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. He served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

Marine LCPL Arthur L. Mills of Pine Ridge was killed in action on April 12, 1968 in Vietnam. He served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, 3rd Marine Division.

Army SGT Colton Derr of Pennington County, was killed in action on April 28, 2012 in support of the Global War on Terror. He served with the U.S. Army's 1st Division.

Army MAJ Charles James Zurick of Lead went missing in action on April 9, 1942. He was a recipient of the Bronze Star. He commanded the 45th Infantry Philippine Scouts during WWII.
Conti Federal Services has been awarded a $70.5 million contract for the construction of a new B-21 Radio Frequency Facility at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

CFS is a leading U.S. government construction and engineering firm specializing in military and secure construction. The company has offices around the world and their Midwest headquarters in downtown Rapid City.

Awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District, the hangar is the seventh facility to enter construction in support of the Ellsworth B-21 beddown program. The construction project will provide a new, approximately 64,500-square-foot facility that will include an aircraft bay and associated back shop, administrative offices and facility support spaces.

This award is a significant win for the Conti Federal team, as this will be our first project at Ellsworth Air Force Base. It is a great opportunity for us to grow our relationships with local partners and the USACE Omaha District, Conti Federals Program Director, Ryan Kanzleiter said. We are very excited to begin work on the RF Hangar and to tap into our local team located out of our Rapid City office.

Work on the Radio Frequency Facility is estimated to be complete by September 2025.
One half of a federal courtroom gallery in Rapid City rose from their seats in support of disgraced spiritual leader Donald Eric Cross, 46, as he walked into the tall, windowless room for his first sentencing appearance on April 7.

"All rise," he chuckled before sitting down for the first day of his two-part sentencing for abusive sexual contact, a charge that appeared to scratch the surface of his conduct, according to testimony and dismissed charges.

Throughout the hearing  split between April 7 and Wednesday because of the number of people who wanted to take the stand  a picture of Cross the "medicine man," the "spiritual leader," and the "predator" began to emerge through a mist of tears and undying support.

Cross was a spiritual leader on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation who led sweats, sundances, and other traditional Lakota spiritual ceremonies on the reservation and in New Mexico. He also offered spiritual guidance, according to multiple peoples' testimony.

His brother, Lawrence Cross, said "he was a great spiritual person for me."

A man who travelled from New Mexico to speak on behalf of Cross said he knew him since he was a child and witnessed 20 years of Cross' work. He said he saw marriages fixed, people stop drinking and "countless people brought closer to God."

"The fall from grace has been punishment enough," he said.

The fall began in 2009 with two teenage girls seeking spiritual guidance. It ended on Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken sentenced Cross to 10 years in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release for abusive sexual contact, the maximum sentence.

On Nov. 28, 2009, the two girls  16 and 17 at the time  went to Cross house in the Kyle area.

The 17-year-old girl, now an adult, testified through a video conference that she and her friend went to Cross house for spiritual guidance. As the evening went on, Cross got alcohol from a shed. The girl said it was the first time she had ever drank.

I felt warm, she said.

She and her friend went to Cross room. He gave them clothes to sleep in, and they began to watch TV.

(He) climbed on top of me and did his thing, she said. I was really scared.

Joann "Uma" Wilkinson, who is the 16-year-olds grandmother, testified she was at the house at the time, and the plan was for the girls to sleep in a room with her.

As it got dark, she grew concerned about where the girls were, thinking they were outside somewhere. When she realized they were in Cross room, she told them to come out. Cross answered, Stay out of it, Uma. Theyre gonna stay in here.

Wilkinson fell asleep on the couch and woke up when the 17-year-old jumped into her arms saying, Help me. Help me. Im scared. Im scared of him. Im scared of Eric.

After getting both girls into a different bedroom, Wilkinson asked them what happened, and they wouldnt answer. The next morning, she took the girls on a long walk outside of the house, and they told her Cross had raped them.

One of the girls mothers picked them up, and they went to Indian Health Services for "rape kits", a process in which physical evidence is gathered. In a few years, the tribal case was dropped.

In 2018, everything took a turn when a Facebook post from one of Cross ex-wives surfaced and caught the attention of the FBI. Special Agent Chris Reinke testified he read a post by Charlotte Two Eagle about alleged abuse. Two Eagle had been married to Cross.

The FBI then reopened the case.

The rape kits were retested, Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Poppen said, and Cross matched. On May 21, 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Cross on two counts of sexual abuse for the November 2009 incidents. The indictment added aggravated sexual abuse for the alleged rape of a different 16-year-old girl in June 2012.

Reinke testified he discovered the 2012 allegation during his investigation. He said Cross went to the girl's parents house to help them prepare for a sundance ceremony. When the parents left the house for something, Cross took her to the bathroom and raped her.

She didnt tell anyone in the family for four years, according to testimony from her parents and sisters.

Her mother, wearing a t-shirt with the words women are sacred, on the back of it, told Cross, You are a disgrace to our people, to our tribe, to our ways.

Her sister said she wasnt the same after the assault, and withdrew from school and spending time with family. Her mother added she cant hug her daughter because of how traumatized she is.

I came to Eric because he was a relative, and I asked him to help me, but he fooled me. I was too trusting, her father said. I was taught that as a spiritual man, you are accountable to the people. You are only as good as you walk.

Lynette Adams, 46, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, also went to Cross for help. She ended up as the fourth person added to the indictment in the case. In July 2019, the government added a count to their indictment against Cross regarding Adams alleged sexual abuse in 2016.

Adams spoke with the Journal after the sentencing and wanted her name in this story.

When Cross pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact against the 17-year-old girl, the government agreed to drop the charges for the alleged assault on Adams and the two 16-year-old girls.

Adams whole body shook as she cried through her testimony Wednesday. She told the courtroom she decided to come forward with her experience when she learned about the allegations against Cross, especially since they included minors.

She met Cross in Montana at a sundance through another spiritual leader, who invited Cross into their ceremony circle in 2012, Adams said.

In 2014, that spiritual leader sexually assaulted a close relative of Adams, leaving her devastated. She testified she reached out to Cross seeking some kind of healing and grounding in my spiritual faith which had been destroyed by another spiritual leader.

After communicating for about a year and half, Adams was on a visit to the Black Hills with a friend. She said Cross told her he had suffered a cardiac event, so she bought sweetgrass and some other items in Rapid City and brought them to Cross on the reservation.

After she arrived, they ended up helping a family prepare for a sundance and then visited Cross sundance grounds. When they got back to Cross house around midnight, Adams said she was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

He offered for her to stay the night rather than drive to Sturgis, where she was staying.

The rape I experienced was very aggressive and violent in nature, she told the judge. I used all my strength I had to resist and begged him repeatedly to stop, until I was physically exhausted.

Adams said she sustained bruising on her arms, wrists and thighs. Immediately after, as the sun was just coming up, she went into the bathroom and dry heaved before getting in the shower and using every soap and conditioner.

I wanted him off of my body, she said.

Adams asked the judge to sentence Cross to the maximum.

I would like to think we live in a society that knows sexual violence is not to be tolerated, she said.

Cross spoke at length at his sentencing. He first spoke in Lakota before switching to English. He apologized to the court, the judge, the U.S. Marshals Service, the public defenders office, and the prosecution.

I admit my guilts. I admit my shortcomings, he said. My sins, my earthly attachments made me do bad things.

Cross didnt ask for leniency.

I wont ask for forgiveness because I know I will not be forgiven. I will die with these choosings, he said. I cannot say Im sorry enough for all of it.

Viken told Cross he could have easily seen a 20- to 30-year sentence, and the only reason he got a 10-year sentence was because of the limits Congress placed on federal judges.

You havent just fallen from grace, Viken said, noting the damage to the victims in the case and the victims whose names we may not know.

As Cross left the courtroom, he told his daughters to keep going and said, I love you all, even though you might not like it. Youre all still my relatives.

Cross case highlights the staggering statistic that 56% of Native American women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, according to a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study.
North Dakota lawmakers have all but finalized proposed revisions to the state's abortion laws.

The House of Representatives on Monday passed Senate Bill 2150 by Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, in a 76-14 vote, sending it back to the Senate for concurrence with amendments. The Senate in January had passed the bill, 43-4.

Myrdal told the Tribune she expects the Senate to agree with the changes and send the bill to Gov. Doug Burgum.

Post-ruling

The final revisions came in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling last month that upheld a temporary block of the state's abortion ban.

"Part of it was to try to help address the Supreme Court ruling that didn't exactly come out in favor of North Dakota's current abortion laws, so I think this better helps clarify things," House Human Services Committee Chair Robin Weisz, R-Hurdsfield, told the panel last week.

Myrdal has said the bill is to clear up language in the state's 2007 trigger ban and 2013 "heartbeat bill" in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion last year.

The court's Dobbs decision triggered North Dakota's ban, which prohibits virtually all abortions, but is temporarily blocked in state district court.

The "heartbeat bill" bans abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected -- as early as six weeks, when some women don't yet know they're pregnant -- except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with the law. Attorney General Drew Wrigley is appealing a federal block on the law in the wake of the Dobbs decision.

The House Human Services Committee had passed out Myrdal's bill for a House vote last month, just before the state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a district court judge's temporary block of the state's abortion ban.

The House panel reconsidered the bill and amended it Thursday, nearly a month after the ruling in the lawsuit brought by the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo. North Dakota's lone abortion clinic moved to Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion is still legal, following the Dobbs decision.

Weisz told the committee the amendments were "to help clean up, clarify a few things to try to make the law, the current 2150, to reflect some of the Supreme Court ruling."

The clinic, despite its move to Minnesota, is still challenging North Dakota's trigger law, which would ban virtually all abortions but for cases of rape and incest, and to protect the life of the mother.

The lawsuit continues in state district court after the state Supreme Court's ruling. Chief Justice Jon Jensen wrote in the court's majority opinion that "The North Dakota Constitution guarantees North Dakota citizens the right to enjoy and defend life and the right to pursue and obtain safety, which necessarily includes a pregnant woman has a fundamental right to obtain an abortion to preserve her life or her health."

Myrdal said the Supreme Court "decided to be legislators, to create or innovate a right in the constitution for the word 'health.'"

Wrigley last month blasted the ruling, saying the court "chooses a path of its very own, by holding there is now also an un-defined 'health' exception to abortion regulation."

Under the abortion ban, doctors could be charged with a Class C felony for performing an abortion during medical emergencies and in cases of rape or incest, but they could argue in court that the affirmative defenses for rape, incest and protection of the life of a mother outlined in the law protect them from criminal liability.

The bill would change the ban's affirmative defenses into exceptions, which supporters say would take the legal burden off medical providers.

The bill also would allow for abortions for rape and incest, but only before six weeks gestation. Myrdal has said "this was already law, no changes."

The House panel rejected amendments by Rep. Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, to change the six weeks to 12 weeks for "a woman who has been the victim of sexual violence in which a pregnancy results," and to include mental health in the bill's definition of health.

Myrdal's bill also would allow for treatment of ectopic pregnancies, a dangerous, nonviable scenario in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, and molar pregnancies, a nonviable, rare complication involving a tumor forming in the uterus.

The House amendments create a new chapter in state law for the bill, allow for the treatment of molar pregnancies, and redefine a "medical emergency" as a "serious health risk."

Debate

Several House Democrats opposed the bill, citing a 2014 statewide vote rejecting a measure to etch personhood rights "at any stage of development" into the state constitution, as well as the bill's impact on impregnated rape victims, its perceived infringement on religious rights, and the likelihood for further litigation.

"The people in this room do not belong in what is meant to be between a woman, her doctor, and if she so chooses, led by her faith and the support of her family," said Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette.

Republicans said the issue comes down to "life" and standing for unborn children.

Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, told the House, "This is a time that we have a chance to clean up language in our law, make some improvements to it, adjust to it due to the nature of what we did before the overturning of Roe v. Wade to what is being done now."

The Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion established in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Rep. Lori VanWinkle, R-Minot, said, "This is a law of God, and there is no law that can be a legitimate law that goes against God's law, and it's his law that says life is valuable, and we must uphold that."

Some House Republicans said the bill's six weeks provision is insufficient.

There is little time for someone who has been sexually assaulted to know she is pregnant and decide about an abortion in as little as one to two weeks of being late in her menstrual cycle, according to Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, R-Fargo.

"I don't think we've given enough time for someone who is a victim of a sexual assault to know that they're pregnant and to make a decision that has lifelong impacts for them," she told the House. Some rape victims can be girls as young as 10, she added.

Rep. Eric Murphy, R-Grand Forks, called six weeks "a pretty narrow standard ... especially in a woman who may have been raped, may have (become pregnant due to) incest, and frankly may not even know they're pregnant. It's a traumatic time for those individuals, and that trauma may continue for years."

House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, said, "We're speaking for those who can't speak for themselves. We need to protect their rights, too. At the end of the day, we passed a trigger law in 2007, and I have no idea why the North Dakota Supreme Court is legislating ... so we're going to send another message to the North Dakota Supreme Court. This is what this Legislature wants. We want pro-life in North Dakota."

Weisz's committee had given the bill a 10-2 "do pass" recommendation. Myrdal said the bill didn't change "radically," and is in a final form to go to the governor.

The Legislature this session also is handling numerous bills to aid pregnant women in the wake of the Dobbs decision, including proposals for additional funding for the state's alternatives to abortion, and to expand Medicaid assistance, among others.
Jajarkot, Nepal, April 20, 2023: At least four people were killed and four others injured when an under-construction Bailey bridge over the Bheri River collapsed at Tallu, Nalgadh Municipality-12 in Jajarkot district.





The police have confirmed the accident. However, the names and addresses of the deceased are yet to be ascertained.





Likewise, two persons were killed on the spot in a road accident along the East-West Highway at Lalbandi Municipality-6.





According to the reports, the deceased have been identified as Shrawan Kumar Mahato of Gaushala Municipality-11 in Mahottari and his nephew Bikram Kumar Mahato.




Your chance to dine at Richmond-area restaurants while donating to Feed More, central Virginias core hunger-relief organization, returns this week through Sunday with Richmond Restaurant Week.

This year, over 30 locally owned restaurants are serving up three-course meals for $35.23, including a $5.23 donation directly to Feed More.

Aline Reitzer, co-owner of Acacia Midtown, started Richmond Restaurant Week in 2001 as a way to help restaurants give back.

We started with nine restaurants participating, and were up to 30-plus, Reitzer said. They are all locally owned. This is about restaurants banding together and putting their best foot forward to feed people in need.

Every dollar donated to Feed More helps provide four meals for seniors, kids and individuals in need. Since it began, Richmond Restaurant Week has supplied more than 3.2 million meals. One in 9 individuals and 1 in 6 children in central Virginia face food insecurity, according to Feed More.

Its an opportunity for people to do what they do every single day and give back to the community, Reitzer said. Many people take it for granted that they can go out to a restaurant, and there are many people who cant even put food on their plate.

Here are just a few examples of sample menus at participating restaurants:

At Juleps, choose from fried green tomatoes, fried oysters and boudin balls (which are rice and pork sausage balls with tomato-ginger jam) for the first course, Juleps signature shrimp and grits with Gulf shrimp and cheddar grits, apple cider-braised pork shank or a grilled bistro steak with duck fat-fried fingerling potatoes for the main course and a chocolate torte with berry coulis or bourbon pecan pie for dessert.

At Laura Lees, appetizer choices include chilled spring pea soup, fried shrimp with spicy remoulade, and steak tartare with sauce gribiche and grilled sourdough, while mains include bistro steak with potato salad and spring pea salsa verde, grilled swordfish with coconut curry broth, fingerling potatoes, soybeans and asparagus or seared scallops with farro, fava beans, Edwards ham vinaigrette and mint.

View a full list of participating restaurants at rrweek.com. Sample menus from select participating restaurants can be found below.

Of course, many restaurants are already booked, but dont forget you can often snag a seat at the bar. Reitzer also suggests calling restaurants if they look booked online and asking about a waitlist for cancellations.

Acacia Midtown is one of the participating restaurants in its new Libbie Mill-Midtown home, and the menu spans classic Acacia favorites, such as the crabcakes, as well as new dishes, including salmon tartare. Although there arent many reservations left for restaurant week, Acacia saves tables and half the bar for walk-ins.

We love the community aspect of this event, said Christy Dalton, community engagement manager for Feed More. Were all about helping our neighbors in need, but this is a great way to help our neighboring businesses and encourage people to try somewhere new they havent been before.

After the pandemic, the folks at Feed More were excited to see Richmond Restaurant Week come back stronger than ever. Its a great way to get out and support restaurants that have struggled, Dalton said. Youre not just helping someone get a meal, youre supporting local restaurants as well.

Reitzer says they havent decided what year to say this is for Richmond Restaurant Week with COVID-19 closures, but they know theyve been raising funds for over 20 years. The special week used to take place only once a year, but now it happens twice, with the second week scheduled for Oct. 23-29 this year.

This is an institution, and people expect it and look forward to it, she said. To be part of it is wonderful. The response we get from the Richmond community to stand behind and support this event, and the restaurants that want to participate, its heartwarming.

Check out a few sample menus from restaurants participating in Richmond Restaurant Week:

Participating Restaurants in Richmond Restaurant Week 2023 21 Spoons Acacia Midtown Alewife Bar Solita Birdie's Casa del Barco Common House Conejo East Coast Provisions Island Shrimp Co. JewFro Julep's New Southern Cuisine Laura Lee's Kabana Rooftop Nama Indian Quirk Hotel Lobby Bar & Q Rooftop Rowland's Fine Dining Sam Miller's Southbound Southern Kitchen Tarrant's Downtown Tarrant's West Tazza Kitchen Scott's Addition The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing The Boathouse at Sunday Park The Boathouse at City Point The Daily Kitchen & Bar The Daily Kitchen & Bar Short Pump The Hard Shell The Hard Shell Bellgrade The Roosevelt The Shaved Duck West Coast Provisions
Its not every day the North Chesterfield neighborhood of Bon Air gets a new restaurant. Even more rare, the chance at a free lunch.

On Wednesday, more than 200 people lined up at Genovas Pizza Station & Take Out Kitchen at 2723 Buford Road just off Huguenot Road to get a free taste of the New York-style pizza, eggplant rollatini and paninis piled high with fresh mozzarella and pesto.

The restaurant has been more than four years in the making from Sicilian brothers Filippo and Gaetano Genova, who also own Pizza Express and Casa Italiana in western Henrico. The restaurant was originally planned to open a year ago, but delays and renovations pushed back the opening.

People have been calling me, asking: when are you going to open? Filippo Genova said.

The Genovas purchased the building in 2018, but the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues slowed down the renovations. Theyre joined with Mike Jafari, a refugee from Turkey who became a delivery driver for Pizza Express, in the venture.

Genovas Pizza Kitchen boasts a massive Italian menu with pizza, stromboli, calzones, paninis, sandwiches, pastas, salads and entrees. Genova said its a blend of the more-casual Pizza Express menu with the fine dining menu of Casa Italiana.

Many of the dishes draw on the Genova brothers Sicilian roots, such as a porchetta panini served on focaccia with roasted pork, broccoli rabe, potato, rosemary and provolone ($13) and the New York-style pizzas ($13-$26) topped with a variety of fresh ingredients.

The pizzas are our specialty. We make the dough and the sauce fresh every day, Genova said.

The restaurant features a white-tiled front counter and a glass case where the days specials, sandwiches, salads and pizzas can be showcased.

A giant pizza oven that can hold up to 28 pizzas spins at the front of the kitchen. Genovas Pizza Station also offers rotisserie chicken ($13-$27), which is marinated Italian style and served with side dishes such as roasted potatoes with onions and rosemary or pasta salad, green bean salad or cauliflower salad.

These are our dishes from Sicily. Like our grandmothers recipe for lasagna, Genova said.

The dine-in or takeout restaurant offers seating for up to 36 inside and a covered patio that seats 16. There is parking in front and behind the restaurant.

During the four years he was working on the restaurant, Genova said he was also contacted by other restaurants looking to rent the building. Bon Air is notoriously short on restaurants, with Southbound, Joes Inn Bon Air and Chicken Fiesta, among others, as the main options in the neighborhood, with some newer additions like Chicano Boy in the Huguenot Village Shopping Center and Abuelitas a bit farther afield on Midlothian Turnpike.

Theres not much out here, Genova said.

When the last free slice of pizza was given away, the Genova brothers and Jafari turned away disappointed visitors, but shook hands and handed out menus, inviting them back to the restaurant when it reopened for a paid dinner service.

Theyve been waiting a long time, Genova said. Were happy to be here and in the neighborhood.

PHOTOS: Genova's Pizza Station & Take Out Kitchen
Eat, Pray, Love is so over  ladies, weve officially entered the Threaten, Extort, Kill era.

This unusual new ethos of empowerment is the guiding theory behind Catherine Hardwickes crime comedy-feminist manifesto Mafia Mamma, starring Toni Collette as Kristin, a harried American mom and marketing exec who discovers her own power after she ascends to the top of an Italian crime family.

Elizabeth Gilberts 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love and its subsequent film adaptation starring Julia Roberts loom large in Mafia Mamma, as Kristin and her best friend, Jenny (Sophia Nomvete), fantasize about escaping to a land of gelato, pasta and Italian hunks after Kristin walks in on her dirtbag man-child husband, Paul (Tim Daish), mid coitus with the school guidance counselor.

The two pals put a crude twist on the book title, but the imagined sensual pleasures remain, inspiring Kristin to make a last-minute trip to Italy for the funeral of her estranged grandfather, Giuseppe Balbano (Alessandro Bressanello).

After the funeral turns into a shootout in the cobblestone streets of a medieval Italian village, Kristin is shocked to discover that her grandfather, a vintner of terrible wines, was the Don of the Balbano crime family, and he has selected her as his replacement.

A 40-something mom in sensible sneaks as a Mafia Donna? Its a premise ripe for fish-out-of-water comedy, out of which Collette and Hardwicke wring every last drop.

Collettes performance of a ditzy, flirty, overwhelmed, horny and generally clueless American woman is so perfectly embodied as to enter the realm of parody, but the script, by Amanda Sthers, J. Michael Feldman and Debbie Jhoon, never condescends its heroine, nor does it require her to change.

Sure, she gets a glamorous Mafia makeover courtesy of her right-hand woman, Bianca (Monica Bellucci), but Kristin succeeds because of her incongruously feminine qualities, not in spite of them.

She leans into her whims and desires, transforming the Balbano crime family business into a matriarchy, producing fabulous wines and engaging in drug trafficking of the medicinal, not recreational, variety.

In return, her loyal soldiers teach her a thing or two about demanding respect, especially from her ex-husband, Paul, who turns up looking for her, flabbergasted by the powerful woman he sees before him, though still not granting her due.

Bianca also encourages Kristin not to throw away everything shes built for a man, even if he is a pasta-making hunk named Lorenzo (Giulio Corso).

Collette goes for broke in her performance, and Hardwicke juggles the tone, style and genre play with ease, smuggling in a surprisingly radical message about an overtaxed middle-aged woman finding her bliss and earning the dignity she deserves through the traditional customs of her crime family.

In this daring, and utterly charming, take on a womans midlife crisis, embracing the Mafia lifestyle means having her gelato and eating it, too.
This years Record Store Day 2023 takes place Saturday, with the promise of hundreds of new collectibles and rarities to bring thousands of music fans to stores across the United States and beyond.

Although the big-name rock and pop offerings will draw the most attention, there are plenty of cool items for jazz fans as well.

Here are four that wed certainly want to spin:

Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Studio Sessions in Holland, Chet Baker

Fans of the acclaimed trumpeter-vocalist will certainly dig these rare recordings, which reportedly have gone unheard since they were originally aired by Dutch radio station KRO-NCRV some 44 years ago. The two-LP set arrives for Record Store Day via the Jazz Detective Label, followed by double-CD and digital versions April 28.

Live at Jazz Workshop 1970, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

This one is a Record Store Day exclusive, which means Blakey fans will likely have to visit a participating store if they want to get their hands on this previously unreleased recording. It includes such titles as Autumn in New York and East of the Sun (and West of the Moon). Its served up as a single LP by Gearbox Records.

Queen Talk: Live at the Left Bank, Shirley Scott

The great jazz organist combines forces with saxophonist George Coleman and drummer Bobby Durham (as well as guest vocalist Ernie Andrews on three tracks) in this never-before-released 1972 concert recording from Baltimore. Its being made available as a two-LP set by Jazz Detective and Reel to Real Records.

Europe 1966, Albert Ayler

The four-LP box set from ORG Music highlights the free jazz giant performing with trumpeter Donald Ayler (Alberts brother), violinist Michel Samson, bassist William Folwell and drummer Beaver Harris during shows in Berlin and Lorrach, Germany, and Stockholm and Paris.
Henrico County police say an active shooter call that prompted a lockdown and major emergency response at a county middle school Tuesday afternoon was a false summons.

Police responded to a call at Holman Middle School in Glen Allen shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday reporting an active shooter situation. The call also prompted a response from fire officials and other first responders.

Just after 3, HPD/HFD responded to reports of an active shooter in the 600 block of Concourse Blvd. - Holman Middle School. There is NO active threat and NO injuries. HCPS and HPD are working together to continue to clear the school. Multiple resources are on the scene. pic.twitter.com/wGqz8SCFtO  Henrico Police (@HenricoPolice) April 18, 2023

The school was under a lock and hide status while police swept the school and the surrounding area. Officers ultimately determined that there was no threat to the school, and no injuries have been reported.

The safety of our students, faculty and first responders is of utmost importance, Henrico police spokesman Lt. Matt Pecka said in a statement Thursday praising the partnership among Henrico police, the countys Division of Fire and Henrico County Public Schools in quickly responding to the call.

Police identified two seventh-grade students, one male and one female, as being involved in the threat. Both students were issued a juvenile violation report for breaking Virginias law against falsely summoning law enforcement, a Class 1 misdemeanor.

The students were released to their parents, pending a review from the juvenile justice system.

Henrico police have encouraged students to report inappropriate behavior to school administrators and urged parents to have age-appropriate conversations about the consequences of such behavior.

From the archives: 100 photos of Pony Pasture
The suspect sought in a brutal attack on a woman near the landmark Poe Museum has been arrested and charged with attempted murder, the Richmond Police Department said Thursday.

Ladell Holmes, 23, was apprehended late Wednesday by officers from the Fourth Precinct at a hotel along Chamberlayne Avenue. Police said he was taken into custody without incident and charged with attempted murder.

Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards credited the public and the media with the arrest, which came less than 48 hours after authorities held a news conference, released a photo of Holmes and asked for the publics assistance while also warning it not to approach him, but only to make note of his location and clothing.

There is no way to overstate the value to the community when we all come together to make for a safer city, Edwards said. Media coverage, information from the public, diligent detective work and quick action from patrol officers were all components of this successful apprehension.

Mayor Levar Stoney also commended the public and the police.

I am glad to see an arrest has been made on this horrific assault and that weve gotten a bad actor off our streets, he said. It has been my administrations goal to make our city and streets safer and thanks to new cutting-edge technology, the community coming together, and the diligent work of the Richmond Police Department, we are doing just that.

I pray for a swift recovery for the victim, he added.

Business leaders were relieved that an arrest in the attack in the trendy Shockoe Bottom area had been made.

Jake Crocker, president of the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the community was relieved at the apprehension of the perpetrator of this heinous and unprovoked act.

We are grateful for the diligent work of the Richmond Police Department to secure justice on behalf of our neighbor and those that love and care about her, Crocker said.

On March 26, officers were called to the first block of North 19th Street at around 11:35 p.m. where they found the victim, a woman, who told police that Holmes had assaulted her in an alley, seriously injuring her leg and strangling her.

When police released the photo of Powell on Tuesday, Sgt. Anthony Catoggio with RPD Major Crimes and the Aggravated Assault Division described what he saw on the surveillance video.

You see the victim is just walking and you see the suspect coming up behind, and just a violent assault takes place after that, Catoggio explained. The suspect did strangle the victim and he did severely injure her leg.

Anyone with additional information about the incident is asked to contact Detective Wayne Hartley of the Major Crimes unit at (804) 646-4314 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at (804) 780-1000.

50 photos from the RTD Archives
Major crimes in Richmond ticked up by 2% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards told the public Wednesday in a briefing held at the departments headquarters downtown.

Violent crime dropped by 7% year-over-year, despite a 31% increase in homicides, but property crime  up 3%  is a much larger percentage of crimes committed, leading to the overall increase.

The numbers show that rapes fell by 38% and individual robberies and aggravated assaults dropped by around 15% each, driving the total drop in violent crime. The number of nonfatal shootings dropped as well, down 22% so far in 2023.

Among property crimes, arson is down nearly 45%, and burglary fell by roughly 15%. But all other larceny rose by 7%, and auto theft increased by 3%.

Catalytic converter thefts, a persistent issue throughout 2022, fell by 66% in the first part of 2023. Meanwhile, other thefts from motor vehicles, including the theft of firearms, rose by 10% in the first quarter of 2023, continuing a troubling trend from 2022.

Edwards noted that Marquan Mitchell-Nash, the 13-year-old killed on Stockton Street in March, had been shot with a gun stolen from a car in the neighborhood just 18 hours earlier. He said the department had used funds from the pandemic American Rescue Plan Act to purchase 70 gun safes and distribute them to legal gun owners in the community in the hopes that no mother has to go through what Marquans mother had to go through.

One unexpectedly prevalent crime in 2023 has been shoplifting, with more than 400 incidents so far in 2023  a 48% increase on 2022 and nearly 20% of all property crime.

Edwards said more than half of the shoplifting has taken place at the citys ABC stores, and that a joint operation between RPD and ABCs law enforcement division had already led to five arrests.

Edwards also touted successes from Operation Red Ball, the citys new data-driven policing initiative, saying it had led to 45 felony arrests, 32 misdemeanor arrests and 39 firearms seized in the first quarter.

Mayor Levar Stoneys office declined to comment on the crime statistics.

In addition to giving updated crime numbers, Edwards identified Fourth Precinct officers Keegan Mills and Jakob Torres as the officers involved in the March 31 shooting of James Talbert III, who was suspected of killing his wife earlier that day.

Video released earlier this month as part of a critical incident briefing, a new department policy to release key audio and video evidence from officer-involved shootings to the public within two weeks, showed Talbert shooting at the officers first when they confronted him in a parking lot on North Avenue.

The critical incident briefings are part of a larger push by Edwards to rebuild trust in the police through an emphasis on transparency and community engagement.

Its not something weve done in the past except on very limited occasions, Edwards said. But I want to set that expectation (for) the media, within about two weeks, to expect produced video like that.

Talberts family, the officers, the Commonwealths Attorneys office and other community leaders were all consulted before the release of the video, Edwards said.

Edwards said investigations are still ongoing, first at the Commonwealths Attorneys office to determine if any crime had been committed, then with RPD internal affairs to assess whether any department policies were broken. In the meantime, Mills and Torres remain on administrative leave.

I think its best practice for me to be as transparent as possible and let the video speak for itself, Edwards said. I dont want to jeopardize the investigation.

Asked for updates on the search for a permanent chief of police, Edwards closed the briefing by saying that he has applied for the role but has not heard anything beyond that.

If Im selected to interview, he said, Ill wear my shiny shoes and do my best.

Today in history: April 19 1865: Abraham Lincoln 1897: Boston Marathon 1989: USS Iowa 1993: David Koresh 1995: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building 2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger 2012: Levon Helm 2015: Freddie Gray 2017: Aaron Hernandez 2021: Walter Mondale
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Nearly six years after a large gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville erupted in violent clashes with counterprotesters, a grand jury in Virginia has indicted multiple people on felony charges for carrying flaming torches with the intent to intimidate.

The Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said in a news release that the indictments relate to an event on Aug. 11, 2017. That's when a group of white nationalists carrying torches marched through the campus of the University of Virginia, some chanting, Jews will not replace us."

Commonwealth's Attorney James Hingeley did not say in the release how many people have been indicted and did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment on Tuesday. According to electronic court records, the indictments against three people have been unsealed, including William Zachary Smith, of Nacona, Texas; Tyler Bradley Dykes, of Bluffton, South Carolina; and Dallas Medina, of Ravenna, Ohio.

Each is charged with a single count of burning an object with the intent of intimidating a person or group of people. The charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

Smith's attorney, Cody Villalon, declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday. Dykes and Medina do not have the name of any attorneys listed in electronic court records.

The indictments, which were issued in February but only recently unsealed, come almost six years after violence broke out during two days of demonstrations by the largest gathering of white nationalists in a decade.

Clashes began on the night of Aug. 11, 2017, during the torch march, and continued the following day, when a Unite the Right rally was planned. James Alex Fields Jr., a white supremacist from Maumee, Ohio, rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens. Fields is serving a life sentence for murder and hate crimes.

Prosecutors said the indictments were issued as part of a criminal investigation that is active and ongoing, adding they work with law enforcement to investigate, analyze applicable laws, and bring charges when appropriate.

This is our process regardless of how much time has passed or where the alleged offenders may be found, they said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has promised to step up enforcement in Pennsylvania of Chesapeake Bay cleanup rules that the state has been flouting and that the agency let slip during the Trump administration.

The promise comes through a settlement of lawsuits filed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, watermens groups, a Shenandoah Valley farmer and the states of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware as well as the District of Columbia, complaining that the federal agency was not doing its job during the Trump administration.

Pennsylvania is the source of roughly half the water in the bay and of 70% to 80% of the nitrogen pollution that feeds the algae that cause summers huge dead zones  the oxygen-starved areas that kill fish and shellfish, including Virginias vital crab and oyster fisheries.

"This is a welcome change, said Hilary Harp Falk, president of the bay foundation. "The Trump administration did not use its Clean Water Act tools to hold all Bay partners accountable. By signing this agreement, the Biden administration has taken a significant step forward in meeting that obligation.

Anne Arundel County, Maryland, county executive Steuart Pittman, whose county joined the lawsuits, said: I do think that the 2020 elections helped. We have a president who is on board.

In the settlement, the Environmental Protection Agency promised to step up its efforts to enforce pollution standards and monitor Pennsylvanias compliance.

The settlement zooms in on livestock operations, including small ones that so far have not been required to get permits that regulate what animal wastes flow into the groundwater and streams, said bay foundation attorney Jon Mueller.

In addition to agreeing to identify feeding operations in Pennsylvanias portion of the bay watershed that are potential problems, the EPA said it would step in next year and through 2025 to enforce pollutant discharges from those farms if Pennsylvania is not making sufficient progress toward its 2025 goals to clean up its waters flowing into the bay.

While it has the authority to do so, it had not been, Mueller said.

The bay foundations latest study of progress toward meeting those 2025 water quality goals for the bay said Pennsylvania remains significantly off track and will not meet its own promises for 2025.

While wastewater treatment is on target, it has not been enough to make up for the lack of progress elsewhere, as has been the case in Virginia.

The scale of the agricultural challenge in Pennsylvania is enormous; more than 90 percent of remaining pollution reductions are expected from farms, the bay foundation study said.

It found Pennsylvania is 25% more off target for nitrogen pollution coming from farms and septic systems and is similarly off track with levels actually increasing from urban and suburban runoff.

Pennsylvania is also off track by 25% or more for phosphorus pollution from farms, cities and suburbs.

Phosphorus, like nitrogen, feeds the algae that cause dead zones.

While Pennsylvania has a bay cleanup plan, it achieves only about 73% of the states 31-million-pounds goal for nitrogen. The plan does set out a way to meet Pennsylvania's target for phosphorus reduction, but The resources to implement it do not currently exist, the foundations study said.

The plan itself estimates it would need $521 million a year through 2025 for implementation, but there is a current funding shortfall of nearly $324 million a year.

Virginia remains on track to achieve its 2025 pollution-reduction commitments, largely due to wastewater treatment plants.

For now, that is keeping Virginia on track overall, even though the state is not meeting commitments to reduce polluted runoff from agriculture and urban and suburban areas.
Its now legal to possess up to one ounce of marijuana in Virginia. But theres no legal way to buy it or sell it, and now, on 4/20, a day celebrated for cannabis consumption, almost two years after legalization, it appears the creation of a legal marketplace wont come to the state anytime soon.

Democrats who passed the legislation in 2021 set a goal of legal marijuana commerce by 2024. Now Republicans control the governors mansion and the House of Delegates, and theyve hit the brakes.

Maybe its for the best that Virginia doesnt have a legal marketplace, said Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice. Some large manufacturers in other states have been accused of suppressing unionization efforts and maltreating workers. Virginia legislators recently have shown little movement toward giving Black small business owners a leg up in the industry or releasing people imprisoned for marijuana offenses.

Having no legal market is better than having the wrong legal market, she said. So why not keep the status quo?

What would be wrong with being able to grow it and not feeding into a corporate cannabis system? she said.

Marijuana possession became legal in Virginia in July 2021  adults 21 and older can possess up to one ounce, but they cant consume it in public.

The law includes a $25 fine for possessing more than an ounce but less than a pound, and a $25 fine for adults under the age of 21 but over 18 possessing it.

Since theres no way to buy it or sell it, residents must grow it themselves or obtain a prescription from a doctor for medical marijuana and visit a licensed dispensary, such as gLeaf, which has four locations in the Richmond area.

Democrats, who at the time controlled both chambers of the General Assembly and the governors office, never sorted out how to implement a legal marketplace. They wanted to give Black small business owners a head start, given how Black people were disproportionately arrested and charged with marijuana crimes. They also pushed to release those sent to prison for marijuana convictions.

Now Republicans have gained more power. The 2023 General Assembly session came and went without legislation passed to help implement a marketplace.

I think that it means that Virginia isnt going to accept any type of legal market that is proposed, Higgs Wise said.

If Virginia were to allow a marketplace that benefits big business, that would be worse than the status quo, she said. Other states have opened marketplaces, allowed large manufacturers to set up shop, and some states have experienced negative consequences.

The largest marijuana producer in New Jersey, called Curaleaf, almost lost its license after it shut down a cultivation facility that caused 40 employees to lose their jobs and was accused of interfering with its employees efforts to unionize.

In Massachusetts, a 27-year-old cannabis warehouse employee died last year. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said she succumbed to occupational asthma due to exposure to ground cannabis. OSHA claimed employees hadnt been properly trained, a Boston television station reported.

Virginia doesnt have to follow this path, Higgs Wise said. The idea that we have to do it this way is a lie.

So Virginia operates without stores where customers can walk in, peruse the products and make a purchase. Because access is harder, the price is higher.

According to a survey conducted by real estate company Clever and a national cannabis retailer called Leafly, marijuana is more expensive in Richmond than the national average. An ounce of high-quality marijuana costs $355 here, compared with the national average of $316.

The survey looked at 31 large- and medium-size cities where possession is legal. Richmond ranked last for marijuana access, based on the rate of cannabis-prescribing doctors, the rate of dispensaries and the quality of dispensaries.

Pivoting to hemp

While marijuana legislation has stalled, lawmakers have pivoted to regulating the hemp industry.

This month, the General Assembly approved Gov. Glenn Youngkins amendments to bills that more tightly regulate the states hemp industry and limit the amount of the psychoactive compound in hemp products. Hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the same basic plant, cannabis sativa.

Hemp often has less of the psychoactive compound that produces a high, THC. But some products do have enough to intoxicate. Poison control centers in the state said theyve received an uptick in calls for children becoming ill after consuming hemp products, such as candy.

Numerous health care associations wrote to Youngkin last month, saying Virginia needed a law to close this loophole and adequately prohibit the retail sale of unregulated products with intoxicating levels of THC.

Hemp products can include creams advertised to relieve pain and tablets to reduce stress.

Legislators passed a bill that limits hemp products to no more than 0.3% THC and a 25-to-1 ratio of CBD to THC. Youngkin supports the measure.

CBD is a compound that does not create a psychoactive effect on the consumer. CBD products, such as oils and soaps, are marketed to relieve pain.

But Democrats opposed to the bill said it encourages consumers to seek out illegal products with higher levels of THC or synthetic versions.

Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, said the bills would create an illicit THC market. Jason Amatucci, president of the Virginia Hemp Coalition, said the bills go too far and take nonintoxicating products off store shelves.

Legalizations effect

Still, legalization of marijuana has left its mark on Richmond. Cannabis seems to have taken hold at Virginia Commonwealth University in a way that it hasnt at other colleges. Alcohol violations at the school have plummeted 93% in the past five years. When students were asked why, some said it was because VCU students were more interested in marijuana than alcohol.

Way more people smoke weed than drink, Nikolett Kormos, a freshman studying physical therapy, said last year.

Other colleges havent seen similar drops in alcohol violations. Marijuana apparently hasnt displaced alcohol in the community at large, either.

The McShin Foundation, which treats drug and alcohol addiction, did not experienced a decline in the number of people arriving for alcohol addiction in the first year after marijuana was legalized, John Shinholser, the foundations former president, said last year.

Shinholser said he supports legalized consumption and sale of cannabis for adults. The vast majority of users dont abuse it or transition to harder drugs, he said.

As for 4/20, its association with cannabis reportedly started with five California teenagers in 1971 who got together to smoke it  at 4:20 in the afternoon.

States with the highest revenue from cannabis taxes States with the highest revenue from cannabis taxes #11. Maine #10. California #9. Massachusetts #8. Michigan #7. Arizona #6. Illinois #5. Oregon #4. Alaska #3. Washington #2. Nevada #1. Colorado
Richard A. Stewart is someone that Petersburg  and anyone who ever met him  is unlikely to ever forget.

Tall and loquacious, Mr. Stewart regaled visitors to his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island, a small community in the middle of the Appomattox River that had been a mecca for free Black people before the Civil War and a clandestine stop on the Underground Railroad. He was born and raised there, but emerged as the communitys voice and conscience after a powerful tornado ripped through Pocahontas and historic downtown Petersburg on Aug. 6, 1993.

He would say later that the catastrophe was a destructive godsend, opening up the secluded Black community to the rest of Petersburg and inviting racial unity that he would foster as the Mayor of Pocahontas Island, an honorary title that then-Mayor Rosalyn Dance and the city bestowed on him in 2003. He carried it the rest of his life, appearing regularly at meetings of Petersburg City Council.

Hes always been a voice for us, said Dance, a former state senator and delegate, who became his friend after the tornado.

Mr. Stewart, 79, died at his home on Pocahontas on April 13 after a sudden illness, according to his obituary, published on Wednesday. His devotion on Pocahontas and Petersburg issues will be missed, the obituary states. And he did stand tall and Represent.

The City of Petersburg announced his death with profound sadness and said he leaves an indelible, unmatched, and inspiring legacy to the city.

Mr. Stewart marveled at a journey that took him from poverty, through high school and college to the U.S. Army and then a civil service career at Defense General Supply Center at Bellwood in nearby Chesterfield County.

My words of wisdom are dream big and dream often, but dream in reality, he said in a video that Petersburg posted on the city website.

In the video, Mr. Stewart recalled how he took up the history of Pocahontas and the welfare of its people as the cause of his life.

This is what I just had to do, he said. Its just something in the spirit in this area that I cant express, that told me, Richard, youve got to do this because if you dont put this together while youre living, no telling whats going to happen. 

Mr. Stewart collected more than 200 artifacts, many given to him by friends, that helped tell the story of Pocahontas, founded in 1732 and made part of Petersburg in 1784. It was the first community for free Black people in the United States and was home to as many as 1,200 people before the Civil War.

He created the museum at the beginning of 2003 in his house of Witten Street, where he would welcome visitors to talk about the history of the community and the slave trade.

Richard in his wisdom truly believed, We cannot as a country move forward as a nation of people until we know where we have been as a people. And then the healing can begin,  his obituary states.

Mr. Stewart emerged as a public voice for Pocahontas and Petersburg on Aug. 6, 1993, when 18 tornadoes touched down in different parts of southern Virginia. The most powerful, rated F4, ripped through historic downtown Petersburg and crossed the river into Pocahontas, heavily damaging or destroying over 80% of the homes, the National Weather Service said.

The storm injured 40 people and destroyed or damaged more than 100 buildings in Petersburg and Pocahontas before crossing into Colonial Heights, killing three people in the collapse of a Walmart store there and injuring nearly 200, the weather service said.

In 2020, Mr. Stewart lamented the demolition of a house on Pocahontas Island, a structure built sometime between 1809 and 1830, that was tied through oral history to the Underground Railroad.

Mr. Stewart had stepped forward as an unelected leader to bring help to Pocahontas and the surrounding area. Petersburg still marks the anniversary as Richard A. Stewart Day. He remained passionately involved in civic affairs until his death.

Petersburg is a nice little city ... and I think its growing, he said in the video. Give it a chance.

Mr. Stewart is survived by his daughter, Cynthia Mason, and son-in-law John Mason; sisters Edna Stewart-Johnson, Annie Stewart and Clementine Stewart-Patterson; and longtime partner Amanda Wyatt.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 418 Halifax St., in Petersburg. J.M. Wilkerson Funeral Establishment Inc. will show the service live online at jmwilkersonsince1874.com.

Close Richard A. Stewart walks down Witten St. past one of his properties on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. Pocahontas Island. Pastor Angie Kelley Mason, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Pastor Angie Kelley Mason, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Richard Stewart, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Leander Wilson Jones, 59, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Richard Stewart, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Leander Wilson Jones, 59, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. The sign next to the home of Ceddy Erwin, 49, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Ceddy Erwin, 49, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Richard A.Stewart on the grounds of his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. Richard A.Stewart on the grounds of his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. Richard A.Stewart inside his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. PHOTOS: Petersburg's historic Pocahontas Island Richard A. Stewart walks down Witten St. past one of his properties on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. Pocahontas Island. Pastor Angie Kelley Mason, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Pastor Angie Kelley Mason, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Richard Stewart, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Leander Wilson Jones, 59, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Richard Stewart, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Leander Wilson Jones, 59, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. The sign next to the home of Ceddy Erwin, 49, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Ceddy Erwin, 49, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Mary B. Cox, 90, a resident of Pocahontas Island. Richard A.Stewart on the grounds of his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. Richard A.Stewart on the grounds of his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015. Richard A.Stewart inside his Black History Museum on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg, VA Fri. Dec. 4, 2015.
In January 1960, Virginias governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and a passel of legislators  nearly all of them Democrats of the conservative bourbon variety and a goodly number party to public school closings two years earlier in defiance of court-ordered desegregation  took a field trip to a land of wonder, a place few knew and fewer could imagine would become the tail that wags the dog: the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Jim Latimer, the politics reporter and columnist who over four decades chronicled for the Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginias transformation from a rural backwater preoccupied with race to a multihued suburban dynamo, tagged along, reporting that NoVas endless construction, rapidly expanding population and traffic jams  even 63 years ago, they vexed the region  augured profound change for RoVa, the Rest of Virginia.

The political implications were not immediately clear, but some of the vote-conscious visitors were inclined to wonder what might happen to the old statewide political order if the tremendous wave of new residents were to unite at the polls and strike some blows of enlightened self-interest, wrote Latimer.

In the succeeding years, the political implications became crystal clear.

Northern Virginia, fatted by its rich Uncle Sam across the Potomac River and the lucrative opportunities that created for from-heres and come-heres, fueled the rise of the center-right Republican Party, beginning in the late 1960s. Then, the region became a two-party battleground. For most of the past two decades, it has generally backed a more left than center Democratic Party.

But is the party over for Northern Virginia, a place from which increasing numbers are moving out, rather than moving in? And what might that mean for the states politics, where the suburban-rural divide that has become so uneven that the voting power of fewer than a dozen cities and counties in eastern Virginia, including four in Northern Virginia, can decide the outcome of a statewide election.

The origins of this 21st century reality can be traced to a 20th century event: World War II. Boundless defense spending and the in-migration it engendered put in place the rough outline of the suburban-dominated Virginia we know today.

Latimer wrote of Northern Virginia with prescience, suggesting its residents, many of whom were non-natives, could have a profound impact on all Virginians. Their effect would be greatest on the conservative rural belt on the border with North Carolina that had ruled the state since the early 1900s: If they should pull together, they could become  along with other growing urban-suburban complexes around Richmond, Norfolk and Roanoke  a challenge to the massively Democratic voting power with which Southside Virginia has long dominated Virginia politics.

Its difficult to imagine that Northern Virginia would suddenly wither. It is a symbol of Virginias dependence on federal largesse, which accounts for about 30% of the state economy. That Amazon, the online behemoth, is building its East Coast headquarters in Northern Virginia and the region is fiercely competing with suburban Maryland for the FBIs new main office are reminders that it remains a desirable address, though such projects increase upward pressure on housing prices and clog some of the best public schools in the nation.

Both trends are forcing Northern Virginians  actual and aspiring  to settle elsewhere in the state. This could mean Northern Virginias increasingly blue brand of politics will take root in red areas, not necessarily to change their preferred color but to introduce, if only incrementally, the challenges  economic and educational  that are driving residents from a close-in D.C. suburb such as Fairfax County.

The latest snapshots of Virginias population, the growth of which is slowing because birth rates arent keeping up with departures for other states, shows that the seemingly unthinkable is taking place in Northern Virginia  the bustling, diverse and expensive seat of the states knowledge economy: people are leaving, in some cases for areas of the state less bustling, less diverse and less expensive.

Or in the words of the Steven Fuller Institute for Research on the Washington Regions Economic Future, at George Mason University, Our trends in domestic migration remain troubling. ... Some of the losses among the core large jurisdictions became gains in more distant suburbs.

In Northern Virginia, the largest of these large jurisdictions is Fairfax County. Its population  it was 275,000 when Latimer filed that report under an Alexandria dateline  is now 1.2 million, having grown about a half-percentage point from 2022, according to the U.S. Census. But the Fuller Institute reports that as of July 2022, the county had lost about 3,400 residents, some of whom were resettling on the outermost fringes of the Washington region, such as Stafford and Spotsylvania  counties in the orbit of Fredericksburg, a tiny city compared with D.C.

Migration from Northern Virginia to the increasingly Democratic Richmond area, about 100 miles south, has grown 40% over the past decade. And Richmonds outer suburbs  such as New Kent and Goochland counties  are among the fastest-growing in the state, swelling 7.5% and 5.6%, respectively.

The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia attributes the Richmond regions growth to housing prices below those of Northern Virginia and rising real estate values as city life becomes more attractive. Theres also the aftershock of the coronavirus pandemic: working remotely. If you can do your job from anywhere, why not from a place thats affordable, with accessible services and attractions?

Even NoVa-bound commuters, particularly those in government jobs who are being priced out the regions housing market, are in on this.

Fairfax officials say some county firefighters, who live in their stations when on duty, drive in for their multiday, round-the-clock shifts from different states, mostly West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and parts of Virginia known for their different states of mind, including  just north of Richmond  Hanover County.

Localities with the longest life expectancy in Virginia Counties with the longest life expectancy in Virginia #33. Surry County #33. Bedford County #31. Spotsylvania County #31. Hanover County #29. Rockbridge County #29. Harrisonburg #28. Frederick County #27. Highland County #25. Northumberland County #25. Botetourt County #23. Rockingham County #23. Greene County #18. Montgomery County #18. Charlottesville #18. Powhatan County #18. Stafford County #18. Fauquier County #17. Augusta County #16. Virginia Beach #15. Fluvanna County #14. Falls Church #13. Prince George County #12. Goochland County #11. Rappahannock County #9. Prince William County #9. York County #8. James City County #6. Williamsburg #6. Albemarle County #5. Alexandria #4. Loudoun County #3. Fairfax County #2. Arlington County #1. Manassas Park
American woman to remain jailed after airport authorities locate handgun inside suitcase

Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas  An American woman is to remain in jail during her trial after authorities found a gun in her luggage. During a preliminary hearing, a Chiapas judge ordered Lilian W to remain imprisoned for possession of a 22 LR caliber firearm.

The Specialized Regional Control Prosecutors Office in Chiapas is moving forward with charges of carrying of a weapon without a license, a federal offense in Mexico.

According to the investigation, Lillian W, a U.S. national, was detained by elements of the National Guard inside the Angel Albino Corzo Airport after securing a case with a 22 LR caliber firearm with its respective charger and with six cartridges.

The carrying case and firearm were located inside a suitcase belonging to Lilian W earlier this month. According to the Federal Prosecutors Office, her trial is set to begin in six weeks.
Change to municipal PDU could see larger buildings for Chetumal, Mahahual

Chetumal, Q.R.  A new proposal is being made for the modification of the municipalitys PDU, which would allow higher density buildings. The Othon P. Blanco City Council is preparing a series of modifications to the Chetumal Urban Development Program (PDU) to allow the construction of buildings with higher densities.

Francisco Ortega Lizarraga, Othon P. Blanco Councilor, explained that the updated document is already available and that it will be at the end of this month when it will be presented for analysis and approval.

We are going to have a city similar to Miami with slightly taller buildings to accommodate larger units and thus, make better use of the space, he explained. He said that superficial extension has always been a problem for Chetumal since it is surrounded by water.

If approved, he said that densities in polygons with possibilities of tourist use will increase, as well as the vertical growth of housing.

Councilor Ortega Lizarraga hinted that the PDU will also be updated for Mahahual and Xcalak as well as other tourist destinations in the region such as Huaypix, which would also allow them higher construction densities.

In this way we seek to attract greater investment with buildings similar to those present in Miami which has a tourism ecosystem similar to that of southern Quintana Roo. It is a long-term project, but one that we need to start now, he added.
Governors of southern regions meet to discuss promotion

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa participated in the 7th Meeting of Governors where those attending discussed the promotion of the southern regions.

With the presence of the United States Ambassador Ken Salazar, and governors from Campeche, Yucatan, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Quintana Roo, they agreed that the future of Mexico lies in the development of the southern regions.

In Quintana Roo, work is under a New Agreement for Well-being and Development that adds the united work of all economic sectors, social groups, government and civil society, so that prosperity is shared, said Lezama.

Lezama said that these southern regions have infinite opportunities for development, but also lags due to very deep challenges. She says these issues must be faced with unity, with a common vision and with creative responses and firm political decisions.

She also highlighted that for the first time in decades, these regions are receiving historic investment in infrastructure such as the Maya Train, the interoceanic corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Dos Bocas refinery.

Other topics discussed during the meeting included advances in the economic development of the south-southeast and announcements of projects, as well as the Epicenter of Climate Change Conservation and Opportunities featuring presentations, dialogue, and updates on ongoing conservation efforts in and among states in the region.

Ambassador Ken Salazar recognized the willingness of the governors to work in coordination in search of improving the living conditions of their citizens by attracting projects and investment that allows for greater employment and social welfare.

There are many opportunities in the southern regions and as Mara says, grab the bull by the horns so that the region can be promoted through Conago, he said.
Mexico extradites sex offender to face charges in Texas court

Mexico City, Mexico  Pursuant to the Extradition Treaty signed between Mexico and the United States, the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) extradited a man wanted for sexual abuse of a minor.

In a statement, the FGR reported that Mexican national Miguel G was handed over to U.S. authorities Tuesday at the Mexico City International Airport for transfer back to the U.S.

Miguel G was wanted by the District Court of Collin County Texas, for the crime of continuous sexual abuse of a minor. According to the report, in March of 2012, Miguel G inappropriately touched a minor who was a friend of his children, who was spending the night at his house.

The Government of Mexico granted the extradition of Miguel G to the Government of the United States after he was arrested in September 2021 in Mexicali, Baja California.
Yucatan judge suspends unloading of stone at Puerto Morelos

Puerto Morelos, Q.R.  The first district court in Yucatan granted a provisional suspension against the activities of transporting porphyrite rock for the Maya Train. The judge has prohibited the transporting of the Cuban rock material over protected natural areas.

The suspension was granted as a result of the denunciation of various environmental groups for the damage caused to the reefs of the Mexican Caribbean biosphere reserve by vessel Melody.

Melody arrived in early March from Cuba with a 20,000 ton load of stone that requires unloading at sea for land transportation through Puerto Morelos.

The opposing groups also filed an Amparo lawsuit against the construction of a road, which they accuse, would have been built over mangrove. The alternative road was set for construction next to Avenida Jose Maria Morelos and was to be used to transport the other arriving vessels from Cuba, which is to last into December.

According to the group who filed the complaint, they were unaware of the existence of any environmental impact authorization for these activities on protected natural areas and in the Puerto Morelos National Reef Park.

They also said that there is no authorized change of land use for the construction of any alternative road over the mangrove, adding that the mangrove is protected by the General Law of Wildlife.

Armando Lara De Nigris, the Secretariat for Sustainable Urban Territorial Development (Sedetus), says they have not been notified of any suspensions regarding the unloading of the ship, therefore, it will continue.

On Wednesday afternoon, Governor Mara Lezama said that for the time being, the unloading of the stone material will likely continue at least until Friday. By then, she said the government will have the details regarding the Amparos.

According to Lara De Nigris, approximately half of the 20,000 ton load of vessel Melody has been unloaded.
A veteran Radford police officer who resigned last fall amid a state police investigation was convicted Wednesday of a misdemeanor child sex crime.

Former Capt. Christopher Lee Caldwell, 47, of Pulaski, entered a no contest plea and was convicted of a reduced charge at a hearing in Pulaski County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. He was found guilty of attempted consensual sex with a minor age 15 or older.

Caldwell had faced a felony charge of using a phone, computer or other device to sexually solicit a minor. The felony charge was dropped.

Caldwell was sentenced to 60 days in jail, with the entire term suspended, and was placed on supervised probation for a year. Judge Lee Chitwood also ordered that as conditions of probation, Caldwell is to have no contact with the minor or the minor's family, that Caldwell be evaluated for substance abuse and complete recommended treatment, and that he have no unsupervised contact with any minors except for his own children, the juvenile and domestic court clerk's office reported.

The special prosecutor in the case, Commonwealth's Attorney Nate Green of Williamsburg and James City County, said Thursday that Caldwell sent texts to a teenage boy suggesting that the two have sex after the boy turned 18. However, sending sexual proposals to a minor  regardless of when the sex was to occur  was a crime, Green said.

The attempted consensual sex conviction will not require Caldwell to add his name to the Virginia Sex Offender Registry, Green said.

Caldwell was the third Radford officer charged and second convicted in the past two years.

In an emailed statement Thursday, city police Chief Jeff Dodson said, "Those who are willing to tarnish their badge, their oath of office, and the law enforcement code of ethics no longer deserve to wear the badge."

The chief called officers' violations "disappointing, uncomfortable and never something that you want to happen within your agency" and pledged to "continue to fully investigate all complaints involving employees within our department."

" When allegations are founded, those responsible will be held accountable according to established policy and/or law," Dodson continued.

Radford's department has 42 sworn officers. Dodson concluded his statement saying that police department staff "hold each other to a very high standard and know that if we break the law, we will be held accountable."

The other two Radford officers to face charges recently were former Lt. Robert Andrew Wilburn, a longtime investigator who was found guilty in 2021 of a misdemeanor charge of malfeasance, and former school resource officer Mark Wright Mills, who was charged in January with assault and battery against a family member and preventing a 911 call.

Mills is scheduled for a hearing next month.

Defense attorney Jimmy Turk of Radford, who represented all three Radford officers, did not reply Thursday to questions about Caldwell's case.

Caldwell, a Radford officer for more than 20 years and part of the department's top leadership, left the city force in September, two days after Virginia State Police notified the city department that he was being investigated, according to a city statement last year. Caldwell was arrested in December.

Court records showed an offense date of Aug. 3 for both the crime for which Caldwell was found guilty and the felony charge that was dropped.

The former officer had not been scheduled to appear in court until April 29, when a preliminary hearing was to be held on the felony charge.
A Franklin County Circuit Court grand jury has indicted two men on child pornography and assault charges.

The Franklin County Sheriffs Office said in a press release Thursday that the cases involving Timothy Alan Heidorn, 28, of Bassett and Michael Richard Hurd, 56, of Moneta.

Heidorn was arrested and charged in December with one count of aggravated sexual battery, one count of filming child pornography and four counts of possession of child pornography, the sheriffs office said.

On Monday, Heidorn was indicted on 20 charges, including one count of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of rape, two counts of animate object sexual penetration, six counts of sodomy and nine counts of child pornography possession.

The victim associated with the majority of those charges was less than 13 years old.

Heidorn is being held without bond at the Western Virginia Regional Jail.

Hurd was directly indicted Monday on 11 counts of child pornography possession, the sheriffs office said.

He was arrested Wednesday and is currently being held on a $100,000 secured bond.

According to Virginias online court case information system, Heidorns trial in Franklin County Circuit Court has been scheduled in August. Hurds trial date will be discussed at a hearing in May.
Last Thursdays column featured 10 questions posed by Dr. Kellogg Hunt of Roanoke. The retired pulmonologist asked me to get answers from Reps. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, and Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

The queries were fairly simple. One was, Do you believe Trump lost the 2020 presidential race in a fair election? Another was, Do you believe a man who brags about sexually assaulting women should be fit to serve as a leader in our country?

I emailed the questions to Charlotte Law and Mollie Timmons, the respective communications directors for Cline and Griffith. For whatever reason, there was no response. Perhaps the congressmen were too busy making America great again.

So anyway, I composed answers for each, drawing on public statements by Cline and Griffith or votes theyve cast in Richmond and Washington, along with dashes of hyperbole and random fact. (Among the latter is that Griffith no longer lives in the 9th Congressional District because its boundaries recently shifted. Hes now a constituent of Clines, in the 6th Congressional District.)

Readers of The Roanoke Times certainly reacted to those answers. One was Judy Ayyildiz of Roanoke County.

I think your article today and the way you handled the Cline-Griffith thing is absolutely brilliant, she said in a voicemail.

Its shameful our representatives will not reply to a request for answers to those reasonable questions, wrote Rich Alvis of Christiansburg.

Another was Leesa Sacra, a grandmother from Wirtz who grew up in Salem. She suggested even more questions for Cline and Griffith.

Id like you to ask if theyd consider banning assault rifles and [enacting] red flag laws and other things that would protect our children and citizens, Sacra said in a voicemail. Im one of Morgan Griffiths constituents. I went to high school with him. So I appreciate you staying on him.

This is a fantastic idea, which Im opening up to all readers, not just Hunt and Sacra. Send your queries for Cline and Griffith to dan.casey@roanoke.com, my work email account.

Assuming theyre ignored again, Ill publish those real questions from real voters, and compose cognizable (though exaggerated) answers that are as funny as possible.

Arlean Lambert of Blacksburg went so far as to suggest that Cline and Griffith should hire me as their joint spokesperson instead of their current communications directors.

I feel confident that you will be able to easily replace these two lazy employees by doing both of their jobs since they just ignore questions, which takes no time at all, Lambert wrote. Don't give up The Roanoke Times job though, we would miss your insightful humor!

I appreciate her vote of confidence. But Im unsuitable because I lack the primary job qualification for anyone on Capitol Hill: An inexhaustible supply of bull excrement.

Another who responded was Tom Long of Staunton.

I write Ben several times a month, usually because of some hyperpartisan [turd emoji] in his constituent email. I always ask for a response and sometimes get one  IF you call a form letter of party-line taking points and/or not directly answering my question a response," Long wrote.

Laura DeBusk of Roanoke also contacts Cline occasionally and has been less than enamored with his responses.

For example, she wrote Cline after ex-president Donald Trump, in December, called for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution, so that the 2020 election results could be overturned in Trumps favor.

Specifically, DeBusk asked Cline if "he would denounce Trump for suggesting the Constitution should be done away with?"

DeBusk said Cline replied by noting he carries the Constitution in his pocket at all times.

"I say: BS. Be sure to ask him to produce it should you ever encounter him," DeBusk wrote.

Color me skeptical, but I tend to doubt Cline has the Constitution in his pocket at ALL times. If he does, though, then maybe he should read it occasionally.

But what about when Clines sleeping? Do his pajamas have pockets? Or does he tuck the Constitution under his pillow each night? Is it waterproof? Where does he put it when he's showering?

Perhaps I will ask those questions in Chapter 2 of 10 questions for Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith.

The next I heard from was Ellery Hensley. He recently moved to Arizona, but maintains a Roanoke.com subscription to stay in touch with happenings here. Politically, the Grand Canyon state is far weirder than Western Virginia, Hensley noted.

Arizona  produced the likes of [failed Republican gubernatorial candidate] Kari Lake, whose grasp of reality is even less stable than Reps. Cline and Griffith, Hensley wrote. Not even two purveyors of the Big Lie from the Old Dominion are going to out-cray-cray Kari.

He added: That being said, I appreciate your efforts to secure answers to Dr. Hunts questions and, in their absence, supplying responses far more articulate (and honest) than either representative is capable of formulating. Since both their worlds are flat, perhaps the best we can hope for is one or both teetering off the edge.

Steve Huppert of Christiansburg offered another question for Griffith: Why doesn't he quit his job in Washington and become one of Trumps team of attorneys? He would make more money, enjoy his job and satisfy his employer.

I replied (to Huppert) that Trump rarely if ever drives, so its highly unlikely hell ever need an ex-traffic-court lawyer.

But if he ever hires Morgan, I have a word of advice: Get paid in advance, I told Huppert.

Last but not least, Carolyn Pillis of Salem thanked me for all the laughs she got from the column.

Unfortunately, you hit the [nail] on the head! Pillis added.

Thanks for all the emails and voicemails, readers.

Dont forget, send me your reasonable questions for the congressmen who represent the 6th and 9th Congressional Districts. A few months down the line, Ill choose 10 and send them onto Washington.

And if theyre ignored once again, Ill do my best to invent answers on behalf of Ben and Morgan.

This could be fun.
Literally overnight, the level of a hazardous chemical in the drinking water of Spring Hollow reservoir has been reduced by improvements to a carbon filtering system.

The revamped system went online April 6 after new units of granulated active carbon were installed. A water sample taken the next day showed the concentration of GenX to be 9.8 parts per trillion  just below a government recommendation of long-term consumption of no more than 10 parts per trillion.

I think were headed in the right direction, said Michael McEvoy, executive director of the Western Virginia Water Authority, which owns and operates the reservoir in west Roanoke County.

In recent months, levels of the so-called forever chemical  a heat- and water-resistant compound used in the manufacture of many consumer products  had risen above the Environmental Protection Agencys health advisory.

Water authority officials say the filtering system, which had been effective last summer in bringing GenX concentrations well below the recommended level, has a limited life span as the carbon gradually loses its ability to capture the contaminant.

Last October, the water authority ordered replacement units of carbon. They did not arrive until March, their delivery slowed by a growing national demand as more localities are discovering their own issues with forever chemicals.

The higher demand has also caused a backlog in laboratory test results of water believed to be contaminated with what are called PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Before the April 7 tests received this week showed a concentration of 9.8 parts per trillion in treated drinking water, the most recent evidence was from samples taken Feb. 10, which detected a level of 44 parts per trillion.

Officials at the water authority, which provides public drinking water for most of the Roanoke Valley, recently negotiated a new procedure with the laboratory that will allow results from weekly samples to be available the following week.

That information, when received, will be posted to the authoritys website, spokeswoman Sarah Baumgardner said.

The most recent samples from April 7 showed a GenX concentration of 46 parts per trillion in the untreated water of Spring Hollow, which has remained largely consistent since the source of the contamination was discovered last fall and quickly cut off.

An investigation implicated ProChem, an Elliston company that had been hired to clean industrial equipment from The Chemours Co, which makes GenX at a West Virginia plant. Prochem officials have said they unknowingly released tainted waste water into a public sewer. From there, it flowed into the South Fork of the Roanoke River and then about five miles downstream to Spring Hollow.

ProChem says it terminated its contract with Chemours as soon as it suspected something might be wrong.

Since then, the level of GenX in river water has gradually decreased. But the chemical has remained trapped in Spring Hollow, a 3.2-billion gallon reservoir that is filled by pumping water from the nearby Roanoke River.

The authority has stopped pumping river water into the reservoir. As a result, Spring Hollow was at 28 feet below full pond on March 31  a record low, McEvoy told the authoritys board of directors at a meeting Thursday.

The authority plans to resume pumping once the river is free of GenX. That could take another few months at least, as forever chemicals are known for their inability to break down quickly after they are released into the environment.

According to the EPA, prolonged exposure to GenX  defined as a lifetime of consuming two liters of water per day containing more than 10 parts per trillion  could lead to health problems that include complications to the liver, kidneys and immune system.

McEvoy has said the risk to an average customer of the water authority is low, given that exposure to GenX has not been at acutely high levels or over an extended time period.

Nonetheless, concerns about PFAS are growing.

Last month, the EPA proposed a national standard that would require public water authorities to test for the chemicals and take steps to reduce any concentrations that exceed its limits. It could be three years before a final rule takes effect for PFAS, which went unregulated for years because their existence and health risks were not fully known.

The Virginia Department of Health is planning to offer testing of private wells at homes and businesses near the river that are not served by the water authority. Letters are expected to go out to about 80 well owners in the next few weeks, McEvoy told the board.

Meanwhile, levels of GenX in Spring Hollows treated drinking water are expected to be reduced further in the coming weeks, as the new carbon is fully conditioned.

But after about three months, the filtering system will again begin to lose its efficiency  likely requiring the replacement of carbon once again.
LYNCHBURG  Lynchburgs top prosecutor has ruled that the use of force by three Lynchburg Police Department officers in a car chase and shooting on Dec. 31 was justifiable, according to a news release from her office.

Lynchburg Commonwealths Attorney Bethany Harrison announced Wednesday that the actions of LPD officers M. Donellan, J. Massie and R. Shelton in the apprehension of Jonathan Poe amounted to justifiable use of deadly force, and that the officers will face no criminal charges.

Poe, 30, according to jail records, was arrested and charged with three counts of attempted capital murder, three counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony and one count each of possession of a firearm by a felon, reckless driving and disregarding a signal by a law enforcement officer to stop for his involvement in a police chase and shootout with LPD officers on Dec. 31, 2022.

Poe was shot multiple times and recovered sufficiently from his injuries to be housed in the Blue Ridge Regional Jail, Harrison wrote in her release Wednesday.

Harrison, after reviewing investigation reports by state police, body worn camera footage of the event, reports prepared by LPD and other agency officers, photographs of the scene, crime scene documentation, medical records of Poe and interviews with the involved parties, said the actions of the officers amounted to justifiable use of deadly force.

According to Harrisons summary of the facts, at 11:18 p.m. on Dec. 31, LPD officer Sgt. J. Tucker patrolled downtown Lynchburg in a marked LPD car and witnessed a silver sedan pass him heading northwest on Main Street near 13th Street.

Harrison said the vehicle was going 50 mph in a 25 mph speed zone that included pedestrian traffic as a result of the holiday. Tucker saw the vehicle nearly strike two pedestrians, and then turned on his lights to initiate a traffic stop. However, Poe did not respond to the signal or siren to pull over.

After speeding down Rivermont Avenue and nearby side streets, Poe ultimately circled back to the 5th and Church streets intersection, where he took a right onto 5th Street.

He then drove southwest on 5th Street and continued onto Memorial Avenue where he drove more than 70 mph in a posted 35 mph zone. Harrison said Poe lost control of his vehicle and struck a parked car in front of 2240 Memorial Ave.

Sgt. Tucker and multiple other officers who were alerted to the high-speed car chase were in the immediate area of the wreck, Harrison said, including officers Donellan, Massie and Shelton.

A female passenger immediately got out of the passenger side of the vehicle with her hands up, Harrison said. As she attempted to walk toward Tucker, who was at the rear of the vehicle, Poe began firing a gun at officers Donellan, Massie and Shelton, who were facing the drivers side front of the vehicle.

Harrison wrote that dash cameras showed officers calling out to Poe to put his hands up while he was in the drivers seat of the car. Officers were about 10 feet away, Harrison said. Poe lifted a gun and fired at least 2 rounds at the officers.

This is when the officers returned fire, Harrison said, before stopping and continuing to call for Poe to stop and put his hands up. Poe then fired another round of up to ten shots in rapid succession, according to Harrison.

The officers shot back with rounds of fire continuing between Poe and the officers until Poe stopped shooting. Officers continued to call for Poe to show his hands, which he did not do, Harrison said.

She did not specify how many shots the officers fired.

Exact injuries to Poe are unknown.

According to Harrison, the body worn camera footage will not be released at this time and no further details of the case will be discussed, as Poe faces numerous charges related to the events.

According to online court documents, Poe was expected to appear in Lynchburg General District Court for a preliminary hearing on April 20, but it was continued until July 5.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
" " Whale shark Coco was tracked in 2020 by the Turtle Island Restoration Network. During a three-week period, she swam 435 miles (700 kilometers) from the Galapagos to the Cocos Islands. Jonathan Green/Turtle Island Restoration Network

Whether it's an official protected swimway or not, sea creatures frequent this migratory route throughout their life cycles. It sees turtles and sharks, including six endangered species: whale sharks, tiger sharks, leatherback turtles, green turtles, silky sharks and scalloped hammerhead sharks, O'Hara says.

Creatures follow this specific route because of its easy navigability.

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"Both Cocos Island and the Galapagos are volcanic islands connected by an underwater mountain range," Steiner says. The range is volcanic and therefore magnetic; species use this to navigate from point to point, according to the Center for the Restoration of Endangered Marine Species Association (CREMA).

The seamounts along the swimway's mountain range are packed with biodiversity, providing food for migratory animals along their journeys. The migrators also flock to the Cocos and Galapagos islands for nesting and foraging.

Take the turtle I spotted on the Galapagos' Floreana Island. Flipper tracks from the dune-top nest (off limits to tourists) toward the waves hinted to its likely life stage: nesting. According to our World Expeditions naturalist guide, the Galapagos green turtle averages about 100 eggs per nest, yet only two on average reach the adult stage due to natural predators like crabs and birds.

Once these two hatchlings reach the adult stage and begin to travel, they encounter even more threats, again, commercial fishing. According to the WWF, more than 250,000 turtles around the world die after being caught in fisheries, largely from fishing nets.

These are bad odds for the Galapagos green turtle, which is listed as endangered by WWF. It's even worse news for the leatherback sea turtle, which is on the verge of extinction due to overfishing pressures, Steiner says. The WWF reports that the Pacific Ocean may only have 2,300 adult leatherback females remaining.

The Cocos-Galapagos Swimway was designed to safeguard marine migrators like the sea turtle, but turtles aren't the only animals who would benefit from enhanced protections.

"Island, coastal and marine ecosystems are all linked, and healthy ocean biodiversity helps terrestrial and coastal species that depend, directly or indirectly, on the ocean," O'Hara says.

Thriving ocean biodiversity also helps Earth's climate resilience. "Carbon dioxide is absorbed and stored by marine ecosystems, such as mangroves and by marine creatures themselves," O'Hara says. "Protecting the seas around the Galapagos is not just about protecting marine wildlife. It's about safeguarding the future of our own species."

Now That's Cool Humans aren't the only ones with wanderlust. While turtles regularly travel migratory paths like the Cocos-Galapagos Swimway, they've been known to travel well beyond that. Take the record-breaking leatherback turtle, who made headlines with its 12,774-mile (20,557-kilometer) journey from Indonesia to Oregon in 2008.
Nye is a relentless optimist. He believes that things will improve as younger Americans  who tend to be more educated and more knowledgeable about climate change than older generations  start to make up a larger share of the electorate.

"As soon as older people are in the minority in voting, this will turn around very quickly. When people who are in their 20s right now are in their 40s  when they're at the height of their earning power and they are most influential in governments  then things will turn around," he says. However, he adds, "If you like to worry about things, this is a fantastic time, because it's not clear if that will happen fast enough."

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Nye says that it is harder to persuade older Americans of the severity of climate change, because it challenges their longstanding beliefs. "The older you are, the more set in your ways you are. Your worldview has worked for you for decades, so why would you want to change it now?" he says. As for why young people are more attuned to the problem, he joked, "well, I take full credit."

Nye broached climate change on his PBS children's show, "Bill Nye the Science Guy" in the 1990s, and has continued to educate the public about climate change and other issues of scientific interest in his TV programs, public appearances and his podcast, which has focused almost exclusively on the coronavirus in recent months.

"I was around when the U.S. decided to stop teaching the metric system, to take solar panels off the White House, produce both the Ford Pinto and the Chevy Vega, and I was very concerned about it," he says. "I quit my day job to engage young people in the hope that we could have a better future through science literacy. I'm still fighting that fight."

Nye says the best thing Americans can do now to tackle the threats facing the country is to take part in the political process.

"I just encourage everyone to vote. The more people participate in the political process, the more we will reach a consensus on what to do about these very serious problems  climate change and the coronavirus pandemic," he says. "The more that people participate  especially people who disagree with me at first  the more we will work together."

This story originally appeared in Nexus Media News and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Thursday night the capstone at the University of South Carolina was lit for Florence native William C. Hubbard, who has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Hubbard is dean of the USC School of Law and co-founder of the World Justice Project, which works to advance the rule of law around the world to reduce corruption, combat poverty and disease, and protects people from injustices.

Dean Hubbards distinguished legal career has advanced the cause of justice across our state, nation and globe, university President Michael Amiridis said. Our students and our university have benefitted from his insightful leadership in countless ways, and he is eminently deserving of this recognition.

The academy is a prestigious fellowship of artists, scholars and leaders who work together for the public good. Distinguished members have included Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell and Colin Powell, and current members include more than 250 Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.

Only seven individuals at South Carolina institutions were previously honored with the academys designation, with four hailing from USC. Hubbard becomes the universitys fifth honoree, joining poet and professor Nikky Finney, who was elected to the academy in 2020.

When announcing this years new members, Academy President David W. Oxtoby said, With the election of these members, the Academy is honoring excellence, innovation, and leadership and recognizing a broad array of stellar accomplishments. We hope every new member celebrates this achievement and joins our work advancing the common good.

Joining Hubbard in this years class were Lin-Manuel Miranda, Shonda Rhimes and Michelle Yeoh  among others.

In its earliest days, the academy sought members who would help address issues and opportunities confronting a young nation, said Nancy C. Andrews (Boston Childrens Hospital), chair of the academys Board of Directors. We feel a similar urgency and have elected a class that brings diverse expertise to meet the pressing challenges and possibilities that America and the world face today.

Prior to being named the law school dean, Hubbard spent his law career as an attorney and partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Columbia from 1978 to his appointment.

He attended Royal Elementary School and Moore Junior High School.

I graduated from McClenaghan High School in 1970, Hubbard said.

He earned a bachelors degree in history from the University of South Carolina in 1974, graduating magna cum laude, and a juris doctorate from the School of Law in 1977. As an undergraduate, Hubbard received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, the universitys highest student award. In 2009, he received the Universitys Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2010, he was awarded the universitys highest recognition, the honorary doctor of laws.
At least two people have been killed by a severe round of storms in Cole, Oklahoma, a local official told CNN.

And the death toll could possibly climb as crews in the small town of about 600 people continue their search and rescue efforts, Deputy Scott Gibbons at the McClain County Sheriff's Office added. First responders are also dealing with multiple reports of people trapped inside shelters.

More than half a dozen confirmed tornadoes struck the US across three states Wednesday evening as powerful storms battered communities with dangerously large hail and damaging winds.

The storms were reported across Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa, with Oklahoma appearing to be the hardest-hit with at least four confirmed tornadoes rolling through the state and knocking out power for about 20,000 homes and businesses.

The most significant tornado rolled through Cole, Oklahoma, a town home to more 600 people about 30 miles south of Oklahoma City.

Emergency officials in McClain County -- where hard-hit Cole is located -- said crews were responding to injuries and some people were trapped in shelters, according to a Facebook post.

About 60 miles east of Cole, a large and very dangerous tornado was confirmed in Shawnee, a city of about 30,000 people in Pottawatomie County. The storm was moving erratically north of the city around 10 p.m. CT, the National Weather Service in Norman said.

The Pottawatomie County emergency management agency warned residents not to leave their homes to observe the damage to their hometowns, noting that hinders response efforts.

"There is tremendous amounts of ponding on areas storms have come through so please do not drive through the water!" the agency said.

Similarly, officials at Oklahoma Baptist University -- located in Shawnee -- urged students not to be outdoors.

"Due to the damage inflicted on campus from the tornadoes, remain inside if safe and do no wander around campus. Administration is assessing the situation and will follow up with next steps," the university said on social media.

At least 14 tornado reports in 3 states

In addition to the reports of tornadoes in Oklahoma, four tornado reports were recorded Iowa and three in Kansas -- for a total of at least 14 tornado reports in the US on Wednesday.

Of those reports, two tornadoes in Iowa and one in Kansas have been confirmed.

Earlier Wednesday, a tornado watch was in effect for western Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The prediction center warned that "severe thunderstorms with the potential for very large hail, a risk for a couple of tornadoes, and severe gusts will be possible late Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night across parts of the central states."

Wednesday's extreme weather was also affecting other parts of Oklahoma.

"Severe thunderstorms continue to move northeast into Osage, Pawnee, Creek, and Okfuskee counties this evening. These storms are capable of producing large hail and damaging winds, with a limited tornado potential, along west of Hwy 75," the National Weather Service in Tulsa said.

On Thursday, the severe storms threat is expected to shift to the east to include eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Missouri and much of Arkansas.

The-CNN-Wire

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 New analysis of original dataset concludes "COVID-19 amplified racial disparities in the US criminal legal system" | Main | Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, rejecting state AG's motion, refuses to set aside Richard Glossip's capital conviction 

April 20, 2023

Office of the Pardon Attorney hostong "A Celebration of Second Chance" in honor of Second Chance month

A helpful reader altered me to an event, called "A Celebration of Second Chances," that the Office of the Pardon Attorney is hosting in honor of Second Chance month. This program will be livestreamed at this link tomorrow, Friday, April 21, 2023, at 10:00 am EDT. The email I received flagging the celebration event described it this way:

The event will feature opening remarks by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke and a panel of speakers who will discuss the impact of second chances through clemency. Speakers will include Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite, Jr., former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, and the Honorable Alexander Williams, Jr., and clemency recipients Danielle Metz, Norman Brown, and Evans Ray. The event will also honor special guests who have received clemency from President Biden and his predecessors or who have received other forms of second-chance relief.

Over at this webpage at the Office of the Pardon Attorney, one can find this broader discussion of Second Chance Month 2023 activities (links from the original):

On March 31, 2023, President Biden issued a presidential proclamation marking April as Second Chance Month. Read the Presidents statement. The Office of the Pardon Attorney (PARDON) is dedicated to supporting the Presidents work to provide second chances to individuals who are currently or previously were incarcerated by the federal justice system. Executive clemency is a powerful tool that can alleviate barriers to reentry, in securing steady employment, safe housing, quality health care, educational opportunities, the right to vote, and loans for a home or business. Executive clemency can also address outdated federal criminal policies, particularly those that disproportionately affected Black and Brown Americans, such as through President Bidens full presidential pardon of federal and D.C. convictions for simple marijuana possession offenses. We invite you to join PARDON in celebrating second chances throughout April and beyond by attending an event or by spreading word about the availability of executive clemency.Second Chance Month events: April 12, 2023: Art Open House, open to DOJ employees

April 21, 2023: A Celebration of Second Chances (watch the livestream)

April 25, 2023: Clemency workshop for returning citizens in the District of Columbia

April 26, 2023: Pardon Training webinar hosted by the ACLU

April 27, 2023: Bureau of Prisons workshop with the Pardon Attorney

April 20, 2023 at 11:03 AM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment
 Office of the Pardon Attorney hostong "A Celebration of Second Chance" in honor of Second Chance month | Main | "Five Faces of the Public Defender" 

April 20, 2023

Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, rejecting state AG's motion, refuses to set aside Richard Glossip's capital conviction

As detailed in this prior post, earlier this month, Oklahoma's Attorney General filed a motion to vacate the conviction of death row inmate Richard Glossip in the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. That motion today was rejected, as detailed in this local article headlined "Oklahoma court won't overturn Richard Glossip's conviction; execution date set." Here are the details:

A state appeals court has rejected a request to vacate the conviction of a high-profile death row inmate. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday said it will not vacate Richard Glossips murder conviction following a request from Attorney General Gentner Drummond. After an independent review of Glossip's case cast doubt on the death row inmate's murder conviction, Drummond asked the appeals court to vacate Glossip's conviction. Drummond said he will review the ruling and consider his next steps. He expressed opposition to the state moving forward with Glossip's execution. "While I respect the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion, I am not willing to allow an execution to proceed despite so many doubts," Drummond said in a statement. "Ensuring the integrity of the death penalty demands complete certainty." An attorney for Glossip said he will file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Don Knight, Glossips attorney, said it is unconscionable for the Oklahoma appeals court to force the state to move forward with this execution.... Glossip was convicted of first-degree murder for allegedly orchestrating the 1997 beating death of his Glossip has long maintained that he was framed for Van Treeses murder. His attorneys claim that their client was set up by a motel maintenance man who they argue killed Van Treese during a botched robbery and shifted the blame to avoid getting the death penalty himself. Glossips fifth application for post-conviction relief provides no new information to convince the court to overturn his conviction, according to the 5-0 opinion written by Judge David Lewis. This case has been thoroughly investigated and reviewed in numerous appeals, Lewis wrote in the majority opinion. "Glossip has been given unprecedented access to prosecution files, including work product, yet he has not provided this Court with sufficient information that would convince the Court to overturn the jurys determination that he is guilty of first-degree murder.... The appeals court also refused to delay Glossip's execution any further. Glossip is set to die by lethal injection on May 18.

The full 25-page ruling of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is available at this link.

April 20, 2023 at 02:08 PM | Permalink

Comments

A court with balls.

Posted by: federalist | Apr 20, 2023 3:49:23 PM

All this proves is that appeals courts would rather cut their own arms off than admit they screwed up. The justifications they gave to dismiss are pitiful and are more "Shut the fuck up and don't point out that we got it wrong" rather than any principled stand

Posted by: Lordyam | Apr 21, 2023 12:08:40 AM

This dude is so f'in guilty. Shifting stories, unexplained $ etc.

Posted by: federalist | Apr 21, 2023 9:50:31 AM

federalist,

I don't know what the "etc." part is. But I do think that a death sentence should be based on overwhelming evidence that reaches near certainty. I don't think shifting story or unexplained money does that. For example, there are plenty of people who are innocent of a murder but lie to the police. There are even false confessions, frequently with multiple changes in story, i.e. Jay Wilds.

I don't know this particular case, so I can't really opine on whether the proof here is sufficiently overwhelming or not.

Posted by: William C Jockusch | Apr 21, 2023 11:17:15 AM

I respect that view, Mr. Jockusch.

Posted by: federalist | Apr 21, 2023 11:41:49 AM

Post a comment
 NetflixNetflix100 Dior 50 36% 342 779 247.80 26.38 50.78 76.52 LVMH  LVMH CEO, Tops Billionaires List and Prioritises Long-Term Brand Development is the Key 5%     45     43700  0.71%4% 1.25%3%     23% 50 34 13% LME 3  1800020000   2% 250 17.1 15 250   AI 8.5% 0.56%  Alphabet 700 31.36%   FRC    
This year's Nebraska State Fair dirt acts feature bucking bulls, ATV aerobatics, powerful tractors and crashing cars.

On the fairs opening day, Aug. 25, riders in the Ultimate Bullriding Tour will compete at 7 p.m. at the U.S. Foods Outdoor Arena. Tickets start at $25.

New to the fair, the ATV Big Air Tour will provide its brand of thrills at 7 p.m. Aug. 26 at Anderson Field. Tickets start at $13.

This show delivers incredible stunts and gravity-defying jumps from some of the nations best ATV and off-road riders, according to a release from the State Fair.

Returning to the State Fair for a second year, the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pull will be at 6 p.m. Aug. 27 at Anderson Field. Tickets start at $17.

The Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association is the biggest of three sanctioned national pulling associations.

Ultimate Bullfighters will be the featured show at 7 p.m. Sept. 3 at the U.S. Foods Outdoor Arena. Bullfighters have 60 seconds to score points by performing dangerous stunts as close to the bull as possible without getting hit. The animals are not harmed, unlike in traditional bullfighting, the release says. Tickets start at $25. Included in the ticket will be Mutton Busting, which starts at 5 p.m.

Those attending at 2 p.m. Sept. 4 at Anderson Field will get to see the finale of the Nebraska State Fair Demo Derby Point Series. Tickets start at $17.

The 10 events that make up the point series begin on June 17 in Ravenna. Class events include Limited Weld, Bone Stock and Old School.

Tickets are for all five events are on sale now at StateFair.org. All advance tickets include gate admission.

This year's fair, with the theme of Whatever Your Flavor, runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 4.

Photos: Nebraska State Fair in the 1960s Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1964 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969 Nebraska State Fair 1969
SIOUX CITY -- A Sergeant Bluff man has pleaded not guilty of forcing himself on an underage girl and sexually assaulting her.

Leuanglong Thongvilay, 37, entered his written plea Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of third-degree sexual abuse and distribution of a controlled substance to a person under age 18.

Thongvilay was arrested April 13, a day after Sergeant Bluff police responded to a disturbance call at Thongvilay's mobile home in the 100 block of West Eighth Street involving Thongvilay, the alleged victim's mother and others. During their investigation, officers learned of an assault of the minor female at the home on March 24.

According to court documents, Thongvilay offered the girl marijuana, then pushed her into his room and onto his bed and sexually assaulted her while pinning her arms. He later offered the girl $100 to remain quiet about the alleged assault, court documents said.

During a police interview, Thongvilay admitted to having sex with the girl, court documents said.

Thongvilay is charged in O'Brien County with two counts each of second-degree sexual abuse and indecent contact with a child for allegedly sexually assaulting and inappropriately touching a girl several times when she was age 7-12 from approximately January 2015 to August 2020.

Thongvilay, who was living in Sheldon at the time, was arrested in May. He's scheduled to stand trial June 20 in O'Brien County District Court.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty of committing a series of armed robberies in Monona and Woodbury counties.

Kevon Spratt, 30, waived his personal appearance and entered a written plea of not guilty Tuesday to federal charges of bank robbery, attempted bank robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, two counts of interference with commerce by robbery and four counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

His trial was scheduled for June 20 in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

Spratt is charged with an Oct. 21 robbery in which he is accused of pointing an AR-15-type rifle at tellers in BankFirst in Onawa, Iowa, and taking $11,510 in cash.

Spratt is also accused of threatening employees with a handgun during an Oct. 22 robbery of Bluff's Stop in Sergeant Bluff in which $482 was stolen and the Oct. 24 robbery of approximately $4,855 from Check Into Cash in Sioux City.

Spratt also is charged with attempting to rob Pioneer Bank in Salix, Iowa, on Nov. 14.

Spratt was arrested later that day after authorities spotted him driving on Interstate 29. A handgun matching the appearance of a gun used in the robberies was found in the car, which closely resembled a car captured on surveillance videos at the scene of the other robberies.
SIOUX CITY  Ernie Colt, a business representative for North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters union, is asking to be put on the board overseeing the new Woodbury County jail due to concerns about the project.

Colt has been outspoken in the past regarding his disappointment with the project and the type of workforce associated with it.

On Monday and Tuesday, Colt visited the City of Sioux City Council and Woodbury County Board of Supervisors expressing his concerns regarding the labor force for the new jail, respectively.

Colt then asked both of the boards to place him on the Law Enforcement Center Authority without voting powers as a way to make sure the general contractor, Hausmann Construction, is following the standards that were agreed on.

The authority is made up of three members, one elected by the Board of Supervisors from outside of Sioux City, one elected by the city council from inside Sioux City and one elected by both the supervisors and the council. Rocky De Witt, Ron Wieck and Dan Moore currently serve on the board.

Recently, the board appointed Supervisor Mark Nelson as a liaison to the authority to update the board on the meetings and progress of the jail.

Vice-Chair Jeremy Taylor said it is not possible to put Colt on the Authority, stating it would require them to change the bylaws of the authority and he doesnt see the board doing that. He said the most appropriate move if citizens have concerns is to share them with the board.

When the county was attempting to get the $50.3 million bond approved in 2020, Colt said the LEC Authority members approached him for support on the project.

To ensure the jail was built correctly, Colt proposed an edit to the quality assurance questionnaire for contractors, which was approved by the City Council, Board of Supervisors and authority. The questionnaire was aimed at determining if the contractor is a responsive, responsible bidder with ethical work processes.

The questionnaire asked about previous projects, safety violations, lawsuits, intended subcontractors and more. After Hausmann Construction completed the questionnaire, the Board of Supervisors voted to remove it from the bidding process for future projects. Building Services Director Kenny Schmitz said the questionnaire had caused higher contract bids, increased staff costs, decreased competition and added subjectivity to the bidding process.

Colt is concerned that the current jail project subcontractors could be not paying taxes, not logging who is working for them, not paying fair wages and not treating their workers appropriately. He also said he is concerned the general contractor does not have a daily sign-in and sign-out sheet for workers.

Its a safety concern, Colt said to the council.

When the wall panels fell in October 2022 due to improper bolts, lack of inspections and high winds, no individuals were injured but Colt said without a sign-in sheet the site managers would not be able to determine if everyone was safe in a prompt manner.

If theres an allegation about the Woodbury County LEC project I would think that for anyone to take it seriously it should come from anyone but Ernie Colt, said Board Chair Matthew Ung. I dont trust his intentions.

In June 2021, Colt told The Journal that 90 to 95 percent of the project was proposed to be completed by contractors from outside Iowa or the region. At the time, the Authority said approximately 85 percent of the project would be completed by local contractors. Ung said Colt never apologized for the statement because it was demonstrated to be false.

After Colt shared his concerns with the supervisors, Taylor said they are more appropriate for the Authority.

That authority is ultimately in charge of the site management and the construction of that project, he said. Airing [the concerns] in public light of day, asking the Authority to make transparent some of those questions that are asked, I think is reasonable to do.

Colt has been attempting to visit the new jail construction site to speak with the current workers and see if the conditions are safe. The LEC Authority approved a visitors policy that requires those interested in visiting the site to have 10-hour OSHA training, Hausmann Construction training and prior approval to visit by the Authority, the sheriffs department and Hausmann Construction.

The reason the authority states they created the visitor's policy was security and safety issues.

Colt said he has visited thousands of job sites in 10 years to check on the workers. He said he has never had anyone try to keep him off the job site. When he visits a site, he said the first questions he asks the workers are How are you? Are you safe? Are they paying you? Do you have a place to stay?

City Council Member Matthew OKane spoke at the Board of Supervisors meeting, expressing his support allowing Colt access to the work site and asking the supervisors to work with Colt in finding the information he seeks.

Taylor has not visited the construction site but said if he wanted to, he would also have to follow the visitor policy. He said providing unfettered access to the site could be a security issue.

Authority member and Council member Dan Moore asked Colt to submit the questions he has to the Authority and would receive a follow-up from Schmitz.

Taylor said he appreciated Colt bringing the concerns forward and would ask the authority on the subcontractor process and the control processes. He said if unlawful practices are happening, they should be investigated by the property authorities, not citizens.
A body found near the Missouri River in Iowa has been identified as that of a 30-year-old Missouri man last seen more than a year ago.

The Fremont County Sheriffs Office said Monday that the human remains located at a remote location in rural Hamburg, Iowa, were those of Agustin Fonseca, 30, of Springfield, Missouri. No foul play is suspected in the death.

Deputies were called to the area March 20 by an employee of a real estate company who was scouting the property for deer when he happened upon human remains. Investigators located and seized several items from the scene including human skeletal remains, car keys and a gym pass.

The keys were to a 2015 Chevrolet Spark belonging to Fonseca that was recovered near Interstate 29. The last known sighting of Fonseca was Feb. 28, 2022, in Springfield.

Investigators said it appears Fonseca stopped his vehicle and walked west to the Missouri River.

Photos: National Guard Sendoff held at Memorial Stadium
After weeks of negotiation and competing proposals, Iowa lawmakers gave final passage to two sweeping education bills on Thursday that would limit LGBTQ instruction and cut regulations in other areas.

The bills are now eligible to be signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Senate File 496 wraps together several education priorities for Republicans that have remained fairly consistent as it has ping-ponged between the chambers:

 Teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity would be barred in kindergarten through sixth grade.

 Books depicting or describing sex acts would be banned from school libraries. Religious texts would be exempted.

 Schools would need to notify parents if a student requests changing their name or pronouns.

The bill passed the House 57-38, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in voting no.

While it has changed substantially from her recommendations, those provisions and some others in the bill are largely based on a bill proposed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds at the beginning of the session.

Most of the bill would go into effect July 1, after the end of the current school year.

Democrats reiterated objections that the bill would break students trust with their teachers and marginalize LGBTQ students.

Instead of marginalizing groups of students, sowing fear and division over books and making it harder to better understand and support our kids, we should be focusing our efforts on building trusted partnerships, said Rep. Heather Matson, a Democrat from Ankeny.

Republicans continued to champion the bill as a win for parents rights and keeping what they described as a political agenda out of schools.

It is wrong for schools to keep secrets from parents about their kids, said Rep. Skyler Wheeler of Hull, the bills floor manager. It is wrong to push political agendas in the classroom. And it is wrong to put pornography in front of children.

Skyler Wheeler Skyler Wheeler, 29, is running for a fourth term in the Iowa House but this time in a new district.

One Iowa, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, said Republican lawmakers were "trampling on the First Amendment" by censoring school books and curriculum.

"Iowans are sick of these divisive culture war proposals," said executive director Courtney Reyes. "We call on Governor Reynolds to veto this legislation and start from scratch on a proposal that benefits all Iowans rather than continually targeting gay and transgender children.

Transparency, parents rights

The bill also includes a number of provisions intended to expand transparency and allow more parents involvement in education.

Schools would need to post a policy online detailing the process for parents to review instructional materials in the classroom and request removal of any educational material in the classroom or a school library.

Schools would also need to post the list of books in their school library online, as well as processes to challenge books in the library. The identity of anyone requesting removal of a book or classroom material would be kept confidential.

Schools would also need express parents permission to administer any surveys that ask about political affiliation, mental health problems, sexual behaviors or religious practices of the student or their families, among other things.

The bill would codify in law a parents right to make decisions for the upbringing of their minor child, including their moral and religious upbringing, education and medical care  making a specific exemption for a law Reynolds signed earlier this year that prohibits transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming health care.

Beyond those measures, House lawmakers added other elements they wanted to see passed earlier this month. But Senate lawmakers took most of them out, keeping the following in place:

 Students would be able to transfer to a different building in the same school district if they experience harassment or bullying at the school they attend.

 Home-schooled children with special needs would be able to dual-enroll and receive special education instruction at their home school district.

Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley of New Hartford said the bill follows through on several promises House Republicans made and laid out at the beginning of the session.

I think it just shows that  whether people agree or disagree with what we're doing  at the beginning of session, several of these pieces were a part of our first 13 bills that we laid out, Grassley said. And just shows that we're continuing to work on the things that we say we're going to.

School regulation cuts

The House also gave final approval to a bill that would cut regulations at K-12 schools around required classes and provide flexibility for who can teach instruction and how schools can offer classes.

 The bill, Senate File 391, was also pitched by Reynolds early in the session as a way to remove burdens from schools and cut costs. It would cut or alter regulations on schools in multiple areas:

 Schools would no longer be required to report a comprehensive improvement plan to the state.

 Schools could hire a public librarian to be a school librarian, rather than a certified teacher librarian.

 Schools would be allowed to teach multiple sequential units of a subject in the same classroom.

 Requirements that schools offer financial literacy instruction and four units of a foreign language would be removed.

 Community college instructors could teach more classes at the high school level.

 No more than five days or 30 hours of instruction could be delivered online.

Between the two bills, requirements to teach about HIV and AIDS, as well as HPV and the availability of the HPV vaccine, would be removed from law. Schools would still be required to teach about sexually transmitted diseases and teaching about those specific diseases would be optional.

Democrats have opposed the bill in its journey through the Legislature, saying it will weaken Iowas educational standards and result in less educated students.

The amendment is watering down the requirements of students and of teachers, Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown said.
Last month an alluringly outlandish news story crossed my various social media feeds, about a Florida charter school whose principal had been dismissed due, it seemed, to parental complaints about Michelangelos David being shown to children in a Renaissance art class. I called the chairman of the schools board, an indignant right-winger with a chronic inability to not comment. As I transcribed the interview and built the post in Slates content management system, it did cross my mind that our conversation really revealed something notable about the way certain conservatives think about education. But mostly I thought, This is going to get a lot of traffic.

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Most people who write for the internet have had the experience of publishing something that escapes the bounds of ones usual audience and goes viral. The experience can be mesmerizing. After I published that Q&A with Barney Bishop III, I lost hours toggling from Slates traffic dashboard to Twitter and back. Each refresh of Parse.ly showed me how many thousands of people were looking at my story right now. Each visit back to Twitter revealed a new batch of responses, a number magically appearing on that little bell in the sidebar, a fresh dopamine hit to the ol cerebral cortex.

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That was quite an interview, a neighbor told me while grabbing a drink that Friday afternoon. The virality had escaped the internet and had come back to me IRL. This is always disconcerting, because what is so unusual about the experience of going viral, so uniquely modern, is that it makes concrete the deranging split the self undergoes in the 21st century, between ones online identity and ones physical body. Most people are able, most of the time, to ignore this split. But not the human being gone megavi. You may step away from your computer, or put away your phone, and forget for a moment that something enormous is happening to yousomething that might define you in the minds of untold thousands, something that might deliver opportunity or danger or boost your career or torpedo it. But that conversation does not stop, even if youre no longer participating in it. Pour a glass of water. Talk to your kids. Somewhere else, that parallel world, the wave of traffic continues to build, and a version of you is still riding it or, more likely, being overwhelmed by it. It will carry you along until it inevitably recedes, leaving you beached in a new place.

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To have all that trafficthat is, attentionrain down on you, is to have your life redirected, Ben Smith writes in Traffic, his retelling of the past two decades in internet media. For Jonah Peretti, in 2001 a grad student at the MIT Media Lab who had gone viral for attempting to use Nikes online sneaker-personalization tool to print SWEATSHOP on a pair of Zoom XCs, his first experience with that kind of attention set him on a path to understand how online buzz feeds on its targets. In Smiths telling, Peretti, inspired and awed by this moment in the sunhe even found himself on the Today show, questioned by a friendly Katie Couricbecame his generations foremost social manipulator, a master of the dark arts of traffic. Nobody was better at it, Smith writes. Nobody saw more clearly the feedback loop between the signals people sent you on social media and the combination of data and creativity that would allow you to feed their own preferences back to them.

Slate receives a commission when you purchase items using the links on this page. Thank you for your support.

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Traffic follows Peretti from MIT to the Huffington Post and then to BuzzFeed, the media company he founded, led into the promised land, and then struggled to keep afloat. Perettis view of traffic as an elemental force that, with rigorous effort, can be bent to ones whims is at odds with that of the books other subject, Nick Denton, the onetime king of Gawker Media, who viewed traffic as a reward for editorial quality, albeit not always the kinds of editorial quality everyone could agree on. An alleged photo of Brett Favres dick, for example.

Denton grew up in London as the child of a mother who survived the Holocaust in Hungary and a father who oversaw a government-owned country retreat, an outsider who was also an insider: Jewish but part of the establishment, closeted but popular. He was famous for not committing to a Friday- or Saturday-night plan unless he could be certain that he had alighted on the best option, according to a high school friend. He rewarded quality, that is to say, with his own traffic. He came to New York in 2002, a 35-year-old entrepreneur fleeing the first great Silicon Valley bust with an eye toward taking blogging into the mainstream. To the young writers he met at the downtown bar the Magician, Denton loomed large, Smith writes, in the way that the older guy buying the drinks can.

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Through Denton and Peretti, Smith attempts to tell the entire 21st-century story of online media, and quite a bit of that story ends up in the book. Smiths particularly good when he close-reads a particular publication in its ephemeral context. Hes right, for example, to devote a chapter to Gawker Medias Jezebel in its first year, when the sites swashbuckling writers brought to life editor Anna Holmes goal to entertainingly critique not just the womens magazine industry but an entire sexist media culture that silenced womens real stories, bodies, and souls. Smith identifies what felt new about the sites merging of intersectional identity with journalism, and shrewdly points out how it paved the way for the mainstreaming of new ways of thinking about feminismand, not incidentally, laid the groundwork for #MeToo. And they did all this despite Dentons concerns that feminism, as a subject, was a traffic-killer. Do you really need to do so many posts about periods or abortion or rape? he asked Holmes, who ignored himwho could afford to ignore him because, by his own standard, Jezebel was a content-validating success, exceeding a million page views a month within a year of the sites 2007 launch.

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Denton now jokes about his bad-cop interactions with the staff at Gawkers many sites: A lot of it was theaterwasnt it? he asks Smith. Indeed, Denton, a sub-replacement-level blogger when he took the reins himself, excelled at the role of provocateur boss: tweaking his own writers in the comments and paying out bonuses based on the real-time traffic scoreboards he installed in the Gawker Media offices. Yet there was real affection in the way his writers wrote about him, as a withholding daddy, as an admirably evil genius, as the king of the trolls. The most heartbreaking moment in Traffic is one of Denton coolly withdrawing his esteem for one of those writers. It happens after the Hulk Hogan trial, in which the wrestler, bankrolled by a grudge-holding Peter Thiel, refused to settle an invasion-of-privacy case that eventually killed the company. (My wife was an attorney on the team defending Gawker; Smith, to my eye, covers the trial reasonably well, though he underplays the pure malevolent stupidity of Pamela Campbell, the Florida state judge who oversaw the trial and whose rulings, regularly overturned by appeals courts, nevertheless left Denton and Gawker backed into a financial corner.) In Dentons farewell post, he named more than a dozen of the companys stars, many of them still-crucial media figures like Tom Scocca, Caity Weaver, Choire Sicha, and Alex Pareene. But he never named his co-defendant A.J. Daulerio, whod published the Hogan sex tape. Daulerio, in many ways, idolized Denton, and the lawsuit left him penniless. He later wrote that the omission blew a hole through my chest.

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I never met Peretti, and I attended but one of Dentons legendary parties, where I was too dumb to understand that everyone was doing coke in the bathroom. I interacted with the New York City blogging scene mostly as a reader and occasional tipster, when Gawkers prurient interests intersected with my limited knowledge. But in 2006, I was hired to launch a culture blog by New York magazine, and soon I was churning out 15 posts a day, an astonishing publishing pace that drove me, then the father of a toddler, slightly crazy, but also allowed me and my co-editor to write with nearly complete abandon. We could pursue any passion or milk any joke, because it was all content, the more the better, who even had time to read it all, and if that meant devoting inordinate attention to the GEICO cavemen or angel-voiced David Archuleta, so be it. Sometimes our boss would wonder via instant message if there was really so much of an audience for long exegeses on the marginal HBO sex drama Tell Me You Love Me, but for the most part he shrugged and let us pursue our passions on the page. Like Denton, he felt that hiring the right people and letting them loose was the way to bring traffic to your website. (Peretti was more systematic, according to Smith: He simply checked Gawkers publicly available traffic leaderboards and hired the writers at the top of them.)

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Its worth noting that that the two places Ive spent the Traffic Era writing and editing, Vulture and now Slate, make zero appearances in Traffic, a book that, with a few exceptions (Ozy and Upworthy), remains intently focused on its two totems of internet media. Smith nods to the reascendancy of the New York Times in a well-reported chapter focusing on the papers defining 2013 innovation report, but otherwise the vast majority of websites that published for clicks over the past 20 years go unexplored: the A.V. Club, the Onion, the Awl, Hipster Runoff, Free Darko, Fire Joe Morgan, Grantland, Deadline Hollywood, TMZ, Salon, Television Without Pity, Stereogum, Videogum, the Toast, the Hairpin, Rookie, Bustle, Gothamist, all the various other -ists, Pitchfork, MP3 blogs, WorldStarHipHop, Daily Kos, FiveThirtyEight, Wonkblog, Axios, TPM, Business Insider, Yahoo News, the Daily Beast, MSN, Mic, Boing Boing, Fark, and uncountable more ranging from idiosyncratic passion project to VC-funded Future of Media. This isnt even to mention the web efforts of legacy outlets, many of which did have an impact, then and/or now: the Atlantic, the New Republic, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, the Stranger, Complex, Cracked, ESPN, MTV, all the news networks and newspapers that arent the Times. TumblrTumblr!is mentioned only in passing. So is Perez Hilton. ClickHole, the canniest-ever critic on the subject of virality, doesnt appear at all.

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Its a shame that Smiths book, so focused on its two mad scientists turned CEOs, spends so little time really digging into what it was like for the writers andperhaps more importantlythe readers of that era. Of course no book could cover the 2000s and 2010s online media world in toto. It was simply too sprawling, a Yellowstone National Park of content with unexpected geysers and hot springs bubbling up everywhere, fueled by superheated passion that had boiled underground for our whole lives. It was that sprawling nature that made it so much more satisfying as a reader than the products of todays more streamlined content economy. In part that was because so few of us really knew the rules, knew how traffic actually worked (except maybe Peretti). And even those who thought they did found out only later that theyd been wrong, or more darkly, that theyd been misled, a story that only glancingly gets told in Traffic. Those errors led, perhaps continue to lead, to some remarkable industrywide disasters, only some of which go chronicled in Traffic. (Control-F pivot to video: zero results, despite the fact that Smith himself was BuzzFeeds editor in chief when the site, like so many others, made that shift.)

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Smith does devote several chapters to the right wings mastery of the viral internet, as seen through the many figures from that world who spent time in the early-aughts NYC scene. (One of Perettis co-founders at the Huffington Post, for instance, was Andrew Breitbart, whose importance at the time stemmed from his work for Matt Drudge.) Several, like Newsmax host Benny Johnson and the alt-right influencer Anthime Joseph Gionet (Baked Alaska), worked at BuzzFeed. His politics have been guided by platform metrics, a BuzzFeed producer tells Smith about Gionet, who, even before he stormed the Capitol, had made his own pivot, from pouring milk all over himself to spouting far-right propaganda. Smith points out that at BuzzFeed, Gionets willingness to do pretty much anything for attention had been forced to abide by certain boundaries: accuracy, for example. His explanation of Gionets devolution is ClickHole-esque in its evident respect for the natural desire of all content to go viral: There was a purity in the way Gionet had abandoned those guardrails and thrown his identity on the mercy of the internet, turned himself into its mirror.

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The books two visions of the internet come together in Smiths retelling of his 2017 decision to publish the Steele dossier on BuzzFeed, where he ran the news division. Smith poses the decision as one driven by confidence that readers are smart enough to see a document that was already rattling around the power centers of Washington with their own eyes, and judge it on its own meritsthe Gawker philosophy, in essence, that its always worth publishing whatever it is that people in power are whispering about. Though he still defends the choice, he admits now that he was wrong. The reality of America in the late 2010s had rebutted Nicks and my win-win assurance that people could be trusted with a complex, contradictory set of information. No longer, he understands, could journalists simply print what they had, and revel, guilt-free, in the traffic.

For no matter how high-minded Smiths justifications, how Dentonian his dedication to exposing the truth, I know that when he got his hands on that dossier he felt the same Perettian prickle at the back of his neck that I did, interviewing Barney Bishop III. After Smith hit publish, he recalls, he saw the organizations big traffic board activate like a pinball machine. Every blogger on the internet would recognize what he did then: He lost an hour with his eyes flicking between the traffic board and Twitter, refreshing and refreshing. I went to stand in the middle of the newsroom, he writes, to watch the traffic flow.
Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. Have a question for Care and Feeding? Submit it here.

Dear Care and Feeding,

Im an only child in my 30s. Ive always had a really close relationship with both my parents. My dad had cancer 10 years ago; he underwent grueling treatments and surgery and hasnt really been the same since. He went from being a fairly quiet but jovial guy to a volatile, angry, and depressed man who is difficult to be around. Its been rough on me; I used to consider him one of my best friends. My mom has been deeply unhappy throughout this too but has stayed by his side. We rely on each other a lot for emotional support.

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Dads cancer came back last year. Three weeks ago, he had surgery to have the tumor removed. During his recovery, he began to experience symptoms of alcohol and opioid withdrawal, which was a surprise to everyone. Mom tore apart his garage workshop and went through his phone looking for answers. What she found all but confirms hes been using for years and been hiding behind the excuse that the cancer changed him to explain his increasingly erratic behavior. Hes been lying to her about how much money hes earning so he can spend thousands a month on drugs. Hes been cheating on her too. Mom is, understandably, devastated. She confronted him in the hospital and he admitted everything.

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I was furious too, but I decided to wait a few days before going to see him so I could figure out what I wanted to say. In that time, his condition worsened, and he was put on a ventilator and eventually into a medically induced coma. He likely wont survive. I regret not going to see him right away, but Im visiting as often as possible now. I just cant bring myself to be mad at him. When I see him lying in that bed, connected to a mess of tubes, all my anger melts away and all I can think about is how much I love him and dont want to lose him.

My mom just cannot stop venting to me, trashing him and planning her new life as a single woman. She has every right to feel this way and needs to take care of herselfI get it. If she were my friend and not my mom, Id be cheering her on 100 percent. But Im her kid and hes still my dad, and hearing this stuff is really weighing on me. We dont live together, but Ive been staying at my parents place several days a week to be closer to the hospital (its a three-hour drive from my place), and being around her negativity is really starting to affect me. My partner is encouraging me to set a boundary with my mom. She says my mom has friends she can talk to. I just dont think I can do that without also betraying my mom. What my father did was not OK in any way. He lied to us both. We have been each others main support in dealing with his volatility over the past several years, and I dont want to yank the rug out from under her now. But I am also a complete wreck, and I dont know how much longer I can take this. What should I do?

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Brokenhearted

Dear Brokenhearted,

I understand that its really tough to be the one your mother vents to about your father, no matter how valid her feelings. And even though you have been in this emotional confidante role for a while and you are both used to it, I think its OK to want her to be more aware of and sensitive to your feelings and your grief, even as she faces her own. She deserves support, of course, but your partner is correct that there are other people she can talk to about her anger besides you, your fathers daughter.

You can try setting up a time to talk with your mom (away from the hospital) and say something like, I know that Dad has caused us both a lot of pain. I do want to be here for and support you in every way I can, but I cant be the main person you talk to about your justifiable anger with him. Its making it harder for me to figure out how to say goodbye to and grieve for him in my own way, as his child. I dont know if shes in a position where she can hear and respect your request, but I do think you can make it. It is in no way a betrayal to realize that you have your own grief and emotional burdens right now, and you cant be the primary person your mother unloads on about your dadyou can recognize and affirm her right to her feelings without also carrying them with and for her. That doesnt mean you cant hear and talk more with her about this in the future, when you arent about to lose your father.

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A final note: You mentioned that you cant bring yourself to be mad at him. Its OK, of course, to feel however you feel, and I get why anger wouldnt be top of mind for you now. But I couldnt help but wonder if there was simply no room for you to feel or think about your own angerwhich you, too, have every right to feel!when your mothers anger and bitterness have been consuming you as well. In case it helps to hear this, anger is often a part of grief, even for those of us who havent experienced the shocks you and your mother have. If you ever find that you can access that anger, that you need to feel and own it, that doesnt mean that you cant also mourn and miss and even love your father. You can, and probably will, feel a lot of things at once, and you have a right to all those feelings too.

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Want Advice From Care and Feeding?

Submit your questions about parenting and family life here. Its anonymous! (Questions may be edited for publication.)

Dear Care and Feeding,

I have estranged myself from my grandmother due to repeated microaggressions after I came out to my family. (I am a gay trans man.) During my initial transition, I was very firm in cutting people out if they werent willing to respect me. My fathers side of the family wasnt willing to sacrifice the feelings of my neurotic grandmother to enforce respect of me, even though they were all otherwise supportive. I havent seen them in years, and I miss them a lot. When my dad has encouraged me to try to reach out to my grandmother, Ive always gotten hurt again, either by misgendering or flat-out deadnaming me, then playing it off as a joke. I refuse to call her anymore and havent spoken to her in over two years.

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For a long time, my partner and I said we wouldnt get married until she died so we wouldnt have to deal with the drama of not inviting herbut here we are, engaged and planning on marrying this summer. Neither of us want to have a ceremony, but he really wants to have a barbecue with family and friends after we are married to celebrate. I said OK to that, but now I have to deal with the drama of inviting some family and not others. My father claims that my grandmother has changed, but I find it hard to believe since Ive gotten burned so many times. Both my partner and my mother are supportive of me not inviting her, but they dont have to deliver the news. I miss my aunt and cousins on my fathers side a lot, and I want them to be there.

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How do I tell my dad that everyone is invited except his mother? My fathers side is prone to gossip, so Im sure Evil Grandma already knows Im engaged and is expecting more information soon. Do I give her another chance, especially since Ill be surrounded by people who will stick up for me? Even if we do invite her, Im not sure I could bring myself to speak to her at the party.

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Wisconsin Family Woes

Dear Family Woes,

I really think youre the only one who can decide whether or not to give your grandmother another chance. Family estrangement is such a hard thing, and ultimately, I hope you feel free to choose whichever path holds the least pain for you.

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It sounds as though you dont wantor at least arent readyto see or talk to your grandmother after the way she treated you, which is totally OK. But even if you actually wanted to see her, I dont know that that means you have to extend an olive branch at the celebration of your marriage, on a day when you and your partner deserve to be surrounded with love and support. If your grandmother has indeed changed, if she is ready to apologize to you and love you for who you are, I think she could try to make that clear to you in her own way, not through your father, and independent of your nuptials. This one celebration doesnt have to be the only opportunity for her to show you that shes changed, should she care to.

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As for the rest of your dads side of the family, invite them if you miss them and want them to be there! Its your day. If you do invite them and not your grandmother, thats your decision, and I would offer your father some simple, direct version of what you wrote in your letter: Youve been misgendered and hurt by your grandmother too many times, and you dont want her there on a day that is supposed to be supportive and joyful. I dont think there is any way to ensure that he will agree with or like your decisionbut he doesnt have to. Its your wedding, and your decision to make.

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Slate Plus Members Get More Advice From Nicole Each Week

From this weeks letter, I Literally Cannot Fathom My Spouses Idea for Our Kids Educational Future: Spouse and I are on opposing sides and every discussion turns into a fight.

Dear Care and Feeding,

This is kind of a minor issue, but it does have me worried, and Im not sure what to do about it. I have a 7-year-old daughter, Kayla, with my ex, Clifford. Despite the divorce, Clifford and I get along well, and we co-parent without any of the problems I sometimes hear horror stories about. Overall, I think hes a good dad. However, hes a lawyer, and he has this stilted way of talking. The first time he asked me out, he said, Where, if anywhere, do you want to go? because he didnt want to presuppose that I wanted to go somewhere.

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Kayla idolizes her dad, and apparently that involves mimicking the way he talks. She wont ask when were going to visit Grandma, its When, if we are in fact going, will we see Grandma? The dog she was excited to see in the park isnt golden-colored, its the part I saw was like gold. I havent seen any problems so far, but I worry it will get her singled out or teased. But I dont know how to get her to stop, or how to gracefully bring it up with Cliff. Is this the sort of thing that will sort itself out in time? Maybe I shouldnt be making a big deal out of it at all.

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Maybe a Molehill

Dear Molehill,

I dont think theres any need to try to change the way Kayla talkseven if there were an easy way to do so, which theres not. The examples you gave dont strike me as very odd, just kind of cute, and its not as if shes being disrespectful. I believe that you are borrowing trouble here! I wouldnt worry, especially since you havent actually heard about any problems or teasing at school. This seems like something Kayla will outgrowor else she will grow into it.

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Catch Up on Care and Feeding

 If you missed Wednesdays column, read it here.

 Discuss this column in the Slate Parenting Facebook group!

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Dear Care and Feeding,

My husband and I are American expats whose jobs have required us to live in Paris for over 13 years, so both of our daughters (11 and 9) have grown up attending school here, speaking French as a second language, and have visited the U.S. to see extended family only once a year. I recently was offered a promotion and a sizable pay raise to move back to the U.S. and run our New York offices, which would obviously be incredible. However, while my husband could switch to remote work and stay at his current job, we are unsure if the move is a good idea for our family. Our kids love their school, and unlike in the United States, academic and extracurricular competition is far less bloodthirsty, not to mention the fact that I can send them to school without fearing a shooting. We have access to amazing health care, and again, in contrast to the U.S., I dont need to fear that my daughters will have to choose where to live based on whether or not they can access reproductive care.

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On paper, Id be crazy for passing up this promotionit truly is a dream job, and whats more, it would allow us to spend more time with my parents, both of whom are very old and have severe health conditions, and see my husbands father. Both my siblings think I would be selfish to not take the job, saying that kids can adapt and dismissing my concerns about school shootings and abortion access because wed be moving to New York, not Nowheresville, Texas. They feel that it would be stupid to not take an opportunity to climb the corporate ladder and have pointed out how unfair it would be to deprive our ill, elderly parents of their granddaughters in what could be their last few years. My husband said he would support me if I wanted to move back to the U.S. but also shares my concerns about health care access, safety, and toxic work and academic culture. I want to stay in France, but I feel incredibly selfish about giving up the chance to be near my parents and know that opportunities like this promotion may not happen again. Do you have any advice about what I should do?

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Should We Stay or Should We Go

Dear Should We,

In situations like this, I try to imagine how Id feel if I made either decision, and pay attention to which one I feel best aboutor, if neither feels great, which one I can more easily live with. I cant know, from your letter, how much help your parents may require of you right now, and that is obviously a huge factor in all this. Are they at a point where you feel you really should be closer? Are their care needs too much for your siblings who live closer to them to handle without you? Are there other ways you can be of more assistance from afar, perhaps visiting more often with the grandkids, etc., short of making an international move you dont want to make right now?

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Of course your parents needs and wants matter. It also matters where you and your husband want to live and raise your childrenand that decision really isnt up to your siblings or anyone else. It sounds as if you want to stay where you are, at least for now, and continue raising your kids there. If that ever changes, and you decide that you do need to move back home in the near or distant future, could you make that happen, even if this exact job is no longer on the table? I know this promotion is a great opportunity for you, but its probably not your last chance to take a job and move stateside.

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If you want to pass up this particular position, if you feel thats the best decision for you and your family, its your call to make. There are obviously tradeoffs either way. You wouldnt be the first person to raise a family far from your parents. As someone who wound up doing the same, though, I just want to point out that if you stay put for now, there will likely be more tough decisions like this down the road. I dont say this to put more pressure on youits just a fact. Keep communication lines with those back home as open as you can, and continue to be very honest with yourself about whats most important to you as both your kids and your parents age.

Nicole

More Advice From Slate

I have a 12-year-old daughter, Sage. Sage is firmly against wearing a bra. She complains that they are uncomfortable, annoying, too tight, etc. The bras I get her fit well, but nope. The problem is, she needs one! Not badly, but enough that my husband and I think she should wear one. She is going into eighth grade, so all of her friends have them, but Sage still refuses. When I force her to wear one, she either takes it off in the bathroom or she says, My body, my choice. What should I do?
How completely unworried are elected Republicans about getting on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bad side? Consider the way Texas Rep. Lance Gooden executed a public humiliation of the man on Tuesday evening.

DeSantis was visiting Washington, D.C., for a meet-and-greet with a few dozen Republican lawmakers near the Capitol. The Florida governor, who wasnt particularly social during his six years in the House, is ramping up a political outreach operation as he moves toward announcing his presidential candidacy.

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Gooden was at the DeSantis event. But within about a second of his feet hitting the sidewalk on his way out, Goodens office issued a statement endorsing Donald Trump for president.

I met with Governor DeSantis, and while he has done commendable work in Florida, there is no doubt in my mind that President Trump is the only leader who can save America from the leftist onslaught we are currently facing, the statement read, and then went on for a while longer. It had clearly been pre-written for release just after Goodens appearance at the soiree.

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Even those attendees of the DeSantis event who didnt go out of their way to humiliate the governor on Trumps behalf were hesitant to suggest, in any way, that they would consider endorsing him. They said they were there just to hear the guy out, or say hi. Maybe to try a canape or two. Certainly not to endorse him!

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The Gooden debacle came as DeSantis continued to be embarrassed in his own backyard. The Trump campaign has been working to pick off endorsements from Floridas House delegationand is having quite a bit of success.

In recent weeks, Trump earned the endorsements of Florida Reps. Cory Mills and Byron Donalds, joining endorsements he already had from MAGA stalwarts like Matt Gaetz and Anna Paulina Luna. NBC News reported last week that DeSantis political operation had begun reaching out to other members of the Florida delegation, pleading with them to hold off on jumping to Trump.

It worked, in one case, with freshman Florida Rep. Laurel Lee. She endorsed DeSantis this week. But Trump tripled DeSantis tally, with Florida Reps. John Rutherford, Brian Mast, and Greg Steube. (They endorsed Trump on Monday and Tuesday.) MAGA Inc., the primary super PAC assisting Trumps campaign, has been sending out deliriously giddy press releases tracking the process, with subject lines like Ron DeSantis and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tuesday and Yet Another Florida Congressman Endorses Trump.

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Steube was one of the Trump endorsers whom DeSantis team had reached out to, asking him to hold off. He gave an interview to Politico following his Trump endorsement, and its one of the more revealing looks yet at DeSantis lack of personal touch.

Steube said that DeSantis has never once reached out to him during his five years in Congress. One time, he said, DeSantis team invited him to a news conference following Hurricane Ian, but then told him he wouldnt be part of it once he arrived. Steube, who was away from Congress for an extended period earlier this year recovering from a fall off a ladder, said that Trump was one of the first people he remembers calling him in the ICU.

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To this day I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis, Steube told Politico.

On Wednesday afternoon, another Florida endorsement for Trump rolled inand from another one of the members that DeSantis team had specifically asked to wait to make a call. It was longtime Rep. Vern Buchanan, hardly a MAGA firebrand. According to CNN, it didnt go unnoticed by Buchanan how DeSantis offered him no help in his (losing) race for Ways and Means Committee chair, or how DeSantis drew him out of his home county in the previous redistricting cycle without speaking to him.

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Two more Florida members for Trump are reportedly on the way.

Now: If DeSantis wasnt polling quite so poorly against Trump as of late, Steube might not care so much about who did or didnt call him in the hospital, and Buchanan might forgive and forget a missed conversation here or there. Trumps willingness to give out his phone number and chit-chat rank-and-file elected Republicans is a true political skill that DeSantis lacks. The influx of endorsements, though, has more to do with the fact that hes looking increasingly dominant in the primary, while DeSantis further entrenches himself in battle with an Orlando amusement park. House Republicans might as well get on Trumps good sideor, rather, avoid getting on his bad sidenow.
Lots of adults are worried about teenagers, social media, and mental health. Utah recently passed a law that will bar anyone under 18 from social media unless they have parental permission, and other states are enacting or discussing similar laws. But like a lot of internet debates, the conversation about the real risks and benefits of kids experiences online is often consumed by moral panic and sweeping generalizations, with little room for nuance.

On Sundays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer at the American Psychological Association, about the real science behind social media and the social lives of teenagers. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Lizzie OLeary: When did you realize that studying social media was key to understand how kids interact with each other?

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Mitch Prinstein: For adolescents, one of the first areas of their brain developing is the part that makes them crave more peer connections. This is all a backdrop for understanding what happens when you add in social media to the mix.

We have been studying how kids get along with one another for so longtheir popularity, their friendships, their bullying and peer victimization. And it doesnt seem like it was that long ago when kids started asking us, Wait a minute, you mean in person? You mean things that were saying to each other face-to-face? Over time, social media went from a novel new way that kids were interacting with one another to the primary way. We realized if youre not studying social media, youre not studying kids peer relationships anymore.

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What do we know about how kids and teens engage with social media?

How much time your kid is spending on a screen is probably not the most important variable. In fact, theres little link at all between the amount of screen time and any psychological outcome. Some kids might be on there to read the news and listen to a podcast, talk with their friends about it, and thats different than the same amount of time being spent on something that clearly would be more risky.

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But these platforms are built for engagement. They want to keep you on them.

This is where the algorithmic function really comes in. Weve never outsourced our social relationships to a computer before. We choose who were friends with, who we talk to, when we talk to them, in what order we talk to them or see what they have to say. Thats all machine learning now. For kids especially, were starting to see that those brilliant minds who have put these platforms together have found just the right way to keep kids on much longer than they even want to be on. It really sucks you in.

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Have kids expressed that to you?

Yeah. Wow. In some of the research, folks have used the clinical dependence criteria thats used for substance abuse and swapped out the words for substance with social media. About 50 percent of kids say that they spend more time on it than they want, they cant quit even when they try, theyre lying or deceiving others or spending extraordinary efforts just to have ongoing access. Its interfering with their roles, their relationships, their homework.

Then there is the content question. Even with parental controls, the nature of the internet and how people behave on it means teens can be exposed to just about anything.

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Remember that theres a lot of good that can come from social media, and there are some things that are risky toobut every kids going to respond differently. Some kids might have some preexisting vulnerabilities, maybe based on their identity or the groups that they identify with, maybe based on psychological risk factors like concern about their body shape or a tendency toward anxiety or depression already. When we think about the role of social media, we do really have to think about it as an equation. Its who you were before you logged in and which kinds of content and features. We cant say its all because of the kid or its all because of the platform.

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What does the research say about how kids respond when they see racist, sexist, or radicalizing content?

The majority of kids are telling us that they are exposed to extreme discrimination or hate or online cyberbullying on several occasions as they use [social media]. And one of the things that happens to kidswell, it happens to adults, toois that we engage in a process of overgeneralization. You see a post, its awful. You see that there are a few likes and comments. You read them; you have a choice. You could say, Wow, there are five people that think that way. Or you can say, Thats like half the country that must feel that way. I cant believe those people.

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We all do the latter more than we do the former. We overgeneralize what we see. And the reason why thats so concerning for kids is because they dont have as much otherworldly, out-of-their-community exposure. And as a result, what they see online has a remarkable impact in affecting their broad attitudes and their broader behavior.

These platforms were built initially for adult brains. Is there any sense of whether spending time on these platforms affects brain development?

What we know right now is that one of the first areas of the adolescent brains to develop is that area that makes us really attuned to social experiences with peers. Whenever youre getting attention or someone nods or smiles or makes you feel powerful, it makes you feel good temporarily. And thats because of a little dopamine oxytocin release in that area of the brain that develops a couple of years before you see puberty starting to occur based on observable features. Social media, it turns out, is activating that exact area because it quantifies how many people have looked at your post, liked your post, commented on your post, forwarded your postand its a big dopamine oxytocin hit.

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It might be hard to listen to this and not think, Ugh, forget it, shut it all down. Why shouldnt we have that response?

There are a few things that are really important to remember. First of all, kids that are coming from communities where they feel isolated get tremendous benefit from the opportunity to connect with others who share a similar questioning, can share relevant health information, or even just social support. We dont want to be taking social media away from everybody forever, because then were really taking away a very important psychological benefit. Secondly, a lot of kids talk about their online-only friends. This is, for adults, crazy to think about, but these are close, supportive, really important friendships. And some research is saying that those friendships are serving a function to buffer the effects of stress on major negative outcomes. Were seeing that kids have more diverse friends, get more social support, and engage in more civic activism online than offline.

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When Frances Haugen leaked some of the Facebook files, there was some really interesting internal data from Meta that basically showed that Instagram in particular seemed to be really hard for teen girls because they were comparing themselves against one another. Is there anything that allows us to look app by app, platform by platform?

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Scientists, much like parents, are having a hard time keeping up with it all because it changes so rapidly. We have all moved into talking function-by-function. Does this have a public comment function? Does it have a like function? Does it have an algorithmic function? We can talk about things that are cutting across different platforms. By the time we have a paper out on a platform where weve done a study, that platform is a year old and not the thing in vogue anymore. It ends up being easier to look at some of these cross-cutting ways that it differs from our offline experiences and from other technological advances.

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Many people think that phones are to blame for a spike in depression and suicidal ideation among teens and adolescents. How do you respond to that?

There is likely some contribution that social media has made to what we now are calling a youth mental health crisis. But those of us who have been in psychology for decades will readily tell you the youth mental health crisis started long before social media. It is not because of social media, certainly not exclusively. It has very much to do with stress, polarization, and long-standing concerns about inadequate mental health care in the U.S. I think we need to not look for a quick fix and think that we should just force the social media companies to change, and suddenly kids will all get better.

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After World War II was the last time we made a serious commitment to mental health and built a national infrastructure for mental healthand that was built for adults, for veterans coming back from the war. When people say, Why do we have a youth mental health crisis? I say, Well, look at all the science we have on what we would do now if we were building a youth mental health infrastructure. It would look very little like the one we have. Thats more where we should be pointing the finger for how we got here. The problem is much bigger than just social media.

A recently passed Utah law requires anyone under 18 to get parental consent to join social media platforms. How should we approach laws like this?

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Its really important that we dont have an all-or-nothing mindset when we think about this. Taking away the opportunity to gain social support, creating a complete lack of privacy, especially among kids who might need and benefit from an opportunity to have free explorationthat might end up doing more damage than good. Scientifically, we would probably advocate for something thats more about creating a platforms age-appropriateness instead. How can the tools and the notifications and the opportunities be different for an 8-year-old compared to an 80-year-old?

Similarly, what might be some competencies that we would want a kid to be able to demonstrate? Like the drivers test of social media use before we give them the keys and just let them drive all over the internet free rein.

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I know the APA is talking to lawmakers about these sorts of policies. What are they asking you and what are you telling them?

Were talking with them about the idea that there could be ways to change some of the functionality on social media to be sensitive to adolescent brain development and psychological development. Take away that like button, take away the use of their data, take away some of the algorithmic work or monitor that content. A kid who expresses a totally normal concern about their body shape shouldnt be pointed to a group that teaches them how to binge and fast and conceal that behavior from their parents. If we had developmental glasses on and looked at social media, we would quickly say, Oh, there are a variety of things here that make sense for adults, but not for kids. But Im not sure the companies have modified it with that in mind.

Theres this fundamental tension here, which is intrinsic to parenting. Your job as a parent, first and foremost, is to keep your child safe. Their job is to grow away from you over time. And its this constant calibration of who is being independent. Social media just exacerbates that tension. How should we be thinking about parenting and social media?

I assume if I buy a toy off a shelf in a normal toy store, someone has had to make sure that thing is safe. Its not going to explode in my kids face. Parents now are shocked to realize, Wait a minute. No one is looking over social media. Nobody has made sure this is safe. I gave it to my kid to use for an hour while I was folding my laundry, but Im basically handing my kids development over to someone whos looking to make a profit. Thats a rude awakening. Now, we have to change that either by creating some oversight or by parents saying, Wait a minute, I have to put way more restrictions on this than I realized.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Supreme Court temporarily blocks restrictions placed on abortion pill mifepristone at least until Friday

The ruling comes amid a legal challenge by anti-abortion groups arguing against the drug's federal regulatory approval

President Joe Biden and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories requested to block the April 7 preliminary injunction that Kacsmaryk issued

The United States Supreme Court has temporarily ordered to keep access to abortion pill mifepristone by at least until Friday, curbing restrictions set forth by lower courts.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ruled that the temporary block on mifepristone was extended by two days. This comes as anti-abortion groups are legally challenging the authorization granted to the drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Supreme Court Ruling on Abortion Pill

Alito's decision to hold the ruling on the abortion pill gives the court's justices more time to consider requests made by United States President Joe Biden's administration and the manufacturer of the pill, Danco Laboratories. As per Reuters, they called for a block to an April 7 preliminary injunction that US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas issued.

If allowed to move forward, Kacsmaryk's decision would have significantly restricted access to the abortion pill. The Biden administration now seeks to defend the drug amid several bans and restrictions enacted by Republican-led states.

The situation comes after the Supreme Court in June 2022 voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, removing the Constitutional right to abortion across the nation. Now, the White House is ready to face a long legal battle regarding the issue, said Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

The FDA is responsible for signing off on the safety of various food products, drugs, and medical devices. The agency approved using mifepristone in 2000, and the recent case could undercut the drug's federal approval over safety concerns.

A New Orleans 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling also allowed the drug to stay but upheld restrictions on its availability. According to Al Jazeera, these standards would only allow mifepristone to be used up to seven weeks of pregnancy and not the ten weeks that the FDA previously approved.

Read Also: Judge Delays Hearing for Charged Air National Guardsman

Access to Mifepristone

Additionally, the drug was banned from being sent via mail, and patients were required to make three in-person doctor visits before they were given the medication. These hurdles were factors that the FDA's guidelines lifted in an attempt to provide greater access to the abortion pill.

Alito's latest ruling is expected to raise tensions as Republican lawmakers are working to restrict abortion access. The situation comes as the Supreme Court has a six-to-three conservative majority.

Typically, medication abortion is a two-drug regimen that is used in the first 12 weeks of a woman's pregnancy. Mifepristone is the first drug in the series and blocks progesterone, a hormone that allows pregnancy to develop.

The second pill is misoprostol, taken one or two days after mifepristone and is responsible for prompting contractions and assisting the uterus to expel its contents, said the New York Times.

Related Article: Biden's Latest Executive Order Targets Child Care Cost, Accessibility

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Business names are key to helping brands grow. Taking time to register your small business is an important step.

When you register a business name, you can enjoy the following benefits:

Help you realize tax benefits

Help you establish credibility and identity

Help you get approved for business loans

Is it Necessary To Register The Business Name?

Not always. Business structure and organization are factors that determine whether or not you must register the business name.

Sole proprietorships, with the business in the owners name, typically dont have to be registered. But if you form a Limited liability corporation, a limited partnership or a corporation as a business structure, youll have to register your business.

Registering a Business Name: A Step By Step Guide

Its actually fairly easy to register your business, no matter what business structure you have. The process can be accomplished online, as long as you can upload any required legal documents and paperwork.

There are some pre-registration steps you should take. You should start a business bank account (and business credit card). You should also establish your business structure.

Once youve done those things, here are your next steps:

Choose Your Legal Business Name

Take your time with creating the legal name for your business. You have to choose a name that will be easily identified with your business, and also choose a legal name that hasnt already been taken by another existing business.

Also, choose a name that hints at the service or product the business provides. For example, balloon business names could include Air Soar or Up, Away and Back Tours, while esthetician business names (skincare) could include Smoothly Yours.

How can you find out if your desired name has been taken? See Small Business Trends article How to See If a Business Name Is Taken. Once you know your name is clear, make a business name reservation (see below). Name reservations are important so that another new business doesnt try to use the same name as you complete the filing process.

The states secretary most often will not accept your proposed name for the business if a similar name already exists for an existing business.

Register with State Agencies

Youll go to your states office, usually called the Secretary of State, to file your business name reservation and register your business. States require registration documents for an LLC, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, corporation or nonprofit organization. The Secretary of State website in most states should have a step-by-step process with a significant portion of filing you can do using an online form.

Along with your business registration, youll also need to designate a registered agent for the business. The registered agent is usually not the business owner. The agent is a person who can accept legal documents and other paperwork on behalf of the owner.

If you conduct business activities in another state, state laws may require you to register your business in that state (see below).

Register with Federal Agencies

Youll need to register a Federal Tax ID number, which is also called an Employer Identification Number or EIN. You need that number to file taxes.

If youre a sole proprietor, you can use you social security number as your individual taxpayer identification number for filing taxes.

Register with Local and County Agencies

The requirement for this may vary depending on your business location. Even if registration is not required, you will need to find out if you need to file certain licenses or permits.

Register a DBA

DBA stands for Doing Business As. In other words, its an assumed name or fictitious name for a business. If you use an assumed name for your business, that will most likely have to be registered by the local and county agencies.

Register a Trademark

If you want to trademark your business name, product name, trade name or brand, youll need to file that with the US Patent and Trademark Office. You can use the United States Patent and Trademark Office website to find your local trademark office. You will not be able to choose a trade name that is already in use.

Register with the IRS

If your business is an S Corporation or a tax-exempt non-profit organization, youll need to register with the IRS.

See Also: ClearSale and BigCommerce Prep Ecommerce Small Business

Why The Business Structure Matters

Limited Liability Company  Requires registered agent. Must be registered with Federal and State agencies.

Corporation  Requires registered agent. Must be registered with Federal and State agencies. Youll have to file articles of incorporation.

Sole Proprietor  Does not require Federal or State registration. However, a sole proprietorship may elect to form an LLC, to protect private assets. Most businesses choose to form an LLC, despite the extra filing requirements.

Partnership  Requires registered agent. Must be registered with Federal and State agencies. This also applies to general partnerships.

Remember that in addition to requirements with the state agency, any business entity may require additional licenses and permits at the county and local levels. Also, a fictitious name must be registered for businesses.

What Business Formation Documents are Needed?

For filing, youll need official papers which detail your business name and location, as well as its ownership, structure, and management structure (including principal officer and board of directors if its a corporation).

Youll need the name of the registered agent, the persons address and contact information.

If the business structure is a corporation or S Corp, youll need to provide the number of shares and the value of each share.

Youll need documents regarding your business name registration.

What Happens When You Conduct Business in More Than One State?

If the physical presence of your business is in one state, and youre conducting business activities in another state, you may need to register your business in both states to remain in good standing.

Here are the criteria that determine if you need to register your business in another state:

Your business has a physical location in the other state

You often meet with clients in another state

Lots of your companys revenue comes from another state

Your employees perform work in that state

Check with a business attorney for advice.

The Bottom Line

Registering a business is a step-by-step process when youre a new company. Most of the work can be accomplished online and its not expensive.

Register a Business Name: FAQs

Should Limited Liability Companies also File a DBA?

Yes, if they are running the company under a fictitious name.

What Does Business Entity Mean?

The entity is the type of business structure of the company (such as LLC, general partnership, etc.)

How Much Does it Cost to Register a Business Name? Some examples for LLCs:

California $70; Maine $175, Delaware $75; Maryland $100; Ohio $99.

What Business Structure do You Need to Get a Trademark?

Any business structure can register a trademark with the USPTO.
Young air steward behind attraction on border of three national parks.

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People looking for a unique experience in the Slovak mountains can now head to Spisske Bystre, east Slovakia, after local aviation enthusiast Matej Budaj built what he claims is a one-of-a-kind wellness apartment  in an aeroplane.

The village, nestled on the border of three national parks - the Low Tatras, Slovak Paradise, and Muranska Planina National Park, is usually sought out by hikers and holidaymakers from around the country for its picturesque houses and beautiful nature.

But now they can enjoy a sauna in the cabin of a passenger plan, along with a bedroom with a view of the High Tatras peaks, a living room, a whirlpool on one of its wings right above a stream, and a deck area on the other wing.

"Ive not heard of another one like it," says Budaj.

Matej, a steward with Czech Airlines, said: "What else could possibly appeal to an aviation person than an aeroplane?
Looking for activities that you can go to this week? Visit the rich programme of Bratislava City Days this weekend or escape on a hike to Medene Hamre.

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Nature | Music | Jam session

Nature

Forest in Male Karpaty (Small Carpathians) near Bukova. (Source: Tomas Sereda)

A hike to Medene Hamre

Saturday, April 22 at 8:55 at Nivy bus station, Bratislava

This Saturday hikers meet at 8:55 at the Nivy bus station in Bratislava for the 219 bus that takes off at 9:07. They will arrive at Borinka at 9:56 and start the hike at 10 from there.

First, they will take the red trail up the hill, then turn off across the country to the first viewpoint above Medene Hamre. Then, they will head across the ridge to climb down to the valley where they head up the other side to the next stop - the cave at Jaskyna Notre Dame.

The next destination of the hike will be the top of Strmina, down the other side, walk to Biely Kriz and finally back to Raca, where public transport can take you back to the city centre.

The whole trip should be around 16 km and should take approximately five hours.

If you would like to go on a hike later, here's the map.

https://sk.frame.mapy.cz/s/nagujasuga

CLASSICAL MUSIC

An organ concert will take place during the weekend as part of the Bratislava City Days. (Source: Tomas Benedikovic)

Organ concert at the cathedral

Sunday, April 23, starts at 15:00 in St. Martin Cathedral, Rudnayovo Namestie 1 (square), Bratislava.

Another great way to spend the weekend in Bratislava is the annual event that is taking place is Bratislava City Days. Our tip on where to go on this Sunday is the concert of organ music in the Cathedral of St. Martin, which will be part of the programme.

Listen to the concert of cathedral organist Daniel Gabca, whose repertoire will consist of works by authors from the Baroque to the present, such as Dandrieu, Bach, Franck, Messiaen, Part, and others.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1-XI82sMpLmUwL4x6Lf79J0ZyPq_BlMo&ehbc=2E312F

Jam session

(Source: Pink Whale)

Music at a boat club

Wednesday, April 26, starts at 19:30 at Pink Whale club, Dvorakovo Nabrezie (waterfront), Old Town, Bratislava

The open-door event starts at 19:30; the jam session opens with a house band at 20:00. Jam session 'Za Hranice S Hudbou' (beyond the border with music) Vol. 7 is opened by Horehigh Kapela. Come enjoy their lecturers as well, and other jammers will pull you through. In addition, there will be several copies of their jamming book with the repertoire to start with.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1c1ZsWCDurQ9e9Sp1DrpZbxVIz6Xceks&ehbc=2E312F

If you have tips for free events in Bratislava or would like to share your hiking or cycling trip ideas with readers, let me know at kseniia.husieva@spectator.sk.
Suspended prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka faces charges in several cases.

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The police have ended the investigation of former general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka in the Glance House case. This concerns the transfer of a block of flats in Bernolakovo, near Bratislava, in 2012.

Trnka stands accused of abusing the authority of a public official. The accusation came a year ago, the Sme daily writes.

The investigator will soon submit the case file to the supervising prosecutor. The prosecutors office should decide in the next few weeks whether to file charges against Trnka with the court in the case.

Trnka is facing a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
How to enjoy Bratislava for free, where to fly from Slovak airports in summer, and a strange apartment.

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Good evening. Here is the Thursday, April 20 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

Ex-chief prosecutor has yet another problem

Former General Prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka. (Source: SME)

The police have ended their investigation of former general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka in the Glance House case. This concerns the transfer of a block of flats in Bernolakovo, near Bratislava, in 2012.

Trnka stands accused of abusing the authority of a public official. The accusation came a year ago, the Sme daily writes.

The investigator will soon submit the case file to the supervising prosecutor. The prosecutors office should decide in the next few weeks whether to file charges against Trnka with the court in the case.

More stories from The Slovak Spectator website

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3 things to do in Bratislava for free

St Martin's Cathedral.

Looking for activities that you can go to this week and spend no money? Enjoy a jam session or escape on a hike to Medene Hamre.

EVENT FOR THE WEEKEND

Bratislava City Days

Bratislava. (Source: Unsplash)

At the weekend, both on Saturday and Sunday, you can see a celestial globe and a timber truss of the Old Town Hall tower on display at the Old Town Hall.

At Apponyi Palace, a guided walking tour in English will take place at 16:00 on Saturday. People can learn more about the capital and people. The next day, another tour will be held, but at the Old Town Hall. Its focus will be the city's history.

You can see the programme in full here.

In other news

Voluntary military service may not be introduced this year, acting Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad (Demokrati) has said. The final decision will be made in the coming weeks. The ministry did not plan to introduce this service, because the ministry initially wanted to open the active reserves to everyone. The MPs did not approve the proposal.

The final decision will be made in the coming weeks. The ministry did not plan to introduce this service, because the ministry initially wanted to open the active reserves to everyone. The MPs did not approve the proposal. A former Comenius University dean has been charged with corruption. He admitted to accepting a bribe of 20,000. The university has condemned his action.

He admitted to accepting a bribe of 20,000. The university has condemned his action. Slovakia's general government deficit decreased to 2.23 billion or 2.04 percent of GDP. The general government debt reached 63.38 billion or 57.8 percent of GDP, the Statistics Office announced. "We are fulfilling Maastricht criteria," said acting PM Eduard Heger (Demokrati). The requirements for the deficit are 3 percent of GDP and 60 percent for debt.

The general government debt reached 63.38 billion or 57.8 percent of GDP, the Statistics Office announced. "We are fulfilling Maastricht criteria," said acting PM Eduard Heger (Demokrati). The requirements for the deficit are 3 percent of GDP and 60 percent for debt. Slovak diplomat Katarina Mathernova will serve as EU ambassador to Ukraine.

On Thursday, April 20, a train hit a lorry in Presov, eastern Slovakia. (Source: TASR - Frantisek Ivan)

WEATHER FOR FRIDAY: Clear skies. Fog in the morning. Patchy showers. The highest daytime temperature will rise to 21C. Light wind. (SHMU)

Thank you for subscribing and reading. It means a lot to us.

P.S. If you have suggestions on how our news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230419/german-defense-chief-eu-falling-behind-russia-in-africa-1109673262.html

German Defense Chief: EU Falling Behind Russia in Africa

German Defense Chief: EU Falling Behind Russia in Africa

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned on Wednesday that the European Union was losing ground to Russia in Africa's turbulent Sahel region and beyond.

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He stressed the need for the EU to "remain represented and engaged in the region," especially due to Russia's presence there.Pistorius said the EU must maintain a military presence in the Sahel and continue standing by its allies, such as Niger. The German government wants to send up to 60 soldiers to the western African country as part of the EU Military Partnership Mission. The deployment is subject to parliamentary approval.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230419/greece-to-launch-election-period-on-april-22-after-dissolution-of-parliament-1109673685.html

Greece to Launch Election Period on April 22 After Dissolution of Parliament

Greece to Launch Election Period on April 22 After Dissolution of Parliament

The Greek parliament will be officially dissolved on April 22 by a presidential decree marking the beginning of the 2023 election period in the country, said Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

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Greece is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on May 21. In accordance with the law, the prime minister has first to demand the dissolution of parliament at a meeting with the country's president. After that, the relevant presidential decree will be issued and pinned to the parliament's entrance.The Greek prime minister added that the government had fulfilled its campaign promises and would bring before the citizens' judgment what it had done over the past four years and what it would do if the ruling party wins the upcoming elections.Mitsotakis also said that his goal is to improve the lives of all citizens and distribute the dividends of economic growth evenly. In addition, the Greek prime minister announced his plans to promote a rapprochement with Europe during the next four years.

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Oklahoma county commissioner files handwritten resignation letter following racist remarks and threats against reporters

Mark Jennings, during a previous meeting, said that he preferred a time when lynching was allowed

The officials also involved allegedly talked about hiring hitmen to kill two journalists

County Commissioner Mark Jennings from Oklahoma files his handwritten resignation letter following calls for him to step down after he made racist remarks and threats toward reporters.

Jennings has been the county commissioner for the second district of McCurtain County since 2021, prior to his resignation. The letter was submitted to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's office and noted that the official was stepping down effective immediately.

Oklahoma Official Resigns Over Racist Remarks and Threats

The county commissioner's letter also stated that he plans to issue a statement "in the near future regarding the recent events in our county." The incident comes after a report that detailed a conversation between Jennings, Sheriff Kevin Clardy, investigator Alicia Manning, Commissioner Robert Beck, commissioner's secretary Heather Carter, and jail administrator Larry Hendrix.

The talks were held after a March 6 meeting of the county's board of commissioners and were where Jennings discussed his preference for returning to a time when the country allowed lynching to be done legally, as per The Hill.

He suggested taking them down to Mud Creek and hanging them up with a "damn rope." However, he said you were not allowed to do that anymore, arguing that they got more rights than they do. The county commissioner, alongside Clardy and Manning, also talked about the idea of potentially hiring killers to target two journalists.

Jennings said he knew of "two big deep holes" if anyone needed to use them for anything. Stitt was the one that called for the resignations of several officials, namely Jennings, Clardy, Manning, and Hendrix, following the release of recordings of their conversations.

The Oklahoma officials' remarks sparked immediate protest in Idabel, where Jennings is from, and outrage across the state and the country. On the other hand, the sheriff's office on Monday pushed back on the release of the recordings, saying that they were altered and illegal because no member of the conversations consented to the release of the recordings.

Read Also: Pentagon's UFO-Tracking Office Head Faces Lawmakers Amid Increased Sightings

Back to a Time of Lynching

Amid the release of the recording of the officials' conversations, they were already facing a lawsuit filed in federal court on the same day the recording was made. According to The Oklahoman, Chris Willingham, a reporter for McCurtain Gazette-News, brought the lawsuit on March 6.

He filed it against the McCurtain County Board of County Commissioners, the McCurtain County Sheriff's Office, Clardy, and Manning. Following the recordings being made public, the Oklahoma governor called for the officials to resign from their posts.

According to agency spokesman Gerald Davidson, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is in charge of a probe that seeks to review the incident following Stitt's request. After the county commissioner's resignation, Oklahoma Sen. George Burns also urged Clardy and Jennings to resign immediately.

Burns argued that when the words of public officials in the country are so "vile" that they would hurt the people they serve, they should not be allowed to hold those positions any longer. The officials involved have not responded to requests for comment regarding the issue, said NBC News.

Related Article: Judge Delays Hearing for Charged Air National Guardsman

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/biden-administration-charges-uhuru-trump-dominates-gop-sudan-fighting-continues-1109676434.html

Biden Administration Charges Uhuru; Trump Dominates GOP; Sudan Fighting Continues

Biden Administration Charges Uhuru; Trump Dominates GOP; Sudan Fighting Continues

The Biden Department of Justice has charged several members of the African People's Socialist Party with colluding with Russian entities to sow discord and interfere with elections.

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2023-04-20T12:13+0000

the critical hour

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Biden Administration Charges Uhuru; Trump Dominates GOP; Sudan Fighting Continues The Biden Department of Justice has charged several members of the African People's Socialist Party with colluding with Russian entities to sow discord and interfere with elections.

Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, researcher joins us to discuss DOJ charges against the Uhuru movement. Also, fighting continues in Sudan.Mark Sleboda, Moscow based international relations security analyst joins us to discuss Ukraine. Kiev is demanding bribes for grain, G7 ministers vow more Russia sanctions, and China and Russia circle the wagons.K. J. Noh, Peace Activist, Writer, Teacher joins us to discuss China. China opposes the toxic G7 communique, the US makes more nonsense charges, and China offers to mediate between Israel and Palestine.Dan Lazare, Investigative Journalist, joins us to discuss foreign policy. The US needs a new foreign policy. Also, the Assange arrest is a propaganda exercise.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon joins us to discuss the Middle East. The Kuwaiti government is in turmoil, Lebanon postpones elections, and Israel attacks a Jenin campDanny Shaw, professor of Latin American studies, author, and activist joins us to discuss Haiti and US imperialism. AOC leads a military recruitment exercise and Haiti faces US made hunger.Melik Abdul, co host of Fault Lines on Radio Sputnik, joins us to discuss Trump and Elon Musk. Trump leads the GOP and Elon Musk crushes a BBC reporter.Linwood Tauheed, Associate professor of Economics, University of Missouri-Kansas City joins us to discuss the economy. Gold prices rise as investors wait for the Fed's next move. Also, the US credit crunch has started and Brics nations have more economic might than the G7.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/20230420/chinas-systemic-rivals-aspect-with-germany-increasing-baerbock-says--1109680137.html

China's 'Systemic Rivals Aspect' With Germany 'Increasing', Baerbock Says

China's 'Systemic Rivals Aspect' With Germany 'Increasing', Baerbock Says

China's role as a competitor and systemic rival to Germany is now "increasing more and more," Annalena Baerbock said in the Bundestag.

2023-04-20T07:31+0000

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China may be Germanys largest trading partner, but its role as a "competitor" and "systemic rival" is now "increasing," Annalena Baerbock warned lawmakers in the Bundestag, according to media reports.Germanys Foreign Minister is the latest European politician to have flown to China, in the wake of forays there by Frances Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and other officials.Ahead of the visit, at the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Baerbock urged Europe to be "geopolitically more active" in its systemic rivalry with China, which she described as a "competitor" and a "systemic opponent." The German official appeared to have been further convinced of this, judging by her remarks in Germany's lower house of parliament on Wednesday.Baerbock touted good and important" ties with Beijing, and conceded that China was important for Germany - after all, trade between the two countries amounted to around 300Bln ($320Bln) in 2022. About two-thirds of so-called rare earth metals, vital for batteries, semiconductors, and the magnets in electric cars, are imported by Germany from China."We cannot get around China," she told the politicians, adding that what Germany should do is not decouple itself from the Asian powerhouse, but rather "minimize its risks."Baerbock was cited as warning Germany not to be "naive" about China. She also urged against repeating mistakes, such as Berlins "change through trade," or Wandel durch Handel (WdH) in German - a geo-economic approach to foreign policy.Accusing China of having become more "repressive" in internal policies, and allegedly adopting a more assertive and aggressive external stance, the German Foreign Minister added a dash of intrigue. She told lawmakers that she found parts of her recent trip to China "more than shocking", though she stopped short of mentioning anything specific. This could be taken as a reference to Western allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Chinas westernmost province and the home of the Uyghur people. Claims of "mass internment, forced assimilation, forced labor and sterilization" for minorities have been held up by Washington as a pressure point against China. Beijing has repeatedly denied these allegations. Speaking in parliament, the German Foreign Minister adopted a rather dramatic tone elsewhere in her speech to the Bundestag. As she weighed in on the new China strategy currently in the pipeline, she said, We must safeguard freedom and the rule of law in the long term" and "stand up for the international order with a clear stance". According to her, "the freedom, prosperity and security of all of us" is at stake.Indeed, the German government is currently drafting a strategy, which, reportedly, will embrace a tougher line with Beijing, and reduce reliance on the Asian giant. For the latter to work, German businesses will be expected to diversify supply chains regarding critical goods.Baerbock, whose three-day trip to China involved meetings with her counterpart Qin Gang, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Wang Yi, the countrys former top diplomat, had made some pretty blunt policy statements regarding Taiwan."A unilateral and violent change in the status quo would not be acceptable to us as Europeans," the foreign minister said. She added at a joint press conference with her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Beijing:However, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin, was quick to remind that, "Taiwan is China's Taiwan."Beijing views the island as its province, whereas Taiwan insists it is autonomous. Authorities in Beijing oppose any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and consider Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable - in accordance with the one-China policy.The German Foreign Minister had visited China in the wake of a stinging backlash generated by remarks dropped by the French President upon returning from a Beijing trip. Emmanuel Macron had suggested that Europe should stay out of the feud between the US and China over Taiwan, and argued that the continent needed to "wake up" to its own interests.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221102/scholz-germany-adheres-to-one-china-policy-regarding-taiwan-1103121834.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230415/baerbocks-visit-to-china-reaffirmed-weakness-of-eu-1109561988.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/countries-joining-nato-face-security-risks-including-nuclear---russian-envoy-to-canada-1109713089.html

Countries Joining NATO Face Security Risks Including Nuclear - Russian Envoy to Canada

Countries Joining NATO Face Security Risks Including Nuclear - Russian Envoy to Canada

Nations joining the NATO bloc will face increased security risks, including nuclear, Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov told Sputnik on Thursday.

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"For as soon as anyone joins the bloc that declared itself nuclear and adversarial to Russia, such a decision entails, besides perceived benefits, all the risks associated with the membership," Stepanov stated.Stepanov stressed this is not a threatening or belligerent position on the part of Russia, it's just business. Finland became the 31st NATO member on April 4, after its bid was finally ratified by all members of the alliance. Stepanov noted that Canada was the first not only to ratify the Washington Treaty, but also to extend its support for Finlands application. Stepanov went on to say the bloc was formed for Washington "to dominate large swaths of European land to service American interests." Stepanov also pointed out that while the CBC article published on April 7 alleged that the Russian Embassy in Ottawa was nuclear sabre-rattling amid Finlands NATO accession, the missions message was a factual statement based on further assumptions. "During the Cold War, the alliance used to be an institution countering the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. But long after the dissolution of the Pact and the Soviet Union, the NATO is still alive and kicking," the envoy said. "And has always been very transparent about its main adversary  USSR then, Russia now." Stepanov underscored that NATOs key strategic documents and latest summits declared it will continue being a "nuclear alliance" so long as the organization and nuclear weapons exist. The Russian envoy also pointed out that the United States has stationed nuclear bombs in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, while consecutive American administrations during strategic stability talks with Russia have refused to even discuss the possibility of withdrawing US tactical nukes back to its national territory. Stepanov continued to say that Washington has been surveying the Eastern European theatre for decades, and thus "bluntly" violated the letter and spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by training crews from non-nuclear European nations to employ nuclear weapons against Russia while also enlarging the officially declared nuclear alliance directly to the Russian borders.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/russia-facing-off-against-a-nato-backed-orchestra-of-terrorists-nicaraguas-ortega-says-1109696053.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/danish-energy-agency-recommends-lifting-sea-restrictions-at-nord-stream-explosions-sites-1109701089.html

Danish Energy Agency Recommends Lifting Sea Restrictions at Nord Stream Explosions Sites

Danish Energy Agency Recommends Lifting Sea Restrictions at Nord Stream Explosions Sites

The Danish Energy Agency said on Thursday it had recommended that the country's authorities cancel "no-go zones" at the sites of the Nord Stream explosions, since there was no risk to ships passing by anymore.

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"Today, the Danish Energy Agency recommended that the Danish Maritime Authority lift the existing restricted areas around the leakage sites on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, as the agency assesses that these areas pose no threat for ships anymore," the authority tweeted. The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were hit by explosions in September 2022. Nord Stream's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take. Russia considers the explosions of the two pipelines an act of international terrorism. There are no official results of the investigation yet, but Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023, alleging that the explosions had been organized by the United States with the support of Norway. Washington has denied any involvement in the incident. In early March, German magazine Der Spiegel disclosed details regarding the yacht allegedly linked to the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines. A Bavaria Cruiser 50 sailing yacht named Andromeda was rented by unknown people, with the e-mail used to rent it hinting at connections to Ukraine, the report said.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221015/what-is-the-nord-stream-2-gas-pipeline-1101851451.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/eu-reportedly-believes-bloc-done-with-new-sanctions-against-russia-1109681101.html

EU Reportedly Believes Bloc 'Done' With New Sanctions Against Russia

EU Reportedly Believes Bloc 'Done' With New Sanctions Against Russia

The EU believes that it is "done" with new sanctions against Russia because if there are even more of them, there will be more exceptions to them than restrictions, British daily newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a senior EU official.

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Many officials admit that the sectors of the Russian economy not affected by sanctions are vital for a number of EU countries, so measures against them will be vetoed, the newspaper added. According to officials working on the preparation of the next package of sanctions, new EU measures against Moscow are likely to be limited to expanding the list of persons and measures to tighten existing sanctions, "by closing loopholes."After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the West, including the EU, rolled out a massive sanctions campaign against Moscow. To date, the bloc has already adopted 10 sanctions packages.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230408/cost-of-sanctions-foreign-firms-suffer-2-bln-losses-after-leaving-russia-1109269563.html

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new sanctions against russia, sanctions against russia
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/google-intends-to-introduce-ai-technologies-into-ad-campaigns---reports-1109692174.html

Google Intends to Introduce AI Technologies Into Ad Campaigns - Reports

Google Intends to Introduce AI Technologies Into Ad Campaigns - Reports

Google plans to integrate generative artificial intelligence technology in its advertising business

2023-04-20T10:39+0000

2023-04-20T10:39+0000

2023-04-21T10:07+0000

artificial intelligence

google

advertising

beyond politics

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Google reportedly already uses AI to make prompts inciting users to purchase certain products. The introduction of the new AI tool is planned for the coming months and will enable the creation of new-level advertising campaigns, as it is expected to generate ads based on set parameters, visual and text content for a particular campaign, according to the report. The tool will be incorporated into Performance Max, a platform developed by Google for advertisers to create ad campaigns. At the same time, the company has concerns regarding the possible spread of misinformation about advertised products, as generative AI tools often make mistakes, known as "hallucinations," providing output that may sound plausible but is factually incorrect. Google will develop safeguard mechanisms to prevent these errors, it told the newspaper.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230415/elon-musk-creates-new-artificial-intelligence-company-xai-1109546054.html

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ai technologies, artificial intelligence technology, google plans to integrate, advertising business
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/irs-supervisor-tells-us-lawmakers-hunter-biden-probe-being-mishandling-by-agency-1109675492.html

IRS Supervisor Tells US Lawmakers Hunter Biden Probe Being Mishandling by Agency

IRS Supervisor Tells US Lawmakers Hunter Biden Probe Being Mishandling by Agency

The Internal Revenue Service is mishandling its probe into Hunter Biden, a lawyer representing an IRS supervisor said in a letter to US lawmakers.

2023-04-20T00:30+0000

2023-04-20T00:30+0000

2023-04-20T00:27+0000

americas

hunter biden

us internal revenue system (irs)

investigation

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I represent a career IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent who has been overseeing the ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject since early 2020 and would like to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress, the letter said on Wednesday. The letter was sent by attorney Mark Lytle to lawmakers, including US House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden. The sensitive investigation relates to Hunter Biden, US media reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The disclosures by the IRS supervisor contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee and involve failure to mitigate conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case and detail examples of preferential treatment that would not normally be followed if the subject of the probe were not politically connected, the letter said. The IRS supervisor has already made protected disclosures internally and to the Justice Department Office of Inspector General, the letter added. Hunter Biden has faced scrutiny from investigators regarding whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase. US media has reported that investigators have believed for months that they hold enough evidence to indict Biden. On Tuesday, US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she has seen evidence of the Biden family running a criminal enterprise, involving multiple family members and shell companies. The statement came after Greene and other lawmakers reviewed thousands of pages of financial records at the Treasury Department. Greene alleged that the Biden crime family participated in human trafficking and benefited financially from foreign countries as a direct result of President Joe Bidens positions of authority in the US government.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/hunter-bidens-close-friend--emotional-pillar-reportedly-cooperating-with-gop-investigators-1107776287.html

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hunter biden; internal revenue service; investigation;
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/macrons-push-for-ukraine-and-taiwan-peace-genuine-attempt-to-escape-us-vassalage-or-pr-stunt-1109711566.html

Macrons Push for Ukraine and Taiwan Peace: Genuine Attempt to Escape US Vassalage or PR Stunt?

Macrons Push for Ukraine and Taiwan Peace: Genuine Attempt to Escape US Vassalage or PR Stunt?

The French president made a series of blunt statements relating to Pariss relationship vis-a-vis Beijing and Washington this month, sparking a debate about whether his country is looking to leave Americas orbit in favor of a more independent foreign policy. But we shouldnt hold our collective breath, says geopolitical analyst Jeff J. Brown.

2023-04-20T18:46+0000

2023-04-20T18:46+0000

2023-04-20T19:02+0000

analysis

france

china

ukraine

russia

emmanuel macron

xi jinping

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French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly hoping to work with China on a secret plan to bring the crisis in Ukraine to a halt and get Moscow and Kiev to sit down at the negotiating table by the summer. According to media reports, the plan is being worked on by senior Macron foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne and Wang Yi, Chinas top diplomat.The details of Macrons plan are murky, apart from a line about the need to provide Kiev with long-term security guarantees, including by China.Beijing has been clear about its own vision for ending the Ukrainian conflict, issuing a 12-point peace plan in February centered around the need for the conflicting parties to abandon the Cold War mentality and recognize that the security of a country should not be pursued at the expense of others, including via the expansion of exclusive military alliances.However, the reported French push to secure China-backed peace talks seem to be in line with the French leaders string of independence-minded statements following his April 5-8 visit to Beijing for talks with President Xi and other senior Chinese officials.Macron has taken heavy flak from politicians in Washington and Pariss allies in Europe after urging the EU not to allow itself to be sucked into the confrontation between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, and asking what interest the EU would have in adapting the confrontation-minded American rhythm on the issue.After the backlash, Macron doubled down, saying that being an ally to Washington does not mean being a vassaldoes not mean that we dont have the right to think for ourselves. Paris, he said, supports the One China policy and the search for a peaceful resolution to Taiwan tensions, and should not be followers of Washingtons agenda.Napoleonic Grandeur or PR Stunt?The domestic political context and the increasingly visible shifting of political and economic power away from Washington toward Asia may help explain Macrons unusual bluntness. On the one hand, some observers suggest, the French leader may be seeking to shore up a reputation of an independence-minded, Charles de Gaulle-style statesman to soothe raging protests in France over his governments deeply unpopular pension reform agenda.On the other, Macrons rogue remarks may hint at lingering resentment toward Washington and London over the surprise announcement by Australia, the UK and the US in 2021 on the creation of the AUKUS security pact, which bamboozled Paris out of a $66 billion contract to build submarines for Canberra and prompted barely contained fury from the French president.Talk is CheapWhatever Macrons motivations, and whether hes sincere or not, hes not at liberty to pursue policies independent from Brussels, NATO and other Western political, military and financial institutions, says Jeff J. Brown, a veteran geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and author of The China Trilogy.Macron got the royal treatment in Beijing when meeting with Xi Jinping. Their hours spent together privately, tete-a-tete, clearly rubbed off on him. Thus, his comments about Taiwan, European interests and US vassalage reflect that, Brown, who is also the co-founder and curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission, explained in an interview with Sputnik.Nothing will change as a result of Macrons comments, Brown argues, because the neoliberal Eurogroup works hand-in-hand with the City of London/Bank of England, Wall Street/US Federal Reserve and NATO. Europe will continue to be a weak Washington vassal. No new policy, just Americas dictates as usual.For proof, Brown said, all one has to do is look at the delegation of French lawmakers which was hurriedly sent to Taiwan this week to assure Taipei and Washington that Frances policy remains immutable.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230413/videos-spontaneous-protest-against-pension-reform-in-paris-turns-violent-1109483502.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230410/china-expects-all-countries-to-reject-any-form-of-taiwan-secession-after-macrons-comment-1109320866.html

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Ilya Tsukanov

france, china, russia, ukraine, emmanuel macron, xi jinping, policy, analysis, independence, charles de gaulle, vassalage
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/mideast-restores-regional-relations-as-us-bumped-out-1109693279.html

MidEast Restores Regional Relations Because It Can't Depend on US Anymore

MidEast Restores Regional Relations Because It Can't Depend on US Anymore

Rania Khalek, journalist and influencer, thinks reestablishing truce in relations between Middle East regimes contributes to their own national interests and singalises the decline of US Hegemony, as they now rely on China and Russia brokering negotiations between arabian states.

2023-04-20T17:36+0000

2023-04-20T17:36+0000

2023-04-20T17:36+0000

world

syria

syrian war

saudi arabia

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Saudi Arabia has taken the lead in an effort to reintegrate Syria into the Arab League. This, the expert told Sputnik, is peculiar given that Saudi Arabia played a significant role in kicking Syria out of the Arab League in the first place. The kingdom, however, is first to seek the repairing of its relationship with Syria since 2011.Khalek noted that the Chinese involvement in Middle East politics shows how dramatically regional politics have shifted in recent years as most of the negotiations, she said, were brokered by Beijing, including "a bit of truce" between previous rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Meanwhile, American overvision or even any grade of involvement in these talks is not observed, while China stands out as a neutral arbiter. Beijing, unlike Washington, "doesn't interfere in elections or tell countries who should and shouldn't be their leader." This is one of the main reasons why countries such as China and Russia are chosen as brokers.The podcaster went on to argue that the CIA expressed frustration over the announced truce deal between Tehran and Riyadh, noticing that: "the US feels blindsided by this deal" and the fact that it was overseen by the Chinese. She believes Saudi Arabia is looking to balance among powerful players: "in a growing multipolar era, the Saudis are trying to maintain good relations with everybody."Finally, she added that sanctions on Syria imposed by the US completely ruined the economy of this Middle East country, due to the US having overwhelming economic influence. The sanctions, however, were completely illegal by international law, as the US had no legitimate right to intervene into Syria's internal policy.For more in-depth analysis, check out our radio show By Any Means Necessary.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20210625/us-threatens-arab-states-with-sanctions-if-they-choose-to-normalize-ties-with-syria---report-1083243382.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/netherlands-denmark-to-send-14-leopard-tanks-to-ukraine-in-2024-1109691462.html

Netherlands, Denmark to Send 14 Leopard Tanks to Ukraine in 2024

Netherlands, Denmark to Send 14 Leopard Tanks to Ukraine in 2024

A total of 14 Leopard 2 tanks purchased by the Netherlands together with Denmark will be delivered to Ukraine in 2024, the Dutch Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

2023-04-20T10:25+0000

2023-04-20T10:25+0000

2023-04-20T10:25+0000

military

ukraine

leopard 2

netherlands

denmark

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"Together with Denmark, the Netherlands is to purchase 14 Leopard 2 A4 tanks for Ukraine. These main battle tanks will be delivered to Ukraine as soon as possible, after first undergoing an overhaul. Delivery of the tanks is expected to take place in 2024," the ministry said in a statement.Western countries have supplied Ukraine with various types of weapons systems, including air defense missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine nearly a year ago. Earlier in April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance had provided 65 billion euros ($70 billion) in military aid to Kiev since February 2022. Russia has repeatedly warned countries giving weapons to Ukraine that it sees military shipments as legitimate targets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that NATO allies' arming and training Ukrainians are tantamount to a direct involvement in the conflict

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230327/ukraine-receives-18-german-leopard-2-tanks-report-1108836282.html

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leopard 2 tanks, delivered to ukraine, tanks purchased by the netherlands
Lloyd Austin is working with international leaders to shore up support for Sweden's bid to join NATO

The United States defense secretary meets with Swedish leaders as momentum for Stockholm's membership attempt

The situation comes as Turkey previously rescinded its block of Finland's NATO application that was made at the same time as Sweden's

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is working to shore up international support for Sweden's application to join the NATO military alliance.

The situation comes as the American official is seeking to help the Nordic country to receive approval for its request before July. The efforts aim to convince Hungary and Turkey to stop blocking Stockholm from joining the military alliance.

Lloyd Austin Visits Sweden

Austin met with his Swedish counterparts on Wednesday inside a naval base outside of Stockholm, which was considered to be a rare visit. It also signaled Washington's support for Sweden's NATO membership application.

The defense secretary's trip to Sweden was the first visit of a Pentagon chief to the region in more than two decades. As per Politico, the last time was in 2000, when then-Defense Secretary Bill Cohen visited the region.

The trip also comes as momentum is building for Stockholm's attempt to join the international military alliance. This comes after Turkey dropped its objections to Sweden's neighbor, Finland, from joining NATO.

But Hungary and Turkey are still blocking Sweden's NATO membership. However, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson sat in a tiny, wood-paneled room across Austin and said that he hoped to see Stockholm as a member of NATO before the leaders' summit in July later this year.

In a statement during a press conference in Sweden, Austin said they were encouraging their allies, the two countries blocking Stockholm's NATO bid, to ratify Sweden's accession as soon as possible.

Read Also: Kyiv Receives Patriot Missiles, Gears Up for Counterstrike

Supporting Stockholm's Bid To Join NATO

Despite the talks, Austin declined to comment on a recent US deal to provide fighter jet upgrades to Turkey. According to the Associated Press, this was meant to shore up the country's support and give it the incentive to let Stockholm join NATO.

On the other hand, Jonson said he hoped his country would become a member of NATO by summer. He also thanked the US defense secretary for supporting America's military during the "transition time into NATO."

Austin's trip to Sweden was also celebrated with Swedish Marines riding small combat boats conducting an amphibious landing exercise. On the other hand, jets and military Black Hawk helicopters made several passes over the ship, and a submarine was also seen nosing to the surface.

Jonson added that his American counterpart's visit to Sweden underscored the US' commitment to Stockholm's security on a "bilateral basis" and allowed his country to showcase its military capabilities.

The American defense secretary said Sweden's accession to NATO would give the military alliance much value. He noted that Stockholm has a highly professional military and has invested in modernization over the last several years.

Related Article: North Korea's First Spy Satellite Ready To Launch, Kim Jong Un Claims

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/overall-negativity-in-us-russian-relations-affects-arms-control---russian-ambassador-1109679604.html

Overall Negativity in US-Russian Relations Affects Arms Control - Russian Ambassador

Overall Negativity in US-Russian Relations Affects Arms Control - Russian Ambassador

Arms control cannot take place regardless of geopolitical realities and the general negativity in the US-Russian relations, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said.

2023-04-20T05:09+0000

2023-04-20T05:09+0000

2023-04-20T05:09+0000

world

new start treaty

us

russia

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"The overall negativity in US-Russian relations cannot but affect arms control. It is impossible to view these matters in isolation from the politico-military and geostrategic realities," Antonov told Newsweek. He said the anti-Russian coalition has taken on a nuclear dimension, with NATO positioning itself as a nuclear alliance and actively pursuing nuclear sharing missions, adding that Russia cannot afford to ignore NATO's cumulative nuclear capabilities when considering the issue of the New START treaty's future. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the Federal Assembly that Moscow was suspending participation in the Russian-US New START Treaty, stressing that the country was not withdrawing from it. The president noted that there was a need to understand what countries such as France and the United Kingdom consider to be as their strategic arsenals, NATO's combined strike potential, and how Russia will take them into account.

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us-russian relations, arms control, russian ambassador
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/pausing-elbe-ceremonies-sad-end-of-event-marking-us-russia-friendship---veteran-1109677167.html

Pausing Elbe Ceremonies 'Sad' End of Event Marking US-Russia Friendship - Veteran

Pausing Elbe Ceremonies 'Sad' End of Event Marking US-Russia Friendship - Veteran

Halting ceremonies marking the anniversary of the meeting between US and Soviet troops at the Elbe River in Germany in 1945 would be a "sad end" to an event marking ties between the US and Russia, veteran Frank Cohn told Sputnik.

2023-04-20T02:52+0000

2023-04-20T02:52+0000

2023-04-20T02:49+0000

world

us-russia relations

russia

us

elbe day

world war ii

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"I have my doubts that there will be a ceremony and if there is none, it will seem like a sad ending of one of the events that still expressed friendship between the American and Russian people," Cohn, a 97-year-old retired Army colonel, said. Cohn opined that the only way to restore the Elbe meeting commemoration is to establish peace in Ukraine. Earlier in April, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that the US authorities had denied the Russian embassys request to hold the traditional ceremony at the Spirit of the Elbe war memorial in Arlington, Virginia. The Spirit of the Elbe memorial was opened in 1995 at the Arlington National Cemetery to mark the 40th anniversary of the meeting between US and Soviet troops near the German city of Torgau.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/poland-suggesting-that-eu-ban-imports-of-fruits-eggs-other-ukrainian-food---reports-1109691698.html

Poland Suggesting That EU Ban Imports of Fruits, Eggs, Other Ukrainian Food - Reports

Poland Suggesting That EU Ban Imports of Fruits, Eggs, Other Ukrainian Food - Reports

Poland has suggested that the European Union ban the imports of more Ukrainian food products apart from wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower amid the influx of cheap Ukrainian grain that has caused farmers' discontent, media reported on Thursday, citing sources in Brussels.

2023-04-20T10:30+0000

2023-04-20T10:30+0000

2023-04-20T10:30+0000

world

european union (eu)

poland

ukraine

food

grain

food

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Warsaw is planning to include soft fruits, eggs, poultry, sugar and honey from Ukraine to the imports ban list, the Polish broadcaster reported. The report said that other EU member states had theirs own requests related to the imports ban: for instance Bulgaria planned to list flour and sunflower oil as restricted products, and Hungary poultry, honey and flour. A meeting of EU agriculture and fisheries ministers will take place next Tuesday in Luxembourg to discuss, among other things, the food imports issue, and if there is no quick agreement, the bloc may later hold the negotiations at a higher political level, the report also said. On Wednesday, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian, Slovakian and Bulgarian agriculture ministers together with EU commissioners held online talks on the issue of imported Ukrainian food products and called for the expansion of the list of goods whose imports would be suspended as well as the extension of the restriction period. This past Saturday, Poland and Hungary said they were banning imports of Ukrainian agricultural products until June 30, citing the need to protect domestic farmers from the influx of cheap grain from Ukraine. Slovakia followed suit on Monday, while Bulgaria on Wednesday announced a temporary ban on food imports from Ukraine, except for goods in transit. Ukraine was granted a temporary duty-free trade arrangement with the EU last June. In March 2022, the EU additionally launched so-called green corridors to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain to the world market; however, the cheap grain from Ukraine ended up flooding EU markets instead, prompting outrage among local farmers.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230419/food-bans-and-possible-grain-deal-suspension-to-curb-ukraines-profits-1109662415.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/russia-facing-off-against-a-nato-backed-orchestra-of-terrorists-nicaraguas-ortega-says-1109696053.html

Russia Facing Off Against a NATO-backed Orchestra of Terrorists, Nicaraguas Ortega Says

Russia Facing Off Against a NATO-backed Orchestra of Terrorists, Nicaraguas Ortega Says

Nicaraguas president has been a consistent proponent of cooperation with Moscow, and opponent of Yankee imperialism throughout his leadership of the Central American nation between 1979 and 1990, and again from 2007 to the present.

2023-04-20T13:50+0000

2023-04-20T13:50+0000

2023-04-20T13:50+0000

world

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nicaragua

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sergey lavrov

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Russia is engaged a conflict against an entire orchestra of terrorists coordinated by the United States and NATO, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has said.Ortega, who met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the latters tour of Latin America, stressed that the crisis in Ukraine requires a peaceful solution which provides Russia with security guarantees. We want peace just as Russia wants it, as the peoples of the world want it, as countries like Brazil, Mexico and President Xi Jinping of China have raised it, he said.Ortega expressed concerns that the long-feared Third World War is already under way, and involves the United States and its European allies, who are using Ukraine to try to find a way to make Russia disappear. The same thing happened during World War II when Hitler formed his party in Germany, and nobody criticized or condemned him. Rather, the great capitals of Europe and the United States supported him so that he would come to occupy the leadership of that country to assist in the struggle against the Soviet Union. This only changed during the war, when the West recognized the true extent of the Nazi danger, Ortega said.Today, Ortega noted, the nations of Europe are gradually coming to the realization that they no longer want to be the vassals of the American gringos, who have driven them into a swamp.The president of France already said that his country cannot continue to be subjected to policies dictated by the United States and has to form its own policy, its own strength and not be an instrument, Ortega said.The Nicaraguan president also emphasized that the EUs extensive sanctions against Russia failed to stop the countrys economic development and trade.Speaking of cooperation between the Russian Federation and Nicaragua, there is clearly an attitude of solidarity of the Russian people with the peoples of the world; they gave their greatest demonstration of solidarity during World War II, where 20, 30, 40 million human beings were sacrificed for peace and to defeat Nazism, Ortega said.During his visit to Managua on Wednesday as part of his Latin American tour, Lavrov congratulated the people of Nicaragua on the occasion of Peace Day, recalling that it is dedicated to the prevention of the state coup attempt. This attempted coup took place five years ago, it was actively supported from the outside, but the Nicaraguan people, led by Daniel Ortega, withstood the situation and restored stability in society. Those who tried to undermine this stability were defeated.We see the Wests attempts...to impose its will on everyone in any part of the world, including in what is presently going on around Ukraine and with NATOs role of global security guarantor, including in the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world. Together with Nicaragua and other friends, we will make an effort to counter that, to draw attention to the inadmissibility of such conduct in the world today, Lavrov added.Lavrovs visit to Nicaragua follows last months trip to Moscow by Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada. Greeted by the Russian foreign minister, Moncada and his host discussed food security and energy infrastructure projects, the crisis in Ukraine and efforts to strengthen relations between the two brother nations.The Ortega governments efforts to shore up ties with Russia, China, Cuba and other non-US allies have made him a thorn in Washingtons side over the course of decades. In the 1980s, the CIA sponsored a brutal guerilla campaign against him, culminating in the defeat of his party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), in 1990. Ortega returned to power in 2007, and again began seeking alternatives to US hegemony in Latin America. In 2018, Ortegas opponents attempted a violent coup against his government, with investigations later revealing that the coup plot was backed by foreign interests including the Vatican and the United States via USAID.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/next-stop-russian-fm-arrives-in-nicaragua-amid-tour-of-latin-america-1109676757.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230418/macron-aims-to-approach-china-with-russia-ukraine-negotiation-plan---reports-1109615724.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/russian-central-bank-ready-to-discuss-settling-in-special-bonds-with-firms-leaving-russia-1109700640.html

Russian Central Bank Ready to Discuss Settling in Special Bonds With Firms Leaving Russia

Russian Central Bank Ready to Discuss Settling in Special Bonds With Firms Leaving Russia

Russia's Central Bank is ready to discuss the option of settling with foreign companies leaving Russia using its special bonds instead of currency, the bank's governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said on Thursday during her speech in parliament.

2023-04-20T13:56+0000

2023-04-20T13:56+0000

2023-04-20T13:56+0000

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In the course of Nabiulina's speech, a representative of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party proposed paying foreign companies that are selling their assets in Russia in special bonds of the Central Bank that would equal the bank's assets frozen abroad. Western countries have frozen Russia's foreign currency reserves and halted international payments from Russian banks as part of sanctions introduced against Moscow after it launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. In October, EU leaders instructed the European Commission to prepare proposals on the use of Russia's frozen assets to finance the restoration of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly said that attempts to confiscate frozen Russian assets are an expropriation of property and a violation of international law. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told Sputnik that Russia will do everything possible to return the seized assets, given their illegal seizure.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/spains-new-military-aid-for-ukraine-to-include-naval-defenses-1109708469.html

Spain's New Military Aid for Ukraine to Include Naval Defenses

Spain's New Military Aid for Ukraine to Include Naval Defenses

Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles plans to announce a new shipment of military equipment to Ukraine that will include naval defenses during the upcoming meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

2023-04-20T17:05+0000

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"The new shipments are aimed at reinforcing the Armed Forces of Ukraine in such areas as armored vehicles, means of ground troops protection, antiaircraft defenses and naval ... defenses. The latter is considered essential for the security of "the green sea route" that allows the transportation of the Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea," the statement read. Robles will also confirm the humanitarian and medical aid that the Spanish government continues to provide for Ukraine. On April 12, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov asked his Spanish counterpart for additional military aid, in particular for Spanish anti-aircraft missile systems. He also noted that Kiev is interested in the Spanish Navy's experience in amphibious warfare.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/nato-says-aiding-ukraine-cost-165bln-in-military-funding-since-early-2022-1109700298.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/stampede-in-yemens-capital-sanaa-kills-80-people-injures-over-100---source-1109675773.html

Stampede in Yemen's Capital Sanaa Kills 80 People, Injures Over 100 - Source

Stampede in Yemen's Capital Sanaa Kills 80 People, Injures Over 100 - Source

Eighty people have been killed, and more than 100 were injured in a stampede in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, a local source told Sputnik on Wednesday.

2023-04-20T01:18+0000

2023-04-20T01:18+0000

2023-04-20T01:15+0000

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"The number of casualties of the stampede at an aid distribution center at the Main school in the Bab al-Yemen area in the east of the capital has risen to 80, including children, and 120 people have been injured," the source said. The source said that 20 victims were in critical condition, adding that the number of casualties would increase in the nearest future. Sensitive footage shared on social media has offered additional insight into the crowd placement prior to the incident, as well as its aftermath.Witnesses have relayed to media outlets that the crush unfolded after firearms discharged by Houthi militants prompted an electrical wire to explode near the crowd. Reports have said two organizers have been taken into custody, and that an investigation remains underway.Earlier in the day, the source said that 10 people had been killed, and some 40 had been wounded in the stampede. He added the injured people had been taken to the nearest hospitals. The source has noted that this was the first such incident, adding that businesspersons have been distributing aid to the people in need at the same place for several weeks without any casualties. Moreover, the press office of the Houthis' Supreme Political Council tweeted that Council Chairman Mahdi al-Mashat expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and ordered that a committee be established to investigate the incident. He also stressed the importance of taking the necessary measures to clarify the causes of the incident.Yemen has remained engulfed in an armed conflict between government forces and Houthi rebels since 2014, with tensions reaching a boiling point the following year after the Saudi-led coalition began launching operations against Houthi targets.An earlier estimate indicated that the number of displaced individuals within Yemen in areas controlled by Houthi forces has exceeded 6.4 million since 2015. Children amount to roughly 1 million of the internally displaced.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230406/yemeni-authorities-houthis-reach-agreement-on-new-truce---source-1109222252.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/sudans-military-says-177-egyptian-soldiers-evacuated-to-their-homeland-1109677013.html

Sudanese Military Says 177 Egyptian Soldiers Evacuated Back to Egypt

Sudanese Military Says 177 Egyptian Soldiers Evacuated Back to Egypt

The Sudanese military said on Wednesday that 177 Egyptian soldiers, captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have been evacuated to their homeland.

2023-04-20T02:45+0000

2023-04-20T02:45+0000

2023-04-20T07:12+0000

africa

sudan

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On Wednesday night, Egyptian media reported that the Egyptian soldiers, who were in Sudan for exercises and were captured by the RSF at the Merowe military base, have departed for their native country. Following press reports, Egyptian Armed Forces Spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez said that the North African nation's armed forces were closely monitoring the situation in Sudan and were working together with the relevant Sudanese authorities to guarantee the safety of the Egyptian service members.On Saturday, the RSF said that a battalion of Egyptian troops had surrendered at the Merowe military airbase. Egypt's armed forces said they were coordinating with the Sudanese authorities to ensure the safety of the service members. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that his troops had arrived in Sudan for exercises, and not to support any side.The RSF said on Wednesday that the soldiers, who were at the Merowe military base, were being transferred to Khartoum and would be handed over to Egypt if a "suitable opportunity" arose.Violent clashes between the Sudanese regular army and the RSF broke out on Saturday, with the epicenter of fighting in Khartoum. Government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Later that day, Abdel Fattah Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese military, issued a decree disbanding the RSF. On Tuesday, the parties agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire beginning at 6 p.m. local time (16:00 GMT).The Sudanese Health Ministry estimated that around 270 people had been killed and 2,600 others injured in the four days of clashes.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230417/un-to-evacuate-staff-from-sudan-as-eu-ambassador-assaulted-in-home-1109604972.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/sudans-military-says-no-diplomatic-solution-to-situation-with-rapid-support-forces-1109704668.html

Sudan's Military Says No Diplomatic Solution to Situation With Rapid Support Forces

Sudan's Military Says No Diplomatic Solution to Situation With Rapid Support Forces

Sudan's armed forces see no options for a diplomatic solution to the situation with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan, Sudan's military spokesman Gen Brigadier Nabil Abdallah told Sputnik on Thursday.

2023-04-20T16:59+0000

2023-04-20T16:59+0000

2023-04-20T16:59+0000

sudan

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Violent clashes between the Sudanese regular army and the RSF broke out on Saturday, with the epicenter located in Khartoum. Abdallah insisted that the RSF were the ones who started fighting first and the Sudanese armed forces were forced to react."The armed forces have constantly stated that the RSF are a rebellious force operating outside the law and committing atrocities that cannot be overlooked. They started fighting and were preparing for it from the very beginning. We were forced to resolve the issue by military means and announced that this would stop the shooting," Abdallah said.Neither the military, nor the RSF have full control over any particular area, the spokesman said."The armed forces control all headquarters. A number of RSF fighters, who were unable to escape, are inside cities and neighborhoods, using citizens as human shields. Their fighters are engaged in looting and terrorizing citizens, but they do not have absolute control over any of the sites," the official said.No Libyan Scenario in SudanThe Sudanese military will not allow the development of the "Libyan scenario" in the country, the spokesman said."We will never allow our country to regress into any situation similar to any such scenario happening anywhere," Abdallah said, answering a question about the possibility of dividing Sudan between different opposing forces, following the example of Libya.Abdallah also added that the armed forces of Sudan are interested in transferring power under civilian control as soon as possible."The armed forces have previously confirmed and continue to confirm the words of the commanding general that they are interested in a democratic transition to civilian rule as soon as possible, and we are again focusing on this in accordance with the will of the people," he said.Sudanese Military Capable of Getting Situation Under ControlMeanwhile, Sudanese Ambassador to Russia Mohammed Sirraj told Sputnik on Thursday that the Sudanese armed forces are capable of getting the situation in the country under control, and the current developments are Sudan's internal affair."I would like to confirm what the Sudanese Foreign Ministry has said in a statement - that the current developments in Sudan are our internal matter. The Sudanese military has the domain and the task to get the situation under control," the diplomat said, in response to a question asking if the country needed external help.The ambassador also pointed out that Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council, is the only legitimate leader of the country."Other than the Foreign Ministry of Sudan, there is no Sudanese entity that maintains contact with Sudanese embassies abroad. The Foreign Ministry is the only organization that contacts Sudanese embassies worldwide," Sirraj added.After violent clashes between the Sudanese regular armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in Khartoum, government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Later that day, Abdel Fattah Burhan issued a decree disbanding the RSF.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230419/eyewitness-tells-sputnik-about-khartoum-university-students-evacuation-amid-sudan-clashes-1109668087.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/ukrainian-armed-forces-chief-briefs-us-europe-commander-on-kievs-needs-1109711837.html

Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Briefs US Europe Commander on Kiev's Needs

Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Briefs US Europe Commander on Kiev's Needs

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the head of Ukraine's armed forces, said on Thursday he had discussed Ukraines military needs with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of the US European Command Christopher Cavoli.

2023-04-20T18:44+0000

2023-04-20T18:44+0000

2023-04-20T18:44+0000

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"We discussed Ukraine's priorities for weapon, hardware and munition [deliveries]. I briefed Gen. Cavoli about the facts on the ground," Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhnyi said on social media. The phone conversation was held in the lead-up to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting of senior Ukrainian and NATO military officials at Ramstein air base in Germany on Friday. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Kiev on Thursday that allies were committed to delivering more jets, tanks and armored vehicles to Ukraine. He estimated that NATO's military aid to Ukraine had topped $165 billion since February 2022. Russia has warned Ukraine's donors that it sees military shipments as legitimate targets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that NATO allies arming and training Ukrainians is tantamount to a direct involvement in the conflict.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230321/zelenskys-office-asks-us-for-additional-arms-ammunition-1108649357.html

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UN Chinese Language Day celebrated in Kenya

Xinhua) 16:06, April 20, 2023

NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, held an open interactive event Tuesday to celebrate the UN Chinese Language Day, which falls on Thursday.

The event, with more than 40 attendees, featured activities including Chinese calligraphy writing, paper-cutting art, and quizzes about Chinese trending music and Chinese culture.

"It's not just a Chinese-featured event, it can bridge the communication gaps and popularize multilingualism and cultural diversity," said Daniel Gichunji Musyoka, a volunteer at the event, adding that the experience of writing Chinese characters and paper-cutting Chinese rabbits was terrific and educational.

Hansnick Omondi Otieno, whose major is tourism management, has studied the Chinese language at the Confucius Institute for two years. "Although I thought I've known enough about China, this illuminating event made me realize that there are still tons of sophisticated things and incredibly fascinating treasures of this country waiting for us to dig into."

"The Chinese language has existed for thousands of years. The aim of this celebration is to educate our students on the Chinese language and also teach people around the world the benefits that learning the Chinese language can have," said Maureen Ooko, a local teacher who teaches the Chinese language.

The event lasted for more than three hours.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
India is now on its way to overtaking China's population sometime in the middle of 2023, according to recent estimates by the United Nations (UN).

The United States (US) currently sits at the third spot of the most populous country in the world ranking. China and India are in first and second place, respectively. However, the latter is inching closer to the top spot.

India is Set to Surpass China's Population

According to CNN, the UN population record shows China has been the most populous country globally since 1950. The organization started taking population records from various countries in the same year.

After taking the top spot for several decades, China might no longer be second to any by the middle of 2023. A new report from the United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA, the "State of World Population Report," predicts that India could likely surpass the Chinese country.

The data shows that the Indian nation will likely attain a new population record at a staggering 1.4286 billion. Meanwhile, the population of China will shrink to around 1.4257 billion people. CNN did the math. The Chinese superpower might lag by about 2.9 million compared to India once the latter takes the top spot.

The Guardian notes in a story that India has yet to react to the new data. The Indian federal minister disclosed that their recent cabinet meeting failed to discuss the latest UN estimates.

Meanwhile, the estimates of the UN predict that the US will remain at the third ranking with a population of 340 million.

Read Also: Indian Couple Found Dead After Using Homemade Guillotine in Apparent Suicide Pact

What Impact Does This Have on the World?

As per Al Jazeera, the close population race between India and China will take over one-third of the world's total population, now at around a whopping 8 billion. However, it is worth noting that both Asian countries are slowly decreasing their population growth. But China is doing a better job at doing so compared to India.

Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics in China show that the population in the Asian nation fell to roughly 1.411 billion last year. The country also recently booked its lowest birth rate, with a record-breaking rate of 6.77 births for 1,000 people.

The UN says that people should focus on women's reproductive rights rather than the growing population in the world. The chief of UNFPA, Natalia Kanem, reveals a disturbing reality wherein almost half of the women "are unable to exercise bodily autonomy."

She explains that they cannot "make choices about contraception, healthcare, and whether or with whom to have sex." Not to mention that almost half of the pregnancies in the world are unplanned.

Related Article: India Sees Uptick in Cases From New COVID Variant: What's the Next Step?





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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/us-does-not-believe-syria-deserves-readmission-to-arab-league-at-this-time-state-dept-says-1109712014.html

US Does Not Believe Syria Deserves Readmission to Arab League at This Time, State Dept. Says

US Does Not Believe Syria Deserves Readmission to Arab League at This Time, State Dept. Says

The United States does not believe that Syria deserves readmittance to the League of Arab States at this time, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Thursday.

2023-04-20T18:53+0000

2023-04-20T18:53+0000

2023-04-20T18:53+0000

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We do not believe that Syria merits readmission to the Arab League at this time, Patel said during a press briefing. The US will not normalize relations with the Assad government absent authentic progress towards a solution to the conflict in the country, Patel said. The US stresses to regional partners engaged with the Syrian government that their engagement should focus on improving humanitarian conditions in the country, Patel said. Earlier this week, Syrian President Bashar Assad met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Damascus to discuss ways to resolve the conflict in Syria and achieve normalization of relations between Syria and the Arab world. Last week, foreign ministers from six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, met in Jeddah to discuss the possible return of Syria to the Arab League after its membership was suspended in 2011 due to the outbreak of civil war in the country.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/mideast-restores-regional-relations-as-us-bumped-out-1109693279.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230420/west-hyping-chinas-population-decline-chinese-media-says-1109684723.html

West 'Hyping' China's Population Decline, Chinese Media Says

West 'Hyping' China's Population Decline, Chinese Media Says

The United States has been hyping up the fact that India is on track to surpass China as the worlds most populous nation, state broadcaster CCTV said.

2023-04-20T11:36+0000

2023-04-20T11:36+0000

2023-04-20T11:36+0000

china

population

india

asia

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The United States has been hyping up the fact that India is on track to surpass China as the worlds most populous nation, "equating population size with development achievements", Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday.The population of India will reach 1.4286 billion by mid-2023, which will be about 2.9 million more than Chinas 1.4257 billion, according to the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) State of World Population Report. This has prompted Western media, according to CCTV, to latch on to the story to further Washingtons agenda.It added that such hype, "lacks a basic understanding of the law of population development. With the development of human society today, the decrease in birth rate and decline in willingness to bear children are common problems faced by the whole world."Western media reports on China's population were accused of seeking to "bad mouth" Beijing.Indeed, the so-called population race between China and India has been the subject of eager speculation in the Western press of late. Both China and India boast the largest populations in the world. In 1980, China reached the one billion milestone. India secured the spot later - in 1997.Demographic trends showed already in 2020 that India was poised to overtake China in total population by 2026. The UN State of World Population Report indicated this could happen sooner  this year.At the end of last year, China had 1.41 billion people. This is 850,000 fewer than the end of 2021, according to data by the National Statistics Bureau. This population ebb was the first to be registered in the People's Republic of China since 1961. That year had been the final one of the period known as the Great Chinese Famine. Furthermore, according to the National Statistics Bureau data, the percent of the working-age population (16 to 59 years in China) shrunk to 62 percent from around 70 percent a decade earlier. China previously adhered to the strict "one-child" policy from 1979 to 2015. The temporary measure was introduced to prevent overpopulation and famine. Under this policy, urban families only had the right to have only one child, while rural families could have two if the first was a girl.In 2013, Chinese authorities eased the restrictions. Couples, where at least one of the spouses was the only child in the family, were allowed to have a second child. Later, in 2016, all couples were allowed to have a second child. In the summer of 2021, authorities approved the adoption of amendments to the law on population, allowing families to have a third child, and canceled all previous fines and payments.Amid released data, some Western analysts have been gloating over what they brand as a looming loss by China of its population dividend, suggesting that it might result in profound economic woes.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin offered a robust response to such reports, telling reporters that population dividends were rooted not only in quantity, but also quality.

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What is Known About Robert Kennedy Jr. Running for US Presidency?

What is Known About Robert Kennedy Jr. Running for US Presidency?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially announced his candidacy for the US presidency on April 19.

2023-04-20T14:51+0000

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially announced his candidacy for the US presidency before a crowd of several hundred people at the Boston Park Plaza hotel in Massachusetts on April 19. Announcing his 2024 bid, Kennedy vowed to do away with a polarization in this country today that is so toxic and so dangerous at any time since the Civil War.The Democrat lashed out at ex-POTUS Donald Trump for enforcement of COVID-19 lockdowns at the height of the pandemic. RFK Jr. could not but weigh in on the Ukraine conflict, questioning the taxpayer costs of continuously supporting Kiev authorities. We have money for wars and we have money to bail [out] bankers. But what happens to American people who hit hard times? he queried. He also added that it was not in US interest to push Russia closer to China, and involve us in something that could lead to a nuclear exchange. In his speech, RFK Jr. also touched upon the environmental issues he has championed, bemoaning loss of butterflies and songbirds, and adding: "I think we deserve a president in this country who cares about these things and talks about these things.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will now be joining Marianne Williamson, author and activist, in challenging Democratic Joe Biden in the 2024 race to the Oval Office.Who is the 69-year-old activist and lawyer who is intent on following in the footsteps of other family members bearing the illustrious Kennedy name? Sputnik explores.Who is the Kennedy Running for President?Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was born on January 17, 1954, at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. His parents were Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy (nee Skakel). The future prominent environmental lawyer and activist was the third eldest of 11 children.RFK Jr. appeared set to emulate that and built up a large family. He walked the aisle three times. On April 3, 1982, he wed Emily Ruth Black, a friend from his days at the University of Virginia School of Law. The couple had two youngsters: a son and a daughter. With wife No 2 - Mary Kathleen Richardson  RFK Jr. had four children. However, tragically, Mary was discovered dead at her home in Mount Kisco, New York, with a medical examiner ruling her death to be a suicide due to asphyxiation from hanging in May 2012.The newly-announced presidential hopeful's current wife is podcast host, director, actress, and producer Cheryl Hines. She was nominated for two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Larry David's wife, Cheryl, on Curb Your Enthusiasm, an HBO sitcom. The two tied the knot on August 2, 2014. The couple now alternate between living in Los Angeles, California, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.How Many Kennedy's Were Assassinated?Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is known for having had two of his relatives assassinated when in political office in the United States. The first assassinated Kennedy in Robert F. Kennedy Jr's life was, of course, his uncle, the 35th US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, similarly often referred to by his JFK initials. JFK was shot twice as his motorcade drove through Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963.Several investigations arrived at the conclusion that the shots were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested shortly after the murder. Two days later, Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby, an owner of a club in Dallas, while being escorted to a car that was supposed to deliver him to the county jail. There has been an abundance of conspiracy theories striving to explain the assassination of Kennedy and the murder of Oswald circulating in the decades since the events took place. If he had lived, JFK would be 106 on May 29 this year.At the time of the assassination, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nine years old.Five years after the death of JFK, his younger brother - Senator Robert Francis Kennedy and RFK Jr's father - was assassinated. He was slain while running for the US presidency in the 1968 Democratic presidential primaries. RFK Jr. was 14 years old when US Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) was shot by 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The attack happened right after "Bobby" Kennedy, as his nickname went, secured the California presidential primary. Robert F. Kennedy did not die on the spot, and was pronounced dead the following day, on June 6, 1968. The perpetrator was ostensibly irate over Kennedys support for Israel during the Six Day War.Robert Francis Kennedy had served as the 64th US Attorney General from January 1961 until September 1964.How Many Times Did RFK Jr Take the Bar Exam?Robert F. Kennedy Jr's legal career started in 1983, with the position of assistant district attorney in Manhattan. Subsequently, in 1984, RFK Jr. became an investigator for Hudson Riverkeeper. On June 3, 1985, the 31-year-old passed the final portion of the state bar exam - character and fitness part. He had passed the written portion of the exam after two tries in 1983.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got a J.D. degree at the New York University School of Law in 1989. RFK Jr. formed the environmental law firm of Kennedy & Madonna, LLP together with attorney Kevin Madonna in 2000. The two worked on some headline-making cases, such as representing the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe against Ford Motor Company. The case involved dumping of toxic waste on tribal lands. Kennedy and his trial team were presented with the National Trial Lawyers Association award in 2018 for triumphing in the Dewayne "Lee" Johnson v Monsanto case.Kennedy's career in law has predominantly focused on indigenous rights cases and environmental pollution.What is he Noted For?Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made headlines due to his strident opposition to vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. RFK Jr. became an especially outspoken critic of the coronavirus jab program instituted by Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump. But his anti-vaccine crusade dates back at least 15 years. In his 2021 book "The Real Anthony Fauci," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of assisting in "a historic coup d'etat against Western Democracy."Kennedy Jr. doubled down on his anti-vaccine stance In a March television interview this year. Asked for his hypothetical response to Democratic voters who disagree with him on the vaccine issue, Kennedy Jr. replied "show me where I got it wrong, let's talk about it."What Are His Interests?When it comes to hobbies and personal interests, RFK Jr. is a licensed falconer who has been training hawks since the age of 11. He is also an avid whitewater kayaker. His father, the late senator, had gotten him interested in kayaking.How Wealthy is the Kennedy Family?As of 2015, an estimated 30 Kennedy family individuals were belived to be worth $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. Currently, the Kennedy family member still alive and estimated to possess the highest net worth is considered to be Caroline Kennedy, the sole surviving child of John F. Kennedy, the 35th POTUS, and then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Her fortune is deemed to be at around $250 million.As Robert Kennedy, Jr. wades into the 2024 presidential election fray, 14% of voters who supported President Joe Biden in 2020 are now behind his Democratic presidential nomination bid, a US media outlet in conjunction with Suffolk University poll recently discovered. Just 67% of Biden's supporters are now prepared to stand by his candidacy over his challengers, Kennedy and Williamson. 13% revealed they are as yet undecided.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20211215/us-national-archives-releases-additional-1491-documents-on-john-f-kennedy-assassination-1091552700.html

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Those that say nothing in this world is free havent been participating in the Thursday Pick 5 at MGM Yonkers Raceway. For the past three weeks, the Pick 5 wager has been seeded with $10,000 and created the opportunity for winning players to come away with a 25 to 35 per cent higher return.

The $10,000 of seed money, which is being contributed as a measure of bettor appreciation by the Standardbred Owners Association of New York, began on March 30 and will now continue through May 18.

In addition to the seeded money, the total pool for the Thursday Pick 5s will be guaranteed at $25,000 in partnership with the United States Trotting Associations Strategic Wagering Program. The sequence runs from races five through nine with a 50-cent minimum wager and a 20 per cent takeout.

Free Trackmaster past performances for the sequence will be available on the USTA website and free DRF Harness Eye PPs can be found on the DRF website.

Post time for Thursday and each live racing card at MGM Yonkers (Monday to Friday weekly) is 7 p.m. (EDT)

In addition to the Thursday Pick 5, fans and handicappers will want to circle April 24 on their calendars as MGM Yonkers Raceway will host the $511,000 MGM Borgata Pace and $328,200 Blue Chip Matchmaker finals. Both races will be complemented by consolation events on what is sure to be a cant-miss night of racing.

To complement the series finals, the Empire Terrace dining room will be open on Monday evening. Owners and fans are invited to attend the races and enjoy a dinner buffet for $50 per person plus 20 percent gratuity. A cash bar will also be available. No reservations are required but those interested can call 914-457-2627 for more details.

(Yonkers Raceway)
Southwind Bourbon scorched the back half in :56.3 en route to victory in Wednesdays (April 19) $12,500 second leg of the Ruby Cook Memorial for three-year-old filly pacers at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows.

Southwind Bourbon finished second in her seasonal debut in last weeks opening leg. She was tighter on Wednesday, however, even after she was looped from the gate before she could make the point. The daughter of Sweet Lou-Lil Miss Bourbon dug in for Mike Wilder and held off the rallying Kiss Of A Rockstar by a neck in 1:55, matching her career best. Play For Me earned show.

It was one of four wins for Wilder on the 12-race card. Dan Altmeyer trains Southwind Bourbon for Diamond Club Racing, Tar Heel Racing and David Wills.

Live racing at The Meadows continues Thursday when the 12-race program features a $1,834.30 carryover in the Early Pentafecta (race 4). First post is 12:45 p.m.

(The Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)
The $12,500 Lloyd Arnold Pace, headed by the streaking Officer Jim, and a $25,000 California Sire Stakes for the three-year-old males, featuring Polar Storm, are the main attractions on Friday nights Cal Expo program.

There will be eight races presented under the Watch and Wager LLC banner with first post at 7:05 p.m.

Officer Jim is the hottest horse on the grounds as he comes into the Arnold having rattled off seven straight victories.

The seven-year-old son of American Ideal has been on an absolute tear this season while making five of his recent starts at the Open level for owner Debra McCarthy and trainer Michael Meza.

Mooney Svendsen has been handling the lines in his last three victories, including the most recent two weeks ago when he toured the oval in a sparkling 1:51 flat while establishing a new lifetime standard.

Taking him on Friday are: A Major Omen, from the Gerri Longo barn; Handsome Harvey, conditioned by Luke Plano; the Bob Johnson-trained Allmyxsliventexas; and Trey Rockette, who hails from the Jose Castillo shedrow.

Looking at the Sire Stakes, Polar Storm is a son of Wind Me Up who is owned and was bred by Alan and Cheryl Sandbulte, and trained by Jose Catillo.

After finishing third in the first stakes dance in late March, he did the perfect track-and-attack to account for last weeks clash with Shawn Thater at the controls while drawing off late by a length and a half in a lifetime 1:54.3 mile.

Bettors Promise, Pancetta stand the test of time

Between them, Bettors Promise and Pancetta have made 530 starts, and last week they were both seen posing for pictures for owners Richard Morita and David Yamada and trainer Lino Pacheco.

Bettors Promise is a 12-year-old son of Bettors Delight who stalked perfectly for Mooney Svendsen while recording victory No. 33 in his 302nd appearance and upping his earnings over $277,000.

Hes certainly been an iron horse for us, Morita related after the win. We bought him late in his three-year-old season and he really came around about a year after that.

Hes raced and won at Yonkers and won in the Open class at Running Aces. Hes also been in some of the top races over the years, including the Dan Patch and really likes a fifth-eighths track.

At 12, hes lost a little, but he can still show his class like he did the other night.

While Bettors Promise was a juicy 8-1 in his score on Friday, stablemate Pancetta proved a punctual even-money favourite in his Sunday score with Jessie Pacheco doing the honours.

It was the 48th lifetime tally for Pancetta, who has more than $550,000 earned and a 1:51.1 mark that was set at Pocono Downs. Having celebrated his 14th birthday in January, this will be his last year of racing for the diminutive pacer with the large heart.

(With files from Cal Expo)


A new photography exhibit, Out and About in Black and White opens Friday at Middle St. Gallery in Washington, Virginia.

The display of black-and-white portraits by photographer Susan Raines will be shown weekends through May 28. Gallery member Paulo Neuhaus will also offer a small collection of photographs, along with works by other members of the nonprofit artists cooperative in Rappahannock County.

The show offers portraits made over many years, some for publication in newspapers and magazines and others for a calendar of Atlanta bars. Many of the photos are part of Raines ongoing personal series of portraitsnot studio portraits but people in their every-day settings: dressing rooms, bars, restaurants and a Navajo reservation.

The images offer views of an earlier era in the photographic arts.

All were taken with film cameras, either 35 millimeter cameras or a vintage Rolleiflex twin lens reflex, Raines said. Black and white film was used and developed in my home dark room, where the original prints were made.

The works at the gallery are recent archival digital prints.

Neuhauss eclectic works, Voices of Spring, were prompted in part by a recent visit to Perus Sacred Valley.

Im also intrigued by a contemporary rendition, in a Michigan sculpture park, of Leonardo da Vincis iconic horse drawing, which he never ended up executing, he said.

Come to Middle Street Gallery from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, to see contemporary and vintage photography as well as painting, drawing, sculpture, glass and multi-media art. The gallery is located in the lower level of 311 Gay St. The entrance is on Main Street across from Ballards. Visit middlestreetgallery.org or call 540/227-5066 for more information.
LINCOLN  Governor Jim Pillen announced a statewide burn ban will expire at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, April 20. Initially, the order was put into place late last week to reduce the risk of wildfires. The ban was re-issued on Monday, as high winds and dry conditions persisted.
In a press release, Chadron Police Chief Rick Hickstein said The City of Chadron Water Tower, located to the southeast of the Chadron State College campus, sustained more than $22,000 worth of damage as the result of being shot six times on the east side of it. Evidence suggests the shots were fired from the area of the CSC Rangeland Building or South Ridgeview Road area. The shots appear to be of varying calibers and depths on the water tower. It is suspected the damage occurred some time between April 11-April 12.
NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is at risk of being delayed over a lack of funding

The space agency is now requesting a total of half a million dollars to support the mission's timeline

The mission aims to bring back rocks that the Perseverance rover collected

NASA's Mars Sample Return mission to bring back rocks that the space agency's Perseverance rover collected is at risk over a lack of funding as it already costs authorities more than the allotted budget for this year.

The agency's administrator, Bill Nelson, attended a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee. There, the official revealed that the mission requires an additional $250 million in the current fiscal year and another $250 million next year if they want it to be on track for completion by 2028.

NASA Mars Sample Return Mission Lack of Funding

The Mars Sample Return mission is considered to be one of the space agency's most complex missions that have ever been attempted. As per Gizmodo, it is a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The mission seeks to bring back rock samples that NASA's Perseverance rover has collected on the surface of the Red Planet. The space agency requires an orbiter, a lander, two helicopters, and a rocket to complete its objective.

In the 2023 spending bill, the Mars Sample Return mission received $822.3 million in funding, and NASA requested $949.3 for the mission in its budget proposal for 2024. It is now getting a portion of the total financing of science, which is roughly $8.26 billion in the budget for 2024.

NASA and ESA estimated in 2020 that the mission would need total funding of $7 billion. However, there are concerns that the Mars Sample Return mission's actual cost will significantly surpass the initial estimate.

Read Also: Massive Spiral Over Alaska's Aurora Explained

Bringing Back Crucial Rock Samples

The American space agency is now setting up a second independent review board that seeks to oversee the mission. According to Yahoo News, this is part of a broader effort to keep the Mars Sample Return mission on track and within the given budget.

If the mission does require more funding, the space agency will be forced to get money from somewhere else within its budget. This would delay the VERITAS mission that seeks to travel to Venus to rekindle the Psyche mission heading toward a metal-rich asteroid.

The other way for NASA to fund the Mars Sample Return mission would be to delay its return to Earth, which is already under consideration. Nelson said that some of the costs of the mission are unavoidable and are forcing the space agency to make choices.

The head of science for NASA, Nicola Fox, said that the two space agencies in charge of the mission would have to make crucial decisions regarding how to move forward. She added that they were contemplating various questions regarding the cost of the mission, said Nature.

Related Article: Defunct NASA Satellite To Crash Down Into Earth

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The Lingle-Fort Laramie FBLA National Team will be fundraising for its upcoming trip to Atlanta, Georgia, with a Cornhole Tournament Saturday.

The tournament will be held at 10 a.m. at the Fort Laramie Community Center, 102 Otis St., in Fort Laramie. Costs for team ranges from $10 for student teams to $40 for advanced teams. A 50/50 raffle and silent auction will also be held.
The Legislature Wednesday morning passed a bill allowing constitutional carry of concealed firearms, capping a quest by state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon that had lasted his entire seven-year Unicameral career.

Lawmakers broke one final filibuster with a 33-14 vote  exactly the two-thirds majority needed  and then sent Legislative Bill 77 to Gov. Jim Pillen on an identical vote.

Sens. Brian Hardin of Gering, Steve Erdman of Bayard, Mike Jacobson of North Platte and Teresa Ibach of Sumner joined Brewer in voting to end debate and then to pass the bill.

I feel like I can kind of take down the guards now that LB 77 has passed, a relieved Brewer said by telephone Wednesday afternoon.

Its something that Nebraskans  especially Nebraskans outside of Lincoln and Omaha  really wanted bad. From the day I took office, people approached me and said this is a constitutional right that we have.

And its not right that (opponents) use all the horrible things happening around the country to keep Nebraskans from exercising their constitutional rights. Nebraskans generally have been law-abiding.

Hardin, the first-year District 48 senator, welcomed Wednesdays climactic vote. The law provides common-sense application of our most basic Second Amendment rights, he said via text.

He thanked Brewer, a retired U.S. Army colonel who suffered seven bullet wounds in combat in Afghanistan, for your persistent leadership to get this done over the seven-year journey to pass LB 77 into law.

All 32 registered Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature voted to pass the bill, as did Sen. Mike McDonnell, a registered Democrat representing south Omaha.

Not voting on LB 77 Wednesday were the Unicamerals two Black members, northeast Omaha Sens. Terrell McKinney and Justin Wayne. They helped break filibusters at earlier stages of debate, saying the bill would give Omaha police fewer reasons to target people in their largely Black districts.

Brewer, who visited Pillen after LB 77s passage, said the governor plans to sign the bill into law in a 2 p.m. CT ceremony April 26 in the State Capitols Warner Chamber.

But Nebraskans who can lawfully carry firearms still wont be able to conceal them without a permit until late August or early September.

LB 77 was written without an emergency clause that would have allowed it to go into effect immediately upon the governors signature. Bills passed without such a clause take effect three months after the end of the session, currently set for June 9.

A 2022 constitutional-carry bill (LB 773) by Brewer, whose District 43 covers the northern Panhandle and Sandhills, won first-round approval last spring but fell two votes short of breaking a filibuster at the second of the Legislatures three stages of debate.

The year before that, Brewer offered a bill (LB 236) to allow county boards to authorize their residents to carry concealed weapons without a state permit.

He had to abandon that goal after an attorney generals opinion said it would have amounted to an unconstitutional delegation of the Legislatures powers on gun laws to counties. Rewritten to make less sweeping changes to gun laws, LB 236 was passed and signed by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts in May 2021.

In his last speech before the vote, Brewer noted that senators were in the 44th hour of floor discussion on his various constitutional-carry bills  most of them during filibusters.

Ive got to tell you Im tired, said Brewer, who also has been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Its been a long fight. Im ready to get to a vote on this bill.

He once more repeated his contention that Nebraskans who arent minors, havent committed felonies and have obtained permits to buy firearms shouldnt be punished for keeping them out of public view.

You can say what you want about being too committed to the Constitution, Brewer told his colleagues. But some of us have paid a very dear price for that Constitution.

He added that Nebraskans still will need permits to buy firearms, a process that includes background checks.

You go down and try to buy a gun without a background check and see what happens, he said. It isnt going to happen.

Besides the Second Amendments right to keep and bear arms, Article I, Section 1 of the Nebraska Constitution since 1988 has guaranteed that right for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any (political) subdivision thereof.

LB 77 strips counties, cities and villages of their powers to regulate firearms use beyond what state law already provides.

Urban lawmakers opposed to LB 77, led by Lincoln Sen. Jane Raybould, allowed that constitutional carry might make sense in rural Nebraska but continued to insist that the bill makes urban residents less safe.

Children, families, law enforcement and communities will be at greater risk if we pass this bill, Raybould said.

We have become one nation under guns, and that is not a Nebraska value or even a moral value.

She accused senators supporting LB 77 of ignoring statistics cited by her and other opponents that gun deaths  and particularly those of children  are highest in states that have loosened concealed-carry laws.

I have to tell you (that) in my 12 years of government service, I have never seen a chamber where people have distorted the truth so much, said Raybould, a former Lincoln city councilwoman, one-time Lancaster County commissioner and past Democratic U.S. House candidate.

Omaha Sen. John Cavanaugh contended that LB 77 unintendedly lessens penalties for minors or prohibited persons who carry concealed firearms or other weapons.

The bill adds a new subsection 2 in section 28-1202 of state law, saying such people would face up to a year in jail for a first offense and up to two years in prison for subsequent offenses.

That is a pretty substantial decline in the penalty for the same conduct, Cavanaugh said.

But identical penalties already appear in subsections 4 and 5 of 28-1202  both of which are shown as being eliminated in LB 77s final text. The changes amount to combining the penalties into a single new subsection.

Jacobson, whose District 42 includes Lincoln County and all or parts of five other west central Nebraska counties, said he was truly amazed at all of the new, unique nuances gun-control advocates produce whenever a gun-rights bill comes up.

(They say,) If we could just send it back to committee and spend one more year thinking about it, it will fix everything. Lets forget about peoples constitutional rights, Jacobson said.

We have a significant drug problem in this country, led by fentanyl. We have laws, as I recall, and theres laws out there that say you cant possess illegal drugs. How well has that worked?

If the Legislature did what LB 77s opponents want, were going to restrict the law-abiding citizens from having their constitutional right, Jacobson added. But guess what? The criminals dont care.
Following are excerpts of comments by western Nebraska state senators during Wednesdays first-round debate on Legislative Bill 626, the Nebraska Heartbeat Act. All five voted yes to break a filibuster and then to give the bill first-round approval.

Sen. Brian Hardin, Gering, District 48:

Since Roe (v. Wade in 1973), 200,000 babies have died in Nebraska, 10% of our entire state population.  In the 42 weeks since Dobbs (v. Jackson Womens Health Organization) overruled Roe last June 24, the day we could have provided greater protections for preborn children, 1,800 babies or more have lost their lives to abortion in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Heartbeat Act is an opportunity for a generational win, one that people will be able to look back on as a moment in history where a profound shift took place in the state of Nebraska. We can stop the abandonment of women to abortion, protect unborn human beings from violence and take a step toward the restoration of public confidence in the integrity of the medical profession. A baby with a beating heart deserves to be protected. We envision a Nebraska where every life is celebrated, valued and protected.

Sen. Steve Erdman, Bayard, District 47:

Sen. (Jane) Raybould said we should care for the least (among us). I agree with her. I agree with her. But shes got the definition wrong. Those who we should care for are the babies. Its not the mother. Its not those who are choosing to have an abortion. Its the babies. Its the babies. This is about a heartbeat. This is about a human life.

Doctors have taken an oath to do no intentional harm. To do no intentional harm  what does that mean? If you are a medical professional and you hear a heartbeat, theres only one conclusion you can draw from that, and (its) that its a life.

This is not medical care, killing someone. I dont know who we think we are, that we can choose to be God. God created those people. They deserve a chance.

Sen. Teresa Ibach, Sumner, District 44:

As a mother of triplets, I am pro-life. I believe this is a discussion that we should be having, because to me, there clearly is a compelling government in regulating the practice of abortion.

Personally, our current law allowing abortion up to 20 weeks is excessive  At this stage of pregnancy, the fetus has a beating heart, the curve of its spine has developed, the fetus has a face and their arms and legs are waving.  To me, to abort a baby is unthinkable and we should be protecting these children.

Sen. Mike Jacobson, North Platte, District 42:

Human life is the most precious thing in the world. How any of us can think that a child  an unborn child  is not precious is truly beyond me.

I remember when Julie and I were first married. Its one of the happiest days of your life. But, you know, the one that rivals that is the day your first childs born.

But, you know, in our case, it was a long journey because in our case we had multiple miscarriages. I remember going to the hospital with Julie when we were told the news that she miscarried, that she had to go through a D&C (dilation and curettage)  and the pain that went with that process.

But we kept trying, we kept doing that, and ultimately we got to the point to where we got past the first trimester and we were going to have a baby.

And then Ill never forget that fateful night when Julie woke up in the middle of the night having cramps. 

John was 24 weeks. He weighed a pound and 12 ounces. He looked like a GI Joe doll. He was a perfect child. And he was a fighter.  And John lived for five weeks and died on our 10th wedding anniversary. 

No ones going to convince me that my son didnt deserve to live. No ones going to tell me that he was part of tissue. Hes buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery. I can take you out there and show you 

We need to protect human life. What kind of a society are we when we say that human life is not worth protecting? And that means every human life. This is not a health care issue. How can it be health care when when the perfect result is you take a life? Thats not health care.

This is a good bill. Pass it.

Read more:

Nebraska's 6-week abortion ban survives first round of debate in Legislature The latest attempt to curtail abortion access in Nebraska just cleared its biggest hurdle yet in the state Legislature.
For Iredell-Statesville Schools, its simple: It needs a new high school.

The board of education understands this is a critical need for us; we do have severe overcrowding in two of our larger schools, Tim Ivey said. He is the school systems maintenance, technology and facilities officer.

For the Iredell County Board of Commissioners, its a bit more complex as the county looks to address the need for a high school in its southern end.

Earlier this year, the school system approved a three-pronged approach to how it would request finding from Iredell County. The ask potentially goes from $150 million and $170 million for construction and $20 million and $30 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment.

That cost comes with sticker shock as I-SS board member Bill Howell said, but the increased cost of construction since the $80 million bond was passed in 2020 is part of the reason the school system is increasing the funding request.

Ivey compared the cost with similar school projects in the country, comparing it to a school being built in Vermont that is seeking a $200 million bond for the school building alone.

He said I-SS is looking for alternative forms of funding as well, which include public-private partnerships.

While the board was appreciative of the information presented, it still has concerns with how it should go about funding, and likely borrowing, $90 to $120 million to pay for the high school.

Theres all kind of options we and you can look at together, as far as borrowing, but the bottom line is the debt service has to be paid on the total amount anyway, Commissioner Gene Houpe said. Youre going to have to skin that cat.

Ivey said that meetings could be scheduled to give the board of commissioners a more definitive amount that the county needs to fund for the school.

No action was taken during Tuesdays meeting.

Economic incentive: Epoch Solutions was approved for an economic incentive up to $99,441 over a five-year period based on the companys investment of up to $5,728,000 and contingent upon a contract being executed within 180 days.

Administrative matters

The following issues are considered administrative matters by the board and discussed in a pre-agenda meeting before the regular meeting at 6 p.m. All are passed with a consent vote unless moved to the regular agenda.

Register of Deeds: Approved from the Register of Deeds for approval of a budget amendment in the amount of $207,413.40 to appropriate Technology & Preservation Funds for the purpose of preserving historical deed records.

Renee Holland, Register of Deeds, said some of the older records that had been preserved in the mid-1900s were becoming very brittle and are quickly deteriorating according to the agenda item request.

Information Technology Services: Approved request from Information Technology Services for approval of a contract with Spectrum. Joey Holshouser, director of the Department of Information Technology Systems, said there is currently a direct connection from the government center south to the annex data room and the hope is to add to that. The request said the plans are to add Solid Waste Mooresville, Mooresville EMS and Harmony EMS to the service, and upgraded connections at the Health Department, ICATS and Parks and Recreation.

Department of Social Services: Approved request for a 3-year contract with Avaya Cloud Office solution to enhance phone systems and call reporting to meet agreed-upon standards.

Finance Department: Approved awarding the sale of the property on Harmony Highway to the highest bidder. The county owns property at 4600 Harmony Highway and has been in the upset bid process of selling this property. After six rounds of upset bids, the highest bid now needs to be awarded in the amount of $20,000.

Finance also was approved to adopt the FY23-24 Funding Plan and Certification Form for the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. The entire allocation from N.C. DPS is $405,670, with $16,781 reserved in unallocated funds to be awarded at a later date to the current participating programs. This certification will also put the JCPC program on a 2-year funding cycle. The Iredell County match remains unchanged at $24,500.

Finance also was approved to adopt a resolution and agreement to authorize the private sale of certain surplus personal property. In this case, that property is a dog. Retired Lt. Gary Simpson of the sheriffs office requested to purchase K-9 Abby because it has been determined that it is not in Abbys best interest or the interests of the Iredell County Sheriffs Office that she continues to be used in crime detection. Abby and Simpson both retired on Jan. 31.

Administration: Approved Articles of Association and Agreement for the Centralina Workforce Development Consortium.

Tax Administration: Approved March 2023 refunds and releases, two of which exceed $5,000.
More than 200 kites will be available at Floyd County Parks and Recreation on a first-come, first-served basis on Saturday for the Kite Festival and Earth Day Celebration.

The event will include kids activities, food trucks, music, local organizations, free trees and more from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday (April 22).

The event will take place at the rec park (281 Park Drive) regardless of weather. As of Tuesday, April 18, the forecast for Saturday in Floyd included early rain showers with steadier rain throughout the day and overnight.

Fingers crossed that the rain holds off until later in the day, said Floyd Tourism Director Kathleen Legg.

Booths will include Partnership for Floyd handing out free trees with a purchase of a tube, SustainFloyd, Virginia Department of Forestry, Phoenix Hardwoods, a Master Naturalist, a Crystal and Metaphysical business, the Floyd Center for the Arts, Mothers Child Farm and more, Legg said.

She said the event is a great tourism effort as it provides another reason for people to visit Floyd, and its another family friendly event for the community to participate in.

The Floyd rec department hosted a kite festival in 2019, but subsequent events have been postponed by the pandemic, and the restructuring of Floyd Tourism and Floyd County Parks and Recreation, as well as other factors.

FCPR Director Jacob Agee said the idea is to host an event where community members can enjoy nature and see some of the recent upgrades across the grounds, including the new playground equipment, updated childrens trails and more.

We have put a great deal of effort into planning this event, Agee said. We have been fortunate to work with folks like Floyd Tourism, the town, Hotel Floyd, Partnership for Floyd and several others.

The new playground will be celebrated with a ceremony before the Kite Festival and Earth Day Celebration on Saturday morning.

A total of 250 kites will be available while supplies last, courtesy of Floyd County officials and the Board of Supervisors, and participants are encouraged to bring their own.

There will be face painting, an Earth Day-based scavenger hunt, Earth Day clean up crews, and other activities for community members of all ages.

We have done a kite festival in years past, and it has been a great success, Agee said. We plan to bring this event back next year.

Legg agreed and said the tourism department hopes it will become an annual event in Floyd.
The Syrian FM is visiting Tunisia as the two countries reopen their respective embassies, Al-Baath reports

On Tuesday, Tunisian President Kais Saied received Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Fayssal Mikdad at the Carthage Palace. Mikdad conveyed to President Saied the greetings of President Bashar al-Assad and his gratitude for Tunisias support in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Syria. Mikdad also extended President al-Assads congratulations to President Saied on the approaching Eid al-Fitr.

Mikdad expressed Syrias satisfaction with the normalization of bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and thanked the Tunisian President for his support in Syrias fight against terrorism. He stressed the importance of strengthening ties between the two countries for the benefit of their peoples.

In response, President Saied conveyed his warmest greetings to President al-Assad and expressed his happiness at the development of relations between Tunisia and Syria. He commended Syrias achievements in its fight against terrorism, its steadfastness in the face of conspiracies, and its preservation of its sovereignty. President Saied also expressed his satisfaction with the developments in Syrian-Arab relations.

During the meeting, Mikdad briefed President Saied on Syrias communication with various Arab and friendly countries, political developments in the region and the world, and Syrias positions towards them. He emphasized President al-Assads call to mobilize the efforts of all Arab countries to defend their just causes.

In a press statement after the meeting, Mikdad expressed Syrias satisfaction with the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the courageous decisions taken by President Saied to unify Arab efforts and face challenges. He announced that Syria has accepted a new ambassador from Tunisia, and both countries will open embassies and send diplomatic cadres in the coming days. Mikdad also called for more efforts in the interest of the Arab nation and to prevent foreign powers from dividing Arab states and peoples.



This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Yemen stampede kills at least 78 people

The people in the area crowded to receive $10 in financial donations

Merchants were giving away donations to mark the final days of Ramadan

At least 78 people have died in Yemen after a stampede broke out over residents crowding a school in the country's capital over $10 financial donations that merchants handed out to mark the final days of Ramadan.

Two witnesses, identified as Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen, said that a group of armed Houthis fired into the air when crowds gathered in an attempt to disperse them. However, this allegedly hit an electrical wire, causing it to explode and causing the people in the area to panic.

Yemen Stampede Causes At Least 78 Deaths

Video footage captured the moment of the incident where bodies were packed together as some people were climbing on top of each other in an attempt to make it through the crowd. Many residents had their mouths covered by other nearby people in the crowd while the rest of their bodies were hidden from view due to the dense crowd, as per Aljazeera.

There were other photographs of the incident that were released by the Houthis, who are in control of the capital. The images showed bloodstains, shoes, and victims' clothing all scattered on the ground as investigators were busy examining the area.

Reports noted that more than 300 people were injured in the stampede, citing a Houthi security official. At least 73 of these were brought to the al-Thawra Hospital located in Sanaa, said Hamdan Bagheri, the deputy director of the medical establishment. Families were known to be rushing to hospitals to find their loved ones.

In a statement, Brig Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, the spokesperson for the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior, described the recent incident as "tragic." He also blamed the "random distribution" of funds without coordination with local authorities having factored in the stampede.

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Crowding for $10 Financial Donations

The horrific incident also came a few days prior to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. At this time, religious worshippers would start giving away Zakat al-Fitr, otherwise known as the Zakat of Breaking the Fast of Ramadan, to anyone who was in need, according to CNN.

Law enforcement personnel and rescue teams quickly rushed to the scene of the incident following the reports, said the Interior Ministry. The ministry's statement added that the dead and wounded people were sent to hospitals while the two merchants that handled the financial donations were taken into custody.

The incident occurred as the region has been experiencing an eight-year-long civil war that has already resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, has devastated the country's economy, and pushed millions of people into hunger.

In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen after Houthi rebels ousted the sitting government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. Many watchers have viewed that conflict to be a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, said Reuters.

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A local Syrian academic is highlighting to al-Watan the importance of remittances for the Syrian economy.

Expatriate remittances are playing a crucial role in supporting Syrias economy, which has been grappling with a shortage of foreign exchange liquidity, according to an economist.

Ali Kanaan, a professor of finance and banking at the University of Damascus, told al-Watan that foreign remittances from Syrians abroad are estimated at $5 to $7 million, sometimes up to $10 million, per day. These funds are contributing significantly to financing basic imports and paying off financial obligations, Kanaan added.

Many Syrian workers who migrated during the crisis have secured good sources of income in the Arab and foreign economies and are sending remittances to their families in Syria, thereby becoming a significant resource in the current circumstances, Kanaan noted.

The economy is in great need of foreign exchange, to import either raw materials or machines and technologies necessary for investment. The policy of raising the exchange rate by the Central Bank has contributed to an increase in transfers through official channels, according to Kanaan.



This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
The opening of Arab countries to Damascus has pushed the AANES to announce that it was willing to negotiate with the regime over the future of the country, Athr Press, a pro-regime media, is reporting.

In response to the recent political movement in Damascus and the ongoing Arab rapprochement with Syria, the Autonomous Administration in Northeast Syria (AANES) released a statement on Tuesday expressing its willingness to engage in dialogue with the Syrian state.

The AANES put forward an initiative aimed at finding a peaceful and democratic solution to the Syrian crisis, emphasizing its readiness to meet with the Syrian government and all relevant Syrian parties to discuss and consult on presenting initiatives for resolving the crisis.

The statement underscored that the issues facing Syria can only be resolved within the framework of the countrys unity and called for a democratic solution in which all segments of society have a say, recognizing the legitimate rights of all components. It also emphasized the importance of establishing a pluralistic, decentralized, democratic, and politically administrative system that safeguards the rights of all Syrians without exception.

Controlling most of Syrias oil wealth, the AANES emphasized the necessity of distributing economic resources, including oil, gas, and agricultural crops, equitably across all Syrian regions. It also stressed the importance of reaching an agreement with the Syrian government through dialogue and negotiation on the participation of these resources since they belong to all Syrian people.

The statement further called for reopening the Al-Yarubiyah customs crossing at the Syrian-Iraqi border and other crossings, stating the AANESs willingness to receive those who have been displaced or migrated outside the country.



This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Opposition media Al-Souria net is reporting about the visit of the Saudi foreign minister to Damascus, the first in over a decade.

The Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan, made a historic visit to the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday. This was the first visit by a high-ranking Saudi minister since 2011, marking the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and the Syrian regime after more than a decade of diplomatic estrangement.

During the visit, the Saudi minister and his delegation met with the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad. According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), they discussed the issue of Syrias return to its Arab surroundings and its natural role in the Arab world, with reference to the regimes return to the Arab League. They also discussed efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that preserves Syrias unity, security, stability, Arab identity, and territorial integrity.

The Saudi Foreign Minister stressed to Assad the importance of providing a suitable environment for aid to reach all regions in Syria, creating the necessary conditions for the return of Syrian refugees and displaced persons to their areas, ending their suffering, enabling them to return safely to their homeland, and taking more measures that would contribute to stabilizing the situation throughout the Syrian territories.

The Presidency of the Syrian Republic issued a statement about the visit, in which it said that Al-Assad affirmed that the fraternal Arab role is necessary for supporting the Syrian people to overcome all the repercussions of the war in Syria, stabilize the situation and liberate all Syrian lands. He added that sound relations between Syria and the Kingdom are the normal state and reflect an Arab and regional interest.

According to the statement, Bin Farhan pointed out that the next stage requires that the relationship between Syria and its brothers from the Arab countries return to its proper state, and that Syrias role in the Arab world and regionally be better than it was before.

The steps towards normalization between Saudi Arabia and the Assad regime accelerated during the past few days after the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced that it would hold talks with the regime for the first time in a decade to restore diplomatic relations.



This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Your daily brief of the English-speaking press on Syria.

Israel PM cautions Saudi Arabia about Iran after China-brokered deal, urges greater U.S. presence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Saudi Arabia against partnering with Iran after a China-brokered deal between the two Middle Eastern powers threatened to undermine his campaign to isolate Tehran.

The detente, according to CNBC, is also a blow to Israels attempts to normalise relations with Riyadh. The Saudi-Iran agreement has also been a breakthrough for China, a key ally of Iran and a major trade partner of Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu has also denied any knowledge of a Chinese initiative to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Those who partner with Iran partner with misery. Look at Lebanon, look at Yemen, look at Syria, look at Iraq, he told CNBCs Hadley Gamble in an interview Wednesday, stressing that 95% of the problems in the Middle East emanate from Iran.

Israel has made progress in connecting with Arab states since the September 2020 Abraham Accords that established relations between Israel and Saudi allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Sudan and Morocco have also recognised Israel in the years since the accords.

However, Saudi Arabia has so far resisted Israels diplomatic overtures. Netanyahu told CNBC that peace with Saudi Arabia could end the Arab-Israeli conflict and pave the way for further diplomacy with Palestinians.

IDF hit Hezbollah in Syria

At the same time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly dropped pamphlets in southern Syria warning Syrian soldiers to stop cooperating with Hezbollah, hours after conducting artillery strikes on sites belonging to the Iran-backed group.

The Times of Israel reports that the flyers appeared to take responsibility for the strikes and stated that the Syrian army would continue to suffer if it continued to cooperate with Hezbollah. The IDF usually does not publicly acknowledge carrying out strikes in Syria, under its policy of ambiguity. In a separate incident, a small Israeli military drone crashed in Syrian territory during routine activity.

Israel has stepped up its activities in Syria recently and has been alleged to have carried out a number of strikes this month, including one that killed two members of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Assad in the Arab League: Whats the cost?

In a report by The New Arab, the author discusses the cost of the possible return of President Assad to the Arab League,

According to the report, the Syrian regimes treatment of its people has not changed despite ten years passing since its expulsion. Arbitrary detention and torture of civilians by Syrian security services are prevalent throughout Syria, and on the same day of the Jeddah meeting, the regime shelled areas of northern Syria with artillery.

The regions treatment of the Syrian regime has changed, however, as states like Saudi Arabia and Jordan have come to view Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the victor of the countrys civil war.

The lack of a consensus on Syrias re-entry into the Arab League reveals that even if an increasing number of countries within the region agree that they should normalise with Damascus, they are at odds with how they should go about doing so.

The three countries leading the charge on re-integrating Syria into the regional fold  Jordan, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia  each has vastly different approaches to dealing with Damascus.

Experts have also said that reconciliation with the Assad regime without preconditions of accountability and reforms makes the likelihood of a political settlement unlikely.

The more you give to Bashar al-Assad without asking for anything in return that would lead to a more acceptable political resolution, the less reason they would have to compromise on anything, the author said.

Saudi Arabia becomes major Middle East player  analysis

The Jerusalem Post argues that Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan, visited Damascus this week in a move to normalize ties with the Syrian regime after a decade of war. This is the first visit of this kind by the Saudis in Syria in 12 years.

The visit follows several other high-level meetings between Saudi Arabia and the Syrian regime, including a visit by Syrias foreign minister, Fayssal Mikdad, to Riyadh last week.

Riyadh hopes to achieve a comprehensive political settlement to the Syrian crisis soon, rather than waiting a long time, the paper said.

Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a major diplomatic player in the region and has also reconciled with Iran, sought to end the Yemen war, and hosted several high-level diplomatic visits, it added.

Naturalized Syrians are in the spotlight ahead of Turkeys upcoming elections

The Middle East Institute published a lengthy analysis of Syrian-Turkish citizens role in the Turkish election.

Turkeys upcoming elections, to be held on May 14, are considered the most consequential elections in the countrys recent history. The elections come as Turkey has become the worlds largest refugee hosting country, with more than four million refugees, mostly from Syria. Over 200,000 Syrians have been granted Turkish citizenship since the Syrian war began.

Despite the numbers, the Syrian community is unlikely to play a significant role in determining the outcome of the elections, but they are at the heart of the vote as migration is a top campaign issue.

The opposition parties have campaigned on an anti-migrant platform, vowing to expel all refugees, shift the national debate, and mobilize voters. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also exploited the refugee crisis, but Syrians see the AKP as their original allies and the best guarantor of the communitys future in Turkey.

However, not all eligible Syrians will necessarily vote for Erdogan. Facing domestic pressure, Erdogan has recently been in political dialogue with the Syrian government to pave the way for Syrians to return, which has left Syrians in Turkey stunned, and there is now uncertainty about the safety of the Syrian community regardless of the elections outcome.
TUMWATER, Wash.  The email went out to legal cannabis growers around Washington state. Another of their colleagues had gone under.

Liquidation sale, it said. Attached was a spreadsheet of items for sale: LED grow lights for $500 apiece. Rotary evaporators for hash oil, $10,000.

Across the Columbia River in Oregon, where the states top marijuana regulator recently warned of an existential crisis in the industry, its an open secret some licensed growers have funneled product to the out-of-state black market just to stay afloat.

Californias Apple store of weed, MedMen, is teetering with millions in unpaid bills, while the Canadian cannabis company Curaleaf has shuttered cultivation operations in California, Oregon and Colorado.

Along the West Coast, producers face what many call the failed economics of legal pot. There is vast supply, thanks to great growing conditions and a wealth of expertise, but any surplus remains trapped within each states borders due to the federal ban on marijuana. Prices have plunged and producers have struggled.

Im at rock bottom, said Jeremy Moberg, who owns CannaSol Farms in Washington and, like many growers, complains that the states 37% cannabis tax leaves virtually no profit margin.

No one expects Congress to help out by legalizing the drug nationwide. Instead, some are pinning their hopes, however faint, on President Joe Bidens administration approving marijuana trade among states that have regulated it.

That would allow the West Coast  with its favorable climate and cheap, clean hydropower for indoor growing  to supply the rest of the country, they argue.

In Senate testimony last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department will soon announce a new marijuana policy. Drug policy experts say they do not expect it to go as far as permitting interstate commerce.

Nevertheless, lawmakers in Washington last week approved a trigger bill  modeled after ones already passed in Oregon and California  that will allow the governor to enter into interstate cannabis agreements should the feds allow it.

Twenty-one states have now legalized the recreational use of cannabis by adults.

How they have set up their markets has implications for how they might fare if their growers and processors are allowed to sell pot in other states.

Washington and Colorado were the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. Many of the early regulations Washington adopted to keep the Justice Department at bay  including restrictions on the size of growing facilities and banning out-of-state investment  remain.

That has helped some smaller growers thrive. But it would hamstring those who hope to compete in an interstate marketplace alongside larger, more efficient producers from Oregon or California, who face fewer restrictions.

In Oregon, where sales began in 2015, large growers have achieved some economy of scale that could give them a leg up in a broader market  but in the meantime, the states oversupply is considered the nations worst.

Cannabis in Oregon is like corn in Iowa, said TJ Sheehy, an analyst for Oregons cannabis agency. If you put a box around Iowa and said you can only grow corn in Iowa to sell to Iowans, youd have exactly the same dynamic.

The oversupply has been terrific for cannabis consumers.

When legalization started in Oregon in 2015, a pound of cannabis might have gone for $3,000 wholesale; today, it might be $100 to $150, said Isaac Foster, co-founder of Portland Cannabis Market, a wholesale distributor.

In Washington, which has some of the highest cannabis taxes in the country, the prices consumers pay are still cheaper than illicit weed. The state is raking in half a billion dollars a year in taxes.

But with such cheap prices, keeping the industry sustainable is a challenge.

With the spring planting season arriving, Moberg, of CannaSol Farms, says he already has three shipping containers of unsold weed, including 75% of what he produced last season.

East Fork Cultivars, one of Oregons first licensed growers, has thousands of pounds stashed, said co-founder Nathan Howard.

We hope we can sell most of it to keep the lights on, Howard said.

Oregon regulators know producers are suffering, but say theyll be in a good position should the federal government allow interstate commerce.

Legal growers generally want to supply the legal market, rather than risk their businesses and freedom if they get caught selling out the back door. But oversupply and cheap wholesale prices have made it tough for some to survive on legal sales alone.

They were either going to die or get creative, said Tanner Mariani, head of sales for the Portland Cannabis Market. And a lot of people chose to get creative and ... found a way to get it from this market into the other side and then out of the state.

Authorities have also contended with illegal farms operating under the guise of legality  notably in Oregon, where many have been financed by foreign cartels.

In California, about two-thirds of communities dont allow legal marijuana activity, which helps the illicit market flourish.

A post-pandemic economy ushered in layoffs in the already-strained legal sector. A glut pushed wholesale prices to fire-sale levels. As in Oregon, its no secret some growers have fed the black market.

An analysis by cannabis investor Aaron Edelheit determined Californias legal market lost nearly one-quarter of its total growing area after the start of 2022  a wipeout, he called it.

With so many California producers going out of business, wholesale prices have started to recover.

One of the first licensees was Erik Hultstrom, who began nurturing boutique buds in a steel-gated warehouse on the fringes of Los Angeles.

Five years later, hes sold his license and is trying to contract with a large grower to sell bud under Hultstroms brand.

I dont know any companies that are really making money, he said.

Still, not everyone is so concerned. Rob Sechrist, of the cannabis-only lender Pelorus Equity Group, described the market tumult as typical for an emerging industry.

Every time somebody fails, market share goes to somebody else, Sechrist said.

Indeed, cannabis distributor Nabis is opening a massive warehouse southeast of Fresno this month.

Some growers have found a happy medium.

Indoor producer Doc & Yeti Urban Farms, in Tumwater, Washington, has about 100 regular retail-store customers, said co-founder Joseph DuPuis. Brand loyalty has helped his team of 13 survive and profit.

If you can withstand the storm, you have a chance to come out to calmer seas and survive in this market, DuPuis said.
Following a two-day manhunt, a Cowlitz County Jail inmate who escaped on Monday by assuming anothers identity and simply walking out has been captured in the Scappoose area in Oregon.

The Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office announced the news in a release Wednesday afternoon.

Isaac Butman, assistant to the Scappoose city manager, told The Daily News that Scappoose police officers spotted Brian Francisco Roman, 26, of Longview and notified the Columbia County Sheriffs Office.

Columbia County Sheriff Brian Pixley said CCSO deputies, Oregon State Police, and a Scappoose police officer tracked Roman to a house on JP West Road in the Scappoose area.

On Monday, Roman is believed to have impersonated a fellow inmate about to be processed out. He reportedly claimed to be his cellmate while his cellmates were sleeping after a guard fetched him for release.

Once returned to Washington state, Roman faces multiple charges from his two-day adventure, ranging from second-degree escape to first-degree criminal impersonation, forgery and theft, according to Cowlitz County Sheriffs officials.

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The initial press release stated jail staff thought Roman and the other inmate had similar physical features and that corrections staff did not learn of the mistake until the real inmate meant to be freed inquired about his release.
Cowlitz County commissioners Tuesday decided to not move forward, at least right away, with two solicited homeless project proposals received last week.

Commissioners Arne Mortensen and Rick Dahl agreed to deny the city of Longview's request to fund seven months of HOPE Village operations and table Community House on Broadway's request to help pay youth shelter renovations. Commissioner Dennis Weber was absent.

The two proposals were the only ones received by the April 11 due date. The request was issued in late February for one-time or start-up costs for projects focused on housing or homelessness, with an interest in those that address youth.

The county has $2.7 million reserve of document recording fees, required to be spent addressing homelessness or affordable housing.

HOPE Village proposal

The city of Longview and Salvation Army requested $740,490 to fund the pallet home site operations, including staff time, security, food, equipment and furnishings for pallet homes, and other expenses, according to the proposal.

Longview's one-year contract with Salvation Army to operate the site is not to exceed $1.4 million. The city paid for set-up costs and the contract so far with general fund dollars, City Manager Kris Swanson said.

"HOPE Village's housing services for homeless individuals saves time and money for EMS and other support programs in our community," the proposal states. "It also helps keep homeless members out of our community parks and provides the individuals a path forward."

Dahl said he doesn't see a workshop on the proposal going anywhere.

"I have no interest in funding the debacle they call HOPE Village," he said. "They just moved the criminal element out to other areas. They havent solved the problem, just pushed it around."

Mortensen agreed with Dahl, adding: "The city made it clear they want to go their own and use their doc (document recording) fees how they wish."

In January, the Longview City Council voted to create its own housing and homeless program and directly receive a portion of document recording fee revenue that previously went to the county. The city estimates it will receive about $300,000 annually.

This month, the city received its first quarterly portion of the revenue totaling about $37,000, Swanson said. Under state law, the city must create a task force and five-year plan to direct fee spending.

The revenue is "not nearly enough to sustain operations for HOPE Village," Swanson said.

"Im disappointed in the two commissioners' refusal to even consider the proposal that the city submitted in partnership with the Salvation Army," she said. "One commissioner's reference to HOPE Village as a debacle is perplexing. HOPE Village is a solution to addressing the challenges our community was facing with several unsheltered individuals on Alabama Street."

She added seven individuals have been placed into housing and others have connected with treatment, medical coverage, state assistance and employment.

Youth shelter proposal

Community House on Broadway requested $2.5 million from the county to help renovate a recently purchased building for its planned youth shelter.

The overnight shelter would initially house 24 youth, 13 to 17 years old, and provide basic needs support, case management, mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, and education and job skills support, according to Community Houses plan.

In March, the organization received a $5.3 million state Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition grant to fund the building purchase and moderate renovation. Under program rules, the grant can't be used for some of the needed work, like IT equipment installation and remodeling the restaurant space, the proposal states.

When Community House first presented the shelter plan and requested county money in January, Morrison estimated the building purchase and renovation would cost about $5 million.

Increased renovation costs, primarily from changing the layout from dormitory-style rooms to single bedrooms, have driven the project total to about $8.16 million, according to the proposal. The organization altered the room design to meet state standards and safety considerations, the plan says.

On Tuesday, the commissioners said they didn't want to immediately move ahead with the project, considering it received the state grant in the amount close to the initial total cost.

Mortensen said he hadn't yet read the proposal. After a staff summary of the document, the commissioner said money like what Community House already received comes with "a lot of obligations," and the organization may not have the "wherewithal" to handle another grant.

The commissioners decided to leave the proposal open to revisit later.

"We're not saying we're not going to do it," Dahl told The Daily News on Wednesday. "We're just saying, give it some time, and when they fully understand what the grant will supply, then let's fill in the gaps."

Community House Executive Director Frank Morrison said he appreciates the commissioners leaving the proposal on the table. Although the $5.3 million grant seems like a lot, the proposal explains it is not enough for the entire project, he said.

"We really do need the help of the county," Morrison said. "I'd like to see them come alongside the community and the state to celebrate someone having the courage to open up a youth shelter."

Morrison said the organization should have a better idea of how far the $5.3 million will go in June, when it anticipates starting construction.

New tiny home idea

The commissioners also discussed a separate proposal emailed by developer Larry Wood to build 40 tiny homes for seniors on county land.

Wood proposed developing a 55-and-older community with rental rates of $600 to $800 on a parcel off of New York Street near the fairgrounds, Gena James, county Health and Human Services deputy director, told the commissioners.

While Wood didn't request county money to help pay for the project, he proposed to essentially lease the county land for 40 years, James said. The proposal is the "early stages of an idea," and Wood offered to come present it to the board, she said.

The commissioners were hesitant about the project moving forward at the fairgrounds but were willing to learn more about the proposal.

"What I like about this is compared to everything we have (is that) there's nothing like that," Mortensen said. "There's relatively minimum cost to the county with a fair amount of upside."
The mining and metals company, Eramet, has worked closely with Capgemini to leverage artificial intelligence for the transformation of the mining operations of its subsidiary Grande Cote Operations (GCO), that specializes in mineralized sands, with the aim to facilitate revegetation and land rehabilitation.

In Senegal, Eramets local subsidiary, GCO, produces mineralized sands. To extract minerals present in small quantities in the desert sands, the company has a mobile mine comprising a dredge and a nomadic mill that operate in an artificial basin within a 400 km2 mining concession.

Combining mining, 3D drone imagery and complex data volumes

GCO and Capgemini began developing a roadmap in 2020 that included optimization plans for the mines path, water management, extraction mechanism and energy consumption. From this work came Connected Concession, a platform designed to improve vegetation inventory and monitoring of mined lands to support re-vegetation and land rehabilitation efforts after mining is complete.

Using a drone imagery system, the Connected Concession application provides a complete map of the mining area designated by GCO. This has notably increased the inventory capacity from 80 to 930 hectares per team member. As a result, an area previously mapped in half a day is now mapped in a few minutes. On the technical side, the collected images are transmitted in near real time to Eramet, then processed and displayed in GCOs geographic information system (GIS) using algorithms that combine computer vision and deep learning technologies. The solution allows Eramet to rehabilitate the areas concerned in two ways: either by replanting the soil or by identifying areas suitable for the introduction of food crops that respect biodiversity and are then used by local communities.

The Connected Concession application is revolutionizing the way we work on an open pit mine site. It is a human, operational and technological transformation. Because we have an impact on the environment and on people, our objective in the years to come is to ensure that this impact is minimal or positive, explains Ludovic Donati, Director of Transformation and Digital Performance at Eramet.

Some 20 experts spanning a multicultural and multidisciplinary team, including data scientists, developers, cloud architects, GIS experts, and designers specialized in user experience, participated in this project. Piloted entirely remotely, using agile methodology and lasting only one year, it involved end users on a daily basis in order to stay as close as possible to their needs.

Charlotte Pierron-Perles, Head of Intelligent Industry at Capgemini Invent, said, We are particularly proud of this program, which demonstrates how our connected Intelligent Industry approach offers powerful levers of transformation for the benefit of the environment, thanks to technologies and in particular the application of data and artificial intelligence.
Nextiva, the leading conversation platform, announced its acquisition of Simplify360, an AI customer experience platform based in India. Simplify360 uses AI and automation to enable 5,000+ global businesses to seamlessly deliver world class customer support across multiple channels, including email, live chat, social media, online reviews and e-commerce. Some of Simplify360s customers include Amazon, Honda, HP, Nestle, HDFC, Hyundai, Canon, and Xiaomi. The purchase amount has not been disclosed.

Conversations are the fuel of business growth. From day one, Nextivas vision has been to bring together all communication channels into a single stream of conversations with productivity, customer and contact management, and collaboration tools. We are on a mission to put an end to unhappy customers and frustrated teams, said Tomas Gorny, Co-founder and CEO of Nextiva. No more time wasted toggling between multiple applications  Nextiva keeps teams productive and connected with customers, colleagues, and vendors from wherever they are in the world.

Nextiva is leveling the playing field so businesses of all sizes can access advanced technology to compete with the largest tech companies, and deliver amazing experiences for their customers and teams. The acquisition of Simplify360 accelerates our companies shared mission by adding social media, reputation management, live chat and helpdesk CRM to Nextivas offerings, said Gorny.

Nextiva, a trailblazer in the connected communications category, powers billions of conversations every year across its cloud business phone systems, text and team messaging, video meetings, and more  all from one powerful and intuitive platform. Nextiva customers will gain immediate access to Simplify360s offerings, and can expect a full integration into Nextivas platform over time. Once Simplify360 is integrated with our platform, Nextiva will be in a category of its own  there is nothing else like it, said Gorny.

Joining forces with Nextiva is an ideal fit for Simplify360 as we share a vision to make amazing customer experiences available to every business, said Rohit Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of Simplify360. We are excited to partner with Nextiva to accelerate our shared mission on a global scale, and empower businesses around the world to rise to the customer experience challenge, and win.

The acquisition of India-based Simplify360 opens the door to the Asia-Pacific market for Nextiva as the company expands to support more businesses globally. Backed by Goldman Sachs, and with 50+ patents to its name, Nextiva was valued at $2.7 billion dollars by its first and latest financing round in late 2021.
Credit: Andy Gagne for Northeastern University

Ever since the 20th century's earliest theories of artificial intelligence set the world on an apparently irreversible track toward the technology, the great promise of AIone that's been used to justify that march forwardis that it can help usher in social transformation and lead to human betterment.

With the arrival of so-called generative AI, such as OpenAI's endlessly amusing and problem-riddled ChatGPT, the decades long slow-roll of AI advancement has felt more like a quantum leap forward. That perceptive jump has some experts worried about the consequences of moving too quickly toward a world in which machine intelligence they say could become an all-powerful, humanity-destroying force a la The Terminator.

But Northeastern experts, including Usama Fayyad, executive director for the Institute for Experiential Artificial Intelligence, maintain that those concerns don't reflect reality. That, in fact, AI is being integrated in ways that promote and necessitate human involvementwhat experts have coined "human-in-the-loop."

On Tuesday, April 25, Northeastern will host a symposium of AI experts to discuss a range of topics related to the pace of AI development, and how progress is reshaping the workplace, education, health care and many other sectors. Northeastern Global News sat down with Fayyad to learn more about what next week's conference will take up; the upside of generative AI; as well as broader developments in the space. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

First things first, there's been a lot of talk about generative AI. What is it, and how is it different from other forms of AI?

Generative AI refers to the kind of AI that can, quite simply, generate outputs. Those outputs could be in the form of text like you see in what we call the large language models, such as ChatGPT (a chatbot on top of a large language model), or images, etc. If you are training [the AI] on text, text is what you will get out of it. If you are training it on images, you get images, or modifications of images, out of it. If you are training it on sounds or music, you get music out of it. If you train it on programming code, you get programs out, and so on.

It's also called generative AI because the algorithms have the ability to generate examples on their own. It's part of their training. Researchers would do things like have the algorithm challenge itself through generative adversarial networks, or algorithms that generate adversarial examples that could confuse the system to help strengthen its training. But since their development, researchers quickly realized that they needed human intervention. So most of these systems, including ChaptGPT, actually use and require human intervention. Human beings facilitate a lot of these challenges as part of the training through something called reinforcement learning, a machine learning technique designed to basically improve the system's performance.

ChatGPT has received a lot of press recently, particularly on social media where users have been posting their individual interactions with the AI. What are some of the practical applications of this new technology?

We are seeing it applied in educationin higher education in particular. Higher education has taken noteincluding Northeastern, in a very big wayof the fact that these technologies have challenged the way we conduct, for example, standardized testing. Educators have realized that this is just another tool. At Northeastern we have many examples that we will cover in this upcoming workshop of people using it in the classroom. Be it in the College of Arts, Media and Design for things like [Salvador] Dali and LensaAI for images; or be it in writing classes, English classes, or in engineering.

Just like we transitioned from the slide ruler to the calculator, to the computer and then the whole web on your mobile phonethis is another tool, and the proper way to train our students to be ready for the new world is to figure out ways to utilize this technology as a tool.

It's too early to see real world applications at large scale. The technology is too new. But there are estimates that anywhere from 50%80%I'm more in the 80% campof the tasks done by a knowledge worker can be accelerated by this technology. Not automated, accelerated. If you're a lawyer and drafting an agreement, you can have a first draft customized very quickly; but then you have to go in and edit or make changes. If you're a programmer, you can turn out an initial program. But it typically won't work well; it will have errors; it's not customized to the target. Again, a human being, provided they understand what they're doing, can go in and modify it, and save themselves 50%80% of the effort.

Can you say more about what you mean by acceleration versus automation?

It's acceleration, not automation because we know the technology can hallucinate in horrible ways, in fact. It can make up stuff; it can try to defend points of view that you ask it to defend; you can make it lie, and you can lie to it and have it believe you.

They call this specific class of technology stochastic parrots, meaning parrots that havelet's sayrandom variation. And I like the term parrots because it correctly describes the fact that they don't understand what they're saying. So they say stuff, and the stuff may sound eloquent, or fluid. That's one of the big points that we try to make: somehow we have learned in society to associate intelligence with eloquence and fluiditybasically someone who says things nicely. But in reality these algorithms are far from intelligent; they are basically doing autocomplete; they are repeating things they've seen before, and often they are repeated incorrectly.

Why do I say all of this? Because it means you have a human-in-the-loop needed in doing this work, because you need to check all of this work. You remove a lot of the repetitive monotonous workthat's great. You can accelerate itthat's productive. You now can spend your time adding value instead of repeating the boring tasks. All of that I consider positive.

I like to use accounting as a good analogy. What did accounting look like 6070 years ago? Well, you had to deal with these big ledgers; you had to have nice handwriting; you had to have good addition skills in your head; you had to manually verify numbers and go over sums and apply ratios. Guess what? None of those tasksnone, zeroare relevant today. Now, have we replaced accountants because we've now replaced everything they used to do with something that is faster, better, cheaper, repeatable? No. We actually have more accountants today than in the history of humanity.

What topics will this upcoming workshop cover as it relates to AI?

What we're doing with this workshop is we're trying to cover the three areas that matter. What is the impact of ChatGPT and generative AI in the classroom, and how should we use it? We bring in folks who are doing this work at Northeastern to provide examples in one panel.

Second, how is the nature of work changing because of these technologies? That will be addressed during another panel where we think about different business applications. We will use the law and health care as the two running examples here.

The third panel is all about responsible use. How does one look out for the ethical traps, and how does one use this technology properly? We start the whole workshop by having one of our faculty members give an overview of what this technology is to help demystify the backbox, if you will.

The idea, basically, is to show that not only are we (Northeastern) aware of the technological developments taking place, but that we have some of the top experts in the world leading the way. And we are already using this stuff in the classroom as of last semester. Additionally, we want to communicate that we're here and ready to work with companies, with organizations to learn ways to best utilize this technologyand to do so properly and responsibly.

There's plenty of evidence now known that ChatGPT has a human-in-the-loop component. Sometimes humans are answering questions, especially when the algorithm gets in trouble. They review the answers and intervene. By the way, this is run-of-the-mill stuff for even Google Search engine. Many people don't know that when they use the Google Search engine, that the MLR, or the machine learning relevance algorithm that decides which page is relevant to which querythat gets retrained three or four times a day based primarily on human editorial input. There's a lot of stuff that an algorithm cannot capturethat the stochastic parrot will never understand.

Recently, there's been a lot of concern about the threats posed by, in particular, how AI development may be outpacing our safety controls and protocols. What do you make of those concerns?

Those concerns are focusing on the wrong things. Let me say a few things. We did go through a bit of a phase transition around 2015 or 2016 with these kinds of technologies. Take handwriting recognition, for example. It had jumps over the years, but it took about 15 years to get there, with many revisions along the way. Speech recognition: the same thing. It took a long time, then it started accelerating; but it still took some time.

With these large language models, like reading comprehension and language compilation, we see major jumps that happened with the development of these large language models that are trained on these large bodies of literature or text. And by the way, what is not talked about a lot is that OpenAI had to spend a lot of money curating that text; making sure it's balanced. If you train a large language model on two documents that have the same content by two different outcomes, how does the algorithm know which one is right? It doesn't. Either a human has to tell it, or it basically defaults to saying, "Whatever I see more frequently must be right." That creates fertile ground for misinformation.

Now, to answer your question about this proposed moratorium. In my mind, it's a little bit silly in its motivations. Many of the proponents of this come from a camp where they believe we're at the risk of an artificial "general" intelligencethat is very far from true. We're very, very far from even getting close to that. Again, these algorithms don't know what they are doing. Now, we are in this risky zone of misusing it. There was a recent example from Belgium where someone committed suicide after six months of talking to a chatbot that, in the end, was encouraging him to do it.

So there are a lot of dangers that we need to contend with. We know there are issues. However, stopping isn't going to make any difference. In fact, if people agreed to stop, only the good actors will; the bad actors continue on. What we need to start to do, again, is emphasize the fact that fluency, eloquence is not intelligence. This technology has limitations; let's demystify them. Let's put it to good use so we can realize what the bad uses are. That way we can learn how they should be controlled.
Samsung might replace Google with Bing search for its mobile phones. With that, an analyst now weighs in on the situation, urging Microsoft to do what it takes to seal the milestone deal.

Google Search has long been the default search engine on Samsung Galaxy phones, including its latest flagships, the Galaxy S23, Galaxy Z Flip4, and Galaxy Z Fold4. But things might flip soon. It might favor Microsoft, which heavily backs the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI.

Samsung Might Switch from Google to Bing

According to Digital Trends, Android phones, including Samsung devices, typically have Google Search installed. But moving forward, the South Korean phone maker will likely start switching to Microsoft's search engine, Bing. The latter has been widely popular since it began offering AI chatbot features powered by OpenAI.

A New York Times report raised the idea in its recent report. The publication disclosed that Google is rapidly working on its AI-powered search engine after Samsung reportedly considered stuffing their mobile devices with Bing AI Search.

With that, your future Samsung phone might start flaunting a new search engine other than the usual Google Search.

The report from The Times further notes that Google might lose much money if Samsung starts partnering up with Microsoft. Roughly $3 billion per year is at stake. CNBC reveals that the search giant spends significantly more on iPhones. The giant firm pays around $20 billion annually to have Apple use Google as its default search engine.

As per CNBC, the shares of the tech giant that owns Google, Alphabet, collapsed by around 2.5 percent last April 17, Monday, after The Times published its report. On the other hand, the shares of Microsoft increased by roughly one percent.

Read Also: Google Urges Chrome Users to Update ASAP Due to First Zero-Day Security Issue for 2023

Microsoft Expected to Pay to Stop Google Dominance

Business Insider reports that an analyst now says that Microsoft to pay whatever it is worth to challenge the dominance of Google on mobile devices.

RBC analyst Rishi Jaluria told the online publication, "Samsung is pretty dominant in the Android ecosystem." She notes that the South Korean phone maker takes a huge slice of the maker share globally.

Jaluria went on to say that "Microsoft absolutely should do that." The analyst notes, "Not only is there an incremental business that you get with Bing as the default search engine, you now start to gain mindshare that way."

She adds that in the last five months, things were strikingly different for Microsoft. The mere idea of using Bing to search for something online would seem like a joke a couple of months ago. But people started taking it seriously when the tech giant poured a ChatGPT-powered feature on Bing.

Related Article: Google Pay Accidentally Sent Free Money to Users Up to $1000: Can They Keep it?

Microsoft Should Spend Whatever it Costs for Samsung to Ditch Google, Analyst Says

And now, Business Insider reports that an analyst now says that Microsoft to pay whatever it is worth to challenge the dominance of Google on mobile devices.

RBC analyst Rishi Jaluria told the online publication, "Samsung is pretty dominant in the Android ecosystem." She notes that the South Korean phone maker takes a huge slice of the maker share globally.

Jaluria went on to say that "Microsoft absolutely should do that." The analyst notes, "Not only is there an incremental business that you get with Bing as the default search engine, you now start to gain mindshare that way."

She adds that in the last five months, things were strikingly different for Microsoft. The mere idea of using Bing to search for something online would seem like a joke a couple of months ago. But people started taking it seriously when the tech giant poured a ChatGPT-powered feature on Bing.



@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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a) Measurements of atmospheric CO 2 since 1958 from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii (black) and from the South Pole (red) show a steady annual increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2022, Scripps CO 2 Program. b) Illustrative scheme to represent the technological transfer from laboratory setups, pilot scale devices, and large-plants. Credit: Global Challenges (2022). DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202200165

Green hydrogen could play a key role in the energy transition. Electrocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen requires huge amounts of electricity, which means the efficiency of this method for the energy transition is low compared to that of fossil fuels.

Materials scientist Dr. Pablo Jimenez Calvo who is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctorate Fellowship holder at the Department of Materials Science at FAU, is conducting research into an alternative method known as photocatalysis. We spoke to him about the advantages of this technology and the hurdles which still have to be overcome.

Dr. Jimenez Calvo, what is photocatalysis, exactly?

Photocatalysis uses sunlight as a source of energy to activate chemical reactions. Our inspiration is photosynthesis, where water and carbon dioxide are converted into glucose and oxygen in one single step using chlorophyll.

The most fascinating aspect of photocatalysis is how easy it is. It requires only light, a catalyst and water. The principle of photocatalytic water splitting was published as early as 1972 in a groundbreaking article by Honda and Fujishima.

Our idea involves developing this concept further and to use carbon-based materials that are more cost effective, non-toxic and easily scalable.

Hydrogen is usually associated with the operation of fuel cells, however, just like any other gaseous fuel, it can also be used to generate heat in a furnace or as fuel in the combustion engines of motor vehicles.

The current strategy involves using solar power to generate electricity and to then use this electricity to produce hydrogen using electrocatalysis. Why is your concept better?

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen uses large quantities of energy, which is why green hydrogen is preferably produced in locations where renewable energy sources are readily available. This is the reason why countries in Africa are promising locations for large photovoltaic technology parks.

Transporting hydrogen over large distances can, however, be problematic for both geopolitical and ecological reasons. The second disadvantage of this supposedly ideal method of electrocatalysis is that it requires two separate systems: a photovoltaic system to generate electricity and an electrolyzer to split water.

I am researching into alternatives at the interface between materials science and process engineering. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Center national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in Orsay, France, I was responsible for the design of a new compact reactor that has a higher quantum yield and hydrogen rate than reactors from earlier studies.

In materials development, my main focus is on carbon nitrides, but I would like to propose other functional materials for various model reactions as part of my Marie Curie project. These reactions include modified conditions for synthesis, anchoring bimetallic, monometallic and molecular catalysts on the surface and how to couple them with oxide semiconductors to generate heterojunctions.

You mentioned that you take your inspiration for this concept from photosynthesis. So, if I were put it in exaggerated terms, I could ask if these 'fake leaves' are adequate enough to provide Germany with a hydrogen supply?

We shouldn't underestimate the efficiency of plants. A similar amount of energy is required to produce glucose as is required to split water: 1.24 electron volts compared with 1.23. The principle does work, the question is only what level of efficiency we can achieve and how the systems can be scaled in order to meet the needs of a developed nation such as Germany.

What is the current state of development? Are initial ideas still being discussed or are there pilot projects already?

Development is at quite an advanced stage. In the Wiley publication Global Challenges, I recently presented three photocatalytic systems in that are being tested in Asia and Europe in conjunction with an international team of authors. The compact steel reactor project in France that I already mentioned is at laboratory scale and the other two projects are pilot systems.

The first system, which is currently being tested in Almeria, Spain, comprises a parabolic solar collector that uses communal wastewater to generate hydrogen. This approach is particularly interesting, since it combines generating green energy with wastewater purification.

The second pilot system was developed at the University of Tokyo. It is a panel system with 1600 catalyst units and a surface area of one hundred square meters. This concept proves that photocatalysis modules can already be used at a large scale.

Can we expect widespread use in the near future?

Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Even if the systems work and have been under stable operation for a few months, we are currently talking about efficiency levels of around one percent. This is, of course, still too low. Our aim is to achieve hydrogen production efficiency of between five and ten percent.

We need to improve the design of the reactor and optimize the process, but above all, we need more efficient catalysts. This is where materials science plays a decisive role and a considerable number of researchers are making an active contribution to progress in this area.

Where are the greatest challenges currently?

Photocatalysts have to carry out two central tasks. Firstly, they must absorb a bright spectrum of sunlight and release as many excited electrons and positive holes as possible. Unfortunately, these electron-hole pairs have a tendency to recombine.

The second step, which is the actual chemical reaction, happens on the surface. In our case, it is the interface between the catalyst and water, which is where several half reactions take place during which electrons are released and absorbed.

Current research is focusing on this interface contact between the catalysis and the reaction medium with a variety of sophisticated material strategies.

Which strategies are particularly promising?

There are some different approaches.

In a Japanese panel system, each panel has been sprayed with aluminum-doped strontium titanate, one of the most efficient photocatalysts currently available. The hydrogen separation process occurs on a membrane made of polyimide.

Our colleagues in Spain are testing a compound made of titanium oxide and nitrogen and another made of cadmium, zinc and sulfureach in combination with platinum.

My own research is on materials based on carbon nitride that have been modified with small inorganic compounds. Antennae such as these allow the function of conventional materials to be adapted to a wide range of applications. A specific example is local doping with purpald, a sulfur precursor, which leads to a hybrid carbon nitrogen layer. Compared to pure carbon nitride, this combination has improved optical, electronic, structural and morphological properties.

More information: Mark Isaacs et al, Is Photocatalysis the Next Technology to Produce Green Hydrogen to Enable the Net Zero Emissions Goal?, Global Challenges (2022). DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202200165
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Roboticists from Osaka University developed a remotely operated robotic system for operating tasks on dangerous or human unfriendly environments. Credit: Cyborg and Bionic Systems

Imagine lying on a bed, you just have to move your fingers to guide a mobile robot to bring you a cup of water, open the door to fetch some deliveries, or even do some laundry. If you are interested, you may want to learn more about a new remotely operated robotic system based on two mobile manipulators. This system was developed by roboticists from Osaka University. They published a research paper describing this robotic system in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems.

Back in the year of 2013, Fukushima nuclear power plant witnessed a catastrophic radioactive leakage and contamination, which makes the surrounding area extremely dangerous for humans to stay and perform emergency tasks. Under this circumstance, many robots were deployed and controlled remotely, which greatly reduced the risks and harm to rescuers. Since then, remotely operated robotic systems have been a hot research topic.

"More than being used in radiation-exposed areas, there were also many field robots developed for collecting data at distant damaged sites caused by earthquakes or other man-made and natural disasters, medical sites without expert doctors, and outer space, etc.," said the study authors.

"The research interest in remote control has been further signified in the past 2 years as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic restricted people's movement. A series of robots were developed and remotely deployed at the Wuhan hospitals to assist doctors and patients," said Weiwei Wan, the corresponding author of this study, from the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University.

Compared with former research, which tends to contain one mobile base and one or two robotic arms mounted on this base, this study features two separate mobile bases. Each base is mounted with a manipulator.

Each manipulator-mounted base is controlled by one hand. In particular, the human teleoperator's poses of each hand were recorded by a motion capture system to control the poses of the respective robotic arm. In addition, the operator can move the two mobile bases using two joysticks. Therefore, these two mobile manipulators can work in a cooperative manner, like how we use our hands.

"The proposed idea of incorporating two independently movable manipulators for motion-tracking-based teleoperation is intriguing. However, there are some inherent issues to be addressed," said Wan, "First of all, how to map the postures of the human teleoperator's two arms to the corresponding manipulator's poses. In addition, how to avoid it when under some circumstances, the manipulator may collide with itself. Moreover, how to remotely monitor the two manipulators with the large operating range." They believe they have addressed these issues by applying special routines and hand-mounted cameras.

They demonstrate this robotic system by picking up a coffee mug and handing it over using only one mobile manipulator. More importantly, the two mobile manipulators can work in a cooperative manner to pick up and place long sticks.

"Since there are two mobile manipulators, the presented system could keep the advantages of having two arms while extending the human body functions," said Wan, "The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system, resulting in extending the human body to a large space while keeping the benefits of having two limbs."

In the future, they will focus on addressing several remaining problems including a) developing an automatic calibration method to match the direction of the human teleoperator's arms and the manipulators; b) using a joystick with built-in IMU sensor to allow the teleoperator more flexibly control the joystick; c) minimizing the coordination errors between two manipulators; d) providing a feedback interface for teleoperation in a distant and unseen workspace.

More information: Yusuke Hirao et al, Body Extension by Using Two Mobile Manipulators, Cyborg and Bionic Systems (2023). DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0014

Provided by Beijing Institute of Technology Press Co., Ltd
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Last summer, metropolitan areas of Korea including Seoul were hit by an unprecedented heavy rainfall, which inundated various locations. Similarly, torrential downpours engulfed about one-third of Pakistan, leading to widespread flooding. New York State was not spared as it experienced heavy snowstorms in December of last year, with snowfall of more than one meter.

These events underscore a multitude of extreme weather phenomena that the world is currently grappling with. Last year was the 5th hottest year on record since modern temperature recordkeeping began in 1850 (according to the EU Commission's climate change monitoring agency). Unfortunately, environmental pollution remains a key driver of extreme weather patterns.

The harmful substances in our daily lives and air pollutants released by factory chimneys continue to afflict the Earth. To mitigate this situation, it has become necessary to promote green renewables. This measure can help to reduce carbon emissions and harmful substances, ultimately fostering a more sustainable coexistence between humanity and the planet.

A research team led by Professor Taiho Park, and Ph.D. candidates Dohyun Kim, Hyuntae Choi, and Wooteak Jung from the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH, Dr. Nam Joong Jeon from Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), and Professor Seulki Song from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at Chungnam National University successfully developed novel additives for perovskite film treatment, which have been found to enable the production of highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells.

The research findings have been published in Energy & Environmental Science.

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound. Owing to its easy and affordable fabrication process, PSC has garnered significant attention as a next-generation solar cell. However, it is susceptible to moisture and surface defects, which undermines its power conversion efficiency.

To improve its stability and efficiency, the removal of surface defects from perovskite film is deemed essential. The conventional approach to surface treatment has involved dissolving the passivating material in a solvent and adding it to the surface. However, this method has presented challenges, such as solvent vapor leading to the solidification of the additive impeding the removal of the surface defects.

The research team introduced a novel engineering approach for the surface treatment of PSCs, using an additive named alkylammonium formats (AAFos). AAFos comprise a cation and a pseudo-halide anion which remain in a liquid state even at relatively low temperatures due to their weak coordination. The team focused on the phase transition of AAFos from solid to liquid, which facilitated the elimination of defects on the perovskite film surface.

After undergoing brief thermal treatment, AAFos transformed from a solid to a liquid state, eliminating the defects on the film surface before solidifying back into a stable state at room temperature. The pseudo-halide anion of AAFos has a higher affinity for halide defects, which results in surface defect passivation while the long alkyl chain of the cation improves moisture stability by preventing moisture permeation into the perovskite layer.

The team's experimental findings confirm that power conversion efficiency can be increased. With the use of AAFos, the team achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25% from a PSC active area and an impressive fill factor of 80.77% in the same PSC module, which is the world's highest level. Furthermore, in a PSC module with a large active area of 23.75cm2, the efficiency was 20.82%, overcoming the limitations of traditional solar cells where a larger active area typically results in lower efficiency and fill factors.

The development of renewable energy, particularly solar cells, seems to have transitioned from being an option to being a mandate of late. The team's work holds the potential to position perovskite solar cells as the next generation of solar cells and emphasizes their ability in being utilized over large active areas.

More information: Dohyun Kim et al, Phase transition engineering for effective defect passivation to achieve highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells, Energy & Environmental Science (2023). DOI: 10.1039/D3EE00636K Journal information: Energy & Environmental Science
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:

Diagram of the three broad strategies for constructing efficient interfacial solar evaporation systems to relieve worldwide freshwater shortages. Credit: Nano Research Energy, Tsinghua University Press

Freshwater is essential for human life and the scarcity of freshwater is a critical issue in parts of the world today. In recent years, scientists have put great efforts into developing desalination technologies so that clean water can be produced from seawater. Interfacial solar evaporation (ISE) is a technology that holds promise for helping to relieve worldwide freshwater shortages. A team of researchers has undertaken a review study of the strategies available for constructing efficient ISE systems.

Their work is published in the journal Nano Research Energy.

The team's paper examines the energy nexus in two-dimensional and three-dimensional solar evaporators and reviews the strategies for design and fabrication of highly efficient ISE systems. Their summarized work offers perspectives for guiding the future design of ISE systems toward practical applications.

ISE is a desalination technology that produces freshwater through a process that is both environmentally friendly and sustainable. With this technology, solar energy is harnessed to evaporate and purify water. The technology uses photothermal evaporators to convert heat from sunlight to be localized at the evaporation surface for efficient vapor generation instead of dissipation into the bulk water and environment.

Traditional desalination technologies such as membrane filtration and thermal distillation consume large amounts of electricity derived from fossil fuels, so they are not considered to be environmentally friendly. Scientists continue to search for new desalination technologies that use green and sustainable energy sources.

Recent work in ISE technologies has been focused primarily on optimizing energy management. Researchers have improved photothermal material and evaporator design with a goal of attaining more efficient energy use. This is achieved through three pathways: minimizing the energy loss from evaporation system to the environment, extending the energy input from the environment to enhance the evaporation process, and reducing evaporation enthalpy so the vaporization process is more efficient.

The team's review systematically summarizes these pathways for enhancing practical solar evaporation performance. "We clearly demonstrate that the evaporation rate can be significantly enhanced by either applying materials with highly efficient light-to-heat conversion or structure design of state-of-art evaporators with smart energy management strategies," said Li Yu, a professor at the Shenzhen Technology University.

"The main principles for achieving highly efficient solar evaporation include avoiding energy loss from the evaporation systems to the environment, expanding energy input from the surrounding air and bulk water, making full use of the existing energy already in the evaporation systems, and lowering the evaporation enthalpy," said Haolan Xu, a professor at the University of South Australia.

The team offers five recommendations to be considered in moving next-generation ISE systems toward practical applications:

The first recommendation is to introduce new energy sources for ISE. Because solar light intensity significantly varies, it is important to explore new energy sources for all-day, all-weather, and all-season ISE systems.

The second recommendation is to continuously explore novel photothermal materials. The team suggests that the next-stage development of photothermal materials needs to focus on maximizing the use of thermal energy in both macroscale and micro-nanoscale.

The third recommendation is to explore innovative designs for photothermal evaporators. These next-generation evaporators should maximize energy harvest and water evaporation, while improving the water flow to ensure balanced water supply and evaporation.

The fourth recommendation is to improve water production in a limited space. In an ISE system, water evaporation and collection are two main parts. Although researchers have achieved very high solar evaporation rates, highly efficient water collection is rarely reported. Next-generation ISE systems need to have an excellent water evaporation module and an efficient vapor condensing module that fits in a compact space.

The team's fifth recommendation focuses on the importance of developing large-scale ISE systems for practical applications, such as seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. They suggest that small evaporators be produced as units and assembled to form a larger interconnected system.

Looking ahead the team sees the potential for ISE technologies providing practical applications for meeting the freshwater scarcity problem. "In the current context of worldwide clean water shortages and advocacy for low carbon emission technologies, ISE is now accepted as one of the most promising technologies to solve the global clean water scarcity issues. However, there is still a long way to go to push forward the real-world applications of ISE technology," said Yingying Zhang, a professor at Tsinghua University.

More information: Yida Wang et al, Recent strategies for constructing efficient interfacial solar evaporation systems, Nano Research Energy (2023). DOI: 10.26599/NRE.2023.9120062

Provided by Tsinghua University Press
The Washington State Legislature passed a ban on several semi-automatic rifles on Wednesday. It is now waiting for Governor Jay Inslee to sign it into law.

Once the Washington law takes effect, it will block the manufacture, distribution, importation, and sale of various high-powered firearms. However, folks who already have these weapons may continue to keep them despite the looming ban.

Semi-Automatic Rifles Ban

According to ABC News, the Washington law that seeks to ban dozens of semi-automatic rifles is awaiting the signature of Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, who has been advocating for the longest time. He stated that Washington "will not accept gun violence as normal."

Inslee also notes that the ban on this high-powered weaponry should help save people's lives.

However, Republican lawmakers are against banning semi-automatic rifles in the states. Instead, they want to take a different approach to address school shootings. These lawmakers are raising the idea of remodeling the building of the schools in Washington to make them less appealing as targets.

Senator. Lynda Wilson argues that the ban infringes on the right of citizens to protect themselves using these high-powered firearms. She says the semi-automatic rifle ban "clearly violates our state and federal constitutions, which is why it will end up in court immediately."

The Seattle Times notes that these semi-automatic weapons were previously banned nationwide. But young folks have started using these high-powered guns to carry out mass shootings.

Read Also: Washington Mom Found Dead, Naked with Lifeless 7-Year-Old Daughter After Week-Long Disappearance

Which Weapons Are Included?

As mentioned, the semi-automatic rifle ban in Washington not only prohibits the sale of various high-powered weapons. It also blocks the importation, manufacturing, and distribution of multiple classes of guns.

According to Time Magazine, the law is set to ban semi-automatic rifle models, such as M-4, M-16, AR-16, AR-15, AK-74, and AK47. Other similar-style assault weapons are also part of the restriction. On top of these classes, it will also cover magazines with over ten rounds of ammunition.

The ban only applies explicitly to manufacturing, importing, and selling the weapons mentioned above. As such, the law will not ban possessing these high-powered guns. If you are an existing owner of a semi-automatic rifle, you may continue having it. But those planning to buy new ones may no longer do so once Gov. Inslee signs it into law.

It is worth noting that the law provides an exemption to the sale of these rifles to the military and other members of law enforcement.

Apart from Washington, other states in the US are currently upholding a similar ban on these weapons. A total of nine states now prohibit these assault weapons, such as New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California. Massachusetts, Illinois, Delaware, and Connecticut also enforce such restrictions. Washington soon be included in this list of states once its governor signs the semi-automatic rifle ban into law.

Related Article: Washington Passes Transgender Intervention Bill Amid Rising Opposition







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Almost 800 professionals who work with crime victims  law enforcement officers, prosecutors, medical staff, teachers, social service agencies and mental health workers  experienced the 15th Every Victim Every Time conference Wednesday at the Brazos County Expo Complex in Bryan.

Our goal has always been to train any professional who comes into contact with a crime victim, whether it be in the criminal justice system, the school system, the health care system or the social services system, Melissa Carter, victim assistance coordinator with the Brazos County District Attorneys Office and the vice president of the conference committee, told The Eagle.

So much of being able to assist crime victims, it doesnt matter who you are, but if you come into contact with them and during the process, we want to make sure that we all know the same information; and that we know each other and that we know how to have that trauma informed care, so they are getting across the board assistance, not just particular assistance in one discipline or the other.

After being a part of this conference for so many years, Carter said a lot of the family violence and sexual assault investigation and prosecution in Brazos County, has come from training that their professionals receive from past conferences.

Our goals are to give new employees or those who are seasoned different workshops where they can learn new tools, new information and they can get those advanced topics so that they are able to use that information in their day-to-day work, she said.

The two-day conference was organized by the Brazos County Attorney and District Attorneys Office, Health District, Juvenile Services, Sherriffs Office and many other Brazos Valley agencies whose goal is to provide quality training for professionals who work with crime victims.

Twenty-three speakers were scheduled to take part in Tuesday and Wednesday sessions. Guests were able to attend either or both days to visit each session. Those in attendance sat in on talks about case studies where a speaker presented a case they may have worked on. Others sat in on educational talks that provided new training involving current trends.

The conference is named Every Victim Every Time because the goal is to meet each victim wherever they are within the criminal justice program, Carter said.

Additional sessions included: Threat Assessment: Violence in the Workplace; Laying the Foundations for Healthy Teen Relationships; The Reality of Burnout and Suicide; and Elder and Disability Abuse: Prevention, Intervention and Harm Reduction.

Brazos County Juvenile Crimes Chief Tonika Davis and Laurie Charles, clinical assistant professor in the Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing at Texas A&M, gave a talk to about 40 attendees, including officers, counselors, lawyers, nurses and teachers, called: The Truth about Human Trafficking: Trends, Realities, and the Victims.

During their talk, Charles defined human trafficking as modern day slavery that involves the use of and obtaining a person through force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.

Davis went on to say that when most people think of human trafficking, they envision the movie Taken with Liam Neeson.

He is a super dad who leaves the U.S. and flies across the world to go save his daughter who has been kidnapped and those bad kidnappers are trying to sell her, and he saves the day, she told the attendees. People see that and say That is whats happening, that is human trafficking. Well in reality that has human trafficking components, yes, but you dont have to go across state lines or into other countries for it to be human trafficking.

Davis also noted that victims can look like any type of person, no matter the age, gender or race, and that traffickers no longer look like they did in the 1970s or 1980s.

The unique thing about Brazos County and I would venture to say maybe the whole Brazos Valley, is that we do not have strip clubs. We also dont have what we call, in the human trafficking world, blades, strolls or tracks, she said. That is an area, a street normally, in larger cities where women that engage in prostitution can go to that street and they can hang out and have clients drive up, get in the car and go do their business and come back.

That is a very easy way for our victims to make their quotas because most traffickers or pimps have daily quotas that these women have to make; so it is super easy to do that when you have a track. It is also super easy to do it when you are running low that week or your advertisements arent being as successful, you can run to a strip club and you can make your money that way, but we dont have that here.

Davis said a lot of what she sees in Brazos County is traffickers meeting women and men online, through the guise of dating them. They meet them through Instagram, Snapchat, or actual dating sites like Hinge or Tinder and they start messaging them as though they are going to be in a dating relationship, she said.

They listen to all their problems  and the trafficker says they can save them from all of this, she said.

Once the first meeting happens, Davis said the majority of the time they are so charming and once they get into the household they are told they are running low on money and they can exchange their goods and services. Charles said they often see family cases where the family members are selling their children to another family member or mothers are prostituting their children to older men in exchange for bills to be paid, etc.

Following their talk, Charles said she hoped every person who attended was able to know that they care about the Brazos Valley.

And I would want them to know the way we present ourselves to people that we are concerned have experienced violence, allows them to tell us what is happening to them or not; and we need to educate ourselves at events like this so that we can do a better job for other people, she said.
Two teens were arrested in Saturday's deadly mass shooting at a teen's birthday party in downtown Dadeville, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16, were taken into custody around 8 p.m. Tuesday "after a complex and thorough investigation," ALEA said. They were both charged with four counts of reckless murder.

On Monday, Tallapoosa Coroner Mike Knox identified the victims as Marsiah Emmanuel Collins, 19, of Opelika; Philstavious Dowdell, 18, of Dadeville; Shaunkivia Nicole Smith, 17, of Dadeville; and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23, of Dadeville. Sgt. Jeremy Burkett with ALEA said the injuries of surviving victims range from critical to something as simple as they needed medical treatment."

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Dadeville Police Department and other agencies continue to search for answers about the events that led up to the shooting in the 200 block of Broadax Street.

Burkett said theyve conducted a preliminary analysis of the evidence at the scene and reviewed the information that has been received so far.

Special Agents are still in the process of gathering and examining information relative to the sequence of events which ultimately led to the shooting, he said. Special Agents did not recover any high-powered rifle ammunition at the scene. However, they did recover numerous shell casings used in handguns. 

On Monday, police were still processing all of the evidence, in conjunction with completing interviews, in an effort to solidify a motive and potential suspects.

ALEA is looking for the publics help with the case. It doesnt matter how minor the info may seem. You can can call 1-800-392-8011or email the agency at sbi.investigations@alea.gov to submit tips.

The Central Alabama Crimestoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to the identification or arrest of any suspects in the Dadeville shooting. You can submit tips to Crimestoppers at (334) 215-STOP.

The US surpasses 160 mass shootings in 2023. Here's every event mapped The US surpasses 100 mass shootings in 2023here's every event mapped Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly statesand some stricter ones Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly statesand some stricter ones Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly statesand some stricter ones Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly statesand some stricter ones Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space
AmerisourceBergen Co. (NYSE:ABC  Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,850,000 shares, a growth of 12.9% from the March 15th total of 3,410,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the companys shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

AmerisourceBergen Stock Down 1.8 %

ABC stock traded down $2.93 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $164.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,084,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,249,270. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.30, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $33.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.25. AmerisourceBergen has a fifty-two week low of $135.14 and a fifty-two week high of $174.63.

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AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $62.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.77 billion. AmerisourceBergen had a return on equity of 597.57% and a net margin of 0.72%. AmerisourceBergens revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. Analysts forecast that AmerisourceBergen will post 11.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AmerisourceBergen Announces Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 9th. This represents a $1.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. AmerisourceBergens payout ratio is 23.54%.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of AmerisourceBergen from $199.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. TheStreet lowered AmerisourceBergen from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Mizuho upped their price target on AmerisourceBergen from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI restated an outperform rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of AmerisourceBergen in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AmerisourceBergen currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $180.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AmerisourceBergen news, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,924 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total transaction of $300,567.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,733 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,176,229.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other AmerisourceBergen news, CEO Steven H. Collis sold 10,499 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $1,574,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 257,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,695,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gina Clark sold 1,924 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total transaction of $300,567.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,733 shares in the company, valued at $4,176,229.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,633 shares of company stock valued at $4,522,208. Insiders own 20.10% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AmerisourceBergen

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,220,144 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,601,062,000 after purchasing an additional 292,173 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,990,466 shares of the companys stock worth $946,020,000 after acquiring an additional 165,682 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,201,488 shares of the companys stock worth $861,279,000 after acquiring an additional 159,849 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 2,004.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,171,292 shares of the companys stock worth $691,225,000 after acquiring an additional 3,973,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AmerisourceBergen by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,256,549 shares of the companys stock worth $538,664,000 after acquiring an additional 169,980 shares in the last quarter. 84.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AmerisourceBergen Company Profile

(Get Rating)

AmerisourceBergen Corp. engages in the provision of pharmaceutical products and business solutions that improve access to care. It operates through the Pharmaceutical Distribution Services and Other segments. The Pharmaceutical Distribution Services segment distributes an offering of brand-name, specialty brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, and long-term care and alternate site pharmacies.

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BT Group  CLASS A (LON:BT.A  Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 22.98 ($0.28) and last traded at GBX 160.35 ($1.98), with a volume of 17735943 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 158.75 ($1.96).

BT Group  CLASS A Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 150.73, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firms 50 day simple moving average is GBX 144.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 130.32. The firm has a market capitalization of 15.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 875.83, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.70.

BT Group  CLASS A Company Profile

(Get Rating)

BT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network.

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Shares of Deutsche Borse AG (OTCMKTS:DBOEY  Get Rating) have received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $190.54.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DBOEY. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Deutsche Borse from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Deutsche Borse from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, March 16th.

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Deutsche Borse Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of OTCMKTS:DBOEY opened at $19.69 on Thursday. Deutsche Borse has a 12 month low of $15.22 and a 12 month high of $20.26. The firm has a market cap of $37.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.72. The companys 50-day moving average price is $18.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.67.

Deutsche Borse Company Profile

Deutsche Borse ( OTCMKTS:DBOEY Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter. Deutsche Borse had a net margin of 28.08% and a return on equity of 18.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.23 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Deutsche Borse will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

(Get Rating)

Deutsche Borse AG engages in the provision of information technology services and market data distribution. It operates through the following segments: Eurex, EEX, Xetra, 360T, Clearstream, IFS, GSF, Qontigo and Data. The Eurex segment includes electronic trading of European derivatives, commodities, and foreign exchange.

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Mach 1 Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV  Get Rating) by 1,078.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,442 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 10,471 shares during the quarter. AbbVie comprises approximately 0.6% of Mach 1 Financial Group LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Mach 1 Financial Group LLCs holdings in AbbVie were worth $1,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AbbVie by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 156,022,414 shares of the companys stock worth $20,939,769,000 after buying an additional 2,442,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in AbbVie by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 77,486,317 shares of the companys stock worth $10,399,439,000 after buying an additional 366,695 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,904,988 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,443,588,000 after purchasing an additional 176,026 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 11.1% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 6,340,454 shares of the companys stock valued at $850,952,000 after purchasing an additional 631,064 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of AbbVie by 2.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,150,074 shares of the companys stock valued at $827,315,000 after purchasing an additional 174,102 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.71% of the companys stock.

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Insider Transactions at AbbVie

In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total transaction of $3,738,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 233,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,871,592.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Azita Saleki-Gerhardt sold 25,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.53, for a total value of $3,738,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 233,208 shares of the companys stock, valued at $34,871,592.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Ryan Stewart sold 53,125 shares of AbbVie stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.28, for a total value of $8,089,875.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 60,941 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $9,280,095.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 185,767 shares of company stock worth $28,443,783. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AbbVie Trading Down 0.2 %

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ABBV shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on AbbVie from $157.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded AbbVie from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AbbVie from $160.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. SVB Leerink upgraded AbbVie from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on AbbVie from $169.00 to $167.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $162.94.

AbbVie stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Thursday, hitting $160.89. The companys stock had a trading volume of 559,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,937,212. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.58. The stocks fifty day moving average is $155.64 and its 200 day moving average is $154.01. AbbVie Inc. has a 1-year low of $134.09 and a 1-year high of $168.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.96.

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.54 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $15.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.30 billion. AbbVie had a return on equity of 154.52% and a net margin of 20.39%. The firms revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AbbVie Inc. will post 10.92 EPS for the current year.

AbbVie Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. AbbVies dividend payout ratio is presently 89.56%.

About AbbVie

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AbbVie, Inc is a research-based biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and sale of pharmaceutical products. It focuses on treating conditions such as chronic autoimmune diseases in rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dermatology, oncology, including blood cancers, virology, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), neurological disorders, such as Parkinsons, metabolic, comprising thyroid disease and complications associated with cystic fibrosis, pain associated with endometriosis, and other serious health conditions.

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A lab leak most likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic

The virus' spread could also be a result of a research-related incident

China is said to have collected OCVID-19-like virus to produce a vaccine

New research revealed that China began producing COVID-19 vaccines before the outbreak commenced.

According to a 300-page dossier collected by the US Senate, Chinese researchers began work on a vaccination program in mid-November of 2019. It adds to evidence that the authorities tried to conceal early cases before informing the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31.

The investigation also says that a lab leak most likely caused the pandemic and resulted from a research-related incident in Wuhan. It even implies that two inadvertent spill-over episodes occurred just weeks apart. The paper, obtained by the US news website Axios, is the complete version of a 35-page summary published in October by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

One component of the paper focuses on China's vaccine development. According to the committee's findings, a team led by Professor Yusen Zhou of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences submitted a patent for a COVID-19 vaccine on February 24, 2020.

Experts consulted by the investigators stated that it would have taken at least two to three months to reach this point, implying that development must have begun in November 2019, one month before China officially revealed data on the virus.

The analysis of early circulating Wuhan COVID-19 variants also supports the potential of two spill-over occurrences occurring just weeks apart, as per Daily Mail.

According to the evaluation, minor genetic changes in early circulating strains show that two lineages of the same virus arose simultaneously and evolved in opposite directions. It goes on to say that epidemiological modeling and reports of early COVID-19 infections suggest that the virus will most likely enter people between mid-October and mid-November 2019.

However, it did not provide a definitive judgment on the cause of the pandemic. The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) previously acknowledged keeping RaTG13, a bat coronavirus, 96% identical to COVID-19 and up to 99.9% similar in some parts of the genome.

WIV experts had been collecting and analyzing bat viruses to determine which were most likely to infect people and avert a large epidemic. However, Prof Palacios of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai's Division of Infectious Disease, Global Health, and Emerging Pathogens Institute stated that the effort was ineffective in managing the epidemic.

This week, a report by the United States Senate described how Wuhan scientists took bat samples without sufficient protection.vA panel of virology specialists at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' Pathogen Project meeting also emphasized that scientists should not work on viruses not currently spreading in nature.

Per Telegraph via MSN, Prof Palacios also cautioned that scientists had lost trust because they had yet to respond to the public's concerns concerning the COVID-19 origins.

Read Also: Famous Mountain Climber Noel Hanna Dies During Expedition in Nepal

China's COVID-19 Whistleblower

Meanwhile, citizen journalist Fang Bin, who went missing for three years after recording from hospitals and funeral homes in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic, was sentenced in secret to three years in prison, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Fang was incommunicado following a live stream from Wuhan healthcare facilities on February 1, 2020, and produced a handful more videos describing his interrogation by authorities in the days that followed, before becoming silent for three years, with no word on his fate.

He was one of several high-profile bloggers who attempted to report on Wuhan's developing and poorly understood viral pandemic. His report also referred to the outbreak as a "man-made" calamity, urging people to stand up to the government's "tyranny."

According to an individual acquainted with the case who declined to be identified for personal safety, Fang's family was alerted by authorities that he would be freed from jail on April 30. Fang reportedly spent his term at the Xiaojunshan old juvenile detention center in Wuhan's Jiangxia district. The presiding judge who convicted Fang surnamed Lian, refused to speak when asked about the case.

Wang Xiaohua, a Wuhan citizen, said Fang reported on "the disaster of the century" via live-streamed video broadcasts to the rest of the globe during the Wuhan lockdown.

Fang was reporting from the Wuhan No. 5 Hospital and funeral home in Wuchang, part of the three-city conurbation that is Wuhan, at the time, and saw personnel transport eight dead bodies in the space of five minutes, according to his video report.

Related Article: Doctor Dies After Severe Reaction to AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine: Inquiry

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@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:NBY  Get Rating) in a report released on Monday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NBY stock opened at $1.69 on Monday. NovaBay Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $1.24 and a 12 month high of $12.64. The company has a market cap of $3.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.18 and a beta of 2.73.

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About NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

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NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc engages in the development and sales of scientifically-created and clinically-proven eyecare and skincare. Its products include Avenova, NeutroPhase, CelleRx, and DERMAdoctor. The company was founded on January 19, 2000 and is headquartered in Emeryville, CA.

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Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR  Get Rating) had its price objective hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $60.00 to $61.00 in a report published on Monday morning, The Fly reports. They currently have a hold rating on the industrial products companys stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on IR. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ingersoll Rand in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ingersoll Rand from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ingersoll Rand has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $58.80.

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Ingersoll Rand Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE IR opened at $55.61 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $22.52 billion, a PE ratio of 37.57 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.91. Ingersoll Rand has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $60.39.

Ingersoll Rand Dividend Announcement

Ingersoll Rand ( NYSE:IR Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Ingersoll Rand had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 9.99%. Ingersoll Rands revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ingersoll Rand will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. Ingersoll Rands dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vicente Reynal sold 25,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $1,437,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 189,345 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,887,337.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ingersoll Rand by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,054,298 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $2,218,134,000 after purchasing an additional 823,749 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Ingersoll Rand by 4.1% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 32,413,371 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,402,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,810 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 30,462,884 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,591,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,634 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 21,099,882 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $912,781,000 after acquiring an additional 109,280 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ingersoll Rand by 207.6% in the 3rd quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 9,004,468 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $389,533,000 after acquiring an additional 6,077,376 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.73% of the companys stock.

About Ingersoll Rand

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Ingersoll Rand, Inc provides a broad range of mission critical air, fluid, energy, specialty vehicle and medical technologies, providing services and solutions to increase industrial productivity and efficiency. It operates through the following segments: Industrial Technologies and Services, Precision and Science Technologies, High Pressure Solutions, and Specialty Vehicle Technologies.

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After a two month delay, the Franklin County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 on Tuesday to deny a siting agreement Constitution Solar sought to construct a facility in the Henry area.

Supervisors first voted in February on the proposal by Constitution Solar to construct a 4 megawatt solar generation facility. The vote was 3-3 at the meeting due to Boone District representative Ronnie Thompsons absence for medical reasons.

Additional action was delayed until the March meeting to allow for Thompson to break the stalemate. When he was unable to attend the March meeting the vote was postponed once again.

Thompson joined other supervisors Tuesday asking a series of questions about the siting agreement between Constitution Solar and Franklin County. There were concerns that the property owners would be burdened with the costs if the solar company could not pay for the removal of the solar equipment once the lease ends in 30 years.

I dont like that, Gills Creek District representative Lorie Smith said.

Thompson agreed. He stated he was for the rights of property owners to have a solar farm, but said countys language was unacceptable in the citing agreement that the property owners would have a tax lien until the removal was paid in full.

The company that is installing these things, when it comes down time for decommissioning, they need to step up to the plate and clean up the mess that they made where they are making money, Thompson said.

County Attorney Jim Guynn said the property owners are getting what could be a substantial amount of rent in the lease with these solar companies. There would be a clear next step if funds were exhausted from a surety bond required by the solar company.

If you have to look at whos next in the pecking order for receiving money from the deal, the land owner has received funds, Guynn said.

Alexandria Walling, representing Constitution Solar, assured supervisors Tuesday that equipment would be removed when the project is decommissioned. She said it would be part of the contract with the county as well as with the property owner.

We are required to clear anything like that for the landowner, Walling said.

Supervisors Smith, Blackwater District representative Ronald Mitchell and Snow Creek District representative Nick Mitchell once again voted to deny the project on Tuesday as they had in the February meeting. Union Hall District representative Tommy Cundiff cast the deciding vote, switching from his vote in February to deny the proposal.

Because the proposed solar farm is in an unzoned area of the county, this weeks vote may not be the end of Constitution Solars efforts. Walling said at Tuesdays meeting that they plan to pursue the project even if the vote fails.

We made promises to the landowners and we hope to keep them, Walling said.

While votes by supervisors are final in zoned areas, there are other avenues that can be taken in unzoned areas. Constitution Solar now has the option to go to the Franklin County Planning Commission for a comprehensive plan performance review to study if the plan falls withing the countys comprehensive plan for the area.

Even if the solar company is voted down by the planning commission, it can still appeal the decision to the Franklin County Circuit Court. The company would have 30 days after the planning commission vote to appeal.

Emergency access proposed

Supervisors approved allowing county staff to look into the cost of constructing an emergency access road for Diamond Avenue. Residents have requested assistance from the county due to trains occasionally stopping on the railroad line that crosses the road, blocking the only exit for the community.

Ronald Mitchell said emergency responders were delayed by about a minute to a fire in the community due to a train blocking access. He said those minutes can be important when responding to an emergency.

Assistant County Administrator Steve Sandy said the county already owns an easement from Shameka Lane along Diamond Avenue to nearby Sycamore Street. A gravel road could be constructed to connect the two roads and provide emergency vehicles access.

I think it is necessary, Mitchell said. I think we need to get serious about doing it.
STUART  Two people spoke adamantly against solar farm activity, during the public comment period of the regular Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting this week.

After a scheduled public hearing Monday regarding a school bus video surveillance ordinance in which no one spoke, the floor was opened for residents to make general public comments to the board, and two people made known their thoughts about solar energy in Patrick County.

Solar panels are a hazmat disposal item, said Ed Poole of the Smith River District. I have a draft proposal given to Franklin County last week. They voted 7-0 to turn down a proposal by Energix to put a solar farm there.

Energix Group is a global renewable energy company, with operations in the United States, Poland and Israel. They are also the parent company of Fairy Stone Solar, LLC, a company with a proposed solar facility in Patrick County.

The United Nations General Assembly puts Energix at number 32 on the list of companies with human rights violations in the world, Poole said. So now you know who youre dealing with. Im a licensed, and in good standing, public safety official, and Im going to keep giving you information to help you to make good solid decisions. Just look at the waste product at the end of the life cycle.

Jamie Clark of the Peters Creek District had spoken previously to the board about his concerns of the proposed project by Fairy Stone Solar that would be located across the road from his home. Clark was back again on Monday.

With solar  do you want to embrace this or put as many restrictions on it as you can? asked Clark. You can make your ordinance so restrictive that it basically prevents them from being located here.

Retired Henry County Administrator Tim Hall made Mondays meeting the first he has attended since temporarily replacing Geri Hazelwood as Patrick Countys administrator. Hazelwood abruptly resigned last month when it was discovered that her signature was on the approval of the solar project that may not have passed through the proper channels.

Hazelwood did not speak publicly about her departure, and no one on the board has connected her leaving with the documents.
Southeast Community College has a stronger presence in York.

The colleges Learning Center at York was officially dedicated Tuesday, April 18 with a ceremony and ribbon-cutting. The event came a little more than 14 months after the college signed the lease on a new location at 401 N. Lincoln Ave. in downtown York. Diane Houdek is coordinator at the Center.

This is a great day for Southeast Community College and the York community, Houdek said. Were offering credit and non-credit classes, but at some point, Id like students to be able to complete an entire certificate or degree program at the Center.

The Center has four classrooms, with a fifth used primarily for nursing classes. There also is a small conference room and several study areas. Educational Service Unit 6 also holds classes for its Project SEARCH in part of the building.

Lisa Hurley, executive director of the York County Development Corporation, praised the partnership between SCC and the York County region.

Hurley opened with, Over a decade ago, there had be a long time dream to locate an SCC campus in York.

SCC was already playing different roles throughout the community of York County with York County Development Corporation, businesses and schools, said Hurley.

YCDC put together a proposal for the SCC the Learning Center at York, as part of a larger decision for Southeast opening learning centers in multiple counties.

We were hoping that SCC could help provide additional training opportunities to area businesses, both credit and non-credit classes, that would build upon what was already happening in York County, Hurle said.

Southeast used Holthus Convention Center on a temporary basis prior to opening the center.

Hurley said, The diverse business base in our region has many needs to train current and future employees as business practices evolve, which SCC has looked at in-depth with this location. I believe many of the SCC staff learned that the York region and I both dream big. Also, they learned that we can see an old building and see how it could be reused.

Southeast President Dr. Paul Illich said the college only had a presence in three of the 15 counties it serves. Illich said, Our board recognized the need to expand into as many counties as possible. We did a study on population, connectivity, accessibility and geographical spacing and our very first learning center was in York, so this is tremendous that were now having an opportunity to relocate, again in York, but it all started with this idea that we truly want to be open access.

Illich stressed the SCC center is a place to learn about programs on other campuses and take career technical training courses.

This location is very visible and will make it very easy for our community members to take both credit and non-credit courses, Hurley said. It will be easy for students to take classes. Im excited to see it become another hub in our community for our businesses and our workforce.

For more information, go to www.southeast.edu/YorkLC.
Cyber Threats

Federal Legislation Would Create K-12 Cybersecurity Improvement Program, Incident Registry

A new bill filed in both houses of Congress Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) would direct CISA to create a cybersecurity information exchange for K12 schools, a voluntary incident registry, and a Cybersecurity Technology Improvement Program funded at $10 million per year for the next two years.

The bill, titled Enhancing K12 Cybersecurity Act, was previously introduced during the 2021 Congress and never made it out of committee. Since then, cyber attacks targeting K12 school districts have expanded ten-fold. Last year, ransomware attacks targeting K12 schools worldwide grew at an absolutely massive rate of 827% over 2021, according to SonicWalls 2023 Cyber Threat Report.

The reintroduced legislation  assigned bill number 1191 in the Senate and still awaiting assignment in the House early Thursday  will now go to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees in each chamber for consideration and debate.

The bill calls for the following:

K12 Cybersecurity Information Exchange: The legislation directs the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director to establish a Cybersecurity Information Exchange to disseminate information, best practices, and grant opportunities to improve cybersecurity.

K12 Cybersecurity Incident Registry: The legislation establishes a Cybersecurity Incident Registry within CISA to track incidents of cyberattacks on elementary and secondary schools. Information submitted to the Registry is strictly voluntary and will help improve data collection to coordinate activities related to the nationwide monitoring of the incidence and financial impact of cyberattacks.

K12 Cybersecurity Technology Improvement Program: The bill directs CISA to establish the K12 Cybersecurity Technology Improvement Program to be administered through an information and analysis organization to deploy cybersecurity capabilities that will help address cybersecurity risks and threats to information systems of K12 schools. This approach will capitalize on the existing services and expertise of organizations like MS-ISAC & others to ensure maximum impact of funds. The bill authorizes $10 million per year for FYs 24 & 25 to fund the Technology Improvement Program.

Find the full text of the Enhancing K12 Cybersecurity Act at Matsuis website.

A number of cybersecurity and ed tech organizations are supporting the proposed legislation, including National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of Elementary School Principals, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of State Chief Information Officers, State Educational Technology Directors Association, and Consortium for School Networking, according to a news release.

From ransomware to data breaches, cyberattacks targeting our K12 schools are growing increasingly sophisticated and common, necessitating a robust response to keep our students and teachers safe, said Matsui, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Cybercriminals are rapidly evolving their strategies to cause chaos and disruption, yet a lack of resources for our schools is forcing them to do more with less. The Enhancing K12 Cybersecurity Act would establish a crucial roadmap to prepare our K12 cyber infrastructure for future attacks.

When I was working on the White Houses National Security Council, I witnessed firsthand how important it is to prioritize cybersecurity. With these crimes on the rise, its imperative that we provide our schools with the tools to keep students information secure, said Nunn.

Cyberattacks continue to grow in size, frequency, and complexity in critical U.S. institutions, including in Americas schools, said Blackburn. We must ensure that our education sector is equipped to address these threats and keep students personal information private. This bipartisan and bicameral legislation will improve the cybersecurity tracking system for schools and provide them with necessary training resources and best practices for prevention.

As cyberattacks continue to expose private information and disrupt infrastructure across industries, including in education, with increased frequency, we must ensure that schools are in the best position possible to prevent and respond to attacks, said Warner. This legislation will put in place necessary procedures to protect our students data and keep sensitive information private.

Cyberattacks disrupt learning, waste taxpayers money, and threaten the sensitive personal data of students and teachers, said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger. CoSN strongly supports the Enhancing K12 Cybersecurity Act and commends Reps. Matsui and Nunn and Sens. Blackburn and Warner for stepping forward to protect our schools. Congress should act quickly to help communities address this growing threat.

Learn more at CoSN.org.
Online Instruction

VHS Learning Adds High School STEAM, IT, and Business Courses

Online instruction provider VHS Learning has added 11 new courses for the 202324 school year for high school students studying online either through their local school district or at home for supplemental learning, the nonprofit said in a news release.

The new courses cover a number of STEAM subjects including computer science, fine arts, business, and languages, and include the following titles:

AP Pre-Calculus

AP Seminar

Digital Photography

Music Composition and Songwriting

Accounting

IT Fundamentals

Mobile App Development

Principles of Computer Science

Graphic Novels

American Sign Language and Culture

Chinese Language and Culture

The new courses will be available for fall 2023 except the Graphic Novels course, which will launch for the spring 2024 semester, the organization said.

Many of our students have expressed an interest in business courses, and more specifically, courses in accounting, said VHS Learning President and CEO Carol DeFuria. The AP Seminar course was developed as part of the College Boards response to post-secondary educators wish for incoming freshmen with greater proficiency in critical thinking and communication.

The yearlong AP Seminar course for grades 1012 is the first part of the College Boards new AP Capstone Diploma program, designed to develop students critical thinking, research, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills, according to VHS Learning. AP Seminar enrollees will engage in cross-curricular conversations that explore the complexities of academic and real-world topics and issues and will also write research-based essays, deliver dynamic presentations, and study a variety of topics and subject areas, VHS Learning said.

The new 33-week Accounting course will teach students how to analyze, assemble, and process basic financial statements to determine the value of assets, liabilities, and owners equity and enable students to communicate essential information about the financial operations of both service and merchandising businesses, the organization said.

The 15-week Mobile App Development course will teach students how to design and code smartphone apps for a wide variety of uses, according to the announcement.

In the 15-week Information Technology Fundamentals course, students will learn IT concepts and terminology, applications and software, software development, database fundamentals, and essential security concepts, VHS Learning said. Those who successfully complete the Information Technology Fundamentals course will be eligible to take the CompTIA IT Fundamental (ITF+) certification exam.

Learn more at VHSLearning.org.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

A few showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing for the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 66F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening, then cloudy with rain likely overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 56F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft. Musk accused the software company of illegally using its data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) model.

Musk took to Twitter to threaten the software giant following Mashable, and other publications reported that the software company would drop Twitter from its advertising platform. Microsoft's advertising platform allows ad buyers to manage all their social media accounts in one place.

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

The Battle for Data Ownership

Per CNBC, the latest threat by Musk shows that data ownership is becoming a fraught battleground in the dominance of AI. Many big tech companies are developing cutting-edge AI models, such as OpenAI's GPT, while many data owners are trying to stop or charge them for the use of their content.

Microsoft has its large language models (LLMs) and sells access to OpenAI's models. The software company invested $10 billion in OpenAI last year, and Musk was a co-founder before it left the board in 2018. Recently, the Tesla CEO complained about the company's move from a nonprofit model to a precious business influenced by Microsoft.

Read Also: Elon Musk Drops Truth Bomb on Twitter: It 'Has Interfered in Elections'

(Photo : by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 24: Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building on January 24, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Musk testified at a trial regarding a lawsuit that has investors suing Tesla and Musk over his August 2018 tweets saying he was taking Tesla private with funding that he had secured.

Data Ownership and AI

In today's digital age, data is king. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the value of data has skyrocketed, and companies are scrambling to collect as much data as possible to train their algorithms. However, with this increased emphasis on data, questions about data ownership have become more critical than ever.

At its core, data ownership refers to the legal right of an individual or organization to control the use and distribution of data. In AI, data ownership is critical because it determines who can use data to train their algorithms and how that data can be used. Data ownership is complicated because many different sources, including individuals, companies, and governments, often generate data.

One of the biggest challenges in determining data ownership is that data is often collected and used in ways that need to be more transparent. For example, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter collect vast amounts of data about their users, but it needs to be clarified what they do with that data. This lack of transparency has led to concerns about data privacy and the potential misuse of data by companies and governments.

Despite these challenges, it's clear that data ownership is critical for the development of AI. With clear ownership rights, it's easier for companies to collect and use data to train their algorithms. This, in turn, limits the development of AI and could slow down progress in this field.

Data ownership is a critical issue in the development of AI. Clear ownership rights are needed to ensure companies can collect and use data to train their algorithms. However, determining ownership rights can be difficult, and new regulations may be necessary to address this issue. Ultimately, the future of AI depends on our ability to develop a fair and transparent system for data ownership.

Related Article: Bill Gates Rejects Elon Musk-Backed Letter Seeking to Halt AI Development

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Rendleman Orchards in Alto Pass celebrates its sesquicentennial anniversary this year and was recognized by Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) on the floor of the State Capitol earlier this week for the family orchard's commitment to producing fruits and vegetables for Southern Illinois for 150 years.

Sen. Fowler spoke about Rendleman Orchards' owners Wayne and Michelle Sirles, in Springfield.

Tucked away in the hills of southernmost Illinois, and bordered by the Shawnee National Forrest, the Rendleman Orchard Family has dedicated their lives to producing some of the best apples and peaches across our state, said Sen. Fowler. Over the years, they have invested and grown their operation providing fruit and vegetables across the entire state.

Founded in 1873, Rendleman Orchard's first owners were John and Isabelle Rendleman. This year marks 150 years since the first Rendleman family staked their claim on an 88-acre farmland in Alto Pass. Today, the latest generation of Rendlemans have grown more than fruits and vegetables.

Rendleman Orchards is now about 10 times its original size, at 800 acres and has become a globally food safety certified producer. This increased the market potential from local and regional retail and wholesale markets to a global customer base.

We are considered a full-service turnaround operation, said Michelle Sirles. Our family farm being that we are wholesale primarily and retail secondary. We grow it, we take care of it, we harvest it, we pack it in our own packing facilities, and we ship it in our own trucks or sell it direct to consumers in our farm markets. People are quite surprised by the various services that we offer and mostly that we are the fifth generation.

In order to be considered a sesquicentennial farm by Illinois, the farm must have been held by descendants of the same family for 150 years or more. The generations who managed Rendleman Orchards in the past include John and Isabelle Rendleman (first generation), Grover and Iva Rendleman (second generation), James and Mary and Helen Rendleman (third generation), and Wayne R. and Betty Sirles (fourth generation).

Southern Illinois peach growers will have peaches for their markets, but expect losses A month ago, we thought it was a lot worse, Flamm said. Now, you can see buds starting to swell, a few more buds than we thought we had. It is by no means a large crop.

The Rendlemans brought gift boxes of fruit for the senators during their visit to the Capitol, in gratitude for being honored.
CHICAGO - After six weeks of testimony, closing arguments in the ComEd Four bribery trial involving an alleged scheme to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan have been set for Monday.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber told the jury shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday that they had heard all the evidence in the case and instructed them to come back at 10 a.m. Monday, when theyll hear closing arguments from both sides.

Leinenweber did not set a time limit on arguments, but said hed like to get it all in in one day.

Meanwhile, both sides will be in court for what could be an extensive jury instruction conference on Thursday, deciding the specific instructions on the law that the jury will get in their deliberations.

The pace of the defense case quickened after two of the defendants, Michael McClain and Jay Doherty, opted not to testify in their own defense. Doherty called one character witness on his behalf, while McClain called no witnesses at all.

Earlier Wednesday, their co-defendant, John Hooker, resumed his testimony, which began on Tuesday afternoon.

Hooker, a former ComEd executive and contract lobbyist, was taken line-by-line through transcripts of the wiretapped recordings at the center of the case, explaining what he meant down to the word, even why he laughed at certain points in the calls.

In one of the recordings, McClain, a lobbyist and one of Madigans closest confidants, tells Hooker, We had to hire these guys because Mike Madigan came to us. Its that simple.

Hooker testified he didnt believe that it was true that they had to hire anyone.

To me thats just me and McClain joshing around, he said.

In a series of final questions, Hookers attorney, Jacqueline Jacobson, asked him over and over whether he thought they were illegally influencing Madigan by hiring lobbying subcontractors hed recommended.

Did they attempt to corruptly influence Madigan? she repeated.

Each time, Hooker shook his head and said firmly, No.

In his questioning of Hooker, Cotter took it a step further, suggesting the entire premise of the prosecution  that Madigan would put his thumb on the scale for ComEd because they hired some of his people  was ludicrous.

In all your years of experience, did you ever think for one minute that Mike Madigan would risk his speakership and his power to get a few more people some jobs at ComEd? Cotter asked, his voice rising to a shout. Some summer interns? Kathy Laski? Anybody?

No, I did not, Hooker answered.

Its a crazy idea, isnt it? Cotter shot back.

Its a bad idea, Hooker agreed.

Charged in the ComEd Four case are Hooker, McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, and Jay Doherty, another longtime lobbyist for the utility and the former head of the City Club of Chicago.

The indictment alleged the scheme included steering $1.3 million in payments from ComEd to Madigan-approved subcontractors under Doherty, appointing businessman and former McPier boss Juan Ochoa to the utilitys board of directors, hiring a clout-heavy law firm headed by political operative Victor Reyes, and stacking the utilitys summer internship program with candidates sent from the 13th Ward.

All four have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers have contended the government is trying to turn legal lobbying and job recommendations into a crime.

Madigan and McClain face a separate racketeering indictment that is set for trial next year.

On cross-examination Wednesday, Hooker stuck to what appeared to be a script when asked about what he knew of the Doherty subcontracts, answering in the same language no matter the specific question.

Each time, Hooker said the subcontractor arrangement with Doherty had created goodwill with Madigan because they were able to respond to a recommendation from the speaker. He also made sure to say the subcontractors added value to the company, and that the arrangement was good for him because he didnt have to manage them.

When Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz asked about the hiring of former 13th Ward Ald. Frank Olivo in 2011, Hooker said he brought value to ComEd because of his City Hall connections, but acknowledged he never gave him a specific project to work on.

I assumed that whatever project Jay was working on theyd give it to him, he said.

Hooker also denied statements made in the wiretaps that he often talked to Speaker Madigan about the subcontractors.

No I have not talked to the speaker about subcontracting, he said.

On direct examination Tuesday afternoon, Hooker cracked jokes and sprinkled in his witty sayings dubbed Hookerisms as he took the jury through his remarkable life story.

Speaking in a homespun, folksy style, Hooker, 74, testified how his wife, his high school sweetheart, died suddenly in the late 1960s, leaving him to raise their 18-month-old daughter. At the time, he was working in the mailroom at ComEd, which hed joined shortly after graduating from Farragut Career Academy on the citys West Side. Eventually he took night classes at Chicago State University and earned a degree in marketing, he said.

I had some ups and downs in life that derailed me a little bit, but I persevered, Hooker said.

Throughout his climb at the utility, Hooker said he was constantly confronted by racist attitudes, including when he was first sent to City Hall in the 1980s as a company liaison, where some of the Black aldermen viewed him as an Uncle Tom.

Hooker says he won everyone over by playing it straight. My job was to meet with everybody. When you see me talking to X or Y, that was me talking about ComEds business, he said. I became acceptable to all 50 aldermen and I was proud of that.

As a lobbyist for a state-regulated utility, Hooker said he was friendly with Madigan but never part of his inner circle. I was ComEd all the way, he said. Ive never been to his house, and hes never been to mine.

Asked if he went on a trip to Turkey with Madigan and Pramaggiore that has come up in previous testimony, Hooker quipped, No, Im not really a world traveler. The only turkey I deal with is at Thanksgiving.

Hookers direct testimony will continue on Wednesday.

In his testimony, Hooker said rising in the ranks of ComEd as an African American was tough because most of the other employees felt it was affirmative action.

Needless to say they didnt value that, or value me or think I was qualified to be there, he said.

Once he got to Springfield, he said, McClain helped show him the ropes, including how to develop relationships with both Republicans and Democrats, whom Hooker referred to as all those Rs and Ds.

I decided I was going to work with everybody, he said. I was going to meet everybody, tell em who I was and where I was from and build a relationship.

Hooker also buttressed the prior testimony of Will Cousineau, saying that the speaker told Madigans then-top political director to go out and rally proponents for the 2016 FEJA bill because support was waning in the last day of the fall veto session.

Along with saving the two nuclear power plants and the jobs that went with it, the legislation also gave ComEd an extension of a formula rate system that allowed the company to have more stability and predictability in revenues. Consumers paid slightly more, but clean job advocates also advanced their cause.

I have to say it is a coalition bill, Hooker said, a line that prompted several jurors to write in their notebooks.

He also told of how ComEd rallied a coalition to defeat the bill being pushed by the speakers daughter in 2018, her last full year in office. The legislation would have provided low-income assistance, which appealed to Black lawmakers because many of their constituents fell into that category.

It was going to be her legacy bill, Hooker said of the attorney general.

But Hooker said he helped convince lawmakers that the problem with the bill was that it was a cost shift because the customers who would see the assistance would be underwritten by other customers whose rates would go up.

Hooker said he worked on turning around enough votes so that we would have a majority against it rather than for it.

In his testimony, Hooker clasped his hands together and often chuckled at his own jokes. He described at length how being a good lobbyist meant developing relationships with lawmakers, reaching compromises and building coalitions.

Among the people who taught him the trade was McClain, who Hooker said could often be pushy. While McClain knew everyone in Springfield and was close with Madigan, he didnt wear it on his forehead, Hooker testified.

Mike was well known throughout the Capitol both with legislators and other stakeholders, he said.

Asked by his attorney, Jacqueline Jacobson, what he meant by a stakeholder, Hooker said, like the AARP.

Thats a senior citizens group, Hooker said with a smile. I happen to be a member.

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JACKSON, Miss.  A Mississippi sheriff says in a new court filing that there's no point in serving an arrest warrant on a white woman in the 1955 kidnapping that led to the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till because last year a grand jury decided not to indict the woman.

Till's kidnapping and killing became a catalyst for the civil rights movement when his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in their hometown of Chicago after his brutalized body was pulled from a river in Mississippi. Jet magazine published photos.

The Mississippi arrest warrant for "Mrs. Roy Bryant" was issued shortly after Till's death but was never served on the white woman who has since remarried and is now known as Carolyn Bryant Donham.

Last June, a team doing research at the courthouse in Leflore County, Mississippi, found the unserved warrant. In July, the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said there was no new evidence to pursue a criminal case against Donham. In August, a district attorney said a Leflore County grand jury declined to indict Donham.

"Since the Grand Jury found no probable cause to indict Donham on the charges of kidnapping and manslaughter, there is no probable cause to support the 1955 Arrest Warrant," Charles J. Swayze III, an attorney for Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks, wrote in court papers filed Thursday.

Till's cousin Priscilla Sterling filed a federal lawsuit against Banks on Feb. 7, seeking to compel him to serve the 1955 warrant on Donham. In the response Thursday, Swayze asked a judge to dismiss the suit.

The Associated Press left a phone message Tuesday for one of Sterling's attorneys, seeking comment about the sheriff's court filing.

Till traveled from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi in August 1955. Donham accused him of making improper advances on her at a grocery store in the small community of Money. Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Till who was there, has said 14-year-old Till whistled at the woman  an act that flew in the face of Mississippi's racist social codes of the era.

Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to her then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, who killed the teenager. The arrest warrant against Donham was publicized in 1955, but the Leflore County sheriff at the time, George Smith, told reporters that he did not want to "bother" the woman since she was raising two young children.

Weeks after Till's body was found, Roy Bryant and Milam were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. Months later, the men confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine.

Banks has been sheriff since 1980. In the court filing Thursday, Swayze wrote that Sterling's lawsuit shows "no factual allegation of misconduct by Banks."

Donham, now in her late 80s, has lived in North Carolina and Kentucky in recent years. She has not commented publicly on calls for her prosecution. The U.S. Justice Department announced in December 2021 that it had ended its latest investigation into the lynching of Till, without bringing charges against anyone.

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A Virginia man was arrested on a charge of criminal sexual conduct with a minor stemming from an incident that occurred about six to seven years ago at an Orangeburg apartment.

Joseph Bernard Williams, 59, of Richmond, Virginia, was arrested Wednesday morning. A $50,000 personal recognizance bond was set on Williams.

According to an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety arrest warrant, the incident occurred at the Landmark Towers apartments on Doyle Street between the years of 2016 and 2018.

The warrant states Williams committed a sex act with a female who was 7 to 8 years old at the time.

The act was disclosed once during a Jan. 30, 2023, interview then later at a Feb. 8, 2023, interview with the victim. The victim said Williams, who was in his 50s at the time of the incident, made her perform the sex act twice during this time period.

The victim is now 13 years old, according to the warrant.

According to a DPS incident report, the victim related what happened, saying she and a cousin were caught smoking cigarettes and Williams "whooped her cousin, but not me."

The victim said he then asked her to perform a sex act on him once in the apartment's front room and then in another room.

The victim's mother told officers that she found out about the incident three weeks ago after she was told about it by her son.

Criminal sexual conduct with a minor is a felony. If convicted, Williams could face a minimum of 25 years in prison or life.
An Orangeburg church has been awarded $3.3 million in a civil lawsuit.

A jury in 1st Judicial Circuit Court of Common Pleas ruled that the church's insurance company did not pay it what it was due under the terms of the policy after the building's roof collapse.

One to One Ministries Inc. at 1396 Russell St. received $2 million for punitive damages, $1 million for breach of contract and $300,000 on bad faith damages in a March 23 verdict, according to court documents.

One to One Ministries Inc. sued Penn-America Insurance Company related to the collapse of its building during a wind and rain storm on May 20, 2020.

One to One Ministries purchased a property and casualty insurance policy from Penn-America from Dec. 2, 2019, through Dec. 2, 2020.

Upon the building's collapse, the church provided the insurance company a notice of claims and gave the company opportunities to fulfill its legal duties to pay the church, according to the six-page complaint.

One to One Ministries said the insurance company denied the church what was owed under the policy as wind damage and ensuing losses are covered under the policy, according to court documents.

The church noted the insurance policy did include coverage "caused by abrupt collapse of a building or any part of a building," including a collapse caused by building decay, insect damage and shoddy construction.

According to an engineering study of the building, it was determined about 1,000 square feet of the roof collapsed due to "prior modifications to the broken truss, long-term deterioration of the structural members of the roof framing at the north end of the building, and the northward displacement of the northwest corner of the building contributed to the partial roof collapse."

Upon filing of the claim, Penn-America assigned Custard Insurance Adjusters to investigate the windstorm claim.

"Despite its obligation to the contrary, defendant did not perform a full and fair investigation of the claim and did not pay the full amounts owed under the policy," the lawsuit states. Instead, defendant through its authorized agents, performed a biased investigation and ignored significant information evidencing payments were owed."

The church sued the insurance provider for breach of contract and bad faith. The insurance company, in its eight-page answer, questioned the validity of the contract presented by the church and questioned if the building's collapse was due to a wind and rain storm.

The insurance company denied breaching the contract or acting in bad faith and said the complaint did not "allege facts sufficient to support any breach of contract or bad faith cause of action."

Following the jury verdict, One to One Ministries filed post-trial motions saying it is also owed prejudgment interest ($252,991.15) and an award of attorneys fees ($1,184,330.38) on top of the jury's $3.3 million verdict, bringing the total judgement amount to about $4.7 million.

Penn-America has asked that the trial judge invalidate the jury's verdict based upon what it claims are errors that occurred during trial and a lack of evidence supporting the church.

Penn-America also wants the court to compel One to One to elect or choose between the contract recovery (including attorney fees and interest) and the bad faith recovery (which included the $2 million in punitive damages).

Penn-America says the church cannot have both because it relied on the same facts, witnesses, evidence and arguments to establish its two causes of action.

One to One has said the jury verdict awards of damages were distinct and cumulative and that it is not required to elect between the jury's verdict remedies on breach of contract and bad faith.

"Each cause of action arose from distinct facts and duties, and each cause of action sought distinct damages," One to One said in its post-trial motion.

The church, in the post-trial motion also says if the court deems an election of remedies is needed, it would request a new trial that would increase the bad faith remedy to $1 million.

One to One filed its post-trial motion April 3.

The insurance company filed April 7 in opposition to the church's post-trial motions, noting its calculation of prejudgment interest is incorrect and that the church has misapplied the cap on attorney's fees and that it is not entitled to a new trial.

In the interim, Attorney Justin Lucey, representing One to One Ministries, said the church hopes to eventually repair the building when post-trial motions are decided.

Lucey said the City of Orangeburg also has an enforcement action pending regarding the condition of the building.

"The church does not have the funds to repair until the claim is paid," Lucey said.

Lucey said the church has struggled to keep the congregation together and has been renting space for Sunday services at the New Vision Centre in Orangeburg on Magnolia Street. The church is also holding Friday services at the Greater Gospel Temple C.O.G.I.C. on Marlboro Street.
ROME  A Texas-born princess who lives in a Rome villa containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio is facing a court-ordered eviction Thursday, in the latest chapter in an inheritance dispute with the heirs of one of Romes aristocratic families.

Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, a widow formerly known as Rita Carpenter, was still holding out at the Casino dellAurora on Wednesday night, awaiting what she expected to be the arrival of Carabinieri police in the morning. With her are her Ukrainian housekeeper Olga, and the housekeeper's daughter and two young grandchildren who fled Kyiv last year after Russia's invasion.

In January, Rome Judge Miriam Iappelli instructed Carabinieri police at the Via Veneto station to evict her, accusing the princess of having failed, among other things, to maintain the home in a good state of conservation after an exterior wall crumbled. With the warning time now up, the decree calls for police to evict anyone still living there, take possession of the property, change the locks and dispose of or destroy any furniture or documents left behind.

The house, located off the swank Via Veneto, has been in the Ludovisi family since the early 1600s. After Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi died in 2018, the villa became the subject of an inheritance dispute between the children from his first marriage and his third wife, the San Antonio, Texas-born Princess Rita, whom he married in 2009.

The children have argued that the home, built in 1570, belongs to them, that their grandfather intended for them to inherit it and that their late father abused them and mismanaged his fortune. They have mounted a multi-pronged legal campaign to get control of the property so it can be sold.

One of the children, Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi, took to Twitter on Wednesday to praise Iappelli's eviction order and assert the children's right to the villa and its contents.

The widow Boncompagni Ludovisi says she and her husband worked diligently to restore the villa as best they could, adding that she has tried to negotiate with her late husband's children. In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday, she called her imminent eviction unexpected and unjust.

What a brutal ending to my beautiful life with my beloved Nicolo, she wrote.

The eviction order marked the culmination of a bitter inheritance saga that simultaneously saw the villa put on the court-ordered auction block last year and assigned a court-appraised value of 471 million euros ($533 million). After the minimum bid of 353 million euros ($400 million) failed to get any takers in the first auction, the price was progressively lowered in a series of successive auctions, with more scheduled until a buyer is found.

The villa, also known as Villa Ludovisi, is famous for the Caravaggio that graces a tiny room off a spiral staircase on the second floor.

It was commissioned in 1597 by a diplomat and patron of the arts who asked the then-young painter to decorate the ceiling of the small room being used as an alchemy workshop. The 2.75-meter (9-foot) wide mural, which depicts Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune, is unusual: Its not a fresco, but rather oil on plaster, and represents the only ceiling mural that Caravaggio is known to have painted.

The American princess previously was married to former U.S. Rep. John Jenrette Jr. of South Carolina.
(TBTCO) - Hon 100 doanh nhan cac nuoc trong khu vuc, ac biet la cong ong nguoi Hoa ang hoat ong trong nhieu linh vuc khac nhau a quy tu trong su kien hop mat cac doanh nhan tai The Global City va truc tiep tham quan du an. Phan tich ky cac loi the kinh doanh va kha nang phat trien cua trung tam moi, rat nhieu nha au tu sanh soi a quyet inh nam bat co hoi au tu som vao trung tam moi cua TP. Ho Chi Minh e mo rong kinh doanh.
Fox News was able to finally close a legal threat through a defamation settlement amounting to $787.5 million with Dominion Voting Systems. However, the network is still facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Smartmatic, according to Reuters.

(Photo : by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Picture of the logo of Smartmatic, the firm that supplies Venezuela's voting technology, seen on a sliding door at the headquarters of the company in Caracas, on August 2, 2017. -

Dominion accused Fox and Fox Corp of ruining its business when it aired claims that they machines were used to rig the 2020 US presidential election in favor of President Joe Biden against former president Donald Trump.

Fox and Fox Corp were able to avert a six-week trial in Delaware Superior court with the deal, which is half of the $1.6 billion Dominion sought. Legal experts state that this is by far, the largest ever defamation settlement that was publicly announced by an American media company.

Fox stated that the judge found specific claims about Dominion to be false and it's hoping the deal helps the country move forward with these issues. However, the lawyers of the network will remain busy to navigate the lag fallout of the 2020 election coverage with a potentially far more damaging defamation lawsuit by Smartmactic and a separate but related lawsuit by a recently fired producer.

It remains unclear whether the deal of Fox with Dominion means it's willing to settle with Smartmatic.

Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from the network and five individuals, which includes former Trump lawyers and hosts.

According to Smartmatic, the defendants knowingly spread false claims that its software was used to flip votes. The company is also committed to clearing its name.

Also read: Barr Expounds on His Break With Trump and Election Fraud Allegations in His New Book

Fox Denies Allegations

The network said in a recent statement that they had the right to report on highly newsworthy allegations of voter fraud. It also called Smartmatic's claims "outrageous."

Also, Fox is not showing any indication that it is interested in settling the lawsuit by a former producer.

According to Smartmatic, Fox News repeatedly aired false and defamatory statements about the company, including claims that it.

Smartmatic asserts that these claims are entirely baseless and that Fox News knew or should have known that they were false.

Smartmatic's lawsuit against Fox News is a clear indication that voting technology companies are no longer willing to tolerate baseless allegations and conspiracy theories.

As the battle for truth and transparency in the election process continues, it is clear that those who spread lies and misinformation will be held accountable for their actions.

The issue of election integrity has become a hot topic in recent years, and the role of voting technology companies like Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems has come under increased scrutiny. While these companies play an important role in ensuring fair elections, they have also been subject to baseless allegations and conspiracy theories that threaten their reputation.

Related article: Former Arizona AG Mark Brnovich Fails To Prove Election Fraud

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Caspers first and only abortion clinic opened Thursday, less than a year after an arsonist destroyed much of the building's interior and only a month after lawmakers made another attempt to ban the procedure.

Wellspring Health Access' Casper clinic will offer abortion, OB/GYN, family planning and eventually gender-affirming care, making it the second abortion provider in Wyoming alongside Jacksons Womens Health and Family Care.

We are delighted to finally be able to provide high quality reproductive health care, including abortion care, in the state of Wyoming, Julie Burkhart, the founder and president of Wellspring Health Access, said in a statement. Its been a long journey, filled with obstacles and challenges, but we at Wellspring Health Access refused to give up because we believe that Wyomingites deserve access to abortion care.

"After nearly a year of renovations and legal challenges to keep abortion legal in Wyoming, we are overjoyed to be able to see patients and provide this much-needed care."

The Casper clinics opening marks a significant step for Wellspring Health Access and Burkhart, which aim to expand abortion access in Wyoming and bring abortion care to underserved communities. But it comes at a time that state lawmakers are increasingly focused on restricting abortion in the state. Gov. Mark Gordon signed a statewide ban on the practice into law last month, but a judge has halted it temporarily amid a new legal battle.

It will be the only clinic in the state to offer surgical procedures alongside medication abortions, which account for the overwhelming majority of abortions in Wyoming.

Wellspring Health Access would also become one of the few medical providers in the state to offer gender-affirming care when those services are added.

Opponents of abortion have regularly prayed in front of the clinic on Thursdays evenings. This week was no exception.

Several protestors gathered outside the clinic with anti-abortion signs. An organizer with the group said they had no immediate plans for an additional protest of the clinic's opening beyond the normal prayer gatherings.

Arson delayed opening

Burkhart and Wellspring Health Access first announced plans to open an abortion clinic in Casper in April 2022. Its original opening was slated for that June.

But just weeks before the clinic was set to begin offering services, an arsonist broke into the facility and set the building ablaze.

The fire scorched exam beds and recovery recliners, melted lights, and destroyed furniture and equipment. It required the health care provider to gut and reconstruct much of the buildings interior.

All told the attack caused $290,000 worth of damage, Burkhart previously said.

After months of little progress, federal authorities arrested and charged a 22-year-old Casper woman Lorna Green in March, alleging she targeted the clinic because of her anti-abortion views.

Green, who investigators say admitted to the arson, faces up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine if shes convicted.

In the wake of the fire, Burkhart estimated reconstruction of the clinic would take four to six months, allowing it to open in late 2022. But supply chain issues and a slow insurance process delayed rebuilding and pushed back its opening another few months.

Following the arrest of Green, Burkhart said in a statement that Wellspring Health Access had worked tirelessly to renovate the clinic so it could begin seeing patients.

Now that a suspect has been arrested, we can continue our singular focus on providing quality reproductive health care to the Casper community in a safe, compassionate environment, Burkhart said.

Trigger ban, court battles

Wyomings moves to restrict abortion access have also complicated the launch of the clinic.

Last year Gov. Mark Gordon signed a trigger ban outlawing abortion except in cases of rape or incest or to protect the life of the mother.

The ban took effect in July following the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, but Burkhart and Wellspring Health Access, alongside Wyoming women and other abortion and health care providers, sued the state, arguing it violated the state constitution.

Teton County Judge Melissa Owens blocked the ban and abortion remained legal in Wyoming until lawmakers passed legislation last month that attempted to address the legal concerns that tied up the states trigger ban.

While lawmakers and anti-abortion groups were confident the second ban would stand and outlaw abortion sooner, Wellspring Health Access and the same group again sued the state.

For the second time, Owens halted the ban, determining it may violate the Wyoming Constitution.

Throughout the legal battles, Burkhart and Wellspring Health Access have remained headstrong, saying the attempted bans would not change their plans for the Casper clinic.

In a statement, Burkhart celebrated Owens ruling late last month clearing the way for the clinic to finally open.

We can move ahead with our plans and finally begin to serve those who need abortion care in Wyoming, Burkhart said.

PHOTOS: Abortion in Wyoming Pro-choice protest Abortions rights protest Abortion-rights protesters The Women's Health Center and Family Care Clinic of Jackson Pro-life Protest Pro-life Protest Abortion-rights protest Abortion-rights protest Abortion-rights protest Abortion clinic fire Abortion-rights protest Abortion-rights protest Pro-life Protest Pro-life Protest Pro-life Protest Pro-life Protest Pro-life Protest
Six sorority sisters at the University of Wyoming chose Thursday to move forward with their lawsuit to remove a transgender student from Kappa Kappa Gamma after a judge twice denied their requests for anonymity.

One sorority member left the lawsuit, but the remaining plaintiffs amended their complaint to include their names following an order from U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson last week. They had sought to remain anonymous, citing safety and privacy concerns. But the judge decided those concerns did not rise to the level where anonymity was warranted.

The lawsuit identified the plaintiffs as UW students Jaylyn Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allison Coghan, Grace Choate, Madeline Ramar and Megan Kosar.

None of the sorority members are from Wyoming. They hail from Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Virginia.

The new court filing also names the transgender student they aim to bar as Artemis Langford.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson gave the group of UW sorority members until Thursday to amend their suit and reveal their names.

The six sorority sisters sued the Kappa Kappa Gammas parent organization, its president and the schools first transgender sorority member late last month in a closely watched case. They alleged that the sorority did not follow its bylaws and rules, failed to uphold its mission, breached its housing contract with members, and misled them by admitting a transgender student.

The sorority members asked the courts to remove the transgender student and ban any man from joining a sorority, while also seeking monetary damages.

They filed the lawsuit anonymously, using the pseudonyms Jane Doe for the original seven members and Terry Smith for Langford. The group only included Langford in the lawsuit because the sorority members are attempting to remove her from the sorority, according to the complaint.

Alongside the lawsuit, the lawyers for the group, John Knepper and Cassie Craven, submitted a request asking the courts to grant anonymity in the case. They argued that students on both sides of the lawsuit faced safety and privacy concerns if their names become public in court proceedings, especially amid intense statewide and national media coverage and contention around transgender issues.

They referenced an incident last year when a Laramie church elder targeted the transgender student with a sign in UWs student union before appearing at the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house to speak with the transgender student and members. Police were later called, and they issued the student a trespassing warning.

The sensitive facts involved in this case, as well as the strong likelihood that the nature of this lawsuit will result in threats and harassment from third-parties against individual students and their families, merit this Courts approval, the attorneys wrote.

Judge disagrees

Johnson denied their motion. He concluded that courts only grant anonymity under exceptional circumstances and their request did not meet the bar for matters of a highly sensitive and personal nature and real danger of physical harm.

The sorority members could face criticism, ostracism, and vitriol, but they opened themselves to that by filing a lawsuit in federal court, Johnson found. He judged that the public interest in the case ultimately outweighed the sorority members privacy concerns.

The bottom line is this. Lawsuits are public events, and the public, especially here, has an important interest in access to legal proceedings. Plaintiffs may not levy serious accusations without standing behind them, Johnson wrote. Our system of dispute resolution does not allow Plaintiffs to cower behind an anonymity shield, especially one that is so rarely bestowed in this District or Circuit.

Knepper and Craven appealed, again asking Johnson to allow the lawsuit to proceed anonymously. They cited recent national and state events to bolster their case, including the alleged attack of a swimmer by transgender rights activists at San Francisco State University, a Wyoming lawmaker's meme that was criticized for its violent overtones calling for the defense of transgender people and death threats against supporters and critics of transgender issues.

The attorneys insisted that the sorority members faced particular danger because the address of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house had been revealed online and people knew where they lived.

If the Courts standard for anonymity is that Plaintiffs must wait for personalized death threats and harassment before they can become anonymous, then the Court has eliminated protection for all litigants, they wrote.

In his second ruling denying anonymity on April 14, Johnson lamented that the sorority members did not show they faced real and personal danger and instead relied on the premise that they may face harassments and threats.

I yearn for the day where litigants seek their courts unburdened by the mere possibility of physical reprisal, he wrote.

Johnson again decided that the public interest outweighed the concerns of the sorority members in a case that could decide the legal standard on issues of gender identity and transgender rights.

"Plaintiffs have chosen to level accusations of impropriety against Defendants. They must now shoulder the burden of those accusations and walk in the public eye," he wrote.

PHOTOS: University of Wyoming community responds to breezeway incident University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming Riley Skorcz Todd Schmidt Todd Schmidt University of Wyoming
More than a month after signing a confidentiality agreement with the Bolivarian Republic, Trinidad and Tobago is no where closer to bringing much needed natural gas from Venezuela to these shores.

Sources in a position to know tell Express Business that the negotiations are at a standstill because the T&T government is awaiting to see what happens in Venezuela with respect to the present crackdown on corruption before it tries to engage the south American neighbour.
On Monday, Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon delivered remarks at the symbolic foundation-laying ceremony for The University of the West Indies (The UWI) chocolate factory. The event represents a significant milestone for The UWI in its commitment to commercialising its innovations in the cocoa and chocolate industry.

In addressing the audience, Gopee-Scoon highlighted that the chocolate manufacturing facility is a lucrative investment opportunity as it will build capacity in Trinidad and Tobago to meet the increasing international demand for high-value, premium cocoa and chocolate products.
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Pope Francis has presented fragments of the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified to form part of a new processional cross that will be used at the coronation of Britain's King Charles in May, according to Reuters.

(Photo: by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, poses with 'The Cross of Wales' ahead of a ceremony to bless the Cross at Holy Trinity Church in Llandudno, north Wales, on April 19, 2023. - The Cross of Wales, a new processional cross presented by King Charles III as a centenary gift to the Church in Wales, is set to be used to lead the King's Coronation procession at Westminster Abbey on 6 May.

The Cross

The new cross is made from recycled silver, paired with Welsh slate and reclaimed wood. It was a gift from the king to the Church in Wales to mark its centenary in 2020. It will lead the coronation procession at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6.

The cross also features two small shards from the relic that have been shaped into a cross behind a rose crystal gemstone. It is the personal gift of Pope Francis to His Majesty The King to mark the coronation.

After the coronation, the cross will be shared between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in Wales.

The design is said to speak to the Christian faith, heritage, resources, and commitment to sustainability.

Also read: Pope Francis Resigning? Here's Why Vatican Leader Has Already Signed His Resignation Letter

The Duty of the Pope

The Pope, as leader of the Catholic Church, has a duty to promote the faith and its relics, while the King's coronation represents a new era of leadership in his kingdom.

The shards of Christ's cross are said to hold great spiritual significance, as they serve as a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus for the salvation of humanity. The gift of these relics to King Charles is seen as a sign of the Pope's support for the new monarch and a blessing for his reign.

The Pope's gift of the shards of Christ's cross is also a reminder of the long and complex history of the relationship between the Catholic Church and European monarchies. For centuries, the Church played a crucial role in the coronation of kings and queens, and the presentation of holy relics was often a part of these ceremonies.

While the role of the Church in politics has diminished in recent years, the gift of the shards of Christ's cross is a reminder that religion and politics are still intertwined in many ways. It is also a reminder that the spiritual and the secular can work together to create a more just and compassionate society.

Overall, the gift of the shards of Christ's cross to King Charles is a momentous occasion that highlights the enduring importance of faith and tradition in modern society. As the world continues to evolve and change, it is important to remember the values and beliefs that have shaped our history and continue to guide us into the future.

Related article: Pope Francis: 5 Interesting Facts You May Not Know About the Pontiff

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A PENAL man was called out of his house by someone he knew and was shot and killed on Monday night.
It was Woodrow Wilson who insisted there is a need for transparency in government. He pointed out the people have a right to know what the true state of affairs is, and what their representatives were doing on their behalf. He said, Government ought to be all outside and no inside... Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.
Tucson-based Raytheon Missiles & Defense is ramping up production of a precision-guided smart bomb that will become standard ammo on several front-line fighter jets within a few years.

In late March, Raytheon was awarded a $320 million Air Force contract to produce and deliver 1,500 copies of the GBU-53B StormBreaker glide bomb, a network-enabled weapon that can hit moving targets at up to 45 miles in all weather conditions.

StormBreaker, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, has been in development for more than a decade, since Raytheon won a development contract worth up to $450 million in 2010.

The bomb went into low-rate initial production in 2015 as part of an operational testing program launched in 2018 and reached initial operating capability, or combat-readiness, on the Air Forces F-15E Strike Eagle in September 2020, about a year later than planned.

As part of the Air Force-led joint program, StormBreaker is undergoing testing on the Navys F/A-18 Super Hornet jets and the F-35B Lightning II, a carrier-based version of the Joint Strike Fighter flown by the Marine Corps.

However, the new bomb wont be fully fitted on the F-35 until after a major software upgrade to the plane is completed in 2025 or later.

Orders increased

Raytheon has already delivered more than 2,500 StormBreakers under earlier Air Force low-rate production contracts to produce 5,000 of the bombs, said Steve Milano, director of requirements and capabilities for air-to-surface weapons at Raytheon.

The latest Air Force order for 1,500 StormBreakers  which cost an average of about $232,000 last fiscal year, not including development costs  is the latest step toward full-rate production, he said.

Its good for the community, a lot gets done here, Milano said. We have suppliers all over the country, but all of the work gets done here, from the seeker head to final assembly, testing and delivery happens right here in Tucson. I see this being a program for Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force for a long time.

The Air Force and Navy initially planned to buy a combined 17,000 StormBreakers but that number was upped to more than 26,000 last year.

The glide bomb also has been initially tested on the F-16 Fighting Falcon and could be fitted in the future on warplanes including the F-22 Raptor.

There is also substantial international interest among allied nations that are buying the F-35, Milano said.

Australia, Germany, Norway and Finland already are working with Raytheon on plans to use StormBreakers for their F-35s, he said.

Its a fifth-generation weapon for a fifth-generation platform, and so as more international partners come up to speed youll see more come into the fold, Milano said.

Growing pains

Like many new weapon development programs, the StormBreaker had its share of delays and problems, including cost overruns in 2019 that triggered a notification to Congress.

Milano said the cost breach was caused by an error in calculations used in an incremental contract, which was updated to correct the issue.

In 2019, production was halted after Raytheon found a problem with clips that hold the bombs folding fins in place before they are deployed after launch.

The company developed a fix and was able to retrofit finished StormBreakers before they were delivered to the fleet, Milano said.

Other delays were caused by added program requirements for hardware and software, delays in F-35 development that affected the pace of bomb production orders, and the increase in projected orders, according to a May 2022 Pentagon acquisition report.

Milano said hes confident StormBreaker is now ready for action.

As you develop different weapons, youre going to run into these issues. The real question is how you respond to them, and weve got a great partnership with the Air Force and a great community of engineers here in Tucson that really take ownership of the quality of the products they deliver, Milano said.

Triple-threat seeker

The StormBreaker may prove well worth the wait, with its advanced capabilities.

Milano said the key to StormBreakers ability to hit moving and stationary targets in any weather is its tri-mode target seeker, which combines millimeter-wave radar, imaging infrared and semi-active laser sensors, in coordination with jam-resistant GPS and inertial navigation.

The bomb can also classify targets, and send and receive updated targeting information via a two-way, dual-band data link. The bomb can identify targets and present them as potential targets to pilots or ground controllers.

All those things come together to give the weapon a really great picture of the environment and give a lot of data back to the pilot or the user on the ground thats controlling it, Milano said.

The skinny bomb  roughly six feet long and about 7 inches in diameter  packs a punch with a 105-pound multi-effects warhead that includes a so-called shaped charge to penetrate armor.

StormBreakers small size limits collateral damage, while also allowing warplanes to carry more bombs to hit multiple targets.

Each weapon mount on a fighter jet that would fit one air-to-ground missile or bomb can fit four StormBreakers; the F-15E can carry 20, Milano said.

The F-35 will be able to carry eight StormBreakers in its internal weapons bay, which maintains the fighters stealthy profile, he said.

Milano said he expects the Navy to declare initial operating capability for StormBreaker on the F/A-18 sometime this year, noting that the weapon can hit moving maritime targets.

Despite lingering supply-chain issues across the defense and other industries, Milano said the company uses sophisticated supply-chain management tools to meet its production goals.

One of the ways we are using artificial intelligence and machine learning is actually in our supply-chain base models, to be able to predict where in the future we might have challenges based on material needs from multiple programs that are in production here in Tucson, Milano said, adding that a handful of local suppliers support the StormBreaker program.
Hundreds of students and performers are downtown for the La Frontera Tucson International Mariachi Conference at the Tucson Convention Center, April 19-23. Since 1983, it has been one of the nation's premiere events to train young musicians and dancers.

More than 900 students are enrolled in the Mariachi and Folklorico workshops this year.

The annual conference, which runs from through Sunday, is capped by the Espectacular Concert on Saturday, which includes performances by Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School alumnus Giselle-Paris Aubrey and Mariachi Vargas celebrating their 125th anniversary together with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

For more information, go to tucsonmariachi.org
PHOENIX  State lawmakers will move Tuesday to do something they havent done in more than 40 years: Override a governors veto.

The bill at issue, vetoed this week by Gov. Katie Hobbs, would legalize the sale of home-cooked tamales, empanadas and other foods.

Rep. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, said Wednesday that he will make a motion to enact his legislation, House Bill 2509.

Republican ire at Hobbs vetoes is nothing new. She is now up to 63 this session.

But this veto is different because the measure has broad bipartisan support. And Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, told Capitol Media Services she will vote to override the Democratic governor and urges colleagues to do the same, regardless of the political implications.

In the other legislative chamber, Senate President Warren Petersen said he also will try to line up the necessary votes to override, which is 20  two-thirds of the 30 senators. Given that the legislation garnered 25 votes before going to the governor, including those of nine of the 13 Democrats who were present, he thinks he can do that.

This legislation had a supermajority vote, Petersen said. Both Republicans and Democrats agreed this is good policy and in the best interest of Arizona.

In vetoing it, Hobbs said she feared it would significantly increase the risk of food-borne illness.

It fails to establish sufficient minimum standards for inspection or certification of home-based businesses, and could limit the ability of ADHS (Arizona Department of Health Services) to investigate food-borne disease outbreaks, Hobbs said.

Supporters say it includes safeguards

But Hernandez, who is a health-care consultant and a professor of health-care policy and innovation, said the governor fails to grasp that these are voluntary purchases.

You know when youre buying that that item was likely not cooked in a commercial kitchen, she said.

Hernandez also pointed out that HB2509 includes some safeguards to tighten up the sales practice  which is now going on regularly, albeit illegally.

The proposal would mandate anyone doing such home cooking to complete a food handler program from an accredited program and maintain active certification. It also would require the seller to register with the Arizona Department of Health Services.

There would be full disclosure, Hernandez noted, from the name and registration number of the food preparer, to a statement on the food label saying, This product was produced in a home kitchen that may process common food allergens and is not subject to public health inspection.

Hobbs spokesman Christian Slater did not specifically address the possibility of an override or the criticisms of her decision.

Gov. Hobbs is committed to supporting small businesses while prioritizing the health of everyday Arizonans, he said in a written statement. We will continue to work in a constructive way with legislators to accomplish both those goals.

Hernandez acknowledged that the veto by Hobbs  one of 11 issued the same day  really doesnt change anything. She said families who need the money will continue to make these items at home and sell them to willing buyers on the street or who come to their homes.

But they do so at a risk. Currently, you can be fined up to $500, Hernandez said.

And, if prosecuted for your crime of selling tamales or tortillas, you can go to jail for up to six months. People shouldnt have to live in fear to make an honest living.

She said this is about more than the sale of Mexican food.

Existing law already allows the sale of homemade baked goods. But Hernandez said the statutes and rules permitting that are overly restrictive.

For example, she said, it is permissible to sell cupcakes  but only if they have no frosting and are not filled.

Come on, lets be real, Hernandez said. Who would sell something on the street like just a regular piece of bread? That doesnt happen.

The Tucson Democrat said she reached out to the Governors Office after HB2509 was approved to urge Hobbs to sign it, leaving a message on the phone of Allie Bones, the governors chief of staff. Hernandez said there was no return call, though she conceded she didnt say in the message why she was calling.

None of this is political, she said.

I want everyone to understand that I am in no way attacking the governor for her other vetoes, Hernandez said. Im not going after her personally. I would have done the same thing if (Republican former Gov. Doug) Ducey had done this.

But Hernandez, first elected in 2018, did not have positive words for the 11 Democrats in the House and four in the Senate who declined to support the bill.

For some home cooks, the sales are a matter of survival, she said.

That lady you bought tamales on, whatever corner you were on in Phoenix, she is not selling the tamales for fun, Hernandez said. I guarantee you, she is selling the tamales to make an honest living and be able to provide for her family.

Its also personal. When my father was very ill, my mom, who is literally an educated woman from Mexico, could not work as a biochemist in Arizona when she moved here, Hernandez said. So what did she do? She resorted to making cakes that we would sell so we could get by.

Last override was in 1981

The last governor to face an override also was a Democrat, Bruce Babbitt.

In 1981, he vetoed congressional and legislative redistricting plans approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature, saying they dilute racial and ethnic minority interests in an unconstitutional and unlawful manner. Babbitt also said Republicans were trying to undermine then-U.S. Rep. Morris K. Udall by dividing Tucson, which he represented, into two districts.

The 60-member House, with 41 Republicans at the time, had no problem getting the necessary two-thirds vote for an override.
Researchers at AI Now Institute, a New York University (NYU)-based research organization, advised the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on technology matters, as reported by YahooNews.

(Photo: by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Apple employees cheer next to Chief Executive Officer of Apple Tim Cook (C) and Apple's Senior Vice President of Retail and People Deirdre O'Brien (2R) during the opening of New Delhi's first Apple retail store at a mall in New Delhi on April 20, 2023.

The researchers said that the boom of AI means now is the perfect time to do something about it. Based on their report detailed the impact of Big Tech on AI development, in which it founds that AI development has been "foundational reliant" on resources controlled by Big Tech, such as data and computing power.

The researchers also reported that Big Tech had been positioned as an important part of the US-China race. Much of the narrative around AI development was formed by Big Tech. Now, they believe that this narrative is beneficial for large companies and influences a lot of policymakers to think about technology.

A Meaningful Reform in the Tech Industry

The researchers call for a better concentration of power. This is considering that tech titans are competing with startups and small players. The difference is that the tech giants have access to resources and data not available to outsiders.

Also read: Supreme Court To Hear Case Targeting Tech Giants' Immunity from Lawsuits

The Competition in the AI Market

Researchers want to find a way to encourage competition and lessen reliance on Big Tech. They believe that we shouldn't let companies be the leaders in this conversation, and it's for the regulator and the public to define the future of AI.

They presented some policy suggestions that will discourage further entrenchment of Big Tech. One is data minimization, which means companies will only be allowed to gather necessary data and nothing else. They also suggested better enforcement of antitrust laws.

Furthermore, the researchers proposed the creation of a regulatory body that will oversee AI development and deployment.

This entity will ensure that AI is used for the common good, not just for the profit of a few companies. They also suggested that the government should invest in AI research and development to create a more level playing field for startups and small players.

The researchers believe that AI has the potential to change the world, but a few companies should not control it. By encouraging competition and creating a regulatory body, we can ensure that AI is used for the greater good, not just a few's profits.

In recent years, the dominance of Big Tech has become increasingly apparent in various industries. This is especially true for AI development and deployment, where a few companies hold significant power and influence over how this technology is used.

While there are benefits to having these large companies drive innovation in AI, it also poses risks, such as potential bias or lack of diversity in data sets used for training algorithms. Additionally, their control over the market can stifle competition from smaller players who may have innovative ideas but lack the resources to compete.

A collaborative effort between governments, businesses, researchers/academia, and civil societies towards creating ethical standards & guidelines around ai usage would foster transparency, leading us toward safer implementation.

It should be noted: The future success story regarding Artificial Intelligence relies heavily on balancing economic interests alongside societal demands -this requires participation from regulators and every stakeholder involved!

Related article: Bloomberg to Bring GPT-like AI Into Terminal Software Services

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tucsons Davis-Monthan Air Force Base will become home to a new special-operations wing as its A-10 Warthog ground-support jets are finally retired over the next few years, under a new Air Force plan.

Local officials were recently briefed on the plan, which would establish a new power projection wing under the Air Force Special Operations Command at D-M, joining the bases related combat search and rescue mission.

Tucson-area leaders have been anxious about what will happen to D-M as the Air Force looks to retire its biggest flying mission  three squadrons of A-10 Thunderbolt II jets  by the end of the decade with no clear replacement mission in sight.

Now, a new mission is in the works.

At the urging of Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Tucson) and other Arizona lawmakers, Air Force officials recently briefed local government officials and D-M supporters on a plan to establish a new wing of the Air Force Special Operations Command at D-M.

The Pentagons proposed fiscal 2024 budget includes $5 million in funding for an Environmental Impact Statement and an area development plan to establish the 492nd Power Projection Wing at Davis-Monthan. The Air Force also plans to increase combat search and rescue operations at the base.

An Air Force Site Activation Task Force has already begun work to determine requirements and plan the transition for the new wing.

The head of the DM50, a Tucson support group for the base, said the new mission helps ensure the future of D-M and its billion-dollar contribution to the local economy for decades to come.

Were very optimistic about the future of D-M, DM50 chairwoman Linda Morales said. From what weve been told its an enduring, 30-year-plus mission for D-M, and its no loss of personnel, so it maintains the personnel levels, the economic impact that weve enjoyed.

The last economic impact study on D-M in 2017 found the base had a $2.6 billion overall annual impact on the Tucson economy, including about $1 billion in direct impacts.

Good fit

The Special Operations and search and rescue units also will have less impact on the community than replacing the A-10s at D-M with F-16s or F-35s, which are both significantly louder than the A-10 and other aircraft based at D-M.

D-M has been passed over as a base for the F-35, most recently in 2020 when it was a finalist to host an Air Force Reserve squadron of the fifth-generation fighter jet.

An Air Force environmental study showed that under one scenario, an estimated 1,506 people living near D-M would experience increased average noise levels of 65 decibels or more  a threshold the Air Force says can make an area incompatible for residential use.

The Air Force Special Operations Commands flying units operate fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, including the CV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft; various versions of the Hercules transport including AC-130 gunships, the EC-130 Commando Solo broadcast platform and MC-130 variants; as well as smaller reconnaissance and operations planes and the MQ-9 Reaper drone.

I think its a good fit for Tucson, and I think its going to be a pretty seamless adjustment because its not the louder fighter jets, Morales said.

Morales said Air Force officials have said they also plan to follow through with earlier plans to move some combat search and rescue units to D-M from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Michael Guymon, president and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce, said the local economy is heavily reliant on aerospace and defense, and D-M is part of that.

Any new operation, any new expansion of activities at the base is good for Tucson and good for Southern Arizona, said Guymon, who is a D-M honorary commander and sits with Morales on the board of the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance.

Lobbying effort

In early April, Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Reps. Ruben Gallego and Juan Ciscomani wrote to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, urging him to work closely with the Arizona congressional delegation and the Tucson community to secure the long-term future of D-M.

Given the advantages the base offers to the Air Force, from its very favorable year-round flying conditions and considerable range space to its proximity to leading defense industry partners, it should and must maintain a critical role in our national defense, the letter said.

The Air Force has been trying to retire the A-10 since at least 2015, when it floated a plan to replace three squadrons of A-10s at D-M with F-16 fighters by 2019, arguing the slow-flying, 1970s-era Warthog would not survive in the contested airspace of potential future conflicts.

But lawmakers led by the late Sen. John McCain and former Sen. Martha McSally, a former A-10 pilot, blocked those retirement plans year after year, arguing that there was no ready replacement for the A-10 for its dedicated task of close air support of ground troops and pressing the Pentagon to complete a needed A-10 wing-replacement program.

Shifting plans

In 2021, members of Congress led by Kelly blocked an Air Force plan to retire 42 A-10s, including 35 at D-M, as part of a larger plan to create a center of excellence for combat search and rescue at the Tucson base, which already hosts a search-and-rescue group.

But the Air Force said that plan was conditioned on being able to start retiring D-Ms A-10s, so the deal was off, dismaying some local officials who saw the new search-and-rescue center as a way to guarantee D-Ms long-term future.

Last year, Congress as part of the fiscal 2023 Pentagon budget allowed the Air Force to move ahead with a plan to retire 21 A-10s. Those will come from an Air National Guard base in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which will get an equal number of F-16 fighters.

The Pentagon in its fiscal 2024 budget has asked to retire 42 more A-10s, including 35 at D-M, among more than 300 older aircraft it wants to mothball.

The Air Force wants to free up funding to buy more F-35s and F15-EX fighters, as well as new tankers, utility helicopters and airborne communications planes.

The planned cuts would winnow the A-10 fleet down to 218 planes, and while wing replacements could keep many of those remaining A-10s flying into the 2030s, a top Air Force official recently said the service will move to accelerate retirements to eliminate the entire fleet in five or six years.

D-M hosts one active-duty combat A-10 squadron, the 354th Fighter Squadron, as well as an active-duty A-10 training squadron and an Air Force Reserve A-10 training squadron.

D-Ms 355th Wing also hosts the 563rd Rescue Group, which operates HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, the HC-130J Combat King II plane, as well as two squadraons of pararescue specialists, known as PJs; and related maintenance and support units.

The rescue units often train with A-10s, who have long provided close air support to rescue missions.

Based at Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle, the Air Force Special Operations Command often trains with combat rescue units, and it commanded all of the continental Air Force search-and-rescue units from 2003-06, as part of a realignment related to the Global War on Terror.

After shifting back to the Air Combat Command, those units including the 563rd Rescue Group are now under the 355th Wing.

Multi-mission base

D-M, which won the prestigious Commander in Chiefs Installation Excellence Award in 2012 and 2018, also hosts the 55th Electronic Combat Group; the headquarters of the 12th Air Force; and the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the Air Forces main boneyard for retired aircraft.

D-M also supports Border Patrol aviation and Air National Guard drone, homeland security and training missions.

The 55th Electronic Combat Group, which was continuously deployed during the conflicts in the Middle East, has up to now conducted aerial surveillance and jamming using about a dozen EC-130H Compass Call planes  converted versions of the workhorse Hercules transport.

The Air Force is in the process of transitioning the group to use converted Gulfstream 550 business jets known as EC-37Bs, the first of which are set to enter service later this year as the 55th Electronic Combat Group is expected to stay at D-M.
At least two people have been killed by a severe round of storms in Cole, Oklahoma, a local official told CNN.

And the death toll could possibly climb as crews in the small town of about 600 people continue their search and rescue efforts, Deputy Scott Gibbons at the McClain County Sheriff's Office added. First responders are also dealing with multiple reports of people trapped inside shelters.

More than half a dozen confirmed tornadoes struck the US across three states Wednesday evening as powerful storms battered communities with dangerously large hail and damaging winds.

The storms were reported across Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa, with Oklahoma appearing to be the hardest-hit with at least four confirmed tornadoes rolling through the state and knocking out power for about 20,000 homes and businesses.

The most significant tornado rolled through Cole, Oklahoma, a town home to more 600 people about 30 miles south of Oklahoma City.

Emergency officials in McClain County -- where hard-hit Cole is located -- said crews were responding to injuries and some people were trapped in shelters, according to a Facebook post.

About 60 miles east of Cole, a large and very dangerous tornado was confirmed in Shawnee, a city of about 30,000 people in Pottawatomie County. The storm was moving erratically north of the city around 10 p.m. CT, the National Weather Service in Norman said.

The Pottawatomie County emergency management agency warned residents not to leave their homes to observe the damage to their hometowns, noting that hinders response efforts.

"There is tremendous amounts of ponding on areas storms have come through so please do not drive through the water!" the agency said.

Similarly, officials at Oklahoma Baptist University -- located in Shawnee -- urged students not to be outdoors.

"Due to the damage inflicted on campus from the tornadoes, remain inside if safe and do no wander around campus. Administration is assessing the situation and will follow up with next steps," the university said on social media.

At least 14 tornado reports in 3 states

In addition to the reports of tornadoes in Oklahoma, four tornado reports were recorded Iowa and three in Kansas -- for a total of at least 14 tornado reports in the US on Wednesday.

Of those reports, two tornadoes in Iowa and one in Kansas have been confirmed.

Earlier Wednesday, a tornado watch was in effect for western Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The prediction center warned that "severe thunderstorms with the potential for very large hail, a risk for a couple of tornadoes, and severe gusts will be possible late Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night across parts of the central states."

Wednesday's extreme weather was also affecting other parts of Oklahoma.

"Severe thunderstorms continue to move northeast into Osage, Pawnee, Creek, and Okfuskee counties this evening. These storms are capable of producing large hail and damaging winds, with a limited tornado potential, along west of Hwy 75," the National Weather Service in Tulsa said.

On Thursday, the severe storms threat is expected to shift to the east to include eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Missouri and much of Arkansas.

The-CNN-Wire
State Sen. Wendy Rogers has obtained a court order against a reporter trying to confirm where she lives.

Rogers got Flagstaff Justice of the Peace Amy Criddle to issue the order Wednesday enjoining Camryn Sanchez, an Arizona Capitol Times reporter, from approaching her at her home. Rogers complained to the judge that Sanchez had gone to two of her houses, one in Tempe and one in Chandler.

Sanchez was checking reports Rogers was not living at the address she claimed in Flagstaff but at one of the other two sites, according to the newspaper.

Neither of the two properties is in Rogers legislative district.

Rogers told the judge she had previously told Sanchez not to approach her in the Senate.

A spokeswoman for Senate President Warren Petersen, Kim Quintero, said he approved the chambers sergeant at arms telling Sanchez not to go up to Rogers on the Senate floor.

But Quintero said Petersen has no intention of limiting the reporters activity or revoking the privileges reporters possess to be on the Senate floor.

She acknowledged that Petersen was the one who suggested Rogers seek an injunction because she fears for her safety.

Neither Sanchez nor her editors would comment Thursday.

Rogers, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, issued a statement late Thursday in which she acknowledged she has two homes in the Phoenix area, both outside her legislative district. The Republican legislator also said she does not know Sanchez personally and dont know what she is capable of.

Also late Thursday, Petersen released a statement that could be read as essentially inviting other legislators, approached by reporters outside of the Senate, to seek similar court order.

Everyone deserves privacy in their personal residences without worrying about reporters repeatedly showing up unannounced, he said.

Rogers, presenting what she said was doorbell camera footage, had asked Criddle to keep Sanchez away from her at all times and all places.

The judge only barred Sanchez from going to the senators home, though the order does not specify which residences that applies to.

According to the newspaper, Sanchez was looking into whether Rogers lives in a mobile home on West Historical Route 66, the address listed on her nomination papers, or was instead residing at one of the other two addresses.

That followed an investigation of public property records showing that Rogers and her husband bought a home in Chandler in January and signed a trust document saying she lived in Tempe.

Neither property is within Legislative District 7. The sprawling district runs from Williams through part of Flagstaff, east to Snowflake and then south through Payson, Miami, Apache Junction and all the way to San Manuel.

The newspaper said Sanchez went to the Chandler and Tempe residences in an attempt to speak with neighbors to find out whether Rogers lived at either address. The paper also said she wanted to ask Rogers why the document title she signed stated she resided in Tempe.

The possession of multiple residences is neither a violation of state election laws nor a finding that a legislator does not live where stated. Instead, courts routinely rely on statements from lawmakers of their intention.

Rogers, in filing her nomination papers, said last year she had been a resident of the district for six years. A state constitutional provision says elected officials must be registered voters in the political division they represent.

Requirements to reside in the district aside, the question of where a lawmaker lives also has financial implications.

Under state law, lawmakers who live in Maricopa County are entitled to $35 a day for every day the Legislature is in session. That includes weekends and holidays.

But those from the other 14 counties get an allowance equal to what the federal General Services Administration lists as travel expenses for federal employees visiting Maricopa County. That is currently $151 a day for lodging and an additional $69 daily for meals and incidentals.
A federal appeals court has ruled the Biden administration has the power to require the state or any Arizona company with a federal contract to vaccinate all of its workers against COVID-19.

In a 50-page ruling, the three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims first brought by former state Attorney General Mark Brnovich that the executive order went beyond the scope of the presidents authority. Instead, the judges said Biden was justified in imposing the vaccine mandate to ensure that those with federal contracts, which in Arizona includes state universities, perform their work efficiently and on time.

And the court rejected claims by Brnovich, who at the time was running for U.S. Senate, largely on his disagreements with  and lawsuits against  the Biden administration on the vaccine mandate and multiple other issues. Brnovich said the mandate violated state sovereignty.

A spokesman for Kris Mayes, the current attorney general, said Thursday the office is reviewing the ruling before deciding whether to file further appeals.

The 1949 federal Procurement Act allows the president to issue directives to create an economical and efficient system to ensure the government gets the items and services it needs.

Biden cited that authority in 2021 to require that contractors who work on or in conjunction with federal government projects to be vaccinated to promote economy and efficiency in those projects. And it directed federal agencies to include such clauses in contracts.

Brnovich sued. He even got U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi last year to block the presidential directive.

In an extensive ruling, Liburdi scoffed at the sheer scope of the presidents claimed authority, saying that buying Bidens argument would give the president almost unfettered power to interfere with private employment.

If, for example, the president determined that obesity, diabetes, and other health issues were linked to the consumption of sugary drinks and fast food, and that such health issues led to absenteeism and a lack of productivity in the workplace, he could, on (the administrations) reading, issue an executive order requiring all federal contractor employees to refrain from consuming soda or eating fast food, the judge wrote. But in reality, the presidents authority under the (procurement) act is not so broad.

Liburdi did not dispute that the pandemic would have some impact on federal contracts. But that, he said, does not make the Biden policy lawful.

But Judge Mark Bennett, writing for the three-judge appellate panel, said those conclusions were wrong.

It starts, he wrote, with the public health emergency first declared in early 2020. Bennett cited figures of more than 100 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 1.1 million deaths.

And he said the pandemic triggered the greatest worldwide recession since the end of World War II.

At the same time, the director of the Office of Management and Budget determined that a vaccine mandate would decrease the spread of COVID-19, which in turn decreases worker absence, saving labor costs on net, and thereby improve efficiency in federal contracting. That became the basis for Bidens mandate.

Bennett said all that falls within the authority of the 1949 law.

It is axiomatic that federal contracts will be performed more economically and efficiently with fewer absences, the judge wrote.

He acknowledge that analysis might be different if the pandemic were not so serious.

But unfortunately the president did not face that hypothetical, Bennett said. The president faced a pandemic the likes of which the world has not seen in more than a century.

He also rejected any arguments that upholding the Biden order would open the door to other mandates on federal contractors, like requirements they certify that their employees take daily vitamins, live in smoke-free homes, exercise three times a week or even take birth control to reduce absenteeism related to childbirth and care.

We reject these invitations to adjudicate slippery-slope hypotheticals, Bennett wrote. In our system of government, courts base decisions not on dramatic Hollywood fantasies but on concretely particularized facts developed in the cauldron of the adversary process and reduced to an assailable record.

Anyway, he said, the Procurement Act clearly says the president can only implement policies and directive he considers necessary to ensure an economical and efficient system for procurement and contracting.

While a future president might try to analogize soda soda consumption to a worldwide pandemic in issuing an executive order under the Procurement Act, we will leave consideration of that hypothetical executive order to a future court, Bennett said.

Liburdi, in issuing the injunction last year, said there was another flaw in the presidents action.

He said that the U.S. Constitution generally reserves police power to the state. And that, Liburdi said, is defined as the authority to provide for public health, safety and morals.

This traditional police power includes authority over compulsory vaccination, he wrote. It also includes, as a general matter, power to prohibit vaccination from being compelled.

The appellate judges werent buying that, either.

Even if the mandate did regulate health and safety, the federal government does not invade areas of state sovereignty simply because it exercises its authority in a manner that displaces the states exercise of their police powers, Bennett said.

In ruling against Brnovich, the appellate judges also pointed out this is hardly the first time a president has used the Procurement Act to regulate actions of contractors.

For example, they cited a 1971 ruling by a different appellate court upholding an executive order requiring contractors to commit to affirmative action programs. In that case, the court said it was legal because the economy would be improved by preventing government suppliers from increasing labor costs by excluding available workers from the labor pool.

Another appellate court upheld an order by President Jimmy Carter requiring federal contractors to adhere to price and wage guidelines.

President George W. Bush cited the Procurement Act in requiring government contractors to post notices at their facilities informing workers of their labor rights. He also issued a separate executive order requiring federal contractors to use the E-Verify system to confirm that workers were in this country legally.
A heartbeat away

John Nance Garner, FDRs vice president for his first two terms, famously described the Office of Vice President as not being worth a warm bucket of spit. Some historians say he used a more colloquial term for another bodily fluid.

At any rate, the more I hear Mike Pence make mealy-mouthed statements about his former bosss politically charged prosecutions or his impeachment over a simple phone call and see the hypocritical refusal to honor legitimate subpoenas while professing respect for the rule of law, the more Pence is proving his own worth for history.

A. Lawrence Glynn

East side

Who deserves the right to life

Re: the March 16 article Bill could give S.C. women death penalty for getting an abortion.

Weve entered a topsy-turvy world in the wake of Roe v. Wade. To the astonishment of the rationally minded, a lawmaker in South Carolina places women in jeopardy of facing the death penalty for having an abortion by proposing pro-life legislation that assigns a higher right-to-life to the unicellular organism formed at conception than the woman in whose body it resides, all the while failing to grasp the irony.

With roughly 30% of all pregnancies terminating spontaneously and most of those due to genetic aberrations, this law effectively grants greater priority to natures doomed failures than to living women.

With federal protection now defunct, the triumph of this upside-down morality could well presage the advent in some jurisdictions of an agenda of even greater provincial oppression, such as abolishing contraception altogether to ensure the rights of the yet-to-be conceived.

Nature abhors a vacuum. How tragic that the void left by the departure of reason is so readily occupied by simple-mindedness.

Robert Gavlak

Midtown

Patients need patience

I recently spent two nights at TMC following a procedure. A great hospital. Many stays over the years have been made better by the fabulous staff.

TMC nurses and techs should be proud of their TLC, attention, thoughtfulness and expertise. Ive read letters from unhappy patients at TMC. Remember, you are not their only patient. One nurse is responsible for six to 10 people, all ringing for a warm blanket or pain shot (that only the doctor can prescribe)  all at once.

Nurses are people. Smile. Talk. Treat them as such, and they will reciprocate. Nurses will not ignore you, and your stay will go well. Nurses have patients; patients need patience.

I want to thank the nurses and techs who helped me this time. Alexa (pre-op), Daniel (surgical), Peter (transport), Lydia and Elizabeth (post-op), Kathleen, Jasmine, Wendy, Lisette and Liz.

Especially Dr. Andrew Wright (Arizona Urological).

Sheldon Metz

North side

Why now?

Check the copyright on banned books.

Two questions: Why now? What changed?

Eric Flohr

Midtown

North Vietnam

During the 1960s war in Vietnam, over 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives, and our government just announced we want to strengthen our relations with that country, thousands of miles away, still Communist, still not particularly concerned with human rights. No American soldiers died in the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s. They, too, are a Communist country not too interested in human rights, and they are less than 100 miles from our shore, yet we have no diplomatic relations with them, our neighbors, and we dont want to even consider ending our blockade of their country. Something is very wrong (and hypocritical) about all of this!

Bob Feinman

Foothills

Guns and people

Guns arent the problem. People are the problem.

Then why do you want the problem to have an AR-15 weapon?

George Mathes

Green Valley

Guns

I have lived in the USA for 40 years (Im a naturalized citizen). Im amazed that many of my fellow citizens feel they need military-style weapons to live safely in our country.

The USA has more guns than people. Most childrens deaths are from guns (not disease or illness). Whereas mass shootings grab headlines, most gun deaths result from accidental firing, domestic disputes, or other such incidents. The common factor? Guns!

If a country like Australia can buy back assault weapons and limit gun ownership, what is so exceptional about us that we cannot do likewise?

I suggest that too many politicians are beholden to the gun industry and its lobbyists.

If you, dear reader, wish to reduce gun deaths and eliminate our childrens fear of dying at school, the solution is clear  elect politicians who will ban assault weapons and pass sensible gun legislation.

Douglas Syme

Green Valley

Sinema is filling a gap

Everyone is asking what our independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is doing as she approaches her re-election campaign. I think shes being very smart. She realizes that the body politic has abandoned a huge, wealthy constituency  what we used to call the Establishment. Donald Trump kicked them out of the Republican Party, and they never felt comfortable with the Democrats. When Karrin Taylor Robson lost the GOP primary for U.S. senator to Kari Lake, the Establishment was kicked to the curb in Arizona.

These Country Club Republicans are up for grabs, and Sinema has her eyes on them and their checkbooks. She has actually been an effective first-term senator, relentlessly pushing for compromise while stressing how pro-business she is. Next to Sinema, Ron DeSantis looks like a delusional liberal when he battles a behemoth like Disney World.

Tired of culture wars and want to make money? Vote for Sinema.

John Vornholt

Northeast side

Our daughter, the schoolteacher

My daughter has been teaching elementary and middle school students for 15 years. She holds two masters degrees in education and is committed to her profession. Just after the recent Nashville shooting, which took the life of six innocents, including three children, she sent her mother and me the following:

Every teacher you know has a plan for an active shooter

Every teacher you know has walked into their classroom looking for blind spots

Every teacher you know has wondered how fast they can lock their door

Every teacher you know has had the talk about the spread out or group together method

Every teacher you know has thought about if they would fight or flight

Every teacher you know has walked past their classroom to see what it looks like from the outside

Every teacher you know has checked their windows to see the best way to open them

Every teacher you know has walked into another classroom and looked to see where the doors and windows are

Every teacher you know has thought about how to keep young kids quiet

This job is hard enough. Schools should be a safe haven for kids and teachers. Today I walked into my classroom and checked all the windows and made sure everything was in place ... just in case. Im so tired of it and something needs to change.

It breaks my heart to read this, and it breaks my heart that, for the sake of our citizens, especially our children, our leaders have failed to enact real and meaningful gun control.

Floyd Nobler

Foothills

Mifepristone and the Dark Ages





Science is science; politics is politics; religion is religion. When religion and politics invade science, it takes us back to the Dark Ages.

And that is exactly where the MAGA movement wants us to be.

Alan Rubens, MD
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Thank you, Gov. Hobbs.

Thank you for your veto of HB 2552.

HB 2552 was a bill to ban ranked choice voting in the state of Arizona. This is despite the fact that ranked choice voting is not currently used in Arizona. Those who are happy with the political status quo here in Arizona wish to stop ranked choice voting before voters can consider the benefits of this and other possible changes to how we conduct our elections. This is not surprising, as the current system works for them.

The problem is that the current system doesnt work for most Arizona voters.

In the 2022 elections, we watched the two major parties spend incredible amounts of money to run ad after ad of propaganda that preyed on peoples fears and biases, with the goal of imbuing the voter with an ever more us vs. them mentality. By sheer volume of mass messaging, through every conceivable variety of media type, the electorate was virtually forced to stew for months in a pot of boiling anger, invective, lies and half-truths.

With any semblance of rational discussion and debate blotted out by a blizzard of thrown mud, many voters went to the polls with a ridiculously low level of actual knowledge of the candidates or issues to guide their decision. By election day, many voters wished for the choice of none of the above, but as that was impossible, they voted for what they hoped was the least odious choice.

The election produced results that unsurprisingly, hardly anyone is happy with. Voters roll their eyes over the increasingly bizarre and out of touch actions of their representatives. Why should anyone be surprised? The current system favors extremists on both sides. These folks view compromise as capitulation, and they are more focused on feuding with the other party than on solving problems and serving the needs of most Arizonans.

This is how the 2022 elections played out, and a repeat performance in 2024 is likely. But what if 2024 is the last time Arizonans have to suffer through such an ugly process in choosing their representatives?

Groups such as Voter Choice Arizona, Save Democracy Arizona, and others are pushing for a constitutional initiative to improve the way we decide on our representatives in Arizona. These groups and the people in them come from a variety of political viewpoints, but are united in their belief that our current system is broken, and there are better options available.

An initiative is likely to include three common sense ideas. First, we can equalize the signature requirements for all candidates wishing to appear on the ballot, regardless of party. In our current system, Independent candidates need between two and six times as many signatures to get on the ballot as Republicans or Democrats.

Next, we need to switch to an open primary, where all candidates compete, and voters from all parties can vote. Under our current system, low turnout partisan primaries favor candidates who appeal to the most extreme of their party, severely limiting the choices the electorate has by the time everyone can vote in the general election.

Finally, we can adopt a ranked choice system to ensure that the winner in the general election has a majority of support. This system has the benefit of creating a natural disincentive to negative campaigning, as candidates will need to compete beyond their base in order to win.

Changing how we vote will not solve all of our problems, nor will any system we choose be perfect. Yet if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, one has to wonder how much worse off we could be? It is time to take the risk, and try for something better.

Thank you, Gov. Hobbs, for trusting voters to decide for themselves the future of elections here in Arizona.
PHOENIX  The University of Arizona will use a $1.7 million grant for breast cancer survivors and their partners to practice compassion meditation, researching whether the program can ease their anxiety, depression and sense of isolation.

The National Cancer Institutes grant will allow researchers to study whether the program, known as Cognitively Based Compassion Meditation, works to ease the emotional turmoil that often arises in patients and their caregivers, said Thaddeus Pace, principal investigator.

Researchers are trying to determine whether the method helps release stress on the immune system of survivors and their caregivers. A 2015 report on a pilot study conducted with a group of breast cancer survivors showed improvements in their mindfulness and ability to embrace the present moment without worrying about the cancer recurring.

Pace explained another study in 2019 indicated a possibility there may be something important about survivors bringing on partners who they see day in and day out.

We have gotten sort of positive reactions from survivors and partners who have taken part in the research with us, Pace said. They would recommend this activity to their friends and maybe even other cancer survivors and their families.

Cognitively based compassion meditation is designed to strengthen empathy, Pace said.

Its a meditation that is about our feelings for other people, as well as our feelings about ourselves, he said.

According to the University of Arizona College of Nursing, the method focuses on mindfulness and how someone connects with another person.

When the study gets underway in May, participants will attend a weekly session online for eight weeks. More studies will be done in the late summer, and then another group next spring.

Were hoping to reach out to survivors and partners across the state, and really across the United States, Pace said.

Sally Dodds, an instructor who has practiced meditation for more than 20 years, said the compassion sessions, which previously were in-person at UA, start with mental exercises. The survivors and caregivers are told to sit on a cushion or chair and ground their feet to the earth. The instructor then guides them to focus on their breath to eliminate random thoughts. After the sessions are complete, participants are encouraged to meditate on their own three times a week using the pre-recorded audio recordings given to them at the end of each week.

Its about self awareness and observing how it works  taking a look internally at how your mind operates, Dodds said. These techniques will help you make decisions about the habits you have in your thinking.

When the participants show up for the next meditation session, instructors will collect feedback on what did and did not work.

CBCT (Cognitively Based Compassion Training) starts off with helping people to focus their attention and be mindful in the present moment, Pace said. Then, after those skills in the first couple weeks, you start to explore these concepts of self compassion and how you react to yourself in a social world.

We wanted to focus on breast cancer survivors because they go through a difficult process and are left with tremendous challenges, Dodds said.

Dodds recalls a woman in her class who had just gone through treatment and was struggling to hold down a job and manage three kids, straining her marriage.

She came into class and said, I had the best thing happen while on my way to work the other morning. My husband called and said, I just wanted to tell you that since youve been meditating, how much easier its been to be around you, and how much I really love you,  Dodds said.

The benefits of compassion meditation, Dodds said, radiate onto the people around them.
The world-renowned Russian feminist protest and performance art group Pussy Riot is coming to Circle Cinema for an evening of film and conversation Sunday, May 7.

The event is presented with the Woody Guthrie Center, which will recognize Pussy Riot as the recipient of the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize the night before.

Circle Cinema members will have an exclusive meet and greet from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. before the public event at 7 p.m. Members of the group will discuss their work and take questions from the audience between film and music clips spanning their career. Tulsa music promoter Julie Wenger Watson will serve as moderator. Tickets ($20 for Circle members; $25 non-members) are on sale at circlecinema.org.

Pussy Riots message has never been more relevant, and we are proud to join the Woody Guthrie Center in welcoming the group to Tulsa, Circle Cinema executive director Brent Ortolani said in a news release. We strive to make events more than just a movie, and our members will have a great opportunity to meet the band and learn more about what they do to stand against fascism.

The Russian punk-rock protest group was founded in 2011 and gained recognition for arrests over public protests in Russia against Vladimir Putins policies. The news release said their music and work promoting feminism, LGBTQ+ rights and denouncing fascism continue to inspire activists around the world.

Seating for the member meet and greet is limited to the first 50 RSVPs. For more information, call Circle Cinema member manager Jody McIntyre at 918-585-3456.

The Woody Guthrie Prize will be awarded at a Saturday, May 6 Cains Ballroom event. For tickets, go to cainsballroom.com.
One of the most critical urban Mexican acts currently touring, Fuerza Regida will bring its 18-city Otra Peda Tour to Tulsa for an Aug. 19 show at BOK Center. For tickets, go to bokcenter.com.

VIP packages may include premium tickets, exclusive access to a pre-show soundcheck, a meet & greet and photo op, a pre-show VIP lounge and more. For more information, visit vipnation.com.

Fuerza Regida kicked off 2023 with its first No. 1 single (Bebe Dame) on Billboards Hot Latin Songs chart alongside Grupo Frontera and sold out BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, the first stop on the upcoming tour.

In addition to selling out its first stadium show, Fuerza Regida released 10 new music videos in March, including the hits Dijeron Que No La Iba a Lograr and Que Se Te Quito. The 10 clips have accumulated more than 50 million streams on YouTube.
China International Consumer Products Expo further shares Chinese opportunities with world

16:07, April 20, 2023 By Zou Xiang ( People's Daily

Photo shows the crowded Italy pavilion at the third China International Consumer Products Expo, April 14, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Shi Zhonghua)

The third China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) was held in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan province between April 10 and 15.

The expo had an exhibition area of 120,000 square meters this year, up 20 percent from the previous edition. More than 3,300 brands from 65 countries and regions were displayed at the event, and over 1,000 products under 300 global brands made their debut.

These figures indicate the CICPE's influence, as well as the huge attractiveness of the Chinese market.

China has always been committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursued a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. It strives to create new opportunities for the world with its own development.

The CICPE offered a broad platform for global enterprises to showcase themselves. It is an important channel for them to better connect with the Chinese market and share development opportunities.

China boasts a huge and multi-tier compound consumption market featuring rapid growth. Last year, China imported consumer goods worth 1.93 trillion yuan ($280 billion), up over 100 percent from 2012, and the import via cross-border e-commerce grew 4.9 percent year on year to 560 billion yuan.

Swiss watches are exhibited at the third China International Consumer Products Expo, April 14, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Junqi)

China has hosted a number of grand trade fairs over the recent years, including the China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, the China Import and Export Fair and the CICPE, creating massive opportunities for global enterprises to enter the Chinese market and share China's development achievements. These events have made the Chinese market a shared market for all global players. It is believed that a more open China will inject even stronger impetus into the recovery of the global economy.

China cannot develop in isolation from the world, and the world also needs China for its development.

China's economy accounts for over 18 percent of the world's total, and its contribution to global economic growth averaged 38.6 percent during the 2013-2021 period. It is the world's largest trading country in goods and services, and boasts the world's largest and most complete industrial system as well as strong industrial supporting capacity. This is what makes China confident in its high-quality economic development, and an important reason for the international community to be optimistic about the country's economic prospects.

China will unswervingly open up to the outside world, no matter how the international situation may change. China will only open itself wider to the world. It will provide a better environment and better services to all. For global enterprises that are committed to developing in China, investing in China means a better future.

Cars manufactured by Lamborghini are exhibited at the third China International Consumer Products Expo, April 14, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Junqi)

Profound changes unseen in a century are evolving rapidly in the world. A new round of technological revolution and industrial reform is reshaping the global economic structure. Meanwhile, the world economic recovery remains sluggish and regional conflicts and disturbances are frequent.

Responsibility, cooperation, solidarity, openness and inclusiveness are particularly important in adversity. A successful CICPE proved that openness and cooperation are still the trend of history and win-win cooperation is still what people aspire to. Only through mutual assistance and win-win cooperation and jointly building an open world economy can countries achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the world economy.

The bird view of the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center, the venue for the third CICPE, looks like a sea gull spreading its wings to welcome guests from all over the world.

China's economic development in the past was achieved through opening up to the outside world; if it is to achieve high-quality economic development in the future, it must open up even wider.

On a new journey, China will strengthen open cooperation, build a closer economic tie with the rest of the world, keep improving trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, steadily expand institutional opening up, and foster a market-oriented and world-class business environment governed by a sound legal framework. It will surely bring more opportunities to other countries and inject more positive energy into global economic development.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
Storms and a tornado ripped over Oklahoma on Wednesday night, April 19, killing at least two people. Hail the size of ping pong balls and winds of up to 70 miles per hour were reported by the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

Relief organizations were scrambling to construct temporary shelters after houses and roads were devastated.

Residents Are Advised to Relocate

On its Facebook page, the McClain County Emergency Management team advised residents in the town of Cole, located approximately 25 miles south of Oklahoma City, to seek shelter. Specifically, it indicated that at 7:39 PM local time, a huge and highly dangerous tornado was seen above Cole and was headed east at 30 miles per hour.

A later statement said that two people had died and that rescuers were on their way to help injured people and others who were trapped in their houses.

It warned that huge hail, strong winds, and perhaps a few tornadoes might result from the impending severe weather. There are still isolated storms, but the general risk in Oklahoma is decreasing.

The Washington Post reported that several roadways, including highways, were shut down in Oklahoma after the tornado. Officials encouraged residents to seek shelter elsewhere.

PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks outages, said that as of Thursday morning, April 20, over 20,000 individuals in Oklahoma were without electricity. Emergency services were attempting to restore power.

Following tornado damage in Shawnee, Noble, and Washington in central Oklahoma, the Red Cross tweeted that it has opened shelters for anyone in need.

Also Read: Missouri: Strong Tornado Kills Multiple People; Search, Rescue Operations On-Going

Regular Classes Are Canceled

Meanwhile, the University of Oklahoma urged its students and employees to remain indoors and out of the storm.

"Although the tornado threat has moved east... dangerous lightning continues, and scattered lightning storms with heavy rain are still in the area. Localized flooding is occurring. Do not travel!" it stated in a Twitter post.

No casualties were recorded in Shawnee, but Oklahoma Baptist University reported major damage to its campus and stated it was moving students. Classes were postponed Thursday and Friday because of downed power lines and widespread debris.

Tornadoes Often Occur in the US

Although tornadoes may be found on every continent, the US sees more of them than any other country. It is the average between 1,150 and 1,200 every year.

Tornadoes are common in the US because the country's topography and climate provide the ideal conditions for the formation of these violent storms.

This month, deadly tornadoes killed 24 people and wreaked havoc throughout the South, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic. Experts on weather conditions have speculated that global warming may be responsible for the rise in frequency.

Also Read: Tornado Wrecks Mississippi, Killing At Least 26 People; Biden Vows Support For Victims

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
DeeDee Clapp said she could still hear her sons heart beating when she lay her head on his chest, but she knew he wasnt coming back.

Lundin Hathcock, 35, was brain-dead after being shot in the back of the head as he sat at a desk at Rudisill Regional Library on Tuesday.

He was one of two victims police say a shooter randomly targeted during a brief spree in north Tulsa. It ended at a nearby QuikTrip, where 55-year-old James McDaniel was also fatally shot and police took a suspect into custody.

Clapp and Hathcocks two sisters, as well as one of his grandmothers, made the drive to Ascension St. John Medical Center as soon as law enforcement contacted them in Wyandotte that afternoon.

Clapp described the following day as the roughest 24 hours of her life.

Im a cancer survivor, she told the Tulsa World in a phone interview Tuesday. And Ive never fought anything as hard as it is trying to hold his hand and see him through to this point.

Her voice quaking on the other end of the phone, Clapp said Hathcocks organs were expected to save about eight lives and likely give someone sight.

Knowing Hathcock as a precious soul, its something he wouldve wanted, Clapp said Wednesday.

He was so kind-hearted and so sweet, the mother said of her eldest son. Hed do anything for anybody, anything that he could to help them. Even if it was his only place to lay his head and they were total strangers, hed allow them into his apartment to rest.

Hes just going to be missed so much.

Hathcock grew up as a typical boy in a large family, Clapp said. He was smart and crafty and loved playing in the dirt, which later grew into a passion for construction and work as a skilled mason, she said.

He came to Tulsa about six months ago to find work after spending most of his life around Wyandotte and Miami, Oklahoma, and Joplin, Missouri, she said, and he loved the library. Hed often use computers at libraries to communicate, sending messages to family and friends, or to look for jobs, Clapp said.

Hathcocks little bit of a troubled past stemmed from a struggle with depression that grew as he did.

He had spots in his life that were hard, but he never quit, Clapp said. He just got to where hed think he could do it without his medication and then wouldnt take it and slip back (into depression and homelessness), but he always wanted to fight and get back up. He never wanted to quit.

Despite living a life on and off the streets, Hathcocks heart never hardened, Clapp said, and he got robbed many times because he was so trusting.

He didnt smile often, Clapp said, but when he did, it was the sweetest smile.

His teeth were messed up a little bit, so he didnt want anyone to see his teeth, Clapp said. But he grinned. He was always grinning.

Of the many happy memories that had surfaced as she sat at his bedside, one stood out: the first time he held his first niece. Hathcock never married and had no children.

He was so proud and so happy, she said. He just sat there and almost glowed that he was an uncle.

What happened isnt fair, Clapp said, but it just is what it is now, and (Hathcock)s in Gods hands.

She said she and her family are praying for McDaniels family as they suffer the same, and as for the shooter, Clapp said, the Lord says forgive.

Hell still have to serve his time and face his consequences for his actions.
A Tulsa woman has been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Tricia Monique LaCount faces a four-count criminal complaint filed April 11 in Washington, D.C.-based federal court after charges were unsealed Wednesday, according to court records. She was booked into the Tulsa Jail on Tuesday, records show.

LaCount is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

An affidavit submitted in support of LaCounts arrest indicates that the FBI received a tip Jan. 8, 2021, that appeared to be a still image taken from a Facebook Live session recorded by LaCount. On the Facebook page, LaCount wrote that she was in Washington, D.C., walking to the Ellipse for the rally.

Another witness, a former neighbor of LaCounts, reported to the FBI that LaCount told her she planned to drive to Washington, D.C., to take part in then-President Donald Trumps Stop the Steal rally.

The FBI interviewed the second witness Feb. 9, 2022. That person identified LaCount from a series of photographs taken by surveillance cameras inside the U.S. Capitol.

A search warrant served on Meta Platforms Inc. for Facebook records pertaining to LaCount revealed that she communicated with others during the breach, according to the affidavit.

You got in the Capitol? one user asked LaCount.

Absolutely! LaCount responded, according to the affidavit.

Later, LaCount in the same conversation thread allegedly wrote: Pelosis office is so gaudy  massive chandelier, beautiful fireplace  MSNBC live was on every laptop, according to the affidavit.

LaCount entered the Capitol through the Senate wing door about 2:16 p.m., about three minutes after the initial breach of the door, the affidavit states. She remained inside the Capitol for about one hour and 15 minutes, according to the affidavit.

LaCount was released on her own recognizance pending her next court appearance.

Video: Specific violent details revealed in video of Jan. 6 attackers

5 takeaways from the Jan. 6 report 1. Eight chapters 2. New details, pressures 3. Behind the scenes 4. Safeguarding democracy 5. Record for history
In honor of 4/20, which some recognize as a marijuana holiday, here's a look back at Oklahoma's history with it.

December 2014: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt joined Nebraskas Jon Bruning in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to declare Colorados legalization of marijuana unconstitutional.

May 2015: A medical pilot program using cannabidiol  a nonintoxicating derivative of marijuana  was approved in a bill signed by Gov. Mary Fallin.

June 2018: 57 percent of voters passed State Question 788 in June 2018. The measure made it legal to use, sell and grow marijuana for medicinal purposes.

State Question 788 went into effect in 2018, but there are some things still illegal under Oklahoma's medical marijuana laws.

January to July 2020: The state and local taxes from Oklahoma medical marijuana exceeded $80 million.

September 2020: The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down an initiative petition seeking to legalize recreational marijuana.

December 2020: Medical marijuana sales tax boosts Tulsa coffers amid COVID-19 revenue losses; city on track to collect $4.8 million in sales tax on the sale of medical marijuana through June 2021.

August 2022: A two-year moratorium on new medical marijuana grower, dispensary and processor licenses begins in Oklahoma.

March 2023: Oklahoma voters reject question to legalize recreational marijuana.
OKLAHOMA CITY  A state appeals court on Thursday rejected a request to overturn the conviction of a high-profile death row inmate.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals punted on Attorney General Gentner Drummonds request to vacate Richard Glossips conviction, which, if approved, could have paved the way for the death row inmate to get a new trial.

Instead, the court set a May 18 execution date for the inmate who has spent almost 25 years on death row.

After an independent review of Glossips case cast doubt on his conviction, Drummond asked the appeals court to remand the case to district court.

Although Drummond said he is still considering his next steps after the ruling, he indicated he opposes proceeding with Glossips execution.

While I respect the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion, I am not willing to allow an execution to proceed despite so many doubts, Drummond said in a statement. Ensuring the integrity of the death penalty demands complete certainty.

Gov. Kevin Stitt could intervene if the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board votes next week to recommend clemency for Glossip.

An attorney for Glossip said he will file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Don Knight, Glossips attorney, said it is unconscionable for the Oklahoma appeals court to force the state to move forward with this execution despite Drummonds objections.

We cannot permit this longstanding injustice to go unchallenged and will be filing for review of this manifestly unjust ruling in the United States Supreme Court, Knight said in a statement. We ask all Oklahomans who believe in justice to stand with Mr. Glossip, and the State of Oklahoma, to stop this wrongful judicial execution.

Glossip was convicted of first-degree murder for allegedly orchestrating the 1997 beating death of his boss, Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese.

Glossip has long maintained that he was framed for Van Treeses murder. His attorneys claim that their client was set up by a motel maintenance man, Justin Sneed, who they argue killed Van Treese during a botched robbery and shifted the blame to avoid getting the death penalty himself.

In a 5-0 opinion, the appeals court concluded Glossips fifth application for post-conviction relief didnt include any new revelations that would warrant overturning his conviction.

This case has been thoroughly investigated and reviewed in numerous appeals, Judge David Lewis wrote in the opinion. Glossip has been given unprecedented access to prosecution files  yet he has not provided this Court with sufficient information that would convince the Court to overturn the jurys determination that he is guilty of first-degree murder.

The appeals court appears to dismiss Drummonds request that Glossips conviction be overturned because the attorney general made statements indicating he doesnt believe Glossip is innocent.

The State continues to believe that Glossip has culpability in the murder of Barry Van Treese, Drummond told the appeals court in an April 6 filing.

The Attorney Generals concession does not directly provide statutory or legal grounds for relief in this case, the opinion states.

State law is not designed to provide inmates with unlimited appeals on issues they have previously brought before the court. The appeals court is limited to reviewing claims of factual innocence and errors that could have changed the outcome of a trial, according to the opinion.

In the latest challenge to his conviction, Glossip does not present evidence to show that he is factually innocent, the opinion concludes.

Earlier this year, Drummond asked former prosecutor Rex Duncan to conduct an independent review of Glossips case. Duncans report said there was a decades-long failure in the case and that Glossip was deprived of a fair trial in which the state could be confident in the process and the result.

Among other things, the report questioned Sneeds credibility as a key witness in the trial to convict Glossip.

Sneed made material misstatements to the jury, Drummond said in his April 6 filing.

But the appeals court pushed back on that assertion in its opinion Thursday.

The court also refused to delay Glossips execution any further.

Drummond had previously sought a stay of execution until 2024 while Duncan worked on the independent review. An execution stay is not necessary because the review is complete, the court concluded.

Death row in Oklahoma: Pace of executions in 2023 slows on AG's request Richard Glossip Jemaine Cannon Anthony Sanchez Phillip Hancock James Ryder Michael D. Smith Wade Lay John Fitzgerald Hanson Oklahoma corrections director on execution: 'Not pleasant to watch, but ... not inhumane' Alfred Mitchell Marlon Harmon Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez Clarence Goode Jr. Emmanuel Littlejohn James Pavatt Kendrick Simpson Kevin Underwood Raymond E. Johnson Richard Rojem Ricky Malone Ronson Bush Termane Wood Wendell Grissom Check out our latest digital-only offer and subscribe now
With a view of the ocean and the My Khe Beach in central Da Nang City, along with a variety of beer styles and flavorful dishes in the coastal area, East West Brewing - a craft beer restaurant - is an addition to the premium Food & Beverage scene of Da Nang and an ideal destination for tourists traveling to Da Nang. East West Brewing sets foot in Da Nang East West Brewing, established in 2017, has made a hit with a new model  showrooms of craft beer. East West Brewings craft beer has been distributed to many outlets across Vietnam, including those in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc. The model has been developed in Da Nang, promising to bring an impressive craft beer restaurant and become an ideal destination for visitors at different age groups. The restaurant is located at 1A Vo Nguyen Giap Street and just steps from My Khe Beach with a view of the vast ocean and the long white sandy beach. The airy atmosphere is overwhelmed with sunlight, wind and sounds of waves; glasses of unique and refreshing craft beers; and bright, flavorful dishes that draw inspiration from the vibrant food scene of the coastal region  thus creating an unforgettable experience for all visitors that stop by. East West Brewing Da Nang covers an area of 1,000 square meters and is designed in the style of a world-famous brewery. With a capacity of 500 people, East West Brewing Da Nang is appropriate for events, such as birthdays, gratitude and year-end parties, gala dinners, and team building activities. The restaurant is an appropriate venue for many events. The restaurant is divided into four main areas, including an outdoor beach patio, main restaurant hall, a terrace, and two private rooms. Guests can enjoy glasses of locally made craft beer and diversified Western and Asian as well as traditional and modern dishes. The restaurant offers made-in-Vietnam handcrafted beer with ingredients carefully picked from localities in Vietnam and developed countries, such as the U.S., Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, providing a diversity of flavors. The restaurants menu includes diversified dishes and drinks. Loc Truong, director of East West Brewing, said We expect the restaurant to help add to the world-class F&B scene in Da Nang and contribute to the local tourism development following a trend of craft beer tourism in the world, thus connecting people from all cultures. If you have not been a lover of craft beer yet, you can visit East West Brewing Da Nang to experience the variety of craft beer offered as well as the endless space of the ocean there. It will definitely not disappoint you. Enjoying diverse craft beer styles Amidst the boundless space of the sea, you can enjoy a variety of different craft beer styles that suit your tastes. The outdoor beach patio of the craft beer restaurant. Customers can discover styles ranging from Pale Ales, Hefeweizens, India Pale Ales, Pilsners or Stout beers. Belgian Blonde and Belgian Dark are reserved for those who want to enjoy Belgian style craft beers, while Coffee Porter is decadent as it has a caramel-like flavor with an aroma of cold-pressed coffee. Despite the different styles of craft beer, they are crafted from fresh ingredients in a closely-controlled process. That explains why East West Brewings craft beer products have been honored with many prestigious international awards. Nine original craft beer styles from East West Brewing. Nine original kinds of craft beer of East West Brewing have been distributed to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, and convenience stores throughout Vietnam. With its ceaseless creativity, East West Brewing will offer more craft beers with various styles in the future. After 6 years, our goal remains the same, to represent Vietnam for a craft beer company and to brew high-quality world-class craft beers, Loc added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

With a view of the ocean and the My Khe Beach in central Da Nang City, along with a variety of beer styles and flavorful dishes in the coastal area, East West Brewing - a craft beer restaurant - is an addition to the premium Food & Beverage scene of Da Nang and an ideal destination for tourists traveling to Da Nang.

East West Brewing sets foot in Da Nang

East West Brewing, established in 2017, has made a hit with a new model  showrooms of craft beer.

East West Brewings craft beer has been distributed to many outlets across Vietnam, including those in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc.

The model has been developed in Da Nang, promising to bring an impressive craft beer restaurant and become an ideal destination for visitors at different age groups.

The restaurant is located at 1A Vo Nguyen Giap Street and just steps from My Khe Beach with a view of the vast ocean and the long white sandy beach.

The airy atmosphere is overwhelmed with sunlight, wind and sounds of waves; glasses of unique and refreshing craft beers; and bright, flavorful dishes that draw inspiration from the vibrant food scene of the coastal region  thus creating an unforgettable experience for all visitors that stop by.

East West Brewing Da Nang covers an area of 1,000 square meters and is designed in the style of a world-famous brewery.

With a capacity of 500 people, East West Brewing Da Nang is appropriate for events, such as birthdays, gratitude and year-end parties, gala dinners, and team building activities.

The restaurant is an appropriate venue for many events.

The restaurant is divided into four main areas, including an outdoor beach patio, main restaurant hall, a terrace, and two private rooms.

Guests can enjoy glasses of locally made craft beer and diversified Western and Asian as well as traditional and modern dishes.

The restaurant offers made-in-Vietnam handcrafted beer with ingredients carefully picked from localities in Vietnam and developed countries, such as the U.S., Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, providing a diversity of flavors.

The restaurants menu includes diversified dishes and drinks.

Loc Truong, director of East West Brewing, said We expect the restaurant to help add to the world-class F&B scene in Da Nang and contribute to the local tourism development following a trend of craft beer tourism in the world, thus connecting people from all cultures.

If you have not been a lover of craft beer yet, you can visit East West Brewing Da Nang to experience the variety of craft beer offered as well as the endless space of the ocean there. It will definitely not disappoint you.

Enjoying diverse craft beer styles

Amidst the boundless space of the sea, you can enjoy a variety of different craft beer styles that suit your tastes.

The outdoor beach patio of the craft beer restaurant.

Customers can discover styles ranging from Pale Ales, Hefeweizens, India Pale Ales, Pilsners or Stout beers.

Belgian Blonde and Belgian Dark are reserved for those who want to enjoy Belgian style craft beers, while Coffee Porter is decadent as it has a caramel-like flavor with an aroma of cold-pressed coffee.

Despite the different styles of craft beer, they are crafted from fresh ingredients in a closely-controlled process. That explains why East West Brewings craft beer products have been honored with many prestigious international awards.

Nine original craft beer styles from East West Brewing.

Nine original kinds of craft beer of East West Brewing have been distributed to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, and convenience stores throughout Vietnam.

With its ceaseless creativity, East West Brewing will offer more craft beers with various styles in the future.

After 6 years, our goal remains the same, to represent Vietnam for a craft beer company and to brew high-quality world-class craft beers, Loc added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnam saw 90 batches of its agro-fishery exports to Japan returned last year, nearly double the 2018 figure of 54, as most of the returned shipments failed to comply with the importers regulations on levels of banned substance residues, food safety and hygiene, among others. Do Quoc Hung, deputy head of the Asia-Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, revealed these figures at a seminar promoting trade ties between Vietnam and Japan as well as South Korea in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday. Japan has tightened its standards for imported products in recent years. Consequently, the number of shipments returned to Vietnam from Japan rose almost twofold to 90 in 2022 from 54 in 2018, Hung said. Aside from the agro-fishery sector, the textile-garment sector has encountered multiple obstacles as buyers demanded that textile-garment products should be of good quality, various designs and sizes, and eco-friendly nature. Meanwhile, Vietnamese exporters failed to stay updated on consumer demand, the latest marketing trends, or business strategies adopted by their rivals, leading to a limited volume of Vietnamese items shipped to Japan. Also, local exporters have yet to fully tap the growth potential of distribution channels, worsened by their weak management capacity, Hung said. If local exporters manage to overcome these obstacles, there will be more chances for Vietnamese products to penetrate the Japanese market and obtain further growth, Hung stressed. The trade official said that Japan imported US$23.8 billion worth of textile-garment products last year, of which the value of Vietnamese textile-garment items accounted for a mere 12.1 percent. Besides, Japans footwear imports totaled $44.5 billion, while Vietnam shipped $823 million worth of footwear products to the East Asian nation, equivalent to 18.2 percent, Hung added. Japan also spends $981 million each year buying fresh and fried bananas, but Vietnam makes up 0.6 percent of the market share, or exports $6.6 million worth of the fruit to Japan. Meanwhile, Vietnam has many competitive edges over its rivals thanks to the formers incentives obtained from free trade agreements such as AJCEP, VJEPA, CTTPP, and RCEP. Hung suggested local exporters and business associations ramp up their efforts to study tariff incentives linked to free trade pacts, seek more potential business partners, investors, and approach more distribution channels. They also need to enhance their competitiveness and management skills in terms of product origin and input materials. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnam saw 90 batches of its agro-fishery exports to Japan returned last year, nearly double the 2018 figure of 54, as most of the returned shipments failed to comply with the importers regulations on levels of banned substance residues, food safety and hygiene, among others.

Do Quoc Hung, deputy head of the Asia-Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, revealed these figures at a seminar promoting trade ties between Vietnam and Japan as well as South Korea in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.

Japan has tightened its standards for imported products in recent years.

Consequently, the number of shipments returned to Vietnam from Japan rose almost twofold to 90 in 2022 from 54 in 2018, Hung said.

Aside from the agro-fishery sector, the textile-garment sector has encountered multiple obstacles as buyers demanded that textile-garment products should be of good quality, various designs and sizes, and eco-friendly nature.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese exporters failed to stay updated on consumer demand, the latest marketing trends, or business strategies adopted by their rivals, leading to a limited volume of Vietnamese items shipped to Japan.

Also, local exporters have yet to fully tap the growth potential of distribution channels, worsened by their weak management capacity, Hung said.

If local exporters manage to overcome these obstacles, there will be more chances for Vietnamese products to penetrate the Japanese market and obtain further growth, Hung stressed.

The trade official said that Japan imported US$23.8 billion worth of textile-garment products last year, of which the value of Vietnamese textile-garment items accounted for a mere 12.1 percent.

Besides, Japans footwear imports totaled $44.5 billion, while Vietnam shipped $823 million worth of footwear products to the East Asian nation, equivalent to 18.2 percent, Hung added.

Japan also spends $981 million each year buying fresh and fried bananas, but Vietnam makes up 0.6 percent of the market share, or exports $6.6 million worth of the fruit to Japan.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has many competitive edges over its rivals thanks to the formers incentives obtained from free trade agreements such as AJCEP, VJEPA, CTTPP, and RCEP.

Hung suggested local exporters and business associations ramp up their efforts to study tariff incentives linked to free trade pacts, seek more potential business partners, investors, and approach more distribution channels.

They also need to enhance their competitiveness and management skills in terms of product origin and input materials.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnams leading position in cashew nut exports is being threatened by a surge in cashew kernel imports from Africa. Vietnam exports some US$3.5-3.8 billion worth of cashew nuts per year, taking the lead in the world for many consecutive years, Bach Khanh Nhut, vice-chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), said at a conference attended by leaders of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, trade associations, and enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday. The country imported nearly 10,200 metric tons of cashew kernels in the first two months of this year, equivalent to nearly 44,000 metric tons of raw cashew nuts. The respective figures were some 78,600 and 350,000 metric tons last year, higher than the volume of raw cashew nuts produced by Vietnam in a year, according to Vinacas. Cashew kernel imports were mainly from Africa. Importers of cashew kernels to Vietnam are mainly foreign direct investment enterprises, which have taken advantage of African countries incentives to develop cashew nut processing plants there. They later ship low-cost cashew nut batches to Vietnam for re-export. Meanwhile, it costs Vietnamese companies VND100-500 billion ($4.3-21.3 million) to build a cashew nut processing plant. Bach Khanh Nhut, vice-chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association, speaks at a conference attended by leaders of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, trade associations, and enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City on April 19, 2023. Photo: Tuoi Tre The prices of raw cashew nuts are high as Africa taxes raw cashew nut exports and exempts export duties on cashew kernels, Nhut said. The Vinacas representative added that if Vietnamese enterprises shift to import cashew kernels from Africa, they will complete only one to three final phases, or 20 percent of the processing lines, before exporting the products, thus wasting the investment in the processing lines and resulting in lay-offs. Nhut took India as an example, saying that the South Asian country levies a 25-percent tax rate on cashew kernel imports, hindering Vietnam from exporting the product to this market. Meanwhile, Vietnam has yet to take measures to protect local cashew nut production. We urgently propose the government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and relevant agencies to find out solutions," Nhut said. Negotiations are needed to ask African countries to exempt duties on raw cashew nut exports, ensuring fairness in competition. If the proposal is rejected, Vietnam should impose a 25-percent tax rate on cashew kernel imports like India to protect local cashew nut processors and exporters, Nhut added. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnams leading position in cashew nut exports is being threatened by a surge in cashew kernel imports from Africa.

Vietnam exports some US$3.5-3.8 billion worth of cashew nuts per year, taking the lead in the world for many consecutive years, Bach Khanh Nhut, vice-chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), said at a conference attended by leaders of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, trade associations, and enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.

The country imported nearly 10,200 metric tons of cashew kernels in the first two months of this year, equivalent to nearly 44,000 metric tons of raw cashew nuts.

The respective figures were some 78,600 and 350,000 metric tons last year, higher than the volume of raw cashew nuts produced by Vietnam in a year, according to Vinacas.

Cashew kernel imports were mainly from Africa.

Importers of cashew kernels to Vietnam are mainly foreign direct investment enterprises, which have taken advantage of African countries incentives to develop cashew nut processing plants there.

They later ship low-cost cashew nut batches to Vietnam for re-export.

Meanwhile, it costs Vietnamese companies VND100-500 billion ($4.3-21.3 million) to build a cashew nut processing plant.

Bach Khanh Nhut, vice-chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association, speaks at a conference attended by leaders of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, trade associations, and enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City on April 19, 2023. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The prices of raw cashew nuts are high as Africa taxes raw cashew nut exports and exempts export duties on cashew kernels, Nhut said.

The Vinacas representative added that if Vietnamese enterprises shift to import cashew kernels from Africa, they will complete only one to three final phases, or 20 percent of the processing lines, before exporting the products, thus wasting the investment in the processing lines and resulting in lay-offs.

Nhut took India as an example, saying that the South Asian country levies a 25-percent tax rate on cashew kernel imports, hindering Vietnam from exporting the product to this market.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has yet to take measures to protect local cashew nut production.

We urgently propose the government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and relevant agencies to find out solutions," Nhut said.

Negotiations are needed to ask African countries to exempt duties on raw cashew nut exports, ensuring fairness in competition.

If the proposal is rejected, Vietnam should impose a 25-percent tax rate on cashew kernel imports like India to protect local cashew nut processors and exporters, Nhut added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Vietnam has laid the initial foundations for domestic chip production, and the country has emerged as one of the top four Asian markets leading U.S. chip diversification, according to many local experts and enterprises. It has made up over 10 percent of U.S. chip imports for seven straight months, according to Bloomberg. The Southeast Asian country shipped US$562.5 million worth of chips stateside in February this year alone, up some $240.8 million year on year and ranking third in Asia in semiconductor chip exports to the U.S., following Malaysia and Taiwan. FDI firm playground Most exporters of chips in Vietnam in the first months of this year were foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, said Nguyen Van Toan, vice-chairman of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises. Giant FDI firms, such as Samsung, Intel, and Foxconn, are dominating local chip production. In reality, Vietnamese firms find it hard to get involved in chip production. Most Vietnamese workers have participated in the assembly phase, but technologies are still held by FDI firms, Toan said. Chip production has two key phases: chip design and production. Large chip producers have leased land and factories and employed workers in Vietnam only. They completely own technology. Only a few local enterprises can take part in Intels supply and production chain. The increase in chip exports will benefit Vietnam but the country needs to increase the added value of its products, Toan noted. Chip exports can improve Vietnams image. The Southeast Asian country will be known as an exporter of chips, not only apparel products, a technology expert said. This proves that Vietnam can effectively attract FDI in hi-tech sectors, which is the first step to have its own chip producers instead of those completing the final phase of the chip production. It is known that Intel makes chips in Vietnam, but in reality, the accessories and main phases are completed in Singapore and other countries before being sent to Vietnam for packaging, said Do Thi Thuy Huong, an executive board member of the Vietnam Electronic Industries Association, explaining that packaging means processing the chips in the final phase. The products are later exported from Vietnam and labeled as made-in-Vietnam. However, Vietnam has yet to be named on the global chip production map, Huong affirmed, adding that most electronics manufacturers and exporters are foreign-invested. Chip production uses source technology, so it is hard to request technology transfer. Moreover, Vietnam has to import materials for chip production, Huong said. The chip production process is sophisticated, including many phases like design, producing semiconductors on wafer-thin slices of silicon used for the fabrication of integrated circuits, testing, and packaging, said Nguyen Phuc Vinh, an expert in integrated circuits. In Vietnam, enterprises have been involved in the design, testing, and packaging phases. The country has no large semiconductor factories. Foreign-invested firms in Vietnam, such as Intel in Ho Chi Minh City, Samsung in northern Thai Nguyen Province, and Amkor in Bac Ninh Province, also in the north, are mainly responsible for testing and packaging products. First wafers of FPT Semiconductor. Photo: fpt.com.vn Initial success of Vietnamese firms Leading tech firms in Vietnam, such as Viettel and FPT, have forayed into semiconductor chip production, which requires cutting-edge technology. Nguyen Vinh Quang, CEO of FPT Semiconductor, an arm of FPT Group, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the group successfully produced power integrated circuit chips and it is going to put them into mass production. FPT has sent its chip samples to customers for analysis and will start to deliver the product to customers in Japan and Taiwan in June. Meanwhile, Vietnamese military-run Viettel Group will focus on developing fifth- and sixth-generation chips, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) apps, and military and aerospace in the next five years, Viettel chairman Tao Duc Thang said at a meeting with the prime minister early last month. Viettel and Qualcomm also unveiled the first 5G Distributed Unit and Radio Unit powered by Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms at the Mobile World Congress 2023, held in Spain between February 27 and March 2. This is a breakthrough opening up opportunities to change the local telecom infrastructure as it may help reduce prices and eliminate the reliance on exclusive chipsets of other manufacturers, said Nguyen Vu Ha, general director for Viettel High Technology, a unit under Viettel Group. Local manpower development a must It is high time to make Vietnams technology more attractive and lure more foreign investors to the nation thanks to high-skilled personnel, FPT Group chairman Truong Gia Binh told Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during the latters visit to FPT University and FPT Software Company Limited at Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park in Thach That District, Hanoi last Friday. With its human resources in AI, chip making, IoT, and big data, Vietnam can become a technology training hub of the world. The country may be listed among the top five or ten countries in information technology, agriculture, and tourism, Binh said. The prime minister, at a recent working session with the Vietnam National University-Hanoi, also required training to focus on trendy sectors in the world in which Vietnam has strengths and that match the situation in the country, particularly digital transformation, climate change response, the knowledge-based economy, the circular economy, and environmental protection. Employees are at work at Intel Products Vietnam. Photo: Supplied by Intel Intel to increase investment in Vietnam Vietnam plays a vital part in Intels global manufacturing network, so the group will expand its investment in the country based on its business development demand, Kim Huat Ooi, vice-president of manufacturing and operations at Intel and general manager of Intel Products Vietnam, told Tuoi Tre. The factory in Vietnam is the largest assembly and testing unit of Intel in the world, Kim added. Intel ventured into the Vietnamese market in 2006 and remains the largest U.S. investor in the countrys hi-tech sector. The presence of Intel partly helps other hi-tech investors realize the potentialities in Vietnam, Kim said. The Intel factory in Vietnam has manufactured 3.5 billion products as of the end of last year. This is a stride in accelerating production as the figure was only two billion in early 2020. The Vietnamese government should keep reforming some policies and administrative processes and investing in high-skilled human resources to attract more foreign investment, Kim suggested. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnam has laid the initial foundations for domestic chip production, and the country has emerged as one of the top four Asian markets leading U.S. chip diversification, according to many local experts and enterprises.

It has made up over 10 percent of U.S. chip imports for seven straight months, according to Bloomberg.

The Southeast Asian country shipped US$562.5 million worth of chips stateside in February this year alone, up some $240.8 million year on year and ranking third in Asia in semiconductor chip exports to the U.S., following Malaysia and Taiwan.

FDI firm playground

Most exporters of chips in Vietnam in the first months of this year were foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, said Nguyen Van Toan, vice-chairman of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises.

Giant FDI firms, such as Samsung, Intel, and Foxconn, are dominating local chip production.

In reality, Vietnamese firms find it hard to get involved in chip production. Most Vietnamese workers have participated in the assembly phase, but technologies are still held by FDI firms, Toan said.

Chip production has two key phases: chip design and production.

Large chip producers have leased land and factories and employed workers in Vietnam only. They completely own technology.

Only a few local enterprises can take part in Intels supply and production chain.

The increase in chip exports will benefit Vietnam but the country needs to increase the added value of its products, Toan noted.

Chip exports can improve Vietnams image. The Southeast Asian country will be known as an exporter of chips, not only apparel products, a technology expert said.

This proves that Vietnam can effectively attract FDI in hi-tech sectors, which is the first step to have its own chip producers instead of those completing the final phase of the chip production.

It is known that Intel makes chips in Vietnam, but in reality, the accessories and main phases are completed in Singapore and other countries before being sent to Vietnam for packaging, said Do Thi Thuy Huong, an executive board member of the Vietnam Electronic Industries Association, explaining that packaging means processing the chips in the final phase.

The products are later exported from Vietnam and labeled as made-in-Vietnam.

However, Vietnam has yet to be named on the global chip production map, Huong affirmed, adding that most electronics manufacturers and exporters are foreign-invested.

Chip production uses source technology, so it is hard to request technology transfer.

Moreover, Vietnam has to import materials for chip production, Huong said.

The chip production process is sophisticated, including many phases like design, producing semiconductors on wafer-thin slices of silicon used for the fabrication of integrated circuits, testing, and packaging, said Nguyen Phuc Vinh, an expert in integrated circuits.

In Vietnam, enterprises have been involved in the design, testing, and packaging phases. The country has no large semiconductor factories.

Foreign-invested firms in Vietnam, such as Intel in Ho Chi Minh City, Samsung in northern Thai Nguyen Province, and Amkor in Bac Ninh Province, also in the north, are mainly responsible for testing and packaging products.

First wafers of FPT Semiconductor. Photo: fpt.com.vn

Initial success of Vietnamese firms

Leading tech firms in Vietnam, such as Viettel and FPT, have forayed into semiconductor chip production, which requires cutting-edge technology.

Nguyen Vinh Quang, CEO of FPT Semiconductor, an arm of FPT Group, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the group successfully produced power integrated circuit chips and it is going to put them into mass production.

FPT has sent its chip samples to customers for analysis and will start to deliver the product to customers in Japan and Taiwan in June.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese military-run Viettel Group will focus on developing fifth- and sixth-generation chips, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) apps, and military and aerospace in the next five years, Viettel chairman Tao Duc Thang said at a meeting with the prime minister early last month.

Viettel and Qualcomm also unveiled the first 5G Distributed Unit and Radio Unit powered by Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms at the Mobile World Congress 2023, held in Spain between February 27 and March 2.

This is a breakthrough opening up opportunities to change the local telecom infrastructure as it may help reduce prices and eliminate the reliance on exclusive chipsets of other manufacturers, said Nguyen Vu Ha, general director for Viettel High Technology, a unit under Viettel Group.

Local manpower development a must

It is high time to make Vietnams technology more attractive and lure more foreign investors to the nation thanks to high-skilled personnel, FPT Group chairman Truong Gia Binh told Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during the latters visit to FPT University and FPT Software Company Limited at Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park in Thach That District, Hanoi last Friday.

With its human resources in AI, chip making, IoT, and big data, Vietnam can become a technology training hub of the world.

The country may be listed among the top five or ten countries in information technology, agriculture, and tourism, Binh said.

The prime minister, at a recent working session with the Vietnam National University-Hanoi, also required training to focus on trendy sectors in the world in which Vietnam has strengths and that match the situation in the country, particularly digital transformation, climate change response, the knowledge-based economy, the circular economy, and environmental protection.

Employees are at work at Intel Products Vietnam. Photo: Supplied by Intel

Intel to increase investment in Vietnam

Vietnam plays a vital part in Intels global manufacturing network, so the group will expand its investment in the country based on its business development demand, Kim Huat Ooi, vice-president of manufacturing and operations at Intel and general manager of Intel Products Vietnam, told Tuoi Tre.

The factory in Vietnam is the largest assembly and testing unit of Intel in the world, Kim added.

Intel ventured into the Vietnamese market in 2006 and remains the largest U.S. investor in the countrys hi-tech sector.

The presence of Intel partly helps other hi-tech investors realize the potentialities in Vietnam, Kim said.

The Intel factory in Vietnam has manufactured 3.5 billion products as of the end of last year. This is a stride in accelerating production as the figure was only two billion in early 2020.

The Vietnamese government should keep reforming some policies and administrative processes and investing in high-skilled human resources to attract more foreign investment, Kim suggested.

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The Australian Embassy in Vietnam and the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Association organized a ceremony on Wednesday night to honor six Vietnamese alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their profession, community, country, and the Australia-Vietnam relationship. Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell presented the awards to the alumni in recognition of the achievements during their studies in Australia on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia diplomatic ties (February 26, 1973 - 2023). From more than 200 nominees, 18 Vietnamese alumni were shortlisted before six were chosen as winners across six categories. Dang Thi Huong, a researcher and founder of several educational organizations, giving employment opportunities to victims of gender-based violence, received the Business and Innovation award. Dr. Vo Hoang Yen, founder and CEO of the Disability Research and Capacity Development (DRD) Center, was awarded the Women in Leadership prize. Nguyen Thuy Tien, co-founder and CEO of the Breast Cancer Network Vietnam, claimed the Social Action award. Prof. Tran Tho Dat, chairman of the Science and Training Council of National Economics University in Hanoi, who is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister and the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, received the Alumni of the Year title. Ho Thai Binh, co-founder and deputy director of SiGen, a business commercializing solutions to prevent odors and mosquitoes for manholes, was honored with the Young Alumni award. This supplied photo shows Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell speaking at the ceremony of the Australian Alumni Awards 2023, April 19, 2023. Dr. Pham Thu Thuy, leader of a global research group on climate change, renewable energy, and low-carbon development at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry, took the Climate Action award. Speaking at the ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, Minister Farrell hailed the alumni as the people who contribute to Australias diplomatic, economic, trade, investment, and business relationships not only with Vietnam but also with Southeast Asia. Prof. Tran Van Nhung, chairman of the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Association, who is also a member of the award judging committee, said it was very difficult for him to choose the six winners because the candidates all made great contributions in various fields. During her acceptance speech, Dr. Yen, the winner of the Women in Leadership award, said studying in Australia changed her life. I hope that the awards will inspire more people to study, Yen said. Since 1974, more than 6,500 Vietnamese students have received Australian government scholarships to study in Australia, being part of a community of more than 80,000 Vietnamese alumni. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Australian Embassy in Vietnam and the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Association organized a ceremony on Wednesday night to honor six Vietnamese alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their profession, community, country, and the Australia-Vietnam relationship.

Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell presented the awards to the alumni in recognition of the achievements during their studies in Australia on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia diplomatic ties (February 26, 1973 - 2023).

From more than 200 nominees, 18 Vietnamese alumni were shortlisted before six were chosen as winners across six categories.

Dang Thi Huong, a researcher and founder of several educational organizations, giving employment opportunities to victims of gender-based violence, received the Business and Innovation award.

Dr. Vo Hoang Yen, founder and CEO of the Disability Research and Capacity Development (DRD) Center, was awarded the Women in Leadership prize.

Nguyen Thuy Tien, co-founder and CEO of the Breast Cancer Network Vietnam, claimed the Social Action award.

Prof. Tran Tho Dat, chairman of the Science and Training Council of National Economics University in Hanoi, who is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister and the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, received the Alumni of the Year title.

Ho Thai Binh, co-founder and deputy director of SiGen, a business commercializing solutions to prevent odors and mosquitoes for manholes, was honored with the Young Alumni award.

This supplied photo shows Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell speaking at the ceremony of the Australian Alumni Awards 2023, April 19, 2023.

Dr. Pham Thu Thuy, leader of a global research group on climate change, renewable energy, and low-carbon development at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry, took the Climate Action award.

Speaking at the ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, Minister Farrell hailed the alumni as the people who contribute to Australias diplomatic, economic, trade, investment, and business relationships not only with Vietnam but also with Southeast Asia.

Prof. Tran Van Nhung, chairman of the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Association, who is also a member of the award judging committee, said it was very difficult for him to choose the six winners because the candidates all made great contributions in various fields.

During her acceptance speech, Dr. Yen, the winner of the Women in Leadership award, said studying in Australia changed her life.

I hope that the awards will inspire more people to study, Yen said.

Since 1974, more than 6,500 Vietnamese students have received Australian government scholarships to study in Australia, being part of a community of more than 80,000 Vietnamese alumni.

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Puppy gets credit for saving elderly builder's life after gnawing his toe "to the bone." Despite the damage the puppy did to David Lindsay's toe, physicians could locate two clogged arteries in his leg thanks to the heroic puppy.

According to the Straits Times, Lindsay, 64, who resides in Cambridge, England, claimed his wife's shouts woke him up from a slumber on the couch.

The guy looked down and saw that his bulldog, Harley, who was only seven months old, had been chewing on his right foot. His big toe was cracked, the toenail was falling off, and blood was on his finger.

Because of this, he lost all sensation in his foot. His wife took him to a local hospital, where he stayed for nine days.

A CT scan revealed two clogged arteries in his toe, and doctors urged him to get the blood flowing again or risk losing his limb. They debated whether to insert stents in his arteries to restore blood flow to his legs. Lindsay suffers from diabetes makes him more vulnerable to health issues.

Read Also: El Nino Return May Raise Risk of Record Temperatures Globally

Lindsay Wants To Keep His Hero Puppy

David Lindsay maintains his sense of humor despite the gravity of his condition, saying that his seven-month-old bulldog, Harley, did him a favor by nipping his toe.

He has declared his resolve to retain his pet dog even if it means losing his toe and is now waiting for the physicians' verdict on whether to perform a stent treatment to unclog the arteries.

"So I'm waiting to find out if they can put stents in. I'll be keeping the dog," he said, per Mirror.

When a person has diabetes, their blood sugar levels rise to dangerously high levels. Diabetes may be divided into two main categories: type 1 and type 2.

Both forms of diabetes are dangerous, but type 2 is much more common; in the United Kingdom, it accounts for almost 90% of all instances of diabetes in adults, according to NHS.

Related Article: Coffee, Tea May Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mortality

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At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as hundreds gathered in a school to receive aid, witnesses and Houthi media said on Thursday. Several people were injured including 13 who were in critical conditions, Al Masirah TV television news outlet run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement reported, citing the director of health in Sanaa. The stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior's spokesperson said in a statement. Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive the donations, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, two witnesses involved in the rescue effort told Reuters. People trapped in the crowd attempt to free themselves during a stampede in Sanaa, Yemen, April 19, 2023, in this still image taken from video. Photo: Reuters A video posted by Houthi television on Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jamed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety. The interior ministry also said in a separate statement that the two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway. Yemen has been embroiled in an eight-year civil war which has killed tens of thousands of people, wrecked the economy and pushed millions into hunger. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. The conflict has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said the stampede was the result of the Yemeni people suffering "the worst global humanitarian crisis" after eight years of fighting. "We hold the countries of aggression responsible for what happened and for the bitter reality that the Yemeni people live in because of the aggression and blockade," he said on Twitter. Riyadh and Tehran in March agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016 and prisoner exchanges this month between the two sides have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict. The top negotiator of Yemen's Houthi movement said recent peace talks with Saudi Arabia had made progress and further discussions would be held to iron out remaining differences.

At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as hundreds gathered in a school to receive aid, witnesses and Houthi media said on Thursday.

Several people were injured including 13 who were in critical conditions, Al Masirah TV television news outlet run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement reported, citing the director of health in Sanaa.

The stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior's spokesperson said in a statement.

Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive the donations, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, two witnesses involved in the rescue effort told Reuters.

People trapped in the crowd attempt to free themselves during a stampede in Sanaa, Yemen, April 19, 2023, in this still image taken from video. Photo: Reuters

A video posted by Houthi television on Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jamed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety.

The interior ministry also said in a separate statement that the two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway.

Yemen has been embroiled in an eight-year civil war which has killed tens of thousands of people, wrecked the economy and pushed millions into hunger.

A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. The conflict has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said the stampede was the result of the Yemeni people suffering "the worst global humanitarian crisis" after eight years of fighting.

"We hold the countries of aggression responsible for what happened and for the bitter reality that the Yemeni people live in because of the aggression and blockade," he said on Twitter.

Riyadh and Tehran in March agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016 and prisoner exchanges this month between the two sides have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict.

The top negotiator of Yemen's Houthi movement said recent peace talks with Saudi Arabia had made progress and further discussions would be held to iron out remaining differences.
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala is scheduled to pay an official visit to Vietnam from Thursday to Saturday at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, as part of his first 10-day Asian trip. This is the first visit to Vietnam by a Czech prime minister in 15 years, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Czech PM Fiala will arrive in Vietnams capital city of Hanoi on Thursday evening, and attend many activities on Friday. Enterprises will accompany Czech prime minister The Czech prime minister will have talks with his Vietnamese counterpart and witness the signing of cooperation agreements during his visit to Vietnam. His visit will feature an entourage of 30 Czech enterprises active in the technology, aircraft, weapon, and engineering fields. The Czech enterprises will meet with Vietnamese businesses in Hanoi on the same day on the sidelines of the high-ranking visit, according to the Czech Chamber of Commerce. The chairman of the Czech Chamber of Commerce will hold talks with the leaders of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Besides, the two nations enterprises will have a meeting in Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam, where the Czech Republics famous automaker Skoda Auto will build an auto assembling facility. The Czech prime minister will sit in at a groundbreaking ceremony of the plant on Saturday. Before traveling to Hanoi, Czech Prime Minister Fiala visited the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore. His Asian visit is aimed at diversifying partners and trade and investment markets. Over 70 years of bilateral ties The Czech prime ministers visit will demonstrate the two nations stronger relations, said Czech Ambassador to Vietnam Hynek Kmonicek. The top Czech officials visit will see various discussions on politics, economy, culture, and society with an effort to deepen bilateral cooperation, Kmonicek stated. The Czech Republic and Vietnam have built long-lasting multifaceted partnership and friendship. Since their diplomatic ties were set up in 1950, the Czech Republic has helped the Southeast Asian nation train thousands of engineers and workers. The Czech Republic is the first Central and Eastern European country to offer official development assistance to Vietnam. Nearly 100,000 Vietnamese nationals live in the Czech Republic. In 2022, bilateral trade totaled some VND20 trillion (US$848 million), up 15 percent from 2021. Czech investors have got involved in 41 projects in Vietnam with total pledged capital of VND2.2 trillion ($92 million). Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala is scheduled to pay an official visit to Vietnam from Thursday to Saturday at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, as part of his first 10-day Asian trip.

This is the first visit to Vietnam by a Czech prime minister in 15 years, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Czech PM Fiala will arrive in Vietnams capital city of Hanoi on Thursday evening, and attend many activities on Friday.

Enterprises will accompany Czech prime minister

The Czech prime minister will have talks with his Vietnamese counterpart and witness the signing of cooperation agreements during his visit to Vietnam.

His visit will feature an entourage of 30 Czech enterprises active in the technology, aircraft, weapon, and engineering fields.

The Czech enterprises will meet with Vietnamese businesses in Hanoi on the same day on the sidelines of the high-ranking visit, according to the Czech Chamber of Commerce.

The chairman of the Czech Chamber of Commerce will hold talks with the leaders of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Besides, the two nations enterprises will have a meeting in Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam, where the Czech Republics famous automaker Skoda Auto will build an auto assembling facility.

The Czech prime minister will sit in at a groundbreaking ceremony of the plant on Saturday.

Before traveling to Hanoi, Czech Prime Minister Fiala visited the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore.

His Asian visit is aimed at diversifying partners and trade and investment markets.

Over 70 years of bilateral ties

The Czech prime ministers visit will demonstrate the two nations stronger relations, said Czech Ambassador to Vietnam Hynek Kmonicek.

The top Czech officials visit will see various discussions on politics, economy, culture, and society with an effort to deepen bilateral cooperation, Kmonicek stated.

The Czech Republic and Vietnam have built long-lasting multifaceted partnership and friendship.

Since their diplomatic ties were set up in 1950, the Czech Republic has helped the Southeast Asian nation train thousands of engineers and workers.

The Czech Republic is the first Central and Eastern European country to offer official development assistance to Vietnam.

Nearly 100,000 Vietnamese nationals live in the Czech Republic.

In 2022, bilateral trade totaled some VND20 trillion (US$848 million), up 15 percent from 2021.

Czech investors have got involved in 41 projects in Vietnam with total pledged capital of VND2.2 trillion ($92 million).

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A court in Hanoi has upheld the death sentence handed down to Nguyen Trung Huyen, a 31-year-old resident of Thach That District who was convicted of murder and brutality after killing his partner's daughter by hammering nails into her head. The High Peoples Court in Hanoi held an appeal hearing for Huyen on Wednesday. In October, Huyen was sentenced to four years behind bars for the brutality charge and to death for murder. He later filed an appeal against the verdict, claiming he was innocent of the crimes and that he had been extorted for depositions during the investigation process. The High Peoples Court in Hanoi heard the appeal and concluded that the original verdict and sentence in Huyens case were correct and appropriate. Huyens actions were extremely serious. The defendant violated the rights to life and the health of a child who was unable to defend herself, according to the appellate courts decision. In January last year, police in Hanoi detained Huyen while they investigated allegations that he had broken the girls arm, forced her to swallow screws and drink pesticides, and hammered nails into her head. The girl was the daughter of Nguyen Thi L., a woman Huyen claimed was his wife though their marriage was never registered. L. had divorced her husband in June 2021. In September 2021, she and one of her daughters, A., moved in with Huyen. L.s other two daughters stayed with her ex-husband. In January 2022, A., was brought to the hospital convulsing, in a coma, and with nails in her skull. She died in March 2022 at Saint Paul General Hospital in the Vietnamese capital. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

A court in Hanoi has upheld the death sentence handed down to Nguyen Trung Huyen, a 31-year-old resident of Thach That District who was convicted of murder and brutality after killing his partner's daughter by hammering nails into her head.

The High Peoples Court in Hanoi held an appeal hearing for Huyen on Wednesday.

In October, Huyen was sentenced to four years behind bars for the brutality charge and to death for murder.

He later filed an appeal against the verdict, claiming he was innocent of the crimes and that he had been extorted for depositions during the investigation process.

The High Peoples Court in Hanoi heard the appeal and concluded that the original verdict and sentence in Huyens case were correct and appropriate.

Huyens actions were extremely serious. The defendant violated the rights to life and the health of a child who was unable to defend herself, according to the appellate courts decision.

In January last year, police in Hanoi detained Huyen while they investigated allegations that he had broken the girls arm, forced her to swallow screws and drink pesticides, and hammered nails into her head.

The girl was the daughter of Nguyen Thi L., a woman Huyen claimed was his wife though their marriage was never registered.

L. had divorced her husband in June 2021. In September 2021, she and one of her daughters, A., moved in with Huyen. L.s other two daughters stayed with her ex-husband.

In January 2022, A., was brought to the hospital convulsing, in a coma, and with nails in her skull.

She died in March 2022 at Saint Paul General Hospital in the Vietnamese capital.

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Northwestern Vietnam is experiencing temperatures as high as over 40 degrees Celsius, creating a high risk of wildfires in many parts of the region Extreme heat broiled northwestern Vietnam on Tuesday and Wednesday, with several districts in Son La Province suffering from temperatures as high as 41 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile other northwestern provinces saw mercury hit 40 degrees Celsius. Hundreds of wildfires were reported in the region on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to statistics from the forest protection agency. Son La recorded 363 wildfires while Dien Bien and Lai Chau Provinces battled 475 and 224 wildfires, respectively. The leader of the Peoples Committee of Sin Ho District in Lai Chau on Tuesday said that a wildfire broke out in Pa Tan Commune at 1:40 pm. Some 100 firefighters were quickly dispatched and put the blaze under control in three hours. The fire burned about one hectare of forestland. As such, Lai Chau issued an urgent telegram, asking officials and rangers to tighten their patrols and prepare their vehicles and equipment for unexpected wildfires. Authorities in the province have also ordered residents to suspend rice-field and dump burning activities while the heatwave continues. Vietnam has 48 alarming wildfire-prone sites in Son La, Hoa Binh, and Lai Chau in the northern region, as well as in some localities in the central and Central Highlands parts, according to data from the Forest Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Heat forecast to last through weekend The northwestern region and several provinces from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen could experience heatwaves with temperatures ranging from 36 to 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday, according to the national weather center. Heat is forecast to hit the countrys northeastern region on Friday. Extreme heat in these areas will not end until Sunday, according to the national weather center. Intense heat and low humidity, plus southwest monsoons, raise a high risk of wildfires as well as fires and explosions in residential areas due to the soaring consumption of power. The high temperatures can lead to increased health problems, dehydration, exhaustion, and heatstroke. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Northwestern Vietnam is experiencing temperatures as high as over 40 degrees Celsius, creating a high risk of wildfires in many parts of the region

Extreme heat broiled northwestern Vietnam on Tuesday and Wednesday, with several districts in Son La Province suffering from temperatures as high as 41 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile other northwestern provinces saw mercury hit 40 degrees Celsius.

Hundreds of wildfires were reported in the region on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to statistics from the forest protection agency.

Son La recorded 363 wildfires while Dien Bien and Lai Chau Provinces battled 475 and 224 wildfires, respectively.

The leader of the Peoples Committee of Sin Ho District in Lai Chau on Tuesday said that a wildfire broke out in Pa Tan Commune at 1:40 pm.

Some 100 firefighters were quickly dispatched and put the blaze under control in three hours. The fire burned about one hectare of forestland.

As such, Lai Chau issued an urgent telegram, asking officials and rangers to tighten their patrols and prepare their vehicles and equipment for unexpected wildfires.

Authorities in the province have also ordered residents to suspend rice-field and dump burning activities while the heatwave continues.

Vietnam has 48 alarming wildfire-prone sites in Son La, Hoa Binh, and Lai Chau in the northern region, as well as in some localities in the central and Central Highlands parts, according to data from the Forest Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Heat forecast to last through weekend

The northwestern region and several provinces from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen could experience heatwaves with temperatures ranging from 36 to 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday, according to the national weather center.

Heat is forecast to hit the countrys northeastern region on Friday.

Extreme heat in these areas will not end until Sunday, according to the national weather center.

Intense heat and low humidity, plus southwest monsoons, raise a high risk of wildfires as well as fires and explosions in residential areas due to the soaring consumption of power.

The high temperatures can lead to increased health problems, dehydration, exhaustion, and heatstroke.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee has issued an urgent dispatch ordering relevant units to start study on the construction of an international transshipment port in outlying Can Gio District. The city wanted the study to be completed and submitted to the prime minister for approval this year. Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Xuan Sang, at a recent meeting on the seaport development, assigned the municipal Peoples Committee to make a study on the construction of the Can Gio international transshipment port and complete it in 2023. The city should build a detailed plan on the construction in parallel with the process of updating the adjustment of the national general seaport development plan, according to the Ministry of Transport. Saigon Port Company will be in charge of mapping out the plan for the construction, while the Ho Chi Minh Department of Transport will work with the Vietnam Maritime Administration to monitor the process and building progress. The deputy minister told the citys relevant agencies to determine the area of forestland affected by the transshipment project in detail. In addition, the Vietnam Maritime Administration will be responsible for allocating the volume of domestic goods through the Can Gio Wharf from other container terminals such as SPCT and Tan Cang Hiep Phuoc. Many experts and insiders have thrown their weight behind the Can Gio international transshipment port project. The transshipment port is expected to help Ho Chi Minh City maintain its position as a logistics hub in Southeast Asia and Asia, and contribute significantly to the countrys state budget. Cargo throughput at the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in neighboring Ba Ria- Vung Tau Province has surged over the past few years, so the construction of the Can Gio transshipment port is a need, said the deputy minister. Designed to cover an area of 571 hectares, the Can Gio international transshipment port will be 7.2 kilometers long and have 6.8 kilometers of wharves upon completion. The project is estimated to cost over VND124 trillion (US$5.3 billion). When in place, the port can receive large container ships, which can carry 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers, while its capacity will be 16 million TEUs. Work on the project will be divided into seven phases, with the first phase expected to start operation in 2027. The final phase will be put into service in 2045, local media reported. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee has issued an urgent dispatch ordering relevant units to start study on the construction of an international transshipment port in outlying Can Gio District.

The city wanted the study to be completed and submitted to the prime minister for approval this year.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Xuan Sang, at a recent meeting on the seaport development, assigned the municipal Peoples Committee to make a study on the construction of the Can Gio international transshipment port and complete it in 2023.

The city should build a detailed plan on the construction in parallel with the process of updating the adjustment of the national general seaport development plan, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Saigon Port Company will be in charge of mapping out the plan for the construction, while the Ho Chi Minh Department of Transport will work with the Vietnam Maritime Administration to monitor the process and building progress.

The deputy minister told the citys relevant agencies to determine the area of forestland affected by the transshipment project in detail.

In addition, the Vietnam Maritime Administration will be responsible for allocating the volume of domestic goods through the Can Gio Wharf from other container terminals such as SPCT and Tan Cang Hiep Phuoc.

Many experts and insiders have thrown their weight behind the Can Gio international transshipment port project.

The transshipment port is expected to help Ho Chi Minh City maintain its position as a logistics hub in Southeast Asia and Asia, and contribute significantly to the countrys state budget.

Cargo throughput at the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in neighboring Ba Ria- Vung Tau Province has surged over the past few years, so the construction of the Can Gio transshipment port is a need, said the deputy minister.

Designed to cover an area of 571 hectares, the Can Gio international transshipment port will be 7.2 kilometers long and have 6.8 kilometers of wharves upon completion.

The project is estimated to cost over VND124 trillion (US$5.3 billion).

When in place, the port can receive large container ships, which can carry 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers, while its capacity will be 16 million TEUs.

Work on the project will be divided into seven phases, with the first phase expected to start operation in 2027.

The final phase will be put into service in 2045, local media reported.

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Police in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi said on Wednesday that they are holding a man in custody for intentionally puncturing the tires of many cars over a conflict with his partner earlier this month. The arrest of Ho Ngoc Toan, the man in question, came one week after dozens of cars parked on the sidewalk and the roadbed around Linh Dam Lake, which is opposite the HH Linh Dam apartment building in Hoang Mai, had tires perforated on the night of April 9, resulting in total damage of about VND25 million (US$1,064). Police officers in the district then launched an investigation into the case and determined the culprit is Toan, working for Hoang Lan Service and Trading Co. Ltd., which provides parking services for motorbikes and cars at both the HH Linh Dam apartment building and Linh Dam Lake. Toan and Nguyen Thi L., the 37-year-old female director of Hoang Lan company, had been living together as husband and wife, according to police officers. Toan was assigned by L. as the manager of the aforementioned parking services. At the end of 2022, local authorities did not extend the business license of L.s company. Despite that, L.s company continued the parking services at the apartment building and lake. A car has a flat tire while being parked on the sidewalk around Linh Dam Lake in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre Later, L. demoted Toan from manager to employee, causing the man to draw up a plan to puncture the tires of the cars parked around Linh Dam Lake, so that L. had to compensate her customers and let him resume his parking management role. At around 10:00 pm on April 9, L. and Toan took a taxi to the HH Linh Dam apartment building. L. then walked into the parking facility alone and Toan went to a beverage stall near Linh Dam Lake. Toan then borrowed a pair of scissors from the beverage stall, took a hood, wore a face mask, walked to where the cars of Hoang Lan companys customers were parked on the sidewalk around the lake, and used the scissors to puncture the tires. After that, Toan went to another apartment building in the district. Following the press coverage about the incident, Toan took a five-day break from work at the parking facility and was later criminally held by police for intentionally damaging others property. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Police in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi said on Wednesday that they are holding a man in custody for intentionally puncturing the tires of many cars over a conflict with his partner earlier this month.

The arrest of Ho Ngoc Toan, the man in question, came one week after dozens of cars parked on the sidewalk and the roadbed around Linh Dam Lake, which is opposite the HH Linh Dam apartment building in Hoang Mai, had tires perforated on the night of April 9, resulting in total damage of about VND25 million (US$1,064).

Police officers in the district then launched an investigation into the case and determined the culprit is Toan, working for Hoang Lan Service and Trading Co. Ltd., which provides parking services for motorbikes and cars at both the HH Linh Dam apartment building and Linh Dam Lake.

Toan and Nguyen Thi L., the 37-year-old female director of Hoang Lan company, had been living together as husband and wife, according to police officers.

Toan was assigned by L. as the manager of the aforementioned parking services.

At the end of 2022, local authorities did not extend the business license of L.s company.

Despite that, L.s company continued the parking services at the apartment building and lake.

A car has a flat tire while being parked on the sidewalk around Linh Dam Lake in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre

Later, L. demoted Toan from manager to employee, causing the man to draw up a plan to puncture the tires of the cars parked around Linh Dam Lake, so that L. had to compensate her customers and let him resume his parking management role.

At around 10:00 pm on April 9, L. and Toan took a taxi to the HH Linh Dam apartment building.

L. then walked into the parking facility alone and Toan went to a beverage stall near Linh Dam Lake.

Toan then borrowed a pair of scissors from the beverage stall, took a hood, wore a face mask, walked to where the cars of Hoang Lan companys customers were parked on the sidewalk around the lake, and used the scissors to puncture the tires.

After that, Toan went to another apartment building in the district.

Following the press coverage about the incident, Toan took a five-day break from work at the parking facility and was later criminally held by police for intentionally damaging others property.

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Vietnam was listed among the top 20 countries worldwide with the largest number of zero-dose children, seeing more than 187,300 kids under one year old fail to receive any vaccinations in 2021, according to a report on immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic released by the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday. Among 67 million children worldwide missing out on vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, Vietnam accounted for nearly 250,000 children. Vaccination coverage levels decreased in 112 countries, including Vietnam, UNICEF warned in its new report. In Vietnam, data showed that the prevalence of zero-dose children in urban areas was almost 1.5 times higher that of those in rural areas. Meanwhile, the prevalence in the poorest households was almost double that in the wealthiest. The pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere, including in Vietnam, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the diversion of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker shortages and stay-at-home measures," said Lesley Miller, UNICEF deputy representative in Vietnam. "Added to this is a current delay in procurement of vaccines. We are deeply concerned about the possibility of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases -- measles in particular. Children born just before or during the pandemic are now moving past the age when they would normally be vaccinated, underscoring the need for urgent action to catch up on those who were missed and prevent deadly disease outbreaks." To address this child survival crisis, UNICEF is calling on governments to double down on their commitment to increase financing for immunization and to work with stakeholders to unlock available resources, to urgently implement and accelerate catch-up vaccination efforts to protect children and prevent disease outbreaks. The report is urging governments to urgently identify and reach all children, especially those who missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen demand for vaccines, prioritize funding to immunization services and primary healthcare, and build resilient health systems. Vietnams successful experience in its mass immunization campaign against COVID-19 laid a good foundation for the country to immediately address the current delays in procurement of vaccines and fast-track catch-up for children who have missed out on routine immunization," said Miller. Routine immunization and strong health systems are our best shot at preventing future pandemics, unnecessary deaths and suffering. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnam was listed among the top 20 countries worldwide with the largest number of zero-dose children, seeing more than 187,300 kids under one year old fail to receive any vaccinations in 2021, according to a report on immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic released by the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday.

Among 67 million children worldwide missing out on vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, Vietnam accounted for nearly 250,000 children.

Vaccination coverage levels decreased in 112 countries, including Vietnam, UNICEF warned in its new report.

In Vietnam, data showed that the prevalence of zero-dose children in urban areas was almost 1.5 times higher that of those in rural areas.

Meanwhile, the prevalence in the poorest households was almost double that in the wealthiest.

The pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere, including in Vietnam, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the diversion of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker shortages and stay-at-home measures," said Lesley Miller, UNICEF deputy representative in Vietnam.

"Added to this is a current delay in procurement of vaccines.

We are deeply concerned about the possibility of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases -- measles in particular.

Children born just before or during the pandemic are now moving past the age when they would normally be vaccinated, underscoring the need for urgent action to catch up on those who were missed and prevent deadly disease outbreaks."

To address this child survival crisis, UNICEF is calling on governments to double down on their commitment to increase financing for immunization and to work with stakeholders to unlock available resources, to urgently implement and accelerate catch-up vaccination efforts to protect children and prevent disease outbreaks.

The report is urging governments to urgently identify and reach all children, especially those who missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen demand for vaccines, prioritize funding to immunization services and primary healthcare, and build resilient health systems.

Vietnams successful experience in its mass immunization campaign against COVID-19 laid a good foundation for the country to immediately address the current delays in procurement of vaccines and fast-track catch-up for children who have missed out on routine immunization," said Miller.

Routine immunization and strong health systems are our best shot at preventing future pandemics, unnecessary deaths and suffering.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Mondays Q+A is live from Sydney with former Communications Minister Paul Fletcher on the panel.

This week on Q+A on the eve of Anzac Day, as the nation pauses to reflect on the sacrifice of generations past and present  has the true cost of war been forgotten?

The AUKUS pact is forcing Australians to confront the possibility of conflict, but what does the mythology and veneration of the Anzac spirit mean for how we as a nation imagine war? Are we too flippant about it? Veterans know the price that has to be paid  but are we listening? And what obligation do we have to future generations to avert war?

More turmoil for the Coalition, with a resignation and a front-bench reshuffle. Former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has quit the shadow cabinet, while other changes include high-profile no campaigner NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price becoming Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians. Will the changes be enough to keep party unity? Or will Peter Duttons leadership come under more pressure?

Meanwhile, Australias fractured relationship with China has taken a step forward, with tensions easing over the bitter trade dispute about barley  with winemakers now hopeful their trade barriers may be the next to fall.

But there is still scepticism about Chinas motives  especially in cyberspace, with TikTok banned from government devices amid data security fears. Will the next battleground be virtual with cyber warfare a bigger threat than physical conflict?

On the panel:

Assistant Minister for Trade and Manufacturing Tim Ayres,

Liberal Member for Bradfield Paul Fletcher,

Chief Proud Wiradjuri woman and lawyer Taylah Gray,

Executive Officer of the Space Industry Association of Australia James Brown

Inaugural Future Generations Commissioner for Wales Sophie Howe.

Monday, April 24 at 9.35pm on ABC.
Aatika S, TwoCircles.net

Every year lakhs of Dalits, Bahujan and Adivasi gather at Parliament Street in Delhi along with their allies to celebrate the birth date of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar- the revolutionary Indian statesman and intellectual. Thus, 14th April marks a moment of assertion, solidarity, and love for all the subaltern communities and is celebrated around the globe. From book stalls, theatre and performance, distribution of food, et al., the site is filled with pomp and show throughout the day. It revels in a unique paradigm where Brahmanical hierarchy and a normative civic imposition are challenged each minute. There is a cultural as well as a political significance to these communitarian acts of celebration and expression. This photo essay delves further into such acts.

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Many SC ST wings of government organisations set up a stall and distribute food and books for free or at a minimal cost during the day. They also acknowledge the service of their employees to the movement and organisation. These stalls act as a platform to give voice to the experience of the employees and their families to the cause of nation building.

Many such artworks of Babasaheb, Buddha and cultural symbols like the elephant that are made by the artisans of marginalised communities are sold at Parliament Street to mark the occasion.

A 3D digital painting of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar with a halo around his head and the Indian Constitution in his left hand, standing beneath the Buddha alongside the Lion Capital and the Ashoka Chakra.

Three women sanitation workers at Parliament Street engaged in a conversation. The task of sweeping the city streets is performed by Dalit communities.

Many posters, books and handmade cultural objects abound during the celebration. The pictorial signification encodes a political message of equality and valour. The authors and artists often hail from subaltern communities and work on indigenous narratives.

Ambedkar and Buddhas sculptures were set up on the stage for the social activists, students and workers to garland. There is also a sculpture of the Constitution of India and a blue Ambedkarite flag bearing the greeting, Jai Bhim. Buddhist monks also participate in the occasion.

Products of daily use like tea, clothing items and certain necessary commodities are also sold at a discounted price at the site, often with an indigenous tag signifying entrepreneurship and business.

Pens, posters, books, lapel pins, gate cards, wallet photos, small busts and statues, key rings, and other decorative items with the imagery of Ambedkar and other anti-caste leaders.

Replication with local material and techniques of the iconic Ambedkar statues with a finger raised in the air were also displayed.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday approved legislation that eliminates the necessity for jurors to unanimously endorse the death penalty before a judge may execute a person in a capital criminal case.

The measure allowing juries in capital cases to recommend the death sentence if four or fewer jurors object received the final approval from the Republican governor, who is anticipated to seek the Republican party's presidential nomination in the 2024 elections, according to a report published on US News

The Republican-controlled state legislature gave the proposal overwhelming backing. When a jury could not agree on a death sentence for Nikolas Cruz, who had been found guilty of shooting 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, support for the reform increased. The rampage was one of the bloodiest school shootings in American history that took place in February 2018.

According to the Capital Penalty Information Center, three jurors abstained from voting for the death penalty; therefore, Cruz received a life sentence without any chance of parole.

In a private signing ceremony that took place in his office with legislative leaders and the bill's sponsors, DeSantis granted his approval to the measure.

Read Also: Yellen Urges US, China to Work Together

DeSantis Takes Pride of The Latest Death Penalty Measure

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated that it is not fair for "one juror to veto a capital sentence once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury."

The Republican governor also expressed pride in signing the legislation, which will ensure that Florida receives the justice it deserves and that families are spared the agony experienced by the Parkland families.

Moving forward, a guilty murderer can be sentenced to death if at least eight out of the 12 jurors vote in favor of capital punishment, according to Politico.

The 27 US states that permit the death penalty demand that juries decide on sentences unanimously. The new Florida threshold will be lower than Alabama's requirement of a 10-to-2 majority. Judges may determine the punishment in Indiana and Missouri when a jury is split, per The New York Times.

Related Article: House OKs Banning of Transgender Athletes in School Sports

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BlackRock's Hildebrand says UBS role in Switzerland in focus after CS rescue Philipp Hildebrand speaks during a news conference, in Bern

By Yoruk Bahceli and Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN (Reuters) -The vice chairman of big UBS shareholder BlackRock Philipp Hildebrand said on Thursday attention was now on how the bank positions itself going forward following its forced rescue of Credit Suisse last month.

Speaking about broader banking turmoil that also saw two U.S. lenders collapse in March, Hildebrand, whose firm is the world's largest asset manager, said bank liquidity regulations would likely need to be revisited.

"The question now will be how does this settle, and how does UBS position itself going forward, given quite intense political discussions in Switzerland around competition, around size, and many other issues," Hildebrand, a former chairman of the Swiss central bank, told a Bloomberg conference in Dublin.

UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank, agreed in March to buy rival Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs in stock and to assume up to 5 billion francs in losses, in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid further turmoil in global banking developing into a broader crisis.

"This story is not over but the emphasis has now shifted to what UBS is going to do with it, as opposed to what the government did," Hildebrand said. "I think the government handled it, under very difficult circumstances, very well."

Speaking about broader banking turmoil, which has seen sizable deposit outflows in the United States, "there were some serious mistakes made in terms of strategy, in terms of risk management", Hildebrand said.

"(We're) going to have to say that our assumptions on liquidity were probably too optimistic and they came out of the 2008 crisis, that we'll have to revisit that and I'm sure regulators will do that."

Asked whether Credit Suisse's rescue would lead to further bank consolidation in Europe, Hildebrand said there would be more focus on smaller U.S. banks.

He added that he was not "particularly worried" about a systematic problem in Europe's banking system.

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NO SOFT LANDING

On the global economy, Hildebrand said a recession would likely be necessary to tame inflation, but that he didn't see any scenario where the U.S. Federal Reserve cuts interest rates this year as traders currently expect.

"The soft landing idea that's been so embedded in people's minds from the great moderation period, I don't see that happening," he said.

"Many people even in the markets have not quite understood in my mind how much we are now in a different (central bank) regime compared to the last four decades."

Referring to the looming U.S. debt ceiling deadline, Hildebrand said the U.S. never having defaulted on its debt is a "basic anchor" of markets.

"All we can do I think, collectively... is to pray that everyone in the United States understands how important the sanctity of the sovereign signature of the leading currency, of the leading bond market, of the leading economy of the world is."

(Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli and Padraic Halpin; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Jan Harvey)
ASHGABAT (Reuters) -Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen inaugurated a permanent embassy in the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan on Thursday, establishing his country's closest diplomatic presence to Iran, as Israel seeks to strengthen ties to its arch-foe's neighbours.

Although the countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, there had only been a temporary Israeli mission in Ashgabat and predominantly Muslim Turkmenistan still has no embassy in Israel.

"I came to open an Israeli embassy 17 kilometres from the border with Iran, and to hold a series of meetings with the president and other officials," Cohen tweeted on Thursday.

In English remarks to Israeli reporters accompanying Cohen, his Turkmen counterpart, Rashid Meredov, described the embassy inauguration as "a very shining example of our friendship".

Cohen, who also met Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, called his visit "historic" and said Israel's ties with Central Asia's "energy superpower" were of strategic importance.

"We intend to widen economic relations to include agriculture, water, technology and border defence," Cohen said in a video issued by Israel's Foreign Ministry. "No doubt both countries will benefit from the closer cooperation."

The gas-rich desert nation of six million has an official neutrality policy, avoiding membership in any political or military blocs. Its main economic partner is China, which buys the bulk of Turkmen gas exports.

Turkmenistan's trade with Iran is relatively small and the two countries had disputes about potentially large hydrocarbon deposits in the Caspian Sea.

Although all five Caspian littoral states signed a convention in 2018 settling such disputes, Tehran is yet to ratify the document - which also holds up Ashgabat's plans to build a pipeline across the sea to ship gas to Europe.

(Reporting by Marat Gurt; Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov, Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones)
ARU Peterborough students at the civic reception (Image: ARU Peterborough)

ARU Peterboroughs first international students were given an official welcome to the city  plus tea and cake  at a Town Hall reception presided over by the citys mayor and deputy mayor.

In total, 120 international students, the majority from India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Ghana, are studying postgraduate courses at ARU Peterborough, the citys new university.

These students all arrived at ARU Peterborough at the start of this year and over 50 of them took part in the civic reception on Monday evening.

The event, which was held to formally welcome them to the city, was also attended by officials including Rebecca Stephens from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Business Board, and senior staff from ARU Peterborough.

The reception was hosted by Mayor Cllr Alan Dowson and Deputy Mayor Cllr Nick Sandford, and involved a tour of the historic Peterborough Town Hall, including a visit to the Mayors Parlour.

Peterborough Mayor, Councillor Alan Dowson, said: We were delighted to officially welcome these students to Peterborough and to get the opportunity to find out how they were enjoying their courses and the city itself.

The responses we received were heartening and a good indication of the quality of teaching at our new university.

The students said they are enjoying living in our city, with many taking the time between lessons to visit our city centre, the cathedral, library, shops and museum.

The international students are enrolled on ARU Peterboroughs masters programmes in international business and supply chain management, as well as some of the new undergraduate programmes, and more international students will study in the city in future years.

For Paz Awuah from Ghana, it is her first time in the UK. Paz, who is studying the MA in international business, said: Peterborough has been amazing so far and studying at ARU Peterborough is a totally new way of learning for me.

My lecturers here make it interesting and make you want to listen to what they talk about, plus they aways having something new planned.

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I like the way of teaching in the UK and Im even beginning to like the cups of tea, but I still prefer coffee.

Student Ali Hussnain is from Rawalpindi in Pakistan and he is also studying the MA in international business. Ali said: The city has been really welcoming and the people over here are very friendly.

Studying here is different to Pakistan. Here it is more self-study and the staff at ARU Peterborough are great at guiding you and giving you the direction that you need.

Professor Ross Renton, principal of ARU Peterborough, said: Of our first international students, almost 90 per cent of them had never visited the country before arriving in Peterborough.

The feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive and we cant think of a better place for them to experience their first taste of the UK.

Rebecca Stephens, member of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Business Board, said: The students really embraced the occasion, visiting the mayors parlour, trying on his chains and snapping pictures wherever they went.

Making Peterborough a more attractive place to study, work and invest for people globally were among the reasons why the business board helped fund the university in the first place.

ARU Peterborough is a partnership between Anglia Ruskin University, Peterborough City Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
Christian Brueckner (AFP PHOTO/ ITALIAN CARABINIERI)

Rape and sexual offence charges against the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been thrown out of a German court.

Convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, who has been formally identified as an official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, will no longer face a possible rape trial after a Braunschweig court deemed itself not to have jurisdiction over the case.

The courts decision means that legal authorities in Braunschweig have no jurisdiction over Madeleines case, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 aged three, lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher said in an email to Reuters.

The court lifted the arrest warrant against him, Bild reported.

Missing: Madeleine McCann

German prosecutors last year said they had charged Brueckner with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children in Portugal between December 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017.

The charges were not directly linked to the McCann case, but having thrown them out and revoked the warrant, the court could no longer be expected to consider the latter case either.

Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug trader who is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region of Portugal from where Madeleine went missing, was formally identified as an official suspect in the McCann case last year.

(PA Media)

Fuelscher did not say when Brueckner was due to be released or whether the court decision would affect that.

German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was assumed dead and that Brueckner was likely responsible for it. Brueckner has denied being involved in the disappearance and has not been charged with any crime related to it.

The Braunschweig state court said its supposed responsibility for the case being in the area had been based on his last residence before going abroad and then to prison.

But it said that is not valid, because the suspect produced evidence of a later residence in the neighbouring state of Saxony-Anhalt, where he was registered as the owner of a property that he kept after going abroad.

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The court said that, as a result of its decision, it has lifted an arrest warrant it issued for Bruckner in November.

It said in a statement that this has no influence on Bruckner completing his current sentence.

The court said that its decision can be appealed to a higher court in Braunschweig.

State prosecutors are yet to comment.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 2007.

Brueckner, who has reportedly denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

It came after Kate and Gerry McCann said they were naturally disappointed at losing their legal battle against a retired Portuguese detective who claimed they were somehow involved in their daughter going missing.

Lawyers for Madeleines parents had argued that Portuguese authorities had breached their right to respect for a private and family life in the way the courts there dealt with their libel claims against Goncalo Amaral.

He claimed in a book, TV documentary and newspaper interview that the McCanns were involved in their daughters disappearance.
A German court has rejected a possible rape trial for the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Christian B.

The decision means the authorities in the city of Braunschweig will have no jurisdiction over the case of Madeleine, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 at the age of three, lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said.

Mr Fulscher confirmed that an arrest warrant against him had been revoked.

Prosecutors said last year that they had charged Christian B with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children between December 2000 and June 2011, in Portugal.

The charges were not directly linked to the McCann case, but having revoked the warrant for Christian B's arrest, the court can no longer be expected to consider the case.

Read more:

Madeleine McCann suspect charged with several sexual offences

Madeleine McCann's parents lose legal battle over detective's accusations

Christian B's former lawyers says his alibi 'shouldn't be dismissed'

Christian B, a convicted child abuser and drug dealer, is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region of Portugal from where Madeleine went missing.

He was reported as an official suspect in the case last year but has always denied being involved in the disappearance.

In June 2020, German police said that Madeleine was assumed dead and that Christian B was likely responsible for it, but he has not been charged with any crime related to the disappearance.
Gabriele Laborde

In an industry where aging is treated like a dirty word, Sophie Carbonari likes to curse. I'm 33 and I love talking about my age, says the Paris-based facialist. To be honest, if you gave me a million euros, Id never go back."

That she is young, and that her own complexion is actually luminescent, belies her success to date. Carbonaris client roster includes such notable names as Rihanna, Naomi Campbell, and Lou Doillon. In January, she opened her own studio in a sunny, serene space on the Palais Royal. Taking a hardline against the toxicity that propels the beauty industry may seem revolutionary, risky even, but Carbonari feels confident in her approach. Everyone says that they like my glowthey dont say that they like my anti-aging protocol.

Gabriele Laborde

When we meet at Soho House in Paris Pigalle neighborhood, Carbonaris sought-after hands are cupping a hot herbal tea. Her braids are swept into a high bun and a touch of black liner accentuates her almond eyes. Her anecdotes are frequently pierced by laughterlike when she tells me about the intimacy she cultivates with clients.

Its like Vegaswhat happens in my treatment room, stays there, says Carbonari. When we both stop laughing, she continues, Im really concerned about [my clients] state, not just selling her a product. I want to be entirely aware of what shes going throughif shes tired, hormonal, or if she just had a miscarriage. These personal details factor into Carbonaris holistic approach. Its more skin healing than just a facial. I think about the skin as a metabolism, not just one part of the body. I try to understand the lifestyle of my client to craft the perfect treatment, which means applying the right product, but also giving the right massage to calm and soothe the skin.

Carbonari, who was born in Mali and raised by her adoptive parents in the south of France, was sixteen when she began studying beauty and hairdressing at Espace Bourgier, a private school in Nimes. At 22, she took over an Aix en Provence spa, which ultimately shuttered after a year. It was mistake because I wasn't ready to manage a business, recalls Carbonari. Set back but not defeated, Carbonai sold one of the spas techy devices and used the funds to move to London. There, she worked at a Japanese wellness center in Marylebone called Chi Yu, which she credits as one of her biggest influences. I learned different types of massagesJapanese cosmetic, shiatsu. I embraced the rituals, she says.

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True to her generational milieu, Carbonaris big break came about via DM. After stints in New York and back in the south of France, where at one point, she slept on the floor of the spa that employed her, Carbonari returned to London. Galvanized by the words of internet personality Gary Vee, she began DMing women who inspired her, offering treatments gratuit. I even DMd Michelle Obama, she says, followed by a ripple of laughter. One of those inspirational women, model and music producer Caroline de Maigret, replied and accepted. Maigret shared two posts to rave about the treatment, and from there, Carbonaris status soared. Rather than sending the DMs, her inbox was suddenly flooded with them.

Today, Carbonari has a carefully honed technique. First, she scans the skin using her index fingers. That way, I know where the circulation [is bad], where you have congestion, where the muscles are blocked. Next, she goes in and plays, as she refers to her trademark massages. She considers it 3D skin work. I work the muscles, then I work the face or hypodermy, then I work the micro-level or epidermy. For me, its a synergy. Unless shes collaborating with a brand (like Tata Harper or Augustinus Bader), Carbonari uses her own (soon to be released) product line. She says, I feel much more comfortable because I know whats inside and [can adjust] depending on your skin type.

On a gray morning, I pop into Sophies new studio, located on the second floor of a contemporary art gallery called Theoreme. Theres a glass vase overflowing with wild flowers and an atelier window overlooking the hushed Palais Royal. Once on the table, I enter the confessional: Im drowned in stress, Ive started smoking (again), and (deep breath) Im getting divorced. Dont worry, she says, This time is for you. Fingers dance across my dehydrated dermis. Micro-currents roll on orange-blossom-scented oils, soothing skin and soul. It's different from any facial I've had.

When I walk out an hour later, I still feel all of my 37 years and in the midst of a divorcebut for the moment, my skin has the glow of a lovestruck twenty something.

*Treatments are 400 euros for 60 minutes and 450 euros for 90 minutes. BOOK

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JOINT STATEMENT

BY THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

OF COUNTRIES OF SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE We, the Heads of State and Government of countries of South Eastern Europe President Kiro Gligorov, President Slobodan Mlilosevic. Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea, Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, Prime Minister Fatos Nano, Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ismail Cem, Mr. Blagoj Handziski, Mrs. Nadezhda Mihaylova, Mr. Paskal Milo, Mr. Milan Milutinovic, Mr. Theodoros Pangalos, Mr. Adrian Sevenir and the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Mihovil Malbasic, participating as an Observer, representing the freely elected governments of the South - Eastern Europe peoples met for the first time in our history in Crete and agreed on the following: We shall work together to create in our region conditions for the prosperity of our nations in a framework of peace, security, good-neighbourliness and stability. We are determined to pursue the South Eastern Europe cooperation, on a mutual and equal basis, in the firm belief that each of us has much to learn from the other. We shall promote to State of Law, the protection, of human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, including interethnic dialogue, individual freedoms and a market economy that will allow the individual enterprises to flourish and generate employment and opportunities for all and especially for the youth. We affirm our commitment to the UN Charter, the Paris Charter for a new Europe and the Helsinki Final Act including all ten principles referred therein, namely sovereign equality, respect for rights inherent in sovereignty, refraining from the threat of use of force, inviolability of frontiers, territorial integrity of States, peaceful settlement of disputes, non - intervention in internal affairs, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of through, conscience, religion or belief, equal rights and self - determination of peoples, cooperation among States, fulfillment in good faith of obligations under international law. We consider that the European orientation of our countries is an integral part of their political, economic and social development. We aspire to transform our region in an area of cooperation and economic prosperity and, to that effect, we decided to promote good neighbourly relations and respect for International Law. We believe that Europe can not be complete without our countries and our peoples representing civilisations and historical traditions which are essential to the establishment of a contemporary European identity. European and Euro-atlantic integration are essential in promoting the aforementioned objectives. We shall encourage the cooperation of the genuine representatives of our peoples in our national Parliaments, as well as their common intention to create a forum of undesrtanding and friendly relations. We reconfirmed our support for already existing regional initiatives sharing the same ideals with us such as Royaumont, SECI, BSEC, CEI. We shall promote the scientific, educational, cultural and sport relations as a means for strengthening our mutual understanding and friendship. We shall cooperate with each other in the field of justice, the combat against organized crime, the halting of illicit druj and arms trafficking and the elimination of all forms of terrorism and take joint action against illegal and irregular migration. Our cultural and religious diversity cannot be seen as a threat to our cooperation and security. On the contrary we believe it is a powerful source of inspiration, creativity and dynamism. We shall intensify our efforts for the increase of our economic cooperation, the improvement of infrastructure for transport, telecommunications and energy as well as for the establishment of favourable conditions for investments. We invite the competent Ministers to meet at least once a year to assess progress. We shall promote the cross border cooperation and to that effect we invite officials to meet regularly and Ministers of Economy or Finance, or other Ministers responsible for it, to meet at least once a year to review the progress achieved. We took into consideration different valuable proposals for the establishment of institutes and centres for the promotion of multilateral cooperation in various fields. . We call upon Ministers of Foreign Affairs to meet at least once a year to conduct political consulations and to promote cooperation on issues of regional stability and security. Political Directors will meet every three months for consulations and report to Ministers. In order to ensure continuity between the countries undertaking the organisation of Summit or Ministerial Meetings as well as of various technical groups, the idea of establishing a joint Secretariat will be discussed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The Heads of State and Government of countries of South Eastern Europe expressed their warm thanks for the hospitality of Greece for hosting the Crete Summit Meeting. They decided to hold their next Summit Meeting in Turkey in 1998. Heracleion, Crete, 4 November 1997
The University of North Georgia (UNG) hosted the University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents meeting April 18-19 at its Dahlonega Campus. In addition to recognizing the universitys Sesquicentennial celebration, presentations focused on UNG's mission and community partnerships that support workforce and economic development.

"I am pleased to share that our large regional footprint and our role as the largest public university in the area have resulted in strong community partnerships with critical financial support for programs and resume-building experiences for our students," UNG President Bonita Jacobs said.

Each year, the Board of Regents holds two of its monthly meetings at USG campuses. In addition to Jacobs and other university leaders, community partners and UNG students presented to the board.

Students who shared about their UNG experience included:

Amisha Nair, a 2022 graduate with a degree in film and digital media. She is an independent filmmaker and photographer in Atlanta.

Scott Snow, who is pursuing a degree in cybersecurity.

Anna Kubas, a 2022 graduate and former cadet with a degree in modern languages with a concentration in Russian language and literature. She is a UNG cadet recruiter who will lead a study abroad to Latvia this summer.

Ashley Espinoza, who is pursuing a degree in middle grades education and is a member of UNG's Teacher Candidate Residency Program.

Ronny Wilson, who is pursuing an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN).

Lillian Brenters, who is pursuing a degree in management.

The students discussed how UNG has prepared them to excel in their chosen careers through academic and cocurricular activities.

The partnerships highlighted were the ABSN track with Northeast Georgia Health System in the College of Health Sciences and Professions, the College of Education's teacher residency program and Realizing Inspiring and Successful Educators Undergraduate Program (RISE UP) collaborations with Hall County Schools, and the Mike Cottrell College of Business partnership with Gainesville-based Syfan Logistics.

Students who already have a bachelor's or master's degree in another subject are able to enroll in the ABSN track, complete their new degree in only 15 months, and enter the nursing field quickly. The first ABSN cohort started in January 2023, and UNG is already actively recruiting for its second cohort, which will launch in January 2024. The deadline to apply is Aug. 15.

UNG seniors in the teacher residency program are full-time teachers of record with their own classrooms, receiving half the salary of a full-time educator. They are not eligible for full salary because they do not have a baccalaureate degree. They receive benefits, including admission to teacher retirement.

Through RISE UP, Hall County Schools assists with educational expenses for heritage Spanish-speaking graduates of Hall high schools to enroll in UNG's teacher education programs. Students serve as paraprofessionals within the school district while they are students at UNG and have a teaching job upon graduation.

The Syfan Logistics Lab in UNG's new Cottrell Center for Business, Technology & Innovation emphasizes hands-on learning opportunities for students. In addition to its financial support of UNG's new logistics lab, Syfan Logistics employs UNG students as interns each summer and collaborates with the university to ensure its courses reflect industry needs. The idea is to build a pipeline of logistics professionals for both Syfan and the industry at large.

Emma Mitchell, Student Government Association vice president for UNGs Blue Ridge Campus, and Cadet Col. Warren Walker, Corps of Cadets brigade commander, helped welcome the regents and other guests at the beginning of each day's meeting.

UNG Foundation board members and community dignitaries, including Sen. Steve Gooch, Rep. Will Wade, and Dahlonega Mayor JoAnne Taylor, joined the group for a dinner on campus April 18. In commemoration of UNG's Sesquicentennial, the group was entertained with a historical portrayal of David Lewis, the first president of North Georgia Agricultural College, which has since become UNG.

Chancellor Sonny Perdue praised Jacobs, who will retire at the end of June, for her leadership and the university's accomplishments and its success in serving its students and the state.
With the theme "Positioning Vietnam's Green National Brand", the forum was a chance for policymakers and industry experts to share ideas to make Viet Nam a green, sustainable and more developed country.

Keynote speaker Dr Nancy Snow  Professor Emeritus of California State University, Fullerton and a global messaging advisor for the Government of Japan  said that a country's brand provides a framework for its long-term economic growth, increases the value of its assets, and gives it a competitive advantage, thereby attracting more investments, tourists, and other benefits.

With mounting concerns about environmental issues and sustainable development, a country's green brand is becoming increasingly influential, particularly as many countries work towards achieving the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, she emphasised.

Viet Nam has a unique opportunity to position itself on the global stage as a green nation with strong national green brands that represent the country in the global marketplace."

Elements of a nations green brand

So far, neither academia nor practice has provided a complete definition or model of a nation's green brand. The typical approach is to integrate environmental issues and sustainable development into the general country brand model.

According to an RMIT research team led by Dr Erhan Atay and Dr Dang Thao Quyen, a nation's green brand can be defined as a country's brand that emphasises and excels at sustainable development while protecting the environment.

Accordingly, the elements constituting a nations green brand include people's perceptions of:

 The government policies which aim at sustainable development while protecting the environment

 The nations human capital endowment  the skills and capacities that reside in its people, aligning with sustainable development objectives

 The countrys exports which refer to the reputation of the countrys products and services that are of good quality and environmentally friendly

 The countrys tourism industrys attractiveness and whether it is attached to proper environmental practices;

 The countrys culture and heritage that are attached to environmental values

 The countrys ability to attract individuals and companies to live, work, study or do businesses thanks to its reputation in positive environmental practices

Dr Erhan Atay summarised: This is a brand that may help countries to position themselves as a leader in sustainability, and their products or services are recognised for their respect for the environment and sustainable development.

Building a green nations brand for Viet Nam

Experts agreed that Viet Nam has made some progress in building a nations green brand, but much remains to be done.

Viet Nam's remarkable journey from a low- to middle-income country lifted 40 million people out of poverty between 1993 and 2014. Despite this impressive record, the country is struggling with environmental problems such as air and water pollution, deforestation and loss of biodiversity.

In 2022, Vietnam ranked 56th out of 76 countries in MITs Green Future Index (GFI) and 178th out of 180 countries in Yale Universitys Environmental Performance Index (EPI).

The country has set industry targets under environmental goals. However, it faces challenges in achieving these goals due to its reliance on traditional energy sources such as coal.

To address these issues, the Vietnamese government has made progress toward sustainable finance by developing a robust green finance framework for viable projects. The framework aims to promote investment in environmentally friendly projects and encourage the adoption of sustainable practices in various sectors.

However, more needs to be done to promote sustainability and environmental awareness at the national level.

Dr Dang Thao Quyen said: Viet Nam must adopt sustainable policies and practices, promote environmentally friendly products and services, and engage citizens and businesses in efforts to improve the environment.

A further way is to attach compulsory criteria related to green and sustainable practices as requirements of being recognised as a National Brand of Vietnam.

Professor Robert McClelland, Dean of The Business School at RMIT Vietnam, added: By promoting environmentally friendly activities and products, Viet Nam can become a responsible and sustainable country, attracting more environmentally conscious tourists, consumers and global investors, leading to economic growth and development.
Along with the rational use of fertiliser, Viet Nam needs to research and develop new generation product lines that meet the demand for organic agricultural production and help increase the productivity and quality of agricultural products. This would help protect the environment and reduce emissions, and many developed countries, such as the US, Japan and South Korea, are already doing so.

Phung Ha, general secretary and vice chairman of the Viet Nam Fertiliser Association, spoke to Viet Nam News Agency about this issue.

Viet Nams demand for fertiliser for agricultural production now stands at nearly 11 million tonnes a year, nearly seven times higher than 20 years ago. The efficiency in using fertiliser reaches about 50 per cent. What is your opinion on this issue?

In recent years, Viet Nam's agriculture needs about 11 million tonnes of fertiliser per year. The higher fertiliser demand is due to the increasing demand for agricultural products. However, quite a large amount of applied fertiliser is lost to the environment.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, Viet Nam is among the top countries using fertiliser in the world.

The average amount of fertiliser used in agriculture is about 145 kilos per ha in the world, while this figure is over 400 kilos per ha in Viet Nam.

So, the amount of fertiliser lost to the environment is also high, such as 40-60 per cent for nitrogen fertiliser and 30-40 per cent for phosphate fertiliser.

This means Viet Nam uses too much fertiliser per hectare. That will make the plants not absorb it, affecting production efficiency.

According to FAO calculations, fertiliser accounts for 40-70 per cent of the production cost of agricultural products, depending on the crop type and season.

In addition, the quality of agricultural products is also affected compared to using a reasonable ratio of chemical fertiliser in combination with organic fertiliser.

Another thing is the negative impact on the environment and climate.

Agricultural production generates about 14 per cent of total global man-made greenhouse gas emissions, including 15 per cent from fertiliser production and use.

Therefore, an amount of fertiliser will be lost to the soil, causing soil degradation or melting and then seeping into ponds, lakes, rivers and streams when fertiliser is overused.

According to experts, the current trend is green agriculture, but to ensure food security, Viet Nam still needs to use a reasonable ratio between chemical fertiliser and organic fertiliser. What do you comment about this issue?

This is a completely correct view. Viet Nam's agriculture has to perform two tasks of ensuring food security and switching to organic and sustainable agriculture.

Therefore, the Prime Minister has issued Decision 300/Q-TTg to approve a national action plan for building a transparent, responsible and sustainable food system by 2030.

The plan has goals of bringing land area for organic agricultural production to at least 2.5 per cent of the total agricultural production area and the amount of organic fertiliser to more than 30 per cent of the supply on the market, doubling that of 2020.

The agriculture sector needs to have many measures to achieve the goal of increasing organic agricultural land area. This area accounts for only 1.4 per cent of the total farming land area.

Many fertiliser enterprises in Viet Nam are implementing the strategy of developing new-generation fertiliser products, including multi-functional and organic fertilisers, for the development of green agriculture. What are solutions to support the businesses?

Currently, many fertiliser manufacturers in Viet Nam are developing many kinds of fertiliser, especially organic fertiliser, to reduce gas emissions.

This contributes to the development of green agriculture, so the Government needs appropriate support policies for them because the enterprises will not gain high profit from investment in the production of organic fertiliser or new-generation fertiliser products.

The first solution is to amend Law 71/2014/QH13, dated November 26, 2014, on amending and supplementing several articles of the tax laws, taking fertiliser from non-value-added taxable items to value-added taxable items. Thereby, fertiliser production projects are deducted value-added tax for input material and equipment.

Besides that, the State should develop science and technology funds or have preferential credit policies for enterprises to research and develop new generation fertiliser products for green agriculture.

In addition, European countries have recommended using fertiliser according to the "4R" principle of using the right rate, right source, right timing and right place to reach efficiency in fertilising crops. VNS
HA NOI - The State should consider support for businesses to limit the negative impact of imposing the global minimum tax on investment attraction in Viet Nam, said ang Ngoc Minh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Taxation.

The global minimum tax of 15 per cent applies to multi-national corporations with annual revenue of 750 million euros and above, starting from 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Currently, 142 countries and territories have signed up to implement the tax, including Viet Nam. It is estimated that 1,015 FDI companies in Viet Nam will be affected by the tax.

Now, most countries under the European Union, Switzerland, the UK, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Australia have confirmed to apply this minimum tax rate from 2024.

South Korea, Singapore and Japan are large foreign investors in Viet Nam, and those countries will have many businesses that are subject to the global minimum tax.

Applying this tax is expected to reduce attractiveness and competitiveness in attracting foreign investment from developing countries, including Viet Nam because existing tax incentives will no longer bring benefits to the businesses. This poses a significant challenge to maintaining the competitiveness of Viet Nam's investment environment.

According to Minh, countries receiving foreign investment, like Viet Nam, are studying solutions to solve challenges from carrying out the global minimum tax policy, including implementing the Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax.

Besides the Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax, some countries are also studying some supportive solutions to retain foreign companies subject to the global minimum tax and attract new foreign companies.

However, the solutions must ensure not to violate the global minimum tax rules and international commitments and practices and ensure transparency, minimising bad impacts on the investment environment, Minh said.

He has also proposed supporting foreign companies in investment in basic infrastructure for production and forming fixed assets for industrial production.

There are supports in environmental protection; housing for workers; social-health insurance for employees; research and development; and application of high and environmentally friendly technology.

To implement the support, Minh said the State also needs to arrange financial resources and land and have training in human resources to maintain the attractiveness and stability of the investment environment.

Viet Nam is a developing country receiving a large amount of foreign investment, so the global minimum tax rules surely affect its investment activities. So, Nguyen Nhu Quynh, director of the Institute of Financial Strategy and Policy, Ministry of Finance, has said that Viet Nam needs to adjust its policies to adapt to the general rules of the global minimum tax.

In addition, Viet Nam needs to continue to create an attractive investment environment. Still, it must harmonise the interests of investors and Viet Nam's tax collection rights to ensure State budget revenue.

Quynh has also said that amendment of incentive policies on the corporate income tax needs not only to match the implementation of the global minimum tax but also to be synchronous with incentives of other fields to attract investment.

In addition, Viet Nam also needs to create favourable conditions for investors on non-tax policies, such as exemption or reduction of land rent and reform of administrative procedures, to cut costs for businesses, said Quynh.

Minister of Finance Ho uc Phoc said that the Prime Minister had established a special working team to study and propose solutions related to the global minimum tax that is Pillar Two of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD)s base erosion and profit-shifting (BEPS) framework.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance has also established a working group to assist the Prime Minister's special working team. They will research and propose solutions for this tax in Viet Nam.

In Viet Nam, tax incentives are used as a financial leverage tool to influence investment trends. Viet Nams corporate income tax incentives are considered attractive compared to other countries in the region.

Specifically, the common corporate income tax is 20 per cent, higher than the global minimum tax rate. The preferential rates of 10 per cent, 15 per cent and 17 per cent are applied depending on the industries, sizes and locations of the investment. Notably, some investors are given special rates of just 5 per cent, 7 per cent and 9 per cent. Other incentives have included tax exemption or a 50 per cent reduction.

Suppose Viet Nam applies the minimum tax rate of 15 per cent. It is necessary to amend at least three laws as soon as possible, namely the Law on Investment, the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Corporate Income Tax and other relevant regulations according to international practices. VNS
HA NOI  As many as 350 domestic and foreign enterprises will join the 30th Vietnam International Medical and Pharmaceutical Exhibition (Medi-pharm Expo 2023), slated to be held in Ha Noi from May 10-13.

These exhibitors are from 30 countries and territories including the US, Germany, Netherlands, India, Belgium, Taiwan (China), South Korea, Hong Kong, Israel, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand and mainland China.

They will showcase advanced equipment and technologies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors in over 500 booths, the event's organisers announced at the press conference in the capital city on Wednesday.

"The exhibition will offer opportunities for enterprises, production, sales and distribution units to find partners, investment cooperation, and distribution of products and technologies to enhance trade promotion and development of the medical and pharmaceutical market in Viet Nam, contributing to enhancing the people's healthcare and protection," Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Health Ha Anh uc said.

A conference discussing new policies in medical equipment management will be held on the sidelines of the expo.

Other seminars on maxillofacial and maxillofacial aesthetics and new advances in the treatment of immunopathology, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, and online B2B business matching, will also be included.

Vietnam Medical Import Export JSC and Vietnam Advertisement and Fair Exhibition JSC will organise the upcoming event at the Ha Noi International Exhibition Centre.

The previous edition attracted over 150 foreign and domestic exhibitors.  VNS
HA NOI  Nearly 300 archives and photos featuring the most outstanding features of Vietnamese Buddhist architecture are being exhibited at the Viet Nam National Museum of History (VNMH), 25 Tong an Street, Hoan Kiem District, Ha Noi.

The exhibits are from three surveys conducted across the nation by the Central Culture Department of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in collaboration with the Institute of Religious Studies, the Institute of Monuments Conservation, the VNMH, as well as many monks, nuns, and specialists.

They also include documents preserved by the Vietnam National Museum of History and the Institute of Monuments Conservation.

The exhibition, entitled Kien Truc Phat Giao Viet Nam  Thong Nhat Trong a Dang (Vietnamese Buddhist Architecture  Unity in Diversity), is divided into three sections; Buddhist architectural images and artefacts currently kept at the VNMH; typical features of Vietnamese Buddhist architecture; and images of Vietnamese Buddhist architecture built in recent years.

Since Buddhism was introduced to Viet Nam more than 2,000 years ago, many Buddhist facilities such as pagodas, towers or monasteries have been constructed across Viet Nam.

Over time, Buddhist architecture has become diverse in different regions and manners of worship. Still, they have always contained and inherited the beauties of traditional national architecture, creating an overall religious picture of unity in diversity.

According to Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon, Chairman of the Executive Council of the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha, many traditional Buddhist buildings have been weathered by time, ravaged by wars and affected by urbanisation, meaning many have been severely degraded or lost.

On the other hand, the new constructions have met the needs of spiritual practice and activities. Still, some of them might not have properly inherited the traditional values and characteristics, as well as Buddhist thoughts and spirits.

Therefore, the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha approved the project Characteristic Orientation of Vietnamese Buddhist Culture on Costume, Language, Architecture and Heritage in 2015. The exhibition Vietnamese Buddhist Architecture  Unity in Diversity and a scientific conference of the same theme are part of the project.

According to Nguyen Van oan, director of the VNMH, the exhibition contributes to providing materials for the scientific conference and supporting the implementation of the project in the upcoming years.

At the same time, it helps Buddhists and communities nationwide to realise the characteristics of Vietnamese Buddhist architecture and the need to adapt it to contemporary society.

Therefore, he added that it is expected to raise awareness about preserving and promoting Vietnamese fine cultural traditions.

The exhibition runs until May 15.  VNS
The United States has been studying and exploring the moon for decades, and while they have already sent rovers to the Moon, they have not launched an autonomous one. In fact, college students from Carnegie Mellon University will be the first to do that.

College Students Create a Lunar Robotic Rover

The students from the university are set to send the rover to roam the Moon's surface by May, which is a year earlier than NASA's estimated date of launch for their own autonomous moon rover. Originally, it was supposed to launch in early 2021 or late 2022, reports say.

The first robotic rover is the product of a group of college students with the help of faculty members and alumni from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. What's called the "Iris" rover took three years before the team finished building it, according to Space.

Since the college doesn't have the means to send the rover to the Moon itself, NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program will assist with the launch. This marks not only the first robotic lunar rover but also the first one made by college students.

A research associate at Carnegie Mellon University, Raewyn Duvall stated that hundreds of students poured thousands of hours into the robotic lunar rover and that they have worked years toward the mission.

The spacecraft is 4.4 pounds in weight and has a chassis the size of a shoebox. Its wheels are made of carbon fiber that is about an inch in size. In a span of 60 hours, the rover will capture images of the moon's surface so its geography can be studied.

The college team also intends to send a time capsule called MoonArk, which holds various human items and literary works like poems, as well as music photos, and other small objects. It is said to be something that will be "moving" to people "1,000 years down the road."

The MoonArk will board the United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket, which will be sent to the lunar surface by the space company based in Pittsburgh, using its Peregrine lander. The launch will be on May 4th, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Read Also: NASA Chief Expresses Concern That China Could Claim The Moon As Its Land Territory

NASA's Lunar Rover 'VIPER'

VIPER, which is short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, is a mobile robot that will explore the Moon's South Pole. It aims to view the location and determine the concentration of the water ice that could be harvested.

The water may be able to sustain human exploration when we reach the Moon, Mars, or any other bodies in space. VIPER, after delays, is set to be launched by late 2024, which will also board NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

The delay is due to NASA's request to Astrobotic for further ground testing of its Griffin moon lander, which is the spacecraft tasked to deliver the VIPER rover. The test, which ensures the reduction of risks during the delivery, cost NASA an additional $67.8 million.

Related: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Believes Moon Landing in 2029: Does This Mean NASA Artemis?
HA NOI  Enchanted by the hospitality and warmth of the Vietnamese people, @Turkdyk, a Thai TikToker, was smitten from the moment he set foot in Viet Nam on his birthday, October 31, 2022.

Now, the 26-year-old has pledged to make monthly trips to the country, drawn back by the lure of its delectable cuisine and fascinating culture.

As the proud owner of a TikTok account with 1.4 million followers, Turkdyk's speciality lies in showcasing the best food and travel experiences from around the world. Over the past six months, his channel has been replete with captivating and thrilling footage from HCM City, a Lat, Hoi An and Ha Noi.

With a keen eye for Vietnamese delicacies such as bun rieu (crab vermicelli soup), nem nuong (grilled sausage), hu tiu (thin rice-noodle soup), banh my (bread) or banh trang tron (rice paper salad), Turkdyk has learned to greet his followers with a charming "Toi yeu Viet Nam" (I love Viet Nam) at the start of every video.

"I often make mukbang (live-streamed videos where viewers watch the host eat) on my Tiktok channel and have received many comments and appraisals from Vietnamese viewers who also invited me to Viet Nam to eat many delicious dishes," said Turkdyk, also known as Turk. "I became curious and decided to book a ticket to Ha Noi on my birthday."

On his first time travelling abroad alone, he was worried due to his limited English and Vietnamese. Fortunately, he was enthusiastically supported by a friend in HCM City who helped him book hotels and visit the citys attractions.

He said: "I felt the friendliness of Vietnamese people from the first minute I came here. That night, I visited the cafe where my friend works. The people there ate, drank and talked with me. After that, I offered to pay for the meal, but they didn't accept, saying that it was my birthday present and then sang the Happy Birthday song for me.

I was so moved that I burst into tears. That is the memory that I remember the most when I'm in Viet Nam".

In 11 days, Turk travelled from north to south and enjoyed delicious dishes in different regions. He admired the ancient beauty of Hoi An Town, and loved the cold of a Lat City and the bustle and dynamism of HCM City. Five months after the first trip, Turk has returned to Viet Nam five times, as he has promised himself that he would spend his youth exploring all the beauty of the S-shaped land.

According to Turk, Thai people used to feel hesitant to travel to Viet Nam, particularly those with limited English or travel experience. They were concerned that they might be overcharged or have difficulty finding reasonably priced accommodation and transportation.

Returning to his hometown, he has proved to his family and friends that Viet Nam is in fact a great destination.

He stayed in the country for nearly half a month, travelling safely to several provinces and cities with reasonable spending.

"The special thing that makes me always want to return to Viet Nam is the locals kindness.

One day, I was buying fruits in a Nang City. The seller charged me an extra VN20,000, more expensive than normal.

Immediately, the local people defended me, demanding the seller to charge me the right amount of money paid for the fruit. I am very grateful for that.

Vietnamese people have always helped me to cross the streets, explained what I don't understand or recommended delicious dishes to me, Turk said.

Turk admitted that he was "heads over heels in love" with Viet Nam and always wanted to make many videos there to share with international friends. In response to the love of Vietnamese fans, the Thai TikToker has even hired an interpreter to teach him to speak Vietnamese to introduce local food and tourist attractions in his videos.

Turk can easily roll grilled sausage, enjoy banh can (custard cake) with shumai, mix rice paper or pour fish sauce over banh cuon (steamed rolled pancakes) like locals to show everyone the unique experience of Vietnamese cuisine.

"Every time I come to Viet Nam, I feel closeness and warmth in my heart. I have received much affection and support from Vietnamese people, so I always want to bring good things back to them, he said.

In love with the country, Turk considered every Vietnamese like his acquaintance and treated them well.

He invited a scrap collector to eat with him at Ben Thanh Market in HCM City. On Christmas 2022, together with some Vietnamese friends, he delivered gifts to the homeless and poor workers. Whenever a gift was given away, he always bowed his head and said: I love Viet Nam very much.  VNS
HAVANA  National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong inh Hue and his entourage on April 19 morning (Cuba time) visited the Fidel Castro Ruz Centre in La Habana, within the framework of his official visit to Cuba.

The centre is a place to collect, store, preserve, and honour the legacy of the Cuban leader to research and popularise his ideological values.

Hue watched objects and images associated with Fidel's life and revolutionary cause, and was briefed about the value and Fidel Castro's special sentiment for Viet Nam.

Writing in the guest book, he wrote: "To every Cuban and people in the world, leader Fidel Castro is forever an immortal symbol of revolutionary heroism, strong will, steadfastly fighting for national independence and aspiration for freedom and happiness. In the heart of every Vietnamese, Fidel Castro is a noble image of a staunch revolutionary soldier, a great friend, and a close comrade with faith, love, admiration, and sympathy, just like the relations of special, faithful, pure and rare friendship and solidarity in the ties between the Parties, States and peoples of the two countries Viet Nam and Cuba. Viva Cuba, Viva Viet Nam!.

On this occasion, he presented the centre with a model of Viet Nams National Assembly building.

The Fidel Castro Ruz Centre was built and inaugurated on the 5th anniversary of the death of Fidel Castro (November 25, 2016 - November 25, 2021), the first and the only named after the great revolutionary leader of the Cuban people. The Cuban state issued a special decree on the establishment of this facility because, during his lifetime, the leader wished that after his death, there would be no streets, parks, schools, hospitals or any other establishment to be named after him. VNS
HAVANA  National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong inh Hue on April 19 (Cuba time) met staff members of the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives from the Vietnamese community in Cuba, during his official visit to the Caribbean island nation.

Ambassador Le Thanh Tung briefed the leader on the situation of the community there, affirming that investment is a bright spot in the Viet Nam-Cuba relations. Vietnamese enterprises have approached the market, holding the top position among the countries and territories from the Asia-Pacific region having investment activities in Cuba.

The diplomat said the embassy also actively promotes cultural diplomacy and external information so that the Cuban people can better understand the solidarity between the two countries, Viet Nam's renovation work, and support the views and stances of Viet Nam on regional and international issues.

Representatives of the Vietnamese investors in Cuba spoke about their efforts to overcome difficulties for successes in Cuba, while those of young people living and studying in Cuba said they always strive to actively study and participate in school activities and international cooperation.

NA Chairman Hue expressed his joy to revisit Cuba.

This is the highest-level visit of Vietnamese leaders to Cuba since 2022, he said, adding it takes place as the two countries are marking important anniversaries this year.

The leader expressed his hope that after the visit, cooperation between the two countries will be further promoted, creating momentum for their relations and favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Cuba.

He wished that the Embassy, the Vietnamese business community and students there will continue to thoroughly understand and be deeply aware of the special, exemplary, and faithful relationship between Viet Nam and Cuba.

The leader highlighted that in the 64 years after the founding of the Republic of Cuba, Viet Nam is proud to have been standing by its side for 63 years.

During the more than 35 years of Viet Nams oi moi ( renovation process), Viet Nam and Cuba have shared socio-economic development orientations because both countries have a common goal of building socialism. Cuba is updating its socio-economic development model and has made very positive changes.

On this occasion, Hue presented the token of books about President Ho Chi Minh's life and career to the Vietnamese Embassy and community in Cuba. VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has suggested the US assist Viet Nam in promoting the rapid, sustainable and modern development of agriculture that matches Viet Nams conditions.

During a reception in Ha Noi on Wednesday for US Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, PM Chinh sought the USs support in building ecological agriculture, modern rural areas and civilised farmers while improving the added value of agricultural products to bring benefits to consumers and the two economies, contributing to the Viet Nam-US comprehensive partnership.

PM Chinh said in its overall foreign policy, Viet Nam always considers the US one of its top partners and backs the strengthening of friendly cooperation in various fields, with agriculture being an important area.

The PM added that Viet Nam is ready to continue deepening ties with the US effectively and substantially based on mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political regimes of each other, matching the interests of their people and contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

The PM suggested the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the US Department of Agriculture further strengthen cooperation to diversify products and supply chains.

He urged the US to complete the necessary procedures to open its market for Vietnamese products such as coconut and passion fruit; support the establishment of irradiation facilities in northern Viet Nam to facilitate the export of fruits such as lychee, mango, pomelo, and dragon fruit; limit the use of unnecessary technical barriers and tools in agricultural trade with Vietnam; assist Viet Nam in planning and developing raw material areas and meeting US standards for food safety and hygiene.

Furthermore, he said that Viet Nam encourages strong and diversified investment by US businesses in agriculture in the country, adding that Viet Nam is willing to open up its market and increase imports of several agricultural products from the US.

The Vietnamese leader also proposed that the US Department of Agriculture strengthen coordination and assist Viet Nam in the green transition, climate change response, technological transfer, digital transformation in agriculture, disease control, as well as research and production of vaccines, fertilisers and animal feed, increase scholarships and workforce training in agriculture.

He said that carrying forward the Viet Nam-US agricultural cooperation will increase farm produce consumption and create jobs and livelihoods for farmers, especially those in remote areas affected by Agent Orange during the past war, and the strong impacts of climate change, especially in the Mekong Delta.

Vilsack said it is the third time he had visited Viet Nam. Each time he witnesses the country's strong development, as well as bilateral ties.

He said the US wants to beef up ties with Viet Nam, especially in trade. He called on both sides to continue learning from each other's experience in agricultural development, particularly smart agriculture and climate change adaptation.

The guest pledged to work with the two countries relevant agencies to nurture cooperation in areas suggested by the Vietnamese PM, including setting up irradiation facilities in northern Viet Nam, meeting the demands of the US and other markets and expanding the market for their farm produce.  VNS
Havana  National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong inh Hue delivered a speech at a special plenary session of the 10th NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba and a celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the Giron Victory at the Havana Convention Palace on April 19 afternoon (local time).

The session, broadcast live by Cubas national TV station, was attended by the presence of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, President of the NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez, and all the parliamentarians of the country.

Chairman Hue expressed his honour to lead a high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese NA on an official visit to Cuba on the occasion of both countries major anniversaries, including; the 62nd anniversary of the Giron Victory and the declaration of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution; 70 years since the attack on the Moncada Barracks; the 60th anniversary of Cubas establishment of the Committee for Solidarity with South Viet Nam  the predecessor of the Cuba - Viet Nam Friendship Association; and the 50th anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruzs first visit to Viet Nam and the liberated zone in South Viet Nam during wartime.

He thanked the Cuban Party and State for giving him a chance to be the first foreign guest to deliver remarks in front of the NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba after the parliament elected a new State leadership of the Latin American nation.

He stressed that over more than 64 glorious years of the Cuban Revolution (since January 1959), Viet Nam is proud to have 63 years of standing side by side with Cuba. On December 2, 1960, the administration led by Fidel Castro became the first in the western hemisphere to set up full diplomatic ties with Viet Nam.

Hue held that the similarities in the two countries histories, aspirations, revolutionary ideals, and heroic traditions of fighting for independence, freedom, sovereignty, and the peoples right to self-determination had connected the two peoples and created a solid foundation for the special and faithful relations between Viet Nam and Cuba.

In Viet Nam, people always keep in mind late leader Fidel Castros everlasting remark, For Viet Nam, Cuba is willing to shed its blood, as well as his bravery in visiting the liberated zone in South Viet Nam in Quang Tri, located in the frontline between North and South Viet Nam, on September 16, 1973. He was the first and only foreign leader to do so.

The Chairman highlighted Cubas support for Viet Nam during the resistance war and trying times, stressing that Viet Nam never forgets and always remembers the fraternal assistance from Cuba.

Viet Nams solidarity with and support for Cuba has always been shown consistently and strongly, especially via Vietnamese Party and State leaders speeches with a steadfast stance at forums of the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and international and regional events, he went on.

Though not an economic superpower, Cuba is a superpower of humanity, he said, noting that it has provided medical services for 165 countries, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The bright example of Cuba and the development of the left-wing movements in many Latin American countries reflect the trend of social progress and national independence in the world, which is emerging strongly in the western hemisphere.

Chairman Hue also noted cooperation between the Vietnamese and Cuban parliaments has been enjoying attention from both countries Party and State leaders and substantially contributing to the relations and solidarity between the two peoples.

During this visit, leaders of the two parliaments will ink a cooperation agreement to intensify parliamentary ties. He revealed that many other cooperation deals would also be signed between the countries agencies, ministries, sectors, and localities.

Amid complex developments in the world, Viet Nam and Cuba need to become even more united, work closely together, stay steadfast in their revolutionary paths, and firmly maintain the principle of independence, self-reliance, and equal cooperation to serve as the basis for flexible and creative moves in reality, the visiting leader recommended.

He wished the strong cooperation between the two parliaments and the special and exemplary solidarity between the two countries would grow even further. Both countries will jointly move forwards for the sake of peace, national independence, democracy, and socialism.

Welcoming the Vietnamese delegation, President of the NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez emphasised that Viet Nam and Cuba boast a traditional and unbreakable friendship. He highly valued Chairman Hues efforts in promoting the two countries special relations and parliamentary ties.

He held that amid numerous crises and challenges in the world, countries like Viet Nam and Cuba should keep contributing to peace maintenance and sustainable development, in which their legislative bodies have an important role to play. VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam on Thursday denounced China's annual fishing ban, which this year takes place from May 1 to August 16, over many stretches of the East Sea (internationally known as South China Sea).

Responding to reporters' questions during the regular press conference held in Ha Noi, Deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs oan Khac Viet stated that Viet Nam's position on China's unilateral fishing ban in the East Sea has been consistent and clearly reiterated in the past few years.

"China's 'fishing ban' not only violates our sovereignty towards the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, but also Viet Nam's sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as delineated under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Viet said.

Viet Nam asks that China respect Viet Nam's sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over Vietnamese waters, refrain from complicating the situation, and contribute to the maintenance of peace, stability, and order, according to the diplomat.

China has executed the fishing ban every summer since 1999, ostensibly to "promote sustainable marine fishery development and improve marine ecology," with the Coast Guard units in charge of patrolling and enforcement, but the problem is that many areas under the ban are disputed, with overlapping claims from several countries in the region, including Viet Nam.

A question was also raised over China's recent condemnation of United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken's remark made during his visit to Viet Nam last week that the US is helping Viet Nam and countries in the region on 'maritime domain awareness' which help them see clearly what is happening in the seas surrounding the countries when it comes to using of coercion by other countries against their fishing fleets.

China said in response "other countries outside the region, based on Cold War mentality, took every opportunity to sow discord in the region, and this is unpopular and doomed to fail," and that the situation in the East Sea "remains stable" because of the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, reads a statement by the Chinese Embassy in Ha Noi.

Deputy spokesperson Viet today remarked that "The maintenance of security safety, freedom of navigation and upholding the rule of law in the East Sea is closely linked to peace, stability and development operations for common prosperity in the Asia Pacific and the world at large."

Viet Nam hopes that all countries and relevant parties will contribute responsibly to this matter, on the basis of compliance with international laws, especially the 1982 UNCLOS, the deputy spokesperson went on.

During the US State Secretary's visit, made at the invitation of the Vietnamese foreign minister Bui Thanh Son, Viet said that both sides have reaffirmed the basic principles of this bilateral relation, including the principle of respecting each other's independence, sovereignty, and political system; discussed the implementation of the results of the telephone conversation between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Nguyen Phu Trong and US President Joe Biden; and agreed on promoting activities commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Viet Nam-US Comprehensive Partnership.

Deputy spokesperson Viet also noted that all future high-level visits between Viet Nam and the US leaders will be made public at an appropriate time.

COVID-19 emergence

With questions regarding the rising COVID-19 infections recently in Viet Nam since the start of April and whether the country plans to adjust exit and entry protocols in response, Viet noted that the Ministry of Health has issued Document No.2116 recommending that the people follow pandemic prevention requirements such as wearing masks and disinfecting.

The health ministry also sent out instructions to health institutions on the reception and treatment of COVID-19 patients three days ago, according to the diplomat.

Viet Nam's COVID-19 measures are still being implemented in accordance with the Government's Resolution No.38 (dated March 17, 2022), and the Ministry of Health's plan to combat infectious diseases in 2023, Viet said.

Citizen protection

Regarding the flare-up of conflict in Sudan which has resulted in over 3,000 casualties so far, the deputy spokesperson said according to the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt and Sudan, there is one citizen with dual Viet Nam and Australia citizenship staying in the capital city Khartoum and 16 other Vietnamese citizens who are crewmembers of a ship docking at a port in Sudan.

All citizens are currently safe, Viet said.

"The Embassy of Viet Nam is still closely monitoring the development and ready to implement citizen protection measures as necessary," Viet remarked

Asked about the current rising tension in the Taiwan Strait and whether Viet Nam has similar plans to Indonesia's readiness to evacuate its 350,000 citizens in Taiwan back home, Viet said that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are very significant for the peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

"Viet Nam hopes that the parties will actively contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," the deputy spokesperson added.  VNS
NEW YORK  Energy transition, environmental protection and climate change response are the inevitable paths to achieving sustainable development, affirmed Ambassador ang Hoang Giang, Viet Nam's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN).

Giang made the statement at an April 19 conference titled Architecting Financing for the Energy Transition in Asia and the Pacific  Lessons from Indonesias and Viet Nam's Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs)  a side event of the 2023 UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development.

Co-organised by the permanent missions of Viet Nam and Indonesia and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the conference saw the participation of nearly 80 delegates from countries, the private sector, and UN organisations.

In his remarks, the Vietnamese diplomat said Viet Nam has joined international partners to set up JETP, initially mobilising US$15.5 billion within the next three to five years to serve Viet Nam's energy transition efforts.

Viet Nam's JETP implementation process, which faces myriad challenges in terms of ensuring energy security and fairness, has prompted the Southeast Asian nation to amend its laws and policies on socio-economic and technology to meet associated requirements, Giang noted.

He informed participants that Viet Nam, however, is carrying out necessary measures serving JETP including codifying the Political Declaration on establishing the JETP; and establishing a secretariat and devising a resource mobilisation plan with the participation of the entire political system and other stakeholders.

The ambassador called on international partners to fulfil their commitments and provide resources and finance for energy transition  such as non-refundable grants, capacity building support, sharing of advances, research into the potential of renewable energy, and assistance and investment in programmes and projects that contribute to sustainable development so that Viet Nam can achieve its climate goals.

At the conference, participants said the implementation of the JETPs will create a basis to launch similar supportive relationships helping developing nations mobilise resources for the transition.  VNS
NEW YORK  Viet Nam has been aware of the significance of the early epidemic preparedness and response through the strengthening of the health care system from the central to local levels, Ambassador ang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the UN has affirmed.

Giang was addressing the launching ceremony of the World Disasters Report 2022, themed Trust, equality and local action  Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to avert the next global crisis in New York on April 19.

The report was jointly introduced by the Vietnamese and Australian Permanent Missions to the UN, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The ambassador said that at UN forums, Viet Nam pushed for the UN General Assembly to choose December 27 every year as the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, thereby enhancing the international community's readiness to respond early and fully to possible future epidemics.

Together with Australia and other countries, Viet Nam has persuaded the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution on holding a high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and will continue to actively participate in the preparation process for the meeting.

Ambassador Giang held that the IFRC's recommendations are worth considering, which can contribute to strengthening the global health structure to better respond to future health risks. People need to be at the centre of policies on epidemic preparedness and response and play an important role in implementing these policies, he said, adding that handling fake news and providing timely and accurate information to the public about epidemics and government efforts are also important to this effort.

The Vietnamese representative said that the international community should focus on dealing with inequality in access to vaccines, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Viet Nam appreciates the support of the UN and international partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, underlining the need to provide developing countries with easier access to advanced medical technology through technology transfer.

Viet Nam believes that strengthening national health capacity at the grassroots level will play a core role in responding to future epidemics, which can be achieved through increased investment in infrastructure, equipment and personnel training. Policies to ensure socio-economic development, social security and people's lives also effectively support epidemic prevention and control efforts, he added.

The World Disasters Report 2022 underscores that the worlds preparedness ahead of the COVID-19 was inadequate, underlining the need to build people's confidence in the ability to respond to disasters, address inequalities in access to medicines and health care among countries as well as different regions within a country, and strengthen capacity and role of local communities in handling health challenges.

It noted that the coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest disaster in living memory, by almost any measure. Over 6.5 million people are confirmed to have died in less than 3 years  or about 1 in 1,000 people by the most conservative estimates  an order of magnitude larger than that of any recorded earthquake, drought or hurricane.

Participants at the event hailed the efforts of Viet Nam, Australia and the IFRC, holding that recommendations in the report are helpful for UN member states in engaging in and promoting major process this year, especially the mid-term review of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.  VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has signed an official dispatch demanding ministries and agencies speed up the Long Thanh International Airport project, which is lagging behind schedule.

The dispatch was sent to the ministers of transport, planning and investment, construction, natural resources and environment, public security, national defence, finance, and agriculture and rural development; the chairperson of the Committee for Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC); the chairperson of the ong Nai provincial Peoples Committee; and the director general of the Airports Corporation of Viet Nam.

It noted that the project is of national importance and its schedule and completion target has been set by the National Assembly. The Government and the PM highly valued efforts by relevant ministries, sectors, the ong Nai Peoples Committee, and other agencies in resolving difficulties and obstacles during the project implementation, especially the site clearance and resettlement for Phase 1.

However, the main sub-projects are lagging behind schedule. Given this, it is necessary to clarify causes and responsibilities of relevant parties while taking quick solutions to accelerate the project.

The PM requested investors of sub-projects, the Transport Ministry, the CMSC, and related agencies to review their assigned tasks, identify causes as well as responsibilities of each poor-performing individual and collective, and send reports to the Transport Ministry to submit to Deputy PM Tran Hong Ha by April 23.

In particular, the Peoples Committee of ong Nai Province, which houses the airport, was told to quickly complete site clearance and hand over the land area for Phase 1, 1,180ha, and for two roads connecting with the airport before June 30. It was also asked to coordinate with authorities to guarantee order, security, safety, and environmental hygiene in the construction site and thoroughly deal with local residents petitions in a timely manner.

Starting in 2021, the Long Thanh International Airport project covers more than 5,000ha across six communes in Long Thanh District of ong Nai. It has total investment of VN336.63 trillion (US$14.3 billion) and is divided into three phases.

Once fully completed by 2050, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo per year.

Located 40km east of HCM City, it is expected to relieve overloading at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, currently the countrys largest airport. VNS
Facebook has been under scrutiny many times before due to its questionable privacy practices. It has been involved in a class-action lawsuit recently, wherein the company ultimately decided to settle for $725 million in damages, and you might be entitled to some compensation as well.

Eligibility for the Settlement

Facebook, like many tech giants before it, claims that they have no fault regarding the accusations of privacy infringement and decided to pay up instead. Anyone who was active on the social media platform in the given time bracket may be eligible for the financial award.

If you have been a Facebook user between May 24th, 2007, and December 22nd, 2022 in the US, all there is to be done is to submit a claim before the given deadline, which is by August 25th, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. PT on the dot.

You may choose to do nothing, which means that you won't claim any part of the $750 million settlement money and take no legal action against the parent company, Meta. But, there are also other ways to pursue heavier legal action.

According to Digital Trends, you can legally defend yourself and attend the hearing on July 26th, 2023. Of course, you will have to decline the settlement offer first, which you can only do before the hearing date. You may attend the hearing in person or express your objections in writing.

The hearing for the final approval will take place on September 7th, 2023 at 1 p.m., which is necessary before those who claim to be eligible for the settlement may collect their award. As for the amount, that is yet to be determined.

The amount for compensation will rely on the number of Settlement Class Members who submit a claim and how long you were a user during the mentioned period. To stay up to date about the progress, you can add a confirmation email to your contact list.

Read Also: FTC Fines Drug Discount App GoodRx for Sharing User Data to Facebook, Google

Processes in the Settlement and Objection

To receive the cash payment, make sure that you are eligible and that you complete the Claim Form before the deadline. Although, submission does not mean a guarantee. A Settlement Administrator will have to approve your form first.

There are three ways you can submit a Claim Form. The easiest way is to submit one online, but you can also download the Claim Form and mail it out yourself. You may also choose to ask for a physical copy from the Settlement Administration by calling them.

Once you have filled out the needed information and decided to mail a paper copy, you can send it to Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, c/o Settlement Administrator, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

If you want to request a Claim Form directly from the Settlement Administrator, you may contact them by calling their telephone number (1-855-556-2233) or by reaching out through email (info@FacebookUserPrivacySettlement.com).

In the event that you want to deny the approval or file an objection, you will need to provide reasons why the Court should not approve it. You can also ask for a different settlement if you feel like the provided one is insufficient, although Court denial means you get nothing at all.

Related: Meta Improves Privacy Terms and Conditions, Insists That No Selling of Information Happens
HCM CITY  The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta is experiencing increasing erosion, but local authorities are taking steps to mitigate the damage to agriculture and thus to people's lives.

In the upstream area of the Tien River, a tributary of the Mekong, in Tien Giang Province, erosion has occurred at many places along the Tra Lot and Rach Ruong rivers and 28 and Nguyen Van Tiep canals in Cai Be District.

In early March a 50m section was completely eroded on the Tra Lots eastern bank, blocking a road in Hoa Khanh Commune.

Vo Van Dan, an official in the local Hoa Qui hamlet, said erosion is severe in four spots and extends a total length of 300 metres.

It has damaged farmlands, transport infrastructure and power lines and affected peoples lives and agriculture, he said.

It also poses a threat to peoples safety, especially when low-lying areas are inundated during high tide, he said.

Cai Be has suffered a total of 2.1km of erosion in 62 places, and requires more than VN27.7 billion (US$1.2 million) for repairs, according to its Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In Can Tho City, there have been two cases of erosion this year.

One was along the O Mon River in Thoi Lai District where a section of land 26 metres in length and 12 metres in width was washed away, causing losses of VN800 million ($34,100).

The other, 25 metres in length and three metres in width, was along the Thanh ong Canal in Cai Rang Districts Phu Thu Ward.

In Tra Vinh Province, the Peoples Committee declared an erosion emergency on Nhan Riverine Island in Duyen Hai District last month.

Tran Truong Giang, director of the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the island has lost 220ha of land since 2015.

High tides and waves have caused erosion, inundated 11 houses and damaged 6.5ha of vegetables in recent months, he said.

Erosion is threatening the safety of 166 households with nearly 500 people on the island, and 56 of the households need to be relocated immediately, he said.

In Ben Tre Province, there are 112 erosion spots along rivers, canals and coastal areas with 138km affected, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The province loses 120ha of land and 100ha protective forests along coastal areas to erosion each year.

The worst cases are in Binh ai, Cho Lach and Mo Cay Nam districts.

Erosion in the delta is caused by natural as well as human factors such as sand mining and illegal construction of houses and other structure along the banks of rivers and canals, according to experts.

Solving problem

To mitigate the increasing erosion, authorities in the delta, which comprises Can Tho and 12 provinces, are taking measures like building embankments.

Nguyen Van Vinh, chairman of the Tien Giang Province Peoples Committee, said five erosion prevention projects are being built at a cost of VN305 billion ($13 million) to prevent erosion along a total length of 3.1km in 2022-23.

The province has asked the Government for funds for more erosion prevention projects in Cai Be, Cai Lay and Cho Gao districts and My Tho City.

Last month Ben Tre started building a 20.7km embankment in Tam Hiep riverine island in Binh ai District.

It will cost VN325.6 billion ($13.9 million) and protect 700ha of farmlands and 3,271 people when completed next year.

Besides building preventive works, the deltas coastal provinces like Soc Trang, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces have also focused on growing mangrove forests to check erosion.

Ben Tre plans to grow 171ha of new forests, mostly mangrove, this year, and Tra Vinh targets planting 800ha of mangrove in 2021- 25.

Tra Vinh has decided to build a resettlement area to relocate 75 households in an eroded area in Tra Cu Districts inh An Commune.

It will cost VN22 billion ($940,000) and is expected to be finished this year.  VNS
Hieu Tu C Primary School

The seventh project, with the support of Saigon Childrens Charity CIO's school building programme, will benefit almost 100 students each year once it reaches its scheduled completion in the final quarter of this year.

Erick Contreras, managing director at BASF Vietnam said, At BASF, we support the UN's sustainable development goal of providing a quality education to the community. Therefore, offering the next generation the best start in life with safer and more comfortable facilities is one of our social engagement priorities in Vietnam. It is even more meaningful when we drive this long-term initiative with our key customers and business partners, who jointly support the countrys future talent.

About 130km away from Ho Chi Minh City, Hieu Tu C Primary School is located in a remote area with a large population of ethnic Khmer and Chinese. The school has one main site and three satellite locations. The renovation project will take place at the O Trao satellite site, built in 2009 and currently in poor condition in terms of safety and hygiene.

The roof of the new facility will use sandwich panels that meet EU standards  sponsored by Phuong Nam Panel  and Nippon Paint Vietnam has provided Green Label certified products to decorate the school. These products, made from sustainable raw materials provided by BASF, will help deliver long-term benefits for the school while promoting health, safety, and energy efficiency.

Other financial co-sponsors include MKVN Chemicals, Sam Chem Sphere, Tam Tran Co., and Viet Duc Lubricants & Chemicals, among others.

BASF Vietnam has engaged in several long-term community projects with a focus on educational development.

BASF Kids Lab, in partnership with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, offers on-site activities to help children learn about chemistry, benefiting around 5,000 primary students since 2011. Virtual Lab is an online platform that offers children a variety of interactive experiments through 12 games in Vietnamese.

Since 2019, BASF Vietnam has partnered with Think Playgrounds to build six public playgrounds, helping approximately 13,000 children learn through play.

BASF's route towards a circular economy German multinational chemical company BASF is targeting a sustainable future. Dr. Carola Richter, president in Asia-Pacific (excluding China) for BASF, shared with VIRs Bich Ngoc methods for this goal.

BASF Vietnam: creating chemistry for a sustainable country Chemicals group BASF is driving sustainability through innovations and partnerships across the value chain.
At the ceremony to open the first Thailand-Laos-China cargo train running from Map Ta Phut in Rayong province of Thailand bound to Chinas Guangzhou. (Photo source: nationthailand.com)

Bangkok - The first Thailand-Laos-China cargo train left Map Ta Phut in Rayong province of Thailand bound for Chinas Guangzhou on April 19, carrying durians.

The train is transporting 25 refrigerated containers of the fruit and will take five days to travel 3,453 kilometres to Guangzhou.

This cargo train is part of the "Opening of Thailand-Laos-China International Freight Train" project to facilitate the transport of products.

Kraiyasit Intarapanich, managing director of Global Multimodal Logistics (GML), said the rail transport will be the best choice for Thai farmers to export to China as it is a faster and safer way to export than by trucks and ships, and it also helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The Map Ta Phut-Kunming route will take three to four days, Map Ta Phut-Chongqing four to five days, and Map Ta Phut to Guangzhou five to six days.

Airlines reopen China - Da Nang air routes Okay Airways and Pacific Airlines will begin their flights connecting the central city of Da Nang with Hunan (China) and Muan (the Republic of Korea) from late April, increasing the number of airlines restarting operations at the Da Nang International Airport to 28.
In a document sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on April 13, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai assigned MoIT and MoF to study regulations on business expenses and return the profit to the retail stage.

Government leaders noted that MoIT and MoF should ensure "scientific, harmonious, and reasonable" interests for all parties when revising petrol business regulations.

Standard fuel and oil trading expenses represent the maximum wholesale and retail costs that may be used to calculate the petrol and oil base prices. Currently, the standard cost for petroleum is 4.5 US cents per litre, and the standard profit is 1.3 US cents per litre (a total of 5.7 US cents per litre).

According to regulations, crucial businesses will divide this level between distributors and retail merchants, but the division ratio is unregulated. Retailers claim that this has caused them to lose trillions of dollars over the past year, despite the fact that they must still sell.

In a proposal sent to the prime minister on March 14, enterprises requested that both ministries establish a council to redistribute the cost and profit standard in the fuel base price. Enterprises also proposed that the aforementioned cost be specified in the new decree.

In the preceding petition, retail businesses proposed joining the ministries to establish a council to redistribute the costs and profits. In which the ministries must specify how much of this sum retail enterprises receive.

Previously, during an explanation session of the National Assembly Economic Committee on the petrol market at the end of February, several retailers stated that they had been forced to sell products at no discount for over a year.

They estimate that the past year's losses were between $128 and $170 million, primarily due to the ineffective pricing mechanism.

Balancing the effects of global oil price fluctuations Global oil prices are predicted to bounce back at the year-end, despite continued geopolitical tensions. Luong Van Khoi, vice president of the National Centre for Socio-economic Information and Forecast, spoke with VIRs Nguyen Huong about how Vietnams socioeconomic development could be affected.

Strong macroeconomic foundation fuels growing hiring demand Vietnam's recruitment market is continuing on an upward trend following the strong recovery of the economy post-pandemic.
The additional seven hotels will expand Marriott International's footprint and leadership in the role of operating and franchising hotels, as well as reaffirm its strong ties with Vinpearl. Currently, Vinpearl has become Marriott's largest partner in Vietnam, with 15 hotels and resorts.

Renaissance Hoi An Resort & Spa

Rajeev Menon, Marriott Internationals president for Asia-Pacific (excluding mainland China) said, The signing marks another important milestone in our partnership with Vinpearl. With a chain of new hotels located in important tourist centres such as Danang and Nha Trang, a resort in the famous Hoi An, and the first internationally branded 5-star hotel in Bac Ninh, we are well positioned to meet the diverse demands for hotels across Vietnam.

The agreement signed between Marriott International and Vinpearl marks an important milestone with the upcoming opening of Marriott's largest hotel in Vietnam  829 rooms. Among the seven hotels and resorts that were signed this time, there are three that will be converted  they are expected to come back online with Marriott by the end of this year. These include Nha Trang Marriott Resort & Spa on Hon Tre Island, Renaissance Hoi An Resort & Spa, and Danang Marriott Resort & Spa in Non Nuoc Beach.

To celebrate Vietnams diverse and delicate culinary arts and culture, a number of hotels and resorts have also jointly launched incentives to enhance the travel experience for domestic and foreign tourists, aiming to stimulate summer tourism, especially on the occasion of April 30 and the other long national holidays.

Significantly, the programme Eat Out with Marriott Bonvoy, a grandiose food festival from April 1 to June 30, is set to showcase the best dishes available at each of the chain's restaurants.

Eat Out with Marriott Bonvoy, a grandiose food festival that will last for three months from April 1 to June 30

For only VND750,000 ($32.61), Sheraton Hanoi's Oven D'Or Restaurant is offering a menu of seafood, hot pot, and noodles. Sheraton Grand Danang Resort & Convention Center also welcomes meat lovers to enjoy a special steak promotion on Tuesdays. Sheraton Can Tho's Mekong Restaurant will serve a delicious Thai lunch for two people. In Ho Chi Minh City, Le Meridien Saigon is laying on all-day snacks and cocktails.

The second promotion package priced at VND1.45 million ($63) will be launched at JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay & Spa, where guests can enjoy pre-dinner drinks and exclusive canapes in the cellar, and at the Sheraton Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort with a buffet dinner for two with a bottle of wine at Prime Bar & Grill. Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 will serve an international lunch buffet at Saigon Cafe.
Illustrated image. Photo: MoC

This year, the Ministry of Construction (MoC) divested all state capital in Viglacera Corporation and Song Hong Corporation and transmitted the authority to represent the state as the proprietor of capital at Hanoi Construction Corporation.

Between 2024 and 2025, it will divest all state capital from Construction Machinery Corporation and Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation.

The MoC anticipates collecting over $9.8 million in central budget revenue from COMA, over $15.7 million from Lilama, over $5.6 million from Song Hong Corporation, and over $248 million from Viglacera.

The ministry has just sent a document to the Ministry of Finance that anticipates that the proceeds from the sale of state capital will be transferred to the state budget between 2021 and 2025.

Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD) will conclude the corporate value announcement by December 31, 2025, per the MoC plan. Less than half of state capital is anticipated to remain after equitisation.

The MoC continues to maintain MTV Global Investment JSC (the state holds 100 per cent of charter capital) for Vietnam National Cement Corporation (VICEM); per the decision to reorganise state-owned businesses from the 20222025 period.

The ministry considers the above-mentioned anticipated revenue to be the expected value of the plan endorsed by the prime minister in Decision No.1479/QD-TTg, excluding unfavourable market conditions and difficulties.

Before the 20162020 period, the MoC continued to carry out an extensive arrangement and reorganisation of 16 enterprises, including 12 joint stock companie) and four one-member limited liability partnerships, with an emphasis on ending equitisation and continuing divestment according to a reasonable schedule.

Twelve groups have been equitised by the MoC, and the remaining four are Song Da Corporation, IDICO Corporation, HUD, and VICEM, which were newly added under Decision No. 58/2016/QD-TTg on the criteria for classifying state-owned enterprises for the 2016-2020 period.

MoC: rules for condotels, officetels coming this year Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha said at the Tuesday meeting of the National Assembly that his ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources would complete regulations relating to condotel and officetel this year.

MoC proposes controlling bond issuance of property firms The Ministry of Construction (MoC) has proposed controlling the bond issuance activities of real estate enterprises but not tightening investment in real estate bonds, Nguyen Manh Khoi, deputy director of MoC's Housing and Market Management Department said at the monthly press conference held on June 13.
Representatives from Thai Binh province and Republic of Korea sign an investment Memorandum of Understanding(MOU). (Photo: VNA)

Seoul  A conference was held in Seoul on April 19 to call for investment from the Republic of Korea (RoK) to the northern province of Thai Binh.

The event, co-organised by the Thai Binh provincial People's Committee, the Embassy of Vietnam in the RoK, and The Korea Herald, attracted about 170 delegates, including Korean officials and businesses.

Speaking at the event, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Khac Than said that Thai Binh is coastal province which is connected to the airport and seaport system through the transport systems that have been synchronously and modernly invested.



In recent years, the province's economic growth rate has been among the top in Vietnam. In 2022, despite many difficulties, its Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth reached 9.52%. It attracted 660 million USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), ranking 16th out of 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam, according to the official.

The province has advantages such as land areas for industrial development, with eight industrial parks covering nearly 3,000 ha with available surface and infrastructure, Than said, adding that it also has abundant human resources with a population of about 2 million people, over 1 million people in the working age, and about 643,000 trained workers.

Thai Binh province is having incentive policies to attract investment in the fields of supporting industries, electronics, manufacturing industry, tourism, high-tech agriculture, and pharmaceuticals, Than said, noting that the local authority will provide support and ensure a favourable and stable investment, production, and business environment for investors.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tung emphasised that after Vietnam- RoK relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership at the end of 2022, the exchange of delegations from the government to the local levels has been stepped up.

Economic cooperation has always been an important pillar and a bright spot in the cooperative relationship between the two countries, he said.

Currently, RoK is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam both in terms of total registered capital and number of projects with nearly 10,000 projects and about 82 billion USD in registered capital, accounting for nearly 18.4% of the total foreign investment capital in Vietnam.

The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young said that Thai Binh is an outstanding province in many aspects including a favourable business environment, rich resources, strategic location, skilled workforce, and developed infrastructure.

This will be an attractive destination for Korean companies to expand and do business in Vietnam, he said, adding that with the RoK's capital and technology combined with Thai Binhs favourable conditions, the two sides can create new opportunities and build a mutually beneficial partnership for prosperity in the future.

Up to now, Thai Binh has attracted 27 projects from Korean investors with total registered investment capital of 148.72 million USD.



During this business trip to the RoK, the Thai Binh delegation worked with the authorities of Gangwon and Gyeonggi provinces, and met with representatives from groups, including Daewoo E&C, Samsung, LG, and Hyosung.

Thai Binh seeks investment from Republic of Korea A delegation from the northern province of Thai Binh, held a conference in Seoul on Sept. 22 to call for investment from RoK firms into the province.
Owning a solid and sustainable home is something everyone aspires to, but not everyone is lucky enough to meet qualified consultants and have the opportunity to access sustainable materials.

FACO Architecture Construction Consulting JSC, a subsidiary of FACO Group JSC, was born with the mission to bring a circular production ecosystem to each construction project and create pride in the high-end aluminium die-casting industry in Vietnam.

Faco Architecture Construction Consulting JSC will bring optimal architectural solutions for each Vietnamese house

According to Nguyen Hong Cong, director of FACO Architecture Construction Consulting JSC, Vietnam currently has hundreds of enterprises in the aluminium die-casting industry, which account for 30 per cent of the market share in real estate projects and public works and houses, but generally focuses on small-scale operations.

Besides this, Vietnam also has thousands of interior and exterior architectural design firms, but the number of companies in the ecosystem of high-class aluminium die-casting factories like FACO is still minimal.

FACO Group was established from many member units with strategic shareholders who have more than 20 years of experience with aluminium alloy casting in the Vietnamese market.

Its key products, including gates, balustrades, fences, reliefs, tables, and chairs, are not only green and environmentally friendly, but also embrace aesthetic values and bold Asian culture.

FACO is developing strongly and achieving a growth rate of 150 per cent annually. Each year, about 3000 cast aluminium gates are installed in many projects and hundreds of interior and exterior items are ordered by customers.

In addition, the company has been investing in training skilled staff at foundries to become artisans and supporting young architects, encouraging them to use their talents for new product models exclusive to FACO.

Director of FACO Architecture Construction Consulting Nguyen Hong Cong said, FACO also attaches great importance to environmental protection and green design practices. The company has carried out many green design projects, actively contributing to environmental protection and improving the quality of life for the community by using eco-friendly materials and advanced technology to reduce the impact of the building on the environment. FACO is committed to providing customers with the most innovative, unique, and advanced architectural solutions.

Currently, the company has a high-class aluminium die-casting factory located in Nam Dinh province, an aluminium die-casting showroom in Hanoi, and more than 100 agents spread throughout the provinces.

FACOs products have not only conquered the Vietnamese market, they are also exported to Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
A traffic accident in Laos (Photo: Radio the Voice of Laos)

Vientiane - A total of 35 people were killed in road accidents across Laos during the countrys traditional New Year (Bunpimay) holidays from April 11-17, according to the Traffic Police Department under the Lao Ministry of Public Security.

Deputy head of the department Khamleck Xayasith told a press conference on April 19 that 611 people were also injured and 589 vehicles damaged in 342 traffic accidents. The number of accidents represented a year-on-year rise of 10%.Khamleck said the main causes of the road accidents were drunk-driving, speeding and sudden direction changes.The traditional New Year is the most important festival in the Lao calendar. People enjoyed celebration activities across the Southeast Asian country this year after events were canceled or downsized for three years in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.This year, the traffic police department has unveiled plans to improve road traffic safety during the holidays. Traffic police have been on duty nationwide to monitor and prevent traffic rule violations
Czech Ambassador Hynek Kmonicek (Photo source: baoquocte.vn)

What will be the main focus of Prime Minister Petr Fiala's visit to Vietnam and how do you think it will contribute to strengthening the relationship between the Czech Republic and Vietnam?

The main focus of Prime Minister Petr Fiala's visit to Vietnam is to strengthen the relationship between the Czech Republic and Vietnam. This visit will contribute to enhancing trade, investment, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.



The relationship between Czech and Vietnamese people has been exceptional since it began over seven decades ago. Could you please share your assessment of the results of the bilateral relationship in recent years?



The Czech Republic has been gradually gaining more importance in the Vietnamese market over the years. Vietnam is now one of the most promising markets for Czech businesses in Southeast Asia due to its large population, rapid economic growth, and favourable investment environment. The Vietnamese Government has implemented various policies to improve the investment climate and attract foreign investment.



The most promising sectors for Czech businesses in Vietnam are manufacturing, tourism, and technology. Vietnam has a large and young workforce, which is a key advantage for the manufacturing sector. Additionally, the country is becoming increasingly popular as a tourist destination, and Czech businesses could tap into this growing market. In terms of technology, Vietnam has a highly skilled workforce in the field of information technology, and there is great potential for Czech businesses to collaborate with Vietnamese partners in this sector.

What are your views on Vietnam's investment environment for Czech businesses? What can Vietnam do or adjust to attract more investment from the Czech Republic? What areas do you think hold the most potential for Czech businesses in Vietnam?



Vietnam has made significant progress in improving its investment environment in recent years, although there is still room for improvement. To attract more investment from the Czech Republic, Vietnam could consider adjusting its legal and regulatory frameworks to make them more transparent and predictable.



In addition, Vietnam could work to improve its infrastructure and logistics to make it easier for Czech businesses to operate in the country. Sectors with the most potential for Czech businesses in Vietnam include manufacturing, tourism, and technology.



For example, Vietnam's manufacturing sector benefits from a large and young workforce, while its tourism industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. In the technology sector, Vietnam has a highly skilled workforce and a competitive IT industry, making it an attractive destination for Czech businesses looking to collaborate in this field.



By addressing these issues, Vietnam can continue to attract more investment from the Czech Republic and deepen their economic ties.



The cooperation in education between Vietnam and the Czech Republic dates back to 1956 when around 100 Vietnamese schoolchildren were sent to Chrastava in the Liberec region. How has cooperation in this field developed in recent years, and what potential do you see for further collaboration in education between our two countries in the future?



Cooperation in education between Vietnam and the Czech Republic has continued to flourish in recent years. The two countries have deepened their ties through various academic exchanges, research partnerships, and joint degree programmes. Vietnamese students are increasingly choosing the Czech Republic as a destination for higher education, and the number of Czech students studying in Vietnam is also on the rise.



During the Prime Ministers visit, the Czech Republic and Vietnam will sign a Letter of Intent on educational cooperation, which aims in future to further strengthen collaboration between the two countries in this field.



Furthermore, there is potential for increased cooperation in vocational education and training. The Czech Republic has a strong vocational education system, and Vietnam could benefit from learning from the Czech experience in this field.



Since becoming the Ambassador to Vietnam in 2022, what has impressed you the most about the country?



Since becoming the Ambassador to Vietnam in 2022, I have been impressed by the country's natural beauty, rich history, and vibrant culture. The people of Vietnam are friendly and welcoming, and the country has made significant progress in economic development.

Jukebox brings Czech Republic closer to Vietnam The Czech Republic installed a jukebox at its embassys premises in Hanoi last week on the occasion of its National Day with sponsorship by Home Credit Vietnam.

Vietnam-Czech economic cooperation promoted The Vietnam-Czech Business Forum took place on February 21 to create new opportunities for businesses.
Although bosses are there to make sure that the company runs smoothly and that their employees are being productive, no one does it quite like the CEO of Clearlink, James Clarke, who has been both irksome and hilarious to those who witnessed his "motivation" methods.

The CEO's Definition of a Good Employee

Clearlink CEO James Clarke addressed his employees in a video call last week, informing them that they have to start coming to the office despite promising a permanent remote work situation. Many are somewhat amused with the way the CEO spoke to his workers.

On early April 3rd, James Clarke said via email that employees who are living within 50 miles of the company headquarters in Draper, Utah, will now be required to come to the Clearlink office four times a week starting on April 17th.

The promise of remote work changed since the "leadership believes this is the best decision at this time to ensure near and long-term success of the company, as mentioned in Gizmodo. A virtual meeting was arranged to address the change.

For one, he challenged his employees to "outwork" him and continued to say that they won't. He expressed that he was all in on what they were doing at the company, which might be directed to 30 of the remote staff he believes were no longer working but are still employed.

After stating that he and his employees have sacrificed to be present in the company, he also pointed out that one of the said employees had sold their family dog, presumably for that employee to have more time for the company.

The Clearlink CEO then expressed that it breaks his heart as someone who has been "at the head of the humanization of pets movement in other businesses," whatever that means. Clarke was on the board of PetIQ, a pet care service, for ten years.

He also addressed that many content writers are now exclusively using AI to write, and then continued to mention that he could do that in 30 minutes of an eight-hour workday. He then pushed the idea of doing 30 to 50 times more than the normal production, or even more.

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Addressing Single 'Breadwinner' Mothers

As if the initial statements weren't controversial enough, he continued to turn the subject to single mothers. The CEO tried to soften the blow by voicing out his support and service on a board that "does nothing but raise money for scholarships for single mothers."

He claims that he raised and wanted to talk about the issue because he knew how it has affected single mothers the hardest. "Many of you have tried to tend your own children and in doing so also manage your demanding work schedules and responsibilities," says the CEO.

After reiterating empathy for the struggles of single motherhood while holding a job, he also mentioned that one might argue that it was not fair to their employers, as well as their children. Clarke then clarified that he doesn't "necessarily believe that."

Despite that, he continued to express that "only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be a productive and full-time employee at the same time." Sad to say that Utah has no laws against discrimination regarding working caregivers.

Related: 6 Situations Where You Should Always Call a Lawyer Before Taking Further Action
Vietnam National Brand Forum 2023. Photo: Angela Nguyen

Tran Quoc Khanh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said on April 20 that the proportion of businesses with Vietnam National Brand-achieved products in the Top 10 most valuable brands in the country increased from 20 per cent in 2018 to 60 per cent in 2022.

According to Khanh, Vietnam was the national brand with the quickest "value growth" in the world from 2020 to 2022.

Vietnam's value in 2020 rose by 29.1 per cent compared to 2019, reaching $319 billion; in 2021, it expanded by 21.6 per cent compared to 2021, reaching $388 billion; and in 2022, it improved by 11.1 per cent compared to 2021, reaching $431 billion.

"Vietnam's leading brands have witnessed outstanding increases in brand value and brand strength index, strengthening their solid position in the rankings," Khanh said. "The results also demonstrate that Vietnam Value enterprises have steadily caught up with the worldwide pattern of investing in brand value, contributing significantly to the growth of the Vietnam National Brand Value."

In Vietnam, an increasing number of companies are investing significantly in developing and constructing product brands and corporate brands. In 2018, Vietnam had 14 national-brand enterprises in the top 50, representing 28 per cent. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), this has increased to 21 companies, representing a 42 per cent share by 2022.

Many Vietnamese businesses are expanding their presence in domestic and international markets. Nguyen Duy Thuan, general director of Loc Troi Group, announced in September 2022 that the company's "Vietnam Rice" brand was officially available in two French hypermarket chains, Carrefour and Leclerc.

This is because Loc Troi has reached "the finest technical requirements" of the European market when it comes to agricultural processes, standard crop protection products, and guaranteeing sustainability and safeguarding people and the environment in large-scale agricultural production.

The Vietnam Value Programme is a one-of-a-kind, long-term trade promotion initiative that the MoIT is responsible for coordinating with other ministries and sectors.

The scheme seeks to establish Vietnam as a nation renowned for its high-quality products and services, enhance the nation's and its people's sense of dignity and attractiveness, promote international commerce, and enhance national competitiveness.

Hoang Minh Chien, deputy director general of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, said that green production had evolved into one of the most advantageous factors for promoting and enhancing brand value among businesses.

"This is also an essential requirement for Vietnamese businesses to promote exports to the world's main markets, particularly those with new-generation free trade agreements with Vietnam that contain stringent environmental standards," Chien said.

In Vietnam, green growth is regarded as a key to the objectives of the Socioeconomic Development Strategy to 2030, providing impetus for Vietnam to accelerate transformation of its growth model in accordance with the development strategy and ensuring sustainability.

"Enterprises with products and services that achieve Vietnam Value are pioneers in building a green brand associated with sustainable development," Chien said.

Vietnam National Brand Week 2023 will be held from April 1723 to raise awareness of Vietnam Value and promote and showcase Vietnam Value products to domestic and international communities.

Distinct values common to Vietnams top employers Vietnams top employers are demonstrating that placing their workers first not only improves their reputation but also helps the long-term satisfaction and potential of the staff themselves.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday set an execution date for a man who sexually assaulted and killed a 6-year-old St. Louis County girl in 2002.

Johnny Johnson is scheduled to be put to death Aug. 1 at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

Missouri has already executed two people in 2023  Amber McLaughlin in January and Raheem Taylor in February. Michael Andrew Tisius is scheduled for execution June 6 for fatally shooting Randolph County jailers Jason Acton and Leon Egley in 2000.

Johnson, 45, was staying with friends in Valley Park, Missouri, in July 2002 when Cassandra Casey Williamson was discovered missing. Dozens of volunteers joined police in the search.

The girl's body was found in a pit less than a mile from her home, buried beneath rocks and debris. Johnson confessed to the crimes.
Laughs in two different flavors, one Southern Gothic tragicomedy, the other Shakespearean, take Waco stages this week.

The former comes in Silent House Theatre Companys production of Beth Henleys dark comedy Crimes of the Heart, set in 1970s Mississippi and with humor drawn more from sibling relationships and small city life.

The latter arrives in Baylor Theatres The Comedy of Errors, which opens Tuesday with the William Shakespeare comedy of mistaken identities sporting a circus flourish.

Crimes of the Heart director Ryan Kirby said the theater company had intended to stage the play early in the companys history, originally to follow its debut of Streetcar Named Desire. The company later decided to go in a different direction after Streetcar, one with such varied productions as The Crucible, I and You, Company, Godspell and, most recently, Heathers, but always had an interest in the Southern comedy-drama about the complicated relationship between three adult sisters, he said.

The 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning play largely takes place in the McGrath family home in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three adult McGrath sisters, Lenny (Valerie Davis), Meg (Alex Blanton) and Babe (Bailee Barton) have converged in the aftermath of their latest crisis, Babes murder of her abusive husband.

The reunion brings past memories and resentments to the forefront. Lenny has stayed at the family home to care for their grandfather. Meg, who left to pursue a singing career in LA, has little to show for it but a drinking problem. Their mother committed suicide. And Babe  well, shes gone from an abusive relationship to a possible jail term.

As they hash out past memories and splintered relationships, theyre visited by family friend Chick (Kami Yasko), Megs ex-boyfriend Doc Porter (Sonny Mauldin) nd Babes attorney Barnette Lloyd (Ethan Trueman).

While Crimes deals with some heavy emotions, its lightened by a comedy found in Southern relationships and language. Kirby, who grew up in Waco, can hear his grandmother and her friends in the conversational chatter and cadences of Henleys work. Her patter with friends on the phone  its a way of speaking we dont see any more, he said.

Behind the banter and bickering and joking, however, emotional work gets done. Theres an oscillation between celebration and suffering, the director said. We learn what sisterhood is and getting through bad days ... the little joys of food or cards or music.

Circus connections

For Baylor Theatre, Shakespeares the thing, with the department presenting The Comedy of Errors. The Baylor production has a circus touch to it in a nod to the fundamental comedy found in Errors, particularly archetypes of todays clown or fool, which date back to early Greek comedy.

Though the plot of gets twisted and complicated as it progresses, it boils down to a simple concept: two sets of identical twins, Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus, whose slaves Dromio also are twins.

They end up in the same city at the same time, without knowing of the other, much to the confusion of wives, businessmen, acquaintances and more. A mistake leads to a sequence of mistakes, said director Steven Pounders. In terms of laugh-out-loud comedy, this plays the thing.

Playing off the clown connection, the Baylor staging features three rings with a turntable, climbing silks, acrobatic tumbling, contemporary song and dance, and characters who break through the fourth wall to talk in non-Shakespearean language with the audience.

Characters and events also get announced and accented by percussion, just like a circus act, and theres bold costuming, sets, smoke and onstage incendiary effect.

The five-act comedy is streamlined for a 100-minute running time. The Comedy of Errors opens its run on Tuesday night with performances through April 30.
The music of famed Waco musician Jules Bledsoe will make a brief appearance Sunday in a Baylor-performed chamber music concert highlighting Black composers.

An Afternoon of Song and Chamber Music by Black Composers, performed by Baylor University music faculty and students at Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, will feature works spanning the 17th to 21st centuries, with three songs by Bledsoe comprising a short middle section to the program.

The program evolved from a recital of chamber pieces by Black composers that Baylor viola professor Kathryn Steely programmed and performed with the Baylor Faculty String Quartet in February.

Baylor music theory associate professor Horace Maxile, whose scholarship includes a deep study of works composed by Waco musician and baritone Jules Bledsoe, narrated the program, which delighted him both in concept and execution. It was so wonderful and so cool I didnt want it to end, he said.

It also provided him a way to share a small piece of a recital of Bledsoe songs and compositions that he had put together in 2020, only to have a pandemic shutdown cancel the concert before it was ever performed.

He asked if the program could be repeated later in the spring, with the Bledsoe additions, and the result occurs on Sunday at his home church.

Three of Bledsoes song arrangements, I Opened my Window, Home, Home, Home and He Rose, sung by Baylor students Valarie Miles, Sylvia Jones and Derick Etale, respectively, will make up the middle section in Sundays recital. The sampling shows the Waco musicians stylistic range in composing art song, folk ballad and hymn arrangement, Maxile said.

Bledsoe, born and raised in Waco, found international fame as a stage baritone in the 1920s and 1930s, originating the role of Joe in the Broadway musical Show Boat, best known for the song Old Man River, and performing in opera productions in New York and Europe. He died in 1943.

Bledsoe is best known as a performer, but, trained in piano, violin and voice, he also wrote a considerable amount of music, some of which is preserved in the Texas Collection at Baylor.

Sundays program, which will be performed by the Baylor Faculty String Quartet and accompanists Sharon Lavery and Maggie Stith, spans string quartets by French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (whose life is somewhat fictionalized in the feature film Chevalier opening Friday); late 19th-century English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; and early 20th-century American classical pianist and composer Florence Price.

Following the Bledsoe songs are selections from 20th-century American composer and saxophonist Frederick Tillis Spiritual Fantasy No. 12 Suite for String Quartet, a piece characterized by more modernistic rhythms and tonality, and contemporary composer and violinist Jessie Montgomerys Strum.

You see the expansion of the string quartet over time, Steely said, noting each composer wrote in the classical tradition of the culture and time they lived in.
The mother of Baby Frankie, a Waco toddler found dead with significant injuries in June 2020, is expected soon to plead guilty to murder and receive a 50-year prison sentence, officials said.

Laura Jane Villalon, who is under indictment on a capital murder charge in the case, is expected enter the plea during a hearing May 4 in exchange for the lesser charge and 50-year sentence.

I fully expect her to plead to Murder, Villalons defense attorney, Russ Hunt Sr., said by email Wednesday.

Villalon gave birth to Frankie Gonzales while she was in prison in 2018 on a burglary conviction. On June 1, 2020, officials reported she told police Frankie, age 2, had gone missing during a family outing at Cameron Park, prompting a frantic public search and an Amber Alert. The next day, she led Waco detectives to the boys body in a dumpster off Park Lake Drive and said he had died days earlier, prompting her arrest, police said at the time. She has since remained in McLennan County Jail with bond listed at $1.5 million.

Waco police believe Frankie died May 28, 2020, while in the care of Villalon, the Tribune-Herald previously reported. Pathologists who conducted an autopsy reported the toddler died from homicidal violence including blunt force injuries.

District Attorney Josh Tetens said his office would defer comments until Villalon has entered the guilty plea and a wavier of appeal has been signed.

Villalon remains charged with capital murder for now, Hunt said by email.

Part of the plea papers will be a document that says the State is agreeing to let (Villalon) plea to Murder rather than Capital Murder IF she continues with her plea to Murder, Hunt wrote.

If she would refuse to enter a guilty plea to murder, the state would no longer be bound by the agreement and she would likely go to trial for capital murder, Hunt said.

Texas law provides for the death penalty or a life sentence in capital murder cases, while the maximum sentence state law provides for a first-degree felony, including murder, is life in prison.

At the time of Frankies death, his father, Lorenzo Gonzales, had primary custody of the boy and his two older sisters and had agreed in a Child Protective Services order not to leave them with Villalon unsupervised, officials have said. Gonzales, 31, of Waco, pleaded guilty in March to child abandonment and injury to a child and received concurrent 10-year sentences. Before Gonzales arrest, he told investigators he thought Villalon was doing better and it would be safe to leave the children with her while he was at work, police reported.
LINCOLN  In an eight-hour debate Tuesday, Nebraska lawmakers advanced a batch of 17 bills that were packaged together under a single piece of legislation.

The Nebraska Legislature gave first-round approval to Legislative Bill 92 in a 46-0 vote. Folded into the measure are 16 other bills that LB 92s introducer, State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar, described as good-government, low-controversy legislation. But she also acknowledged that the bills dont have much in common with each another, other than being handled by the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee.

LB 92 would eliminate a requirement for insurance agents regarding their annual reviews. The remaining 16 bills cover a range of other issues, including lowering costs of insulin and mammograms, encouraging grants for affordable housing and providing financial incentives for semiconductor manufacturing. Overall, the package would cost the state roughly $32.3 million, according to the bills combined fiscal notes.

So many bills being included in one package is unusual for a normal session, but this years session is unprecedented in many ways. Facing a session-long filibuster from Omaha Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh and Megan Hunt, Speaker of the Legislature John Arch said he gave guidance to committees to form larger packages in an effort to get more bills passed.

Arch said he recommended the packages be made up of what he called good government bills which received broad committee support and have relatively low financial implications. Typically, such packages would be made up of five or six bigger bills linked by a common issue.

Its not unprecedented, but it is unusual, Arch said of large packages like LB 92.

Slama said several significant bills likely would not have the chance to be debated this year if they were left out of LB 92. She mentioned LB 145, which would expand insurance coverage for mammograms, and LB 779, which would cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for insured patients.

Later, Slama also praised the addition of LB 617 from Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, which follows a 2022 federal law focused on advancing semiconductor manufacturing. The bill would appropriate $20 million from the states cash reserve to support such manufacturing.

Tuesdays debate brought scattered opposition on individual bills within the package. Sens. Ben Hansen of Blair and Merv Riepe of Ralston took issue with several bills that expanded health insurance coverage, including LB 145 and LB 779, arguing the legislation could be considered government overreach and could increase insurance rates.

Supporters of these bills said the measures actually would make preventative health care more affordable. On LB 145, Slama said women who cant afford mammograms will often go without the screening and put themselves at higher risk of breast cancer, or could go to more extreme measures to avoid that, such as getting a double mastectomy.

Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, who introduced LB 145, noted that insurance companies did not oppose the bills in the package. Hansen suggested that might be to avoid the bad optics of opposing such bills. But Bostar and Slama said insurance representatives have not been shy about opposing bills in the past because it might put them in a bad light.

If they dont like something, they would absolutely set the world on fire about it, Slama said.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2023
Google Fi Wireless, previously known as only Google Fi, is a telecommunications service that provides phone calls, SMS, cellular networks, and Wi-Fi. Just recently, it has offered a free seven-day trial for those who want to test out the service.

Google Fi Wireless Updates

While the free trial has already been released last month, it has only been broadly available now. Anyone with an iOS or Androidphone that is eSIM compatible may try the service out for themselves for a week, which they can choose to cancel after.

In the event that the user doesn't cancel, they'll be subscribing to the Simply Unlimited plan, which they can also unsubscribe to at any time. The plan will cost users $20 a month, although it depends on how many people are included, as mentioned in Engadget.

The plan includes unlimited data, which is throttled after 35 GB, calls, texts, spam blocking, VPN, and 5 GB worth of tethered data. However, the text and calls can only reach areas in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Google is adding a little extra to the plan, as it now includes Pixel and Samsung Galaxy Watches regarding cellular connectivity without the extra cost, which applies to the Flexible, Unlimited Plus, and Simply Unlimited Plans.

The Unlimited Plus plan, according to Google, is the best plan for US users who have family abroad. It includes a one-year subscription to YouTube Premium for free, which will cost $160 per month for four devices, or $40 each.

The Flexible plan is the cheapest among the three, which is the plan if you want to only pay for the data you intend to use. It'll cost $65 for four devices, plus the cost of data you'll consume. Overall, that's $17 each as well as the $10 per GB of data used.

Google offers several phone plans with various prices per month depending on the phone brand and model. For instance, you can get a Pixel 7 Pro for $37.46 a month, or pay in full for $889. For trade-in deals, you can cut costs by up to $800.

You can also get a deal for Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which will cost you $50 a month. You can also opt for a full buy, which will cost $1,199. Like all the other offers, you can also get a significant discount in a trade-in deal, which could cut off as much as $1,000.

Read Also: T-Mobile API Breach Results to Data Stolen from 37 Million Accounts

eSIM Trials You Could Look Into

If you think that Google's mobile network service might not suit your needs, you can always look into other network operators. Some have longer trial periods while others have device compatibility limits.

T-Mobile offers an eSIM free trial as well, which a user can test out for 90 days. It also comes with unlimited texts, minutes, and data. The only setback with the offer is that it's only available for iPhones, and it should be the more recent models, according to Coverage Critic.

Verizon also offers a free trial for 30 days. The plan will provide the user with unlimited calls and texts, although the data is capped at 100 GB. Both Android and iPhone users may try the service out, given that their devices are eSIM compatible.

Related: Google Fi's Data Has Been Compromised - Here's What Hackers Got Away With
The government has given the green light for a second COVID booster shot for older people and others with impaired immune systems. The bivalent booster injection specifically targets the omicron varieties. The revised booster may be given to seniors 65 and above four months after the first dosage.

In acknowledgment of the continued threat that the coronavirus poses to millions of Americans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) suggested on Wednesday that people 65 and older and those with weaker immune systems get another dose of the reformulated booster launched last fall.

The recommendation came after a daylong debate among the C.D.C.'s advisory panel. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the booster plan, and the last administrative step was the recommendation from the C.D.C. Those Americans who qualify for booster shots may get them right now.

The initial vaccine formulations that Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna developed are likewise being phased out by federal health regulators, who are subsequently losing their authorizations in the United States. Unvaccinated persons will now only need a single dose of the reformulated, or "bivalent," Covid injection in order to be deemed vaccinated. This is a significant change from the previous requirement, which called for an initial series of two doses.

Before this change was made, government authorities needed patients to have had two doses of the older vaccination before they could begin to get the bivalent boosters. Some industry professionals found this procedure to be unclear.

Although the protection declines fast in the weeks after vaccination, the few data available on the reformulated vaccinations suggest that the injections give greater protection against severe illness and mortality caused by COVID in older persons. However, this protection is not permanent.

According to data provided by the Census Bureau, around 53 million individuals in the United States are 65 or older, making up approximately 16 percent of the total population. And seven million people in the United States have immune systems compromised due to sickness or the use of drugs.

There are currently around 250 deaths per day in the United States that may be attributed to factors connected to COVID. The great majority of those affected are over the age of 70 or have immune systems that are compromised. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average age of patients in hospitals is 75 years old. Nevertheless, as of this point, only around 43 percent of persons aged 65 and older had gotten a bivalent booster dose.

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The vast majority of Americans have developed some level of immunity to the virus, either as a result of previous infections, immunizations, or a combination of the two. The revised recommendations recognize this fact, but they also make it possible for those who are still at a high risk of contracting the virus to protect themselves without incurring any costs for doing so.

"The one-size-fits-all policy was simple, but it was not optimal," said Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency care physician and a health policy specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "The policy was not optimal, but it was simple." "The new regimen recognizes that there is now an extraordinary spectrum of Covid risk, ranging from minimal to substantial depending on the individual."

According to Dr. Faust, people with chronic immunosuppression, such as organ transplant recipients, may choose to receive supplemental injections every six months or more frequently.

The new recommendations come weeks after the United Kingdom and Canada recommended additional vaccinations for seniors and immunocompromised individuals. (Britain recommended the vaccinations for those 75 and older, while Canada only recommended them for those 80 and older.)

The C.D.C. now states that adults aged 65 and older may choose to receive a second dose of the bivalent vaccine at least four months after their initial injection. Those with compromised immune systems may choose to receive additional doses in consultation with their healthcare provider two months after their last bivalent dose.

Dr. Camille Kotton, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, stated at the C.D.C. advisory meeting on Wednesday that the new recommendations did not include immunocompromised children ages 6 months to 4 years. She explained that this leaves these medically fragile children, including organ transplant recipients, unprotected against the infection.

In an interview, she stated, "As a mother and a physician, I believe we are leaving them so vulnerable."

The F.D.A. intends to encourage annual Covid vaccinations in the autumn for the majority of Americans, as it does with flu vaccines. In June, health officials will determine the vaccine's precise composition based on the virus's circulating strain.

The bivalent vaccine targets not only the original variant of the coronavirus but also the variants BA.4 and BA.5, which were prevalent last summer. However, more recent versions soon replaced BA.4 and BA.5.

The most recent Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, accounts for approximately 78 percent of cases in the United States, while XBB.1.6 accounts for approximately 7 percent. The reformulated vaccines prevent hospitalization and severe illness following infection with these variants.

In addition, federal health officials are modifying the initial vaccination procedure.

Instead of receiving multiple doses of the original monovalent vaccine, unvaccinated individuals will receive a single dose of the bivalent vaccine. According to the F.D.A., the rationale is that the majority of unvaccinated Americans likely have immunity from a previous infection and may not require two dosages initially.

Some experts were extremely critical of the recommendation. According to John Moore, a Weill Cornell Medical College virologist, mountains of evidence indicate that the vaccines are most effective when administered in two doses, followed by one or more supplements to strengthen the protection.

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"F.D.A. has consistently overestimated the effectiveness of the bivalent formulation when administered as a booster," Dr. Moore stated. "At this point, it appears to have transcended science and decided that its initial dose possesses some magical power."

According to immunologist Deepta Bhattacharya of the University of Arizona, it may be reasonable to presume that nearly all unvaccinated adults have been infected at least once and can get by with a single dose.

Given the actuality on the ground, he stated that the FDA is simply attempting to clarify. However, "from an immunological standpoint, you should get two shots if it's your first exposure."

Dr. Bhattacharya suggested that the agency could instead recommend two doses of a bivalent vaccine, with the option to postpone the second dose for those with a history of infection. However, he added, "I doubt that such a clause would make a significant difference in practice."

The F.D.A. stated that it had "carefully reviewed the available epidemiologic evidence, scientific publications, and sponsor data indicating that a single bivalent vaccine dose administered to individuals previously infected with Covid-19 provides an immune response equal to or greater than two doses of the original vaccine."

In a statement, the F.D.A. said, "The agency believes this approach will help encourage future vaccination, especially among those who have not been vaccinated to date."

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CDC approves new COVID booster shots. Who's eligible and when they can get it?
As we first reported in August, 2022, the Hunter Fighter Collection in Scone, New South Wales, Australia is presently engaged in the restoration of a historic and exceedingly rare Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Ia (s/n X4009) to airworthy condition. The legendary Australian ace, Flt Lt Paterson (Pat) Clarence Hughes, DFC, flew this aircraft while serving with No.234 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain. Sadly, Hughes lost his life when his parachute failed after baling out of a battle-damaged X4009 over Sevenoaks, Kent on September 7th, 1940. Wreckage of the Spitfire came to light during the 1970s, and X4009s resurrection is based upon these remains. To help fund the restoration, the Hunter Fighter Collection has collaborated with noted wristwatch manufacturer REC to create a limited edition timepiece dedicated to the memory of Flt Lt Hughes and X4009. The watch face includes a section of aluminum skin from the Spitfires fuselage, providing an extraordinarily tangible connection to Flt Lt Pat Hughes legacy and Battle of Britain history. A portion from the sale of each X4009 timepiece will contribute to the Spitfires substantial restoration costs.

REC has produced a number of limited-edition timepieces which incorporate original elements of iconic vehicles, from motorcycles to aircraft. The companys Danish founders describe their work ethos as follows

REC stands for RECover, RECycle, REClaim. We birthed this brand as a symbol of various eras that shaped the automotive landscape.

Salvaging the stories, design, and original fragments of iconic vehicles from that age, all our watches effortlessly blend form and function to serve as a visual metaphor for those golden periods of automations.

A REC timepiece is designed to be more than just a timekeeper that serves a mere utilitarian function, but it bears witness to the iconic vehicles that defined these historical periods of automation.

That too, in immaculate style.

Each example of the X4009 watch features a seconds sub-dial created from the Spitfires fuselage skin. Furthermore, REC has created three different, color-themed variants of the timepiece dedicated to X4009, and will manufacture just 844 examples in total. The timepiece is available for pre-order HERE, with deliveries expected to begin in August 2023.
by Adam Estes

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (NMUSAF) has just announced that they will resume the restoration of Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress 40-3097, nicknamed The Swoose, one of the most storied survivors of its breed. The museum issued the following statement regarding the process they intend to follow in refurbishing the aircraft, the oldest intact Flying Fotress extant

This is both a restoration and conservation project. Some airframe areas need repair and restoration for structural integrity and exhibit-worthiness, while others will be conserved as-is to maintain originality. The overall aim is to present the artifact in the context in which it was received, i.e., to preserve it in the configuration of its final mission. A combination of restoration and preservation will ensure its longevity, structural and historical integrity, and safe public display in a controlled environment. This means that the aircrafts identity as The Swoose will be maintained with as much original fabric in situ as possible. The minimally invasive preservation approach is one option in the spectrum of possible restoration / preservation / conservation practice, and as in all NMUSAF restoration work assures the artifacts ethical treatment as a museum object.

The museum released a further statement regarding their justification for pursuing the project

This project strengthens the NMUSAFs identity as the premier collection of American combat aircraft and promises to increase visitorship by being the only straight tail B-17 on exhibit in the world. The Swooses distinctive shape and its fascinating record of combat, reconfiguration, and transport service rounds out the Pacific Theater WWII air power story and improves the Museums Global Reach interpretation. Preserving the plane as it was received, i.e., as a transport, respects its integrity as an artifact, eliminates very difficult or impossible physical restoration and equipment issues, and helps tell Airmens stories with authenticity. Airpower enthusiasts eagerly await its completion, and casual visitors will appreciate its unique story and appearance.

The following is a brief summary of the aircrafts history and historical significance:

Boeing manufactured the aircraft at their factory in Seattle, Washington, delivering it to the US Army Air Corps on April 25th, 1941. After flying the aircraft to Hawaii over the course of May 13th/14th, 1941, the ferry crew then took the bomber to the Philippines in September of that year, with stops in Rabaul, Port Moresby and Darwin. Dispersal orders issued in the days preceding the Japanese attack on the Philippines ensured that the B-17, then nicknamed Ole Betsy, survived to fly sorties against the Japanese invasion fleet. However, with Japanese ground forces gaining ground against American and Filipino defenders, Ole Betsy and several other locally-based B-17s relocated to Java, where they could continue flying bombing raids against the enemy invaders. With the situation getting steadily worse, however, the aircrews had to retrench their fleet in Australia. After sustaining combat damage and regular wear and tear, 40-3097 underwent a major overhaul. As part of this process, the aircraft received a new tail unit, the donor aircraft being B-17D 40-3091. As a result, the aircrafts pilot, Weldon Smith, renamed the aircraft as The Swoose  a name derived from Alexander the Swoose, a popular song of the day which features a bird which is half-swan and half goose.

By March 1942, The Swoose is performing a new role, serving as the personal transport for General George Brett, then the Deputy Commander of Allied Forces in Australia. Several other notable figures would become associated with the aircraft, including Olympic diver Frank Kurtz, who flew the aircraft for a period (naming his daughter Swoosie after the airplane). Texas Congressman (and future president) Lyndon B. Johnson also flew aboard the aicraft as a passenger. The Swoose received regular modifications throughout the war, especially when General Brett arranged to keep the aircraft as his transport following his transfer to head up the US Caribbean Defense Command and the Panama Canal Department. By VJ-Day, The Swoose was the last remaining B-17 in the US inventory which had taken part in the defense of the Philippines from 1941-42, but after it flew with General Brett to Kirtland Army Airfield, it soon moved on to the storage yard in Kingman, Arizona where so many other aircraft met the scrappers torch.

However, The Swoose received an eleventh hour reprieve when then-Colonel Frank Kurtz convinced the city fathers of Los Angeles to purchase the aircraft to serve as a war memorial. However, even though Kurtz flew The Swoose to Los Angeles, the intended memorial never materialized.

Thankfully, three years later Paul E. Garber heard about the aircrafts plight. As curator of the Smithsonians National Air Museum (now the National Air & Space Museum), Garber was eager to save important aircraft at a time when few others were. He was successful in purchasing the The Swoose for the Smithsonian, but in those days, the National Air Museum did not have a home large enough to store the aircraft in their collection, so The Swoose bounced between a number of storage locations, from Park Ridge, Illinois to Pyote, Texas and even Andrews Air Force Base, in Clinton, Maryland. After several decades outside, the airframe finally got a reprieve from the weather, moving to the museums storage facility at Silver Hill, in Suitland, Maryland (later renamed in Garbers honor) where it remained for nearly 50 years. In 2007, the National Air and Space Museums collections committee voted to deaccession the aircraft and transfer it permanently to the NMUSAF in Dayton, Ohio; it arrived by truck the following year.

While the restoration team at Dayton carried out some initial work on the airframe soon after its arrival, this effort stalled once the museum chose to prioritize the restoration of B-17F Memphis Belle and some of their WWI-era aircraft. Now that those projects are complete (or nearly so, for the Curtiss Jenny), the museums restoration team will begin to focus their attention on The Swoose, an endeavor which they currently expect to take around seven years to complete. We look forwards to providing regular progress updates once more information becomes available.
A wave of cutbacks and layoffs at studios, coupled with fears of an impending writers strike, slowed Hollywood production for a third consecutive quarter.

On-location film production in Greater Los Angeles fell 24% to 7,476 shoot days from the same period last year, according to FilmLA, the nonprofit that handles film permits for the city and county. That's down 17% from the region's five-year first-quarter average, FilmLA said in a Wednesday report.

The biggest decline was in TV production, which had driven a rebound in the industry in the wake of shutdowns forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many Hollywood studios have been reining in investments in content and laying off hundreds of workers in an effort to stem losses at their streaming platforms.

The cost-cutting comes as producers engage in talks with writers over pay and working conditions, with members of the Writers Guild of America this week voting overwhelmingly to authorize leaders to call a strike if a deal can't be reached by May 1.

The uncertainty has made some companies reluctant to start production on shows.

"As companies have cut back on either the amount of shows that they're doing, or films they're making, or the number of episodes of those shows, it has reduced overall numbers worldwide," FilmLA President Paul Audley said. "We're also seeing some degree of reticence to start in particular television series that may run into labor actions."

The Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA will enter negotiations over new contracts in May and June.

Audley said local businesses reliant on the film industry also are experiencing a slowdown in business.

About a fourth of the television productions in the Los Angeles region during the quarter were recipients of California's film and TV tax credit program, which Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to extend this year.

Among the recent beneficiaries is Amazon Studios' big-budget spy drama "Citadel," which will move from the U.K. to L.A. to film its second season and will receive a $25 million state tax credit. The California Film Commission said the show plans to spend $119 million in the region.

"Without the California film tax credit, we would be in extreme stress," Audley said. He described the renewal of the incentive as "critical."

Television shoots declined 36% to 2,868 shoot days, which is 24% below the five-year quarterly average. TV dramas fell 40% to 762 shoot days during the period, with productions in the quarter including FX's "Mayans MC" and HBO's "The Sympathizer." About 24% of TV drama shoot days were for productions enrolled in the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program.

TV pilots, which are becoming much rarer with the rise of direct-to-series orders from streaming companies, made up just seven shoot days in the quarter, down 88% from the same period last year.

TV sitcoms such as CBS' "Young Sheldon" generated the highest year-over-year increase of any television category, up 25% to 324 shoot days. Still, sitcoms came in 22% below their five-year average for production.

Feature film production was little changed from the prior year, with films including Universal Pictures' "Fast X" helping the region generate 595 shoot days in the first quarter versus 594 the year prior.

Despite ads from Chevron and Walmart filming in L.A., the decline in local filming of commercials continued. Shoot days fell 23% to 899 in the first quarter versus the same period last year. That's down 33% from the five-year average.
A new bipartisan caucus in Congress is condemning the Iranian government over the recent poisoning of school girls in the country, amplifying the growing criticism in Washington against the Islamic Republic and its disregard for human rights.
WATERLOO  Prosecutors allege Robert Lee Williams Jr. shot and killed Vincent Hemenway as Hemenways friends worked on motorcycles in a small garage off Adrian Street in August 2020.

Under the states case, which began with testimony on Wednesday, Williams, 34, killed Hemenway with premeditation and malice or fired the fatal shots as part of a botched robbery.

The defense isnt disputing that Williams pulled the trigger.

During opening statements, defense attorney Kimberly DePalma gave the public the first glimpse of its case, claiming that the shooting came as people in the garage assailed Williams, who is Black, with racial taunts, and Hemenway lurched at him.

Mr. Williams himself is going to talk to you. Hes going to take the stand, and hes going to tell you exactly what happened, DePalma said. As you listen to the testimony, you will hear about a man who reacted to slurs and a man lunging at him.

Assistant County Attorney Michael Hudson said Robert Lee Williams Jr. and his brother Ralpheal Rashee Williams had donned surgical face masks, latex gloves and taped up plastic sleeves to collect on a debt at a Dearborn Avenue home in the Adrian Street neighborhood.

The two ended up at the Adrian Street garage where Hemenway was watching as Robert Hall, Roger Hinz and Richard Anderson adjusted the lifters on Andersons motorcycle.

Hinz said the encounter lasted only a few minutes.

Anderson said the two masked men asked for a cigarette, and Hemenway held out his lighter. One of the men snatched the lighter and began to walk away, and Hemenway confronted him, saying he could borrow it but not take it.

The man  who prosecutors identified as Robert Lee Williams Jr.  then told Anderson to move next to his friends and pulled out a pistol, according to Hemenways friends.

He (Hemenway) reached up for the gun, and thats when the shots were fired, Anderson said.

The first two shots hit Hemenway, witnesses said.

Another bullet grazed Andersons shoulder as he dived for cover.

Hall and Hinz ran for the door, yet another bullet striking the wall near Hall.

It would have took the back of my head off if I was slower, Hall said.

He said he flipped off the light switch on the way out. You cant shoot what you cant see, he said.

All three of Hemenways friends said there were no threats made toward Williams or his brother, and there were no racial slurs or insults.

DePalma unsuccessfully argued to question Hall about his comment to police that he wanted to put an All Lives Matter sign in front of his house following the shooting. She said it was relevant because of the racial issue in the case.

Racism doesnt always come out in very explicit ways, DePalma said.

Prosecutor Jeremy Westendorf fought the request, saying the All Lives slogan was seen by some as a challenge to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Some people see that as racist, and it is entirely to enflame people on the jury, Westendorf said.

Judge David Odekirk sided with the state, saying it showed Halls state of mind at the time of the police interview and not at the time of the shooting.

Robert Lee Williams Jr. is charged with first-degree murder. His brother was charged with robbery and was convicted during an April 2022 trial.

Another person charged in the case, Ana Berinobis-McLemore, was killed in an unrelated shooting in May 2022. The state unsuccessfully attempted to use her testimony from the brothers robbery trial for the murder trial.

Photos: Homicide Aug. 15, 2020 081820jr-adrian-homicide-1 081620jr-homicide-search-1 081620jr-homicide-search-2 081620jr-homicide-search-3 081620jr-homicide-search-4 040622jr-robbery-trial-2 040622jr-robbery-trial-1 040622jr-robbery-trial-3 040622jr-robbery-trial-4 040622jr-robbery-trial-5 040722jr-robbery-trial-1 040722jr-robbery-trial-3 040822jr-robbery-verdict-1 042023jr-williams-trial-1 042023jr-williams-trial-4 042023jr-williams-trial-3 042023jr-williams-trial-2 042023jr-williams-trial-5 041923jr-williams-trial-2 041923jr-williams-trial-1 041923jr-williams-trial-3 041923jr-williams-trial-4 042123jr-williams-trial-4 042123jr-williams-trial-1 042123jr-williams-trial-2 042123jr-williams-trial-3 042423jr-williams-trial-1 042423jr-williams-trial-2
CEDAR FALLS  Valley Lutheran School is turning 20, and its future is bright.

After the idea of a Lutheran high school was proposed in the 1990s, it opened for the 2002-03 school year with 12 students. It began accepting middle schoolers in 2006 and became a kindergarten through 12th-grade school six years later.

Since then, the school has enrolled 2,128 students and graduated 181, including seniors who will finish this year. State enrollment figures show it had 117 students in all grades this fall.

Its students have gone on to become engineers, pastors, business owners, public health officials, teachers and serve in the armed forces.

With the passage of the Students First Act, allowing state funding for students attending private schools, Valley Lutheran expects to grow even more. That would allow it to expand into unfinished spaces within the building.

Christian education is (now) much more affordable for families, said April Schriver, director of admissions for Valley Lutheran. And so we are looking ahead towards what does that growth bring us and just exploring the wonderful things that are in store in terms of perhaps finishing our building. ... Expanding our classrooms to two sections of each grade level is our dream.

The school will celebrate the anniversary with Crusader Knight from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, featuring a catered dinner and a silent auction. According to the Rev. Gerry Kapanka, executive director of Valley Lutheran, its a chance to not only celebrate how far theyve come but to share with families and the greater Cedar Valley community how much potential it has to grow.

Its our largest fundraiser of the year, and the focus will really be on kicking off the next 20 years, Kapanka said. We thank God for the 20 years weve had getting us this place. And now as we move forward, you know, completing the building  that vision of having a school with 250-300 students in it.  Were planning on using the funds raised to start that process of finishing it off, and in a very short time being able to be at full capacity and see where the Lord takes us from there.

Price of admission for Crusader Knight is $35 for an individual ticket, or $250 to reserve a table for eight guests.

Rat ambassadors show off abilities
NEW YORK  Catholics remain the largest religious group among Latinos in the United States, but the number of Latinos who identify as religiously unaffiliated continues to grow.

Those are among the key findings in a new report by the Pew Research Center that surveyed 7,647 U.S. adults in Aug. 1-14 of last year.

The report, which uses the terms Latino and Hispanic interchangeably, found that Catholicism remains the largest faith among Latinos in the U.S., even as the number of Latino adults who identify as Catholic steadily declined over the past decade. The number went from 67% in 2010 to 43% last year.

Still, the survey said Latinos remain about twice as likely as U.S. adults overall to identify as Catholic, and less likely to be Protestant.

Latinos, especially here in the U.S., are still very faith-centered, said the Rev. Carlos Velasquez, pastor at St. Brigid, a majority Latino Catholic church in an area straddling Brooklyn and Queens in New York City.

Faith is a big part of all of peoples lives in Latin America  and when they come here, faith is what grounds them, he said. The church helps with the difficult transition of emigration, when many are starting from scratch, he added.

Latinos who are religiously unaffiliated  describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular  are now about 30% of the overall Latino population. Thats up from 18% a decade ago and 10% in 2010. The numbers of Latinos who are religiously unaffiliated is in line with U.S. adults overall, the report said.

The religiously unaffiliated  commonly known as the nones  are the fastest-growing group in surveys asking Americans about their religious identity.

Even though Latinx Americans may be, like all other Americans, increasingly unaffiliated, that certainly doesnt mean theyre non-religious, said Elizabeth Drescher, an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University who wrote a book about the spiritual lives of the nones.

They may not be engaged in institutional religion for a variety of reasons, but they may still have the kind of classic of religious measures of religiosity  like belief in God or a higher power, she said.

The poll says the demographic forces shaping the nations Latino population also have impacted religious affiliation trends.

Among U.S. Latinos ages 18 to 29, 79% were born in the U.S. Nearly half (49%) in this age group now identify as religiously unaffiliated. But only about one-in-five Latinos 50 and older are unaffiliated. Most of these older Latinos (56%) were born outside the U.S.

Overall, 52% of Latino immigrants identify as Catholic and 21% are unaffiliated. U.S.-born Latinos are less likely to be Catholic (36%) and more likely to be unaffiliated (39%), according to a 2022 Pew survey of Latino adults.

Hispanic Americans are also strikingly underrepresented in Catholic schools and in the priesthood.

Nearly a quarter of all U.S. Hispanics are former Catholics: While about two-thirds of Hispanic adults (65%) say they were raised Catholic, 43% say they are currently Catholic, according to the survey.

Whats happening to Catholic Latinos (in the U.S.) is whats happening to Catholics across the world, said the Rev. Felix Sanchez, pastor of St. Pius V, a majority Latino parish in New York Citys Jamaica, Queens.

People are attending church less, he said. Young people are participating less in their parishes. He cautioned against presenting Latinos as a monolithic group, though.

Its not the same to talk about an Argentine than an Ecuadorean, or a Mexican. And its not the same a first generation versus a third generation, Sanchez said. They all have different histories, traditions. What unites us is that we understand each other because we share the same language, but each one has its own cultural richness.  and we have to respect that.

Protestants are the second-largest faith group after Catholics, the report says. They account for 21% of Hispanic adults  a number that has remained relatively stable since 2010  with 15% of Latinos identifying as evangelical Protestants.

Latino evangelicals have received national attention recently due to the political activism of some evangelical churches, the survey says.

The interest in Latino evangelicals comes as white evangelicals have become a bulwark of support for Republican candidates in U.S. presidential elections, and after elections in which a rising share of Latino voters have supported Republican candidates.

Republican candidates across the U.S. are seeking to expand recent gains the party has made with Hispanic voters from Florida to California. What seems to be driving them are bread-and-butter issues, including crime, struggling schools, as well as food and gas prices creeping beyond their paychecks reach.

The report says 28% of Hispanic Republicans identify as evangelical Protestants compared to 10% who identify as Democrats.

Latino immigrants are slightly more likely than U.S.-born Latinos to be evangelical (19% vs. 12%). Evangelicalism is especially prevalent among Latinos with Central American origins, mirroring a pattern seen in those countries. Roughly three-in-ten Central Americans (31%) say they are evangelical Protestants, the report says.

Older Latinos and those born outside the U.S. are especially likely to say they were raised Catholic, the report says.

Like all Americans, many Latinos switch away from their childhood religion, it says, adding that one-third of Latino adults said their current religion is different from their childhood faith.

The poll's margin of error, for the full sample of respondents, is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.

Photos: Psychedelic churches push boundaries of religion
The U.S. government is tracking more than 650 potential cases of so-called "unidentified aerial phenomenon," commonly known as UFOs, according to the director of the office created last year to focus on the sightings.

Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee Wednesday that the number of cases was up from the 350 reports referenced in an unclassified intelligence report on unidentified aerial phenomenon released earlier this year.

"Of those over 650, we've prioritized about half of them to be of anomalous interesting value, and now we have to go through those and go 'How much of those do I have actual data for?'" Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick outlined to lawmakers how his office is helping the Pentagon and intelligence community to identify emerging foreign technologies, including his role in helping to identify the high-altitude surveillance balloon from China that flew over U.S. airspace in February.

He played video from two of cases that had been declassified, one that had been resolved and the other unresolved.

The first video showed a small orb that flew through the camera screen of an MQ-9 drone in the Middle East in 2022. The drone's camera followed the object as it moved through the sky, coming in and out of the screen.

Kirkpatrick explained that this case was unresolved because there was no other evidence beyond the video. "It is going to be virtually impossible to fully identify that, just based off of that video," he said, adding that the hope was as more data was gathered on these episodes, patterns could emerge to help explain the unresolved cases.

In the second video from South Asia earlier this year, an object flew by two MQ-9 drones, including one that captured video appearing to have a propulsion trail behind it, which Kirkpatrick said was initially believed to be "truly anomalous."

But he said after they pulled apart the video frame by frame, his office determined that it was a "shadow image."

"This is in the infrared, this is the heat signature off the engines in a commuter aircraft that happened to be flying in the vicinity of where those two MQ9s were at," he said.

Thursday's hearing, chaired by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, is the latest that Congress has held over the past year on UAPs as lawmakers pressure the Pentagon to solve the unexplained sightings.

While much of the public focus is over the possibility of UFOs, Kirkpatrick once again reiterated there's no evidence of represented extraterrestrial life in the sightings.

"In our research, AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology or objects that defy the known laws of physics," Kirkpatrick said.

Senators asked Kirkpatrick about the prospect of emerging technologies from foreign countries like Russia and China. He said that in a small number of cases, he has concerns the episodes could be evidence of potential technological advancements. Those cases, he said, are handed off to the intelligence community to investigate further.

"They are less risk averse at technical advancement than we are. They are just willing to try things and see if it works," he said. "Are there capabilities that could be employed against us in both ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) and a weapons fashion? Absolutely. Do I have evidence they're doing it in these cases? No, but I have concerning indicators."

___

States with the most UFO sightings States with the most UFO sightings #51. Washington D.C. #50. Texas #49. Louisiana #48. Mississippi #47. Georgia #46. Alabama #45. New York #44. Maryland #43. New Jersey #42. Virginia #41. Illinois #40. Tennessee #39. Michigan #38. Nebraska #37. Ohio #36. North Carolina #35. Pennsylvania #34. Kentucky #33. Oklahoma #32. Massachusetts #31. North Dakota #30. Minnesota #29. Iowa #28. Kansas #27. Indiana #26. Florida #25. Wisconsin #24. California #23. Arkansas #22. Delaware #21. South Dakota #20. Missouri #19. South Carolina #18. West Virginia #17. Hawaii #16. Utah #15. Rhode Island #14. Connecticut #13. Colorado #12. Nevada #11. Wyoming #10. Arizona #9. New Mexico #8. Idaho #7. Maine #6. New Hampshire #5. Oregon #4. Vermont #3. Alaska #2. Montana #1. Washington
DES MOINES  A sweeping education policy bill continues to bounce back and forth between Republican lawmakers, with agreement remaining elusive.

Republicans basically agree on the major policy points: no sex acts in school books and classroom materials; no sexual orientation and gender identity teaching until seventh grade; and notification of parents if students wish to change their pronouns.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday night passed the bill for a second time but only after removing most of the elements that House Republicans had inserted when they passed it earlier this month.

Because the bill was once again amended, Senate File 496 must go back to the House before it can be sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds for her signature.

Democrats, meantime, remain in consistent, unified and vociferous opposition to the bill in all its forms.

Among the many provisions in the Senate-passed bill:

 Gender identity and sexual orientation could not be taught until seventh grade.

 Any licensed professional must report to a students parents when that student expresses a desire to be addressed by a different pronoun.

 Books and classroom material that contain descriptions of depictions of sexual acts would not be allowed in schools, and schools would be required to have in place a process by which parents could protest other books or materials. The latest update in the Senate would exempt any religious books, including the Bible, Torah or Quran.

Sen. Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa who has managed the bill in the Senate, pushed back at critics of the myriad proposals, calling the legislation a good bill.

It clearly establishes the guardrails that most Iowans believe to be reasonable and fair. In fact, this bill matches up with what most schools are doing right now and with what parents expect their school to be doing, Rozenboom said. We must put the parents back in charge of their childrens education.

Democrats, echoing concerns expressed throughout the legislative session by LGBTQ Iowans and groups who advocate for them, argued the bill will prove harmful to those students.

And they argued the bill would put educators and professional staff at schools, like counselors and social workers, in precarious positions  perhaps even force them to violate their professions code of ethics  by requiring them to break the confidence of students who may share with them a preferred gender identity.

It is a government overreach on education in all forms. This bill is hateful and targeted. It does not protect all children, said Sen. Molly Donahue, a Democrat and teacher from Cedar Rapids.

Sen. Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, pushed back at arguments the legislation targets LGBTQ students. He and other Republicans said the bill is about the rights of parents to be involved in their childrens education.

These issues that were talking about today should be done with the parents, through a psychologist or a counselor. They shouldnt be done in schools, Zaun said. Let parents be parents and let kids be kids.
We all know that Elon Musk is a little sensitive when it comes to Twitter, which we all saw when rumors about Apple withholding Twitter from the App Store floated around. Predictably, the Twitter CEO reacted to Microsoft's announcement by saying "Lawsuit time."

Musk's Grudge Against OpenAI

The tech billionaire's threat may very well be just that, and it's quite possible that he will not go through with it. However, his reason behind the potential legal action is his claims of the company using Twitter to train illegally.

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

There were previous incidents where the Tesla CEO threatened legal action, such as the issue with @ElonJet tracking his jet's whereabouts. Nothing really came out of that except a new anti-doxxing policy for Twitter.

He did not provide specifics, but it may be directed at OpenAI, which uses various data from the internet to train its large language models which are used for its products like ChatGPT. Of course, there's the issue of OpenAI not being Microsoft, as pointed out by The Verge.

Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI back in 2015, but stepped down from the board after three years. Rumor has it that it was due to disagreements when it came to the development of artificial intelligence, although reports say that it was so the Musk focus on his other companies.

The software giant has invested quite a lot into OpenAI and then did so again for the second time to extend its multibillion-dollar partnership with the AI-developing company, which has resulted in the integration of AI features in Microsoft's products like Bing, Edge, and more.

Microsoft is dropping its support for Twitter effective by April 25th, 2023. It's due to the social media platform removing its free API. Basically, Microsoft is simply a customer who doesn't want to pay, and Elon Musk took that decision personally.

Upon implementation, users can no longer use the Microsoft platform to access Twitter accounts through the social management tool, create and manage drafts for tweets, new past tweets, and engagements, as well as scheduled tweets.

This will affect the company's Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform. Microsoft will continue its support for other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The change will gradually roll out to all users soon.

Read Also: Twitter To End Free Access to Its API With New Monetization Approach

Twitter's API Behind a Paywall

The announcement comes as a shock to third-party developers as Twitter announced that they will be required to pay to access its API. It will also be in the form of monthly fees instead of just a single payment, and the price has caused some developers to cut ties with the platform.

Twitter has released three tiers for its API. One's free, the second is the Basic tier, and the third is the Enterprise tier. The basic tier, which has a 50,000 posting limit at the app level and a 10,000 read-limit rate cap per month, will cost $100 monthly.

The Enterprise tier, which big companies will have to use, completes streams such as replay, engagement metrics, backfill, and more. It can be managed by a dedicated account team, but the commercial-level access may cost up to $42,000 a month.

While Microsoft can afford to pay that kind of amount per month ten times over, it could still be a bit much for API access, which is why it decided to remove support for Twitter instead. Smaller developers like Tweetbot Maker and Tapbots have done the same.

Related: Twitter Cuts Off API from App Developers and Third-Party Clients
SLATER, Iowa (AP)  Nick Hellands central Iowa farm looks much like every other nearby farm on this chilly March day, with corn stubble stretching from a gravel road up over a low hill to the northern horizon.

But look closely, and you can see patches of muddy ground where a few months ago crews buried low-tech systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers that filter fertilizer-borne nitrates from water as it drains from Hellands field into nearby Big Creek and eventually the Des Moines River.

The underground devices work. The question is whether one Iowa county's promising new approach to an old problem can be expanded enough to finally address nitrate pollution that, for years, has endangered drinking water, made more than half the state's waterways unfit for fish or humans, and fueled a giant dead zone nearly 1,000 miles away in the Gulf of Mexico.

Polk County is doing it by making it painless for farmers  handling all the logistics and arrangements for the systems  and throwing in payments of $1,000 per site. Installations have exploded in the past two years, to 104, after only a handful were installed the eight years before that.

They paid me and they paid the cost of all the installation, Helland said. Thats sort of a no-brainer to me that with very little lift, very little time, I can have this installed on my farm and it will ensure better water quality for everyone else downstream.

The big challenge now is encouraging counties to launch and fund similar efforts to reduce runoff from Iowas 10 million acres of tile-drained farmland and combat the states multi-billion dollar problem with nitrogen pollution.

Nitrogen-based fertilizers and manure can lead to excessive nitrates in groundwater that can be toxic to livestock and humans. High levels have plagued waterways in Iowa and throughout the Midwest for decades from chemical fertilizers and animal manure sprayed on fields. Modern tractors let farmers assess their soil and apply only as much fertilizer as needed, but its still common to overspray.

Its easy to see why. Yields of corn  the king crop in these parts, and planted on about 90 million acres nationwide  are at least doubled by fertilizer, and farmers want to be sure their crops have enough nutrients. Adding to the problem are the quick drainage systems that lie beneath so many fields  known as tiles, but actually plastic pipes  that whoosh excess water away and into streams.

Numerous studies have found the low-tech systems remove half the nitrate or more from runoff before it reaches waterways. In bioreactors, the water passes through a buried mound of wood chips that break down much of the nitrate. In the buffers, it moves through a grassy area parallel to a stream.

Too much nitrate and phosphorous in rivers and streams makes great food for algae and other plant growth that cuts oxygen in the water and blocks sunlight. Combined with industrial farming practices that have altered waterways by straightening streams and removing wetlands, that's bad news for fish that need clear water and slower currents.

It hurts humans, too. Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome where an infant's blood doesn't have enough oxygen. More than half of Iowa's rivers, streams and lakes are too polluted to properly support aquatic life or fishing and swimming, according to the state.

Iowa is among the largest contributors of nitrate runoff that flows to the Gulf, leading to the so-called dead zone by depleting oxygen necessary for marine life across several thousand square miles.

Pressure to reduce the dead zone led Iowas agriculture and natural resources departments to join in 2008 with Iowa State University for a strategy to address the problem. The effort has focused on voluntary actions; Iowa's legislature has consistently rejected proposals to require farmers to reduce runoff.

Fifteen years into the program, Iowa hasn't significantly reduced nitrogen runoff, according to a 2019 estimate. The problem in some ways has worsened as strong commodity prices encouraged farmers to plant corn and soybeans on more land. Meanwhile, Iowas giant hog industry has grown to about 24 million pigs  roughly triple the number in any other state  which means more manure gets spread over farmland.

In Polk County, exasperation with nitrate pollution came to a head in 2015, when the agency that provides drinking water to 600,000 people in the Des Moines area went to court over the millions of dollars it was being forced to spend to filter unsafe levels from drinking water taken from the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. A judge ultimately dismissed the lawsuit against three northwest Iowa counties, ruling the issue was one for the Legislature to address.

Without hope of state mandates, local officials in Polk County sought to work cooperatively with agricultural groups. Part of that was studying why so few farmers were installing bioreactors and streamside buffers. They found an inefficient system for installation that made it expensive and bothersome for farmers, who had to arrange contractors and then seek reimbursement.

Polk County's solution: Handle all the arrangements to make it easy for farmers, and group projects together for economies of scale. Even with the $1,000 inducement to get farmers to sign on, they found the new process was about 15% cheaper  less than $10,000 for a typical saturated buffer, and up to $15,000 for a bioreactor.

Our success came from realizing we had been doing it wrong for like six years, said John Swanson, Polk County's water resources supervisor.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig, who has strongly opposed requiring farmers to filter runoff, has embraced Polk County's effort and encouraged it elsewhere. In March, he promoted bioreactors and buffers at an event in Story County, north of Des Moines, where conservation officials have adopted the new program.

Were making it easy for a landowner to say yes, and then we bring the resources," Naig said. "These are essentially 100% paid for. Either way, the work has to get done, and to have willing landowners and willing producers get involved, that will work much better.

But clean water advocates note that Iowa needs thousands of the systems added each year, not hundreds, and question whether voluntary efforts can reach even a small percentage of the state's farms  let alone those in other states.

Theres a lot of people who are doing really good work, said Alicia Vasto, the water program director at the Iowa Environmental Council. The fact of the matter is that its just not at the pace and scale thats necessary to fix the problem."

The projected cost of scaling up is staggering. To significantly reduce nitrogen and phosphate runoff, a 2017 analysis found that upfront costs could be as high as $4 billion. That would include more than 100,000 bioreactors to deal with runoff on two-thirds of tile-drained farmland, as well as other solutions, like cover crops.

Swanson, the Polk County official, is now working with state officials to build more wetlands, which cost more and require more land but can filter much more runoff than the bioreactors and buffers. Helland wants such a wetland on his property and wants farmers to do more, but he thinks efforts should remain voluntary. Each farm is different, he said, and if governments try to require action, it could cause more problems and ultimately not be effective.

Jerry Hill, who has farmed for 52 years, attended the Story County meeting with other farmers and is leaning toward installing a bioreactor along a creek that borders his property. He liked the idea of filtering the water at little cost to his bottom line.

"We're going to have to do a better job of keeping things clean," Hill said. From what I've heard, what they have going now is as good as it gets.

Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
A survivor of six heart attacks and a brain tumor, a grumpy bear of a man, whom has declared Russia as his new and wonderful home. His wife is a true Russian Sweet Pea of a girl and she puts up with this bear of a guy and keeps him in line. Thank God for my Sweet Pea and Russia.
Weather Alert

...Unseasonably Warm Temperatures and River Rises From Snowmelt Expected This Weekend... * The warmest temperatures so far this Spring are expected to arrive this weekend, with afternoon highs up to 20 degrees above-average for late April. By Saturday, mid-to-upper 80s are expected across much of western Nevada, with 90 degrees not out of the question for portions of the Basin & Range. If recreating or spending time outdoors, be aware that it will be unusually hot for this time of year and prepare accordingly. * These warm temperatures, along with mild overnight lows, will result in efficient melting of our snowpack. Consequently, high river flows are anticipated across much of the region. Water will be swift moving and very cold, so be cautious if approaching a river bank. With snowmelt-driven river rises, daily fluctuations are common and it's possible the peak flows will occur overnight. Keep this in mind when setting up camp near the water. * A return to cooler, more unsettled weather with the chance of high elevation snow showers and valley rain will arrive as early as Monday of next week. Stay tuned to the forecast for updates on this early May pattern change.

.Near record high temperatures Thursday through Sunday will bring significant streamflow rises, especially for snow covered terrain below about 8000 feet. Rises will likely increase daily through the weekend following a diurnal melt cycle with the highest flows often in the evenings and overnight. ...FLOOD WATCH FOR SNOWMELT REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Flooding caused by snowmelt continues to be possible. * WHERE...Portions of California and western Nevada, including the following areas, in California, Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Lassen-Eastern Plumas-Eastern Sierra Counties, Mono County and Surprise Valley California. In western Nevada, Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area and Mineral and Southern Lyon Counties. * WHEN...From Thursday afternoon through Monday morning. * IMPACTS...Creeks and streams will be running high and fast. Low-water crossings may be flooded. Minor mainstem flooding is currently forecast along the Forks of the Carson River beginning late Friday. The Susan and Walker Rivers will also need to be closely monitored as flooding cannot be ruled out. Anyone participating in outdoor recreation this weekend should use caution as water will be running high, fast, and potentially out of banks for some creeks and streams. The water will be extremely cold as well, quickly causing shock. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible Flood Warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop. &&


NT Supreme Court Dismisses EP 136 Land Access Appeal

Sydney, April 20, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Northern Territory Supreme Court (NTSC) has dismissed Rallen Australia's appeal regarding the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal's (NTCAT) decision to grant Tamboran Resources Limited ( ASX:TBN ) ( TBNNY:OTCMKTS ) a land access agreement on EP 136 in the Beetaloo Basin.



The decision validates the Land Access and Compensation Agreement approved by the NTCAT in May 2022, allowing Tamboran to conduct exploration activities in EP 136 under the corresponding Environmental Management Plans.



Tamboran completed the drilling of the Company's first operated well, Maverick 1V (M1V), in EP 136 during the second half of 2022, which was the fastest drilled vertical section of more than 2,500-metres in the Beetaloo Basin to date.



Tamboran is continuing to evaluate the opportunity to drill a 3,000-metre horizontal section with the Helmerich and Payne's (H&P) super-spec FlexRig(R).



Tamboran Resources Limited Managing Director and CEO, Joel Riddle, said:



"We are pleased with the NT Supreme Court's ruling and look forward to working closely with all our stakeholders in progressing the development of the Beetaloo Basin in a safe and responsible manner.



"As the first challenge of the Northern Territory Government's changes to the legislation and regulations permitting access for exploration purposes, the decision sets an important precedent for future operations across the Beetaloo Basin. We are pleased to lead the way by securing this important precedent and ensure that the benefits of the decision will extend to many stakeholders.



"We remain committed to our development options in the EP 136 permit, where we hold a 100 per cent operated interest. We are currently evaluating the opportunity to re-enter the M1V well and drill a 3,000- metre horizontal section once H&P's super-spec FlexRig(R) is operational in Australia. The rig has arrived in arwin ahead of the commencement of operations in the Beetaloo Basin in mid-calendar year 2023."





About Tamboran Resources Limited





Tamboran Resources Ltd (ASX:TBN) is a natural gas company that intends to play a constructive role in the global energy transition towards a lower carbon future by developing low CO2 unconventional natural gas resources in the Beetaloo Sub-basin within the Greater McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Tamboran's key assets are a 25% working interest in EP 161 and a 100% working interest in EP 136, EP 143 and EP(A) 197 which are located in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.
Dexter Fletcher enjoys challenges.

A longtime filmmaker, Fletcher, never had the opportunity to direct a full-scale action film.

That changed when he took the helm of the film, Ghosted.

Having this opportunity was exciting to me, Fletcher says. Chris (Evans) was attached to it when the project came to me. That was a big draw to do it because I love Chris and his work. It was an opportunity to sort of humanize this superhero.

Ghosted stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas and the film debuts on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 21.

The film follows unlucky-in-love Cole, played by Evans, as he meets sophisticated Sadie, played by de Armas, at his family farm stand. The chemistry is instantaneous.

After spending a day and a night with Sadie, Cole thinks he may have found the one and texts her for another date  only to be ghosted by the woman of his dreams.

At the urging of his family, Cole throws caution to the wind and tracks the elusive art curator to London. But instead of reuniting with Sadie, he encounters Leveque, played by Adrien Brody, a vicious black-market arms dealer.

Mistaken for an expert operative known as The Taxman, Cole is taken hostage and interrogated about a set of passcodes for Aztec, a top-secret weapon of mass destruction that Leveque plans to sell to the highest bidder.

It is only when Sadie bursts into Leveques hideout with her guns blazing that Cole realizes she is The Taxman, a veteran CIA agent with countless hits to her credit.

Sadie fights their way out, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake and a stunned Cole in tow. The mismatched couple fights for their lives from Afghanistan and Pakistan, to a remote tropical island, and finally back to D.C., squabbling all the way.

Fletcher says he enjoyed being able to build these two worlds and cultivate a love story alongside all of the chaos.

He says its the relationship that keeps the film grounded.

Theres the time in the beginning of the film where the audience gets to invest in that relationship and it stands up to the scrutiny, Fletcher says. Both Cole and Sadie are trying to figure it out. He wants to play it safe and not take any risks in life. Shes all about risk. Shes also able to open herself up to him. Its a modern side of dating life that we all explored with the film.

Though Fletcher seemed to be on a dream project, there are always challenges when it comes to film productions.

The action sequences are relatively new to me, he says. This was a level that Ive never tackled before. I would have sleepless nights trying to figure out exciting ways to shoot and stage those sequences. I wanted them to add to the movie by moving the story forward.

Fletcher hopes the audience will be able to go along for the ride both emotionally and physically.

The characters are authentic and relatable, he says. Youre going on a ride and youre rooting for this couple who are just trying to figure it out, like we all are.

Now streaming

Ghosted starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 21
Actor Kim Bo-ra plays the role of Lee Yoo-ri in the upcoming series, "Finland Papa." Courtesy of Special Movie City



By Lee Gyu-lee



Actors Kim Bo-ra and Kim Woo-seok are set to deliver a heartwarming family story in the upcoming series, "Finland Papa."



The romantic drama series revolves around a cafe in Busan, called Finland Papa, whose employees are like a close-knit family caring for each other.



Run by a mysterious, anonymous owner (Kim Woo-seok), the cafe brings together people who are suffering from trauma and come from dysfunctional and broken families and provides them with a sanctuary to experience and learn what it means to have a real family.



Kim Bo-ra will play the role of Lee Yoo-ri, who joins the cafe following the death of her grandmother, who was the only family she had. She sees the cafe's job posting, which includes free meals as part of employee benefits and becomes part of the new family. It is a completely new experience for her.



"Each character has his or her own story. (Each episode of) the series always kept me curious about the next episode," the actress said during the press conference for the series, Wednesday, which was held at Megabox in Seongdong District, Seoul. "Through Yoo-ri, I wanted to show a modest and firm, but also lovely character."



The actress shared that her character's life reminded her of her own, which drew her to take on the role.



"Personally, I'm close to my grandmother. And in the script, the relationship Yoo-ri has with her grandmother was very tight. I decided to take the series simply because of that part. It reminded me a lot about my own grandmother," she said.





A scene from the series, "Finland Papa" / Courtesy of Special Movie City
Pour one for Eastern New Mexico University.

The educational institution has partnered with Red Door Brewing Company to create a Bohemian-style lager called Blackwater Draw Lager. Its name, suggested by ENMU student Leander Murphy, was selected through a contest that received 80 name entries.

It is light and refreshing with a pleasant herbal hop bite to finish, according to an ENMU news release. Brewed with Pilsner malts and classic European Saaz hops, its a clear, crisp lager perfect for enjoying throughout the Llano Estacado.

The beer cans label features the historic Clovis Point found at the Blackwater Draw National Historic Landmark on the ENMU campus. The label was designed by ENMU alumni and graphic artist Sara Wright.

ENMU also collaborated with New Mexicos Mother Trail Beverage Company to produce a canned cocktail named The Greyhound. ENMU employee, Vickie Brisco, suggested the name. The Greyhound was chosen out of 80 entries that were submitted in a naming contest held last spring, according to the news release.

The cocktail is made with grapefruit juice and premium gin.

Fresh, bright, and tart, this cocktail is a tasty addition to any event on or off campus, according to the news release.

The cocktails label, also designed by Wright, showcases ENMUs iconic administration building.

The cocktail and the lager are available at Red Door Brewery locations in Albuquerque and Clovis, as well as selected retailers around the state later this summer. An unveiling party for the lager and cocktail will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. May 19 at Red Door Brewing Co.s taproom, 120 Maple St., in Clovis.

Red Door is excited to partner with ENMU and Mother Trail Beverage Company to market both products, Matt Biggs, co-owner of Red Door Brewing Company, states in the news release. We have been working in various communities throughout Eastern New Mexico for the last several years and are proud to be able to continue to support the area.

The partnerships support ENMU students and staff in several ways.

ENMU appreciates our New Mexico-owned businesses partnering with us to raise scholarship funds, James Johnston, ENMU chancellor, states in the news release. Partnerships like this support New Mexico businesses and our students as we, in turn, educate a workforce that contributes to the states economic engine.

The partnership is a win-win for everyone involved.

It is an honor ENMU chose our brewery to collaborate with, Biggs said. We look forward to getting these drinks into as many hands as possible and raising money for scholarships at ENMU.

This is not ENMUs first collaboration. In the past couple years it has teamed up with several New Mexico businesses including Red Rock Roasters to release Greyhound Grind Coffee, Taco Box to create Silver Dawg Salsa, Lescombes Family Vineyard to produce Eastern Sunrise Wine, Enchantment Vineyards to concoct Eastern Sunset Wine, SnuggleCubs Cookies to make the ENMU Victory Cookie and Heart of the Desert to develop Greyhound Crunch Pistachio Caramel Popcorn and ENMU Enchanted Pistachios.
El Pasoans will have one more pizza place to choose from  this one a New Mexico favorite.

Dions will open its 28th store  and its first in El Paso  sometime this year, the company told the Journal. The company is currently waiting on the permitting process to be complete before construction begins on the Paseo del Norte and Resler Road location in El Paso.

The location will be the third in Texas for Dions. It has two other stores in Lubbock, Texas.

Its always a pleasure to announce new Dions locations, Dions CEO Mark Herman said in a statement. Expanding our presence in Texas and offering a comfortable place to enjoy great food to El Paso is something were looking forward to.

Dions has retained an architect for the project in New Mexico-based Peter Butterfield Architect, which has worked on recent Dions restaurant designs.

The company says the El Paso location will include many of the same offerings as the New Mexico locations  from a drive-thru window for pick-up orders, to an open kitchen with a pizza viewing stand for kids, as well as dine-in and online orders.

The store, once opened, will create roughly 75 jobs, Dions said.
Jurors in the trial of a man accused of fatally shooting Jacqueline Vigil in her West Side driveway in 2019 heard testimony Wednesday about the alleged cover-up of the killing.

Luis Talamantes-Romero, 35, fled to San Antonio, Texas, in the weeks after Vigils killing at the recommendation of his sister, jurors were told on the second day of testimony in his trial.

Talamantes-Romero is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated burglary and other charges in Vigils shooting death and other alleged crimes committed that morning.

Karla Aguirre, a former girlfriend of Talamantes-Romeros, described details of the alleged cover-up.

Talamantes-Romero returned to his sisters home in Barelas at about 7 a.m. Nov. 19, 2019, about two hours after the killing, Aguirre testified through a Spanish-language interpreter.

He later told Aguirre and his sister, Eliz

abeth Talamantes, that he had shot a woman outside her home, Aguirre testified.

Talamantes-Romero was at first reluctant to discuss the killing but became more candid about his actions, she said.

At the time he had a lot of adrenaline, Aguirre said. And then later when he told me what had happened, he had calmed down some. He was more aware of what he had done.

Talamantes-Romero described approaching Vigils car from behind and shooting Vigil, Aguirre said. Talamantes-Romero told Aguirre he didnt know why he shot Vigil, she said.

A native of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Aguirre traveled to Albuquerque to testify with the encouragement of FBI agents, who provided her with money for expenses and promised to watch out for me and my family, she said under questioning from Talamantes-Romeros attorney, Kathleen Rhinehart.

Aguirre told jurors she had been reluctant to travel to Albuquerque until FBI agents promised that they were going to protect us so there werent reprisals for me being here now.

Vigil, the mother of two New Mexico State Police officers, was shot once in the head about 5 a.m. Nov. 19, 2019, as she attempted to back out of her driveway on her way to the gym.

The case gained national attention when Vigils husband, Sam Vigil, and his sons attended a news conference at the White House, where then-President Donald Trump announced the case would be included in the federal crime fighting initiative, Operation Legend.

News reports of the killing alarmed Talamantes-Romero, Aguirre testified.

I think he was more worried when he learned that she was the mom of a policeman, she said.

Elizabeth Talamantes told her brother that he should flee New Mexico and recommended that he stay with a cousin in San Antonio, Texas, Aguirre said. Talamantes-Romero was at first reluctant but agreed to the plan, she said.

Aguirre, Talamantes-Romero and his sister, drove to San Antonio sometime in December 2019. They took with them the .40-caliber handgun that Talamantes-Romero had used to kill Vigil, Aguirre told jurors.

While in San Antonio, they destroyed the murder weapon by breaking it into pieces, she said.

After dropping off Talamantes-Romero in San Antonio, Aguirre and Elizabeth Talamantes drove back to Albuquerque. On the way home, Elizabeth Talamantes tossed out pieces of the firearm in remote locations in Texas, Aguirre said.

Elizabeth Talamantes, 41, pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court of New Mexico to a charges of possession of a firearm to further a drug-trafficking crime. She was sentenced in August to five years in federal prison.

The charges emerged from an FBI investigation into her role in helping her brother flee to San Antonio.

FBI agents executed a search warrant at her home on Pacific SW in Barelas in August 2020 and found two Glock pistols and methamphetamine.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a personal record of 35 vetoes this year. But it was her sweeping line-item vetoes in a massive tax bill that have raised discord among members of her own political party and questions about the limits of the governors constitutional powers.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and state Rep. Debra Sarinana, D-Albuquerque, said they were disappointed Lujan Grisham vetoed tax credits for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and geothermal energy generation in what was a $1.1 billion tax package. Apparently only four provisions in the tax package survived the governors veto pen.

Many Journal readers were also irked. Heidi Brooks of Albuquerque called the governors vetoes of five clean-energy tax credits incomprehensible. Diane Reese of Albuquerque said she was flabbergasted. Susan Martin of the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club said she was shocked and saddened.

The governor said concerns about the tax package being bloated and fiscally unstable caused her to line-item veto about 20 provisions, including the EV credits, a phased-in GRT reduction, a 20% alcohol tax increase, and changes to the states personal income tax system. The governor left intact her priorities of individual rebates, expanded child tax credits and an enlarged film incentive program.

But where did she get the authority to veto portions of the tax package and leave others in place? And it bears pointing out the film incentives tucked into the bill are just that, incentives, and have zero to do with taxes; ditto for the rebates, which are available to all New Mexicans whether they file/pay income taxes or not.

According to Section 22 of the state Constitution: The governor may  approve or disapprove any part or parts, item or items, of any bill appropriating money, and such parts or items approved shall become a law, and such as are disapproved shall be void unless passed over his veto as herein provided.

However, theres no mention of a governor having the power to line-item portions of a tax package, which doesnt appropriate any money. Incentives, rebates and credits are not appropriations. A true tax package merely defines the parameters of state taxes to be collected in coming fiscal years. Lawmakers take it from there and in separate legislation appropriate money through a budget process based on revenue projections.

The checks and balances seem to have once again gotten a little mixed up in one-party political domination in Santa Fe.

Former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez wasnt so fortunate. Top-ranking Democratic lawmakers said Martinez overstepped her line-item veto authority in April 2011 when she reduced funding for oversight of regional housing authorities from $150,000 to $50,000 in a state budget bill. The state Supreme Court ruled a governor can strike a line item from a spending bill but not alter it.

I think the court saw that the appropriating authority really belongs to the Legislature, Rep. Luciano Lucky Varela, D-Santa Fe, said at the time.

Later in 2011, the state Supreme Court threw out Martinezs partial veto of legislation that would have raised unemployment insurance premiums for businesses after Democratic lawmakers again filed a court challenge.

But those challenges were back in June 2011, against a governor of an opposing political party.

A House Republican staff member told the Journal Wednesday that Lujan Grishams line-item vetoes of the tax package may be broached at the May 1 meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee. Lawmakers could file a lawsuit challenging her line-item vetoes, try to override the vetoes in the next legislative session, or just let them stand, he explained.

Its something that needs to be fleshed out, he said, adding the issue has been simmering in the Roundhouse since the governor gutted the tax package on April 7. Somebody needs to be willing to take the challenge and set the barriers. Whether anybody will, I dont know.

Tax bills should deal with taxes, and a governors line-item veto powers are supposed to be reserved for bills appropriating money, such as capital outlay and budget bills. These issues need to be fleshed out. State lawmakers have the standing and stakeholder interest to do just that.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham leaves a Governors Office cabinet room after a news conference in February. (Eddie Moore/Journal)

SANTA FE  Five of the top appointees under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham enjoyed pay raises averaging 22% in a recent six-month period  changes set to add about $162,000 a year to the state payroll.

Each raise exceeded 17%, and one reached 31%, according to a Journal analysis of state salary data.

One raise added $37,850 to an individuals salary while another added $41,100.

They came at an unusual time  in the middle of a fiscal year  and outpace what was more broadly available to state employees.

But they coincide with Lujan Grishams reelection victory last fall and the revenue boom helping push state spending to a record high.

The five high-level staffers who received hefty raises work as political appointees in the Governors Office, including the chief operating officer and deputy chief of staff. Each now makes at least $170,000 a year.

They include:

Courtney Kerster , a senior adviser, whose salary jumped 31% to $175,000 between October and March  an increase of $41,100 in annual pay. It was the largest increase by dollars and percentage among the top five. Kerster served temporarily as a chief of staff before returning to her job in January as a senior adviser to the governor and director of federal affairs.

, a senior adviser, whose salary jumped 31% to $175,000 between October and March  an increase of $41,100 in annual pay. It was the largest increase by dollars and percentage among the top five. Kerster served temporarily as a chief of staff before returning to her job in January as a senior adviser to the governor and director of federal affairs. Mariana Padilla , Cabinet director, whose salary climbed 28% to $171,750.

, Cabinet director, whose salary climbed 28% to $171,750. Deputy Chief of Staff Diego Arencon and Caroline Buerkle , director of Cabinet affairs, whose annual salaries each rose 19% to $175,000.

and , director of Cabinet affairs, whose annual salaries each rose 19% to $175,000. Chief Operating Officer Teresa Casados, whose salary increased 17% to $185,000.

Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said the raises are justified and reflect the long hours and holidays worked by the governors staff.

These increases came at the end of the governors first four years in office, she said in a written statement. Merit-based raises are standard practice across virtually every workplace, and the governor recognizes the extremely hard work employees in her office do every day, which routinely includes work on holidays, late into the evening and over weekends, to serve the people of New Mexico.

House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, said the size and timing of the compensation changes raise some questions. Just this month, he noted, the governor vetoed legislation, Senate Bill 2, that would have sharply boosted judicial pay.

Some of the Governors Office salary increases alone, Lane said, are as much as hard-working New Mexicans make in a single year, and that should cause some concern.

Its also puzzling to me that the governor would veto salary increases for our judicial branch but also give large pay increases to select members of her staff.

The governors staff pay increases didnt kick in at the same time for every employee, and its difficult to say precisely when they took effect. The state publishes salary data on its Sunshine Portal once a month.

Hefty increases in winter

For some employees, the raises show up in payroll data released in December, the month after Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, won reelection by 6 percentage points over Republican Mark Ronchetti.

The governors longtime chief operating officer, Casados, and deputy chief of staff, Arencon, each received raises that showed up in the December payroll data.

Their last raises before that came in the summer  when state employees more broadly received an average 4% raise. Casados and Arencon saw their pay climb 4% in the August payroll data.

None of the five political appointees  all whom serve at the pleasure of the governor  saw their job title change in the state payroll data for October and March.

A sixth appointee  Daniel Schlegel, the chief of staff and only other employee in the Governors Office whose pay exceeds $170,000  was promoted during the six-month period.

His pay jumped from $112,000 a year to $185,000, reflecting his increased duties as chief of staff, following an earlier stint as director of strategic initiatives.

Other employees in the Governors Office also saw raises, many for smaller amounts. General Counsel Holly Agajanian, for example, saw her pay climb 10%, to $150,000.

And some didnt see a change at all, such as Martin Chavez, a special director, whose salary remained at $153,000.

The Governors Office raises were first reported by The Candle, an online publication covering New Mexico news.

Raises outpace rank-and-file employees

State employees more generally havent seen double-digit percentage changes over the last six months.

The budget package authorized by lawmakers last year had enough funding for raises averaging about 7%. It included a 3% across-the-board increase in April last year and an average of 4% starting three months later, in July, according to budget documents.

Another increase  an average of 6%  is set for the fiscal year that starts in July this summer under the budget bill signed into law this month.

It isnt the first time the governor has doled out eye-opening raises for staff. Republican legislative leaders slammed her in 2021 after some staffers received raises of 8% to 21%.
SSOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP)  SpaceXs giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight Thursday and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Elon Musks company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.

Images showed several of the 33 main engines were not firing as the rocket climbed from the launch pad, reaching as high as 24 miles (39 kilometers). There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how many engines failed to ignite or shut down prematurely.

The booster was supposed to peel away from the spacecraft three minutes after liftoff, but that didnt happen. The rocket with the spacecraft still attached began to tumble and then exploded, plummeting into the gulf.

Once flying free, the spacecraft was meant to lap around the world, ending with a crash-landing in the Pacific near Hawaii.

Instead of a best-case-scenario 1 1/2-hour flight, it lasted four minutes.

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: Go, baby, go!

Musk, in a tweet, called it an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.

In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk gave 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit.

You never know exactly whats going to happen, said SpaceX livestream commentator and engineer John Insprucker. But as we promised, excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a rather spectacular end.

The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.

At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASAs moon rockets  past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceXs smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.

The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.

SpaceX has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for more test flights. Musk wants to fire them off in quick succession, so he can start using Starships to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit and then put people on board.

It was the second launch attempt. Mondays try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

Jason and Lisa Flores came from Corpus Christi to watch the launch with their daughter, and noticed something was amiss.

Lisa Flores said she cried seeing the launch, and then realized Its not working out the way it was supposed to.

Elizabeth Trujillo, 13, wearing a Star Wars shirt and carrying toy binoculars, skipped school to see the launch from the beach with her mother and other relatives. The crowd cheered when Starship cleared the launch pad.

Despite the failed attempt, it was worth it, said Jessica Trujillo, Elizabeths mother. Just hearing and seeing the view, the excitement of the crowd, it was priceless.

Practice makes perfect. They just got to practice some more, she added.

___

AP reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

See Video of the launch, rapid unscheduled disassembly


A Rio Rancho man was sentenced to three months in jail and 15 months probation for animal cruelty that took place in late 2021.

Kelsey Townsend, 39, had pleaded guilty to one count of extreme cruelty to animals and was sentenced April 11 in 13th Judicial District Court in Sandoval County, according to online court records.

In October 2021, Townsend was issued a summons because his neighbor saw video of him harming two puppies in his yard, the Observer reported. The videos acquired by the neighbor show Townsend carrying the puppies by their collars and throwing them 15 to 20 feet into the air. Another video shows him firing his BB gun at them.

Rio Rancho Police officers responded to the residence but could not find Townsend to question him. They talked to Townsends wife, who was confused as to why he was using this form of punishment.

The two blue heeler puppies were a gift for their kids.

Read the full story at rrobserver.com.
Jacqueline Vigil was killed by a single gunshot fired at close range that pierced the drivers side window of her car in 2019, an Albuquerque police detective told jurors Thursday in the trial of her alleged killer.

Luis Talamantes-Romero, 35, is charged with first-degree murder in Vigils killing. He also is charged with two counts of aggravated burglary, conspiracy, larceny and other charges in connection with what prosecutors describe as an hours-long crime spree that morning.

Vigil was killed by a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun that struck the left side of her head, Albuquerque Police Department Detective Andrea Ortiz told jurors.

Vigil was sitting in the drivers seat of her Cadillac on her way to the gym at about 5 a.m. that morning when she was fatally shot.

Ortiz showed jurors a cap that Vigil had been wearing at the time of her death that had a bullet hole on the top, left side.

A single .40-caliber shell casing was found about five feet inside the garage. The location of the casing suggests the shooter was standing inside the garage at the time Vigil was shot, Ortiz said.

Prosecutors allege that Talamantes-Romero drove a Jeep Cherokee through Albuquerques West Side in the early-morning hours of Nov. 19, 2019, on a crime spree that culminated in Vigils killing.

Prosecutors allege that Talamantes-Romero pulled the Jeep close behind Vigils Cadillac, blocking her from exiting her garage before walking up to drivers side window.

Investigators told jurors Thursday they recovered the Jeep at the Barelas home of Talamantes-Romeros sister, Elizabeth Talamantes, on Nov. 27, 2019, eight days after Vigils killing.

Crime scene photos showed that parts of the Jeep had been removed or altered. Missing items included the Jeeps front fenders, bumper, luggage rack and license plate.

Karla Aguirre, a former girlfriend of Talamantes-Romeros, described for jurors on Wednesday details of the alleged cover-up after Vigils killing.

Aguirre testified that she and Elizabeth Talamantes helped Talamantes-Romero flee New Mexico by driving him to a cousins home in San Antonio in the days after the killing.

After returning to Albuquerque, Elizabeth Talamantes and others altered the Jeep, Aguirre told jurors. By then, photos of the Jeep had been broadcast in news reports.

More trial coverage: Witness describes alleged cover-up in Jacqueline Vigils killing

The most horrific thing: Jurors hear from victims widower on first day of Luis Talamantes-Romero trial

Trial, jury selection to begin for Luis Talamantes-Romero who was charged with first-degree murder in killing of Jacqueline Vigil
Cover Images/ROGER WONG/KIKA Press Celebrity

The TV personality was initially hesitant to share her story, but her BFF Tamra Judge forced her to talk about it during an appearance on SiriusXM's 'Jeff Lewis Live'.

Apr 20, 2023

AceShowbiz - Teddi Mellencamp has dropped a major bombshell about her past sex life. In a new interview, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" alum recalled having a one-night stand with Matt Damon.

The 41-year-old was initially hesitant to share her story. However, her BFF Tamra Judge forced her to talk about it during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Jeff Lewis Live". Tamra, who co-hosts "Two Ts in a Pod" with Teddi, said, "She mentioned it on a podcast, and then went back and told producers, 'Take that guy's name out.' "

"And so now, I tell people, 'If you guys wanna know, just DM and I'll tell you who it is,' " the 55-year-old added. Teddi then interjected, "She tells people on the DMs. I'm like, 'Stop telling people... I did not want to out this guy. Who knows?!"

However, instead of finishing off her story, Teddi detailed how she ended up sleeping with Matt. She said she snuck into a club with a fake ID at just 20 years old to meet the "Jason Bourne" actor.

"He was probably 30 - ten years older," the TV personality recounted. "I only slept with him one night. He didn't get my number."

Teddi then gave a hint about Matt's identity, such as his MD initials and explained that he "has a very famous best friend." She joked, "I've already been coined a liar, I don't need these kinds of things out and about."

Teddi is now married to Edwin Arroyave, with whom she shares four children. Matt, in the meantime, wed Luciana Bozan Barroso in 2005 and they have two daughters together.

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Netflix has decided to conclude their depiction of the British monarchy after Charles' aides criticized previous season which focused on his troubled marriage.

Apr 20, 2023

AceShowbiz - "The Crown" will come to an end with the wedding of King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla. The Netflix regal drama has sparked some criticism from the royal family but it is planning to end the saga on a positive note so viewers are left with a "warm and happy" feeling that it is hoped will override the outrage of its depiction of Princess Diana's death.

This week, actors Dominic West and Olivia Williams, who portray Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on the show, are set to film the wedding scenes, with York Minster being used instead of Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel, where the real couple tied the knot in 2005.

A source told the Daily Mail newspaper, "For some months it has felt like the show has been goading the public by ghoulishly telling the story of Diana's death in a heartless way, therefore causing upset to Princes William and Harry needlessly."

"So the decision to end it so nicely, Netflix hope, will change the perception that they want to be callous, they hope it will remove the bad taste from viewers' mouths. Charles and Camilla's wedding will be a true celebration and a really happy moment in the history of the monarchy."

"It also fits nicely into the King's Coronation year. But there are some staff working on the programme who see this all as a cynical move to protect Netflix from leaving its audience really upset at retelling Diana's tragic death."

Earlier this year, Helena Bonham Carter - who played Princess Margaret in series three and four of "The Crown" - suggested it was time for the programme to end. She told the Observer newspaper, "I should be careful here, but I don't think it should carry on, actually. I'm in it and I loved my episodes, but it's very different now. When 'The Crown' started it was a historic drama, and now it's crashed into the present. But that's up to them."

The "Harry Potter" actress previously suggested that Peter Morgan's drama had a "moral responsibility" to remind viewers that they are not watching a documentary. Helena said in 2020, "I do feel very strongly because I think we have a moral responsibility to say hang on guys, it's not a drama doc, we're making a drama. They are different entities."

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Yellow River Culture Forum held in east China city

Xinhua) 16:20, April 20, 2023

JINAN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Yellow River Culture Forum closed on Wednesday in the city of Dongying in east China's Shandong Province, in the estuary of the Yellow River.

Delegates from all nine provincial-level regions through which the Yellow River runs attended the two-day event, launching the Yellow River Culture Forum Initiative.

The initiative calls for jointly working for integrated high-quality cultural and tourism development in the Yellow River basin, improving the Yellow River cultural and tourism brand, and launching high-quality tourism routes.

In recent years, the regions along the Yellow River, which is the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization, have made marked progress on coordinated industrial development, ecological protection and the promotion of Yellow River culture.

"This year, we will speed up building a national cultural export base, jointly develop Yellow River-themed cultural products with cities like Xi'an and Kaifeng, and explore setting up a Yellow River cultural research institute," said Duan Lianwen, an official with the Administration of Jinan Area of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

More than 80 kinds of traditional paintings, crafts and cultural and creative products from nine provincial-level regions and nine cities along the Yellow River were showcased through activities during the forum.

"The Yellow River, together with the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, are distinctive symbols of Chinese civilization," said Liu Yuzhu, head of the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

"Discovering the cultural connotation of the Yellow River, revitalizing the Yellow River cultural heritage and better telling the Yellow River story is our unshirkable duty and responsibility," said Liu.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong speaks during his appointment ceremony held at the group headquarters in Seoul, March 23. Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group



By Lee Yeon-woo



Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong kicked off his first overseas investor relations meeting in Japan on Wednesday.



The financial group announced on Thursday that Jin went on a business trip to Japan to attract investment from Japanese institutional investors and to promote better private sector exchanges between Korea and Japan.



This is the first time that Jin has attended an overseas investor relations meeting since starting his new job in March. Before becoming the chairman of the financial group recently, Jin had been CEO of Shinhan Bank.



His meetings began on Wednesday and will continue to Friday.



"If various communications restart in the private sector, the relationship between Korea and Japan will make a faster recovery," Jin said. "Shinhan Financial Group will be a cornerstone and make efforts to promote private sector exchanges in areas including investments and trade."



During his visit, Jin aims to attract more investments from Japanese investors, not only for Shinhan Financial Group but also for the Korean capital market, while serving as a bridge in promoting better relationships between the two countries.



Jin will visit the Financial Supervisory Agency of Japan, and discuss ways to support its Japanese corporate body, Shinhan Bank Japan (SBJ).



He is also expected to consult with the agency about Korean startups entering the Japanese market and how to support them. Since 2015, the group has been supporting domestic startups via Shinhan Future's Lab, its accelerator program.



Additionally, he will strengthen cooperation with Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Bank of Japan (BOJ) and Nomura Securities, as well as Daiwa Securities, in various sectors such as global business, digital, and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).



Jin is an expert in the Japanese market as he has spent more than half of his career with the group in Japan. In 2009, he also played a crucial role in launching SBJ in the country, where he held office as overseas president of the bank. It is known that support from ethnically Korean Japanese shareholders tipped the balance of scales in his election as chairman of the group.



"Given the recent reconciliation and cooperation between Korea and Japan, Japan was chosen as the destination for Jin's first overseas investor relations meetings," an official from the group said. "His extensive experience in Japan and ongoing communication with the country leads us to anticipate successful results from these meetings."


Cover Images/Dave Allocca/StarPix Movie

The 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' star is reportedly close to landing the lead role of Reed Richards in the upcoming film, which will be part of Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Apr 20, 2023

AceShowbiz - Adam Driver will likely be the new Mister Fantastic. The long-gestating "Fantastic Four (2025)" reboot has reportedly made progress by nearing a deal with the 39-year-old actor to star in the film.

Bringing the scoop was reporter Daniel Richtman, who claimed that the "Girls" alum is currently in final talks to take the lead role of Reed Richards a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic. While there had been prior rumors that Driver was the frontrunner to play the superhero with super stretching abilities, Marvel will likely not make any official announcement of the cast until the San Diego Comic-Con in July.

Mr. Fantastic was previously portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd in "Fantastic Four" (2005) and its sequel "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007), and Miles Teller in the 2015 tanked reboot, "The Fantastic Four".

In 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness", John Krasinski made a surprise appearance as Mister Fantastic. He once was also rumored to be among those considered to star in the new "Fantastic Four" reboot, but it seems that the studio will not follow through with the plans.

The upcoming reboot will be the first "Fantastic Four" movie set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is made possible after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2017. The project experienced a setback after Jon Watts dropped out as director for the film in April 2022.

"Making three 'Spider-Man' films was an incredible and life changing experience for me," Watts said in a statement when announcing his withdrawal. "I'm eternally grateful to have been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for seven years. I'm hopeful we'll work together again and I can't wait to see the amazing vision for 'Fantastic Four' brought to life."

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige responded to Watts decision, "Collaborating with Jon on the 'Spider-Man' films has been a true pleasure. We were looking forward to continuing our work with him to bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU but understand and are supportive of his reasons for stepping away. We are optimistic that we will have the opportunity to work together again at some point down the road."

The new "Fantastic Four" reboot is currently scheduled to be released on February 14, 2025 as part of Phase Six of the MCU.

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When paying tribute to 'The Kardashians' star on her 44th birthday, the 'Meet the Barkers' alum also praises the former for being a generous and hard working mother.

Apr 20, 2023

AceShowbiz - Alabama Barker has nothing but glowing words for Kourtney Kardashian. After her biological mother Shanna Moakler seemingly dissed her stepmother on social media, the "Meet the Barkers" alum paid tribute to "The Kardashians" star on her birthday and praised her for being "the best stepmom."

On Tuesday, April 18, Alabama made use of Instagram Story to wish Kourtney a happy birthday. Over a snap capturing her 44-year-old stepmother and her dad Travis Barker, the 17-year-old gushed, "Happy birthday Kourt. You're the best stepmom I could ask for."

The teen's sweet words for Koutney did not stop there. ", you are so caring and generous for others, you are such a family person and such a hard working mom, even if you don't feel good or had a hard day, you always put your family first. You have such a beautiful aura, I wouldn't want another step mom," she raved.

Alabama Barker wished Kourtney Kardashian a happy birthday.

Alabama's birthday tribute for Kourtney came after her mother, Shanna, dissed the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star. At the time, Shanna responded to a fan's comment and shaded Kourtney by stating that the latter posted more photos with the former's kids than with her own kids.

The shade came after Shanna uploaded an Instagram selfie on April 13. In response to the post, her fan made a reference to Kourtney and Travis' Hulu wedding special "Til Death Do Us Part Kourtney & Travis" as saying, "I hope that you get a huge apology some day for what was said on that exploitative, money grabbing, circus."

In the same comment, the fan continued, " 'He's been through Hell' 'Kourtney has filled a void for me.' #parentalalienationawareness." Shanna apparently noticed the fan's reaction and wrote in return, "she post more of my kids then her own lol."

Shanna, who also shares 19-year-old Landon with Travis, has been estranged from her kids who stayed full-time with their father. Previously, Alabama has requested fans to stop portraying Shanna as "an amazing mom" since she "has never completely been in [her] life."

Kourtney herself has three kids, 13-year-old Mason, 10-year-old Penelope and 8-year-old Reign, with her ex Scott Disick. She and Travis, who are also close to Shanna's 24-year-old daughter Atiana, raise their blended family since they tied the knot in May 2022.

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The 'Succession' actor has been signed on to star in the new coming-of-age movie, joining forces with the likes of Kelly Reilly, Brooklynn Prince, and Che Tafari.

Apr 20, 2023

AceShowbiz - Brian Cox is tapped for the coming-of-age film "Little Wing". The "Succession" actor is set to feature in the Paramount+ project alongside Kelly Reilly, Brooklynn Prince, and Che Tafari.

Currently in production in Oregon, the film is being directed by Dean Israelite from a script by John Gatins. Inspired by a New Yorker magazine article by Susan Orlean, it has been a passion project for Israelite for a number of years.

It tells the story of Kaitlyn (Prince), a 13-year-old girl who is drawn into the world of pigeon racing as she reels from the divorce of her parents and the pending loss of her home. She hopes to solve her family's financial problems by stealing a valuable bird but ends up forming a bond with the owner who cultivates her love of the sport.

Cox stars as Jaan, the pigeon racer, with Reilly as Kaitlyn's mother Maddie, and Tafari as her classmate and friend Adam.

Brian played media mogul Logan Roy in the hit TV series "Succession" and admitted that he felt "nothing" when he filmed his final scenes on the show. The 76-year-old star told Variety, "I felt nothing when I played the last scene [on 'Succession']. Nothing! It was the last scene, finito."

Brian added that he is happy that the show is coming to an end as he feels that American TV programmes can go on for far too long. He said, "American series live well past their sellout date, This one won't do that."

"HBO would love us to go for as long as 'Game of Thrones,' but thank God it won't happen. I would find it hard-going to be saying 'F*** off' to people for the next 10 years, although it's the nicest thing to say to someone. You can actually say how you feel."

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Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), commonly known as Milma, has partnered with Almond Branding, a leading design agency, to revamp its branding and packaging. The new branding and packaging were unveiled by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, at a special ceremony.

After extensive market research in 2022, Milma discovered that although it was highly regarded for its quality, it lacked vibrancy and relevance, which led to a decline in consumer confidence. Additionally, the inconsistency in branding and packaging across the state caused confusion among consumer, affecting the brand's image.

To address these issues, Milma collaborated with Almond Branding to create a cohesive brand identity that appeals to the youth while retaining Milma's traditional values. One taste, One quality was the new mission and hence One brand imagery across the state was also the need of the hour.

The Almond Branding team began by revamping the Milma logo, retaining the core elements but chose a more vibrant colour palette that would make the brand more visible and appealing.

The team also revamped the packaging design for Milma's top three selling products, Milk, Ghee, and Curd, which contribute to 97% of Milma's revenue. Almond Branding's team of packaging design experts worked diligently to create packaging design solutions that were a perfect balance of creativity and practicality, which helped Milma stand out on the shelves and create a strong brand recall.

Almond Branding proposed a strict Visual Architecture that would tie the entire family together, drawing inspiration from the holy cow, which is central to the philosophy of Milma. The visual hook was a benevolent-looking holy cow looking back at the consumer, embodying the brand's essence of care and concern for loved ones and deep respect for values.

The overall design was kept clean and minimalistic, depicting the freshness and purity aspect, which is crucial to the category. The Malayalam tagline, which loosely translates to "Goodness that Kerala wakes up to" was incorporated on all the new packaging to create a constant element of trust and recall.

The Honble Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, said, There will hardly be any Malayali who does not consume one or the other product of Milma in daily life. Milma enjoys immense credibility. Based on this firm trust, you should strive to present Milmas products to meet the demands of our time.

Shashwat Das, Founder Almond Branding, said, We are thrilled to be chosen as the strategic design partner for Milma. It was a unique challenge to make a 42-year-old brand appear 24 years old. Our team understood the importance of creating a cohesive brand identity that would appeal to the youth while retaining Milma's traditional values. The new Visual Identity crafted by Almond Branding has bolstered Milma's imagery, and positioned it to surge ahead with confidence to face new market entrants while also winning back the hearts of the people of Kerala

Milma Chairman Shri K S Mani, said, I congratulate Milma and Almond Branding for the successful revamp of the Milma brand. The new branding and packaging look fantastic, and I am confident that it will appeal to customers across Kerala. Milma has been a trusted brand for quality for several decades, and this new brand image will help Milma attract a younger audience.

Milma Managing Director Shri Asif K Yusuf said, We are excited to unveil the new branding and packaging designed by Almond Branding. The new packaging looks premium, upmarket, and appeals to the young and old alike. The new branding will help Milma create a cohesive brand identity, make the brand more visible, and differentiate it from its competitors. We believe that the new brand image will appeal to the youth, who are the future growth drivers of the dairy industry, and provide them with a fresh and modern brand image that they could connect with.
Usha International, one of Indias leading consumer durables companies, is looking to engage a new Digital Media Buying agency and announced an RFP today. The opportunity is open to all Media Buying agencies who do not have a conflict of interest with Ushas existing businesses. A legacy Indian brand, Usha is today present across categories including fans, sewing machines, kitchen appliances, steam and dry irons, room and water heating products, water coolers and dispensers, lighting, and more.

In this digital-first age, we want to reach out and engage with our consumers where they are and hence theres a need for a specialized digital media buying agency. We are looking at an agency that understands the digital media universe and can conceive and execute breakthrough strategies while optimizing advertising costs. What is critical is they understand each piece of our business, what we stand for, and how it all dovetails into our larger corporate offering across businesses. This would be the prime focus along with the agency credentials for choosing an agency, said the Usha Spokesperson.
Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland

Bern, 20.04.2023 - In 2022, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) set priorities in its operational activities and enhanced national and international networking. The aim is to address the fight against all forms of cross-border crime jointly and with more intensity and efficiency. In addition, structural adaptations were initiated.

As a self-governing and institutionally independent federal authority, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland is responsible for prosecuting cases under federal jurisdiction (Articles 23 and 24 CPC), it is also responsible for executing requests for mutual assistance and the enforcement of the decisions of the federal criminal authorities. "In view of this broad field of responsibilities, it is particularly important to set priorities, and, by means of a targeted deployment of resources, to advance and close proceedings or bring them to court. I am convinced that this focus will pay off in the future," explains Stefan Blattler, Attorney General of Switzerland. Flexibility, however must also be maintained to be able to react quickly to developments. "The world is constantly changing, and crime along with it. This is a fact that we have to take into account in our daily work.



Focus on priorities

The Attorney General of Switzerland, who took office at the beginning of the year under review, in April, prioritized the divisions of Organized Crime, White-Collar Crime, in particular international corruption and money laundering, Terrorism and International Criminal Law. "There is no lack of work, but we want to fulfill our responsibility for a clean Swiss financial center and the safety of the population, for example, from terrorist threats. Switzerland must not be a safe haven for war criminals, criminal organizations or toxic assets," explains Attorney General Blattler.





In the area of Organized Crime, five new criminal investigations were opened in the year under review and preliminary investigations are underway in eight cases. These organizations are from all over the world, which is why great importance is attached to strengthening relations with law enforcement agencies at the international level. In this context, among others, meetings with representatives of the Italian authorities at various levels have been extremely useful for the exchange of information in the fight against criminal organizations.





As regards Terrorism, in 2022, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland filed six indictments and opened 13 criminal investigations. In addition, several hearings took place at the Federal Criminal Court, including in particular two relating to the first jihadist-motivated attacks in Switzerland. In both cases, OAG was able to achieve long prison sentences in the first instance.





Activities in the division of White-Collar Crime, especially international corruption and money laundering, were again characterized by complex criminal proceedings with an international dimension. These large-scale proceedings are challenging, not only because these crimes have often been committed mainly abroad, but also because they have produced a high number of victims. The Office of the Attorney General often has to rely on mutual legal assistance, particularly in the area of international corruption, which does not always provide satisfactory results to the extent needed.





As regards International Criminal Law, three new criminal investigations were opened, and 13 preliminary investigations were pending as of the reporting date. In addition to the ongoing proceedings, some of which were protracted and required a lot of resources, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland dealt extensively with the repercussions of the war in Ukraine and its jurisdiction. Since the outbreak of the war, a task force has ensured the exchange of information within the organization, but also with national and international partner authorities. In this process, instruments have been developed to enable the rapid and efficient prosecution of potential war crimes, if this falls within the competence of the OAG.

Last year, structural adaptions were initiated to provide the best possible support and relief for the units managing the proceedings and enforcing the judgements. "Our task is to search for both incriminating and exculpatory evidence and, in case of doubt, to file charges with the court in accordance with the principle of "in dubio pro duriore". In order to be able to act as an autonomous and independent authority and to be able to focus ourselves and our resources on our core activities, we need a functioning but also streamlined support organization," explains Attorney General Stefan Blattler. For that purpose, the operational services in the General Secretariat have been merged as of March 2023 and will in future report to a prosecutor. "As an organization, we must be capable of reflecting and learning in order to continue to develop and flexibly adapt to the crime situation," the Attorney General of Switzerland sums up.

Address for enquiries

The Attorney General of Switzerland is available for brief statements during a time slot today. Contact via Communication of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, T +41 58 464 32 40, info@ba.admin.ch

Publisher

Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland

http://www.ba.admin.ch/




Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

Bern, 20.04.2023 - The Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), responsible for imposing sanctions, today added the Wagner Group and news agency RIA FAN to Switzerlands list of sanctions against Russia. The changes take effect from 6pm on 20 April.

On 14 April the EU sanctioned the Wagner Group for its active participation in Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. The Wagner Group is a Russia-based military organisation which, under the leadership of Yevgeniy Prigozhin, serves as an instrument of Russian hybrid warfare. While its legal nature is unclear, the Wagner Group forms part of a complex network of global companies (operating in a range of sectors including aviation, security, technology, commodity trading, financial services and influencing activities) which are linked through overlapping ownership structures and logistics networks.

At the same time, the EU sanctioned Russian news agency RIA FAN for its dissemination of pro-government propaganda and disinformation. Switzerland is now also adopting sanctions against these two organisations, thereby reinforcing the impact of the EU's measures.

Furthermore, on 10 April the EU imposed a broadcasting and advertising ban on television channels RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic. Both channels play a significant role in the Russian government's systematic international campaign of media manipulation and falsification of facts. The Federal Council previously stated on 25 March 2022 that it is more effective to counter untrue and harmful statements with facts rather than to ban them outright. Therefore, while these two media outlets will not be blocked in Switzerland, there will be a ban on advertising on them.

Address for enquiries

Press enquiries: EAER Communications

info@gs-wbf.admin.ch

058 462 20 07



Corporate enquiries:

sanctions@seco.admin.ch

058 464 08 12

Publisher

Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

http://www.wbf.admin.ch




In a massive setback for Rahul Gandhi, a court in Gujarat rejected his request to pause his conviction in a defamation case over his 2019 Modi surname remark. Criminal defamation law in India is tricky and not in the interest of people. Indian parliament should amend this law and make it relevant to the present day. His punishment is one of the more bizarre incidents. In India till date no one has ever been punished with the highest provision of 2 years for defamation. There is nothing to be surprised if the Surat Session court also upholds Rahuls conviction, sending him to jail. The conviction of Rahul Gandhi must bring to the forefront the ridiculousness that is criminal defamation.

In some way the court found Rahuls offence to be the rarest of the rare. We dont even know what was the assessment of damage done to the aggrieved party/plaintiff? Generally, most defamation lawsuits result in punishment in tokenism or in financial compensation. In my view the severity of crime or quantum of punishment should have a direct correlation with the damage done tangible as well as intangible. Here in this case no tangible damage was done to Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA who filed the case. Secondly in his lawsuit he claimed that Rahul hurt the sentiment of 13 crores Gujarati. How come the entire Gujarati community could be the aggrieved party? Incidentally Judge Robin Paul Mogera, who is hearing Rahul Gandhis appeal for staying his conviction in the Surat Session court in the Modi surname defamation case, was Union home minister Amit Shahs lawyer in the 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case.

Many BJP followers are supporting the Emergency, and if that is the case, what they imposed on the emergency is wrong, and then the BJP is also doing wrong. When a person calls an Italian bar dancer in the media news, do the people accept it and not the statements of Rahul Gandhi? The main issue here is the hate that is broadcasted against Gandhi family is not allowing blind people to think of democratic values. Politics must have an edge and it should not be at the cost of peoples welfare.

No doubt that the ruling party is enjoying absolute majority, but does this mean that every person who has voted should support this absolute anarchy in the hands of the majority. If the wrong is done, it is the people who have to oppose it. Rahul Gandhi had requested that his conviction be paused pending his appeal against a court order sentencing him to two years in jail. The trial court, said the Congress leader, had treated him harshly, overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

The judge also quoted the Supreme Court as saying that decisions to pause conviction should be exercised with caution and not in a casual and mechanical manner that will shake public confidence in the judiciary. Public confidence is already shaken these days. I am not a Congress party or Rahul Gandhi supporter but somewhere I strongly feel, BJP should answer the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi instead of misusing power to put him behind jail.

Gandhis Lok Sabha seat Wayanad in Kerala is vacant and due for by-elections. Had that the court paused the conviction today, his disqualification as an MP could have been reversed. The Appellant was not an ordinary person and was a sitting MP, connected with public life.

The Congress leader argued that the sentence was excessive and contrary to law, and that if the order was not suspended, it would cause irreparable damage to his reputation. He also said he was sentenced in a way that he would be disqualified as a parliamentarian. Here we all should know the very purpose of all this drama was to disqualify him and choke his voice, so that he will be deterred from questioning. The Representation of the People Act, 1951 contains certain conditions under which a person is liable to be disqualified as an MP/MLA if he is convicted in any case with a sentence of 2 years or more. He will also be disallowed from contesting elections for a period of 6 years from his day of release (in this case, which would be 2 years sentence + 6 = 8 years from conviction). Post this sentence of 2 years, by law, he stands disqualified as an MP. This is the legal aspect and I feel that there has been no procedural discrepancy here.

The furore over this case is due to the fact that Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition. Politics is playing its part here, propagating the possibility that the ruling party is trying to crush the opposition through constitutional bodies (the Surat Court, in this case). Secondly, there is the criticism of the judgement itself that has been unusually harsh.
This photo shows stacks of containers at a port in Korea's southeastern city of Busan, March 21. Yonhap



The proportion of Korean exports settled using the country's currency declined for the fifth straight year in 2022, central bank data showed Thursday.



The use of the won accounted for 2.3 percent of all export settlements last year, compared with 2.4 percent the previous year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).



It marked the fifth consecutive year of decline since 2017, when the proportion hit 3 percent.



Korea's exports remained robust last year, reaching a record high of US$683.9 billion, up 6.1 percent from a year earlier.



But exports of semiconductor-related facilities to China slumped last year, causing demand for won-based settlements to decline, according to the central bank.



The U.S. dollar was the dominant currency used to settle Korean exports last year, taking up 85 percent of overall export settlements, up from 83.9 percent in 2021.



The rise came as exports of chemicals and autos are usually settled in the U.S. dollar, the BOK said.



The use of the Chinese yuan made up 1.6 percent of total export settlements last year, down from a record high of 2 percent the previous year.



Meanwhile, the share of won-based import settlements stood at 6.1 percent last year, down 0.4 percentage point from the previous year. The use of the U.S. dollar took up 82.8 percent of the total, up from 80.1 percent a year ago, according to the BOK. (Yonhap)


A Gulf Shores community service officer is on administrative leave after witnesses said he abused two small dogs who were running loose in a restaurant parking lot.

In a release, the Gulf Shores Police Department said it was reviewing the complaints, which came from multiple witnesses to the incident in the parking lot of the Original Oyster House on Gulf Shores Parkway Wednesday afternoon.

The Gulf Shores Police Department has been made aware of a situation which occurred today concerning the conduct of one of our Community Service Officers while on an animal complaint, police said in the release.

Witnesses said the officer used a slip collar on the two dogs and was dragging and strangling the dogs, according to Rebecca Ruling, who said she was with the dogs for 30 minutes before the officer arrived.

Multiple people yelled out to him to get him to stop, but he proceed(ed) to choke them and ignored all of us, Ruling wrote under the GSPD Facebook post about the incident.

Gulf Shores police said the officers supervisor was notified as soon as they were alerted to the complaints. The incident is being investigated internally.

We appreciate our partnership with the members of this community who brought this matter to our attention knowing we would address it appropriately, the release read.

The GSPD would later update the post to note the owner of the two dogs had been located.
Get the Ed Chat newsletter: Enter your email for weekly updates about Alabama schools from Trisha Powell Crain:

Alabama lawmakers want schools to add 30 more instructional days and may add funding for schools that extend their calendars.

Currently, Alabama school districts must provide 180 days of instruction each year, but they set their own start and end dates. Under a bill filed this week, HB333, schools that add 30 days of instructional support could apply for a grant to cover additional costs.

Reps. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, and Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, are sponsors.

Collins said an extended learning calendar helps students avoid summertime learning loss, helps schools add more opportunities and helps working families.

Under the bill, schools could apply for a grant if they add 30 instructional days and provide a budget and evidence of community support.

Alabama school officials have struggled to get students to participate in voluntary summer reading camps in recent years. The Literacy Act requires districts to offer 60 instructional hours in reading through summer camps for kindergarten through third grade students who are identified with a deficiency. But student attendance is not mandatory and participation rates are low.

According to information from the Alabama Reading Initiative, of the 101,000 students eligible for summer reading camp in 2022, 32,000 attended.

Of those students, most maintained their reading levels, but rising first graders had marginal loss in reading levels from spring to fall.

This summer, math camps must be offered for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, but again, attendance is optional.

Vincent schools in Shelby County operated on a year-round calendar from 1993 to 2008. That ended when the districts board of education forced Vincent to adopt the calendar used across the district.

Fonde Elementary School in Mobile has been operating on a year-round calendar for six years, using a 180-day regular calendar and offering multiple week-long intersessions for students to catch up, Mobile County spokesperson Rena Philips said. Students love it and teachers love it, she said.

Collins said she visited the school a few years and was impressed with how the school operated and the results they were having.

Collins said she hopes school district officials and communities will keep an open mind and be willing to try it.

This is not being forced on anybody, she said, but Im hoping that truly innovative school systems that have a sense of urgency for student achievement will look into using the modified calendar to extend learning opportunities for students.

The bill will be considered by the House Education Policy, which Collins, who chairs the committee, said could come up for discussion next week.
Selma City Schools observed one minute of silence at 9 a.m. Thursday to remember teenagers statewide who lost their lives in a mass shooting in Dadeville, in recent car accidents and in their community.

As a school district, we are still mourning the loss of several teens who lost their lives due to car accidents and a mass shooting over the past weekend here in Alabama, Superintendent Zickeyous Byrd posted in a statement on social media.

Such loss and tragedy, along with all of the other trauma our students have experienced requires our attention, prayers, and thoughts.

Selma High Schools prom is this weekend, and Byrd asked for prayers for their classmates safety. Our goal is for our children to #ArriveAlive.

The hashtag #ArriveAlive is used nationwide to remind drivers to pay attention, dont text and drive, and dont drive if theyre using alcohol or marijuana.

Madison Sims and Samuel Brown attended the Paul W. Bryant High School prom together on Friday night. They died in a traffic accident early Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Facebook)

Bryant High School junior Madison Sims and R.C. Hatch High School senior Samuel Brown were killed in a car crash in Tuscaloosa after attending prom together last weekend.

Handley High School senior Terrance Tucker was killed Monday in a car crash in Chambers County.

Dadeville High School seniors Philstavious Phil Dowdell and Shaunkiva KeKe Smith, described as successful students and athletes by their principal, were among four people killed Saturday during a mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville. Thirty-two people were injured.

A makeshift memorial is created at the scene of the fatal shooting at a dance studio in Dadeville, Ala., Wednesday April 19, 2023. Two teenagers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party, investigators announced Wednesday. (Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)AP

Four arrests have been made, each charged with four counts of reckless murder.

Schools in other Alabama districts are paying tribute to victims of the Dadeville shooting by wearing black and gold, Dadeville High Schools colors.

Guns are the leading cause of death for children in the country and in Alabama.

Fifteen Alabama children have been injured or killed by gun violence so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The number, however, is likely higher as it does not account for Dadeville or a number of reported shootings in the Birmingham area.

Read more on the Dadeville shooting:

Read more: Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among Alabama children
The Cross of North Alabama now stands, a glistening white symbol raised Thursday morning to its prominent perch near Decatur with one groups mission of helping share the hope and love the Bible says is found in Jesus.

A crowd gathered to watch, perhaps 200 people or more who lined the site just off Alabama Highway 67 in Priceville with their cars and lawn chairs and armed with cellphone cameras to capture the moment. The raising of the cross began a minute or two after 10 a.m. and the head of the construction company that raised it declared the process complete about 30 minutes later.

Related: Symbol of grace: 120-foot cross to overlook I-65 in north Alabama

Its a striking structure, standing an attention-grabbing 120 feet tall a few yards off the busy highway in an otherwise rural area about two miles east of Interstate 65. And thats the point.

Johnny Maxwell, the pastor of the non-denomination Natures Trail Church in Priceville, said he felt God had given him the vision for the cross 20 years ago. Close friends Tommy and Dee Livingston donated the land for the project.

We want all Christians and all people who care about Jesus to know that they can come here, Maxwell said Thursday. This is a good place to kneel and pray and have your time with God.

The site is essentially a construction zone at this point with the final exterior pieces of the cross expected to be in place by Friday. Eventually, though, Maxwell foresees the area becoming a 24-hour park with touchscreen stations to tell about the love of Jesus and the sacrifice made on the cross.

But the story of this cross  which, ultimately, is a visual  is what you will never see.

As a crane raised the cross off the ground, a sort of graffiti could be seen. Spray-painted on the interior pipe structure of the cross were the words We love you Lord.

And if you went up closer to look at the bottom of that pipe, (Wednesday) evening there was a group of people who came out and wrote their name on it, said Mike Rozier, whose Mississippi-based construction company built and raised the cross at cost. They put scriptures on it. They wrote scripture verses all over that pipe.

Rozier said this is the 16th cross his company has built and the first in Alabama. And such adorning of the inside of the crosses is not unusual, he said. But a while back, that adorning went to a new level.

Four crosses ago that we built, the gentleman that was over the pastor of the church where we were putting it up, when we poured the foundation, he walked up. He took a Bible and he said I want to throw my Bible in the bottom of that concrete foundation. I looked at him. I said, Are you kidding me? He said No. And I couldnt figure out why.

And he looked at me and he said, What better place to have Gods word than at the foot of the cross? And I just said, Wow, yeah. And we did (put the Bible in the foundation). And I told him, I will never build another cross where theres not a Bible in the bottom of the foundation.

For the Priceville cross, This one has five Bibles at the bottom of the foundation, Rozier said. Thats special. What better place to put Gods word than at the foot of the cross? There aint no better place.

One of those five Bibles, Maxwell said, was carried by a combat soldier in Iraq.

As the cross went up  a spectacle in itself with two teams of three men each guiding the cross into place with ropes along with the crane  Maxwell noted that the crowd remained quiet.

They were reverent, he said.

A smattering of applause arose when someone asked Rozier if the process was complete and he said it was. Beyond those few seconds of clapping, the crowd watched largely in silence.

Fundraising will continue for the $300,000 project and donations were accepted at the event Thursday. Contributions can also be made on The Cross of North Alabama website. The next step is landscaping and lighting at the site and Maxwell said an electrical contractor had already volunteered his services.

But the future of the cross is not so much in tangible achievements but instead as a more immeasurable symbol of hope. Off in the distance, traffic could be seen crossing the Tennessee River bridge on I-65. Maxwells anticipation is that maybe someone who cant find hope who has reached the top of the bridge to end their search will notice the cross. And maybe they will renew their search.

Maxwell said his brother had helped rescue someone who jumped from the bridge in order to take their life. Two other people have shown Maxwell the bullet they had in guns they planned to use to kill themselves.

Thats what this is really all about right here, Maxwell said of the cross. Youve got to get people to have a relationship with Jesus. And whatever means necessary. Two people that were getting ready to commit suicide that I personally know, just by talking to them (they changed their mind). And theres more than one way to reach people. That was just one.
UPDATE: Fifth arrest made in Dadeville shooting

A fourth suspect was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party that killed four and injured 32 others.

Johnny Letron Brown, 20, of Tuskegee, is charged with four counts of reckless murder, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Details of his arrest were not released.

Court records indicate Brown, who had a previous address in Tallassee, failed to appear in court earlier this month for traffic citations of speeding and invalid insurance.

On Wednesday, authorities announced the arrests of teen brothers from Tuskegee - Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16. Both also were charged as adults with four counts of reckless murder. They were taken into custody Tuesday night.

Later Wednesday, ALEA announced the arrest of Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, also on the same charges.

All four suspects are being held without bond n the Tallapoosa County Jail pending bond hearings. Prosecutors will ask all be held without bond.

Under Alabama law, the crime of reckless murder is committed when a person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself or herself and causes the death of another person.

There is a tremendous amount of work to do. Were going to be careful with everything we say and everything we do. Were going to stay focused on the victims and their families, said Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Wednesday.

Burkett has not disclosed where any of the arrests were made. He also would not say how many guns were fired or how many shots were fired.

Killed in the shooting were Philstavious Dowdell, 18, Shaunkivia Nicole Keke Smith, 17, Marsiah Emmanuel Siah Collins, 19, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23.

Another 32 people were injured, some of them critically, when gunfire erupted at approximately 10:34 p.m. Saturday at Mahoganys Masterpiece dance studio on North Broadnax Street in downtown Dadeville, one block from the courthouse.

The party was for Dowdells sister, Alexis Dowdell, who said her brother died protecting her.

Dowdell said she dove to the floor near the DJ as the dozens of revelers ran. She didnt know where to run, in part because shots seemed to come from multiple directions.

When there was a break in gunfire, she bolted for the front door. But someone pushed her. It was her brother, trying to protect her.

The investigation is ongoing by multiple law enforcement agencies.

District Attorney Mike Segrest said the suspects will have an Aniahs Law bond hearing within 72 hours, and then a preliminary hearing in the coming weeks. The case could then go to a grand jury.
An interior of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Korea. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



The Korean government will earmark 28 billion won ($21.09 million) over the next four years to support corporate development of fine chemicals for the semiconductor, display and secondary battery fields, the industry ministry said Thursday.



The government will choose companies this year that will take part in the project to develop high value-added fine chemical materials used in manufacturing semiconductors, batteries and display products, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



Materials and technologies under the planned support include photoresist used for chips manufacturing, adhesive technologies for foldable display items and manufacturing technologies to ensure the stability of larger-sized batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, it added.



The project is part of the government's push to better support and advance the fine chemical industry that supplies raw and processed materials to key sectors. (Yonhap)


The U.S. Department of Justice is urging states in an open letter to stop aggressively issuing fines and fees - strongly encourag(ing) you to consider alternative ways to obtain resources.

The DOJ issued the letter Thursday for state and local courts regarding the handing out and enforcement of fines and fees and said common practices may be unlawful, unfairly penalize individuals who are unable to pay, or otherwise have a discriminatory effect.

While the letter was issued to jurisdictions around the country, it does mention the town of Brookside, Alabama, and a July 2022 federal lawsuit involving the towns practice of issuing fines and fees. The letter referenced a statement from the DOJ in that Brookside case, saying, Courts, prosecutors, and police should be driven by justicenot revenue.

Brookside received national attention after AL.com last January described how it vastly expanded its police force over a two year period, using blacked out vehicles and police dogs to make dubious stops and churn traffic tickets. Brookside revenue from fines and forfeitures rose 640 percent between 2018 and 2020, and came to provide 49 percent of the towns income.

Read more about Brookside here.

The DOJs open letter pushes agencies to ensure their fines and fees practices is constitutional and nondiscriminatory, and the letter discusses obligations courts that receive federal dollars have to obey. The document addresses topics like the importance of conducting a meaningful ability-to-pay assessment before imposing adverse consequences for failure to pay, considering alternatives to fines and fees, guarding against excessive penalties, and ensuring due process protections, including the assistance of counsel when appropriate.

It says the Eighth Amendment, outlawing cruel and unusual punishment, prohibits the imposition of fines and fees that are grossly disproportionate to the offense, and that the 14th Amendment outlaws incarceration for nonpayment without first conducting an ability-to-pay determination and a finding that the persons failure to pay is deliberate. The letter also mentions an obligation to consider alternatives to incarcerations, warns against conflicts of interest, and more.

The letters introduction page was signed by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. Justice in the United States should not depend on ones income or background, she said in a press release.

Imposing fees that dont comply with the departments requirements can break trust of people and their government, said Guptas introduction to the letter, and increase recidivism. The practice can also hinder rehabilitation and reentry.

The Justice Departments updated guidance addresses practices that disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color, can trap individuals and their families in patterns of poverty and punishment, and may violate the civil rights of adults and youth alike. Many jurisdictions have innovated to reduce reliance on fines and fees, and the Justice Department is building on that momentum to advance equal justice and public safety for all.

According to the letter, there are some situations where fines and fees are lawful and that some jurisdictions rely on the revenue. But as this letter describes, in certain circumstances, unjust imposition and enforcement of fines and fees violate the civil rights of adults and youth accused of felonies, misdemeanors, quasi-criminal ordinance violations, and civil infractions. The unjust imposition of fines and fees also raises significant public policy concerns. Imposing and enforcing fines and fees on individuals who cannot afford to pay them has been shown to cause profound harm.

This practice far too often traps individuals and their families in a cycle of poverty and punishment that can be nearly impossible to escape.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke added in a press release that by reforming the system, state and local governments can end debtors prisons and promote equal justice.

The unfettered imposition of fines and fees across country has entrapped poor people, too many of whom are people of color, in a cycle of escalating debt, unnecessary incarceration and debilitating entanglement in our justice system, she said.

The department said the Bureau of Justice Assistance will also release a call for jurisdictions wanting training and other assistance for reforming their fines and fees policies and practices.

The goal of the reform, said the DOJ, is to help state and local courts reduce unjust fines and redirect those resources into activities with a greater return on public safety.

Similar concerns on debtors prisons have come up in Alabama before Brookside, including investigations into the towns of Harpersville and Fruithurst.

Read more from the Banking on Crime series:
Alabama lawmakers have moved forward with a bill that would make it a felony for people to help someone fill out an absentee ballot.

HB209, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, passed out of the House elections committee Wednesday with a vote of 9-3. The bill would make it a Class C felony for people to distribute, order, request, collect, complete, obtain, or deliver an absentee ballot or application on behalf of another person, with a few exceptions. It would also make it a Class B felony to pay a third party to assist.

Debate grew heated in the small committee room. Many people spilled into the hallway outside.

Percy Garrett, a veteran from Dothan, is blind. He told lawmakers this bill would make it nearly impossible for him to cast a vote.

It is almost impossible for me to fill out the ballot alone. It takes someone sighted to help me do that, Garrett said.

Garrett said he is committed to voting and spends $56 on Uber each time he needs to go to the polls. He also pays someone to help him with regular tasks, including voting.

If they were to be criminalized for doing that, then I think Id have to stop voting, Garrett said.

Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson, who is a veteran, said she often helps other veterans during election season. She said that its only in Alabama that you will ever see something so foolish.

If you think this is just going to hurt us, youre sadly mistaken, Tyson said. So make sure when youre digging a grave for us that you dont slip up in it.

Read more: Alabama legislators expect medical marijuana products by end of 2023.

Read more: Alabama considers ending some drivers license suspensions for unpaid fees.

Other people who opposed the bill said it would violate the rights of people with disabilities.

Nationally, about half of people who vote with disabilities vote by mail, experts say. Alabama offers some accommodations for voters who want to temporarily or permanently vote by mail.

Some lawmakers also argued that it would disenfranchise Black voters.

The bottom line is that my colleagues fear the power of the Black vote, and they fear because they feel that we have an advantage when it comes to absentee voting in the state of Alabama, said Rep. Juandalynn Givan, a Democrat from Birmingham.

The bill would still allow some people to assist someone with an absentee ballot if they are a family member, a designated election official or someone appointed by probate court as a guardian or conservator.

Rep. Kenyatte Hassell, D-Montgomery, asked Kiel why the criminal charges for violating the bill would be so severe.

Do you understand manslaughter is a Class C felony? And you want to charge people Class C felonies for trying to do a civic duty? Thats ridiculous, Hassell said.

He also asked Kiel what type of voter fraud he was trying to avoid.

Kiel said he was trying to prevent undue influence on the person who is voting.

Rep. Adline Clarke, a Democrat from Mobile, proposed an amendment that would include employees or volunteers for 501(c)3 organizations to assist with absentee ballots. Her amendment did not pass.

Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, proposed an amendment that would add the word prefilling to the bill when listing prohibited actions. The amendment was added.

Now, the bill will head to the House floor for a vote.

Community advocates, including the Montgomery Metro NAACP, held a news conference after the hearing, where they said the passage of Kiels bill would violate both the Voting Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If the bill is signed in to law, opponents say they plan to protest it in court.
Siumei Kao fought for her life and the life of her husband of 45 years, Ching Kao.

Siumei did so as Steven Richard Mulkey beat her and Ching repeatedly with a hammer.

And because she fought, because she would not give up, authorities say, Mulkey then grabbed a knife and slit her throat to make sure she was dead.

The brutal murders of Siumei, 76, and Ching, 77, happened inside their Siesta Motel in Irondale on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018.

Their wrapped, decomposed bodies were found more than a week later in a remote area in Leeds.

There is no dispute that Mulkey, their handyman, carried out the horrific crime. The killings took about 15 minutes, and each minute was captured on the couples motel surveillance video.

What jurors will have to decide is if Mulkey knew right from wrong at the time of the murders.

The now-32-year-old suspect has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to the three counts of capital murder with which he is charged.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Normally in a murder case, you dont get to see exactly what happened. We have to take eyewitnesses, direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, physical evidence from the scene, we take all those things, and we try to paint a picture for you guys to try to help you see and understand and image what happened and how bad it was, Jefferson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Roberts told jurors in opening statements Wednesday.

That wont be necessary in this case, said Roberts, who is prosecuting the case with Deputy District Attorney Neal Zarzour. The video shows exactly what happened. And it shows that this defendant is a cold-blooded killer.

Mulkeys attorneys disagree. He is represented by Chris Daniel and Scott Brower.

Youre going to see evidence of drug addiction for Steven Mulkey, a lifetime of mental illness, poverty, homelessness. What youre never going to hear (from the defense attorneys) that this is right or good or justified. Were never going to tell you that, Daniel told the jury.

This isnt a case about justification, Daniel said. Its about understanding.

Brutally murdered for no reason.

The Kaos immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan in the late 1970s and eventually became U.S. citizens. They later moved to Alabama when they got the opportunity to buy and open the Siesta Motel on Crestwood Boulevard.

Their American Dream came true, Roberts said.

The couple had owned the motel since at least 2005, but the business had been closed since January 2018 for code violations. They were the only people living at the motel and were working to fix the violations so they could reopen.

The motel has been demolished in the years since their deaths.

It was in Irondale that they worked, they lived, and they raised their children, Roberts said.

They lived their lives there as productive citizens, business owners and they did that until September 2018, until they were brutally murdered for no reason.

The couples daughters, one now a pediatric dentist in California and the other a physician in the Birmingham area, reported their parents missing on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, when they could not reach them.

When police responded to the hotel, they found a bloody scene and the safe missing. They later determined the brutal murders had taken place on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018.

A review of the surveillance footage quickly identified Mulkey as the suspect.

Mulkey was arrested by U.S. Marshals on Sept. 25, 2018, at the Hometown Inn in Virginia and he told investigators where they could find the bodies.

That same day, the couples remains were found about 40 yards off a curvy road off of Rex Lake Road. They had been left just over a ridge.

Court records show Mulkey pleaded guilty in December 2013 to a charge of third-degree robbery.

He was originally charged with first-degree robbery but pleaded to a reduced charge. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with 30 months to serve followed by five years of probation,

Mulkey was sent to Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, which is responsible for providing comprehensive psychiatric evaluation/treatment to the criminally committed.

The court ordered that Mulkey continue his mental health treatments once he was released from the facility.

In 2014, according to records, Mulkeys probation officer reported that mental health officers notified him to say that Mulkey had failed to show up for his injections and appointments.

The nature of his mental illness and treatment was not detailed in court records.

He dumps them there to decay.

In his opening statements, Roberts explained to the jury why he does not believe the defense of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, which basically says a suspect at the time of the crime didnt understand what he or she was doing or that it was wrong.

For example, what does the defendant do after he commits this awful double murder? He steals their safe, cuts it open, takes the money out, Roberts said.

He wraps up their dead, lifeless bodies, loads them into the trunk of their Chevy Impala and takes them to a remote location in Leeds and dumps them hoping they will not be found. He dumps them there to decay and to be attacked by animals and torn apart.

Roberts said Mulkey also ditched the couples Chevy Impala, bought an SUV, shaved his head, shaved his beard and got out of town.

Does that sound like the actions of a person who didnt know what he was doing was wrong? Roberts said. It sounds like somebody who committed theft, somebody who committed robbery and somebody that committed murder and didnt want to get caught.

Ching Kao, 77, and his wife, 76-year-old Siumei Kao, had owned the Siesta Motel in Irondale since at least 2005, but the business was closed for code violations. Carol Robinson, crobinson@al.com

The evidence in this case is clear. The evidence in this case is strong. And its time he be held responsible for his actions, Roberts said.

Daniel, in his opening statements, discussed the evidence that the jury would see  bloody crime scene photos, the video of the murders and video interviews with Mulkey.

They would also learn, he said, that Mulkeys backpack bearing his name, along with the murder weapon, was found in the couples car.

He said at the time of the murders, Mulkey was living at the nearby Economy Lodge and earning money by doing odd jobs for local businesses.

Theyd give him money here and there and hed take that money and hed go back to the Econo Lodge and spend it on drugs, Daniel said. He wasnt feeding himself. He was feeding his drug habit.

Daniel said Mulkey had dealt with mental illness since he was a child. He was raised in the DHR system until he aged out. They just pushed him out, Daniel said.

With no access to health care or medical insurance, he self-medicated with narcotics.

What have I done?

On the day of the murders, Daniel said, Mulkey had gone with Siumei to cut grass at one of the couples other properties. There was no argument or any problems, he said.

Mulkey, however, was doing drugs the entire time and continue when they returned to Siesta Motel.

He puts the lawnmower up. As he does that, he takes a large amount of cocaine, Daniel said. Right then and there.

He goes inside, and these drugs are building up in his body and he goes into the office, Daniel said. An argument ensues.

In that moment, not the hours before or after, his lifetime of mental illness and his crippling drug addiction combined and exactly what Mr. Roberts said happened, happened, Daniel said.

Afterwards, he looks down and hes seeing what hes done, the attorney said. You can see it in the video where it hits him, What I have done?

Daniel said this isnt a case about what happened. Its a case about why it happened.

No sane person would have done what Steven did, none, Daniel said. No sane person would have taken the backpack with their name on it and left it in the trunk of the car next to the hammer. No sane person would have seen the video cameras and left them there.

Daniel said under state law, jurors must find Mulkey not guilty if they believe he didnt know right from wrong at the moment of the killing.

Thats not forgiving him. Youd be saying you are guilty of what you did, were finding you guilty but, but in this circumstance, we believe you have shown us you couldnt appreciate what you were doing, Daniel said.

The state says intent can be formed in an instant and thats absolutely right. The same instant that can inform intent can break a mans insanity, he said. That moment is what hes on trial for.

Something wasnt right.

After two and a half days of jury selection, one of the first witnesses Wednesday was Irondale police Lt. Jason Hill, who testified he knew the Kaos for about 15 years through his work as an officer. He said he would check on them multiple times a week and visit with them.

Their granddaughter, Hill said, was a student in his wifes elementary class.

He said he also knew Mulkey from seeing him doing work at the motel.

Hill said that he was notified when the daughters reported the couple missing. He knew they had been planning a vacation, so he said he wasnt initially concerned.

The following morning while at work, Hill drove by the motel about 2:30 a.m. and noticed all the lights were out. That was unusual and caught his attention.

Hill said he then noticed a car driving through the parking lot and eventually turned on his blue lights as he met up with Mulkey in the Chevy Impala. He knew it was the Kaos vehicle.

They talked and Mulkey said the couple was out of town and he was there to feed their dog, Hill said.

Mulkey explained that he had fallen asleep watching television and thats why he was there at that early hour to feed the dog.

Some of what Mulkey said matched up with what Hill believed to be the case  that the couple was out of town visiting family.

Still, he ran Mulkeys drivers license over the police radio just have it on record.

It was then that Mulkeys behavior changed, Hill said, and he became overly complimentary.

He was thanking me for my service, and people do that sometimes, but it was just overboard, Hill said.

At that point in his testimony, Hill began to cry and struggled to maintain composure.

I just knew something wasnt right, he said.

Hill said he checked out the motel but found no signs of forced entry, or broken glass or anything else amiss.

The couples dog, a miniature dachshund which usually barked at Hill, was standing in the doorway of the motel.

It always barked at me when I was there, Hill said. That night, that dog just sat there and whelped. Looking back, I know why.

It was later that day police returned to the motel and found the carnage.

Testimony will resume on Thursday.
A Montgomery federal jury convicted a former Alabama corrections sergeant with beating three inmates with a baton and filing a false report to cover up the assaults, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Lorenzo Mills, 55, was convicted of three civil rights charges and another for writing a false report.

While acting in his capacity as a correctional sergeant with the Alabama Department of Corrections, Mills subjected three state inmates to cruel and unusual punishment when he beat them with a wooden riot baton, prosecutors said.

One of the inmates suffered a broken arm and the two other inmates suffered injuries including pain and bruising from the beatings.

Mills also wrote a report denying he used any force against the inmates.

This verdict shows that our community members agree that no person is above the law, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division. The Constitution protects the rights of all people, including those in our jails and prisons. We will continue to prosecute correctional officers who abuse their power and use our federal civil rights laws to protect the rights of those detained inside our jails and prisons.

Correctional officers have an important and difficult job, added U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Stewart for the Middle District of Alabama. These officers are tasked with maintaining good order and safety in our prisons, while protecting the constitutional rights of the inmates they supervise. Although most correctional officers serve honorably, my office will work tirelessly to ensure rogue officers are held accountable.

An individuals rights do not end after being convicted of a crime, replied FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul W. Brown of the Mobile Field Office. The FBI takes any violation of civil rights seriously, especially allegations against those sworn to protect and uphold the law. The few who tarnish the badge and illegally use their official capacity will be caught and tried like any other criminal.

Mills faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the civil rights charges and 20 years in prison for the obstruction of justice offense.
All of Floridas public school teachers are effectively banned from providing classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, the State Board of Education decided Wednesday.

The board unanimously voted for a rule that expands through 12th grade the states controversial 2022 Parental Rights in Education law. Critics dubbed the law dont say gay, arguing it wrongly silences all mentions of LGBTQ people in school and unfairly suggests teachers were acting inappropriately.

The newly amended rule, approved at the boards meeting in Tallahassee, says teachers in grades 4 to 12 shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity unless expressly required by state standards, such as in a health education class.

The 2022 law bared such instruction in kindergarten through third grade. GOP lawmakers this year are moving a bill that would ban the topics through eighth grade.

Under the new rule, teachers who violate the prohibition could face suspension or revocation of their teaching licenses.

More than 25 people spoke at the boards meeting, many denouncing the rules as homophobic but others praising them as an effort to keep inappropriate subjects out of classrooms.

Joe Saunders, senior political director with Equality Florida, the states largest LGBTQ civil rights group, said the new rule stretched the impact of this terrible law and was curating fear among students and teachers.

Several speakers, including members of the conservative Moms for Liberty group, urged the board to vote yes on the amended rules. They echoed GOP lawmakers and education officials who argue the law and the new rules uphold the rights of parents to decide when and how to introduce sensitive topics with their children.

Yvette Benarroch with Moms for Libertys Collier County chapter said gender identity indoctrination has harmful long-lasting effects on children and allowing it in schools amounts to educational malpractice.

The vote on the rule and two others was an effort to make sure there was no agenda pushed on our impressionable young children, said board member Esther Byrd. What the board is doing today, were providing clarity on what students are expected to learn. Its not any more complicated than that.

The seven-member board, made up mostly of members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, also voted to remove four required topics from the states standards for high school psychology classes, saying those also violated the 2022 law.

Those standards all dealt with sexual orientation or gender identity.

One deleted standard, for example, said, Compare and contrast gender identity and sexual orientation. Its replacement says, Examine how perspectives affect stereotypes and treatment of minority and majority groups in society, according to the two versions of Sunshine State Standards for social studies, the first adopted in 2021 and the other adopted Wednesday.

Its unclear how the new rules might impact Advanced Placement psychology courses, whose standards are devised by the College Board, not the state. AP psychology includes a unit on gender and sexual orientation. Nearly 27,000 Florida high school students are enrolled in that AP class this school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

The prohibition on instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation combined with a third rule the board approved Wednesday that says teachers must provide lessons that are age and developmentally appropriate and aligned to the state academic standards at least raise questions about the viability of teaching AP psychology.

The education department did not immediately respond to an emailed question about the AP class. The board, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and his staff didnt explicitly mention the changes to social studies standards during the meeting.

Diaz said the rules clarify that teachers should focus on the states academic standards and do not aim to harm certain groups of students.

Theyre not being shunned, he said at the meeting.

Last month, Diaz tweeted this explanation for the rule changes: Students should be spending their time in school learning core academic subjects, not being force-fed radical gender and sexual ideology. In Florida, were preserving the right of kids to be kids.

Paul Burns, chancellor for public schools at the education department, told the board the rules make clear what is supposed to be taught, which is our state academic standards.

He also said the rules do not prevent school counselors from talking about sensitive issues with students.

Critics of the rule and the law say they are vague, unfairly suggest gay and transgender people aim to sexualize children and make teachers uncertain about what they can say without running into trouble. They also said they make it hard for gay teachers and for all teachers who want to be accepting of LGBTQ students or children who live in families with same-sex parents.

This rule is based in hate, one woman said. Its homophobic. Its a disgrace.

Why are you putting teachers in the crosshairs? asked another.

One man, holding his young daughter as he addressed the board, said he feared his child would not be able to share about her two dads when she started school. Not stories about sex, stories about her family, he said.

Since the laws passage, the Miami-Dade County School Board rejected recognizing October as LGBTQ history month and districts across the state removed books from their campuses.

The Lake County school district, for example, earlier this school year cited the law when it yanked And Tango Makes Three from schools. It is a picture book based on a true story of two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo who, given a fertilized egg, incubated it and then fed and protected the chick when she hatched.

Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, blasted the new rule, saying it wasnt about protecting children but about helping DeSantis expected bid for the White House.

If they truly wanted to protect kids, Jones said in a statement, they would make sure ALL kids are protected, especially our vulnerable LGBTQ young people who experience high rates of mental health challenges and are three times more likely to commit suicide.

____

2023 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization, condemned Alabama Republican lawmakers in a recent statement, saying they ignore the number one killer of Alabama children, gun violence.

The news release came after a mass shooting in Dadeville over the weekend, where four people were killed and 32 were injured. Most of the victims, as well as the shooters, were teenagers and young adults.

How the hell can Alabamans [sic] count on their leaders to fix a problem if they refuse to see it? said Chris Harris, Giffords vice president of communications. Gun violence kills twice as many Alabama children as cancer and the states leaders are MIA. While they may not want to talk about it, the issue is not going away. More kids will die until Alabama leaders decide enough is enough.

The advocacy organization, which was founded by former Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head in 2011, specifically addressed Gov. Kay Ivey, Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt and Rep. Mike Rogers.

The organization claimed that the four officials did not send a press release or full statement after the mass shooting.

The lawmakers issued statements on social media after the Dadeville shooting. None of their comments mentioned guns.

Gov. Ivey tweeted violent crime has no place in Alabama and what happened in Dadeville was horrific.

Violent crime has NO place in Alabama and what happened in Dadeville was horrific. Im proud of the major progress made by law enforcement. The work is not done, and we will fully support ALEA as they work to ensure we hold ALL responsible for this tragedy accountable.  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) April 19, 2023

The other three lawmakers tweeted about the heartbreaking news and said their prayers are with the community.

Britt did release a statement to local media Tuesday. She said that There is no doubt that we have a deteriorating culture of violence and a mental health crisis in our nation, and we must do more to protect our children from those who wish to break the law and do them harm. I will continue to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan manner on real solutions that confront the root societal causes that are fueling tragedies across our nation, so every single child can live their American Dream in a safe, strong community.

Alabama had the fourth highest death rate by firearm for all age groups in 2021, behind only Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico, respectively, according to the CDC.

Guns are now the leading cause of death among children in Alabama. Traffic accidents had been the leading cause of death for children aged 1-17 prior to 2021, when the number of deaths by firearms more than doubled in the state.

The jump corresponds with a record breaking increase in gun sales in 2020 in Alabama and nationwide. According to a study by safehomes.org, which analyzed 20 years of gun sales in each state using data from law enforcement agencies, 619,000 firearms were sold in Alabama in 2020 - the third most per capita of any state in the country. The state also saw a 4% increase in gun-related deaths between 2019 and 2020.

Since 2014, 520 children in Alabama have been killed by gun violence and 1060 have been injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

There are common sense solutions out there that respect the Second Amendment by ensuring bad actors dont exploit it to harm others, Harris said. Being tough on crime means stopping gun violence before it happens. Voters want Alabama leaders to do somethingand that starts with acknowledging the problem.

After the Dadeville shooting, state Democratic legislators gathered outside a funeral home owned by one of the victims grandfather to call for immediate action to curb gun violence.

Some of the bills introduced in the 2023 session include legislation that would punish parents who dont secure guns and allow their children to take them to school; imprison people with felony records if they are caught with a gun; and require gun owners who have been issued a court-imposed gun violence protective order to relinquish their firearms for at least one year.

State Rep. Juandalynn Givan has said she plans to introduce a bill this week to ban the sale of assault weapons to those under age 21.

I will never be silent until Republicans recognize that the Second Amendment comes with responsibilities and limitations, Givan said. Until they do, the blood of these murdered children is on their hands.

Giffords, which grades states based on their gun laws, has given Alabama an F, saying the state lacks many basic gun safety laws and has not enacted meaningful gun safety legislation recently.

Last year, the Alabama legislature passed a permitless carry law, making it legal to carry a concealed handgun into most public places without a permit.

When the bill was debated in the statehouse, sheriffs and police urged legislators to reject it, saying it would make it easier for the wrong people to possess a gun at a time when violent crime is rising in the state.

The gun violence prevention organization also claimed that Alabama has supplied guns used in crimes to other states at the 11th highest rate among the states, exporting guns at nearly twice the national rate and 2.5 times the rate at which it imported guns from other states.

Gov. Iveys office did not respond to a request for comment.

This story has been updated.
The Jefferson County Commission authorized a new five-year sewer billing agreement with Birmingham Water Works (BWWB) in a specially called meeting April 18.

Although this agreement could make electronic meters a possibility for BWWB customers, it also comes with a potential water rate increase of up to 5.8%.

The new agreement, with approval from both BWWB and the commission, will go into effect on Jan. 1 of next year.

As part of the renegotiated agreement, BWWB and Jefferson County Sewer are also exploring the implementation of automatic meters to improve billing accuracy and potentially achieve cost savings, said BWWB spokesman Rick Jackson.

A team of representatives from both parties will assess suitable automatic metering options and conduct a separate cost study to determine the relative share of expenses for billing, collecting, and remitting sewer service charges.
State and Madison County officials broke ground in the Harvest community north of Huntsville today on Crestwood Medical Centers $22 million, 10-bed freestanding emergency department.

The goal of the 24-hour ER at the corner of Burwell Road and Highway 53 is very, very simple, Crestwood Hospital CEO Matthew Banks said. We want to provide the surrounding areas and communities with access to emergency services, services that are traditionally provided in a hospital.

Crestwood already operates a large privately owned hospital in Huntsville on Whitesburg Drive.

The freestanding ER also represents a trend in Alabama medicine. The state already has eight freestanding emergency departments in Baldwin, Mobile, Jefferson, Shelby and Lee counties. State regulators approved another freestanding emergency department on Wednesday for Cullman Regional hospital to be located in Hartselle.

Crestwood Medical Center, a private Huntsville hospital, broke ground on a new freestanding emergency department in the Harvest community in northwest Madison County. The facility is at the intersection of Burwell Road and Highway 53, at right, also known as Ardmore Highway.

The State Health Planning & Development Agency has received 15 Certificate of Need (CON) applications in total for freestanding emergency departments and approved them all, according to state Health Planning Administrator Bradford Williams. One contractor did not go forward, Williams said today, but eight are open and active, one is nearly complete, four are still in development and one is under application review.

Three applications were approved in the last year alone, Williams said. All must meet Alabama code.

The Harvest Emergency Department will be almost 12,000 square feet with 10 exam rooms, a laboratory, full-array of imaging services, a blood bank and a major trauma room, Banks said.

The facility is different from an urgent care center or a physicians office in its emergency-medicine trained staff, advanced equipment and around the clock operations 365 days a year, Crestwood said in a fact sheet.

It will also have a helipad for helicopter emergency flights and a full array of emergency services 24 hours a day.

Its the same team of physicians, nurses and staff that deliver care today, Banks said.

Dr. Ric Koler, medical director of the ER at Crestwood Hospital, said the hospitals clinical team has thought about this type of facility for a long time and is excited to get the medical center up and started.

Our mission is to provide high quality emergency care to the people of north Alabama, excellence in clinical care, education, administrative stewardship, strategic initiatives, Koler said. Central to our mission is the creation of an environment of inclusion for persons with diverse backgrounds, cultures and abilities.

Madison County Commissioner Phil Vandiver, who represents the area, thanked Crestwood for what theyre doing for our community.

The medical centers size is estimated to be 11,000 square feet.

(Updated to include state Freestanding Emergency Department application data)
A woman and a 4-year-old girl were shot tonight in Birminghams Collegeville neighborhood, according to police.

Both victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident happened in the 3000 block of 29th Avenue North around 8 p.m.

North Precinct officers and officers with Birmingham polices housing division were dispatched to the area on a call of a person shot, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

At the scene, officers found the woman and the girl in a front yard suffering from gunshot wounds.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service personnel took the woman to UAB Hospital while the girl was taken to Childrens Hospital.

We are happy to report that both have non-life-threatening injuries, said Fitzgerald.

The preliminary investigation revealed a group of people pulled up in a vehicle and intentionally shot into an apartment occupied by the woman and the girl, the officer said.

Multiple shell casings were found on the ground, and the evidence suggested the apartment was targeted by the gunfire.

No suspects were in custody as of 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Fitzgerald was visibly upset that an innocent child was harmed, and urged residents to adopt a law enforcement mindset and stop babysitting this type of mentality of reckless shootings.

We have a popular idea in our culture that if we have an issue with someone were ust going to pull up into a house  and fire recklessly into an apartment, he said. Ive got news for you: you never hit your intended target. But Ill tell you who you do end up hitting. You end up hitting 2-year-old Major Turner. You end up hitting 12-year-old Audrianna Pearson. And tonight were on the scene yet again where an innocent child has bene struck by gunfire who had nothing to do with this scenario.

So my challenge to everyone in Birmingham is we need to stop babysitting this type of mentality and we all need to take it upon ourselves to adopt a law enforcement mindset, Fitzgerald continued. Who in their right mind is bold enough to come into Collegeville with all these kids  and you fire this many rounds into an apartment. And we are blessed that we have not had a child killed tonight and this child will survive.

This is a developing story and will be updated.
Police say that that more than 70 bullets were fired in a Birmingham shooting that sent a young girl and her mother to the hospital.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the dozens of rounds were fired from multiple shooters. Investigators said they recovered spent shell casings from both handguns and rifles.

Police initially said the wounded child was 4 years old but later learned she had just celebrated her fifth birthday, Fitzgerald said Thursday.

The degree of selfishness and heartlessness to fire that many rounds in a housing community where it is a known fact they are heavily populated with children, we are lucky were not burying another child, he said.

The gunfire erupted about 8 p.m. in the 3000 block of 29th Avenue North in the citys Collegeville housing community.

At the scene, officers found the woman and the girl in a front yard suffering from gunshot wounds.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service personnel took the woman to UAB Hospital while the girl was taken to Childrens Hospital. They are recovering.

Authorities said the woman and her daughter were standing outside their apartment when a group of people pulled up in a vehicle and opened fire.

Fitzgerald said he believed that apartment was specifically targeted, but several others were also struck.

No arrests have been made, but he said the departments Real Time Crime Center has been instrumental with the ongoing investigation.

We have a popular idea in our culture that if we have an issue with someone were ust going to pull up into a house  and fire recklessly into an apartment, Fitzgerald said at Wednesday nights scene. Ive got news for you: you never hit your intended target. But Ill tell you who you do end up hitting. You end up hitting 2-year-old Major Turner. You end up hitting 12-year-old Audrianna Pearson. And tonight were on the scene yet again where an innocent child has bene struck by gunfire who had nothing to do with this scenario.

So my challenge to everyone in Birmingham is we need to stop babysitting this type of mentality and we all need to take it upon ourselves to adopt a law enforcement mindset, Fitzgerald continued. Who in their right mind is bold enough to come into Collegeville with all these kids  and you fire this many rounds into an apartment. And we are blessed that we have not had a child killed tonight and this child will survive.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.

AL.com reporter Howard Koplowitz contributed to this report.
gettyimagesbank



By Jun Ji-hye



Calls are growing from the startup scene and members of the public as well as some doctors for continuing non-face-to-face medical services, known as telemedicine, which was allowed temporarily in Korea at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it could be no longer available as soon as next month when the country's COVID-19 public health emergency ends.



The Korea Startup Forum, the nation's largest startup membership organization, launched an online campaign on April 14 to obtain signatures to "protect" the current telemedicine services that are available for both new and regular patients.



The campaign has attracted more than 90,000 signatures as of Wednesday, with participants including Woowa Brothers founder Kim Bong-jin and Viva Republica CEO Lee Seung-gun, as well as the general public including mothers who experienced the advantages of telemedicine services when their children were sick.



Telemedicine, which has long been opposed by medical circles citing concerns over possible errors in diagnosis and drug prescription, was allowed temporarily in Korea starting in February 2020 when the government raised the classification of COVID-19 to the top level  "serious"  in its four-tier system in coping with infectious diseases.



Since then, some 30 telemedicine platform startups, including Doctornow, have been actively providing telemedicine and drug delivery services.



But their future is in question, as the legal basis for their operation would vanish and their services would become illegal, when the government downgrades the classification of COVID-19 to "alert" from the current "serious" around May. That is around when the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to discuss whether to declare an end to what it calls a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) regarding the coronavirus.





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An Alabama father is behind bars, accused of critically injuring his infant son.

Destin Chase Tidwell, 26, is charged with aggravated child abuse in Blount County, according to court records made public Thursday.

Tidwell, of Blountsville, was booked into the Blount County Jail Wednesday, where he remains held.

Charging documents against Tidwell state his 2-month-old son suffered a skull fracture with a brain bleed.

The boys mother took him to the hospital, and he was then airlifted to Childrens of Alabama in Birmingham. He is expected survive.

Details about what led up the severe injuries have not yet been made public.

I was heartbroken to see the photos of the child in this case, said Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey. As a mother of two small children, I was physically sick.
Investigators with the Walker County Sheriffs Office are combing through missing person reports after deputies recovered a possible human bone over the weekend, the agency said Wednesday.

The deputies received a call Sunday from a citizen in the Curry community, said Sheriff Nick Smith.

When they arrived on the scene, they they met with residents who discovered what they believed to possibly be a human bone, said Smith.

Investigators with the sheriffs office were then dispatched to Curry to search the area.

Evidence, including the bone, was collected and sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for testing.

Meanwhile, investigators are also going through missing person reports for any possible matches in a national database of DNA profiles from crime scene evidence and convicted offenders, Smith said.

The process could take several months, the sheriff said.

Further information was unavailable.
A suspect was shot early Thursday by Jefferson County sheriffs deputies.

The shooting happened at 3:18 a.m., said sheriffs Lt. Joni Money.

Few details are being released, but Money said the suspect was taken into custody on Interstate 59/20 near Arkadelphia Road in Birmingham. Another crime scene linked to the incident is at the Pilot on Arkadelphia Road.

The suspects injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

It is the second time a suspect has been shot by a deputy in Birmingham this month. Tedarrius Quentez Smith, 28, died Monday, April 3, in what authorities say was an armed confrontation following a police chase from Fairfield to Birmingham.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says Smith pointed a gun at the deputy, who then shot and killed Smith.

The State Bureau of Investigation will again lead the probe in this mornings shooting, which is standard procedure for shootings involving law enforcement officers.

This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
Emotions were high at the citys first city council district meeting on annexation, which lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours.

On Tuesday night at the James Seals Park Community Center, Mobile City Councilmember William Carroll, who represents District 2, hosted the first community meeting regarding the citys proposal to annex territory west of the city. For the last year, annexation has been the focus of numerous city council meetings, but this is the first time that Mobile residents have the chance to discuss the proposal directly.

At the beginning of the meeting, Carroll noted the number of officials in the room, saying it highlighted the importance of annexation. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson attended but largely stayed in the back. Stimpsons chief of staff, James Barber, gave a presentation on the annexation proposal. Director of Public Safety Lawrence Battiste was also there, along with City Council President C.J. Small and other city officials. City council attorney Michael Linder was there, along with every judge on the citys municipal bench.

But the meeting was oftentimes derailed by conversations around affordable housing and voting, two issues intimately linked with annexation. Critics of annexation argue that the proposal dilutes the Black voting-age population of Mobile and siphons resources away from the citys historically underserved neighborhoods.

We dont think, at this time, that the services that were being provided are where they need to be, and thats with the taxes were already spending, Lorenzo Green, a resident, said. We dont have room to expand.
The Mobile man suspected of killing a man and injuring nine others during New Years Eve celebrations downtown pleaded guilty to federal gun charges in connection with the shooting, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Thomas Earl Thomas Jr., 22, of Mobile, pleaded guilty in federal court in Mobile to illegally possessing a machinegun, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Alabama, which covers Mobile.

Thomas possessed and fired a .40-caliber Glock pistol equipped with an extended magazine and an illegal machinegun-conversion device known as a Glock switch during New Years Eve, according to court documents.

A man was killed and nine people were injured when gunfire rang out in a crowded section of Dauphin Street near South Jackson Street.

In pleading guilty to the federal charges, Thomas admitted that he lied to homicide detectives about possessing and firing the gun. The gunfire was captured on surveillance video, prosecutors said.

Thomas also admitted to buying the gun at a Mobile gun show weeks before the shooting and that he knew it was illegally modified with the Glock switch.

The suspect also admitted to never registering the machinegun with a national registry as required by law.

Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced on the federal charges on July 24. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party that killed four and injured 32 others, officials said Thursday.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced charges against Willie George Brown Jr. He is 19 and lives in Auburn.

Brown is charged with four counts of reckless murder. Details of his arrest were not made public.

He was the fifth suspect charged so far.

On Thursday evening, District Attorney Mike Segrest said a sixth suspect, a 15-year-old, was taken into custody late this afternoon. Segrest did not identify the suspect or say where the suspect lived.

An Aniahs Law hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, and Segrest said details should emerge about the crime then.

From his perspective, Segrest said the investigation has already been far-reaching and demanding.

Obviously with the number of victims, it was very complicated to reconstruct, Segrest said.

Just processing the crime scene took the better part of a day. There was establishing a command post on Monday and interviewing the witnesses, and then the number of witnesses makes it tedious and time-consuming to try to make sure that we identify the proper suspects.

Earlier Thursday, ALEA Sgt. Jeremy Burkett announced the arrest of 20-year-old Johnny Letron Brown of Tuskegee on the same charges.

On Wednesday, authorities announced the arrests of teen brothers from Tuskegee - Ty Reik McCullough, 17, and Travis McCullough, 16. Both also were charged as adults with four counts of reckless murder. They were taken into custody Tuesday night.

Later Wednesday, ALEA announced the arrest of Wilson LaMar Hill Jr., 20, of Auburn, also on the same charges.

All five suspects are being held without bond in the Tallapoosa County Jail pending bond hearings. Prosecutors will ask all be held without bond.

Under Alabama law, the crime of reckless murder is committed when a person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself or herself and causes the death of another person.

There is a tremendous amount of work to do. Were going to be careful with everything we say and everything we do. Were going to stay focused on the victims and their families, said Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Wednesday.

A motive in the shooting has not been disclosed. Burkett also would not say how many guns were fired or how many shots were fired.

Killed in the shooting were Philstavious Dowdell, 18, Shaunkivia Nicole Keke Smith, 17, Marsiah Emmanuel Siah Collins, 19, and Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23.

Another 32 people were injured, some of them critically, when gunfire erupted at approximately 10:34 p.m. Saturday at Mahoganys Masterpiece dance studio on North Broadnax Street in downtown Dadeville, one block from the courthouse.

The party was for Dowdells sister, Alexis Dowdell, who said her brother died protecting her.

Dowdell said she dove to the floor near the DJ as the dozens of revelers ran. She didnt know where to run, in part because shots seemed to come from multiple directions.

When there was a break in gunfire, she bolted for the front door. But someone pushed her. It was her brother, trying to protect her.

The investigation is ongoing by multiple law enforcement agencies.

District Attorney Mike Segrest said the suspects will have an Aniahs Law bond hearing within 72 hours, and then a preliminary hearing in the coming weeks. The cases could then go to a grand jury.
This is an opinion column

Somebody has got to start thinking about Momma, said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Sgt. Jeremy Burkett. Were tired of going to the mothers and having to tell them that these kids are not coming home.

As the father of four boys, I hope law enforcement never shows up at my door to deliver such a horrific message to my family. We cant engage the issue of senseless violence trapped between meaningless mentions of common sense gun control and mental health.

Stop telling me that criminals will always commit crimes or that we live in a broken culture thats gone off the rails. Video games are violent. China wants to usurp Americas role in the world. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are old. Simply describing a known problem isnt a meaningful contribution to the conversation. We cannot and should not accept that high rates of violent crime and countless twisted minds are American inevitabilities.

Other Columns by Cameron Smith:

The recent school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville and the birthday party shooting in Dadeville, Alabama demonstrate something is deeply wrong with us. The shooters didnt fit the same profile. They didnt use the same firearms. Each of them possessed a blatant disregard for life and a willingness to take it indiscriminately.

I know gun-related suicide, homicide, and accident data like the back of my hand. Ever since my own brother became a gun violence statistic, Ive paid attention. My family also has direct experience with serious mental health challenges. Nobody likes to talk about such heavy topics, so we resort to empty political platitudes instead.

Common-sense gun control ranks near the top. It means everything and nothing. Its a slogan Democrats love. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called on Congress to enact these mythical measures.

Activists can shout No justice, no peace! until the cows come home. Legislators like Rep. Justin Jones of Tennessee can engage in the theater of carrying around small caskets. Protesters can assail Republicans as racist authoritarians. The brutal reality is that if Democratic gun restrictions were as widely accepted as common-sense requires, then majorities in Republican states would enact them.

Democrats are directionally loud about their demands and regularly short on specific legislative ideas that have more than a snowballs chance in hell of becoming law. Imagine that I moved to New York and demanded that firearm safety training be taught as an elective in public high schools. It would undoubtedly reduce accidental firearm deaths, but Id be laughed out of the state legislature in a heartbeat.

It may come as a shock, but most of us find our own ideas to be brilliant and well-justified. Building a majority that agrees with us is a different matter entirely.

On the other hand, Republicans routinely pivot to ambiguous concerns over mental health to avoid any discussion about firearms. We dont have a gun problem, goes the common refrain. We have a mental health problem.

This is the Republican version of the inspired Democratic slogan, Its the guns. For Republicans, Its mental health.

In Dadeville, two teenagers blew away a room full of kids. The accused arent even old enough to vote. Reaching the conclusion that there was something off about their mental health doesnt exactly require a doctorate degree.

But when it comes time to actually enact legislation to support mental health, success is hard to find. Measures such as expanded counseling resources in schools, clearer information about insurance coverage for mental health services, or even options to help alert and educate parents on mental health challenges facing their children struggle to gain traction.

Too many of us are mentally sick with a constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms.

Instead of continuing to be self-righteous blowhards who cant imagine anything other than our own views being correct, we should find some common ground.

Start with clear tax incentives or grants for gun safes, gun locks, and other firearm safety gear. Their core function is to keep children from accessing firearms and injuring themselves or others. They also slow rash decisions.

Not a year goes by that I wonder if a gun lock might have been enough of a distraction to stop my brother from killing himself. So many gun deaths happen because emotionally charged individuals make poor decisions. At a minimum, a gun lock or safe changes an individuals focus for even a brief amount of time.

Congress can and should create a liability shield for individuals who voluntarily complete a background check for a private gun sale. Legislators could modify the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to make such checks easy. Its not the mandate that Democrats want, but its a useful addition that private gun sellers would be foolish to ignore.

Should Americans prescribed anti-psychotic drugs be allowed to possess firearms? My grandfather became violent and wildly unstable because of dementia. He hadnt committed any crime, but he was under the influence of some of the most powerful mind-altering medications allowed in America. If there was ever a case for an individual with a condition or medication who shouldnt be allowed to possess firearms, it was him.

Maybe anti-psychotic drugs arent the correct threshold, but we should at least have a reasonable discussion about what psychological conditions, behaviors, and medical treatments might result in firearm restrictions consistent with the Second Amendment.

If Republicans are concerned about the influence of psychologists and counselors at our public schools, introduce legislation offering a tax credit for out-of-pocket spending on mental health services. Giving families options and resources to improve their own mental health is an excellent idea. Politicians from both parties rail against the government sitting between patients and their doctors. What better way to improve mental health and get the government out of the way?

Stop the talking points. Use the legislative process. Track the results. Stick with what works and repeal what doesnt. Too many mommas are getting that dreaded knock at the door from law enforcement. Were not without options. We must help each other, protect our families, and respect our God-given rights. If our leaders cant work through such a challenging balance, we should find new ones up to the task.

Smith is a recovering political attorney with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. Hes a partner in Triptych Media, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to csmith@al.com or @DCameronSmith on Twitter.
This Nov. 13, 2022 file photo shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden holding a bilateral summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Yonhap



South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden will likely show strong unity on how to deal with threats posed by North Korea while they are expected to produce many deliverable agreements on ways to further strengthen the alliance, U.S. experts said Wednesday.



Yoon will make a state visit to the U.S. from Monday, two days before he and Biden will hold a summit in Washington.



"I expect unity on North Korea," said Victor Cha, senior vice president for Asia and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank based in Washington.



"I don't expect any new initiatives in terms of diplomacy. North Korea doesn't seem to be interested in diplomacy right now, but we will certainly see unity in purpose and mission from the two presidents on that," he told a telephonic press briefing.



The upcoming summit follows an unprecedented number of North Korean missile provocations. Pyongyang launch a record 69 ballistic missiles in 2022, followed by dozens of missile tests, including an intercontinental ballistic missile launch, this year.



Against such backdrop, the allies have been discussing ways to strengthen U.S. extended deterrence, including the relaunching of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group in 2022 after a five-year hiatus.



"I expect that there will be some announcements of new things on extended deterrence," said Cha, adding, "This has been a major issue between the two allies, given North Korea's continued provocations."



Ellen Kim, deputy director of CSIS Korea Chair, said the leaders will likely explore cooperation in other areas related to North Korea, noting North Korea "will be the key agenda issue for both leaders."



"This will include measures to strengthen and upgrade U.S. extended deterrence in South Korea and also expand their security partnerships in new areas like space and cybersecurity," she told the briefing.



"We may expect to see a major announcement on cyber security cooperation between the two countries, which will involve joint cyber exercises and also enhanced information and intelligence sharing between the two countries," added Kim.



The leaders are also expected to produce agreements on ways to further enhance their countries' alliance, according to the experts.



"I expect a big piece of the summit deliverables to focus on the next generation work of the alliance," Cha said, noting South Korea currently is the third largest source of foreign students in the U.S. after China and India.



"But there's not as many Americans that are going to South Korea, and I expect that there will be some initiative or something of that sort announced with regard to encouraging more Americans to go to South Korea," he added.



Other deliverables that can be expected from the upcoming summit may include those in space exploration and space cooperation, Cha said, noting the South Korean president is scheduled to visit NASA during his trip. (Yonhap)


The pandemic of 2020 saw the imposition of shocking restrictions. For the first time, healthy people were confined to their homes. Vaccines cleared for emergency use  meaning not rigorously tested  were forced on all citizens. Debate, even by scientists, was censored. Refusal to obey these arbitrary impositions could mean arrest, legal action, or, as Dr. Aaron Kheriaty found out, losing ones job.

A psychiatry professor in good standing at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), Dr. Kheriaty became persona non grata when he demurred to the mandatory vaccine policy, claiming natural immunity as a Covid-recovered individual. Not caring for scientific debate, the university declared him a threat to the health and safety of the community, suspended him without pay, barred him from campus, and eventually fired him.

It did not matter that his psychiatry clerkship was the highest rated clinical course at UCIs medical school; that hed been chosen keynote speaker to address incoming medical students; and that when the pandemic broke out, he had risked his life to work long hours at the hospital, often uncompensated, while many colleagues stayed home in safety.

Uncowed, Dr. Kheriaty sued the university. In a more far-reaching action, he authored The New Abnormal: The Rise of the Biomedical Security State, a sober analysis and exposure of the tyranny of pandemic policies and the devastation they wrought. The book traces the roots of state interference in, and control of, the biomedical aspects of citizens lives to utilitarian ideas that began with Galton and Darwin, and trickled into eugenics, which he says is falsely viewed as entirely a creation of the Nazis when in fact American states were enforcing sterilization from the 1900s to the 1960s.

The core idea, he says, is this: the freedom of a citizen to make health and life decisions can be annulled by the state for the greater good, especially during emergencies. The questions it raises are: Who makes these decisions and on what basis? Who decides what is the greater good? Who is to be held responsible for errors of judgement? What checks and balances do we have, then, against the dictatorial inclinations of the powerful? Ancillary to the idea, he says, is the dangerous circular logic of the state of exception: those who declare an emergency in which citizens rights  including the right to question the declaration  stand suspended will believe that in that instance it is morally and politically justified!

We saw all that playing out during the pandemic. Kheriaty observes that the global elite and other political entities, in unbridled collaboration with intelligence and police powers, promoted the acceptance of biomedical surveillance. None of the extreme measures  lockdown, school closure, mandatory masking, vaccine mandates and passports  were subject to debate. No benchmarks were set to justify the emergency or identify when it would end. In fact, America continues to remain in a state of emergency (until May 11th).

Compliance was achieved through propaganda, policing, and surveillance. Guilt  Dont Kill Granny  and Mao-style rousing  15 Days to Stop the Spread  were deployed. Six-foot social distancing and curtailment of gatherings to no more than 10 people were imposed with no explanation of where these magic numbers came from. Human contact was redefined as a source of contagion. Exposure could build natural immunity, but this wasnt acknowledged, for it would have potentially halved the profits of the $100 billion Covid vaccine industry.

Kheriaty identifies the characteristics of the biosecurity paradigm:

a hypothetical risk, magnified to worst-case scenario to adduce grounds for maximum behaviorial control; systematic imposition of control on the entire citizenry, instead of vulnerable subsets; catastrophizing, in order to justify intrusive surveillance and the use of police and military action; and a merging of public health and the military-intelligence-industrial complex in developing and implementing tracking and data-mining capabilities.

Surveillance is the backbone of dictatorial regimes, and it was no different during the pandemic. In 2021, evidence emerged that the CIA had used digital surveillance to gather information on Americans sans judicial oversight or congressional approval. There were no safeguards to protect civil liberties. Such scenarios have long been envisioned  as far back as 1999, a possible smallpox outbreak was studied. Exercises such as Dark Winter, Atlantic Storm, Clade X, and Event 201 followed. They simulated imposition of martial law, detention of citizens, control of messaging, censoring dissent, enforcing mandates, and surveillance during public health crises. Recommendations to increase state power and use police or military intervention were subsequently embodied in the 2002 U.S. Public Health Security & Bioterrorism Preparedness & Response Act.

The religion of scientism took hold as Dr. Anthony Fauci, former chief medical advisor to the President, reframed the narrative on Covid, shifting the focus from the virus to viewing humanity as a vector. Fauci and a set of scientists and technocrats with broad powers arrogated to themselves a monopoly on knowledge and expertise. Lacking rational explanation, they used force, defamation of critics, and dubious promises of future outcomes to obtain public conformity to the security and surveillance measures.

The vast influence of Big Pharma over governments, the research establishment, and media, says Kheriaty, cannot be understated. Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson are wealthier than most countries, with vast sums available for lobbying. In 2020, 72 senators and 302 congressional representatives cashed campaign checks from the pharmaceutical industry. Biomedical researchers and medical journal editors receive payments from pharma. In a nine-year-period, two-thirds of all FDA reviewers took positions in the industry they regulated. The National Institute of Health, which owns half of the Moderna vaccine patent, chose to conduct internal testing of the vaccine rather than leave it to independent university-based researchers. Media acquiescence was achieved through $1 billion-worth of vaccine advertisements, paid for in taxpayer dollars!

Kheriaty goes so far as to assert that the lockdown was driven by an economic agenda disguised as public health protocol. It helped Big Pharma, multinationals, and the global elite who control them achieve the largest transfer of wealth in history by eliminating competition and spelling doom for small business.

The ultimate plan, devised by the global elite, is for a new world order, shifting government authority from sovereign states to powerful NGOs like the World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Health Organization (WHO). Plans are afoot for a WHO-driven international pandemic treaty tied to a digital ID system, while IMF is promoting central bank digital currency (CBDC), which will allow complete tracking of monetary transactions. WEF chairman Klaus Schwab nurses transhumanist dreams, saying we will not change what we do but who we are, through gene- and bio-engineering.

The concluding chapter suggests ways of avoiding totalitarian emergencies and the abyss of the biomedical security state. He suggests strict limits on the declaration and control of emergencies, incorporating more checks and balances if necessary. He calls for substantive institutional reform that will eliminate the revolving door between Big Pharma and federal agencies. Besides, he says, the NIH monopoly must be broken, perhaps by distributing research grants to 50 state institutes of health that will focus on issues of local concern. Other ideas include provision of accurate, comprehensive information to allow people to give informed consent; allowing doctors to prescribe off-label or repurposed drugs and provide individualized care; holding Big Pharma accountable by bringing back product liability.

Freedom is at stake, as we discovered during the pandemic. Dr. Kheriaty lost his job, without a chance to defend himself, for daring to dissent. This  or much worse  can happen to any of us if we allow America to become the biomedical security state the global elite want to transform the world into.
In 1999 Colonels Qiao Laiang and Wang Xiangsui of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (Communist China) wrote the landmark book Unrestricted Warfare. The essence of the colonels' thinking was their adoption of Machiavelli's thought as applied to war and expanding the concept of war beyond the clash of armed forces:

Achieve objectives by means fair or foul, that is the most important spiritual legacy of this Italian political thinker of the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages, this represented a breakthrough against romantic chivalry and the declining tradition of knighthood. It meant using means, some possibly comprehensive, without restraint to achieve an objective; this holds for warfare also. Even though Machiavelli was not the earliest source of "an ideology of going beyond limits" (China's Han Feizi preceded him) he was its clearest exponent. (p. 154)

For now, Joe Biden is the face of the domestic enemy waging unrestricted warfare on the United States. One must wonder, given his conflicts of interest, what coordination may exist between Biden and the Chinese Communist Party.

The history of this war was chronicled in the late Rich Higgins's memo to President Trump, Michael Anton's accurate 2020 analysis of the unfolding plan to oust President Trump and replace him with Biden in a color revolution coup and the infamous 2021 Time article by Molly Ball, which was the coup-plotters' after-action report to conquer America. Many details of the successful overthrow of the 2020 presidential election are set forth in the Texas lawsuit against Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona; in the first-person account of eBay founder Patrick Byrne; and in the separate analyses by Peter Navarro and Seth Keshel.

Taken in its totality, the scope and scale of this unrestricted warfare attack on the United States dwarfs the perceptions of those who continue to believe that legacy media censorship played a pivotal role in stealing the election from President Trump and the American people. Although the information warfare against Trump undoubtedly had an effect, the totality of the evidence and analysis already cited makes it clear that Trump overcame it to win at least five million more votes than Biden. And that is a conservative number.

Joe Biden was crushed in a popular and electoral vote victory for Trump, even though only readers of the New York Post and Breitbart knew about the "laptop from hell." The victory was so large that corrupt election officials in the battleground states found it necessary to halt the counting in the middle of the night to allow for the injection of millions of fake votes. The enemies determined to defeat the United States in the Battle of the 2020 Election created (and probably flipped) enough votes to erase President Trump's victory.

The patriots at the Capitol on January 6 were there not to overthrow the election, but to defend it. They failed. The decision of Congress to count manifestly fake electoral votes for Biden appears to be final and unreviewable under the Constitution.

For the past two years, the Biden cabal has waged an intensive information war on the United States. But now the tide is turning.

The accelerating criminal use of federal law enforcement and prosecutors for political intimidation makes it more obvious to Americans (along with the mountain of video, eyewitness, forensic, and statistical evidence) that the 2020 election was stolen on an industrial scale. After all, Biden's people continue to behave in the same brazen, criminal way as they did for a year before he was installed in the presidential office. Their current behavior serves to validate for Americans that Biden stole the election. Most Americans believe that the legacy media are using the big lie tactic, not President Trump.

Perhaps most telling is that in March, the singles "Justice for All" (President Trump and the J6 Choir of political prisoners) and "Trump Won" (Natasha Owens) topped the music charts.

The American people are rejecting the lies of the illegitimate Biden regime and the legacy propaganda press.

Leaders such as Mark Levin, Tom Fitton, and Mike Davis all recognize, without using the terminology, that unrestricted warfare is being waged on the United States. They have each called for Republican prosecutors to search state laws and bring the criminal law to bear on the domestic enemies of the United States. Speaking to the NRA on April 14, President Trump promised to bring 100 warrior United States attorneys into this struggle when he returns to the White House in 2025.

Victor Davis Hanson recently reminded us how vulnerable, in general, our enemies are, with 20 examples of perfidy. Hanson is pointing to the tip of the iceberg. While Biden's team of outlaw prosecutors, federal and state, have to lie and file frivolous papers to persecute Americans, their cabal is exposed by its criminal acts to future criminal prosecution. It is unlikely that these people will be shown again the forbearance they received after the 2016 election.

Serious plans to put the Executive Branch under the control of the American people in 2025 are underway. The Heritage Foundation leads a coalition effort called the 2025 Presidential Transition Project to assemble the policy, personnel, and program to dismantle the Deep State. The America First Policy Institute has a parallel project to staff the next administration with competent people who will energetically execute the policy of the next president. A study of how to staff the next administration was described by the Association of Republican Presidential Appointees' founder, Troup Hemenway, in a recent Newsweek op-ed.

New York County district attorney Alvin Bragg's frivolous indictment of President Trump provided what Lara Logan described as a "clarifying moment," where the nation sees who the enemy is and sees President Trump as our defender.

At this moment in history, President Trump is freedom's indispensable man.

As General MacArthur returned to the Philippines to drive out an evil tyranny and clear the way for the freedom and democracy promised by America, so will President Trump return to the White House in January 2025 and restore to America the democratic constitutional republic taken from us by our totalitarian enemy during the grim election attack of 2020.

Peter Knickerbocker served in the Trump administration at the Department of Defense.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.


Russia threatens to send weapons to North Korea



By Kwon Mee-yoo, Lee Hyo-jin



Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko welcomed Seoul's decision to possibly provide arms to his home country in its war with Russia.



"We would welcome the decision by the Korean Government to extend its support for Ukraine beyond humanitarian and financial aid," Ponomarenko told The Korea Times, Thursday. "Continuation of timely defense assistance from our partners is crucial to ending the war in 2023."



The ambassador also expressed hopes that South Korea will join efforts in leading democratic countries to support Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression by providing state-of-the-art defense equipment.



In an interview with Reuters published the previous day, President Yoon Suk Yeol hinted at the possibility of providing arms to Kyiv, a major shift from Seoul's earlier stance of providing only humanitarian and economic assistance to the war-torn nation.



"If there here is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacres or a serious violation of the laws of war, it may be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support," he said.



Yoon's remarks came amid mounting pressure from Western allies  the United States and NATO  to supply weapons directly to Ukraine. South Korea is the world's eighth-largest arms exporter, with its weapons in high demand in Poland, a NATO member state.



However, the South Korean government has so far maintained a policy of not providing any lethal weapons to Ukraine, mindful of damaging relations with Moscow.





The Kremlin reacted furiously to Seoul's change in stance and warned of possibly supplying North Korea with advanced weapons if South Korea provides military assistance to Ukraine. Moscow remains one of Pyongyang's main backers as the reclusive regime continues to develop nuclear weapons and missiles.



Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian National Security Council, wrote on his Telegram channel, Wednesday, "I wonder what the residents of this nation (South Korea) would say when they see the newest Russian weapons in the hands of their closest neighbor  our allies in the DPRK?" DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.



Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that the provision of weapons to Kyiv  by any nation  will be considered as anti-Russian activities and thus negatively affect bilateral ties.



Yoon's remarks also took flak from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which argued that antagonizing Russia would harm national security.



"If we begin to provide arms, it would deal a heavy blow to [South] Korean companies. What Yoon should have asserted ahead of his state visit to the U.S. is our stance of no military aid to Ukraine," said DPK floor leader Rep. Park Hong-keun. He also pointed out that it is unconstitutional for the president to make a unilateral decision on offering military aid to a foreign country without parliamentary review.



In response to Russia's strong rhetoric, the presidential office explained that South Korea's level of assistance to Ukraine remains unchanged and that Yoon's remarks during the interview were made under the assumption of large-scale attacks on civilians in Ukraine.



"The president's response was based on common sense and principle. The Russian government seems to be commenting on a situation that hasn't happened yet, but what actions we will take in the future depend on Russia's moves," a senior presidential official told reporters, Thursday.





Ukrainian soldiers fire howitzer D-30 at the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
Not too long ago, Joe Biden held President Trump up to scorn for his immigration policies, calling them "inhumane," "criminal," and a "stain."

Biden denounced Trump's separation of families policies, intended to disincentivize family migration rackets, given that the law required detention for adults caught crossing the U.S. border illegally but not children. The policy had been started under President Obama, so it was hardly his idea. Biden made such an issue of it that he even sought out separated families and tried to make them millionaires through torts payouts, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, based on all the supposed "harm" of the separation following their thousand-mile journeys to el norte in the tender hands of the cartels. Biden insisted on never sending back unaccompanied minors, pleasing the open borders lobby mightily.

Now the results of his own supposedly "humane" immigration policies are in, and they are even more inhumane than anything he ever accused Trump of doing.

According to the New York Times, child exploitation has become a massive crisis in this country, affecting tens of thousands of foreign children brought in through Joe's open borders.

Worse still, Biden administration officials knew about the huge child-slavery rackets emerging and ignored every single warning  almost as if they wanted it to be happening.

In the spring of 2021, Linda Brandmiller was working at an arena in San Antonio that had been converted into an emergency shelter for migrant children. Thousands of boys were sleeping on cots as the Biden administration grappled with a record number of minors crossing into the United States without their parents. Ms. Brandmiller's job was to help vet sponsors, and she had been trained to look for possible trafficking. In her first week, two cases jumped out: One man told her he was sponsoring three boys to employ them at his construction company. Another, who lived in Florida, was trying to sponsor two children who would have to work off the cost of bringing them north. She immediately contacted supervisors working with the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency responsible for these children. "This is urgent," she wrote in an email reviewed by The New York Times. But within days, she noticed that one of the children was set to be released to the man in Florida. She wrote another email, this time asking for a supervisor's "immediate attention" and adding that the government had already sent a 14-year-old boy to the same sponsor.

This being the Biden administration, they even retaliated against whistleblowers inside the U.S. government agencies who tried to warn about the child slavery they saw before their eyes, fostered and enabled by the Bidenite policies.

Ms. Brandmiller also emailed the shelter's manager. A few days later, her building access was revoked during her lunch break. She said she was never told why she had been fired.

...and...

At least five Health and Human Services staff members filed complaints and said they were pushed out after raising concerns about child safety. Jallyn Sualog was the most senior career member of the H.H.S. division responsible for unaccompanied migrant children when Mr. Biden took office. She had helped build the program after the passage of the 2008 law and, as a lifelong Democrat, had celebrated Mr. Biden's win. But soon, she said, she began to hear reports that children were being released to adults who had lied about their identities, or who planned to exploit them. She warned her bosses in a 2021 email, "If nothing continues to be done, there will be a catastrophic event." She continued to email about situations she described as "critical" and "putting children at risk."

When her warnings fell on deaf ears, she complained through official channels, and they demoted her, moving her to a lousier position.

This sounds like something out of Dickens. Weren't there evil characters such as Bill Sikes and Fagin, who exploited street-urchin children in Oliver Twist? I looked up such examples on ChatGPT, which is kind of good for such questions, and got this:

Bill Sikes from the novel "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens (also various movie adaptations)  Bill Sikes is a brutal and violent criminal who exploits Oliver Twist, a young orphan, by using him in his criminal activities and treating him with cruelty and abuse. Fagin from the novel "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens (also various movie adaptations)  Fagin is a criminal who exploits and manipulates young boys, including Oliver Twist, into a life of pickpocketing and crime. He preys on their vulnerability and uses them for his own gain.

We can add Joe Biden to that list, given his horrific activity ensuring that the child labor rackets go on, and small children are handed over to evil exploiters for their labor whether they like it or not. Biden not only has a funny connection to child sex exploitation rackets, but also seems to have one to child labor rackets. Andrea Widburg wrote about that here. This is very strange stuff for a president of the United States.

The Times also noted that White House domestic adviser, Susan Rice, understood very well that Biden administration policies of keeping unaccompanied minors inside the U.S. was what was driving the migrant surge.

In 2021, as images of children sleeping under foil blankets in overflow centers dominated the news, Susan E. Rice, the White House's head of domestic policy, told staff members she was frustrated with the situation, according to five people who worked with her. Ms. Rice vented in a note she scribbled on a memo detailing the position of advocates, who believed a pandemic-era border closure was compelling parents to send unaccompanied children, sometimes called U.C.s. "This is BS," Ms. Rice wrote, according to a copy of the memo reviewed by The Times. "What is leading to 'voluntary' separation is our generosity to UCs!"

It's a damning follow-on report from their earlier expose on February 27, and well worth reading the whole thing because it's one outrage after another  stories of NGOs trying to warn the government they were releasing kids into the hands of child labor rackets straight out of Upton Sinclair's 1903 bestseller, The Jungle, and going ignored if not penalized, while children were being used for cheap labor in factories, slaughterhouses, assembly lines, and other places kids shouldn't be working at under any circumstances. Yet they were and still are, often at graveyard hours, and of course at very low wages, sometimes absent wages because the children have "debts" to pay to human-traffickers. I wrote about the extent of that problem after the first NYT expose, here. This subsequent report pretty well shows that the matter is even worse.

As a coda, it's worth noting that there is a flap going on now about NBC News pulling a story about child migrant labor, which seems to be seeping into the mainstream press now that the Times has given a coast-is-clear signal to the other press. The broadcasting outlet featured a migrant named "Pedro" who claimed to be a child but wasn't a child, and he was the featured poster boy for the story about child labor exploitation. It was a lousy error, and they should have used a last name for their source, or found one who would give one, as the Times did, and the error does make the story an embarrassment. AT contributor Rajan Laad looked at that issue today here.

But it's important to note that the broad substance of the report is correct: there are tens of thousands of children being released into the U.S. for child labor purposes by Biden administration officials, who are trying to repress any criticism of their behavior. Might that have been part of the reason NBC pulled the story instead of just left it up, errors and all, the way most news outlets normally do, especially if it involves President Trump? It's worth consideration to think that the news honchos didn't like this story at all, as it cast a finger at the Bidenites, and wanted it out of there anyway. Funny how that happens to an inconvenient story like this.

Image: Screen shot from MSNBC video via YouTube.
Ten percent for "the Big Guy"? Yeah, right; more like, "12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and[/or] 37%."

See what the "Big Guy" said on Twitter this morning:

Under President Bidens leadership, weve made real progress towards a fairer tax system.



His budget will continue this progress by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.



And, no one earning less than $400,000 will see their taxes go up by one penny. pic.twitter.com/ejMbxdPuC4  The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 20, 2023

As I'm sure many of us are painfully aware, that was a lie  I certainly don't make $400,000 a year, and I took a massive hit on Tuesday, which was a marked change from years past.

Oddly enough, income tax is eerily similar to the protection fee demanded by organized crime syndicates; for the Sicilian mafia, this extorted chunk of cash is known as "pizzo." From an online encyclopedia:

A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from violence, robbery, ransacking, arson, vandalism, and other such threats, in exchange for payments at regular intervals.

So long as you make your payments at regular intervals, nobody gets hurt, right?

What's worse is that my federal extortion payment was only the beginning: I also forfeited state income tax for the months I lived in Arizona, and now I'll spend the rest of the year paying a litany of other taxes. See below:

List of Illegal taxes that we pay. Just STOP! pic.twitter.com/9sn1vWkZOW  Kinetic 17 (@MaggieBower17) April 3, 2023

Shortly after President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December of 2017, I had a conversation with a left-wing family member, and it went exactly as you'd expect.

As an open borders, socialist/communist (adopted identities she wouldn't even be able to define), "educated" Democrat, of course she hated President Trump and everything he did; certainly, the new tax code was "unfair" because all the other teachers in her left-wing school said so, and instead of her usual refund, she actually owed money to the government.

First off, I tried to explain that when she would receive a "refund," it just meant that the federal government was using her money interest-free, and she was simply getting a portion of her own money back (and, given her circumstances, nothing more). She didn't get it.

I then asked how much she made, and showed her that prior to the tax cuts, she was in the 25% tax bracket, but now, thanks to President Trump, she was paying only 22%. Her response? The predictable pivot of a leftist caught looking like an idiot: "Well, that still seems high." I replied, "Well, yes, it should be zero percent, but all those government programs you love so much cost real money." Again, the concept eluded her. (Democrat voters remain hopelessly thick-headed.)

Since I don't make anywhere near the 37% tax bracket, I've never really done the math, but lying in bed the other night, I discovered that someone making $500,000 a year would have $185,000 shaved off the top immediately. I was awake for hours. (Leftists and the fallout of their stupid ideas literally keep me up at night!) I should have known, though, because a few years back, my father-in-law (a retired orthopedic surgeon) calculated that he worked an average of four straight months out of every year just to cover his federal "pizzo" payment. This is beyond criminal.

Make Americans Free Again!

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Senator John Fetterman deserves our compassion for his struggles with the after-effects of his stroke. But compassion is not a sufficient basis for keeping a seat in the United States Senate in the hands of someone incapable of discharging the duties thereof. As Senator Fetterman demonstrated in his return to duties after five weeks of hospitalization for depression:

Its clear why Fetterman was admitted to Walter Reed.



This is him recovered. pic.twitter.com/P3oX2AVwFv  Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) April 19, 2023

Even if the senator's disability is limited to audio processing as claimed, how can a representative of the people of Pennsylvania function effectively with this disability? He can't listen to constituents or debate in what is called "the world's greatest deliberative body" without a trace of irony.

I am angry that the Democrats and the senator's wife put him in this position. He should be, but isn't, angry, too.

Rand Paul is a good man, and a dedicated physician. He has compassion for his colleague:

Funny wins over stupid. Great response from the senator from PA.



I say: Lay off Fettermans health and talk about policyTheres lots of material that doesnt attack someones misfortune. https://t.co/YJTq1IGWJg  Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 19, 2023

But what about compassion for the people of Pennsylvania? I suppose the response is that they voted for him even when his disability was obvious. Perhaps so, but thanks to the vast changes on voting  essentially eliminating Election Day in favor of universal absentee voting  many who voted for him had no exposure to his debate performance or other indications of his real health.

Democrats can't wait to be rid of Dianne Feinstein, who is also incapable of performing her duties. They know that in California, her replacement will be farther to the left. There is no such guarantee in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro would appoint a replacement who would then run in 2024 for the remainder of Fetterman's term. In what could be a bad year for Democrats, the GOP could pick up the seat.

Speaking of compassion, keep your eyes on the young man sitting behind and to the left of Fetterman, as he seems to be helplessly trying to telepathically will the senator into coherence.



Twitter video screen grab.
In a bid to distance himself from the mass French domestic pension protests, President Macron detoured last week to a three-day escape to Communist China. The well intended foreign distraction that his aides may have hoped for instead turned out to be a faulty and gravely mistaken venture.

Macron's foreign trip and messaging to the CCP-ruled China was a disastrous gamble on the part of Macron's courtiers. The China visit turned out to be both an embarrassment and damaging, if not ruinous, to the overriding strategic unity of the Western democracies!

Last week's widely distributed free "China Daily" newspaper (with a claimed English language-circulation of 900,000) of Macron's much quoted proCCP China declarations made Macron into a new Chinese Star. Thursday's China Daily Headline: "Macron Urges Europe to Reduce Dependence on U.S."

This brings to mind Joseph Stalin's rhetorical reply (when told the pope opposed Russia's actions): "How many divisions has the pope?" France has merely two (but good) army divisions: the 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions. In contrast, in Europe alone, the United States Army has at least seven combat-ready divisions: 1st, 3rd, 36th Infantry Divisions; 82 Airborne Division; and 2nd Armored Division. It appears Macron is punching above his weight class.

Macron is prominently quoted by the Chinese paper. For example:

1. "There is a mutual attraction between France and China, a fascination, a friendship, a singular journey." (Commentator's note: "A Singular Journey" indeed!)

2. "There is a great motivation for more cooperation and development in Sino-French relations."

The Thursday (April 13) New York Times cited Ms. Von der Leven (head of the European Commission), also on a visit to China during the same timeframe, making much harsher statements and correcting President Macron on his new China initiative. The head of the European Commission said, "Europe could soon take a harder line on China. ... That would further align Europe with the views in the United States."

Noteworthy is POLITCO's headline: "Macron's Chinese Remarks Are a 'Disaster' for Europe, EU."

The core blunder of Macron's China visit and its disastrous repercussions (as Macron continues to double down on his new French initiative) is the much sought after "strategic wedge" the totalitarian Chinese and Russian regimes have long sought  a wedge to finally divide the democracies of the Western alliance.

Emmanuel Macron may prove to be their boy, "their wedge."



Right this way, Monsieur le President (YouTube screen grab, cropped).
Leftists lack the courage of their convictions, almost every time.

It is easy for them to claim they hold to some beliefs, but it's something else entirely for them to have the courage to stand by such beliefs.

To take but one example, during the Vietnam War, thousands of hippies dodged the draft by moving to and living in Canada. If they truly believed their stance was right, why didn't they stay to face the courts? It was easier for them to talk about their convictions, but something else entirely to prove them to others, the way Muhammad Ali, who also dodged the draft, did.

I disagree with everything Ali stood for. But I do admire that he had the courage of his convictions. He was willing to risk everything, including his career, because he truly believed that Vietnam was wrong.

There are other examples. Environmentalists make demands of others for the sake of "saving the Earth" without giving up a single luxury. They aren't living off the grid the way the Amish do. They would rather travel and use modern technology, since it would take true conviction to live without modern conveniences. If they had an ounce of courage, they would at least boycott the world's biggest polluter, which is China.

And in this modern day, there are still more examples.

Wealthy leftists, like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, claim that people like them should be taxed more, yet they have never sent more to Uncle Sam than legally required. There is no law stating that people cannot pay more in taxes than the law requires. Both could have sent extra money at any time. It is easier for them, and other wealthy leftists, to talk about being taxed more rather than live by their convictions.

The not so wealthy Bernie Sanders, who barely breaks the millionaire bar, has three houses. Rather than live by what he demands, taxing wealthy people, to support his socialist causes, he spends his wealth on himself. He lives the way he accuses other wealthy people of living.

If he had the courage of his convictions, he could have sent his wealth to the federal government via taxation beyond what he owes or open a homeless shelter.

Leftists show no more courage regarding people here illegally than as they do any other belief.

In September of last year, Florida governor DeSantis sent 50 illegal aliens to Martha's Vineyard. Rather than take them in, the migrants were kicked out. I guess the wealthy who live there just couldn't find the room in their mansions.

The Obamas' mansion at Martha's Vineyard has seven bedrooms, with a property large enough to host hundreds. He could have taken some of the illegal aliens, but that would have required him to let them onto his property, which did not happen. It is easier to talk up convictions than act on them.

When it comes to the homeless, leftists talk a big game without ever doing anything to help the homeless, which brings a problem of human and animal waste onto the sidewalks and streets, as San Francisco has been experiencing for years.

Exposure to raw sewage is a serious health concern that San Franciscans deal with every day  not just for the homeless, but all who live there. Nancy Pelosi is one of the wealthiest members of Congress, who could not be bothered to build bathrooms for the homeless to alleviate some of the problems the people of her district face.

Having courage of convictions requires more than words. Action is needed that is lacking in the vast majority of leftists. Speaking is easy; living by what is preached is not.

Bob Ryan is a writer who has an MBA. He is an American Christian Zionist who staunchly supports Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. He has been a weekly blogger at the Times of Israel since 2019.

Image: Picryl, public domain.
Now that we live in a political system run by the shadowy figures, we have to look to indirect indicators of what is really going on among our rulers. The people who decided that since Bernie Sanders would lose to Donald Trump in 2020, they would install dementia-afflicted three-time presidential loser Joe Biden as the Democrats' nominee, and manipulate election law to ensure that he was elected, signal to their media lackeys what their priorities are.

Much as Kremlinologists used to analyze the power dynamics of the ruling clique by observing who stood next to whom in the reviewing stands for May Day parades, we have to analyze the inner workings of our genuine rulers by watching what their flunkies in the media decide is and what isn't worth publicizing.

There is strong evidence that a decision has been made to ensure Biden does not run in 2024. Up until now, a vow of omerta (silence) has been the guiding principle for handling news of Hunter Biden's criminality and the implication of his father in the scandals. The disgraceful dismissal and censorship of news of his laptop is still a vivid memory. But yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran an exclusive story about an IRS whistleblower who said that their probe is being mishandled. This is potentially explosive news.

But instead of receiving the Laptop from Hell treatment, the exclusive story was widely picked up by corporate media:

CBS:

In Hunter Biden tax investigation, IRS agent requests whistleblower protections to talk about "political considerations

Washington Post:

Whistleblower claims administration is mishandling probe of Biden's son

CNN:

IRS agent seeks whistleblower protections to share allegations of mishandling in Hunter Biden probe

NBC:

IRS agent wants whistleblower protections to discuss Hunter Biden probe

Newsweek:

IRS Whistleblower's Hunter Biden Allegations Add Fuel to James Comer's Fire

Perhaps these stories are aimed at persuading Jill Biden that the price of pressing forward with re-election plans will be high for all members of the family.

Meanwhile, watch for Susan Rice to become more visible as a real power in the White House.

Hat tip: David Kahn.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.
Recently, NBC News and Noticias Telemundo published a series of reports on minors working for Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) cleaning slaughterhouses in the Midwest, as well as a piece about workers using stolen identities to obtain jobs at PSSI.

In the U.S., it's illegal for minors to work in certain dangerous jobs, and this includes slaughterhouses.

Back in February, the Labor Department detailed an investigation that found that at least 102 children ages 1317 were illegally employed by PSSI across 13 facilities in eight states. The children work with hazardous chemicals and equipment such back saws, brisket saws, and head splitters  often on overnight shifts.

The department said investigators learned that three minors suffered injuries while working for PSSI, including one 13-year-old who suffered chemical burns.

The company paid $1.5 million in civil penalties for the employment of children in facilities across Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Texas.

NBC recently carried a report that a 16-year-old boy named Pedro works at the slaughterhouse. The report claimed that Pedro is responsible for hauling away animal parts in a cart and scrubbing blood off the floor and cleaning machines with harsh chemicals and that his work hours are 11 P.M. to 6 A.M.

"Although the job is hard, dangerous and tiring, he fears losing his paycheck would put him and his family in Guatemala in an impossible situation. Pedro said he used a false identity to get the job," said the report.

Days after the reports aired, PSSI sent NBC News a videotaped interview the company conducted with Pedro in which he said he is not a minor.

NBC News also asked Pedro to reconfirm his age, and he said it was "hard for me to explain." NBC News and Noticias Telemundo then traveled to Guatemala and obtained official documentation showing that he is 21.

The report turned out to be a complete falsehood.

NBC News was compelled to retract the story and issue a corrigendum.

NBC News revealed "that Pedro is an illegal alien and presenting as a minor at the border made it easier for him to enter the country under current U.S. immigration policies." The Biden administration issued him documentation based on that false information.

NBC News, perhaps unwillingly, revealed how easy it is to cross Biden's open border and enter the U.S. by understating one's age.

Pedro is most likely an asylum-seeker. He was set free into the U.S., and he made his way to Kansas and had taken up a job meant for citizens. This is why the left was, once upon a time, against open borders.

In 2015, during an interview when Bernie Sanders was asked about open borders, Sanders curtly replied, "That's a Koch brothers proposal." He added,

The idea is a right-wing scheme meant to flood the US with cheap labor and depress wages for native-born workers. I think from a moral responsibility, we've got to work with the rest of the industrialized world to address the problems of international poverty," he conceded, "but you don't do that by making people in this country even poorer.

This was the Marxist position. But Sanders is singing a very different tune lately.

There is a bright side to this Pedro story: at least he doesn't seem to belong to the criminal variety of illegals, which would place citizens in peril. But it would appear that even the criminal variety won't find it impossible to enter.

The open borders are impeachable offenses on the part of Joe Biden and Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

Now we look at NBC News's blunder.

We are once again reminded why the late, great Rush Limbaugh referred to them as drive-by media. They break news or carry reports that cause a sensation. They spread falsehoods, ruin reputations, and inflame the situation. By the time facts emerge, they have either moved on to the next story or selectively present facts to hide their mendacity.

In this case, NBC News did retract its story.

But as always, the sensational lie travels halfway across the world while the boring truth gets it socks on.

The root cause of these repeated failures is that news organizations no longer consider reporting facts to be their function. Instead, they exist to propagate the Narrative. For any given report, they have already arrived at their conclusions. They then merely work their way backwards to accommodate fact selectively or fabricate using anonymous sources.

Perhaps in this case the narrative is that evil corporations exploit children.

Any story that gets published is subjected to a series of reviews and fact-checks. But if every reviewer suffers from the same bias, a review is pointless.

In this case, a simple call to PSSI would have exposed the facts. But their goal was to cause a sensation and not enlighten with facts. They have even cultivated an audience that only want their biases confirmed.

They also know that if caught, they will not receive much punishment.

The way PSSI has been targeted by the media and Biden's Labor Department (yes, they were guilty of engaging underaged employees, but doubtless other businesses violate law without the news causing headlines), you would be forgiven for thinking that they could be connected to President Trump or the GOP. Perhaps in this case PSSI can sue NBC News the way Dominion sued Fox News?

As consumers, you have no choice but to presume that all that you see in the news media is false until proven true.
What kind of backwards cretin takes issue with deactivated firearms, but sees no problem with men in hypersexual drag demanding "visibility" in front of audiences made up exclusively of children?

An average American leftist, that's who.

Last week, the National Rifle Association hosted its annual convention in Indianapolis, and the event elicited a flurry of anger and self-righteous folly from leftist ideologues and their media allies  in attempts to paint pro-gun Americans as hypocrites and child predators, the left-wing parrots played themselves.

One headline decried the fact that "kids as young as six" were permitted to handle "real firearms"  oh, so now six is too "young" to be exposed to certain concepts and realities? Six is too "young" to learn about firearm safety, but not too "young" to watch erotic performances by pedophilic freaks?

Several other outlets echoed one another, implying grave irresponsibility on behalf of the NRA for the wording of the convention's digital invite. It read:

Make plans now to join fellow Second Amendment patriots for a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family!

Apparently, "family friendly" was a bridge too far. Shannon Watts, the founder of anti-gun and anti-American activist group Moms Demand Action, said:

Responsible gun owners and parents would not allow a child to put their finger on a firearm's trigger while pointing it at other people  even if they're props.

(It's unclear to what she is referring.) Watts actually thinks she has the moral high ground on what kind of parents are "responsible"? It's worth noting, Watts has a "non-binary kid," and in the aftermath of the Nashville school shooting, she said:

[T]he list of what gun extremists have blamed for mass shootings keeps growing: violent video games, mental health, not enough doors, too many doors, and now gender identity.

Additionally, Watts accused the NRA of having a bloodthirsty agenda, suggesting that the organization has no interest in teaching responsible gun ownership, but rather only wants to "market guns and gun extremism to a new generation."

So the "trans" lobby isn't predatory, but the gun lobby is? Got it.

Just one day after the above-mentioned "trans" terrorist targeted Christian children for execution, I actually had an appointment at a frame shop in Belle Meade. When the framer with whom I worked brought up the tragedy, she said, "There's just no reason anyone needs a machine gun." I corrected her, noting that the weapons were in fact not machine guns, but rather a semi-automatic. As expected, she had no idea what the difference was.

"Jane Doe" at the frame shop, Shannon Watts, these leftists are all the same  uninformed and sanctimonious. They pursue the most wicked and abusive realities, protect the Sodomites and Moloch-worshipers, but villainize inanimate objects...all the while citing their concern "for the children."

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Unexpectedly and unintentionally, the hiring of Dylan Mulvaney as a celebrity endorser of Bud Light has provided a clarifying moment for conservatives. Two prominent Trump administration veterans have emerged as embodiments of the two strategic options that Republican officeholders and activists have traditionally embraced:

Defer to major donors because "money is the mother's milk of politics." Go scorched earth on those who side with the forces trying to destroy our culture, society, and/or economy.

It appears to me that while option 1 characterized the GOP establishment for decades (see, for example, border enforcement, with big corporate donors favoring cheap labor via illegal immigration), the GOP base is now convinced that option 2 is required. The reason: It is utterly clear that the other side plays scorched earth, so there is no advantage in restraint. The underlying premise is that the left intends to make permanent the "fundamental change" that Barack Obama promised if the Democrats control Congress and the Oval Office starting in January 2025. They are playing for keeps now, with censorship, a dual system of justice, and outright totalitarian political oppression in prospect.

A couple of days ago, Donald Trump, Jr. was advocating for option 1 to deal with Bud Light's parent company: "Donald Trump Jr. calls for an end to the conservative-led boycott of Bud Light and 'iconic' Anheuser-Busch over a partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney."

Donald Trump Jr. is calling for the end of a conservative-led boycott against Bud Light, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, over the parent company's partnership with the trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (snip) "I'm not for destroying an American, an iconic company, for something like this. The company itself doesn't participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates," he said, arguing that Anheuser-Busch had a conservative lean in their political donations. According to OpenSecrets, Anheuser-Busch and individuals affiliated with the company donated $514,375 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2022 election cycle; individuals with ties to the company also gave $464,505 to the National Republican Congressional Committee for the same cycle. "Frankly, they don't participate in the same woke garbage that other people in the beer industry actually do, who are significantly worse offenders when I looked into it," he continued. "But if they do this again, then it's on them! Then, screw them."

A year or two ago, there would have been lots of nodding heads agreeing with this view. But I am sure that Don Jr. was surprised at the extent and intensity of the blowback he received.

So, IF you give the GOP enough money the company can do anything they want to society. Check. https://t.co/35FGpDhhJW  Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) April 16, 2023

Dont ever give money to the @GOP . Gutless wonders. Always. https://t.co/o4FacSWkhA  NPP Lincoln (@LincolnFresno) April 16, 2023

We have them on the ropes right now.



And then...this? https://t.co/arYXJ69lEg  Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) April 14, 2023

Yesterday, Stephen Miller's group, America First Legal, announced:

America First Legal Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against Anheuser-Busch for Illegal, Racist, and Sexist Hiring Practices Today, America First Legal (AFL), as part of its initiative under the Center for Legal Equality, filed a federal civil rights complaint against Anheuser-Busch requesting that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) open a civil rights investigation of Anheuser-Busch's systemic and discriminatory hiring, promotion, and job-training employment practices. Under the cloak of "equity," woke companies like Anheuser-Busch proudly discriminate based on race, color, national origin, and sex in their employment practices. For example, Anheuser-Busch created a Leadership Accelerator Program that provides "formal mentorship, executive interaction, and leadership development curriculum for those who identify with historically underrepresented groups as they join our organization in a full-time capacity." Only specific individuals of specified races, colors, and national origins  notably excluding White and Asian Americans  are invited to apply: In Anheuser-Busch's 2022 Annual Report, the company highlights its "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" initiative as a "global priority for AB InBev's Senior Leadership Team." The company created a Global DEI "Council", chaired by its CEO, "dedicated to collaborating on impactful decisions and championing DEI at the highest levels of the organization." This "DEI" initiative, however, appears to be nothing more than a vehicle to implement race, national origin, and sex quotas in hiring and promotion.

Notice that this attack corners A-B as violating civil rights law in order to be "woke." One the one hand, this is not at all different from almost any other big corporation, who all have surrendered to the pressures for affirmative discrimination against heterosexual white males in particular, but more broadly against all who do not claim victim status. While dominant among the big institutions, this approach is not popular among the public, and it is illegal according to the letter of civil rights laws.

I think conservatives as a whole have decided that the time to accept partial victories and revert to the posture of compromise has passed, and that even the GOP establishment sees that this is the case. Look at the behavior of even the likes of Senator Susan Collins in opposing the replacement of Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Republicans line up against replacing Feinstein on critical committee":

Praising Feinstein as a "trailblazing" senator, moderate Maine Republican Susan Collins said that "during the past two years, it has become crystal clear that there has been a concerted campaign to force her off the Judiciary Committee, and I will have no part in it."

The Democrats have been playing by UFC rules, while the Republicans, especially in the Senate, have been deluding themselves that the Marquess of Queensberry rules were the gentlemanly thing to do. I think that era is fading away so rapidly that even Don Jr. missed the signs.



Photo credit: Twitter screen grab (cropped).
Sarah Jones opened her piece with a verse from the Holy Bible, so its only fitting I do too:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

On April 8th, Intelligencer published an essay in which the author declared that the right-wing campaign for parental rights is nothing more than a Christian agenda to dehumanize and demean. According to Sarah Jones, Judeo-Christian moralists dont pursue the traditional family structure and the idea of childhood innocence because they care about people, its because they love treating people as chattel!

As I noted above, Jones begins her piece with an attack on Scripture, citing Proverbs 22:6. The Old Testament instruction encourages parents to train their children  of course for a God-hating leftist like Jones, this wisdom imparts:

A child can be broken, or stamped into shape, much like any domesticated animal.

She continues with this:

Authoritarianism is gospel to modern conservatives. Nowhere is that clearer than in their assaults on children.

Yes, you and I both read that right  per Jones, authoritarianism is a hallmark of the conservative set of beliefs, and the assault on children is being waged by conservatives.

Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of this:

This is utterly disgusting.



Camps indoctrinating kids as young as 7 with gender ideology and sexual confusion are now being promoted and subsidized by all government levels.https://t.co/Krk8D84QQL pic.twitter.com/JBsnD8tKHx  Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) March 31, 2023

Or this:

Where is the Border Czar, #KamalaHarris 



Rape Trees, Dead Migrants and the Consequences of an Unsecured Border.



Everyone profits from human trafficking. (10% for the Big Guy)

This should be a bipartisan issue.#ProtectTheChildren https://t.co/UM5oGTEvA6 pic.twitter.com/WTnGMmVzgZ     (@45LVNancy) April 19, 2023

Or this:

Libs: We know what is best for the kids trust us.



Also Libs male children: pic.twitter.com/V99rNUvYY1  Louis Uridel (@LouisUridel) April 18, 2023

Or this:

A 13-year old drag queen being cheered on by adults and his parents allowed this. Groomers everywhere.  #Brrrrrr pic.twitter.com/v4JokjJPdG  Louis Uridel (@LouisUridel) March 26, 2023

Or this:

Today, outside SCOTUS, we held up pictures of five viable babies killed by abortion right here in DC. The opposition turned their heads, refusing to acknowledge the five. America must know the truth. There must be justice for the five. #JusticeForTheFive



 @eternallystoked pic.twitter.com/lu3oywZQRT  Mark Lee Dickson (@MarkLeeDickson) June 27, 2022

Jones then writes, Conservative interest in the child extends beyond a traditional hostility to LGBT people and cites several instances, majority of which relate to child labor laws. Yet, no doubt Ms. Jones uses a computer and a smartphone; these electronics require cobalt, which is largely mined by children in horrendous environments. From Amnesty International:

The glamourous shop displays and marketing of state of the art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks.

Im curious, does Jones possibly advocate for the production of (or even use) electric vehicles? If I had to speculate, Id say the likelihood is high.

However, Joness most oblivious statement though had to be this:

Because parents own their children, they can dispose of the child as they see fit. They can deny them evidence-based medical care. They can put a child to work. They can make sure a child is sheltered from the dangers of a serious education. When a child goes hungry, thats because a parent isnt caring for their property  and what a person does with their property is their right. Like any piece of property, a child has value to conservative activists. They are key to a future the conservative wants to win. Parental rights are merely one path to the total capture of state power and the imposition of an authoritarian hierarchy on us all. So its no surprise that children have long been a fixation to the right wing.

Dispose of the child as they see fit. Isnt that the whole schtick of the abortion lobby and its seething mob? How many times have we all heard my body, my choice? Except, the babys body isnt the mothers body, and therefore, intentionally ending the life of the child is murder and the very definition of disposing of a child as one sees fit. As if you needed a reminder, refer back to the abortion victim images above  these children were literally thrown into the garbage after their execution.

And a childs value is limited to his/her use as a political pawn? Or could it possibly be that those who embrace the Judeo-Chrisitian morality  yes, the ones that Jones denigrates as sadistic abusers  believe in the preciousness of human life and childhood innocence?

Quite a bit of projection going on here, and this leftist writer simply galvanizes her reputation as one of the dullest and most delusional Democrats to date.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.




President Yoon Suk Yeol, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit at the latter's office in Tokyo, Japan in this March 16 photo. Korea Times file
The OnePlus Nord N30 5G is coming to the US, but as we wait for its launch, the phone paid a visit to the Google Play Console. Before we get to it, its not exactly a secret that the Nord N30 5G is actually the Nord CE 3 Lite which launched earlier this month. Its coming to the US under a different name.

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G popped up on Google Play Console ahead of US launch

Having said that, the Google Play Store listing does reveal some details about the device. The Snapdragon 695 SoC will fuel the device, while the phone will include 8GB of RAM. On top of that, its display resolution will be 2400 x 1080. Android 13 is also mentioned. Those are the exact same specs the Nord CE 3 Lite offers, so there you go.

Chances are the two phones will be entirely identical. So, even though the Google Play Console did not share the phones full spec sheet, we have a good idea as to what to expect.

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G will feature a 6.72-inch fullHD+ LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone will offer 128GB or 256GB of storage, which youll be able to expand via a microSD card.

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It will include a 108-megapixel main camera, and a 5,000mAh battery

A 108-megapixel main camera will be backed by a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth camera on the back. On the front, youll find a 16-megapixel selfie shooter.

A 5,000mAh battery will power the device, while 67W wired charging will be supported. The charger will be included in the box. The Nord N30 5G wont offer wireless charging, though, do note that.

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G launch date is still not official. So, we dont know when exactly will the phone launch, but the launch day is close by, that much is certain. OnePlus is expected to share more info soon.
The Pixel Tablet will launch during Google I/O next month, and the devices storage options have just been revealed, along with its pricing. This information comes from Roland Quandt, a well-known tipster.

The Pixel Tablet is coming, and its storage options and pricing have been revealed

He claims that the Pixel Tablet will arrive in 128GB and 256GB storage variants. He also mentioned Porcelain and Haze color options. And last, but not least, the tipster claims that the device will cost 600-650.

Now, when it comes to pricing, were not sure if he means that the 128GB storage options will cost 600 and the 256GB variant 650, or if hes still not sure on the price tag, and the 128GB storage model could cost 600. It remains to be seen.

Having said that, quite a bit of Pixel Tablet info surfaced a couple of days ago. A report suggested that the device will include 8GB of RAM. It also suggested that a dock will be included in the package.

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The device will come with the Google Tensor G2 SoC, and Android 13

The Google Tensor G2 SoC is expected to fuel this tablet, while Android 13 will come pre-installed. That report also suggested two storage options are coming, but it didnt detail them, unlike todays rumor.

It is said that the tablet will have an aluminum body with a nanoceramic finish akin to porcelain. That should provide you with a soft matte look and textured feel.

Now, the Pixel Tablet will become official on May 10. Thats when this years Google I/O keynote will be held. In addition to the Pixel Table, Google is also expected to announce the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold, and also talk about Android 14. Needless to say, this years Google I/O will be packed with announcements. Saying that Google will talk about its Bard AI is also a safe bet, actually.
Ever since the start of the AI revolution late last year, many AI companies have looked to Reddit to train their models as the platform is host to vast amounts of human interaction. Now, in an effort to stop these AI companies and using Reddits data for free, the platform has announced a new policy change, which will require companies to pay for using its API.

Although the company claims that its API access would remain free for developers who want to create apps and bots that help people use Reddit, the pricing for the API access for companies is still unclear. But reports suggest that Reddit could split the pricing into different tiers, depending on the requirements.

However, to help ensure that the platforms moderators can still access the API, Reddit is also developing dedicated moderation apps for Android and iOS, which will feature mod logs, rule management tools, mod queue information, and more.

Why is Reddits data important?

Reddits co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman believes the platform is a unique place on the internet that allows for genuine conversations, and there is a lot of valuable information which is not available elsewhere. He further explained that because of these unique propositions, Reddit would not give its value to companies like Google and OpenAI for free and that it is a good time for them to tighten things up.

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Moreover, the platform also aims to incorporate AI into its services, such as detecting and labeling AI-generated content to help notify users that a bot might have written a comment.

Reddits move to monetize its API is not surprising, considering AI is rapidly gaining popularity, and other platforms like Twitter have taken a similar stance. Furthermore, with rumors of Reddit going public this year, adding a new revenue stream would be a wise decision. By charging for API access, Reddit can monetize its data and ensure that its being used by companies that genuinely value it.
Of all the alternatives to ChatGPT, Google Bard and Bing AI are some of the most powerful chatbots out there. Having tested both of them, I can say that they walk the line between impressive and downright scary in their capabilities. They seem like proper stand-ins for ChatGPT except theyre not. [Disclaimer: We know that Bing AI is based on ChatGPT. However, Microsoft made considerable alterations to it. Its basically a different chatbot entirely. You can learn more if you click here.]

On the surface, that wouldnt really seem like the case. All three of them can perform some insane AI wizardry that makes us fear Skynet. If youre looking for simple encyclopedia information, tips/advice, or bits of code, any one of them will suit you just fine. Theyre basically indistinguishable from one another in that respect.

Once you start digging beneath the surface, you begin to see certain differences between, not only the capabilities, but the underlying mentalities between ChatGPT and the other two chatbots. These differences are such that you wont find yourself deleting ChatGPT from your bookmarks in lieu of the others.

Why Bard and Bing AI arent proper ChatGPT alternatives

So, regardless of what chatbot you use, youll have a ton of power at your fingertips. As stated before, you can type in a query to get pretty much anything. Google Bard and Bing AI excel at digging up information from the web- obviously, theyre tied to massive search engines.

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You can also generate short stories, bits of code, scripts, and so on. So, whats the big deal? Well, it has a lot to do with the core mentality behind these chatbots. OpenAI crafted ChatGPT for the purpose of pushing AI forward. Its a ship charting the open seas.

With that comes the incentive to make ChatGPT the best and most-featured chatbot on the face of the planet. I could get a sense of that while testing it out. This goes beyond serving up information. Its able to generate a wide range of content, and its meant to do so in a conversational manner.

Google Bard and Bing AI are soldiers at birth

So, thats what ChatGPT is, but what is Bing AI? Its Microsofts attempt to battle Google in the search engine market. What is Bard? Its Googles attempt to keep Google Search from going under. The mentality behind these two chatbots is more competitive and urgent.

Microsoft jumped on ChatGPT to push Bing to new heights, not artificial intelligence. As for Google, the company brought Bard to the public as a response to ChatGPT. Both Bard and Bing AI are soldiers at birth to battle some assault on their respective companies. Thats very different from ChatGPT.

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This is evident in how these chatbots present their responses. Bard and Bing AI primarily exist to serve you search results, pull facts, and keep you on the search engines.

At this point, Bing AI is the biggest example of this. When you type in certain responses, it will actually perform a Bing search to deliver results. There were times in my testing when it would pull up search results that I could click on. For example, I asked it for advice on how to swaddle a baby, and it gave me search results for baby blankets. That sling-shots you over to using the Bing search engine.

Right now, Google Bard isnt heavily tied to Google search, but there is a Google It button at the end of each of the responses. At the time of this writing, Bard is still in the testing stage, so it still remains to be known how Googles going to further advance it.

Falling short

So, Bard and Bing AI are champions when it comes to pulling information from the ether, but thats not the only reason why AI chatbots are such a hot topic. Its about what they can produce. While morally shaky, people can produce all sorts of content with these three chatbots.

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While you can generate written content with Bard and Bing AI, ChatGPT beats them by a long shot. I asked Bard to write a review of the Pixel 7 Pro, and it gave me a rundown of the specs with a little bit of filler text.

ChatGPT, however, attempted to make it an actual review with a proper introduction, conclusion, and opinions. Also, it also added some humanizing text like The Pixel 7 Pros camera is where the device truly shines and the Google Pixel 7 Pro is an excellent device that checks all the boxes for a flagship smartphone. Bing AI didnt even write a review.

This is the main theme that pervades most of the other tests that I performed. I asked all three chatbots to write a script about a couple who goes through a tornado warning. ChatGPTs was the longest and it had the most developed lines. Its also the only chatbot that could actually write a eulogy.

I even sparked up a casual conversation with all three, and ChatGPT is the one that stayed on topic the best. If I type something like I had a great day today, ChatGPT would ask why it was great. BingAI and Bard would say something along the lines of Thats great to hear ok next topic.

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Basically, all of these chatbots use artificial intelligence, but ChatGPTs is more, well, intelligent.

Each chatbot has its purpose

So, Google Bard and Bing AI are two powerful chatbots with a lot to offer, but their purposes were written even before the first bits of code were being put together. Theyre meant to help their companies fight for dominance in the tech industry and not much more. Thus, theyre heavily optimized to be search engine counterparts, not digital Swiss army knives.

As time passes, Google Bard and Bing AI will, indeed, become more advanced, but the core mentality driving the and them developers will always be market dominance. Because of this, they just arent proper replacements for ChatGPT.
President Yoon Suk Yeol drinks water during an interview with Reuters at the presidential office in Seoul, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap



South Korea's military aid could be discussed in Washington next week: experts



By Jung Min-ho



Since President Yoon Suk Yeol said in Wednesday's Reuters interview that Seoul was open to the possibility of providing military aid to Kyiv in its war with Moscow, critics have slammed him for making another diplomatic blunder while answering a hypothetical question he did not have to respond to.



But some analysts told The Korea Times Thursday that his response may have been a highly calculated one ahead of next week's Seoul-Washington summit, in which he and U.S. President Joe Biden are expected to discuss South Korea's possible extension of support for Ukraine.



"Officials in Washington quickly welcomed Yoon's comment on Ukraine, which got me thinking that perhaps he said so as part of some sort of mutual understanding with Washington," said Hyun Seung-soo, an expert on Russia at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a think tank.



Yoon said in the interview that large-scale attacks on civilians or serious violations of the laws of war could push South Korea to provide something beyond humanitarian or financial support to Ukraine.









Kim Joon-hyung, a professor of international relations at Handong Global University, said he believes Yoon made the remark to "see and assess" the reaction here ahead of the April 26 summit.



"I have expressed worries that South Korea's extension of support for Ukraine could be part of the main agenda at the meeting. Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Washington has relentlessly pressed Seoul to do so while offering alternative forms of support other than sending the country ammunition directly," Kim said.



"Will Yoon take further steps to help Ukraine? I do not know. Perhaps it depends on South Koreans' reactions."



So far, the reactions have been negative. Since the release of Yoon's remarks, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has been excoriating him for raising geopolitical risks for South Korea by "making Russia an enemy."



"Yoon should retract his comment about the possibility of supporting Ukraine militarily. The president cannot make such critical decisions over national security without the consent of the people and the National Assembly," Rep. Park Hong-keun, the DPK's floor leader, said during a meeting.





Artillerymen of Ukraine's 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade rest their rifles against their car on the front line near Bakhmut in Donetsk region, April 18. AFP-Yonhap
A man has been found guilty of killing his wife in a ferocious knife attack after she secretly recorded his violent abuse on her mobile phone.

Asim Hasan had claimed he did not intend to seriously harm Aaisha Hasan when he stabbed her 36 times at the family home in Canning Town, east London, on May 19 2022.

On Thursday, a jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for just an hour and a half to reject the 33-year-olds defence and find him guilty of murder.

In the weeks leading up to 34-year-old Mrs Hasans death, the couple rowed over money, the defendants behaviour and his accusation that she was having an affair.

Asim Hasan has been found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of murdering his wife Aaisha in a ferocious and savage knife attack (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Mrs Hasan had become sufficiently scared of her husband that she began recording him on her phone and shared her fears with friends on WhatsApp, prosecutor Joel Smith told the court.

In a folder on her phone labelled Hidden, Mrs Hasan stored images, including of a black eye and cuts to her face, taken after Hasan was violent in February, April and 11 days before she died in May.

Last May 9, she sent a desperate WhatsApp message to friends, which Mr Smith said was particularly chilling, jurors heard.

In it, she voiced fears that he would have killed me but for the presence of others in the house.

Mrs Hasan wrote: I dont want to call the police on him coz this can get him into serious trouble. I just want him out the house now. I dont feel safe.

The next day, Hasan continued to accuse his wife of cheating despite her repeated denials, according to one recording.

A neighbour alerted police but, because Mrs Hasan appeared well and made no complaint, the matter was not taken further, the jury was told.

In another recording, Mrs Hasan accused her husband of hitting her and said: The next time you will kill me. The next time you will kill me, I dont want that.

On the morning of May 19, Hasan called 999 and told the operator: I just stabbed my wife.

Mrs Hasan suffered 36 wounds in the ferocious and really quite savage attack, Mr Smith said.

One stab was inflicted with such force it cut a wedge of bone from her skull, he said.

Police and paramedics arrived at the couples home to find Mrs Hasan lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood, and she was pronounced dead at 7.20am.

A black-handled kitchen knife, which the defendant allegedly used, was found on the cooker.

After being arrested and interviewed by police, Hasan allegedly said: I am guilty and you can charge me.

Mr Smith told jurors that, in a cruel twist, Hasan was the one looking to have an extramarital affair, contacting a woman on a Muslim dating site days before his wifes death.

Following the unanimous guilty verdict, Judge Anthony Leonard remanded Hasan into custody and adjourned sentencing until May 25.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, of Scotland Yard, said: Hasan carried out a ferocious and savage attack on his wife, stabbing her at least 26 times.

Aaisha had tried to defend herself during Hasans frenzied attack, but she did not stand a chance against him.

Hasan had denied murdering Aaisha, claiming he had not intended to cause serious harm. Thankfully the jury disagreed and recognised the fact that you do not carry out a sustained, brutal attack such as that without, at the very least, intending to cause serious harm.
Alec Baldwin seemed to pay tribute to his wife and lawyer after the case over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was dismissed.

The Hollywood actor posted a photo of himself and his wife Hilaria Baldwin online, shortly after his lawyers released a statement on Thursday saying the case had been dismissed.

Baldwin had faced two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting on the New Mexico set of the Rust movie in October 2021.

The incident occurred after a prop gun held by Baldwin went off, killing Ms Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

The actor previously pleaded not guilty to both charges of involuntary manslaughter.

He captioned his Instagram post: I owe everything I have to this woman  (and to you, Luke).

The Hollywood actor has been defended by lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro throughout proceedings.

In a statement shared with the PA news agency, Mr Nikas and Mr Spiro said they were pleased with the decision and encouraged a proper investigation into the tragic incident.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident, the statement read.

The Santa Fe District Attorneys Office has been approached for comment regarding the cases dismissal.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before a preliminary hearing in the case in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was to be determined whether there was enough evidence to take it to trial.

Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, had previously stepped down from the case.

A photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (Andres Leighton/AP)

Their decisions came after much back-and-forth between the two sides, with Baldwins lawyers arguing that Ms Reebs involvement was unconstitutional due to her elected position in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

In turn the DAs office had accused Baldwin of using his fancy attorneys to distract from the gross negligence in the case.

The actor was formally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter by the DA in February, alongside the films armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

The first charge required proof of underlying negligence and included the misdemeanour charge of negligent use of a firearm.

The second charge included a firearm enhancement, which would have made the crime punishable by a mandatory five years in jail.

Alec Baldwin speaks to officers (Santa Fe County Sheriff/PA)

The enhancement was later dropped by the DA after Baldwins lawyers argued that it was unlawful, and said prosecutors had committed an unconstitutional and elementary legal error.

In the statement of probable cause, filed alongside the charges, the DA accused Baldwin of showing wilful disregard for the safety of others in the days leading up to the shooting.

His reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused Ms Hutchins death, the DA had alleged.

Baldwin also faces a separate civil lawsuit, filed on February 9 by the family of Ms Hutchins.

The family is suing the actor and the Rust movie production company for alleged battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and loss of consortium.

Loss of consortium is a claim which seeks to recover compensation for damage to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.

Thursdays development coincided with the resumption of production on the movie, which has begun again in the US state of Montana.

Legal representatives for Rust Movie Productions stressed that all use of working weapons or ammunition is, and always has been, prohibited on set.
Director Baz Luhrmann said he has just started a creative, metaphorical methadone programme to move on from his last film, Elvis.

Released in 2022, the biopic starred Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and was nominated for eight Academy Awards and nine Baftas.

Australian director Luhrmann  whose previous films include The Great Gatsby and Romeo + Juliet  told the PA news agency he has only just started to extricate himself from the world he built for Elvis.

He said: I live the movies. I build a world, I bring everyone into the world.

Luhrmann, left, with Elvis star Austin Butler (PA)

Now, he said he is just starting the journey of getting out of Elvis.

He continued: I have to debrief out of it; it doesnt just happen like that, Ive got to deconstruct it and myself.

This happens after every film Luhrmann makes, in what he refers to as the methadone programme.

After Moulin Rouge! was released in 2001, Luhrmann went on the Trans-Siberian Railway to help himself move on.

I go on a journey, I deal with my own self, he said. On that train trip, he listened to an audiobook: It was The Great Gatsby.

(I thought) that could be a great movie, and that buoyed my spirits and I made the movie.

Luhrmanns directorial style is bright and colourful (PA)

Luhrmanns version of F Scott Fitzgeralds novel was released in 2013 and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.

The director said his work is a way of self-medicating.

He said: If I get into a dark place personally, Im probably not able to be creative, but I have to create my way out of that.

Creativity  when youre doing it at a high end  its like self-medicating. You see that in Elvis (Presley), you see that in any artist. Theyre somewhat treating themselves for something thats bothered them early on.

Luhrmanns next project is the release of Faraway Downs, a six-part series that he called a variation on the film Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, originally released in 2008.

Luhrmann with his wife Catherine Martin at the Met Gala (PA)

There will probably be a lot of outrage that Ive done what Ive done, Luhrmann said of the new series, but he said he has learned not to let criticism bother him.

Those that comment on movies, in general, have never really got mine. They find theres always something that bothers them about it, which is fine. I know Im making movies in a particular way and Ive got an audience to connect with.

So my job is to jump over those that might be trying to club your movie to death like a baby seal before it gets out there.

Luhrmanns cinematic style is characteristically opulent, fast-paced and colourful. But could that be about to change?

I have invented my own cinematic language. I consciously did it and now I consciously cant escape it, he said.

Im getting to a point where Im expected  and Im going to maybe flip the coin and put myself in creative danger.

Thats always a healthy thing. But I dont know if I can truly escape because I think it is actually who I am.

Luhrmann with the stars of Moulin Rouge!  Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor  in 2001 (PA)

I tell stories the way I am.

Luhrmanns other great passion is helping young talent flourish across the arts.

He is working with Bombay Sapphire on an installation of thousands of art pieces submitted on social media by people all over the world, proving the directors belief that everyone is inherently creative.

He also cites The Daniels  filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who directed Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once  as newer voices that excite him.

Love the picture, love them. I saw a lot of them on the campaign trail. Theres a lot of cool things happening.
Outsourcing firm and government contractor Capita said customer, supplier or colleague data may have been accessed by hackers in a recent cyber attack on the firm.

The group  a major contractor for local authorities  said investigations since the hack was discovered on March 31 have shown evidence of a limited data breach.

It said this might include customer, supplier or colleague data.

Capita continues to work through its forensic investigations and will inform any customers, suppliers or colleagues that are impacted in a timely manner, it said.

Capita said it has restored staff access to Microsoft Office 365 after the attack, which was announced on April 3.

It marks the latest in a recent spate of cyber attacks, with high street retailer WH Smith suffering its second hack in less than a year last month and Royal Mails international postal service suffering lengthy disruption after hackers targeted the group.

When announcing the attack earlier this month, Capita said there had been disruption to some services provided to clients, by primarily affecting access to internal Microsoft Office 365 applications.

Companies that use Capita for call centre services, such as O2, were affected, it is understood.

Local authorities, such as Barnet Council in London, also said the IT issue impacted some customer service lines.

Capita insisted the majority of its client services were unaffected and remained in operation and that it has now restored virtually all client services that were impacted.

It said: In parallel with the services restoration activity, Capita has continued to work closely and at speed with specialist advisers and forensic experts in investigating the incident to provide assurance around any potential customer, supplier or colleague data exfiltration.

The group said its investigations so far suggest hackers first breached its systems on or around March 22, which it discovered and interrupted on March 31.

About 4% of its server estate was affected, it said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Russian President Vladimir Putin



Moscow feared to freeze South Korean companies' assets there



By Nam Hyun-woo



Relations between South Korea and Russia are deteriorating rapidly. Moscow has made thorny responses to President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks that Seoul may provide military aid to Ukraine if there is a situation that the international community cannot condone.



Apparently, South Korea made the shift in its Ukraine policy seeing greater benefits from answering U.S. and European calls to provide military support to Kyiv rather than maintaining lukewarm relations with Russia. However, Moscow's angry responses have cast a cloudy outlook on the diplomatic circumstances in Northeast Asia.



The South Korean presidential office said Thursday that Yoon's comments during Wednesday's interview with Reuters were addressing "principles based on common sense," and "Russia's future actions will determine how South Korea will make follow-up measures."



"What Yoon said in the interview was an expression of South Korea's efforts in a hypothetical situation, where there are major massacres or humanitarian issues that the international community cannot condone," the official said.



"The Russian government made comments on what didn't happen, and this means how South Korea will think about this issue depends on Russia's actions down the road."



The comments came after the Kremlin said on Wednesday that South Korea has adopted "an unfriendly position towards Moscow" and that supplying military aid to Ukraine would "signify a certain involvement in the conflict."



Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, also wrote on his Telegram channel that "I wonder what South Koreans will say when they see the latest Russian weapons are in the hands of their closest neighbors  our partners from North Korea," adding that "Quid pro quo," meaning "favor for favor."









This is not the first time that Russia showed sensitivity to South Korea's possible military aid to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year that the Seoul-Moscow relationship will be destroyed if South Korea arms Ukraine, pointing out how South Korea would react if Russia resumed cooperation with North Korea.



Given this background, Yoon's remarks are seen as an outcome of the South Korean government's decision that benefits from answering U.S. and European calls for the provision of military support are greater than those stemming from maintaining lukewarm relations with Russia.



Recently, Russia has been signaling closer relations with North Korea as part of its effort to resist U.S.-led organization. By drawing a line in its relations with Russia, Seoul can seek stronger leverage in persuading the international community to make greater efforts in countering Pyongyang's nuclear and missile ambitions.



Also, boosts in the South Korean defense industry's exports to NATO members could also be one of the benefits that Yoon has considered.



After he took office last year, South Korea has been strengthening its connections with the treaty organization. The president is promoting the defense industry as one of the country's export drivers. Against this backdrop, South Korean defense companies are scoring lucrative export deals with European countries.



On the other hand, South Korea's economic relations with Russia is stuck in a downward spiral. According to Korea International Trade Association, South Korea's trade with Russia stood at $21.14 billion in 2022, down 22.7 percent from a year earlier. Exports declined by 36.6 percent year-on-year at $6.33 billion, and the trade deficit has been continuing since 2009.





Hyundai Motor plant in Saint Petersburg in Russia / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor
The case against Alec Baldwin over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has been dismissed, his lawyers said.

The Hollywood actors lawyers said they were pleased with the decision and encouraged a proper investigation into the tragic incident.

Baldwin had faced two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting on the New Mexico set of the Rust movie in October 2021.

The incident occurred after a prop gun held by Baldwin went off, killing Ms Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

The actor previously pleaded not guilty to both charges of involuntary manslaughter.

A statement from his lawyers, shared with the PA news agency on Thursday, said: We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before a preliminary hearing in the case in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was to be determined whether there was enough evidence to take it to trial.

Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, had previously stepped down from the case.

A photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (Andres Leighton/AP)

Their decisions came after much back-and-forth between the two sides, with Baldwins lawyers arguing that Ms Reebs involvement was unconstitutional due to her elected position in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

In turn the DAs office had accused Baldwin of using his fancy attorneys to distract from the gross negligence in the case.

The actor was formally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter by the DA in February, alongside the films armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

The first charge required proof of underlying negligence and included the misdemeanour charge of negligent use of a firearm.

The second charge included a firearm enhancement, which would have made the crime punishable by a mandatory five years in jail.

Alec Baldwin speaks to officers (Santa Fe County Sheriff/PA)

The enhancement was later dropped by the DA after Baldwins lawyers argued that it was unlawful, and said prosecutors had committed an unconstitutional and elementary legal error.

In the statement of probable cause, filed alongside the charges, the DA accused Baldwin of showing wilful disregard for the safety of others in the days leading up to the shooting.

His reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused Ms Hutchins death, the DA had alleged.

Baldwin also faces a separate civil lawsuit, filed on February 9 by the family of Ms Hutchins.

The family are suing the actor and the Rust movie production company for alleged battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and loss of consortium.

Loss of consortium is a claim which seeks to recover compensation for damage to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.

Thursdays development coincided with the resumption of production on the movie, which has begun again in the US state of Montana.

Legal representatives for Rust Movie Productions stressed that all use of working weapons or ammunition is, and always has been, prohibited on set.
The scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry has passed fresh information to the police regarding a report of a serious criminal offence.

The CBI, one of the countrys most influential business organisations, said it is liaising closely with the authorities and has urged anyone with further information to come forward.

It comes weeks after the lobbying group launched its own investigation into a raft of allegations of misconduct by senior figures.

It is understood the latest allegation relates to a new incident.

On Thursday, a CBI spokesman said: Late yesterday afternoon the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence.

We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters.

Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police.

Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that more than a dozen women had approached the publication saying they had been victims of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the lobbying group.

One woman alleged to the newspaper that she had been raped during a staff party in 2019 and was later told by a manager to get counselling rather than pursue the issue further.

The woman said she had not reported the event to the police and the CBI told the newspaper it had no record of the incident.

Ex-CBI director-general Tony Danker claimed he has been made a fall guy for a wider crisis in the organisation (Jacob King/PA)

Separately, former CBI director-general Tony Danker was sacked last week after being accused of making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the organisation.

On Wednesday, he said his reputation has been totally destroyed by the allegation and claimed he has been made a fall guy for a wider crisis.

Mr Danker told the BBC his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims, including the rape which allegedly happened before he joined the CBI.

After initial allegations, the business group also suspended three other employees and hired a law firm to carry out an internal investigation.

On Thursday, the CBI spokesman added: We are anticipating findings from Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently.

The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.
The King and the Queen Consort will unveil the staging for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool next week.

Charles and Camilla will be shown around the M&S Bank Arena and meet creative teams and celebrity presenters, ahead of the contest next month.

The grand final of the competition is due to take place on May 13, a week after the coronation ceremony.

#Eurovision2023 Grand Final reveal! We can't wait to welcome Kalush Orchestra, Sam Ryder and Eurovision icons, including GO_A and Verka Serduchka, to Liverpool for their Grand Final performances  Read all about it here: https://t.co/z1VKT5awxZ pic.twitter.com/MTtszypyNT  BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) April 17, 2023

Eurovision 2023 will take place in Liverpool after the UK was chosen to host the competition on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.

It will be the first time the competition has been held in the UK for 25 years.

On Wednesday, Charles and Camilla will be met at the arena by BBC director general Tim Davie, BBC director of content Charlotte Moore and managing director for BBC Eurovision 2023 Martin Green.

They will be given a tour backstage to meet production staff before revealing the competition staging for the first time.

The couple will also be introduced to Eurovision hosts Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham, Scott Mills and Rylan Clark, before meeting with this years UK entrant, Mae Muller.

Eurovision hosts Hannah Waddingham (centre) and Julia Sanina (right), with Alesha Dixon at the Eurovision media launch (James Stack/PA)

Charles and Camillas visit is one of several royal engagements in Liverpool, recognising the cultural partnership of the UK and Ukraine and celebrating Eurovision.

They will also visit Liverpool Central Library to officially mark its twinning with Ukraines first public library, the Regional Scientific Library in Odesa.

They will meet key partners involved in a two-week cultural festival running alongside the contest, and Eurolearn, a Eurovision-inspired education programme for primary and secondary pupils.

A recital of Poem For Eurovision by poet Levi Tafari, written with the help of secondary pupils from several of Liverpools Schools of Sanctuary, will take place on their arrival.

Charles will later reveal a plaque to mark the twinning of the libraries, during a live link with the site in Odesa, and the visit will end with a performance by English National Opera.
Climate campaigners staged a protest in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament as well as in the foyer despite new restrictions to deter such action.

Two protesters from This Is Rigged stood on top of a wooden beam in a waiting area in the public area of Holyrood on Thursday, just before First Ministers Questions began.

The activity caused disruption and a large police and security presence in the main foyer, where school groups and others visitors arrive at the Parliament.

First Ministers Questions was also briefly disrupted by protesters from the same group.

One protester said: We have to stand up and demand action now.

Were here today because we have a really simple question.

All we want is for the Scottish Parliament to oppose new oil and gas projects like they did with Stop Cambo.

All we need is a statement.

They are not providing a fully-funded just transition for Scotlands oil workers.

BREAKING: PARLIAMENT DISRUPTED AGAIN. WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED pic.twitter.com/2AscrBGXRt  This Is Rigged (@Thisis_Rigged) April 20, 2023

They talk about it and talk about it but there is no concrete action.

We need action and we need action now.

The demonstration came after the Scottish Parliament brought in new security measures, requiring visitors to store electronic equipment in lockers.

Everyone wishing to attend to watch the weekly First Ministers Questions clash between the party leaders also has to book a ticket in advance, giving their name and address, with Holyrood bosses insisting ticket requests will not be processed without this information.

For groups of people attending together, the names and addresses of all members will have to be given, instead of the previous system whereby only the details of the lead person making the booking was required.

Everyone collecting a ticket will have to show identification, with mobile phones and other electronic devices having to be stored in a secure locker and not taken into the gallery.

On Wednesday, This is Rigged insisted the measures would not stop the disruption, as they urged First Minister Humza Yousaf to listen to the people on the issue of climate change.

A protester is removed from the public gallery in the main chamber during First Ministers Questions (Jane Barlow/PA)

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson confirmed six individuals were denied access to the chamber on Thursday as there were grounds to believe they would disrupt proceedings.

The spokesperson added: All of the individuals who protested in the Mail Hall will be issued with six-month bans as we do not allow protests anywhere inside the building.

One further individual, who briefly disrupted FMQs, will also receive a six-month ban from all of our public galleries.

The Parliament will continue to implement these new measures to protect the integrity of chamber business, and will keep under review whether further steps are necessary.

While we very much regret the inconvenience these measures have on the many people who come to watch FMQs peacefully, we cannot allow the democratic process to be disrupted by a small number of individuals.

These protests have served only to disrupt MSPs from holding the First Minister and government to account.

Police Scotland confirmed no arrests were made and protesters left of their own accord.
A Co Down man who helped to bring peace to Europe in the 19th century has been commemorated with a plaque in his home town.

Viscount Castlereagh was part of the shaping of Europe through his role at the Congress of Vienna, the coming together of the leaders of the victorious powers in 1814 following the defeat of French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte.

He is also regarded as controversial in Ireland for his role in suppressing the 1798 rebellion, and creating the Act of Union in 1801 which saw Irish interests represented at Westminster.

He was disappointed after the Act of Union that created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as he wanted Catholic representation, which had not existed in the old Irish parliament in Dublin, but King George III blocked that part of the act.

Dr Christopher Warleigh-Lack, National Trust property curator for east Down based at Mount Stewart, the family home of Robert Stewart, better known as Lord Castlereagh (Liam McBurney/PA)

Born in Dublin in 1769, Robert Stewart spent his early childhood in Newtownards before moving to Mount Stewart, receiving his education at Royal School Armagh and St Johns College, Cambridge.

During his political career was Viscount Castlereagh was Chief Secretary of State for Ireland during the Act of Union in 1801, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1804-1809, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1812 to 1822 and Leader of the House of Commons for the same period.

He became the second Marquis of Londonderry in 1821 when his father died.

In 1822 he took his own life. He was buried with honours at Westminster Abbey, London.

A blue plaque has been unveiled in his memory at the Town Hall in Newtownards.

The current residents of Mount Stewart, Lady Rose and Peter Lauritzen, the Mayor of Ards and North Down Karen Douglas, and the Lord Lieutenant of County Down, Gawn Rowan Hamilton, were present for the unveiling.

Ms Douglas said she hopes the plaque organised by the council and the Ulster History Circle will remind local people of his legacy.

I was delighted to unveil this blue plaque to commemorate and mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, who spent his early years in Newtownards before making Mount Stewart his home, she said.

It is fitting that the plaque be placed on this historical building which has links with the Stewart family, and I hope it serves to remind local people of Castlereaghs legacy.

I would like to especially thank the Ulster History Circle and Mount Stewart for all of their assistance in making the blue plaque possible.

An exhibition exploring the life and political career of Viscount Castlereagh is currently on display in Newtownards Library.
Eurovision Song Contest presenter Julia Sanina will be dressed head to toe in designs from her home country of Ukraine as she takes to the stage at this years final.

The frontwoman of rock band The Hardkiss promised to bring Ukrainian fashion to the contest, which is being hosted by Liverpool on behalf of the country as the Russian invasion continues.

She said: My outfits will be all made in Ukraine. All from Ukrainian designers, from shoes to jewellery to dresses, suits. I would love to bring some Ukrainian fashion into it.

Hannah Waddingham, Julia Sanina and Alesha Dixon at the media launch of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (James Stack/PA)

Her co-presenters, actress Hannah Waddingham and Britains Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon, joked they might be playing it down when picking their outfits for the event, normally known for sequins and sparkle.

Dixon said: Could you imagine if we rocked up in a white vest and jeans?

I think its an opportunity to have some fun.

All of us love our fashion, love our clothes, so were going to have fun with it.

The three women met for the first time on Wednesday, at a press launch for the contest, but said there is already a chemistry between them.

Sanina said: Were so different  different energies, different moods, different chemistry  but all together I think it will work great.

Dixon added: I feel so lucky that we get to host as a group of girls together, it feels really empowering.

The launch of Eurovision EuroFestival at the British Music Experience in Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA)

Waddingham, who stars in Ted Lasso, said she hopes the contest will be a joyful hiatus to what is going on in the world.

She said: Its a moment for everyone to just have, one, the biggest party, two, display their phenomenal talents, and, it sounds like a cliche, but to bring love and tactility and all of those things back to the foreground.

Dixon said: Everybodys included, everybodys invited, everybody can be a part of it, and thats really rare so we should celebrate it.

Sanina said she is feeling the nerves more than her co-hosts as the only Ukrainian presenter on stage for the evening.

Everybodys watching Eurovision from year to year in Ukraine and everybody will watch it, definitely, no matter what, she said.

Its so important for people just for a couple of hours to forget about the reality that we have nowadays and to feel that joy and to feel that happiness with everybody in the world, to come together, to feel that support of the world.

Theres a lot of Ukraine in this Eurovision  lots of Ukrainian performers, lots of Ukrainian songs and lots of cultural things in Eurovision that Ukrainians will love, definitely.

For us its very important to feel that support and love.

Waddingham praised UK entry Mae Muller, saying: She is so charismatic, aside from having a stonking voice.

Every time I see her perform Im just like This girl is not mucking around, shes here to be noticed and acknowledged.

But the women said that, as hosts, they will remain impartial.

Dixon added: We are the mothers to all of the acts  no, were the sisters!

Mae Muller is the UKs entry for this years Eurovision Song Contest (Yui Mok/PA)

Waddingham said hosting the contest in Liverpool is a little bit like coming home, and revealed she once appeared in Merseyside soap Brookside.

She said: People in Liverpool are front-footed, they care, theyre passionate. No messing about.

Maybe thats where I get my front foot from my mums from the Isle of Man and I have family in Liverpool so I feel like Ive, a little bit, come home.

Dixon added: Theres so much going on, so many events, so lots of people that havent got the opportunity to come to the show, theres so many things for them to do here. From what Ive seen, Liverpool has just embraced it.

We cant wait. Its just going to be like nothing weve ever experienced before.
Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry has hit out at the outdated system for dealing with complaints in Westminster which has allowed Dominic Raab to continue in his job while under investigation.

Amid reports that the review of the Deputy Prime Ministers conduct could be released as soon as Thursday, Sir Jake said it was wrong for Mr Raab to continue in his job while facing bullying allegations.

Appearing on ITVs Peston show on Wednesday night, Sir Jake, who served in the cabinets of both Boris Johnson and Theresa May, said: It does seem to me quite wrong that when people are under these kinds of investigations of this type that they continue in their job.

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

He added: Whatever the outcome is, and were going to find out tomorrow, I actually think theres a fundamental rethink required about how we deal with these sorts of allegations, both in Government made against ministers and made against Members of Parliament.

Its a massively outdated system that isnt what our constituents would expect of any of us.

Sir Jakes comments come amid reports that senior Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Mr Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, is cleared of the allegations.

A decision not to sanction him would be demoralising for staff in the department, the Guardian quoted a source as saying.

One person involved in the process described the review as devastating while a senior Government official said Mr Raab was toast, according to the Financial Times.

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab leaves 10 Downing Street (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Mr Raab has been under investigation for months over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

The result of the long-running probe is expected imminently, with reports that it may be a matter of hours before the review by Adam Tolley KC is made public.

The Deputy Prime Minister has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully but defended his forthright approach to his work.

Senior lawyer Mr Tolley is said to have been thorough in his handling of the investigation, having interviewed Mr Raab multiple times and spoken to or taken written evidence from a number of others.

It emerged earlier on Wednesday that the minister had forked out for his own legal team to defend himself against the allegations.

The declaration in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests came despite the taxpayer footing an estimated 222,000 bill for Boris Johnsons legal fees in the partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

In the register, Mr Raabs entry notes read: The minister has engaged lawyers at his own expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.

Mr Tolley was appointed in November to lead the investigation into Mr Raabs conduct but it is not known when Mr Raab first engaged legal representation.

It remains unclear why he paid for his own lawyers when Mr Johnson  whose outside earnings since leaving office have made him the highest-paid MP over the past 12 months  received Government support.

Mr Raabs team did not respond to the reports on Wednesday apart from to suggest it would be inappropriate to comment on the investigation before it had been completed.
A woman who spent four months managing the worlds most remote gift shop said the experience was absolutely paradise.

Natalie Corbett left her life and new husband behind for a spell in Port Lockroy, on Goudier Island in Antarctica, where there was no running water, wifi or flushing toilets, but said every day was just incredible.

With a background in retail, the 31-year-old joined a team of three other women who headed to the historic site to run the gift shop, post office and museum, as well as survey the population of gentoo penguins.

Ms Corbett left for Port Lockroy in November last year and had to quickly acclimatise to Antarctic conditions.

She told the PA news agency: I remember arriving and there was just so much snow One of the cruise ship teams dug steps from the landing site going up maybe four metres to the top of the snow, just so that we could get on to the island.

I just remember laughing and thinking Oh my God, what have I done? There was so much snow for miles.

Daily routines consisted of setting up the remote site ready for cruise ship visitors, with around 140 tourists per day arriving to send postcards and buy penguin-themed gifts.

We were working maybe 12-plus hours easily each day, and everything takes a lot longer than you think its going to, she said.

By the time youve put on all your layers, and then forgotten several things, it takes a good 15-20 minutes to get out the front door.

With no running water on the island, the cruise ships brought the opportunity for warm showers, as well as topping up the womens supply of food, which was largely tinned or dried.

The cruise ships were so generous, we were eating really well. I think I ate fancier meals than I do at home, she said.

Natalie Corbett spent four months managing the worlds most remote gift shop (UK Antarctic Heritage Trust/PA)

Even the base toilet, which Ms Corbett described as a bucket with a lid, could not dampen the excitement of being in Antarctica, as you get used to it surprisingly quickly.

She shared a six-bed room with the other three women  Clare Ballantyne, Mairi Hilton and Lucy Bruzzone  who were among 6,000 people who applied for the Port Lockroy roles, advertised by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) charity.

Being part of an all-female team was a source of pride for Ms Corbett, who said: Looking back at Port Lockroys history, and obviously from, like, the 40s to the 60s when it was occupied, it was just men.

So I would love to know what they would have thought of an all-female team being there, in their space, doing everything that they could do.

One challenge of the remote location was communication with home, although Ms Corbett, who had been married to her husband George for just five months when she headed to Antarctica, said it was surprisingly fine.

The women were able to have a 10-minute phone call each week and also managed to use wifi on visiting cruise ships to keep in touch with loved ones.

I missed him, and you end up thinking of home quite regularly, but weve been together 13 years, so four months apart over that period of time was fine, she said.

Natalie Corbett (second from right) serving customers in the shop (Maria Pia Harboure/PA)

Reflecting on the experience, Ms Corbett had nothing but praise for the role.

As a natural introvert, being stuck on an island with just four people in the middle of nowhere with no-one to bother you is absolutely paradise, she said.

There were no moments when I kind of stood back and was like Oh God, this is awful, what am I doing here?. Every day was just incredible.

She added that one of the top five moments of her whole life was viewing the Milky Way for the first time, saying that, due to a lack of light pollution, there were just so many stars that it almost looked like TV static.

The biggest adjustment after leaving Antarctica came when Ms Corbett stopped off in Ushuaia, Argentina.

She said: When we first got off the ship to go and do our first walk around Ushuaia, there were just so many weird smells and sounds and colours. We had to cross a road and none of us could figure out how fast the car was going. We all stood there for ages.

Applications for the roles at Port Lockroy were opened for the 2023-24 season earlier this year and Ms Corbett said to anyone who succeeds in getting one: Dont be scared to go to Antarctica for four months because it will be the best four months of your entire life.
US peace envoy George Mitchell says he holds out hope he will be able return to Northern Ireland in the company of his children.

The former senator, 89, who has undergone three years of intensive treatment for leukaemia, revealed his attendance at this weeks landmark conference commemorating the Good Friday Agreement was in doubt just days before he flew out.

Mr Mitchell, who chaired the 1998 Good Friday negotiations to their successful outcome, told the PA news agency that he had made alternative arrangements to address the event at Queens University from a TV studio in the United States.

The speech delivered by the veteran diplomat on the first day of the conference has been lauded as the most impactful of the entire event.

As he prepares to return to the United States on Friday, Mr Mitchell described his visit to Northern Ireland as very meaningful and emotional.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and was very seriously ill and I thought that my travelling days were over, he said.

But, fortunately  and this is the first time in three years that Ive attended and spoken at a major public event  I was able to make this trip and Im very grateful for it.

Mr Mitchell said he and his family had come to love Northern Ireland and its people.

And I wanted to come personally to thank people here for the courtesy and hospitality and warmth with which theyve received me and my family and to convey my hope, my genuine sincere hope, that people of Northern Ireland will get the self-governance that theyre entitled to, that they need to make progress and that they will continue in their efforts to make it possible for every child in Northern Ireland to go as high and as far as their talent and willingness to work will take them, he said.

Senator George Mitchell stands beside a new bust of himself by Irish visual artist Colin Davidson at Queens University Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)

Thats the fundamental aim of democratic societies everywhere. And Northern Ireland, I think more than most, has people of energy, commitment and they deserve that chance.

On his contingency arrangements if he had been unable to travel, Mr Mitchell said: I made alternate plans, a television studio in the United States to do my address by videotape, if that was necessary, he said.

But a few days before, I went to the hospital, went through some tests with my doctor, and he thought it was fine but I had to be careful and prudent about how much I do.

And, so far, while the chemotherapy that I received over the past three years is necessary to combat the cancer, it greatly weakens your body and leaves you lacking in stamina and energy, so Ive had to pace myself a little bit, get tired a little bit, but really it was well worth it.

A bronze bust of the talks mediator was unveiled at Queens University to mark the anniversary of the accord.

I dont know if this is my last trip or not to be perfectly frank, I dont know whats going to happen, he said.

George Mitchell said he hopes to return to Northern Ireland(Brian Lawless/PA)

The doctors have told me that I might go for a period of time without a resumption of cancer and die from something else, Im going to be 90 years old in a couple of months.

On the other hand he said the cancer might come back in a few months and youll have to go back into chemotherapy. So I live every day thanking God that Im still here and still around and, for me, its wonderful to be able to come back here.

Ive seen many old friends that I had not seen for a very long time, renewed acquaintances.

Things take on a different context and a different meaning when you reach the stage of life that I have reached, and I enjoy what we would think of as routine things more than I appreciated and did before.

And my children love Northern Ireland on the occasions that they came and I hope very much I can come back again, not at any conference, but just as a visitor, as I had often, and have my children come with me, but I cant be sure of that.

So I want to make the most of this visit as I can.
Michael Gove has warned shareholders in cladding companies that the firms will face severe consequences if no post-Grenfell financial support package is forthcoming.

The Housing Secretary has written to Kingspan, Arconic and Saint-Gobain investors, the Department of Housing confirmed on Thursday, to call on shareholders to use their position of influence to get the businesses to engage constructively in helping us reach a just resolution for all concerned.

Blackrock, Vanguard, Fidelity Management and Research, as well as the central bank of Norway Norges Bank, have all received a letter from Mr Gove about the matter.

According to the department, shareholders were told that if the manufacturers fail to bring forward a financial package the consequences for that firm are likely to be severe.

Mr Gove also told shareholders that their reputations could face consequences if he is forced to use the legal and commercial tools available to make the position of cladding companies extremely uncomfortable.

A total of 72 people died in the June 2017 fire at the Grenfell tower block in north Kensington, London.

The latest set of letters come after Mr Gove wrote to Kingspan, Arconic and Saint-Gobain, earlier this year, directly on the matter.

I have always been clear that those responsible for the building safety crisis must pay, Mr Gove said.

But despite the fact that their products continue to put lives at risk, some cladding firms have no intention of doing whats right and addressing their moral and financial obligations to innocent residents.

Today, we ask responsible investors to use their influence to encourage these companies to come forward immediately with a comprehensive financial package for remediation work.

It cannot be right that cladding companies continue to profit whilst so many innocent, hardworking people face financial hardship and misery.

Flawed cladding played a significant role in the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

To those cladding companies who fail to do the right thing: you will face severe consequences and I will use all commercial and legal tools available to me to ensure you take responsibility.

The Department also said that 46 firms have now signed up to post-Grenfell building safety contracts, after Mr Gove sought to put public pressure on firms that initially did not join the agreement.

Mr Gove and housing officials are also considering the findings of a newly-published review of the testing regime for construction products, commissioned after the Grenfell inquiry and carried out by Paul Morrell and Anneliese Day KC.

In that report, the pair said: Amongst the least edifying spectacles of the Grenfell Tower tragedy have been the arguments deployed by successive parties in denying or deflecting responsibility.

It is for the public inquiry to investigate and report on the failings that occurred and by whom, but there are some truths that should be taken as evident.

Among them, the report found, was that it is for constructors to bring everything together with the same objective in mind  using imagination to find better ways of doing things by all means.

But not, in a careless moment, throwing away all of the good work that has brought the product and design to that stage in order to save cash in the short-term, leaving the building owner and occupiers with a problem in the long-term.

The End Our Cladding Scandal campaign group said in a statement: Reform of the construction products sector is vital and long overdue. But we are still a long way from justice. True justice for Grenfells bereaved, survivors and residents and for innocent leaseholders trapped in unsafe buildings across the country.

Michael Gove may be speaking out strongly but, as we approach the sixth anniversary of the Grenfell fire and drafting of the final Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report under way, those companies that wilfully sold unsafe products must finally be held and be seen to be held to account for their blatant wrongdoing.
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South Korea and France discussed ways Thursday to boost bilateral cooperation in the agriculture industry and food security, Seoul's agriculture ministry said.



The discussions were made during a meeting between South Korea's Agriculture Minister Chung Hwang-keun and his French counterpart, Marc Fesneau, held in the central city of Sejong earlier in the day.



Chung proposed active information sharing and cooperation on smart farming, stressing that it is a crucial way to promote innovative growth of the industry, and better deal with climate changes and other challenges, according to his office.



He also said South Korea will soon join the global initiative of the "School Meal Coalition" led by France and Finland to help the international community combat hunger and malnutrition.



Also on the table were ways to work more closely on how to ensure their food security, nurture young farmers and better handle animal diseases, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)


Hilary Mantel was a treasure of this nation, the Dean of Southwark Cathedral has said at a celebration of the writers life.

The British writer, who died last September aged 70, was best known for the Wolf Hall trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell.

The event, held at Southwark Cathedral on Thursday, included readings from actors Mark Rylance and Ben Miles, as well as writer Zadie Smith.

Comedian David Baddiel was also among those paying their respects.

Guests arriving for a celebration of the life of Dame Hilary Mantel (James Manning/PA)

The Very Rev Andrew Nunn told the event: What Dame Hilary did was give us such insights into the lives and the minds and the motivations and mixed motivations of so many people.

And not just the Tudors, but everyone of whom she wrote.

She seemed to have that knack of being able to get to the inside of people. And that was what made her such a popular writer, and the treasure of this nation.

Dame Hilary won the Booker Prize first for her 2009 novel Wolf Hall and again for its sequel, Bring Up The Bodies, in 2012.

She concluded the trilogy in 2020 with The Mirror & The Light to critical acclaim, winning the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which she first won for Wolf Hall.

The cast of Wolf Hall at the Bafta TV Awards in 2016 (Ian West/PA)

The series, which charts the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII, has been translated into 41 languages, with sales of more than five million worldwide.

It was later adapted for the stage and screen, with the BBC developing the story into a TV series which was first broadcast on BBC Two in 2015, starring Sir Mark Rylance as Cromwell.

The series was a critical success and won a string of awards including three Baftas and a Golden Globe.

The Royal Shakespeare Company put on productions of the first two books in 2013, and in 2021 The Mirror & The Light was staged in London, having been adapted by Dame Hilary, with Ben Miles playing Cromwell.

Miles, who also worked with Dame Hilary on the playscript for the third instalment, paid tribute during the event, saying she was a close ally in our collective quest for the weird, the unseen, the otherness of things.

He added: It is an immeasurable gift to have known her, and to have worked alongside her.

Sir Mark reprised his TV role with a reading from Wolf Hall.

White Teeth author Zadie Smith read an extract from Dame Hilarys Reith lectures, titled How I Began Writing.
A preliminary extradition hearing for a Holocaust denier wanted by authorities in France has been delayed for a further four weeks.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard the delay will allow videos Vincent Reynouard is alleged to have made to be translated into English, as well as work out what offences, if any, he has committed under Scots law.

Reynouard, 54, was convicted under anti-Nazi laws across the Channel. He was handed a four-month jail term in November 2020 and a further six months in January 2021.

He appeared before Sheriff Frank Crowe on Thursday by video-link from HMP Edinburgh.

He does not consent to his extradition back to France.

His lawyer Paul Dunne asked the court if the preliminary hearing in his extradition case could be moved to May 18 as one of two YouTube videos Reynouard is alleged to have made has not yet been translated from French into English.

One of the transcripts was made available on Thursday morning, prior to the hearing.

Mr Dunne also said Holocaust denial is not an offence in Scotland.

He told the court: We cannot definitively say whether we are dealing with Scottish offending here.

Holocaust denial has been a criminal offence in France since 1990, and Reynouard has been convicted on numerous occasions.

Reynouard fled to Scotland following his latest conviction for a series of antisemitic Facebook posts.

A further preliminary hearing has been set in Edinburgh for May 18 before a full extradition hearing on June 8.
One of the first prisoners affected by a law that makes it harder for certain killers to be released from jail has been told he will face a public parole hearing.

Glyn Razzell was refused release from prison in October while serving a life sentence for the murder of his estranged 41-year-old wife, mother-of-four Linda Razzell, who disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College in Wiltshire in March 2002.

He was one of the first prisoners to be considered by the Parole Board under Helens Law  which makes it harder for killers to get parole if they refuse to reveal where they hid their victims body.

The Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Act 2020 was named after insurance clerk Helen McCourt, who vanished on her way home from work in Billinge, Merseyside, in 1988.

Razzell denied killing his estranged wife but was found guilty by a jury but no trace of her body has ever been found.

The pair were embroiled in divorce proceedings when she went missing. His trial heard that he faced a financial settlement which he was not prepared to accept.

Wife killer Russell Causley was one of the first inmates in UK history to have his Parole Board hearing held in public (Family handout/PA)

Razzell, 63, appealed over the Parole Boards decision to refuse him early release from prison in 2021, claiming the panels use of Helens Law was irrational. The bid was denied.

On Wednesday, the Parole Board said the killer opposed requests for a public hearing but the victims familys wishes for proceedings not to be held in private were granted.

Razzell is set to join wife killer Russell Causley and notorious prisoner Charles Bronson as one of the first inmates in UK legal history to have their case heard in public after rules were changed last year in a bid to remove the secrecy around the process.

The Parole Board said it had received a number of representations over why the case should be heard in public  including that Razzell is one of the few prisoners to fall under Helens Law and the high level of public interest in the matter.

He will now face a two-day parole hearing, beginning on August 24.
Labour has suggested members of the Scottish Parliament who are under police investigation should be suspended amid inquiries into SNP finances.

Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire referenced the police investigation into the SNPs finances in the Commons, saying First Minister Humza Yousaf should suspend MSPs who are the subject of police inquiries.

She also raised questions about the partys auditors.

Speaking during a session of questions related to the business of the House of Commons, Ms Debbonaire said: Its emerged that the SNPs auditors have also resigned from doing their Westminster groups accounts as well as the national partys.

Now, I understand that senior SNP figures failed to inform the authorities here about that. Could the leader tell us if she knows if this is correct? Because this is serious, its taxpayers money.

Can I ask the Leader of the House to intervene to make sure that SNP finances that provide money for some of their political staffing here in Parliament have been properly accounted for and used for the purposes for which it is intended?

Does she agree with me that as the police investigation spreads, the First Minister, leader of the SNP, should take a basic step of suspending members of the Scottish Parliament who are the subject of police inquiries?

Isnt it time the SNP came clean about who knew what and when? The Scottish people deserve much better than this.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt: (Ms Debbonaire) raises the matter of the SNP and short money. And although we all enjoy a joke at the SNPs expense, these are really serious matters.

I shant comment on her suggestion about people being suspended under police investigation, to save her blushes, it might have included the leader of the Opposition (Sir Keir Starmer) who has been in that camp before.

But these matters are not a matter for me. But I understand that unless the SNP have audited accounts by March 31 they will lose their short money after the April payment.

I understand also that Ipsa (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) may also have considerations to make. I think the SNPs membership will feel rightly let down by this, similar to how the rest of Scotland will feel with the SNPs poor stewardship of public money.

Short money refers to financial assistance given to opposition parties to carry out their duties in the House of Commons.

Ms Mordaunt later noted it had been a very painful week for the SNP, adding amid laughter from MPs: For some time now, BBC Politics Scotland has resembled an episode of Taggart.

The SNP says it is incorrect to claim that it did not inform House of Commons officials that its auditors resigned. The party says its Westminster group is in regular contact with House authorities.
Medical chiefs have called for a third party to broker talks between junior doctors and the Government.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges urged both parties to rapidly engage with an independent organisation to work out how the deadlock can be broken for the sake of patients and the wider NHS.

It comes as health chiefs fear the prospect of unions including the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) co-ordinating strikes or holding them in sequence, which would have a massive impact on the NHS.

Ambulance workers from Unite announced on Wednesday they would walk out alongside nurses and teachers on May 2.

An RCN nurse strike is already scheduled from April 30 to May 2 following a ballot which rejected a 5% pay deal.

Last week, the BMA asked the Government to enter talks facilitated by the conciliation service Acas to end the bitter dispute over pay.

Downing Street said there will be no talks unless junior doctors abandon their starting position of a 35% pay rise and call off the strikes.

Nearly 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures in England had to be rescheduled when tens of thousands of junior doctors staged a 96-hour strike in a dispute over pay between April 11 and 15.

NHS England data showed 20,470 inpatient procedures had to be rescheduled, along with 175,755 outpatient appointments  making a total of 196,225.

An average of 26,145 staff per day were absent from work as a result of the industrial action.

In a statement on Wednesday night, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said it was concerned a solution had not yet been reached and worried about the anticipated impact on NHS services and patients.

All colleges are keenly aware of the concerns and frustration of doctors throughout the NHS and the intense workload pressures they, along with other NHS professionals, are facing as a result of workforce shortages and as a legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic, the medical chiefs said.

NHS junior doctors take part in a march and rally in the centre of Birmingham, on the final day of the British Medical Associations 96-hour walkout in a dispute over pay (Jacob King/PA)

These are issues which do need to be addressed as a matter of urgency and junior doctors have the support of the Academy and their own colleges in doing this.

We urge both parties to engage swiftly and to enter negotiations with a commitment to work constructively and to offer flexibility.

To this end both parties need to rapidly engage with an independent organisation to work out how the deadlock can be broken for the sake of patients and the wider NHS.

It comes after the NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said the strikes were having a colossal impact on planned care in the NHS.

Each of the 195,000 appointments postponed has an impact on the lives of individuals and their families and creates further pressure on services and on a tired workforce  and this is likely to be an underestimate of the impact as some areas provisionally avoided scheduling appointments for these strike days, he said.

Our staff now have an immense amount of work to catch up on hundreds of thousands of appointments, all while continuing to make progress on tackling the backlog of people who have been waiting the longest for treatment. We have now seen nearly half a million appointments rescheduled over the last five months, and with each strike, it becomes harder.

While our staff are doing all they possibly can to manage the disruption, it is becoming increasingly difficult and the impact on patients and staff will unfortunately continue to worsen.

NHS junior doctors take part in a march and rally in the centre of Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)

On Wednesday, Sir Simon Stevens, former head of the NHS, writing in The Spectator, said its clear the health departments industrial relations strategy isnt going to plan.

He suggested dis-satisfaction among junior doctors also has deeper causes than just pay and include staffing levels and worker burnout.

Regarding all health strikes, he said: Could the current lose-lose standoff have been avoided? By last autumn it was obvious that inflation was far higher than assumed by the independent NHS review bodies, so their original recommendations wouldnt stick.

At that point they could have been asked, exceptionally, to make an improved 18-month pay recommendation. That might have drawn the sting while preserving their legitimacy.

Had it been coupled with the Governments long-awaited NHS workforce plan to expand and reform training, frontline staff might have seen light at the end of tunnel.

Now if further strikes drag on, at the very least waiting lists will worsen. The nuclear option of withdrawing cover for emergency services and urgent cancer care would be unconscionable.

Elsewhere, on Thursday, Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that problems have been building up for at least the last five years.

Calling for an increase in capacity, he said the NHS requires more money, with funding needing to be deployed in a much more planned way.
New rights and protections for leaseholders have been proposed by the City regulator, to improve the transparency of the multi-occupancy leasehold buildings insurance market.

Under the proposals, rule changes would explicitly require insurance firms to act in leaseholders best interests, and bar firms from recommending a policy based on commission or remuneration levels.

Insurers and brokers would also need to provide more information about insurance policies to leaseholders, including detail of any commission paid.

The regulator wants to bring about changes so that the interests of leaseholders are properly considered when firms design their products and leaseholders have sufficient information to challenge any poor practices and unfair costs passed onto them.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wrote to insurers and brokers in January 2022, making it clear that firms should take leaseholders into consideration when designing and distributing products.

The regulator said it has seen significant shortcomings by some brokers in applying fair value rules to their remuneration practices.

The FCA said it expects brokers to immediately stop paying commissions to third parties, including property managing agents and freeholders, where they do not have appropriate justification and evidence for doing so in line with its rules on fair value.

In September 2022, a report by the FCA on multi-occupancy buildings insurance found that leasehold buildings insurance premiums had risen significantly since the Grenfell tragedy, particularly for those in high and mid-rise buildings.

The FCA said many issues highlighted by the Grenfell tragedy are outside its remit, for example, because they are driven by building construction issues, or involve firms that it does not regulate.

The FCA is now consulting on the policy proposals set out in its previous report.

Consultation documents said: We found that the distribution of insurance for multi-occupancy buildings is complex due to the nature of property ownership in the UK.

The freehold property owner is typically the policyholder, and insurers and brokers consider them to be their customer.

In most cases, leaseholders simply have the insurance bill passed to them and have no role in policy selection or purchase. We found a lack of demand-side pressure to reduce prices or improve product features for the benefit of leaseholders.

The consultation paper said: Brokers arranging multi-occupancy buildings insurance primarily work on a commission-based remuneration model.

The level of commission is high, with typical commissions of 30%-49%, and some up to 62%.

It added: This sharing of remuneration may not ultimately be consistent with the interests of the leaseholder; especially as this remuneration is included within the full amount of the premium paid by leaseholders through service charges.

Sheldon Mills, executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA, said: We want to give leaseholders more rights and the information they need to exercise them. Importantly, under our proposals those selling multi-occupancy insurance will have to act in leaseholders best interests.

Our review revealed large commissions paid by some brokers to freeholders and third parties, like managing agents, with little evidence of any value added to justify these payments.

We are taking action against these practices and we wont hesitate to take further action if brokers dont comply with our rules.

The FCA is seeking comments by June 9 2023. It plans to publish a policy statement in the third quarter of 2023, with its response to the consultation feedback and final rules.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: These findings are completely unacceptable and lay bare the shocking practice of brokers fleecing innocent leaseholders.

Whilst the measures outlined by the FCA are a welcome first step, these dont go far enough to protect leaseholders. We will be urging them to take immediate enforcement action on the unreasonable practices highlighted in this report.

We are determined to better protect and empower leaseholders and have already announced we will ban property managing agents, landlords and freeholders from receiving commissions on building insurance.

The Department said the law is clear that service charges for leaseholders must be reasonable, and where costs relate to work or services, this must be of a reasonable standard.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is due to hold a formal ballot for national strike action in England for the first time in its history.

The ASCL said the school funding crisis, the erosion of teacher and leader pay and conditions, and staff shortages were the main factors behind the decision.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Rishi Sunak is concerned about the overall impact of strike action on childrens education, but does not want to pre-empt what their members may choose to do.

Government attempts to resolve the dispute in March were described by the union as completely inadequate  adding that a pay offer was rejected by 87% of the eligible members who voted.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said: ASCL has never before formally balloted at a national level and this is clearly a very significant step.

"This action is taken as a last resort and with a heavy heart, but we cannot accept the continued damage to education caused by government neglect and complacency. ASCL to hold formal strike ballot  full comment here: https://t.co/j3CoQEWJfT pic.twitter.com/ZSPiJ9TR9D  ASCL (@ASCL_UK) April 20, 2023

The fact that we have reached this point reflects the desperate situation regarding inadequate funding, long-term pay erosion, teacher shortages, and the intransigence of a Government which we can only conclude does not value the education workforce or recognise the severe pressures facing the sector.

This action is taken as a last resort and with a heavy heart, but we cannot accept the continued damage to education caused by Government neglect and complacency.

The ASCL represents more than 23,000 leaders of primary, secondary and post-16 education from across the UK  including roles such as headteachers and multi-academy trust chief executives.

In a statement confirming the ballot, the union said an executive committee of senior elected members met on Wednesday afternoon and voted unanimously in favour of the vote.

The organisation added that the ballot will be held at a date to be fixed in the summer term, with any resulting strike action expected to take place during the autumn term.

"We have made every effort to resolve this matter through negotiations Unfortunately, the governments offer has failed to sufficiently address pay and conditions, and, critically, did not provide enough funding for even the meagre proposal it put forward." @RealGeoffBarton https://t.co/bXo2vTEgHX  ASCL (@ASCL_UK) April 20, 2023

Mr Barton said: We have made every effort to resolve this matter through negotiations prior to reaching this point.

Unfortunately, the Governments offer has failed to sufficiently address pay and conditions and, critically, did not provide enough funding for even the meagre proposal it put forward.

Following the rejection of the offer by all education unions involved  ASCL, NAHT, NEU and NASUWT  the Government has made no effort to reopen negotiations and has said only that the issue of pay will now revert to the School Teachers Review Body.

Schools in England face five days of teacher walkouts in the summer term and possible action in the autumn as the National Education Union (NEU) is also set to re-ballot members in the ongoing dispute over pay.

Earlier in April, delegates at the NEUs annual conference on April 4 voted in support of a three-day strike in late June/early July.

The teaching union announced two further strike days on April 27 and May 2 after 98% of its members, who responded in a consultative ballot, voted to turn down the Governments pay offer.

After a period of intensive talks with unions, the Government offered teachers a 1,000 one-off payment for the current school year (2022/23) and an average 4.5% pay rise for staff next year (2023/24).

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) could also hold a formal ballot on potential strikes after nearly four in five (78%) members said they would be prepared to vote for industrial action.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: We have made a fair and reasonable teacher pay offer to the unions, which recognises teachers hard work and commitment.

Next year, school funding will be at its highest level in history  per pupil, in real terms.

We know schools are facing increased costs like energy and staffing, and are providing an extra 2 billion in each of the next two years to cover those costs. As a result, school funding is set to rise faster than forecast inflation in both 2023/24 and 2024/25.
A deeply religious mother killed her three-year-old son through fasting during the Covid-19 lockdown, a jury has heard.

Olabisi Abubakar, 42, from Cardiff, is on trial charged with manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty relating to the death of Taiwo Abubakar.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that police were called to her flat in the Cathays area on June 29 2020 after a friend raised concerns for her welfare.

Mark Heywood KC, prosecuting, said officers forced entry and found a tragic and distressing scene.

Olabisi Abubakar was lying on a sofa bed. She was noticeably thin, malnourished and dehydrated, Mr Heywood said.

Lying beside her was Taiwo. He was severely emaciated and cold to the touch. It was clear that Taiwo had been dead for some time.

Police attending the property in Cwmdare Street described hearing groaning from inside, with the curtains drawn and dirty nappies across the room when they entered.

Abubakar, who was in distress, was lying on the bed with a multicoloured blanket next to her. One officer put his hand on the blanket and found Taiwo underneath it.

As the officer moved the blanket, asylum seeker Abubakar repeatedly said hes dead, hes dead and pointed at her son.

A post-mortem examination later found Taiwo, who was born in April 2017, had died from malnutrition and dehydration. He weighed just 9.8kg.

Abubakar was taken to hospital where it became apparent she was mentally unwell.

She is currently detained in hospital for treatment for paranoid schizophrenia and attending her trial by videolink.

Mr Heywood told the court: The prosecution case is that Ms Abubakar consciously and deliberately neglected Taiwo by failing to provide him with food and water, causing him to join her in fasting as a religious act.

Ms Abubakar is a deeply religious Pentecostal Christian, for whom fasting is a tenet of her faith.

Her religion makes it clear that fasting is an act of devotion, and children  too young to understand this  should not fast.

The evidence suggests that in 2020, fearful of the coronavirus pandemic and under personal pressure, she caused Taiwo to fast both of food and water along with her.

Mr Heywood said it was not disputed that Abubakar had neglected Taiwo but the issue was her state of mind at the time.

Two psychiatrists are due to give evidence that she was suffering from delusions brought on by paranoid schizophrenia.

Jurors will have to decide whether Abubakar may have been insane, which would make her not guilty by reason of insanity.

The court heard that she was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to London to live with her sister in 2011.

Abubakar was provided with accommodation in Cardiff after giving birth to Taiwo in April 2017. She was noted to be a devoted mother, with no concerns for her or her son before the pandemic.

Mr Heywood said Abubakar became very concerned of the dangers of Covid-19 and stayed indoors during the lockdown, asking friend Chike Obi to bring shopping to the door.

In early June 2020, Mr Obi saw Taiwo  previously a fat, happy and healthy boy  and noticed he was unhappy and very thin.

Mr Obi became concerned after not hearing from Abubakar and went to her flat on June 29, ringing 999 when he could not gain entry.

In a police interview, Abubakar told officers she did not remember anything from falling asleep on June 27 to being woken up by Mr Obi and police in her flat two days later.

She described this wakening as coming back to life  she believed she had been in heaven because she could see relatives that had died and heard angels singing, Mr Heywood said.

She had said she did not want to die, and angels brought her back to life.

She claimed Taiwo had been fed before June 26, having Weetabix in the morning and porridge at night, and said there was nothing wrong with him.

Abubakar told police she mostly fasted during Easter but insisted Taiwo did not fast because he was young, telling officers he was healthy and eating well.

In a notebook, Abubakar appeared to describe fasting with her young son, with one entry reading: Thank you, Jesus Christ, for this three days fasting for the coronal 19 (sic), for the nation.

Me and my child thank you Jesus Christ that I and my child can be chosen for this fasting for the nation.

She insisted in police interviews that Taiwo had never fasted and she did not understand why she had written that note.

Mr Heywood said: Ms Abubakar described the effect on her of the pressures of not having help, fearing Covid for herself and her child, and her immigration status. She described them as depressing.

But she was a religious woman and prayed to God, and she believed he had heard and answered her prayers and kept them safe.

Abubakar has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.
A mother caused her three-year-old son to die from malnutrition and dehydration by putting him on a religious fast with her during the Covid-19 pandemic, a jury has heard.

Olabisi Abubakar, 41, from Cardiff, is on trial charged with manslaughter and child cruelty relating to the death of her son Taiwo Abubakar.

Cardiff Crown Court heard police were called to Abubakars home in the city on June 29 2020 after a friend raised concerns for her welfare.

Mark Heywood KC, prosecuting, told the jury: When the police forced entry into the flat, they found a tragic and distressing scene.

Olabisi Abubakar was lying on a sofa bed. She was noticeably thin, malnourished and dehydrated.

Lying beside her was Taiwo. He was severely emaciated and cold to the touch. It was clear that Taiwo had been dead for some time.

Mr Heywood said Abubakar was taken to hospital, where she was treated for her physical condition but it became apparent that she was also mentally unwell.

She is currently detained in hospital for ongoing treatment and has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the jury heard.

Mr Heywood told the jury: The prosecution case is that Ms Abubakar consciously and deliberately neglected Taiwo by failing to provide him with food and water, causing him to join her in fasting as a religious act.

Ms Abubakar is a deeply religious Pentecostal Christian, for whom fasting is a tenet of her faith.

Her religion makes it clear that fasting is an act of devotion, and children  too young to understand this  should not fast.

The evidence suggests that in 2020, fearful of the coronavirus pandemic and under personal pressure, she caused Taiwo to fast both of food and water along with her.

The court heard Abubakar was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where she married and had four children with her husband before moving alone to London in 2011.

She formed a connection with the Christ Apostolic Canaanland Church in Charlton, south London, though never became a full member.

Abubakar, an asylum seeker, initially lived in London but was moved to Cardiff after giving birth to Taiwo in April 2017.

There were no concerns for Abubakar or Taiwo between 2017 and 2019.

Mr Heywood said Abubakar was known to fast as part of her faith and had attempted to dry fast  consuming no food or liquid  for immigration issues and an operation Taiwo underwent.

People who knew Abubakar through churches in Cardiff before the coronavirus pandemic believed she was a devoted mother and thought well of her, he told the jury.

Abubakar was very concerned by the dangers of Covid-19 and stayed indoors, asking friend Chike Obi to bring her shopping to her flat, Mr Heywood said.

In early June 2020, Mr Obi saw Taiwo for the first time since the lockdown had started  when the child had been fat and healthy  and noticed he was unhappy and very thin, Mr Heywood said.

Mr Obi became concerned after not hearing from Abubakar and went to her flat on June 29, phoning 999 when he could not gain entry.

Taiwo was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination found he weighed just 9.8kg, with no evidence to suggest his death was caused by anything other than malnutrition and dehydration, the prosecution said.

Mr Heywood said it was not disputed that Abubakar had neglected Taiwo but the issue in the case was her state of mind at the time.

Two psychiatrists are due to give evidence that during the time leading up to his death, she was suffering delusions brought on by paranoid schizophrenia, he told the jury.

Prosecutors say she remained capable of forming the intent that is a component of the offence of cruelty to a child.

Jurors will have to decide whether Abubakar may have been insane at the time of the alleged offending, which would make her not guilty of the charges against her by reason of insanity.

In police interviews, Abubakar told officers she did not remember anything from falling asleep on June 27 to 29 when the police attended her flat.

She described this wakening as coming back to life  she believed she had been in heaven because she could see relatives that had died and heard angels singing, Mr Heywood said.

She had said she did not want to die, and angels brought her back to life.

Abubakar told police she mostly fasted during Easter but insisted Taiwo did not fast because he was young, telling officers he was healthy and eating well.

Officers found a notebook in which Abubakar appeared to describe fasting with Taiwo, with one entry reading: Thank you, Jesus Christ, for this three days fasting for the coronal 19 (sic), for the nation.

Me and my child thank you Jesus Christ that I and my child can be chosen for this fasting for the nation.

She later told police that Taiwo had never fasted and she did not understand why she had written that.

Abubakar has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.
Feature: Namibian learners put on stellar performance in Chinese language competition

Xinhua) 16:29, April 20, 2023

Students perform a dance during the UN Chinese Language Day event in Windhoek, Namibia, on April 19, 2023. Eleven Namibian learners did a stellar performance as they participated in the UN Chinese Language Day event held in Windhoek on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

WINDHOEK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Eleven Namibian learners did a stellar performance as they participated in the UN Chinese Language Day event held in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, Wednesday.

The event saw the youngsters battle it out in the 22nd Chinese Bridge Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students as well as the 16th Chinese Bridge Proficiency for Foreign Secondary School Students in Namibia.

Organized by the Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia (UNAM), the event sought to assess the students' Chinese language proficiency and other aspects of skills including Chinese speech, general knowledge about China, singing, dancing, and musical instrument playing.

"The competition for the university students level is tough because we are all at a higher level," UNAM sophomore Natacha Van Wyk, who participated in the competition, told Xinhua.

"For the high school students, I think it is very encouraging for them to start at a young age at high school age," she said after she shrugged off stiff competition to claim the crown for top university winner, as she wowed the judges with her fluent and close to perfect command of the Chinese language.

Van Wyk said despite the competition being overwhelming and nerve-racking, it was also very nice and fun to participate in, adding that her next goal is to apply for a scholarship to study in China.

UNAM Acting Vice-Chancellor Frednard Gideon congratulated the learners who participated in the competition, commending them for their commitment and effort to learn something new that could be beneficial in their career path and personal growth.

Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping said that the Chinese language has become one of the important tools of communication for international business engagement. "Chinese language learning has developed rapidly in Namibia, which has and will continue to contribute to the friendship of our peoples."

The United Nations observes the UN Chinese Language Day every year on or around April 20, when the contribution of Chinese literature, poetry, and language to world culture is highlighted.

Sophomore at the University of Namibia Natacha Van Wyk performs a traditional Chinese dance during the UN Chinese Language Day event in Windhoek, Namibia, on April 19, 2023. Eleven Namibian learners did a stellar performance as they participated in the UN Chinese Language Day event held in Windhoek on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

Shakira Slinger performs a traditional Chinese dance during the UN Chinese Language Day event in Windhoek, Namibia, on April 19, 2023. Eleven Namibian learners did a stellar performance as they participated in the UN Chinese Language Day event held in Windhoek on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
gettyimagesbank



By Lee Yeon-woo



Seoul lambasted Beijing, Thursday, for committing a "serious diplomatic discourtesy" after a Chinese official described President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks on Taiwan as "verbal meddling" in China's domestic affairs.



In an interview with Reuters, Tuesday, Yoon said Taiwan, an island Beijing claims as its own territory, is "not simply an issue between China and Taiwan," but a global matter, saying he shares the view of most other countries in opposing "attempts to change the status quo by force."



In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, criticized the Korean president during a press briefing, claiming it is "China's role to solve issues of Taiwan" and that Beijing will "not allow the third party meddling in the issue."






Penny Mordaunt has accused MP Andrew Bridgen of using the post-mortem examination of a 14-year-old girl as clickbait on his social media feed in the latest of a series of heated Commons exchanges between the two.

The Commons Leader also accused Mr Bridgen of promoting false propaganda originating from the Kremlin and abusing and undermining colleagues.

Mr Bridgen said Ms Mordaunt had made an outrageous slur against him. He added he had previously tweeted regarding a report of a 14-year-old girl from Japan, who it is said died after receiving a third dose of a Covid vaccine.

Ms Mordaunts comments came during business questions, during which MP for North West Leicestershire Mr Bridgen raised the case of NHS clinical psychologist and frontline health worker Dr Stephen Wright.

An inquest into his death ruled on Wednesday that he died from the unintended consequences of vaccination after a rare reaction to the AstraZeneca Covid jab.

Mr Bridgen is currently sitting as an independent MP. He lost the Tory whip after provoking widespread condemnation among colleagues and elsewhere by comparing the use of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust.

Speaking in the Commons, he said: In light of yesterdays Coroners Court ruling that the death of Dr Stephen Wright was due to unintended complications of the vaccine, we now have a legal precedent to review all cases of deaths which fell within the first 14 days of receiving these experimental treatments.

Stephen, sadly, died 10 days after receiving his first dose of AstraZeneca.

As previously, any death within a fortnight of receiving a vaccine was regarded as an unvaccinated death. His death was originally attributed to natural causes.

Will Government issue a statement and also release details of all the other such cases of situations where people sadly died within 14 days of vaccination?

The Commons Leader said she will ask the Health Secretary to update the House in light of this recent change, adding: These are very serious matters that I know can shed concerns for many members on all sides of this house.

MPs have spoken from across this House on many occasions about medical licensing and medical device licensing, processes and policies of the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), our Covid response and compensation for the vaccine injured, most recently raised on the floor of this House by one of our former attorney generals.

These are totally legitimate and correct debates to have. Parliamentary scrutiny and debate is one of the many checks and balances that we have in this country to ensure that we are taking the right course of action on these and all other matters.

MP Andrew Bridgen (Beresford Hodge)

It is what many colleagues do.

She added: What other colleagues are not doing is promoting false propaganda, which is widely known to originate from the Kremlin, abusing and undermining colleagues and the occupant of the chair, and using the autopsy of a 14-year-old girl as clickbait on their social media feed.

All of which he has done in the past week and he might like to reflect on that.

Mr Bridgen later defended his comments, telling the PA news agency: Unfortunately, its the sort of outrageous slur which I have had to become accustomed to from the Leader of the House.

Penny is clearly under orders from the Government, which is desperate to suppress any discussion of vaccine harms and deaths, which was the issue I raised.

The exchange at business questions follows two similar rebukes from Ms Mordaunt before Easter, in which she said she pitied Mr Bridgen if he believed the claims he was making.

On another occasion, she urged him to check his behaviour.

Mr Bridgen used a debate in the Commons in March to call for the Government to immediately stop the mRNA vaccine booster programme and initiate a full public inquiry into not only the vaccine harms but how every agency and institution set up to protect the public interest has failed so abysmally in its duties.
Police are appealing for information about a missing father and daughter in Blackpool.

Ahmed Karwan Abdulla, 36, and Dunya Abdulla, three, were last seen in the Promenade area on April 10, Lancashire Constabulary said in a statement. They were reported missing on April 18.

Ahmed is described as 5ft 8in, of stocky build, with brown eyes, short black hair and a dark beard.

Dunya is described as having curly, shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes and is approximately 3ft tall.

Ahmed Karwan Abdulla and Dunya Abdulla (PA)

Police said the pair have links to Manchester and Kent.

Officers believe they may still be in Blackpool, but could also have travelled further afield.

Pc Cat Angus of Blackpool Police said: We are extremely worried about Ahmed and Dunya and it is out of character for them to disappear like this. We need to trace father and daughter to make sure they are safe and well.

They have not been seen since April 10 and while they could still be in Blackpool they could equally have left the area. Perhaps you have seen them, or maybe you know Ahmed and have previously heard him discussing plans to travel elsewhere.

If you see them, or have any information about where they may be, please tell us.

Anyone with information has been asked to call 101, or 999 for immediate sightings.
A serving Kent Police officer accused of trying to woo a women he met while investigating a burglary is set to face a trial.

Pc Matthew Peall, 45, who is based in Canterbury, is charged with misconduct in a public office between October 9 2019 and December 17 2019.

An indictment said that, while acting as a police officer, he wilfully misconducted himself by contacting (the woman) on occasions when there was no policing purpose for him to do so and seeking by such contact to pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship.

Pc Matthew Peall leaves Southwark Crown Court in London (James Manning/PA)

Peall, of Dover, Kent, wearing a blazer, shirt and purple tie, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London for a brief hearing on Thursday.

He did not enter a plea to the single charge.

Judge Tony Baumgartner set a trial date of August 5 2024 and granted Peall unconditional bail ahead of another pre-trial hearing at the same court on June 21.
Ministers have reminded voters in England to check they have an accepted form of photographic identification if they plan to vote in person during next months local elections.

A much-criticised electoral rule change brought in by the Conservative UK Government means that those turning up at polling stations on May 4 will need to show a valid photo ID before being given a voting slip.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities insists that the vast majority of voters will already own an accepted form of identification, which includes driving licences, blue badges, NUS Totum discount cards, and Freedom travel passes for older people.

Those without accepted proof of their identity are being urged by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove to apply for a voter authority certificate (VAC) before Tuesdays deadline.

The free service has been set up specifically to allow people to vote in the English local elections, giving them a form of photo ID that will be recognised when arriving at polling stations.

Those applying need to supply a recent, digital photo of themselves along with their National Insurance number.

Applicants who do not have National Insurance details will need to provide alternative documents to prove their identity, such as a birth certificate, bank statement or utility bill.

Mr Gove said: Its vital you check now if you have the photo identification needed to vote in English local elections taking place in May.

While the vast majority of voters already own an accepted form of identification, anyone who needs to can apply for a free voter authority certificate before 5pm on Tuesday.

For more information please check your polling card and find more details online.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove urged people without accepted proof of their identity to apply for a voter authority certificate before Tuesdays deadline (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

As of Wednesday, the number of people who had applied for a VAC was just under 70,000.

That figure falls far short of the Governments estimate that around 4% of the population, equating to 2.1 million people, are likely to not have a valid form of photo ID to comply with the law change.

The voter ID rules apply to England as of the May 4 local elections and will come into force for UK general elections from October.

Officials at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said the move will bring the rest of the UK into line with Northern Ireland, where photo ID has been required to vote in elections since 2003.

Other forms of identity that will be accepted include biometric residence permits, defence identity cards, and national identity cards issued by the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

Older peoples bus passes are classed as valid but Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has questioned why younger persons travelcards are not being accepted.

He has suggested that selfish interests of the Tories, a party which has traditionally attracted greater support from older members of the electorate than younger voters, was behind the decision.

A passport is one form of accepted photographic identification to vote in England next month (Anthony Devlin/PA)

The Lib Dems, Labour and the Green Party are opposed to the change.

Ministers have argued that the move will ensure elections are better protected from the potential for voter fraud.

But Green Party peer Baroness Jones said the photo ID law change is a disaster for democracy and accused the Government of perpetrating voter fraud, arguing that it will prevent certain groups, particularly younger people, from voting.

She made the comments after joining Opposition MPs and campaigners to deliver a petition to Downing Street and a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, calling on the Government to urgently scrap the new compulsory rules for English elections.

More than 8,000 council seats in England are up for grabs on May 4 across 230 local authorities, ranging from small rural areas to some of the largest towns and cities.

Polls are also taking place to choose mayors in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield and Middlesbrough.

There are no contests in London and Birmingham, along with other areas including Cornwall, North Yorkshire and Cumbria.
Celebrity friends of Paul OGrady have begun to arrive for the TV stars funeral.

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and comedian Alan Carr were welcomed to St Rumwolds Parish Church in the Kent village of Bonnington by sombre music from the Salvation Army Band.

Comedian and TV presenter Jo Brand arrived with soap star Cheryl Fergison, followed by actress Linda Henry, who plays Shirley Carter in EastEnders.

LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell wore a purple shirt and black tie, while TV presenter Gaby Roslin sported an all-black ensemble as she entered the Grade I listed church.

Well-wishers at the Walnut Tree Pub in Aldington, Kent (Yui Mok/PA)

A trio of puppies from the Battersea Dogs And Cats Home greeted friends and family arriving for the funeral.

Celebrity chef Andi Oliver and Coronation Street star Sally Lindsay were among the mourners petting the animals.

Personal notes from family, including his daughter, Sharyn Mousley, were left outside the church attached to wreaths of lilies, in an apparent nod to the stars drag alter ego, Lily Savage.

Salvation Army Captain Jo Moir, who mentored OGrady when he trained as a volunteer for the charity in a 2016 TV documentary, paid tribute outside the church.

She told PA: Im lucky enough that Paul became my friend after we finished filming together seven years ago and he became part of my family so we talked about this kind of stuff.

The funeral cortege of Paul OGrady (Yui Mok/PA)

Hopefully the Salvation Army band can really honour him today with the music.

She said the band would be playing music that was precious to him.

The funeral procession moved through the village while hundreds of well-wishers looked on.

His husband Andre Portasio was emotional as he rode on the carriage drawn by two black horses with one of couples dogs on his lap.

Nine limousines followed with a cortege including motorbikes behind them.

A bake sale was organised outside the Walnut Tree pub in Aldington, with proceeds going to Battersea, with which he worked closely throughout his life.

Pupils and teachers from Aldington Primary School pay their respects (Yui Mok/PA)

Aldington Womens Institute (WI) chairwoman Ginny Taylor, who organised the sale, told the PA news agency: We wanted to honour Paul because he was very much part of our village. He was lovely, an absolutely lovely man.

He was always very engaged. He must have got fed up to his back teeth with everyone but he was always good. It is a real shock just even talking about it.

WI member Linda Harman said the response from the village has been phenomenal.

We have had other celebrities living in the village. Paul was the one who gave back, she said.

Walnut Tree landlady Karen Barrett told PA that OGrady had been a regular and was lovely.

Many tributes were linked to the TV stars love of dogs (Yui Mok/PA)

She said: I dont quite know how I feel about today to tell you the truth  until he comes past and I am going to cry.

It will be real. He was just lovely and if you didnt get to meet him then you missed out on life. You really did, he was just great.

Ms Barrett, who became emotional while talking about OGrady, said she is focusing on making sure the day goes well and he would be proud of us.

She added: I moved into the village 22 years ago, the same time as Paul did.

OGrady, who rose to fame as Lily Savage before going on to host a string of television programmes as himself, died unexpectedly but peacefully at his home on March 28 at the age of 67.

Born in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Merseyside, he later adopted Kent as his home for more than 20 years.
The SNP still owes money to its former chief executive Peter Murrell, Humza Yousaf has said.

The First Minister also said the party is not facing bankruptcy and is on a steady footing financially.

It emerged in December that Mr Murrell had loaned the party 100,000 in June 2021.

Speaking to journalists after First Ministers Questions on Thursday, Mr Yousaf was asked if money is still outstanding to Nicola Sturgeons husband, who was arrested earlier this month by police investigating the SNPs finances.

Peter Murrell was seen in public for the first time since his arrest on Thursday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr Yousaf said: I think there is money still absolutely outstanding to Peter Murrell.

He said he would lay out details of how much is owed after a review into the partys governance takes place.

The SNP leader said the party has not yet appointed new auditors and is still in conversations to fill the vacancy.

The First Minister said: Were definitely not facing bankruptcy, Im pleased to say we are on a steady footing when it comes to the partys finances.

I dont think Parliament is the place to do a statement on the partys finances.

Ive, of course, instructed the governance and transparency review and when the report comes in on that review, Ill make that public.

First Minister Humza Yousaf said the SNP still owes Peter Murrell money (Jane Barlow/PA)

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Murrell was seen in public for the first time since his arrest.

He was spotted by the PA news agency leaving the home he shares with ex-first minister Ms Sturgeon near Glasgow.

Mr Murrell was detained earlier this month and questioned by detectives for 11 hours before being released without charge pending further investigation.

Police investigating the partys finances also arrested the then SNP treasurer Colin Beattie on Tuesday, who was later released without charge, while a motorhome which was intended to be used for party campaigning was seized from the driveway of Mr Murrells mother.

Mr Beattie resigned as treasurer on Wednesday.

The SNP MSP served as treasurer from 2004 to 2020, and again from 2021.

Colin Beattie MSP was arrested by police investigating the SNPs finances (handout/PA)

Opposition politicians hit out at the First Minister, with Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie saying Mr Beatties decision to resign was the right thing but it was taken by the wrong man.

During FMQ, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross called on Mr Yousaf to make a statement to Holyrood on the SNPs finances.

He said there are legitimate questions that the Scottish public deserves the answer to.

Mr Yousaf did not respond in the chamber to the calls for a statement, but told MSPs there are serious issues relating to the party which he will not shy away from.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the treasurer vacancy is the least appealing in Scottish political history.

The arrest this week has ensured the police investigation into the SNPs finances has continued to overshadow the early days of Mr Yousafs tenure.

Police announced Mr Beattie had been taken into custody in the hours before the First Minister was due to lay out his priorities for Scotland under his premiership.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said he believes powersharing will be back up and running in Northern Ireland by the autumn.

The DUP is using a veto contained within the powersharing structures to prevent the operation of devolution in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements the party contends has weakened Northern Irelands place within the UK.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a direct appeal to unionists blocking the institutions in a speech at Queens University Belfast on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking at Queens University Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Sunak insists the new Windsor Framework deal he recently struck with the EU had addressed the DUP concerns over sovereignty and trade.

But the DUP remains unconvinced by the new settlement and is urging the Government to provide more assurances.

On Thursday, Downing Street said that conversations will continue about restoring powersharing.

No10 ruled out fundamentally altering the Windsor Framework, but said in terms of how the agreement and the Stormont brake is implemented it did want input from the DUP and other parties.

Mr Beattie is optimistic about the DUP returning to powersharing.

Speaking on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Beattie, who says he has a really good relationship with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said: Im in no doubt the Executive will get up and running.

Its not a case of if, its a case of when.

He said he talks often to Sir Jeffrey, but that his comments did not amount to him providing an inside track on DUP thinking.

Its my analysis of where we are, because theres nothing else we can do. We have to get Stormont up and running again.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie (Brian Lawless)

We have to grasp those opportunities. We have to start doing legislation to help the people of Northern Ireland, all the people of Northern Ireland, and I think we will do.

Its a case of: when is that going to happen? Now were in the middle of an election, so nothings going to happen now or afterwards in the marching season.

But I would imagine in the autumn that we will definitely have an executive running again.

Asked whether he was saying he believes the DUP will be back in Stormont by autumn 2023, Mr Beattie said: Thats my analysis looking at things as they stand.

So Im giving you an analysis. Now people will disagree with that. The DUP may even disagree with that and I have no issue with that.

Ive just given you what my belief is from the analysis that I have made.

During his speech at the conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Sunak said restoring powersharing in Northern Ireland is the right thing to do for the future of the Union.

Addressing unionist political representatives, Mr Sunak said: I urge you to work with us to get Stormont up and running again.

Thats the right thing to do in its own terms. Im convinced its also the right thing to do for our union.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (Aaron Chown/PA)

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson responded later saying the damaged foundations of devolved government must have unionist as well as nationalist support for sustainable devolved government.

We seek to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly by finishing the job of fully restoring Northern Irelands place in the United Kingdom, he said in a statement.

We stand ready to work with the Prime Minister and his Government to ensure that stable devolution is delivered through sustainable and balanced outcomes that have solid foundations based on the support of unionists as well as nationalists.

We must get the foundations right. Short-term fixes will lead to short-term devolution and will do a disservice to those trying to make the institutions work.

We are in the business of finishing the job and ensuring that NIs position within the Union is not continually undermined.

Northern Ireland will only ever move forward if we all move forward together.
New voting data suggests that support for the SNP at Holyrood has slumped to its lowest level since IndyRef following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon and an investigation into party finances.

The data from YouGov, which polled 1,032 Scottish adults on their voting intention at the next Holyrood election between April 17-20, found that the SNPs constituency vote share has dropped five points since March to 38%, the joint-lowest since the independence referendum in 2014.

As recently as December the SNP was on 50% in constituency voting intention.

The poll shows that Labours constituency vote share of 30% is the highest it has achieved since the 2014 vote.

Nicola Sturgeon resigned as SNP leader in February (Jane Barlow/PA)

The Conservative Party takes 16% of the vote and the Liberal Democrats 10%.

The regional list vote was similar, with the SNPs five-point dip to 30% putting the party on the lowest share of the vote it has held since just before the referendum, and representing a 10-point drop since late 2022.

Labours 26% is similar to other polls from this year, although still represents a significant turnaround for the party from its low point of 11% in mid-2019.

Westminster voting intention has seen less of an impact, with results for all parties in the margin of error to the previous poll in March.

The SNP takes 37% of the vote (from 39% before), while Labour is on 28% (minus 1) and the Tories 17% (plus 1).

Following the resignation of Ms Sturgeon in February, and the election of Humza Yousaf as the new First Minister, half of Scots (53%) see the SNP as a divided party, compared with 29% who see it as a united one.

The poll also found that only 19% of Scots believe Mr Yousaf is doing well, with 44% who believe he is doing badly.

One in three Scots are currently unsure how he is doing as First Minister.

Do you think Humza Yousaf is doing well or badly as First Minister? All ScotsWell: 19%Badly: 44%Don't know: 36% 2019 SNP votersWell: 32%Badly: 28%Don't know: 40%https://t.co/slB3cfES2k pic.twitter.com/j7z88dXNuJ  YouGov (@YouGov) April 20, 2023

The poll also found that four in 10 people believe that Mr Yousaf will do a worse job than his predecessor Ms Sturgeon, with only 9% thinking he will be better.

Among 2019 SNP voters, only 32% think that he is doing well.

One in three believe he is doing a good job, but 28% say he is doing a bad one. Four in 10 (40%) answered dont know.

Support for Scottish independence remains the same as it was in last months YouGov poll, with 46% saying they would vote Yes and 54% No.
The handling of formal complaints against ministers should be taken out of the hands of politicians following the drawn-out bullying investigation into Dominic Raab, a union chief has urged.

Rishi Sunak is continuing to deliberate over the future of Deputy Prime Minister Mr Raab after receiving a report into bullying allegations against the senior politician, which he has denied.

The Prime Minister was handed the report into Mr Raabs behaviour towards junior colleagues on Thursday morning following a five-month probe by Adam Tolley KC.

A decision on Mr Raabs future is expected on Friday at the earliest.

Dominic Raab (James Manning/PA)

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, said no matter Mr Sunaks decision over whether to sack his deputy or not, a reform of the complaints process against ministers was required.

He said flagging complaints about ministerial behaviour was an extraordinarily difficult thing to do under the current system.

The FDA represents senior civil servants, with some of its members behind the accusations levelled at Mr Raab, who is also the Justice Secretary.

Mr Penman said allowing the Prime Minister to act as judge and jury in disciplinary matters against frontbench members of his team was not a way to deal with allegations of potential wrongdoing.

There is no process for this, there is nothing in writing, you have no rights, Mr Penman told the PA news agency.

You are reliant upon the Prime Minister even agreeing for there to be an investigation and the Prime Minister then needs to make a determination on it, on a political ally.

He said there absolutely needed to be reform, stating that a survey of the FDAs senior civil service members found 70% had no confidence in raising a complaint because of how the process had been dealt with in the past.

That is despite one in six revealing they had experienced or witnessed inappropriate conduct by ministers in the last 12 months across 23 government departments, he said.

Mr Penman added: The Prime Minister has to decide whether he is serious about this or not.

This is not a way to deal with serious complaints of bullying. Or this could be about sexual harassment. It is the same process.

You are relying on the Prime Minister entirely as judge and jury on the facts.

Like happened in Parliament, this whole process needs to be reformed and needs to be taken out of the hands of politicians.

The investigation into Mr Raab includes eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

Mr Penman was critical of the time it was taking for Mr Sunak to reach a decision on whether to remove Mr Raab from Government, calling the delay a farce.

Downing Street had promised for the Prime Minister to reach a decision swiftly but it appeared unlikely to be made within 24 hours of him receiving Mr Tolleys submitted investigation.

Imagine being a civil servant who has been brave enough to raise a complaint against the Deputy Prime Minister, sitting in a government department and youre watching this farce play out live on television, not knowing what your fate is going to be about the complaints you have raised, Mr Penman told PA.
Kim Gunn, left, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, poses for a photo with German Minister of State Tobias Lindner during their meeting in Berlin to discuss cooperation on the denuclearization of North Korea, in this photo released by the South Korean foreign ministry, April 19. Yonhap



South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator met with a senior German diplomat in Berlin to discuss cooperation on denuclearization of North Korea, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.



During the meeting with the German Minister of State Tobias Lindner the previous day, Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, shared his assessment of the current security situation on the peninsula and discussed ways to step up bilateral cooperation to counter Pyongyang's nuclear threats.



Kim also stressed the need for the North to realize the international community's "firm will" toward denuclearization and urged global cooperation to improve the human rights situation in Pyongyang.



Lindner expressed "full support" for South Korea's policies on the North, not only as an important partner to Seoul but on a multinational level as a member of the European Union and Group of Seven, the ministry added.



The two sides agreed to bolster their ties to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table as they highlighted the 140th anniversary of Korean-German relations this year. (Yonhap)


A column written by a senior Conservative peer which suggested stripping Scotland of devolved powers has been widely condemned, including by some in his own party.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former lead Brexit negotiator Lord Frost urged Tory ministers, if re-elected, to begin to review and roll back some currently devolved powers in light of the issues facing the SNP.

We, the Conservative Party and the Conservative Government, have allowed this to happen, he wrote.

This is nonsense. Devolution has allowed us to shine a light on SNP failures. The @Conservatives will not be rolling it back. https://t.co/AeKRfMjFfn  Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) April 19, 2023

Its time to fix it. Ministers should make clear that, if re-elected, they will review and roll back some currently devolved powers.

In particular, Scotland does not need to be an independent actor on the world stage; it should not be able to legislate to disrupt free trade within the UK; and it does not need to have most tax raising powers currently available to it.

These powers are embryonic, independent government powers.

They arent necessary to run an effective local administration, which is what devolution should be about.

I hope, of course, that Labour might do likewise and drop its sneaking admiration for socialism in one (devolved) nation, but I am not holding my breath.

His comments were attacked by the SNP, and by some Scottish Tories.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Lord Frosts proposals show the Tory mask has slipped.

Stephen Flynn claimed the Tory mask has slipped (Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/PA)

He added: Its clear Westminsters repeated attacks on Scotland are a deliberate, co-ordinated attempt to reverse devolution, roll-back the powers of the Scottish Parliament and force Scotland under Westminster control.

Scottish Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson said on Twitter: The Tories are already attacking and undermining Scottish devolution. Now their Brexit negotiator @DavidGHFrost says they should put it in reverse.

Scottish Tory Murdo Fraser described the comments as nonsense, adding on Twitter: Devolution has allowed us to shine a light on SNP failures. The @Conservatives will not be rolling it back.

Fellow Tory MSP Stephen Kerr tweeted: Strongly disagree with this article.

A poor Scottish Government isnt justification to roll back devolution, any more than issues at the UKGOV are justification for Scottish separation. Devolution works. Its the SNP that are failing.

Tory constitution spokesman Donald Cameron added: What a load of baloney. Devolution hasnt failed and no Conservative should want to reverse it.

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: Lord Frost is a backbench peer and entitled to his personal views.

Our view, shared by the UK party, is that the problem is not with devolution but with this divided and distracted SNP Government.
The long-awaited report into bullying allegations made against Dominic Raab has been received by the Prime Minister.

But uncertainty remains over when the review will be made publicly available and what action  if any  Rishi Sunak will decide to take over the Deputy Prime Minister on the strength of its findings.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the questions surrounding the report and what might happen next.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Charles McQuillan/PA)

 What is the report?

Adam Tolley KC, a senior employment lawyer, was appointed in November to investigate a number of allegations made against Mr Raab by civil servants who worked in his departments.

Dozens of officials are thought to be involved in eight formal complaints relating to bullying.

Mr Tolley has taken a thorough approach to examining the allegations, questioning the Deputy Prime Minister multiple times among other interviewees as well as taking written evidence.

Senior civil servants in the three Government departments headed by Mr Raab  Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Simon McDonald, a former permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office, and Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary at the now-defunct Department for Exiting the European Union  are also understood to have spoken to the inquiry.

Mr Raab was reappointed to the Cabinet by Rishi Sunak (James Manning/PA)

 How has Dominic Raab responded to the complaints?

The Deputy Prime Minister has denied the allegations but pledged to resign if he is found to have bullied officials.

He has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully, but defended his forthright approach to his work.

 How is the Prime Minister likely to respond?

Downing Street has refused to be drawn on whether the Prime Minister would sanction or sack Mr Raab if the findings of the report are damning.

Last month, Mr Sunak evaded questions about his response to the inquirys findings, saying he will not pre-empt a process which has not been completed.

After it was received by No 10 on Thursday, the Prime Ministers official spokesperson indicated he maintained full confidence in his deputy but that he was carefully considering the reports conclusions.

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry (Aaron Chown/PA)

 What will the reports wider effect be on the Prime Minister and the Government?

If the conclusions are damning, Mr Sunak will be under growing pressure to take appropriate action against his deputy.

Mr Sunak is the ultimate arbiter on issues around ministerial conduct and the final decision on his Mr Raab will rest with him.

He will also be under renewed scrutiny over his decision reappoint Mr Raab to the cabinet.

Downing Street has said Mr Sunak did not know about any formal complaints before forming his first cabinet in October, but has not said whether he was aware of any other concerns.

Mr Raabs allies have defended him throughout the inquiry but backbencher Sir Jake Berry, who served in the cabinets of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Theresa May, suggested it was wrong for Mr Raab to be allowed to continue in his job while under investigation.

Mr Sunak has received the report (House of Commons/PA)

 When will the report be published?

Downing Street would not indicate when the report will be published but insisted a resolution will be sought as swiftly as possible.

It had previously been suggested that the review could be released shortly after the Prime Minister receives it.
The Prince and Princess of Wales both tried their hand at darts during their visit to Birminghams Jewellery Quarter  with one fellow competitor praising Kate for her very solid throwing action.

During a visit to The Rectory bar on Thursday, William and Kate chatted for more than half an hour with local business owners and workers from the citys creative industries sector, before taking to separate oches in the cellar bar.

The royals also both chatted with Birmingham-born TV presenter Alison Hammond during the visit to the pubs 180 Club, which has four interactive darts booths.

The Prince of Wales in the pubs cellar bar (Jacob King/PA)

Marketing agency worker Chris Van Den Broek spoke with Kate about the local creative industry in the upstairs bar, before playing darts alongside William, who drew cheers as one his arrows fell to the floor.

The 35-year-old senior account manager, originally from the Netherlands, said after the visit that Kate had shown a deep interest in Birminghams can-do attitude and ability to get things done.

Mr Van Den Broek, who posed for a group picture in front of the board alongside William and Ms Hammond, said of the royal: It was really exciting, she was really nice and really interested in what everyone around the room was doing.

William takes aim at the board. (Jacob King/PA)

Creative and branding manager Akash Bhardwaj, 28, played darts in the same booth as Kate  whose throwing action he described as very solid  and two other guests at the event.

For people who are nervous, they got rid of that, he said of the royal couple. She was incredible, to be honest.

They came across as people like us. Most importantly she had an interest in what Birmingham is offering.

Kate meets members of the public after leaving the bar (Jacob King/PA)

Robert Wood, who owns the nearby Lucky 7 bar, said the event showed the couple had a real interest in the creative arts and the people involved in the industry.

Its something they feel deeply about, he said. I think events like this are really great.

Not only to have them show an interest in us but also for us to meet each other as well.

Hundreds of well-wishers greeted William and Kate when they arrived at the bar, overlooking the 18th century St Pauls Square, and remained there for a lengthy walk-about as they left.

Among those who chatted with William in bright sunshine was Courtney Doyle, who works at a nearby recruitment agency.

The Princess of Wales in St Pauls Square, Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)

Ms Doyle used FaceTime to allow her mother Candice, who was in Durban in South Africa, to pass on her own personal greeting to William.

The 23-year-old said her mother had been crying, screaming as she said hello to William.

He said: Hi, he said: We have beautiful weather here, and she said: Its beautiful weather here as well,' Ms Doyle said.

It has made my day and my mums day.
The Prince of Wales took an unsuspecting customers booking on the telephone as he and the Princess of Wales visited an Indian street food restaurant in Birmingham.

William answered the unexpected phone call and took a booking for two while he and Kate were being served a range of Indian dishes at the Indian Streatery restaurant in Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, on Thursday.

After negotiating over the time of the booking and giving the customer directions, William said: He knows where you are now, I probably sent him somewhere else in Birmingham so I apologise.

At 2.15pm, the customer Vinay Aggarwal and his wife Ankita Gulati, a husband and wife visiting from London, arrived at the restaurant ahead of their train home at 3pm.

Vinay Aggarwal (right) and his wife, Ankita Gulati, said they did not realise William took their booking (Callum Parke/PA)

Mr Aggarwal, a software engineer, said he had no idea that William took the call.

He said: Its pretty amazing and a surprise. I didnt know at that moment, but its a very nice surprise.

Obviously (I will be telling everyone), its not something that happens often.

I didnt recognise his voice at all, this is the first time I was listening to him on the phone, so I genuinely thought someone was taking the booking for me.

Asked about the unexpected phone call, restaurant owner Meena Sharma said: All of us around him were really surprised he actually picked up the phone and actually said this is the Indian Streatery, and there was a genuine person on the other end wanting to make a booking.

But I think he probably could have a role as a front of house manager, we could probably employ him to take phone calls in future as he did a really good job.

Meena Sharma (left) and Rakesh Sharma (Callum Parke/PA)

During the visit, which comes as part of a wider tour of the country ahead of the Kings coronation, Will and Kate said they love curries and secretly try lots of curry houses around the country.

In the first of two stops in Birmingham, Kate said food is so nostalgic and said she loves spice.

Meanwhile, William said he preferred milder food, adding: Im a masala man.

When asked whether their children enjoy Indian food, Kate replied: Absolutely, they love it.

After being introduced to Mrs Sharma and her husband, Rakesh, William and Kate met front of house staff before heading into the kitchen to prepare rotis, a traditional flatbread.

They took part in a cooking competition, which was judged by the restaurants head chef and co-owner, Meena Sharma.

Kate said she loves spice during the visit (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA)

William, wearing a brown blazer, blue chinos and brown suede Chelsea boots, admitted he would not eat the curry he prepared, adding we will let that one just be in the corner somewhere.

He also asked staff for their top tips on preparing rice as it was always soggy when he made it, with Mrs Sharma, who opened the restaurant in 2017 and runs an all-female kitchen, telling staff not to give away the eaterys recipes.

The couple were served portions of traditional Indian street food including pani puri, black dahl, methi chicken and balpuri chaat.

The menu at the restaurant includes a cocktail named after each family member behind the restaurant, but William said he could not think of what he would call a cocktail inspired by his wife when asked by Dhiraj Sharma, the 27-year-old general manager.

The Princess of Wales meets members of the public in Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)

He admitted he preferred vodka and enjoyed a Kamikaze cocktail as they were silent but deadly.

Kate said she loves cooking Lebanese food and added: I quite like tequila.

The royals left the restaurant to greet dozens of well-wishers ahead of a second engagement in the city later on Thursday.

Speaking after the royals departed, Mr Sharma, said: It was very surreal and not something you ever think about.

You never think royalty will come to your humble abode but its been an absolute pleasure to have them here.

Confirming Kate as the winner of the roti cooking competition, Mrs Sharma, 63, who came to the UK in 1966 from India, said: I think clearly there was only one winner, and I think the person who knew they werent the winner admitted that as well.
FILE - Facebook's Meta logo sign is seen at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on, Oct. 28, 2021. Anyone in the U.S. who has had a Facebook account at any time since May 24, 2007, can now apply for their share of a $725 million privacy settlement that parent company Meta has agreed to pay. Meta is paying to settle a lawsuit alleging the worlds largest social media platform allowed millions of its users personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Anyone in the U.S. who has had a Facebook account at any time since May 24, 2007, can now apply for their share of a $725 million privacy settlement that parent company Meta has agreed to pay.

Meta is paying to settle a lawsuit alleging the worlds largest social media platform allowed millions of its users personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

It's not clear how much money individual users will receive. The larger the number of people submitting valid claims, the smaller each payment will be since the money has to be divided among them.

To apply for the settlement, users can fill out a form and submit it online, or print it out and mail it.

The case sprang from 2018 revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign that culminated in Trumps election as the 45th president.

Uproar over the revelations led to a contrite Zuckerberg being grilled by U.S. lawmakers and spurred calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts.

Facebooks growth has stalled as more people connect and entertain themselves on rival services such as TikTok, but the social network still boasts more than 2 billion users worldwide, including an estimated 250 million in the U.S.
Max Mumby/Indigo - Getty Images

Next month, King Charles III will be crowned as the United Kingdom's new monarch in the first British coronation to take place in 70 yearsbut which crowns exactly will he be wearing?

For hundreds of years, the Crown Jewels, or the collection of the nation's most sacred and ancient treasures held in trust by the monarch, have played a key role in the coronations of new sovereigns.

To mark the start of the king's reign, both King Charles and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort, will don crowns pulled from the Tower of London, where they have been guarded since the 17th century. Charles will wear St Edward's Crown and the Imperial State Crown, while Camila will wear Queen Mary's Crown.

The crowns also contain controversial gemstonesspecifically the Cullinan II, III, IV, and Vsomething which has prompted global conversations about the royal family's historical legacy in maintaining imperialism and colonization.

Read ahead for everything you need to know about these symbolic headpieces.

What King Charles Will Wear

St Edward's Crown

Tim Graham - Getty Images

King Charles III will be crowned with St Edward's Crown, which has traditionally been used as the coronation crown since the 17th century (Queen Elizabeth II was crowned with this very headpiece during her 1953 coronation).

The headpiece was made for King Charles II in 1661 and was intended as a replacement for the original medieval crown, which was melted in 1649. The Royal Collection Trust notes that the original is thought to be dated back to the eleventh-century royal saint, Edward the Confessor, who was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

St Edward's Crown was commissioned from the crown jeweler, Robert Vyner, in 1661. Vyner did not perfectly replicate the original headpiece, though he imitated the original design by including four crosses-pattee, four fleurs-de-lis, and two arches. The crown additionally includes a deep purple velvet cap, an ermine band, an orb and cross topper, a solid gold frame, and plenty of gems such as rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes, and tourmalines.

Heritage Images - Getty Images

The Imperial State Crown

Tim Graham Royal Photos - Getty Images

After the coronation service, the king will exchange St Edward's Crown for the Imperial State Crown, which he will likely wear during the Coronation Procession and while waving to members of the public on the Buckingham Palace balcony. This headpiece is often used during ceremonial occasions, like the State Opening of Parliament. It was last seen placed atop Queen Elizabeth's coffin during her funeral last September.

The crown was made for King George VI's coronation in 1937, but is based on Queen Victoria's 1838 crown.

The design includes an openwork gold frame mounted with three large stones and set with 2,868 diamonds in silver mounts as well as 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and 269 pearls in gold mounts. It also features a fitted purple velvet cap and an ermine band.

Max Mumby/Indigo - Getty Images

Several of the gemstones in the Imperial State Crown bear historical significance:

St Edward's Sapphire is said to have been worn by St Edward and was allegedly excavated from his tomb in the 11th century.

Four large pear-shaped pearls included in the crown are thought to have once been owned by Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth took the pearls from her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, whom she imprisoned and who was gifted the pearls from her mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici.

The Black Prince's Ruby is thought to have been the stone given to Prince Edward, also known as the Black Prince, by Don Pedro, King of Castile, following the 1367 Battle of Najera, though it is difficult for historians to prove that it is indeed the same stone.

The Stuart Sapphire was allegedly smuggled by King James II when he fled England following the Glorious Revolution in 1688. He later gave it to his son, Prince James Francis Edward, who then passed it to his son, Henry Benedict, Cardinal York. Henry is said to have later sold the sapphire to King George IV, and thus returned the stone to the British royal family's collection.

Cullinan II, also known as the Second Star of Africa, is the second-largest stone cut from the Cullinan Diamond, the largest rough diamond ever found. The diamond was mined in South Africa in 1905, and subsequently forced over to the British royal family. In the decades since, the Cullinan II and its sister stones have sparked calls for the royal family to return the diamonds to South Africa as more and more people criticize their role in plundering colonized lands.

What Queen Camilla Will Wear

Queen Mary's Crown

GraphicaArtis - Getty Images





Camilla will be crowned with Queen Mary's Crown. In the interest of sustainability, it is the first time in recent history that an existing crown will be reused for the coronation of the consort rather than having a new crown made, according to Buckingham Palace.

Ahead of the coronation, the crown will be reset without the contentious Kohinoor diamondwhose origin is disputed, but has nonetheless come to symbolize the British royal family's violent colonial rule over Indiaand replaced with the Cullinan III, IV, and V diamonds, a choice made to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, as these diamonds hailed from her personal jewelry collection. Still, the swap has incited criticism from many historians and activists, who have noted that the Cullinan diamonds were mined from South Africa and are therefore still relics of British imperialism.

The crown was originally made for the 1911 coronation of Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. The design, inspired by Queen Alexandra's Crown, features a silver frame lined with gold and set with 2,200 diamonds, as well as a fitted purple velvet cap and ermine band. It can be worn without the arches in form of a circlet.

Hulton Deutsch - Getty Images

Why are the Cullinan diamonds so controversial?

To many, the Cullinan diamonds represent the British royal family and government's active participation in the colonization of nearly an entire continent and the subsequent exploitation of its peoples. During that period, while the British empire became bloated with riches, the people from the lands those riches hailed from were often left destitute.

"The Cullinan Diamond must be returned to South Africa with immediate effect," activist Thanduxolo Sabelo said after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. "The minerals of our country and other countries continue to benefit Britain at the expense of our people. We remain in deep, shameful poverty, we remain with mass unemployment and rising levels of crime due to the oppression and devastation caused by her and her forefathers."

Using the Cullinan Diamonds as a replacement of the Kohinoor diamond may only further calls for reparations. Danielle Kinsey, an expert in British imperialism and and colonialism, previously told NBC News, "If the Kohinoor is a symbol of East India Company plunder imperialism in India, the Cullinan is a symbol of a different kind of British racialized settler colonialism in southern Africaand the royal family and their literal crowns and regalia are one place where these two strains of imperialism come together."

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Julie Su speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions confirmation hearing for her to be the Labor Secretary, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 20, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden's nominee for labor secretary, Julie Su, won praise at her Senate hearing Thursday as a champion of the working class even as some key Democrats were unwilling to voice support, creating uncertainty about her confirmation prospects.

A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su's nomination ahead of Thursday's confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the deputy labor secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labor.

The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the Biden administration's first Asian American to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden last month called her proof of the American dream and said shes committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.

Su tapped into that spirit in her testimony, recounting how her parents were able to claw their way into the middle class through jobs that provided benefits as well as becoming entrepreneurs.

When he announced my nomination for U.S Secretary of Labor, the president called me the American Dream. My parents believed in it, I benefited from it, and I want to do my part to make sure it is a reality for workers across the nation, Su said.

She was previously confirmed as the deputy labor secretary, but has faced opposition from business groups critical of her record leading California's labor department. They point to her support of an overturned California law that would have required app-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft, as well as trucking businesses, to treat their workers as employees, providing benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, rather than independent contractors.

Su has also faced blame for problems at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency during the coronavirus pandemic when unprecedented numbers of people applying for unemployment benefits faced long wait times and the state paid out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims.

Industry groups have launched billboard and digital ads against Su in West Virginia, Montana and Arizona, while unions have assembled to support Su.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committees chair, voiced support as he opened Thursdays hearing, saying the debate over Su has nothing to do with her qualifications.

This debate really has everything to do with the fact that Julie Su is a champion of the working class of this country who will stand up against the forces of corporate greed, he said.

But Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, all declined to say whether they would vote for her confirmation this week. Democrats cannot afford to lose more than a couple votes in a Senate divided 51-49. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is also recovering from shingles in California, with no firm return date.

Manchin repeatedly declined to comment on Su's nomination this week; Tester said he would meet with her after the meeting to make sure she's still right"; Kelly said he didn't have concerns about her record but added he does not preview his votes; Sinema said through a spokeswoman that she does not preview votes.

Su was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 by a 5047 vote.

During her testimony, Su repeatedly referenced her work alongside Walsh, saying that Biden had asked her to finish the job that Secretary Walsh and I started.

Republicans appear unified in opposition to Su's confirmation. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a floor speech that Su has a lengthy track record for all the wrong reasons.

During the committee hearing, Republican senators closely questioned Su on whether she could forge relationships with industry groups, as well as her oversight of the California labor department when it paid out unemployment benefits to fraudulent claims during the pandemic.

The top Republican on the panel, Sen. Bill Cassidy, accused Su of unfairly favoring unions, telling her, We need a labor secretary who is fair and unbiased in enforcing the nations labor laws."

Su maintained a smile as she responded to Republican questions and emphasized that she knew the value of small business entrepreneurship through her parents. She insisted that she could build relationships with both labor and industry groups to help negotiate settlements and pointed out that Congress had lifted normal checks on unemployment claims for the enhanced benefits paid during the pandemic.

Late last year, Su was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies and helped avoid an economically debilitating strike. She has also led efforts to crack down on wage theft.

Republicans also asked if she would advance a California standard that classifies many workers as employees rather than independent contractors.

Su said she wouldn't and understands the value of independent contractors. But she also asserted that it is a problem in our economy that needs to be addressed when businesses avoid paying minimum wage, overtime or unemployment insurance by classifying regular workers as independent contractors instead of actual employees.

The Senate committee is expected to vote next week on whether to advance Su's confirmation to a vote in the full chamber.
Thousands of miles from Washington, Beijing or Taiwan, the race between China and the West is heating up  in the coldest place on the planet.

China has restarted construction on its fifth base in Antarctica for the first time since 2018 and is making significant progress, according to new analysis. The U.S. has three year-round research stations in the Antarctic.

The new Chinese site could be used to strengthen its intelligence-gathering capabilities in the area, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, said in the report released Tuesday. And it comes as China is undertaking the most significant expansion of its footprint there in a decade, according to CSIS.

The report, Frozen Frontiers, also detailed Chinas moves in the Arctic, where it is stepping up investments with Russia to exploit potential new shipping routes freed up by melting sea ice.

China has stressed that its ambitions in Antarctica and the Arctic region, which are both home to research stations from the U.S. and its allies, are purely scientific. But its accelerating developments are seen by some in the West as part of a wider effort to strengthen footholds for its military around the globe.

Temporary buildings on Inexpressible Island at China's fifth Antarctic research station in 2018. (Xinhua via Alamy file)

If they see themselves as an incoming superpower with global ambitions, why would they not want to expand their presence there? said Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS University of London. Why should the Antarctic be any different?

CSIS analyzed January satellite images from the Colorado-based Maxar Technologies showing construction work being carried out at the new base on Inexpressible Island, almost 2,000 miles south of New Zealand. It's also some 200 miles from the United States' own McMurdo Station, the largest base on the frozen continent.

After several years of inaction, the site now has a number of new support facilities, with groundwork already in place for a larger structure, the satellite images show. Once completed, the 5,000-square-meter site is expected to include a scientific research and observation area, an energy facility, a wharf for its two Xuelong, or snow dragon icebreakers, and other buildings, CSIS said.

Like the U.S. and other countries, China is treaty-bound to limit its Antarctic activity to peaceful purposes, although military personnel are allowed to carry out scientific research. However, CSIS said a satellite ground station at Beijings new base will have inherent dual-use capabilities  scientific and intelligence.

The ground station, it said, could be used to collect signals intelligence and telemetry data from rockets launched by U.S.-allies in Australia and New Zealand.

China has stressed its ambitions in the region are purely scientific.

China has made remarkable progress in deep-sea and polar scientific research, and significantly enhanced its capability to understand, protect and utilize both deep-sea and polar regions, Han Zheng, who was then vice premier and has now been appointed vice president, said in January.

But its own military-affiliated National Defense University said in a 2020 textbook that "mixing" civilian and military facilities was "the main way for great powers to achieve a polar military presence."

According to the Department of Defense report last year, Chinas strategy for Antarctica is partly based on these dual-use technologies  facilities that are ostensibly scientific but improve the countrys military capabilities, too.

Since the 1950s, the American military has participated in Operation Deep Freeze providing logistical support to the U.S. Antarctic Program and the National Science Foundation.

But CSIS told Reuters that while the U.S. still maintains a larger research presence in Antarctica  including the biggest facility in its McMurdo station  Chinas footprint is growing faster.
The Republican-led House Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday struck comments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and ended her time to speak after she called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar.

The committee first declined to strike comments from Greene, who spoke after Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., at a hearing on budget requests from the Department of Homeland Security. Greene started her comments by accusing Swalwell of having an affair with a Chinese spy.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., earlier this year said he would not seat Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee over his previous ties to a suspected Chinese spy, a move Democrats called political revenge.

Democrats on Wednesday failed in a push to strike the allegation against Swalwell, arguing it violated House rules.

But as Greene continued with her comments, she criticized Mayorkas for the spread of fentanyl in the United States

I want to know from you, how many more people do we have to watch die every single day in America? How many more young people do we have to see die? How many more teenagers? the Georgia Republican asked.

Mayorkas tried to respond to the lawmaker, saying, let me assure you that we're not letting it go on, before Greene said she was reclaiming her time in the committee and called Mayorkas a liar.

'Unacceptable'

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sought to have Greenes words taken down, saying We have a history of being a bipartisan committee that works on solutions. Now we can disagree, but weve gotten to the point of the language that we're using is not the kind of language that historically we as members of this committee have used.

Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., approved the move, saying identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee. The chair then noted that Greene was no longer recognized.

Greene was previously stripped of her committee assignments after a series of menacing social media posts. She was reinstated after Republicans took back control of the House following the 2022 midterms, named to the Oversight and Accountability Committee as well as the Homeland Security Committee.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marjorie Taylor Greene silenced for calling Mayorkas a liar in hearing
BOWDOIN, Maine (AP)  A man confessed to killing four people, including his parents, and then firing on motorists on a busy interstate highway, just days after being released from prison, police said Wednesday.

Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, called the shootings of four people at a home in Bowdoin and then three more people on Interstate 295 to the south in Yarmouth an attack on the soul of our state that shook neighbors, law enforcement and the state at large.

Its a shock to everybody, he told reporters in Augusta. You want to naturally say, That cant be happening here in Maine. But the reality is these senseless acts can and do happen everywhere.

The seven people shot in Maine were the latest victims of mass shootings in the U.S., whose targets included a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee; a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Sweet Sixteen party in a small city in Alabama.

The gunman, Joseph Eaton, 34, had been released April 14 from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he was picked up by his mother after completing a sentence for aggravated assault, police said. That crime was serious enough to prevent him from possessing a gun in Maine. Over the past decade he has been charged with more than a half-dozen crimes.

Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck leads a news conference, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Augusta, Maine, about shootings in the state. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)

The shootings began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims in Bowdoin were identified Wednesday as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said.

After Joseph Eaton fled the home, a chaotic scene developed on a highway over 20 miles (32 kilometers) away in Yarmouth, where shots were fired at moving vehicles, police said. Joseph Eaton later told police he was firing on cars because he thought he was being followed by law enforcement. Several vehicles were hit by gunfire but the three people injured were a family all in the same car: Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey remains in critical condition, police said Wednesday.

Joseph Eaton was found in a wooded area not far from a vehicle believed to be his own, police said. He was taken to Maine Medical Center, where he was treated and released without injury, police said.

He's due to make an initial court appearance on Thursday.

In this image taken video, members of law enforcement investigate a scene where people were injured in a shooting on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, Maine, Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (WGME-TV via AP)

Maine is a small state and has often been referred to as a single community, and I think Bowdoin epitomizes that. Im heartsick over this tragedy that occurred, and to the people and residences of this community, said Sagadahoc Sheriff Joel Merry.

The day before the shootings, an anguished man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted a roughly two-minute live video on Facebook criticizing people who he said are Christian and don't give people a second chance. What good does it do to hate somebody? he said, choking back tears on the video. You know, it destroys you.

On the day he was released from prison, the man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted on Facebook that he was feeling thankful. Its finally over. There are so many people I cant wait to see."

Moss confirmed that state police were aware of the video, and that its part of their investigation. Joseph Eaton, who was living in Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder but was not immediately charged in the highway shootings, she said. Eaton remained jailed and it was unclear if he had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Police declined to release more information about the investigation into the shootings, which they described as ongoing. They declined to speculate on a possible motive or the weapon that was used. The origins and ownership of the firearms used remain unclear.

A lone bouquet of flowers marks a desolate makeshift memorial at the end of a driveway at a Bowdoin, Maine, home, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, where four people were killed. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

Betty Fagan, Joseph Eatons grandmother and the mother of victim Cynthia Eaton, said her grandson had been dropped off at a beach and spent the weekend alone after being retrieved from prison. The parents had come back to Maine but were planning to move to Kansas, where theyd lived previously, Fagan said.

She said she doesnt understand what went wrong. I couldnt believe it. I just couldnt believe he would do something like that, Fagan said from her home in Ocala, Florida.

Police declined to comment on Joseph Eatons living arrangements after leaving prison beyond saying his parents were helping him with accommodations. Police also did not comment on whether drugs or mental illness played a role in the killings.

Meanwhile in Bowdoin, Denise Pride, 58, a neighbor, said one of the victims was famous for delivering baked goods to neighbors on holidays. They were very kind people, Pride said. The neighbors were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them.

A relative to the family shot on the highway, Ian Halsey of Bowdoinham, said that two of his cousins were shot and that his uncle suffered shrapnel injuries. None of the family knew the shooter, he said.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said of his family. Its horrible what happened.
Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Kim Seung-kyum, center, visits the U.S. military's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery unit in Seongju, 214 kilometers southeast of Seoul in this photo provided by the JCS, April 20. Yonhap



Korea's top general visited the U.S. Forces Korea's anti-missile unit in a southern county Thursday, Seoul's military said, as the allies seek to boost readiness against Pyongyang's military threats.



Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum made the visit to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery base in Seongju, 214 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to be briefed on its air defense operations, according to the JCS.



It marked the first time for Korea's JCS chairman to make a public visit to the base.



During the visit, Kim called on troops to maintain an "impenetrable" defense posture against "any deceptive and surprise missile threats" from the enemy, while describing the U.S. soldiers there as the alliance's "driving force," the JCS said.



Earlier in the day, Kim made an on-site visit to the Navy Special Warfare Flotilla's training at an unspecified location and visited the Air Force's Air Combat Command in Daegu, 237 kilometers southeast of Seoul.



At the Air Force unit, Kim inspected the ongoing Korea Flying Training combined drills with the United States that began Monday. The exercise, which runs through April 28, mobilizes around 110 aircraft from both sides.



The visits come amid concerns over recent weapons testing by Pyongyang, including the launch of a purported solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile last week. (Yonhap)


Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is considering running for president next year, spoke Wednesday at an energy conference at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Former Vice President Mike Pence, weighing a White House run next year,delivered a powerful call for America's continued aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, saying the intervention is critical for national and global security.

He blamed President Biden for weakening the nation's stature on the world stage, but Pence's approach to the conflict taking place in Eastern Europe aligns with the Democratic administration's foreign policy and puts him at odds with his two most prominent potential rivals in a GOP presidential nomination race, including his old boss, former President Trump.

"Vladimir Putin is responsible for the unprovoked invasion of the Ukraine and Vladimir Putin and Russia need to be held accountable, Pence told more than 200 people at a luncheon in a replica of the White House's East Room at the Richard Nixon Library & Museum in Yorba Linda.

"The war in Ukraine is not our war, but freedom is our fight," Pence said. "And I believe we must continue to give the Ukrainian military the means to repel the Russian invasion and reclaim their sovereignty. It is in the interest of freedom  theirs and ours. We must make it clear that we will not tolerate naked aggression."

Trump, who has announced a 2024 campaign to win back the White House, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch a presidential bid, have both argued that American involvement in Ukraine is not in the nation's interest and criticized the amount of aid the United States has provided. After criticism from Republicans, DeSantis in late March walked back his dismissal of the Russian invasion as a "territorial dispute."

Pence didn't mention the two men's positions on the conflict, but the issue is likely to feature prominently in the 2024 election.

The former Indiana governor is the latest Republican considering a 2024 presidential bid to visit California in recent weeks. His full schedule is unknown, but Pence and his wife were spotted on a commercial flight landing in Fresno on Saturday, according to Central Valley television stations.

In addition to the speech at the Nixon Library  where members of the public paid $135 each to attend the luncheon speech and receive an autographed copy of Pence's memoir  he also spoke at a New Majority gathering of about 150 GOP business leaders and donors Monday evening in Newport Beach, as well as at a fundraiser the following night at an Anaheim Hills estate supporting college conservatives running for student government on California campuses.

Other GOP candidates running for president or weighing a White House bid who recently visited California include DeSantis, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Given the large number of wealthy supporters of both parties who live here, candidates have long swooped into the state to raise money and court influential Republicans.

But California may have an elevated role in next years presidential race because its 2024 primary is taking place relatively early  in March. Given that it has the largest number of delegates of any state in the nation, Californias Republican voters could have a substantial voice in deciding their partys nominee.

In early polls of the states GOP voters, Pence is far behind the double-digit support for DeSantis and Trump. In February, Pence had the support of 3%; six months earlier, he had more than twice as much in surveys by UC Berkeleys Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

Among all the Republicans pondering a run against Trump, Pence is in a singular spot because of his complicated relationship with his former running mate, which precedes their election in 2016.

While Pence shored up Trumps support among evangelical and other socially conservative voters in that campaign, he also struggled with Trumps behavior, notably after the Access Hollywood recording of the real estate mogul turned reality television star making crass statements about women emerged shortly before the election.

Their relationship was tumultuous, peaking when Trump tried to pressure Pence to contest the certification of the 2020 election results. Pence, acting as the president of Senate, refused and then was a target of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrectionists who called for the then-vice president to be hanged.

"His reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day," Pence said in a March speech. "I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable."

Trump did nothing publicly to attempt to protect the vice president or his family from physical harm, the nadir of their relationship. In the months since, Pence has vacillated between defending his former running mate, speaking out against about Trumps actions and opposing the former president by proxy in intra-party races.

This has led to challenges with some grass-roots Republicans, such as getting booed Friday when he took the stage at a National Rifle Assn. convention in his home state.

Pence did not mention these issues on Wednesday at the Nixon library, where he gave an address at an energy policy conference.

Instead, he castigated Democratic efforts to fight climate change and lauded the Trump administration's energy policies, such as withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement that was signed during the Obama administration, approving the Keystone pipeline and opening up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.

"We recognize the truth that America has virtually a limitless supply of energy right under our feet. We recognize that those resources belong not to government, but to the American people," Pence said. "We knew that if we unleashed American energy we would create millions of good-paying jobs, reclaim American sovereignty over our God-given resources, reclaim our economic strength from foreign suppliers and strengthen our position as leading the free world. And that's exactly what we did."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Before Theo Davis moved from Washington, D.C., to help pastor a church in Kansas Citys predominantly white neighborhoods north of the Missouri River, a Black church elder called him with a warning:

Davis might encounter a bit more racism in the Northland than he was used to.

You dont have to look over your shoulder, but just dont be surprised if you encounter certain things, the elder told him, foreseeing the stares and false accusations that would be leveled against Davis.

Davis quickly learned that how he was treated south of the Missouri river, in Kansas Citys diverse city center, was different from what he experienced living and working in Clay and Platte counties, where the population is whiter and tends to vote more conservative.

Conversations about such racism are being shared more widely now as members of the Kansas City community, particularly the Black and Liberian communities, process what happened to Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old Staley High Schooler whose parents moved to the U.S. from Liberia.

Yarl was shot in the head and arm last week after mistakenly ringing the doorbell at the home of an 84-year-old man in the 1100 block of Northeast 115th Street, where he thought he was picking up his twin brothers. Yarl had intended to go to a home one street over, on Northeast 115th Terrace.

Andrew Lester, the white homeowner accused of shooting Yarl, was charged four days later with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Lester told police he saw Yarl through the glass front door and was scared to death.

Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Monday there was a racial component to the shooting, but didnt elaborate.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney representing the Yarl family, said the teenager was shot because he was armed with nothing other than his Black skin.

Ralph Yarl

Amid calls for justice for the teen following the shooting, many Black Kansas Citians living in the Northland have shared their own experiences with racism in their neighborhoods. Theyve told their stories of feeling unsafe and excluded at protests, in churches and among their family and friends.

Dee Porter, a social worker and mother to an 18-year-old son, helped organize a protest on Yarls behalf Sunday. Porter, 39, said she knows all too well the challenges of being Black in certain neighborhoods north of the river.

To see that he was shot in the head in my neighborhood, I have to say something, Porter said, later adding, Clay County needs to do better, especially when it comes to people of color.

I could be shot

When Davis, his wife and their children moved to Missouri about five years ago, their initial impressions were positive.

But it didnt take long before Davis, who describes himself as a big, Black man with dreadlocks, started having racially charged interactions.

There was the time a white employee at a Northland Walgreens followed him around the aisles and then out to his car, where she watched him back out with her arms crossed.

Or when he took his young children to play in a grassy area of a Northland educational institute where white families were playing. When they later tried to leave, a campus security vehicle blocked them in and questioned him extensively about why they were there, Davis said.

Perhaps the most alarming incident happened when Davis and his wife helped run a transitional housing facility. When one young adult attempted suicide with a knife, Davis called 911 and clearly explained that the person in need was white and that he, the caller, would be standing outside waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Davis even explained what he was wearing to dispatchers. Instead, two officers pulled in, jumped out of the car and pointed their weapons at an empty-handed Davis, shouting for him to drop the knife, he recalled.

After Davis helped de-escalate the situation, the officers acknowledged they had the wrong person, but it didnt mend the trauma Davis and his wife  who watched the situation unfold from a nearby window  experienced as they both wondered if he was about to become the latest innocent Black man shot by police.

Theo Davis, a pastor Restore Community Church in the Northland, said he often engages his congregation in conversations around racial reconciliation.

Up until he learned what happened to Yarl, who Lester allegedly immediately shot after coming to the door, the pastor helped go door-to-door raising money for charities across the Northland on behalf of the church.

I didnt think my life was in danger. I was more concerned about making people afraid and seeing the fear on their face, he said. I wasnt as concerned about I could be shot.

Davis wont be knocking on strangers doors anymore.

This is a cultural thing that has been deeply embedded in the Kansas City and the American psyche for so long, and its going to need very thoughtful and reflective leadership of people in our community to speak up, to point out injustices, to very carefully and methodically break down negative and wrong arguments when they come up, he said.

A segregated history

On Sunday, as hundreds of people marched through the block where Yarl was shot, a white woman in her 60s, whose elderly mother joined her in the protest, said she has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years.

Until recently, the area has all been white, the retired school teacher said. Then a Black family moved into a house at the end of the street less than a year ago. She stopped by to welcome them to the neighborhood, but another person on the street took pictures of them wordlessly as they were moving in, she said.

I would not say that theyre very tolerant of difference, she said of some people in the neighborhood.

Since the late 1980s, Cecelia Robinson, a professor emeritus at William Jewel College in Liberty and a volunteer historian, has been collecting and compiling the histories of African Americans in Clay County dating back to slavery.

The Northland includes Kansas City proper north of the river, as well as the surrounding Clay and Platte county towns, such as Liberty, which used to have a much larger Black population, and Gladstone.

We have a rich history in this community, but its also always been a segregated community. A community within a community, said Robinson, who is Black.

The Northland has a history of excluding people of color, she said, particularly from positions of power and politics, where most elected officials are white.

Two decades ago, just shy of 3% of the population of Clay and Platte counties was Black, according to U.S. census data. As of 2021, that Black population grew to about 7.5%. Slowly but surely, the Northlands Black population is growing.

By comparison, across the entire city now, 26% of Kansas Citians are Black.

Robinson doesnt think Kansas City, or the Northland, should be painted one of the worst areas when racism happens everywhere.

Whether the shooting was racially motivated or not, every city still has systematic racism to eradicate.

This one incident that happened does not represent every single person in the Northland, she said, adding that while the shooting might cause Black people looking to move to the Northland to think twice, she doesnt think its going to stop progress.

Cecelia Robinson, a professor emeritus at William Jewel College in Liberty, has been collecting and compiling the histories of African Americans in Clay County dating back to slavery.

We want to live together

As a Liberian immigrant and pastor at House of God Community Church, Jouty Jalarue, known by most as Pastor Jay, said hes never felt unwanted in the 11 years hes lived in the Northland. Most people are pleasant.

But his greatest fear of what could happen because of the color of his skin just did. And it happened very close to home.

In recent days, members of Kansas Citys Liberian community, Jalarue included, have been engaged in tough and painful conversations with their families that they never imagined having when they first moved to America, Jalarue said.

Jalarue and his wife have known Yarls parents for more than a decade. He called Yarls mother, who helped his wife find work at a local hospital when they relocated, a blessing. Yarls father, he said, helped create the churchs initial marketing and social media presence. Together, they all built a life in KC.

Many of us fled from our countries of origin looking for a better life in America. And for us to sometimes be viewed as  though we are slaves, is almost like, it would have been better for us to stay where we were than to come here and be murdered, Jalarue said. I dont want to sound like America is a bad country. The best that Ive ever had in my life came from America: my education  building up a family, all of that started right here. Thats where I go to know myself and experience who I was.

Jouty Jalarue, known by most as Pastor Jay, serves at House of God Community Church in Kansas Citys Northland. He, like the parents of Ralph Yarl, moved to the United States from Liberia before starting a family.

Jalarue said he doesnt plan to run from the Northland. Its where his 10-year-old son rides bikes and shoots hoops with his friends, most of whom are white. He wants his son to continue playing with children from every race without thinking twice. Without an inkling or hate or fear.

He said the conversations around safety and racism need to be had, they just need to be in a way that doesnt leave his son growing up feeling like he cant be friends with white people, or marry a white person.

He wants to tell his son stories like that of the Eagle Scout who, like the Good Samaritan in the Bible, saw only a fellow human in need and stayed with Yarl after he was shot until help arrived.

Hes careful not to spread a message that white people dont want Black people in the Northland, because he doesnt believe thats true for most people, and he fears it will worsen whatever division already exists.

The bottom line: We want to live together in peace and unity, Jalarue said.

A focus on empathy

As she was leaving Sundays protest, a woman approached Nicole Price.

I know youre on this empathy journey, but I cant be empathetic this week, the woman told Price, an author and owner of a leadership development company with a background in diversity and inclusion work. Price lives in the Northland and has a laundry list of racist experiences to show for it.

Price reflected on the statement. People often think empathy absolves others of wrongdoing, but she believes empathy instead demands accountability.

She tried putting herself in the shoes of the man now charged with two felonies, including first-degree assault, in the shooting.

Prices Platte County address is very similar to another address nearby. She knows what its like for someone to mistakenly come to her home looking for someone else. She grew up near Kansas Citys racial dividing line, on the east side, and knows what its like to sometimes feel in danger as homicide counts in the area rose.

Portrait of Dr. Nicole Price, who has faced racism in Kansas City, particularly as a Black homeowner and parent in the Northland. She has also written numerous books on the Black experience, and she teaches leadership development focused around equity and inclusion.

Its because of this lens, Price said, that she cant ever imagine she would have pulled the trigger once, let alone twice.

She fears, depending on how the case unfolds, that it could play into the stereotypes that the Northland is white and it needs to stay that way, she said.

Kansas City, as the heart of the nation, can be an example of what empathy looks like to the world, and that includes instituting the law justly and fairly, she said, adding Weve got a lot of work to do.
Russian Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, on Wednesday threatened to arm North Korea if South Korea agrees to provide lethal aid to Ukraine.

Medvedevs comments came after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol suggested that the Asian nation might be open to providing more than just economic and humanitarian aid to Kyiv after refusing to do so for more than a year following Russias February 2022 invasion.

"I wonder what the inhabitants of this country will say when they see the latest samples of Russian weapons from their closest neighbors - our partners from the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] DPRK?" Medvedev, who once served as the president of Russia, questioned.

Russia's then-President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Seoul on March 26, 2012, to take part the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. Medvedev this week threatened that Moscow may arm North Korea is South Korea begins supplying lethal aid to Ukraine.

US JETS INTERCEPT RUSSIAN TU-95 BOMBERS NEAR ALASKA; FIRST ENCOUNTER THERE SINCE US DRONE TAKEN DOWN

Moscow has looked to North Korea for months to help it fuel its continuing war in Ukraine, and last month, the White House said it had knowledge that Russia was offering food supplies to Pyongyang in exchange for weapons and munitions.

It is unclear whether Russia is in a position to be arming other nations as it struggles to supply its own troops in Ukraine with sufficient weaponry, but Medvedev  who has become notorious for his outlandish comments since the invasion began  said providing North Korea with arms would be considered "quid pro quo."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby speaks as a picture shows Russian rail cars in North Korea during a White House daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 20, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

UKRAINE'S TOP PROSECUTOR SPEAKS OF 'EVIL' RUSSIAN ATROCITIES

South Korea has not made any official moves to send lethal aid to Ukraine, though Yoon told Reuters Wednesday that Seoul was exploring options on how to help Kyiv defend itself and rebuild  just as it received international aid during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

"If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support," the South Korean president said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the position was "unfortunate" and accused Seoul of taking an "unfriendly" position against Russia.

United States Marines take part in an annual KOR-USA combine military drill near Yeongil Bay in Pohang, South Korea on Aug. 12, 2021. North Korea's top envoy in Russia has called for the U.S. troops' withdrawal from South Korea and called the allies' joint military exercise a ''war rehearsal,'' a Russian news agency said Thursday.

"They will try to draw more and more countries directly into this conflict. But of course, the start of arms deliveries will obliquely mean a certain stage of involvement in this conflict," he added according to Reuters.

Yoon is set to meet with President Biden next week as the U.S. and South Korea increasingly bolster ties amid ongoing aggression from Russia and China.
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The Supreme Court heard a free-speech case on Wednesday and sounded ready to make it much harder to prosecute alleged online stalkers who repeatedly send unwanted and harassing messages that leave the recipient upset and frightened.

At issue is whether prosecutors must prove the sender intended to make true threats.

Coles Whalen, a Colorado musician, said she quit performing in public after receiving menacing messages over two years from a man she had never met.

The thousands of unstable messages sent to me were life-threatening and life-altering, she said. I was terrified that I was being followed and could be hurt at any moment; I had no choice but to step back from my dream, a music career that I had worked very hard to build.

Some messages invited her to come out for coffee. Others referred to seeing her in public. A few sounded angry: Die. Dont need you.

She told friends the messages were weird and creepy, and she repeatedly tried to block them on Facebook. But the messages continued, and she complained to police.

Billy Ray Counterman was prosecuted for stalking Whalen and causing her emotional distress. His defense attorneys said he was delusional and suffered from mental illness, but did not intend to threaten her.

He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 4 years in prison, in part because he had a previous conviction for sending threats online.

Justices sounded sympathetic to 1st Amendment claim

The Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal, and most of the justices  conservatives and liberal  sounded sympathetic to his 1st Amendment claim.

Washington, D.C., lawyer John P. Elwood, representing Counterman, urged the court to rule that prosecutors must prove the stalking defendant had a specific intent to threaten the recipient of his messages.

Elwood argued that the 1st Amendment has been understood to protect the freedom of speech, except when a person makes a true threat of violence. In this case, he said, the government was not required to show Counterman had intended to threaten Whalen.

Criminalizing misunderstanding is especially dangerous in an age when so much communication occurs on social media, he said.

Colorado Atty. Gen. Phil Weiser argued that the danger flows in the other direction, saying cyberstalking can do life-changing harm.

Requiring specific intent in cases of threatening stalkers would immunize those who are untethered from reality, Weiser added. It would also allow devious stalkers to escape accountability by insisting that they meant nothing by their harmful statements.

In Countermans case, Whalen didnt know what he looked like, he said. Do you have to wait until the person engages in violence?

The lawyers differed on the potential effects of a ruling that would require proof of a senders intent. Elwood said it would not affect many cases; Weiser said it would make it more difficult to prosecute such cases.

The court is to issue a decision in Counterman vs. Colorado by late June.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.


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This undated photo, provided by the defense ministry shows the remains of Lee Seung-ok, who took part in the 1950-53 Korean War, discovered at a former battle site in the southern county of Chilgok, 215 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in 2020, April 20. Yonhap



Korea's military has identified the remains of another soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, after their discovery at a former battle site in 2020, the defense ministry said Thursday.



The ministry's excavation team recovered the remains of Lee Seung-ok in the southern county of Chilgok, 215 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in November 2020, and confirmed his identity based on a DNA analysis using a sample from his nephew. Lee held the rank equivalent to the current sergeant during the war.



Born in the southwestern city of Jeongeup, 217 km south of Seoul, in 1932, Lee joined the Army in July 1949. He died in action during a fierce battle in Chilgok in August 1950 at the age of 18.



The government plans to hold a ceremony marking his return at a home of his bereaved family in Seoul on Thursday.



Korea has so far identified the remains of 208 service members killed in the conflict since it launched the excavation project in 2000. (Yonhap)


YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. The Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands, under the auspices of the Armenian Embassy in the Netherlands, is organizing a series of events commemorating the 108th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

As ARMENPRESS was informed by "Nederlandakan Oragir", on April 19 in the exhibition hall of the Eye film museum in Amsterdam, the ceremony of commemorating the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide began with the animated film "Auroras Sunrise" directed by Inna Sahakyan, where Ambassador of Armenia to the Netherlands and Luxembourg Tigran Balayan delivered opening remarks.

Referring to the upcoming events, the source informs that on April 23, the mentioned film will also be shown in Utrecht and Maastricht.

On April 23, the local "Ani" Armenian community in Maastricht and the administration of the Saint Karapet Church will commemorate the memory of the 1.5 million Armenian victims of the Armenian Genocide carried out in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, at the Saint Karapet Church.

Delegates from the Armenian communities will lay flowers and wreaths at the monuments of the holy martyrs of the Armenian Genocide in Asen and Almelo on April 24. In Almelo, the program will begin with the speech and prayer of the delegate of Western Europe, the representative of the Armenian Church in the Vatican, Archbishop Khazhak Parsamyan.

On April 25, the Armenian Apostolic Church of Almelo together with the AGBU Foundation and the "Yerevan" organization will organize the screening of the documentary film "Hidden Map" on the topic of genocide, which will be attended by the director of the film, Ani Hovhannisyan. The film is about the granddaughter of an Armenian-American survivor of the genocide, who travels to the homeland of her lost ancestors to uncover long-buried truths. During her journey, she meets a Scottish intelligence officer, with whom she discovers many secrets...

An extensive commemoration of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire is planned in Amsterdam. It was organized by the "Grigor Narekatsi" Foundation with the "Holy Spirit" Church, the annual commemoration will take place on April 23 near the memorial cross-stone placed on the outer wall of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Spirit Church.

The program will begin with a short prayer, followed by a series of speeches, and flowers and wreaths will be laid on the monument.

At the event dedicated to the 108th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the speeches of the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam, Rutger Groot Wassink , and deputies of the Parliament and the City Council are scheduled. Representatives of Dutch civil society, various organizations, as well as members of the Greek, Assyrian and Yazidi communities of the Netherlands will also take part in the memorial ceremony.

Events commemorating the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire will take place in other cities with an Armenian community in the Netherlands.
While the probe has established links between BBMP officials and the Chilume Trust, it is yet to establish where the collected data is kept

A probe by the EC, conducted by IAS officer Amlan Aditya Biswas, regional commissioner, B'luru division, has found that many officials of the BBMP gave illegal and undue favours to a private trust called Chilume. (Representational Image)

The voter data theft case in Karnataka (reported in this column on December 29, 2022) has come alive again, just when the state is about to go to polls. A probe by the Election Commission, conducted by IAS officer Amlan Aditya Biswas, regional commissioner, Bengaluru division, has found that many officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) gave illegal and undue favours to a private trust called Chilume, allowed it to collect voter data and even tried to subvert a complaint against the trust.

While the probe has established the links between BBMP officials and the trust, it is yet to establish where the data collected by Chilume Trust is kept. The report states it could be stored on foreign servers, possibly Chinese or Eastern European, in violation of ECIs rules.

In December 2022, DKB reported that the Bommai government had reinstated two IAS officers K. Srinivas and S. Rangappa, less than a month after they were suspended in the voter data theft case, defying an Election Commission order. The new report puts it in a spot.

The report will further damage the embattled Basavaraj Bommai government, which is already on the backfoot following allegations of large-scale corruption, barely weeks before the state goes to polls. It will give further ammo to the Opposition parties who have been calling for stern action against officials and other employees since the scam emerged.

Jharkhand babus innovations lead to surge in revenue collection

There are reasons why the department of commercial taxes in Jharkhand makes a good case study for those in other states seeking to increase revenue collection. Jharkhand has recently achieved a record in revenue collection of nearly Rs 21,000 crores, primarily due to the establishment of an Intelligence and Revenue Analysis Unit (IRAU) and Special Task Unit (STU), under Aradhana Patnaik, principal secretary, commercial tax, and her committed team of number crunchers.

Over the past two years, sources have informed DKB, the department has taken several measures, including the creation of IRAU, for revenue augmentation. IRAU has been set up in the department headquarters where Ms Patnaik leads a team of officers who are adept in computer knowledge and tech-savvy with domain knowledge in GST Tax laws and data analytics. While IRAU is responsible for sector-wise analysis and gathering information for enforcement action. STU focuses on big taxpayers with turnover of more than Rs 10 crore, which contribute to 95 per cent of the total tax revenue of the department.

The department has followed a targeted approach to maximizing return compliances and revenue collection, leading to 100 per cent return filings by taxpayers with an annual turnover of over Rs 5 crores. Besides, Ms Patnaik has created a dedicated GST audit wing, a targeted enforcement mechanism, and an online VAT assessment module. These initiatives have led to spectacular performance in terms of revenue collection and growth.

Most agree that augmenting revenue resources in a state like Jharkhand is not easy. But heres the best part  the approach adopted by Ms Patnaik and her team is replicable and scalable. The Centre has noticed, and hopefully, other states too are taking note.

Questionable move in Chhattisgarh?

The trend of re-engaging officers for important government assignments, begun by the Centre, is now happily followed by state governments as well. Many see this practice to maintain a strong grip on administration and promote political interests.

The Chhattisgarh government of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has appointed retired IPS officer D.M. Awasthi as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Raipur police headquarters. Mr Awasthi will reportedly oversee the Economic Offences Wing and Anti-Corruption Bureau. What raised eyebrows in babu circles was that even though Mr Awasthi retired on March 31, he was immediately hired as the OSD on a contractual basis.

While this may point to the senior cops closeness to Mr Baghel, there are some others who are raising concerns associated with this practice. The government may argue that re-hiring Mr Awasthi was necessary to ensure efficiency and productivity in the administration; there are a few who believe that it undermines the principles of fair competition and equal opportunity for all officers, regardless of their age or seniority. They are also questioning the move claiming that it also sends a wrong message to younger officers who may feel demotivated by the lack of upward mobility opportunities.

Perhaps, for Mr Baghel, having his trusted babus around him is far more assuring as he enters the last leg of his Congress governments term and aims to return to power in the state.
It is unlikely the Indian government will risk engaging with Pakistan with less than a year to go before the Lok Sabha elections

The next phase of the India-Pakistan detente will have to wait till the national elections are over in both countries. (Representational Image)

India-Pakistan relations have virtually disappeared from the public discourse in India over the last few years. Late diplomat Satinder Lambahs memoir In Pursuit of Peace, published posthumously, appears to have revived it. At a book release function, handled deftly by Mrs Nina Lambah, four former Indian high commissioners to Pakistan debated the issue.

Having worked with six Indian Prime Ministers, Lambah sketches the relations between the two South Asian neighbours through 75 years of engagement or detachment. As the Prime Ministers special envoy for back-channel talks for over a decade, he reveals the journey to the elusive four-point deal to resolve the Kashmir tangle, finalised but never signed. Gen. Pervez Musharrafs domestic missteps and his eventual ouster in 2008 blighted the deal.

But more than the historical perspective, what is of greater contemporary relevance is what two of the high commissioners alluded to. They wondered whether old approaches are even imaginable under the changed domestic politics of both nations. In Pakistan, the Islamisation which President Zia-ul Haq began in the 1980s has touched a new dimension.

Ambassador Lambah calls it reverse osmosis in view of the fringe now bidding to be the mainstream. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan is more unabashedly Islamist than any of his predecessors. National elections are due in Pakistan no later than October 14. Mr Khans rabble-rousing, mixing religion, xenophobia and nationalism, may receive popular approval. Fearing this, the ruling dispensation may try postponing the polls hoping that his support ebbs. But he is the one-man Opposition that the new alliance of former rivals  Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)  are now confronting. The danger is that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP), aided by the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan, has penetrated deeper into Pakistan. Whereas in the past their terrorist attacks were confined to Pakistans tribal areas, now they are all across, especially in Pakistans Punjab.

In India too, with crucial state elections coming up, months before the Lok Sabha polls in mid-2024, police encounters to eliminate mobsters of one faith and historical revisionism affecting school textbooks are indicative of a rightward lunge. This may be a tactical move by the BJP to overcome the anti-incumbency of their 10-year rule. A frustrated former governor has revived the debate over the 2019 Pulwama attack, that triggered a military response by India in Balakot. Undoubtedly the BJP benefited electorally from the nationalistic upsurge that arose.

Furthermore, the geopolitical environment has also evolved. In the aftermath of the Galwan clash in June 2020, the India-China standoff and Pakistans economic meltdown has enhanced strategic convergence between Pakistan and China. Ambassador Lambah recounts that historically Pakistan got emboldened whenever a big power threw its weight behind it. The 1965 India-Pakistan war was planned by Pakistan after receiving more advanced US defence equipment, including fighter jets, on joining anti-Communist alliances created by the United States. Similarly, once the US and the Saudis recruited Pakistan to train the mujahideen for fighting the Soviet Unions forces in Afghanistan after 1979, Pakistan was able to get yet more military aid and clandestinely develop its strategic nuclear programme with no Western disruption. This toxic alliance was responsible for the birth of global terror and Islamic radicalisation.

Having developed its nuclear deterrent, Pakistan chose to abet terror against India assuming immunity from Indias superior military power.

Also to be noted is the recent realignment of forces in the Gulf, revealing a more active Chinese posture. China arranged detente between arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Unsurprisingly, the Saudis and Chinese are at the forefront of rescuing Pakistan from bankruptcy and thus enabling a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Russia, a joker in the pack, has been drawn into a deeper engagement with this group. The Saudis again led in the OPEC-Plus group deciding oil production cuts, defying US advice.

The exchange of prisoners in Yemen indicates that the civil war is tapering off. There is speculation that Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz may visit Tehran.

Against this backdrop, is it wise for India to persist with frozen ties with Pakistan? It is true that diminished terrorist attacks may be due to the government treating Kashmir as a purely domestic issue. It may also be due to Pakistans economic crisis and distractions on its western front where the Taliban are not exactly being the pliable allies that Pakistan had expected. Decades of Pakistani support and protection under the very nose of the US had proven to be a bad investment.

Allowing Pakistan to degrade as a functioning state may not be in Indias interest. If a normal Pakistan is difficult enough to deal with, imagine one controlled by neo-Taliban elements. Even the Pakistan Army may not be able to escape being controlled by even more bigoted generals. Ambassador Lambah correctly points out that historically more agreements have been reached with Pakistan when the Army directly controlled political power. One example of the disruptive role of the Pakistan Army is that after Gen. Pervez Musharraf handed over the Army chiefs position to Gen. Ashfaq P. Kayani on November 29, 2007, the Armys support for the back-channel talks flagged. Eventually after President Pervez Musharraf lost power in August 2008, the 26/11 attack on Mumbai was green flagged. Gen. Kayani was, coincidentally, the first head of the ISI to become Army chief.

Returning to the Lambah book ceremony, the consensus among the four former high commissioners to Pakistan was that engagement with Pakistan is unavoidable. The most obvious reason is that it is unwise to allow Pakistan to slip deeper under Chinese control.

Pakistanis in the past have been shrewd to balance relations with China with close ties with the US and the Gulf sheikhdoms. They did so by proving useful strategically or tactically. In 2004, US President George W. Bush declared Pakistan as a major non-Nato ally, liberalising the export of arms. Recently, a bill has been tabled by a US congressman to revoke that designation.

It is unlikely the Indian government will risk engaging with Pakistan with less than a year to go before the Lok Sabha elections. Any major terror attack after such an outreach can cause huge political embarrassment. Likewise, for Pakistans Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, responding positively to India could expose his flank to Imran Khan unless at least the Jammu and Kashmir statehood is restored.

The next phase of the India-Pakistan detente will have to wait till the national elections are over in both countries, subject to the caveat of course that statesmen assume power.
These are mostly people from the western state of Gujarat. After receiving proper training and a fake visa for Canada or Mexico they attempt the crossing. The traffickers demand as much as 65,000 euros per person. The push to migrate comes from the community itself but also from the difference in wages.

Gandhinagar (AsiaNews) - Between February 2019 and March 2023, at least 149,000 Indians attempted to enter the United States illegally, according to data from the US Customs and Border Protection, one of the law enforcement agencies responsible for customs and border security.

These numbers are very high considering that they were recorded during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which flights were suspended for a long time. Most of the Indians apprehended at the border (between the United States and Canada or between Mexico and Canada) come from the western state of Gujarat, where there are actual training camps run by traffickers to teach migrants to climb over walls and barbed wire barriers.

In January 2022, 5,459 Indians were detained for illegally entering US soil, of whom 708 were caught at the Canadian border. One year later there was a 36% increase, with 7,421 Indians apprehended in January this year, including 2,478 apprehended at the Canadian border.

In January last year, the spotlight was turned on this phenomenon after an Indian family from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat was found frozen to death at the US-Canadian border. After the incident, the Indian police had investigated the illegal immigration racket more thoroughly, discovering that human traffickers procure migrants with false passports and visas to the tune of around 65,000 euros per person.

The investigation also discovered that, hidden in farms and farmsteads in the north of the state, there are training camps that teach migrants to climb 15-metre high walls, crawl through barbed wire fences and run with heavy bags to learn how not to get caught by border police. "Those who want to migrate are trained to live with little water and food," the police had explained in December 2022 after revealing the existence of these camps. "They are taught to survive only on sweets and chocolates, while the children are given formula milk for days. This prepares them to handle adversity in case crossing takes time or they are forced to face hostile conditions."

Over the years, a paradoxical situation has arisen: on the one hand, according to US Census Bureau estimates, there are about 587,000 Indians living in the United States without documents, while there are at least 2.7 million on American soil with a regular visa, most of them after having obtained sponsorship from an employer for the temporary H-1B visa, granted to highly educated and skilled foreign workers. Indians are also the second largest nationality in American universities after Chinese students.

The migration route from Gujarat to the US is not a new phenomenon: 'The first phase began in the mid-1960s, when educated doctors and engineers emigrated to the US through legal means; that's when the brain drain started,' explained sociologist Gaurang Jani, who teaches at the University of Gujarat in Ahmedabad. "In the second phase, their extended families started moving once they got sponsorship. And in the last wave, all classes of Patidars started moving to the West and did not bother to accept jobs and perform tasks that they would have considered beneath their dignity back home'. The Patidars are a caste in Gujarat who are descendants of ancient landowners and who over the years have seen their income from agriculture decline.

Support (also economic) for the new migrants comes from the diaspora itself: on Hindu festivals, the temples receive large donations, which are then redistributed among the community remaining in India. In the village of Dingucha, almost everyone has a relative living in North America, and according to the police investigating the illegal immigration racket, it is sometimes the communities abroad that are the 'real agents helping people to migrate'.

But a decisive fact, of course, are the salaries: for a couple hired to work in an American motel, for example, earnings are about 200 dollars a day, or 14 thousand rupees, and board and lodging is included. In Gujarat, on the other hand, many struggle to earn even as little as 10-12 thousand rupees a month.
Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan detained before the meeting. Two of them, Wang Quanzhang, Wang Yu and Bao Longjun, managed to turn up for the meeting at the EU embassy. The European authorities demand their immediate release and deplore the acts of repression. A few days ago, two other well-known human rights lawyers were sentenced.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Police in the capital have arrested a number of humanitarian activists who were due to meet or met with European diplomats on 13 September. The incident emerged yesterday after a complaint by the European Commission and the appearance of some posts on the social profiles of those concerned.

The police stopped Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan on their way to the EU embassy in Beijing for a meeting with the team of Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy. The Spanish politician was also supposed to attend, but had to cancel his visit to China after testing positive for Covid.

The couple was formally arrested the next day on charges of 'creating arguments and fomenting unrest'. A lawyer, Yu finished serving a four-year prison sentence last year for publishing a letter calling for political reforms in China. In a closed trial, the judges found him guilty of 'inciting subversion'.

Yu defended several colleagues who fought for human rights, among them activist Wang Quanzhang, who was released in 2020 after years of imprisonment. Wang is one of the prominent figures arrested by the authorities in a security operation dubbed '709' (as it started on 9 July 2015), which targeted 300 other lawyers - including some Protestant and Catholic Christians.

Many of them were tried and later convicted; several 'confessed' their guilt on video; others came out of prison very physically and psychologically exhausted, due to the torture they suffered.

Wang is one of the other activists put under house arrest on 15 April for the meeting with the European envoys. It is not yet clear who among him, Wang Yu and Bao Longjun managed to turn up for the meeting, Reuters reports.

The European authorities demanded the immediate release of the five activists, denouncing the Chinese government's crackdown on human rights campaigners in China. The latest detentions come after a court in Shandong sentenced the well-known democracy activists Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi 10 days ago: the former received a 14-year sentence, the latter a 12-year sentence; both served three years in prison without a sentence.

Accused of 'subversion', the two colleagues were among the initiators of the New Citizens' Movement, strongly critical of the Chinese Communist Party. For the regime, they wanted to organise 'coloured revolutions' to overthrow state power, modelled on those that broke out in the early 2000s in some former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

Several times, family members and friends of Xu and Ding reported abuses against them while in detention.
The reform is a rare example of social reform in a country that remains conservative. The sultan's decree, which has yet to be published, repeals a 1993 law that gave the Interior Ministry power over marriages with foreigners. The country has a large immigrant population from other Mideast countries, the Philippines, India and Pakistan.

Muscat (AsiaNews)  Omanis will no longer have to apply for state permission to marry a foreign national. A royal decree was issued this week implementing what is a tantamount to a social revolution in the otherwise conservative Gulf state.

The change is part of a series of long-delayed reforms undertaken by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Saidhas to improve fiscal stability and attract foreign investment. He came to power in 2020 after the death of his cousin, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, whose reign lasted 50 years.

In a country where the state controls the media and where the authorities tend to crack down on dissent, Omani citizens previously had to meet certain conditions before they could marry a foreigner, including minimum age. In the past, unauthorised marriages were sanctioned with fines and annulments.

Decree 23/2023 issued by Sultan Haitham repeals a 1993 law under which the Interior Ministry had the power to approve marriages with immigrants or stateless people.

"The facts and circumstances of life have changed, and the economic situation has changed (since that 1993 law)," said Omani lawyer Salah al-Maqbali, repeating to Reuters comments he made to Omani media outlet Shabiba.

The new decree states that marriages must not violate Sharia (Islamic law), public order or other provisions that ban marriage with foreigners for holders of certain positions within the government.

The full decree has not yet been published, but marriages previously deemed illegal can now be legalised.

Located on the south-eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, the Sultanate of Oman is divided into 11 governorates and 61 provinces.

Omani nationals make up just over half of its population of 3.8 million people. Most foreigners are Arabs from other Middle Eastern countries but a substantial portion comes from the Philippines, India and Pakistan.

Like many countries in the region, the sultanate has an economy based on crude oil and especially natural gas, plus tourism.

Recent reforms saw gross debt reduced to 40 per cent of GDP last year, down from 60 per cent in 2021, prompting the S&P rating agency to revise its outlook for the country from stable to positive.

Islam is the state religion and Sharia is the main source of law, but the principle of freedom of religion is upheld. Religious discrimination is not allowed.

Muslims represent about 86 per cent of the population. Christians are around 6.5 per cent or 300,000 people, 70 per cent Catholic, 13 per cent Orthodox and 6 per cent Protestant. The remaining 11 per cent belong to other Christian groups.

Non-Muslims are essentially migrants from other Asian nations, particularly the Philippines and India, and live in large urban centres, like the capital Muscat, Sohar and Salalah.
by Steve Suwannarat

Thailands population is set to peak in 2029 and then decline. The birth rate has fallen to 1.3 children per woman, while seniors are 22.9 per cent of the population in a country with an inadequate social safety net.

Bangkok (AsiaNews)  Thailand has released its latest census data, which indicate that its population is aging. This comes a few weeks before the 14 May election, whose outcome is still uncertain amid an ongoing crisis, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Southeast Asian country is the worlds 22nd most populous country with a population of just over 66 million on 31 December 2022. It is projected to peak at in 70.38 million in 2029, followed by a slow decline to 65.94 million by 2050, then to 46.02 million by the end of the century, this according to UN estimates.

This trend appears inexorable unless other factors intervene, such as changes in Thailands immigration policy. Currently, immigrants, mostly from neighbouring countries, are largely excluded from Thai society. Officially, they number around 984,000, but they are thought to be in the millions.

Thailand's demographic crisis is characterised by low fertility  1.3 children per woman of reproductive age  and an aging population, due to improved healthcare, better housing, healthier nutrition, greater individualism, enhanced womens autonomy and new lifestyles.

Life expectancy is now 77.7 years, with a median age of 38.8 years. The percentage of seniors has risen from 20.3 per cent in 2020 to 22.9 per cent in 2023. Thais aged 0 to 14 now represent 15.2 per cent of the total population, down from 16 per cent in 2020.

The countrys welfare system is, however, selective and inadequate. Only 32.6 per cent of the workforce can count on some form of retirement pension. About 83 per cent of those over 65 continue to work to meet their needs and sometimes even those of children and grandchildren.

For all these reasons, demography has become a major topic of discussion in mainstream and social media centred on issues like national identity, natalist policies and support for seniors.

Although political parties and leaders tend to focus on short-term issues, they now must take into account the declining population when addressing voters concerns. None has yet made it a priority.
Park Kyoung-seok, center, the leader of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, throws flowers after the group's subway-riding protest was stopped by police and Seoul Metro officials at Samgakji Station in central Seoul, April 20. Yonhap



A disability rights advocacy group on Thursday staged a surprise "subway-riding" protest at one of Seoul's busiest subway stations to mark the 43rd Day of Persons with Disabilities, causing train delays for about 15 minutes.



About 10 members of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) conducted the subway-riding protest at Myeongdong Station on Subway Line 4, beginning at 8 a.m., without any prior notice, disrupting train operations for 14 minutes until 8:30 a.m.



After a standoff with police for about 10 minutes, the activists boarded a southbound train and got off at Yeouinaru Station on Line 5 in the Yeouido district, where the government's Day of Persons with Disabilities ceremony was about to begin.



Demanding an increased budget for disabled people and their mobility rights, SADD has staged protests at major subway stations in central Seoul on and off, where wheelchair-bound activists repeatedly board and disembark trains, disrupting metro services during the morning rush hour.



About 50 SADD members also staged a separate subway-riding protest at Samgakji Station on Line 4, which is close to the presidential office in Yongsan, beginning at around 8 a.m., as previously announced.



The activists demonstrated for about 30 minutes amid a confrontation with about 200 police and Seoul Metro officials before heading to Yeouido. Train delays were not reported at Samgakji Station during their protests. (Yonhap)


by Vladimir Rozanskij

They live in the north of the country and number a total of 12,000. Few still speak their native language. The greatest threat comes from damage to forests and woodlands. For them, the land must be respected and exploited as needed.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - A new film by the director Vladimir Sevrinovsky, "Winter in Letnaja Zolotitsa", about the life of the inhabitants of a small village on the shores of the White Sea, 180 kilometres from the nearest city of Arkhangelsk, which in winter can only be reached by motorised sleighs or by plane, on the old An-2 transport for small groups of passengers, is arousing rather passionate reactions in Russia.

This extreme area of the northern Tajga is home to the Mansi, a small Finno-Ugric people, who, according to statistics, number no more than 12,000 in all. Less than 200 of them live in Letnaja Zolotitsa, a name meaning 'Golden Summer', and only a few dozen still speak their native language and preserve their original traditions, linked to life in the forests.

The Mansi are in danger of disappearing, especially in the ever more controversial prospect of a break-up of the Russian Federation, which in its own way tries to protect the small local ethnic groups with special protection laws, which in turn are increasingly sidelined. The life of these people has always been linked to hunting and fishing, but now in the tajga they cut down trees and dig for minerals and energy sources, poison the rivers with the residues of their work and drive tourists away, as well as exterminate wild animals.

State programmes to support the 'native peoples' have not been cancelled, but money is invested in the land without taking into account the opinion of the inhabitants, and most Mansi refuse to make public demands for compliance, for fear of losing even what is now guaranteed by officials or businessmen.

One of the few to raise her voice is the activist Natalia Gridneva, a mother of five who lives in the village of Polunocnoe ('of Midnight') in the Sverdlovsk region of the Urals, and demands that the Mansi be allowed to retain control over their original lands, and to administer the allocated funds themselves, before they disappear into the rooms of the state and regional apparatuses. Natalia is supported by the woodcutter Valerij Anjamov, who lives in the even smaller village of Usma, and holds great moral authority among the Mansi population.

Natalia says, 'my father had a sister who lived in the Komi region, and even though the Mansi gods were against it, we moved in with her; the local deer brought him home unconscious, and he died a few days later, within a week of moving in. My mother also died early, and I grew up in the orphanage, among the Russians.

The orphans would climb the tall poplar trees to watch the thaw, dreaming of returning to their ancestors: "Of the native language I only remembered a few words, but I never forgot the tajga. The children ran away from the school to live in the woods 'in the Mansi way', hunting and fishing all day long, 'when there was still plenty of prey around'.

Gridneva dreams of the restoration of the traditions of the northern Urals, 'when civilisation here had not yet come to destroy everything', and the Mansi were still proud men and always in action, 'today they have made us all drunkards'. Since the deer and reindeer were assigned to the state in the 1990s, their presence has almost disappeared, along with that of many other wildlife species. Anjamov sends a letter every month to the Ekaterinburg administration, which is regularly sent back to him.

The Mansi are men of the land, which according to their conception cannot be the property of anyone, individual or community, but must be respected and exploited as needed, only by those who inhabit it constantly. Inhabitants are allocated health services, transport and supplies of basic necessities, but the Mansi demand the 'rodovye ugodja', the distinctions of 'native lands', in order not to lose their identity.
This is the largest protest demonstration by the teaching profession in recent years. The agitation concerns both the West Bank territories and Gaza. A hard line is expected until the demands are met. The 'movement' coordinated by anonymous leaders using social platforms. Ramallah has allegedly not fulfilled the commitments it made last year.

Ramallah (AsiaNews) - Defying the directives of the Palestinian Authority (PA), thousands of teachers are crossing their arms suspending lessons in various areas of the West Bank and Gaza, in the largest protest demonstration by the teaching staff in recent years.

Among the causes of the blockade are the economic crisis affecting institutes and operating budgets, including funds for salaries, Israel's policies with its blockades that curb the economy, and corruption at the top of Palestinian institutions. Professors and teachers are intent on protesting, disrupting classes and occupying the streets, until their demands are met.

For two months, all teachers in Palestinian public schools from grade 1 to grade 12 have been holding classes only in the mornings, then promoting demonstrations to demand improvements in working conditions, higher salaries and independence for the education system.

The protest, in the form of a strike, is coordinated via digital platforms such as Facebook and Telegram by an independent group of teacher-activists. The leaders have chosen to remain anonymous - naming themselves the 'Teachers' Movement' - to counter the search by security forces.

"We continue to strike," one of the leaders told the website +972 behind anonymity, "because the government continues to avoid meeting our demands. 'We announced the strike at the beginning of February, after seeing [the top leadership of the institutions] not fulfilling their previously.agreed obligations," he continued.

During the last school year, professors and lecturers carried out a 57-day strike, which ended with an agreement signed by Ap Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, in which he pledged to increase salaries by 15% and to establish an independent and democratic committee. However, neither of these two points was fulfilled in practice and the promises remained waste paper.

The strike is affecting 52,000 teachers and nearly one million students in the West Bank and Gaza. The public education system in both territories is administered and financed by the Palestinian Authority, while education in the refugee camps is managed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

It provides services, including schooling, to those displaced by the Nakba in 1948 and their descendants. Unrwa workers have been on strike for 85 days, also in protest against unfair working conditions.

In recent years, public sector workers throughout the West Bank have been protesting against the government: on the streets among others doctors, lawyers and judges, but also among the teaching staff there are not infrequent cases of discontent and demonstrations. The protests are part of a framework of discontent and severe economic crisis, also caused by Israel's punitive measures against Ramallah.

The most important among these is a law passed in 2018 to withhold half a billion shekels (just under 140 million euros) each year from the taxes Israel collects and transfers to the Authority in accordance with the Oslo Accords. Underlying the measure would be financial support from the Palestinian leadership to the families of those detained in Israeli prisons.

Between the Covid-19 pandemic, last year's strike and the current crisis, the education of an entire generation of Palestinian students has suffered repeated interruptions and profound damage.
A downed tree settles near the piling of a bridge on the Crystal River. The collection of debris when the water rises later this spring is one of the concerns about possible flooding.
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Hyunjin Preston Moon, the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), speaks during a joint interview with Korean media outlets at a hotel in New Delhi, India, April 13. Courtesy of GPF



Global Peace Foundation aims to gather 10 million people's support for Korean unification by 2025



By Lee Hyo-jin



NEW DELHI, India  In the last few decades, South Korea and its neighboring countries have engaged in various diplomatic efforts to make North Korea abandon its nuclear ambitions, which threaten the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community.



Under such efforts, numerous talks were held both at bilateral and multilateral levels. Some noteworthy agreements, such as the 2018 Pyongyang Joint Declaration, seemed to bring the two Koreas closer to achieving peace.



Nevertheless, to this day, Pyongyang still shows no signs of giving up its nuclear arms, in what it calls "self-defense" capabilities. In recent months, the reclusive regime has been ratcheting up tensions on the peninsula through a barrage of missile tests as well as verbal provocations toward Seoul and Washington.



Given the situation, Hyunjin Preston Moon, the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), a Washington D.C.-based non-governmental organization, calls for a paradigm shift in inter-Korean policies, arguing that government-led approaches have not led to any fruitful results  and they never will.



"In terms of missile shooting (by North Korea), there is nothing anybody can do. The South Korean government can't do anything. The U.S. government can't do anything about it," he said during a joint interview with Korean media outlets in New Delhi, India, April 13.



The North shows a pattern of scaling up military provocations while a conservative administration is in power in South Korea, and once a liberal administration comes in, the two nations talk, Moon said.



"But are the talks real? Do they lead to anything fruitful?" he asked, mentioning that even after former president Kim Dae-jung, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his Sunshine Policy toward North Korea, inter-Korea relations eventually got worse.



Stressing that diplomatic initiatives, bilateral talks and summits aimed at resolving security concerns surrounding North Korea's nuclear weapons program have led to no progress, Moon called for a new paradigm in the Korean Peninsula to unify the two Koreas.



The activist believes that real progress will only be made when it is driven by ordinary people. After establishing the GPF in 2009, he has been campaigning for unification based on the founding ideal of Korea "Hongik Ingan," which means "to live for the greater benefit of all mankind."



Moon explained that major successful movements in Korean history such as the March 1 Independence Movement of 1919 and democracy rallies in the 1980s have come from the bottom up.



"Remember, nobody believed that the Berlin Wall would come down in 1990. Nobody believed that the Soviet Union would be dismantled. And that shows how a vision and idea rooted in high moral principles can really change the world."





Participants of the Global Peace Leadership Conference hosted by the Global Peace Foundation (GPF) hold banners reading "global peace" during the event held at a hotel in New Delhi, India, April 12. Courtesy of GPF
Art City Auto Body in Utah Joins 1Collision

Published April 20, 2023

1Collision is excited to announce the addition of Art City Auto Body in Springville, UT. The business is owned by Daniel Arce and prides itself on caring about its customers and the community.

We love to help people and offer superior service, said Arce. Our goal is to offer the same service we would offer our mother.

Established in 1995, Arce purchased the shop two years ago from William Rathigan. To help operate the business, Arce hired his two younger brothers. Ben Arce is an estimator and runs production and John Arce manages the parts department.

Daniel is fairly new in the industry; however, in a short period of time, he has made his business flourish like owners that have been in the industry a long time, said John Hollingsworth, 1Collision's director of new location development. He is always looking for ways to improve and thats why partnering with us made sense. Were looking forward to supporting him reach his next level.

After learning about 1Collision, Arce felt the network was a good fit to help grow the business.

What I like about 1Collision is it still seems small and intimate where you can gain a relationship with some of the people youre working with and talking to your team, said Arce. 1Collision has a robust and smart team, and I'm excited to work with them.

Arce worked at Art City Auto Body as a teenager, sweeping floors and cleaning and detailing cars. Over time, he learned body work and how to paint. He was employed as an estimator at different shops over the years. Eventually, he was hired as a facility manager where he worked for nearly a decade helping keep track of KPIs, implementing processes and becoming more efficient.

Arce said that Art City Auto Body is the go-to body shop in Springville. He attributes this to the businesss long-term support of the community. This includes participating in events like the annual car show held during Springville's Art City Days.

Arce said Springville is known as "Art City" due to its strong development of the arts. Thats how the shop got its name, he explained.

Since purchasing the shop, Arce and the team have quadrupled business and currently have 20 employees.

Arce said its not uncommon right now to have a vehicle in the shop for a month due to parts shortages. As a result, the business is backlogged.

Currently, they are adding another building next door that will triple the size of the shop and help them become more efficient.

That's our No. 1 goal, said Arce. We want to create an efficient machine where we can produce and bring cars back to pre-accident condition and do a good job, providing a quality product."

Arce is looking forward to having 1Collision help with the scalability of the company and they are in talks to acquire another location in the future.

That might not be for another few years down the road, but I'm really hoping that its something 1Collision can assist us with, said Arce.

Source: 1Collision
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The Ford Motor Company has recently announced that it's ramping up the production capacity for its most popular nameplates, emphasizing all-electric vehicles like the F-150 Lightning. Merely 15,617 units were delivered stateside in 2022, but by the end of 2023, the RougeCenter will triple its production capacity to a whopping 150,000 vehicles. A small number of those will be sold in Norway as 2024 models, exclusively in the form of the F-150 Lightning Lariat.Not just any Lariat, though, but a "Launch Edition" offered in limited numbers, exclusively in Antimatter Blue. Care to guess how much this Norway-specific variant of the F-150 Lightning costs? As per the brochure attached below, 1,183,000 kroner is the recommended selling price. That means 111,725 dollars at current exchange rates, which is quite a bit more than the Lariat with the Standard Range pack for the USA.No longer available for retail order stateside due to high demand and limited production capacity, the F-150 Lightning is a whopping $59,974 for the entry-level Pro work truck. At the other end of the spectrum, the fully-loaded Platinum will set you back $98,074. As for the Lariat, make that $75,974 with the Standard Range battery and $85,975 for the larger one. Quite a big difference compared to its Norwegian cousin, alright!In the press release attached just under the brochure below, the Dearborn-based automaker reiterates that it's doubling production capacity to 150,000 vehicles at the Rouge complex in Michigan this year. The Ford Motor Company doesn't mention how many are coming to Norway, but we do know that deliveries will start next year, which makes the Launch Edition a 2024 model.While it may be silly to call the F-150 Lightning that way after so much time since it first arrived at dealers in the United States, bear in mind that this is the first time the F-150 Lightning is going global. It's also silly on Ford's part to prespecify the smaller of two batteries, which offers a range of 386 kilometers (240 miles), exactly like the stateside variant because Ford has yet to determine how much range it offers in the. As a rule of thumb, the EPA standard is more realistic in determining a vehicle's range compared to the WLTP. Ford hasn't even bothered detailing what's standard in the press release for Norway's initial batch of F-150 Lightning electric trucks, but fret not because we know from the brochure what's in the offing. 2.3-Pro Power Onboard opens the list, followed by intelligent adaptive cruise control, 20-inch aluminum wheels in Carbonized Gray, a spray-in bedliner, and B&O audio.Leather upholstery in black and gray, traffic sign recognition, and a roll-up tonneau cover are included as well. Last but certainly not least, standard goodies further include a 360-degree camera system, Pro Trailer Backup Assist and Hitch Assist, automatic high beams, wireless phone charging, and a built-in scale to boot.
Also shared with the full-size Tundra, this platform will elevate the mid-size Tacoma in more than one way. For starters, it promises better fuel economy through electrification. Toyota has recently teased a TRD Pro tailgate with the i-Force MAX badge on the passenger side, although it's too soon to tell if Toyota refers to the same 3.4-liter twin-turbo sixer as seen in the Tundra.Even more recently, the Japanese automaker teased the Tacoma TRD Pro with Fox Racing QS3 coilovers up front and  get this  disc brakes for the rear wheels. Based on said photos, the peeps at AutoYa have rendered the off-road truck as closely to series-production reality as possible. AutoYa also used older teaser pics and a design patent for this rendering.Equipped with all-terrain rubber from the factory, the TRD Pro will be joined by Toyota's first series-production Trailhunter trim level. It's not clear if the Trailhunter will slot above or below the TRD Pro, but given the ARB rear bumper, it should be pretty capable off the beaten path. Think at least Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss capable, if not a little bit more. The Tundra is most certain to follow suit with a Trailhunter of its own, likely to be introduced later in 2023 as a 2024 model.Expected to premiere in the coming weeks, the Tacoma will be assembled exclusively in Mexico at Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California in Tijuana. The fourth gen's frame will be produced by Metalsa in Guanajuato, as per the Proeza Group-owned supplier.A lot weighs on the shoulders of the mid-size Tacoma for the 2024 model year, with expectations growing higher every single day. The Japanese automaker simply cannot make a mess of the fourth gen's rollout, at least not in the same way it did with the TNGA-F Tundra The V6-only Tundra finished 2022 fourth on the leaderboard, right behind the Ram line of trucks, with 104,246 deliveries to its name. As for the Tacoma, the midsizer clocked 237,323 sales in the United States last year, down from 252,520 in 2021, due to supply chain-related constraints. It is the best-selling midsizer in this part of the world, and Toyota cannot afford to lose its crown to the redesigned Colorado and Canyon twins.$27,750 is the starting price of the 2023 model year Tacoma at press time, sans the $1,335 destination fee. The base specification comes with the Access Cab and six-foot bed, rear-wheel drive, a 2.7-liter I4 engine with 159 ponies on deck, and a six-speed automatic tranny.
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No fewer than eight variants, to be more precise, of which the entry-level Standard with rear-wheel drive and the 62-battery retails at $38,995 at press time. That's $31,495 after the full federal tax credit, which is good value for money. Volkswagen waxes lyrical in the press release below that it's the only foreign automaker in the United States that has a full battery electric vehicle eligible for the full federal tax credit.That claim is better described as patting oneself on the back for nothing. The ID.4 is the only all-electric vehicle that Volkswagen sells in this part of the world as of April 2023. The Passat-replacing ID.7 sedan and ID. Buzz passenger van are scheduled to arrive in the United States next year, and chances are that both will sell worse than the crossover because of their body styles.On that note, what are you actually getting for your money? The ID.4 Standard is a well-equipped vehicle right off the bat, although the 209-mile (336-kilometer) EPA combined driving range is a tad disappointing.Highlights include heated front seats, wireless charging for your mobile device, App-connect with wireless connectivity, LED exterior lighting, 19-inch alloys, a 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system with built-in satellite navigation, and IQ.DRIVE advanced driver assistance technology. As for the rear-mounted electric motor, Volkswagen claims that it peaks at 201 horsepower and 229 pound-feet (310 Nm) of torque.The next step up is the ID.4 Pro, which is pretty much the same as the ID.4 Standard. A larger battery differentiates the $43,995 model from the base specification, with said battery flaunting 82 kWh, as opposed to 62hours. The EPA-rated combined range estimate is 275 miles (443 kilometers), the most the ID.4 offers for the time being in the US market.The ID.4 Pro can be specified with all-wheel drive for $3,800 extra. That money also gets you a trailer hitch for towing whatever you want as long as you don't exceed 2,700 pounds (1,225 kilograms). The ID.4Pro also sweetens the deal with more power and torque, as in 295 horsepower and 339 pound-feet (460 Nm).Priced similarly to the ID.4 Pro, the ID.4 S comes with a single motor, 20-inch alloys, a panoramic glass roof with an electric sunshade, adaptive headlights, illuminated logos and lightline, 12-way power front seats with massage and memory, V-tex perforated leatherette, a hands-free power rear hatch, a heated steering wheel, and a rear-seat center armrest. The ID.4 Pro S is $48,995 and features the larger battery.The remainder of the lineup consists of the ID.4 AWD Pro S ($52,795), ID.4 Pro S Plus ($51,445), and ID.4 AWD Pro S Plus ($55,245). The quickest of the lot is the ID.4 AWD Pro, at 5.7 seconds to 60 mph (97 kph).
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Unlike some of Mansory's projects involving the flagship high-rider that sits in the three-pointed star brand's stable, Carlex Design's doesn't feature a weird body kit. In fact, the exterior updates revolve around the bi-tone paint finish that combines two shades of brown.The Polish tuner's emblems were applied too, and to make your Maybach GLS look like this, you will have to fork out 15,000 (equal to $16,437) excluding tax. The delivery time is estimated at 20 days. Interested parties will have to wait roughly one month for the wheels. The 23-inch alloys signed by Carlex cost 11,000 ($12,054).This GLS started life with a black interior, which was replaced by brown leather. Almost every touchable part was reupholstered in plain and perforated leather, including the seats, door armrests, lower parts of the dashboard, and steering wheel. Carlex says a complete cabin job in a similar vein to this one takes roughly five days and costs 33,000 ($36,161), again before tax.For a complete tuning job, you will have to fork out 56,020 ($61,386), according to the tuner, which is a small fortune to you and me, but not that much for anyone fortunate enough to afford the Mercedes-Maybach GLS. The luxury crossover starts at 173,264 in its home market of Germany, which equals $189,861 at today's exchange rates. In the United States, it has an MSRP of $170,000, packing a bi-turbo V8 with 550 hp. It needs 4.8 seconds to sprint to 60 mph (97 kph) and returns 15 mpg (15.7 l/100 km) in the city and 19 mpg (12.4 l/100 km) on the highway.On a final note, we will remind you that the Mercedes-Maybach family has a new member. It's called the EQS SUV , and it is the brand's first-ever electric vehicle. Unveiled earlier this week, it uses a dual-motor powertrain with a total of 649 hp (658 ps/484) and 701 lb-ft (950 Nm) of torque. It can keep pushing up to 130 mph (210 kph) and needs 4.4 seconds to sprint to 62 mph (100 kph). The total driving range is estimated at up to 373 miles (600 km), and plugging it in at a DC station for 15 minutes will give it an autonomy of 137 miles (220 km). Built in Alabama, the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680will go on sale worldwide in a few months, and it should cost well over $200,000 in our market, considering that the normal EQS 580 4Matic kicks off at almost $126,000.
Hyundai Motor Groups core vision is clear and concise: Progress for Humanity. This is the main reason why the company is working hard on developing the field of robotics. It has devised three key technologies: Wearable Robots, Service Robots, and Robotic Mobility. For instance, its come up with robotic exoskeletons designed for both industrial and medical uses.Even though you might not have heard of some of their projects, you might be familiar with Boston Dynamics  Hyundai acquired it in 2021 for a staggering $880 million intending to accelerate its strategic transformation into a smart mobility solution provider.The company focuses on expanding the human reach and offering innovative mobility solutions using robotics, AI (artificial intelligence), and autonomous driving technologies. One of their more recent projects seeks to move beyond land, sea, and air into space In July 2022, the Group signed a research agreement with six Korean research institutes in the aerospace sector, including the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI). Together, they run and support a consultative body with the aim of creating a mobility solution for lunar surface exploration.After discussing with stakeholders, Hyundai Motor Group came up with the initial direction for the lunar exploration mobility development model. It estimates that the initial test units will be completed by the second half of next year. Next, the goal is to develop a model with launch capability in 2027.The Group will integrate Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporations robotics and autonomous driving technologies, charging parts, and driving systems. Furthermore, it will use Hyundai Rotems (a subsidiary specializing in manufacturing rolling stock, military equipment, and plant engineering) technology.The rover is designed to carry various pieces of equipment on top, with a maximum payload of 70 kg (154 lbs.). Furthermore, it will be equipped with various technologies for digging and excavation. It will operate autonomously , drawing power via solar panels.In the lower section, youll find the Groups components, which will serve as a mobility platform. The machine will be engineered to withstand extreme temperatures, with built-in radiation shielding, to tackle the harsh environments of the lunar surface.Hyundai Motor Group will develop an environment similar to the moons surface to conduct intensive testing for the rover and make all the necessary refinements. If everything turns out successful, the goal is to land the rover near the moons south pole, where it will carry out scientific missions. Hopefully, well get to see some footage of the lunar rover in action.
Imagine a large aircraft that could be charged in a little over half an hour through an entirely-robotized process. Once that's done, it would be ready to take more than 40 passengers to their destination, smoothly covering 250 nautical miles (460 km).The airplane would generate zero emissions throughout that flight and operate with significantly less noise than a conventional airliner.This isn't just an ambitious vision or an interesting concept. It's the Maeve 01, a new type of aircraft that's getting ready to conquer the world of aviation. Maeve, a Dutch startup connected to the world-famous TU Delft Campus, recently unveiled the design.Located at the YesDelft incubator on this campus, Maeve has brought together aerospace specialists from all over the world intending to revolutionize commercial aviation.The Maeve 01 aircraft was impressive enough to bring in financial support from the EU and orders from industry partners. Several operators have made reservations for up to 20 units, confirming the commercial-scale potential of this new aircraft.What makes the Maeve 01 different from any other green aircraft on the market is its impressive capacity and battery-electric propulsion. This is no tiny air taxi or a hybrid airplane.The initial version will be able to carry up to 44 passengers plus the crew, with zero emissions, and on routes of at least 250 nautical miles. It will eventually boast an even greater capacity of more than 50 seats and also increase its range over time as battery technology continues to improve.The Netherlands-based startup has simultaneously developed a dedicated charging system called Maeve reCharge. This fast-charging system comes in the form of a single module that takes no more space than a 30-foot (9.1-meter) container, and that can be easily installed at any airport.As soon as a Maeve electric aircraft completes its journey, the charging process starts instantly and is entirely robotized, taking only 35 minutes. At the same time, Maeve will take care of monitoring the entire charging process to make things easier for future operators. The reCharge solution will be based exclusively on sustainable and affordable energy.The technical details that enable this performance are still under wraps. Still, the Dutch aircraft will apparently include a flight deck that's supposed to be innovative, a flexible cabin, and a modular high-performance battery system.The only bad news is that we'll have to wait until the end of the decade to see the Maeve 01 ready for service. The Dutch startup aims to launch flight tests five years from now and start commercial service for the Maeve 01 by 2030.
Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden pose for a photo during their summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in this Nov. 13, 2022 file photo. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk Yeol will pay a state visit to the United States from April 24-29 to hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and mark the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance, a presidential official said Thursday.



Yoon will be the first South Korean president since Lee Myung-bak in 2011 to pay a state visit to the U.S., Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters while announcing the details of his trip.



Yoon and Biden will hold a summit at the White House on April 26 after an official welcoming ceremony and before a state dinner where they will be joined by first ladies Kim Keon Hee and Jill Biden.



"The two leaders will spend a lot of time together over the course of many events ... celebrate the achievements of the South Korea-U.S. alliance accumulated over 70 years, and exchange in-depth views on the alliance's way forward," Kim Tae-hyo said.



The summit will mark the sixth meeting between Yoon and Biden, following those in Seoul last May and then in Madrid, London, New York and Phnom Penh.



"We expect the contents and breadth of our global comprehensive strategic alliance to be further expanded at the upcoming talks, based on the trust and friendship the leaders have built until now," Kim said.



The adviser pointed to four key areas where he expects to see results, including a strengthening of the allies' combined defense posture and a more detailed implementation of the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to South Korea.









Extended deterrence refers to the U.S.' commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally.



The credibility of that commitment has sometimes been called into question in South Korea as North Korea has simulated nuclear missile strikes on the South while advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities.



Kim said the summit will also aim to flesh out cooperation on economic security, such as in semiconductors and batteries; promote exchanges between future generations, including by nurturing talents in the advanced technology sector; and strengthen cooperation on international issues.





This Nov. 13, 2022 file photo shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden holding a bilateral summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Yonhap
kWh

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A 105-battery pack powers the dual-motor setup of the crossover. It has 550 hp (557 ps/410) combined and a peak torque of 605 lb-ft (820 Nm). It needs 4.1 seconds to sprint to 62 mph (100 kph) from naught, and it tops out at 137 mph (220 kph). Therange on a full charge is estimated at 311 miles (500 km), and plugging it in at a DC station for just under 30 minutes will juice it up from 20 to 80%.The Grecale Folgore has four driving modes named the GT, Sport, Off-Road, and Max Range. The latter should be used when the battery drops to under 16%, and it will limit the top speed to 81 mph (130 kph), reduce the throttle response, and make thesystem less power thirsty. An air suspension is also included, Maserati says, for a more comfortable drive in the urban jungle or on the highway.You won't mistake it for anything else, as it looks almost identical to other versions. However, the Maserati Grecale Folgore does feature a partially closed-off grille, a new diffuser, and aerodynamically optimized wheels measuring 19, 20, and 21 inches in diameter. Copper logos and brake calipers, glossy black accents, and the Rame Folgore exterior that's limited to this version are other highlights of the crossover.Recycled materials were used in the cabin, which features a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, the usual personal assistant, smartphone integration, and heated and ventilated front seats with electric adjustment. Maserati also mentions the 8.8-inch lower screen and a head-up display that projects critical information to the windscreen in front of the driver. A navigation system dedicated to electric vehicles, a cockpit temperature maintenance function that maintains a comfortable temperature even when it is not operating, and several other features are included.Additional details about the Maserati Grecale Folgore, such as the availability, pricing, and total autonomy on a full charge, will be announced in due course. It will make its way to the United States as well, sitting alongside the GT, Modena, and Trofeo versions of the Grecale. The former starts at $65,300, whereas the mid-spec kicks off at $74,900. The Trofeo is the punchiest and most expensive version of the Italian brand's crossover, carrying an MSRP of $105,500. The Grecale Folgore is listed on the company's US website, with more flashing news to come soon.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

NHTSA

According to documents filed with the, the driver seat may not be properly secured to the frame on certain late-model Rogue, Pathfinder, and Infiniti QX60 sport utility vehicles. The welds of the seat frame may detach from the rear inboard seat bracket, increasing the risk of injury to the driver in case of a crash. As if the safety risk wasn't bad enough, Nissan also determined that suspect assemblies don't meet the requirements of two safety standards, elevating said condition to a noncompliance.The Japanese automaker became aware of this problem in December 2022 by means of a report alleging excess movement in the driver seat of a 2023 model year Nissan Rogue . A broken weld was identified on the seat frame between the rear inboard bracket and seat rail, prompting the company to conduct a parts audit at tier-1 supplier Adient. Of the 22,726 rails examined, none had questionable welds.Nissan eventually determined that the broken weld was attributable to tier-2 supplier Forvia SLP Mechanism. A review of the sub-supplier determined that three seat rails with iffy welds hadn't been contained, but sent to Adient to produce the seat's frame. Following a sled pull test that concluded in a rather obvious fashion, the Japanese automaker decided to issue a recall for no fewer than 12,400 vehicles. Nissan isn't aware of any other warranty claims except for the aforementioned 2023 model year Nissan Rogue. Dealers have been instructed to inspect the driver seat rail clearance to the inboard seat bracket. If necessary, the seat cushion frame will be replaced. The repair should take less than two hours according to Nissan, which intends to notify owners by first-class mail starting on June 10.Suspect Rogue vehicles were produced in the period between September 7, 2022, and October 21, 2022, at the Smyrna assembly plant in Tennessee. Recalled Pathfinder vehicles were manufactured between September 6, 2022, and November 8, 2022, at the very same assembly plant.The technically similar QX60 from Infiniti is listed with build dates beginning on August 29, 2022 and ending on October 31, 2022. Owners are recommended to run their VINs on the's website to find out for certain if their vehicles are recalled.Based on a front-wheel-drive platform, just like the larger Pathfinder and QX60, the Rogue is currently going for $27,760 sans destination charge as per the online configurator. The larger Pathfinder kicks off at $35,200, whereas the QX60 will set you back at least $49,200 for the 2023 model year.
EV

ICE

It seems that whatever happens, the automotive industry cannot catch a break. After two years of health concerns, after the pesky chip crisis (which is not that over, by the way), and following countless supplier constraints, new regulations are looming on the horizon. On the Old Continent, the European Union is trying to impose a ban on combustion engine-powered vehicles from 2035. In America, meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency wants more restrictions , too, to promote therevolution even further.So, that means everyone has to hedge their bets . Just recently, Jaguar Land Rover decided to dive into the zero-emissions territory without looking back, for example. Others are more cautious, with fellow British peer Rolls-Royce ready to commence production of its first-ever fully electric model, the two-door Spectre grand tourer. The full-size ultra-luxury coupe will start deliveries sometime before the end of the year and caused quite a ruckus when it was officially presented as the successor to the current Rolls-Royce Wraith.The latter, a nameplate revived a decade ago for a sportier Rolls-Royce Ghost sibling, traces its roots to the 1938 model of the original Rolls-Royce company and is a spectacular pillarless coupe fitted with suicide doors, as per tradition. Customers and the aftermarket realm alike have deeply beloved it, and of course, Rolls-Royce did not part ways with the V12-powered coupe before honoring it with the limited-edition Wraith Black Arrow Once all 12 examples were commissioned by their posh owners, the Rolls-Royce Wraith  along with all of the company's V12-powered coupes  went into the history books to make way for the upcoming Spectre. But what if that was not the case, and the company wanted one last-powered chance for redemption? Well, that is not for the real world to dream but rather for the crazy realm of digital car content creators to imagine. And there is no need to take our word for granted, as we have an eloquent example.So, after a rather long hiatus, the pixel master behind the Netherlands-based Ugur Sahin Design automotive studio has done it again, this time coming out with an ICE vision of the hypothetical next-gen Wraith coupe. Dubbed 'Rolls-Royce X Concept by USD,' it is not necessarily all about the Benjamins as the shortened form of Ugur Sahin Design might suggest. Instead, this is more of a stunning vision that seeks to place Rolls-Royce coupe designs above the stratosphere of the ultra-luxury segment. Everything else is merely a detail, from the ICE-powered atmosphere to the split rear window sections that are almost tinier than the dual exhaust tips!
Photo: Zephalto

Photo: Zephalto

Photo: Zephalto

The market of space tourism is crowded with startups and admirable initiatives with immediate timeliness. Zephalto is another such startup promising the moon in the sky in an almost literal sense, but with a very luxurious, very fancy, andspin to space tourism. World, meet Celeste, the fanciest strato-balloon so far.Zephalto was founded in 2016 by aerospace engineer Vincent Farret d'Asties and currently boasts high-profile partners like Airbus, Dassault, CNES (National Center for Space Studies), and ESA (European Space Agency). Right now, Zephalto is working towards a 2025 launch goal of Celeste, described as "the most pristine spaceship of the 21st century"  and perhaps the most luxurious as well.Celeste is a pressurized capsule that will take six well-heeled tourists and two pilots/crew to the edge of space with help from a strato-balloon. The idea is not new , but the way in which Zephalto approaches it certainly is: this is no "regular" journey to the edge of space but the most incredible, luxurious, and personalizable experience. It is a "life-changing experience in harmony with nature" and "the most groundbreaking adventure one can only imagine today," the startup promises.You'd think that a 6-hour trip to an altitude of 25 km (15.5 miles) so you can observe and be amazed at the curvature of Earth would be enough of a treat in and of itself, but Zephalto begs to differ. After all, that's precisely what the other startups are also offering.Zephalto adds a more sophisticated touch by adding gourmet meals both before and during the flight , aperitifs, an oenological tasting experience during the flight curated by a renowned but yet unnamed sommelier, stratographic photography, and the possibility to share it instantly with the people back on Earth via Wi-Fi, and the option to further customize the experience to the point of privatizing the entire flight. In layman's terms, you can book the whole flight for a wedding or a birthday party, and Zephalto will add personalized touches. It sure beats a celebration dinner with friends and family!The final design of the Celeste capsule remains a mystery as of the time of press, but Zephalto is working with designer Joseph Dirand on it. Dirand's previous work includes the Balmain and Givenchy stores in Paris and restaurants like Monsieur Bleu and Loulou, so you know whatever styling he chooses for the capsule will be sophisticated, minimalist, and elegant.Looks aside, Celeste boasts several future world records and 11 pending patents, according to Zephalto. It will be the safest strato-balloon in the world and will feature the largest window on the market, with a surface of 2 square meters (21.5 square feet). At 20 square meters (215 square feet), Celeste will also be the biggest space capsule out there, with the most valuable square meter in the world.The first Celeste flight, scheduled tentatively for 2025, will also mark the lowest amount of CO2 generated by a space flight: 26.6 kg (58.6 lbs) of CO2 for the entire 6-hour journey, the equivalent of the carbon footprint of a pair of denim trousers. How's that for putting a new perspective on things?Zephalto says that anyone can fly with Celeste as long as they're cleared to board a plane since tourists onboard won't be experiencing weightlessness. There's a 2-day preparation period, but it won't include any physical training, just basic prep and psychological counseling. The latter will prepare tourists for the Overview Effect , a cognitive shift that occurs when seeing Earth from space for the first time, whose first phase is usually despair and hopelessness.Aside from the big promises and the equally-big words used to describe this ultra-luxury space experience, Zephalto is rather ungenerous with the details. There's a mention of a vague plan to build specially-designed spaceports for the launches, first in Paris and then in other cities across all continents. There's the mention of a 60-flight yearly goal after the 2025 launch and the possibility of reaching the 25 km (15.5-mile) threshold with a test balloon later this year. And then, there's the promise of "more  more bonus experiences, more surprises, and more details to be revealed soon.Until then, Zephalto is taking pre-reservations for 10,000 a pop  approximately $11,000 at the current exchange rate. A ticket costs 120,000 ($132,000), which includes a couple of gourmet meals and the wine tasting in space, but not whatever extras you wish to add, with help from a so-called "experience designer." But the bragging rights that come with the experience are, as they say, priceless. Assuming all goes according to plan.
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution

Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution

Among the items on display at the museum this time around was a genuine piece of current U.S. Army and Marine Corps kit that we bet even seasoned aviation geeks might not be familiar with. This is an AAI RQ-7 Shadow, and it might be the most interesting military UAV you haven't heard of. As one of the Pentagon's most solid and reliable UAV manufacturers, AAI Corporation might not be a household name. But rest assured, AAI is a valuable asset to the U.S. Military' s drone fleet.Though uncrewed aerial drones are arguably as old and historic as military airplanes themselves, it's safe to call the period between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s the first golden age of remote-controlled UAVs. It was during this period that AAI, founded under the name Aircraft Armaments Inc out of Hunt Valley, Maryland, in 1950, launched a bespoke unmanned systems division in 1985. With the help of the lauded Israeli Aircraft Industries, AAI manufactured its first military UAV, the RQ-2 Pioneer, in 1986.Essentially a domestic upgrade platform of the Israeli IAI Scout, the RQ-2 Pioneer shared an uncanny appearance with another Israeli UAV, the Tadiran Mastiff, which is widely considered to be one of the very first modern military UAVs. With an emphasis put squarely on long flight ranges, quiet surveillance, and reconnaissance, the 205-kilogram (452 lb) RQ-2's two-stroke boxer engine propelled the craft to a range exceeding 100 miles. As a solid UAV platform, the RQ-2 formed a fitting foundation for the next in line at AAI's Maryland manufacturing facility.First commissioned in the late 1980s and first flown in 1991, the RQ-7 Shadow was designed to replace the canceled Alliant RQ-6 Outrider as well as the now-defunct RQ-2. With a similar size and silhouette to the outgoing model, it's almost easy to assume the RQ-7 is the same internally as well. But this is the furthest thing from the truth. In fact, the RQ-7 is a profoundly more capable vehicle from a flight performance and from a surveillance perspective.With dimensions of 11 feet, two inches (3.41 m) long with a 14-foot (3.87-m) wingspan and a fully loaded weight of just 375 lb (170 kg), the RQ-7 packs plenty of hardware into a very compact space. With the capability to be launched from mobile vehicles and ships, from STOL catapults, or even from traditional tarmac runways, the RQ-7 is as adaptable as it is effective at conducting surveillance. The RQ-7's visual prowess has much to do with its gimbal-mounted, liquid nitrogen-cooled optoelectric/infrared camera system, which relays high bit-rate data back to base camp using the C-band data link between 4.0 and 8.0 gigahertz.Using this system, the RQ-7 can relay real-time updates on the positions of enemy vehicles, combatants, and the movements over time thereof. Here on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, this camera and data-link system is perhaps the Shadow's most prominent and recognizable feature. By itself, all this clever tech would make the RQ-7 Shadow a remarkable machine. But it's not the only part of this warbird that intrigues and excites us.Even the engine in this little wonder plane is of a particularly unique variety. It's a 208 cc AR741 single-rotor Wankel engine courtesy of the British aerospace firm UAV Engines. That's right, the engine inside this military drone is operationally identical to that in the Mazda RX-7 and RX-8. Weighing in at just 23.5 lbs (10.7 kg) thanks to a clever electronic contactless magneto ignition system, the AR741 cranks out 38 horsepower when running on the proper 100LL-grade aviation fuel.This engine does have the ability to run on your average 87-octane pump fuel. But after field reports from Iraq during the War on Terror reported a high rate of engine failure, the Army highly recommended using Avgas instead whenever possible. With operational experience with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps but also with the militaries of Sweden, Turkey, Italy, Australia, and Romania, the RQ-7 in both its 200 and 600 series, is one of the most important NATO UAV assets in their current arsenal.To be able to see a real piece of modern military aviation hardware up close and personal at the Cradle of Aviation Museum is a treat not many people in the world can say they've experienced. It's just another reason the Cradle is one of our very favorite air and space museums in America.
The incident happened after one of those lawmakers, Taguhi Tovmasian, refused to leave the rostrum after finishing her speech during a heated debate on the parliament floor.

I will not allow you to again spread lies, cast doubt on Artsakhs being Armenian or the history of the Armenian people from the countrys number one podium, declared Tovmasian, who heads the parliament committee on human rights.

Enough is enough. Sober up and accept your share of responsibility, she said, urging like-minded members of the National Assembly to join her protest.

About a dozen other opposition deputies heeded her appeal. Parliament speaker Alen Simonian responded by ordering security officers to force the oppositionists out of the parliament auditorium.

The officers working for the State Protection Service (SPS), an agency providing bodyguards to Pashinian and other high-ranking state officials, executed the order after a 4-minute scuffle with the mostly female deputies. The SPS chief, Sargis Hovannisian, was on hand to oversee the use of force condemned by the two opposition blocs represented in the parliament.

They are now not allowing us to return to our workplace, Tovmasian told reporters after the chaotic scene. This is a blatant violation of the law, human rights and deputies rights.

The debate, which began on Tuesday, was meant to center on the implementation of the Armenian governments five-year policy program approved by the parliaments pro-government majority in 2021. Pashinians remarks on the conflict with Azerbaijan proved to be its main focus.

Pashinian made clear that his administration unequivocally recognizes Azerbaijans territorial integrity and is also ready to sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal that would commit the two South Caucasus states to recognizing each others Soviet-era borders.

Opposition leaders portrayed this as further proof of their claims that Pashinian is helping Baku regain full control over Karabakh. Karabakhs main political factions also denounced the Armenian premier.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said that they discussed issues relating to regional communication routes and broader prospects for trilateral cooperation in various fields.

The parties agreed to continue the trilateral consultations aimed at closer cooperation, it said in a statement. No other details of the talks were reported.

Meeting in Yerevan in October 2021, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar called for an Armenian-Indian transport link that would pass through Iran and its Chabahar cargo port in particular.

India has built and operates two terminals at the Gulf of Oman port to bypass Pakistan in cargo traffic with Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries.

The Indian government has also proposed Chabahars inclusion in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project initiated by Russia, Iran and India in 2000. The project envisages a 7,200-kilometer-long network of maritime and terrestrial routes stretching from Mumbai to Moscow.

Mirzoyan suggested after the 2021 talks with Jaishankar that Indian companies use Chabahar for cargo shipments to not only Armenia but also neighboring Georgia, Russia and even Europe. According to Indian media reports, an Armenian government delegation promoted this idea when it visited New Delhi in early March.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, reportedly backed the ambitious project during a July 2022 trip to Yerevan.

Armenia has long maintained a cordial relationship with Iran and has deepened its ties with India in the last few years, notably through a series of contracts signed with Indian arms manufacturers. All three nations have reported significant increases in their trade with Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting Western sanctions against Moscow.
Garegin implied earlier in the day that the fatherly appeal made by him in the wake of the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh is still valid.

Sadly, we can see that the situation in our country remains perilous and worrying, he told several media outlets in a rare interview. Also, wrong and unacceptable statements are made  with regard to the status of Artsakh (Karabakh). Also worrying is the disunity, discord and spirit of intolerance deepening among our people, and in this sense we have a lot of work to do.

Garegin appeared to allude to Pashinians latest comments on the Karabakh conflict condemned by the Armenian opposition and Karabakhs leaders as pro-Azerbaijani.

Maria Karapetian, a parliament deputy representing Pashinians Civil Contract party, responded by accusing the Armenian Church of meddling in politics and refusing to accept the supremacy of the state authorities.

Maybe it would be a better solution not to talk about any political topic at all and to talk only about spiritual topics, she said on the parliament floor.

Karapetian also denounced Garegins homily read out during the Easter mass at Yerevans Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral on April 9.

In that message, Garegin expressed concern at what he described as the erosion of national-spiritual security of our people and threats to centuries-old sanctified traditions and our value system.

Indeed, when justice and truth cease to be the core of our undertakings and activities in state and public life, we will continue to face manifestations of pilatism, he told hundreds of worshippers in what looked like a thinly veiled attack on the government.

The ancient church, to which the vast majority of Armenians belong, enjoyed strong government support until the 2018 velvet revolution that brought Pashinian to power. His frosty relationship with Garegin has increasingly deteriorated since then.

Garegin and other senior clergymen joined the Armenian opposition in calling for Pashinians resignation following Armenias defeat in the 2020 war. The prime minister openly attacked them when he campaigned for the June 2021 parliamentary elections.

Pashinian and members of his government have since boycotted Christmas and Easter liturgies led by Garegin. They have also effectively excluded the Catholicos from official ceremonies to mark major national holidays and remembrance days.
20 April 2023 18:00 (UTC+04:00)

Sabina Mammadli Read more

A research initiative Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) published its "2nd special report: Between the Wars" covering the crimes committed against the material and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan starting from the First and lasting till after the Second Karabakh Wars.

Although the report was prepared with the support of Cornell and Purdue Universities, as well as the Ford Foundation, what should have been an impartial view from a third party ended up being distorted by the fact that three people of the five-person team are Armenian of origin.

First of all, attention should be drawn to the fact that in carrying out its research, the CHW used high-resolution American satellite imagery from the 1980s, namely the KH-9 Hexagon platform, which in the reports own words "provides a baseline for the condition of sites in the late Soviet period". Taking this in mind, the CHW, which dismisses the level of destruction to Azerbaijani mosques and other cultural heritage, could not even determine the true level of harm to the buildings through the use of satellite pictures alone. Here a natural question arises: How can the Caucasus Heritage Watch evaluate the true level of destruction to Azerbaijani heritage in Karabakh if it dismisses the vandalism, the desecration, and the complete raising to the ground of all the constructions in the years of occupation?

The report also states that "of the 109 cultural heritage sites we were able to assess for this investigation, 42 (38%) remained structurally unchanged since the late Soviet period" and dismisses the facts brought up by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stating that "65 out of 67 mosques were destroyed". Besides, the publication goes as far as to state that "the forensic evidence shows no attempt to systematically erase the material traces of Azerbaijani history and cultural life".

Perhaps, if the publication paid more attention to the reality that is out there for anyone to see: the devastating conditions of Aghdam, called "Hiroshima of the Caucasus" for its mass destructions and Juma Mosque being the only building that remains standing among the vast area of ruins. Referring to the words of the Azerbaijani President as false, the CHW fails to notice the real facts that over 60 mosques and about 200 shrines were destroyed by Armenians on the territory of Azerbaijan during the occupation. The remaining two mosques were used as pig and cow cowsheds throughout the occupation.

Talking about the reconstruction works carried out in Azerbaijans liberated territories during his visit to the city of Salyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that "only two mosques are being refurbished because all the remaining mosques were razed to the ground by the Armenians".

"Over 30 years, Armenia devastated these lands, did not leave a single stone unturned, was engaged in looting and robbery, and was engaged in barbarism. We, the owners of these lands, have come to build and create. Therefore, as soon as the war ended, work was started immediately," the president added.

What Caucasus Heritage Watch calls "exaggerated reports and unsupported claims of heritage destruction, " is in fact three-decade long Armenian genocidal policy which resulted in the decimation of some 900 cemeteries with over a million graves, the looting and destruction of 927 libraries with 4.6 million books, 700 historical monuments, and 22 museums with 100,000 exhibits by Armenia. Azerbaijani gravestones were even used to build stairs to Armenian homes. Car plates of killed and displaced Azerbaijanis were used to decorate public restrooms.

If Caucasus Heritage Watch considers this inhumanity to be exaggerated, then the root of their "unbiased research" is clear to all.

--

Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SabinaMmdl

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20 April 2023 12:27 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

Gobustan rock carvings in art have been in the spotlight on International Day for Monuments and Sites.

The Day is observed on April 18 worldwide to raise awareness of cultural heritage diversity, the vulnerability of sites and monuments, and the measures needed to maintain and conserve them, Azernews reports.

The event themed "Gobustan rock carvings in art" was organized by Gobustan State Historical and Artistic Reserve at Baku Museum Center with the support of the Culture Ministry, Azernews reports.

Director of Gobustan State Historical and Artistic Reserve Vugar Isayev briefed the guests on the history of the International Day for Monuments and Sites as well as its celebration in Azerbaijan.

"This significant day was designated by UNESCO 1983 on the initiative of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in order to draw people's attention to the protection of monuments and historical places. The International Day for Monuments and Sites is also widely celebrated in Azerbaijan. Every year on this date, various events and exhibitions are organized in order to promote the preservation of monuments and historical places in reserves and historical places. Protecting the historical monuments of our country is the civic duty of every Azerbaijani. We are proud of our ancient history and historical monuments. As we know, during the leadership of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, great attention was paid to the preservation and protection of historical monuments. Now this tradition is continued by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev," said Vugar Isayev.

Head of the State Service for Protection, Development, and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Sabina Hajiyeva thanked the event organizers and stressed the importance of the exhibition.

"Every Azerbaijani citizen knows the value of the Gobustan State Historical and Artistic Reserve for Azerbaijan. Gobustan monuments are also equally important for the whole world. I am sure that the issue of preservation and protection of our historical sites will be always kept in mind not only on this significant day. Because this is both our past and our future," she said.

People's Artist Arif Huseynov, Honored Art Worker, Art Critic Ziyadkhan Aliyev, Honored Artist of Nakhchivan, MP Ulviyya Hamzayeva spoke about the spiritual significance of Gobustan monuments for Azerbaijani people.

In their remarks, they noted that Gobustan has always been a source of inspiration for artists and creative people. Handicrafts displayed in the exhibition demonstrate Azerbaijani artists' deep love and respect to national culture and history.

Gobustan petroglyphs make it possible to trace the history and culture. They will always be the research object of scientists and source of inspiration for artists.

Note that Gobustan rock carvings were discovered in 1939 at the foot of the mountain Jingirdag and on the top of Yazili Tepe.

The rock engravings depict primitive men, animals, battle pieces, ritual dances, bullfights, boats with armed oarsmen, warriors with lances in their hands, camel caravans, and pictures of the sun and stars. These unique petroglyphs were recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2007.

Nearly 100 handicrafts were demonstrated as part of the exhibition.

The national artists brilliantly reflected Gobustan rock paintings in their paintings, sculptures, ceramics, graphic works, batiks, carpets and other art works.

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U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on his administration's plan to 'reward work, not wealth' at a union training facility in Accokeek, Maryland, April 19. UPI-Yonhap



The White House on Wednesday announced detailed plans on Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the United States next week, which it said will highlight the two countries' "ironclad" alliance.



U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to host Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee for the state visit, which includes a state dinner Wednesday, the White House said in a media advisory. The visit comes as Seoul and Washington mark the 70th anniversary of their alliance.






20 April 2023 17:10 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

Cinema Forum on "Azerbaijani Cinema - 125: reality, challenges and objectives" has started at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

The event is jointly organized by the Culture Ministry and the Heydar Aliyev Center in partnership with The Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, Azernews reports.

The forum has brought together cultural and art figures from Azerbaijan and other countries and turned into a platform for discussing the modern challenges in cinema.

The Azerbaijan Culture Minister Adil Karimli welcomed the forum participants.

"We hope that the Cinema Forum will be remembered with interesting discussions. The forum sheds light on the development of the national cinema. The main purpose of our gathering here today is to discuss the main challenges and the perspectives of Azerbaijani film industry. I would like to note that more forums related to other cultural fields are expected to take place in the country this year within the celebration of the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev. Moreover, the Development of Cultural Strategy will be put forward as well," said Adil Karimli.

Adil Karimli recalled that Azerbaijani cinema started to take its first steps in 1898, and left a great legacy after passing through 125 years of rich and turbulent path.

Founded in 1923, Azerbaijan Film Studio created a broad basis for the systematic development of national cinematography.

For decades, numerous screen works produced by local cinematographers contributed to the formation of the worldview of the Azerbaijani people.

The minister stressed the role of National Leader Heydar Aliyev in the development of the Azerbaijani cinema and all art fields.

The formation of the normative and legal basis of the national cinematography started in 1993 under his leadership and the State Film Fund was established on December 22 of the same year.

A historical step such as the establishment of Azerbaijan Cinema Day is the result of the Great Leader's invaluable services in this field. For many years, Soviet cinema day was celebrated as the national cinema day in Azerbaijan.

The history of Azerbaijani cinema is calculated from 1916. However, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev put an end to this injustice against the national cinema history.

By the order of Azerbaijan's national leader Heydar Aliyev in 2000, August 2 was declared as a day for the Azerbaijani cinema.

The State Program for the Development of Azerbaijani Cinema for 2008-2018, Decree of March 1, 2019 "On Some Measures Related to the Development of Azerbaijani Cinematography" shows a great attention paid by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the development of the Azerbaijani cinema art.

In recent years, the participation and awarding of films produced by Azerbaijan in the world's most prestigious international film festivals, as well as the increase in the amount of investment in film production, indicate the qualitative new development of the national cinematography.

In addition, the concept of developing film art is reflected in the Action Plan of the "Socio-economic Development Strategy of the Azerbaijani Republic for 2022-2026", approved by the presidential decree dated July 22, 2022.

All these steps taken by the country's leadership in the future will improve the implementation of state policy in the field of cinematography, modernize the local production and broadcasting infrastructure, ensure international competitiveness and participation in many international joint projects, film production, as well as the internationalization of Azerbaijani cinematography experience by joining international platforms.

It will be of great importance in terms of its recognition at the level, as well as in terms of providing a new economic activity and stimulation in this area.

In this regard, it is worth noting that, as a result of the care shown by the First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijani cinema has been promoted at numerous international festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival.

The Culture Minister Adil Karimli emphasized that the establishment of the Film Agency laid the foundation for a new stage in the development of Azerbaijani film art.

The Culture Ministry in partnership with other relevant institutions, has completed all the necessary works required for the Film Agency to start operating.

Azerbaijan Film Agency will provide an opportunity for Azerbaijani cinema to participate in many new international joint projects like Evroimage online platform.

The Agency is expected to bring new experiences to the national cinematography and increase the economic activity of the audiovisual field.

In his speech, Adil Karimli noted that Azerbaijani cinematography is entering a recovery phase in terms of creativity, which will give impetus to the renewed interest in the national cinema inside and outside the country.

The main goal of the forum is to preserve the rich legacy of Azerbaijani cinema history, clarify the main issues in the cinema field and discuss together the steps that can be taken in the direction of the formation of codcompetitive cinema.

The Culture Minister underlined that there is a great need to make radical changes in order to face new challenges, to promote the private sector as well as to reduce the dependence on the state.

"We are sure that you have already established your activities very successfully as part of these changes and challenges. There is a need to accelerate and improve this process simply by coming together as a single team," he concluded.

The two-day forum continued with panel discussions.

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20 April 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

The solution of the current problems related to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations and uncertain citizenship status of Armenian society living in Karabakh still remain as outstanding. However, it is clear that the lingering of these processes are directly related to the authorities in Yerevan.

It should be noted that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev mentioned this in an interview with Azerbaijan State TV during his visit to Salyan district yesterday.

"I am sure that the majority of the Armenian population currently living in Karabakh is ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. Simply put, these leeches, these predatory animals wont let them do that. They won't let these people live comfortably, having kept them as hostages for 30 years. Therefore, my position is this. Let everyone hear it  both the Armenian leaders and the forces standing behind them today."

If the Armenian ruling circles had chosen the right path, Azerbaijan-Armenia relations would have been resolved, and Armenians in Karabakh would have returned to their normal way of life, Ismayil Tanryerdi, the Director of the Armenian Science and Education Center of Baku State University, said in a comment to Azernews. According to the expert, this conflict will not be resolved easily.

As he is familiar with the Armenian media, the professor, who approaches the processes from different aspects, noted that the Armenian community pressured by authorities in Yerevan.

"If the Armenian government requires its population to recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, then a separate group will have to go to Russia to accept Russian citizenship, and in such a situation, Armenians are ready to fulfill the government's request," he said.

The expert also emphasized that some people who are fed up with the actions of the local authorities are ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship without any conditions.

Clarifying the President's statement "we must be ready for anything" during the interview on state television in Salyan district, Tanriverdi noted that these statements are also a message.

"President sends a message to our people and to relevant addresses. To my thinking, this message means a new war may break out at any moment. However, this will mainly depend on the course and action of the opposing side," he said

"Because Armenia, led by its patrons and the leaders of Dashnaktsutyun, put forward the principle of revenge, revanchism and intend to reoccupy lands. For this reason, our army must always be ready and prevent any aggression from the other side. Since Armenia did not accept its defeat, it was always ready to resort to provocations and more inhumane acts. I often come across comments from the Armenian press, where they wish "Shushi" to return soon. For this reason, based on the views of the Azerbaijani President, I must note that our country should always be ready for war."

The expert also spoke about the ridiculous statement he came across in the Armenian media: "Our lands are occupied by the Turks."

"That is, defeat is unacceptable for the government that thinks like this. There is only one way to solve this issue, if the Armenians and their allies refuse to fulfill their commitments; and the only way is to expel the separatists and terrorists from our lands. And that is why our army conducts an anti-terrorist operation," expert opined.

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20 April 2023 08:45 (UTC+04:00)

Laman Ismayilova Read more

Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Sahiba Gafarova has visited the exhibition "Pearls of Polish heritage in Azerbaijan" organized in the Polish Sejm.

Addressing the event, Speaker of the Seimas Elzbieta Vitek said that such events contribute to the development of the Azerbaijani-Polish ties and serve to bring the two nations closer together. She emphasised that such events also allow the promotion of the cultural values of the two peoples, Azernews reports.

In her speech, Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that Azerbaijan, where East and West meet, is the homeland of many cultures.

She pointed out that great civilizations have existed in Azerbaijan, and multiculturalism and tolerance have become an integral part of the life of every Azerbaijani, regardless of nationality.

Emphasizing the 200-year-old Polish heritage in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Sahiba Gafarova noted that Poles have historically distinguished themselves in Azerbaijan as architects, lawyers, engineers, teachers, soldiers, entrepreneurs and statesmen.

She emphasised that the Poles participated in the activities of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first secular, parliamentary democratic state in the Muslim East and the Turkic world.

They were represented in almost all government structures. Stanislav Vonsovich, the representative of the Polish National Council, was one of the deputies representing national minorities in the Azerbaijani Parliament at that time.

The Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker specially also stressed the role of Polish architects who left a great legacy in the creation of the unique beauty of Baku at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.

Note that the exhibition displays the masterpieces of those famous Polish architects.

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20 April 2023 10:49 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov visited the Sagadat Nurmagambetov Military Institute of the Land Forces in Almaty, Azernews reports per the defense ministry.

First, a wreath was laid at the statue of First Kazakh Defense Minister, Army Gen Sagadat Nurmagambetov in the territory of the Institute and his memory was honored.

Furthermore, the Azerbaijani defense minister was presented with a briefing on the history of the establishment of the military institute and the main directions of its activities.

After getting acquainted with the institute, a photo was taken.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were established on August 30, 1992. The Kazakh embassy in Azerbaijan was opened on January 9, 1993, and the Azerbaijani embassy in Kazakhstan on March 1, 2004.

The two countries closely cooperate in various sectors of the economy. Around 160 companies with Kazakh capital operate in Azerbaijan in the industry, construction, trade, agriculture, transport, and services, and Azerbaijani companies are also represented in the Kazakh market.

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20 April 2023 11:26 (UTC+04:00)

The Baku Transport Agency has been transferred to the management of the Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a relevant decree.

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20 April 2023 14:00 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Azerbaijani science, history, and culture-oriented non-governmental organizations sent a letter of protest against the "Caucasus Heritage Watch: 2nd special report" prepared with the support of Cornell and Purdue Universities, as well as the Ford Foundation. According to Azernews, the report covered the crimes committed against the material and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan during the 30-year occupation of Karabakh by Armenia.

In the protest letter, it was specially mentioned that two of the specialists in the preparation of "Caucasus Heritage Watch: 2nd special report" are Armenian of origin, and the others are known for their pro-Armenian position, and it is noted that the participation of these persons in the preparation of such a distorted report is not surprising.

In the letter addressed to the representatives of the mentioned universities and the Foundation, detailed information about the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia and its consequences was presented. It was stated that if the representatives of the universities and the Foundation want to conduct research on this topic in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, they can be helped to create appropriate conditions.

It is of note that the history of attempts trying to Armenify the Karabakh region by Armenians goes back thousands of years. Leafing through a book called The History of Caucasus Albania written by Movses Kaghankatvatsi in the tenth century is enough. The book gives detailed information about the geography and political situation of then-Albania which today is called Azerbaijan.

Church of Amaras, the church of Aluen, Tsitsernavank Monastery, Yeghishe Arakyal Monastery, and so on are a few of the heritage of Christian Albanian architecture.

Movses Kaghankatvatsi specially mentioned the Church of Amaras. In addition, in the fifth century, the Albanian state held the church council of Aluen where the first legal Albanian document was adopted.

In the English version of the book which was translated in the 1960s, it reads that since the book referring to the correspondence between Armenian and Albanian rulers proves Albania had become Christians before Armenia, the book was hidden by Armenians and distorted by taking out several phrases.

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20 April 2023 13:34 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

The humanitarian assistance of the Azerbaijani state to Ukraine during the war was timely and useful.

This was stated by the co-chairman of the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani inter-parliamentary friendship group, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Vladimir Kreydenko, Azernews reports.

During the war, we felt Azerbaijan's help to our country. Azerbaijan provides effective humanitarian assistance, including gasoline. We really felt supported when there was an energy crisis. The supplied generators and transformers provided significant assistance in solving the energy problem during a large-scale attack on our energy system, said the deputy.

Expressing gratitude for the support of the people of Azerbaijan and President Ilham Aliyev, the deputy stressed that the Ukrainian people will not forget this friendly attitude.

Recall that, the war between Ukraine and Russia outbroke on 24 February 2022, and as a result, Russia occupied parts of Ukraine following a major escalation of the conflict, which began in 2014.

The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides, and instigated Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. About 8 million Ukrainians were displaced within their country by June, and more than 8.1 million had fled the country by March 2023.

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20 April 2023 17:30 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

Armenian media outlets claim that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lately takes heed of his own safety. The head of Armenian state can no longer hide his concern and he is clearly afraid of something, but no one knows what exactly it is.

Besides that media outlets draw attention that Pashinyan came to the last parliamentary session accompanied by a large number of security guards accompanied by police officers. It is said that the bodyguards of the Prime Minister followed the deputies of the Armenian Parliament and the entrance to the hall where the session was held was secured by armed guards in civilian clothes along with the employees of the Armenian State Security Service.

In addition, it should be noted that this step of Nikol Pashinyan coincides with the date when he noted that he was very close to signing the peace agreement with Azerbaijan and recognizing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. These words of Nikol Pashinyan were not welcomed in Armenian society. Some politicians accused him of treason.

In a comment on the issue of what Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan could be wary of, expert Farhad Mammadov pointed out that the conspiracy case of assassination is possible, because terrorism is a common practice for Armenian society to achieve political goals for centuries.

"Especially since the 60s of the 19th century, Armenian political parties have been engaged in terrorism in across the world. Throughout the history of statehood, the speaker and the prime minister have been killed in the parliament in Armenia in the last 30 years. I mean, this tradition still exists. Therefore, Pashinyan's phobia about personal security is understandable," Farhad Mammadov noted.

However, the pundit did not rule out Pashinyan's maneuver of taking advantage of this Armenian tradition; by pretending that he could share the destiny of former PM Vazgen Sargsyan and National Assembly Speaker Karen Demirchyan who was assassinated by an armed Armenian terror organization in the Parliament in 1999, Nikol Pashinyan can simply evade signing the peace agreement or bargain.

"Given that Pashinyan is a manipulator, the strengthening of these personal security measures can be explained in two ways. First up, really this is such danger and he is afraid that someone may want to eliminate him. Secondly, he wants to demonstrate to the US and the West, the main mediators, by creating fear, that he may not sign the peace agreement for this very reason. I mean, as though Armenian society is against the agreement and there may be terrorism against him. Such approaches have been demonstrated by the previous Armenian leaders, as well. They put forward such a narrative that the political leader who recognizes Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory will be killed by Armenians and there will be no future for this. Armenians used such narratives in these processes," the Mammadov said.

The expert also has not ruled out foreign influences. He opined that there could be a peace agreement on the horizon, but the foreign influence within the Armenian society will be activated to hinder the peace process.

"Pashinyan has already been pushed to the wall by the issue of the peace agreement, and the country that is pushing him to the wall is Azerbaijan. It is already known that a peace agreement formed on the basis of the principles proposed by Azerbaijan has been under negotiation for almost a year. It can make progress here mainly through the mediation of the United States. In such a case, the forces against it in the Armenian society, mainly the foreign forces or Russian-oriented forces, become active when the issues related to the signing of this agreement become relevant. It can be predicted that campaigns against Pashinyan will be launched in the Russian media in the coming days and pro-Russian political forces in Armenia will become active. This indicates that the process has already reached the threshold of the next signing," the Farhad Mmmadov added.

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20 April 2023 21:20 (UTC+04:00)

Qabil Ashirov Read more

The exchange of information with the Azersky satellite has stopped, Azernews reports, citing The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport (MDDT).

MDDT told that despite Azercosmos and the manufacturer of the satellite taking measures to restore the connection with the Azersky satellite, it was not possible to establish a connection with the satellite.

According to the cooperation agreement signed by Azercosmos with Airbus Defense and Space in 2014, the Azersky satellite operated in the same orbit as the SPOT 6 satellite of Airbus Defense and Space in the form of a single satellite cluster. According to the agreement signed on favorable terms, even without the Azersky satellite, Azercosmos will be able to meet the needs of local and foreign customers from the high optical resolution satellite images obtained through the SPOT 6 satellite. At present, the execution of orders related to satellite images using the SPOT 6 satellite continues with the same quality. Also, Azercosmos is able to satisfy the needs of local institutions for higher resolution satellite images on preferential terms within the framework of favorable cooperation established with foreign satellite operators in the past years.

Azersky satellite has proven itself as a commercial project, in addition to meeting the domestic demand in the field of earth observation and geo-information services in general, providing support for ensuring national security, creating a scientific research and personnel base in the space field in Azerbaijan, and improving the international image. A total of AZN105m ($61.8m) have been earned since the beginning of the commercial operation of the Azersky satellite. In addition, satellite images worth AZN150m ($88m) were given to various state bodies and institutions. Thus, the economic benefit from the satellite was 1.5 times more than the investment.

According to the information received from the US Space Surveillance Network, the Azersky satellite continues to fly in its intended orbit. At present, a collision with small-sized space debris or meteorite is considered a possible reason for the termination of data exchange with the satellite. So, as a result of the collision, the satellite's power supply may have failed. The US Space Observatory currently monitors 36,500 objects in space larger than 10 centimeters. However, according to calculations, more than 1 million objects of small size (1-10 cm) are moving around our planet, which the Space Observation Network cannot track.

It should be noted that at the beginning of this year the BADR-6 satellites of Saudi Arabia's Arabsat company and the FM36 of Orbcomm company of the USA, in 2021 the Chinese Yunhai 1-02 satellite, in 2019 more than 50 satellites including Intelsat's Intelsat-29e satellite, as well as the satellites of Russia and Turkiye completed their missions earlier than the intended operational periods. Therefore, space property insurance is of great importance for risk management in space activities. Azersky satellite is insured in the amount of AZN45m ($26.5m), and work has already begun to collect the insurance amount.

While in orbit, more than 80,000 satellite images were downloaded from the Azersky satellite in a volume of half a petabyte. A large archive of satellite images has been formed in Azercosmos, which has an invaluable role in the analysis and forecasting of changes occurring on Earth, including scientific research. The terrestrial infrastructure and antenna systems installed in Azerbaijan within the framework of the Azersky project will be useful both in terms of use in the next satellite projects and in terms of meeting the antenna needs of various foreign satellite operators on commercial terms.

Within the framework of the first Azersky satellite project, professional specialists in the management of remote Earth observation satellites were trained in Azerbaijan, and the acquired knowledge and experience paved the way for the development and launch of new observation satellites. Azercosmos has started a new, higher-resolution observation satellite project since last year, which responds to the challenges of modern technological development in accordance with the wishes of local institutions.

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20 April 2023 17:36 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sent a letter of congratulations to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez on his re-election as President of Cuba, Azernews reports.

Dear Mr. President,

I sincerely congratulate you on your reelection as the President of the Republic of Cuba.

The Azerbaijan-Cuba relations that rest on fine traditions develop successfully today. I believe we will continue our joint efforts to consistently ensure the development of friendly ties between our countries and the expansion of mutually beneficial bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

I wish you robust health, happiness and success in discharging the duties of the highest office for the sake of the prosperity of the friendly people of Cuba.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 20 April 2023

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The presidential office in Seoul / Yonhap



The presidential office said Thursday that any decision on whether to provide lethal aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia will depend on Moscow.



President Yoon Suk Yeol signaled a shift in Korea's policy of providing only non-lethal aid to Ukraine in an interview with Reuters published the previous day, saying it might be difficult to insist only on humanitarian or financial assistance if Ukraine comes under a large-scale attack on civilians.






20 April 2023 16:18 (UTC+04:00)

By News Agency

"I hope our President will deliver our first domestically produced tank to our Turkish Armed Forces within the next week," Turkiyes Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Hulusi Akar, who was nominated as an MP for Kayseri from the AK Party, visited the Kayseri Chamber of Industry, Kayseri Organized Industrial Zone, and Kayseri Commodity Exchange, respectively.

Stating that Turkiye has become a subject in the international environment with its personality and identity policies, Akar said, "Important steps continue to be taken for Turkiye's further strengthening and growth."

Emphasizing that with the leadership, encouragement, and support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, very important developments have been made in the domestic and national defense industry, Akar said:

The defense industry is important. The history of our heroic staff is full of glory, but the tools take pride. What will be the result if we do not provide the necessary equipment? Here, the importance of the domestic and national defense industry emerges. Remember the products we paid for in the past. In the past, even our infantry rifles were patented by foreigners. Now we have all our own light weapons, helicopters, UAV/UCAVs. We make these and export them. We design, build and export the ship. Hopefully, we will build our tank and fly the Kizilelma soon.

Visitor interest to TCG Anadolu

Reminding that TCG Anadolu was handed over to the Naval Forces Command, Hulusi Akar described the ship as a great achievement, and a proud picture of Turkish engineering, craftsmanship, entrepreneurs, the Turkish Naval Forces, and Turkiye.

Stating that TCG Anadolu will have separate duties in times of peace and crisis and that it will be assigned in possible humanitarian aid operations, disaster, and emergency activities, Hulusi Akar said, "TCG Anadolu, which is produced with domestic and national resources, is a source of great pride. We opened TCG Anadolu to the visit of our people on April 17-23, upon the instruction of our President for our citizens to see this pride as well. On the first day of its opening, 8,900 people visited the ship yesterday. There was great interest and favor."

During the visits, Kayseri Chamber of Industry President Mehmet Buyuksmitci, Kayseri Organized Industrial Zone Chairman Mehmet Yalcn, and Kayseri Commodity Exchange President Recep Baglams also thanked Akar and expressed their support for the determined struggle of Mehmetci against terrorists.

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As part of his visit to China, the Assistant to the Azerbaijani President, Executive Director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Anar Alakbarov has met with the secretary of the CPC Bengbu Municipal Committee Xiaowu Huang and the head of the Taihu World Cultural Forum Jen Chuanxin.

Speaking at the meeting, Xiaowu Huang emphasized that Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to support the Ancient Settlements Culture Park, in Bengbu and thanked the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for the construction of the Azerbaijani pavilion in the park, Azernews reports.

Since 2021, the pavilion "Window to Azerbaijani culture" has enjoyed a flow of visitors, who are coming to the park.

In his speech, Xiaowu Huang noted that the number of visitors is expected to increase with the further expansion of Bengbu's tourism potential.

Head of Taihu World Culture Forum Jen Chuanxin spoke about Azerbaijan's participation as an honored guest at the last forum.

He stressed the importance of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev's address to the forum participants in terms of the development of cultural ties.

Jen Chuanxin expressed his intention to cooperate with Azerbaijan in future forums.

The Azerbaijan pavilion was the first of the limited number of foreign national pavilions to open in the Ancient Settlements Culture Park.

The national pavilion showcases carpets and kilim rugs, representing Azerbaijani carpet weaving schools. It also displays examples of coppersmithing, decorative art, shebeke art, national costumes, musical instruments, as well as publications of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation on Azerbaijani culture, history, the country's modern development and national souvenirs.

Apart from that, the bust of Azerbaijan's great scholar and thinker Nizami Ganjavi, sculptures from the "Kharibulbul", "The Maiden Tower" and "Gazelles" series, and imitations of Gobustan rock paintings are also among the exhibits.

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A U.S. judge has ordered former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique to surrender to federal agents after an appeals court denied his latest motion to stop his extradition back to Peru
Lois Henry is the CEO and editor of SJV Water, a nonprofit, independent online news publication dedicated to covering water issues in the San Joaquin Valley. She can be reached at lois.henry@sjvwater.org. The website is sjvwater.org.
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You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.
Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Park Hong-keun speaks during a policy coordinating meeting held at the National Assembly in Seoul, April 20. Yonhap



The floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) urged President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday to immediately retract his remarks suggesting the possibility of Korea providing non-humanitarian aid to Ukraine.



Yoon signaled a shift in Korea's policy of providing only non-lethal aid to Ukraine in an interview with Reuters published the previous day. He said it might be difficult to insist only on humanitarian or financial assistance if Ukraine comes under a large-scale attack on civilians.



"This is a significant issue directly related to national security. The president cannot unilaterally make a decision without consent from the National Assembly," Rep. Park Hong-geun, the DPK's floor leader, said during a party meeting.



Park stressed the Constitution requires the government to win parliamentary consent on important issues, such as treaties, which are related to national security or put significant financial burdens on the public, and overseas troop deployments.



"The Democratic Party of Korea can never accept the government's unilateral decision that would bring about serious threats to the national interest and security," he said.



Park voiced concern that Korean businesses would be dealt a blow if military aid to Ukraine begins. What Yoon should have said ahead of his visit to the United States was to adhere to the principle of no military aid to Ukraine, he said.



Russia has bristled at Yoon's remarks.



The Kremlin said providing military aid to Ukraine would mean "Seoul becoming involved in the conflict to a certain extent," while Russia's foreign ministry said the country will consider any weapons supplies to Ukraine as "an openly hostile anti-Russian move." (Yonhap)


NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A Louisiana energy company has reached a tentative $3.1 million settlement with the federal government over a 2017 Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

The agreement, called a consent decree, was filed in federal court in New Orleans on Wednesday following the filing of a lawsuit earlier in the day.

The settlement said the company does not admit to liability in connection with the leak of about 16,000 barrels (about 672,000 gallons or 2.5 million liters) of crude oil from a site about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Venice, Louisiana. The suit against Covington, Louisiana-based LLOG Exploration sought compensation for costs incurred by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in assessing the damage.

A December 2019 report by the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement attributed the oil spill to a failed connection device, known as a jumper, at an underwater well head. The leak of oil is believed to have begun on Oct. 11, 2017 and lasted at least 32 hours, according to the lawsuit. The leak wasn't detected for several hours, according to the report, which included recommendations that the industry improve leak detection methods.

The lawsuit doesn't detail any environmental damage. At the time of the spill in 2017, the Coast Guard said the leaked oil was not expected to reach the shore.

LLOG didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, sent via its website Wednesday. There will be a public comment period before the agreement is approved, according to court documents.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Prosecutors said Thursday they will dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film  Rust, but cautioned that their investigation is not over and the actor has not been absolved yet.

Special prosecutors Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis announced their decision to dismiss the felony charge after new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis, without giving further details. An involuntary manslaughter charge against Hannah Gutierrez Reed, weapons supervisor on the film, remains unchanged, they said.

We cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement, the prosecutors said in a statement. This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled. Our follow-up investigation will remain active and on-going.

Lawyers for Baldwin were first to announce that prosecutors were changing course, in a sharp turnaround for the Hollywood luminary who just a few months ago was confronting the possibility of a yearslong prison sentence.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident," defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.

When word of the dismissal came, Baldwin was at Yellowstone Film Ranch on the set of a rebooted Rust production. Preparations for filming were underway Thursday at its new location in Montana, 18 months after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins shut it down, a representative for Rust Movie Productions said.

Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally and he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled, however.

John Day, a Santa Fe-based criminal defense attorney who is not involved with the Rust case, highlighted the arrival of a new prosecution team in late March and suggested it may have been a factor in the decision to dismiss the charge.

This is very different from what the original prosecutor said, he noted. It does raise the question of initially the Santa Fe district attorney saying, 'Were holding Alec Baldwin responsible in part because of the role as CEO of the production and (that) it was a very sloppy production'  does this mean that the new prosecutors have a different point of view?

Gutierrez-Reeds attorneys said they fully expect her to be exonerated in the judicial process.

The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered, the lawyers, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion, said in a statement.

The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence was dismissed, and the first special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.

The A-list actor's 40-year career has included the early blockbuster The Hunt for Red October and a starring role in the sitcom 30 Rock, as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorseses The Departed and a film adaptation of David Mamets Glengarry Glen Ross. In recent years he was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live."

The 65-year-old has worked little since the shooting but hardly went into hiding. He stayed active on social media, making Instagram videos and posting podcast interviews and pictures of his wife and seven children.

Rust safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest in March to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months of probation.

Plans to resume filming were outlined last year by the cinematographer's widower, Matthew Hutchins, in a proposed settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit that would make him an executive producer. Souza has said he will return to directing Rust to honor the legacy of Halyna Hutchins.

Despite the settlement, attorneys for the Hutchins family said they welcomed the criminal charges against Baldwin when they were filed. They had no immediate comment on the pending dismissal Thursday.

After a scathing safety review by regulators in New Mexico that detailed ignored complaints and misfires before Hutchins' death in October 2021, the production company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Baldwin has not traveled to New Mexico to appear in court, which is not required of him under state law. Evidentiary hearings had been scheduled for next month to determine whether to proceed toward trial.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies had said previously that her office is pursuing justice in the death of Hutchins and wants to show no one is above the law when it comes to firearms and public safety. She says the Ukrainian-born cinematographers death was tragic and preventable.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.
Early voting for the Beaumont City Council and Beaumont ISD School Board elections will begin Monday.

For all registered Beaumont voters, the ballot will include the city mayor, two city council at-large positions and two Beaumont ISD at-large trustee positions. The ballot will also include city council Ward I and Ward III and school board District IV for those who live in the areas.

For the first time since 2017, voters will have the opportunity this year to vote on a Sunday during the municipal election.

The decision to bring back the Sunday voting was voted on by the city council and school board in early February.

More Information Early voting for other Southeast Texas municipal elections Port Arthur elections early voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 24-28 and May 1-2 at: Port Arthur City Hall, 444 4th St., 5th Floor

Port Arthur Public Library, 4615 9th Ave. Jasper elections early voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 24-28 and May 1-2 at: Jasper City Hall, 465 S Main St. Kountze elections early voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 24-May 2 at: Kountze City Hall Council Chambers, 1025 N Pine St. Silsbee elections early voting is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 24-25, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 26-28 and May 1-2 at: Silsbee City Hall, 1220 Texas 327 All municipal elections in Orange County have early voting is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 24-28 and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 1-2 at: Orange Public Library, 220 N 5th St.

Orange County Airport, 2640 Texas 87

Raymond Gould Community Center, 385 Claiborne St. See More Collapse

City Clerk Tina Broussard said Sunday voting was previously canceled due to lack of voter participation, according to previous Enterprise reporting.

RELATED: Sunday early voting now available for Beaumont's May election

Jefferson County Clerk Roxanne Acosta-Hellberg said that the hope is Sunday voting brings in more voters so they can continuing providing that day of service in the future.

"It does take a lot of staffing and it's taxing to our individuals that are working those early days before (election) day," Acosta-Hellberg said. "I'm hoping that individuals will take advantage of the early voting process and, of course, the weekends. If not, we're going to really have to consider continuing that practice."

In addition to re-launching Sunday voting, while conducting Beaumont's election, Jefferson County will be using its new voting machines that debuted during the November 2022 mid-term election.

"I'm hoping that people are a lot more comfortable after the first run," Acosta-Hellberg said. "I understand that new intimidating, it's something to get used to. I'm hoping that the time that we have taken and the opportunities that we have provided to the community were taken advantage of so that individuals are comfortable."

With the machines, when voters go to the polls during early voting and on Election Day, they will be given a paper ballot and use what is essentially an electronic pencil to make their selections.

"The leads at these locations are responsible and need to make sure that no one walks away, getting comfortable with that piece of paper, that you still need to process it through the scanner before you walk out of that facility, it's critical," Acosta-Hellberg said. "People need to know that. Do not walk out of the facility with anything other than your happy 'I voted sticker.'"

RELATED: Know before you go: Here's how to use Jefferson County's new voting machines

As far as voter turnout goes, Acosta-Hellberg said she hopes that after November, people will take advantage of the opportunity to express their interests in the best candidate.

In November, Jefferson County had 42.45% of registered voters vote, which is down from the 50.58% who took part during the 2018 midterm elections, according to the Jefferson County County Clerk Elections Department website.

"We had a decent turnout (in November)," Acosta-Hellberg said. "We still have a lot of room to grow and I'm hoping that encouraged individuals. Our offices has certainly done everything we can to make sure people are comfortable. We've been educating the judges, the clerks that are going to be working the election to make sure that they're doing their job, and those that have the eligibility to process our vote, are allowed to do so."

During the May 2021 Beaumont election, 15,975 out of 101,532 registered voters, or 15.73%, voted during the election. The number of registered voters for the election were up from the May 2019 Beaumont election but the ratio was lower. In 2019, there were 13,839 out of 72,486 registered voters, or 19.09% voted during the election.

Acosta-Hellberg said there are 68,367 registered voters for Beaumont City Council and 70,060 for Beaumont ISD for this year's election.

As of April 19, 466 mail-in ballots were received for the upcoming election.

Beaumont early voting locations include:

Rogers Park Community Center, 6540 Gladys Ave.

Jefferson County Courthouse lobby (main location), 1085 Pearl St.

John Paul Davis Community Center, 3580 E. Lucas Dr.

Theodore Johns Library meeting room, 4255 Fannett Rd.

All locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 24-29, 12 to 5 p.m. April 30, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 1-2.

Election day is on May 6.
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LAS VEGAS (AP)  The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is asking a court to force Las Vegas-area school officials to release information about a school police officer slamming a student to the ground and pinning him beneath his knee in February.

In a court filing Tuesday in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, the ACLU accused the Clark County School District of willfully failing to comply with state public records law following a Feb. 21 request for records about the Feb. 9 encounter near Durango High School.

The document seeks a court order for school administrators to turn over records including officer body camera video and incident reports, as well as to impose monetary penalties. A hearing was not immediately scheduled.

School officials have said they are investigating. They said Wednesday they don't comment about litigation.

The actions of the officer, Lt. Jason Elfberg, have drawn public protests and a call from the Las Vegas NAACP for his firing.

A student who said he was handcuffed by police for jaywalking outside the high school told KVVU-TV that the officer pinning his friend, who is Black, reminded him of the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, a Black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed him to the ground with his knee for nearly 10 minutes.

Elfbergs attorney, Adam Levine, told The Associated Press in February that he was confident the investigation will clear his client of allegations of wrongdoing.

Clark County School District police said the encounter unfolded while officers were investigating a report of a firearm near the 2,400-student campus in a suburban area southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. They have not released further information, including whether a weapon was found.

District police Chief Mike Blackeye said the officer seen on cellphone video with his knee on a teen was reassigned to other duties pending the outcome of the investigation. District Superintendent Jesus Jara said he wanted a complete review of the school police department use-of-force policy.

Some state lawmakers also have called for a policy review. The school district is the fifth largest in the U.S. with about 300,000 students. Its nearly 200 sworn police officers have authority to make arrests and issue traffic citations.

ACLU attorney Jacob Smith, in a statement announcing the court filing, called the records it seeks essential in our fight to adequately investigate this matter, represent our students, and uncover the full scope of these officers misconduct.

CCSD has offered nothing but legal pretenses to withhold information they are required by Nevada law to release," Smith said.
Editor's Note: This story contains brief descriptions of sexual violence.

A Port Arthur man has been indicted after sexually assaulting a child at least four times.

Jose De Jesus Castellanos Jr., 28, late last month was indicted by a Jefferson County Grand Jury on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The 13-year-old girl said she and Castellanos initially met on social media, before meeting in person at a friends house in Port Arthur on Jan. 6, according to court documents.

RELATED: Man indicted for allegedly sexually assaulting teenage girl he met on Snapchat

While she was there, Castellanos had sex with her before she went home and did not see him until Jan. 9, according to a police report.

At that time, the girl ran away from home to Castellanos' home in the 4100 block of Griffing Drive, where they had sex three more times, police said.

Police did not say how they became aware of the situation or when Castellanos was arrested.
Becker's has reported on four physician fraud cases totaling more than $427 million in the last two weeks:

A former physician and his ASC company were sentenced to seven years in prison and five years of probation, respectively, for a scheme to defraud private insurers and the Tricare program by submitting about $355 million in false claims related to the 1-800-GET-THIN Lap-Band surgery business. Alexander, Ark.-based physician Joe David May, MD, has pleaded guilty to 102 months in prison for his role in a $12 million scheme to defraud Tricare. Howard Jackson, DPM, who practiced in East St. Louis, Ill., pleaded guilty to a $144,694 healthcare fraud scheme. Bal Harbour, Fla.-based physician Drew Lieberman has forfeited his medical license after serving time for his role in a $60 million fraud scheme.
Tenet Healthcare, parent company of ASC chain United Surgical Partners International, and Optum, parent company of ASC chain SCA Health, are looking at different ASC growth strategies as the year comes to a close.

Optum and SCA Health

Optum is doubling down on value-based care, and SCA Health is expanding its focus to the larger care continuum, rather than just ASCs.

OptumHealth's 31 percent revenue-per-customer growth is attributed to the increasing number of patients served under value-based care, according to an Oct. 14 call with investors transcribed by The Motley Fool. OptumHealth is Optum's care delivery platform. The growth is also linked to an increasing focus on higher acuity ambulatory procedures.

The company, previously known as Surgical Care Affiliates, also rebranded to SCA Health in May, with intentions to expand beyond ASC management.

SCA Health CEO Caitlin Zulla told Becker's this rebranding represents the company's transition to "support physician specialists more holistically across the specialty care continuum," rather than an ASC company "singularly focused on partnering with surgeons in their ASCs."

"In addition to our continued ASC leadership, we've grown our business to support specialty practices, patient navigation, value-based care, anesthesia, ancillary services and more," she said.

More than two-thirds of Optum's revenue is derived from value-based care contracts, and that number is expected to grow, OptumHealth CEO Wyatt Decker, MD, said in the earnings call. The company's third-quarter revenue is up 17 percent from the same quarter last year, reaching $46.6 billion.

In the third quarter, Optum also made two major acquisitions. The company acquired Houston-based multispecialty physician group Kelsey-Seybold Clinic for around $2 billion and Healthcare Associates of Texas, a Dallas-based physician practice management company, for $300 million.

Tenet and USPI

USPI is the largest ASC chain in the country, both by market share and number of ASCs. The company added 122 ASCs in the last year, ending the third quarter with 440 ASCs and 24 surgical hospitals across 35 states.

USPI executives revealed the company is behind on its year-long growth plan in an Oct. 20 third quarter earnings call from Tenet, but USPI's mergers and acquisitions pipeline remains strong. The company still expects to deploy $250 million in acquisitions this year.

Like SCA Health, higher-acuity procedures are a point of focus. By the end of the third quarter, orthopedic and spine procedures made up 20 percent of USPl's total volume.

Tenet has been bolstering its ASC business to drive revenue in the last few years. The company has spent more than $2.5 billion in capital investment to scale USPI since December 2020 and expects to see 12 percent growth after acquiring interest in about 160 ASCs in less than two years.

USPI also aims to have 575 to 600 ASCs by the end of 2025.

In the second quarter, Tenet paid $406 million to acquire Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health's 5 percent equity position in USPI. In June, USPI and United Urology Group signed an official agreement to form a joint venture partnership in 22 ASCs.
China, Brunei to see more people-to-people exchanges this year: Chinese ambassador

Xinhua) 16:33, April 20, 2023

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A series of people-to-people exchange programs to enhance mutual understanding between China and Brunei will be arranged this year, Xiao Jianguo, Chinese ambassador to Brunei said here on Wednesday.

During a briefing with local media and think tanks, the ambassador said that people-to-people exchanges are the solid foundation of China-Brunei relations.

"People-to-people exchanges play an important role in promoting the development of bilateral relations. The friendly exchanges between China and Brunei have thousands of years of history."

Xiao said the two countries have conducted extensive cooperation in the fields of culture, education, sports, tourism, local governments and youths, and supported each other in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which further enhanced the traditional friendship and the social basis of public opinion.

More tourists from the two countries will visit each other for sightseeing and exchanges, which will inject new impetus to tourism, people-to-people exchanges and regional economic recovery, the ambassador added.

This year, a series of bilateral people-to-people exchange programs will include visits to China by Brunei media, officials and teachers, as well as cooperation between educational institutions of the two countries, Xiao explained.

About 50 people including local journalists, think tank researchers and government officials attended the briefing.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Jung Jae-nam, head of the narcotics division of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police, speaks about a crackdown on criminal groups involved in the smuggling of illicit drugs from the Philippines during a news conference held in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday. Yonhap



Experts say drug-related offenses are the dark figure of crime and data fails to reflect reality



By Kang Hyun-kyung



President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks during a town hall meeting in December last year sparked a debate about the rationale of local politicians who repeatedly use the inaccurate description that South Korea is "a country free from drug-related crimes."



"About 10 years ago or so, South Korea used to be a country free of drug-related crimes," he said during a meeting with 100 representatives from the public televised in real time. "But from a certain point of time, however, prosecutors were forced to pass on to the police investigations into the drug-related crimes. After that, the two law enforcement agencies stopped collaborating and their teamwork became ineffective."



He was referring to the realignment of jurisdiction in drug-related crimes and the abolishment of the division in charge of gangs and narcotics at the prosecution during the previous Moon Jae-in government. After the reform, the police took over most of the jurisdiction from the prosecution.



Yoon stressed that the possession, production, abuse and distribution of illicit drugs pose a grave threat to society and the government will not sit back idly.



Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon responded that he believes the rise of drug-related crimes can be controlled if the government launches an all-out effort to crack down on them.



The government then declared a war against illegal drugs.



Yoon is not the first politician to call South Korea a nation once free of drug crimes.



Before him, many other politicians and policymakers openly made similar remarks, pitching the nation as a safe country to travel and an exemplary country for others grappling with narcotics-related crimes.



Kim Hee-jun, an attorney at Seoul-based law firm, LKB & Partners, said prosecutors began to describe the nation as being safe from drug-related crimes since the successful crackdown in the 1990s on organized crime groups involved in distributing illicit drugs, including methamphetamine.



In the wake of then President Roh Tae-woo's declaration of war against crimes in October, 1990, the prosecutor-turned-lawyer said a drug investigation squad was established inside the prosecution.



"The special division was in charge of organized crime groups and their distribution of methamphetamine and they launched a nationwide crackdown on the criminals," Kim told The Korea Times. "The crackdown was quite successful. If the purge of drug gangs in the 1990s had not succeeded, South Korea would be very different now. You will know this, if you look at other countries grappling with organized crime. Transnational crime groups, such as the Yakuza and Mafia, have grown fast as their respective local law enforcement agencies failed to crack down on them and now they are out of control."



Elated by the successful crackdown, Kim said people in the prosecution began to use the expression that South Korea is free of drug-related crimes. Although inaccurate, he said, the phrase reflects their confidence that in South Korea, drug-related crimes are under control.





gettyimagesbank
The University Medical Center of El Paso in Texas has begun using Medtronic's artificial intelligence endoscopy module GI Genius.

GI Genius is used to improve adenoma detection rate during colonoscopies.

The hospital is the first in the region to use the technology, according to an April 17 news release from the University Medical Center of El Paso. The module will be used at the hospital's digestive health center.
The executive team of Tenet Healthcare, parent company of ASC chain United Surgical Partners International, took major pay cuts from 2021 to 2022, according to a proxy statement the Dallas-based company filed April 14.

Tenet reported a net operating revenue of $15 billion for the year and a net operating income of $410 million. The company is also is focusing on ASCs to fuel its growth  USPI's number of ASCs has grown by 116 percent since 2011.

Here's a breakdown of Tenet's top earners in 2022:

1. CEO Saum Sutaria, MD

Salary: $1,441,154

Bonus: $0

Stock awards: $6,847,258

Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $2,340,000

All other compensation: $418,716

Total: $11,047,128

2021 total: $21,153,672

2. CFO Dan Cancelmi

Salary: $740,178

Bonus: $0

Stock awards: $2,054,149

Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $780,000

All other compensation: $33,757

Total: $3,608,084

2021 total: $9,419,975

3. Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Tom Arnst

Salary: $639,712

Bonus: $181,500

Stock Awards: $1,369,445

Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $507,000

All other compensation: $152,893

Total: $2,850,550

2021 total: $3,670,332

4. EVP of Commercial Operations Lisa Foo

Salary: $630,385

Bonus: $150,000

Stock awards: $684,713

Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $507,000

All other compensation: $158,998

Total: $2,131,096

2021 total: Began role in 2022

5. Chief Information Officer Paola Arbour

Salary: $540,192

Bonus: $0

Stock Awards: $684,713

Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $363,000

All other compensation: $119,171

Total: $1,707,076

2021 total: $2,923,466
Patients are struggling to get their dental records from a practice that recently closed after the owner dentist was arrested, NBC affiliate 9News reported April 20.

James Craig, DDS, was arrested in March and charged with first degree murder in the death of his wife. His practice, Summerbrook Dental Group in Aurora, Colo., has been permanently closed. Patients are now looking to get ahold of their dental records so they can continue treatment with other dentists but have been unable to get ahold of anyone from the practice.

Several patients spoke with the news station about their struggle, including one who previously paid the practice $40,000 for dental implants but was unable to receive them before Dr. Craig was arrested. She has been unable to get her money or records from the practice and was charged another $22,000 to receive implants at another practice.

Philip Bluestein, an attorney with Rocky Mountain Healthcare Law, told the news station that one option is to contact Dr. Craig's attorney. Patients can also file a complaint with the Colorado Dental Board.
From employee insider breaches to an anonymous call informing a health system of a data breach, here are the health systems that have been affected by a cybersecurity or data breach incident since Feb. 28:

Editor's note: This article was updated on April 20 and will continue to be updated.

April 20:

An error led to some patient information from John Muir Health Walnut Creek (Calif.) Medical to have been accessed by an unauthorized party.





Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care; Pleasanton, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Medicine Children's Health, Castro Valley, Calif.-based Stanford Medicine Partners were affected by data breach at their behavioral and mental health service provider Brightline.





Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System notified 15,246 patients that some of their personal health information may have been compromised due to a technical error that caused letters to be mailed to incorrect addresses.





Knoxville, Tenn.-based Tennova Healthcare said it was affected by a third-party data breach that hit its parent company Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems.





Birmingham, Ala.-based Grandview Medical Center; Huntsville, Ala.-based Crestwood Medical Center; Dothan, Ala.-based Flowers Hospital; Gadsden (Ala.) Regional Medical Center; Medical Center Enterprise (Ala.); and Foley, Ala.-based South Baldwin Regional Medical Center was affected by a third-party data breach that hit its parent company Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems.





Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health said many of its current and former Catholic Health Initiatives, Centura Health and MercyOne facilities were affected by last year's ransomware attack on the health system.

March 20:

A woman alleges that a contract employee from Martinez, Calif.-based Contra Costa Regional Medical Center gained access to her medical records and posted them to a Facebook account.



UC San Diego Health's technology vendor Solv Health transmitted patients' confidential information to third-party service providers.



South Bend, Ind.-based Beacon Health System notified 3,117 patients that some of their personal information may have been accessed by an unauthorized employee who viewed patient records outside the scope of their job duties.
Athenahealth is rolling out a new tool that can give providers insights into how their patients are using digital technologies when receiving care.

The tool, dubbed the Patient Digital Engagement Index, aims to help healthcare organizations measure and make improvements to their digital technologies to better meet their patients' needs, according to an April 20 press release from Athenahealth.

Currently, the tool is available on limited release, but will roll out to all Athenahealth customers by the end of 2023.
Aurora-based Children's Hospital Colorado combines innovation and emotion in a new ad campaign, telling the story of a baby "born twice," Little Black Book reported.

The hospital aims to convey its "here, it's different" brand promise by highlighting its expertise and humanity, according to the April 19 story.

One ad relays the story of a surgical team that removed a 23-week fetus from the womb, repaired a rare condition and then returned the fetus to the mother's womb, the news outlet reported. The video features snippets of conversations between the parent and physicians while a cover version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star plays.

"From the first time a mother sees her baby on the monitor, to seeing movement, to the uncertainty and then reassurance from the doctors  is powerful," Little Black Book noted.

Ad agency Fig led the campaign, which is being shown in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho across online, print, audio, social and display mediums, the website reported.
Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health is evaluating services at Elizabethton, Tenn.-based Sycamore Shoals Hospital for possible consolidation, local news outlet WJHL reported April 20.

Ballad told WJHL that financial challenges and staffing shortages play a role in the evaluation.

The health system takes hospital volume and access to care into account when considering consolidation.

Previously, the health system has consolidated two hospitals in Greenville and Wise County, Va., along with various services across the region.

"In every instance where Ballad Health has consolidated a service or hospital, the evidence has demonstrated an improvement in the quality of care, the hospital has flourished and access to care has not been negatively impacted," a Ballad spokesperson told WJHL.
Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson, Iowa, announced Amanda Lass, BSN, RN, as its new chief nursing officer in an April 18 news release.

She joins the facility from Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, Iowa, where she was previously the medical telemetry director and helped lower the facility's nursing turnover rate.

As Greene County Medical Center's new chief nursing officer, Ms. Lass will be charged with overseeing and improving patient outcomes as well as patient experience.

Ms. Lass will assume the role beginning June 26.
UW Health has developed one of the nation's first registered nurse apprenticeship programs to expand Wisconsin's pipeline of future nurses, the health system said April 20.

The system is partnering with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and Madison College on the four-year program. Through the apprenticeship, students will complete two years of prerequisite coursework and two years of core nursing courses overseen by Madison College's faculty to receive their associate's degree.

Students will also work as nursing assistants at UW Health for the first two years of the program and as student nurses for the second two years. After graduation, nurses will join the health system in a nursing role, pending the results of their licensing exam.

UW Health said it plans to hire two nurse educators who will oversee on-the-job training and clinical competency requirements for nurse apprentices. The health system will also offer financial support for tuition, books and supplies, and full-time salary and benefits for apprentices.

"By providing the resources many need to become nurses, we are breaking down barriers historically underserved populations face when pursuing careers such as nursing, and ultimately diversifying the nursing workforce, which also benefits our patients," Alan Kaplan, MD, CEO of UW Health, said in a news release.

The application and testing process for the first nurse apprenticeship cohort is launching this spring, and UW Health plans to accept 16 current employees. Future cohorts will include new employees, the system said.
Iowa City-based University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has opened a new 30-room unit for short-stay patients as the system continues to deal with stressful crowding and capacity issues, The Gazette reported April 19.

As increasing numbers of patients visit the emergency room, capacity at the UIHC system has been constrained, exacerbated by an average of 96 percent occupancy in its 627 staffed beds, the report said.

The short-stay unit, which was opened April 17, is designed to free up limited patient beds for sicker patients and is available to people requiring further study to see if they should be released or admitted, recovering surgery patients, and those arriving in the ER who need observation, according to the report.

UIHC is considering several major new capital projects to address capacity constraints in the long term, including a $621 million, 842,000-square-foot patient tower.

Editor's Note: This article originally listed UIHC as based in Ames, Iowa. This has now been updated to reflect the correct headquarters of the system as Iowa City.


By Gwynne Dyer



It's a pity that both sides can't lose in the war that broke out between rival generals in Sudan on Saturday. The best that the 48 million Sudanese can hope for now is that one side loses quickly. Beyond that, it's all bad: The rival generals both want to strangle the democratic revolution that began in the streets of Khartoum four years ago.



It was a long overdue revolution. The previous military dictator, Omar al-Bashir, was in power for 30 years, waging constant wars against minority groups and handing huge chunks of the economy over to military interests while civilian living standards stagnated.



Bashir overthrew the elected government in 1989 for negotiating with separatist rebels in the south, but he himself, ended up having to let South Sudan go.



He created the Janjaweed, an ethnic militia, to destroy rebels in the western province of Darfur, and wound up indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide. He stole at least $9 billion.



The revolution that overthrew him in 2019 was a spontaneous popular uprising driven by idealistic students and the exhausted commercial and professional classes of Khartoum. The military dumped Bashir and jailed him for corruption, but they also forced the rebels to join a "Transitional Military Council" (TMC) with them.



Jailing Bashir kept him out of the hands of the ICC, whose investigators might link other generals to his crimes. The TMC deal forced the democratic movement to accept a two-year delay before free elections. But the Sudanese generals were really waiting for billions in help to arrive from other nervous dictatorships in the region like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.



By 2021, $3 billion of financial aid from Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia had duly arrived, and the senior military officer on the TMC pulled the plug on "power-sharing" with the civilians. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared on TV that the military would "stop negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change and cancel what had been agreed on."



Burhan had to kill a lot of civilians to make them accept this betrayal, of course, and he worried that his own soldiers, who had been fraternizing with civilians on the streets for the previous two years, might refuse to massacre them. He solved that problem by bringing the Janjaweed to town, now renamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).



The commander of the RSF, "General" Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemeti, was already a power in the land second only to Burhan. The RSF is essentially Hemeti's own private army, and killing a few hundred people on the streets of Khartoum was no big deal to a man who slaughtered tens of thousands in Darfur, so he was happy to help.



The coup succeeded in derailing the plans for free elections and a handover to civilian rule. Many civilians were killed and the key trade unions and professional groups that had organized the big protests were dissolved, although smaller protests and barricades keep appearing and disappearing again in Khartoum.



Burhan, the chief thief, and Hemeti, now No.2 in the regime as a reward for his help in the 2021 coup, should have been able to cooperate in some lying promise about an election in a few years and renege on it later. Amazingly, they couldn't even manage that.



Burhan has already had decades to make his pile, while Hemeti, despite all his gold mines in Darfur, feels he is just getting started. So Burhan's plan to "integrate" the RSF into the army within two years (which would destroy Hemeti's power base) was completely unacceptable to the assistant thief. He wanted ten years  so the thieves fell out.



The fighting is happening all over the country because both the army and the RSF are everywhere. At the time of writing, it's hard to tell which side will win, but it's also hard to care. Both men have a lot of Sudanese blood on their hands, and neither has the skill to run even a dictatorship efficiently.



The one thing we can say with confidence at this point is that it is not an "African" problem. Civilian rule has taken a beating in the Sahel belt of Africa recently, but democracy, however imperfect, is still a reality or a live prospect in most of sub-Saharan Africa.



The Sudanese, or at least the dominant ethnic groups there, still see the country as part of the Arab world  and in that context what is happening in Sudan is not at all surprising.



There are no democracies in the Arab world and military or monarchical tyrannies are the norm. Moreover, they collaborate to maintain the status quo. Move along, please. There's nothing new to see here.





Gwynne Dyer's new book is "The Shortest History of War." He can be reached at gwynne763121476@aol.com.


If young people want jobs that artificial intelligence can't snatch away, they should look to healthcare, Fortune reported April 18.

The publication reported a recent Bloomberg survey that asked 678 investors about the future of work.

Nearly 40 percent of respondents said Generation Alpha, which is currently in elementary school, should consider healthcare if they want an "A.I.-proof" job. For graduating seniors, investors suggested tech careers first, but healthcare was the second most popular response.

Although AI will surely be used to support the healthcare industry, most experts  including ChatGPT itself  agree that it can't replace a human medical professional.

"As a language model, ChatGPT is not capable of replacing human healthcare professionals," ChatGPT told David Asch, MD, senior vice dean of the University of Pennsylvania's medical school in Philadelphia. "Human healthcare professionals have a deep understanding of the nuances of healthcare and the emotional and social context of their patients, and this is something that ChatGPT can't replicate."
US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland points to tech firm in north west and stresses need for political stability

The US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland has rejected claims that Londonderry has been neglected as a location for investment by major companies.

Joe Kennedy III, who has been charged by President Joe Biden with bringing more investment to Northern Ireland from America, feels his job would be easier if Stormont was up and running.

After accompanying President Biden during his visit to Belfast last week, Mr Kennedy has spent time visiting businesses here to discuss possible opportunities.

In a speech at Queens Universitys Belfast Agreement 25 event yesterday, he said stability and certainty were crucial to prosperity.

Following this, Mr Kennedy was pressed on a perceived lack of investment in Derry and the north west.

However, the former Massachusetts congressman pointed to investment by US company and hard drive manufacturer Seagate, which has a major operation in Derry.

Contrary to what some people might think, Derry is home to Seagate, he said.

A third of all the computers in the world use pieces manufactured from Seagate, and more than half of those pieces come from a factory in Northern Ireland. This is a critical component to literally the lifeblood of our commerce today  and thats in Derry.

So the idea that, somehow, parts of Northern Ireland have major economic challenges and nobody would think of investing [there], one of the worlds leading technology firms has a $1bn-plus factory in Derry.

Mr Kennedy was also asked if the stability and certainty he mentioned in his speech was a reference to a united Ireland or Stormont, but said he hadnt given the idea of a united Ireland any consideration.

This is about businesses liking clarity when it comes to governance, he answered.

Youve heard repeatedly in the course of this week that for major business leaders, if theyre going to talk about making investments of thousands of employees, hundreds of millions of dollars, being able to meet with heads of state, Executives, leader of governmentif you have somebody that is considering or would consider major investments in a new place, having functioning government is helpful.

Mr Kennedy said the sooner that the institutions were back up and running the better as the Executive needed time to understand the mechanisms of the Windsor Framework.

He added that he did not have concrete proposals to present to the media and wanted investment to be spread around people of all levels of education.

Its about trying to make sure those investments are not just about increasing jobs for university graduates, but are also about ensuring that folks who might not have a college or graduate degree have a contribution to make to a community and an economy and can get pulled into myriad other opportunities to provide for their families.

A grandson of murdered senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy, he outlined that a company could still opt to set up here even though the main rate of corporate tax of 25% is double that in the Republic.

He outlined that there are 232 American firms here and said the Republic had drawn bigger companies partly because its population was three times the size of NI, as well as other reasons, particularly with the Windsor Framework, that can be advantageous to companies in a way that other regulatory frameworks are not.

He said New York had a higher rate of business tax than Mississippi, but companies still flocked to New York.

Mr Kennedy added that he had dined with investors during his visit to Northern Ireland.

I think there is an opportunity for some of those companies that are based in the Republic of Ireland to also have a look up north.

Mr Kennedy is currently in talks with US businesses about setting up here, but he would not give names.

Im not willing to share that with you yet. But, yes, they are. Theyre in a broad variety of sectors, he said.

Mr Kennedy had arrived in Northern Ireland for meetings for the first time last week following his appointment in December.

Theres no substitute for being on the ground here and being able to have conversations face to face.

I appreciate the desire for immediate action and answers. There is complexity here.

Im thrilled to be able to be here and engage in some of those conversations. What I have picked up is that there is recognition of the potential for Northern Ireland.

There is still some uncertainty, but take the uncertainty away and the case gets even stronger.

Theres an opportunity now, on the heels of the presidential visit and on the heels of some of the conversations that have taken place here in the last couple of days, to make that case pretty persuasive.

He added that not all investment decisions rested on the Windsor Framework.

Yes, the Windsor Framework helps, but there are other companies for whom the other assets of Northern Ireland are making a compelling investment thesis.

That being said, no matter the industry, no matter the company, having clarity about whos running the government, that will help when thats finally made to happen.

He added that he was proud to be part of the Kennedy family, which has suffered a series of tragedies and sudden deaths over the decades.

There are challenges that can also come with that as well, he said.

By far the biggest benefit is, no matter the ups and downs and highs and lows  and weve had a number of both  you have a family that is there with you and for you.

Having that stability and having that sense of no matter what happens theres going to be people there that will celebrate the good times and pick you up and dust you off.

And I think thats more than any highlight or success or anything else.
The BBC has announced that hit Belfast-based drama Blue Lights produced will return for a second series.

Blue Lights launched on BBC One and BBC iPlayer last month to five-star reviews.

The show is directed by Gilles Bannier and was co-created and written by former journalists Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson.

Announcing the new series, Mr Lawn tweeted: Blue Lights has been recommissioned for a second series. Thanks to everyone who watched it and for all the incredible support for the show. Well be back on @BBCOnein 2024. Until then - take a beat! #bluelights.

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Among those set to reprise their roles in the second series are Sian Brooke, Martin McCann, Katherine Devlin, Nathan Braniff, Joanne Crawford, Andi Osho, and Hannah McClean.

Series one follows three new PSNI probationary recruits as they navigate their way through their first few months in a uniquely dangerous place to be a response police officer.

Blue Lights is an authentic, gripping and darkly funny drama about ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.

Early figures for Blue Lights continue to climb with the first episode currently averaging 6.4 million.

The series has grown its young audience week-on-week on BBC iPlayer and is the third most requested programme since release among all individuals and 16-34s.

Stephen Wright, executive producer of Blue Lights and creative director and joint CEO of Two Cities TV, said: We are thrilled by the audience response to the show. Belfast is a vibrant, dynamic and complex place and we have a wealth of stories yet to come from our characters. We cant wait to bring these to the fans.

Lindsay Salt, director of drama at BBC, added: Blue Lights has been a breakout hit and so many of our viewers have taken the rookies to their hearts which is down to the fantastic cast and Declan and Adams vision.

"We cant wait to have it back on BBC One and iPlayer for a second series.

Filming on series two will begin this summer in Belfast and further casting will be announced in due course.

Speaking previously about how his life experiences have influenced his writing, Adam told how his prison officer father kep a gun under a pillow on the couch in case he was ever targeted during the Troubles.

As well as writing Blue Lights, both Adam and Declan have built a stellar reputation following their other critically-acclaimed shows, The Salisbury Poisonings and Rogue Agent.

The duo met in 2009 while making documentaries for Panorama before swapping their careers as journalists reporting on stories to scripted thrillers.

Adam said: We learnt a lot about the world at a young age and a lot of it was subconscious.

I dont think its accidental that Dec and I found our vocations because we felt the need to further interrogate the world through journalism and now through drama.
It was lockdown that prompted Jenny Ireland to put pen to paper and begin writing what would become her debut novel.

The First Move centres around teenager Juliet and her friends  and all is not rosy. Though, on the surface, everyone is living their best lives, Juliet, who has arthritis, exists at the edges of her pals social lives, preferring to play online chess. Under a pseudonym, she is not the girl looking for attention or the one with crutches.

Then theres new boy Ronan, plagued with guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. The boy with the brother is also a chess fan, enjoying its anonymity and chance to escape.

Though Juliet and Ronan feel theyve got nothing in common, they do. In fact, theyve met each other online

Having written the first 1,000 words, author Jenny applied for Penguins WriteNow programme, which seeks out new writing from under-represented communities.

I got chosen for the longlist, then the shortlist, then by November they told me Id got a place, explains Jenny.

Youre matched up with an editor and work with them for a year.

Id finished the draft by November because I knew if I didnt get on the programme, Id be really annoyed and I probably wouldnt finish it.

Jenny didnt want to write a book about disability but, given that she also has arthritis, said it felt natural for protagonist Juliet to share her condition.

What I wanted to do was [to create] a love story between two people who both have a lot of problems; its just that one of them has arthritis.

But I love people, so the characters always come first for me and then its a matter of organising plot.

I struggle with it [arthritis], of course I do, but I was thinking how much worse it would be as a teenager, continues Jenny, who was diagnosed at 23.

Being a teenager is hard enough. And any teenager going into school with something extra or something different is a hero, because it must be so difficult.

It is part of my life, but it doesnt define me. I wanted to make that point with her [Juliet] as well. By the end, she realises that it doesnt define her either.

The First Move by Jenny Ireland

As with much Young Adult (YA) literature, the secondary characters are useful in both adding context to the story and spurring the plot onwards.

I really wanted to show that everybody has something going on behind the scenes. Everybody is putting on a front to some extent, she explains.

[Juliets friends] Tara has her own problems, and Michael to some extent. Everyone has their own stuff going on; Juliets is just more visible.

An estimated 16,000 young people live with arthritis in the UK and for Jenny this representation in literature is important.

Id love my kids to grow up reading books with their peers and having disabilities and things. Thats just real life, she says.

Diversity is so important in books, because that is life now. I do think about my kids growing up when Im writing these things and what Id like them to be reading and what I would have liked to have read at that stage. Everybody is dealing with something.

The First Move touches on big topics including grief and addiction and its local angle really adds to reader enjoyment.

Theres so much great writing coming from Northern Ireland and its lovely to see. I love Northern Ireland; I went away to university and I was happy to [come] back after.

The law and French graduate underwent emergency brain surgery in May 2019, a period that she says feels like it happened to somebody else.

I got a virus and it turned into inflammation in my brain and two surgeries and five weeks later in hospital. At the time, Id say it was worse for my family, but the recovery it was a year and a half before I felt myself again.

A year on, the world was hit with Covid-19. However, she says she can take a load of silver linings from her experiences.

It gave me proper clarity about what I want to do with life. I woke up in the hospital thinking about stories and I was dying to get back to writing. That showed me how much I loved it, she says.

It wasnt until I had kids that I started writing. I think I went mad from the sleep deprivation and began writing weird little stories. But then I got absolutely hooked. It was the first thing I properly loved doing, so I didnt mind putting in the work to get better. I would love it to become a career. Fingers crossed. Im going to keep writing and see where it goes.

Is YA where her heart lies?

Yes, I love YA. Its just all these feelings: youre on top of the world one minute and the next youre at rock bottom. I dont think you get it to that extent with any other age group.

The First Move (Puffin, 8.99) is out now
Maxine Carr, whose partner Ian Huntley (left) murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was given a new identity and granted a lifelong anonymity order after serving a jail sentence for perverting the course of justice

Child killers Jon Venables (left) and Robert Thompson were given new identities which cannot be revealed after they served sentences for killing toddler James Bulger

The man in his 30s was jailed after he was caught engaging in online sexual conversations with what turned out to be undercover police officers posing as 12-year-old girls (Stock pic: Getty).   Getty Images/iStockphoto

A second convicted paedophile in Northern Ireland has been granted lifetime anonymity after threatening to kill himself if his identity was published.

The accused, a man in his 30s who was today jailed for 16 months at Antrim Crown Court, remained under an interim reporting ban from his first appearance after it was contended he would take his own life if his name was reported in connection with the charges.

He was caught engaging in online sexual conversations with what turned out to be undercover police officers posing as 12-year-old girls and he invited the decoys to send him naked photos.

Until recently there were just seven life-time anonymity orders throughout the entire United Kingdom  all of which were imposed due to identified third party risk to life.

They include Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who as children murdered Liverpool toddler James Bulger. On release from prison they were given new identities which cannot be reported.

Child killers Jon Venables (left) and Robert Thompson were given new identities which cannot be revealed after they served sentences for killing toddler James Bulger

Another killer, Mary Bell who tortured and murdered two boys in 1968 when she was aged 10, was granted lifetime anonymity when given a new identity on release.

Maxine Carr, jailed for lying to protect her partner Ian Huntley who murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was also given a new identity which cannot be reported.

Maxine Carr, whose partner Ian Huntley (left) murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was given a new identity and granted a lifelong anonymity order after serving a jail sentence for perverting the course of justice

Also protected are the so-called Snapchat Killers, who as schoolgirls aged 13 and 14, were convicted of murdering a vulnerable woman in her Hartlepool home in 2016. While they remained under 18 their identities were protected by restrictions applicable for any youth offender, but when the pair both reached adulthood a court banned their identities from publication for life.

In February 2022, a judge in Newry Crown Court ruled in favour of Press by lifting a Reporting Restriction Order on a convicted paedophile, but swiftly re-imposed it when he threatened to kill himself.

At a substantive hearing a few days later the judge made the ban on reporting the child abusers identity permanent.

In the latest case, the defendant admitted attempting to communicate sexually with two female children on dates between November 2021 and January 2022.

He was in fact engaging online with undercover officers in Yorkshire and Humber Police acting as decoys, both presenting as 12-year-olds.

The court heard the conversations, were sexual in nature, including sending naked pictures of his private area and encouraging receipt of same.

The evidence gathered was passed to the PSNI and when arrested the defendant insisted he knew the profiles were decoys and he was trying to catch them out in a lie.

When asked why he didnt report this to police he contended it was the thrill of catching them out.

This was rejected by the judge, who described the response as disquieting.

Jailing the defendant for 16 months, to be served six months in custody and the remainder on licence the judge held this to be, proportionate and commensurate with the gravity of offending.

The judge said: While it is true these were decoys, his intention was to be engaged with 12-year-old girls.

Offending took place over the course of some 50 days and entailed him sending a naked picture of himself and inviting (the decoys) to send naked pictures of themselves to him.

Press submissions against the reporting restriction set out how the defendant initially contended he was not concerned for himself but the impact on his family, which would not justify an identity ban.

Among the other points raised was if the offender was sent to jail there would be a support scheme  the Supporting Prisoners At Risk (SPAR) scheme  to prevent vulnerable inmates from self-harming.

However, the judge ruled the order would remain permanent, making the defendant the second convicted paedophile across the entire UK to be granted lifetime anonymity having threatened to self-harm.

When approached, the Office of the Lady Chief Justice said it was not in a position to comment.
An Ahoghill family has spoken of their anguish after their beloved dog Poppy died in a suspected poisoning incident.

In a social media post on Monday, owner Gemma Houston explained how their dog of a lifetime suddenly became ill and died. They later found that her death had been caused by poisoning with a toxin of some kind.

She said after spending the day explaining to their four and five-year-old sons that they had to say goodbye to their best friend and watching our girl go through a terrible end, we began searching for anything she couldve got into at home that could explain this.

The tears in our house this week have not stopped, she added.

The family could find nothing in their home, but with the help of a Facebook post discovered that someone had been leaving suspected poisoned bait in a lane popular with local dog walkers. They had often walked Poppy in the area.

After looking at what was left we have no doubt it is what Poppy ate as she was vomiting the same meat on the morning she died, she said.

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Ms Houston said the family had removed the bait that was left but that they had no idea if there was any more on the lane, and warned other pet owners to be careful.

She also made a plea to the person responsible for the poisonings to stop, and to be aware of how they could be harming much-loved family pets.

She said: I understand that sheep and lambs need to be protected from predators but what we watched our dog go through was beyond inhumane and to do that to any wild animal is horrific let alone to someones pets.

Small children also walk this road regularly.

This has taken a huge toll on our family, a vet bill is the least of the impact it has had on us, she continued.

One of their cats has also gone missing, and the family fears she may have eaten some of the bait as well.

One of our beautiful cats Yoda has also been missing since the same day and we now suspect the worst. The thought of her suffering the same fate as Poppy somewhere alone without the mercy of medication or euthanasia is hard to even think about.

There is nothing that can repair what has been done to our pets through this carelessness but we just want to avoid it happening to anyone else by raising awareness!

All we want is for this not to happen to any more animals.
Alan Black feels nothing after death of man also held liable for Omagh bomb

The only survivor of the Kingsmill massacre has said that Colm Murphy  who was suspected of being one of the IRA gunmen  will now meet the ultimate judge.
Former UTV political editor has been undergoing treatment for cancer

Former UTV political editor Ken Reid has told how an unexpected phone call from Senator George Mitchell has given him the perfect lift after a difficult few weeks.

The man who chaired the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement was back in Northern Ireland this week for the Queens University Agreement 25 conference, but has now returned to the US.

Before flying out on Thursday morning, he spent a few moments chatting to Mr Reid. Both men have been undergoing treatment for leukaemia in the last few years after they were diagnosed in 2020.

Senator Mitchell refused to allow his treatment to prevent him returning to Northern Ireland and he has been involved in the events hosted by Queens University, where he served as chancellor for 10 years between 1999 and 2009.

George Mitchell hopes to be well enough to return to Northern Ireland

Mr Reid, who was in hospital last week after suffering an infection and had further tests today, said: We have been friends since the days before the Good Friday Agreement, but it was such an uplifting call to take from a man who has had plenty of demands on his time these past few days.

While they have shared many conversations over the years, the main topic this time wasnt about their treatments for cancer, it was something that most people from Northern Ireland will understand.

Mr Reid added: We do have a certain problem that we share, but we talked about the weather!

He said that when he left Miami the weather was terrible and arrived here to sunshine. Im not sure if he was looking forward to going home. I think he rather fancied spending a day or two more here in the sunshine.

It has been a rough few weeks for me and I wouldve loved to have been more involved in all that was going on around Queens University these last few days. I was disappointed not to be there for the three days.

But I listened to the speech George Mitchell gave on Monday and it really raised my spirits. Thats when I decided I had to be there at some point, so I made it along to the media event on Tuesday night.

Senator Mitchells speech in the Whitla Hall called on the people of Northern Ireland not to give up on their belief that the future could be better.

He also urged current political leaders to act with the courage and wisdom that their predecessors had done. His recollection of the talks process and his time in Northern Ireland looked back on how he often considered giving up on the process, but stuck with it, and in the end helped the parties reach agreement.

George Mitchell speaking during the three-day international conference at Queen's University Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Picture date: Niall Carson/PA Wire   PA

Senator Mitchell also said he holds out hope that he will be able return to Northern Ireland with his children.

The last words he said to me were, well meet again, Mr Reid said. And I certainly hope we do.

Senator Mitchell described his trip here as "very meaningful and emotional" and that he and his family had come to love Northern Ireland and its people.

"I don't know if this is my last trip or not to be perfectly frank, I don't know what's going to happen," he said.

"The doctors have told me that I might go for a period of time without a resumption of cancer and die from something else, I'm going to be 90 in a couple of months.

"On the other hand, he said the cancer might come back in a few months and you'll have to go back into chemotherapy. So I live every day thanking God that I'm still here and still around, and, for me, it's wonderful to be able to come back.

"I've seen many old friends that I had not seen for a very long time, renewed acquaintances.

"Things take on a different context and a different meaning when you reach the stage of life that I have reached, and I enjoy what we would think of as routine things more than I appreciated and did before.

"My children love Northern Ireland on the occasions that they came and I hope very much I can come back again, not at any conference, but just as a visitor, as I had often, and have my children come with me, but I can't be sure of that.
Focus should be on post-Brexit issues instead of increasing taxes, says DUP

A DUP MLA has accused the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) of blackmail after officials proposed revenue raising measures such as water charges and bringing back prescription charges to bail the region out of a financial black hole.

It comes after a leaked paper estimated that the failure of Stormont to charge for services that also include domiciliary care and transport for the over-60s is resulting in a loss of 700m a year.

UK Government officials have advised the Secretary of State that higher university tuition fees should also be a focus of future budgets.

But the DUPs finance spokesman Gordon Lyons said officials should focus on dealing with post-Brexit arrangements instead of increasing taxes.

The NIO must realise that its getting the foundations right, supported by unionists as well as nationalists, rather than blackmail that will restore Stormont, he said. Working families pay enough tax.

Lets remember Treasury has confirmed that the Trader Support Service which helps companies deal with NI Protocol-generated paperwork has cost the taxpayer 300m in just two years.

DUP MLA Gordon Lyons (Brian Lawless/PA)   Brian Lawless

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw has warned that there could be unintended consequences if changes to the budget are implemented.

The reason this is a devolved matter is so that decisions can be scrutinised and the impact of changes assessed in consultation with various groups including pharmacists, she said.

This is why the Alliance Party is so keen to get Stormont back up and running.

We recognise the financial situation means the budget is extremely tight, but parties need to come together and see how we can best deliver services.

The South Belfast representative accepted the fiscal outlook at Stormont is dire, but insisted decisions should not be made in isolation without proper consultation. The impact of short-term decisions could have long-term consequences, Ms Bradshaw said.

In November last year, Chris Heaton-Harris united all five of the main political parties in opposition to his threat to impose water charges if the Executive is not restored.

The leaked report highlights that savings can also be made through workforce efficiencies in the civil service, which has already been forced to cut in-year costs to address Stormonts 600m shortfall.

With a 300m advance down-payment on the block grant now needing to be recouped by Treasury, the financial forecast is even more bleak.

The SDLPs Stormont group leader described the proposals as one of the stark consequences of the failure to restore power-sharing but did not rule out prescription charges for some.

Matthew OToole said there is a huge opportunity to create a fairer society as he acknowledged that any future Executive will need to raise cash.

That will involve, for example, looking again at prescription charges for those able to afford them and with robust exemptions for people with long-term conditions, Mr Toole added.

Sinn Fein MLA Caoimhe Archibald branded the proposals regressive as she called for the DUP to end its boycott of Stormont.

Attempts to introduce prescription charges and water charges, while scrapping free bus and train travel and making tuition fees unaffordable for many, are rejected by Sinn Fein and should be rejected by all parties, she added.

The fact we have many of these protections in place has been due to the work of the Assembly and the Executive in the past to prevent the introduction of such regressive proposals.

Ms Archibald said former finance minister Conor Murphy previously took forward work to devolve taxation powers to ensure Stormont has the power to set progressive taxation on wealth instead of following a discredited Tory model.


Excessive belt tightening hurts economy during slump



A year ago, President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol's transition team lamented the country's fiscal condition after examining it. "The shed is empty," they said.



The right-wing leader accused his left-of-center predecessor, Moon Jae-in, of causing the government's debt to swell by implementing populist policies. He then stressed the need for belt-tightening measures by applying strict fiscal rules.



Yoon recently repeated his calls to pass a related law, criticizing Moon once again.



The chief executive did not say how he intends to keep his campaign promise of forking out 50 trillion won ($38 billion) from the state coffers to help COVID-19-hit businesses. The money came from the excess tax revenue of 53 trillion won  a result of Moon's bold stimulus spending during the pandemic.



Many fiscal experts, both in Korea and abroad, say Moon should have spent far more. They cite Korea's low level of public debt, which hovers below 60 percent of its GDP, compared to more than 100 percent in many developed countries. Korea had far greater financial resources than other nations, but coped with Covid-19 too passively, fiscal doves say in unison.



Still, few can deny the need for a fiscal rule. About 100 countries have fiscal rules in various forms. Korea and Turkey are the only two member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that currently do not have one.



Korea's public debt is now increasing at one of the fastest rates worldwide. Moreover, its demographic crisis, marked by a low birthrate and rapidly-aging population, requires deep pockets for the future.



However, as the excess tax revenue anecdote shows, stringency should neither be the cure-all nor the only tool in fiscal operation. Cambridge University professor Chang Ha-joon says that belt-tightening in difficult economic times is a foolish thing. Now is such a time. The International Monetary Fund revised down Korea's 2023 growth rate forecast four times in a row, while upping its projection of global economic growth. Korea's current-account balance has been mired in a deficit amid faltering exports.



Worse yet, the Yoon administration has adopted a policy of tax cuts for the rich. It offered huge tax benefits for semiconductor companies to help them compete in global markets. However, Koreans have a hard time recalling the last time Samsung Electronics and SK hynix invested in local plants and hired employees here on a big scale. Instead, the chipmakers moved their factories to America and were discriminated against by the U.S. government. Yet, helping strategic industries is excusable compared to cutting property taxes to boost the economy by stirring up a real estate boom.



The tax revenue loss in January and February has reached 15 billion won, the largest ever for the first two months of a year. The combination of fiscal austerity and a tax deficit leads to either more debt to finance essential spending or tightened purse strings. Many young Koreans are now undergoing extreme difficulties, partly evidenced by the massive housing lease fraud phenomenon. The government should be able to rescue victims by guaranteeing the return of their deposits by implementing bold fiscal initiatives. Yoon says tightening the belt helps future generations. If youngsters in the current generation languish, will their children flourish?



The president said he would place fiscal focus on beefing up defense and establishing the rule of law by, for instance, enhancing the crackdown on drug crimes. Aside from the problem of abandoning the peace dividend, Yoon is going veering too far from his campaign pledge to prioritize the public's livelihood. He must help poor people directly. Why does this government stick to non-existent trickle-down effects instead of seeking trickle-up effects by helping the underprivileged class? They would spend any subsidies right away, increasing consumption and paying more in taxes.



The government's fiscal rule calls for capping the deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product, and 2 percent if the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 60 percent. It is a copy of the old European Union figures, which require updating.



Above all, Yoon must break away from ideological and binary thinking of small government vs. big government or stringent conservatives vs. free-spending liberals.



That is another form of populism  to rally his conservative support base.


A host of political names attended the event at Hillsborough Castle on Wednesday night

Former president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams (L) speaks to former leader of the DUP Peter Robinson at Hillsborough Castle for the Gala dinner to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Pic: Charles McQuillan-Pool/Getty Images   Getty Images

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech during a gala dinner at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, at the end of the international conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Pic: Charles McQuillan/PA Wire   PA

Guests at a gala dinner marking the end of Queens Universitys Agreement 25 conference dined on prawns, fondant potato and pear tart before hearing a call from Rishi Sunak for politicians to get back into government.

The dinner, hosted by the Prime Minister, took place at Hillsborough Castle on Wednesday night, with a number of prominent current and former politicians present.

Guests munched on a starter of salmon, prawns and crab, before being presented with a main menu of chicken, fondant potato and savoy cabbage and a dessert of pear tart and sorbet.

The event featured one of the most significant audiences in Northern Irelands history, with Good Friday Agreement-era politicians mingling with their present day successors.

Former US President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State wife Hillary Clinton attended the event, with ex-Prime Minister Blair and Taoiseach counterpart Bertie Ahern joining them.

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern delivers a speech during a gala dinner at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down (PA).   PA

Conservative Party MP and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was pictured arriving at Hillsborough Castle, while ex-Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was seen in conversation with former DUP First Minister Peter Robinson.

Chair of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement talks Senator George Mitchell was also at the event, joined by another former Prime Minister in Theresa May.

Former president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams (L) speaks to former leader of the DUP Peter Robinson at Hillsborough Castle for the Gala dinner to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. Pic: Charles McQuillan-Pool/Getty Images   Getty Images

More contemporary guests included Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris, Sinn Fein Northern leader Michelle ONeill and former Finance Minister Conor Murphy.

Arlene Foster was pictured at the gala dinner, as well as current DUP leader and MP Jeffrey Donaldson, while current Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was also present.

The guests listened to PM Rishi Sunak's closing speech which declared the Good Friday Agreement the best and nd only foundation for peace and prosperity.

"And if we can take inspiration and instruction from the way peace was achieved 25 years ago, we can fulfil the true promise enshrined in that agreement  the promise of stable devolved government, a prosperous economy, and a more united society.

Thats the future for Northern Ireland we must build, he told the crowd in the Whitla Hall.

Mr Sunak paid tribute to the major figures involved in the Good Friday Agreement and condemned violence.

Because there is nothing glamorous about violence. There is nothing glorious about terror.

Squalid acts are always justified with some false dream about what they will achieve.

But they have never worked  and they never will.

Instead, let us glorify moderation, romanticise respect, and make heroes of those with the courage to reject absolutes, not kill for them, he said.
Cyber security chief says offensive file saying Belfast black taxis are run by the IRA should never have gone out

Lindy Cameron says she met community leaders who made clear their dismay at what had been said about working-class communities

Lindy Cameron

Sam McBride Belfast Telegraph Thu 20 Apr 2023 at 07:00
Security minister Tom Tugendhat has suggested that calls to suspend or stop the development of artificial intelligence due to fears about the new technology are misguided (James Manning/PA)   James Manning

Calls to suspend or stop the development of artificial intelligence due to fears about the new technology are misguided, the security minister has suggested.

Tom Tugendhat, addressing the CyberUK conference in Belfast, said he understands fears about the potential danger of AI but added that the genie wont go back in the bottle.

Italy said last month that it will temporarily block the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT amid global debate about the power of such new tools.

The AI systems powering 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.

There is also significant debate about the potential of the new technology, and Mr Tugendhat said the UK can become a leader in the area if the Government and private sector can work together.

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However, he acknowledged that criminals and cyber attackers are aware of the uses of AI.

Cyber attacks work when they find vulnerabilities. AI will cut the cost and complications of cyber attacks by automating the hunt for the chinks in our armour, he said.

Already AI can confuse and copy, spreading lies and committing fraud.

Natural language models can mimic credible news sources, pushing disingenuous narratives at huge scale, and AI image and video generation will get better.

The security minister also acknowledged the threat posed by Russia, as well as Chinas interest in AI.

Given the stakes, we can all understand the calls to stop AI development altogether, he said. But the genie wont go back in the bottle any more than we can write laws against maths.

(Russian President Vladimir) Putin has a longstanding strategic interest in AI and has commented that whoever becomes leader in this sphere will rule the world.

China, with its vast datasets and fierce determination, is a strong rival.

But AI also threatens authoritarian controls. Other than the United States, the UK is one of only a handful of liberal democratic countries that can credibly lead the world in AI development.

We can stay ahead, but it will demand investment and co-operation, and not just by government.

As for the safety of the technology itself, its essential that, by the time we reach the development of AGI (artificial general intelligence), we are confident that it can be safely controlled and aligned to our values and interests.

Solving this issue of alignment is where our efforts must lie, not in some King Canute-like attempt to stop the inevitable but in a national mission to ensure that, as super-intelligent computers arrive, they make the world safer and more secure.

Mr Tugendhat followed several senior officials and ministers to have addressed the annual conference, which has been dominated by debates about the challenge posed by China and the cyber threat posed by Russian-aligned groups.

Lindy Cameron, head of the National Cyber Security Centre, warned earlier this week that more needs to be done to protect the UK from the threat posed by Russia-aligned cyber groups.

And Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden stressed the danger that a cyber equivalent of the Wagner group poses to critical infrastructure.
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As Christians, we want to live blessed lives. We also want to experience the promises and blessings of God. When youre dealing with any sort of hardship, its important thing to remember is that God hasnt forgotten about you or abandoned you. The Bible tells us The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged (Deuteronomy 31:8). God has also promised to answer every prayer according to His marvelous grace, His infinite powerful, and in keeping with His infinite love and faithfulness. Our attitude should be one of implicit confidence that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. Too often, we neglect to ask God for miracles in our lives, and end up settling for less than Gods best for us. The truth is, we can always approach God with confidence if we trust in Jesus. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, we are one step closer to our miracle blessing from God. Here are six prayers to experience Gods blessing.

For a Faith Blessing

When we pray for blessings, its important that we understand that we too are miraculous beings. We wouldnt be here without the power of Gods hand and His miraculous power being at work. When we believe in this power, all things are possible: Dear Jesus, I ask that You bless me with the faith to always believe, to affirm the Supreme Power of Your miracles, be they of a physical or spiritual nature. Grant me the aptitude to instantly perceive the source of all supernatural occurrences. So only Your excellence shall be glorified. Jesus, my existence is a wonderful miracle and I praise You for it. Amen.

For Miracle Blessing

Miracle power testifies that Gods presence is always near us and that a blessing is around the corner. Its important that we are conscious of God at work in our lives daily. Miracle power can happen in your life when you have faith and trust that miracles can really happen. Are you ready to unleash that miracle power? This prayer will guide you: Heavenly Father, I open my heart wide to receive the love of God. As I receive Gods love as universal supply, all my affairs are healed. I realize and accept the healing power of the Universe as love, and I allow the healing power that is love to penetrate my life. I readily accept the healing power of love in my life and I know that as love, God is my limitless and abundant supply made manifest. I feel the outpouring of Gods love in my body and mind. I feel Gods love in my affairs, and I know all is well. Amen.

For Transformational Blessing

When something bad happens, dont just throw out a few brief prayers for Gods help, and then move on in discouragement if the situation doesnt change for the better soon. Instead, grab hold of Gods promises and fight to seem them unfurled. If youre ready for miracles to happen in your life, be persistent, praying until God gives you answers. Dont give up praying about a situation until Gods power comes into it: Heavenly Father, I feel like giving up. Help me to remember the reason I began. Help me to see the purpose behind Your plan. Provide the necessary grace. Keep me set upon Your face, to find strength for the next step, to discover faith to keep trying and to believe that miracles are possible today and in all circumstances. Amen.

For Healing Blessing

Often, when we pray for blessings and miracles to happen in our lives, we are also praying for healing to happen in our lives as well. We see countless examples of healing happening in Scripture through Jesus healing power. The same is possible in our daily lives: Lord Jesus, heal me. Heal in me whatever You see needs healing. Heal me of whatever might separate me from You. Heal my memory, heal my heart, heal my emotions, heal my spirit, heal my body and heal my soul. Lay Your hands gently upon me and Heal me through Your love for me. Amen.

For Directional Blessing

Dont limit your prayers only to simple situations that dont require much divine intervention to change. Instead, make a habit of praying for big things that only God can do. Invite God to do something incredibly powerful in each situation that you bring to Him: Lord, I am praying for what only You can do. I am praying for a miracle. I know the source from which it will come. I trust in You to send me a sign. Teach me dear Lord to know wonder. If You are willing, I am waiting, ready to receive my blessing today. Amen.

For Influential Blessing

Youll never be able to lose a battle when you fight with Gods strength flowing through you. So dont rely on your own limited strength; pray for God to empower you to do battle in every situation and that this strength will enable you to make miracles happen: Dear God, in the name of Jesus, I ask that You come against strongholds, demonic influences and spiritual attacks.

God has the power to not only release miracle power in your life but also to unleash your blessings. We just have to be ready to receive the blessing God is offering. During these periods, we may feel like God isnt hearing our prayers, but that is far from the case. Dont worry if you feel like your prayers are going unanswered. If we pray in the will of God, we can be sure that God will answer. As we praise Him for His faithfulness, seek His Will and glory, pray faithfully and wait patiently.

Lesli White is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth with a Bachelors degree in Mass Communications and a concentration in print and online journalism. In college, she took a number of religious studies courses and harnessed her talent for storytelling. White has a rich faith background. Her father, a Lutheran pastor and life coach was a big influence in her faith life, helping her to see the value of sharing the message of Christ with others. She has served in the church from an early age. Some of these roles include assisting ministry, mutual ministry, worship and music ministry and church council.
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Youve decided that you want to start going to therapy. Now, you have to find a therapist, but how do you go about doing so? Finding the right therapist is the first hurdle to cross, whether to rebuild a relationship, recover from trauma, adapt to a new life phase, or enhance your mental health.

Researchers believe that the bond between you and your therapist will likely affect your growth. Thats why its essential to do your research, ask questions, and pay attention to your responses in your search for the therapist thats right for you. Here are some tried-and-true methods for finding a therapist to help you reach your therapeutic goals.

Check your insurers directory.

If you want to pay for therapy through your insurance plan, your first step should be to look through your plans provider network. That way, youll get a good idea of who your insurance covers and what they provide. It would also be helpful to determine if your plan limits the number of sessions you can go to each year and whether using an out-of-network therapist will affect your out-of-pocket costs.

Use a dependable online database.

Several mental health organizations provide up-to-date, searchable databases of licensed therapists. Your search could begin by typing in your ZIP code to produce a list of counselors near you. You may also be able to look for specialists, like marriage and family counselors or therapists who focus on drug and alcohol use. Some database examples include the American Psychological Association and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

Think about what you want to accomplish.

What do you want to achieve in therapy? Research has found that your attitude will be better when you and your therapist work together toward the same goals. If you believe medication may help with your symptoms, try finding a psychiatrist or practitioner who can prescribe medications.

Let's say youve learned that cognitive behavioral therapy or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy have been helpful for others with your condition. In that case, you should look for a therapist with certifications or specialized training in those treatment methods.

What if you want to join a supportive network of people who understand your experiences? In that case, you may want to think about looking for a therapist whos involved with support groups or group therapy sessions. Your goals may change as you work with your therapist. Its okay to talk to them about changing the direction of your treatment plan as your needs change.

Check out local resources.

The first place you should consider for therapy suggestions is the community around you. Your community may provide resources to help you. If youre a student, your school might give you access to a counseling center. Your human resources team might offer a list of therapists available through a workplace wellness or employee assistance program if youre employed.

If you need counseling linked to domestic or sexual abuse, you might be able to find a group or individual therapy through a local advocacy organization. If you want your faith to advise your treatment, consider reaching out to your church, synagogue, mosque, or other worship centers for a list of licensed therapists affiliated with your faith. Your worship center may even offer some therapy or support groups.

Contact organizations that address your area of concern.

Suppose youre looking for a therapist to help with a specific mental health issue or disorder. In that case, it may be helpful to consider finding a therapist through a national network, association, or helpline.

A few examples of organizations that offer search tools to help you find a specialized therapist near you include the National Eating Disorders Association, the National Center for PTSD, and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. If your job causes stress and anxiety, you might find local therapists through a professional organization.

Several of these organizations and trade unions have resources to help you identify professionals who can help with mental health needs. For example, the International Association of Firefighters offers help with mental health, PTSD, and substance abuse.

Try an online therapy app.

Betterhelp and Talkspace offer resources to help you discover the kind of therapy you want. They can also match you with a licensed, accredited therapist you can work with online or via phone. Some people find a digital therapy platform more accessible and affordable than in-person therapy. Weekly sessions range from $35 to $80 for online treatment. At least one study found that people with depression felt that their symptoms improved after online sessions. Its worth noting, however, that two of the researchers involved with this study were consultants or employees of the digital therapy provider used.

Ask questions about the things that matter to you.

Whether online, on the phone, or in person, its not uncommon to completely forget every question you want to ask when you meet with your therapist.

To ensure you have the information you need to make the right decision, keep paper and a pen or a notes app handy for a few days before you meet. Write down questions as they come to you.

The American Psychological Association suggests a few questions for you to consider asking your therapist during your first session:

Are you a licensed psychologist in this state?

How many years have you been in practice?

How much experience do you have working with people dealing with [the issue youd like to resolve]?

What do you consider to be your specialty or area of expertise?

What kinds of treatments have you found effective in resolving [the issue youd like to work out]?

Whether youre coping with grief, trauma, relationship issues, or want treatment for a mental illness, finding a helpful therapist can change your voyage. To find a good fit therapist, start by considering practical matters like licensure, insurance coverage, location, and specialties.

Ultimately, finding the right therapist is all about what you're dealing with and your goals. Human connection is at the heart of successful therapy, and you can build that sense of connection whether you meet your therapist in person, on the phone, or online.


By Jason Lim



The recent U.S. intelligence leak that triggered tortured handwringing in Korea over "Should we get angry at the U.S. or not for spying on us?" is as immature as it is irrelevant to the real significance of the incident. The case of Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to friends on a gaming server, represents two new phenomena in the old world of cloak and dagger.



As Charles Savage in The New York Times writes, "Based on the charging documents in his case, Airman Teixeira does not appear to have been acting as a foreign agent, differentiating him from classic spying cases. He also does not appear to have been acting as a whistle-blower or otherwise trying to educate the general public by sharing secrets with the news media for publication, making his case different from another sort that has become more common in the 21st century. He also does not fit a third category of past cases of mishandling classified information: the hoarder."



Then, what motivated Teixeira to leak a trove of top-secret intelligence assessments about the war between Russia and Ukraine to a group of chatroom compatriots? He wanted to show off to his buddies in his chatroom.



According to news reports that interviewed his fellow chat members on the Discord platform  many of them teenagers who shared a common interest in "guns, military gear, and God"  Teixeira was the kingpin of their tightly knit community, looming large with his authority and access to secrets. Information is power. The more secretive the information, the more power and authority he will garner through judicious release of the said information, finally becoming the alpha male that all young men yearn to be.



Tom Nichols, in The Atlantic article titled, "The Narcissism of The Angry Young Men," labels these young men as the lost boys: "they are man-boys who maintain a teenager's sharp sense of self-absorbed grievance long after adolescence  Perhaps most dangerous, they go almost unnoticed until they explode."



So, Teixeira leaked highly secret intelligence to his community because he was an immature young man who wanted to show off. The motivation is as mundane as it is ubiquitous. What 21-year-old boy doesn't want to increase his in-group status by showing off that he knows super secrets about the biggest news event in the world, especially if his interest tends to run towards guns and violence? Without deeper meaning to one's motivation, how do you even stop such things from happening? The unbearable lightness of everything that's symptomatic of today's world has even infected the intelligence community.



The second "new" thing about this leak was that it happened inside a closed chatroom on a platform catering to closed, private chatrooms. If Web 2.0 was all about showing off your content to everybody on whatever social media platform, we have transitioned our online interactions to closed, members-only chatrooms that amplify the echo chamber of our biased and preconceived worldview until it becomes all-encompassing and seamless, oblivious to both critical thinking and external modulation. Monitoring such internet subcultures based on closed chatrooms on fringe platforms has always been a challenge to law enforcement and national security experts. These are fertile grounds for right-wing, male-centric youth cultures prone to believing in government conspiracy theories, largely invisible to the authorities until one of them acts out on his beliefs usually in an act of kinetic violence. According to Time, "Teixeira appears to have reveled in leading a small community where young men, many of them teenagers, gathered to talk guns and religion, swap racist memes, discuss world events, and express anti-government sentiments marked by references to Waco and Ruby Ridge."



The lesson learned here is that the whole intelligence regime of obtaining, analyzing, sharing and, especially, keeping national secrets has to be reviewed for its relevancy and effectiveness as the world changes. The systems and safeguards in place  designed and implemented during the Cold War  don't make sense in today's world with today's intelligence workers familiar with today's technology and social norms catering to conspicuous superficiality.



Reading about Teixeira, what struck me as funny is that I was reminded of the overreaction that some young Korean men seem to have against the pinch motion formed by the index finger and the thumb. Remember that? An innocent motion that we use every day interacting with our smartphones supposedly mocks the supposed small size of Korean men's penises. Some Korean young men's overreactions to the pinch symbol recapped for me the utter fragility of the young, Korean male ego. Actually, it's more than fragility. It borders on a collective persecution complex, not unlike the lost boys that Nichols writes about.



Today's Korea is filled with Jack Teixeiras. How one may manifest himself will be different. However, what might be going on under the covers of Kakao, Line, Signal, Telegram and other chatrooms in Korea will undoubtedly be shocking and concerning.





Jason Lim (jasonlim@msn.com) is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture.


The Indonesian military has updated to four the death toll of soldiers in last weekends ambush by Papuan separatist rebels, adding that one serviceman was still missing.

The military on Wednesday recovered the bodies of the soldiers killed in the operation to rescue a New Zealand pilot held captive since February by rebels in Nduga regency, said Rear Adm. Julius Widjojono, spokesman for the Indonesian Armed Forces.

The remains of the four soldiers have been flown out, Julius told BenarNews on Thursday.

Military officials initially said one soldier was killed when a 36-member unit was ambushed by armed rebels looking for pilot Philip Mehrtens on Saturday.

Julius said the military would continue its operation to free Mehrtens, who works for Susi Air, a local airline operating in remote areas of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) spokesman Sebby Sambom said Mehrtens was safe and in good health on Thursday.

He warned that the guerillas had the upper hand in jungle fighting because they know the terrain.

We control the territory. The TNI [Indonesian Armed Forces] will not succeed, he told BenarNews.

The fallout from the ambush prompted the Indonesian militarys top brass, including commander Adm. Yudo Margono, to travel to the region this week to review the operation.

In Papua on Tuesday, Yudo warned that the military would do away with its soft approach in dealing with the rebel group, which has been seeking independence from Indonesia since the 1960s.

We will increase our ground combat alert operation, from soft approach to combat alert, to boost our combat instinct, he said.

He also said soldiers who had been stationed in the region for more than a year would be rotated out because of the stress they faced.

The TPNPB has threatened to carry out more attacks if the government refused to hold peace talks with the rebels involving the United Nations.

On Sunday, the group said it was willing to negotiate with both the Indonesian and New Zealand governments for the release of Mehrtens, but had not received a response.

Papua, a former Dutch colony, was annexed by Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored referendum that independence supporters and human rights groups say was rigged. The Free Papua Movement has waged a low-level guerrilla war against Indonesian rule ever since.

Human rights groups have accused both sides of committing abuses against civilians in the conflict. The Indonesian government limits access to foreign journalists and aid workers in Papua, making information from the region often difficult to verify.

Soldiers and police keep dying

Sukamta, a member of the House of Representatives defense committee, criticized the governments handling of the Papua conflict.

Attacks by the armed criminal group that have killed many soldiers and civilians show that the government has no clear plan to solve Papuas problems, Sukamta told BenarNews on Thursday.

Its a pity that soldiers and police keep dying.

Julius Ibrani, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, called on the government to stop combat operations in Papua.

The combat operation is a policy choice that will only create more violence, Julius told BenarNews on Thursday.

He said the latest debacle served as a wake-up call for the government to review its efforts in the region.

The militaristic approach has caused more violence and human rights violations against the people in Papua, he said.
Papua New Guineas Minister of Foreign Affairs Justin Tkatchenko (right) and U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hold copies of a defense memorandum of understanding at a signing ceremony in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on April 19, 2023.

Papua New Guinea and the United Kingdom signed a defense agreement that the Pacific island countrys foreign minister said had been gathering dust for many years, part of a renewed Western focus on the region after Chinas inroads.

The status of forces agreement  a pact generally used by countries to establish the rules under which foreign military personnel operate in a country  was signed in Port Moresby on Wednesday by the foreign ministers of both nations. Neither country immediately released the text of the document.

Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said the agreement is broad in nature and the United Kingdoms military is already training with the Pacific countrys defense forces.

It is about strengthening and enhancing our relationship when it comes to defense in our country, he said. UK and PNG working together for the security of the region. This will allow us to have an easier relationship when dealing with defense related matters, training and many other things.

Papua New Guinea signed a broad security and defense agreement with Australia earlier this year and is negotiating a defense cooperation agreement with the United States. With the UK, the United States and Australia are the parties to the AUKUS agreement to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines by next decade, which is widely understood to be aimed at containing China.

Over several decades, China has become a significant source of trade, infrastructure and aid for economically lagging Pacific island countries as it seeks to diplomatically isolate Taiwan and gain allies in international organizations.

Last year, Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, alarming the United States and its allies such as Australia.

Pacific island nations also hope to gain from renewed U.S. interest in the region. However, they increasingly face a balancing act as Washington and Beijing vie for influence. Some Pacific leaders have said they dont want to be swept up in superpower competition or to be forced to take sides in the China-U.S. rivalry.

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who is also visiting the Solomon Islands on his Pacific trip, said the agreement with Papua New Guinea reflects mutual security interests.

The security of friends is our security, he said.

The world is increasingly a small place and the risk to that security can come from anyone or a number of different factors and many things we have not even thought about yet.

China is a top export market for Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific island country, and Beijings foreign minister earlier this month expressed concern about the Pacific countrys security agreement with Australia.

Tkatchenko said the agreement was not directly in response to China and is a response to multiple security challenges in the region from climate change to biosecurity and defense.

I just want to make very clear that PNG stands fast with its traditional partners in the region: Australia, New Zealand, USA and Indonesia. They are traditional partners when it comes to security for our region, he said.

When it comes to China they are our traditional trading partners, the biggest that PNG has and we must respect that and continue to work with that.

Papua New Guinea also signed a status of forces agreement with France in November last year. Tkatchenko on Wednesday said he expects four visits in the next 12 months from French warships.
Communist Party of the Philippines leaders Benito Tiamzon and his wife, Wilma, raise clenched fists during a rally outside of police headquarters in Manila, Aug. 19, 2016.

The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines on Thursday confirmed the deaths of two of its senior leaders months ago, alleging that the military staged their deaths to make it appear they were killed in a clash at sea.

National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano, meanwhile, called the CPP allegation lies.

CPP spokesman Marco Valbuena said the groups chairman, Benito Tiamzon, 71, and his wife, Secretary General Wilma Tiamzon, 70, were among 10 members killed in an August 2022 incident.

Valbuena said the Tiamzons and their companions were in two vans when they were caught by the military along a national highway in Catbalogan City on Aug. 21, 2022.

They were flagged down between 12 noon and 1 in the afternoon, after which all communications with the group were lost. They were unarmed, Valbuena said.

According to the information gathered by the Central Committee, the Tiamzons suffered severe beating in the hands of their captors. Internal reports cited witnesses who saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed, apparently beaten with hard objects, he said.

Earlier, then-8th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Edgardo De Leon said authorities believed the 10 died after their boat exploded during a firefight off Catbalogan city early Aug. 22, 2022, adding the Tiamzons were among those onboard.

Valbuena said CPP investigation disputed the military story on the circumstances leading to the death of the couple and their companions.

In truth, the already lifeless bodies of the Tiamzons and their group were dumped on a motorboat filled with explosives, and tugged from Catbalogan midway toward Taranganan island before it was detonated, Valbuena said.

The national security adviser said the CPPs allegation deserved scant comment.

[T]here is no truth whatsoever in this clearly fabricated story and we stand by the official reports from the AFP, Ano said in a statement, using an acronym for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

He noted that the CPP could now be considered headless with no clear leadership, and it had been forced to admit what many of us have suspected many, many months ago.

They have lost both their guiding light in the person of Joma and their commander in the Tiamzons and are now groping in the dark with no direction nor future in sight, he said.

Ano was referring to Jose Maria Sison, the rebels ideological founder who died in December.

Sison founded the communist front in 1969, making it one of the longest-running insurgencies in the world. The fighting has killed thousands of Filipinos and efforts at peace talks have failed repeatedly. Government successes on the field, particularly in the last five years, has led to their numbers falling to about 2,100 fighters from a high of about 20,000 in the 1980s.

The news of the Timazons death came the same week the government announced the capture in Malaysia and deportation to the Philippines of Eric Jun Casilao, another high-ranking rebel leader.

Ano noted that Casilao is a Central Committee member of CPP-NPA-NDF and was a notorious NPA leader who orchestrated numerous terrorist activities. NDF is an acronym for the National Democratic Front, the partys political wing.

The death of the Tiamzons and the arrest of Casilao show that terrorists cannot find a safe haven anywhere in the world, be it in the mountains or in other countries, Ano said.

The government is determined to capture terrorist leaders wherever they may be.

Froilan Gallardo in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, contributed to this report.
SK hynix's 12-layer HBM3 DRAM chips / Courtesy of SK hynix



By Baek Byung-yeul



SK hynix successfully developed the industry's first 12-layer stacked high bandwidth memory (HBM3) chip, aiming to overcome the low demand for semiconductor products with its advanced technology, according to the memory chipmaker, Thursday.



HBM is a high-value and high-performance memory chip that vertically interconnects multiple DRAM chips to increase data processing speed in comparison to traditional DRAM chips.



HBM3 is the fourth-generation one, succeeding the previous generations of HBM, HBM2 and HBM2E. SK hynix developed the first-generation HBM in 2013 and drew industry attention for its crucial role in implementing a generative AI that operates in high-performance computing systems.



The company said it expects the product to be in high demand in sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) that require a high capacity and fast data processing, and is currently validating its performance with customers.



"The company succeeded in developing the 24GB package product that increased memory capacity by 50 percent from the previous product, following the mass production of the world's first HBM3 last June," SK hynix said.



"We will be able to start supplying the new products to the market in the second half of the year, in line with growing demand for premium memory products driven by the AI-powered chatbot industry."



The company elaborated further saying that it was able to develop the 12-layer product because its engineers improved process efficiency and performance stability by applying advanced mass reflow molded under fill (MR-MUF) technology. This was done by placing multiple chips on the lower substrate and bonding them at once through reflow, and then simultaneously filling the gap between the chips with a mold material.



The company also applied through-silicon via (TSV) technology to reduce the thickness of a single DRAM chip by 40 percent and achieved the same stack height level as the 16-gigabyte product.



"SK hynix was able to continuously develop a series of ultra-high-speed and high-capacity HBM products through its leading technologies used in the back-end process," said Hong Sang-hoo, head of Package & Test at SK hynix.


Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 58F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 41F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 59F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low around 40F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
An employee at LG Chem's Daesan factory in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, monitors workers' safety through installed cameras, on Tuesday. Courtesy of LG Chem



LG Chem is introducing various cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data into its major businesses in petrochemicals, advanced materials and life sciences, the company said on Wednesday.



It plans to optimize shop floors and lead the progression of the chemical industry with core technologies in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.



First, the company introduced an AI chatbot called ChemBot in its company-wide business portal to increase worker convenience and efficiency. ChemBot communicates and gives answers to people's questions through text with a messenger-based interactive system.



Its main functions include people searching, schedule management and text messaging. It is also designed to help with difficult jargon used in the industry. Workers can deal with various tasks by giving orders in simple sentences.



In the future, LG Chem plans to accumulate work-related knowledge in the form of big data through ChemBot, enabling autonomous learning.



In addition, the company is leading the technological evolution of manufacturing processes by incorporating information and communications technology (ICT) for production, research and development and environmental safety.



The petrochemical sector is set to increase its productivity by reducing the defect rate in the production process and increasing work efficiency through IoT and big data-based learning.



In 2018, LG Chem installed cameras at its production line for superabsorbent polymers in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, and adopted a deep learning algorithm that studies moving images to find the causes of line shutdowns.



It is currently operating an AI system that can detect 99.75 percent of defect-causing foreign substances at the SAP production facility. LG Chem plans to adopt the system at its other factories around the country.

(Advertorial)


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Limited data on the bivalent vaccines indicate that in older adults, the shots offer additional protection against severe disease and death from COVID, although the protection wanes rapidly in the weeks after inoculation.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
EGREMONT  A hefty prison sentence for a low-level, nonviolent drug charge nearly destroyed Terrence Stevens.

His muscular dystrophy only worsened amid dangerous conditions and abuse while he was behind bars in New York state.

Released on clemency in 2001, TWheelz, as he is also known  Stevens uses a power wheelchair as he is paralyzed from the neck down  has since dedicated his life to advocating for drug law reform and helping communities also decimated by drugs and the criminal justice system.

His story about the draconian drug laws and their effect on him is legendary. So is his philanthropic community work through the nonprofit he founded, In Arms Reach. Now hes coming to the Berkshires to help launch a new project with something that, not too long ago, might have gotten him arrested.

Stevens, who lives in New York City, teamed up with two Massachusetts cannabis companies  one in South Egremont  to create and sell an edible designed to treat a multitude of symptoms from chronic illnesses.

He also hopes the new product, Ironsydz by Twheelz  Gummies with a Mission, will raise awareness about the injustices of drug policies and the criminal justice system. They are also the product of a lot of experimentation with ingredients  this was the combination that helps Stevens with pain and discomfort, without the mood swings, he said.

Devine Berkshires in South Egremont is selling the gummies, made by Freshly Baked Co., of Taunton. Devine, the countys first Black- and female-owned cannabis business, will hold a product launch with Stevens from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday  "420" day.

Freshly Baked, founded by two disabled veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, has also worked to develop vaporizer products with former talk show host, Montel Williams, who found that cannabis helped relieve his multiple sclerosis. Devine also sells Williams' vapes.

It was Williams who inspired Stevens to try cannabis to relieve his symptoms of pain and discomfort, Stevens said. His edibles are named for a show he loved  the 1960s crime drama, "Ironside," which featured a paralyzed detective who used a wheelchair.

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Stevens hopes more cannabis shops will carry the product. It's also a movement for social equity, he said, noting that most people who have reaped the financial benefit of legal pot are not people of color or those from communities devastated by the war on drugs.

"I was a poster child for repealing the drug laws," Stevens said, adding that he worked tirelessly for change. "All these efforts led to legalization."

Now he's a poster child for the fruits of tenacious activism  and reinvesting in struggling communities. It's why New Marlborough resident Peter Greer, who used to chair Stevens' nonprofit in New York City, told Stevens' story to Philip Smith and Jenny Roseman of Freshly Baked at Devine last year.

Montel Williams also was there. Greer told them that Stevens was instrumental in changing the narrative around drugs that led to legalization. Smith immediately said he wanted work with Stevens.

"I got him," Greer said Smith, a former Marine, had told him.

Ari Zorn, who co-founded Devine with his wife, Heidi Zorn, says Stevens leaves him awestruck.

"He makes me kind of silent," Zorn said. "My story doesn't mean anything compared to what he's been through."

Ari Zorn says that what's happened here with Stevens and these partnerships is "a true success story" within the state's cannabis industry. It was exactly what cannabis regulators had intended with regard to economically uplifting people whose lives were damaged by drug policies.

Zorn says he's seen what powerful medicine cannabis is for a host of ailments. He's also is proud to sell Stevens' gummies for sheer delight.

"They're delicious," he said. "They're on our menu."
The Lee Select Board is seeking an audience with other member towns in the Rest of River Committee to make their case against the PCB landfill being planned for the Wood's Pond area.
GREAT BARRINGTON  A bronze sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois in the heart of the town where he was born and raised is on its way  though it will take a while.

And before the artist gets to work, the W.E.B. Sculpture Project board has a hard choice  theyll have to decide which of three finalists will get the commission.

Already theyve whittled the number of artists down from 18 who applied.

The committee introduced the finalists, who specialize in public art portraying Black historical figures, at an emotional reception at the Mason Library Wednesday evening.

They explained how they work, and that some post-pandemic delays with materials and other aspects of their process will extend the timeline.

Thats OK, they said  the work will long outlive everyone alive today. Best not to rush such a profound thing to make a political statement or for a photo-op, said one artist.

The project for the sculpture of civil rights giant and scholar Du Bois is long in the making, and in the last few months it has sped up with the request for artists and significant donations.

Tax dollars are not in play here, said the projects board chair, Julie Michaels, contrary to what some in town have suggested.

The plans involve turning the front of the library into a plaza with long and curved marble benches on either side of the staircase  which is being repaired.

Du Bois likeness will be seated on one of the benches, made of locally mined antique marble, and plantings will surround the oval-shaped plaza.

This is not far from Du Bois birthplace, and a short drive from where he was raised, giving the project a unique depth, said the artists.

Finalist Vinnie Bagwell, known for work that includes a sculpture of Ella Fitzgerald in Yonkers, N.Y., said she likes to go to a site and feel the place.

In the case of Du Bois, Bagwell noted the spirit felt around his homestead. She might not be here if it werent for Du Bois, she suggested.

Im a beneficiary of Du Bois and the people who were involved in his life, Bagwell said. Such meaningful works in public places, if a community effort, transcends race no matter the race of the figure being honored, she added.

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It has to speak to everyone, Bagwell said. What matters is that youre human and that you understand the story.

There is something very different about a sculpture of a figure in their native hometown, said Dana King, whose work includes a three-figure representation of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama.

King said that being able to sit with a sculpture of Du Bois will help process the work of suffering with the legacy of racism.

The expression of his work will be embodied in his physicality, King said, adding that the long-lasting materials will maintain that healing throughout history.

That Du Bois had such a deep connection to his hometown and a reverence for it was evident in his prolific writings and speeches.

Du Bois did such a wonderful job describing the community, said another finalist, Richard Blake, a Medal of Honor recipient for his sculpture of Rosa Parks in the U.S. Capitol. Blake spoke of the complexity of representational art, and the rendering of personality and thought.

Some who grew up in town wish they had such a rendering of a grand and prominent figure of Du Bois to make them feel more at home.

One is Delano Burrowes, a juror for the sculpture project commission. Burrowes said the project is bringing about a healing, and he was bursting with emotion that such work is coming to fruition in earnest and is not one of those surface things.

Du Bois was never even mentioned in school, said Burrowes, who has described a difficult childhood growing up gay and Black in Great Barrington. This is huge for this community.

Huge no matter what your skin color, said Ari Zorn, vice chair of the sculpture projects board, environmentalist and cannabis retailer.

Seeing the mix of people in this room  this gives me hope, said Zorn, who noted that, while, Black, he was raised by an adoptive Jewish family and is married to a German white woman.

Zorn said he is very tired of racism and all the chatter, and loves this project because it represents an act of healing.

Yes, its about Black people, he told The Eagle. But its also about people who care  the community.
Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, delivers his final remarks on the floor of the House chamber after he was expelled from the Tennessee Legislature on April 6. While Pearson and another ousted lawmaker, Rep. Justin Jones, were reinstated, their expulsions underscored how institutional racism undermines equal access to democracy in America, writes Eagle columnist Vickie Shufton.
Nursing home staffers arent getting a living wage, and needed beds are empty. The industry wants taxpayers to help Should nursing home owners get more taxpayer money to pay a living wage and hire more staff? Reform advocates say they shouldn't get a dime more until they show taxpayers where all the money is going.

With a grayer population compared to the states average, Berkshire County disproportionately faces an issue looming large for Massachusetts future and the nations soul: How will our society address the rising and costly demand for nursing home care?

Right now, the Legislatures attention to that issue is centered on legislation targeting financial and operational issues dogging Bay State care facilities. That focus is certainly warranted, but as Beacon Hill weighs throwing more public funding at private care companies, we must seriously ask ourselves what it would mean to truly get our arms around this crisis  much less address it.

The state of that crisis was highlighted last week by the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, a trade group representing nursing facilities and long-term care organizations. They reported that 3,000 licensed beds across the commonwealth are open but cant be filled due to widespread staffing gaps totaling about 8,000 vacant jobs.

'Get me out of here.' Inside the staffing crisis at Berkshire nursing homes EAGLE INVESTIGATIONS: Poor staffing ratios have festered for more than a decade in the majority of Berkshire County nursing facilities, and continue today. Our investigation puts faces to those numbers.

While about 75 percent of the states long-term care residents are on MassHealth (the states Medicaid program), the gap between that programs reimbursement and care costs amounts to more than $25 a day. Thats some dire math for these facilities margins, and therefore the competitiveness of their employees compensation. While caring for our elderly neighbors is a noble job, its also a difficult one. If theres plenty of other entry-level jobs in lower-stress sectors that pay the same or even a couple dollars an hour more, its no surprise as to why retaining the necessary staff is difficult.

Right now, lawmakers are weighing a measure to inject funding into nursing homes in hopes of spurring raises for workers and beefing up hiring, as well as offer zero-interest forgivable loans for certain improvements. That goal is laudable, though the legislation doesnt yet have a price tag. It would have to be big if the Legislature even hopes to put a dent in the problem. According to a policy paper from the state Legislatures Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, the state has given long-term care companies at least $300 million in just the last two years.

That the marketplace is clearly struggling to provide adequate standards and access of care to seniors underscores the need for public investment. Yet we must grapple with the reality that this nine-figure level of state investment has at best put some fingers in the dam. And if the commonwealth is going to continue throwing that much money at the problem, we should have a much clearer idea of where its going, what the specific goals are and how its working. Some critics of pushing more public funding to private care companies argue the industrys finances are not transparent enough to warrant another taxpayer-funded infusion. As advocates for transparency of public expenditures, we find this point worth answering. For instance, a recent report from The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care alleges that nursing homes in the U.S. are funneling billions of unaccounted-for money through companies they own  and hiding it from regulators.

Some states are beginning to crack down on this practice by requiring so-called consolidated cost reports. Massachusetts should, too. Fortunately, there also is pending legislation, alongside the funding bill, that would increase accountability of how public money is used after being funneled into private long-term care companies. That accountability is needed for all taxpayers but especially on behalf of seniors so that we can assess whether the use of their own tax dollars can be reasonably expected to improve their care and quality of life. As such, we urge the Berkshire delegation and the rest of the Legislature to ensure that legislation increasing transparency of these facilities finances advances alongside any further funding. We hope they agree this issue demands not just resources but accountability.

It is said that societies are judged by how they treat their most vulnerable constituencies, especially our senior citizens. That we are so clearly failing that test is shameful. This is not just a Massachusetts issue; we arent the only state where the advancing age of the sizable baby boomer demographic is putting more and more pressure on the already stretched facilities that care for our elderly neighbors. And even if we are just talking Massachusetts, we should level with ourselves this is a problem whose systemic solution will come with a price tag not in the millions but in the billions  or bigger.

This is not an argument against applying the public funding and political capital necessary to meet this challenge to our societys conscience. Any grand social problem worth solving requires spending money wisely but purposefully. For the wealthiest nation in the history of the world whose social welfare programs pale in comparison to other developed nations, it is a policy choice to allow so many of our seniors to live out their last days with woeful conditions and inadequate access to care.

We can make that choice differently, but we must get real about what that looks like  and what it costs. The most ambitious public program that systematically addressed American seniors quality of life was Social Security. It dramatically reduced senior poverty, reducing it from 50 percent to 15 percent in a generation  and all our paychecks shoulder the costs. Do we now have the moral courage to pursue such a bold measure to backstop basic dignity for millions of elderly Americans? And do we have the political courage to acknowledge that it requires not only higher taxes on the wealthy but asking all of us to contribute more toward our fair share?

Yes, that prospect is expensive  fiscally and politically. But on the other side of the ledger is the shameful acceptance of senior suffering and the pain borne by families facing impossible decisions to do right by their relatives. That is a weight our nations soul cannot long bear in good conscience.
A jumbo screen displays gratitude for Korean War veterans in Times Square, New York, Thursday. Courtesy of LG Group





By Kim Hyun-bin







Samsung Electronics and LG have released videos commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, expressing respect and gratitude to the Korean War veterans at Times Square in New York, company officials said Thursday.







Ten Korean War veterans are introduced in the 30-second video produced by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, accompanied by messages of gratitude. The video will be screened for two weeks starting Thursday.







The 10 heroes selected included General Douglas MacArthur, who successfully led the Incheon Landing Operation, and General James Van Fleet, who lost his son Captain James Van Fleet Jr. in battle, as father and son participated in the war together.






Muskegon River Watershed Assembly responds to battery facility Many residents in Mecosta County and the surrounding areas have expressed concerns over the...

Browns Barber Shop perfects the cut in Big Rapids Browns Barber Shop, 216 S. Michigan Ave., is a place downtown Big Rapids where one can get a...
Tonight's rundown:

 Talking Points Memo: Joe Biden continues to decline with the world watching and remains out of the press reach

 Presidential Historian Larry Cook weighs in on how Bidens relationship with the press compares to past presidents

 US Special Forces have been confirmed to be in Ukraine

 OReilly describes Democrats hosting the DNC in Chicago as Crazy Arrogant

 The trial of Fox News gets underway

 58% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck even as inflation begins to cool off

 Smart Life: Utilizing Kelly Blue Book when searching for a new car

 This Day in History: FDR dies in office

 Final Thought: what to do when someone is disrespectful to you

In Case You Missed It:

 Read Bill's latest column, "Reason to Believe"

 Join 'Team Normal!' Order your gear now at BillOReilly.com!

 Pre-order Bills next bestseller Killing the Witches NOW

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Naver's unionized workers hold a press conference in front of the company's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, to urge the management to take measures to prevent the recurrence of a worker suicide caused by workplace bullying, in this June 2021 file photo. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han



Bereaved family files complaint alleging workplace bullying



By Park Jae-hyuk



Naver has come under investigation as another employee committed suicide last September after complaining of workplace bullying, according to the labor ministry, Thursday.



The Ministry of Employment and Labor said it started an investigation recently into the death of a 37-year-old female programmer, who had worked for Naver for more than a decade, as her bereaved family filed a complaint last month alleging that the company violated the Labor Standards Act.



The bereaved family claimed that the deceased worker was forced to transfer to a team, which wasn't related to her specialty, when she returned in February, 2016 from a year-long maternity leave period. Despite her continuous request to stop the unfair treatment toward working moms, Naver refused to take any measure, according to the bereaved family.



In addition, the company reportedly did not allow her to work flexibly, despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which orders an employer to allow flexible working hours for employees who have children aged eight years old or younger.



As a result, she took more maternity leave in January 2022 and committed suicide in September of that year.



"Workplace bullying is basically discourteous to a human being, so we will eradicate such practices through strict supervision," Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik told reporters during a press conference on Thursday. "We will take stern measures if we discover any illegality in this case."



Naver denied the allegation, saying it could not find any proof during its internal investigation.



"We will cooperate with the labor ministry's investigation," the company said.



This is not the first time Naver has been confronted with a labor ministry investigation over a worker's suicide.



In 2021, a Naver programmer in his 40s was found dead near his apartment located close to the company's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, with a note presumed to have been written by him. The note indicated extreme stress from workplace bullying with the names of several people on it.



When the labor ministry conducted a special inspection of Naver and its employees after the incident, more than half of 1,982 respondents answered that they had suffered workplace bullying at least once over the past six months.



In addition, MSCI, an American finance company, said at that time a workplace bullying incident at Naver resulted in a scoring deduction in its ESG rating, measuring the company's resilience to risks related to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors.



"Depending on further development, it may incur a further deduction in scoring, which may result in a rating change in the future," the U.S. financial firm said at that time.



Although MSCI has maintained Naver's corporate rating at AAA since its latest upgrade in May 2021, it gave an orange grade toward the Korean firm's labor-management relations. Orange, which is a notch above the lowest red grade, indicates that a company has been involved in one or more recent severe structural controversies that are ongoing, according to MSCI.


Marking its first investment in Indias healthcare sector

Verlinvest, an international, family-backed evergreen investment company, has announced its entry into Indias healthcare sector, with the acquisition of a controlling stake in Ferty9 Fertility Center, a chain of fertility clinics in the Telangana region that was founded by Dr C. Jyothi Budi and her partners in 2013.

This investment will enable Ferty9 to expand its reach across India and supports the development of new technologies and medical innovations, further strengthening Ferty9's position as a leading fertility clinic chain. By investing around $50 million in the platform, Verlinvest will focus on scaling Ferty9s footprint, offering, and positive impact nationally.

Verlinvest has partnered with Vinesh Gadhia, who will lead Ferty9 as its Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Board to scale Ferty9s reach and execute its ambition to acquire more fertility assets through this platform. MGadhia is an industry veteran in Indias fertility sector with over 30 years of experience in building commercial teams and expanding scientific partnerships.

Two senior investors from Verlinvest who led this investment, Shagun Tiwary Shah and Manvitha Janagam, will join Ferty9s Board of Directors, adding to the ~70% of employees at Ferty9 that are women.

Verlinvests acquisition of a controlling stake in Ferty9 Fertility Centre marks their first foray into the healthcare sector in India, having spent several decades investing in the healthcare sector in Europe. Verlinvest aims to leverage its expertise in backing market-leading consumer focused brands and apply it to the healthcare industry.
Creates Pan India position as leader in out-of-hospital care

HCAH, a Delhi NCR-based health-tech company, has acquired Nightingales Home Health Services, a specialty home healthcare service provider, in a share swap deal. The acquisition will further increase HCAHs geographic footprint in the country.

With this acquisition, Nightingales Co-founder and industry stalwart - Vishal Bali (Ex- Group CEO, Fortis Healthcare Ltd and Senior Advisor - TPG Growth) will join HCAH as a shareholder.

This acquisition reinforces HCAHs position as the countrys largest out-of-hospital care provider in terms of annual revenue size and adds to their vision of improving the Quality of Life of people.

Nightingales Home Health Services brings over two decades of experience and a strong focus on specialty home health care services in chronic diseases including pulmonology, cardiology, neurology, metabolic diseases, orthopedics, geriatrics, and post-operative rehabilitation. Nightingales comes with a team of over 1,000 healthcare professionals, and an established delivery network across 4 metro cities of Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai.

HCAH has raised investments from Burman Family (Promoters of Dabur), Founders of Healthcare at Home UK, Quadria Capital, a Singapore-based healthcare fund and ABC Impact.
Sportswear company Puma has launched its Voices of a Re:Generation initiative, which looks to evolve how the brand navigates its sustainability journey by including the perspectives of young sustainability advocates.

Alice Aedy, Andrew Burgess, Jade Roche and Luke Jaque-Rodney. Source: Supplied

The project kicks off with Puma collaborating and giving a seat at the table to four young environmentalist voices from across Europe and the US over a year-long period.

The four Voices of a Re:Generation will work with Puma to translate sustainability in a way that makes sense to and engages with the next generation, in addition to feeding into how the brand can drive greater sustainability practices in line with its 10 for 25 targets. Work will take on a candid consultancy format, with the voices sharing their perspectives and insights and identifying areas where the brand can improve.

Making up Pumas Voices of a Re:Generation will be:

Alice Aedy  UK-based visual storyteller, documentarian and cofounder of Earthrise Studio, an impact-driven media company focused on human stories from climate frontlines.

Andrew Burgess  US-based upcycler determined to change the way people consume clothing and fashion through his own creations.

Luke Jaque-Rodney  Germany-based sustainable and healthy living vlogger who explores better ways to live sustainably.

Jade Roche  France-based visual artist and creative consultant working with brands to improve how they communicate.

Puma said the project represents a continuation of the work the company started in September 2022 with its Conference of the People, powered by Puma event in London.

The conference, which discussed solutions for some of the fashion industrys most pressing sustainability challenges with a special focus on GenZ, highlighted the need for brands to improve transparency and conduct greater communication regarding sustainability.

Making sustainability progress more accessible

According to the company, the new initiative builds upon its commitment to ensuring Pumas sustainability initiatives are digestible for everyone, particularly for the next generation, after research conducted by Puma found that 71% of young people felt their voices werent being heard when it comes to the environment and would like to see brands making more commitments (49%), communicating their goals better (40%) and being more transparent (34%).

Throughout 2023, Pumas Voices of a Re:Generation will meet with Anne-Laure Descours, Pumas chief sourcing officer, and Pumas sustainability team to collaborate and present their honest views. Working together, the partnership will explore actionable ways that feedback can be implemented within Pumas business and sustainability strategy, whilst also using the voices platforms to communicate Pumas efforts transparently to the world.

Speaking on the new initiative Anne-Laure Descours, chief sourcing officer at Puma, says: Weve always documented our progress in sustainable practices. However, our participation in Conference of the People has shed light on the fact that the information we share isnt always easily understood by the next generation. We recognise the need for change, and we're committed to making sustainability more accessible and transparent to everyone. Voices of a Re:Generation is our first step in improving this.

Alice Aedy comments: Sustainability is highly unglamorous, technical but urgent work with impacts for both people and planet. Its undeniably a hugely complex topic. Its deeper than just materials or emissions; its about the people and processes that strive behind the scenes to realise a brands efforts to be more sustainable and its also about how the brand, like Puma, is communicating that with authenticity.

Jade Roche adds: Its great to see a global brand like Puma holding itself more accountable for their sustainability and being willing and open to having these tough conversations when it comes to how theyre doing and how they're planning. Its also time that we, in general, started discussing what sustainability really means; what does it take for a brand to achieve greater sustainability on all aspects of it while being transparent, and what does it look like for the next generation?
Creative entrepreneur Hardy McQueen has worked at the intersection of food & beverage, music, streetwear and culture. His latest venture, Nice Beverage Company, sees him building a proudly African beverage enterprise that's hyper-focused on changing industry norms through its approach to winemaking, market delivery and the target market it's looking to reach.

Hardy McQueen, founder and CEO, Nice Beverage Company. Source: Supplied

Established during the pandemic, Nice Beverage Co launched its canned wine brand UNFLTRD in December last year, with plans in the works to expand abroad and across Africa. According to McQueen, South African wine brands rarely take consumers on the African continent seriously. Nice Beverage Co aims to be present across key African cities, giving these markets the attention they deserve.

As a Black-owned business, the company prioritises working with winemakers of colour to help drive diversity and inclusion in SA's wine industry. With the company's focus on sustainability, the beverage producer also only works with winemakers who are fully immersed in the low-intervention natural wine and natural fermentation scene.

Source: Supplied

The company sees great potential in the canned wine category, in part due to the convenience of the packaging format and its recyclability. Nice Beverage Co states that it's committed to 90% recyclable packaging. With canned wines sometimes being associated with low-quality products in SA, Nice Beverage Co has set out to change consumers' minds about this by delivering a quality beverage that helps drive category growth.

McQueen explains that the winemakers Nice Beverage Co has partnered with all have their own independent brands. "But working on a canned delivery gives them an opportunity to do something different. And also something which we would consider a lot more fun and not as serious as a bottle of wine that's been aged for 12 to 18 months in oak, he says.

The company also works with a network of advisors  leaders in winemaking, branding and global distribution.

Here, McQueen shares more about the inspiration behind Nice Beverage Company and its vision to bring a taste of Africa to the world.

Hardy, how did the idea for Nice Beverage Co come about?

I wanted to create a modern beverage product for a new generation of consumers. There exists very little in the way of innovation for the marketing, consumption opportunities and focus on taste in the current SA beverage scene, and I thought we could change that.

What convinced you of the business potential of canned wines? And conversely, what misconceptions about canned wines do you feel are still lingering about?

Canned wines present an opportunity to showcase where wine is going. Its a clear break from tradition but does not mean that the liquid is of a lower quality.

Most people's first experience of canned wine is low quality. Our intention is to serve great wine purpose-made to come out of a can. Beyond ourselves we have a category job to do. There are some great canned wine brands, consumers just need to give them a chance.

Source: Supplied

Why low-intervention wines?

Low-intervention refers to a style where the winemaker allows the fruit to express itself without the use and interference of additives. It in no way means less work! This style allows us to deliver a product that is a true reflection of the grapes, lower alcohol volume and just NICE!

How have you set out to distinguish your wine brand UNFLTRD in a competitive marketplace?

Weve been fortunate with our relationships that UNFLTRD has managed to pop up in some unexpected places. Whether we are supporting a global product launch with Mami Wata and Vans, to gallery openings, creator talks and cocktail bars to mention a few, going to where our consumer interacts with lifestyle has been our advantage.

Weve quickly realised that sitting on a shelf in a store and waiting for the consumer may not be the right strategy for people to discover our brand.

What have been your biggest challenges encountered establishing Nice Beverage Co?

We face the common food & beverage startup challenges; lack of funding and next to zero retailer support. When introducing a new type of product, funders and retailers want to see consumer support before considering your product.

We need to reconstruct the models used for supporting products. Not all brands are created equal, we all have different starting points that allow us to leverage opportunities in our networks - be it family, friends and funding.

Can you comment on the state of diversity within South Africa's wine industry in terms of representation of people of colour? How does Nice Beverage Co intend to shake things up?

Theres definitely a lack of diversity within the SA wine industry. Whether you look at winemakers, brands, farm owners, viticulturists, lab techs or logistics operators, theres clearly a problem that needs to be addressed. We have too many boardrooms with the same type of person sitting at the table making the same decisions.

Diversity not only presents an opportunity to challenge and transform the past, it allows new ideas and practices to come to the fore.

As Nice Beverage Co, we want to collaborate with as many BIPOC people as possible to grow our and their businesses. Whether that means collaborating on special edition products with winemakers or using our networks to assist in the promotion of Black-owned wine brands.

Tell us about your plans to expand Nice Beverage Co into Africa. What are the strategies being employed that you believe will set you up for success in other markets on the continent?

First of all, we cant go into Africa when we are already on the continent. Our phrasing on that needs some serious change. We have strong belief in the market that exists right on our doorsteps. As the biggest wine-producing country on the continent we have an industry-wide opportunity to explore.

Once again through relationships weve been able to share our products at pop-ups and festivals in Ghana. Right now we are in the testing phase, figuring out what works best, what the consumer likes and then to go in! Our main strategy is respecting the consumer, acknowledging we have a category job to do and be as innovative as possible to set ourselves apart from what they have come to expect from a wine brand.

What is your ultimate vision for Nice Beverage Company? How would you like to see it grow?

We want to build a beverage business that has great products from the continent and exports them to markets unknown. Across the continent, we have amazing regional beverages yet to be tasted and discovered. We want to be the conduit for those products. Africa to the world! Thats our objective.
DStv Assist Whatsapp solution impresses judges for Mobile Marketing Association

The MMA SA Smarties Awards for last year took place on 30 March 2023 in Johannesburg, honouring the most effective modern marketing in South Africa, and DStv Assist was recognised, receiving gold and bronze Smarties Awards on the night.

Helm backed their tag as Africas leading customer experience innovation experts by bagging a gold in the Customer Experience category, having co-created a bot-based solution for DStv that has changed the self-service game. The intelligent assistant has sent and received over 1.4 billion messages and helped over 1.2 million DStv customers every month since its launch in 2019.

Helms Client Product Partner, Arno van Hyssteen, is thrilled with the results. At Helm, we believe the path to success is understanding the person on the other side of the screen. When Mutlichoice decided to eliminate the customer service queue, they turned to us to partner with them in making this vision a reality. It was a challenge we grasped with both hands and we are proud to be rewarded for our joint solution.

With DStvs understanding of their customers and Helms understanding of user behaviour, technology was used to radically simplify self-service for over a million people every month.

DStvs self-service assistant was built using Helm Engine, an AI-powered conversational platform  the likes of which have received a lot of attention recently thanks to Chat GPT  that is smart enough to understand and reply to users thanks to Natural Language Understanding.

Having gathered data and learnt language nuances from millions of unique users, DStv Assist completes tasks in a matter of seconds, says Van Hyssteen.

Saret Marais, executive head of group digital enablement at Multichoice, along with her team, worked with Helm to develop the bot. Our WhatsApp bot is one of the simplest and easiest ways for our customers to learn about our products and services and manage their DStv accounts. Together with Helm, we have been on a multi-year journey to make this the best customer experience possible and the high usage of this platform is testament to what we have achieved together.

DStv Assist received Smarties Awards in the following categories:

Gold  Creative: Customer Experience (CX)



Bronze  Impact Media: Social Messaging, Chat Apps, Text Messaging

This continues Helms impressive run in recent years, having picked up gold, silver and bronze awards for the likes of LUMA Legal, the Covid-19 WhatsApp Bot, Smartstart Education Assistant and Supersonic (MTN) since 2020. The MMA SA Smarties acknowledge innovation, creativity and success by showcasing each years most effective mobile campaigns. This winning work inspires, educates and ultimately propels the industry forward.

If youre wondering how DStv Whatsapp Bot has performed since launch, here are the stats:

1.2 million users per month (average)



4.7 million unique users in the last year



1.4 billion messages processed since launch

The DStv team Helms Client Product Partner Arno van Hyssteen and Renzo Zanetti (head of business development) with the DStv team.

About Helm

Formerly Praekelt Consulting, Helm has spent the last 20 years creating best-across-class products and services that have answered complex customer experience challenges. The team designs intelligent products and services that have helped Africas biggest brands turn messy customer realities into experiences they cant live without. Its tiered product o ering combines tools, tech and expertise to meet the needs of any size business. To date, Helm has helped its clients to connect, converse with and convert over 500 million users across multiple markets, channels and languages. Clients include the likes of Absa, MTN, DStv, Makro and Dr. Oetker.




Han Jong-hee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, delivers a speech on sustainability at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 5, 2022. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



By Baek Byung-yeul



Greenpeace urged Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and other semiconductor companies based in East Asia to increase their efforts concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the environmental group said, Thursday, that these IT companies use too much electricity and emit greenhouse gases, and that more concrete efforts to reduce gas emissions are needed.



The group said semiconductor manufacturers are among the most electricity-hungry sectors, adding that the industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions because most of the electricity supplied to power grids across East Asia is generated through the burning of fossil fuels.



According to its report, Invisible Emissions, the chip industry's emissions are rising steeply as the industry is on track to consume 286 terawatt-hours of electricity globally by 2030, higher than that of Australia's entire electricity consumption level for 2021.



"The industry is projected to emit 86 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030, more than Portugal's total emissions in 2021," Greenpeace said.



"Zero semiconductor manufacturers analyzed in this report have issued climate commitments in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius."



The Greenpeace report said Samsung is expected to continue increasing the amount of electricity it uses in order to produce semiconductors, but the company has been slow to increase its use of renewable energy.



"The company's electricity consumption from semiconductor manufacturing is projected to reach 55 terawatt-hours by 2030, higher than Singapore's national electricity consumption in 2020. However, Samsung has been slow to transition to renewable energy in South Korea," the report said. "In 2022 nearly 75 percent of Samsung Electronics' electricity consumption took place in South Korea. However, Samsung has not issued a 2030 climate commitment for its operations inside South Korea."



Yang Yeon-ho, a climate and energy campaigner from Greenpeace, said Samsung needs to hasten its transition to renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.



"As the report analyzes that Samsung's carbon emissions will continue to rise until 2030, the company needs to take responsibility for addressing the climate change issue and accelerate the transition to 100 percent renewable energy for its domestic operations," Yang said.



"Without thorough medium-term planning, climate risks will grow and become increasingly difficult to control."



Samsung has announced plans to become carbon neutral in the long term. In September 2022, the company introduced its New Environmental Strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To that end, the company will continue to develop less-energy-consuming semiconductors and IT devices and convert 100 percent of its electricity supply to renewable resources by 2050.




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Hanwha Group headquarters in Seoul, left, and HD Hyundai headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province/ Courtesy of each company



FTC to decide on Hanwha's DSME acquisition on April 26



By Park Jae-hyuk



The battle between Hanwha and HD Hyundai over the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is about to come to an end. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it will decide on April 26 whether to approve Hanwha's acquisition, via a 2-trillion-won rights offering, of the world's third-largest shipbuilder in terms of orders.



The FTC is widely expected to give the green light to Hanwha's acquisition of DSME from state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), following approvals by the antitrust regulators of foreign countries. Earlier this month, Hanwha even received the unconditional approval of the European Commission, which had vetoed HD Hyundai's previous attempt to acquire DSME in early 2022.



As a result, industry insiders are keeping a close eye on whether the FTC approval will come with strings attached.



"After finishing the review of Hanwha's DSME acquisition, we put the review report on the plenary meeting's table and sent the report to the company," the FTC told reporters on April 18. "During the plenary meeting on April 26, we will make the final decision on the approval and the level of measures to prevent unfair competition."



The regulator added that it decided to disclose the plenary meeting schedule, considering the level of public interest in the acquisition.



It is unusual for the FTC to hold a plenary meeting only a week after drawing up a review report. As a result, Hanwha, which is also a major arms manufacturer, is believed to have accepted a request by antitrust authorities to refrain from supplying defense systems to DSME's rivals at higher prices.



If the FTC gives only a conditional approval, the decision will contrast with the opinion of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which reportedly told the antitrust agency that the acquisition will not restrict competition in the warship market.



In addition, it could be seen as a decision that sides with HD Hyundai's labor union, which has been raising concerns about the possibility of Hanwha monopolizing the nation's warship market by taking advantage of its status as the sole supplier of defense systems for warships.





Hanwha Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan, left, and HD Hyundai President Chung Ki-sun / Courtesy of each company

Rivalry over warship market



When Hanwha announced its acquisition of DSME late last year, the conglomerate was expected to engage in a friendly rivalry with HD Hyundai, considering the friendship between the two groups' third-generation heirs. HD Hyundai President Chung Ki-sun, who was born in 1982, is just a year older than Hanwha Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan. Kim was also among some 100 guests who were invited to Chung's wedding in July 2020.



In response to the FTC's request for opinions about the acquisition, however, HD Hyundai and other shipbuilders reportedly expressed concerns about possible unfair competition in the warship market. HD Hyundai's union has officially urged the FTC to give its conditional approval of the deal.



"We do not oppose Hanwha's acquisition of DSME, but for the job security of workers building warships, the FTC should not give an unconditional approval," HD Hyundai's unionized workers said at a press conference on April 11.



They also picketed in front of the FTC at the Sejong Government Complex on April 17 and sent a letter to the antitrust regulator.



Hanwha, on the other hand, complained about the FTC's delayed decision, while viewing HD Hyundai's objections as intentional interference in its acquisition. KDB also expressed its disappointment that HD Hyundai's claim prompted the FTC to postpone its decision.



DSME's unionized workers, who belong to the Korean Metal Workers' Union along with the HD Hyundai union, have also called for an unconditional approval, despite their previous dispute with Hanwha's management.





Unionized workers of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, April 11, to urge the Fair Trade Commission not to give an unconditional approval for Hanwha's acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. Courtesy of HD Hyundai union




KCCI Vice Chairman Woo Tae-hee, fifth from left, poses with Mitsui Korea CEO Kazuhiro Iguchi, sixth from left, and other Korean and Japanese businessmen after a meeting at the KCCI building in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of KCCI
The 2024 race for the White House has only a handful of official candidates so far, with Democratic president Joe Biden yet to announce his plans and most Republican hopefuls still trying to decide whether to challenge former president Donald Trump.

Here is a list of major declared candidates and other potential 2024 hopefuls in both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Joe Biden

Mr Biden, 80, has been teasing his plans to seek a second term for months but has so far held off making an official announcement. He said on April 14th that he would announce "relatively soon".

Political analysts say there is little benefit to him jumping into the race too soon, with the election still 19 months away. In the meantime, he can continue to look presidential, although he still has poor approval ratings in opinion surveys. He does not face a serious threat from a Democratic challenger.

Donald Trump

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Mr Trump, 76, announced his election campaign last November as he faced some of the loudest criticism yet from within his Republican Party over his support for far-right candidates who were defeated in the midterm elections.

Like Mr Biden, he remains unpopular with great swaths of the electorate. But he has retained an iron grip on his base and strengthened his standing in polls after he was indicted by New York prosecutors in connection with an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Mr Trump is the front-runner in the Republican race.

Ron DeSantis

The Florida governor, who has styled himself as Trump but without the drama that surrounds the former president, has yet to announce but has made all the traditional moves of a would-be presidential candidate.

Mr DeSantis, 44, who ranks second to Mr Trump in most polls, has signed bills imposing new restrictions on abortion and further loosening gun laws, positions that may help him in the Republican primaries but would likely hurt him among independent and more moderate voters in the general election.

His battle with Walt Disney Co over its Florida theme park has unnerved some donors, as has his mixed messaging on continued US support for Ukraine and reluctance to respond aggressively to Mr Trump's personal attacks.

Nikki Haley

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Republican presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley participates in a conversation with Senator Joni Ernst hosted by the Bastion Institute in Clive, Iowa. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

A former governor of South Carolina and Mr Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Ms Haley, 51, has emphasised her relative youth compared to Mr Biden and Mr Trump as well as her background as the daughter of two Indian immigrants.

Ms Haley has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative who has the ability to address issues of gender and race in a more credible fashion than many of her peers.

She has also pitched herself as a stalwart defender of American interests abroad. She attracts about 3 per cent support among Republican voters.

Tim Scott

The only Black Republican US senator has low name recognition outside his home state of South Carolina, but his optimism and focus on unifying his divided party has helped him draw a contrast with the more aggressive approach by Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis.

Mr Scott supporters, however, acknowledge that while his sunny demeanor is a selling point it may not be enough to defeat the front-runners, especially Mr DeSantis, who can point to a list of conservative legislative accomplishments. Mr Scott, 57, has launched a presidential exploratory committee but not yet confirmed he plans to run.

Asa Hutchinson

The former Arkansas governor launched his bid for the White House in April with a call for Mr Trump to step aside to deal with his indictment. Mr Hutchinson, 72, has touted his experience leading the deeply conservative state as proof he can deliver on policies Republican voters care about, citing tax cuts and job creation initiatives as particular sources of pride. Still, his name recognition remains limited outside Arkansas.

Mike Pence

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Mr Trump's vice president has broken with his former boss over the 2021 attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol, while Mr Pence was inside the building.

Mr Pence, 63, says "history will hold Trump accountable" for his role in the attack. However, Mr Pence, like other Republican White House hopefuls, came to Mr Trump's defence after New York prosecutors charged him in the hush money case, underscoring the fear of alienating Mr Trump's supporters in the primaries. Mr Pence has said he is still deciding whether to seek the Republican nomination.

Chris Christie

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual leadership meeting on November 19th, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The pugnacious former New Jersey governor is reported to be mulling a possible campaign. Mr Christie, 60, who ran for president in 2016, is a one-time supporter of Mr Trump, but turned against him over the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Chris Sununu

The New Hampshire governor is also testing the waters of a presidential run. Mr Sununu, 48, who has served as governor of the small New England state since 2017, says the Republican Party needs new leadership, and he does not believe Mr Trump will be able to beat Biden.

Vivek Ramaswamy

A former biotechnology investor and executive, Mr Ramaswamy, 37, launched a firm in 2022 to pressure companies to abandon environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives. He announced in February he was running for the Republican nomination. The political outsider has excited a lot of grassroots chatter as a potential alternative to Mr Trump, but he remains a long-shot candidate.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

Robert F. Kennedy Jr hugs his wife actress Cheryl Hines on stage after announcing his candidacy for president on April 19th, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: Scott Eisen/Getty Images

An anti-vaccine activist, Mr Kennedy, 69, is making a long-shot bid to challenge Mr Biden for the Democratic nomination. He is the son of US Senator Robert F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid.

Mr Kennedy has been banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mike Pompeo

Mr Trump's former secretary of state and director of the Central Intelligence Agency was seen as a potential contender, but he has decided not to run for personal reasons. The former Kansas congressman was one of Trump's most loyal lieutenants and initially backed his false claims of a stolen presidential election in 2020.

Glenn Youngkin

The hedge fund manager turned Virginia governor was also seen as a possible contender for the Republican nomination after he focused on parents' rights in schools in his gubernatorial campaign. Several of his key staff, though, have recently joined the DeSantis camp, however, suggesting that Mr Youngkin, is not going to run in 2024.
Concern has been raised over the lack of safety barriers at the end of a steep descent onto the towpath on the Royal Canal at Ballybough in Dublin following the drowning of a young man last year.

Coroner Aisling Gannon said she would contact both Dublin City Council and Waterways Ireland about the concerns raised at an inquest into the death of Andres Navarro by the victims husband.

Mr Navarro (25), a Mexican national with an address at Clonliffe Road, Ballybough, drowned after falling into the canal from the towpath near the bridge at Ballybough in the early hours of August 21st, 2022.

The inquest at Dublin District Coroners Court heard the victims husband, Raymond McSweeney  whom he had married just six months earlier  became aware of his partners death while on holiday in Spain.

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Mr McSweeney said he had become worried that something was wrong as he had been unable to contact Mr Navarro by phone, which was unusual as he was always using it to check social media.

The witness said he had checked the news at around 10pm that evening and read that someone had been found in the canal.

Mr McSweeney said he contacted gardai at Mountjoy Garda station and was regretfully informed that Mr Navarro was the victim after he had provided a detailed description of his husband.

Results of the post-mortem examination showed Mr Navarro had consumed over six times the legal drink-driving limit for alcohol.

In reply to questions from Ms Gannon, Mr McSweeney said they would drink wine and beer but not a lot.

He said his husband had been in terrific form when he had last seen him the previous month before he left for Spain, and they had spoken by phone the day before he died. He also confirmed that Mr Navarro had no physical or mental health issues.

Safety barriers

Mr McSweeney pointed out that the path leading down to the canal from the bridge at Ballybough, where Mr Navarro had fallen into the water, was quite steep and had no safety barriers.

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Its quite open and there are no safety railings. It is used by a lot of people. You would need good balance not to descend into the canal, Mr McSweeney said.

Sergeant Elaine Murtagh, the lead investigator into Mr Navarros death, also agreed that the path was quite steep. It is quite a sharp drop down, she said.

She told the coroner that CCTV footage from before the incident had shown Mr Navarro being refused entry to the Boilerhouse gay sauna club in Temple Bar when he had appeared quite intoxicated.

Sgt Murtagh said he was also seen swaying heavily from side to side outside a fast food outlet.

He was next seen on a Garda CCTV camera going down the ramp to the towpath at Ballybough at around 4.37am, where he seemed to head for the water without slowing down at the location where his body was later found.

Sgt Murtagh said she was satisfied there was nothing suspicious in relation to Mr Navarros death as there was nobody else in the vicinity at the time based on the CCTV footage.

Misadventure

A friend of the deceased, Derek Kiernan, said he was also concerned when an app which showed Mr Navarro was at the Boilerhouse had not been updated since 4am, which was unusual as he was always on social media.

Although the canal was only about two metres deep, the inquest heard Mr Navarro was unable to swim.

The coroner said the results of a post-mortem confirmed that he had died from drowning.

While his level of alcohol was not independently fatal, Ms Gannon said it would have affected his ability to get out of the water.

The inquest heard his body was discovered around 12pm in the canal by a group of foreign students who alerted a local woman who called the emergency services.

Mr Navarro, who came to Ireland in 2018, had studied digital marketing in Dublin and was due to begin a course in European languages at University College Cork last September.

Returning a verdict of death by misadventure, Ms Gannon offered her condolences to Mr Navarros husband and friends as well as his mother, Margarita, who joined the inquest by video link from Mexico.

The coroner said she would ask the local authority and Waterways Ireland to consider the suggestion about safety barriers given the tragic event.
A 24-year-old Dublin man has been remanded in custody after the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) charged him with money laundering and assisting organised crime.

Funmi Abimbola, with an address at Rosse Court Terrace, Lucan, Co Dublin, faces seven counts of possessing crime proceeds totalling 7100 on dates in 2022.

Those alleged offences were under section seven of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.

He was also charged with an offence under Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 for assisting organised crime by providing bank accounts to another for money laundering from August 2018 until February 2021.

He appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on Thursday.

GNECB Detective Ciaran Ronan told the court the accused was arrested at his home at 6.45 am on Thursday and charged and made no reply.

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Judge Smyth noted that due to the section 72 charge, the accused could only apply for bail in the High Court.

Ireland Man jailed for 400,000 found at suspected money l... Read More

The GNECB officer also said the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed trial on indictment.

Judge Smyth remanded Mr Abimbola, who is yet to indicate a plea, in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on April 25th.

The court heard he was working, but the defence provided a statement of his means, and legal aid was granted. There was no Garda objection.

Prosecutors must prepare a book of evidence before he is returned for trial to the Circuit Court.
The Healy-Rae brothers, who are independents and make up two of the five TDs in Kerry, have ruled out joining a rural party.

Michael Fitzmaurice, the Independent TD for Roscommon/Galway, has said a new rural party is needed to target what is a pro Green and anti-farmer movement.

Theres a raft of different problems including nature restoration and farmers need clarity, he said.

Were a land of food producers, but the way we're going at the moment wed nearly prefer to bring it in from Brazil: we need clarity, we need to know where we are going; we need clarity, " Mr Fitzmaurice said on Radio Kerry on Wednesday.

He has also said it is the last chance for rural Ireland and has pointed to the success of a farmers party in the Netherlands recent elections.

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Two of Kerrys five TDs are the Independent Healy-Rae brothers, Michael and Danny. This morning the brothers Healy-Rae said they have not been approached but would be reluctant to give up their independent status.

They are already part of the Rural Independents Group to secure maximum speaking time, they said.

They also pointed to the fact that the Healy-Raes in Kerry are backed up by three Healy-Rae councillors representing three of Kerrys five Municipal districts - the independent councillors, Johnny and Maura, whose father is Danny and Jackie whose father is Michael.

'Shackles' of political parties

Michael Healy-Rae said being an independent means not being bound or by the shackles of political parties.

Independents were effective, Michael said. I am thankful, I am grateful, I was elected as an independent, Michael said.

Danny Healy-Rae said unlike other TDs they were not in pursuit of high profile positions and believed they served the people of Kerry well as independents.

We don't want State cars... we want to work for the people of Kerry.

What it is up there for many of them is about getting power and getting positions. What were about is representing the people. We dont want State cars, or we dont want high profile positions. We want to work for the people of Kerry, Danny said.

Meanwhile, there is some speculation Kerry will return to two three seaters under the constituencies review currently underway by An Coimisiun Toghchain which will see a minimum of 11 extra TDs in the next Dail.

Ireland Healy Rae brothers rule out joining rural Independ... Read More

The huge county with three peninsulas has been a single constituency since 2016 when it lost a TD.

It takes almost three hours to travel from one end of the single constituency to the other.

The current constituency commission will take into account geography, significant physical features as well as population density under its terms of reference.

Submissions close on 10th May.
A students personal injuries action against his former secondary school over facial injuries he sustained in a lunchtime altercation has been dismissed by the High Court.

Ricardo Silva Junior was 13 and in second year at Templeogue College when the altercations between him and a classmate occurred on November 28th, 2016.

The other boy, who was not a party to the proceedings, was suspended over the events, the court heard.

After hearing the plaintiffs case on Thursday morning, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart said the court has every sympathy for Mr Silva, but she did not feel a case was made out that the school was responsible for the events.

She pointed to the fact that the other student was suspended, and the incident which caused the injuries happened on a public footpath.

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Mr Silva, now 21 and in his first year of a science degree at University College Dublin, told the court he required immediate dental work and stitches to his split gum after the other 14-year-old punched him three or four times while on a public road near to their school. He was also kicked in the groin, he said.

I remember just feeling my tooth hanging from my lip, he said, adding that he ran into the school and reported the incident to a teacher.

The pair had been involved in an earlier incident during their shorter morning break, when, Mr Silva said, he sat on a banana skin and a yoghurt that he was told had been put there by the other boy. There was no teacher in the classroom, as they were waiting for their English teacher to arrive after the break.

Mr Silva said he put the lunch items on the other boys desk, resulting in that student punching him in the face. Mr Silva said their teacher then entered and he did not inform any school employee about the punch.

Incident

Later, during their longer lunch break, the applicant said he encountered the boy again at a nearby filling station. He said other students egged him on to start something with the other boy, but he claimed he wasnt bothered.

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Mr Silva did, however, take the students hat from his head, he told the court. As they were returning to school, but still on the public footpath, the other student punched and kicked him, he said.

Under cross-examination from the schools lawyers, Finbarr Fox SC, with Adrianne Fields BL, Mr Silva said he was not sure what he expected would happen after he took the boys hat.

It was a little joke and a non-physical way to get back at the boy for what had happened earlier, he responded.

Ireland Pensioner (76) told gardai he would shoot whoever... Read More

Mr Silva agreed with Mr Fox that he received help from the school when he returned and reported the assault. He agreed the teachers had no knowledge of the earlier incident until that point.

In his action, Mr Silva alleged the school had failed to exercise the required care and supervision. His counsel said there should have been a proper system of supervision in place for the large number of students who go off on their lunch break to the nearby shop. The school denied the claims.

Dismissing the case before the school went on to present its defence, Ms Justice Stewart said: It seems to me that clearly an unfortunate incident occurred, and injuries were sustained by Mr Silva, but it was handled appropriately when they [the students] returned to school.

She made no order as to the parties legal costs.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the new EU-UK trade deal for Northern Ireland will not be renegotiated, but added that Brexit will never just be done.

The Taoiseach also said he is working with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak to attempt to restore the powersharing institutions after Northern Irelands local elections next month.

In a push to revive the Stormont Assembly and executive, a new trade agreement was struck by the EU and UK in February that sought to amend the post-Brexit protocol and resolve the concerns about red tape raised by Northern Ireland businesses and unionists.

Although the British parliament and EU have formally signed off on the Windsor Framework deal, the DUP and former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have voted against a key element of it.

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The DUP has made clear its ongoing boycott of the powersharing institutions will continue until it secures further assurances over its concerns around sovereignty and the application of EU law in Northern Ireland.

During a live interview at Bloombergs New Economy Gateway Europe event in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said that he believes the Windsor Framework resolves the relationship between the UK and EU.

It has now been agreed between the EU and the UK, nobody is calling for it to be opened or renegotiated, not even the DUP, he said on Thursday.

The issues they raise are bilateral with the UK Government. So I do think it gives us a settled trading relationship for Northern Ireland.

Now we need to focus on getting institutions back up and running, but that wont involve reopening the Windsor Framework.

He also said that he hoped for a closer trade relationship between the UK and the EU in future years, but added that the prospect of the UK rejoining the bloc was remote.

What I would say though, is that none of these things are necessarily the final word with the UKs trading relationship with the EU, he said.

We know that in the next few months, they are going to start their checks on imports from the EU.

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Thats going to affect us, and anyone who trades with the UK. Brexit will never just be done, it will require constant negotiations and alterations to the relationship.

The beautiful thing about the single market is that you dont need to worry about any of that, you all have the same rules.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says he hopes the UK will one day seek a closer relationship with the EU again, but rejoining is "a remote prospect."



Latest from Bloomberg #NewEconomyGateway https://t.co/OQF7nFLIYypic.twitter.com/kz1voNVXVh  Bloomberg (@business) April 20, 2023

The relationship with the UK is going to be more like the relationships we have with Switzerland or other third countries like Norway, where agreements have to be amended from time to time.

One thing I would still hope for in the future, and its not impossible in my view, is that a future British government  maybe not the next one, maybe not the one after that  will seek a closer relationship with the European Union again.

That might not be rejoining, I think thats a remote prospect, but it might involve a revision of the Trade Cooperation Agreement to have a closer relationship, and thats something that the door will always be open to.

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He said he hoped pressure on DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson would have a positive effect.

But I dont think the DUP will be browbeaten or bullied into doing anything. They will make their decisions based on what they think is right, hopefully, what is right for Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the UK, and not what is just right for them as a political party.

And they have set up a group under Peter Robinson that is advising them on what the next step forward should be.

There are local elections in May, but Prime Minister Sunak and I will be working towards a window after the local elections to try and get the institutions stood up.

Im very keen to talk to the five major parties about that.

Lets not forget there are five major parties in Northern Ireland. The DUP is important because it is the biggest party representing the unionist community. But it is not the only one. It has 20% of the vote and we shouldnt forget that.

And I do think that if the new Executive is going to be set up, it will need help from the two governments  political help, financial help, and were up for that.

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He said that the only plan is to stand up for the institutions and said that he didnt believe that anyone thought direct rule from Westminster was viable.

And nobody thinks that a new set of elections will change things. So Plan A is the only plan at the moment, he said.
The British Queen Consorts son has hit back at claims Camilla played an end game to become Queen  saying she just married the person she loved.

Tom Parker Bowles, speaking on The News Agents podcast, insisted: I think change happens but I dont care what anyone says  this wasnt any sort of end game.

She married the person she loved and this is what happened.

His remarks counter allegations by his stepbrother the Duke of Sussex, who branded Camilla dangerous in his autobiography Spare and wrote how she played the long game, with a campaign aimed at marriage and the crown.

Camilla with son Tom Parker-Bowles and daughter Laura Lopes at the Cheltenham Festival (PA)

Asked if his mother will be anxious ahead of the coronation on May 6th, Mr Parker Bowles told hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel it is tough to take on such a role during the ceremony but shes never complained.

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I think anyone would be anxious on an occasion of this sort of importance in terms of the historical. And yes, I think Id be terrified if I had to sort of walk out wearing ancient robes he said.

Shes 75, but you know, its tough to do it. But shes never complained. You just do it. get on with it.

Mr Parker Bowles praised the King and Queen Consort, saying: I think theyre doing amazingly. I think King Charles is a good, kind, intelligent man who cares deeply about his roles wherever they may be, Prince of Wales, the King, he said.

Charles and Camilla on their wedding day, with Camillas son Tom and daughter Laura, and Princes William and Harry (PA)

He championed Charles for being way ahead of his time on issues like sustainability, food security, farming and pollution.

People were calling him sort of mad and eccentric 20 years ago. Everything that hes talked about are now things that have hit the mainstream and now were really worrying about, he said.

Asked if it is weird to think of Camilla as the Queen, Mr Parker Bowles said: Not really because shes still our mother. I say our but not the royal we, speaking for my sister and me. Shes our mother.

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Mr Parker Bowles said he will not be getting a title, adding: Youre not going to find us with great estates and being called the duke of whatever. No. That would be appalling.

Charles and Camilla will be crowned on May 6th (PA)

He also backed the right to protest when asked if he is worried about anti-monarchy group Republics demonstrations on the day.

Everyone has the right to think what they want Going back to Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion and Republic whatever it is, everyone has a right to their say, he said.

We live in, thankfully, a free country If people want to protest thats their right to do so

Republic is set to stage the largest protest action in its history by lining the coronation procession route and gathering in Trafalgar Square.

In interviews to promote his book, Harry called Camilla a villain and spoke of bodies being left in the street during her image rehabilitation.

The Duke of Sussex criticised Camilla in his book (PA)

He described in his memoir how he and the now-Prince of Wales pleaded with their father not to wed the then-Mrs Parker Bowles, saying: He didnt answer.

But she answered. Straight away. Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game.

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A campaign aimed at marriage, and eventually the crown, with Pas blessing we presumed.

Mr Parker Bowles was asked if there was panic over fears Harry and the Duchess of Sussex would not attend the Coronation and replied: Nothing to do with me at all, though I did ask if Harry Kane was going as captain of England

My mother didnt know I dont know if hes coming.

The duke is flying in from the US for the royal event, though his wife Meghan is staying in California.

The full interview with Mr Parker Bowles is available on The News Agents podcast on Global Player from 5pm on Thursday.
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a national strategy meeting on the battery industry at Yeongbingwan, a reception hall at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential office and residence in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap



Nation aims to secure lead in solid-state batteries



By Baek Byung-yeul



Korea will invest 20 trillion won ($15.1 billion) in the electric vehicle (EV) battery industry by 2030 to turn it into a key component of the country's national security and strategic assets, along with semiconductors, and to secure a significant lead over rivals, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday.



Yoon made the comments while presiding over a national strategy meeting on the battery industry with officials from the government, industry and academia at Yeongbingwan, a reception hall in Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential office and residence in Seoul.



The president added that EV batteries are becoming more important, because they are at the center of the global race to attain technological supremacy.



"Their importance is indescribable and they are at the center of today's global race for technological supremacy," Yoon said. "If we are overtaken by competitors on both [EV batteries and semiconductors], the impact on the entire industry will be enormous. The secondary battery sector is dependent on securing key minerals and materials. We need to diversify our supply chain by reducing our dependence on a single country, build a rich network to secure minerals and materials and reduce the cost of acquiring materials."



To widen its lead over competitors, Yoon said industrial ecosystems, such as materials, equipment and parts, as well as labor supply and investments, are necessary.



"We need to create a robust industrial ecosystem from small parts to finished products based on a stable supply chain. We also need to expand investments so that we possess world-class competitiveness, not only in finished products, but also in materials and equipment, and we need to do everything possible to ensure that we have a timely supply of talented professionals," he said.



The president added that "securing next-generation battery technologies will determine the future success of our battery industry," stressing that Korea "needs to maintain its edge with technological innovations that dramatically increase performance and safety."





President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, speaks during a national strategy meeting on the battery industry at Yeongbingwan in Seoul, Thursday. Participants of the meeting include Choo Kyung-ho, left, minister of economy and finance, Kwon Young-soo, second from left, vice chairman of LG Energy Solution, and Lee Chang-yang, right, minister of trade, industry and energy. Yonhap
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is set to begin a trip abroad on Saturday taking him through Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

While some details of the trip are unclear, and it is officially billed as a trade mission, the tour is widely seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials in the lead-up to an official announcement, expected in the late spring or early summer.

The governor had said in March that the Ukraine war is a "territorial dispute" and that it is not of strategic interest to the United States, a position he has since partially walked back. Those comments provoked criticism from Democrats and many Republicans, though it is a stance he shares with about half of the party's base as well as Republican former president Donald Trump.

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In Japan, Mr Santis is expected to meet with prime minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, said two other people, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. He is also slated to travel to Seoul, Tel Aviv and London in that order.

Back home in Florida, there are signs he is beginning to build out a foreign policy apparatus. His political operation is in the process of bringing on Dustin Carmack, a cybersecurity and intelligence expert with significant foreign policy experience, said one of the people.

Mr DeSantis travelled to Washington earlier this week to meet with Republicans in the US House of Representatives. Shortly after his visit, several representatives from Florida endorsed Mr Trump in a blow to the governor.

Mr DeSantis is set to address an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a major think tank, on Friday.
Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the year on Thursday for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

The Ukrainian photographers image from March 9th last year of the fatally wounded woman, her left hand on her bloodied lower left abdomen, drove home the horror of Russias brutal onslaught in the eastern port city early in the war.

The 32-year-old woman, Iryna Kalinina, died of her injuries a half hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby named Miron.

For me, it is a moment that all the time I want to forget, but I cannot. The story will always stay with me, Mr Maloletka said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

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Evgeniy Maloletka poses in front of the winning photo (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most defining images of the Russia-Ukraine war amid incredibly challenging circumstances, said AP senior vice president and executive editor, Julie Pace.

She added: Without his unflinching courage, little would be known of one of Russias most brutal attacks. We are enormously proud of him.

AP Director of Photography J David Ake added: Its not often that a single image becomes seared into the worlds collective memory.

Evgeniy Maloletka lived up to the highest standards of photojournalism by capturing the decisive moment, while upholding the tradition of AP journalists worldwide to shine a light on what would have otherwise remained unseen.

Photographer Evginiy Maloletka remained in Mariupol as Russian forces took over the city (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

Mr Maloletka and AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov, who also is Ukrainian, arrived in Mariupol just as Russias February 24 2022 invasion sparked Europes biggest conflict since the SEcond World War.

They stayed for more than two weeks, chronicling the Russian military pounding the city and hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.

An AP investigation found that as many as 600 people may have been killed when a Mariupol theatre being used as a bomb shelter was hit on March 16 last year.

The pair were the only international journalists left in the city when they finally managed a risky escape.

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War in Ukraine Ukraines outrage grows over video showing soldie... Read More

In the three other global categories announced on Thursday, two-time World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen of Denmark won Photo Story of the Year for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures, titled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan, about daily life in Afghanistan in 2022.

Anush Babajanyan of Armenia won the Long-Term Project award for Battered Waters for VII Photo and National Geographic Society, and Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award for Here, The Doors Dont Know Me.

The four global winners were selected from more than 60,000 entries submitted by 3,752 entrants from 127 countries.
Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown on Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen.

In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals.

The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon  something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on.

Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations.



Beauticians paint the hands of customers with traditional henna in preparation for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr celebrations, in Karachi, Pakistan (Fareed Khan/AP)

This year again, the holiday comes amid fighting and devastation, particularly in the Middle East.

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In Sudan, the holiday was eclipsed by raging battles between the army and its rival paramilitary force, despite two attempted ceasefires.

The fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands.

In Yemen, the Arab worlds most impoverished nation, a stampede late on Wednesday at a charitable event in the rebel-held capital Sanaa killed at least 78 people and injured 77.

Religious authorities in both Sudan and Yemen said they will mark the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.

In Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population worldwide, the second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah  with more than 60 million members  said that according to its astronomical calculations, the holiday of Eid al-Fitr starts on Friday.



People on motorcycles head to their home villages, leaving from Jakarta, Indonesia (Achmad Ibrahim/AP)

However, the countrys religious affairs minister had announced on Thursday that the start of the holiday would fall on Saturday.

In some places, tensions and fighting had calmed.

Long-time Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed last month to restore diplomatic ties after China-brokered negotiations  an ongoing reconciliation that has de-escalated proxy wars in the region.

Saudi officials and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen recently began talks in Sanaa and during the last days of Ramadan exchanged hundreds of prisoners captured in Yemens civil war, which erupted in 2014.

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Riyadh also sent its top diplomat to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a significant step towards ending his political isolation and potentially returning the war-torn country to the Arab League.

However, Tehran and Riyadh disagreed on the start of the holiday  for Saudis, Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday while officials in Iran said it starts on Saturday.

The start of the holiday is traditionally based on sightings of the new moon, which vary according to geographic location, while some countries rely on astronomical calculations rather than physical sightings to determine the start of Eid al-Fitr.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar followed Saudi Arabia and announced the holiday would begin for them on Friday, while their Gulf Arab neighbour, Oman, declared that the moon had not been sighted and the holiday would begin on Saturday.



Somalis shop at a street market in Mogadishu as preparations are made for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr (Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP)

Iraqs Sunni authorities announced the holiday would begin on Friday, while the countrys top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, set a Saturday start date.

The governments of Lebanon and Syria, both in the throes of crippling economic crises, said Friday would mark the beginning of the days-long holiday.

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Indonesias security minister Mohammad Mahfud called on Muslims to be respectful of each others celebrations, and asked Muhammadiyah members to have their holiday feasts at home  in consideration of the Muslims who would still be fasting on Friday.

The countrys roads and highways were gridlocked as millions crammed into trains, ferries, buses and on motorcycles, as they left cities to return to their villages to celebrate with family.

The government estimated that more than 123 million travellers were expected to crisscross the vast archipelago that spans 17,000 islands, with about 18 million departing from Jakartas greater metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, clerics of Pakistans state-backed moon sighting committee announced at a news conference in Islamabad that Eid al-Fitr would be celebrated on Saturday in Pakistan as there were no sightings of the moon there.

Egypt and Jordan said that for them Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday.

In divided Libya, the religious authorities based in the capital Tripoli said it would start on Saturday.

In the countrys east, run by a rival administration, authorities marked Friday as the start.

In Afghanistan, the head of the Taliban-appointed judiciary, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, also said the holiday would start on Friday.
American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, according to the countrys defence minister.

The US agreed in October to supply the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles which Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

Defence minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted: Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure.



Patriot missile launchers deployed in Warsaw, Poland (Michal Dyjuk/AP)

Mr Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.

Western allies have pledged tanks, artillery and some fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed a Patriot system was among military item delivered in the past week, saying the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defence systems pledged by Germany last year had also been delivered.

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Air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.





Patriots for patriots



Do you know how to visualize a dream? We must tell about it to the world and give it life! This is exactly what happened with the Patriots, even before the large-scale war, even before my appointment to the most important position of my life at the most pic.twitter.com/m6H63erV6Z  Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 19, 2023

Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

The Patriot was first deployed by the US in the 1980s.

The system costs approximately four million US dollars (per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say.

At such a cost, its not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he has visited Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraines southern Kherson and easternmost Luhansk provinces.

The purpose of the trip was to meet with the military, whom I did not want to distract for a long time and a long distance from the deployment of the units they command, he said.
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home paid tribute to Paul OGrady with a canine guard of honour at his funeral, describing the late entertainer as the beating heart of the charity.

Mourners arriving at the private service were greeted by a dog called Ernie, who had met the TV star and his friend, the British Queen Consort, on a number of occasions.

A trio of puppies from the rescue centre were also on hand to meet friends and relatives arriving at St Rumwolds Parish Church in the Kent village of Bonnington.

Fleur Boyd and her mother, Astrid Allen, from Margate, together with their dogs, were among those paying their respects (Yui Mok/PA)

Celebrity chef Andi Oliver and Coronation Street star Sally Lindsay were among the mourners petting the animals before entering for the service.

OGrady 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.

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After his death, the charity set up a tribute fund which has so far raised more than 270,000.

Ahead of the funeral, Ali Taylor, head of canine behaviour at Battersea, told the PA news agency: Ernie met Paul two years ago when he was about five weeks old. Hes met him several times. We felt he should come along today.

Well-wishers lined the streets of Paul OGradys home village of Aldington, many of them accompanied by their dogs (Yui Mok/PA)

Its going to be a tough day for everyone. Were here to really honour Paul and everything he has done for everyone, all the different communities, and especially Battersea.

Weve been working with Paul for just over 11 years on Paul OGrady: For The Love Of Dogs at Battersea. He was the beating heart of Battersea, weve lost a very good friend.

She added: The only thing we can say is God bless and he was such an incredible man and we are all going to miss him.

Before the service, well-wishers lined the streets of OGradys nearby home village of Aldington, many of them accompanied by their dogs, including some in pushchairs.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said he believes power-sharing will be back up and running in Northern Ireland by the autumn.

The DUP is using a veto contained within the power-sharing structures to prevent the operation of devolution in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements the party contends has weakened Northern Irelands place within the UK.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak made a direct appeal to unionists blocking the institutions in a speech at Queens University Belfast on Wednesday.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak speaking at Queens University Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Sunak insists the new Windsor Framework deal he recently struck with the EU had addressed the DUP concerns over sovereignty and trade.

But the DUP remains unconvinced by the new settlement and is urging the Government to provide more assurances.

Mr Beattie, however, is optimistic about the DUP returning to power-sharing.

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Speaking on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Beattie, who says he has a really good relationship with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said: Im in no doubt the Executive will get up and running.

Its not a case of if, its a case of when.

He said he talks often to Sir Jeffrey, but that his comments did not amount to him providing an inside track on DUP thinking.

Its my analysis of where we are, because theres nothing else we can do. We have to get Stormont up and running again.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie (Brian Lawless)

We have to grasp those opportunities. We have to start doing legislation to help the people of Northern Ireland, all the people of Northern Ireland, and I think we will do.

Its a case of: when is that going to happen? Now were in the middle of an election, so nothings going to happen now or afterwards in the marching season.

But I would imagine in the autumn that we will definitely have an executive running again.

Asked whether he was saying he believes the DUP will be back in Stormont by autumn 2023, Mr Beattie said: Thats my analysis looking at things as they stand.

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So Im giving you an analysis. Now people will disagree with that. The DUP may even disagree with that and I have no issue with that.

Ive just given you what my belief is from the analysis that I have made.

During his speech at the conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Sunak said restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland is the right thing to do for the future of the Union.

Addressing unionist political representatives, Mr Sunak said: I urge you to work with us to get Stormont up and running again.

Thats the right thing to do in its own terms. Im convinced its also the right thing to do for our union.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (Aaron Chown/PA)

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson responded later saying the damaged foundations of devolved government must have unionist as well as nationalist support for sustainable devolved government.

We seek to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly by finishing the job of fully restoring Northern Irelands place in the United Kingdom, he said in a statement.

We stand ready to work with the Prime Minister and his Government to ensure that stable devolution is delivered through sustainable and balanced outcomes that have solid foundations based on the support of unionists as well as nationalists.

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We must get the foundations right. Short-term fixes will lead to short-term devolution and will do a disservice to those trying to make the institutions work.

We are in the business of finishing the job and ensuring that NIs position within the Union is not continually undermined.

Northern Ireland will only ever move forward if we all move forward together.
The long-awaited report into bullying allegations made against Dominic Raab has been received by the UK prime minister.

But uncertainty remains over when the review will be made publicly available and what action  if any  Rishi Sunak will decide to take over the British deputy prime minister on the strength of its findings.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the questions surrounding the report and what might happen next.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Charles McQuillan/PA)

 What is the report?

Adam Tolley KC, a senior employment lawyer, was appointed in November to investigate a number of allegations made against Mr Raab by civil servants who worked in his departments.

Dozens of officials are thought to be involved in eight formal complaints relating to bullying.

Mr Tolley has taken a thorough approach to examining the allegations, questioning the deputy prime minister multiple times among other interviewees as well as taking written evidence.

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Senior civil servants in the three UK government departments headed by Mr Raab  Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Simon McDonald, a former permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office, and Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary at the now-defunct Department for Exiting the European Union  are also understood to have spoken to the inquiry.

Mr Raab was reappointed to the Cabinet by Rishi Sunak (James Manning/PA)

 How has Dominic Raab responded to the complaints?

The British deputy prime minister has denied the allegations but pledged to resign if he is found to have bullied officials.

He has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully, but defended his forthright approach to his work.

 How is the prime minister likely to respond?

Downing Street has refused to be drawn on whether the UK prime minister would sanction or sack Mr Raab if the findings of the report are damning.

Last month, Mr Sunak evaded questions about his response to the inquirys findings, saying he will not pre-empt a process which has not been completed.

After it was received by No 10 on Thursday, the prime ministers official spokesperson indicated he maintained full confidence in his deputy but that he was carefully considering the reports conclusions.

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Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry (Aaron Chown/PA)

 What will the reports wider effect be on the prime minister and the UK government?

If the conclusions are damning, Mr Sunak will be under growing pressure to take appropriate action against his deputy.

Mr Sunak is the ultimate arbiter on issues around ministerial conduct and the final decision on his Mr Raab will rest with him.

He will also be under renewed scrutiny over his decision reappoint Mr Raab to the cabinet.

Downing Street has said Mr Sunak did not know about any formal complaints before forming his first cabinet in October, but has not said whether he was aware of any other concerns.

Mr Raabs allies have defended him throughout the inquiry but backbencher Sir Jake Berry, who served in the cabinets of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Theresa May, suggested it was wrong for Mr Raab to be allowed to continue in his job while under investigation.

Mr Sunak has received the report (House of Commons/PA)

 When will the report be published?

Downing Street would not indicate when the report will be published but insisted a resolution will be sought as swiftly as possible.

It had previously been suggested that the review could be released shortly after the Prime Minister receives it.
Workers demolish a residential building heavily damaged during Russia's attack in the town of Irpin, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 19. Reuters-Yonhap



U.S. President Joe Biden's administration announced $325 million in new military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday to help its military in its war against Russia, including additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), advanced missiles and anti-tank mines.



It is the 36th security package for Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and brings total U.S. military assistance for the Kyiv government to more than $35.4 billion in that time.



"This security assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine's defenders on the battlefield," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.



HIMARS is a missile launcher mounted on a truck that can fire multiple guided missiles in quick succession. Missiles supplied to Ukraine have a range of up to 50 miles (80 km) and Ukrainian forces have had great success using them to target Russian positions.





U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference at the conclusion of a G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at The Prince Karuizawa hotel in Karuizawa, Japan, April 18. Reuters-Yonhap
An Australian charity has launched a criminal complaint against a company selling dolphin meat on Yahoo! Japan after it found meat purchased from the site contained mercury levels nearly 100 times over the safety limit mandated by the Japanese government.

Action for Dolphins (AFD) engaged a local investigator to purchase two packets of Rissos dolphin offal, which were tested at a Japanese laboratory.

One of the dolphin meat samples acquired by Action for Dolphins and tested for mercury. Credit: Action for Dolphins

The mercury levels were 97.5 times higher than the government-set regulatory limit in one sample and 80 times higher in another.

We were quite shocked at just how high the results were, AFD chief executive Hannah Tait said. Were alleging that the Joreimaru Whale Specialty Store has been engaged in long-running habitual criminal activity by selling meat with such high levels of mercury.
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Eating outJust open Three new Melbourne lunch spots (and theyre not all sandwiches) A Japanese favourite switches gears to grab-and-go, OlMates Southbank sangers come northside and more. Emma Breheny April 20, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

OlMates crosses the river Southbank sandwich bar OlMates, spotting a rare sandwich-free zone in Melbournes north, has opened in Thornbury. It brings the teams South Asian-skewed sandwiches, such as roast beef with a rogan josh dipping sauce, to a different, more leisurely crowd. Spice-roasted cauliflower with date and tamarind chutney is one of OlMates South Asian-insipred fillings. Supplied Chef Pranav Walimbe is responsible for sneaking green chilli, coriander and ginger into bread rolls, as in a recent special featuring porchetta cooked with flavours of cafreal, a coriander-heavy dish hailing from Goa, India. Vegetarian options include spice-crusted cauliflower with date and tamarind chutney, or crushed chickpeas and salad. More common sandwiches, such as fried chicken and coleslaw on brioche, or a meatball sub, are also in the mix.

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The green-tiled shop has 15 seats inside for longer visits, which are more common at this shop according to co-owner Annie Martinu. She and partner Andreas also own Reverence Coffee Roasters, which is the bean of choice across espresso and batch brew. Open Mon-Fri 7am-2.30pm, Sat 8am-2.30pm. OlMates, 779 High Street, Thornbury, instagram.com/olmates.au Ima sets up shop Dearly loved Carlton spot Ima Project Cafe has resurfaced in Brunswick with not one but two ways to enjoy its Japanese-meets-Aussie fare.

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While new sit-down venue Ima Asa/Yoru (translating to day/night) is under construction, the team are keeping busy two doors away with Ima Pantry. The pantry harnesses the best parts of an artisan grocer, cafe and convenience store, stocking everything from milk, soap and fresh produce to hojicha powder and small-batch yuzu kosho. Ima Pantry combines the best of cafes, grocers and Japanese convenience stores. Supplied The spare industrial fit-out is offset by enormous rice-paper lamp shades. Browse the impressive retail range before taking a look at that days offering for lunch. Five different dishes are served bento-style with rice, with the daily menu of okazu (side dishes) recently including Japanese potato salad, a type of stir-fry known as kinpira, and grilled broccolini with sesame dressing. You can also get onigiri, which were only served at Ima as part of meal sets, and Japanese-accented toasties. Keep an eye out for weekend specials.

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Open Mon 7.30-3pm, Wed-Sun 7.30-3pm. Ima Pantry, 9 Duckett Street, Brunswick, imaproject.co Sydneys Destination Roll arrives in Melbourne Lunch on a budget in the CBD is still possible, thanks to the arrival of Sydney chain Destination Roll. The banh mi specialist is filling crusty rolls  apparently baked every 15 minutes  with barbecue pork, crisp-skin chicken or other combinations, plus all the pickles, chilli and coriander youd expect. Prices start at $10 and dont go beyond $12.

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Sydney banh mi shop Destination Roll has touched down in Melbourne. Piers Fitton Photography Since opening in Sydneys west more than 10 years ago, Destination has grown to have 12 shops around the harbour city. This is its first Melbourne location. The menu also offers pho and pork chop with broken rice  but with a name like Destination Roll, we reckon the sandwiches are the safe bet. Open Mon-Thu 9am-2pm, Fri 11am-3pm. Destination Roll, shop 6, 699 Collins Street, Docklands, destinationroll.com.au
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Review Eating outMarrickville Wheres Nick was always a good place to drink wine, but now its an excellent one Callan Boys April 21, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

This story is part of the April 22 Edition of Good Weekend. See all stories .

1 / 6 Suburban charmer Wheres Nick opened in Marrickville in 2017. Jennifer Soo 2 / 6 Sorrel vichyssoise (chilled potato and leek soup). Jennifer Soo 3 / 6 Confit duck leg with blood plum. Jennifer Soo 4 / 6 Go-to dish: Beef carpaccio with bone marrow aioli. Jennifer Soo 5 / 6 Rum baba cake with plum. Jennifer Soo 6 / 6 The neighbourhood wine bar is a friendly local bolthole for catch-ups. Jennifer Soo Previous Slide Next Slide 14 / 20 How we score European$$$ Welcome to the year of the wine bar. But wine bars have been around for decades, I hear you say. Whats the next big thing  sushi? Sliced bread? True, there have been wine bars in Sydney since Len Evans opened Bulletin Place in the late 60s, but were about to see a great deal more of them. Flexibility is key in 2023, whether youre working from home, streaming Succession, or hitting the Peloton for a late-night personalised cardio session. And wine bars, with their chalkboard menus of small plates and by-the-glass options, tend to offer flexibility in spades. After some olives and a quick exit in case of first-date emergency? Down for a safe space where cheese can be classified as dinner? Up for a three-bottle lunch of snacky European things like beignets, parfait and blistered peppers? Hey, lets check out that new wine bar!

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10 of Sydneys best wine bars Mind you, Wheres Nick isnt new. Brothers Julian and Dominic Abouzeid opened the joint in an old Marrickville Road cake shop in 2017. (The name comes from a third brother, Nick, whos not directly involved.) Its a friendly bolthole for catch-ups, with a hotchpotch of furniture influenced more by local thrift stores than current trends and Koskela. Wheres Nick was also a good place to drink wine until 2020, when sommelier Bridget Raffal left Stanmores three-hatted Sixpenny to become a co-owner of Wheres Nick and essentially run the show. Now its an excellent place to drink wine. Theres a long list featuring plenty of dry rose, Southern Rhone grenache, Australian chardonnay and Old World rarities. Bottle prices range from $55 for a 2017 Elm Bomba white blend from Heathcote, Victoria, to $1100 for a 2013 Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru Millesime grower champagne. And yes, theres a lot of natural stuff made with minimal interference. I know many seasoned drinkers who baulk at natural wine. Too much volatile acidity and farmyard funk! they howl.

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But those wild, off-piste attributes are making wine fans out of Millennials in a way that traditional brands (Wolf Blass and Penfolds, say) can only dream of. Its not a coincidence that natural winemaking and wine bars have grown in popularity together. Chef Leila Khazma has led Wheres Nicks tiny kitchen since January, and the food often feels like something you might eat for dinner at the house of an old friend. The kind of friend who owns a well-thumbed copy of Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food and counts down the days to quince season. Bright and crunchy radishes are sliced in half and liberally dolloped with house-made labne ($6 each). Anchovies are draped across crostinis glistening with preserved-lemon butter ($6 each). Raffal offers to divide a sorrel oil-licked vichyssoise ($20) across two bowls, and the chilled potato and leek soup is perfect for one of those April days when the weather doesnt know if its coming or going. Go-to dish: Beef carpaccio with bone marrow aioli. Jennifer Soo

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And this year I am yet to taste anything as unapologetically beefy as Khazmas carpaccio of garnet-red fillet steak in a pool of salmoriglio  Sicilys garlicky sauce of olive oil, lemon and oregano ($30). The meat is already top-notch gear, sourced from Marrickvilles Whole Beast Butchery, and the young chef amplifies the flavour with silky bone-marrow aioli. Terrific, of course, with a slab of crusty house-baked focaccia ($6). The food often feels like something you might eat for dinner at the house of an old friend. Khazmas pizza oven is her most valuable player, roasting a fennel seed-speckled farinata (chickpea pancake) into crunchy-edged golden discs for $6 a pop. Grab one to soak up the herby oils of a submissive braised artichoke, stuffed Roman-style with chilli, garlic and walnuts ($18). Meanwhile, baked kibbeh ($18) is a warm embrace of Khazmas Egyptian-Lebanese heritage  a hunky, rustic slice of minced lamb and medieval spices.

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Confit duck leg ($28) is drier than it ought to be, especially in comparison to the kibbeh, but I could eat its accompanying roasted, fleshy blood plums all day. Rum baba cake with blood plum and real-deal cream. Jennifer Soo Theres more blood-plum action baked into a rum baba cake ($12) thats buttery and light like brioche, served with real-deal cream that grips the back of your spoon. We pair it with a lush Noahs Mill Kentucky Bourbon ($18) thats all prunes and spice and autumn afternoons. There are wine bars in Sydney, such as Monopole in the CBD, with deeper cellars and more composed food, but I cant think of one thats more convivial. With Khazma on the pans, and plans for house-made charcuterie and more back-vintage wines, it seems that after six years, Wheres Nick is just getting started. The lowdown Vibe: Suburban charmer where everybody knows your name Go-to dish: Beef carpaccio with bone marrow aioli ($30) Drinks: Exciting but accessible list full of sustainably made wines, independent beers, amaro and small-batch spirits Cost: About $130 for two, excluding drinks This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine
A former NSW homicide squad boss and deputy police commissioner has told an inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes that he was surprised when a coroner concluded that US national Scott Johnson died in Sydney as a result of a gay-hate attack.

Mick Willing, who left the force last year after a three-decade career, was an assistant police commissioner in 2017 when then-coroner Michael Barnes concluded after a third inquest that Johnson, then 27, had met with foul play when he died in December 1988.

Former deputy NSW police commissioner Mick Willing at the LGBTIQ inquiry last year. Credit: Peter Rae

Johnsons naked body was found at the base of a cliff at Blue Fish Point, near Manlys North Head. Barnes determined that the area above the rocks was at that time a gay beat.

The first inquest into Johnsons death, completed within a day in 1989, found Johnson died by suicide. A second inquest, in 2012, returned an open finding that his death could have been suicide, an accident or murder.
The Perth CBDs seemingly endless stretch of front lawn looks set to grow even further along the river as government planners struggle to find viable options for the future of the Waterbank site east of the city.

The site was being investigated by the WA government as a potential site for the future East Perth Primary School, but it didnt prove as feasible as the car park site next to Queens Gardens that has ultimately been chosen.

The Waterbank site has remained a sandpit for years. Credit: Emma Young

With that idea falling through and no serious contenders to develop the geotechnically tricky site, WAtoday understands the state is strongly considering laying turf on the existing sandpit and turning the area into public open space.

It is understood this could also be used by the nearby Trinity College boys school, which is on the hunt for more playing field space.
The nations top bureaucrat has floated the prospect of local universities teaching degrees in foreign languages as stretched tertiary institutions prepare for another wave of new students.

Glyn Davis, the former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor who now leads the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, is calling for transformative thinking to fulfil the varying needs of an estimated 100,000 enrolments over the next seven years, spurred by the easing of pandemic rules.

Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Glyn Davis. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Australias top universities have more students and were growing much more quickly than their international counterparts, he said, which could lead to the creation of new tertiary institutions.

Weve got the largest public universities, probably, in the Western world, and thats a shock, thats not what many of us think, he said, adding the University of Sydneys enrolments doubled in the same period as Oxford Universitys had grown by just 20 per cent.
Chinese-owned messaging apps such as WeChat are so vulnerable to propaganda and disinformation that democratic nations such as Australia should ban them in their current form, a Senate inquiry into foreign interference through social media has heard.

Seth Kaplan, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies, told the Senate committee on Thursday that, despite the recent focus on the potential national security risks of TikTok, WeChat posed a more profound threat than the popular video-sharing app.

Chinese-owned messaging apps such as WeChat are vulnerable to propaganda and disinformation. Credit: Olivia Martin-McGuire

WeChat, owned by Chinese technology company Tencent, is widely used among the Chinese diaspora in Australia and is believed to have around 1 million Australian users.

Everything that we fear about what TikTok may become already is occurring on WeChat, said Kaplan, who has written widely about the app.
Kyiv: American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the countrys defence minister said, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The US agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles, such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

A Patriot missile mobile launcher is displayed outside the Fort Sill Army Post near Lawton, Oklahoma, last month. Credit: AP

The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.
The FBI seal is pictured in Omaha, Nebraska in this Aug. 10, 2022 file photo. AP-Yonhap



China and Iran are becoming increasingly brazen in their attempts to silence dissidents on American soil and influence U.S. policy, the FBI warned on Wednesday.



In a news briefing with reporters about transnational repression, FBI counterintelligence officials urged victims to come forward, saying the bureau is tracking a growing trend of foreign authoritarian regimes breaching U.S. laws to intimidate certain communities.



The officials said the governments have at times resorted to using private investigators to conduct surveillance on dissidents and that several criminal cases have been brought by federal prosecutors involving their use.



"A lot of these are new tactics and lines that are being crossed that we have not seen China and Iran do on U.S. soil in previous investigations," one FBI counterintelligence official said. He added that the FBI hoped to raise awareness of such trends and alert the private investigator sector and state and local law enforcement.





Farmer Barry Evans drops dusty soil from a cotton crop he shredded and planted over with wheat in Kress, Texas in this Oct. 3, 2022 file photo. AP-Yonhap
Washington: The US seeks constructive and fair economic ties with China, but will protect its national security interests and push back against Chinese actions to dominate foreign competitors, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Yellen made her remarks amid heightened tensions and pessimism in the US-China relationship over national security issues, including Taiwan, Russias war in Ukraine, growing US export bans on advanced technologies and Chinas state-led industrial policies.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies, she laid out the Biden administrations principal objectives for what she called an essential economic relationship between the worlds two largest economies.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks on the US-China economic relationship in Washington. Credit: AP

Our relationship is clearly at a tense moment, Yellen said. My goal is to be clear and honest, to cut through the noise and speak to this essential relationship, based on sober realities.
Latest News Inflation slows during March quarter But level could still trigger further cash rate hike, economist warns

High-price growth suburbs a dream result for brokers Bryon Bay leads way with decade of growth

National home values were starting to trend higher, lifting 0.9% since early March, due to stronger demand in housing, as advertised supply remained low, according to CoreLogic.

At a more granular level, this uplift in dwelling values has flowed through to around 35% of suburbs analysed in the March quarter, said Eliza Owen (pictured above), head of research at CoreLogic Australia. This proportion is up from 19% in the December quarter, and a substantial improvement on the recent low of just 16.5% of suburbs over the three months ending October 2022.

So, which were the top performing suburbs this quarter?

Of the top 25 performing suburbs this quarter, 20 could be found in regional Australia, across SA, Victoria, NSW, WA, and Queensland.

It seems to be more rural regional markets with particularly low price points that have seen the strongest rates of growth, Owen said. The average median value of regional top-performing suburbs was $442,468. Dinner Plain in the Victorian Alps, 13km from Mount Hotham, is a striking exception among the top-performing regional suburbs, where values have trended higher following a slight dip through the second half of 2022.

Sydney was the only capital city represented, with affluent North Sydney or North Shore suburbs the top-performing suburbs.

These suburbs are largely popular with owner-occupiers, having a higher-than-average owner-occupier rate of 76%, compared to an average 63% across Greater Sydney suburbs, Owen said.

A relatively high volume of suburbs across Sydney and Perth was experiencing growth. But these two cities have very different growth dynamics.

Sydney dwellings are showing signs of a rebound, following a peak-to-trough decline of around -14% over the year to January, Owen said. Strong recovery has been concentrated in the high end of the market, with the top five performing suburbs having median dwelling values of at least $1.5 million.

If Sydney is leading capital cities out of a downswing, Perth has yet to go through one. Perth dwelling values have held reasonably steady since rates started to rise, tracking just -0.4% below a recent high in July last year. This mild decline follows an upswing of 25.9% between June 2020 and July 2022.

Home values across Perth are highly affordable due to subdued capital growth performance in the longer term and have likely not been as impacted by recent rate rises as a result. If anything, it has been more affordable suburbs that led growth across Perth in the March quarter, including Forrestdale (up 4.7%), Bouvard (4.6%) and Falcon (3.7%), all located well south of the city.

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Alison Des Forges symposium to examine Russo-Ukrainian War

To enhance our understanding of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the strengths and weaknesses of the contemporary international system, and human rights violations stemming from the war, experts from academia, journalism and a human rights organization will come together for a hybrid symposium on April 26.

Presenters will range from Ken Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and Serhii Plokhii, professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University, to George Packer, staff writer at The Atlantic, and Angela Stent, director emerita, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University.

The free, public event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Buffalo Room, 10 Capen Hall, North Campus. Registration is required for in-person and virtual attendance. Email dussourd@buffalo.edu to sign up.

The symposium honors the memory of Alison L. Des Forges, a member of the UB community who fought to call the worlds attention to another great humanitarian crisis: the Rwandan genocide.

Des Forges, a historian of Africa and Buffalo native, was an adjunct member of the UB history faculty during the 1990s and received an honorary doctorate from SUNY during UBs 155th general commencement ceremony in 2001.

She was one of the worlds leading experts on Rwanda, serving as an expert witness in 11 trials at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Her award-winning book, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda, was a landmark account of the 1994 genocide, and her tireless efforts to awaken the international community to its horrors earned her a MacArthur Fellowship in 1999.

The symposium will open with welcoming remarks at 8:45 a.m. The morning presentations run from 9:00-11:15 a.m. and include the following talks:

The Russo-Ukrainian War in Historical Perspective

Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo S. Hrushevskyi Professor of Ukrainian History, and director, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University.

Russias attack on Ukraine produced the largest European conflict since the end of World War II and plunged the world into a new Cold War. Vladimir Putins de facto declaration of war on Ukraine was dubbed a history lecture, and few observers outside Russia could make sense of it. How important have been the misuse and abuse of history in the perpetration and justification of this war, and what are the actual historical causes of the conflict? Plokhii will provide answers to these and other related questions by demonstrating that Ukraine and Ukrainian history have remained central to Russias idea of itself. He will also trace the origins of the newest European war to the fall of the USSR and will explain the reasons for the return of the Cold War to the very same part of the world where it ended 30 years earlier.

The Protests that Were  and Werent: Russian Society and the War



Willard Sunderland, Henry R. Winkler Professor of Modern History, University of Cincinnati.

A small number of Russians have publicly protested the war. A larger minority outwardly support it. But what of the rest, the huge number of people who arent protesting but also arent rallying? Are they a silent majority whose silence means agreement or are they merely quiet for now?

A Collision of Histories? NATO Expansion and the Russo-Ukrainian War



Timothy Andrews Sayle, associate professor of history and director, International Relations Program, University of Toronto.

How should we understand the relationship, if any, between enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022? The very idea of a connection between the post-war growth of the alliance and the Russian decision to launch a conventional war has been hotly disputed. The answer to the question has significant implications for the present and future of global security. Sayle, a historian of NATO, considers the decisions to maintain and expand the alliance after the end of the Cold War, and seeks to identify how it shaped  and continues to shape  todays international system.

The afternoon talks run from 12:15-3:15 p.m. and include the following presentations:

Globalised Oligarchs



Marlies Glasius, professor in international relations, Department of Politics, University of Amsterdam.

The sanctions against the Russian oligarchs are legally problematic, ineffective and counterintuitive. However, understanding the phenomenon of the oligarchs is important for the West in other ways. After discussing precisely how the sanctions work and what their effects have been to date, Glasius will shift to examining the role oligarchs have played in the shifts away from democratization in the last decades, in Russia and elsewhere. Russias history in the 1990s holds up a black mirror to us, demonstrating how oligarchs can capture electoral politics and erode accountability to the public. At the same time, globalization has given oligarchs the opportunity to put their assets beyond the reach of national taxation authorities in democratic states. What is needed, instead of sanctions against Russian oligarchs, is national and global initiatives to make all oligarchs more taxable and subject to democratic controls.

As Autocracies Fail, How Should Democracies Respond?

Ken Roth, former executive director, Human Rights Watch.

The Russian government has played a leading role in trying to undermine the global system for the defense of human rights, largely by attacking the fact-based analysis that is needed to enforce rights and by pursuing a strategy of whataboutism on steroids. The Kremlins motive is to deflect condemnation of its intensifying repression at home and its flouting of international humanitarian law in Chechnya, Syria and now Ukraine. However, the international response to these efforts has been strong. Beyond the sanctions imposed by many nations and the arming of Ukrainian forces, key international institutions have stepped up. Russias veto has stymied U.N. Security Council action, but strong steps have been taken by the U.N. General Assembly, the U.N. Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court. Whether these steps will succeed in curbing Russian war crimes remains to be seen, but it is one of the strongest responses that we have seen.

Russia and the New World Disorder

Angela Stent, director emerita, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, Georgetown University, and senior nonresident fellow, The Brookings Institution.

What kind of world order will emerge after the Russia-Ukraine war? Putins pronouncements on world order have evolved during his 22 years in power, but he has consistently advocated for a post-West multipolar order. For years he praised both the 19-century Concert of Power and the Yalta system as models for the future world order. The essence of both was a world divided into spheres of influence, where sovereign great powers ruled their smaller, less sovereign neighbors. In the 21st-century, this would be a tripolar world divided between Russia, the United States and China. Russias attack on Ukraine has made this model obsolete. It is clear that Putin is promoting a Hobbesian, disruptive world order with few rules and little predictability. When the war ends, the collective West will redouble its efforts to constrain future Russian aggression. Much of the Global South will remain neutral, while Russia will increasingly become Chinas junior partner. In the emerging multipolar world, the United States will remain the predominant power. The dual challenge that Russia and China pose individually and together may galvanize the U.S., Europe and Asia into even closer cooperation.

What Does America Owe Ukraine?

George Packer, staff writer, The Atlantic.

Packer will discuss his trip to Ukraine last year (see his piece in the October

2022 Atlantic) and will situate it in a larger context of geo-politics. He will try to answer a fundamental question: How can the U.S. and the West justify the extraordinary amount of support  military, economic, diplomatic  given to Ukraine, when much of the world, including major countries such as India, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia, has taken a neutral stance or even sympathizes with Russia? And on what basis can the U.S. lead this effort, when its own record over the two decades since 9/11 is so flawed?

Sponsors include the Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee; The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy; departments of Comparative Literature, History, Philosophy and Political Science; Gender Institute; The Gordon and Gretchen Gross Professorship in Jewish Thought; Humanities Institute; James Agee Chair in American Culture; and the Office of the Vice Provost for International Education.


According to recent World Bank data, India is the lowest among the 26 countries that have the tech giant's physical store presence. While India got its first Apple Store amid much fanfare, the country's per capita income is still struggling.



When it comes to per capita GDP, India comes in at $7,242, whereas Brazil is more than double that at $16,031, it added. India's per capita income (in purchasing power parity or PPP figures) of $7,130 is less than half of Brazil's $15,600, which ranks second lowest on the list of nations with Apple Stores, the data said.



India got its first Apple Stores, one in financial hub Mumbai and one in national capital Delhi, ahead of other emerging economies with higher per capita incomes like Malaysia ($28,150), South Africa ($14,340), Indonesia ($12,680), Vietnam ($11,080), the Philippines ($9,210), and others. "In essence, this shows that the income distribution in India is very skewed. Although the per capita GDP may be very low, the number of people with the purchasing power to buy Apple products is very high," Pronab Sen, a former chief statistician of the Indian government, told Moneycontrol.

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To capitalise on the brand's aspirational pull, Apple is expected to have shipped 6.7 million iPhones to the country in 2022, up from 4.8 million in 2021 and 2.2 million in 2020. "For young Indians, the Apple iPhone is a status symbol. You might be working at a McDonalds or studying at a college, but you still want to buy an iPhone as it lends you a lot of social capital. Mind you, this cohort usually buys the models that are two generations behind as those are cheaper," said Neil Shah, vice president at market research firm Counterpoint.



Meanwhile, Apple's clout in the Indian market is being enhanced by two key factors. The first is a demographic that is gradually migrating towards higher-end phone brands. People are willing to spend money on a premium device because they spend so much time on their telephones, both for business and for leisure activities such as watching short films, web series, playing online games, and engaging in social media. The company has also partnered with banks and e-commerce portals to meet the demand for its products among low-earning youngsters by providing credit in small, equal monthly instalments.



The second benefit for Apple in the country is that both the central and state governments are rolling out the red carpet to attract high-tech manufacturers. If the Centre is offering 4-6 per cent subsidies to companies that establish manufacturing facilities for smartphones and electronics components, states compete by offering incentives on power consumption by manufacturers, lower taxes, interest subsidies, or even easing labour laws. As a result, Counterpoint estimates that the premium category of smartphones in India  devices costing more than Rs 30,000  is rising at an 11 per cent annual rate. Apple leads the field in this category, with phones priced over Rs 45,000, accounting for more than a third of the 17 million premium smartphones supplied in the country last year. (A shipment is a dispatch to a retailer, not a sale to the end-user).



The company currently manufactures iPhones in India, including the latest iPhone 14, through contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, with plans to expand into other products such as its wireless headphones, AirPods. These developments come at a time when Apple is betting on India to become a key global manufacturing hub as the company looks to diversify its manufacturing capabilities beyond China amid rising US-China tensions.



Interestingly, Chinas per capita income was $7,630 in PPP terms in 2008, the year Apple set up its first retail store in the country. The Cupertino-based tech giant exported about $55.5 billion worth of iPhones from India in FY23, accounting for nearly half of the country's mobile phone exports, according to industry estimates.



There is also cause for concern for smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung in South Korea. It's not only that the total Indian smartphone market stayed unchanged in terms of revenue in 2022 or that shipments fell 9 per cent. It was most likely a blip year since consumers were anticipating the debut of 5G services and the release of compatible phone models, said analysts. Experts believe that the fact that India now has a comparable per capita income level and is one of the fastest-growing large economies despite the global slowdown makes it an appealing market for global consumer brands to bet big on at this time.

This factor was also evident in the festive sales of e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Flipkart between September and November last year. Despite the fact that mobile phones continued to account for the majority of sales over the season, the category rose by only 7 per cent YOY.


"We're thrilled to bring the best of Apple to our customers in Delhi with the opening of our second store in India, Apple Saket," Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail had earlier said.

After the grand opening of its first retail store in India in Mumbai earlier this week, Apple today opened doors to its second store at Saket, New Delhi. Delhi's first Apple Store was inaugurated by the company's chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook at 10 am.


Fortis Healthcare now has around 4,000 operational beds across its network. Gurugram-headquartered hospital chain Fortis Healthcare is looking to add more than 800 beds this year through brownfield expansion and inorganic route. It signed a definitive agreement to acquire Medeor Hospital in Manesar with VPS Group for Rs 225 crore on Thursday.



"The transaction entails the purchase of land, buildings, and movable assets of Medeor Hospital in Manesar, Gurugram, owned by Medeor Hospitals Limited and is expected to close by end of July 2023, subject to the completion of certain conditions precedent as stipulated in the definitive agreements. The transaction will be funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals," Fortis Healthcare said. Medeor Hospital has a potential bed capacity of 350 beds, and can be operationalised in a phased manner in approximately nine months, Fortis said.



Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO of Fortis Healthcare, said, "We have been evaluating various acquisition opportunities to expand our presence in our existing markets and to enable us to leverage the benefits of scale and synergies. We believe this is a good strategic fit as we already have a significant presence in Gurugram with our flagship facility, Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI)." It added that this acquisition fit well with its strategic approach of expanding its presence in the focus geographic cluster including the Delhi-National Capital Region.

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Besides, Fortis Healthcare has plans to add over 800 beds during 2023-24, sources said. These would be mostly through brownfield expansions at its Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad hospitals. He added that this acquisition will make Fortis the second largest healthcare services provider in Gurugram with over 850 beds, including its ongoing brownfield bed additions in FMRI.



Oncology, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, Renal Sciences, Orthopaedics and Cardiac Sciences contributed 60.9% to overall hospital revenues. For the third quarter of 2022-23 fiscal year Fortis Healthcare occupancy stood at 66 percent, and its average revenue per occupied bed was Rs 2.02 crore. It gets roughly 59 percent from surgical revenues.



Fortis has continued to invest in brownfield expansion from its internal accruals. It noted in its FY22 annual report that brownfield expansion should see the company add close to 250-300 beds each year for the next two to three years, taking the operational bed capacity to 5000 beds. Its bed-expansion has been largely stagnant. After Malaysian major IHH Healthcare won a bidding war to acquire a 31.1 percent stake in Fortis Healthcare in July 2018, the beleaguered hospital chain has come a long way. It has not only pared debts, improved its net worth, become profitable, but has also focused on expansion through its internal funds.

In an interaction with Business Standard last November, Ravi Rajagopal, chairman of Fortis Healthcare had said "From a Fortis point of view the frustration is that we are not able to participate in M&A activitiesour footprint and our presence could have been a lot bigger, had we been not constrained by capital. We are expanding organically  at seven of our hospitals we are expanding."
The products he focused on did not include the iPhone, which has already caught the imagination of Indians. Instead, what he put out there on his Twitter handle, which has 14 million followers, was the Apple Watch, the MacBook Pro, and the iPad  products the company will need Indians to engage with more than they currently do.

When not welcoming excited crowds to the Apple stores in Mumbai and Delhi or attending high-profile meetings, Cook was found engaging with creators, educationists, and sportspersons. After each of these engagements, he tweeted about the experience, carefully positioning the Apple products in his tweets.


IDs are responsible for both legal and regulatory obligations. They can raise red flags and register their disagreement on board matters. Nearly 881 Independent Directors (ID) quit their companies in the financial year 20222023, according to a Financial Express (FE) report that quoted data from primeinfobase.com. The number of IDs quitting this year is 14.5 per cent more than last year.



Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of InGovern Research Services, was quoted in the report as saying, "The demands on the independent directors are much higher. Directors are aware that non compliance will lead to greater scrutiny and are aware of fraud risks and the liabilities that come with that. Older directors increasingly face the challenge of getting used to new technology." The report added that the role of IDs has come under the scanner as they form the first line of independent authorities along with the auditors. They are responsible for keeping an eye on any wrongdoings in a firm.



Citing an example from a recent exit, the report stated that an independent director of Modulex Construction Technologies submitted a 65-page resignation letter to the exchanges highlighting the corporate governance issues at the company. Experts said that there are provisions that mandate independent directors on a board register their dissent if they notice any wrongdoing. If an ID fails to do so, the ID may also be tagged as a defaulter in his personal capacity. This could result in him or her being declared unfit to hold any significant position.

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National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had given the consortium of Dubai-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan and the UK's Kalrock Capital six months from when the resolution plan had come into effect (November 16, 2022) to settle the dues. The clock is ticking for Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC) as its 180-day deadline to pay off the creditors and employees of the grounded erstwhile Jet Airways is now less than four weeks away.



In April 2019, Jet Airways was grounded over rising financial liabilities of about Rs 8,000 crore. The airline's Committee of Creditors (CoC), in October 2020, approved the consortium's revival plan. In addition to payments, JKC owes Rs 185 crore to the lenders of Jet Airways. The consortium is also to pay an estimated amount of Rs 250 crore to the airlines former employees by May 14.



If the consortium fails to meet the NCLT deadline, it will not get the airline's ownership. The expiry of Jet Airway's air operators permit (AOP) is also due on May 19. On January 13, 2023, the order of the NCLT noted that JKC fulfilled all conditions necessary for the ownership transfer of the airline. Following this, the leaders of the airline approached the NCLAT to oppose the ownership transfer.

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According to a Financial Express report, the DGCA had sent a notice to Jet Airways in February to know if they have the intention of starting the operations. "They had assured the regulator that required funds were being arranged. But nothing changed," the report said citing sources. So now the consortium will either have to renew it before the expiry date, or they will have to reapply with Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).



An industry expert told FE that it takes 1-2 months to begin flight operations and before that happens the airline needs to take slots, arrange ground handling, and aircraft parking and then commence bookings. JCK did not reply to FE's email seeking updates on the companys plans.



The former head of the airline told FE that JCK will only have to follow the process if the are able to renew the AOP, however, f they fail to do so, it takes 6-9 months. "Just to take a slot takes two months. The Delhi-Mumbai route will have no slots available now, the industry expert said.



Jet Airways got its AOP in May 2022 with two aircraft in its fleet. Although currently, the company has only one aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, according to DGCA. It takes 6-9 months for a new operator to meet the requirements for the AOP. It will not be difficult to renew Jets AOP since everything has already been approved. They have to only follow the process, he said.
People crowd on platforms as they wait for their train at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station Mumbai on April 19. AFP-Yonhap



India should surpass China's population midway through this year, according to the latest projection from the United Nations.



That's of course unless it's happened already  or happens later in the year.



Demographers are unsure exactly when India will take the title as the most populous nation in the world because they're relying on estimates to make their best guess. The latest projection from the United Nations this week put it at midyear, though that remains an estimate.



China has had the most people in the world since at least 1950, the year United Nations population data began. Both China and India have more than 1.4 billion people, and combined they make up more than a third of the world's 8 billion people.



"Actually, there is no way we can know exactly when India will surpass China," said Bruno Schoumaker, a demographer at Universite catholique de Louvain in Belgium. "There is some uncertainty, not only about India's population, but also China's population."



Still, when is it happening?



The U.N. said in a report Wednesday that India will have about 2.9 million people more than China sometime in the middle of this year  an estimated 1.4286 billion for India, 1.4257 billion for mainland China. But demographers have said the limits of population data make it impossible to calculate an exact date.



Mathematical calculations are made from data including a range of surveys, as well as birth and death records.



"It's a crude approximation, a best guess," said Patrick Gerland, chief of the population estimates and projections section at the U.N. in New York.



Not long ago, India wasn't expected to become most populous until later this decade. But the timing has been sped up by a drop in China's fertility rate, with families having fewer children.



How is it calculated?



Demographers at the U.N. Population Division make estimates based on projections from a wide variety of data sources to get what they believe are the most up-to-date demographic numbers. The last update to the data used for these calculations for both India and China was July 2022, said Sara Hertog, a U.N. population affairs officer in New York.



The demographers then use a statistical technique to infer when India's population has surpassed that of China, according to Stuart Gietel-Basten, a professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi.



"The reality, of course, is that these estimates are just that," Gietel-Basten said. "But at least they are based on a relatively solid and consistent methodology."





Hindu devotees listen to a religious leader at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers, during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela festival, in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Jan. 31.
The consortium is reviving Jet after it shut operations in April 2019 and the aircraft sale is a part of a bankruptcy resolution process.

The Kalrock-Jalan consortium has opposed the sale of three Boeing 777 aircraft belonging to Jet Airways, likely delaying payments to the airline's creditors.


These talks come as the edtech company is looking to raise at least $400 million to $600 million from investors, the newspaper quoted people aware of the development. 10X AD, an Abu Dhabi-based company, and Byju's CEO, Byju Raveendran, are currently in talks about making investments in the parent company, Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, or its subsidiary, Aakash Education Services (AES), The Economic Times (ET) has reported.



10X AD may either lead a consortium of investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in Abu Dhabi or may also go alone and make investments in the range of $150 million to $200 million, the report said. 10X AD specialises in structured investments in late-stage technology-based companies. There is little clarity about the manner in which this investment will be arranged.



Byju's has also reached out to Apollo Global Management, a US private equity and alternative asset management company seeking $200-250 million in structured funding for Aakash, the ET report stated. The Bengaluru-based edtech firm has been struggling to make its business profitable. It has been under scrutiny for more than 18 months over issues like corporate governance, gaps in audits, business practices, poor financial results, and large-scale layoffs.

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Disrupt AD participated in earlier funding rounds and raised $350 million, which valued the edtech company at $16.5 billion, making it the most valuable edtech company in the world at the time of the fundraising. Besides 10X AD and Apollo Global, Disrupt AD, the Abu Dhabi-based ADQ's venture capital arm, may also double down on its earlier commitment, said people cited in the ET report. Disrupt AD invested in Byju's business in 2021 for the first time.
Natco Pharma Ltd on Thursday said its board has approved setting up of a subsidiary in Indonesia with an investment of up to USD 3 million (nearly Rs 25 crore) for selling pharmaceutical products in that country.

The new subsidiary -- PT. NATCO Lotus Farma -- will be a joint venture with Natco holding 51 per cent and the balance stake 49 per cent by PT. Mitra Medis Exim (MME), a part of Mitra Jaya Group, which is a 40 year old multi-diversified group, as the co-promoter, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company's board approved the proposal at its meeting held on Thursday.

Natco will initially invest USD 1 million for a stake of 51 per cent as capital contribution and balance will be invested as and when the funds are required by the subsidiary, it added.

PT. NATCO Lotus Farma will be engaged in selling pharmaceutical products in Indonesia, it added.

MME is in the business of distribution for active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients for end-users in Indonesia.

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On the rationale behind the step, Natco said,"(The) objective is to enter new geographies for growth and increased profitability.
Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia on Thursday reported a 10 per cent increase in global net sales to 5,859 million euros in the first quarter ended March 2023, on account of over a four-fold jump in Indian business.

The company registered 5,348 million euros in net sales in the same period a year ago.

"Network Infrastructure and Mobile Networks both grew at double-digit rates, with Network Infrastructure increasing 13 per cent, led by Optical Networks and IP Networks, and Mobile Networks increasing 13 per cent, reflecting the continued ramp up of 5G in India," Nokia said in its earnings report.

Boost in Indian sales saved the company from the reduced spending in North America and other geographies.

Nokia India sales zoomed by over four-fold to 853 million euros during the reported quarter from 200 million euros in the March 2022 quarter on account of fast pace deployment of the 5G network in the country.

"Mobile Networks net sales grew 13 per cent (on constant currency basis) as 5G deployments in India ramped up, more than offsetting a slowdown in North America spending," Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark said in the earnings report.

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Nokia reported a 9 per cent or 160 million euros dip in North American business to 1,666 million euros from 1,826 million euros on a year-on-year basis.

"The double-digit decline in North America reflected lower net sales in Mobile Networks as customer spending returned to a more normal pattern in 2023 (compared to first-half biased spending in 2022), combined with some customer inventory depletion seen in the quarter," Nokia said.

The company's business in Greater China declined by 14 per cent to 336 million euros during the reported quarter from 392 million, Asia Pacific sales dipped by 9 per cent to 578 million euros from 634 million on a y-o-y basis and business in Europe remained flat.

Overall Nokia's business came down by 272 million euros but India alone added net sales of 653 million euros.

"The strong growth in net sales in India was related to Mobile Networks, as 5G deployments continued to ramp in the first quarter of 2023. Network Infrastructure also saw strong growth driven by Optical Networks, IP Networks and Fixed Networks," Nokia said.

India is the third biggest contributor to overall sales of Nokia after the US and Europe.
Wireless and fixed-network equipment maker Nokia on Thursday reported lower than expected profits as it warned that the current economic situation was starting to impact spending by operators and other customers.

The Espoo, Finland-based company reported net profit of 342 million euros (USD 375 million) for the January-March period, down 18 per cent from 416 million euros a year earlier.

Net income attributable to shareholders was 332 million euros, down from 409 million euros the previous year.

Nokia's sales were up 10 per cent at 5.9 billion euros.

Nokia is one of the world's main suppliers of 5G, the latest generation of broadband technology, along with Sweden's Ericsson, China's Huawei and South Korea's Samsung.

Referring to increased sales, CEO Pekka Lundmark said that the first quarter gave a solid start to 2023 for Nokia but looking forward, we are starting to see some signs of the economic environment impacting customer spending.

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Given the ongoing need to invest in 5G and fibre, we see this primarily as a question of timing, Lundmark said in a statement.

Nevertheless we will maintain our cost discipline to ensure we can successfully navigate this uncertainty.

He said Nokia would maintain its previously given outlook for the rest of the year.

We remain on track to deliver another year of growth in 2023 so our outlook is unchanged with the expectation that profitability in the second half of the year will be stronger than the first half, Lundmark said.


The RBI also approved Bhavesh Zaveris appointment as HDFC Banks executive director for a period of three years, with effect from April 19. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Kaizad Bharucha as the deputy managing director of HDFC Bank for three years from April 19, 2023, the private sector lender told stock exchanges on Thursday.



Bharucha has more than 35 years of experience in banking and he has been associated with HDFC Bank since 1995. Before his new assignment, Bharucha was executive director responsible for wholesale banking. He previously worked at SBI Commercial and International Bank. HDFC Bank, which is Indias largest private sector lender, had recommended the two appointments to the central bank back in November 2022. It is appointing a deputy managing director five years after Paresh Sukthankar resigned.



The bank is in the process of merging HDFC Ltds business with itself and expects the process to be completed in July. The lender said it has applied to the stock market and the insurance regulators to approve the merger, as there will be ownership changes. Zaveri, before being appointed as executive director, was group headoperations, cash management & ATM product. He joined HDFC Bank in 1998 in an operations function and moved up the ladder. Zaveri worked for Oman International Bank and Barclays Bank before that.

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Shares of the lender were trading 0.24 per cent higher on the BSE at Rs 1,669.90.
Schneider Electric on Thursday said it will invest Rs 140 crore to set up a new factory in West Bengal.

The new facility will located at Prospace Industrial Park Pvt Ltd in Kolkata, covering an area of 9 acres, Schneider Electric said in a statement.

"Schneider Electric aims to grow its capacity in producing products such as vacuum interrupters (VI) and strengthen its power systems vertical through this new factory," it said.

This new facility is planned to be completed by February 2024, with the manufacturing operations expected to begin in the second quarter of the next financial year, the company added.

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A consortium of Siemens and Rail Vikas Nigam has bagged two separate orders from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation.

"Siemens Ltd, as part of a consortium along with Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, received two separate orders from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (GMRCL)," a BSE filing by Siemens stated.

"Siemens Limited's share as part of the consortium is Rs 678 crore," it added.

The orders are for Surat Metro Phase 1 (over 40 kilometres covering 38 stations and 2 depots) and Ahmedabad Metro Phase 2 (over 28 kilometres covering 23 stations and 1 depot).

Siemens will provide project management, and rail electrification technologies, including advanced power supply and distribution systems.

In addition, Siemens will also be providing advanced digital solutions, such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) solutions for both metros.

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Gunjan Vakharia, Head of Mobility Business, Siemens Ltd, said, "We would like to thank GMRCL for trusting Siemens in their journey of creating a safer, greener and smarter transport solution for sustainable cities".

Siemens is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport as well as transmission and generation of electrical power.


The company, before the layoffs, had around 260 employees. Last year, it laid off 15 employees. Home-grown social media platform Koo has fired 30 per cent of its staff in recent months, a report by Bloomberg said on Thursday. A spokesperson of the Tiger Global-backed company was quoted in the report as saying that the global sentiment is currently more focused on efficiency than growth and businesses need to work toward proving unit economics.



According to data from research firm Tracxn, startup funding has plunged 75 per cent in the quarter ending March as compared to the same period last year. The company had initially benefited from Twitter's clash with Indian authorities over the content on its platform. Several celebrities flocked to Bengaluru-based Koo as an alternative. However, the current job cuts come at a time of slowdown in startup funding.



The spokesperson told Bloomberg that dismissed employees will be supported by compensation packages, health benefits and aid in finding new jobs. Tracxn's data also showed that Koo had raised funds at a valuation of $273 million last year. It has Accel and Kalaari Capital among its investors.


Its important for businesses of all sizes to adopt efficient and conservative approaches to see this period through. In line with this, we have acted on some role redundancies by letting go of 30 per cent of our workforce over the course of the year, said a Koo spokesperson. Tiger Global-backed Koo, an Indian alternative to Twitter, has laid off 30 per cent of its workforce of 260 employees in the last year as the budding firm, like many other start-ups in the country, battles global headwinds.



Like most start-ups, Koo also built in a workforce to account for spikes. Given the current market environment and external realities of a global slowdown, we get affected too, the spokesperson said, adding, We are a young start-up with a long way ahead of us. The global sentiment right now is more focused on efficiency than growth and businesses need to work towards proving unit economics. The firm says it has handed compensation packages, and extended health benefits and outplacement services to the affected employees.



Founded in 2020, Koo is a multilingual microblogging platform that allows users to interact via text, audio and video. It also allows influencers to network and have conversations with their fans. The firm had previously laid off 5 per cent of its workforce in August last year.

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In November last year, the company had raised $6.3 million in funding from Tiger Global and Accel Partners. The round had also seen participation from Kalaari Capital, 3one4 Capital and Dream Incubator, a Tokyo-based private equity firm. Koo raised another $10 million at the start of this year. The Bengaluru-based firm is said to have benefitted from tussles between Twitter and the Indian government over improper content moderation, which led to many celebrities, government officials and citizens jumping ship from Twitter to its indigenously built alternative.



In the three years since its launch, the indigenous platform has amassed over 60 million app downloads to become the second largest microblogging platform in the world, with more than 20 languages. We are well capitalised with our recent fundraise of $10 million in January 2023. We arent looking at raising funds right now. We are making great progress with revenue and will look to raise funds in the future as necessary, the spokesperson added.



Koo has joined several other start-ups in India that have laid off employees. According to industry estimates, more than 22,000 layoffs took place in 2022. This year has been no different. With over 100 brands advertising on the platform, we will continue to experiment with monetisation to build a sustainable business, the spokesperson added.



In February, Indias most highly valued edtech firm Byjus let go of 1,500 employees citing cost optimisation, joining the likes of Web3 firm Polygon that axed 100 workers. Reliance-backed quick commerce firm Dunzo let go of 30 per cent of its workforce earlier this month. Edtech major Unacademy also fired 12 per cent of its workforce at the end of March. Before that, fellow unicorn UpGrad laid off 120 people at one of its subsidiary companies, Impartus Innovations, which affected 30 per cent of the companys 300-strong workforce. Healthtech unicorn Pristyn Care had laid off 300 employees during the month as well.

Food aggregator Swiggy fired 380 employees in January. LEAD, another edtech unicorn, sacked 100 employees at the same time. In January itself, Google-backed ShareChat also showed the door to 500 workers.


Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a roundtable interview with members of the foreign media at his official residence in Tokyo, April 20. Reuters-Yonhap



Japan will keep calling for China to act responsibly on the world stage, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday, a sign of Tokyo's deepening concern about stability in the Taiwan Strait following Beijing's recent military drills.



The comments from Kishida, after China conducted drills in the waters off Taiwan earlier this month, highlight Tokyo's growing alarm about the possibility of an attack on nearby Taiwan.



Japan would "continue to call on China to take the responsibility it should be taking as a major country on the world stage," Kishida said during a roundtable interview with members of the foreign media.



"Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is not just important for Japan, but the international community and the world more broadly as well," he said.



"We have been consistent with our position on Taiwan, that any issues should be resolved peacefully through dialogue. In any case... we will comply with our constitution, international laws, and our domestic laws including the relevant defense laws."



Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations met in Japan this week and urged Beijing to "abstain from threats, coercion intimidation and the use of force."



Beijing, which views Taiwan as Chinese territory and has not renounced the use of force to take the democratically governed island, has rebuffed the G7 comments as gross interference in its internal affairs.



Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says only the island's people can decide their future.



Complicated position



Kishida also stressed the importance of stability between China and the United States, illustrating Japan's sometimes complicated position as both Washington's closest ally in Asia and a major Chinese trading partner. Japan has joined the United States in putting export restrictions on chip-making tools but in doing so avoided mentioning China so as not to antagonize its neighbor.



Kishida also said Japan was calling on China to allow for the return of a Japanese executive detained there. Chinese authorities detained the executive from pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc in late March.



Likewise, he said he hoped Russia would "correct" its actions over the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.



Kishida, who was targeted with an explosive device while campaigning over the weekend, said it was important to revisit security ahead of the G7 leaders summit in Hiroshima next month.



He said he hoped to see deeper discussions on same-sex marriage in Japan's parliament, although he stopped short of throwing his weight behind the issue, saying situations in individual countries also needed to be considered. (Reuters)




Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Thursday announced the acquisition of Brahmins - a Kerala-based traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand - and it has also drawn up plans to launch its snacks brand targeting the southern market.

The company will focus on the southern market and is in the process of launching its own brand in the fast-growing ready-to-eat and snacks segment, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and Managing Director Vineet Agrawal told PTI.

He further said Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting would take the acquisition route for expanding in the spices segment.

The company, part of Azim Premji-led Wipro Enterprises, forayed into the foods segment in December last year with the acquisition of the Nirapara brand. It is seeking to tap opportunities for growth in South India in the food space.

"As of now, we would look at South India and the reason is, unlike North and West India, there is no organised player in South India in terms of snacks like Haldiram and Bikaji. That's why we are looking at snacks in South India.

"Here the competition is from the unorganised and small-scale players and if we can give a value-added answer and a good product, people will switch here," Agrawal said.

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The company has shortlisted some names for the upcoming snacking brand and is currently under the process of registration, Agrawal added.

However, he did not share the amount Wipro is investing and said it is working on the taste of the products as different South Indian states have their own different palate and different way of cooking.

It would introduce 4-5 products at the time of the launch of the brand.

"We are in the process of launching our own brand as far as snack is concerned. We are setting R&D facility in Bengaluru," Agrawal said, adding "If it is required for each state of South, we would have to differentiate the products".

All three brands - Nirapara, Brahmins and the new one (yet to be launched) -- would operate independently, he added.

"As far as spices are concerned, we will go through the acquisition route and for ready-to-eat snacks, we would do it organically," he added.

For distribution, Wipro will use the existing channels.

"We are at Kirana outlets, where we sell our soaps... It's the same distribution and stockist. We are not entering into the cold chain," he added.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting's acquisition of Brahmins, known for its spices and ready-to-cook food, is its 14th so far after the Nirapara brand.

With these two acquisitions, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting "is looking at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment" and consolidating its spices, breakfast and ready-to-cook category, a joint statement said.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition.

The acquisition "will be a mutually beneficial partnership that will accelerate the expansion of the Brahmins' portfolio on one hand and embolden Wipro's foundation into the food business," it said.

Adding Brahmins under the Wipro fold will further bolster its position in blended spices and ethnic breakfast (Puttu-podi, Appams and other Rice products) categories in Kerala and other markets, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the UK, the US and Australia, it noted.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting earlier this month announced that it has crossed the milestone of Rs 10,000 crore in overall sales in FY23, helped by significant growth across its geographies, brands and categories.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, which started in 1945 as a vanaspati brand, with its factory in Amalner, Maharashtra, now has a presence in 60 countries.

The company, which operates in FMCG and lighting products, has 18 factories with more than 10,000 employees and 51 per cent of its revenue comes from international businesses.


This acquisition comes on the back of its recent acquisition of Nirapara, as it looks at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Brahmins, Kerala based traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand for an undisclosed amount, it said in a release.



Established in 1987, Brahmins has a range of ethnic breakfast pre-mix powders, spice mixes, straight powders (spices), wheat products such as - pickles, dessert mixes, and others. To expand and further consolidate its spices, breakfast and ready-to-cook category.



Commenting on the acquisition, Vineet Agrawal, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and managing director, Wipro Enterprises, said, We entered the food category with our first acquisition of Nirapara and within six months, we are happy to share our latest acquisition of Brahmins. In Kerala, Brahmins is a strong heritage brand leading the spice and ready- to-cook category with a significant consumer recall. We intend to make this, our 14th acquisition, as successful as our previous ones Brahmins premium flagship products are Sambar Powder, and Puttu Podi which enjoy market leadership position.
Data compiled by Business Standard shows that over the past decade, India has barely exported any coal (see chart 1). On the other hand, coal imports have been steadily rising after a brief slowdown during Covid. The uptick in imported coal demand has come on the back of rising thermal power demand and imports by non-power sectors that are facing a shortage of domestic supply.

As appealing as the idea sounds, especially at a time when the Centre has opened all the gates for private investment in coal mining, there are caveats before India becomes a coal exporter. The primary and major one is the countrys current net coal importer status.
On the one hand, India may consider any retaliatory measure at a multilateral  the World Trade Organisation  level, on the other hand, its initiating a sector-wise analysis to assess if the CBAM can act as a non-tariff trade barrier, a person aware of the matter told Business Standard.

With countries getting more conscious towards climate change, the CBAM is a measure aimed at preventing carbon leakage. The measure is not India-specific and will be applicable to all countries.


The SSC GD 2023 offers constable (GD) positions in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), NIA, SSF, and Rifleman (GD) posts in the Assam Rifles. The SSC GD PET PST Admit Card 2023 can be downloaded by candidates from the SSC's official website, @ssc.nic.in. The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has administered the Physical Standard Test (PST) and Physical Efficiency Test (PET) for SSC GD candidates who will be eligible for the SSC GD Written Exam in 2023. According to the Staff Selection Commission's official notice, the SSC GD PET PST 2023 is scheduled for April 24, 2023. A week before the SSC GD PET PST Exam 2023 begins, qualified candidates can download their SSC GD Admit Card 2023 for PET/PST.









SSC GD Physical Admit Card 2023: Details Give below are the details regarding the SSC GD PET PST 2023 conducted by SSC. The candidates can go through the important details of the SSC GD PET PST Admit Card 2023 below: The SSC GD Admit Card 2023 for all other regions for the SSC GD Written Exam in 2023, including the Southern Region, Karnataka Kerala Region, North-Western Region, Eastern Region, Central Region, Western Region, and Madhya Pradesh Sub-Region.

 Conducting Body- Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)  Authority- Staff Selection Commission (SSC)

Also Read ICAI CA Nov exam 2022 admit cards out; check for direct links to download SSC CGL admit card: Application window opens, here's how to check status PAN-Aadhaar link status: Are your cards already linked? Learn how to check NATA 2023 Admit Card for Test 1 released; how to check and download it AP SSC 2023 exam starts today: Check exam dates, instructions, and more JEE Main 2023 Session 2 Answer Key at official website, Check details Uttar Pradesh NMMS result 2023 declared, here's how to check and download Visva Bharati Non-Teaching Recruitment 2023: All you need to know UGC asks univs to allow students to write exams in local languages Doordarshan Recruitment 2023: Check process, age, qualification, salary

 Posts- General Duty Constable  Exam- SSC GD Constable

 SSC GD PET PST Admit Card- 19th April 2023  Category- Admit Card

 Selection Process- Written Exam, Physical Efficient Test, Physical Standard Test and Detailed Medical Test  SSC GD PET PST Exam Date 2023- 24th April 2023

 SSC GD Constable Tier-1 Application Status- 01st January 2023  Official Website- www.ssc.nic.in.

 SSC GD Constable 2022 Tier-I Exam- 10th January 2023 to 14th January 2023  SSC GD Constable Admit Card 2023- 06th January 2023





SSC GD Physical Admit Card 2023: Procedure The SSC GD PET PST Admit Card 2023 can be obtained from the official website by following the steps below:  SSC GD 2023 PET/PST- 24th April 2023.



Step 2: Scroll down the homepage and click the "Admit Card" icon at the top of the screen. Step 1: Go to the official site of SSC at www.ssc.nic.in.



Step 4: To download the SSC GD PET PST Admit Card 2023, candidates must enter their roll number and registration number. Step 3: Find the notice that reads "Download PET PST Call Letter For Constable (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), NIA, SSF, and Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles Examination, 2022-23."


"Banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) are keen to put out their views to the apex court as to why a personal hearing in all these cases is not practical, but the RBI does not want to drag on the case in the Supreme Court and is preparing a new updated notification clarifying all the points raised in the court," a person aware of the matter was quoted as saying in the ET report. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon develop a set of rules that will govern the declaration of a bank account as fraudulent, a report by The Economic Times (ET) said. This comes nearly a month after the Supreme Court asked banks to hear the borrower before declaring their account as fraudulent.



The RBI will come up with a new notification in a few weeks. The norms will standardise the process of declaring a fraudulent account and will align with the wilful defaulter norms. The central bank had come up with a circular in 2015 on wilful default. It stated that the power to declare any account as a "wilful defaulter" lies entirely in the hands of the bank. According to the report, the new rules will give the borrower a personal hearing before they are declared a wilful defaulter.



The apex court upheld a judgement passed by the Telangana High Court in December 2020 stating that the principles of "audi alteram partem" must be applied before declaring a party as "a fraudulent borrower" or "a holder of fraudulent account". On March 27, a Supreme Court bench comprising chief justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said that banks must hear the borrowers before classifying their accounts as fraud. They said that classifying accounts as fraud results in serious civil consequences for the borrowers, including "blacklisting" of the accounts.

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"Declaration of fraud entails penal and civil consequences, amounts to blacklisting from accessing institutional finance...Bank order must show reasons behind the declaration of fraud, reasons will keep banks from exercising powers arbitrarily," the court said. "Audi alteram partem" means "hear the other side" or "no man should be unheard, both the parties have an opportunity of being heard".



Banks, however, reportedly want a middle path which will not hamper the recovery process while incorporating SC's observations. The borrowers had argued that the circular violates principles of natural justice and said that it "hurt the ability to raise fresh credit after declaration".

SBI, represented by solicitor general Tushar Mehta, also sought clarifications from the court after the order. "SBI has made some points on behalf of banks like why the full forensic audit report of the borrower should not be shared because it could give crooked borrowers an escape route," an official told ET.
A special court in Ahmedabad will pronounce its verdict today in the Naroda Gam case in which former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and several other right-wing leaders are among the accused involved in the killing of 11 people from the minority community during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Eleven persons were killed in communal violence in Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002, during a 'bandh' called to protest the Godhra train burning a day before in which 58 passengers, returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

Along with Kodnani, other prominent accused are former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel.

On April 16, the court of principal sessions Judge SK Baxi had fixed April 20 as the date for the verdict in the case and had also directed the accused to remain present in the court.

Notably, all the accused in the case are currently out on bail. Out of the total 86 accused in the case, 18 died in the intervening period. Around 182 prosecution witnesses were examined during the trial.

Apart from rioting and murder, Kodnani, 67, has also been charged with criminal conspiracy and attempted murder in the Naroda Gam case.

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It is pertinent to note that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also appeared as a defence witness for Kodnani in September 2017.
Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar at the latter's residence here on Thursday amid the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

The meeting, held at Pawar's residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai this morning, lasted for nearly two hours, sources said.

Earlier this month, Pawar had come out in support of the Adani group and criticised the narrative around the US short seller Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate.

Taking a position at variance from senior ally Congress, Pawar had said he favoured a Supreme Court committee to probe allegations against the Adani group since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have a majority in the JPC based on numerical strength in Parliament and this would lead to doubts on such a probe.

The NCP supremo had later said although his outfit does not agree with the demand of anti-BJP parties for a JPC probe into allegations against the Adani group, it will not go against their stand for the sake of Opposition unity.

The Supreme Court had last month ordered the setting up of a six-member committee headed by a former apex court judge to look into various regulatory aspects for stock markets, including the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.

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The Hindenburg Research has made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.


SCO, an inter-governmental organisation established in 2001, comprises eight member states  India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a meeting of the head of departments of member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in New Delhi dealing with the prevention and elimination of emergency situations.



During the meeting, delegates from SCO member states shared information relating to large-scale emergency situations, which occurred in their respective territories and the measures taken to handle them. Since its accession as a full-fledged Member State in 2017, India has maintained an active engagement with the organisation. India is focusing on initiating proposals for the mutual benefit of the SCO member states, observers and dialogue partners.



Based on these deliberations, the member-states enhanced cooperation in the field of preparedness, and emergency response and jointly mitigate the impact arising out of natural and man-made disasters within the framework of the SCO. The delegates also shared their views on the innovative practices, technologies, and future prospects for cooperation in the field of prevention and elimination of emergency situations within the framework of the SCO.

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The action plan contributes to stepping up cooperation in dealing with the prevention and elimination of emergency situations among SCO member-states. Participants also discussed and approved the action plan for the implementation of the agreement between the SCO member-states on cooperation in providing assistance in the elimination of emergency situations in 2023-2025.
Samajwadi Party national general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav on Thursday said incidents such as the killing of Atiq Ahmad and his brother in the presence of policemen show an intelligence failure and the collapse of law and order in the state.

"The FIR against Atiq was lodged in the SP regime and he was also sent to prison. Under this government, assailants killed them (Atiq-Ashraf) in the presence of police force. How did they muster the courage," he told reporters here.

"Government intelligence totally failed. Law and order has collapsed totally. To punish someone is the work of the court. If encounters happen like this in Uttar Pradesh, what will be the significance of the courts," the SP leader questioned.

On the urban local body polls in the state, Yadav said he has appealed to the Election Commission to ensure that the elections are not affected by police and other officers, and that the process is kept free and fair.

He said the SP would contest the polls with its full strength and has issued directives to party workers to ensure the victory of its candidates.

"BJP resorts to dishonesty in the elections with the help of officers and money power. We Samajwadis will thwart their designs. We will remove the BJP government in 2024 from the country," Yadav added.

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He also alleged that corruption was at its peak and breaking all records in the BJP regime. The youths are facing unemployment, the SP leader said.

He also asked the media to highlight what is happening on the ground and put it before the people.
The Judicial committee constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government visited Prayagraj on Thursday while the Special Investigation Team recreated the crime scene where gangsters Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on April 15 while being taken to a hospital for medical checkup.

After the killing of the gangsters in police custody, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a judicial probe into the incident.

Three-member judicial enquiry committee pertaining to the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother will give a report to the UP government in two months. The committee will be headed by Retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi of Allahabad HC, including retired IPC officer Subesh Kumar Singh and Retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni.

Days after Atiq Ahmed's son Asad was killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi, the mafia-turned-politician and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were killed on April 15 night while being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj.

Three assailants posing as mediapersons had shot both dead from point-blank range while the gangsters were speaking to the media.

Earlier today, three friends of Lovelesh Tiwari, the main accused in the sensational killing of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed, were detained by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Uttar Pradesh's Banda.

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"The trio were caught at Banda railway station," officials said.

The SIT team has also reached Hamirpur and Kasganj to conduct the further probe, they added.

Uttar Pradesh Police conducted raids in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of Atiq Ahmed, in Kaushambi on Wednesday.

"Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding. The operation lasted for about 2 hours. A drone camera was also used in operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today," Samar Bahadur, ASP, Kaushambi told ANI.

Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader's murder, in February this year.

As many as three people were arrested and identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lovelesh Tiwari.

All three attackers were apprehended at the scene after they voluntarily turned themselves in. They have been kept in the custody of the police and questioned.

A CJM court in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on Wednesday remanded gangster Atiq Ahmed's killers to four-day police custody.

This comes after the Special Investigation Team filed an application in the court seeking remand for questioning for all three accused.

The district court sent them to 14-day judicial custody on April 16.

During the police remand, the police will question the accused about the weapon they used to kill Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 night, where did they get the weapon from and who gave it to them.
While India's population at 1.4 billion has surpassed that of China's, the "latest big news" is that the population growth is below the replacement fertility rate in India and it has a "window of opportunity", according to Rachel Snow, the lead demographer of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

The continued trajectory for India is that while the young population entering the reproductive phase will boost overall fertility, "given the fertility pattern already evident, we can start to anticipate the decline, the plateauing and decline", she said on Wednesday.

The replacement fertility rate is the average number of children a woman must have to keep the population steady and it is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

The replacement fertility rate for India is 2, with wide variations within the country -- between 1.6 for Punjab and West Bengal, and 3 for Bihar among the large states, according to Indian government data.

"You've got this big bulge of young people entering both reproductive years which means fertility will keep growing, but (also) entering the age of life for working," she said, giving India a "window of opportunity".

The question for India is that with this "window of opportunity", will it be "able to mobilise the necessary investments in education and job creation, in gender equality, so that there will be an opportunity for that large population to indeed yield a dividend for the economy", she said.

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Snow gave the example of the Asian Tigers -- mainly Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore -- that had a tremendous spurt in economic growth, which also led to better living standards.

"In the 70s and 80s, the Asian Tigers had an extraordinary economic growth because there was major investment in the health, education, the well being of that cohort of young people who then were able to boost the economy."

The challenges for India, she said, are "there's so many people that are in the informal labour market. Again, educational standards are highly uneven -- if you go north to south, south to north in India, we see tremendous diversity within such a large country".

Snow was briefing reporters about the UNFPA's annual report, which is titled, "8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case for Rights and Choices".

She said that the population issue should not be seen solely in terms of numbers and goals, but the as to how women are able to freely make their own reproductive choices.

She said that 44 per cent of partnered women and girls do not have the right to make decisions on having children or not.

About 257 million women do not have access to safe, reliable contraception, she added.
Pakistan announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in-person.

She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot.

Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

It would be the highest level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.

Also Read Pak FM Bilawal Bhutto launches vituperative personal tirade against PM Modi Imran's political future dark if he ignores democratic path: Bilawal US Dy Secy discusses Pak's efforts to recover from floods with FM Bilawal Indo-Pak ties see new low; FM Bhutto's outburst dashes hope for engagements Ex-Pak Prez Zardari rules out possibility of contesting elections with PDM States, UTs get 3 months for providing ration cards to migrant labourers Victory of people: BJP on court rejecting Rahul's plea in defamation case Anti-graft act ensured civil servant can properly discharge duties: VP Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tests positive for Covid, under quarantine Karnataka people will bless AAP in Assembly polls: Punjab CM Mann

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday accused the Centre of stalling government recruitments in the national capital for the last nine years.

Bharadwaj's remarks came after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena handed over appointment letters to nearly 1,500 newly recruited Delhi government employees, including 324 school principals and 500 fire fighters.

Raj Niwas officials rubbished the charges, saying that the AAP dispensation never put up demands for filling up vacancies.

"The Education Department or any other department of GNCTD never ever put up demands for filling vacancies despite huge, glaring and long pending vacancies. They always preferred ad hocism aimed at favouritism by appointing thousands of employees on contract, in gross violation of procedures, manuals and court orders," a Raj Niwas official said.

However, Bharadwaj, who is also the Services Minister, said the officers of the Services Department have on several occasions straight up refused to place on record the number of vacant posts despite multiple requests by Delhi Vidhan Sabha, citing the control of Central government on the department.

The Delhi health minister also alleged that the Centre has been exercising "unethical and unwarranted" control over the Delhi Services Department.

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Talking about the event where Saxena distributed appointment letters, the minister said, "The LG said that it was only possible to give these jobs in the last couple of months... It was strange to see the LG pointing fingers towards the Central government regarding the delay in these appointments."



He said that everyone in the country is aware that appointment for jobs in Delhi, transfer of government officers or taking actions against errant officers, all of this comes under the Central government. He also said that since the LG is appointed by the Centre, by default, this task comes under his own office.

"When today the LG pointed out that 35,000 posts had been lying vacant, he was essentially blaming the Central government for the delay in filling up these posts," Bharadwaj said, asserting that it was the citizens of Delhi who suffered because of the delay in filling up these posts.

The LG today has gone on to expose the BJP-led Central government on this issue, and also made it clear that what the AAP had been claiming until now was absolutely correct. We had said earlier also that it was part of a conspiracy by the BJP to not fill up these posts. The people are suffering due to thousands of vacancies for the posts of nursing staff and compounders in the Delhi government hospitals, and the Central government is to be blamed for it, he said.

Bharadwaj stressed that over the years, he personally asked several questions regarding the number of vacancies in the various departments of the state government in the Delhi assembly, but no reply was provided by the LG Office.

The Raj Niwas official said, "The Delhi government additionally deployed civil defense volunteers against permanent posts rather than asking for permanent appointments. They systematically subverted systematic recruitments and deprived the people of Delhi of regular government job opportunities. Very characteristically they are now trying to cover their deliberate acts of commission and omission, now that recruitments are being made.
Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Thursday said he held a political discussion with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna but declined to comment on whether he was sent on a special mission by the party high command.

Sharing a photograph of his Wednesday evening meeting with Kumar on Twitter, Rawat wrote, "Shri Nitish Kumar, the strong voice of opposition unity in 2024..."



However, when asked about the meeting, Rawat said Kumar is an old friend and he had travelled to Patna to appreciate his good works.

"He is our old friend. He is doing good work and it is everyone's responsibility to salute good work," he said.

Rawat, a former Uttarakhand chief minister, admitted that there were political discussions between the two leaders.

"We are no saints. When political people meet, political talk is bound to happen," he added.

However, when asked if the party high command had sent him to Patna on a special mission, Rawat refused to comment.

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The two leaders' meeting is being seen as a sequel to the recent talks between Kumar and Rahul Gandhi.

People close to Rawat said the meeting was held to strengthen opposition unity in view of preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Even as the death toll due to sunstroke at an award function in Navi Mumbai stood at 14 so far as per the official figures, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday claimed that 50 to 75 people have died in the tragedy, and accused the Maharashtra government of hiding the real number of the deceased.

Talking to reporters, Raut said he interacted with the workers of his party from Uran, Shrivardhan, Roha and Mangaon talukas in Raigad district, who told him that the actual number of the people who died at Kharghar is bigger than what the government has announced.

Officials have said that 14 people died after suffering from sunstroke during the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony held in Kharghar area of Raigad district neighbouring Mumbai on Sunday. The function was held in an open ground and was attended by several lakh people, most of them followers of social worker Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, who was conferred with the Maharashtra Bhushan award by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the event.

Accusing the state government of hiding the real number of fatalities, Raut said, "If you look at the total figure from all the villages (from the talukas in Raigad) then minimum 50 and maximum 75 people have died. 'Khoke sarkar' (a term the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena uses to mock the Eknath Shinde-led government) people have reached their homes and suppressed the voice of family members."



"This is a cruel government and it has no right to be in power. The government should immediately resign," the Rajya Sabha member alleged.

Raut also backed Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole's demand for a special two-day session of the state legislature to discuss the tragedy.

Opposition parties have blasted the Shinde government over the deaths, accusing it of mismanagement.

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Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar had sought an inquiry into how the award event was organised during noon time when the temperature was very high.

On Wednesday, Raut demanded that CM Shinde be booked for culpable homicide.

Many followers of Shree Parivar (Dharmadhikari's organisation) had reached the venue on Friday and stayed there till the function concluded at around 1.30 pm on Sunday. At the sprawling venue, some people complained of dizziness and other health complications. Some also fainted at the ground. They were initially treated at makeshift medical facilities and later rushed to hospitals.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters here on Thursday.

Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

He is scheduled to meet the UN chief in New York on Thursday.

Jaishankar had last met Guterres at the world body's headquarters in December 2022, when India was President of the UN Security Council for the month.

Jaishankar had presided over two signature events on counter-terrorism and reformed multilateralism held under India's Presidency of the UN Security Council, before the curtains came down on the country's two-year tenure as elected member of the powerful 15-nation Council.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in New Delhi that Jaishankar's visit to the four countries would provide an opportunity to continue high-level contacts with Latin America and the Caribbean nations and explore new areas of cooperation in a whole host of areas, particularly in the post-pandemic scenario.

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Aasha, Shaurya, Daksha, Tejas, and Dheera are some of the names that people have suggested for the cheetahs that were flown from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

The cheetahs have been brought as part of India's ambitious programme -- 'Project Cheetah' -- to bring the big cat back from extinction.

Earlier on September 25, PM Modi in his monthly radio address 'Mann Ki Baat', had asked citizens to take part in contests on the MyGov platform to suggest names for the animals.

"What should be the name of the campaign on cheetahs? Can we even think of naming all these cheetahs...by what name should each of them be called," he had said.

"I request people to share their views on the naming of the campaign and cheetahs. It will be great if the naming of cheetahs is in tune with our traditions," he added.

The MyGov platform received a total of 11,565 submissions suggesting names for reintroduced cheetahs.

Cheetahs named!



On 25th September 2022, PM Shri @narendramodi ji during his #MannKiBaat address asked people to suggest names for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa.



A competition was thus organised.



Happy to share the names of our cheetahs and the winners. pic.twitter.com/KEcO4ujvFH  Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) April 20, 2023



The entries were scrutinised by a selection committee and based on the significance and relevance of the suggested names for their conservation and cultural value the following new names have been selected for cheetahs for Namibian and South African cheetah.

Aasha

Pavan

Nabha

Jwala

Gaurav

Shaurya

Dhatri

Daksha

Nirva

Vayu

Agni

Gamini

Tejas

Veera

Suraj

Dheera

Uday

Prabhas

Pavak

The MyGov platform had earlier received submissions suggesting names such as Veer, Pnaki, Bhairav, Brahma, Rudra, Durga, Gouri, Bhadra, Shakti, Brahaspati, Chinmayi, Chatura, Raksha, Medha, and Mayur among others for the animals.

Project Cheetah

Twelve cheetahs from South Africa arrived on February 18 in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park after South Africa signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the re-introduction of cheetahs in India to establish a viable cheetah population in the country.

Earlier, eight cheetahs brought from Namibia were released by PM Modi at Kuno National Park on the occasion of his birthday on September 17, 2022. One cheetah died due to illness recently.

Following the import of the 12 cheetahs in February, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years.

The MoU on the reintroduction of cheetahs to India facilitates cooperation between the parties to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India, promotes conservation, and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity is built, to promote cheetah conservation.

Under the ambitious project of the Indian Government- Project Cheetah- the reintroduction of wild species particularly cheetahs is being undertaken as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.

India has a long history of wildlife conservation. One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures 'Project Tiger' which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also to the entire ecosystem.

(With agency input)


While the ICAI had opposed the inclusion of non-CA members in the disciplinary committee, its President Aniket Sunil Talati told reporters: There is no objection. Because it is an Act, its a reality and we as mature professionals have to accept it. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has said it is working with the corporate affairs ministry on the rules and regulations of the disciplinary mechanism, which are yet to be notified, a year since the CA Act was amended.



The disciplinary committee for CAs has five members  three ICAI central council members and two government nominees. The new Act proposes to include two CAs and three non-CAs. The committee, the Act says, has to be headed by a non-CA. Talati said ICAIs view on the issue was that if the majority of the disciplinary panels members were from the accounting community, there would be a more accurate understanding of the ground realities. These are technical matters which are highly complex in nature. And therefore, our view was that if there is a majority of such members, it will only help in dispensation of faster justice, he said.



IN THE PIPELINE ICAI mulling over regulations with the corporate affairs ministry

Disciplinary committee has five members  three ICAI central council members and two government nominees

The new CA Act proposes to include two CAs and three non-CAs

The committee has to be headed by a non-CA, the Act says

ICAI earlier opposed the inclusion of non-CAs in the committee The ICAI has registered 6,766 cases since 2007 till March 31, 2023, out of which 63 per cent (4,249 cases) have been concluded. We have brought down the pendency limit of older cases tremendously. And therefore, you will not see any cases that are pending for more than four or five years, the ICAI president said.

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Improving audit quality

Talati said the ICAI was actively addressing the negative perception about the accounting and auditing community. While the self-evaluation of audit firms through its Audit Quality Maturity Model became effective from April 1, the Institute has deferred the implementation of the peer review of the same by three months to July.



On the waning public confidence in auditors, Talati said: Audit is to be done to give a reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatements. What it was never intended to be a venture in the form of an investigation. The ICAI president said the institute had given its views on the foreign trade agreements with the UK and Canada, supporting foreign audit firms to operate in India on a reciprocity basis.



The ICAIs ethical standard board is also holding a meeting to review the threshold limit for the audit fee that a firm can get from a single client as a part of its entire business. Currently, the limit is at ~25 lakh, and if the fee crosses 15 per cent, the audit firm needs to notify the Institute. He said the Centre for Audit Quality was coming up with procedures to ensure a good audit providing extensive training.

These limits may not work for smaller firms, for whom this may be the size of their total business. We are working on revising the code of ethics, Talati said.
India attaches special importance to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in promoting dialogue on multi-dimensional political, security and economic subjects, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday.

He said this while chairing a meeting of Heads of Departments of SCO member states responsible for Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations in New Delhi.

He said India's priority as the chair of the SCO is to take forward the SECURE theme articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Qingdao Summit of the grouping in 2018.

SECURE stands S - Security, E - Economic Cooperation, C - Connectivity, U - Unity, R - Respect For Sovereignty and Integrity and E - Environment Protection.

Under the leadership of Modi, India attaches special importance to the SCO in promoting dialogue on the subject relating to multi-dimensional political, security and economic subjects, an official statement said.

Shah said India attaches special importance to disaster risk reduction and is ready to share its expertise and experience in this field for greater cooperation and mutual trust among SCO member states.

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He said India believes that no hazard is small or big and it does not leave anyone behind.

Shah said India now has more accurate and timely early warning system in place and the country has seen a sea change in the way its early warning systems (EWS) of drought, flood, lightning, heat wave, cold wave, cyclone, have improved.

He said the forecast not only warns India about the disaster but also predicts the potential impact it is likely to cause.

According to Shah, at the time of a natural disaster, it is of great importance how quickly the relief reaches the affected area and this speed reflects the preparedness of the team and the efficiency of their training.

He said India has been associated with the SCO since 2005 and playing an important role as an observer country, since then.

At the 17th Summit in 2017, India became a full member of the SCO as part of an important step in the process of expansion of this organization.

Shah said it is a matter of pride that India is donning the mantle of the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of State for the very first time since becoming a full-fledged member state in 2017.

He said the SCO will probably be the largest regional organisation in the world at this time, representing 40 per cent of the global population, 25 per cent of the global GDP and 22 per cent of the world's total land area.

Today, the SCO has developed into an international organization and it has provided an excellent platform for harmonising cooperation with all member countries, he said.

Shah said each and every life, family and their livelihood are priceless and all possible efforts should be made to protect it.

He said India's approach to early warning system is people-centric and we want to ensure that our forecasting and warning system is not just scientifically advanced but it is also communicated in a manner that is understandable, usable and actionable by common people.

The home minister said there was a time when cyclonic storms in India used to cause huge loss of life and property, but, India has made 'community empowerment' the basis of its efforts, due to which the damage caused by cyclones has been reduced, which is being appreciated by the whole world today.

He said India has taken several important initiatives of international cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction.

He said the India-led Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) today has 39 members from across the world.

The CDRI is working with member countries to ensure that all investments in infrastructure is made in a manner that it makes our infrastructure resilient to disasters, thereby securing not just our present but also our future. Along with this, CDRI is placing particular emphasis on some of the most vulnerable regions of the world, such as Small Islands Developing States (SIDS).

Also, on India's initiative, a Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction has been constituted at the G20, and the first meeting of this group was held recently in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, he said.

The home minister said the 'Tsunami Early Warning System' for the Indian Ocean Rim Countries established by the Indian National Centre for Oceanic Information Services (INCOIS) serves not just India but nearly two dozen other countries.

Along with this, he said, India has hosted joint bilateral exercises with SAARC, BIMSTEC, and SCO countries.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for cooperation in aviation safety.

The agreement was signed on the first day of the EU-India Aviation Summit here where the Airport Authority of India also signed a declaration of intent with Eurocontrol, a pan-European, civil-military organisation dedicated to supporting European aviation.

While the MoU between DGCA and EASA will focus on collaboration at regulatory level and safety level, the declaration of intent between AAI and Eurocontrol will be focused on the area of air traffic control.

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said India and EU share historical relations and invited industry players from EU to become a part of the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

"India and the EU have shared strong historical relations which continue to grow today on the back of robust physical, digital and people-to-people connectivity, aided by the aviation industry," he said.

Scindia made these comments in his virtual address at the two-day summit. He could not attend the event in person after testing Covid positive.

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Adina Valean, European Union Commissioner for Transport, also addressed the summit through virtual mode.

"From commercial opportunities to aviation safety and security, sustainablility, air traffic management, or consumer protection, our shared experiences, as well as our shared objectives, make us natural partners. We already have a successful history of partnership and cooperation in many areas. I truly hope aviation will become one of our most successful partnerships," she said.

The summit focuses on EU-India air transport relations and the mutually shared challenges and opportunities of the two regions, such as the post-Covid recovery of air traffic, increasing sustainability, maintaining safety and the development of unmanned aircraft systems.

The summit will bring together top-level policy makers, industry executives and stakeholders from both the EU and India.

"We have a long standing history of bilateral relation between India and EU. I am sure we have a bright future together with even stronger cooperation and collaboration between EU and India," said Andreas Carlson, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Sweden.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said that the people of Karnataka are going to "bless" the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming Assembly elections.

He was speaking to reporters after participating in the filing of nomination by Arjun Halagigoudar, AAP candidate for the Terdal constituency.

"I am on a Karnataka tour for three days. I am seeing greater support for AAP in north Karnataka," he stated.

"In Punjab state also there was a similar situation. The voters have confidence in AAP, and based on the development work taken up in Delhi made a common man like me as the Chief Minister of Punjab. This trend will replicate in Karnataka as well," he stated.

"There is no strategy needed to form the government. The AAP is an expert in taking up pro-farmer stands, creation of jobs and honest administration. Based on this trust, the AAP will be chosen," he said.

"The candidates all over the state have taken up aggressive campaigning and AAP will emerge victorious in its experimentation.

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"The opportunity for the common man and the last man to become the CM is only there in AAP only," he stressed.

--IANS

mka/dpb
India, the most populous country, will continue to live in its villages till the 2050s, even as a number of rural settlements now have more population than that required for them to be called a town, putting them at risk of missing out on growth opportunities, experts said on Thursday.

With the latest Census exercise being delayed due to the Covid pandemic, available data from the 2011 Census shows there are 23,335 villages with a population of over 5,000, but continue to be in the category of villages as they do not fulfill other criteria, standing at a risk of missing on programmes meant for urban centres, they said.

In India, a settlement is considered urban if it has a population of over 5,000, density of population is at least 400 people per sq km, and at least 75 per cent of the population must be involved in non-agricultural activities.

The number of people living in centres with a population over 5,000 is over 23.5 per cent of the total rural population.

"India does still live in its villages demographically, even though we don't have definitive data because the 2021 Census has not been conducted. It is highly probable that India will still be living in its villages demographically till the 2050s, but it has been predominantly urban economically since the late 1990s," said Aromar Revi, Director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), an interdisciplinary national university focused on urbanisation.

"India uses a three-tier urban classification using density, population size and percentage of male non-agricultural workers. There are many issues with these criteria in the middle of a massive urban transition, which a number of researchers have identified, but even with changes in those definitions, India as an aggregate still lives in its villages," he told PTI.

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According to the latest UN data, India has become the world's most populous nation with 142.86 crore people.

However, while more people live in villages, Indian cities already contribute to an estimated two-thirds of India's GDP, and this number is expected to rise to 75 per cent by 2031. At the same time, around 70 per cent of all new jobs are expected to come from urban areas, shows data of the Urban Development Ministry.

The IIHS in its report 'Urban India 2015' had highlighted the emergence of high density population clusters around established urban centres accompanied by a massive increase in people living in settlements with a population between 5,000 and 20,000. This is even as urbanisation in India has been assumed to be top-heavy in nature resulting in the formulation of infrastructure investment plans that focus on large cities - those with a population greater than 100,000.

"This points to a grey population that remains classified as rural but is increasingly urban in character as well as deeply connected to established urban spaces and their economic and social development," the report said.

The report also said over 2001-2011, more people were added to the urban rather than the rural population and projections indicate that India may well become half urban by 2041.

It said these "potentially urban" settlements, which are defined as rural but exhibit urban characteristics due to their population size, density and proximity to established urban spaces, could dramatically change the spatial distribution of what is viewed and targeted as urban in India, and therefore must be included in policy decisions.

Nirmalaya Chowdhury, Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said in such a scenario, these large rural settlements housing crores stand at a risk of losing out on development.

"If we compare rural and urban areas, the difference is clear why people want to migrate to urban areas. Areas under panchayats have lesser facilities, but when a centre becomes a municipality, there is more investment and development," Chowdhury told PTI.

"Rural areas benefit when they get converted into a municipality. In addition to that there are also peri-urban areas which have high density of population," he said.

Asked if there is a need to redefine towns and villages, Revi said the need instead is to focus on development in small towns and large villages.

"What needs to shift is the governance and development regime that does not focus enough on the small town and large village classes, where a lot of the urbanisation opportunities are being frittered away," the IIHS director said.

As per government figures, in 2021, 65 per cent of the country's population lived in the rural areas and 47 per cent of the population was dependent on agriculture for livelihood.

In 1960, 80 per cent Indians lived in villages, and in 2000, 72 per cent population was in the rural areas.
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With this end in view, the state will export 200 tonnes of Mahua to an Indian subsidiary of a London-based company. Mahua from the state will be an ingredient in health drinks, chocolates, and cookies.



Mahua is the second-highest source of revenue for the forest produce outfit, the highest being Tendupatta. Madhya Pradesh Minor Forest Produce Federation Managing Director Pushkar Singh said apart from the agreement with Madhuvanya, the subsidiary of OForest, there could be other deals with domestic and foreign companies at the International Forest Fair, to be held next year, to purchase 1,000 tonnes of Mahua.



The supply will take place this year. Contracts are being signed with district forest committees in Umaria, Alirajpur, Narmadapuram, Sehore, Sidhi, and Khandwa. Singh said: Mahua is being procured from forest committees at Rs 35 per kg and the contract is to export it at Rs 110 per kg.

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In a sign of the rift with the BJP's Manipur unit, party MLA Khwairakpam Raghumani who is currently in Delhi, has filed a complaint with the DGP of Manipur police against BJP Minority Morcha president for a comment the latter made in a Facebook post.

Raghumani, who is one of the four BJP MLAs camping in Delhi to reportedly meet the party's central leadership and voice grievances, said he interpreted a comment made by the Morha chief Asker Ali Mkm to be "a threat" to his life while and urged "for action under cybercrime law and IPC Section 506."



Ali allegedly commented about the four MLA's move to sound out the BJP top leadership, stating "let this be the last trip to Delhi" in Manipuri language.

In his complaint, Raghumani claimed Ali,"Has issued this statement while I am away in Delhi and he seems to be threatening that this will be my last trip to Delhi or anywhere."



"The comment seems to have been issued with a malicious intent at the behest of people who are perhaps involved in drug business and do not want such issues to be brought up in meetings with leaders in Delhi" Raghumani said in his complaint.

Uripok MLA Khwairakpam Raghumani, posted a picture on Facebook of a meeting with Union Minister of State for DONER B L Verma.

"They (Thokchom Radheshyam Singh, Karam Shyam, Paonam Brojen and Raghumani) discussed the border and developmental issues of Manipur," the post said.

The move created speculation of dissension brewing in the Biren Singh-led BJP government as the trip to Delhi to meet national leaders came soon after BJP MLA Karam Shyam of Langthabal constituency tendered his resignation on Monday from the chairmanship of Tourism Corporation Manipur Limited complaining that he had "not been assigned any responsibility". PTI COR



On April 8, BJP MLA Thokchom Radheshyaam of Heirok constituency had resigned from the post of advisor to the chief minister citing similar grievance.

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The MCD has taken up the work to revive three small water bodies in east Delhi with large-scale landscaping and rejuvenation, officials said on Thursday.

The three water bodies each cover an area of not more than an acre. There are around 20 water bodies in the national capital that will be restored under the first phase of the Mission Amrit Sarovar, they said.

"The Centre sanctioned certain funds for the restoration of water bodies in Delhi. We have begun the work to revive three water bodies in east Delhi. Slowly, we will begin the work to revive all other water bodies in the national capital," an official said.

The official said a tender has been floated for the development of a water body in Ghazipur near Highway Apartment in Ward - 19.

The tender for the redevelopment of the other two water bodies will also be floated soon, the official added.

The restoration work includes digging up and filling the pond and installing fencing.

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"The ponds will be filled with water from canals after treatment through Sewage Treatment Plants," said another official, adding that it would help recharge the groundwater.

Sewage Treatment Plants will be installed near these ponds or the water from nearby ones channelised into them. Besides, rainwater will also be channelised into these ponds, which will help recharge groundwater.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will beautify these ponds by developing footpaths around the periphery and instal gazebos, sheds and benches to help citizens use these as rest and recreation spots.

They will also become aware of the importance of water, the official said.

Asked if the MCD had any plans to introduce fish in the ponds, the official said, "There are no current plans to introduce any kind of fish but some of the ponds can be developed for tourism activities like boating."



Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Mission Amrit Sarovar under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to commemorate 75 years of Independence.

It aims to develop and rejuvenate 75 water bodies in each district of the country to address the problem of groundwater depletion.
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to file an action-taken report on the alleged illegal felling of 6,000 trees in the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttrakhand's Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division.

The green panel was hearing a matter in which it had initiated suo motu (on its own) proceedings based on a media report on the illegal felling of trees. The Forest Survey of India was asked to assess the status of illegally felled trees, the report had claimed.

A bench of Chairperson Justice A K Goel said that according to the report of an earlier constituted panel, the cutting of trees was illegal and the process of restoration required constructions made without the approval of the Centre to be removed. But the state government's principal secretary submitted that the construction does not require the Union government's approval.

The bench, also comprising Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member A Senthil Vel, said, "...it appears difficult to accept the stand of the principal secretary However, we find that MoEF&CC (Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) has to finalise its own perception of the matter and file a report..."



"Accordingly, we direct the secretary, MoEF&CC, to file the action-taken report in the matter before the next date," the green panel said.

The matter has been posted for further proceedings on July 19.

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The Congress leader was on March 23 convicted to serve a two-year jail term for his derogatory remarks at a public meeting about those with the surname Modi. A sessions court in Surat on Thursday rejected Rahul Gandhis plea for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark, holding that the Congress leader should have been more careful with his words since he was a Member of Parliament and the then president of the country's second largest political party.



It observed that the Congress leader's removal or disqualification as MP under section 8(3) of Representation of the People Act, 1951 "cannot be termed as irreversible or irreparable loss or damage." Denying the disqualified MP relief that could have paved the way for his reinstatement in the Lok Sabha, additional sessions judge R P Mogera observed that a "high standard of morality" is expected from a person like Gandhi, adding that the trial court had imposed a sentence which was permissible in law.



Congress spokesperson A M Singhvi said the erroneous decision of the sessions court would be challenged in the high court. We are confident that superior courts with the constitutional power of judicial review will set right the legal errors found in this judgment, he said. Gandhi, who will continue to remain out on bail, stood disqualified from contesting Lok Sabha and Assembly elections for a period of eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.

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The BJP hailed the court order as a "victory" of the judiciary and the people. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said the court's decision is "a blow" to the arrogance of the Gandhi family, "especially Rahul Gandhi.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a telephonic conversation with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen, during which both the leaders reviewed the progress of India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership.

They expressed satisfaction at the high-level exchanges and growing cooperation, official sources said.

Modi congratulated Frederiksen on her appointment as the Prime Minister of Denmark for a second term.

He briefed her on India's ongoing presidency of the G20 and its key priorities, official sources added. Frederiksen appreciated India's G20 initiatives and conveyed Denmark's full support to it.

The leaders also agreed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India-Denmark relations next year in 2024.

--IANS

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Data from the last financial year reveals that education loan providers such as Avanse Financial Services registered a growth of up to 70 per cent in the number of students applying for loans for education in the US, according to the report, which quoted the company's CEO, Amit Gainda. Amid large-scale layoffs, recession fears, and turbulence in global economies, Indian students continue to aspire for higher education in US universities, The Economic Times (ET) reported.



Mayank Sharma, country head for India and head of global partnerships at Prodigy Finance, was quoted in the report as saying, "The numbers are expected to increase in the next few months before all applications are shut and the students go to class in August." UK-based fintech company Prodigy Finance is engaged in assisting students with loans. It also saw a similar trend and registered a growth of about 60 per cent in loan applications from Indian students to finance their education in the US, the ET report added.



Students are applying to US universities for both undergraduate and MBA courses. There has been a surge in the number of applications to the non-Ivy mass student base from India wanting to go to the US for studies, an expert said. Several factors are responsible for the high number of students applying for education in the US. The large number of higher education institutes offering quality education is one of the primary reasons. Increased capacity for US visas and the lowering of waiting times are also contributing to the rise.

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Another expert said that the US has the world's best universities, and STEM programmes offer students the opportunity to stay after their education and work in the US for three years. This makes the idea of studying in the US even more attractive.


The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), in collaboration with Grant Thornton Bharat, hosted the Real Estate Summit 2023 on Thursday in New Delhi. The event brought together the entire real estate ecosystem, comprising policymakers, industry leaders, capital providers, and financial/ tax experts.

The real estate sector in India is likely to grow from 6-7 per cent currently to around 18 per cent by 2030, according to PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) report released Thursday.



While addressing the event, Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton Bharat, said, As India grows towards a $7 trillion economy by 2030, the wider real estate ecosystem will become a major part of our GDP from 6-7 per cent currently to around 18 per cent by 2030. This growth can be propelled even faster through a focus on strong governance, simple single window-type regulations, and by leveraging technology as a differentiator, thereby making the sector more attractive to capital.

The report titled Realising the potential of real estate, which was done jointly by PHDCCI and Grant Thornton Bharat and was released during the Real Estate Summit 2023 in New Delhi, explores the potential of the real estate sector in the country. The report considers the various aspects of evolving regulatory framework, trends, challenges around financing, and how tech could transform businesses.



With Indian cities projected to add 416 million urban dwellers by 2050, urban development is expected to impact carbon emissions significantly. Sustainable cities are the key to achieving the circular economy model for the real estate sector, facilitating the efficient use of resources, and minimising waste, according to the report.

The report also talks about the relationship between ESG and carbon footprint. Listed developers are targeting a 25 per cent increase in their green portfolio by 2025-2030, as a part of their short-term ESG goals.

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It emphasised implementing a single-window clearance mechanism for projects to streamline the flow of supply and demand, promote ease of doing business, and further attract investments. Moreover, the real estate sector in India is waiting to be granted industry status. This status would enable state and central government agencies to recognise the real estate sector as a distinct industry, allowing for the implementation of special programs and subsidies.

The growth of this sector depends on a culmination of regulatory, corporate, and sustainability initiatives. As a growing economy with a massive population, the focus needs to shift to making use of alternate sources of energy for building a new India. Carbon neutrality is now a reality, and a juxtaposition of affordable and sustainable housing is the only way forward, said Saket Dalmia, President, PDHCCI, at the event.

The report also talks about how technology has improved the real estate industry by empowering businesses to stay competitive and provide better experiences for clients. Virtual tours, using AI and VR have revolutionised the way clients experience tours. AI has helped agents and brokers better predict the future rent and value of a property in a specific market. The tokenisation of properties using blockchain technology has also made buying and selling properties more transparent and efficient.


The bench of Chief Justice of India(CJI)DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha continued hearing submissions on behalf of the petitioners in a batch of petitions about marriage equality rights for the LGBTQIA+ community. The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the notice, inviting objections within 30 days, under the Special Marriage Act enables a violation of privacy.



He said that the institution of marriage is very important and to provide a stable relationship, same-sex couples should also be granted the same right to marriage. He submitted that it is imperative to expand the scope of the framework to assimilate this evolution. Senior Advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for two petitioners, submitted that the ultimate guiding star for the present batch of matters is the intention of the statute which was to provide the institution of marriage to all, irrespective of religious belief and permission. He argued that while enacting the statute parliament could not have thought about homosexuals, but society has evolved since.



Thereafter, Singhvi argued that the 30-day notice and objection regime of the Special Marriage Act(SMA) is unconstitutional. He submitted that such a regime is only peculiar to the Special Marriage Act, of 1954 and directly strikes at the right to privacy, autonomy, and choice of the couple. He submitted that such a provision, which is only under the secular SMA, invites violence from possibly family members and is in contravention with the purpose of the Act. Various provisions of the Special Marriage Act can be interpreted to recognise same-sex couples, he said.

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"This is an invitation to disaster and violence", Singhvi said. Justice Ravindra Bhat remarked that such provisions were based on patriarchy and was created at a time when women didn't have agency.



Senior Advocate Raju Ramchandran, appearing on behalf of two other petitioners namely Kajal (a Dalit woman, employed at a bakery) and her partner - Bhavana (belonging to OBC, from Bahadurgarh, working as an accountant), submitted that the issue at hand is not limited to the concerns of the urban elite as alleged. "And the object was to protect! You're virtually laying them open to invasion by society..by Collectors, District Magistrates, Superintendent of Police", CJI DY Chandrachud remarked.



After the above arguments, Advocate KV Vishwanathan submitted that the separate but equal argument that the Union has sought to put forward cannot be countenanced. He said that the Union in its counter affidavit has stressed the importance of procreation, and has argued that as people in a same-sex marriage cannot procreate, they need not be granted the right to marry. In response, he submitted that even many heterosexual females above the age of 45 years may not be able to safely become pregnant, but are still allowed to marry. Therefore procreation cannot be a ground to deny the right to marry. He argued that marriage is not just a gateway to socio-economic privileges but also sometimes societal protection from one's own parental families. He submitted that couples such as the Petitioners he represented did not have enlightened parents and thus they had to move to the Delhi High Court for protection orders. In light of this, Ramchandran submitted that the notice and objection scheme contemplated under the Special Marriage Act needs to be done away with. He prayed for a protocol to be put in place on the lines of the one set out in the judgment of Shakti Vahini granting protection from the Khaap Panchayat.
The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till May 3 the hearing on pleas challenging the amended law allowing extension of up to five years for the director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol deferred the matter after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought adjournment on grounds that he was busy in the constitution bench hearing on the issue of legalisation of same-sex marriage.

"Mr Solicitor, you make some alternative arrangements. We can't keep the matter adjourning like this. Make some arrangements. We don't want any impression to be carried that the government is unnecessarily delaying," the bench said.

Mehta submitted that nobody anticipated that constitution bench matters would commence when this date was fixed.

On Solicitor General's request, the bench posted the matter for hearing on May 3.

The top court had earlier disagreed with the Centre's submission that petitions challenging the amended law allowing tenure extension of the Enforcement Directorate director up to five years should not be entertained as they have been filed by political entities facing serious money laundering charges.

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It had said even if the petitioners are facing cases, they have the right to approach the judiciary for redressal of their grievances.

The top court had on December 12 last sought the response from the Centre and others to a plea challenging the third extension granted to ED chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

It had issued notices to the Union of India, the Central Vigilance Commission and the ED director on a plea filed by Jaya Thakur.

The plea accused the central government of destroying the basic structure of democracy by misusing enforcement agencies against its political opponents.

A batch of petitions, including those filed by Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, TMC's Mahua Moitra and Saket Gokhale, had come up for hearing before the bench.

According to an official order, the Union government gave a fresh one-year extension to Mishra, the third for the Indian Revenue Service officer, in the position.

The notification issued by the government said the 1984 batch IRS officer will be in office till November 18, 2023.

Mishra, 62, was first appointed the director of the ED for two years on November 19, 2018. Later, by an order dated November 13, 2020, the central government modified the appointment letter retrospectively and his two-year term was changed to three years.

The government promulgated an ordinance last year under which the tenure of the ED and CBI chiefs could be extended by up to three years after the mandated term of two years.


The court of additional sessions judge, R P Mogera, rejected Gandhi's application for relief pending his appeal against a lower court's order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case. On Thursday, a Sessions court in Surat rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark. Gandhi had, on April 3, approached the sessions court for an appeal against the lower court's order.



Gandhi approached the sessions court for appeal after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019. A stay on conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for Gandhi's reinstatement as the Member of Parliament (MP).



Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019 but was disqualified a day after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail in the case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. His lawyers had filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for a stay on conviction till the disposal of his appeal.

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The sessions court will continue its hearing on Gandhi's main plea against the lower court's order. While granting bail to Gandhi, the court had issued notices to complainant MLA Modi and the state government on the Congress leader's plea for a stay on conviction.

(With agency inputs)
RBI calls meeting of all bank boards to discuss governance, supervisory

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has called a meeting of the board of directors of all banks  state-run, private, and foreign  on May 29 to primarily discuss issues related to governance, ethics, the role of the boards, and supervisory expectations, a top source told Business Standard. Read more...

Committed to grow, invest across India: Tim Cook tells PM Modi

In his third stop after Mumbai and Hyderabad during his ongoing India visit, Apple CEO Tim Cook called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday. In his interaction with the PM, Cook said Apple was committed to growing and investing across the country.





FinMin tasks World Bank with examining financing in infrastructure sectors Cook tweeted after the meeting that he shared Modis vision of the positive impact technology can make on Indias future  from education and developers to manufacturing and environment. Read more...

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Jaguar Land Rover raises EV drive bill to 15 bn to catch up with peers The Union finance ministry has tasked the World Bank with examining financing in infrastructure sectors that primarily depend on public investment, like railways, roadways, urban infrastructure, and power. The multilateral institution is expected to submit detailed reports on how the Centre can attract more private investment into these sectors. Read more...



Tatas, Singapore Airlines seek CCI nod for Vistara-Air India merger Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the British brand known for its luxury cars and sports utility vehicles, said on Wednesday it would invest 15 billion (nearly $19 billion) over the next five years as part of its strategy to reposition itself as an electric-first and modern carmaker. According to international news agency Reuters, JLR had previously said it would invest 2.5 billion a year on electrification. Read more...


Indeed, the use or misuse of population statistics to fuel societal divisions is widespread and longstanding, said the report. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has cautioned countries, including India, against misusing the population statistics to fuel societal divisions. A word of caution was sounded in UNFPAs State of World Population Report 2023, which projected India's population to exceed Chinas by 2.9 million by mid-2023.



It referred to published works, including "A Dying Race" authored by Upendro Nath Mukerji and Bose in 1909, to make the point. The UNFPA quoted another work, "Census Enumeration, Religious Identity and Communal Polarization in India" by R B Bhagat (2012), to point out that these concerns were influenced by a biased reading of demographic data collected during the previous censuses, illustrating how data can be misused. Dipping into history, the UN agency said that in India, the rise of nationalism during the early 20th century was accompanied by rhetoric regarding the country's Muslim population, which was linked to unfounded fears that the Hindu religion would be endangered.



In general, the UN agency said dehumanising and extremist rhetoric can, in the worst cases, lead to organised violence against groups of people, including genocide. In India, for instance, data from the last population Census in 2011 showed that Muslims had witnessed a sharp fall in growth rate: from 29.52 per cent (1991-2001) to 24.60 per cent (2001-2011). Such a steep decline in the community's population growth rate hadnt happened in six decades.

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Elsewhere in the world, UNFPA said one extreme form of ethno-nationalism in Europe and other majority-White nations, which transcends national boundaries, is the great replacement ideology. The terminology of great replacement was popularised by French writer Renaud Camus, who claimed in 2011 that immigration from North Africa and West Asia would inevitably result in the end of French culture. It said more recently, researchers have begun to observe and investigate how such language can also incite violence by random and unknown third party actors, a concept termed stochastic violence", referring to a 2021 paper titled Stochastic Terrorism: A Linguistic and Psychological Analysis by Molly Amman and J Reid Meloy.



The focus of the threat is often expressly racialised in many places, with claims that the White race is in danger of being outreproduced by the higher fertility of black and brown races and its culture diluted by immigration by these races  the terminology of White genocide is used alongside great replacement. While Camus gave this viewpoint a name, the idea itself has been around for a long time, as shown by overt and covert discriminatory policies towards marginalised groups around the world, the UN body said.



Given how easily demographic data can be politicised, some countries have chosen not to collect or release it. Kenya did not release the census data on ethnicity in 1999 because of fears over how the political allegiance of different ethnic groups could be used to sow division. Lebanon has held only one census, in 1932, and has not held another for fear that demographic data on the population sizes of its different religious groups would upset the balance of power between those groups. While this ideology is perhaps most commonly associated with countries in Europe and North America, versions of it appear in different contexts throughout the world, drawing divisions not only among races but also among religions, ethnicities and other classes of belonging, the report said.

Likewise, Belgium does not collect data on the number of speakers of the countrys official languages, the UN agency pointed out.




Visva-Bharati University in an eviction order has asked Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to vacate the 13 decimals of land which he has been allegedly occupying in an unauthorised manner by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of the last order on April 19.

Contending as per government of India advisories and CAG reports the century-old Central institution was in urgent need of getting control of encroachments and also submit report to the ministry, the notice said "Amartya Kumar Sen and all concerned persons are liable to be evicted from the said premises, if need be, by use of such force as may be necessary."



"It is decided that 13 decimals of land having the dimension of 50 ft x 111 ft in the north-west corner of the scheduled premises is to be recovered from him," the notice said.

"Thus he can lawfully occupy 1.25 acres of land only, as lesses (for the residual period of lease) in the scheduled premises. He does not have the authority to occupy 1.38 acres of land in the scheduled premises," the notice issued by Joint Registrar Ashok Mahato said on Wednesday.

A few days back the Central university had issued another notice to Sen, whose ancestral house 'Pratichi' in Santiniketan is inhabited by the Nobel laureate during his stay in Santiniketan, giving him time till April 19 to respond to the missive and vacate the "unauthorised" portion of land or face necessary action otherwise.

The varsity had maintained that Sen's reply to earlier showcause was "fallacious, factually incorrect" and Visva Bharati was the rightful owner of all these lands which had been encroached upon in past years including the 13 decimal land occupied by Sen.

Sen has repeatedly trashed the charge saying while the 1.25 acres of land had been leased by Visva-Bharati to his father for a certain period the contentious 13 decimals were bought by his father and he has all the necessary documents to prove that.

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Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association President Sudipta Bhattacharya told PTI any decision by the university authority to raze down a part of the house of Sen, or any visible action to assemble people will be protested "peacefully and democratically" by teachers and students.

"The documents with state Block Land Revenue Officer (BLRO) proclaims Sen has the rights over the entire 1.38 acres of land. Also as per the magistrate's order, no activity will be allowed on that land by any party and we hope Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty will not do anything which will be in violation of that order," he said.

Bhattacharya further said the image of the document shared by Visva Bharati to media which claimed the Central university had leased 1.25 acres of land to Sen's father and not 1.38 acres should be fact checked.

"We may go to Santiniketan police station and hold peaceful democratic protest if the VC takes any action against Sen in May, as threatened in the letter. Any such move will be detrimental to the image of Santiniketan, Visva Bharati and Bengal as Sen is the pride of the state and country," he said.

Visva Bharati SFI unit leader Somnath Sow told PTI "We are waiting how far the varsity will go. And our members will do whatever needed to avert any eviction drive as per law."



Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Banerjee told PTI, "As specified in the notice, Visva Bharati had given several opportunities to Sen to reply to the show cause even before the start of proceedings. However, he did not respond to the issues raised in any of the aforesaid notices while his lead advocate sent a notice to express apology in all the print and electronic media for making fictitious, false, malafide remarks."



Stating there is no challenge to the assertion that the scheduled premises belong to Visva-Bharati, of which 1.25 acres had been leased to Sen's father in the 40s and the 13 decimals of land occupied by him in "unauthorised" manner, she said, adding that the central university would have the right to take any action deemed legally appropriate to free the "encroachment" by May 6.

To another question, if the university would wait till Sen's return to India in June to settle the matter, she said "may be not. Whatever steps are taken will be done as per law. Let's see.
Ahead of next month's Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal Thursday appealed to people of the constituency to vote for his party if they want development, claiming the Congress did nothing for them in 60 years.

"We are doing good work and with honesty," he said, addressing a gathering here. "Vote for us in place of Congress...give us one chance," the Delhi chief minister added.

"For past 60 years, Jalandhar has been represented by a Congress MP. For 60 years, you voted for the Congress. What did you get? Did the Congress give you anything? Nothing," Kejriwal said.

He said people of Punjab gave AAP a chance in last year's assembly polls and the party formed the government with overwhelming majority. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also present.

"And the second thing, if you vote for the Congress, what benefit will you get? In Punjab, it is our government, we have to get the work done. If you vote for the Congress, they will fight and indulge in 'Tu Tu Mein Mein'. If you want fights, vote for them, but if you have to get all your work done, get roads built, landfills cleaned, then give one chance to AAP," Kejriwal said.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January. The Congress has fielded his wife Karamjit Kaur, while AAP has fielded Sushil Kumar Rinku, a former Congress leader who recently joined the ruling party in the state.

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Kejriwal told the people of Jalandhar that he was giving them a guarantee that all their work would be completed by the AAP government.

After AAP came to power in Punjab, during past one year, "we have started to fulfil these promises, guarantees", he said.

"Some people come to us and say that we don't know how to do politics. They tell us that promises and guarantees are not fulfilled so fast but only in the last year of the term so that people won't forget. We tell them we have not come here to do politics, but to serve people," Kejriwal said.

The AAP leader touched upon his party's poll promise of giving 300 units of free power every month to residents of Punjab, saying parties like the BJP, Congress and the SAD used to mock it for this.

Kejriwal said just within three months of coming to power, "we have showed them how this was done".

"I was told by Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema that under every head money is coming now. Money used to come earlier too, but all this used to go into their pockets, into the Swiss bank accounts of leaders of these parties. Now, all this money is going into the government treasury. And with this money, your electricity bills are becoming zero," he said.

He said 28,000 youths have been given government jobs during past one year and in the coming years, several thousand more jobs will be given, he said.

Kejriwal further said there is no big government hospital in Jalandhar. "We will set up a big hospital like PGIMER," he said, adding landfill sites will be cleaned and roads built.

He said blue (ration) card holders were facing some problems, as cards of some beneficiaries have got deleted by mistake, but he assured that everyone will get ration.

Hitting out at the previous regimes, Kejriwal said for 75 years, they have destroyed Punjab, "but we will set things right and all problems will be solved though it may take time".

"We eliminated mafia raj including sand mafia. Now, people are getting sand at affordable rates," he said.

He alleged that scholarships for Scheduled Caste students were usurped during the previous regime. "The minister in the previous government responsible has been sent to jail by our government in Punjab. Now, children are getting scholarship. I am told scholarship of some students is pending, but they too will be get it in next few days," the AAP leader added.
As fighting between two rival forces rages in Sudan, India on Thursday said the situation in that country is "very tense" and it is focusing on ensuring the safety and well-being of the Indian community, including working on contingency plans and possible evacuation.

New Delhi is keeping a close watch on the developments in Sudan besides being in touch with relevant countries, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing and added that any evacuation plan will depend on the ground situation.

"We are in readiness of taking multiple options. There are contingency plans. We are in close touch with our teams on the ground. But it will all depend on how long there is a pause in the fighting or a ceasefire; where it is happening, what is available in terms of locations where we can safely take people away," he said.

He was responding to a question on whether India is looking to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.

Bagchi also said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on the situation in Sudan.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group for the last seven days that has reportedly left around 200 people dead.

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Jaishankar has already spoken to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on the ground situation in violence-hit Sudan with a focus on ensuring the safety of the Indians.

In a tweet, Jaishankar said he discussed with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry the "concerning" situation in Sudan and deeply valued his "assessments and insights, as also his very helpful attitude."



Asked about reports suggesting attacks on the Indian embassy in Khartoum, Bagchi said it is located just opposite the airport in the city and that zone has seen a lot of fighting.

"There has been some shelling as well. I would not be able to specifically comment on whether it has happened specifically outside the embassy but yes there are reports that in that zone where there are many embassies, attacks are going on," he said.

On possible evacuation, Bagchi said they will depend on the ground situation.

"If the situation on the ground improves, if there is a pause in the fighting or there is a ceasefire, we will certainly take advantage of that primarily to first get the people to safer areas, provide food and water," he said.

"For the moment, it is a very tense situation where there is not too much of a respite from fighting although the intensity has been going up and down," he said.

To another query, Bagchi said the embassy is fully functional and staffers are operating from their residences as fighting has been going on in the zone where the mission is located. He said nobody resides in the embassy complex.

"We are keeping a very close watch on the evolving situation there. Our mission in Khartoum has been in contact with the Indian community there through multiple channels -- informal, formal," Bagchi said.

Asked about the number of Indians staying in Sudan, he refused to divulge the details citing security implications though he noted that the government has a sense of the strength of the community.

According to official data earlier, the number of Indians in Sudan is around 4,000 including 1200 who settled down in that country decades ago.

The MEA spokesperson said the Indian embassy is engaged with the countries in the region as well as other nations that have a key role to play, particularly the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

"We are also in touch with various UN bodies that are present there. The UN has a significant presence on the ground. The External Affairs Minister is presently in New York and he is likely to meet the UN Secretary-General to discuss developments in Sudan," he added.

Bagchi said the situation on the ground is "very tense" which renders any movement very risky.

"So currently our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of the individuals wherever they are located



"We are monitoring the situation and are in touch with the people. Let me emphasise that we understand the difficulties people are facing," he said.

"The situation on the ground is changing, it is quite fluid. Incidents are happening at various locations and we are advising the community members who are reaching out," he added.

Bagchi said the Indian mission and the MEA are trying to reach out to every Indian in Sudan. He also appealed to all Indians there to get in touch with the mission.

"We are trying to locate every Indian, trying to build a database, trying to counsel them," he said.

The MEA spokesperson said the power supply and internet connectivity in that country have been patchy.

On Monday, the Indian embassy in Sudan issued a fresh advisory urging Indians not to venture out of their residences and stay calm.

The embassy, on Sunday, said an Indian national died in Khartoum after sustaining bullet injuries.

Sudan's military captured power in a coup in October 2021 and it has been running the country through a sovereign council since then.

There has been a dispute between the Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a proposed timeline for handing over power to a civilian government.

The fighting erupted between the forces loyal to two rival generals as both are aiming to wrest control over the country.

On the death of an Indian, Bagchi said the mortal remains of the deceased had been moved from his apartment complex into a mortuary in a hospital.


They made the request at the EU-India aviation summit in New Delhi on Thursday. More than 6.9 million people travelled between India and Europe (including the UK) in 2022. Airport operators have called for simplified regulations on immigration, security and visa to encourage trade and tourism between India and the European Union (EU).



The airports called for creating a roadmap towards a one-stop security regime (OSS) between the EU and India. The OSS will be based on mutual recognition of each others' security systems. It can smoothen transit processes at airports and reduce connecting time between flights. Currently, bags arriving from India are screened again at transit points in Europe. The Airports Council International, which represents airports in the Asia Pacific and Europe, in a representation called for increasing cooperation in safety, security, consumer protection and visa issuance.



ACI has also recommended immigration pre-clearance between India and EU, similar to the process adopted by the US in airports like Abu Dhabi as it will facilitate ease of travel. EUs OSS agreement with Singapore allows passengers and bags arriving from the Asian nation not to be subjected to a transit check on a connecting flight to Europe.

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These delivery partners will have to weather another big challenge in the days to come. The rising mercury, which soars to 48 degrees Celsius or more in the months of May and June. The Indian Meteorological Department recently issued heatwave alerts in central and north-eastern parts of India. This comes after a bout of unseasonal rains. Farmers had to delay the harvest to protect their produce. So, what does this erratic weather conditions say about Indias climate?

Quick-commerce platform Blinkit claimed on Wednesday that most of its stores in NCR have reopened. The Zomato-owned company was grappling with a crisis of sorts for the last few days, as hundreds of its delivery partners were on a strike, and stores shut. They were protesting against the companys new payout structure, claiming that it would cut their monthly earnings by half. The company, which is struggling to cut losses, has refused to budge. So is the Blinkits business model sustainable?


Large gatherings of crowds make their presence felt in the one-day festival on April 14 at NESCO Centre in Mumbai. All the music lovers were present at NESCO Centre in Goregaon last Friday to enjoy the overdose of music. The world-renowned international music festival, Road to Ultra came to Mumbai City after five years with a stellar line-up that includes the likes of Afrojack and KSHMR, among others.



This time the festival featured top music artists from across the globe. The performer list includes the swift comebacks of DJ producers like Afrojack and KSHMR, James Hype, a British house DJ making his India debut, Teri Miko, and various artists. Previously, Road to Ultra was held in the year 2017, it was a massive success at that time, and since then, fans were waiting for the next edition.

DJ KSHMR added desi flavour to the event



The unannounced track quickly went viral and was loved by the fans present there. They were enjoying the newest songs of their favourites and the collaboration of KSHMR. DJ KSHMR along with his favourite tracks, also played some unreleased tracks of artists like Badshsh, Raja Kumar, and MC Stan.

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Foods and beverages also available for the audience The large gathering enjoyed the event, and they also loved the wide range of food and beverage options available from popular vendors. He made the night unforgettable for the fans by adding desi flavour. He also did his amazing take on 'Naatu Naatu' and 'Oo Antava.'
After breaking their Ramadan fast on Thursday, April 20, Muslims in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, the United Kingdom, and other Middle Eastern and Western nations will get ready to see the crescent moon. In the meantime, people are determined to make the most of the Eid holiday and the spirit of the occasion. In Jammu and Kashmir, Eid preparations are still in full swing with hopes for better times to come.

Muslims globally are planning to praise the celebration of Eid-Ul-Fitr which denotes the finish of the Islamic blessed month of Ramadan. The 'Chand Raat' term utilized in South Asian societies, especially in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, to refer to the night prior to Eid-ul-Fitr or Eid al-Adha where "Chand" signifies moon and "Raat" signifies night in Urdu, so the term refers to the night when the Muslims sight the crescent or new moon, flagging the month's end of Ramadan.


Reports have suggested that sporadic gunfire and explosions can be heard across the city. Residents have been attempting to migrate to other parts of the country as Khartoum is now facing shortages of food and other supplies. For the last few days, people in Sudan's capital Khartoum have been trapped in their homes due to a clash between the military and its rival paramilitary forces. On Wednesday, the two sides made a new attempt at a 24-hour ceasefire. They had declared a ceasefire earlier this week too, but it had fallen apart.



Sudan is a country of over 46 million people in Northeastern Africa. The country is mainly dominated by Sunni Muslims, most of whom speak Arabic and identify as "Arabs". In 2011, a part of the country, now called South Sudan, disintegrated from it. Its professed religion is Christianity. Muslims are a minority in South Sudan. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that over 300 people have been killed in the past five days. But several believe the toll can be much higher and will be determined once the fighting stops.



Why are the army and paramilitary fighting in Sudan? The country gained independence from the British and elected a representative parliament on January 1, 1956. Since 1989, the country was ruled by President Omar al-Bashir.

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For two years, the country was run by an uneasy alliance of the military and civilians. A Transitional Sovereignty Council was appointed, and Abdalla Hamdok became the civilian prime minister of the country. On December 19, 2018, people in Sudan came out on the streets to protest against the country's long-serving President, al-Bashir. The civil disobedience continued for eight months. In August and September 2019, the military generals removed al-Bashir from power. They agreed to share power with civilians.



The citizens of Sudan launched a civil disobedience movement and weekly demonstrations. However, this isolated the country from the outside world and deepened its economic woes. On October 25, 2021, the country's transition towards democracy halted abruptly after Sudanese military General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan launched a military coup and took control of the government. Hamdok refused to support al-Burhan and was put under house arrest on October 26.



He drew support from a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Dagalo was also the vice president of the council. Now, RSK and Sudan's military have turned against each other. It is their forces that have been fighting, engulfing Khartoum in gunfire. Since then, Sudan has been ruled by a Sovereign Council headed by al-Burhan.

Why are al-Burhan and Dagalo fighting?

The Sovereign Council, led by al-Burhan, supports the transfer of power to civilians. They had promised to conduct the elections in the country by the end of 2023. However, both al-Burhan and Dagalo seem reluctant to give up power.



On April 15, the RSF and Sudanese army members engaged in gunfights in the capital. Both leaders want to keep the power with them. Some experts have stated that the battle is actually between two men who are desperate not to be ejected from the corridors of power after the country's transition to full-fledged democracy. Al-Burhan wants the RSF to integrate with the regular army within two years. Dagalo, on the other hand, wants to delay the integration by ten years. RSF started deploying members around the country and in Khartoum without the army's permission.

Can the fighting escalate?

There is no easy route to a solution in Sudan. The violence is widespread. It ranges from Khartoum to the western city of Darfur. A ceasefire failed earlier this week, and both sides are trying to keep the second ceasefire announced on Wednesday.



"We are negotiating with both parties. We are negotiating to stop the conflict. We are on the field with our friends...We are currently meeting with the vice president. We're also meeting with the commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to stop the war," Cavusoglu said. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday told media that negotiations are on with the two parties in a bid to reach an ultimate ceasefire.



How is the situation in Sudan? Cavusoglu further said they expected a ceasefire to be reached on Thursday ahead of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.



According to UN humanitarians, people are running out of food, fuel and other vital supplies, and the healthcare system is in danger of collapse. The country is in deep turmoil.



"People in the capital Khartoum have been unable to safely leave their homes to buy food and other essentials for days now." "We desperately need a humanitarian pause so that wounded and sick civilians can reach hospitals," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, as reported by IANS.



It said that humanitarian actors must be able to carry out their work safely, and aid agencies must be able to move staff and replenish critical supplies safely. OCHA reported on a severely hampered relief-response system and called for a halt to attacks against aid workers and looting of humanitarian facilities.

"We are worried that Sudan's health care system could completely collapse," the UN humanitarians said. "Hospitals need additional staff, supplies, and blood."
By Jeff Green

Black and Latinx leaders at BlackRock Inc. are quitting so quickly that its nearly offsetting the Wall Street firms efforts to diversify its ranks, according to an audit by former US Attorney General Eric Holder and the law firm where hes senior counsel.





Attrition rates of Black senior leaders almost equaled increases in hiring, leaving senior Black representation roughly flat last year, the 74-page report says. Attrition also impacted Latinx staffing which, combined with recruiting, resulted in just a 0.5% advance in Latinx representation at the company. The numbers at BlackRock are consistent with the broader Great Resignation thats impacting the financial-services sector, the report says. Retention was identified as one of BlackRocks challenges, even as the worlds largest money manager met some goals on diversifying its overall workforce since 2020, according to the review by Covington & Burling LLP, which was retained by BlackRock to conduct the audit.



The findings are an indication that BlackRock takes the process seriously, which is a good sign, said Renaye Manley, deputy director of strategic initiatives at the Service Employees International Union, which made the proposal for a racial audit in 2021. The firms first-ever racial audit also found that BlackRock has already met its 2024 goal of boosting overall Black and Latinx staffing by 30% in the US. Black workers are now at 7.8% and Latinx workers are at 7.7%. It also says the investment firm made progress toward reaching its targets for Black and Hispanic leaders. But at the end of last year, it still remained about 77 executives shy of the 2024 goal of doubling the number of Black and Latinx senior leaders to 280.

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About 20 reports are expected in the next year from companies including State Street Corp., McDonalds Corp. and Apple Inc. Companies that have already completed audits include Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Following the murder of George Floyd by police in May 2020, shareholder groups have put increasing pressure on companies to conduct racial audits to see whether they contribute to discrimination. The audits analyze companies business modelsfrom policies to products and servicesto determine whether they cause, reinforce or perpetuate discrimination. They also make recommendations to improve the prospects for under-represented groups, particularly Black employees and leaders.



On Wednesday, the conservative group America First Legal said it filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asking the federal agency to open a civil rights investigation into whether the BlackRock Founders Scholarship internship for minority students is discriminatory to non-minority students. BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink has said his company is caught between investors who insist on more attention to so-called environmental, social and governance principles and those who say ESG goals hurt investment returns and distract companies from profits.



The report highlights our significant progress to date, Beale said. Looking forward, we still have more work to do and we remain committed to our strategy. BlackRock said its hiring and promotion decisions are driven entirely by merit. The company hires more than 1,000 graduates and interns each year representing hundreds of universities, and the Founders Scholarship is just one option, according to spokeswoman Ashley Beale. In a web posting, BlackRock said the recently completed audit shows both the gains the company has made and suggestions for improvement.



Based on BlackRocks attrition data from the start of 2021 through the end of last year, voluntary resignations most seriously involve Black employees at the managing director level, followed by the associate level, the Covington report says. For Latinx professionals, voluntary attrition is highest at the associate level, followed by the vice president level. BlackRock, which has $9.1 trillion of assets under management, said in March 2022 that it hired Covington, along with DEI consultant Working Ideal, to assess its efforts and make recommendations. The New York-based firm is in midst of a three-part, multi-year commitment to improve internal diversity and broaden its racial equity in the US.



The goal of the racial audit is to set a baseline for improvement and ongoing engagement, SEIUs Manley said. BlackRock formed a task force last July to assess the reasons for the attrition rates for key leaders and determined that departing leaders cited the absence of a clear path forward, gaps in a sense of trust and belonging, and inconsistent day-to-day experiences because of a lack of accountability for managers. Covington said its own assessments mirrored those findings.

We want BlackRock to take advantage of the broad and diverse talent pool out there, she said. And if they are having trouble attracting and retaining talent, as the report says, they have to develop more robust internal processes to make sure this pattern is disrupted.
American media and news company BuzzFeed is shutting down its News division.

According to a report from NBC, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti informed the employees in an email that the move was part of a 15 per cent workforce reduction across a number of teams, which included Business, Content, Tech, and Admin teams.

The company was founded in 2006 in the United States by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III.

BuzzFeed CEO Peretti also said, "While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, weve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organisation."

Peretti further added that he had over-invested in BuzzFeed News because of Peretti's love for their work and mission. He also said, "This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldnt provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media."
By Vrishti Beniwal, Shruti Mahajan, Eltaf Najafizada and Ruchi Bhatia

A fleeting moment in western India on the evening of March 8 will remain etched in Nikita Punjabis memory forever: The first glimpse of her newborn daughter as the doctor held her up after delivery.



Their baby, Prisha  which means gods gift  is but one of the millions born across India so far this year who have contributed to the historic milestone of passing mainland Chinas population. That comes just a few years after India snatched the title of worlds fastest-growing major economy from its northern neighbor. Aniket Rai, nervously waiting during the birth, cried tears of joy when the nurse told him he had a baby girl. It was surreal feeling... Unparalleled. I cannot describe it really, it can only be felt.

But labels alone wont be enough for India to take over as the worlds biggest growth driver, just as having the most people wasnt enough for China until it carried out economic reforms from the late 1970s.

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Bloomberg Economics says India needs to advance on four broad fronts  urbanization, infrastructure, up-skilling and broadening its labor force, and boosting manufacturing  to fully cash in on its demographic dividend and reshape the global economy in the process.



Urbanization

The country is young, English speaking and the rising labor force is already supporting the governments Make in India initiative, said Abhishek Gupta, senior India economist with Bloomberg Economics. Geopolitical tailwinds are also helping.

How quickly India boosts its proportion of city dwellers and whether it can create enough quality jobs to accommodate the shift carries crucial significance for its growth needs.

Over the period to 2040, India will likely add 270 million people to its urban population, according to the International Energy Authority.



But public services are still poor  Indias Supreme Court has even warned that air traffic controllers might be forced to steer planes around the massive garbage dumps on Delhis outskirts if they get any bigger. The shift is already on display in Indias megacities. Shiny new apartment buildings dot the capital Delhi as the newly wealthy ramp up realty investments. A top developer recently sold $1 billion of luxury homes in three days in Gurugram, one of Delhis satellite cities.



Infrastructure

Yukon Huang, senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said India will need to follow the path of China and South Korea in making its cities modern and efficient. Over the past four decades, a four-fold increase in urbanization neatly correlated with the increase in productivity of labor in both countries, he said.



On the technology front, Indias digital infrastructure is among the most advanced in the world. In just a few years, almost every Indian has received a national identity card  called Aadhaar  linked to everything from rental leases to bank accounts and social welfare benefits. For urbanization to pay economic dividends, infrastructure investment will be needed on a massive scale. There has been progress  since Prime Minister Narendra Modis election win in 2014, the number of domestic air passengers has roughly doubled and the national highway network expanded more than 50%.



But on other measures, China is still far ahead. Though India has some of the lowest phone tariff rates in the world, internet usage trails China, which has also zoomed past India on everything from air carrier departures to container port traffic. Among Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Partys most significant achievements has been forging a single economic zone from Indias messy federal and state taxes. Thats helped with revenue collection, which hit a high last year, providing funds for new airports, roads and the like.



Education

Infrastructure suffers from decades of underinvestment, a weak inter-modal system, over-reliance on roads for freight transport and inefficient work practices, said Priyanka Kishore, economic director at IMA Asia, which runs leading peer group forums for Asias business leaders.



India has a serious learning crisis, said Shumita Deveshwar, India research senior director at TS Lombard. Education is another stumbling block. Many degrees are essentially worthless and a skills mismatch has jeopardized growth. Half of all graduates in India are unemployable, according to a study by Wheebox, a group that advises businesses. Unemployment is stubbornly high at around 7%.



But there is still much to be done, especially when it comes to female participation in the workforce. Between 2010 and 2020, the proportion of working women in India dropped from 26% to 19%, according to data compiled by the World Bank. India boosted educational spending by 13% this year, the highest ever, to 1.1 trillion rupees ($13.4 billion) and is aiming to improve digital education and address educational deficiencies.



Manufacturing

Though they make up 48% of the population, Indian women contribute only around 17% of GDP, compared to 40% in China. Closing the employment gap between men and women could expand Indias GDP by close to a third by 2050, which equates to nearly $6 trillion in constant US dollar terms, according to a recent analysis from Bloomberg Economics.

Four decades ago, China and India were both largely agrarian-based economies. But as the Western world outsourced production of everything from toys to TVs and tools, China seized a moment that India missed. Today, manufacturing comprises more than a quarter of Chinas economy, compared to just 14% for India.

Increasing rivalry between the US and China is giving Modis government a new shot at boosting its manufacturing share to a targeted quarter of GDP. And there are pockets of progress. Apple Inc.s three key Taiwanese suppliers won incentives from India to boost smartphone production and exports. The California-based company now makes almost 7% of its iPhones in India, Bloomberg News reported recently, up from about 1% in 2021.



But moving up the value chain wont be easy. Labor laws are still restrictive and compared to nations like Bangladesh or Vietnam, India has been less successful in creating the highly-efficient industrial parks preferred by many global manufacturers. The political and democratic set up in the country is more conducive for global investment than China, said Sanjay Kumar Mohanty, a professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai.

Hope and Fear

Rapid progress on urbanization, infrastructure, human development and manufacturing will be needed for decades, not just years, as the population continues to swell. Its expected to reach 1.67 billion by 2050  thats another 250 million people, or roughly the size of Indonesia.



The demographic window wont be open forever either. Indias population could start declining in 2047 and fall to 1 billion people by 2100, according to UN estimates. Health care is just one illustrative pressure point. Today, India has about five hospital beds per 10,000 people. The ratio in China is about eight times that, and analysts say India will take decades just to reach the level where China currently stands.



For the Modi administration, there is no doubt this is Indias moment. The UNs base case sees Chinas population at 1.3 billion by 2050. Unlike demographers, economists tend to avoid forecasting decades into the future, so its tough to find any estimates of India overtaking Chinas GDP. But if India can keep growing at around 7% and its currency holds firm, it should zoom past Germany and Japan to a third place ranking by 2030.



This is not just about beating our chest on rankings, in the end it is about providing a better quality of life for all Indians and also to create a system which allows for innovation, risk taking, entrepreneurship and so on, said Sanjeev Sanyal, an economic adviser to Modi. With 1.428 billion people, India has passed mainland Chinas population, which stands at 1.425 billion, according to UN data released Wednesday. The nation will soon overtake China and Hong Kong combined.
India and the United States are facing the same security challenges from China, a top American commander said here Wednesday, noting that the Biden Administration is not only providing assistance to New Delhi with cold weather gear, as it defends its border on the northern side, but also helping India in its effort to develop its own industrial base.

We value our partnership with India, and we've been increasing it and doing a lot more, over time. They have the same security challenge, primary security challenger that we do, and it's real on their northern border. Two skirmishes now in over the past nine or 10 months on that border, as they continue to get pressurised by the PRC for border gains, Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Indo-Pacific National Security Challenges.

Admiral Aquilino was responding to a question from Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna. I would like you to reflect on the importance of the relationship -- postcolonialism India and China had a relationship to emerge as the Asian voice. But that relationship now has really soured with a concern that there should not be a hegemon in Asia and that China is treating other countries as junior partners, Khanna said.

It seems to me that this gives us an opportunity to ensure that China doesn't emerge as a hegemon to strengthen the relationship with India, said the Indian American Congressman.

Aquillino said both India and the US have the same security challenges. We also have the desire to operate together, based on the world's largest democracy. We have common values, and we also have people, the people ties for a number of years. I met with General Chauhan, my counterpart, at the Raisina Dialogue not long ago. I've been to India five times now in the past two years.

So, the importance of that relationship can't be overstated. We operate together, frequently, with the Quad Nations. Again, the Quad is not a security agreement, it's diplomatic and economic, but the Quad Nations come together, often, to operate together in multiple exercises. So, we continue to work to be interoperable and to expand the relationship, he observed.

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In response to another question from Congressman Patrick Ryan, the admiral said India is a critical partner and besides conducting joint war exercises in the Malabar, the US is providing assistance to India as it applies to cold weather gear and other capabilities that they might need, as they defend their border on the northern side.

But additionally, we're expanding our cooperation in the form of production as India tries to work to develop its own industrial base. So, C-130 critical components made in India, helicopter critical frameworks made in India. That is expanding the partnership and moving them towards self-sufficiency and increased partnership with the United States, Aquilino added.

Referring to the recently launched India-US initiative for critical and emerging technology announced by the national security advisors of the two countries, Jedidiah P Royal, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security, said: We're already delivering offers under the context of the ISAT arrangement. This is a real moment of convergence for the United States and India and we're looking to take full advantage of it, going forward.

Testifying before the committee, Royal said: India faces the same challenger that we face in the region. So what we're seeing right now is a moment of strategic convergence in our relationship with the government of India. There's a lot of momentum in that regard. With respect to your question on from whom do they buy their weapons, we believe that they are through a generational process of looking to diversify off of traditional suppliers.

We want to make sure that the US defence industrial base is in the best position possible to be India's partner of choice moving forward, he said.

In response to another question, Aquilino said the US is working with our Indian partners both to advance their warfighting capabilities together to ensure that the US is sharing information that's needed.

We do have the same strategic competitor or whatever definition we want to put on it and in my time over in the theatre now for five years straight, it has increased exponentially. It's trending in the right direction. They're really good partners, he said.
Feature: Chinese donations ensure joyous Eid for underprivileged in Pakistan

16:52, April 20, 2023 By Misbah Saba Malik ( Xinhua

ISLAMABAD, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Aansa Perveen, a 35-year-old Pakistani widow, was overwhelmed when a Chinese lady handed over two big bags carrying all basic food items to her at a ceremony held days ahead of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr.

Perveen looked closely at the bags, adorned with China and Pakistan's flags, contemplating their importance for her family of four during the Eid holiday after a financially tough Ramadan and feeling a strong sense of gratitude towards the Chinese for their kind gesture during the trying times.

"It is a great Eid gift from the Chinese for my three daughters and me. It is just like a token of love coming from a dear friend at the right time," she added.

Perveen and many others like her received the ration bags from the All Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association (APCEA) at the ceremony in collaboration with the state-owned charity office Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM).

The Chinese association handed over 1,300 bags to the Pakistani office, carrying various food items, including cooking oil, pulses, flour, rice, sugar and tea.

Amir Fida Paracha, managing director of the PBM, told Xinhua that people whose income is less than 30,000 rupees (106.92 U.S. dollars) a month are eligible for the Chinese-donated Eid package, and special preference will be given to widows and orphans.

He said around 100 ration bags were distributed during the ceremony mainly to the people in the low-income group whose kids are suffering from thalassemia and are being treated by a non-government organization in the capital.

"They are very poor. Some of the kids are orphans, so helping them with food items shortly before Eid means a lot to them, and because of it they can enjoy good meals during the holidays," he added.

Saeed Azam, a daily wage laborer, was also among the people who received the relief package from the APCEA.

Azam told Xinhua that the Eid holidays will be extended to five days this time, and he was so concerned that he might be unable to find any work during the holiday that his seven-member family might have struggled to afford food.

"The act of generosity by the Chinese is of significant value to us. It not only gave us a sigh of relief but also elevated the joy by transforming our bleak Eid into a jubilant occasion," he added.

The APCEA has more than 200 members comprising Chinese enterprises and organizations based in Pakistan, striving to enhance economic and social cooperation.

Wang Huihua, vice chairman of the APCEA, told Xinhua that through the donation, they want to remove the financial concerns of the underprivileged people during Eid to help them enjoy the festival.

"The theme of Eid's donation is 'No Empty Stomachs, Only Full Hearts,' and we want people to feel the joy of Eid with hearts filled with love and happiness, without any worry about food, as a gesture to share the joy of the festival with our friends," he added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
Sudan's military has ruled out any negotiations with the rival paramilitary forces to end the crisis roiling the country and says it will only accept their surrender.

A statement from the military on Thursday said that engaging in talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Force would only be possible to discuss their surrender.

There would be no armed forces outside the military military system," it said.

The statement came as the latest attempt at a 24-hour cease-fire between Sudan's warring forces grew increasingly strained.

The two sides have been battling since Saturday for control of the strategic African country.

Meanwhile, fighters from Sudan's rival factions battled around the main military installation in central Khartoum and other parts of the country's capital on Thursday, threatening to unravel the latest attempt at a cease-fire as foreign governments looked for ways to extract their citizens trapped in the conflict.

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With some parts of the Sudanese capital relatively calmer than previous days, the exodus of residents in Khartoum from their homes appeared to accelerate.

Massive numbers of people, mostly women and children, were leaving in search of safer areas, said Atiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors' Syndicate.

The 24-hour cease-fire, which came into effect Wednesday evening, is the most significant attempt yet to halt violence between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The rivals' fight for control of Sudan has turned the densely populated Khartoum, its neighbouring city of Omdurman and other parts of the country into war zones, with millions of Sudanese caught in between.

Khartoum residents have been desperate for a respite after days of being trapped in their homes, their food and water running out. But whatever tenuous quiet has been brought to some areas by the truce risks quickly falling apart.

Sounds of gunfire and air bombing are still heard, Atiya told The Associated Press said. It is escalating, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began Saturday, the U.N.'s World Health Organization said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

A previous truce attempt on Tuesday collapsed as soon as it began, and the two antagonists in the fight army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have seemed determined to crush each other in their struggle for power.

Diplomatic efforts were underway to try to shore up and extend the cease-fire.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, spoke by phone Thursday and discussed efforts to stop the fighting and return to negotiations, Egypt's presidency said.

Egypt is allied to Sudan's military, while the UAE is close to the Rapid Support Forces.

The truce has not been firm enough to deliver supplies and relief to Sudan's overwhelmed hospitals, Atiya said.

Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water.

Around 70% of hospitals near the clash sites throughout the country are out of service, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said Thursday. At least nine hospitals were bombed, it said.

We are worried that Sudan's healthcare system could completely collapse. Hospitals need additional staff, they need additional supplies, and they need additional blood supplies, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said in a briefing Wednesday.

The fighting has been disastrous for a country where the United Nations says around a third of the population some 16 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF warned that critical care has been disrupted for 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children, who need round-the-clock treatment.

Save the Children said power outages across the country have destroyed cold chain storage facilities for lifesaving vaccines, as well as the national stock of insulin and several antibiotics.

Millions of children, the aid group said, are now at risk of disease and further health complications.

It said 12% of the country's 22 million children are suffering from malnutrition and are vulnerable to other diseases.

Through the night and into Thursday morning, gunfire could be heard almost constantly across Khartoum.

Residents reported the heaviest fighting around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum and at the nearby airport. Military warplanes struck RSF positions at the airport and in Omdurman, residents said.

The Egyptian and Sudanese militaries said that Egypt succeeded in repatriating dozens of its military personnel who had been detained by the RSF when it attacked Merowe airport, north of the capital, early in the fighting. Egypt said its personnel were there for training and joint exercises.

Foreign governments as well geared up to evacuate their citizens from Sudan. But with airports in Khartoum and other cities turned into battlegrounds, it remained uncertain how they would do so.

Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Thursday ordered military aircraft sent to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti to stand by for an evacuation of around 60 Japanese nationals, though it was not clear when one would take place.

The Netherlands sent military transport craft to the Jordanian port city of Aqaba late Wednesday to be ready as well, though the Dutch Defense Ministry acknowledged that evacuations are not possible at the moment.

The conflict has once again derailed Sudan's attempt to establish democratic rule since a popular uprising helped oust helped depose long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir four years ago.

Burhan and Dagalo jointly carried out a coup purging civilians from a transitional government in 2021.

The explosion of violence came after weeks of growing tensions between the two generals over new international attempts to press a return to civilian government.

Both sides have a long history of human rights abuses.

The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudan's western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

The conflict has raised fears of a spillover from the strategically located nation to its African neighbours.

Sudan's fighting has also caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, the U.N. said Thursday.

At least 320 Sudanese soldiers fled to Chad, where they were disarmed, said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chad's defense minister.

The troops were apparently fleeing from Darfur, where the RSF is the most powerful armed force.

Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral (but) Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war, said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.


He did not provide further details about his claim. Tesla chief Elon Musk on Thursday threatened to sue Microsoft for using data from his social media company Twitter for training. Responding to a tweet about Microsoft's plan to remove Twitter from its corporate advertising platform, Musk said, "They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time."



Ad buyers will not get access to Twitter accounts through Microsoft's tool. Earlier, Microsoft announced that its Digital Marketing Centre (DMC) platform will "no longer support Twitter" from April 25. DMC is a tool businesses can use to manage ad campaigns on various social media platforms. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise and automate marketing campaigns with a centralised dashboard.



This comes just after Twitter announced its plans to shut down its old API platform and transition to its new paid API from April 29. It will charge $42,000 per month from companies for its new API. "Other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will continue to be available," Microsoft's notice on its support page said.

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Microsoft has said that it will not pay for Twitter's new API. The Twitter API provides access to companies to the public Twitter data that users have chosen to share with the world.



This is crucial for Microsoft as it has integrated an AI chatbot with its Bing search engine. The tech giant had also invested $10 billion in OpenAI's ChatGPT. However, data has become extremely crucial for companies in the age of large language models like ChatGPT. It is used to train their software. They largely use data from Twitter and Reddit to do that.

Musk said in December that Twitter would "pause" OpenAI's access to its database. He has also announced plans to build his own large language model in one of his companies called TruthGPT.
Russia's invading forces are deliberately using rape, torture and kidnapping to try to sow terror among civilians in Ukraine, the top prosecutor in Ukraine told US lawmakers in graphic testimony Wednesday.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said nearly 80,000 cases of war crimes have been registered in Ukraine since the war began in February 2022.

Focusing on just one area of the country that has felt the brunt of the war, Kostin described some of the discoveries made when the Ukrainian military liberated Kherson last November. He said some 20 torture chambers were found and more than 1,000 survivors have reported an array of abuses, including the use of electric shocks, waterboarding, being forced to strip naked, and threats of mutilation and death.

Kostin said more than 60 cases of rape were documented in the Kherson region alone. In areas still controlled by Russian forces, residents, including children, are being forcefully relocated to other occupied territories or to Russia.

Such evil cannot let be, Kostin said.

He was asked about the motivations behind Russia's tactics, but said he struggles to understand the brutality of the Russian forces in targeting civilians.

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The only possible explanation is that they just want to erase Ukraine and Ukrainians from the land, Kostin said. Maybe because they want to really kill all of us.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee invited Kostin to testify. The chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, believes that spotlighting the brutality of Russia's actions will show lawmakers and voters why the United States is in the right in supporting Ukraine.

This is happening right now. They are monsters and they need to be brought to justice, McCaul said. He added: "These are more than war crimes. These are more than crimes against humanity. What we are witnessing in Ukraine is genocide.

McCaul also issued a challenge to fellow lawmakers, saying history will judge us by what we do here and now.

No country can remain neutral in the face of such evil, McCaul said.

Congress approved about $113 billion in economic, humanitarian and military spending in 2022 to assist Ukraine. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine as long as it takes to repel the Russian invasion, though support for that aid has softened, polling shows.

Congressional leaders anticipate that Ukraine will need billions of dollars in additional assistance in the months ahead.

Ukraine is preparing to launch a counteroffensive in an attempt to regain territory lost to Russian troops. McCaul said he would like to see the US back Ukraine's efforts to retake Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014, so it could negotiate for a cease-fire from a stronger position. He is pushing for the US and its allies to provide Ukraine with long-distance artillery and F-16 fighter jets for the counteroffensive.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that he spoke by telephone with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, and thanked him for bipartisan support from Congress. Zelenskyy also outlined the situation at the front and Ukraine's urgent defense needs in armored vehicles, artillery, air defense & aircraft.

The House committee also heard from a war crimes survivor, a 57-year-old woman, who said she was taken to a torture chamber for five days, beaten, forced to strip and endured threats of rape and murder. At one point, she was forced to dig her own grave. She said her house was looted. She has escaped, but other Ukrainians still experience such treatment in Russian-controlled territories, she said.

These terrible crimes need to be stopped, she told lawmakers. Her identity was not revealed out of concerns about retribution.

Kostin said exposing atrocities is not enough.

Only with discovering and determining truth, bringing perpetrators to responsibility and providing adequate reparations to victims and survivors, we can say justice has been done, Kostin said.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last month for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. But the practical implications are limited as the chances of Putin facing trial at the court are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognise the court's jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.

McCaul told The Associated Press he will press for the Department of Justice and FBI agents to assist prosecutors in Ukraine, even as he doubts there will ever be a full reckoning for the war crimes.

I don't know what's going to happen, how this is going to end, McCaul said. But at least there'll be historical documentation about what they did, for generations to read about the atrocities.
Airwallex today announced the launch of its global payments services in Canada. The launch will empower Canadian businesses to tap into Airwallexs global payments and financial platform, offering a faster, more cost-effective and transparent alternative to the traditional banking platform.

Businesses in Canada can now access Airwallexs key offerings, including local currency accounts in over 12 currencies, a multi currency wallet in 44 currencies and payouts to 150 countries with its proprietary local payment network. The full suite of Airwallexs global products, including multi-currency cards, spend management and online payments will be progressively rolled out in the market.

To thrive in todays challenging global economy, businesses must be able to scale without borders, move money across currencies with ease and manage their finances across markets with a single integrated platform, said Ravi Adusumilli, General Manager of Americas. Airwallex is excited to support the ambitious Canadian businesses who wish to grow internationally, quickly and economically, as well as international businesses who have operations in Canada.

Airwallex already supports a number of Canadian businesses across eCommerce, professional services and technology sectors. These customers leverage the centralized Airwallex platform to simplify payments, from collections to payouts, streamline multi-currency management and optimize cost savings.

With the launch of global payments services in Canada, Airwallex will be able to empower local businesses even more, to stay competitive, grow their customer base and expand to new markets, Adusumilli added.

Airwallexs further expansion into Canada comes on the heels of strong growth in the Americas region, where its customer base increased by more than 300 percent YoY. Globally, Airwallex continues to scale at pace, covering more than 150 countries, and enabling US$50 billion in annualized transactions. Last month, the company secured an online payment license in China, becoming a third-party payment provider in one of the largest ecommerce markets in the world. This adds to Airwallexs existing licenses in markets around the world, including Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the European single market, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.

Founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Airwallex is one of the worlds fastest growing financial technology companies today, operating across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas with nearly 1,300 employees in 19 major locations globally.

Airwallex (Canada) International Payments Limited is licensed to do business as a Money Services Business (MSB Registration No. 14460) with Revenu Quebec, and is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB Registration No. M19395067) with FINTRAC.

For more information about our Canada offering, please visit https://www.airwallex.com/ca

About Airwallex

Airwallex is a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses. We remove the unnecessary friction and cost inherent in the traditional financial system to help entrepreneurs achieve their global ambitions. Leading companies around the world trust Airwallex to manage everything from payments, treasury, and spend to embedded finance - all in one single platform.

Our purpose is to connect entrepreneurs, business builders, makers and creators with opportunities in every corner of the world. With an international footprint across the Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, we empower businesses to grow without borders.

For more information, please visit www.airwallex.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005442/en/
Clashes in Sudan AA Images

Dagalo's opposition to full integration of Rapid Support Force into Sudanese army has led both sides to conflict

ISTANBUL (AA) - In three questions, Prof. Dr. Enver Arpa explains the background of the conflict in Sudan with possible consequences in the future.

- What is happening in Sudan?

The Sudanese people took to the streets in late 2018 when the ousted leader, Omar al-Bashir, raised the prices for some goods such as bread and fuel.

Sudan's military overthrew Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years in April 2019.

Later, the military refused to hand over power.

Forces of Freedom and Change consisted of groups that participated in the pro-democracy protests, and the Sovereignty Council, made up of military members, was established following the coup.

Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan became the head of the council, with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as his deputy.

A semi-civilian government was formed with important ministries such as the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense controlled by the army.

Working under the shadow of the Sovereignty Council, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's government had failed to run the country and step down.

The Sovereignty Council then engaged in a hidden power struggle.

Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Dagalo applied some policies to curtail the power of each other.

Al-Burhan often advocated for the unification of military forces under one umbrella, while Dagalo strongly opposed this, believing it would reduce his power.

The military signed a "framework agreement" with dozens of civilian leaders in December 2022. This agreement expects to implement the unification of the army, making Dagalo unsettled.

The power struggle between Dagalo and al-Burhan turned into an armed conflict on April 15. The fighting erupted in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread to many regions, including North Darfur and Darfur.

- What is the background of the conflict in Sudan?

Military has ruled Sudan for the majority of its independence since 1956 and it has been sometimes ruled by a military-backed civil government.

Holding power for the longest time in the country, Omar al-Bashir came to power through a military coup.

Although he held elections in the last years of his reign, the army, which he was also the general commander of, was his greatest supporter.

After al-Bashir was overthrown, the military had to share power with civilians, but then the military took control.

The Rapid Support Forces, originally established as an unofficial military force called Janjaweed during the al-Bashir term to fight against rebel groups in Darfur, was later incorporated into the security system of the country.

These military forces were mostly founded and led by the Dagalo family as Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and his brother have great authority in running this force.

Because the members of the force were carefully selected by the Dagalo brothers, they showed a strong loyalty to this family.

After being incorporated into the security system, these forces were granted an autonomous structure and legal status.

The Rapid Support Forces not only served as a military group but also engaged in various economic activities.

It has been claimed that the Dagalo brothers operated gold mines in Darfur and made significant profits from them as they also received support from some Gulf countries.

The autonomous structure, economic opportunities, and international support of the Rapid Support Forces under the helm of Dagalo makes it operate within the Sudanese security system as an independent force, disregarding the official army's command structure.

The "framework agreement" between the Sovereign Council and civilians, which contains provisions that will eliminate the Rapid Support Forces' influence within the Sudanese security system, has uncovered the power struggle between al-Burhan and Dagalo.

It is undoubtedly clear that some regional and global actors have been involved in this disagreement while Al-Burhan's warning that external interventions should not be involved in resolving this disagreement is a sign of this.

Some Gulf countries supported Dagalo because they were not satisfied with al-Burhan, who is known for his conservative views.

Al-Burhan was not willing to engage in harsh measures to eliminate the bureaucracy associated with the Islamic Movement, on the contrary, he nullified some of the measures taken by the Hamdok government.

For instance, most of the ambassadors who were removed from their positions during the Hamdok era returned to their posts due to the decisions made by the courts.

Hamdan Dagalo is trying to gain international legitimacy by claiming that El-Burhan has a radical religious understanding in his attempted coup.

- What are the possible scenarios in the future?

The Rapid Support Force does not have air units or heavy weapons, but its forces can be quickly mobilized.

Although it has received support from some foreign countries, it is not expected to defeat the army, which has all combat elements.

In fact, it has been understood over the past period that it has not been able to achieve a performance that can take over the administration throughout the country.

Despite the Rapid Support Force's intention to take over the administration in the form of a military coup by taking control of symbolic places of sovereignty such as the Presidential Palace, General Staff Headquarters, and the national television building, it seems that it has failed to do so.

However, it is not easy for the army to gain victory in these conflicts taking place in the form of urban warfare.

It will not be easy to gain control in a short time over RSF, which has a high mobilization capability.

However, despite all the difficulty, it is a strong possibility the army will break the power of the Rapid Support Force in the coming days. The Rapid Support Force would move its forces to Darfur, where they can find more support and continue the fight.

Of course, the intervention of the international community can also be decisive in this regard. Al-Burhan may possibly agree to a compromise under increased pressure.

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu.

Enver Arpa

- The author is a director of the Institute for Area Studies at Ankara Social Sciences University.
Dmitry PESKOV AA Images

Kremlin does not assess prospects for Ukraine's entry into NATO in connection with alliance chiefs visit to Kyiv, says spokesman

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin on Thursday said that preventing Ukraines accession to NATO remains one of the key goals of its special military operation, meaning its war on Ukraine, now into its 14th month.



"Otherwise it would pose a serious, significant threat to the security of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed at a press briefing.



Western analysts say that when Russia launched the war in February 2022, Ukraine was not at all close to joining the alliance. Last September, it formally applied for NATO membership, though it is not clear when or if it would ever be admitted.



Peskov also touched on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenbergs visit to Kyiv, saying that the Kremlin has no assessment of prospects for Ukraine's entry into NATO.



Earlier Thursday, Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Ukraines parliament.



The visit is Stoltenberg's first to the country since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February last year.



During the press briefing, Peskov also claimed that the UK and French nuclear weapons arsenals are under US control.



"So if we talk with the US, then talking without taking into account these two arsenals is absolutely pointless, Peskov said.



He also dismissed as "very strange" a Ukrainian officials claim that a state-hired impersonator of Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Ukraine's Luhansk and Kherson regions on Monday rather than Putin himself.



Oleksiy Danilov, head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, made the claim during a national telethon on Wednesday.

Burc Eruygur/AA
The frequency, severity, and fatality of heatwaves in India are rising, placing a strain on the nation's agricultural sector, public health, and other socioeconomic and cultural institutions. Heatwaves made more likely by climate change may impair India's progress towards its sustainable development goals, according to a study by Ramit Debnath of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and colleagues that was published in PLOS Climate.

India's Goal To be Compromised

India has pledged to meet seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including zero poverty, good health and well-being, decent work, and economic growth. The impact of heatwaves connected to climate change on SDG development, however, may not be adequately captured by current climate vulnerability assessments.

Researchers conducted an analytical evaluation of India's heat index (HI) with its climate vulnerability index (CVI), a composite index using various indicators to account for socioeconomic, livelihood, and biophysical factors, in order to analyse India's climate vulnerability and how climate change may impact SDG progress.

To categorise severity levels, they used a publicly accessible dataset on state-level climate vulnerability indicators from the National Data & Analytics Platform of the Indian Government. The researchers then contrasted extreme weather-related mortality from 2001-2021 with India's progress towards the SDGs over a 20-year period (2001-2021).

The researchers discovered that heat waves have hindered SDG development more than was initially thought, and that the measures used for present assessments may be insufficient to fully account for India's specific vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change.

Statistics regarding the effects of India's heatwave

More than 90% of the country is at extremely cautious or dangerous levels of severely affecting adaptive livelihood capacity, food grain yield, vector-borne disease transmission, and urban sustainability, according to an analytical evaluation of the heat index (HI) with CVI.

India saw the warmest April in 122 years in 2022, which came after its worst March ever, according to reports.

Almost 24,000 people have died in India since 1992 as a result of heatwaves.

India recorded 242 out of 273 days with extreme weather in 2022 (from January to October), or almost one extreme event per day. They include severe heat waves and cold waves occurring simultaneously in the north and west, a drought in the centre of India, significant flooding in the coastal plains, and landslides in the north-eastern region.

A wide range of interconnected systems in the built environment, health, etc. have been severely impacted by the heatwave in the Indian subcontinent. These include frequent and longer power outages, an increase in dust and ozone levels that has caused spikes in air pollution, and an accelerated melting of glacier snow in the northern regions.

Response to the ongoing deadly heatwave is further hampered by the economic recovery from the Covid-19 outbreak. Hence, the economic and public health costs associated with such heatwaves are extremely substantial.

A healthy person resting in the shade could no longer survive heatwaves in India by 2050, according to long-term forecasts

Moreover, they will affect the 310-480 million people's quality of life, economic growth, and labour productivity. By 2050, it is predicted that the ability of people to work outdoors in high temperatures during the day will have decreased by 15% as a result of the heat.

According to the Lancet Research, heatwaves would become more intense from these 2050 baseline projections, affecting over 600 million Indians by 2100.

By 2050 and 2100, respectively, the rising heat is predicted to cost India 2.8% of its GDP and 8.7% of its declining living standards.

Due to its size, rate of urbanisation, and biophysical characteristics, India is currently experiencing a collision of numerous cumulative climatic hazards that co-occur, considerably impacting the hydrological cycle and, as a result, the behaviour of climate extremes.

70 Indian cities are anticipated to have more than 1 million residents by 2025. Progress towards achieving sustainable development of cities and communities will be slowed by the absence of a comprehensive methodology for assessing climate vulnerability.

Given that more than 70% of India's building stock has not yet been constructed, underreporting of legacy vulnerabilities might seriously undermine the country's urban sustainability. This could also halt efforts towards reducing inequality and poverty.

What Can be Expected?

For India, a climate vulnerability index (CVI) that excludes measures of the primary climate change risks/threats (like heat waves) may fail to identify regions of greatest vulnerability to climate change, especially those at the intersection of non-climate, structural, and social-economic factors (indicated through SDGs) that increase sensitivity. These regions are those where climate extremes meet non-climate, structural, and social-economic factors (like heat waves).

Result indicates that by integrating HI and CVI, it is possible to pinpoint real-world climate vulnerability effects that take into account extreme weather events at the state level. As a result, it is simpler to understand how India is doing with the SDGs.
While there is no internationally approved universal climate vulnerability index, this study demonstrated the importance of incorporating multidimensional dimensions of vulnerability while capturing the co-occurrence and linkages of climate disasters with economic and structural development changes principally connected to SDGs. It also emphasises UN SDG-17 (Partnership for Goals), which is missing from its current CVI methodology.

Climate Goals in neighbouring countries

If you talk abpout the neighbouring nations, Bhutan is the only neighbouring country from whom India does not experience climatic stress while discussing the heat stress on India brought on by neighbouring countries' activities. Bhutan intends to incorporate heat risk into an all-hazards risk management system with a focus on enhancing SDG-4 (Quality Education) through a climate-resilient education system;

however, as of right now, there is no data on Bhutan's heat sensitivity. Pakistan has plans to improve risk management for excessive heat in the southern area near India's highest temperature anomaly zones. Yet, it does not have local heat health action plans or risk sensitization. Bangladesh's understanding of heat hotspots and vulnerability mapping within India borderlands is weak.

According to a study that was published in Geophysical Research Letters in March 2021, if global warming increases by 2C above pre-industrial levels, people in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan will be exposed to potentially fatal heat stress events 774 million times (measured in "person-days") by the year 2050. Yet, human exposures would almost drop to 423 million if governments comply with the Paris Agreement and limit warming to 1.5C.

The World Bank Group's Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Pakistan, published in November 2022, found that the country requires major changes in its development path and policies, as well as considerable investments in people-centric climate adaptation and resilience, which will necessitate foreign assistance.

Martin Raiser, the vice president of the World Bank for South Asia, claims that the current flooding and humanitarian crisis serve as a wake-up call for immediate action to stop more damage to Pakistan's people and economy brought on by climate change. According to the stated research, Pakistan is unable to quicken the process of bringing the rising temperature under control. Yet, in Bangladesh, serious measures are lacking as a result of a lack of information.

This indicates that because of its neighbours, India may have negative effects. However, there is a genuine chance for regional collaboration all over the Indian subcontinent.

NDCs failure

Pakistan has set a goal to cut 50% of its harmful emissions by 2030 in its own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) plan, 15% unconditionally and 35% with international assistance. The shift from the fossil fuel energy sector to renewable energy production will cost around 101 billion dollars, which is contingent on the developed and top emitter governments pledging 100 billion dollars in climate money.

According to the Centre for Contemporary Research, Pakistan, the government of Pakistan has not yet formulated a policy for adaptation. These adaptation projects, however, show Pakistan's commitment to increasing its capacity and resilience to minimise the effects of climate change.

Additionally, operational difficulties prevent Pakistan from using climate funding efficiently. The attempt to form Glasgow Financial Alliance - Net-zero (GFANZ) by bringing together banks, asset owners, and insurers to reach net-zero aims will eventually lead to an increase in the circular debt of poor states.

In these conditions, combating climate change might not produce positive outcomes. This indicates that the neighbouring country will continue to emit carbon with a slight decline. The main issue is that India would undoubtedly experience the effects of the climate in that scenario.

Global Attention

A new study by Ramit Debnath at University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom has suggested that lessons can be drawn from global heat readiness leaders such as Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU).

To quantify heat sensitivity and heat adaptation capability indicators at the national, regional, and municipal scales, for instance, the Australian government plans to employ the Integrated Heat Vulnerability Assessment Toolkit. It is based on the highly effective Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI), which is already in use in Bendigo, Dandenong, and Melbourne.

With specific heatwave alert levels, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Met Office recently unveiled their extensive heatwave plan for England. It is created to function as a policy given the UK's current climate vulnerability measurements.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes recommendations for health departments to analyse health vulnerabilities to climate change as part of a federal Climate and Health programme that assists local governments in tracking climate-related health vulnerabilities (along with heat effects). The EU has determined in a strategic manner that ongoing intersectoral cooperation, monitoring, and plan evaluation can increase resistance to the effects of heatwaves.

What Expert's says on it

While talking to Careerindia, Prof. Sachchida Nand Tripathi, Head of Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur and Member of the NCAP Steering Committee, MoEFCC, said that there have always been local effects of emissions. Any nation that produces large quantities of pollution will affect both its own weather and the environment around it.

Particular pollutants, such as greenhouse gases and even short-lived climate pollutants, can travel and mix well in the air and hence have an impact on the area's climate. Even while it has a worldwide impact, the local repercussions cannot be disregarded.

According to Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist, and consultant for the Global Strategic Communication Council, climate change and global warming are not just the fault of one or two countries.

The Paris Agreement's emission reduction goal for the entire world was not met. There is no single nation responsible for India's climate change, nor is there a single nation responsible for the heatwaves and floods. In reality, the cause of global climate change is some countries' failure to cut their emissions.
AIBE XVII Result 2023: The Bar Council of India has released the final answer key for AIBE 17Th examination. Candidates who have appeared for the All India Bar Examination they can download the final answer key by visiting the official website of All India Bar Examination website at allindiabarexamination.com.

The examination was conducted on Feburary 5, 2023 across the country at various exam centres. The provisional answer key was released in Feburary and the revised answer key was again out on April 14, 2023.According to the revised answer key, the Council has deleted two questions and the results would be computed on the basis of the remaining 98 questions.

AIBE Result 2023: How to Download Final Answer Key

Candidates can download the AIBE Final Answer key by following the steps given below:

Go to the official website of AIBE 17 at allindiabarexamination.com.

Then, click on the AIBE XVII 2023 final answer key link avaialble on the homepage.

A new pdf file will open where candidates can check the answers.

Download the file and keep a hard copy of it for future use.

BCI will soon release the result of AIBE 17. Candidates can keep checking the official website for result details.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will hold its annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference April 2427, 2023 in Atlanta. The event will feature 97 presentations on recent groundbreaking investigations and innovative analyses conducted by EIS officersbetter known as CDCs disease detectives. Conference attendance is free and open to the public, and the presentations will also be livestreamed with recordings available via a virtual platform. Event registration is required for attendance and will remain open throughout the conference.

Now more than ever, it is absolutely critical that we continue to build a strong public health workforce that is highly trained, as diverse as the communities we serve, and prepared to respond whenever a public health threat arises, said Leslie Ann Dauphin, PhD, the Director of CDCs National Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce. The dedicated officers serving in the EIS program deploy at a moments notice to investigate health threats, develop prevention strategies, and save lives, all while gaining the skills needed to become the public health leaders of tomorrow.

CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH will give opening remarks at the conference on Monday, April 24. Other highlights include:

TED-Style Talks

On April 25 and April 27, current and former disease detectives will give a behind-the- scenes look at their experiences in six TED-style talks:

Breakfast Fish, Boat Rides, and Bibis: Behind the Scenes of the Polio Response in Tanzania

Putting Baby Booties on the Ground: Protecting the Most Vulnerable

New Learnings from an Old Disease: Mpox and Health Disparities in the United States

Three Islands, One Health: Capacity Building the United States Virgin Islands

Perfumes, Pet Raccoons, and Mississippi Melioidosis

From Intuition to Action: How Gut Feelings Can Drive Public Health Solutions

Alexander D. Langmuir Lecture

On April 26, Donald Warne, MD, MPH, acclaimed physician and scholar in Indigenous health, health education, policy, and equity will deliver this years Alexander D. Langmuir lecture, Engaging Indigenous Communities to Promote Health Equity. Dr. Warne is the Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health and serves as Johns Hopkins Universitys new Provost Fellow for Indigenous Health Policy.

Media resources are available at: https://www.cdc.gov/eis/conference/at-a- glance/media-resources.html. These resources include outlines that can be searched or sorted by topic of interest for all of the work that will be presented at the conference, as well as photos of the disease detectives in action.
Congresswoman Erin Houchin visits Mitchell plant

20 April 2023

Heidelberg Materials recently welcomed Congresswoman Erin Houchin to its Lehigh Portland Cement subsidiaries' new Mitchell plant, Indiana, cement facility. Discussions focussed on the rebranding process and specifically around efforts to advance sustainability and digitalisation, followed by talks around the construction progress for the new kiln line.

The group showed off some of the features of the new offices, including the K4 control room and the technology that will be used to operate the new facility as well as the automated laboratory, complete with a special demonstration by the sampling robot.

As a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Congresswoman Houchin took the time to discuss key needs for attracting, training and retaining talent for the Mitchell facility, and the industry in general. Following the lab demonstration, the group took the time for a walking tour of the facility, including the nearly 400ft preheater tower as well as the clinker storage dome.

Seeing what role this facility will play in the growth of this region is truly exciting, she said. I am excited to see this kind of investment in this region and look forward to the opportunities for workforce development over the long-term with this generational facility.

It was great to have Congresswoman Houchin visit us at Mitchell to see this substantial investment, and so close to being operational, shared Tracy Crowther, Mitchell's plant manager.

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Vietnamese cement sales fall 19% YoY

ICR Newsroom By 20 April 2023

Cement sales in Vietnam reached 6,161,029t in March 2023, down 19 per cent YoY but up 51 per cent MoM, according to the Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA). Of this total, 2,013,276t were sold by VICEM. This represents a drop of 18 per cent YoY but a 72 per cent increase MoM. Other VNCA members saw sales of 1,217,753t, a decline of 30 per cent YoY but an advance of 38 per cent MoM. Non-affiliated companies reported total sales of 2,840,000t, down 14 per cent YoY but up 43 per cent MoM.



Total exports from Vietnam fell by six per cent YoY and four per cent MoM to 2,918,190t, according to the VNCA. Of this total, clinker exports fell 27 per cent YoY to 1,356,290 but remained largely stable when compared with February 2023. VICEM exported 54,905t of clinker, down 53 per cent YoY, but the majority of clinker exports came from cement producers not affiliated with VNCA. They exported 1,301,385t, down 16 per cent YoY. Cement exports increased 23 per cent YoY to 1,561,900t but a seven per cent drop MoM was reported. VICEM exported 207,295t (-32 per cent YoY), other VNCA members 84,542t (-25 per cent YoY) and non-VNCA members 1,270,064t (up 49 per cent YoY).



January-March 2023 sales

In the January-March 2023 period total cement sales in Vietnam declined 16 per cent YoY to 13.023Mt. VICEM sales were down 17 per cent YoY to 4.197Mt while other VNCA members saw total sales fall by 24 per cent YoY to 2.627Mt. Non-affiliated members reported a 12 per cent drop to 6.2Mt.



Exports were down 25 per cent to 7.842Mt in the January-March 2023 period when compared to January-March 2022. Clinker exports halved to 3.288Mt while cement exports increased by 15 per cent to 4.554Mt. VICEM exported 54,905t of clinker, up 14 per cent YoY, while other VNCA members saw a 96 per cent drop in clinker exports to 19,500t in the 1Q23. Non-affiliated cement producers saw clinker exports fall by 43 per cent YoY to 3.214Mt in the first three months of 2023. Cement exports by VICEM declined 28 per cent YoY to 707,225t in the January-March period, but both other VNCA members and non-affiliated producers reported significant YoY increases in cement exports. Other VNCA members saw a 57 per cent surge in cement exports to 468,720t while non-affiliated producers reported a 27 per cent YoY advance to 3.378Mt.









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A woman on Edgmon Forest Lane told police she was in a disorder with her sister. She said she had asked her sister not to take her milk inside of her room because she didn't trust her with it. She said her sister became irate and got in her face before walking off. The sister refused to speak with police about the incident and went into the restroom. The woman said that she would like report this incident for documentation purposes.



* * *

Police came upon a Chevy Equinox on McBrien Road that had run out of gas. Police pushed it out of the roadway.

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A man on Elaine Trail told police someone has been using his debit card to make PlayStation transactions since Feb. 27. He said he doesn't know who has been using his card or how they obtained his information. He said he has already made a report with his bank.

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Police responded to a vehicle recovered stolen outside of Chattanooga at 7424 Lee Hwy.

Police found a semi trailer with no truck parked on the side of the road. Police contacted the director of logistics for Excel Trucking LLC. The director said she reported the semi truck and trailer stolen to the Wyoming, Michigan PD the day before. Police informed her that her trailer was here, but the truck was not. Also, neither the truck nor trailer showed up in NCIC. She said she would be contacting the Wyoming, Michigan PD to check on that and would be sending a truck to pick up the trailer. The trailer was left at the location it was found per her request.

* * *

A woman told police she lived in an apartment on E. Brainerd Road and she observed an Indian man hitting what appeared to be an Indian or Hispanic woman in the breezeway of the building. She said she told the man to stop, which prompted both of them to leave the breezeway and get into a vehicle. As the man was getting into the vehicle, she said he yelled back at her, "You knew not what she has done!" She said both of them then left the area in the vehicle. She told police she had not seen the couple before and was unsure whether one or both of them lived at the apartments. There was no suspect or victim on scene.

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A woman told police she found an iPhone at 4011 Brainerd Road, that it did not belong to anyone that was currently at that location, and she wished to turn it in to CPD for safekeeping in case the owner calls in saying they lost it. Police determined that the phone number registered to a woman in Walker County. Walker County deputies attempted to make contact with the woman at her registered address in Chickamauga, Ga., but were unsuccessful. They told CPD that they spoke to a neighbor and left their information with them should they be able to make contact with the woman. The phone was turned in to the CPD Property Division for safekeeping.

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A disorder prevention was requested by a woman at an apartment at 1521 Hickory Valley Road. The woman told police she needed to collect her clothes from her ex-boyfriend's apartment. The ex-boyfriend was not home, but his friend was there. The friend gave the woman her clothes without incident.

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A disorder between a man and woman was reported at a residence on E. 48th Street. The man told police he was leaving and never coming back, but had to get his things first. Police spoke to the woman, who said it was okay for the man to get his things before he left. Police stayed at the residence to prevent any further disorders while the man collected the remainder of his items. After he was done, he left the residence without incident.

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Police were told about a woman who had been on the property at the Speedway at 1330 E. 3rd St. for approximately 40 minutes. The woman was identified and told she was loitering on the property and that, if she did not have business there, she needed to move along. It should be noted that the woman was standing within clear eyesight of multiple No Loitering signs posted throughout the property. A warrant check was conducted, showing no active warrants. The woman left the property without incident.

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A woman told police she believes a Hamilton County school bus sideswiped her vehicle that was parked on the side of an address on Haymore Avenue. She said she did not see the incident occur, but a neighbor said they saw a bus come down the road and believed it hit her vehicle. Police observed her vehicle, a white 1994 Chevy Caprice, was parked the wrong way on the street and was partially obstructing the roadway. Police observed a small amount of damage on the passenger side of the vehicle. Police made contact with a supervisor with Hamilton County Schools regarding the bus. It was determined by route zoning GPS that the bus in question was never close to the address on Haymore Avenue. No evidence would indicate a Hamilton County School bus hit the woman's vehicle.
1100 Cumberland Road 8018 Turtle Lane 506 Timberlinks Drive 1508 River View Oaks Road Previous Next

Chattanooga's Million Dollar homes, reflected in recent transactions, include:

1100 Cumberland Road

5 bedrooms, 4.5+ baths, 6,630 square feet on 4.86 acre lot

The sale was to Marla Helene Booth from Fielding H Jr Atchley, Thomas F Mullady, Stephen Mullady, Peter Mullady, Lisa Smith, Thomas Mullady, Lynn Mullady Tatum

$2,150,000

8018 Turtle Lane

4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 5,849 square feet on 1.55 acre lot

The sale was to Bradley D Hanon, Lauren R Hanon from Herbert Allen Jr Hughes, Thomas Webster Hughes, Dennis Shawn Hughes

$1,050,000

506 Timberlinks Drive

5 bedrooms, 6 baths, 4,872 square feet on 2 acre lot

The sale was to Myles James Baker, Kristina Marlene Baker from Marco S Biscarini, Romana Biscarini

$1,255,000

1508 River View Oaks Road

4 bedrooms, 6 baths, 6,167 square feet on 0.65 acre lot

The sale was to Joyce W Godsey, Donald W Godsey from Robert D Maum, Carolyn A Maum

$2,400,000
April is National Minority Health Month, a time officials say to "raise awareness about health disparities that disproportionately affect racially and ethnically diverse populations, and also a time to encourage action through access to care by inspiring people to give blood or platelets."The American Red Cross is reminding blood and platelet donors its vital to make and keep donation appointments this month to ensure shelves are fully stocked with blood products all season long.With blood transfusions remaining one of the most critical treatments for patients - like those facing pregnancy and childbirth complications, and those with chronic illnesses like sickle cell disease - donors can connect patients to lifesaving care.Having a diverse blood supply is one way to ensure all patients have ongoing access to compatible blood transfusions. To make an appointment, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).People coming together to care for one another is the humanitarian spirit shared by the Red Cross community and PEANUTS. All who come to give by April 23 will get an exclusive Red Cross and PEANUTS Snoopy t-shirt, while supplies last. Plus, through April 30, those who come to give will be automatically entered for a chance to win a three-night trip for two to Sonoma County, Ca., courtesy of Peanuts Worldwide. Details are available at rcblood.org/cool.Upcoming blood donation opportunities, April 20-30:HamiltonChattanoogaApril 27 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Southeast Tennessee American Red Cross Blood Drive, 4115 S. Access RoadCollegedaleApril 21 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Southern Adventist University, 4854 Colcord Dr._______________PolkBentonApril 26 from noon-5 p.m., Benton United Methodist Church, 135 Highland Dr.How to donate bloodSimply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enable the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.Blood and platelet donors can save time at their next donation by using RapidPass to complete their pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of their donation, before arriving at the blood drive. To get started, follow the instructions at RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass or use the Blood Donor App.Amplify your impact - volunteer.Another way to support the lifesaving mission of the Red Cross is to become a volunteer blood donor ambassador at Red Cross blood drives. Blood donor ambassadors help greet, check-in and thank blood donors to ensure they have a positive donation experience.Volunteers can also serve as transportation specialists, playing a vital role in ensuring lifesaving blood products are delivered to nearby hospitals. For more information and to apply for either position, visit redcross.org/volunteertoday.
The City Beer Board on Thursday morning, after a closed-door meeting with City Attorney Phil Noblett, reversed course on allowing beer at the Shady's Corner bar.

The board voted 5-2 to allow beer sales - with Vince Butler and Cynthia Coleman opposed.

That comes after the board had denied the beer permit application on April 7 following a lengthy hearing in which members of the nearby Islamic Mosque lined up to voice strong objections. The bar had been allowed to open, but with only liquor and wine sales - not beer.

City Attorney Noblett said after the meeting that the owners of Shady's Corner had filed suit in Chancery Court.

He said there is a conflict between the UGC zoning that the bar on Cemetery Avenue had obtained and the rules of the Beer Board. He said the Beer Board operates under rules that bars not be within 500 feet of a church, school or daycare. However, he noted, that UGC zoning does not have such restrictions.

Board member Dan Mayfield said the conflicting regulations "have left us in a bad position. It's not a good scenario for anyone.

"Chattanooga is growing rapidly and changes have been made to meet the density needs. But someone at the city needs to take a long look at the ambiguities it has brought."

He added, "The people at the house of worship are going to wonder what happened."

At the start of the meeting, board member Ron Smith made a "motion to reconsider" that was approved.

Mr. Butler made a motion to deny the motion to overturn the board's previous Shady's Corner ruling, but it failed.

A motion to allow beer at the bar was then approved by Chair Monica Kinsey, Tiffany Bell, Reginald Washington, Mr. Smith and Mr. Mayfield.

Mr. Butler said afterward, "I just hope the city looks into this and gives us some direction."
Inarguably the most important responsibility of the federal judiciary is to interpret and apply the United States Constitution. And as it affects the ordinary citizen, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are the most important. These amendmentsthe Bill of Rightswere demanded by Framers who feared that the proposed Constitution posed a risk to the rights of ordinary citizens.

These proponents were concerned about concentrated power in a central government and insisted on more explicit protections for individual liberty in the proposed Constitution.



The First Freedoms  The First Amendment

Of the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment applies most often to the ordinary citizen today. Originally proposed as the third of 12 amendments, our First Amendment was one of the 10 ultimately adopted. This amendment contains five specific freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Many Americans consider these five freedoms our most important, and not just for their placement as the first freedoms in the Bill of Rights. They are sometimes described as the rights of consciencethe rights to hold and express our own ideas and convictions, regardless of their uniqueness or popularity. They are also the rights that allow us to organize and advocate for change when we believe change is needed.

Americans Are Unfamiliar with Rights Contained in First Amendment

Most Americans know that they have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to peacefully assemble. But many Americans are not aware that these critical rights have their basis in the First Amendment. The most recent Annenberg Public Policy Center Annual Civics Knowledge Survey, released on Sept. 13, 2022, shows that a disappointing number of Americans can identify the rights specified in the First Amendment unprompted.

Freedom of Speech was identified by 63 percent of the respondents, down from 74 percent in 2021 and 73 percent in 2020.

Freedom of Religion was identified by 24 percent, down from 56 percent in 2021 and 47 percent in 2020.

Freedom of the Press was named by 20 percent, down from 50 percent in 2021 and 42 percent in 2020.

Freedom of Assembly was named by 16 percent, down from 30 percent in 2021 and 34 percent in 2020.

The Right to Petition the government was named by 6 percent, down from 20 percent in 2021 and 14 percent in 2020.

One of four respondents (26 percent) could not name any of the rights or said they did not know.

Federal Courts Protect Fundamental Freedoms Even When Unpopular

Federal courts at all levels regularly handle cases brought by individuals seeking protection or redress under the First Amendment. A case may involve a citizen alleging that a government entity is preventing her from voicing her opinions, or a religious entity alleging that a state or municipality is preventing its members from practicing their religion in the manner they desire, or a person alleging that the government is punishing him for his association with a disfavored group or organization. Or it may involve a governmental entity trying to prevent the dissemination of an embarrassing or distasteful publication.

It is often the case that popular opinion is in favor of the government action. The grievant may be a member of a minority group, a minority religion, or an adherent of a minority belief or philosophy.

The role of the federal courts is not to follow popular opinion but rather to adhere to the Constitution. In this way our first freedoms, regardless of fickle public opinion or shifting political winds, are always protected.



Curtis L. Collier

United States District Judge

Chair, Eastern District of Tennessee Civics and Outreach Committee



Carrie Brown Stefaniak

Law Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier

Past President, Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association



Karen L. Sheng

Law Clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier






District Attorney Coty Wamp said she hopes a woman's second-degree murder conviction for a drug sale that resulted in an overdose death will be a warning to others considering selling drugs in Hamilton County.

She said, "My hope is that this conviction is a wake-up call for drug dealers all across our county. We will continue to prosecute under this statute and we will continue to focus our efforts on sending dangerous drug dealers to prison."

DA Wamp added, To my knowledge, this is the first trial of its kind in Hamilton County. When considering an overdose death, the community may not typically think of a second-degree murder charge. However, the legislative intent was very clear with this statute. In Tennessee, if you sell or deliver illegal drugs to a person and that person dies as a result of those drugs, you can be found guilty of murder.

On Wednesday afternoon, jurors from Hamilton County found Morgan Copeland guilty of second-degree murder for the death of Nicholas Jackson.

DA Wamp said, "Ms. Copeland sold fentanyl to Mr. Jackson under the guise of a different controlled substance, and the extremely deadly drug immediately killed the victim.

"Prosecutors Chris Post and Jason Demastus delivered closing arguments to a jury of 12 on Wednesday afternoon, and in less than one hour, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged.

"In 2018, the Tennessee Legislature enacted legislation that directly targets drug dealers selling fentanyl. The legislation enacted under TCA 39-13-210(a)(3) calls for a conviction of second-degree murder when a defendant is found guilty of selling fentanyl that results in death.

"Second-degree murder is a Class A felony, which carries 15 to 60 years in the Tennessee Department of Corrections."

Ms. Copeland will face sentencing on May 2 at 1:30 p.m. in the courtroom of Judge Amanda Dunn.
For the 12th consecutive year, Hamilton County public school teachers have earned grants for self-designed summer fellowships that they will use to enrich the knowledge of their students. The grants are made possible by the national non-profit Fund for Teachers and its partnership with Public Education Foundation.Congratulations to the eight Hamilton County teachers who won a 2023 Fund for Teachers Fellowship, said Dan Challener, president of Public Education Foundation. These outstanding teachers will invest much of their summer studying a wide range of topicsfrom sustainable farming to the history of the American Southwest, from Spanish culture to Scottish castles-- and they will do their learning in places as far from Chattanooga as Germany and Amsterdam.Our community and our children are immensely fortunate to have teachers like this years winners.Fund for Teachers awarded over $39,000 in grants to Hamilton County teachers this year. This past fall, all Hamilton County public school teachers were invited to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 for a fellowship for an individual teacher and up to $10,000 for a grant for a team of teachers.The 2023 cohort of Fund for Teacher fellowship winners includes: Kristy Kimball of Daisy Elementary, who will travel across seven U.S States and document continental landforms, plant and animal habitats and cultures and histories of the American Southwest. Their goal is to provide authentic background knowledge for students through integrated science, social studies and literacy curriculum. Matty Hardy of Normal Park, who will attend the Sustainable Food Summit in Amsterdam. Afterwards, she will live and volunteer on rural Italian and French farms to learn about organic farming practices in cheese and grain production. Upon return, she will provide innovative learning experiences for every student participating in the school's Green STEAM Club. Richard McEvoy and Keely Dunavin of Thrasher Elementary, who will learn strategies for effectively promoting student autonomy, responsibility and healthy interdependence in the classroom and school at an international gathering of teachers in Dublin, Ireland. Zachariah Tufts of East Side Elementary and Julie Tufts of Ooltewah Elementary School will explore and document German and Scottish castles and surrounding landscapes to create curriculum components that inspire elementary students to seek learning beyond facts, develop a love for learning and persevere in a quest for knowledge. Kellie Logue of Red Bank High School, who will travel to various cities in Massachusetts to become immersed in New England's natural and historical places critical to America's history and literature from 1692-1917. Her fellowship will inform multiple classes and two schoolwide writing contests on the influence of nature, religion and women during this period. Micah Gentry of Red Bank Middle School, who will explore six Spanish cities to learn about the countrys geography, food and culture. His experiences will further enable him to teach students to associate the Spanish language with a rich history and culture rather than with illegal immigration and negative stereotypes.Teachers are the backbone of our society, said Karen Eckhoff, executive director of Fund for Teachers. They educate, encourage and empower the children who will shape our future. And in our postpandemic society, their role is even more amplified. There can be no better investment.As a regional partner with Fund for Teachers, PEF provides targeted support for HCS teachers throughout the rigorous application process. This support has helped over 200 HCS teachers earn Fund for Teachers awards and pursue these enriching learning experiences around the globe. The personalized learning model invests directly in veteran teachers as they design and participate in unique professional learning during their travels. Following the summer fellowship, fellows return to Hamilton County schools and develop lessons that are informed by what was learned during the Fellowship.
LAUNCH announces the promotion of DeJuan S. Jordan to the newly created position of co-CEO.

Ms. Jordan is a graduate of the LAUNCH Entrepreneurship program, completing the program in 2017. Since October 2019, she has served as LAUNCH's director of Business Support, providing guidance and support to entrepreneurs.

DeJuan has demonstrated with her work as our director of Business Support, her commitment to our mission and to start-up and early stage entrepreneurs, said Hal Bowling, LAUNCH co-CEO. We will benefit even more from her greater involvement with key stakeholders in this new position. DeJuans wealth of experience, expertise and leadership skills will be a valuable asset to our organization. I believe her fresh ideas and perspective as a LAUNCH program graduate and team member since 2019, will enhance our ability to support the entrepreneurial community."

Ms. Jordan said, "Entrepreneurship can be truly transformational for individuals who have historically been underrepresented in the field. It has the power to break down barriers, create new opportunities, and change the trajectory of people's lives. By supporting and empowering underrepresented entrepreneurs, we can build a more inclusive and equitable economy that benefits everyone."

She expressed her excitement to co-lead an organization that has been so instrumental in her own entrepreneurial journey, as well as the opportunity to work more closely with Mr. Bowling as co-CEO of LAUNCH. Ms. Jordan believes that their collaboration will have a positive impact on many entrepreneurs who aspire to enhance their lives and secure a better future for their families.

Ms. Jordans focus will be day to day operations, working closely with all staff and overseeing LAUNCHs programs. Mr. Bowling will handle administrative and financial obligations including leading the development and fundraising efforts of LAUNCH.




A former butler to King Charles revealed that he can tell when his former boss is stressed. He admitted there are times when the king of the United Kingdom visibly wears his heart on his sleeve. Within the past year, Charles has demonstrated the many ways he has been under intense pressure in plain sight.

King Charles appears stressed to his former royal butler | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

King Charles has dealt with intense family difficulties over the past three years

Since 2020, King Charles family has been under a microscope more than ever. Just before the pandemic, his son Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, left their roles as senior royals. One year later, in March 2021, Harry and Meghan sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a tell-all interview. They revealed their displeasure with the royal familys behavior toward their marriage.

One month later, the royal family lost its patriarch, Prince Philip. His death, along with the pandemic and Queen Elizabeths declining health, took its toll on Charles.

Queen Elizabeths death in September 2022, followed by Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Netflix series and the publication of Harrys memoir Spare, likely added extra strain to Charles as he assumed the role of king of the United Kingdom.

King Charles former butler says he notices his stress during personal appearances. Heres what hes seen so far.

King Charles former butler can tell when hes stressed

King Charles photographed in 2022 | Henry Nicholls/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

A former butler to King Charles says he can tell when his former boss is stressed. Grant Harrold was a member of the royal household of King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort. He spoke to Express, revealing how he could tell when Charles was dealing with personal issues.

Grant said at a royal etiquette class in association with Slingo: When I see him on television, I can tell if hes having a bad day. I can tell if hes stressed.

He continued, There was a documentary released a couple of years ago where I could tell he was stressed. Its his mannerisms, hell start fidgeting, and its quite interesting.

Harrold revealed a noticeable change in Charles at Queen Elizabeths funeral.

I really felt for him because losing both parents so quickly and having to carry on doing stuff in front of people. That was the most stressed Ive ever seen him, Grant explained.

King Charles former butler says he is still the same kind of character

Although he no longer works for the royal family, Grant Harrold admits he believes King Charles to be the same man he knew many years ago. He thinks he hasnt changed all that much.

Ive been gone 12 years, but Im still friends with some members of the household, and its interesting how hes still the same kind of character, Harrold said.

He also hopes his former boss hasnt lost his sense of humor with all the inner turmoil of the royal family. He said, He used to be so much fun and do so many funny things.

King Charles will be coronated on May 6 alongside his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, at Westminister Abbey. The celebration continues for three days thereafter in the United Kingdom.
CSU researchers Yusef Farah and Rachelle Austin with the ultrafast pump-probe transient absorption spectrometer they used to measure charge carrier properties of molybdenum disulfide thin films.

Solar power technologies, which use solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity or storable fuels, are gaining momentum in a world looking beyond fossil fuels for its energy needs.

The dark bluish solar panels that dot rooftops and open fields today are typically made from silicon, a well-tested semiconductor material. Silicon photovoltaic technology has its limitations, though, losing up to 40% of the energy it collects from sunlight in the form of heat waste. Researchers at Colorado State University are studying radical new ways to improve solar power and provide more options for the industry to explore.

CSU chemists are proposing to make solar cells using not silicon, but an abundantly available natural material called molybdenum disulfide. Using a creative combination of photoelectrochemical and spectroscopic techniques, the researchers conducted a series of experiments showing that extremely thin films of molybdenum disulfide display unprecedented charge carrier properties that could someday drastically improve solar technologies.

The experiments were led by chemistry Ph.D. student Rachelle Austin and postdoctoral researcher Yusef Farah. Austin works jointly in the labs of Justin Sambur, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Amber Krummel, associate professor in the same department. Farah is a former Ph.D. student in Krummels lab. Their work is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The collaboration brought together Samburs expertise in solar energy conversion using nanoscale materials, and Krummels expertise in ultrafast laser spectroscopy, for understanding how different materials are structured and how they behave. Samburs lab had become interested in molybdenum sulfide as a possible alternative solar material based on preliminary data on its light absorption capabilities even when only three atoms thick, explained Austin.

Thats when they turned to Krummel, whose lab contains a state-of-the-art ultrafast pump-probe transient absorption spectrometer that can very precisely measure the sequential energy states of individual electrons as they are excited with a laser pulse. Experiments using this special instrument can provide snapshots of how charges flow in a system. Austin created a photoelectrochemical cell using a single atomic layer of molybdenum sulfide, and she and Farah used the pump-probe laser to track the cooling of electrons as they moved through the material.

What they found was astoundingly efficient light-to-energy conversion. More importantly, the laser spectroscopy experiments enabled them to show why this efficient conversion was possible.

They found that the material was so good at converting light to energy because its crystal structure allows it to extract and exploit the energy of so-called hot carriers, which are highly energetic electrons that are briefly excited from their ground states when hit with enough visible light. Austin and Farah found that in their photoelectrochemical cell, the energy from these hot carriers was immediately converted into photocurrent, rather than lost as heat. This hot carrier extraction phenomenon is not present in conventional silicon solar cells.

This work paves the way for knowing how to design reactors that contain these nanoscale materials for efficient and large-scale hydrogen production, Sambur said.

The project was a collaboration with Professor Andres Montoya-Castillo and Dr. Thomas Sayer of University of Colorado Boulder, who contributed theoretical chemistry and computational modeling to help explain and verify the experimental data.

The discovery required a team science approach that brought together many different types of expertise, in computational, analytical and physical chemistry, Krummel said.

The results give scientists and engineers an avenue of inquiry to explore new approaches to tomorrows solar energy technologies. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
A nurse administers a Moderna COVID-19 booster vaccine at an inoculation station next to Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. U.S. regulators on April 18, cleared another COVID-19 booster dose for older adults and people with weak immune systems so they can shore up protection this spring  while taking steps to make coronavirus vaccinations simpler for everyone else.
2023 Zhongguancun Forum to be held in late May

Xinhua) 16:58, April 20, 2023

BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The 2023 Zhongguancun Forum is scheduled to take place in Beijing from May 25 to 30, the event's organizers said Thursday.

This year's forum, themed "Open Cooperation for a Shared Future," will include conferences, exhibitions, research achievement releases, competitions in cutting-edge fields and technology trading.

The forum will invite the world's top scientists and institutions, well-known innovation and entrepreneurship entities to jointly discuss the new trend of science and technology that leads the development of human society.

Founded in 2007, the forum has grown into a national-level open innovation platform and an international forum.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
With a temporary moratorium on commercial operations now in effect until July, Cheshires Planning and Zoning Commission will have time to work on the question of how best to implement land-use restrictions around cannabis.

The regulations the PZC will eventually adopt must first be considered at a public hearing, set for May 8. Meanwhile, other local and Town officials are hoping to get the word out about some of the risks cannabis use can pose for consumers.

With names like curaleaf and zen leaf, marijuana marketers have sought to emphasize the substances organic qualities and its possible benefits. Public health and medical experts argue, however, that its detriments might be downplayed as governments seek new revenue streams and big business sees opportunities for profit.

Cheshires Director of Human Services, Michelle Piccerillo, says she has big concerns about the effects cannabis legalization is having and will have on the youth population.

Our Zoning Commission has done an incredible job of looking at this issue very closely, she says, but I am worried.

Piccerillo explained that studies show that (cannabis) does impact the developing brain dramatically, citing potential side effects like exacerbating anxiety and inhibiting the executive function of the brain.

Many studies have linked chronic use of marijuana to loss of motivation, poor decision-making, lower IQ, and other neurological impacts, in addition to increased use of other, illegal drugs.

A February 2022 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research even found results that indicate that legal medical marijuana, particularly when available through retail dispensaries, is associated with higher opioid mortality.

With cannabis use trending upward in the youth population, more research will undoubtedly yield more information.

Studies show that the amount of THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, present in marijuana flower has increased from 3 to 4 percent in the early 1990s to 14% on average and up to 30% as allowed by state law. Synthetic concentrates with over 90% THC levels can be purchased at New Havens dispensary.

Piccerillo says items like edible cookies and candies can appeal to a youth demographic, despite packaging restrictions. And vaping concerns officials because the lack of smoke makes it more difficult to detect in schools or homes.

Organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the American Public Health Association have issued statements urging strict regulation of cannabis so that people under 21 years old cannot access it and have less exposure to marketing effects. These organizations also advise using any revenues from sales to adults to fund evidence-based programs that can research health risks and benefits.

Chesprocott Health District Director Maura Esposito agrees that money from (cannabis sales) needs to come back into prevention programs. From her perspective, the goal is not prohibition.

We tried that and it didnt really work, but there are a lot unknowns still, and we want people to be aware, she stated.

Esposito believes that state-regulated cannabis is likely to be safer than illegal drugs, but cautions that, even for adults, long-term regular use has side effects that impact a persons well-being. One problem, she explained, is theres simply not a lot of research about what the long-term effects of (marijuana) use are.

Adults, Esposito acknowledged, will have to make their own decisions about whether or not to partake in medicinal or recreational cannabis. That said, part of Chesprocotts mission is educating the community about those risks. This is part of what Esposito calls environmental strategies for a health-focused community.

Were also teaching people to have more empathy for themselves, Esposito stated. For her, its going to take a community effort to offset the increased drug use that is likely to follow statewide legalization. Like others, she is asking for community involvement as Connecticut begins participating in recreational sales.

Who teaches the youth? It takes teachers, community champions like (Cheshire Superintendent of Schools) Jeff Solan, people like Michelle (Piccerillo) and especially parents. We need to set a positive example so that they know there are other, healthier options, she added.

Chesprocott Public Health Specialist Kate Glendon has been involved in educational outreach efforts for years now. Its a task that has become more difficult as the public perception around cannabis use has changed. Still, she is continuing to work with the YMCA and at Dodd Middle School to teach middle-school-aged children about forming healthy habits and respect for their bodies.

Piccerillo is also planning new outreach efforts, including possibly hiring a new substance abuse professional for her department.

Were always doing outreach efforts, but we do plan on bringing in some speakers to talk to parents and kids about the risks, she said.

The purpose of such programs, per Esposito, is building skillsets to avoid harmful practices.
Pexels/Engin Akyurt

A local church, Calvary Chapel San Jose, was recently fined over $1 million by a California Superior Court court for failing to comply with COVID-19 mask regulations at the height of the pandemic.

The church has fiercely disagreed with the decision and blasted Santa Clara County's legal defense of the fees.

Calvary Chapel San Jose Fined $1.2M for Not Complying with COVID-19 Orders

There hasn't been a single instance of COVID-19 linked to the church's worship services, according to Bob Tyler, president of Advocates for Faith & Freedom, the legal team that is defending the institution. According to Daily Signal, he contends that it is actually a matter of religious freedom and that the assertion that this is a matter of public safety is untrue. In a statement, Tyler claimed that the church is asking for the same treatment as bars, nightclubs, and other necessary businesses that were given more latitude to operate during the pandemic.

Calvary Chapel San Jose disagrees with the court's ruling, arguing that it should be free to practice its religion without hindrance or bias because religious groups were disproportionately affected by the pandemic limitations compared to other kinds of companies.

Judge Evette Pennypacker recently ruled that Santa Clara County's masking and social separation orders were legitimate and imposed a $1.2 million fine on Calvary Chapel San Jose for disobeying them. According to Fox News, The court ruled that the county's right to impose regulations on the church was not infringed upon, rejecting the church's allegation that other organizations have been granted temporary and conditional exemptions from mask rules.

Judge Pennypacker emphasized the distinction between the church's noncompliance and exemptions provided to others, such as a fire chief who could exercise next to his coworkers while legally removing his mask. Worshipers at Calvary Chapel, however, took off their masks during the entire service.

The judge further emphasized that the church's officials had often stated their opposition to complying with the masking rules and had never acknowledged doing so. In addition, the leaders continued to insist that they were never obligated to adhere to the masking command.

Also Read: With Easing of COVID-19 Measures, Italy Catholic Church Reintroduces Handshakes as Sign of Peace

Calvary Chapel San Jose Appeals the $1.2m Fine, With Potential Long-term Legal Ramifications

In the story shared in California Globe, County Counsel James R. Williams emphasized the county's duty to protect public health, stating that the county's pandemic response, including health orders and enforcement actions, saved thousands of lives and contributed to one of the lowest death rates in the United States. Santa Clara County officials applauded Judge Pennypacker's decision, calling the church's claims "meritless."

The judgement was swiftly appealed by Calvary Chapel San Jose's attorney, Gondeiro, despite the county is pleased with the outcome. Gondeiro expressed excitement for the potential precedents the case might establish on appeal, which could have critical long-term ramifications.

The judgement was swiftly appealed by Calvary Chapel San Jose's attorney, Gondeiro, despite the county is pleased with the outcome. Gondeiro expressed excitement for the potential precedents the case might establish on appeal, which could have critical long-term ramifications.

Legal experts believe the case, headed to an appellate court, might impact similar issues, putting millions of dollars in fines on the line and affecting the results of future cases involving public health regulations. According to legal expert Seth Morgan, the appeal could succeed or fail, making it an interesting case to monitor.

Related Article: President Pablo Virgilio David, D.D. Calls for Catholics to Return to Sunday Masses with Easing COVID-19 Protocols
Pexels/Anete Lusina

Questions regarding a Canadian high school kid expelled from his Catholic high school for rejecting transgender ideology have not yet received a response from Ontario's Catholic church leaders.

The teen in question, Josh Alexander, a student at St. Joseph's Catholic High School in Renfrew, filed a human rights complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission following his suspension.

Church Officials Remained Silent Despite the Traction of the Issue

Alexander led a student walkout opposing the school's decision to permit biological males to use the women's restrooms, which led to the suspension. According to Fox News, his complaint claimed that the school administration took offense at this act of disobedience. Alexander allegedly offended some of his teachers and peers when he asserted in class that God had created two unchanging genders.

When Alexander tried to return to school on February 6th and was detained by the police, the situation worsened. Since then, he has been "excluded" from school property for the rest of the academic year. Despite its gravity, top Roman Catholic church figures in Ontario have avoided commenting on the incident.

The Diocese of Pembroke chose not to release a statement regarding the issue. According to the shared article in Yahoo! News, even though the situation has drawn attention globally, the bishop has maintained that because the Renfrew County District Catholic School Board is a different organization, it does not have authority over the school. It was stated that Guy Desrochers, the Bishop of Pembroke, can use moral persuasion and frequently communicates with the board's executive committee.

The Ottawa Archdiocese has similarly been shockingly silent on the subject. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights criticized the Diocese of Pembroke's reaction and questioned their lack of opposition to the school's administration.

The Renfrew County Catholic District School Board's director of education, Mark Searson, wrote an open letter to the community in response to the global attention. He emphasized the value of student safety and well-being and the necessity of respectful value expression. He also added that even though students have the freedom to express their opinions, they should do it accordingly and with respect to others.

He dispelled the misunderstanding of a widespread problem with bathroom use at St. Joseph's by citing the Ontario Human Rights Commission's position on bathroom access based on lived gender identity.

Also Read: Archdiocese Issues Revised Gender Policy Focusing on Biological Sex for Pronouns and Bathrooms

Understanding Transgender Ideology

An individual's gender identity, or internal sense of gender, may not match their biological sex, according to transgender ideology explained in The Christian Institute. In addition to challenging accepted gender roles, the movement strongly emphasizes individual autonomy. People who identify as transgender frequently struggle to get the sex they were given at birth and may choose to have surgical operations to change how they look.

Adults who have lived as their identified gender for two years are eligible to alter their sex legally under the Gender Recognition Act of 2004, passed in the UK. Government officials are thinking about streamlining this procedure even more, perhaps by permitting self-declaration without a doctor's approval. Despite the general acceptance of transgender ideology, there are still worries about promoting extreme treatments and their effects on children and adolescents.

Christians are urged to address the subject with honesty and compassion, abiding by biblical principles while respecting the difficulties people have on their journey of gender identification.

Related Article: Teen Arrested After Protests Against Transgender Policies at St. Joseph's Catholic High School in Canada
Pexels/cottonbro studio

Catholic aid agencies are working tirelessly to save millions of people in Somalia from the ravages of drought and famine. The Horn of Africa recently faced one of the worst droughts, with millions of people on the brink of starvation.

Life-saving Assistance in Somalia

According to the Detroit Catholic, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas, and other Catholic aid organizations are on the ground, providing life-saving assistance to those affected by the drought. They are distributing food and water, providing medical care, and supporting communities to build resilience to future shocks.

The situation in Somalia is dire, with over 5 million people needing urgent humanitarian assistance. The drought has led to widespread crop failure and the death of livestock, leaving many families without a source of food or income. In addition, conflict and displacement have exacerbated the crisis, making it even more difficult for aid agencies to reach those in need.

As mentioned, CRS has worked in Somalia since 1964, providing emergency relief and supporting long-term development programs. The organization has partnered with local communities to build wells and water systems. It has provided training on sustainable agriculture and livestock management.

Caritas, the global network of Catholic aid agencies, also assists in Somalia. The organization distributes food and water, provides medical care, and supports communities to build resilience to future shocks.

Furthermore, the Catholic Church has a long history of providing aid to those in need, regardless of their faith or background. In Somalia, Catholic aid agencies are working to save lives and alleviate suffering, demonstrating the Church's commitment to social justice and the common good.

Also Read:Britain Church Aid Organizations Express Disappointment to UK Government's Budget Prioritizing Military Spending Over Humanitarian Aid

UN's Response to Avert Famine in Somalia

In a report from the PBS NewsHour, the United Nations has called for $1 billion in funding to avert famine in Somalia. The Horn of Africa recently faced one of the worst droughts, with over 5 million people needing urgent humanitarian assistance. The drought has led to widespread crop failure and the death of livestock, leaving many families without a source of food or income.

According to the U.N., the situation in Somalia is dire, and without immediate action, the country could slip into famine. The funding would provide life-saving assistance, including food and water, medical care, and support for long-term development programs. The U.N. has also called for an end to the conflict in Somalia, which has contributed to the crisis.

Moreover, Arab News reported that the U.N.'s call for funding comes as the country faces a critical shortage of aid. The funding gap has left many aid organizations needing help to provide essential services to those in need. In addition, the ongoing conflict in the country has made it difficult for aid agencies to reach those most affected by the drought.

The U.N. has called on the international community to step up and provide the necessary funding to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia. The organization has also called on all parties to the conflict to allow safe and unhindered access for aid agencies so that they can reach those most in need.

Despite the challenges, aid agencies are working tirelessly to assist those affected by the drought. The Catholic Relief Services, Caritas, and other Catholic aid organizations are on the ground in Somalia, providing life-saving assistance to those in need.

Related Article: US Catholics to Give Aid For Needy People Around the World
Pexels/Adrian Frentescu

Holy Covenant United Methodist Church in Chicago's Lakeview East neighborhood has had numerous vandalism occurrences over the course of almost a year, which has left church leadership both frustrated and determined to carry on spreading their message of love and acceptance. The church's dedication to the neighborhood is unwavering despite the ongoing acts of vandalism.

A welcoming sign, the pride flag that was once proudly flown outside the church, and messages of love and support have all been vandalized and replaced with insulting graffiti. The church's pastor, Reverend Jennifer Stephens, has observed an alarming rise in these instances.

Pastor Seeks Police Intervention for Persistent Targeted Attacks on UMC Church in Chicago

According to NBC Chicago, Rev. Stephens mentioned that within the past month, the situation has intensified, occurring almost every other day. He also noted the considerable effort being put into the destruction and expressed that neighbours were often taken aback upon learning about these incidents. The resilience the church shows amid these vandalism attacks determines its dedication to serving the community in spreading the good news.

Rev. Stephens is still unsure of the perpetrator's identity and whether they live or work there. She has contacted the police, posted messages on the Next Door app, and had chats with neighbors in an effort to spread awareness of the alarming instances in reaction to the growing number of hate crimes.

Rev. Stephens' unshakable attitude illustrates the church's unwavering dedication to advocating love, acceptance, and inclusivity, even in the face of hardship, saying she is not scared. She added that this phenomenon is just going to make them be bolder and speak louder.

Also Read: Arkansas Church Wins Legal Battle Against UMC, Secures Ownership of Cherished Property

Vandalized with Hate Messages and Destroyed Pride Flag

Another source, Block Club Chicago, says that, according to Stephens, vandals have gone so far as to cover the sign with food scraps and replace the encouraging lines with Bible texts frequently used to denigrate LGBTQ+ people. In the face of ongoing vandalism, Rev. Stephens maintains his resolve, saying that the more they erase the lines, the bolder she would express the message.

The church's Pride flag's wooden post was also destroyed, service was interrupted by blasphemous cries for accepting LGBTQ+ people, and a picture of Jesus with a rainbow was stolen from the sanctuary during the past month's worth of damage. The church's Pride flag's wooden post was destroyed, service was interrupted by blasphemous cries for accepting LGBTQ+ people, and a picture of Jesus with a rainbow was stolen from the sanctuary during the past month's worth of damage.

Stephens explained the extent of the damage, highlighting that the perpetrators must have either jumped or spent considerable time taking down the wooden flag post. She emphasized that breaking the post would not have been an easy task.

Rev. Stephens emphasized the church's conviction that everyone has inherent value and is all made in God's likeness, including transgender and non-binary identities. According to ABC7 Chicago, vandals continue to destroy these encouraging messages despite the church's efforts to spread love and inclusion. They have even turned to write their own hateful words on the church's placards.

Stephens revealed how the vandals abused scripture to attack LGBTQIA people and wrote offensive comments with a black marker. This deliberate attempt to undermine the church's message of love brings to light the continual difficulty the church faces in establishing and upholding a welcoming and inclusive place for everyone.

Related Article: Biggest South Carolina UMC Church Considers Departure from Denomination Amid Homosexuality Controversy
Pixabay/Niek Verlaan

The Sri Lankan church leader and victims' families are still seeking truth and justice for the tragic Easter bombing in 2019. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo recently asked Christians in Sri Lanka to participate in the Human Chain Protest with the theme 'We are Watching Until Justice is Done' on Friday, Apr. 21.

Human Chain Protest

The Human Chain Protest will start at 8:00 a.m. at the locations in the capital city of Colombo where the terrorist assaults took place. At 8:45, attendees will be instructed to be quiet for two minutes, and from 8:30 to 9:00 in the morning, they will be required to wait in line, The Island Online reported.

Cardinal Ranjith extended an invitation to individuals who cannot participate in the chain of humanity to observe a moment of silence for two minutes at their place of employment.

Throughout the various services held in Catholic churches worldwide, on Easter Sunday, a special message from the Cardinal was read aloud. According to the priest, rather than taking measures to provide justice, the government is preparing a top police official suspected of failing to prevent the terrorist assault on Easter Sunday from taking the position of inspector general of police.

On Apr. 21 of this year, the annual memorial service for those killed or injured in the violence on Easter Sunday will appear. After four years, they remain in a state of mystery about the whole truth beneath these horrific explosions, which resulted in the deaths of 272 innocent civilians, injured more than 500 others, and left several people wounded and permanently disabled, leaving them depressed and reliant on others for the rest of their lives.

Moreover, the Vatican News reported that a group of suicide bombers believed related to the so-called Islamic State targeted three churches and three hotels. The Sri Lankan church continues to seek justice for the bombings that occurred on Easter Sunday, 2019.

Since then, the investigations have stalled. Cardinal Ranjith, along with the church and the victims' loved ones, has persistently voiced concerns and questions over the story of the terrorist attacks provided by the Sri Lankan officials. They accuse the government of concealing what happened and the actual perpetrators for the sake of political gain.

Also Read:Aerial Bombing in Myanmar Killed Members of Bible Missionary Church

Compensation on Victims

As per United Nations Human Rights, by failing to stop the crimes, the Court found that former President Maithripala Sirisena, the former defense secretary, and two other former security and intelligence officials were in breach of the fundamental liberties of the victims. As a result, the Court ordered these individuals to pay individually into a victims' fund for nearly USD 850,000. Over 270 individuals died from bombings in hotels and churches nationwide. In a prior judgment, the Supreme Court concluded that legal procedures against the current president, serving as Prime Minister at the time of the assaults, could not proceed due to the immunities he enjoys while acting in his current position.

This ruling marks a step in the victims' quest to acknowledge the harm endured and their rights to truth, justice, and restitution. Although no amount of compensation can ever erase the sorrow and agony of the victims and their families, this verdict marks a milestone in the effort. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a call to action to the government, urging them to guarantee that victims receive fair compensation and that they, along with their representatives, are adequately consulted over cash distribution.

Related Article: Muslim Extremists Blow Up Fuel Bomb During Good Friday Service in Uganda
Pixabay/Frauke Riether

The electric bill of Friendship Baptist Church, which costs more than $30,000, was questioned by its pastor, who refused to pay the bill. As a result, the energy company cut off the church's electricity supply.

Pastor's Refusal to Pay the Bill

Rev. Alvin Gwynn Sr., who has been pastoring the Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, for 34 years, claims that his typical monthly energy cost has been "maybe $1,200" over that time. However, Rev. Gwynn revealed that around two months ago, his prices from Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) had significantly increased, The Christian Post reported.

Based on the most recent invoice from the company, the church owed BGE a payment of $30,478.41, which was due on Easter Monday, Apr. 10. Rev. Gwynn has stated that he will not pay the charge "on principle" since there is no possibility that his congregation used so much electricity. Therefore, BGE disconnected the electricity supply to the church on the day the bill was due.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, he freely admits that there has always been a balance remaining on the church's power account in his name. On the other hand, he insists that he generally makes the necessary payments within a week or so. The pastor claims that the parish's fees have not been appropriately shown on his electricity bill and that BGE has been employing intelligent meters to increase the actual amount of energy used at his church.

Moreover, 2 ABC reported that BGE asserted that they collaborated closely with all of its customers, including Friendship Baptist Church, to provide aid in gaining access to a variety of payment alternatives and services for energy assistance.

In addition, BGE openly admits that disconnections occur, but the company does not want consumers who pay their bills to make up the tab for those who do not pay them.

Also Read: Kentucky Government to Pay Over $270,000 for Prohibiting Mass Gathering at Maryville Baptist Church During Pandemic

Issues of Baltimore Gas and Electric

According to WYPR, during the meeting of the body of Estimates, which is the city's Board of Estimates meeting, Mayor Brandon Scott of Baltimore City and his two appointees managed to force a vote to approve an altered conduit agreement with BGE. According to the terms of that agreement, the private utility, which is a part of the publicly traded energy giant Exelon, will give the city an average of $134 million annually for the next four years to fund infrastructure upgrades.

Also, throughout that contract, it will be responsible for paying an annual rental cost of $1.5 million. It would be in place of BGE paying the municipal maintenance fees to invest in improvements throughout the 741-mile-long underground pipeline system, which would require upwards of one billion dollars to revamp.

As mentioned, council members have raised concerns about the possibility that the electrical company will shift the expenses of modernizing the conduit system onto its customers. During the time allotted for public comment, Christina Flowers, who lives in the Liberty Square neighborhood, voiced her displeasure with the BGE rate increase.

According to Flowers, "Every year since they've owned it, they've had a tremendous number of hikes," and "they've had tremendous amounts of hikes."

In response, Charles Washington, vice president of external and governmental affairs for BGE, said that the negotiated arrangement would lower consumer costs by $50 million over the long run.

However, the corporation is continuing to pursue an increase in the total cost that it would charge consumers for its products or services. The initial request that BGE submitted to the state commission last week asked for permission to raise the prices that customers pay for gas and electricity by 5% over the next three years.

Related Article: New Orleans Church Raises Funds To Help People Pay Electricity Bills
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The security staff at Faith Assembly of God in Texarkana, Arkansas, got worried about a man attending their revival services and consequently called the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department (TAPD) on April 18.

The man, Philip Osbon of Minden, Louisiana, was observed by the church at 2001 Arkansas Boulevard, acting suspiciously and seemingly testing the building's security.

Texarkana Church Calls Police Over Suspicious Man With Arsenal in Vehicle

Concerns about Osbon's interrogation of the congregation and staff on a personal level were also expressed by churchgoers. According to KSLA News 12, TAPD officers responded to the security team's call to ensure the security and comfort of churchgoers. They arrived at the church at the start of the service.

At 7:00 p.m., Osbon arrived at the church and went inside the structure. Officers from the TAPD came across a startling assortment of weapons and survival equipment as they approached his vehicle. An AR-style rifle, several 30-round magazines, a shotgun, a belt filled with shotgun shells, knives, tourniquets, and other items were all visible inside the car.

When officials informed the church of this, they immediately asked that Osbon leave the premises. The incident is a potent reminder of the value of community cooperation and vigilance in ensuring public safety.

According to another source, KTAL News said that as Phillip Osbon left the restroom at Faith Assembly of God, the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department approached him and asked to speak with him. The police reported that Osbon disregarded their order and continued toward the main sanctuary, where church services were already underway. In an effort to get his attention, the officers asked him again while extending their hands to grab his arm.

Osbon reacted by backing into the sanctuary, turning around, clenching his fist, and adopting a fighting stance. He fought with police as they attempted to remove him from the church and even tried to take items off of one of the officers' utility belts. Eventually, the police used pepper spray to subdue Osbon and arrested him.

Also Read: Florida Pastor Arrested for Alleged Child Pornography on Church Network

Texarkana Man Charged with Multiple Offenses After Church Incident

After being detained, Philip Osbon was taken to the Miller County Jail. According to TXK Today, He is accused of obstructing official business, evading capture, running away on foot, and possessing marijuana, a controlled substance.

In Colorado, Osbon is also wanted on a felony warrant for obstructing justice concerning an assault on a peace officer. The authorities in Colorado, however, will not hand him over. This is the second instance in recent times where someone entered a church and inquired suspiciously about staffing, security, and the private lives of staff members' families. Arrests were made in both circumstances.

Police advise nearby churches, businesses, and civic organizations to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity involving their members or regular operations. They advise people to contact their neighborhood police if they feel unsafe or need to discuss a situation that needs more investigation. To ensure the community's safety and well-being, TAPD is more than willing to assist with developing security plans for organizations or facilities.

Related Article: Christ Church in Newport Beach Vandalized By a 27-Year-Old Man, Damage Costs Around $100,000
Flickr/ AMISOM Public Information

Following the unfortunate deaths of four members of a religious cult who died from hunger in a wilderness, Kenyan police have detained the group's head. The deaths occurred in the Shakahola forest close to the Malindi district in southeastern Kenya, and the cult leader, Makenzie Nthenge, allegedly told his members to fast to "meet Jesus."

Nthenge, the pastor of the Good News International Church, was reportedly detained over the weekend, according to The Standard. The discovery of a mass grave gives worries to the police, for they are suspecting that more members have fallen victim to the dangerous ritual.

Fasting Ritual Led to the Death of 4 Individuals

Eleven other followers have been rushed to the hospital, and two of them are in critical condition. These additional victims are said to have fasted together with the four individuals reported to have lost their lives. In the story shared by The Christian Post, Nthenge is summoned and scheduled to appear in court this coming Monday to face the charges in relation to the tragic incidents.

Seven men and four women, with ages ranging from 17 to 49, make up the 11 hospitalized victims. Two of them were still receiving medical care as of early Saturday. Authorities believe that additional followers may be interred there after finding a possible mass burial. Therefore they will continue their search in the Shakahola forest.

The Langobaya police station was notified about the starvation deaths of two kids under their parents' care last month, which led to Nthenge's arrest. Nthenge was detained and accused of being involved in those fatalities, but he was eventually freed on bond after posting 100,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $700.

Another source says that the authorities in Kenya are looking into a mass burial that may contain further cult members in the Shakahola forest. According to the NDTV, the police could not conduct any other activity at the mass grave due to the hostile residents in the forest believed to be the suspect's followers. As per a police report, it has been mentioned that uninformed citizens are pretending to fast to meet Jesus and, as a result, are dying of starvation.

Nthenge is currently out on bail after being charged last month in connection with the deaths of two children whose parents are among his followers. Nthenge allegedly told the parents that their children's deaths would make them "heroes" and buried the infants in a shallow grave. The 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom states that Christianity is the predominant religion in Kenya, with approximately 85.5% of the population adhering to the faith in 2019.

Also Read: Terrorists in Nigeria Killed Rev. Musa Mairimi of Evangelical Church Winning All, Wife Kidnapped

Related Cases Involving Rituals and Beliefs Endangering Lives

In July of last year, Nigerian police released and freed 77 people from abandoned, including 23 children, who were being kept captive in a church basement by pastors who professed to be looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

According to BBC, members were urged to stay in the church till the rapture by the Whole Bible Believer Church in Ondo town. Pastor Josiah Peter Asumosa first foresaw the event in April; he later revised his prediction to September 2022 and told the young members to listen to their "parents in the Lord."

Related Article: Nigeria Witnesses Tragic Loss of 50,000 Christians in 14-Year Religious Conflict
Unsplash/Gregory Hayes

On Easter Sunday, a fire broke out in the early morning at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel, which had recently been restored. It is a miracle that the house of worship could withstand the fire, threatening to destroy the entire church.

Early Morning Blaze

A report from the Catholic News Agency stated that Father Greg Markey, head chaplain at Thomas Aquinas College's New England campus, was struck by a wall of black smoke as he opened the sacristy door for Easter Sunday's early eucharistic adoration. He didn't waste any time and got to action right away.

Markey dashed for the fire extinguisher and tried his best to put out the fire, yet, the flames continued to flare in the over 100-year-old wooden church, which had recently undergone a renovation that cost more than $1 million in 2022.

He contacted the Northfield Fire Department. While waiting for them to come, he rushed to get another fire extinguisher and used that one before returning to his original position. The flames were extinguished shortly after the arrival of the firefighters. However, the sacristy had been destroyed. In addition, the smoke caused significant damage to the church.

The priest added that it is not entirely evident whether or not the garments, some of which contain metal and gold threads, horse hair, and stuffing, can be restored. The amount of damage caused by the blaze has not yet been determined.

Moreover, Markey believes God kept the church standing despite heavy damage. "You could have lost the whole church very easily," a firefighter told Markey after extinguishing the fire. 'Someone watched over you," the officer added.

Marky noted that God was in charge of everything. Things might have turned out differently if the priest had not gone there so quickly. Therefore, each one of them feels very grateful. It is reportedly a great blessing that they did not lose the entire church in the fire.

As per the National Catholic Register, in 1971, Thomas Aquinas College established a campus in Santa Paula, California. 2019 marked the year that the college expanded by opening a campus in New England. Between the two sites, there are a total of 439 students enrolled in the undergraduate program. However, despite its stated mission of "renewing what is best in the Western intellectual heritage and conducting liberal education under the guiding light of the Catholic faith," neither the government nor the Catholic Church provides financial support for the college.

Also Read: 'Eucharistic Miracle' During Communion at St. Thomas Catholic Church As Hosts Duplicated in Ciborium

Possible Cause of Fire

According to Catholic Masses, at this time, the Holy Eucharist is being held on campus at a different location than usual. Markey is convinced that the inappropriate disposal of incense during the Easter Vigil Mass the night before was the cause of the fire.

He speculated that one of the more recent altar servers may have thrown away the incense, foil, and charcoal instead of letting it cool overnight in the thurible as instructed. The incense will be burned in a thurible, a particular type of vessel, during the liturgy.

Related Article:Northside Community Church, Saved from Fire with Only Minimal Damage by Paterson Firefighters
Pixabay/Heather

Glenn Youngkin, the governor of Virginia, was kind enough to give the first quarter's worth of his pay to the Good News Jail & Prison Ministry. He aims to "bring the Gospel to inmates in over 350 jails and prisons worldwide."

Donation of Gov. Glenn Youngkin

The data provided by the Council of State Governments stated that the annual salary of the Governor of Virginia is $175,00, Christian Post reported.

On Friday, Mar. 31, Youngkin announced that he would be donating the money he earned for the first quarter to the organization. As mentioned, Good News Jail & Prison Ministry is a nonprofit organization committed to serving the correctional institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the rest of the world by providing religiously inspired materials.

Gov. Youngkin gave a $43,750 check to the ministry, which has its headquarters in Henrico, Virginia. Moreover, Suzanne Youngkin, the First Lady of Virginia, commended the church for its "life-changing mission" and added, "We firmly believe that every Virginian deserves an opportunity to flourish, and we are grateful for this opportunity to support great and Godly works."

In a post published on Facebook about a week ago, Good News Jail & Prison Ministry expressed their reaction to the news that Gov. Youngkin intended to give their organization his first-quarter salary as a donation.

According to Klove, the president of Good News, Jon Evans, thanked Gov. Youngkin for his donation. "His support will further help our chaplains to see incarcerated citizens return to their communities with a transformed perspective and a second chance," he added.

The report says more than eleven million individuals are locked in prisons and jails worldwide. Second Chance Day honors that God provides everyone, even incarcerated people, a chance to start over and live a better life. The day's purpose is to raise a total of $150,000 to provide financial assistance for the work chaplains do worldwide. Chaplains are responsible for coordinating the various religious activities within each institution.

Furthermore, they are accountable for providing pastoral care, facilitating and accommodating religious requests, coordinating priest visits, and other duties related to personal ministry.

The chaplains are also responsible for recruiting, training, and coordinating the activities of religious volunteers. Over 500 hours of volunteer time each week is supplied by churches and members of the community to Good News chaplains serving 15 institutions in Virginia.

Also Read:Tips for Christians Planning to Donate to Charities

Good News Jail & Prison Ministry

As per Enhancing Trust Ministry, planting new churches and strengthening existing ones in the name of Jesus Christ is the mission of the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry. Their work takes them to places that most people would never consider, such as prisons and jails, and there they see God doing great things in the hearts and lives of those incarcerated, whether they are adults or children.

The ministry feels that having a chaplain there regularly is the most effective instrument for responding to the spiritual requirements of the facility's employees and inmates. Accordingly, those imprisoned and the staff members who watch over and protect them have access to the chaplain's services, who acts as a counselor, mentor, evangelist, pastor, and friend.

Related Article: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Donates $8.7M to Red Cross, Upholds Status as Top Blood Drive Supporter
Pexels/Faruk Tokluo?lu

The investigation into possible arson in connection with a fire that devastated a church on Easter Sunday was announced this week by authorities in Massachusetts. The Faith Lutheran Church/Eritrean Evangelical Church in Cambridge caught fire around 5:30 o'clock in the afternoon.

The morning of April 9 quickly became a six-alarm fire. Firefighters worked very hard all night to put it out around four in the morning. The FBI said that it occurred the following day.

Pastor Devastated by Fire, Vows to Rise Above Tragedy

According to Fox News, authorities pledged to handle the probe with the utmost seriousness and gravity in a joint statement that stressed the significance of places of worship in the community.

The pastor of the impacted church, the Rev. Robin Lutjohann, expressed his sadness over the occurrence. Lutjohan stressed that the church is important for the community, and the community itself is devastated. Luckily there was no one inside the church when the fire broke out.

During the Easter season, a banner with the words "We will rise" has been erected in front of the structure ever since the COVID-19 outbreak began, according to Lutjohann. The pastor vows the church and its members to overcome the tragedy and continue as a neighborhood pillar despite the tragic loss. He is positive and committed despite the loss.

Another source, Boston, stated that the six-alarm fire at Faith Lutheran Church started shortly before 5:30 p.m.; according to the FBI, it lasted till 4 a.m. on April 9 to be completely put out the next day. The authorities are asking for possible evidence, such as images and videos of the church the day before the fire, the day when the fire broke out, and the day when the fire was put out as a part of their increased investigation.

According to Cambridge incident Chief Thomas Cahill, no information is too tiny; they urged anyone with information or observations about the incident to share them with authorities. People must report pertinent images, videos, or tips to the FBI website.

Officials reaffirmed their commitment to the case in a joint statement obtained by NBC 10 Boston, emphasizing the significance of places of worship as neighborhood pillars. Residents are reassured that the investigation is handled with the seriousness and gravity required.

Also Read: Fountain of Life Center Recovery from Fire, Parishioners to Hold Easter Sunday Mass as Scheduled

Understanding Arson, Its Penalties, and Consequences

Arson is a crime committed when a person intentionally sets fire to a property, knowing it will cause damage. Historically, it involved burning someone else's dwelling, but modern statutes often include any property type. According to Law Shelf, the intent to cause damage is crucial, distinguishing arson from accidental fires.

However, the targeted property need not be damaged, and liability can attach even if the unintended property is affected. Unintentional burnings are not considered arson; some states have separate offenses called "reckless burning" or "unlawfully causing a fire," which carry lesser penalties and involve acting recklessly without intent to cause damage.

While reckless burning is generally punished as a misdemeanor or lesser offense, arson is typically punished as a felony. The sort of property destroyed, whether it was occupied, and whether anyone was injured all impact how harshly the punishment will be administered. For instance, an arsonist who causes at least one person harm in California is subject to a maximum nine-year jail sentence.

Related Article: Devastating Fire Engulfs Cambridge Church Just Hours After Easter Service: 6 Alarms Raised
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In a Good Friday night service on Apr. 7, a fuel bomb exploded at NABI Pentecostal church in Biguli, Kamwenge District. As a result, a part of the church and several vehicles and motorcycles were damaged.

Explosion in Biguli, Kamwenge District

Uganda's legal framework and other legislation guarantee religious freedom, including the right to spread one's faith and convert to another religion. Around 12 percent of the population in Uganda identify as Muslims, and most of them live in the eastern parts of the country.

A report from Christian Today stated that the church security personnel and other church attendees seriously chased the six suspects. They were able to stop Bwambale Sadadi's red Bajaj Boxer motorcycle vehicle. However, five other attackers were able to get away. The suspect that was caught reportedly lived in the Kilembe quarters in the Kamiba Ward of the Kasese Municipality in the Kasese District.

He was apprehended by members of the security staff, who then called the authorities and waited for their arrival before taking him into custody.

As mentioned, the Christians in the area were taken aback as Bwambale, 28, was questioned by the police. Throughout those interrogations, he admitted that he had participated in a jihad activity for Jannah [heaven] during this holy month of Ramadan to worship Allah and that Allah would benefit him in eternity for his efforts.

In addition, while searching for the remaining five suspects, the police continued their investigation. On the other hand, My Christianity Daily reported that the attack was only the most recent example of a long line of atrocities committed against Christians in Uganda.

While this was happening, Muslim relatives of a Christian preacher in eastern Uganda abducted him from his house and then murdered him because of his faith. Pastor Adinani Bulwa had previously fled Muslim opposition in northern Uganda and returned to his native hamlet of Muterere in the Bugiri District in January. Still, he was murdered on Mar. 10 at 42 years old.

Also Read:Terrorists in Nigeria Killed Rev. Musa Mairimi of Evangelical Church Winning All, Wife Kidnapped

Ramadan

According to Crisis 24, the annual celebration of the holy month of Ramadan will begin for Muslims in several African countries around Mar. 23. The precise date will depend on the initial appearance of the lunar moon. It may differ locally by one or two days.

Moreover, from sunrise till nightfall, Muslims fast during the holy month of Ramadan, abstaining from smoking, drinking, and eating. Because of the holiday, some government and business offices' operating hours may vary, and the schedules of such offices may remain unchanged. It is anticipated that the effects of Ramadan on these kinds of events will be seen more strongly in nations where most of the population is Muslim. These countries include Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, and Uganda.

Restaurants and other enterprises that are believed to violate Ramadan legislation and promote activity that is not deemed to be in line with Islamic teachings and practices may be subject to forcible closure attempts in some countries, such as Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and Senegal.

Furthermore, it is feasible for the level of militant activity to increase in regions currently experiencing active insurgencies, such as certain sections of East Africa and the Sahel sub-region. In order to ensure the public's safety and protect busy public spaces, additional security professionals could be stationed there.

Related Article:Muslim Militias' Violent Attack on Christian Communities Killed Around 94 People Throughout Holy Week
Pixabay/John Hain

Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists killed another 33 Christians. At about 10 p.m. on Sunday, Apr.16, they reportedly invaded a Christian community in Zangon Kataf County.

Invasion of Christian Communities

On Monday, Apr. 17, the burial of the 33 Christians was officiated over by the Rev. Jacob Kwashi, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Zonkwa in the state of Kaduna.

According to Christian Today, Rev. Kwashi stated that Southern Kaduna had witnessed the activities of evildoers in the past seven and a half years who have decided that they will continue unleashing evil on people on their land till they have no idea when they'll stop.

The government has reportedly always been capable and able to end these crimes, whether it be the government of Nigeria or the government of Kaduna state.

"They're able to stop this evil, but the truth is that, are they ready and willing to stop this evil?" he added.

The bishop also mentioned that four days earlier, two Christians had been murdered in the same village following the assassination of 17 Christians in Atak Njei.

Moreover, a report from Christianity Daily stated that Fulani herdsmen were also involved in the death of Rev. Musa Mairimi. In the counties of Kaduna state located in Kauru, Jaba, Kachia, and Kagarko Counties, over 100 Christians have been kidnapped by these terrorists.

As mentioned, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Joseph Hayab, said in an interview that on Thursday, Mar. 23, the herdsmen broke into the town of Rev. Mairimi and assassinated the pastor while they were inside his home. At gunpoint, his wife was kidnapped and brought into captivity.

Also Read:Greek Orthodox Church Asks For Protection Following 'Heinous Terrorist Attack'

Terrorist in Nigeria

According to the data published by Open Doors in their 2023 World Watch List (WWL), the number of Christians murdered because of their faith in Nigeria in 2022 was 5,014, Morning Star News reported.

The number of Christians who were kidnapped, suffered sexual abuse or harassment, were forcibly married, and were physically or mentally harmed were attacked because of their faith. Similar to the previous year, Nigeria had the second-highest highest number of church bombings and persons forcibly displaced within the country.

In addition, Nigeria climbed to sixth place in the nation's highest ranking ever on the World Watch List of the countries where it is the most difficult to be a Christian in 2023, having moved up from the seventh place the previous year.

Attacks are carried out on Christian communities by militants affiliated with the Fulani, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram, and other groups. These militants commit atrocities like murder, mutilation, rape, and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery. This year has also witnessed an outbreak of violence in the country's southern region, which is predominantly Christian. Since the government of Nigeria keeps denying that this is religious persecution, those who violate the rights of Christians can do so without fear of repercussions.

Some Fulani follows revolutionary Islamist ideology, however, according to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) of the United Kingdom. The Fulani, with a population of millions throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, are primarily Muslim and consist of hundreds of tribes with numerous generations.

APPG report noted, "They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity."

Related Article: Terrorists in Nigeria Killed Rev. Musa Mairimi of Evangelical Church Winning All, Wife Kidnapped
Pixabay/Jorg Upahl

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church leader, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has praised Pope Francis for providing a unique voice for peace in the world. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Apr. 12, Archbishop Shevchuk said that the pope's leadership has been instrumental in promoting dialogue and reconciliation between different nations and cultures.

Archbishop Shevchuk's remarks on Pope Francis' Leadership

According to Herald Malaysia, the pope's message of peace is a beacon of hope for all those who seek to build a more just and peaceful world, said Archbishop Shevchuk. "His efforts to promote interfaith dialogue and respect for human dignity have profoundly impacted people of all faiths and backgrounds."

The archbishop said Pope Francis has been particularly effective in promoting peace in Ukraine, where a conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists has been ongoing since 2014. He praised the pope's tireless efforts to encourage dialogue between the parties involved in the conflict and to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

"Thanks to the pope's leadership, there is now a greater awareness of the need for dialogue and reconciliation in Ukraine," said Archbishop Shevchuk. "His message of peace and unity has given hope to all those who long for an end to the conflict and a return to normalcy."

Also Read:Pope Francis Invites Catholics to Renew Consecration to Immaculate Heart of Mary

Pope Francis Calls to End Violence in Ukraine

As reported by Vatican News, Pope Francis has prayed for peace in war-torn Ukraine on the conflict's first anniversary, which has claimed thousands of lives. The pope called on all parties to the conflict to cease hostilities and start peace negotiations. He also expressed his solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who he said have suffered dramatically from the violence and unrest.

The pope's statement comes as fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine continues to escalate, with both sides accusing each other of violating a ceasefire agreement signed last year. The conflict has displaced millions of people and has caused widespread destruction to homes and infrastructure.

Pope Francis has been a vocal advocate for peace in Ukraine, calling on political leaders to engage in dialogue and work towards a peaceful resolution. He has also met with Ukrainian leaders and visited the country in 2016 to show his support for the people affected by the conflict.

Moreover, Business Mirror reported that Pope Francis used his Easter message on Easter Sunday to call for prayers for the Ukrainian and Russian people and to urge countries to welcome refugees fleeing conflicts worldwide. Speaking to a crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, the pope said that the grave situation in Ukraine and Russia requires the consideration and solidarity of the global community.

He said peaceful coexistence is possible between the two countries and called on political leaders to engage in dialogue and work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

In addition, the pope also called on countries worldwide to welcome refugees and share the burden of providing for their needs. He said that welcoming the stranger is a Christian duty and that it is essential to remember that refugees are not "just a statistic or a problem to be solved, but brothers and sisters in search of a better life."

Related Article:Pope Francis Leads Inspiring Easter Mass for Thousands in St. Peter's Square
Flickr/Robin Marty

Following a heated legal situation, the US Supreme Court has extended access to the commonly used abortion drug mifepristone through Friday. The choice was made after a Texas judge on April 7 suspended the drug's approval and questioned its safety. In response, the Biden administration urgently petitioned the Supreme Court.

Ever since the Supreme Court ignored and struck down the national right to abortion last year, this case represents the most significant advancement.

United States Supreme Court Extends the Access to the Pill

The FDA's approval of the abortion pill mifepristone has been turned down and revoked by a Texas federal judge who issued a preliminary decision prohibiting the distribution while the case is still in court. According to the article in BBC, the drug's safety is being questioned in the filed case, in which it was brought up by a group of medical professionals opposed to abortion. The judge argued that the FDA had not adequately considered side effects during the approval process.

Significant medical associations, such as the FDA and American Medical Association, still consider mifepristone as safe and effective and is very accessible for women, and gives them more options.

Shortly after the Texas decision, a federal judge in Washington state issued an order that directly opposed it and instructed the FDA to keep it available. Mifepristone was now still available in 17 US states as a result.

In light of the conflicting judgments, the government filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and asked for a hold on the Texas order throughout the appeals procedure to ensure mifepristone's accessibility. The appeals court permitted the drug to remain on the market but added new limitations.

The Justice Department and Danco contend that lower court decisions could ban mifepristone from the market for months, depriving women of access to a secure, efficient substitute for surgical abortions. The story in CNBC shares that the FDA's approval of the drug was unlawful, according to anti-abortion groups, but these allegations are refuted by former FDA employees, medical organizations, the pharmaceutical industry, 23 US states, and hundreds of members of Congress.

They contend that the FDA conducted an exhaustive investigation to confirm the security and efficiency of mifepristone. According to Pfizer, biotech executives, and investors, the FDA's safety and efficacy standards will be compromised if the rulings are upheld. Ex-FDA officials warn that this could result in more lawsuits from rival businesses or individuals who report side effects, possibly causing the removal of treatments from the market.

Also Read: Texas Judge Blocks FDA Approval of Mifepristone Abortion Pill: Biden Administration to Appeal

Biden Warns of Wider Impact on FDA-Approved Medications

According to US News, President Biden warns that Kacsmaryk's decision may have repercussions beyond mifepristone and affect all Americans. He believes no FDA-approved medication would be immune to political or ideological criticism. Whether abortion is illegal or not, the decision could make it possible for women to acquire and take the prescription.

Some women in states with abortion restrictions are thankful for the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, for it gives them more options. While misoprostol causes contractions resembling a miscarriage, mifepristone suppresses a hormone required for pregnancy. According to the experts, most American women can still obtain a medical abortion even if the abortion pill mifepristone is revoked. Misoprostol would still be available only that it would be less practical without its pair.

Related Article: Abortion Pill Limitations Temporarily Halted by Supreme Court
Flickr/Gage Skidmore

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, recently voiced her worries about the arrest of former US President Donald Trump in New York City. Greene compared the current scenario in New York City and the many people arrested and persecuted throughout history by radical, corrupt administrations. He said this about the persecution of Jesus by the Roman authority.

The public's response to the statement has been conflicted. However, many Americans have stepped forward to support Greene's thoughts. Episcopal Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who supervises over 500 churches in Greene's native state of Georgia, slammed the connection as "blasphemous and disgusting."

Trump's Cultic Figure and the Rise of Christian Art

The growing amount of Christian art surrounding the cult figure of Donald Trump is eerily similar to the Islamic martyrology studied in Iran four decades ago. According to Middle East Eye, dismissing this development as mere hype or the result of white supremacy would be oversimplified since it would ignore the genuine hurt, pain, and feeling of loss felt by many white, Christian, and conservative Americans.

White supremacy, paired with racism, are the things that are to be an alarm on Trump's cult, and it would be unfair to pin all of this emotional Christian support on these two issues. Many people have turned over to Trump to seek comfort in times of financial and emotional hardships, as well as their outlook on how the community should look.

The community who identifies themselves as white, Christians, and conservatives believe that those people of color, non-Christians, radical liberals, and the left are threatening their way of life. Understanding and resolving these underlying concerns will be vital to comprehending the complicated convergence of religion, culture, and politics in contemporary America. As a result, they rally around Trump in an effort to "get their country back."

Also Read: Christian Leaders Begin to Distance Themselves from Trump, Turn Attention to DeSantis

Unbreakable Bond Between Evangelicals and Trump: A Historical Perspective

According to Associated Press News, former US President Donald Trump has emerged as an odd choice to represent Christ and Christianity. A historian at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, John Fea studied the role of evangelical Christianity in American history, and he attributes this development to Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism is a movement that combines traditional Christian themes and imagery with conservative candidates like Trump. Fea explains that followers of this movement perceive Trump as a political savior who will restore America. Fea suggests that people perceive the situation as spiritual warfare, with Trump being considered an ally of the angels.

According to The Guardian, white evangelicals' steadfast support for former US President Donald Trump, despite claims and their resistance to some policies, has a long history. For perspective, see "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation," by Calvin University history professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez.

Conservative evangelicals rose to power in the 1950s and the early years of the Cold War because they shared most of the nation's views on "traditional" families and cultural practices. Some of the world-changing movements occurred in the 1960s, which is believed to be one of the transformative decades in human history. One of these movements, the anti-war, feminist, and civil rights movements, was at the vanguard of this transition.

Evangelicals opted to "double down" on their Christian conservatism rather than adjust to these developments. Du Mez said this choice encouraged an adversarial attitude toward fellow Americans, with evangelicals feeling a special duty to uphold America, its greatness, and traditional morals as a faithful remnant. For years, this resentment has motivated evangelicalism and given rise to its seemingly unshakable link with Trump.

Related Article: Governor Ron DeSantis Emerges as Conservative Voice for Christians, Rivaling Donald Trump's Base
In recent decades, many Christians have taken pains to emphasize that faith in Christ is more than a mere ticket to eternal life. This has led to a renewed focus on the significance of faith in the here and now. At the same time, however, it can also cause us to downplay New Testament references to a hope grounded in a future eventJesus second coming.

Chris Davis, pastor of Groveton Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, was among those who avoid the topic of the Second Coming, out of embarrassment at the wild speculations and contentious debates that eschatology sometimes inspires. But in a season when hope was running thin, he returned to the theme and discovered afresh how it focuses our hopes and desires upon Jesus. This journey of rediscovery culminated in a new book, Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus Return Gives Strength for Today.

J. Todd Billings, author of The End of the Christian Life and professor of theology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, spoke with Davis about his book.

Your book opens with a story. You had been a pastor for 10 years and experienced various health and family struggles. You and your wife were aching for a looming two-month Sabbatical. As you write, Our daily goal was simply to make it to that day when the Sabbatical would set everything right.

What happened when your sabbatical came? And whats the significance of our tendency to look forward to some moment when everything, presumably, will be set right?

What happened was we took ourselves on sabbatical with us. Which meant that very little changed over those two months. I wish I knew why humans expect things to get better. Id like to think that it is an ingrained sense that God is at work to make things new in the world. Yet just like we have extracted the person of Jesus from a Christian anthropology in our culture, I think, broadly, we have extracted Jesus from our hope.

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice, and he could say that as a Christian minister. But we now display that quote at his memorial here in Washington, DC, without any reference to Jesus. I think as human beings, for whatever philosophical reason, we have hope that things will get better without any real logic behind it.

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Many Christians today are suspicious of hope set in the future. Theyve heard preachers contrast a faith concerned with the here and now and a faith concerned with the coming age. From that perspective, a future hope can seem irrelevant. So what does it look like for Christians to move beyond just saying they believe in Christs return with a shrug?

When it comes to Jesus return, we have a dont throw out the baby with the bathwater issue. And thats understandable. Eschatology is on the short list of areas where the church veers most egregiously into the bizarre. It becomes a circus, and also a sideshow, where we have made the set-dressing of the Second Coming more important than the main character, who is Jesus.

Ive been guilty myself at times of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and I appreciate why others feel the need to do the same. We dont want to associate ourselves with the more bizarre understandings of the end times. My invitation in this book is to refocus on the person of Christ and to find a link between the already of his presence with us, by the Spirit, and the not yet of his return. I think its very possible to live in both aspects of the kingdom.

We should remember C. S. Lewiss brilliant words, from Mere Christianity, that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.

Another barrier I see to Christians thinking about and hoping in Christs return is that the coming day of the Lord makes them really scared. How can we move from that place of fear toward a posture of hope?

At the risk of slipping into the Jesus is my boyfriend trope that many of us grew up with in youth group, I think the metaphor of an engagement that leads to a marriage is both biblical and helpful. It reminds us that the beginnings of a covenant relationship now will give way to a consummation that is far beyond what we can imagine in terms of joy, intimacy, belonging, and flourishing.

My wife and I lived 1,000 miles apart when we were engaged, and the difference between talking on the phone and actually being together is almost not worth comparing, to use Pauls language in Romans [8:18]. So if we use todays intimate communion with Christ by the Spirit as a baseline, and realize that being with Christ in person will be incalculably more glorious, then I think we can look forward to his return with deep and abiding hope.

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You discuss four biblical images for Christ when he returns: the bridegroom, the warrior king, the judge, and the resurrected one. Which portrait did you find most surprising as you researched and wrote the book?

By far, it was the image of Jesus as the Judge. This was the chapter where I felt like, Its time to take our lumps. Its time to address the really challenging aspects of Jesus return.

But when you explore Pauls anticipation of Jesus return as judge, you dont find him dreading it. Instead, he welcomes it! We see this in his letters to the Corinthian church. The Corinthians had an adolescent, uninformed critique of their spiritual father, Paul. And it crushed him.

Yet Paul grounded his entire sense of approval in ministry on the moment when Jesus would judge him. In the context of being harshly criticized by his spiritual children, Paul eagerly anticipated the moment when Jesus would shine a light on all his motives and actions, and then each will receive their praise from God, as he says in 1 Corinthians 4:5.

That shocked me! And in the context of ministerial difficulty, that deeply encouraged me.

You frequently remind readers that when it comes to hope in Christs return, its by the Spirit we taste this hope now. In what ways do we need a renewed theology of the Spirit to embody hope for Christs return?

Many of us grew up with the language of Jesus living in our hearts. But this can cause us to forget that Jesus is in heaven and that the means by which Jesus does dwell in our hearts is through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is indispensable to hope. Because it is by the Spirit that we taste the presence of Christ with us now, as the down payment, the first fruits, the guarantee of our final inheritance, which is being in the presence of Jesus at his return.

I say in the book that the explicit hope to which we look is inexpressible, glorious joy in our face-to-face communion with Jesus at his return. The Holy Spirit is the means by which we obtain tastes of that joy now.

One section of the book explores some ways we can cultivate hope for Christs return, as a church, through various rhythms and practices. These include gathering, fasting, and resting. Which of these do you think evangelicals, especially, need to recover today?

My guess is that, among these, the practices evangelicals do the least are fasting and Sabbath rest. For me, personally, when I practice Sabbath rest, I have to remind myself that I am resting to anticipate, at Jesus return, the redemption of work, the consummation of Gods rule, and our eternal delight in his presence.

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At the same time, the New Testament is explicit in teaching that our rhythms of gathering are meant to have an eschatological flavor. In Hebrews 10:25, the church is described as not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Daythats a capital D, for the Day of the Lorddrawing near (ESV). Just as we likely neglect fasting and Sabbath rest, we also neglect the aspect of gathering weekly on Sundays that includes pointing one another to our hope in Jesus return.

So, my desire would be that we recover disciplines that we have left by the wayside. Moreover, I want us to recover the intent of our gathering together, which is in part to remind one another, like Caleb, that if the Lord delights in us, he will deliver us (Num. 14:8).
In my senior year of college, I studied ecology in Costa Rica and Ecuador. For two weeks, I lived with other students on a small boat in the Galapagos Islands. On one of our excursions, the captain told us there were whales in the area, and I went up to the deck just in time to see a humpback swimming straight at the side of our boat.

At what seemed to be the very last second, the whale turned on its side and looked up at me. Staring into the eye of that whale was one of the most wondrous moments of my life. In that moment, I experienced awe and joy. I was deeply curious about the whale and felt compelled to actto learn, to change, and even to protect.

That encounter lasted only a minute, if that, but it had a profound effect on me. In the years since then, Ive had similar experiences while camping or hiking or wandering beyond a trail. Not everyone experiences creation in this way, nor is everyone physically able to hike through natural landscapes. Still others simply dont have access.

Nevertheless, I believe everyone can pursue wonder by spending time in fictional landscapes.

On this topic, the works of C. S. Lewis have been significant to me. I remember the first time I heard Aslans song in The Magicians Nephew:

In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing.  The voice was suddenly joined by other voices;  the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars.  The Lion was pacing to and fro about that empty land and singing his new song.  And as he walked and sang the valley grew green with grass. It spread out from the Lion like a pool. It ran up the sides of the little hills like a wave. In a few minutes it was creeping up the lower slopes of the distant mountains, making that young world every moment softer.

As I read, I was transported back to beautiful landscapes I had experienced in my life. I mentally revisited places where I had experienced deep joyplaces that have left me with many more questions than answers.

Lani Shiota, a social psychologist who studies emotion, describes wonder as that moment when our minds are trying to stretch, to take in and comprehend whatever it is thats before us. Through Aslans song, Lewis invites us into this space of wonder. Were encouraged to comprehend the beauty of what we are seeing and hearing.

In the Narnia creation story, we see moles, frogs, elephants, and even a lamppost emerge. As we contemplate the cacophony of these beginnings, something stirs in us. Lewis writes:

The Lion was singing still. But now the song had once more changed. It was more like what we should call a tune, but it was also far wilder. It made you want to run and jump and climb. It made you want to shout.

If we understand wonder as virtue, as suggested by Hope College professor Steven Bouma-Prediger, we exhibit the virtue when we have the cultivated capability to stand in grateful amazement at what God has made and is remaking. I believe this gratitude for the wonder and beauty of nature should lead us to act through stewardship of creation.

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In his essay Wonder and the Critical Encounter, philosopher H. Martyn Evans agrees that awe should move us to action. He suggests that wonder is a transfiguring encounter that results in an altered, compellingly intensified attention to something that we immediately acknowledge as somehow important.

Can a readers experience of fictional landscapes shape her interaction with actual landscapes? I believe so. I am moved to action when I hear Aslans song. When I am in Narnia, I respond to Aslans request to be: Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake, he says. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.

Awe is the first step to developing the virtue of ecological wonder, which enables our response to the call to be stewards of creation.

Experiencing wonder has important theological implications as well. If we believe, as Paul writes in Romans, that Gods invisible qualitieshis eternal power and divine naturehave been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse (1:20), then spending time in creation helps us understand more about our Creator and develops in us the virtues of wonder and gratitude.

These virtues require that we look very closely at the world around us. I often refer to the practice of deliberate attention to nature as reading landscapes, and in many of my courses I try to help my students develop this discipline. I typically ask them to spend time observing the details of a place through what they see, hear, smell, and feel.

In practicing this discipline, I want them to learn that when we slow our lives and take time to engage in a close reading of creation, were then able to turn our focus and wonder toward the Creator. In this way, exercising deep attention to nature is similar to interpreting religious texts because it facilitates a relationship between us and God, the Author and Creator.

Awe begins this transformative work. As we pay close attention to nature, were more likely to notice the amazing aspects of Gods creation. And as we develop the virtue of ecological wonder, we begin to practice the divine call to stewardship.

This essay was adapted from The Wonders of Creationby Kristen Page. Copyright (c) 2022 by The Marion E. Wade Center. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press.
In todays episode Heather shares part three of our Who Is My Neighbor? pod-class series. She is joined by QuaWanna Bannarbie and Bethany Rivera Molinar, two of the gifted contributors to Voices of Lament: Reflections on Brokenness and Hope in a World Longing for Justice, a new book inspired by Psalm 37. In their candid conversation with Heather, QuaWanna and Bethany invite us to lean into the spiritual practice of lament and reflect on its power for both personal and social transformation.

If you missed it, please go back and listen to last weeks episode with author Karen Gonzalez on Seeing Our Immigrant Neighbor.

This week Heather also chats with our favorite social media expert, Brady Shearer, as he shares his thoughts on how to use good storytelling to stop the scroll.

Guest Bios

QuaWanna Bannarbie and Bethany Rivera Molinar are two of 29 Christian women of color whose writing forms Voices of Lament: Reflections on Brokenness and Hope in a World Longing for Justice. Edited by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson and inspired by Psalm 37, with its outpouring of emotion about the human experience as an inspired starting place, these 29 women, representing an inclusive, intergenerational sisterhood of clergy, poets, entrepreneurs, creatives and more, make public their private stories. In so doing, they both model and offer a way to hold the tension of injustice and heartache with hope and love.

Host Bio

Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of eight books, including Ill See You Tomorrow and Its Not Your Turn. Reach out to Heather on Twitter @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday.

Viral Jesus is a production of Christianity Today

Host and creator: Heather Thompson Day

Executive Producer: Ed Gilbreath

Producer: Loren Joseph

Associate Producer: Azurae Phelps

Mix Engineer: Alex Carter

Director of CT Podcasts: Mike Cosper
Update (April 21): Conservative primates gathered in Kigali today withdrew their recognition of Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as the first among equals.

The chair of St Augustine is now empty, as far as leaders representing an estimated 85 percent of the Anglican Communion are concerned.

The primates gathered at the fourth Gafcon conference stated:

We have no confidence that the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the other Instruments of Communion led by him (the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Primates Meetings) are able to provide a godly way forward that will be acceptable to those who are committed to the truthfulness, clarity, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture. The Instruments of Communion have failed to maintain true communion based on the Word of God and shared faith in Christ Successive Archbishops of Canterbury have failed to guard the faith by inviting bishops to Lambeth who have embraced or promoted practices contrary to Scripture. This failure of church discipline has been compounded by the current Archbishop of Canterbury who has himself welcomed the provision of liturgical resources to bless these practices contrary to Scripture. This renders his leadership role in the Anglican Communion entirely indefensible.

Their Kigali Commitment calls for repentance by progressives within the Anglican Communion. Despite 25 years of persistent warnings by most Anglican Primates, repeated departures from the authority of Gods Word have torn the fabric of the Communion, stated the primates. These warnings were blatantly and deliberately disregarded and now without repentance this tear cannot be mended.

Gafcon will provide support for evangelicals in and out of the Church of England.

In view of the current crisis, we reiterate our support for those who are unable to remain in the Church of England because of the failure of its leadership. We rejoice in the growth of the ANiE [Anglican Network in Europe] and other Gafcon-aligned networks, stated the primates. We also continue to stand with and pray for those faithful Anglicans who remain within the Church of England. We support their efforts to uphold biblical orthodoxy and to resist breaches of [Lambeth 1998] Resolution I.10.

The primates echoed the provisions of the 1998 resolution, noting that LGBT people should be treated with dignity.

We affirm that every person is loved by God and we are determined to love as God loves. As Resolution I.10 affirms, we oppose the vilification or demeaning of any person including those who do not follow Gods ways, since all human beings are created in Gods image, stated the primates. We are thankful to God for all those who seek to live a life of faithfulness to Gods Word in the face of all forms of sexual temptation.

The statement endorses the continued existence of two conservative movements in Anglicanism, but recognises a need to have a single conservative point of identityin essence, a reordered communion.

The leadership of both groups affirmed and celebrated their complementary roles in the Anglican Communion, stated the primates. The goal is that orthodox Anglicans worldwide will have a clear identity, a global spiritual home of which they can be proud, and a strong leadership structure that gives them stability and direction as Global Anglicans.

We therefore commit to pray that God will guide this process of resetting, and that Gafcon and GSFA will keep in step with the Spirit.

Editors note: Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterburys London seat, issued the following response:

We note that the GAFCON IV communique makes many of the same points that have previously been made about the structures of the Anglican Communion. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has previously said, those structures are always able to change with the times  and have done so in the past. The Archbishop said at the recent Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Ghana (ACC-18) that no changes to the formal structures of the Anglican Communion can be made unless they are agreed upon by the Instruments of Communion. At the ACC-18 meeting  which was attended by Primates, bishops, clergy, and laity from 39 of the 42 Anglican provinces  there was widespread support for working together patiently and constructively to review the Instruments of Communion, so that our differences and disagreements can be held together in unity and fellowship. Archbishop Justin Welby has welcomed this decision  just as he also welcomed last years decision by the Church of Englands General Synod to give the Anglican Communion a greater voice on the body that nominates future Archbishops of Canterbury. The Archbishop continues to be in regular contact with his fellow Primates and looks forward to discussing this and many other matters with them over the coming period. Meanwhile the Archbishop continues to pray especially for Anglicans who face poverty, conflict, famine, discrimination, and persecution around the world, and Anglican churches who live and minister in these contexts. Continuing to walk together as Anglicans is not just the best way to share Christs love with a world in great need: it is also how the world will know that Jesus Christ is sent from the Father who calls us to love one another, even as we disagree.

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Initial report (April 19), entitled To Whom Shall We Go: Conservative Anglicans Discuss Divorce from Church of England:

A revived, renewed, and reordered Anglican Communion will be the core message delivered tomorrow to 1,300 conservative Anglicans from 53 countries meeting this week in Kigali, Rwanda to discuss to whom shall we go?

The final statement of the fourth Global Anglican Futures Conference (Gafcon) will outline an extremely critical response by the conservative majority of the Anglican Communion to the recent moves by Church of England bishops to adopt prayers to bless same-sex marriages.

Gafcon is the network that welcomed the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) into the Anglican family, if not the official Anglican Communion, in 2008.

We owe our existence to Gafcon, said ACNA archbishop Foley Beach. The first Gafcon called for the formation of a new province in North America.

Chair of the Gafcon primates council, Beach called for the liberal provinces of the Anglican Communion to repent. He added, Unless the Archbishop of Canterbury repents, we cannot regard him as the first among equals.

Then pointing out that sexual sins are not the only sins in the Bible, Beach called for Gafcon churches to be repenting churches also.

Archbishop Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, leader of the eight-million-strong Church of Uganda, also called archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to repent.

I am disappointed because, in Uganda, the message of the gospel came from the Church of England in 1877, he toldThe Pastors Heart, a livestream podcast produced by Sydney Anglicans. The first missions came, and we had polygamy as a normal way of marriage, and every man had three, four, five women. And they ceased having [that number of] wives because of the gospel. And now, we hear a message that a man can have another mans wife or same-sex marriage is also marriage.

We get disappointed that those who brought the gospel to us are turning away from what they brought to us, said Kaziimba. So we call upon Archbishop Justin to repent, and they should reverse their decision, which is destroying the Anglican Communion.

Bishop Keith Sinclair from England finished his morning plenary speech in tears. He detailed the Church of Englands habit of making contradictory statements.

Rather than face this fundamental disagreement and the implications for fellowship, mission, discipline, and so on, he said, the differences are simply described as if both are possible in some hope that we can keep together in an institution that has got some shared history but no common mind.

This was a speech from a man holding on to the hope that evangelicals could maintain a place in the Church of England. Nevertheless, Sinclair expressed sadness that the church which God used to bring the gospel to so many parts of the world because of her faith in that scriptural revelation now seems to have succumbed to the very cultural captivity it appealed to so many to renounce.

He did express the caveat that the official process in England is still ongoing. Formally it remains to be seen how the [English] bishops will respond to what has been said globally and in England.

In 2000, as the American evangelical breakaway from The Episcopal Church (TEC) began, archbishops from the national churches of Rwanda and Southeast Asia sprang into action, offering to be temporary bishops for American and Canadian dissidents. Today, the provinces feature in the two major wings of the conservative movement in the Anglican Communion.

Rwanda is hosting this weeks Gafcon. Many Gafcon members have a history of boycotting Anglican Communion meetings in Kigali, and the group has taken a militant stance against the liberal movement in the communion.

Attending the Gafcon gathering is retired Singapore bishop Rennis Ponniah, general secretary of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA). Until now, the GSFA has maintained relationships with liberal provinces such as the US and Canada, serving alongside them on communion bodies.

But in Kigali, there are signals this will change. Some insiders say the GSFA, rocked by the Church of Englands shifting stance, is now much less inclined to walk alongside the liberal provinces.

There is already significant overlap between the two groups.

The Bible stands at the heart of the faith that all Anglican Churches have inherited from the Church of England, said Benjamin Kwashi, general secretary of Gafcon. That the Church of England has now decided to depart from the Bibles teaching is troubling for many Anglicans.

Some have accused Gafcon of creating division in the Anglican Church, but I must disagree. There have been deep disagreements over the authority of the Bible among members of the Anglican Communion for quite some time, said Kwashi, a Church of Nigeria archbishop based in Jos. We do not seek division, but rather we want to move with the mission of God in the world. The gospel of our Lord Jesus calls us to guard the unchanging, transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ and to proclaim Him to the world.

The newest breakaway movement in the Gafcon movement, Australias Diocese of the Southern Cross, received a new congregation as delegates traveled to Kigali.

Faith Church on the Sunshine Coast is pastored by Hedley Fihaki, who led the Assembly of Confessing Congregations, an evangelical movement in the Uniting Church in Australia that will cease operations this weekend. His is only the first exUniting Church congregation expected to become Anglican.

It was eight months ago that we decided we could no longer follow the archbishop and the decisions of the Diocese [of Southern Queensland] for the blessing of same-sex marriage, said Peter Palmer, the first minister to join the self-described Anglican lifeboat. Even as he founded the first church of the new diocese, he hoped his would be the only onein other words, that his diocese would repent and he could rejoin it. However, his region now has four Southern Cross churches.

The delegates from the UK are the most diverse, ranging from church planters who have left the Church of England to those who believe that its process has only just begun and that strong resistance could make a space for evangelicals to remain. In many ways, the process that occurred in the US is being repeated in the UK.

Gafcon has provided the beginnings of an Anglican lifeboat in the fledgling Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE), led by Andy Lines, a missionary bishop to Europe from ACNA. Also in attendance at Gafcon is the new bishop of Ebbsfleet, Rob Munro, a flying bishop in the Church of England serving complementarian churches. They have differing opinions about the strength of the pushback against the British bishops proposed prayers for same-sex blessings.

But the message of the Kigali gathering will be to say even louder than before that the Church of England is not at the center of the Anglican Communion.

A second central theme of the conference is the desire for the two conservative movements to merge or walk more closely together. In a dramatic moment during a session seeking input into the eventual conference statement, a delegate from Uganda suggested that Gafcon and GSFA should speak one language.

The room, full of clergy and lay delegates, erupted in loud applause and cheers.

After a break, a suggested summary list was on the big screens around the Kigali Conference Center. But, unfortunately, the Gafcon-GSFA issue was not on it.

But then the chair, Tasmanias Bishop Richard Condie, assured delegates that he would undertake the message to the primates and ensure it would be heard.

In effect, there are parallel meetings in the mix at Kigali. There are public gatherings of Bible study, worship, and drafting a conference statement, and a myriad of smaller ones. This includes GSFA and Gafcon primates meeting together.

As most of you know, some ofactually most ofthe Global South primates are also Gafcon primates, but we did have a meeting with the leaders of both groups, Beach told a press conference. So well be gathering together later this week. And well just see where that goes.

Due to the Church of England developments, the GSFA and Gafcon have drawn together in tone. The GSFA has concentrated on building up the ecclesial links between provinces as a remnant within the Anglican Communion, while Gafcon has been more inclined to boycott communion structures and seek to replace them. The distance between these approaches has shrunk as GSFA wishes to distance itself more decisively from liberal provinces like TEC, Canada, and now the Church of England.

To elect a single leader for the combined conservative forces in the Anglican communionone possible movemeans ironing out differences, such as the chair of GSFA rotating annually and Gafcon selecting a chair for a five-year term. Having a new first among equals would mean the Archbishop of Canterbury would have a rival. And the expected strong language in the final conference statement would mean that one of these leaders will be respected and the other will be ignored in the wider Anglican world.

A unique feature of both movements is the unity between majority world evangelicals and the Anglosphere. Confessing movements in denominations that have seen progressive-conservative splits could learn from the Anglican example. For example, unlike the United Methodists, it is clear that African and Asian churches are leaders in the conservative movement. And unlike the Presbyterians, the majority world is in the majority.

Gafcon and Global South are two institutions that overlap in what they do, GSFA chair Justin Badi Arama, archbishop of South Sudan, toldThe Pastors Heart. In the future, it is my hope and prayer that the two might become one.
Loudoun County denies cutting special ed funding for $11M trans-inclusive bathroom plan

A Virginia school district has refuted assertions that it cut special education funding while planning to spend nearly $11 million to overhaul the bathroom design at two high schools in the district to accommodate trans-identifying students.

Loudoun County Public Schools is looking to have floor-to-ceiling bathroom stalls with a shared sink area for all school bathrooms. These newly designed all-gender bathrooms are intended to increase the amount of privacy between students of the opposite sex who are sharing a bathroom.

The school plans to pilot this bathroom option at Loudoun Valley High School and Broad Run High School, according to documents from the school's March 14 meeting.

The school district plans to spend $11 million for the pilot bathrooms, according to WJLA. LCPS is also considering building private bathrooms in school and keeping gender-separated bathrooms.

The plan comes as educators claim that they have repeatedly asked the Loudoun County School Board to hire additional special education staff. Educators claimed during a board meeting that students' language needs are increasing, and the special education program needs more speech pathologists, teachers and teaching assistants.

A spokesperson for LCPS told The Christian Post Tuesday that it's untrue that the school cut funding for the special education program and claimed that the renovation is an effort to abide by the Virginia Department of Education's model policies.

The revamped policies, introduced by Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration, require students to use bathrooms that correspond with their biological sex "except to the extent that federal law otherwise requires."

The model policies also state that single-user bathrooms and facilities should be made available with appropriate signage that indicates it's accessible to all students.

According to the LCPS spokesperson, the money for the bathroom renovation is coming from Capital Improvement Plan funds. In addition, he stated that the improvements to the restroom are intended to improve student and staff safety in a manner that respects people's privacy and abides by state code requirements.

"LCPS has not 'cut' special ed or speech pathology positions. Certain positions are going unfunded in the next fiscal year because the COVID money originally used to hire those positions is no longer available," the spokesperson wrote.

"Furthermore, the positions not being funded are currently vacant, meaning no one is in them and no one is losing their job," he continued.

"Staff salary comes from the General Operating Fund, and moneys between the CIP and the General Operating Fund cannot be intermingled. Therefore, even if LCPS wanted to, money from the CIP could not be transferred to the general operating fund for use for teacher salary."

The spokesperson added that LCPS is "above staffing standards" in many areas, including speech pathologists.

In a Saturday statement to WJLA, an LCPS spokesperson confirmed that the board is cutting back on the number of speech pathologists, supervisors, occupational therapists and special education teachers. The school district is adding 13 teaching assistants, a net decrease of eight positions, according to the report.

Loudoun County School Board member Tiffany Polifko, who works in the special education field, told the outlet that she has heard that the district is using special education grant funding to fund administrative positions instead of hiring more staff that can work directly with children.

The board member also noted that the $11 million renovations for new bathroom stalls come at a time when there have been calls to improve special education resources.

"I simply cannot understand why we would justify funds to allow boys and girls to co-mingle in the bathroom and not consider the unintended consequences there while also turning our cheek and looking the other way," Polifko said.

As CP reported in December, a special grand jury indicted former LCPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler and the school system's public information officer Wayde Byard following an investigation that found the district lied to parents about sexual assaults as the school considered enacting a transgender restroom policy.

The district fired Ziegler that same month after a grand jury released a report concluding that district leaders were "looking out for their own best interests" in their responses to sexual assaults.

Broad Run High School, one of the locations where the district plans to implement the new bathroom design, is where a male student sexually assaulted a female classmate on Oct. 6, 2021, after placing her into a chokehold until she couldn't breathe.

The male student had been transferred to the high school after he assaulted another female classmate at Stone Bridge High School in the girls' restroom a few months prior. The assailant, who reportedly wore a skirt, pinned the girl to the floor and assaulted her inside a women's restroom stall.

During a June 2021 school board meeting, parents objected to Policy 8040, allowing students to use bathrooms that correspond with their preferred gender identity. When asked during the meeting, Ziegler informed parents that "we don't have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms."

The school board approved Policy 8040 in August 2021, months before the second sexual assault incident.

The grand jury noted that Ziegler's statement during the June school board meeting had been a "lie," with an email showing that a chief operating officer had discussed with the former superintendent the incident and how it related to Policy 8040.

Ziegler is facing "one count of misdemeanor false publication," "one count of misdemeanor prohibited conduct" and "one count of misdemeanor penalizing an employee for a court appearance." Byard was indicted on one count of felony perjury.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs law bolstering religious freedom protections in Arkansas

Arkansas' Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' signing of a bill protecting religious organizations' religious beliefs and identity from discriminatory actions has generated dueling reactions from religious freedom and LGBT advocacy groups.

Sanders signed House Bill 1615, also known as the Conscience Protection Act, into law last Wednesday, banning the state government from taking "any discriminatory action against a religious organization on the basis of the religious identity or status of the religious organization."

This includes action taken in opposition to religious organizations that maintain "policies and procedures in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief, or the religious organization engaging in religious conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or the Arkansas Constitution."

The Republican-controlled Arkansas House of Representatives approved the measure in a 78-17 vote, while it passed the Republican-controlled Arkansas Senate by a 28-4 vote. The Senate vote fell along party lines, with one House Republican joining House Democrats in opposing the bill.

An example of "discriminatory action[s]" provided in the bill are those that "alter in any way the tax treatment of, or cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be assessed against, or deny, delay, revoke, or otherwise make unavailable an exemption from taxation of any person" or religious organization on the basis of their beliefs.

Additionally, the law orders the state government to "consider any person for a contract, grant, or agreement that would otherwise be considered for a contract, grant, or agreement but for a determination against the person wholly or partially on the basis that the person maintains policies and procedures, or acts in accordance with, a sincerely held religious belief."

The law requires the state to establish a "compelling government interest" if it takes action that has the effect of discriminating against an organization or person because of their religious beliefs.

The legislation also allows those who feel the state government has discriminated against them because of their religious beliefs to seek remedies in court. However, those seeking to take action against the state government for purported acts of religious discrimination only have a two-year window in which they can do so.

The nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which has won several religious freedom cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, praised the new law.

"The Conscience Protection Act strengthens Arkansans' religious freedom rights by bolstering existing protections in the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act and ensuring the government will not discriminate against religious individuals and organizations," said ADF Legal Counsel Greg Chafuen in a statement Tuesday.

"The law doesn't determine who will win every disagreement, but it does ensure that all Arkansans  regardless of their religious creed or political power  receive a fair hearing if a government action forces them to violate their religious beliefs."

As an example of the adverse treatment faced by religious organizations in the absence of legislation like the Conscience Protection Act, ADF cited the situation at the center of the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer. In that case, the state of Missouri denied a church day care a partial reimbursement grant for rubberized playground surface material available to other preschools simply because a church runs the preschool.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the church in determining that "the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution, and cannot stand."

Chafuen commended the Arkansas General Assembly and Gov. Sanders for "ensuring that freedom of religion is protected for all Arkansans."

The LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign issued a statement claiming that the measure is one of "two bad bills" before Sanders, warning that it "allows religious beliefs to be used as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people."

In Arkansas, two bad bills are still with Gov. Sanders for signature or veto.



HB1468 prevents school staff from addressing trans students by the correct name and pronouns.



HB1615 allows religious beliefs to be used as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.  Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) April 18, 2023

The implementation of House Bill 1615 comes less than a year after Arkansas voters narrowly rejected Issue 3, a ballot measure that would have created the "Arkansas Religious Freedom Amendment." During the 2022 general election, 50.4% of Arkansas voters rejected the ballot measure, while 49.6% supported it.

If passed, the Arkansas Religious Freedom Amendment would have mandated that the "government shall not burden a person's freedom of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability." Like the Conscience Protection Act, Issue 3 would have enabled those who felt their religious beliefs were burdened by the government to take legal action.
Senate Republicans' push to block abortions at VA hospitals fails

American taxpayers will continue to find themselves funding unlimited abortion, a pro-life group has warned after the United States Senate rejected a motion that would have nullified a Biden administration policy enabling the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to perform abortions in states where it's banned.

On Wednesday, the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected a motion that would have expressed disapproval of a rule submitted to the Federal Register by the VA that allows taxpayer money to be used by the department to pay for abortions for veterans and service members in some cases. If passed, the motion would have declared that the rule, submitted to the Federal Register in September, shall have no force or effect.

The 48-51 vote to reject the motion fell largely along party lines, with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joining Democrats in opposing the resolution and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joining Republicans in supporting it.

Carol Tobias, president of the pro-life group National Right to Life, condemned the vote, lamenting in a statement shared with The Christian Post that The Biden administration once again pushes unlimited abortion with federal tax dollars. The day after Americans finalized and filed their taxes, with some paying a tax bill with hard-earned funds, Democrats voted to continue to send those monies to support unlimited abortion at the VA.

The rule in question, submitted to the Federal Register in September, will allow hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs to perform abortions in cases of rape, incest and when the mothers life is at risk. The rule applies in all 50 states, including those where abortion has become illegal following the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.

Critics of the rule contend that it violates federal law. Specifically, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough informing him that Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 authorizes the agency to provide general reproductive healthcare, including the management of menopause, but not including under this section infertility services, abortions, or pregnancy care.

For its part, the VA disagrees with Lankfords analysis. The text of the rule states that When that law was enacted in 1992, prior to the 1996 enactment of the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act, VA health care was subject to a patchwork of eligibility criteria, and care was largely linked only to service-connected conditions.

Section 106 did not limit VAs authority to provide care under any other provision of law, the rule added. The but not including language in Section 106 of the VHCA limited only the services provided under this section, meaning that while section 106 barred the provision of any abortion or infertility service under section 106 of the VHCA, it did not limit VAs authority to provide such services under any other statutory provision.

The Biden administrations rule allowing abortions to take place at VA hospitals is part of the administrations efforts to ensure access to abortion, as several states have banned the procedure following the Dobbs decision. According to data compiled by the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 14 states have total or near-total bans on abortion: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Additionally, Iowa will soon have a six-week abortion ban in effect, while Arizona, Indiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah and Wyoming have total or near-total bans on abortion tied up in court. A 15-week abortion ban remains in effect in Florida as the remainder of the states have what the pro-life advocacy group characterizes as few or no limits on abortion.
What does Christianity have to do with leaked Pentagon classified documents?

Earlier this month, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman named Jack Teixeira was arrested for leaking classified documents to an online chat group. The documents contained a wide range of sensitive information, including details about U.S. intelligence operations in Ukraine. Interestingly, this is not the first time that an air guardsman has leaked classified material.

In 2010, a 20-year-old Air Guardsman named Bradley Manning released hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst for the US Army in Iraq, accessed millions of classified documents relating to the war, including videos of US airstrikes that killed civilians. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013, but while in custody, the US military funded his hormone treatment for gender transition to a female. Despite the severity of his offense and the scope of his betrayal, Obama commuted Chelsea Mannings sentence and released him in 2017. Is the implication that Chelsea is no longer a threat to society because gender reassignment healed his criminal intent or was his debt to society paid through his personal anguish?

After the massive data dumps by Chelsea Manning and the other leaker, Edward Snowden, new systems were implemented to prevent, or at least rapidly track, such unauthorized access to top secret files. The revolutionizing technology uses sophisticated artificial intelligence that develops prediction tools to detect insider threats. Obviously, those multi-million-dollar systems did not work so well in the Teixeira case. It took the government months to realize Teixeira was sharing classified records with his buddies on Discord.

For those of us who have held a TS/SCI clearance, the fact that Teixeira had access to certain internal intelligence products seems nearly impossible. Though he held a TS/SCI clearance, a low-level guardsman in the IT department would not have access to CIA operation center documents, FISA evidence under seal with the court, or briefing slides of the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. These are not products that anyone with a clearance could obtain just by accessing a secure computer. Some former intelligence officers suggest he may have been provided this information to create a controlled leak of the damaging realities in the Ukraine war and the escalating tensions with China. We may never know for sure how this all went down, but the circumstances are definitely strange.

Nonetheless, the public now knows there is a US military presence in Ukraine, despite no formal declaration of war from Congress. We also learned that China is spying on the US to a far greater extent than a couple of balloons this year. Despite these alarming new facts, the media is not questioning the relevant US officials about the truth of these claims. Instead, they are clamoring for greater control over disseminating classified material. The Biden Administration suggests expanding how to monitor social media sites and regulate speech.

No one is asking whether the US is backing Ukraine in a losing battle, paid for by the American people. The entire discussion revolves around ways to further erode what remains of our privacy, regardless of whether it undermines our democracy.

The other focus of the mainstream media is on Teixeiras faith. The Washington Post conducted a video interview with a 17-year-old friend who also was a member of the chat group. He spoke like he was reading off a script. There were no pauses in his speech, no like or umm as kids often do, and he described Teixeira as charismatic. He called him patriotic, a devout Catholic, and a libertarian with an interest in guns and doubts about Americas future. How many teenagers would describe their online gamer friends that way? Dozens of news outlets repeated this characterization of Teixeira, highlighting his faith and his love for guns.

If you recall the hundreds of cases of Islamic terrorism that have been reported since 9/11, the media never described those individuals as devout Muslims who like bombs. Those of us who worked in counterterrorism for the government were not permitted to associate Islam with an increased risk of violence. In the case of Manning or the recent mass shooters who suffer from gender dysphoria, the media refuses to associate their crimes with mental disorders. Could you imagine if there was a major shooting and the reporter said, Three people were killed and the suspect is Hindu. There would be a public outcry about how inappropriate and stigmatizing that is. Yet, in the present case, Teixeira is painted as a right winger, a Christian who is anti-establishment. The mainstream media does not hesitate to draw his faith into the discussion, implying that it is somehow relevant to the crime. The implication is not only baseless but also inflammatory.

Unfortunately, this vilification of Christians represents a very alarming trend. Recently we learned of an internal FBI memo authorizing spying on Catholics, claiming they pose a threat of increased violent extremism. Parents and lawmakers fighting against over-sexualization in schools are labeled religious zealots and bigots.

The Lord warned us of these days.

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you ... If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also ... They will treat you this way because of my name (John 15:18-21).

Unfortunately, we see the hatred and persecution increasing as the forces of evil grow stronger.
God has been so gracious: Albert Mohler released from hospital, recovering at home

Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of The Briefing podcast, has been released from the hospital after suffering blood clots in both lungs.

In a statement posted on his social media pages Wednesday, Mohler said he had been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.

I have made limited appearances to our Board of Trustees meeting and the scheduled faculty meeting necessary for Mays commencement ceremonies, he explained. I will do my best to work back to my regular schedule, while following medical advice.

Mohler said the hospitalization was deeply humbling and results in profound gratitude, noting that God has been so gracious to me in preserving me and giving strength.

I want to acknowledge the excellent medical and support staff personnel of Baptist Health Louisville. Their professionalism and devotion were clear and their medical expertise was comforting and demonstrable, Mohler said.

Mohler also expressed gratitude for the work of Southern Seminary and Boyce College leadership for the work they did while he was being treated, and also expressed thanks to his wife, Mary, for her love and devotion, which he labeled legendary.

Last weekend, SBTS released a statement announcing that Mohler had been hospitalized with a diagnosis of bilateral pulmonary emboli, which involved blood blots in both of his lungs. The seminary also noted that Mohler was responding well to treatment.

Mohler has served as the ninth president of SBTS since 1993, when he was elected to the position by the trustees when he was 33 years old. He has garnered much attention for his outspoken views on politics, the sexual revolution, theology and other hot-button issues.

Mohler previously suffered from blood clots in his lungs back in January 2007 when he was 47 years old, being admitted to the intensive care unit, but recovered well after the diagnosis.
Elon Musk says Google co-founder wanted to build AI 'digital god'

Will the net result of artificial intelligence be the creation of a digital deity?

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk revealed in an interview with Tucker Carlson that Google co-founder Larry Page once told him he hoped to build an AI super-intelligence that Musk described as a digital god.

According to the 51-year-old Musk, the exchange occurred when he stayed at Pages home in Palo Alto, California, when the two were close friends.

I would talk to him late into the night about AI safety, and at least my perception was that Larry was not taking AI safety seriously enough, Musk said, adding that Page wanted a digital super-intelligence, basically a digital god, if you will, as soon as possible.

Musk pointed to a number of public statements made by Page over the years showing that the whole goal of Google is what's called AGI, artificial general intelligence or artificial super-intelligence.

Page, who, along with co-founder Sergey Brin, stepped down from the search giant in 2017, once told a London tech conference audience back in 2006 that his grand vision for search begins and ends with AI.

"The ultimate search engine would understand everything in the world. It would understand everything that you asked it, and give you back the exact right thing instantly," Page said at the Zeitgeist '06 event in London.

Since then, Google has accelerated its efforts to incorporate AI, starting with its $500 million acquisition of DeepMind, a London-based AI research lab, in 2014.

Following the success of ChatGPT, Google is set to debut a version of its search engine with a chatbot sometime this year, according to The New York Times.

Musk said at the time of his conversation with Page, Google had already made the DeepMind acquisition and had about three-quarters of all the AI talent in the world.

He also recalled Pages reaction when he warned him about the potential dangers of AI super-intelligence.

I agree with him that there's great potential for good, but there's also potential for bad, Musk told Carlson. And so, if you've got some radical new technology, you wanna try to take a set of actions that maximize the probability that it will do good and minimize the probability that it will do bad things.

But when Musk reminded Page about the responsibility to make sure that humanity is OK, Musk said Page called him a speciesist.

Did he use that term? Carlson asked.

Yes. And there were witnesses, I wasn't the only one there when he called me a speciesist, Musk replied. And so, I was like, OK that's it, yes, I'm a speciesist, OK? You got me.

The remark reportedly came during an argument between the two moguls at a party in Napa Valley in 2015, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Max Tegmark, who recalled the conversation in his book, Life 3.0: Being Human In The Age of Artificial Intelligence.

According to the book, Page warned that AI paranoia would delay the digital utopia and/or cause a military takeover of AI that would fall foul of Googles dont be evil slogan.

Tegmark wrote: At times, Larry accused Elon of being speciesist: treating certain life forms as inferior just because they were silicon-based rather than carbon-based.

Speciesism is defined by PETA and other animal ethics groups as a supremacist view that humans are superior to animals and all other species.

Earlier this year, Musk announced he was putting together a research team to combat what he has termed the deadly threat of woke AI.

Musk reached out to a select group of artificial intelligence researchers in recent weeks about forming a new research lab to develop an alternative to ChatGPT, according to The Information.

In December, the founder of PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX and other ventures warned about the potential risks in the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, which Musk tweeted as one example of training AI to be woke.
Andy Stanley reflects on restoring 'broken' relationship with father Charles Stanley

Pastor Andy Stanley of Atlanta's North Point Community Church reflected on his past struggles with a broken relationship with his father, famed evangelist Charles Stanley, and offered biblical advice for restoring fractured relationships.

In an Oct. 24 sermon series titled Reassembly Required; A Beginners Guide to Repairing Broken Relationships, Stanley revealed that nearly three decades ago, he felt angry and hurt every week, sitting with his father in an office at church receiving counseling sessions.

At that time, Stanley said he found it strange that he and his father were feeling stuck, trying to fix difficulties in their relationship. Both men, he said, had spent their entire careers as experts telling other people how to fix broken and damaged relationships.

[My father] saw things his way  I could not understand for the life of me why we werent making any progress, Stanley said. The odd thing about this is, it doesnt seem like it would be that difficult to fix a relationship. It just seems like we should be able to do this, but it is difficult and thats why I decided we really do need to talk about it.

Stanley identified how to handle fractured or distant relationships between friends, siblings, family, relatives, coworkers, spouses, parents with children and any other relationships.

There are four components that people tend to revert to in situations when arguments arise in broken relationships, according to Stanely. These are, convince, convict, coerce and control.

These components, he said, are not effective solutions to solving relationship issues.

The strange thing is, you look at [these four components] and you say yeah, thats not the way forward,' but, in spite of all that, these are the things we almost always reach for first either intentionally or even unintentionally, Stanley said.

Then, you tell yourself, theres nothing I can do about it. I tried. And besides that, I just dont even care. Or, we just keep pressing and pressing, trying to fix the relationship the wrong way, which means things continue to go wrong and we end up pushing people even further [away], he explained.

Oftentimes, he said, people arent even aware that they are using the four components on others.

For example, Stanley said that people often say, Im sorry if I offended you." But, that is often translated to mean, Youre too easily offended. What I said wouldnt have offended most people," he contended.

You just offended them without even meaning to, because fixing and repairing or reassembling a relationship  whether its been broken long term or short term or a minor infraction  is not intuitive, and we just intuitively reach for all the wrong tools and we say all the wrong things, he said.

We are better at starting our cars than repairing our cars. You can start it, you can drive it, but when something goes wrong you really dont know what to do. The same thing is true when it comes to relationships. Starting a relationship is somewhat intuitive, managing or navigating a relationship, but fixing a relationship isnt only not intuitive, it is the opposite of intuitive, Stanley continued.

In his career as a pastor, Stanley said he has heard about many occasions when people in various forms of relationships let distance, brokenness or problems go unresolved.

In some of these cases, he said, the issues tend to fester for many years, and then occasionally somebody becomes injured, or theres an accident or somebody dies. At the funeral, people suddenly find themselves in a very emotional environment, Stanley recounted.

And that [unresolved issue] that was so big, so consequential, that mountain will never get over  that offense that Ill never be able to fully forgive, suddenly in the midst of tragedy, it gets smaller and smaller, Stanley explained.

And in those situations, people do and say what they shouldve said a long time ago. And because they didnt do what they shouldve done or say what they shouldve said a long time ago, in some cases, they missed out on years of relationship.

When people reconcile, the pastor said they often wonder why it took very long for their relationship to be repaired and reassembled. People spend many months and even years, he said, waiting, rehearsing and avoiding.

Reassembling a broken relationship is a learned skill, and many of us have never even seen it modeled well. Everything we reach for generally is initially the wrong thing, Stanley said.

Waiting for the other person ends up becoming waiting for what you should do. And the reason you should do it is that youre the better person. The better person should initiate the apology.

Stanley revealed that his relationship with his father was fractured for a long time, until one day, they were sitting at a restaurant, not speaking to one another.

It was just so awkward.  We are grown men, we are pastors, were professional Christians," he recalled.

"We couldnt have a conversation. We were both so angry and so locked down and we both knew how ridiculous it was because of how much time we spent with other people and couples with difficult family relationships. Ill never forget this moment, when finally my dad looked at me and he said, Andy, we both know what happens to fathers and sons who go through something like this. I dont want that to happen to us. And I said, Me neither.

Both of us were willing to work at it, but it was so hard, Stanley emphasized. This is such an emotional topic. For men, there are certain emotions that are so terrifying to us that we will do anything to keep them from surfacing. Because theres something in you that if it comes up, youre not sure how youre going to respond or how its going to feel.

This is why for some of you, your fathers are so shut down. Its like they are so afraid to go there, even though they dont know where there is, they're afraid. And its why we just make excuses, he said.

Though people should work and pray for reconciliation, when it comes to restoring adult relationships, the goal should not be reconciliation, shared Stanley. He said that adults shouldnt set goals for other adults because doing so is operating in a relationship based on an agenda.

Unlike a broken toy or dish or a broken iPhone screen, when you think about a broken object, you have control over all the pieces ... but, when it comes to repairing relationships with other people, we dont have access to all the pieces, Stanley said. Agendas always undermine or put a box around relationships. Agendas ensure that broken relationships stay broken.

The goal in reassembling broken relationships is having no regrets, according to Stanley, which will ultimately lead to a repaired relationship or the satisfaction that someone did everything they could possibly do to try to repair the relationship, even if it doesnt end in reconciliation.

Christians, he said, dont have a choice in the matter, because attempting to reconcile or restore a relationship is the operative noun in the Christian faith.

Its knowing that you did everything you could do; that we opened the door, that we put out the welcome mat, that we put down the drawbridge, that we put down the weapons, that we removed any unnecessary obstacles to reconnecting with that person and were going to learn how to take the pressure off to create space for them to move toward, Stanley concluded.

This means, no matter whose fault it was and no matter how much blame sits with them, versus sits with you, you and I always have a part in the process of reconciliation. As Jesus followers, this isnt optional for us."
Charles Stanley's grandson shares how his grandfather's words saved him from suicide

The grandson of Charles Stanley is reflecting on how his grandfather's words saved him from suicide and how the late pastor's lifelong faithfulness to the Gospel served as a source of solace throughout his turbulent life.

Despite growing up in a family immersed in ministry  his mother, Becky, is Charles Stanley's only daughter, while his uncle is famed Atlanta pastor Andy Stanley  Matt Brodersen hasn't exactly walked an easy path.

"A few years ago, while living in Los Angeles, I was struggling with drugs and alcohol and deep depression; I blew all of my inheritance money," the 29-year-old told The Christian Post. "I was suicidal. I called my mom, and I said, 'I'm not doing well. I've failed.' I was thinking about killing myself."

In the depths of his depression, Brodersen received a phone call from his grandfather that changed his life.

"He said, 'I don't want to talk to you very long on the phone. I just want to ask you one question: Why don't you give Jesus another try?'" he recalled. "I don't remember exactly what happened after that, but it meant the world to me. I just started crying and crying and crying after that phone call, and I decided I didn't want to die."

To millions around the world, Charles Stanley, who passed away this week at the age of 90, was an influential Evangelical pastor, broadcaster and author. A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Stanley served as the senior pastor at First Baptist Church Atlanta and founded In Touch Ministries.

But to Brodersen, Stanley was simply "Gips," his wise, God-fearing grandfather who was the same whether behind closed doors or in the pulpit.

"My grandfather was so genuine and authentic," he said. "Every conversation I had with him, every phone call, were like little snippets of his sermons, not because he was preaching at me, but because that's who he was. He was the real deal. Always meditating on God's Word, always reading his Bible, always staying up to date on current news and thinking about it in relation to the Bible."

And like the phone call from his grandfather that saved his life that fateful day, Brodersen credits the consistent wisdom Stanley spoke over his life with saving him amid turbulent times.

As a child, Brodersen said he always wanted to be a pastor like his grandfather and uncle: "I grew up as a Christian, genuinely loving Jesus. I always loved Jesus, always loved God. I went on mission trips. I loved hanging out at the church," he recalled.

With this goal in mind, he attended Southwest Bible College & Seminary in Texas in preparation for seminary  but at the same time began attending parties at Texas Christian University. Around this time, his parents got divorced.

"While I was at the seminary prep school, I would actually drive 15 minutes over to TCU, and I'd be partying and living a whole second life," he recalled. "They taught me how to party. I was drinking and smoking pot every day, all day."

It wasn't long before Brodersen dropped out of seminary prep school and began attending TCU full-time. There, his addiction spiraled out of control, and that, combined with the influence of a secular college professor who spewed hatred about Christianity, caused Brodersen to abandon his faith completely.

"There I was, my parents were getting divorced, I was doing drugs and alcohol, taking this World of Religions class where the teacher was constantly talking trash about Christianity  I gave up on my faith completely."

Brodersen said he realized just how drastic his downward spiral was when his grandfather visited him for lunch one day.

"I'll never forget this. After we hung out and he left, he told my mom, 'I noticed that Matthew wouldn't look at me,'" he said. "And that was because I had so much shame knowing that I had given up all of my faith. I had given up everything that I stood for. My grandfather came to put me back on track, and I couldn't even look at him."

"Unfortunately," he added, "that wasn't enough clarity for me to get my life back on track."

Brodersen eventually transferred to Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, where he re-dedicated his life to Christ but still could not seem to break the cycle of addiction. Still, he graduated college and traveled to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a YouTube content creator. That, too, failed  and after that pivotal phone call with his grandfather, Brodersen moved to Dallas, Texas, to restart his life.

After several moves and relapses, during which he became homeless, Brodersen finally joined Alcoholics Anonymous, a program he believes changed his life.

"It's been a rocky road," he admitted, "but I am sober today."

He's actively involved at Highland Park United Methodist Church, a church he said exudes the love of Jesus.

And throughout the ups and downs of his life, Brodersen said his grandfather continued to show him the unconditional love of Jesus.

"Whenever I was down in the dumps, my grandpa would call me," he shared. "My mom would usually tell him, 'Matthew's not doing so well. Can you please give him a phone call?' And my grandpa would call me, and he'd give me words of encouragement and pray for me over the phone. And then he would keep calling me constantly to check in on me. That really meant a lot to me. That kept me alive."

The last time Brodersen saw his grandfather, Stanley gave him a simple piece of advice: "He said, 'Matthew, I want you to always remember, the most important thing in life is to obey God and leave all the consequences to Him,'" he said.

"My grandpa claims that that motto is what made him so successful, so he wanted to pass that down to me."

Brodersen no longer has aspirations to lead a church or large-scale ministry but wants to share the Gospel and spread the love of Jesus in all aspects of his life, whether he's talking to the grocery store cashier or making YouTube videos.

"I'm going into the ministry in my own way," he said.

Brodersen wants his grandfather to be remembered for how Christ-centered and practical he was.

"I've been to a lot of churches where you go, and they're preaching about stuff that is biblical, but it's not so much practical. My grandpa was really firm on preaching about practical things from a biblical point of view," he said.

He challenged those who loved his grandfather to continue furthering the ministry of the Gospel.

"My grandpa did incredible things to get this movement of Christianity going and to spread the word across the whole world," he said.

"I think people are waking up to the idea that what modern society is pushing on us is propaganda, and it's disgusting, and it's filth, and I think there is a movement that is pro-Christ, and it's growing," he added. "My grandfather had a lot of passion and emotion for the Church; he had a lot of passion for Jesus. I want to challenge people: what can you do to be more like him and keep the Church growing?"
Judge rules against 71 UMC churches claiming conference's disaffiliation policy is unfair

A Florida county judge has ruled against a group of congregations suing their regional body of the United Methodist Church over the payments they are required to make to proceed with disaffiliating from the denomination.

Circuit Judge George M. Wright of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court in Starke issued an order this week in favor of the leadership of the UMC Florida Conference, writing that "a secular court must avoid entanglement in internal church matters or doctrinal matters by deferring to the decision of the highest ecclesiastical body on these issues."

"In this case, the Plaintiffs admit that they are affiliated with the UMC," Wright ruled. "The Plaintiffs seemingly acknowledge that this court cannot resolve the dispute under the current state of the law in Florida."

Wright noted that under the current legal precedent in Florida, "this court does not have the power to adjudicate the intrachurch property dispute presented in the Plaintiff's Amended Complaint and must defer to the decision of the UMC."

Wright conceded the congregations might have a "justiciable issue," especially since similar cases are "being litigated throughout the country" using different standards for resolving property disputes between churches and their denominations.

Bishop Tom Berlin of the Florida Conference issued a statement Tuesday applauding the ruling, saying it "clarifies that if a church wants to leave the Conference, it must follow the rules established by the denomination."

"We have always supported a process that allows for a gracious exit, and which ensures the departing churches meet their financial, legal and moral obligations to not harm the Conference or the other member churches during their departure," stated Berlin.

Last July, 106 churches in the UMC Florida Conference filed suit against the regional body leadership because they considered the process for disaffiliating from the denomination to be unfair.

The complaint alleged that the payment required for the departing congregations to retain their property was "determined in the discretion of the aforementioned parties, and is always substantial and often prohibitive, yet nonnegotiable and unappealable."

Grace United Methodist Church of Lawtey served as the lead plaintiff, believing it should not have to pay for property it had purchased long before the UMC was founded in 1968.

"The Annual Conference has taken the position that it is entitled to keep the Grace UMC Property  which was owned and paid for by Grace UMC long before The UMC and the Annual Conference ever existed  unless Grace UMC pays a substantial payment of money as unilaterally determined by the Annual Conference Defendant," stated the suit.

Although there were originally 106 congregations involved in the litigation, over time, the number decreased to 71 as several churches left the lawsuit to pursue the current disaffiliation process instead.

In 2022, over 1,800 churches disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church amid a longstanding debate over the denomination's official stance on homosexuality and the ordination of gay priests.

Although efforts to change the UMC Book of Discipline's stance on these issues have failed, many theological liberal leaders in the denomination have either refused to follow or enforce the denomination's rules. This has led many theologically conservative churches to seek disaffiliation, with many of those joining the Global Methodist Church, a new denomination launched last year as a theologically conservative alternative to the UMC.

Many churches have faced obstacles in their quests to disaffiliate from the denomination. While some churches have had their disaffiliation votes outright rejected by their regional conferences, others have been told they must make large payments to leave the denomination.

Over 180 congregations in Georgia filed a lawsuit against UMC North Georgia Conference in Superior Court in Cobb County after the conference decided last year to prohibit any more congregations from disaffiliating amid a denominational schism over homosexuality.

In March, 38 Maryland churches sued the UMC Baltimore-Washington Conference and accused conference leadership of "holding their church buildings and property hostage."
'Embrace the Great Commission': How a Peloton 'Pride Month' push inspired one woman to launch 'Faith Month'

Why is pride month celebrated in June yearly, but practicing Christians don't have their own month to celebrate their faith?

That was the question Penny Nance, president and CEO of the advocacy group Concerned Women for America, and a practicing Christian, has pondered for many years.

As a nondenominational Christian, Nance, who is a national voice promoting biblical values and constitutional principles through prayer, education and advocacy for CWA, said she began pushing for lawmakers to officially recognize the month of April as Faith Month over three years ago.

Nance achieved a milestone in her efforts last year when federal lawmakers first entered a proclamation into the official Congressional Record recognizing April as Faith Month.

At Concerned Women for America, we thought  I think that we really need to suggest that there is a Faith Month. And the month of April would be great because theres Easter. So, we went to friends on Capitol Hill. We talked to [Congresswoman] Mary Miller [in] the House and Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Senate, Nance told The Christian Post.

They went to the floor and designated the month of April Faith Month, she explained. And so, this is our second year weve been offering people the Christian flag, but recognizing not everyones Christian and people are welcome of different faiths to put up their own symbols. But we, as Christians, should be proud and happy to fly the flag of Christianity and invite our neighbors to ask us questions.

Although not many people in the nation know about Faith Month, Nance said those who now know about it (especially after reading this article) should take part in celebrating by making an effort to share their faith with others in intentional ways during the 30 days of April every year. She is also urging participants to take a Christian flag and hang it somewhere that is visible to the public, such as outside a persons house or on their desk at work for their coworkers to see.

The Christian flag, which typically contains the image of a red cross over a blue and white background, was originally created by Charles C. Overton, a New York Sunday school superintendent, in 1887. Overton selected the color white to signify purity, blue to represent courage and the red cross to stand for sacrifice.

Nance said she got the idea for Faith Month over two years ago when she was sitting on her Peloton exercise bike one day and suddenly, the bike offered her the option to participate in a pride ride in solidarity with LGBT pride. The offer came during the month of June, recognized by LGBT activists as Pride Month.

Pelotons offer to Nance reflects the fact that several major corporations and celebrities choose to recognize so-called Pride Month by changing their profile pictures on social media to include the LGBT rainbow colors or creating special edition LGBT-themed versions of their products. Upon seeing the offer on her bike, Nance experienced a feeling of irritation because she wondered why Christians didnt have a month that could be dedicated to their faith.

I was kind of irritated by it and it made me think, retrospectively,  Why am I upset? Why dont I, instead of being upset about what other people are lobbying for [and] the ideas theyre contending for, why dont we just continue the things we believe in? Why are Christians so lackadaisical about standing up and evangelizing and speaking up for our faith? Nance recalled.

With 2023 being the second year members of Congress recognized Faith Month, Nance described the response from the public, as more people have become aware of it, as overwhelmingly positive.

I think every year builds. Every year we have hundreds of people ... thousands, who reach out to us for Christian flags or buy them elsewhere. And so, its not as if people use these one year and throw them away, Nance asserted.

They will come out year after year in the month of April, and more and more members of Congress are starting to understand and acknowledge the idea and putting the Christian flags outside of their offices year round. And so, I think its an issue that has been encouraging for members of Congress.

Nance said she's looking forward to more people buying Christian flags during Faith Month in the years to come: I think it takes time for it to catch on. And I truly believe that as we go about this each year that the idea will grow.

I cant wait for the day that Christian employees go to their boss and say, Hey, I know were going to do something for Pride Month in June, Id really love to do something for Faith Month. And you know, its going to take time for people to build up the courage and understand that they cant be fired for that.

Although the month of April has officially been named Faith Month by lawmakers, Nance said she's still pushing for the month to be recognized more widely among the American public because many people are still unaware that it exists.

Nance insisted that now more than ever it's a crucial time for Faith Month to be implemented everywhere, especially as atheists and agnostics are seeing growth in numbers.

Were becoming a less religious nation, she lamented. I know we have even larger numbers than ever before of people that are non-affiliated, either consider themselves atheist or agnostic. And the majority of that number comes from Gen Z and millennials.

Nance characterized Faith Month as an opportunity and a tool for people to fly the flag for their faith and  speak up to their neighbors that theyre Christians. She also highlighted that April is a logical time for Faith Month since it coincides with the major Christian celebrations of Holy Week and Easter.

I would hope that along with putting a flag up that people would invite their neighbors and unbelieving neighbors to church with them, she added. Or if they dont want to come to church, invite them to come sit around their table, and be open with their friends and neighbors about Christianity, about Christ.

Nance views these actions as consistent with the mandates of Christianity: Jesus told us to go ye therefore and teach all nations in the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. Part of that is just identifying yourself as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus.

Nance cautioned, however, that celebrating or acknowledging Faith Month won't make life easier for Christians or put an end to religious discrimination in the nation. However, she said the month is helping enhance the Great Commission and helping Christians from all walks of life to understand the importance of making the decision to spread the Gospel.

Perhaps, for somebody whos a new believer,  I think it is a way for them to embrace the Great Commission. And understand that part of our faith [is] that Jesus requires us to be willing to share our faith with others, and to study, and to show ourselves approved in the faith and to be able to share the Gospel, Nance maintained. I think anybody that is willing to put up a flag also should be willing to go the next step and to share Christianity and how to become a Christian with their friend or neighbor [or] colleague.
Texas men build new homes for Turkey earthquake victims: 'Living out the teachings of Jesus'

A heart breaks as naturally as it loves. And traversing Antakya, Turkey, it crumbles like the buildings along the road.

This once bustling city of 400,000 people is now post-apocalyptic. What structures werent reduced to rubble by a February earthquake are leaning, cracked or both. More than 300,000 people became homeless in less than two minutes, many leaving the city.

Six volunteers from Dallas-based Texas Baptist Men came to this devastated landscape to put together simple homes for families who had lost theirs to the earthquake. The metal structures gave Turks safe places to live for the next several years, empowering them to move out of cracked structures or flimsy tents.

These semi-cylindrical shelters are being built in a place that feels like a scene out of a movie. Electricity is hard to come by; water is even harder. Dont even ask about sewage.

People  often children  scavenge through the rubble for scrap metal they can sell or reuse. Small emergency tents dot the city, giving families a small source of protection. Long lines of people form daily for food and water distributions, as well as government support checks.

Where do you even start with relief efforts in a situation like this? A TBM team started with the basics.

Historically, Christians were first called Christians here in Antioch, said team leader Robert Watson. They were called that because they were little Christs. They were living out the teachings of Jesus. Thats what we want to do here.

Working alongside an in-country partner, TBM volunteers fought supply-chain issues and used the trial-and-error method to devise a custom template for housing in this situation. The team outlined a system whereby semi-cylindrical homes, measuring 3 meters by 9 meters, can be crafted and installed faster by future volunteers.

TBM has provided funds for 20 houses in the city after sending 10,000 blankets to the region and installing 10 community water systems immediately after the earthquake. That cant meet the need of everyone here. No one team or one organization could. But the TBM team sought to do what it could.

Were trying to make an impact in individual homes and families, said team member Mike Gillert. Hopefully, it will make a difference for families, and they will know God loves them.

The Turks certainly appreciated the teams work. They pitched in to help where they could. They cleaned the lots for the houses and worked alongside the Texans where possible. Even children excitedly stepped in to hold tools and drive in stakes.

Using hand gestures and Google Translate, team members could communicate and connect with those they served. In many cases, the Turks wanted to know everything they could about the people who traveled around the globe to help them.

After building the homes, the teams gave some of the families water filters and boxes of food. Conversations led to opportunities to encourage people and pray with them.

Theyre just as interested in us as we are in them, team member Chris Roberts said. They want to know where were from, why were doing this.

The team was particularly affected by serving a woman in a wheelchair. After the earthquake, she could not return to her upstairs apartment and lived in a makeshift area in a cracked living room. As soon as the team arrived, she rolled out to greet those who were helping her. She visited with most of the team and expressed her appreciation. She even wanted a photo with the team to remember them.

At another home, 8-year-old Amen joined the crew to build his home in the rain. Seeing his excitement and energy spurred them along.

Thats our job, said team member Joe Fuller. Jesus told us what we do for the least of these we do for Him. As far as Im concerned, were building these homes for Jesus and His children.

Hugs and tears flowed upon the completion of each home. Families often offered coffee, tea and even small sweets from their small supplies.

Theyre thrilled, Roberts said. Theyre overwhelmed. Im honored to be able to help give them a place to rest their head where they can get out of the weather.

The experience transformed the team as well as the Turks. Instead of seeing Turkey simply in terms of political and religious stances, they met the Turks themselves and found it easy to identify things in common. Children want to play. Parents want to provide for them. They want whats best for their families and their community.

These are folks just like you and me who need help, Roberts said. Im glad to see the human side of it. Theyre just folks like us. We can help them.

Hoisting Amen on his shoulders, team member R.L. Barnard couldnt help but smile as the child waved a Turkey flag. The road to recovery is long. But for the families these Texans served, it has started.

I have a real soft spot for these people, Barnard said. And I always will.
The royal family and the squandering of greatness

Stories and articles about Queen Elizabeth (including this one) continue to gush weeks after her death. One reason is because her leadership style and personal character form an example we should keep before our eyes. Another, however, is the tragic way in which greatness has sometimes been squandered by members of the Queens larger family.

The present squabbles are petty and adolescent. However, King Charles III displayed maturity and grace when he spoke via a televised speech his love to Harry and Meghan, and wished them well in the U.S.



There is a great lesson in all this: Just because a person is born into greatness doesnt necessarily mean he or she is actually great. Birth is an event but becoming great is a process.



Though expectations are high on royals, they have free will like all the rest of us. One cannot choose the type, character, and position of the family into which they are born, but he or she can choose the quality of life that will characterize them and their work, whether in the lofty spaces of a throne room or the suffocating innards of a back office.

Thus, Elizabeth was born into greatness and also made a definite choice to be a great person and queen. This is probably why she and Winston Churchill were friends.

Later in life she would pen a note to the old bulldog, where she wrote: I shall always count myself fortunate that you were my prime minister at the beginning of my reign, and that I was able to receive the wise counsel and friendship which I know my father (King George VI) valued so much as well.



In that note she shows the importance of another character trait that makes for authentic greatness in a person: teachability. Not only was she willing to learn the arts of high leadership from Churchill, but she was also willing to learn spiritual truth from a North Carolina country boy  Billy Graham, as well as other ministers.

Churchill had been born into a family that seemed crowned with greatness. He was a descendant of the high-born line of the Dukes of Marlboro. Churchill was even birthed in the ancestral home of the Marlboros  Blenheim Palace.

Winston Churchills father had been born into that same heritage but squandered his opportunity to be great when he chose a life of dissipation and neglect of his family. Young Winston suffered much grief from that father whose coldness and negative put-downs were constant.

I co-authored a book, God and Churchill, with Winstons s great grandson, the late Jonathan Sandys. Jonathan had sweeping knowledge of the family into which Winston had been born, and its internal affairs. I was fascinated as Jonathan told me story after story of the Churchill family in Winstons growing-up years. I was stunned at the handicaps young Winston had to endure. His route to being great was through his determination to view the obstacles as opportunities to learn and advance. He did not disengage with life and its challenges but stayed in the battle with intensity  sometimes literally.

Churchill was elevated to leadership of the entire British Navy and was blamed for a staggering First World War defeat at Gallipoli. Rather than withdrawal from public service, Churchill went to the front trenches of Europe for the rest of the horror of World War One.



And so young Princess Elizabeth, though heir to the throne, volunteered for military service in the Second World War, and worked in the maintenance of military vehicles. The woman who had the hefty crown placed on her head also knew how to change oil, repair a broken fanbelt, and get the dirt from under her fingernails.

Elizabeth II is celebrated today around the world because she manifested the attributes of a truly great person: honor, integrity, dignity, courage, commonsense, and wisdom, to name a few.

These were the choices she made.

Does the UK still need royalty? Thats for her people to decide. But the British Commonwealth and all nations need leaders who are genuinely great whether they were born into greatness or not.

After all, there was that other example in the line of British royalty  that of Edward VIII who abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson. Britain was facing the most dangerous threats in its history, and Edward VIII walked away.

He had been born into greatness, but he chose not to become great himself.

Elizabeth made the choice and showed many attributes of actual greatness: honor, integrity, dignity, courage, wisdom, and exemplary character.

And Elizabeth showed us truly great humility as she gave the credit over and again to the One Who transcends her and outranks her, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, the carpenter of Nazareth of Whom she spoke elegantly and passionately.

She herself chose the Bible passages that would be read at her funeral and committal, and the verses rang through the great cathedrals glorifying Christ.

And the world heard them.

The most important choice humans can make is that of what or who we worship because we all become in our character like that to which we bow the knee. Queen Elizabeth was great because of the choice of Whom she worshipped.

Long live the Queen.
80 years after the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, what have we learnt?

Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster reflects on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

19 April marked the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. My grandmother was there. She was called Regina and her name passed to me. I was heartily mocked at school for this name, with accusations of delusions of grandeur for emulating the Queen. Later this Queen was exterminated at Treblinka...

My Dad was the only one of his family to escape the fate of Europe's Jews at the hands of the German people and their willing assistants all over Europe and beyond. No country permitted entry to those who escaped, and the British especially murdered survivors trying to enter Israel, which at that time was under their Mandate.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Elie Wiesel, was one of many survivors of German barbarism who was barred by the British from entry to Israel and eventually made his way, well post-War, to the USA, which had also barred Jewish entry during the Shoah.

What, if at all, can we learn from this unspeakable event in our history? Eighty years ago, 19 April coincided with Pesach. This day, when we commemorate the Exodus from Egypt, was chosen deliberately. Except, in the Biblical case, there was hope of a Promised Land, as laid out in the book of Exodus. Eighty years ago, was there any hope?

The hope in 1943, if at all, was in the knowledge that for the first time in their lives, these Jews, starved, bedraggled and dying on their knees, knew that Jewish teaching does not allow us to be crushed when there is even the glimmer of fighting spirit left in us. The Warsaw Ghetto fighters knew they would all die  some way or other  but the German nation, the most culturally, scientifically, medically and in every other way successful country in Europe was also the most depraved, the most alien to Jewish values. And the Warsaw Ghetto fighters were willing at least to put up a fight for survival.

What is the legacy of my father, Max, the youngest son of Regina? Max was appointed a judge and escaped from Poland to Lithuania at a very young age, making his way through Siberia and Japan to Canada. In Canada, Dad joined the Black Watch regiment, based in Scotland, and fought for the British against the enemy, subsequently working for British Intelligence.

First of all, Dad's legacy taught me a great deal about the importance of law and how essential is the division of powers to any successful country. He taught me about the different roles of the judiciary, executive and legislature. He taught me that the Polish Jewish community was unique, and whole worlds had been lost through aimless hate. He taught me that, in the main, Anglo Jewry was simply not up to the job of safeguarding the Jewish community.

And I never forgot these lessons of childhood. Some years ago, an Israeli university professor, specializing in education, asked me on behalf of a cross-party and cross-religion consortium for advice on the British constitution. The Israeli set-up, he said, definitely needed improving, especially the judiciary, which, in the opinion of many Israelis, was gradually taking on far too many powers for itself. I remembered what my father had taught me so many years ago, and simply repeated it. 'Great', he said. 'We'll definitely bear all that in mind in the Israeli case.' This was in 2006. The debate is ongoing.

It is because of my Dad that I ended up becoming a teacher to thousands, started a number of charities and tried to help refugees whenever I could.

In 1991, aged 40, I was invited to attend the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. There I met Elie Wiesel, who told me that he was very concerned indeed at the alarming plethora of so-called Holocaust monuments and memorials to the period of history which he writes about in his books, about the Shoah, that is. He stated that instead of going on about the past, we have to look outwards and build. We have to build schools, hospitals, universities and most of all communities.

We have to think less of ourselves, and more of others. Going back to the past, he said, only brings on depression, and in the end depression destroys people. That, he said, is the meaning of the Jewish religion, people and culture, and is what was destroyed in the Shoah. How right he was!

At the same time, I met the Dalai Lama, who told me that only Jews could help the Tibetan people, because the Jewish people were unique in having 'learned the secret of survival of exile.' His words, not mine.

I am not sure that the Dalai Lama's words still hold. The amount of discrimination and two-faced behaviour towards the Jewish community, whether living in the West, as in France, Canada, the USA and the UK, to name only those places housing the greatest number of diaspora Jews, not to mention towards the only Jewish State, the State of Israel, now home to more than 7 million Jews as it approaches its 75th birthday next week, is truly dreadful to behold.

Recently, we all witnessed the murders of members of the family of Rabbi Leo Dee, a British rabbi who had officiated both in Hendon and in Radlett, Hertfordshire. For the British media, as well as in the British government reaction, only the Israelis were to blame for this desecration of Jewish life during Pesach. The mainstream press in this country were particularly mendacious in this regard.

Rabbi Dee was visited during the Shiva period by government officials, including both the President and the Prime Minister of Israel. This is only normal in Israel. But again, the BBC and others sent their poisoned darts. Only through the reaction of a number of Jewish journalists stationed in Israel who were there to tell the truth, did attitudes slowly change.

My own family was distraught. I first heard the news late on Saturday night, just after Pesach, from former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. I immediately contacted my daughter and son-in-law, a friend and former neighbour of the Dee family. No words.....!

Since then, Arab friends have visited the Dees and joined in tears with them for the murders of their wife, mother, daughters and sisters.

When it comes to Israel, this country (and the USA, Canada and France) are completely blinkered, to the point of libel and slander in my view.

What can we do? What is my father's legacy? What is my grandmother's legacy on this sorrowful day?

I have often wondered why so many synagogues are built in our area. No sooner is one synagogue built, than the younger generation start building another. So, although there are only around 55 'official' synagogues in Greater Manchester, in my area there must be hundreds. There are at least two or three, or four or five synagogues in my own street, housed in non-descript buildings so as not to draw attention.

I think that this is an unconscious wish by those who daily bear the brunt of bullies, both in the street and in the media, to react by performing positive deeds, in emulation of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters.

In a country like Britain, where we aren't even allowed to define ourselves as an ethnicity on pain of prosecution; where to admit to being Jewish in school and university, not to mention in the NHS, the BBC, the mainstream press and to many in Parliament, is to invite abuse; in a country which holds the Coronation on Shabbat, thus preventing observant Jews from tuning in (despite our letter to the King with a request to think again); in a country where fighting back is not an option, what can one actually do?

The only way to react is to keep on building, to keep on educating despite Ofsted, to insist that the Jewish way of life is admirable and will not be given up after 3,500 years of slavery in various diaspora lands. That is the lesson of the Exodus and that is the lesson of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in my view, as encapsulated in the words of King Solomon:

'Through wisdom is a house built, and it is established by understanding. Through knowledge, the chambers are filled with every kind of treasure rare and beautiful.'

As we sombrely reflect on this 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, may the memory of my grandmother and all those other who perished at the hands of the Western world remain as a blessing forever.
Challenged by the faith of those who suffer

Each morning at GAFCON IV, the delegates, of whom I am one among 1,300, gather in small groups to pray for one another. The other day, a bishop asked for us to pray for the security of Nigeria. Today he called us to pray more earnestly because there had been more killings, though details are still hazy.

He asks to remain anonymous because to be known to speak out will endanger his life, but in a private message, he shared this, which, out of respect, is reported in his own exact words,

"I write with a burden," he said, "I write as one with compassion. I write as one who have seen widows, motherless babies, men who have lost their entire family and means of livelihood. I write as one who have consistently encouraged people living in fear of being hunted down."

He continued: "Beloved, being a Christian [there] takes more than a belief in Jesus Christ alone; it will require grace; it will take a firm resolve to pay the ultimate price if need be.

"Pray for us that God will strengthen us and grant us the courage to do His Will despite the odds. Pray for our persecutors that God will help them by His Spirit to experience the love of Christ. Thank you so much for your love."

Sadly, the incident that sparked this request was not unusual. It followed violent attacks at the weekend in another part of Kaduna State. That time 33 Christians were killed by Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists in the early hours of Sunday morning. On Monday, Rev Jacob Kwashi, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Zonkwa, buried the dead.

Hearing first-hand accounts of such suffering is not uncommon at Gafcon. It is a profound challenge to any ignorance or indifference on the part of delegates from more secure parts of the world. And so too is the faith of those who suffer.

In another seminar, a clergyman who had just shared a quite extraordinary story of suffering and redemption was asked how others could support people in his setting. Instead of listing a series of requests, he responded by saying, "Persecution makes better Christians of us  a Christianity that costs nothing is not biblical."

That is the wonder of GAFCON IV  you never know what the person sitting next to you will teach you.

Susie Leafe is director of Anglican Futures, which supports orthodox Anglicans in the UK.
Charles Stanley's son shares his final 'wonderfully weighty words'

(CP) Georgia megachurch Pastor Andy Stanley said he will miss his father, Pastor Charles Stanley, "every day until I see him again."

A day after his father died, the pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, took to Twitter to share a few details about the last few weeks with his father, a prominent Evangelical broadcaster and former lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta.

He included four photos of him and the late Charles Stanley over the years.

"These final few weeks with my dad have been precious beyond words. At the end of every visit, he asked me to pray for him. Which, of course, I did. On my knees beside the big leather chair, he was confined to for the past several months," tweeted Stanley.

"But as I was leaving his house this past Saturday night, he asked if he could pray for me. As if he knew. Then, as was his habit, he said, 'I couldn't be prouder of you, Andy.'"

Andy Stanley stated those were the last words that his father said to him, calling them "wonderfully weighty words."

"I'll miss him every day until I see him again," Stanley concluded.

Andy and Charles Stanley had a rocky relationship as the latter began his ministry work, with the two having a yearslong falling out. Anna Stanley (Andy's mother) filed for divorce in 1993, and it was finalized in 2000.

The two would eventually reconcile, with CNN running a feature story in 2012 detailing the tenuous history between father and son and the steps they took to mend their fractured relationship.

Charles Stanley died on Tuesday morning, months shy of his 91st birthday. In Touch Ministries, which Charles Stanley founded, announced his passing.

"Dr. Stanley lived a faithful life of obedience, dedicated to teaching others how to have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Now he is receiving the joy of his soul  seeing his Savior face-to-face," stated In Touch.

In addition to leading In Touch Ministries, Charles Stanley was also a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s, serving two one-year terms. He also served as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta from 1971 until 2020. He wrote numerous books.

Other Christian leaders have given their condolences, including Greg Laurie, pastor of the California-based megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship.

"He made his mark on this world for the Gospel and his incredible teaching of God's Word. I, like so many others, was blessed by hearing his messages on the radio and TV, and he was a trusted voice we have all been encouraged by," stated Laurie.

"It was my privilege to meet Dr. Stanley in person in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the funeral for Billy Graham. He was warm and gracious. No doubt, he has already heard Jesus say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.' Charles Stanley will be greatly missed."

 The Christian Post
Faith leaders get behind nationwide volunteer drive for King's coronation

Volunteers up and down the country will be coming out to do their bit for their communities in celebration of the King's coronation next month.

The Big Help Out gets underway on the Coronation Bank Holiday on 8 May and is being supported by faith leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis.

"During the coronation, His Majesty The King will be anointed to serve others, and we'll be giving thanks for the King's example of service. That's why helping others is a key theme of the Coronation weekend  and why I'm so delighted to support the Big Help Out," the Archbishop said.

"As we celebrate the coronation, I joyfully encourage everyone to help out in all kinds of creative ways. I pray we take this opportunity to come together, support those around us and unite our communities. Let's build a legacy of love for one another."

The Chief Rabbi said: "By taking part in The Big Help Out campaign, volunteering our time and energy, we can make a positive impact on our communities, help those in need, and promote social cohesion.

"I urge everyone, regardless of their faith or background, to embrace this opportunity and take part in this day of national volunteering.

"May The Big Help Out be a source of inspiration and hope, and may it strengthen the bonds that unite us as a people."

To mark the launch of the Big Help Out, the Archbishop and Chief Rabbi visited The Passage homelessness charity in London this week where they helped to sort donated clothing and serve food to the charity's clients.

Cathedrals, which depend on volunteers to help them stay open, will be taking part in the Big Help Out by teaming up with local organisations for volunteering activities like litter picking.

They will also be hosting taster sessions where they will showcase volunteering opportunities.

At Derby Cathedral, volunteers will be on hand to talk about their personal experience of giving up some of their free time to support the cathedral.

"All our cathedrals rely on the support of thousands of volunteers without whom our historic places of worship would not be the places they are today," said the Association of English Cathedrals.
Hillsong's Brian Houston receives fine and probation for DUI

Hillsong founder Brian Houston has been sentenced to three years' probation and received a $140 fine in relation to drink driving charges, The Christian Post reports.

The 69-year-old pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more.

He has not yet been sentenced for an additional charge pending the outcome of an appeal.

A further charge for allegedly failing to display two license plates on the vehicle he was driving was dismissed.

The Superior Court of California also ordered that Houston attend an alcohol programme and self-help meetings, and receive victim impact counselling.

Houston was arrested for DUI in Newport Beach, California in February 2022, just weeks before he stepped down as global senior pastor of Hillsong following allegations about his conduct.

Writing on Instagram last month, Houston called his actions leading to the arrest "foolish".

"At the time it seemed like all hell had broken loose within Hillsong Church and I was under immense pressure and emotional strain. Clearly that is not an excuse, and I take full responsibility for my actions."

He continued, "Thirteen months have past (sic) since that incident occurred and I am now in a much stronger place within my spirit and soul.

"I am grateful to God for his sustenance and grace, and I am grateful for trusted ministry friends who, along with Bobbie and our family, have offered their constant love and support in a very difficult and disruptive season.

"We are looking forward together to a fruitful season ahead."
Meta's oversight board is recommending that the social media giant "maintain" its current policies against covid-19 misinformation as long as global health authorities deem it an international health emergency, according to an advisory opinion released Thursday.

But the board is also urging the Facebook and Instagram parent company to revisit which misleading claims it will remove going forward and to open that debate to a broader audience.

It marks the first time the group has directly weighed in on Meta's rules governing pandemic-related content, which sparked heated debate in Washington over whether platforms were doing too much or too little to police harmful posts.

The board, staffed by experts on free expression and created by the tech giant to advise it on its thorniest content calls, said the company would be "justified" to continue taking the "exceptional measures" of removing false information about the virus that's likely to lead to harm.

But the group took umbrage at Meta's "insistence" on using a single global rule book for dealing with the pandemic, writing that it "frustrated the Board's efforts to reconcile competing viewpoints . . . on how to best address harmful COVID-19 misinformation."

Suzanne Nossel, a board member and the CEO of PEN America, said the blanket approach "obliterates the opportunity to take into account local context, the state of the pandemic . . . and all kinds of factors that might affect the likelihood that misinformation leads to harm."

The board called on the company to launch a "transparent and inclusive review" of the list of 80 misleading or false claims it takes action against.

"There wasn't really a clear mechanism for people to raise dissenting views," Nossel told The Post.

"We thank the Oversight Board for its review and recommendations in this case," Meta spokesman Corey Chambliss said in an email. "As Covid-19 evolves, we will continue consulting extensively with experts on the most effective ways to help people stay safe on our platforms."

Meta has 60 days to publicly respond to the board's nonbinding recommendations.

Democrats have pressured Meta to vigorously enforce its policies against misleading and false covid-19 claims, while Republicans have accused it and other social networks of stifling discussions about the virus.

President Biden in July 2021 accused social media platforms like Facebook of "killing people" by not policing misleading health claims more forcefully, a broadside he later scaled back.

Republicans, meanwhile, have accused platforms of buckling to government pressure to crack down on conservative viewpoints about the virus, renewing claims of "censorship."

The debate reached a fever pitch when Facebook expanded the list of posts it could take down in February 2021 to include claims that "COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured." It reversed the decision a couple months later after facing major blowback, citing "ongoing investigations" on the topic.

The board briefly touched on that change, writing, "Broader consultation and greater transparency on that input is essential for better decision-making and to guard against unjustified censorship."

Meta's board also urged the company to be more transparent about its handling of government requests to review or take down content.

The group wrote that it's "particularly problematic where governments make requests to crack down on peaceful protesters or human rights defenders, to control conversations about the origins of the pandemic, and to silence those criticizing or questioning government responses."

The board issued the policy advisory opinion, its first in relation to the pandemic, in response to a request by Meta in July 2022.

Twitter, which also created new rules on covid-19 misinformation at the onset of the pandemic, quietly disclosed it would no longer enforce them after Elon Musk's takeover.

The World Health Organization, whose guidance Meta has relied on to craft its covid-19 policies, said in January that it still considers the virus to be a global health emergency but that it's at a "transition point."

Biden signed a Republican-led measure formally ending the coronavirus national emergency in the United States last week.

While the advisory arrives years after the pandemic began, Nossel said its recommendations could also shape Meta's approach to future emergencies.

"The decision is less perhaps about the covid pandemic per se or exclusively than about . . . how Meta should handle its responsibilities in the context of a fast moving public health emergency," Nossel said.
There will be no more cannabis lotteries in Connecticut until at least the end of the legislative session, state officials have confirmed, with no firm plans on any lotteries in the future.

At this time, a second lottery round has not been scheduled as the legislature continues to consider potential changes to the lottery process and social equity criteria, said Department of Consumer Protection spokesperson Kaitlyn Krasselt. Any statutory changes will be incorporated into the lottery process prior to the department conducting a second lottery round. Once a future lottery is scheduled, the details will be announced by the Department of Consumer Protection.

Newly named DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli said during a recent interview with Hearst Connecticut Media that, It would not be prudent to proceed until the close of the legislative session.

Though Cafferelli said DCP was waiting on legislation, neither state Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, nor Deputy House Speaker Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, both of whom proposed cannabis-related legislation and were instrumental in crafting the states cannabis market, were aware that such a decision had been made.

It's not something that they've shared or expressed with me, Rojas said of DCP. I haven't heard that yet.

The state has so far issued 35 retail licenses for recreational cannabis, according to state data. There are also medical cannabis dispensary licenses and hybrid licenses, allowing the sale of both medical and recreational cannabis.

There are currently 13 active recreational cannabis dispensaries in Connecticut.

The state legislature is currently mulling several pieces of legislation that could alter how cannabis license lotteries are run, including lotteries for cannabis retail, cultivation, and food and beverage manufacturing.

Rojas said that while he was not aware DCP had decided to halt cannabis lotteries until at least the end of the legislative session in June, he said I can understand why they might want to do that.

Legislation is going to change in the next month or two, he said. The last thing theyd want to do is go out with something that is then going to potentially impact the status of an applicant.

Candelaria said a halt in the lottery process would ensure that were not saturating the market with a bunch of cultivators and retailers.

I think it's wise just to move cautiously to see how the market and the demand is that we can run another lottery for the people to really take up and take advantage of applying for a license and hopefully getting the license through the lottery, he said.

One bill being considered, proposed by Rojas, would limit the number of times a single applicant can enter the lottery. When the first cannabis lotteries were announced there was no such limit, and at least two companies, Slap Ash, Inc. and Jananii LLC, each spent more than $200,000 to submit more than 800 lottery entries.

That, Rojas said, should change.

We want to come out with one application per applicant, he said.

Candelaria said that the current setup could mean that the wealthiest applicants could be more likely to get a license.

You want to be sure that the process is transparent and fair and equitable for everyone, he said. Right now, it's not because someone that does not have the economic means cannot put in 20 applications. They won't be able to afford it.

But the fix is not as simple, Rojas said, as limiting each applicant to one application. Some larger companies are funding multiple smaller ventures run by different individuals, and Rojas said future lotteries would have to take those complexities into account.

There is some complexity to that because of the way that some applicants are actually funded, he said. It would take a lot of additional work and effort and time for the department to go back and review all the background information, so it's about who we apply that rule to that really complicates things given the complexity of how some of these businesses are financed.

Candelaria said part of the intent may be to not crash the market, forcing prices down if there is more supply than there is demand.

One thing you want to do is issue all these licenses and then all these people won't be able to sell their their material to consumers because what you know that will drop down the price on the products, and in my own personal opinion that will create a little issue with moving the products within the state, he said.

Rojas also said the state should be cautious in how many licenses we put out there based on what we're seeing in other states.

I think Massachusetts has (300) or 400 dispensaries. I think that's proven to be way too many, which has all sorts of ramifications for sustaining the integrity of the program, he said. There are signs out there from other states that we should be attentive to and being careful with how many licenses we do put out there.

That does not, he said, mean there should be no more licenses issued in the state.

Is there a need for more? There absolutely is a need for more, Rojas said. The question becomes, how many? That needs to be informed by the experience of other states and what we're seeing even with the early rollout of adult use.
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AMSTERDAM (AP)  Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

The Ukrainian photographers March 9, 2022, image of the fatally wounded woman, her left hand on her bloodied lower left abdomen, drove home the horror of Russias brutal onslaught in the eastern port city early in the war.

The 32-year-old woman, Iryna Kalinina, died of her injuries a half-hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby, named Miron.

For me, it is a moment that all the time I want to forget, but I cannot. The story will always stay with me, Maloletka said in an interview before the announcement.

Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most defining images of the Russia-Ukraine war amid incredibly challenging circumstances. Without his unflinching courage, little would be known of one of Russias most brutal attacks. We are enormously proud of him, AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace said.

AP Director of Photography J. David Ake added: Its not often that a single image becomes seared into the worlds collective memory. Evgeniy Maloletka lived up to the highest standards of photojournalism by capturing the decisive moment, while upholding the tradition of AP journalists worldwide to shine a light on what would have otherwise remained unseen.

Maloletka, AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov and AP producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, who are also Ukrainian, arrived in Mariupol just as Russias full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, sparked Europes biggest conflict since World War II. They stayed for more than two weeks, chronicling the Russian military pounding the city and hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. An AP investigation found that as many as 600 people may have been killed when a Mariupol theater being used as a bomb shelter was hit on March 16 last year.

The three were the only international journalists left in the city when they finally managed a risky escape.

World Press Photo Foundation Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury told the AP that jury members decided quickly Maloletkas image should win the prestigious prize.

She said it was apparent from the beginning that it needed to win. All the jury members said it really from the beginning of the judging. And why? Because it really shows how war and especially in this case, the Ukrainian war, affects not only one generation, but multiple generations.

Maloletka said the team believed it was important to remain in Mariupol, despite the danger, "to collect the peoples voices and collect their emotions and to show them all around the world.

A series of photos by Maloletka from besieged Mariupol won the European regional World Press Photo Stories award that was announced in March. Maloletkas images from Mariupol also have been honored with awards including the Knight International Journalism Award, the Visa dor News Award and the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie.

I think it is really important that specifically a Ukrainian won the contest showing the atrocities against civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine, he said. It is important that all the pictures we were doing in Mariupol became evidence of a war crime against Ukrainians.

In the three other global categories announced Thursday, two-time World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen of Denmark won Photo Story of the Year for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures, titled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan, about daily life in Afghanistan in 2022.

Anush Babajanyan of Armenia won the Long-Term Project award for Battered Waters for VII Photo and National Geographic Society, and Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award for Here, The Doors Dont Know Me.

The four global winners represent the best photos and stories from the most important and urgent topics of 2022," Brent Lewis, global jury chair, and New York Times photo editor said in a statement. "They also help to continue the tradition of what it is possible to do with photography, and how photography helps us to see the universality of the human condition.

The four global winners were selected from more than 60,000 entries submitted by 3,752 entrants from 127 countries.

Regional winners announced earlier included Maya Levin for her image for AP of Israeli police beating mourners carrying the coffin of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was fatally shot while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Following international pressure, Israeli defense forces admitted it was likely that one of their soldiers shot the prominent correspondent. The IDF denied that the shooting was intentional and declared the case closed.

Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer Emilio Morenatti, who lost a leg while reporting in Afghanistan, was awarded an honorable mention for a series of images of people in Ukraine who have undergone amputations as a result of the Russian invasion.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Most country singers avoid any topic that could bring them even the slightest bit of backlash. Brad Paisley has never been one of those country singers.

In recent months, Paisley has become the most outspoken Nashville star in support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion last year, culminating last week when he joined a bipartisan delegation of senators - Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) - for a trip to Kyiv and in-person meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During a news conference in St. Michael's Square, Paisley broke out his guitar and played "Same Here," his new song that features a spoken-word cameo from Zelensky, and sang the chorus of John Denver's "Country Roads."

"All of the things I've done in the last few months have been - well, every single one of them is kind of an impossible thing to have happened," Paisley said in a phone interview. "And they're all happening."

It started last year when Paisley, haunted by images of people forced to leave their homes at the start of the war, wrote a ballad called "Same Here" - about how everyone really wants the same things out of life, including the desire for freedom - with Lee Thomas Miller and Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith. He wanted to have someone sing in Ukrainian at the end of the track, but then had an even crazier idea: Would Zelensky have any interest in appearing on the song? Through a complicated series of connections that Paisley declines to describe in detail, he discovered that, yes, the president was interested. So after a tremendous amount of back and forth, they scheduled a Zoom call.

"I had a great, 45-minute talk with him - we discussed everything we could think of and really got into the details of who we are, and our families. It was a really eye-opening thing," Paisley said. The conversation was off-the-record except for an exchange, included in the song, in which Zelensky says that even though they speak different languages, they appreciate the same things: "Children, freedom, our flag, our soldiers, our people, the biggest treasure we have."

"At the end of it, he said, 'I hope you come over and see our people.' And that's what really stuck with me. ... He just went on and on and on about how he feels about them, and obviously he feels every bit the pride he should in these folks," Paisley said. He's now an ambassador for United24, Zelensky's crowdfunding effort to rebuild Ukrainian homes, and is friends with the senators in the delegation; when they offered him a spot on the trip, he immediately agreed. "I would have moved heaven and earth. I said, 'Now that you invited me, you can't stop me. I'm going.'"

Paisley, 50, occupies a rarefied spot after 20-plus years in country music. He has a long string of No. 1 hits and platinum albums, and was the face of the Country Music Association Awards for a decade as co-host with Carrie Underwood. He plays arenas around the world, and his music runs the gamut from deeply romantic ballads ("Then") to the silliest songs you can imagine ("Ticks") to songs that tackle heavy topics such as childhood cancer ("One of Those Lives") and the opioid crisis (a new song on his upcoming album about the epidemic in West Virginia: "If living here don't kill ya, the medicine will").

But Paisley's inspiration for "Same Here" stems from a theme he's been fixated on throughout his career: the version of ourselves that we present to the world and the real version behind the scenes, and how at our core, everyone is pretty similar. That approach worked to great effect on his all-encompassing 2011 album "This Is Country Music" but has also gone very poorly. Who can forget the instant backlash for "Accidental Racist," his 2013 duet with LL Cool J about race relations that was derided as tone deaf? Now, he hopes that he can capture listeners' attention to ponder the deeper meaning of "Same Here."

"I'm not just singing about driving down a country road or something. I'm asking a question in the song about our similarities," Paisley said. "And I got the answer firsthand, which was really inspiring to see that we're as similar as I thought we were."

Paisley describes the trip to Kyiv as "haunting," though maybe not why you would expect. He wasn't sure what he was going to encounter when he got there - he was picturing that maybe he would get off the train and there would be rubble everywhere like in a movie, a scene from "War of the Worlds." And while some parts of the city still show the aftermath of the attacks, he said, you can walk right into another area and it's "just stunning," like the European cities he's toured his whole career. That's what he can't stop thinking about: Seeing the Ukrainian citizens going about their daily lives, just like him, except they're living between air raid sirens.

The senators had to attend meetings, Paisley said, so he got the longer tour of the city. He said that his guides showed him a photo of where a missile left a "20-foot crater" in the middle of an intersection in downtown Kyiv - and now, except for some broken windows and plywood, you would never know that happened. People just walked and drove past the area on their way to work, as always.

"I saw kids in their raincoats with their bookbags getting off the bus, going home from school that afternoon. The Nike store was open," Paisley said. "They just want freedom and the ability to control their own fate."

Performing his music in St. Michael's Square was a surreal and "insane" experience, Paisley said, as he told the reporters gathered that he was struck by the resilience of life and how the city was trying to thrive during the conflict. It wasn't until he left - the trip also included a stop to visit and perform for U.S. troops in Poland - that he almost had a breakdown.

"I couldn't even process. Because it is a staggering reality," he said. "They're not sulking, they're not feeling sorry for themselves, they don't want us to fight it for them, necessarily, but they would love anything we could offer to help them fight."

Paisley tried his best to capture his feelings in an Instagram post as he was heading home, though he had to turn off the comments on multiple posts about the trip. The initial reaction to the posts were "100 percent positive," his social media manager told him, and attributed a sharp pivot to the negative to foreign bots.

"Every now and then, there's a real post from an American being influenced by the bots, and it's like - that's what I wish we could somehow deal with ... don't let somebody from another country tell you what to think about yours," Paisley said. "That's my dilemma right now, is trying to make sure that my fans know the difference. All I can do is be honest."

The fact that Paisley is taking any sort of political stance is unusual for country music in general, where artists are generally told to stay quiet to avoid alienating any fans. But Paisley (who notes that he "doesn't love politics at all") said he was inspired by the bipartisan nature of the trip, when senators on opposite sides were working together - he said he's friends with elected officials that he vehemently disagrees with on various issues but constantly seeks to find common ground where they can connect. He's not sure he even agrees that "Same Here" is political.

"There is a world leader," on the song, he acknowledges. "But otherwise, to me, it's the least political song I could do. It's about who we are as people."
Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof had never heard of ChatGPT when they began having hours-long phone conversations during the pandemic, but artificial intelligence was on their minds. As the two Los Angeles TV writers walked their dogs, they would chat endlessly about the inherent tensions between religion and technology.

Hernandez - a sitcom writer best known for "Young Shelden" who had written a script about nuns titled "Mercy House" - found herself thinking more about tech. "I wish there was an app that would tell us what to do," she told Lindelof of navigating the pandemic.

Lindelof of "Lost" fame, meanwhile, wanted to hand the showrunning reins to someone else after creating back-to-back HBO adaptations with "The Leftovers" and "Watchmen" but still wanted to work on a new, original project. "There's a straight line from 'Lost' to 'The Leftovers,'" says Lindelof. "I am fascinated by belief and religion. That's why when I read Tara's [script] it made me lean forwards. I didn't feel like I saw a lot of nuns on television, and the nuns that Tara were writing were very interesting."

What if, they wondered, they put their ideas together.

It wasn't quite serendipity. Head of TV programming at NBCUniversal/Peacock Susan Rovner originally introduced the duo because, according to Hernandez and Lindelof, they were the strangest writers she knew.

The result is the Peacock original series "Mrs. Davis," an eight-episode battle between an all-knowing artificial intelligence called Mrs. Davis and a vigilante nun named Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin), who has a distaste for phony magic and sets out to destroy the AI. The show jumps between genres (comedy, sci-fi, mystery, whodunit, love story, family drama, to name a few) and continents, eras and tone. And it's hard to explain it without giving too much away, but suffice it to say that "Mrs. Davis" offers an absurdist take on an underground resistance in one scene and contemplates the meaning of life in the next, all with a knowing wink to let its viewers know that they're in on the joke.

When Lindelof called Gilpin, whom he'd worked with on the controversial movie "The Hunt," to ask whether she'd be interested in a show titled "Mrs. Davis," he refused to tell her what it was about. The "GLOW" actress, busy raising her then-newborn daughter, erroneously imagined a story about a 1950s housewife who goes insane and kills everyone. No nuns involved. "I want to play Mrs. Davis whatever that is," she thought during that first phone call, hoping Lindelof would ask her to play the title character. But when she got the first two scripts, everything clicked.

"It was one of those moments where you sort of feel sick to your stomach in wanting something so bad," she says, adding, perhaps only half-jokingly, that even the props department were euphoric because they were so excited about the gadgets they were getting to make.

The first four episodes, which air on April 20 followed by one each week, follow Sister Simone and her childhood friend, Wiley (Jake McDorman), on a quest to find the Holy Grail, which takes them through intertwining storylines and multilayered mysteries. Lindelof's specialty.

The timing certainly didn't hurt.

"A lot of the heavy lifting has now been done for us because when you say 'AI,'" he says, "if the show had come out even a year ago, it would've been, like, abstract or nerdy or sci-fi; now, it's something that is in our lives whether we like it or not, and everybody's worried about it."

Considering Hernandez and Lindelof hadn't heard about ChatGPT until they sold the show and got into the writer's room with 40 percent written and a firm background on Mrs. Davis's plotline, the timing is indeed uncanny: Mrs. Davis is, essentially, what ChatGPT could be in just a few years as the OpenAI-owned chatbot becomes more advanced. Without intending to, Hernandez and Lindelof made a series that directly taps into the current cultural zeitgeist.

To fully flesh out their AI, the pair staffed the writer's room with tech experts, including an MIT graduate who created an algorithm to generate episode titles. It failed because it didn't understand what a title was, because it didn't understand what an episode was, because it didn't understand what a story was.

"We keep thinking that these [AI] are going to become so smart that they just launch all the nukes and destroy humankind," says Lindelof. "But they really only want one thing [in this show]. And I'm not going to tell you what they want, but it's not going to be some massive revelation. Ultimately, they're in it for the likes and they're in it for the lols."

Stories of AI are nothing new - Skynet from "The Terminator" franchise, Hal from the "Space Odyssey" series, the Matrix from "The Matrix," David from "A.I." - but those usually feature tech taking over and destroying, or attempting to destroy, humanity. In this case, the nun is seeking destruction, and Mrs. Davis is basically trying to save humanity. Allegedly. She (It, Simone emphasizes repeatedly in the show) wants to help us, so she/it says. She/it has, presumably, stopped all the wars, famine and inequality in the world and created a better place for humanity. If you believe what she/it tells you.

"[We've] seen the robots taking over," says Hernandez. "That's been done very successfully, time and time again. We wanted to completely flip that on its head and say, what if doesn't want to destroy us, it wants to help us? Or it's going to present that it wants to help us. That felt like a really fun challenge. [And now,] it all feels like an incredible marketing scheme that has worked in our favor."

Gilpin describes the show as "No Country for Old Looney Toons," and revels in the braided genres she gets to act in. "In the morning we're doing a psychological drama," she says. "Then by midday, it's a gripping love story. And in the afternoon, I'm basically slipping on a banana peel. I get to do all the things that I dreamed about as a kid - the Katherine Hepburn-meets-Charlie Chaplin stuff."

Gilpin's character on "Mrs. Davis" sharply mirrors her own life: Lizzie grew up backstage with her magician parents and then became a nun, and Gilpin grew up backstage in the New York theater community with her actor parents and then her dad became an Episcopalian priest. Though she doesn't count herself religious, the show has made Gilpin ruminate on the brain's capability of accessing the intangible, whether that be spirituality, creativity or full capacity of thought.

"In raising my daughter," Gilpin says, "I battle with and think about protecting her from screens like they're poison. And then I can't pee without watching a YouTube video! I'm protecting her from something that I'm completely addicted to myself. The more we look at our phones and are a slave to the internet, the more that that portal [to the intangible] kind of gets sealed off. Like, we're really playing with fire."
Kirk Kirkland

Art Weston of Union, Kentucky, recently flew to Texas to catch some record-breaking fish in the Trinity River near Hunstvilleand that he did. On Sunday, with the help of the "world's best alligator gar guide" Captain Kirk Kirkland, Weston was able to catch and release a gargantuan 251-pound alligator gar that would beat the current International Game Association (IGFA) fishing world record for the 80-pound line class by a whopping 60 pounds.

The fishermen used a piece of carp for bait, cast it out into the river and waited for fish to bite. "This particular one was very strong so we actually suspected it might have been an actual alligator," Weston said about his catch. "It actually turned the boat around in a circle when we were fighting it." After battling with the fish for 25 minutes, Kirkland managed to lasso the river monster once it finally surfaced by the boat. Because the gar was too heavy to pull onto their boat, they moved the vessel to the shore.
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP)  Four corrections officers in western Michigan avoided incarceration with plea bargains Thursday in the 2019 death of a jailed man who suffered multiple seizures while in a cell.

Muskegon County sheriffs Sgt. David Vanderlaan and Deputies Jeffrey Patterson, Crystal Greve and Jamal Lane pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty and were sentenced in Muskegon County Circuit Court to 100 hours of community service and fined $1,000.
WASHINGTON - The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department dialed back tensions this week after Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) agreed not to videotape a transcribed interview with a mid-level FBI employee, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.

The FBI employee was the first witness to appear before the committee who was not videotaped after Justice Department officials on Monday threatened to cancel the witnesses appearance if Jordan did not agree to the bureau's terms of a transcribed interview only, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Jordan, who chairs the subcommittee investigating the alleged weaponization of the federal government, has requested transcribed interviews from over a dozen current and former FBI employees as part of the committee's search for bias against conservatives in the federal government. The behind-the-scenes negotiations over videotaping witnesses have become a flash point in the weaponization subcommittee's strategy, as Justice Department officials have drawn a red line at being filmed during closed-door proceedings.

"The Department is committed to working with Congress to respond to legitimate oversight requests," a spokeswoman for the Justice Department said in a statement. "So far this Congress, the Department has made employees available for briefings, interviews, and hearings, and has provided tens of thousands of pages of documents in response to the Judiciary Committee's requests."

"The Department's longstanding policy, in place across administrations and accepted across Congresses, has been to make employees available for interviews transcribed in writing to meet Congress's informational needs. The Department, including the FBI, has and will continue to work diligently to accommodate the Committee's requests," the spokeswoman added, without directly addressing the issue of videotaping employees.

It's unclear what the committee plans to do with the video recordings of closed-door interviews or whether it will continue to videotape witnesses. But Democratic lawmakers and Justice Department officials have privately expressed concerns about potential harassment against those whom Jordan has publicly identified or subpoenaed.

Some on Jordan's team pointed to a videotaped deposition provided by Elvis Chan, a supervisory agent for the FBI who testified as part of a lawsuit against the Biden administration about alleged attempts to censor conservative voices on social media, as precedent for the committee's recordings. However, Chan's appearance was a deposition in a court case overseen by a judge, while witness appearances by government employees before Congress always involve a negotiation with the administration.

Jordan's team also has not provided the Justice Department with an informational need for videos, nor a reason for departing from long-standing practice, according to a person familiar with the matter who, like others who spoke to The Washington Post, did so on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations. Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Jordan, declined to comment on how the videos will be used.

Issues with the subcommittee's process have been raised by at least one former government employee who appeared before the panel earlier this year. That complaint has contributed to the deepening distrust between the committee and the Justice Department, according to people involved.

A lawyer for Jill Sanborn, the former assistant director of the FBI's national security branch, sent a letter to lawyers for the Judiciary Committee and the FBI earlier this month that raised concerns about apparent technical glitches in the video recording of Sanborn's appearance in February.

Sanborn's lawyer, Carter Burwell, who reviewed the video with Republican counsel for the committee, noted that two sections of Sanborn's interview "are missing from the recording entirely," according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Post.

"We note that one of the missing sections, comprising the first 13 pages of the transcript, includes your explanation of the interview's ground rules," Burwell wrote. "In light of the technical glitches we identified and, most importantly, the failure to record the applicable rules for the interview, we respectfully ask that Chairman Jordan agree to discard the video and use the written transcript as the only record."

Dye said in a statement that Sanborn could appear before the committee again to retape her interview if she wished. He did not address Burwell's request to strike the video from the record.

"The minor technical issues on the video recording of Ms. Sanborn's interview had no bearing the substance of the interview," Dye said. "If Ms. Sanborn insists, however, we are happy to have her back in before the Committee."

Democrats on the committee have had access to transcripts of interviews Jordan has conducted, but they have been denied access to videotapes of the interviews, according to people involved with the investigation.

A spokesperson for Democrats on the Judiciary Committee declined to comment.

The practice of using prerecorded clips of witness interviews to present findings to the public was popularized by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Those clips were then edited together to create a series of documentary-style reports, strategically played during the committee's public hearings.

The practice has introduced a new layer of negotiations between committees and witnesses, as congressional committees have historically rarely recorded depositions.

However, current government staffers who appeared before Jan. 6 committee investigators did not provide videotaped transcribed interviews, and those who did appear on camera were former staff members who did not fall under the Justice Department's policy and negotiated the terms of their appearances themselves.

Jordan has faced some scrutiny over his handling of the marquee subcommittee that has been charged with leading the probe into some of Republicans' biggest targets in the federal government. While his peers on the panel have defended his work thus far, some on the right have criticized Jordan for being slow to beef up the subcommittee's staff and insufficiently aggressive in issuing subpoenas for interviews and testimony. Democrats, and even some Republicans, also have criticized Jordan for a lack of substantive findings.

Jordan on Monday hosted a field hearing in New York, styled to cover "Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan." In practice, the hearing was largely a salvo in the GOP's battle against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor pressing charges against former president Donald Trump related to hush money payments. Bragg has sued Jordan over what he called a "brazen and unconstitutional attack" on his office.
ATLANTA (AP)  The family of a man who died in a bedbug-infested cell in a Georgia jails psychiatric wing is calling for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the facility.

Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after being booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Thompson's family, called for those responsible for his death to be held accountable.

What you're looking at, I think, is not just a deplorable jail cell, but this is a crime scene. This is criminal, Crump said as he held up a photo of Thompson's dirty, trash-strewn cell during a news conference and rally Thursday in front of the jail.

Photos of the cell and of Thompson's face and body covered in insects sparked outrage last week when they spread on social media after his family's local attorney, Michael Harper, released them to news outlets. The medical examiners report lists Thompson's cause of death as undetermined but notes a severe bed bug infestation.

Crump called for local leaders to be held accountable, including the sheriff, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and the Atlanta City Council, repeating the slogan, We ain't gonna let you pass the baton. Justice for Lashawn. He urged local activists to attend an upcoming county board of commissioners meeting to demand answers about Thompson's death.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat who chairs the Senate Human Rights Subcommittee, announced Thursday that he is launching a new inquiry into conditions of incarceration in Georgia and across the country. He cited news reports last week about Thompson's death and the death of Joshua McLemore, a 29-year-old with a history of mental illness who died of multiple organ failure in August 2021 at an Indiana jail.

Harper has said jail staff did nothing to address Thompsons deteriorating health in the weeks before his death and has called for a criminal investigation. Thompson had been arrested June 12 on a misdemeanor battery charge.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat met with Thompson's family Thursday and spoke alongside them at the news conference outside the jail.

We understand, and I have said this publicly, this is absolutely unconscionable, point blank, Labat said.

Labat said that once investigations into Thompson's death  an internal one by his office and another by the Atlanta Police Department  are complete, they will be turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Since Thompson's death gained publicity last week, Labat has expressed his condolences to the family and had three top jail officials resign. He announced Wednesday that he had secured an additional $5.3 million from the county board of commissioners to provide upgrades at the jail, including increased monitoring in the psychiatric and medical units and more frequent high-level sanitation of those units.

In a separate statement released Thursday evening, Labat acknowledged that the problems at the jail are not new and that it has been operating in crisis mode for decades. The facility cannot provide safe and humane detention" and a new jail is needed, he said.

He also said the jail's medical provider terminated its contract for jail services on Tuesday and that his office is reviewing proposals for a new medical provider.

Critics  including some who yelled questions and accusations at Labat during the news conference  have said Labat didn't act until the conditions surrounding Thompson's death became public. And they allege Labat, who took office in January 2021, is using Thompson's death to bolster his push for a new jail when they say he has long failed to address serious chronic problems at the current jail.

Tiffany Roberts, public policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights, which advocates for the rights of people in the criminal justice system, said the nonprofit law firm has successfully sued the county four times over conditions at the jail but has seen little improvement.

How dare this sheriff stand with a grieving family, pat their backs, make platitudes while he is asking for $2 billion to transfer this problem to a larger and more expensive facility," she said during the news conference. How long will we hide from the reality that Fulton County is chronically dysfunctional and there is no humanity in a system like this?
WASHINGTON - The threat by several House Republicans to vote against a border security package if it wasn't changed during a Wednesday committee hearing seems to have worked, lessening the chances of lawmakers killing the legislation tied to a major campaign promise.

As many as a dozen Republicans would have voted against the bill if it had made it to the House floor without amending it in committee, according to five people familiar with the dynamics. Roughly 10 other people familiar with the negotiations told The Washington Post that the number of "no" votes remained fluid as lawmakers continue to seek consensus. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing internal negotiations.

The threat to scuttle the legislation is an escalation in a months-long debate among House Republicans over how to fulfill a campaign pledge to address border security. But with only four votes to spare, the margin is vanishingly slim for finding a solution all factions of the Republican conference can agree on.

While concerns remain over e-verification and parole language included in the overall legislation, a significant shift occurred during the Judiciary Committee hearing when Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) amended his own controversial legislation that would have temporarily halted migrants' legal right to asylum if any port of entry becomes overwhelmed. Rather than shut down asylum if any port of entry is overwhelmed with undocumented migrants, the new proposal would instead require asylum seekers to remain in Mexico until their court date in the United States. Putting such a policy in effect, however, would require cooperation from Mexico.

"The legislative process works best when we have engaged and thorough conversation. We're having a thorough debate on our side of the aisle," Roy said before his compromise measure was adopted at the hearing.

Several members warned that if changes to Roy's initial proposal were not adopted, it would have gotten "ugly very fast," one member said.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas) has repeatedly chastised Roy's initial proposal for infringing on legal immigration pathways. Republican leaders worked to iron out the differences among members over the past several weeks rather than on the House floor.

"I'm not an island. I'm a tip of an iceberg, and what I'm saying is not because I have some issue with somebody. It's because it's bad policy for a lot of members that are in tough [districts President Biden won]," Gonzales said, noting opposition to the package isn't just among Hispanic lawmakers. "We won the majority by winning these seats, and why would you put them in a bad spot unless you wanted to?"

After multiple delays to find consensus on a tranche of eight bills, opposition only swelled after the Judiciary Committee released the text Monday. Provisions related to e-verification for workers, temporary visa updates and debates over restricting access to "parole" for certain noncitizens have irritated Republicans who represent districts with large Hispanic and agricultural communities.

Judiciary Republicans debated the bill with Democrats for seven hours Wednesday after those opposed to current asylum, parole and E-Verify proposals had worked into the evening Tuesday to see whether tweaks could be made to appease concerns. There was fear any significant changes would mean risking support from staunchly conservative lawmakers, but that did not appear to be the case after Roy's bill changed.

Though the temperature may have decreased slightly, myriad concerns still remain. Republican Reps. Dan Newhouse (Wash.) and David G. Valadao (Calif.), both of whom represent rural districts, are continuing to negotiate with their staunchly conservative counterparts over the E-Verify portion of the bill. South Florida Republicans and several others representing Hispanic communities have concerns over language that would severely limit parole to certain noncitizens, such as some Venezuelans and Cubans who are allowed to temporarily reside or stay in the United States for certain reasons.

Republican unity was tested at a news conference Tuesday morning, during which several members of the all-Republican Congressional Hispanic Conference preempted the Judiciary markup, irritating leadership. Leadership staff even called several Hispanic Republicans to dissuade them from attending, according to three people familiar with the outreach.

Gonzales said the news conference was meant to emphasize real concerns at the border with testimonials by agents and the Tambunga family, whose relatives were killed after a driver transporting undocumented migrants and fleeing police crashed into their truck. Gonzales said he recently told an influential colleague, "You know if I'm voting no against the package, the package is failing. This has to do with us wanting to pass meaningful legislation as best as possible."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.) - who has for years played a role in immigration reform debates - still emphasized his confidence that a deal would get done, saying, "The one thing that is totally unacceptable is inaction."

Lawmakers remain confident they can find a solution, but it still hinges on several steps falling into place after the Judiciary, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees all pass varying bills by the end of next week. Some Republicans have also worked to amend the Homeland Security proposal to allot more resources to aid border patrol agents and hopefully include language that designates cartels as terrorist organizations.

Once all bills are passed out of committees, members expect leaders to allow for an open amendment process so lawmakers could put proposed changes up for a floor vote. Those amendments that pass would be added into the package before the final vote.

"I think we can get something done. We have to. That's what we ran on," said Rep. Juan Ciscomani, who recently flipped a Democratic district on the Arizona-Mexico border.

Yet numerous lawmakers who have been skeptical throughout the process remain deeply worried that the amendment exercise would be for naught, since their amendments would likely fail on a full floor vote. They want reassurance now that they can get support across the conference.

Judiciary leaders already delayed the bill's markup twice after realizing there was not enough time to prepare legislation that had broad support. In an effort to speed up the process, leadership demanded over the weekend that the eight initial bills the committee was going to address individually be packaged into one, leading to a scramble to rework text - which some admit has led to "duplicative" language - and cutting into the time for lawmakers to decide on whether to support the package.

"I need to see what comes out of committee," Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) said Tuesday. "I was concerned about what went into committee, but I was hoping what comes out of committees is a better bill. I really just don't know."

Several Hispanic Republicans and vulnerable incumbents also have said they would not support legislation that would hinder asylum claims.

"As an immigrant myself, I will never support anything that doesn't allow for valid asylum claims. That's what America is all about. But America is also about laws and America is about legal immigration," Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (Fla.) said.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which sent a letter to lawmakers in January describing Roy's bill as "antithetical to our nation's moral principles," has also told the Judiciary Committee that it opposes the bill, according to Chieko Noguchi, the executive director of the conference's Washington public affairs office.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and a dozen other agriculture groups, meanwhile, sent a letter to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio) on Wednesday urging him not to pass the bill "without concurrent, meaningful legislation to address the labor crisis faced by America's farmers, ranchers and growers."

The trade groups estimate the bill's E-Verify provisions "would cause agricultural production to fall by $60 billion dollars, and food prices to increase by 5-6 percent," they warned in the letter, which was obtained by The Post. "This would be crushing to an already struggling and vulnerable industry."

In response to ongoing criticism, Roy said Tuesday that the package will ensure that undocumented migrants are not released into the United States and that people claiming asylum with "an actual credible fear of persecution of religious or political beliefs" will be protected.

"The goal here is to not allow asylum to be used as a back door to the immigration system. We think we've got language now that is largely accomplishing that," he said. "We're just having to figure out how to get it exactly right."

- - -

The Washington Post's Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed to this report.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  A Kansas City man was sentenced Thursday to nearly 22 years in federal prison for committing a hate crime when he shot and wounded a teenager because of the victim's sexual orientation, prosecutors said.

Malachi Robinson, 25, pleaded guilty in July to violating federal hate crime laws when he shot the 16-year-old eight times on May 29, 2019. He was sentenced Thursday to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.
The White House on Thursday stepped up criticism of legislation unveiled by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that would condition support for raising the debt limit on deep spending cuts, arguing that the approach would "take a hatchet to programs Americans rely on every day to make ends meet."

"Every House Republican who votes for this bill is voting to cut education, veterans medical care, cancer research, Meals on Wheels, food safety and law enforcement," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement in which she also warned of other far-reaching consequences, including loss of health insurance and higher energy bills for some Americans.

McCarthy's legislation, unveiled Thursday, would cut the federal budget back to levels adopted in fiscal 2022, which could amount to $130 billion of spending cuts for 2024.

The bill does not specify the exact agencies or programs on the chopping block, leaving the task to lawmakers on congressional appropriations committees.

While that could make it easier for some Republicans to support the legislation, the lack of specificity has left GOP lawmakers wide open to criticism about where the cuts would be likely to occur. Given that Republicans have signaled that they will leave the Pentagon and services for veterans untouched, reductions almost certainly would have to be made in a wide array of health, education, energy and other programs.

Jean-Pierre's statement offered a preview of attacks Democrats are likely to direct at Republicans in next year's elections, particularly those who represent districts Biden carried in 2020.

McCarthy also has proposed capping any growth in federal agencies' future budgets at 1 percent, further hoping to save the government money.

Both Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) offered fresh criticism of the legislation and the House Republican tactics Thursday.

Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor, called McCarthy's bill a "partisan wish list masquerading as legislation" and said it has "no chance" of moving forward in the Senate.

"It doesn't move us any closer than we were yesterday to avoiding default," Schumer said.

Jeffries warned of "catastrophic consequences" if the United States defaults on its debt.

"A default will crash the stock market and impact people's retirements," he said. "A default will trigger a job killing recession, and a default will dramatically increase costs on everyday Americans. That is not to be played with."

In her statement, Jean-Pierre accused McCarthy of having sided "with the extreme MAGA wing of his conference," a reference to former president Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"MAGA House Republicans are holding the American economy hostage in order to take a hatchet to programs Americans rely on every day to make ends meet," Jean-Pierre said. "House Republicans must avoid default and stop playing economic brinkmanship with the American people's livelihoods and retirements."

During a briefing later Thursday at the White House, Jean-Pierre reiterated some of the potential cuts and mentioned several GOP lawmakers by name whose districts have benefited from the announcement of planned manufacturing facilities lured by tax credits in legislation McCarthy would now roll back.

"Will Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene vote to eliminate the investments helping to create 2,500 solar manufacturing jobs in her district?" Jean-Pierre asked of the Georgia congresswoman.

McCarthy is hopeful that passage of the legislation in his chamber will drive Biden to the negotiating table. Biden thus far has insisted on passage of a bill that raises the debt limit without conditions - as Republicans were willing to do three times during Trump's presidency. After that, he has said, he will talk to Republicans about spending cuts.

At a forum Thursday, BlackRock Inc. Vice Chairman Philipp Hildebrand said a U.S. default on its debt must not happen.

"All we can do is to pray that everyone in the United States understands how important the sanctity of the sovereign signature of the leading currency, of the leading bond market, of the leading economy in the world is," Hildebrand, a former president of the Swiss central bank, said at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Europe forum. "This is not something you want to mess with."

During an appearance Wednesday at a labor union facility in Maryland, Biden assailed the proposals coming from Republicans as "wacko" notions that could lead to a default.

At least one Senate Democrat would like to see Biden start negotiations with McCarthy. In a statement Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said it has been 78 days since Biden and McCarthy last met.

"This signals a deficiency of leadership, and it must change," Manchin said. "The fact is we are long past time for our elected leaders to sit down and discuss how to solve this impending debt ceiling crisis."

Manchin praised McCarthy for putting forward a bill but noted he doesn't agree with everything in it.

McCarthy's bill also would unwind some of Biden's priorities and recent legislative accomplishments, including his program to cancel college student debt. It would repeal broad portions of recently enacted tax policies meant to incentivize the deployment of green energy and require millions of low-income Americans who receive food stamps and health insurance from the federal government to work longer hours in exchange for benefits.

McCarthy plans to bring the legislation to the House floor as soon as next week. Republicans have 222 votes in the House, so the speaker can afford to lose only four to prevail.

At the center of the fight is the debt ceiling, the legal limit on how much the United States can borrow to pay its bills.

The United States hit its current limit - set at $31 trillion - in January, prompting the Treasury Department to start making special maneuvers to continue paying federal bills and stave off a fiscal calamity. But the Biden administration may run out of options as soon as early June.

- - -

The Washington Post's Tony Romm contributed to this report.
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MyPillow founder and prominent election denier Mike Lindell made a bold offer ahead of a "cyber symposium" he held in August 2021 in South Dakota: He claimed he had data showing Chinese interference and said he would pay $5 million to anyone who could prove the material was not from the previous year's U.S. election.

He called the challenge "Prove Mike Wrong."

On Wednesday, a private arbitration panel ruled that someone had.

The panel said Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and 63-year-old Trump voter from Nevada, was entitled to the $5 million payout.

Zeidman had examined Lindell's data and concluded that it not only did not prove voter fraud, it had no connection to the 2020 election. He was the only expert who submitted a claim, arbitration records show.

He turned to the arbitrators after Lindell Management, which created the contest, refused to pay him.

In their 23-page decision, the arbitrators said Zeidman proved that Lindell's material "unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data." They directed Lindell's firm to pay Zeidman within 30 days.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Zeidman said he was "really happy" with the arbitrators' decision. "They clearly saw this as I did - that the data we were given at the symposium was not at all what Mr. Lindell said it was," he said. "The truth is finally out there."

Zeidman's attorney Brian Glasser said that the panel's decision stood as a warning to others who made wild allegations about election fraud. "I think the arbitrators thought it important that these claims be vetted, because they've done great harm to our country," he said.

Lindell said in a text to The Post, "They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!" His attorneys did not reply to a request seeking comment.

A copy of contest rules submitted in the arbitration said disputes would be "resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration" and noted that arbitration "is subject to very limited review by courts."

Glasser said that the panel's decision cannot be directly appealed but that Lindell could ask a federal court to quash it on the basis that it represented a "manifest injustice." The statutory grounds for such a claim are narrow and it is "extremely rare" for such a claim to succeed, according to Glasser.

Lindell also faces a $1.3 billion defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems and a defamation lawsuit from one of Dominion's former executives.

In the months after Trump's 2020 election loss, Lindell spent millions of dollars to finance lawsuits, support right-wing activists nationwide and launch a streaming television station dedicated to amplifying election-fraud falsehoods.

During frequent media appearances, he had advertised his three-day symposium as the event where he would finally provide data proving his claims. And he issued his high-stakes challenge.

"There's a $5 million prize for anybody that can prove the election data that I have from the 2020 election was false, is not from the 2020 election," Lindell said on the conservative show "The Glazov Gang," which streams online.

The data he planned to reveal, he said, were "packet captures" that he said would demonstrate Chinese government interference. Packet captures, or "pcaps," are a specific file format that is an industry standard for archiving internet traffic.

"They were captured in real time and preserved. They cannot be altered . . . they're 100 percent evidence," Lindell said on the show. "So it will show an intrusion. This was an attack from China."

The symposium, he later told arbitrators, was meant to "do three things: to make the media show up, cyber guys show up, and politicians to open their eyes and say, 'Hey, we got to check into this.'"

Lindell's claims that he had packet captures intrigued Zeidman, who has served as an expert for tech firms in intellectual property lawsuits. Describing himself as a "reasonable" and "moderate conservative" who voted twice for Donald Trump, Zeidman told the arbitration panel he was skeptical of Lindell's claims. But he said he also did not believe Lindell would promote unvetted data, so he thought the conference could offer a "great chance to see history in the making, perhaps an election overturned."

At the event, Zeidman received contest rules. There was no mention of disproving Chinese interference, according to contest forms submitted in the arbitration case. Rather, winners would have to prove that the data provided "does NOT reflect information related to the November 2020 election."

At the symposium, participants interested in the contest were given a badge with a hot-pink dot to indicate they were cyber experts and could enter a room where Lindell's data was shared.

The files provided to Zeidman and other experts were primarily text or PDF files. Zeidman testified that one was a flow chart purporting to show how elections generally work. Another, when unencrypted, was a list of internet IP addresses, and others were enormous files of what appeared to Zeidman to be random numbers and letters.

The packet captures Lindell had promised were nowhere to be found, according to Zeidman.

Zeidman laid out his findings in a 15-page report. "I have proven that the data Lindell provides . . . unequivocally does not contain packet data of any kind and do not contain any information related to the November 2020 election," he wrote.

Six weeks after the symposium, Zeidman sent a letter to Lindell Management to claim the prize. He got back a denial, and the following month he filed for arbitration, a type of proceeding that allows parties to resolve disputes outside of the court system.

The private arbitration proceedings in Lindell's home state of Minnesota included written briefs, depositions and a three-day hearing in January with sworn testimony from Zeidman, Lindell, subject-matter experts and witnesses. The Post obtained records from the proceeding.

Asked why he had decided to go to the trouble of seeking a hearing, Zeidman testified that he wanted the money and wanted to push back against stolen-election claims. "Mr. Lindell has a lot of followers," Zeidman said. "He's making a lot of statements to people that I know, people that are good friends of mine, people that are influential. And they are claiming that he has the data that shows that this election was stolen."

Zeidman's lawyers wrote to the panel that the data presented at the symposium contained "no recognizable data in any known data format."

Lindell testified at arbitration that he did not share what he had described as his key data to support the foreign intrusion claim during the conference. He held off, he said, after a man seeking a selfie poked him in the side as the symposium was nearing an end - an act that Lindell called an assault and said he took as a signal the government might tamper with his central information if he made it public.

Lindell told the panel that, after the incident, his "red team" advisers warned him against making that inform public. "They said it could be a poison pill put in the data and we really shouldn't release the China stuff," he said.

The arbitrators did not address the substance of Lindell's claims about vote tampering, noting that they were "not asked to decide whether China interfered in the 2020 election."
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Daniel Kiel, University of Memphis

(THE CONVERSATION) As public attention focuses on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas close personal and financial relationship with a politically active conservative billionaire, the scrutiny is overlooking a key role Thomas has played for nearly three decades on the nations highest court.

Thomas predecessor on the court, Thurgood Marshall, was a civil rights lawyer before becoming a justice. In 1991, in his final opinion before retiring after a quarter century on the court, Marshall warned that his fellow justices growing appetite to revisit  and reverse  prior decisions would ultimately squander the authority and legitimacy of this Court as a protector of the powerless.

His prediction has been quoted by Supreme Court decisions since, including a three-justice dissent from the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization ruling that declared there was no constitutional right to reproductive choice and overturned Roe v. Wade.

In his concurrence with the majority decision in that case, Thomas declared his opposition to Marshalls principle, lamenting that the court had not done more to pare back its prior work. In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Courts substantive due process precedents, Thomas wrote  directly implicating Americans rights to sexual privacy and same-sex marriage.

Throughout Thomas tenure he has pushed the Supreme Court to revisit prior decisions that embraced robust rights for societys most vulnerable, and to replace Marshalls vision with one more amenable to the powerful than the powerless. And in writing my book tracing the lives and work of both justices, I have seen the fruits of this effort multiply over the past decade.

A shield for those in need

Few phrases could so aptly capture Thurgood Marshalls vision of the courts work as protector of the powerless. And few, if any, Americans have done as much to make that vision a reality.

Marshalls work to advance Black citizenship is well known, but he also fought for expanded rights for women and the indigent, the accused and convicted, adherents to marginalized religions and those with unpopular viewpoints.

At the root of Marshalls jurisprudence was a hope that while law could be a powerful tool of oppression, it might also be a shield.

As he wrote in that final dissent, in Payne v. Tennessee, enforcement of constitutional rights frequently requires this Court to rein in the forces of democratic politics, to protect the powerless from the tyranny of the majority.

While his Payne dissent criticized the court for reversing itself, Marshall was no stranger to calling for reconsideration of established law. Marshalls signature accomplishment as a lawyer in Brown v. Board of Education was to convince the court to overturn the doctrine of separate but equal that had emerged after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

As a justice, Marshall argued passionately and repeatedly that the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendments prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, leading to a brief period where it was considered unconstitutional.

The distinction between Marshall and Thomas is not really about whether the court should reverse past decisions but simply which ones.

While Marshall willed the court to become a protector of the powerless, Thomas has, I believe, argued not only to scale that vision back, but to advance the interests of the powerful.

Power as a key factor

While last summers abortion decision is an obvious example, Thomas has led the courts assault on precedent in other areas as well.

For example, years before the court invalidated portions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, Thomas had argued that the lack of modern voting discrimination made the act unnecessary.

Similarly, recent decisions have followed Thomas lead in weakening the vitality of the First Amendments Establishment Clause, which fortifies the separation between church and state.

Thomas has even called for the court to reconsider its ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, which established a constitutional right to a lawyer for indigent criminal defendants.

In each case, it is the powerless who stand to be most significantly affected.

Those in need of constitutional protection in Thomas view are more likely to be property owners, corporations making campaign contributions or gun owners.

On affirmative action

Perhaps no topic better captures the distinction between the two mens views than affirmative action, which the court is considering in a pair of cases from Harvard and the University of North Carolina to be decided this term.

The distrust of government that fuels many of Thomas perspectives is never more personal than in cases about the use of race in college admissions. He has railed against affirmative action, saying it brands Black people in prominent positions with a stigma about whether their skin color played a part in their advancement.

Indeed, Thomas claims his position requiring colorblindness is a better path toward full Black citizenship. He has made that claim even in situations where he knew it would result in more limited access to opportunities for Black students in the short term.

Marshall always looked at the issue from a different perspective, arguing that access to opportunities was essential not only for the Black students affected but for the nation at large.

If we are ever to become a fully integrated society, one in which the color of a persons skin will not determine the opportunities available to him or her, Marshall wrote in 1977, we must be willing to take steps to open those doors.

It was access for the powerless that Marshall thought ought drive the thinking of the court.

But this summer, the court may finally embrace a different vision on affirmative action, coming again to a position Thomas has been advocating for decades.

That turn would be yet another reversal squandering Marshalls vision of the court.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-moves-to-reverse-the-legacy-of-his-predecessor-thurgood-marshall-203626.
An attorney from Westport is among the members of the legal team for Dominion Voting Systems that on Tuesday won a nearly $800 million settlement from Fox News, averting a trial over the network's airing of lies about the 2020 presidential election.

Stephen Shackelford, a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP, was named co-lead counsel in the voting machine company's lawsuit against Fox in 2021, according to his profile on the firm's website. In Westport, Shackelford serves as a member the Representative Town Meeting, an elected position, according to the town clerk's office.

Shackelford's profile states he graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005 and clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer between 2006 and 2007.

The settlement between Dominion and Fox came as opening statements in the trial were set to begin on Tuesday.

The settlement abruptly ended a case that had embarrassed Fox News over several months and raised the possibility that network founder Rupert Murdoch and stars such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity would have to testify publicly.

The truth matters. Lies have consequences, another Dominion lawyer, Justin Nelson, told reporters outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced the deal.

Outside of the $787.5 million promised to Colorado-based Dominion, it was unclear what other consequences Fox would face. Fox acknowledged in a statement the courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false, but no apology was offered.

We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues, Fox said. Its lawyers and representatives offered no other comment or details about the settlement.

Asked by a reporter whether there was anything to this other than money, Dominion CEO John Poulos did not answer.

The deal is a significant amount of money even for a company the size of Fox. It represents about one-quarter of the $2.96 billion the company reported earning last year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization  a figure often used to approximate a companys cash flow.

The settlement also follows a $965 million judgment issued last year against Alex Jones by a Connecticut jury for spreading false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.

Coupled with other lawsuits in the pipeline, the agreement shows there is a real financial risk for conservative media that traffic in conspiracy theories. What remains unknown is how much of a deterrent this will be. Even as the Dominion case loomed this spring, Foxs Tucker Carlson aired his alternate theories about what happened at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion, arguing that the top-rated news outlet damaged the companys reputation by peddling phony conspiracy theories that claimed its equipment switched votes from former President Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. Davis, in an earlier ruling, said it was CRYSTAL clear that none of the allegations about Dominion aired on Fox by Trump allies were true.

Dominion set out to prove in the lawsuit that Fox acted with malice in airing allegations that it knew to be false, or with reckless disregard for the truth. It presented volumes of internal emails and text messages that showed Fox executives and personalities saying they knew the accusations were untrue, even as the falsehoods were aired on programs hosted by Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeannine Pirro.

Records released as part of the lawsuit showed that Fox aired the claims in part to win back viewers who were fleeing the network after it correctly called hotly contested Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on election night. One Fox Corp. vice president called them MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS.

During a deposition, Murdoch testified that he believed the 2020 election was fair and had not been stolen from Trump.

Fox knew the truth, Dominion argued in court papers. It knew the allegations against Dominion were outlandish and crazy and ludicrous and nuts. Yet it used the power and influence of its platform to promote that false story.

Several First Amendment experts said Dominions case was among the strongest they had ever seen. But there was real doubt about whether Dominion would be able to prove to a jury that people in a decision-making capacity at Fox could be held responsible for the networks actions.

Dominions Nelson called the settlement a tremendous victory and noted that there are six more lawsuits pending regarding election claims.

We settled because it was about accountability, Nelson said in an interview. Our goals were to make sure that there was accountability for the lies, and to try to make our client right. And we accomplished both goals.

Its hard to tell what the deal will mean financially for Dominion. The company would not provide its most recent earnings, saying the figures were not public.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Davis significantly narrowed Foxs potential line of defense, including nixing the networks argument that it was merely airing newsworthy allegations. Newsworthiness is not a defense against defamation, he said.

In a March 31 ruling, he pointedly called out the network for airing falsehoods while noting that bogus election claims still persist more than two years after Trump lost his bid for reelection.

The statements at issue were dramatically different than the truth, Davis said in that ruling. In fact, although it cannot be attributed directly to Foxs statements, it is noteworthy that some Americans still believe the election was rigged.

In its defense, Fox said it was obligated to report on a president who claimed that he had been cheated out of reelection.

We never reported those to be true, Fox lawyer Erin Murphy said. All we ever did was provide viewers the true fact that these were allegations that were being made.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Ken Chitwood, University of Southern California

(THE CONVERSATION) Editors note: Eid al-Fitr, one of Islams principal festivals, will be celebrated April 21, 2023, according to the Fiqh Council of North America. At the end of June, Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Adha. Ken Chitwood, a scholar of global Islam, explains the two Islamic festivals.

1. What is Eid?

Eid literally means a festival or feast in Arabic. There are two major eids in the Islamic calendar per year  Eid al-Fitr earlier in the year and Eid al-Adha later.

Eid al-Fitr is a three-day-long festival and is known as the Lesser or Smaller Eid when compared to Eid al-Adha, which is four-days-long and is known as the Greater Eid.

2. Why is Eid celebrated twice a year?

The two Eids recognize, celebrate and recall two distinct events that are significant to the story of Islam.

Eid al-Fitr means the feast of breaking the fast. The fast, in this instance, is Ramadan, which recalls the revealing of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad and requires Muslims to fast from sunrise to sundown for a month.

3. How do Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr features two to three days of celebrations that include special morning prayers. People greet each other with Eid Mubarak, meaning Blessed Eid and with formal embraces. Sweet dishes are prepared at home and gifts are given to children and to those in need. In addition, Muslims are encouraged to forgive and seek forgiveness. Practices vary from country to country.

In many countries with large Muslim populations, Eid al-Fitr is a national holiday. Schools, offices and businesses are closed so family, friends and neighbors can enjoy the celebrations together. In the U.S. and the U.K., Muslims may request to have the day off from school or work to travel or celebrate with family and friends.

In countries like Egypt and Pakistan, Muslims decorate their homes with lanterns, twinkling lights or flowers. Special food is prepared and friends and family are invited over to celebrate.

In places like Jordan, with its Muslim majority population, the days before Eid al-Fitr can see a rush at local malls and special Ramadan markets as people prepare to exchange gifts on Eid al-Fitr.

In Turkey and in places that were once part of the Ottoman-Turkish empire such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Azerbaijan and the Caucasus, it is also known as the, Lesser Bayram or festival in Turkish.

4. How do Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha?

The other festival, Eid al-Adha, is the feast of the sacrifice. It comes at the end of the Hajj, an annual pilgrimage by millions of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia that is obligatory once in a lifetime, but only for those with means.

Eid al-Adha recalls the story of how God commanded Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismail as a test of faith. The story, as narrated in the Quran, describes Satans attempt to tempt Ibrahim so he would disobey Gods command. Ibrahim, however, remains unmoved and informs Ismail, who is willing to be sacrificed.

But, just as Ibrahim attempts to kill his son, God intervenes and a ram is sacrificed in place of Ismail. During Eid al-Adha, Muslims slaughter an animal to remember Ibrahims sacrifice and remind themselves of the need to submit to the will of God.

5. When are they celebrated?

Eid al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of the 10th month in the Islamic calendar.

Eid al-Adha is celebrated on the 10th day of the final month in the Islamic calendar.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and dates are calculated based on lunar phases. Since the Islamic calendar year is shorter than the solar Gregorian calendar year by 10 to 12 days, the dates for Ramadan and Eid on the Gregorian calendar can vary year by year.

6. What is the spiritual meaning of Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr, as it follows the fasting of Ramadan, is also seen as a spiritual celebration of Allahs provision of strength and endurance.

Amid the reflection and rejoicing, Eid al-Fitr is a time for charity, known as Zakat al-Fitr. Eid is meant to be a time of joy and blessing for the entire Muslim community and a time for distributing ones wealth.

Charity to the poor is a highly emphasized value in Islam. The Quran says,

Believe in Allah and his messenger, and give charity out of the (substance) that Allah has made you heirs of. For those of you who believe and give charity  for them is a great reward.

This piece incorporates materials from an article first published on Aug. 28, 2017. It was updated on April 20, 2023 to include the 2023 dates for Eid.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/what-is-eid-al-fitr-and-how-do-muslims-celebrate-it-6-questions-answered-118146.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Defense attorneys on Thursday finished presenting their trial testimony for the landmark case against former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio and four other group members charged with conspiring to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

Federal prosecutors have a right to call rebuttal witnesses to testify before jurors hear attorneys closing arguments and begin deliberating. The trial, which started more than three months ago, is scheduled to resume on Friday.

Lawyers for the five defendants rested their respective cases on the 50th day of trial testimony. The last defense witness to testify was one of the five defendants, Dominic Pezzola, who was a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.

The jury is poised to decide one of the most important cases from the Justice Department's investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Tarrio and his co-defendants are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a violent plot to keep Trump in the White House.

During a prosecutor's cross-examination on Thursday, Pezzola referred to the trial as corrupt and phony and said he was facing fake charges."

I just want the truth out, Pezzola said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson showed Pezzola a photograph of police officers scuffling with rioters storming the Capitol. The prosecutor asked Pezzola if he and the rest of the crowd were acting as an invading force.

We were acting as trespassing protesters, said Pezzola, who began testifying on Tuesday.

Jurors also saw a selfie" video that Pezzola took of himself after he entered the Capitol. He talked about taking a victory smoke on a cigar and said, I knew we could take this (expletive) if we just tried hard enough.

Pezzola, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, said he now feels idiotic" and ashamed that he recorded that video. He reiterated that he didn't know of any plot or plan for the Proud Boys to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6.

That was the most spontaneous thing I've ever witnessed in my life, he said of the riot.

Pezzola testified on Wednesday that he wasn't coordinating with any Proud Boys when he smashed a window with a riot shield stolen from one of the police officers guarding the Capitol.

Jurors have heard testimony by more than three dozen witnesses since the trial started in January. Prosecutors rested their case on March 20 but have the right to call more witnesses to rebut defense testimony.

Pezzola and Tarrio, a Miami resident, are on trial with Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of a Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia.

Rehl, the only other defendant to testify at the trial, said the group had no objective that day.

Tarrio wasn't in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. Police arrested him in the nation's capital two days before the riot on charges that he burned a churchs Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier march in the city. A judge ordered Tarrio to leave the city after his arrest.
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP)  The Nevada state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would strengthen existing protections for out-of-state abortion patients and in-state providers from outside prosecution and penalties as Democratic leadership vows to make the western swing state a safe haven for abortion patients.

A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo indicated that Lombardo could sign the bill as written.

Lombardo, who describes himself as pro-life and cites his Catholic faith, has said he would respect the will of voters who codified abortion rights up to 24 weeks in a 1990 referendum vote. He was the only Republican to defeat a state Democratic incumbent in the last election.

The Senate voted 15-6 in favor of the bill Wednesday, with Republicans Carrie Buck and Minority Leader Heidi Seevers Gansert joining Democratic support for the bill. In a tweet following the vote, the Nevada Republican Party said it was horrified that the two Republicans voted for the measure.

It now heads to the state Assembly, where Democrats hold a supermajority.

The bill would codify an executive order from former Gov. Steve Sisolak last year, barring state agencies from assisting other states in investigations that could lead to the prosecution of abortion patients and medical boards.

The provisions became a major flashpoint in one of the closest governors races of the 2022 midterms. Former Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak implemented the provisions as an executive order after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, before vowing on the campaign trail to make it law.

Lombardo originally said he would repeal the executive order before saying he would uphold it months later, a flip that Sisolak's campaign repeatedly emphasized.

Lombardo's spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray said in a text message that the governor has encouraged the Legislature to send a clean bill codifying the previous executive order to his desk, and he looks forward to reviewing the proposed legislation.

During an interview with Las Vegas-based radio station KNPR in February, Lombardo indicated he would sign the bill into law if it gets to his desk as written.

This particular item involving abortions, I could support if it stands on its own, he told the radio station.

As many states restrict abortion access, including neighboring Utah and Idaho, Nevada Democrats have vowed to preserve abortion access.

On Monday, the state Senate voted to move along a resolution that would enshrine the already-existing abortion rights in the state constitution, which would make it much harder to repeal. That would have to pass both the 2023 and 2025 biennial Legislatures before appearing in front of voters on the 2026 ballot.

___

Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)  President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has refused to sign into law a controversial new bill against homosexuality that prescribes the death penalty in some cases, requesting that it should be amended.

Museveni's decision was announced late Thursday after a meeting of lawmakers in his ruling party, almost all of whom support the bill approved by lawmakers last month.

The meeting resolved to return the bill to the national assembly with proposals for its improvement, a statement said.

Museveni condemned homosexuality during the meeting in the capital, Kampala, charging that Europe is lost. So they also want us to be lost," according to footage released by public broadcaster UBC.

Museveni also praised lawmakers for approving the bill, which has drawn international condemnation.

I congratulate you for that strong stand," he said in the released video. "It is good that you rejected the pressure from the imperialists. And this is what I told them. Whenever they come to me I say, You, please shut up."

A spokesman for the presidency said Museveni is not opposed to the punishments proposed in the bill but wants lawmakers to look into the issue of rehabilitation.

(Museveni) told the members that he had no objections to the punishments but on the issue of rehabilitation of the persons who have in the past been engaged in homosexuality but would like to live normal lives again," spokesman Sandor Walusimbi said on Twitter. It was agreed that the bill goes back to parliament for the issues of rehabilitation to be looked at before he can sign it into law."

Homosexuality is already illegal in the East African country under a colonial-era law criminalizing sex acts against the order of nature." The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.

Museveni is under pressure from the international community to veto the bill, which needs his signature to become law. The U.S. has warned of economic consequences if the legislation is enacted. A group of U.N. experts has described the bill, if enacted, as an egregious violation of human rights.

Amnesty International in a statement earlier on Thursday had urged Museveni to veto what the group described as a draconian and overly broad bill.

The passing of this appalling bill is a heart-breaking moment for the LGBTI community and their loved ones in Uganda," Agnes Callamard, the group's leader, said in the statement. "Nobody should ever be criminalized for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill enjoys wide support in Uganda, including among church leaders and others who have called for a harsh new law targeting homosexuals. It was introduced by an opposition lawmaker who said his goal was to punish the promotion, recruitment and funding of LGBTQ activities in the country. Only two of 389 legislators present for the voting session opposed the bill.

The bill prescribes the death penalty for the offense of aggravated homosexuality, and life imprisonment for homosexuality.

Aggravated homosexuality is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people.

Jail terms of up to 20 years are proposed for those who advocate or promote the rights of LGBTQ people.

A suspect convicted of attempted aggravated homosexuality can be jailed for 14 years and the offense of attempted homosexuality is punishable by up to 10 years, according to the bill.

Anti-gay sentiment in Uganda has grown in recent weeks amid press reports alleging sodomy in boarding schools, including a prestigious one for boys where a parent accused a teacher of abusing her son.

The decision in February of the Church of England to bless civil marriages of same-sex couples also has angered many in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa, including some who see homosexuality as imported from abroad.

Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africas 54 countries.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  The U.S. Navy sailed its first drone boat through the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies where American sailors often faces tense encounters with Iranian forces.

The trip by the L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13, a 13-meter (41-foot) speedboat carrying sensors and cameras, drew the attention of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but took place without incident, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins. Two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, the USCGC Charles Moulthrope and USCGC John Scheuerman, accompanied the drone.

The trip saw the drone safely pass with the accompanying ships through the strait, a busy waterway between Iran and Oman which at its narrowest is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

The Iranians observed the unmanned surface vessel transiting the strait in accordance with international law, Hawkins told The Associated Press. He said an Iranian drone and at least one Houdong-class fast-attack vessel operated by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard observed the MAST-13 drone.

The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet patrols Mideast waters, particularly the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, to keep open the waterways for international trade, as well as protect American interests and allies. However, Iran views the Navy's presence as an affront, comparing it to its forces running patrols in the Gulf of Mexico.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the drone's voyage, citing the AP. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

The 5th Fleet launched a special drone task force last year, aiming to have a fleet of some 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, operating in the region with Americas allies.

Iran briefly seized several of the American drones being tested in the region in late August and early September, though there hasn't been any similar incident since.

The MAST-13 now is operating in the Gulf of Oman, where a maritime shadow war has played out as oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces and suspicious explosions have struck vessels in the region, including those linked to Israeli and Western firms. Iran has denied involvement in the explosions, despite evidence from the West to the contrary.

The MAST-13's video feeds can transmit images back to shore and to ships at sea, helping sailors see ships before approaching them, Hawkins said. That can come in handy, particularly as the Navy and Western allies have increasingly seized weapons it believes were from Iran bound for Yemen.

It puts more eyes out on the water, enabling us to better monitor what is happening, Hawkins said.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP
Eraldo Peres/AP

SAO PAULO (AP)  President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva lost his first Cabinet member Wednesday after surveillance video showed the man present in the presidential palace as rioters trashed the building Jan. 8 while demanding the presidents ouster.

Lulas communications secretariat wrote on Twitter that Gen. Marcos Edson Goncalves Dias had been removed as head of the Cabinet of institutional security, which provides security for the president.
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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Yellow daffodils are everywhere in Warsaw this week, a symbol of remembrance for the 1943 uprising by Jews in the city's ghetto against Nazi German occupiers.

There are the real daffodils that residents and visitors to the Polish capital place on memorials to honor Holocaust victims, and little paper daffodils worn on lapels.

The presidents of Germany, Israel and Poland wore them Wednesday when they led official commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the uprising, on the site of the former ghetto.

Even members of the European Parliament wore them in Strasbourg, France, as lawmakers paid tribute to the Jewish victims.

Someone seeing the six-petaled flower badges for the first time might confuse them with the yellow Star of David that the Nazis forced Jews to wear in Germany and some occupied countries, as a prelude to deporting them to ghettos and death camps.

But those displaying them in Warsaw associate them with memory, respect and a communal coming together by people of all backgrounds to honor the Jewish victims of the ghetto and Holocaust victims more broadly. That idea is captured by the slogan of the official daffodil campaign, which is "remembering together."

The campaign was initiated by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in 2013 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

That year volunteers handed out 50,000 paper daffodil pins in the city.

The museum, which is located on the site of the former ghetto in Warsaw, printed 450,000  the number of Jews who were imprisoned in the ghetto at the peak of its overcrowding, in the spring of 1941. For the first time, volunteers handed them out in five other Polish cities in addition to Warsaw.

A POLIN museum employee, Ewa Budek, came up with the idea, and the paper flowers were designed by Helena Czernek, a Polish Jewish designer with the MI POLIN studio who was 26 at the time. They can be opened up in what Czernek described Thursday as a symbolic opening of remembrance of a traumatic history and a symbol of spring.

They are by now a tradition. TV presenters wear them each April 19, the anniversary of the uprising. And this year Polish airline LOT said its crews wore them.

The daffodils have helped spread knowledge about the Jewish revolt in a city where the Warsaw Uprising, a 1944 revolt by the entire city against the Germans, is better known and commemorated more widely.

For me it is amazing that I could use my skills to be part of this development, Czernek, who usually designs mezuzahs and other Judaica, told The Associated Press.

She said she did not chose her design specifically to evoke a yellow Star of David, though she recognizes the resemblance. The association is not as direct as some might assume because Jews in Warsaw were forced by the Nazis to wear white armbands with blue stars on them, and not yellow badges like in Germany.

The daffodils are linked to Marek Edelman, a commander of the uprising who died in 2009 who every year on the anniversary of the uprising placed yellow flowers, mostly daffodils but sometimes tulips, in memory of his lost comrades and others who were murdered.

The Warsaw ghetto was razed to the ground by the Nazis and new buildings were put up in its place after the war.

Anna Witkiewicz, a 47-year-old local resident, stood alone in contemplation before the memorial on Thursday, still wearing the daffodil she put on the day before as she and her friends commemorated the victims.

She said it was a symbol that made her feel a sense of belonging with the large numbers of Jews who once inhabited the area and others mourning the tragic loss, adding: Its impossible not to wear this flower this day.
BEIJING (AP)  Hong Kongs Roman Catholic bishop said in a historic trip to Beijing that he hopes the dioceses of the two cities will have more exchanges and cooperation, local media reported Thursday amid signs of Sino-Vatican strains.

Bishop Stephen Chow made the remarks during a Mass that was also attended by his counterpart in Beijing, Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK said. Chow later told reporters he was encouraged to visit other dioceses.

I hope that this is not the last time," Chow said.

His five-day trip is the first visit to Beijing by Hong Kongs bishop in nearly three decades and came two weeks after Vatican News, the news portal of the Holy See, reported that China had unilaterally appointed a new bishop to Shanghai.

Chinas ruling Communist Party closely controls organized religion, which it sees as a potential threat to its monopoly on power. People are allowed to worship in institutions that abide by party rules. Some Christians have set up underground churches, which are considered illegal and harassed by authorities.

The Vatican and China signed a provisional agreement over the appointment of bishops in 2018, a breakthrough on an issue that stymied diplomatic relations for decades and aggravated a split among Chinese Catholics.

The agreement on Catholic bishops has been renewed twice, most recently in October for two more years. But a feud broke out a month later over the installation of an auxiliary bishop in Jiangxi province, which the Vatican does not recognize as a diocese.

The deal has been harshly criticized by Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen.

Another local broadcaster, i-Cable News, quoted Chow as saying his trip was mainly about exchanges between dioceses, so they did not talk much on the issue of China and the Vatican.

After the Thursday Mass, some churchgoers in Beijing told local media they welcomed more exchanges between the two dioceses.

Chow, who was named by Pope Francis as Hong Kong's bishop in 2021, began his trip Monday and joined a prayer session at a church that evening. On Wednesday, he visited the tomb of Matteo Ricci, one of the first Jesuits to live in China, who died in Beijing in 1610, RTHK reported. The visit was invited by his Beijing counterpart.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  The Mexican airline Viva Aerobus said one of its planes suffered an engine failure while covering a domestic route, but that the craft landed safely.

The twin engine Airbus A320 was flying from the western city of Guadalajara to the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta when the mishap occurred Wednesday afternoon, the company said.
What is the purpose of a surplus?

The state has been racking up record numbers for years now, with intake above outflow by billions of dollars. The rainy-day fund is as filled as it can be, and much of the money that has come in has gone toward paying off longstanding retirement debt. The state of Connecticut, which continues to have some of the highest debt ratios in the country in its retirement systems, is making considerable progress on lowering those numbers.

Thats good for our credit and for our economic outlook. We cant make fiscally responsible decisions without thinking about our long-term future.

But were also a state with near-term needs. Not everything is about retiring debt that was racked up under previous administrations, when pension plans werent even funded. What are we going to do about the many people in need today? Isnt that what a surplus should be for? Cant we afford new and bigger programs to help people?

The answer, apparently, is no. Gov. Ned Lamonts budget proposal, released earlier this year, shares a lot in common with the General Assemblys Appropriations Committee budget, which came out this week. Both leave many people disappointed by failing to add much in the way of new spending on current needs. It turns out that surplus isnt going to do much of anything.

The reason, lawmakers say, are the fiscal guardrails. These are a set of rules enacted in 2017 and renewed this year that direct excess funds toward paying down pensions, rather than towards new programs. Those guardrails have been credited by many parties, including the governor, with leading to the current surplus bonanza the state finds itself in.

That doesnt make any sense. Tax intake has increased across the country in the past five years, with surpluses recorded in states under Republican and Democratic governors. The guardrails have cut Connecticuts pension debt, but they have not led to the surpluses themselves.

And while legislators blame the guardrails for their lack of options on this years biennial budget, it cant be stressed enough that those same legislators enacted those rules at the start of the years session with virtually no public debate. They created this situation, then they complain about how hard it is to operate under its strictures.

None of this is stopping the Assembly or the governor from pushing tax cuts. Somehow, its argued, tax cuts make sense under this circumstance but new spending would not. Thats nonsense. Either option would cost the state money, and both would be difficult to reverse if the economy goes south. Advocates are free to defend tax cuts on the merits, but dont say theyre fiscally responsible in a way that new spending would not be.

Were left, then, with modest increases in spending for education, social services and health care at a time when needs continue to grow. Connecticut is and will remain a devastatingly expensive place to live, and no state tax cut is going to change that. (Taking on big expenses, like housing, might.)

So what is the value of a surplus? To Connecticut leaders, not all that much.
After eight hours of closed-door caucuses for Democrats and Republicans to review a wide variety of proposed changes to the state's tax code, the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee, over two hours on Wednesday night, approved legislation that would allow some big-city residents to be exempt from paying state income taxes, while tweaking Gov. Ned Lamont's proposals to lower income tax rates for the middle class.

The goal of the Democratic-dominated panel was to balance the proposed two-year, $50.9-billion budget approved earlier in the week by the Appropriations Committee. While the finance panel didn't accomplish that, the array of bills approved before their Thursday deadline set the scene for continued negotiations with the Democratic governor at a time when the projected multi-billion-dollar surplus will make it easier to meet the midnight June 7 adjournment deadline.

The centerpiece of the finance package is a lowering of Lamont's proposed middle-class tax relief, but raising benefits for those lower-income residents eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. While the governor proposed decreasing the tax rate from 5 percent to 4.5 percent for middle incomes, the Democratic package, approved along party lines in the finance panel, would lower it to 4.75 percent.

"There's a lot of details in the Finance Committee and we have had some deep and thorny conversations today on the proposals before us, many of which are in fact works in progress and so we expect to be working on them together going forward," said state Rep. Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, who this term became the House co-chairwoman of the panel, when the committee finally started its public session late Wednesday afternoon. "It's these difficult conversations, for me, which are the most rewarding of all as much as they in the moment can be tough."

"There are things in this package that I like and I know my caucus likes," said Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, a top Republican on the tax-writing panel. "But I think my overwhelming impression of this is one of disappointment. This does not even match what the governor was doing in terms of income tax relief for our residents. And I thought that was pretty stingy. Based on this income tax relief, a married couple would see about $300 off their income tax, less than a dollar a day. Surely we can find a way to put more money back in the pocket of our hard-working taxpayers."

"We are very fortunate this year that this entire package is about reducing taxes," Horn replied. "Consumers are also taxpayers, business owners are also taxpayers, retirees are also taxpayers," Horn said. "The taxes we pay in the state of Connecticut are not just the personal income tax, and what we have tried to do here was strike a balance, you know, that could help a variety of businesses, consumers, retired people, workers, across the board. We are committed to returning taxes at a moment of fiscal health for the state of Connecticut."

After a half hour debate, the revenue adjustments were approved mostly along party lines on the committee, which has a 33-17 Democratic majority.

One proposal would allow residents of certain low-income census tracts in a variety of cities, to become exempt from state income taxes for single tax filers of up to $120,000 and couples earning less than $200,000, for a period of three years. Eligible neighborhoods would include parts of Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Meriden, Middletown, New Britain, Tolland, Waterbury and Windham. An amendment to the bill, proposed during the committee discussion by Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, the veteran co-chairman of the panel, would impose strict reviews of the program and the possibility to extend it for a second period of three years.

"I do think going forward, assessing the effectiveness of the programs, as with all our programs, should be part of any legislation we pass," said Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, a top Republican on the committee, who voted in favor of the bill, which would be part of the state's long-term capital bonding package. "We have a number of initiatives to improve the lives and reduce poverty and make all our neighborhoods livable and successful. I look forward to seeing how it plays out."

But Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Lyme, opposed the proposal.

"My first question is, has the state put forward anything like this, where based where you live, I guess you would have your income tax erased?" Carney asked Fonfara.

"I can't say that there is or there isn't another state that does this," said Fonfara, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 1986 and who is currently seeking the Democratic nomination to run for mayor of his hometown. The goal, he said, "is to be able to chip away at the concentration of poverty and all of its negative effects on people, on children, this is one small step. There's very in the way of revenue coming into the state from these census tracts, particularly in respect to income tax."

He said it's also a way to retain higher incomes in inner cities. "The evidence will tell us the story," Fonfara said, stressing that both the governor and the state Department of Economic and Community Development would have to approve applications for participation.

"My concern with this is that we are basically erasing income tax for something that has nothing to do with income, but based on where you reside," Carney said. "I'm not sure that's legal."

"The average of folks living in a census tract with a population of 40-percent living below the poverty level is somewhere around $25,000 a year," Fonfara said. "I don't know how many folks in this room or on this panel would qualify in that regard but I have a number of constituents who do and others on this panel who do. The goal of this initiative is to change that." After a half hour debate, the amendment was approved 46-3. On the overall bond package, Carney joined majority Democrats voted in favor of the legislation.

Lamont had proposed reducing the 5 percent rate to 4.5 percent as part of an overall plan for $267.3 million in tax relief for the fiscal year that starts July 1 and nearly $544 million in the second year of the biennium. The Finance Committee proposes more than $700 million in tax breaks over the biennium, on top of the $615 million already in the current fiscal year that runs through June 30.

The bill would extend eligibility for the pension, annuity and IRA income tax deductions to taxpayers with incomes of at least $75,000 but less than $100,000 for single filers, married people filing separately, and $150,000 for joint filers.

The revenue package includes provisions for cannabis-related businesses to claim business expenses as tax deductions, saving them a projected $11 million over the two year budget. The budget proposal would also exempt job and personnel training services from sales and use taxes, extending the benefit beyond the higher education institutions that currently enjoy the tax breaks.

The tax package proposal would also increase to $7,500 from the current $4,000 in tax credits allowed for construction trade apprentices under a state Department of Labor program.

Another section that would be effective in the second year of the biennium, for companies engaged pre-and-post-Broadway productions, giving them 30 percent of eligible production expenditures, capping them at $10 million per fiscal year. Another provision would permanently exempt footwear and clothing for children under 10 years of age, saving consumers about $8 million a year.

Taxes on personal protective equipment would also become exempt, for a $2 million annual savings. Another $3.5 million would be saved from a proposed tax exemption on personal training services.

A related bill approved Wednesday night would allow taxpayers to deduct as much as $60,000 for expenses for the home health care of relatives 70 years of age or older, for an estimated savings of $19.8 million in the second year of the biennium and about $21 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2026.
Octavio Jones/TAS23/Getty Images for for TAS Rights

Texas cant get enough of Taylor Swift. After a record-breaking run in Arlington earlier this month, the artists Eras Tour touches back down in the Lone Star State for three more nights of boppy beats in Houston this weekend. If youve been waiting up until the last (last) minute to snag tickets, the time is now  and the skyrocketing resale prices fell below $400 today, lower than the Houston resale tickets have been all month.

The world tour, which kicked off in Glendale, Arizona on March 17, has already seen a flurry of dazzling outfit changes, special guests and nostalgic beats, with set lists packing around 44 fan-favorite songs into a three hour event. After last weekends multi-show run in Tampa, Florida, Swift returns to Texas for three nights at Houstons NRG stadium April 21-23.
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Uvalde County in south central Texas...

* Until 545 PM CDT.

* At 441 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Blewett, or

13 miles west of Uvalde, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Uvalde, Knippa, Uvalde Estates, Blewett and Cline.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

Lampasas County in central Texas...

* At 440 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near the Colorado

Bend State Park, moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Half dollar size hail.

IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is possible.

Copperas Cove, Lampasas, Kempner, Colorado Bend State Park, Lometa,

Izoro, Rumley, Adamsville and Nix.

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

Heavy rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash

flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ANDERSON BELL BOSQUE

BOWIE BRAZOS BURLESON

CAMP CASS CHEROKEE

CORYELL DELTA ELLIS

FALLS FANNIN FRANKLIN

FREESTONE GREGG HAMILTON

HARRISON HENDERSON HILL

HOPKINS HOUSTON HUNT

KAUFMAN LAMAR LAMPASAS

LEON LIMESTONE MCLENNAN

MADISON MARION MILAM

MILLS MORRIS NACOGDOCHES

NAVARRO PANOLA RAINS

RED RIVER ROBERTSON ROCKWALL

RUSK SHELBY SMITH

TITUS UPSHUR VAN ZANDT

WOOD

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 530 PM CDT

FOR CENTRAL BANDERA...SOUTHEASTERN KERR AND WESTERN KENDALL

COUNTIES...

At 443 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Camp Verde, or

near Bandera, moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected.

Locations impacted include...

Medina, Boerne, Comfort, Bandera, Walnut Grove, Camp Verde, Pipe

Creek, Welfare, Nelson City, Center Point, Kronkosky State Natural

Area and Waring.

...FLOOD ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 615 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive

rainfall continues.

* WHERE...A portion of north central Texas, including the following

county, Fannin.

* WHEN...Until 615 PM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

Water over roadways.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This

will likely cause urban and small stream flooding. Low lying

and/or poor drainage areas will experience minor flooding in

the advisory area. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain have

fallen.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Bonham, Leonard, Honey Grove, Whitewright, Trenton, Dodd

City, Bonham State Park, Randolph, Ladonia, Bailey, Pecan

Gap, Windom, Gober, Cotton Center, Bug Tussle, Ely, Dial and

Nobility.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...Portions of Bell, Coryell and McLennan Co. in Central Texas

* WHEN...Until 745 PM CDT.

the advisory area. Between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain have

fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are

possible.

Waco, Temple, Gatesville, Hewitt, Robinson, Woodway,

McGregor, Morgan's Point Resort, Lorena, Troy, Bruceville-

Eddy, Moody, Crawford, Mother Neff State Park, Fort Gates,

Belton Lake, Lake Waco, Oglesby, South Mountain and Whitson.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Williamson County in south central Texas...

Central Burnet County in south central Texas...

* Until 700 PM CDT.

* At 608 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Burnet to near Oatmeal to near Mahomet, moving

east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected.

* Locations impacted include...

Georgetown, Burnet, Bertram, Liberty Hill, Mahomet, Joppa, Andice,

Oatmeal, Shady Grove and Seward Junction.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 915 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...A portion of south central Texas, including the following

counties, Bandera and Medina.

* WHEN...Until 915 PM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 611 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to

thunderstorms. Minor flooding is ongoing or expected to begin

shortly in the advisory area. Between 2 and 3 inches of rain

have fallen.

- Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are expected

over the area. This additional rain will result in minor

flooding.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Bandera, Tarpley, Hill Country State Natural Area, Bandera

Falls, Lakehills, Pipe Creek, Kronkosky State Natural Area

and Lake Medina Shores.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHEASTERN KAUFMAN...SOUTHWESTERN VAN ZANDT AND NORTH CENTRAL

HENDERSON COUNTIES...

At 611 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 10 miles northeast

of Kemp, or 12 miles west of Canton, moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Canton, Wills Point, Mabank, Kemp, Purtis Creek State Park, Cedar

Creek Reservoir, Myrtle Springs, Rand, Whitton, Becker, Phalba,

Roddy, Jackson, Oakland, Wise, Walton, Prairieville, Tundra, Martins

Mill and Colfax.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX

222 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 315 PM CDT

FOR FANNIN COUNTY...

At 220 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Randolph,

moving east at 20 mph. Quarter size hail is being reported with this

storm.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Bonham, Leonard, Honey Grove, Dodd City, Ravenna, Bonham State Park,

Lake Bonham, Randolph, Crockett Lake, Coffee Mill Lake, Boyd,

Ladonia, Bailey, Windom, Telephone, Cotton Center, Duplex, Bug

Tussle, Gober and Lamasco.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Rockwall County in north central Texas...

Southwestern Hunt County in north central Texas...

Southeastern Collin County in north central Texas...

Northeastern Dallas County in north central Texas...

* Until 330 PM CDT.

* At 226 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Rowlett,

moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, Richardson, Rowlett, Wylie, Rockwall,

Greenville, Sachse, Murphy, Royse City, Heath, Fate, Sunnyvale,

West Tawakoni, Quinlan, Caddo Mills, Hawk Cove, Mobile City and

Lake Tawakoni.

This includes Interstate 30 between mile markers 59 and 89.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

TORNADO WARNING

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Tornado Warning for...

Southwestern McLennan County in central Texas...

Northeastern Bell County in central Texas...

West central Falls County in central Texas...

* Until 500 PM CDT.

* At 432 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado

was located over Moody, moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Tornado.

SOURCE...Radar indicated rotation.

IMPACT...Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without

shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed.

Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree

damage is likely.

* This dangerous storm will be near...

Bruceville-Eddy around 450 PM CDT.

Lorena around 455 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this tornadic thunderstorm include Cego,

Meadow Grove and Mooreville.

This includes Interstate 35 between mile markers 311 and 322.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW! Move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a mobile

home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and

protect yourself from flying debris.

Heavy rainfall may hide this tornado. Do not wait to see or hear the

tornado. TAKE COVER NOW!

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

TORNADO WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX

446 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 500 PM CDT FOR SOUTH

CENTRAL MCLENNAN...NORTHEASTERN BELL AND WEST CENTRAL FALLS

COUNTIES...

At 445 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado

was located near Moody, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Tornado.

SOURCE...Radar indicated rotation.

IMPACT...Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without

shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage

to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is

likely.

This dangerous storm will be near...

Bruceville-Eddy around 500 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this tornadic thunderstorm include Cego

and Mooreville.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW! If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a

vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter now! Get to an

interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building and avoid

windows.

Heavy rainfall may hide this tornado. Do not wait to see or hear the

tornado. TAKE COVER NOW!

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

East central Kerr County in south central Texas...

Central Gillespie County in south central Texas...

* Until 530 PM CDT.

* At 446 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over

Kerrville-Schreiner Park, or over Kerrville, moving north at 25

mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Center Point, Tivydale and

Kerrville-Schreiner Park.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 515 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN MCLENNAN AND EAST CENTRAL CORYELL COUNTIES...

At 447 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Mother Neff

State Park, or near McGregor, moving east at 15 mph.

HAZARD...Two inch hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect damage

to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles.

Locations impacted include...

Waco, Hewitt, Robinson, Woodway, McGregor, Beverly Hills, Lorena,

Bruceville-Eddy, Moody, Crawford, Lake Waco, Mother Neff State Park,

Oglesby, Whitson, Willow Grove, Leon Junction, Spring Valley and

Mound.

Heavy rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash

flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 715 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive

rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...Northern portions of Kaufman Co. in North Texas

* WHEN...Until 715 PM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

Water over roadways.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This

will likely cause urban and small stream flooding. Low lying

and/or poor drainage areas will experience minor flooding in

the advisory area. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain have

fallen.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Dallas, Mesquite, Terrell, Seagoville, Forney, Kaufman,

Sunnyvale, Crandall, Combine, Talty, New Terrell City Lake,

Elmo, Oak Grove, Post Oak Bend City, Oak Ridge, Lawrence,

Heartland, Ola, Rand and Lake Ray Hubbard.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 545 PM CDT

FOR UVALDE COUNTY...

At 449 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Blewett, or 9

miles west of Uvalde, moving east at 25 mph.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Uvalde, Knippa, Uvalde Estates, Blewett and Cline.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR CENTRAL BANDERA...SOUTHEASTERN

KERR AND WESTERN KENDALL COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits, and no longer poses an immediate threat to life or property.

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. However heavy rain is

still possible with this thunderstorm.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX

512 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT

FOR NORTHEASTERN HOPKINS...CENTRAL DELTA AND SOUTHEASTERN LAMAR

COUNTIES...

At 512 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Bogata, or near

Hagansport, moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Cooper, Cooper Lake State Park, Cooper Lake, Deport, Tira, New

Birthright, Pacio, Minter, Taylor Town, Nelta, Milton and Cunningham.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northwestern

Gillespie County through 600 PM CDT...

At 512 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Harper, or 23 miles north of Kerrville, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and penny size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Cherry Spring, Doss and Harper.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 3050 9900 3033 9892 3029 9930 3041 9930

TIME...MOT...LOC 2212Z 253DEG 22KT 3036 9928

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.75 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ANDERSON BELL BOSQUE

BOWIE BRAZOS BURLESON

CAMP CASS CHEROKEE

CORYELL DELTA ELLIS

FALLS FANNIN FRANKLIN

FREESTONE GREGG HAMILTON

HARRISON HENDERSON HILL

HOPKINS HOUSTON HUNT

KAUFMAN LAMAR LAMPASAS

LEON LIMESTONE MCLENNAN

MADISON MARION MILAM

MILLS MORRIS NACOGDOCHES

NAVARRO PANOLA RAINS

RED RIVER ROBERTSON ROCKWALL

RUSK SHELBY SMITH

TITUS UPSHUR VAN ZANDT

WOOD

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southwestern McCulloch County in west central Texas...

Northeastern Menard County in west central Texas...

* Until 600 PM CDT.

* At 513 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Us-190 Near

The Menard-Mcculloch County Line, or 7 miles northeast of Menard,

moving east at 30 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Calf Creek around 535 PM CDT.

Brady Lake around 550 PM CDT.

Brady around 600 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include The

Intersection Of Us-190 And Ranch Road 1311, The Intersection Of Us-

83 And Highway 29 and Us-190 Near The Menard-Mcculloch County Line.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 545 PM CDT

FOR LAMPASAS COUNTY...

At 516 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Lampasas,

moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...65 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

Copperas Cove, Lampasas, Kempner, Izoro, Rumley, Adamsville and Nix.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Northern Bell County in central Texas...

Southeastern Coryell County in central Texas...

Western Falls County in central Texas...

Southwestern McLennan County in central Texas...

* Until 815 PM CDT.

* At 516 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 2.5 inches of

rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are

possible. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas,

highways, streets, and underpasses as well as other

poor drainage and low lying areas.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Killeen, Waco, Temple, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Belton,

Hewitt, Robinson, Bellmead, Woodway, Lacy-Lakeview, McGregor, Fort

Hood, Nolanville, Morgan's Point Resort, Beverly Hills, Lorena,

Troy, Bruceville-Eddy and Moody.

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX

552 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN CORYELL COUNTY IS

CANCELLED...

The storms which prompted the warning have moved out of the warned

area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 900 PM CDT for

central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 615 PM CDT

FOR NORTHWESTERN MILAM AND BELL COUNTIES...

At 551 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from Harker Heights to Belton to Seaton, moving southeast

at 15 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect damage

to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles.

Locations impacted include...

Killeen, Temple, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Belton, Fort Hood,

Nolanville, Morgan's Point Resort, Bartlett, Salado, Little

River-Academy, Troy, Rogers, Holland, Kempner, Buckholts, Belton

Lake, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Sparks and Union Grove.

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of northern Williamson

and northeastern Burnet Counties through 630 PM CDT...

At 552 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along

a line extending from near Bertram to near Andice to near Bartlett.

Movement was southeast at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and half inch hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Georgetown, Burnet, Granger, Bertram, Serenada, Bartlett, Liberty

Hill, Jarrell, Florence, Weir, Georgetown Dam, Watson, Granger Dam,

Lake Victor, Joppa, Andice, Shady Grove, Oatmeal, Briggs and Sun

City.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 3091 9783 3087 9762 3074 9727 3071 9727

3063 9764 3064 9830 3103 9820 3104 9791

TIME...MOT...LOC 2252Z 309DEG 15KT 3076 9813 3077 9780 3084 9746

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

...Strong thunderstorms will impact portions of northeastern Medina,

eastern Bandera, southwestern Kendall, northwestern Bexar and west

central Comal Counties through 630 PM CDT...

a line extending from near Hill Country State Natural Area to 6 miles

west of Cross Mountain. Movement was northeast at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and nickel size hail.

Boerne, Bandera, Fair Oaks Ranch, Bulverde, Cross Mountain,

Lakehills, Leon Springs, Bandera Falls, The Dominion, Pipe Creek,

Kronkosky State Natural Area, Hill Country State Natural Area,

Bergheim, Government Canyon State Natural Area, Grey Forest, San

Geronimo, Cascade Caverns, Scenic Oaks and Lake Medina Shores.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 2984 9904 2978 9892 2983 9892 2982 9849

2961 9862 2953 9925 2984 9919

TIME...MOT...LOC 2252Z 238DEG 19KT 2965 9914 2967 9876

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Kaufman County in north central Texas...

Van Zandt County in north central Texas...

North central Henderson County in central Texas...

* Until 700 PM CDT.

* At 552 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 8 miles northeast

of Kemp, or 9 miles east of Kaufman, moving southeast at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Gun Barrel City, Canton, Wills Point, Mabank, Van, Kemp, Grays

Prairie, Purtis Creek State Park, Cedar Creek Reservoir, Myrtle

Springs, Oak Grove, Murchison, Ben Wheeler, Whitton, Ola, Roddy,

Jackson, Oakland, Martins Mill and Colfax.

This includes Interstate 20 between mile markers 508 and 541.

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ATASCOSA BANDERA BASTROP

BEXAR BLANCO BURNET

CALDWELL COMAL CONCHO

DEWITT DIMMIT EDWARDS

FAYETTE FRIO GILLESPIE

GONZALES GUADALUPE HAYS

KARNES KENDALL KERR

KIMBLE KINNEY LAVACA

LEE LLANO MCCULLOCH

MASON MAVERICK MEDINA

MENARD REAL SAN SABA

SCHLEICHER SUTTON TRAVIS

UVALDE WILLIAMSON WILSON

ZAVALA

The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a

Southwestern Little River County in southwestern Arkansas...

Southeastern McCurtain County in southeastern Oklahoma...

Northwestern Cass County in northeastern Texas...

Bowie County in northeastern Texas...

Northern Morris County in northeastern Texas...

Northeastern Titus County in northeastern Texas...

Southeastern Red River County in northeastern Texas...

* Until 645 PM CDT.

* At 554 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 10 miles northwest of De Kalb to near Boxelder to

near Wilkerson, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

New Boston, Foreman, Hooks, De Kalb, Maud, Us 259 And I 30

Intersection, Dalby Springs, Avery, Almont, Spring Hill,

Beaverdams, Goodlake, Lydia, Wallace, Arden, Red Bank and Bryans

Mill.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Jones County in west central Texas...

Southwestern Shackelford County in west central Texas...

* Until 900 PM CDT.

* At 822 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Hamby, moving

rapidly northeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Albany around 850 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Big

Country Baptist Assembly, Lake Fort Phantom Hill, Mccarty Lake and

The Intersection Of Us-180 And Farm Road 600.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northeastern Shackelford County in west central Texas...

Eastern Throckmorton County in west central Texas...

* Until 945 PM CDT.

* At 858 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Fort Griffin,

moving rapidly northeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Woodson around 920 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Lusk,

The Intersection Of Us-183 And Us-283 and The Intersection Of Us-

283 And Ranch Road 209.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...THE TORNADO WARNING FOR NORTH CENTRAL TAYLOR COUNTY IS

CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service San Angelo TX

930 PM CDT Wed Apr 19 2023

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTH CENTRAL SHACKELFORD AND

NORTHEASTERN TAYLOR COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has weakened and

moved out of the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been

cancelled.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT

FOR NORTHWESTERN CALLAHAN COUNTY...

At 929 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Clyde, moving

east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Law enforcement.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

This severe storm will be near...

Baird around 945 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Admiral.

This includes Interstate 20 between Mile Markers 295 and 311.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Move indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading

killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to

be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

To report severe weather contact your nearest law enforcement agency.

They will send your report to the National Weather Service office in

San Angelo.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of central Young County

through 1000 PM CDT...

At 930 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 8

miles northeast of Woodson, or 16 miles southeast of Throckmorton,

moving northeast at 50 mph.

HAZARD...Half inch hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible.

Locations impacted include...

Graham, Olney, Lake Graham, Newcastle, Jean and Murray.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

LAT...LON 3317 9895 3340 9869 3312 9845 3296 9889

3296 9894 3297 9895

TIME...MOT...LOC 0230Z 233DEG 42KT 3307 9892

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN

MAX WIND GUST...<30 MPH

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SHREVEPORT Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Red River County in northeastern Texas...

* Until 515 PM CDT.

* At 436 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Pattonville,

or 12 miles northwest of Hagansport, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Clarksville, Boxelder, Bogata, Bagwell, Detroit, Deport, Annona,

Negley, Johntown and Cuthand.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
The Le Champlain, which is part of the Ponant fleet, will arrive in Thunder Bay in September of next year, making it one of the increasing numbers of cruise lines taking a growing interest in the Great Lakes.
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SEMI Europe Applauds Provisional Agreement Reached in EU Chips Act Trilogue Negotiations Published: 20 April 2023 by Tyler Hanes by Tyler Hanes

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM  SEMI, the industry association serving the global electronics design and manufacturing supply chain, today applauded the provisional agreement reached yesterday in the European Chips Act Trilogue Negotiations to invest 43 billion to bolster Europes microelectronics industry. The European Parliament, Commission and Council forged the agreement in Strasbourg, France.

In the year since the landmark legislation was drafted, the European Chips Act has become a strategic centerpiece of Europes industrial ambition. The legislation aims to facilitate the continents digital and green transition by strengthening its semiconductor industry production capacity. A strong supporter of Europes economic growth, SEMI Europe expects the EU Chips Act to help Europe increase its global semiconductor manufacturing share to 20% in the next decade.

The legislation includes a crisis response provision through which the European Commission will assess risks to the European Unions semiconductor supply and publish early warning indicators in member states that might trigger EU-wide chip shortage alerts.

The European Chips Act is a significant step forward for the semiconductor industry in Europe with robust investments to help strengthen manufacturing and the resiliency of global supply chains, said Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO. In addition, the Act will enable cohesive strategies to grow Europe's talent base and ensure the region remains at the forefront of innovation.

Now is the time to invest in the semiconductor sector in Europe, said Laith Altimime, President of SEMI Europe. The European Chips Act strengthens the continents appeal as a destination for semiconductor industry investment and lays the groundwork for the growth of the entire ecosystem. The act will help create a more favorable environment for chip industry investments in Europe and promises to spark greater innovation.

The European Chips Act is a cornerstone of efforts to strengthen Europes competitiveness in building chips and expand innovation in the design, manufacturing and packaging of chips. The act will also enable Europe to deepen its understanding of global semiconductor supply chains and address the skills shortage.

SEMI looks forward to the implementation of the European Chips Act, which is crucial to strengthening Europes semiconductor competencies across the entire value chain, said Christopher Frieling, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at SEMI Europe.

Visit SEMI Global Advocacy to learn more about its public policy efforts and the latest developments. Go to SEMI Workforce Development for information on how SEMI is addressing the microelectronics industrys talent needs.
South Africa: Cabinet briefed on the state of electricity

Cabinet has been briefed about the current state of the electricity system as well as progress on the Energy Action Plan.

The meeting discussed short and medium-term measures to ensure energy security, taking into account our immediate energy needs, said Government acting spokesperson, Michael Currin, on Wednesday.

Cabinet noted the presentation by Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramakgopa and directed that a further assessment of the electricity situation and measures to be taken and be addressed at the next NECOM meeting that will be convened as speedily as possible.

Government continues to implement the countrys Energy Action Plan in earnest, with the long-term goal of securing continuous, credible energy supply.

To respond to the severe impact of load shedding on households, small businesses and the economy as a whole, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a range of measures in July 2022 to improve the performance of existing power stations and add new generation capacity as quickly as possible.

The Energy Action Plan was developed through extensive consultation and endorsed by energy experts as providing the best and fastest path towards energy security.

While Government understands the frustration and the inconvenience that loadshedding is causing, it has reiterated that loadshedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.

Government has assured citizens that work is underway to improve the performance of power stations to reduce stages of load shedding while driving work to bring more capacity onto the grid as quickly as possible.

According to Government, progress has been made in several areas since the adoption of the Energy Action Plan.

These include the relaxation of some requirements, which will enable quicker procurement, and the removal of licensing requirements for generation projects to enable private investment.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-04-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese customs seize 362 endangered wildlife products

Xinhua) 17:02, April 20, 2023

SHENYANG, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Shenyang Customs in northeast China's Liaoning Province said they have seized 362 endangered wildlife products from parcels shipped from overseas.

The confiscated items include four tridacna products weighing 130 grams, 94 hawksbill turtle products weighing 945 grams, 225 red coral products weighing 593.2 grams, and 39 ivory products weighing 118 grams.

Ivory, certain types of red coral, hawksbill turtle and tridacna are all classified as endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, according to the customs officials.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Wu Chaolan)
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The government has withdrawn its funding for a charity whose chairs comments about Islam were labelled abhorrent.

A video of Zion Projects chair and trustee, Danny Stupple, calling Islam a very strong force of spiritual wickedness and adding that the Islamic system of belief is truly demonic, was reported to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) earlier this year.

DLUHC had awarded Zion Projects 43,220 last year as part of the government's Faith New Deal fund exclusively for religious groups to deliver public services.

In a letter this week, Baroness Scott, parliamentary under-secretary of state at DLUHC, said the department had investigated the issue and the Faith New Deal grant funding agreement with the charity has been terminated.

These comments are abhorrent

A DLUHC spokesperson said: These comments are abhorrent and we strongly condemn them. We take hate speech against any group or individual extremely seriously.

We urgently investigated this issue as soon as it came to our attention and have since terminated our funding agreement with the Zion Project.

The National Secular Society (NSS), which reported the video to DLUHC, welcomed its decision to cut funding to the charity.

NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: We welcome the government's decision to terminate its 'faith new deal' funding of Zion Projects. It is completely inappropriate for the government to fund an organisation whose chair makes such divisive and hostile comments.

Civil Society has contacted Zion Projects charity for comment.

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
The Big Help Out is set to begin on Monday 8 May 2023, which is a national bank holiday, following the coronation of King Charles III.

To mark the kings coronation, people across the country are being encouraged to volunteer, starting on 8 May, a bank holiday Monday. An app has been launched for the Big Help Out (BHO) and organisers say tens of thousands of people have signed up to volunteer.

However, an Observer article on Sunday drew some debate after it suggested the participatory levels for the BHO may not be high amidst a volunteer crisis, and something was needed to address a deeper, structural issue.

In it, Richard Harries, associate director at the Institute for Community Studies at the Young Foundation, suggested the event could be a damp squib if participation falls short of expectations. Speaking to Civil Society, he says there is a structural problem in terms of a long-term decline in volunteering.

An additional concern from some is that the BHOs bank holiday focus may be limiting, while some people may not want to volunteer due to the initiatives royal connection.

As members of the public endure a cost-of-living crisis, the request for them to help out on the kings multi-million-pound coronation weekend might not appeal.

BHO organisers have said that while the coronation offers a focal point, the initiative will continue through annual celebrations Volunteers Week in June and Thank You Day in July.

What we really need is long-term support

Speaking to Civil Society, Sarah Vibert, chief executive of NCVO, also highlights the drop in formal volunteering and says BHO is an opportunity to highlight the different ways people can volunteer.

Many people stopped volunteering during the pandemic, she says, and this has been compounded by the cost-of-living crisis. Coupled with need rising, several of NCVOs members are finding it difficult to recruit and retain volunteers  especially smaller organisations.

Ed Mayo, chief executive at Pilotlight, says projects like the BHO are welcome in their own right for the good that they can do, but with needs so acute across the voluntary sector, it is vital that this doesnt obscure the need for more radical action to nurture a more participatory and caring society.

Do we need more opportunities for volunteering? Or is the challenge a deeper one  that what we really need is long-term support for voluntary organisations, including their enabling infrastructure?



I do not want in any way to devalue the efforts of those who have been working on this  all in keeping with a long tradition of association of many in the charity sector with royalty. But I would point to the opportunity for workplace volunteering, where employees are not just using their skills but developing them in the process.

It is not core to the BHO, but the shift to skills-based volunteering may just turn out to be more significant for the charity sector in the long run.

Harries says BHO is a really helpful tool for getting attention to what is an important problem facing volunteering but it needs to be backed up with further structural work.

The only way of tackling it is if there is that sort of real determination to do so and it would therefore be wonderful if the king made volunteering a personal priority of his reign, he says.

If the royal family would get behind the idea of the country volunteering, that would undoubtedly stimulate a response from government and would undoubtedly stimulate a response from the public.

There is a big appetite to volunteer

Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, says her organisation has seen an increase in sign-ups this year, in contrast to the national picture.

Our experience really diverges from the picture drawn by the [Observer] article. We know that colleagues in other organisations are struggling to recruit, and that there are widespread issues of burnout and people struggling with the cost of living so that things like transport costs have become obstacles. However, we have found that the picture is much more nuanced than that.



She said her organisation has found that there is a big appetite to volunteer, particularly during these challenging times.

The challenge is reaching new people, providing them with an opportunity to make a real difference, and one that matches what they have to offer. Important too, is to remove any barriers that prevent them from volunteering such as having to pay expenses up front or loading too much on one person. People want to help, we need to ensure were making it possible for them to do so.

Harries also notes historians of the voluntary sector will point out that levels of voluntary activity were high at times of previous economic strain in the country  so it doesn't have to be the case that economic strain reduces volunteering.

We are hoping to create an unprecedented community mobilisation

Vibert says the BHO is coming at a really key time and should help raise the profile of volunteering. She also sees this as an opportunity for NCVO to support smaller charities and engage with other stakeholders.

NCVO note 14% of small organisations say volunteer recruitment is one of their top concerns, compared to 2% of larger ones. Therefore, BHO is potentially responding to an acute need to focus efforts with small charities.

Vibert is excited about how quickly momentum has grown, which she says is quite incredible in terms of engagement, since it was only launched in January.

A BHO spokesperson says the public response has already been fantastic.

In every corner of the country people are logging on to find local events to suit their interests with thousands of charities from household names like the Scouts, Royal Voluntary Service, Guide Dogs to smaller local groups all over the UK.

We are hoping to create an unprecedented community mobilisation  not only to mark an event of national significance and underscore and celebrate the central role volunteering plays in our national story, but to create a real and lasting legacy for the coronation  a new generation of volunteers.

How to keep the momentum?

Vibert tells Civil Society the coronation will only serve as the catalyst for volunteering action, and work is needed to keep the momentum going.

There are also challenges linked to the coronation being the focal point. Though this brings public and media attention, Vibert notes not everyone is a royal fan. It will, however, bring extra profile to the initiative.

The brand is already powerful and is garnering public attention, she says. Ultimately, Vibert says the sector can capitalise on that and use it for Volunteers Week and beyond. She says the point of BHO is not solely to encourage one-off volunteering, but to encourage people to get a taste for it, so it becomes a more long-term commitment.

The British public notoriously step up in times of need she adds, for example in the pandemic, and by hosting Ukrainian refugees  and the BHO aims to tap into that.

Given that some people are stepping away from volunteering because of the cost-of-living crisis, this serves as an opportunity to highlight the many different ways to volunteer. For example, walking charity the Ramblers are encouraging people to check their local trails, while other BHO initiatives such as befriending services do not require people to leave their homes.

Harries agrees there is a potential real success to embed the BHO, and even to make it into something that becomes an annual event that really reminds the country of the importance of the role the volunteers play and build it into the national psyche.

sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,
A customers dog bit Lindsay Franczyk while she worked at The Home Depot. Her supervisors wouldnt let her talk to the dogs owner and didnt write down any names, so she wasnt able to file a lawsuit against the person responsible for the injury.

Instead, Franczk sued Home Depot for failing to adequately investigate the incident and denying her an opportunity to seek damages by allowing the dog owner and witnesses to leave without obtaining identifying information.

That strategy succeeded initially, but on Wednesday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that workers compensation exclusive remedy bars Franczyk from suing her employer. The court reversed preliminary rulings by the trial court and Superior Court that allowed Franczks lawsuit against Home Depot to proceed.

If the result in this case is not entirely equitable for Franczyk, that is an unavoidable incident of the balance that the General Assembly struck, the high court said in a 6-0 decision. It is in the nature of global policy compromises that, in any given case, either party may receive more or less than what equity alone might call for.

J. Grant Stringham, an attorney with Chartwell Law in Philadelphia who represented The Home Depot, said employers would have lost much of the protection given by the grand bargain of workers compensation if the lower court opinions were allowed to stand.

Had the Court ruled in the employees favor in this case, Pennsylvania employers would be forced to defend against any lawsuit where an employee alleged that his or her employer somehow acted improperly in investigating a workplace injury and allegedly impeded the ability of an employee to recover against a third-party tortfeasor, Stringham said in an email. Taking away the Acts protection for employers would open the floodgates for employee lawsuits alleging negligent investigation of workplace accidents.

According to Franczyks complaint, the Allegheny County store where she worked had a policy that prohibited customers from bringing pets into the store, but store managers did not enforce the rule. On Dec. 9, 2016, a female customer brought her dog into Home Depot. The dog bit Franczyk in the arm.

Franczyk reported the injury to her supervisor and later to the stores managers. The managers spoke to the customer who owned the dog and a witness, but did not write down any names. Franczyk says her supervisors barred her from having any interaction with the dog owner or any witnesses.

The dog bite caused Franczyk to develop cubital tunnel syndrome, a neuropathy that causes shooting pain in the forearm. Franczyk underwent surgery to repair the nerve damage. All told, the dog bite ended up costing Home Depot $130,000, according to the opinion.

Franczyk filed a lawsuit against her employer. The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas denied a motion for summary judgment filed by Home Depot. The Superior Court affirmed the ruling, finding that an employer cannot claim workers compensation immunity when its own actions prevented an employee from seeking redress against the person responsible for an injury.

The Supreme Court said the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act allows few exceptions to exclusive remedy. The court has found that even an employers intentional acts that result in injury do not create a carve-out from exclusive remedy, unlike other states.

Franczyk argued that her claim is not for the underlying injury, but rather the distinct harm she suffered when the store managers failed to take reasonable steps to enable her to pursue a third-party claim against the dog owner.

The courts opinion, however, said the definition of injury in the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act suggests a categorical ban against any workers claim for damages that is not among those specifically excepted.

Thus, to the extent that Franczyks allegedly impeded third-party claim seeks to recover for her physical injuries as such, the Act clearly precludes Defendants liability beyond that provided by the Act, the opinion says.
BEIJING (AP)  The death toll from a fire at a Beijing hospital rose to 29, including 26 patients, authorities said Wednesday, and a dozen people had been detained including the hospitals head and her deputy.

The fire broke out at the private Changfeng Hospital on Tuesday afternoon and forced dozens of people to evacuate. Some who were trapped had to escape from windows using bedsheets tied together.

A nurse, a medical assistant and a family member also died in the incident, said Li Zongrong, deputy head of Fengtai district.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but officials say they believe it originated from welding sparks from work being done in the hospitals inpatient wing. Among the 12 people who were detained was the head of the construction crew.

A total of 39 people are being treated for injuries, three of them in critical condition, officials said. Rescue crews and medical staff from around the city were mobilized, with squads plucking some of the 142 people who were evacuated from air conditioning units on the buildings exterior.

Safety rules are frequently ignored in China, but accidents on the level of the Changfeng fire are treated with a much higher level of scrutiny. Construction accidents sometimes result from corners being cut on work hours and safety conditions, while local officials are bribed to ignore violations.

The central government has pledged stronger safety measures since an explosion in 2015 at a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and police officers.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LEBANON, Ohio  A southwest Ohio woman was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison after she was accused of ordering her dogs to attack a 6-year-old girl last year.

Cassie Thierauf, 39, was found guilty by Judge Timothy Tepe after Thierauf pleaded no contest to a charge of child endangering on March 8, according to Warren County Common Pleas Court records. A charge of felonious assault was dismissed.

The incident occurred on Aug. 25 at a home in Lebanon, reports say. Thierauf reportedly was outside in the backyard of a duplex taking drugs with another woman.

A woman who lives on the other side of the duplex began filming Thierauf and the other woman, sparking an argument. The woman who was filming went inside to call police.

Prosecutors accuse Thierauf of then ordering her dog, a pit bull/boxer mix, to attack her neighbors two daughters and another child who were playing in the front yard. One of the daughters, who was 6 years old at the time of the attack, reportedly suffered severe injuries that have required several surgeries.

WXIX Channel 19 reports that Thierauf denied ordering her dogs to attack the children, but the judge said he didnt believe her explanation.

Thieraufs dogs will be taken from her because they are considered contraband and will be euthanized, WXIX reports.
TOWNSEND TOWNSHIP, Ohio  A 45-year-old Mansfield man was killed and another man was seriously injured Wednesday morning when a pickup truck went left-of-center and crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer in Huron County, the State Highway Patrol says.

Rescue workers had to cut apart the 2003 pickup truck to free Bryan Anable, who was driving when the crash occurred, but he died of his injuries, according to a news release from the patrol. A passenger in the truck, Nathanael Roy, 46, of Plymouth, was flown by helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center.

The patrol says Anable was driving east on U.S. 20 at about 11:30 a.m. when he crossed the center line and sideswiped a 2020 Volvo semi before hitting a 2020 Hino semi head-on. The crash caused the Hino semi to go off the road and into a ditch, the patrol says.
BOWDOIN, Maine  A man who had been released from prison just days earlier killed his parents and two other people before opening fire at motorists on an interstate, wounding three more people, police say.

The suspect in the shootings, Joseph Eaton, 34, has confessed to the shootings, WMUR Channel 9 reports. He is being held in jail without bond.

The four victims of the fatal shootings were identified Wednesday as Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said. Three of the victims were found in a home and another in a barn on the property.

Its a shock to everybody, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said during a news conference Wednesday. You want to naturally say, That cant be happening here in Maine. But the reality is these senseless acts can and do happen everywhere.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills released a statement on Twitter, saying Like people across Maine, I am shocked and deeply saddened -- acts of violence like we experienced today shake our state and our communities to the core.

After police were called to the home where the shootings occurred, they received reports that someone was firing at vehicles on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, a town about 25 miles south of Bowdoin, CBS News reports.

Several vehicles were hit by gunfire but the three people injured were a family all in the same car: Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey remains in critical condition, police said Wednesday.

Reports say Eaton told investigators he began firing at vehicles on the interstate because he thought he was being followed by police. He was later found by police in a wooded area and taken into custody.

Eaton was released from the Maine Correctional Center on April 14 after serving a two-year sentence for aggravated assault, CBS News reports. His mother picked him up after his release and took him to the Egers home.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Glass is a miraculous material, known to humankind for millennia, but used widely by artists in the U.S. only during the past 60 years.

The American Studio Glass movement had its big bang in 1962 when University of Wisconsin ceramicist Harvey Littleton and Toledo-based fiberglass research scientist Dominick Labino held two workshops in a garage at the Toledo Museum of Art.

They invented a small-batch furnace enabling American artists for the first time to blow glass in independent studios rather than large-scale industrial settings. Universities and colleges across the U.S., including the Cleveland Institute of Art  known as CIA  soon established their own glass art programs.

(The Toledo Museum of Art is famous to this day for the superb collection housed in its Glass Art Pavilion, built in 2006 and designed by the Japanese firm of Sejima & Nishizawa.)

Reverberations from the early breakthroughs in Toledo are palpable throughout the new exhibition Risk + Discovery: Glass Innovation at CIA.

On view through June 16 in CIAs Reinberger Gallery, at 11610 Euclid Ave. in University Circle, this captivating exhibition surveys the work of more than 40 alumni, faculty, technical specialists, or current students linked to the schools glass art program, founded in 1973.

The glass art exhibition at the Cleveland Institute of Art, on view in the Reinberger Gallery at the University Circle institution.Steven Litt, cleveland.com

The show spans roughly 50 years of creative experimentation. A smattering of works represents the earliest days of CIAs glass department, but the majority of objects on view were made in the past decade or two, giving the exhibition more of a contemporary and forward spin than a historical flavor.

(Admission is free; call 216-421-7933 or go to cia.edu/exhibitions/about-the-reinberger-gallery.)

One through-line in the show is embodied by the work of Brent Kee Young, CIAs emeritus professor and chairman of the Glass Department. A native of Los Angeles, Young was hired by CIA in 1973 as its first, full-time faculty member in glass. The show includes examples of his practice of heating and fusing lacy strands of borosilicate glass to create complex, highly imaginative structures.

Youngs Forging Rivers, Bridges and Tides, 2022, is an anvil made of spaghetti squiggles of glass fused together to describe the form, but not the substance, of a weighty blacksmithing implement that paradoxically, in Youngs version, consists mainly of air.

"Forging Rivers, Bridges and Tides...'' 2022, Flame constructed borosilicate glass.Steven Litt, cleveland.com

Cascade, a work from 2015, describes a series of interpenetrating curved forms that descend into the U-shaped cavity of a rectangular base. All of the forms, like those of the aforementioned anvil, are made with slender, squiggly noodles of glass that, in Youngs hands, combine the randomness of their meandering interior pathways with the absolute rectitude and precision of the exterior contours they describe.

Brent Kee Young "Cascade,'' 2015. Flame-constructed borosilicate glassSteven Litt, cleveland.com

Stunning works like these have earned Youngs work a place in museum collections across the country, including that of the Cleveland Museum of Art. For those familiar with Youngs work, there are surprises, too, including earlier cast-glass sculptures from the mid-1990s. One features a pale green canoe-shaped vessel filled with curly snail shells; another is a translucent rectangular slab molded around artifacts scavenged from streets around Youngs studio in Clevelands St. Clair neighborhood.

Brent Kee Young Dialogue: St. Clair Soliloquy Artifacts from studio neighborhood, cast glass 1995Steven Litt, cleveland.com

The cast pieces bring to mind the rustic platters and dishes made by the 16th-century French ceramic artist Bernard Palissy, who molded snakes, fish, frogs, and other creatures into his creations. (The Cleveland Museum of Art owns a platter created in the manner of Palissys style.)

Platter, late 1500s. Circle of Bernard Palissy (French, 15101589). Lead-glazed earthenware; overall: 49 x 40 cm (19 5/16 x 15 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1986.57Cleveland Museum of Art

Youngs highly diverse creations emphasize the basic thrust of the CIA show, which is to demonstrate the huge potential of glass as an artistic medium. When heated and malleable, glass can be blown, poured into a mold, bent, spun, swirled, and stretched. When cold and solid, it can be abraded, cut, etched, and polished.

The materials expressive range is vast. Glass can be transparent, opaque, or translucent; smooth or rough; massive and heavy, or light as a leaf. Forms in the CIA show range from mechanical to geological, from floral and vegetal to biologically anatomical and structurally architectonical. It would take Gilbert and Sullivan to describe all the creative capabilities of glass in an operatic aria.

Works in the show appeal to the eyes, as well as the sense of touch, although actual touching, naturally, is not permitted.

With your eyes, you can feel the smooth, striated grooves on the curved contours of False Color Light Path, 2022, a glass sculpture by Benjamin Johnson, a CIA assistant professor, chair of the Craft + Design program and academic coordinator of the glass program. Johnsons piece is a satisfyingly solid and extenuated donut form, made with glass in swirling layers of lavender, green, black, and white.

Benjamin Johnson False Color Light Path Glass, blown and diamond engraved 2022Steven Litt, cleveland.com

Sarah Kemp, a member of the class of 2023, appeals to the taste buds with her uncannily accurate-looking Cherry Pie, 2021, made with glass and resin.

Sarah Kemp 23 Cherry Pie Assembled glass and resin (Pate de Verre and flameworked) 2021Steven Litt, cleveland.com

In a more traditional glass art vein, Shawn Messenger of the class of 1979 is represented by a series of blown glass vases made with dabs of colored glass that when heated, spun, and expanded, come to describe flowery landscapes under blue or yellow skies. The decorative, floral imagery is an integral part of the smooth, pleasingly curved contours of Messengers vessels. Its easy to imagine how the act of blowing the vases expanded and stretched the floral scenes, which echo the surfaces they inhabit.

Shawn Messenger 79 Yellow Landscape Series Ltd Vase Glass 2000Steven Litt, cleveland.com

In a completely different way, Thaddeus Wolfe, from the class of 2002, pays tribute to the colossal, rough-textured forms of Brutalist architecture in an untitled 2021 sculpture comprised of stacked blocks whose surfaces resemble those of cast concrete. Glass, in this case, echoes the textures and forms of a construction material.

Thaddeus Wolfe 02 Untitled Glass 2021Steven Litt, cleveland.com

The cool, smooth tactility of cut glass is celebrated by jewelry created by Pittsburgh-based artist Gillian Preston, CIA class of 2009, who is represented by examples of her work and a mesmerizing explanatory video that traces the production of the kinds of pieces on view in the show.

Works in the exhibition also probe the optical qualities of glass, which can resemble those of water. Crystal Palka, another member of the class of 2023, is represented by a small, solid vase made of perfectly clear glass that contains a bright red and yellow flower. Measuring just a few inches high, the vase is sliced flat on one side, producing the kind of refracted distortion in the form of the flower that occurs when an object is partially submerged in a glass of water.

"I hope you remember me like this,'' 2023, sculpted glass, by Crystal Palka CIA class of 2023.Steven Litt, cleveland.com

Palkas vase is typical of the delightful moments that pervade the CIA show. Its also one indicator among many that the studio art glass movement launched in Toledo in 1962 is alive, well, and forging ahead at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  The Ohio Department of Agriculture has removed 10 dangerous and wild animals from a Vinton County animal center over the last 4.5 months, after its owner was convicted of stealing money from the township where he worked.

A special audit by the Ohio Auditor Keith Fabers office identified over $310,000 in inappropriate Vinton Township expenses. The townships former fiscal officer, Cyril Vierstra, who legally changed his name to the mononym, Cy, was criminally charged and sentenced to 4 years and 11 months in prison in February for the theft and ordered to pay restitution of $339,700, which includes the theft amount and audit costs.

Read: Ohio public official used taxpayer money to buy wildebeest, hot tubs, popcorn cart and more

Cy used township money to purchase a wildebeest, two snow owls from England, an animal trailer, animal food, five hot tubs, a drone, a popcorn cart, a snow cone machine, kayaks, telescopes, an above-ground swimming pool, a gaming system, a projector and projector screen, among other things for the Union Ridge Wildlife Center, which was located in the Vinton County village of Wilkesville in southeast Ohio.

Its unclear what happened to the wildebeest and snow owls.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection last year stated he had 21 animals  three ring-tailed lemur, two Japanese or snow macaques, two spider monkeys, a North American river otter, five brown or tufted capuchin monkeys, two white-headed or white-throated capuchin monkeys, four chimps and two tigers.

Ohio Department of Agriculture employees have removed two tigers and eight primates from the facility in the past 4.5 months, said Meghan Harshbarger, the agencys communications director.

The tigers went to a sanctuary in Minnesota. Four of the primates went to a sanctuary in Florida. The Department of Agriculture is currently holding the other four primates in its Dangerous Wild Animals facility, working to safely move them to a sanctuary.

State law generally prohibits people from owning dangerous and wild animals. The legislature passed that law in 2012, after a Zanesville man who collected exotic animals opened their cages  there were 56 of them, including bears, lions, tigers, wolves and leopards  before dying by suicide. Ohio law enforcement killed most of the animals. Six were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo.

But Cy had a license with the state. The license expired on Dec. 31. The Ohio Department of Agriculture did not renew it, Harshbarger said.

Cy also has a current license with the USDA, said Andre Bell, spokesman for USDAs Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. His most recent USDA inspection was Oct. 27. It didnt find anything noncompliant.

Debbie Metzler, director of captive animal welfare for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, called the wildlife center a roadside zoo. About 2,000 roadside zoos are scattered across the U.S., she said. PETA wants to close them down.

The Ohio wildlife center kept its animals in small cages, not in natural habitat.

The Union Ridge Wildlife Center is nothing more than a backyard menagerie, Metzler said. It advertised on its Airbnb listing that visitors could leisurely walk around the property unattended and reviews indicated that the facility even allowed these untrained visitors to feed the monkeys.

The four chimpanzees sent to Florida are named April, Anna, Lucy and Cash. PETA had pushed the state to remove the animals, Metzler said. They now are with Save the Chimps, a sanctuary accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

Metzler said PETA has filed filed formal complaints with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

PETA is also helping fund the chimps sanctuary care.

Its a happy new chapter for these four chimpanzees, who will have a great life, with lush grounds to explore and the opportunity to socialize with others of their kind, a post on PETAs website states.

PETA first got involved because it was looking for a chimpanzee named Tonka, who appeared in films such as George of the Jungle and alongside actor Alan Cumming in Buddy.

Tonka was part of a PETA federal Endangered Species Act lawsuit. PETA wanted to know whether his previous owners or Cy obtained and submitted legally required import permits and health certificates for him. Tonkas former owner had claimed Tonka died, but he actually brought the chimp to Cys wildlife center, according to PETAs website.

Its a violation of a federal order if Tonka isnt sent to an accredited sanctuary. PETA arranged for his transfer to Save the Chimps last year, Metzler said.

The Plain Dealer / Cleveland.com reached out to Stephen Sesser, a Chillicothe attorney who represented Cy in his criminal case for theft, by email and voicemail.

Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A week after unveiling sweeping plans to bring more jobs to Cleveland, prevent violence, and improve the waterfront and southeast neighborhoods, Mayor Justin Bibb took center stage Wednesday night to deliver his second State of the City address.

Bibbs address seemed to represent an early victory lap for the mayor, a moment to showcase a policy agenda thats been ramping up in recent weeks and months, as Bibb moves deeper into his second year in office.
 
Three companies that saw trading swing on earnings this week showcased opportunities for investors who can look past early bias and buy in when the rest of the market is skittish, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

"The actual hitters, the people who do enough homework" are able to step up and win while other investors sell off or hold themselves back amid morning lows, Cramer said. That's because they're able to disregard short-term chatter and look at the metrics that matter, he added.

Morgan Stanley , for example, reported earnings on Wednesday morning showing a higher-than-expected loan loss provision. But as investors tuned in to Morgan Stanley's earnings call, it became clear that the one line item that mattered was new assets, according to Cramer. That number was double the previous quarter, and the stock rallied off its lows.

Another example, also in the banking sector, was Goldman Sachs , which began trading Tuesday down in the pre-market, Cramer said. The dip may have been triggered by investors seeing a double-digit percentage decline in one of the firm's business units, Cramer said. That comparison was fallacious, he continued, given that the prior quarter was the "greatest quarter this particular division had ever reported."

In Big Pharma, Abbott Labs reported an "incredible quarter" on Wednesday with good performance on every line, Cramer said, adding that coverage underplayed the company's performance. Once investors were able to digest the full earnings presentation, Cramer said, Abbott's stock "powered higher."
Actor Alec Baldwin departs his home, as he will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust", in New York, January 31, 2023.

New Mexico prosecutors announced Thursday they will be dismissing manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin after "new facts" emerged that demanded further investigation.

Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis cautioned their decision "does not absolve" Baldwin of culpability for his role in the fatal shooting on the set of the movie "Rust" in October 2021.

"Over the last few days and in preparation for the May 3, 2023, preliminary hearing, new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis in the case against [Baldwin]," the prosecutors said in a statement.

"Consequently, we cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form. We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin to conduct further investigation."

Their follow-up investigation remains "active and on-going" and charges may be refiled, they said.

"We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident," said Baldwin attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro.

Charges against the film's original armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, remain "unchanged," prosecutors said. Her lawyers didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A status conference will be held in the case on Friday at 2:30 p.m. local time.

Baldwin, who is also a producer on the film, and Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer, were each charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The actor was rehearsing a scene with the gun that fired the fatal bullet at the time of the shooting. "Rust" is set to resume filming this week in Montana.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty.

"Rust" proceedings have been hampered by procedural complications, particularly concerning the appointment of the case's previous special prosecutor.

The first special prosecutor for the case, Andrea Reeb, stepped down in early March, following a request for her removal that was filed by Baldwin's defense lawyers.

Baldwin's lawyers took issue with Reeb's allegedly dueling commitments: Reeb was named special prosecutor before being elected to New Mexico's legislature, which Baldwin's lawyers argued defied the state's constitution.

In March, Mary Carmack-Altwies, the New Mexico district attorney previously overseeing the "Rust" case, was given a directive from Judge Marlowe Sommer to either recuse herself from the case, or lose her ability to appoint a new special prosecutor.

Carmack-Altwies recused herself soon after. In her place, she appointed Morrissey and Lewis as special prosecutors.

Though Baldwin's manslaughter case will be dropped, the actor still faces other legal pressure as a result of the accidental shooting.

In early February, Hutchins' parents and sister filed a lawsuit against Baldwin, "Rust" producers and other crew members, accusing them of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other charges. In 2022, Hutchins' husband settled a separate lawsuit regarding the shooting.

Baldwin's lawyers recently called the lawsuit "misguided," saying the family has "no viable cause of action" against the actor, according to the motion to toss the suit.

The family lives in Ukraine, and Baldwin's lawyers claimed they were "distanced from Halyna physically, financially and emotionally for years before her death."

Baldwin also faces a lawsuit filed by three crew members who worked on the set of "Rust," who claimed to be standing close to Baldwin when the prop gun was fired. They said they suffered "blast injuries" when the gun was discharged, and now request compensatory and punitive damages.

To date, only David Halls, the "Rust" assistant director who handled the gun that killed Hutchins, has been held criminally accountable for the cinematographer's death.

After pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, Halls was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation, a $500 fine and 24 hours of community service.

Halls' hearing was the first to be conducted under the supervision of special prosecutors Morrissey and Lewis.
Apple's first physical retail store is located in the populous city of Mumbai.

For years, Tim Cook has been bullish on India. Now, he's betting big on the South Asian giant as Apple shifts its focus away from China and expands its footprint in India.

Still, analysts told CNBC the iPhone-maker's dependency on China will remain for years to come.

There's potential for India to "become the next China" for Apple production, but it could take as long as a decade before it happens, said Martin Yang, senior analyst of emerging technologies at Oppenheimer & Co.

Apple is set to open its second India retail store in Delhi Thursday, two days after opening its first in Mumbai.

The Cupertino-based tech giant still has a strong presence in China due to its supply chain partners, and China's infrastructure capabilities are still far better than what India can offer, Nitin Soni, senior director at Fitch Ratings told CNBC.

"It will take Apple years to diversify away from China," Soni said. "The country is still a very large pocket for Apple  not just in the assembly line, but the semiconductor ecosystem and testing as well."

Apple's efforts to move its assembly of products from China became more urgent in the last five years as U.S.-China trade tensions intensified, and supply chain disruptions caused by Beijing's zero-Covid policy unraveled. The iPhone maker had to scale back production in China due to those restrictions, a move that hurt its bottom line.
Darren Rambo, a 47-year-old industrial mechanic, says he had built a name for himself in the Illinois construction industry and as a result, never had trouble finding work. Then, at the end of 2019, he moved to Florida and had to "start from scratch." So, he got on LinkedIn. Given that it's the largest professional networking site with over 900 million members worldwide, according to its website, Rambo is certainly not the first to flock to LinkedIn in need of job prospects. But for him, it was to no avail: "To be quite honest with you, I've had a LinkedIn account and I've never had any success with it," Rambo tells CNBC Make It. LinkedIn's stated vision is to "create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce." Lakshman Somasundaram, the company's director of product management, says the operative word in that sentence "is very much 'every.'" He says that LinkedIn has been making intentional investments over the past couple of years to become more inclusive for all kinds of workers: "For example, if you are a fry cook and you come to LinkedIn, 'fry cook' should be available as a title for you to put on your profile." Currently, "Fry Cook," "Short Order Fry Cook" and "Fast Food Fry Cook" are all available as job titles on the platform. According to Somasundaram, 155 million of the platform's 900 million users today are "first-line workers," which LinkedIn defines as any job that requires less than a four-year degree: "It's a growing segment for us." The company has been trying to grow that segment for a while. In 2015, LinkedIn cofounder Allen Blue told The Financial Times there was "a growing number of blue-collar workers on the site." Even so, blue-collar workers  those in trade sectors like construction who work outside of office settings  say they're not yet seeing the benefits in their job hunts. The term "blue-collar" is sometimes applied with derogatory connotations, but Rambo says, "To be quite honest with you, I'm proud of that label."

LinkedIn? 'Never gotten a job on there'

Darren Rambo is an industrial mechanic based in Florida. Courtesy of: Darren Rambo

Rambo says he uses LinkedIn "to read or as something to look at when I'm bored. But as far as finding employment, it's never done anything for me like that." He's not alone. Sonja Wiltz, a 54-year-old construction safety coordinator, says, "All the years I've been on LinkedIn, I've never gotten a job on there." Rodney Brock, a 49-year-old pipefitter, says he has a LinkedIn account but rarely uses it: "To me, it's just something different than what I'm used to as far as the hot sheets or something that feels more construction-y to me." Hot sheets are physical lists of jobs and projects that construction workers have historically used to find open work. Upon moving to Florida, Rambo also signed up for Monster Jobs and Indeed. He found little success on Monster, which he says recommended jobs that were completely outside his skill set like working for the post office. Fortunately, Indeed turned out to be a gold mine for his job hunt: "Within three days [of making an Indeed account], I had four or five people calling me." Indeed, he says, was more sensitive to his skills and showed him more jobs that aligned with his qualifications.

Who online networking left behind

Professional networking and job searching looks different in the age of the internet, and as Silicon Valley develops more sites and apps for workers to connect online, blue-collar workers have not always been the target audience. In a 2001 paper on the increasing use of mobile phones, Jacqueline Brodie, an associate professor at Edinburgh Napier University, and Mark Perry, a professor at Brunel University, wrote that research into what tools blue-collar workers need in the digital age "is strange in its absence." "Perhaps this research is not seen as 'sexy'," they wrote. "This is a worrying trend in the design of technology  not only is it in a sense discriminatory (in that increasingly technological power is invested in the hands of managers, and not the workers), but also because it is ignoring a potentially large market." LinkedIn was created in 2002 as a platform for people to share their professional credentials and network within industries. It is primarily used by white-collar workers, but as Somasundaram says, the company is trying to change that "perception historically" with "small things that we tweak," as well as foundational changes like trying to improve "job discovery." Those tweaks appear to be helping some: Somasundaram reports that now 40% of people who sign up for LinkedIn on any given day are first-line workers. But workers say that for them, LinkedIn is primarily a social network or, in Brock's words, "a chat room," not a place where they find jobs. And those jobs are still very much abundant, even in today's tenuous job market.

Where blue-collar workers are finding jobs
Deutsche Bank thinks a $45 billion resort operator may be poised to outperform the broader gaming industry. The bank reiterated a buy rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands and raised its price target to $74 from $69. That equates to about 25% upside for the stock from Wednesday's close near $59. Deutsche said the company's growth in Macao and a faster than expected recovery drove the more positive outlook. "Given U.S. macro concerns, the growth trajectory in both Macao and Singapore, and the evolving margin profile upside in [Macao], we continue to believe LVS is well positioned to outperform within the gaming sector," Deutsche Bank research analyst Carlo Santarelli wrote in a note Wednesday. LVS YTD mountain Shares of resort company Las Vegas Sands added to gains early Thursday after reporting quarterly results a day earlier. Las Vegas Sands reported first quarter results Wednesday that beat Wall Street estimates on both revenue and earnings. Sands earned 28 cents per share on an adjusted basis, against analysts' estimate of 20 cents, representing about a 40% earnings day surprise, according to data from FactSet. And despite the company contending with nearly 4,000 rooms being out of service in Macao throughout the quarter, Sands was able to hang on to a 31.5% share in the mass market there, only a 310 basis point decline compared to the same quarter in 2019, pre-Covid. Deutsche also noted that even though Las Vegas Sands expects hotel labor to return to more normal levels, the company will now be able to make available a greater share of rooms to customers. "We continue to believe labor levels, the VIP gaming margin profile, and the gaming revenue mix, will add meaningfully to EBITDA and property margin," Santarelli said. Las Vegas Sands was more than 5% higher in pre-market trading early Thursday.  CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
A health-care worker fills out a Covid-19 Vaccination Record Card in the Bronx borough of New York.

Eighteen people, some of them doctors, were criminally charged with Covid-19 health-care fraud schemes that netted hundreds of millions of dollars from false billings and theft from federally funded programs, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

The charges, which span nine federal judicial districts, comprise the largest coordinated law enforcement action in the U.S. targeting fraud schemes that "exploit the Covid pandemic," the DOJ said in a press release.

One California doctor, Anthony Hao Dinh, was charged with allegedly submitting around $230 million in fraudulent claims to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration's Covid-19 Uninsured Program.

Dinh, who practices in Orange County, was the country's second-highest biller to that program, according to the DOJ. The program aimed to provide uninsured patients with access to Covid testing and treatment, but it stopped operating last year due to a lack of funding.

Some of the claims Dinh submitted were for services that were not rendered or not medically necessary, prosecutors said. He also allegedly billed the program for the treatment of patients who were insured.

Dinh allegedly used more than $100 million of fraud proceeds for high-risk options trading.

Dinh and two other individuals are also charged with allegedly submitting more than 70 fraudulent loan applications that obtained more than $3 million under the federal Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

Another defendant in California, lab owner Lourdes Navarro, is accused of submitting more than $358 million in false claims for lab testing to Medicare, which is the federal health insurance program for senior citizens, to HRSA and to a private insurance company.

Navarro's lab performed Covid screening tests for nursing homes and schools, and allegedly increased its reimbursements by adding claims for respiratory pathogen panel tests that providers and facility administrators did not order.

Other cases announced Thursday involved suppliers of over-the-counter Covid test kits, the DOJ said.

Medicare last April began to cover without out-of-pocket costs up to eight of those tests a month for beneficiaries who requested them.

But some suppliers allegedly "sought to exploit the program" by repeatedly supplying patients with dozens of Covid tests "they did not want or need," the DOJ said.

A doctor and marketer in Florida were charged with allegedly purchasing Medicare beneficiary identification numbers and shipping tests to beneficiaries who did not request them.

That resulted in $8.4 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, the DOJ said.

Other cases involved the alleged manufacture and distribution of fake Covid vaccine record cards.

Defendants in those cases include three medical professionals working at a small midwife practice in New York, who allegedly distributed nearly 2,700 forged Covid vaccine cards to people who were not vaccinated.

The midwife practice was one of the busiest vaccination sites in the state, the DOJ said. But instead of administering the Covid vaccine, the defendants allegedly destroyed vials of the vaccines intended for patients, the DOJ said.

Two people in Utah were also charged with allegedly manufacturing and selling about 120,000 fake Covid vaccine cards. Those defendants sold the cards across the U.S., especially in areas that had tighter restrictions around Covid vaccinations, prosecutors allege.

The DOJ said the people charged with distributing fake vaccine cards "intentionally sought to obstruct" the federal government's efforts to roll out a nationwide Covid vaccine program.

"The Justice Department will not tolerate those who exploited the pandemic for personal gain and stole taxpayer dollars," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release.

"This unprecedented enforcement action against defendants across the country makes clear that the Department is using every available resource to combat and prevent COVID-19 related fraud and safeguard the integrity of taxpayer-funded programs."

The charges come months after the department created three strike force teams to enhance its efforts to combat and prevent Covid-related fraud. They also follow similar criminal charges related to Covid fraud schemes in April 2022 and May 2021.

In its announcement Thursday, the DOJ said it had seized more than $16 million in cash in connection with the alleged schemes.
Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) is the first attempt at creating comprehensive regulation for digital assets in the EU.

Lawmakers in the European Parliament have approved the world's first comprehensive package of rules aimed at regulating the cryptocurrency industry.

In a vote Thursday, the EU Parliament voted 517 in favor and 38 against to pass the Markets in Crypto Act, or MiCA. The legislation, which seeks to reduce risks for consumers buying crypto assets, will mean providers can become liable if they lose investors' crypto-assets.

The rules will impose a number of requirements on crypto platforms, token issuers and traders around transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions, the EU Parliament said in a statement Thursday.

Platforms will be required to inform consumers about the risks associated with their operations, while sales of new tokens will also come under regulation.

Stablecoins like tether and Circle's USDC will be required to maintain ample reserves to meet redemption requests in the event of mass withdrawals. Stablecoins that become too large also face being limited to 200 million euros ($220 million) in transactions per day.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, or ESMA, will be given powers to step in and ban or restrict crypto platforms if they are seen to not properly protect investors, or threaten market integrity or financial stability.

MiCA also addresses environmental concerns surrounding crypto, with firms forced to disclose their energy consumption as well as the impact of digital assets on the environment.

Mairead McGuinness, European commissioner for financial services, lauded the law's approval Thursday and said she expects the rules to start applying "from next year."
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DEARBORN, Mich.  New video footage of a fire involving a Ford F-150 Lightning this year highlights a growing concern around electric vehicles: volatile fires from the batteries that power them. The previously unreleased footage, which CNBC obtained through Michigan's Freedom of Information Act from the Dearborn Police Department, shows smoke billowing from three tightly packed electric pickups in a Ford Motor holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan. Moments later, flames shoot several feet above the vehicles, which were unoccupied. It wasn't clear based on public documents and police video how long the fires burned. Experts say EV fires can take hours, rather than minutes, to extinguish. EV fires have become a growing concern as automakers push to increase sales of electric vehicles and meet tightening emissions standards. The Biden administration has set a target for half of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 to be electric. Automakers are spending billions of dollars to electrify their lineups. However, there's been little to no discussion about first responder training for when the vehicles catch fire, whether due to a malfunction or, more commonly, a crash.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers. The blaze spread to two other electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford's in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn Police Department

The Feb. 4 holding lot fire at Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn prompted the company to quickly halt production of the new pickup for five weeks. The automaker also recalled 18 of the vehicles, which Ford has likened to the Model T in terms of importance to the company. Ford identified the root cause as related to battery cell production made by supplier, SK On. Police officers responding to the blaze described the vehicles as being "engulfed in flames" and can be heard on video worrying that the vehicles could "blow up." Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in EVs, can be volatile and extremely difficult to put out once on fire. "We're not putting this f---er out. Look at it," said one responding officer during the February F-150 Lightning fire. First responders can be heard on video expressing concern about how much water is needed to put out EV fires and whether a special foam would be required. They also questioned the viability and safety of electric vehicles. "They have to put like a whole f---ing lake on it to put them out," the same officer said during the Feb. 4 event.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers. The blaze spread to two other electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford's in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn Police Department

The footage obtained by CNBC totaled about two hours of video, including overlapping footage, from 17 police bodycams and vehicle dashcams between 3:36 p.m. and 4:22 p.m. ET, according to time stamps on the bodycam videos. Photos obtained from Dearborn Police through a separate Michigan FOIA request show the aftermath of the blaze. One of the three vehicles is barely recognizable, with its body nearly melted down to the ground. The two neighboring vehicles were also heavily damaged. "There was only one [vehicle on fire] when we got here. They're catching. It's these frickin' batteries," that same responding officer said, according to the footage. The F-150 Lightning fire occurred while the vehicle was charging in a holding lot during a pre-delivery quality check and was caused by an internal short circuit due to a manufacturing issue when cells in the battery were at a high state of charge, according to public documents associated with the recall. Ford said engineers determined there was no evidence of a charging fault. "Together with SK On, we confirmed the root causes and swiftly implemented quality actions," Ford said in a statement to CNBC. "The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center has been back up and running since March 13 and is back to full production and shipping vehicles to customers." The fire added to ongoing quality and execution issues that have plagued the automaker as it attempts to restructure its business and position itself better for EVs.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers. The blaze spread to two other electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford's in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn Police Department

Growing concern

Vehicle fires are not new. They regularly occur in traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. But the fires that can result from EVs such as the F-150 Lightning and their batteries are increasingly worrying for first responders across the country, in part because they involve a chain reaction between battery cells known as thermal runaway. Such fires also are a growing problem for automakers who could lose the momentum they've built with car buyers and climate-conscious lawmakers if the risk continues shaking public confidence in the technology. Fires involving EV batteries can burn hotter and longer and require new techniques to extinguish. A report from the Dearborn Fire Department, which responded to the February Lightning fire, said one of the vehicles was determined to be "un-extinguishable" and firefighters had to contact a colleague with "expertise in EV technology" on what to do. "This is a big issue globally," said Michael O'Brian, board member of the International Fire Chiefs Association, who leads fire and life safety. "We need to better understand what the best processes are through testing and evaluation with real firefighters."

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EVs are powered by a series of battery cells inside an airtight pack that's designed to prevent any substances from passing in or out. The packs also are mainly built into the underbodies or frames of the vehicles, a spot that can be difficult for first responders to reach. And even if they could easily access the cells, the "fire" is actually a chemical reaction and far more difficult to handle than a traditional gasoline fire. "You're now dealing with a vehicle that doesn't work like anything else you've been taught," said David Dalrymple, a volunteer firefighter in New Jersey who owns a first response training and consulting business called RoadWay Rescue. "It's a totally different animal. ... The primary goal is to cool it down to take away that chemical reaction." Dalrymple, who also serves on a Society of Automotive Engineers committee focusing on EV fire issues and standards, noted some other countries allow first responders to look up what hazardous materials are in a vehicle based on the license plate. A similar system could be useful in the U.S., he said.

A 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV caught fire at a home in Cherokee County, Georgia on Sept. 13, 2021, according to the local fire department. Cherokee County Fire Department

Experts are still trying to determine EV fire incident rates; the data is difficult to collect from disparate fire departments. Vehicle fires involving internal combustion engines are far more common than EVs, however experts expect that to continually even out as more electrified vehicles are sold. Problems with plug-in vehicles that use such batteries have led automakers including Ford, General Motors , Hyundai and Porsche to recall models. GM from 2020 to 2021 had to recall all of its electric Chevrolet Bolt models built up to that point due to a battery issue that resulted in several reported fires. As a result, GM expanded an ongoing nationwide program to educate public safety, fire and emergency service providers on how to most effectively handle emergency situations involving electric vehicles. The state of Virginia has taken it upon itself to train firefighters. A bill that requires them to complete a training program about the risk of electric vehicle fires passed unanimously this year.

Trial by fire

Firefighters increasingly are facing the challenges created by EV fires. This is made more complicated by what some experts say is a lack of regulations and standards, which allows automakers to do as they like regarding the design and rollout of EVs. For more than a century, first responders have quite easily extinguished vehicle engine fires by popping the hood and drowning the area in water. That playbook doesn't work with EVs.

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers. The blaze spread to two other electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford's in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn Police Department

Each vehicle is unique and may require different techniques to extinguish, which means there are no set standards for putting out an EV fire. Current best practices for an EV fire, depending on who you speak with, include submerging the vehicles in water, piercing the battery pack and inundating it with water, disabling a vehicle's 12-volt circuit, or simply letting the fire burn until it's out, emitting chemical toxins into the air. O'Brian, a fire chief in suburban Brighton outside of Detroit, said the bigger the battery, the higher the concern for first responders. He also noted that new battery plants to produce the cells for the vehicles often cost billions of dollars, highlighting what he saw as comparatively little funding being directed to the training of fire departments. "I continue to keep advocating that both state and federal government needs to truly invest within the fire service on this topic for training, best practices, lab time," O'Brian said. "It's as simple as what's the best way to turn up your efforts when exposed to lithium-ion off-gassing" when the vehicles catch fire. O'Brian said once the thermal runaway starts there's really no putting the fire out unless you stop the chain reaction of lithium-ion cells from overheating. It's unclear how many, if any, people have died from an electric vehicle spontaneously catching fire. There have been reports of fatal fires following crashes, but many times EVs have caught fire when charging and unoccupied. There's also the risk of reignition: Lithium-ion battery fires can re-engage weeks later with little to no warning. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to such an incident last year involving a Tesla that had been in an accident three weeks prior. Once the F-150 Lightning fire was under control on Feb. 4, Ford had security monitoring the vehicles throughout the night in case they become "involved again," according to the Dearborn Fire Department report. William Lerner, an independent safety tech inventor and delegate for the International Organization for Standardization, said best practices would call for a three-week monitoring period after a fire, with particular attention during the first 24 hours. Lerner, who works closely with first responders and their trainers, expressed concern that first responders may not have the appropriate personal protection and safety equipment to handle the fires. He said the equipment used for a traditional vehicle fire may not suffice. "The whole way of dealing with this is completely different," he said. "The only similarities are they have four wheels, and they look like cars. It's a completely different product, and that's the problem." Ford, in its Emergency Response Guide for the 2022 Lightning, broadly details some issues about the potential for reignition in the event of a fire and suggests storing the vehicle outside or at least 50 feet away from other objects. It does not offer a solution for putting out a battery fire other than "LARGE amounts of water" or using a "Class ABC powder-type extinguisher to contain and smother the flames." Ford said the company "took part in an information-sharing session on how to handle battery fires in summer 2022 with members of the Dearborn fire department."

An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers. The blaze spread to two other electric pickups in a holding lot of Ford's in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn Police Department
Chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries said on Wednesday it had filed a lawsuit against International Business Machines , accusing it of unlawfully sharing confidential intellectual property and trade secrets.

New York-based GlobalFoundries said in its complaint that IBM had shared IP and trade secrets with Rapidus, a new state-backed Japanese consortium that IBM is working with to develop and produce cutting-edge two-nanometer chips.

It also asserted that IBM had unlawfully disclosed and misused its IP with Intel , noting that IBM had announced in 2021 it would collaborate with Intel on next-generation chip technology.

"IBM is unjustly receiving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing income and other benefits," GlobalFoundries said in a statement.

IBM pushed back in an emailed statement to Reuters saying: "GlobalFoundries filed this meritless lawsuit after a court rejected the company's attempt to dismiss IBM's legitimate fraud and breach of contract claims. Their allegations are entirely baseless, and we are confident that the court will agree."

Intel and Rapidus declined to comment.

The complaint said GlobalFoundries and IBM had collaboratively developed technology over decades in Albany, New York, and the exclusive right to license and disclose the technology was sold to GlobalFoundries in 2015.
Moderna and IBM are teaming up to use generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing to advance mRNA technology, the development at the core of the company's blockbuster Covid vaccine, the companies announced Thursday.

"We are excited to partner with IBM to develop novel AI models to advance mRNA science, prepare ourselves for the era of quantum computing, and ready our business for these game-changing technologies," Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

Moderna shares dipped slightly Thursday, while IBM's stock was about flat.

The companies said they signed an agreement for Moderna to access IBM's quantum computing systems. Those systems could help accelerate Moderna's discovery and creation of new messenger RNA vaccines and therapies, according to Dr. Dario Gil, director of IBM research.

IBM will also provide experts who can help Moderna scientists explore the use of quantum technologies, the companies added. Unlike traditional computers, which store information as either zeroes or ones, quantum computing hinges on quantum physics. That allows those systems to solve problems too complex for today's computers.

Under the deal, Moderna's scientists will also have access to IBM's generative AI model known as MoLFormer. Generative AI describes algorithms that can be used to create new content based on the data they have been trained on.

The companies said Moderna will use IBM's model to understand "the characteristics of potential mRNA medicines" and design a new class of vaccines and therapies.

The agreement comes as Moderna navigates its post-pandemic boom driven by its mRNA Covid vaccine.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company became a household name for its messenger RNA technology, which teaches human cells to produce a protein that initiates an immune response against a certain disease.

Moderna is trying to harness that technology to target other diseases as the world emerges from the pandemic and demand for blockbuster Covid vaccines and treatments slows.

The company is already working to develop a vaccine targeting respiratory syncytial virus and a shot that can target different types of cancer when combined with Merck's immunotherapy Keytruda.

The new agreement also comes as IBM ramps up its investment in AI with new partnerships. Earlier this year, the Armonk, New York-based company announced a deal with NASA to help build AI foundation models to advance climate science.

Those efforts fall in line with a recent boom in AI, largely driven by the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT. The AI-powered chatbot answers questions in clear, concise prose, and immediately caused a sensation after its launch.

ChatGPT kicked off an AI arms race and prompted questions about the full extent of artificial intelligence's capabilities and risks.
Michael James Lindell, also known as the My Pillow Guy, speaks before a rally for former U.S. President Donald Trump at The Farm at 95 on April 9, 2022 in Selma, North Carolina.

An arbitration panel ordered MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to pay $5 million within 30 days to a Nevada software developer for proving Lindell was wrong in his claim that certain data was related to the 2020 presidential election and purported voting machine fraud.

The panel, in its 23-page ruling issued Wednesday, said that the Robert Zeidman "proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data." Zeidman, a software developer, entered the "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge" contest in during a cyber symposium in August 2021.

The American Arbitration Association panel, which held a three-day hearing in January in the case, also said that the Lindell LLC's "failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million" offered as the stated prize of the contest "was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover."

Zeidman called the ruling "great" in an interview with CNBC.

"I knew from the beginning that I would win," Zeidman said, citing his review of the data, which Lindell believed showed that China had interfered in the 2020 election in several states and effectively swindled then-President Donald Trump out of reelection.

When Zeidman dug into the source of some of the data "I got a [Microsoft] Word document which was basically a big table of numbers."

"This was obviously manufactured bogus data," Zeidman said.

He said the data pushed by Lindell is part of a "fraud among right-wing people" who argue that Trump is the true winner of the 2020 election.

"I'm a right-wing conservative," Zeidman said, adding that he voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

But Zeidman also said, "I don't expect to see the money" that Lindell was ordered to pay him.
Retail traders may be selling tech stocks en masse, but they're spying opportunity in one major financial institution  Bank of America. Retail trading activity has remained steady this past week, with investors buying a net $821 million, according to a Wednesday note from JPMorgan Chase. That's consistent with the 12-month average. Beneath the hood, however, retail traders are increasingly pivoting away from big tech names in favor of financials  suggesting a rotation between the biggest gainers and laggards in markets this year. In the S & P 500, information technology is the top sector in 2023 after surging 20%, while the financials sector is at the bottom, down about 2.9% for the year. "Among the $-908MM net sold in single stocks, large cap tech names were universally sold: AAPL -$190MM, AMD -$177MM, TSLA -$85MM," read a note from JP Morgan's global quantitative and derivatives strategy team led by Peng Cheng. "We continued seeing demand in financials, led by BAC (+$81MM)." Given this, here are 10 of the biggest stocks retail traders bought into this past week: Retail traders snapped up Bank of America shares, resulting in $82 million in net inflows, according to JPMorgan. While the finance sector has been in focus for investors following the regional banking crisis, Bank of America has withstood some of the shocks, and is up more than 1.5% this week. On Tuesday, it topped expectations in first-quarter earnings and revenue . American Airlines Group saw a big surge in retail trader interest, which saw a net $68 million in inflows. The firm is set to release its latest quarterly results next Thursday. On the other hand, retail traders dumped some notable tech names such as Apple , with saw net selling of $190 million this past week. Apple shares have enjoyed a huge run-up this year, up 29%. Tesla shares also saw net selling of $85 million. Tesla shares dropped 9% during Thursday trading after reporting first quarter earnings results . Tesla reported net income fell 24% to $2.51 billion from $3.32 billion a year ago. That's a drop to 73 cents a share from 95 cents a share. Still, the stock is up 32% in 2023.
Huawei is back in the spotlight in Europe after a report suggested Germany may ban some equipment from the Chinese telecommunications giant in its 5G network.

Computer storage company Seagate will pay a $300 million penalty for allegedly continuing an unauthorized $1.1 billion relationship with Chinese technology firm Huawei after the company was added to a U.S. trade blacklist in 2020.

The $300 million settlement, announced by the Department of Commerce on Wednesday, is the largest ever imposed by Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, which enforces export controls against blacklisted companies like Huawei.

Federal regulators said Seagate was Huawei's sole provider of hard drive disks, or HDDs, resulting in around $150 million in profit for the hard drive maker.

Seagate shipped over 7.4 million HDDs to Huawei from Aug. 2020 to Sept. 2021, federal regulators said. Neither Huawei nor Seagate made an apparent effort to hide their relationship, according to federal charging documents. "Seagate well seized the opportunity and successfully won the big share," Huawei allegedly said.

Seagate also allegedly extended lines of credit totaling $1 billion to the Chinese company. Those lines of credit allowed Huawei to order an "increasing volume" of HDDs, federal regulators said, that Huawei wouldn't have been able to pay for otherwise.

"All the while, Seagate's competitors declined similar exports," a Commerce Department press release said.

Even after export controls were imposed, a senior Seagate executive publicly justified the continued relationship with Huawei, regulators alleged. "I don't see any particular restriction for us," the executive reportedly said.

Seagate prioritized its relationship with Huawei over at least one U.S. customer, federal regulators alleged, with one executive writing that the company "moved supply to support China," even after export controls had been imposed.

"Even after Huawei was placed on the Entity List for conduct inimical to our national security, and its competitors had stopped selling to them due to our foreign direct product rule, Seagate continued sending hard disk drives to Huawei," assistant secretary for export enforcement Matthew Axelrod said in a statement.

"While we believed we complied with all relevant export control laws at the time we made the hard disk drive sales at issue, we determined that engaging with BIS and settling this matter was the best course of action," Seagate CEO Dave Mosley said in a statement.

Seagate shares slipped a little over 7% on Thursday, after reporting disappointing third-quarter results.

Seagate confirmed that it had settled with the Commerce Department but did not offer further comment beyond the company's press release.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts poses during a group portrait at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., October 7, 2022.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday invited Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month before the panel about ethics reform of the court.

The invitation to Roberts by Sen. Dick Dubin, D-Ill., for the May 2 appearance came in the wake of a series of revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas that have reignited calls for the Supreme Court to better police the conduct of its own members.

On April 6, ProPublica reported that the conservative Thomas failed for nearly two decades to disclose luxurious trips paid for by Republican billionaire donor Harlan Crow.

Last week, the same news outlet reported that Thomas failed to disclose that Crow had purchased property from Thomas and his relatives, which included a house where Thomas' mother still lives.

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Thomas on financial disclosure forms for more than 20 years had claimed to have earned income from a Nebraska real estate firm that has been closed since 2006.

In his letter Thursday to Roberts, Durbin wrote, "Your last significant discussion of how Supreme Court Justices address ethical issues was presented in your 2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary."

"Since then, there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally," Durbin wrote.

"These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the Court's decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence," Durbin wrote. "The status quo is no longer tenable.

"The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Court's ethical standards. I invite you to join it, and I look forward to your response."

Durbin and his fellow Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a letter on April 10 to Roberts calling on him to investigate Crow's "largesse" to Thomas.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNBC when asked if Roberts would accept Durbin's invitation to appear before the committee.

If Roberts does not voluntarily agree to testify, Durbin's committee is left with few options to compel his testimony.

While Supreme Court justices have testified before congressional appropriations committees regarding the high court's budget, there is no clear precedent for asking a justice to testify about ethical standards for his or her colleagues.

In order to issue a subpoena for Roberts to appear, Judiciary Committee rules require that either the chairman and ranking member jointly issue the subpoena, or, if the ranking member does not agree, then that a majority of the committee members vote to issue the subpoena.

There are 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans on the committee.

But due to the medical absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., there currently are just 10 Democrats available to vote on the committee. And no GOP committee members so far are to cross party lines to subpoena Roberts or Thomas.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, on Thursday said that Durbin's invitation to Roberts "opens up Pandora's box, in my view."

"Let him deal with the situation in his own backyard," Graham said of Roberts, according to NBC News.

"I would be surprised if he agreed to come," Graham added, "And I would support his decision not to come if that's what he wanted to do."

Following ProPublica's revelations about Thomas' financial relationship with Crow, the left-leaning group Common Cause sent a letter to both the House and Senate judiciary committees urging them to invite both Thomas and Roberts to testify.

"We strongly urge you to hold hearings that examine exactly what happened  including testimony from Justice Thomas  and put it on the record for the American people," wrote Marilyn Carpinteyro, interim co-president of Common Cause.

Unlike the Senate, where Democrats have a majority, the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to take action in response to the ProPublica reporting.

At a Capitol Hill press conference Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was asked whether he had any concerns about Thomas accepting gifts from Crow that were never disclosed.

"No, not at all," McCarthy replied. "Not at all."
E. Jean Carroll is seen outside State Supreme Court on March 4, 2020, in New York. Caroll is suing Donald Trump for defamation.

Former President Donald Trump has yet to decide if he will attend his upcoming rape defamation trial, his attorney told a federal judge Thursday.

Trump and E. Jean Carroll  the writer accusing the ex-president of raping her in a department store in the 1990s and then defaming her when she took her story public  faced a Thursday deadline to tell the judge about their attendance plans for the trial.

The defamation trial is scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court in Manhattan next Tuesday. In a new court filing posted Thursday afternoon, Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina told Judge Lewis Kaplan that he could not make a commitment around attendance  yet.

Trump's decision "will be made during the course of the trial," Tacopina wrote. For that reason, "we are not yet in a position to advise the Court in this regard," he told the judge.

"However, we will inform the Court as soon as a decision is reached, particularly in light of the logistical concerns that will need to be addressed in coordination with the Secret Service, the Marshals Service, and the City of New York," the lawyer wrote.

Carroll plans to attend the entire trial and testify under oath before the jury, her lawyer noted Wednesday in a letter to Kaplan.

If Trump doesn't show up to the trial, Tacopina on Wednesday asked Kaplan to tell the jury that the former president's absence would be sparing "logistical burdens" on the courthouse and New York City. Carroll's counsel criticized that request as "frivolous," and the judge ultimately rejected it on Thursday.

"There shall be no reference by counsel for Mr. Trump in the presence of the jury panel or the trial jury to Mr. Trump's alleged desire to testify or to the burdens that any absence on his part allegedly might spare, or might have spared, the Court or the City of New York," the judge wrote Thursday.

Both parties' lawyers noted to Kaplan that Trump has traveled to New York recently in order to respond to separate legal matters.

Earlier this month, Trump was arrested and arraigned in Manhattan on dozens of charges of falsifying business records in connection to hush money payments made before the 2016 presidential election. The indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made Trump the first ex-president ever to face criminal charges.

Tacopina, who is also defending Trump in that case, cited the spectacle caused by his arraignment to bolster his argument that it may be too difficult for him to show up for Carroll's trial.

Carroll's lawyer, in her reply to Tacopina, noted that Trump has also recently come to Manhattan to sit for a deposition with the New York Attorney General's office, which is prosecuting a civil case into the former president's business practices.

She also noted that Trump, now a leading contender for the 2024 presidential nomination, is scheduled to travel to New Hampshire for a campaign event in late April  "in other words, in the middle of the trial in this case."

If he can attend those and other events, "then surely he could surmount the logistics of attending his own federal trial," Carroll's attorney wrote.

Carroll's lawsuit alleges that Trump raped her in a dressing room of the New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. She came forward with the accusation in 2019, while Trump was president.

Trump accused Carroll of lying, and told news outlet The Hill, "She's not my type." He lashed out at her again in 2022, accusing her of changing her story and "promoting a really crummy book."
In this Aug. 12, 2002 file photo, attorney Mark Pomerantz arrives at Federal Court in New York. New York prosecutors, including recently hired former mafia prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, have met for an eighth time with former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen as part of a criminal investigation of the former president's finances.

A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for testimony from a former Manhattan prosecutor who was involved in a criminal investigation of ex-President Donald Trump.

The order by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York came just hours before the former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, had been directed by a federal judge to sit for a deposition with the committee.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office is heading an unprecedented criminal case against Trump, the Republican former president and current leading presidential candidate, on charges of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which relate to hush money payments made before the 2016 election to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump.

The Republican-majority House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, launched an investigation into Bragg's case, saying it was looking into whether the prosecution was politically motivated.

The committee subpoenaed Pomerantz, who had resigned from the DA's office a few months after Bragg took charge in January 2022. Pomerantz had been working on the office's investigations of Trump under Bragg's predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr. In a resignation letter, Pomerantz said there was "no doubt" that Trump committed crimes and questioned Bragg's apparent decision at the time to pause the probes into Trump.

In response to the subpoena to Pomerantz, Bragg sued the Judiciary Committee to try to block the former prosecutor from testifying. Bragg's civil suit argued that the congressional panel had "no power to supervise state criminal prosecutions."

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump nominee, on Wednesday denied Bragg's effort to invalidate the subpoena for Pomerantz.

"The subpoena was issued with a 'valid legislative purpose' in connection with the 'broad' and 'indispensable' congressional power to 'conduct investigations,'" Vyskocil wrote in federal court in Manhattan.

"Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law," the judge wrote.

Her ruling, which came after a hearing Monday, was contemptuous of Bragg's lawsuit. "The first 35 pages of the Complaint have little to do with the subpoena at issue and are nothing short of a public relations tirade against former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump," she wrote.

Jordan had argued that his committee has the right to probe Bragg's work because the D.A.'s office receives some federal funds.

Pomerantz had also asked Vyskocil to block the subpoena, saying in a filing that it puts him in an "impossible position."

If I refuse to provide information to the Committee, I risk being held in contempt of Congress and referred to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution. If, on the other hand, I defy the District Attorney's instructions and answer questions, I face possible legal or ethical consequences, including criminal prosecution," Pomerantz wrote.

Bragg and Pomerantz both appealed Vyskocil's ruling. On Thursday morning, the appeals court granted their request for a brief stay in order to give a three-judge panel time to consider whether to continue to block the subpoena for longer pending the appeal.

The circuit court gave Jordan's committee until Friday at 3 p.m. ET to reply.
Under the deal, Pakistan will buy only crude, not refined fuels, Minister Musadik Malik told Reuters late on Wednesday. Imports are expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) if the first transaction goes through smoothly, he said.

Pakistan has placed its first order for discounted Russian crude oil under a deal struck between Islamabad and Moscow, the countrys petroleum minister said, with one cargo to dock at the port of Karachi in May.

Pakistans purchase gives Russia a new outlet, adding to Moscows growing sales to India and China, as it redirects oil from western markets because of the Ukraine conflict.

As a long-standing Western ally and the arch-rival of neighbouring India, which historically is closer to Moscow, analysts say the crude deal would have been difficult for Pakistan to accept, but its financing needs are great.

Discounted crude offers respite as Pakistan faces an acute balance of payments crisis, risking a default on its debt obligations. The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank are scarcely enough to cover four weeks of controlled imports.

Energy imports make up the majority of the countrys external payments.

Under the deal, Pakistan will buy only crude, not refined fuels, Minister Musadik Malik told Reuters late on Wednesday. Imports are expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) if the first transaction goes through smoothly, he said.

"Our orders are in, we have placed that already," he said, confirming source-based information that the country would not buy refined products.

A source in Moscow who is familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that the final deal was reached in recent days.

The Russian government did not respond to a request for comment.

Major Russian oil companies have discussed the possible supply of oil to Pakistan over recent months, two trading sources familiar with the talks said, but declined to disclose the names of possible suppliers. One of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia plans to supply Urals crude to Pakistan.

Islamabad imported 154,000 bpd of oil in 2022, around steady with the previous year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

The crude was predominantly supplied by the worlds top exporter Saudi Arabia followed by the United Arab Emirates. The 100,000 bpd from Russia in theory greatly reduces Pakistans need for Middle Eastern fuel.

Asked about the impact of the Russian imports on local pricing, Malik said that would be apparent once the crude had been refined and was ready to sell.

The U.S. dollar historically has been the currency of oil trade, but the Ukraine war has eroded its dominance as Russia avoids receiving a currency it has been largely blocked from using by Western sanctions.

Pakistans economic crisis meanwhile means it is desperately short of hard currency.

Malik declined to say whether Chinese yuan and the UAE dirham would be used for transactions. He also did not comment on the rate of imports.

"I will not disclose anything about the commercial side of the deal," he said.

Pakistans Refinery Limited (PRL) will initially refine the Russian crude in a trial run, followed by Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and other refineries, Malik said.

As part of sanctions on Moscow, Western nations have imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on purchases of Russian oil to try to limit Russias revenues for fighting in Ukraine.

India and China, however, have paid prices above the cap, according to traders and Reuters calculations.

Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov led a delegation to Islamabad in January, after which he said oil exports to Pakistan could begin after March.

Malik in turn took a delegation to Moscow to negotiate the deal late last year.

Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been locked in negotiations since early February for the release of a $1.1 billion tranche of a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  Kacific Broadband Satellite Group has invested in offering satellite connectivity to rural areas in the Philippines to help boost the economy and aid in bridging the digital divide in the country.

Internet in the Philippines displays a stark disparity between rural and urban areas, as many provinces suffer from poor signal coverage, dead spots, or inadequate infrastructure from telcos, resulting in gaps and connectivity challenges for areas beyond the reach of fiber.

Kacific is a next-generation broadband satellite operator that aims to enable enterprises, governments, and communities in remote areas to fully participate in the digital world by providing high-quality, affordable satellite broadband access.

The companys business model empowers more and more people through the provision of broadband and contributes to job creation. As a result, this helps the local economy and improves the livelihood of Filipinos by supporting local businesses.

San Buena Farm is now able to communicate with its key accounts because of Kacifics satellite broadband. Photo from Kacific Broadband Satellite Group

Theres a lot of wealth in those rural areas because thats where the Philippines draws its economic growth from primary industries. So, we think satellites definitely play a great role in bridging the digital divide, Kacific CEO Christian Patouraux told CNN Philippines The Final Word.

According to Patouraux, an unhampered internet connection is critical for business continuity in far-flung areas in the country. A satellite internet is perfect for areas that cannot be reached by fiber or wired internet connections.

AmeeraTel, a BPO company, uses Kacific as backup internet for uninterrupted operations and reliable client communication. Photo from Kacific Broadband Satellite Group

The Kacific Group launched Kacific 1, the first Ka-Band High Throughput Satellite (HTS), in December 2019. It has concentrated spot beams covering the whole Philippines, with high power resulting in availabilities between 99.1% and 99.9%.

Kacific partners with over 160 authorized distributors and 18 local Internet Service Providers (ISP), providing nationwide broadband services and 24-7 after-sales support to connect different sectors in the Philippines.

In addition, Kacific established a local teleport in Subic Bay with an additional site in Clark to serve as a backup site. Kacific's local teleports are an investment commitment that helps their partners reduce capital expenses by eliminating the need to invest in a hub. This distribution network shows that the company enables its local partners to participate in the growth of the local economy.

They also have regional warehouses in Manila, Cebu, Davao, and Palawan to help reduce logistics costs to end users.

Moreover, Kacific has made a name for itself as an innovative leader in the industry. Their satellite-based connectivity solutions can be used for a variety of applications.

Kacific offers its flagship product, FlexVNO, a dedicated wholesale bandwidth allowing internet service providers to manage a highly flexible and cost-effective virtual network where they may customize their products and services. It is entirely customizable by Kacific Virtual Network Operator customers with parameters such as network routing, flexible bandwidth, and co-location at teleports.

In addition, a Static IP address can be availed to enable VPN (Virtual Private Network) or other remote access programs usually required by medium to large enterprises for added security and network capabilities.

Kacific powers tourism enterprises like Qi Palawan Resort. Photo from Kacific Broadband Satellite Group

Kacific also offers Gigstarter, pre-packaged, prepaid plans through their local partners to offer internet users fast and affordable satellite broadband anywhere in the Philippines.

Kacific's flagship products, FlexVNO and Gigstarter, paved the way for innovative offerings like CommsBox, CCTV, IoT, and Mobile Backhaul, enabling efficient remote data collection and empowering businesses to reach new heights.

Satellite internet is going to become more and more prevalent across all regions of the developing world, especially in rural areas and cities, Patouraux said. The internet is going to be so much better thanks to the new generations of satellites like the Kacifics, in rural areas and cities.

For more information on Kacifics satellite technology, email sales@kacific.com or visit www.kacific.com.
What I know of queerness when I was a teenager was relegated to Tumblr ships and fictional boys, novels by David Levithan and songs by Troye Sivan. I was pretty much clueless with things beyond these as during that time, it seemed like it was extra taboo to be queer. I kept my interests and desires neatly pinned on the bookmarks tab of my old laptop, never showing anyone what was kept in between. The discovery of queer culture for me was gradual. At first, I was introduced to Season 6 of RuPauls Drag Race, where I encountered terms such as reading, shade, category, and many more  all of which I did not know at the time were actually from the ballroom scene. One day I found a Vogue Femme battle between Sailor Moon and Wonder Woman on YouTube by accident, and I could not explain how I felt back then, both baffled and gagged at how these two fierce beings would twirl and then throw themselves to the ground, only to swiftly bounce back up and dance once again. Ballroom is a queer subculture where participants perform or walk in categories  not ballroom dancing.

Jennie Livingstons documentary Paris is Burning helped me understand the culture more, showing the life and battles of the ballroom community during the 80s in New York City, the fight against discrimination, racism, poverty, and AIDS.

This tradition of ballroom began in the 70s where it was founded in Harlem, New York among Black and Latino trans and queer communities to create a space that resisted against the racist and cis-white heteronormative society. Voguing on the other hand, according to Xyza Mizrahi, mother of the Iconic House of Mizrahi here in the Philippines, is an art of posing. It is an expression and an art form which is the performance aspect of ballroom composed of three different styles such as the Old Way, New Way, and Vogue Femme where you use your arms to tell a story. In the scene, realness is a vital essence one must carry when walking. It is the ability to portray cis-heteronormative culture by way of fashion, dance, and performance, which started from the trans members of the community which are called femqueens. The intricacy of ballroom culture is owed mainly from the trans community that upheld the scene since it began.

Lulu 007 during the face category in the EnCUNTo Ball. Photo by KANE BLANCAFLOR

It took a decade for me to see actual voguing in person at the first ball I ever attended. In October 2022, I went to the EnCUNTo Ball organized by the Kiki House of Anansi and UP University Student Council. Decked in whats supposed to be Arthurian aesthetics, the hotel became somewhat fitting for the Philippine mythology and folk culture that the ball was trying to emulate.

The ball was attended by both local and international ballroom scenes, and I was ecstatic to see people whom Id only seen from my computer screen. The judges were Sattva Ninja from the Iconic House of Ninjas UK and Germany Chapter, Onika 007 who is a drag queen, and Nunoy Revlon from the Iconic House of Revlons Paris Chapter (a house that notably placed third in the HBO Max reality vogueing competition show Legendary). Teddy Oricci from the Legendary House of Oricci hosted the event, and Chisei Ninja from the Iconic House of Ninja was also there.

Prince Nunoy Revlon hosting the OTA Ball. Photo by KANE BLANCAFLOR

Ballroom is a community and culture where we stand together and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community by expressing our true selves in ways we cant in the streets, says Nunoy Revlon. With categories such as Bathala, Sirena, Sawa, Bakunawa, and the like, many ballroom walkers of the EnCUNTo Ball were clad in pearls, gold, and other traditional ornaments as they strutted and vogued their way in front of the judges bearing heavy inspiration from our culture. The highlights of the night were the vogue battles between performers which caused screams and cheers from every corner of the event hall. From jumping from a table to dousing oneself with water, there were endless possibilities in the performances themselves.

When not performing or training for balls, most people from the scene convene to relax and mingle with others who are also part of the community. We Are Shapeshifters in Escolta, Manila, owned by Misha 007, has been a haven for the scene with their regular Ballroom Hangouts. We Are Shapeshifters started holding these hangouts in December 2022 to have a conversation about the history of the community and what happens in and out of it. During one of the hangouts in January this year, Mother Xyza, along with the Kiki House of Dirty, talked about how their house came to be. A kiki house is a training ground for members of the community before they ascend to major houses.

It started with a question about how they can fund their house, with the members jokingly agreeing that they would all look for a sugar daddy. However, on a more serious note, Father Jaja said that they settled for Dirty because in their house, everything is included, especially their kalat. Kalat in love, in life, which what they believe makes a person. Even though the Kiki house is considered as a training ground, the Kiki House of Dirty is no less than professional. Father Jaja works as an instructor in the Department of Anthropology in UP Diliman while Mother Ozkurrr is a fashion designer. Both of them grew from their Kiki house to both major houses where Father Jaja is now in Revlon and Mother Ozkurrr in Mizrahi.

Mother Xyza Mizrahi talking about the ballroom community during the Ballroom Hangouts in We Are Shapeshifters. Photo by KANE BLANCAFLOR

Last year, the Kiki House of Dirty organized a ball called the Kalat Kiki Ball. The balls theme was purely Pop Pinoy culture, featuring categories inspired by walis tambo and mop, Jejemon culture, and the lip sync battle which they called Kanto-tahan. These humor and quips can only be described as truly Pinoy, which reflects what the ballroom scene in the Philippines is.

Before the boom of ballroom last year, there was already a steadily growing scene according to Mother Xyza. When asked when was the first official ball in the Philippines, Mother Xyza said it was the Labyrinth Ball held in Makati back in 2016. But she quickly adds that for her, ballroom has always existed in the Philippines, just in a different style or name. She mentioned that one could consider the barangay gay pageants and other traditional barangay culture as the predecessor of ballroom here in the Philippines, It has been happening here. Its been here, its been existing in our country, na parang iba lang yung tawag. Kasi di ba sa pageantry, yung every barangay, di ba? Thats realness, basically thats realness! And when may swimsuit competition, thats body. Gown? Thats best dressed.

Mother Xyzas own story is also tied with the start of the ballroom itself in the country. After being enlightened by Future, a known ballroom voguer, Mother Xyza went to Japan to train under the wing of Javier Ninja where soon after, she met Mother Koppi Mizrahi who introduced her to more of the culture. She eventually went to New York and met Mohammad Omni and Lisa, a former Ninja through the help of a fellow Filipina dancer, Sheena Vera Cruz. In 2016 after being a member of the House of Mizrahi, Mother Xyza began establishing the community in the country.

As the continued rise of ballroom in the country, the house parents are very protective of the culture itself. Father Jaja said that gatekeeping is necessary because through the years, ballroom has always been picked upon and stolen bit by bit by powerful and mainstream culture. Gatekeeping shields the culture away from being exploited.

When asked what separates Philippine ballroom from the rest of the world, Mother Xyza emotionally answered that it has to be our quest to look for what is Filipino through the lens of ballroom. Iba yung laban natin, she says. She further mentioned that not only were the themes and categories inherently Filipino, but also the fight within ourselves, that we have something to prove as a third world country amongst the ballroom from the first worlds. Her hopes for the future of ballroom in the country, along with the others, is for ballroom to spread throughout the country. With conviction she explains that ballroom has more to show in other parts of the country. Its about time for us to be celebrated as a culture, she said. Ang rich ng culture ng Philippines and sobrang excited talaga ako as in, dream siya."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  Metro Manilas forecast of becoming a global power city is challenged by the consequences of rapid urbanization. The UN-Habitat lists the effects of climate change, natural disasters that hamper urban infrastructures and city competitiveness, unequal livability, job creation, and poverty reduction.

Is there a way out of Metro Manilas challenges? Architect and Urban Designer Chintan Raveshia, and Urban Planner and Sustainability Consultant Tony Chan of Singapore-based Arup emphasize urban development should also consider peoples aspirations, its changing needs and expectations, and the national identity of the residents.

Finding the identity of the city

Raveshia inspires responsible stakeholders to ask themselves first the most fundamental question: Whats the identity of the city and how do we make its residents proud?

He quips, Singapore, a city that is high on everyones liveability list, is also working with citizens and grass roots organizations to inculcate a sense of lovability for the city. This helps to strengthen the societal bond, increase equity, improve community safety, and exude pride and a feeling of ownership of the city amongst the residents. The balance of liveability, efficiency, and lovability paves the way for a true success of our cities in this climate emergency era.

For his part, Chan believes that a successful sustainable urban development goes hand in hand with the capability to enhance peoples quality of life.

We must develop and harness models of development that have low-carbon targets, which are also of a human scale, thriving and inclusive; models that are also just, secured and enhances the quality of life for all its residents. In addition, we should look at creative ways to increase local citizen participation as well as new technologies or products that can support the overarching vision and development objectives, said Chan.

Melbourne is considered by many experts as one of the most livable cities for the past decade. Photo from SM Supermalls

If Singapore reclaims lands for more affordable housing and increased integrated city developments, and Melbourne builds accessible green spaces to promote social interaction, what plans would best fit Metro Manilas sustainable and livable future while maintaining its identity?

Here are five urban development aspirations Filipinos hope for the countrys main political and economic hub.

1. Accessibility across all social classes

While Metro Manila is the Philippines major economic driver  accounting for 32% of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP)  it is often challenged in sustaining accessible living conditions for residents across all social classes.

UK-based The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Metro Manila 105th out of 139 cities in the Global Liveability Index 2022. The increasing population density in Metro Manila has resulted in some inconveniences in daily conditions like vehicular traffic situations, least green open spaces, high carbon footprint, inaccessibility to affordable housing, and unequal income opportunities.

Urban planners and developers suggest mixed-use planning in the metropolis and coastal developments because they are crucial to achieving the 15-minute concept. Here, residents across all walks of life are encouraged to live a healthy, affordable, and sustainable lifestyle because residential, commercial, and office spaces are integrated within a single development.

2. Open green spaces for a healthy and sustainable living environment

Despite land scarcity, Singapore manages to be one of the greenest cities in the world with over 400 parks, more than 3,300 hectares of nature reserve, and over 300 kilometers of park connector network. Photo from SM Supermalls

Studies show that Metro Manila has only 5 square meters of green space available per person, this number is well below the 9 square meters set by the World Health Organization.

COVID-19 had the entire world reassess their health conditions, lifestyle practices, and environmental situations. The impact was even more drastic in Metro Manila due to population density, crowded space, and insufficient parks and open areas.

Aside from improving air quality and enhancing biodiversity, green spaces also moderate temperatures during the warm season.

3. Enhancing human health and wellbeing

Cities with sufficient healthcare facilities, access to health coverage, and infrastructures that enhance well-being and promote a healthy lifestyle produce prosperous societies.

The way cities are planned, designed, and executed has a crucial impact on how people live as it presents opportunities and effects on their lifestyles and overall well-being. While there is evident progress in Metro Manilas health sector, rapid urbanization continues to pose risks in communities due to challenges in overcrowded neighborhoods, vehicular emissions, heavy traffic, pollution, and flood-prone areas.

4. Resilient community

Resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, and systems to adapt, survive, and grow in the face of stress and shocks, and even transform when conditions require it. Relevant dimensions under the City Resilience Index by the Rockefeller Foundation & Arup other dimensions include Health & Well Being, Economy & Society, Infrastructure & Environment, as well as Leadership & Strategy.

As the Philippines and Metro Manila grow, we face a dual challenge of adapting to climate change and the need to alter development strategies that are increasingly contributing to global warming. The Philippines is among the top 10 countries in the world most affected by climate change in the past 20 years, according to the Global Climate Risk Index As an archipelago. Impacts resulting from climate change are immense. In addition, Metro Manilas safety and resilience are endangered by various natural disasters.

Natural disasters persist every season due to Metro Manila's geographical location.

Well-planned and executed urban designs have the power to build safe and resilient communities in Metro Manila. Infrastructures like proper bike lanes and walkable streets ensure residents safety, accessibility, and comfort, whereas science and technology-based solutions that can build flexible structures, multi-use systems, and technologies can help residents adapt and prepare for changing conditions.

5. Global and competitive city

In 2022, Singapore is placed 3rd in the World Competitiveness Ranking  the small country out of Asia even placed 1st in 2019 and 2020. Photo from SM Supermalls

Metro Manila is one of Asias premier regions. As the countrys engine growth driver, it has growing investments in infrastructures and multitudes of business investments and developments.

The metropolis rising potential can further step up by following global models like Singapore, Melbourne, and Hong Kong which created several integrated cities and coastal developments that ushered in a vibrant economy and paved for a better urban lifestyle. These visions create an avenue to further increase opportunities for jobs, better education, better lifestyle, and bustling economic activities.

These can contribute to the Philippines national and local economies by driving tourism and infrastructure development while also creating equitable and inclusive communities. These, in turn, create a wider room of opportunities and, therefore, attract more talent.

Building inclusive and sustainable growth centers

When all stakeholders are listened to and addressed, communities will be energized when introduced to well-designed, master-planned and implemented developments. This will result in a lasting impact on Metro Manilas future and its residents because it fosters more inclusive growth and makes the urban landscape an extension of their home.

When a city embraces its history, celebrates its milestones, innovates and adopts for the future, and most importantly, nurtures its residents and responds to their aspirations  it is a city working toward competitiveness and unlocking future potential.

How about you? What would you aspire your city to be?
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 19)  The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will no longer serve as messenger between the Philippine Senate and the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to Senator Francis Tolentino.

Tolentino on Wednesday disclosed that the scheduled hearing of the Senate justice and human rights committee was canceled after his office received a letter from the DFA stating that "it can no longer facilitate the sending of letters to ICC."

His panel was set to tackle the international tribunal's probe into the Duterte drug war.

In a letter dated April 17, the DFA told Senator Francis Tolentino that it cannot anymore send invitations to ICC officials to attend the committee hearings "out of respect for President (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s) instruction to disengage from the tribunal."

Following the ICC's rejection of Manila's appeal to suspend the drug war probe, Marcos said "there's nothing more that we can do in the government," adding that the country is "essentially disengaging from any contact, from any communication with the ICC."

"In view of the foregoing, the DFA respectfully recommends that the Senate committee send the invitations directly to the intended invitees, Karim Khan A.A. KC, and Fatou Bomm Bensouda," the agency said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 19)  The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a writ of kalikasan in a case seeking to stop the commercial release of genetically modified rice and eggplant products.

Petitioners, led by farmers group Magasasaka at Siyentipiko Para sa Pag-Unlad ng Agrikultura, claimed that Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant are genetically modified organisms, which need further study on its safety.

According to petitioners, Golden Rice is a modified rice injected with maize or corn and a gene from bacteria found in soil, which allows the plant to biosynthesize beta-carotene  a source of Vitamin A  in the edible parts of rice.

Meanwhile, the petitioners said the Bt Eggplant was designed to produce its own toxin to kill fruit and shoot borer, a common pest that consumes and damages eggplants.

The Supreme Court required the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Health, Philippine Rice Research Institute and the University of the Philippines  Los Banos to file a verified return within 10 days from service of the writ.

A writ of kalikasan is a legal remedy to protect one's right to a balanced and healthy ecology when it is violated or threatened.

In October 2022, the petitioners also sought the issuance of a Temporary Environmental Protection Order directing the Agriculture department to do the following:

(a) Refrain from commercially propagating Golden Rice and issuing biosafety permits for commercial propagation of Bt Eggplant.

(b) Cease and desist from commercially propagating Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant until such time that proof of safety and compliance with legal requirements is shown.

(c) Declare all biosafety permits for Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant null and void.

(d) Perform independent risks and impact assessments, obtain the prior and informed consent of farmers and indigenous peoples, and implement liability mechanisms in case of damage, as required by law.

The Supreme Court Public Information Office said it will upload a copy of the ruling once it receives a copy from the En Banc Office of the Clerk of Court.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) has reported the alleged red-tagging statements of the Department of Education (DepEd) to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the labor agency of the United Nations.

The statements referred to were in relation to the announced strike by transport groups and DepEd's allegation that ACT's call for the hiring of 30,000 teachers was made to divert attention from clashes initiated by communist rebels against government forces in Masbate last month.

ACT also reported the joint press conference of the DepEd and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which it said was solely dedicated to incriminate ACT and its leaders to armed revolution.

The statements were posted in DepEds social media pages and were signed by Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte, ACT said.

Red-tagging our legal and legitimate unions is a violation of the freedom of association and poses grave dangers to the life of our organization and leaders, Raymond Basilio, ACT Secretary General, said Thursday in a statement.

ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Chihoko Asada Miyakawa received the report.

Last January 23, the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) conducted a three-day meeting with Philippine labor groups and employers to discuss labor rights guaranteed to workers.

WATCH: International Labor Organization to look into PH's labor situation

The ILO-HLTM is composed of representatives from Sweden, Australia and Fiji who investigate violations of international labor standards and rights in a country.

It was well-expressed in the ILO-HLTM report that the practice of red-tagging should stop and any suspicion of criminal acts should be brought before appropriate judicial bodies with assurances of due process and respect for the presumption of innocence, Basilio said.

DepEd has yet to reply to CNN Philippines' request for comment.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) on Thursday asked the help of Metro Manilas two water concessionaires in dredging Laguna Lake to increase the reservoir of potable water.

During the House ecology committee hearing, LLDA acting general manager Senando Santiago stressed the urgency of dredging Laguna Lake due to heavy siltation.

Both Manila Water and Maynilad source a portion of their water supply from Laguna Lake.

I was talking to Maynilad and Manila Water. Isa pa sila na kumukuha ng tubig sa Laguna Lake and converting it into potable water. Were supplying in addition to La Mesa Dam. Now, I was asking them, pwede ba tulungan ninyo kami sa dredging kasi pag nag-dredge tayo, dadami yung reservoir, said Santiago.

[Translation: I was talking to Maynilad and Manila Water. They are also sourcing water from Laguna Lake and converting it into potable water. Were supplying in addition to La Mesa Dam. Now, I was asking them, can you help us in dredging? Because if you dredge it, the reservoirs capacity will be expanded.]

Santiago said the buildup of sediments in the lake has reduced its depth and affected the flow of water coming from Manila Bay and Pasig River.

Kasi hanggat hindi nade-dredge yan, tuloy tuloy lang ang labas niyan at hindi nakakapasok yung from Manila Bay and Pasig River, he added.

[Translation: Until its dredged, water will just continue to flow out while water coming from Manila Bay and Pasig River will not be able to enter the bay.]

An estimated 800 million cubic meters of silt and waste need to be removed from the lake to increase its depth from the current 2.5 meters to five meters.

Meanwhile, urban planner Felino Palafox said the dredging of Laguna Lake should be done alongside the creation of a spillway, or the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) in Paranaque City, like that found in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Palafox described Laguna Lake as like a big bathtub with 23 faucets without a drain in the absence of a spillway. He said construction of the two infrastructure projects would help avert disasters caused by heavy flooding.

I think as a matter of priority, dapat gawin na ang [we should begin the construction of the] Paranaque spillway or SMART tunnel, and dredging because the silt is so much now. Dredge also all the rivers that are in the catchment area of Laguna Lake, he said. If we do it now, well save human lives and billions of pesos in damage and rehabilitation.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  Negros Oriental Governor Guido Reyes is open to a state of emergency declaration or suspension of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) amid political tensions in the province.

"Indeed the dire state of the peace and order situation in the province, now uncovered in the halls of the Senate of the Philippines, is something which requires an urgent but calibrated approach," Reyes said Thursday.

"The province will stand by with whatever decision the president will have on the matter, even when this will require some form of a localized declaration of state of emergency or suspension of the barangay and SK elections, as suggested by the good senators," he added.

On the third day of the Senate inquiry on the assassination of Reyes' predecessor, Roel Degamo, Sen. Francis Tolentino proposed to postpone the upcoming BSKE in the province.

"Kung i-postpone po iyon, magkakaroon ng mas malakas na momentum ang ating peacekeeping forces," he said.

[Translation: If the elections are postponed, we will have stronger momentum in our peacekeeping forces.]

However, the proposal should be carefully studied first, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

"It should be seriously and carefully studied by the commission. Although admittedly, we have the power to postpone the election in an area," Comelec Chairman George Garcia said Thursday.

Under the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, Comelec has the jurisdiction to set the schedule of the postponed or failed election.

The new schedule must be "reasonably close to the original date of the election, and must not exceed thirty days after the cessation of the cause of failure or postponement," the poll body said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  Suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. could be traveling back and forth between South Korea and Cambodia, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

"I think reliable yung information ni Sen. Joel VIllanueva, nasa Korea. Pero pabalik-balik siya ng Cambodia.May passport siya, may visa siya. Ang ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) di kailangan ng visa," Remulla told reporters on Thursday.

[Translation: I think Sen. Villanueva's information that he is in Korea is reliable. But, he is going back and forth to Cambodia.He has a passport, a visa. ASEAN does not require a visa.]

At Monday's Senate hearing on the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo last Monday, Villanueva disclosed that some of his friends claimed that they saw Teves eating at a hotel buffet in South Korea.

READ: Sen. Villanueva: My friends saw Rep. Teves in South Korea

Meanwhile, Remulla earlier said that Teves was hiding out in Cambodia.

Teves, for his part, refused to disclose his location.

"No comment na lang. It's for me to know and for them to find out," Teves joked during his camp's surprise press conference on Monday, after Villanueva made his claim at the Senate hearing.

The Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs rejected Teves' virtual attendance during its hearing last Monday.

READ: Dela Rosa: Senate panel rejects Rep. Teves remote attendance at Degamo slay hearing

The suspended congressman has been tagged as the main mastermind behind the March 4 Degamo killing. He has been out of the country since February 28.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20)  International law expert Harry Roque on Thursday said it is most likely that the Philippines will be involved in a possible war between the United States and China, with the sites for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) serving as valid targets for Beijing.

When the Americans use our bases as a launching pad to attack China, then our bases become valid military objectives. The Chinese can fire upon our bases, Roque told CNN Philippines The Source.

He also said that it's a principle in international law "that a country that allows its territory to be used in a manner injurious to another must be responsible."

Malacanang revealed early this month the four new EDCA sites, namely the Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana town, Cagayan; the Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo town, Cagayan; the Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu town, Isabela; and the Balabac Island in Palawan.

Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong has clarified the latest agreement was not directed at any country nor was it meant to meddle in Chinas and Taiwans affairs. This was after Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian claimed that the US will only take advantage of the new EDCA sites to "interfere in the tensions in Taiwan Strait.

The tension between Washington and Beijing was recently fueled by the meeting of Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the US.

China then launched military drills around Taiwan, which the former considers part of its territory.

Roque said based on the discussion during his meetings with Chinese leaders and Filipino journalists in Beijing, a shooting war between two superpowers is possible.

The Philippines is not obliged to take sides, but given the establishment of EDCA sites in the country, these locations can be military targets for China, Roque noted.

He also said Manila should review EDCA to reflect the developments in the conflict between US and China.

If this escalates, communities near EDCA sites and overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan will be greatly affected, he noted.
Today is April 20, 2023 and here is what you need to know:

Legislation that sought to ban so-called "assault weapons" died early Thursday morning after four Democrats joined the Colorado House Judiciary Committee's Republicans to indefinitely postpone the bill on a 8-5 vote.

Shortly after midnight, Democrat Reps. Lindsey Daugherty, Bob Marshall, Said Sharbini and Marc Snyder voted down the legislation along with their Republican colleagues after a pair of amendments on bump stocks and rapid-fire trigger activators were lost.

The hearing, which kicked off Wednesday morning, drew a record 522 witnesses seeking to testify.

The bill  sponsored by Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver  has divided the Democrats' Gun Violence Prevention Caucus, with leading members, such as Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, believing other measures, such as his proposal to improve the red flag law, are better solutions to gun violence.

When Democratic lawmakers unveiled a package of four gun control bills on Feb. 23, the assault weapons ban was notably not among them. Nor did lawmakers mention it.

In addition, Gov. Jared Polis is also believed to be opposed to an assault weapons ban.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock isn't mincing words when it comes to his beef with the Denver Public Schools board.

The term-limited outgoing mayor Tuesday took the gloves off during an appearance on the Mandy Connell Show on 850 KOA.

"This is a very dysfunctional board and it needs to be corrected," Hancock said. "And the only people who can correct it are the voters."

Hancock has sparred publicly in recent weeks with Denver Public Schools Board Vice President Auon'tai Anderson over the issue of school resource officers in Denver schools. Anderson in 2020 led a push to remove SROs from Denver schools. The board recently reversed that position after the shooting of two administrators at East High School.

"I'm disappointed that the mayor is criticizing the duly elected school board without having any conversations about how we can work together," Anderson told The Denver Gazette in a phone interview Wednesday, speaking on behalf of himself and not the Denver Public School board.

A potential security issue at a Colorado Springs middle school on Wednesday led to the last-minute postponement of a scheduled visit from the lieutenant governor of Colorado, according to a news release from Academy School District 20.

About 20 military-affiliated Eagleview Middle School students and their families were set to hold a small group discussion with Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers when Principal Jamie Lester announced the rescheduling for Monday.

Thirty minutes before this afternoons scheduled visit from the Lieutenant Governor and the Mayor, several Eagleview students came forward with information about a potential security concern, Lester said in a message to Eagleview families.

Academy District 20 Security worked closely with the Lieutenant Governors office, her Executive Protection Team, the Mayors office, and the Colorado Springs Police Department. It was determined that the best course of action was to reschedule the event for Monday morning.

Officials concluded that there was no immediate threat to students and staff, and classes proceeded on schedule, Lester said.

The U.S. needs to work faster to deter and detect threats in space, the secretary of the Air Force said Wednesday in Colorado Springs as he announced plans to speed up research and development efforts.

"Space isnt just a warfighting domain, it is the warfighting domain," said Secretary Frank Kendall to an international audience gathered at Space Symposium.

Kendall said he planned to back legislation that would allow the research and development of projects for space defense to start without waiting for Congressional budgetary approval. He noted the early phases of projects are not very expensive and could help the U.S. stay competitive as China invests heavily in space. For example, a Chinese satellite has successfully moved another satellite out of its orbit.

"We live in both dynamic and dangerous times," Kendall said.

Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman also called for speedy innovation and greater investment into training, saying he asked for $300 million in the 2024 Department of Defense budget to improve training and testing infrastructure, including better simulations. Some of that investment could be seen in Colorado Springs, home to Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases.

Michael Crowder stands nervously at the front of his third grade classroom, his mustard-yellow polo shirt buttoned to the top.

Give us some vowels, says his teacher, LaNeeka Gilbert-Jackson. His eyes search a chart that lists vowels, consonant pairs and word endings, but he doesnt land on an answer. Lets help him out, Gilbert-Jackson says.

A-E-I-O-U, she and the students say in unison.

Michael missed most of first grade, the foundational year for learning to read. It was the first fall of the pandemic, and for months Atlanta only offered school online. Michael's mom had just had a baby, and there was no quiet place to study in their small apartment. He missed a good part of second grade, too. So, like most of his classmates at his Atlanta school, he isn't reading at the level expected for a third grader.

And that poses an urgent problem.
House lawmakers approved a proposal to require mediation between landlords and tenants before landlords can file for eviction, if the tenant receives certain financial assistance.

Under House Bill 1120, mediation would involve a landlord and tenant meeting together with a neutral third party to discuss a voluntary settlement in lieu of an eviction. If an eviction is ordered, the bill would also give tenants 30 days to leave the property, instead of the current 10 days.

The bill cleared the House Thursday, advancing to the Senate for consideration.

"This is a very, very important bill to ensure the most vulnerable members of our communities are protected," said bill sponsor Rep. Junie Joseph, D-Boulder. "There is a wide disparity in access to legal representation between landlords and people experiencing eviction in Colorado. This creates an imbalance in power during eviction proceedings."

A review of Denver eviction cases from 2014 to 2016 found that, while landlords had legal representation in every case reviewed, tenants were only represented by an attorney in 1% to 3% of the cases. Nationally, landlords have legal representation in around 82% of eviction cases, compared to 3% for tenants, according to the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel.

Around 38,560 evictions occur in Colorado each year, according to state estimates. Under the bill, approximately 2,912 of the people facing eviction annually would be eligible for these new protections.

The eviction protections would apply to tenants who receive Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance or cash assistance through TANF. The bill would not apply to tenants of landlords who have fewer than five single-family homes or fewer than five total units.

House lawmakers voted, 44-20, in support of the bill Thursday. All Republicans voted "no" and all but one Democrat voted "yes," with Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster joining Republicans in opposition to the bill.

Critics of the bill have argued that it would make the eviction process too long and dis-incentivize landlords and developers from investing in Colorados rental industry. However, Thursday's debate centered on a failed amendment that would have reported the outcomes of eviction mediations to the state.

"It helps us to know if this policy is working," said Rep. Stephanie Luck, R-Penrose, who proposed the amendment. "If it is working, there are ways by which this information can be leveraged to encourage other landlords not operating in this space to pursue these kinds of mediations. If it's not working, there's an opportunity to tweak or to amend it."

Luck's amendment would have required mediators to report the duration of a mediation, whether it was successful, whether the parties participated and the total cost. Joseph opposed the amendment, saying she doesn't know what the fiscal impact would be.

While lawmakers rejected that change to the bill, they approved two other Republican-sponsored amendments, which stated that a landlord is only required to pay for their portion of the mediation and clarified that the purpose of the bill is to avoid eviction proceedings.

Proponents of the bill said mediation in eviction conflicts can often lead to the landlord agreeing to let the tenant stay, with solutions including setting up a payment plan, exchanging services, or forgiving late fees. If they still want the tenant to leave, it can result in the landlord and tenant agreeing on a voluntary move-out date without filing for eviction and hurting the tenants rental record.

Under the bill, the mediation would need to be scheduled within two weeks of the eviction notice, when possible. Tenants would have to be informed of their right to mediation by the landlord in the eviction notice and tenants would not be responsible for the costs of mediation.

The 20-day extension for qualifying tenants to leave the property could be voided, but only in cases of substantial lease violations.

Bill sponsor Rep. David Ortiz, D-Centennial, said extending the time before tenants are forced out of their rental home is essential, arguing that the current 10-day time limit does not give them enough time to find new housing. This is especially true for tenants with disabilities, he said.

People with disabilities are twice as likely as their able-bodied counterparts to be impoverished, Ortiz said. Its essential that we protect our most vulnerable communities that might not have the financial or legal resources to fight against the eviction process, especially in the middle of our housing crisis.

Only 5% of newly constructed multifamily housing units are required to be accessible to people with disabilities, based on federal standards. A 2011 study found that less than 5% of housing in the U.S. is accessible for people with moderate mobility difficulties and less than 1% is accessible for wheelchair users. The bills protections would apply to recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance.

The bill will next be sent to the Senate for a vote in the coming weeks.
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The Jeep Avenger certainly looks the part, and on this initial test drive it showed good electric performance, too. Will Irish buyers finally take to the brand en masse?

In the metal

If the new Jeep Avenger is going to succeed in the Irish market - and tens of thousands of European orders for the car, well ahead of anyone having test driven it suggest that it just might - then it will succeed primarily on its looks.

Not looks alone, but certainly the Avenger's handsome styling is a major attraction. It manages to mix classic 1941 Willys Jeep styling cues - the seven-slot grille, the chunky wheelarches, the tumblehome of the bonnet and shoulders - with resolutely modern detailing. There are clever stylistic touches too, such as headlamps deeply recessed into the bodywork so that there's less chance of them being damaged in a parking ding, and ditto for the fog lights and rear reflectors. There's real underbody protection too - the 'bash plate', which on most cars is a flimsy piece of painted plastic, is on the Avenger a more substantial, functional panel with its colour included at the moulding stage so that it's all-but impossible to scratch.

Most models are available with a contrast black roof, and with its four-square styling, the Avenger is undeniably hugely appealing.

Inside, there's a lot of good stuff going on, but equally some miss-steps. The full-width contrast-coloured panel that spans the entire dash looks smart, but it also causes unhelpful reflections in the door mirrors. We love the Land Rover Defender-style open storage shelf on the dash, but love much less the plastics on the doors and on the lower edges of the fascia.

The big 10.25-inch touchscreen set high up in the centre is standard across the entire range, and works well, as do the proper, physical controls for heating and ventilation, a feature of which Jeep's designers are rightly proud. The main instrument display - 10.25 inches too, at least in our highly-specced test car - is clear and usefully adaptable.

There's a substantial storage area on the centre console - covered by an iPad-style fold-back magnetic cover - which is also home to the wireless phone charger and a pair of USB sockets. There are two large, adjustable cupholders and another storage area under the front armrest, but the door bins are on the small side.

Set the front seat up for a six-foot-tall driver and the passengers in the back will have to splay their knees to fit in. Headroom is fine, but the Avenger's high windowsill and small glass area leave the rear feeling somewhat claustrophobic. At least rear-seat passengers get a USB socket, albeit just the one.

The boot, at 380 litres, is a decent size and is a full metre across, with a load lip just 720mm off the ground. The Avenger isn't the roomiest compact crossover in luggage space terms, but it's fine.

Driving it

Based on the same 'e-CMP2' platform that underpins the likes of the Opel Mokka-e and Peugeot e-2008, this is our first chance to try out the latest 54kWh (gross) battery pack and the 156hp electric motor.

The good news is that range certainly seems to be increased on this setup's predecessor, and is potentially much more useable in day-to-day driving. Most of our test route was on hilly country roads, mixed in with some urban driving and a minimum of motorway mileage. That makes it impossible for us to definitively say how far the Avenger will go on one charge, but it certainly seems to be an improvement on the outgoing e-2008 and Mokka-e.

Those cars would have struggled to get much further than 280km on a full battery charge in mixed conditions, but the Avenger was telling us that, at 80 per cent battery charge, it still had 302km left to run. That's hopeful, even if it's a result affected by the clement Spanish conditions of our test drive. At least there is now a standard heat pump system to reduce the strain on the battery in chillier Irish weather.

Overall performance is good. Selecting Eco or Normal driving modes restricts the electric motor's power to as little as 81hp, but even then, it pulls along quite nicely, and you don't have to select Sport mode to get access to all 156hp - just press your foot to the floor and in 'kickdown' mode, all the power and torque is available to you.

Acceleration is brisk rather than rapid, but the Avenger never feels slow nor sluggish.

In handling terms, it has nicely-balanced steering, good grip levels and a sense of being both firmly planted yet adjustably agile. It's no driver's car, but for most people it should feel eager and engaging enough. The low-speed ride can be quite lumpy at times, but it smooths out at speed (and our test car was on the largest 18-inch alloys, so a version with smaller wheels may well ride better than this around town).

The regenerative braking is usefully strong if you've selected the B mode for the transmission, which is just as well as the brake pedal feel isn't the best.

Visibility out is a bit of an issue, too - the roof is low and the pillars are chunky, though the rear-view camera partially compensates.

Refinement is fine, with relatively well-contained wind and tyre noise.

Jeep makes great play of the Avenger's genuine ruggedness, in spite of this version being front-wheel drive only. As standard, you get the Selec-Terrain function, which sets the car up for mud, snow, ice or sand driving modes and all Avengers come with 200mm of ground clearance (and a little more space directly under the battery pack). Jeep's engineers even shortened the front and rear crush structures so that the Avenger can cope with a 20-degree slope in front, and a 32-degree slope behind, and the engineers say that such figures are at least as much use around town - combined with the 10.5-metre turning circle - as they are in the forests and deserts of this world.

There's also standard hill-descent control, and while we were only allowed to test the Avenger's capability on a mildly rough gravel track, it did in fairness take to the terrain like the proverbial Anatidae to aqua. The only shortcoming is that on very rough surfaces, taken at speed, the suspension seems to run out of travel too quickly. Possibly smaller wheels would help here too.

What you get for your money

Prices for the Avenger have yet to be set by Gowan Auto, Jeep's Irish importer, but we'd suspect that they'll broadly fall into the 38-41,000 ballpark. It looks as if Ireland will do without the most basic 'Avenger' trim level, so we'll get Longitude, Altitude and Summit versions. That means a 10.25-inch touchscreen, seven-inch digital instrument panel, air conditioning, heated door mirrors, electric parking brake with auto hold, keyless go, cruise control, lane keep assistance and LED headlights all as standard. In due course, a full four-wheel-drive model with two motors and extra ground clearance, badged as 4XE, will be available.

Summary

Clearly, price is going to be important to the Avenger's likely success in the Irish market, and we don't have a firm grasp of that just yet. Equally, the size of the dealer network - long overdue for expansion - will play a crucial role in bringing the Jeep brand as a whole to a wider Irish audience. Space in the back and some cabin materials count against it, but this could be - and possibly deserves to be - Jeep's long awaited Irish breakout model. It looks great, drives nicely and seems to have decent electric range and performance. For its first all-electric car, the Avenger is a solidly impressive effort from Jeep.
Microsoft has been developing an ambitious collaboration app for its Microsoft 365 platform. Called Microsoft Loop, the tool includes shared workspaces as well as portable content snippets called Loop components that can be shared and embedded in multiple Microsoft 365 apps.

What makes Loop so useful is that those shared components can be updated by multiple collaborators, and they stay in sync no matter where theyre embedded. One person could edit a component in an Outlook email, while another edits it in a Teams chat, and the latest changes appear in both places.

Microsoft recently released the Loop app in public preview. Well be exploring that app in another story soon, but you dont need to use the app to get started using Loop components. Thats because Microsoft has been integrating Loop components into some Microsoft 365 apps, primarily Outlook and Teams, for some time now  so you can create, share, and work on them in Microsoft 365 apps youre already familiar with.

What is a Loop component?

A Loop component is a portable text card or content snippet  in list, table, paragraph, or another format  that you and other people can collaborate on synchronously or asynchronously. For example, if you create a Loop component that contains a table, you and your co-workers can add, change, or remove numbers or text, or make adjustments to the tables formatting. When someone makes a change to the table, you and your co-workers can see it happen, and see who's doing it, in real time.

Loop components can be embedded in and are cross-compatible among Microsoft 365 apps, with the first ones being Outlook, Teams chat, and Whiteboard. When you create a Loop component in one Microsoft 365 app, you can copy and paste the link to it into another Microsoft 365 app  and will then be able to continue working on the component in that app.

Imagine that during a Teams chat session you create a Loop component with a task list on it. After doing this, you copy and paste a link to it into an Outlook email. Any changes that you or co-workers make to the task list in the Teams chat session will automatically appear in the email  and the recipient of your email can also make changes to the task list.

Creating a Loop component in Teams or Outlook

In Teams: You can insert a Loop component inside a Teams chat session for you and others in that chat to collaborate on. On the toolbar below the entry box where you type in your chat text: Click the Loop icon. A panel will open listing the Loop components that you can select to insert into the chat.

IDG Click the Loop icon in a Teams chat, then choose one of the Loop component types. (Click image to enlarge it.)

In Outlook: You can insert a Loop component inside an email message. If the recipient is in your Microsoft 365 organization or has a Microsoft user account, they can interact with the Loop component when they open your email. In the toolbar below the email that youre composing, click the Loop icon. A panel will open listing the Loop components that you can select to insert into your email.

IDG Inserting a Loop component in Outlook. (Click image to enlarge it.)

After youve selected a Loop component (well go over the options in a moment), a draft of the component appears in the Teams chat or the email youre composing. Click Add a title and type in a title for your new Loop component.

IDG A draft of a Loop component in a Teams chat. (Click image to enlarge it.)

The Loop component types

There are seven types of Loop components that you can insert into your Outlook emails or Teams chats. Heres what they are and how to quickly set them up.

Bulleted list: To the right of the bullet point, type in words for the first item on your list. Press the Enter key. A second bullet will appear below the first bullet, and you can type in the words for your second item. Repeat until youve entered all items for your list.

Checklist: You set up a checklist the same way as a bulleted list. Each item in the list has a circle by it. Clicking the circle will draw strikethrough over its corresponding item to mark it complete. Clicking the circle again will remove the strikethrough.

IDG A checklist component in Teams. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Numbered list: This is the same as a bulleted list, but with sequential numbers instead of bullet points.

Paragraph: You can type in several words and sentences that you want to collaborate on with your co-workers.

Table: A table has two rows and two columns by default. To insert a new column, move the pointer over a vertical line in the table, then click the plus sign that appears at the top of the line. To insert a new row, move the pointer over the left side of a horizontal line in the table, then click the plus sign that appears.

IDG Creating a table component in Outlook. (Click image to enlarge it.)

To fill in a table, click in each empty cell, then type to fill it in. To change a column header, move your pointer over it, click the down arrow that appears at its right, select Rename, and type in a new name.

Task list: This is a table template with columns for Task, Assigned to, and Due date. Fill in the task names, the names of co-workers you want to assign each item to, and the due dates. When a task is complete, click the circle next to it.

Q&A (available in Outlook): This is a list on which you and your co-workers can post questions and answer each anothers questions. Click Ask a new question and type in your question. To reply to a question, click Answer below it and type in your answer.

IDG A Q&A component in an Outlook email. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Tip: Inside most areas of your Loop component, you can tag a co-worker whos in your Microsoft 365 organization (and Teams) by typing @ followed by their name. You do this to bring their attention to your Loop component if you want them to see it or collaborate with you on it. They will get a notification through email or Teams.

Adding other elements to your Loop component

If you click the space toward the bottom of your Loop component, the words Type / to insert appear. You can type text inside this space if you want to provide more information to append to your Loop component. Or, if you press the / key, a menu will open that lists several elements that you can add below your Loop component.

You can append an additional table or list (bulleted, checklist, numbered, or task). But there are other, unique elements that you may find useful:

Voting table: With columns for Idea, Pros, Cons, and Votes, this table template helps you present ideas that your co-workers can vote on.

Progress tracker: This is another table template. It helps you track projects that you and your co-workers are collaborating on.

Person: This is another way to tag a co-worker. You can select this instead of typing @. Tagging someone is also known as an @ mention.

IDG When you tag a co-worker in a component, theyll receive a notification. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Date: When you select this, a mini-calendar will open. Click a date on it, and itll be inserted as a line of text in your Loop component.

Image: You can insert an image file thats in your PCs storage drive or OneDrive account.

Comment: Inserts a comment thats attributed to you. Click this, then type your comment and press the Enter key.

Divider: If you add several of the elements above, insert divider lines between them to make your Loop component look better organized.

IDG This checklist Loop component has a divider line followed by additional elements including @ mentions, a date, and a comment. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Changing your Loop components share settings

By default, Loop components are accessible (and editable) by anyone in your organization. You can change that via the Sharing settings panel.

In Teams: Along the top of your Loop component, click People in your organization with the link can edit. This will open the Sharing settings panel.

In Outlook: Along the upper left of your Loop component, click your Loop components name. (By default, itll either be derived from the subject line of your new email or named Loop component...). On the small panel that opens, select People in with this link can edit. This will open the Sharing settings panel.

IDG Changing a components sharing settings in Teams. (Click image to enlarge it.)

The Sharing settings panel is similar in Teams and Outlook. Below Share the link with, you can select Anyone, People currently in this chat, or People with existing access. (Your organization may have disabled one or more of these options.)

Additionally, if youd prefer that other people you share with not be able to make changes to your Loop component, below "More settings," click Can edit and change it to Can view.

Sending your Loop component

After you've finished setting up your Loop component in an Outlook email or Teams chat message, youre ready to send it to your team.

In Teams: Click the arrow button (Send Loop component) at the lower right. Your Loop component will be inserted into your Teams chat session.

In Outlook: Fill out any other areas in the email body before or after your Loop component. When youre finished composing your email, click the Send button.

Resharing your Loop component

You can reshare your Loop component in other locations, such as another Teams chat or another Microsoft 365 app.

In Teams: Click the Copy link icon (two overlapping rectangles) at the components upper right to copy a link to it to your PC clipboard.

In Outlook: Click the Copy component icon (two overlapping squares) at the components upper right to copy a link to it to your PC clipboard.

IDG Click the Copy component icon to copy a link to the component. (Click image to enlarge it.)

When you paste this link inside another Microsoft 365 app that supports cross-compatibility with Loop, your Loop component will appear inside that app. So if you create a Loop component in a Teams chat, you can paste it inside a different Teams chat or into a new Outlook email. Your co-workers in the other Teams chat or the recipients of your email (if they are in your Microsoft 365 organization) will be able to contribute to your Loop component.

When you paste the link into an app that doesnt support cross-compatibility with Loop, a link to open the component in a browser will appear. Your co-workers will still be able to collaborate on the component, but not directly in the app where you pasted the link.

As of this writing, only Outlook, Teams chat, and Whiteboard support Loop integration. Its expected that Loop will soon be implemented into Teams channels, OneNote, and Word for the web.

Interacting with a Loop component

The entire point of a Loop component is for you and your co-workers to collaborate on it. If multiple collaborators are looking at the component at the same time, everyone can see changes happen in real time and whos making the changes. If someone looks at the component later, theyll see all changes made earlier.

To change items in a Loop component: Click on the text or other element (image, table, date, etc.) you want to change and make your change.

To add an element to a Loop component: Click the space toward the bottom of your Loop component. The words Type / to insert appear. You can type in text or press the / key to see the same list of options covered under Adding other elements to your Loop component above.

You can access additional functions along the top of the Loop component:

IDG The tools along the top of a Loop component let you take action on it. (Click image to enlarge it.)

To see a Loop component in a browser window: At the upper left of your Loop component, click its name. Your Loop component will open in a new tab in your web browser. You can make changes to the Loop component in this browser tab. To rename the component, click the down arrow to the right of its name in the title bar at the top of the page.

To see where a Loop component is being shared (available in Outlook): Click the Loop icon at the upper right of the component to see the apps that your Loop component is being shared on.

To copy (a link to) a Loop component: As noted above, you can reshare your own Loop component in other locations. You can also reshare any components that you have editing permissions for. Click the dual-rectangle icon to copy a link to it to your PC clipboard, then paste it into the new location. (See Resharing your Loop component above for details about how this works.)

IDG You can quickly see who has access to a Loop component. (Click image to enlarge it.)

To see who has access to a Loop component: Click the dual silhouette icon.

To delete a Loop component (available in Teams chat): Move the pointer over your Loop component until a toolbar with emojis appears at the upper right of it. Click the three-dot icon, and from the menu that opens, select Delete.

If you created the Loop component, you can delete it entirely. If you reshare a Loop component that someone else created, you can only delete it from the app that you reshared it on.

To access your Loop component quickly (available in Teams chat): Move the pointer over your Loop component until the toolbar with emoticons appears at the upper right. Click the three-dot icon, and from the menu that opens, select Pin.

IDG You can pin a Loop component in a Teams chat. (Click image to enlarge it.)

This will place a horizontal bar with the name of your Loop component along the top of the chat window. Now, no matter how far down the stream of chats has progressed, clicking this bar will jump your view of the chat window back up to your Loop component.

Managing your Loop components

All the Loop components youve created are stored in your OneDrive. The Loop components you created in Outlook are in the folder named Attachments, while the Microsoft Teams Chat Files folder contains the components you created in Teams chat. Their filename extension is .fluid.

IDG Your Loop components are stored in OneDrive. (Click image to enlarge it.)

From OneDrive, you can manage your Loop components as you would any other file: right-click a components file name to see a menu that lets you copy, delete, or rename it; manage its access settings; and more.
Earlier this week, we saw research showing the noxious NSO Group continues to spy on peoples iPhones in Mexico. Now, Jamf Threat Labs has found additional attacks against human rights activists and journalists in the Middle East and Europe, one of whom worked for a global news agency.

Older iPhones at most risk

The main thrust of the latest research is that while Apple has taken steps to protect devices running the most recent versions of iOS, these attacks are still being made against older iPhones. Jamf warns that the attacks prove malicious threat actors will exploit any vulnerabilities in an organizations infrastructure they can get their hands on.

The researchers echo earlier warnings that variations in the manner of these attacks show that new exploits are being developed, and while security patches will protect some systems, not all of them are so protected. They also confirm that while Apple is monitoring for such compromises, it is not necessarily aware of every attack  so high-risk individuals must really develop their own security awareness.

How to handle an attack

Whats noteworthy is what people do when they are attacked. Most security experts prefer to explore what has happened before simply wiping or destroying subverted devices; doing so sometimes gives insight into the attackers.

Attackers will know if theyve been caught if a device goes dark, and sometimes skilled security forensics teams can get good data from these devices. (This is the kind of information security researchers are publishing at present.)

Inconsistent investigations and data collection hinders timely and comprehensive research on emerging attack, the researchers warn.

That attacks have been surfaced by two different sets of security researchers inside a week shows that the invasive insidious mercenary attacks continue to take place, to the detriment of democratic debate. And while these attacks are expensive to operate today, as with anything in tech, they will become cheaper to run and will proliferate across the dark web, putting all users at risk, particularly those with older devices.

How to protect against these attacks

With that in mind, enterprises and high-risk individuals should take steps to protect themselves. One critical move, of course, is to use systems that still regularly receive software and security patches and to refrain from using older handsets that no longer do.

IT should also ensure any software, personal or professional, installed on devices is updated in a timely fashion, including on both personal and managed devices.

But against such sophisticated zero-day attacks, these protections arent enough, which is why Jamf Threat Labs shares additional advice to help improve the defense permiter:

Educate high-risk users so they can identify the symptoms of an attack. Such symptoms include performance degradation and more frequent crashes than users are accustomed to.

Run security software to monitor for suspicious activity. This includes virus checkers and sophisticated endpoint detection/protection systems for mobile devices.

Put protections in place to monitor communications and watch for suspicious downloads. There are emerging telemetry-based solutions that help monitor such activity on devices.

For managed devices, IT should use automated policy controls to block bad activity.

Use Lockdown Mode. While doing so does impact some of the things that can be done with an Apple device, the trade-off is that in this mode systems are far less likely to fall to an attack.

As global political instability increases, its to be expected that security and security protection will become increasingly important to every enterprise user and technology firm in the months to come.

Security is a human right

The fact that in one week both Citizen Lab and Jamf surfaced fresh cases of such attacks is likely to be grist to the mill for Apples own security teams, who no doubt are already working to put even more robust protections in place across the ecosystem.

Earlier this week, an Apple spokesperson said: Our security teams around the world will continue to work tirelessly to advance Lockdown Mode and strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS.

When Apple sued NSO Group, the company providing many of these attacks, Ivan Krstic, head of Apple security engineering and architecture promised, Apple runs one of the most sophisticated security engineering operations in the world, and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect our users from abusive state-sponsored actors like NSO Group.

With this in mind, Id be very unsurprised to see security becoming one of the important developer topics at WWDC 2023.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Meta is laying off a number of its technical employees, the second in the latest round of job cuts that CEO Mark Zuckerburg first announced back in March.

Employees holding technical roles like user experience, software engineering, and graphics programming were notified of their termination on Wednesday, CNBC reported, and mutliple technology staffers have taken to social media to say they've been laid off. Gameplay programmers were also affected by the layoffs, CNBC said.

Earlier this week, Vox reported that about 4,000 employees would be cut in this round of layoffs.

The company has previously said the timeline for the cuts may differ for employees based outside of the US.

In addition to the current round of layoffs, Meta subsidiary Instagram is also said to be downsizing or relocating UK-based staff, with the apps head, Adam Mosseri, moving back to the US, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The layoffs currently taking place represent the second wave of job cuts that were first announced last month and will ultimately see around 10,000 people laid off from the company. This weeks cuts follow on from those that were first made to recruitment teams on March 15, with another round of layoffs affecting business and administration teams is expected next month.

This news comes a year and a half after former UK politician and current VP of global affairs at Meta, Nick Clegg, wrote in a blog post that the company was planning to create 10,000 new jobs at Facebook across the EU over the next five years. He further described the move as a a vote of confidence in the strength of the European tech industry and the potential of European tech talent.

Meta, however, is not the only company to have downsized significantly over the last 12 months, with other large tech companies such as Twitter, Salesforce, Amazon, and Google all letting go of thousands of employees after a combination of over hiring during the pandemic and a prolonged economic downturn forced many to readdress their budgets. So far, there have been more tech company layoffs so far in 2023 than during all of last year.
A month after unveiling Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft today announced Copilot for Microsoft Viva, helping users to take advantage of next-generation AI to boost productivity and drive improved business outcomes.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a generative AI technology based on GPT-4, a large language model created by OpenAI and which forms that basis for the ChatGPT chatbot.

Last month, Microsoft announced a Copilot chatbot to automate various tasks in multiple Microsoft office apps, such as summarizing key discussion points in a Teams chat or adding relevant content to a PowerPoint presentation based off documents previously created by a user.

Microsoft Viva is an employee-experience platform first launched by Microsoft in February 2021, providing a digital gateway for employees to access relevant news, learning, analytics, and knowledge within their organization.

Copilot in Viva is built on the Microsoft 365 Copilot System and combines the power of large language models with the data in the Microsoft Graph and Viva apps, including Goals, Engage, Learning, Topics, and Answers.

Copilot in Viva Goals will help to simplify both goal setting and goal management, suggesting draft objectives and key results (OKRs) based on existing Word documents, such as annual business plans or product strategy papers. Once they are created, Copilot will then summarize the status of OKRs, identify roadblocks, and suggest next steps.

Copilot analyzes engagement, assesses sentiment

In Viva Engage, leaders will be able to feed prompts into Copilot from which the technology will be able to create posts. Copilot will also be able to offer suggestions to help personalize messages, including the option to adjust tone and length or include relevant imagery, in addition to analyzing engagement metrics, assessing sentiment, and recommending responses.

Copilot in Viva Learning can suggest curated learning collections tailored to specific roles or training needs, while Copilot in Viva Topics allows employees to use natural language to learn more about important topics and see related issues and projects.

Finally, Copilot in Answers helps users construct specific questions while extracting the key topics to help categorize it and surface appropriate references, resources, and experts that can be cited in the response.

Microsoft said that Copilot in Microsoft Viva will begin rolling out to customers later this year.

Introducing Glint to the Viva product suite

In addition to Copilot in Viva, Microsoft has also announced that Viva Glint will formally be joining the companys Viva Suite in July. Glint, a former LinkedIn subsidiary, is a self-described people success platform that uses AI to provide companies with greater insights into their overall organizational health and surface risks, opportunities, and recommendations in real-time.

Copilot will also be coming to Viva Glint at a later, unspecified date, where Microsoft said it will be able to summarize and analyze thousands of employee comments, making it easier for leaders to explore feedback and ask questions via natural language AI.

Tools like Copilot and Viva have the potential to completely transform the way work gets done, said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of modern work and business applications at Microsoft, speaking at the Microsoft Viva Summit Thursday.

We recognize that we have a responsibility to deliver this technology in the right way and security, compliance and responsible AI aren't an afterthought, they're a foundational part of the Copilot system, he said, adding that every Copilot feature has passed privacy checks, been tested by experts and is monitored in real time. Spataro also said that Copilots large language models are never trained on a companys tenant data.

Copilot won't get everything right every time but we have mitigations in place to quickly and effectively address inaccuracy, bias and misuse by bringing Copilot into Viva, Spataro said.
Endurance Auto Warranty, Toyota and olive

Chevy offers its own brand of extended warranties for customers who want protection from surprise repair bills, but it can be hard to tell if theyre worth the money. Keep reading to find out whether Chevrolets extended warranties are worth it and how they stack up against the competition. Well also go over what they cover, what they cost and what we learned from reading their terms and conditions to help you make a smart choice for your vehicle. Key insights Chevrolet Protection Plans are available for most used Chevrolets up to eight years old or with up to 100,000 miles.

Coverage starts from the date of purchase, so its smart to wait until your factory three-year/36,000-mile limited warranty nears expiration to get maximum value.

While Chevrolets reliability has been improving, you might get better use out of an extended warranty if your Chevy was made from 2016 to 2019.

Chevrolet Protection Plans arent cheap, but the quotes we retrieved from third-party warranty companies were significantly more expensive.

Chevrolet extended warranty coverage Chevrolets official extended warranty program is called the Chevrolet Protection Plan. Like all extended warranties (also known as vehicle service contracts), Chevy Protection Plans only cover repairs needed due to manufacturing defects  not accident damage or normal wear-and-tear items, like brake pads and clutches. You can purchase a Chevrolet Protection Plan for any Chevy vehicle under eight years old or with under 100,000 miles. If youre near that limit, however, your only option may be a one-year/12,000-mile plan, and it wont be cheap.  LEARN: What does a car warranty cover? Chevrolet extended warranty plans Chevrolet Protection Plans come in three coverage levels: Powertrain covers what you might expect from a powertrain warranty  mainly parts of your engine, transmission, drive axle and hybrid powertrain, if applicable.

covers what you might expect from a powertrain warranty  mainly parts of your engine, transmission, drive axle and hybrid powertrain, if applicable. Silver covers all of the same components as the Powertrain plan plus components that make up your suspension, air conditioning, electrical system, steering and brakes.

covers all of the same components as the Powertrain plan plus components that make up your suspension, air conditioning, electrical system, steering and brakes. Platinum covers up to 1,500 components across all major component groups. Heres a more detailed breakdown of each Chevy Protection Plan and what it covers, as listed by Chevy itself:

Component group Powertrain Silver Platinum Engine Transmission Drive axle Hybrid/electric Front suspension Rear suspension Climate control Electrical Steering Brakes High tech Audio Navigation

The Platinum plan is Chevrolets closest equivalent to your factory bumper-to-bumper warranty, which expires after three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. The Powertrain plan extends your factory Powertrain limited warranty (normally five years or 60,000 miles), and the Silver plan offers something in between the two. Platinum is the best-selling of the three coverage levels. In fact, two of the dealers we spoke with had to check to see if Silver plans were still being offered. (They are.)  MORE: What is a manufacturers warranty? Chevrolet extended warranty terms For Silver and Platinum plans, terms can range anywhere from 3 years/30,000 miles to 8 years/100,000 miles. Term limits for Powertrain plans start at 4 years/60,000 miles. These terms begin the day you purchase the warranty, so you may want to wait until your factory warranty is about to expire before purchasing a Chevrolet Protection Plan. Even though the price may be a little higher by then, youll likely get more coverage and better value. Chevrolet extended warranty benefits In addition to covering repair costs, Chevrolet Protection Plans come with the following benefits: Roadside assistance , including towing for a covered breakdown (up to $100 per occurrence), battery service, flat tire assistance, emergency fuel delivery (up to three gallons three times), emergency fluid delivery (cost of fluids not included) and lockout assistance

, including towing for a covered breakdown (up to $100 per occurrence), battery service, flat tire assistance, emergency fuel delivery (up to three gallons three times), emergency fluid delivery (cost of fluids not included) and lockout assistance Rental car coverage of up to $40 per day for a maximum of 10 days while your vehicle is in the shop for a covered repair

of up to $40 per day for a maximum of 10 days while your vehicle is in the shop for a covered repair Trip interruption compensation of up to $200 per day for up to five days to help cover the cost of meals, lodging and other emergency travel expenses if your car breaks down over 100 miles from home Overall, these are above-average benefits for a factory extended warranty. (Some other automakers limit rental car coverage to $35 per day and trip interruption compensation to $500 total.) Chevrolet also has a disappearing $100 deductible option that waives your $100 deductible if you have your vehicle serviced at the dealership that sold you the warranty. However, in our experience, dealerships often mark up extended warranties by up to 40%, so its probably cheaper to simply buy a $0 deductible plan directly from Chevrolet online.

Chevrolet extended warranty cost Overall, the Chevrolet Protection Plan quotes we received for our sample vehicles indicated rates slightly above the average cost of an extended warranty, but that doesnt mean theyre a bad value. On the whole, warranties for Chevy vehicles tend to be more expensive than average, no matter who youre getting the warranty from. (More on that later.) Chevrolet Protection Plan costs The cost of your Chevrolet Protection Plan may vary based on your vehicle, coverage level, term and warranty seller. These quotes came directly from Chevrolet  prices from dealers may vary but will likely be higher.

Vehicle Coverage Term Cost 2022 Camaro SS* Silver 3 years/36,000 miles $1,313 2022 Camaro SS* Silver 5 years/60,000 miles $2,610 2022 Camaro SS* Silver 7 years/84,000 miles $4,368 2022 Camaro SS* Platinum 3 years/36,000 miles $1,395 2022 Camaro SS* Platinum 5 years/60,000 miles $3,017 2022 Camaro SS* Platinum 7 years/84,000 miles $5,213 2017 Silverado** Silver 3 years/36,000 miles $1,645 2017 Silverado** Silver 5 years/60,000 miles $2,560 2017 Silverado** Silver 7 years/56,000 miles $2,630 2017 Silverado** Platinum 3 years/36,000 miles $1,813 2017 Silverado** Platinum 5 years/60,000 miles $2,955 2017 Silverado** Platinum 7 years/56,000 miles $3,045 2021 Bolt EV*** Powertrain 4 years/60,000 miles $1,458 2021 Bolt EV*** Powertrain 7 years/84,000 miles $2,183 2021 Bolt EV*** Silver 3 years/36,000 miles $1,138 2021 Bolt EV*** Silver 5 years/60,000 miles $1,752 2021 Bolt EV*** Silver 7 years/84,000 miles $2,577 2021 Bolt EV*** Platinum 3 years/36,000 miles $1,176 2021 Bolt EV*** Platinum 5 years/60,000 miles $1,942 2021 Bolt EV*** Platinum 7 years/84,000 miles $2,977 *A 2022 Chevrolet Camaro SS with 15,000 miles and a $0 deductible **A 2017 Chevrolet Silverado with 40,000 miles and a $100 deductible ***A 2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV with 20,000 miles and a $100 deductible

Keep in mind that these terms start from the date you purchase the warranty. For example, the 2022 Camaro SS quoted above still has 21,000 miles of factory limited (bumper-to-bumper) warranty left. Ignoring the age of the car, if the owner purchased a three-year/36,000-mile Platinum Protection Plan, theyd only be getting 15,000 more miles of Platinum protection for their $1,395. Thats also a possible reason why some of the shorter warranty terms for the Bolt and Camaro SS are considerably more affordable than similar terms for the Silverado.

Chevrolet extended warranty terms and conditions We read the sample contract for a Chevrolet Protection Plan to see if we could spot any contractual gotchas, and it looked pretty standard for the industry. Still, here are a few key terms to keep in mind, especially if youre not familiar with how extended warranties work. Maintenance As is the case with most extended warranties, you must get all recommended maintenance done on your vehicle to keep your warranty active. That means following the maintenance schedule in your owners manual to a T. Its also a good idea to keep any documentation you have for these services. If you dont have the receipts to prove you got this regular maintenance done, Chevrolet may deny your claim. Preexisting conditions If you cant prove that a component failed during  and not before  you purchased the warranty, Chevrolet may deny your claim. Thats why we strongly recommend getting a detailed inspection report done at a Chevrolet dealer (roughly $150) alongside the purchase of your warranty so you can prove which issues are new or old. Exclusions As with almost all extended warranties, damage from accidents, negligence and misuse are not covered. Normal wear-and-tear items, like brake pads and clutches, arent covered either, and the installation of unauthorized aftermarket parts may quickly void your warranty. Towing within your vehicles rated towing capacity is covered, but commercial use is excluded unless you pay extra to include light-duty use. Plans also wont cover competitive driving or racing. Transferability If you sell your Chevy, you can transfer your Chevrolet Protection Plan to the new owner by submitting your request in writing to Chevrolet and paying a $50 transfer fee. Cancellations and refunds You can cancel your Chevrolet Protection Plan within 30 days of purchase for a full refund, provided you havent yet submitted a claim. If you have submitted a claim or 30 days have passed, you can still receive a prorated refund based on your remaining time on the warranty. We strongly recommend reading your entire contract carefully to ensure that the parts you want covered are covered and that there arent any unfortunate surprises later on.

Is a Chevrolet extended warranty worth it? Generally speaking, extended auto warranties are worth considering if any of the following are true for you: You drive an unreliable vehicle.

You cant afford the cost of a major repair bill, but you can budget for a warranty.

The cost of your warranty is less than you expect to spend on the repairs it would cover.

You dont mind paying for additional peace of mind, even if you never file a claim. For Chevrolet Protection Plans, specifically, the answer depends on the balance between the cost of the warranty and how much you can expect to spend owning your Chevy out of warranty. According to J.D. Power, modern Chevrolets rank significantly above average in terms of reliability. The firm ranked Chevy fifth out of 33 carmakers in 2023, edging out even Toyota (which placed 7th). That said, Consumer Reports  which draws from a wider range of model years  ranked Chevrolet 20th out of 24 in its 2022 survey. Such a disparity could indicate that Chevrolets are becoming more reliable, but models made in the late 2010s still seem to be plagued with issues. You can see evidence of that in consumer reviews for Chevy products. I will never buy another Chevy, wrote Richard, a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from Maryland. Bought a brand new 2018 Malibu at 38k miles. Motor has fuel In the oil and Im pretty sure a piston rings is bad. Chevy service said they would not fix it.  The whole motor will need replaced. I will never buy another Chevy.  Richard, a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from Maryland Tammy, a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from Delaware, told us, I bought 3 automobiles in the amount of two years starting 2018, we bought all the bumper to bumper warranties tires and everything.  Well within the last couple of years the service department is horrible. Ive had all three of my cars out there several times with problems and they have never been fixed. I have always said Chevrolet [were] the best vehicles; but I was wrong. My next car will NOT be a Chevrolet, wrote Lisa, a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from Kentucky. I bought a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu in 2020 with approximately 40,000 miles. In November of 2021 the car just died as I was driving. My mechanic finally discovered the issue. An electric modulator went out. Since I bought the car used, Chevrolet refused to cover the cost. Thanks Chevrolet for nothing. Wont waste my money again. Its worth noting that J.D. Powers 2022 rankings  which analyzed vehicles from 2019  ranked Chevrolet much lower at 10th. These trends indicate that Chevy began working out the kinks for the 2020 model year, but anyone owning a 2016 to 2019 model year vehicle might want to seriously consider warranty protection.  MORE: Pros and cons of extended auto warranties

Chevrolet extended warranty alternatives Getting an extended warranty for a less reliable Chevy can be a good idea, but that doesnt mean you have to get your extended warranty directly from Chevrolet. Dedicated extended warranty companies can often offer more coverage options at lower prices than manufacturers. We got some quotes to see if that was the case here. For coverage similar to a Platinum plan from Chevrolet, olive quoted us $147.82 per month ($8,871 total) to protect our 2017 Silverado for five years with an identical $100 deductible. Thats almost triple our quote from Chevrolet ($3,045). Extended warranty quotes can differ in seemingly random ways. Thats why its important to shop around for a deal from a company you can trust. Endurance quoted us $92.30 per month for three years of coverage ($3,322.84 total). For a comparable three-year Platinum plan, Chevy quoted us $1,813. For our 20,000-mile Bolt, olive quoted us $30.72 per month for three years ($1,105.92 total), and Endurance quoted us $4,658.97. While olives quote fell in line with what Chevrolet charges ($1,176), the quote from Endurance was far more expensive. These elevated prices may be the result of Chevys well-publicized build quality issues in the late 2010s, but its hard to know for sure. So, while Chevrolet Protection Plans arent cheap, they may still be your best option for your pre-2020 Chevy. The surest way to know youre getting a good deal on your extended warranty is to get quotes from different companies and compare their offerings. That way, you have the context to make a smart purchase youre comfortable with.

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Article sources ConsumerAffairs writers primarily rely on government data, industry experts and original research from other reputable publications to inform their work. To learn more about the content on our site, visit our FAQ page. Specific sources for this article include: J.D. Power, Vehicle Dependability Improves Despite Continued Problems with Technology, J.D. Power Finds. Accessed March 1, 2023. Consumer Reports, Who Makes the Most Reliable New Cars? Accessed March 1, 2023.
As much as the British Museums benefactors have robbed, plundered and pillaged the world of its irreplaceable cultural artifacts, at least Indiana Jones managed to steal their catchphrase. It belongs in a museum has been the mantra of the U.K.s national loot stash for nearly three centuries as it applies to basically any object owned by a non-Englishman.

The British Museum is the largest and most impressive collection of art and cultural artifacts in the world, but the collection methods themselves have been the subject of scrutiny since the museum was founded. Last Week Tonights John Oliver has extensively detailed issues with the museums custodianship of some of the most valuable Greek and Egyptian artifacts in existence, but as some Twitter and TikTok users have recently discovered, jokes are about the only thing that these tomb-raiding Limey Crofts wont take.

After a pretty innocuous post showing a couple guys doing a British Museum-themed spin on the old holding-up-the-Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa picture got a Twitter user blocked by the museums official account, one TikToker took the liberty of compiling some of the internets best barbs about the stately stash house. @allie_202_s ability to take great creative works from around the world and put them in one place might just land her a job at the British Museum.
The duty and responsibility of every intelligence service is to collect, analyze, and disseminate intelligence information to its countrys policymakers. In a prior piece, we discussed the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) global threat assessment in the cyber domain. What follows is the perspective from other countries intelligence services on what the future may hold.

Those services whose assessments were reviewed and whose perspective is shared include the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), Estonia Foreign Intelligence Service (EFIS), Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO), Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), Swedish Security Service (SAPO) and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). The great power competition is alive and well and is the constant theme throughout the various assessments.

As they focus on very similar areas, theres no need to dissect each countrys perspective individually  heres what they collectively are seeing.

Russia

No one will be surprised to learn that Russias state entities and their proxies use of cyber for both espionage and influence operations found a prominent place within the various assessments. In addition, Norway noted a marked decrease in human operations in Norway and throughout Europe as Russian intelligence operations were disrupted by the expulsion of hundreds of Russian diplomats and intelligence officers across Europe immediately following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Of note and highlighted again by Norway is the degradation in relations between Russia and the countries of Europe and the deleterious effect the expulsions have had on Russias access to information. Thus, Russia is relying more on its non-human intelligence apparatus to provide information, including information that used to be collected on the ground in any given country.

Nevertheless, Russian operations remain focused, and espionage and the use of computer operations is on the uptick. The Norwegians adroitly noted that Russia has more to gain and less to lose by running intelligence operations and that it will continue to accept the risk of compromise. Finland said that during the run-up to the invasion, Russian activity had diminished. That didnt last long, and by mid-2022 Russias cyber operations were busier than ever.

China

As with Russia, few will be surprised by the assessment that China continues to flex its muscles in the espionage game. Norway termed Chinese efforts as aggressive, and that is being polite. The term attributed to Chinas corrosive diplomacy was Wolf warrior diplomacy, meaning it is both confrontational and combative.

Chinas fingerprints are everywhere, from supply chain operations to influence operations to human recruitment operations. Its intelligence apparatus painstakingly engages in the targeting of individuals of interest and then Chinas all-of-government approach to engagement takes over.

Influence operations

Disinformation and misinformation were identified as primary areas of cyber engagement by several nation states, not just China and Russia, also Iran and North Korea. These operations are focused on spreading disinformation to electorates and attempting to sway diplomatic and domestic agendas. Australia went so far as to note the targeting of their elected officials.

Technology and intellectual property are targets

China, Russia, and Iran were identified as having an appetite and a willingness to conduct both cyber and human operations for the purposes of purloining advanced technologies. Russia, currently facing crippling sanctions, is especially keen to keep the pipeline of Western technology open, even if that pipeline requires the use of covert procurement mechanisms. China has been using its invitation methodology to acquire technology since 1986 when it launched Program 863, the master plan to acquire advanced technology from the West to advance Chinas national interests.

Targeted insiders

Chinas human intelligence operations were also a mainstay across the multiple assessments. With Chinas tried and true technique of exploiting the invitation mechanism as a primary means of getting human targets of interest into China, where China would have the all-important home-field advantage and be able to put on a full-court press as it attempted to transition a cooperative target into a very compliant and collaborative covert asset.

Norway, again exhibiting directness in its analysis, highlighted that under the Chinese Intelligence Act every citizen, business, or organization is duty-bound to assist intelligence services if asked to do so. It also cited the example of Chinese government delegation visits to companies, organizations, and research facilities in that country for the purposes of making them recruitment platforms.

Mike Burgess, director general of Australias ASIO, likened its efforts in the counterintelligence realm to being engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Burgess continued to discuss the insider threat in his assessment and how damaging insiders can be when an individual with access to sensitive information is collaborating and sharing the nations secrets.

He dryly noted that only 16,000 Australians had noted they enjoyed the trust and confidence of the nation by highlighting their security clearance on a social network site (LinkedIn), down from 22,000 in 2021 when Australia launched its Think Before You Link campaign, calling it a win.

Burgess said that Australians have been offered enormous sums by third parties to train and improve the skills of Chinas military. The prize for China, according to Burgess, is to turn those insiders from targets into a compliant resource, willing to respond to direct tasking and passing on sensitive or classified information to their intelligence officer handlers.

It should come as no surprise that Russia and others were also pegged as having significant expertise in targeting individuals with phishing and software vulnerabilities, then using the insiders access to conduct supply chain attacks.

CISOs should study and learn from intelligence reports

CISOs need to lead, from a position of trust and confidence, with the full knowledge that geopolitical geography means little in 2023, as every nation has the ability to reach out to any other physical location and engage your insider, be it virtually or physically. All of the assessments noted that the supply chains used by companies and organizations were prime targets by adversaries. Take note CISOs  you have supply chains.

Perhaps CISOs may use this collective analysis as impetus to either adjust resource distribution or engage as appropriate to acquire the necessary resources or redirect. Public-private partnerships exist in all countries and multinational companies should be engaging wherever they have presence or customers. Similarly, its essential to embrace the concepts of least-privileged access and ensure policies are clear and concise when it comes to accessing sensitive data.
STAMFORD  A Norwalk man charged with possession of child pornography and felony larceny in an unrelated alleged theft would serve seven years in prison under an offer made by state prosecutors.

Andrew Cohen, 21, was extended the offer by Supervisory States Attorney Michelle Manning during a pretrial hearing at the state Superior Court in Stamford Wednesday afternoon.

Under the offer, Cohen would plead guilty to first-degree possession of child pornography, promoting a minor in an obscene performance and third-degree larceny in return for a 15-year prison sentence suspended after he serves seven years. He would also face 20 years of probation, Manning said.

Cohen was arrested by Norwalk police on charges of first-degree possession of child pornography and promoting a minor in an obscene performance in May 2022 following a nearly yearlong investigation.

Detectives began investigating Cohen in June 2021 after the FBI notified the department that officials suspected him of sharing videos online of young children engaged in sexual acts, police said at the time.

Police served a warrant at Cohens residence on Sept. 30, 2021, according to police. Police said they seized a number of videos containing child sexual abuse images from devices at the residence.

If convicted of first-degree possession of child pornography, a Class B felony in Connecticut, Cohen would face as much as 20 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000.

Cohen is also facing third-degree larceny, third-degree forgery and conspiracy to commit third-degree forgery charges in connection to an unrelated alleged check cashing scheme in 2021.

In October 2022, Cohen was also arrested by Westport police on accusations he cashed fraudulent checks totaling nearly $10,000 a year earlier.

Westport police said Cohen allegedly cashed five checks in December 2021 at various Peoples United Bank locations totaling $9,720, according to police.

Cohen is next expected to appear in court on May 30.
ROCKVILLE, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut man who viciously and randomly attacked two people with a Samurai-style sword, killing one and severely wounding the other, was sentenced Thursday to 55 years in prison, the same sentence he received for a fatal shooting and kidnapping that occurred two days after the attack.

Peter Manfredonia struck 62-year-old Ted DeMers in the head with the sword, completely severed his right hand, sliced off his left thumb and index finger and repeatedly slashed his back during the attack in Willington on May 22, 2020. Manfredonia then wounded 80-year-old John Franco, who had severe injuries to his hands and wounds to his head and neck. DeMers was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.

Manfredonia, now 26, who was a University of Connecticut senior in 2020 studying finance and mechanical engineering, later held another local man hostage for 24 hours. He then drove across the state to Derby, fatally shot a school classmate and kidnapped that victims girlfriend. He was caught in Hagerstown, Maryland, ending a six-day manhunt in several states.

Manfredonia appeared in state Superior Court in Rockville on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in both the Willington and Derby cases and agreed to 55-year sentences. Judge Kathleen McNamara imposed the prison term for the sword attack Thursday, which will run concurrent with the sentence for the fatal shooting and kidnapping.

Although Connecticut no longer has capital punishment, both DeMers' widow, Cindy, and Franco told the judge they believed Manfredonia deserved the death penalty.

Cindy Demers described rushing to the scene of carnage outside her home that day.

It was like being in a war zone, she said. "All I could focus on was reassuring Ted that he was going to be OK and we would put his body back together. We will get through this. We had gotten through so much together up until this point.

Dying was not an option, she continued. And even seeing him and his injuries, I couldn't even imagine that was a possibility. He was still alive when he was taken away, but he never came home. ... My husband's life was stolen from him viciously. Life as I knew it stolen from me. My world as I knew it came to an end.

Franco, a U.S. Navy veteran who is now 83, attended the hearing and added, "He should be terminated. I'm a true believer in capital punishment, especially in a situation such as this. Franco was called a hero for coming to DeMers' aid when he saw the attack.

Family and friends described DeMers as a kind and generous man who coached Little League in town and would help anybody who needed it. He tried to help Manfredonia that day because he thought Manfredonia had crashed his motorcycle, witnesses said.

It was the second straight day that victims of Manfredonia's violent spree offered emotional testimony in court. Manfredonia apologized at both hearings. He was sentenced on Wednesday for shooting 23-year-old Nicholas Eisele to death in Derby and kidnapping Eisele's girlfriend, whom he released unharmed a few hours later in New Jersey.

Tolland State's Attorney Matthew Gedansky said Thursday that Manfredonia went to DeMers' neighborhood that day to see his ex-girlfriend, who lived nearby. Gedansky said it appeared Manfredonia had plans to kill the woman but was interrupted by Demers, who had approached him on the street to see if he needed help.

Manfredonia's lawyer, Michael Dolan, said Manfredonia's actual plan was to commit suicide in front of his ex-girlfriend. Dolan said Manfredonia has bipolar disease and anxiety, and was having a psychotic episode at the time of the killings.

Gedansky said he believed Manfredonia was desperate when he went to Eisele's apartment two days later, knowing Eisele had money. Manfredonia and Eisele grew up together in Newtown, Connecticut.

Manfredonia's apology on Thursday was similar to the one he made on Wednesday. He directed separate comments to DeMers' family, Franco and Donald Hipsky, the man whose home Manfredonia broke into after the sword attack and who was held hostage for 24 hours but not physically hurt.

There are no words that can possibly atone for what I have done. Know that I am sorry nonetheless, he said to DeMers' family. You have done nothing to deserve the pain that I have caused. My actions were nothing short of reprehensible. I do not expect forgiveness for my actions and I will regret them every day for the rest of my life.

As part of his plea bargains, Manfredonia agreed not see seek early release through requests for parole or sentence modification.
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ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP)  A San Francisco Bay Area city council is undertaking an audit of its troubled police department, the latest development in a year-long federal investigation of the Antioch Police Department that blew up this month with the disclosure of racist and hostile text messages sent by officers.

Angry residents crowded City Hall on Tuesday evening as the Antioch City Council unanimously approved audits of the departments internal affairs unit, its hiring and promotional practices and of department culture. Officials have named 17 officers who sent text messages, including the president of the Antioch police union, although Contra Costa County's public defender said that nearly half of the 100-officer department was included in the text chains.

Defense attorney Ellen McDonnell has asked District Attorney Diana Becton to dismiss all cases involving the public defenders office and Antioch police. Becton said she is reviewing cases for potential dismissal or resentencing. It's unclear how many cases are at stake.

The public simply cannot have trust or confidence in any criminal prosecution involving the Antioch Police Department, McDonnell said in an email Wednesday. No one should be charged with a crime based on the report of a police department so thoroughly riddled with corruption."

The incendiary text messages, which were heavily redacted, contain derogatory, racist, homophobic and sexually explicit language. Officers brag about making up evidence and beating up suspects. They refer to women as water buffalo, share photos of gorillas, freely use racial slurs and make light of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

In September 2020, two officers agreed by text to write a large number of traffic citations by targeting a specific group in a specific area. A male officer referred to Black people by a racist slur and said authorities should make them eat s---." A female officer responded, Yes that will be easy. And it will be a good time lol start off quick with the numbers.

The city of 115,000 residents about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of San Francisco was once predominantly white but has diversified in the last 30 years.

Mayor Lamar Thorpe is among three Black, progressive members of the five-person council who have said they are committed to holding police accountable and protecting tenants' rights. In 2021, the city issued an apology for its treatment of early Chinese immigrants.

What youre seeing is a maturation process, its like watching a teenage kid develop pimples, he said in an interview Wednesday. "The institutions have taken a long time to catch up with where the voters and public have been.

The text messages came out as part of an investigation launched in March 2022 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Contra Costa District Attorneys office into a broad range of offenses, including what prosecutors called crimes of moral turpitude, by officers with the Antioch and nearby Pittsburg police departments.

The district attorney's office released two batches of text messages to reporters after a judge on April 7 ordered the messages shared with defense attorneys in a pending felony case involving some of the officers. The reports did not identify the races of the officers who sent the text messages, and none have yet been charged with a crime.

The messages disclosed to date were sent largely in 2020 and 2021. Sgt. Rick Hoffman, president of the Antioch Police Officers Association, is named as sending communications. The association did not respond to requests for comment.

In April 2020, one Antioch officer texted an officer at another police department: Since we don't have video I sometimes just say people gave me a full confession when they didn't, get filed easier.

In June 2020, one officer offered a steak dinner to anyone who could 40 Thorpe at a protest, referring to a .40mm less lethal launcher, a senior inspector for the district attorneys office explained in a report. Such a device could shoot rubber bullets or bean bag rounds.

Antioch Police Chief Steve Ford issued a statement last week condemning the the racially abhorrent content and incomprehensible behavior being attributed to members of the Antioch Police Department in media reports.

His department also established an email address and phone line where community members could give feedback. Ford did not respond to emailed requests to speak with The Associated Press.

Police officers have been busted before for sending bigoted messages to each other. In 2015, then-San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr moved to fire or discipline 14 officers involved in trading racist text messages.

Authorities have given no timeline for when their joint investigation might finish.
John Raoux/AP

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced he will travel to Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom as part of an international trade mission, giving the expected Republican presidential candidate a platform to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

DeSantis formally detailed the trip in a statement Thursday, saying, This trade mission will give us the opportunity to strengthen economic relationships and continue to demonstrate Floridas position as an economic leader.
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MADRID (AP)  Spains Prime Minister and the European Unions environmental chief on Thursday slammed a plan by right-wing lawmakers to expand water rights for farmland around some of Europe's most important wetlands amid a prolonged drought.

The center-right Popular Party and far-right Vox movement first proposed rezoning land around Andalusia's Donana national park in March, and regional lawmakers backed the plan last week. The bills critics say this would effectively offer an amnesty to farmers already using illegal wells to tap into the Donana aquifer to grow strawberries, blueberries and raspberries for export across Europe.

EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius warned in a written missive Thursday that the bloc would use all the means available to ensure Spain complied with a 2021 European Court of Justice ruling that condemned it for breaching EU rules on excessive water extraction in Donana.

The EU has sent repeated follow-ups to ensure compliance on environmental rules since then, and the approval of irrigation rights for 800 hectares of extra land around the UNESCO World Heritage site could incur a hefty fine.

Spain's center-left Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez later visited the conservation area, which is home to rare species including the Iberian lynx. Sanchez urged Andalusian politicians to get back on track with European law and stop this outrage." He reminded local lawmakers that Spanish taxpayers would foot the bill for any EU-issued fines, as some view the Donana plan as a way to win farmers' votes ahead of local elections on May 28.

His comments received a swift rebuke from Andalusia's regional leader Juanma Moreno, who said the central government had failed to invest in updating agricultural infrastructure to avoid water leaks. He urged Sanchez to offer money, attention and respect" to resolve the situation.

Water levels in reservoirs fed by the Guadalquivir River Basin, where Donana is situated, are currently at 25% of their total capacity due to back-to-back years of elevated temperatures and low rainfall. Farmers in the region have had their water allowance for irrigation cut by more than a third amid Andalusia's worst drought in almost three decades.

Spanish conservationists warned this month that half of the nature reserve's lakes have already disappeared, threatening the survival of freshwater turtles native to the Iberian peninsula, along with dragonflies and eels. Images of flamingos stumbling over cracked, dried up mud have shocked many in Spain. The site is also an important transit point for many migratory bird species.

The land around Donana has become a major agricultural center for farmers who in previous decades shifted over from low-water crops like olives and grains to water-thirsty berries to boost revenues.

Farmers demanding water rights are owners of lands that were deemed non-irrigable when in 2004 an agreement was struck to manage farming activity around the reserve. Since then, the berry boom led to an estimated 1,000-2,000 illegal wells popping up nearby, according to studies carried out by environmental group WWF.

Spain's Agriculture Minister Luis Planas bluntly called the irrigation plan "illegal" earlier this week, saying politicians were promising access to water that does not exist in that area. The proposal, he added, risked serious reputational damage for Spain among its export partners, particularly Germany, which buys up a third of Spain's berries.

(Donana) is our heritage and therefore this government is going to do everything necessary so that this absolutely incomprehensible and absolutely irrational initiative never comes to fruition, Planas said.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexico's navy has suspended a search for three Americans who went missing along with their sailboat off Mexicos northern Pacific coast, the U.S Coast Guard said Wednesday.

A Coast Guard statement said that Mexican forces and U.S. assets had searched about 200,000 square nautical miles, an area larger than California, and had found no sign of the missing people or the boat.
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JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a Cabinet minister known for inflammatory comments and for leading a grassroots campaign against African migrants to the post of consul general in New York, a high-profile job that deals with outreach to American Jews.

May Golan, currently a minister without portfolio in Netanyahu's government, built her political career on staunch opposition to African migrants in Israel. She calls them infiltrators and has portrayed the estimated 40,000 migrants, mostly concentrated in poor neighborhoods of the southern part of the city of Tel Aviv, as threats to security.

After a failed bid to enter parliament with the ultranationalist Jewish Power party in 2013, she joined Netanyahu's ruling Likud party and was first elected to parliament in 2019.

Netanyahu recently promised Golan the role of the as yet uncreated Ministry for the Status of Women. His office confirmed media reports on Wednesday that he has offered her the consul general post, citing her excellent explanatory abilities in English.

In a post on Twitter, Golan said she was honored to be considered for the post and that she is completely committed to the unity of the Jewish people.

If appointed, I will work with the leaders of all the Jewish organizations  as part of the effort to strengthen the great partnership between Israel and the American Jewish communities, she said.

Israel's previous consul general, Assaf Zamir, resigned last month in protest over the Netanyahu government's controversial judicial overhaul plan.

The United States is home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, with the single largest community living in the greater New York metropolitan area.

Netanyahu's government is the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel's 75-year history. Golan is part of the ultranationalist wing of Netanyahu 's Likud and her political positions, including comments disparaging the liberal Reform Jewish movement, are likely to cause friction with American Jews, who are overwhelmingly liberal.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish movement in the U.S., criticized the appointment, saying Golan's views are antithetical" to most of the community.

She will harm not help Israels cause, he wrote on Twitter.

In addition to being a proponent of the judicial overhaul plan that has divided the country, Golan has also advocated annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and has long campaigned for the deportation of African migrants.

The Africans, nearly all from long-reclusive Eritrea and war-torn Sudan, say they fled for their lives and face renewed danger if they return. Israel considers the vast majority of the Africans to be job seekers.

In 2014, Golan told the Haaretz newspaper that she avoided restaurants that employed African asylum seekers out of fear of catching diseases.

If I am racist for wanting to defend my country and for wanting to protect my basic rights and security, then Im a proud racist, she said at a rally in south Tel Aviv in 2013.
FAIRFIELD  Three businesses got priority violations during their health inspections in March, the first full month under the state's new health inspection system.

Last Month, Rio Bravo, Fairfield Social and Fairfield Warde High School each received priority violations on their health inspections, according to records from the Fairfield Health Department. Those are the most critical violations, health officials say, and need to be corrected within 72 hours.

Notably, all businesses corrected their violations either during the time of the inspection or by the time of their follow-up inspection, according to documents.

Rob Guerrera, the assistant director for environmental health at the Fairfield Health Department, said the new system went into place on Feb. 16, adding the change was in the works before the COVID-19 pandemic happened. He said the Connecticut Restaurant Association and the Connecticut Association of Directors of Health wanted the state to move toward implementing one uniform code for all businesses and towns to follow.

"We were all operating underneath the same code as far as cooking temperatures and hot and cold holding (of food), but they wanted a universal code so that every restaurant was treated the same when they needed to do repairs and so forth," he said. "Local towns could have had their own little changes to the code if they wanted to."

Under Fairfield's old system, eateries got a score from zero to 100, and failed if they got below an 80 or had any four-point violations. Guerrera said there is no longer a failing system, noting there is in compliance, out of compliance, not applicable and not observed. He said the types of violations are now, priority item violations, where corrections are due in 72 hours; priority foundation item violations, where corrections are due in 10 days and core item violations, where corrections are due in 90 days. He said the the priority violations are the most serious.

Guerrera said the new system encourages businesses to take corrective action on site or as soon as possible. He said owners are not allowed to send photos to the health department as evidence of corrections.

"It's made it more challenging because of the simple fact that it's a new code, new inspection form and the turnaround time for a lot of these items are a lot quicker than they were in the past," he said. "But it's good in the sense that we do give them a chance to correct it on site. It does give the owner the ability to correct it and just send us documentation that shows it's been corrected."

Guerrera said the health department does approximately 100 inspections and re-inspections a month and, in the old system, about two to five restaurants would fail an inspection. Now, he said, more restaurants are likely to get priority item violations and priority foundation item violations, because there are things in the inspection that eateries need to get back to health officials faster on.

"In the past, you would not have failed them on that," he said, adding they would have had more time to fix it. "(The state) wants things corrected immediately."

Faifield Warde High School had three priority item violations during its inspection on March 13, reports show. They were for having a blocked handsink, cold holding not being at the right temperature and because a sneeze guard was not protecting some food.

The school also had core violations for issues, such as mouse droppings and using a milk crate as storage. The issues found were corrected on site or by its reinspection on April 5.

Courtney LeBorious, The school district's chief financial officer, said in an email that the schools work closely with its food service provider, Whitsons, to ensure all safety and health codes are consistently maintained.

"Minor violations were found during a routine inspection and were quickly corrected onsite prior to the inspector leaving," she said.

Rio Bravo had one priority item violation and two priority foundation item violation, according to its report from March 9. The violations included having raw chicken stored at 80 degrees, and the food was discarded on site. The priority foundation items were for not having a person in charge of the food preparation area and items stored that were not properly labeled.

Rio Bravo also had lesser violations for issues such as having uncovered food in cold storage and not having thermometers at all coolers. The issues were corrected on site or by the restaurants reinspection on March 15. Management for Rio Bravo did not respond to request for comment.

During an inspection on March 15, Fairfield Social was docked for five priority item violations and three priority foundation item violations. The priority items were for improper handwashing techniques, having unclean utensils throughout the kitchen, having raw food over ready to ready to eat food in the cooler, having homemade food stored at room temperature and having raw meats not stored separately based on type.

Fairfield Social's priority foundation item issues were for not having a consumer advisory on the menu and foods without a marked date being held for more than 24 hours and shellfish tags not stored in chronological order. It also had core item violations for issues such as thawing food at room temperature and having a cockroach in dry storage and mouse droppings throughout the establishment.

Documents show the issues at Fairfield Social were corrected on site or by reinspection on March 16. Management did not respond to request for comment.

Guerrera said it will be a learning curve to adjust to the new system, noting health inspectors have taken hours of training to get ready and are still doing education on it. He said the restaurants in town have been good about getting used to it.

"It's going to take some time, but I think it's going to be better at the end of the day," he said.
NEW BRITAIN  A former fire lieutenant is trying to get his job back after city officials say he was terminated because text messages revealed he sold drugs at a local firehouse to a member of the department who died two months later of a suspected overdose.

Former New Britain fire Lt. Michael Yagmin, who was interviewed as part of a broad administrative investigation into allegations that more than a half-dozen firefighters were using drugs, including some while on duty, is in arbitration with the city, Mayor Erin Stewarts spokesperson Rachel Zaniewski said. A hearing is scheduled for June, she said.

According to his termination letter, Yagmin was fired in February after an internal investigation revealed he lied about selling heroin or fentanyl to firefighter Matthew Dizney, who died Jan. 26 at his Southington home of what Stewart called a suspected overdose. The states medical examiner said Dizneys cause of death is pending further studies.

Yagmin is also believed to have sold Dizney prescription drugs, according to the termination letter.

New Britain police conducted a criminal investigation into the alleged drug activity among city firefighters, but Stewart said she was told there was not enough evidence for an arrest.

New Britain police have not responded to requests for comment. The department has also not responded to Hearst Connecticut Media Groups request for the documents related to the criminal investigation.

Yagmin declined to comment when reached last week.

According to his termination letter, Yagmin was fired Feb. 18 for commission of a criminal or immoral act, conduct unbecoming of a city employee and untruthfulness under the Garrity Act during hearings. Under Garrity, an incriminating statement may not be used in a criminal proceeding against an employee threatened with termination.

The letter states that Yagmin was asked about apparent discrepancies in the statements he made to investigators and the text messages to and from Dizney. Yagmin denied to investigators that he arranged for a drug transaction or used illegal drugs at any fire station, the termination letter stated. But the text messages referred to Yagmin getting Dizney pills, a stack or a bun  street slang police said is used to describe quantities of heroin or fentanyl, according to the letter.

Yagmin said he didnt know what stack or bun meant, and said his texts were referring to marijuana, which he claimed to have legally obtained in Massachusetts, the letter stated.

In the letter, Stewart noted the contradiction and pointed out that firefighters are not allowed to use recreational marijuana.

Stewart wrote that despite his denials, Yagmin conducted a drug transaction at Station 7 on Nov. 17, 2021 and is believed to have planned a drug transaction at the same firehouse with Dizney on Dec. 22, 2021.

It is clear that you scheduled, arranged and conducted a drug transaction at (Station 7) on Nov. 17, 2021, the mayor wrote in the letter. You were knowingly supplying, giving, selling, sharing and using illegal drugs and your prescription Adderall pills with a private in the fire department and delivered drugs to Private Dizney while Private Dizney was on duty.

The Southington police probe of Dizneys death triggered the New Britain internal investigation of drug use among city firefighters, Stewart said. The investigation led to Yagmins firing and the demotion and suspension of seven others, all of whom had been promoted to lieutenant or driver, Stewart said.

The administrative investigation found that nine New Britain firefighters consumed drugs, including Adderall, marijuana, cocaine and possibly either heroin or fentanyl. Three of the employees, Yagmin, Dizney and one other unnamed firefighter are believed to have consumed drugs while on duty, Stewart said.

Stewart, who released the results of the internal investigation last week, said more than nine firefighters may have used drugs. She said as rumors about the internal investigation spread, a number of firefighters retired.

Fire Chief Raul Ortiz, Assistant Chief Peter Towey and staff from the Human Resources and corporation counsels offices conducted the administrative investigation.

As a result of the probe, two lieutenants and five drivers were demoted to private, which is the lowest rank, suspended for 30 days without pay and placed on probation for three years during which they are subject to random drug testing  something Stewart said she has been pushing for years to be included in the union contract for all firefighters.

The disciplined firefighters avoided termination by admitting somewhat of their truth when they were interviewed during the investigation, Stewart said. Yagmin, however, lied when he was interviewed, Stewart said.

Your actions and failure to acknowledge and be truthful with the city and yourself indicate that you are a safety risk to the fire department and the public it serves, which impacts the efficiency and operation of the department. For you and the union to state that you did not knowingly participate in illegal drug activity is irresponsible, Stewart wrote in the termination letter.

From a public policy standpoint, I cannot allow an employee of the fire department let alone a lieutenant to continue in employment when there is sufficient cause to believe that he is involved in illegal drug activity.
Hearst Media Group

BRIDGEPORT  A local man was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for his role in a large-scale heroin trafficking ring, according to federal prosecutors.

Wilfredo Rosado-Rodriguez, 40, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. He has been detained since his October 2021 arrest, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said in a news release.
Commutations of long prison sentences in Connecticut have been placed on hold following a backlash that led to a change in leadership at the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"We are currently in the process of updating the commutation policy," reads a notice on the Board of Pardons and Paroles website, "and will resume accepting applications and scheduling hearings within the next few months."

Richard Sparaco, the board's executive director, said pausing commutations was among the first orders of new chairperson Jennifer Medina Zaccagnini, who was appointed by Gov. Ned Lamont earlier this month.

"We wanted to take that policy, put a pause on it and revisit it," Sparaco said. "The hope is to get commutations back up and online in a reasonable period of time."

Supporters of commutations see them as second chances for people who have changed over decades in prison and argue that they correct for overly punitive sentences doled out during the "tough-on-crime" era of the 1990s. Opponents see them as unfair to victims and their families.

Commutations have emerged as a contentious political issue in recent months, with Republican lawmakers and victims rights advocates decrying a rise in the release of people serving decades-long sentence, often for murder and other serious offenses. After granting only three total commutations from 2017 through 2021, the Board of Pardons and Paroles granted 71 in 2022 and 25 more in the first two months of 2023.

In response to concerns about commutations, Lamont, a Democrat, called for a pause on the process and removed Carleton Giles as Board of Pardons and Paroles chairperson, replacing him with Zaccagnini.

In a statement Thursday, a Lamont spokesperson said the governor's office had met this week with the the Board of Pardons and Paroles, as "the start of a collaborative process in which the leadership of the board committed itself to working with leadership of the legislatures Judiciary Committee to consider revisions to its policies."

Sparaco emphasized that the board would not halt commutations altogether but would review aspects of its policy that drew criticism, including protocols for notifying victims and a rule allowing people denied commutation to reapply after three years.

Currently, incarcerated people are eligible for commutation when they have been in prison for 10 years or more and are more than two years away from a chance at parole.

In a statement Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, called the pause in commutations "a positive step," while Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said she was "optimistic that this pause will result in the change victims have been asking for."

"National Crime Victims Week starts on Sunday," Somers said. "We continue to push for an open and transparent process where every victim, lawmaker, prosecutor and defense attorney has input on how this commutations policy should be revised."

Alex Taubes, a New Haven attorney who has represented dozens of people who have had their sentences commuted in recent months, said Thursday that several of his clients had already received notices canceling their upcoming hearings.

Taubes said he "very disappointed" to see commutations paused and frustrated with the backlash to the board's policy.

"It's an example of Connecticut's racist, inequitable criminal justice policy," he said. "When there was a policy created that actually benefited disproportionately Black and brown people who had been in prison for a long period of time and their families, Republicans were able to torpedo it with a bunch of misinformation and fear-mongering that reduced people to labels and silhouettes and failed to take into account their humanity."
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HONOLULU (AP)  Police in Hawaii have vowed to step up illegal gambling enforcement after one of the most serious shootings in state history called attention to the dangers that come with cockfighting, which has deep roots in the islands and remains popular despite being illegal.

The shooting early Saturday in a rural community more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from downtown Honolulu killed a man and woman and wounded three others. The Honolulu medical examiners office on Wednesday identified the man as Gary Rabellizsa, 34, and the woman as Cathy Rabellizsa, 59.

Two suspects, including a 16-year-old boy, turned themselves in Tuesday, Honolulu police said.

Jacob Borge, 23, was charged Wednesday with first- and second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and firearms charges, police said. Bail was set at $2 million. Petitions were filed against the juvenile for the same charges, police said.

State Public Defender James Tabe, whose office represented Borge in a previous disorderly conduct fight threat case, declined to comment Wednesday.

Authorities say investigating cockfights is difficult in part because they are highly organized events on private property and their illegal nature and the large amount of money wagered means they often have links to organized crime. The clandestine fights happen all over Hawaii, usually on large, remote properties shrouded by brush and accessible only by dirt roads, like in Waianae, where the weekend shooting took place.

Neighbors are also reluctant to get involved for fear of retaliation, Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan said in a statement.

Despite being illegal in Hawaii since 1884, the fights between roosters with blades affixed to their legs have remained a part of life in the islands, especially among the state's large population of Filipinos, who are credited with bringing the practice from the Philippines, where it was introduced by Spaniards. Many cockfighting fans claim the blood sport is part of local Hawaii culture.

People that are attendees are local, locally based, and have been doing it for generations, said former Maui police chief Gary Yabuta, now executive director of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. A saying among chicken fighters is, Its in my blood.

But Saturday's shooting, which police say started with an argument at the end of a cockfight, has some saying enough is enough, and cultural claims should no longer be used to excuse the illegal fights that happen every weekend.

People say, I grew up with it. Its a cultural thing. Papa had chickens ... we went to chicken fights, thats how we made our money, said Patty Kahanamoku-Teruya, chair of the neighborhood board in the area of the shooting. Its not a cultural right. Its illegal. Period.

Yabuta said his program, which helps local and federal law enforcement collaborate in the fight against illegal drugs, is concerned about cockfighting because its wrapped up in organized crime and has links to drug-trafficking. He notes that the fights often attract hundreds of people placing bets totaling more than $100,000.

Its something that is so huge and so popular in Hawaii that it really cant be controlled by law enforcement, he said.

The popularity of cockfighting extends far beyond Hawaii and is truly a global industry, said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action.

It was started by the Romans and the Greeks 3,000 years ago. And it spread all over the world with colonialism, he said.

The sport has flourished in many areas of Hawaii, including urban parts of the islands, such as Kalihi, where many fighting birds are raised, said state Rep. Sonny Ganaden.

Crowing roosters are part of the sights and sounds of Kalihi, he said of the neighborhood thats home to many Filipinos and Pacific Islanders.

Kids will grab a chicken and get them to fight each other, he said.

Cockfighting has been illegal in all 50 states, but hadn't been illegal in U.S. territories until 2019, when a law signed by former President Donald Trump banning all animal fighting went into effect.

The argument that cockfighting is a cultural practice has been used in lawsuits challenging the ban, but with little success. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a challenge to the federal law brought by individuals and organizations that argued Congress exceeded its power in applying the ban to Puerto Rico.

Some in Hawaii worry that violence linked to cockfighting will grow more volatile in a state that previously had largely escaped the scourge of gun violence seen elsewhere in the U.S.

Saturday's shooting was among the worst since 1999, when seven workers were shot and killed at a Xerox Corp. warehouse. Other shootings that grabbed headlines were a man who killed a taxi driver and a couple taking photos at a Honolulu scenic lookout in 2006 and a highway shooting spree that left one woman dead and two others injured in 2011.

Chris Marvin, a Hawaii resident with Everytown for Gun Safety, said these types of shootings will increase with the proliferation of guns in the islands.

Data from the Hawaii attorney generals office says the number of number of firearms registered annually in Hawaii climbed 319% from 2000 through 2021.

We are going to start to replicate the trends that weve seen in the mainland, Marvin said. And in the rest of the country, there is more than one mass shooting per day. We dont hear about all of them."

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Associated Press reporter Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report.

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This story has been updated to correct that the Xerox warehouse shootings happened in 1999, not 1997.
VERNON  Almost three years after a crime spree that ended with two people dead, Peter Manfredonia was sentenced to 55 years in prison Thursday for killing a man with a samurai sword and invading a nearby home.

The actual sentence wasn't a surprise, though. The 26-year-old will serve the sentence concurrently with a sentence of the same length that was handed down the day prior. The victims and their families agreed to the sentence, according to the states attorney.

In state Superior Court in Vernon, a prosecutor said Thursday afternoon that the man killed by Manfredonia on a dirt road in Willington saved the life of an ex-girlfriend of Manfredonias who lived nearby.

Tolland Judicial District States Attorney Matthew Gedansky said Manfredonia said after his guilty plea that he had intended to die by suicide near the home of an ex-girlfriend who had broken up with him after he hacked her social media accounts. His lawyer, Michael Dolan, said that Manfredonia went to the Willington road to commit seppuku, a Japanese ritual suicide.



But, the prosecutor said, The facts of this case do not support Mr. Manfredonias claims.

He noted during Manfredonias sentencing before Judge Kathleen McNamara that Manfredonia parked down the road from the womans house before he was confronted by Ted DeMers, 62, who he pleaded guilty to killing with a samurai sword.

The logical inference is he was going to kill her, Gedansky said. The logical inference is that Mr. DeMers interrupted this plan. Mr. DeMers saved this young womans life without even knowing it.

The prosecutor also credited another neighbor, John Franco, who was severely injured by Manfredonias attack.

Franco told the judge Thursday he wished the state still had the death penalty to punish Manfredonia for his reign of terror, but was ultimately OK with the 55-year sentence.

I can accept it, because its our legal system, Franco said. However, my personal feelings are that he should be terminated. Im a firm believer in capital punishment, especially for situations such as this.

DeMers widow, Cindy DeMers, agreed, saying the death penalty would have been my choice for the senseless murder of her husband.

Most people are fortunate enough to never experience true horror and tragedy in their life, she said, describing the scene of the attack as like being in a war zone.

My husbands life was stolen from him viciously, she said, breaking down in tears as she described how DeMers missed the birth of the couples first grandchild a month after his killing.

Cindy DeMers said she hoped to honor her husbands memory in his absence.

Teds life was taken, but I wont let that darkness take mine as well, she added.

After Manfredonia killed DeMers and injured Franco, he broke into a nearby home and held a man hostage for more than 24 hours. The man also attended the sentencing Thursday.

One thing I have not forgotten is the look in his eyes when he would become angry during some of our conversations, he said of his ordeal.

Manfredonia apologized to his victims, echoing words he used during a sentencing Wednesday in Milford.

"What I did was heinous. I will be reflecting on what I did every day for the rest of my life," he said. There are no words that could possibly atone for what I have done."

Dolan said Manfredonia was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety with periodic psychotic episodes that influenced his conduct, but that he did not blame his crimes on his mental condition. He added that his client was glad to have the opportunity to apologize to victims and their families.

The judge said she thought the crimes merited a harsher sentence, but didnt want the victims families to be traumatized again by re-living the events at trial.

You should never be released early, McNamara told Manfredonia. I think the safest place for you and the state of Connecticut is lengthy incarceration. You are a danger to society.

The killings started on the morning of May 22, 2020. Manfredonia approached Ted DeMers, 62, saying his motorcycle had broken down. DeMers offered Manfredonia a ride but was instead brutally attacked with a samurai sword. Franco tried to intervene and was injured as well. Manfredonia, a 2015 Newtown High School graduate and former University of Connecticut student, then fled on a red motorcycle.

DeMers died on his way to the hospital of multiple wounds to the head and chest. Franco, who was 80 at the time, suffered critical injuries but ultimately survived.

The next morning, at around 5:15 a.m., a man awoke to Manfredonia pointing a gun at the back of his neck. Manfredonia held the man, 73, hostage for more than 24 hours before stealing guns, ammunition, money and the mans truck.

On May 24, 2020, police found an abandoned Ford F-150 truck near Osbornedale State Park in Derby. After authorities tried to reach the vehicles owner by phone and knocked on his door, they forced their way into his Willington home and found the hostage tried to a chair in the basement.

Manfredonia had crashed the stolen truck in Derby and walked to the home of a high school classmate, Nicholas Eisele. He shot and killed Eisele, stole $2,000 in cash and, while threatening her at gunpoint, ordered Eiseles girlfriend to drive him to Newtown. After seven hours of driving during which she said she envisioned her own funeral, Manfredonia allowed the woman to drop him off at a New Jersey truck stop near the Pennsylvania border.

The woman was found unharmed and Manfredonia took an Uber, starting a days-long manhunt spanning multiple states. Manfredonia was captured on May 27, 2020, at a Maryland truck stop.

Manfredonia pleaded guilty earlier this year to murder, first-degree assault and home invasion in connection with the Willington attacks. He also pleaded guilty to Eiseles murder and the kidnapping of his girlfriend.

In state Superior Court in Milford Wednesday, Manfredonia was sentenced for killing 23-year-old Eisele, and kidnapping Eiseles girlfriend.

My son died protecting the one he loved and his home, said Eiseles mother, Michele Krasowski. My son died a hero. We are left with the scars of this crime, but we choose to honor our memories with him and his life as it was far greater than this tragedy.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraines rightful place is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion just over a year ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.

The Kremlin has given various justifications for going to war, but repeated Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO is still a key goal of its invasion, arguing that Kyivs membership in the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia.

NATO leaders said in 2008 that Ukraine would join the alliance one day, and Stoltenberg has repeated that promise throughout the war, though the organization has established no pathway or timetable for membership.

Let me be clear, Ukraines rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family," Stoltenberg told a news conference. Ukraines rightful place is in NATO.

Zelenskyy said he was grateful for an invitation to a NATO summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania, but said his country needs a roadmap for becoming a member.

The time has come for the (alliances) leaders to define the prospects of Ukraines acquisition of NATO membership, to define the algorithm of Ukraines movement towards this goal, and to define security guarantees for our state for the period of such movement  that is, for the period before NATO membership, he said.

Stoltenberg said he and Zelenskyy discussed a NATO support program for Ukraine.

This will help you transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance, Stoltenberg said. "NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.

He noted an announcement Thursday by Denmark and the Netherlands that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least another 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks by early 2024.

He added that he expected countries to make new announcements of concrete military support to Ukraine at a meeting Friday in Germany.

In other developments, a large explosion hit the Russian city of Belgorod late Thursday, and the Defense Ministry said one of its Su-34 warplanes accidentally discharged ammunition over the city about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The government gave no further details.

Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said the blast injured at least two people, damaged homes and left a crater about 20 meters (65 feet) across.

The fighting in recent months has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum. But Ukraine has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies and is expected to launch a counteroffensive in coming weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could use all means available  a phrase some see as a threat to use nuclear weapons  in response to an attack on its territory if Ukraine attempts to recapture Moscow-occupied areas.

NATO has no official presence in Ukraine and provides only nonlethal support to Kyiv, but Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the war.

A procession of international leaders has made the journey to Kyiv over the last year, and the former Norwegian prime minister is one of the last major Western figures to do so.

NATO, formed to counter the Soviet Union, has long feared being dragged into a wide war with nuclear-armed Russia. But as the West has moved from hesitantly providing helmets and uniforms to tanks, warplanes and advanced missile systems, high-level visits have become routine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of the goals of what Moscow calls its special military operation. Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Peskov said that Ukraines accession would pose a serious, significant threat to our country, to our countrys security.

Earlier this month, Finland joined the alliance, setting aside decades of neutrality in a historic realignment of Europes post-Cold War security landscape. While NATO says it poses no threat to Russia, the Nordic country's accession dealt a major political blow to Putin.

Finland's membership doubles Russias border with the worlds biggest security alliance. Neighboring Sweden is expected to join too, possibly by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts meet in Vilnius in July.

The alliance has focused on bolstering defenses on its own territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member country. Under NATO's collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered an attack on all of them.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The group is the main international forum for drumming up military support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine Space Agency said Thursday that a bright flash of light in the night sky over the country the previous day was probably a meteor entering the atmosphere. Residents of the capital and several cities in Belarus saw the flash of light, which lingered for a couple of seconds, and an explosion was heard in the Kyiv region. It triggered an air raid alarm in Kyiv.

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Cook reported from Brussels.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a swipe Thursday at leaders who have adopted postures of neutrality regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling them populists.

Zelenskyys comments, in a video link before a committee of Mexican legislators, were an apparent reference to leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian leader has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine, has appeared to ascribe blame to both sides and has proposed a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.

Mexico, under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has voted to condemn the invasion, although it has declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

There are some leaders who have not visited Ukraine once and who have not seen what the brutal Russian aggression brought, and why it is important to defend lives, Zelenskyy said, adding "but simply seeking to achieve some sort of populism they say things like Ukraine is supposedly not ready to go for peace.

Zelenskyy also slammed different companies and big multinational firms that want to make millions by trading with Russia, adding unfortunately, the world is full of hypocrisy.

Earlier this month, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations  Russia and Ukraine  had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop stimulating the continued fighting and start discussing peace.

Lula has also suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, something the spokesperson for Ukraines foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.

The Ukranian president got an expected standing ovation from the legislators of the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group, most of whom belong to opposition parties.

In 2022, Lopez Obrador decried NATO policy of supporting Ukraine, claiming it was equivalent to saying Ill supply the weapons, and you supply the dead. It is immoral.

How easy it is to say, Here, Ill send you this much money for weapons, Lopez Obrador said. Couldnt the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could.

Lopez Obrador did not say how, other than Russia not invading. In 2022, a half-dozen legislators from Lopez Obradors Morena party helped create a congressional Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee.

The Morena party said we respect the freedom of thought of our members after a youth group apparently affiliated with the party sent an open letter to the Russian ambassador supporting the invasion.

Russia has been making a sort of diplomatic push in Latin America this week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.

Lavrov on Thursday met with recently reelected Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the last leg of a Latin American tour that took him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
One of the purposes of our frenetic celebrity culture is to provide us with hundreds of people to look down on.

For every celebrity worth admiring, there are two or three whose purpose is only to be irritating.

Riding high in my personal charts this week are the unavoidable Sarah, Duchess of York, the grim, finger-pointing Alan Sugar ('Thank you for the opportunity, Lord Sugar'), the mediocre and absurdly overpraised Ken Bruce, and the grinning, gurning Gregg Wallace (particularly his first name  three 'g's in the space of five letters is at least one too many).

Up to now, celebrity animals have never featured high on my list of irritants. Of course, there aren't very many of them, though I very much approved of the plucky Fenton, the labrador who went viral after chasing a herd of deer in Richmond Park.

And, going back a few years, the modest and unstarry Dolly, the first cloned sheep, who followed our new Queen's maxim: 'Just get on with it.'

Cat that got the cream: Fashion designer Karl Lagerfield's cat Choupette was left 1.3m

But recently the late Karl Lagerfeld's cat Choupette has, I fear, been getting too big for her boots. Choupette, you may remember, was left 1.3 million by the frosty fashion designer when he died four years ago.

When the news of her inheritance first appeared, I bore no grudge against Choupette. If she gave her offbeat master a little happiness, then why shouldn't she enjoy a little pampering in her twilight years? But since then, like so many human celebrities, Choupette seems to have confused good luck with talent.

Whenever her picture appears, her face radiates smugness. She has clearly convinced herself that she is not only more beautiful, more gifted and more virtuous than any other cat in the world, but also more deserving.

It is easy to see why she has fallen into this particular trap. In the years since her master died, the fashion world has proved only too eager to flatter her and kowtow to her every catty need.

Last week, she appeared in the cover story for Vogue, being cradled by Naomi Campbell. She has previously been photographed with Linda Evangelista and Gisele Bundchen. 'We get contacted almost every day for a shoot, a brand, an interview,' boasts her Paris agent, Lucas Berullier.

Choupette has received an invitation to this year's Met Gala in New York. No doubt she will appear on the red carpet, hands on hips, posing in next to nothing. Then she will be spotted in a pair of dark glasses sitting haughtily next to Anna Wintour at a fashion show. And the next day she will be snapped emerging from a trendy New York restaurant on the arm of Harry Styles.

According to Berullier, she is now 'the world's most famous and most photographed cat', having been snapped over 200,000 times. She has 140,000 followers on Instagram. Like most agents, Berullier spends his time bigging up his client. Rather than just say 'she's a cat that got lucky', he insists on talking about Choupette as though she were as brainy as Simone de Beauvoir, as beautiful as Brigitte Bardot and as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa.

'She's very sophisticated, very hard to read,' Berullier told a reporter from The Times recently. 'There is a big independency in her that shows strength. She knows how to show a bit of a sweet spot and is not arrogant.'

'Does Choupette only watch films with subtitles? Does she switch over when Gogglebox comes on?'

What on earth does he mean by this? How can you tell if a cat is sophisticated? Does Choupette only watch films with subtitles? Does she switch over when Gogglebox comes on? Was she a little bit disappointed by the latest Sally Rooney? Given the choice, would she prefer to tuck into Oeufs Cocotte rather than Dead Mouse?

Last year, Choupette enjoyed celebrating her tenth birthday at the Hotel de Crillon in Paris, surrounded by designer presents from creepy hangers-on.

But what will happen when she loses her looks and the money runs out? Her designer friends will move on to a brand new cat, more famous and more fashionable.

In fact, her status may already be in jeopardy. When she arrives at the Coronation next month, will she find herself seated in the 19th row, behind a pillar, only a few feet in front of Prince Harry?
Queen Letizia of Spain looked effortlessly chic when she sported a playful prairie collar which lined a V-neck black sweater for a meeting in Madrid.

And the simple look paid an unwitting tribute to a young Princess Diana who, with a wardrobe that spanned casual gym-goer to eccentric celebrity, still seems to permeate the high-end and high street female wardrobe today.

A key element of her daring yet feminine 80s wardrobe, Dianas appearances in an elegant, ruffled collar manifested her childlike innocence and elegant charm.

This was demonstrated with fashionable ease by the princess - and now Queen Letizia decades later, reminding fashion followers that Dianas classic style lives on.

The style echoes between the pair do not stop at American-style ruffles, with the decorative collars as the latest installment in a series of ongoing style parallels.

Diana's opulent prairie collar, pictured left in 1981, was unwittingly replicated by the glamorous Letizia in January 2023

The style resemblance was uncanny when Queen Letizia, 50, wore a pink and white ensemble which used the same blocks of colours as previously worn by Princess Diana in 1992

Style similarities between the pair can be spotted as far back as 2010 when Queen Letizia donned a similar navy blue suit to Princess Diana, pictured left in 1990

A sleek camel-coloured coat has been spotted on the both the royal fashionistas, each tied with a figure-hugging belt. Diana is pictured in 1981 and Letizia in 2018

Sporting a classic style, the pair have both donned pinstripe blazers almost 30 years apart, with Diana seen in the outfit in 1996, and Letizia in 2022

The sleek and simple midi dress appear to be a timeless staple of the glamorous royal wardrobe, with Princess Diana and Queen Letizia's looking remarkably similar. Diana is pictured in 1995 and Letizia in 2018

Queen Letizia's bold chili-coloured dress in 2017 emulated a similar item worn by Princess Diana in 1997 on her last official engagement before she died

Even Princess Diana's taste in overcoats (pictured in 1994) seems timeless as Queen Letizia was seen in a similar red coat in 2016

And Princess Diana and Queen Letizia looked chic in two piece suits partnered with simple black high heels

As far back as 2010, Letizia, wife of King Felipe VI, donned a slim-fitting navy blue satin suit with matching high heels at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid.

The outfit had the same sophistication as Diana's wider-fitting option for a Phil Collins concert in 1990, featuring a double-breasted navy jacket with a satin collar and similar matching satin shoes.

In an earlier photograph of the new 'people's princess', Diana wrapped up in a camel coat to grace the rainy streets of Wales for her first official tour in 1981.

The simple attire was a subtle contrast against the blue, red and white Union Jack flags and Letizia chose the same pebble-like colour for her figure-flattering wool coat in 2018.

The pair have each shown off their versions of classic styles, sporting pinstripe blazers and simple round-neck midi dresses and the desire to channel Dianas iconic glamour is still shared by the most dazzling European royals.
Instead the Queen-in-waiting has opted for a more dewy and glossy look

Kate has ditched her more bronzed look, with dark rings of black kohl eyeliner

In the last two decades, the Princess of Wales has evolved her look from the bronzed 'girl next door' with dark rings of eyeliner to a natural future Queen.

When Kate Middleton, now 41, first met Prince William two decades ago, she would often step out with a generous amount of bronzer and dark, kohl black eyeliner on her undereye.

Rosy cheeks, matte foundation and glossy lips were a staple of her look, as was popular in the early 2000s, while her hair would often hang loose in choppy layers.

Now those days are gone, and the Princess has opted for a dewier look, choosing a smokey eye and a flick of liner on the top lid.

Beauty experts have applauded the move to a more refined appearance, with the golden hues making her appear more radiant than before.

Over the last decade the Princess of Wales has dramatically changed her appearance, ditching the matte foundation, dark undereye eyeliner, and glossy lips for a more natural, dewy look

The Princess of Wales all smiles as she waves at crowds in Birmingham on April 20

Make-up artist pro Laura Kay previously said the switch to a more natural, glossy look may be a result of Kate becoming more media-savvy after being in The Firm for more than a decade now.

Her newer look makes her appear more natural on camera and in turn has made her appear much younger simply by toning down her make-up.

University days: before 2010

While studying at St Andrews University in the early 2000s, Kate chose the classic 'girl next door look', according to the award-winning celebrity makeup artist Joy Adenuga.

Her skin was glowing, and her eye makeup was extremely striking.

She explained: 'A barely there base, English rose blushed cheeks, with a burst of subtle black kohl liner and mascara were her staples.

'Her skin was sun kissed and lightly bronzed, and her natural glow shone.

'This had an incredibly youthful and free-spirited finish.'

While studying at St Andrew's University Kate very much took on the 'girl next door' style, keeping up with the latest trends, including matte foundation, rosy cheeks and black kohl eyeliner. Pictured: Kate at a student fashion show in 2002)

She also experimented with different hairstyles, often different from her staple blow dry we are custom to seeing today, instead trying out curls, waves and braids. Pictured: Kate on the catwalk in 2002

During her time at uni, she tried out different hairstyles from curls, to waves to braids.

Celebrity hairstylist Dionne Smith revealed that when she first made an appearance 'her hair reflected everything that she encapsulated - a youthful, fun, modern woman'.

Kate kept up with the trends, with her hairstyles reflecting the way other youngsters' hair looked all over the UK.

According to the founders of Mishel Makeup, Michelle Abels and Shelley Greenham, by the time the Princess graduated in 2005, she had further embraced a more dramatic style of makeup.

She had also begun blow drying her hair for a smoother look.

After graduation, the Queen-to-be embraced a more dramatic style of make-up, often using a brown eyeshadow

It was at this point, Kate's eyebrows started become darker, putting more of an emphasis on the curved shape

Michelle Abels and Shelley Greenham of Mishel Makeup said as the Princess graduated and left St Andrews University in the spotlight as Prince William's girlfriend, she began to emphasis her eyes more with dark shadow and liner. Pictured: Prince William and Kate in 2008

Dionne said: 'It was epitomised by a full bouncy blow dry with side parting, choppy layers and side fringe. Not to mention the incredible shine.'

As she moved away from university life, her looks continued to evolve.

Shelley said: 'Concentrating on the eyes with a classic brown socket eyeshadow and dark liner around the eyes, just enough to show off her beautiful eyes without it looking heavy.

'Her eyebrows becoming a little darker at this stage, just the right amount of depth to show off their lovely shape.'

Leading up to the Royal Wedding: The early 2010s

Following the announcement of their engagement in 2010, Kate's look had already started to look more refined.

Make-up artist Olivia Todd said Kate appeared more 'polished' in engagement photographs taken at St James Palace to mark the occasion, and the royal continued to perfect her appearance ahead of her wedding in 2011.

Olivia revealed the images showcased the beginning of the Princess' infamous 'bouncy blow-dry' styled hair.

When the Prince and Princess of Wales announced their engagement in 2010, experts said Kate already appeared more refined than her university days, with 'more polished' hair and a 'softer smokier' makeup look. Pictured: Engagement shoot in 2010

She explained: 'In her engagement photos, her hair is far more polished, with the shine and shape you would only get from nourishing hair care - plus a really good blow dry.'

The days of heavier, more dramatic make up were a thing of the past, instead focusing on a smokier look, 'being lined with a soft, heavier kohl pencil on the upper and lower lash line', Oliva explained.

'Her eyebrows are fuller and more natural looking; I imagine due to using a brow pencil that you can apply in upward motions to mimic the natural hairlines.'

Less bronzer was being used by the royal, using it simply to sculpt her cheekbones, with a nude, slightly glossy lip.

On the day of the royal wedding to Prince William on April 29, 2011, Kate's look had been used to enhance her natural beauty, rather than mask it.

On her wedding day, the Princess opted to do her own make up, unusual for a bride. She wore a light foundation, a rosy blush and warm brown tones around her eyes. Pictured: Kate Middleton on her wedding day

Moisturised skin, with a light foundation and a rosy blush, with warm brown tones on the eyes and just a touch of mascara.

Unlike most brides, Kate opted to do her own make-up for the occasion after taking a few lessons before the wedding.

Michelle said: 'The effect was stunning. Her own natural make-up was a perfect for a bridal look, concentrating on the eyes and keeping things natural otherwise, with pinky brown blushers and lipsticks.'

Married life: A decade spent within the Firm

As Kate became more involved in the Firm, she stepped away from more youthful looks and trends, in a bid to appear more mature to the world.

While her skin remained golden, more peachy tones were used on her cheeks, with a mat finish.

In her first year within the royal family, she took on a more dramatic makeup look, opting for a 'powerful beauty look'.

She wore a much stronger, smoky eye to public events, with eye liner and mascara both becoming heavier, with dark brown and mauve eyeshadow making it appear more powerful.

During her first years within the royal family, she still used black eyeliner but combined it with a more natural look. Pictured: In 2012 at the National Portrait Gallery

During this period, her eyebrows were much thinner, in line with the trend of the early 2010s. Pictured: Kate visiting Naomi House Children's Hospice in 2013

Kate caused a stir when she attended the 75th Anniversary of the Air Cadets in 2016 with alarmingly prominent eyebrows

Joy said: 'For me, this was a sign of her style maturing for her senior duties.'

As the years progressed, her makeup became more subtle as well as refined, becoming more elegant.

Olivia explained: 'Her skin is nourished and radiant from beautiful skincare and her cheekbones, eyes, brows are subtly enhanced with careful placement of makeup to achieve a natural, yet polished look.'

It was at this point that the Princess became known for her bouncy bow dry style.

Dionne said: 'In the years preceding the marriage, Kate continued to favour her big, bouncy blow dry signature style with slick waves and curls.

'It was all about the body, the shine, and a very "just stepped out of the salon" look.

As the decade drew to an end, Kate decided to ditch her beloved undereye eyeliner in 2017, stepping further away from the blusher brush.

Even after becoming a mother, Kate continued to use her black eyeliner pen as part of her look

Throughout the early 2010s she continued to stick with rosy cheeks and dark eyeliner. In the summer of 2013 she experimented with a 'bronde' colour hair, before returning to her darker looks later in the year

A Queen-in-waiting: The 2020s

It was in 2020, as she approached a decade of being within the royal family, that the mother-of-three's look became even more refined and regal, with experts suggesting she had taken inspiration from senior royals, such as the Queen and even Diana.

Joy explained: 'Her skin is paler, her make-up has become matte, and the eyeliner and mascara have become much heavier.

'This can have an ageing affect at time, but Kate pulls it off as a future Queen.

'One thing Kate has carried through is her strong brow, which frames her face beautifully.'

The way she styled her hair also began to change, getting rid of the loose-youthful styling and opting for a more structured haircut or hair tied back from her face.

It was in 2020, as she approached a decade of being within the royal family, that the mother-of-three's look became even more refined and regal, with experts suggesting she had taken inspiration from senior royals, such as the Queen and even Diana. Pictured: The Princess of Wales visiting the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital in January

Ditching the more bronzed looks of her youth, she instead opted for a paler foundation, her make-up has become matte, and the eyeliner and mascara have become much heavier. Pictured: Kate in Windsor meeting the Early Years Advisory Group in January 2023

The way she styled her hair also began to change, getting rid of the loose-youthful styling and opting for a more structured haircut or hair tied back from her face. Pictured: The Princess of Wales at the Hampton Court earlier this year

Dionne explained: 'Gone are the natural, flowing locks, and instead we see more structured and intricate up dos that replicate the older generation of the family. Her hair is incredibly polished, with not a strand out of place.

'To me, it seems like Kate's hair is a reflection of her position within the family, it must be impeccable at all times in a public setting.'

Ondine Cowley, a Wedding Hair Specialist, previously said Kate has always looked like a princess, said: 'She's grown into a regal woman, and holds herself amazingly.

'These days, Kate's hair doesn't look contrived  her carefully chosen style and look show she knows who she is and what she wants.

'Kate looks magical and amazing at the moment, she is holding her own and knows what she wants.'

The Princess' look has begun to look more regal overtime, while her undereye liner still sometimes makes an appearance, it is smudged rather than an angled

Ondine Cowley, a Wedding Hair Specialist, said Kate has always looked like a princess, said: 'These days, Kate's hair doesn't look contrived  her carefully chosen style and look show she knows who she is and what she wants.' Pictured: Kate arriving at a homeless charity in London in December

Over the last few years she has continued to embrace a 'softer and fresher look' transforming her look and style

Samantha Mercer, who runs make-up and hair company The Dollz, said FEMAIL that Kate has definitely embraced a 'softer and fresher look'.

'By changing a few things in her makeup routine she's managed to transform herself,' she said.

'When she's not being pampered by a make-up artist, she needs something quick and easy to do herself and with her perfect skin she really doesn't need to be adding much coverage, just highlighting in the right places and a touch of pink blush.

'I'm sure everyone will agree that she looks fantastic, and her new look is much more suited to her.'

Beauty experts agree that the fresh look has taken years off the Princess' face.
Read more: Huge backing for William and Kate despite months of turmoil

The death of the Kings mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, left some fearing that faith in the Monarchy might waver.

But an authoritative new poll for the Mail's new Royals site suggests that not only does Charles have the public's backing as King, but that a quarter of his subjects say their opinion of him has actually improved since he ascended the throne.

The survey, which comes only two weeks before the Coronation, shows that Britons are even prepared to support King Charles in his wish to continue speaking out on topics of personal interest.

In stark contrast to Queen Elizabeth, Charles had been willing to court controversy while he was Prince of Wales, airing views on such issues as the environment, farming, health, education and architecture.

And despite demands by some that he be silenced, he had vowed to continue engaging in public debate even after becoming monarch  while respecting the traditions and duties involved in the role.

Almost two thirds of Britons feel Charles will be a 'good king', a new poll conducted for The Mail's new Royals site has revealed

But today, 57 per cent of us believe Charles should continue to speak out on issues that matter to him. While by no means an overwhelming majority, it is more support than might have been expected.

Other findings from our exclusive Deltapoll survey include:

William and Kate are judged better role models for the nation than Harry and Meghan, with 71 per cent favouring the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and only 14 per cent choosing the Sussexes

Prince Andrew's reputation has sunk so low that 79 per cent would remove him from the line of succession to the throne

Sixty four per cent would remove Prince Harry from the line of succession

Fifty one per cent of the public say that Britain will still have a monarchy in 50 years time

More than a quarter of participants said their opinion of King Charles has improved since he ascended the throne

Opinion was more divided over Queen Camilla and only 14 per cent thought she should be given the title of Queen

As Prince of Wales, Charles had to endure a record wait of more than 70 years to succeed his mother, enduring considerable scrutiny and some criticism, in that time. In recent weeks he has also endured street protests from a small but vocal minority.

Yet it is clear from today's poll that public support is both strong and enduring - even if there appears to be concern about the cost of the monarchy.

There is backing, too, for the way Charles has carried out his role as father  in circumstances widely acknowledged to have been difficult, not least following the death of his former wife, Diana, in 1997.

Prince Harry's explosive memoir, Spare, released earlier this year, painted Charles as a somewhat ineffectual father unable to hug the 12-year-old Prince when telling him of his mother's death in a car crash.

Prince Harry's explosive memoir, Spare painted Charles as a somewhat ineffectual father who was unable to hug the 12-year-old Prince when telling him of his mother's death in a car crash

The Duke of Sussex also wrote that when he confided in Charles about suffering panic attacks as a grown man, his father had looked at his plate sadly and said he had failed him.

Even so, 43 per cent, more than four in ten, say that Charles has done a good job of being father to William and Harry (although 32 per cent disagreed).

Fifty per cent of Britons believe it was right for him to inherit the throne after the death of the Queen - as opposed to 35 per cent choosing Prince William  with a consistent 52 per cent of the public supporting the monarchy itself.

There was support, too, for Charless plans to slim down the monarchy, especially when it comes to who should receive public money in the form of the Sovereign Grant.

Opinion was more divided over Queen Camilla, however.

Only 14 per cent thought she should be given the title of Queen, with more than third preferring her to have remained.

Nearly a quarter  23 percent  thought she should have no title at all.

Other findings from the poll include clear support Charles and Camilla receiving public money, with 59 per cent in favour and only 32 per cent against.

Opinion was more divided on whether or not Harry and Meghan's children should be known as Prince and Princess, with 44 per cent backing Charles's decision to allow it and 33 per cent disagreeing.

Half the respondents told the pollsters they would watch the Coronation on TV with 36 per cent saying they would not, although these figures are thought likely to change closer to May 6, with a substantial majority of Britons eventually deciding to put the television on.
A new docuseries about the Royal Family has claimed Queen Elizabeth II didn't want to be 'pushed around' by the British public after Princess Diana's death - and 'behaved as any grandmother would have'.

ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which has been released today, dedicated its fourth episode to exploring Her late Majesty's decisions following the passing of the then Princess of Wales in 1997.

After the devastating news broke around the world, the Queen remained at her Scottish home of Balmoral, where she and several members of her family had been enjoying their summer holiday. She was joined by Diana's sons Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, respectively.

But the decision to stay away from Buckingham Palace and the grieving crowds that lined the gates, as well as her silence in the days after the princess' death, was deeply criticised by some of the mourning nation.

'The British public wanted The Queen to dance to their tune, didn't they?' Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting, told the documentary. Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey added: '"Your Majesty, your country needs you to come and comfort us", well The Queen wasn't having that.'

A new docuseries about the Royal Family has claimed Queen Elizabeth II (pictured delivering a speech about the death of Diana in 1997) didn't want to be 'pushed around' by the British public after Princess Diana's death - and 'behaved as any grandmother would have'

In the programme, members of the public interviewed at the time shared their criticism of the monarch shortly after Diana's passing. The princess died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.

'Our Queen should be in London with our people and they should know how all her people feel about Diana,' said one tearful woman. 'I think it's disgusting, they've not appeared or said a word,' another added.

Another woman insisted she found the Royal Family's behaviour in the days after Diana's death 'very, very disgraceful'.

Lady Anne Glenconner, however, said Queen Elizabeth 'behaved as an any grandmother would.'

'She stayed in Scotland, because William and Harry were there, and she looked after them, and that's what you do,' added the 90-year-old socialite.

She continued: 'Princess Margaret, of course, lived at Kensington Palace, and from her windows you could see a sea of flowers, which was extraordinary.

'But of course, a lot of them were wrapped in cellophane so the smell from these flowers at Kensington Palace, I mean she had to keep all the windows closed. It was very unfortunate.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, to Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997

ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which has been released today, dedicated its fourth episode to exploring Her late Majesty's (pictured with Diana in 1986) decisions following the passing of the then Princess of Wales in 1997

'I don't know what happened, this extraordinary outpouring of grief, people just went mad, screaming and crying.'

But while the Queen kept her silence, the country's Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, who had only been in the job for four months, addressed the public.

Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations from 1997 to 2001, who played an intimate part in the arrangements for the funeral, recalled: 'I spoke to Tony very very early, he rang me and said this is enormous.

'Tony went out a couple of times to fill the vacuum, where are the royal family... they were not visible.'

Anji also recalled being 'reprimanded' by Prince Philip over a speaker at Buckingham Palace, explaining: 'Suddenly this voice came through, I'll never forget it.

'It was Prince Philip's voice, and it was quite anguished and he reprimanded us and he said "you must realise these boys are grieving, they have lost their mother."

'People forget that the Royal Family were up there in Balmoral dealing with this most terrible situation,' said Anji, adding: 'I think [the Queen] didn't want to be pushed around.'

The Queen eventually returned to London and spent more than 10 minutes speaking to the crowd outside Buckingham Palace, alongside her husband, Prince Philip.

'Ma'am, take care of the boys,' one person was filmed telling the monarch, to which the then Duke of Edinburgh said: 'That's what we've been doing.'

On September 5, the Queen finally gave a rare, televised speech, addressing the grieving British public as both 'your Queen' and 'as a grandmother'.

The documentary also covered the outpouring of grief when The Queen Mother died in 2002, with Anji claiming Queen Elizabeth 'showed a bit more emotion' in a speech to the nation and was a 'little bit more emotionally intelligent than perhaps she used to be'.

Sir Malcolm Ross said the monarch, pictured with Princes Philip, Charles, William and Harry looking at floral tributes to Diana at Balmoral in 1997, made the decision to have a royal funeral

The Queen was said to be deeply hurt by public criticism of the way she handled Dianas death but agreed to address the nation as part of her sense of duty, according to BBC One Documentary Diana, 7 Days (2017).

According to former senior courtier, Sir Malcolm Ross, who was in charge of organising the funeral, the monarch felt her priority lay with her grandsons in Scotland and both she and her staff were upset at the upsurge of feeling against them.

Despite this, he said, it was the sovereign who made the decision that her former daughter-in-law be honoured with a royal funeral.

And she also agreed to lower the Union flag at Buckingham Palace even though that went contrary to centuries old traditions.

Sir Malcolm said: I knew the Queen would be very strong in her views. She didn't lower the standard on the death of her father and she wouldnt lower the standard on the death of anybody else. These protocols are crucial to maintain standards.'

The Queen arrives at the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey, on September 6, 1997

Princess Anne also said the Queen did 'exactly the right thing' by staying in Balmoral with Princes William and Harry

The Princess Royal said: 'I think my mother did exactly the right thing. I think it's absolutely extraordinary that any right-minded parent should believe... [there] would have been an alternative to bring those children down here to London in all that hoo-ha.

'I just don't know how you can think that would've been a better thing to do.' When asked if it was a case of the Queen putting her grandchildren first, the Princess Royal replied: 'Absolutely.'

'I don't think either of those two would've been able to cope had they been anywhere else,' Anne claimed.

She said: 'That was the only good thing that happened was that they were there, and they had that structure, they had people around them who could understand, give them the time.'

Even Dianas own sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, said she backed the monarchs judgement.

If you were the grandmother of a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old whose mother had just been killed in a car crash, she did absolutely the right thing. If I had been her, I would have done that. Why would you bring them to London?

'Why dont you let them get over the start of the shock in the bosom of their own family? she asked.

Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said that it was very difficult to work out exactly what the Queen was thinking at this time.

He said: I think she was resistant to anything that struck her as false or struck her as a public relations event in the face of something that was a profound personal tragedy.

Princess Dianas relationship that she had with the monarchy and the relationship with Prince Charles, there was going to be a risk that the countrys sense of loss turned to a sense of anger and grievance and then turned against the monarchy. So the first conversation with the Queen was an important conversation.

She was obviously very sad about Diana. She was concerned about the monarchy itself because the Queen has a very strong instinct about public opinion and how it plays.'

All episodes of The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor are available to stream exclusively on ITVX from today
The late Queen told the former Archbishop of Canterbury 'I can't resign' when he announced he was stepping down, a new documentary has revealed.

George Carey, who was the most senior cleric from 1991 to 2002, told ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor that as he tried to hand in his resignation Queen Elizabeth II explained 'she would never go anyway'.

He also recalled his secret meeting with the Queen Consort in Peckham, amid Camilla and the then Prince Charles reuniting following the royal's divorce from Princess Diana.

Lord Carey revealed how during the 'animated conversation' Camilla Parker Bowles talked about the earliest days of her relationship with the now-King and convinced him to 'talk to other people behind the scenes'.

The meeting was said to be instrumental in smoothing the way for King Charles and Camilla's 2005 wedding. Years prior, the late Queen had refused to entertain the idea of the couple being together officially.

The late Queen told the former Archbishop of Canterbury 'I can't resign' when he announced he was stepping down, a new documentary has revealed. Lord George Carey (left) and Queen Elizabeth II (right) are pictured together in June 2002

Charles and Camilla leaving The Ritz hotel in London after attending a 50th birthday party for Camilla's sister in their first official outing together in 1999

The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, a five-part ITV series, chronicles the royal family throughout the Queen's reign and her successor the King, featuring interviews with contemporary figures.

Lord Carey, tells the final episode of the documentary series: 'I remember going to see the Queen once to hand in my resignation and said: 'Your Majesty the time has come.'

'And she looked at me, more or less she said: 'You people come and go, I can't resign, I can't surrender - I've got to keep going'.

'And I said: 'Well, the Lord tells me at the age of 70 I've got to go.' But she would never go anyway.'

Lord Carey served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991-2002 and during his period in office took part in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and became the first Archbishop to ordain women to the priesthood.

Before Charles and Camilla married he arranged a secret meeting with the now Queen Consort, in his son's south-east London flat, to get to know the future royal.

Recalling why he decided to meet in southeast London, Lord Carey said: 'I wanted somewhere secret that wasn't in my office and therefore wouldn't arouse the interest of other people and get out. 'I said, 'I have a son in Peckham. This is his address. Can we meet?''

George Carey (pictured), who was the most senior cleric from 1991 to 2002, told ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor that his 'animated conversation' with the then Camilla Parker Bowles convinced him to 'talk to other people behind the scenes'

In an earlier episode, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who was 'pitched in to help' with King Charles and Princess Diana's (pictured in 1992 in South Korea) marriage suggested they were never going to be 'successful'

A few weeks later, Charles' future wife visited the address and Lord Carey was struck by 'nice-looking, intelligent' Camilla, explaining: 'We had a really animated conversation.

He said: 'She walked through the front door, we met and had coffee together and I was really struck by her.

'Very nice looking lady, very presentable, very intelligent, we had a really animated conversation.

'We talked about her relationship with Charles, going way back to when they were teenagers,' he continued during episode four.

'And after she left I said, 'Well, there's no way I could ever treat her as other than a really nice human being who's deeply in love with Charles.'

'And that affected me in talking to other people behind the scenes. I hoped it had a way forward, I think it did.'

Speaking about the royal couple's wedding in 2005, Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting, said Charles was 'beaming'.

'I've known [Charles] since he was about four and I've just never seen him look so happy. He realised at last he was where he wanted to be,' she added.

That same episode also revealed how former Prime Minister Tony Blair feared the late Queen would be killed by an acrobat at the Millennium party he had invited her to.

Trapeze artists were seen flying above the then-PM, the Queen and her husband Prince Philip, according to the documentary.

Anji Hunter, who was Director of Government Relations at the time, claimed Mr Blair had a 'horrible feeling' and 'sort of dread' going into the night's festivities.

She claimed Prince Philip - as acrobats were 'swinging literally above their heads' - told Mr Blair: 'Look they've got no safety wires.'

'Suddenly he had this vision that one was going to fall onto the Queen and the headlines the next day was 'Queen killed by flying acrobat,'' Ms Hunter said.

She also noted that the PM was 'surprised' that Her Majesty had even accepted his invitation to the New Year's Eve party and claimed at one point, after seeing them interact, thought 'they don't want to be here' and felt 'so sorry for them'.

The episode also revealed how former Prime Minister Tony Blair feared the late Queen would be killed by an acrobat at the Millennium party he had invited her to. Queen Elizabeth II and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are pictuted raising their glasses as midnight strikes in 2000

Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife Cherie, singing 'Auld Lang Syne' during midnight celebrations to welcome in the new millennium at the Millennium Dome in Grenwich, south east London in 2000

The Duke of Edinburgh is pictured kissing Queen Elizabeth II during the midnight celebrations at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich in London

In an earlier episode, the former Archbishop of Canterbury - who was 'pitched in to help' with King Charles and Princess Diana's marriage - suggested they were never going to be 'successful'.

Lord Carey told he was called in to try and rescue the couple's turbulent relationship.

He said: 'I found myself as the Archbishop of Canterbury pitched in to this.

'I remember one meeting at Number 10 Downing Street with [former Prime Minister] John Major and some members of the Cabinet, wrestling with what we could do to help.'

'The role I took was to try and meet up,' added Lord Carey, who claimed the 'dynamic between' Charles and Diana, then the Prince and Princess of Wales, 'was not going to be successful'.

He continued: 'Charles deep thinking, a slower personality, reflective. Diana, dynamic, vibrant, less driven, it wasn't going to work.'

For centuries, Archbishops of Canterbury have been entrusted with helping members of the Royal Family tackle some of the trickiest issues of the day.

Perhaps most famously, Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer wrestled with the King's demand to divorce Anne Boleyn. Cranmer succeeded.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Platinum Pageant on June 5, 2022 in London

Prince Charles, and Camilla Parker Bowles are pictured walking ahead of Queen Elizabeth II at the Service of Prayer and Dedication blessing their marriage at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on April 9, 2005

More recently, his modern-day successor, Justin Welby, was asked by King Charles to broker a deal to allow Prince Harry to attend his Coronation  but met resistance from Prince William, The Mail on Sunday revealed.

Charles wanted Mr Welby to strike an agreement with his warring sons that would allow Harry and his wife Meghan to attend the Westminster Abbey ceremony in May, senior sources close to Lambeth Palace say.

It was confirmed last week that Prince Harry will attend the Coronation alone, while his wife Meghan Markle, 41, stays in California with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, one.

The Coronation, which is just three weeks away, will see both King Charles III and Queen Camilla crowned in front of 2,000 people in Westminster Abbey.

All episodes of The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor are available to stream exclusively on ITVX from today
An annoyed parent has sparked a debate about 'pretentious' modern words that drive people mad - including 'curating' and 'sourcing'.

Taking to UK-based parenting site Mumsnet, the commeter explained how they were p***** off by the often over-complicated phrases that have replaced simple words.

Many users shared the parent's annoyance over the issue and offered their own examples of 'w***y language'.

In a post titled sick to death of w**** language?!', the original poster wrote: 'Late shift so can't sleep and this has been bugging me.

'Loads of examples I am sure but the two that are currently p****** me off is "curating" and "sourcing". When did "buy new clothes" become "curate a fresh wardrobe". I do not curate, I am not a curator.

People have been sharing the most 'pretentious' modern words others use that drive them crazy on British parenting forum Mumsnet (stock image)

'I need clothes, I buy clothes, I wear clothes. End of. Also clothes do no go off, they go out of fashion but if that is the case then you are buying the wrong clothes, timeless classics never go out of fashion. You do not need "fresh" clothes.

'When did "going to do the big shop" become "sourcing ingredients". Has anyone ever said "I am going to Tesco to source our ingredients"? Have they f***!

'If I am making stew or salad or lasagne or.....dog s*** on toast (an option I have occasionally offered the kids when they were p****** me off about dinner options) I will go shopping and buy what I need.

'I do not "source" beef and vegetables, or lettuce or bloody pasta. I will concede that the dog s*** may need more in the way of sourcing.

'You need stuff. You buy stuff. Why the need for bulls*** language to make this boring life task into an "experience"... actually that's another one, I didn't "experience" a restaurant or a stately home or whatever, I visited it.

'Now I can't sleep even more because venting has made me more angry,' admitted the author of the post.

Many people agreed with the person, with one user writing: 'I'm with you on all this w**** language. Or should I say "this resonates with me".'

Another said: 'Words and expressions become fashionable and you start seeing/hearing them everywhere. "Reaching out" instead of just contacting, is another.

Taking to UK-based parenting site Mumsnet , the anonymous person explained how they were p***** off by the often over-complicated phrases that have replaced simple words

Reaction: Many users shared the parent's annoyance over the issue and offered their own examples of 'w**** language'

'I doubt it will ever have registered with many, but nobody ever used to refer to a "newborn". It was almost always a new baby - or perhaps a newborn baby.

'Im fairly ancient so every time I see "newborn" I wonder what on earth was ever wrong with "new baby".

As for "curating" Ive seen it on a big sign in John Lewis, who really ought to know better, but maybe not, after signs with "gifting" all over the shop around Christmas time.'

A third explained: 'Every time I buy a new book on Kindle it tells me it's "Updating my Kindle Store Experience". What? I just want to read it.'

A fourth admitted: 'I hate that everything is a journey My weight loss journey, my pregnancy journey, my breast feeding journey No, no its just a thing you do. Stop being a w*****.'

However some admitted they don't know of anyone who uses the language, with one person saying: 'But who talks like this? I just wouldnt be friends with people who talk like this. And if its randoms online or on social media, just unfollow them.'

'I hate "reaching out" with a passion,' insisted another. 'I have had this said to my face and I wanted to shout "No! You don't have to 'reach' do you? You're standing right there." Another one I've just started to see all over the place is "speaks to".'

One person agreed: 'Oh yes I can't abide curate. It makes everything sound so w**** and pretentious. Curate a museum exhibition = appropriate. Curate a Spotify playlist = ridiculous.'

However some admitted they don't know of anyone who uses the language, with one person saying: 'But who talks like this? I just wouldnt be friends with people who talk like this. And if its randoms online or on social media, just unfollow them.'

Another added: 'Youre spending too much time online, and/or listening to or reading "influencers". The only person I know in real-life who uses the term "curating" is an actual curator who runs an art gallery.
The Queen's decision to strip Prince Andrew of his HRH and military titles following his settlement of a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse was her 'final gesture of self-sacrifice', a documentary has claimed.

The late monarch, who died in September 2022, made the decision the previous January after the Duke of York, 63, was accused by Virginia Giuffre of sexual abuse relating to his associations with Jeffrey Epstein.

Episode five of Inside the House of Windsor, which airs on Thursday on ITVX, explores the late Queen's loyalty to her second-eldest son, the 'spare' of the family, amid the allegations from Ms Giuffre, which he has always denied.

The episode, titled Heirs and Spares, notes how the late monarch stuck by father-of-two Andrew as public opinion turned against him following a car crash interview with BBC Newsnight - but after the civil lawsuit was settled in January 2022, she finally decided to remove Prince Andrew's titles.

Showing footage of the late monarch with King Charles and Queen Camilla, as well as the Waleses, on the Buckingham Palace balcony during her final appearance, the episode noted that the royals who were not present were the most telling insight into her state of mind.

The Queen's decision to strip Prince Andrew of his HRH and military titles following his settlement of a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse was her 'final gesture of self-sacrifice', a documentary has claimed. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex in June 2019

The late Queen made the decision the previous January after the Duke of York, 63, was accused by Virginia Giuffre of sexual abuse relating to his associations with Jeffrey Epstein. Queen Elizabeth II is pictured with Prince Andrew at a service of thanksgiving for late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, March 29, 2022

King Charles III and Prince Andrew are pictured at the State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19, 2022

The Duke of York in a car driven by the Duke of Cambridge (not seen) arrives at Balmoral in Scotland, where the Queen was under medical supervision, September 8, 2022

The Queen's decision to strip Prince Andrew of his HRH and military titles following his settlement of a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse was her 'final gesture of self-sacrifice', a documentary has claimed (pictured: March 9, 2020)

The voiceover says: 'Harry has left the country and builds a new life in America.

'And now, the Queen has stripped Andrew of his HRH title. A final gesture of self-sacrifice.'

Elsewhere in the episode, Prince Harry's troubled relationship with his family as the 'spare' is explored, from his time serving in Afghanistan to his decision to step down as a working royal in 2020.

Royal commentators note how the Duke of Sussex found solace through his role in the armed forces, where he 'earnt' his place rather than being born into it - but add that Prince William, as the heir, was not sent to Afghanistan because it was considered too great a risk.

The programme delved into his relationship with Meghan, making note of how the wedding ceremony of the couple in May 2018 at St George's Chapel in Windsor had 'intended to reshape what a royal wedding can be'.

As footage is played of the sermon at the church, delivered by Bishop Michael Curry from Chicago, the voiceover notes that Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the Queen 'appeared moved' by his message of love.

Episode five of Inside the House of Windsor, which streams on ITVX from Thursday, has claimed the late Queen's decision to strip Prince Andrew of his HRH title before she died was her 'final gesture of self-sacrifice'. Pictured: The mother and son at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2017

The episode notes that the Queen's final Buckingham Palace balcony appearance was telling because of the members of the family who were not there, including Prince Harry and Prince Andrew

Inside the House of Windsor episode 5, which airs on Thursday evening on ITVX, plays footage from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, including the sermon delivered by Rev Michael Curry

The voiceover says: 'When Harry and Meghan marry, they throw a different kind of celebration. It's intended to reshape what a royal wedding can be.

'The main event of the service is a black preacher from Chicago, with a reputation not only as an extraordinary orator, but also as a humanitarian.'

The documentary tells how Rev Curry's sermon, which spoke of God and love being intertwined, 'appeared to move' Harry and Meghan and the late Queen.

It also notes that, in contrast, other members of the royal family 'appeared amused'. The clip then cuts to footage of Kate Middleton and Camilla looking at each other during the sermon.

Another clip is played of Charles sat with his head down while Prince William, sitting next to him, appears to stifle a laugh.

The documentary notes that, after Meghan married into the royal family, Princes William and Harry decided to halt many of their joint charity ventures and began to take separate paths with their philanthropic work.

'It's as though the faultlines in society are spreading and causing cracks within the royal family,' the voiceover claims.

The voiceover notes how the royal couple's wedding 'intended to reshape what a royal wedding could be' by inviting Rev Curry to speak

As footage from the sermon is played in the episode, the voiceover notes that some members of the royal family, including the Queen, 'appeared moved' by Rev Curry's message

The episode notes that, in contrast to the Queen's reaction to the sermon, some members of the royal family 'appeared amused'

As the programme follows events within the royal family in chronological order until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to step down as working royals and move to the US in 2020, it notes the difficult decisions the late Queen had to make about her grandson's position in the royal family in the last years of her life.

At the same time, the late monarch also had to deal with accusations of sexual abuse levelled at her son Prince Andrew, another spare, from Virginia Giuffre.

The episode made note of how Prince Andrew's mother battled with her loyalty to her son versus her desire to keep the British monarchy afloat.

It noted how she steered the royal family through crises including Ms Giuffre's civil lawsuit against the Duke of York, which saw him stripped of his royal titles as he settled the case out of court.

Elsewhere the episode noted how the late monarch and other royals coped with accusations from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, during their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, that members of the family had asked about how dark Prince Archie's skin would be when he was born.

The claim was made by Meghan and Harry during their tell-all interview amid the Covid pandemic, however they never revealed who had made the alleged comments.

In response, Buckingham Palace issued a response on behalf of all family members including the Queen, which read: 'The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.

'The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.

'Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.'

The episode also claimed the Queen didn't want to be 'pushed around' by the British public after Princess Diana's death - and 'behaved as any grandmother would have'.

After the devastating news broke around the world, the Queen remained at her Scottish home of Balmoral, where she and several members of her family had been enjoying their summer holiday. She was joined by Diana's sons Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, respectively.

But the decision to stay away from Buckingham Palace and the grieving crowds that lined the gates, as well as her silence in the days after the princess' death, was deeply criticised by some of the mourning nation.

'The British public wanted The Queen to dance to their tune, didn't they?' Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting, told the documentary. Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey added: '"Your Majesty, your country needs you to come and comfort us", well The Queen wasn't having that.'

A new docuseries about the Royal Family has claimed Queen Elizabeth II (pictured delivering a speech about the death of Diana in 1997) didn't want to be 'pushed around' by the British public after Princess Diana's death - and 'behaved as any grandmother would have'

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, to Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997

The Queen arrives at the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, at Westminster Abbey, on September 6, 1997

In the programme, members of the public interviewed at the time shared their criticism of the monarch shortly after Diana's passing. The princess died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.

'Our Queen should be in London with our people and they should know how all her people feel about Diana,' said one tearful woman. 'I think it's disgusting, they've not appeared or said a word,' another added.

Another woman insisted she found the Royal Family's behaviour in the days after Diana's death 'very, very disgraceful'.

Lady Anne Glenconner, however, said Queen Elizabeth 'behaved as an any grandmother would.'

'She stayed in Scotland, because William and Harry were there, and she looked after them, and that's what you do,' added the 90-year-old socialite.

She continued: 'Princess Margaret, of course, lived at Kensington Palace, and from her windows you could see a sea of flowers, which was extraordinary.

'But of course, a lot of them were wrapped in cellophane so the smell from these flowers at Kensington Palace, I mean she had to keep all the windows closed. It was very unfortunate.

'I don't know what happened, this extraordinary outpouring of grief, people just went mad, screaming and crying.'

But while the Queen kept her silence, the country's Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, who had only been in the job for four months, addressed the public.

Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations from 1997 to 2001, who played an intimate part in the arrangements for the funeral, recalled: 'I spoke to Tony very very early, he rang me and said this is enormous.

ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which has been released today, dedicated its fourth episode to exploring Her late Majesty's (pictured with Diana in 1986) decisions following the passing of the then Princess of Wales in 1997

Sir Malcolm Ross said the monarch, pictured with Princes Philip, Charles, William and Harry looking at floral tributes to Diana at Balmoral in 1997, made the decision to have a royal funeral

'Tony went out a couple of times to fill the vacuum, where are the royal family... they were not visible.'

Anji also recalled being 'reprimanded' by Prince Philip over a speaker at Buckingham Palace, explaining: 'Suddenly this voice came through, I'll never forget it.

'It was Prince Philip's voice, and it was quite anguished and he reprimanded us and he said "you must realise these boys are grieving, they have lost their mother."

'People forget that the Royal Family were up there in Balmoral dealing with this most terrible situation,' said Anji, adding: 'I think [the Queen] didn't want to be pushed around.'

The Queen eventually returned to London and spent more than 10 minutes speaking to the crowd outside Buckingham Palace, alongside her husband, Prince Philip.

'Ma'am, take care of the boys,' one person was filmed telling the monarch, to which the then Duke of Edinburgh said: 'That's what we've been doing.'

On September 5, the Queen finally gave a rare, televised speech, addressing the grieving British public as both 'your Queen' and 'as a grandmother'.

The documentary also covered the outpouring of grief when The Queen Mother died in 2002, with Anji claiming Queen Elizabeth 'showed a bit more emotion' in a speech to the nation and was a 'little bit more emotionally intelligent than perhaps she used to be'.

The episode also revealed how former Prime Minister Tony Blair feared the late Queen would be killed by an acrobat at the Millennium party he had invited her to. Queen Elizabeth II and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are pictuted raising their glasses as midnight strikes in 2000

Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife Cherie, singing 'Auld Lang Syne' during midnight celebrations to welcome in the new millennium at the Millennium Dome in Grenwich, south east London in 2000

The Duke of Edinburgh is pictured kissing Queen Elizabeth II during the midnight celebrations at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich in London

The late Queen told the former Archbishop of Canterbury 'I can't resign' when he announced he was stepping down, a new documentary has revealed. Lord George Carey (left) and Queen Elizabeth II (right) are pictured together in June 2002

Charles and Camilla leaving The Ritz hotel in London after attending a 50th birthday party for Camilla's sister in their first official outing together in 1999

Anji also revealed that Mr Blair feared the late Queen would be killed by an acrobat at the Millennium party he had invited her to.

Trapeze artists were seen flying above the then-PM, the Queen and her husband Prince Philip, according to the documentary.

Anji said Mr Blair had a 'horrible feeling' and 'sort of dread' going into the night's festivities.

She claimed Prince Philip - as acrobats were 'swinging literally above their heads' - told Mr Blair: Look theyve got no safety wires.

'Suddenly he had this vision that one was going to fall onto the Queen and the headlines the next day was "Queen killed by flying acrobat,"' Anji said.

She noted that the PM was 'surprised' that Her Majesty had even accepted his invitation to the New Year's Eve party and claimed at one point, after seeing them interact, thought 'they dont want to be here' and felt 'so sorry for them'.

The episode also revealed how the late Queen told the former Archbishop of Canterbury 'I can't resign' when he announced he was stepping down.

Lord Carey, tells the final episode of the documentary series: 'I remember going to see the Queen once to hand in my resignation and said: "Your Majesty the time has come."

'And she looked at me, more or less she said: "You people come and go, I can't resign, I can't surrender - I've got to keep going".

'And I said: "Well, the Lord tells me at the age of 70 I've got to go." But she would never go anyway.'

Lord Carey served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991-2002 and during his period in office took part in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and became the first Archbishop to ordain women to the priesthood.

Before Charles and Camilla married he arranged a secret meeting with the now Queen Consort, in his son's south-east London flat, to get to know the future royal.

Recalling why he decided to meet in southeast London, Lord Carey said: 'I wanted somewhere secret that wasn't in my office and therefore wouldn't arouse the interest of other people and get out. 'I said, "I have a son in Peckham. This is his address. Can we meet?"'

George Carey (pictured), who was the most senior cleric from 1991 to 2002, told ITVX's The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor that his 'animated conversation' with the then Camilla Parker Bowles convinced him to 'talk to other people behind the scenes'

In an earlier episode, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who was 'pitched in to help' with King Charles and Princess Diana's (pictured in 1992 in South Korea) marriage suggested they were never going to be 'successful'

A few weeks later, Charles' future wife visited the address and Lord Carey was struck by 'nice-looking, intelligent' Camilla, explaining: 'We had a really animated conversation.

He said: 'She walked through the front door, we met and had coffee together and I was really struck by her.

'Very nice looking lady, very presentable, very intelligent, we had a really animated conversation.

'We talked about her relationship with Charles, going way back to when they were teenagers,' he continued during episode four.

'And after she left I said, "Well, there's no way I could ever treat her as other than a really nice human being who's deeply in love with Charles."

'And that affected me in talking to other people behind the scenes. I hoped it had a way forward, I think it did.'

Speaking about the royal couple's wedding in 2005, Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting, said Charles was 'beaming'.

'I've known [Charles] since he was about four and I've just never seen him look so happy. He realised at last he was where he wanted to be,' she added.
The royal, 51, looked suitably sophisticated for her husband's birthday concert

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands stunned in a scarlet gown as she attended a concert in Rotterdam with her family last night.

The European monarch, 51, opted for a printed floral maxi dress with sheer voluminous sleeves for the Kings Day concert at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam.

The mother-of-three accessorised her colourful silk gown with chic black accessories.

Cinching herself in at the waist, the royal opted for a statement plaited leather belt with fringing detail.

Braving the cooler temperatures, Maxima donned some sheer black tights which she wore with a pair of chunky heeled sandals.

The couple were all smiles as they arrived at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam last night for the annual King's Day concert

For an extra layer of warmth, the royal draped a black velvet fringed scarf over one shoulder.

The monarch finished off her stylish ensemble with a boxy black leather clutch bag and some purple jewel dangly earrings.

What's more, she also opted for a glam makeup look for her night out with her family.

Styling her hair in her signature loose waves, Maxima wore a glitzy bronze smokey eye look and a slick of nude lipstick.

Meanwhile, King Willem-Alexander looked equally as smart in a navy suit, white shirt and a purple tie which matched his wife's earrings.

The couple's daughters Princess Amalia, 19, and Princess Ariane, 16, also stunned in sophisticated ensembles.

While Ariane looked chic in a navy suit and white silk camisole, her sister Ariane stunned in a blue pleated dress and silver accessories.

The family were also joined by King Willem-Alexander's mother Princess Beatrix, 85, and his sister-in-law Princess Laurentien, 56.

The mother-of-three happily waved to crowds as they left the arena following the performances

The monarch was joined by her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and daughters for the family night out

Maxima's chic dress had voluminous sheer sleeves and a pretty floral pattern on a dotty backdrop

Princess Ariane (left) and Princess Amalia (right) joined their parents for the concert in Rotterdam

Left: King Willem-Alexander's mother Princess Beatrix of The Netherlands pictured arriving at the arena. Right: The King's sister-in-law Princess Laurentien matched Maxima in red

The Dutch Royal Family pictured sitting in the front row of the concert hall last night to watch the performances

Maxima pictured speaking with Dutch musician Davina Michelle following the King's Day concert yesterday

The Dutch Royal Family pictured speaking with some of the performers and local school children after the show

The King's Day concert is held every year in the days leading up to King Willem-Alexander's birthday. The monarch will turn 56 on 27 April next week.

On the monarch's actual birthday, a series of markets and parties are held all across the country.

In 2021, the family celebrated the King's birthday with a trip to the Dutch city of Eindhoven - where they took part in a live-streamed TV special.

Last night, the Royal Family watched several performances by the Rotterdram's philharmonic orchestra and Dutch musicians Davina Michelle and Winne.
Princess Beatrice has been spotted on a rare night out, leaving the Maison Estelle private club in Mayfair in London.

The princess, 34, was wearing a black MAJE belted tweet coat with gold buttons, plus black tights and Louis Vuitton ankle boots.

She teemed her outfit with a black Louis Vuitton handbag, with her red hair tied up in a high ponytail.

Wearing minimal make-up and jewellery, she seemed relaxed and happy as she said goodbye to the bouncers.

The mother of one, who is married to English property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, then spoke on her white iPhone as she left the club.

The princess was wearing a MAJE Belted boucle-tweed coat costing 348, teemed with black ankle boots

The princess has one daughter, Sienna, who is one years old, and is also step-mother to Edoardo's son, Christopher, six, from a previous relationship.

But she seemed to enjoy her rare night out in the club, which is known to be popular with the royals.

Last January, Princess Eugenie was spotted wearing a sleek black dress and trendy jacket as she headed out of the venue.

The daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, 31, was all smiles as she left at the exclusive venue in London after enjoying a night on the town.

Showing off her sartorial prowess, the mother-of-one, who is currently pregnant, wrapped up in a trendy black dress with a chic white jacket and 'shrobed' a tartan coat to match.

Keeping a natural look, Eugenie opted for minimal make-up with just a light layer of foundation and lick of mascara to emphasise her good looks.

The sisters, who are reportedly close, are both expected to attend the King's coronation next month.

But their mother Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is not invited.

Experts claim King Charles decided to not invite Sarah Ferguson to the historic event because she is an 'embarrassment' and no longer a member of the Royal Family.

Royal commentator Tom Bower told MailOnline that Sarah had excluded herself because of her previous 'conduct'.

He added that her presence would 'provoke critical comment which Charles doesn't need'.

And royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams praised the 'extremely wise' decision from the King because she has been an 'embarrassment to the Royal Family for many years'.

But the apparent decision has surprised some royal watchers - with Meghan Markle's friend Omid Scobie tweeting: 'If true, this feels kinda cruel, no?'

Princess Beatrice was seen leaving Maison Estelle private club in Mayfair on Wednesday night

The princess was seen chatting on her phone as she left the club in the early hours of the morning

Princess Beatrice is expected to attend the King's coronation next month with her younger sister Princess Eugenie

She has been spotted since the cruel snub, however, leaving the Royal Lodge in Windsor.

The 63-year-old was seen in the passenger seat of a Range Rover driven by her ex-husband Prince Andrew.

The mother-of-two was dressed casually in a tan blazer, shirt and black circular glasses.

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew, 63, was sporting a navy jumper over a red shirt as she drove the 4x4 out of the complex.

Speaking about the absence of Sarah, Mr Bower said she will be left out 'because she is not a member of the Royal Family'.

He added that she had excluded herself 'by her past conduct', saying: 'Her presence would provoke critical comment which Charles doesn't need.'

Princess Beatrice pictured leaving St George's Chapel in Windsor following the service yesterday. She wore a pink midi dress by Emilia Wickstead which she offset with black accessories

It comes after royal officials revealed that Prince Harry will be at the coronation but without his wife and the couple's children Archie and Lilibet.

Princess Beatrice was last seen stepping out in Windsor for the Royal Family's Easter celebrations.

The royal looked effortlessly elegant in a pale pink Emilia Wickstead midi dress with a black lace trim running down the arms.

The dress had previously been worn by the Duchess of Edinburgh, Sophie Wessex.

Sophie first wore the designer frock to Royal Ascot in June 2018 - where she joined the late Queen and the Duchess of Sussex for a day at the races.

But rather than copying her aunt's exact look, Beatrice put her own spin on the frock - which is by one of the Princess of Wales' favourite designers.

Offsetting the lace detail, the mother-of-one opted for a series of black accessories.

To cinch her in at the waist, Beatrice added a feminine black silk bow belt.

The royal also chose a statement black fascinator with a faux white colour to wear to the church service.

As well as a boxy black clutch, Beatrice finished off her ensemble with a pair of black suede slingback high heels.
A Walmart employee has revealed how he has stopped hundreds of thieves while at work.

Posting to TikTok, Alexander Buckner, from Alabama, shared his experience of working at the supermarket chain with his 615,000 followers.

He claimed he had stopped 373 customers from stealing over the course of 12 months - but claims he had only received a pay rise of 60 cent as a reward.

The father-of-two said: 'Me realizing I caught 373 people stealing from Walmart last year and only got a 60 cent raise.'

Many others were divided in the comments section about the reward from the company.

Posting to TikTok, Alexander Buckner, from Alabama, revealed how he has stopped hundreds of thieves while at work - but claimed he only received a small pay rise as a reward

His revelations come weeks after it was announced Walmart is hoping to have about 65 percent of its stores automated within the next three years

One commented: 'You should got promoted with additional $50k a year pay raise for catching that many shoplifters.

'Walmart don't care about their employees. They care about their money...'

Another wrote: 'You missed your opportunity to send someone in and let it slide just to split the profit once it was resold.'

A third added: 'If you let me walk out with air pods I'll tip you 50.'

Another person had a similar thought, writing: 'I'll pay you double to look the other way!'

'I would mind my business from here on out,' another commented.

His revelations come weeks after it was announced Walmart is hoping to have about 65 percent of its stores automated within the next three years.

Many others were divided in the comments section about his behavior and the reward from the company

The news came at the U.S. retail giant's annual investor meeting in Tampa as the business - with a net worth of $388 billion - invests heavily in automation to speed up orders at its e-commerce fulfillment facilities.

It wasn't immediately clear if the move would lead to more layoffs at the country's biggest private employer, which has about 1.7 million U.S. workers and another 60,000 abroad.

The company did however say that the moves would reduce the need for lower-paid roles.

'As the changes are implemented across the business, one of the outcomes is roles that require less physical labor but have a higher rate of pay,' the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a filing.

'Over time, the company anticipates increased throughput per person, due to the automation while maintaining or even increasing its number of associates as new roles are created,' it added.

About 55 percent of packages that it processes through its fulfillment centers will be moved through automated facilities by January 2026, improving unit cost averages by about 20 percent, the company said.

'This increased efficiency will not only support better inventory management, but it will also support Walmart's rapidly growing e-commerce business,' Stephens Inc analyst Ben Bienvenu wrote in a note.

Walmart is yet to respond to questions about whether the moves will result in any near-term layoffs.

The world's largest retailer by sales maintained its forecast for the fiscal year ending Jan 31, 2024, which calls for net sales to rise by 2.5 percent to 3 percent and earnings by $5.90 to $6.05 per share.

It also kept its forecast for first-quarter sales to rise between 4.5 percent and 5 percent in constant currency.
Three dads are set to make history by becoming the second throuple in the US to be legally recognized as parents on a child's birth certificate.

Ben Rolam, 37, and his long-term boyfriend, Mitch, also 37, from Los Angeles, had been in a loving relationship for 12 years - but things changed when they met their perfect match, Benjamin Mui, 35, on a gay cruise in 2018.

After three years, the couple took their polymerous love to the next level by holding a 'spiritual' wedding ceremony together in Hawaii in 2019. And three years later, Benjamin and Mitch legally changed their last names to Ben's surname, 'Rolam.'

The trio adopted their daughter after 'advertising themselves online' as a throuple looking to adopt a child, and are in the process of becoming the second three-person relationship in the US to be recognised as legal parents of a child on a birth certificate.

The throuple said if anyone were to question what their daughter's future will look like, they would tell them: 'Tegan is going to love having three dads  she will always have so much love.'

Ben Rolam, (left) 37, Mitch Rolam, (far right) also 37, and Benjamin Mui, 35, (centre) are raising their one-year-old adopted daughter, Tegan RoseMaree, in Los Angeles

Ben and Mitch had been in a loving relationship for 12 years - before meeting Benjamin Mui, 35, on a gay cruise in 2018

Ben and Mitch met almost 17 years ago, in the summer of 2006, at an LGBTQ+ community building programme, and the pair instantly hit it off.

Ben said: 'We connected right away  we invited each other to dinner, and then the rest is history. We saw each other every day after that.'

After being together for around three years, the couple began considering becoming a throuple.

Ben explained: 'We've always believed that to love one person alone was unrealistic, at least the way we saw it.

'We both felt like we just had so much love to give and that if there were an opportunity ever to bring a third person to a relationship, we would completely be open to that.'

Before trying to find the third person, Ben and Mitch felt it was important to go through every possible challenging situation to understand each other's boundaries.

Ben said: 'We'd ask the tough questions about what would happen if, for example, Mitch had sex with the third person and I wasn't in the room or vice versa.'

In 2018, the couple went on a gay cruise holiday and unexpectedly found their perfect match  Benjamin Mui  who was in the early stages of a relationship at the time.

The trio adopted their daughter after advertising themselves online as a throuple looking to welcome a child into their family

After meeting Ben and Mitch, Benjamin soon realised that he did not feel the same excitement for his boyfriend of three months.

So, after the cruise, he broke up with his boyfriend and started dating Ben and Mitch.

At the time, Benjamin was based in Canada, so for around six months they would visit each other on weekends.

Ben said: 'That's how we kind of knew that this was going to work  we made that commitment.'

Ben and Mitch did not experience any teething issues when first bringing Benjamin into the relationship because of going through every scenario before becoming a throuple.

But, Ben thinks becoming a throuple allowed him to see Mitch in a different light.

He explained: 'I got to learn a completely different side of Mitch, meaning he was treating Benjamin very differently than he ever treated me.

'Benjamin brought a completely different dynamic to the relationship  so watching Mitch just fall in love with another person from an outside perspective was fun to watch.'

In July 2019, Ben and Mitch proposed to Benjamin at San Diego Pride to 'make him part of the family' and got married spiritually as a three in Hawaii in September 2019.

Ben said: 'We did it among ourselves with a celebrant  we didn't want to make a big thing out of it with friends yet, and we hadn't told our family we were in a throuple yet.'

The throuple are in the process of becoming the second three-person relationship in the US to be recognized as legal parents of a child on a birth certificate

The wedding was unofficial, but in 2022 Benjamin and Mitch decided to legally change their last names to 'Rolam'  Ben's surname.

After the ceremony, Benjamin wanted to introduce his two partners to his loved ones, but he had not even told them he was gay at that point, so he had to come out and tell them he was in a throuple at the same time.

Ben explained: 'They are from Hong Kong, so I think it was a little bit of a shock culturally because it's not something that is so openly talked about in their culture.

'But, they were very accepting and took it surprisingly well  I know they had spoken to Benjamin's sister, and his sister helped them understand that being gay is normal and should be accepted.

'When it came to the relationship, I think once they saw our dynamic and how supportive we were of one another, they didn't have anything to say.'

When Ben told his family that he was in a throuple, they were also very accepting but could not help but feel shocked.

Mitch was the most hesitant to tell his parents because when he came out to them, they did not talk to him for around five years. But, to the throuple's surprise, they were very accepting.

In December 2021, the throuple hired a website developer and lawyer to advertise themselves as a throuple looking to adopt a baby, as when they were with an adoption agency, they only had three mums show interest in them in two years.

The throuple began getting 30 to 40 women reaching out weekly, and by March 2022, they found Tegan, their baby daughter.

Now the co-dads are blissfully raising their one-year-old adopted daughter, Tegan RoseMaree, with the hopes of one day having two more children through surrogacy.

The men say they've never heard negative comments about their relationship, but have a few words for anyone that does.

Ben said: 'We would let them know love is love from a mother or a father, and Tegan is going to love having three dads  she will always have so much love.'

'It's just like being in a regular couple apart from the fact there is one more person' he added.

'We've always believed that to love one person alone was unrealistic, at least the way we saw it.'

'There's a misconception that couples are all about sex all the time  our relationship is not based on sex, our relationship is based on support, growth, love and care.'

'We both felt like we just had so much love to give and that if there were an opportunity ever to bring a third person to a relationship, we would completely be open to that.'

The lovers spend almost every moment with each other, share the same bed and split chores and baby duties equally

The Rolams have come to enjoy their unconventional dynamic with Ben explaining that as three fathers, they have more benefits than traditional straight couples.

He said: 'In traditional relationships, typically women carry most of the weight when it comes to chores in a household, from the cleaning to the cooking, to taking care of the baby.

'In our household, we are all divided equally, Benjamin does the dishes, I cook, Mitch vacuums and does laundry  I think that's also what's beautiful about our dynamic  we can divide and conquer, we can get so much more accomplished without feeling exhausted.'

'If I'm looking after the baby one day, while the other two are at work, they will look after the baby for the next two days.'

'We alternate nights to be with the baby, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night, I can take care of her, the next day is Mitch, the next day is Benjamin.'

'So we all feel like we get an equal amount of rest, we all get equal amounts of support, we all get equal time with our baby.'

Ben and Mitch proposed to Benjamin at San Diego Pride to 'make him part of the family' (pictured together)

Mitch, Ben and Benjamin are currently in the process of being recognised as legal parents on Tegan's birth certificate  if successful, they will be the second throuple in the US to do so

Mitch, Ben and Benjamin are currently in the process of being recognised as legal parents on Tegan's birth certificate  if successful, they will be the second throuple in the US to do so.

Ben said: 'To know that I'm making a path for other relationships that look like mine feels good.

'It reminds me of the early days when I was fighting for legal rights to get married to a man or two lesbians to marry.'

Looking to the future, the throuple are hoping to have another two children through surrogacy.
The Prince of Wales has shared a message of support with Lorraine Kelly today as he praised the TV personality for her bowel cancer campaign work following the death of Dame Deborah James.

Dame Deborah died in June at the age of 40 after a five-year battle with stage four bowel cancer.

Prince William, 40, met the mother-of-two in the weeks before she died at her parent's home in Surrey, where he awarded her a Damehood, and has gone on to champion her cause in the months since.

Sharing a video on his official social media page today, the royal wrote: 'Lorraine, Dame Deborah James would be so proud of what you and the team are doing to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Keep up the great work #NoButts.'

In the clip, the father-of-three said: 'Hi Lorraine, just wanted to say a big thankyou to you and your team for all you are doing to raise awareness for bowel cancer with your No Butts campaign.

The Prince of Wales has shared a message of support with Lorraine Kelly today as he praised the TV personality for her bowel cancer campaign work following the death of Dame Deborah James

The Prince and Princess of Wales have praised Dame Deborah James' (pictured with Prince William) 'incredible legacy' after more than 11million was raised for her Bowelbabe Fund

And sharing a video on his official social media page, the royal wrote said Deborah James would be 'so proud' of Lorraine and her campaign

'As you know, I got to meet Dame Deborah so I know how important this was to her.'

The royal went on to explain that many people 'do not know the signs and symptoms' of bowel cancer, adding: 'If you're watching this, please take a second to learn and listen about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer. It could save your life.'

The clip was also played on Lorraine's breakfast show this morning, with the presenter appearing deeply moved by the message from the royal.

After inspiring the nation last year, Dame Deborah was presented with a damehood by Prince William shortly after announcing she was receiving end-of-life care.

The royal cleared his diary and travelled to her parents' home in Woking, Surrey, in mid-May to perform an honours ceremony at a tea party celebrating her extraordinary life.

The royal and his wife had been deeply moved by her campaigning and bravery and paid a moving tribute to the mother-of-two, who was survived by her two children Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, and her husband Sebastien.

At the time of her death, in a tweet signed 'W&C', the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said: 'We are so sad to hear the heartbreaking news about Dame Deborah.

'Our thoughts are with her children, her family and her loved ones.

'Deborah was an inspirational and unfalteringly brave woman whose legacy will live on'.

They have continued to support her BowelBabe Fund and in recent weeks praised her 'incredible legacy' after more than 11million was raised in her memory.

Prince William and Kate shared their support of the fund on Twitter and Instagram earlier this month, writing: 'An incredible legacy which continues to impact so many. We couldn't be more proud of the work of the @bowelbabe Fund.'

The clip was also played on Lorraine's breakfast show this morning, with the presenter appearing deeply moved by the message from the royal

Earlier this month, Prince William and Kate shared their support of Deborah's Bowel Babe fund on Twitter and Instagram

BOWEL CANCER: THE SYMPTOMS YOU SHOULDN'T IGNORE Bowel, or colorectal, cancer affects the large bowel, which is made up of the colon and rectum. Such tumours usually develop from pre-cancerous growths, called polyps. Symptoms include: Bleeding from the bottom

Blood in stools

A change in bowel habits lasting at least three weeks

Unexplained weight loss

Extreme, unexplained tiredness

Abdominal pain Most cases have no clear cause, however, people are more at risk if they: Are over 50

Have a family history of the condition

Have a personal history of polyps in their bowel

Suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease

Lead an unhealthy lifestyle Treatment usually involves surgery, and chemo- and radiotherapy. More than nine out of 10 people with stage one bowel cancer survive five years or more after their diagnosis. This drops significantly if it is diagnosed in later stages. According to Bowel Cancer UK figures, more than 41,200 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK. It affects around 40 per 100,000 adults per year in the US, according to the National Cancer Institute. Advertisement

Earlier this month, Deborah James's sister revealed she misses the late campaigner's 'sparkle' and 'ability to make the normal a little bit different and fun'.

Relaunching the No Butts bowel cancer awareness campaign on Lorraine - with her mother Heather James - Sarah Wieczorek opened up about the fundraiser's legacy after she passed away aged 40 last year.

'A lot of people have often come up and said, "Oh it must be really hard to talk about", but actually it's kind of been like therapy,' she told the programme.

'And the fact that Deborah was so open about it, we haven't had to explain a lot of the hard stuff, she's done that for us...she's left us a real privilege of a legacy.'

Her sister had also admitted she feels a 'little bit blase' about Deborah's incredible achievements - including her fund recently raising more than 11 million for bowel cancer - because she had always been exceptional.

Relaunching the No Butts bowel cancer awareness campaign on Lorraine - with her mother Heather James - Sarah Wieczorek opened up about the fundraiser's legacy

'She used to move mountains all the time,' Sarah added. 'So I wouldn't have expected anything less.'

Their mother Heather had also praised her daughter's memory as being preserved by the incredible awareness raised about the gruelling disease.

'If only we'd had that Deborah ten years ago, perhaps Deborah wouldn't have died,' she said. 'But what a legacy.'

Meanwhile Deborah's family and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) recently revealed that the former deputy head teacher helped raise 11.3million before she died.

She also left behind a video message expressing her gratitude over the success of her campaign and her plans for how the funds raised would be used.

'One thing I wanted to do before I passed away was to set up the Bowelbabe fund,' Dame Deborah said in the video.

Her sister had also admitted she feels a 'little bit blase' about Deborah's incredible achievements - including her fund recently raising more than 11 million for bowel cancer - because she had always been exceptional

Their mother Heather had also praised her daughter's memory as being preserved by the incredible awareness raised about the gruelling disease

'I wanted to set it up to ensure that more people can benefit from some of the things that I benefited from.

'We will ensure that more people have access to personalised medicine, clinical trials, cutting edge technology to help more and more people live longer with cancer.'

She added: 'Every penny counts. I cannot thank you enough for your support of the Bowelbabe fund. You are awesome.

Dame Deborah was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016. She continued to raise awareness about the disease until her death on June 28, 2022.

The former deputy head teacher, who was known to many as Bowel Babe, intimately detailed the last five years of her life online.

Her candid posts about her progress and diagnosis - including videos of her dancing her way through treatment - won praise from the public and media alike.

Dame Deborah (pictured) launched the Bowelbabe cancer research fund last May to raise money for research into personalised medicine for cancer patients

The Dame also wrote and published her second book How to Live When You Should Be Dead , while suffering from cancer

She launched the You, Me And The Big C podcast in 2018, alongside Lauren Mahon and Rachael Bland.

In May 2022, the podcaster revealed that she had stopped active treatment and was receiving end-of-life care at her parents' home in Woking, Surrey, with her husband and their two children on hand.

Living life on her own terms despite her illness, she designed Charity T-shirts a clothing line to raise millions more for her Bowelbabe fund.

The Dame also wrote and published her second book How to Live When You Should Be Dead, while suffering from cancer, detailing how developing a positive mindset was key to enabling her to cope with her diagnosis.

She told her children to 'take chances and experience life now' and to marry for love in a heartbreaking final letter.
The UK is gearing up to mark King Charles' coronation on May 6th, and there is a handy way you could score 10 days off work by taking one four days of annual leave.

The King, 75, will be crowned during a ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6, but the country will still get to enjoy a three-day weekend.

A bank holiday was introduced on May 8 to allow people to take part in the Sovereign's Big Help Out charity initiative, meaning Brits will get to enjoy a three-day weekend.

But the early May bank holiday on May 1 means that workers who want to get a longer break out of this joyous royal occasion can bag as much as 10 days off by booking only four days of annual leave.

Here is how to maximize your annual leave thanks to the Coronation.

The UK is gearing up to mark King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation on May 6th, and you can take advantage of the Bank Holidays to get extra time off work

How to get 10 days off work with 4 days annual leave 1. Saturday 29th April: Weekend 2. Sunday 30th April: Weekend 3. Monday 1 May: Bank Holiday 4. Tuesday 2: Day 1 of annual leave 5. Wednesday 3rd: Day two of annual leave 6. Thursday 4th: Day three of annual leave 7. Friday 5th: Day four of annual leave: 8. Saturday 6th: Weekend 9. Sunday 7th: Weekend 10. Monday 8th: Bank holiday Advertisement

Monday May 1 is the yearly Early May Bank holiday and already offers a three-day weekend for people working Mondays to Fridays.

Monday May 8 is as a country-wide bank holiday to celebrate the King's accession to the throne and his Big Help Out charitable initiative.

So by booking Tuesday 2, Wednesday 3, Thursday 4 and Friday 5 May, workers would score a total of 10 days off, from Saturday 29 April to Tuesday 10 May.

While Brits are sorting out their annual leave requests, the King is gearing up for this Coronation at Westminster Abbey.

It has been reported that guest numbers for the Kings Coronation are so tight that many foreign royals and British aristocrats have missed out on invitations event.

But Charles and Camilla are hosting a dazzling reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday, May 5, the night before they are crowned, to greet the good and the great, including some of those who have been excluded from the main event.

The first recorded Coronation banquet dates back to 1194, while King George IVs in 1821 was so lavish that 23 temporary kitchens were built next to Westminster Hall to produce 160 tureens of soup alone, along with 3,271 cold dishes.

The event so was so vast that the Deputy Earl Marshal had to supervise proceedings on horseback, riding along the centre of the hall, and the cost so shockingly vast that another has not been held since.

Camilla, Queen Consort and King Charles III during the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022

While the traditional Coronation banquet wont go ahead, Their Majesties look forward to welcoming the crowned heads of several European monarchies as well as the First Lady of the United States.

More than 1,000 guests are expected to attend the special reception on May 5, along with most senior members of the Royal Family.

The event wont be a traditional sit-down dinner, but will be modelled on the reception Charles and Camilla also held for dignitaries and Commonwealth representatives just before Queen Elizabeths funeral.

It will feel rather like the annual Diplomatic reception held every December at Buckingham Palace as opposed to a state banquet, and will be a nice mix of majesty, family and friends, a source said.

The spectacular invitation to the King's Coronation in Westminster Abbey on May 5 next month

It is understood that many will be the spouses or children of guests who did not make the cut for the Abbey due to the tightness in numbers.

They include King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife, Queen Maxima, who will attend the Coronation.

But they will be joined at Buckingham Palace on the Friday by the former queen, HRH Princess Beatrix, 85, who knows Charles well, and her grand-daughter the future queen, 19-year-old Catharina-Amalia, the Princess of Orange.

It will basically be most of the VIP coronation guests plus all those Their Majesties wanted to invite to the ceremony but couldnt due to the scaled back numbers at the Abbey, another source said.

Sources said the plan is to use the palace Ballroom, which is currently closed to all but the inner circle as it has been set up as a replica of Westminster Abbey for private rehearsals for the Coronation.
King Charles' former classmate has claimed the way the royal was 'mercilessly bullied' at school will make him a 'kinder' monarch.

Johnny Stonborough was in the same class as the King during his time at Gordonstoun School in Elgin, Scotland in the 1960s.

Prince Philip was one of the first students to enroll at the 40,000-per-year boarding school in 1934 and wanted his eldest son to follow in his footsteps.

Writing for the Telegraph, Mr Stonborough described how King Charles didn't enjoy his time at the school as much as his father had - but says the experience has made him a more 'empathetic' person.

Recalling his first memory of the monarch, the former student said Charles was a 'painfully shy' 13-year-old.

King Charles pictured at the age of 13 during his first term at Gordonstoun School in Scotland in April 1962

When the King started at the school, his former classmate says all the students were told that they needed to refer to him as 'Prince Charles'.

Although Mr. Stonborough says most younger students were targeted by the older boys, he described how Charles had it 'harder' than most.

Undeterred by Charles' royal status, the ex-Gordonstoun student says it was 'common knowledge' that Chares was the victim of bullying - and was often pushed out of his bed when he was sleeping.

However, the first occasion where Mr Stonborough witnessed it for himself was during a rugby lesson at school.

He explained: 'A couple of the boys decided it would be funny to do him. This meant punching him, pulling his ears, all out of sight in the scrum.

'He never said a word. He just got on with it. Never complain, never explain.'

What's more, Mr Stonborough speculated that Charles may not have wanted to speak up about the bullying as the school's motto was 'Plus est en vous', which translates as 'There is more in you than you think'.

During Charles' early days at school, Mr Stonborough says it was 'impossible' to befriend the royal as bullies would jeer at them for being the 'king's friends'.

King Charles' former classmate Johnny Stonborough says his experience at school will make him a 'kinder' monarch. The King pictured in April 2023

Pictured: Gordonstoun school in Elgin, Scotland. The 40,000-per-year boarding school was attended by Prince Philip in the 1930s

Instead, the ex-student says Charles' 'only friend' during his first two years at the school was his bodyguard Sergeant Green - who had previously worked as police officer in London.

However, Charles' bodyguard lost his job when the royal was 14 after it emerged he had turned a blind eye to the future King having a cherry brandy at the nearby Crown Hotel.

On top of this, Johnny says Charles was also teased for not having the 'right' kind of duffle coat in the bitterly cold winter months - after being sent off to school with a smart piece of outerwear.

That said, the student says Charles felt more settled at school in his later years when he got more involved in student theatre.

At times, Johnny says the King would 'let his guard down' and chat to his peers - and once even joked that he didn't know how to get to the kitchens at Buckingham Palace.

Johnny Stonborough, who attended Gordonstoun with King Charles recalled the monarch being 'thumped and beat up' by bullies at school on Good Morning Britain on Monday

After studying in Australia for a year when he was 17, Charles ended his Gordonstoun career on a 'high' when he returned and was appointed Head Boy.

Describing how Charles' school experience will make him a 'kinder' monarch, Mr Stonborough added: 'Gordonstoun gave him his love of the natural world, and his empathy with people from all walks of life.

'It might even give some solace to countless British children to know their King was bullied and survived.'

Last year, Johnny appeared on Good Morning Britain where he opened up about how Charles was 'badly bullied and very isolated' at school.

He said: 'We felt pretty sorry for him even at the time, but the problem was that even trying to be friends with him meant that you then got bullied for being one of the King's friends. It was a pretty harsh environment.'

Johnny went on to say that Charles was also quite 'bright' at school and he had 'a sense of humour.'

The late Duke of Edinburgh being taken on a tour of his old school with his son Prince Charles ahead of his first term in 1962

Prince Philip pictured when he was a student at Gordonstoun school in Scotland in the 1930s when he first moved to the UK

Charles was plunged into the then famously tough culture of Gordonstoun in the summer term of 1962, having come from his prep school, Cheam, in Hampshire.

He once referred to his time at Gordonstoun as a 'prison sentence' as he found himself cold-shouldered by fellow pupils in his house, Windmill Lodge, because the housemaster had warned any antagonistic behaviour towards the heir to the throne would result in immediate expulsion.

'He was bullied,' recalled Ross Benson, the late Daily Mail correspondent who was also a contemporary. 'He was crushingly lonely for most of his time there. The wonder is that he survived with his sanity intact.'

Charles previously said in an interview: 'I didn't enjoy school as much as I might have, but that was only because I'm happier at home than anywhere else.

'But Gordonstoun developed my willpower and self control, helped me to discipline myself. We went in for 'adventure'. We ran our own fire brigade, we had our own sea rescue service, mountain rescue, surf life-saving, coastguard, etc.'
BBC star Rachael Bland's widower has announced he has welcomed twins with his new wife.

Steve Bland, from Cheshire, came to prominence after he began presenting the You, Me and the Big C podcast alongside Lauren Mahon and the late Dame Deborah James following the death of his wife Rachael in 2018.

Steve met Amy Vercelli, an advanced nurse practitioner, at a cancer conference in Manchester in 2019 and the two tied the knot in August.

The couple announced they were expecting twins in December, and shared the news Amy had given birth yesterday.

Posting a photograph on their Instagram pages, they shared the babies names are Ruby and Luca, adding: 'On Monday 17th April at 09:18 our beautiful family became complete.

BBC star Rachael Bland's widower Steve has announced he has welcomed twins with his new wife Amy Vercelli

Steve met Amy, an advanced nurse practitioner, at a cancer conference in Manchester in 2019 and the two tied the knot in August (pictured with Steve and Rachael's son Freddie)

'Welcome to the world, our wonderful Vercell-Bland babies. Ruby Hope Claire and Luca Jackson Matthew.'

They continued: 'There are no words that are able to justify how much we love you. We have never felt so utterly blessed.'

The couple went on to share another photograph of Steve and Rachael's son Freddie visiting the twins in hospital.

Amy captioned the image: 'Proud big brother.'

Amy announced she was expecting twins with a snap in December which she posted to Instagram.

She shared a photograph of her blossoming baby bump with Steve and Rachael's son Freddie, alongside the post: 'Team VB is getting not one, but two new recruits next year.

'Twins arriving in spring, all being well.'

In the photograph, which showed the pair posing in front of a Christmas tree, Freddie beams with joy as he points at Amy's blossoming bump.

Meanwhile Amy can be seen lifting up her 'Rebellious Hope' sweatshirt to reveal the bump.

The couple announced their engagement in December 2021 and tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Cheshire in August.

Steve came to prominence after he began presenting the You, Me and the Big C podcast alongside Lauren Mahon and the late Dame Deborah James following the death of his wife Rachael in 2018

Posting a photograph of their big day online, Steve revealed his son Freddie had acted as best man, adding: 'What. A. Day. Our wedding day literally could not have been more perfect.

'All our favourite people in one place, so many smiles, so much laughter, loads of dancing and memories made, and a little too much kraken.

'I've got a lot of people to thank, chief among them my best men Freddie and @willjoewright, and one of my oldest buddies @davidhewaters for conducting the perfect ceremony.

'I've also got really good answers now if anyone wants recommendations for flowers, photography or video because @charlottehowardfloraldesign, @jesshazlehurstphotography and @blanketdigital were all amazing. As was the venue @owenhouseweddingbarn and all the staff there.

'Finally, and most importantly, I have to thank my incredible wife @vercelli83, who looked so so beautiful!'

Meanwhile his fellow podcast host Lauren wrote: 'The most special day my heart is bursting. Love you both so much. Thank you for having me.'

Amy posted a similarly gushing post, commenting: 'My husband and I had the most magical day yesterday. It truly surpassed all of our wildest dreams.

Amy announced she was expecting twins with a snap in December which she posted to Instagram (pictured)

In December 2021, the father-of-one shared this photo to his Instagram page celebrating the proposal

Steve met Amy, an advanced nurse practitioner, at a cancer conference in Manchester in 2019 and the two tied the knot in August

'No words can adequately express how grateful we feel. Grateful for our amazing family and friends for making the day so wonderful.

'Grateful for the outpouring of kind messages, sending so much love. Grateful for the amazing people who made the day so perfect.

'Here's to happily ever after.'

Steve shared the news he had proposed in December 2021 with his 14,600 Instagram followers.

Posting a string of romantic photos showing off his new fiancee Amy's sparkly engagement ring, the 41-year-old, who lives in Cheshire, captioned the images with a simple 'She said YES!'

The proposal came while Steve, who has a seven-year-old son, Freddie, by his late wife, and the NHS nurse were enjoying a romantic getaway in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

The widower has spoken out in the past about refusing to feel guilty about finding love again with the NHS nurse Amy following Rachael's death from breast cancer in 2018.

The former BBC radio presenter Rachael (right with Steve and Freddie) was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2016 and died in 2018

He previously told ITV's Lorraine show that people often asked him if he felt guilty about dating again.

He said: 'It's one of the most common questions I get asked: 'Do I feel guilty? 'Why should I? I'm 40-years-old and I've got the rest of my life ahead of me.'

Referencing the son, Freddie, he said: 'Rachael wanted me to be happy and wanted Freddie to be happy.

'We need to break down the taboo and stop worrying about being judged for it. We're trying to be happy and to make the most of life.'

Speaking in 2020 about getting together with new love Amy, he told the Daily Mail: 'We took our time but, of course, my life revolves around Freddie so it's difficult to get to know someone properly without involving them in his life, too'.

'Going out in the evening is a military operation for a lone parent, organising babysitters, and my parents are a huge help, looking after Freddie when I go to London for work, but I don't want to put upon them too much, so Amy would mostly come to us.'
Rachel McAdams sparked widespread debate this week after she showed off her hairy armpits during a recent photoshoot for Bustle magazine.

But the actress, 44, is not the first woman to ditch her razor - and she won't be the last.

Among those who have also turned their back on shaving their underarms is yoga teacher and mother-of-two Maria Margolies from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

The 42-year-old, who made the decision more than a decade ago, said she feels empowered by her choice after refusing to bow to the pressures of society.

Yoga teacher and mother-of-two Maria Margolies from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, is among those who have also turned their back on shaving their underarms

The 42-year-old, who made the decision more than a decade ago, said she feels empowered by her choice after refusing to bow to the pressures of society

Poll How do you feel about unshaven armpits? All for it No thanks How do you feel about unshaven armpits? All for it 1066 votes

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Colombian native Maria, who grew up in a conservative Catholic household, first began shaving her underarms, eyebrows and legs at age 12 to fit in with societal expectation.

But, by 2013, she decided that it was time to let her armpit hair grow out.

She told the New York Post: 'It's my body, it's my choice. I stopped shaving because I couldn't come up with a good reason for why I was doing it in the first place.

'Women are taught that it's not okay to have body hair but I'm confident in my choice not to shave if I don't want to. It's empowering to stand my ground.'

Maria has been unashamedly been flaunting her natural beauty on social media and, despite it being a seemingly divisive topic, she has garnered more than 446,000 followers on TikTok alone.

She concluded: 'I don't need anyone's approval. I feel sorry for anyone who feels they need to be hateful toward me based on whether I shave or not.'

And it seems that increasingly more women are proudly following suit with the hashtag 'bodyhairisnatural' gaining more than 199 million views on the video sharing platform.

One of the most popular videos to utilize the tag is from SaRae Nixon, from New Jersey, who has long advocated for women embracing their natural hair growth.

Colombian native Maria, who grew up in a conservative Catholic household, first began shaving her underarms, eyebrows and legs at age 12 to fit in with societal expectation

One of the most popular videos to utilize the 'bodyhairisnatural' hashtag is from SaRae Nixon, from New Jersey, who has long advocated for women embracing their natural hair growth

In a TikTok clip, which has been viewed more than 1.4 million times, she flashes her underarm hair before overlaying it with a soundtrack of a man exaggeratingly protesting.

She captioned the clip: 'Men who want a "natural woman" when they see something natural on women.'

SaRae simply added: 'Tell me I'm wrong.'

And dozens of other women rushed to the comments to share how they too are embracing the look.

One wrote: 'Mine are the same. No I'm not shaving either.'

Another added: 'I quit shaving a while back and I'm waiting for the day someone mentions it in public.'

And dozens of other women rushed to the comments to share how they too are embracing the look

McAdams flaunted her unshaved armpit hair this week

And a third said: 'We were born to have hair I don't get people's issue with this.'

The discussion around shaving reached fever pitch this week when McAdams flaunted her unshaved armpit hair in a shoot for Bustle.

The hair was visible in a selection of the images.

And, according to the article, minimal picture editing was done at the request of the Mean Girls star herself.

McAdams, who shares a son and daughter with her partner Jamie Linden, told the publication: 'With this shoot, I'm wearing latex underwear.

'But I've had two children.

'This is my body, and I think that's so important to reflect back out to the world.'

'It's OK to look your best and work at it and be healthy, but that's different for everyone,' she added.
A cheeky Brummie took his chance to find a royal drinking pal this afternoon as he called out to the Prince of Wales from a crowd.

Daniel Walker, who turned up to Birmingham's jewellery quarter to catch a glimpse of the Prince and Princess of Wales, got William's attention as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

He cried: 'William! William, can we go for a pint?' to the amusement of the crowd, who laughed along.

The father-of-three, 40, also burst out laughing and pointed to Daniel in the crowd with a knowing look and saying 'of course', before continuing to walk along with his wife.

The cheeky heckle was not Daniel's first royal encounter, as he asked William's father King Charles the same question during his visit to the West Midlands city last year - although the King's response was somewhat more enthusiastic than his son's.

In a video posted on TikTok, Daniel calls out to the King: 'Charles, do you want to go for a beer?'

Responding, the King says: 'What?' before Daniel repeats his question.

Quick as a flash, King Charles asks: 'Where?' before breaking out into a grin as the crowd erupts in laughter.

Today's visit marked the Prince and Princess of Wales's first royal engagement after the Easter holidays.

The royal couple were last seen out and about with their three children to attend the Easter Sunday service at St George's Chapel in Windsor.

Can we go for a pint? A well-intentioned heckler who was looking for a drinking buddy asked the Prince of Wales if he fancied a beer during his trip to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham this afternoon

During the visit, the Prince of Wales appeared to be in a mischievous mood as he took an unsuspecting customer's booking on the telephone as he and the Princess of Wales visited an Indian restaurant.

In an amusing clip, William can be seen chatting to a diner who called up to book a table for two at the Indian Streatery, and after an entertaining back and fourth, the pair eventually agree on 2.15pm for the booking.

While he and Kate were being served a range of Indian dishes at the restaurant on Bennetts Hill, William answered the unexpected phone call and took a booking for two.

After negotiating over the time of the booking and giving the customer directions, William said: 'He knows where you are now, I probably sent him somewhere else in Birmingham so I apologise.'

At 2.15pm, the customer Vinay Aggarwal and his wife Ankita Gulati, visiting from London, arrived at the restaurant ahead of their train home at 3pm.

Mr Aggarwal, a software engineer, said he had 'no idea' that William took the call. He said: 'It's pretty amazing and a surprise. I didn't know at that moment, but it's a very nice surprise. Obviously (I will be telling everyone), it's not something that happens often.

'I didn't recognise his voice at all, this is the first time I was listening to him on the phone, so I genuinely thought someone was taking the booking for me.'
Office workers, flight attendants and specialists are using a 'life changing' pillow to improve posture during the day and sleep quality at night.

The Hyoumankind 'Go Pillow' launched in November 2021 and is making waves online and in homes.

It took founder Steph Wyborn, from New Zealand, 16 versions to create the perfect product made from lightweight advanced memory foam, with the idea starting from her kitchen bench.

Unlike regular pillows, the Go Pillow features a unique curved design ideal for back or side sleepers, and can be used when flying, working in the office, meditating, resting, driving or doing yoga.

Ms Wyborn told FEMAIL the pillows are used by athletes, plastic surgeons, and on-the-go travellers alike.

Teri O'Toole from the Federal Secretary of the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia said it's positively impacted her health and overall wellbeing.

The Hyoumankind 'Go Pillow' improves posture and promote better sleep. The convenient, lightweight design makes it perfect when travelling

It took New Zealand founder Steph Wyborn (pictured) 16 versions to create the perfect product

'I have always struggled to find a pillow that provided both support and comfort and is not too soft or too hard. This has never been easy however your product is IT,' Ms O'Toole told FEMAIL.

'I was sceptical that a pillow could have such a positive impact on my health but they were right. I am sleeping longer and better than before and the fact that it is small and has a carry bag for travel just adds to the benefits.'

Sleep is vital as cabin crew are always moving between hotels, home and aircraft for work, so it makes sense for staff to have their own travel pillow.

'A good sleep is essential to health and overall wellbeing and I feel that the Go Pillow is an investment towards making each and every sleep opportunity better. This would be great for airlines to provide as part of the uniform,' Ms O'Toole said.

Dr John Ferguson FRACS, an orthopaedic spinal surgeon, also described the pillow as a 'premium product that promotes neck health'.

'Personally, my family benefits sleeping on Hyoumankind pillows, professionally it's another wise tool to help reduce pain and increase recovery,' Dr Ferguson told FEMAIL.

Unlike regular pillows, the Go Pillow features a unique curved design ideal for back or side sleepers

The pillow can be used when flying, working in the office, meditating, resting, driving or doing yoga, and also packs nicely into luggage

What are the benefits of the Hyoumankind Go Pillow? Convenient travel size Light and comfortable Improves the posture of office workers Perfect for back or side sleepers Ideal when travelling domestic or international flights It keeps serums and night creams in place when paired with a silk pillowcase Improves sleep quality Designed with soft foam Advertisement

Helene Ravlich (pictured) also dubbed the product as the perfect 'beauty tool' when sleeping

Beauty editor Helene Ravlich also dubbed the product the perfect 'beauty tool' when sleeping.

'When back sleeping and using a silk pillowcase, it's a dream for keeping serums and night creams in place and hair smooth and tangle free,' she said.

The $229 product is available in a variety of colours and a travel bag can also be purchased for added convenience.

The pillow can be rolled up and hung over the shoulder or placed on top of a carry bag. This way no space will be used in carry-on luggage.
Health experts have today warned about a viral but deadly TikTok trend involving one of the most popular allergy medicines.

The Benadryl Challenge has already killed two teenagers in the US. It sees people, usually kids, swallow multiple antihistamine tablets to induce hallucinations before posting videos of their experience.

Jacob Stevens, 13, from Ohio, died on April 12 after overdosing on Benadryl as part of the social media challenge. 15-year-old Chloe Marie Phillips died in 2020.

One medic slammed the trend as a 'death rap', while pharmacy experts have urged social media to better monitor the 'concerning' challenge.

As well as causing hallucinations, overdosing on it can result in heart failure, stroke, seizures or brain damage.

Jacob Stevens took a large amount of pills as part of the Benadryl Challenge and died six days later

Jacob's family released this photo of him on life support to spread awareness of the dangers of the 'Benadryl Challenge' trend sweeping TikTok

On August 21, 2020, 15-year-old Chloe Marie Phillips, of Oklahoma, died after taking part in the social media challenge.

Jacob's body began to seize up after he downed a large amount of the allergy pills. His friends were filming to see what would happen.

He was rushed to the hospital as his body began to shut down.

The teen was placed on a ventilator and spent six days in hospital before doctors found his brain was no longer responsive.

Jacob's family have begun pushing lawmakers to take steps to prevent other kids from partaking in such a challenge by putting age restrictions on over-the-counter drugs like Benadryl in the US.

They also want to see TikTok impose an age-restriction for making accounts, forcing users to provide identification before being allowed onto the platform.

Acrivastine  the active ingredient of Benadryl in the UK  can be bought over the counter.

Different formulations are carried across the world, with diphenhydramine used in the US.

On August 21, 2020, Chloe, of Oklahoma, died after taking part in the social media challenge.

Janette Sissy Leasure, Chloe's great aunt, posted a now-deleted message on Facebook at the time, urging families to be on alert for kids taking part in the 'Benadryl challenge.'

'This needs to stop taking our kids or putting them in the hospital,' she wrote. 'Don't let it take anymore kids...I don't want to see any families go through what we are going through right now.'

Antihistamines are allergy medication that work by blocking the production of histamine  a chemical the body produces when it detects something it thinks is harmful.

In hay fever sufferers, the body mistakes pollen for a dangerous substance and releases histamine, causing symptoms such as sneezing and itchy eyes.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said: 'It is very concerning to hear about these challenges involving medicines on social media.

'This is not the first time that a challenge involving over the counter medicines has led to serious harm and death.'

She urged social media to 'take steps in monitoring this effectively' so videos stop going viral.

And Dr Jen Caudle, a US doctor who shares videos of TikTok, said: 'It is a death trap if you ask me and the latest tragedy is an example of this.

'This is a warning to parents, for kids, for people out there. Do not try this.'

She added: 'Taking too much of it can obviously cause a number of symptoms, from heart problems, to seizures, and even death - as we are seeing.

Benadryl, also called dyphenhydromine, is a type of antihistamine. These are allergy medication that work by blocking the production of histamine - a chemical the body produces when it detects something it thinks is harmful.

The 13-year-old from Ohio was remembered as a fun-loving and caring kid who could brighten anybody's day

Chloe (pictured with her father, Dustin Cook) died doing the 'Benadryl Challenge'. Her family has since warned about the dangers of the viral TikTok challenge

Dr Caudle said people should only take medications as described and urged parents to lock up their medications to ensure they are not easily accessible

TikTok have taken action by banning the search for 'Benadryl Challenge'. However, those posting videos are now using code words such as 'bernadeyl trend' and 'bena tiktok challenge', so the clips can still be found.

Malcolm Harrison, the chief executive of the Company Chemists' Association, said: 'We are greatly saddened to hear of this news from the US. Medicines should only ever be used as directed by either the manufacturer or a registered healthcare professional. If you are unsure about how to safely use your medicines, please ask your local pharmacist.'

Professor Parastou Donyai, chief scientist for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: 'It's absolutely tragic to hear of the death of anyone from taking more than the advised dose of a medicine, especially if that medicine is self-administered in response to a so-called "challenge".

READ MORE: What is the lethal TikTok Benadryl challenge and why is it so deadly? Advertisement

'While antihistamines provide safe and effective relief to millions from allergies, it is vital they are only taken in the dose advised on the packet, or as prescribed by a health professional.

'Social media platforms should more effectively moderate and remove content that has the potential to be so harmful to health, tragically causing death in this instance.'

Responding to the challenge in 2020, the Food and Drug administration (FDA) issued a statement warning of the dangers of participating.

'Taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma or even death,' the FDA wrote.

'We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the 'Benadryl Challenge' encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.'

A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant that markets the Benadryl brand, previously said of the trend: 'The health and safety of people who use our products is our top priority.

'The Benadryl TikTok trend is extremely concerning, dangerous and should be stopped immediately.

'As with any medicine, abuse or misuse can lead to serious side effects with potentially long-lasting consequences, and Benadryl products should only be used as directed by the label.'
China should have created a Covid vaccine years before the pandemic started, a leading infectious disease expert has claimed.

Researchers in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak began, had samples of a very similar coronavirus called RaTG13, which sickened a group of miners in 2012.

Virologist Professor Gustavo Palacios said this effectively meant an opportunity to protect the world from Covid had gone to waste.

Speaking at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on how to combat pathogens which pose a risk to the world, he said: 'Information collected before the pandemic wasn't used to control Covid.'

RaTG13 'could have been very well used' to experiment on how to make a vaccine against similar coronaviruses, he added.

Experts say Chinese researchers could have made a Covid vaccine early using a very similar virus held within the walls of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Security personnel keep watch outside the WIV during a visit by the WHO in 2021

Virologist Shi Zheng-li - nicknamed the 'Bat Lady' - is pictured in the lab. She hunted down dozens of deadly Covid-like viruses in bat caves and studied them at the WIV

Virologist, Professor Gustavo Palacios, said the fact that scientists at Wuhan had access to a virus called RaTG13, which is very similar to Covid, meant they could have developed an earlier vaccine

Such tests would 'probably' have led to a vaccine that, Professor Palacios claimed, 'would have been grossly protective against Covid'.

'We knew a plague of viruses was there and circulating,' he added, according to the Daily Telegraph.

'We didn't take any action to use that information to prepare but the information was there.'

Professor Palacios, an expert in infectious disease from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, was speaking at the Pathogen Project conference.

Vaccines weren't rolled out in the Western world until December 2020, nine months after the the pandemic was officially declared.

Read more: Top Chinese scientist says true source of Covid may never be revealed because research into the origins of the virus has become 'too sensitive and politicised' Dr George Gao, former head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that there is no evidence yet showing which animal the COVID-causing virus may have come from Advertisement

Although this was a record feat in scientific terms, the wait saw millions ultimately die from a lack of an effective way to protect them from a hugely-infectious virus.

RaTG13 is a 96.2 per cent match for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid  making it the closest genetic relative.

It was found in samples collected from the surrounds of an abandoned copper mine near the town of Tonggua, in the southwest of China, in 2013.

Samples were collected after miners who had been tasked to clear bat faeces from the cave became ill with a severe respiratory disease, one of whom died. They were kept at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, suspected to have carried out controversial gain-of-function studies on similar pathogens in the run-up to the pandemic.

Critics of the technique warn it poses a massive risk to humans, if the pathogens ever escape.

RaTG13's existence at the secretive site is one reason why scientists have questioned Beijing's official version of events and suggested Covid could have leaked from the lab and into society.

China has itself repeatedly insisted the pandemic started naturally, pointing to a nearby wet market, where live animals are bought and sold, as the potential source.

Professor Palacios' comments come after an explosive US Senate report suggested that Chinese researchers started working on a Covid jab in mid-November 2019.

This is over a month before Beijing officially alerted the World Health Organization to a mysterious flu-like outbreak in Wuhan.

It adds to the huge pile of evidence that suggests President Xi Jinping's communist regime attempted to cover up the early stages of the pandemic.

Other Covid origin theories point to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan (pictured) as being the epicentre of the outbreak. Many of the earliest cases in December 2019 and January 2020 had visited the site, where live animals were sold

The question of whether the global outbreak began with a spillover from wildlife sold at the market or leaked out of the Wuhan lab just eight miles across the Yangtze River has given rise to fierce debate. Some studies point to a natural spillover at the Huanan wildlife market. Positive swab samples of floors, cages and counters also track the virus back to stalls in the southwestern corner of the market (bottom left), where animals with the potential to harbour Covid were sold for meat or fur at the time (bottom right)

The report also concludes the pandemic most likely came from a lab leak, and was the result of a 'research-related incident' in Wuhan.

It even suggests there may have been two unintentional spill-over events just weeks apart.

The document, which was released to US news website Axios, is the full version of a 35-page summary published in October by the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee.

One section of the report focuses on Chinas vaccine development.

Investigations by the committee show a team led by Professor Yusen Zhou, from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, filed a patent for a Covid-19 vaccine on February 24, 2020.

Experts interviewed by the investigators said it would have taken at least two to three months to reach this stage  suggesting work must have started in November 2019, one month before China publicly released details on the virus.

Consensus over how the pandemic began three years ago in Wuhan has slowly started to shift.

While the majority of virologists say the virus had natural origins, a growing number believe it could have been a lab leak from the WIV.

At first, the overwhelming opinion  shared by the world's leading experts  was that Covid crossed naturally from animals infected with a bat coronavirus.

China's secrecy  in not providing vital access to scientists probing the origins and accusations of covering up evidence from the early days of the pandemic by wiping key databases  has only fuelled alternative theories.

The truth on how Covid emerged will likely never be known, however.

Earlier this month Dr George Fu Gao, a top Chinese scientist said the true source of Covid may never be revealed because research into the origins of the virus has become 'too sensitive and politicised'.
Zoe Bailey, now 31, from Manchester was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2013

A woman claims that her reproductive organs were removed without warning by doctors wanting to resolve her excruciating periods.

Zoe Bailey, from Manchester, had suffered with debilitatingly period cramps since she was a teenager but claims medics had always told her it was 'normal' and 'just her periods'.

It was not until 2013, after the 31-year-old was unable to get pregnant and sought medical advice again, that she was diagnosed with endometriosis.

She underwent 'temporary menopause'  when medication is used to reduce the production of oestrogen  in 2015 in a bid to help. But it failed to help.

Ms Bailey eventually had to give up her job as a carer because her pain became too much.

Her condition took a turn for the worse in 2018 and she was rushed into theatre at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester.

Forced to give up her job as a carer as the pain became too much, in 2018, her condition took a turn for the worse and Ms Bailey was rushed into theatre at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester. Doctors removed her uterus and cervix, making it impossible for her to conceive a child naturally. However, she still has ovaries, meaning she still produces eggs that she could freeze

Zoe Bailey, 31, from Manchester had suffered with debilitatingly period cramps since she was a teenager but claims medics had always told her it was 'normal' and 'just her periods'

Despite already undergoing surgery in 2018, Ms Bailey's bowel was then removed the following year during a 'routine check'. She did not state why doctors performed this procedure. But endometrium tissue can grow on the surface or inside the intestines, rectum or other parts of the bowel. Surgery is usually required to remove the affected section of the bowel

Endometriosis: What is it, what are the symptoms and how can it be treated? What is endometriosis? Endometriosis is a condition where tissue that covers the inside of the uterus, the endometrium, appears in other parts of the body and causes chronic inflammation, scarring and pelvic pain. The endometriosis tissue outside the uterus will bleed just as it would as the lining of the uterus. According to womenshealth.gov 'this can cause swelling and pain because the tissue grows and bleeds in an area where it cannot easily get out of your body'. According to the NHS, it can appear in many different places 'including the ovaries, Fallopian tubes'. Endometriosis tissue can also appear inside the stomach, in or around the bowel and the bladder. The condition usually affects girls and women of childbearing age and is less likely to affect women who have had menopause. Endometriosis is more common in women in their 30s and 40s. The condition affects 6-10 percent of the general female population in the US, according to a scientific paper published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. Endometriosis UK says that one in ten  around 3million  women of reproductive age in the UK have the condition. Endometriosis causes There is no known cause of endometriosis, although one theory posits that family genetics plays a large part. Other potential causes explored are immune system issues and complications from menstrual period flow, whereby the tissue shed during the period ends up flowing through the Fallopian tube to other parts of the body such as the pelvis. Endometrium cells can also spread through the body through the bloodstream or the lymphatic system. Endometriosis symptoms Main endometriosis symptoms include chronic pelvic, lower back and abdominal pain that may be worse than normal during a period; experiencing pain during sexual intercourse, painful bowel movements; bloating and nausea. Painful periods and difficulty getting pregnant are other key symptoms. Experiencing heavy periods and infertility are noted as being symptomatic of endometriosis. The NHS recommends seeing a GP when symptoms manifest, in particular if they are 'having a big impact on your life'. Endometriosis diagnosis The doctor will conduct a pelvic exam and may perform an ultrasound, however, a laparoscopy is currently the only way to confirm an endometriosis diagnosis. A laparoscopy is a procedure that involves the doctor making a small incision in the skin and passing a small tube through it to see if there are any patches of endometriosis tissue. Endometriosis treatment There is no cure for endometriosis. However, the NHS offers treatments that can palliate the symptoms. These include painkillers such as paracetamol, hormone medicines and contraceptives like the pill, the contraceptive patch and an IUS. Surgery to cut out the endometriosis tissue or parts of the organ affected are also options. However, the NHS says that sometimes doctors may not start treatment immediately in order to see if the symptoms improve on their own. Advertisement

Doctors removed her uterus and cervix, making it impossible for her to conceive a child naturally.

However, she still has ovaries, meaning she still produces eggs that she could freeze.

It is unclear whether Ms Bailey was made aware whether she could have her vital reproductive organs removed as a complication of surgery.

But the NHS says surgery to cut away patches of endometriosis tissue, or any affected organs, is one of the main treatment options.

This can include a hysterectomy.

Speaking about the ordeal, Ms Bailey said: 'I didn't expect to have any of my body removed that day.

'But the doctors said they had no choice due to the severity of my condition.'

Ms Bailey added: 'Some days, I feel like a failure  I'm a woman who can't do the one thing women are meant to do, which is carrying a baby.

'It breaks my heart. It affected me so badly, that I lost four stone in weight and I became severely depressed, as well as suffering from anxiety.

'All my life I'd wanted to be a mum and to be told this wouldn't be possible broke me.'

She said: 'It's made me question my relationships as to why someone would want to be with someone who can't have children.'

Endometriosis causes tissue similar to the lining of the uterus to grow in different organs around the body.

It affects one in ten women, with the lifelong disease being more common in those suffering painful periods  affecting around six in ten.

Lesions can develop across the entire reproductive system as well as other organs including the bladder, bowels and even the brain.

It can cause reduced fertility, severe pain in the pelvis and bladder or bowel problems, and takes an average of seven-and-a-half years to diagnose because of the variety of symptoms it causes.

Despite already undergoing surgery in 2018, Ms Bailey's bowel was then removed the following year during a 'routine check'.

She did not state why doctors performed this procedure.

But endometrium tissue can grow on the surface or inside the intestines, rectum or other parts of the bowel.

Surgery is usually required to remove the affected section of the bowel.

Endometriosis UK says this can require a temporary colostomy  when one end of the colon is diverted through an opening in the tummy and covered with a pouch that collects stools.

Ms Bailey said she woke up to find that her bowel had been removed and that a stoma bag had been fitted.

She was told there was 'a chance' her bowel could be removed, she said.

But she 'never' saw a nurse or 'spoke to anyone' regarding the possibility of a stoma 'prior to surgery', Ms Bailey claimed.

She also claimed the stoma bag was supposed to be removed after six months but due to a blockage of endometriosis in her remaining intestines, this is no longer possible.

She said: 'Waking up to the bag on my side and seeing the scar, knowing this was now my life, deflated me.

'It knocked my confidence and I hated looking at my body.

'It really baffled my head as to how it all worked, but eventually, I got used to the bag being there and it's become a part of me now.'

But Ms Bailey cautioned she must now be careful of what food she eats to prevent stoma blockages.

'I've been hospitalised due to this a few times,' she said.

'I've also had to change the way I dress to make sure you can't see my bag through my clothing.

'As well as this, I also have to take in to consideration any trips or days out I'm going on, as I have to see whether there will be toilets and if I'll be able to empty my bag.'

Despite undergoing surgery twice, Ms Bailey says she has continued to suffer excruciating pain daily.

But doctors have informed her the only way to relieve her symptoms is to undergo a full hysterectomy, she claimed, which would leave her unable to produce eggs.

In a bid to raise 5,000 to freeze her eggs she has launched a GoFundMe page.

She said: 'I don't want anyone to have to go through what I've been through.

'I had to wait so long for a diagnosis and to be seen.

'All of this could have been prevented if I was listened to at the beginning and everyone should be able to have the chance to be a mum.

'I hadn't even heard of endometriosis [before I was diagnosed], but I was relieved that it actually had a name and it wasn't just bad periods.'

She added: 'If going through this and sharing my story means other women won't need to suffer, then it'll all be worth it.'

A spokesperson at St Mary's Hospital said: 'We understand Zoe has contacted PALS regarding her concerns.'

They added: 'The PALS team are investigating the matter further with St Mary's as part of their standard complaints process and will feedback to Zoe as soon as the investigation is complete'.

Despite undergoing surgery twice, Ms Bailey says she has continued to suffer excruciating pain daily. But doctors have informed her the only way to relieve her symptoms is to undergo a full hysterectomy, she claimed, which would leave her unable to produce eggs. In a bid to raise 5,000 to freeze her eggs she has launched a GoFundMe page
A common sleeping pill can slash the levels of Alzheimer's linked proteins in the brain, a small study suggests.

Researchers at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, tracked 38 people who used suvorexant  a prescription medication sold under the brand name Belsomra  for two nights.

Those who took the highest dose had amyloid levels that were up to a fifth lower than other participants in their spinal fluid by the next morning.

Scientists are not urging people to start taking the pills every night, saying much more extensive research is needed to back up the results.

Previous papers have suggested that taking sleeping pills can actually raise someone's risk of the disease because they disrupt a healthy night's sleep.

Researchers at the University of Washington in St Louis, Missouri, said that people who took higher doses of suvorexant  sold under the brand name Belsomra  had lower levels of amyloid and tau proteins in their spinal fluid. They added it was premature to start taking the pills constantly and that more work was needed

Patients were administered a high dose of suvorexant (Belsomra) over two nights (shown)

About six million Americans living with Alzheimer's in the US, with this number expected to nearly triple to 14million by 2060.

Scientists are not clear on the cause, but some suggest that a build-up of proteins in the brain  such as amyloid and tau  can slow communication between cells and even kill them leading to the disease.

Other theories point to factors such as damage to blood vessels running through the brain as factors behind the disease.

Sleep helps to clear these proteins from the brain, studies show.

Besides pills, people can also try keeping a consistent bedtime, not staring at screens before bed and avoiding bright lights in late hours to help with sleep.

Suvorexant is only available on prescription in the US for those with insomnia, priced at about $15 per pill  although on insurance it is available at a lower price.

More than $500million is made from suvorexant every year, according to data from its owner and New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company Merck.

Senior author Dr Brendan Lucey, a sleep medic, said that the study was 'small' and a 'proof-of-concept'.

'It would be premature for people who are worried about developing Alzheimer's to interpret it as a reason to start taking suvorexant every night,' he said.

'We don't yet know whether long-term use is effective in staving off cognitive decline, and if it is, at what dose and for whom.'

He added: 'Still, these results are very encouraging.

'This drug is already available and proven safe, and now we have evidence it affects the levels of proteins that are critical for driving Alzheimer's disease.'

Suvorexant works by blocking receptors in the brain for the hormone orexin, which promotes wakefulness.

Scientists suggest that this can help someone get to sleep faster. It is not clear how they may impact sleep quality.

There are three orexin inhibitors  including suvorexant  that are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the US.

In the first study of its kind, scientists recruited 38 participants aged 45 to 65 with no cognitive impairments.

They were split into three equal groups and given either a high dose of the drug (20mg), a low dose (10mg) or a placebo.

Each was administered the pill at 9pm and then allowed to fall asleep at a specialist lab in St Louis.

Their spinal fluid was sampled every two hours for 36 hours to check levels of amyloid and tau proteins.

Sampling began one hour before the sleeping aid was administered.

Scientists found that after the first night, patients who received the highest dose of suvorexant had a 10 to 20 percent dip in amyloid levels.

They also found that levels of tau fell by 10 to 15 percent.

There was not a significant difference between peers who received a low dose and the rest who got the placebo.

By 24 hours, tau levels in the high-dose group had risen but amyloid levels remained low compared to the placebo group.

A second dose was then administered for night two, which again led to lower levels of the proteins in the high-dose group.

Dr Lucey said: 'If we can lower amyloid every day, we think the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain will decrease over time.

'And hyperphosphorylated tau is very important in the development of Alzheimer's disease, because it's associated with forming tau tangles that kill neurons.

'If you can reduce tau phosphorylation, potentially there would be less tangle formation and less neuronal death.'

Dr Lucey, who was part of the team that first suggested the proteins could be behind Alzheimer's, will now conduct longer-term studies to assess the effects of orexin inhibitors in people at higher risk of dementia.

Dr Lucey added: 'Future studies need to have people taking these drugs for months, at least, and measuring the effect on amyloid and tau over time.

'We are also going to be studying participants who are older and may still be cognitively healthy, but who already have some amyloid plaques in their brains.

'This study involved healthy middle-aged participants. The results may be different in an older population.

'I am hopeful that we will eventually develop drugs that take advantage of the link between sleep and Alzheimer's to prevent cognitive decline.

'We are not quite there yet. At this point, the best advice I can give is to get a good night's sleep if you can, and if you can't, to see a sleep specialist and get your sleep problems treated.'

The study was published in the journal Annals of Neurology.
More than 700 reports detailed pain 'worse than childbirth' after LASIK surgery

Patients suffering from severe long-term issues after receiving laser eye surgery are speaking out  as doctors allege complications are more common than advertised.

Gloria McConnell, from Florida, killed herself at age 60 after the botched surgery 'destroyed' her life and left her in excruciating pain.

The problems arose just a few weeks after her surgery, including eyes so dry they felt like they were constantly on fire and mites infestations in her eyelashes after they fed on dead skin cells left behind.

Laser eye surgery, also known as LASIK, is a vision corrective procedure which uses a laser to reshape the inner cornea. Roughly half a million Americans have the surgery every year, plus around 10,000 Brits.

A reported one percent of patients suffer severe complications, but some warn this figure is underreported. In reality, up to 30 percent may suffer severe problems.

Common negative effects include dry eyes, debris left in the eye, double vision and intense migraines.

Gloria McConnell (left) had two LASIK procedures to fix her short-sightedness in 2019. Serious complications arose a few weeks after the surgery and she died by suicide aged 60. Robin Reeves (right) underwent LASIK after her glasses consistently got in the way. 'It was supposed to be zip, zap, and within a couple of weeks youre healed and life goes on. But my life has stood still since July 12 of last year'

Nearly half of patients in a 2017 FDA clinical trial reported 'new visual symptoms' post-LASIK, including double vision, glare, halos and starbursts  a series of rays radiating from bright lights

Dr Morris Waxler, who served as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief regulator for ophthalmic devices from 1996 to 2000, first warned against the procedure in 2008.

He oversaw the approval of the surgery in 1999, which was initially seen as a revolution for eye treatment.

However, he told DailyMail.com in 2019 the FDA did not listen to testimonies or the 'thousands' of complaints made since  making it 'complicit' in the deaths that had occurred as a result.

During LASIK, an eye surgeon will use a small blade or laser to cut a small, hinged flap away from the front of the eye.

Pulses of a laser then remove miniscule amounts of corneal tissue. Once the cornea is reshaped, the eye surgeon lays the flap back down, where it usually heals on its own.

A probe into an FDA database found more than 700 reports of extreme pain that was 'worse than childbirth' after surgery.

One father who underwent the procedure killed himself.

Dr Morris Waxler was on the FDA advisory board that voted to approve LASIK surgery in 1996. Now he says it should be banned

The FDA released guidance last year warning that LASIK patients should be aware of potential complications heading into the procedure.

It also said there have been 'reports that some patients who have had LASIK have experienced severe depression or suicidality that they believe to be a result of complications following the procedure', but added that a 'definitive causal link... has not been established'.

The draft guidance is still pending full approval before it becomes enshrined as an FDA recommendation.

Nearly half of patients in a 2017 FDA clinical trial reported 'new visual symptoms' post-LASIK, including double vision, glare, halos and starbursts  a series of rays radiating from bright lights.

Robin Reeves, from Florida, made delicate lace gowns for children and underwent LASIK after her glasses consistently got in the way.

Ms Reeves told The Guardian: 'It was supposed to be zip, zap, and within a couple of weeks youre healed and life goes on. But my life has stood still since July 12 of last year.'

Debris was left in her corneal flap, wrecking her eyesight and leaving her with double vision, extreme migraines and eye strain.

Ms Reeves was forced to stop working as a result.

Paula Cofer, from Tampa, Florida, testified to the FDA in 2008 and 2018 on her experience with LASIK.

She is the founder of a support group called LASIK Complications, which has over 8,000 members and strives to educate potential patients about the risks of the surgery.

The first night after her surgery, she went outside to look at the moon and saw eight fuzzy circles with a halo around them.

She now has four sets of glasses to make up for the vision she has lost.

Gloria McConnell, who worked at a Florida car dealership before her death, had two LASIK procedures to fix her short-sightedness in 2019.

Serious complications arose a few weeks after the surgery, including eyes so dry they had a burning sensation, mites and ingrown hairs in her eyelashes.

Four years later, Ms McConnell was barely able to leave her bed.

She died by suicide aged 60. Her son said she left a note to her family in which she explained that the pain from the bungled surgery formed part of her decision to end her life.

Ms McConnell submitted a comment to the FDA's draft recommendations which said: '[LASIK] has destroyed my life.'

Abraham Rutner, an electrician in Brooklyn, New York, previously told CBS News that his life and vision were all but destroyed after LASIK.

'It's a devastation I can't even explain,' he said.

The changes to his cornea brought on a new, even more intolerable set of problems than those he had suffered when he went in for his LASIK consult at an unnamed facility.

Dr Boshnick, who specializes in alternative corrections for unusual eye problems as well in corrective lenses for eyes damaged by LASIK, examined Mr Rutner's eyes after the surgery and found the procedure had wreaked havoc on his new patient.

'His cornea is very distorted as a result of his LASIK surgery,' Dr Boshnick told CBS.

'Things would appear double. Around the lights were like having starbursts,' he told CBS.

After a few months of these distortions, Mr Rutner couldn't take it anymore. His eyes were making his work and driving next to impossible.

During LASIK, an eye surgeon will use a small blade or laser to cut a small, hinged flap away from the front of the eye. Pulses of a laser then remove miniscule amounts of corneal tissue. Once the cornea is reshaped, the eye surgeon lays the flap back down, where it usually heals on its own

Last year, Michigan meteorologist and mother-of-two Jessica Star underwent SMILE surgery - a similar, but less invasive procedure to LASIK - in Detroit to correct her vision.

About a month later, the beloved local TV personality was dead. She had died by suicide after 'struggling' to recover from the operation.

Complications are rare with SMILE surgery, but include visual 'ghosts', hindered eyesight and excruciating pain.

Max Cronin, Colin Dorrian and Officer Lawrence Campbell, also all committed suicide, and wrote notes suggesting that they experienced excruciating pain after laser eye surgery that made life unlivable.
Fecal bacteria levels have skyrocketed 150 times beyond safe levels in some Florida canals after record flooding last week.

Fort Lauderdale, just north of Miami, suffered massive flooding after 20 inches of rain left 20,000 without power and closed the city's airport.

Miami Waterkeeper, a nonprofit group, found one day after the historic rainfall that the water collected from the city's canals had excess levels of the bacteria Enterococci. In some cases, up to 144 times healthy limits.

Enterococci infections can cause vomiting, diarrhea and infections, such as UTIs, meningitis and wound infections. They live within a person's intestines and will appear in fecal matter. Their detection in water is a sign of contamination.

Local officials are warning residents to stay out of the water and not to swim or trudge through it out of fear of contracting illness.

People try and save valuables as they wade through flood waters in the Edgewood neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, April 13, 2023

Over 25 inches of rain fell in South Florida since Monday, causing widespread flooding

Enterococci is typically not harmful to humans in low levels. However, it can cause harm if it reaches outside of a person's digestive system in high levels.

It causes an illness called E. faecalis, which then causes issues with the urinary tract, stomach issues that lead to vomiting, diarrhea and infection of the heart.

If there are more than 70 colony-forming units of enterococci  meaning they have the ability to replicate and grow  per 100milliliters (ml) of water the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deems water unsafe to swim in.

Miami Waterkeeper collected 10 samples on April 13 from across the city, which has been compared to Venice, Italy, for its sprawling network of canals.

Himmarshee Canal, just north of the city's Riverwalk, was found to have a staggering 10,112 units of the bacteria per 100ml  nearly 150-fold higher than safe limits.

This is also 37-fold higher than what would be expected in a used toilet, according to previous research.

On a typical day, the enterococci levels in the water will be between 40 and 300 per 100ml of water.

Chris Caywood and Heather Caywood walk towards their home that was inundated with flood water on April 14, 2023 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The record levels of rainfall lead to record levels of bacteria.

Aliza Karim, water quality specialist at the non-profit, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: 'The results on the 13th at some of the sites are the highest that have been detected in the last two years. Weve never seen this many sites fail above 1,000, ever.'

She added: 'I would not recommend contact with the water. Boating should be OK, but fishing, or any sort of interacting with the water I would not recommend until the bloom subsides.'

Natalia Soares Quinete, a chemist at Florida International University who studies water contamination, told the local newspaper: 'Even without flooding, the canals can already have high coliform (bacteria) levels.'

She said: 'Those levels are a good indication of the probable overflow of septic tanks. You have a lot of septic tanks in South Florida, and some of them are failing, but even the good ones, with this water, they might overflow.'

Ms Quinete said that floodwater in parks, where there is dog and human feces, is also flooding into rivers.

She added: 'The problem is that these levels of coliforms [such as enterococci] are associated with other types of chemicals  that are toxic, like pharmaceuticals and PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances]. Were not measuring them, but theyre in there.'
xperts believe it is due to a high concentration of antioxidant proanthocyanidin

It's the old wives tale that has divided opinion for decades.

Cranberry juice really can help stop urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to the largest review of evidence to date.

A global study looking at the benefits of cranberries found cranberries  in juice or taken as supplements  cut the risk of repeat UTIs in women by more than a quarter.

Children and people susceptible to infections following medical interventions had the odds slashed by 53 per cent, according to the major review.

They were not effective in the elderly, pregnant women, or for people with bladder-emptying problems, researchers found.

A global study looking at the benefits of cranberries found cranberries  in juice or taken as supplements - cut the risk of repeat UTIs in women by more than a quarter. Children and people susceptible to infections following medical interventions had the odds slashed by 53 per cent, according to the major review

Experts believe it is due to their high concentration of the antioxidant proanthocyanidin, which prevents the most common UTI-causing bacteria  Escherichia coli (E.coli)  from sticking to the bladder wall.

Researchers at Flinders University, Australia, looked at 50 more recent trials involving almost 9,000 participants in the latest review, published in Cochrane.

Professor Jonathan Craig, of Flinders University, said: 'This is a review of the totality of the evidence and as new evidence emerges, new findings might occur.

'In this case, the new evidence shows a very positive finding that cranberry juice can prevent UTI in susceptible people.'

UTIs are common and can affect the urinary tract, bladder and kidneys, with symptoms including burning when peeing and needing to go more often.

They are often treated with a short course of antibiotics although they are not always needed.

Researchers warned the berries cannot cure an established UTI, so anyone who gets one must seek help from a GP or pharmacist.

Dr Gabrielle Williams, who led the study, said: 'UTIs are horrible and very common - about a third of women will experience one, as will many elderly people and also people with bladder issues from spinal cord injury or other conditions.

'Even back in 1973, my mum was told to try cranberry juice to prevent her horrible and frequent UTIs, and for her it's been a saviour.

'Despite me niggling in her ear about evidence, she's continued to take it daily, first as the nasty sour juice and in recent years, the easy to swallow capsules. As soon as she stops, wham the symptoms are back.

'As usual, it turns out that mum was right! Cranberry products can help some women prevent UTIs.'
The number of young children who attempted suicide surged during Covid, with many turning to their parent's medicine cabinet.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study Tuesday found the number of suicide attempts by poisoning among US kids increased 30 percent from 2019 to 2021.

Younger children were struck hardest by the pandemic, with attempted suicide rates by drug overdose or other poisoning increasing 72 percent.

Commonly used drugs included easily accessible over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol, Advil and Benadryl. Anti-depressants such as Zoloft and Prozac were also used often.

The pandemic  and subsequent lockdowns and school closures  brought on a wave of mental health issues among the nation's children. A recent report found 90 percent of schools are reporting increases in behavioral issues as a result.

The number of children between the ages 10 to 19 who attempted suicide by poisoning surged by more than 70 percent in 2021 when compared to pre-pandemic figures

Many more children began to attempt suicide by poisoning during the Covid pandemic. The number of attempts rose by around 30 percent, the CDC reports

'These findings suggest that the mental health of children and adolescents was affected by the pandemic, raising concerns about long-term consequences,' the CDC researchers wrote.

'Previous attempted suicide has been found to be the strongest predictor of subsequent death by suicide.'

Covid widely disrupted day-to-day life when it first emerged in early 2020. The virus led to school closures and the halting of other social events across America.

This led to a surge in mental health issues among the world's youth. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a 'global mental health crisis' last year, blaming Covid lockdowns.

The American Academy of Pediatrics declared a 'national emergency' in 2021, saying that issues that already lingered before Covid surged once the pandemic came.

In February, the CDC reported that 57 percent of teen girls and 30 percent of teen boys suffered feelings of hopelessness and sadness.

This spurred on a surge in suicide attempts, the CDC reports. Using reports from the National Poison Data System, the found an overall surge in suicide attempts by drug overdose in children.

Overall, suicide attempts using poison increased by a third. These include cases where a child attempted to kill themselves by overdose or using another substance.

These can include household cleaners such as bleach and antifreeze.

However, this data does not include suicides attempts using a weapon, falling or other methods.

The drug reached for most in these cases was acetaminophen, sold under the brand name Tylenol.

In 2021, when suicide attempt rates peaked, more than 50 per every 100,000 US suicide attempts were a 10 to 19 year olds using the drug.

Also common was ibuprofen, known as Advil. Accounting for around 45 per every 100,000 US suicide attempts.

At around 15 attempts per 100,000 suicides were sertraline, sold as Zoloft, fluoxetine, branded as Prozac and diphenhydramine, Benadryl.

The CDC warns that because these drugs can so easily be found in the home, parents and doctors need to do more to monitor children with suicidal thoughts.

'Three of the top five most frequently identified drugs involved in suspected suicide attempts in this analysis are over-the-counter medications, and two drugs are antidepressant medications,' researchers wrote.

'An urgent need exists to strengthen programs focused on identifying and supporting persons at risk for suicide, especially young persons.'

'Three of the top five most frequently identified drugs involved in suspected suicide attempts in this analysis are over-the-counter medications, and two drugs are antidepressant medications,' the CDC wrote.

'An urgent need exists to strengthen programs focused on identifying and supporting persons at risk for suicide, especially young persons.'

The suicides increased most among the youngest children included in the study.

Between 2019 and 2021, the number of 10 to 12 year olds who attempted suicide by poisoning increased from 5,473 to 9,396  a 72 percent jump.

Slightly older children also experienced a sharp increase. A reported 50,844 children 13 to 15 attempted suicide by poisoning in 2021  a 49 percent jump from 2019.

There was also a sharp increase among females, from 68,045 in 2019 to 96,962 in 2021  a 42.4 percent jump in just two years.

Females were more likely to attempt suicide by poisoning than males, and the number of attempts within the age group rose by more than 40 percent between 2019 and 2021

Children were also more likely to commit suicide in spring and fall, the data found.

Attempts were at their highest points in May and November, peaking then before falling in subsequent months.

They reached their lowest points in June and July  summer months when children are spending more time at home and with families and friends.

While suicide attempts reached a peak in 2021, these staggering trends continued into the following year.

Among 10 to 12 year olds, suicide attempts by poisoning reached 8,171 in 2022. While this was a fall from the previous year, it still represents a 49 percent jump from 2019.

A reported 45,944 13 to 15 year olds attempted suicide by poisoning in 2022, a 35 percent jump from the final pre-pandemic year.

Among all females in the age group, 83,131 made an attempt last year, a 22 percent rise from before Covid.
Minimum wage levels in the UK should rise further, Resolution Foundation says

Statutory sick pay in the UK offers workers 'very little insurance' against illness and compares poorly to other wealthy countries, new research suggests.

However, according to the Resolution Foundation think-tank, the UK already has one of the highest minimum wages in the world, with this trend set to improve further by 2024.

The group's Low Pay Britain report claims the minimum wage should rise even further, in addition to higher sick pay standards, which it says would benefit the financial and physical health of the lowest paid employees - as well as benefitting the economy as a whole.

SSP: The UK has low statutory sick pay rates compared to similar countries, a think-tank said

Lower statutory sick pay

UK sick pay only covers around 11 per cent of a full-time private-sector average employees wages in the first four weeks of sickness, compared to the OECD median of a 64 per cent replacement rate, the Resolution Foundation said.

At present, the vast majority of European and OECD countries provide sick pay from day one if required and do not impose a waiting period for eligible workers. In the UK, the payment is zero for the first three days of illness.

The Resolution Foundation said today: 'The UK is one of only a handful of European countries that doesnt have compulsory earnings-related payments.'

The report also suggested that 'low-income workers receive a poor version of sick pay compared to high-income workers'.

For example, according to the think-tank, more than half of private-sector employees earning below 20,000 expect to receive only SSP or zero if they have to take a week off work through illness. This compares to around a tenth of those earning more than 50,000.

How does SSP work in the UK? UK employees are legally entitled to Statutory Sick Pay, which is zero pay for the first three days of sickness absence and a flat rate of 109.40 per week after the fourth day, the Resolution Foundation says. However, employers can offer a more generous arrangement than this statutory minimum if they want to. This would be classed as occupational sick pay. To be covered for SSP workers must be classed as an employee or agency worker and earn at least the Lower Earnings Limit, which is 123 a week.

The 1.6million workers in the UK earning less than 123 a week are ineligible for any statutory sick pay at all.

The Resolution Foundation said: 'SSP in the UK offers very little insurance against sickness, particularly when compared to other rich countries.'

But, the UK's SSP system is relatively unique in that the low flat rate of sick pay is funded solely by employers for a period of up to 28 weeks.

The Resolution Foundation wants to see the UK implement a more 'generous' SSP system, one based on 65 per cent earnings replacement that offer workers on unpredictable hours 'more control' when it comes to sick pay.

As well as lower SSP rates, the think-tank said the UK also offered fewer days' holiday than other comparable wealthy countries, adding that maternity pay in the UK offered a 'much lower replacement rate.'

UK minimum wage should rise further, think-tank says

While SSP levels might be lower in the UK than in some other countries, minimum wage levels are continuing to rise.

At present, the UK's minimum wage levels are now 'among the highest in the world', the Resolution Foundation said.

For workers over the age of 23, the National Living Wage in the UK is currently 10.42 an hour. And workers must be at least school leaving age to get the National Minimum Wage.

If certain targets are met, the UK looks set to have better minimum wage levels than Australia, France and Germany in 2024, according to the Resolution Foundation.

Comparisons: A chart showing UK minimum wage levels compared to other countries

Rising: The Resolution Foundation want to see UK minimum wage levels rise further

It said: 'By 2024, if the target of reaching two-thirds of the median is met, the UK minimum wage bite relative to full-time workers is likely to rise to 62 per cent.

'This would put the UKs minimum wage above France and Koreas, if those countries dont make similarly large increases.'

It added: 'To date, a rising minimum wage has not had a significant negative impact on employment, so the minimum wage has been an unambiguously successful policy.'

However, the think-tank said that the minimum wage did not benefit the low-paid self-employed and 'has a smaller impact on rates of low weekly pay'.

The think-tank wants to see further progress made on UK minimum wage levels.

It said: 'On the minimum wage, the Government must decide what remit to set the Low Pay Commission after 2024, when the current target of two-thirds of median hourly pay is expected to be reached.

'The Government should set a new target path which continues the recent pace of uprating, potentially reaching a "bite" of 73 per cent of median hourly pay by 2029.

'But policy makers need to think harder about a framework for deciding when to stop uprating, which requires a difficult judgement about the relative weight to place on wages and employment.'

The Resolution Foundation noted that offering higher wages and sick pay could lead to higher prices for consumers, particularly in sectors like hospitality.

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions, said the Government was 'committed to making sure work pays and to further improving workers' rights.'

Anyone concerned they are not receiving the required minimum wage when they should be can contact Acas.
The black-uniformed bailiff who appeared early one morning at Fran Abrams front door made it clear he was not going to leave empty-handed.

With his body-cam filming the encounter, this man had been sent by London Mayor Sadiq Khans Transport for London (TfL) to her rural Suffolk home to extract an ever-spiralling sum of money linked to what started out as an unpaid 80 penalty charge.

Blocking her driveway with his van and armed with a court order for an unpaid debt, the bailiff warned that if the 60-year-old educational consultant didnt deliver what had become the sum of 559, her ten-year-old diesel VW Beetle would be taken away instead.

Fran Abrams nearly lost her Beetle to a TfL bailiff who turned up on the driveway of her Suffolk home

Downward spiral

The fine related to a parking offence on a 'red route' nearly 100 miles away in the capital  one of three separate offences for which she had been battling TfL for nearly a year.

Two of the fines were for red route parking violations in Manse Road in Hackney, East London, the third was for failure to pay the daily 12.50 Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) charge for vehicles that do not meet emissions targets.

Have you had your car registration number cloned by ULEZ scammers? Get in touch If you've fallen victim to criminals duplicating your car's numberplate to evade ULEZ charges and fines? Send us an email with the subject head CLONED PLATES to editor@thisismoney.co.uk

The reason for her sheer exasperation? It simply wasnt her car that had been caught three times on TfLs cameras. It was a similar looking vehicle with a cloned number plate which replicated hers. She hadnt been there.

Bizarrely, of her three appeals, the first in Hackney was eventually successful, but the second near-identical parking appeal was refused  leading to frantic but ultimately futile pleas to two county courts and TfLs bailiffs to drop the case.

Her third appeal, which was against the ULEZ infringement, was also initially rejected, but then disappeared into a bureaucratic black hole that left her in limbo: Ten months have passed since then and Ive heard nothing further about it, says Fran.

Growing problem

The AA and motoring lawyers warn that an ever increasing number of motorists across the country face experiences similar to Frans because the current epidemic of car-cloning is set to soar if Mayor Khans controversial plans to extend ULEZ go ahead  with many more criminals cloning number plates to copy those of law-abiding car owners.

At present, ULEZ is an area within Londons north and south circular roads, but it is due to be extended to cover the whole of the capital from August 29, when it will expand to the borders of Kent, Essex, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey.

The ULEZ expansion is being challenged in the High Court by councils affected by the move, including neighbouring counties.

ULEZ will cover the entire capital if Mayor Khans controversial plans go ahead

Frans full account to me of her ordeal was jaw-dropping, but the arrival of the TfL bailiff on her doorstep at the end of last month proved the final straw that prompted her, in desperation, to call me at the Daily Mail for help.

At first I thought it was the police, says Fran. He was wearing a black uniform and said he was filming on his body-cam. It all felt quite intimidating.

I told the bailiff I wasnt going to let him take my property. Id already told his firm, Marston Recovery, that this had nothing to do with me and been advised not to let any enforcement officers into my house, so I told him he couldnt come in.

He said he didnt need to because he was authorised to take my car, which is worth around 7,500. Hed already blocked the driveway with his van so that I couldnt drive out.

At that point, I gave in. He said I would have to pay him 559 and so I handed over my credit card, she adds.

Penalty charge notices: top tips Get organised: Challenges and appeals against a penalty charge notice (PCN) run to strict timetables. Keep an eye on the time: You have 28 days to appeal to an independent tribunal after a formal PCN challenge is rejected. If it reaches county courts, its usually 21 days. Join the dots: Dont expect organisations to join the dots. Each PCN follows set forms and you must be on top of each one individually. Get it right: Follow processes to the letter, including time limits. Respond quickly: Communicate asap with relevant organisations for each separate notice to put a hold on debts while an investigation or complaint procedure is carried out. Get help: If you're hitting a brick wall with an appeal, seek help from Citizens Advice or a solicitor - the sooner the better. Source: Specialist solicitors at Motoroffence.co.uk

What to do

Fran had done everything asked of her by TfL in order to appeal and prove her innocence.

This included sending them a statement that she wasnt in London at the time, evidence of her vehicles location when the infringements had occurred and police reference numbers.

She said Suffolk Police even told her that this happened so often theyd stopped recording the offences as crimes.

Leading motoring law solicitor Jeanette Miller, of Geoffrey Miller Solicitors, (motoroffence.co.uk), who has dealt with similar cases, says: ULEZ triggered an enormous rise in car cloning.

Close to 5,000 tickets have been cancelled in the last six months alone, and many more have been paid by innocent victims. The planned extension is set to add to that.

Many police forces arent even giving the reference number that Fran received because its so common. Appeals are made more difficult by this.

'The process is perhaps deliberately convoluted and littered with time limits that can end with there being no further recourse.

AA president Edmund King says: This is not just a London issue  it will affect innocent motorists right across the country who will receive penalty charges for something they have not done.

When the Daily Mail contacted Transport for London with a dossier of evidence provided by Fran, TfL issued a swift apology for the way in which she had been treated.

It also cancelled outstanding tickets and said it would refund the 559 charges, provide compensation for her distress and wasted time and review its methods.

Accepting its failure, TfL later described Frans experience as an extreme case and that it was speculation to suggest such cases would increase with the extension of the ULEZ.

Solicitor Jeanette Miller says: Fran has been very fortunate, thanks to the intervention of the Daily Mail.

For those struggling with a similar issue, it may be an idea to contact your local MP and ask them to write a letter, as this will likely make your complaint carry more weight.
Nearly four years have passed since the investment empire of Neil Woodford imploded, leaving 300,000 investors nursing heavy losses. There is now light at the end of a long tunnel.

Assiduous work by the City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has managed to pin some responsibility for the collapse on the shoulders of Link Fund Solutions.

As an Authorised Corporate Director (ACD), Link stood idly by while smarter investors denuded Woodfords flagship Equity Income fund of liquid assets, leaving those left behind with holdings which could not be easily valued or turned into cash.

Recovering compensation from Link has been an uphill task because of ownership changes.

As a result of negotiations with all parties, 235million looks as if it will be repatriated. It will not be any time soon as the complex scheme needs approval.

Withdrawals: Neil Woodford was still extracting large sums from the Equity Income fund in its dying months

As laudable as it is that the FCA has pursued Link to the other end of earth  ownership is in Australia  the experience has cast a shadow over the whole ACD system, under which the City enforcer delegates responsibility for savers money to a third party.

The recompense means Woodford investors should recoup 77 per cent of their savings.

That takes no account of the opportunity cost of being invested in Woodford when the same cash could have been reaping rich rewards elsewhere.

This should not be the end of a drawn-out saga. The FCA probe into the Woodford affair, including its own responsibility, is still under wraps.

To give the FCA the benefit of the doubt, this may well reflect its regulatory and legal pursuit of some of the other parties involved, including Neil Woodford, who was still extracting large sums from the fund in its dying months.

Broker Hargreaves Lansdown exposed many clients to the Woodford empire directly and through its own fund of funds, and by actively persuading people to commit their money through its wealth list.

The role of other periphery players, including depository Northern Trust and the Guernsey International Stock Exchange, through which several unquoted stocks were given a value, still has to be untangled.

Several stones remain unturned and there should be no excuse for the delayed report.

There is a contrast to be drawn between the bogged-down review on the failure of Woodfords multi-billion-pound empire and the swift, nearly 500-page forensic inquiry by former high court judge Dame Elizabeth Gloster into London Capital & Finance. That took just 18 months.

Why are we waiting?

Life saver

Big pharma is often a target for litigants. Johnson & Johnson is offering a settlement of $7.3billion (5.9billion) over allegations that its talc causes cancer.

GSK and its former health care arm Haleon are busy contesting allegations about Zantac. And AstraZeneca is drawing fire over claims that its Covid vaccine, which has saved millions of lives, caused heart problems and deaths.

Shareholder advisory service Pirc suggests Astra chief executive Pascal Soriot faces litigation which could financially or reputationally impact the company and says his re-election should be opposed.

On such grounds, the same could be said for every life sciences boss.

What Pirc ignores is the transformation under Soriots stewardship from drugs minnow, under siege from Pfizer, to a world leader in immunology treatment.

It has catapulted the company to the apex of the FTSE 100 with a valuation of 186.6bn, placing it ahead of 167.3billion Shell.

Its drugs pipeline makes it more valuable than Pfizer. Pirc should be ignored.

Drive zone

Full marks to engineer Melrose for returning GKN Automotive to the London Stock Exchange at a time when the City has been bereft of new floats.

Newly named Dowlais makes power systems for vehicles. The concern, when it was bought by Melrose, was that its British R&D might vanish overseas.

GKN, which made the cannonballs for the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, should continue to have a strong British presence.

The first-day dealings were disappointment but hopefully this will not dissuade chief executive Simon Peckham and financial engineers at Melrose from seeking a UK listing for GKNs aerospace arm in London.
The Financial Conduct Authority has launched an investigation into Wandisco following revelations of 'fraudulent irregularities' that led to the departure of top executives earlier in April.

The troubled AIM-listed software company's chief executive and finance boss resigned after an internal probe found the group had falsified almost $15million in revenues last year.

Wandisco told investors on Thursday it had been notified by the regulator of its investigation, which was launched on concerns it may have 'materially mis-stated the company's financial position' in statements made between 1 January 2022 and 9 March 2023.

The Financial Conduct Authority has launched an investigation into Wandisco

Last month Wandisco discovered 'potential fraudulent irregularities', with orders giving rise to revenue of $14.9million and sales bookings worth $115.4million found to be false.

Revenues last year should have been $9.7million, rather than $24million, while bookings should have been $11.4million, instead of $127million.

The findings by FRP Advisory also continue to support the initial view that one senior sales employee was responsible for the irregularities.

'FRP Advisory is continuing to pursue the investigation to reach a conclusion,' the company said at the time.

Wandisco shares were suspended last month after the company announced that an investigation was under way to identify its 'true financial position'.

It came only days after Wandisco announced it was eyeing an additional listing of its shares in New York.

Wandisco said on Thursday: 'The board is co-operating with the FCA in this endeavour, in addition to continuing to support the completion of the independent investigation already being undertaken by FRP Advisory.'

The FCA declined to comment.
The boss of WH Smith believes there is still quite a lot of opportunity in the casinos of Las Vegas as it looks to crack America.

The retailers profit more than trebled in the six months to February 28, with sales at airports booming as passenger numbers are recovering after lockdowns.

Once a traditional stationery firm, it has pivoted to being a one-stop shop for travellers, whether they need to buy a phone charger, book or sandwich.

Travel division profit surged to 47million, up from 10million for the same period a year prior, while profit from high street shops dipped from 26million to 24million.

WH Smith saw profit more than treble in the six months to February 28 as sales at airports boomed thanks to passenger numbers recovering after lockdowns

WH Smith is confident of its prospects on the other side of the Atlantic, with North American profits up by 75 per cent.

It has around 100 shops in casinos after buying US travel firm Marshall Retail for around 325million in 2019.

But unlike the distinct blue and white branding of stores in the UK, casino and hotel stores are bespoke to their particular locations, blending in with their surroundings.

And there could be more. Chief executive Carl Cowling said theres still quite a lot of opportunity in Las Vegas after it opened a two-floor souvenir store over the famous strip.

The shops are fashion-focused, with sequined dresses and jackets among the best-selling products.

Women who are there for the weekend want a new outfit, something a bit bling, the chief executive said.
The boss of Mulberry has warned the abolition of tax-free shopping for overseas visitors is damaging Britain and benefiting Europe.

Thierry Andretta said businesses in the UK are suffering as wealthy American and Middle Eastern tourists flock to the Continent to shop.

The comments came after Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt scrapped VAT-free shopping, which allowed overseas visitors to claim back 20 per cent on purchases.

While countries in Europe charge VAT, they also offer a refund for overseas visitors taking purchases home.

There is growing unease that the loss of the tax break in Britain is a major own-goal, with the so-called tourist tax hitting the UK economy while boosting sales in Paris, Milan and beyond.

Iconic: Model Alexa Chung (pictured) designed a range of Mulberry handbags. But the luxury firm says Britain is losing out because of the so-called tourist tax

Announcing an otherwise upbeat set of results yesterday, Andretta said: British brands, British luxury, British retail and British hospitality are all suffering as a result of the UKs lack of tax-free shopping for tourists, to the benefit of our European counterparts.

We urge the Government to look at the luxury sectors contribution to the broader economy of the UK and to reconsider the position on tax-free shopping for tourists as a priority.

'If we want British brands to invest, grow and create more jobs we need a level playing field with Europe.

The brand shut its flagship Bond Street store in February, citing lacklustre levels of tourists after the Government ended its VAT-free shopping scheme.

But it has become the latest luxury brand to cash in on enthusiasm for expensive handbags.

Business was better than expected thanks to uplifts in the UK and China despite a challenging economic landscape.

Wealthy shoppers forked out for handbags such as its Alexa satchel, which costs 1,250. Fashion houses LVMH and Hermes have also seen roaring sales.

Group sales were slightly ahead of last year, boosted by an improving environment in China, thanks to the shredding of Covid curbs last year, the London-listed firm said.

Asian shoppers have been especially keen to purchase tiny bags, which sell for hundreds of pounds.

A new quilted Softie bag, which costs a whopping 1,750, was a particular prize among Chinese shoppers, according to retail analyst Wizz Selvey.

Chinese consumers love to parade luxury British and European brands, with key products being accessories, particularly handbags, helping brands including Mulberry and Hermes cash in, Selvey added.
AstraZeneca investors are being urged to oust long-standing chief executive Pascal Soriot.

In a remarkable intervention ahead of next Thursdays annual general meeting, shareholder advisory service Pirc called for his removal amid concerns over mounting legal battles.

Pirc said the sheer volume of claims could financially or reputationally impact the company. It added it is not clear how Soriot has sought to safeguard the firm.

There is no single case highlighted by Pirc, but the pharma giant has recently been hit with a number of high-profile claims.

Complaints: Shareholder advisory service Pirc called for the removal of Astrazeneca boss Pascal Soriot (pictured) amid concerns over mounting legal battles

This includes an 800million dispute in the US over an old stomach acid drug, and claims from patients in the UK affected by its Covid jab.

Pirc described Soriots pay package as highly excessive after he was handed 15.3million in 2022.

Soriot, 63, has become one of the UKs best-known chief executives since taking the helm in 2012, during which time he has been paid almost 120million.

He has been credited with a turnaround that transformed its image. Shares have topped 120 thanks to a near-140 per cent rise in the past five years.

One analyst said: Pascal is extremely well loved and seen as critical to the transformation of the company over the last ten years.

Another said: Realistically, the likelihood of this getting anywhere is slim.

Last year only 0.07 per cent of the shareholders voted against Soriots appointment.

Astra declined to comment.
Dowlais, the newly formed firm comprising of GKN Automotive, GKN Powder Metallurgy and GKN Hydrogen, fell 27.8p to 117.2p

Shares in GKN spin-off Dowlais failed to ignite investor excitement after the stock tumbled 20 per cent following its demerger from Melrose.

Dowlais, the newly formed standalone company comprising of GKN Automotive, GKN Powder Metallurgy and GKN Hydrogen, fell 27.8p to 117.2p on its first day of trading in London.

At a starting price of 145p per share, Dowlais was valued at just over 2billion. The companies were bought by Melrose in a controversial 8.1billion deal in 2018 alongside GKN Aerospace, which will remain under the FTSE 100 turnaround groups wing.

The takeover was met with resistance from the Government and a number of shareholders.

Employee numbers have been slashed by 6,300 across the three demerged businesses since 2018, while the total value of assets has also fallen by 700million since 2020.

US investment firm Capital Group Companies is the largest shareholder in Dowlais, owning some 202m shares and possessing around a 14.5 per cent stake, while Blackrock has amassed roughly 89.8m shares, or 6.4 per cent.

Melrose will maintain a 3 per cent interest in the demerged business.
Workers hoping for a comfortable retirement face a risky future 'at best', a think-tank has warned.

Today's pensioners live far more comfortably than those still in work will when they reach retirement age, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which has sounded alarm bells about a looming pensions crisis.

Nearly nine in ten middle-earning private sector workers are saving less than 15 per cent of their salary - the amount previously recommended by the Government's Pensions Commission.

Those approaching retirement are also increasingly likely to have higher housing costs, the IFS said.

An increasing number of those in their 50s and 60s who are nearing retirement live in more expensive, privately rented accommodation and are not homeowners.

Today's pensioners live far more comfortably than those still in work will when they reach retirement age, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which has sounded alarm bells about a looming pensions crisis

Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said a fresh look at UK retirement saving was long overdue

Experts have warned of pension shortages, with incomes set to drop over the coming decade.

This is because a growing number of people will retire with modern workplace pensions and fewer people have generous defined-benefit pensions - also known as final-salary pensions, which provide a guaranteed income through retirement.

Most workers now save into defined-contribution pensions - a pot of cash that you and your employer pay into every year and to which you can gain access from the age of 55.

However, these are less advantageous and secure than final-salary schemes.

Savers run the risk of running out of money too soon if they don't manage their income carefully.

The IFS said: 'While current pensioners are still doing well on average... the future looks risky at best for many current workers hoping for a comfortable retirement.'

Paul Johnson, director of the think-tank, said a fresh look at the UK retirement saving system was long overdue.

The IFS has launched a Pensions Review, which will run for two and a half years, assessing future risks and determining the measures that need to be taken.

Labour former chancellor Alistair Darling, chairman of the independent charitable foundation Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, warned many people were saving too little for retirement

Mr Johnson said: 'Automatic enrolment has brought millions into workplace pensions, but all too often at much lower rates of saving than the Pensions Commission thought would be needed.

'Most private sector workers are left having to manage considerable risks - not least over how long their retirement will be.'

What are defined contribution and defined benefit pensions? Defined contribution pensions take contributions from both employer and employee and invest them to provide a pot of money at retirement. Unless you work in the public sector, they have now mostly replaced more generous gold-plated defined benefit - or final salary - pensions, which provide a guaranteed income after retirement until you die. Defined contribution pensions are stingier and savers bear the investment risk, rather than employers.

Labour former chancellor Alistair Darling, who is chairman of the independent charitable foundation Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, which is working with the IFS for its pensions review, warned many people were saving too little for retirement.

'While today, many pensioners are doing well on average, we need a major review to avoid a future where too many won't have enough to live on in their old age,' he said.

Sangita Chawla, managing director at Standard Life, said: 'The current pension system is under growing strain with a number of long-term pressures starting to build.

'As things currently stand many younger and midlife workers are at risk of missing even the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association's minimum standard of living in retirement (see below) with the self employed and those who are likely to be renting in retirement especially vulnerable.

'This is despite the great strides forward made by auto-enrolment and plans to extend it to cover workers from age 18.

'There are also difficult discussions to be had regarding the scope of the state pension, which is the bedrock of most peoples retirement, at time when the public purse is under huge scrutiny.'

Retirement income needs for single people (Source PLSA)

James Jones-Tinsley, a pensions expert at Barnett Waddingham, said: 'It takes a long time for pension saving to show through in pensioners' incomes.

'By its nature, it only becomes evident after a full working life - often several decades.

'Therefore, if pensioners have been doing well since 2009, this is likely a result of their historical defined benefit pensions, or "final salary schemes", which grant a significant and sustainable income through retirement.

'It cannot be directly related to the successes or failures of auto-enrolment, which only came to pass in 2010.'

Jones-Tinsley said levels of defined contribution mandatory contributions (see below) remain far too low to offer members a 'decent' pension in retirement.

Who pays what: Auto enrolment breakdown of minimum pension contributions

He added that the self-employed are already two steps behind employees, because they have no employer contributions to help increase their pensions and there is no auto-enrolment for them.

'Many people arent in any form of workplace pension scheme; they are relying mainly or solely on the state pension.'

What does the IFS report reveal about pension saving?

Real, median (middle, not average) household disposable income and relative income poverty rates, after housing costs

Percentage of workers eligible for auto enrolment who save into work pensions

Pension saving level among private sector workers, by annual earnings in 2019

Percentage of private sector workers saving into defined benefit and defined contribution pensions

Number of self-employed people who are and are not saving into private pensions

Official projections of spending on state pensions, pensioner benefits, health and social care

Public and private spending on pension benefits in EU 15 and other major economies as a share of GDP in 2017

Number of annuity and drawdown purchases

The IFS says: 'The announcement and introduction of pension freedoms precipitated an enormous decline in annuity purchases, and a smaller rise of pensions in drawdown. A large number of people have withdrawn pension pots in full, particularly those with less than 10,000 in a pot.'

Share of 66 year olds in 2023 who can still expect to be alive at different ages
Eid is the festival held by Muslims to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, where Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset every day.

Known as Eid ul-Fitr, which means 'Breaking of the Fast', it falls on the first day of the month of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar.

But when is Eid al-Fitr in 2023 and how do you wish someone a Happy Eid?

Read on below for all you need to know about Eid ul-Fitr.

Ramadan lights were switched on London for the first time in 2023 to mark the start of the religious festival

When is Eid ul-Fitr in 2023?

The start of Eid ul-Fitr follows the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting undertaken by Muslims from sunrise to sunset each day.

Ramadan, a lunar month, is either 29 or 30 days. It began on the evening of Wednesday, 22 March, 2023, which means that Thursday, 20 April will be the 29th day, and Friday 21 April the 30th day.

If the new moon is sighted on Thursday daytime, Eid will be declared for Thursday evening, with Eid day falling on the Friday.

If however, a new moon is not sighted, then Ramadan will finish on Friday, with Eid day being the Saturday.

UK authorities have predicted the new moon will be visible at 4.13am GMT on Thursday, April 20.

However, this will only be visible under certain weather conditions and since there is no official moon sighting board in the UK, the majority of UK Muslims will follow Saudi Arabia's moon sighting.

The International Astronomical Centre have also confirmed it unlikely that any Arab countries will be able to see the new crescent moon on Thursday.

This means that Eid is expected to be celebrated on Saturday in the UK, with Ramadan ending at sunset on Friday.

Countries such as India and Bangladesh may celebrate Eid day on Sunday, since they began Ramadan a day later.

Here are the moon sighting forecasts for Saudi Arabia:

Thursday, April 20 - moon not visible

Friday, April 21 - moon is easily visible. Sunset 6.42pm, moonset 8.05pm (local times)

Saturday, April 22 - moon is easily visible. Sunset 6.43pm, moonset 9.05pm (local times)

How will Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr and what is Zakat ul-Fitr?

Zakat ul-Fitr, or the Zakat of Breaking the Fast of Ramadan, is the special obligatory alms paid by all Muslims at the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

It is also called Sadaqat al-Fitr the Charity of Breaking the Fast of Ramadan and Muslims have to give a portion of their wealth to those in need.

Zakat ul-Fitr must be done before the Eid prayer, which is only to be performed in congregation, building family and community spirit. Mosques throughout the UK will host Eid prayers at different times throughout the morning of the Friday.

Eid prayers also often take place in large, open spaces, such as fields or halls.

Once Eid prayers are finished, Muslims will traditionally visit their relatives and friends to wish them a happy Eid and often exchange gifts or sweets. This has lent itself to another name for Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Sweets.

Muslims share a meal on the first day after Eid ul-Fitr in Iraq's Zubayr District during celebrations in 2022

Why does the date change?

The date of Eid al-Fitr changes due to a difference between the solar Gregorian calendar and the Hajri calendar, which is governed by the time the moon takes to go through each of its lunar phases.

This means that the date of Eid ul-Fitr is not fixed in the Gregorian calendar.

Confectionery trays of different desserts on display in Mus, Turkey. It is traditional for Muslims to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr by eating various sweets.

This is because there are 365 days in a solar year, which equates to approximately 354 in a lunar year. Consequently, the dates of Islamic holidays move forward by 10 to 11 days each year.

In the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Fitr always falls on the first day of Shawwal, which is the tenth month.
He is facing several murder charges after the remains of his wife's children were discovered buried in the backyard of his Idaho property in June 2020

The murder suspect gave the bizarre speech at a 'Preparing a People' religious conference in Utah in 2017

Unearthed footage reveals doomsday author Chad Daybell saw Kim Jong Un and a series of natural disasters as a sign of the apocalypse

Bizarre footage of suspected murderer and 'doomsday cult' fantasist Chad Daybell speaking at a Utah religious conference in 2017 has been unearthed as his wife Lori Vallow stands trial for murdering her two children.

Daybell, who is also facing murder charges, pointed to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un - along with recent natural disasters including earthquakes and floods - as signs of an impending apocalypse.

The religious zealot, who claims to have had several near-death experiences that gave him powers of prediction, took to the stage at a 'Preparing a People' event, where he warned of 'what's coming'.

'It seems as though I have been waiting for 20 years for something to happen,' he said. 'I write all these novels, and people are like "when's it going to start?"'

After rattling off a series of recent events as symptoms of the doomsday scenario, the former grave digger suggested the end was near. 'We can prepare ourselves to survive the trials that are coming,' he added.

Unearthed footage of Chad Daybell speaking at a Utah conference saw him point to Kim Jong Un as one of the signs of the apocalypse

Daybell is set to face murder charges over the deaths of Vallow's children JJ, seven, and Tylee, 16. The children's badly decomposed remains were found buried in the backyard of his Idaho property in June 2020.

He allegedly carried out the killings as part of an outlandish theory that the second coming of Christ was imminent, during which only 144,000 'chosen souls' would survive.

Both he and Vallow allegedly began a campaign of murder, which also included their former spouses, after becoming obsessed with the idea of 'light' and 'dark' souls.

Daybell claimed to have established a bizarre rating system, with those seen as having a 'dark' soul considered to have become 'zombies'.

Two years before the children were killed in 2019, Daybell gave a wavering speech at a religious conference, where he muddled through a bizarre PowerPoint presentation that warned of the end of days.

First bringing up an image of a recently flooded religious 'temple' in Texas, Daybell said: 'Doesn't it really feel like, in the last two or three weeks, the eclipse is a sign of warning of what's coming?'

Daybell, who built a following as a doomsday predictor and religious fantasist, is facing several first degree murder charges

Listing off several other reasons the apocalypse may be looming, the doomsday author made a sharp segue to North Korea.

'They're going a little nuts right now,' he said. 'Kim Jong Un seems to be intent on causing havoc in the world, no question about it with him.

'Even as we speak, Hurricane Irma is on its way to Florida,' he continued. 'The earthquake in Mexico, but I didn't get it on (the PowerPoint) as it just happened.

'The fires in California and Montana - it just feels like times are starting to begin.'

Daybell, who ultimately predicted the 'end times' would occur in July 2020, self-deprecatingly brought up an image of Woody Harrelson from the disaster movie '2012'.

'Here's one of my new favorite characters,' he said. 'Because this is how people think I act... that's honestly how my relatives think I acted the last five years.

'But he was right!' he added.

The murder trial of Daybell's wife Lori Vallow, center, started this month. She is pictured in August 2022

The key individuals in Lori Vallow's tangled family tree, including her five husbands, two dead children and killer brother

Daybell, who often spoke of readying people for outlandish theories of the end of civilization, concluded his speech by saying: 'We can prepare ourselves to survive through these trials that are coming.

'And that's the whole reason you're here right now, I know that the spirit has guided you and prompted you that you have a role to play... it might be by baby steps, but you're going to get there eventually.'

Daybell's murder trial is set to commence at a later date after a judge separated his case from Vallow's - but he has been a central figure in his wife's hearing this month.

On the fourth day of the harrowing trial, it emerged that Daybell delivered a telling 'blessing' to thank Vallow's brother Alex Cox after he allegedly helped murder her two children.

Daybell, pictured during a court hearing in August 2020, built a following as a religious fantasist who warned of an impending apocalypse

Alex Cox, who also shot dead Vallow's former husband, was told he had 'assisted us in ways that cannot be repaid'.

Jurors were played a 15-minute recording of the 'patriarchal blessing', in which Daybell falsely claimed to be a member of the priesthood. He described Cox as a great warrior who was selected to help protect your sister.

'You have already assisted us in ways that can never be repaid, but you will continue to do so as you move forward in this life, Daybell said.

In another piece of damning testimony, Vallow's former best friend Melanie Gibb took the stand while a 15-minute recording of a phone conversation between the two and Daybell was played to the court.

During the call, Vallow hauntingly insists that her son JJ was 'safe and happy', months after she allegedly partnered with her doomsday cult husband to murder the boy.

Gibb claimed that Daybell previously called her and instructed her not to talk to police if they contacted her about the missing children.

Vallow also makes the chilling claim that she could reveal her son's whereabouts, but that 'would not be good for JJ'. Several months later, the little boys badly decomposed body was found buried near his sisters remains in Daybells backyard.
For the best part a decade, he has championed gay rights, diversity  and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.

Now, though, Vogue editor Edward Enninful has come under attack from his own supporters, including the so-called Sussex Squad of Meghan fans, after daring to write a Time Magazine essay praising King Charles III.

Commissioned to write an entry for Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2023, Mr Enninful described the King as 'charming', 'funny' and 'kind'.

He made a special point of praising the good work that Charles's charity, The Prince's Trust, has done  explaining that it helped people he knew find work when he was growing up on a council estate in west London.

Vogue editor Edward Enninful pictured with King Charles at a Prince's Trust event in 2021. Enninful has come under attack from his own supporters after writing a glowing portrait of the monarch for Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2023

The editor of British Vogue, 51, was a one-time pal of the Duchess of Sussex. The pair collaborated on Vogue's Forces for Change issue in September 2019

As the Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, the country's leading fashion magazine, Mr Enninful has become a leading figure in Britain's 'diverse' establishment

And he concluded that King Charles is as a monarch who can 'evolve with the times' despite being head of an 'imperfect' institution.

Not everyone agreed. In fact, when Ghana-born Mr Enninful shared the profile, 'Monarch for a New Age', to his Instagram page, the response was immediate - and explosive.

Some expressed fury at his support for the Windsors, with one claiming 'This man [Charles] along with Camilla, William and Kate have allowed the English media to terrorise this black woman [Meghan].'

Another fan said: 'I'm surprised and disappointed by your support and ongoing coverage of that undeserving family - just think of what could be done with their ill-gotten gains!'

One commenter inferred that Mr Enninful had in some way been forced to write the article saying, 'Edward blink twice if you're being held hostage because what the f**k is this?'

User Mutsa Mandizha wrote: 'I hope that you and other blacks who are in a privileged position of having contact with the monarch and the institution were able to have the difficult conversations that us mere mortals are unable to have...

'Who would forget Princess Michael of Kent's attitude towards The Duchess of Sussex and the rest?'

(Princess Michael was photographed wearing a 'blackamoor' brooch to a 2017 reception at which the duchess was present. She later apologised for any offence caused.)

Ms Mandizha continued: 'I really hope that our Black celebrities who have achieved fame and fortune are able to represent their fellow men and are able to stand up and be counted when it comes to challenging these deep-rooted discriminatory things and racism.

'You are one of those people we look up to - it's a tall order we know but please lest we forget our people whilst pursuing our own goals ambitions and fame.'

Yet another poster accused Mr Enninful, 51, of writing the article because he had received an OBE in 2016.

Enninful made a point of praising the good work done by Charles's charity, The Prince's Trust

King Charles at the Prince's Trust Awards 2022 meeting 'Celebrity Ambassadors', who include Amal Clooney (left) and Edward Enninful (centre), the editor of British Vogue

Mr Enninful, known to his fans as 'EE', is a former model who has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence. As the Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, the country's leading fashion magazine, he has become a leading figure in Britain's 'diverse' establishment and is lauded by those opposed to 'male, pale and stale' influence in positions of power.

Some see Mr Enninful as a younger rival to 73-year-old Anna Wintour, who as Editor-in-Chief of Vogue - including its international editions - is his current boss.

Mr Enninful was once such close friends with Meghan Markle that he sent text messages of support during her blockbuster television interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

The editor collaborated with Meghan on a special edition of Vogue, titled Forces for Change, in September 2019.

Mr Enninful is also a long-standing supporter of the King's charity work, however. He has been a 'global ambassador' for The Prince's Trust since 2021 and has consistently praised its achievements. In 2022, he chaired The Prince's Trust Gala Dinner in New York with Lionel Ritchie.

'The monarchy is not perfect,' said Mr Ennninful in the profile. 'But in Charles we have a King who understands both tradition and what it takes to evolve with the times'.

It is notable that Mr Enninful has refused to remove the critical comments  common practice among some celebrities.

The social media 'pile-on' came just days after Mia Farrow, 78, surprised her fans with a dismissive Twitter comment about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

The social media 'pile-on' came just days after Mia Farrow surprised her fans with a dismissive Twitter comment about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The Rosemary's Baby star, 78, wrote: 'Here's my unkind thought of the day: 'I'm getting a little bit tired of Harry and Meghan.'

The message went down badly with online fans of Harry and Meghan, one branding it 'cruel and unnecessary'.

It also seemed to concern some of Farrow's Twitter followers and she deleted the post.
The Royal Navy's most expensive warship ever is set to spend a full year tied up in port after breaking down, six months longer than originally planned.

HMS Prince of Wales is being repaired at a shipyard in Rosyth, Scotland, after embarrassingly breaking down en route to America last August.

Ministry of Defence officials had previously said that repairs to a propeller would be completed by this spring.

But in February it was revealed that the repairs to the starboard screw had revealed that both driveshafts were misaligned, which could lead to excessive vibration and further damage.

The 3.2billion ocean giant, a sister ship to Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth, has already spent far longer tied up in port than she has at sea since being commissioned in 2019.

Ministers have now confirmed she is expected to be operational by the autumn at the earliest, with repairs set to be followed by upgrade works ahead of deployment next year.

The cost of the work has also soared to 25million, they confirmed. They also suggested that they will attempt to claw back the eight-figure cost of the repairs from French-owned firm Thales, responsible for the propulsion system in the consortium that built the ship, and Kongsberg, the Norwegian builder of the parts.

Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey said: 'At a time when threats are rising, we need our Navy's ships at sea keeping us safe, not stuck in dock for repeated repairs.

HMS Prince of Wales is being repaired at a shipyard in Rosyth, Scotland, after embarrassingly breaking down en route to America last August.

The 3.2billion ocean giant, a sister ship to Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth, has already spent far longer tied up in port than she has at sea since being commissioned in 2019.

The 3.2bn warship, the newest of Britain's two aircraft carriers, was supposed to sail to America on Friday August 26 last year, but she was barely out of the Solent before she suffered a serious fault

Ministers have now confirmed she is expected to be operational by the autumn at the earliest, with repairs set to be followed by upgrade works ahead of deployment next year.

'HMS Prince of Wales is brand new and a NATO flagship and ministers cannot allow ongoing problems to undermine the ability of our armed forces to lead important joint exercises.

'The Conservatives must be up front about the impact of these delays on the UK's ability to meet our commitments to NATO and our allies in full.'

The warship down off the Isle of Wight in August after sailing from Portsmouth Naval Base to take part in flight trials and diplomatic visits in the US.

Inspections by divers and engineers found that the 33-ton starboard propeller, the same weight as 30 Ford Fiesta cars, had malfunctioned with a coupling holding it in place breaking.

The carrier was taken back to Portsmouth for further examination by engineers from Babcock before the decision was taken for it to travel to Rosyth, Fife, where it was built, to undergo repairs in dry dock.

The journey to Scotland with a tug cost 246,000 alone, ministers previously admitted.

HMS Queen Elizabeth pictured returning to Portsmouth after picking up the diplomatic mission of HMS Prince of Wales in America

Its sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth changed its autumn plans to travel to the US to take over some of the planned engagements including hosting the Atlantic Future Forum in New York - a defence conference aimed at strengthening UK and US bonds.

In response to a written question by Labour peer Lord West of Spithead, defence minister Baroness Goldie said: 'We remain committed to ensuring HMS Prince of Wales (PWLS) commences her operational programme, as planned, in autumn 2023. This will include operational flying training and trials.'

In a second reply, to Lib Dem Lord Lee of Trafford, she added: 'During this period the focus has been on achieving repairs whilst maximising opportunities for capability upgrades to ensure PWLS is prepared to become the UK Very High Readiness Strike Carrier in 2024.

'These upgrades have been conducted in parallel to ensure efficiency and value for money. The estimated cost of repairs are expected to be approximately 25 million, however responsibility for payment has not yet been established therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further.'

In February, Defence Minister Alex Chalk said: 'In September 2022, HMS Prince of Wales suffered a starboard shaft coupling failure.

'During the investigation into the cause of the defect, an issue was also identified with HMS Prince of Wales's port shaft, and to prevent a similar defect occurring, rectification of this issue is expected to be completed before she commences her operational programme'.

It is the latest mishap to strike the ship. In 2020, an investigation was launched after a pipe caused an ankle-high flood.

A video posted on Facebook showed water gushing through the ceiling and flooding an entire room while the carrier was docked in Portsmouth.

But it was quickly dealt with and its functions were not affected.
From the birth of the Queen to the spectacular wedding of Grace Kelly, this week was an eventful one in royal history.

The arrival of Her Late Majesty, on April 21, 1926, was then relatively unheralded, given the fact that her father was at the time merely the understated Duke of York.

But by the time she launched the Royal Yacht Britannia, on April 16, 1953, the woman who was born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary had been the Queen for a little over three months.

Still grieving from the death of her father, who became King George VI after his brother Edward VIII's abdication, she was at the start of her 70-year reign - one which was defined by the solemn vow she made on her 21st birthday in 1947.

She famously promised that her 'whole life' would be 'devoted' to the service of Britons and the millions of others living in the British Empire and Commonwealth.

In contrast to the Queen, Hollywood star Kelly was not born into royalty but instead married into it - on April 18 in 1956, when she tied the knot with Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Here, we take a look back through the archives...

The birth of Queen Elizabeth II

The arrival of Her Late Majesty, on April 21, 1926, was then relatively unheralded, given the fact that she was merely the daughter of the understated Duke of York

When Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary arrived into the world at 2.40am on April 21, 1926, no one could have known that this daughter of the Duke of York would become the Queen.

Then, her father, the future King George VI, was three years in to his marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and the pair were looking forward to a life largely out of the public spotlight.

But the course of the tiny princess's life would be changed forever a little over a decade later, when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated in December 1936 so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

The Daily Mail reporting the news of the then Princess Elizabeth's birth

Had Edward remained monarch and married someone else, he would likely have had his own children, meaning the Queen would have remained a princess and would most likely never have become monarch.

She was born at at 17 Bruton Street in London's Mayfair in what was the year of the General Strike.

A bulletin was issued to the Press the following day. It read: 'The Duchess of York has had some rest since this arrival of her daughter.

'Her Royal Highness and the infant Princess are making very satisfactory progress.'

The Daily Mail published the first pictures of the newborn Princess Elizabeth in the month after she was born. Above: She is seen in a cot being watched over by her mother

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary arrived into the world at 2.40am on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street (pictured) in London's Mayfair in the year of the General Strike

The Daily Mail published the first pictures of the newborn Princess Elizabeth in the month after she was born.

The Bruton Street home belonged to Elizabeth's Scottish grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore.

Her mother and father had moved into the house only weeks before her birth.

The property and its surrounding homes were demolished in the late 1930s and replaced with an office complex.

Today, a Chinese restaurant stands near where 17 Bruton Street once stood.

The Queen's 21st birthday speech

It was on the occasion of her 21st birthday, on April 21, 1947, when Princess Elizabeth was on a tour of South Africa with her parents and younger sister, Princess Margaret, that she uttered the solemn vow that would end up defining her 70-year reign.

Speaking in a filmed radio broadcast from Cape Town, she famously said: 'I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.'

Her Late Majesty addressed not only her British subjects but the millions of people living in what was then the British Empire and Commonwealth.

It was on the occasion of her 21st birthday, on April 21, 1947, when Princess Elizabeth was on a tour of South Africa with her parents and younger sister, Princess Margaret, that she uttered the solemn vow that would end up defining her 70-year reign.

Earlier in her speech, she referenced the hardship of the war, saying: 'Although there is none of my father's subjects from the oldest to the youngest whom I do not wish to greet, I am thinking especially today of all the young men and women who were born about the same time as myself and have grown up like me in terrible and glorious years of the second world war.

'Will you, the youth of the British family of nations, let me speak on my birthday as your representative?

'Now that we are coming to manhood and womanhood it is surely a great joy to us all to think that we shall be able to take some of the burden off the shoulders of our elders who have fought and worked and suffered to protect our childhood.

'We must not be daunted by the anxieties and hardships that the war has left behind for every nation of our commonwealth. We know that these things are the price we cheerfully undertook to pay for the high honour of standing alone, seven years ago, in defence of the liberty of the world.

Her Late Majesty addressed not only her British subjects but the millions of people living in what was then the British Empire and Commonwealth. Above: Princess Elizabeth poses for a photograph on her 21st birthday

'Let us say with Rupert Brooke: "Now God be thanked who has matched us with this hour".

Seven months after the speech, the Princess married Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey.

As Queen, Her Late Majesty would undertake more than 200 visits to Commonwealth countries, demonstrating her devotion to royal service.

Launch of the Royal Yacht Britannia

The Queen's beloved Royal Yacht Britannia was launched by Her Late Majesty on April 16, 1953.

The launch took place at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, where the vessel had been built.

Accompanied by Prince Philip, she told a huge crowd: 'I name this ship Britannia. I wish success to her and to all who sail in her.'

Amid loud cheers, she then released a bottle of Empire Wine, which smashed on the side of the vessel.

A rendition of Rule Britannia then played as the ship entered open water.

The Queen's beloved Royal Yacht Britannia was launched by Her Late Majesty on April 16, 1953, when she was just over two months into her reign. Above: The Queen and Prince Philip look up at the ship before the launching ceremony

Spectators cheer as the Royal Yacht enters the water following the launching ceremony

For the next 44 years, until the ship was retired by Tony Blair's Labour government in 1997, the Queen would use the yacht both as a beloved refuge and for official overseas tours.

At 412ft long and weighing nearly 6,000 tons, at the time of her launch the Britannia was the largest yacht in the world.

During the summer, the ship would travel to the Cowes Week regatta of the Isle of Wight, and then for the Royal Family's annual holiday at Balmoral in Scotland.

She also carried out 968 official voyages, sailing more than a million miles.

The Daily Mail reported on the ship's launch, which took place at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire

The Queen would be accompanied by a retinue of up to 45 household staff, including a hairdresser, surgeon and chauffeur.

They would take on board five tons of luggage, including the Queen's favoured Malvern mineral water and a set of mourning clothes in case of an unexpected death in royal circles.

At her emotional decommissioning ceremony, the Queen was famously seen crying in public for the first time.

She was having to say goodbye to both a ship and a much-loved home.

Wedding of Prince Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly

In what was dubbed 'the wedding of the century', Hollywood superstar Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco between the 18th and 19th of April in 1956.

The couple had two ceremonies, an initial civil one and then the grand religious union the following day.

By then, Grace was 26 and Prince Rainier was 32.

She was at the peak of her career and had starred in productions including 'Dial M for Murder' and 'Rear Window'.

She and the prince had become engaged the previous year, after secretly corresponding with each other.

In what was dubbed 'the wedding of the century', Hollywood superstar Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco between the 18th and 19th of April in 1956

Kelly's dress was made up of 300 yards of antique Belgian lace and 150 yards of silk, taffeta and tulle

MGM, the film studio that had shepherded Kelly through her biggest years as a star, provided two wedding dresses, both of which were designed by Academy Award-winning Helen Rose.

Among the 700 guests was shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (later Mr Jackie Kennedy), hotel developer Conrad Hilton and film stars David Niven, Cary Grant, and Ava Gardner.

For the civil ceremony at the Palace of Monaco, Kelly was clad in a light pink taffeta two-piece ensemble overlaid with champagne-coloured French Alencon lace.

The pair were legally married in the space of just 16 minutes, before guests had to listen as Kelly's 140 new titles were read out over the course of a further 25 minutes.

The second ceremony took place at the principality's Saint Nicholas Cathedral the following day.

As 30million watched on television, Kelly arrived in a dress that was made up of 300 yards of antique Belgian lace and 150 yards of silk, taffeta and tulle.

The Daily Mail reported on both the civil ceremony and the religious one that followed the following day

Kelly opted against wearing a tiara and instead wore a Juliet Cap to hold her veil in place.

The veil, made up of 90 yards of tulle, had been crafted to make sure the actress's face would not be obscured from the cameras.

Kelly also wore a smallish 2.5-inch heel so she would not be taller than her husband.

The shoes themselves had the couple's names engraved in them.

Princess Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco wave from an open car following their wedding at the Monaco Cathedral on April 19, 1956

The new royal couple are seen after tying the knot in Monaco on April 19, 1956

Kelly's dress is said to have inspired gowns including Kate Middleton's Alexander McQueen creation

Her dress was so iconic that it still inspires wedding dresses to this day.

The couple's only son, Prince Albert, later said of the event: 'It was such an incredible affair, and it's left such a mark on people.

'For us, it was  and you'll have to ask my sisters [Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie]  for us it was our parents getting married.

'But what it's meant for Monaco, for people around the world, and, how their story continues to fascinate people, that's something unimaginable.'

Betrothal of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin of France

On April 19 in 1548, Mary, Queen of Scots - the only legitimate child of King James V of Scotland - was betrothed to the Dauphin of France when she was aged just five.

A decade later, she tied the knot with the Dauphin, who would become King Francis II of France the following year.

Mary, who had been Queen of Scotland since just days after her birth, was then widowed in 1560, when her husband died from an unknown illness.

When the English Queen Mary was succeeded by her sister, Elizabeth, Mary - the granddaughter of King Henry VII - was seen by her Stuart supporters as the rightful heir to the throne of England.

Her marriage in 1565 to her second cousin Henry, Lord Darnley (who was the great-grandson of Henry VII), then triggered a series of tragic events.

On this day in 1548, Mary, Queen of Scots - the only legitimate child of King James V of Scotland - was betrothed to the Dauphin of France when she was aged just five

Darnley, who was spoilt and petulant, had became the focus of her enemies and their relationship became difficult.

The birth of their son, James, did little to improve it and when Darnley was murdered in 1567, people began to suspect she was involved.

Her marriage three months later to the Earl of Bothwell - who was generally believed to be the murderer - brought her ruin with Protestant Lords rising against her in a battle at Carberry Hill, near Edinburgh, on June 15, 1567.

She later surrendered and was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, Kinross-shire, and forced to abdicate in favour of her son. Bothwell had fled but was arrested and held prisoner until his death.

Mary escaped from Lochleven in 1568 and after another failed battle went to England, where she hoped Queen Elizabeth I would support her cause, but she was kept in captivity in the country for 19 years.

A number of Roman Catholic plots against Queen Elizabeth led her ministers to demand Mary's execution.

She was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire on Feburary 8, 1587, aged 44.
Alan Davidson name-checked reforms of the Open Apps Market Act in a call with reporters - a bill that would eviscerate Apple's control over its own app store

Google has deep ties to the Biden White House - which some staffers are now calling a' huge conflict'.

The official heading off the president's Big Tech policy spent nearly two decades working for Google and companies tied to the search engine giant, and now pushes for legislation that targets Google's primary business enemy, Apple.

Meanwhile, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain this week took a job at law firm O'Melveny, which counts Google as a client.

Alan Davidson, assistant Commerce secretary, has led the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) since January 2022. In February of this year, Davidson's NTIA released a report that called for increased competition and an end to self-preferencing in the app marketplace.

Critics say the proposals amount to a slap on the wrist for Google but would be hugely damaging for Google's top competitor, Apple.

They say Davidson could also have a hand in the Biden administration's hesitance to put anti-trust legislation front and center of its agenda.

Alan Davidson, assistant Commerce secretary, has led the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) since January 2022

'Davidson had a clear hand in Biden's tech agenda - his ties to Google are a huge conflict and likely a reason why the Biden administration has not been more successful on anti-trust.

'When you hire the former head of Google's lobbying shop, you let the fox in the henhouse,' said one former Democratic congressional staffer.

'I think the revolving door between the Biden administration and the tech is pervasive. And Alan Davidson is one of the big examples of that,' said another Democratic operative.

'Any time you have big tech going into Biden world and Biden people going into big tech, it just ensures that those companies have more access and influence.'

Davidson himself name-checked reforms of the Open Apps Market Act in a call with reporters - a bill that would eviscerate Apple's control over its own app store.

It would hurt Google's control over its Android app store as well, but on a far smaller scale - Apple generated $72 billion from its app store in 2020, nearly twice as much as Google generated from its Google Play store.

Both Apple and Google take nearly 30 percent of every app store purchase.

'I would note that, you know, many of our recommendations would be answered... and addressed by legislation such as the Open App Markets Act, as it was introduced last year. So we'll be looking forward to seeing what comes this year,' Davidson said after the report was released in February.

In February of this year, Davidson's NTIA released a report that called for increased competition and an end to self-preferencing in the app marketplace

Critics say the proposals amount to a light slap on the wrist for Google but would be hugely damaging for Google's top competitor, Apple

While he said the report was not an endorsement of any specific bill, its proposals largely mirrored the bipartisan Open Apps Market Act.

'Consumers, for the most part, can't get apps outside of the app store model This means that innovators have very limited avenues for reaching consumers, and consumers have very limited choice or no choice about where to get their apps,' said Davidson.

While today iPhone users can only purchase apps from the Apple app store, under the Open App Markets Act Apple would be required to allow third-party app stores on its phones.

But the Open Apps Market Act is only one bill in a broader package - it focuses narrowly on self-preferencing behavior in the app marketplace, leaving out other online platforms for self-preferencing.

'The fact that you have a former Google exec appointed to lead the agency that is taking a stance on a bill that would heavily favor Google is super problematic,' said the former Democrat staffer.

'President Biden has an agenda that wants to hold tech accountable,' the source said. 'But there are forces within the agencies that are actively pushing against that agenda. And that's because they've either worked for or plan to work for or are close friends with, you know, big tech executives.'

With self-preferencing in the digital space, Google dominated the digital ad marketplace  bringing in a projected $168 billion in 2022 compared to Apple's $7 billion.

Apple's app store is already far more restricted than Google's, having tough guidelines for the applications it allows on the platform. Should the Open Apps Market Act become law, Apple and Google would essentially give up control of their app stores.

Meta, Amazon and Google focused most of their lobbying efforts on opposing AICOA. For Apple, AICOA and Open Apps Market Act were tied for the top bills they lobbied against.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prevent all tech giants from using any of their platforms to disadvantage competitors - Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple and the like.

From 2005 to 2012, Davidson ran Google's public policy team in the U.S. He was Google's first policy staffer in DC, overseeing the launch and expansion of Google's DC office.

Under Davidson's leadership, Google registered its first in-house federal lobbyists and exponentially expanded its lobbying operation. The Center for Responsive Politics observed in 2010 that Google had 'gone from a veritable non-entity in the early decade to one of the largest lobbying forces among its peers.'

Under Davidson, Google launched its political action committee, NETPAC, which Davidson sat on the board of.

In May 2010 White House deputy technology chief Andrew McLaughlin was reprimanded for violating the Obama administration's ethics pledge after emails became public showing McLaughlin communicating with former colleagues at Google, including Davidson.

Davidson and McLaughlin exchanged emails on McLaughlin's personal email account regarding potential fallout from comments McLaughlin made on net neutrality. Davidson pledged to 'tee up' an advocacy group to defend him and to talk to reporters.

Davidson himself was personally registered to lobby for Google from 2007 through 2010. He lobbied Congress and a variety of executive branch offices, including NTIA.

As of May 2021, Davidson had about $15,000 in Google parent company Alphabet stock, which he was required to divest from upon taking the NTIA position.

Between 2014 and 2018, Davidson worked for the New America Foundation, a think tank that received $21 million in funding from Google and its then-CEO Eric Schmidt.

Prior to joining Google, Davidson spent 10 years as the associate director for the Center for Democracy & Technology. As of 2021, Google was one of CDT's top three largest annual donors.

Last Congress advocates criticized the White House for failing to utilize Democratic control of the White House and both chambers on Capitol Hill to prioritize legislation to take on Big Tech.

Biden waited until January of this year to make one of his most pointed calls yet in an op-ed he penned directing Congress to pass legislation to rein in tech platforms.

He first called for privacy protections that limit data collection and ban targeted advertising for kids and called for reform of Section 230 - which grants social media platforms immunity for what users post on their sites while preserving their ability to moderate content.

Referencing a line he made in both last year's and again in this year's State of the Union address, Biden said: 'We must hold social-media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit.'

'Ban targeted advertising to children and impose stricter limits on the personal data the companies collect on all of us,' Biden said in his 2023 State of the Union Tuesday night.
When tech mogul Bob Lee was stabbed in a posh San Francisco enclave in early April, people assumed rising crime rates in the city were to blame for what appeared to be a random act of violence.

It came as a shock to many when an acquaintance of the CashApp co-founder, 38-year-old Nima Momeni, was arrested and charged with his murder.

Both prosecutors and Momeni's defense team agree that the victim and his alleged killer knew each other through Momeni's sister, Khazar Elyassnia, who has been friends with Lee for many years.

'Bob Lee and his sister definitely knew each other,' said Paula Canny, Momeni's lawyer in a recent interview with the NYPost. 'There's a group of well-to-do young people who liked to party.'

According to court documents, Elyassnia and Lee spent time together the day he was stabbed to death and prosecutors say their interaction prompted a dispute between Momeni and Lee.

Witnesses told police that the suspect was seen allegedly grilling Lee about whether Elyassnia had been 'doing drugs or anything inappropriate.' Prosecutors believe that dispute carried over into the evening and turned fatal.

'The defendant not only drove the victim to a secluded area in the opposite direction of his hotel but brought a kitchen knife with him. Defendant did not use some type of pocket knife, but a cooking knife from an apartment and kitchen,' read a court document.

Momeni is due back in court for his arraignment April 25.

Watch the video below in which we untangle the mystery and a possible motive.
A man who lost his leg in a horrific forklift accident has revealed shocking details about the incident and the way it drastically changed his life.

Mark Ellis's right leg had to be amputated following an accident at a warehouse in Sydney in May 2016.

Mr Ellis said he had gone out to 'look for some material' before a 'split second lack of concentration' cost him a limb.

'During that process, I took a step back to look upwards and the guy on the big side-loader forklift collided with me and dragged my right foot underneath the forklift,' he told 7News.

Mr Ellis relived the horrifying experience at a safety conference at Sydney Markets on Tuesday, as authorities look into ways of improving worker safety.

Mark Ellis now walks with a prosthetic leg after losing his right leg in a forklift accident in 2016

His right leg was crushed to the knee and eventually needed to be amputated.

Mr Ellis says he now walks with a prosthetic leg, which he said has meant he needs to plan his day to day life more carefully.

He regularly speaks at conferences as a SafeWork Ambassador with forklift operators to educate them about workplace safety and to help prevent similar accidents.

Mr Ellis believes it is important to share the personal details of his experience as it may help others to be more aware of their conduct in workplaces where forklifts operate.

'Every boss in the world can get up and tell his staff: "Here's safety, here's what we need to do, here's the things you need to look out for",' he said.

'But if they see a bloke stand up there with one leg, who was involved in an incident ... the impact and the message coming from someone like me, who they can see standing here with a prosthetic leg, has much more impact.'

Mr Ellis said he has witnessed people being moved by the sharing of his story.

'You can really see that they've been impacted, whether they feel sorry for you or whatever, it drives home the message to them that if we stuff up here, that's what I could do to one of my workmates,' he said.

Mr Ellis says while he has only ever seen photos of his crushed leg after the incident, his coworkers saw it play out in real time.

'They'll never forget that, ever,' he said.

Mr Ellis said the accident was so traumatising for his coworkers the business closed for five days.

He also said the ordeal has had an 'enormous' impact on his partner.

'Life is OK but you just do a lot of things a lot differently,' he said.

'I'm lucky enough, I can still do lots of things I enjoy and did enjoy in the past ... but you have to think about it a lot more now.'

Mr Ellis now speaks at conferences to warn others about the dangers of forklifts (stock image pictured)

The NSW state government plans to increase the presence of safety inspectors in the workplace (stock image pictured)

NSW Industrial Relations and Minister for Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis joined Mr Ellis at the safety conference at Sydney Markets.

Ms Cotsis said similar safety conferences will be rolled out across the state as part of a plan to reduce injuries in the workplace.

'For forklift safety, we want to see zero-tolerance and that's why today's session was very, very important,' she said.

The NSW state government also plans to increase the presence of safety inspectors in the workplace.

According to the Australian Institute of Work & Safety, more workplace injuries and deaths involve forklifts than any other type of equipment.

In the past four years, eight people have died as a result of forklift incidents in the workplace.
But it has been hit by a tumultuous few years including the suicide of its CFO

The retailer thrived in the pandemic, commanding 1,500 stores across the US

Bed Bath & Beyond could file for chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as this weekend

Bed Bath & Beyond is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy within days, concluding a disastrous few years for the homeware giant.

The retailer's collapse could be finalized as soon as this weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal, as its plummeting stock price could cause the company to fall into default.

Following several catastrophic years plagued with supply chain disruptions and the tragic suicide of its CFO, the retail behemoth is set for bankruptcy despite already announcing a slate of store closures and staff layoffs.

To avert chapter 11 bankruptcy, also known as 'reorganization' bankruptcy, the company recently said it needed to find $300 million in share sales by April 26.

But as of April 10, the company had reportedly raised just $48.5 million from stock sales. With 178 million shares still available at the time, and a Wednesday stock valuation of just 46 cents at closing, selling the remainder of its shares would fail to net the retailer more than $80 million.

The once-powerful business has been one of the hardest hit stores as 'retail apocalypse' swept the nation, with early-year reports showing a 40 percent to 50 percent decline of in-store sales for the financial quarter ending in February.

Bed Bath & Beyond is reportedly set to file for bankruptcy by the weekend

The business once thrived in the pandemic and commanded 1,500 stores across the US, before being hit with a tumultuous few years

Over 800 store closures have been announced for this year among numerous iconic brands, with Tuesday Morning and Foot Locker set to close hundreds of locations.

And amid a tumultuous few years that included the tragic suicide of its CFO in September 2022, Bed Bath & Beyond previously warned it would be forced to file for bankruptcy if it couldn't save its failing bottom line.

The company also cautioned that its bankruptcy would mean it will be forced to liquidate its assets.

Its collapse came after a period of relative success, where the Covid-19 pandemic saw homeowners trapped inside, causing a surge in demand for Bed Bath & Beyond stock.

The company attempted to roll out a series of new products to capitalize on the new demand in 2021. But when the retail industry was subsequently hit with supply chain problems, the company's bold plan suffered.

Bed Bath & Beyond would lose millions in its unsold stockpile, setting up a lengthy spell of decline that has resulted in reports of an imminent bankruptcy.

As it faced a poor financial outlook, the business kicked off 2022 with a devastating earnings report that showed its net sales fell 28%, while its net losses ballooned by over $75 million.

By April, the company reported it was running at a net loss of $159 million, compared to a $9 million profit the year before, according to Retail Dive.

With the company's finances spiraling, its CFO Gustavo Arnal, 52, jumped from his 18th floor apartment to his death in Manhattan in September.

His suicide came days after the embattled retailer announced it was shuttering stores and laying off workers, alongside news that Arnal - as well as the company - were being sued over accusations it artificially inflated the firm's stock price in a 'pump and dump' scheme.

Faced with a dire financial outlook, the retail giant has also identified at least 416 US stores and 46 Canadian stores for closure by the end of 2023. While it once owned more than 1,500 locations across the country, it previously announced plans to end the year with just 480.

Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Gustavo Arnal, 52, committed suicide in September 2022

Arnal, right, jumped to his death from the 18th floor of Manhattan's 'Jenga' tower - two days after the firm announced plans to lay off thousands of staff and close 150 stores

Amid reports that the business has gone belly up, Bed Bath & Beyond also faces another looming financial deadline.

Lenders Sixth Street Partners and JP Morgan Chase & Co. are reportedly requiring the retailer to raise $232 million by June 27.

Last month, the struggling business also ended a financial deal with hedge fund manager Hudson Bay Capital Management, which would have seen the homeware company supplied with up to $1 billion to fund a revival.

Bed Bath & Beyond is not the only major US store to hit hard times, however, with many iconic brands also announcing a swathe of store closures.

Nearly 850 big box stores are set to be shuttered by the end of 2023 as retailers are being forced into desperate cost-cutting measures.

Among the prominent stores to close down locations across the US includes Walmart, Amazon, CVS, Foot Locker and Macy's.

DailyMail.com has contacted Bed Bath & Beyond for comment.
Re-surfaced tweets show Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers were both strong supporters of raising the dole before the last election - but now they're in power, their tune appears to have changed.

In a chain of posts from 2020, then-opposition leader Anthony Albanese and shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the current JobSeeker payments weren't enough.

A new report has found that parts of the welfare system are 'seriously inadequate' and recommended payments for unemployed people be increased by 40 per cent, bringing the fortnightly amount to just under $1,000.

Mr Chalmers has indicated that the government is set to reject this recommendation.

JobSeeker currently pays $693.10 to single people with no kids - or just $49.50 a day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his treasurer have come under fire for seemingly abandoning the position they took on raising the dole in tweets the pair posted on the election trail in 2020

The then-opposition leader said in July 2020 that JobSeeker payments weren't enough to live off

While on the campaign trail in July, 2020, then-opposition leader Albanese slammed the current payments.

'The Government has been forced to admit that $40 a day isn't enough to live on,' the ALP leader said at the time.

'In the aftermath of the pandemic, we can't have people sliding back into poverty.

'Because when Australians fall on hard times, we should help them get back on their feet.'

Another tweet from Mr Chalmers from October, 2020 said the government needed a plan to raise JobSeeker payments.

'There is no plan to lift the permanent rate of JobSeeker from $40 per day, tackle insecure work, create opportunities for women or to improve access to child care,' he wrote.

'While the average worker will receive a $50 per fortnight tax cut, millions on JobKeeper have seen their payment cut by at least $300 per fortnight.'

In December of the same year, Labor MP Julian Hill said that 1.5million Australians would fall into poverty if they were forced to live on $40 a day.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has indicated that he will not follow the recommendation of a new report which says payments for unemployed people should be increased by 40 per cent

In October 2020 the then-Shadow Treasurer tackled the Coalition government for not having a plan to increase JobSeeker payments

An Interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee report recommended increasing JobSeeker and urged that welfare payments must be a first priority for the government in their upcoming budget.

The likely rejection of the report's recommendation to increase JobSeeker comes as NDIS Minister Bill Shorten conceded that he couldn't live on the $693 fortnightly payments.

'I couldn't live on it,' Mr Shorten said during an interview.

'Im not going to say that its easy for people, but the decision about raising any rate is going to be one for the government and our economic team,' Mr Shorten told Sky News.
Police hope the vision will result in new leads in murder investigation

'Brownie' Ahmad was shot and killed in Sydney's south-west in 2022

The chilling final moments of underworld figure Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad has been released as police continue to investigate his murder almost a year on from his death.

The 39-year-old gangster was shot and killed on a street in Greenacre in Sydney's south-west at about 9.30pm on April 27, 2022.

The killing was initially investigated by detectives from the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad under Strike Force Betta but subsequently formed part of ongoing inquiries by Taskforce Erebus into fatal shootings and organised crime activity across Sydney.

In a bid to uncover new paths of enquiry, Taskforce Erebus investigators released CCTV footage of Ahmad's shooting, which showed the slain crime boss outside his home before a white Porsche drives past and unloads a barrage of bullets in the direction of Ahmad.

The gunman then fled the scene of the crime with a burnt-out car connected to the shooting found a short distance away.

Chilling CCTV vision showing the final moments of underworld figure Mahmoud 'Brownie' Ahmad has been released as police appeal for new information almost a year on from his death (pictured)

Ahmad was shot multiple times and was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics but died at the scene.

He had been visiting an associate when he was killed.

Before his death, Ahmad ignored numerous warnings that he'd been made a marked man after killing a gangland rival, with a rumoured $1million bounty on his life.

Ahmad dodged a previous attempt on his life in broad daylight in Rushcutters Bay the previous year after receiving a police tip-off.

Almost a year after the gangster's murder, police are still searching for the gunman and Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, hopes the release of the CCTV vision could lead to new information.

'We have several pieces of information which have come through to us, but detectives are still working through what happened that Wednesday night,' Det Supt Doherty said.

'While we have canvassed the area and spoken to a number of neighbours, there are still people who are yet to come forward and assist us with our inquiries.

'Taskforce Erebus investigators are examining all elements of these murders  before, during, and after the fact  and we are urging anyone who believes they have crucial information to speak to police.'

Ahmad, 39, (pictured) was gunned down in a 'hail of bullets' outside a suburban home in Greenacre at around 9:30pm April 27, after a $1million bounty was placed on his head for killing a gangland rival

Ahmad was considered a marked man after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Safwan Charbaji, a gangland rival, in 2016.

He received a five-year sentence for the killing, walking free after six months.

Charbaji was shot dead outside his brother's Condell Park smash repair business, kickstarting Sydney's gangland executions.

Weeks after Charbaji's death, Ahmad's brother Walid 'Wally' Ahmad, was gunned down while sitting at a bustling Bankstown shopping centre cafe.

'Brownie' is one of 16 people who have died as part of Sydney's gangland wars in the last two years.

Four men have previously been charged over their alleged involvement in his murder, with charges against one of the men dropped at the start of the year.
A 70-year-old Russian woman has been charged for 'discrediting' the Russian military after describing Ukrainian President Zelensky, 45, as a 'handsome young man'.

Olga Slegina was handed a 40,000 ruble (393) fine for her comments made last December, according to the Memorial Human Rights Centre, based in Moscow.

At a health centre in Nalchik, near Georgia, she reportedly spoke to another woman who called Zelensky a 'freak', saying she thought he had 'a good sense of humour'.

In a Moscow Court hearing reported to have lasted only five minutes, the pensioner was charged under 'war censorship' laws introduced in March 2022.

Zelensky was a comedian and actor before he turned to politics. Slegina was tried for comments that included saying the Ukrainian President had a good sense of humour

According to Memorial, Slegina was tried for her comments made at the sanatorium last year and charged under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences.

The pensioner, from Moscow, was speaking to a woman from Odesa, Ukraine, over dinner about how to pronounce a Ukrainian word for a regional type of bread.

Waitress Natalya Zakharova joined the 'humorous' conversation on 24 December and was reported to have called Zelensky both 'ugly' and a 'freak' by different sources.

Slegina disregarded the comments, adding: 'Everyone used to laugh at his jokes.

'Don't Ukrainians in your republic shout "Glory to Ukraine" like we do in Moscow?'

Zelensky was a comedian and actor before he entered politics.

The censorship laws were introduced in March 2022 to provide 'huge administrative fines' for people who 'discredited' the Russian Armed Forces and its operations.

This includes the 'calls for prevention of the use of Russian Armed Forces for the interests of the Russia Federation'.

Three days later, Slegina was approached by a man in civilian clothes over the comments. He said three people had reported her to the police with statements.

She was taken to a police car and driven to a police station. They alleged that she had 'praised Zelensky', to which she said she had only remarked on his appearance.

She was interrogated and asked to sign a document, which she reportedly could not read properly due her cataracts.

She said she did not understand what was happening and wanted 'everything to end quickly'.

Memorial said that the document sign 'altered' her words as reported previously.

Putin signed the censorship laws brought in on 4 March to issue punishments for the dissemination of so-called 'unreliable information' about the Russian armed forces

Due to underlying health issues, Slegina was unable to attend her trial.

The presiding judge said it was not a good reason to postpone the court session.

'Slegina is not in intensive care... walks, alive, health,' she said.

Fined the equivalent of nearly 400, Slegina reportedly intends to file an appeal.

She was represented by a defence attorney from OVD-Info, an independent Russian human rights media project aimed at combating political persecution.
An Australian real estate agent found dead in the middle of a Bali street is being remembered by loved ones as a 'mate to so many'.

Charlie John Bradley, 28, was found dead outside a hospital in north Kuta after leaving a club on Sunday.

The keen amateur boxer had flown from Sydney on Thursday to attend a music festival on the popular holiday island with a friend.

His devastated mother Angela confirmed the sad news on social media this week.

Charlie James Bradley, 28, was found unresponsive outside the Bhaktivedanta Clinic in north Kuta after leaving a club on Sunday

Indonesian Police say they have launched an investigation into the real estate agent's death and have so far spoken to two witnesses

'This shocking news has rocked our family entirely, Charlie was loved by so many,' she wrote.

'Let this be a reminder to you all that life is too short, and hug those closest to you tightly.'

The property consultant worked for real estate firms like Belle and McGrath and specialised in the Newcastle market.

Mr Bradley, a UK citizen, migrated from Coventry to Sydney in 2013.

He posted a photo of himself posing in front of the Harbour Bridge with the caption: 'Beats Coventry I reckon'.

The 28-year-old's family, who live in Adelaide, are working with UK authorities to bring his body back to Australia.

Indonesian Police said they have launched an investigation into the death and have so far spoken to two witnesses.

Mr Bradley, a UK citizen, migrated from Coventry to Sydney back in 2013. He posted a photo of himself posing in front of the Harbour Bridge with the caption: 'Beats Coventry I reckon'

The keen amateur boxer had flown from Sydney to Bali on Thursday to attend a music festival on the popular holiday island with a friend

His devastated mother Angela confirmed the sad news on social media this week, saying her brother's death had rocked their entire family

Friends and family have flooded social media with tributes for the much-loved agent.

Beverley Page said Mr Bradley was cherished by loved ones.

'He had the biggest heart and personality,' she wrote.

'Everyone who had the fortune of meeting him loved him.

'His contagious smile, good looks and charm were only a few of his many qualities and he will be terribly missed by so many.'
An outspoken critic of the Chinese government says cars that have been spotted in Australia's biggest cities bearing the markings of Chinese police may be fakes driven by troublesome international students - as he condemned them for spreading fear.

At least two 'Chinese police cars' have been spotted in Australia in less than a week with a sedan seen in Melbourne on Monday and a Jeep found in NSW on Wednesday.

This follows persistent rumours that China has set up 'secret police stations' in Sydney and perhaps Melbourne, just as the Communist government has in New York, with two men arrested this week for allegedly setting up the secret outpost.

Australian activist Drew Pavlou said the fake cop cars were creating the same kind of uneasiness in the Chinese community as someone would if they dressed as a Nazi.

Mr Pavlou, who tweeted a photo of the Jeep, said he never alleged it was a real law enforcement vehicle, but admitted the sightings were troubling.

'I've always thought the most likely scenario is that it's Chinese international students who think it's a fun and cool thing to deck your car out like that,' he said.

'They may be doing it as a joke but at the end of the day it is causing real fear and alarm for members of the Chinese community in Australia.'

The Jeep, which also sported the logo from the toy and movie franchise Transformers, had a Chinese police crest and Mandarin characters almost identical to a Nissan Maxima spotted in Melbourne a few days earlier.

Drew Pavlou tweeted this image of this Jeep, spotted on the NSW south coast, displaying what appear to be the markings of Chinese police car on Wednesday

This is what the Chinese markings on the car translate to

This Nissan Maxima with Chinese police markings was spotted in Melbourne on Sunday and Jeep with similar decoration was spotted in NSW a few days later

Social media users claim the police stencils can be bought online for as little as $10 and Chinese students put them on as a joke.

Meanwhile, a search of the Commercial Passenger Vehicles Victoria public register shows the Melbourne car is an approved rideshare provider for platforms such as DiDi or Uber.

Victoria Police on Thursday confirmed to the Herald Sun that it was 'aware of images of a vehicle in Melbourne which appears to have been fitted out with various unofficial decals to give the appearance that it is a Chinese government vehicle'.

'At this time no specific offences have been detected and we have not received any reports in relation to the matter,' a spokesman said.

Mr Pavlou said even though it is 'quite obvious' the mock-ups aren't real Chinese police vehicles it still creates an atmosphere of fear and alarm for dissidents, whose families face persecution in China.

Mr Pavlou is staunch critic of the Chinese Communist Party and he has staged several high profile protests around the world including one at Wimbledon and London in 2022.

He said the Chinese friends who attended rallies he organised in Brisbane were photographed and later had their parents contacted by police in China.

'Those parents are essentially threatened, with police saying 'if you want to remain safe you have to tell your child they are not going to protest in Australia',' Mr Pavlou said.

'Regardless of the intention (with the imitation police cars) and even if people are not trying to do it to terrify Chinese dissidents that is the practical outcome.

'Given the Chinese police history of brutal crackdowns on protesters, torture and murder of dissidents then it is like dressing up as the Nazis.'

Mr Pavlou also pointed out that two Chinese nationals in New York have been charged with setting up a secret police operation (pictured, a building described by US authorities as a Chinese 'secret police station')

Anti- Chinese Communist Party activist Drew Pavlou says that putting imitation Chinese police insignia on cars in Australia is equivalent to 'dressing up like Nazis'

Mr Pavlou argued that because China keeps a close watch on its citizens abroad those who deck out their cars in Chinese police livery would know they have 'tacit approval' and not fear punishment for doing so.

International activist protection agency Human Rights Watch has detailed the targeting of Chinese dissidents, including in Australia, by China's government.

'The Chinese government is extremely powerful and has devoted considerably more resources in recent years to tracking people not just inside the country but outside the country and what they say and finding ways to silence them,' China Director Sophie Richardson told SBS in September 2022.

It was reported by the ABC in 2019 that China had set up a 'secret police station' in Sydney and there have also been reports of one in Melbourne.

The Chinese government has denied this saying the Sydney presence was an informal outreach centre run by volunteers that helps expats with issues such as visa documents.

In response to questions from Daily Mail Australia about whether secret Chinese police stations operate in Australia, the Australian Federal Police pointed to answers they gave in November Senate estimates hearings.

Answering questions put by Liberal Senator James Paterson the AFP top brass said they had investigated such claims and 'did not have concerns' or think any such stations were active.

However, Mr Pavlou said China certainly has operatives at work in Australia.

'It happens every couple of months where I will have a Hong Konger or a Chinese Australian friend who will be followed or will have a vehicle idle outside their house,' Mr Pavlou said.

He said Chinese dissident artist Badiucao reported being followed by two men in Melbourne.

In another case, suspected Chinese operatives had been caught by CCTV footage putting listening devices on a car belonging to an Australian citizen.

Mr Pavlou also pointed out that two Chinese nationals in New York have been charged with setting up a secret police operation.

Mr Pavlou said Chinese dissidents were actively harassed in Western countries with their families on the mainland threated by police

'Given how American authorities are very seriously moving to arrest those involved in setting up these police stations I cannot see why Australian authorities don't view this very seriously,' Mr Pavlou said.

'At the end of the day it is a violation of Australian sovereignty.'

Mr Pavlou said Chinese embassies and consulates were certainly involved with suppressing dissident activities.

He pointed to former Chinese diplomat to Australia Chen Yonglin, who defected in 2005 and was subsequently granted political asylum.

'His official role was deputy consul general in Sydney but his actual job was to keep tabs on people on politically, monitor dissidents and protest groups,' Mr Pavlou said.

'He continues to be followed and attacked by people in Australia.'

Mr Pavlou said the consequences for family members of dissidents in China was made very personally real to him in 2021, with an incident that was reported by national media outlets in October of that year.

'My email was hacked by IP address inside China,' he said.

'I basically had documents where I had interviewed Uighur Australians and I asked them about CCP intimidation, which was information was giving information to Human Rights Watch.

'On January 6 my emails were hacked and on January 9 my Uighur's freind's mum was taken away to a reeducation facility.

'To this day we think she was taken because my emails were hacked and they saw her son was talking to me in Australia.

'So this is how the Chinese government operates.'
A man who allegedly sent 49 messages threatening to kill David Sharaz, Brittany Higgins and their cavoodle Kingston has been charged.

David William Wonnocott, 49, was arrested in Tweed Heads, in northern NSW, at about 10am on Wednesday and accused of sending the former political staffers and their beloved pet a barrage of threats from different social media accounts.

Screenshots previously shared by Sharaz revealed a series of direct messages sent last year, where Wonnocott - a former charity worker - allegedly threatened to follow them home and 'kill you when you least expect it'.

'I'll chop Kingston up into little pieces,' another message read. 'I'll bury you both.'

A man who allegedly sent 49 online threats to Brittany Higgins, her fiance David Sharaz and their cavoodle Kingston has been charged

Wonnocott allegedly sent the messages using a profile picture of Archibald Prize winning artist Craig Ruddy, who died from Covid-19 in January.

Mr Sharaz shared the screenshots on Twitter in April last year, which Ms Higgins retweeted and said: 'I've copped a lot of abuse and numerous death threats since speaking publicly about my experience in Parliament House.'

'However, targeting my partner and threatening to chop up my little cavoodle is a whole new low. Please be better everyone.'

Ms Higgins alleged in 2021 that she was raped inside Parliament House by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann after staff drinks in 2019.

Mr Lehrmann strongly denies the allegations. He had pleaded not guilty during a criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court last year, but the case toppled and the sexual assault charge was dropped.

Wonnocott was charged with using carriage service to make a threat to kill and using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend.

He was served with a firearm ban and police searched his Banora Point home.

He has been granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on May 31.

Pictured: Messages allegedly sent to David Sharaz. Wonnocott allegedly threatened to kill their dog, Kingston

Last week it was revealed Mr Sharaz lodged a complaint with the federal eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, in April last year, requesting an investigation into an abusive tweet which Twitter refused to remove.

Ms Inman Grant issued Twitter with a formal notice and ordered the content to be taken down. The post was deleted 24 hours later.

The exact content of the offensive tweet was unclear.

It marked the first time the commissioner had used new adult cyber abuse powers to issue a notice since the Online Safety Act was enacted in January 2022.

According to the Act, the commissioner is allowed to compel major social media platforms to remove offensive cyber-abuse material targeted at Australian adults.

Mr Sharaz took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to share the news: 'Nobody should have to cop the abuse Brittany has the last two years.'
Children at one of Scotland's oldest boarding schools were subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse, an inquiry has found.

Staff at Loretto, in Musselburgh, East Lothian, which charges fees of up to 36,945 a year, allowed one abusive teacher, Guy Ray-Hills, to resign rather than being sacked.

Loretto, which was founded in 1827 and whose alumni include ex-chancellor Alistair Darling and journalist Andrew Marr, is one of several boarding schools investigated by the 64.6million Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI).

Publishing her findings about the school, SCAI chairman Lady Smith found pupils endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the impact of which on some 'has been and will be lifelong'.

She found that a number of staff at Loretto abused children, including Ray-Hills, a French teacher at Loretto junior school between 1951 and 1967.

Loretto, one of Scotland's oldest boarding schools, where children were subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse, an inquiry has found

Lady Smith found that a number of staff at Loretto abused children, including Guy Ray-Hills, a French teacher at Loretto junior school between 1951 and 1967

Rapist teacher 'just like Weinstein' A film director told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he was raped by a teacher whose predatory actions reminded him of Harvey Weinstein, the former Hollywood movie mogul who was jailed for a string of sexual offences. Don Boyd, 75, said Guy Ray-Hills had Weinstein's ability to charm and manipulate people. Mr Boyd went on to become a film and TV director working with stars including Laurence Olivier and Dame Helen Mirren. The father of three said Ray-Hills was a French teacher whose lessons 'were like street theatre'. Mr Boyd told BBC Scotland in 2021: 'He used his charm and charisma to great effect. As a child you were prey to that and it was easy to be sucked into the need to be secret.' Mr Boyd said Ray-Hills called him one of his 'special friends'. The abuse began in the teacher's bedroom at Loretto when Mr Boyd was 12 and lasted until he left school aged 16. He said: 'Not only was I groomed for sexual abuse but I was raped as a child. It wasn't until much later in life that I could identify it as rape, but that's what it was.' Three ex-pupils made criminal complaints against Ray-Hills, but the case did not go to court because of his age. He has since died. Advertisement

He was described by Lady Smith as a 'prolific sexual predator' who groomed children and established abusive sexual relationships with them, some of which lasted for four years.

Lady Smith said: 'At the outset, I want to make it clear that I find there were many children who had positive experiences at Loretto and, in many ways, went on to have rewarding adult lives.

'Also, there is no doubt that the school has provided many children with a good education. However, not all children had positive experiences and amongst those who did, there were children who also suffered abuse.

'Children who boarded at Loretto were exposed to risks of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. For many, those risks materialised, and I have no doubt that children were abused whilst in Loretto's care.'

Lady Smith found the response by Loretto to Ray-Hills's behaviour was 'woefully inadequate'.

The school has previously apologised for giving a good job reference to him after he left. He has since died.

Lady Smith also found that another teacher groomed a final-year pupil, and four other teachers were reported to have touched children inappropriately or made sexual comments that were offensive and upsetting to pupils.

The period covered in evidence ranged from 1948 to 2021, partly beyond the terms of reference of the inquiry, which covers up to December 2014. However, Lady Smith said it would have been wrong to curtail it.

Sexually abusive conduct by older children towards younger pupils was normalised in the all-male houses at Loretto, which is now co-educational, Lady Smith said. She found there was a lack of oversight and review of the administration of corporal punishment by older boys over decades, which she described as a serious failing.

Lady Smith found bullying, with associated physical abuse, inflicted on younger boys by older boys, was a constant at Loretto throughout the 20th century.

Bullying cultures were allowed to prevail because of staff complacency and a lack of supervision by them.

Last night, a spokesman for the school said: 'Today's report from the SCAI has been a stark reminder of the first-hand evidence given by those who survived abuse whilst pupils at Loretto.

Former Chancellor Alistair Darling (left) and journalist Andrew Marr (right) both attended Loretto

'We found listening to the accounts from survivors at the time of the inquiry profoundly troubling, and reading Lady Smith's report reignites these feelings. Much of the content is deeply disturbing.

'On behalf of the school, we reaffirm our unreserved apology and deep regret for the hurt and pain suffered.

'Throughout the process of the inquiry, Loretto has acknowledged the testimony of the survivors, and fully recognises and respects the courage and the determination that they have shown.'
Suella Braverman is to receive power to ignore European Court of Human Rights

Strasbourg judges ability to block Rwanda removals flights will be overridden by new UK laws, it was confirmed last night.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to receive powers to ignore the European Court of Human Rights attempts to obstruct deportations.

Ministers yesterday secured a deal with rebel Conservative backbenchers which will add tough new measures to the immigration Bill currently before Parliament.

The changes will allow controversial injunctions issued by the Strasbourg court  known as Rule 39 orders  to be disregarded by the Home Secretary in illegal immigration cases.

Separately, the Bill will also be reinforced so the Home Secretary can disregard most injunctions issued by British courts in cases brought on behalf of irregular migrants, such as those who arrived in the UK by small boat.

Secretary of State for the Home Department Suella Braverman leaves 10 Downing Street after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting

Challenges under the Human Rights Act would be barred, Tory rebel sources said.

The only way to block a removal will be if a UK judge is persuaded that sending someone to Rwanda or another safe country would cause serious and irreversible harm.

The amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill are expected to remove some of the final legal stumbling blocks.

An inaugural flight could then take place once the legislation is in place and an ongoing legal challenge in the Court of Appeal is complete.

The Government had faced a rebellion next week by up to 60 Conservative MPs.

Tory MP Danny Kruger, who led the talks with senior backbencher Bill Cash, said: The British public have placed their faith in this Government to control our borders.

They are fed up with London lawyers and Strasbourg judges getting in the way of a sensible migration policy.

He added: Im hopeful that the Government will be able to deliver the prompt removals to Rwanda and other safe countries that we need in order to stop the boats and lay the foundation of a fair and humane asylum system.

Tory MP Danny Kruger, the leader of the rebellion against the Illegal Migration Bill

Last month Mrs Braverman said Strasbourg would be asked to rein in its use of Rule 39 orders and UK law would be changed if they refused.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab called talks with Strasbourg positive. But the rebels deal makes these redundant, as the Bill will go ahead with legislative changes.

Sources said the powers to ignore Strasbourgs Rule 39 would be broadly drawn, effectively granting the Home Secretary total discretion.

During an official visit to the Rwandan capital Kigali last month Mrs Braverman said she hoped to get deportation flights under way by summer.

She said there was every possibility we can move quickly if the UKs Court of Appeal upholds the legality of the Rwanda programme.

Flights could even take off if opponents lodge a further appeal to the Supreme Court, it is understood.

A Home Office source said the rebels deal is still subject to final sign-off.

The Bill is due to return to the Commons next week.

Under the Rwanda agreement, irregular migrants will be given a one-way ticket to the country to claim asylum there instead of in the UK.
China began developing Covid-19 vaccines before the official start of the outbreak, a new report claims.

A 300-page document, compiled by the US Senate, suggests Chinese researchers started work on a vaccine programme in mid-November of 2019.

It adds to evidence that the country attempted to cover up early infections before the World Health Organisation (WHO) was informed on December 31.

The report also concludes that the pandemic most likely came from a lab leak and was the result of a 'research-related incident' in Wuhan.

And it even suggests there may have been two unintentional spill-over events just weeks apart.

A 300-page document, compiled by the US Senate, suggests Chinese researchers started work on a vaccine programme in mid-November of 2019. Security personnel keep watch outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a visit by the WHO in 2021

It adds to evidence that China attempted to cover up early infections before the World Health Organisation (WHO) was informed on December 31. Pictured: Two staff members cross a road as they deliver vegetables to a hospital in Wuhan, 2020

The report concludes that the pandemic most likely came from a lab leak and was the result of a 'research-related incident' in Wuhan. Pictured: The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2020

The document, which was released to US news website Axios, is the full version of a 35-page summary published in October by the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee.

It said: 'The Covid-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.

'New information, made publicly available and independently verifiable, could change this assessment.

'However, the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy.'

One section of the report focuses on China's vaccine development.

Investigations by the committee show a team led by Professor Yusen Zhou, from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, filed a patent for a Covid-19 vaccine on February 24, 2020.

Experts interviewed by the investigators said it would have taken at least two to three months to reach this stage  suggesting work must have started in November 2019, one month before China publicly released details on the virus.

The report reads: 'This investigation found evidence that China began SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccine development no later than November 2019.

Investigations by the committee show a team led by Professor Yusen Zhou, from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, filed a patent for a Covid-19 vaccine on February 24, 2020. Pictured: Pfizer vaccine in November 2020

Experts interviewed by the investigators said it would have taken at least two to three months to reach this stage  suggesting work must have started in November 2019, one month before China publicly released details on the virus. Pictured: A Moderna vaccine in London

'To begin building a vaccine construct, developers had to have the full genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2. The full genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was not publicly released until January 11, 2020.

'Normally, a sample from an infected patient is used to generate the sequence. Alternatively, a sample from an infected animal could be used.

'Therefore, to begin vaccine development, the People's Republic of China had to have found a human or animal infected with SARS-CoV-2 prior to mid-November 2019 in order to have time to decide to initiate a vaccine development program.'

Analysis of early circulating Wuhan Covid strains also supports the possibility of two spill-over events just weeks apart, the report adds.

Minor genetic differences in early circulating strains suggest two lineages of the same virus may have emerged at the same time and progressed on different paths, according to the assessment.

It adds that epidemiological modelling and reports of early Covid cases indicate that mid-October to mid-November 2019 was the most likely timeframe for the virus entering humans.

However it did not offer a 'definitive' conclusion on the origin of the pandemic.

Senator Roger Marshall, who released the report earlier this week, said: 'This report is a crucial development in getting to the bottom of Covid-19's true origins and exposing the deception of those that sought to conceal how this pandemic started.

'A preponderance of evidence in this report suggests there were two separate unintentional lab leaks dating back to fall of 2019 in Wuhan, China, with significant evidence supporting that Covid-19 was a lab-created and altered virus.

'This report also concludes that the Chinese Communist Party was responding to the coronavirus months before the rest of the world was even aware of its existence, yet China failed to inform the global community of the unfolding disaster.'
Keegan was convicted on March 23 on several charges relating to his crimes

A former Department of Homeland Security employee who molested three girls under 14 in Southern California has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Terry Edward Keegan, 60, was convicted on March 23 in the Orange County Superior Court on a felony count of lewd acts on a minor younger than 14 as well as single misdemeanor counts each of child annoyance, sexual battery, simple battery, and destroying or concealing evidence.

According to the Orange County Register, one of the alleged victims had lived with Keegan since she was about four years old. The other two alleged victims were friends of hers.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Andre Manssourian, when announcing Keegan's sentence Wednesday, said the ex-Homeland Security employee had violated the girls' trust.

'It turns out the fox was guarding the hen house, and undoubtedly the defendant took advantage of a position of trust,' Manssourian said.

A former Department of Homeland Security employee who molested three girls under 14 in Southern California has been sentenced to eight years in prison

Terry Keegan, 60, was convicted on March 23 in the Orange County Superior Court on a felony count of lewd acts on a minor younger than 14. He is seen in court exclusively by Daily Mail

One of the alleged victims - now a teenager - spoke in court Wednesday and said she was 'young and vulnerable' when the abuse began.

'I was young and vulnerable and I was taken advantage of,' she said, the Register reported. 'We were children and the man who was supposed to be protecting us hurt us.'

The investigation 'fell through the cracks' according to Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver, including shocking and disturbing revelations regarding Keegan's proclivity towards young girls.

During the trial, the girl who lived with the man she called 'grampa' testified that he once slipped his tongue in her mouth while kissing her good night.

She was 12 at the time and said the incident lasted a second or two.

She said in court of the incident she 'just remembers feeling uncomfortable .... I didn't know what to do or how to respond.'

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, the girl said he would kiss her good night every night and they mostly were just pecks on the forehead.

Other times, he would kiss her on the lips.

Ultimately, she chose to pretend the tongue incident 'didn't happen' and that she decided not to tell her 'grandmother' because she was worried it could end their relationship.

'I didn't want her to be alone,' she said.

After that night, however, the girl said she would always 'lower her head.'

During the trial, the girl who lived with the man she called 'grampa' testified that he once slipped his tongue in her mouth while kissing her good night

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, the girl said he would kiss her good night every night and they mostly were just pecks on the forehead

Ultimately, the young girl chose to pretend the tongue incident 'didn't happen' and that she decided not to tell her 'grandmother' because she was worried it could end their relationship

The investigation that 'fell through the cracks' according to Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver including disturbing revelations regarding Keegan's proclivity towards young girls

Police were alerted to the situation involving the young girl and her friend several times over the years, including in 2021 when the victim and her friends were around for spring break.

They said the 60-year-old man made inappropriate comments to one girl and insisted he take them out to shop for swimsuits.

On multiple occasions, the victims also said they believed Keegan was photographing them and other girls at the pool.

Just before Easter in 2021, one friend of the girl living in the home said Keegan had touched her buttocks and she said the man made her uncomfortable.

That victim went on to tell her mother, who later called police.

She said he had also made 'inappropriate' comments about her body and breast size.

One of the most disturbing alleged encounters happened when the young girl who lived inside the home said she found a vibrator in his bedroom while she was looking for scissors.

She was in sixth grade and Keegan told her it was for an ex-girlfriend and that he was saving it for her, according to the Deputy District Attorney.

The young girl said inside their home, Keegan would often expose himself while walking around in his bedroom, which was across from hers.

Once, in a hotel room, she says the man also masturbated in the bed next to hers.

While searching his home, officers found a copy of the criminal complaint along with a destroyed hard drive and thumb drive

Senior Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver (right) and defense attorney Jay Moorhead speak in court during Homeland Security employee Terry Edward Keegan

Charges were brought against him in December 2021 but were sealed due to his job.

On January 26, 2022, however, the charges were unsealed and officers executed a search warrant.

While searching his home, officers found a copy of the criminal complaint along with a destroyed hard drive and thumb drive.

Prosecutors said they believed Keegan took photographs of the victims through the years.

'One wonders what was on those hard drives,' Manssourian said during the sentencing hearing, according to the Register. The judge also said the destruction of the hard drive is a 'cloud that hangs over this case.'

Keegan was facing up to 22 years in prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver.

In addition to working for Homeland Security, Keegan worked with the Transportation Security Administration and was a reserve deputy for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
One of the country's longest-serving and most controversial councillors has exploded at a reporter for his 'rudeness' over questions about charity fund donations.

Ipswich councillor Paul Tully, who has served for more than 40 years, is the holder of an Ipswich Community Charity Fund, set up by the community to raise funds for locals enduring hardships.

The fund has been put under the microscope in recent months after it was revealed it has held almost $200,000 in donations for five years that have not been dispensed.

At an unrelated media doorstop on Wednesday, Mr Tully initially declined to answer 9News reporter Josh Bavas' questions about when the funds would be handed out before returning minutes later to tell him what he thought of him.

Ipswich councillor Paul Tully (pictured) has clashed with a reporter over his 'rude' questions about the distribution of a charity fund to community members enduring hardship

'First of all, let me say this was a press conference for the drones and it's very rude to raise other matters,' Tully said to the reporter.

'I find you a very rude journalist, the rudest I've ever encountered in 42 years in local government.

'You've hurt me, you've hurt my family and you know exactly how you've done that.'

Tully was aggravated by Bavas' questions, asking the reporter: 'Are you suggesting I have done something illegal?'

Bavas then replied, 'No'.

'I know you've got a biased view of this and you always have,' Mr Tully continues.

'I respected you until July of last year.'

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Tully.

Tully was aggravated by 9News reporter Josh Bavas' (pictured) questions, asking the reporter: 'Are you suggesting I have done something illegal? The Queensland-based reporter replied: 'No'

In July, 9News reported hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by Mr Tully and former Ipswich City councillors on numerous overseas trips dating back to 2010.

He was then sacked in 2018 when the whole Ipswich City Council was dismissed by the state government, however, Mr Tully was re-elected two years later.

The Ipswich Community Charity Fund was handed a Show Cause Notice in 2022 by Queensland's Office of Fair Trading which showed around $186,000 sitting in the account.

Documents also revealed that recently $3,300 had been deducted from the fund for accounting services as well as $5,500 for an audit.

Mr Tully said he was getting help from Ipswich News Editor Peter Chapman on how to distribute the funds, despite Chapman not being a fund member.

'I would like to thank Peter (Chapman) who is a very respected journalist in Ipswich with the Local Ipswich News,' Mr Tully said.

'He's been working as an intermediary to resolve the issues of the signatories.

'We expect that monies will be distributed within the next few days.'

9News also report they have spoken to members of the fund who have requested to meet with Mr Tully for years to no avail, a claim Mr Tully denies.
He was almost deported from Australia

A deaf migrant father-of-three who was almost deported from Australia has been granted permanent residency.

Mohamed Barghachoun was told by the Department of Home Affairs in January that he would need to leave his home at Bexley, in Sydney's south.

It came despite Barghachoun having lived in the country for the last four years and marrying his Australian fiancee Jihan Merhi after leaving Lebanon in 2019.

Mr Barghachoun had paid a migration agent more than $1,500 to lodge his application for a partner visa.

Mohamed Barghachoun (right) has been granted a Former Resident visa, which is a type of permanent residency (pictured with wife, Jihan Merhi Barghachoun)

Mr Barghachoun claimed the agent had never properly lodged the application and had ignored letters from the Department of Home Affairs.

Despite the couple's pleas to Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, Mr Barghachoun's visa was cancelled.

On Wednesday, the immigration minister intervened, granting a Former Resident visa, which is a type of permanent residency.

'It's just unbelievable. I am so happy,' Mr Barghachoun told the ABC.

'We are just so emotional, crying tears of joy,' he said.

'Now we can make plans with our family, think positive about our future and we can grow old together here as a family.'

Mr Barghachoun said he was thrilled he could now 'watch our children grow up'.

The couple said they had difficulty dealing with department officials, as they can only communicate in writing or in Auslan, and cannot speak over the phone.

The Department of Home Affairs' decision record revealed they had supplied 'satisfactory' evidence of their relationship when they made the partner visa application in May 2019.

The document said officials then tried unsuccessfully to contact their migration agent six times between August 2019 and January 2022.

A rejection letter was sent to the agent after the department failed to reach him on each occasion.

The letter informed the agent that his client had 21 days to appeal the decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Mr Barghachoun said he was thrilled he could now 'watch our children grow up' and make plans for his family's future

The couple claimed their migration agent had never properly lodged Mr Barghachoun's visa application

Mr Barghachoun said he had no idea about the letter and only discovered his application had been rejected when his Medicare card was cancelled.

Despite the couple's claim of being misled by their agent, the immigration minister's office told Mr Barghachoun in January that his visa had expired, and he must leave Australia.

With the help of Auslan interpreters, Ms Merhi contacted the Department of Home Affairs's Immigration and Citizenship, which said it had no evidence of her marriage or three children.

On January 23, the federal government granted a last-minute three-month visa extension to Mr Barghachoun, 24 hours before he was due to get on a plane to leave the country.

Ms Merhi grew up in Australia and met her husband online while he lived in Lebanon and said the pair had connected over their shared disability.
The wife of a notorious Lone Wolf bikie who was allegedly gunned down in his apartment block carpark almost met the same fate the night before.

Yusuf Nazlioglu was allegedly shot as he drove his Mercedes into the basement of his apartment block in Rhodes, in Sydney's south west, on June 27 last year.

His wife Jade, to whom he had only been married four months, was sitting in the passenger seat at the time and frantically called police.

Nazlioglu was allegedly shot about 10 times and was rushed to hospital, where he died a short time later.

Jade is understood to have narrowly escaped the same fate as her husband 24 hours earlier in the carpark.

The night before Yusuf Nazlioglu (right) was murdered in June last year, the alleged gunmen almost shot his wife Jade (left) while she was driving the car

A 25-year-old man has been charged with planning and co-ordinating the Lone Wolf bikie's murder (pictured)

The gunmen had allegedly been laying in wait with CCTV footage showing them getting out of their car and heading towards the Mercedes believing Nazlioglu was inside the vehicle.

The gunmen allegedly rushed away when they saw Nazlioglu's wife exit the driver's seat of their Mercedes, sources told the Daily Telegraph.

On Wednesday morning heavily armed police dragged Mohammed Hosni Khaled from his home in Blair Athol, in Sydney's south-west.

Khaled was taken to Campbelltown police station where he was charged with planning and co-ordinating the Lone Wolf bikie's murder.

Khaled allegedly fled the scene of the crime in a hatchback before burning the getaway car and escaping on a scooter.

Police do not allege Khaled was the shooter who fired the fatal shots that killed Nazlioglu.

On February 22, Khaled was reportedly charged with acquiring a gun despite a firearms prohibition order.

The weapon was found while police executed a search warrant in November, last year.

However, there is no suggestion that the gun was used in relation Nazlioglu's death.

Following Khaled's arrest, detectives attached to Strike Force Claypinch and Taskforce Erebus executed two further search warrants at homes in Mt Pritchard and Kemps Creek.

Nazlioglu was shot about 10 times in his apartment block carpark while his wife sat next to him in the passenger seat of their Mercedes (pictured, car being driven by bikie Yusef Nazioglu when he was shot)

Detectives seized cannabis, cash, electronic devices and other items to undergo forensic examination in the raids.

The 25-year-old man was refused bail to appear at Campbelltown Local Court later today.

Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said police will allege Khaled carried out surveillance on Nazlioglu for weeks before he was killed in an alleged gangland hit.

'This was an organised crime murder  extensively planned and organised crime murder,' Mr Doherty said.

'We will allege in the weeks leading up to the murder the accused assisted in surveillance of the target, coordinated vehicles, did other activities on the day of the murder and the day after the murder, including burning out one of the vehicles that was used.

'It will be alleged that an e-scooter was then used by the accused with another person to leave the area where the last vehicle was set alight in the south-west Sydney area.'

A Volkswagen, Mercedes and Range Rover were used in the alleged murder and set alight afterwards.

Mr Doherty said Khaled's arrest was an 'important breakthrough' and claimed the people allegedly responsible for the attack had 'complete disregard' for Nazlioglu's wife.

'It's apparent that those responsible had complete disregard for the safety of, not only her, but others that may have been in the nearby vicinity,' Mr Doherty said.

Nazlioglu was rushed to hospital, where he died shortly after (pictured, Nazlioglu wheeled out of his Rhodes apartment block on a stretcher)

Nazlioglu (left) was one of two men found not guilty of the murder of former high-profile Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi (right) in 2018

Underworld figures claimed Nazlioglu was the gunman who shot and killed Comanchero bikie boss Mick Hawi outside a Fitness First Gym at Rockdale in February 2018.

Nazlioglu was charged with Hawi's murder, along with his friend and fellow Lone Wolf member Ahmad 'Adam' Doudar.

Doudar, 38, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to Hawi's murder and was sentenced to a non-parole period of three years and four months in jail.

After a week of deliberations, a jury found Nazlioglu not guilty of murder, however, he subsequently pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of possessing a firearm and was jailed for three years.
Viewers could be barraged with up to 730 hours more TV adverts a year on the country's most popular commercial channels.

Ofcom, the media regulator, is preparing to relax its restrictions by allowing public service broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to show more adverts  after it 'provisionally concluded' current rules are no longer 'justified or proportionate'.

However, the body's own research showed that the idea of more or longer breaks sparked a 'negative, visceral reaction from viewers'.

There are fears that relaxing the rules would see British television become more like that in the US, which is infamous for its constant advert breaks.

Advertising is currently limited to an average of seven minutes per hour across the day, and slightly more during peak viewing.

Ofcom, the media regulator, is preparing to relax its restrictions by allowing public service broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to show more adverts  after it 'provisionally concluded' current rules are no longer 'justified or proportionate'

However, the body's own research showed that the idea of more or longer breaks sparked a 'negative, visceral reaction from viewers'

The plans would see these channels allowed to show an average of 12 minutes of advertising and teleshopping per hour, as non-public service channels do.

Calculations show that as a result of this change across a year, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 would each be able to show an extra 730 hours of adverts.

In peak hours, between 6pm and 11pm, when top shows like Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent air, there could be an additional 20 minutes of adverts.

It is understood the daily total could jump from 168 minutes each day to 288, an increase of two hours.

The decision is in part motivated by the huge pressure on UK broadcasters from US rivals like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

One option under consideration is to retain 'safeguards' that 'limit the number of internal breaks allowed in programmes'.

Industry group Coba, which represents commercial broadcasters, said the proposed changes could see a huge increase in advertising on these services.

Adam Minns, Coba executive director, said: 'It is hard not to draw the conclusion that Ofcom has asked audiences for their views and then, when it did not like the answer, gone out of its way to try to persuade them they are wrong.

'The regulator has used an argument that no financial analysis  including its own  supports.'

Ofcom claims that the move will not 'materially affect' viewers' perception of the quality of the channels. Its research suggested that viewers 'tended to realise' any rule changes 'may not be as noticeable as initially feared'.

Ofcom's Kate Biggs said the UK system was 'nowhere' near the US level of advertising. The body yesterday published its proposals and launched a consultation.

A Channel 4 spokesman said the move would 'cause minimal disruption to the TV viewing experience and will significantly benefit the TV advertising market'. ITV declined to comment.
An electrician in Derby has been extradited to Croatia to face war crime charges.

Prosecutors say Milenko Maric, who is Serbian, was involved in attacks on civilians during the Yugoslav Wars that took place between 1991 and 2001 in the Balkans.

The father-of-three, 63, moved to Britain as an asylum seeker in 1999 reportedly after being conscripted into the Serbian army to fight in Kosovo. He denies all charges.

He is accused of being a member of a militia group that 'removed a number of civilians of non-Serbian ethnic origin from the Baranya region and assaulted them.'

A UN report found 'grave breaches' of the Geneva Conventions on all sides after the wars, including the killing of civilians, systemic rape and ethnic cleansing.

Milenko Maric, a father of three who works as an electrician photographed outside his Derby council house, is accused of being a Serbian war criminal involved in crimes committed in 1991

Maric was placed on a wanted list in 1997, which became a European arrest warrant after he was located in Britain in 2015, where he had lived for over 15 years.

Then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd approved the extradition of the alleged war criminal in 2016. Maric was found not guilty in absentia by a court in Croatia.

What happened in Croatia during the Yugoslav wars? At the end of WWI, the Treaty of Versailles gave the Kingdom of Serbia sovereignty over several neighbouring territories with distinct identities, customs and histories. Tensions between different ethnic groups simmered, leading to political instability in the decades that followed. After WWII, Yugoslavia became a communist state led by Josip Broz Tito, pushing through major reforms. When he died in 1980, tensions again boiled over. Republics and regions in the federation pushed for independence while Serbia tried to maintain centralised power. When Croatia broke away in 1991, ethnic Serbs fought the decision. This led to a four year war and Croat independence in 1995. The conflict was just one of the clashes of the Yugoslav wars. War crimes were committed by all sides, including massacres, ethnic cleansing and the destruction of religious and cultural sites. A total of 161 people were indicted in the 14 years the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia existed to prosecute war crimes during the wars. Advertisement

The decision was later overturned by Croatia's Supreme Court, and he was arrested a second time in 2022 and stands to be imprisoned for 20 years if found guilty.

It was reported last year that he had to wear an electronic tag on his ankle and sleep in his own home each night as he awaited extradition proceedings on 21 July.

Sarah Baker, Temporary Sergeant of Derbyshire police's international liaison unit, said: 'We continue to work with law enforcement partners nationally and internationally to remove dangerous offenders and ensure people are brought to justice.

'This forms part of our commitment to ensuring Derbyshire is a safe place, and not somewhere to go where you can evade the consequences of your previous actions in other parts of the world.'

An alleged victim, Faranjo Joha, said previously that he was beaten with electric rubber truncheons 'on several occasions' which caused injuries to his 'entire body'.

He also claims that the militia Maric is alleged to have worked for looted his home, taking money and jewellery.

Maric is claimed to have worked as a member of the Secretariat for International Affairs of Manastir during the war.

Legal documents claim that in this capacity he assaulted civilians from the Baranya region, a historical region between the Danube and Drava rivers.

The territory is today divided between Hungary and Croatia.

During the Croatian War of Independence, the region came under the control of the 'Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia'.

It later became a part of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina.

While he denies the charges, Maric says that he worked for the Serbian Krajina police between 1991 and 1994.

The city of Mostar in what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina, was put under siege and heavily bombarded during the Croatian War of Independence, lasting from 1991 until 1995

Maric emigrated to Britain five years after leaving the police, when he says he was conscripted into the Serbian army to fight in Kosovo.

Over 20,000 people were killed in the four years Croat forces were the SFR Yugoslavia and allied forces.

The war ended with Croat independence, but as much as a quarter of the country's economy was ruined, costing some $37bn in damage.

During the conflict, war crimes were reported from all parties. A number of Croat hospitals marked with the red cross were targeted by Serbian forces.

The war also saw many massacres of civilians and prisoners of war, and the use of concentration and detention camps.
Dr Phil on Tuesday warned an economics professor's plan for $350,000 in reparations to 40 million descendants of slaves would be 'an absolute disaster', arguing that giving a lump sum was not the best way to help anyone.

The television host on Tuesday invited on his show Duke University's William Darity, who co-authored the book 'From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century'.

Darity suggested the US government issue the funds in much the same way it sent out checks to millions of Americans during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a cost of $14 trillion.

Dr Phil challenged Darity's plan, arguing that people would mismanage the money.

'I can tell you from a psychological perspective that if you take $350,000 or $840,000, and you write a check to any group of people - black, white, poor, homeless, whatever - you give any group of people that much money and say, ''there you go, best of luck,'' you come back in six months, they're going to be broke,' he said.

'Whatever reparations are done, that would be an absolute disaster, as opposed to guidance and help in creating generational wealth, as opposed to income.'

Dr. Phil challenged Professor William Darity's claims, saying it was a bad idea to give any group of people a lump sum of cash and expect them to invest and spend it wisely

Darity accused Dr Phil of unfairly preventing black people from accessing what was rightfully theirs.

'No one ever says that there's going to be mismanagement of funds when we're talking about the distribution of reparations payments to other communities,' Darity said.

The TV doctor replied: 'I just said it.

'I just said, 'you give that money to anybody, they're going to mismanage it. They're going to blow it.''

He added: 'Look at the fraud that just occurred with all of the money that was given in support of COVID.'

Darity had suggested that checks could be sent out, similar to those distributed during the pandemic.

'It would be paid by the federal government in the same way in which the federal government has met the expenses that were paid out for the purposes of trying to deal with the great recession and also, most recently, with the economic downturn associated with the great pandemic,' he said.

Darity said if the $14 trillion was distributed evenly across 40 million people whose ancestors were in the chattel slavery system it would equal about $350K per person.

Professor William Darity teaches economics at Duke University. On a Tuesday panel of the Dr. Phil show he argued that the US federal government should spend $14trillion on a massive reparations program for 40million black Americans

He said the amount 'should be dictated by the disparity in wealth between black and white Americans, which at the current moment amounts to in excess of $840,000 per household.'

Darity said the 'objective' of the program would be to 'eliminate the racial wealth gap in the United States.'

The U.S. government is currently more than $31 trillion in debt.

Political writer Joshua Ferguson, who was also featured on Tuesday's panel with Dr. Phil, said the country could not afford the massive reparation bill.

'First of all, the US government doesn't have money,' Ferguson said.

'All of their money comes from taxes. To say you're not going to take it from people today, you're right. You're going to take it from future generations.'

Renowned author and civil rights activist Bob Woodson also criticized Darity's plan, saying: 'I cannot think of any group of people who have been made wealthy by just transferring money to them.'

There are just over 40 million black Americans in the US, so Darity's figure assumes each of them is a descendant of American slavery.

However, according to a Pew Research Center study from April 2022, just 57 percent of black Americans believe they are descendants of American slavery.

Darity said the program would function similarly to the COVID payments received by millions of Americans. The payments would eventually be felt by current and future taxpayers

The idea of compensating black Americans for slavery-era sins has been floated numerous times over the years.

In January, San Francisco proposed $5 million payouts to every longtime black resident, provoking uproar.

Cities including Boston, Massachusetts, St Paul, Minnesota, and St Louis, Missouri, as well as Los Angeles, have set up task forces and panels to hatch their own reparations plans.
The family of Father Bob Maguire is set to be offered a state funeral to honour the charity campaigner and religious maverick.

Fr Bob died at Cabrini Hospital in southeast Melbourne on Wednesday, aged 88.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will speak with Fr Bob's family on Thursday morning to discuss ways to mark his contribution to the state, including the option of a state funeral.

'I'll have some more to say about a state funeral and the way in which we can celebrate his rich life, a very generous life, a life of compassion and faith and so much more,' Mr Andrews told reporters.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is set to offer a state funeral to the family of Father Bob Maguire who died in hospital aged 88 on Wednesday (pictured, Tim Minchin (r) and Father Bob Maguire (L) at Matilda the musical at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in 2016)

'It's a sad day today. He was just a marvellous, marvellous person.'

He said the Victorian government would be led by the family's wishes.

Mr Andrews remembered Fr Bob as a man of faith, integrity and good humour, whose approach sometimes found him at odds with the Catholic Church.

'I very much enjoyed his company and I think, as so many Victorians do, that we are poorer for his passing,' he said.

Fr Bob dedicated his life to charitable works and earnt a reputation as a candid commentator unafraid to speak his mind or call out church leaders.

The Catholic priest became known for his work with disadvantaged people in his South Melbourne parish, before regularly appearing in national media.

Fr Bob balanced his media commitments and parish duties until he was forced to retire from the Catholic Church in 2012, and accused Cardinal George Pell of punishing him for being 'open to all'.

Father Bob Maguire Foundation board member Frank O'Connor said Fr Bob had communicated his dying wishes to his family over the past year, but wasn't aware if they would accept any offer of a state funeral.

'Bob wasn't always one that felt authorities like governments or what have you did the best thing by the people he was worried about,' Mr O'Connor said.

'But he'd probably be quite honoured for that sort of thing.'

Two days before his death, the priest publicly hit out at the charity in his own name, the Father Bob Maguire Foundation, after the board announced last week he had voluntarily stepped down as chairman.

But Fr Bob claimed he was blindsided by his termination, describing the situation as a 'bloody mess'.

'It's nasty  I've known these blokes for years but they have turned treacherous,' he told the Herald Sun on Monday in what would be his final interview.

'I'm not used to this, we always ran the show as a fighting unit, I'm the commander in chief. We're hurt but we aren't out.'

The foundation's board refuted that Father Bob had been sacked in a lengthy statement on Tuesday.

They insisted that he was not sacked from the board - but was simply no longer eligible to be on it.

Fr Bob dedicated his life to charitable works and earnt a reputation as a candid commentator unafraid to speak his mind or call out church leaders (left to right Michelle Ananda-Rajah, Father Bob Maguire, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Father and Labor MP Josh Burns)

'There have been many grossly ill-informed and patently wrong assertions made, often by people who have never met him or worked with him saying that it's all a conspiracy by the Board to get rid of Fr Bob,' the board said on the foundation's website.

Hours after the drama, Fr Bob's family confirmed he died at Cabrini Hospital, in suburban Malvern, on Wednesday morning.

'Father Bob was a dear and much-loved member of our family and will be sorely missed for his energy and good humour,' the statement read.

'His physical and mental health had been deteriorating for some time, but his preference was always to help others rather than consider his own situation,' his family said.

'Father Bob was not just a much-loved family member, but was loved by all Australians for what he stood for. He has fought bravely for the underprivileged and homeless all his life. He represented the highest of principles, and he fought to actively live those principles.'

'Despite his high profile in the media, he was always on the job, especially for the disadvantaged families and individuals for whom he had great love and compassion.

'He wanted nobody to be left behind and always saw and believed in the good in people, but he knew that there were many whom he referred to as the unloved and unlovely. These were his real passion.

'The last few months have been very difficult for both the family and for those around Fr Bob as we managed his declining health. We thank all the medical staff who have attended him in recent months and express our gratitude to them for their work and devotion.'
Bali officials have revealed the embarrassing number of Australians that have been deported from the popular tourist destination since the start of the year.

Six Aussie tourists have been kicked out of the country since January 1 with an average of almost two holidaymakers being given the boot every month.

A total of 93 visitors have been sent packing over the last few months as Bali clamps down on unruly behaviour.

Six Australian tourists have been deported from Bali since Janurary 1 this year

Bali has deported 93 overseas visitors from the island this year, with the majority for visa/permit violations and other breaches of the law

Russians made up the largest group, with 24 kicked out so far, followed by Nigerians with seven, and the US and Australia tied in third place with six each.

The number of deportations in 2023 is well on course to surpass the previous year, where 194 deportations were recorded.

Head of the Bali Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Anggiat Napitupulu said the majority were being told to leave over visa/permit violations.

Some had also broken the law before they were sent home.

Officials told the Bali Sun that they were planning the production of an official guidebook to educate tourists on unacceptable conduct.

Mr Napitupulu recently told reporters that not all foreigners knew what was permitted and what wasn't on the island.

'We hope to accelerate the completion of the guidebook or guidance book dos and don'ts ,' he said.

Mr Napitupulu said work was already underway for the manual, which is expected to include an introduction to Balinese culture and customs.

The manual will also explain the island's road rules and give tourists instructions on how to dress and behave in, on or around sacred sites and cultural landmarks.

Bali officials have announced a crackdown on foreign tourists who break the law

Funded by local government, the guidebook is part of a larger campaign to restore Indonesia's image following a spate of cases involving badly behaved tourists.

It comes amid a crackdown on foreigners behaving badly announced last month by Bali's Governor Wayan Koster.

His instructions were divided into three catergories: revoking the visa on arrival for Russian and Ukrainian citizens, removing the right of foreigners to drive in Bali, and identifying and bringing to justice to any foreigner working illegally in the country.

The move restricting foreigners from driving would begin with targeting those breaking the law while driving, before moving to a blanket ban, making it law that they must use a private car hired through a travel agent.

Bali continues to be on of the most popular holiday destinations for Australians travelling abroad.

According to the Central Statistics Agency for Bali Province, Australian tourists dominate the island, with 91,244 Aussies visiting in January alone.
A no-nonsense judge has slammed an 'appalling' paedophile in a fiery rant in court as he is thrown behind bars for sexually abusing girls as young as 12.

Malcolm Kenneth Wardle, 22, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars in Adelaide's District Court for offering to pay for explicit photos and videos using a 'price guide'.

Wardle approached 20 girls, aged between 12 and 16, using the social media app Snapchat between May 2018 and September 2019.

Judge Geraldine Davison took the opportunity to lash the young man during sentencing on Thursday, saying the paedophile deserved his lengthy sentence.

Wardle pleaded guilty to 29 charges, including both basic and aggravated counts of procuring a child for sexual activity and indecent assault.

Judge Davison said his victims had suffered further shame and distress when he shared their explicit photos with others, and lashed his decision to create a 'price guide' for the abuse he inflicted.

'The fact you did that is appalling  it's only through intense rehabilitation that you will no longer pose a risk to the community,' she said.

'This was a type of revolving door, cash for sexual behaviour  the only reason your offending stopped was because you were arrested.'

Malcolm Kenneth Wardle, 22, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars in Adelaide's District Court on Thursday for sexually abusing girls as young as 12

Wardle offered to cash for explicit photos and videos, with payments starting at just $10. His gave his victims a code they could use to withdraw the money from ATMs.

In fear of being caught, the 22-year-old offered one victim $500 for their silence.

He offered others up to $5,000 for sex and lewd photos - asking the underage girls: 'Do you want some free money?'

When he was interrogated by police for his crimes, which spanned three years, he told officers he had been a 'fool'.

'Curiosity, experimentation. I had the money, I asked, they did it  I'm a fool,' he said.

However, Judge Davidson said Wardle had grossly underestimated himself.

Judge Geraldine Davison (pictured) lashed the 22-year-old during sentencing, saying she was satisfied he was a paedophile and that he deserved his lengthy sentence

'You comments to police demonstrate your clear motivation, but the fact you regard yourself as a fool does not show any insight into your behaviour,' she said.

'Overwhelmingly your victims feel embarrassed and ashamed about what they see as their role in your offending  but they are children and bear no responsibility.

'You enjoy exerting power and control over adolescent females I am satisfied you meet the criteria for pedophilia.'

The court heard Wardle had come to the attention of police when he was 18, but that officers had only served him with a warning.

Judge Davidson sentenced him to 13 years behind bars, with a non-parole period of 10 years, four months and 25 days.
Virgin Australia airlines is offering bargain basement fares for holidaymakers to enjoy getaways to island tropical paradises.

As part of its 'Love Island Sale' Virgin is offering a return fare as low $429 from the Gold Coast to Bali.

Flights departing from Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth are also offering knockdown fares to Bali, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Virgin airline is offering cheap airfares to Pacific destinations with its

Tropical paradises could beckon with Virgin offering knockdown fares to Bali, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu

However, travellers will have be quick because the fares only offer from the airline's website until midnight Monday.

The offers apply to selected travel dates, which include May to June 2023, October to December 2023, and January to March 2024.

The only seats on sale are Virgins Economy Lite fares, which do not include seat selection or checked baggage.

The sale comes as competition for budget air travel is heating up in Australia.

Start-up airline Bonza in April boasted that it sold over 100,000 tickets during the Easter long weekend.

The airline, which has four aircraft flying out of Melbourne Airport and the Sunshine Coast, launched its first flight on January 31 from the Sunshine Coast to the Whitsunday Islands off Queensland.

Bonza offers fares as low as $49 to 17 regional destinations along 27 routes but avoids operating on Australia's busiest flight paths between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The Covid pandemic saw air fares soar with two budget carriers ceasing operations.

Singapore-based TigerAir abandoned the Australian market in 2020 while the business-oriented OzJet folded earlier in same year.
Police are currently searching for the vehicle and the driver responsible

The car plows through an outdoor dining structure and nearly hits a pedestrian

Video shows a driver speeding away from a traffic stop in New York City

This is the shocking moment a driver plows through a New York City outdoor dining structure and narrowly avoids mowed down a pedestrian.

The horrifying video, posted on social media, shows the black Cadillac smash through the hut after speeding away from a police traffic stop.

The driver is seen nearly backing into an NYPD officer who jumps out of the way before racing off in the opposite direction.

One cop was struck, the NYPD told DailyMail.com, and he was taken to the hospital for head injuries.

The incident happened Wednesday around 5pm when the driver was pulled over on East 30th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Manhattan.

A clip posted online documented the drama, including the moment the driver knocked over a sign on the sidewalk and came close to striking several people.

Police are currently searching for the driver who fled on foot after getting into a collision with another vehicle nearby.

Videos posted to social media show the moments a person in a black Cadillac plowed through a Manhattan restaurant and nearly hit pedestrians while fleeing a traffic stop

Videos posted to social media show the moments a person in a black Cadillac plowed through a Manhattan restaurant and nearly hit pedestrians while fleeing a traffic stop.

Police are currently searching for the driver who fled on foot after getting into a collision with another vehicle nearby

BREAKINGinsane video from a traffic stop on E30th & Madison Ave that left an NYPD officer injured. Police are looking for a black vehicle with major front end damage. Stay clear of 30th st between 3rd & 5th aves due to road closures and the investigation. pic.twitter.com/RDC4nvNH8S  Alecia Reid (@alecia__reid) April 19, 2023

In the video posted by Reid, one police officer is seen off to the side of the vehicle as it begins to flee the scene, driving away from several cruisers.

The unidentified driver then slams directly into the outdoor dining area of a restaurant underneath where the person filming is located, nearly hitting one person.

That car continues driving on the sidewalk, plowing through the dining space and sending the restaurant's property flying through the air.

The Cadillac then travels back onto the street before veering off to the other sidewalk, nearly hitting a parking meter and slamming directly into a street sign.

The sign is pulled completely out of the ground and bounces backwards as frightened bystanders run through the nearby crosswalk to avoid being hit.

While crossing the intersection, the driver travels over the knocked down sign, which causes the vehicle to briefly pause in the middle of the busy street.

The driver then takes off from the scene as the video ends with the person filming panning back to police officers calling in backup.

Reid's video has been viewed just under 10,000 times and has been retweeted and quote tweeted by dozens of accounts expressing their disbelief and anger.

In the video posted by Reid, one police officer is seen off to the side of the vehicle as it begins to flee the scene, driving away from several cruisers

While crossing the intersection, the driver travels over the knocked down sign, which causes the vehicle to briefly pause in the middle of the busy street

The Cadillac then travels back onto the street before veering off to the other sidewalk, nearly hitting a parking meter and slamming directly into a street sign

A heavy police presence was at the scene on East 30th Street Wednesday night

A water hydrant knocked over by the driver of the black Cadillac Wednesday evening

According to an NYPD spokesperson, the injured officer was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is being treated for a head injury

The driver was able to escape but later ended up in a collision with another car

The driver remained at large Wednesday evening after the car was found

Another video taken from behind showed officers attempting to break into the vehicle from all angles as the car was stuck in a tight alley way.

The driver, however, repeatedly backs up and drives forward, hitting several parked vehicles in the process.

'Let the n**a go!' the man recording yells at police, explaining that the driver is going to hurt someone if he continues to quickly attempt to escape officers.

Another person can be heard repeatedly yelling 'shoot him' as the car speeds away.

The driver at one point nearly hits two people in the video, sending them both flying back, with the male appearing to hit his head.

The video ends with a massive loud crash sound in the distance.

According to an NYPD spokesperson, the injured officer was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is being treated for a head injury.

The driver was able to escape but later ended up in a collision with another car.

The Cadillac was found abandoned shortly after the initial incident.

The driver remained at large Wednesday evening.
A woman accused of using the personal details of a pilot killed in the horror Sea World helicopter crash to get out of paying a traffic fine has fled court in a disguise.

Stephanie Louise Bennett appeared in person for the first time after she was charged with falsely nominating Ash Jenkinson as the driver of her car when she received an infringement notice in late 2022.

After her adjournment, she exited Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Thursday wearing a mask and headscarf, with a lawyer accompanying her.

A woman accused of using the personal details of a pilot killed in the horror Sea World helicopter crash to get out of paying a traffic fine has fled court in a disguise

Stephanie Louise Bennett appeared in person for the first time after she was charged with falsely nominating Ash Jenkinson (pictured) as the driver of her car when she received an infringement notice in late 2022

Bennett, who is facing two charges of fraud, did not comment as she was surrounded by reporters and cameramen.

Police allege Bennett, from Park Ridge, was issued a fine for using her mobile phone while driving last December.

It is alleged she used Mr Jenkinson's personal details from an obituary to nominate him as the driver of her car.

Mr Jenkinson, Sea World's chief helicopter pilot, was one of four people killed in a horrific helicopter crash on the Gold Coast on January 2.

Bennett's act resulted in Mr Jenkinson's widow receiving a fine in the mail shortly after laying her husband to rest.

On Thursday a lawyer acting on Bennett's behalf requested a date for a short plea of guilty next week.

Magistrate Terry Duroux set down a sentencing date of April 26.

A warrant that was lying on Bennett's file from her first mention date was withdrawn and cancelled.

It marked her first appearance on the charges after a magistrate rejected her attempt to plead guilty in writing two weeks ago.

Mr Jenkinson was piloting one of the helicopters when it collided with another mid-air on January 2.

He died alongside British newlyweds Ron and Diane Hughes and Sydney mother Vanessa Tadros when the chopper crashed into a sandbar.

Several others - including Ms Tadros' son Nicholas and Victorian woman Winnie De Silva - were critically injured.
A Venezuelan environmental activist who was killed by police while protesting against the construction of an officer training center was shot 57 times, their autopsy showed.

Manuel Paez Teran, 26, died on January 18 during an operation to clear the protest camp set up to stop 'Cop City'.

Activists had been trying to block the construction of the police training site since it was announced by then-mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, in 2021.

Officers said that Teran shot and wounded a trooper, and they returned fire.

But Teran's mother Belkis told The Guardian she believed her child - who was nonbinary - was 'assassinated in cold blood.'

On Wednesday, Axios obtained the DeKalb County medical examiner's autopsy - which differed from an independent autopsy commissioned by the family.

Manuel Paez Teran, 26, was shot and killed at an environmental protest site near Atlanta known as 'Cop City' on January 18

Protestors claim police are 'lying' and have rejected the narrative one of their own shot at officers first - despite members being arrested on 'domestic terrorism' charges

Belkis Teran, the mother of Manuel, is seen on March 25 at a rally in their honor

The report found he was shot 57 time, with bullets entering Teran's right eye, chest, stomach, arms and legs.

The independent autopsy found that Teran was seated at the time of the shooting.

But the DeKalb County report disagreed, saying efforts to confirm Teran was 'in any particular position at a specific point in time is fraught with potential inaccuracies.'

The coroner wrote: 'There are too many variables with respect to movement of the decedent and the shooters to draw definitive conclusions.'

And, while police claim he fired first, the medical examiner did not see gunpowder residue on the activist's hands.

During the multi-agency operation GBI said approximately 25 campsites were located and removed from the site.

Additionally, mortar style fireworks, multiple edged weapons, pellet rifles, gas masks, and a blow torch were recovered.

The DeKalb report found it unlikely that the first gunshot wound was to the head, or that he was immediately incapacitated.

The police who opened fire were not wearing body cameras at the time.

Teran's family has filed a lawsuit seeking further records and documentation about the shooting.

The state had declined to release them, saying they could not do so while an investigation was continuing.

This weekend would have marked Teran's 27th birthday, and activists around the country are planning events in their honor.

Georgia State Patrol troopers swooped on the so-called autonomous zone at the site of a future $90million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center during a 'clearing operation'

Tributes were laid out for the 'tree defender' who has now been identified as 26-year-old Teran

The protestors, who call themselves forest defenders, are claiming police have 'murdered' one of their own and are demanding 'action'

They also claim the trooper who was taken to hospital with injuries was shot in 'friendly fire'

The Atlanta Community Press Collective paid tribute to Teran, who they say went by the names 'Cami,' 'Tortuguita' or 'Tort.'

They wrote: 'We are devastated by the loss of our friend who was killed by the police. Tortuguita was a kind, passionate, and loving person, cherished by their community.'

'They spent their time between Atlanta, defending the forest from destruction and coordinating mutual aid for the movement and, and Florida where they helped build housing in low-income communities hit hardest by the hurricane.

'They were a trained medic, a loving partner, a dear friend, a brave soul, and so much more.

'In Tort's name, we continue to fight to protect the forest and stop cop city with love, rage, and a commitment to each other's safety and well-being.'
Ohio police dispersed pepper spray at Black Lives Matter protesters after several aggressively approached and allegedly hurled rocks at them following the Jayland Walker grand jury decision.

BLM activists gathered on Copley Road in Akron on Wednesday to call for justice after a grand jury decided not to indict eight police officers, who shot and killed 25-year-old Walker in June 2022.

The state's attorney general announced the officers wouldn't be charged because Walker, who was shot with at least 46 bullets, was a threat to officers after shooting at them during a pursuit.

While Walker's family claimed the protest was peaceful with several children involved, police said others were throwing rocks and bottles at officers moments before the officers pulled out the spray.

One video from the protest showed several activists becoming hostile toward police by flipping them off and shouting 'f*** you' while one man took off his shirt and yelled, 'Imma die about this b****... imma burn this b**** down on my kids.'

Black Lives Matter activists were pepper sprayed by Akron, Ohio, officers on Wednesday while protesting the Jayland Walker grand jury decision. Pictured: the protests on Wednesday

The activists gathered to protest the decision to not indict eight police officers, who shot and killed Walker in June 2022

Jayland Walker, 25, was shot dead by police in Ohio. A medical examiner found that he was shot or grazed 46 times when police fired a hail of bullets at him on June 27

The footage from the protest showed officers warning people to get out of the street and onto the sidewalks as several cars were parked in the road.

Some officers were seen putting on gas masks as several protesters were shouting at them.

In another video, some protesters were seen getting close to officers as others chanted: 'Hands up, don't shoot.'

Later on, police were seen deploying pepper spray at the crowd while others screamed angrily.

Walker's cousin, Demetrius Travis Sr., told Cleveland.com the protestors only started to wreck havoc when police arrived.

'It was inexcusable and reckless of the mayor and the chief of police to disperse cops in riot and war gear, pepper-spraying and shooting off smoke bombs, with children involved, at a protest that was very peaceful,' Travis said.

Akron Police Lt. Michael Miller said he wasn't aware if police attempted to 'declare an unlawful assembly' before they used the pepper spray, according to the news outlet.

It's unclear if any officers were injured.

While Walker's family claimed the protest was peaceful with several children involved, police said others were throwing rocks and bottles at officers moments before the officers pulled out the spray

The footage from the protest showed officers warning people to get out of the street and onto the sidewalks as several cars were parked in the streets

In another video, several protesters were seen getting close to officers as some chanted, 'Hands up, don't shoot'

Protestors were seen calling for justice of Jayland following the grand jury decision

Several people stood with posters late Wednesday afternoon

Akron Police Lt. Michael Miller said he wasn't aware if police attempted to 'declare an unlawful assembly' before they used the pepper spray, according to the news outlet

Police in #Akron, Ohio are deploying pepper spray after BLM & far-left rioters hurled projectiles at officers. The rioters are angry police werent indicted for shooting dead a black gunman last year following a car chase. pic.twitter.com/EoNsE6NJTP  Andy Ngo  (@MrAndyNgo) April 20, 2023

Go ahead, I dare you ngers, I dare you ngers, Ima die about this bitch"



"Imma burn this bitch down, on my kids!"



A man rushes at @Akron_Police at the #BLM riot & threatens them. pic.twitter.com/7kM46yw2y3  Andy Ngo  (@MrAndyNgo) April 20, 2023

On the day of Walker's death in June 2022, officers chased his car on a freeway and city streets until Walker bailed from the still-moving vehicle, ignored officers commands, and ran into a parking lot where he was killed while wearing a ski mask, body cam video showed.

Walker took at least one shot from his vehicle at police and then, after jumping out of his car, he ignored commands to stop and show his hands, Attorney General Dave Yost said.

'There is no doubt he did in fact shoot at police officers,' Yost said.

While on foot, Walker reached for his waistband as officers were chasing and raised his hand, Yost said. The officers, not knowing he left his gun in the car, believed he was firing again at them.

Yost said it is critical to remember that Walker had fired at police, and that he 'shot first.'

Dash-cam video from a police cruiser captured images of Walker firing the gun from his car, said Anthony Pierson, an assistant state attorney general.

Walker had no criminal history and had never fired a gun until he went to a shooting range with a friend in early June, Pierson said.

Pierson wouldn't speculate about Walker's state of mind that night and said there was no direct evidence that he was suicidal.

'That night he encountered the police he wasn't acting himself,' Pierson said. 'By all accounts he was a good person, a good man.'

Authorities said he represented a 'deadly threat.' A handgun, a loaded magazine and a wedding ring were found on the driver's seat of his car.

Police had been in pursuit of Walker and said the 25-year-old black man shot at them 40 seconds into the chase

Walker's family called it a brutal and senseless shooting of a man who was unarmed at the time and whose fiancee recently died.

Police union officials said the officers thought there was an immediate threat of serious harm and that their actions were in line with their training and protocols.

Walker had been grieving his fiancee's recent death but his family had no indication of concern beyond that, a family representative previously said.

The blurry body camera footage did not clearly show what authorities say was a threatening gesture Walker made before he was shot.

Police chased him for about 10 seconds before officers fired from multiple directions, a burst of shots that lasts 6 or 7 seconds.

The eight officers, whose names have been withheld from the public, initially were placed on leave, but they returned to administrative duties 3 1/2 months after the shooting.

A county medical examiner said Walker was shot at least 40 times. The autopsy also said no illegal drugs or alcohol were detected in his body.
Outback Truckers' star Paul 'Sludge' Andrews will require full-time care and rehabilitation for up to two years after suffering serious head injuries in a motorcycle accident.

The much-loved truck driver was rushed to hospital on March 4 after a suffering a fractured skull, a brain bleed, broken eye sockets, cheeks and ribs and torn ligaments in a crash.

After spending two weeks in hospital, he was transferred to Fiona Stanley brain rehabilitation centre, in south Perth, and is expected to finally be discharged this weekend.

However, while he is lucky to be alive, the reality TV star faces a long road to recovery once he returns home.

Friend Donna Gell said Sludge's fiancee Wendy Kennedy will be his full-time carer while he continues his rehabilitation, with the truckie's full recovery anticipated to take between six to 24 months.

Paul 'Sludge' Andrews will require rehabilitation for up to two years after suffering multiple serious injuries in the crash

The Outback Truckers star is pictured with his fiancee Wendy Kennedy

'His rehabilitation will include physiotherapy, speech therapy and continuous doctor appointments,' Ms Gell wrote in a GoFundMe set up to support Sludge.

'During this time Sludge will be unable to operate The Phantom and run his trucking business.'

Meanwhile, Fiona Stanley Hospital delighted Sludge's fans on Wednesday after sharing a video of the trucker giving an update about his condition.

The clip began with Sludge sitting in a wheelchair revealing his five week stay at the facility was drawing to an end before flashing of photos of him with staff during therapy sessions.

'I've been having a bit of a holiday here,' Sludge says.

'Been here for a month or two after my accident and it looks like I am finally going to get to go home.

'I just want to say thank you to all the staff and all the surgeons here for everything they have done for me.'

Sludge is pictured during a physiotherapy session at Fiona Stanley Hospital

Supporters offered their well-wishes for his recovery.

'Best news! All the very best on a speedy recovery,' one person commented.

'All the best keep up your physio and you will be back in your truck soon,' another said.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last month, Ms Kennedy said it was a 'very tough time' as Sludge remained in hospital undergoing treatment.

'It is going to be a very long, slow road for his recovery,' she said.

'It's amazing how in an instant life can change.'

Born and raised in New Zealand, Sludge has been hauling freight across Oceania for more than three decades and owns Paul Andrews Transport.

He was featured on the popular reality TV series Outback Truckers.

Paul 'Sludge' Andrews has worked in freight transport for more than three decades and is famous for his distinctive purple truck The Phantom

Freighting fuel tanker road trains to mine sites across WA with his signature purple 2008 Peterbilt 379 Extended Hood truck known as the Phantom, Mr Andrews became famous around the world for his loving personality and hardworking attitude.

Outback Truckers now screens in 15 countries worldwide, include the US, UK, New Zealand and many European nations. He loves motorbikes as much as he does trucks.

'Sludge has always loved the adrenaline rush he gets from anything with big horsepower,' his website states.

'He races his nitro Harley Davidson at the dirt drags and loves his Honda motorcycles.'

He proposed to his longtime partner Wendy in November - just months before the accident.

'Well finally got up the courage to ask the love of my life to marry me and she said yes looking forward to our new life,' he said at the time.
The Manhattan district attorney's attempt to block a former prosecutor from testifying in Congress about efforts to prosecute Donald Trump failed on Wednesday, with a judge ruling that Mark Pomerantz could be called to testify.

Pomerantz worked for years on the Trump investigation, but left the job after clashing with Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, over the direction of the case.

He recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows.

Jim Jordan, the staunchly pro-Trump head of the House Judiciary Committee, is investigating what he claims is a politically-motivated and unlawful prosecution of Trump.

Jordan sought Pomerantz's testimony, but Bragg sued to block it.

Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in Manhattan, spent years investigating Trump but left his job after falling out with Alvin Bragg

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, had sought to stop Pomerantz from testifying before Jordan's committee

Bragg's lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that seeking Pomerantz's testimony was part of a 'transparent campaign to intimidate and attack' Bragg and that Congress was 'invading a state' to investigate a local prosecutor when it had no authority to do so.

On Wednesday, Bragg was overruled.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil rejected Bragg's request for a temporary restraining order, finding that Jordan had a valid legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena to Pomerantz.

'It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection,' Vyskocil wrote in a 25-page opinion.

'Mr Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.'

Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, ruled two hours after a hearing in which she peppered lawyers on both sides with questions, asking them to parse thorny issues of sovereignty, separation of powers and Congressional oversight arising from the historic indictment.

Acknowledging the 'political dogfights' surrounding the case, the judge said in her ruling that she 'does not endorse either side's agenda.'

She encouraged both sides to speak and 'reach a mutually agreeable compromise' on how Pomerantz's deposition will proceed.

Jordan is seeking to question him Thursday morning in Washington.

'Today's decision shows that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomerantz, and we look forward to his deposition before the Judiciary Committee,' said Jordan's spokesperson, Russell Dye.

Jim Jordan, the Trump ally who now chairs the House Judiciary Committee, is investigating the prosecution of Donald Trump

The Judiciary Committee started scrutinizing Bragg's investigation of the former president in the weeks that preceded his indictment.

Jordan sent letters seeking interviews with Bragg and documents before subpoenaing Pomerantz.

In her ruling, Vyskocil said she would handle any legal fights that may arise from other subpoenas in the committee's investigation of Bragg.

A committee lawyer, Matthew Berry, countered that Congress has legitimate legislative reasons for wanting to question Pomerantz and examine Bragg's prosecution of Trump, citing the office's use of $5,000 in federal funds to pay for Trump-related investigations.

Congress is also considering legislation, offered by Republicans in the wake of Trump's indictment, to change how criminal cases against former presidents unfold, Berry said.

One bill would prohibit prosecutors from using federal funds to investigate presidents, and another would require any criminal cases involving a former president be resolved in federal court instead of at the state level.

Pomerantz declined comment as he walked out of the hearing holding a stack of papers with his book, 'People vs. Donald Trump,' on top.

His lawyer, Ted Wells, said he would accompany Pomerantz if he is made to testify.

Neither Pomerantz nor his lawyers spoke during the hearing.

But in a court filing, he aligned himself with Bragg's position and maintained he should not be questioned by the committee.

Berry, the committee lawyer, argued that Pomerantz has already shared lots of information with the public about his work on the Trump investigation and the Judiciary Committee has the right to question him about it, too.

'I don't think this is either rational or reasonable behavior that somehow the House Judiciary Committee ranks below 60 Minutes,' Berry argued.

Pomerantz can refuse to answer certain questions, citing legal privilege and ethical obligations, and Jordan would rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis, Berry said, but he shouldn't be exempt from showing up.

If Jordan overrules Pomerantz and he still refuses to answer, he could then face a criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but that wouldn't happen immediately, Berry said.

Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.

He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment last week.
An Australian DJ who suffered bleeding in the brain after a horrific accident in Bali has broken her silence.

DJ and OnlyFans star Courtney Mills said she fell down a flight of stairs at her Bali home, smashing her head and causing major bruising to her body.

She was kept in hospital for four days and has been told she is unable to return home to Melbourne until the swelling in her brain goes down.

Ms Mills faces the prospect of needing emergency brain surgery if the condition does not improve.

She shared details of the terrifying ordeal to social media on Wednesday.

Aussie DJ and OnlyFans star Courtney Mills ened up in a Bali hospital after falling down a flight of stairs

Ms Mills said the fall had caused bruising all over her body and bleeding on the right side of her brain

'I've had three CT scans,' she told her 119,000 Instagram followers.

'The neurosurgeon explained my brain had rattled back and forth so I've got swelling and bleeding on the right side of my brain.'

Ms Mills said spending four days in a Bali hospital had been a 'horrible' experience.

She said had been discharged and was currently at home recovering, but was due to go back to hospital in two weeks to find out if she needed further treatment.

Ms Mills said that doctors had forbidden her from returning to Melbourne until confirming whether surgery was required to release pressure from her injuries.

'I've asked to go back to Australia but I'm not safe to fly because of the bleeding and swelling in my brain,' she told Daily Telegraph.

After initially being released from a public hospital, Ms Mills said she returned to a private hospital where doctors discovered the seriousness of her head injuries along with a fractured coccyx.

'They sent me straight to emergency. I was put in a room for three and a half days with a drip. I wasn't coherent at all,' she said.

Ms Mills told her Instagram followers she wanted to 'clarify' the situation after being attacked online for a fundraising page set up by a friend to assist in covering expensive medical costs.

Friend Lauren Fankhauser launched a GoFundMe fundraiser page while Ms Mills was hospitalised without health insurance, claiming the costs had already exceeded $3,000.

'To all the haters: please just leave me alone, I need to rest,' Ms Mills said on Instagram while fighting back tears.

Ms Mills said the fall down the stairs came after wearing high heel shoes for the first time after an extended period.

It's not the first time Ms Mills has been the subject of a GoFundMe page following an incident on the popular holiday island.

Ms Mills on Wednesday said she had been attacked online for a GoFundMe set up to help her cover medical costs

In 2018, Ms Mills and friend Matthew Davis were injured during a motorbike accident.

She was discharged from hospital but Mr Davis was told he may have to undergo 'high-risk' surgery to remove air trapped in his skull.

'The hospital bills so far exceed $30k and those costs increase by around $1,000 each day that Matt spends in hospital,' fundraiser organisers wrote at the time.

Fans have left messages of support on Ms Mills' Instagram page, where she has almost 120,000 followers.

'Speedy recovery,' one wrote.

'Think you should put a sale on your OF,' another suggested.

'Only way you're going to get any money from people for your head injury and maybe the sales will pay for you to get insurance in the future.'

It's not the first time the OnlyFans star has been the subject of a GoFundMe page following an injury in Bali.

In 2018, Ms Mills and friend Matthew Davis were injured during a motorbike accident.

While Ms Mills was discharged from hospital, Mr Davis was told he may have to undergo 'high-risk' surgery to remove air trapped in his skull.

'The hospital bills so far exceed $30k and those costs increase by around $1,000 each day that Matt spends in hospital,' organisers wrote at the time.

'As many of you would know, biking accidents in Bali are not covered by travel insurance...and the costs incurred by Matt to date are huge.'
The ex-wife of a Missouri man - who appeared in court on Wednesday charged with shooting a 16-year-old boy in the head when he knocked on his door - has said her former husband was a deeply violent man.

Mary Clayton, 81, was married to Andrew Lester, 84, for 14 years and the pair had three children together.

They divorced many years ago and she moved to California: when Lester's face appeared on the news in reports about last week's incident, Clayton did not initially recognize him.

But she said his alleged crime did not shock her.

'I was always scared of him,' she told The New York Times.

'It doesn't surprise me, what happened.'

Andrew Lester, 84, pleaded not guilty at a first appearance at Clay County Courthouse on Wednesday

He is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, with his next appearance set for June 1

Clayton said that, during their marriage, he would frequently become violently angry.

He would fly into a rage, and smash objects in their house.

When she reported him to the police, she said, the officers told her that it was his house and he could do as he wished.

She said she did not know about his alleged crime until her daughter rang her and told her.

Lester on Wednesday appeared in court and entered a not guilty plea during a three-minute appearance at Clay County Courthouse.

He is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, and his next appearance is set for June 1.

Lawyers for Ralph Yarl, 16, said outside court that the Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. His family did not attend the hearing.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing the teenager, told reporters: 'We thought that this was something the DOJ should be looking into.

'They are (looking into it). It's under investigation, they've received our complaint and are now looking into it.

'I want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. All of his assets are going to become Ralph's.'

During the hearing Judge Louis Angels added several conditions to Lester's bond, banning him from contacting Ralph or his family or from leaving the state of Missouri without permission.

He was also forced to surrender his passport and concealed carry permit, as well as being banned from possessing any weapons.

Meanwhile, Merritt posted a picture of Ralph looking relaxed and smiling as he was seen for the first time since being released from hospital.

Merritt posted the picture on his Twitter, saying: 'Ralph Yarl is home and recovering!

'How the bullet in his head didn't cause more extensive damage is truly a miracle. To God be the glory!'

Ralph approached a property in Kansas City, Missouri, thinking he was collecting his two younger brothers but was shot and rushed to hospital in critical condition.

Lawyers for Ralph, 16, said outside of court that the Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. His family did not attend the hearing

Lester is facing life in jail after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in relation to the shooting which saw Ralph Yarl rushed to hospital

During the hearing Judge Angles added several conditions to Lester's bond, banning him from owning a weapon

Pictured: The home of Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner accused of shooting Black teen Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Missouri

Andrew Lester, 84, told Kansas City Police Department that shooting Ralph Yarl, 16, was the 'last thing he wanted to do' but was terrified of the teenager because of his size and age

Lester handed himself in on Tuesday after Clay County Prosecutor's Office confirmed that he would be charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action  which could see him face the rest of his life behind bars.

He was released from Clay County Detention Center after paying 10 percent of the $200,000 bail.

His grandson said the shooting should 'never have happened' and explained that mistaking the properties is 'easy to do' because they all look the same.

Daniel Ludwig said: 'I'd go to visit my grandpa, and I would get lost on those streets. It's just crazy. I wish it didn't happen.'

His comments come as the GoFundMe page for gifted scholar Yarl, 16, surges past $3.2million.

Lester shot twice within seconds of opening the door, according to his statement, and claims that no words were exchanged

On Thursday night, Yarl was shot twice through the door of Lester's home, which is just a block away from the property where his younger twin brothers were waiting to be picked up.

The suspect was first arrested and released hours after the shooting on April 14, when he told police that he was 'scared to death' after seeing Yarl standing at his front door.

Zachary Thompson, Clay County prosecutor said: 'As the prosecutor for Clay County, I can tell you that there was a racial component to the case I don't want to comment on specifics of the case to protect its integrity.'

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves also acknowledged the 'racial components' at play in the case.

Lester shot twice within seconds of opening the door, according to his statement, and claims that no words were exchanged

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said that Yarl was 'shot because he was existing while black'.

He told CNN that he 'shared the outrage' of residents in Kansas City over the lack of action.

Lucas said: 'To pretend that race is not a part of this whole situation would be to have your head in the sand.

The 16-year-old looked relaxed and smiled with his lawyer Lee Merritt on Wednesday, ahead of Andrew Lester, 84, appearing in court for the first time

The house in Kansas City, Missouri had a 'no solicitors' sign on top of the doorbell which Ralph mistakenly rang

President Joe Biden rang the Yarl family on Monday, and invited them to the White House when the teenager is well enough

'This boy was shot because he was existing while black. And he knocked on the door of someone who clearly, clearly fears black people.

'Black boys, black children, and I think that is clear as day and so I hope that is not mistaken or forgotten the reason why many black people and black parents - myself included - are concerned is because if one day it's ringing on the doorbell, they can get you shot. Then what else is next?'

He added: 'This is normal existence in life, and somebody came to a door and shot through a door. Not once but twice. That's what is horrifying.

'That's why I think I'm glad to see this first step towards justice and why we all need to investigate how we handle this and how we can do better in the future.'

Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot twice in the head by a white man after he approached the wrong house by mistake when going to collect his siblings

Yarl, center, was said to be trying to pick up his younger siblings from a friend's house but went to the wrong address

In a probable cause affidavit, Lester told KCPD that shooting Yarl was the 'last thing he wanted to do' but was terrified of the teenager because of his size and age.

The document also revealed that cops discovered a Smith and Wesson .32 caliber revolver with two spent shell casings still in the cylinder after officers arrived at the scene.

Police say Yarl was shot after he knocked on the door, with Lester telling officers he saw him 'pulling on the door handle'  something which the teenager denies.

Yarl also told authorities that Lester told him 'don't come around here' after being shot in the head and the arm through the glass at the front of the house.

Lester shot twice within seconds of opening the door, according to his statement, and claims that no words were exchanged.

The document revealed that he was shot in the left forehead, and right arm, with a neighbor telling cops they thought it was 'odd' for their 'elderly neighbor to have a visitor this late at night'.

A witness added that they heard 'two or three gunshots' from Lester's home, and heard Yarl screaming that he had been shot.

Lester told officers that he felt he was 'protecting himself' at the property where he says he lives alone.

He also claimed that he called 911 after the shooting, claiming that Yarl 'ran away' after the incident.

Yarl was shot in the head and the arm on April 13 after mistakenly ringing the doorbell at the Missouri property where he thought he was meant to pick up his younger twin brothers

The statement shows that he was 'visibly upset' and 'repeatedly expressed concern' for Yarl during the interview.

He said he 'believed he was protecting himself from a physical confrontation and could not take the chance of the male coming in'.

Yarl told officers that he pressed the doorbell and waited outside of the door, adding that the man inside 'took a long time but finally opened the door holding a firearm'.

Officers took a hard drive from Lester's home to preserve video, but the video system was 'no longer functional'.

Lester's home had signs warning trespassers and unwelcomed visitors, though it is unclear if Yarl saw any of them before approaching the property.

The doorbell had a small 'no solicitors' sign on top while another sign claimed the property was 'protected by surveillance cameras'.
Ukraine's military assumed it was the craft NASA warned would fall to earth

NASA denied a huge flash of light above Ukraine was a satellite falling to earth and suggested it was a meteorite.

The light was seen over the capital of Kyiv at 10pm local time and immediately launched an air raid alert, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration, said. Popko added that 'air defense was not in operation.'

Popko shared preliminary findings that showed 'this phenomenon was the result of a Nasa space satellite falling to Earth,' according to the BBC.

The military official may have assumed the light was the 600-pound craft - about the size of a shipping container - NASA warned would re-enter the atmosphere around 9.30pm ET after it was retired by the space agency in 2018 due to communication failure.

But NASA told the news outlet that the satellite was still in orbit.

NASA officials claimed a bright light seen from Ukraine wasn't a falling satellite. The light was seen over the capital of Kyiv at 10pm local time and immediately launched an air raid alert, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration, said

The NASA spacecraft that was expected to fall on Wednesday night had a one in 2,500 chance of harming someone on earth. Astronomers anticipating the fall had drawn up a map of potential impact zones.

NASA said Tuesday that the reentry location is not being disclosed, given lingering uncertainty over when and where it might go down.

But Aerospace, a national security space program, shows debris that survives the hellish return could fall anywhere in South America, Africa or Asia.

There is a 75 percent chance of debris crashing into the ocean, but NASA has still admitted a 'low' risk of it impacting land.

The military official may have assumed the light was the 600-pound craft - about the size of a shipping container - NASA warned would re-enter the atmosphere around 9.30pm ET

Aerospace, a national security space program, shows debris that survives the hellish return could fall anywhere in South America, Africa or Asia. The white lines are potential impact zones

Professor Hugh Lewis, who teaches astronautics at the UK's University of Southampton, shared on Twitter: 'Unfortunately, many people live within the latitude region, which means that the chance of a casualty is still relatively high.'

While NASA said Monday that the craft could re-enter around 9:30pm, some reports show 7pm - give or take 16 hours.

Reports surfaced online around 5pm ET about pieces of the 'satellite falling' over Ukraine's Kyiv.

Many of the claims state city officials sent out the warning shortly after a fireball shot through the night sky.

However, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told DailyMail.com the object 'definitely was not' the NASA satellite nor space debris.

'[It could be a natural meteor or Russian missile attack,' he said.

The dead craft is NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), which was tasked with observing solar flares when it launched on February 5, 2002.

It was decommissioned in 2018 after NASA failed to communicate with it.

Aerospace's reentry project map places RHESSI over the northwestern region of India, suggesting this location is where it sits over Earth.

There is a 75 percent chance of the debris crashing into the ocean, but NASA has still admitted there is a chance it could impact land

'Thanks to a quirk of orbits and a spherical Earth, the impact probability for any elements of the spacecraft surviving to Earth's surface is greatest at latitudes around 38 degrees North and South,' Lewis shared.

READ MORE: Moment one of Elon's new Starlink satellites falls from the sky and burns up One of Elon Musk's new Starlink internet satellites deorbited this month, fells toward Earth and burned up in the atmosphere. Advertisement

'There is no chance of impact at higher latitudes.'

While the chances of debris hitting humans do not sound that dire, the risk is higher than someone getting hit by a car.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows that the odds of being struck by a car in the US is about 1 in 4,292.

RHESSI launched aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket, aiming to image the high-energy electrons that carry a large part of the energy released in solar flares.

It achieved this with its sole instrument, an imaging spectrometer, which recorded X-rays and gamma rays from the Sun.

Before RHESSI, no gamma-ray or high-energy X-ray images of solar flares had been taken.

Data from RHESSI provided vital clues about solar flares and their associated coronal mass ejections.

These events release the energy equivalent of billions of megatons of TNT into the solar atmosphere within minutes and can have effects on Earth, including the disruption of electrical systems. Understanding them has proven challenging.

RHESSI recorded more than 100,000 X-ray events during its mission tenure, allowing scientists to study the energetic particles in solar flares.

The imager helped researchers determine the particles frequency, location, and movement, which allowed them to understand where the particles were being accelerated.
A decision to axe an official independent auditor who wrote a report criticising Daniel Andrews government has been described as 'another blow to integrity'.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Anthony Close has been told to clear out his desk by Sunday with the state government deciding not to renew his contract for another two years despite a parliamentary recommending it.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has shunned the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee request for Mr Close to stay on with the objection he could only be reappointed for four years, the Herald Sun reports.

In 2021 Mr Close accused the Andrews government of hiding the states true financial affairs from Victorians in a report.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Anthony Close has been told to clear out his desk by Sunday with the state government deciding not to renew his contract for another two years despite a parliamentary recommending it

Shadow Special Minister of State David Davis told Daily Mail Australia the axing sent a chilling message to anyone who spoke out against the government.

'Another day and another blow to the integrity in Victoria under the Andrews government,' he said.

'By sacking a highly respected and independent integrity officer the Government has shown it will go to any lengths to silence it critics.

'The Premier must explain why he had backflipped on Mr Closes position just months after he exposed serious financial mismanagement in the government.'

Citing an unnamed source the Herald Sun said the move to get rid of Mr Close was 'a political hit' on someone who has has 'turned out to be a thorn in their side'.

'The governments action in this regard will put all integrity agency heads on notice that they are not safe in their roles,' the source was quoted as saying.

When Mr Pallas established the PBO in 2016 he said it would be a valuable asset in promoting transparency.

'An effective and independent PBO supports open and democratic government strengthening public debate throughout the parliamentary term levelling the playing field in relation to financial expertise,' Mr Pallas said.

The move to axe Mr Close comes just one month before Mr Pallas prepares to deliver the state budget, which has been flagged to contain drastic cuts in an attempt to rein in the state's towering mountain of debt.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has come under fire after his government decided to axe Mr Close

It has already been revealed the promised $8-14billion rail link from Melbourne's CBD to it main Tullamarine Airport has been halted because of the sea of red ink, with debt climbing over $100million for the first time in the state's history.

Work has also been suspended on the Geelong Fast Rail project and community health programs have been told they will see funding reduced by up to 15 per cent .

The state which has racked up a debt larger than NSW, Queensland and Tasmania combined had to pay $1.8 billion in interest alone over the last half of 2022 and the crippling amount if forecast to reach $165.9 billion by 2025.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Andrews and Mr Pallas for comment.
A charity op-shop has caused a ruckus after listing a pair of designer shoes for a startling price.

The Vinnies at Palm Beach, south-east of the Gold Coast, advertised the gold and silver Christian Louboutin men's shoes with gold-studded heels for $500, discounted down from $1,483.

The same pair of shoes is being sold online by a retailer for about $1,480.

The famous French designer, Christian Louboutin, became famous for his brand's red-bottomed stilettos that can sell for as much as $5,000 a pair.

The shoes, advertised on a red pillow, caused a stir in a locals Facebook group where members were dumbfounded by the price tag.

A pair of gold and silver Christian Louboutin shoes with gold studded heels (pictured) were advertised at a Vinnies op-shop for $500, down from $1,483

'You know when Palmy has gone really upmarket,' the photo of the shoes was captioned.

'Designer shoes at Vinnies,'

'I remember seeing Vinnies in Tugun had this ghastly wedding dress for almost $4,000,' one user wrote.

'Think they need to remember they are selling donated goods, not operating a boutique store. [Such] a rip-off.'

'It's bloody disgusting the prices they charge on anything,' another wrote.

Another member of the Facebook group commented that 'all op shops have forgotten that they are meant to be there for the poor people, not just the hipsters'.

One user jumped to the op-shop's defence, saying: 'Actually, the op shops are there to raise money for the charity.'

'Lifeline to fund their crisis line, Vinnies to help the poor,' they wrote.

'Their shops are there for everyone and Vinnies give gift cards to the poor to use at their shops so they get items for free.'

The shoes are being sold out of the Vinnies at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast (pictured) - with the charity shop established to help support the poor

After a shirt from designer brand Proenza Schouler was found in a Vinnies in Sydney's Summer Hill for $350 - later being dropped to $100 - a spokesperson for the company's NSW branch said product pricing was determined by 'affordability to its customers as well as the quality of goods on sale'.

'The principal purpose of Vinnies Shops is to raise much-needed funds for the St Vincent de Paul Societys many services for people experiencing disadvantage,' the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'These include homelessness services, domestic and family violence shelters, health services, disability services, and the work of our members in communities all over NSW by supplying food, clothes, and everyday essentials to people in need.'
Lidia Thorpe's sidekick during the rogue senator's foul-mouthed, late-night tirade outside a Melbourne strip club has broken her silence.

Victoria NAIDOC chair Stacie Piper was on a night out with the former Greens senator to celebrate their friend Shelley Johnson's 50th birthday at Maxine's Gentleman's Club in Brunswick on Saturday night.

But the party ended in uproar at 3am on Sunday when Senator Thorpe unleashed abuse at a crowd of men standing in the street outside as they got into a taxi.

She yelled at one, 'You've got a small penis', and marched up to another saying 'you're marked' in a menacing tone while pointing in his face.

Footage of the spray went viral and Senator Thorpe was later banned for life from the strip club by outraged manager David Ross.

Now Ms Piper has revealed that she has been traumatised by the furore surrounding the incident and insisted reports about it have been 'harsh and untrue'.

Victoria NAIDOC chair Stacie Piper (pictured second left) was with former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe (centre) to celebrate friend Shelley Johnson's 50th birthday at Maxine's Gentleman's Club in Brunswick

Stacie Piper (right) has admitted she has been traumatised by the fallout from the incident and insisted reports about it have been 'harsh and untrue'

She told Daily Mail Australia: 'This is a very difficult time for myself and my family given the harsh and untrue stories being published.'

She said she was unable to comment further but added: 'Hopefully there will be a safe space at some stage.

'I hope no further people will be brought in to this awful situation.'

The allegedly unprovoked verbal assault came after Senator Thorpe had reportedly berated others inside the club for being on Aboriginal land.

Outside, one of the men snapped back at the senator's attack, called her a racist dog and questioned how she had got into Parliament.

During the senator's onslaught, she told the stunned crowd of bystanders to 'get f***ed'.

'All I want to say to the black brothers there and anyone that we're fighting, any black man that stands with the f***ing white little c***s like that - youse can all get f***ed too,' Senator Thorpe said.

Now an Indigenous former supporter of Senator Thorpe has admitted the maverick politician has gone too far, revealing her disappointment in a TikTok video which has since gone viral and been viewed tens of thousands of times.

'I was very disappointed because we just cannot behave this way,' said the social media video blogger who goes by the name Eleven.

'If this was a white politician screaming, "You black Cs', you can guarantee she'd be right there saying, "Get out of politics".

'You know that's there's no place for it. There is no place for it. That behaviour is not okay.'

She said Senator Thorpe should have known better than to respond in the way she did.

An Indigenous former supporter of Ms Thorpe says the senator has gone too far in a TikTok video which has since gone viral and been viewed tens of thousands of times

'Regardless of the people that are coming at you, there are better ways of managing conflict,' she said. 'You can walk away. You can report it.

'You can do a number of things. But for me, you show more character and strength by walking away, by not engaging with people like that.

'They don't deserve your time. It's just making her look really reckless.'

She added: 'It's disappointing to see, to be totally honest. This is not hate towards Lydia. I have supported Lydia in a lot of different ways.

'Seeing an Aboriginal woman in politics is not only very exciting for me, but also it's just really inspiring.

'[But] you're the representative for your constituents, you really should not be behaving this way in public. You really shouldn't.

'If I went out and acted like this, my workplace, if they got wind of it, would probably fire me.'

Senator Thorpe was also blasted by her own father Roy Illingworth (pictured) who branded her racist in an interview on Sky News

Senator Thorpe has also been blasted by her own father who branded her 'racist' in an interview on Sky News.

'The way I see it, the way she is and the way she's changed over the years, she's a very racist person,' Roy Illingworth told Andrew Bolt on Thursday night.

'She doesnt acknowledge any of her white side. Im a bit disappointed in the way shes been carrying on lately.

'Maybe shes being used by someone, or some people. But normally she used to never be like that. Maybe its the power gone to her head too. Im not sure.'

Senator Thorpe was also slammed on Wednesday by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who advised her to get help for her 'health issues'.

'I think that level of behaviour is quite clearly unacceptable,' he said.

'These are not the actions of anyone who should be participating in society in a normal way, let alone a senator.

'Lidia needs to be very conscious of the way in which this behaviour has been seen.'

On Thursday though, Senator Thorpe - who quit the Greens in February over the party's support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which she opposes - hit back.

She insisted racial harassment had triggered her outburst early Sunday morning and stressed that no was injured in the confrontation.

'On Saturday night I was provoked and stood up for myself,' she said in a lengthy statement. 'No one was hurt.

'The story should be about the racists brazenly harassing a senator. The story is that I can't go out without being harassed by racists.

Senator Lidia Thorpe insisted she had been racially harassed which had triggered her outburst and stressed that no was injured in the confrontation, pictured

'This is the racism Blak people deal with everyday in this colony.'

The 'Blak sovereign' movement activist also attacked critics who suggested she needed therapy.

'Saying I need "mental help" is a continuation of the old racist and misogynistic narrative used to discredit and silence outspoken and strong women, particularly Blak women,' she said.

'I am disappointed by the opportunism of politicians in Canberra - including the PM - using this to drag me down.

'But more than that, I am heartened and inspired by the hundreds of messages of support I've received from every comer of the country.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Senator Thorpe seeking comment.
Outsourcing firm and government contractor Capita said customer, supplier or colleague data may have been stolen by hackers in a recent cyber attack on the firm.

The group - a major contractor for local authorities - said investigations since the hack was discovered on March 31 have shown evidence of a 'limited' data breach.

It said this 'might include customer, supplier or colleague data'.

'Capita continues to work through its forensic investigations and will inform any customers, suppliers or colleagues that are impacted in a timely manner,' it said.

It marks the latest in a recent spate of cyber attacks, with high street retailer WH Smith suffering its second hack in less than a year last month and Royal Mail's international postal service suffering lengthy disruption after hackers targeted the group.

Tech issues: The outsourcing company has admitted that an IT issue had affected some client services and disrupted access to its internal Microsoft Office 365 applications

When announcing the attack earlier this month, Capita said there had been 'disruption' to some services provided to clients, by primarily affecting 'access to internal Microsoft Office 365 applications'.

The firm has now restored staff access to Microsoft Office 365 after the attack, which was announced on April 3.

It claimed that no data had been stolen, saying there was 'no evidence of customer, supplier or colleague data having been compromised'.

They today admitted that some data had been 'exfiltrated', or transferred from the site.

Shares in the firm opened down on Friday, dropping from 35p per share to 33.3p per share from 8am to 8.05am.

Companies that use Capita for call centre services, such as O2, were affected, it is understood.

Local authorities, such as Barnet Council in London, also said the IT issue impacted some customer service lines.

Capita insisted the majority of its client services were unaffected and remained in operation and that it has now 'restored virtually all client services that were impacted'.

It said: 'In parallel with the services restoration activity, Capita has continued to work closely and at speed with specialist advisers and forensic experts in investigating the incident to provide assurance around any potential customer, supplier or colleague data exfiltration.'

The group said its investigations so far suggest hackers first breached its systems on or around March 22, which it discovered and interrupted on March 31.

About 4 percent of its server estate was affected, it said.

As well as councils and the National Health Service, Capita holds contracts with government organisations like the National Cyber Security Centre, whose parent arm is GCHQ.

It also provides services on behalf of the Cabinet Office, HM Revenue & Customs, the Ministry of Justice, numerous police forces, and runs the London Congestion Charge Scheme.

Besides public bodies, the firm operates call centres for car manufacturer BMW, bookmaker William Hill, Thames Water, telecoms group O2, and the RSPCA.

Under the leadership of Jon Lewis, who arrived in 2017, Capita has sold off large sections of the company in order to reduce debt, focus on core operations and transform the firm into a hi-tech business.

Among the companies sold by Capita in 2022 included its payment transactions subsidiary Pay360 Limited, two real estate and infrastructure consultancies, and IT services firm Trustmarque.
A Chicago woman who risked her own life to save a couple from a violent mob during Sunday's 'Teen Takeover' has hit out at Mayor Lori Lightfoot for 'sugar coating' the 'mayhem'.

Lenora Dennis was hailed as a hero after she was identified as the woman who stepped in to save a couple from a brutal attack during the weekend's 'teen riots'.

Dennis, who witnessed the attacks for herself, has since rebuked Mayor Lightfoot's 'sugar coating' of the events.

This came after outgoing Mayor Lightfoot attempted to dismiss the out-of-control riots, telling a local reporter that calling the scene 'mayhem' was incorrect, and that most people were downtown 'because there was great weather and it was an opportunity to enjoy the city'.

The shocking scenes saw an uncontrolled mob of teenagers torch downtown Chicago, leading to at least two shootings and more than a dozen arrests.

Lenora Dennis was hailed as a hero after she was identified as the woman who stepped in to save a couple from a brutal attack

Mayor Lightfoot attempted to dismiss the out-of-control riots, telling a local reporter that calling the scene 'mayhem' was incorrect. She is pictured at the National Action Network Convention, New York, April 13, 2023

'I'm sorry, Lightfoot. I voted for you, but I can't be involved in any level of sugarcoating what I saw,' Dennis told Fox News. 'That was mayhem.'

She also told the publication that she felt obliged to intervene as she feared the young woman would be killed.

'It was just something that I had to do because I couldnt accept that.'

The horrifying attack came as droves of young rioters descended on downtown Chicago, causing widespread mayhem and looting.

Footage from the evening of chaos saw teenagers smashing a bus, while others erupted into a mass brawl around Millennium Park.

Multiple gunshots rang out across the Windy City, and three teens were shot in two separate incidents amid the carnage. In total, 16 people were arrested following the weekend of mayhem, while the riots also saw numerous vehicles seized and torched on the streets.

Despite this, Mayor Lightfoot defended the teens, telling local reporters: 'The mass majority of the young people who came downtown, came downtown because there was great weather and it was an opportunity to enjoy the city. That's absolutely, entirely appropriate.

'There are a few that came with different intentions. They have and they will be dealt with. But I'm not going to use your language, which I think is wrong, to say there's 'mayhem'.'

Ahead of the widespread rioting over the weekend, law enforcement set up perimeters across downtown Chicago

Numerous cars were smashed or torched in the ugly scenes across downtown Chicago over the weekend

The Windy City descended into chaos as hordes of young agitators filled the streets. Police officers and ambulances are seen in the city centre

Chicago's Millennium Park was filled with a heavy police presence to combat the throng of teen rioters across the weekend

A Tesla was set on fire amid the carnage. Some 16 people have been arrested following the scenes

The riots led to 16 arrests and three shootings in two separate incidents as Chicago descended into chaos

The rowdy group torched cars and got into fights as gunshots rang out across the city. Police were pictured responding to the mayhem

Ashley Knutson and Devante Garrison-Johnson, victims in the attack, have since hailed Dennis as a hero and said the ordeal could have been much worse had she not stepped in.

Also speaking to Fox News earlier in the week, the two said the terrifying mob warned them 'they were going to kill us'.

The couple said they has come home after an evening out shopping, before 'everything went crazy', They described being crowded by rioters as Knutson was pushed to the ground.

Garrison-Johnson then confronted the attackers, the couple said, before they were quickly overrun.

The teen agitators beat the pair, stole their shoes, phones, a pair of sunglasses, an Apple Watch, and a hat.

'I have a black eye,' Garrison-Johnson added. 'My face is messed up. Shoulder is pretty f***** up too, it's out of place. My back is sore.'

Chicago's Democratic mayor-elect - who beat Lightfoot in February's election - said the city should not demonize the teens who organized the takeover.

Brandon Johnson, 47, said he does not 'condone the destructive activity' and that it's 'unacceptable and has no place' in Chicago, but that it should not be used as a way to vilify the group.

A young couple attacked by teen rioters in Chicago, Ashley Knutson and Devante Garrison-Johnson, revealed the mob threatened to 'kill' them

Outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was recently voted out of office, defended the rioters and said she thought the term 'mayhem' was inaccurate

Chicago's Democratic mayor-elect, Brandon Johnson, said the city should not demonize the teens who organized the takeover

'However, it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities,' said Johnson.

Johnson is a former union organizer who has called for new taxes and more social programs in Chicago. He will take office on May 15.

Despite the outrage over the violence and destruction, Johnson said he thinks the only path forward is to 'work together' to give younger people safer spaces.

'Our city must work together to create spaces for youth to gather safely and responsibly, under adult guidance and supervision, to ensure that every part of our city remains welcome for both residents and visitors,' he said in a statement.
A man accused of murdering his fellow sky diver said of the row in which he killed his victim: 'Clair being Clair she liked to have the last word.'

Ashley Kemp, 55, also a top skydiver, throttled Clair Armstrong, 50, to death following a row after he was accused of attempting to rape a teenage girl at work.

He then watched her die, gasping for air, after falling off the bed and becoming wedged in a bedroom cupboard.

Kemp alerted emergency services around 24 hours after Clair was last seen alive - when they returned from a night out following a team formation sky dive she had completed.

When 999 workers arrived, rigor mortis had set in and there was no point in even trying to revive her because she was so obviously dead, prosecution witnesses have claimed.

The accused murderer of skydiver Clair Armstrong said he planned to stab himself through the heart when he realised what he had done  but was too much of a coward

Today a murder trial jury at Grimsby Crown Court continued to hear what Kemp had told police on his arrest after crashing his car into a tree off a country lane 8 miles from Clair's house in Messingham, Lincolnshire.

He told cops that their row started as they were getting ready for bed on the Saturday night of November 5 last year.

He had just learned his police bail had been extended and although disappointed the investigation was ongoing he tried to reassure Clair it was also a good sign there was no evidence.

He said: 'We had a normal day - a chilled out day. There was some tension when we went to bed. Clair being Clair she liked to have the last word.

'I was saying the bail being extended was a good thing because they have not been able to find anything yet.

'I was saying 'relax and not think about it' but you cannot tell Clair to 'relax and don't think about things' because she won't.

'It got heated. She advised me to start packing. She was quite hysterical. She went down the stairs and grabbed some black bags. I jumped out of bed.

'When I moved towards her she lashed out. She had the bags. I jumped out to try and stop her. She just started lashing out at me.

'Because she was pushing me and hitting me, I leant forward and head butted her. Then she came back and started punching me.

'I grabbed her. I just snapped. I wanted her to stop and calm down. That was the only way I could do it - so I did.'

He added that she was hitting him with open hands and fists. 'It felt like it was not going to stop.

'She was still going for me when I grabbed her. I butted her on the forehead,' he said.

'She just recoiled and came back harder. She was lashing out quite hard with hands and fists.

'As she came in I grabbed her throat and squeezed it as hard as I could until she stopped struggling.

'She was still at at the end of the bed. She fell into the cupboard. She was struggling for breath. I watched her. She was gasping for breath and then she stopped.

Ashley Kemp (left), 55, also a top sky diver, throttled Clair to death following a row after he was accused of attempting to rape a teenage girl at work

'She fell backwards into the cupboard. She sat up. She was gasping and that was it. A couple of gasps and then it stopped.

'Her left leg was stuck under the door frame. I lifted her onto the bed. I shook her a couple of times.

'I saw a some blood on her face. So I cleaned her and put the duvet over.

'She just had a pair of knickers on and a black and white dressing grown. I think the blood on her face was where I butted her. It was flowing down her nose.'

He got a tissue from the en-suite toilet to clean her and then flushed it down the toilet. 'I was saying 'Please wake up',' he added.

Kemp rang 999 at 00.41am on Sunday, confessing to strangling Clair and claiming it had happened about two hours earlier.

Asked by cops to explain the delay, he said: 'I just panicked. I was really scared, I knew I had gone too far. I cannot tell you how much I loved her and she had gone.

'I covered her up. I put the whole duvet over her so I did not have to look at her face.

'I went into the bathroom and got a razor. Then I went back upstairs and sat on side of the bed and sliced my left wrist. Blood was dripping onto the floor.'

Clair was an accelerated free form instructor

The jury was told today Kemp also grabbed a bottle of wine, poured it into a glass and took more than 30 pain killing tablets before getting into bed with the razor blade.

He later left Clair's detached house in his silver Nissan Qashqai, leaving the front door unlocked for the emergency services.

He drove around in circles in the fog after ringing 999 from a lay-by and then drove into 'the first tree he could find'.

Near the end of his last statement to police, he told them: 'I just wanted to kill myself and still do. I don't deserve to be alive. Clair does.'

Kemp also denied he had 'pinned her down' despite saying he had done so in the 999 call shortly before her body was discovered by a police officer.

Earlier in today's proceedings, PC Samuel Farrow told jurors how he and a colleague from the firearms unit were called to Ms Armstrong's detached house after a paramedic found the door unlocked and was unable to get any reply.

He said: 'I entered the bedroom and noticed there was a person shape under the covers on the left hand side of the bed although the duvet cover had been pulled right up to the top of the bed.

'I pulled back the duvet and located an adult female. Her eyes were open. She was unconscious.

'She was wearing knickers and a dressing gown and was laid on her back on the bed.'

He checked her pulse and noticed 'her skin felt cold to the touch and her body had stiffened. It was my opinion rigor mortis had started to set in indicating she had been like that for some time.'

She was certified dead at 1.05am by a paramedic, who also noted signs of rigor mortis.

PC Farrow said the only sign of a disturbance was a drop of blood in the bedroom.

Grimsby Crown Court heard that when he failed to give police details about his exact whereabouts they were able to pinpoint is location via the phone signal.

But this time Kemp was eight miles away driving his silver Nissan Qashqai at high speed through thick fog down a country lane.

When the vehicle abruptly disappeared from view Police Sergeant Mitchell Walker realised it had crashed and raced to the scene.

Kemp also denied he had 'pinned her down' despite saying he had done so in the 999 call shortly before her body was discovered by a police armed response officer

He saw a figure stood on a verge and spoke to him through his patrol car window. He told the court: 'He was dazed and unsteady on his feet.

'I instructed Kemp to put his hands out in front of him. I said: "At this moment in time Ash you are under arrest on suspicion of murder".

'He stated, "Who have I murdered? Murder of whom?", his breathing became shallow, and he started shaking.

'I took a torch from the front passenger seat and looked at his head injury which was no longer bleeding but slightly swollen.

'He had blood on both of his hands which was dried in between his fingers. He continued to breath shakily and asked, "Where are we?".'

He was taken to hospital where PC Martin Leak, who was ordered to breath test him, said: 'As I approached him with a breathalyser, he said, "I am very drunk".

'He said he had drunk a bottle of wine and couple of pints. But the breath sample recorded zero. He shrugged his shoulder and said, "Must have been earlier".'

Dr Kirsten Hope, a Home Office pathologist for ten years, said Ms Armstrong's body had injuries which she called 'classic signs of asphyxia'.

She added: 'There was strong evidence Clair Armstrong's neck was forcefully compressed prior to her death and is typical of manual strangulation.

'It is a variable how long it takes someone to lose consciousness  but potentially it could be two to three minutes.

'It has to be significant force to fracture those (neck) bones.

'Bruising over the upper arms were consistent with her being pinned down during the fight.

'It would take significant blunt force trauma to fracture the nose and more than one blunt force impact in my opinion.

Ms Armstrong was last seen alive shortly after midnight on Saturday November 5 returning home on foot with Kemp from an evening at her local pub in Messingham, North Lincolnshire, with her brother, sister and their partners

'There is very clear pathological evidence that Clair Armstrong sustained a significant neck injury and died from manual asphyxia.'

The fact that Ms Armstrong was aged 50 and her neck bones would therefore have been more brittle than a younger person did not affect her opinion under cross examination by the defence. 'I still think this is significant force' she said.

The murder trial has been told that Ms Armstrong was last scene alive on the evening of Friday November 4, 2022, around 24 hours before her killer's 999 call confession.

Kemp claims the row took place little over two hours before he placed the call.

But jurors heard evidence that Ms Armstrong had stopped responding to WhatsApp messages early on Saturday morning, which was strange.

She was also over the limit for driving when she died. Blood tests showed an alcohol reading of 107mg per 100ml. The legal limit for driving is 80mg.

But Kemp told officers who interviewed him that the couple had not had any alcohol on the night that Ms Armstrong died.

He said: 'We had a heavy night the night before. We went out with some friends and were feeling quite hungover and did not feel like any alcohol.'

The couple met at Drop Zone, a skydiving centre at Hibaldstow airfield, near Lincoln.

Ms Armstrong was an accelerated free form instructor. She had worked there three or four years and had been skydiving for a long time.

Her previous partner was a parachute rigger.

Kemp was manager of the business where he had worked for six years.

He was fired for gross misconduct after the sexual allegation was made against him on August 1 last year and the police investigation is continuing.

He had been arrested at passport control at Leeds-Bradford airport when the couple returned from their first holiday together in July.

He said of their two-and-a-half year relationship in the interview: 'She is a fantastic person. She has tons of energy. She is very pretty as well.

'She is just great and I loved her to bits. We were talking about getting married and engaged. But that did not happen because of my arrest.

'We thought by then we would have had some answers and this would be over. Our lives had been destroyed.

'Before then we were massively happy and this was our first holiday together.

'This particular day being told she wanted me out the house and we were over when I loved her so much.

Forensic teams arriving at the scene of the investigation in Messingham, North Lincolnshire, last November

'She said it was all my fault  social services and police knocking on her door.

'She looked like she really meant it. I jumped out of bed to try and calm her down. She went for me and I just snapped.'

When he realised what he had done he slashed his wrist with a razor blade, which he says was why his hands were covered in blood when the police found him.

He told police: 'I was going to stab myself in the heart but I was a coward and I just could not do it.

'I got dressed. I went outside to the car and called police.'

Kemp, of Robinson Grove, Hibaldstow, has admitted manslaughter but denied murder.

The trail was adjourned until tomorrow when Kemp is expected to give evidence.
420 is a significant occasion for cannabis smokers across the globe, as they unite to celebrate the landmark.

The annual event is observed to celebrate and promote the legalisation of marijuana, as its use is still prohibited in many countries around the world.

So, when is 420 in 2023? Where does it get its name from? Who started the tradition?

Read on below for everything you need to know about 420 and the celebrations surrounding it.

A reveler is pictured inhaling from a bong during 420 celebrations, which occur annually on 20 April

When is 420 in 2023?

420 takes its name from the American English system of ordering dates. 420 falls annually on 20 April, which would be stylised in the US as 4/20.

As a result, this term is still used today to mark the cannabis-smoking celebrations.

420 does not just take its name after the event's date, but also has ties to its roots in California, where it began during the 1970s.

Who started 420?

The convention is said to have been created by five Californian high school students - Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz and Mark Gravich.

In 1971, the five students, who attended San Rafael High School, came up with a secret term.

They used the expression '420' to communicate that they would meet later in the day to smoke marijuana.

After exchanging the phrase '420' whilst at school, they would subsequently convene at 4.20pm to smoke cannabis, although it is unclear if the timing actually had anything to do with the naming of the ritual.

The group became known as the 'Waldos' because their chosen smoking spot was against a wall, near a statue of the famous chemist Louis Pasteur.

Now in their 60s, the original founders of 420 still meet together to mark the event they inadvertently founded over 50 years ago.

What do people do on 420?

In the UK, cannabis smokers flock to London's Hyde Park to meet anyone else who chooses to celebrate 420.

In the US, 420's country of origin, rallies are normally held in states including Colorado, California, Michigan, and Florida.

It has become traditional for cannabis smokers to celebrate 420 in London's Hyde Park. These were the scenes at the venue in 2022

Similar instances of people coming together to smoke cannabis often occur across across the globe.

Ugly scenes marred 420 in 2022, when police arrested 10 people as crowds spilled over into Oxford Street in London after thousands of revelers descended on parks across the country to protest against cannabis laws and mark '420' day.

Footage captured dozens of officers using dogs to disperse attendees who had left Hyde Park, with one detective saying some were 'involved in assaults' with a 'machete seen' at the time.

One clip of those appeared to show a German Shepherd nipping at a man's leg, causing him to fall to the ground as screams and car horns could be heard blaring in the background.
He did an interview complaining of being treated badly, but the CBI hit back

Police launched an investigation after CBI fired Tony Danker and three others

A war of words has broken out between the Confederation of British Industry and the director-general it sacked over misconduct allegations.

Yesterday Tony Danker claimed he had been made the 'fall guy' for a wider crisis engulfing the lobby group.

But it emerged today his views differ from that of the CBI, whose president says he is being 'selective' with his account of the accusations levelled against him.

Mr Danker said the group had thrown him 'under a bus' with its treatment of him but sources said he had left out key details.

The insider said these elements included the fact the karaoke party to which he invited young employees was mostly to women under the age of 35.

Fired boss of the Confederation of British Industry Tony Danker says his 'reputation has been totally destroyed' following sex misconduct allegations

And Mr Danker's reveal that he used Instagram to contact employees over lockdown to build 'rapport' did not mention the CBI was concerned about him doing so repeatedly, the Times reports.

Brian McBride, president of the CBI, said: 'I think Tony's description there was selective. Tony and I had a conversation when he was dismissed. I followed it up with a legal letter explaining everything in detail  there's more in that letter than we've just talked about.'

A source added Mr Danker was perceived as being 'over-friendly and by some to be inappropriately so, he crossed lines with quite a few people'.

Police are investigating after the business organisation fired Mr Danker and suspended three other employees when its board said his conduct 'fell short' of what was expected of him.

In his first interview since his firing on April 11, the former CBI boss told the BBC that his name had been wrongly associated with claims that had 'totally trashed' his reputation - and insisted that he had not propositioned anyone at work.

Mr Danker during his BBC interview. Police are investigating after the CBI fired him and suspended three other staff, claiming his conduct 'fell short' of what was expected of him

In his first interview since his firing on April 11, Mr Danker - pictured with Rishi Sunak - told the BBC his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims

He also told the broadcaster his termination letter had cited four reasons for his dismissal: For organising a secret and private karaoke party for 15 people, for viewing the Instagram accounts of CBI staff, for sending non-work related messages to staff and for inviting junior staff to breakfasts, lunches or one-to-one meetings.

While Mr Danker acknowledged he had made some staff feel 'very uncomfortable' and he apologised for that, he insisted he had 'never used sexually suggestive language with people' at the company.

'You know, there was an incident, somebody raised a complaint about unwanted contact, which was verbal contact,' he added. 'There was never any physical contact. I've never had any physical contact.

'I've never used any sexual language. I've never propositioned anybody.'

Mr Danker believed he had been assigned as 'the fall guy' for a wider crisis engulfing the lobby group which is facing a number of claims - some of which predate his time at the CBI.

He said his reputation had been 'totally trashed' because these claims - which included drug use as well as serious sexual assault - emerged a matter of weeks after the CBI disclosed that it was looking into separate allegations of misconduct against him.

He admitted to messaging around 200 individual staff members at the company but insisted it was to try and build 'rapport' during lockdown and with colleagues who continued to work from home.

Former CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith, who left the organisation last month to join Barclays, has replaced Mr Danker as director-general

Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Waight had earlier confirmed that the City of London Police approached the CBI following media reports of misconduct, but their investigations were still at a 'very early stage'.

Mr Danker has responded to his dismissal by saying the allegations against him had been 'distorted', tweeting: 'I recognise the intense publicity the CBI has suffered following the revelations of awful events that occurred before my time in office.

'I was appalled to learn about them for the first time last week. I was nevertheless shocked to learn this morning that I had been dismissed from the CBI, instead of being invited to put my position forward as was originally confirmed.

'Many of the allegations against me have been distorted, but I recognise that I unintentionally made a number of colleagues feel uncomfortable and I am truly sorry about that.'

The trade body has been rocked by allegations of a toxic workplace culture since Mr Danker was accused last month of allegedly making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the CBI.

She considered the contact to be sexual harassment, The Guardian reported at the time. The group began an investigation into his behaviour and he agreed to step down in the meantime. It said a legal firm has completed the first part of this investigation.

Mr Danker has been replaced as director-general by Rain Newton-Smith, the group's former chief economist, who left last month to join Barclays.

'Tony Danker is dismissed with immediate effect following the independent investigation into specific complaints of workplace misconduct against him,' the CBI said.

'The board wishes to make clear he is not the subject of any of the more recent allegations in The Guardian but has determined that his own conduct fell short of that expected of the director-general.'

It comes after The Guardian said it was approached by more than a dozen women who claimed to be victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior members of the CBI who were not Mr Danker. One woman said she was raped at a staff party.
A besotted Co-op store supervisor hired a private detective to spy on her boss after she became infatuated with him and even planted a tracking device on his car to monitor his movements.

Laura Dolman, 33, paid the investigator to stalk father-of-three Marc Klaver's car to find out where he lived after he had earlier rebuffed her advances.

Dolman had developed 'romantic feelings' for Mr Klaver, who was manager at the Co-op supermarket in Haslington, near Crewe, Cheshire, where she worked as a team leader, a court heard.

She would loiter near his home in her silver Skoda car and keep close tabs on Mr Klaver at all hours.

The victim, who is his 30s, eventually left the Co-op to take up a new post with rival supermarket Morrisons to get away from his unwanted admirer.

Laura Dolman admitted stalking after she developed romantic feelings for her boss which were not reciprocated

Marc Klaver became increasingly concerned after he began to notice Ms Dolman's car was constantly in his vicinity

But he became increasingly concerned at seeing Dolman's car parked up in Weston, the village where he lived. He subsequently learnt she had been tracking him after she accosted him in the street and admitted hiring a private eye to place the tracker device on his vehicle to keep him under surveillance.

Police who investigated Dolman discovered she had also been sending love letters to Mr Klaver and had been messaging his ex-wife.

At Chester Magistrates' Court, Dolman pleaded guilty to stalking involving serious alarm or distress.

The charge states that between August 2021 and April last year she placed a tracker on her victim's vehicle, approached him in the street, made unsolicited voicemails, messages and calls, and that her stalking caused Mr Klaver 'serious alarm or distress and had a substantial adverse effect on his usual day-to-day activities'.

Andrew Madden, prosecuting, said both parties were working for the Co-op in Haslington.

'Mr Klaver was the store manager and Miss Dolman arrived as a team leader in November 2020,' Mr Madden said. 'The relationship began as professional, they were work colleagues, but there was a change when she made her feelings known that she wanted a relationship with him.

'He said he did not feel the same way and he advised he would contact the area manager to look at a move to prevent any further issues. He left the Co-op in September 2021.

'But in November he started to see Miss Dolman's Silver Skoda in the same area as himself. He was concerned about that because he had moved to a new address and was taking a new route to work. He was also parking away from his address.'

Mr Klaver eventually left his job at the Co-op to take up a role at Morrisons due to the stalking

Mr Madden said that on a day in the following April, Mr Klaver was walking outside with his son when Ms Dolman pulled up alongside and said that she needed to talk to him.

'She said that she placed a tracker on his vehicle,' the prosecutor said. 'He believed that was a ploy to get his attention so he ignored it. 'But she left voice messages on his phone and made it known that she had hired a detective private investigator to obtain a tracker. She stated that she was going to remove the tracker from his vehicle. Also in April, he received some handwritten letters from her. His ex-wife also received a letter from her.

'She was interviewed in relation to the matters. She said they met at work and felt that they had a lot in common. They had grown up in the same town and had gone to the same school.

'She said they became friends quickly, and that she put her trust in the victim very quickly. She claimed that he felt the same way about her at times. She admitted that she'd hired a private investigator to place a tracker on his vehicle.'

Dolman will be sentenced later.

Her solicitor Stuart Flood said: 'This was not all in one way by any stretch of the imagination although she acknowledges her behaviour would amount to stalking and she acknowledges that with her prompt guilty plea.

'She has no previous matters on record. Given the nature of the charge, I would think that a report would benefit the court before sentencing.'
Two soldiers - known as 'Caesar' and 'Quiet' - spoke about why they defected

Russian soldiers defected to fight for Ukraine in the 'Freedom of Russia' legion

Russian soldiers who defected to fight for Ukraine have said they are driven by the desire to overthrow Vladimir Putin's 'FSB dictatorship' and free their country from tyranny.

Two fighters - known only by their call signs 'Caesar' and 'Quiet' - said in rare interviews from the frontlines of Bakhmut in Ukraine that they defected from Putin's military because the Russian's despots regime 'destroys people'.

The men, who are in their 40s, are fighting alongside Russian soldiers in the 4,000-strong 'Freedom of Russia' legion in Ukraine.

Caesar, who has killed Russian soldiers on the battlefield, told media outlet Important Stories: 'I clearly began to understand that the country was moving in a completely wrong direction and that Putin's system - the FSB dictatorship - not only destroys people physically but also morally.'

He added: 'It does not give people the opportunity to realise themselves and their civil rights.

Caesar, (pictured) who has killed Russian soldiers on the battlefield, told media outlet Important Stories: 'I clearly began to understand that the country was moving in a completely wrong direction and that Putin's system - the FSB dictatorship - not only destroys people physically but also morally.'

Two fighters - known only by their call signs 'Caesar' and 'Quiet' (pictured) - said in rare interviews from the frontlines of Bakhmut in Ukraine that they defected from Putin's military because the Russian's despots regime 'destroys people'

Russians who fight for Ukraine in the Freedom for Russia legion are pictured firing artillery

'And this system, in order to retain power, resorts more and more to repression and does not leave citizens any possibility of a legitimate change of power.'

He calls himself a Russian 'nationalist' saying: 'I have trained people from right-wing nationalist organisations who could overthrow the current regime by force of arms.'

Another fighter nicknamed Quiet - who earlier completed military service in the Russian army and fought in Chechnya - said: 'We were trained by the Ukrainian military

'They told us: "Thank you that you still exist - [Russians] who have brains and a heart that are ready to defend [Ukraine]".'

A construction worker who lived in Ukraine before the war, he said: '[I have no emotions about the fact that I shoot at my compatriots], because there are normal compatriots and insane ones.

'My task is to kick them out of Ukraine, to liberate Crimea.

'If they were normal, they would have turned the Kremlin upside down, kicked out all this riff-raff, and lived normally.'

Caesar, born in Russian resort city Sochi and married with four children, said: 'Honestly, I don't want to get Ukrainian citizenship and I don't want to stay here.

'I like being here, I feel good here, and my soul is calm here because I am doing my Christian military duty.

'I protect the people of Ukraine. But at the first opportunity, I will return home, if I stay alive, of course.

'I will return to Russia in arms to free her from tyranny. I want to live and die in my own land.'

Caesar, born in Russian resort city of Sochi and married with four children, is pictured in Russia

Caesar, born in Russian resort city Sochi and married with four children, is pictured in Russia

Russians who fight for Ukraine in the Freedom for Russia legion fire artillery in Bakhmut

Quiet, married with two adult daughters and born in Russian city Tolyatti, said: '[After the start of the war] my wife and I started volunteering.

'As the Kyiv region was liberated, we went there to help the wounded people.

'My wife brought food and clothes. With other men, we set up a military tent there and dismantled the battered roofs, and inserted windows.'

Quiet said he defected and fought for Ukrainian forces when he saw the atrocities committed by Russian troops near Kyiv, saying that seeing the dead bodies of children and women in person was horrific.

Quiet had been visiting family near Kyiv when he saw the atrocities in Bucha, Irpin and Borodianka - and decided to stay and fight for Ukrainian forces.

He said: '[When we saw what the Russian military had done in the Kyiv region], I was in complete shock. We saw the corpses of civilians.

'I don't understand at all how you can be a complete moron, what an unsatisfied person you have to be in life to do such a thing - to rape women and children.

'How could you even touch children. It feels like they released all the perverts from prison, who were supposed to be in prison all their lives, and sent them [to Ukraine].

'You understand Putin's system. For 20 years he gathered lackeys and degenerates around him. Now we see the result of this artificial selection.'

Since Putin's forces invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, evidence of the soldiers committing war crimes has continued to mount. Russia has been accused of raping hundreds of women and girls, as well as murdering and torturing civilians in Russian-held towns.

The legion has been dismissed by Russia as a PR stunt yet more recently has been branded a 'terrorist organisation' by the Kremlin.

Russian sources identified Caesar as Maximilian Andronnikov and warned he could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted in Russia.
An Australian estate agent found dead in a street in Bali had reportedly been screaming and banging his head on the ground minutes before his death, it has emerged.

Charlie John Bradley, 28, was found dead outside a hospital clinic in north Kuta several hours after leaving Finns beach club on Sunday.

His distraught family say there is an unexplained window between Mr Bradley leaving the club just after midnight and 3.40am, when his body was found in the street.

Charlie John Bradley, 28, was found unresponsive outside a hospital clinic in north Kuta after leaving a club on Sunday morning

North Kuta Police Chief Made Pramasetia told Daily Mail Australia that two witnesses have been questioned by the police, including a local who was passing on a motorbike when he came across Mr Bradley's body.

'The second witness was a taxi driver who said that he saw the individual in the middle of the road,' Mr Pramasetia explained.

'He tried waking him up but he got no response. Later on, the taxi driver and the first witness alongside some locals drove the individual in his taxi to Siloam Hospital in Kuta.

Indonesian Police say they have launched an investigation into the real estate agent's death and have so far spoken to two witnesses

'But when they arrived at Siloam Hospital, the doctor declared that the victim had died as he had no pulse and his pupils were wide.'

Mr Pamasetia said they could not determine a cause of death until after the autopsy report.

He said a female friend of Mr Bradley's came into the police station in the days after his death.

Mr Bradley's family have released chilling details about his final moments.

'He collapsed to the ground, screamed, stood up, collapsed again screaming and then was repeatedly banging his head,' his sister Beth Bradley told 7News.

'Whoever took Charlie to that hospital has a video of Charlie minutes or maybe even an hour prior to his death.'

She asked: 'Why were you recording him if he was struggling? Or were you recording it in hope that it would reach his family?'

'My family are broken,' she added.

'He liked to party but he knew his limits. All of his belongings were on him - it just doesn't make sense.'

Ms Bradley wrote on social media: 'Please help us find an answer. Someone out there knows more than we do.'

The family have queried whether his drink was spiked or he was the victim of misadventure.

His sister, Beth Bradley, told 7News that her family are 'broken'

Mr Bradley, a UK citizen, migrated from Coventry to Sydney back in 2013. He posted a photo of himself posing in front of the Harbour Bridge with the caption: 'Beats Coventry I reckon'

The keen amateur boxer had flown from Sydney on Thursday to attend a music festival on the popular holiday island with a friend.

The pair got separated and Mr Bradley reportedly tried to ring his friend three times but could not get through.

His sister, Beth told 10 News First Adelaide on Wednesday that they were desperate to know what happened after he left Finns beach club at 12.10am.

'There's a three-hour gap between Charlie leaving the venue which was only 15 minutes from where he was staying,' she said.

'Charlie's body was reported and found only two minutes from the villa that he was staying in.'

Through tears, she added: 'Because we haven't even identified his body yet we don't know how significant his wounds are.'

The property consultant worked for real estate firms like Belle and McGrath and specialised in the Newcastle market.

Mr Bradley, a UK citizen, migrated from Coventry to Sydney in 2013.

He posted a photo of himself posing in front of the Harbour Bridge with the caption: 'Beats Coventry I reckon'.

The 28-year-old's family, who live in Adelaide, are working with UK authorities to bring his body back to Australia.

His devastated mother Angela confirmed the sad news on social media this week.

'This shocking news has rocked our family entirely, Charlie was loved by so many,' she wrote.

'Let this be a reminder to you all that life is too short, and hug those closest to you tightly.'
Strident anti-monarchists planning to disrupt the coronation with a 'sea of yellow T-shirts' have vowed to continue their protests after May 6 - and will extend their demonstrations to include Prince William's events.

Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, said at an republican speaker event in West Kilburn in London on Wednesday night that the group will continue to protest the King even after the coronation.

He added that anti-monarchists were using the coronation as a spring board as the last major royal event in the foreseeable future, until the next crowning or the wedding of Prince George.

Republic, a leading anti-monarchy campaign group, will stage a protest on the ceremonial procession route on May 6, and is calling on thousands to descend on the event wearing yellow T-shirts.

Also speaking was Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, an outspoken critic of the monarchy, who returned the OBE she was awarded in 2001, and said she had become a Republican as a result of her experiences with the Windsors and during the 1953 coronation.

Graham Smith (pictured), CEO of Republic, said the coronation would be a launchpad for future bigger protests

He said the campaign group would extend its protests to Prince William after the coronation and even Prince George when he's older

Mr Smith, who is one of the best-known anti-monarchists in the country, said: 'He is the King and hes going to be for some time. In terms of plans, were going to carry on protests.

Meet three of the team involved in Republic GRAHAM SMITH, chief executive Graham Smith, 48, is possibly the most well-known republican in Britain, and he has campaigned against the monarchy for 20 years. His group, Republic, was set up in 1983 but has gained momentum and supporters in recent years after being formally set up as a limited company in 2006. He recently labelled King Charles as 'just a bloke in a suit who's spending lots of our money' but admitted heckling the Queen 'wouldn't have gone down well'. The Daily Beast once described Mr Smith as 'the most successful British republican since Oliver Cromwell'. GULLY BUJAK, protest organiser Gully Bujak is an experienced climate change protest organiser who has been convicted of criminal acts during Extinction Rebellion eco protests. She is also a privately-educated model and actress and former junior head girl at Stover School in Devon  where her father used to be headmaster. BEN CLINTON Ben Clinton is campaign co-ordinator for 'Labour for a Republic', a republican pressure group within the Labour Party. He has previously written for the Morning Star and is a councillor on the parish council in Peasmarsh, East Sussex. He also spoke in favour of proportional representation at the Labour Party conference in 2021. Advertisement

'So were going to follow Charles where hes going and well probably extend that to William.

'Were going to sit down and think about whats next because this is the last big major event for quite some time, probably 25 years.

'The next one will be Prince George [getting married] and hes only nine. So its either his wedding or the next coronation.

'It's going to be a launchpad for bigger things. I think a lot more people are going to know about us and engage with us. We are already seeing a massive increase in income and a lot more interest. It's going to be a game-changer.'

He said of the group's coronation plans: 'Lots of placards, some big flags and banners. Were looking at music, weve got amplifiers. Were going to try and keep it fairly light-hearted.

'There will be some annoyed people - and annoying people - but we had that in York and Colchester and its a minority.

'For most people its just a part of the event really and theyll probably try and find somewhere else to stand to avoid looking at our banners!'

The anti-monarchist CEO added that despite concerns that police had been profiling potential demonstrators, it was not true and that his organisation have a 'good' relationship with the police.

'They havent arrested us and they did that after the Queen died but it was individual officers who got it badly wrong and we have had meetings with the police.

'I spoke to them again this morning because we followed up on this report recently about them profiling us.

'And they said its not true and basically they dont have any concerns about our protests at all but they will certainly be there and there will be a line of them along the barricade just in front of us.

'Because also they dont know who else is going to turn up and do something silly, which we dont want, either, were not interested in that. Our relationship with them has always been pretty good.'

On Republic's website, the protesters are calling on thousands to don yellow T-shirts and wave placards reading 'Not My King' at a gathering in Trafalgar Square from 6am, before moving to the procession route between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey later that morning.

The group is led by Graham Smith, an activist who has accused the BBC of breaching impartiality in its coverage of the Royal Family.

Mr Smith (left) is the author of a new book, Abolish The Monarchy, which will be published in early June

Republic has issued this map to reveal where it will be demonstrating in London on May 6

The republican group claims to have the support of more than 80,000 people

Republic has produced this publicity image to encourage people to join its protest on May 6

Protesters from Republic hold up signs saying Not My King outside Westminster Abbey on March 13

Supporters from the campaign group Republic unveiling a polling station sign on the railings of Buckingham Palace in London

Protests against the Coronation are being planned across the UK. In Cardiff, the Not My King protest, organised by Campaign for a Welsh Republic, plans to meet at the Aneurin Bevan statue at 12.30pm, to march to Bute Park.

The demonstration will be followed by what the group describes as a 'BIG REPUBLICAN LUNCH'.

In Scotland, a march for independence is planned to run concurrently with the Coronation in Glasgow. A simultaneous protest will be held in Edinburgh at the National Monument of Scotland, with more than 250 people already saying they are interested in going.

Republic's website states: 'On Saturday 6th May the eyes of the world will be on the Coronation. This is the moment we make our objection loud, visible and impossible to ignore.

'Pledge to add your voice to the call for a republic.'

Potential anti-monarchist demonstrators are instructed to create a 'sea of yellow' with 14.99 branded T-shirts and placards reading 'Not My King'. A yellow unisex hoodie is available for 41.99.

The demonstrators plan to protest near the King Charles I statue in the middle of the Trafalgar Square roundabout.

Mr Smith is the author of a new book, Abolish The Monarchy: Why We Should And How We'll Do It, which will be published in early June.
Filming for a new series of the Star Wars spin-off programme Andor in a Dorset quarry has been cancelled by the National Trust after bad weather raised fears of rockfalls and landslips.

Scenes for the Disney+ programme were set to be shot at Winspit Quarry, near Worth Matravers, where filming also took place for the first series in May 2021.

Production crew had been spotted setting up a base in a field a few miles from the site and signs had gone up saying the quarry would be closed for filming from April 12-29.

But the site, which has also previously been used to film Doctor Who and the Disney film John Carter, has now been closed until further notice.

The National Trust blamed 'turbulent' weather, which it said increased the chances of rockfalls and landslips.

The site, which was used as a stone quarry until the 1940s, has now been closed until further notice by the National Trust

Film crew set up equipment ahead of filming for the first series of Andor in 2021

The Disney+ series is a prequel to Rogue One and the original 1977 Star Wars film

The Disney+ series is a prequel to both the Rogue One film and the original 1977 Star Wars film and follows thief-turned-Rebel spy Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna.

The crew previously took over the quarry to allow them to build the set and transport props and equipment for three days of filming.

The quarry featured as the cave where Saw Gerrera is hiding and scenes shot there involved Hollywood film stars Forest Whitaker (as Gerrera) and Stellan Skarsgard (Luthen Rael).

The second series is due to wrap in August with the show airing in August 2024.

A National Trust spokeswoman said: 'The planned filming due to take place at Winspit Quarry has been cancelled due to safety concerns following the recent turbulent weather, which has increased the risk of rockfalls and landslips.

'Visitors looking to explore the Dorset coast are advised to follow signs and keep out of unsafe areas until further surveys have been undertaken.'

Tracey Churcher, the National Trust's general manager for Purbeck, said: 'The coast and cliffs along this stretch of the Dorset coast, including the quarry, can be unstable and naturally liable to landslips and falls - particularly after extreme weather including heavy rainfall and hot dry periods.

Winspit Quarry pictured this week after bad weather led to the stoppage of filming

The site is known for its harsh rockfaces and caves which stretch back into the cliffside

Andor's production base at Worth Matravers during filming for series one

As well as being used for film sets, the area is known for its stunning views out to sea

'We urge people to take the time to read warning signs and follow the instructions so they can enjoy the coast safely.

'People should always stay well back from the cliff and rock edges, whether on or below them, and we ask people not to visit Winspit Quarry until our experts are confident it is safe to visit again.'

Winspit Quarry was used as a stone quarry from the 18th century until 1940.

During the Second World War it was used as a military defence site and naval and air base.

It was then opened to the public after the war, although some of the caves have since been closed due to safety concerns.

The National Trust acquired it last year as part of a 350 acre land deal to protect rare bats that live in caves at the quarry, including the Mouse-eared and Greater horsehoe bat populations.

Disney+ has been contacted for comment.
A man allegedly stabbed his partner 13 times during a bloody altercation inside their unit on Easter Sunday before making admissions during a frantic triple-0 call, a court has heard.

Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday heard harrowing details of the alleged murder of Lisa Fenwick who earlier this month was found stabbed to death inside the Mascot apartment she shared with her partner Anthony 'Tony' Eriksen.

Mr Eriksen, 61, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with the murder of his partner of 13 years. No plea has been entered.

Police were called to their Church Ave unit block in Sydney's south on the evening of April 9 following reports of an alleged domestic violence-related incident.

It was revealed in court on Thursday that Ms Fenwick suffered 13 stab wounds - 12 to her chest and one to her right arm.

Anthony Eriksen (pictured), 61, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with the murder of his partner of 13 years

Mr Eriksen on Thursday appeared in court via videolink from jail sporting slicked back grey hair and wearing prison greens.

Magistrate Michael Barko told the court that after allegedly stabbing his partner to death, Mr Eriksen called emergency services during which he allegedly made admissions.

'Police have triple-0 operator call records alleged to be the voice of the defendant making alleged admissions to what he had allegedly done,' Mr Barko said.

'And when paramedics arrived at the scene (Ms Fenwick) was deceased.

'And it's alleged that there were approximately 12 stab wounds to her chest and one to the right forearm.'

Given the alleged admissions and other forensic evidence, Mr Barko described it as a 'very strong prosecution case' against Mr Eriksen.

It was revealed in court on Thursday that Lisa Fenwick (pictured) suffered 13 stab wounds - 12 to her chest and one to her right arm

Police established a crime scene at the apartment building, with specialist forensic police examining the scene well into the following day.

The court heard on Thursday the prosecution had asked for a 16-week adjournment due to what was expected to be a protracted police investigation.

Mr Eriksen had never been convicted of a crime but was facing a charge which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, the court heard.

Police established a crime scene at the apartment building, with specialist forensic police examining the scene well into the following day

Mr Eriksen's social media profiles describe him as a 'food nutrient educator' with a Master of Business Administration.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously worked as a fund manager in positions at the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Woolworths, Rio Tinto, the Department of Defence and Deloitte.

He did not make an application for bail on remand when he appeared in court on Thursday.

The matter will return to court in August.
Ukrainian forces are fighting desperately to keep vital tracks into Bakhmut open as the bloody war for the embattled mining city in Donetsk continues to rage.

With Russian forces occupying much of the centre and everything east of the city, the Bakhmut 'road of life' is the only way Kyiv's frontline troops can replenish their dwindling food and ammunition supplies while evacuating the critically injured to the nearby town of Chasiv Yar.

Ukrainian officials say their soldiers are holding firm, but after months of highly attritional warfare - in which Putin's troops suffered eye-watering losses amid countless World War One-style human wave attacks - the Russian army and the Wagner mercenary group have begun to encircle what's left of the demolished city.

Even Ukrainian frontline troops have reported the ferocious battle for Bakhmut is becoming precarious amid brutal close-quarter urban gunfights and constant drone warfare.

'The city looks more like ruins. There are almost no whole houses left. It's practically wiped out. There's shelling every day and every day there are more ruins,' said Denis, a military engineer who joined the military last year after university.

'Artillery and mortar shelling - don't stop. Drones drop grenades. And of course there is street fighting and machine gun fire.'

Ukrainian soldiers fire howitzer D-30 at the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Apr. 19, 2023

Artillerymen of the Ukrainian 80th separate airborne assault brigade fire from a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher towards Russian positions on the front line near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, on April 18, 2023

Ukrainian servicemen return from heavy fighting amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, close to Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 15, 2023

There are only two main roads left via which Ukrainian troops can receive supplies and evacuate their injured comrades.

But even these are damaged with artillery shells, so armoured personnel carriers are often forced to negotiate churned and treacherous dirt roads.

Who are the DaVinci Wolves? The DaVinci Wolves battalion is a volunteer unit of Ukraine's Ground Forces. Formed in 2014 amid the beginning of the Donbas war, the unit has fought alongside regular army battalions for years. It relies on donations and private funding to operate, but is one of the most well trained and well equipped volunteer units in Ukraine. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the unit's ranks swelled and it became a battalion. The unit's commander Dmytro Kotsyubaylo used the callsign DaVinci, which led the unit to be known as DaVinci Wolves. Kotsyubaylo was awarded the title 'Hero of Ukraine' on November 30, 2021 for leading the unit throughout the Donbas war. The commander continued to fight alongside his men on the frontlines until March 2023, when he was killed in a bloody battle with Russian forces near Bakhmut. Advertisement

Ukrainian authorities say some of the fiercest fighting is taking place in the devastated city's central districts against the Wagner group.

'In some places, the occupiers and the Ukrainian defenders are a few metres apart. There are no signs that Wagner is starved for shells,' they said, suggesting there will be little reprieve for Kyiv's soldiers clinging to what little territory they still hold.

Heart-pounding first-person footage released by Ukrainian territorial defence unit 'DaVinci Wolves' earlier this week illustrated just how intense such battles can be.

Soldiers are seen recovering from a recent battle in a dugout when a Russian grenade suddenly explodes at the mouth of their trench, knocking one Ukrainian fighter to the ground.

The unit surges from cover and begins firing assault weapons at the oncoming Russians, who can be seen storming frantically across no-mans-land to attack the Ukrainian position.

The scene around the battle is a veritable dystopian hellscape - smoke rises in the distance and the fields in which they are fighting are littered with dead trees and battle debris.

DaVinci Wolves manage to suppress the Russian onslaught and briefly celebrate, yelling: 'This is our field, you *****!'

But they are quickly forced to retreat back to cover as Moscow's artillery begins pounding the battlefield with shells.

The clip offers a harrowing insight into the reality of frontline warfare experienced by hundreds of Ukrainian troops every day in and around Bakhmut.

Soldiers on both sides now refer to the conflict as the 'Bakhmut meat grinder' amid the bloodshed, with Russian troops - many of them conscripts or prisoners recruited by the infamous Wagner mercenary group - being forced to embark on suicidal 'human wave' missions to exhaust Ukrainian resources.

An explosive suddenly rocks the dug out, causing the soldier at the mouth of the trench to fall

A grenade flies through the air as Ukrainian forces push their way out of the bunker

One soldier works his way around to a slightly raised position and opens fire on the Russians

Explosives fly overhead as the troops emerge from the dug out and suppress the assault

Incendiary munitions rain down over Bakhmut (pictured)

Analysts say Bakhmut - which was a bustling industrial hub with a pre-war population of 70,000 - offers little strategic leverage. But both sides have heavily invested politically.

Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has hinted his forces might be running out of steam and twice in the last week called on Moscow to entrench rather than attack.

But the Kremlin seems intent on taking Bakhmut to sell a victory at home after a dry spell of several defeats.

Kyiv meanwhile says its military is holding out to exhaust Russian forces and is refusing to withdraw troops, claiming that losing Bakhmut could turn the tide of the war and result in increasing pressure to negotiate with Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in late March that, if the city were to fall to Russian forces after a protracted battle, his Russian counterpart would 'sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran'.

'If he will feel some blood - smell that we are weak - he will push, push, push,' he told the Associated Press, adding that a loss anywhere at this stage in the war could put Ukraine's hard-fought momentum at risk.

'We can't lose the steps because the war is a pie - pieces of victories. Small victories, small steps,' he said.

'Our society will feel tired. Our society will push me to compromise with them.'

There are doubts about how much longer Ukrainian forces can hold out in Bakhmut but Denis believes that his brigade will be there for a long time.

'This is one of the most difficult areas right now. And there is a lot of work to do,' he said.

Smoke is seen rising from the city centre in this drone footage of Bakhmut amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, April 15, 2023

Medics treat a wounded Ukrainian serviceman inside a frontline medical stabilisation point, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine April 19, 2023

Medics carry a wounded Ukrainian serviceman inside a frontline medical stabilisation point, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine April 19, 2023

A medic takes a rest at a frontline medical stabilisation point near Bakhmut,

Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured recruiting Russian prisoners in September 2022), has hinted his forces might be running out of steam and twice in the last week called on Moscow to entrench rather than attack

Another unit tasked with demining Russian explosives and booby traps so Ukrainian infantry can move forward was interviewed by AFP just outside Bakhmut earlier this week.

'When you go out, you don't know if you're coming back,' said Oleg, 34, who works in positions around Bakhmut, often at night, often by moonlight.

'They even mine the corpses of their soldiers. When they retreat, they mine absolutely everything,' he added.

'You have no margin for error. It all depends on how lucky you are.'

'You hear a boom, a whistle and then an explosion. And of course the shrapnel,' another engineer said, just hours after rotating from the fiercest battle of Russia's invasion.

'That's the worst. It's scary - scary for anyone,' he said, adding he had no antidote to fear other than staying home.

'More than once we have seen them jump out of cover and begin to run. They are killed, they gather their strength, and do it again,' said Pavlo, a 33-year-old former firefighter.

Pavlo conceded that despite Russian losses, the engineers he is competing with are formidable.

'I'll tell you this, they have very smart sappers. Say what you want - very smart sappers.

'They don't follow any of the rules. Tripwires, certain anti-personnel mines - they're banned but they plant them anyway.'
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is due to hold a formal ballot for national strike action in England for the first time in its history.

The ASCL said the school funding crisis, the erosion of teacher and leader pay and conditions, and staff shortages were the main factors behind the decision.

Government attempts to resolve the dispute in March were described by the union as 'completely inadequate'  adding that a pay offer was rejected by 87 percent of the eligible members who voted.

The news comes as unions yesterday demanded teachers receive a full day's pay if they agree to teach lessons only to students who have exams this year.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said: 'ASCL has never before formally balloted at a national level and this is clearly a very significant step.

Striking teachers and supporters march to Trafalgar Square in March

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders described the decision as a 'significant step'

'The fact that we have reached this point reflects the desperate situation regarding inadequate funding, long-term pay erosion, teacher shortages, and the intransigence of a Government which we can only conclude does not value the education workforce or recognise the severe pressures facing the sector.

'This action is taken as a last resort and with a heavy heart, but we cannot accept the continued damage to education caused by Government neglect and complacency.'

The ASCL represents more than 23,000 leaders of primary, secondary and post-16 education from across the UK  including roles such as headteachers and multi-academy trust chief executives.

In a statement confirming the ballot, the union said an executive committee of senior elected members met on Wednesday afternoon and voted unanimously in favour of the vote.

The organisation added that the ballot will be held at a date to be fixed in the summer term, with any resulting strike action expected to take place during the autumn term.

Mr Barton said: 'We have made every effort to resolve this matter through negotiations prior to reaching this point.

'Unfortunately, the Government's offer has failed to sufficiently address pay and conditions and, critically, did not provide enough funding for even the meagre proposal it put forward.

'Following the rejection of the offer by all education unions involved  ASCL, NAHT, NEU and NASUWT  the Government has made no effort to reopen negotiations and has said only that the issue of pay will now revert to the School Teachers' Review Body.'

The Association of School and College Leaders is to ballot members in England for national strike action.

Striking workers pictured on March 15 as they protested the Chancellor's Budget

Schools in England face five days of teacher walkouts in the summer term and possible action in the autumn as the National Education Union (NEU) is also set to re-ballot members in the ongoing dispute over pay.

Earlier in April, delegates at the NEU's annual conference on April 4 voted in support of a three-day strike in late June/early July.

The teaching union announced two further strike days on April 27 and May 2 after 98 percent of its members, who responded in a consultative ballot, voted to turn down the Government's pay offer.

It issued guidance to its members, reps and officers ahead of the planned strikes on April 27 and May 2 in attempt to 'minimise disruption' to exam preparations.

But the NEU also argued teachers who attend school during the industrial action to help students in exam-year groups should leave once the supervision is over and be paid in full.

After a period of intensive talks with unions, the Government offered teachers a 1,000 one-off payment for the current school year (2022/23) and an average 4.5 percent pay rise for staff next year (2023/24).

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) could also hold a formal ballot on potential strikes after nearly four in five (78 percent) members said they would be prepared to vote for industrial action.

The latest guidance from the NEU says: 'Only the Government, by coming back to the negotiating table with a much-improved offer, can eliminate that disruption altogether and avert these upcoming strikes.'

It adds: 'Should employers attempt to impose arrangements that are not agreed by NEU reps and members in a school, the NEU retains the right to remove this dispensation guidance for exam year group provision.

'In any case, if no agreement can be found, the default position is that members cannot be obliged to make any dispensation arrangements for Year 11 and Year 13 provision.'

Four education unions  including the NASUWT teaching union, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)  have rejected the pay offer.

Last month, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan suggested teachers could miss out on an increased pay deal this year if they turned it down.
A content designer has claimed that he was fired after posting criticism of drag shows for children as young as two on a social media account.

A lawsuit filed on Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, reviewed by news website SFGATE, alleges that Brian Gilton, 37, was fired by the Mountain View-based tax software company Intuit days after he posted two scathing screeds about children attending 'drag shows'.

Gilton alleges that he was terminated from the role 'because of his participation in political activity, including political speech' and that Intuit violated California labor laws as a result.

In June 2022, Gilton posted two separate messages about cultural 'pendulum swings' in drag performances. The suit alleges that both posts were shared 'during non-working hours away from the employer's premises'.

'We've got 2-year-old babies at drag shows, and contemporary leftists are cheering it on to prove how "progressive" they are  "progressive" at all costs,' Gilton wrote in one Instagram post, published on June 14, 2022.

Pictured: Drag show (File photo). A lawsuit filed on Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court alleges that Brian Gilton, 37, was fired by the tech company days after he posted two scathing screeds about children attending 'drag shows'

Pictured: The headquarters of financial software company Intuit in Mountain View, California

In the post he compared drag shows to strip club performances but he also wrote that homosexuality is 'not wrong'.

The post read: ' These deeply, deeply lost leftists who are cheering on drag queen hour for 3-year-olds are lost in a planet-sized collective reaction to 40-year-old cultural conservatism.'

Most of the drag performances for children are 'story hours' in which queens read at libraries and other child-friendly public spaces.

Children are generally not permitted to enter nightclubs and bars, where most drag performances in the United States are held - and other spaces that do allow youngsters nearly always require adult supervision.

Pictured: Intuit headquarters. Gilton, described in the lawsuit as 'a passionate 37-year old white male,' alleges that he was terminated from the role 'because of his participation in political activity, including political speech' and that Intuit violated California labor laws as a result

In the same month that the post was shared, Twitter reportedly considered taking action against controversial Twitter account Libs of TikTok for giving out locations of drag queen story hours, including one in the Bay Area suburb of San Lorenzo that was attended by Proud Boys.

In a second post, published on June 28, 2022, the suit says Gilton wrote: ' now, if you don't fall in line with whatever new craze reactionary psychotic mouth-foaming public tirade propagated by the far-leftist globalist corporate media and their automatrons in leftist culture, you have your career destroyed, you're canceled, you're erased from society, and you're deemed a bigot, a racist, a "hate" monger, a pariah, all because you didn't do as you were told by leftist mob?'

He continued: ' You're not a degenerate if you don't follow the Bible. And you're not a bigot if you don't want your three-year-old getting dry humped by a cross dresser.'
More than 100 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the Government to recognise Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a 'terror organisation' which is 'openly operating' in Britain.

The letter, signed by a cross-party alliance of 125 MPs and peers on Wednesday, claims the IRGC is now 'openly operating' on Britain's shores and Prime Minister Sunak must proscribe the group as a 'terror organisation' as a matter of urgency.

It read: 'The IRGC has been systematically destabilising the Middle East since the Islamic Revolution, killing thousands. This threat is no longer thousands of miles away because the IRGC is now openly operating on our shores.

'The list of reasons for proscription are many. From active assassination plots revealed by MI5 and collection of intelligence on British-Jewish targets using UK-based criminal gangs, through its violent intimidation on journalists operating in the UK and radicalisation at British Islamic centres. The group has cruelly held British nationals as state hostages and killed many more.'

It described the Government's decision to proscribe militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations as 'important steps' but it was now 'incumbent to go after the parent organisation' by 'proscribing the IRGC'.

More than 100 MPs and peers have signed a letter urging the Government to recognise Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) (pictured) as a 'terror organisation' which is 'openly operating' in Britain

The letter, signed by a cross-party alliance of 125 MPs and peers on Wednesday, claims the IRGC is now 'openly operating' on Britain's shores and Prime Minister Sunak must proscribe the group as a 'terror organisation' as a matter of urgency

The letter comes after Security minister Tom Tugendhat suggested to the House of Commons there was a split around the Cabinet table on the issue.

In reply to Tory MP Bob Blackman, who was among those to urge the Government to proscribe the IRGC in February, Mr Tugendhat said: 'He will know it's not me he has to persuade in this matter and that there are many areas in which I would like to go.

'I can assure him this Government is absolutely listening to exactly what he is saying. The Home Secretary and I are as one on this.'

He added: 'The IRGC is a vicious organisation and its first victims are the Iranian people who have been brutalised and murdered by that despotic regime for far too long.'

The letter, which includes signatures from Tory MP Alicia Kearns, Michael Fabricant and Dame Diana Johnson, also expresses support for Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti, 46, who has lost 14kg and has entered the 57th day of his hunger strike urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take action against the group.

It read: 'Vahid has shown remarkable dignity and strength throughout his protest and has widespread support from parliamentarians who share his sense of urgency in the need to proscribe the IRGC as a terror organisation.'

The letter, which includes signatures from Tory MP Alicia Kearns (pictured), Michael Fabricant and Dame Diana Johnson, also expresses support for Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti, 46, who has lost 14kg and has entered the 57th day of his hunger strike urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take action against the group

Labour peer Dame Diana Johnson also signed the letter addressed to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday

Mr Beheshti, who is on the 57th day of his hunger strike outside the Foreign Office in London, welcomed the letter but said he was prepared to 'pay the price' for as long as it took to get a response from Mr Sunak.

He is calling on the UK to take 'strong leadership' against the IRGC and to recognise it as a terrorist organisation.

Mr Beheshti told MailOnline: 'I will stay here and pay the price, whatever it is, to get this done. I won't go anywhere.

'We need to proscribe this terrorist organisation now and show them strong leadership because that is the only language the IRGC understands.'

The IRGC was set up over 40 years ago to defend Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and has since exerted influence across the Middle East.

It has close ties to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was recently linked to threats against journalists at independent Iranian TV channel Iran International based in Chiswick, west London.

Scotland Yard placed armed response vehicles outside the Persian-language broadcaster's office last year after two of its journalists were warned of a 'credible threat' to their lives from Iranian security forces.

The channel was forced to switch its output operation to its office in Washington DC while journalists went into hiding and worked from home.

The broadcaster is expected to reopen its new office in a new 'fortified' undisclosed location in Britain later this year.

Proscription makes it a criminal offence to be a member, encourage support for, or provide funds for a proscribed group.

Mr Beheshti (pictured, middle), who is on the 57th day of his hunger strike outside the Foreign Office in London, welcomed the letter but said he was prepared to 'pay the price' for as long as it took to get a response from Mr Sunak

He told MailOnline: 'I will stay here and pay the price, whatever it is, to get this done. I won't go anywhere'. Pictured: Mr Beheshti with wife Mattie Heaven

A UK Government spokesman said: 'While we do not comment on future designations, we will continue to take strong action against Iran while they threaten people in the UK and around the world.

'We have sanctioned more than 300 Iranian individuals and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety.

'In the last six months we have announced eight further packages of human rights sanctions.

'We do not tolerate threats to life and intimidation of any kind towards individuals in the UK and will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to protect against any threats from the Iranian state.'
The gold ring was bought by private buyer at a Birmingham auction house

The 2000 year old ring is believed to depict Rome's first emperor Augustus

An ancient ring believed to depict Rome's first emperor has sold at a Birmingham auction house for a whopping 117,000 after being valued at just 200.

The 2,000 year old ring, featuring the head of Augustus, had been expected to fetch between 150 and 200 but sold for 450 times its estimate at a price of 90,000 plus fees.

The first century piece of jewellery is thought to have been acquired by a traveller during a Grand Tour to Italy in the 19th century

It was then brought back to Britain where it has since remained.

'Grand Tour' trips to Italy were popular among aristocrats and members of Britain's upper class between the 17th to 19th centuries.

Set in gold, the intricately crafted ring features the intaglio - a carving in a gem or piece of metal which leaves a hollow impression used as a seal on documents - of a mans head in profile.

The 2,000 year old garnet intaglio ring is believed to depict Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire

The gold ring sold to a private British buyer at a Birmingham auction house following a heated bidding war

It is believed to depict Rome's first emperor Augustus, who ruled the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death, aged 75, in the year 14AD.

In securing victory against Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31BC, Augustus ended a bitter 13-year civil war.

The Roman emperor's reign is often associated with imperial peace - or pax Romana.

The garnet ring went under the hammer for 90,000, or 117,000 including fees, following a heated bidding war which lasted nearly 20 minutes at the Fine Jewellery Auction held by specialist jewellery auctioneers Fellows in Birmingham.

The ring was sold alongside an array of other jewellery items, including other intaglios.

Though the jewellery team at Fellows had identified the fine craftsmanship of the garnet ring, experts failed to accurately estimate the sums bidders would be willing to spend on the ring.

The British seller is private and no further details as to how they acquired the ring were available.

The ancient piece of jewellery is thought to have been acquired a British traveller on a 'Grand Tour' to Italy

Nicola Whittaker, business development manager at Fellows, said the surprisingly high sale price of the ring made for an exciting occasion.

I am delighted by the result of our Fine Jewellery auction, she said.

Not only did we achieve an amazing price for our vendor, but we had the opportunity to handle an extremely interesting piece of jewellery history.

It is rare to see such an intricately carved piece in such fine condition.

It was a privilege to offer the ring for sale in our auction.

Fellows Fine Jewellery auction also featured 10 other intaglio pieces - one of which was dated back to 1AD.

The closest piece in price to the garnet intaglio ring was a carnelian fob, which was sold for 12,870
Video shows the landlord using an electrical saw to cut through front door

r Muhammed Raheel Jethel and his family were left 'fearing for lives' over row

A landlord allegedly lunged at his tenant with a circular saw after cutting through the front door following a row over rent.

Dr Muhammed Raheel Jethel and his family were left 'fearing for their lives' after receiving the threats from the houseowner in Ballinasloe, County Galway, in Ireland.

Shocking video shows the man racially abusing the father-of-two before using an electrical saw to cut through the family's front door.

Dr Jethel screamed 'are you mad?' as the landlord, who has not been named, lunged at him with the saw while shouting, 'I'll f***ing split you open' on Monday.

The landlord had claimed the family, who are originally from Pakistan, had not paid rent on the property, despite Dr Jethel, who is a surgical registrar, saying the money sent to the original account had been bouncing back and he was unable to contact the landlord.

Shocking video shows the man racially abusing Dr Jethel before using an electrical saw to cut through the family's front door on Monday

A landlord allegedly lunged at his tenant with a circular saw after cutting through the front door following a row over rent

Dr Muhammed Raheel Jethel, a father-of-two, said his family were left 'fearing for their lives' after receiving the threats from their landlord in Ballinasloe, County Galway in Ireland

It was two weeks ago that the family started to experience the threatening behaviour. The landlord allegedly arrived at the property with a locksmith and started drilling into the door.

Dr Jethel was working at the time. His wife and two children, aged one and three, were in the house and thought somebody was breaking in.

The doctor then called the garda. He alleges he was told the incident related to a civil matter and that officers had no duty to intervene.

Following the arrival of the police, the apparent landlord calmed down and moved away from the property.

However, on Monday afternoon, the family was met by the same man brandishing a circular saw.

Dr Jethel then began filming the incident.

The video shows that, while holding the tool, the man believed to be the landlord said: 'You might be going to see Muhammed  you've more to lose than me. No matter where you go in this life I will follow you.'

As he used the circular saw to cut the door, he said: 'If I have to spend the rest of my life in jail, then I don't care.'

Also on the video he can be heard saying: 'I have a Quran in my car to burn. I don't care about your family.'

In the video, Dr Jethel closed the door and then the man used the spinning blade to cut through the door, leading the doctor to open it and say he was calling police.

The man responds and is then seen lunging towards the door while working the heavy-duty equipment. Dr Jethel is forced to take cover before screaming 'you cannot do that' as he pushed the landlord back through the doorway.

Dr Jethel screamed: 'Are you mad? Are you f***ing mad?'

The landlord had claimed the family, who are originally from Pakistan, had not paid rent on the property, despite Dr Jethel (pictured), who is a surgical registrar, saying the money sent to the original account had been bouncing back and he was unable to contact the landlord

The landlord allegedly lunged at his tenant with a circular saw after cutting through the front door following a row over rent

The video shows that, while holding the tool, the man believed to be the landlord said: 'You might be going to see Muhammed  you've more to lose than me. No matter where you go in this life I will follow you'

The man, holding the saw, said: 'Yes I am mad, I'm mad at you!' He then raised the saw again and warned: 'You think I wouldn't do it? I'll f***ing split you open. You got it?'

Dr Jethel then repeats to the man that he is going to call the garda to which the landlord responds: 'Well call the f***ing guards. I don't give a s**t about your family. You'll lose more than you ever lost.'

Dr Jethel's friend and colleague, Dr Liqa Ur Rehman told the Irish Daily Mail that the family is 'terrified' and does not know where to turn.

'They are by the door and they are terrified that the man will come back. They think their lives are in danger. The gardai are telling him that it was not for them.'

According to Dr Ur Rehman, officers who arrived at the scene on Monday apologised for their colleagues' behaviour.

Speaking yesterday, Dr Ur Rehman said the family has remained at the property but are terrified to leave it.

'Last night, they all got no sleep. They were waiting by the door as they were afraid somebody would come back.' Dr Jethel now has a solicitor involved and believes that this is harassment.

'The landlord went wild. My friend does not want this to become more than it needs. He wants the landlord to apologise and then that can be the end of the matter,' he said.

Dr Ur Rehman said he felt compelled to put the video on social media due to the alleged action of officers during both incidents.

He said he was 'hugely disappointed and saddened by this attitude of local gardai. If anything happens to him and his family, the situation might get out of control. Authorities must take action, before it's too late.'

He added: 'We are just worried that they will have nowhere to go.

'There is very little housing for any people working in the hospitals. So this is terrible. He had the money as well and there was no issue with paying for the rent. He just did not know how to get the money to the man as his phone number was not working and the bank account he was using did not work.'

Once these claims were put to gardai, a spokesman said: 'An Garda Siochana are aware of a video in circulation online and can confirm that personal contact has been made with a private citizen. Inquiries are ongoing at this time.

'Any person who believes they have been mistreated by any member of An Garda Siochana is entitled to make a complaint to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission.'
Tom Tugendhat today warned that China and Russia are seeking to become leaders in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in order to 'rule the world'.

The security minister issued the chilling message as he noted how 'dawn has just broken' on the era of AI, which will 'transform our world'.

Mr Tugendhat, speaking at the CyberUK conference in Belfast, called for the Government and industry to work together to 'keep Britain in the front rank of AI powers'.

He rejected recent calls - including from billionaire Elon Musk - for a pause on AI research while its risks are assessed as he warned 'the genie wont go back in the bottle'.

Mr Tugendhat added that Western powers could not 'stop the inevitable', as he urged efforts to ensure the arrival of super-intelligent computers makes the world 'safer and more secure'.

Tom Tugendhat called for the Government and industry to work together to 'keep Britain in the front rank of AI powers'

The security minister warned that China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin are seeking to become leaders in the development of AI in order to 'rule the world'

'New technology will change the world we think we know,' the security minister said.

'Dawn has just broken on the age of artificial intelligence and we have only just begun to wake up to the opportunities that will be unlocked, and can only guess at the ways in which they'll transform our world.'

Cabinet ministers were this week briefed by Sir Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ, about the potential uses and risks of AI.

Mr Tugendhat admitted the budding technology 'can enhance our security but it can also threaten it'.

'Our AI capabilities will be at the heart of mission to protect the UK,' he said.

'The example is already clear; in Ukraine AI is being used to identify malicious Russian behaviour by analysing patterns of activity at huge scale.

'They're not just finding needles in the haystack, but working out what the haystack itself is saying.

'Across our homes in the UK, AI could protect children from predators by unlocking advanced tools and techniques to identify potential grooming behaviour at scale and uncover rings of offenders across the internet.

'However, in our line of work, opportunity often comes hand in hand in risk and AI is no different.'

Mr Tugendhat warned that AI could help hostile groups in 'pushing disingenuous narratives at huge scale' by mimicking credible news sourses, or through the use of 'deep fakes'.

More than 1,000 AI experts recently joined a call for an immediate pause on the creation of 'giant' AIs for at least six months while the capabilities and dangers of the technology can be studied.

They included Musk - the Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX owner - who is also co-founder of the OpenAI research lab responsible for ChatGPT.

But Mr Tugendhat became the latest Government figure to dismiss the demand for a pause on the development of AI.

'Given the stakes, we can all understand the calls to stop AI development altogether,' he said.

'But the genie wont go back in the bottle any more than we can write laws against maths.'

In a warning about China and Russia's interest in AI, the security minister added: 'Putin has a long-standing strategic interest in AI and has commented that whoever becomes leader in this sphere will rule the world.

'And China with its vast datasets and fierce determination is a strong rival.

'But AI also threatens authoritarian controls. Other than the United States, the UK is one of only a handful of liberal democratic countries that can credibly lead the world in AI development.

'We can stay ahead, but it will demand investment and co-operation, and not just by government.

'Only by working together can we keep Britain in the front rank of AI powers and protect ourselves and our businesses.

'As for the safety of the technology itself, it's essential that by the time we reach the development of AGI we are confident it can be safely controlled and aligned to our values and interests.

'Solving this issue if alignment is where our efforts must lie, not in some King Canute-type attempt to stop the inevitable.

'But in a national mission that as super-intelligent computers arrive, they make the world safer and more secure.'
The financial cloud hanging over the Scottish National Party could cost it more than 1million, a minister said today.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said that the troubled party had a deadline of March 31 to file its accounts or face its supply of short money being cut off after April.

The cash is taxpayer funding for opposition parties and their work in Parliament, and is based on how many seats and votes they have.

But the SNP parted company with its auditor last year, it emerged earlier this week. And leader Humza Yousaf today confirmed it was 'still in conversations with a number' of possible replacements.

The party and senior figures including Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell, are currently being investigated over what happened to more than 600,000 in donations.

In the Commons today, Ms Mordaunt accused the SNP of 'poor stewardship' of public money.

'I understand that unless the SNP have audited accounts by March 31 they will lose their short money after the April payment,' she said.

Mr Yousaf has been thrust into the role of overseeing the SNP's finances after Colin Beattie resigned as treasurer following his arrest. He has previously admitted he didn't know the SNP's auditors, accountancy firm Johnson Carmichael, quit in October last year until he won the party's leadership contest at the end of last month.

After taking First Minister's Questions at Holyrood today, he told reporters the party was 'definitely not facing bankruptcy'.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said that the troubled party had a deadline of March 31 to file its accounts or face its supply of short money being cut off.

The cash is taxpayer funding for opposition parties and their work in Parliament, and is based on how many seats and votes they have.

After taking First Minister's Questions at Holyrood today, Humza Yousaf told reporters the party was 'definitely not facing bankruptcy'.

Nicola Sturgeon pictured today

'I'm pleased to say we are on a steady footing when it comes to the party's finances,' he said.

But he confirmed the SNP still owes money to Mr Murrell, who gave a 108,000 loan in 2021.

It came as Nicola Sturgeon's husband was today spotted for the first time since his arrest by detectives investigating the SNPs finances during the years they ran the party.

The nationalists' former chief executive was detained earlier this month and questioned by detectives for 11 hours before being released 'pending further investigation'.

He was seen leaving the home he shares with ex-first minister Ms Sturgeon near Glasgow on Thursday morning, the day after Colin Beattie, who was also arrested, quit as party treasurer.

The investigation into the whereabouts of more than 600,000 of donations also saw a motorhome intended to be used for party campaigning seized from the driveway of Mr Murrell's mother.

He was seen leaving the home he shares with ex-first minister Ms Sturgeon near Glasgow on Thursday morning,

MSP Colin Beattie, 71, last night said he was 'stepping back' from the role of treasurer and from a position on Holyrood's Public Audit Committee until the completion of the investigation.

Ms Sturgeon has previously said she would co-operate fully with the police inquiry and has worked remotely from Holyrood this week as the Scottish Parliament resumes after Easter

Following the questioning of Mr Beattie sources believe it is 'inevitable' she will also be grilled by detectives

Mr Beattie, who is also an SNP MSP, served as treasurer from 2004 to 2020, and again from 2021.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Yousaf said he hopes to soon appoint someone to what is usually and elected position.

He said: 'We'll appoint a treasurer in the coming days, but of course, as party leader, I'll make sure I'm overseeing the finances of the party. But we'll appoint a new national treasurer as soon as we can.'

The post is usually one elected by members, but Mr Yousaf said the party is 'not going to have time' to elect someone to the role, and he ruled out continuing in the job alongside being party leader and First Minister.

Asked if he had pushed Mr Beattie to resign, Mr Yousaf said: 'Colin and I had a conversation, as you'd expect us to do, and he understood that the best thing for the party was for him to step back as being national treasurer.'

Opposition politicians hit out at the First Minister, with Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie saying Mr Beattie's decision to resign was the 'right thing' but it was taken 'by the wrong man', while Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy suggested the ex-treasurer should have been suspended from the party.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the vacancy is the 'least appealing' in Scottish political history.

The arrest this week has ensured the police investigation into the SNP's finances has continued to overshadow the early days of Mr Yousaf's tenure.

Police announced Mr Beattie had been taken into custody in the hours before the First Minister was due to lay out his priorities for Scotland under his premiership.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison said on Wednesday it was 'frustrating' that the Scottish Government's business is being overshadowed.
A dead whale has washed up on a popular tourist beach in Scotland as locals and dog walkers are warned to avoid the area over health and safety concerns.

The 31ft minke whale was discovered on the shore of North Berwick on Thursday morning, having been spotted floating on its back in nearby waters a day earlier.

People have been told to not approach the decaying carcass and to keep any dogs on a leash due to the 'nasty' bacteria it will be carrying that can cause disease.

The animal was first seen by staff at the Scottish Seabird Centre at high tide on Wednesday, before coming ashore on the rocks near the harbour, reports the East Lothian Courier.

An East Lothian Council spokeswoman told MailOnline that the whale was a female that measured a 'substantial size of 9.5 metres (31ft)'.

The 31ft minke whale (pictured) was discovered on the shore of North Berwick on Thursday morning, having been spotted floating in nearby waters a day earlier

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An East Lothian Council spokesperson added: 'We were first aware of a dead whale sighted off North Berwick yesterday afternoon and following the tide pattern overnight it has now washed up onto the West Beach.

'The council is currently arranging suitable equipment to uplift and take away the carcass.

'We are also advising members of the public to keep a suitable distance away from the whale including keeping dogs on leads and not allowed near the whale.'

The council is reportedly waiting for specialist equipment so they can remove the carcass from the beach as soon as possible.

While its stomach has some swelling, a council spokeswoman told MailOnline there was no immediate threat of explosion.

When an animal dies, bacteria inside the carcass produce methane as part of the decomposition process.

If this is not let out of the body it gradually builds up and can lead to an 'explosion'.

Whales are the most extreme because their huge size makes the consequences of a gas build-up much greater.

The minke in North Berwick was pictured floating on its back at around 2.30pm on Wednesday,

Susan Davies, chief of the Scottish Seabird Centre tweeted: 'Sad to see this #minke whale wash up near to @SeabirdCentre today off #NorthBerwick harbour #EastLothian.

'Fascinating species that uses its expandable pleats to take in large quantities of water and fish that it sieves through its baleen plates aiding digestion.'

She told MailOnline today: 'We were all sad to see a common minke whale washed onto the rocks below North Berwick harbour today.

People have been warned to not approach the mammal (pictured) and to keep any dogs being walked nearby on a leash

'It was first spotted further out near Craigleith island by the skipper of one of our seabird wildlife boat trips. Common minke are the smallest of the baleen whales reaching up to 27ft in length.

'It prefers cooler waters and, if you are lucky, you can spot it around Scotland's coastal and inshore waters.

'The stranding has been reported to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) which collates and analyses all reports of stranded cetaceans and can carry out autopsies to understand more about the health and ecology of this fascinating marine animal.'

She added: 'Seeing a creature of this scale inevitably sparks curiosity but we advise everyone to keep their distance if they wish to look at it.'

Minke whales are the smallest of the 'great whales,' growing to an average of 35ft (10.6 m) long and weighing up to 20,000 pounds (9 tonnes).

They are also the most common of the great whale species, and can be found throughout the world's oceans.
Several 'items of interest' were found at a rubbish tip being searched for the remains of retired teacher Lesley Trotter - before police revealed the find was a false alarm.

Lesley Trotter, 78, died sometime between midnight on March 27 and 12pm the following day in the west Brisbane suburb of Toowong.

Two weeks ago, police said that a garbage truck had collected Ms Trotter's body from a general waste wheelie bin outside her home during the weekly collection service on March 28.

This prompted desperate searches from police and now, after two weeks, items of interest have been found at Swanbank rubbish dump in Ipswich, Victoria.

However, a short time after the announcement was made, police confirmed the items were not linked to the teacher.

Police launched a large-scale search for Lesley Trotter's remains at a garbage tip

Queensland Police search a waste facility at Swanbank, for the remains of missing retired Brisbane teacher Lesley Trotter

She was reported missing from her Toowong home on March 28, prompting the search

'A preliminary examination of items located at a Swanbank refuse site today have determined that they are not of interest or related to ongoing investigations into missing 78-year-old Toowong woman Lesley Trotter,' a Queensland Police spokesperson said.

'In the interest of maintaining the integrity of continuing search efforts, no further updates will be available at this stage.'

Ms Trotter vanished from the inner Brisbane suburb of Toowong on March 28.

Her mobile phone and wallet were found in her unit and her car was still in the garage.

Investigators believe Ms Trotter was killed the night she went missing and her remains were hidden in a wheelie bin, which was compacted by rubbish collectors and freighted to two massive landfill sites.

The search began on Tuesday at the Swanbank facility on the outskirts of Ipswich after days of preparations to narrow down the search area.

"The area that we do have to search is quite enormous," Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said this week.

Police are searching waste facilities at Swanbank and Rochedale to locate the remains of missing retired Brisbane teacher Lesley Trotter

"There is some 3000 tonnes of general waste that we need to sort through."

Much of the work has been conducted by hand as the waste is exhumed from the landfill and tipped into 30cm deep trenches for investigators to examine.

Teams plan to comb through about 200 tonnes of rubbish a day, weather permitting, in a search that could take up to three weeks.

"This is very much a hand-and-eye type search, using rakes and indiscriminate-type equipment to sort through the general waste," Det Supt Massingham said.

Police hope to provide a further update on Friday.

Two weeks ago, police provided a grim update on Ms Trotter's disappearance.

'Ongoing investigations can reveal that on the morning of Tuesday, the 28th of March this year, the body of a female we believe was Lesley Trotter was located in a general waste wheelie bin,' Det Supt Massingham told reporters.

'It was evident she was deceased. Due to the positioning of the body, we can't rule out foul play.

'Later that morning that bin was collected by a rubbish truck.'

The rubbish truck that carried the 78-year-old's remains has been seized by police.

Police believe a garbage truck had collected Ms Trotter's body from a wheelie bin outside her Toowong unit complex during the weekly collection service. Pictured are police at the complex in Brisbane's west

Lesley Trotter last spoke to her family on March 27, sparking a desperate land and water search

The retired teacher was an avid hiker and bushwalker before she went missing

Once found, Ms Trotter's remains will be forensically examined to determine her cause of death.

The breakthrough comes several days after police revealed blood was found near bins that Ms Trotter would regularly rummage through to sort recyclables.

Police said Ms Trotter's habit of leaving rubbish on the ground and in the driveway as she rummaged through the bins to find and sort recyclables had caused 'some angst among some people' in her street.

The investigation into Ms Trotter's death is expected to be 'lengthy and complex'.

'I thank those members of the public ... we have so far interviewed,' Det Supt Massingham added.

'Our doorknocks in the area are coming towards the end.

'It was important the information relevant to the location of her body was kept quiet across the weekend until we were able to exhaust people's memory with respect to their recollections on Tuesday the 28th of March.'

Police have not confirmed how officers know Ms Trotter's remains were inside the bin but said they have 'strong evidence'.

Ms Trotter last spoke to her family at about 11am on March 27 and wasn't at her Toowong home, on Maryvale St, when they visited the following day.
The body of a missing US Navy sailor been pulled from a harbor near Lake Michigan after he was last seen leaving a bar the day after St Patrick's Day.

Seamus Gray, 21, who went missing last month, causing weeks of anguish for his mother Kerry, has been found along the lake in Waukegan, Illinois, officials said.

The desperate search saw emergency crews and Navy personnel turning over the city as Kerry posted social media updates detailing her heartbreak.

At around 7pm on Wednesday, police officers were conducting a traffic stop near the Waukegan Harbor when utility workers flagged them down, according to police.

The ComEd workers were carrying out routine work near the harbor and reported what they believed to be a body in the water.

Seamus Gray (pictured), 21, who went missing last month, has been found in Waukegan, Illinois, along the lake, officials said. His mother Kerry Gray (pictured) initially flew from Florida to help with the search

Surveillance footage shows Gray walking down a back alley after leaving Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan. He was later seen at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street around 1.40am on March 18

The Waukegan Fire Department helped an officer to pull the body onto the shore and police chief Edgardo Navarro said it fitted Gray's physical description.

The clothes on the body also matched his description, WGN9 reported.

The Lake County coroner later confirmed that the body was Gray's, according to the outlet.

An autopsy will be conducted Thursday to determine a cause of death.

Gray was last seen leaving a bar in Waukegan on March 18, the day after St Patrick's Day, with the police describing the group of friends as intoxicated.

Gray was then sighted walking near the Metra station and did not turn up for his 2pm curfew, according to WGN9.

Police from Waukegan and North Chicago, firefighters, the Office of Naval Intelligence, water rescue crews and about 100 Navy personnel spent the following days looking for Gray along the lakefront.

Gray's mother also traveled to Waukegan from Florida to search for her son.

Detectives found video surveillance footage of Gray leaving Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan.

The video shows him leaving the bar alone through a back alley dressed in a pink outfit.

He was later spotted at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street at around 1.40am on March 18 and had not been seen or spoken to since leaving the bar.

Seamus Gray (pictured) was last seen leaving a bar in Waukegan on March 18, the day after St Patrick's Day

'Tomorrow I have to to do what no mother should ever have to do. I have to go on a foot search with the Police Department, Fire Department and many others who will join in to find my son Seamus Grays body,' Kerry wrote on March 23

'As I type this I'm trying not to throw up. I cannot sleep, and will not sleep until I have answers as to where my son is, and what happened to him,' Kerry Gray wrote on social media

An investigation into the death remains ongoing, with Waukegan police, the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Lake County Coroner's Office all involved.

Kerry posted on social media shortly after her son went missing.

Kerry wrote: 'The last 8 days have been grueling, nauseating, heartbreaking and quite honestly soul-crushing.

'This boy is my heart, my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck.'

She added: 'As I type this I'm trying not to throw up. I cannot sleep, and will not sleep until I have answers as to where my son is, and what happened to him.'

In one social media post, Kerry wrote that she and a friend were taking part in the investigation and were searching dumpsters for her son's body.

'Tomorrow I have to do what no mother should ever have to do. I have to go on a foot search with the Police Department, Fire Department and many others who will join in to find my son Seamus Grays body,' she wrote on March 23.

Kerry flew home to Florida a week after the disappearance and said she was 'gutted' about having to leave without having found her son or his body.

'This boy is my heart, my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck,' Kerry wrote in a post.

She said she had not been able to sleep and wouldnt be able to without answers as to where her son is or what happened to him.

'Seamus was willing to die serving and defending our Country. Seamus was not supposed to go missing or possible die this way,' Kerry wrote.

Anyone with info, send a tip through the WPD tip app, call the Tip-Line at 847-360-9001 or text keyword WPDTIP and message/tip to 847411.
Kesha reveals she was once ENGAGED but won't name the man... as she has not been seen with last serious beau Brad Ashenfelter in some time
Tragedy has struck in an Indian village where a three-year-old boy was killed after monkeys pushed a boulder from a roof onto his head.

Locals in India's central Telangana state said Devunuri Abhinav was playing below the tin roof when a gang of monkeys who had been jumping around caused the boulder to fall off and onto the child.

The three-year-old had only recently suffered a near-death experience, falling on a knife which pierced his throat six months ago, according to reports.

His parents, named locally in Katukuri village in Akkanapet as Rajitha and Srikanth, had paid Rs.5 lakh - or over $6,000 - for their child to undergo lifesaving surgery.

He had almost completely recovered from his ordeal when the primates caused him to be crushed to death, local media reports.

Villagers said Devunuri Abhinav, three, was below the tin roof when a gang of monkeys who had been jumping around on it caused the boulder to fall off and hit the child

A gang of monkeys jumped on a tin roof and rolled a boulder off onto the small child (file image)

The toddler's death has led to growing concern around violent monkeys in the village, with locals saying they had already been plagued by them for some time.

BJP MP Raj Kumar Chahar recently raised concerns in Parliament about the monkey menace.

He sought clarification on the how much relief is afforded to monkey attack victims by the state.

It came after the ministry of environment, forest and climate change revealed it had no record of the number of people injured or killed due to monkey bites in India.

Monkeys have wreaked havoc in the country in recent years, with the toddler's death the latest in a long line of horrific primate-related fatalities.

In March, a 70-year-old woman died in southern India after being attacked by a pack of rampaging monkeys while on her way to the bathroom.

Chataraboina Narsavva was at home in her village in the state of Telangana's Kamareddy district when the the aggressive creatures pounced on her.

The pensioner, who lived with her daughter in Ramareddy village, was alone at the time of the attack.

Her daughter, who had been away for a wedding, later rushed her mother to hospital, where she died from her injuries.

Rather than being mauled by the animals, police said that Narsavva slipped and hit her head on the floor, the Times of India reports.

She sustained the injuries which she later died from as she tried to escape the mob of monkeys, according to a local police inspector.

Last year, a five-year-old girl died after being swarmed by ferocious monkeys in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The young girl, named Narmada, had been playing on the banks of the Nakatiya river in Bareilly.

As the group of children cried for help, local villagers rushed to the scene and rescued the injured girl from the monkeys, The Times of India reported.

The little girl, who was bleeding after she had been 'bitten almost everywhere', was rushed to hospital where she died from her injuries.

In 2021, the mother of eight-day-old twins claimed her babies had been snatched by ferocious monkeys, with one of the little girls killed and the other rescued.

In 2020, a mother and four of her children were crushed to death at their home in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, after a wall was brought down by a troop of monkeys.

The five victims were killed by falling masonry after the wall was 'violently shaken' by monkeys while the family slept in the courtyard.

In 2019, a 50-year-old man died in Sambhal after falling from a terrace at his home when he was attacked by monkeys.

Reports at the time said it was the sixth monkey-related death in Sambhal during 2019 alone.

Just months earlier, a one-and-a-half-month-old infant was killed by a monkey which apparently jumped into her cot to steal her milk bottle.

Also in the same year a monkey killed a 60-year-old man and injured nine others after going on the rampage through a town in central India.

In 2018, a 58-year-old woman suffered severe injuries and died after she was attacked by a monkey outside her home in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
A new 1.8 metre fence is causing chaos in Queensland after wallabies and kangaroos began crashing into it overnight.

The temporary fence, which will be replaced by a permanent one, was set-up around 500m down the the picturesque Grandview Lane in Coolum, Queensland.

However, it infuriated locals and left the wallaby population 'agitated and confused'.

Footage shows a wallaby attempting to smash through the wall in distressing scenes.

In another clip, a wallaby hops along the boundary line trying to get in.

Posted by Jackie Seljak on Thursday, March 30, 2023

Footage shows a wallaby attempting to smash through the wall in distressing scenes

In another clip, a wallaby hops along the boundary line trying to get in

Locals say the situation has left them 'distressed' and unable to sleep.

Opponents are demanding that the fence is brought down and the development stopped.

Sean Simmons, an opponent of the project, estimates the area is home to 40 kangaroos and wallabies.

He told Yahoo News that the wallabies are 'very visible and very audible'.

'They're just bashing into it and running along it you can't see and hear those things without feeling distressed,' he said.

'There are 40 plus kangaroos that are looking pretty doomed by this because they're going to be hemmed in by a fence. What happens to them next is anyone's guess.'

Sean Simmons, an opponent of the project, estimates the area is home to 40 kangaroos and wallabies

Opponents are demanding that the fence is brought down and the development stopped

The development is on some areas of bushland, with fences separating these parts from residential areas.

However, there are fears that the fencing will seriously harm local animals.

Architect Dale Fisher, whose firm Grandview Horizons is behind the subdivision, said: 'No wildlife should be affected through the process.'

He also insisted the wallabies and kangaroos in the areas would be dispersed, though he said the problem was out of his expertise.

The fence has now been clad in shade cloth and wallabies are understood to have ceased crashing into it since the video was filmed.
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner may not face charges in Germany over the British toddler's disappearance after a court there ruled prosecutors had no jurisdiction to pursue a case against him.

The convicted rapist, 45, was named as the man responsible for Madeleine's kidnap and murder after investigators in Germany claimed they had 'concrete evidence' that she was dead.

Last year Brueckner was charged with a number of sex offences  said to have taken place on the Algarve where the three-year-old vanished in 2007  between 2000 and 2017.

However, since then prosecutors have made no further progress in bringing charges in the case of Madeleine against him.

Now his lawyer Friedrich Fulscher has had the charges dropped against him after successfully arguing that prosecutors have no jurisdiction over him in Brunswick, Germany, where the case was being brought.

Convicted rapist Brueckner, 45, was named as the man responsible for Madeleine's kidnap and murder after investigators in Germany claimed they had 'concrete evidence' that she was dead

It will be a hammer blow to Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry who had hoped there was light at the end of the tunnel following their daughter's mystery disappearance from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

Brueckner has protested his innocence in her case in a series of letters to MailOnline insisting that prosecutors are 'out to get him' and they have 'no evidence' to bring charges.

In a statement to MailOnline Mr Fulscher said: 'In its decision of April 19, 2023, the Regional Court of Braunschweig declared that it had no jurisdiction over the charge against Christian B. and revoked the arrest warrant against him.

'The defense already pointed out during the preliminary proceedings that the Braunschweig judiciary should not have local jurisdiction.

'For reasons that are not understandable here, the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig clung to its jurisdiction and thus risked being overturned by the Federal Court of Justice if it were opened. This is very questionable, in particular given the fact that a large number of witnesses would have had to appear in court again (on very incriminating issues) in the event of an annulment.

'The court's decision also means that the Braunschweig judiciary is not responsible for the 'Maddie' case.'

Brueckner has protested his innocence in her case in a series of letters to MailOnline insisting that prosecutors are 'out to get him' and they have 'no evidence' to bring charges. Pictured: Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry

The decision means that arrest warrants for Brueckner on the case are dismissed but he will not be released from jail where he is serving a seven-year sentence for rape and is not due for release until 2026 after a parole request was rejected.

In the German legal system, a court must decide after it receives an indictment from prosecutors whether to take a case to trial.

The Braunschweig state court said its supposed responsibility for the case being in the area had been based on his last residence before going abroad and then to prison.

But it said that isn't valid, because the suspect produced evidence of a later residence in the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt, where he was registered as the owner of a property that he kept after going abroad.

The court said that, as a result of its decision, it has lifted a new arrest warrant it issued for the suspect in November.

It said in a statement that this has no influence on the suspect's serving of his current sentence.

It said that its decision can be appealed to a higher court in Braunschweig.

Brunswick prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told MailOnline: 'We have not yet been made aware of the court's ruling. We don't understand why Mr Fulscher has it ahead of us as these rulings should be given simultaneously to both parties.

'We are still trying to find out exactly what has happened and if it has gone against us we will appeal or have the case moved to another city of jurisdiction in Germany.'

In a statement to MailOnline, Mr Wolters continued to remain upbeat insisting nothing would change for the immediate future.

He said: 'We will continue to investigate the Maddie case and the accused will remain in custody.

'With regard to the decision of the Regional Court of Braunschweig on jurisdiction in the pending proceedings, we will first carefully examine the reasons and then probably have the decision reviewed by the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig.

'We continue to assume that we are responsible for a decision by the Higher Regional Court, so that the investigations into the Maddie case will continue as planned.

'In our view, there is currently no reason for speculation about the possible responsibility of the Magdeburg public prosecutor's office for the investigations into the Maddie case and a possible related abandonment of the proceedings.'
The House Republicans' campaign arm is tearing into Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries over an op-ed he wrote in college defending his uncle who made anti-semitic remarks and referring to black conservatives as 'House N*****s.'

'There is a bigot leading House Democrats in Congress, and his name is Hakeem Jeffries,' the new ad launched by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) says.

It flashes to photos of Jeffries' uncle, black studies professor Leonard Jeffries, an notes that he's called Judaism a 'dirty religion' and praised Adolf Hitler.

'Jeffries even called black conservatives 'House n*****s.' No, your ears aren't playing tricks on you  'House n*****s.''

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. accused of being a bigot by Republicans for writing an op-ed he wrote in college defending his uncle who made anti-semitic remarks and referred to black conservatives as 'House N*****s.'

'Why don't House Democrats apologize for his shameful beliefs?'

'Are House Democrats silent because they agree?' the ad closes out.

'Hakeem Jeffries lied about his well-documented defense of bigots and anti-Semites,' said NRCC press secretary Will Reinert. He claimed Democrats' silence on the matter amounts to 'tacit agreement.'

Jeffries is leaving on a trip to Israel and Ghana Thursday evening - his first as Democrat leader.

In a press conference Thursday Jeffries denied to DailyMail.com that he had ever defended his uncle's views.

'I've made clear consistently that I did not share any of controversial views that were expressed by my uncle more than three decades ago, not now. Not ever.'

'As I've said, my track record and public service and professionally more than two decades of bringing people together and standing up for every single community, including the black and Jewish communities that are proudly represent in Brooklyn,' he added.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a Jewish member, defended Jeffries earlier this week in comments to Punchbowl - 'I can personally attest American Jews and Israel are lucky to have [Jeffries] as an unflinching supporter and champion.'

Jeffries has said he has only a 'vague recollection' of the controversy surrounding his anti-semite uncle but wrote a fiery op-ed in college defending him.

The minority leader's Black Studies Professor Leonard Jeffries faced backlash in the 1990s after making comments about the involvement of 'rich Jews' in the slave trade and of Jewish executives launching 'a conspiracy, planned and plotted and programmed out of Hollywood' to denigrate Black Americans in films.

When Jeffries was a college student at Binghamton University in New York, he wrote an editorial in 1992 defending his uncle and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The school's Black Student Union, where Jeffries was an executive board member, had invited the university professor to speak after the controversy.

The younger Jeffries began his editorial by warning that the 'rise of the black conservative' would threaten to 'sustain the oppression of the black masses,' referring to the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas.

He likened black Republicans to 'House n*****s' who 'sought to emulate the white master,' according to a copy of the document unearthed by CNN.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries' 1992 editorial

He questioned why the media had built up black people like Thomas, former Sec. of State Colin Powell and author Shelby Steele.

'Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice-like grip on power?' Jeffries asked.

'Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire. Where do you think their interests lie?' he continued, suggesting the pair were better representatives of black interests.

'Dr. Jeffries has challenged the existing white supremist [sic] educational system and long-standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory erroneous accusations.'

Jeffries wrote the piece for The Vanguard, the BSU student newspaper.

'Conservative political thought rejects the redistribution of wealth. Conservative political thought shuns social reforms and favors a huge defense industry. Conservative political thought does not advocate Civil Rights advances.'

Jeffries denounced capitalism as an economic concept: 'The black conservative buys into the idea of the American dream, the dream, in which hard work and perseverance eventually liberate and reap benefits. However, this totally ignores the economic reality of this country's capitalist system. Capitalism necessitates the perpetuation of a permanent underclass.'

Jeffries' office insisted that he does not share the views his uncle did 'over 30 years ago.'

'Leader Jeffries has consistently been clear that he does not share the controversial views espoused by his uncle over thirty years ago,' spokesperson Christiana Stephenson told CNN.

Leonard Jeffries Jr., Professor of Black Studies at the City College of New York, pictured in Harlem, New York City, 1991

Jeffries, right, questioned why the media had built up black people like Thomas, former Sec. of State Colin Powell, left, and author Shelby Steele. 'Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice like grip on power?' Jeffries asked

Like Leonard Jeffries, Farrakhan came under fire for explosive remarks about Jews - once praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the 1980s as a 'great man' and calling Judaism a 'dirty religion.'

Jeffries told the Wall Street Journal in 2013, that he had only 'a vague recollection' of the controversies with his uncle as he had been away at college. He remembered it as a tough time for his father and claimed his mother tried to shield him and his brother from the fallout.

'And so, when a lot of the controversy took place, and my brother and I were away at school,' Jeffries said. 'There was no Internet during that era, and I can't even recall a daily newspaper in the Binghamton, N.Y., area but it wasn't covering the things that the New York Post and Daily News were at the time.'

In another Wall Street Journal report, Jeffries said he had not even looked at his uncle's most controversial speeches.

But after backlash followed when the Black Student Union (BSU) invited Leonard Jeffries, Hakeem and the BSU held a press conference to defend him.

'We have no intention of canceling a presentation that contains factual information, proven through scholarly documents and texts,' Jeffries reportedly said.

In 2012 the Anti-Defamation League quoted Leonard Jeffries as saying: 'The evil genius of the Jewish community was to put together their powers to make business their religion and make it part of their culture.'

In 1994 the Associated Press reported him saying: 'Jews were like 'skunks' and 'stunk up everything.''

Jeffries poses on the campus of his alma mater, Binghamton University

Asked about the comment, Professor Jeffries said, 'he did not remember it,' adding, 'Isn't there free speech in America?'

He was condemned at the time by New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and New York City Mayor David Dinkin, eventually leaving his position as chair of the Black Studies Department at City University of New York in 1995.

Then-student Jeffries went on to explain his comparison of black conservatives to 'house n*****s.'

'During the period of African enslavement, our ancestors were given the duality of the Field Negro and the House Negro. The Field Negro labored from dawn 'till dusk, had nothing but contempt for his white master, and most importantly, the majority of Black slaves, who were Field Negroes. In contemporary terms, what we would refer to as 'the masses.' The House Negroes didn't labor in the field, they were domestic servants. The House Negro was dressed up and was led to believe that he or she was better than those in the field. Most importantly, the House Negro sought to emulate the white master. This emulation was not designed with the interests of the masses at heart. Rather, the motivating force was personal gain.

'Perhaps this is the problem with the Black conservative politician of today. Their political agenda is not designed to contribute to the upliftment of their people. These right-wing opportunists espouse the political ideology of the power structure and, in return, they are elevated to positions historically reserved for whites.'

And according to local press coverage, Professor Jeffries spent much of his speech at the college defending himself against anti-semitism charges but reiterated his message about 'anti-black' Jewish moguls in Hollywood.

'It's ironic that members of the Jewish community felt compelled to take a position that is antidemocratic and.pro-Nazi in its viciousness,' he said.
Labour anti-monarchists have demanded the party 'get a grip' on royal spending if it wins the next election, just weeks ahead of the coronation of Charles III.

Labour for a Republic is urging a review of the way the King and other senior Windsors get public cash amid reports suggesting the monarch has a personal fortune of almost 2billion.

In a letter to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves the group hit out at changes made by David Cameron's government to the Sovereign Grant, saying it means 'royal income can never fall'.

'These arrangements are completely unjustifiable in any context, but at a time when households are having to choose between heating and eating and both public and private sector workers are experiencing real-term pay cuts, the special status afforded the monarchy is an insult to ordinary working people,' it said.

It creates a headache for Sir Keir Starmer and his team just weeks before the coronation as they attempt to distance the party from republican ideas.

Last year's party conference began with the national anthem for the first time ever as he led tributes to the late queen Elizabeth II.

Republican group Labour for a Republic is urging a review of the way the King and other senior Windsors get public cash amid reports suggesting the monarch has a personal fortune of almost 2billion.

In a letter to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves the group hit out at changes made by David Cameron's government to the Sovereign Grant, saying it means 'royal income can never fall'.

It creates a headache for Sir Keir Starmer and his team just weeks before the coronation as they attempt to distance the party from republican ideas.

Labour for a Republic's chairman, Nick Wall, said: 'As monarchy receives public funds, what it does with our money should be subject to the same scrutiny as all other parts of Government.

'The monarchy is a state institution and its financial affairs must therefore be transparent and its financial conduct beyond reproach.'

Charles is exempt from inheritance tax, so was able to inherit his mother's estate without penalty last year.

At the weekend the Sunday Times suggested the King has a fortune of 600million, largely accrued via the profits from his Duchy of Cornwall estate, which includes land across Britain. The duchy

But the Guardian today suggests that his fortune is really three times that - some 1.8billion - when other income is taken into account. Buckingham Palace claimed their analysis was 'a highly creative mix of speculation, assumption and inaccuracy' but declined to clarify the figure.

At the same time The Sovereign Grant  the pot of taxpayers money provided by the Government to cover the cost of the monarch's official duties and residences  remained static at 86.3 million.

The Grant replaced the Civil List and Grants-in-Aid for travel, communications and information in April 2012.

The prior funding arrangement dated back to 1760, when George III transferred income from the Crown lands to the government in exchange for the Civil List, fixed every 10 years by Parliament and voted on by MPs.

The Sovereign Grant, which funds staff costs and running expenses of the monarch's official household, is a single consolidated annual grant that is derived from an index percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate's revenue.

The grant  the pot of taxpayers money provided by the Government to cover the cost of the Queens official duties and residences  does not cover the costs of security and policing requirements nor does it fund the ceremonial duties of armed services.

Anti-monarchy group Republic will stage the largest protest action in its history on the King's coronation day, but is not planning any Extinction Rebellion-style stunts.

Anti-monarchy group Republic will stage the largest protest action in its history on the King's coronation day, but is not planning any Extinction Rebellion-style stunts.

Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said activists will chant 'Not my King' and wear yellow T-shirts and carry yellow placards in groups along the procession route and also gather for a major demonstration in Trafalgar Square on May 6.

Mr Smith has vowed to make the peaceful demonstration unmissable and loud, but told The Times that they were not staging any Extinction Rebellion-style demos because 'it's not a good look' and 'doesn't help the cause'.

He said more than 1,350 people had pledged to take part so far.

Mr Smith has branded the crowning of Charles and the Queen Consort a 'pointless piece of theatre' which will cost tens of millions of pounds and be a 'slap in the face' for people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
Two female members of the Michigan GOP were caught on camera getting into a physical scuffle on Friday night amid internal tensions within the state party.

The altercation, which occurred on a patio of the Doherty Hotel in Clare, Michigan, arose between Kalamazoo Republican Party Chair Kelly Sackett and Macomb County GOP Secretary Melissa Pehlis.

The heated exchange resulted in Sackett knocking a cigarette and phone from Pehlis's hand.

Pehlis then swung back with an open hand aimed at Sackett's head.

A man standing behind Sackett then intervened in an attempt to separate the two.

Local outlets reported that the police were called to the bar following the incident and that Sackett filed a complaint.

Police were ultimately called to the scene of the fight and Kelly Sackett (the blonde) filed a complaint against Melissa Pehlis

The exchange was reportedly the result of an ongoing rivalry within the state party between followers of new state GOP Chair Kristina Karamo and Matthew DePerno - an attorney who ran against Karamo to lead the party.

DePerno told Bridge Michigan: 'There's big internal disputes within the party right now, and Karamo has done nothing to bring the party together.

'And how could she after she won on a platform for the chair to divide the party? Her platform was to burn it down to eliminate the people who don't agree with her.'

The reason for the intense Friday night exchange was apparently an accusation that Kalamazoo County GOP officials are working to 'purge' Karamo loyalists from positions of power.

Pehlis, who is part of a Macomb County GOP leadership team that backed Karamo, accused Sackett of removing Karamo-supporting precinct delegated from their positions last week.

The alleged purge followed the recent censure and removal of three Karamo loyalists from the Kalamazoo GOP executive committee. Two of those members sued Sackett and the county party after she accused them of orchestrating a 'coup' ahead of the February convention at which Karamo defeated DePerno.

Those two members are arguing that Sackett and DePerno are trying to remove anyone who disagrees with them.

DePerno - who like Karamo, is a 2020 election denier - alleged that the February leadership election was fraudulent, and has more recently said that Karamo had her campaign staff 'in the pits counting ballots.'

In a court filing, DePerno claimed that the members are a part of a group of 'anarchist-minded delegates' in the Kalamazoo Republican Party, who are focused not on raising money and winning elections, but on pushing a 'radical agenda through a 'Christian only' cult mentality that will 'purify' the party.'

The two women (Sackett left; Pehlis right) were caught on camera getting into a physical scuffle Friday night allegedly pertaining to an internal party rivalry

Kristina Karamo won the Michigan state GOP chair election in February, defeating Matthew DePerno, who has since allegedly begun a stealth campaign to undermine her

DePerno was endorsed by Trump, but fell short of the votes he needed in the mid-February election to become the next state party chair

A controversial post by the Michigan GOP that Karamo defended

Ken Beyer, the new chair of the Michigan GOP's 4th Congressional District Committee said that DePerno is a 'sore loser trying to keep us from succeeding and advancing.'

He accused DePerno and his faction of attempting to 'sabotage' Karamo, suggesting that he wants the Michigan GOP to ail that the Republican National Committee will decide to 'step in and take over the (state) party and place Matt into (Karamo's) position.'

Karamo and DePerno have both denied the results of the 2020 election, and previously shared the ballot in 2022 as the Michigan GOP nominees for secretary of state and attorney general, respectively.

Karamo, won the state GOP chairmanship while refusing to concede the 2022 Michigan Secretary of State election, which she lost by a margin of more than 600,000 votes.

She is the first black woman to chair the Michigan Republican party.

Last month, she faced widespread condemnation for defending a social media post by the Michigan GOP that compared recent gun safety bills passed by the state legislature to the Holocaust.

The post, which was a picture of hundreds of weddings rings confiscated from Jews who were being sent to concentration camps, read: 'Before they collected all these weddings rings ... they collected all the guns.'

In a press conference, she defended the post and said that people get 'way too offended.'
Briggs was extradited from the UK to face trial after his December 2020 arrest

Ulrich Perez was stabbed in the heart at a pedestrian crossing near Marbella

A British man has been charged with stabbing a Spanish pedestrian to death in a Costa del Sol road rage attack.

Prosecutors want Lewis Harry Briggs jailed for more than 16 years if he is convicted, it emerged today.

The 23-year-old was extradited to Spain from the UK to face justice after being arrested on the outskirts of Leeds in December 2020 following a five-week manhunt.

He is accused of stabbing teenager Ulrich Perez in the heart on November 18, 2020 on a zebra crossing in an area known as Diana Park between the resorts of Marbella and Estepona, who allegedly criticised Briggs for driving too fast.

Lewis Harry Briggs, a promising boxer, is accused of stabbing to death a Spanish teen

Ulrich Perez was stabbed in the heart on November 18, 2020 on a zebra crossing between the resorts of Marbella and Estepona

The white Mercedes car the murder suspect was driving was seized shortly after the fatal stabbing as it was about to be removed try a pick-up truck

The victim was said at the time to have been attacked by a man in a UK-plated white Mercedes he'd chastised for speeding.

The car the murder suspect was driving was seized shortly after the fatal stabbing as it was about to be removed try a pick-up truck.

A three-page indictment made public today accuses Briggs of stealing the number plates on an Audi S8 parked in a garage hours after the killing and putting them on his hired Merc.

It says of the crime that led to Ulrich's death: 'After a struggle with the victim, with the intention of ending his life, we allege the accused kicked him in the chest and stabbed him in the chest before fleeing.

'As a result of the brutal aggression the victim died from an injury caused by a single stab wound to the chest which penetrated his heart and caused massive external haemorrhaging according to the autopsy.'

Prosecutors are seeking a 14-year prison sentence for Briggs, who lived in the Marbella area, if he is convicted of Ulrich's homicide at a trial.

They want him jailed for an additional two years if he is convicted of fraud over the use of the stolen number plates, and another two months for theft.

And if he is found guilty of the most serious offence he is facing, they want him to pay Ulrich's parents 265,000 each in compensation.

Briggs is alleged to have stabbed the Spanish victim at a pedestrian crossing between Marbella and Estepona

He will now appear before a judge in Estepona via a video link at a court in Madrid after being handed over to Spanish police

Briggs, 21 at the time of the incident, was identified in Spain as a boxer from a well-settled family in Marbella around the time of his arrest.

He is said to have boxed often at the MGM gym, which has now closed after being rebranded as the MTK Marbella gym but welcomed stars such as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua and was closely linked to Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan.

Cinema worker stab victim Ulrich was heading back from a local supermarket to the home he shared with his parents and two siblings opposite the murder scene when he was attacked.

Local reports said one of the people who went to his aid was his mum.

The youngster's great aunt Herminia Martinez took to Facebook afterwards to say: 'At times we feel as if God has abandoned us and we ask why the Lord took you or you want to have that person who hurt your son or your daughter in front of you to ask them why they did what they did and committed such cruelty.

'I imagine that when that happens we also want to die with our son or daughter, because the pain must be so great that we don't think about anything else. You can't believe what's happening. We think it's a nightmare.

'A mad man, a stupid man snatched your life away from you and you are in another dimension with your great-grandparents who loved you so much. Rest in peace.'

Locals launched a campaign to help Ulrich's family with funeral costs and put collection pots in shops near his home in the aftermath of his death.

Briggs is detained in the UK before being extradited to Spain

Suspect killer Lewis Briggs was arrested in West Yorkshire before being handed over to Spanish authorities

No date for Briggs' jury trial, which will take place at a court in Malaga, is yet thought to have been set.

It was not clear last night how he will plead when he takes the stand, and whether his alleged victim's family have also launched their own private prosecution which would run parallel but separately to the Spanish state one.

A spokesman for Spain's National Police confirmed after Briggs' extradition from the UK in January 2021: 'British police have handed over the suspected killer of a Spanish man who was arrested on December 22 last year.

'Police investigations determined that the victim was about to cross a zebra crossing when he was almost run over by a vehicle whose driver had to brake sharply.

'The driver initially left the scene but returned moments after and got out of his car and stabbed the pedestrian in the heart without warning, ending his life virtually instantly before speeding off.

'Nothing could be done to save the victim's life and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

'Investigators had identified a suspect and discovered he had allegedly managed to flee Spain for England.

'A European Arrest Warrant was issued which culminated in his arrest in West Yorkshire.

'National Police will now will be tasked with making sure he is handed over to the Spanish judicial authorities.'

Steve Reynolds from the National Crime Agency's international liaison network said at the time: 'This was a horrific crime, and we worked closely with our Spanish partners to track this suspect down in the UK and have him taken to Spain to now face trial.

'We work closely with international partners across the globe to track down fugitives and ensure that nowhere is a safe haven.'
A 'deeply religious' asylum seeker deliberately starved her child to death during lockdown in a bid to stave off Covid, a court heard.

Nigerian-born mother Olabisi Abubakar is accused of the manslaughter of her son, Taiwo, after the malnourished boy was found dead at the family home in Cardiff on June 29, 2020.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Abubakar was fasting from food and water to stave off coronavirus - and forced Taiwo to take part.

Police were called to the address in Cathays after a friend became concerned for her welfare.

After raiding the mother's flat by taking the door off its hinges, they found Taiwo dead - weighing just 9.8kg - on a sofa bed with his mother.

Three-year-old Taiwo Abubakar was found dead at his home on Cwmdare Street (pictured) in Cathays, Cardiff on June 29, 2020

Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said: 'Police were called to the address by a friend who become concerned for her welfare.'

Mr Heywood said Nigeria-born Abubakar was 'lying on a sofa bed, she was noticeably thin, malnourished and dehydrated.'

He said Taiwo was 'emaciated and cold to the touch', adding: 'It was clear that Taiwo had been dead for some time.'

Mr Heywood continued to explain that the windows were closed in the flat and there was 'a pervading smell of decomposition and faeces - it was dirty and soiled nappies were lying around.'The prosecutor added that Abubakar had 'deliberately neglected' Taiwo by 'failing to provide food and water to join her in fasting as a religious act.'

He said: 'Olabisi Abubakar was a deeply religious Pentecostal Christian for whom fasting is a part of her faith.'

Mr Heywood also said that the mother would carry out fasts as 'an act of devotion but it was stated that children considered too young should not fast.'

The boy's mother Olabisi Abubakar denied the neglect and manslaughter at Cardiff Crown Court (pictured). She is accompanied by an interpreter and intermediatory to help her understand proceedings

The court also heard that because she was 'fearful of Coronavirus', and her prayers were going unanswered, Abubakar caused Taiwo to join her in a fast 'without food or water.'

Mr Heywood said that when doctors weighed Taiwo's body following his death he weighed just 9.8kg.

In a post-mortem examination that was carrried out by pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter, he said he found 'no evidence other than malnutrition and dehydration' which caused the young boy's death.

The court heard that the 42-year-old mother had not been to church since the start of lockdown in March 2020, and so carried out prayers and fasts at home by asking God for help with coronavirus and her immigration status.

In police interviews Abubakar denied Taiwo and requested that he take part in fasts. She also insisted that he was 'eating well', but diary entries found by police seemed to suggest she wrote about him fasting.

In one of the entries, it was found that she claimed he had last eaten 'Weetabix for breakfast and porridge for dinner' on June 26. But she had then passed out before police arrived at her home on June 29. Mr Heywood added: 'Cruelty to Taiwo led to his death.'

Nigerian-born Abubakar is also charged with two counts of child cruelty in the time leading up to his death.

She is accused of causing Taiwo 'unnecessary suffering or injury to health' before his death.

Jurors were told Abubakar is appearing via videolink from hospital, having been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The court heard the fact she neglected Taiwo was not in dispute, but jurors must decide her state of mind at the time.

Abubakar denies manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.
A boy has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 'loving' father who was stabbed to death during an ambush.

Kelvin Ward was found with knife wounds after being attacked by a 'machete-wielding' gang on Chester Road, in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham on Tuesday night, police said.

He was travelling in a car which was ploughed into by another vehicle before he was stabbed by thugs who fled the scene. Emergency services rushed to the junction of Windward Way at around 8.15pm but nothing could be done to save the victim despite the efforts of medics.

West Midlands Police said a boy aged 16 was arrested today on suspicion of murder and will be questioned by detectives.

In an emotional tribute, Mr Ward's family called him a 'loving partner, father, son, brother and friend to many'.

Kelvin Ward's family have described him as a loving father who was 'full of life'

Photographs taken at the scene show how a black Ford Fiesta was let damaged after crashing into railings near a pedestrian crossing

They said in a statement: 'We would like to thank everyone for their loving messages and support at this very sad time.

'Kelvin was a loving partner, father, son, brother and friend to many. He was very well loved, vibrant, full of life and will be greatly missed.'

Police are still appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time of the attack to come forward, if they haven't already done so.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Sanders, who is leading the investigation, said: 'Our thoughts remain with Kelvin's family at this deeply distressing time.

'It's important that we understand what happened and that we get answers for Kelvin's family. I'm really keen to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and anyone who has any dashcam footage, to get in touch. It could be vital to our investigation.'

Forensic teams were pictured collecting evidence at the scene of Mr Ward's murder

Photographs taken at the scene show how a black Ford Fiesta was let damaged after crashing into railings near a pedestrian crossing.

A red Ford Focus, a black Vauxhall Corsa and a Jeep were also spotted abandoned near the scene

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson said previously: 'We were called at 8.13pm to an incident on Chester Road in Kingshurst, Birmingham. Two ambulances, a paramedic officer and The Air Ambulance Service Critical Care Car attended the scene. Upon arrival we found a man. He was assessed by ambulance staff and had sustained life threatening injuries.

'They administered advanced life support to him but unfortunately, it became clear that nothing more could be done to save him and he was confirmed deceased at the scene.'

A local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told yesterday how the victim was chased down by a gang armed with machetes.

He said: 'Apparently the gang were all armed with machetes. They chased him down in several cars before stabbing and hacking him to death. It's just awful, what is this world coming to?'

Anyone with information can contact the force via via Live Chat online, or by calling 101, and quote log 4840 of April 18.

Alternatively, information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Top chef Barbara Lynch has been accused of sexually touching her staff when drunk and bullying them  firing an employee on the spot and threatening to put his head through a window.

Lynch, 59, is one of the most acclaimed chefs in the US, and fought against sexism to reach the top of a male-dominated profession.

But now staff members across her seven restaurants in Boston have turned against her, accusing her of being a drunk who abused her power to sexually touch them and go on aggressive rants, according to the New York Times.

She called a meeting at her luxury restaurant Menton on March 15, to discuss the death of her head chef Rye Crofter, who had died from a fentanyl overdose.

A mentee of Crofter had died in the same way, with Lynch reportedly telling her staff: 'Talk to me, tell me what's going on. Be honest.'

Lynch, 59, is one of the most acclaimed chefs in Boston, and fought against sexism to reach the top of her profession

But now staff members across her seven restaurants have turned against her, accusing her of being a 'drunk' who abused her power to 'sexually' touch them

According to the New York Times she then exploded in an 'expletive-laced confrontation', with one employee recording the confrontation.

Tim Dearing, who replaced Crofter as head chef, challenged Lynch for reportedly failing to visit the kitchen after the death and was fired on the spot.

He told the New York Times that he threatened to 'drag her' before she said she would 'push his head through a window'.

Lynch then ranted: 'I'm not going to stand for it. I don't want negativity in my life,' before telling them to show up the next day to learn if they would also be fired. They resigned within days.

When Crofter died in January, Lynch had just named him as executive chef of all her seven restaurants  with many cooks saying they were there to learn from him.

Lynch has denied all allegations against her, saying the death of Crofter was a 'personal tragedy', and said she is not 'above reproach'.

But in a statement to the Times she added: 'I make personnel decisions that may rankle those who don't measure up or don't want to commit to true teamwork and service; perhaps some I should have removed sooner.'

She called a meeting at her luxury restaurant Menton on March 15, to discuss the death of her head chef Rye Crofter (pictured) who had died of a fentanyl overdose

Another former employee claims that after she was hired in 2015, Lynch came up behind her and caressed her lower back and squeezed her bottom  telling her that they would 'make a good couple'. Pictured: Lynch's luxury No 9 restaurant in Boston

Lynch married Charlie Petri in 1997, and the two share a daughter together but have now separated

Twenty of her former employees claim that she 'drinks heavily' and has subjected employees to unwanted propositions and touching.

However they say because Lynch is a majority owner of her restaurants, they felt unable to take their complaints higher.

A former employee from her luxury cocktail bar Drink claims that, after she was hired in 2015, Lynch came up behind her and caressed her lower back and squeezed her bottom  telling her that they would 'make a good couple'.

Head bartender of Drink, Oscar Simoza, was hired in June 2021 to reopen after the pandemic.

But he claims he felt uncomfortable when Lynch drank at the bar, pushed her way behind it and touched employees in their 'groins or bottoms' to squeeze into a narrow space.

He said to the Times: 'I'm a 6-foot-5 guy, and I can take care of myself. But we were all so vulnerable.'

Sara Hatanaka, a manager of B&G Oysters and the Butcher Shop from 2020 to 2022, also told the Times: 'She has always been protected from the consequences of her actions. At some point, everyone has to be held accountable.'

Tim Dearing,(right) who replaced Crofter as head chef, challenged Lynch for reportedly failing to visit the kitchen after the death and was fired on the spot

Twenty of her former employees claim that she 'drinks heavily' and has subjected employees to unwanted propositions and touching. Pictured: The Butcher Shop

She added that she was unable to discipline certain workers if they were one of Lynch's favorites.

Michaela Horan was hired as the manager of the Butcher Shop in August 2018, but claims she was surprised to find that Lynch did little cooking and a lot of drinking.

She told the Times that Lynch would drink and spontaneously take charge of the kitchen, sending out barely cooked chicken and threatening staff members with knives.

Horan claims that in June 2021 Lynch stormed up to her, prodded her in the shoulder and dragged her out from behind the bar.

She said that she resigned on the spot, adding: 'No one had ever put their hands on me before. Once was enough.'

However Lynch has denied the allegations, telling the Times in a statement: 'I expressly reject the various false accusations lodged against me that I have behaved inappropriately with employees or crossed professional guideposts that are important to me.

'I cannot put out all the fires that flare in this high-stress environment and my very modest roots allow me to recognize that I'm far from being above reproach.

Staff were also forced to drive Lynch home after she had drunk too much, claimed Michael Dudas, the group's director of operations from 2021 until last month

Michaela Horan was hired as the manager of the Butcher Shop in August 2018, but claims she was surprised to find that Lynch did little cooking and a lot of drinking

'I acknowledge that I am a creature of the alcohol-steeped hospitality and restaurant industry, and I am committed to taking responsibility and working on myself.'

Lynch married Charlie Petri in 1997, and the two share a daughter together but have now separated.

Michael Dudas, the group's director of operations from 2021 until last month, claimed that staff were also forced to drive Lynch home after she had drunk too much.

In 2017 she was charged with drunk driving and agreed to give up her license for 60 days and complete an alcohol education program while on probation.

However, staff claim during her probation she would still come into the restaurants to drink in front of customers.

Two former members of staff filed a class action lawsuit against the restaurant group on March 2, claiming that tip money had been diverted from their paychecks following the pandemic.

The company has disputed the claims, with Lynch adding that she 'fed employees to help them through that time when all restaurants were closed.'

She added: 'I have provided coverage for employees suffering from trauma and other challenges and I have mentored chefs that have gone on to national and international renown.'

Following the pandemic Lynch had dismissed nearly all of her former team, with Dudas claiming many of them had tried to persuade her to get help for her drinking problem

Employees said because Lynch is a majority owner of her restaurants, they felt unable to take their complaints higher

Pedro Fuentes, a former line cook at the Lynch restaurant Sportello, warned that staff didn't come forward because of Lynch's powerful connections in the area.

He told the Times: 'If you're from here, you already know. 'The Lynches are to Southie what the Kennedys are to New England. American royalty.'

Following the pandemic Lynch had dismissed nearly all of her former team, with Dudas claiming many of them had tried to persuade her to get help for her drinking problem.

Servers at the Menton told the Times that Lynch had briefly returned to work in the kitchen after her cooks left.

Speaking on the death of Crofter, Lynch said: 'It was a personal tragedy for me. It is difficult to put that type of loss into words, and finding the strength to comfort the team in the aftermath of those losses was incredibly difficult.

'I'm human, and looking back, I wish I had the capacity to have handled it better as a leader and as a friend.'
Rishi Sunak was today warned the House of Lords could block his new laws aimed at easing the Channel migrant crisis.

The Prime Minister will next week push ahead with his Illegal Migration Bill in the House of Commons after bowing to pressure from Tory rebels to toughen the legislation.

The Government has agreed to backbench demands to amend the Bill to give ministers the power to ignore efforts by European judges to block deportation flights.

This will allow Home Secretary Suella Braverman to sidestep interim injunctions - known as 'Rule 39 orders' - from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to stop Britain sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

It comes after a judge from the Strasbourg court suspended the first of Britain's scheduled deportation flights to Rwanda last June with a late-night ruling.

The Prime Minister will next week push ahead with his Illegal Migration Bill in the House of Commons after bowing to pressure from Tory rebels to toughen the legislation

But Rishi Sunak has been warned the House of Lords could block his new laws aimed at easing the Channel migrant crisis

Mr Sunak is facing a huge battle in the Lords to get the legislation passed with suggestions the Government's plans will be opposed in the upper chamber

The Bill will also be reinforced to allow ministers to disregard most injunctions issued by British courts in cases brought on behalf of 'irregular' migrants, such as those who arrive in the UK by small boat.

The Government will table a series of amendments to the Bill later this afternoon after reaching a deal with Tory MPs who were threatening a revolt if the legislation wasn't toughened.

But, should Mr Sunak win MPs' approval for the Bill next week, he is facing a huge battle in the Lords to get the legislation passed.

A former Lord Chief Justice, who sits as a cross-bench peer in the Lords, this morning warned the Government's plans would be opposed in the upper chamber.

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd said ministers' aim to ignore rulings by the ECHR was 'a very serious step' and would set 'an extraordinarily bad example'.

'We are parties to the international agreement and it forms an important part of the structure across the whole of Europe, not just the EU,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'I certainly would think it was a step of the absolute last resort and sets an extraordinarily bad example for a country committed to the rule of law to say the Government can ignore a judicial order.'

Lord Thomas suggested the Government risked defeat by peers over the Illegal Migration Bill as it makes its passage through Parliament.

'It's always difficult to predict the result in the Lords,' he added:

'But I would have thought many people would say that having the power to ignore a court order is something that - unless the circumstances were quite extraordinary - this is a step a government should never take.

'It is symbolic of a breach of the rule of law.'

Labour suggested 'weak' Mr Sunak had been forced to 'cave in' to Tory rebels over the Channel migrant legislation.

Thangham Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, said: 'We are here again with a weak PM forced to cave in to appease a small minority of right-wing backbenchers. What a mess.'
The firebrand congresswoman from Georgia says McCarthy supports her

Marjorie Taylor Greene could now face committee removal from her own party after lashing out twice at a Homeland Security Committee hearing and calling DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar.

The firebrand Republican congresswoman from Georgia called out Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) during the hearing to again accuse him of having a sexual relationship with and being compromised by a Chinese spy  a matter unrelated to the hearing Wednesday.

After that outbreak and the one calling out Mayorkas' character, Republican Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee barred Taylor Greene  often referred to by her initials MTG  from speaking further during the hearing.

MTG was removed from her committee assignments in 2021 by the Democrat-controlled chamber for pushing conspiracy theories, some associated with QAnon.

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene could be removed from the Homeland Security Committee due to repeated outbursts after she was silenced by her own party during a hearing Wednesday

But the latest is a stunning display of how even members of MTG's own party are getting fed up with her antics and bombastic rhetoric.

Mark Green, a physician and retired U.S. Army major, is furious with the congresswoman's behavior at the hearing Wednesday, a source close to him told CNN.

According to the same source, he plans to reprimand MTG privately and will encourage House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to remove her from the committee should another similar incident occur during a public hearing.

The Georgia representative told CNN she was 'surprised and angered' when Chairman Green effectively silenced her after she called Mayorkas 'a liar.'

She had already spoken to McCarthy. 'He agreed with me,' Greene said of the House Speaker.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and the third highest-ranking House Republican told Dailymail.com 'no' on whether MTG should be removed from the Homeland Security Committee.

This latest incident wouldn't be the first time the Georgia lawmaker faced committee removal for controversial comments.

The House moved in February 2021 by a 230-199 vote to take MTG off the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee. Eleven Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the measure.

Even suggestions that MTG could be removed from her new panel assignment by her own party display the rising tensions within the House GOP.

During her allocated time at Wednesday's hearing, Taylor Greene began by attacking Swalwell after he displayed a photo of her calling for the FBI to be defunded. Her rebuttal was to bring up a years-old incident where Swalwell was accused of having a sexual relationship with Chinese spy Fang Fang.

Homeland Committee Chairman Mark Green had to move to end MTG's time after she lashed out at fellow panel member Eric Swalwell and then called witness DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a 'liar'

MTG called out Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, accusing him of having a sexual relationship with and being compromised by a Chinese spy  a matter unrelated to the hearing

Swalwell was allegedly targeted as part of a Chinese effort to get close to U.S. politicians. Republicans claim he had a sexual relationship with the spy Christine Fang (right)  otherwise known as Fang Fang

While these accusations have led Republicans to call for the California Democrat to be removed from his committees, the matter was unrelated to the Wednesday hearing on the southern border crisis.

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York moved after MTG's attack to have the 'completely inappropriate' words stricken from the record, but the GOP-led panel overruled the motion.

When resuming her time speaking, Greene accused Mayorkas of being a 'liar' who is complacent in allowing fentanyl overdose deaths to occur.

'Congresswoman, let me assure you that we're not letting it go on,' Mayorkas said.

Greene shot back: 'No, I reclaim my time. You're a liar. You are letting this go on. And the numbers prove it.'

This time, Democrat Ranking Member Bennie Thompson of Mississippi requested that MTG's words be removed from the record as she refused to withdraw her remarks when prompted for a second time.

The two separate clashes resulted in Green ruling that his Republican colleague could not speak for the remainder of the hearing  she left shortly after being silenced.

'It's pretty clear that the rules state you can't impugn someone's character,' the chairman conceded. 'Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee and I make the ruling that we strike those words.'
A Labour MP has slammed the party for leaving her 'isolated, hounded and harassed' after she spoke out for women in the trans row.

Rosie Duffield said she felt there had been an 'absolute lack of support' from colleagues - including many who privately agree with her - during years of 'toxic' abuse.

The Canterbury MP also complained that her views were not being listened to by Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership.

Instead the party seem 'quite content' to suffer a backlash from gender activists.

Ms Duffield was heckled by fellow politicians in the Commons chamber earlier this year during a heated debate about Scotland's controversial attempt to introduce self-ID for transgender people.

Rosie Duffield said she felt there had been an 'absolute lack of support' from colleagues - including many who privately agree with her - during years of 'toxic' abuse

She has repeatedly criticised moves to allow transgender women into female-only spaces and services, and competitive sports.

Speaking to the Daily Express, the mother-of-two said her treatment by the party had been 'pretty galling'.

'There are many women MPs who agree with me and some men and very few of them have backed me up or defended me or spoken out about their own views and I find that increasingly disappointing,' she said.

'But also increasingly understandable as the toxic atmosphere gets worse and worse.'

Ms Duffield said pro-trans campaign groups held too much sway in Labour, with close links to Sir Keir and the ruling NEC.

'All of those people complain among themselves about me to try and get me taken out,' she said.

'They are the ones who also make the decision on those things.

'So I am very much isolated. It's not just a perception. I am very isolated.'

Ms Duffield has formed a cross-party alliance with Tory MP Miriam Cates to fight on gender issues.

The Canterbury MP also complained that her views were not being listened to by Keir Starmer (pictured) and the Labour leadership

The pair told the Express: 'Women's rights must be protected at all costs and we have united across the political divide to make sure they are not wiped out by stealth because people are too afraid to speak out.

'This is not a party political issue, it's about protecting the dignity of women and girls by maintaining single-sex spaces, women's sport and female-only services, such as refuges and rape crisis centres.

'For too long, women have been told to shut up about this issue by a small group of extremist activists.'

They insisted: 'This is not about being anti-trans, it's about making sure one person's interests do not override another's.'
A distraught family's adorable pet Highland cow was drowned while trying to escape being mauled to death by their neighbors' dogs - with a local prosecutor now accused of being too cozy with the killer pets' realtor owners.

Holly and Tyson Simon, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, lost Maple on April 10 after their 30-year-old neighbors Hannah Boze Harmon and Josh Harmon's two dogs viciously attacked two of their animals in a pond.

'We are devastated,' Holly wrote in an April 12 Facebook post.

Maple, who is estimated to be worth more than $10,000, and her sibling Oats were attacked around 11.30am after the Harmon's dogs were caught of doorbell cameras racing into the Simon family's yard. The dogs, who were not named, chased the two into the pond, killing Maple - who was found by her owners lifeless in the pond - and injuring Oats.

The couple was later arrested on charges of obstructing governmental operations after they refused to hand over their dogs to authorities. They were booked into the Sebastian County Detention Center and have since bonded out.

The Harmons co-own Harmon Real Estate Company and share three children - Audrey, Joshua, and Eva - together. They met as student-athletes at Carl Albert State College in Oklahoma and married in May 2016.

Holly and Tyson Simon, of Fort Smith, lost Maple (pictured) on April 10 after their 30-year-old neighbors Hannah Boze Harmon and Josh Harmon's two dogs viciously attacked two of their animals in a pond

Maple (pictured) was found dead in a pond after the dogs killed her. The neighbors helped the family remove Maple's body from the pond

The couple co-owns Harmon Real Estate Company (pictured with their colleagues) and share three children - Audrey, Joshua, and Eva - together. They met as student-athletes at Carl Albert State College in Oklahoma and married in May 2016

Owners Holly and Tyson Simon have since buried the beloved animal on their property

Their dogs were caught on doorbell camera footage racing into the Simon family yard before the attack (pictured)

Their black dog was later euthanized and documentation was provided by Josh to authorities. However, the white dog still remains on the loose and continues to terrorize the Simon family.

'We are still living in this nightmare with no relief as of the time Im posting this,' Holly wrote on Facebook. 'We are in still in threat/fear of imminent danger to our personal safety, [and] our animals.

'The Fort Smith prosecuting attorney Rita Watkins wouldn't issue the warrant the police wanted,' she continued. 'It's come to light that Rita Watkins is closely connected to owners - "near and dear to their hearts" in video on [Facebook].'

Locals have accused Watkins of protecting the Harmons and calls for her resignation have begun.

Fort Smith Position 5 City Director, Christina Catsavis, is calling for Watkins to step down over the handling the case, saying: 'I believe she is unwilling to work with other agencies to work to a solution. It was concerning to me that it seemed like nothing was being done.'

As of Thursday morning, Watkins has yet to resign or speak publicly on the matter.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Watkins and the Harmons for comment.

'The city can take [the dogs]. But the PA refuses to do so,' Holly lambasted on Facebook. 'Its left to chance now whether they escape again. Whether my children are next. These dogs have been getting out since September.'

Two days later, on April 14, Holly informed her Facebook friends that the 'white dog was out' again and 'unleased in the driveway.'

The Harmons were arrested on charges of obstructing governmental operations after they refused to hand over their dogs to authorities. They were booked into the Sebastian County Detention Center and have since bonded out

The Simon family has accused Fort Smith City Prosecutor Rita Watkins of not granted a search warrant for the white dog due to being friends with the couple

Josh affectionately interviewed her while she was on the campaign trail and said she was 'near and dear to my heart'

Posted by Holly Simon on Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Harmons had been ordered to 'quarantine' their remaining dog, according to Holly, and when the Simons provided video proof showing otherwise, Hannah allegedly told authorities that the 'video is lying.'

Holly claimed a sergeant contacted Watkins to tell her he was 'concerned of the dogs ability to injure/kill large animals, that if they got out again could bring severe injury to a human, and he believed he should not leave dogs.'

Watkins reportedly said since the attack happened within Fort Smith city boundaries that that authorities could 'take the dogs,' only for her to reverse course hours later.

'We all waited. [Watkins] went home sick. Hours later, she completely reversed course,' Holly wrote. 'We were left without answers as to why. The next day is when we found out about her friendship with the owners.'

Watkins' friendship with the pair is publicly known as she sat down with Josh's company Harmon Real Estate Company during her campaign to talk about her 'humble beginnings' and 'why she should be elected as our Circuit Court Judge for Division VI.'

In the video, Josh and Watkins were friendly, with the former saying the prosecutor was 'near and dear to my heart' and was a 'very nice person.'

Holly detailed her interactions with Watkins, saying: 'Rita Watkins (city prosecutor) called us back [and] told us she couldnt do anything and the county has also decided not to pursue.

'We then contacted the county and they were not aware this was in their court. the Fort Smith Sergeant immediately upon hearing this, worked all day to get it to the county.'

Holly (pictured with Tyson) said Watkins called her and told her there was nothing that could be done about the dogs, after she had already ordered authorities to remove the dogs

Their other cow, Oats, (pictured) had a 'chunk' taken out of his nose during the attack

Posted by Holly Simon on Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The county later deemed the dogs 'vicious and quarantined' and issued the Harmons citations. They were told the dogs had to be 'tethered inside [a] fence,' according to Holly, which she said never happened.

Holly and her two daughters Mia and Abagail, aged 13 and 14, noticed Maple and Oats were being violently attacked after hearing 'abnormal cries from Oats.'

'I started after the girls screaming when I saw the two dogs, mauling and drowning a cow on the far side of the bank,' she wrote. 'By the time I got through the gate & halfway down the hill, Mia was already rounding the pond. Thats when I saw Maple. lifeless. floating in the middle.'

Mia and Abagail managed to fight off the dogs and save Oats.

In a heartbreaking video posted to her account shows the brown cow laying in the center of the shallow pond as Holly can be heard weeping in the background. Holly also shared a photo of her placing her hand lovingly on Maple's head after they managed to get her out of the pond. \

Their neighbors Thomas Gage and Bill Ligon had helped the family remove the 1,000 pound animal from the pond and helped them bury Maple on the property, Holly said.

Holly also shared a video of Oats with a bloodied face. The dogs took a 'chunk' out of his nose, police said.

The family is worried the white dog will attack their other animals - the family owns 50 chickens and a miniature donkey - or worst, one of them.

The family has started a GoFundMe page to purchase Maple Trees for Maple to plant on their property. It has raised $5,525 of it's $1,000 goal

The family buried the cow on the property with the help of the neighbors. The Simons' children are said to be traumatized after the attack

'We've taken steps to protect our animals, so we just want our questions answered. We want questions answered to the timeline of that day,' Holly told the Times Record. 'This is an unsafe situation for the entire neighborhood.'

Mia and Abagail have been left traumatized after the event and the family has felt unsafe while outside following the attack.

Catsavis said the city is working to improve animal issues and have recently approved a spay and neuter ordinance that will go into effect in six months. However, she told the Times Record, the city still has problems with vicious dogs roaming the streets.

'It is a problem in Fort Smith and it is something I hear about regularly,' she said. 'We're hoping the new spay and neuter ordinance helps that. We are hoping a lot of these small steps will make a big impact.

'We've worked really hard to overhaul our animal ordinances. We've done our job making the legislation and the police do their job in enforcing it.'

The family has started a GoFundMe page to purchase Maple Trees for Maple to plant on their property. It has raised $5,525 of it's $1,000 goal.
After they were evicted in March they simply returned the very next day

An Oregon woman and her Navy vet husband are distraught after they managed to evict squatters who trashed their Maryland investment property - only for the housebreakers to move back in and laugh at attempts to change the locks.

Carol Park, 51, and her husband Sean, 49, were first alerted to a squatter in their property last July when they were called and asked who was mowing their lawn.

Using the courts to secure an eviction notice, eight months later in March the squatters were finally removed. But after just one day the brazen housebreakers returned, Carol Park told Fox News Digital.

They were heard boasting to a police officer at the time that the locksmith hadn't done a good job changing the locks, and within a few days they began dismantling the property's electricity meter.

The entire affair cost them a legitimate rental contract worth $90,000, and mortgage payments that continued despite the circumstances 'tanked' their bank account, Carol said.

Although last month the squatters were evicted for a second time, the couple are now in the process of rewiring the house and preparing it for an actual tenancy.

An Oregon woman and her husband were able to evict squatters in their home after eight months, only for them to return the next day. Pictured is the interior of the Maryland house after the squatters were finally evicted

Carol Park, 51, said the whole ordeal cost her and her husband a $90,000 rental contract

Sean and Carol Park own the investment property in Maryland but are trying to run a sheep farm in Oregon. Pictured is the house that was occupied

Carol and Sean live in Oregon, where they recently started a sheep farm. Sean served in the US Navy Reserve for nearly 24 years and retired in 2017.

'Obviously this has been a tremendously scarring experience' Carol told Fox News Digital. 'Every time I talk about it, it just kind of rips open those wounds again.'

Carol described how the situation upended their lives. Sean was forced into working 12-hour days as a trucker, and she was working full-time and using her breaks to resolve the problem.

'It could be your story tomorrow,' she said. 'We have lost a $90,000 rental contract and thousands of dollars of expenses on this property due to this squatter situation.'

Park said the saga began last July when she got a call from a property manager asking if she had hired somebody to mow the lawn as there was a mysterious person at the property.

When the property manager and a police officer confronted the man at the house, he said he had been provided a lease by a nearby homeless shelter. Nonetheless, he was asked to leave by the weekend.

The weekend came and he refused - he told Park he would only leave if he was 'reimbursed' $4,500 for the lease, which she told Fox News Digital constitutes extortion.

After months of bureaucracy involving the courts, they finally acquired an eviction notice for the squatter, but it would take until March to come into effect.

Even once an arrest warrant was signed, Parks was told by her lawyer the sheriff's office had to wait until the 'weather was right' to carry out the eviction.

Once the locks were changed and the squatter was eventually removed, Carol arranged for the various belongings left behind to be removed by a junk hauler, who notified her that squatters had entered the property once again.

Carol arranged for the various belongings left behind to be removed by a junk hauler, who said when he arrived the squatters had simply returned. Pictured is the inside of the house

Within a few days of the squatters returning to the house they began dismantling the property's electricity meter on the side of the house

When police attended the property hours later they were told yet again by the squatters that they had been given a lease.

She said the junk hauler heard them listening to music in their car on the driveway and boasting to a police officer that the locksmith who changed the locks hadn't done a very good job.

Park says the police told her that her paperwork wasn't satisfactory to evict them and that again she was going to have to go to court to get rid of them.

She said that after contacting all available law enforcement agencies she was told that even though an eviction notice had been served a day prior they would be unable to remove the squatters.

In the next days as they remained in the house, they disconnected the property's electricity meter.

'We had to pay for the electrician to get the power meter reinstated which was thousands of dollars and now we're discovering,' Park told Fox News Digital.

'It's an old house, that the siding is ripping off underneath where the power meter is and so now we're going to have to replace a piece of siding and probably have re-do the electrical,' she added.

'We have had to forego many niceties and luxuries, despite working long hours, and have had to indefinitely postpone a business start-up and much-needed improvements in our own residence,' Park said.

'We live a modest life and this situation affects us and our children and our farm in Oregon. It also affects our neighbors in Maryland, who are forced to live next to criminals and sordid squatters because no one cares.'
An 'incredibly talented' young lawyer has tragically died after being struck by a van just minutes before she was due to appear in court.

Telise Martin, 31, was hit by the vehicle outside New Zealand's North Shore District Court in the Auckland suburb of Albany on Tuesday, with diners in a nearby cafe witnessing the horror crash unfold.

'A woman was standing at the rear passenger door on the driver's side of a car when she was struck by a commercial van coming up the hill,' one witness told the Stuff website.

Cafe customers and staff from a nearby Mitre 10 hardware store rushed over and gave Ms Martin first aid until a doctor passing by stopped to help and took over.

'Someone else comforted her and held her hand and the rest of us controlled traffic until the police arrived. It all happened pretty quickly, but it was all pretty shocking,' the witness said.

'Incredibly talented' young lawyer Telise Martin (pictured), died after being struck by a van just minutes before she was due to appear in court

Telise Martin (pictured with her husband Tim) has been remembered as 'a great person - the light shone out of her with great radiance and touched everyone she came across'

Ms Martin was rushed to Auckland Hospital in a critical condition after the incident on Corinthian Drive.

But her injuries were too great and medical officers were unable to save the litigation lawyer.

'In every sense, Telise possessed that rare combination of talent and heart, empathy and tenacity required of great advocates,' a statement from her colleagues at Martelli McKegg Lawyers said.

'This has left our entire firm at Martelli McKegg in shock and we are all in a state of mourning,' they said, referring to Ms Martin by her maiden name, Kelly.

The company's statement detailed what Ms Martin was like as a person, as well as her professional capabilities.

'More importantly, Telise was a great person - the light shone out of her with great radiance and touched everyone she came across,' her co-workers said.

'Her rays of sunshine will be greatly missed by us all.'

Ms Martin studied at the University of Auckland, where she got degrees in law and accounting before being admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the New Zealand High Court in 2015.

After just eight years of practising, Martelli McKegg said she was 'very much on the rise' and showed the hallmarks of a leader.

Ms Martin was originally from the coastal Far North near Mangonui, and was very proud of her heritage.

'We believe she was one of their finest exports,' the company said.

Cafe customers and staff from a nearby Mitre 10 hardware store rushed over and gave Ms Martin (pictured) first aid until a doctor passing by stopped to help and took over

Ms Martin was rushed to Auckland Hospital in a critical condition after the incident on Corinthian Drive (pictured) in the suburb of Albany

'She was somebody who touched every member of the Martelli McKegg team and was deeply respected by every one of us.

'We will hugely miss her presence, guidance and support, particularly the litigation team.'

Detective Senior Sergeant Jason McIntosh, of the Tamaki Makaurau Serious Crash Unit, extended his condolences to Ms Martin's husband Tim, her family and friends, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Sgt McIntosh said inquiries into the crash are ongoing.
It is open on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 May and prices start at 50p for sweet treats

King in the Castle is located on Cowcross St, outside Farringdon tube in London

British supermarket Tesco is opening its first ever pub to help Britons celebrate King Charles' Coronation.

The King in the Castle is located on Cowcross Street, just outside Farringdon tube station in central London, and will be open on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 May, complete with a coronation-themed menu, in the two days before the historic ceremony itself.

Tesco is offering an affordable option, with prices starting from just 50p for sweet treats, 1 for nibbles and even 'Camilla's King Prawn Curry' served with basmati rice for only 6.

All proceeds will go to the supermarket's charity partner, The Prince's Trust, which was founded by The King in his former role as The Prince of Wales to support young people across the UK.

In celebration of people marking the crowning of Their Majesties, the menu at the pub will also feature twists on classic celebrations, nods to the royal family and inclusive options for all.

British supermarket Tesco is opening its first ever pub to help Britons celebrate King Charles' Coronation. The King in the Castle (illustrated) is located on Cowcross Street, just outside Farringdon tube station in central London, and will be open on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 May, complete with a themed menu in the two days before the coronation itself

The pub will offer both daytime and evening menus, with some highlights including a Royal High Tea, with a tea-inspired cocktail served in a tea pot, along with cakes, scones, and both King Prawn and runny egg Burford Brown sandwiches.

The latter is a nod to the King's rumoured favourite sandwich and love of boiled eggs.

Other daytime highlights include Coronation-themed Ploughman's platters, sweet treats, snacks and nibbles.

Larger bites on offer include a Coronation King Prawn Sandwich, and a plant based 'Prince's Crust' Pie, with the latter named after the supermarket's charity partner, The Prince's Trust. The choice of filling is a reference to the King's rumoured fondness of flexitarian eating.

In the evening, guests will be treated to a gastropub style 'elevated' dining experience, with a selection of starters, mains, desserts and cocktails.

Highlights from the evening menu include Camilla's King Prawn Curry, in reference to the Queen Consort's rumoured partiality for spicy food, along with a Roast 'SIR'loin Steak, deconstructed cheesecake, and cocktails that include the King's rumoured favourite tipple, a gin martini, which will be served with a crown-shaped lemon twist, and a trifle-inspired bellini.

Prices start from just 50p for sweet treats and 1 for nibbles, along with daytime options such as 8 Ploughman's platters, and a Royal High Tea and tea pot cocktail for just 10 per head.

While evening options include 'Camilla's King Prawn Curry', served with Fragrant Basmati Rice for 6, and a Roast 'SIR'loin Steak with Balmoral Sauce served with Jersey Royals, onion rings, Tenderstem broccoli and roasted vine tomatoes. for just 10.

Featuring products from the Tesco limited-edition Coronation food range, those hosting their own celebrations at home can also enjoy party staples including pork pies and trifles.

Tesco is offering an affordable option for those looking to come together for the coronation with prices starting from just 50p for sweet treats, 1 for nibbles and even 'Camilla's King Prawn Curry' (pictured) served with basmati rice for only 6

All proceeds will go to the supermarket's charity partner, The Prince's Trust, which was founded by The King in his former role as The Prince of Wales to support young people across the UK to build their confidence and skills and find employment (pictured, Plant based 'Prince's Crust' Pie)

Outside the venue, there will be a sampling station for passers-by to try bite-sized portions of the menu, such as the Coronation King Prawn Sandwich and Coronation-themed cupcakes (pictured, a trifle-inspired bellini)

The pub will offer both daytime and evening menus, with some highlights including a Royal High Tea, with a tea-inspired cocktail served in a tea pot, along with cakes, scones, and both King Prawn and runny egg Burford Brown sandwiches (all pictured)

Tesco is donating 250,000 from proceeds of this range to The Prince's Trust.

Capturing the celebratory mood of the nation, The King in the Castle will be decked out in hanging floral displays and bunting throughout the venue.

Outside the venue, there will be a sampling station for passers-by to try bite-sized portions of the menu, such as the Coronation King Prawn Sandwich and Coronation-themed cupcakes.

Bookings for the pub can be made via OpenTable from Thursday 20 April, however walk-in sittings will also available.

Alessandra Bellini, Tesco Chief Customer Officer said: 'The Coronation is a historic moment and we want to help our customers celebrate it.

'As one of the most enduring parts of British culture, pubs have traditionally been an important part of local communities and so a pub felt like the perfect way to bring people together to mark this special occasion and enjoy delicious food.

'What's more, we'll donate 250,000 from the proceeds of sales of our limited-edition Coronation range in-store, along with all proceeds from the pub to The Prince's Trust so we can all enjoy food that both tastes good and does good.

'Tesco and The Prince's Trust have worked together for 5 years, so this is a wonderful way for us highlight the incredible work that they do and help them to continue to support young people across the UK for many years to come.

'Whether you're planning to celebrate the Coronation at home with your own party, or are joining us at our pub, we've made sure that everyone can enjoy a royally-good weekend.'
Liev Schreiber and girlfriend Taylor Neisen are expecting their first child together.

DailyMail.com has exclusively learned that the couple of five years have excitedly started sharing news of 31-year-old Neisen's pregnancy.

It will be Neisen's first baby and a third child for Schreiber who already has sons, Alexander 'Sasha' 16, and, Samuel 'Kai,' 15, with his former partner, actress Naomi Watts, 54.

Liev Schreiber, 55, and longtime girlfriend Taylor Neisen, 31, are expecting their first child together, DailyMail.com can reveal

Neisen is set to become a mom for the first time, while Schreiber is already father to two boys he shares with ex Naomi Watts

Watts and Schreiber, 55, split in 2016 after 11 years together but have nurtured a famously strong relationship as co-parents ever since.

Proof positive of just how determined they have been to evolve their relationship with their changed circumstances came last summer when Watts posted a picture to Instagram celebrating Kai's middle school graduation.

In it, she poses proudly alongside her children while Schreiber beams next to Watts's current partner, fellow actor Billy Crudup, 54, and glamorous Neisen, smiles in shades at the back.

Watts tagged Neisen and captioned the image 'Congratulations to Kai class of 2022 #ModernFamily #Graduation.'

With the actress publicly admitting that she is 'proudcorny as it may sound,' that she and her ex have managed to 'be good and kind to each other,' Watts will surely be delighted by the news that their very modern family is set to expand.

Certainly, Schreiber has always made it clear that he wants his children to know that their parents care for each other.

Schreiber is on record as stating that, in that aspect, he and Watts will 'always be partners.'

Watts and Schreiber have maintained a healthy co-parenting relationship since their split in 2016, spending time together as a blended family with their children and their respective new partners

Last year, Watts posted a picture to Instagram celebrating Kai's middle school graduation where she was seen posing proudly alongside her children while Schreiber beams next to Watt's current partner, fellow actor Billy Crudup, 54, and a glamorous Neisen, smiles in shades at the back

Watts and Schreiber reportedly made a pact not to openly date within a year of their separation seven years ago. The actress has been in a relationship with actor Bill Crudup since 2017

Neisen was seen walking alongside Schreiber and his two children Sasha and Kai in New York's East Village on January 28, 2018

Out of respect for each other, Watts and Schreiber reportedly made a pact not to openly date within a year of their separation seven years ago.

In fact, when speculation first began swirling around the nature of Schreiber's relationship with Neisen, with whom he was pictured in 2017, both claimed that she was the nanny for his children.

Speaking that October a representative for Schreiber at the time said, '[Ray and Taylor] are friends and she sometimes helps out with the kids  they are not dating.'

Quite when romance blossomed between the winsome blonde and the Ray Donovan actor is unclear, but by June 2018, they were seen surfing together in the Hamptons and had not long returned from a vacation together with his children in Costa Rica.

By the following winter, in 2019, Schreiber and Neisen were regularly to be seen walking their dog together in New York City where Schreiber lives.

Originally from Rapid City, South Dakota, former pageant queen, Neisen was an entrant in Miss USA 2012 as the reigning Miss South Dakota.

Neisen was a contestant in Miss USA 2012 representing her home state of South Dakota. She is pictured with her parents

When speculation first began swirling around the nature of Schreiber's relationship with Neisen, who is 24 years younger than her beau, both claimed that she was the nanny for his children

In one sweet post on December 16 last year, Screiber celebrated Neisen's birthday with a picture of her and a cake which featured a picture of a raccoon

She is 24 years younger than her actor, writer and producer boyfriend.

For his part Schreiber is clearly besotted with the woman he calls 'TayTay.'

He posts about his animal loving girlfriend  who has a self-confessed penchant for rehabbing raccoons- often and enthusiastically on his social media.

In one sweet post on December 16 last year, he celebrated her birthday with a picture of her and a cake which featured a picture of a raccoon.

The photo was captioned: 'Happy Birthday TayTay! All the critters are so happy you were born today! Most of all me.'

Schreiber's representative did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment on the pregnancy.
A traffic warden who stabbed his wife to death in a brutal attack after she refused to let him take another spouse is facing a life sentence today after he was convicted of murdering her.

Victim Ayesha Hasan, 32, had predicted her death at the hands of violent husband Asim Hasan, 33, and told friends: 'If something happens to me please take care of my kids.'

Mrs Hasan, 32, was found in a pool of blood in their flat in Burrard Road, Canning Town, east London. Their two children, both aged under 10, were waiting to be taken to school when Hasan stabbed her 26 times and killed her.

Ten days before she was murdered, Mrs Hasan sent a 'desperate' WhatsApp message to friends saying she was scared of her husband because he was unpredictable and would 'flip out'.

Traffic warden Asim Hassan stabbed his wife 26 times until she died from her injuries

Ayesha Hasan had predicted her death at the hands of violent husband a week ten days before she was murdered

She said she didn't want to call the police but wanted him out of the house as she didn't feel safe.

Mrs Hasan told them: 'If something happens to me please take care of my kids, don't let Asim have them. I'm going to delete this after I sent it because he'll start with me if he finds out.'

Hasan denied murder, claiming he did not intend to harm his wife when he stabbed her 26 times but an Old Bailey jury took just 91 minutes to convict him.

He had joined a Muslim dating app just days before the killing and told how their relationship broke down because he wanted two wives.

His relatives held their head in their hands in the public gallery Judge Anthony Leonard told him: 'You have been convicted of murder. The sentence will be one of life imprisonment.'

But the case was adjourned as the judge decides how long Hasan should serve before he can be paroled.

On May 19 last year the killer had dialled 999 from his home to say he had just stabbed his wife.

'He said he was in the kitchen and the two children were in the house but unhurt,' said Joel Smith, prosecuting.

'He veered between calmly reporting his conduct to police and screaming and crying.

'Police and an ambulance were sent to the scene and arrived 14 minutes later. What they found was shocking.

'Ayesha Hasan was lying unconscious in a pool of her own blood in the kitchen.

'She had plainly been stabbed not one but many, many times. Officers did their best to save her life, but their attempts were in vain and she died at the scene. She was only 34 years old. The defendant was immediately arrested with blood stains on his hands.

'All the while their young children were at the address waiting to be taken to school. The bloodstained kitchen knife this defendant used to kill his partner was found on the cooker by her body.

'It was a ferocious and really quite savage attack.'

Hasan told police at the scene: 'I'm guilty and you can charge me'.

Mrs Hasan was found in a pool of blood in their flat in Burrard Road, Canning Town (pictured)

The couple had had an Islamic marriage but by 2022 the relationship had soured as they argued about money, Hasan's behaviour and his belief that his wife was having an affair.

On 10 May Mrs Hasan recorded a voice message where he accused her of cheating on him. She picked up a knife herself, asked to be let out of the room and threatened to kill herself. When she said she would call the police Hasan replied 'you won't', the court heard.

Mr Smith said police were called that day but no further action was taken as Mrs Hasan appeared well.

'In something of a cruel twist of hypocrisy it would appear that Mr Hasan was in fact himself looking to conduct an extra-marital affair. On 1 May he contacted a lady on a Muslim dating website and tried to meet her.'

The prosecutor added: 'The repeated nature of this savage attack is important, he didn't stop when the victim was paralysed. He carried on, and on, and on, when it must have been overwhelmingly obvious that his wife was suffering terribly at his hands.

'This was a man who wanted his relationship on his terms. A man who was unhappy about his wife's suspected infidelity as he looked for his second wife. To control Ayesha. That is what he wanted.'

Hasan accepted hestabbed his wife but says he did not intend to kill her or cause her really serious harm by stabbing her 26 times.

Goving evidence he said he had been working as a civil enforcement officer for a year prior to the attack.

Hasan said he joined a Muslim dating app on 24 April, adding: 'Because of our arguments, I discussed with my wife that I wanted a second wife. I wanted two marriages. We were frequently arguing. Arguments would become physical arguments. I am a very calm person, I never really shouted.

'She was [physical]. She would just hit me with objects and anything she could find.

'She tried to take my life a couple of times - strangle me with wire, strangle me with her hands - but she didn't let me die.'
A pensioner accused of murdering his terminally ill wife did not tell her he was about to kill her in case she changed her mind about the 'assisted suicide', a court in Cyprus has heard.

David Hunter from Northumberland previously admitted to killing his wife Janice, who had been suffering from terminal blood cancer, before attempting to take his own life.

Janice, 74, died of asphyxiation in December 2021 at the couple's home near Paphos, Cyprus.

Lawyers for the 75-year-old retired miner claim Mrs Hunter's death was assisted suicide and that she had begged her husband to end her life.

Now Paphos District Court has been told by clinical psychiatrist Katerina Stylianiduo that Mr Hunter had not told his wife what he was about to do, in case she had a change of heart.

Former Northumberland coal miner David Hunter, 75, (pictured arriving at Paphos District Court in Cyprus in March) is standing trial in Cyprus for premeditated murder after a plea deal on the lesser charge of manslaughter collapsed

Ms Stylianiduo examined Mr Hunter shortly after his wife had died.

The defence asked the psychiatrist whether she explained to him that she may appear as a court witness at a later date.

She responded that she did not feel there was a need to do so at that point.

Mr Hunter has so far been in custody on the island for 16 months and told the BBC he was 'confused' about the hearing in Paphos today.

Last month, a judge ruled that the statements he made immediately after his wfie's death without a lawyer present were 'lucid'.

His defence team had argued that his confession to her killing should be inadmissible as evidence in the trial, and that he was suffering from 'disassociation'.

They say he gave the statements in a 72-hour period where he had not been psychologically assessed and so was unable to understand that he could have a lawyer present.

Mr Hunter's daughter Lesley, 50, hit out at the 'devastating' verdict.

She made a heartbreaking video call to her father moments after the alleged killing, which was played out to court.

David Hunter, 75, (left) is accused of murdering his wife of 46 years, Janice (right), at their home in Paphos, in December 2021. She was suffering from terminal cancer

Pictured: David Hunter (right) is seen with his wife Janice (centre) and their daughter Lesley

It showed Mr Hunter slumped in a chair and unresponsive as his daughter begged him not to kill himself.

Lesley said: 'I am devastated and struggling to understand how someone can be judged to be 'lucid' when they didn't even recognise their daughter of 50 years.

READ MORE: British woman begged her father not to kill himself after he suffocated her terminally-ill mother at their Cyprus home Lesley Hunter told her father David Hunter, 75, 'you can't leave me' after the death of her mother Advertisement

'My dad had taken every pill in the house and downed alcohol. I am baffled at how they could reach such a decision, it doesn't make sense.'

Michael Polak, of Justice Abroad, who is representing the retired Northumberland miner and previously fought for the British woman falsely accused of making up rape charges in nearby Ayia Napa, slammed the decision.

He told the Mail: 'David was shocked and dejected by this ruling.

'We brought a top forensic psychiatrist from Britain to give evidence, but his evidence was totally ignored by the court.

'We were shocked by this, but we are getting to use to it as during the Ayia Napa case all foreign experts at trial level were rejected.

'As regards to his rights to a lawyer, for evidence to be taken from a suspect there needs to be an unequivocal reading of the right to a lawyer.'

Mr Hunter remains on trial for premeditated murder after a plea deal on the lesser charge of manslaughter collapsed.

Earlier in the trial, it had appeared that a plea bargain would be reached that would see the British grandfather released after admitting the lesser charge of manslaughter.

But in an apparent 11th hour change the prosecution pushed ahead with pre-meditated murder.

Mr and Mrs Hunter had been married for 46 years, and moved from Ashington, Northumberland, to Paphos 20 years ago.

The trial continues on Monday when the prosecution is set to hear from another psychiatrist who examined Mr Hunter following the killing.
The camera crew showed up at the Baldwins' Manhattan apartment Wednesday morning and captured the family's goodbyes and then went along to the airport with Alec

The actor was accompanied by members of a film crew who traveled with him from NYC

Alec Baldwin, 65, was seen arriving at an airport in Bozeman, Montana, to continue filming ill-fated Rust

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Alec Baldwin has jetted into Montana one day before filming resumes on his troubled western movie Rust - currently scheduled to get underway on Friday.

The veteran actor, 65, was pictured by DailyMail.com arriving at an airport in Bozeman, Montana, where he was seen picking up a rental car after stepping off a United flight via Denver from New York.

According to a crew call issued by the Montana Film Office, filming on the now unionized set will start tomorrow and continue until May 22 at the Yellowstone Film Ranch 20-miles south of Livingston.

Baldwin was accompanied by members of a film crew who traveled with him from New York. The crew of four women was seen Wednesday filming him give Hilaria a tender kiss goodbye before he left for the airport.

Alec Baldwin arrived to Montana one day before filming resumes on his troubled western movie Rust, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show

Baldwin was accompanied by what appeared to be members of a film crew who traveled with him from New York, including the woman with the white hat

According to a crew call issued by the Montana Film Office, filming on the now unionized set will start tomorrow and continue until May 22 at the Yellowstone Film Ranch 20-miles south of Livingston

The 65-year-old actor was seen picking up a rental car from Hertz and pulling his own luggage

Baldwin was pictured by DailyMail.com arriving at an airport in Bozeman, Montana, after stepping off a United flight via Denver from New York

Baldwin and members of the camera crew were seen waiting at baggage claim before heading to the shooting location

DailyMail.com saw the film crew show up to his Manhattan apartment around 7am Wednesday and meet the actor outside.

Baldwin smiled and shook the crew members' hands before telling them his wife and children would be out in a few minutes.

Soon after, Baldwin came back out with his sons and wife Hilaria, who was smiling and carrying their youngest daughter in her arms. Baldwin loaded his sons' bookbags into an SUV, spoke to the cameras briefly and then took them to school, with Hilaria leading the crew of four women inside.

Baldwin returned to the home to say goodbye, rolled his suitcase into the SUV and was off to the airport with the film crew in tow.

Hilaria looked comfortable in front of the camera, smiling with her seven-month-old daughter Ilaria Catalina.

She wore loose jeans, a white top and flannel with sneakers, before changing into slippers.

Production stopped abruptly in October 2021 when a prop gun held by Baldwin fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the movie's New Mexico set.

Baldwin is currently facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter over the mom-of-ones death as is rookie armorer Hannah Gutteriez-Reed - who will play no further part in Rust.

Both are facing a two-week preliminary hearing in the case due to begin on May 3 but Baldwin has already obtained a waiver and does not have to appear in person.

Camera crews were there to capture the tender moment Alec kissed his wife and child goodbye on Wednesday

Hilaria appeared comfortable in front of the camera, smiling with her seven-month-old daughter Ilaria Catalina in her arms

Baldwin rolled his suitcase into the SUV and was off to the airport  with the film crew tagging along for the journey

Hilaria wore loose jeans, a white top and flannel with sneakers, before changing into slippers and carrying her seven-month-old

A camera crew showed up to the Baldwins' Manhattan apartment Wednesday morning and filmed the family's goodbyes. He was seen greeting the crew

Baldwin spoke to the cameras briefly as Hilaria and their youngest daughter stood alongside him. He took his sons to school and then was off to the airport

Hilaria appeared to be directing the camera crew outside of her home Wednesday. It's unclear what the family are filming

In February, the Santa Fe District Attorney's Office dropped a key gun enhancement charge a crime that would have carried a five-year sentence if convicted.

Despite the controversy, on Tuesday a spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions told CNN filming will continue.

It was announced earlier this year that Baldwin would remain in the lead role for Rust and that another cinematographer would replace Hutchins. It was also confirmed that filming would not be completed on the original set at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.

Director Joel Souza, who was injured by the same bullet that killed Hutchins, will also return to finish the project.

Earlier this week a judge sealed from public view the terms of a civil settlement between Baldwin and Hutchins's widower, Mathew, and their son.

'What is driving my decision is really the interests of the minor child. And that is one of the very most powerful reasons to seal a matter,' the judge said in a hearing Monday.

It was announced earlier this year that Baldwin would remain in the lead role for Rust and that another cinematographer would replace Hutchins

Production stopped abruptly in October 2021 when a prop gun held by Baldwin fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the movie's New Mexico set. An image of Hutchins is shown at a vigil

Despite the controversy, on Tuesday a spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions told CNN filming will continue at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana

Mathew Hutchins and Baldwin came to another agreement in October. Part of that stipulated that Hutchins will serve as executive producer on the film.

After settling the lawsuit last year, Mathew claimed he desired no further 'recriminations'. But in January, Hutchins's family said they supported Baldwin being charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Last Thursday, Baldwin filed a motion that another lawsuit filed by Hutchins's parents and sister be be thrown out, claiming they had been distanced from her 'physically, financially and emotionally for years before her death.'

Baldwin said in court documents, 'The loss of a daughter and sister is undoubtedly painful in any circumstance.

'Yet Plaintiffs who had been distanced from Halyna physically, financially, and emotionally for years before her death have no viable cause of action against Defendants,' the documents state.
Four arrests have been made as crowds of bucket-hat-wearing cannabis smokers descended on one of London's busiest parks to celebrate the annual 420 event and demand that the illegal drug is decriminalised.

Two were arrested for possession with intent to supply, one for assault on an emergency worker and a fourth for failing to comply with park regulations.

Drinks have been thrown at police officers moving in to apprehend cannabis users breaking the law by openly smoking in public.

Marijuana lovers unite for the Hyde Park rally every year on April 20, which is a reference to the term 420, a popular phase among cannabis users that originates from a group of high school students from the 70s.

Cannabis, which is Class B drug in the UK, carries a five-year sentence for possession and a maximum term of 14 years for dealing or producing the illegal drug.

A Section 35 Dispersal Order is in place until midnight today around Hyde Park and some surrounding areas of plush Kensington and Westminster.

Drinks have been thrown at police officers moving in to apprehend cannabis users flaunting the law by smoking in public spaces

Pictured: A haze of smoke is seen over Hyde Park on Thursday

Pictured: A man is detained by police today as revellers gather in Hyde Park and smoke cannabis as part of '420' day in London

Pictured: Two young women pose for the camera in Hyde Park on Thursday

Pictured: A young woman is pictured with what appears to be an enormous smoking spliff

Pictured: A young woman is seen with a balloon in Hyde Park on Thursday

A man is detained by police in Hyde Park during the April 20 cannabis celebrations. Police said they would intervene in illegal behaviour

Officers move in to seemingly arrest a man in Hyde Park at the 420 day celebrations on Thursday. Cannabis is a Class B drug in the UK

A person is detained by police officers as marijuana enthusiasts mark the informal annual cannabis holiday

Pictured: A man being led away by police at the gathering at Hyde Park today

Pictured: The man, wearing beige trousers and a black sweater, was led away in handcuffs

Fans were convinced that rapper and long-time cannabis supporter Snoop Dogg was in Hyde Park this afternoon, although others thought it was a lookalike

This allows police officers and designated Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to deal with individuals aged 10 or over engaging in anti-social behaviour or crime and disorder not only when they have occurred or are occurring, but when they are likely to occur and in any locality.

At the gathering in 2022, a shocking brawl broke out among attendees before they were separated by police officers. Ten people were arrested for a range of drug and violent offences.

Smokers openly flaunt the law on April 20, lighting up in public and using a range of drug paraphernalia.

The law on cannabis Cannabis is a Class-B drug in the UK. Possession carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. A magistrate's court can fine someone 2,500 for the offence. Dealing, supplying or producing can land a person in jail for up to 14 years. It is also illegal to sell drug paraphernalia. Advertisement

Some cannabis fans were convinced that they were joined in their smoking session this afternoon by American rapper and long-term cannabis supporter, Snoop Dogg.

But others were convinced that the man in Hyde Park, who was wearing a Releaf T-shirt, was a convincing lookalike.

Snoop Dogg was seen in Los Angeles on Tuesday night at the premiere of Dear Mama, with his wife and sons.

MailOnline reached out to representatives of Snoop Dogg for comment.

The website Hemp Elf said the event in London today was expected to be a 'significant gathering' and that there would be live music.

The website reads: 'The term 420 has become a symbol of unity and celebration within the cannabis community. It represents a shared understanding and passion for the plant and its potential benefits.

'By coming together on April 20th, cannabis enthusiasts worldwide show their support for legalisation, responsible use, and ongoing research into the plant's many applications.'

The maximum punishment for the possession of Cannabis, which is a Class B drug in the UK, is five years in prison. A magistrate's court can fine people up to 2,500 for the offence.

The prison term for supplying, dealing or producing the drug is harsher, with a maximum sentence of up to 14 years.

The Metropolitan Police said they would be patrolling the park this year to intervene in illegal behaviour and signs have been erected to remind the public not to indulge in recreational drugs in the public space. It is believed some people have been arrested at the event.

Comedian and author Big Narstie appears to smoke cannabis in the crowd in Hyde Park celebrating 420 day

A man takes a tote from what appears to be a large spliff while smoking in Hyde Park, where large crowds of revellers have gathered

People gather in Hyde Park on April 20 to smoke cannabis and support the decriminalisation of the Class B drug

Two smokers wearing bucket hats decorated with marijuana leaves smoke in Hyde Park on Thursday for 420 day

A smoker uses a bong to 'light up'. It is a criminal offence to supply an object for providing or preparing a controlled drug - which may include bongs

People enjoy a smoke in the sunshine in Hyde Park during the day to celebrate April 20

A man holds a blow-up bong to his face

Signs have been erected in London's Hyde Park to remind the public not to indulge in recreational drugs in the public space

Police officers on duty in Hyde Park during the day on April 20, where the Met said they would intervene in illegal behaviour

Police officers challenge suspected cannabis smokers. A police officer can search a person if they have reasonable grounds that they have a controlled suspect

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: 'The Met will be policing the cannabis day event in Hyde Park on Thursday, 20 April.

'There is a proportionate and graduated policing plan in place to prevent, deter and detect criminal offences, including possession and use of drugs, and any associated crime or disorder.

'Using cannabis and other recreational drugs is illegal. Met officers will engage with attendees, and encourage them to deposit their drugs in the amnesty bins provided.

'They will particularly be looking to safeguard any children and young people present, especially if they are using drugs, and will ensure they are referred to the relevant partners.'

'Officers may enforce legislation under the Misuse of Drugs act 1971 through Community Resolution Orders, Postal Charge Requisitions and arrest if there are aggravating factors such as supply or associated anti-social behaviour, disorder or crime.'

Companies have taken to social media to joke about the crowds of doobie devotees - with Deliveroo laughing at the number of their delivery drivers called to the Hyde Park area.

Posting on Twitter, they said: 'Damn, people in Hyde Park must be hungry.'

Advocates of decriminalisation point to cannabis' weaker potency compared to Class A drugs and its usages in medicine, especially for the relief of pain in those with chronic conditions.

420 takes its name from the American English system of ordering dates. 420 falls annually on 20 April, which would be stylised in the US as 4/20.

As a result, this term is still used today to mark the cannabis-smoking celebrations.

Smokers enjoy a sunny day in Hyde Park for the annual 420 event, protesting the UK's laws on cannabis

Smokers in Melbourne, Australia, also gathered to celebrate cannabis and to advocate for legalisation

Young men wearing sunglasses partake in the cannabis smoking in London's Hyde Park on April 20, 2023

A man enjoys what appears to be a spliff in Hyde Park as hundreds of revellers gathered to celebrate 420 day

Companies have taken to social media to joke about the crowds of doobie devotees

420 does not just take its name after the event's date, but also has ties to its roots in California, where it began during the 1970s.

Read more: Why do people smoke cannabis on April 20 at 4.20? Advertisement

The convention is said to have been created by five Californian high school students - Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz and Mark Gravich.

In 1971, the five students, who attended San Rafael High School, came up with a secret term.

They used the expression '420' to communicate that they would meet later in the day to smoke marijuana.

After exchanging the phrase '420' whilst at school, they would subsequently convene at 4.20pm to smoke cannabis, although it is unclear if the timing actually had anything to do with the naming of the ritual.

The group became known as the 'Waldos' because their chosen smoking spot was against a wall, near a statue of the famous chemist Louis Pasteur.

Now in their 60s, the original founders of 420 still meet together to mark the event they inadvertently founded over 50 years ago.

The event is now a celebration across the world - with New York and Melbourne, Australia among cities attracting crowds of cannabis fans.

In the American city's Prospect Park - which has hosted the third annual Black Girls Smoke celebration. The event includes live music, DJs and food vendors.

In Washington Square Park, a premium line of rolling papers has teamed up with food outlets for a celebration - complete with limited edition merchandise

A young lady in Washington Square Park takes a drag on what appears to be a cannabis cigarette

A man in Washington Square Park serves customers over a stall of cannabis paraphernalia

A man is seen lighting a cannabis joint at a 420 Rally & Community Picnic 2023 at Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne

A man (pictured) is detained and searched by Victoria Police officers at the pro-cannabis 420 Rally & Community Picnic 2023 in Melbourne

A sniffer dog is pictured approaching a man at a 420 rally in Melbourne

A man is pictured being searched by Victoria Police officers in Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne

And in Sesh in the Park, in Washington Square Park, a premium line of rolling papers has teamed up with food outlets for a celebration - complete with limited edition merchandise.

In March 2021, the drug was legalised in the Big Apple, with the first specialist shop opening in December 2022.

The cannabis market in the city is expected to reach $7 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research.

And New York Governer Kathy Hochul this week launched a campaign to encourage users to buy cannabis from the state-regulated market.

But in Melbourne hundreds lit up in an inner city park - as police with sniffer dogs descended on protestors.

At least three arrests were made with cannabis and other drugs allegedly seized by police officers at the protest in the city's Flagstaff Gardens.

15 cautions were also handed out, with sniffer dogs helping to catch those allegedly breaking the law.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama slammed the 2nd Amendment during a sit down with host Gayle King on the show 'CBS Mornings' on Thursday.

Obama, was also there to promote her new book, 'The Light We Carry Overcoming in Uncertain Times,' and share her views on the latest shooting sprees which have rocked the US.

'We're the only developed country on the planet where citizens have unfettered access to firearms, ' she said. 'That is not a good thing.'

King agreed and shared her angst telling the former First Lady, 'I really think these are uncertain times,' as she spoke about the series of heinous shootings that have taken place in the last few weeks.

On March 27, transgender gun woman Beth Hale stormed into The Covenant School in Nashville, where she killed three children and three adults before being shot dead by police.

And on April 10, Connor Sturgeon, 25, burst into the Old National Bank in Louisville where he worked, killing five before he was shot dead by cops.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on the 'CBS Mornings' show on Thursday promoting her new book, 'The Light We Carry Overcoming in Uncertain Times'

Obama, who is also the mother of two adult daughters, told King how crucial it is for Americans, including young people, to vote. 'More of us have to feel strongly about it particularly our young people this is where democracy comes in,' she said

King shared her angst telling the former First Lady, 'I really think these are uncertain times,' as she spoke about the series of heinous shootings that have taken place in the last week involving young people.

The veteran host then asked, 'Do you think we can ever reconcile gun violence in this country.'

Obama dressed in a smart bright yellow jacket and black trousers told King that gun violence was a major issue during her husband, former US President Barack Obama's presidency.

'I hope and pray that enough becomes enough,' she said. 'We wondered that throughout our entire Presidency.'

Obama, who is also the mother of two adult daughters, told King how crucial it is for Americans, including young people, to vote.

'More of us have to feel strongly about it particularly our young people this is where democracy comes in,' she said.

'Voting -all of this stuff - is decided in the ballot box.'

There have been two other horrific shootings which have made national headlines this week.

Twenty-year-old Kaylin Gillis, who shot dead on Saturday night by homeowner Kevin Monahan, 65.

Gillis was passenger in a friend's car when the driver of the vehicle she was in mistakenly pulled into the driveway of Monahan's upstate home in Hebron on Saturday night.

Monahan denies murder.

On April 13, Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old teen, who accidentally went to the wrong address, when he was picking up his twin brothers in Kansas City, Missouri. The suspect, Andrew Lester, 84, opened fire shooting the teen in the head and the arm.

Yarl miraculously survived. Lester also denies the crimes he's been charged with.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth has admitted that she would not want her daughters living in some barracks, where service members complain of rampant mold, open sewage, and 'poop falling from the ceiling.'

Wormuth made the startling admission at a hearing with lawmakers covering poorly maintained and substandard base housing for military service members and their families that have dogged the Pentagon for years.

Service members and their spouses frequently complain about mold and sewage leaks at accommodation on bases from Hawaii to South Carolina, as quality-of-life issues leave the military with a huge recruitment shortfall.

'I've seen some of our barracks, frankly, that I wouldn't want my daughters to live in,' Wormuth told the US House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

'I've seen some of our barracks, frankly, that I wouldn't want my daughters to live in,' acknowledged Army Secretary Christine Wormuth

Mold inspectors assessing barracks in Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, where soldiers took to social media to complain about the problem

'We're really trying to get after that. I want parents to know that their kids are going to come and have good accommodations.'

She spoke in the wake of a scathing Senate probe into unsafe living conditions at Fort Gordon, Georgia, where military families have struggled to get mold and other hazards repaired, according to a follow-up report released this week.

The 25-page document found numerous Fort Gordon residents endured 'persistent mold and shoddy workmanship by maintenance staff' at their homes, which are managed by a subsidiary, Balfour Beatty.

The mold was so bad in some homes that families were 'at risk of serious health consequences' and third-party inspectors deemed the properties 'unfit for habitation.'

Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, says 'We still have a long way to go.'

Army spouse Joy Viera revealed how her upstairs bathtub started leaking brown sewage through the kitchen ceiling less than 24 hours after moving into their new home at Fort Gordon.

'Water with poop was falling into our kitchen, with our groceries we'd just bought and onto our dog bed,' she said at a roundtable event in Washington, the Army Times reported.

'We can't live with poop falling from the ceiling.'

The Vieras and their two children and two dogs had just relocated from Washington state and had stayed in a hotel for five weeks. After the sewage leak, they had to move back into a hotel, Viera said.

When they were offered a new home, she found mold, along with trash, bugs, and other signs the house hadn't been cleaned, she said. The family decided to find its own housing.

'Water with poop was falling into our kitchen.' Army spouse Joy Viera (right) speaks with Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, this week.

Mold can grow in damp, humid conditions and is a major issue on US bases in the South. It can cause respiratory infections, skin rashes, and headaches

Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat who has led probes into Fort Gordon's housing crisis, said there were more technicians on mold-fighting repair teams, but that progress was not fast enough.

'We still have a long way to go  the quality of the maintenance work, the timeliness of the responses to requests for work orders,' he said.

Balfour Beatty, one of the largest suppliers of military housing in the US, which provides housing to 150,000 military residents in 26 states, has faced widespread claims of negligence and failure to carry out repairs.

The company in 2021 pleaded guilty to committing fraud against the US from 2013 to 2019, and was ordered to pay $65.4 million in fines and restitution and was placed under an independent compliance monitor for three years.

The Army plans to spend $1 billion each year this decade on building and renovating military homes, but that is widely seen as insufficient given the scale of the problems.

Fixing up just two mold-ridden installations  Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii  alone is estimated to cost $11.2 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Mold can grow in damp, humid conditions and is a major issue on US bases in the South. It can cause a range of ailments, including respiratory infections, skin rashes and headaches.

Critics say that outsourcing military housing to contractors has made the issue worse.

Army Gen. Joseph Martin spoke this week spoke of unprecedented challenges in bringing in recruits, leading to a shortfall of some 10,000 soldiers this year and bigger problems down the road. Pictured: Army recruiters at a career fair in Michigan

The focus on housing hazards comes at a tough time for the US military, which is struggling to attract new recruits and faced a shortfall of some 15,000 soldiers from its 60,000 target last year and bigger worries down the road.

Republican representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, said on Wednesday the military would not likely meet its 65,000 target this year, adding: 'That's unacceptable.'

Army chiefs say it's an uphill battle because young Americans are too overweight, cannot pass entrance exams, and are put off by the threat of death or injury, discrimination and other stresses of military life.

Research from the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) last year found that the number of military personnel who would advise others to enlist sank nearly 12 points to 62.9 percent between 2019 and 2021.

Three quarters of those surveyed were in debt, more than half could not save, 61 percent had trouble paying rent and a troublesome 17 percent said they were so cash-strapped they could not always put enough food on the table.
Insulate Britain activists have been found guilty of public nuisance after they sat down down at a busy interchange of the M25 believing their concerns 'trumped all others', a court was told.

A dozen protesters walked out into a carriageway in the middle of rush hour traffic, unfurled a banner and sat down in the road at the Junction 3 Swanley interchange, causing an enormous backlog.

The judge suggested that he would not consider custodial sentences for the convicted activists but they are likely to be hit with tens of thousands in legal costs.

A jury at Hove Crown Court was told one distraught woman who was on her way to hospital to visit a dying loved one broke down in tears and pleaded to be let through the blockade.

Cathy Eastburn (right), 55, the wife of a former Transport for London (TfL) boss, Insulate Britain spokesperson, Cameron Ford (left), 32, Alexander Rodger (top), 33, and Venetia Carter (bottom), 58 have been found guilty of causing a public nuisance.

Alexander Rodger, Venetia Carter, Cathy Eastburn and Cameron Ford outside Hove Crown Court after their conviction for blocking the M25

Cathy Eastburn, 55, arriving at Hove Crown Court on Thursday. She said the action was: 'What we did was actually a public service, a public good'

Cameron Ford (pictured) said: 'We may feel that we live quite separately but in reality we are all in a community'

Hove Crown Court was told on Thursday that the protesters imposed their personal beliefs on untold motorists on September 13, 2021 - just a month before the COP26 conference was due to start in Glasgow.

Judge Stephen Mooney said he would not be considering custodial sentences for the prisoners after a jury found them guilty of causing a public nuisance

Judge Stephen Mooney indicated he would not be handing down custodial sentences to the protesters.

But he added he intended to hit the offenders with the costs of the court case which could run into tens of thousands.

He told the offenders 'You got part of what you wanted which was to be arrested, being brought to court and facing a trial by your peers.

'You did so in the full knowledge you had no defence but using the Crown Court as a forum for protest comes at a cost and it will be a substantial cost to all of you.'

Hove Crown Court heard the protesters chose the M25 in order to cause maximum disruption in order to get the most media attention.

The protest on September 13 2021 was planned to coincide with the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

As traffic slowed at a red lights at Junction 3 a group of a dozen protesters walked out into the carriageway.

Kent Police was hugely stretched on the day with just five police officers available to deal with the incident.

Due to the immediate impact on traffic police officers were hugely delayed in responding to the incident.

As a result the four protesters were not arrested and removed from the road for almost three hours.

They were originally arrested by police on suspicion of obstructing a highway but were later rearrested and charged with the more serious charge of causing a public nuisance.

The court was told Insulate Britain sent police a warning email to inform them they were planning to block the M25.

Although Kent Police had jurisdiction for that stretch of the M25 the email was sent to the Met Police the day before activists carried out their protest on September 13.

The email, sent to the Public Order Unit and senior officers, did not warn police of the exact location of the planned protest at Swanley interchange.

Alex Young, prosecuting, said: 'Environmental activists were calling on the Government to improve home insulation and engaged in protests to try and persuade the Government to take action.'

He said the protests did not occur 'at the gates of Downing Street or Parliament Square' but took place on the highways and roads used by ordinary motorists.

'It was the very first Insulate Britain protest and this was a new tactic. As a result the police were ill-prepared to deal with it.'

He said that due to the volume of traffic police struggled to get the the scene and when they did they needed to wait for sufficient numbers before they could begin to deal with the protesters.

Alexander Rodger, 33, arrives at court on Thursday and is one of the activists charged with causing a public nuisance

Venetia Carter arrives at Hove Crown Court. She said: 'I took part that day in the hope that I would be able to make a positive difference'

He said: 'There were concerns motorists might take matters into their own hands and remove the protesters themselves.'

Mr Young said some motorists were driving along the grass verges in an attempt to get round the blockage causing danger to the protesters and other drivers.

He said police had to ensure that did not happen but also had to ensure the rights of the protesters - to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly - were not infringed.

He said the Swanley interchange was a busy meeting point of several major roads including the M25.

'That is why it was chosen by these protesters,' he added. 'We suggest that by doing this act they were committing a criminal offence.'

In his final speech, Alex Young, prosecuting, said: 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

'For these protestors their good intentions and their view of the world and what needed to be done trumped all other considerations.'

'The protesters did not have a mandate. No-one had voted for it. They did not give people at the roadside a choice.

'They could have handed out leaflets and asked people if they wanted to join protest but they didn't. They decided that they knew best and no democratic society can tolerate that.'

'The police did not whip out their truncheons, their pepper spray or their riots shield and clear the protesters in short order. The police even offered an alternative site where they could continue their protest.'

Cameron Ford, 32, admitted that it was 'really, really s***' that the group's actions affected a woman from being able to see her loved one in hospital

Activists from the Insulate Britain protest group block a major roundabout near the Dartford crossing and M25 on September 15, 2021

In her speech Cathy Eastburn, the wife of former TfL director Benedict Plowden, said: 'What we did was actually a public service, a public good. It was powerful alarm - annoying, yes, but unignorable. To wake people up.'

She said: 'For decades now the more traditional methods for change such as writing to your MP, going on marches and signing petitions has failed. Drastic action is needed now.'

Eastburn, of London. said their actions prompted a lot of 'vitriol and hatred' but had also created headlines and space in which to explore environmental issues.

Motorists screamed insults at the group branding them 'p****s' and 'f*****g idiots' as they were trapped at the interchange.

'Action is finally being taken by the Government to insulate homes, not enough, but a start. Our actions were proportionate, reasonable, appropriate and necessary for saving lives now and saving many more. It was the right thing to do in the circumstances.'

She said: 'I'm truly sorry for the disruption we caused these people but it does not constitute a public nuisance.'

Eastburn, who has previous protest-related convictions, said the court had seen no information or data which spelt out the level of disruption and in dozens of previous cases involving Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests, activists had only ever been charged with the lesser offence of wilful obstruction of he highway.

In his speech Raj Chada, defending Rodger, said: 'The senior officer at the scene, Inspector Thornton, made a decision to make arrests at about 10.40am for obstructing the highway having assessed the level of disruption and consulting a public order advisor

'When Mr Rodger went to Swanley how could he have possibly known that it would take over three hours to remove 12 people. The delays was were caused in part because the police took so long to arrest them.'

The four will be sentenced on June 9.
The family of a millionaire banker told of their fury today after a violent thug electrician who punched him to the floor and killed him was jailed for just three years.

Paul Mason, 52, CEO for Qatar National Bank, was punched three times by Steven Allan, 35, and fell to the ground and hit his head on the pavement during the sickening attack. Allan fled on a rickshaw as the financier lay dying on the floor.

As Allan was jailed for just 36 months, Mr Mason's devastated sister Rachel said she felt 'stunned and appalled' by such an 'unduly lenient sentence'.

Rachel said Allan should 'feel the shame and guilt of his actions until his last breath'.

She also revealed how her other brother, Simon, had killed himself three months after Paul's death because he was unable to deal with the trauma.

Steven Allan (pictured), 35, was jailed today for killing Qatar National Bank CEO Paul Mason, 52, in a random attack outside the Ivy in London's West End in December 2022

As Mr Mason (pictured) tried to get up Allan hit him with an uppercut and witnesses heard the sickening crunch as his skull made contact with the pavement - which left him in a coma for four months and eventually killed him

Speaking outside the Old Bailey this afternoon she told MailOnline: 'We are truly stunned and appalled by this unduly lenient sentence. We fully intend to appeal this.

'With this outcome we have lost all faith in the justice system and are deeply concerned by the message this sends to society.

'This was not a single punch case, on the contrary the punches continued after Paul was punched to the floor. Have we as society become de-sensitised to violence?

'I hope his killer feels the shame and guilt of his actions every single day until he takes his last breath.'

Mr Mason had been with two friends at The Ivy Club, an exclusive private members' club in Soho, on the evening of December 15, 2020.

As he emerged from the club, he helped a female friend into a black taxi before walking towards the junction where he was attacked.

Allan had been drinking in a number of bars when he bumped into Mr Mason and accused him of stealing a friend's mobile phone.

He marched across the road and was captured on CCTV attempting to grab something from Mr Mason, who shrugged him off and stepped back.

Allan followed him and punched with his right fist, knocking Mr Mason towards a building and onto the floor.

As he tried to get back on his feet Allan punched him a second time and then delivered an upper cut that caused him to fly back and land on his back with his head hitting the pavement.

Three off-duty nurses who had witnessed the attack tried to help Mr Mason, who had been knocked unconscious, and he was rushed to hospital where doctors carried out a procedure to replace part of his skull with a sheet of titanium.

The court heard Allan has been diagnosed with a mixed anxiety and depressive disorder and had had panic attacks since 2017

The judge commended the behaviour of the three nurses who helped Mr Mason while they were on a night out in Cambridge Circus

Despite their best efforts he fell into a coma and died six months later on June 4, 2021.

Allan, from Hook in Hampshire, fled the scene, but later handed himself in to police.

He admitted manslaughter but a jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for 24 hours to find him not guilty of murder in February following a retrial.

In her victim impact speech, Ms Mason revealed her oldest brother Simon, a recovering alcoholic, drank himself to death in September 2021.

He died just six days after his 56th birthday having binged on vodka to numb the pain of losing his brother.

Ms Mason told the court: 'Myself and my other brother, Simon, looked to Paul for guidance and inspiration and could always rely on Paul's pragmatic approach to life and challenges.

'He played a vital role in our small family and was the glue that held us.

'My other brother, a vulnerable adult could not cope with the violent killing of his little brother Paul and he was consumed with trauma and grief and died from an overdose three months after Paul died.

'Steven Allan has left me now with no siblings; the deep connection to my childhood has gone. I have no doubt Steven Allan's actions contributed to the death of my only other sibling. He leaves a 13 year old without a father or uncle to love and support him in life.'

Ms Mason also told the court of her anger that Allan had been allowed out on bail 'to enjoy his life' whereas she now suffers from PTSD and has constant nightmares.

She said: 'Steven Allan violently attacked and killed my brother and has left me heart broken and devastated, a feeling of melancholy will consume me for the rest of my life as I have to live without Paul. He has broken my family forever more.

'The grief and loss I feel is visceral and I am often overwhelmed with the intensity of the feelings of sadness, shock, disbelief, and hatred towards him. How dare he take Paul's life!

'Every day I feel shock and disbelief when I think about what he has done to Paul, almost every night I have nightmares because of him. I just cannot comprehend someone doing this to another human being especially someone I loved so much. Watching CCTV in court of the violent attack on Paul and how he tried to escape you will haunt me forever.

Allan admitted manslaughter but denied murder and was cleared of the more serious charge by an Old Bailey jury following a retrial in January

Mr Mason's sister Rachel Mason said: 'His previously fit and healthy body wasted away in front of us over three days. All we could do was watch him die'

'He has shown no genuine remorse at all and has shockingly been out on bail, to enjoy his life. Yes, he had a curfew but lockdown meant we all had restrictions so no hardship.

'He had the luxury of time with his family whilst we, due to COVID restrictions could only see Paul on Facetime whilst he was critically ill in ICU, lying in a coma on life support for weeks and in hospital for over four months trying to recover.'

Describing her brother as a 'remarkable kind, decent and gentle soul' who 'always brought joy and laughter, Ms Mason added:

'We had a special bond that deepened as we aged. He had a wonderful 'Carpe Diem' attitude for life and lived fully every day of his too short life.

'He always made time in his busy life for those who needed him, always thoughtful and selfless.

'Watching my brother die in hospital six months later when his life support was removed was horrific and something no-one should go through especially when a senseless attack caused it, he was not ill or in an accident, he killed him.

'My outlook on life and people has altered. I was joyful and embraced life with gusto and you have made me sad, anxious, and scared of people and nervous to walk the streets in case I am attacked by a stranger. I jump at the slightest sound when alone.

'I am now alone to support my elderly parents and grandmother through old age and it is incredibly painful to see them so heartbroken and traumatised at this late stage of their life when they should be enjoying their grown up children and grandchildren.'

Mr Mason's elderly parents also gave statements to the court

His father Ian Mason said: 'My life and the lives of my family have been changed forever as a direct result of that brutal attack on Paul.

William Boyce, KC, defending, said the first punch was actually a push, and Allan had only punched Mr Mason once if at all

'Paul was very much a family man at heart and although he did not yet have children of his own he kept in constant touch with his nieces and godchildren.

'My son Simon was devastated his brother had been murdered and it led him to start drinking again which led to him passing away. He had been in a recovery centre and had come out and was living happily and seeing his son regularly.

'I know nothing will bring my sons back to us but I hope a violent thug will be taken off the streets so he can't ruin another family's life as he has ruined ours.'

Mother Linda Mason added: 'I have now lost two sons. I just hope he cannot harm anymore innocent people.'

Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, of the Metropolitan Police, said: 'Paul Mason's death tragically illustrates the consequences of resorting to physical violence. Even where there is no murderous intent, there is no guarantee that a violent attack won't result in death.

'Mr Mason's family are devastated by this incident. Paul was an innocent victim of an unprovoked attack which resulted in a serious brain injury.

'They have had the unenviable experience of a trial and a retrial but have acted with dignity throughout. Our thoughts are very much with them today.'
NASA has announced the winners of its fifth annual Photographer of the Year awards.

The extraordinary images all offer Earth-based scenes of the space agency's activities captured by staff photographers in 2022.

Twelve pictures were selected across the categories: Documentation, Portrait, People and Places.

Highlights range from a photograph of NASA astronaut Bob 'Farmer' Hines in an Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit to a richly detailed image of the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory.

The first place winners were: Documentation - Eric Bordelon; Portrait - Josh Valcarcel; People - Jordan Salkin; and Places - Jef Janis.

The second place winners were: Documentation - Bill Ingalls; Portrait - Desiree Stover; People - Bill Stafford; and Places - Josh Valcarcel.

The third place winners were: Documentation - Bridget Caswell; Portrait - Josh Valcarcel; People - Josh Valcarcel; and Places - Josh Valcarcel.

In the documentation category, photographer Eric Bordelon came first with his photo of the Artemis I Prelaunch. Bordelon's telephoto image was captured using a Nikon Z7 and 150-600mm telephoto lens at 210mm. The image shows NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard a mobile launcher at Launch 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The prelaunch image was shot on August 30, 2022

Photographer Bill Ingalls came in second with his photo of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft preparing to land off the coast of Florida, with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard

Bridget Caswell's image of an engineer mapping out the position of rocks during VIPER testing at NASA's Glenn Research Center won third place in the Documentation category. A test version of the VIPER rover is helping NASA prepare for its mission later this year to find water at the Moon's South pole. The test rover navigates a simulated lunar surface inside NASA's SLOPE lab, giving critical feedback to engineers

Photographer Josh Valcarcel won the portrait category with his photograph of NASA astronaut Bob 'Farmer' Hines in an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit at the NASA Johnson Space Center photo studio

Photographer Desiree Stover came in second with her her portrait of NASA quality engineer John Tota. Tota is posing inside NASA's Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) chamber, where he works to ensure the quality of the flight hardware builds on the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI). OCI is an advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It lead to more precise wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors

Valcarcel also earned bronze in the portrait category for his hair flip photograph of NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara

NASA's Photographer of the Year 'people' category showcases photographs of people that aren't strictly portraits. Jordan Salkin's picture of the Moog Hover Test shows a lone person strolling through the fog at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field

Bill Stafford earned a second place slot for this photo of a NASA JETT3 engineering night run in Arizona. It was NASA's third simulated moonwalk ahead of future Artemis missions. During Artemis III, astronauts will travel to the lunar South Pole region, an area that has yet to be visited by humans

Valcarcel came in third with a photograph of a Navy pilot and NASA astronaut candidate Jack 'Radio' Hathaway inside a NASA T-38 jet. This image was shot during a mission to photograph the Artemis I on the launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

The 'places' category celebrates image that capture the environments in which NASA's diverse team of astronauts, researchers and engineers work. Photographer Jef Janis came in first with a richly detailed image of the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory (AAPL). Located at Glenn Research Center, AAPL is a world-class facility for conducting aero-propulsion noise reduction research

The second place position in the category went to Josh Valcarcel's aerial photo of a squadron of T-38 jets flying overheard the Artemis I rocket on Launch Pad 39B. The image was shot during the same mission as Valcarcel's second-place winning image in the 'people' category, on August 23, 2022
An IRS whistleblower is reportedly ready to go public with their claims

Joe Biden has been accused of 'obstructing justice' by trying to thwart a federal investigation into the business dealings of his son, Hunter.

Top Republicans alleged that his administration is interfering in the probe, open since 2018, by blocking a move to charge the 53-year-old for tax evasion.

It follows claims from a whistleblower at the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. tax agency, that 'clear conflicts of interest' led to 'preferential treatment' by officials.

Mike Turner, a Republican Congressman from Ohio, warned the Biden family that his party wants an investigation of their own.

A whistleblower at the IRS claims that the Biden administration interfered in an investigation about tax evasion regarding Hunter BIden, the president's son.

'This would be obstruction of justice and certainly pursued right here in Congress,' Turner told Fox News earlier on Thursday.

'In the end, we will find questionable transactions and certainly questionable activities,' the 63-year-old, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, added.

James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, said Hunter Biden has been involved in 'deceptive, shady business schemes.'

He said the ventures, which he failed to name in detail, have seen the president's relatives rake in 'millions from foreign adversaries like China.'

Comer heads up what is known as the oversight committee in the House of Representatives. It is the elected body's main investigatory panel.

He claimed earlier this week that as many as nine Biden family members have benefitted from their connections to the commander-in-chief.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who ran a four-year investigation into the Biden family, accused them of 'influence-peddling grifts.'

'They must have felt confident our two-tiered system of justice would handle them with kids gloves and preferential treatment,' he told DailyMail.com

'Hopefully, the IRS whistleblowers testimony will finally prompt equal justice to be applied to the Bidens.

James Comer (R-Kentucky) heads the House of Representative's main investigatory panel and has vowed to delve into Hunter Biden's business dealings

Joe Biden's relatives are accused of using their influence and access to the president to land business and donations from abroad

The New York Post reported Wednesday that IRS investigators are looking at a $2 million loan allegedly taken out by Hunter Biden.

He claimed to have used the funds to pay off a tax bill on income earned overseas.

The newspaper also said the anonymous whistleblower has said that he is willing to testify before the House of Representatives and go public with his claims.

Hunter Biden's business dealings have long irked members of the GOP, who accuse the president's son of exploiting his family ties to land lucrative contracts abroad.

He has previously had business interests in China and Ukraine, although the long-time lobbyist denies any wrongdoing.

Leaked files from Hunter Biden's laptop contained a series of lewd phots as well as emails about his business deals

The 53-year-old denies exploiting his family connections in order to win contracts abroad

The ex-Navy reservist, booted out of the military in 2014 for testing positive for cocaine, was in the spotlight again last week.

He appeared on the president's recent trip to Ireland, despite White House officials insisting he would not attend any official events.

Since Joe Biden took office, the administration has insisted the president never speaks to his son about his business dealings and has no involvement in them.

Sources close to the president also said he has never discussed investigations into members of his family with the U.S. Justice Department.
A suspected American rapist who allegedly faked his own death and fled to Scotland after he was wanted in the US over sex offences failed to appear at his latest extradition hearing today after an 'altercation', a court was told.

Nicholas Rossi was expected to appear in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court as part of his long-running extradition battle, which was launched after authorities in Utah accused him of sex offences.

But Rossi, who continues to claim he is in fact Irish orphan Arthur Knight, and not a US citizen, did not appear in court.

His solicitor Stuart Murray told Sheriff Norman McFadyen there 'appeared to be some difficulty downstairs', and Advocate Depute Paul Harvey said there had been an 'altercation'.

Mr Murray said his client, 35, denied refusing to come to court. Sheriff McFadyen said it was his understanding staff were not prepared to take him to the court following the incident.

Nicholas Rossi leaving the Sheriff Court in Edinburgh today

During the hearing, which was split into two parts to allow Mr Murray to speak to Rossi, the court heard the defence is still waiting for reports. They include one into human rights in US prisons, a psychiatrist's report, and one by a general practitioner into Rossi's physical health.

The court was told there was also a report about facilities in Utah, where he would be sent if the extradition request was successful, but that Rossi's attorney across the Atlantic was reluctant to recommend an expert because of funding issues.

Rossi is accused of faking his death in the US to avoid a sexual assault charge

Mr Harvey told the court the date for the full extradition hearing on June 26 'simply cannot change', that the Crown needed appropriate time to consider these reports, and that they had been instructed earlier this year.

He said: 'I say all that against a background of delay, obstructionism, and denial about this requested person.

'These proceedings, the obstructionism and denial, have gone on simply too long.'

And Mr Harvey said the requested person had been 'canvassing opinions and throwing up smokescreens'.

Rossi had claimed he was Arthur Knight, an Irish orphan who had never been to the United States.

But last November, after months of court hearings, Sheriff McFadyen ruled he was the man American authorities were seeking in connection with rape and sexual assault charges.

It has been alleged Rossi faked his own death in 2020 and fled to the UK to evade prosecution before he was arrested in December 2021.

Rossi did not appear at the hearing himself due to an 'altercation', the court heard



Rossi was first arrested in October last year after checking himself into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow with Covid-19.

While in Scotland, under the alias Knight and posing as a tutor, Rossi developed Covid pneumonitis and became 'the sickest patient on the ward', according to medical staff who were caring for him at the time.

It was at this point Police Scotland officers were issued with an Interpol red notice, with pictures of the wanted man, including images of his tattoos and fingerprints.

On Thursday, Sheriff McFadyen told the court he would allow two further weeks for expert reports to be acquired, and set a deadline for these to be provided for May 4.

He said another preliminary hearing would be scheduled for May 22, and Rossi was remanded in custody.

During discussions about a potential bail application, Mr Murray told the court it would be under a different address, because financial issues meant the family home Rossi and his wife shared was unable to be maintained.
The scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry has reported a new criminal allegation to police in the latest blow to Britain's top business lobby group as it is rocked by a wider crisis.

The CBI is 'liaising closely' with the authorities and has urged anyone with further details to come forward.

It comes weeks after the lobbying group launched its own probe into allegations of misconduct by senior figures. It is understood the latest allegation relates to a new incident. MailOnline has contacted City of London police, which is already investigating, for further information.

The CBI is in the throes of a major crisis after more than a dozen women approached the Guardian newspaper saying they had been victims of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the lobbying group.

One woman alleged to the newspaper that she had been raped during a staff party in 2019 and was later told by a manager to get counselling rather than pursue the issue further. The woman said she had not reported the event to the police and the CBI told the newspaper it had no record of the incident.

Tony Danker was sacked last week as the CBI's director-general after an investigation into 'workplace misconduct', but this week hit back saying he had been made a 'fall guy'.

Tony Danker was sacked as the Confederation of British Industry's director-general after a probe into 'workplace misconduct', but later hit back saying he had been made a 'fall guy'

A CBI spokesman said today: 'Late yesterday afternoon the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence.

'We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters.

'Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police.'

The nature of the new 'serious criminal offence' is not yet known.

City of London Police confirmed to MailOnline today that the CBI had passed on the details to detectives.

Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that more than a dozen women had approached the publication saying they had been victims of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the lobbying group.

One woman alleged to the newspaper that she had been raped during a staff party in 2019 and was later told by a manager to get counselling rather than pursue the issue further.

The woman said she had not reported the event to the police and the CBI told the newspaper it had no record of the incident.

Separately, former CBI director-general Tony Danker was sacked last week after being accused of making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the organisation.

Yesterday, he said his reputation has been 'totally destroyed' by the allegation and claimed he has been made a 'fall guy' for a wider crisis.

In his first interview since his sacking on April 11, Mr Danker told the BBC his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims, including rape, which allegedly happened before he joined the CBI.

Former CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith has replaced Mr Danker as director-general

After initial allegations, the business group also suspended three other employees and hired a law firm to carry out an internal investigation.

CBI president Brian McBride said the board had 'lost trust and confidence in his ability to lead the organisation' and that he was dismissed on strong legal grounds.

Mr McBride told the BBC's Today programme that Mr Danker's account of events was 'selective' and claims the grounds are laid out more fully in a report compiled by independent law firm Fox Williams, which he confirmed have not been shown to Mr Danker.

He added that Mr Danker was free to go to an employment tribunal if he feels that he was unfairly dismissed.

And today, the CBI spokesman said: 'We are anticipating findings from Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently.

'The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.'

Mr Danker told the BBC his termination letter had cited four reasons for his dismissal: organising a secret and private karaoke party for 15 people, viewing the Instagram accounts of CBI staff, sending non-work related messages to staff and inviting junior staff to breakfasts, lunches or one-on-one meetings.

While Mr Danker acknowledged he had made some staff feel 'very uncomfortable' and he apologised for that, the former CBI boss insisted he had 'never used sexually suggestive language with people' at the company.

'You know, there was an incident somebody raised a complaint about unwanted contact, which was verbal contact,' he added.

'There was never any physical contact. I've never had any physical contact. I've never used any sexual language. I've never propositioned anybody.'

Mr Danker said his reputation had been 'totally trashed' because separate claims against the body - which included drug use, as well as serious sexual assault - emerged a matter of weeks after the CBI disclosed that it was looking into separate allegations of misconduct against him.

He admitted to messaging around 200 individual staff members at the company but insisted it was to try and build 'rapport' during lockdown and with colleagues who continued to work from home.

The ex-CBI boss responded to his dismissal last week by saying the allegations against him had been 'distorted'.

The trade body has been rocked by allegations of a toxic workplace culture since Mr Danker was last month accused of allegedly making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the CBI.

She considered the contact to be sexual harassment, The Guardian reported at the time.

The group launched an investigation into his behaviour and he agreed to step down in the meantime.

But he was sacked abruptly last week as the CBI said his conduct 'fell short' of what was expected of him, and said there had been 'serious failings' in how it acted as an organisation.

He has since been replaced by former CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith.

Tony Danker with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the CBI annual dinner in London in May 2022

The Guardian said it was approached by more than a dozen women who claimed to be victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior members of the CBI who were not Mr Danker. One woman said she was raped at a staff party.

Mr McBride said the board had first heard about the allegations, dating back to 2019, in the newspaper.

'For some reason people decided to go to the newspaper and not to us directly, which in itself points to something wrong with our culture,' Mr McBride said.

He promised a 'root and branch examination' of the group as it looks to mend its battered reputation.

A number of big firm members have halted their engagement with the group since the scandals emerged and the Government has stopped working with the CBI while police investigations continue.

Mr McBride said he did not believe the Government 'should wait for 18 months for the result of a potential rape case' to engage with the CBI.

'We have not been lobbying with Government for the past 10 days, we have been for the past 60 years,' he said. 'We expect to get back to that quite quickly.'
Two women put on clown masks, broke into a mother's home in south west Wales, and attacked her with a stanley knife, before dousing her with bleach, a court has heard.

Kathryn Llewellyn, 43, and her friend Teresa Morgan-Peters, 45, allegedly wore 'trick or treat' clown masks on Halloween as cover, before launching the horror bleach assault in response to a Facebook row.

The Halloween nightmare began after the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was woken up by a series of three silent phone calls at 1am, which ended with the callers cackling down the phone, prosecutor Robin Rouch told the court.

'They started laughing like clowns cackling,' Mr Rouch said.

Llewellyn and Morgan-Peters then barged into their victim's home in the town of Ystradgynlais, near Swansea, before attacking her with a stanley knife and dousing her with bleach, the court heard.

Kathryn Llewellyn (pictured) wore a clown mask to attack her victim following a Facebook row, the court heard

The victim said: 'I thought it must be one of my mates clowning around with Halloween. I saw two figures coming down the hallway in clown masks.

'One started coming at me with a Stanley knife. Then the other one came at me and I had bleach thrown at me.

'They didn't say nothing. One had me down to bleach me.'

The victim told that court she pulled one of the attackers' masks off but was unable to make out who it was in the darkness - only that it was a white woman.

Following the attack, the victim then fled to the home of a friend.

'My adrenaline was going. I didn't know it was bleach at the time. I couldn't smell it, I couldn't taste it, I couldn't feel it,' she said.

'I only knew about it when I went to my neighbour's and my black pyjama top was orange,' she added.

'She was going to kill me. They wanted me dead. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was planned; it was vicious; it was co-ordinated.'

The attackers launched their assault with a series of silent calls at 1am through which they could be heard cackling down the phone like clowns

The victim suffered knife injuries to her face, neck, arm, back, and thigh at her home in Ystradgynlais, near Swansea.

The attack came just days after row on social media between Llewellyn and the victim, which saw Llewellyn post explicit 'nonsense' about the alleged victim on Facebook.

Llewellyn's partner was later asked to stop by a member of her family, before he replied: 'Watch your f****** back. Don't f*** with me'.

David Leathley, defending Llewellyn, told the court Llewellyn had 'distinctive' tattoos and piercings which weren't identified by the victim.

Nicola Powell, representing Morgan-Peters, asked the complainant if she had ever had any issues with her client.

She said: 'Never. This is what shocked me. She was lovely. It's a shame as I really thought a lot of her.'

Llewellyn, of Godrergraig, and Morgan-Peters, of Ystradgynlais, both denied charges of burglary with intent to inflict GBH on the complainant, and wounding with intent.

Morgan-Peters has pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, which Llewellyn denies.

The trial at Swansea Crown Court continues.
Teasdale has been fined nearly 11,000 for not moving the vehicle on his farm

A farmer who converted an old fire engine into a holiday home continues to advertise breaks in spite of a court ruling which says he is breaking the law.

Graham Harrison Teasdale, 52, has kept the 'Red Rescue Retreat' on his land in the Lake District for more than a year, rented out to holidaymakers.

Despite being served with an enforcement notice in 2020, he says he has told Magistrates he did not believe it needed planning permission as it is on wheels.

Representing himself in court, he stressed: 'I built it myself, so I'm not getting rid of it. We've got to come to some solution, haven't we?... It's not harming anybody.'

Lake District National Park Authority officials this week moved forward with a prosecution after confirming the owner had ignored the prior enforcement notice.

The red fire truck boasts magnificent views over the Blencathra Fells, near Keswick, Cumbria

The converted fire truck sleep four across two bedrooms and fetches up to 1,000 a week

Teasdale built the getaway, which is parked on his farm in Threlkeld, Cumbria.

It is made up of a vintage fire truck with a large barn-shaped structure in the middle.

The truck is parked next to a short patio, complete with chairs and a potted plant.

The popular retreat is reported to have bookings taken up until next March.

Weekly rates start at 399 and are advertised for 1,000 for a week in August.

Teasdale alleges that the first planning officer to see the truck had 'approved it'.

He said he has 'had over 16 applications in to Threlkeld Parish Council and they have never supported it once.'

The farmer was reported to have applied to the Lake District National Park Authority for retrospective permission but the plans were rejected in February 2020.

This came despite planning officers recommending approval of the application.

An appeal was later dismissed.

A planning inspector later reported that the truck 'significantly harms the character and appearance of the surrounding area'.

The farmer claimed it was a 'vital source of income to the farm'.

Regardless, officials served an enforcement notice in July 2020, calling for the permanent removal of the truck.

Carlisle's Rickergate court later heard that the truck was still placed illegally on Teasdale's Doddick Farm between July and December 2020, despite the notice.

Magistrates ultimately imposed a fine of 8,978 along with a 2,000 victim surcharge.

Teasdale asked if he could pay the debt off over the course of five years.

They are reported to have ruled that he must pay at a rate of 1,000 a month.

The stay near Keswick is still being advertised online.

An advert on a holiday booking site says the vehicle sleeps four, with two bedrooms.

It claims to have 'quirky fire engine beds for the kids as well as the fireman's pole.'

The ad says it is 'located in a peaceful, tranquil position on a working beef and sheep farm' and boasts routes onto the magnificent Blencathra fells.

Graham Harrison Teasdale as he left court. The farmer has been fined nearly 11,000

The fire truck still has much of the original equipment in it, attracting families on holiday

Mr Teasdale insisted: 'It if had been someone else's fire engine, it would have been passed.

'I can assure you that from where I live, I can see 150 mobile homes or caravans from my farm on other farms. I can't see why I should be punished for having one.'

He added that because the fire engine was on wheels, he believed it did not need planning permission.

The court clerk pointed out that planning rules applied to the defendant as they did to everybody else.
She said to stop 'thinking about what youre going to do if you dont get a bonus'

Furniture giant MillerKnoll reportedly threatened to fire workers for speaking out about a viral video where CEO Andi Owen scolded staff for asking about bonuses.

Owen was caught on camera telling employees via Zoom to 'leave pity city' and stop 'thinking about what youre going to do if you dont get a bonus' - despite receiving over $1 million on top of her inflated salary last year.

Workers at the furniture company have since claimed they were threatened with termination for speaking to the media about the controversial comments widely circulated online.

An anonymous employee told The Holland Sentinel they were told 'it wouldn't be good for them and they could be terminated' if they discussed the video publicly. A spokesperson for the company has disputed the claim.

Owen, who has since apologized for her 'insensitive' remarks, took the helm of the Michigan-based company in 2018, and pocketed just shy of $5 million in 2022 - including a $1.2 million bonus.

MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen has been caught on camera berating workers asking about bonuses

A MillerKnoll staffer told The Holland Sentinel: 'We have a meeting at the beginning of every shift. Last night the comments were brought up in the meeting and they said if anybody spoke out it wouldn't be good for them and they could be terminated.'

The worker said the 'corporate structure' at the company was 'parasitic'.

They continued: 'The rich always get richer and the poor always get more poor. They have a $1.1 million salary and getting a 355 percent bonus. Yet she's denying us the sliver we get... maybe 5 percent max on a $45,000 salary.

'I get that CEOs get astronomical bonuses but when/where does it stop?'

According to the employee, workers 'grilled' a management official over the viral comments, who replied that he 'doesnt understand that part of the business, so he cant speak to it'.

'It definitely feels like they are playing with us and enjoying every minute,' the staffer said.

A spokesperson for the company has disputed the claims, telling the outlet: 'The first thing I would say is nobody has been directed to do that. It's not a company policy, it's not something that we're doing. So, that's wrong and false.'

Owen's comments came at the end of a virtual town hall meeting for the office furniture giant, which appeared to be encouraging staff to hit sales targets - after MillerKnoll admitted it had faced a 'period of disruption' following a rise in hybrid working.

'Questions came through about, "How can we stay motivated if were not going to get a bonus...What can we do? What can we do?"', she said. 'Some of them were nice, and some of them were not so nice.'

'Im going to address this head on. The most important thing we can do right now is focus on the things that we can control. None of us couldve predicted Covid, none of us couldve predicted supply chain, none of us couldve predicted bank failures.

'But what we can do, is stay in front of our customers, provide the best customer service we can, get our orders out our door, treat each other well, be kind, be respectful, focus on the future, because it will be bright.

'Dont ask about, "What are we going to do if we dont get a bonus?" Get the damn $26 million dollars.

'Spend your time and your effort thinking about the $26 million dollars we need and not thinking about what youre going to do if you dont get a bonus. Alright? Can I get some commitment for that? I would appreciate that.'

It is understood that the $26 million figure is an internal metric which the company is not discussing publicly.

She continued: 'I had an old boss who said to me one time, "You can visit pity city, but you cant live there". So people, leave pity city. Lets get it done,' she said, before wishing her employees a great day.

Michigan-based furniture giant MillerKnoll reportedly threatened to fire workers for speaking out about a viral video

In 2021, Herman Miller acquired competitor Knoll for $1.8 billion, to form the newly-created MillerKnoll

Owen took home just shy of $5 million in 2022 - including a $1.2 million bonus

Her controversial comments came at the end of a virtual town hall meeting for the office furniture giant

Owen told staffers to stop 'thinking about what youre going to do if you dont get a bonus'

In 2022, Owen received a base salary of $1.1 million, a $1.2 million bonus and a further $2.7 million in stock awards and other compensation for the fiscal year ended May 2022, according to the company's most recent proxy statement.

Owen has since apologized following widespread backlash for her comments.

According to MLive, she reportedly sent an email to employees saying: 'I want to be transparent and empathetic, and as I continue to reflect on this instance, I feel terrible that my rallying cry seemed insensitive.

'What Id hoped would energize the team to meet a challenge weve met many times before landed in a way that I did not intend and for that I am sorry.'

She continued: 'Nothing will lessen the power and strength of our collective team. My appreciation for each of you is huge and I will continue to do everything I can to help us meet our shared goals.

'Thank you for your hard work, your grace, and for the commitment you show to one another and our company every single day.'

A MillerKnoll spokesperson also allegedly said the clip had been taken out of context, and 'doesn't represent the full 75 minutes' of the Zoom meeting.

They added that employee bonuses have not yet been determined, and won't be until the books are closed next month.

DailyMail.com has approached MillerKnoll for comment.
An 84-year-old man from Kansas City - who shot a 16-year-old black boy who accidentally knocked on his door - was a QAnon conspiracy theorist with racist views, his grandson claimed.

Andrew Lester shot Ralph Yarl on April 13 after the teenager knocked on his front door to collect his twin younger brothers, but had the wrong address.

Lester's grandson, Klint Ludwig, told CNN's Don Lemon his grandfather was a 'stock American Christian male' warped by racist conspiracy theories and that his attitudes were a symptom of age and paranoia.

'It's the conspiracies and weird, random, racist things they say, and it doesn't make sense, but they're just scared,' he added.

Lester pleaded not guilty during his first appearance at Clay County Courthouse in Kansas City on Wednesday.

Yarl's attorneys said the boy suffered a traumatic brain injury but is able to walk - it is hoped he will make a full recovery.

Lester's grandson, Klint Ludwig, told CNN's Don Lemon his grandfather was fueled by racist conspiracy theories and that his attitudes were a symptom of age and paranoia

Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot twice in the head by a white man after he approached the wrong house by mistake when going to collect his siblings

'I believe he holds racist tendencies and beliefs,' said Ludwig when asked by Lemon if his grandfather is racist.

'I feel like a lot of people of that generation are caught up in this 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia, perpetuated by some other news stations,' he added.

'And he was fully into that, sitting and watching Fox News all day, every day, blaring in his living room. And I think that stuff really kind of reinforces this negative view of minority groups.

'It doesn't necessarily lead people to be racist, but it reinforces and galvanizes racist people and their beliefs,' he said.

'In this country, it happens over and over again where people get away with killing unarmed innocent black people, and I would have had the same energy for any other case.'

When asked if he had a message for Yarl, Ludwig said: 'Proud of you, Ralph. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I understand you're an amazing kid and I think you're going to grow up to be an amazing man. You didn't do anything wrong.

'You deserve justice, and my family stands with you,' he added.

The 16-year-old looked relaxed and smiled with his lawyer Lee Merritt on Wednesday, ahead of Andrew Lester, 84, appearing in court for the first time

Pictured: The home of Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white homeowner accused of shooting Black teen Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Missouri

Andrew Lester, 84, told Kansas City Police Department that shooting Ralph Yarl, 16, was the 'last thing he wanted to do' but was terrified of the teenager because of his size and age

Andrew Lester, 84, pleaded not guilty at a first appearance at Clay County Courthouse on Wednesday

The incident happened after Yarl accidentally went to Northeast 115th Street instead of Northeast 115th Terrace - one block from one another - in the north of Kansas City.

Yarl approached the door but did not 'cross the threshold' into the house, according to prosecutors.

Lester was said to have opened the door and fired two .32-caliber rounds from a revolver that struck Yarl on the forehead and the arm. Prosecutors said there was no indication that any words were exchanged.

Lester told a police officer after the shooting that he saw a black man 'pulling on the exterior storm door handle,' and that he believed the person was attempting to break in.

Yarl has since been interviewed by a detective, and said that he only rang the doorbell and did not pull on the door.

The comments by Lester's grandson on his character come after his ex-wife told the New York Times that while she was married to him she was scared of his violence.

Mary Clayton, 81, was married to Lester for 14 years and the pair had three children together.

Lawyers for Ralph said outside of court that the Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. His family did not attend the hearing

Lester is facing life in jail after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in relation to the shooting which saw Ralph Yarl rushed to hospital

During the hearing, the judge added several conditions to Lester's bond, banning him from owning a weapon

They divorced many years ago and she moved to California. When Lester's face appeared on the news in reports about last week's incident, she said she did not initially recognize him.

She said his alleged crime did not shock her. 'I was always scared of him,' she told the newspaper. 'It doesn't surprise me, what happened.'

Clayton said that during their marriage he would frequently become violently angry and smash objects in their house.

When she reported him to the police, she said, the officers told her that it was his house and he could do as he pleased. She said she did not know about his alleged crime until her daughter rang her and told her.

Lester on Wednesday appeared in court and entered a not guilty plea during a three-minute appearance at Clay County Courthouse.

He is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action, and his next appearance is set for June 1.

The incident happened after Yarl accidentally went to Northeast 115th Street instead of Northeast 115th Terrace in the north of Kansas City. The two houses are one block from one another

Zachary Thompson, Clay County prosecutor, said: 'I can tell you that there was a racial component to the case I don't want to comment on specifics of the case to protect its integrity.'

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves also acknowledged the 'racial components' at play in the case.

Lester shot twice within seconds of opening the door, according to his statement, and claims that no words were exchanged

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said that Yarl was 'shot because he was existing while black'. He told CNN that he 'shared the outrage' of residents in Kansas City over the lack of action.

'To pretend that race is not a part of this whole situation would be to have your head in the sand,' he said.
A tech marketing boss in Utah slammed the ability of working mothers to successfully be caregivers and full time employees while also celebrating the decision of one such mother to sell the family dog so that she could return to work in person.

During a virtual town hall about employees returning to the office, Clearlink CEO James Clarke said that for the duration of the pandemic, working, single and care-providing mothers have unsuccessfully attempted to balance their roles as parents and employees.

'Many of you have tried to tend to your own children and in doing so also manage your own demanding work schedule and responsibilities.

'While I know youre doing your best, some would say they have even mastered their art, but one could also argue this path is neither fair to your employer nor fair to those children,' he continued.

'I dont necessarily believe that, but I do believe that only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be productive and full-time employees at the same time.'

The multi-millionaire CEO with connections to the Mormon church said he had insight into the struggles of working mothers struggling to manage a work-life balance.

In a speech delivered virtually to employees of his company, Clarke reprimanded employees, disparaged working mothers and commended a worker for selling her family dog so she could come back to the office

He continued: 'You may take issue with any part of this but I believe that the data will also support this in time.'

He went on to say that his statements are 'not a criticism of the noble naturehood of motherhood, nor the ability to do both well ... But there are only so many waking hours in each day.'

He went on to say that he was seeing sacrifices from employees who were shedding 'blood, sweat, and tears' for the firm.

'I learned from one of our leaders that in the midst of hearing this message, went out and sold their family dog which breaks my heart,' he said, adding that he had previously been at the 'head of the humanization of pets movement.'

He later said it was one of the 'special working mothers who removed a dog from their household,' in an effort to make returning full time to the office a possibility.

'Truly those are the sacrifices that are being made and I honor you for those sacrifices and what is taking place here,' he said.

Clarke, a Utah-based businessman, had recently made the decision to mandate in-person work for his more than 1,500 employees.

The move came as a surprise to many given that Clarke had, in late October, reiterated his position that he had 'no plans' to call employees back to the office.

Some employees had been hired with the understanding that it was a 'remote-first' business.

Circumstances have apparently changed in the last several months, though. As the company works to stay afloat in a downturned economy, it went through a recent round of layoffs.

To invigorate the workers, Clarke sent a firm-wide email in early April saying that those who live within 50 miles of the office will be expected to commute at least four days a week. The mandate applies to about 275 workers, according to Vice.

He said he was mandating the change in order to improve the company's performance in a 'challenging' business environment.

Clarke told employees that he had expected them to want to return to work in the company's newly opened headquarters in Utah, but employees' excitement had not matched his own and few showed up regularly

Clarke (right) returned to his role as CEO of Clearlink last year after selling the company ten years ago - he founded it in 2001

During his virtual address, Clarke did not refrain from placing some of the blame on the employees for their new reality.

He said that he figured some 30 employees had not opened their laptops for a month, and wondered aloud if some remote workers were working multiple jobs.

He then asked the company to increase productivity to '30 to 50 times our normal production,' which he figured they'd be able to do because of recent advances in artificial intelligence tools.

'I challenge any of you to outwork me, but you won't,' he said.

In another unsettling moment of the speech, Clarke appeared to become angry about past negative comments that had been made about him by employees.

'You have misinterpreted my kindness for weakness. You have continued to do so, and it will stop,' he commanded.

In 2022, Clarke returned as CEO to Clearlink after selling the firm ten years earlier and starting and investment firm. He founded the company initially in 2001 after dealing with an 'extremely difficult manager' in college, he has said.

Several months ago, Clearlink opened a new Global Headquarters in Draper, Utah that Clarke had expected employees to want to work from. He said he had 'perhaps' been 'naive' in hoping that those in driving distance 'would want to be in this world-class facility every single day.

'Alas, that's not been the case,' he said in the meeting.

Without answering specific questions, a spokesperson for the company told Vice that calling back employees to in-office work would help it 'achieve its collective goals.'
Nevertheless, Musk congratulated his team on the test flight's achievement

Elon Musk's latest crack at space exploration ended in a fireball Thursday but experts at NASA hailed the launch of the world's largest ever rocket as a success.

The $3billion Starship spacecraft that will eventually carry NASA astronauts to the Moon had been scheduled to separate from its rocket booster three minutes into the flight, but this failed and it blew up over the Gulf of Mexico.

Nevertheless, Musk, who had given the rocket a 50-50 chance, congratulated his team and said they had 'learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months'.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson was also glowing in his praise, stating that 'every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes reward.'

'Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight testand beyond,' Nelson added.

The $3billion Starship spacecraft that will eventually carry crew and cargo had been scheduled to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight, but separation failed to occur and the rocket blew up in a ball of fire over the Gulf of Mexico

Elon Musk (front center) inside the control room watching the SpaceX Starship lift off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas

Space enthusiasts on South Padre Island, Texas, watching the launch of SpaceX's Starship

NASA has picked the Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the Moon in late 2025 - a mission known as Artemis III - for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

SpaceX said that 'with a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.'

'We cleared the tower which was our only hope,' said Kate Tice, a SpaceX quality systems engineer.

A throng of SpaceX workers watching a livestream together at the company's headquarters near Los Angeles cheered wildly as the rocket cleared the launch tower and again when it blew up in the sky.

SpaceX principal integration engineer John Insprucker said the test flight would provide a wealth of important data paving the way for the company to move ahead with additional tests.

Beyond the launch itself, the test mission fell short of reaching several other objectives, such as deploying the Starship vessel into space and reentering Earth's atmosphere 60 miles off a Hawaiian coast at hypersonic speeds, where it would have faced key aerodynamic forces and blazing heat before plunging into the Pacific.

Still, getting the newly combined Starship and booster rocket off the ground for the first time represented a key milestone in SpaceX's ambition of sending astronauts back to the Moon and ultimately on to Mars, as a major partner in NASA's newly inaugurated human spaceflight program.

Musk has previously estimated the total development cost of the Starship project to be between $2 and $10 billion. He later revised this to 'closer to two or three [billion] than it is to 10.'

SpaceX's ambition and achievement are all the more impressive because it is a private company, while NASA is government-backed agency which has existed since the 1950s with a wealth of research and resources at its disposal.

Eric Berger, senior space editor at science website Ars Technica, said: 'For the layperson who sees NASA at work, which can't afford to fail, this looks like failure. But for those who know a little bit more, and about iterative design, this was a tremendous success. SpaceX has 2-3 more rockets ready to go.

'SpaceX does things differently. Its process is faster, but also messier. Fortunately they can afford to "fail." They can build 10 Super Heavy first stages in the time NASA builds a single SLS rocket. If the first five fail, but the next five succeed, which is a better outcome?'

Towering at 394ft and weighing 394 tons the Starship is larger than NASA's biggest ever space vehicle, Saturn V, which stood at 363ft and weighed 207 tons.

SpaceX engineers spent just eight months building the first Starship prototype, whereas it took seven years for NASA to complete Saturn V.

Starship consists of a 164ft spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo that sits atop a 230ft first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket.

SpaceX conducted a successful test-firing of the 33 massive Raptor engines on the first-stage booster in February but the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket were being flown together Thursday for the first time.

The integrated test flight was intended to assess their performance in combination.

Starship is both bigger and more powerful than SLS and capable of lifting a payload of more than 100 metric tons into orbit. It generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the Moon

Pictured is the flight path Starship was set to take before it exploded Thursday

SpaceX's Starship broken down into its Raptor engine, Super Heavy booster, and its Starship which is the component which travels through space

The massive 365-foot-tall rocket launched around 9:30am, following a pause on the countdown clock to finish final checks

This launch vehicle has 33 Raptor engines capable of generating 17 million pounds of lift-off thrust

The launch was initially scheduled for Monday but was postponed until Thursday because of a frozen pressure valve on the first-stage booster.

Musk had warned ahead of the test that technical issues were likely and sought to play down expectations for the inaugural flight.

'It's the first launch of a very complicated, gigantic rocket. There's a million ways this rocket could fail,' he said.

NASA will take astronauts to lunar orbit itself in November 2024 using its own heavy rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development for more than a decade.

Starship is both bigger and more powerful than SLS and capable of lifting a payload of more than 100 metric tons into orbit.

Elon Musk's mother celebrates on a balcony in Texas as they watched the launch. He is interviewed by space reporter Ellie in Space

Kimbal Musk, Elon's brother, was also there to support the epic SpaceX mission. He is interviewed by space reporter Ellie in Space

Thousands of people set up around SpaceX's Starbase in Texas to watch Starship take off

The uncrewed mission would have seen SpaceX's Starship complete almost one circuit of the globe, while the booster that blasts it into orbit splashes back down in the Gulf of Mexico about eight minutes after launch. Crowds have been waiting since before the sun came up

It generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

The plan for the integrated test flight was for the Super Heavy booster to separate from Starship after launch and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.

They failed to separate however and the booster rocket and Starship spacecraft began spinning out of control, exploding four minutes into the test flight in what SpaceX euphemistically called a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly.'

Had separation occurred, Starship, which has six engines of its own, was to continue to an altitude of nearly 150 miles, completing a near-circle of the Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after launch.

'If we get far enough away from the launchpad before something goes wrong then I think I would consider that to be a success,' Musk said prior to the test. 'Just don't blow up the launchpad.'

SpaceX foresees eventually putting a Starship into orbit, and then refueling it with another Starship so it can continue on a journey to Mars or beyond.

The eventual objective is to establish bases on the Moon and Mars and put humans on the 'path to being a multi-planet civilization,' according to Musk.

'That's our goal. I think we've got a chance.'
King Charles faced growing calls to pay inheritance tax on his late mother's estate today after new research found he inherited assets that boosted his wealth to almost 2billion.

Charles's private wealth is estimated to now total 1.815billion, according to research by The Guardian newspaper, including jewels, art, property and investments he inherited tax-free from the late Queen.

He is also exempt from income tax and capital gains tax, although he has followed his mother in choosing to pay some tax voluntarily.

Tax campaigners said it was 'staggering' that the King was exempt from inheritance tax on his riches, and said there was public support for an end to the special arrangement for the monarch.

Inheritance tax is usually charged at 40 per cent above a 325,000 threshold, but sovereigns are exempt from it when they pass their estates on to each other, under a convention that was confirmed during negotiations over royal finances with the John Major government in 1993.

King Charles III inherited wealth from his mother Queen Elizabeth II (pictured), but did not have to pay any inheritance tax due to a controversial agreement with government

King Charles's private wealth is estimated to now total 1.815billion and was the sole beneficiary of his mother's will (Charles pictured with Queen Consort Camilla)

The Queen also amassed tens of millions of pounds in her own cash and assets, including art and racehorses

Tax Justice UK's executive director Robert Palmer said: 'It's staggering to imagine that the King will pay no inheritance tax on the wealth he's inherited from his mother, Queen Elizabeth.

'Our own polling last year found that 63 per cent of the public think that King Charles should have paid inheritance tax on this wealth.'

Buckingham Palace refused to comment on private finances.

A spokesman described The Guardian's figures as 'a highly creative mix of speculation, assumption and inaccuracy'.

The Palace declined to offer alternative figures and has a policy of refusing to comment on the personal finances of the Royal Family, as it says they should 'remain private, as they do for any other individual'.

The King was the sole beneficiary of the Queen's wealth, including her private estate the Duchy of Lancaster, which is worth more than 650million.

Charles inherited Balmoral (pictured) from his mother, which The Guardian's team of experts valued at 80million

He also inherited the beautiful Sandringham Estate in England (pictured), which is valued at 250million

The royal stamp collection - considered to be the best in the world - was said to be worth at least 100million

She also amassed tens of millions of pounds in her own cash and assets, including art and racehorses.

Most palaces, castles and other royal residences are owned by the sovereign in right of the crown, and do not belong to Charles personally, including Buckingham Palace.

But he did inherit Balmoral and Sandringham from his mother, which The Guardian's team of experts valued at 80million and 250million respectively.

Jewellery the Queen owned privately was said to be worth 533million, while her racehorses were worth a further 27million.

The royal stamp collection - considered to be the best in the world - was said to be worth at least 100million.

The Guardian said it had identified almost 400 works of art as being owned privately by the family, including art by Monet, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and LS Lowry, and said the 60 'most significant' were valued at 24million.

It warned it had faced difficulties in establishing which assets were owned privately, as opposed to those held for the benefit of the nation, and said Buckingham Palace had refused its requests for information.

The newspaper said it had worked with a team of experts to value land, property, vehicles, art and jewellery. For 'more opaque assets', such as investments in stocks and shares, it said it had used 'informed estimates'.

The Royal Family's wealth has previously been estimated at around 24billion, although that figure included property such as Buckingham Palace, which only belongs to the monarch in an official capacity.

The newspaper said it had worked with a team of experts to value land, property, vehicles, art and jewellery. For 'more opaque assets', such as investments in stocks and shares, it said it had used 'informed estimates'

The Queen's death sparked fresh debate over tax advantages granted to the sovereign.

Under the 1993 deal with the Major government, the Queen agreed to pay tax voluntarily on her private income, but it was agreed that bequests between monarchs were exempt from inheritance tax.

The memorandum of understanding on royal taxation said: 'In relation to assets which can be properly regarded as private, the arrangements provide that inheritance tax will not be paid on gifts or bequests from one sovereign to the next, but will be payable on gifts and bequests to anyone else.'

The provisions were put in place to ensure that the royals did not have to break up their private estates, such as Sandringham and Balmoral, to avoid leaving them in the same straits as some aristocratic owners of stately homes when faced by death duties.

But the deal has proved controversial, as it has allowed vast wealth to pass from mother to son without the tax implications faced by ordinary families.

Former Lib Dem minister Norman Baker, who has written a book about the Royal Family's finances, told the Mail: 'Charles says he wants to slim down and modernise the monarchy but if all he wants to do is to have fewer people on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, that is woefully inadequate.

'The real test comes in whether he is prepared to pay tax as everybody else in the country does and he can start by paying inheritance tax on the millions in private possessions left to him by the Queen.

'The King is worth well over a billion. That money has come direct from the public purse or from tax breaks available to nobody else. Meanwhile my research shows that the cost to the taxpayer of supporting the royals is way in excess of any other monarchy in Europe. It's time to derail the royal gravy train.'

Read more on MailPlus here.

A.N. WILSON: I have supported the monarchy all my life. That's why I think the King should offer to pay some inheritance tax on his 2 billion wealth

By A.N. Wilson

We all knew King Charles and his family were loaded, but the claims emerging  of just how rich he is  are mind-boggling. The huge sums he accrued while Prince of Wales, after raking in the vast revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, made him a multi- millionaire many times over.

As always in the case of royals, there has been great difficulty in determining what represents his private wealth and what has come to him merely because he is the son and heir of Elizabeth II.

Now a new calculation suggests that the King is personally worth at least 1.8 billion. That is what his personal wealth might be tomorrow if Britain became a republic.

The research, published by the ardently republican Guardian newspaper, catalogues  asset by glittering asset  some of the sources of this fortune.

A fleet of Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Jaguars conservatively valued at 6.3 million  including a 1950 Rolls-Royce Phantom worth 2.5 million.

A new calculation suggests that the King is personally worth at least 1.8 billion. That is what his personal wealth might be tomorrow if Britain became a republic

Property of some 330 million, including 250 million for the Sandringham estate in Norfolk  which contains hundreds of rental properties and other nifty cash-generators  as well as 80 million or so for Balmoral.

A stamp collection, the best in the world, worth 100 million. Racehorses: at least 27 million, even after Charles has been selling off some of his late mothers.

Paintings by Monet, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, Lucian Freud, L.S. Lowry and countless others we never see  many millions more.

Some 54 dazzling jewels: yours for perhaps 533 million. Investments of another 142 million or so, though, as with all the papers calculations, the true figures could be  and very likely are  far higher.

Some monarchists might respond: So what? We all know that kings and queens live a life very different from the rest of us. They have inherited palaces and castles, which are crammed with treasures, and none of this is their fault.

In the case of Charles, his admirers will wish to add, he is an exceptionally public-spirited royal. His charitable endeavours have done more good, for more deserving causes, than much of the money we pay in taxes.

Such admirers will want to say: look at the young lives transformed by the Princes Trust, which Charles set up, and for which he has worked tirelessly all his adult life.

Think of the Royal Drawing School, which has helped generations of young people learn traditional draughtsmanship skills. Think of Dumfries House in Ayrshire, bought by Charles to save it from becoming a golf course for the super-rich, and now providing employment and inspiration for the local community.

Yes, all this is true.

But the disclosure of his private wealth  as opposed to the money he has raised for his charitable work  creates a different set of reactions, and raises a very difficult set of questions.

It was Queen Victoria who accumulated the wealth in which her descendants now wallow.

There has been great difficulty in determining what represents Charles' private wealth and what has come to him merely because he is the son and heir of Elizabeth II

You might think: Lucky them! But if, like me, you value the monarchy as an institution, you should think again.

The monarchs and their families are so rich only because the senior member of their family is the Head of State.

Now, of course, the King does not claim that he personally owns Buckingham Palace, or Windsor Castle, or all of the priceless works of art they contain.

He does not claim to own the Crown Jewels, even if he owns a lot of other jewels.

But the money he got from the Duchy of Cornwall  every penny of which he kept as his private income  came to him solely because he was the eldest son of the Queen.

As King, he is also Duke of Lancaster, and the money he receives from that Duchy  rents and other assets  is enormous. Again, it comes to him for his personal use, solely because he is Head of State.

If the country ever decided to become a republic, could the Royal Family really claim that all the wealth coming from the duchies was their personal, private income, in the same way that your own savings, based on money you have earned or perhaps inherited, are yours?

Against the protests of her politicians, Queen Victoria refused to surrender the incomes from the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. Ever since, her heirs and successors have been allowed to blur the division between private and public wealth.

Sometimes, this blurring is highly distasteful.

Thirty years ago or more, I had a conversation with someone who had recently become an ambassador. There was a royal visit to the country where he was posted, and the Queen and Prince Philip stayed in his embassy for three days.

When they left, the ambassador received a bill claiming expenses. This was for a quite ludicrous amount of clothes  ten suits for the Prince, ten hats and outfits for the Queen, that sort of thing.

As King, he is also Duke of Lancaster, and the money he receives from that Duchy  rents and other assets  is enormous

Asking an old Foreign Office hand, my ambassador friend was told: They do this whenever they stay in a foreign embassy. The expenses are paid by the Foreign Office and do not show up in any end-of-year audit as benefits that have fallen into the royal laps.

When I heard this story, monarchist as I am, I felt strong urges to change my mind and become a republican.

We all revered the late Queen, and admired her robust, peppery husband. But what was being described was pure greed  it was the kind of behaviour we journalists sometimes joke about when our employers pay us expenses.

At the moment, the country is looking forward to the Coronation. We continue to cherish the late Queens memory. And most of us want to give the new King the benefit of the doubt.

But as the unhappy stories of Prince Andrew, or Harry and Meghan, show us, the Royal Family is not always going to be popular. It will take only a few disasters  a marital bust-up here, an unwise TV interview there  for the Windsors reputation to plummet.

And that is when it will truly matter  if you want the monarchy to survive  for the Royal Family not to appear, in the eyes of the public, quite grossly greedy.

Surely, in an ideal world, the King or his successors would hardly own anything at all.

Becoming King would be like becoming Pope  a life of luxury, but the institution, not the individual, owns the goods.

They might get to live in wonderful palaces surrounded by famous works of art. They might ride around in gold coaches. But  because they are not like the rest of us  the houses and palaces they inhabit would not also be their personal property. Instead, they would belong to the nation.

That ideal world, for the most part, does not exist. The King did inherit Balmoral and Sandringham as his private possessions, along with so much else.

We do not live in a communist state and, given the fact the King has legally inherited this huge fortune, most of us taxpayers do not actually want his personal property to be confiscated.

But there is no reason why our Head of State should be a multi-billionaire. It is not part of the deal of being a monarchist.

Charles has often been extravagant, scorning his mothers frugal ways: her cornflakes in Tupperware, her one-bar electric fires. But anyone who wants him long to reign over us believes he should also be sensitive to the feelings of a cash-strapped British people.

Optics  how public figures are seen  are vitally important to their survival. The King cant help being hugely rich.

But he would be well advised to consider changing the privileged status he enjoys with the Inland Revenue and Customs.

He alone, in his entire realm, is exempt from paying the death duties the rest of have no choice but to surrender.

If he offered to do so now  or even if he offered to pay a proportion of inheritance tax on his mothers monumental fortune, the details of which remain secret  he would enhance not only his personal reputation, but also that of the Crown.
Mike Lindell was ordered to pay $5 million to a software developer who determined the MyPillow CEO's data provided to experts was not related to the 2020 presidential election.

CNN reported Thursday that an arbitration panel awarded Robert Zeidman - who voted for former President Donald Trump - a $5 million payout Wednesday after he sued Lindell for the millions promised as part of a 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.'

Lindell has been one of the most vocal proponents of the conspiracy theory that Trump was robbed of a second term in office due to widespread election fraud.

The MyPillow founder had peddled a data set that he said proved election meddling.

Lindell hosted a 'cyber symposium' in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2021 to have experts examine the data and launched the 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,' promising a $5 million payout to anyone who could prove the data wasn't from the 2020 presidential election.

Zeidman signed up and agreed to the contractual terms.

Mike Lindell was ordered to pay $5 million to a software developer who determined the MyPillow CEO's data provided to experts was not related to the 2020 presidential election

Lindell has been one of the most vocal proponents of the conspiracy theory that Trump was robbed of a second term in office due to widespread election fraud

He found that the data wasn't related to the 2020 election as Lindell had claimed.

But then Lindell's company, Lindell Management, refused to pay him.

'The Contest did not require participants to disprove election interference. Thus, the contestants' task was to prove the data presented to them was not valid data from the November 2020 election,' the arbitration panel wrote.

'The Panel was not asked to decide whether China interfered in the 2020 election. Nor was the Panel asked to decide whether Lindell LLC possessed data that proved such interference, or even whether Lindell LLC had election data in its possession,' the decision continued. 'The focus of the decision is on the 11 files provided to Mr. Zeidman in the context of the Contest rules.'

Zeidman told The Washington Post he was 'really happy' with the panel's decision.

'They clearly saw this as I did - that the data we were given at the symposium was not at all what Mr. Lindell said it was.'

'The truth is finally out there,' Zeidman added.

Lindell texted The Post saying, 'They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!'

Zeidman's lawyer Brian Glasser told the paper that the panel's decision should be a warning to those making wild election fraud claims.

'I think the arbitrators thought it important that these claims be vetted, because they've done great harm to our country,' Glasser told The Post.

It's unclear if Lindell will be able to pay Zeidman, as he told Trump's longtime political strategist Steve Bannon that his company took out $10 million in loans to fend off election fraud-related defamation lawsuits.

Earlier this week another major election fraud defamation case - with Dominion Voting Systems suing Fox News - was settled for $787.5 million ahead of a planned trial in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Pentagon is positioning U.S. forces in Djibouti ahead of any possible operation to evacuate the embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum amid heavy fighting.

Several international aid workers or officials have been killed or wounded during a week of fighting between two rival generals, and foreign governments are urgently seeking ways to bring their nationals home.

Things deteriorated further on Thursday as armed factions fought near Khartoum's main military installation threatening to unravel the latest attempted ceasefire.

American embassy staff are currently sheltering at the U.S. compound about eight miles from the international airport.

Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, told lawmakers Wednesday that troops were being sent to a base in Djibouti as officials weighed launching an evacuation.

'She made clear that they are not about to evacuate American citizens,' said a source familiar with the plan. 'She said they have been told for months not to travel there and to get out.'

More than 330 people have died in fighting that pits the country's two most powerful generals against each other.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces, had been part of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan military government until a power struggle erupted into violence.

A string of attacks on aid staff and diplomatic officials have caused alarm in foreign capitals.

Three employees of the World Food Programme were killed this week as fighting spread from the capital into the western Darfur region.

Wim Fransen, the head of the European Union's humanitarian agency in Sudan, was shot on Tuesday in Khartoum.

And Aidan OHara, the EU's ambassador to Sudan, who is Irish, was wounded during an attack on his home.

A U.S. embassy convoy also came under fire earlier this week.

The Sudanese capital Khartoum has been riven by violence as two rival generals fight for control of the country. Foreign governments are weighing how to rescue their citizens

The plan will position extra troops at Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti ready for an evacuation

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed lawmakers on the fighting and described efforts to prepare for a possible evacuation of the US embassy in Khartoum

Fires can be seen burning at night after days of heavy fighting in the capital Khartoum

Destroyed military vehicles in southern Khartoum. Some 330 people have died in the fighting

'We are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it,' the Pentagon said in a statement without offering further details.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there was no evidence that Sudanese militias had deliberately targeted the American convoy.

He said President Joe Biden had been briefed on evacuation plans.

'He has been in touch with his national security team regularly since the violence started,' he said.

'And he authorized the military to move forward with pre-positioning forces and to develop options in case  and I want to stress right now ... in case  there's a need for an evacuation.'

Different countries have taken different approaches to rescuing citizens.

Embassy staff in Khartoum are currently sheltering in place. The embassy is seen here in 2017

The United States said it was 'not currently safe' to evacuate private citizens.

Japan's defense ministry has positioned military transport aircraft in Djibouti to prepare for pulling 63 of its nationals out.

France has said its focus is on securing a ceasefire rather than pulling out its citizens.

And Germany reportedly sent three planes, only to abandon the rescue once they were on their way.

The target is Eid, the festival that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and is due to start on Friday or Saturday.

Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, has said he would be willing to hold a three-day truce.

'We are talking about a humanitarian truce, we are talking about safe passages... we are not talking about sitting down with a criminal,' he told Al Jazeera, referring to Burhan.
Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby told detectives that it was 'bad luck' that she was involved in the collapses of four babies when she was questioned about the 2015 incidents that saw three infants die, a jury heard today.

Letby, 33, claimed that neither she nor other staff had questioned what had caused the 'spike' of three deaths and one near-death on the neonatal unit in the single month of June eight years ago.

When an officer pointed out that she had been involved in all four collapses during an interview, she attributed it to bad luck.

During the interview, one detective suggests to Letby: 'It must have been devastating.'

Letby replies: 'Yes'. Backing up why she did not question the spike in deaths, she added: 'I didn't think there was maybe anything to be looked into. It was just a shock for everybody.'

The officer later points out that she was involved in all four collapses, adding: 'What do you put that down to? Bad luck?'

Letby replies: 'Yes'.

Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby (pictured) denied murdering a baby within six minutes of having a 'frustrating and upsetting' WhatsApp conversation with an off-duty colleague, a jury heard today

Jurors also heard that Letby denied murdering a baby within six minutes of having a 'frustrating and upsetting' WhatsApp conversation with an off-duty colleague.

The nurse agreed with a detective interviewing her over the deaths of seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital that she had been at the cot-side of Baby C at the time he collapsed. But she insisted she had not murdered him.

She also denied having done anything to cause his vocal cords to swell so much that a doctor failed three times to intubate him.

And she claimed to have no recollection of holding up a Moses basket and telling the dying infant's parents: 'You've said your goodbyes now, do you want to put him in here'.

An officer told the alleged killer that the father felt 'shocked and upset' by the remark, particularly as Baby C was still alive despite medics having halted their attempts to resuscitate him.

Jurors were taken through a summary of numerous interviews Letby gave Cheshire Police following her original arrest in July 2018.

In one recording, Letby told the detective: 'I don't recall saying it. I don't recall that conversation' about the Moses basket.

The jury at Manchester Crown Court was told how shortly before C's death in the intensive care Nursery 1 the neonatal nurse had been in a WhatsApp conversation with colleague Jenny Jones-Key.

From memory Letby believes she was either in Nursery 3, where she was the designated nurse to a healthier baby, or at the nurses' station at the time she was messaging from her mobile.

She told Jones-Key that she kept thinking about the day that Baby A had died the previous week, and seeing the image in her mind's eye of him lying in his cot.

When her colleague suggested she needed to take a break, she reacted with a message, sent at 11.09pm on June 30, 2015, that read: 'Forget it. I'm obviously making more of it than I should'.

During the police interview a detective asked her how the conversation had made her feel.

'Frustrated,' said Letby. She agreed it made her feel 'like Jenny didn't understand' how she was feeling.

She went on: 'I just remember feeling I wasn't getting anywhere with the conversation'.

Letby also agreed she had told Jones-Key that working in Nursery 3 was 'eating me up'.

The officer pointed out that six minutes after the 11.09pm message Baby C had collapsed, then went on to tell Letby: 'You were the only staff member there and you were seen at his cot-side when the alarm sounded. You were feeling frustrated and upset at the time. Do you agree?'

Letby replies: 'Yes'.

Officer: 'You've then gone on to attack (Baby) C'.

'No,' says Letby.

And she repeated the answer when asked a moment later: 'Did you murder C?'

Letby, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further ten.

Letby is currently on trial at Manchester Crown Court (pictured)

Quizzed about Baby A, Letby agreed it was her who had noticed a change in the baby's colour on the day of his fatal collapse.

Although unable to specifically recall when his monitors alarmed, she also agreed she had been standing next to his ventilator at the time.

The officer asks: 'Is it at that point that you harmed (Baby) A?'

Letby: 'No'.

Officer: 'Is that the point at which you murdered (Baby) A?'

Letby: 'No'.

Asked about the baby receiving an injection of air, she said: 'It would be very hard to push air through a long line. It's a hard pressure to push through'.

The nurse denied deliberately injecting the baby with air, but could offer no explanation for his collapse.

She told the officer she did not know a lot about air embolism  one of the methods the prosecution says she used to kill some of her alleged victims.

'We were always told to make sure there was no air in a long line because that would be dangerous to patients.

'I know that from when I first started to learn about fluids. It's something that all nursing staff are very meticulous about and are aware of the consequences of getting it wrong'.

She claimed not to know what harm an air embolism might actually cause, but was aware that 'you just didn't want it going into the bloodstream'.

In a later interview Letby was told that expert witnesses believed Baby A had been injected with air. She told the officer: 'I didn't deliberately give him any air'.

She acknowledged having carried out Facebook searches on the infant's mother both shortly after A's death and again in the September, but said she was 'not sure' what she had been looking for. She added: 'I'm not sure I was looking for anything'.

Asked specifically about the September search, she suggested she may have wanted to know 'how the family was doing'.

The officer asks why, and Letby replies: 'Because you think about the babies on the unit at times and wonder about them and what they're doing'.

Letby recalled Baby A's twin sister, Baby B, looking more mottled than he had done. Her mottling had a purply-red, rash-like appearance.

She was aware from an early handover with a colleague that the twins' parents had waited a long time to have children, so they were 'very much wanted babies'.

Asked whether she had treated them any differently because of that knowledge, she replied: 'You just bear in mind what they've been through to get to this point'.

The officer asks whether she injected the baby girl with air at the time a TPN feeding bag was being attached, Letby replied: 'No. I didn't do anything deliberate to (Baby) B to harm her'.

Officer: 'Are you responsible for her attempted murder, Lucy?'

'No,' says the nurse.

Jurors were taken through a summary of numerous interviews Letby (pictured with another baby in 2012) gave Cheshire Police following her original arrest in July 2018

Letby told detectives she had found the death of Baby C 'quite hard' because he had continued gasping for several hours before finally dying once resuscitation had been halted.

Medics had extended their attempts to revive him while a vicar made his way to the hospital to baptise him.

The neonatal nurse said the infant's death had been the first experienced by her colleague, Sophie Ellis, and she had been 'particularly upset' by it.

Letby told officers she had no recollection of Baby D's collapse. Asked about the Facebook searches she carried out on her family, she said: 'I don't know what I was looking for, but I would not be looking for photos of dead babies'.

She had found it 'upsetting' to see Baby E vomit blood before his collapse and death. She had prepared a memory box for his parents 'as a matter of course'.

'I found it very helpful to spend some time with him. I found it quite a privilege that mum and dad wanted me to do that for them'.

She denied putting insulin into his system and asked the officers if the relevant TPN bag might have been retained and stored in the sluice room. They said they would investigate that.
A British dad says he was left unable to work for a week after contracting salmonella while he stayed with his family at a five-star Turkish holiday resort.

Robert Wootton, 41, spent around 3,000 on a week for his family at the luxury Rixos Sungate resort in Antalya earlier this month.

But after eating an omelette and panna cotta on the final day of his holiday, the holidaymaker claims he began to feel unwell when he got home to Warwick.

He was hit with diarrhoea, a bloated stomach and headaches, and after the symptoms persisted was tested by his doctor who discovered he had salmonella - a type of food poisoning.

Now 'dozens' of British families are considering legal action against tour operator TUI after allegedly being hit by food poisoning at the resort, according to lawyers.

Robert Wootton with wife Natalie on holiday in Turkey. The site manager and carpenter says he contracted salmonella during his holiday

The Rixos Sungate (pictured) is a five-star rated resort in Turkey where families spend as much as 4,000 on TUI package holidays

Law firm Irwin Mitchell told MailOnline that it is currently representing six families and over 20 clients in legal action, all of whom had similar symptoms after visiting the hotel.

The cost of their holidays varied, the firm said, but their illnesses are set to cost some of their clients sick leave.

TUI said it was 'very concerned' to hear about the 'small number of cases' but could not comment further for legal reasons.

Robert, a site manager and carpenter, said of his condition: 'It's really horrible. I've had food poisoning before but it usually only lasts 24 hours. This has gone on for days and days.

The dad-of-two, added: 'I was still being sick after a week and it was nine days before I could eat a meal. I'm still not fully recovered.

'We expected much better. We travel a lot and we've been to the Rixos in Abu Dhabi and it was fantastic.

'I'm an easygoing person, but I've been really sick and unable to work. That's not okay.

'I'm pretty peed off to be honest. It wasn't a cheap option.'

Robert, wife Natalie, 46, and their children Jaxon, 10, and Eden, 16, flew out from Birmingham on March 31 for their family holiday and returned home on April 7.

The next day Robert woke with a severe headache, and bloating. Still poorly and unable to work, he went to his GP on April 12.

Dad-of-two Robert with his son Jaxon, 10. He said the family had splashed out 3,000 on their holiday

Robert said he ate an omelette for breakfast and a panna cotta as part of his lunch at a buffet restaurant, and that no one else in his family ate them, suggesting why he got ill and they didn't.

Robert also claimed that he and his wife have 'chatted online to other people who have tested for salmonella after staying there.'

Natalie called TUI last weekend but got no answer, Robert said.

She also made an online complaint because the couple said facilities they were promised at the hotel had been closed during their stay.

Natalie updated her complaint when Robert's salmonella was confirmed.

The family have since received a phone call to say TUI's legal team will be looking at compensation, Robert said.

He added: 'Compensation for this would be great. It's very frustrating that TUI are so hard to contact.'

Liam Garnett and his family had been enjoying a family trip to Turkey when they fell ill

'The staff were friendly and the hotel seemed clean, but a lot was a bit off with the holiday.'

The 1,076-room resort, in Kemer on Turkey's southern coast, boasts 11 restaurants including a 'world food' buffet and sushi diner. It also has a water park and 12 swimming pools.

Yesterday, another British Easter holidaymaker went public with his ordeal after being struck down by a suspected food poisoning at the resort.

Liam Garnett, 37, was placed on a drip after being hit with suspected gastroenteritis while on holiday with his partner Gabrielle, 30, and two children over Easter.

And after returning to the UK, Mr Garnett needed further treatment and underwent tests including abdomen and chest x-rays.

His two children, aged six and four, also suffered from symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting and one of them is still off school due to illness.

Mr Garnett claims that once his condition worsened he was placed on a drip

Mr Garnett claims his son (pictured) was also ill on the holiday from suspected food poisoning

He said: 'It was horrible being ill, then seeing my children also suffering from sickness. The holiday was just a disaster and we want to know what went wrong.

'There were others at the same hotel who were also ill and I know they are considering legal action too as you don't book a five-star holiday expecting to spend most of it in bed with illness.'

Mr Garnett said they booked the family holiday after having a tough period at work, hoping it would be a nice relaxing break while the kids were off school.

TUI said: 'We were very concerned to hear of small number cases at Rixos Sungate in Turkey, as the health and safety of our customers is our highest priority.

'We'd like to reassure all customers that we regularly audit all of our hotels in respect to health and safety, including hygiene.

'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment on the specific cases.'

Rixos Hotels is part of the Accor group. A spokesperson for the Accor group was approached for comment.
A drug dealing inmate walked right out of prison and went on the run after claiming to be his lookalike sleeping cellmate who was due to be released.

Brian Francisco Roman, 26, of Longview, Washington, escaped from the Cowlitz County jail on Monday after he claimed he was his cellmate, who was not identified, and prison guards believed him.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office said the two men shared 'similar physical features.'

DailyMail.com has contacted the Sheriff's Office for comment.

When officers entered the cell, 'all three inmates in the cell were asleep,' according to the Sheriff's Office. After calling out the inmate's name, Roman awoke and 'identified himself as that inmate and went with the corrections officers to be processed out of custody.'

Roman, who was originally in jail for drug dealing, was smart enough to keep up the act and forged his roommate's signatures on the discharge paperwork. After he was fully processed, correctional officers handed Roman the victim's 'clothing, keys, and wallet, which contained identification and a debit card.'

When officers entered the cell, 'all three inmates in the cell were asleep,' according to the Sheriff's Office. After calling out the inmate's name, Roman awoke and 'identified himself as that inmate. After being discharge, he was seen wearing a hoodie, sweatshirt, and slippers (pictured)

Brian Francisco Roman, 26, of Longview, Washington, (pictured on his driver's license) escaped from the Cowlitz County jail on Monday after he claimed he was his cellmate, who was not identified, and prison guards believed him

The former roofer was caught on grainy surveillance leaving in a blue and white hoodie with the hood plugged low over his eyes, gray sweatpants, and slippers.

'Corrections staff did not realize the wrong inmate had been released until the victim inmate contacted them to inquire about when he was to be released,' Chief Criminal Deputy, Troy Brightbill, said in a press release.

Law enforcement was then contacted to hunt down Roman, who remained on the loose for one day until he was taken back into custody on April 18. He was transferred back to Cowlitz from Columbia County jail this morning, Sheriff Brad Thurman told DailyMail.com on Thursday.

He has been charged with second-degree escape, first-degree criminal impersonation, forgery, and second and third-degree theft.

More than 2,000 inmates escaped from jail in 2019, according to Statista.

Twenty-nine prisoners escaped federal facilities between January 2020 to June 2021, with most of them never being found again.

At some of the institutions, doors are left unlocked, security cameras are broken and officials sometimes don't notice an inmate is missing for hours.

At one Texas lockup, security is so lax that local law enforcement officials privately joke about its seemingly 'open-door policy,' according to the Associated Press (AP).

He forged his cellmate's signature on discharge papers and was given the victim's 'clothing, keys, and wallet, which contained identification and a debit card'

Roman, who was originally in jail for drug dealing, was brought back into custody on April 18 - one day after going on the run. He was charged with second-degree escape, first-degree criminal impersonation, forgery, and second and third-degree theft

All of the escapes happened at minimum-security federal prison camps, some of which don't even have fences, and house inmates the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk.

'Anybody can escape from any camp any minute of any day,' Jack Donson, a prison consultant and former case manager at a federal prison in Otisville, New York, told AP in 2021. 'They're not secure facilities. They have no fence, no metal detectors.'

Federal prison camps were originally designed with low security to make operations easier and to allow inmates tasked with performing work at the prison, like landscaping and maintenance, to avoid repeatedly checking in and out of a main prison facility.

But the lax security has now not only opened a gateway for contraband but is also the source of most of the prison system's escapes.

Law enforcement officials have also routinely learned of inmates at the prison just walking off the grounds to retrieve drugs and other contraband that is dropped off in the woods and then bringing the illegal items back inside with them.

In a statement, the Bureau of Prisons said in 2021 that it strives to ensure safety and security at every one of its prisons and that when an inmate 'walks away' from a prison, officials will notify other law enforcement agencies and the media.

The agency stressed that the inmates who are placed at the minimum-security camps are the lowest-risk offenders who 'pose minimal risk to the community' and generally are allowed to participate in outdoor work programs and other initiatives.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy 'has my back' and told her she would 'never' be removed from her committee assignments despite anger from her GOP colleagues about her recent behavior.

The congresswoman from Georgia was shut down by her fellow Republicans in a committee hearing on Wednesday after she called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a 'liar' and brought up her old accusation that Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy.

She spoke with McCarthy in the aftermath.

'He supported everything I said,' she told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. 'He said I was right.'

She also said he reassured her she would not be removed from her committee assignments. In 2011, the Democratic-controlled House removed her from serving on committees after she pushed several conspiracy theories, some associated with Q-Anon.

'He said it'll never happen and that he has my back,' she said.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene doubled down on her allegations on against Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

And she pushed back at reports her fellow Republicans are angry with her about her comments.

'No one's come to me personally and expressed anger and I can't imagine they would be angry,' she told DailyMail.com.

During Wednesday's hearing, Republican Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee barred Greene from speaking further after her allegations and outburst. She began her speaking time by go after Swalwell, who was targeted by a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. He cooperated with investigators and was never accused of any wrongdoing.

But Greene, without evidence, accused him of an affair. She accused also Mayorkas of letting fentanyl deaths occur and called him a 'liar.'

There were reports that Chairman Green was furious with Taylor Greene for her behavior and had planned to speak to McCarthy about removing her from the House Homeland Security Committee if she ever had an outburst like that again.

Taylor Greene said she spoke to Chairman Green on the House floor on Thursday and the two of them agreed to disagree.

'He basically said that we have two different styles,' she said outside of the Capitol building after the House had a series of votes. 'And so we have a disagreement still about what took place yesterday. But you know, I'm still new to committees. So I'll make sure that I'm making sure I'm following the rules, which I do believe is important. But at the same time, I'm still going to keep pushing.'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Speaker Kevin McCarthy told her that he has her back - the two above on the House floor in January

Homeland Committee Chairman Mark Green's spokesperson denied reports that the congressman wanted Marjorie Taylor Greene removed from the panel

And Taylor Greene doubled down on both her allegations.

I think everyone knows Secretary Mayorkas is a liar. He's lied to Congress over and over. And he was lying yesterday. His policies are killing over 300 Americans every single day,' she said.

And she said of Swalwell: 'That's why Congressman Swalwell was removed from the Intel Committee. Because it is known that he had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy. And if that's offensive to Republicans or Democrats, then I think they need to reconsider what's more offensive - me calling it out on a committee or Congressman Eric Swalwell having a sexual relationship with a known Chinese spy? I think I think it's more offensive that he had the sexual relationship with the Chinese spy, not me just saying it.'

A spokesperson for Chairman Green said there was never a threat to remove Taylor Greene from the panel.

The spokesperson pointed out that Chairman Green 'was required to uphold the rules' of the panel in silencing Taylor Greene.

'Additionally, at no point did Chairman Green have any conversation about removing a current member from the Committee,' the person added.

Greene has been a firebrand and point of controversy for Republicans with her outspoken comments and allegations.

At Wednesday's hearing, Democrats moved twice to remove her remarks from the record before the Republican chairman stepped in.

It began when Taylor Greene attacked Swalwell after he displayed on his social media accounts a photo of her calling for the FBI to be defunded. She brought up a years-old incident where Swalwell was accused of having a sexual relationship with Chinese spy Fang Fang.

Her allegation - given without evidence - was unrelated to the Wednesday hearing on the southern border crisis.

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York moved to have her 'completely inappropriate' words stricken from the record, but the GOP-led panel overruled the motion.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called out Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, accusing him of having a sexual relationship with and being compromised by a Chinese spy  an unproven allegation

Swalwell was allegedly targeted as part of a Chinese effort to get close to U.S. politicians by suspected spy Christine Fang (right)  otherwise known as Fang Fang

When the congresswoman resuming her time speaking, she accused Mayorkas of failing to prevent the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

"Congresswoman, let me assure you that were not letting it go on. We are fighting this," he said in response.

Greene then yelled: 'No, I reclaim my time. You're a liar. You are letting this go on. And the numbers prove it.'

This time, Democratic Ranking Member Bennie Thompson of Mississippi asked for her words to be removed from the record.

It was after that second incident that Rep. Mark Green, the Republican chairman of the committee, ruled she could not speak the rest of the hearing.

'It's pretty clear that the rules state you can't impugn someone's character. Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee and I make the ruling that we strike those words,' he said.

Taylor Greene left the hearing left shortly after being silenced.
The parents of Maine gunman Joseph Eaton had just recently flown up to New England from their home in Florida in an attempt to help their son readjust to life following his release from prison on assault charges.

Eaton, 34, made his first appearance in court Thursday, two days after he shot and killed his parents, David and Cynthia Eaton, 66 and 62, as well as their friends with whom they were staying, Robert and Patricia Eger, 72 and 62. The suspect had also been a guest of the Eger's following his release.

In court, Eaton wore a traditional orange prison jumpsuit and a bulletproof vest. He showed no emotion. Earlier officials said that he had admitted to the murders. The criminal affidavit in the case says the discovery of the deaths in the rural town of Bowdoin was made by Patricia Eger's sister, who came upon a crime scene with broken class, blood and guns strewn about the home.

The woman said she first noticed something was amiss when she saw blood on the steps leading into the home and then saw the carnage and a body.

The affidavit noted all bodies were covered and that the family dog had been killed as well.

Maine mass killer Joseph Eaton, 34, made his first appearance in court on Thursday, he is clad in a prison jump suit and was wearing a bulletproof vest

Earlier, investigators said that Eaton had admitted to killing his parents, their friends and to shooting at a random car along Interstate 295 on Tuesday

Investigators who arrived on the scene discovered an unsigned note on an island in the kitchen that referenced that someone had been molested, nothing was done about it and the writer wanted to be freed of pain.

In court, one of Eaton's lawyers, James Mason, acknowledged after the hearing that the shootings shook the state.

'What happened in Bowdoin is undeniably tragic. But I ask everybody to please reserve judgement,' he said.

Eaton is charged with four counts of murder for the killings in Bowdoin but has not yet been charged in the highway shootings, officials said.

Around an hour after Patricia Eger's sister found the horrific scene, police say that Eaton began opening fire on cars along Interstate 295 because he thought the police were following him.

In that shooting, bullets struck a family in one of the vehicles, wounding Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey was critically wounded, police said.

Police say Eaton's mother picked up from prison April 14 after he completed a sentence for aggravated assault.

Investigators who arrived on the scene discovered an unsigned note on an island in the kitchen that referenced that someone had been molested, nothing was done about it and the writer wanted to be freed of pain.

Eaton's parents, David and Cynthia, pictured on her Facebook page in March 2021

Slain couple Patricia 'Patti' Eger and Robert Eger pictured on her Facebook page in May 2020

In court, Eaton's lawyer, James Mason said: 'What happened in Bowdoin is undeniably tragic. But I ask everybody to please reserve judgement'

Bullet holes can be seen in the windshield of the silver sedan that was involved in the shooting

Joseph Eaton posted this photo on the day of his release from prison accompanied with the caption: 'Real food'

Eaton's mugshot: He has lengthy criminal history in Maine, with charges including assault and illegal possession of a firearm on this record

The day before the shooting, Eaton posted an anguished live video on social media that referenced trauma including molestation.

'Being molested and stuff, you know, it destroys somebody,' he said. He also criticized people who call themselves Christians but are unwilling to forgive.

In the caption of the video, Eaton reference his mother, Cynthia.

According to his mother's Facebook page, she and her husband lived in Ocala, Florida, just north of Orlando. Posts on her page show she and her husband to be passionate supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.

'Life as a whole is suffering. You work for the duration, you get sick, people you love die, and your guaranteed to have 'bad days.' You die and lose everything you spent your life obtaining.

There is more to it than meets the eye. Life is a trial for what is to come,' Eaton wrote in a Facebook post on April 16.

Eaton was charged over the past decade with more than a half-dozen crimes and and completed a sentence for assault on April 14, according to state records.

Past convictions included aggravated assault, a felony that would prevent him from legally having a firearm.

Eaton has a criminal history in both Maine and Florida. His crimes include felony aggravated assault, domestic violence and violence against a law enforcement officer, reports the Portland Press Herald.

The suspect was sentenced to three years in prison in the Sunshine State on felony weapons and assault charges in 2018.

On Friday, Eaton wrote on Facebook: It's finally over. There are so many people I can't wait to see.' A day later he posted a photo showing him eating breakfast with the caption: 'Real food!!!!'
Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he has been 'clear consistently' that he does not share his uncle's anti-semitic views after defending Professor Leonard Jeffries in a newly unearthed op-ed from his time in college.

'I've made clear consistently that I did not share any of controversial views that were expressed by my uncle more than three decades ago, not now. Not ever. And equally significant,' Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in response to questioning from DailyMail.com.

'As I've said, my track record and public service and professionally more than two decades of bringing people together and standing up for every single community, including the black and Jewish communities that are proudly represent in Brooklyn.'

The House Republicans' campaign arm tore into the House Democrat leader over an op-ed he wrote in college defending his uncle who made anti-semitic remarks and referring to black conservatives as 'House N*****s.'

'I've made clear consistently that I did not share any of controversial views that were expressed by my uncle more than three decades ago, not now. Not ever. And equally significant,' Jeffries, D-N.Y., said

Jeffries also tore into Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was silenced during a Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday for calling Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas a 'liar' and accusing Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., of sleeping with a Chinese spy.

'Shes totally out of control,' said Jeffries.

'Shes allowed to lie, shes allowed to debase the institution,' he went on, 'Marjorie Taylor Greene is the face of this version of the House Republican Conference.'

'There is a bigot leading House Democrats in Congress, and his name is Hakeem Jeffries,' the new ad launched by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) says.

It flashes to photos of Jeffries' uncle, black studies professor Leonard Jeffries, an notes that he's called Judaism a 'dirty religion' and praised Adolf Hitler.

'Jeffries even called black conservatives 'House n*****s.' No, your ears aren't playing tricks on you  'House n*****s.''

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. accused of being a bigot by Republicans for writing an op-ed he wrote in college defending his uncle who made anti-semitic remarks and referred to black conservatives as 'House N*****s.'

'Why don't House Democrats apologize for his shameful beliefs?'

'Are House Democrats silent because they agree?' the ad closes out.

'Hakeem Jeffries lied about his well-documented defense of bigots and anti-Semites,' said NRCC press secretary Will Reinert. He claimed Democrats' silence on the matter amounts to 'tacit agreement.'

In a press conference Thursday Jeffries denied to DailyMail.com that he had ever espoused his uncle's views.

'I've made clear consistently that I did not share any of controversial views that were expressed by my uncle more than three decades ago, not now. Not ever.'

'As I've said, my track record and public service and professionally more than two decades of bringing people together and standing up for every single community, including the black and Jewish communities that are proudly represent in Brooklyn,' he added.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a Jewish member, defended Jeffries earlier this week in comments to Punchbowl - 'I can personally attest American Jews and Israel are lucky to have [Jeffries] as an unflinching supporter and champion.'

The minority leader is leaving on a trip to Israel and Ghana Thursday evening,

Jeffries has said he has only a 'vague recollection' of the controversy surrounding his anti-semite uncle but wrote a fiery op-ed in college defending him.

The minority leader's Black Studies Professor Leonard Jeffries faced backlash in the 1990s after making comments about the involvement of 'rich Jews' in the slave trade and of Jewish executives launching 'a conspiracy, planned and plotted and programmed out of Hollywood' to denigrate Black Americans in films.

When Jeffries was a college student at Binghamton University in New York, he wrote an editorial in 1992 defending his uncle and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The school's Black Student Union, where Jeffries was an executive board member, had invited the university professor to speak after the controversy.

The younger Jeffries began his editorial by warning that the 'rise of the black conservative' would threaten to 'sustain the oppression of the black masses,' referring to the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas.

He likened black Republicans to 'House n*****s' who 'sought to emulate the white master,' according to a copy of the document unearthed by CNN.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries' 1992 editorial

He questioned why the media had built up black people like Thomas, former Sec. of State Colin Powell and author Shelby Steele.

'Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice-like grip on power?' Jeffries asked.

'Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire. Where do you think their interests lie?' he continued, suggesting the pair were better representatives of black interests.

'Dr. Jeffries has challenged the existing white supremist [sic] educational system and long-standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory erroneous accusations.'

Jeffries wrote the piece for The Vanguard, the BSU student newspaper.

'Conservative political thought rejects the redistribution of wealth. Conservative political thought shuns social reforms and favors a huge defense industry. Conservative political thought does not advocate Civil Rights advances.'

Jeffries denounced capitalism as an economic concept: 'The black conservative buys into the idea of the American dream, the dream, in which hard work and perseverance eventually liberate and reap benefits. However, this totally ignores the economic reality of this country's capitalist system. Capitalism necessitates the perpetuation of a permanent underclass.'

Jeffries' office insisted that he does not share the views his uncle did 'over 30 years ago.'

'Leader Jeffries has consistently been clear that he does not share the controversial views espoused by his uncle over thirty years ago,' spokesperson Christiana Stephenson told CNN.

Leonard Jeffries Jr., Professor of Black Studies at the City College of New York, pictured in Harlem, New York City, 1991

Jeffries, right, questioned why the media had built up black people like Thomas, former Sec. of State Colin Powell, left, and author Shelby Steele. 'Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice like grip on power?' Jeffries asked

Like Leonard Jeffries, Farrakhan came under fire for explosive remarks about Jews - once praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the 1980s as a 'great man' and calling Judaism a 'dirty religion.'

Jeffries told the Wall Street Journal in 2013, that he had only 'a vague recollection' of the controversies with his uncle as he had been away at college. He remembered it as a tough time for his father and claimed his mother tried to shield him and his brother from the fallout.

'And so, when a lot of the controversy took place, and my brother and I were away at school,' Jeffries said. 'There was no Internet during that era, and I can't even recall a daily newspaper in the Binghamton, N.Y., area but it wasn't covering the things that the New York Post and Daily News were at the time.'

In another Wall Street Journal report, Jeffries said he had not even looked at his uncle's most controversial speeches.

But after backlash followed when the Black Student Union (BSU) invited Leonard Jeffries, Hakeem and the BSU held a press conference to defend him.

'We have no intention of canceling a presentation that contains factual information, proven through scholarly documents and texts,' Jeffries reportedly said.

In 2012 the Anti-Defamation League quoted Leonard Jeffries as saying: 'The evil genius of the Jewish community was to put together their powers to make business their religion and make it part of their culture.'

In 1994 the Associated Press reported him saying: 'Jews were like 'skunks' and 'stunk up everything.''

Jeffries poses on the campus of his alma mater, Binghamton University

Asked about the comment, Professor Jeffries said, 'he did not remember it,' adding, 'Isn't there free speech in America?'

He was condemned at the time by New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and New York City Mayor David Dinkin, eventually leaving his position as chair of the Black Studies Department at City University of New York in 1995.

Then-student Jeffries went on to explain his comparison of black conservatives to 'house n*****s.'

'During the period of African enslavement, our ancestors were given the duality of the Field Negro and the House Negro. The Field Negro labored from dawn 'till dusk, had nothing but contempt for his white master, and most importantly, the majority of Black slaves, who were Field Negroes. In contemporary terms, what we would refer to as 'the masses.' The House Negroes didn't labor in the field, they were domestic servants. The House Negro was dressed up and was led to believe that he or she was better than those in the field. Most importantly, the House Negro sought to emulate the white master. This emulation was not designed with the interests of the masses at heart. Rather, the motivating force was personal gain.

'Perhaps this is the problem with the Black conservative politician of today. Their political agenda is not designed to contribute to the upliftment of their people. These right-wing opportunists espouse the political ideology of the power structure and, in return, they are elevated to positions historically reserved for whites.'

And according to local press coverage, Professor Jeffries spent much of his speech at the college defending himself against anti-semitism charges but reiterated his message about 'anti-black' Jewish moguls in Hollywood.

'It's ironic that members of the Jewish community felt compelled to take a position that is antidemocratic and.pro-Nazi in its viciousness,' he said.
The BBC has been accused of 'obvious bias' after its new political fact-checker was exposed as a hard-Left Labour activist who described Tory MPs as lower than 'invertebrates' and said: 'never trust a Tory'.

Oscar Bentley made his TV debut on Wednesday's Politics Live, where he spoke on behalf of the broadcaster's esteemed Political Research Unit, and was asked to analyse claims Rishi Sunak had made about crime during Prime Minister's Questions.

He offered a critical analysis of the Tory leader's use of statistics, saying Mr Sunak had ignored figures for fraud and computer misuse and adding: 'If you take crime actually recorded by police forces, that's actually gone up'.

Mr Bentley, 25, joined the BBC in September and is expected to play a key role in helping to fact-check political debates in the run-up to the next General Election. The role requires absolute impartiality.

Yet the Daily Mail can reveal that he is actually a lifelong Labour supporter who canvassed for Corbyn at the last election and has repeatedly smeared Conservatives on social media  and at one point boasted about having shouted 'Tories out!' at the gates of Downing Street.

Oscar Bentley (pictured) made his TV debut on Wednesday's Politics Live, where he spoke on behalf of the broadcaster's esteemed Political Research Unit, and was asked to analyse claims Rishi Sunak had made about crime during Prime Minister's Questions

Mr Bentley, 25, joined the BBC in September and is expected to play a key role in helping to fact-check political debates in the run-up to the next General Election. The role requires absolute impartiality

Two months before polling day, Mr Bentley used Twitter to tell followers 'never trust a Tory', and after that May's local election in York he declared that 'seven hours of door knocking yesterday paid off with three Labour wins in Hull Road Ward!'.

When Theresa May was attempting to enact Brexit, he wrote on Twitter: 'Tory Government defeated in Parliament, what an early Christmas present' and in December 2018 said: 'There are vertebrates, invertebrates, and then there are Tory MPs.'

The previous year he told followers how he'd visited Westminster, saying 'shouting 'Tories out!' at the gates of Downing Street was immensely satisfying', adding the hashtag '#toriesout'.

And in April 2019 he expressed 'huge solidarity' with Extinction Rebellion, who were engaged in a demonstration in central London. He has also described Labour as 'my lads', and while at York University described himself as a 'lefty student journalist'.

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, Bentley dubbed Anna Soubry, the remain supporting Conservative MP 'literally the only Tory I actually like'. He also described the election of Boris Johnson in 2019 as a 'f***ing car crash' and criticised 'crusty tories' over education policy.

Mr Bentley's public Facebook page carries an image of him doctored to include Jeremy Corbyn's campaign slogan 'for the many not the few' and the words 'Vote Labour'.

In a separate post, he uploaded an image of a terrier with a caption endorsing 'dogs for Corbyn', telling friends he was: 'Spamming all of my social media with this pic because of the insanely cute doggy. Important politics too.'

On election night he posted: 'please win Jeremy Corbyn, I love you so much, be my Prime Minister, please'.

He has also shared advertisements for 'Veganuary' along with a flyer for a 2017 demonstration Mr Bentley attended in the centre of York while he was studying, slamming Conservative York outer MP Julian Sturdy

In a separate post, he uploaded an image of a terrier with a caption endorsing 'dogs for Corbyn', telling friends he was: 'Spamming all of my social media with this pic because of the insanely cute doggy. Important politics too'

He has also shared advertisements for 'Veganuary' along with a flyer for a 2017 demonstration Mr Bentley attended in the centre of York while he was studying: 'Join us as we join the demo and march against foxhunting, a callous blood 'sport' supported by Conservative York outer incumbent MP and general election candidate Julian Sturdy.'

Prior to joining the BBC, Mr Bentley's first foray into broadcasting came as the writer, director and producer of a short film set in the 1980s called 'Loyalty'. Its hero is the son of a striking miner who is hugely critical of 'the b****** Maggie'.

A dossier featuring a collection of his social media posts began doing the rounds in Westminster on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after Bentley had appeared on Politics Live. It sparked outrage from Conservative MPs.

Tory vice chairman Craig Tracey said: 'This looks like clear and obvious bias. Brits expect the BBC to offer impartial analysis, especially with issues that affect the whole nation, so it's disappointing to see them spin Labour party activists as fact checkers.

'If the BBC wants to maintain public trust, they should be more careful about the journalists they recruit.'

Jacob Rees Mogg, the former minister who now hosts a political talk show on rival channel GB News said: 'The BBC knows that it would never appoint someone who expressed Conservative views in this aggressive form so how can it be right to appoint a Labour supporter?

'The BBC seems to have given up even the veneer of impartiality so I would encourage people to tune into GB News for sensible and balanced reporting.'

The backbench MP Tom Hunt called for the BBC's director general Tim Davie to take action.

He said: 'For anyone who believes in BBC political impartiality this is clearly deeply concerning. It's impossible to have any confidence in this particular BBC employee now we know what we know about his strong political leanings.

'This is a taxpayer funded role and it's wrong on so many different levels. I hope the director general takes action immediately.'

BBC sources stressed that all of Bentley's social media posts pre-dated his employment at the broadcaster and insisted that they employ people of all kinds of backgrounds.

'Once people are BBC employees, they are bound by the BBC's editorial rules of impartiality, but any opinions they've expressed before working for the BBC, in this case when they were at university, are completely irrelevant,' said a spokesman.
Another rapist is still living in Britain after dodging deportation in the wake of Sir Keir Starmer's campaigning against removals flights, the Mail can reveal.

Jermaine Stewart was jailed for six years for raping a woman who fell asleep on his sofa after a party and was due to be sent back to Jamaica in December 2020.

But he lodged a last-minute claim to avoid being put on the flight and is still in the UK fighting removal, sources say.

Ten months before Stewart was due to be removed, Sir Keir signed a letter opposing all further deportations.

And days before the charter flight was due to take off, a host of celebrities signed an open letter calling for it to be abandoned, including supermodel Naomi Campbell, Line of Duty star Thandiwe Newton and 007's Miss Moneypenny actress Naomie Harris.

Jermaine Stewart (pictured) was jailed for six years for raping a woman who fell asleep on his sofa after a party and was due to be sent back to Jamaica in December 2020.

Ten months before Stewart was due to be removed, Sir Keir Starmer signed a letter opposing all further deportations

Eventually, 13 criminals were deported on the flight but lawyers for another 23 - including Stewart - succeeded in having them removed from the aircraft's passenger list.

Stewart, 39, has continued to lodge a series of legal challenges against his deportation and is believed to be still living in this country.

A border security source said: 'It's a perennial problem - we're constantly frustrated by the courts and endless legal appeals.

'It never seems to end and we're stuck with these people for years when we've had solid ground to deport them.'

It comes after the Mail revealed today that foreign rapist Fabian Henry is still in Britain more than three years after dodging an earlier removals flight to Jamaica.

Henry was jailed for 12 years for raping a 17-year-old girl twice and for abducting and having sex with a girl of 15 while on bail.

Days before he was due to be sent home, dozens of MPs, including Sir Keir, signed a letter to then-prime minister Boris Johnson which demanded that 'all further deportations are cancelled'.

Rishi Sunak branded the Labour leader 'Sir Softy' in the Commons yesterday, saying he was 'soft on crime, soft on criminals'.

It comes after the Mail revealed today that foreign rapist Fabian Henry (pictured) is still in Britain more than three years after dodging an earlier removals flight to Jamaica

It came after Labour was widely criticised, including by many of its own MPs and supporters, for publishing an advert which claimed Mr Sunak does not think child sex abusers should go to prison.

Stewart's trial at Liverpool Crown court in 2014 heard how he met his victim during a night out in the city centre.

Judge Norman Wright said Stewart had 'taken advantage of the situation' while she was 'effectively comatose' by tiredness, drink and drugs on the settee in his flat.

Stewart's victim, in a highly emotional statement read out in court, said: 'My life has fallen apart. I hope he realises the daily effect this has had on me. I hope one day I will be able to cope with what's happened.'

She went on: 'Before this happened to me I was a happy-go-lucky girl. I had hopes and dreams and felt I had the world at my feet.

'But since it happened in January, I've felt completely lost. I'm an emotional wreck. I've started drinking a lot of alcohol. I drink until I can't remember.'

Sentencing Stewart, who was living in Tuebrook, Liverpool, Judge Wright said: 'While she was effectively comatose by tiredness, alcohol and drugs, you removed her clothing and raped her. Clearly, she was asleep in your flat and she was vulnerable.'

Earlier this year, the Mail revealed that another Jamaican offender who was supposed to be sent back to Jamaica on the same flight as Stewart went on to murder a man in a gruesome knife fight.

Ernesto Elliott was a prolific offender with 17 crimes on his rap sheet, including possession of an imitation firearm.

His lawyers lodged a last-minute legal challenge under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights against a Home Office bid to deport him.

The challenge claimed it would breach his rights to be separated from his UK-based family, including son Nico, then 21, who went on to be convicted alongside his father of the knife murder of 35-year-old Nathaniel Eyewu-Ago.

Ernesto Elliott's criminal record spanned 18 years.

Ernesto Elliott (pictured), another offender who was meant to be on the same flight to Jamaica as Stewart, was a prolific offender with 17 crimes on his rap sheet, including possession of an imitation firearm

He first arrived in Britain when Labour was in power in the early 2000s and lodged an unsuccessful bid to win asylum - but was not removed.

The letter signed by celebrities in December 2020 claimed that 'any deportations to Commonwealth countries' carried a risk of 'further unlawful removals of Windrush generation members or Windrush descendants'.

A series of Labour MPs also compared the removals flight with Windrush - even though that scandal involved entirely innocent Commonwealth nationals who had been wrongly targeted by the Home Office.

Days later, the then-home secretary Priti Patel accused opposition MPs and 'do-gooding' celebrities of insulting Windrush victims.

She said it was 'deeply offensive' to liken those unjustly caught up in the scandal to Jamaican rapists, murderers and thugs who were trying to avoid being kicked out of Britain.
A toddler perished in a holiday caravan fire which started from a cupboard housing a boiler with a gas safety certificate which was months out of date, an inquest heard yesterday.

Louisiana Brooke Dolan died of smoke inhalation on the last day of the family getaway after a blaze broke out while her mother was in the shower.

Natasha Broadley was able to escape the static caravan with her three eldest children, but couldn't reach two-year-old Louisiana, the court was told.

Coroner Lindsay Tasker said she could not rule for certain that the boiler caused the fatal fire in Sealands Caravan Park at Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire, in August 2021.

'The evidence just isn't there to establish the cause of the fire', she said. Addressing Miss Broadley directly, she added: 'I am sorry, for you, I have not been able to give you that answer'.

Louisiana Brooke Dolan (pictured) died of smoke inhalation on the last day of the family getaway after a blaze broke out while her mother was in the shower

The coroner could not rule that the fire in the caravan (pictured after) was sparked by a boiler with a gas safety certificate that was months out of date

Tearfully, Miss Broadley said: 'I can't spend the rest of my life not knowing...I won't give up'.

Concluding the Lincoln hearing into Louisiana's death, Miss Tasker said Louisiana died in a 'tragic accident'.

The court heard that earlier on the day of the fire, Miss Broadley had called the owner of the caravan to check the boiler regarding her concerns over it. The court heard the ignition button didn't work and the boiler had to be lit with a long lighter.

The owner's son attended and was passed the long lighter  which was in the kitchen  by one of the children. It was shortly after he left that Miss Broadley, from Clipstone Village, Nottinghamshire, smelled smoke while showering.

During the hearing, Miss Broadley, 35, expressed her anger that the boiler  which should have had its safety certificate renewed five months earlier - wasn't being explicitly blamed for causing the blame.

Karl Foxall, a station manager at Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue was asked to clarify where the fire started from.

'It definitely started in the cupboard but what we can't categorically say that it was from the boiler', he replied.

Natasha Broadley (pictured at Louisiana's funeral in September 2021) was able to escape the static caravan with her three eldest children, but couldn't reach two-year-old Louisiana, the court was told

Miss Broadley said that she would not give up on finding out what caused the fatal fire at the Sealands Caravan Park in Ingoldmells, near Skegness

Concluding the Lincoln hearing into Louisiana's death, Miss Tasker said Louisiana died in a 'tragic accident'. Pictured: Family at Louisiana's funeral

Louisiana's grandmother Donna Broadley said the toddler enjoyed being with her family and 'loved the attention' of being the youngest

Detective Chief Inspector Jo Fortune, the senior investigating officer for Lincolnshire Police, said: 'There was no deliberate ignition'.

She added: 'The gas safety certificate was out of date by five months'.

Police made enquiries with the Crown Prosecution Service about the possibility of charging the caravan owner with manslaughter by gross negligence.

But DCI Fortune told the court: 'The difficulty is we can't get that element of whether there was a fault in the boiler that [the caravan owner] should have known about and got fixed'.

A statement from Louisiana's grandmother Donna Broadley was also read out at the inquest.

She said the toddler enjoyed being with her family and 'loved the attention' of being the youngest. On the day of the fire, when Louisiana was on holiday with her siblings and mum, she had sausage and chips and spent the day 'doing what she lovedThat was being with her mum, brothers and sister'.

At the time of the fire, holidaymakers reported hearing a woman screaming and saw flames 'leaping several feet above the roof of the caravan'.
TikTok claimed it blocked searches for the 'Benadryl Challenge' and said it had never seen a 'content trend' like it after a 13-year-old Ohio boy died as a result of popping 14 tablets.

Jacob Stevens, 13, of Columbus, is the latest victim to die from the Benadryl Challenge on TikTok. The young teen was filmed by his friends downing an alarming number of the anti-allergy pills. He suffered near-immediate seizures, fell into a coma and was put on a ventilator for six days before dying.

The popular social media platform - which recently sat in the hot seat before Congress - has been made aware of the teen's death and told DailyMail.com in a statement: 'Our deepest sympathies go out to the family.

'We have never seen this type of content trend on our platform and have blocked searches for years to help discourage copycat behavior,' a TikTok spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Thursday.

The Chinese platform said it is a 'priority' to 'strictly prohibit and remove content that promotes dangerous behavior' and has a team of '40,000 safety professionals' actively working to remove any concerning content, the spokesperson said.

TikTok has removed 96 percent of videos of the challenge - which predates the creation of TikTok. More than 70 percent of those videos had no views. In addition, more than 80 percent were removed within 24 hours.

Scroll down for video

Jacob Stevens, 13, of Columbus, (pictured on a ventilator) is the latest victim to die from the Benadryl Challenge on TikTok

The young teen was filmed by his friends downing an alarming number of the allergy pill and his body immediately began to seize and he had to be put on a ventilator for six days before he died

The Benadryl Challenge encourages participants to down a dozen or more antihistamines - equivalent to a dose six times larger than recommended - to induce hallucinations.

The deadly stunt's virality has caused several professionals to take to the app to warn youngsters away from the challenge.

Dr. Jen Caudle, of Philadelphia, said: 'Folks are trying to catch this on social media, trying to film it, it's a social media challenge. It is a death trap, if you ask me.

'The latest tragedy is an example of this,' she continued. 'This is a warning to parents for kids, for people out there, do not try this.'

Caudle warned other side effects of taking too much Benadryl or other antihistamines can be heart problems, seizures, as well as, death.

'Only take medications as prescribed,' she warned. 'Parents, make sure you lock up medications, over-the-counter medications, and make sure they are not easily accessible.

'Please be aware of this and do not ever attempt any challenge, such as this.'

Jacob's father, Justin Stevens, reiterated this, saying: 'Keep an eye at what theyre doing on that phone. Talk to them about the situation. I want everyone to know about my son.'

Jacob was rushed to the hospital as his body began to shut down, and his family decided to take him off of life-support six days later after his brain functions ceased.

'It was too much for his body,' Justin said.

The teen was placed on a ventilator and lay in the hospital for six days before doctors found his brain was no longer responsive.

'No brain scan, there was nothing there,' Justin said. 'They said we could keep him on the vent, that he could lay there - but he will never open his eyes, he'll never breathe, smile, walk or talk.'

He said it was the 'worst day of his life' when doctors told him about his son's terminal condition.

Justin recalled Jacob as being a caring kid who could brighten any day.

'It didn't matter how bad of a day I was having, no one could make me smile, Jacob could make me smile,' Justin recalled through tears.

The Chinese platform said it has 'never seen this type of content trend on our platform and have blocked searches for years to help discourage copycat behavior'

Justin and his family have dedicated themselves to making sure such a tragedy never happens again.

'I'm going to do anything I can to make sure another child doesn't go through it,' Jacob's grandmother, Dianna, said.

The family has begun pushing lawmakers to take steps to prevent other kids from partaking in such a challenge by putting age restrictions on over-the-counter drugs like Benadryl.

They also want to see TikTok impose an age restriction for making accounts, forcing users to provide identification before being allowed onto the platform.

Jacob was not the first to die from the challenge.

In 2020 a 15-year-old Oklahoma girl died after overdosing on the pills.

Responding to the challenge, the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement warning of the dangers of participating.

'Taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma or even death,' the FDA wrote.

Chloe Marie Phillips, 15, of Blanchard, Oklahoma, died in the early morning hours of August 21, 2020, after she overdosed on Benadryl

'We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the 'Benadryl Challenge' encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.'

Johnson & Johnson, who manufacture Benadryl, also issued a warning about the 'extremely concerning' and 'dangerous' trend.

The pharmaceutical company said the trend should be 'stopped immediately.'

'Large amounts of Benadryl can cause seizures and, particularly, problems with the heart. The heart tends to go out of rhythm and not pump blood effectively,' Scott Schaeffer, director of the Oklahoma Center for Poison and Drug Information, said.

The CDC found in between 2019 and 2020 that 15 percent of overdoses were due to antihistamines, like Benadryl. Most antihistamines-involved overdoses contain diphenhydramine, which is the main ingredient in Benadryl.
A mastermind has admitted being behind a scam which saw fraudsters steal nearly 50million from victims across the world.

Tejay Fletcher, 35, was the brains behind iSpoof.cc, where fraudsters could buy the tools to carry out their criminal trade by paying a subscription.

The Met Police texted 70,000 people who were targeted by scammers using iSpoof, which has now been shut down.

Some 200,000 UK victims lost 43 million while 100 million was lost globally.

Twenty people every minute were being contacted by callers at one point, using technology bought from the site.

In exchange for monthly subscriptions, iSpoof provided its users with services, which enabled its subscribers to use a caller ID 'spoof' to appear as if they were calling victims from a bank or other trusted organisation.

Tejay Fletcher, 35, was the brains behind ispoof.cc, where fraudsters could buy the tools to carry out their criminal trade by paying a subscription

iSpoof enabled criminals to mimic bank telephone numbers and caller IDs to scam people

Criminal users could call unsuspecting bank customers pretending to be genuine employees, obtain passwords, PIN codes, and then access customers' bank accounts and empty them out.

Fletcher admitted four charges, including fraud and money laundering offences at Southwark Crown Court today.

The charges followed the largest fraud investigation that has ever taken place in the UK - led by the Metropolitan Police and supported by international law enforcement.

The amount received from users in iSpoof subscriptions and then paid out to Fletcher and others was 112.6 Bitcoin (BTC), or approximately 3.2 million.

Fletcher led the way as the website administrator for the majority of time iSpoof was operating, receiving the largest share of the profits of iSpoof - at least 1.3 million from the fraudulent site, the court heard.

Fletcher, of Western Gateway, Docklands, east London, admitted making or supplying articles for use in fraud, encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, possessing criminal property and transferring criminal property.

He will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

Thomas Short, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'As the leading administrator of the iSpoof website, Tejay Fletcher helped to provide fraudsters with the tools to cheat innocent people on a shocking scale.

'Fraud is an insidious crime and the cost to the many victims in this case has not just been financial; it has also caused huge emotional distress and devastation.

The Met Police texted 70,000 people who were targeted by scammers using iSpoof, which has now been shut down

'We want to encourage all those who think they've been a victim of a fraud to come forward and report it.

'The CPS works closely with police to bring fraudulent offenders like Fletcher to justice and I hope today's conviction sends a strong message to criminals that they can no longer hide behind online anonymity.'

Helen Rance, Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent, said: 'I am incredibly proud of my team in the Cyber Crime unit who ran this investigation resulting in Fletcher pleading guilty. He was the ringleader of a slick fraud website which enabled criminals to scam innocent people of millions of pounds.

'We are doing more than ever before to protect Londoners from spoofing and cyber fraud and devised a bespoke plan to reach out to victims who were targeted via iSpoof.'
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before a hearing on Supreme Court ethics after revelations about Clarence Thomas' free vacations.

Durbin asked Roberts or another justice he designates to appear before the committee for a hearing slated for May 2 at 10 a.m., while assuring him the questions from Senators would be limited in scope to Supreme Court ethics.

Durbin noted the last time there was a Supreme Court ethics debate was in 2011 - and no formal code came of it.

'Since then, there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally,' he wrote in the letter, avoiding mention of Thomas specifically.

Senate Judiciary Dems are calling on Chief Justice John Roberts, right to testify about court ethics after reports of Justice Clarence Thomas, left, taking free vacations and accepting expensive gifts

Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin noted the last time a Supreme Court ethics code was discussed was in 2011

'The time has come for a new public conversation on ways to restore confidence in the Court's ethical standards. I invite you to join it.'

The hearing comes after a series of bombshell reports about Thomas' relationship with billionaire Harlan Crow - which included lavish gifts, odd but pricey gifts and now a real estate transaction where Crow bought the house Thomas' mother lives in and is not charging her rent.

Thomas has since said he would amend his 2014 financial disclosure to include the sale.

Unlike other federal courts, the Supreme Court does not have a formal code of ethics. The high court has said it informally follows the rules of lower-court US judges.

There had been call for a code of ethics when previous reports about Thomas's gifts from real estate billionaire Harlan Crow came out in 2011, which Roberts 'dismissed' at the time, according to Durbin.

Billionaire developer and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow blasted a ProPublica report on the lavish vacations he hosted for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom he has called a dear friend

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas plans to amend his financial disclosure to reflect the sale of property totaling more than $100,000 to billionaire Harlan Crow

A 2014 photograph shows the vacant lots that Crow bought from Thomas

Durbin wrote that there is 'ample precedent' for justices testifying before Congress, noting lawmakers heard testimony from them in 2011.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, told reporters he does not think Roberts will agree to testify.

'Let him deal with a situation in his own backyard,' said Graham, R-S.C. 'Im not saying its inappropriate, Im just saying I would be surprised if he agreed to come. And I would support his decision not to come.'

Earlier this week Crow spoke out in his first interview since the explosive stories.

'I think it's a political hit job,' Crow told the Dallas Morning News. 'I don't think the media cares really much about Harlan Crow, and I think they're right. They shouldn't care much about Harlan Crow.'

He said he thought the reports were 'factually incorrect and being written with a strong political agenda.'

He also defended his collection of memorabilia from the Nazi period  saying: 'We have a small number of things here that are about bad guys, including items related to slavery, which he called 'a great evil in American history,' and a collection on the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The relationship between Thomas and the GOP megadonor was first formed aboard a private jet.

Rep. Chuy Garcia leads a press conference calling on Clarence Thomas to resign

Crow said he met Thomas at a meeting in D.C. of the now-defunct free market National Center for Policy Analysis think tank. He offered Thomas a ride on his private jet upon learning he had a speaking engagement for the group in Dallas, where he lives.

'I had never met him,' Crow said. 'During that flight, we found out we were kind of simpatico. We're the same age. We grew up in the same era. We come from absolutely polar opposite life stories, but we had a lot in common.'

Jet transport would turn out to figure prominently in revelations about his vacations with Thomas, including one that involved private jet travel to Indonesia.

Thomas will now include on his financial records sale of the Georgia home - where his mother, Leola Williams, 94, lives rent-free - to Crow for $100,000.

The updated form will reflect the 2014 deal, which had Crow purchasing the single-story home and two vacant lots for $133,363 as a future 'public museum' dedicated to Thomas's life.

A federal disclosure law requires justices and other officials to report the sale of real estate over $1,000. But Thomas never reported selling the Savannah properties.

Crow told ProPublica he bought the home, where Thomas partially grew up, to one day preserve it for future generations.

The reversal is not the first time the justice with lifetime tenure has agreed to update his disclosures following press reports.

A source who spoke about the decision to update the forms told CNN Thomas filled out earlier versions with the help of aides and characterized it as an oversight, while also arguing the powerful jurist believed he didn't have to disclose it because he had lost money on the transactions.

That arrangement is apparently founded on Thomas having invested between $50,000 and $70,000 on improvements, on a sale that brought proceeds of $44,000, according to the source, although the disclosure form itself requires reporting of transactions, not simply those that turn a profit.

Thomas has had to amend his disclosure reports in the past. He did so in 2011 after neglecting to mention income his wife earned at the conservative Heritage Foundation between 1998 and 2003 after ethics watchdog Common Cause flagged the matter.
Main Street Caucus Vice-Chair Rep. Stephanie Bice is confident that the House will pass a debt ceiling bill with input from her groups members which are more amenable to discussions with leadership than the far-right Freedom Caucus, although she recognizes the proposed deal not be the final product in a divided government.

The caucus has been central to initial discussions on the debt ceiling negotiations and praised the proposal put out this week by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

McCarthys proposal would cap spending at fiscal year 2022 levels in 2024, and then limit grow to 1 percent per year, which he says will save $4.5 trillion. It would also rescind unspent Covid-19 funds, ban student loan forgiveness, eliminate some green tax credits and institute stricter work requirements for social programs.

Last week, the Main Street Caucus put out a list of its own priorities for leadership to take note of in a debt ceiling deal, many of which were included in the package.

Bice, R-Okla., said the 'plan' is to get the debt ceiling package across the finish line next week, and that the GOP House leadership team is feeling 'pretty confident' about having the votes for final passage.

Rep. Stephanie Bice said the 'plan' is to get the debt ceiling package across the finish line next week

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., put out a debt ceiling proposal this week

'Will this be the final product? Likely not, and we recognize that. But it certainly needs to be a starting point,' Bice told DailyMail.com Thursday at an event hosted by Winning for Women.

'Speaker McCarthy and [Whip] Tom Emmer and [Deputy Whip] Guy Reschenthaler have spent hours and hours and hours with members across all factions to hear the voices of those that you know, what happened put in this discussion, Bice said.

She also stated that the Main Street Caucus, which is currently at 70 members strong, is not another 'moderate group as it is often mistakenly referred to.

Bice said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., the chairman, hails from a deeply Republican state and members are for the most part extremely conservative.

'We have a wide variety of members from across the political ideology from the Republican side that are part of this group,' explained Bice, who says the caucus is very conservative in their ideology but more amenable to discussion with leadership than the Freedom Caucus.

'But I think I'm excited to be part of the Main Street group, because I do think that it gets us the ability to maybe have a voice at the table that's a very conservative one, but not a Freedom Caucus one.'

Bice says the caucus is 'still respectful' of others in the group that may have slightly different positions, but work together toward the same goals.

As for what comes next on the debt ceiling negotiations, Bice said Republicans 'want to come to the table and work together to find some sort of solution' despite a divided government.

Rep. Scott Perry is the head of the far-right Freedom Caucus, which has been a thorn in the side of McCarthy

McCarthy delivered a speech Monday to Wall Street traders, CEOs and other financial leaders pushing for negotiations on the debt ceiling with the Biden administration, which has disengaged from the process due to opposition to spending cuts proposed by the GOP.

'Yes,' McCarthy answered when asked directly by DailyMail.com if he has the votes in his narrow 222-213 GOP majority to pass a package that would raise the debt limit until 2024.

'We've been talking about it and it's all coming together,' the speaker continued. 'And we're seeing that the Republicans are ready to act where the president doesn't really want to engage.'

It remains to be seen if McCarthy can unite all "Five Family" factions of the GOP, including the far-right Freedom Caucus which has been a thorn in the side of the speaker starting with his dragged out leadership vote.

The speaker insisted that the goal of his speech at the New York Stock Exchange, which referenced an address by former President Ronald Reagan in 1985 on the economy, was to 'inform' Wall Street about what is actually happening in Washington, D.C., on negotiations -- which haven't moved forward in months.

'Well it was just to inform them that the president has ignored this for 75 days. I think it's important especially as we walk down this challenge that they know exactly what's going on,' he told DailyMail.com.
During his walkabout, community activist JJ Smith asked him about his plan to combat the raging fentanyl crisis plaguing the streets of San Francisco

During a surprise visit to the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom refused to answer a community activist who asked him how he plans to address the ongoing fentanyl crisis.

JJ Smith, an activist who documents the horror he sees on the streets of San Francisco, said when the governor walked by him, he asked: 'What are you going to do about this fentanyl epidemic?'

The Governor, who had just seconds prior extended a theatrical wave to people watching him take his walkabout, punted Smith's question and said: 'What should I do JJ? ... I need you to tell me what we need to do.'

Recounting the back and forth later, Smith said the governor 'shrugged me on [sic]' and did not answer the question.

'I'm a citizen, I pay taxes. I've been paying taxes in San Francisco for many years and I deserve [for him to] at least stop and say something to me about that,' said Smith, whose online videos often document the tormented lives of those addicted to fentanyl and living on the streets.

Of Newsom's unexpected visit to the Tenderloin - an area of the city known for its high crime rate and illegal drug activity - Smith said: 'You can't walk down the street and just think you're going to see everything.'

He added that Newsom and his entourage walked down the street during a bright and sunny hour of the day, when they weren't likely to see any misdeeds occurring.

'I'm in the streets, I know what's going on on the streets,' he said.

'People from City Hall can't tell you what's going on on the streets, because they don't know.'

Smith said he later saw the governor again and asked his same question, to which the governor replied: 'I'm here to work on it now.'

Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta were joined by San Francisco Mayor London Breed's chief of staff on Wednesday morning for a walk around the Tenderloin and South of Market districts.

The previously undisclosed visit was focused on the fentanyl crisis. The governor's spokesman said the visit was a Cabinet meeting that Newsom conducts from time to time.

The two areas are considered the epicenters of the city's drug and homelessness crisis.

New numbers show a 41 percent jump in overdoses in San Francisco in the first three months of 2023, as compared with the first quarter of last year.

Two hundred people died in those months from accidental drug overdoses, the vast majority of which involved fentanyl.

Recently, San Francisco politicians have been looking to outside sources for assistance managing the problem.

Aaron Peskin, the president of the Board of Supervisors, sent letters to the governor and Representative Nancy Pelosi last week asking for federal and state aid to help improve the conditions of the streets.

Smith confronted Newsom, who said he was in town to discuss policy solutions for the ongoing fentanyl crisis that Smith regularly documents

The California Governor recently boosted a new political action committee with $10million to help Democrats win in red states ahead of the 2024 election and what could be a future run for president

The unnamed woman had to have both of her feet amputated because she would not seek medical treatment for the flesh eating disease

Homeless men are seen on a sidewalk near San Francisco's City Hall, where legislators dream up increasingly relaxed policies that fail to protect any part of the city's vulnerable population

Public policy in San Francisco has continually allowed for a skyrocketing homeless, drug addicted and mentally unstable population to run the streets of the city.

The city is also facing a spiraling violent crime problem. Tech exec Bob Lee became one of the city's latest murder victims last week.

The number of homeless people in San Francisco was tallied in February of last year at almost 8,000, the second highest figure of any year since 2005, according to the official government count which takes place every three years.

It has almost certainly ballooned since the latest count.

Various liberal politicians and city leaders have attempted to implement numerous policies to curb the many issues that have arisen due to the swelling homeless and drug addicted population.

One specific harm reduction policy that failed was the opening of the Tenderloin Center last year that was meant to help alleviate the city's drug and homelessness crisis.

It cost taxpayers a whopping $22million and was meant to be a 'safe place' for addicts to 'get high without getting robbed' and without fear of fatally overdosing.

Users were also meant to be directed to help centers, though during its first four months of operations, it referred just 18 people of the more than 23,000 who were welcomed to the site.

Overall less than one per cent of visits ended in a 'completed linkage' to behavioral health programs.

Despite their efforts, 2022 saw upward of 500 people die from overdoses in San Francisco. In 2021, that figure was 641.

Many of those living on the streets battle serious illnesses often exacerbated by substance use.

Homeless people are seen in Tenderloin district of San Francisco

Last month, a homeless woman was filmed after having both of her feet amputated following an illness that passersby had begged her to be treated for.

On Feb 6, JJ Smith had filmed the shocking first clip of the woman refusing medical help for her damaged feet.

In a heartbreaking follow-up posted on March 30, it appears the woman did not heed his advice as she appeared in a wheelchair with stumps.

In the video from February, the wild-eyed woman, who appears to be foaming at the mouth, refuses the videographer's offer to take her to the hospital to treat the infection that is on both of her feet.

'Let me get you to the hospital,' he says.

'No, no, no,' she replies as she goes to sit down on a pile of dirty materials.

'Your feet is [sic] going to get cut off, if you don't fix it,' said Smith.

'It will be fixed I promise,' she insisted.

Further details of what caused the woman's illness have not been shared.
Alex Murdaugh wants to leave protective custody and move back into the general population of the prison where he is being held, according to his attorney.

Murdaugh, who is serving two life sentences at McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina after brutally killing his wife and son, reportedly would rather chance being harmed by other inmates than remain isolated.

His lawyer Jim Griffin told NewsNation: 'He thinks he can be productive in the general population. He would rather take his chances on the yard than rot away in a cell, to be honest with you.'

Murdaugh, 54, executed his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at their home in June 2021 - shooting them with two different weapons before calling 911 and claiming he discovered the bodies.

He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in March following a six-week blockbuster trial - but 'has hope he will get out one day', his lawyer said.

Murdaugh's lawyer Jim Griffin, said Murdaugh 'does not have a death wish' and 'looks forward to the day of getting out of prison

Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in March following a six-week blockbuster trial



Murdaugh is incarcerated at the maximum security McCormick Correctional Institution which houses some of South Carolinas most violent prisoners.

The disgraced lawyer was moved into the statewide protective custody unit of the prison following a 45-day evaluation at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia.

Griffin said that Murdaugh would like to move out of protective custody at the South Carolina jail and into the general population wing - despite threats being made against him to prison officials.

He said: 'Alex wants to contribute. There's a lot of things he could do in the general population. He's a lawyer, he's a college-educated person and there are programs he can assist with.

'He's heard from prison officials there have been threats against him - he hasn't received those directly. He had some threats when he was in the county jail but he was able to navigate through that.

'Anytime youre in prison and youre a name like he is, youre going to be challenged but he was able to overcome and develop relationships, and he was productive in the county jail and he thinks he could be productive in the general population.'

McCormick Correctional Institution, which has a maximum capacity of 1,128 adult male inmates, has a violent and chaotic history which includes prisoners rioting, inmates murdered in their cells and drugs being smuggled in via drone.

Despite his crimes, Murdaugh has allegedly been bombarded with love letters and approached by Netflix for further episodes of its docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.

His lawyer, who is appealing his conviction, added that Murdaugh 'does not have a death wish' and 'looks forward to the day of getting out of prison.'

'He is not someone who has given up hope. He has hope for the future, he has hope he will get out one day,' added Griffin.

Murdaugh is being held at the maximum security McCormick Correctional Institution which houses some of South Carolinas most violent prisoners

Murdaugh was described by the judge who sentenced him as a 'monster'

'He thinks he can be productive in the general population,' Murdaugh's lawyer has said

Only Buster (right) remains alive and free while his mother and brother are dead, and father is in prison

Murdaugh is led out of the court by sheriff's deputies after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son

Murdaugh, whose family dominated the legal landscape in the southern part of South Carolina for 100 years, was branded a 'monster' by a judge after a six-week trial.

Prosecutors said he executed his family - making it look like outside murder - to cause a distraction and generate sympathy as investigators closed in on his own murky finances.

At the time of the killings he faced a hearing that could have revealed what he later admitted to be an $8.5million theft from his South Carolina law firm.

His lawyer added that Murdaugh has avoided making contact with his surviving son Buster while he has been incarcerated, for fear the calls would be subject to public records requests. Instead, the two communicate through writing letters.

Griffin said: 'Hes trying to protect Buster; hes trying to protect his family from further exposure and attention. Pretty soon Buster will be able to visit him but that hasnt been arranged yet.'

In March, the prosecutors who put Murdaugh behind bars revealed that they are pursuing a third life sentence for alleged financial crimes.

A third conviction would ensure the legal scion dies in prison, and authorities insist they will not stop chasing charges against Murdaugh until each of his victims see justice.

Murdaugh is facing 99 pending charges for alleged financial crimes, and the convicted murderer could be back in court in each of the five South Carolina counties where the offences took place.
A 13-year-old schoolgirl who was raped in a park has hit out as her attacker launched an appeal against his conviction - despite being spared a prison sentence.

The case of Sean Hogg, who was 17 at the time of his attack, sparked anger when he was deemed too young to be jailed despite being found guilty of attacking the teenager.

His victim, who is now 18, was diagnosed with PTSD, suffered from panic attacks and self-harmed on a daily basis following the attacks.

She even had CCTV was fitted in her home so she could see who was coming into her street and would not leave the house without one of her grandparents.

The girl, who is anonymous to protect her identity, has slammed the sex beast's decision to appeal his conviction.

The case of Sean Hogg, pictured, who was 17 at the time of his attack, sparked anger when he was deemed too young to be jailed despite being found guilty of attacking the teenager

His victim, who is now 18, was diagnosed with PTSD, suffered from panic attacks and self-harmed on a daily basis following the attacks. Pictured: The girl alongside her grandparents

'I'm wondering what was the point? I'm angry that he walked out of court a free man but still gets to appeal,' she told the Daily Record.

'He was convicted of raping me but didn't go to jail and he's still not happy.'

New sentencing guidelines for under 25s meant Sean Hogg was not sent to prison and instead given 270 hours of unpaid work.

Critics, including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, said it was appalling that anyone found guilty of rape should escape a prison sentence.

Hogg attacked the young victim in Dalkeith Country Park in Midlothian on a number of occasions in 2018.

The victim's grandmother further criticised the Crown Office- Scotland's insependant public prosecution service - fortheir handling of the case.

She claims that they are not telling her granddaughter what her rights are and they are forced to find out from the media what is happening.

She added: 'The judge got it wrong and something has to change but it won't if people stop reporting. We can't have young women like my granddaughter being raped and then receiving a life sentence, imprisoning her once more in her home, terrified to go out.'

The 21-year-old, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, has now instructed his legal team to challenge his conviction

A judge at the High Court in Glasgow (pictured) ordered Hogg, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, to undergo 270 hours of unpaid work, sparking outrage and calls to review sentencing guidelines.

The Crown Office have not yet decided whether to appeal Hogg's sentence.

The 21-year-old, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, has now instructed his legal team to challenge his conviction.

His appeal bid was lodged at the High Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh and a hearing will take place at a later date.

Hogg was sentenced earlier this month at the High Court in Glasgow after being found guilty of rape.

Judge Lord Lake said he had to take Hogg's age into account. As well as the community work, Hogg was placed under supervision and put on the sex offenders register.

His victim spoke out earlier this week about how the rape and the subsequent sentence has affected her.

In a statement, she said she said she has suffered from anxiety, nightmares and has had relationship problems.

She said: 'The day my grandmother told me Sean Hogg had been found guilty of rape I thought there may be a chance of being happy again. I knew he was going to go to jail.

'I felt glad I reported it as I felt he needed to pay for what he had done.

'Why is it ok to rape anyone and not go to jail? Why was he allowed to get on with his life when he's clearly ruined mine? Did the judge not bother reading the ordeal I had suffered?

'Now it makes me think why did I even bother reporting the rape in the first place. Nothing happened.

'My grandparents felt they had let me down but they didn't. It was the judge that let me down.

'I did not get justice, the system failed me, the judge failed me, he didn't protect me. I had done nothing wrong and yet he is a free man. You let him go but gave me, the victim, a life sentence.'

The teenager's family have urged the Crown Office to appeal the sentence imposed on Hogg on the grounds that it is 'unduly lenient'.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he understands the concerns which have been expressed about the case, but stressed that sentencing was a matter for the judiciary.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service said: 'We have received intimation of intention to appeal against conviction.'

A spokesperson for the Crown Office said: 'The Crown is currently considering whether there are grounds for lodging an appeal against this sentence.'
The White House issued stinging condemnation Thursday of Florida's expansion of its 'don't say gay' law, essentially accusing the state of censoring classes in a reverse form of cancel culture.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the move by the Florida Board of Education as 'dystopian.'

A day earlier it approved a ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding regulations that already applied up to grade three.

It marked another win for Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares the ground for an expected presidential run.

Jean-Pierre turned her fire on the decision from the White House podium and called out what she saw as Republican hypocrisy.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Florida's expansion of its 'don't say gay' law, accusing the state of censoring classes in a reverse form of cancel culture

The Parental Rights in Education law  nicknamed the 'Don't Say Gay' law by detractors  was signed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis and sparked a firestorm across the country

'Under threat of having their licenses revoked, gay teachers have been forced to take down pictures of their spouses from their desks and censor their classroom materials,' she said.

'Censoring our classes is not how public education is supposed to work in a free country.

'Conservative politicians love to complain about the so-called "cancel culture," all while threatening teachers with losing their jobs if they teach something that the MAGA extremists don't agree with.'

The Parental Rights in Education law  nicknamed the 'Don't Say Gay' law by detractors  was signed last year by the governor and sparked a firestorm across the country. Critics claim it could harm children who identify as gay and transgender.

While the previous version of the law prohibited instruction of these topics to children ages 5 through 8, the expansion means it will now apply to students up to the age of 18.

The new rule - which will now apply to grades four to 12 in the state after previously capping at 3rd grade - comes as DeSantis is touring the early primary contest state of South Carolina, where he railed against ' woke ' issues like transgenderism.

Republican voters, meanwhile, are still waiting for him to announce his highly anticipated run for President as he ramps up his war with Disney and while Donald Trump keeps up his attacks.

Florida's Education Department approved a rule on Wednesday that expands Ron DeSantis's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law to include prohibiting the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in all public school grades

A Trump super PAC released an ad last week calling DeSantis 'pudding fingers' - referencing claims he ate chocolate pudding with his hands on a flight - and criticized his past calls to cut Social Security and Medicare.

'It is wrong for a teacher to tell a student that they may have been born in the wrong body or that their gender is a choice,' DeSantis said during his remarks in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday morning.

'So we don't let that happen in Florida,' he lauded. 'Disney objects to that, well so be it, we're going to do that.'

Disney's CEO-at-the-time came out against the Parental Rights in Education after DeSantis signed the law, sparking a now year-long war between the corporation and Florida's governor.

The DeSantis administration put forward the proposal last month to expand the law as part of his agenda aiming to make Florida the 'Citadel of Freedom' where 'woke goes to die.'

DeSantis has not commented on the proposal.

'If you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat,' he said at his event in South Carolina on Wednesday in reference to pushing through several Republican-agenda laws in his time as governor.

The governor previously directed questions about the law to Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., who said the new rule was meant to clarify confusion around the existing law and reinforce that teachers should not deviate from existing curriculums.

'We're not removing anything here,' Diaz Jr. said on Wednesday. 'All we are doing is we are setting the expectations so our teachers are clear: that they are to teach to the standards.'
'Killer' yoga teacher Kaitlin Armstrong made a brief pre-trial court appearance after she allegedly murdered her boyfriend's lover before fleeing to Costa Rica and getting plastic surgery to avoid recognition.

Armstrong, 34, was in and out of court on Thursday for a quick scheduling hearing before her trial, which is set to begin in late June.

The redhead beauty appeared tired as she rolled up to court in an unflattering maroon prison shirt, haphazardly paired with black-and-white stripped pants marked with an M.

Although her visit to the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in Austin, Texas, was brief, she did appeared to have stayed long enough for a correctional officer to remove her handcuffs and allow her to move freely throughout the courtroom.

Armstrong, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson in July, was seen holding a white notepad and calmly listening to an attorney while a correctional officer stood guard and Travis County Judge Brenda Kennedy looked on.

'Killer' yoga teacher Kaitlin Armstrong, 34, was in and out of court on Thursday for a quick scheduling hearing before her trial, which is set to begin in late June. She pleaded not guilty to the murder of Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson in July

The redhead beauty appeared tired as she rolled up to court in an unflattering maroon prison shirt, haphazardly paired with black-and-white stripped pants marked with an M

Although her visit to the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in Austin, Texas, was brief, she did appeared to have stayed long enough for a correctional officer to remove her handcuffs and allow her to move freely throughout the courtroom

The former yoga teacher is said to have killed Wilson on May 11 with two shots to her head and another in her chest.

Armstrong reportedly flew into a jealous rage after discovering pro-cyclist Wilson, 25, was seeing her cyclist boyfriend, Colin Strickland.

Armstrong was questioned by Austin police officers on May 14 after they discovered that the yoga instructor had an open misdemeanor warrant on a theft of services charge.

The cops then used the opportunity to briefly question her about Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson's death several days earlier - after they received an anonymous tip that Armstrong flew into a rage when she discovered that her live-in boyfriend, Colin Strickland, had previously been romantically involved with Wilson.

During the interview, cops showed Armstrong video surveillance of her SUV apparently coming to a stop outside the apartment where Wilson was found dead on May 11.

The footage was time stamped just one minute after Wilson, 25, entered the building following a swim and dinner with Strickland.

The former yoga teacher is said to have killed Wilson (left) on May 11 with two bullet holes in her head and another in her chest after finding out her boyfriend Colin Strickland (right) was having an affair with her

Authorities revealed the yoga teacher paid for a nose job and dyed her hair brown after fleeing the US (pictured: Her driver's license, left, and her booking photo, right)

Strickland, 35, had reportedly told Armstrong, his girlfriend of three months, he was dropping flowers off for someone and his phone had died, according to KXAN.

During the interview, Armstrong reportedly admitted it 'doesn't look good,' and a probable cause document for her arrest says she 'had no explanation as to why it was in the area, and did not make any denials surrounding the statements presented to her.'

Still, Austin police ultimately had to let Armstrong go after they realized that the warrant for her arrest had expired, and the next day she received a check for Jeep Grand Cherokee from a CarMax dealership in south Austin for $12,200.

In August, Armstrong attempted to claim that law enforcement illegally quizzed her over the death of her supposed live rival, claiming that she was not read her Miranda Rights before being interrogated.

However, Kennedy denied the motion in November, saying Armstrong and her defense team were unable to convince the court detectives illegally brought her for an interview.

Armstrong's car was spotted again that night after Strickland dropped off Wilson

During Wilson and Strickland's secret meet-up, Armstrong's 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee was spotted driving outside the home of Wilson's friend, where the cyclist was staying at

In addition, expert witness, Douglas Deaton, argued that the arrest warrant was 'completely unnecessary' and wasn't written accurately and was a borderline character assassination [of Armstrong],' who fled to Costa Rica after Wilson's death.

Despite some inaccurate information, the judge ruled there was still probable cause to arrest Armstrong. 'There was no evidence of any intentional disregard for the truth,' Kennedy said at the time.

She fled Texas in May, travelling to Costa Rica from Newark Airport, in New Jersey, before she was arrested at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach.

Armstrong spent 43 days on the run before authorities tracked her down, and was extradited back to the US to face first-degree murder charges.

Authorities revealed the yoga teacher paid for a $6,000 nose job and dyed her hair brown after fleeing the US, using her sisters passport to fly to leave the country.

Armstrong also used several aliases while on the run, using the name 'Ari' to woo a man she met in a tattoo shop while on the run.

She fled Texas in May, travelling to Costa Rica from Newark Airport, in New Jersey, before she was arrested at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach. Armstrong spent 43 days on the run before authorities tracked her down, and was extradited back to the US to face charges

She told Teal Akerson she'd been through a 'traumatizing break up' after they met in Costa Rica in June.

He said that Armstrong had a bandage on her nose, which she claimed was from a surfing accident, and he didn't recognize the pictures put out by police.

After her arrest Armstrong admitted that she had been going as 'Ari,' and was deported to Houston.

Other Costa Rican locals said that Armstrong had 'seemed normal,' and spent most of her time working part-time at the front desk of the hostel where she stayed and was teaching yoga.

She reportedly stayed at Don Jon's Surf and Yoga Lodge for less than $20 a night, and partied at a barbecue restaurant founded by a former New York lawyer.

Police found two passports inside her hostel lockbox when they arrested her on an immigration violation.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has claimed she helped cut repeat violent crime in the Bronx by preventing cops from getting involved and enlisting ex-gangsters to help instead - but the latest figures still show overall crime on the increase.

The 33-year-old liberal said making hospitals the center for responding to crime rather than police precincts had led to a 'dramatic' reduction in serious offending.

'As leaders, we should focus on solutions that are working instead of what helps us look "tough"', she crowed in a tweet Tuesday.

But the latest statistics show that while murder and rape are down in the Bronx, felony assaults are up 10 percent and burglary has risen by more than 2 percent, with overall crime increasing in the borough by 4.4 percent compared to 2022.

The picture is starker compared with two years ago. Rape increased by 11 percent, robbery by 40 percent, felony assault by 36 percent and burglary by 47 percent. Overall crime in the Bronx rose by almost 50 percent compared to 2021, according to the NYPD.

AOC proudly stated there were no police in the hospital taking part in the work. When the interviewer asked: 'Are there cops at this hospital that are addressing the issue?' She exclaimed, 'Hell no', and threw her head back and laughed hysterically

The latest statistics show that while murder and rape are down in the Bronx, felony assaults are up 10 percent and burglary has risen by more than 2 percent, with overall crime increasing in the borough by 4.4 percent compared to 2022. The picture is starker compared with two years ago. Rape increased by 11 percent, robbery by 40 percent, felony assault by 36 percent and burglary by 47 percent. Overall crime in the Bronx is up by almost 50 percent, according to the NYPD

In the Bronx, when we made our public hospital the response center to violent crimes instead of jails and precincts, reoccurrence of crime fell dramatically.



As leaders, we should focus on solutions that are working instead of what helps us look tough.pic.twitter.com/3t7OJbi7ys  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 18, 2023

AOC tweeted out an interview she gave to The Daily Show in which she said about how they now treat crime as 'a public health issue' and use the tactics of preventative medicine to stop reoffending.

Now in its seventh year, the program known as Stand Up to Violence is the first of its kind in New York, using the Jacobi Medical Center to treat crime like a disease.

AOC proudly stated there were no police in the hospital taking part in the work.

When the interviewer asked: 'Are there cops at this hospital that are addressing the issue?'

She exclaimed, 'Hell no', threw her head back and laughed hysterically.

The Bronx-native explained how the 'response center' has shifted from the jail to the hospital. A team of case workers, including former inmates, then work with the victim of the crime to prevent retaliation.

'Some of our most effective people in this work are the former gang members, people who formerly spent time at Rikers,' said the progressive lawmaker.

Adding to her comments, she tweeted: 'Violence interruption works to keep us safe. Our job is to build awareness and popular support around effective solutions and alternatives to mass incarceration.'

But crime is up overall in her borough, with 7,965 in the year to date compared with 7,629 in 2022. Compared to 2010, overall crime has increased by 59 percent.

This reflects a broader crime wave which is sweeping the rest of New York City.

The latest numbers, published on Sunday, reveal that crime is up overall by 0.64 percent. That may not seem a lot, but compared to two years ago, it's a 46 percent increase.

Compared to 2021, rape is up by 8 percent, robbery rose by 45 percent, felony assault ticked up by 33 percent, burglary jumped by 23 percent, grand larceny climbed by 54 percent and car theft soared by 91 percent.

Murder was the only serious crime which trended down, slumping by 7 percent on two years ago.

'This is not what New Yorkers expect or deserve, and we will not stand for it,' NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said earlier this month when revealing the latest data.

'It's clear what we are confronting: A perception among criminals that there are no consequences, even for serious crime. We need tangible changes.'

Without naming names or getting into specifics, Sewell appeared to slam the recent trend toward policies such as bail reform, and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's stance reducing or dropping charges for many crimes.

'[The justice system] must be fair, but it must first and foremost favor the people it was designed to safeguard and protect. When the focus on those people is lost -- New Yorkers, who deserve to be free from fear -- the policies fail to deliver on their most basic purpose, which is public safety,' said Sewell.

'Everyday New Yorkers need more help. Our police need more help. We need help from every corner of the criminal justice system, and from everyone who lives in, works in, or visits our great city.'

The latest crime surge comes after Mayor Eric Adams last month promised a designated subway police task force to tackle crime and homelessness in stations and on trains.

Adams, a Democrat and former NYPD captain, was elected on a vow to crack down on crime and clean up the city.
Alec Baldwin paid tribute to his wife Hilaria as it emerged charges against him for accidentally shooting and killing a cinematographer on the set of his western movie Rust were being dropped.

'I owe everything I have to this woman,' said Baldwin, posting a photo to Instagram with his 39-year-old wife, mother to his seven children.

Baldwin added: '(and to you, Luke)' - a reference to his attorney, Luke Nikas.

The charges were dropped after new evidence emerged suggesting that the gun could have been fired without pulling the trigger, a source close to the investigation told The Wall Street Journal.

The FBI rubbished Baldwin's claim that he did not pull the trigger, but the source said the gun was modified before it reached the set, to allow it to fire a bullet without the trigger being pulled.

Charges against the armorer who provided the fatal weapon remain.

It was announced earlier this year that Baldwin would remain in the lead role for Rust and that another cinematographer would replace Hutchins

Alec Baldwin arrived in Montana one day before filming resumes on his troubled western movie Rust, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show

Baldwin, 65, discovered on Thursday that two involuntary manslaughter charges against him over the October 2021 killing of Halyna Hutchins have been dropped.

His lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, told DailyMail.com: 'We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.'

Baldwin arrived in Montana last night to resume filming the movie, which was being shot in New Mexico at the time of Hutchins' death.

The Santa Fe District Attorney's office did not immediately return requests for comment by DailyMail.com.

Recently-appointed special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis are expected to be filing paperwork to dismiss the charges soon.

It means that the details of the incident are set to be investigated further, and the case could be resurrected in the future.

Baldwin's co-defendant and Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is still facing the charges against her.

This will keep the probe into the accident open and allow prosecutors to retain subpoena power going forward.

It comes just days after the filing of the witness list for the preliminary hearing on May 3 became public.

That includes former Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell  who is suing Baldwin and his fellow producers in one of the many suit against them.

However it is thought that the hearing will not go ahead, with prosecutors looking into the circumstances of the incident again.

It follows the Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies stepping down from the case late last month.

Camera crews were there to capture the tender moment Baldwin kissed his wife and child goodbye on Wednesday

Despite the controversy, on Tuesday a spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions told CNN filming will continue at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana

Baldwin is seen standing next to Hutchins - a mom-of-one - on the set of Rust in October 2021

Production stopped abruptly in October 2021 when Baldwin shot a live round from a prop gun killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the movie's New Mexico set.

Rookie armoire Gutierrez- Reed has had no further part in the filming of the movie  which Baldwin has pushed forward in creating.

In February, the Santa Fe District Attorney's Office dropped a key gun enhancement charge a crime that would have carried a five-year sentence if convicted.

Director Joel Souza, who was injured by the same bullet that killed Hutchins, will also return to finish the project.

Last week a judge sealed from public view the terms of a civil settlement between Baldwin and Hutchins's widower, Matthew, and their son.

Matthew Hutchins and Baldwin came to another agreement in October. Part of that stipulated that Hutchins will serve as executive producer on the film.

After settling the lawsuit last year, Matthew claimed he desired no further 'recriminations'.

But in January, Hutchins's family said they supported Baldwin being charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of Rust in October 2021

David Halls, assistant director of the movie Rust, will testify against actor Alec Baldwin over an accidental shooting on the film's set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Last Thursday, Baldwin filed a motion that another lawsuit filed by Hutchins's parents and sister be be thrown out, claiming they had been distanced from her 'physically, financially and emotionally for years before her death.'

Baldwin said in court documents: 'The loss of a daughter and sister is undoubtedly painful in any circumstance.

'Yet Plaintiffs who had been distanced from Halyna physically, financially, and emotionally for years before her death have no viable cause of action against Defendants.'

Matthew Hutchins had been set to testify in court, and was added to the New Mexico District Attorney's witness list to testify at the preliminary hearing on February 24.

Production stopped abruptly in October 2021 when a prop gun held by Baldwin fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the movie's New Mexico set. An image of Hutchins is shown at a vigil

Baldwin received approval from Judge Mary Marlow Sommer to be absent from the preliminary examination

'Rust' armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was charged alongside Baldwin in the woman's death

Baldwin received approval from Judge Mary Marlow Sommer to be absent from the preliminary examination.

Judge Sommer was set to determine if there was enough evidence to go to a full trial, and the new decision has plunged the case into chaos.

Prosecutors initially alleged Baldwin pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins while Gutierrez-Reed failed to ensure it was unloaded.

The widower, who shared a nine-year-old son with Hutchins, sued the Rust production team last year and was appointed executive director as a part of the settlement.

The extensive witness list includes director Joel Souza, who was wounded by the bullet that passed through Hutchins, and assistant director David Halls.

Halls is accused of telling Baldwin the gun was 'cold' - safe - an accusation he has denied.

He agreed a plea deal with prosecutors in January which included a six-month suspended sentence and a fine.

Prop worker Seth Kenney, camera assistant Lane Luper, line producer Gabrielle Pickle and script supervisor Maime Mitchell will also likely testify.

Matthew Hutchins (left) was added to the New Mexico District Attorney's witness list to testify at the preliminary hearing on February 24 against Alec Baldwin. Matthew is pictured above with Halyna and their now nine-year-old son

Halls signed a plea agreement for the negligent use of a deadly weapon which incurred six months of probation. He also agreed to pay a $500 fine, participate in a firearms safety class and complete 24 hours of community service

Producer and actor Baldwin fired the prop gun (pictured) that killed one crew member and injured another on the set of the movie 'Rust' in New Mexico

Prosecutors noted in court documents submitted in January that Baldwin was absent from an initial firearms training session.

Gutierrez-Reed set up an hour-long subsequent session for Baldwin, but they only completed 30 minutes.

'According to Reed, Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone to his family during the training,' the prosecutors stated.

The affidavit claimed Baldwin gave 'inconsistent accounts' about how the shooting happened - first telling police he 'fired' the gun, then insisting he did not pull the trigger.

Prosecutors stated that 'photos and videos clearly show Baldwin, multiple times, with his finger inside the trigger guard and on the trigger.'

They add: 'Baldwin approached responding deputies on the day of the shooting, wanting to talk to them because he was the one who 'fired' the gun.'

Baldwin claimed in interviews after the shooting that he did not pull the trigger.

He believes the fault lies with the armorer, who he says should have checked the gun was safe before it was handed to him.

Yet the probable cause statement against Baldwin referred to the FBI's previous analysis of the firearm, which 'clearly showed that the weapon could not 'accidentally fire.'

The document also said Baldwin failed to demand 'at least two safety checks between the armorer and himself' prior to the shooting.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had a short reponse on Thursday when she was asked about a report that an IRS whistleblower had come forward to claim politics was affecting the investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes.

'I want to be very clear here. The president respects the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice,' Jean-Pierre said when asked about the investigation in President Joe Biden's son.

'We believe that it should be independent. I'm not going to go beyond that.'

Her comments claim as a man working on the criminal tax probe into Hunter Biden sought whistleblower protections and claimed politics was 'improperly infecting decisions' in the investigation. And top Republicans argued that Biden's administration is interfering in the probe.

'I want to be very clear here. The president respects the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the investigation in President Joe Biden's son

A lawyer representing the unidentified whistleblower wrote senators as well as inspectors general for the Justice Departments and the Treasury Department on Wednesday.

People familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal the probe related to the president's son, who just returned from a trip to Ireland where he accompanied the president on a family reunion.

The protected disclosures 'contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee' and 'involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case,' according to attorney Mark Lytle of Nixon Peabody.

They also 'detail preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected,' Lytle wrote, in a letter obtained by DailyMail.com.

He said his client is a career IRS Criminal Supervisor Special Agent who has been overseeing the 'sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject' since 2020.

He has already shared information with the Treasury's IG for Tax Administration, and the DOJ's IG, and wants to provide further information to Congress, where House and Republican-led committees and GOP senators have already been probing the president's son.

Hunter Biden has been under investigation for a running tax probe. He is seen here with President Joe Biden on their trip to Ireland

A lawyer representing an IRS whistleblower wrote senators seeking protections for information that would 'contradict sworn testimony'

The letter claims politics was 'infecting' decisions

U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump Administration holdover, is overseeing the probe

The lawyer wants legal protections to share the information with Congress. Tax information is generally protected.

The letter didn't identify Hunter Biden or the senior political appointee who gave testimony, although Attorney General Merrick Garland vouched for the independence of U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump holdover who is overseeing the Hunter Biden probe.

'He has been advised he is not to be denied anything he needs,' Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'I have not heard anything from that office to suggest that they are not able to do everything the U.S. attorney wants to do.'

A 2020 subpoena sought years' worth of financial information on Hunter Biden, who held a lucrative board position on the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.

Lytle did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who is already probing the Bidens, pounced on the news.

'It's deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations,' he said. He said his panel was following the 'Biden's tangled web of complex corporate and financial records.'

'It's clear from our investigation that Hunter and other members of the Biden family engaged in deceptive, shady business schemes to avoid scrutiny as they made millions from foreign adversaries like China. We've been wondering all along where the heck the DOJ and the IRS have been. Now it appears the Biden Administration may have been working overtime to prevent the Bidens from facing any consequences.'

Neither Biden has not been charged with a crime.
An elderly couple were stranded in Bali after their Jetstar flight was turned back an hour into the trip before being cancelled three days later.

Andrew Allison's parents Francis, 82, and Anne, 79, flew in from the UK to attending their granddaughter's wedding on the Indonesian island before heading to Australia.

They were on flight JQ38 on April 13, which was due to arrive in Sydney 30 minutes before their son and other family members landed on a Garuda flight.

But the flight turned was forced to turn back to Denpasar an hour into the flight due to a technical fault, leaving the couple stuck in Bali for another three days only for the rescheduled flight to be cancelled.

Their son Andrew has since detailed his parents' nightmare ordeal on Facebook.

'They were stuffed around and finally dumped in a hotel a fair distance from the airport at 4am the next morning, and handed meal vouchers valid only in the departure lounge at the airport 20 minutes away,' Mr Allison wrote.

The flights time changed four times before departure. It then got cancelled two times, leaving two elderly passengers stuck in Bali for three more days

A Sydney man has detailed his elderly parents' nightmare ordeal with Jetstar. Pictured is Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar

His parents were informed that their flight would be rescheduled to leave on Saturday night.

'Jetstar even tried to get them to pay for the airport transfers,' Mr Allison added.

'Dad is 82. Mum is 79, and both are now so run down they both have become sick.

'We stay in constant contact, but it's infuriating not being there to help.'

'After a lengthy journey from the UK to Bali to attend their granddaughter's wedding in Tabanan, they've been looking forward to this, what may well be their last opportunity to travel down under to visit friends and family.'

Mr Allison told news.com.au that passengers were forced to wait in line for four hours after the plane returned in Bali and were denied access to their luggage to organise alternate flights.

'They had to go out and buy their own food. It was easily about 5am at this point, and they were exhausted, anxious and confused,' he said.

'My dad has existing health issues. He is a diabetic and had his insulin in a cooler pack but basically skipped taking it because he didn't want to run the risk of it being off during the time they had wait in line.'

Flight tracking data shows flight JQ38 returning to Bali an hour into the flight on April 13

He also claimed the same flight had its departure times changed four times prior to his parents arriving into Bali.

When his parents arrived at Denpasar airport for their rescheduled flight last Saturday night, they discovered their flight delayed arrival and before being cancelled for 'operational reasons'.

By pure luck, his parents bumped into their granddaughters and friends at the airport heading home on a Garuda flight and also managed to get on the same flight to Sydney .

Mr Allison is now seeking compensation for his parents.

'I will be taking this as far as necessary as our part in helping to stamp out this kind of abuse (and yes, this is precisely what it is) perpetrated by Jetstar and others that think they have us all over a barrel,' he vowed.

It's understood JQ38 was turned back into an hour into the flight on April 13 due to a warning light showing a potential issue with the aircraft's hydraulic system.

'Our pilots followed standard procedures and the aircraft landed normally. Safety is our first priority, and we will always take all necessary precautions in these situations,' a Jetstar spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

Andrew Allison is now seeking reimbursement from Jetstar on behalf of his parents

'Unfortunately, the couple's new flight was delayed due to the inbound aircraft arriving late and then cancelled because a crew member wasn't feeling well,'

'We understand that this would have been a tiring and frustrating experience for Mr and Mrs Allison and sincerely apologise for what happened.'

'We tried to make contact via phone and email to apologise to Mr and Mrs Allison directly.

'Our customer team later reached out to their son and is currently assessing the couple's out-of-pocket expenses.'
Russia's defence ministry has taunted taxi drivers, security guards and fitness trainers in a new recruitment drive to fight for Putin in Ukraine.

They are told to 'Be a man' in slickly-produced TV and social media adverts where they are promised large pay increases to go to the front.

Images flick between showing men in mundane roles as a driver or guarding a supermarket or training in a gym with supposedly macho images toting guns and wearing military fatigues.

The campaign is a desperate move by the Kremlin to replace those killed and maimed who were mobilised from September 2022 to fight in Vladimir Putin's war.

Alongside conscripting new recruits, the defence ministry is seeking to coax others to the military conflict by appealing to their macho instincts and sense of adventure.

However the campaign has faced an angry backlash warning the men they face death by signing up to the brazen recruitment drive.

Russia's defence ministry has taunted taxi drivers, security guards and fitness trainers in a new recruitment drive to fight for Putin in Ukraine. Pictured: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu

The campaign is a desperate move by the Kremlin to replace those killed and maimed who were mobilised from September 2022 to fight in Vladimir Putin's war

Some estimates say Putin has lost 200,000-plus in his ill-conceived war.

The men are shown in their civilian jobs and how they would look in uniforms.

A security guard in the fruit and vegetable section of a supermarket is asked in the commercial: 'Is this the defender you dreamed of becoming?'

A personal trainer is taunted: 'Is this where your power is?'

A taxi driver is goaded: 'Is this the path you wanted to choose?'

They are told: 'You are a man. Be a man.Serve with a contract.

'Monthly payments starting from 204,000 roubles [2,005 or $2,500].'

This is significantly higher than many men are likely to earn in their civilian jobs.

The advert has been posted on state-owned ops pro-Kremlin outlets like RIA, RT, Readovka, Smotri, and 'Z' Telegram channels which back the war.

It is unclear if it will run on mainstream TV channels.

The advert is one of several being used by Putin's military recruiters to lure men to fight in the war. Pictured: Putin and Shoigu in Moscow on April 17

Recruitment points have been set up near shops and stations for men to register their interest to join - though most appear deserted.

One angry comment reads: 'You're a man, leave your family and go kill on someone else's land for Putin's ambitions.'

Another asked: 'Will they show it to the children of MPs? Or do they live too well in France, Italy and the States?'

One more comment said: 'If you have no brain, go and serve in the Russian army. Brain is not needed to obey orders.'

The advert is one of several being used by Putin's military recruiters to lure men to fight in the war.

Ironically, one of Russia's most famous fitness instructors is Alexey Stolyarov, 33, son-in-law of daughter of loyalist defence minister Sergei Shoigu - who is responsible for the advertisement.

The partner of his daughter Ksenia, 32, Stolyarov has repeatedly refused demands to enlist for the war.

Head of notorious pro-Putin private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, offered: 'I will train him for six weeks. I will help him improve by sending him to combat operations.'

Instead Stolyarov continues to travel widely in Russia and abroad.
Seeking a court's permission to use a military airfield to house asylum seekers, the Home Office this week declared illegal immigration a 'national emergency'.

With 56,000 migrants predicted to cross the Channel this year, joining countless thousands already living here at taxpayers' expense, it's about time the hapless department took the crisis seriously.

So the Mail is pleased Home Secretary Suella Braverman has heeded rebel Tory backbenchers and agreed to drastically harden up the Government's Bill to curb the tide of small boats.

One amendment she has accepted gives ministers the power to override interim 'Rule 39' orders by the European Court of Human Rights in immigration cases.

This would effectively prevent meddling judges in Strasbourg from blocking deportation planes to Rwanda  returning control of migration laws to Britain.

With contemptuous disregard for the will of the people, the increasingly ludicrous House of Lords has vowed to scupper the new laws (Pictured: The state opening of Parliament in May 2022)

Mrs Braverman's second important change means Channel migrants will no longer be able to exploit Labour's Human Rights Act, via Britain's indulgent judicial system, to avoid removal.

Predictably, Labour and the liberal Left are in a frightful lather. Passing legislation which allows ministers to ignore ECHR decisions is beyond the pale, they squeal.

Yet many countries in their beloved EU  including Germany  have overruled judgments. Why should we be different?

If the Rwanda policy succeeds, it will deter people from risking their lives  and enriching trafficking gangs  by crossing the busy sea lane in flimsy boats.

Even by attempting to solve the Channel crisis, Rishi Sunak will receive plaudits from a public which has voted repeatedly to tackle illegal immigration.

But with contemptuous disregard for the will of the people, the increasingly ludicrous House of Lords has vowed to scupper the new laws.

Remainer peers will inevitably claim they are merely carrying out their constitutional duty to scrutinise draft statutes. But as voters see all too clearly, the Upper House  over-represented by Labour and LibDem appointees  routinely sabotages the policies of the elected government.

No wonder there is resentment at this chamber  second only in size to the Chinese National People's Congress (and, one is sometimes tempted to think, almost as Left-wing). Reform of the unelected Lords cannot come soon enough.

Raab's fate in balance

Rihsi Sunak received the independent report into bullying claims against Dominic Raab at 9am yesterday.

Yet when the sun rose this morning, the Cabinet minister's fate still hung in the balance.

How come? Either he did torment staff  and deserves sacking. Or he didn't, in which case this unedifying farrago  played out obsessively on 24-hour TV  should cease.

Rihsi Sunak has received the independent report into bullying claims against Dominic Raab

The Justice Secretary insists he has always behaved professionally towards civil servants. And so far, the charges against him sound like idle Whitehall snowflakes (doubtless pro-Labour and Remain) confusing a tough boss, who demands high standards, with a tyrant.

No one wants to return to the haranguing excesses of 1970s workplaces.

But if every minister who asks staff to work hard faces anonymous mudslinging, Whitehall will be more dysfunctional than it already is.

What kind of person describes Conservatives MPs as worse than spineless, and crows: 'Never trust a Tory.' Could it be Labour's crass deputy Angela Rayner or perhaps hard-Left union baron Mick Lynch?

No, it is incredibly the face of the BBC fact-checking.

Despite working for the supposedly neutral broadcaster, Oliver Bentley is a vigorous Labour activist.

But is it a surprise? The Corporation is so riddled with liberal bias, it probably considers him a paragon of impartiality.
After a media circus and conflicting stories, Alec Baldwin will get off scot free after firing the gun that killed a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of his film Rust.

The actor, 65, discovered Thursday that two involuntary manslaughter charges against him over the October 2021 killing of Halyna Hutchins have been dropped.

The news arrived on the same day that Baldwin and other cast members resumed filming the movie in Montana.

Production stopped abruptly in October 2021 when Baldwin shot a live round from a prop gun killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the movie's New Mexico set.

'We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident,' lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.

After a media circus and conflicting stories, Alec Baldwin will get off scot free after firing the gun that killed a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of his film Rust

Baldwin, 65, was charged in January with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins' death and the injury of 'Rust' director Joel Souza, who was struck by the same bullet that passed through Hutchins.

The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence had already been dismissed, and the first special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.

This despite a damning report from the FBI that concluded that Alec Baldwin did pull the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer on the set of Rust  despite him repeatedly stating that he did not.

The report could still lead to criminal charges against the actor and others involved in the accidental shooting, with Santa Fe cops still investigating Hutchins death.

New Mexico prosecutors have been beset by legal errors since they filed charges against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed in January. The most serious charges against the defendants were dropped in February, and two prosecutors have stepped down.

The source, who is familiar with talks between Baldwin's defense attorneys and special prosecutors, said prosecutors are expected to drop the charges against Baldwin in a court filing as soon as Thursday.

New evidence showed the firearm used by Baldwin had been modified, and prosecutors could no longer prove that it required a trigger pull in order to fire, the source said.

The two sides had been discussing the charges ahead of a May 3 hearing, when a New Mexico judge was set to decide whether Baldwin should stand trial.

The actor, 65, discovered Thursday that two involuntary manslaughter charges against him over the October 2021 killing of Halyna Hutchins (pictured) have been dropped

The news arrived on the same day that Baldwin and other cast members resumed filming the movie in Montana

Baldwin was accused of showing a 'reckless' disregard for safety in Hutchins' death. He pleaded not guilty in February after prosecutors downgraded the seriousness of the charges, reducing the potential prison time.

He has in interviews said he was told the gun was safe and that he never pulled the trigger.

After a scathing safety review by regulators in New Mexico that detailed ignored complaints and misfires before Hutchins' death in October of 2021, the production company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Baldwin's co-defendant and Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is still facing the charges against her.

It wasn't immediately clear whether charges could be refiled, nor whether the charge would also be dropped against Gutierrez-Reed.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorneys said that they 'fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated.'

This will keep the probe into the accident open and allow prosecutors to retain subpoena power going forward.

It comes just days after the filing of the witness list for the preliminary hearing on May 3 became public.

That includes former Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell  who is suing Baldwin and his fellow producers in one of the many suit against them.

Camera crews were there to capture the tender moment Alec kissed his wife and child goodbye on Wednesday

Despite the controversy, on Tuesday a spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions told CNN filming will continue at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana

Baldwin is seen standing next to Hutchins - a mom-of-one - on the set of Rust in October 2021

However it is thought that the hearing will not go ahead, with prosecutors looking into the circumstances of the incident again.

It follows the Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies stepping down from the case late last month.

Baldwin had yet to even travel to New Mexico for a court appearance, and none had been required of him under state law. Evidentiary hearings had been scheduled for next month to determine whether to proceed toward trial.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies had said previously that her office is pursuing justice in the death of Hutchins and wants to show that no one is above the law when it comes to firearms and public safety. She says the Ukrainian-born cinematographers death was tragic and preventable.

The two special prosecutors handling the case in New Mexico's First Judicial District had no comment, their spokesperson Heather Brewer said.
Junior doctor strikes are harming patients and a third party must be brought in to broker talks, the head of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has said.

Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard said there needed to be progress on negotiations and urged both sides to show flexibility to end industrial action and move forward on pay.

Last week, the British Medical Association asked the Government to enter talks hosted by conciliation service Acas to end the bitter dispute. But Downing Street rejected the offer and said there would be no talks unless junior doctors abandoned their starting position of a 35 per cent pay rise and called off strikes.

Professor Stokes-Lampard told BBC Radio 4s Today programme she was gravely concerned for patients who were missing procedures or facing delays.

Junior doctor strikes are harming patients and a third party must be brought in to broker talks, the head of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has said

Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard (pictured) said there needed to be progress on negotiations and urged both sides to show flexibility to end industrial action and move forward on pay

She added: We have the longest waiting lists in NHS history and we have a body of junior doctors who are hurting.

Come out of your entrenched positions. And please, please start talking. Ambulance workers from Unite have announced they will walk out alongside nurses and teachers on May 2.

And the Royal College of Nursing has announced a further 48-hour walkout from 8pm on May 30, including from A&E, critical care and cancer wards for the first time, after members rejected a 5 per cent pay rise and one-off bonus.

Last week, the British Medical Association asked the Government to enter talks hosted by conciliation service Acas to end the bitter dispute

Professor Stokes-Lampard told BBC Radio 4s Today programme she was gravely concerned for patients who were missing procedures or facing delays. [File image]

But the NHS has launched a legal challenge, that could end in the High Court, to block the second day of that strike.

Meanwhile pupils face fresh turmoil after a school leaders union announced it would ballot members to strike over pay. It could see members of the Association of School and College Leaders launching action for the first time in the unions history.

Head teachers and college leaders could walk out of schools across the country in the autumn term.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is the 'senior' unnamed Biden administration official in the center of a new bombshell IRS whistleblower claim, a source familiar tells DailMail.com.

According to a letter Wednesday from attorney Mark Lytle, a man serving as a supervising agent on a 'high-profile' criminal tax probe has come forward seeking whistleblower protections while claiming politics are 'improperly infecting decisions' in an investigation.

The investigation referred to is reportedly examining matters related to President Biden's son Hunter Biden.

The protected disclosures by the IRS whistleblower 'contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee,' the letter stated.

DailyMail.com has confirmed that the 'senior political appointee' is Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is the 'senior' unnamed Biden administration official in the center of a new bombshell IRS whistleblower claim, a source familiar tells DailMail.com

A man serving as a supervising agent on a 'high-profile' criminal tax probe has come forward seeking whistleblower protections

The New York Post first reported Garland's connection to the whistleblower's claim Thursday.

The disclosures also 'involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case,' the letter by Lytle continued.

In addition, the whistleblower's admissions apparently 'detail preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.'

Lytle wrote that his client is a career IRS Criminal Supervisor Special Agent who has been overseeing the 'sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject' since 2020.

The letter obtained by DailyMail.com was sent to senior members of the House and Senate.

The whistleblower has already shared information with the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration, and the Department of Justice's inspector general.

The revelation shook Capitol Hill and members of both political parties.

The White House dismissed the claims that the IRS investigation into Hunter is flawed, referencing the independence of DOJ

Merrick Garland is the attorney general of the United States

'We take all whistleblower statements seriously, as we should. Some turn out to be very important and some not,' Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.

'But we take them all seriously at the outset and look at them closely,' Durbin, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, added Thursday.

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, R-Ky., said Hunter Biden has been involved in 'deceptive, shady business schemes.'

He elaborated, saying the ventures have seen the president's relatives rake in 'millions from foreign adversaries like China.'

The House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan tweeted sarcastically referencing the IRS whistleblower claims: 'Imagine that, the Biden Administration is reportedly mishandling the criminal probe into Hunter Biden.'

On the other hand, the White House dismissed the claims, referencing the independence of DOJ.

'The president respects the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice,' press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the claims Thursday.
It comes months after another airline worker died on the runway after being violently sucked into the engine of a plane in Alabama

The tragedy occurred at around 2pm, as a worker crashed a 'ground service vehicle' into a jet bridge before dying on the tarmac

An American Airlines employee died of 'traumatic injuries' on the tarmac of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas

An American Airlines employee died from 'traumatic injuries' after a horror vehicle crash on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas.

The runway tragedy occurred at around 2pm Thursday, where the worker was operating 'ground service vehicle' on the runway when he struck a jet bridge outside the terminal.

Emergency services rushed to the scene after reports of what Austin police initially described as a 'crash incident', however the unnamed individual was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim was reportedly still alive when Austin Travis County EMS paramedics arrived on the airfield apron, however they succumbed to their injuries on the tarmac, and the cause of death was determined to be traumatic injuries.

The tragedy occurred at around 2pm Thursday at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas

In a statement, Austin Bergstrom International Airport said: 'This afternoon AUS was notified that Austin-Travis County EMS responded to an injured airline employee.

'The incident occurred outside of the terminal where aircraft park at their gates. ATCEMS pronounced the employee deceased.

'Our thoughts are with this employee and all those impacted by today's tragic event.' The airport added that the incident would not have any major impact on its operations.

The Austin Police Departments Vehicular Homicide Unit is investigating the incident as an accidental death.

American Airlines confirmed the deceased was a member of their staff when contacted by DailyMail.com, saying in a statement: 'We are devastated by the accident involving a team member at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS).

'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and our local team members. We are focused on ensuring that all involved have the support they need during this difficult time.'

It comes months after another airline worker lost their life after being violently sucked into the engine of a recently landed plane at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama.

Courtney Edwards, 34, was working as a ground agent for Piedmont Airlines when the tragedy unfolded on New Year's Eve.

The mother-of-three had reportedly been repeatedly warned to stay back after standing too close to the engine, before she was sucked into the mechanics and shook the entire aircraft.
AIN'T TOO PROUD - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS (Prince Edward Theatre, London) ***

DANCING AT LUGHNASA (Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London) ***

PRIVATE LIVES (Donmar Warehouse) **

Ain't Too Proud is a catalogue musical in more ways than one. Not just a round-up of awesomely great tunes by the legendary R&B vocal group from Detroit, it's also a list of historical footnotes yoked to the self-affirming CV of The Temptations' founding member, Otis Williams.

Fans like me will be easily excited by the group's famous psychedelic soul with its trademark of tinkling cymbals and murmuring wah-wah pedals. All that evolved out of popsicle numbers like My Girl and Just My Imagination. But it's the darker songs, like Ball Of Confusion and Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, that thump you in the solar plexus. These and many more  including a bonus Supremes medley  are performed with physical verve and vocal dexterity by a cast lead by Sifiso Mazibuko as Otis.

And yet the best catalogue musicals, like Mamma Mia! or Jersey Boys, make more of their stories. Here we just get a smattering of historical events, from Martin Luther King to the Vietnam War, augmented by a predictable plod from the early days of the group.

In 1963, they sign to Motown  with Smokey Robinson as producer. Then it's a medley of sex, drugs and broken relationships. Williams, the narrator, is also wont to hand down self-help proverbs, such as: 'Let go of one dream to get to another.' These pearls make it hard to avoid the impression he is indeed the control freak other band members describe, including Mitchell Zhangazha's frustrated falsetto Eddie Kendricks.

In the spotlight: Sifiso Mazibuko as Otis Williams leads the Temptations in the musical built around his story and their hit songs

Guided by the phantoms of wealth and fame, his failed marriage and part-time relationship with his son, who died at just 23, are the only self-criticism licensed.

Far more interesting  but sketchily drawn  is the man considered by many to be the voice of The Temptations: Williams' nemesis, David Ruffin (Tosh Wanogho-Maud). He won them their first No 1 hit, My Girl, in 1965, before going off the rails  skipping gigs, beating his wife and elbowing his way on stage after he'd been fired.

Following Ruffin's death from a crack cocaine overdose in 1991, Williams parsimoniously observes: 'He deserved a better exit.'

Other members, including Cameron Bernard Jones's affable Melvin Franklin and Kyle Cox's combative Paul Williams, are kept in check by Williams's version of events.

And although choreography is tightly executed over the two hours and 40 minutes, it doesn't much exceed elastic martial arts moves, as if The Temps were fighting off invisible foes in The Matrix.

And yet, as a well-drilled tribute act, who can doubt these fine performers  or the enduring power of songs like Ball Of Confusion? Truly, that's what the world is today  hey, hey.

Dancing At Lughnasa is a tale of five sisters living in north-west Ireland in 1936: all spinsters, all with uncertain prospects. Pictured: McSweeney and O'Hanlon

Brian Friel's Donegal memory play can quite reasonably be performed as pleasantly sentimental, but I longed for Josie Rourke's revival to lose the soft-focus and zoom in on the deep scars of its characters' private agonies.

Dancing At Lughnasa (it's pronounced as a fusion of a water closet and the American space agency: 'Loo-NASA') is a tale of five sisters living in north-west Ireland in 1936: all spinsters, all with uncertain prospects.

The eldest, Kate (Justine Mitchell), is a teacher who pins her faith on church dogma. Gutsy Maggie (Siobhan McSweeney) dreams of a wild man to go with her Wild Woodbine cigarettes. And the youngest, Chris (Alison Oliver), has a son out of wedlock  played by a middle-aged man (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) who's also the narrator, recalling his childhood.

Middle sisters Agnes (Louisa Harland) and Rose (Blaithin Mac Gabhann) take what solace they can from dance music blaring out of a dysfunctional new Marconi radio set, while envying the sexual emancipation won by Chris in her on/off relationship with supposedly Welsh salesman and ballroom dancer Gerry (Tom Riley).

And for colour  more colour  we have Ardal O'Hanlon as a retired missionary priest in the throes of dementia, who's been enchanted by pagan religious customs in Uganda.

The tone of Friel's 1990 drama is much like Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, with an author-figure casting a wistful eye over his lost past. And there's more than a nod to Anton Chekhov's masterpiece of provincial Russian melancholia, Three Sisters.

But Rourke's production emphasises the warm glow of nostalgia, stained by the characters' stringent Irish wit.

Mitchell catches Kate's suppressed self-loathing as the sisters' self-appointed matriarch, while McSweeney puffs on fags and cheerfully warms her bared backside on the kitchen range. And Oliver makes a neatly self-possessed young mum. But on the Olivier's arena stage, they are also obliged to play to the gallery, with Riley's Gerry projecting a Fred Astaire jollity and O'Hanlon touched (still) by the comic ghost of Father Ted.

I was left pining for the gut-churning conflict of loss and longing that can make Friel's writing a great deal more potent.

Siobhan McSweeney and Ardal O'Hanlon attend the press night after party for Dancing at Lughnasa at The National Theatre on April 18

Meryl Streep in the 1998 period drama adapted from Brian Friel's 1990 play

'Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs,' says a man who looks like a gent, thinks he is amusing, but is actually a brute.

It's a line from Private Lives, Noel Coward's tragicomedy of appalling manners, judged so jarring that it is often cut.

Not so in Michael Longhurst's horribly unfunny revival, which scrapes away the brittle artifice of the writing and reveals the ugly truth of domestic abuse. Here is a couple for whom fighting, verbal and physical, is foreplay. But when the red-hot break-ups lead into passionate make-ups, all is forgotten.

Violence ended the marriage first time round between Stephen Mangan's Elyot, whose thuggery comes with a dead smile, and Rachael Stirling's sexy, snarling Amanda.

And here they are again, meeting by chance on neighbouring hotel balconies, about to begin their second honeymoons. In a flash they realise that swapping fireworks and friction for cosiness and conventionality was a big mistake. These narcissistic egomaniacs need no one but each other.

Violence ended the marriage first time round between Stephen Mangan's Elyot, whose thuggery comes with a dead smile, and Rachael Stirling's sexy, snarling Amanda

Designer Hildegard Bechtler's hotel overlooks an ocean of dark cloth. Gloomy and ugly, true: but it does allow for a lovely coup de theatre. Whisked away, it reveals Elyot and Amanda, entwined on a couch in Paris, crazily in love all over again. She throws him a grape. He catches it in his mouth. They dance, hoot with laughter before, once again, they are biting chunks out of one another.

Any successful Private Lives must be propped up by well-defined jilted spouses. Coward saw them as 'ninepins to be knocked down'. Too easily here. As Elyot's new squeeze, Laura Carmichael's Sybil is as ladylike and anaemic as Stirling's Amanda is unconventional and bloodthirsty.

Sargon Yelda's Victor, Amanda's dumpee, over whom she towers, underdoes the pomposity and overdoes the dullness. Buttoned up in brown, he barely registers.

Coward's quicksilver genius holds flippancy and seriousness in perfect balance. In this heavy-handed production, a champagne comedy falls flat.
Meghan on the secret wedding

Meghan: 'Even at our wedding, you know, three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that.

'But we called the archbishop, and we just said, "Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us."

Prince Harry: 'Just the three of us.'

Meghan and Kate argument

Meghan: 'The narrative with Kate which didn't happen was really, really difficult and something that I think that's when everything changed, really.

'The reverse happened. And I don't say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding.

'And she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers and a note, apologising.'

On press narrative:

Oprah: So, do you think there was a standard for Kate in general and a separate one for you? And if so, why?'

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey

Meghan: I don't know why. I can see now what layers were at play there. And, again, they really seemed to want a narrative of a hero and a villain.'

On being silent or being silenced

Meghan: The latter. Everyone in my world was given very clear directive from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating to always say "No comment."

'That's my friends, my mum and dad. I did anything they told me to do. Of course I did, because it was also through the lens of "And we'll protect you."

'So, even as things started to roll out in the media that I didn't see but my friends would call me and say, "Meg, this is really bad," because I didn't see it, I'd go, "Don't worry. I'm being protected."

On 'not being protected'

Meghan: 'I think that was really hard to reconcile because it was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.

On meeting the Queen

Meghan: We had breakfast together that morning, and she'd given me a beautiful gift, and I just really loved being in her company. And I remember we were in the car.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II pose for a picture during the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London in 2018

'She gave me some beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace. And we were in the car going between engagements, and she has a blanket that sits across her knees for warmth.

And it was chilly, and she was like, "Meghan, come on," and put it over my knees, as well. I think everyone welcomed me.

On 'character assassination'

Meghan: I'm talking about things that are super artificial and inconsequential. But the narrative about, you know, making Kate cry I think was the beginning of a real character assassination.

And they knew it wasn't true. And I thought, well, if they're not going to kill things like that, then what are we going to do?

On claims Archie was to be denied security

Meghan: And that was when they were saying they didn't want him to be a prince or a princess not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol and that he wasn't going to receive security.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex with their baby Archie

But if you're saying the title is what's going to affect their protection, we haven't created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder.

'You've allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe.'

On if the titles are important to her?

Meghan: 'All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment that I don't personally have, right?

I've been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess. I've always just still been Meghan, right?

So, for me, I'm clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff. And the most important title I will ever have is "Mum." I know that.'

Meghan on race and the royal family

Meghan: 'I can give you an honest answer. In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time so we have in tandem the conversation of "He won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title," and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born.'

Oprah: 'Who is having that conversation with you? What?'

Meghan: There were several conversations about it.'

Oprah: 'About how dark your baby is going to be?'

Meghan: 'Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.'

Oprah: 'And you're not going to tell me who had the conversation?'

Meghan: 'I think that would be very damaging to them.'

On UK Press and mental health

Meghan: I just didn't see a solution. I just didn't see a solution. I would sit up at night, and I was just, like, I don't understand how all of this is being churned out.

And, look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially, because I know how much loss he's suffered.

But I knew that if I didn't say it, that I would do it. And I just didn't I just didn't want to be alive anymore.

'And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember I remember how he just cradled me.

Meghan Markle discussed mental health during her conversation with Oprah Winfrey on CBS

And I was I went to the institution, and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that "I've never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere."

And I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution.

Oprah: 'So, were you thinking of harming yourself? Were you having suicidal thoughts? Meghan: Yes. This was very, very clear.

On telling her truth

Meghan: 'I think I'm not going to live my life in fear. You know, I think so much of it is said with an understanding of just truth.

But I think, to answer your question, I don't know how they could expect that after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.

That at a certain point, you're going to go, "But, you guys, someone just tell the truth." And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, I've lost there's a lot that's been lost already.'

On the latest royal baby

Oprah: 'For the new addition to your family.

'Meghan said she wanted to wait until you were here to tell us, is it a boy or is it a girl?

Harry: 'It's a girl.'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were having a girl for their second child - which is due in the summer

Meghan: 'It's a girl.'

Harry: 'Yes! I'm just grateful, like any to have any child, any one or any two would have been amazing. But to have a boy and then a girl, you know, what more can you ask for?'

'But now, you know, now we've got our family. We've got, you know, the four of us and our two dogs, and it's great.'

Oprah: 'Done? Two is it?'

Harry: 'Done.'

On leaving the UK

Meghan: 'We didn't have a plan. We needed a house, and he (Tyler Perry) offered security, as well, so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we are going to do.

'It's been so spun in the wrong direction, as though we quit, we walked away, all the conversations of the two years before we finally announced it.'

On Megxit

Harry: Yeah, it was desperate. I went to all the places which I thought I should go to, to ask for help. We both did... Separately and together.'

Oprah: 'So, you left because you were asking for help and couldn't get it?'

Harry: 'Yeah, basically. But we never left.'

Meghan: We never left the family, and we only wanted to have the same type of role that exists, right?'

So, we weren't reinventing the wheel here. We were saying, "Okay, if this isn't working for everyone, we're in a lot of pain, you can't provide us with the help that we need, we can just take a step back. We can do it in a commonwealth country." We suggested New Zealand, South Africa.'

On history repeating itself

Harry: (We wanted to) Take a breath. From this constant barrage. My biggest concern was history repeating itself, and I've said that before on numerous occasions, very publicly.

And what I was seeing was history repeating itself, but more, perhaps or definitely far more dangerous, because then you add race in and you add social media in.

And when I'm talking about history repeating itself, I'm talking about my my mother.'

Harry on the press

Harry: 'You know, as sad as it is to say, it takes living in her shoes in this instance, for a day or those first eight days to see where it was going to go and how far they were going to take it.

And get away with it and be so blatant about it. That's the bit that shocked me.

'This - the UK is my home. That is where I was brought up. So, yes, I've got my own relationship that goes back a long way with the media.

'I asked for calm from the British tabloids once as a boyfriend, once as a husband, and once as a father.'

Why did Harry and Meghan leave?

Harry: Lack of support and lack of understanding.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in a conversation with US television host Oprah Winfrey

Oprah: 'So, I want clarity. Was the move about getting away from the UK press? Or was the move because you weren't getting enough support from the firm?

Prince Harry: It was both.

Harry and blindsiding the Queen

Oprah: 'Did you blindside the queen?'

Harry: 'No. I've never blindsided my grandmother. I have too much respect for her.'

My grandmother has been amazing throughout. You know, my father, my brother, Kate and all the rest of the family, they were.

'They were really welcoming. But it really changed after the Australia tour, after our south pacific tour.

Harry on his relationship with Prince Charles

Harry: When we were in Canada, I had three conversations with my grandmother and two conversations with my father and before he stopped taking my calls and then said, "Can you put this all in writing what your plan is?"

'I put all the specifics in there, even the fact that we were planning on putting the announcement out on the 7th of January.

Oprah: 'So, you just said that your dad stopped taking your calls. Why did he stop taking your calls?'

Harry: 'Because... I took matters into my own hands. It was like I need to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody.

'It's really sad that it's gotten to this point, but I've got to do something for my own mental health, my wife's, and for Archie's, as well, because I could see where this was headed.'

Harrys claim that his family is scared of the press

Harry: No from my family ever said anything over those three years. And that hurts. But I also am acutely aware of where my family stand and how scared they are of the tabloids turning on them.

Prince Harry claimed members of the royal family were 'scared' of the press

'Yes, but it's there is this invisible what's termed or referred to as the "Invisible contract" behind closed doors between the institution and the tabloids, the UK. Tabloids.

On being trapped in royal life

Oprah: 'How were you trapped?

Harry: Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father and my brother, they are trapped.

'They don't get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.'

On Netflix and Spotify

Harry: 'Yeah, it exists. But, also, the Netflix and the Spotify, they're all that was never part of the plan.'

Meghan: 'We didn't have a plan.'

Harry: 'We didn't have a plan. That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.'

Oprah: 'Wait. 'Hold up. Wait a minute. Your family cut you off?'

Harry: 'Yeah, in the first half, the first quarter of 2020. But I've got what my mum left me, and, without that, we would not have been able to do this.'

Harrys relationship with his family

Harry: 'I've spoken more to my grandmother in the last year than I have done for many, many years. We did a couple of zoom calls with Archie.

'My grandmother and I have a really good relationship...'

Oprah: 'Your relationship with your father? Is he taking your calls now?'

Harry: 'Yeah. Yeah, he is. There's a lot to work through there, you know? I feel really let down, because he's been through something similar.

He knows what pain feels like, and this is and Archie's his grandson. But, at the same time, you know, I of course I will always love him, but there's a lot of hurt that's happened.

And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.

Oprah: 'Yeah. And your brother? Relationship? Much has been said about that?'

Harry: 'Yeah, and much will continue to be said about that. You know, as I've said before, I love William to bits. He's my brother.

'We've been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience. But you know, we're on we're on different paths.

On the future

Harry: I'm sad that what's happened has happened, but I know, and I'm comfortable in knowing that we did everything that we could to make it work.

'And we did everything on the exit process the way that-- the way that it should have been done.'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said they were 'thriving' in their new life in the United States

On taking away his patronages

Harry: I am hurt. But at the same time, I completely respect my grandmother's decision.

'I would still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role.'

Meghans one regret

Meghan: I have one. My regret is believing them when they said I would be protected. I believed that.

'And I regret believing that because I think, had I really seen that that wasn't happening, I would have been able to do more.

But I think I wasn't supposed to see it. I wasn't supposed to know.

And now, because we're actually on the other side, we've actually not just survived but are thriving.
Anyone who takes too much Benadryl should immediately see a medical professional

Another horrific social media challenge has hit TikTok which has led to tragic deaths.

While most social media challenges began as fun initiatives that were linked to charities and campaigns to raise awareness of important issues, a darker and more sinister experience has emerged online.

Users across the world are now taking to dangerous trends that they see online.

The 'Benadryl Challenge' is the latest potentially fatal craze to hit TikTok's algorithm, encouraging users to swallow a dangerous amount of antihistamine medication.

Here, MailOnline answers some of the most common questions concerning the challenge.

Benadryl, also called dyphenhydromine, is a type of antihistamine. These are allergy medication that work by blocking the production of histamine - a chemical the body produces when it detects something it thinks is harmful.

What is the aim of the Benadryl challenge and how did it start?

Benadryl is a brand of antihistamine. It contains the drug diphenhydramine, which can be used to treat allergies, insomnia and the common cold.

The 'Benadryl Challenge' sees users consume dangerous amounts of over-the-counter medicine with the intention of taking enough to make them to hallucinate.

But the challenge is incredibly dangerous and risks the user's life as it can cause heart failure, brain damage, strokes, and seizures.

It first gained prevalence in 2020, with experts at the time warning of the serious dangers as well as manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. It also led TikTok officials to remove some of the posts that had publicized and encouraged the dangerous trend.

Since then, it has gained popularity again on TikTok, with users sharing their hallucination experience online.

On August 21, 2020, 15-year-old Chloe Marie Phillips, of Oklahoma, died after taking part in the social media challenge

What makes Benadryl overdose so lethal and what are some of the other health side effects?

Benadryl contains the drug diphenhydramine. It is used to temporarily relieve symptoms caused by hay fever and allergies.

It is recommended that consumption of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) not exceed the maximum allowed dose in a 24-hour period. For children aged six to 12, the allowance is six tablets, and for adults and children over the age of 12, the maximum is 12.

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is able to temporarily relieve allergy symptoms by blocking histamine in the body. This is a substance that causes allergic symptoms.

A main side effect of taking too much Benadryl is hallucination. Anyone who takes too much diphenhydramine and is hallucinating, can't be awakened, has a seizure, trouble breathing, or has collapsed, should immediately see a medical professional, the FDA says.

In 2020, when the 'challenge' first broke out, the FDA said they were 'aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the ''Benadryl Challenge''.'

They warned that 'taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death'.

How did Ohio teen Jacob Stevens, 13, die?

Jacob Stevens died in April 2023 after overdosing on Benadryl as part of the viral TikTok challenge.

The 13-year-old's body began to seize up after he swallowed a large amount of the antihistamine allergy pills while his friends filmed to see what would happen.

Jacob Stevens died in April 2023 after overdosing on Benadryl as part of the viral TikTok challenge

Who is warning against the Benadryl challenge?

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said: 'It is very concerning to hear about these challenges involving medicines on social media.

'This is not the first time that a challenge involving over the counter medicines has led to serious harm and death.'

She urged social media to 'take steps in monitoring this effectively' so videos stop going viral.

Dr Jen Caudle, a US doctor who shares videos of TikTok, said: 'It is a death trap if you ask me and the latest tragedy is an example of this.

'This is a warning to parents, for kids, for people out there. Do not try this.'

She added: 'Taking too much of it can obviously cause a number of symptoms, from heart problems, to seizures, and even death - as we are seeing.'

Dr Caudle said people should only take medications as described and urged parents to lock up their medications to ensure they are not easily accessible.

Responding to the challenge in 2020, the Food and Drug administration (FDA) issued a statement warning of the dangers of participating.

'Taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma or even death,' the FDA wrote.

'We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the "Benadryl Challenge" encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok.'

A spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant that markets the Benadryl brand, previously said of the trend: 'The health and safety of people who use our products is our top priority.

'The Benadryl TikTok trend is extremely concerning, dangerous and should be stopped immediately.

'As with any medicine, abuse or misuse can lead to serious side effects with potentially long-lasting consequences, and Benadryl products should only be used as directed by the label.'

How many people have died in the Benadryl challenge?

Two people have died from the Benadryl challenge. Prior to the death of Jacob Stevens in April 2023, 15-year-old Chloe Marie Phillips, of Oklahoma, died after taking part in the social media challenge on August 21, 2020.

What is TikTok doing about the dangerous Benadryl challenge?

TikTok have taken action by banning the search for 'Benadryl Challenge'.

However, those posting videos are now using code words such as 'bernadeyl trend' and 'bena tiktok challenge', so the clips can still be found.
The controversial decision has raised concerns over impersonation accounts

Blue badges are now only available to those who pay an 11 monthly fee

Twitter users will lose their 'legacy' blue ticks today following Musk's takeover

Twitter will say goodbye to its 'legacy' blue ticks today following Elon Musk's controversial decision to switch up the platform's verification system.

Numerous checkmarks are expected to disappear from Twitter accounts for users who are reluctant to pay 11 a month for the traditional blue badge.

'Legacy' blue ticks were initially given to verified accounts belonging to people of public interest including celebrities, politicians and journalists.

But following Musk's takeover, only those subscribed to Twitter Blue can keep a blue tick, while businesses must now pay for a gold tick.

This decision came as part of Musk's efforts to rid of the so-called 'lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark'.

Twitter users will lose their 'legacy' blue ticks today following Elon Musk's takeover

April 1 was the initial date to kickstart the culling of ticks but many remained after this date

TWITTER'S NEW VERIFICATION SYSTEM Blue ticks Twitter Blue is a subscription service that gives users a 'Blue Tick' of verification for a monthly fee. It currently costs 9.60 per month for those who purchase the service through the web, but 11 per month through Apple iOS. Gold ticks Companies that want to keep their 'official' Twitter checkmark will be given no option but to pay 11,400 per year - plus an extra 50/month to have affiliated business accounts. Grey ticks These badges are used to verify government accounts and associated bodies. Governments do not have to pay a cost for these ticks. Advertisement

By changing the system, Musk hopes that Twitter will become a 'digital town square' through restoration of free speech and trust.

April 1 was the initial date to kickstart the culling of 'legacy' ticks, but many remained after this date giving rise to confusion.

Ten days later, Musk then announced that the 'final date' for removing these ticks would be April 20.

It is believed the date is a sly reference to cannabis, with the number 420 the time of day that it is traditionally smoked.

The billionaire was famously filmed smoking the drug during a live podcast in 2018, alongside comedian Joe Rogan.

Musk tweeted: 'Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.'

Following Musk's post, users were quick to express their disappointment about the decision.

One user said: 'Im not worried about losing my verified checkmark. Im worried about everyone else losing theirs. The value of the checkmark does not lie with the holder but with the people trying to determine whether to trust the source.'

Another added: 'The whole policy doesnt make sense. Its like removing trophies from people who earned them (vetted) and letting everyone buy their trophy. The trophy means nothing now.'

On the flipside, best-selling author Stephen King was thrilled by the announcement, tweeting: 'Big whoop.'

One person jokingly replied: 'But Mr. King... how will I ever know it's really you?'

Gold business ticks and government grey ticks are two other changes to the verification system that have been made during the past year.

While governments will not have to pay for their new grey ticks, companies must pay 11,400 per year if they want to keep this official mark.

Blue badges are now only available to those who pay an 11 monthly fee on Twitter

Twitter was flooded with comments following Elon Musk's blue tick announcement

Another 50 monthly charge is also added on top if the business has any affiliated accounts.

These fees are still 'subject to change' as the platform aims to 'improve' its services and change features 'from time to time'.

However, scrapping unpaid-for ticks has given rise to numerous impersonation accounts mimicking celebrities and other individuals.

One user fooled others into thinking former US President Donald Trump tweeted: 'This is why Elon Musk's plan doesn't work.'

Another account impersonated former President George W Bush  who appeared to post a distasteful tweet about Iraq  and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

However, following his takeover Musk did anticipate a lot of 'dumb things' on the site.

In November, he tweeted: 'Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesnt.'
Europe endured its hottest summer on record in 2022 and its second warmest year ever, according to a damning new report.

It also reveals how temperatures across the continent are rising at twice the global average, with the landmass having experienced 3.96F (2.2C) of warming since pre-industrial times.

Even more worrying is that scientists behind the annual European State of the Climate report say the probability of getting a warmer year is increasing every 12 months because of soaring greenhouse gases worldwide.

The report has been put together using data from satellites, in situ measurements and numerical weather prediction models.

It follows a summer in which extreme heatwaves and drought gripped hold of Europe.

High temperatures and low rainfall encouraged droughts across Europe in 2022. Pictured: Firefighters in a burning forest in La Teste de Buch, southwestern France last year

Summer wildfires also generated the highest carbon emissions in 15 years in Europe. Pictured: A local resident fights a forest fire with a shovel during a wildfire in north-west Spain last July

Summer wildfires also generated the highest carbon emissions in 15 years  leading to a record melt of Alpine glaciers as five cubic kilometers of ice disappeared.

READ MORE: Greenhouse gas emissions need to be slashed by 65% by 2035 to avoid global temperatures exceeding the 1.5C 'tipping point' Time is running out for humanity to curb dangerous global warming that will plunge the planet into disastrous flooding, heatwaves and famines, a major UN report warns Advertisement

'Southern Europe experienced a record number of days with "very strong heat stress",' the report read.

'There is also a decreasing trend in the number of days with "no heat stress".'

Heat stress is increasingly viewed as a significant global issue, with high temperatures creating hazardous conditions for human health.

In its report, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) defined 'very strong heat stress' as temperatures between 38 to 46C, while 'extreme heat stress' was considered to be hotter than 46C.

Days with 'very strong heat stress' were seen to be rising across Europe, while extreme heat stress is worsening in southern Europe.

The worrying research follows last year's summer of severe drought, with firefighters battling rampant blazes in countries such as France, Spain, Italy and even southern England.

Britain's highest temperature in history was recorded on July 19 at 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire  a big leap from the previous record of 38.7C in 2019.

Last June, 11 villages were also forced to evacuate in Spain in the midst of 42.7C temperatures.

These disasters came amid Europe's hottest ever summer at 1.4C above the reference period of 1991-2020.

The temperature spikes are twice the global average, as shown by data gathered using satellites, weather prediction models and other tools.

Research shows that these trends are only expected to worsen, with many believing that we are running out of time to deal with extreme weather events.

Last year saw a record melt of Alpine glaciers with more than five cubic kilometers of ice disappearing. Pictured: Punta Rocca glacier near Canazei, in the Italian Alps

Days of 'very strong heat stress' are rising in the continent due to climate change. Pictured: Paris, France in August 2022

Around 15 fire engines and 100 firefighters alone dealt with a vicious blaze in the Essex village of Wennington that destroyed two houses last July (pictured)

Mauro Facchini, Head of Earth Observation at the Directorate General for Defence Industry and Space, said: 'The IPCC's latest synthesis report warns that we are running out of time, and that global warming has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, as is the case for Europe.

'Only accurate information and data on the current state of the climate can help us achieve the goals we have set, and the European State of the Climate report is an essential tool to support the European Union with its climate adaptation agenda and commitment to reach climate neutrality by 2050.'

Similar patterns were also witnessed in the Arctic which experienced its sixth warmest year on record.

Exceptional heatwaves in September caused record-breaking ice sheet melt in Greenland, while the Svalbard region saw its warmest summer on record.

Director of C3S, Carlo Buontempo, also warned that these figures were 'alarming' but crucial to understanding how we can better cope with the impacts of climate change.

He said: 'The report highlights alarming changes to our climate, including the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe, marked by unprecedented marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea and record-breaking temperatures in Greenland.

'Understanding the climate dynamics in Europe is crucial for our efforts to adapt and mitigate the negative impacts climate change has on the continent.'
A dead NASA spacecraft with a one in 2,500 chance of killing someone re-entered the Earth's atmosphere overnight  but the US space agency is yet to reveal whether it burnt up or where it came down.

The 600-pound craft  about the size of a shipping container  was retired in 2018 after suffering a communication failure.

NASA refused to disclose its re-entry location but the satellite is thought to have come down between 00:50 BST and 02:50 BST this morning (19:50 ET and 21:50 ET yesterday).

Satellite-tracking website Satflare suggests it may have crashed in Chad, Libya or Sudan, but this is yet to be confirmed.

There is also a good chance that some or all of the spacecraft burnt up upon re-entry.

A dead NASA spacecraft with a one in 2,500 chance of killing someone re-entered the Earth's atmosphere overnight  but the US space agency is yet to reveal whether it burnt up or where it came down

Satellite tracking data suggests it may have crashed in Chad, Libya or Sudan (pictured)

Aerospace, a national security space program, previously revealed that the debris could fall anywhere in South America, Africa or Asia.

READ MORE: Moment one of Elon's new Starlink satellites falls from the sky and burns up One of Elon Musk's new Starlink internet satellites deorbited this month, fells toward Earth and burned up in the atmosphere. Advertisement

A mysterious flash that lit up the skies over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv generated much speculation that this might have been the dead spacecraft, but NASA dismissed this.

US space agency officials said the satellite was still in orbit at the time of the flash.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and astrophysicist at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told DailyMail.com the object 'definitely was not' the NASA satellite nor space debris.

'[It could be a natural meteor or Russian missile attack,' he said.

Experts previously said there was a 75 per cent chance that debris from the dead satellite would crash into the ocean, but NASA did acknowledge there was a 'low' risk of it impacting land.

Professor Hugh Lewis, who teaches astronautics at the UK's University of Southampton, shared on Twitter: 'Unfortunately, many people live within the latitude region, which means that the chance of a casualty is still relatively high.'

The dead craft is NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), which was tasked with observing solar flares when it launched on February 5, 2002.

It was decommissioned in 2018 after NASA failed to communicate with it.

RHESSI launched aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket, aiming to image the high-energy electrons that carry a large part of the energy released in solar flares.

It achieved this with its sole instrument, an imaging spectrometer, which recorded X-rays and gamma rays from the Sun.

Before RHESSI, no gamma-ray or high-energy X-ray images of solar flares had been taken.

Where the satellite could have crashed: NASA refused to disclose its re-entry location but the satellite is thought to have come down between 00:50 BST and 02:50 BST this morning (19:50 ET and 21:50 ET yesterday)

A mysterious flash that lit up the skies over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv generated much speculation that this might have been the dead spacecraft, but NASA dismissed this

Data from RHESSI provided vital clues about solar flares and their associated coronal mass ejections.

These events release the energy equivalent of billions of megatons of TNT into the solar atmosphere within minutes and can have effects on Earth, including the disruption of electrical systems. Understanding them has proven challenging.

RHESSI recorded more than 100,000 X-ray events during its mission tenure, allowing scientists to study the energetic particles in solar flares.

The imager helped researchers determine the particles frequency, location, and movement, which allowed them to understand where the particles were being accelerated.
Other studies show that cannabis makes people hungry - or have 'the munchies'

If you give a worm some weed, he might just need a snack to go with it.

That's because humans aren't the only species to get 'the munchies' when they have cannabis, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Oregon exposed roundworms to cannabinoids  chemicals found in the likes of marijuana  after it was legalised for recreational use in their state.

They put the worms in a T-shaped maze, with one side holding high-quality bacteria that they liked to feed on and the other side containing lower-quality bacteria.

Under normal conditions, the worms preferred the higher-quality snack.

Getting the munchies: US experts found that worms like to snack on their favourite food when exposed to cannabis. This image shows a worm that has been genetically engineered worm so that certain neurons and muscles are fluorescent. The green dots are neurons that respond to cannabinoids  chemicals found in the likes of marijuana

Researchers from the University of Oregon exposed roundworms to cannabinoids (file image)

But once the animals had been soaked in anandamide  a molecule made by the body that activates cannabinoid receptors and recreates the feeling of being 'high'  the preference for their favourite food became even stronger.

They flocked to the 'nicer' food and stayed there for longer.

Neuroscientist Shawn Lockery, lead author of the study, said: 'We thought, well heck, let's just try this. We thought it would be amusing if it worked.

'Cannabinoids make [worms] hungrier for their favoured foods and less hungry for their non-favoured foods.

'We suggest that this increase in existing preference is analogous to eating more of the foods you would crave anyway.

'It's like choosing pizza versus oatmeal.'

Previous research has found cannabis stimulates the area of the brain that regulates feeding behaviour and energy balance.

It appears to convince the brain we are starving, leading to what is scientifically known as 'hedonic feeding' but colloquially called 'the munchies'.

When feeling 'high', worms flocked to their favourite food and stayed for longer

'It's one reason why, after consuming cannabis, you're more likely to reach for chocolate pudding but not necessarily hungry for a salad,' Mr Lockery said.

In follow-up experiments the researchers found some of the neurons affected by anandamide.

Under the influence, these neurons became more sensitive to the smell of higher quality food, and less sensitive to the smell of lower quality food.

Worms and humans last shared a common ancestor more than 600 million years ago, yet cannabinoids still affect our food preferences in a similar way, the team added.

The findings were published in the journal Current Biology.
It seems Sam Ball's reputation as Married At First Sight's 'super villain' precedes him.

The former groom, 29, has once again faced backlash over his fat-shaming comments towards Lizzie Sobinoff four years after their disastrous union.

Slamming his haters in an Instagram post on Wednesday, the army recruit insisted producers 'coerced' him into making vile comments about his former bride.

'Within the show, I was coerced to do things and say things, and threatened to be sued if I didn't,' he wrote in a lengthy message on his stories.

'In addition, [I was] not allowed to speak to any media for two years or I would be sued as they pushed my match on the show in front of every media outlet to tell her story.'

It seems Sam Ball's (pictured) reputation as Married At First Sight's 'super villain' precedes him. The former groom, 29, has once again faced backlash over his fat-shaming comments towards Lizzie Sobinoff four years after their disastrous union

The rant followed a screenshot he shared of a private message he received from a vile troll who wished death upon him.

In a series of brutal messages, the woman called him a 'f**king loser piece of s**t' before saying: 'I hope you get hit by a bus.'

Ball said he receives messages like it on the 'daily' due to his alleged misrepresentation on MAFS.

Slamming his haters in an Instagram post on Wednesday, the army recruit insisted producers 'coerced' him into making vile comments about his former bride

The former reality television star faced backlash on season six of the show when he said Sobinoff was 'bigger' than the women he usually dates.

He went on to say he should 'take her out for runs' in the mornings, implying she needed to exercise and lose weight.

Ball went into damage control after his season aired, claiming the show was 'all scripted', and producers had told him what to say and how to act.

The rant followed a screenshot he shared of a private message he received from a troll who wished death upon him

Footage also emerged at the time of Sobinoff calling him 'tubby' just before she walked down the aisle to her groom-to-be.

The 31-year-old, who is now married to partner Alexander Vega, slammed Ball online for being a 'liar' and not 'owning his s**t'.

'There's footage of how you thought it was funny to torment me and then say I was lovely. Liar from the get go,' she said.

Sobinoff went on to say she apologised for her 's**t comment' about Ball's weight but claimed he doubled down and continued to berate her appearance in the media.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nine for comment, in relation to this story.
When Evelyn Ellis shimmied onto our screens as a sexy intruder on Married At First Sight, male viewers were all thinking the same thing: 'When is she joining OnlyFans?'

The 27-year-old finally answered that question this week in an interview with Maxim Australia while posing for her first-ever men's magazine shoot.

Evelyn, a model and marketing manager from Sydney, looked scorching hot in a latex micro bikini for the cover of the May issue, on sale now.

The busty brunette oozed sex appeal with her wet hair slicked back as she pouted seductively for the camera.

In the accompanying centrefold, she showcased her flawless figure while sitting by the edge of a pool in a metallic one-piece swimsuit.

MAFS' Evelyn Ellis sizzled in a latex micro bikini on the cover of Maxim Australia, on sale now

In her interview with Maxim, Evelyn revealed she would never join OnlyFans - the subscription-based adult website popular with reality stars.

'OnlyFans, let me tell you - it ain't happening,' she said.

'[I have] nothing against it but I want to fill my time doing things I absolutely love and I just know I would not love doing OnlyFans.'

In the accompanying centrefold, she showcased her flawless figure while sitting by the edge of a pool in a metallic one-piece swimsuit

The model and marketing manager looked scorching hot in a barely there black bikini

She described herself as a 'glass half-full type of person' who grew up with immigrant parents and had a normal childhood of playing outdoors and climbing trees.

'My best asset is my sense of humour,' she added. 'I feel people are very serious these days, so I love that I don't take myself seriously.'

During her stint on MAFS, Evelyn broke up with shy electrician Rupert Bugden after growing tired of the lack of effort he was putting into their relationship.

'We have been each other's support networking during all of it and we're lucky to have maintained a friendship during all this craziness,' she told Maxim.

When asked to describe her ideal man, she said: 'I used to have such a long [list] but the older I get all that really matters is someone who understands you, makes you laugh and whose company you truly enjoy.'

Evelyn's Maxim Australia cover is on sale now
Jessica Chastain is clarifying her recent admission that she's 'not doing' the film adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Fans have been rallying for the Academy Award-winner, 46, to star in the historical drama, which follows an Old Hollywood star who lays out her life story in a final interview with an unknown reporter.

Specifically, many hoped she would play Celia St. James, who is also a famous actress and the titular character's secret lover.

In a January sit-down with Andy Cohen, Chastain acknowledged the online chatter. 'Sure, send me a script,' she teased.

But in a now viral TikTok clip captured Tuesday, she is seen politely refusing to sign a copy of the novel, telling the fan: 'I can't sign that, just because I'm not doing it.'

So, Chastain took to Twitter on Wednesday to explain her reasoning, as well as to set the record straight on her attachment to the film.

A little clarification: Jessica Chastain is clarifying her recent admission that she's 'not doing' the film adaptation Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo; seen in March

Chastain took to Twitter on Wednesday to explain her reasoning, as well as to set the record straight on her attachment to the film

'I've been asked multiple times by fans, to sign books that I'm not attached to contractually,' her tweet began.

'Because it feels wrong, and like Im taking credit for someone else's work, I'll say I cant sign because I'm not doing it.'

Chastain continued: 'That doesn't mean I've read a bad script. I know how excited many you are about adaptations. Please don't read too much into a video. There is no news about anything Except that I'm onstage until June 10th. Hope to see you #ADollsHouse.'

The Help actress is currently starring in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House on Broadway.

Chastain stars as Nora Helmer in the re-imagined story which focuses on the lives of a group of middle class Norwegians in 1879.

Themes in the production include appearances, the power of money, and the place of women in a patriarchal society.

Nora is a wife and mother who is forced to question everything in her highly structured life.

The play opened March 9, just days before she and Halle Berry presented the Best Actress award at the Oscars.

In an interview with PBS, the Zero Dark Thirty star explained her approach to the character.

'I tried to dial up the ways Nora was in control of the situation. So even if she's playing innocent or playing a victim or playing helpless, it is still a choice she's making,' Chastain contended.

'And she is still sort of, in significant ways, the director and stage manager of the proceedings, even if she gets what she wants by playing a sort of traditional woman.'

The story is told without the use of any props, except for chairs, which concerned the actress at first.

'I was like, "What do you mean?" And it was very difficult for me to even imagine.'

Source material: Fans have been rallying for the Academy Award-winner, 46, to star in the historical drama, which follows an Old Hollywood star who lays out her life story in a final interview with an unknown reporter

In a now viral TikTok clip captured Tuesday, she is seen politely refusing to sign a copy of the novel, telling the fan: 'I can't sign that, just because I'm not doing it'

She did take plenty of selfies, though!

Broadway, baby! The Help actress is currently starring in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House on Broadway; seen on March 9

The Guardian called her performance 'captivating,' and the New York Times called the production an 'astonishing breakthrough coup,' and named it a Critics Pick.

Not one to sit still, Chastain shot three different projects before taking to the stage.

A Mother's Instinct, co-starring Anne Hathaway, will be released in September. The Division co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Memory co-starring Peter Sarsgaard are set to open later this year.

A Doll's House is scheduled to run at the Hudson Theater through June 10.
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! suffered a live TV gaffe on Wednesday.

The latest evictee, Ian 'Dicko' Dickson, strolled off screen too early after wrapping up his exit interview with hosts Julia Morris and Dr Chris Brown.

The former Australian Idol judge, 60, was leaving the jungle camp via a bridge when a producer yelled at him from off screen to 'get back'.

The red-faced star realised he was walking out of the frame with several seconds of the live broadcast to go, so awkwardly turned round and waltzed back into the shot.

He covered up the awkward mistake by dancing and waving for the cameras, clearly trying to pass off his sudden about-turn as a deliberate move.

I'm a Celebrity suffered a live TV gaffe on Wednesday. The latest evictee, Ian 'Dicko' Dickson, strolled off screen too early after wrapping up his chat with Julia Morris and Dr Chris Brown

The British music executive was sent home on Wednesday after receiving the lowest number votes from the public.

After Julia and Dr Chris announced Dicko would be leaving, he told the other cast members: 'It's good, I've loved it and it's time to go. It's been really special.'

He later said he was 'really grateful' for the experience and had made lifelong friends.

The former Australian Idol judge, 60, was leaving the jungle camp via bridge when a producer yelled at home from off screen to 'get back'

Dicko realised he was walking out of the frame with several seconds of the live broadcast to go, so turned round and waltzed back into the shot. He covered up the mistake by dancing and waving for the cameras, clearly trying to pass off his about-turn as a deliberate move

'I wasn't expecting the lessons I was going to get out of this experience and I really was not expecting to fall in love with strangers like I did. I feel really grateful,' he said.

Dicko also revealed he believes netball star Liz Ellis will win the show.

'I've got absolutely no doubt about it. As long as she gets to present her light every night,' he said.

'She's one of the single most impressive human beings I've had the pleasure of ever spending time with.'

The British music executive was sent home on Wednesday after receiving the lowest number votes from the public
Laura Byrne has revealed she'd like to expand her brood.

The Bachelor winner, who shares two children with Matty J Johnson, told WHO magazine on Thursday she'd like another baby.

'I think I would like another one,' Laura told the publication, but admitted the couple are very busy with their careers at the moment.

'Matt jokes that if we haven't had another baby by the end of next year, we're not having any more,' she added.

The couple are parents to daughters Marlie-Mae, three, and Lola, two, with Laura saying she always saw herself as a mother of three.

Bachelor star Laura Byrne has revealed her surprise plans to expand her brood with hubby Matty J Johnson during an interview with WHO magazine on Thursday. Sydney, March

'I always saw us having three kids one day, so there's a part of me that thinks that could still happen,' she said

'I love being a mum and Matt's such an amazing dad, so the door is not completely shut,' she added.

The couple tied-the-knot in Mollymook on the NSW South Coast last November.

In February, the couple shared a cheeky video showing how their lives have changed since having children.

'I think I would like another one,' Laura told the publication, bit admitted the couple are very busy with their careers at the moment. Pictured with their daughters Marlie-Mae and Lola

The couple are then seen jumping on a bed of roses together while kissing with the saxophone from George Michael's Careless Whisper playing in the background.

'V Day before kids' is written on the screen and the video then moves to the 'after kids' stage by showing Matty and Laura lying in bed together looking bored.

Matty takes a retainer out of his mouth and asks his partner, 'it's Valentine's Day, do you want to have a cuddle?'

Laura, who is wearing a facial mask, responds unenthusiastically with, 'let's just do it tomorrow.'

Laura Byrne and Mathew 'Matty J' Johnson walked down in November. Both pictured

'Ahhhhh Valentine's Day, keeping the spark alive,' Matty wrote next to the video.

Laura and Matty are one of the most successful couples to come out of the show, but the brunette beauty told the I've Got News For You podcast it almost didn't happen because she got 'cold feet' the day before filming was set to begin in 2017.

'I had a change of heart and almost didn't rock up for filming,' she admitted.

The pair welcomed daughters Marlie-Mae in 2019 and Lola in February, 2021. They got engaged while on holiday in Fiji in April 2018.
The romance between music mogul Diddy and rapper Yung Miami is now over, after roughly a year of dating.

Diddy, 53, and the rapper (born Caresha Romeka Brownlee), 29, confirmed they started dating last June.

However, Yung Miami revealed in a wide-ranging interview with The Cut that she's no longer with Diddy, though it's unclear when they split.

'Were still friends! Were still good friends! But were single. Thats not my man. We had our own situation, Im not gonna put a title on it,' she said.

'We were f***ing with each other hard. We were together every day at one point. He supported me, I supported him. Ill let the internet call it whatever they want to call it,' she added.

It's over: The romance between music mogul Diddy and rapper Yung Miami is now over, after roughly a year of dating

Split: However, Yung Miami revealed in a wide-ranging interview with The Cut that she's no longer with Diddy, though it's unclear when they split

Diddy was the first guest on her talk show Caresha Please, and when asked what made her want to start the show in the first place, Diddy encouraged her.

'Do you know Justin LaBoy? We had did his show in Miami, and Diddy came, and he sat through the interview,' Caresha began.

'After the interview, he came to me, and was just like, Whats your number? He wanted me to meet him at his house in Miami,' she added.

'I met him at his house, and he was like, I think you should do a podcast. Youre good at it. Youve got a strong personality. So thats how it came about,' she clarified.

Diddy was the first guest on Caresha Please and she has been open about her relationship with him, revealing she knew people were going to find out anyway.

'I felt like, it is what it is. Eventually, people was gonna find out because he is who he is, I am who I am,' she said.

'We was just like, if were going to put it out there, were going to be the ones that talk. I dont like anyone talking for me,' Caresha insisted.

She also opened up about her controversial revelation about enjoying 'golden showers,' which many assumed she performed with Diddy, though she said that's not exactly the case.

First: Diddy was the first guest on her talk show Caresha Please, and when asked what made her want to start the show in the first place, Diddy encouraged her

'I never said he was the one I did that with. Sex is a part of life. Im grown, and maybe I talk about it too much, but everybodys got their personal experiences,' she said.

'Some people get s****ed on. Some people live life on the edge, some people boring as f**k,' she added.

'I watch a lot of porn, b****es get peed on. If we grown and we in the house just chilling and want to talk about sex, whats wrong with that?' she added.

She also discussed growing up in Miami, adding, 'Miami people are so different. Our culture is different. Our lifestyle is different. I got tough skin.'

'A lot of stuff that I can take and I can deal with, most people cant. Like peoples opinions, I trend damn near every day,' she added.

'Sometimes I wake up and just search my name and see who waking up and talking the f**k about me. It could be seven oclock in the morning and a bitch is tweeting about me,' she said.

Diddy welcomed his seventh child Love Sean Combs with Dana Tran back in December 2022.

Earlier on Wednesday, Diddy took to his Instagram story with a cryptic post stating, 'God's timing is forever accurate. Believe it. Trust it. Allow it,' though it's unclear if he was referencing the break-up.

Never said: 'I never said he was the one I did that with. Sex is a part of life. Im grown, and maybe I talk about it too much, but everybodys got their personal experiences,' she said
Scammers can't seem to keep their stories straight with fake news articles claiming Sunrise host David Koch is both 'dead' and 'under arrest'.

The Channel Seven presenter, 67, has recently been the subject of multiple cryptocurrency scams that use false reports of his death to dupe people out of thousands of dollars.

These hoaxes have now diversified to include deceptive links alleging Kochie has been arrested for financial crimes.

But clued-up viewers have noted the impossibility of a dead person being arrested, finding humour in how the scams are now contradicting each other.

The latest false news story includes a sloppily edited image of Koch looking distraught as police officers drag him away.

Scammers can't seem to keep their stories straight with fake news articles claiming Sunrise host David Koch (pictured) is both 'dead' and 'under arrest'

'Thousands flock to ATMs after Kochie's arrest,' reads the false headline.

Koch was targeted by a cruel death hoax earlier this week when criminals used his image and fake news of his passing to scam people out of thousands.

He was bombarded with 'tributes' over the weekend when a Twitter post announcing his death went viral, Crikey reported.

The Seven presenter, 67, has recently been the subject of multiple cryptocurrency scams that use false reports of his death to dupe people out of thousands. These hoaxes have now diversified to include deceptive links alleging Kochie has been arrested for financial crimes

Clued-up viewers have noted the impossibility of a dead person being arrested, finding humour in how the scams are now contradicting each other

Originating from a hacked account, the tweet included a link redirecting users to a cryptocurrency scam featuring fraudulent celebrity endorsements purporting to be from the likes of Koch, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and others.

'Although saying goodbye is never easy, we take comfort in knowing that Kochie lived a full and meaningful life, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, warmth and compassion,' the scam tweet read.

The message was accompanied by a black and white photo of Koch looking distraught with his hands over his face.

The TV veteran was targeted by a cruel death hoax earlier this week when criminals used his image and fake news of his passing to scam people out of thousands of dollars

Koch retweeted the post and assured his followers that despite taking a week off work, he was 'alive and well'.

'Just for clarity, I'm alive and well and enjoying AFL's Gather Round in Adelaide with all my family. This stuff is really giving me the s**ts,' he said.

Koch has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) if there is anything he can do about these scams, but was told they will continue to pop up if people keep falling for them.

The owner of the Twitter account, Kimberly Ramirez, told Crikey she 'had no idea' her hacked account was spreading a crypto scam under the guise of a tribute to Koch.

She went on to say she had received an email from Twitter alerting her to a login attempt on her account. The email stated the hacker could have accessed her account from Lake Forest, Illinois.
Amanda Holden is the perfect poster girl in her latest shoot with fashion brand JD Williams.

Promoting her latest collaboration with the brand, the Britain's Got Talent star, 52, posed in a chic bright blue suit.

The three piece suit features a plunging waistcoat, which highlighted Amanda's incredible physique,

The snaps show the star pulling off her best poses as she models the new season pieces.

Model behaviour: Amanda Holden is the perfect poster girl in her latest shoot with fashion brand JD Williams

Simply stunning: Promoting her latest collaboration with the brand, the Britain's Got Talent star, 52, posed in a chic bright blue suit

Slipping off the matching jacket, Amanda flaunted her toned figure in the tight-fitting waistcoat and matching trousers.

Amanda recently spoke to OK! Magazine about being seen without a bra, explaining: 'I'm not braless. The fact is, I'm wearing SKIMS [bras], but my nipples are always affected by the cold.

There's nothing I can do about it. It's like the Princess And The Pea  20 mattresses down and you still see my nipples.'

'They show through anything. They're like my compass. Point away, I'll never get lost.'

Amanda also revealed she's keen on her family becoming the next Kardashians - but her husband Chris Hughes has reservations.

The TV personality shares daughters Lexie, 17, and Hollie, 11, with the record producer, and thinks the lot of them would make brilliant TV.

She told OK! Magazine: 'I would do it. Chris wouldnt. Ive said, "Right, if they offered us millions to be the new Kardashians, would you do it?"

'And he goes, "No." Its a shame. I always think we would be quite fun.'
Claire Danes kept it casual and comfy as she stepped out in New York City to run errands on Wednesday.

The My So-Called Life star, 44, covered up her growing baby bump with a black and blue long-sleeve top and a puffer vest.

She threw on navy blue leggings and a pair of lace-up sneakers with what appeared to be maternity compression socks.

Danes was noticeably makeup-free and her cropped blonde hair was pushed back off her face with a headband.

After getting in a relaxing stroll, the actress made a quick pit stop at a nearby grocery store for some essentials.

Out and about: Claire Danes kept it casual and comfy as she stepped out in New York City to run errands. The My So-Called Life star, 44, covered up her growing baby bump with a black and blue long-sleeve top and a puffer vest

Glowing: Danes was noticeably makeup-free and her cropped blonde hair was pushed back off her face with a headband

For her walk home, she plugged a pair of AirPods in her ears and kept her iPhone close to her via a convenient crossbody strap.

Danes is currently expecting her third child with husband Hugh Dancy, 47.

The longtime couple already share sons Cyrus, 10, and Rowan, four.

Danes confirmed her pregnancy in January while attending the 80th Golden Globe Awards after PEOPLE published a report.

She admitted on the red carpet that the pregnancy 'was not intentional' but that she and Dancy are 'thrilled' by the news.

But Danes revealed during an appearance on The Tonight Show that her sons weren't initially thrilled about the idea of having a new sibling.

She told host Jimmy Fallon that her youngest son Rowan had suggested they 'give it to a family that doesn't have a baby because we're done.'

But the Romeo and Juliet star was able to sway Rowan by explaining his future role as a big brother.

'He was less than thrilled but then we talked about how when the baby comes out, it's going to be pretty dumb [and] doesn't know a lot, [and will] need assistance and some educating.'

Danes continued: 'That was interesting to him. He liked the idea of being a condescending presence. So, now he's a little more optimistic.'

As for eldest son Cyrus, he was initially 'sort of resigned to it' but eventually came around.

Danes and Dancy celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary this past September.

Stocking up: After getting in a relaxing stroll, the actress made a quick pit stop at a nearby grocery store for some essentials

Comfy: She threw on navy blue leggings and a pair of lace-up sneakers with what appeared to be maternity compression socks

Expecting: Danes is currently expecting her third child with husband Hugh Dancy, 47

Longtime love: Danes and Dancy celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary this past September; seen in November 2022

The pair first met on the set of Lajos Koltai's film Evening back in 2006.

They starred as love interests in the drama, which was released the following year.

Though she and Dancy had chemistry, Danes had committed to staying single after having back-to-back relationships for most of her life.

But the Homeland star eventually changed her mind after coming to terms with her feelings for Dancy, which were reciprocated.
Kelly Clarkson on Tuesday welled up with tears on her show as she discussed how her daughter is being bullied at school amid a battle with dyslexia.

The 40-year-old entertainer, who shares daughter River Rose, eight, and son Remington Alexander, seven, with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock, 46, opened up on The Kelly Clarkson Show as she spoke with Henry Winkler, 77, who has been open about his own battle with dyslexia.

'I was driving my daughter to school yesterday, and she's dyslexic,' the Fort Worth, Texas-born star told the iconic Happy Days leading man, delving into how she finds him to be an inspirational figure.

She said, 'You have told me that you're dyslexic as well - I find that amazing, to tell my daughter that you've written, like, 40 books and you're dyslexic.'

In the appearance, Clarkson said that daughter River had been 'getting bullied' at school for 'not being able to read' at a similar pace to her classmates amid her battle with the learning disability.

The latest: Kelly Clarkson, 40, on Tuesday welled up with tears on her show as she discussed how her daughter is being bullied at school amid a battle with dyslexia

Clarkson noted a number of other famous people who have been open about their battles with dyslexia, a group that includes Anthony Mackie and Zachary Levi. Said the My Life Would Suck Without You artist: 'It really empowered her that yall are so open about it.'

Winkler cited statistics that indicated one out of five children deal with dyslexia.

Said the Barry star: 'She's part of the tribe' before saying into the camera, 'River! How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are.'

Clarkson got teary as she said that she 'didn't know how common' dyslexia was in children, adding, 'My makeup artist is going to kill me.'

Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock in June of 2020 after a seven-year marriage, with the split being finalized a year ago.

Clarkson last summer appeared on the Today show, where she spoke about how she and ex Blackstock took their kids on a summer vacation in the wake of their split.

The A Moment Like This songstress said, 'It's obviously been a rough couple years so it was really important to me to, like, shut down for a minute. The kids were with me and with their dad.

'It was nice because they usually have to travel a lot because of our separation so we were both in Montana so, it was the first time I think my kids felt more centered as well.'

Clarkson became teary as she said that she 'didn't know how common' dyslexia was in children

Winkler said while looking into the camera, 'River! How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are'

In the appearance, Clarkson said that daughter River had been 'getting bullied' at school for 'not being able to read' at a similar pace to her classmates amid her battle with the learning disability

Winkler, 77, who has been open about his own battle with dyslexia, had words of kindness and encouragement for Clarkson's daughter
Following his guest-starring gig in Hulu's How I Met Your Father, Neil Patrick Harris and his family glammed up to attend opening night of his Broadway play Peter Pan Goes Wrong at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in Manhattan on Wednesday.

The New Mexico-born 49-year-old - who publicly came out in 2006 - was joined on the red carpet by his husband of eight years, David Burtka, and their 12-year-old twins Gideon Scott and Harper Grace.

Neil's pre-teens wore a black suit and a yellow-ruffled floral frock, respectively, while the 47-year-old actor-chef also donned a black suit with loafers.

Harris - who relied on groomer Amy Komorowski - wore a chambray blazer over a grey-striped button-up, black slacks, and matching boots selected by stylist Sam Spector.

The Uncoupled producer-star hasn't starred in a Broadway show since his Tony Award-winning turn in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theatre back in 2015.

Familial support! Neil Patrick Harris (L) and his family glammed up to attend opening night of his Broadway play Peter Pan Goes Wrong at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in Manhattan on Wednesday

It's all relative! The New Mexico-born 49-year-old - who publicly came out in 2006 - was joined on the red carpet by his husband of eight years, David Burtka (R), and their 12-year-old twins Gideon Scott (2-L) and Harper Grace (2-R)

'[It's] nice to be back,' Neil gushed to Broadway World on Wednesday.

'I am surrounded by some of the most talented people I've ever seen doing a level of comedy that is relentless and very physical, and I'm in a very happy place.'

Harris admitted he only had two days of rehearsal and one tech rehearsal in order to prepare for the role of Francis, who's the narrator of the play-within-a-play.

'My role's not gigantic,' the former child star confessed.

'But what I find with the comedy of this level is that it's very technical. It's like a dance on multiple levels - backstage stuff is happening, costume changes, and props that have to be in specific pockets, in specific places. From sitting in an audience and watching the chaos, it feels a lot more spontaneous than it actually is.'

Fans can catch Neil as Francis through April 30 but the international theatre company Mischief's highly physical slapstick comedy, directed by Adam Meggido, is scheduled to run until July 9.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong originally premiered at the Pleasance Theatre in London in 2013 and spawned a UK tour, two successful runs on the West End, and a BBC One TV special.

Meanwhile, David - who started dating Harris in 2004 - began previews Tuesday on Theatre Breaking Through Borders' off-Broadway revival of God of Carnage, which runs April 27-May 20 at Theatre Row in Manhattan.

Glam fam: Neil's pre-teens wore a black suit and a yellow-ruffled floral frock, respectively, while the 47-year-old actor-chef (R) also donned a black suit with loafers

Dapper: Harris - who relied on groomer Amy Komorowski - wore a chambray blazer over a grey-striped button-up, black slacks, and matching boots selected by stylist Sam Spector

'[It's] nice to be back!' The Uncoupled producer-star hasn't starred in a Broadway show since his Tony Award-winning turn in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theatre back in 2015

Neil gushed to BroadwayWorld on Wednesday: 'I am surrounded by some of the most talented people I've ever seen doing a level of comedy that is relentless and very physical, and I'm in a very happy place'

'My role's not gigantic': Harris admitted he only had two days of rehearsal and one tech rehearsal in order to prepare for the role of Francis, who's the narrator of the play-within-a-play

Curtain call: Fans can catch the former child star as Francis through April 30 but the international theatre company Mischief's highly physical slapstick comedy, directed by Adam Meggido, is scheduled to run until July 9

Two thespians: David - who started dating Neil in 2004 - began previews Tuesday on Theatre Breaking Through Borders' off-Broadway revival of God of Carnage, which runs April 27-May 20 at Theatre Row in Manhattan

The five-time Emmy winner will start filming the second season of Darren Star and Jeffrey Richman's rom-com series Uncoupled in New York City from May 30-August 4.

Neil plays newly-single real estate agent Michael Lawson in the 'certified fresh' show, which was picked up by the rebranded 'Paramount+ with Showtime' after Netflix canceled it in January.

Also attending the Broadway opening festivities was Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, who wore a coral floral maxi-dress and matching stilettos.

The 32-year-old Hamilton alum will host the 76th Annual Tony Awards ceremony taking place June 11 at the United Palace in Washington Heights and broadcasting on CBS/Paramount+.

Golden Globe winner Christian Slater - who's starred in six Broadway plays - showcased his salt-and-pepper stubble in a black suede jacket over a blue sweater, grey pants, and sneakers.

Encanto alum Jessica Darrow - who relies on stylist Jennifer Udechukwu - bared her arm tattoos in a short-sleeve coral blouse with matching pants and black platform shoes.

Styled herself! Also attending the Broadway opening festivities was Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, who wore a coral floral maxi-dress and matching stilettos

'Let's do it again!' The 32-year-old Hamilton alum will host the 76th Annual Tony Awards ceremony, which air June 11 on CBS/Paramount+

Heathers alum! Golden Globe winner Christian Slater - who's starred in six Broadway plays - showcased his salt-and-pepper stubble in a black suede jacket over a blue sweater, grey pants, and sneakers
Patrick Wilson starred in a new trailer released on Wednesday for Insidious: The Red Door that also serves as his directorial debut.

The 49-year-old actor has reprised his role of Josh Lambert in the upcoming supernatural sequel that he also directed from a screenplay by Scott Teems.

The trailer opened with Josh sitting with his family and saying in a voice-over, 'We're ready to forget The Further once and for all.'

Rose Byrne, 43, who portrays his wife Renai Lambert, then looked shocked followed by jarring scary imagery that included an ominous red door.

A message told viewers the action was set '10 Years Later' as Josh was shown working on his memory at home before he was violently attacked by an intruder.

Supernatural sequel: Patrick Wilson starred in a new trailer released on Wednesday for Insidious: The Red Door that also serves as his directorial debut

Renai was then shown suggesting that Josh drive their son Dalton, portrayed by 21-year-old Ty Simpkins, to college in hope they they could reconnect.

Dalton was shown struggling with dark memories of being in a coma at age 10 and traveling to the terrifying realm of The Further.

He worked on a charcoal drawing and was injured when a figure reached out from easel and attacked him.

Josh admitted that his family had been keeping secrets and Dalton was resolved to expose them.

A synopsis from Sony Pictures Releasing said that 'Dalton's college dream becomes a nightmare when the repressed demons of his past suddenly return to haunt them both.'

Original cast members Andrew Astor and Lin Shaye are also back for the fifth installment in the Insidious franchise.

Hiam Abbass and Sinclair Daniel have joined the cast for Insidious: The Red Door.

Insidious: The Red Door is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 7 by Sony Pictures Releasing.

Directorial debut: The 49-year-old actor, shown last month in New York City, has reprised his role of Josh Lambert in the upcoming supernatural sequel that he also directed

Memory issues: Josh was shown working on his memory at home before he was violently attacked by an intruder

College student: Josh drive his son Dalton, portrayed by 21-year-old Ty Simpkins, to college in hope they they could reconnect

Dark memories: Dalton was shown struggling with dark memories of being in a coma at age 10 and traveling to the terrifying realm of The Further
The Morning Show host Larry Emdur was left shocked on Tuesday when celebrity sexologist Chantelle Otten described women as 'vulva owners'.

Terms like 'vulva owners' and 'people who menstruate' are sometimes used to refer to biological women by those trying to be more inclusive in their language.

They believe saying 'woman' isn't always accurate because some women - namely transgender women - have penises instead of vaginas and do not menstruate.

Emdur, 58, clearly wasn't up to date with the progressive lingo, as he thought Otten, 31, said 'Volvo owners', which resulted in an awkward live TV moment.

He was scolded by his co-host Kylie Gillies for not understanding what Otten, the girlfriend of former Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, was trying to say.

The Morning Show host Larry Emdur was left shocked on Tuesday when celebrity sexologist Chantelle Otten (pictured) described women as 'vulva owners'

When Otten described herself as a 'femme person' and 'a vulva owner' during a discussion about sexual pain, Emdur looked suddenly baffled.

'Did this turn into a car segment?' he asked.

Gillies, 55, who appeared to see the gaffe coming a mile away, immediately said: 'I knew you would mishear that.'

When Otten clarified she was talking about the female anatomy, she took a dig at Emdur and asked if he even knew what a vulva was.

Emdur continued with the joke, asking, 'Are we talking about having sex in cars now?'

Emdur (left, with Kylie Gillies) clearly wasn't up to date with the progressive lingo, as he thought Otten, 31, said 'Volvo owners', which resulted in an awkward live TV moment

He added there are 'lots of airbags' in Volvos.

The awkwardness didn't end there: when the Channel Seven hosts went on to promote Otten's new podcast, Emdur couldn't resist making one final joke.

'This segment is proudly brought to you by Volvo, Wheels Car Magazine's car of the year five times running!' he said.

'You can listen to the podcast in your Volvo if you want to,' added Gillies as Otten could barely contain her laughter.
Dakota Johnson brought her famous mother Melanie Griffith to a special screening of The Roku Channel series Slip at $4,200/year private members club NeueHouse Hollywood on Tuesday where they hung out with Olivia Wilde.

The 39-year-old Babylon actress said of the mother-daughter duo via Instastory on Wednesday: 'I would very much like to join this family.'

Dakota and Melanie are a bona fide dynasty if you count their 93-year-old matriarch Tippi Hedren, best known for her role in in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror flick, The Birds.

Johnson - whose father is Don Johnson - flaunted substantial cleavage in a black plunging top beneath a double-breasted pinstripe pantsuit selected by her stylist Kate Young.

Hairstylist Mark Townsend coiffed the Texan-born 33-year-old's signature fringed mane and make-up artist Georgie Eisdell brought out her brows and applied a mauve lipstick shade.

Family affair! Dakota Johnson (M) brought her famous mother Melanie Griffith (R) to a special screening of The Roku Channel series Slip at $4,200/year private members club NeueHouse Hollywood on Tuesday where they hung out with Olivia Wilde (L)

The 39-year-old Babylon actress (L) said of the mother-daughter duo via Instastory on Wednesday: 'I would very much like to join this family'

Meanwhile, the 65-year-old Oscar nominee - who embraced Dakota's business partner Ro Donnelly - wore a white maxi-coat over a black turtleneck and blue jeans.

Johnson and Donnelly are the co-founders of TeaTime Pictures, which was the production company behind Zoe Lister-Jones' seven-episode multiverse sex comedy Slip, which streams for free this Friday on The Roku Channel.

In it, the 40-year-old filmmaker stars as Mae Cannon, a woman desperate to find her way back to her partner Elijah (Whitmer Thomas), but every time she climaxes she's magically 'transformed to other dimensions.'

On Wednesday, Griffith - who boasts 630K Instagram followers - gushed about how extraordinary Slip was: '[It's] produced by my daughter's company! Congratulations Dakota, Ro, and Zoe! Absolutely stellar!'

The Working Girl alum's last acting gig was in her daughter's 2020 film The High Note.

As for Madame Web, the Persuasion actress told Variety in January that she had officially wrapped her clairvoyant role as Cassandra Webb in S.J. Clarkson's 2023 Spider-Man spin-off, which Sony Pictures will release in US/UK theaters on February 16, 2024.

Missing from Dakota's side on Tuesday was her boyfriend since 2017, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

Johnson introduced the first two episodes with Zoe, and she gushed Wednesday that she 'had the best time celebrating our girl @zoelisterjones and our first ever TV series' via TeaTime's Instagram account.

Hollywood legacy: Dakota and Melanie are a bona fide dynasty if you count their 93-year-old matriarch Tippi Hedren (pictured March 23), best known for her role in in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror flick, The Birds

Suited: Johnson - whose father is Don Johnson - flaunted substantial cleavage in a black plunging top beneath a double-breasted pinstripe pantsuit selected by her stylist Kate Young

Babe: Hairstylist Mark Townsend coiffed the Texan-born 33-year-old's signature fringed mane and make-up artist Georgie Eisdell brought out her brows and applied a mauve lipstick shade

Mama: Meanwhile, the 65-year-old Oscar nominee (R) - who embraced Dakota's business partner Ro Donnelly (L) - wore a white maxi-coat over a black turtleneck and blue jeans

Team: Johnson and Donnelly (L) are the co-founders of TeaTime Pictures, which was the production company behind Zoe Lister-Jones' (M) seven-episode multiverse sex comedy Slip, which streams for free this Friday on The Roku Channel

Fantastical premise: In it, the 40-year-old filmmaker stars as Mae Cannon, a woman desperate to find her way back to her partner Elijah (Whitmer Thomas), but every time she climaxes she's magically 'transformed to other dimensions'

On Wednesday, Griffith gushed about how extraordinary Slip was: '[It's] produced by my daughter's company! Congratulations Dakota, Ro, and Zoe! Absolutely stellar!'

Wrapped! As for Madame Web, the Persuasion actress told Variety in January that she had officially wrapped her clairvoyant role as Cassandra Webb in S.J. Clarkson's 2023 Spider-Man spin-off, which Sony Pictures will release in US/UK theaters on February 16, 2024

Leading man: Missing from Dakota's side on Tuesday was her boyfriend since 2017, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin

Jones glammed up in a purple Valentino mini-dress and matching stilettos selected by stylist Laura Sophie Cox.

Ted Lasso producer-star Brett Goldstein looked absolutely besotted as he chatted up the multi-talented woman of the hour, who was last seen acting in Zach Braff's drama A Good Person.

The 42-year-old Englishman - who was last romantically linked to actress Beth Rylance - took to Instastory to gush: '@zoelisterjones new show Slip is fantastic! Out Friday on Roku. She wrote, directed, stars, edits, lights, feeds the crew, does the makeup - she's kind of amazing. Watch it!'

Zoe posed with Olivia - whose ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis is the co-creator and star of Ted Lasso - and Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin actress Jameela Jamil wearing a Hebe Studio suit and sunglasses.

Wilde slipped her gym-honed 5ft7in figure into a blue Peter Pan-collared Alessandra Rich dress with white Comme Si socks and loafers selected by stylist Karla Welch.

'Welcome everyone!' Johnson introduced the first two episodes with Zoe, and she gushed Wednesday that she 'had the best time celebrating our girl @zoelisterjones and our first ever TV series' via TeaTime's Instagram account

Leggy look: Jones glammed up in a purple Valentino mini-dress and matching stilettos selected by stylist Laura Sophie Cox

Sparks flying? Ted Lasso producer-star Brett Goldstein (L) looked absolutely besotted as he chatted up the multi-talented woman of the hour

The 42-year-old Englishman - who was last romantically linked to actress Beth Rylance - gushed: '@zoelisterjones new show Slip is fantastic! Out Friday on Roku. She wrote, directed, stars, edits, lights, feeds the crew, does the makeup - she's kind of amazing. Watch it!'

Sunglasses at night: Zoe posed with Olivia - whose ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis is the co-creator and star of Ted Lasso - and Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin actress Jameela Jamil (R) wearing a Hebe Studio suit
Ben Gordon, the drummer for Australian heavy metal band Parkway Drive, has listed his Byron Bay mansion for sale.

The 36-year-old musician hopes to get more than $10million for the four-bedroom, four-bathroom beachside property, which boasts stunning ocean views.

The newly renovated two-storey home has an open-plan design and is a marvel of modern architecture.

It includes an office, gym, central atrium and fireplace, as well as many other features that combine contemporary convenience with traditional elegance.

The interior designer Mel Gubbin told Realestate.com.au the property was perfect for all kinds of lifestyles.

Ben Gordon (pictured), the drummer for Australian heavy metal band Parkway Drive, has listed his Byron Bay mansion for sale

'You can flow from inside to out entertaining or move peacefully from wellness zones on a quiet morning to a relaxing private nook to recharge,' Gubbin said.

Gordon purchased the property for $2.45million in 2019 and has spent the past three years significantly renovating it and increasing its market value.

In 2021, Gordon sold a documentary about his metalcore band to Netflix, despite being a vocal critic of the streaming platform's controversial 'docu-soap' Byron Baes.

The 36-year-old musician hopes to get more than $10million for the four-bedroom, four-bathroom beachside property, which boasts stunning ocean views

While the irony might seem surprising, the drummer - who also owns the Byron Bay General Store cafe - clarified his issue was not with Netflix itself but simply the concept of the reality show and its potential impact on the Byron Bay community.

He told The Daily Telegraph: 'My issue with Byron Baes was never about Netflix, it was about the content of the show and its potentially damaging effects to our home town.

'Byron has been bombarded with external pressures over the last several years and the announcement of Byron Baes was the straw that broke the camel's back.'

The newly renovated two-storey home has an open-plan design and is a marvel of modern architecture

It includes an office, gym, central atrium and fireplace, as well as many other features that combine contemporary convenience with traditional elegance

While he acknowledged the show had caused problems for the town, he also praised Netflix for buying the rights to the Parkway Drive documentary.

'The fact that Netflix will be streaming Viva the Underdogs is commendable as it is a genuine Australian story that embodies hard work, perseverance, self belief and friendship, which I think a lot of Australians will relate to,' he said.

Viva the Underdogs follows the Byron Bay band's preparations for headlining the German music festival Wacken Open Air in 2019.
The 76th Cannes Film Festival will close out with the world premiere of Pixar's highly-anticipated animated film Elemental.

The prestigious festival named Elemental the 'Last Screening,' which will take place on May 27, ahead of the film's June 16 theatrical release in the United States.

The film features the voices of Leah Lewis as Ember Lumen and Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple, though the Cannes press release has revealed two French actors - Adele Exarchopoulos and Vincent Lacoste - will voice Ember and Wade.

This will be the French actors' first experience with film dubbing, with the French voice cast rounded out by Gabriel Le Doze, Coco Noel, Celine Monsarrat and Michel Dodane.

The film is set in Element City, where fire, water, earth and air live in perfect harmony.

Closing: The 76th Cannes Film Festival will close out with the world premiere of Pixar's highly-anticipated animated film Elemental

Last: The prestigious festival named Elemental the 'Last Screening,' which will take place on May 27, ahead of the film's June 16 theatrical release in the United States

This is where Ember, a fearless and quick-witted young woman with a strong personality, and Wade, a sentimental, fun-loving, go-with-the-flow boy, live.

Their friendship challenges Embers beliefs about the world they live in.

The original voice cast includes Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine OHara, Mason Wertheimer and Joe Pera.

'As we all emerge from our pandemic cocoons and come together in story rooms, animation dailies and impromptu brainstorming sessions, its a joy and honor to have Pixar back on La Croisette,' said Pete Docter, Pixars chief creative officer.

'Directed by the extraordinary storyteller Peter Sohn, Elemental is so funny, full of heart and, frankly, stunning to see,' Docter continued.

'It was created for audiences to experience on the big screen and I love that itll make its world premiere at Cannes,' he concluded.

'For many years, the Festival de Cannes has welcomed animated films from around the world,' said Thierry Fremaux, General Delegate of the Festival in his statement.

'Pixar Animation Studios, with Up, directed by Pete Docter, made Cannes history by opening the 62nd edition of the Festival in 2009. It was a wonderful event!' he added.

Wade and Ember: This is where Ember (right), a fearless and quick-witted young woman with a strong personality, and Wade (left), a sentimental, fun-loving, go-with-the-flow boy, live

Challenge: Their friendship challenges Embers beliefs about the world they live in

'This is an another great opportunity, to present the amazing Elemental, for the Last Screening of this 76th Festival de Cannes, and to think about our lives in such a powerful way,' Fremaux concluded.

Elemental will open in theaters with a new animated short entitled Carl's Date, though it's unclear if that short will be shown at Cannes as well.

It was announced earlier this month that Jeanne du Barry, directed by Maiwenn and starring Johnny Depp, will be the opening film of the festival.

Maiwenn herself plays the title role with Johnny Depp as Louis XV, alongside Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair.

The historical drama on the life, rise and fall of King Louis XVs favorite, will be released in French cinemas the same day.

Other high-profile films that will screen out of competition include Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.

Films that will screen in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or include Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest, Todd Haynes' May December and Bandel E Adama, the debut film from Ramata-Toulaye Sy.

Opportunity: 'This is an another great opportunity, to present the amazing Elemental, for the Last Screening of this 76th Festival de Cannes, and to think about our lives in such a powerful way,' Fremaux concluded
Life imitated art on Wednesday as Keri Russell met the real-life British ambassador to the US - Dame Karen Pierce - at a screening of her new Netflix show The Diplomat inside the Motion Picture Association of America in Washington, DC.

The Cali-born 47-year-old stars as Kate Wyler - the newly-appointed US Ambassador to the United Kingdom - in Debora Cahn's eight-episode political thriller, which premieres this Thursday on the streaming giant.

The Diplomat - also starring Rufus Sewell and Michael McKean - marks Keri's first time ever executive producing a project.

Russell looked every bit the lady in a black tea-length dress, featuring a full skirt, with matching stilettos, envelope clutch, and diamond jewelry selected by stylist Frank Fleming.

Hairstylist Brian Magallones tamed the Cocaine Bear star's natural curls and make-up artist Tina Turnbow defined her brows and applied a pink lipstick shade.

Life imitating art! On Wednesday, Keri Russell (R) met the real-life British ambassador to the US - Dame Karen Pierce (L) - at a screening of her new Netflix show The Diplomat inside the Motion Picture Association of America in Washington, DC

Premieres this Thursday! The Cali-born 47-year-old stars as Kate Wyler - the newly-appointed US Ambassador to the United Kingdom - in Debora Cahn's eight-episode political thriller

Keri appeared to enjoy her one-on-one time with the English 63-year-old, who assumed office in 2020 while Queen Elizabeth II was still alive.

Karen wore a black and gold brocade-print dress as she posed between Russell and showrunner Debora Cahn.

Once inside the theater for the screening and Q&A, Pierce discussed the ins and outs of her position as the Golden Globe winner and the rest of the audience listened intently.

'[My character Kate] is constantly sweating, the hair is a mess, and it's probably a lot more like most of us in life,' Keri told the AP on Tuesday.

'She is frazzled - a lot. But she's the behind-the-scenes person who will get things done. She's messy, in a great way.'

Russell also glad-handed Motion Picture Association CEO Charlie Rivkin at the special screening.

On Tuesday, the former Mouseketeer attended the Manhattan premiere of The Diplomat with her babydaddy, Emmy winner Matthew Rhys.

Keri may have originally met the 48-year-old Welshman at Jennifer Grey's 2002 kickball party, but they didn't reconnect until May 2012 when they began playing married Russian spies in FX's The Americans.

Lovely: Keri looked every bit the lady in a black tea-length dress, featuring a full skirt, with matching stilettos, envelope clutch, and diamond jewelry selected by stylist Frank Fleming

Ready for her close-up! Hairstylist Brian Magallones tamed Russell's natural curls and make-up artist Tina Turnbow defined her brows and applied a pink lipstick shade

Inside joke? The Cocaine Bear star appeared to enjoy her one-on-one time with the English 63-year-old, who assumed office in 2020 while Queen Elizabeth II was still alive

HBICs: Karen wore a black and gold brocade-print dress as she posed between Keri and showrunner Debora Cahn (L)

Story time! Once inside the theater for the screening and Q&A, Pierce discussed the ins and outs of her position as Russell and the rest of the audience listened intently

The Golden Globe winner told the AP on Tuesday: '[My character Kate] is constantly sweating, the hair is a mess, and it's probably a lot more like most of us in life. She is frazzled - a lot. But she's the behind-the-scenes person who will get things done. She's messy, in a great way'

Pleased to meet you! Keri also glad-handed Motion Picture Association CEO Charlie Rivkin at the special screening

'We were both at an age where we've done it long enough to go, "You know workplace [romances] can be disastrous,"' Matthew told Page Six last Saturday.

'So, I think it was approached with caution and a great deal of trepidation. And coupled with that, for me, was certainly fun and excitement. Thank God it worked!'

Eyebrows raised considering Russell didn't separate from her husband Shane Deary until the summer of 2013, and their divorced was finalized in 2014.

The Waitress alum and the 47-year-old construction contractor share two children - son River Russell Deary, 15; and daughter Willa Lou Deary, 11 - and she and Rhys will celebrate their son Sam Evans Rhys' seventh birthday next month.

Still going strong! On Tuesday, Russell attended the Manhattan premiere of The Diplomat with her babydaddy, Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (L)

'Thank God it worked!' The former Mouseketeer may have originally met the 48-year-old Welshman at Jennifer Grey's 2002 kickball party, but they didn't reconnect until May 2012 when they began playing married Russian spies in FX's The Americans

'Workplace [romances] can be disastrous': Eyebrows raised considering Keri didn't separate from husband Shane Deary until the summer of 2013, and their divorced was finalized in 2014
This Morning fans have predicted that Holly Willoughby is set to quit This Morning after missing Phillip Schofield's return to the show.

Rochelle Humes was parachuted in as an eleventh hour replacement for Holly on Monday after the presenter confirmed she is stricken with shingles and will miss at least one week of action on the live show.

With Holly, 42, forced to remain at home until her symptoms pass, Rochelle, 34, was on hand to welcome Phillip Schofield back to This Morning after his own lengthy hiatus

The presenter, 61, was back on the couch for the first time since pedophile brother Timothy, a former school teacher, was convicted of 11 sexual offences against a boy.

Yet fans took to Twitter to question if Holly would ever return to the show, admitting they couldn't imagine the pair co-hosting for much longer.

Sick leave: This Morning fans have predicted that Holly Willoughby is set to quit This Morning after missing Phillip Schofield's return to the show

Viewers penned: 'Call me cynical bit I think we have seen the last of the Phil and Holly duo. #thismorning'; 'Something is not right there, bet she's just trying to stay away from Smugfield and gaining her brownie points with #ThisMorning viewers?'

'I dont think itll be Phil and Holly on This Morning much longer'; 'Oh look, Phils back, no Holly though.'

Rochelle and Phillip will host Thursday's installment of the show while Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary will take on Friday as usual.

MailOnline has contacted Holly's representatives for comment.

Holly explained to her fans on Sunday that she'd been struck down with shingles, which delayed her return to the daytime programme after the Easter break.

She wrote: 'Hi... Just to let you know i may be away for the rest of the week as i have shingles... I'll be back as soon as I'm better. Huge Love, Holly xxx.'

The condition, which is transferrable through direct contact, is typically characterized by a painful rash and blisters - usually on the left or right side of the body or face.

It marked a delay in her reunion with Phillip - who had been off-air for two weeks during his brother's trial.

Other hosts including Alison Hammond and Joel Dommett had taken his place alongside regular Holly.

Temporary: Rochelle Humes was parachuted in as an eleventh hour replacement for Holly on Monday to present alongside Phillip Schofield

Poorly: Holly explained to her fans on Sunday that she'd been struck down with shingles, which delayed her return to the daytime programme after the Easter break

In February it was claimed ITV bosses feared Holly 'could leave This Morning' after the presenter thought that Queuegate backlash was 'mishandled.'

She and Phillip came under fire last year when they were accused of having 'VIP access' to file 'past the Queen lying in state,' skipping the queue, a claim the stars and ITV have both denied.

According to a new report, Holly was 'devastated' by the public reception and the broadcaster's 'decision to remain silent.'

As a result The Mirror affirms that ITV lack the 'confidence' they have previously had with Holly's contract, which expires in December.

The broadcaster is said to be working on a 'bumper package' for the presenter in order to keep her with the channel.

A source told the publication: 'The Queuegate backlash was absolutely devastating for Holly, but what made matters worse was the feeling it was mishandled.

'ITV's decision to remain silent before finally issuing a statement was frustrating, as it felt like they were shutting the door after the horse had bolted.

'Bosses know last year was incredibly hard for her and as such, they are not approaching her contract negotiations with the same confidence as they have previously.'

A source later told MailOnline: 'Holly is a much loved, respected and valued member of not just the This Morning team but the entire ITV family.

'Since Holly joined 14 years ago, This Morning has been part of the national conversation and one of the UK's favourite daytime shows, and as one of the country's foremost and most talented presenters, ITV holds Holly in the highest esteem.'

Additionally a source close to Holly said she had 'no plans' to leave This Morning.

Meanwhile, Rochelle has been enjoying her time on the daytime show but was left red-faced after making a rather cheeky blunder on Wednesday's episode when her earpiece popped out.

Fears: In February it was claimed ITV bosses feared Holly 'could leave This Morning' after the presenter thought that Queuegate backlash with Phillip was 'mishandled'

Phillip told viewers that his co-host had been struggling with the earpiece and it had popped out a few times on air because of the 'size of her ear holes'.

Rochelle then burst out laughing after mistakenly telling viewers she had a 'big hole'.

The presenting duo then joked about her ears as they continued laughing and in the midst of the hilarity, Rochelle accidentally let an innuendo slip.

She said: 'What can I say guys. I have a big hole.... oh my god.... in my ear I mean.'
She was famously mocked after she struggled to cut up a cucumber on The Kardashians last year.

Yet Kendall Jenner had clearly been brushing up on her knife skills as she expertly sliced a lime in half while appearing on pal Hailey Bieber's cooking show.

The 27-year-old reality star featured as a guest on the latest episode of YouTube series, what's in my kitchen?, teaching Hailey, 26, how to make a layered dip.

While the 'cooking' element was sparse in the dish - which consisted of making guacamole before layering it up with ready made toppings - Kendall was clearly feeling rather proud of her efforts.

As she cut open a lime to add to the guacamole seasoning, an impressed Kendall exclaimed: 'wow, that was really good!'

Wow! Kendall Jenner has clearly been brushing up on her knife skills as she expertly sliced a lime in half while appearing on pal Hailey Bieber's cooking show

Cocktail break: The 27-year-old reality star featured as a guest on the latest episode of YouTube series, what's in my kitchen?, teaching Hailey, 26, how to make a layered dip

Hailey was equally as impressed, turning to the camera and remarking: 'Guys, I blocked her chop but it was a gorgeous chop', as Kendall agreed, 'that was fresh'.

Emboldened by her newfound skills, Kendall went on to chastise Hailey for the way in which she cut an avocado while still holding it in her hand.

'I don't ever do it like that, I just roll it around [the chopping board]' she advised, as Hailey admitted: 'Yeah that's probably a lot safer.'

After successfully making the guacamole the pair spread a thin layer of shop bought sour cream across the top, yet Hailey struggled with adding it evenly.

The next difficult task included grating cheese for the dip, with Hailey moaning: 'I'm definitely getting an arm workout! But I feel really determined because I know it'll be worth it.'

Kendall then revealed that it was mother Kris Jenner who had taught her how to make the dip but she put her own twist on it by not adding extra toppings to the three-layer dish.

To wash down their chips and dip creation, the pair whipped up a passionfruit spritz cocktail.

The culinary demonstration comes after Kendall had to be rescued by her family chef after making an insane attempt' to cut up a cucumber.

The student becomes the master: Emboldened by her newfound skills, Kendall went on to chastise Hailey for the way in which she cut an avocado while still holding it in her hand

Who knew it was so hard? After successfully making the guacamole the pair spread a thin layer of shop bought sour cream across the top, yet Hailey struggled with adding it evenly

Yum: Kendall then revealed that it was mother Kris Jenner who had taught her how to make the dip but she put her own twist on it by not adding extra toppings to the three-layer dish

The supermodel found herself at the center of online uproar in November when her less-than-stellar culinary skills were put on full display for the cameras.

In the episode, the tequila brand owner was visiting her momager Kris' sprawling mansion in Calabasas when she decided she wanted a snack.

Turning down Kris' offer to have the family's professional chef whip something up for her - insisting she would be 'making it herself' and that chopping cucumber would be 'easy' - Kendall proceeded to try and slice up the fruit, bending her arms around in a very awkward fashion, while her mother looked on in bewilderment.

As Kendall admitted that she was 'not a good cutter' and that she was 'kind of scared' of the knife, Kris promptly hollered for the chef, asking them to come in and 'cut this up for her'.

The hilarious moment was met with much amusement on social media, where people have been very quick to mock the reality star for her lack of kitchen skills.

Kendall was initially upset at the backlash surrounding her cutting blunder, however, she soon took it in her stride and poked fun at the incident by dressing up as a cucumber slice for Halloween.

Kendall's appearance marked the fourth episode of what's in my kitchen? after Hailey launched the venture in January.

In a press release, per The Hollywood Reporter, the supermodel herself explained that the show is a 'natural spin-off' to her other YouTube series, Who's In My Bathroom?, where she also ate yummy treats with her celebrity guests.

How to make Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber's layered dip Advertisement

'Ive loved cooking and sharing meals with friends on my social channels for years, and I cant wait to bring this experience to the fans of our network with OBB and HexClad,' the businesswoman expressed.

The wife of Justin Bieber collaborated with OBB Media to create the new series, with HexClad sponsoring the project.

'Creating new formats and IP for my channel has been really empowering, as my team and I get to truly create everything from concept to screen, and I cant wait for everybody to see whats next,' Hailey further expressed in a statement.

The star started her own YouTube channel a little over two years earlier in March 2021, and his since garnered a whopping 2 million subscribers.

The new series will also prioritize giving back to the community, with the model using ingredients supplied by the women-run Village Market Place from the nonprofit organization Community Services Unlimited, according to the outlet.

The goal of the nonprofit, 'is to foster the creation of communities actively working to address the inequalities and systemic barriers that make sustainable communities and self-reliant life-styles unattainable,' per the official website.
She is known for her dazzling career as a supermodel.

And Neelam Gill was showing off all her best assets on Wednesday night as she stepped out in New York for the Mugler H&M Global Launch Event.

The British model, 27, who has posed for the likes of Burberry, Abercrombie & Fitch and Vogue, was leaving little to the imagination as she hit the red carpet in a sheer black body stocking which just about protected her modesty.

Ensuring she was making the most of her lithe frame, the one-piece clung on to every inch of her figure with reinforced strips covering her assets.

To allow the ensemble to do all the talking, Neelam scraped her hair into a tight top knot while her make-up was vampish with dramatic liquid eyeliner.

Sizzling: Neelam Gill was showing off all her best assets on Wednesday night as she stepped out in New York for the Mugler H&M Global Launch Event

Cheeky! The British model, 27, who has posed for the likes of Burberry, Abercrombie & Fitch and Vogue, was leaving little to the imagination as she hit the red carpet in a sheer black body stocking which just about protected her modesty

Hot stuff! Ensuring she was making the most of her lithe frame, the one-piece clung on to every inch of her figure with reinforced strips covering her assets

Neelam was sizzling as she hit the red carpet in the sexy ensemble.

Her perky cleavage was on full display, while she also flaunted her taut stomach and lithe legs through the sheer material of the stocking.

She wore her hair in a sleek style while her make-up was dramatic and stunning.

In 2019, Neelam revealed the shocking racism she was exposed to as a child growing up in Coventry. She recalled how being called a 'p***' on her way to school was an every day occurrence and made her hate the colour of her skin.

The activist, who was one of the first British Asian women to become the face of a major campaign when she was chosen as the face of Burberry in 2014, also called for the fashion industry to stop using ethnic minority models as 'token' faces.

In a candid interview with Stylist, Neelam said: 'I remember being a kid and walking to school and someone shouting 'Paki' out the window. That was just so normal.'

Sizzling: Her hair was in a knot while her make-up was vampish with dramatic liquid eyeliner

Stunner: She was sure to show off every inch of her lithe frame

She added: 'I'd get comments like, 'does your Dad own the corner shop?' or 'Is he a taxi driver?' It makes me feel really angry. I could never imagine doing that to someone. It's not something I'd stand for now and now I'm very outspoken about it.

'When I was younger I was very insecure and I didnt think I was pretty because I thought being fair was what made you beautiful. I would always hate the colour of my skin.'

Admitting there has been a change in the representation of ethnic minorities in the fashion industry, Neelam argued that more needed to be done.

The model revealed how many brands appeared to use minority models 'just to cover their backs', and even spoke about how her model pals had been missed out on jobs because the designers 'already had a black girl in the show'.

A vision: She added in spiked earrings to the look

Stunner: She preened and posed for the camera

Neelam rose to prominence after making her debut for none other than Fashion Week favourite Burberry after being scouted at the tender age of 14, and has credited them for making her a household name.

Talking about her modelling dream, she previosly told Elle magazine: 'I didn't think I could be a model! I had glasses and braces. I was not one of the hot girls in school.

'I was scouted when I was 14, but my parents said, 'Okay, just stay in school and then do it before college.

'I didn't even tell people in high school that I was interested in modeling, or that I'd been scouted, because when people found out, they were like, "What? Her?!" There was a joke about me in school: "Oh, Neelam's a modelshe's a foot model".'
They've only just moved into their 'dream' Essex mansion after years of extensive renovation work.

But Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan aren't stopping there, as the duo are creating the perfect home away from home in Spain too.

Former TOWIE star Mark jetted over this week to work on renovating their Mallorca apartment as he transported materials from the UK to make his vision come to life.

Sharing the process via his Instagram, the TV personality gave followers a look inside the stunning property - which featured sea views and a bright balcony.

He was joined by a group of workmen who were fitting marble across the apartment, including countertops, a feature wall and a heavy duty basin for the master bathroom.

Mark Wright jetted over to Span this week to work on renovating his Mallorca apartment, sharing an insight into the stunning property via Instagram on Wednesday

Views: The apartment, which is located inside a hotel, features stunning sea views and a bright, airy feel

Mark began that he was 'ready to make some magic' as he kicked off the day, filming himself with the team helping.

He was fitting white marble worktops and a matching wall slab into the apartment's kitchen for a modern design.

Opting for a matching theme around the property, he added the same marble as a slab on the 'TV wall' for a feature piece.

While UK company Mitres were then seen delivering a bespoke porcelain basin to Mark, which was fitted into the master bathroom.

Featuring large windows dotted around, the bright apartment boasts phenomenal views of the sea, beach, and neighbouring resorts.

The renovation work comes after Mark had to travel to Mallorca last month to 'strip' the apartment before this week's renovations, driving for two days before catching a ferry to visit the island.

Appearing on Heart Breakfast last month, the star explained that he had bought the flat a year ago but left it in the hands of builders he didn't know - and was left unimpressed by their worl.

Mark, who does work in property development, said he wasn't happy with the look of the flat so decided to travel there with a team of builders to do the work himself.

Off they go: Mark began that he was 'ready to make some magic' as he kicked off the day, filming himself with the team helping

Theme: Mark opted for a marble theme across the apartment, with the same marble across the kitchen and living area

Long haul: The TV star had his bespoke pieces transported over from the UK to Spain

Stunning: A bespoke porcelain basin was fitted into the master bathroom

He explained: 'There was just lots of problems that were created, they tried to cut corners. So then I spoke to another company and the price wasn't matching up with what I had in mind, and I just thought, DIY, got to sort it myself.'

Heart host Jamie Theakston asked Mark what his wife Michelle Keegan had been doing to help out with the 'disaster', to which Mark joked that she just texts him asking if he has arrived yet.

He added: 'And "Get my apartment ready for the summer" basically.'
Michelle Keegan had fans swooning on Wednesday after a trip to the hair salon had her looking picture-perfect.

The actress, 35, opted to freshen up her chestnut brown locks with some soft caramel balayage and a layered chop.

Her hairdresser shared a snap of the beaming star after the day of preening, as she appeared happy with the new look.

Many fans took to the comment section to gush over Michelle, as they noted that she was 'hair goals'.

'How can someone be so perfect,' questioned one fan in the comments, as others were hoping to get the look themselves.

New look: Michelle Keegan, 35, beamed after sprucing up her brunette locks with a new style on Wednesday - as fans dubbed the actress 'hair goals'

Hairdresser Calum Tierney shared the picture of Michelle, who dressed casually in black leggings and a crew neck jumper with a Paris slogan.

As the stylist shared the pictures to his own page to show off his work, Michelle commented to dub him the 'best of the best'.

While others were also impressed, as one fan wrote: 'She sooo gorgeous and her colour is too of course'.

Some were keen to get the look, writing: 'Incredible as always! Sooo when asking my hairdresser for this what am I saying?? Layers? Colour?? Help me!! X'

The salon trip comes after Michelle jetted out to Europe earlier this week for work, and was hoping for some warm weather.

However, she took to her Instagram page to share some snaps of herself in a long black coat, which she wrapped tightly around herself and wore with the hood up.

Sharing a clip on her Stories, she could be seen battling against some strong winds, with her long hair whipping about across her face.

While there wasn't a cloud in the sky and lush palm trees swayed behind her, she captioned her post: 'Windy AF,' before adding: 'I'm wearing flip flops and a warm coat... been sold a dream again,' along with the icy-blue face with gritted teeth, snowflake and wind emojis.

Low key: Hairdresser Calum Tierney shared the picture of Michelle, who dressed casually in black leggings and a crew neck jumper with a Paris slogan

Happy with it: Michelle commented to dub her stylist the 'best of the best', while others gushed over the look too

While Michelle did not disclose where she was, she shared a picture of a winnebago in front of an arid-looking mountain, with the star captioning the snap: 'Day 2,' with the clapper board emoji.

The star recently signed a reported six-figure deal to star in new series Fool Me Once which is based on one of Harlan Coben's books, with Michelle having already started filming in Manchester in recent weeks.

Seven of Harlan's hit books have already been adapted into Netflix series, including psychological thriller The Stranger, which garnered huge popularity on the platform.

Michelle takes on the role of former special ops pilot Maya, who gets a shock after returning from the war.

According to a book synopsis, Maya goes through a trauma when her husband Joe is brutally murdered, but two weeks later, she has to deal with a mystery when she sees her infant daughter playing with Joe on her baby monitor.
Vick Hope made a rare reference to her fiance Calvin Harris this week as she recalled a sweet story where the DJ, 39, gushed over her.

The radio presenter, 33, spoke about attending the BAFTAs in February whilst appearing on a new episode of podcast Amanda Wakeley: Style DNA.

Donning a stunning blue dress at the time, she looked gorgeous while attending the awards event.

And as the star recollected the evening, she also noted that her look went down well with fiance Calvin - who couldn't help but gush over her.

Vick explained: 'I got home that evening. My partner was like, "when are you putting the photos up?" When are you putting the photos up, I want to like them! That was my favourite dress that you've ever worn!"

Cute: Vick Hope, 33, gave a rare insight into her relationship with fiance Calvin Harris, 39, this week as she recalled a sweet moment where he gushed over her look at the BAFTAs (pictured)

Doting fiance: And as the star recalled the evening, she also noted that her look went down well with Calvin - who couldn't help but gush over her

'I was like, oh, bless you. I didn't know it was gonna be such a hit!' she continued, adding that she 'felt so good in it'.

The stunning number Vick wore was from KYHA Studios and featured a structured bodice, figure-hugging design and metallic blue shimmer material.

During the podcast appearance, the broadcaster also noted her increased body confidence in recent years, after previously struggling with this.

'I used to not be [body confident], its been through lots of therapy, not gonna lie, it's been through lots of therapy, lots of growth. Learning to love my body for what it is capable of doing, learning to love food,' she explained.

Continuing: 'And I've got to a point now, and honestly, if I could tell my 23 year old self that I'd be in this position, I wouldn't believe it. I would not believe it. But that happened over the last 10 years. I just now whip it out whenever! Honestly, I would be naked everywhere if I could.'

Vick's reference to beau Calvin in the candid interview was a rare one, as the pair keep their relationship fiercely private.

While it follows on from recent reports that they are set to tie the knot this year in an intimate ceremony.

The Scottish DJ proposed to his BBC Radio 1 presenter other half last May, just five months into their whirlwind romance.

Vick explained: 'I got home that evening. My partner was like, "when are you putting the photos up?" When are you putting the photos up, I want to like them! That was my favourite dress that you've ever worn!"

Beauty: The stunning number Vick wore was from KYHA Studios and featured a structured bodice, figure-hugging design and metallic blue shimmer material

Couple: The Scottish DJ proposed to his BBC Radio 1 presenter other half last May, just five months into their whirlwind romance (pictured when going public with their romance in May 2022)



And after months of preparation, plans are coming together for the couple's big day this year, according to reports.

Sharing that it's set to be a low-key celebration, a source told The Sun: 'Calvin and Vick have kept their relationship out of the public eye for the most part, so arent having a massive wedding to parade their love in front of the world.

'Instead they want it to be a much more intimate and simple day,' added the insider.

The source continued that they are hoping to make the day special and so it will be for the couple's nearest and dearest only.

Calvin proposed to Vick with a huge diamond ring underneath a tree at his 138 acre Ibiza farm, Terra Masia after a five month romance.

But Vick recently revealed their love story actually goes all the way back to the early noughties when she was 19 - with the radio host rejecting Calvin's advances when he was an up and coming DJ.

She said Calvin first made a move on her when he was enjoying his first flush of success with his hit Acceptable in the 80s back in 2007 - but she turned him down at the time.

'It's something that we laughed about on our first proper date. We still laugh about it now', she told You Magazine.

Calvin went on to become one of the highest paid disk jockeys/producers, racking up an estimated 200-plus million fortune, with Vick previously admitting she was 'shallow' and had no idea he would turn into 'an Adonis'.
The Doctor and his new sidekick Ruby have landed in the Swinging Sixties as filming for the new series continues.

In first look images from filming, actors Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson are seen donning vintage outfits for the shoot.

Ncuti, who plays the latest incarnation of The Doctor, looked suave in a blue pinstripe suit which he wore with a white shirt and light green tie.

Millie sported a black mini dress with a white vintage collar and matching cuffs as she posed alongside her co-star.

The actress added height to her frame with a pair of knee-high white boots and cinched her waist withh a matching belt.

Time warp: The Doctor and his new sidekick Ruby have landed in the Swinging Sixties as filming for the new series continues

Style: Ncuti, who plays the latest incarnation of The Doctor, looked suave in a blue pinstripe suit while Millie doned a black mini dress with a white collar

Styling her blonde locks into an updo, she completed the outfit with a pair of hoop earrings.

Ncuti was unveiled as the 15th Doctor on the popular sci-fi show in May 2022 after Jodie Whittaker confirmed her departure from the role.

The Sex Education star is the first black actor to take on the leading role as The Doctor, after Whittaker made history as the first permanent female Time Lord in 2017.

Jo Martin played the first black incarnation of the Time Lord in a January 2020 episode, Future of the Judoon, as Ruth Clayton, but Gatwa is the first black Doctor to be cast as the series lead.

The Scottish actor, who was born in Rwanda, rose to fame as Eric Effiong in hugely popular Netflix series Sex Education about socially awkward high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his sex therapist mother Jean (Gillian Anderson).

In his first interview since the announcement was made, he said: 'I've known since February. It's been tricky keeping this under wraps because I've got a very big mouth. We did it.

'It feels amazing, this role is an institution and it's so iconic and means so much to so many people, including myself.

'It makes everyone feel seen. I'm very grateful to have the baton handed over and I'm going to try and do my best.'

New face: Ncuti was unveiled as the 15th Doctor on the popular sci-fi show in May 2022 after Jodie Whittaker confirmed her departure from the role.

Role: The Sex Education star is the first black actor to take on the leading role as The Doctor, after Whittaker made history as the first permanent female Time Lord in 2017

The announcement of the new Doctor was originally teased by showrunner Russel T. Davies and Gatwa on Instagram, with a post featuring two heart emojis, a plus symbol and a blue square.

Ncuti previously admitted he was 'deeply honoured' and 'beyond excited', but admitted that he was also a 'little bit scared' to join the franchise.

He told the BBC: 'This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care.

'I will endeavour my upmost to do the same.'

He added: 'The entire team have been so welcoming and truly give their hearts to the show. And so as much as it's daunting, I'm aware I'm joining a really supportive family.
She's certainly no stranger to flaunting her jaw-dropping figure in sizzling social media snaps.

And Demi Sims showcased her eye-popping curves in a skimpy khaki bikini as she enjoyed a sun-soaked getaway to Thailand.

The former TOWIE star, 25, set pulses racing in the revealing triangle number, featuring the word 'HOT' on either side.

Demi showed off her ample bust in the sexy tie-bikini top with matching bottoms as she jumped in the pool for a dip.

The reality star added simple dainty bracelets to her look and let her blonde tresses soak up the water on her shoulders.

Wow! Demi Sims showcased her eye-popping curves in a skimpy khaki bikini as she enjoyed a sun-soaked getaway to Thailand

Showing off her toned stomach, Demi teased OnlyFans content and encouraged fans to check out more.

Captioning the racy snaps, she penned: 'Little Thai gyal.' (sic)

It comes after Demi and sisters Frankie and Chloe have been spending most of their time in LA.

The trio signed a deal last year worth 1million to become the 'new Kardashians' on OnlyFans' growing new TV venture.

The girls left ITV's reality show, TOWIE, to pursue their new show House Of Sims which is set to come out sometime in 2023.

The family dressed in leather for promo shots of the show and is expected to be very similar to the iconic reality show, The Kardashians on Disney+.

As part of the deal, the family will open OnlyFans accounts, but will feature Instagram-style pictures, with no explicit content.

But Demi appears to happier than ever - after she confirmed her relationship with Meghan Barton Hanson was back on in February.

Hot to trot! The former TOWIE star, 25, set pulses racing in the revealing triangle number, featuring the word 'HOT' on either side

Incredible: Demi showed off her ample bust in the sexy tie-bikini top with matching bottoms as she jumped in the pool for a dip

The TOWIE star and the Love Islander, 28, first struck up a romance on E4's Celebs Go Dating in 2019 but after just a few months they went their separate ways.

Megan went on to admit that Demi made her question if she was actually gay or not and said they had no 'sexual chemistry'.

After their bitter split, the pair quickly made amends and have remained friends over the past three years.

Back in October 2019, Demi revealed to MailOnline that Megan had apologised for saying there was 'no sexual chemistry'.

She said at the time: 'I unblocked her because I wanted to know what she had to say and she kindly apologised for everything she had done.

'She knew she was in the wrong with everything she had done to me. She apologised and we wished each other the best. I was really shocked because I didn't expect her to ever apologise.

'It felt really nice and it made my heart warm a bit more. I had a bitter frost towards her because of everything she did to me but when she apologised, it made everything better.'

Demi detailed how the pair met for the first time in years at a racy OnlyFans shoot and she 'knew from that moment we were going to get things back on'.

Speaking to Scott McGlynn on his Celebrity Skin Talk Show in Febryart, the reality star admitted she 'could sense' there was still feelings between the pair during the lingerie shoot.

She said: 'So me and Meg, obviously we were seeing each other a few years ago. But we were working on a show and we were in a rush.

Loved-up: It comes after the former TOWIE star revealed she is 'buzzing' to have Love Island star Megan Barton Hanson, 28, (right) back in her life after rekindling their romance

'It wasn't how you would normally go about a relationship. Then it ended, and we always had this connection whether it was friendly or a bit more, even if it was friendly we'd have phone calls, we'd disappear and then we'd talk to each other.'

Demi continued: 'Then I came back to England and I was doing a photoshoot with her with OnlyFans, and she's standing there in her lingerie, and I'm like "Omg what is going on".

'I'm trying to play it cool as I'm getting into my lingerie. It's hard when two exes are standing there in our lingerie. We both smiled at each other and I could sense it, I could tell.

'We had to stand nose to nose and hold each other, and it was just one of those moments when you can feel the energy. I just knew we were going to get things back on.'
Dawn French has shared a sweet snap with her husband on their wedding day on Thursday as they celebrated their 10th anniversary.

Taking to Instagram, the actress, 65, revealed that Mark Bignell, who she married in 2013, had given her a very heartfelt gift to mark the occasion.

Mark gave Dawn a tin full of paper hearts. The symbol for 10 years of marriage is tin which was the reason for Mark's present to her - and it represents durability.

The hearts may well have been confetti from the couple's big day.

Also in the post was a blurred image of Dawn and Mark holding hands as they grinned after tying the knot.

Sweet: Dawn French shared a sweet snap with her husband on their wedding day on Thursday as they celebrated their 10th anniversary

Poignant: Taking to Instagram, the actress, 65, revealed that Mark Bignell, who she married in 2013, had given her a tin full of hearts as a gift to mark the 10 years

Symbolic: The symbol for 10 years of marriage is tin which was the reason for Mark's present to her- and it represents durability

Kind gesture: Dawn wrote on Instagram: '10 years married = tin. So today I received a tin. Full of hearts'

Dawn wrote: '10 years married = tin. So today I received a tin. Full of hearts.'

In 2020, Dawn spoke candidly about her blended family and revealed that she was 'ready' to become a grandmother.

The Vicar Of Dibley star is mum to daughter Billie, 31, who she adopted with ex Lenny Henry, and also stepmother to her husband's two children Lily, 31, and Olly, 28.

She told The Mirror: 'Family is everything to me. That's where I know I belong.'

She added: 'I am a mother to three kids who are not kids any more and that is my greatest challenge and also my greatest pleasure.'

Revealing that she calls her brood her 'beloveds', Dawn went on to say that she's excited to become a grandmother one day when her children are ready.

She said: 'I am ready! I'm a grandmother-in-waiting. I'm not pushing, but I'm ready when my kids are ready. I'm going to look forward to that.'

However the comedian did cheekily add that she may have to intervene if her future grandchildren come up with a funny nickname for her such as 'smelly'.

'Family is everything to me': In 2020, Dawn spoke candidly about her blended family and revealed that she was 'ready' to become a grandmother (pictured with ex husband Lenny Henry and their adopted daughter Billie in 2005)

It comes after Dawn previously spoke about her turbulent relationship with her adopted daughter, insisting the key to a better relationship is not trying to be friends with your children.

She told Saga magazine: 'Billie is nearly 30 and I feel there is a deepening closeness as we get older.

'But no, I don't hold with mothers and daughters being friends. That doesn't exclude being friendly, but I don't need to be her friend.

'There are things daughters withhold from their mothers and run past their peers. I would like to be involved in every aspect of my daughter's life, but I understand why not. I get it. Although I have to say that quite often I think Mum trumps friend!'
Former PA lays the truth of their romance bare in new doc, The Lost Weekend

John Lennon's lover May Pang has revealed the incredibly uncomfortable and 'bizarre' interaction she had with his widow, Yoko Ono, 30 years after the couple's former assistant enjoyed an 18-month affair the with the late Beatle.

The 72-year-old explained on Wednesday evening that she has only had one awkward conversation in 2006 with her former employer since Lennon was tragically murdered in New York City in December 1980.

It comes as Ono and Lennon's former live-in assistant has detailed the full story of her romance with the iconic British musician in her new documentary, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story.

In the film, the music producer dispels the myth that Ono had control over the affair, and also claimed that the Beatle icon still maintained a sexual relationship with her right until his death.

Blast from the past: John Lennon's lover May Pang, picture left in 2022, has revealed the last interaction she had with his widow, Yoko Ono, in 2006, pictured right in 2016

Famous love: The iconic couple's former assistant enjoyed an 18-month affair the with the late Beatle during a romance that took place between 1973 and 1975- pictured in 1974

Speaking to fans after a screening of the movie at New York's Angelika Film Center, Pang explained that her attempts to connect with Ono had been rebuffed by the outspoken activist.

'Yoko would never pick up my phone calls so [the chance of us being friends] goes out the window,' Pang stated.

She then went on to explain that she had a chance encounter with Ono in 2006 while making a stopover in Iceland for a trip to mark Lennon's 66th birthday.

'I was doing a trip with Iceland Air. The end place was going to be in Liverpool,' she explained. 'You got to be on the plane with me and we had to make a stopover in Reykjavik'.

As she was being taken to her hotel for the night, it was revealed that Ono was also staying in the property.

'I wrote out a note when I got there and I sent it up but got no answer,' Pang continued.

However, it was during breakfast the next morning that she came face to face with her love rival.

She recalled: 'I'm looking over and there she is... Yoko's looking over the table of food. She got her assistant holding one plate of food, and another assistant doing something else.'

Tension: Pang claims she has only had one awkward conversation with her former employer since Lennon was tragically murdered in New York City - Lennon and Ono pictured in 1973

Happier times: A photo of the then 23-year-old Pang with Beatle John Lennon in March 1974

She continued: 'I go over to her and said her name. She turns one way. Again I said, "Yoko", and she looks another way.

'Then I say "Yoko", so she finally looked at me. It was like the third time.'

When Pang stated that she wanted to wish her former employer well on her project at the time, the simple reply she received was: 'Thank you'.

'I said, "Good luck", and I turned around and went back to my seat,' Pang laughed.

However, the morning took a slight turn moments later as she continued: 'I started eating and then I started to notice something of the corner of my eyes... I see her wandering around I said, "I think she's looking for me". I just had a feeling.'

Pang recalled: 'She stands at the edge and she starts waving at me. So I waved back.

'Yoko then mouths, "How are you?". So I said, "I'm fine" and I look down and eat and focus on my food. It was bizarre.'

Pang explained that the interaction may have been Ono's attempt at a true conversation as she mused: 'It's what I call take two... because the whole restaurant was full of the press, everybody else was there and you could hear pin drop.

'I think it didn't make a good impression when I approached her the first time and when everybody's looking. This "Hi, how are you?" was when the friendly side came out.'

She added: 'She was nice as I was leaving. When I finish eating, she was still waving and smiling.'

Pang also revealed that there has been a time afterwards when she, Ono, Lennon's first wife Cynthia had all been in a room together for the first time - to celebrate the first gallery exhibit of the late Beatle's son, Julian.

Sharing her story: Pang, 72, released her new documentary The Lost Weekend on April 13

Famous kiss: Lennon and Pang kissing passionately at the Troubadour in 1974; the image made their romance known to the public at the time

Due to the no-camera policy on the night, no-one ever managed to capture a picture of Lennon's lovers together (Lennon's once rumored fling Pattie Boyd was also in attendance).

Lennon and Ono separated from 1973 to 1975 with the latter encouraging the Beatle to begin a relationship with his much younger live-in employee because she could tell the music icon was starting to be unfaithful.

Pang, who was then only 23, had been working as the couple's personal secretary before she fell head over heels with Lennon.

Recalling how the affair started in the documentary, Pang says she cried when she first had sex with the Beatle because she 'didn't know where it was going to lead.'

They famously flew to Los Angeles for a weekend, only to spend a longer chunk of time there hanging out with other rock royalty such as Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr and Mick Jagger.

Pang recalled times when she'd be part of an impromptu jam session with his former Beatles bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

She recalled in the documentary: 'George once said, "I'm so happy you're with John," and that was a nice thing of him to say to me.'

The unconventional couple moved in together in New York in 1974 and continued to enjoy life on both coasts.

Complicated relationship: Ono and Lennon reconciled amid their hiatus during the mid 1970s' - pictured at their home in England in 1968

No closure: Though Lennon and Ono reconciled, he continued to see Pang romantically until his death in 1980 - pictured together in the 1970s

Ono remained present in Lennon's life - calling up to 15 times a day, according to Pang said.

At one point during their separation, Ono had asked Lennon for a divorce, which he agreed to. The legal separation, however, never happened because Ono was taken aback by his willingness to permanently part and the couple reconciled.

Ono's surprise was the impetus to end the so-called 'lost weekend' and get her husband back.

Pang said she 'knew' their relationship was over when Lennon, at the encouraging of Ono, went to a hypnotist to stop smoking.

'You just know,' Pang stated. 'He was not the same when I saw him [again].'

Despite Lennon and Ono reuniting, Pang said she still continued seeing him romantically over the next five years.

The couple were still quietly together until Lennon's unexpected death in 1980 when he was shot by deranged fan, Mark David Chapman.
Sofia Richie made the most of downtime ahead of her wedding as she enjoyed a spot of sunbathing on Thursday.

The model, 24, is due to marry Elliott Grainge in the coming days and has been spending time checking out the surroundings in the South of France.

She looked sensational as she posed in a black bandeau bikini that showcased her toned abs and tanned complexion.

Sofia layered up with a plunging white tunic top featuring black piping and donned a pair of matching trousers.

The blonde beauty finished off the look by toting a small Chanel handbag and wearing wayfarer sunglasses.

Tanned and toned: Sofia Richie made the most of downtime ahead of her wedding as she enjoyed a spot of sunbathing on Thursday

On the move: The model, 24, is due to marry Elliott Grainge in the coming days and has been spending time checking out the surroundings in the South of France

Sofia and Elliot got engaged in April last year after he proposed by candlelight at sunset.

She shared the good news on social media at the time with photos from the romantic proposal.

Showcasing her new diamond ring in a post, Sofia declared: 'Forever isnt long enough.'

The outdoor proposal went down at sunset with photos showing a shocked Sofia standing with her hands over her face as Elliot got down on one knee.

Elliot curated a romantic scene, placing himself and Sofia on a bed of white flower petals surrounded by dozens of cream coloured candles in glass vases.

Needless to say, the answer was yes. Sofia shared a snap from the big moment on social media followed by one of the pair sharing a kiss.

Sofia has now been with Elliot for two years after they were initially spotted in each other's company in 2021 before going Instagram official in March that year.

Earlier this month, Sofia announced she had converted to Judaism ahead of her wedding Elliot.

The Christian-born model said she has had 'one of the greatest experiences of my life' as she was welcomed into the Jewish community.

Snap happy: Sofia looked sensational as she posed for Instagram snaps on her day out

Bronzed: She topped up her tan

All smiles: She looked great

Shades: She wore dark sunglasses to shield her eyes

Stunning: She looked sensational as she posed in a black bandeau bikini that showcased her toned abs and tanned complexion

All smiles: Sofia was seen sharing a tight embrace as she joined her fiance Elliot Grainge and pals at the lavish hotel

Chic and cheerful: Sofia layered up with a plunging white tunic top featuring black piping and donned a pair of matching trousers

Glowing: She also shared this Insta snap of her outfit

Good form: Sofia was seen hugging one of her friends as she enjoyed the social day

Glam: Sofia showed off her signature sense of style as she strutted her stuff in her monochrome ensemble

Bride: She is set to wed soon

Balmy: Sofia made the most of the glorious weather as she relaxed with her fiance Elliot and their friends

Topping up her tan: She looked bronzed

Animated: She pulled a funny facial expression

Hugs: She was with her pals

Stepping out in style: The blonde beauty finished off the look by toting a small Chanel handbag and wearing wayfarer sunglasses

Catching up with Elliott? Sofia was seen taking a phone call as she strolled around the resort

Sofia converted ahead of her upcoming nuptials to Elliot, who is Jewish.

Taking to Instagram, she wrote: 'What a magical day. I want to thank cantor Nathan Lam for helping me along this journey of converting to Judaism.

'It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Today was that day!!!'

Sofia was raised as a Christian and spent two years at a Christian school, Oaks Christian.

She previously told Complex of her upbringing: ' I went there for two years, and that's where I got my sense. My family wanted church to be a place where we all went together.

'My dad was always traveling and my mom was always working. School is where I did Bible classes and studied God.'

Elliot, meanwhile, is the son of Lucian Grainge, the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group and had Take That play at his bar mitzvah.

He previously told the Jewish Boston: 'Take That played at my bar mitzvah!

'They were No. 1 in the UK at the time. The party was great fun and gave me a real taste of how to create an exciting party.'

Previously, Sofia was in a high-profile relationship with reality television personality Scott Disick, whom she began seeing in 2017. The two have a 16-year age gap.

The pair remained together for nearly three years before they broke things off in May of 2020.

The former couple reconciled that July, although they went on to separate for a final time in August.
Metallica were allegedly told 'not to look' at Sir Mick Jagger when they supported The Rolling Stones in 2005.

The heavy metal legends were the special guests at two of the rock'n'roll band's concerts at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

There, a personal assistant allegedly told the Nothing Else Matters rockers to not make any eye contact or talk to the 79-year-old music icon.

Speaking on an episode of the podcast 'Club Random with Bill Maher', drummer and co-founder Lars Ulrich recalled: 'So we're sitting backstage, and  and this is in no way a judgment on the Stones, this is really more about us.

'At one point a personal assistant or whatever comes and says, "Mick Jagger's gonna walk through here in a couple minutes, he's going over to his private gym in his truck, and he's going to warm up before the show.

Awkward: Metallica were reportedly told 'not to look' at Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger (pictured in July 2022) when they toured together in 2005

Disappointed: Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich (second from right) wasn't allowed to acknowledge his hero

'When he walks through here, please don't make eye contact with him or talk to him."'

He continued: 'We're sitting there going "what?!"'

Mega Stones fan Lars was devastated that he couldn't speak to his hero and was only allowed a photo opportunity with Mick and co before going on stage.

He said: 'I had dreams, like, I thought, we're gonna play with The Rolling Stones and you know where I'm gonna spend my whole time, is in Keith Richards hotel room, sitting at one of those legendary parties 'til nine o'clock in the morning.

'I'll be the last one to leave! It wasn't exactly like that.'

The 59-year-old sticksman insisted it couldn't be more different for support acts at Metallica's shows.

He added: 'I always go and say hello to our support act: I look them in the eye, I ask them if there's anything they need.

'It's a human thing; if somebody comes out and plays on a Metallica stage I want them to feel at home.'

Superstars: The Rolling Stones are pictured in 2005. Pictured L to R: Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, and Keith Richards

Stones crushing: Tina Turner, now 83, says she has 'always had a crush on Mick Jagger'; the pair pictured performing at the Live Aid Concert in July 1985 in Philadelphia

However, other A-list stars who toured with The Stones have had more positive experiences.

In fact, Tina Turner - who joined them in 1966 - recently admitted that she 'always had a crush on' Sir Mick and loved the touring experience.

Now, at 83 and living with her husband in Switzerland, Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock) said in a new interview with The Guardian: 'I always had a crush on Mick Jagger. I loved when we toured with the Rolling Stones.'

Turner has always gravitated to rockers like Jagger and David Bowie, but in an interview with Baz Bamigboye for the Daily Mail in June 2017 she insisted her relationships with the two superstar frontmen were always platonic, calling them 'the brothers that I never had'.

'We never slept together; and they never came on to me, because I think they saw me as a role model in some kind of way,' she went on to reveal.
Joseph Baena, the lookalike son of legendary bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, flaunted his ripped physique for Instagram on Thursday.

The real estate agent, 25, was filmed shirtless after a steamy session of hot Pilates at the Heated Room studio, in Los Angeles.

Joseph wore a pair of grey shorts and his gold thin chain necklace.

A caption read 'Hot Pilates is no joke' as he laughed and smiled following the intense workout.

He attended the class with model Savannah Reller, who wrote on her own Instagram story: 'Dragged @joebaena to @heatedroom with me... we died.'

Hot and steamy: Joseph Baena, 25, son of Arnold Schwarzenegger, flaunted his ripped physique for Instagram on Thursday after a hot pilates session in Los Angeles

Fun: A caption read 'Hot Pilates is no joke' as he laughed and smiled following the intense workout

Prior to his Pilates class, Joseph posted a mirror selfie at the gym showing off his toned legs.

Wearing a black hoodie, grey cap and checkered Vans trainers, he wrote: 'I love leg day' with a heart emoji.

The steamy posts come a couple of weeks after the son of The Terminator star landed an acting role himself.

Joseph is set to star in an action film alongside Luke Hemsworth and Morgan Freeman.

Deadline reported in April the bodybuilder had been cast in the film Gunner which was written and will be directed by Dimitri Logotheti.

He will portray a character named Wally who is a young Deputy Sheriff.

According to the industry news publication, the film is centered around Special Forces veteran Lee Gunner (Hemsworth) as he takes his two sons on a camping trip where they stumble upon a fentanyl lab and are kidnapped by drug runners.

However, Gunner will stop at nothing to get his boys back safely as he not only faces off against a criminal cartel but also the FBI and local police as he uses his special training to bring his family back together.

While Joseph currently works as a real estate agent, he has been putting in the footwork to become a working actor like his dad.

Ripped: The real estate agent wore a pair of grey shorts and his gold thin chain necklace

Bodybuilder: Prior to his Pilates class, Joseph posted a mirror selfie at the gym showing off his toned legs

Just like dad: The son of The Terminator star landed a major role in an action film alongside Luke Hemsworth and Morgan Freeman

Last year Joseph had landed his first major role in John Malkovich's upcoming sci-fi film Chariot.

He also starred in Bully High and one episode of Scam Squad.

His acting career is certainly starting off well as he has five upcoming films including Gunner and another action flick titled Called To Duty which is currently in post-production.

Famous dad Schwarzenegger shares Joseph with Mildred Baena, who was formerly his housekeeper.

News of the affair between Arnold and Mildred didn't break until 2011 though Joseph was born in 1997.

Arnold has four other children: Katherine, Patrick, Christopher and Christina. He shares all of them with his ex-wife Maria Shriver.

Joseph appeared on Dancing with the Stars this past season, and it clearly did his body some favours.
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Hollywood blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield who partied with Sophia Loren and competed with Marilyn Monroe would have turned 90-years-old on Wednesday.

The pinup, who starred in the hit films The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, died at the age of 34 after a car crash on June 29, 1967.

Her daughter Mariska Hargitay, who is best known for starring on Law & Order: SVU, penned an emotional tribute on her Instagram page.

'Happy birthday Mama. We live to love you more each day,' wrote the acclaimed star in her caption as her pal Hilary Swank shared a red heart.

Mariska uploaded a stunning black-and-white photo of her mother in a silky evening dress.

The actress was just three-years-old when her mother was killed.

A look back: Hollywood blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield who partied with Sophia Loren and competed with Marilyn Monroe would have turned 90-years-old on Wednesday. The pinup died at the age of 34 after a car crash on June 29, 1967; seen in the 1950s

Making waves: Mansfield famously had multiple iconic wardrobe malfunctions during industry events. Pictured in with Sophia Loren in 1957

Fans were quick to share messages of support as one commented: 'She lives on through you. Shed be so proud of you.'

Another wrote: 'Happy birthday Jayne you put an amazing person on our planet that has blessed us with her amazing talents and her joyful soul.'

Mansfields life was suddenly cut short while she was in a Buick car traveling from Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans along with her lawyer and then-boyfriend Samuel S. Brody, driver Ronnie Harrison, and three of her children.

Harrison crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was obscured by a cloud of insecticide dust from the truck hauling it.

Mariska, who was fast asleep in the backseat, survived. Her brothers, eight-year-old Mickey Jr. and six-year-old Zoltan, also survived.

Jayne Mansfield was born Vera Jayne Palmer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1933.

Her daughter Mariska Hargitay - seen in May 2022 in New York City - penned a tribute

Stunning: Mansfield was a trailblazer sex symbol in the fifties and sixties - at a time where many actresses were afraid to embrace their sexuality. Pictured in 1995 (left) and 1957 (right)

She studied acting at university and won a series of quirkily named beauty contests including Gas Station Queen, Miss Lobster and Miss Fire Prevention Week.

Her iconic hourglass figure cost her roles in the conservative climate of 1950s Hollywood but famously won her a nude shoot with Playboy in 1955.

The following year, Mansfield signed with Twentieth Century Fox, whose executives hoped she could become the new Marilyn Monroe.

Despite her cultivated image as the stereotypical dumb blonde, Mansfield was an intelligent woman who spoke five languages and reportedly had a lust for knowledge.

Blonde bombshell: In 1956, Mansfield signed with Twentieth Century Fox, whose executives hoped she could become the new Marilyn Monroe (undated photo)

Sex appeal: Mansfield was one of the first major Hollywood actresses to appear nude in 1963 film, Promises! Promises! Pictured in 1957 (left) and 1955 (right)

She was named one of the most promising newcomers at the 1957 Golden Globe Awards for her performances in films such as The Girl Cant Help It.

But by the early 1960s, her career had begun to fizzle out.

After making waves as one of the first major Hollywood actresses to appear nude in a film  Promises! Promises! in 1963  Mansfields career continued to struggle.

Mansfields rather rocky private life  three marriages that all ended in divorce, along with allegations of numerous affairs  was also a major talking point during her time in the public eye.

In 1966, she also began a friendship with Anton LaVey, a Satanist trying to attract new members to his Church of Satan.

A popular legend that might have been spread by LaVey himself claimed that he portrayed the devil who rapes Mia Farrows character in the 1968 film Rosemarys Baby.

Memories: Hargitay being held by her mother in 1996, with her father Mickey Harigtay, brothers Zoltan and Mikos, and her mother's daughter Jayne Maria, from a previous marriage

An older photo: Here she is seen in a red dress with her dogs and eldest child

After they connected in San Francisco, the pair developed a friendship  that some claim was sexual in nature  and continued to meet frequently to perform rituals until Mansfields death.

During their intense correspondence over the following year, it is claimed that Mansfield asked LaVey to send her an incubus  a male demon who visits women in their sleep.

The pair also like to dine in public around Beverly Hills, with LaVey sporting his resplendent cape. Luckily, paparazzi were always on hand to document them as they held court.

After Mansfield died LaVey conducted a Satanic memorial service for her at his Black House in San Francisco.

Mansfield was survived by her five children: Jayne (born 1950), Mickey (born 1958), Zoltan (born 1960), Mariska (born 1964) and Tony (born 1965).

By the time of her fateful death, Mansfield had survived no less than six car accidents.

Star power: Hargitay's father, actor and former Mr. Universe bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, died in September 2016

Hargitay is married to Peter Hermann, an actor who she met on set of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The pair have three children together; biological son August, 17, adopted daughter Amaya, 12, and their adopted Andrew, 11.

Reflecting on the difficult lessons she was forced to learn as a young girl after the loss, Harigtay told Glamour in 2021: 'I think I learned about crisis very young, and I learned very young that s*** happens and there's no guarantees, and we keep going. And then we transform it.'

The Can't Hurry Love star continued: 'That's been kind of my superpower, and the gift of having trauma early in life. Ive spent the last 50how old am I?57, so 54 years sort of trying to figure out what happened and why, and what am I supposed to do with it?'

In a previous interview with People, Hargitay revealed that she had developed 'catastrophic thinking' while dealing with her mother's death.

She told the weekly that losing her mother at an early age prepared her mentally that the worst could always happen as she explained: 'The way Ive lived with loss is to lean into it. As the saying goes, the only way out is through.

'In my life, certainly Ive tried to avoid pain, loss, feeling things. But Ive learned instead to really lean into it, because sooner or later you have to pay the piper.'

The Downtown star did admit that her mentality doesn't make loss any easier but can help her put it all into perspective.

'Im not saying its easy, and it certainly hasnt been for me,' she explained. 'Theres been a lot of darkness. But on the other side things can be so bright.'

In 2013, Hargitay and her mother were united on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame when their stars placed stars were placed side by side.
Pixie Geldof cut a stylish figure as she pushed her daughter in her pram during a low-key coffee run with close pal Alexa Chung on Thursday.

The doting mum, 32, who shares her girl with husband George Barnett, slipped into a navy pinstriped blazer teamed with a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans during the leisurely stroll in north London.

She added a pair of dark sunglasses and chunky black boots to her look, while appearing to go make-up free for the outing.

Meanwhile, presenter and model Alexa, 39, nailed off-duty chic in a charcoal overcoat worn over a green jacket and flared navy jeans.

The star, who also showcased her natural visage, accessorised with a pink tote bag while boosting her height with black patent boots.

Out and about: Pixie Geldof cut a stylish figure as she pushed her daughter in her pram during a low-key coffee run with close pal Alexa Chung on Thursday

Style: The doting mum, 32, who shares her girl with husband George Barnett, slipped into a navy pinstriped blazer teamed with a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans during the leisurely stroll in North London

Both ladies looked in good spirits as they chatted away while clutching coffees, while Pixie's little one appeared quite content in her pram.

Pixie and beau George announced they had welcomed their first child in August 2021 but have yet to reveal her name or when exactly she was born.

Pixie has been married to These New Puritans drummer George since 2017, when the couple tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Majorca.

Close friends Alexa and Daisy Lowe were bridesmaids, with guests including Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Nick Grimshaw.

The couple are also pals with Princess Eugenie and attended her wedding to industry executive Jack Brooksbank in 2018.

Pixie is the third daughter of Bob and Paula Yates, who tragically died aged 41 in 2000 after a heroin overdose.

The couple married in 1986, and had Pixie, Fifi, 40, and Peaches, but tragically, history repeated itself in April 2014 when their middle child Peaches died of an overdose aged 25.

Last month, Channel 4 aired a two-part documentary Paula, in which friends of the stars and collaborators reflected on Yates' rise to fame before her untimely death.

Looking good: Meanwhile, presenter and model Alexa, 39, nailed off-duty chic in a charcoal overcoat worn over a green jacket and flared navy jeans

The documentary retraces Paula's rise to fame as well as the later years of her life, following the death of her partner, Michael Hutchence.

The presenter could be heard saying that the public were 'waiting for [her] to die' in previously unheard tapes recorded shortly after the death of her partner that were unearthed for the programme.

Audio clips of Yates, who died aged 41 in her Notting Hill home after an accidental heroin overdose, were played on a new documentary examining her extraordinary career and her troubled personal life.

The presenter also addressed going back to work after having four children, Pixie, Peaches and Fifi Trixibelle with Bob Geldof and Heavenly Haraani Tiger Lily with Hutchence. She revealed how she considered her changed personality.
Kanye West went completely in disguise to a fashion show but couldn't resist revealing himself by getting up and dancing when one of his own songs played.

The 45-year-old controversial rapper - who recently said watching Jonah Hill's 21 Jump Street made him 'like Jewish people again' - donned a black hoodie with a matching face mask as he sat front row at the Fear Of God fashion show at the iconic Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday night.

Though he went incognito, he got up and busted a move as his track Feel The Love with Kid Cudi for their group Kids See Ghost played.

He was not alone as he was joined by another person completely covered up as it is assumed to be his new 'wife' Bianca Censori, 28.

Fear Of God is an American high fashion label from designer Jerry Lorenzo who is close friends with Kanye.

He's a fan: Kanye West went completely in disguise to a fashion show but couldn't resist revealing himself by getting up and dancing when one of his own songs played

Dapper days: The 45-year-old controversial artist is seen in December 2019

Lorenzo, 45, has been a vocal supporter of the fellow fashion designer despite being accused of antisemitism.

Back in January, the Essentials founder - who has a collaboration deal with Adidas - spoke out on Kanye being dropped from from the sportswear giant.

Lorenzo said: 'Ye... Adi ain't the same without you.'

Meanwhile Ye's relationship with Aussie Bianca seems to be going well.

The couple said 'I do' in January in a private, secret ceremony, and the rapper was soon seen with a wedding band on his ring finger.

Although the two have yet to file for a marriage certificate to officially legalize their nuptials, Kanye has worn the ring to signify his 'commitment' to Bianca, according to TMZ.

To the shock of fans, it was revealed in January that West had married his Yeezy employee Bianca Censori who joined the company in November 2020.

She is listed as Head of Architecture and secured the position after obtaining a Master's in building design at Melbourne University in Australia.

Feeling the love indeed: The 45-year-old controversial rapper donned a black hoodie with a matching face mask as he sat front row at the Fear Of God fashion show at the iconic Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday night

Muse: He was not alone as he was joined by another person completely covered up as it is assumed to be his new 'wife' Bianca Censori, 28

Interesting: The couple said 'I do' in January in a private , secret ceremony, and the rapper was soon seen with a wedding band on his ring finger; they are seen together in LA last month

Despite the wedding ceremony, the union isn't legal because the pair do not appear to have filed a marriage certificate, DailyMail.com reported at the time.

The duo have been photographed wearing wedding bands since the story broke, though knowledge about how long the pair had been dating remains unclear.

This comes less than a month after Kanye revealed watching Jonah Hill's film 21 Jump Street made him 'like Jewish people again' following his anti-Semitic Twitter tirade last year.

On March 24, the rapper uploaded a picture of the Superbad star, 39, alongside Channing Tatum, from the 2012 action comedy's movie poster to his Instagram with a lengthy Instagram post.

'No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people,' he told his 18 million followers.

The Heartless hitmaker then wrote 'no Christian can be labeled anti-Semite knowing Jesus is Jew.'

West concluded: 'Thank you Jonah Hill I love you.'

His post received more than 2.1 million likes in less than 24 hours.

Moving and grooving: Though he went incognito, he got up and busted a move as his track Feel The Love with Kid Cudi for their group Kids See Ghost played

Support system: Lorenzo, 45, has been a vocal supporter of the fellow fashion designer despite being accused of antisemitism; he is pictured in LA last month

Back in 2018, Hill sang West's praises after attending his album release party in Wyoming on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

'It was truly a beautiful experience,' he said, before noting that his sister Beanie Feldstein did not speak to him for a week for supporting West, who had sparked controversy for wearing a Make America Great Again hat.

And though Jonah hasnt publicly reacted to Kanyes post at this time, the film's directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, both Tweeted in response.

Chris wrote, 'Um thanks for watching?' as he re-shared the rapper's original post.

Meanwhile Phil tweeted, 'Laughter is the best medicine,' in response to another person's Tweet about the situation which read, 'Is there anything @philiplord and @chrizmillr cant do?'

Last year, the performer received substantial backlash for writing in a tweet: 'I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.

Deafcon  also known as defense readiness condition  is an alert used by the US Armed Forces to indicate how quickly the military can be deployed during deadly emergencies and attacks.

In October, he sat down with Piers Morgan and addressed the Jewish community, before doubling down on some of his antics.

Change of heart: This comes less than a month after Kanye revealed watching Jonah Hill 's film 21 Jump Street made him 'like Jewish people again' following his anti-Semitic Twitter tirade last year; seen in 2019

'I will say I'm sorry for the people that I hurt with the 'death con' [comments],' Ye said on the show with the British talk show host.

West continued: 'I feel like I caused hurt and confusion. And I'm sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I had been through, and that I used my platform where you say hurt people hurt people. I was hurt.'

The rapper and clothing designer said on Piers Morgan Uncensored that he was only referencing certain Jewish people who he believes have screwed him over.

Ye was pressed by Morgan on whether his anti-Semitic remarks were racist, and he says they were, although at one point, the rapper says 'it's not racism' when asked about his comments.

A fan: On Saturday morning, the 45-year-old rapper uploaded a picture of the Superbad star, 39, alongside Channing Tatum, from the action comedy's movie poster to his Instagram with a lengthy Instagram post (Hill seen in 2018)

'No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people,' he told his 18 million followers

Hit film: His post received more than 2.1 million likes in less than 24 hours

Directors respond: Jonah hasnt publicly reacted to Kanyes post, but the film's directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, both Tweeted in response. Chris wrote, 'Um thanks for watching?'

Best medicine: Meanwhile Phil tweeted, 'Laughter is the best medicine'

'When you insult the Jewish people and say you're going 'death con 3' on the Jewish people, that is as racist as anything you say you've been through,' Morgan said. 'Racism is racism and you know that I think. Don't you.'

At the time of his initial tweets, West claimed that he couldn't be anti-Semitic because all Black people are also Jewish.

'The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,' Kanye insisted.

The rapper's Twitter account was later suspended.

In a statement Twitter confirmed that West was locked out of his account.

In the interview, Ye clarified that he wanted to apologize to the Jews who did nothing wrong. West's comments were specifically geared towards Jewish Hollywood executives for their treatment of Black entertainers.
Amanda Holden looked chic as she showed off her outfit while running in slow motion through the Heart FM studio on Wednesday.

The presenter, 52, slipped into a cropped polo top and fitted midi skirt in a stunning powder blue colour.

Joking that she had 'gone doolally' from jet lag, she jogged through the office in her towering stiletto heels and shared the clip to Instagram.

Amanda put her taut figure on full display in the knitted Reiss number that featured sporty side stripes.

Her blonde hair was styled into loose waves and she topped her look off with a sultry, smokey eyeshadow.

Fun: Amanda Holden, 52, looked chic as she showed off her outfit while running in slow motion through the Heart FM studio on Wednesday

Amanda then lounged back in a chair and kicked her legs up on to her desk to address her followers.

Speaking in the video, she explained: 'I'm shattered, I've got jet lag, I woke up at 12 and I never went back to sleep so I'm finding everything hysterical today. I'm a little bit doolally.'

The Britain's Got Talent Judge continued: 'Now, this gorgeous outfit is from Reiss. It's almost like a glamorous tracksuit - obviously the skirt version.

'I adore it, I love this feel. It's like a polo shirt. It's cropped, you've got detailing here down the side, beautiful sleeves.

'It's pale blue. I've got my Cinderella shoes on, which I love. This is a keeper, this will be in my wardrobe forever.'

Amanda recently spoke to OK! Magazine about being seen without a bra, explaining: 'I'm not braless. The fact is, I'm wearing SKIMS [bras], but my nipples are always affected by the cold.

There's nothing I can do about it. It's like the Princess And The Pea  20 mattresses down and you still see my nipples.'

'They show through anything. They're like my compass. Point away, I'll never get lost.'

Chic: The presenter slipped into a cropped polo top and fitted midi skirt in a stunning powder blue colour

Stunning: Joking that she had 'gone doolally' from jet lag, she jogged through the office in her towering stiletto heels and shared the clip to Instagram

Amanda also revealed she's keen on her family becoming the next Kardashians - but her husband Chris Hughes has reservations.

The TV personality shares daughters Lexie, 17, and Hollie, 11, with the record producer, and thinks the lot of them would make brilliant TV.

She told OK! Magazine: 'I would do it. Chris wouldnt. Ive said, "Right, if they offered us millions to be the new Kardashians, would you do it?"

'And he goes, "No." Its a shame. I always think we would be quite fun.'
It was a very star-studded affair as The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare filming took place on HMS Belfast on the Thames on Wednesday.

Eiza Gonzalez, Henry Cavill, Alex Pettyfer, Henry Golding and Babs Olusanmokun were all spotted shooting the new Guy Ritchie's movie.

Actress Eiza, 33, takes on her role as a 'military sniper with extraordinary spy-craft abilities' in the WWII spy film and was seen wearing a glamorous silver gown.

Elsewhere Henry, 39, dressed as a captain character in a long brown leather jacket and hat and sported a statement moustache.

Alex, 33, looked cool in a black jumper and shades as he strolled next to Eliza and familiarised himself with the location.

Busy: It was a very star-studded affair as The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare filming took place on HMS Belfast on the Thames on Wednesday (Eiza Gonzalez pictured)

Stars: Eiza, Henry Cavill (pictured), Alex Pettyfer, Henry Golding and Babs Olusanmokun were all spotted shooting the new Guy Ritchie's movie

On set: Alex, 33, looked cool in a black jumper and shades as he strolled next to Eliza and familiarised himself with the location

Glam: Actress Eiza, 33, takes on her role as a 'military sniper with extraordinary spy-craft abilities' in the WWII spy film and was seen wearing a glamorous silver gown

Elsewhere Babs looked smart in a navy suit and red and blue tie as well as blue tinted shades.

There were plenty of crew around and onboard the ship as they got to work on the scenes.

Guy will direct Paramount Pictures' big-screen adaptation of Damien Lewis' 2015 book, and ousted Superman star Henry will play the leader of the secret combat organization.

The movie is set during World War II and will be centered on a clandestine combat organization set up by Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming.

Gonzalez was previously revealed to have joined the cast of the feature in October of 2022.

Other performers set to star in the project are Henry, Alan Ritchson and Cary Elwes.

Physical production on the upcoming movie previously kicked off in Turkey this past February.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is currently scheduled to be released at an unspecified date in 2024.

Stunning look: She opted for a slick of bright red lip and wore her brunette tresses in curly waves over her shoulders

Part: Elsewhere Henry, 39, dressed as a captain character in a long brown leather jacket and hat and sported a statement moustache

Having a great time: Eliza looked like she was enjoying filming as she chatted to one of the other actors

Suited and booted: Elsewhere Babs looked smart in a navy suit and red and blue tie as well as blue tinted shades

Project: Guy will direct Paramount Pictures' big-screen adaptation of Damien Lewis' 2015 book

All go: There were plenty of crew around and onboard the ship as they got to work on the scenes

Role: Ousted Superman star Henry (pictured) will play the leader of the secret combat organization

Plot: The movie is set during World War II and will be centered on a clandestine combat organization set up by Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming

Names: Gonzalez was previously revealed to have joined the cast of the feature in October of 2022

Actors: Other performers set to star in the project are Henry, Alan Ritchson and Cary Elwes

Scenes: Physical production on the upcoming movie previously kicked off in Turkey this past February

Gonzalez shared a photo that had been taken on the set of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare to her Instagram account on Monday.

In the snap, the performer was seen in character as she entertained a group of generals.

The actress wrote a short message in her post's caption where she described herself as 'Deadly Smart Marjorie.'

She also tagged the account of the upcoming feature's director, Guy, in her social media post.

As per a synopsis, 'this clandestine squad's unconventional and entirely 'ungentlemanly' fighting techniques against the Nazis significantly changed the course of the war and gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit.'

Coming up: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is currently scheduled to be released at an unspecified date in 2024

Fun: Gonzalez shared a photo that had been taken on the set of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare to her Instagram account on Monday

On the set: In the snap, the performer was seen in character as she entertained a group of generals

Role: The actress wrote a short message in her post's caption where she described herself as 'Deadly Smart Marjorie'

Talent: She also tagged the account of the upcoming feature's director, Guy, in her social media post

Premise: As per a synopsis, 'this clandestine squad's unconventional and entirely 'ungentlemanly' fighting techniques against the Nazis significantly changed the course of the war and gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit'

Having a good time: Babs was all smiles as he got to work on the ship

Looking glamorous: Elia was sure to turn heads in her silver gown

Here he is: Henry will take centre stage in the film

Glowing: Her makeup was flawlessly applied

Crew: The actors made their way to the boat

All together: They filmed group scenes too

Captain: Henry looked almost unrecognisable

Extras: The sailors were there too on the boat

Incredible: Her silver gown had a halterneck design

Manly: Til Schweiger wore a navy outfit

Cool: Alex wore braces and a black jumper

Muscles: Til showed off his burly physique

Looking amazing: Eliza was the star of the show

In good spirits: Things on set looked positive

Handsome: Alex looked as dapper as always

Sailors: The extras were on set too

Location: They were on the Thames to film

Femme fatale: She exuded elegance

Actors: Bab and Alex walked together

In action: The filming took place all day

He continued: 'We stand by them and are committed to supporting members of our production team and the wider community over the coming weeks and months'

He added: 'Our thoughts are with the members of our crew with family in the region. We wish to express our sincere condolences to the people of Turkey'

Turkey: 'We do so with profound sympathy for everyone affected,' said Ritchie in a statement

Scary: Acknowledging the devastating earthquake there Ritchie and the producers said the shoot would take place 'several hundred miles from the epicenter' of the disaster

Getting ready: Principal photography began in Turkey earlier this year

Principal photography began in Turkey earlier this year.

Acknowledging the devastating earthquake there Ritchie and the producers said the shoot would take place 'several hundred miles from the epicenter' of the disaster.

'We do so with profound sympathy for everyone affected,' said Ritchie in a statement. 'Our thoughts are with the members of our crew with family in the region. We wish to express our sincere condolences to the people of Turkey.

'We stand by them and are committed to supporting members of our production team and the wider community over the coming weeks and months.'
Zendaya was announced as Louis Vuitton's new House Ambassador on Thursday.

The distinguished luxury fashion brand unveiled a video campaign and accompanying photos featuring the 26-year-old powerhouse.

The statuesque beauty - who recently spoke about beau Tom Holland - commanded attention with glowing skin and long dark hair.

Engaging 52.5 million Instagram followers, Louis Vuitton wrote in a caption: '#Zendaya and the Capucines.

'#LouisVuitton reveals actress Zendaya as the new House Ambassador, showcasing the iconic #LVCapucines in her first campaign with the Maison.'

New face: Zendaya was announced as Louis Vuitton 's new House Ambassador on Thursday

Zendaya - born Maree Stoermer Coleman - shot the advert at E-1027, the French villa designed by architect Eileen Gray.

The images were captured by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and the star was styled by her longtime stylist Law Roach.

The Spider-Man sensation slipped into multiple looks for the feature, two of them being black dresses.

They were all sleeveless and flattering of her modelesque figure, with two boasting gold hardware.

Another piece had a body-hugging fit and featured an asymmetric, one-shoulder strap.

Zendaya was recorded prancing around the home as she clutched different versions of the handbag.

The stunner's hair was a rich, chocolate color and reached down to her trim waistline in a sleek style.

The longtime entertainer's visage was made up in a neutral palette and she flaunted a glossy white manicure on short nails.

Advert: The distinguished luxury fashion brand unveiled a video campaign and accompanying photos featuring the 26-year-old powerhouse

Location: Zendaya - born Maree Stoermer Coleman - shot the advert at E-1027, the French villa designed by architect Eileen Gray

The Capucines bag was initially debuted in 2013 and is 'named after the Rue Neuve-des-Capucines, the Paris street where Louis Vuitton opened his first store in 1854,' according to Just Jared.

It's one of the fashion house's most symbolic pieces, elegantly crafted in Taurillon leather.

It's also offered to consumers in multiple varieties including hand, shoulder, and cross-body styles.

Buyers also have the choice of a flap that can be styled closed to display a monogram flower or tucked to show the LV initials.

The Euphoria actress wore a pair of knee-high black leather boots in some of the shots.

Aerial shots caught Zendaya leaning over a white railing on the home's balcony overlooking a body of water.

The snippet was soundtracked by the song Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon by Urge Overkill.

Footwear: The Euphoria actress wore a pair of knee-high black leather boots in some of the shots

Scenic: Aerial shots caught Zendaya leaning over a white railing on the home's balcony overlooking a body of water

Zendaya recently shared some insight into her relationship with boyfriend and former costar Tom.

She admitted she still struggles to understand the actor's British accent despite the two being linked for seven years.

The down-to-earth personality said she often struggles to understand what Tom, 26, says and is baffled by cockney rhyming slang, despite him trying repeatedly to explain it to her.

She told The Sun: 'I love the British accent, but as much as Tom tries to explain it to me, I will never understand rhyming slang.

'Like I understand the concept  but what do apples and pears have to do with stairs?'

She added: 'Its cute when he tells me all the different phrases  but I really dont get it!'

Different look: The stunner's hair was a rich, chocolate color and reached down to her trim waistline in a sleek style
Olivia Bowen showed off her incredible figure in a vibrant bikini as she spent quality time with her husband Alex and their son Abel during their family holiday.

The former Love Island star, 29, put her enviable curves on display on Thursday as she splashed around in the sea during their trip to Barbados.

She was seen sweetly holding her son Abel, 10 months, in the air as she and her husband Alex, 31, spent time playing with their little one in the shallows.

Olivia also took to Instagram to give an insight into their getaway as she said she was in 'holiday mode' as she shared an array of sizzling bikini snaps.

She looked incredible in a neon yellow bikini top, which she styled with orange patterned high-waisted bottoms.

Wow! Olivia Bowen showed off her incredible figure in a vibrant bikini as she spent quality time with her husband Alex and their son Abel during their family holiday

Family: She was seen sweetly holding her son Abel, 10 months, in the air as she and her husband Alex, 31, spent time playing with their little one in the shallows

Gorgeous: The former Love Island star, 29, put her enviable curves on display on Thursday as she splashed around in the sea during their trip to Barbados

Olivia, who rose to fame on Love Island in 2016, styled her golden highlighted tresses loosely across her shoulders in a straight fashion.

She shielded her eyes with a pair of black sunglasses and let her natural beauty shine through as she appeared to go make-up free.

Olivia showed off her intricate tattoos, including her detailed sternum inking and the theatre masks tattooed across her thigh, in her beachwear look.

The mother-of-one was seen lovingly cradling her son Abel as she sat in the sand on the edge of the sea.

She was also seen adorably grinning as she lifted her son into the air while she waded in the sea as they enjoyed the beach day out.

Olivia was also joined by her husband Alex, who joined in with the fun as he was seen taking Abel off Olivia and cuddling his son in the sea.

Alex showed off his toned physique as he went shirtless in black board shorts during their family day out.

The doting parents, who tied the knot in 2018, appeared to be having a great time as they soaked up the sun in the ocean.

Olivia was also seen enjoying a refreshing beverage when they headed back up the beach to their deckchairs to relax.

Glam: Olivia also took to Instagram to give an insight into their getaway as she said she was in 'holiday mode' as she shared an array of sizzling bikini snaps

Quality time: The mother-of-one was seen lovingly cradling her son Abel as she sat in the sand on the edge of the sea

Sizzling: She looked incredible in a neon yellow bikini top, which she styled with orange patterned high-waisted bottoms

Play time: She was also seen adorably grinning as she lifted her son into the air while she waded in the sea as they enjoyed the beach day out

Ink: Olivia showed off her intricate tattoos, including her detailed sternum inking and the theatre masks tattooed across her thigh, in her beachwear look

Cuddles: The family appeared to be closer than ever as they enjoyed the quality time together

Beauty: Olivia, who rose to fame on Love Island in 2016, styled her golden highlighted tresses loosely across her shoulders in a straight fashion

Stunner: Olivia shielded her eyes with a pair of black sunglasses and let her natural beauty shine through as she appeared to go make-up free

Doting: Olivia was also joined by her husband Alex, who joined in with the fun as he was seen taking Abel off Olivia and cuddling his son in the sea

Muscular frame: Alex showed off his toned physique as he went shirtless in black board shorts during their family day out

Sun-kissed: Olivia showed off her sun-kissed frame as she posed for very glamorous bikini snaps

The duo, who became parents for the first time in June, have taken to the Caribbean island for their first holiday of the year.

Sharing some pictures from the nine-hour flight to Instagram earlier this week, Olivia explained to her followers how she and Alex found flying with Abel.

Snapping a father-son moment between her beau and son as they both slept during the journey, Olivia wrote via her Stories: 'I cannot believe this little boy on our flight to Barbados.

'He was just amazing. Smiling laughing walking around & playing with the cabin crew. He slept for two hours then was full of life again.

'He had one little moan up for 20 minutes were due to land in an hour which was his usual bedtime but then fell asleep! Cannot fault him'.

Continuing to share how they kept him busy, Olivia wrote: 'Alex and I proper tag teamed! Lots of walking up and down the plane, snacks & new toys he's never seen before.

'Also utilise all the interesting menus & seatbelts before pulling out the big games. I must say @virginatlantic cabin crew were absolutely amazing. I was just so impressed at how attentive & helpful & friendly every single person was.

'Thank you for making our journey how it was,' she gushed while praising the in-flight staff.

Adding that the family are going to take the trip to enjoy quality time together, Olivia shared that she would be 'pretty quiet' on social media.

Swimming: Olivia looked incredible as she waded into the sea to cool off with a dip

Looking good: For a slew of Instagram snaps, Olivia bolstered her stunning features with a high-glamour make-up palette

Bikini-clad: Olivia appeared to be in jovial spirits as she flashed a huge smile during her swim

Motherhood: Olivia looked every inch the doting mother as she cuddled her son during a sweet moment

Beach day: Olivia and Alex soaked up the sun as they strolled up the beach

Smitten: Olivia and Alex appeared as loved-up as ever during their sun-soaked family holiday

Sweet: The doting parents, who tied the knot in 2018, appeared to be having a great time as they soaked up the sun in the ocean

Toned: Alex put his muscular frame and his very intricate arm and chest tattoos on full display as he went shirtless

Happy days: Olivia was seen avidly chatting to Alex as they spent time looking after their son

Playing: Olivia sat in the shallows and let her son Abel have a paddle during the trip

Travels: Sharing some pictures from the nine-hour flight to Instagram earlier this week, Olivia explained to her followers how she and Alex found flying with Abel

She said: 'I am looking forward to just enjoying our days and being present.'

Olivia and Alex, formerly a sales executive and scaffolder respectively, soared to fame in 2016 when they appeared on ITV2's Love Island, where she was an original star and he was a late but popular entrant.

After leaving the villa their romance soon when from strength to strength and Alex popped the question in New York in 2016.

The couple then tied the knot in a luxurious Essex ceremony two years after meeting on Love Island during the show's second series.
Baywatch star David Charvet has been named as a suspect in a criminal report for allegedly threatening an ex-girlfriend according to a new report.

Law enforcement sources for TMZ say the 50-year-old veteran actor - who left Hollywood to launch a building career - is a suspect in a recent criminal threats report made by his ex Kate Boskovich.

It is claimed the actor who played Craig Field on Melrose Place and his partner had recently split but were involved in a heated argument about each other's lifestyles.

TMZ reports that Boskovich alleges that Charvet told her that it 'won't end well' for her which apparently made her fearful.

DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Charvet for comment and has yet to hear back.

Tough times: David Charvet has been named as a suspect in a criminal report for allegedly threatening an ex-girlfriend according to a new report from TMZ on Thursday; he is pictured in September 2019

Back in the day: Law enforcement sources for TMZ say the 50-year-old veteran actor (seen on Baywatch in the 1990s) - who left Hollywood to launch a building career - is a suspect in a recent criminal threats report made by his ex Kate Boskovich.

Boskovich filed the police report and LAPD is currently investigating the alleged incident.

Sources for the site claim that the allegations will land in the prosecutor's office after the investigation and it is up to them on whether a case is worth filing or not.

TMZ reports that they got into contact with Charvet and he claims that he has not been contacted by LAPD and is also unaware of allegations being made against him.

The French-born former actor and pop star - who played Matt Brody on Baywatch from 1992-1996 - has since left acting to become a successful builder.

The star said he stumbled on his new career accidentally, while building a new house in Malibu in 2006.

The actor turned builder explained he was unhappy with the original contractor's work on the home, so he fired him and took over with help from the project manager.

Charvet's last on-screen performance was in 2013's Prisoners of the Sun.

The former actor returned to the small screen for as short stint in 2017, teaming up with then wife Brooke Burke, 51, for The New Celebrity Apprentice.

Uh oh: It is claimed the actor and his partner had recently split but were involved in a heated argument about each other's lifestyles as TMZ reports that Boskovich alleges that Charvet told her that it 'won't end well' for her which apparently made her fearful

Rising star: He played Craig Field on 1990s drama program Melrose Place

Signature role: He also played Matt Brody on Baywatch from 1992-1996; as he is pictured with Alexandra Paul (left) and Pamela Anderson (right) in January 1993

Former flame: Charvet was married to model and television personality Brooke Burke from 2011 to 2020

Doting dad: Charvet and Brooke share two children together; daughter Heaven is 16 and son Shaya is 15

However, the couple separated the following year, but the divorce wasn't finalized until 2020. They had first gotten married in 2011.

Charvet and Brooke share two children together; daughter Heaven is 16 and son Shaya is 15.

The two share custody of their children and both say they have moved on amicably with their lives.
Jude Law looked dapper as he joined his glamorous co-star Yara Shahidi for the world premiere of Peter Pan and Wendy in London on Thursday.

The actor, 50, wore a smart double-breasted blazer as he battled the rain on the red carpet at The Curzon in Mayfair to promote the movie, which is slated for release on April 28.

He layered a navy shirt underneath his jacket and added a pair of matching seersucker silk trousers from Brioni to complete his look.

Jude, who plays Captain Hook in the movie, sported a thick moustache for his appearance.

Yara, 23, looked sensational in a metallic tasseled gown with cut-out sections and an elegant high neckline.

VIPs: Jude Law, 50, looked dapper as he joined his glamorous co-star Yara Shahidi, 23, for the world premiere of Peter Pan and Wendy in London on Thursday

Dapper: The actor wore a smart double breasted blazer from Brioni as he battled the rain on the red carpet at The Curzon in Mayfair

The actress, who stars as Tinkerbell, dazzled in the gold number, elevating her height with a pair of coordinating stilettos.

She styled her hair into neats braids to keep it back from her face and opted for a subtle makeup look to enhance her flawless complexion.

Joining the duo on the red carpet was Alexander Molony, who plays Peter Pan, Wendy Darling actress Ever Anderson and director David Lowery.

The highly anticipated Peter Pan & Wendy first official trailer and poster were released by Disney in February.

The film is a live-action adaptation of the beloved 1953 Peter Pan animated classic where has been re-interpreted many times over the decades.

The story follows Peter Pan, played by Alexander, who never ages and is always looking to have fun.

He takes his new friend Wendy, played by Ever - who is the child of actress Milla Jovovich and director Paul WS Anderson - to Neverland.

That is where Wendy has the adventure of a lifetime as she meets the devilish Lost Boys, the plucky Tinkerbell and stumbles upon beautiful mermaids as well as the captivating Tiger Lily.

Smart: He layered a black shirt underneath his jacket and added a pair of matching trousers with some patent brogue shoes to complete his look

Drastically different: Jude has transformed into the iconic pirate Captain Hook for his role in the Disney+ film

Stunning: Yara looked sensational in a metallic tasseled gown with cut-out sections and an elegant high neckline

Rainy day: Jude, who plays Captain Hook in the movie, sported a thick moustache for his appearance

Pretty: The actress, who stars as Tinkerbell, dazzled in the gold number, elevating her height with a pair of coordinating stilettos

Glowing: She styled her hair into neats braids to keep it back from her face and opted for a subtle makeup look to enhance her flawless complexion

Cast: Joining the duo on the red carpet was Alexander Molony, who plays Peter Pan, Wendy Darling actress Ever Anderson and director David Lowery

Stars: Ever looked pretty in a sweet white dress with sequin detail

Coming soon: Peter Pan & Wendy - which is coming out during Disney's 100 year anniversary - will stream April 28 on Disney+

Peter Pan & Wendy - which is coming out during Disney's 100 year anniversary - will stream April 28 on Disney+.

The film stars Jude as the menacing Captain Hook and Yara as the first Black woman to ever take on the role of Tinkerbell.

Alyssa Wapanatahk stands out as the captivating Tiger Lily. She is an Nehiyaw (Cree) Canadian-Indigenous actor from Bigstone Cree First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory which is in Northern Alberta.

Pete's Dragon director David Lowery has helmed the movie with child actors Alexander Molony and Ever Gabo Anderson in the leading roles.

The trailer begins with Wendy looking at her hands as she stands on the beach of Neverland.

The young lady seems angry when she notices there is magic fair dusty on her wet hands.

She then goes looking for Peter and runs into the Lost Boys. When she points out that not all of the Lost Boys are actually boys one of the girls says, 'So.'

The trailer then flashes back to Wendy and her brothers at home as they get a visit from Peter, who thrills them with his magic.

Soon after Wendy and her siblings are taking in the lush island of Neverland that seems like paradise - that is until the pirates spoil the fun.

Law makes quite the impression as the villainous Captain Hook as he was seen in his signature scarlet red coat.

Red carpet ready: Noah Matthews Matofsky, who stars as Lost Boy Slightly, looked smart in a suit and trainers

All smiles: Jude greeted the crowds of adoring fans at the event

Soaking: The star posed for a fun photo with his umbrella as he battled the weather

Mother and daughter: Also at the event was Emilie Cunliffe and her mum Kym Marsh

Bold: Abbie Quinnen wowed in a leggy sequinned dress

Family: Michelle Heaton looked sensational in a silver gown with a thigh-high split as she attended with her children

Glitzy: Strictly's Vanessa Bauer opted for a stunning ball gown with a plunging neckline

Cute: Linda Robson was joined by her grandchildren for the premiere

Bright: Amber Doig-Thorne stood out in a hot pink dress while Imogen Thomas slipped into a Prada top and a sequin jacket

Beauty: Victoria Brown slipped into a slinky coral gown with an embellished neckline

Matching: Content creators Matthew and Ryan looked suave in velvet blazers

Stunning: Sophie Hermann turned heads in a flowing green strapless gown

Family: JLS star JB Gill attended the premiere with his wife and children

Dapper: Happey Valley's Clint Gordon looked dapper in a cream suit as he attended the premiere alongside The Apprentice star Sian Gabbidon

The veteran British actor - best known for the films The Talented Mr Ripley, Closer and The Holiday - looked menacing with his long hair and sharp sword.

Other cast members include Joshua Pickering, Jacobi Jupe, Jim Gaffigan, Noah Matthews Matofsky, Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez, Alyssa Wapanatahk, Felix de Sousa, Molly Parker, Alan Tudyk, Diana Tsoy, Caelan Edie and Florence Bensberg.

The live action film based on JM Barrie's much loved story is titled Peter Pan and Wendy.

The Walt Disney Pictures feature is an adaptation of the studio's classic 1953 animated film Peter Pan and is set to be released in 2022 on the Disney+ streaming service.
A bankrupt influencer who spent Thursday morning having her finances examined in court later told her social media followers she had just been doing the weekly food shop.

Christie Swadling had arrived at the Toronto Local Court in Lake Macquarie with her boyfriend Joel Price at 9:30am and left just after 10:20am.

The photographer who saw them outside court then followed the couple to a pharmacy, where Swadling bought protein powder, before the two headed home.

That afternoon, Swadling shared a short video on Instagram, where she has 117,000 followers, announcing she had spent the day running errands.

She made no mention of her court appearance and gave her fans the impression she had just gone grocery shopping before coming home to look after her stepchildren.

A bankrupt influencer who spent Thursday morning having her finances examined in court later told her social media followers she had just been doing the weekly food shop. Christie Swadling (right) had arrived at the Toronto Local Court in Lake Macquarie with her boyfriend Joel Price (left) at 9:30am and left just after 10:20am

That afternoon, at 1:29pm, Swadling shared a short video on Instagram, announcing she had spent the day running errands. She made no mention of her court appearance and gave her fans the impression she'd just gone shopping before coming home to look after her stepsons

Swadling filmed herself in the mirror wearing a little black dress - the same one she had worn to the Toronto courthouse - and panned the camera over to Price reclining on the couch while his children played video games in the background.

'Working from home in the school holidays can be challenging,' she wrote.

'After this morning's food shop then coming home doing kids' and dog's food. Only just starting work now,' she wrote, adding the timestamp of 1:29pm.

Swadling filmed herself in the mirror wearing a little black dress - the same one she had worn to the Toronto courthouse - and panned the camera over to Price reclining on the couch (right) while his children played video games in the background

The 27-year-old YouTuber filed for bankruptcy last year, and her day in court was to evaluate her property and financial circumstances as a means of satisfying the judgement debt

It was revealed in February that Swadling was bankrupt after an anonymous user on the Tattle Life forums paid $15 to obtain the paperwork on her bankruptcy filing (seen here)

The photographer who saw Swadling and Price outside court then followed the couple to a pharmacy, where Swadling bought protein powder, before the two headed home

The 27-year-old YouTuber and fitness model filed for bankruptcy last year, and her day in court was to evaluate her property and financial circumstances as a means of satisfying the judgement debt.

Arriving at the courthouse, she carried a Louis Vuitton handbag worth $2,840 as she prepared for the examination to determine her ability to repay her debts.

Clutching a vape in one hand, Swadling was supported by her heavily tattooed boyfriend as she rocked up in an LBD with a perilously high thigh split.

The social media personality tried unsuccessfully to protect herself from the rain by holding a book over her head.

The results of her financial examination on Thursday are unclear

It was revealed in February that Swadling was bankrupt after an anonymous user on the Tattle Life forums paid $15 to obtain the paperwork on her bankruptcy filing.

She listed her job as an 'advertising and marketing professional' in the paperwork filed on December 29.

The status of her bankruptcy was 'undischarged', which meant she would still need to pay back particular debts.

It also meant she would not be able to borrow again from financial institutions without the disclosure of her bankruptcy.

The release of the debtor's petition did not specify the outstanding debts, and the results of her financial examination on Thursday are unclear.

Swadling's courthouse appearance comes days after she was mocked online for sharing her 'money-saving tips' despite filing for bankruptcy last year

She shared advice on Instagram on how to save money in a video advertisement for a cashback company

Swadling's courthouse appearance comes days after she was mocked online for sharing her 'money-saving tips' despite filing for bankruptcy last year.

She shared advice on Instagram on how to save money in a video advertisement for a cashback company.

Influencer watchdog account Dutch Minty reposted the video alongside her bankruptcy filing and the caption: 'Bankrupt Christie giving out savings tips!'

Swadling was roasted in the comments section, with followers pointing out the 'irony' of the partnership.
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Carre Otis still has her supermodel curves.

The 54-year-old California native proved this on Thursday as she posted vacation snaps from her trip to Costa Rica.

The Vogue cover veteran looked slender and fit as she wore a black string bikini while sunbathing on a beach. The beauty wore sunglasses and lipstick with her hair pulled back.

'Slowing it all down a beat on this Thursday,' the former Guess girl - who posed for the brand over 30 years ago - said in her caption. 'Retreating into the expanse of stillness.'

The star also said, 'Setting intentions of presence, patience and love. Planting seeds in this moment for all that will come to fruition in harmony and for the highest good.'

Lovely look: Carre Otis still has her supermodel curves. The 54-year-old California native proved this on Thursday as she posted vacation snaps from her trip to Costa Rica

Flawless female: The Vogue cover veteran looked slender and fit as she wore a black string bikini while sunbathing on a beach. The beauty wore sunglasses and lipstick with her hair pulled back

'Accepting what is and letting go of old stories that no longer serve.

'Casting that baggage into the vast ocean that has the power to carry it away, bringing forth new waters in its inflowing tide.'

Otis ended with, 'New Moon blessings from the seashores of compassion.'

In January she returned to modeling.

The siren landed an ad campaign opposite Julianne Moore for Hourglass Cosmetics which she said she likes because five percent of the Unlocked Lipstick proceeds are donated to support animal welfare.

It has been 20 years since Otis - who was married to her Wild Orchid co-star Mickey Rourke - landed a high-profile modeling job.

Carre looked stunning with her gray hair slicked back as she added ruby red lipstick.

'Thank you to these powerhouse women that I was honored to share a day with in NYC,' her caption began.

She then listed Moore as well as @tringsby @yoventura @soukeyna @sydneychen @__shonali__ @Emmienielsen.

A close up: 'Slowing it all down a beat on this Thursday,' the former Guess girl - who posed for the brand over 30 years ago - said in her caption

Wellness: 'Retreating into the expanse of stillness.' The star also said, 'Setting intentions of presence, patience and love. Planting seeds in this moment for all that will come to fruition in harmony and for the highest good.' Seen with her husband Matthew Sutton whom she wed in 2005

'And a massive thank you to the stellar team that helped to make the magic happen,' she wrote in her caption as she credited her glam team.

The star has been active on social media for decades.

She is the founder of Bare Mama Project and works with Model Alliance to address the lack of protections that models still dont have.

The cover girl has been married to Matthew Sutton since 2005 and they live in Sonoma County with her teen daughters Kaya and Jade.

Hot stuff: It has been over 20 years since she ruled the runway with her contemporaries Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford

Far right: Carre looked stunning with her gray hair slicked back as she added ruby red lipstick. 'Thank you to these powerhouse women that I was honored to share a day with in NYC,' her caption began. She then listed Moore as well as @tringsby @yoventura @soukeyna @sydneychen @__shonali__ @Emmienielsen

It has been over 20 years since she ruled the runway with her contemporaries Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford.

Otis was one of the biggest supermodels of the 1990s as she posed for Guess and became a frequent Vogue cover girl.

When Otis was cast in the 1990 thriller Wild Orchid with Rourke, then proceeded to marry the bad boy of cinema, the brunette bombshell reached superstar status.

She was wed to Rourke from 1992 until 1998 when their relationship turned chaotic.

In Beauty Disrupted: A Memoir, she said she was shot in the chest after Mickey stashed a handgun in her bag without letting her know. The bullet hit just two inches from her heart.

'We were on a set in Santa Fe, Mickey was working, and there was a horrific accident,' Carre has said in the past. 'There was a gun, his gun, it was in a bag.' Carre threw the bag down and the gun went off.

'I was hit with a .357 bullet,' she said. 'It was about two inches from my heart. It exited through my shoulder. I was really unbelievably lucky that it didnt hit a bone.'
Myleene Klass' glam photoshoot didn't go to plan on Thursday after an unfortunate accident involving a cactus.

The star was shooting her latest campaign for Skechers in a London studio, sharing behind the scenes snippets from her busy day on Instagram.

But the day took a turn when Myleene fell onto a cactus being used as a prop.

She filmed the results, revealing she was forced to strip down to her underwear so her glam squad could remove the prickles from her derriere.

Ouch! Myleene Klass' glam photoshoot didn't go to plan on Thursday after an unfortunate accident involving a cactus

Good pals: The star was shooting her latest campaign for Skechers in a London studio, sharing behind the scenes snippets from her busy day on Instagram

'Carry on Klass': The star didn't look impressed as she filmed the results of her cheeky injury

'This is a first. Today on my shoot I fell onto some CACTI! Yup!' Myleene wrote on Instagram, before thanking her hair and makeup artist and photographer for going 'beyond the call of duty.'

In a video Myleene had stripped down to a pink lace bralet and black thong while her makeup artist pal Joe Pickering Taylor got to work with some tweezers.

The group couldn't stop laughing as they helped patch Myleene up before they could get back to work.

Myleene will reportedly be back on TV screens this month as a rumoured latecomer to I'm A Celebrity All Stars.

The former pop star famously set pulses racing in 2006 by sporting a white bikini in the outside shower

Now, it has been reported that she will be revisiting the look as she joins the South Africa show as a latecomer.

Since her appearance, a slew of female stars have tried to recreate her iconic shower scenes during their time in camp.

Myleene ultimately finished in second place, behind Matt Willis, and is heavily tipped to be one of the surprise latecomers to the All Stars camp, alongside Georgia Toffolo and Joe Swash.

Icon Gillian McKeith - who was renowned for her dramatic fainting scene - Dean Gaffney and Andrew Whyment could also be among those making a return on the South Africa show.

They are said to join previously announced stars Helen Flanagan, Carol Vorderman, Amir Khan, Janice Dickinson, Paul Burrell, Jordan Banjo, Shaun Ryder, Fatima Whitbread and Phil Tufnell.

A true friend: In a video Myleene had stripped down to a pink lace bralet and black thong while her makeup artist pal Joe Pickering Taylor got to work with some tweezers

Oops: The day took a turn when Myleene fell onto a cactus being used as a prop
Charlotte McKinney looked ready for summer on Thursday.

The 29-year-old former Guess model was seen in a white outfit that consisted of a sleeveless top and denim slacks as she was spotted in Beverly Hills.

A black purse with matching belt and heels was a nice contrast.

The cover girl - who was seen last week at a Crown Vintage for DSW event with Emma Roberts - pulled down her black sunglasses at one point to look down the street.

The ex of Stephen Dorff was carrying a $17 spinach, kale, parsley and cucumber smoothie from organic grocery store Erewhon in her hand as she also held onto a purse in the crook of her arm.

Fresh: Charlotte McKinney looked ready for summer on Thursday. The 29-year-old former Guess model was seen in an ivory outfit that consisted of a sleeveless top and slacks as she was spotted in Beverly Hills

McKinney is a model and actress who first gained attention as an Instagram personality, eventually achieving wider recognition for her appearance in a Carl's Jr. commercial which aired regionally during Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.

The star has already be on the cover of GQ and Vanity Fair.

And Charlotte has competed on Dancing With The Stars and acted in the Baywatch remake.

This new sighting comes two months after she landed one of her most scintillating ad campaigns of her long career.

The blonde beauty from Orlando, Florida was seen posing in skimpy lingerie to plug a major shoe brand in Miami.

The face of Larroude footwear as she was seen pouting for the camera in new eye-popping images shared to her Instagram page.

Black accent: A black purse with matching belt was a nice contrast. Even her pointy shoes were black

Fab before Friday: The cover girl pulled down her black sunglasses at one point to look down the street. The ex of Stephen Dorff was carrying a green veggie smoothie from organic grocery store Erewhon in her hand as she also held onto a purse in the crook of her arm

'New @larroude spring collection out now!' wrote the ex of Stephen Dorff in her brief caption.

'Shooting this campaign was extra special because the first time I wore their shoes I fell in love and became such a fan of the line but all that aside I had the chance to work with some of the most kindest and bad a** people.'

The Dancing With The Stars veteran then added hashtags for the brand as well as the glam team.

The star had on a pale pink sheer corset that had applique over her chest. McKinney also wore very tiny briefs that barely covered her up.

The outfit was used to plug the pale pink high heels from Larroude, though it is debatable if anyone was checking out her feet as her body seemed to be the focus.

The fashion industry personality left little to the imagination while showcasing her shapely form.

The social media figure let her blonde hair fall down over her bare shoulders and her glam was on point.

McKinney began her modeling career by building a large presence on Instagram in the mid-2010s.

The model spoke about her platform during an interview with Marie Claire, where she pointed out that what she shared on her account was not indicative of what her life was normally like.

Sexy for sale: In February McKinney has landed one of her most scintillating ad campaigns of her long career; she was selling the shoes here, not the lingerie

'Social media is an interesting part of life, and it's not all it looks like from the outside. Instagram is just an outlet to exude this image of what you deem as a perfect life,' she stated.

McKinney went on to express that she was not necessarily fond of using the social media outlet, although she recognized its necessity in her professional life.

'I have such a love hate relationship with it, being a private person but it plays such an essential part of my career,' she said.

The fashion industry personality concluded by expressing that prospective models should consider utilizing unconventional means while looking for success.

'Now more than ever, there isn't just one path to wherever you want or need to go. Explore as many options as possible, and don't rely on one straight road,' she said.
The Three Musketeers: DArtagnan (15, 121 mins)

Rating:

Verdict: A proper swashbuckler

Fifty years have passed since children of my generation fell in love with the story of The Three Musketeers.

We were seduced partly by Richard Lester's impressively starry 1973 swashbuckler but to a possibly greater extent (at least in my own case) by the same year's feature-length Hanna-Barbera cartoon, which was inspired by the animated segment on The Banana Splits show of Saturday morning telly and blessed memory.

Of those of us who came to know D'Artagnan principally as a lantern-jawed pen-and-ink character (or for that matter as a dashing if rather effete Michael York in Lester's film) I should think that a pretty small percentage have also read Alexandre Dumas' original 1844 novel.

I haven't, I confess. For me, as for most of us, the musketeers' famous rallying cry of 'All for one and one for all' has always been delivered in English.

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan was released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2023

Those heroic little cartoon men certainly never roared 'Un pour tous, tous pour un!' and nor did York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Frank Finlay when standing up to Charlton Heston's Cardinal Richelieu and his heavies in the 1973 live-action version.

All of which brings me to Martin Bourboulon's The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, a rare and welcome big-budget interpretation of Dumas' story in his own language, which like the film 50 years ago brings to life only the first half of the novel. The rest of the saga will follow in The Three Musketeers: Milady, scheduled for release later this year.

Classic film on TV Stand By Me (1986) Rob Reiners sad, sweet film, based on a story by Stephen King, is truly one of the great coming-of-age pictures of the past 40 years. C5, Saturday, 12.35pm Advertisement

It's a rip-roaring 17th-century adventure which cuts and thrusts, swashes and buckles, from beginning to end and, also in common with Lester's movie, never takes itself too seriously.

That's just as well because there is plenty of melodramatic nonsense afoot, never more than when handsome aspiring musketeer D'Artagnan (Francois Civil), shortly after arriving in Paris from distant Gascony, in turn antagonises Athos (Vincent Cassel), Porthos (Pio Marmai) and Aramis (Romain Duris), agreeing to fight each of them in a duel . . . on the same day . . . at the same place.

The French equivalent of Robin Hood grappling with Little John when they first meet on the narrow bridge, it's a contrivance that has always felt forced and still does.

Yet it scarcely matters. With Eva Green perfectly cast as the beautiful and duplicitous Milady de Winter (Faye Dunaway in 1973), ditto the pretty Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri as the Queen's secret messenger Constance Bonacieux (stepping in Raquel Welch's footsteps), the breathless action and shadowy chicanery only ever let up to give room to a romantic subplot.

The year is 1627 and King Louis XIII (Louis Garrel) is hoping to avert civil war with the Protestants scheming to overthrow the monarchy from their stronghold in La Rochelle. He cannot trust his powerful adviser Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf), and nor is he at all sure he can trust his Queen, Anne of Austria (Vicky Krieps), who is rumoured to be enjoying an entente exceedingly cordiale with a dishy English aristocrat, the Duke of Buckingham (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd).

Louis is right to be worried. Anne's fabulous diamond necklace, his gift to her, appears to have gone missing. The word among his courtiers is she's given it to Buckingham as a keepsake, and his courtiers aren't wrong.

So D'Artagnan (partly out of duty, partly to woo comely Constance) and Athos (whose own neck has just been saved following a trumped-up murder charge) must leg it to England to retrieve the necklace in time for the Queen to wear it at the King's brother's wedding. Otherwise, even though she's Austrian, she'll be French toast.

Once they've crossed the Channel, Buckingham's magnificent mansion conveniently looms up barely 200 yards from the white cliffs of Dover, and even more conveniently there's a masked ball going on. Not that there's much disguising the unscrupulous Milady who has also turned up to pinch the necklace.

The film's best action scene ensues  a clifftop horse chase that might have left even Ross Poldark (of Sunday night telly) puffing along in its wake, as if on a Grand National no-hoper.

Martin Bourboulon directed the film starring Francois Civil, Vincent Cassel and Romain Duris

Any swashbuckler worth its weight in plumed hats and flaming torches has to look good. This film certainly does; it's slickly choreographed with superb hand-held and drone camerawork, making it an even worthier addition to the many screen interpretations of Dumas' story, dare I say, than the cartoon action on The Banana Splits show.

Best of all, there is next to no use of special effects (except, I'm told, to get rid of the odd pesky parking meter in close-ups of Paris). Apart from those drone shots, it feels pleasingly old-fashioned; a film, subtitles or not, in the escapist tradition of The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938) and Ivanhoe (1952) just when we need it most.

Help  I think my girlfriend may be an international super-spy

Ghosted

Rating:

Dexter Fletchers Ghosted (15, 116 mins) is a film I feel like Ive seen 50 times before: an all-action romcom about a couple who get it together before one realises that the other is, in fact, a super-spy.

Yet it won me over. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are winningly likeable as lead characters Cole (romantic Virginia farmer) and Sadie (crack CIA agent), and its smartly scripted (Deadpools Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick share the writing credits with Spider-Man: Homecomings Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers). Plus, a classy supporting cast includes Adrien Brody and Tim Blake Nelson.

Anyway, sexual sparks fly after the pair meet at a farmers market, but when she doesnt return his text messages he decides to make a grand gesture, tracking her to London where, naturally, he ends up being kidnapped, whisked to the Khyber Pass and tortured, until she arrives to shoot all the baddies.

By the time it starts getting really silly about 25 minutes in  you might feel invested enough in them both to keep watching. I did. (Streaming now, on AppleTV+)

Dexter Fletchers Ghosted (15, 116 mins) is a film I feel like Ive seen 50 times before. Pictured: Adrien Brody, left, and Mike Moh in a scene

Missing

Rating:

I liked Missing (15, 111 mins, HHHI) even more. Its the kind of twisty thriller that couldnt have been made even ten years ago, in which an 18-year-old girl (Storm Reid) uses her teenage tech skills to find her mother (Nia Long), who seems to have disappeared while on holiday with her new fella in Colombia.

Missing is one of the best examples Ive seen of a so-called screenlife film, in which the narrative unfolds largely on the smartphone and laptop of the main character, via text-messaging, Instagram, Google, FaceTime, the full i-works. Writer-directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson push a little at the boundaries of credibility, but its ingeniously done.

Evil Dead Rise

Rating:

Evil Dead Rise (18, 97 mins), the fifth instalment of the Evil Dead horror franchise, is also the most extravagantly gory; a violent stab, by Irish writer-director Lee Cronin, directly into the heart of the premise less is more.

It mostly takes place in a shabby Los Angeles apartment building, where the discovery of a creepy 100-year-old book of incantations wreaks mayhem and havoc, and not in a good way.
The Strictly Come Dancing judges have reportedly backed down amid their pay row with BBC bosses.

Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke were allegedly looking to receive an 11 per cent salary rise ahead of the BBC dance competition show's new season.

But according to The Sun they have now accepted an offer of between 3 and 5 per cent.

Head judge Shirley is reportedly already earning 500,000, Motsi and Craig rake in 200,000, while Anton is believed to be on 180,000.

A source told the publication 'There was a real stand off between the judges and the Beeb on this issue, with neither side willing to budge for weeks.

All over: The Strictly Come Dancing judges have reportedly backed down amid their pay row with BBC bosses

Huge: Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke were allegedly looking to receive an 11 per cent salary rise

'Thankfully they reached this resolution and are now breathing a sigh of relief and able to look forward to the new series.

'The show simply felt that curing a cost of living crisis, and at a time when the licence fee has been frozen, they couldn't justify an 11 per cent rise.'

The insider added that those involved with the show began to feel like the pay row was becoming a distraction from the upcoming 21st series this autumn.

The BBC has been contacted by MailOnline for comment on the matter.

It comes after the show's professional dancers reportedly slammed the judges for demanding a huge pay rise.

Despite training for long hours, the dancers - who include Giovanni Pernice, Dianne Buswell and Johannes Radebe - are paid flat fees of around 35,000 for their work on the programme.

The dancers apparently took to their group chat on WhatsApp in the wake of the news to slam the judges and are also considering asking for a pay rise.

BBC bosses were also 'incandescent with anger' after the demand for a salary increase.

Agreement: But according to The Sun they have now accepted an offer of between 3 and 5 per cent

Moneybags: The initially requested rise would have seen head judge Ms Ballas, who currently earns 500,000 for her three month stint, earning a staggering 15,960 per hour on the show

A BBC source told the Daily Mail: 'While there is always some negotiation that goes on when new contracts are signed each year, this is something else.

'Their jobs are some of the very best on television and they are already very well remunerated for their work so when these negotiations began this time around, there was shock and anger.

'It is also not like they spend any other time working behind the scenes like the professional dancers. They turn up, get their make up done and go in front of the camera.

'The professional dancers work tirelessly for weeks on end and they work themselves to the bone for the smidgen of what the judges already earn, let alone what they want to earn.

How much do the Strictly judges earn? Shirley Ballas - 500,000 Craig Revel Horwood - 200,000 Motsi Mabuse - 200,000 Anton Du Beke - 180,000 Advertisement

'You would think that they would be aware that they work for the BBC and that they are essentially paid for by the British public through the licence fee.'

MailOnline contacted representatives for Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke, and BBC spokespeople for further comment at the time.

This came after Shirley was reportedly given a 'take it or leave it' deal by Strictly bosses to stay on the show, after she revealed she may quit over online trolling.

The head judge and Latin expert was subjected to much criticism last year in which trolls slammed her decisions and accused her of ageism and sexism.

But despite previously threatening to quit, Shirley has been in talks with bosses over a potential return to Strictly, revealing on the Jonathan Ross show on Sunday that 'their people are talking to my people'.

Shirley joined the judging panel as head judge in 2017, following the departure of Len Goodman.

Shirley recently hinted that she may not return to Strictly Come Dancing this year following the torrent of vile online abuse she received during the last series.

Negotiations: This comes after Shirley was reportedly given a 'take it or leave it' deal by Strictly bosses to stay on the show, after she revealed she may quit over online trolling

In a candid interview, she indicated the previous series may have been her last as she'd hit an 'all-time low' after the abuse 'snowballed out of control'.

The ballroom dancer told how she was constantly left in tears after every show and struggled in silence, telling how it was 'the most negativity' she had ever faced.

She told the Mirror: 'Last year I was struggling. It wasn't just a little bit, it was a lot  the majority of it was in silence. I felt the abuse snowballed out of control and impacted me in such a negative way. I'm a pretty stoic person, and I tend to hold everything in.'

She explained that when the abuse began, it seemed 'larger than anything else', with the star telling how it left her 'crying and emotional', while she was 'embarrassed' about how she felt and didn't confide in anyone.
BALTIMORE (AP) - A transgender woman awaiting trial inside a Baltimore mens jail facility was sexually assaulted at knifepoint by another prisoner, subjected to frequent ridicule and denied hormone therapy in what constituted cruel and unusual punishment, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.

After the assault, Maryland corrections officials placed Chelsea Gilliam in solitary confinement for months, according to the lawsuit. She had been receiving hormone therapy for over 15 years before her incarceration, but Baltimore jail staff forced her to discontinue the treatment for the majority of her time behind bars.

"When you become incarcerated, you not only lose your freedom but you lose your dignity and your sense of self," Gilliam said during a news conference Wednesday alongside her attorney. "I was treated like an alien ... by inmates and staff - a local joke, day in and day out."

Gilliams case presents the latest example of transgender inmates suffering the consequences of a system that refuses to respect their rights, her attorney Eve Hill said at the news conference.

Across the country, transgender inmates are often incarcerated in facilities based on their sex assigned at birth, not their gender identity. Advocates say this is dangerous, particularly for transgender women held in custody with men.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said the agency could not comment on pending litigation.

Chelsea Gilliam, left, and her attorney Eve Hill, right, of Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP, speak at a news conference Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Baltimore. Gilliam, a transgender woman awaiting trial inside a Baltimore men's jail facility, was sexually assaulted at knifepoint by another prisoner, subjected to frequent ridicule and denied hormone therapy in what constituted cruel and unusual punishment, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

"We can say that the Department takes very seriously - and treats with urgency - the protection of every single incarcerated persons dignity and safety," spokesperson Mark Vernarelli said in a statement. He said the agency has met with advocates from the transgender community and "is committed to updating its policies as necessary."

Initially arrested on an assault charge in December 2021, Gilliam was repeatedly held without bail pending trial, according to online court records. She spent nearly six months incarcerated before she pleaded guilty and was released on probation.

During her time behind bars, she endured frequent harassment and often feared for her safety, according to the lawsuit. In addition to monetary damages, shes seeking court-ordered changes to policies and training for Maryland corrections staff.

In her experience, Gilliam said, asking to be transferred into a womens facility was futile. Guards would simply respond: "You are a man and you are in jail," she wrote in the complaint.

Corrections staff never asked where she wanted to be housed - an omission that apparently violated department policy, which calls for serious consideration of an "inmates own views with respect to personal safety," according to the complaint.

Department policy also acknowledges that transgender prisoners, especially trans women, face a higher risk of sexual assault. But it says housing classification should be decided based on a persons assigned sex at birth if they havent completed a "surgical gender reassignment" process - "regardless of how long they may have lived their life as a member of the opposite gender."

Though transgender prisoners are supposed to have access to separate showers, Gilliam was forced to undress in public, the complaint also said. She started avoiding the showers after a male prisoner sexually propositioned her; he later threatened her life and sexually assaulted her at knifepoint, the complaint says.

Even after she reported the assault, Gilliam said jail staff still didnt let her shower alone. She was then transferred to another facility where she spent three months in segregation, which meant being locked up 23 hours per day and shackled whenever she left her cell, according to the lawsuit.

"Its like they wanted me to pay for being trans. Thats what it felt like," she said.

All this occurred before she had even been convicted of a crime, her attorney said.

Hill said the case illustrates a larger pattern, both in Maryland and across the country, of transgender people being mistreated behind bars.

California passed a law in 2020 that allows transgender inmates to be housed according to their gender identity. Maryland lawmakers considered similar legislation during the recent 2023 legislative session, but it failed to pass.

The Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center, which houses people awaiting trial, has long faced criticism over its treatment of people with disabilities, most recently after the death of a deaf man who was strangled by his cellmate.
Private sector lender IndusInd Bank on Wednesday said it has entered into a USD 100 million long-term loan agreement with JBIC to facilitate Indian entities interested in buying Japanese construction equipment.

The finance is being done through a special agreement signed with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) by the lenders branch in the Gift City, as per an official statement.

The lender has entered into a USD 100 million long-term loan agreement with JBIC and the funds thus raised will be used by IndusInd Bank to foster the growth of Japanese construction equipment companies in India through need-based credit facilities, it said.

Japans Mizuho Bank, Shizuoka Bank, Singapore, and Joyo Bank of Japan will also co-finance in this facility, it said.

IndusInd Bank will provide credit facilities to companies that comprise the supply chain of the Japanese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India, it added.

The programme will cover the component suppliers and dealers of the selected Japanese OEMs and the final buyers of the construction machinery manufactured by those companies, it specified.

The banks managing director and chief executive Sumant Kathpalia said its commercial vehicles finance division is one of the largest financiers of Japanese OEMs in India at present, and the bank is aiming to increase its market share through the tie-up.

The fund raised will be used for financing companies, which are engaged in strengthening infrastructure.
Rajan ki Mahi a slim novel by BS Chauhan. It is a tale of survival, a maze of triumphs and defeat, light and darkness

For someone whos spent little over four decades in Indian bureaucracy, B. S. Chauhan is not your typical public servant. As a career bureaucrat, he took up a broad range of roles in his vastly long and illustrious career. It is, however, Chauhans engagement with Hindi literature that adds a whole new dimension to his personality. As a beguiling observer of contemporary life, he published his debut short stories collection, Beti ko Talashti Ankhein, (Eyes in Search of the Daughter) way back in 2010, which was described by a fellow writer as a visual treat akin to a film on paper. Sure, real life can be stranger than fiction, and it is perhaps this projection of reality and spontaneous storytelling in Chauhans work that engulfs his readers with a sense of deja vu.

Like his short stories, his recent part-autobiographical and part-fiction novel, Rajan Ki Mahi (Mahis Rajan), meditatively focuses on issues confronting the girl child and women in India. The author has been particularly sensitive to women's marginalisation. It is to Chauhans credit that he could recently translate his novel into English himself.

Rajan ki Mahi is a coming-of-age story of a young girl called Mahi who blossoms into womanhood, and despite temporary setbacks, achieves tremendous success in her professional career. These personal achievements became possible not because of her hard work and sense of duty alone, but because she was, by sheer luck, surrounded by a small circle of well-wishers  particularly Rajan, who provided constant mentorship.

Rajan ki Mahi positively demonstrates that mentoring is as critical a component as new opportunities for the youths to be able to take advantage of demographic India. Mahis feat, for example, became possible not because she and her mother have been beneficiaries of state largesse. Rather, the opposite is true. At the tender age of 10, at the behest of Rajan, she was packed off to a private boarding school in Dehradun, where she was introduced to a new world that was far removed from her provincial upbringing.

There are, of course, many dramatic and dark turns of events in the book, interwoven into the main story plot, such as, being sexually abused as a child, her infatuation with her physical education teacher at school, coming to terms with her sexuality, figuring out the different kinds of love and discovering for herself the genuine bonds between adults, as well as, between an adult and a child. This slim and readable novel is an example of real life where things can happen to anyone, a familiar setting weve heard of all the time. This realism at once makes Rajan ki Mahi graphic and evocative. Chauhans writing style is direct and simple, and he is more interested in getting the points across to the reader with the economy of words than trying out literary stunts.

At the end of the book, Chauhan contends that the full documentation of Mahis life is still incomplete as if announcing a sequel to this book is in the making. At one point, Mahi contemplates the people who truly held her hand and walked with her on the journey of life. Secularism, Mahi realises, made it possible, and people of all faiths shared her grief and happiness along the way and her life has been a confluence and convergence of four largest religions of the world.

Rajan ki Mahi is a tale of survival, a maze of triumphs and defeat, trust and deceit, truth and falsehood, light and darkness. In this respect, the novel is an exploration of the real conditions of real people. That, in our humdrum existence, we can still find action, ingenuity and creativity more than what wed discover in real life, provided we seek out. And the message is direct: to achieve ones dream, one has to remain focused.

(The writer is a special correspondent with the Pioneer)
Our political and thought leaders talk about saving the planet but cant save citizens from marauding monkeys

Our politicians love grandiloquence, especially on grand, esoteric subjects like climate change and sustainable development goals. Such subjects offer them opportunities to embark on flights of fancy and indulge in humbug. This helps them look and sound good; this also diverts peoples attention from the elephant in the roomor the monkey on the balcony.

Consider the supreme irony: India, the worlds largest democracy, is the fastest-growing major economy; it is able to spend Rs 13.5 lakh crore on infrastructure development; it has been able to resist Pakistans jihadist ventures; it has the gumption to take on the much stronger China by joining hands with the US, Japan, and Australia (Quad); it is a globally recognized IT power which is also making advances in latest technologies; it was able to supply personal protective equipment and vaccines to the entire world during the worst phases of the Covid pandemic.

But it cannot handle the monkey menace.

Not in the North and South Blocks and other buildings which house the most powerful Union ministries, not in the Supreme Court and the High Court, not in or around the residences of the countrys most powerful men and women, and certainly not where the lesser mortals live and work.

The monkey menace continues to grow because of three reasons. First and foremost is our political masters penchant for claptrap, freebies, and sentimentalism. They are convinced that rant and cant, along with fantastic promises, have greater vote-catching potential than good governance. So, why bother about something as tedious as, say, administrative and police reforms when populist promises (however outlandish) can help them enter high office? Why do something substantive to make the environment better and the surroundings of common people safe from wild animals when grandstanding on nebulous and arcane notions like climate change and carbon footprints suffice?

One of the institutions that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change consulted to amend the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, was the True Conservation Alliance Foundation. In its submission, the foundation said, India is perhaps the only country on earth where farmers are prevented and inhibited from protecting their crops, livelihoods, and property as per the stipulations of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 that has put in place procedures for crop pest management that are illogical, unsustainable, and practically impossible or near impossible for a farmer to use to protect his livelihood.

Further, it is illegal for a farmer to even chase a wild boar, nilgai or monkey off his land, let alone shoot it, even if it is destroying his crops and livelihood or posing a threat to his life and livestock. The plight of city dwellers has been little better than that of farmers. And the powers that be have done nothing to improve the situation.

Even if anything good has been done for people in the Wild Life (Protection, Amendment Act, 2022, it is yet to translate into action.

But why blame only political leaders? This brings us to the second reason: Indias thought leaders. Always the first to import postmodern pathologies from glamorous Western universities, they too are more interested in saving the planet than their immediate surroundings. Carbon footprints are sexy; cleaning the Yamuna is not. And banishing monkeys from human habitats is not just unsexy but also, as we shall see, downright blasphemous in the salons where intellectuals lord over.

In short, our political and thought leaders are focused on baloney, events, and posturing. The sharper their focus, the greater the degradation of the environment. The cacophony on saving the earth, climate change, etc., is directly proportional to the rise in the air quality index (AQI) in cities, the toxicity of rivers, the growth of slums and unauthorized colonies, and the ecological degradation of cities and villages.

The third factor that has transformed the national capital, its satellite towns, and many other parts of the country into the playgrounds of monkeys is animal rights activists; in common parlance, they are referred to as just activists. They have appointed themselves as the saviours of animals whose rights must be protected at any costeven the human cost. Not a day passes when there is not a report of an attack by monkeys.

The Government stated in Parliament long ago that over 1,900 cases of monkey bites were in 2015that is, almost five persons get bitten every day. Monkeys have even killed men, women, and children. But when it comes to action against monkeys, activists gang up and stall that. A few years ago, the government decided to arrange for catching monkeys and shifting to the forests identified for the purpose.

Activists torpedoed the project. They offer specious arguments; for example, they blame humans, not monkeys, as being intruders. Monkeys are coming back to their habitats, so there is nothing wrong about itso goes the argument. This line of thinking is the product and function of the fancy postmodern, anti-humanism theories that infest Western academia, but thats another story.

It is astonishing that few, if any, in the political class have countered this pompous hoax: we, humans, have also intruded into the habitats of lions and tigers, cobras and pythons, so should these animals also be allowed to roam freely in our cities and towns?

A news portal recently quoted a member of an official expert committee as saying, The activists are self-proclaimed experts who dont have any scientific knowledge on the subject, but they create a ruckus. They take photos of animal catchers and file frivolous complaints of cruelty against them. So, the catchers dont come. The same kind of pressure is built on the [government] agencies which want to sterilise the monkeys, so they dont participate in the bidding process.

Unsurprisingly, the tyranny of activists continues and people suffer.

Monkeys have been terrorizing Delhi-National Capital Region for decades. In 2007 October, a monkey attacked Surinder Singh Bajwa, deputy mayor, resulting in his fall to death. In that year, the Delhi High Court, responding to a case filed by the New Friends Colony Residents Welfare Association, ordered a ban on feeding monkeys. The three municipal corporations were authorised to find the violators.

A lot of solutions have been suggested, government committees constituted, and court judgments passedto no avail. The main reason is that those who matter, politicians and bureaucrats, have been apathetic to the plight of common peoplein fact, even to their own plight. Monkeys, as we mentioned earlier, terrorise even North Block and South Block.

It is a case of systemic entropy. It manifests in various ways. We cannot tackle black swan events, so oxygen and medical facilities couldnt be provided during the devastating Delta wave of Covid-19. We cannot handle grey rhinos, so deadly smog engulfs north India with the onset of every winter.

We cannot even handle monkeys.



(The writer is Resident Editor, The Pioneer, Delhi. He is the author of There Is No Such Thing As Hate Speech, Bloomsbury, 2017)
India has demonstrated that behavioural changes can make substantial contributions to achieving the global war on the climate change

Each one of us has an equal stake in protecting the climate. The world is now far more aware of climate change. The episodes of prolonged drought and super floods, which have been seen across the continents, should leave none in doubt about the immediacy of climate change. This is no more knocking at the doors. Climate change has entered our houses, and the time is now for each one of us to fight the demon with all our might.

India has always played a leading role in protecting the environment. The Indian way of life is in sync with the environment. Trees have been worshipped in India for ages. Animals have been part of Indian culture, and they are venerated. The Indian way of life is incomplete without nature. Thus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has very forcefully made the world hear the Indian voice for mitigating climate change is heard with due respect.

Prime Minister Modi in his address to the World Banks programme on Making it personal: How behavioural change can tackle climate change made forceful arguments to take climate action to the dinner table. This by all accounts is the most logical action in the battle against climate change.

Individual ownership of climate changewhich affects all without discriminating on income, caste, creed, religion, nationality and classis the need of the hour. In fact, the International Energy Agency in a report has stated that 75 individual actions can help cut down almost two billion tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030.

Therefore, PM Modi rightly said that we must eliminate food waste from the dining table. The call is timely, as 15 billion tonnes of food get wasted annually all across the world. Here, Mission LiFE, launched jointly by PM Modi and the UN General Secretary in October 2022, is a timely intervention in effecting the necessary behavioural changes to achieve the nationally committed goals to cut down emissions to help the world bring down the rising temperature.

There is a greater awareness of the effects of climate change among the people. One-third of Pakistan was ravaged by the super floods last year, which swept away a large number of people, infrastructure, and livestock in its spate. The aftermath of the super floods is still being seen in Pakistan in the form of the food crisis, and the Islamic country had to import wheat from Russia recently. A number of rivers in China and Latin America had died as a consequence of climate change.

In this context, PM Modi has given leadership to the Global South, and the developing nations, and has come to a crucial stage. The developed world must commit to its share of responsibility with adequate funding for climate mitigation efforts in developing and poor countries. With the Indian G20 presidency, the voices of the Global South have gained prominence on critical issues, including climate change.

Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has strongly raised the Indian voice in the global forums where he has highlighted that India has taken several actions in the last few years to demonstrate the actionable agenda for the world. For instance, India has acted with speed in the mass adoption of LED lights for saving energy. India has already distributed 37 crore LED bulbs to the people, which will help in cutting down 3.9 billion tonnes of carbon emissions. India has been making intense efforts in energy conservation, as the effects of the combined efforts will be seen in the saving of 22 billion power units.

Agriculture is a critical sector where modern ways of farming are needed to accelerate climate change goals. Over seven lakh hectares of farmland are now covered under micro-irrigation, made possible by the targeted execution of the Central schemes and the greater awareness among the farmers to adopt the best practices. The Indian farmers have set examples for the world by taking measures that are in sync with the global demand to cut down carbon emissions.

The International Solar Alliance, headquartered in India, is equally playing the role of a catalyst to accelerate the efforts for the energy transition. India is on course to source most of its energy needs from renewable sources. Farmers have also shown greater interest in solar pumping sets, which is also supported by the Central scheme. Additionally, villages are now going solar, and the people in the rural areas are now even making an additional income by selling the surplus solar power in the open market.

India has demonstrated that behavioural changes can make substantial contributions to achieving the global tasks on climate change. The people in India have now shown that they are steps ahead in adapting to climate-appropriate practices for the well-being of the global community. India is truly living the guiding philosophy of Vasudhev Kutumbkam (the world is one family).

(Author is the national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party)
From watching the "Evil Dead" movies on VHS growing up to directing one in the cult horror franchise, life has come full circle for director Lee Cronin, who says helming "Evil Dead Rise" is the "achievement of a childhood dream".

The filmmaker said franchise creator Sam Raimi offered him the opportunity to direct the fifth installment in the "Evil Dead" series after watching his 2019 feature film debut "The Hole in the Ground".

"I went on the journey wanting to be a filmmaker. As I started to achieve that in my career, I thought about how if given the opportunity, I'd love to make an 'Evil Dead' movie. Luckily, Sam Raimi really liked my previous movie and asked me what I would do in the 'Evil Dead' world.

"So, I thought about it. It's definitely the achievement of a childhood dream to make a movie like this. I feel quite proud of what we have achieved," Cronin told PTI in a virtual interview.

The Irish writer-director said he initially made "a joke pitch" during a meeting with Raimi which made the "Spider-Man" director laugh.

"... But (it) wasn't the movie that I wanted to make. He then got back in touch and just said, 'Look, take some time and really think about this because we're really interested in you as a filmmaker, and we'd like to know what you would do'," he recalled.

Cronin took some time and started to develop an idea about a certain group of people in a place and how that could be "a fresh set of circumstances to unleash the evil force".

Raimi, longtime franchise producer Rob Tapert, and series star Bruce Campell (who has a cameo in the film) were excited about the filmmaker taking the "Evil Dead" world in a new direction.

"They gave me the car keys and they were like, 'Okay, let's go drive this idea around and see if we can bring it to the screen'," he said about the franchise that began with the original trilogy -- "The Evil Dead" (1981), "Evil Dead II" (1987), and "Army of Darkness" (1992), all written and directed by Raimi and produced by Tapert and starring Campbell.



The franchise was rebooted in 2013 with "Evil Dead" and has spawned into television series, video games, comic books, and a musical.

"Evil Dead Rise", set to be released by Warner Bros India on Friday, stars Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland as two estranged sisters Beth and Ellie trying to survive and save their family from demonic creatures haunting their apartment complex in Los Angeles.

How does one honour the legacy of a beloved horror film series like "Evil Dead" and maintain their individual gaze?

For Cronin, the starting point was that it had to be "my film first". "I knew I needed to go after the characters, circumstances and metaphors first. Once I had those in place, I was able to start bringing in the horror and upsetting the world that I had established and turning it on its head," he added.

The new "Evil Dead" movie also keeps up with the changing times as it has two women protagonists driving the narrative forward as opposed to men in the previous chapters.

The filmmaker said having the characters of Beth and Ellie at the centre of the story was partly driven by wanting to ensure that "if you're going to change something, let's change it properly".

"It's like even if I look before we talk about the characters, if you look at the location, the top floor apartment complex in Los Angeles couldn't be further from a cabin in the woods and countryside (like in earlier 'Evil Dead' movies). It was kind of the same with the characters.

"But I wanted to tell a story about the fear of being a parent in a way and every aspect of having a family and then that showed me back to this set of characters. It showed me back to a mother who's powerful and strong willed, but also vulnerable," he said.

Making any movie as a filmmaker changes you as a person, added Cronin, who said he doesn't get scared while working on a horror film.

"Sometimes, you have weird nightmares or you'll be lying in bed at night thinking... Like I'm in a hotel room, and I'm looking over at a bath in the corner and I'm thinking about the creepy bath scene that's in the movie. So, it wouldn't scare me.

"Making a movie like this, what's interesting is that it's very practical, it's lot of stunt and lot of challenging, technical filmmaking work. That takes it out of you emotionally and physically," the director said.

Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols and newcomer Nell Fisher also round out the cast of "Evil Dead Rise".
Even as the three gunmen accused of killing gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Mohammad Ashraf were on Wednesday remanded in 4-day police custody, the Prayagraj police on Wednesday arrested Asad Kaila, a prominent shooter of Atiq gang.

Meanwhile, five police personnel were suspended on Wednesday for negligence in connection with the killing of Atiq and his brother Ashraf. Shahganj police station in-charge Ashwani Kumar Singh was among those suspended.

Lovelesh Tiwari, Mohit and Arun Kumar Maurya were produced in the chief judicial magistrate court amid tight security on Wednesday morning as the police sought a seven-day remand.

Passing the order later, the court sent them to police custody for four days  from 2 pm on Wednesday till 5 pm on April 23  district government advocate Gulab Chandra Agrahari said.

Atiq Ahmad (60) and his brother Mohammad Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Bombay High Court order that had acquitted former Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba in a Maoist links case, and sent it back to the high court for fresh consideration on merits within four months.

A bench of top court Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar directed the chief justice of the Bombay High Court to place Saibabas appeal and that of other accused not before the same bench which had discharged them, but another bench.

The apex court said that the question of law, including sanction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), is to remain open for adjudication by the high court.

More than eight years after his arrest in 2014, the Bombay High Court on October 14 last year acquitted Saibaba and ordered his release from jail, noting that the sanction order issued to prosecute the accused in the case under the stringent provisions of the UAPA was bad in law and invalid.

The Nagpur bench allowed the appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment for offences under provisions of the UAPA and the IPC.

Apart from Saibaba, the Bombay High Court had acquitted Mahesh Kariman Tirki, Pandu Pora Narote (both farmers), Hem Keshavdatta Mishra (student) and Prashant Sanglikar (journalist), who were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Vijay Tirki (labourer), who was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Narote died during the pendency of the appeal. Advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh appeared for the Maharashtra Government and senior advocate R Basant represented Saibaba in the case in the apex court.
A day after Bengal Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari claimed that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had called up Union Home Minister Amit Shah to help the Trinamool Congress get its national party status restored, the Chief Minister rejected his claims saying she would resign if he could prove his claims.

Not naming Adhikari, she said, I do not want to provide extra importance to some upstart politicians who yesterday (Tuesday) claimed that I had called up his boss Shah in Delhi to get my partys national status restored  I want to deny this as I had never made such calls and I challenge him (Adhikari) to prove his claims  if it is proved then I will quit my post.

Adhikari responded saying he had all the evidence and would do so shortly insisting once again the Chief Minister had called up the Home Minister through landline not once but on four occasions.

The Chief Minister criticises Amit Shah ji in public but in private she calls him up for favours as she did yesterday (Monday) by calling him up on four occasions --- literally holding his feet over telephone--- requesting him to get the Trinamool Congress national party status restored, Adhikari had said from a rally at Singur in Hooghly district. According to sources in the TMC, the party would send a legal notice to Adhikari on the Singur speech. The copy of the notice was also likely to be sent to the Home Minister, sources said.

Lambasting the BJP and apparently targeting the saffron partys national leadership, including Shah, the Chief Minister on Wednesday told partly in Hindi and partly in Bengali how a conspiracy was hatched to demote the TMC for ulterior purposes.

Earlier the system was to review a partys national system every ten years and accordingly our status should have been reviewed in 2026 or 2024 in the least as we got national status in 2016  but now suddenly things were changed and the BJP using its power de-listed the TMC, Mamata said insisting the name of our party was All India Trinamool Congress and it will continue to be so.

Mamata, who had a couple of days ago demanded the resignation of Shah for conspiring to undemocratically and illegally topple an elected Government despite himself holding a constitutional post, on Wednesday renewed her attack on the BJP calling it the most corrupt party.

She had on Monday demanded Shahs resignation wondering how a Union Minister like Shah could conspire to topple a democratically elected State Government. Shah had earlier told a BJP rally at Birbhum that the TMC would not last its full tenure till 2026 as after getting routed in the 2024 general elections the Bengal ruling party would collapse on its own and would not last its full term till 2026.

Alleging that the BJP was using its power to control the Election Commission of India, Mamata on Wednesday said, They are dividing the people in the name of religion and putting the country on fire by inciting riots  they are destroying the federal structure of the country and when the Opposition parties were trying to protest they were being framed in false cases.

In an apparent reference to recent arrest of several TMC legislators including Ministers and senior party functionaries on charges of corruption, Mamata said, They are trying to browbeat me  let them arrest all of us  let them arrest my family members but I will not bow before them, adding in any case the BJP will not be able to retain power in the Centre.

They will be wiped out in 2024  they will not be able to get even 200 seats, Mamata said. When asked whether like other opposition leaders she too suspected manipulation of electronic voting machines and whether she too would demand return of ballot papers Mamata said she would rather prefer VVPAT for all the EVMs.
The UNESCO Sub-Regional Conference will be a medium for innovation and best practices in heritage conservation around the world, including the South Asian region. Bhopal has earned recognition at the global level with the conference.

The document prepared from the brainstorming held in this will be called 'The Bhopal Vision Statement'. This will give a new dimension to World Heritage conservation. The Statement emphasises the role and active participation of local communities and civil society in World Heritage conservation.



Along with this, important views and suggestions of representatives of South Asian countries have been included on important topics like impact of climate change on heritage, inclusion of traditional knowledge in modern practices etc. In this, sustainable and long-lasting development has been described as possible only through strong relations between people and heritage. The two-day sub-regional conference concluded with a pledge to increase mutual co-ordination and co-operation for the conservation and development of cultural and natural heritage.

Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture and Managing Director MP Tourism Board Sheo Shekhar Shukla expressed gratitude to the delegates who came to Bhopal to attend the conference and invited them to visit various tourist destinations of the state. Representatives from South Asian countries and different states thanked MP Tourism and Culture for the hospitality and successful event. Additional Managing Director Vivek Shrotriya along with officials of Tourism and Culture Department, students of various educational institutions and representatives of civil society organisations were present.

Cultural heritage helps us understand our past, our history and ancestors. It binds us together. Also it is an integral part of our present and our future. A heritage walk was organised on Tuesday morning for the delegates attending the UNESCO Sub-Regional Conference to make them aware of the rich cultural heritage of Bhopal city. On the occasion of World Heritage Day, the delegates were made aware of the city's history, culture, heritage and natural beauty.

The route of the walk started from Kamla Park, passing through Rajabhoj Setu, Gauhar Mahal, Indian Tea House and concluded at Iqbal Maidan, Sadar Manzil. The delegates were informed about the city's history, language, customs, architecture, art and diversity of cultures.

An exhibition has been put up by the Tourism Board in the Convention Center premises which displays a glimpse of the states culture to the representatives of UNESCO.

Information was given about projects being run under the MP Responsible Tourism Mission, including Safe Tourism Project for Women, Home Stay Scheme, Responsible Souvenir Project, Skill Development etc. was given. Along with an exhibition of Archaeological Survey of India, Directorate of Archaeology, Archives and Museums, Madhya Pradesh, School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal, Mrignayani Emporium, a live exhibition of Gond and Bhil painting, Madhya Pradesh Mati Kala Board and Maheshwari Handloom was also organised. The visitors enthusiastically tried their hands at handlooms and also pottery.
On a day when Delhi L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena gave away appointment letters to 1,500 newly-appointed Government officials at a mega event at Vigyan Bhawan in the national Capital, the ruling Aam Admi Party (AAP) led Delhi Government Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj strongly hit out at the BJP-led Centre for stalling recruitments in the national Capital for the last nine years.

Bhardwaj, pointed out how the L-G had in fact exposed the Centres conspiracy of keeping Government posts vacant and putting the blame on the Delhi Government. 

According to the Raj Niwas officials, the Delhi Education Department or any other Delhi government never ever put up demands for filling vacancies despite huge, glaring and long pending vacancies.

They always preferred adhocism aimed at favoritism by appointing 1000s of employees on contract, in gross violation of procedures, manuals and court orders. They additionally deployed civil defense volunteers against permanent posts rather than asking for permanent appointments. They systematically subverted systematic recruitments and deprived the people of Delhi of regular Govt job opportunities. Very characteristically they are now trying to cover their deliberate acts of commission and ommission, now that recruitments are being made, said officials. The appointments letter by Saxena included 324 Principals in Education Department. According to a statement issued by L-G office, the Directorate of Education alone accounted for as many as 861 new recruitments, whereas in Delhi Fire Services 500 fresh appointments have been made.

A number of selected candidates are women, Divyangs and from other reserved categories. Earlier, speaking at a function organised by the Delhi governments Services Department at the Vigyan Bhawan, Saxena congratulated the new appointees, and said a large number of posts of principals have been lying vacant since 2010-2011 and no action was taken before in this regard. He said the recruitment process to fill up vacancies on a permanent basis will continue to remain his priority and the remaining posts will be filled up at the earliest.

The fresh permanent recruitment is in line with the prime ministers vision of ending adhocism in government departments and providing opportunities to deserving candidates selected in a transparent manner, said a statement from the LG office. Earlier in February, the Lt Governor had provided appointment letters to more than 1,200 appointees.

Criticizing the Arvind Kejriwal government for not filling such a large number of posts for long time, Saxena said that he has constantly been emphasising the need to augment the manpower in Delhi by recruitment on permanent basis. Both Kejriwal and Saxena have been at loggerheads over range of issues pertaining to their administrative and territorial jurisdiction.

He said that it was the vision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end adhocism in government departments and provide opportunities to deserving candidates selected in a fair and transparent manner.

In a counter allegation, Saurabh Bhardwaj, said the Central Government has been exercising unethical and unwarranted control over the Delhi Services Department, resulting in the stalling of all kinds of government recruitment in Delhi.

The officers of the Services Department have at several occasions straight up refused to place on record the number of vacant posts despite multiple requests by Delhi Vidhan Sabha citing the control of Central Govt on the department, the Services Minister said.
The national capital on Tuesday logged 1,767 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 28 per cent, which is 15 per cent higher than Tuesday.

Five fresh fatalities have pushed the death toll due to the viral disease to 26,572.

On Monday, Delhi recorded 1,017 fresh Covid cases with a positivity rate of 32.25 per cent, the highest in more than 15 months.

In view of rising Covid cases in the national Capital, the Delhi prisons department has instructed jail inmates not to gather at one place and wash hands regularly. A senior official said at present, there are five active Covid cases in Tihar jail and highlighted that anyone who develops coronavirus symptoms like fever or cold has to undergo a rapid antigen test.

We have issued general instructions to the inmates. They have been instructed not to gather at a place and wash their hands regularly. The inmates who show the symptoms of fever and cold get tested inside the prisons. If they test positive for Covid, they are kept isolated at the central hospital in jail number 3 where we admit them for 10 to 12 days, he said.

We also undertake contact racing of infected inmates. Security staff who might have come in contact with them as well as their cellmates are also tested, the officer said. The official said the five active Covid cases in Tihar jail tested positive around 10 days ago and were admitted to the central hospital, which comprises 50 beds.

They are fine and will be discharged soon. Inmates can also be shifted to either DDU or LNJP hospitals, another official said. If a staff member has a fever or cold, but tests negative for Covid, he is asked to use a mask and take precautions, the official said.
Three days after the murder of Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf in police custody, five policemen of Shahganj police station of Prayagraj were suspended on Wednesday for negligence.

A senior police officer said the five personnel were suspended after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) charged them with negligence in discharging their duties.

Commissioner of Police Ramit Sharma had constituted a three-member SIT headed by Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Satish Chandra to probe the killings.

Those against whom action has been taken include Shahganj police station in-charge Ashwani Kumar Singh, two sub-inspectors and two constables.

On the other hand, the three accused shooters, Lavlesh, Sunny and Arun who killed Atiq and Ashraf, were presented in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Gautam who remanded them to police custody for four days.

Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three youths posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night when police personnel were escorting them to a hospital in the Shahganj police station area in Prayagraj for a check-up.

The brothers were in handcuffs when they were killed in full view of camera crews.

In the Police Lines, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Satish Chandra, ACP Satyendra Tiwari and Inspector Om Prakash are interrogating the three shooters.

The police have reportedly prepared 100 questions for them. The police are also looking for the mobile phones of these accused. By examining the mobile, an attempt will be made to find out with whom they were in contact in the last moments.

On the other hand, on Wednesday, the Prayagraj police arrested Asad Kalia, a shooter of Atiq gang. He was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000.

Asad Kalia is said to be the financier of the Atiq gang. The police are now questioning him.

The three attackers were earlier kept in Prayagraj's Naini Jail, but as Ali, one of Atiq's sons, is also in Naini Jail, so they were shifted to Pratapgarh district jail.

Meanwhile, the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) can pull down the house of Guddu Muslim, the main accused in the Umesh Pal murder case. The PDA has pasted a notice at Guddu's house. The notice has asked the owners to demolish the illegal construction by April. 18. Guddu Muslim, who carries a reward of Rs 5 lakhs, is on the run.
The power subsidies to people in Delhi became a latest flashpoint between ruling AAP and the BJP in the national capital as the latter demanded an audit of power subsidy to DISCOMs by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Slamming the Arvind Kejriwal Government, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alongwith the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri questioned why a special audit of power subsidy to Discoms by the CAG empanelled auditors. The BJP leaders said it is a big hoax and the people of Delhi and the BJP will not accept it.

We do not accept the audit of power subsidy by CAG empanelled audit. The Government and discoms can easily influence such an audit. How it is possible that a private auditor would prepare a fair audit report of the subsidy scam in which Delhi Government, and private companies are involved, Sachdeva alleged. Has any private auditor ever given a report against their client in an audit report, Sachdeva asked.

Kejriwal government has been giving power subsidy to power discoms for last eight years without any audit mechanism. The truth is that the Delhi Government and private companies are equal partners in power discoms and since the revelations of the appointment of AAP leaders in power discom boards the question has been arising whether a part of the subsidy given to power discoms is going back to AAP or some of its leaders. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Kejriwal government had to make this audit recommendation after the Lieutenant Governor started an inquiry, Sachdeva said.
Jehangirabad police have booked a miscreant who assaulted a BJP Yuva Morcha president injuring him badly after he refused to extort Rs 1000 for party, accused has been harassing the victim for over a year.

The victim Rahul Bataham was standing outside his house on Tuesday evening when the youth living in the locality started demanding Rs 1000 from him for partying and when the victim refused, he started fighting with him in which he got injured. After this, a case was registered with to Jehangirabad police station.

According to the information, Rahul Batham (32) of Jahangirabad, behind Shivdurga Temple, Shyamnarayan Batham is BJP's Yuva Morcha President from Barkhedi Mandal. Rahul also does advertising work.

On Tuesday evening around 5.30, Rahul was standing outside the house. Then Deepesh Yadav, who lives near Sahu temple, came and started demanding one thousand rupees for the party.

On which Rahul refused, Deepesh started abusing him. Deepesh threatened that he would have to pay and started fighting. Due to which Rahul got many injuries. Rahul said that Dipesh Yadav has been harassing for almost 1 year and frequently demands money.

The police have started an investigation into the matter. The accused are yet to be nabbed and investigated. Rahul escaped with injuries and his condition is stable,said police. The crime record details of the accused and his aides would be investigated in the further investigation.
Mountaineer Anita Kundu meets Hry CM



Chandigarh: Mountaineer Anita Kundu met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday at his residence and sought blessings for her next goal. The Chief Minister extended greetings to Kundu for a successful journey ahead. Kundu, who hoisted the tricolor three times on the world's highest peak Mount Everest, apprised that now she will climb the 8,481 metres high peak Mount Makalu located in Nepal and will hoist the Indian tricolour. In the year 2020, Kundu was also honoured by the President; with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, the biggest adventure award.



Hry CS inaugurates blood donation camp



Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Wednesday inaugurated a blood donation camp at Haryana Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh. On the occasion, the Chief Secretary said that a blood donation is a noble act and a healthy person should actively participate in charitable work like donating blood. Out of the total 125 employees who donated blood during the camp, 100 donors have donated blood for the second time, 20 donors over 15 times and 5 donors more than 40 times.



Deed writer accepting Rs 60000 bribe on behalf of Naib Tehsildar arrested



Chandigarh: Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday caught a Deed writer accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 from a person in lieu of registration of the sale deed of plots in Tehsil Sohna. The accused had accepted a bribe on behalf of Naib Tehsildar, Sohna who has also been booked.





Adequate arrangements made to meet growing demand of power: Hry CS





Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Wednesday said that adequate arrangements have been made to meet the growing demand for power this summer in this state. Kaushal said this after chairing a meeting with the senior officers of the Power, Health, Public Health Engineering, Labour and Revenue Departments for management and mitigation of the adverse effects of extreme weather conditions predicted by Indian Meteorological Department. In the meeting, it was apprised in the meeting by the officers of Power Utilities that there will be no shortage of power. The Power utilities have already made adequate arrangements to meet the growing demand of power this summer. The officers of the PHED and Irrigation Department divulged the details of adequate availability of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. Hence, the Chief Secretary decided that there will be no change of rescheduling of working hours for government employees.
Expels Amanmani Tripathi from party

In an attempt to attract the Muslim vote bank, the Bahujan Samaj Party has declared former councilor Hashmat Malik as its candidate in the Meerut mayoral election.

The party high command took this decision after a meeting with BSP leaders of Meerut in Lucknow on Tuesday night. This information was given by BSP district president Mohit Anand.

The eyes of all political parties were fixed on the BSP. The BSP was looking for a mayoral candidate in Meerut from Ansari and Malik communities. In line with its approach to the mayoral poll in Meerut, the BSP high command has not only given its ticket to the Malik fraternity but has also attracted Muslims who were angry with the Samajwadi Party alliance by giving Hashmat Malik the ticket. Hashmat Ali was earlier a corporator.

Being an old BSP worker, the party has given him the mayoral ticket on priority. Now it remains to be seen how much the BSP will be able to connect its traditional Dalit votes and the Muslim community with the party.

BSP district president Mohit Anand said that the party had honoured the Muslim community by declaring Hashmat Malik as its mayoral candidate. He said that the party was trying to clear its intention that it would go with the secular values and would give tickets to all deserving Muslim candidates besides Dalits and other community leaders in the next parliamentary elections.

He said that after the announcement of the name of the BSP mayoral candidate, other parties had also become active and now it would be seen which party among the BSP, SP, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Congress would be able to woo the maximum number of Muslim voters.

Discussions were held on three names -- former MP and former mayor Shahid Akhlaq's brother Haji Rashid Akhlaq, Hashmat Malik and big textile businessman Salim Ansari along with another Muslim leader.

Now that the BSP has fielded Hashmat Malik, SP candidate Seema Pradhan may suffer a big loss. In fact, the population of Muslims in Meerut is more than four lakh and Scheduled Caste voters are more than 1.5 lakh. Despite this, the SP gave its ticket to Seema Pradhan, wife of SP MLA Atul Pradhan who belongs to Gujjar community instead of fielding a Muslim. Congress has made Naseem Qureshi its mayoral candidate from Meerut.

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday expelled Amanmani Tripathi, former MLA from Nautanwa seat in Maharajganj district and BSP candidate in 2022 assembly election. The BSP has accused him of indiscipline and indulging in anti-party activities.

BSP district president Virendra Kumar Rao said that Amanmani was warned several times but there was no improvement in his working style.

Amanmani Tripathi had joined the BSP during the 2022 assembly elections. He contested from Nautanwa assembly seat in 2022 on the BSP ticket. However, he had to face defeat.
Delhi is grappling with a shortage of liquor, and some of the major brands are disappearing from the shelves of liquor vents in the national capital. Restaurateurs have said the Delhi Governments decision to reject the sales licences of French spirits major Pernod Ricard, Indospirits and Brindco has hurt their business as customers now prefer to visit neighbouring Gurugram and Noida for their drinks of choice. Pernod Ricard is the worlds second-largest wine and spirits organisation and its portfolio comprises over 200 premium brands, including 100 Pipers, Chivas Regal, The Glenlivet, Absolut, Havana Club and Jacobs Creek. Pernod Ricard also owns Indian brands such as Blenders Pride and Royal Stag.

They said that some of the premium brands of these firms have been unavailable in the national capital since September last year, when the excise policy for 2021-22 came under the scanner of investigation agencies and was scrapped. Their sales licences were cancelled last week.

Manpreet Singh, the treasurer of the National Restaurant Association of India, said, The decision has hurt the business of restaurants here. There are premium customers who demand these brands and since these brands are not available, that chunk of customers is not coming to restaurants.

The people of Delhi can easily drive down to Gurugram and Noida for having these brands. Also, since there was a healthy competition between companies earlier, they would offer us concessions, but that too has ceased now, Singh, who owns Zen Restaurant, said.

Shabad Mehta, another restaurateur, said some of the labels of these brands are very popular. We are paying all the taxes but due to the disturbance in the supply chain, our business is getting affected, he added.

Official sources had said that the decision to cancel the sales licences of these companies was taken on the ground of ongoing investigation linked to the excise policy case. Vishal Prabhakar, the owner of Limitless and Sky High, said they have suffered a 40 per cent loss in business due to the cancellation of sales licences.

Owing to the unavailability of these brands, patrons of these premium brands are shifting to cheaper brands, which is of course affecting the business. Customers are also going to neighbouring towns to get these premium brands, he added.

Rahul Singh, Founder and CEO of The Beer Cafe, said, Customers are suffering as well because of this.... Customers have choices and one cannot expect them to change their preferences overnight. The Delhi government implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it after a CBI probe was recommended amid allegations of corruption.

The government went back to its old excise policy, which was operational before November 17, 2021, from September 1, 2022, in which private players in retail liquor sales were replaced by its four corporations.
The passing out parade of Haryana Police Constable (Commando Wing) took place at the Recruit Training Centre, Bhondsi, Gurugram on Wednesday in which Director, Intelligence Bureau, Tapan Kumar Deka took the salute of the parade as chief guest. DGP Haryana, P.K. Agrawal was also present on this occasion.



As many as 515 new recruits took part in the passing out parade after their successful completion of training.



Deka said that passing out parade is a proud moment in one's life and it comes only once in a lifetime. He said that it has been proved in the past decades that the police forces in every corner of the country have faced big challenges with indomitable courage and have also conquered them. Be it the challenge of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East or the problem of left-wing extremism in the central part of the country. The State Police forces are constantly upskilling and re-skilling themselves to deal with these old and new emerging challenges. In such a situation, 515 jawans who are going to become a part of Haryana Police Force after completing their commando training, will increase the efficiency of the Haryana Police Force, he added.



The Haryana Police Commando Force is carrying out the responsibility of protecting important sensitive establishments including the protection of state's VVIPs, distinguished persons, dignitaries, public representatives along with its main goal of prevention of terrorism and successful operation of activities related to it. The commando police also assist in maintaining law and order and tackling heinous criminals.
DJB vice-chairman inspects coronation WWTP

New Delhi: Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Vice Chairman Somnath Bharti inspected the Coronation Pillar Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) on Wednesday with senior board officials. Somnath checked the monitoring room, lab, and section of the WWTP where the wastewater treatment takes place. He showed samples of sewage water coming into the WWTP and the treated water that comes out of the plant to the media, stating that the wastewater is being treated according to prescribed parameters. He also declared that the quality of treated water in this plant is almost equivalent to that of drinking water.

Gurugram police conducts search operation

Gurugram: To curb organised crime and eliminate criminal networks, the Gurugram Police conducted a search operation during the early hours of Wednesday. The search operation was conducted at the locations of relatives and close associates of notorious gangsters of Gurugram on Wednesday morning, police said. According to the police, the campaign was conducted at 19 different places including village Khod, Jat Shahpur, Basunda, Goriyawas, Khandevla, Tirpadi, Bohda Khurd, Tajnagar, Shakti Park Sector-10, Nakhdola, Basai in Pataudi. The operation was led by DCP Crime, DCP West, 07 ACP, and 09 SHO and about 550 police personnel were involved in this search operation.

Dr g satheesh reddy visits Noida amity

New Delhi: Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, visited Amity University Noida campus, along with his colleagues, to share his inspirational journey and motivate the students of Amity. Addressing the gathering, Reddy, said the country has made great strides, and the academic strengths and technological capabilities have also developed immensely in the last few years. He also appreciated Amity University to take a lead in introducing programmes in Defence Technology which is contributing immensely to the development of the country. Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, Founder President, Amity Global Education and Research Establishments and Dr. W. Selvamurthy, President, Amity Science Technology and Innovation Foundation were amongst the host of dignitaries present on the occasion.
India is growing as a result the cities are also growing. New cities are being added as well as well existing cities are also expanding exponentially both in area as well population wise. But one pattern in the growth pattern of cities is that there are always two areas that emerge - one is planned and another is unplanned. Let's elaborate a little bit.

Cities have always grown as a direct result of socioeconomic and political development of the country. Cities serve as the administrative and political hubs for institutions such as district towns, state capitals, and block offices. Cities also expand around trade routes, the development of industry, and economic activity. Cities often develop around temples, colleges, and other educational and religious institutions. Individuals travel to these locations for daily employment, and some are relocating for better connectivity, healthcare, education, and other amenities.

Cities are designed to draw talent from all across the nation and even overseas. As a result, cities are becoming more and more egalitarian and fostering the growth of diverse viewpoints and ideas. Thus, it offers a wealth of chances for development and education.

Cities are the engine for growth and wealth. Urbanization is sort of a must for rapid development and expansion. The tax revenue from this can be used by the government in a variety of ways, depending on its needs.

Fifty Six per cent of people worldwide live in urban areas on average. Between 80 and 90% of the developed countries are urbanized. While only 36% of us live in metropolitan areas. But, we are also urbanizing and aim to reach a 50% urbanization rate within 20 years. Even in India, states that are more urbanized have higher per capita GDPs than states that are less urbanized. Despite this, big cities contribute more to India's GDP than other cities.

Even now, there are views in favor of implementing night shift work in a few big metropolises in India, in keeping with some of the world's most populous cities. There are several causes for this, including releasing latent troughs, accommodating various time zones' needs, offering services to night operators, etc. This provides more opportunities for store owners, hotels, malls, movie theatres, etc. Moreover, multinational corporations will favour India over other significant developing nations.

Yet we must also exercise some caution and vigilance. For young people, cities are becoming their ideal setting. India has a large population of young people, however they are not well educated or qualified to deal with the world's constant change, whether it be in IT, life style, traffic values, professional hindrances, occupational health and engineering, or their own personal habits and beliefs.

This desire is shared by labourers who migrate widely to pursue it as well as middle-class people of first generation Western education. Despite this, it occurs everywhere from smaller towns to middle-level metropolises to megacities.

Cities must build their infrastructure in the areas of roads, housing, metros, and other amenities to accommodate all these migrants and settlers. But, we don't pay attention to their emotional needs. Reflecting is increasing in frequency.

But, I'm focusing on only one aspect of my argument. Governments undoubtedly take care of the infrastructure requirements for the aforementioned, but they also need to handle the emotional demands brought on by the rapid urbanization of migration. This became more important as a result of the isolation felt by those living in tiny towns and villages, or "Apanapan" as we call them in Hindi. Simply put, they are adapting too quickly and altering Urabian culture and values.

Both of them lack tolerance because they did not emotionally or socially prepare for this. But, your opinion may not be sufficient for the institution, society, or organization.

These older teenagers might not receive the resolution they were hoping for or for the price they were paying. Frustration and a lack of organizational support or support from family and friends lead to depression and other mental illnesses. There is a dramatic rise in the number of young people attempting suicide.

The government and its institutions, private sector enterprises, and civil society must urgently address this. I worry that we might turn towards urbicide if we fail as a group.

The writer is Ex Head (Corporate Communications), Tata Steel & CEO, PPE Social Research. Views expressed in the article are personal.
The infighting within the Congress, particularly between the old guards and those who defected to it from other parties, particularly Bahujan Samaj Party, led to the disqualification of the partys official candidate for Mathura mayoral polls, Raj Kumar Rawat, and now he has to fight as an `Independent.

Former BSP MLA Rawat, who defected to the Congress recently, will now have to enter the poll fray as an independent, officials said. Interestingly the party old guard Shyam Sundar Upadhyay was declared as the official Congress candidate for the Mathura mayoral poll. Upadhyay, however, too had to taste the music of infighting in the party as soon after filing of his nomination, the partys state disciplinary committee head Shyam Kishore Shukla served him a notice asking him to immediately withdraw his papers. Shukla also questioned him from where he got the letter making him an authorised candidate of the party.

While Upadhyay did not reply to the notice and Shukla was also waiting for the same, in another surprise move, Tariq Anwar, all India general secretary of the party, expelled Upadhyay from the primary membership of the party for six years.

It may be mentioned that while issuing notice to Upadhyay, Shyam Kishore Shukla had termed the letter recognizing him as party candidate as forged.

Additional District Magistrate and election officer for the mayoral poll in Mathura, Vijai Shankar Dubey, however said that Uttar Pradesh Congress president Brijlal Khabri had issued Form 7A in favour of both Upadhyay and Rawat but he had neither cancelled nor withdrawn the form against anyone within the stipulated time. According to the laws governing the polls, the candidate filing his nomination papers first is considered as the official nominee of any party when more than one contestant has been given Form 7A, Dubey added.

He said that thus Upadhyay was declared the official candidate of the Congress as he had filed his nomination papers first and now the other aspirant, Raj Kumar Rawat, would contest the election, scheduled to be held on May 4, as an Independent candidate.

The party officially claiming any letter as `forged is not new. Earlier, a list of candidates for the post of corporator in Lucknow went viral. After more than 24 hours, Khabri termed the list as `fake and constituted a committee to look into the matter. He also directed the poll committee to review each and every name before deciding the candidature for the corporator's post.

A former MLA of the party told `The Pioneer on condition of anonymity that as Khabri came from Bahujan Samaj Party and majority of zonal presidents like Nakul Dubey, Naseemudin Siddiqui, were also from BSP, they were sidelining the party old guards and bringing in BSP leaders into the party fold and giving them Congress tickets.

He also gave examples of fielding Sangeeta Jaiswal for mayoral election in Lucknow, Raj Kumar Rawat for mayoral election in Mathura, or Lata Kumari for mayoral election in Agra.
Bhopal: Special Court POCSO sentenced a rape accused to life imprisonment for killing a 16-year-old minor and 20 years of rigorous imprisonment under POCSO Act, 5 years rigorous imprisonment under section 201 of the IPC.

The accused was also fined Rs 10000 in each crime and Rs 2000 for Causing disappearance of evidence of an offence.

Abhishek Jat, accused of raping and killing a minor girl after gaining her trust and indulging her in a relatinship has been sentenced to life imprisonment. In the case, Special Public Prosecutor Manisha Patel, Komila Kirtani and Dipti Patel have represented the government. Police Station Gautam Nagar Bhopal received information on September 11, 2019 that a body of a person was lying in a water pit near Resham Kendra Gol.
Bahujan Samaj Lucknow supremo Mayawati will stay away from the local bodies election campaign.

It is believed that she will not address rallies in any district. This time the entire responsibility of urban local bodies polls will be of BSP state president Vishwanath Pal and the coordinators. The party will also release a list of its star campaigners soon.

The urban local bodies polls will be a litmus test for the BSP state president, because he is conducting the first election. The election will also decide the future of BSP in the Lok Sabha elections.

While nominations for the first phase of the civic elections have ended, the candidates have started filing papers for the second phase. The picture of the candidates for the first phase has already become clear. The BSP has made its intention clear by fielding 60 per cent Muslim candidates for the post of mayors. The party is heavily relying on its traditional Dalit vote bank and is hoping that the Muslim will also support it to help the party win some seats and pave the way for the party to emerge as a potential contender in the parliamentary elections next year.

Sources in the party claimed that BSP supremo Mayawati will only guide in the elections and monitor the campaigning by setting up a war room at her residence. Apart from this, BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra will also hardly attend any rally. In fact, Mishra had held conferences across the state in the assembly elections, but did not get the expected result. This time the election campaign will be conducted with the help of coordinators. BSP state president Vishwanath Pal is continuously in contact with all the candidates for the first phase.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the state is fortunate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Rewa on April 24, the National Panchayati Raj Day. This day will be historic for Panchayati Raj institutions and rural development. Panchayat representatives and peoples representatives should join the programme progressively and people should also join the programme virtually.

Chief Minister Chouhan was reviewing the ongoing preparations in Rewa for the arrival of Prime Minister Modi and National Panchayat Raj Day. Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, Additional Chief Secretaries Malay Srivastava and Mohammad Suleman, Director General of Police Sudhir Saxena and other officers were present in the meeting held at Chief Ministers residence office building Samatva. Rewa Divisional Commissioner and Collector joined virtually.

It was informed that the main event will take place in the SAF ground located in Rewa. Prime Minister Modi will conduct Griha Pravesh of 4 lakh 11 thousand beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana rural and will lay the foundation stone of works worth Rs 7573 crore 64 lakh of Jal Jeevan Mission. This includes Rewa Bansagar Group Water Supply Scheme, Tamas Group Water Supply Scheme, Satna Bansagar-2 Group Water Supply Scheme, Sidhi Bansagar Group Water Supply Scheme and Gulab Sagar Group Water Supply Scheme.

Dedication of railway projects by Prime Minister Modi is also proposed. In this, along with 100 percent electrification of Madhya Pradeshs rail network, doubling of Bina-Kota rail section, gauge conversion and electrification of Chhindwara-Nainpur-Mandla Fort rail section besides electrification of Birla Nagar-Udi Mode Fort rail section and Mahoba-Khajuraho-Udaipura rail section. Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the re-development works of Indore and Gwalior stations and will flag off three new passenger trains Rewa-Itwari via Chhindwara passenger train, Chhindwara-Nainpur passenger train and Nainpur-Chhindwara train.

Prime Minister Modi will also conduct the national launching of Ekam Inclusive Development website and mobile app under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on National Panchayati Raj Day. E- Gram Swaraj portal and GeM portal will also be launched at national level for purchase of material at panchayat level. An exhibition will be organised related to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Ajeevika Mission, Amrit Sarovar, Home Stay, Health and Wellness Center developed under Rural Tourism in Rewa, Jal Jeevan Mission, Swamitva Yojana, Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Energy Project, Bansagar Project, White Tiger and agriculture.


Madhya Pradesh Police Academy Bhauri and Police Training School Pachmarhi have been the winners of the Union Home Minister Trophy for the year 2021-22, given annually to the best police training institutes. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has congratulated both the police training institutes for this achievement.

Along with the trophy and certificate, the training institutes being honoured with the Union Home Minister trophy, will also be given a cash amount of Rs. 2 lakh. The investiture ceremony will be conducted by the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi. In this, Smt. Nimisha Pandey on behalf of Police Training School Pachmarhi and Shri Malay Jain on behalf of MP Police Academy Bhauri Bhopal will receive this honour.

The best training centre for constables, Police Training School, Pachmarhi and the best training academy for Deputy Superintendents of Police, MP Police Academy Bhauri have been selected for West Zone. MP Police has been in the forefront in giving benefits of training to the police participants of the country by incorporating innovation and modern technology in the training. MoUs with universities and research institutes of India and abroad, exchange of expertise to connect training experts has yielded excellent results.
Orchids The International School (OIS), the leading K12 school chain in India, has announced the opening of its first school at Bhedaghat Road, Garha, Jabalpur.

The launch program was held in Hotel Narmada Jacksons, Jabalpur, where the school model and curriculum highlights were unveiled during the event. To be known as Gyan Ganga Orchids The International School, the school is built on a vast area of around 125000 sq. feet. It has the best-in-class amenities, including Digital Classrooms, Playstation, Art & Craft, Music, Dance, Labs (Computer, Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biology), and many more facilities for the students. The school has classes from nursery to grade XII and is affiliated with CBSE. The school will focus on experiential learning, STEAM, and multiple intelligence pedagogy, with a significant focus on project-based learning and physical education. The school will also provide special education to the required students with the help of experts and programs designed specifically for them. It has a unique program in its curriculum, including horticulture, public speaking, financial literacy program, astronomy, DIY and robotics.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration on the occasion of Civil Services Day on April 21, 2023. Organized on the occasion of Civil Services Day, this will inspire civil servants in nation building. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address civil servants on the occasion at 11.00 am at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

The Prime Minister has always appreciated the contribution of civil servants in nation building and motivated them to work harder. The event will an apt occasion to inspire the civil servants specially during Amrit Kaal.

It is a matter of jubilation for Madhya Pradesh that Burhanpur district's initiative to ensure availability of clean water through Har Ghar Jal Yojana has got national recognition. Prime Minister's Excellence AwardThe Prime Minister will present the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration.

These have been instituted to recognize the extraordinary and innovative works done by the districts and organizations of the Central and State Governments for the larger welfare of the common citizens.Those getting PM Award for Excellence will be conferred on Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Government of India for covid-19, vaccine and PM Gati Shakti in the Innovation Center.

Gujarat will get as Innovation State and Jammu and Kashmir as Innovation District. The award for innovation district will also be given to Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh, Changlan district of Arunachal Pradesh and Sholapur district of Maharashtra state.Bhavya Mittal, Collector of Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh will get the Award for Har Ghar Jal Yojana under promotion of clean water.

Kanchipur district of Tamilnadu will be awarded for promoting healthy India through health and wellness centre, Latur of Maharashtra and Anakapalli of Andhra Pradesh will be awarded for integrated education ensuring inclusive education and classroom atmosphere for quality education.

Chitrakoot of UP and Mehsana of Gujrat will be recognized for integraded development through aspirational district programme while Baramula of Jammu and Kashmir and Gumla of Jharkhand will also get the award for promoting holistic development. There will be eight awards for initiatives while while seven awards will be given for innovations. Each carries an amount of 20 lakh, certificate and shield.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday presented Gold Medals to 10 meritorious students including seven girls during the 26th Annual Convocation of Himachal Pradesh University Shimla and also addressed the Convocation function and acknowledged the efforts of the University for providing quality education.



As many as 99 Students were given Ph. D. degrees including 59 females and 40 males and 111 Gold medals were presented to 34 males and 77 females.



In her address, the President said that since its inception in 1970, Himachal Pradesh University has played a very important role in the field of higher education and the alumni of this University have left their mark in various fields including arts, medicine, judiciary, sports, social service, politics and administration.



The President said that the climate of Himachal Pradesh attracts people from across the world and this region of the Himalayas is rich in fauna and flora. But climate change is affecting the ecology of this region also. It is the need of the hour to move forward together towards the goal of sustainable development while conserving the rich natural heritage of the state. Therefore, it is the duty of institutions like Himachal Pradesh University to promote research and innovation keeping in mind the needs of the local community and the ecological challenges of the region and contribute in eco-friendly development.



While congratulating all the degree holders and gold medalists, Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, who is also a Chancellor of the University, said that it was a matter of pride for all of us that this convocation ceremony is being organized in the august presence of the President. He said that HP University has a glorious past and the students who have passed from this university were rendering their outstanding services in different fields in the country and the world thereby bringing laurels to the State as well as the country.



Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it was a moment of happiness for us that the President of India had arrived in Devbhoomi, Himachal Pradesh and graced the convocation function of Himachal Pradesh University. He said that such programs motivate the students to excel in their life and encourage them to serve the Nation with dedication. He said that the University was his alma mater and recalled the memories of his student life. He also highlighted the rich history of the University and said that many laurels had been brought to the State by its students in various fields.



Sukhu also praised the authorities of the University for maintaining the best educational atmosphere, adding that 'A' grade given by NAAC again, is a testament to the quality of education it provides to its students besides other co-curricular activities. He assured that the State Government would extend all possible cooperation and assistance to upgrade more facilities for the students and the teaching faculty.



Vice Chancellor Prof. S.P Bansal welcomed the President and other dignitaries and read out the progress report of the University and said that concerted efforts have been made to implement National Education Policy in the University.
The sudden change of weather since Tuesday night with the sky remaining partly cloudy throughout the day on Wednesday following rain in the evening brought the much-needed respite from the surging heat in Dehradun. Following thunderstorms and rains on Tuesday night and Wednesday evening, the mercury came down by a few notches to the relief of the residents.

As per the meteorological departments forecast, there is a possibility of thunderstorms accompanied by lightning/hail/squall with the speed of 50 to 70 km per hour in isolated places in the districts of Uttarakhand on Thursday. Besides, heavy rainfall with intense spell is forecast in isolated places in Pithoragarh, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts of the state on the day. In Dehradun, the sky would remain partly to generally cloudy on Thursday with possibilities of one or two spells of light to moderate rainfall or thunderstorm accompanied with gusty wind (30-40 kmph). The maximum temperature is likely to be in the neighbourhood of 33 degree Celsius.
To maintain law and order in the state amidst upcoming festivals like Eid, Akshay Tritiya and Parshuram Jayanti, Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad, Director General of Police RK Vishwakarma and Special DG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar held a review meeting with all ADGs (Zone), divisional commissioners, district magistrates, police commissioners, IGs, DIGs, SSPs/SPs, among others and issued directions regarding holding programmes in the state and ordered that no religious event be held by obstructing roads and traffic.

In the meeting held through video-conferencing, Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad said that in recent years festivals of all religions had been celebrated in the state in an atmosphere of peace and harmony and this had given a good message to the whole country.

"The safety of every citizen in the state is the primary responsibility of all of us. We always have to be careful about this responsibility. The month of Ramzan is going on. Eid-ul-Fitr, Akshaya Tritiya and Parshuram Jayanti are likely to be celebrated on the same day on April 22. In view of the present environment, the police will have to be extra careful," Prasad said.

He instructed officers to make all necessary efforts, keeping in view the local needs, for every festival to be celebrated in peace and harmony.

"Deal sternly with those issuing mischievous statements. Strict action should be taken against the chaotic elements who try to disturb the peaceful atmosphere in the state," he added.

The principal secretary (home) said all officers posted in the field should ensure that religious programmes, worshipping etc. take place at the designated place only. Under no circumstances should any religious event be held by obstructing the road and traffic. In the past, we have been able to do this through communication. This year too we have to make the same effort, he remarked.

He instructed that no procession/religious procession should be taken out without due permission. He said permission should be given only to those religious processions, which were traditional, and unnecessary permission should not be given to new events. The principal secretary (home) also told the officers to be vigilant about social media and ensure immediate response to any attempt aimed to spread fake news. He said a senior officer should refute rumours and fake news.

In the review meeting, DGP RK Vishwakarma took the details of the preparations made for the upcoming festivals from all the zone/range/district level officers. He said that to maintain social harmony during the festival, additional police forces should be deployed in sensitive areas. There should be adequate arrangements for the security of religious places. Monitor the situation using drones, he said.

The DGP said that the police force should continuously patrol congested areas and senior officers should also participate in the patrolling. We should keep an eye on every suspicious activity. The usefulness of emergency services like 112 depends on its quick response, he said.

Special DG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that the police should remain alert and careful for social peace and harmony. He said in the midst of festivals, some chaotic elements may try to disturb social harmony and such people should be dealt with strictly according to the policy of zero tolerance.

The traffic issues in cities like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura, Gorakhpur and Lucknow were also discussed in the meeting. The principal secretary (home) instructed all divisional commissioners/district magistrates/police to prepare an action plan for traffic management according to the local needs. At the same time, in view of the hot summer season, efforts should be made to maintain a smooth power supply in all urban/rural areas," he said.

Referring to the tragic fire incident that took place in Kanpur in the past, he said that on receiving information about the fire, the fire brigade should immediately reach the spot. He said there should be no delay in repairing power transformers, dilapidated electric poles etc.

Along with this, instructions were given for better management of cleanliness to prevent diseases.
The cyber crime police station of Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) has shut down eight fake helicopter service booking websites for the Char Dham Yatra. The STF is keeping an eye on potential fake websites ahead of Char Dham Yatra that can dupe people and is taking action against them accordingly, said the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of the cyber crime police station, STF, Ankush Mishra. Authorities have observed several scams being done in several states by fake websites on the pretext of booking a heli service to shrines of Char Dham. Mishra said that many lose lakhs of rupees in such cyber frauds in various parts of the country through such fake websites. Mishra said that the official booking of helicopter service for Char Dham Yatra has started from April 8 on the official website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Anybody can book helicopter services by visiting www.heliyatra.irctc.co.in and must pay attention to payment-related methods before any transaction. He stated that rather than searching for random websites on Google to book heli services, one should visit the official website of IRCTC. Since many people do not verify the authenticity of the websites they find on Google before booking helicopter service, they become prone to be the victims of cyber fraud, said the DSP. He said that the senior superintendent of police, STF, Ayush Agrawal has launched a campaign against such fake websites which are set up by cyber frauds to lure pilgrims into booking heli services through them for Char Dham Yatra. The SSP has also appealed to the public to provide information about such fake service providers including fake websites, web links and mobile numbers to STF. Such details can also be sent on mobile numbers- 9456591505 and 9412080875, said Mishra. He also urged the people to refrain from transferring money or providing bank details to any unknown person.

The websites blocked by STF are: https://www.helicopterticketbooking.in/, https://radheheliservices.online,https://kedarnathticketbooking.co.in/, https://heliyatrairtc.co.in/,

https://kedarnathtravel.in/, https://instanthelibooking.in, https://kedarnathticketbooking.in/ and https://kedarnathheliticketbooking.in/
Principal Secretary, Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply department, Anurag Srivastava will share the success story of the Jal Jeevan Mission in Uttar Pradesh with bureaucrats from across the country at the 16th Civil Services Day on Thursday.

The event, which will take place at Vigyan Bhawan, is the largest civil service program in the country.

A government spokesman said that Srivastava would present his views on Piped Water for All-Jal Jeevan Mission.

Srivastava is the only officer in the country invited to speak on the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme on Civil Services Day, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the programmes concluding session. Top officers from all over the country will attend the Civil Services Day event. The theme of this program is Developed India-Empowering Citizens and Reaching the Last Mile.

The program aims to inspire the civil servants of India to adopt the attitude of Nation First.

Anurag Srivastava will highlight the developments of Har Ghar Jal Yojana in UP, specifically before and after 2019.

Peoples lives are changed by clean water in Bundelkhand, a mountainous region with rocky and stony terrain, spokesman said and added that UP has also provided tap connections to more than one crore rural households in a short time.

Supply of clean water has transformed the lives of the people in Bundelkhand; UP has made significant progress by providing tap connections to over one crore rural households in a short period, he added.

Apart from this, a presentation of the successful efforts of the scheme moving forward with a long list of achievements in two years will also be presented to the civil servants.
Fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh's wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at the Sri Guru Ram Dass International Airport here by immigration officials while she was trying to board a flight to London, sources said on Thursday.

She was learnt to have been questioned by the immigration authorities, they said.

Singh married Kaur, a UK-based NRI, in February this year.

Punjab Police officials refused to answer questions posed by media persons at the airport.

More than a month after a police crackdown against Singh and his aides, the radical preacher continues to remain elusive even as a manhunt to nab him is underway.

Police on March 18 had launched the crackdown against Singh and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab De.'

He and his associates were booked under 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.

On February 10, Singh got married to Kaur in a simple ceremony at Jallupur Khera, his native village in Amritsar.

The 'Anand Karaj' (marriage as per Sikh rituals) was held with a limited gathering of family members from both sides at a gurudwara in Baba Bakala in Amritsar.

Singh had said that a marriage ceremony should be simple and urged people not to indulge in show-off by splurging money on grand weddings.

The preacher said his marriage was an example of reverse migration and announced that he and his wife would live in Punjab.
Citing security and financial reasons, Pakistans defence authorities and election officials have urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its order to hold elections in the politically crucial Punjab province on May 14.

A three-member panel of the court led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on April 4 in its judgment ruled that elections should be held in the largest province on time and asked the government to provide Rs 21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The government has refused to accept the ruling citing security and financial reasons as the country was facing a resurgence in militancy and a looming threat of default due to an economic meltdown.

As the last deadline to release funds expired on April 17, the judges were briefed by the intelligence chiefs while the ECP furnished its report on the non-availability of funds.
: Burkina Fasos military junta has expelled two journalists working for French media without reason, said the outlets. bSophie Douce, a French correspondent for Le Monde, and Agnes Faivre, correspondent for Liberation, were given 24 hours to leave the West African country with no explanation, said articles by both newspapers on Sunday.

The correspondents were each questioned separately about their work by state security on Friday. Faivre was ordered to leave that evening and Douce the following day, they both arrived in Paris Sunday. Le Monde condemns in the strongest terms this arbitrary decision which forced the two journalists to leave Ouagadougou in less than 24 hours, said Jerome Fenoglio, director of Le Monde.

These two expulsions mark another major setback for the freedom to inform about the situation in Burkina Faso, he said. Jihadi fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been waging a violent insurgency in Burkina Faso for seven years, thats killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million people.

The violence has destabilised and divided the once peaceful country in the Sahel region leading to two coups last year. Since the second coup when Capt. Ibrahim Traore seized power in September, civic freedoms have shrunk, say rights groups and residents.

The expulsions come less than a week after the junta suspended French broadcaster, France 24, for interviewing a top jihadi rebel and months after the government suspended French broadcaster Radio France Internationale for having relayed an intimidation message attributed to a terrorist, according to a statement from the junta.

In March, Mathieu Pellerin, the Sahel consultant for the International Crisis Group, was arrested and detained for two days by authorities and questioned about his work, said Murithi Mutiga, the groups Africa program director.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month, Pakistan's Foreign Office announced on Thursday, a development that could provide an opportunity to break the ice between the two neighbours.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced the decision at a weekly media briefing here.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in person amidst major differences between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot.

Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

It would be the highest-level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

Then Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India in 2011. In May 2014, then-Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

In December 2015, then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan and days later, Modi made a brief visit to the neighbouring country.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
Presidents and Holocaust survivors and their descendants are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on Wednesday with a poignant sense that the responsibility for carrying on the memory of the Holocaust is passing from the witnesses to younger generations.

The anniversary honours the hundreds of young Jews who took up arms in Warsaw in 1943 against the overwhelming might of the Nazi German army.

There are no surviving fighters still alive. Marek Edelman, the last surviving commander, died in 2009. He remained in Poland and helped keep alive the memory of the revolt in his homeland.

Simcha Rotem, a fighter who smuggled others out of the burning ghetto through sewage tunnels, died in 2018 in Israel, where he settled.

The small number of surviving witnesses today were mostly children at the time of the revolt.

Official commemorations will be attended by presidents Isaac Herzog of Israel, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany and Andrzej Duda of Poland. The main event will take place in front of the Memorial to the Ghetto Heroes on the hallowed ground where the fighting erupted, with a visit later to Warsaws Nozyk synagogue and a evening concert by the Polish-Israeli Youth Symphony Orchestra.

The three leaders represent nations forever shaped by World War II.Israel was founded after the war to give Jews a home where they could finally be safe after centuries of persecution in Europe.

Germany, which inflicted death and destruction across the vast areas that it occupied, is the perpetrator nation that for decades has acknowledged its crimes and expressed remorse.

And Poland, where Europes largest prewar Jewish population lived and which was invaded and subjected to mass death and destruction, carries out its responsibility of preserving sites like the ghetto and the Auschwitz death camp, while also honouring the massive losses inflicted on the entire nation.

Some 6 million Polish citizens were killed during the war, about 3 million of them Jews and the others mostly Christian Poles.

Avi Valevski, a professor of psychiatry from Israel whose father, Ryszard Walewski, a doctor who led a group of some 150 warriors in the revolt, visited Warsaw with his wife, describing it as more than an emotional moment. Valevski, 72, is working to carry on a history that his father rarely spoke to him about but also carries an emotional burden.
Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Atalaya Mining (LON:ATYM  Get Rating) in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a GBX 595 ($7.36) target price on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on ATYM. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on Atalaya Mining from GBX 310 ($3.84) to GBX 470 ($5.82) and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their target price on Atalaya Mining from GBX 370 ($4.58) to GBX 420 ($5.20) and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd.

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Atalaya Mining Stock Performance

ATYM stock opened at GBX 364 ($4.50) on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.79, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 350.43 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 318.33. The company has a market capitalization of 509.16 million, a P/E ratio of 1,820.00, a PEG ratio of -2.02 and a beta of 1.73. Atalaya Mining has a 1-year low of GBX 183 ($2.26) and a 1-year high of GBX 405 ($5.01).

About Atalaya Mining

Atalaya Mining Plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mineral exploration and development in Spain. The company's flagship property is its 100% owned Proyecto Riotinto mine, an open-pit copper mine located in the Andalusia region of Spain. It produces copper concentrates, including silver by-products.

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Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO  Get Rating) (NYSEMKT:IMO) had its price target upped by ATB Capital from C$77.00 to C$80.00 in a research note published on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on IMO. CSFB cut their price target on shares of Imperial Oil from C$80.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Imperial Oil from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and cut their price target for the stock from C$82.00 to C$78.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Veritas Investment Research reaffirmed a reduce rating on shares of Imperial Oil in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Imperial Oil from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Imperial Oil from C$76.00 to C$78.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of C$78.60.

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Imperial Oil Stock Down 1.0 %

Imperial Oil stock opened at C$72.47 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$42.33 billion, a PE ratio of 6.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.89. The companys 50-day moving average is C$69.02 and its 200-day moving average is C$69.10. Imperial Oil has a fifty-two week low of C$52.67 and a fifty-two week high of C$79.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.66, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Imperial Oil Announces Dividend

Imperial Oil ( TSE:IMO Get Rating ) (NYSEMKT:IMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The company reported C$2.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of C$2.46 by C$0.40. Imperial Oil had a net margin of 12.35% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business had revenue of C$14.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$17.82 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Imperial Oil will post 8.7949029 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 1st. Investors of record on Saturday, April 1st were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. Imperial Oils dividend payout ratio is currently 15.38%.

Imperial Oil Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Imperial Oil Limited engages in exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical segments. The Upstream segment explores for, and produces crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had 386 million oil-equivalent barrels of proved undeveloped reserves.

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Coterra Energy (NYSE:CTRA  Get Rating) was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CTRA. Roth Capital reissued a neutral rating on shares of Coterra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Coterra Energy from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Coterra Energy from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Coterra Energy from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 27th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Coterra Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $29.94.

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Coterra Energy Stock Performance

CTRA stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.70. 6,871,718 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,973,989. Coterra Energy has a twelve month low of $22.25 and a twelve month high of $36.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.01.

Insider Transactions at Coterra Energy

Coterra Energy ( NYSE:CTRA Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 22nd. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. Coterra Energy had a net margin of 44.91% and a return on equity of 31.29%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Coterra Energy will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Coterra Energy news, VP Michael D. Deshazer sold 20,824 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total transaction of $501,858.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 77,406 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,865,484.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Coterra Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Coterra Energy by 4.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,132 shares of the companys stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Montis Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Coterra Energy by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 12,481 shares of the companys stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Coterra Energy by 4.2% during the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 9,459 shares of the companys stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Coterra Energy by 4.2% during the third quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 9,820 shares of the companys stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Coterra Energy by 0.8% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 51,300 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.72% of the companys stock.

About Coterra Energy

(Get Rating)

Coterra Energy Inc is a diversified energy company, which engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties. Its portfolio includes projects in the Permian Basin, the Marcellus Shale, and the Anadarko Basin. The company was renamed to Coterra Energy Inc on October 1, 2021 in connection with the merger involving Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.

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ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. (NYSE:ACR  Get Rating) major shareholder Eagle Point Credit Management acquired 1,549 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.30 per share, with a total value of $29,895.70. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 942,425 shares in the company, valued at $18,188,802.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a companys stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Eagle Point Credit Management also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Wednesday, April 19th, Eagle Point Credit Management bought 133 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.00 per share, for a total transaction of $2,394.00.

On Thursday, April 6th, Eagle Point Credit Management bought 1,466 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $29,320.00.

On Friday, March 24th, Eagle Point Credit Management bought 445 shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.14 per share, for a total transaction of $8,962.30.

ACRES Commercial Realty Price Performance

Shares of ACRES Commercial Realty stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.43. 12,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,652. The stock has a market cap of $81.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.34 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 118.26 and a current ratio of 118.26. The firms fifty day moving average price is $9.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.36. ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. has a 12 month low of $7.23 and a 12 month high of $13.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACRES Commercial Realty

Several equities analysts have commented on ACR shares. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of ACRES Commercial Realty from $13.00 to $13.50 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, March 13th. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of ACRES Commercial Realty in a report on Friday, March 3rd.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACR. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ACRES Commercial Realty during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $162,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of ACRES Commercial Realty by 2,942.3% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 19,471 shares of the companys stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 18,831 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of ACRES Commercial Realty by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,209 shares of the companys stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of ACRES Commercial Realty by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 87,617 shares of the companys stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 6,864 shares during the last quarter. 23.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ACRES Commercial Realty

(Get Rating)

ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the origination, holding, and management of commercial mortgage loans, and commercial real estate related debt investments. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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EnerSys (NYSE:ENS  Get Rating) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 793,600 shares, a drop of 13.6% from the March 15th total of 918,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 193,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.0% of the companys stock are sold short.

EnerSys Stock Down 0.2 %

EnerSys stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $82.96. The stock had a trading volume of 120,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,566. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.37. EnerSys has a 12-month low of $55.60 and a 12-month high of $94.32. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $85.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.45.

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EnerSys (NYSE:ENS  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $920.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $926.36 million. EnerSys had a net margin of 3.81% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that EnerSys will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EnerSys Dividend Announcement

Institutional Trading of EnerSys

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th were paid a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. EnerSyss dividend payout ratio is presently 20.96%.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of EnerSys by 27.4% in the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 9,235 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in EnerSys during the first quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in EnerSys during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,532,000. Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in EnerSys by 8.3% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 2,949 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in EnerSys by 12.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,120 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of EnerSys in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company.

EnerSys Company Profile

(Get Rating)

EnerSys engages in the provision of stored energy solutions for industrial applications. It operates through the following segments: Energy Systems, Motive Power, and Specialty. The Energy Systems segment combines enclosures, power conversion, power distribution, and energy storage used in the telecommunication, broadband, and utility industries.

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Engie Brasil Energia S.A. (OTCMKTS:EGIEY  Get Rating) shares dropped 2.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $8.01 and last traded at $8.01. Approximately 3,438 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 12,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EGIEY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Engie Brasil Energia from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Engie Brasil Energia in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. They set an outperform rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Engie Brasil Energia from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th.

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Engie Brasil Energia Stock Down 2.9 %

The businesss 50 day moving average price is $7.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.59. The company has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.40.

Engie Brasil Energia Company Profile

ENGIE Brasil Energia SA operates as a power generation company. Its activities include generation and commercialization of electrical energy. The company was founded on January 29, 1998 and is headquartered in Florianopolis, Brazil.

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Equifax (NYSE:EFX  Get Rating) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The credit services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. Equifax had a return on equity of 24.19% and a net margin of 13.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equifax updated its Q2 guidance to $1.60-1.70 EPS and its FY23 guidance to $7.05-7.35 EPS.

Equifax Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE EFX traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $194.91. 1,221,270 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 796,718. Equifax has a 1-year low of $145.98 and a 1-year high of $234.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.46.

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Equifax Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 21st. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Equifaxs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equifax

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EFX. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Equifax by 29.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 3,516 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $834,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Equifax by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,944 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in Equifax by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Equifax by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 439,028 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $104,100,000 after acquiring an additional 8,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Equifax by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,409 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $4,141,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.84% of the companys stock.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EFX shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Equifax from $165.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Equifax from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Equifax in a research report on Friday, January 6th. They issued an underperform rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Equifax from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Equifax from $194.00 to $190.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equifax currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $212.07.

About Equifax

(Get Rating)

Equifax, Inc engages in the provision of information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services. It operates through the following business segments: U.S. Information Solutions, Workforce Solutions and International. The U.S. Information Solutions segment includes consumer and commercial information services, mortgage loan origination information, financial marketing services, and identity management.

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General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,950,000 shares, a decline of 11.6% from the March 15th total of 12,380,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the companys stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $87.13. 2,141,808 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,463,671. General Mills has a twelve month low of $64.94 and a twelve month high of $88.34. The firm has a market cap of $51.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.82, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.27. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $81.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

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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, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. General Millss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.65%.

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on General Mills from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on General Mills in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on General Mills from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Monday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on General Mills from $81.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 27th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $84.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Bethany C. Quam sold 21,734 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total value of $1,866,081.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 47,560 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,083,501.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Bethany C. Quam sold 21,734 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total transaction of $1,866,081.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,083,501.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 8,030 shares of the companys 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 owns 83,049 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,086,571.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.67% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HF Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.6% in the first quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,382 shares of the companys stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its position in General Mills by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 326,580 shares of the companys stock worth $27,910,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares during the period. Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its position in General Mills by 4.4% during the first quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 58,498 shares of the companys stock worth $4,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.4% in the first quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 179,105 shares of the companys stock valued at $15,306,000 after acquiring an additional 4,221 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Institutional investors own 74.48% of the companys stock.

General Mills Company 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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Greentown China Holdings Limited (OTCMKTS:GTWCF  Get Rating) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,107,000 shares, a drop of 24.2% from the March 15th total of 1,461,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 0 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently  days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Greentown China from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Sunday, January 15th.

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Greentown China Stock Performance

OTCMKTS GTWCF remained flat at $1.63 on Wednesday. Greentown China has a 52-week low of $1.63 and a 52-week high of $1.63. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $1.63.

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Henderson European Focus Trust plc (LON:HEFT  Get Rating)s share price traded down 0.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 159 ($1.97) and last traded at GBX 159.50 ($1.97). 181,533 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 232,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 160 ($1.98).

Henderson European Focus Trust Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.72, a quick ratio of 6.48 and a current ratio of 7.25. The firm has a market cap of 339.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -725.00 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 157.97 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 148.71.

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Henderson European Focus Trust Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 5th were issued a GBX 3.65 ($0.05) dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.49%. Henderson European Focus Trusts dividend payout ratio is presently -1,818.18%.

Henderson European Focus Trust Company Profile

Henderson European Focus Trust plc is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Henderson Investment Funds Limited. It is co-managed by Henderson Global Investors Limited. The fund invests in public equity markets of Continental Europe. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ  Get Rating) updated its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $10.60-$10.70 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $10.51. The company issued revenue guidance of $97.90 billion-$98.90 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $97.71 billion.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ traded up $1.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $162.53. 6,740,249 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,267,077. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $157.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.99. The stock has a market cap of $423.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. Johnson & Johnson has a one year low of $150.11 and a one year high of $186.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $24.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $23.61 billion. Johnson & Johnson had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 35.76%. The companys revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.19 per share. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Johnson & Johnsons previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. Johnson & Johnsons payout ratio is 67.06%.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Monday, February 6th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. They issued a neutral rating and a $161.00 target price on the stock. Atlantic Securities upped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, SVB Leerink dropped their price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $194.00 to $186.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $173.07.

Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson

In other Johnson & Johnson news, insider James D. Swanson sold 1,062 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.66, for a total value of $164,248.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,215 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,191.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Johnson & Johnson

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 67,618 shares of the companys stock valued at $14,975,000 after buying an additional 5,327 shares in the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 88.9% during the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 175,194 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,049,000 after buying an additional 82,429 shares in the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,305 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,244,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 45,673 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,095,000 after buying an additional 2,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, USS Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 860,371 shares of the companys stock valued at $152,488,000 after buying an additional 20,528 shares in the last quarter. 67.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of products in the health care field. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Health, Pharmaceutical, and MedTech. The Consumer Health segment includes products focused on personal healthcare used in the Skin Health/Beauty, Over-the-Counter medicines, Baby Care, Oral Care, Womens Health and Wound Care markets.

Further Reading

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M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC  Get Rating) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,380,000 shares, a decrease of 10.9% from the March 15th total of 2,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 600,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of M.D.C. in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on M.D.C. from $30.50 to $27.50 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a neutral rating on shares of M.D.C. in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $27.50.

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Insider Transactions at M.D.C.

In other news, Director Herbert T. Buchwald sold 8,349 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.20, for a total value of $302,233.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other M.D.C. news, Director David E. Blackford sold 3,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.35, for a total transaction of $115,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,086.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Herbert T. Buchwald sold 8,349 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.20, for a total transaction of $302,233.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,849 shares of company stock valued at $582,299. 23.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On M.D.C.

M.D.C. Stock Down 1.0 %

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in M.D.C. during the 4th quarter valued at $263,371,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in M.D.C. by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,583,094 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $180,509,000 after purchasing an additional 95,947 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in M.D.C. by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,091,173 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $160,881,000 after purchasing an additional 284,105 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in M.D.C. by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,516,458 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $95,223,000 after purchasing an additional 63,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hamlin Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in M.D.C. by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 1,647,241 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $52,053,000 after purchasing an additional 13,814 shares during the last quarter. 82.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of MDC traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.40. 756,577 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 591,482. The company has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.37. M.D.C. has a 52 week low of $27.04 and a 52 week high of $41.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 8.58 and a quick ratio of 2.84.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.45). The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. M.D.C. had a return on equity of 19.24% and a net margin of 9.83%. M.D.C.s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that M.D.C. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

M.D.C. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.08%. M.D.C.s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.08%.

M.D.C. Company Profile

(Get Rating)

M.DC Holdings, Inc engages in proving homebuilding and financial services. It operates through the following business segments: West, Mountain, and East. The West segment includes operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. The Mountain segment refers to the operations in Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.

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Shares of Quartix Technologies plc (LON:QTX) were down 8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as GBX 221 ($2.73) and last traded at GBX 230 ($2.85). Approximately 17,677 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 4% from the average daily volume of 17,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 250 ($3.09).

Quartix Technologies Stock Down 8.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58. The company has a market capitalization of 111.30 million, a PE ratio of 2,300.00 and a beta of 0.79. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is GBX 269.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 286.54.

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Quartix Technologies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 30th will be paid a dividend of GBX 6.30 ($0.08) per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is a positive change from Quartix Technologiess previous dividend of $1.50. This represents a yield of 2.14%. Quartix Technologiess dividend payout ratio is currently 8,000.00%.

Quartix Technologies Company Profile

Quartix Technologies Plc engages in the design, development, marketing, and delivery of vehicle telematics services in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and the European Territories. The company offers vehicle tracking system for businesses, such as real-time vehicle tracking; driver timesheet report; driver behavior report; vehicle tracking reports and dashboards; vehicle tracking alerts; customized tracking; and fleet management solutions and services.

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BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust (NYSE:BFZ  Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 129,900 shares, a growth of 35.6% from the March 15th total of 95,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 85,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust Price Performance

BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust stock remained flat at $11.64 during midday trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 65,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 84,013. BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust has a 1 year low of $10.03 and a 1 year high of $11.97.

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BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a $0.039 dividend. This represents a $0.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust Company Profile

In other news, major shareholder Saba Capital Management, L.P. acquired 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.70 per share, with a total value of $63,180.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 3,648,640 shares in the company, valued at $42,689,088. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink . Over the last three months, insiders bought 164,661 shares of company stock worth $1,889,968.

(Get Rating)

BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust is a closed-end investment fund. Its investment objective is to provide current income exempt from Federal and California income taxes. The company seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in municipal obligations exempt from federal income taxes and California income taxes.

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180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDXJ  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,693 shares of the exchange traded funds stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its position in shares of VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF by 213.2% during the third quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 6,175,640 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $181,934,000 after acquiring an additional 4,203,921 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 3,932,334 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $115,813,000 after purchasing an additional 933,140 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,465,052 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $81,939,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,557 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC boosted its stake in shares of VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF by 86.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 1,545,928 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $45,543,000 after purchasing an additional 718,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF by 61.7% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,430,160 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $67,031,000 after purchasing an additional 545,705 shares during the last quarter.

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VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF Stock Down 1.9 %

GDXJ stock opened at $40.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.02. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $37.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.56. VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF has a 12-month low of $25.80 and a 12-month high of $50.21.

About VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF

Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (the Fund) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners Index (the Index). The Index provides exposure to a global universe of publicly traded small- and medium-capitalization companies that generate at least 50% of their revenues from gold and/or silver mining, hold real property that has the potential to produce at least 50% of the Companys revenue from gold or silver mining when developed, or primarily invest in gold or silver.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GDXJ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDXJ  Get Rating).

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Posted by Jay on at 12:02 PM CST

Marvel has sent out solicitations for their July 2023 titles, including 9comics and 2 trade paperbacks!On Sale: 7/5/2023CHARLES SOULE (W)  ANDREA DI VITO (A)  COVER BY STEPHEN SEGOVIAReturn of the Jedi 40th Anniversary Variant Cover by CHRIS SPROUSEClassic Trade Dress Variant Cover by JERRY ORDWAYAction Figure Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHERVariant Cover by LEE GARBETTDISASTER LOOMS FOR THE REBEL ALLIANCE! With the discovery that the Empire is building a second DEATH STAR, the Rebels are on the verge of despair. But LEIA ORGANA has devised an impossible mission to remind both the Rebels and the galaxy how to hope. Its the FALCONs time to shine, as the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy flies into the belly of the beast!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99On Sale: 7/5/2023MARC GUGGENHEIM (W)ALESSANDRO MIRACOLO (A)Cover by PHIL NOTOVariant Cover by LEE GARBETTVariant Cover by SALVADOR LARROCAWELL, HELLO THERE The MEGADROID is on the march! 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Featuring the return of TRIPLE-ZERO and BEE TEE  and the deadliest team up of droids Vader has ever faced!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99On Sale: 7/12/2023ETHAN SACKS (W)  LAN MEDINA (A)  Cover by MARCO CHECCHETTOReturn of the Jedi 40th Anniversary Variant Cover by CHRIS SPROUSEClassic Trade Dress Variant Cover by JERRY ORDWAYBoba Fett & Death Stick Variant Cover by SALVADOR LARROCABOBA FETT: MARKED FOR DEATH! THE BLACK SUN SYNDICATE wants BOBA FETTS HEAD! But the new team of BOUNTY HUNTERS has something to say about that! Featuring DURGE, BOSSK, 4-LOM, ZUCKUSS, DEATHSTICK, VALANCE, KHEL and TONGA!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99On Sale: 7/19/2023ALEX SEGURA (W)  MATT HORAK (A)Cover by RYAN BROWNCONNECTING VARIANT COVERBY LEE GARBETTVARIANT COVER BY ROD REISVARIANT COVER BY TERRY DODSONVIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY RYAN BROWNMON MOTHMA MUST DIE! ADMIRAL ACKBAR is the only one with the knowledge of THE EMPIREs plans to kill Mon Mothma. Enter POE DAMERONs parents, SHARA BEY and KES DAMERON, to thwart the threat! But do they have what it takes to take down the unknown assassin in time?40 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T $4.99On Sale: 7/19/2023ALYSSA WONG (W)  MINKYU JUNG (A)COVER BY JUNGGEUN YOONReturn of the Jedi 40th Anniversary Variant Cover by CHRIS SPROUSEClassic Trade Dress VariantCover by JERRY ORDWAYVariant Cover by KYLE HOTZENTER THE STARWEIRD! Long ago, Jedi Masters SHAAK TI and AAYLA SECURA sealed away a GREAT AND TERRIBLE POWER... ...a horrifying, ancient creature that RESONATES WITH THE FORCE... ...and DOCTOR APHRA and LUKE SKYWALKER have just released it!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99On Sale: 7/26/2023RODNEY BARNES (W)  STEVEN CUMMINGS (A)  Cover by DIKE RUANVariant Cover by CASPAR WIJNGAARD  Variant Cover by JERRY ORDWAYConcept Art Variant Cover Also AvailableTHE PASSENGER! The Mandalorian must ferry a passenger with precious cargo on a dangerous journey. STEVEN CUMMINGS (CRIMSON REIGN, HIDDEN EMPIRE) joins RODNEY BARNES for issue #2 of this galaxy-spanning series!40 PGS./Rated T $4.99(of 4)On Sale: 7/26/2023JASON AARON, STEVE ORLANDO,FRANK TIERI (W)  LEONARD KIRK,PAUL DAVIDSON, DANNY EARLS (A)COVER BY TAURIN CLARKEVARIANT COVER BY TONY DANIELVARIANT COVER BY KEVIN EASTMANTRAPPED ON THE FROZEN PLANET HOTH! FRANK TIERI sends VADER to HOTH. STEVE ORLANDO goes cerebral with THE CORRUPTION OF DARTH VADERS MIND! PLUS: The Final Chapter of JASON AARON & LEONARD KIRKs dark tales!40 PGS./Rated T $4.99On Sale: 8/3/2023CHARLES SOULE (W)  LUKE ROSS (A)  Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YUVARIANT COVER BY JIM CHEUNGACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHERSCOURGED VARIANT COVER BY RACHAEL STOTTFOIL VARIANT COVER BY GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLISCOURGE OF THE DROIDS! A STAR WARS EPIC LIKE YOUVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE! Who or what is THE SCOURGE, and why is no droid safe? As a corruption spreads from one droid to the next THE REBELLION and THE EMPIRE face chaos! What role does AJAX SIGMA play in all of this? And whose side is he on? Find out when horror comes to a galaxy far, far away!Charles Soule continues his legendary run on STAR WARS with the most ambitious event in STAR WARS comics history! Joined by his WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS collaborator Luke Ross, the superstar team carves a new path for the future!40 PGS./Rated T $4.99On Sale: 8/23/2023Written by CAVAN SCOTTPenciled by ARIO ANINDITO & ANDREA BROCCARDOCover by YANICK PAQUETTEThe battle of Jedha continues! As Tey Sirrek defends the Temple of the Kyber, Vildar Mac is buried alive  with only his belief in the Force to keep him alive. But Vildar is a Jedi beset by doubts, scarred by a past he shouldve forgotten years ago. Who can come to his aid as the Holy City tears itself apart? Vildar, Tey and Matthea Cathley are forced into a corner, with enemies closing in all around, and a secret of the hidden Jedi vault is revealed. As one Jedi lies dying in Jedhas frozen desert, another is missing. And all the time, the Leveler waits in the shadows, desperate to feed! Can Vildar resist the lure of the dark side? Or must he become what he fears the most to survive! Collecting STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC (2022) #6-10.120 PGS./Rated T $15.99ISBN: 978-1-302-94703-3Trim size: 6-5/8 x 10-3/16On Sale: 11/15/2023Written by LOUISE SIMONSON, RON MARZ, JEREMY BARLOW, SCOTT ALLIE, JOHN JACKSON MILLER, RANDY STRADLEY, ROB WILLIAMS, BRANDON BADEAUX, JOHN WAGNER, TERRY AUSTIN, BRIAN AUGUSTYN & MOREPenciled by JUNE BRIGMAN, ADRIANA MELO, JOE CORRONEY, MICHEL LACOMBE, BRIAN CHING,DAVIDE FABBRI, BRANDON BADEAUX, COLIN WILSON, DUSTIN WEAVER, FRANCISCO RUIZ VELASCO,CARLOS EZQUERRA, CHRIS SPROUSE, CHRIS BRUNNER & PACO MEDINACovers by TOMMY LEE EDWARDS & JOE CORRONEYMonths after the Death Stars destruction, the Rebel Alliance continues the fight to dismantle the Empire  if they can stay alive! As Darth Vader closes in on the rebels, an old friend of Lukes is the only one who can stop an Imperial victory  but which side will he choose? Boba Fett takes on a series of deadly assignments  including a seemingly impossible mission  to prove hes still the best game in town! Luke and Leia are faced with dangerous missions of their own  with Vader himself in pursuit! In these dangerous times, can they trust anyone besides one another? Witness the stories that shaped the Rebellion! Collecting STAR WARS: RIVER OF CHAOS #1-4, STAR WARS: EMPIRE #28-40, STAR WARS: REBELLION #1-16, STAR WARS: BOBA FETT  OVERKILL, STAR WARS: BOBA FETT #1/2 and STAR WARS: SPLINTER OF THE MINDS EYE #1-4  plus material from STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC/REBELLION #0; and STAR WARS TALES #3, #15, #17 and #21.1024 PGS./Rated T $125.00ISBN: 978-1-302-95393-5Trim size: 7-1/4 x 10-7/8STAR WARS LEGENDS: THE REBELLION OMNIBUS VOL. 2 HC CORRONEY COVER [DM ONLY]1024 PGS./Rated T $125.00ISBN: 978-1-302-95394-2Trim size: 7-1/4 x 10-7/8
180 Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:EFAV  Get Rating) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,240 shares of the companys stock after selling 467 shares during the quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF were worth $283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EFAV. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 7.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,868,627 shares of the companys stock valued at $334,570,000 after buying an additional 408,717 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,660,030 shares of the companys stock valued at $208,658,000 after acquiring an additional 379,548 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 19.0% in the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,900,733 shares of the companys stock worth $108,361,000 after acquiring an additional 303,844 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 4,532.2% during the third quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,775,291 shares of the companys stock worth $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,643,176 shares of the companys stock worth $118,540,000 after purchasing an additional 5,445 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF Stock Performance

BATS:EFAV opened at $69.67 on Thursday. The firms fifty day moving average is $66.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.99. The firm has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.60. iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF has a one year low of $64.68 and a one year high of $76.51.

iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF Profile

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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ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW  Get Rating) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $495.00 to $535.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the information technology services providers stock.

NOW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $641.00 to $586.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $500.00 to $510.00 in a report on Thursday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of ServiceNow from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of ServiceNow from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of ServiceNow from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the company from $525.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Monday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ServiceNow currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $528.34.

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ServiceNow Trading Down 0.1 %

ServiceNow stock opened at $475.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $96.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 297.24, a PEG ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 1.04. ServiceNow has a fifty-two week low of $337.00 and a fifty-two week high of $522.10. The firms fifty day moving average price is $448.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $418.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Insider Activity

ServiceNow ( NYSE:NOW Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The information technology services provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.28. ServiceNow had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 4.49%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.93 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that ServiceNow will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, insider Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total value of $1,283,950.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 98 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,294.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Christopher Bedi sold 377 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.59, for a total value of $175,150.43. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,990 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,893,384.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lara Caimi sold 2,975 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.58, for a total transaction of $1,283,950.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 98 shares in the company, valued at $42,294.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 65,629 shares of company stock worth $29,974,024. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ServiceNow

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. RB Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 25.2% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 954 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 17.9% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 875 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 728.0% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,921 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of ServiceNow by 9.0% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 350 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of ServiceNow by 0.7% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,671 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $6,499,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 86.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ServiceNow Company Profile

(Get Rating)

ServiceNow, Inc engages in the provision of enterprise cloud computing solutions. The firm delivers digital workflows on a single enterprise cloud platform called the Now Platform. Its product portfolio is focused on providing Information Technology, Employee and Customer workflows. The company was founded by Frederic B.

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Argent Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH  Get Rating) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 865,867 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 2,605 shares during the quarter. Booz Allen Hamilton accounts for about 3.3% of Argent Capital Management LLCs holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Argent Capital Management LLC owned about 0.65% of Booz Allen Hamilton worth $90,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAH. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,033,000. Balyasny Asset Management LLC increased its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 17,983.9% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 405,622 shares of the business services providers stock worth $37,459,000 after buying an additional 403,379 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 27.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,459,668 shares of the business services providers stock worth $128,219,000 after acquiring an additional 317,646 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 81.7% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 681,952 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $59,903,000 after acquiring an additional 306,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 30.3% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,299,057 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $119,968,000 after acquiring an additional 302,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.68% of the companys stock.

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Booz Allen Hamilton Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:BAH traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $98.58. 238,235 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,108,223. The firm has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.22. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. has a 52-week low of $76.60 and a 52-week high of $112.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

Booz Allen Hamilton ( NYSE:BAH Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The business services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.05. Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 51.31% and a net margin of 4.76%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This is an increase from Booz Allen Hamiltons previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 9th. Booz Allen Hamiltons payout ratio is currently 58.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Booz Allen Hamilton in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $104.63.

Booz Allen Hamilton Profile

(Get Rating)

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. engages in the provision of management and technology consulting services. It offers analytics, digital solutions, engineering, and cyber expertise. The company was founded by Edwin Booz in 1914 and is headquartered in McLean, VA.

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Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 447,482 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 22,166 shares during the period. Bristol-Myers Squibb comprises 1.4% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLCs holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLCs holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $32,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.9% during the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 15,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.9% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 15,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp lifted its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.4% during the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 36,282 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $2,579,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.4% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 10,053 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.0% during the third quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 13,686 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. 75.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BMY traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $69.10. 2,280,341 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,856,846. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.45. 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 companys 50 day moving average price is $69.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.75. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 12 month low of $65.28 and a 12 month high of $81.43.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

Bristol-Myers Squibb ( NYSE:BMY Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.11. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 51.60% and a net margin of 13.71%. The company had revenue of $11.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $11.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. Bristol-Myers Squibbs revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 7.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. Bristol-Myers Squibbs payout ratio is currently 77.29%.

Insider Activity at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $835,258.27. Following the completion of the sale, 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. In other news, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Giovanni Caforio sold 240,000 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 236,104 shares in the company, valued at $17,625,163.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. They set an overweight rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Atlantic Securities upped their price target on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Bristol-Myers Squibb has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $79.69.

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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Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTCMKTS:CMWAY  Get Rating) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,300 shares, an increase of 14.8% from the March 15th total of 8,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 127,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Price Performance

OTCMKTS CMWAY traded down $0.17 on Thursday, hitting $66.74. 13,588 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,847. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has a 12 month low of $58.14 and a 12 month high of $80.77. The businesss fifty day moving average is $66.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.03.

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 27th were issued a $1.4294 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.99%.

About Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Commonwealth Bank of Australia engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Retail Banking Services, Business Banking, Institutional Banking and Markets, New Zealand, Corporate Centre and Other, and Wealth Management. The Retail Banking Services segment provides home loan, consumer finance, and retail deposit products and servicing to all retail bank customers and non-relationship managed small business customers.

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Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,344 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DEs holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lam Group Inc. purchased a new position in Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Karp Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Pfizer in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pfizer in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. My Personal CFO LLC bought a new position in shares of Pfizer during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 800 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.62% of the companys stock.

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Pfizer Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE PFE opened at $40.24 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $41.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.30. Pfizer Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.23 and a twelve month high of $54.93. The company has a market capitalization of $227.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.34, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.64.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $24.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $24.40 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 42.03% and a net margin of 31.27%. Pfizers revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Pfizer news, major shareholder Pfizer Inc bought 1,811,594 shares of Pfizer stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $2.76 per share, with a total value of $4,999,999.44. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 5,952,263 shares in the company, valued at $16,428,245.88. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.05% of the companys stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Pfizer from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Bank of America lowered shares of Pfizer from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. StockNews.com began coverage on Pfizer in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Atlantic Securities dropped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Pfizer from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $49.80.

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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Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ  Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,360,000 shares, an increase of 25.6% from the March 15th total of 5,860,000 shares. Approximately 4.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Cousins Properties in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cousins Properties from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Mizuho lowered Cousins Properties from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Cousins Properties from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Cousins Properties from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $26.00.

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Cousins Properties Trading Down 2.0 %

Cousins Properties stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $21.30. The stock had a trading volume of 807,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,636,836. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.12. Cousins Properties has a 12 month low of $18.06 and a 12 month high of $40.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

Insider Activity

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 5th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 4th. Cousins Propertiess dividend payout ratio is 115.32%.

In related news, EVP John S. Mccoll sold 36,975 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.93, for a total value of $921,786.75. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 30,814 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $768,193.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cousins Properties

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CUZ. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 24.3% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,349 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 2.1% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,922 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cousins Properties in the first quarter valued at about $287,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 13.1% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 16,971 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $684,000 after buying an additional 1,969 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Cousins Properties by 115.7% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 66,926 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $2,752,000 after buying an additional 35,897 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.15% of the companys stock.

About Cousins Properties

(Get Rating)

Cousins Properties, Inc engages in the development, acquisition, leasing and management of real estate assets. It invests in urban office towers located in Sunbelt markets. The company was founded by Thomas G. Cousins in 1958 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

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Todd Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 280,655 shares of the energy companys stock after selling 57,863 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLCs holdings in Devon Energy were worth $17,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Devon Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its position in Devon Energy by 115.0% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Devon Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new stake in Devon Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Devon Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the companys stock.

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Insider Transactions at Devon Energy

In related news, CEO Richard E. Muncrief acquired 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $53.28 per share, for a total transaction of $532,800.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,973,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,173,494.56. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John E. Bethancourt acquired 3,765 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $53.06 per share, for a total transaction of $199,770.90. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 94,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,023,137.14. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard E. Muncrief acquired 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $53.28 per share, for a total transaction of $532,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,973,977 shares in the company, valued at $105,173,494.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock.

Devon Energy Price Performance

Devon Energy stock opened at $54.85 on Thursday. Devon Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $44.03 and a 12-month high of $79.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 2.33. The firms 50-day moving average is $53.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The energy company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.09). Devon Energy had a return on equity of 52.20% and a net margin of 31.38%. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. Devon Energys revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Devon Energy Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Devon Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.89 per share. This is a positive change from Devon Energys previous None dividend of $0.49. This represents a dividend yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th. Devon Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 8.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DVN has been the subject of several research reports. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Devon Energy from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $80.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $82.00 to $75.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Mizuho restated a buy rating and set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Devon Energy in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Devon Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $71.25.

Devon Energy Profile

(Get Rating)

Devon Energy Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties. It develops and operates Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford, Heavy Oil, Barnett Shale, STACK, and Rockies Oil. The company was founded by J. Larry Nichols and John W. Nichols in 1971 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK.

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Sepio Capital LP lessened its position in shares of Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO  Get Rating) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,056 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,381 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LPs holdings in Diageo were worth $5,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Diageo by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,924,396 shares of the companys stock worth $390,924,000 after purchasing an additional 12,035 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia increased its position in Diageo by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 1,734,521 shares of the companys stock worth $294,539,000 after purchasing an additional 64,418 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its position in Diageo by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 881,686 shares of the companys stock worth $157,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,714 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Diageo by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 848,751 shares of the companys stock worth $144,126,000 after purchasing an additional 73,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Diageo by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 770,856 shares of the companys stock worth $130,898,000 after purchasing an additional 93,393 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.04% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on DEO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Diageo from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. HSBC decreased their target price on Diageo from GBX 4,800 ($59.40) to GBX 4,500 ($55.69) in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Diageo from GBX 3,160 ($39.10) to GBX 2,750 ($34.03) in a report on Thursday, January 12th. UBS Group cut Diageo from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Investec upgraded Diageo from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $4,022.22.

Diageo Price Performance

Diageo Increases Dividend

Shares of DEO traded up $1.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $186.96. The companys stock had a trading volume of 130,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 419,026. The company has a fifty day moving average of $177.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.89. Diageo plc has a twelve month low of $160.09 and a twelve month high of $207.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.57.

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were given a $1.5187 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.06%. This is a positive change from Diageos previous semi-annual dividend of $1.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd.

Diageo Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Diageo Plc engages in the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Its brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, JeB, Buchanans, Windsor and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray, and Guinness. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America; Europe and Turkey; Africa; Latin America and Caribbean; Asia Pacific; ISC; and Corporate and Other.

Further Reading

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Dream Industrial REIT (TSE:DIR  Get Rating) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, April 19th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be given a dividend of 0.058 per share on Monday, May 15th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of . The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th.

Dream Industrial REIT Stock Performance

Dream Industrial REIT has a 52 week low of C$8.08 and a 52 week high of C$9.49.

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Dream Industrial REIT (TSE:DIR  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The company reported C($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.23 by C($0.35). The firm had revenue of C$98.87 million for the quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Dream Industrial REIT Company Profile

Separately, Echelon Wealth Partners restated a buy rating on shares of Dream Industrial REIT in a research report on Tuesday.

(Get Rating)

Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust is an open-ended investment trust. The Trusts objective is managing its business to provide growing cash flow and stable and sustainable returns, through adapting its strategy and tactics to changes in the real estate industry and the economy; building and maintaining a diversified, growth-oriented portfolio of light industrial properties in Canadian markets based on an established platform; providing predictable and sustainable cash distributions to unitholders while prudently managing its capital structure over time, and maintaining a REIT that satisfies the REIT exception under the specified investment flow-through (SIFT) legislation in order to provide certainty to unitholders with respect to taxation of distributions.

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First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund (NYSEAMERICAN:FEN  Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 11th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share on Friday, April 28th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 21st.

First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 19.7% annually over the last three years.

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First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund Stock Performance

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:FEN opened at $13.19 on Thursday. First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund has a twelve month low of $12.03 and a twelve month high of $16.98.

Institutional Trading of First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund

First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund Company Profile

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 174,146 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,471,000 after acquiring an additional 12,106 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 497,098 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,054,000 after acquiring an additional 77,270 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP acquired a new position in First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $736,000. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 232,604 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,301,000 after acquiring an additional 3,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 117,324 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,664,000 after acquiring an additional 7,841 shares in the last quarter.

(Get Rating)

First Trust Energy Income and Growth Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by First Trust Advisors L.P. It is co-managed by Energy Income Partners, LLC. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United States. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating in the energy sector, including companies in the business of transporting, processing, storing, distributing, or marketing natural gas, natural gas liquids (including propane), crude oil, refined petroleum products, coal or electricity, or exploring, developing, managing or producing such commodities or products, or in supplying energy-related products and services.

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Shares of Gerdau S.A. (NYSE:GGB  Get Rating) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $5.25 and traded as high as $5.26. Gerdau shares last traded at $5.21, with a volume of 5,236,069 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Gerdau from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $6.67 to $5.71 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Gerdau from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th.

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Gerdau Stock Performance

The companys 50-day simple moving average is $5.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.61.

Gerdau Cuts Dividend

Gerdau ( NYSE:GGB Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Gerdau had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 24.99%. Analysts predict that Gerdau S.A. will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.0788 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 15th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.21%. Gerdaus dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gerdau

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Gerdau by 91.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,892 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 25,222 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Gerdau by 146.8% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 125,431 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 74,615 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Gerdau by 160.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 120,578 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 74,364 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Gerdau by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 320,968 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $2,064,000 after purchasing an additional 38,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Gerdau in the 1st quarter worth about $69,000. 2.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gerdau Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Gerdau SA engages in the production and commercialization of steel products. It operates through the following segments: Brazil Operation, North America Operation, South Africa Operation, and Special Steels Operation. The Brazil Operation segment includes rebar, bars, shapes, drawn products, billets, blooms, slabs; wire rod, structural shapes, and iron ore.

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Todd Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in KB Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:KB  Get Rating) by 24.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 396,975 shares of the banks stock after purchasing an additional 79,023 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLCs holdings in KB Financial Group were worth $15,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA raised its stake in shares of KB Financial Group by 156.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 625 shares of the banks stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of KB Financial Group by 80.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,737 shares of the banks stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KB Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth about $73,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of KB Financial Group by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,698 shares of the banks stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KB Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $126,000. 5.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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KB Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KB opened at $37.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $15.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.94. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $37.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.51. KB Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $49.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KB Financial Group Profile

KB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered KB Financial Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on KB Financial Group from $55.38 to $46.15 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st.

(Get Rating)

KB Financial Group, Inc engages in providing financial services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Other Banking Services, Credit Card, Life Insurance, Investment and Securities business. The Corporate Banking business segment provides services such as loans, overdrafts, deposits, credit facilities and other foreign currency activities.

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Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO  Get Rating) by 24.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,791 shares of the mining companys stock after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLCs holdings in Rio Tinto Group were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Rio Tinto Group by 58.9% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,899,694 shares of the mining companys stock worth $1,037,135,000 after purchasing an additional 4,783,488 shares in the last quarter. Cowa LLC bought a new position in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Pendal Group Ltd bought a new position in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 4th quarter worth about $183,849,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Rio Tinto Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $81,527,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Rio Tinto Group by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,475,787 shares of the mining companys stock worth $440,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,737 shares in the last quarter. 10.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Rio Tinto Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RIO opened at $69.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Rio Tinto Group has a fifty-two week low of $50.92 and a fifty-two week high of $80.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.56 and a 200-day moving average of $67.87.

Rio Tinto Group Cuts Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $2.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a dividend yield of 9.8%.

RIO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas cut Rio Tinto Group from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Rio Tinto Group from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, March 27th. CLSA upgraded Rio Tinto Group from an underperform rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Rio Tinto Group from a buy rating to a conviction-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Rio Tinto Group from GBX 5,750 ($71.15) to GBX 5,790 ($71.65) in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $5,790.00.

Rio Tinto Group Profile

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Rio Tinto Plc engages in the exploration, mining, and processing of mineral resources. It operates through the following business segments: Iron Ore, Aluminium, Copper and Diamonds, Energy and Minerals, and Other Operations. The Iron Ore segment supplies global seaborne iron ore trade. The Aluminium segment produces bauxite, alumina and primary aluminum.

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Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Perrigo Company plc (NYSE:PRGO  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,645 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRGO. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 808,088 shares of the companys stock worth $27,548,000 after acquiring an additional 162,993 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 15,595 shares of the companys stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Perrigo during the 4th quarter worth approximately $621,000. Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 50,400 shares of the companys stock worth $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 5,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in shares of Perrigo by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 76,727 shares of the companys stock worth $2,616,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.09% of the companys stock.

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Perrigo Trading Down 0.2 %

PRGO stock opened at $36.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.73 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.72. Perrigo Company plc has a 52 week low of $30.78 and a 52 week high of $43.90.

Perrigo Increases Dividend

Perrigo ( NYSE:PRGO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.05. Perrigo had a positive return on equity of 5.79% and a negative net margin of 2.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Perrigo Company plc will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were issued a $0.273 dividend. This is an increase from Perrigos previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. Perrigos dividend payout ratio is currently -113.54%.

Insider Activity at Perrigo

In other news, Director Geoffrey M. Parker acquired 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.05 per share, with a total value of $190,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $604,195.95. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Perrigo news, EVP Ronald Craig Janish sold 4,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.92, for a total value of $166,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,191 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $745,451.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Geoffrey M. Parker acquired 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.05 per share, with a total value of $190,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,879 shares in the company, valued at $604,195.95. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,223 shares of company stock worth $619,867. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRGO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price target on Perrigo from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Sunday, March 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Perrigo in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Perrigo from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Sunday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $48.00.

Perrigo Company Profile

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Perrigo Co Plc engages in the provision of self-care products and over-the-counter (OTC) health and wellness solutions. It enhances individual well-being by empowering consumers to proactively prevent or treat conditions that can be self-managed. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Self-Care Americas (CSCA) and Consumer Self-Care International (CSCI).

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Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY  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 bought 1,390 shares of the industrial products companys stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AVY. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avery Dennison by 48.0% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,748,006 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $304,099,000 after buying an additional 566,938 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in Avery Dennison by 3,901.0% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 579,627 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $104,913,000 after purchasing an additional 565,140 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Avery Dennison by 66.8% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 907,608 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $147,675,000 after purchasing an additional 363,404 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Avery Dennison by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 654,486 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $106,485,000 after purchasing an additional 211,535 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Avery Dennison by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,124,442 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $182,947,000 after purchasing an additional 162,364 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.05% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Avery Dennison

In other Avery Dennison news, Director Anthony Anderson sold 816 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $150,135.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,666.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Avery Dennison news, Director Anthony Anderson sold 816 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $150,135.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 558 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $102,666.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Andres Alberto Lopez sold 5,800 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $1,055,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,315 shares in the company, valued at $239,330. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,458 shares of company stock worth $1,898,948. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Avery Dennison Stock Performance

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Avery Dennison in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $240.00 to $233.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $204.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $183.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $207.67.

Shares of AVY opened at $180.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company has a market capitalization of $14.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95. Avery Dennison Co. has a 52-week low of $151.62 and a 52-week high of $204.37.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.45). Avery Dennison had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 38.05%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Avery Dennison Co. will post 9.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. Avery Dennisons dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.57%.

About Avery Dennison

(Get Rating)

Avery Dennison Corp. engages in the provision of labeling and packaging materials and solutions. It operates through the Materials and Solutions Group segments. The Materials Group segment manufactures and sells pressure-sensitive label materials, films for graphic and reflective products, performance tapes and other adhesive products for industrial, medical and other applications, as well as fastener solutions.

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Mach 1 Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 20,326.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,881 shares of the information technology services providers stock after buying an additional 3,862 shares during the period. Mach 1 Financial Group LLCs holdings in Accenture were worth $1,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 82.4% in the 4th quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,848 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 6,846 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $1,827,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Sonnipe Ltd purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $518,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $301,000. Institutional investors own 73.97% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. Piper Jaffray Companies increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Monday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $289.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $314.00.

Accenture Stock Down 1.3 %

ACN traded down $3.67 during trading on Thursday, reaching $276.23. The company had a trading volume of 481,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,399,384. The stock has a market cap of $174.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $275.44. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $242.80 and a 52 week high of $330.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.20. The company 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%. Accentures 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 13th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 12th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. Accentures dividend payout ratio is presently 41.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $1,750,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 174,084 shares in the company, valued at $48,753,965.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $1,750,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 174,084 shares in the company, valued at $48,753,965.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.53, for a total value of $155,974.68. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 42,991 shares of the companys stock, valued at $12,060,265.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,658 shares of company stock worth $5,467,791. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture 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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Magnus Financial Group LLC reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR  Get Rating) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 952 shares of the conglomerates stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Magnus Financial Group LLCs holdings in Danaher were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. My Personal CFO LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Private Ocean LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 1,485.7% during the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 111 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 5,850.0% during the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 119 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 157.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 134 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 77.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DHR. Barclays reduced their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $270.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Credit Suisse Group downgraded Danaher from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $315.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Cowen reduced their price objective on Danaher from $340.00 to $320.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Danaher from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $275.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $321.00 to $309.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $310.29.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $254.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $185.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $249.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.49. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $233.71 and a 1-year high of $303.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The conglomerate reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $8.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.90 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 17.97% and a net margin of 22.91%. The companys revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is a boost from Danahers previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Danahers dividend payout ratio is 11.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Raymond C. Stevens sold 8,410 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.27, for a total transaction of $2,222,510.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,282.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Profile

(Get Rating)

Danaher Corp. engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services. It operates through the following segments: Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental and Applied Solutions. The Biotechnology segment includes the bioprocessing and discovery and medical businesses and offers a range of tools, consumables, and services.

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Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC decreased its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC  Get Rating) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,230 shares of the companys stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLCs holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated were worth $268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKC. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 412.8% in the 3rd quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Align Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Standard Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.15% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MKC shares. UBS Group started coverage on McCormick & Company, Incorporated in a report on Friday, March 10th. They issued a sell rating and a $71.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on McCormick & Company, Incorporated in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a hold rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $80.10.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MKC opened at $85.26 on Thursday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $77.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.21. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a 1-year low of $70.60 and a 1-year high of $105.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.87 billion, a PE ratio of 34.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC  Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share 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 analysts expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. 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 companys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,137 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,860,275. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 19.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund, Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:NBO  Get Rating) declared a monthly dividend on Wednesday, April 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.0242 per share on Monday, May 15th. This represents a $0.29 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th.

Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund stock opened at $9.65 on Thursday. Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund has a 1-year low of $8.77 and a 1-year high of $10.74.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NBO. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund by 29.6% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 9,934 shares of the companys stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,266 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP bought a new stake in Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund during the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Equitable Holdings Inc. increased its position in Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 13,500 shares of the companys stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund by 7.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,946 shares of the companys stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund by 46.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 19,832 shares of the companys stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter.

About Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund

Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund, Inc is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Neuberger Berman Management LLC. The fund is co-managed by Neuberger Berman LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. The fund primarily invests in tax-exempt municipal bonds with remaining maturities of less than 15 years.

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Raymond James Trust N.A. reduced its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO  Get Rating) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,763 shares of the companys stock after selling 143 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.s holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $3,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the companys stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 985 shares of the companys stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the companys stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,722 shares of the companys stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. 6.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Down 2.8 %

NYSE NVO opened at $165.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.89. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52 week low of $95.02 and a 52 week high of $171.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $373.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $149.41 and a 200-day moving average of $132.60.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

Novo Nordisk A/S ( NYSE:NVO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.02. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 73.39% and a net margin of 31.44%. The firm had revenue of $6.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.74 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 27th were given a dividend of $1.1887 per share. This is a boost from Novo Nordisk A/Ss previous semi-annual dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. Novo Nordisk A/Ss payout ratio is presently 48.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Novo Nordisk A/S from 925.00 to 1,100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novo Nordisk A/S has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $687.50.

About Novo Nordisk A/S

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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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Shares of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:SSNLF  Get Rating) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $40.60 and last traded at $40.60, with a volume of 0 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.60.

Samsung Electronics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15 and a beta of 0.88. The firms fifty day moving average is $40.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.60.

Samsung Electronics Company Profile

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Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. engages in the manufacturing and selling of electronics and computer peripherals. The company operates through following business divisions: Consumer Electronics, Information Technology & Mobile Communications and Device Solutions. The Consumer Electronics business division provides cable television, monitor, printer, air-conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and medical devices.

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Todd Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE  Get Rating) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,479 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 253 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLCs holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $11,665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 17,850 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,675,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust increased its position in Sempra Energy by 3.1% during the third quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 2,383 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 1,468 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 733 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 603 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.75% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $169.00 to $166.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $180.00 to $174.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $167.50.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $157.99 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $136.54 and a 12-month high of $176.47. The company has a market capitalization of $49.71 billion, a PE ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.73. The firms 50 day moving average is $151.26 and its 200-day moving average is $154.28.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE  Get Rating) last released 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. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. The firms revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 22nd were given a dividend of $1.19 per share. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from Sempra Energys previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 21st. Sempra Energys payout ratio is 71.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total transaction of $342,441.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,362 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,172,257. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total value of $342,441.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 21,362 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,172,257. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 15,964 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.92, for a total value of $2,584,890.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,261 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,118,741.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,504 shares of company stock valued at $8,045,547 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Energy Profile

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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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Serco Group (OTCMKTS:SECCF  Get Rating) and Rexel (OTCMKTS:RXLSF  Get Rating) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Serco Group and Rexels net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Serco Group N/A N/A N/A Rexel N/A N/A N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Serco Group and Rexels revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Serco Group N/A N/A N/A $0.01 192.17 Rexel N/A N/A N/A $0.76 29.44

Insider & Institutional Ownership

Rexel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Serco Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

53.8% of Serco Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.4% of Rexel shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Serco Group and Rexel, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Serco Group 0 0 1 0 3.00 Rexel 0 2 3 0 2.60

Rexel has a consensus target price of $23.25, suggesting a potential upside of 3.56%. Given Rexels higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Rexel is more favorable than Serco Group.

Dividends

Serco Group pays an annual dividend of $0.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Rexel pays an annual dividend of $0.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Serco Group pays out 786.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Rexel pays out 98.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

About Serco Group

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Serco Group Plc engages in the provision of business process outsourcing, consulting, and technology services. It offers advisory, design, and delivery expertise in the areas of operations strategy, transformation, program delivery, outsourcing, people performance and selection, and change management and research. It operates through the following segments: UK and Europe, Americas, AsPac, Middle East, and Corporate. The UK and Europe segment offers frontline services to defense, health, and justice and immigration sectors delivered to the countrys government and devolved authorities. The Americas segment delivers services to U.S. federal and civilian agencies, selected state and municipal governments, and the Canadian government. The AsPac segment caters Asia Pacific region including Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. The Middle East segment serves the defense, transport, and healthcare sectors in the Middle East region. The Corporate segment includes central and head office costs. The company was founded in 1929 and is headquartered in Hook, the United Kingdom.

About Rexel

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Rexel S.A., together with its subsidiaries, distributes electrical products and services for the residential, commercial, and industrial energy markets worldwide. The company offers smart cameras, sensors, controllers, and monitoring software; light sources, lights, and control switches; climate control products, including heat pumps, air conditioning, and water heaters; fire alarms, surveillance equipment, access controls devices, and emergency lightings; and connection cables, and switches and routers, as well as enclosures, mounts, and racks. It also provides solar modules and inverters; connected lighting, intelligent home system, home control touch screen, and smart thermostat products; residential chargers, commercial stations, and charging cables for electric vehicles; electric motors, variable speed drives, programmable logic controllers, and computers and operator interface; and fastening systems, electrical power and control, and valves and instrumentation products. The company offers products, services, and solutions in the fields of technical supply, automation, and energy management related to the construction, renovation, maintenance, and production. It operates a network of approximately 1,900 branches in 24 countries. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF (NYSEARCA:EWL  Get Rating) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 305,468 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF were worth $12,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Henrickson Nauta Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,178 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,385 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 32,104 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,107 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 130,867 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $5,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF Stock Up 0.5 %

EWL stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Thursday, hitting $47.55. The company had a trading volume of 479,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,352. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.82. iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF has a 12 month low of $36.01 and a 12 month high of $48.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 0.73.

About iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF

iShares MSCI Switzerland Capped ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI Switzerland Capped Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI Switzerland 25/50 Index (the Index).

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EWL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF (NYSEARCA:EWL  Get Rating).

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Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao (NYSE:CBD  Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,980,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the March 15th total of 2,710,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,390,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao Trading Down 2.3 %

CBD opened at $2.96 on Thursday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $2.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao has a 12 month low of $2.54 and a 12 month high of $5.16.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao in the first quarter worth about $53,000. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao by 4,301.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,960 shares of the companys stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 10,711 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new position in Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Wolverine Trading LLC increased its holdings in Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao by 1,131.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Trading LLC now owns 11,895 shares of the companys stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 13,048 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.05% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

About Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Companhia Brasileira De Distribuicao in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock.

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Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao engages in the retail of food, clothing, home appliances, and other products through its chain of hypermarkets and supermarkets. It operates through the Food Retail, and Cash and Carry segments. The Food Retail segment sells food and non-food products to individual consumers.

Further Reading

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Mistras Group, Inc. (NYSE:MG  Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 105,400 shares, a growth of 24.4% from the March 15th total of 84,700 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 71,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Mistras Group Trading Down 2.1 %

MG traded down $0.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $7.79. The companys stock had a trading volume of 80,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 71,130. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.26 million, a P/E ratio of 37.80 and a beta of 1.53. Mistras Group has a twelve month low of $3.38 and a twelve month high of $8.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $6.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.23.

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Mistras Group (NYSE:MG  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 8th. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $168.22 million for the quarter. Mistras Group had a return on equity of 3.36% and a net margin of 0.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mistras Group

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mistras Group from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 21st.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Mistras Group by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,400,796 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $9,258,000 after acquiring an additional 12,485 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Mistras Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,313,357 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $5,858,000 after buying an additional 88,197 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Mistras Group by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,097,222 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $4,894,000 after purchasing an additional 15,905 shares during the period. Price Jennifer C. boosted its holdings in Mistras Group by 71.4% in the 3rd quarter. Price Jennifer C. now owns 1,032,174 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $4,603,000 after purchasing an additional 430,016 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Mistras Group by 43.8% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 719,427 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 218,969 shares during the period. 48.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mistras Group Company Profile

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MISTRAS Group, Inc engages in the provision of technology-enabled asset protection solutions. The firm serves the oil and gas, aerospace, power, infrastructure, and manufacturing markets. It operates through the following segments: Services, International Offers Services, and Products and Systems. The Services segment provides asset protection solutions primarily in North America, consisting primarily of non-destructive testing, inspection, mechanical, and engineering services.

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Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV  Get Rating) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 9,495,701 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 41% from the previous sessions volume of 6,726,093 shares.The stock last traded at $31.58 and had previously closed at $32.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna cut Southwest Airlines from a positive rating to a neutral rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $68.00 to $63.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $47.07.

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Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 40.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.15.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

Southwest Airlines ( NYSE:LUV Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The airline reported ($0.38) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.03) by ($0.35). Southwest Airlines had a net margin of 2.26% and a return on equity of 6.71%. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 8th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 7th. Southwest Airliness dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southwest Airlines

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WT Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 1.0% during the first quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 32,399 shares of the airlines stock worth $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 11,825 shares of the airlines stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Southwest Airlines by 93.2% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 629,409 shares of the airlines stock valued at $20,298,000 after buying an additional 303,618 shares during the period. Finally, Hedges Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Southwest Airlines by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 43,600 shares of the airlines stock worth $1,419,000 after acquiring an additional 13,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.71% of the companys stock.

About Southwest Airlines

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Southwest Airlines Co engages in the operation and management of a passenger airline. The firm also offers ancillary services such as early bird check-in, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. It operates in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.

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Badger Meter (NYSE:BMI  Get Rating) had its price target increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $108.00 to $109.00 in a report issued on Monday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the scientific and technical instruments companys stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on BMI. StockNews.com began coverage on Badger Meter in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Badger Meter from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $101.33.

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Badger Meter Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of BMI stock opened at $120.50 on Monday. The businesss fifty day moving average is $119.28 and its 200 day moving average is $113.52. Badger Meter has a twelve month low of $73.20 and a twelve month high of $124.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.08 and a beta of 0.89.

Badger Meter Announces Dividend

Badger Meter ( NYSE:BMI Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.60. Badger Meter had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business had revenue of $147.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Badger Meter will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 24th were issued a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. Badger Meters dividend payout ratio is 39.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Badger Meter news, VP Fred J. Begale sold 385 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.73, for a total value of $46,096.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,863 shares of the companys stock, valued at $342,786.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Badger Meter news, VP Fred J. Begale sold 385 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.73, for a total value of $46,096.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,863 shares of the companys stock, valued at $342,786.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Kimberly K. Stoll sold 1,620 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.88, for a total value of $195,825.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $533,443.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Badger Meter by 0.9% in the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,685 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $895,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY raised its stake in Badger Meter by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 1,798 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY raised its stake in Badger Meter by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 1,798 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Badger Meter by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Badger Meter by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,591 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.21% of the companys stock.

Badger Meter Company Profile

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Badger Meter, Inc engages in the provision of flow measurement, control products, and communications solutions that serve water utilities, municipalities, and commercial and industrial customers worldwide. Its products are classified into two categories: Municipal Water and Flow Instrumentation. Municipal water products include water meters and related technologies to municipal water utilities.

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Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU  Get Rating) (TSE:SU) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 28,315 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,998% compared to the average daily volume of 914 put options.

Suncor Energy Stock Performance

SU traded down $0.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $30.59. 3,732,312 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,624,618. Suncor Energy has a fifty-two week low of $26.42 and a fifty-two week high of $42.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.65. The company has a market capitalization of $40.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.13, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.27.

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Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU  Get Rating) (TSE:SU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.07. Suncor Energy had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $10.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Suncor Energy will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Suncor Energy Cuts Dividend

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.391 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. Suncor Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.34%.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,045 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,145 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,544 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Suncor Energy by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 927,375 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $30,223,000 after purchasing an additional 273,853 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 40.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,556 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 3,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Suncor Energy by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 11,827 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $380,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.04% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SU shares. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Suncor Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Scotiabank cut shares of Suncor Energy from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of Suncor Energy from C$54.00 to C$57.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 11th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Suncor Energy from C$52.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Suncor Energy in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Five 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $53.13.

About Suncor Energy

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Suncor Energy, Inc is an integrated energy company, which engages in the development of petroleum resource basins. It operates through the following segments: Oil Sands, Exploration and Production, Refining and Marketing, and Corporate and Eliminations. The Oil Sands segment operates assets in the Athabasca oil sands of northeast Alberta.

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VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. decreased its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,057 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 298 shares during the quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC.s holdings in Pfizer were worth $618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tranquility Partners LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 11,227 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Pfizer by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 11,136 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. ARGI Investment Services LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. ARGI Investment Services LLC now owns 88,568 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $4,538,000 after buying an additional 6,086 shares during the last quarter. NEIRG Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. NEIRG Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,808 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $503,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAM Holding AG purchased a new position in Pfizer in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,800,000. 67.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Pfizer

In related news, major shareholder Pfizer Inc acquired 1,811,594 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.76 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,999.44. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 5,952,263 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $16,428,245.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pfizer Price Performance

PFE opened at $40.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $226.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.64. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.23 and a fifty-two week high of $54.93. The companys 50-day moving average price is $41.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.11. Pfizer had a net margin of 31.27% and a return on equity of 42.03%. The company had revenue of $24.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Pfizers revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. Bank of America cut shares of Pfizer from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They set a hold rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $51.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Eight 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 price target of $49.80.

Pfizer Company Profile

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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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The Urban Legend website that sets to debunk many internet stories was yesterday raided by thousands of FBI agents in a dawn swoop that took the owners by surprise.

The offices for Snopes were housed in a disused warehouse near La Cienega and their location moved every week for the past few years.

We could not trace where the Snopes people held their servers because they would move them every week. It is very hard for law enforcement to track down and bring to justice such sites, Lieutenant Bill Rapaport told the Daily Squib.

Snopes who have claimed to be the upholders of all truth on the internet are actually a bunch of hoaxers who operate out of disused warehouses. It seems that they played on the fact that most Americans have to have everything explained to them and have no understanding of pathos or rhetoric. Snopes.com has been fooling American internet users for years and exploiting the premise that many of the population are not able to establish fiction from fact.

One distraught web user told the Daily Squib: I was reading Snopes and the stories I read I assumed were debunked fake stories, but instead they were true stories and I frankly feel slightly cheated.

Sniper Snoper

The owners of the offending website were marched away by a troupe of FBI agents after a protracted gunfight that lasted all of 14 hours. The Snopers even had a sniper rifle and pinned the FBI agents down in their vehicles for two hours. The Snoper gunfire from automatic machine guns then lit the whole neighbourhood up ending in a climax of TNT sticks being lobbed at the hapless agents.

The arrests were the result of a stakeout lasting two weeks and utilising state of the art aerial surveillance drones borrowed from the LAPD.

Chief of Police Dan Arbuthnot III Esq. for La Cienega PDA had this to say today: We got em. It was hard but finally we got these Snopers for good, they wont be out there on the internet claiming to be talking the truth with their propaganda lies. Snope my ass! William Faulkner sure has a lot to answer for.
The Mythri Movie Makers' producers are suspected of breaching RBI regulations by receiving funding from abroad and hiding information about their sources of income, according to the I-T personnel who checked the records. (Photo: Facebook)

Hyderabad: The income-tax (I-T) department, which raided Mythri Movie Makers for the second day in a row on Thursday, found that the production house allegedly allowed hundreds of crores in foreign investment without following Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms, as well as failed to disclose total investments and income sources in their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filing.

According to the I-T department, because Mythri Movie Makers is known to have produced big-budget blockbuster films starring top actors and actresses, many influential politicians were suspected to have invested. It was also reported that some unnamed political leaders have allegedly assisted the Mythri Movie Makers in obtaining funds from overseas. Further, I-T sleuths are probing Mythri Movie Makers not just for receiving funds from overseas and investing in Tollywood, but also for purchasing large tracts of land in and around Hyderabad. The IT officials discovered that the producers used the earnings from the movies to buy hundreds of acres of agricultural land on the outskirts of Hyderabad in order to evade taxes.

The I-T offices brought Xerox machines to make copies of original documents of sale deeds of properties purchased in and around Hyderabad by the producers, accounts of individuals and current account details, and Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed by producers for the past few years. Since the founding of the Mythri Movie Makers in 2015, I-T officials have focused on sources of income, investments, business activities, paying tax and TDS to the government, and filing ITRs. Further, I-T officials found that the Mythri Movie Makers heads, including Erneni Naveen, Cherukuri Mohan and Yalamanchili Ravi Shankar engaged in financial transactions.

The Mythri Movie Makers' producers are suspected of breaching RBI regulations by receiving funding from abroad and hiding information about their sources of income, according to the I-T personnel who checked the records. Additionally, the I-T officials discovered that the producer used the earnings to finance the production of films.

The I-T personnel also specific information on modes of payments made over the previous few years to movie performers and production companies. Further, the I-T officials also obtained some documents from Sukumar's residence, and collected ITRs filed by Sukumar and his family members for verification.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is of the firm opinion that the party has to make a clean sweep in the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana if it has to show its impact in national politics after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. (File Photo: PTI)

Hyderabad: 'Ministers as MPs' and 'MPs as MLAs' will be the strategy of BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for the December 2023 Assembly elections as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The party leadership is said to have given signals to a few ministers to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections in April 2024 and to a few MPs to prepare for the Assembly elections in December this year. Ministers Malla Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, G. Jagadish Reddy, and Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy, among others, are expected to be asked to contest as MPs. Clarity on the contestants is expected to emerge following the BRS foundation day on April 27. Party sources said that the CM has decided to field ministers for at least nine Lok Sabha seats in 2024. He is reportedly considering fielding ministers for Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nargarkurnool, Mahabubabad and Chevella. Along with ministers, MLAs and MLCs holding top posts in the Assembly and Council are also being considered for the Lok Sabha elections.

The BRS never won the Secunderabad and Nalgonda Lok Sabha seats, despite a clean sweep in the Assembly constituencies that fall under the jurisdiction of these Lok Sabha constituencies. Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, who won twice in 2014 and 2019, has been given the responsibility of the Dubbak Assembly constituency, currently held by BJP MLA M.Raghunandan Rao. Prabhakar Reddy stepped up political activities in Dubbak giving clear indications that he would contest the Assembly poll from Dubbak this year.

Since the TRS has been transformed into the BRS with the goal of playing a prominent role in national politics after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the CM is placing more emphasis on Lok Sabha elections this time.

The CM has set "Mission-16" target with an aim to win all the 16 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 leaving the remaining lone Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat to its friendly party AIMIM. Rao is of the firm opinion that the party has to make a clean sweep in the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana if it has to show its impact in national politics after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Even though the CM set Mission-16 target for 2019 Lok Sabha elections too, the party suffered a setback as it managed to win only 9 seats.

The BJP has put up a stunning performance by bagging four Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and the Congress secured three. The BRS (then TRS) had won 11 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It was confined to single digits in 2019 Lok Sabha polls that were held within a gap of four months after the Assembly polls were held in December 2018, in which the TRS won with a bumper majority by securing 88 Assembly seats out of total 119. The Lok Sabha results came as a big shock for BRS given that the BRS significantly improved its tally in the Assembly polls from 63 in 2014 to 88 in 2018 but its tally in the Lok Sabha went down from 11 in 2014 to 9 in 2019. In a few Assembly constituencies, the party is facing infighting between ministers, the MLAs and MPs and the party leadership is of the view that this could be checked if candidates are changed for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Singareni Collieries Ltd of the Telangana government, which caused a political flutter in the state by sending a team to visit the steel plant last week and announcing that it would submit an EOI, did not submit the papers. (Photo: Vizag Steel website)

Visakhapatnam: Some 28 companies offered their bids to fund Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, the corporate entity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The last date for submission of Expression of Interests (EOIs) ended on Thursday.

Of the six applications received in the last lot, one was from the UAE. In the earlier phase, 22 applications were received, of which six were foreign companies.

Singareni Collieries Ltd of the Telangana government, which caused a political flutter in the state by sending a team to visit the steel plant last week and announcing that it would submit an EOI, did not submit the papers.

A trade union leader said Singareni in the past quoted Rs 6,500 per tonne of coal when RINL sourced it from Mahanadi Coal Fields for Rs 4,000. RINL appointed a standing committee to evaluate the offers.

The heads of marketing, finance, works, material management will form part of the standing committee. The process of evaluation will begin from Friday, sources said.

Trade union leaders fighting against the central government move to privatise the plant were upset as the steel ministry did not allow SAIL or NMDC, which belonged to the ministry, to file the bid.

The RINL management invited EOI to collect an advance in the form of iron ore, coal or capital from the market to sell the steel.

Senior leader Ayodhyaramu said the third blast furnace, which has a capacity to produce 25 lakh tonnes of steel per month, was closed 15 months ago, bringing down the production from 7.5 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes.

He said if the government funded Rs 3,000 crore, the resumption of the third blast furnace would lead to a turnover over Rs 34,000 crore per year.

Another leader Varasala Srinivasa said RINL pays Rs 160 crore per month towards bank interest and Rs 300 crore towards GST. "The government never took any initiative to offer concessions during these difficult times.

The state government should have taken the initiative to fund the steel plant," he said.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (AP file photo)

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India this May for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Goa, officials said on Thursday.

Bhutto-Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the meeting of SCO Foreign Ministers (CFM) scheduled to held on May 4-5 in Goa, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch during a weekly presser on Thursday stated that Bhutto-Zardari is attending the SCO-CFM meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

"Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," the spokesperson said.

Bilawal will be the first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years, reported Business Recorder. In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar had visited India.

India has formally sent invitations to all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers' meeting.

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are also likely to participate in the meeting.

India took over the chairmanship of the 9-member mega grouping in September last year and will be holding key ministerial meetings and the summit this year.

Relations between the two countries have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks.

The 20-year-old organization has Russia, India, China, Pakistan, and four central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as its members.

Iran is the latest country to become a member and under Indian Presidency will for the first time attend the grouping's meeting as a full-fledged member.

The last meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in September 2022, was the first in-person summit since June 2019 meeting of the SCO leaders in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Notably, this year's SCO foreign ministers meeting comes in the wake-up of escalating Russia-Ukraine war and India's G20 Presidency.
India and Thailand on Thursday reviewed the progress of talks on connecting the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) with Prompt Pay Service of the south-east Asian country and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency, the commerce ministry said on Thursday.

The issues were discussed during the 13th meeting of the India-Thailand Joint Trade Committee.

The meeting was co-chaired by Auramon Supthaweethum, Director General of the Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, and Indu C Nair, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce, India.

Also Read | Bengaluru logs highest digital transactions in 2022; UPI continues to top digital payments

In the meeting, India raised the restriction faced by domestic exporters of marine, poultry and meat products in Thailand.

Both sides discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve them, it said.

"The meeting also reviewed the progress of the ongoing efforts on connecting UPI of India with Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency," it added.

Thailand is Indias important trading partner in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) with total trade of USD 16.89 billion.

Thailand accounts for 13.6 per cent of Indias total trade with ASEAN.

It is an important destination for Indias gems and jewellery, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components and agricultural products, especially marine products.

Both sides emphasised the need for identifying new potential products and priority sectors for expanding the bilateral trade.

The officials identified a range of potential commodities and sectors for strengthened partnerships such as value-added marine products, smartphones, electric vehicles, food processing and pharmaceuticals.

"The countries also agreed that there is huge scope in collaboration in the service sector and agreed to explore establishing mutual recognition/cooperation arrangements in nursing, accounting, audiovisual and medical tourism," it added.
A bright flash seen over Kyiv was probably a meteorite, Ukraine's space agency said Thursday, after officials denied it was a satellite or a Russian missile attack.

A bright flash in the sky over Kyiv. Air raid siren. No details yet what it actually was.  Ukrainska Pravda pic.twitter.com/hn5Y2tjFFI  Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) April 19, 2023

The head of the city's military administration had said that the flash was caused by a NASA satellite returning to Earth.

But a NASA spokesman told AFP that this was not the case as the satellite in question was "still in orbit".

"We cannot identify what it was exactly, but our assumption is that it was a meteorite," Igor Korniyenko, the deputy head of a control centre at Ukraine's national space agency said Thursday.

Also Read | Flash of light above Kyiv sparks buzz about falling satellite, aliens

But he said there was not sufficient data to determine "the exact nature" of what might have caused the flash.

"Our observation devices showed it was a powerful explosion. We recorded it and determined where it took place," he said.

The US space agency had announced earlier this week that a retired 660-pound (300-kilogram) satellite would re-enter the atmosphere some time on Wednesday.

"What exactly it was -- only experts can find out," the military administration's chief Sergiy Popko said on Thursday.

But he ruled out that the flash could have been one of the regular Russian missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian capital since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.

"It was not a missile attack. Our anti-aircraft defence did not deploy its available weapons," Popko said.

He referred to Wednesday's incident as "the fall of an unknown aerial object" and said its glow had "caused excitement and concern among the people of Kyiv".

Speculation and memes abounded on Ukrainian social media, including jokes that the mysterious flash could have been caused by an alien spacecraft.

"While social media is amused by flying saucer memes... please do not use the official symbol of the Air Force to create memes!" the Ukrainian Air Force said.

The Ukrainian Air Force had also said the flash was "related to the fall of a satellite/meteorite."

NASA's RHESSI spacecraft, used to observe solar flares, was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018.

In a statement on Monday, NASA said it expected most of the RHESSI spacecraft to burn up as it enters the atmosphere.

"But some components are expected to survive reentry," NASA said, adding that the risk of harm to anyone on Earth was low -- approximately one in 2,467.
The Sudan army on Thursday said 177 Egyptian Air Force troops were airlifted back to Egypt after being held in the northern Sudanese town of Merowe by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Sudanese army said in a statement the Egyptians were evacuated from the northern town Dongola via four Egyptian military planes. The military said the Egyptians were in Sudan to participate in joint air force exercises.

The Egyptian military did not announce the evacuation but earlier said in a brief statement it was coordinating with authorities in Sudan to secure the return of the troops.

Also Read: More than 270 civilians killed in Sudan fighting

After clashes erupted across Sudan between the RSF and the army on Saturday, the RSF shared a video it said showed Egyptian troops who had "surrendered" to them in the northern town of Merowe, about halfway between the Sudanese capital Khartoum and the border with Egypt.

The video showed men dressed in army fatigues crouched on the ground and speaking to members of the RSF, Sudan's main paramilitary group, in an Egyptian Arabic dialect.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday the country was in regular contact with the RSF to ensure the safety of the Egyptian soldiers.
Pakistan has placed its first order for discounted Russian crude oil under a deal struck between Islamabad and Moscow, the country's petroleum minister said, with one cargo to dock at the port of Karachi in May.

Pakistan's purchase gives Russia a new outlet, adding to Moscow's growing sales to India and China, as it redirects oil from western markets because of the Ukraine conflict.

As a long-standing Western ally and the arch-rival of neighbouring India, which historically is closer to Moscow, analysts say the crude deal would have been difficult for Pakistan to accept, but its financing needs are great.

Also Read | Pakistan govt cites instability, terrorism and threat of 'all-out war' with India among hurdles in holding provincial polls

Discounted crude offers respite as Pakistan faces an acute balance of payments crisis, risking a default on its debt obligations. The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank are scarcely enough to cover four weeks of controlled imports.

Energy imports make up the majority of the country's external payments.

Under the deal, Pakistan will buy only crude, not refined fuels, Minister Musadik Malik told Reuters late on Wednesday. Imports are expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) if the first transaction goes through smoothly, he said.

"Our orders are in, we have placed that already," he said, confirming source-based information that the country would not buy refined products.

A source in Moscow who is familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that the final deal was reached in recent days.

The Russian government did not respond to a request for comment.

Major Russian oil companies have discussed the possible supply of oil to Pakistan over recent months, two trading sources familiar with the talks said, but declined to disclose the names of possible suppliers. One of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia plans to supply Urals crude to Pakistan.

Islamabad imported 154,000 bpd of oil in 2022, around steady with the previous year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

The crude was predominantly supplied by the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia followed by the United Arab Emirates. The 100,000 bpd from Russia in theory greatly reduces Pakistan's need for Middle Eastern fuel.

Asked about the impact of the Russian imports on local pricing, Malik said that would be apparent once the crude had been refined and was ready to sell.

The US dollar historically has been the currency of oil trade, but the Ukraine war has eroded its dominance as Russia avoids receiving a currency it has been largely blocked from using by Western sanctions.

Pakistan's economic crisis meanwhile means it is desperately short of hard currency.

Malik declined to say whether Chinese yuan and the UAE dirham would be used for transactions. He also did not comment on the rate of imports.

"I will not disclose anything about the commercial side of the deal," he said.

Pakistan's Refinery Limited (PRL) will initially refine the Russian crude in a trial run, followed by Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) and other refineries, Malik said.

As part of sanctions on Moscow, Western nations have imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on purchases of Russian oil to try to limit Russia's revenues for fighting in Ukraine.

Also Read | Ex-Pak PM Imran Khan's Instagram head abducted in Lahore

India and China, however, have paid prices above the cap, according to traders and Reuters calculations.

Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov led a delegation to Islamabad in January, after which he said oil exports to Pakistan could begin after March.

Malik in turn took a delegation to Moscow to negotiate the deal late last year.

Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been locked in negotiations since early February for the release of a $1.1 billion tranche of a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019.
The United States is deploying forces to prepare for the possible evacuation of American embassy staff in Sudan as rival factions battle in Khartoum, the Pentagon said Thursday.

"We are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel from Sudan," the Pentagon said in a statement.

More than 300 people have been killed since the fighting erupted Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Also Read: Situation in Sudan tense; focusing on safety of Indians: MEA

Some of the fiercest battles have taken place in the capital Khartoum, a city home to five million people, most of whom have been cloistered in their homes without electricity, food and water.

The RSF, a powerful force formed from members of the Janjaweed militia that led years of extreme violence in Darfur, had said its forces would "fully commit to a complete ceasefire" from Wednesday evening for 24 hours, as did the army.

But witnesses said gunfire did not stop in Khartoum, as another ceasefire was breached within minutes of its supposed start for the second time in as many days.

Beyond Khartoum, witnesses reported loud explosions in the city of Obeid, in central state of North Kordofan.
Police in Ohio broke up a protest by more than 100 people who were marching on Wednesday over a grand jury's decision to not indict officers who fatally shot an unarmed Black man last year.

Police used what appeared to be chemical spray and other non-lethal weapons to disperse the crowd. The mayor's office wrote on social media that police broke up the protest after it had been declared an "unlawful assembly." It was not known if any arrests were made.

Neither Akron police nor the mayor's office immediately responded to requests for comment about Wednesday's protest.

The protesters were venting anger over a grand jury's decision on Monday not to indict eight Akron police officers who shot Jayland Walker 46 times last June.

Also read | Five US officers charged with murder over fatal beating of Black man

The killing of Walker, 25, happened after police tried to carry out a traffic stop on him, but he led officers on a car chase through a residential area. Investigators have said that as he was driving, Walker fired at least one shot from a gun at police.

Walker eventually fled his car on foot - but left his gun in the car, investigators have said.

Police pursuing Walker on foot opened fire on him after mistakenly thinking he had reached into his waistband for his weapon.

The Walker family's legal team derided the grand jury's decision and said they would file a civil lawsuit against the city in June.

Walker's death followed a spate of law enforcement killings of Black people in the US that have triggered protests against racial injustice and police brutality, including the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Friday an appeal challenging the grant of protection from arrest till April 25 to YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member Y S Avinash Reddy in a case pertaining to the murder of former Andhra Pradesh Minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took note of the submissions of senior advocate Siddharth Luthra assailing the grant of interim anticipatory bail to the leader in the sensational murder case.

We will list it for hearing tomorrow, the bench said.

The Telangana High Court on April 18 directed the YSRCP MP to appear before the CBI everyday for examination in the case pertaining to the murder of Y S Vivekananda Reddy, and granted him protection from arrest till April 25.

In an interim order on the anticipatory bail plea of Avinash Reddy, the court asked him to cooperate with the Central agency and appear before it daily till April 25.

Vivekananda Reddy, one of the brothers of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district, on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the Assembly elections in the State.

The case was initially probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state crime investigation department, but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020.

The CBI filed a charge sheet in the murder case on October 26, 2021 and followed it up with a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022.
There is no evidence that the government catered only to one community and in some instances, minorities have gained more than the majority through schemes for providing access to electricity and bank accounts, an Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister(EAC-PM) working paper has said.

The paper titled 'A Secular Democracy in Practice: Objective Assessment of Amenities Programs in India', authored by Shamika Ravu analysed the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) Rounds 4 and 5 data, conducted in 2015-16 and 201921, respectively.

The focus of the study was on the bottom 20 per cent of households and used 2011 census numbers to construct distinct geographies based on religion.

"Based on a nationally representative sample of more than 1.2 million households across 201516 and 201921, we do not find any evidence that the government catered only to one community (Hindu majority) or discriminated across households based on districts where one religious community was dominant," the paper said.

It noted that with respect to electricity, bank account, mobiles and access to toilets, the gains were widespread across religions and social groups.

"As a matter of fact, in some instances, minorities have gained more than the majority," the paper said, adding that however, the government must do more to uplift the poorest 20 per cent of households across religions and social groups by focusing on amenities like LPG and water on-premises.

Regarding access to bank accounts, the paper pointed out that overall, 74 per cent among the poorest 20 per cent of the households had bank accounts in 201516, which increased to 93 per cent in2019-21.

According to the paper, while the target achievement was an impressive 73 per cent overall, across religions, the biggest gain was for the Muslim community, with a target achievement of approximately 77 per cent.

For different social groups, the target achievement was highest among the OBC at 75 per cent and above 70 per cent for the SC and ST, it added.

Similarly, when it comes to households' access to electricity, the paper pointed out that overall, 53 per cent of the poorest 20 per cent of the households had access to electricity in 201516, which increased to 85 per cent in 2019-21.

"Even though we observe significant gains across all the religious groups, the most considerable improvement in target achievement was for the poorest 20 per cent of the Muslim households at 71 per cent," the paper emphasised.

The paper asserted that India's democracy remains robust, with no evidence of discrimination against religious or social groups in providing basic amenities. "The government must continue to focus on uplifting the poorest 20 per cent to ensure an inclusive society," it noted.

According to the 2011 census, there were 640 districts. Out of the 640 districts, Hindus were more than 80 per cent in 402 (62.8 per cent) districts, Muslims were more than 50 per cent in 32 (5 per cent) districts, while Christians were more than 50 per cent in 35 (5.7 per cent) districts, the Sikhs were more than 50 per cent in 15 (2.3 per cent) of the districts.
Speaking at the inaugural Global Buddhist Summit in Delhi on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi said that the teaching of Buddha could help resolve global suffering from war and strife.

He said that due to war, climate and economic crisis, people around the globe are suffering, and the teachings of Buddha could pave the way for solutions.

India has not given Yuddha to the world but Buddha. The path of Buddha is the path of future and sustainability, Modi said, addressing delegates of the summit as he inaugurated it.

He said that, in his preachings, Buddha spoke of embracing peace.

Several countries are facing a shortage of resources, and if countries abide by Buddhist principles, stability will prevail. It is the need of the hour that the priority of every person and nation should be the interest of the world along with the interest of the country, Modi said.

The two-day event is being organised by the Union Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation. The summit has in attendance delegates from over 30 countries. During the event, the PM offered robes to 19 prominent monks from across the world.

Buddhas teaching can also be the guiding principle to combating climate change, Modi said. If people become aware and change their lifestyle, then the problem of climate change can also be tackled, he said.

Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy said, This Global Buddhist Summit will also help in strengthening cultural and diplomatic ties with other countries.
Almost ten years after she was found dead at her home, a special CBI court here is likely to pass its judgment on April 28 in the Bollywood actor Jiah Khan suicide case in which her boyfriend and film star Suraj Pancholi has been charged with abetment. Special CBI Judge AS Sayyad on Thursday heard the final arguments of both sides and reserved his judgment in the case.

Jiah (25), an American citizen, was found dead at her Juhu home here on June 3, 2013. Police later arrested Suraj on the basis of a six-page letter, purportedly written by the Bollywood starlet, and booked him for abetment to suicide. The case was reassigned to a special CBI court in 2021 after the sessions court said that it did not have jurisdiction over the case as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had probed it.

Jiahs mother Rabia Khan, a key prosecution witness in the case, told the court that she believed it to be a case of murder and not suicide. The Bombay High Court had last year dismissed her petition seeking a fresh investigation into the case. During her deposition, Rabia had told the CBI court that Suraj used to subject Jiah to physical and verbal abuse. Rabia had told the court that neither police nor the CBI had collected any legal evidence to prove that her daughter had committed suicide.

Prashant Patil, appearing for Suraj, said, We concluded the final arguments today (Thursday) on facts as well as on merits in the matter of Suraj Pancholi versus CBI. We relied upon certain landmark judgments of the honourable Supreme Court as well as high court to point out as to how the current case does not fall under the category of abetment to suicide. Now the matter is listed for passing of final judgment (on April 28), Patil added.

The actress, best known for her performance in Hindi film Nishabd starring Amitabh Bachchan, was found hanging at her residence by her mother. Pancholi, the son of Bollywood couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, is currently out on bail in the case. The CBI had alleged that the letter seized by the Mumbai police, which first probed the case on June 10, 2013, was written by Jiah Khan.

The note narrated Jiah Khan's intimate relationship, physical abuse, and mental and physical torture allegedly at the hands of Pancholi which led her to commit suicide, the central agency had said.
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK  Get Rating) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $44.00 to $49.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports. Royal Bank of Canadas target price suggests a potential upside of 8.31% from the stocks current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Bank of New York Mellon from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Bank of New York Mellon from $53.00 to $46.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Bank of New York Mellon from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Bank of America began coverage on Bank of New York Mellon in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. They set a buy rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Bank of New York Mellon in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $51.61.

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Bank of New York Mellon Price Performance

NYSE:BK opened at $45.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of New York Mellon has a 52-week low of $36.22 and a 52-week high of $52.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.28 and a 200 day moving average of $45.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Bank of New York Mellon Company Profile

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon during the 1st quarter worth approximately $235,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 47,800 shares of the banks stock worth $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon during the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 97,360 shares of the banks stock worth $4,306,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 126,769 shares of the banks stock worth $5,760,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.29% of the companys stock.

(Get Rating)

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segment. The Securities Services segment includes Asset Servicing business, which provides global custody, fund accounting, integrated middle-office solutions, transfer agency and data and analytics solutions.

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Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI  Get Rating) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,924 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 6,857 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLCs holdings in Gold Fields were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Gold Fields by 100.8% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,741 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gold Fields during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Chiron Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gold Fields during the 1st quarter worth approximately $68,000. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Gold Fields during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $339,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Gold Fields in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 28.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Gold Fields Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:GFI opened at $15.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stocks fifty day moving average is $11.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.82. Gold Fields Limited has a 52 week low of $7.03 and a 52 week high of $15.88.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.2425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 3%. This is a positive change from Gold Fieldss previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17.

A number of research firms recently commented on GFI. HSBC cut Gold Fields from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Investec cut Gold Fields from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Gold Fields in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock.

Gold Fields Profile

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Gold Fields Ltd. is a gold mining company, which engages in the production of gold and operation of mines. Its operating mines are located in Australia, Ghana, Peru, and South Africa. The company was founded on May 03, 1968 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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iShares MSCI GCC ex-Saudi Arabia (IGCC) (OTC:IGCC  Get Rating) shares traded up 2.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $0.39 and last traded at $0.34. 626,476 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 1,110,441 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.33.

iShares MSCI GCC ex-Saudi Arabia (IGCC) Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $0.39.

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Securitas AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:SCTBF  Get Rating)s stock price traded up 9.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.01 and last traded at $8.73. 1,889 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 3,235 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.97.

Securitas AB (publ) Stock Performance

The firms 50 day moving average is $8.37 and its 200 day moving average is $7.97.

Securitas AB (publ) Company Profile

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Securitas AB engages in the provision of security services. It operates through the following segments: Security Services North America, Security Services Europe, Security Services Ibero-America, and Other. The Security Services North America segment provides security services in the U. S., Canada, and Mexico.

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Tembo Gold Corp. (CVE:TEM  Get Rating) shares fell 2.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as C$0.17 and last traded at C$0.17. 51,666 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average session volume of 45,765 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.18.

Tembo Gold Stock Down 2.9 %

The firm has a market cap of C$17.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.50 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.03, a current ratio of 5.99 and a quick ratio of 5.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$0.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$0.19.

About Tembo Gold

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Tembo Gold Corp., a junior mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Tanzania. The company primarily explores for gold deposits. Its flagship project is the Tembo gold property covering an area of 32 square kilometers located in the Lake Victoria goldfield district in northwest Tanzania.

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Shares of Victoria Gold Corp. (OTCMKTS:BGMZF  Get Rating) fell 2% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $0.30 and last traded at $0.30. 700 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 99% from the average session volume of 85,897 shares. The stock had previously closed at $0.31.

Victoria Gold Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $0.30.

Victoria Gold Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of gold properties in Canada. The company focuses on the development of Cariboo Mining District located in Central British Columbia. It controls approximately 195,000 hectares of mineral tenures and Crown-Granted mineral claims, as well as a block of contiguous mineral tenures package centered around the Town of Wells, which is located to the east of Quesnel.

Further Reading

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A tea-rific new exhibition has launched in the Tower Museum, looking at the heritage and history of the most-loved hot beverage in the country.

You, Me & Tea is a new social heritage project, developed by leading diversity charity ArtsEkta and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Filled with tea-tastic stories, memories and collections, it looks at the heritage of tea in Northern Ireland and the connections with China and India.

You, Me & Tea discovers the origins and history of tea and its journey to Ireland, as well as the story of past tea merchants and present tea suppliers.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Sandra Duffy welcomed the new exhibition, declaring her over-arching love of a hot cuppa.

We are a nation of tea-lovers, myself included, and this is lovely to see this heart-warming exhibition come to the Tower Museum for the Spring. Like a lot of us, I absolutely love a cup of tea, and I couldnt be without it. Its fascinating to learn about the origins and connections with China and India and how it ended up here in Ireland.

Id like to welcome the developers ArtsEkta to Derry and thank them for bringing this interesting exhibition here. Everyone loves tea and everyone will love to learn more about it. ArtsEkta do a fantastic job at brining communities together by creating projects that inspire audiences to engage with the diversity, tastes, rhythms and sights that make up the multicultural life here in Ireland.

YOU, ME AND TEA LAUNCH. . . . Group pictured at Wednesdays launch of the You, Me and Tea exhibition at the Tower Museum, Derry. From left, Ciara Sheridan, Robert McCann, the Mayor Sandra Duffy and Bernadette Walsh, Tower Museum Archivist.

The exhibition will be working with several community groups across Northern Ireland and will include an engagement programme of talks and workshops for visitors, the project looks at bringing the Chinese and Indian communities together as participants, artists, and volunteers to have a brew together and discuss all things tea related.

The You, Me & Tea exhibition will be hosted in The Tower Museum from the 19th April until 30th June 2023.
US peace envoy George Mitchell says he holds out hope he will be able return to Northern Ireland in the company of his children.

The former senator, 89, who has undergone three years of intensive treatment for leukaemia, revealed his attendance at this weeks landmark conference commemorating the Good Friday Agreement was in doubt just days before he flew out.

Mr Mitchell, who chaired the 1998 Good Friday negotiations to their successful outcome, told the PA news agency that he had made alternative arrangements to address the event at Queens University from a TV studio in the United States.

The speech delivered by the veteran diplomat on the first day of the conference has been lauded as the most impactful of the entire event.

As he prepares to return to the United States on Friday, Mr Mitchell described his visit to Northern Ireland as very meaningful and emotional.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and was very seriously ill and I thought that my travelling days were over, he said.

But, fortunately  and this is the first time in three years that Ive attended and spoken at a major public event  I was able to make this trip and Im very grateful for it.

Mr Mitchell said he and his family had come to love Northern Ireland and its people.

And I wanted to come personally to thank people here for the courtesy and hospitality and warmth with which theyve received me and my family and to convey my hope, my genuine sincere hope, that people of Northern Ireland will get the self-governance that theyre entitled to, that they need to make progress and that they will continue in their efforts to make it possible for every child in Northern Ireland to go as high and as far as their talent and willingness to work will take them, he said.

Thats the fundamental aim of democratic societies everywhere. And Northern Ireland, I think more than most, has people of energy, commitment and they deserve that chance.

On his contingency arrangements if he had been unable to travel, Mr Mitchell said: I made alternate plans, a television studio in the United States to do my address by videotape, if that was necessary, he said.

But a few days before, I went to the hospital, went through some tests with my doctor, and he thought it was fine but I had to be careful and prudent about how much I do.

And, so far, while the chemotherapy that I received over the past three years is necessary to combat the cancer, it greatly weakens your body and leaves you lacking in stamina and energy, so Ive had to pace myself a little bit, get tired a little bit, but really it was well worth it.

A bronze bust of the talks mediator was unveiled at Queens University to mark the anniversary of the accord.

I dont know if this is my last trip or not to be perfectly frank, I dont know whats going to happen, he said.

The doctors have told me that I might go for a period of time without a resumption of cancer and die from something else, Im going to be 90 years old in a couple of months.

On the other hand he said the cancer might come back in a few months and youll have to go back into chemotherapy. So I live every day thanking God that Im still here and still around and, for me, its wonderful to be able to come back here.

Ive seen many old friends that I had not seen for a very long time, renewed acquaintances.

Things take on a different context and a different meaning when you reach the stage of life that I have reached, and I enjoy what we would think of as routine things more than I appreciated and did before.

And my children love Northern Ireland on the occasions that they came and I hope very much I can come back again, not at any conference, but just as a visitor, as I had often, and have my children come with me, but I cant be sure of that.

So I want to make the most of this visit as I can.
The axe of funding supporting schools in helping disadvantaged children has been described as devastating and shameful by a trade union.

The Department of Education in Northern Ireland has written to the headteachers of schools participating in the Extended Schools Programme to tell them funding is no longer available.

The project, which launched in 2006, supported activities such as breakfast and homework clubs, sport, art and drama.

More than 150 million of funding has been provided through the scheme since it began.

In its letter to headteachers, the department said schools should plan on the basis no further funding will be available after the end of the current academic year.

The letter said the programme has been supported in recent years with 5.8 million funding from the Confidence and Supply agreement.

This funding is no longer available and, due to the extent of budget pressures, it is not possible for this to be covered from the Department of Educations budget, it said.

Headteachers were told the interim allocation for the programme has been set at 2.285 million, and the letter added: This represents a reduction in budget of 6.868m from that available in the 2022/23 financial year and an overall reduction of 75%.

Consequently, unless additional funding is allocated by the Secretary of State, funding can only be provided for the Extended Schools Programme to the end of the academic year, June 2023.

Only those schools that continue to fully meet the Extended Schools criteria will receive funding and they will shortly be advised of the indicative funding available for the period April to June 2023 to allow provision to continue until the end of the current academic year.

Schools should plan on the basis that no further funding will be available after June 30 2023.

Alan Law, assistant secretary at Nipsa, said: This announcement will be devastating for the futures of children and young people across Northern Ireland.

It is yet another example of the failure of politicians to govern and leaving the futures of a generation of young people to the indifference to an unaccountable Secretary of State.

The communication from the Department advises schools to plan that no additional funding will be available from June 2023.

The programme is being wrecked and the valuable and important work destroyed. It is shameful that these decisions are being taken without anyone being accountable.

Justin McCamphill, NASUWT national official for Northern Ireland, said the cuts come on top of the ending of the Engage Programme, the Holiday Hunger programme and the Healthy Happy Minds pilot.

He said: If these cuts go ahead we will see the end of breakfast and homework clubs, after-school sports, art clubs, drama clubs, ICT clubs and programmes for parents and families as well as community use of school premises.

There can be no expectation that teachers will fill the gap on an unpaid basis.

This decision is being made in the context of wider cuts to education and against a backdrop of accelerating real-terms pay cuts.

The Department of Education should be in no doubt that cutting services will only strengthen the resolve of NASUWT members as they take strike action next week.

Mark Baker, chief executive of Controlled Schools Support Council, which supports controlled schools in Northern Ireland (NI), said financial pressures facing education are more stark there than elsewhere in the UK.

He said: The Department of Education has been given no choice but to end this programme as a result of the shortfall in funding being made available to Education in Northern Ireland.

As we have previously stated, these critical financial pressures facing education in NI are starker than elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Over their school education our young people are being further undervalued in comparison to their compatriots in Scotland, to the amount of 18,000 each.

Schools in Northern Ireland must be provided with sufficient funding and services that values our children and young people equitably.

Again we ask the Secretary of State the question: Why is the education of a young person in Northern Ireland valued less than those in England, Scotland and Wales?

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the department has yet to receive its confirmed budget for 2023-24 but the indicative allocation from the Northern Ireland Office is extremely challenging and will require further significant reductions across a wide range of areas.

The spokesperson said the department will finalise the Extended Schools allocation following confirmation of the education budget, adding: However, there is currently no funding available for the programme beyond June 30 2023 and schools have been advised to plan on that basis.

We regret the uncertainty this will create and are grateful for the work, dedication and commitment of those who support the Extended Schools programme and the benefits they deliver to our children and young people on a daily basis.

After meeting with representatives of the Department of Education, DUP education spokeswoman Diane Dodds said the Extended Schools Programme is unlikely to be the last casualty coming forward.

She said there is a huge deficiency in the baseline budget for education that must be tackled and this must mean placing it alongside the Department of Health as a budget priority.

The problems in our budget existed when the executive and assembly was fully functioning and their restoration will not be a panacea to the challenges we face.

There are fundamental issues with how public services are financed in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK, and it is patently obvious the current funding model has failed, she said.
Seoul, South Korea -- April 20, 2023 --- OPENEDGES Technology, Inc. (OPENEDGES), the leading provider of memory subsystem intellectual property (IP), is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, The Six Semiconductor (TSS), has received the prestigious Best International Business Award from the Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACCE). The award, presented on April 15th, recognizes TSS outstanding achievements in international business, including its successful performance results, growth prospects, and management capabilities. This recognition is a testament to TSS exceptional work and dedication to excellence in the semiconductor industry and for Chinese Canadians.

Image 1: The Six Semiconductor (TSS) winning the Best International Business Award

We are thrilled to receive the Best International Business Award from the Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs, said Richard Fung, the CEO of TSS. This award is a great motivator for us to continue pushing the boundaries and delivering the exceptional solution to our clients. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to everyone involved in making this happen.

TSS was established in 2018 with five industry experts who shared a vision to become the most respected PHY IP vendor of choice, enhancing everyday lives through the products of their customers. TSS was established in Markham, Ontario, Canada, and has grown from five engineers to 50 engineers today. TSS strives to foster the next generation of Canadian engineers by hiring local engineers and students. TSS also participates in local business associations to promote trade and education in semiconductor engineering. In 2019, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of OPENEDGES Technology and has expanded its global presence and partnerships with leading technology companies around the world. Recently, TSS successfully taped out LPDDR5x/5/4x/4 and HBM3 validation test chips at the same time in a 7nm process. This accomplishment demonstrates TSS commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements and providing excellent solutions to its clients.

The ACCE is Canadas premiere, national, Chinese-Canadian business association. With the support of thousands of members, our directors and our sponsors, the ACCE has developed a vast network of community members promoting business success.

Image 2: The Six Semiconductor (TSS) winning the Best International Business Award

About The Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACCE)

The Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACCE), formerly known as The Chinese Canadian Entrepreneur Club, is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in 1994. In 1995, the Association signed a letter of cooperation with the Centre of Entrepreneurship of Centennial College to foster entrepreneurship training. In 1997, in association with Centennial College, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly known as Coopers & Lybrand), and Ming Pao Daily News, ACCE held the first Chinese Canadian Entrepreneur Awards. The mission of the association is to encourage entrepreneurship and to strengthen the competitiveness of Chinese Canadian businesses in the global market.

About The Six Semiconductor, Inc. (TSS)

TSS is a Canadian technology company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of OPENEDGES, which specializes in developing advanced high-speed DDR PHY IP solutions that cater to a wide range of applications such as AI/ML, high-performance computing (HPC), mobile devices, and automotive. The company's product portfolio includes PHY IPs for various memory standards, including LPDDR5x/5/4x/4, GDDR6, and HBM3, that are optimized for power and area. TSS's solutions are designed to be compatible with multiple technologies, foundries, and process nodes. The company's team of experts has a wealth of experience in the field and is dedicated to providing the industry with high-quality and reliable DDR PHY IP solutions. To learn more about TSS's products, visit their website at www.thesixsemi.com.

About OPENEDGES Technology, Inc.

OPENEDGES Technology, Inc. is a premier provider of memory subsystem IPs for the semiconductor industry. They offer a wide range of state-of-the-art solutions, including DDR memory controllers, DDR PHY, NoC interconnect, and NPU IPs that are widely adopted by customers worldwide. Their IPs comply with JEDEC standards, including LPDDR5x/5/4x/4/3, DDR5/4/3, GDDR6, and HBM3, ensuring their compatibility with the latest DDR technology trends. In 2019, they acquired The Six Semiconductor, Inc. (TSS), specializing in high-speed memory PHYs across multiple technologies. As a publicly listed company on the Korean Stock Exchange Market (394280. KQ), OPENEDGES is well-positioned to continue its growth and maintain its leadership in the memory subsystem IPs market.

Learn more about the company and its offerings by visiting the official website at www.openedges.com.






Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI which created the ChatGPT AI chatbot, made waves by announcing a multi-million dollar investment into a little-known life sciences startup thats trying to solve the problem of biological ageing in humans. So in essence theyre trying to conquer death!

When Retro Biosciences, in 2022, announced that the company is launching with $180 million initial funding with the aim to increase healthy human lifespan by ten years, the biotechnology ecosystem was thrilled and sceptical as to the existence of the company, how it would accomplish this claim and above it all who were the investors that believed so passionately in this concept. To our surprise the MIT report disclosed, theres only one investor who has invested 180$ million in the venture and he is none other than the ChatGPT mastermind, Open AIs CEO, Sam Altman.

The 37-year-old start-up genius, Sam Altman has made a path breaking advancement in technology with his artificial-intelligence company which offer electronic art programs and conversation AI who have been redefining the systems with human-like capabilities. Now we can further understand the ambitions of the CEO as he has invested his money in two other programs. Helion Energy, a fusion power start-up that required him to invest more than $375 million and the other is Retro which asked for $180 million funding. Altman made the investments in the same year.

Also read: Meet AutoGPT, the ChatGPT version everyones talking about

What is Retro Biosciences

Where Altman has invested in Helion Energy that aspires to tame atom smashing and promises to create a limitless source of clean energy, Retros is attaining the solution on how to rejuvenate our bodies and prolong life, said the CEO and cofounder, who is better known for inventing the worlds smallest personal computer, Joe Betts-LaCroix.



The company has cellular drivers of ageing and will be working on three programs. The three programs are aimed at cellular reprogramming, autophagy and plasma-inspired therapeutics. The company aids at achieving a process that is capable of multi-disease prevention. Retro states that its mission is to increase healthy human lifespan by 10 years.

However, is this truly achievable well according to Altman, hard startups have a better chance than the easy ones. While fusion and life extension could be unachievable projects, a few years ago everyone suggested that maybe AI could at one point pass a medical exam, and Open AIs ChatGPT did this year, hence investing in implausible ideas is a double edged sword.

Also read: ChatGPT and the Generative AI Mania!

Increase of 10 years in human life span?

There are multiple startups who have been working on the idea of longevity in different verticals of healthcare and medical treatments.

Betts-LaCroixs interest in cellular reprogramming involved techniques that could transform the cells to be younger through genetic engineering. Retro teamed up with the Chinese researcher, Sheng Ding, the developer of new ways to reprogram cells for the same. And the CEO finally thought of processes that cells use to dispose of toxins which is known as autophagy. If the company achieves the said goal, the healthcare industry will have an avenue to build upon treatments for cancer and heart diseases.

Apart from Retro there are other startups who are aiming to fight death, below is the list to explore their avenues of beating death and prolonging life.



Longevity Vision Fund - Neurodegenerative disease

Tempus - Gene editing, epigenetic programming and organ regeneration

Elysium Health - Biological age index

Valo Health - Age-defying unicorns

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
iPhone 15 series has been in the limelight when it comes to leaks and rumours. The upcoming Apple lineup will be launched in the second half of this year and it might come with a whole new different design as the tech-giant changes iPhones design after three generations. Similarly, there are many rumours leaked on the internet, lets have a look at them. The Apple iPhone 15 will essentially be the successor to the iPhone 14.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max to feature Periscope lens

A report by MacRumors suggests that iPhone 15 Pro Max is expected to launch with a Periscope lens which can zoom the picture up to 5-6x.

A Periscope lens works in a similar way to its traditional optical instrument counterpart. It allows light to travel a longer distance, enabling the camera to take high-quality photos with high magnification without sacrificing the phone's size.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro to feature Taptic buttons

A tipster known as chenwen1987 has leaked the CAD files which reveal that the company might introduce a solitary button for controlling the volume in the iPhone 15 Pro, instead of having separate buttons for increasing and decreasing the volume as found in their earlier models. The new button, namely Taptic, will be able to sense pressure and register volume adjustments without requiring any physical movement.

Apple iPhone 15 series might feature USB Type-C Port

The iPhone 15 series is expected to launch with the USB Type-C Port instead of its Lightning Port. This might happen to comply with a new European law that requires all electronic devices to have USB-C-type ports.

Apart from that, the company could also make the bezel slimmer and the smartphones will reportedly have more curved edges.

Apple iPhone 15 performance

iPhone 15 and the bigger variant iPhone 15 Plus will likely be equipped with Apples A16 chipset and the Pro models could boast the A17 chip paired with increased RAM. There are rumours circulating that the A17 Bionic chipset will be based on 3nm technology, which is expected to make it both more powerful and more energy-efficient compared to previous chipsets.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro variants price hike

A known analyst, Jeff Pu, has suggested that Apple iPhone 15 Pro models might see a price hike this year in comparison to iPhone 14 Pro models because of the changes Apple is making in the smartphones which include an A17 chipset, Titanium Frame, Periscope lens and more.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
OnePlus has already mentioned that the OnePlus Pad tablet will be available on multiple platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, and OnePlus Indias website, the price was still to be disclosed. However, the two variants of the OnePlus Pad were showcased accidentally on Flipkart. While the listings of the two variants for the OnePlus Pad have been taken down, you can still find the cached version on Google Search.

The OnePlus Pad after its announcement in February had opened the forum for pre-orders and is now all set to launch its first tablet in several countries on April 25 Taking into consideration the Flipkart listings, the OnePlus Pad will be available in two versions in India.

The vanilla model will have 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and will be priced at 37,999 ($461 or 421 estimated), while the top model will offer 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage which will be priced at 39,999 ($486 or 443 estimated).These prices are disclosed without any available discount offers.

Source: OnePlus

Also read: Prices of the OnePlus 11, OnePlus Buds Pro 2 and OnePlus Keyboard revealed!

The tablet will be available in the vibrant color of Halo Green all over the global markets. These prices pertain to the Indian market and might differ for other regions and hence, we have mentioned estimated prices for European Regions and the US.

OnePlus Pad Specs

The OnePlus Pad will offer the users with a 11.61-inch display which will have 2000x2800 resolution and 144 Hz refresh rate with LCD touchscreen. The tablet will run on MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC at the helm and will come with storage and RAM options, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

The tablet will also offer a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing camera. With a 10090mAh battery and 67W charging support the OnePlus Pad will run Android 13 with OxygenOS 13.1 on top.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
The leaks and rumours about the Samsung Galaxy A24 have been making rounds for a while now. Samsung Vietnam has made some of those speculations real by revealing the key Galaxy A24 specs on its website. Heres what we learn.

Samsung Galaxy A24s confirmed features

1. Samsung discloses the display size is 6.5 inches and it is FHD+ in resolution and sAMOLED in nature. It is capable of hitting 1000 nits of brightness. There is a waterdrop notch up top which gives it a basic phone look.

2. The front camera houses a 13MP sensor. On the back of the phone, you have a 50MP+ 5MP+ 2MP triplet. The primary one has OIS support. The phone supports video recording at up to FHD, 30 frames per second.

3. Galaxy A24 is running on an octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz frequency. Although the name is not revealed, it is expected to be a MediaTek Helio G99 chip. This is backed by 6/8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You also get expandable storage of up to 1TB via a dedicated microSD card slot.

4. The A24s battery size is 5000 milliamps. This could sport a 25W fast charging support.

5. Samsung Galaxy A24 features connectivity options like USB-C 2.0, GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, dual-band WiFi ac, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and dual SIM 4G VoLTE.

The specs page also hints at Android 13 software. We suppose One UI 5.1 on top of this.

Well, these are the details announced by Samsung on its Vietnamese website. However, there is no word on the price and availability details yet. We could soon get those details as well. Stay tuned.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Flipkart has announced a massive discount on last years flagship Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus. The Galaxy S22 Plus was launched by Samsung in February 2022 along with Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Ultra. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus is the middle variant of the Galaxy S22 series which comes with similar specifications as the Samsung Galaxy S22 but with a bigger display and battery.

The smartphone was not much of a hit because people either chose the Samsung Galaxy S22 because of being the most affordable smartphone in the S22 series or they chose Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra because of its power-packed performance and features. But today, Flipkart has offered a deal which even lowers the price of Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus to the price of Samsung Galaxy S22. Lets check out this deal

Samsung Galaxy S22+ on Flipkart

It is available on Flipkart at a price of 69,999, with a 31% instant discount which adds a 32,000 discount on the smartphone. Along with that, there is an exchange offer which promises a discount up to 26,250. All you need to do is trade in your old smartphone and in return it will give the exchange value.

Note that, the smartphone you are trading in should be in good condition and it should not be damaged otherwise it wont count in the exchange offer.

In the last, Flipkart has offered some bank offers as well that are:

Get 10% Cashback on Samsung Axis Bank Credit Card

10% instant discount on SBI Credit Card EMI Transactions up to 1000.

5% Cashback on Flipkart Axis Bank Card.

After availing of all these offers on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus, the total amount of discount you are getting is 59,250 which means this premium will cost you only 42,749.

For specifications of Samsung Galaxy S22+, click here.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
The market is filled with some really good smartwatches for Android users and Samsung definitely has a few attractive options to choose from. So, to level up their game Samsung is all set to launch a new feature in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

What's different about it? Well it's something very useful for the ladies, especially related to menstruation cycle. The Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro enables skin temperature measurement for correct prediction of the menstrual cycle. So, you know what phase of your cycle is going on and can keep yourself prepared for that time of the month.

So, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro first measure the skin temperature. Then there's the Cycle Tracking feature. Here the skin temperature measurement is fed. This process results in a better utilisation of the infrared temperature sensor installed in the watch.

The temperature sensor that tracks the skin temperature changes help to forecast the entire menstruation cycle from ovulation to bleeding days. Also, one plus point is, as the sensor uses infrared tech, it gives you the accurate data irrespective of any factors like temperature change in the user's surroundings etc.

Samsung has given confirmation that the Cycle Tracking feature has been registered with the FDA. The Skin Temperature-base cycle tracking is already present in the Samsung Health App for the watch users in the UK, USA and certain markets of Europe. No doubt Samsung can already smell success.

Something to be kept in mind is that Samsung will never present the temperature data or any raw readings. This remains so for a lot of smartwatches. So, as this data is not presented, hence the user is provided with a graph which shows the temperature ups and downs through the day or the week or month.

This raw data is not provided to the user because it might mislead people to think it is the same as clinical thermometer readings. Hence, this reading cannot be relied on for medical purposes.

Its important to remember that these smartwatches and smart fitness trackers are only meant to track what they are meant for, which in this case happens to be the accurate bodily changes over a span of time which helps in making the correct prediction for your menstrual cycle.

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Apple commits to Make in India, reportedly to double employment there

Apple CEO Tim Cook made his first visit to India in seven years and met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi as the world's largest company is looking to make India an iPhone production base.

Following inaugurating Apple's first retail store in India in Mumbai on April 18, Cook met with Modi on April 19, discussing reciprocal ties between Apple and India. Cook said in a tweet that with a shared vision of the positive impact technology can make on India, Apple is committed to growing and investing in India. Modi also tweeted that he was glad to exchange views on diverse topics and highlight the tech-powered transformations taking place in India.

In addition to meeting with Modi, Narendra also met with Ashwini Vaishnaw, India's minister for electronics & IT, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's minister of state of electronics & IT. Both said in their respective tweets that they talked about manufacturing, electronics, exports, job creation, and skills.

The first day of Cook's visit to India, when he inaugurated the first Apple Store in India, marked the company's bullishness on India's huge and growing market, while the second day of the trip was primarily for the supply chain diversification.

Businessline and PTI quoted respective sources saying that Cook reaffirmed Apple's commitment to India and manufacturing and will double the employment base, doubling the jobs from 1 million to 2 million in device-making. Meanwhile, a source told PTI that the Indian government promised to offer support for manpower skills that Apple requires for manufacturing in India.

Cook's first trip to India as Apple CEO in 2016 was to establish a developer center for iOS and capitalize on the opportunity that Modi's Make in India might offer. In 2017, Wistron became the first assembler in India to set up its manufacturing facility for making iPhones.

Cook's visit also followed two visits in less than a year by Foxconn chairman Young Liu, during which Liu also met with Modi and other officials. WSJ quoted sources saying that Foxconn was looking to make iPads as well as iPhones in India.
Volkswagen to establish R&D and procurement center in China to shorten EV development times

Volkswagen unveiled another project to gain a presence in the world's largest EV market. The carmaker said it will invest EUR1 billion (US$1.1 billion) in building an EV R&D and procurement center in China, aiming to reduce product development times by 30%.

Volkswagen announced the plan on April 18 at the Shanghai auto show. A new company, expected to be launched in early 2024, will execute the project called 100%TechCo. Volkswagen said the unit will comprise over 2,000 procurement and R&D employees and be led by Marcus Hafkemeyer, chief technology officer of Volkswagen Group China.

According to Volkswagen, deliveries of its battery EV series, ID., grew more than two times in China last year. Its overall BEV deliveries in China were up by 68% from 2021. However, the European automaker has been falling behind its China-based counterparts in the country's EV market. It has taken the "in China, for China" strategy to win over more customers.

Volkswagen said the 100%TechCo project will merge R&D and procurement efforts for EVs into a joint unit. Local suppliers will get involved in the early stages of product development to adapt vehicles to the wishes of Chinese customers faster.

The company said the project is expected to gradually shorten new product and technologies development times by 30%. It also will integrate the development projects of all Volkswagen Group's joint ventures in China, including SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-VW and Volkswagen Anhui.

Hafkemeyer said in an announcement that 100%TechCo will steer the development of models based on the MEB platform from Volkswagen Anhui. In addition, the project includes developing China-specific platform requirements and modules with a focus on electric mobility.

In March, Volkswagen announced it plans to invest EUR180 billion between 2023 and 2027 to boost its businesses. More than 68% of the investment will focus on digitalization and electrification. The ambition encompasses enhancing its battery strategies and increasing competitiveness in digitalization and products in China.

The carmaker just introduced its premium ID.7 EV at the Shanghai auto show this week. Reuters reported that Thomas Schafer, chief executive of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, said the company remains firmly committed to China. Volkswagen intends to launch 10 more EV models by 2026, he added.
International guests of TaiwanICDF visit AI Expo Taiwan 2023

Taiwan's International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), an organization sponsored by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) that is dedicated to boosting socio-economic development, enhancing human resources, and promoting economic relations in a range of developing partner countries, invited a group of 22 international visitors composed of government officials from many countries and executives of businesses and chambers of commerce to visit AI Expo Taiwan 2023, running from April 19-21 in Taipei.

During the tour of the show, exhibitors including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kapito (Fastable.ai), Winbond, NetApp, Google Cloud, Noodoe, Veeam Software, Techman Robot, and Analog Devices demonstrated their latest hardware and software innovations to help the visitors understand the businesses and fields that can benefit from the application of AI technology.

AWS demonstrated its cloud AI platforms and also played a song created by its AI system, while Kapito's Fastable.ai platform showed how it can assist production lines to filter out faulty products with its AI-enhanced computer vision.

Exhibitors were eager to show their developments. NetApp is a solution provider that can assist its partners to train AI, while Google Cloud mainly focuses on providing AI in its cloud platforms to assist enterprises in their operation. Noodoe is an EV charging pile supplier and its AI management system can improve charging efficiency for EV owners. Veeam is a data protection solution provider that helps customers guard their data with the rising adoption of AI and hybrid cloud systems.

Winbond, a DRAM specialist, exhibited to the visitors its customized memory solutions and the new CUBE ICs that can output a performance similar to high bandwidth memory (HBM). Techman Robot is now the second-largest collaborative robot brand worldwide, and with its native AI engines and smart AI vision, the robots can perform many tasks to significantly reduce manpower. Analog Devices has showcased its Max78000 AI microcontrollers and chips for edge computing applications such as image recognition and keyword scans.

After the tour, DIGITIMES interviewed a few of the guests to understand their thoughts on the latest AI technologies and how these technologies may help connect Taiwan with their countries in terms of IT cooperation.

Vorapoj Prasanpanich, State Officer at The Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion (OSMEP) in Thailand, pointed out that Thailand's IT industry has also been growing rapidly in the past several years and he believes Thailand and Taiwan will make good partners in the road to expanding AI innovations.

Lukasz Szaruch, head of the entrepreneurship support unit for the Department of Small and Medium Enterprises under Poland's Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, noted that there have been many collaborations between Taiwanese and Polish IT enterprises. Such collaborations over AI applications are expected to continue rising in the upcoming years.

Monique C. Usher, manager at small business development for Centre Belize (SBDCBelize), Beltraide, said that she is impressed with the AI innovations showcased at the AI Expo Taiwan 2023 and has high regard for Taiwan's IT development. She also expects more cooperation between Taiwan and Belize over AI applications.

Kapito demonstrates AI vision solutions based on Fastable.ai platform

Photo: DIGITIMES

Winbond's showcasing of its CUBE ICs and customized memory solutions

Photo: DIGITIMES

Noodoe's AI management system can improve charging efficiency for EV owners

Photo: DIGITIMES

Vorapoj Prasanpanich, State Officer at The Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion (OSMEP) in Thailand

Photo: DIGITIMES

Lukasz Szaruch, head of the entrepreneurship support unit for the Department of Small and Medium Enterprises under Poland's Ministry of Economic Development and Technology

Photo: DIGITIMES

Monique C Usher, Manager at Small Business Development Centre Belize (SBDCBelize), Beltraide

Photo: DIGITIMES
Stephen Silver, who murdered Gda Colm Horkan by shooting him eleven times with the garda's service gun, has been jailed for life with a minimum time to be served of 40 years by a judge at the Central Criminal Court.

Gda Horkan's family and friends packed out the courtroom at the Criminal Courts of Justice building this morning to hear the sentence being passed down. In statements read out to the court, Gda Horkan's family described him as a loving and thoughtful man who was their "go-to" person when they needed advice or help.

Ms Justice Tara Burns offered her condolences to the Horkan family who she said were visibly traumatised by the tragic circumstances that led to the death of the "heart and soul" of their family. She also called on people suffering from mental health problems to recognise the importance of continuing their medical treatment in light of the evidence that Silver had stopped taking medication prescribed for his bipolar affective disorder when he shot Gda Horkan.

Judge Burns said things "could have been very different" if he had maintained his treatment regime.

Garda Colm Horkan

Passing sentence, the judge said that she has no discretion given that the jury had returned a verdict that Silver is guilty of murdering a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty. She sentenced him to life imprisonment and in accordance with the Criminal Justice Act 1990, she specified that he must serve a minimum of 40 years in prison.

Silver (46), a motorbike mechanic from Aughaward, Foxford, Co Mayo, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Garda Horkan (49) knowing or being reckless as to whether he was a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty. He had pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Castlerea, Co Roscommon on 17 June 2020, and the jury were told the main issue in the trial was Mr Silvers state of mind at the time of the shooting.

After two trials at the Central Criminal Court a jury found Stephen Silver guilty of capital murder last month. His first trial ended last November with a jury disagreement.

The trials heard that Gda Horkan was a well-regarded member of the force with 25 years service and no disciplinary issues on his record. The prosecution told the jury that Gda Horkan had no idea when he signed out his firearm on the afternoon of June 17, 2020, that he would be shot dead with the same gun just nine hours later.

They maintained Silver had a "seething resentment" toward gardai and that the shooting of Gda Horkan was a deliberate action done with the intent of murder".

During the trial, the jury heard evidence from Silver that he believed Gda Horkan was a heavy down from Dublin who was trying to kill him. He said that Gda Horkan, who was not in uniform and drove an unmarked car, was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and didnt come across as a garda. He gave evidence that a struggle ensued between them before he fell to the ground, and in the process of getting up he felt the gun on Gda Horkans hip.

He had his hand on the gun and I had my hand on the gun and we wrestled. The gun came out; I couldnt tell you who took it out, said Silver.

He said that he felt Gda Horkan was trying to kill me.

I kept shooting until the gun finished and there was no ammunition left, Silver said.

Silver's defence at the second trial was that he could be found guilty of manslaughter either because he believed he was acting in self defence but used excessive force or because his responsibility was significantly diminished due to a mental disorder. The jury rejected both defences and found him guilty of murdering Gda Horkan, a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty.

Under the Criminal Justice Act 1990, the judge must impose the ordinary life sentence for murder and specify that Silver serve a minimum of 40 years in prison. With ordinary remission for good behaviour, Silver will be eligible to apply for parole after he has served 30 years.

Having gone into custody in June 2020, he will be aged 74 when he can first be considered for release by a parole board.

The jury heard evidence from Dr Brenda Wright, interim clinical director at the Central Mental Hospital, who said it was her view that Silvers bipolar affective mental disorder at the time he killed Gda Horkan was such that it impaired his thinking and his judgement and therefore contributed significantly to his actions at that time.

However, consultant psychiatrist Professor Harry Kennedy disagreed and told the jury that he found no positive evidence that Silver had suffered a relapse of his mental disorder at the time he shot dead Gda Horkan. Professor Kennedy's opinion was that Silver's behaviour was explained by his personality and that his increasingly aggressive and bizarre behaviour while in garda custody was due to a "learned impunity" whereby he expected to be treated as a psychiatric patient rather than held for questioning.

In the closing statement for the prosecution, Michael Delaney SC said that it had been established beyond reasonable doubt that Silver knew Gda Horkan was a garda acting in the course of his duty, and in taking the gun he attempted to kill or cause serious injury.

Addressing the claim that Silver may have thought he was acting in self defence, prosecution counsel Michael Delaney told the jury: He fired until the gun was empty. If there had been more bullets in the gun, would he have kept firing? How many bullets until he felt safe in his own mind?

In the closing statement for the defence, Dominic McGinn SC said the shooting of Gda Horkan was not a rational act and there was no rational basis or motivation for what happened.

Shooting a garda - thats not intact social function, he said, adding the natural conclusion from this was that Silver was in a relapse of his bipolar affective disorder at the time.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the government expects senior civil servant Robert Watt to carry out the findings of a report into a botched secondment.

The secretary general of the Department of Health rejected the findings of an external report into an attempt last year to second former chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan to a post in Trinity College.

The report found there was a lack of formal consultation with the Taoiseach, Minister for Health and the Department of Public Expenditure, and that the corresponding proposed annual funding of two million euro bypassed accepted protocols.

Appearing before an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday, Mr Watt strongly rejected parts of the report put to him by TDs, and was accused of being arrogantly dismissive.

When asked whether he had confidence in Mr Watt, Mr Varadkar said that the government has accepted the recommendations of the report, which does not make findings against any individual and found that those involved acted in good faith.

We cant see this happen again, he said, adding: I fully expect Mr Watt to fully implement that report and its findings.

He continued: I didnt have a chance to see everything he said (at committee), but my understanding is that he said that he would implement it and thats part of his responsibility now.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: Ultimately what matters is what government accepts, not what the civil service accepts.

Government accepts the report, the recommendations will be implemented, Minister Donohoe and I are talking to that effect, and there is no question about that. It is government who has accepted this, it is government who will implement it and thats all there is to it.

It doesnt matter whether civil servants accept or do not accept recommendations in reports.

Mr Donnelly was also asked about a revelation in the Oireachtas committee by Mr Watt that he had tried to contact the minister about the two million euro annual funding  but it never reached him because his phone had been hacked.

He and another department official were advised not to use their devices during a St Patricks Day trip to the US in March 2022.

Mr Donnelly said: There was a security issue with our phones and with our laptops when we were in Texas. We need to keep the details reasonably vague, but yes, there was a period of time where we were asked not to use our phones, not to use our laptops.

He said they had been asked not to use their emails for a week.

I wasnt aware of an email being sent, it wasnt received, but Im not sure of the details on that, he added.

When asked if Wednesday was the first time Mr Donnelly had heard about an attempt to send an email to him about the secondment, he said it was.

Asked whether senior civil servants contradicting each other in public was damaging to the working of government, Mr Varadkar said it was not.

When I talk to voters, when I talk to constituents, theyre not talking about this issue, the Taoiseach said.

Theyre talking about job security, theyre talking about traffic, theyre talking about housing, theyre talking about healthcare and how we should invest more in healthcare, which is exactly what were doing here.

Those are the issues people are talking to me on the doorsteps about.

When asked whether he would lead Fine Gael into the next general election, Mr Varadkar said: I will.

My expectation in the next election is that we will have an election result in the mid-20s, that we will have roughly 45 seats and well have between 10 and 15 new TDs.

He also said: Lets not forget in the last general election  which was a difficult election for my party  we elected five new TDs. Two of those are ministers and three of those are very much on the rise within the party.
Dundalk Chamber of Commerce in association with Cross Border Partnership Employment Services will host a free business seminar on employment incentives and supports available for SMEs in the cross border region on Wednesday the 10th May in the Fairways Hotel from 12.30pm to 2pm.

The event will give employers in the border areas information on how they can be assisted with their recruitment needs.

There will be several speakers at the event including the Department of Social Protection, Cross Border Partnership Employment Services, the Department for Communities, Intertrade Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office Louth.

Paddy Malone PRO of Dundalk Chamber siad he is delighted that the chamber is running this event as it will help increase the awareness of what supports are out there for SMEs in the cross border region.

This is the first CBPES Cross Border event that Dundalk Chamber of Commerce will host to assist the cross-border worker, jobseeker, and employer with more planned for the future.

To book your free place call Brenda in Dundalk Chamber on 042 9336343 or email brenda@dundalk.ie A light lunch will be provided.

For more information on the Cross Border Partnership Employment Services and how it can assist you log on to www.cbpes.com
Helvetia Holding AG / Key word(s): Personnel

Fabian Rupprecht to become new Group CEO of Helvetia



20-Apr-2023 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

St.Gallen, 20 April 2023

Fabian Rupprecht will join Helvetia as Chairman of the Executive Management and Group CEO on 1 October 2023. The German-Swiss dual national has extensive insurance experience in Helvetia's key markets and is currently CEO International Insurance and a member of the Management Board at the Dutch NN Group. The Helvetia Board of Directors is to appoint Fabian Rupprecht as Chairman of the Executive Management and Group CEO. Fabian Rupprecht has served as CEO International Insurance and a member of the Management Board of the Dutch NN Group since 2018. The 53-year-old had previously held various international management roles at AXA Group, including as CEO of the MEA Region (Middle East and Africa) and CFO for Emerging Markets and the Mediterranean Region. During his 28-year career in the insurance sector, he has also worked in the life and non-life insurance businesses. Fabian Rupprecht is a German-Swiss dual national and is at home in Switzerland. He studied at WHU  Otto Beisheim School of Management in Koblenz, where he attained a degree in business management with a specialisation in finance and controlling. "With Fabian Rupprecht, we are delighted to have gained an outstanding management figure with extensive experience in the insurance business for the Helvetia Group. In recent years, Fabian Rupprecht has successfully led and further developed the international division of NN Group. His past experience means he is also familiar with the Spain and Switzerland markets, which are important for Helvetia", explains Thomas Schmuckli, Chair of the Board of Directors of Helvetia. "The Board of Directors is looking forward to working together with Fabian Rupprecht and all employees in continuing to successfully shape the future of the company. We would like to wish Fabian Rupprecht much success and satisfaction in his new role", adds Thomas Schmuckli. In taking on the role as Group CEO on 1 October 2023, Fabian Rupprecht will succeed Philipp Gmur, who at the end of 2022 announced his departure after 30 years at the Helvetia Group. Thomas Schmuckli: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank Philipp Gmur for his great contribution and the dedication he has shown to successfully developing Helvetia over the past three decades." The decision on the successor as Group CEO of Helvetia is subject to the approval of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Analysts Philipp Schupbach

Head of Investor Relations Phone: +41 58 280 59 23

investor.relations@helvetia.ch Media Jonas Grossniklaus

Head of Corporate Communications Phone: +41 58 280 50 33

media.relations@helvetia.ch About Helvetia Group

Helvetia Group, with its headquarters in St. Gallen, has grown since 1858 to become a successful insurance group with over 12,000 employees and more than 7 million customers. It has been enabling its customers to seize opportunities and minimise risks for all that time  Helvetia is there for them when it matters. Helvetia is the best partner and is present everywhere that protection needs arise, with insurance, pension and investment solutions from a single source as well as simple products and processes. The insurance group knows the business, from mobile phone insurance and insurance cover for the Gotthard Base Tunnel to the long-term investment of customer assets. Helvetia develops and opens up new business models with enthusiasm and drives forward its own business in a powerful and future-oriented manner. It acts with foresight and responsibility in everything it does: for the benefit of its shareholders, customers and employees as well as its partners, society and the environment.

Helvetia is the leading all-lines insurer in Switzerland. In the Europe segment comprising Germany, Italy, Austria and Spain, the company has firmly rooted market positions for generating above-average growth. In the Specialty Markets segment, Helvetia offers tailored special insurance and reinsurance cover worldwide. With a business volume of CHF 11.1 billion, Helvetia generated IFRS net income after tax of CHF 614.4 million in the 2022 financial year. The shares of Helvetia Holding AG are traded on SIX Swiss Exchange. Cautionary note

This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. The German version of this document is decisive and binding. Versions of the document in other languages are made available purely for information purposes. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.

This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies. We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.

End of Inside Information
Pictured are Tim Griffiths, CEO of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland; Donal Murphy, Chief Executive of DCC plc; Therese Coveney, co-founder of The Together Academy; students of The Together Academy; Scott and Tristan Casson-Rennie, co-founders of FASD Ireland; Liz Gleeson, founder of Shapes of Grief; Lucy Alexia Dube, founder of Alexia Press Hub

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) is encouraging people from Louth who have an innovative idea to solve a particular social problem to apply for a place on its two support programmes valued at 500,000.

Yesterday, SEI launched its national campaign for applications, encouraging people to apply for its two support programmes; the Ideas Academy  aimed at those with an early-stage idea to solve a social problem and the Impact Programme  which provides high-potential social entrepreneurs bespoke support to grow their impact and embedded best practice.

SEI seeks out people with unique insight and scalable ideas to social problems. Through a mixture of funding, mentorship, training and a community of changemakers, SEI helps organisations to grow and deepen their impact.

Since its foundation in 2004, SEI has supported more than 550 social entrepreneurs around the island of Ireland who have directly impacted the lives of millions of people. SEI does not discriminate in organisational or funding structure and encourages anyone with an idea to accelerate social change in Ireland to apply.

The Ideas Academy has up to 30 places for people with innovative early-stage ideas to solve social problems. The three-month programme will be delivered online in 2023 and will provide participants with the support and direction they need as they take the first steps from idea to action, sparking a new generation of social entrepreneurs.

Participants will be supported to clearly articulate, refine and progress their solution, to build skills and accelerate learning in core areas of importance to social entrepreneurs, and to move from idea to action. P

articipants also have the opportunity to pitch for seed funding at the end of the programme to pilot their idea. Recent alumni of the Ideas Academy include Dundalk woman Camilla Marks, founder of Toddler Talk. Other alumni include The Together Academy, FASD Ireland, Speire Nua and Education for Sustainability.

There are five places available on Social Entrepreneurs Irelands prestigious Impact Programme, aimed at high-potential social entrepreneurs who are looking to bring their organisation to the next level.

Awardees will join the nine-month accelerator programme, where they will receive mentorship, bespoke training, and consultancy in leadership development, fundraising, governance, strategic planning, and communications.

They will also each receive 20,000 in unrestricted funding to grow their impact and will access to pro-bono support from SEIs partner organisations. Recent alumni of the programme include AsIAm, Grow Remote, The Two Norries, and Jiminy Eco Toys.

Commenting on the national call for applications, CEO of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Tim Griffiths said: Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, and our dynamic community of supporters, are determined to provide support and help accelerate the pace of social change in Ireland.

"We believe that there are people from Louth who have solutions to social problems, and would encourage anyone with an idea, or who is taking action to make their communities better, to apply to one of our programmes.

DCC plc, the international sales, marketing and support services group, is the flagship supporter of Social Entrepreneurs Irelands national call for applications.

Commenting, the Chief Executive of DCC plc, Donal Murphy said: Over the past twelve years, the team at DCC plc have personally and professionally seen the incredible power and community that Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has had by harnessing the transformative impact that social entrepreneurship has to solve Irelands social problems.

On Thursday, 4th May 2023 Social Entrepreneurs Ireland will host an online information session for potential applicants that will outline the supports available through the two programmes.

Participants will hear from alumni of the Ideas Academy and Impact Programme, and will have the opportunity to join a live Q&A session with SEI Programme Managers. More details can be found on socialentrepreneurs.ie or the Eventbrite page.

Applications for the Ideas Academy are open until midnight on Tuesday, 16th May and applications for the Impact Programme close at midnight on Tuesday, May 30th. Interested candidates can apply or find out more at socialentrepreneurs.ie.
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An Irish philanthropic network providing funding to non-profit organisations is now open to applications.

The Ireland Funds' Heart of the Community Fund is encouraging organisations to present their unique needs for funding consideration, with grants between 5,000 and 25,000 available.

The network was established almost 50 years ago to promote and support peace, culture, education and community development throughout Ireland and Irish-related causes around the world, with the Fund launched in 2021.

Executive Director of The Ireland Funds, Siobhan Gallagher, said: "The Heart of the Community Fund is all about meeting the needs of communities all across Ireland. It is designed to help non-profit organisations providing key services to people in need.

"The Ireland Funds is proud to strengthen Irelands non-profit sector with practical help and financial support. We would like to thank The Ireland Funds network of donors for their ongoing generosity, which ensures that we can enable organisations to deliver vital supports to those across the island of Ireland who need it most."

Projects supported last year include the Daisyhouse Housing Association, which provides accommodation and support to women experiencing homelessness who are in recovery from substance misuse; Liquid Therapy, which provides surfing and ocean experiences to young people with disabilities; and Women for Election, which works to solve gender inequality in Irish politics.

Applications are open until May 9, 2023.

For more information on the Heart of the Community Fund, click here.
South Korea is once more having problems with Islamic terrorists, not with attacks inside South Korea, but with Moslem foreigners providing financial support for active Islamic terror groups outside of South Korea. All foreigners entering South Korea are informed about this rule and other similar regulations. So far this year two Central Asian Moslems (from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) were arrested for sending about $9.000 worth of cryptocurrency to KTJ (Katibat Tavhid wal-Jihad), an Islamic terrorist group in Syria. Central Asians belonging to KTJ. This all began several years ago when some Central Asian KTJ members left Syria because of numerous defeats, but they were then arrested in Turkey and deported. Few countries would take them but South Korea would and even Central Asian Islamic terrorists know that South Korea is a popular country for Uzbeks looking for work in a foreign country. South Korea has a major labor shortage and to deal with it has brought in 1.3 million foreign workers. Less than ten percent are Moslems and most of those are from Uzbekistan. South Korea will accept former Uzbek Islamic terrorists as foreign workers as long as they agree to severing all their ties with Islamic terrorism. Most such men honor their promise, but a few dont or at least try to pass off their financial assistance to KTJ as not terror related. Some KTJ members in South Korea were expelled for persuading other Uzbeks to join the cause of supporting Islamic terrorism. More South Koreans are calling for a ban on Moslem foreign workers. That worked in Japan and South Koreans see no reason why this policy would not work in South Korea.

For about twenty years Islamic terrorists have been a problem in South Korea. Between 2003 and 2008 South Korea arrested 74 foreigners as terrorism suspects. This was the result of 19 separate investigations. Most of the suspects were Moslems from South Asia or Southeast Asia. Most were involved in collecting information on American military forces in South Korea, or planning terror attacks against non-Koreans. Some Arabs have been caught involved in criminal activities that were apparently to provide funds for terrorists. Most of the suspects were expelled and returned to their home countries, along with files on what the South Korea police had found. These men were usually arrested when they arrived in their home countries, and some of them were already known by counter-terrorism officials there.

South Korea was long believed to be free of Islamic terrorist activities. After 2003 that was no longer the case and South Korea intelligence and police agencies continue to monitor any Islamic terrorist activity in South Korea.
Leading convenience store 7-Eleven brings the Taiwanese brand 21 To Go Chicken to the country, offering authentic chicken flavors that come in two variants  roasted and fried.

If theres a foolproof Filipino go-to for a quick, easy, and buck-saver meal, there is no doubt that the top choice is awarded to the OG chicken and rice combo. Convenience giant 7-Eleven is aware of this craze, and if there is anything that the brand knows like no other, it is to whip up an ordinary meal into a unique tummy filler for their customers. This time, its newest addition is a chicken meal with a tasty Taiwanese twist  21 To Go Chicken.

With the Philippines being a chicken-loving nation, Pinoys continue to witness and taste the transition from regular chicken to foreign-infused flavors such as Korean and Japanese. In partnership with the famous Taiwanese fast-food chain 21 Plus Chicken, Filipinos favorite convenience store unveils the authentic, tasty twosome treat of 21 To Go Chicken, either roasted or fried.

Starting at P79 for an ala carte order, the Taiwanese-style fried chicken promises a crispier and more flavorful twist for the taste buds. And if one is craving homey ulam feels, customers can also opt for the savory and seasoned roasted choice starting at only P135. For a bigger burst of flavors, get the best of both worlds at only P214 for the roasted and fried chicken combo. For only P95, 1pc fried chicken can also be paired with rice or rice and drinks starting at P120.

Made accessible and affordable, these mouthwatering offers are perfect for those who are always out and about seeking fresh and flavorful grabs, students who miss the freshness and aroma of a homey concoction, or simply those who are on the lookout to spice up their regular plate of chicken.

The 21 To Go Chicken offering is not the ordinary quick-stop experience because 7-Eleven is also launching its first-ever 21 To Go Concept Store, revamping its existing Merville, Paranaque store. Here, diners can grab their orders, sit down, and enjoy a fast-casual restaurant layout. Launched on April 20, 2023, the brand welcomed this new addition along with Taiwanese representatives from 21 To Go Chicken and 7-Eleven Management for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, store blessing, promotions, and more.

Anchored to its brand identity of vitality, delicacy, and value, 21 To Go Chicken is known for serving ever-fresh, mouthwatering chicken meals in Taiwan for over 40 years. Looking for healthy fast food? This brand has been up and on top of its game with a menu that uses high-quality ingredients in its mix. With 7-Eleven being a generator of twists and flavors to Filipinos, together, both brands season up a healthier and savory combo meal available at a price that any craver can afford.

Get first dibs on some cluck time with 21 To Go Chicken today when you visit their physical store in Merville, Paranaque, or grab your chicken variant of choice in Bicutan, Taguig, Paranaque, and other select branches in the Metro.

Like us on 7-Eleven Philippines Facebook, follow @711ph on Instagram, and @711philippines on Twitter for more information, the newest treats, and upcoming events.
EBRD launches project to aid the economic integration of Ukrainian refugees in Croatia

Taiwanese donor support to boost work on inclusion initially started by volunteers

Two NGOs, SVOJA and Solidarna, to jointly implement the initiative

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has launched a project to support the economic integration of Ukrainian refugees in Croatia. The initiative, in partnership with two Croatia-based civil society organisations (CSOs), the SVOJA Association and the Solidarna Foundation, will target the broader participation of Ukrainians in the labour market with a focus on the private sector.

This technical cooperation project builds on previous initiatives by EBRD retail and food-industry clients in Croatia to offer jobs to Ukrainian refugees, mainly women, who started arriving in the country a year ago following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The project is part of the EBRDs Civil Society Capacity Enhancement Framework, an innovative grant-based programme to establish partnerships and provide support to a wide range of civil society stakeholders in the Banks countries of operations.

Under the project, Solidarna, an established Croatian non-governmental organisation, will work with SVOJA, formed by displaced Ukrainian women last year, to increase the provision of skills training and assistance to Ukrainian refugees looking for work. Employment for displaced Ukrainians will also benefit the Croatian economy, especially by filling vacancies in sectors such as retail and hospitality, but also by growing the local IT sector.

The project, the Private Sector for Ukrainian Refugee Integration Initiative, is being supported by the TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund. The chief of mission of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Katherine Chang, announced the funds backing at the launch event in Zagreb. In Croatia, the fund already provides donor support to the EBRDs flagship Women in Business programme, while in Ukraine, Taiwanese donor funds have supported cross-border mail and parcel delivery.

The SVOJA Association will work together with the Solidarna Foundation not just to support Ukrainians economic integration, but to build its own organisational capacity.

Initially supported in 2022 by a grant from the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, SVOJA has already built a network of more than 1,200 Ukrainian refugees in Croatia, to whom it has provided employment advice, assistance with CV preparation and free Croatian language courses. It has held numerous events across Croatia, as well as online webinars and other activities, to support the economic empowerment of Ukrainian women and their families affected by the war. One of the most sought-after training courses was provided through the Women in Tech programme by a Slovakian NGO, Female Algorithm.

The project was announced at an event in Croatia, opened by EBRD Director for Central Europe Victoria Zinchuk and included a presentation by Illia Borovynskyi from the EBRD Civil Society Engagement Team.

Top managers from two private-sector employers and existing EBRD clients, the Studenac retail chain and the Mlinar bakery, shared their experience of employing Ukrainian refugees and helping them improve their language and other skills.

The EBRD is committed to promoting equal access to opportunities, with a special focus on boosting private-sector competitiveness, said Victoria Zinchuk. This initiative will not only help Ukrainian refugees to integrate more successfully in Croatia, but will also broaden the opportunities for Croatias private sector and the labour market.

To date, the EBRD has invested more than 4.4 billion in Croatia, 300 million of it last year. Some 72 per cent of the cumulative investment was extended to the private sector.
Some residents of Blackpool remain concerned about the BusConnects plans proposed for the area, while others have welcomed the project which aims to improve bus services.

Residents attended a public information evening held at St Vincents GAA Clubhouse on Blarney Rd yesterday where they had access to designers, engineers, and representatives from the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Speaking to The Echo, Blackpool resident Robbie Culhane agreed that Blackpool needs public transport but raised concerns about the discomfort that it is going to cause people.

My father is 81 and he needs his car, he needs it outside the door and were still unsure as to how it is going to impact us. I think Blackpool is just too small for this, he said.

Do they think of the old-age pensioners and the people who built the country?

"I can jump up on a bike, he cant. I can carry bags from Blackpool bridge up, he cant. So we have to consider that as well.

His father, Pat Culhane, said: Planning is done by people in offices and they should get out and walk it before they decide anything. Let them walk out from a certain point to the end of where it is and take a look at what theyre seeing on the ground.

Pat and Robert Culhane, Dublin at the Bus Connects event at St Vincent's GAA Club, Blarney Road, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Speaking about the proposed bus gate, which is a short length of standalone bus lane restricted exclusively to buses, taxis, and cyclists, as well as emergency vehicles, Robbie suggested putting time limits on the bus gate proposed for Blackpool to allow traffic to travel in and out after peak times.

He said a 24-hour bus gate will have traffic backed up Dublin Hill with everyone trying to get out of a bottleneck.

Im glad theyre having these consultations and hope that they might take things like this on board, he said.

Student, Jordan Flynn, who travels by bus to college, a journey that currently takes him an hour and a half, welcomed the project.

I think the Thomas Davis St bus gate is for the best.

"I think a lot of people are afraid of it but a lot of the lobbying that has been done is by the businesses, not by the residents at all.

I think theyll actually get more business from more people who would feel safer walking there. Im from Ballyvolane and I would go to town because its easier to walk around whereas Blackpool is a concrete jungle where you would need a car to get around.

Blackpool is closer to me so I would rather go there if it was nicer to be in terms of accessibility, he said.

Emily of Bus Connects with Christy Power, Blackpool at Bus Connects event at St Vincent's GAA Club. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Resident Linda Higginston called for a flashing sign to be erected at the top of Dublin Hill to warn lorries travelling into Blackpool of the low bridge at Dublin Hill Middle near Delaney Park.

She said trucks and lorries are getting stuck two to three times a week and that traffic becomes backed up back as far as Glenthorn, warning that this project would make the situation worse.

A flashing sign at the top of Dublin Hill would let lorry drivers know there is a low bridge ahead. Thats all it takes, she said.

Also in attendance were councillors Mick Nugent and Kenneth Collins who described the project as a work in progress.

There are different opinions in terms of what is best for the area. The Blackpool Traders Group has concerns about the loss of parking in the village in terms of being able to access buildings.

Weve met the traders and others in Blackpool, including the Blackpool Community Association, and theyre putting in submissions as well so I think collectively we can come together and work out whats best in terms of Blackpool, Cllr Nugent said.

Maeve Ahern and Nellie Stapleton, both Dublin Hill, at St Vincent's GAA Club for the BusConnects discussion.

BusConnects senior communications manager Terry Brennan described the public information events as a really important part of the consultation process which allows BusConnects to bring its proposals into the heart of the communities where it proposes to have sustainable transport corridors.

He said that he is finding that people are leaving the public information events more informed and in a place where they at least understand what the proposals are.
APR 11, 2023The Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft Systemflies during a demonstration at DZ Cockatoo on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, March 29, 2023. Combat Development and Integration demonstrated the TRUAS, programming the Unmanned Logistics Systems-Air to carry a payload over a short distance, drop it at a specified location in the landing zone and return to its staring point. The TRUAS has a 9-mile range and maximum payload of 150 pounds, which is sufficient to fly in ammunition, food, medical supplies, and batteries, among other supplies. This small system only requires two Marines to operate and will be a game-changing capability for our distributed forces. Fielding this capability is a critical step in setting conditions for the development of the ULS-A Medium system, which is the required capability for large-scale tactical distribution in a contested space. photo by Lance Cpl. Kayla M. LeClaire

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A Cork charity is inviting the public to climb Irelands highest mountain, Carrauntoohil, on May 6 to fight poverty in seven countries.

SERVE is a voluntary aid organisation, based in Blackrock, that tackles poverty in India, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Philippines, and Mozambique. The organisation, founded in 2003, works closely with locally based partners in the global south.

SERVE events officer, Sophie Lyons, said: Carrauntoohil is 3,407ft high. This challenge represents the hardships of the communities we work with in our partner countries. We are asking people to challenge themselves and climb Carrauntoohil to contribute to the change we want to see in the world, or, more directly, contributing to the change we will be able to make within our partner organisations.

Funds raised from this hike for SERVE will provide vulnerable communities with sustainable solutions to overcome obstacles caused by inequities, said Ms Lyons. These solutions include projects like, and not limited to, educational support, life-skills training, and ending the stigma of disability.

When you join this challenge, you are taking action against social injustice in the world and doing your part to affect real change, all while enjoying a great day out with friends.

People signing up to hike Carrauntoohil must raise 200 for the organisations work overseas. All funds will go towards education and employment skills, entrepreneurship opportunities, community development, and access to wheelchairs.

On completion of the climb, participants will receive a certificate, SERVE T-shirt, and a water bottle to mark the achievement.

SERVE partners in Zimbabwe and Mozambique are involved in youth training and career development in rural areas. Its partners in India are involved with programmes for people living with disabilities. The organisation also has partners in Zambia who work closely with young people in rural areas to reach their potential.

You can sign up for the hike on serve.ie.
Cork city welcomed a new addition to the wide range of food offerings in the city this morning, as locals lined the streets ahead of the Krispy Kreme opening.

American doughnut chain, Krispy Kreme, officially opened their first Cork store today, located in the former Porter newsagents on Patrick Street.

Michell Ndunqu and Alex Collins at the opening of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Patrick Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Sweet-toothed rebels began queuing from the early morning, with the first customer having queued from 4am.

Parsa Tahir, from Cork City was first in the queue and received a 150 voucher.

Ms Tahir began queuing from 4am ahead of almost 70 other fans and waited for five hours to get her hands on the sweet treats.

"Im really excited to be first in the queue," she told The Echo. "I had some delicious Krispy Kreme doughnuts during sampling here in Cork a few weeks ago and I couldnt wait to get my hands on some more. Im looking forward to sharing with my family and friends and Im delighted Krispy Kreme has come to Cork.

Second and third in the queue were Leonard Coughlan and Anthony Desmond who received 100 and 50.

The first 50 customers through the door also received free exclusive Krispy Kreme Cork merchandise to take away with them.

Denise Gillington from Ballyphelane was among those waiting in line outside the store.

Im here queuing this morning for my autistic daughter Danielle. She spotted the shop and wanted to try the doughnuts. Shes at school today so it will be a surprise for her when she get home, she said.

Colm Monahan from Ballincollig was another Corkonian getting his sugar fix this morning before heading to work.

Three-year-old Lenore Kovacs, Wellington Road, Cork enjoying her doughnut at the opening of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Patrick Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

The Patrick Street shop was officially opened by self-professed Krispy Kreme super fans, an American family who made Cork their home a number of years ago.

Krispy Kreme superfans, the McCabe family from Midleton, were on hand to officially open the shop. 11-year-old Aidan and 14-year-old Anna McCabe cut the ceremonial ribbon that marked the official opening as parents Kevin and Lindsay proudly watched.

Aidan McCabe said, Krispy Kreme has been part of our family for our whole lives. For my second birthday my birthday cake was made from Krispy Kreme doughnuts because they are my absolute favourite.

Kevin McCabe said: We moved to Ireland from America almost two years ago as a family adventure and its been amazing, but one of the things weve really missed were Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Were so excited a shop has now opened here because it was the one thing Cork was missing for us.

Commenting on the Cork opening, Ireland Country Manager Declan Foley said: We are thrilled to open our doors in Cork today, as we continue to spread the joy of our made fresh daily doughnuts just one month after Galways opening. It is great to now be in the south of Ireland with our 14th store opening. We are delighted to see people who have travelled across the county to be here this morning and soak up the atmosphere.

Joshua and Angelena looking after customers at the opening of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Patrick Street, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Excitement and energy remained high throughout the morning with exhilarating performances from modern Irish Dance group Prodijig and music from Corks 96fm.

The new Cork branch employs ten staff and is open from 9am daily.
Macroom is hosting a dementia friendly community information evening in the Castle Hotel today, to encourage people, businesses and services in the area to transform the town into a dementia- inclusive community.

The event, organised by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, gets underway at 7.30pm.

The evening will feature speakers including the societys head of operations, Siobhan OConnor; operations project manager, Donal Murphy; dementia adviser for West Cork, Vanessa Bradbury; and chair of the Irish Dementia Working Group, Kevin Quaid.

The society will also inform attendees about a toolkit to create a more dementia-inclusive environment. The dementia friendly communities toolkit contains various resources that will support organisations, businesses and communities to be more informed and capable of supporting people with dementia.

It contains a guide that provides a practical framework based on the societys experiences in helping communities to work towards becoming more dementia friendly.

An estimated 7,509 people are living with dementia in Cork, and 63% of people with dementia live in the community. Ms OConnor, said: our dementia friendly community information evening is a fantastic opportunity to shine a light on dementia and raise greater awareness about its impact. We must overcome the stigma around the condition so people with dementia feel heard, understood and valued and can live well in their communities. By listening, we understand so much more.

Vice-chair of the Irish Dementia Working Group, Kevin Quaid, said: As a person with dementia, when I saw a sign in a shop door in a town that marked it as a dementia-inclusive community, it made me feel welcome to enter.

It makes an awful difference to people living with dementia to know that a business is inclusive of them.

"I would like to see every village and town in Ireland become dementia-inclusive.

Before you go into any business, you know the people inside know about dementia and can accommodate those living with the condition.

Chances are it will start the conversation and remove some of the stigma, he said. This initiative has been a dream of mine for six years. I cant wait for Macroom to become a dementia-inclusive town. Its such a treat to have it so near home.
Cowardly attacks on two gardai, a junior doctor and late-night workers who were significantly outnumbered in the assaults resulted in one of the attackers being jailed for two years and two months for his part in the violence.

Badges identifying two victims as off-duty members of An Garda Siochana were shown to the attackers in one incident but this did nothing to stop the violent attacks.

Judge Helen Boyle said the off-duty gardai should not have been attacked in the first place but that it he should certainly have stopped when they showed their garda IDs.

24-year-old Paul McDonagh of Father OFlynn Place, Ballymacthomas, off Cathedral Road, Cork, pleaded guilty to his part in the incidents, admitting violent disorder, assault causing harm, robbery and attempted robbery.

Judge Boyle was concerned that he was penalised only months beforehand for similar offences in the district court but that this did not deter him from acting in the way that he did. Judge Boyle said to the accused that he needed to give up drinking as it was making him a violent person.

The violent incidents occurred in Cork city on different dates in October 2021.

After 2am on October 23 2021 two off-duty gardai were set upon by eleven youths. They were punched and kicked and violently set upon. One of them had his garda ID and phone taken from him. Attempts were made to rob the second off-duty garda of his badge also.

Moments earlier, staff at a licensed premises were walking home on St. Augustine Street, Cork, after 2am on October 16 2021. The defendant was part of a group of seven who attacked the four young men.

In a third incident a junior doctor was attacked by a teenager as he walked home after work during the Jazz weekend in Cork and was chased by a large group of teenagers who attacked the doctors housemates who came out of their house to assist him.

This occurred on October 23 2021 at Mardyke Walk, Cork. Garda Pat Dilworth said the doctor was walking home after midnight when he was confronted by two people in the group and assaulted, cut over the eye and then chased by the larger group.

When he got to the house, people came out of the house to his aid. The group then set upon the five junior doctors, Garda Dilworth said.

Defence senior counsel Elizabeth OConnell said, He wants to apologise for these assaults and
A WOMAN, aged 91, crossing the road in Bandon had both legs broken when she was struck by a car.

Motorist, John OSullivan of Gahanive, Castlefreke, Clonakilty, County Cork, pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving causing serious bodily harm to the injured party, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Helen Boyle imposed a sentence of six months suspended and opted not to impose any disqualification from driving on the defendant who had no previous convictions, and in a case where it was accepted that there were no aggravating factors such as speed.

Garda Robin Jose said the incident occurred at 7.45pm on July 29, 2021, at Allen Square, Bandon.

Defence barrister Neal Horgan said: It was a momentary lapse of concentration. He was taking a right turn at a junction and the injured party was partially obscured by a vehicle coming from the west. That is not to attribute any responsibility whatsoever to the injured party.

"He took responsibility  it is his fault completely. 

"Liability was admitted in a civil case and monies paid over.

Judge Helen Boyle said that the injured party was a very fit woman who was very diligent in her regime of recovery and had thankfully recovered well from fractures to both femurs.

She spent a total of three months in hospital after suffering the injuries.

The defendant, who is aged around 50, cooperated fully with the garda investigation.

The judge noted that the defendant cared for his mother and also had a long distance between his home and workplace and she did not disqualify him from driving.
Cork City needs a second traffic control centre to deal with the massive growth in traffic in the southside of the city, according to a Labour Party representative.

Peter Horgan said a second control centre is needed, especially for Douglas and Carrigaline.

Douglas traffic is at a critical influx point especially, said Mr Horgan.

Independent councillor Mick Finn recently called for a report to be furnished to Cork City Council on the changed traffic junction on the Douglas Rd, where the road comes off the N40 by Douglas Community School and Willow Park. Huge tailbacks are causing headaches for local commuters, he said.

Mr Horgan said Mr Finn is completely correct in his assessment of the traffic light chaos entering and exiting Douglas village.

With the best will in the world, the Bus Connects corridors are years away, Mr Horgan said. We need to establish a second control centre for the southside to deal with the flows at Douglas and also on the link. It is maddening for commuters that one incident on the South link can jam up the entire southside of the city.

Mr Horgan pointed to the long tailbacks seen in the area yesterday morning, following a multi-vehicle collision on the N40 westbound near Douglas.

More drivers are reluctant to use the link during peak hours, he said, meaning motorists are going off the main route and into nearby residential areas. The knock-on effect is the suburbs get absolutely jammed, Mr Horgan said. A second control centre could work to alleviate and change traffic syncs, move Traffic Corps to places faster, and you would still have a centre to monitor the north east and west of the city area.
TONIGHT (Thursday April 20) at the Everyman, Crokey Plays presents Celebration Ireland, a fast-moving two-hour show that, as the title suggests, celebrates all things Irish.

Tomorrow and Saturday (April 21 and 22), join Corkonian PJ Kirby as he brings his first solo comedy, Cliche, concerning a gay man with an identify crisis, to The Everyman.

On Sunday night, its that great Noel Coward comedy, Blithe Spirit, presented by Kilmeen Drama Group.

Blithe Spirit by Kilmeen Drama Group plays at the Everyman on Sunday

Next Thursday, April 27, an evening with the ever-popular Michael Harding, who will be reading from his latest book, All The Things Left Unsaid.

And the Everyman has just announced its big summer production, opening in early August. It will be that gripping Tennessee Williams classic, The Glass Menagerie. More on that as the date draws nearer, but we thought we would let you know in case you have summer visitors who would like to see it.

Booking for all Everyman shows on 021 450 1673 or www.everymancork.com.

Foil, Arms & Hog are back home and at the Opera House right now, until Saturday, With over a billion views online, live performance is still where they really thrive.

On Sunday night, Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers is hosting a night of music, comedy, local talent and sport there, with a fundraising concert in aid of the school.

Wednesday next, April 26 sees the Liz Roche Dance Company on stage at the Opera House with Yes And Yes, a brand-new dance piece which takes its title from the final chapter of Joyces Ulysses, and explores the sensuality, absurdity, release, and resignation of the book in movement. Only one night, so grab a chance of seeing something new and extraordinary.

Booking for this and all Opera House shows on 021 427 0022 or www.corkoperahouse.ie.

The new season of 10x10 Minute Plays is running at the Cork Arts Theatre, until Saturday. The final selection includes A Viewing by Trevor Suthers ; Before Dawn by Marion Wyatt; Captivity by Karl Minns; Framed For Murder by Sean Creagh; Infrequent Flier by Barry Wood; Ritual Dance by Theresa Ryder; The Room Upstairs by Eithne Horgan; The Waiting Room by Philip OByrne; Views From A Window by Shilpa Varma; and When All Around You by Tony Domaille. A great way to see new ideas and dramas in this capsule format. 8pm start nightly. 021 450 5624 or www.corkartstheatre.com.

UCC Musical Theatre Society is at the Firkin Crane from tonight until Saturday with All Shook Up, a Broadway hit inspired by the plot of Twelfth Night and the music of Elvis Presley. Natalie, a feisty mechanic, lives in the small Mid-Western town of Broken Hearted Lovers. One day a roustabout named Chad turns up on a motorbike, and, with a guitar in his hand, is ready to change this town with his rock and roll music. Natalie falls instantly in love, but the mayor is determined to get rid of the roustabout who threatens the towns rigid rules. Does Chad fall for Natalie? And will the mayor give in and allow music in the town once again? Does love win in the end? Better get up to the Firkin Crane and find out!

Directed by Matt Pallister Kehoe, choreographed by Dylan OKeeffe, with musical director Lucia Shmetterer and conductor Rachel Rentz. 7.30pm start.

Booking: https://dancecorkfirkincrane.ie or 021 450 7487.

Eleanor Shanley.

Eleanor Shanley appears at the Glen Theatre in Banteer this Saturday, April 22. One of Irelands most loved and respected vocalists, Eleanors many solo performances and recordings in her long, rich career are as memorable as her body of work in collaborative projects with people like Ronnie Drew, Mike Hanrahan, Donal Lunny, Garadice, and many more.

Her most recent album is Cancion De Amor, with classical guitarist John Feeley. A great evening in store there. Booking on 029 56239 or 087 755 8752.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday struck down a building code ordinance passed by Berkeley, California, which, with some exceptions, banned new residential and commercial buildings from installing methane gas piping.

The three-judge panel comprised of one Reagan  and two Trump-appointed judges did not completely agree on the reasoning of the decision  with Judge Diarmuid OScannlain explicitly admitting I am not convinced that we have correctly followed the Supreme Courts instructions  but nevertheless ruled the citys ban on methane gas lines into new buildings conflicted with federal appliance efficiency regulations.

Eight states, along with the federal government, sided with Berkeley, backing the ordinance which would reduce the amount of methane gas pollution in new buildings. The ruling, which is expected to be challenged, does not affect other municipalities building electrification policies that are structured differently from Berkeleys.

For a Deeper Dive:

AP, E&E News, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, OilPrice; Implications for other municipalities: E&E News

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, sign up for daily Hot News, and visit their news site, Nexus Media News.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

By Saima May Sidik

Americas waterways need help. Threats such as industrial pollution, poorly planned development, and climate change are widespread. In some cases, help could be imminentbut only with support from the public and lawmakers, according to a report out today from the conservation group American Rivers.

The report, called Americas Most Endangered Rivers, has been produced annually since 1984. Each report describes 10 threatened rivers, each facing an upcoming decision with the potential for public influence, such as whether to remove a dam or compel polluters to clean up waste.

Rather than a literal description of the rivers where the magnitude of threats is greatest, the document focuses on endangered rivers where theres something that people could actually do to really improve things there, said Eve Vogel, a geographer from the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was not involved with the report but sometimes collaborates with American Rivers.  Theres something that people could actually do to really improve things there.

I like the focus on action, said hydrologist Reed Maxwell from Princeton University. He said he hopes the report will motivate the public to get involved with efforts to protect the threatened rivers listed in the report and with groups that advocate for the rivers in their own backyards.

New Threats Compound Old Problems

Climate change exacerbates problems that rivers have historically faced, such as dams, poorly planned development projects, and industrial pollution, said American Rivers vice president of communications Amy Souers Kober.

The Grand Canyon section of the Colorado Rivernumber 1 on the listis a prime example. The Colorado provides drinking water for 40 million people and irrigation for 5.5 million acres (2.2 million hectares) of farmland, as well as supporting 2,300 kilometers (1,450 miles) of river ecosystems. But as climate change has reduced precipitation along its banks, the water supply has dwindled, and the river has become overtaxed.

Without high flows that mobilize sand and sediment, sandbars within the Grand Canyon have eroded, damaging local ecosystems. Replicating the natural flow of water should be a priority so that this cultural icon doesnt become an ecological sacrifice zone, according to the report. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has initiated a public comment period on their plans for how to manage the flow of water through the Grand Canyon, and American Rivers encourages the public to weigh in.

Of course, theres focus on protecting the Grand Canyon and how incredible it is, but the whole river should be protected in the same light. Of course, theres focus on protecting the Grand Canyon and how incredible it is, said Daryl Vigil, a member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and a cofacilitator of the Water & Tribes Initiative, but the whole river should be protected in the same light. For the tribes in the Colorado basin, lack of water stymies attempts to develop sustainable economies and exacerbates inequities brought on by problems such as COVID-19, Vigil said.

Environmental regulations have helped curtail pollution over the past 50 years, but some rivers are in danger of sliding back toward problems of the past. For example, the Pearl River in Mississippinumber 3 on the listis threatened by a private real estate development called the One Lake project. Planned dredging could disturb long-dormant industrial pollution on the riverbed, and dam construction could concentrate undertreated sewage in downstream communities. American Rivers is asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reject the One Lake development.

No one owns that river, and no one should be proprietary over who gets what water, said Martha Watts, the mayor of Monticello, Miss.

On the American Rivers website, a description of each river is accompanied by an action button that makes it easy for the public to send emails to appropriate decisionmakers, encouraging them to protect rivers.

Joining or donating to a group that advocates for a local watershed is another way that the public can have a big impact on river health, said hydrogeologist Christine Hatch from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who sometimes collaborates with American Rivers employees. Local groups can advocate for small changes that if you tie them all together, can become bigger changes, she said.

Widespread IssuesAnd Solutions

Endangered rivers can be found throughout the United States. Those highlighted in the report are as follows:

Colorado River through the Grand Canyon (Arizona) Ohio River (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) Pearl River (Louisiana and Mississippi) Snake River (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) Clark Fork River (Montana) Eel River (California) Lehigh River (Pennsylvania) Chilkat and Klehini Rivers (Alaska) Rio Gallinas (New Mexico) Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia)

Some of these rivers appeared on past lists. In other cases, rivers have been removed because their conditions have improved. The Boundary Waters in Minnesota, for example, appeared on last years list because it was threatened by a proposed mine. Actions taken by the Biden administration helped mitigate the risk. The annual endangered rivers list plays a role in some of these big victories, Souers Kober said.

This year, Souers Kober called out the Snake River in eastern Washington as one shes keeping her eye on. Four federal dams have created reservoirs along what was once a free-flowing river. In these reservoirs, water temperatures often surpass whats safe for salmon, which is one reason populations of this iconic fish are falling. Now, state and federal decisionmakers are looking for ways to replace the services the dams provide so that the dams can be removed. Its an exciting time right now because weve never been closer to getting to a solution, Souers Kober said.

When rivers are poorly managed, often, communities of color and tribal nations are left bearing the brunt of the problems, and American Rivers has taken care to highlight the voices of people from these communities in the report. Who are we going to be in terms of this life-giving resource?

Historically marginalized groups may be gaining a voice in water management, however. Over the past decade, water managers have become more willing to work with tribal nations to find equitable solutions to water problems, Vigil said. Several states have created Native American seats on the boards that govern use of the Colorado River, which is evidence of huge steps in terms of the state acknowledging that parity of sovereignty, he said.

These changes cant come soon enough. Communities along the Colorado River have reached a tipping point when it comes to their relationships with water, Vigil said. Going forward, who are we going to be in terms of this life-giving resource? he asked.

Reposted with permission from EOS.
With the world gradually moving toward electric cars, its only a matter of time before EVs take to the skies, at least for shorter trips. Inching us closer to that milestone is Chinese battery maker CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited), which on Wednesday launched a battery at the Shanghai Auto Show that it claims can power electric passenger aircraft. The semi-solid state battery with condensed electrolyte has a density of up to 500 Wh/k, meaning it can store 500 Watt hours of energy for every kilogram of its weight.

The company says it can achieve mass production of [the] condensed battery in a short period of time, and it expects to begin mass production of an automotive-focused variant later this year. The launch of this cutting-edge technology breaks the limits that have long restricted the development of the battery sector and will open up a new scenario of electrification centering on high level of safety and light weight, stated CATLs announcement. However, NASA has been testing electric planes throughout the past decade, and others are working on hybrid planes, like ZeroAvias hydrogen-electric aircraft that completed a 10-minute flight this January. Rolls-Royce even flew an all-electric plane at 387 MPH in a recent test.

CATL says its working with unnamed partners to develop flying EVs. At present, CATL is cooperating with partners in the development of electric passenger aircrafts and practicing aviation-level standards and testing in accordance with aviation-grade safety and quality requirements, the battery maker stated.

Additionally, CATL says its working to improve the carbon footprint of its batteries and plans to achieve carbon neutrality for its manufacturing plants by 2025 and across the battery value chain by 2035. It plans to focus on mining, bulk raw materials, battery materials, cell manufacturing and battery systems to achieve the goal. As electrification extends from the land to the sky, aircrafts will become cleaner and smarter, the company stated. The launch of condensed batteries will usher in an era of universal electrification of sea, land and air transportation, open up more possibilities of the development of the industry, and promote the achieving of the global carbon neutrality goals at an earlier date.

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However, its worth tempering our expectations about flying EVs. Some movement in that direction could help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from the aviation industry, which accounts for about three percent of global emissions. But it would require more significant advances than CATLs new battery for them to become a viable alternative to todays jet-fuel-powered aircraft. So although we may see some commercial electric planes take to the skies within the next decade, dont expect batteries to power much beyond small and short-distance planes anytime soon.
Oversight Board asks Meta to 'reassess' what COVID-19 misinformation it removes The board also said Meta should study its own role in helping false claims spread.

The Oversight Board has issued its response to Metas request to help it reevaluate its COVID-19 misinformation rules. The social network first asked the Oversight to weigh in on the rules last summer, noting that it policies had resulted in an unprecedented number of removed posts but that the pandemic had evolved considerably since the rules were first put in place.

In its policy advisory opinion, the Oversight Board said that Meta should continue to remove false claims about the pandemic that are likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent and significant physical harm, but that it should "reassess" the specific claims that qualify for removal. The board also recommended that Meta make it easier for external researchers to study misinformation, and study how its own algorithms could contribute to the spread of harmful misinformation.

When Meta first asked the Oversight Board about its COVID-19 misinformation rules, many speculated that the company was looking to soften its stance. Prior to the pandemic, the company rarely removed users' posts on the basis of misinformation. Instead, it relied on fact checkers to evaluate such questionable content, and information rated as false was down-ranked to make it less visible.

But at the start of the pandemic, Meta said it would remove misinformation that health experts said was likely to lead to harm. The result, as the Oversight Board notes, is that 27 million posts were removed from Facebook and Instagram between March 2020 and July 2022. The company currently lists 80 specific claims that qualify for removal, including allegations that COVID vaccines cause magnetism and that the pandemic is linked to 5G technology.

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In its advisory, the Oversight Board said that as long as the World health Organization designates COVID-19 as a global health emergency, Meta should continue to remove the most harmful misinformation. But it notes that the company has not consulted with public health officials or other experts to assess whether all the claims it removes continue to pose a serious threat.

Should Meta find that any claims are no longer false or no longer likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm, such claims should no longer be subject to removal under this policy, the Board writes. And while the Oversight Board didnt attempt to weigh in on any of the specific claims, it did say that Meta should consult with a range of exerts, including those versed in virology, disinformation, human rights and freedom of expression."

Notably, the Oversight Board is also, once again, pushing Meta to examine its own role in helping misinformation spread. The board recommended the company commission a human rights impact assessment of how Metas newsfeed, recommendation algorithms, and other design features amplify harmful health misinformation and its impacts. The Oversight Board made a similar recommendation in the wake of January 6th, saying that Meta should look at how its own decisions contributed to the insurrection, but the company declined to commit to new research.

The Oversight Board touched on another thorny topic for Meta: the ability of external researchers to study what happens on Facebook, which is particularly consequential for misinformation research. The board pointed to reports that Meta is getting ready to disband CrowdTangle, the analytics tool used by researchers and journalists, and said that research tools should be strengthened rather than discontinued."

Meta should institute a pathway for external researchers to gain access to non-public data to independently study the effects of policy interventions related to the removal and reduced distribution of COVID-19 misinformation, while ensuring these pathways protect the right to privacy of Metas users and the human rights of people on and off the platform, the board wrote.

As with all Oversight Board recommendations, Meta isnt obligated to change any of its policies, but it is required to respond to each recommendation within 60 days.

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It took a couple of years, but Disney+ is finally doing more to patch the Spider-Man-sized hole in its Marvel movie lineup. The streaming service is adding the first wave of Spidey movies to its US catalog in the next few weeks. Sam Raimi's trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man will be available tomorrow (April 21st), while Homecoming and Venom arrive May 12th.

More of Sony Pictures' Spider-Man movie and TV lineup will come to the US later in the year, Disney says. While you can already watch The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in at least some countries, this does mean you'll have to wait if you want to watch titles like No Way Home or Into the Spider-Verse without turning to other services (and in some cases, paying for a purchase or rental).

The gap has long been a pain for Disney, and particularly since the launch of Disney+ in 2019. Sony has a perpetual film license for Spider-Man so long as it releases a new title every 5.75 years. Disney had to reach a deal to borrow the web-slinger for Avengers movies as Sony still had the rights to the character's solitary adventures. You had to turn to Disney+ rivals like Netflix (which has exclusive rights for Sony movies) to see the rest of Spider-Man's story.

Disney addressed that omission in 2021, when it struck a deal to access Sony's theatrical releases through 2026 as well as archival Marvel titles like the Spider-Man series. You're now seeing the fruits of that agreement  Disney+ doesn't have to worry as much about viewers subscribing to competitors just to get their full superhero fix.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT - As of today we have registered close to 80,000 cases of war crimes by Russians in Ukraine, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told a US House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Thursday, April 20, 2023

Organ donation saves lives, even as the donor loses theirs. April is National Donate Life Month. Its designed to encourage people to register to be organ donors and to talk to their families about it. But few people outside of hospital staff see the process in action.

Ive recently been spending a lot of time in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital. My husband had a heart attack, coded and was revived. This is heavy stuff, experiencing a life and death situation. Im glad that my husband and I have done advance medical directives, estate planning and funeral planning. You definitely want to have all of those things in place when a medical crisis hits.

The Walk of Honor

While keeping vigil at the hospital, my brother-in-law noticed a crowd of nurses and other staffers lined up along the corridor in the ICU. What was going on?

One of the ICU patients who was not going to survive was about to be taken to have their organs harvested. The hospital personnel had gathered for a Walk of Honor. They were there to salute this persons gift of life. I joined the silent crowd.

A team of what seemed like a dozen medical personnel wheeled the patient through the unit. The persons ebbing life was still supported with multiple IV drips and a portable vital signs monitor. All eyes focused on the crowd moving this person to organ harvesting surgery. Silent tears welled in the eyes of many. I put my hand over my heart.

This hospitals staff does this Walk of Honor salute with every patient who opts to donate their organs.

One Organ Donation Story

Connie Diamond received a life-saving liver transplant. During National Donate Life Month, she wanted to share her story through this letter she wrote to the family of the donor.

Dear Donor Family,

When I awoke in the intensive care unit after the transplant surgery, I remember the nurse asked me, How do you feel? I said, I feel grateful, and I cried tears of joy.

After numerous diagnostic tests, a team of transplant specialists placed me on the transplant list over a year ago. My liver deteriorated to end stage liver failure due to a non-alcoholic auto immune disease called Primary Biliary Cirrhosis. I had complications which resulted in several hospitalizations. Transplant was my only viable treatment, my only hope.

In May, I was given the green light by the transplant team to relocate to Arizona for several months to be readily available for an organ donor match. I flew out to Arizona immediately, by myself, packing a bag big enough to fill with hope, optimism, positivity, and determination. I lit prayer candles. I opened the window coverings so I could see the sunrise on a new day of hope for a donor liver. I kept my cellphone fully charged and placed it on my chest as I slept. I met some special people who had transplants and were recovering. They became my angels while I waited for the call.

I am a 70-year-old youthful grandma and proud adoptive, single mother of accomplished twin girls, now age 34: Lauren, a registered nurse, and Jennifer, an honor student in Chemical and Biological Engineering. I also have a precious granddaughter, Maggie, 9 years old, my swim buddy and joy of my life!

While I waited for an opportunity for a transplant, I prayed and maintained a positive attitude. I readied myself to be physically and mentally strong. A driving force that kept me holding on was my wish to be able to attend my daughter Laurens wedding in California. August 2, the call came and I knew the angels were circling. I made a miraculous recovery and was discharged in record time. Less than two weeks later, on September 10th, I walked my daughter down the aisle with her dad.

I count my blessings every day, and every day think of you and your loved one who gave me this gift of life. I once had a vibrant career and I was forced into retirement, but now I feel like I have more to do in this life, a bigger purpose, and I feel compelled to give back.

With every beat of my heart, I live in gratitude for this precious gift of life from a beautiful loving soul and family. May you have solace in knowing that your loved ones organ saved my life.

Make Your Wishes Known

National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was established by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003. Observed in April each year, National Donate Life Month helps raise awareness about donation, encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors, and to honor those that have saved lives through the gift of donation. Learn more here.

There is a difference between organ and tissue donation and whole body donations. You can learn more through these Family Plot Blog posts:



* Comparing Cornea and Organ Donation

* Medical Body Donation

* Why are people calling me for body donation services?

If you decide to become an organ donor, talk to your loved ones about what it means to you to make this life-giving choice. They are going to be the ones who have the final say once you are terminal.

###

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In a surprise move, a former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration pleaded guilty Thursday before the start of the fourth day of his criminal trial in federal court in San Antonio.

Hector Barreto, 61, who led the SBA during George W. Bushs presidency, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. The latter charge relates to conspiring to have nonprofits file false tax returns.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors have agreed to drop four other charges against the California resident.

Barreto was charged with misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars contributed to two nonprofit organizations he once led. Most of the money was donated by prominent physician Dr. George Rapier III, the founder, chairman and CEO of San Antonio-based WellMed Medical Management Inc., either personally or through his charitable entities.

During opening statements Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Blackwell said Barreto used the nonprofits  the Latino Coalition Foundation and the Hispanic Business Roundtable Institute  as his piggy bank.

MORE ON THE CASE: Political intrigue in San Antonio criminal case involving ex-WellMed consultant and former SBA boss

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, while the charge of conspiracy to defraud the government has a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. Under sentencing guidelines, which are recommended but not required, Barreto could face 33 to 41 months in federal prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jason Pulliam on Aug. 2. Prosecutors will not oppose a sentence at the low end of the guidelines.

Barreto remains free on bail until his sentencing.

Each charge also carries up to three years of supervised release after imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. Barreto also will have to pay restitution in an amount to be determined by the judge.

Charities do so much good in our society, Blackwell said outside of court. The trust of donors is important, and when that trust is betrayed, its important that the person be held accountable. Thats what happened today. To his credit, he took responsibility and accountability. But we will vigorously pursue anyone who commits fraud.

Barreto and co-defendant Miguel Gutierrez, a one-time WellMed consultant, were indicted by a grand jury in San Antonio in 2021. That was replaced by two superseding indictments, the most recent charging both men with six counts of conspiracy  including to commit money laundering and wire fraud. Gutierrez also was charged with four counts of filing a false tax return.

In July, Gutierrez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax turn. He also is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 2.

The trial started Monday with jury selection and was expected to take three weeks.

Before the trial could resume Thursday morning, however, prosecutors and defense lawyers left the courtroom to negotiate the details of the plea deal.

According to the latest charging document, from 2014 through 2019, Barreto received a total of $380,000 that had been donated to the Latino Coalition Foundation and the Hispanic Business Roundtable Institute.

Money was diverted to Barreto and Gutierrez either directly or via payments funneled through two individuals identified as cooperating witnesses, Blackwell told jurors during his opening statement. The witnesses, San Antonio lawyer Brent de la Paz and Nevada political consultant Grant Hewitt, were expected to be called by prosecutors to testify Thursday.

Manny Medrano, a Los Angeles lawyer defending Barreto, had told jurors that the money received by Barreto was compensation for leading the two nonprofits. Medrano declined to comment Thursday on his clients sudden guilty plea.

The Latino Coalition Foundation is a charitable organization that promotes initiatives to enhance business, economic and social development of Latinos, according to its tax filings. The Hispanic Business Roundtable Institute has promoted public awareness of issues affecting the Hispanic community and the advancement of the Hispanic community.

Prosecutors alleged that Barreto and Gutierrez told Rapier that money donated to the Foundation would benefit disadvantaged youth, while donations to the Institute would be used for political advocacy.

Medrano said during his opening statement that Rapier wanted Barreto to perform political advocacy by opposing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Rapier viewed Obamacare as a threat to WellMed, which operates clinics that provide health care to people on Medicare, the lawyer said.

Rapier relied on dark money to fund the political advocacy, Medrano said. He was referring to to money that undisclosed donors contribute to nonprofit organizations that then use it to sway public opinion and elect candidates they support.

George Rapier is all about dark money, Medrano said to jurors.

Rapier was expected to testify Friday or Monday.

Some of the misappropriated money was donated by Well Fargo banks foundation.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND  SpaceX launched its next-generation Starship early Thursday from South Texas, hoping to fire 33 engines that would push the worlds most powerful rocket toward space for the first time. But the historic flight ended when it exploded a few minutes into a planned 90-minute trip partway around the globe.

The flight began about 8:33 a.m. after a short delay in the countdown and ended after the lower-stage booster failed to separate from the Starship vehicle. The rocket burst into flames over the Gulf of Mexico.

The flash of the fireball was visible to spectators on the beach at South Padre Island whod raucously cheered the launch, tracked the flight through the morning haze by the bright trail of its engines and stood awestruck as the flight ended.

SpaceX later said several of the boosters 33 main engines werent firing as Starship climbed from the launch pad to an altitude of about 24 miles. Their failure caused Starship to lose altitude and begin to tumble, and SpaceX deployed a flight termination system to destroy the rocket. Such systems are commonly deployed to protect public safety if a rocket malfunctions or veers off course.

The company said it would work with local authorities to recover the wreckage.

No people or satellites were aboard for the debut launch.

William Luther/Staff

KEY TO FUTURE: SpaceX banking on Starship launches from South Texas to ramp up deployment of Starlink satellites

Elon Musks private space company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot Starship on a trip from the southern tip of Texas to a planned splashdown near Hawaii.

SpaceX engineers on a company webcast of the launch declared the test flight a success.

On Twitter, Musk said: Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.

The company plans to use Starship to increase deployment of its Starlink communications satellites and to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars.

'It was amazing'

Throngs of spectators were watching from South Padre Island, about 5 miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. Many of them had been here Monday, as well, when SpaceX called off the giant rocket systems first planned launch because of trouble with a valve in the boosters pressurization system during the fueling process.

As they roared to life Thursday, the rockets engines could be felt as much as heard by those on South Padre Island.

It left the pad! screamed Christopher Isakson, a 30-year-old health care worker from Las Vegas, as he watched the rocket lift into the skies. It was amazing.

Like others on the shore, he joined in a chant of Liftoff! Liftoff! as he watched it rising.

After the flight ended in a flash, onlookers were silent, then some screamed, It left the pad! It left the pad! and cheered.

Michael Radziszewski, a 64-year-old online security worker from Chicago, was among those who were here Monday and stuck around for Thursdays launch.



Its hard to see a rocket launch, he said. You try to make attempts, and anything can trip it up.

Timeline: Major SpaceX events in South Texas

Hundreds more viewers watched from private property on the other side of South Bay and many more virtually via the SpaceX livestream and feeds on social media that offer round-the-clock views of the launch site.

At liftoff, the rocket kicked up huge plumes of sand and dust at the pad. In Port Isabel, about 10 miles from the launch site, particles covered cars and other surfaces, said John Sandoval, assistant to the city manager. The only other damage report, he said, was a shattered window at a local business. Yes, it shook, rattled and rolled, Sandoval said of the launch.

What happened

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would oversee the accident investigation, noting that no injuries or public property damage were reported. The agency also said that until it determines that there is no threat to public safety, Starships are grounded.

It wasnt the first flight for Starship, which aims to be a reusable rocket system. California-based SpaceX flew it to an altitude of 6 miles in 2021, successfully landing it after several earlier tests ended in fiery crashes that sent debris into the federally protected wetlands, tidal flats, coastal prairie and sand dunes that surround the Boca Chica launch site.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

EXPLOSIONS AT BOCA: It just shouldnt be going on here; Brownsville activists say Elon Musks SpaceX spaceport damaging wildlife habitat

But Thursdays launch was the first with the 164-foot-tall Starship stacked on top of the 225-foot-tall Super Heavy booster, which had never before flown. Together, theyre the most-powerful rocket ever built. The test flight was aiming for a peak altitude of 146 miles above the Earth.

SpaceX planned for Starship to fly for about 90 minutes. About 3 minutes after launch, the booster was expected to separate while the Starship vehicles engines lit up. The booster then was to flip and fall into the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles from Boca Chica. The upper-stage Starship vehicle was to continue eastward, eventually splashing down in the Pacific Ocean about 140 miles off the coast of Oahu in Hawaii.

When the separation didnt occur, a SpaceX engineer on the webcast said simply, This doesnt appear to be nominal.

The Starship rocket is fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. It has 33 Raptor engines that SpaceX has said produce 16.7 million pounds of thrust at full throttle, easily surpassing NASAs moon rockets  past, present and future. The stainless-steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceXs smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

With Starship, SpaceX will be capable of pushing between 100 and 150 tons into low-Earth orbit, which should help bring down the cost of accessing space.

Whats next?

More South Texas launches are expected as SpaceX continues developing the Super Heavy rocket and Starship.

It already has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for test flights; the next set is almost ready to go. Musk has said he wants to fire them off in quick succession so he can start using Starship to speed up deployment of the companys satellites into low-Earth orbit  and then put people on board.

Though its built a Starship launch tower at Cape Canaveral, Starship must be more reliable  meaning less likely to explode and cause damage  before flying from there.

That comes as a relief to some in the region who have been banking on the economic boost SpaceX provides and revel in being considered The Gateway to Mars, as Musk has dubbed the area.

Beyond being the current launch site for Starship, SpaceXs growing facility at Boca Chica is where the company is developing and producing its rocket system.

Others, however, worry about environmental damage that flight operations cause in the area and bemoan loss of their public beaches when access is shut down for SpaceX operations at Starbase, as Musk has dubbed the facility. Such shutdowns happen during testing as well as launch attempts.

Access was shut down from midnight to 2 p.m. Monday, for example, for the planned test flight that day, which was scrubbed with just minutes left in the countdown.

No launch today, Musk tweeted that morning. A pressurant valve appears to be frozen.

It was an outcome hed teased a day earlier.

Theres a good chance that it gets postponed since were going to be pretty careful about this launch, Musk said during a live conversation Sunday night on Twitter. If it does go wrong, its a lot to go wrong.

The main goal of this weeks launch, he said, was to get the rocket up and clear of the launch pad because it would take months to rebuild if it were destroyed by the rockets 33 engines. That was a benchmark repeated by a SpaceX engineer on Thursdays livestream.

However, aerial images of the structure after the launch seemed to show it had suffered damage from Thursdays test.

Whenever Starship successfully reaches space and the equipment is successfully returned, it will herald the dawn of a new era of commercial space flight. For example, the reusable rocket is a key part of the NASA Artemis program thats aiming to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo mission in 1972.

NASAs Orion spacecraft cant land on the moon, so its astronauts will transfer to Starship to reach the lunar surface. The federal space agency has been watching Starships progress closely and cheered Thursdays test flight.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Congrats to @SpaceX on Starships first integrated flight test! NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Twitter after the launch. Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight testand beyond.

Musk has said that after reaching the moon and helping to establish a base there, the next major goal is Mars.

Elizabeth Trujillo, 13, wearing a Star Wars shirt and carrying toy binoculars, skipped school to see the launch from the beach with her mother and other relatives. They cheered with the crowd when Starship cleared the launch tower.

Despite the failed attempt, it was worth it, said Jessica Trujillo, Elizabeths mother. Just hearing and seeing the view, the excitement of the crowd, it was priceless.

Practice makes perfect," she added. "They just got to practice some more.

Staff writer Andrea Leinfelder and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ahead of a May hearing with state environmental regulators, residents and environmental groups are ratcheting up their opposition to plans for a Bexar County subdivision that could dump 1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into a local creek.

The project, called Guajolote Ranch, is being developed by Lennar Corp., one of the nations largest homebuilders. Plans call for 2,900 home on an 1,160-acre site off the Scenic Loop-Boerne State Corridor, northwest of San Antonio.

San Antonio Water System, the city-owned utility, will provide water for Guajolote Ranch, and after months of negotiations signed off on Lennar building a wastewater treatment plant for the development. In the fall, Lennar submitted its application for the treatment plant to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

More environmental news: Amid drought, New Braunfels set to end ban on building, filling swimming pools

Opposition bubbled up shortly after Lennar announced plans for the project. The Guajolote Ranch site is over the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone, which environmental experts consider a vulnerable segment of the aquifer. Effluent from the facility would flow into Helotes Creek, ultimately mixing with Culebra Creek and the Lower Leon Creek, and running down into the Edwards Aquifer.

The TCEQ has scheduled a public hearing for May 9 in San Antonio on Lennars wastewater permit request.

Lennar representative said Wednesday that the company is still in the process of completing entitlements for the project and declined further comment.

Ahead of the May 9 hearing, opponents on Wednesday held a news conference at a nearby community to reiterate their concerns about the project.

Michael Schick, one of the hosts for the event, said his backyard will face the new development and the spot where treated wastewater would be discharged.

It would be easy for someone to say that were opposed to Lennars development of the Guajolote Ranch because it would spoil our beautiful view, but that would be missing the main point, Schick said. This isnt about not in my backyard. Its about not in my water faucet. 

Environmentalists and residents say they are concerned that nutrients in the treated wastewater, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, could have a negative impact on the areas ecology. Wastewater treatment removes contaminants through a screening and aeration process that converts the wastewater into water that can be discharged back into the environment. Treated wastewater is not safe to drink, however.

Ron Green, a retired scientist from Southwest Research Institute, conducted a study in 2018 as part of the citys Edwards Aquifer Protection Plan. The study concluded that additional development and wastewater discharge could be a tipping point for Helotes Creeks water quality.

Higher levels of phosphorus can impact vegetation growth and increase algal blooms, which could affect the dissolved oxygen levels needed to maintain wildlife diversity, said Nathan Glavy, technical director for the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance. Treated wastewater also tends to be rich in ammonia nitrogen, which can be harmful to fish and could decrease the creeks capacity for water purification.

Lennars initial plans for Guajolote Ranch called for 6,000 homes. After discussions with SAWS officials, Lennar agreed to drop that number to 2,900 homes, to set aside 50 percent of the property as open space and to hire a wastewater operator with a masters degree and four years of hands-on experience to manage the plant.

Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

Mandie Waldrop, mayor of the city of Grey Forest, which is little more than a mile from the Guajolote Ranch site, said shes concerned about the impact the project and wastewater treatment plant would have on the town. She said residents are concerned about the impact on their water quality, and also about what problems the increased flow into Helotes Creek could cause during times of flooding.

If the TCEQ allows 1 million gallons of treated sewage to litter the land, it will be one of the biggest messes Texas has ever seen, Schick said. So lets hope the TCEQ prevents this mess and does whats best by denying Lennars permit request.
The city is making it easier for emergency services districts to take on debt after being criticized by county officials who said San Antonio is slowing down major projects.

At the same time, legislation is being considered that, if adopted by the Texas Legislature, would strip the city of its longstanding ability to place debt conditions on Bexar Countys 12 emergency services districts.

Under state law, San Antonio can require ESDs to get City Council approval to take on any debt over $20,000. The citys rationale is that San Antonio would be on the hook for repaying a portion of this money were it to annex any part of these districts.

But some districts, particularly ESD 5 in southwestern Bexar County, have cast the citys debt approval process as onerous and an impediment to the public safety needs in these unincorporated areas  a characterization that city officials reject.

The ordinance City Council approved Thursday greatly reduces the number of documents that ESDs must submit. It also stipulates the council will vote on a request within 30 days or at the earliest regular council meeting thereafter.

Improving the process doesnt mean the proposed bills will disappear, although thats the citys ultimate hope. Rather its an olive branch in the fight between the city and the ESDs.

Courtesy of the Texas Fire Chiefs Association

I think we all want to go back to a good working relationship, said Assistant City Manager Jeff Coyle.

READ MORE: Why did the city of San Antonio do this? : County at odds with city over state law on debt caps

The strained relationship was on full display Tuesday at a Senate Committee on Local Government hearing over a bill state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, filed in early March at the request of Commissioners Court.

Menendezs bill removes San Antonios authority to restrict emergency services districts. In addition to the debt cap, restrictions include stipulations that equipment is compatible with the San Antonio Fire Department and that ESDs enter into mutual aid agreements with the city to help each other in emergency situations.

Were not asking for special treatment. Were just asking for an even playing field, ESD 5 Fire Chief Gary Estep testified Tuesday. Estep is also the ESD director for the Texas Fire Chiefs Association.

Estep was joined by representatives from ESDs 2, 7, 10 and 12.

ESD 5 is the only district to have had a debt request denied, according to figures Coyle shared with the committee.

In 2021, the council denied the districts request to assume $17 million in debt to build a fire station due to ESD 5s pending litigation with the city over the annexation of property within the district. Both district and appellate courts have sided with the city, and the emergency services district has taken the matter before the Texas Supreme Court.

It has taken San Antonio on average 2 months to approve debt requests over the past decade, Coyle said. That will now be shortened with the councils passage of the ordinance.

We dont believe theres a problem. We believe theres a conflict with ESD 5 that were hoping to solve, Coyle told lawmakers.

But Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, who represents the area served by ESD 5, disagreed, saying the citys current process  and its denial of ESD 5s request  has resulted in fire and EMS response times of more than 20 minutes in that part of the county.

These restrictions serve no purpose other than to provide San Antonio a means to limit the cost of future annexation for the city, Clay-Flores testified.

The Senate Committee on Local Government voted 8-0 Thursday to send the bill to the full Senate for a vote.

MORE STATEHOUSE NEWS: Texas 'Death star' bill that would block an array of local regulations clears its biggest hurdle

For the folks who are testifying for (the bill), weve heard a lot of good things, remarked committee Chair Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, at Tuesday's hearing.

Coyle said Thursday that he didnt expect the hearing to bode well for the city.

There was no question that was a very anti-city committee, Coyle said.

If the issue is  as they say  being able to quickly issue debt and build the fire stations they need to serve their districts, we are solving that problem, he added. In fact, I would argue there really wasnt a problem to begin with, but we are further solving that problem by the actions here today.

In a further show of good faith Thursday, City Council approved ESD 12s request to incur up to $18 million in debt to build a fire station and purchase new vehicles. The east Bexar County emergency district submitted its request to the city in September.

ESD 12 Assistant Fire Chief Lawrence Padalecki Jr. told the Senate committee that most of that money would be used to build a fire station within the city of Saint Hedwig, which San Antonio has no control over.

Since submitting the debt request, the projected annual debt payment has risen from $600,000 to $900,000, Padalecki said.

Coyle attributed the delay in presenting this request to the council to ESD 12 not having submitted all of the necessary documents.
In light of Facebook's $725 million settlement, users now have their chance to claim their slice of the pie.

Last year, Facebooks parent company, Meta, agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit claiming the social media site shared user information with third parties without their consent.

The lawsuit started in 2018 after Facebook said it improperly shared the information of 87 million users with British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to profile voters.

People in the U.S. who had active Facebook accounts between May 2007 and December 2022 have until Aug. 25 to submit an online claim on the settlement's website.

On ExpressNews.com: Starship gets off its South Texas launch pad, explodes a few minutes into its planned flight

Its not clear yet how much each user will receive, that all depends on how many people fill out the claim form and how long a user was on Facebook during the specified period, according to the settlement website.

The claim form asks for basic information such as name, address, email, and phone number, as well as whether the user was an active Facebook member between May 2007 and December 2022 and how they would like to receive their payment.

As far as when people will receive their payment  it could be awhile.

The settlement website doesnt specify when users will receive their payment but points out that there is a final approval hearing for the settlement on Sept. 7 and that there could be appeals.

Once the settlement is approved, payments will be sent out as soon as possible, the settlement website says.

Gabriella.Ybarra@express-news.net
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The long-delayed Brackenridge Park project got final approval late Wednesday despite continued opposition to removing several dozen trees.

An 8-0 vote by the Historic and Design Review Commission clears the way for work to begin in the popular historic park near the headwaters of the San Antonio River. City officials have said some trees cant be removed until the late fall to avoid harm to federally protected migratory birds.

Last year, the project came to a halt after residents and environmental advocates protested.

One of the key issues opponents raised is the destruction of 40 healthy native trees, including six heritage trees with trunks exceeding 24 inches in diameter and the relocation of 19 others in the first phase. Eight trees that are dead, dying or invasive also will be removed.

After a series of community meetings led by city parks and public works officials and consultants, the city reduced the number of native trees targeted for removal by more than 25 percent, from 105 to 77, over two phases.

Related: State commission approves plan that removes Brackenridge Park trees

The city secured state building and archaeological permits for the projects first phase last week from the Texas Historical Commission. But the passion of opponents, including wildlife activists and representatives of the Native American community, has not diminished.

The HDRC heard from more than 60 people in person or by voicemail, with most speaking against the project. Several residents of the historic nearby River Road neighborhood said alternative design plans for repairing and restoring manmade features in the park should be given more consideration.

It defies logic that we would not do everything we can to preserve these trees for future generations, said Patricia Pratchett, a River Road resident.

The project includes preservation and rehabilitation on and along the river, using architectural dowels in the soil to stabilize the historic structures.

The first phase restores the 1920s river walls on Lambert Beach, which operated as a racially segregated swimming area until it was closed for public health reasons in 1950. The second phase rehabilitates the historic Acequia Madre and 1770s Upper Labor Diversion Dam and stabilizes an 1870s pump house and waterworks channel.

A scope of work presented last year to the HDRC said the project will prevent rookeries from developing and causing unhealthy environments. But bird advocates oppose the citys use of noisemakers to shoo birds away and have said project officials overstated the environmental problems posed by bird feces.

Leaders of the Conservation Society of San Antonio and Brackenridge Park Conservancy spoke in support of the $7.75 million 2017 bond project.

Officials of the park conservancy said the city will plant new seedlings to more than make up for the loss of trees to preserve walls on the river banks that are crumbling and falling into the river.

I feel for the trees, said Nick Hollis, conservancy chair. Not everybodys going to get what they want here.

Parks and public works officials said they considered all design options and developed what one parks official called a much better plan that preserves more tree canopy as a result of the public input last spring and summer. There are no design alternatives that meet federal preservation standards and maintain the rivers current flood-control capacity, officials said.

We are saving absolutely everything that we can, Parks Director Homer Garcia told the commission.

The projects opponents stood their ground, questioning the citys numbers on the number of trees being preserved and skeptical that most relocated ones will survive.

Related: Brackenridge Park tree removal not necessary, engineer says

Susan Strawn, a River Road resident and stakeholder adviser to the park conservancy, said she was hopeful when the project was delayed in February 2022 that the trees could be saved, providing shade and natural beauty for future generations.

Instead, we got demolition of our souls by endless and useless public meetings, Strawn said. This isnt an engineering problem. This is just a problem of will.

Some speakers, including Native American descendants and law students, said the city could face litigation for interfering with federally protected religious rights of Indigenous people if it removes the trees and continues displacing the birds.

We want that violence to stop against the birds, our sacred water birds, said Matilde Torres, an Indigenous environmental advocate.
The traffic light turns green, and the car in front doesn't move.

It's a common scenario in every city.

But while in many communities, a quick tap on the horn seems in order to alert a distracted driver, San Antonians in the online community Reddit suggest that people here are more adverse to doing so, perhaps out of fear that it will incite violence.

ALSO READ: Infant endangered in Northwest Side road-rage shooting, SAPD says

Reddit user 1234carti has noticed that in three years of living here, many people would wait 20 to 30 seconds for a distracted driver to rejoin reality before honking.

Is this just Texas etiquette or am I missing something? the user asked.

Were in Texas, we dont want to get shot, another user, immediate-Shift1087, replied.

Many others offered stories supporting that sentiment, including one that occurred Sunday night on the Northwest Side.

San Antonio police arrested a man for child endangerment in an incident that a preliminary report states was sparked by a honk.

In that case, police reported that Efrain Murillo, 22, ran a red light at Tezel and Braun roads, prompting another driver to honk at him. This angered Murillo, investigators said, and he began pursuing the honker, firing several shots at him during the chase.

Murillo had two passengers, a 22-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, who was not in a car seat, the report states. He subsequently dropped off his passengers at a store before continuing to pursue the driver who honked at him, firing a few more shots.

Murillo was arrested by police a few moments later and booked on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of endangering a child. He was released Monday from the Bexar County Jail on bail totaling $40,000.

Other Reddit users said they are selective about when and at whom they honk. User JaviSATX wrote: I honk at people all the damn time, but yes, people are really thin-skinned now. The user wrote about a man who waved a gun along Loop 1604 after honking at someone who almost collided while changing lanes.

Another user, ClassyPlatypi, wished that more people understood the concept of a courtesy honk. Its an alternative to the honk some find aggressive that people like Youtuber Mark Rober  who famously made a glitter bomb trap that explodes on package thieves  put into a polite honk button on his vehicle.

But, as ClassyPlatypi noted, sometimes even the smallest tap on the horn is met with an obscene gesture. I just dont get it, and Ive lived here all my life, the user wrote.
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Business leaders have been fundraising for their opposition to the Justice Charter, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg recently urged voters to join him in voting against it. They neglect the promise that the Justice Charter holds for workforce development, one of their greatest priorities.

In 2020, Nirenberg rallied business leaders and voters in support of SA Ready to Work, a four-year, $200 million investment to connect people to jobs. The business case for workforce development continued to build. In 2021, Corporate Partners for Racial Equity committed $13.8 million to focus on education, economic opportunity, and safety and justice. The latter includes successful community reintegration for people involved in the justice system.

Groups opposing Proposition A are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to stoke fear that the charter amendment removes consequences for people who commit crimes. Business leaders have claimed it will deter new businesses from moving to San Antonio and lead to an increase in crime.

The truth is the root causes of crime are the inequities already here, such as jobs that dont provide health care and unfair wages that make it impossible to afford housing, let alone a college degree. For people formerly incarcerated, these inequities are made worse long after they have served their time.

Cite and release, which the San Antonio Police Department already practices and Proposition A seeks to expand and codify, contributes to the urgent need to reform the justice system that disproportionately harms Black people at every step. While Black people make up 8 percent of the population in Bexar County, in 2021 they made up 17 percent of the jail population.

In Bexar County, 64 percent of the people in jail are being held pretrial, which means they have not yet been convicted and are legally presumed innocent. Research shows this is due, in part, to the cost of bail that allows people who can afford it to be released, while detaining the poor.

Under cite and release, instead of being arrested for certain nonviolent offenses and booked in jail, people are issued a citation and must report to the Bexar County Reentry Center within 60 days. A prosecutor evaluates their case and refers them to court or, if eligible, to a diversion program, which works to increase the employment and educational attainment of people affected by the justice system.

According to the Bexar County district attorney, 24 percent of the 7,464 citations issued between July 2019 and December 2022 were referred to diversion. Of the people who committed to diversion, 79 percent completed the program and their records are sealed. If a person doesnt complete the diversion program, their case may be filed for prosecution.

In other words, for people who complete the diversion program, cite and release is a type of workforce development program with a proven track record of success.

Why then would a program with a successful completion rate for holding people accountable for nonviolent offenseswith a focus on vocational training, job placement and educational attainmentnot receive rallying support?

Fifty years of racist tough-on-crime policies have led to the worlds highest rates of incarceration in the United States. So, too, have powerful police unions, including the San Antonio Police Officers Association, that oppose reforms and protect members accused of misconduct.

Nirenberg said he supports ending mass incarceration, but has said reform is the work of state and federal governments. This neglects the power of local governments to reduce mass incarceration by issuing citations for nonviolent offenses and diverting critical resources toward ending racial inequities. Cite and release has saved taxpayers $5.6 million.

The city of San Antonio has the power and responsibility to reform the justice system, and the Justice Charter offers a path to get there.

Kiran Kaur Bains is the executive director of SA2020. She previously served as the city of San Antonios first chief equity officer.
After more than five hours of debate, the Texas Senate voted 19-12 late Wednesday to bar all public universities and colleges from having diversity, equity and inclusion programs or staff.

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said while he is all for diversity, DEI programs have gone too far, and are actually excluding some job candidates and ultimately not succeeding in increasing the diversity of college faculty.

LATEST: Killing diversity hiring programs in Texas colleges could hurt push for more engineers

DEI has become a political agenda, not a program that follows civil rights law, Creighton said.

Democrats vehemently opposed the legislation, saying DEI was being mischaracterized by Republicans based on a few isolated incidences, and that it ignored how colleges have used the programs to make sure diverse candidates  once overlooked by universities  are getting a chance to be considered for jobs and future advancement.

The legislation now goes to the Texas House, which must pass the same bill if it is going to make it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has the final say on whether it will become law.

Creighton argued scrapping DEI would allow more diversity of thought and that lawmakers could work on other ways to promote diversity.

But state Sen. Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat and one of just two Black members of the Senate, said that didnt make sense.

There is no logic in the belief that you can increase diversity by removing the policies and offices that work to promote diversity, he said.

EXCLUSIVE: Gov. Greg Abbott explains his fight against diversity hiring programs on college campuses

All 12 Democrats in the Texas Senate voted against the bill.

Like Creighton, Abbott has argued DEI programs sound good on the surface but that they have been manipulated to pass on potential job applicants because of their race. He sent warnings to colleges and universities in February, which was followed by schools like the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston all announcing that they would step back from DEI programs or review how their programs work.

But that hasnt been enough for the Republican-led Legislature, which has threatened to cut funding for colleges that use DEI programs and now has Creightons legislation advancing.
THURSDAY, April 20, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday delayed a decision on a federal appeals court ruling that seeks to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

In a brief order, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. said the pause on any decision would lapse Friday at midnight, giving the court more time to consider the case, the New York Times reported.

The delay suggests there may be disagreement among the justices in the Supreme Court's first major case about abortion access since a conservative majority overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last June, the Times reported. It also suggests there may be a dissent in the case.

Justice Alito issued the order because he oversees the appeals court whose ruling is the focus of an appeal.

Just last Wednesday, a federal appeals court partially overruled Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk's ruling made in Texas earlier this month, which said the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations approval of mifepristone back in 2000 was invalid and the drug should not be used.

While the three-judge appeals court panel said mifepristone could remain available for now, it blocked mailing the pill to patients, as well as other measures the federal government has taken recently to boost access to the medication.

In response, the Biden Administration last Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow mifepristone to remain widely available while the government pursued an appeal. The government's brief was harshly critical of the Texas ruling suspending approval of the drug, which is typically given as the first of two drugs in a medication abortion.

"The district court countermanded a scientific judgment [the] FDA has maintained across five administrations; nullified the approval of a drug that has been safely used by millions of Americans over more than two decades; and upset reliance interests in a health care system that depends on the availability of mifepristone as an alternative to surgical abortion for women who choose to lawfully terminate their early pregnancies, the governments brief said.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the FDA, wrote in the brief that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a drug they neither take nor prescribe, and that they had provided no basis for second-guessing the agencys scientific judgment back in 2000, theTimes reported.

In a second brief, filed by Danco Laboratories, which makes the branded version of mifepristone (Mifeprex), the company said the federal appeals courts ruling had created regulatory chaos."

Leaving the... ruling in place will irreparably harm Danco, which will be unable to both conduct its business nationwide and comply with its legal obligations, the companys brief said. The lack of emergency relief from this court will also harm women, the health care system, the pharmaceutical industry, states sovereignty interests and the separation of powers.

In its preliminary ruling last Wednesday, the federal appeals court suggested a statute of limitations bars any legal challenge to the FDAs original approval of mifepristone. The court also seemed to consider the governments view that removing a long-approved drug from the market would have significant public consequences."

But it left in place parts of Kacsmaryk's ruling that rolled back a loosening of restrictions on mifepristone by the FDA in recent years. That includes a 2016 move to allow the drug to be used through 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of the initial seven weeks, as well as a decision this year to allow retail pharmacies to dispense the pills.

The battle lines over mifepristone was first drawn late last week.

The Texas ruling was swiftly followed by a ruling from Washington state federal judge Thomas Rice that ordered a halt to any action to remove mifepristone from the market or otherwise cause the drug to become less available.

The Washington state lawsuit originated with Democratic attorneys general who were challenging restrictions in place that made it difficult to obtain mifepristone.

Not just Texas

In a statement released last week, President Joe Biden warned that Kacsmaryk's ruling could affect medicines beyond mifepristone and affect Americans nationwide.

"If this ruling were to stand, then there will be virtually no prescription, approved by the FDA, that would be safe from these kinds of political, ideological attacks," Biden said.

Biden added that the ruling "does not just affect women in Texas  if it stands, it would prevent women in every state from accessing the medication, regardless of whether abortion is legal in a state."

Medical abortion now accounts for about half of all abortions in the United States. With the overturning of Roe v Wade last June, obtaining mifepristone and misoprostol for a medical abortion has been seen as a viable option for women who live in states affected by bans who might still want to obtain an abortion.

Mifepristone works by suppressing a hormone that's necessary for pregnancy to continue. The second drug, misoprostol, induces contractions similar to those seen in a miscarriage. In countries where mifepristone is hard to obtain, medical abortions often involve the use of misoprostol alone, although experts believe the efficacy of misoprostol alone is less than the two-drug combo.

Even if the decision to rescind mifepristone's FDA approval is ultimately upheld, experts believe most American women could still access medical abortion, since misoprostol would remain legal.

More information

Find out more about medical abortion at the Cleveland Clinic.

SOURCES: White House, news release, April 7, 2023; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, statement, April 7,2023, American Medical Association, National Right to Life, statement, April 7, 2023; Danco Laboratories, news release, April 7, 2023; The New York Times
A Missoula man will spend five years at the Montana Department of Corrections for selling fentanyl-laced pills to a Missoula teenager, which ultimately resulted in her death.

My worst fear became my reality when she died, Jane Mann, Tasia Manns mom, said in an impact statement she read in court on Tuesday. She was beautiful, caring, creative, had this great sense of humor and loved all types of music.

Missoula County District Judge Shane Vannatta gave Christopher R. Clark, 21, 10 years at the DOC with five years suspended for each of three criminal endangerment charges, and five years at the DOC with no time suspended for a fourth drug charge. The four sentence terms will run concurrently with one another.

In January, Clark pleaded no contest to one count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and three counts of criminal endangerment, all felonies. A no-contest plea means the defendant accepts the punishments of a guilty plea without admitting guilt.

Tasia Mann, who was 18, died in June of 2021 following fentanyl poisoning from a pill she took at a party. Tasia was rushed to the hospital after her friends found her, but died a few days later. Investigators determined the pills were supplied by Clark, according to charging documents.

Tasia was one of three overdoses from a party that day. The second overdose was a 17-year-old male, who survived. The third victim was another young man who had also been at Mann's house and reportedly taken what he thought was a Percocet pill. He survived as well, according to court documents.

Jane Mann was out of town when she got news of Tasia being on life support at Providence St. Patrick Hospital following the fentanyl poisoning. She rushed back to Missoula to be with her daughter during the final moments of Tasias life.

Walking into the ICU room was the most traumatizing experience in my life, Jane Mann said. Tasia didn't even look like herself. Nothing could ever prepare you to see your child on life support.

On June 3, nearly a week after the party, Tasia was taken off life support, Jane Mann said.

Several of Tasias family and friends filled a Missoula courtroom on Tuesday.

The sentencing was contested, with Jennings and Tasias family asking the court to impose a longer, 20-year prison sentence against Clark, as opposed to an all-suspended DOC sentence recommended by Clarks defense attorney, Lisa Kauffman.

Clark was also ordered to pay $3,500 in restitution for Tasias funeral expenses.

Missoula Chief Criminal Deputy County Attorney Matt Jennings prosecuted the case. He said that to his knowledge, this is the first time the Missoula County Attorneys Office has prosecuted a fentanyl death-related case.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The number of fentanyl overdose deaths has increased drastically in the past several years. In 2011, there were 2,666 fatal overdoses compared with 31,335 in 2018.
Smoke from wildfires makes for an eerie sunset at Montana Fair in Billings on August 17, 2021. (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).

Montana may be the Big Sky state, but the air beneath that large expanse may not be so healthy.

In its 24th annual State of the Air report, the American Lung Association pointed out that the three-year average for air quality continues to deteriorate in Montana, largely due to pollution from forest fires, which sends particulates into the air and into the lungs.

As fire season is happening, its starting earlier and happening for longer. Another factor is the intensity with which it is happening, said Carrie Nyssen, senior director of advocacy for the American Lung Association.

Though Montana is not the only state to struggle with air pollution due largely to forest fires, Nyssen said the problem is getting worse as catastrophic fires cause more destruction.

Missoula was singled out in particular for its bad air, with the report noting the western Montana city ranked No. 15 for most polluted for short-term particles nationwide and No. 51 in cities for year-round pollution.

The number of high-particle days in Missoula more than doubled in the past year.

However, six of seven of Montanas counties with urbanized areas also made the list, with only Cascade County and Great Falls avoiding being singled out. Meanwhile 11 counties, including Missoula County and the states largest, Yellowstone, received F letter grades for the short-term particle pollution.

Lincoln County also received an F grade for its annual particle pollution.

Most of the pollution detailed in this years report stems from small particulate matter. That is smoke and microscopic debris found suspended in the air from the fires. That matter, often smaller than 1/30th the size of a human hair, can be breathed in, and causes irritation or reactions inside the lungs. However, some of the particulate matter can be so small, Nyssen said, that it can enter the bloodstream and cause numerous health problems, including cancer.

Nyssen recommends making sure residents pay attention to their local air quality index, which measures the air for particulate matter.

In the past, communities and states that relied on wood burning to heat homes and businesses were often singled out for similar problems with air quality, but that has largely changed as heating practices have changed. Now, the problem is brought by smoke, which sometimes comes from hundreds of miles away from Montana.

Nyssen also noted that other western states like Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Colorado all have similar challenges with air quality and particulates.

While forest fires, especially in other states or countries, can be hard to manage, Nyssen said one of the key areas indicates that more prescribed burning by agencies like the United States Forest Service can help mitigate catastrophic wildfires which will, in turn, reduce the amount of smoke being put off through these fires.

Thats a tricky thing because prescribed burns can also cause smoke and irritation, she said. We have to look at forest health and other things that we can do to mitigate pollution like emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes.

But Nyssen said once a fire begins sending smoke and toxins into the air, its nearly impossible to stop the consequences, so the strategy has to shift to prevention.

The question is how to do that as safely as possible for those communities, she said.

She also said that transitioning away from fossil fuels, which contribute to poor air quality, would also help.

Theres not just one magic button, Nyssen said. But trying to get to zero emissions or a clean electricity grid would be good goals and incentives.

The post Montanas air gets worse in annual report appeared first on Daily Montanan.
Investing in fossil fuels is irresponsible, even self-immolating.

The markets have mispriced risks posed by climate change, but asset prices will soon correct, resulting in massive investment losses.

To mitigate higher-intensity storms and rising seas, we must redirect pension savings into renewable energy, energy efficiency, and low-carbon technologies.

The energy transition is underway, but much more must be done.

New York City will end up underwater if we dont move more public retirement money into greener investments immediately.

New York Comptroller Brad Lander made this litany of assertions in a letter last week to his colleagues at Ceres, an NGO committed to sustainability challenges on whose board he serves.

For any of these statements to be true, the International Energy Agency, the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, multiple Nobel Prize winners, a majority of the worlds most sophisticated investors, and the intelligence agencies and energy ministers of every G-7 nation must be wrong. There are special interests who are trying to get comptrollers like me and other fund managers to ignore [climate] risks, using misinformation to convince people that sustainable investment is politically motivated, and  should not be allowed to factor  into decision-making, Lander added.

False, false, and false again.

Human activities, including record consumption of fossil fuels, are having profound impacts on our air, land, and water. Ideally, a low-carbon or carbon-free energy mix will one day cheaply power all of our industrial, transportation, and residential needs. Given tradeoffs between carbon intensity, energy reliability and affordability, and national security, we havent figured out how to do it yet. Thats why the IEA continues to forecast record demand for oil and gas in the short term, and rising demand for the rest of this century. Starving our domestic energy producers of capital while consuming record amounts of oil and gas would only make us and the entire free world more dependent on people like Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Maduro, and Middle Eastern autocrats. G-7 energy ministers meeting now in Sapporo, Japan cant even project an end date for phasing out coal, let alone a comprehensive energy transition. Billions of people still use coal to keep their heat and lights on. Billions more lack access to reliable electricity.

Eugene Fama was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for developing the random-walk and efficient-markets hypotheses. Famas research revealed how asset prices reflect all available information with remarkable efficiency. Along with Nobel Prize winners Paul Samuelson and Friedrich Hayek, his work undergirds the still-unrefuted investment case for broad market indices. The worlds largest sovereign wealth fund  Norways  studied climate risk as part of a recent asset allocation review. Its conclusion? We do not believe there is sufficient evidence to claim that climate risk is systematically mispriced. This report was released in 2021, one year before energy stocks outperformed tech stocks by more than 65%.

The Norway climate investment analysis did not end there. A decision to replace our current equity index with a climate-adjusted index would mean our fund would miss out on opportunities where companies undergo a transformation. Not investing in companies or sectors by using a climate-adjusted index is not a very suitable tool for bringing about changes in corporate behavior. Indeed, to change corporate behavior, you must invest, not divest. To optimize risk-adjusted returns, you must have exposure to the entire market, not cherry-pick the companies and industries you like best.

Projections for future temperature rise based upon carbon emissions are wide and variable, but projections for sea rise are even wider and more variable. According to the IPCC, average sea level increases over the past century were a mere 12mm per year  that is to say, one to two thousandths of a meter annually, or 1020 centimeters over 100 years. Hardly cataclysmic. The IPCC now projects with medium confidence that this pace may increase through the end of this century, though it remains unsure by how much. Meanwhile, the Copenhagen Consensus Institute counterintuitively finds that hurricanes are becoming weaker and less frequent. Will more investment be needed to protect seaside public infrastructure and residential areas? Yes. Will New York City residents have no place to live, and New York City teachers, firefighters and policemen and women be flooded out of work thirty years from now if they dont invest more of their hard-earned pension money on green solutions today? Of course not.

It aint what people dont know that gets them into so much trouble, Mark Twain famously quipped. Its what they know for sure that just aint so.

Honorable public officials eager to promote the common good, like Brad Lander, claim to know more than common sense allows. Public pension assets should broadly be managed like Norways  in other words, they should strive to maximize returns responsibly and at minimal cost. Investment paradigms based on speculative assumptions and restricted investment universes suggest political motivations  exactly what Friedrich Hayek memorably dubbed the fatal conceit.

Terrence Keeley is the author of Sustainable: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing, and the CEO of 1Point Six LLC.
Merriam-Webster defines a mission statement as something that states the business or goal of a business or organization. A mission statement is a short and concise action plan based on things you do each day. It explains why you are in business and what you want to accomplish. Think of it as your elevator speech.

Your mission statement provides direction to develop goals and future plans. Yes, it may seem abstract, but a well-developed mission statement adds clarity, understanding and describes what you do, your reasons for being in business and what is important. At its core, a mission statement reflects the underlying values, goals and purposes of the farm business and those in management. You can develop your mission statement by answering a few questions and summarizing responses into a brief one or two-paragraph statement.

Developing a mission statement

When developing a mission statement, give attention to what is important to the business now and in the future. Start by thinking about the following questions:

What is the basic reason for the dairy farms existence?

How does it serve the family and the community?

Why is it unique?

What are the farms strengths?

Consider the future of the farm business, family, standard of living, leisure time with family, duration of the farm business, passing the farm to the next generation and retirement. Be sure to involve family members and employees in this process. It is important that others involved in the farm operation have the opportunity to provide input. This will provide a more truthful statement of what the farm business does and what it values. This approach also provides for greater buy-in and acceptance by those involved in the business. Think broadly and write down ideas as they come to you and do not limit or prioritize your ideas. Share your ideas with others involved in the farm.

Next, start thinking more specifically, maybe adding more notes, and begin to develop draft forms of the mission statement. Do not rush the process. Your mission statement can be written in paragraph or bulleted form. Either is fine. The important thing is that it be written and used.

Finally, compile the notes and drafts to write the mission statement. Once the mission statement is completed, type it, frame it and hang it in the office, milking parlor, employee break room or another location where it can be viewed by managers, employees, family members and others.

Example mission statement

As mentioned previously, a mission statement is a concise description that reflects the values, goals, and purposes of the farm business. The following example mission statement reflects the thing of importance to this family: Our mission is to produce and market high-quality milk in sufficient quantity to provide a good standard of living for our family and our employees. The business should be profitable enough to provide above- average compensation for employees and long-term financial security for our families.

Using your mission statement

The value of a mission statement comes from its active use. Use it to guide the goal-setting process and when making decisions. Successful businesses are built on strong foundations. Taking the time to develop a mission statement will provide your farm business with the meaningful foundation it needs to be successful today and in the future. Over time, the mission statement may change as the business progresses. Periodically review your mission statement and make changes when appropriate.

Getting started. There are resources developed by Ohio State University Extension that can assist in you in developing a mission statement. I encourage you to consult the following:

15 Measures of Dairy Farm Competitiveness https://dairy.osu.edu/sites/dairy/files/imce/2019%2015%20Measures%20of%20Dairy%20Farm%20 Competitiveness%20Final%20%281%29.pdf

Developing Goals for the Agricultural Business: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/anr-45

Whole Farm Planning Model: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/anr-52

I encourage you to use the resources provided in this article and work with your local extension professional to develop a mission statement for your business.
Regular readers know that I have one core mantra I live by. This is that nature is not to be trusted.

People are always nattering on about wildlife being our friends. Do not believe this. The Disney trope is a trap.

Easter egg hunts are a little more bear able in Connecticut since a black bear ambled into a lawn staged for holiday fun. Giving new meaning to the term mama bear, she made sure her cub got ALL of the winnings. Residents made the obviously correct choice to stand back and let the mother bear and her cub sweep the field, opening plastic eggs and eating ALL of the candy.

Also looking for easy access to food, a black bear in California broke into more than two dozen homes over a seven-month time period. Research tells us that bears entered homes 67 times. This is up from previous years when they entered 45 times. Just a decade ago, they still understood boundaries and entered maybe 10 or less times annually. Obviously, they have not forgotten the Goldilocks and the Three Bears trespass, and they are getting even.

Never one to let humans off the hook, wildlife experts assure us that it is important not to give bears easy access to food. It will, we are told, become a bad habit, leading the animals to become unafraid of people, overweight and hooked on fast food. So, basically like people  the willy-nilly laying of candy filled eggs once a year notwithstanding.

More sightings

In Pennsylvania, snakes were found in a bathroom wall at a Target store. Im pretty sure that isnt permitted unless they are service snakes. We are assured that the snakes are healthy and active. I can promise you that if I run into a herd of snakes while shopping, their health and well-being will not be the first thing on my mind.

Zebras that were on the lam in Maryland were eventually captured but not until they enjoyed four months of freedom. Thats right. It took four months to capture creatures who blend with almost nothing. So we know zebras are smart.

A turkey that had terrorized Washington, D.C., residents and attacked users of a bike trail eluded capture from five different law enforcement or wildlife agencies before finally jumping state lines and moving into Maryland.

I am not one bit surprised that multiple agencies were unable to capture and wrangle that thing. Turkeys, even domesticated, can be quite vicious. Wild turkeys are basically members of a murderous cartel.

Flashier fowl have also run afoul of the law. See what I did there? Im a professional. A flamingo that flew away from a Kansas zoo nearly 18 years ago and has been on the run ever since was glimpsed enjoying retirement in Texas in 2022. The bird, named Pink Floyd, liberated himself in 2005 when staff failed to properly trim his wings. Its clear that Floyd is thriving in the wild. Hes been in the pink ever since.

Raucous raccoons

In West Virginia, raccoons drunk on fermented crab apples caused a rabies scare. That is understandable. Most people, upon seeing a stumbling raccoon obviously disoriented, are understandably going to assume rabid and not cant hold his liquor. Kudos to the person who had to administer Breathalyzer tests to raccoons.

I do wonder if the raccoons were also picking fights with random strangers and professing their love and loyalty to everyone in the ladies restroom. Thats usually how it went in college bars, as I recall.

As someone who also cannot handle alcohol (it gives me a headache so strong I too could be mistaken as rabid), I have a number of reasons I also relate to raccoons. Raccoons and I both have dark circles, gray roots and will fight you for food.

Although there is one way raccoons and I do differ: in Florida there was a raccoon spotted riding the back of an alligator at the Ocala National Forest. I am going to pass on trying that. Gotta leave something to nature.
Its been just over a year since the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected in domestic poultry in Pennsylvania.

That first positive case was announced April 16, 2022, in a commercial flock of 1.4 million egg laying chickens in Lancaster County, in the south central part of the state. The positive case came two months into whats become the deadliest bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.

Since then, more than 4.6 million birds have been killed in Pennsylvania as a result of the bird flu. Across the country, more than 58 million birds have been killed. While some have died as a result of the disease, most were culled as a preventative measure to stop the spread.

After a brief lull in the winter, the bird flu hit Pennsylvania farms earlier than expected this year, with the first case being reported on Jan. 30, said Gov. Josh Shapiro, at a recent press conference. The mild winter caused wild birds that naturally carry the fatal disease to migrate sooner. There have been 32 cases in Pennsylvania in 2023.

The last positive case in Pennsylvania was more than a month ago, as of press time, but this wave of bird flu served as a reminder that this bird flu outbreak isnt over yet and farmers, backyard poultry keepers and residents need to remain vigilant.

Farmers need to take the steps necessary to implement biosecurity measures as quickly and effectively as possible, even if you just keep some birds in your backyard, Shapiro said, at a March press conference update on the highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Overall impact

More than 58 million domestic birds in 47 states have been killed as a result of the bird flu since the first case was detected last February.

Its the deadliest outbreak of bird flu since an outbreak in 2014-15 killed more than 50 million birds. That outbreak lasted about six months.

This current outbreak has entered its second year and positive cases continue to come up every few days. The last case was detected on April 14.

Avian influenza viruses occur naturally and are ever-present in wild birds that spread the virus in their droppings and wherever they land. These bird flus are highly contagious and often fatal to domestic birds.

The bird flu has been blamed for soaring egg prices, which was on average $4.25 per dozen in December, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To compare, eggs were $1.79 per dozen in December 2021.

Prices have already dropped and will likely continue to drop as the nations overall egg laying flock recovers from last years losses. The average price per dozen was $3.24, according to the most recent USDA egg market report.

State impact

Since the start of this outbreak, 31 commercial flocks and 36 backyard flocks have been hit by the bird flu in Pennsylvania. Most cases have been in and around Lancaster, where most of the states commercial poultry operations are located.

The state led the country in positive cases in March, which led several states to temporarily block poultry shipments from Pennsylvania. The last case detected in Pennsylvania was on March 17. Four farms were still under surveillance, as of April 18.

Pennsylvania devoted $25 million in its budget last year to compensate farmers and integrators for losses suffered from the outbreak not covered by the USDA. Of that, $8.2 million has been distributed to farmers, Shapiro said. The budget also included $6 million for testing and diagnostic services. Shapiros budget proposal this year re-ups all of that money.

While the state is doing its part to help farmers through this bird flu outbreak, Shapiro urged people to do what they can to help. He said the data shows smaller backyard flocks are being infected at a higher rate than large commercial flocks.

Ohio has also been hit hard by the disease, by the number of birds impacted, but the state has had far fewer flocks hit. In all, more than 3.7 million birds have died in Ohio, most of which came from a commercial flock containing 3.7 million egg laying chickens. There have also been eight positive cases in backyard flocks in Ohio in total, ranging in size from 8 to 640 birds.

One case was reported this year in Ohio, at a backyard flock in Licking County, on Jan. 18.

West Virginia is one of three states that has not had any cases of bird flu in domestic poultry during this outbreak.

(Reporter Rachel Wagoner can be reached at 724-201-1544 or rachel@farmanddairy.com.)
PLAIN CITY, Ohio  Like many of Ohios solar projects, the proposed Oak Run project, in Madison County, has faced opposition from nearby farmers and others who dont want to see farmland taken out of production. Savion, the company proposing the 800-megawatt project, however, says installing solar panels doesnt mean the land cant be used for farming.

The company has a plan to farm between the rows of solar panels on at least 2,000 acres of the proposed Oak Run project site and to contract with local farmers for the work. The company also has plans for using grazing to maintain vegetation in areas that arent being used for crop production.

In 2021, Savion established Between the Rows, LLC, to collaborate with Ohio State University on agrivoltaics research. Sarah Moser, the director of farming operations and agrivoltaics for BTR, has been working with Ohio State researchers for the last two years to study the production of forage crops under solar panels.

Research

A small-scale study was done on her familys hog farm, in Van Wert County, using cover crops, alfalfa and a grass/legume mix between rows of solar panels.

The Moser family raises hogs from wean to finish in two barns that hold a total of about 2,400 head. They installed solar panels to generate power to help run the barns, said Trent Moser, Sarahs brother.

We decided with that wasted space in between them, wed try to plant something, he said.

Trent Moser said the trials theyve done on their farm show the potential for forage production, along with solar energy production on a larger scale.

I definitely think it would work, he said.

Hes hoping to try growing soybeans between their panels this year.

One concern about farming within solar arrays is moving farm equipment between rows of panels, but technology can

help prevent collisions.

With GPS and autosteer in this day and age, I dont see any problem with it, Moser said.

To expand on the preliminary research done at the Moser familys farm, Ohio State applied for a grant last year through the U.S. Department of Energys Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale, or FARMS, funding program.

The first round of grant funding was announced last December, and Ohio State was awarded $1.8 million to conduct grazing and forage production trials using precision agriculture technologies and to study the impacts on soil health at an operating utility-scale solar site. The details of the project are not yet available but researchers are hoping to begin the study this summer.

Questions continue

Meanwhile, the Ohio Power Siting Board continues to deliberate over the Oak Run Solar Project. Both proponents, including the Moser family, and opponents of the proposed project gathered at Jonathan Alder High School, April 11, for a public hearing by the siting board.

Outside, a pickup truck front and center in the school parking lot carried a spray-painted sign over the tailgate reading, No solar on farmland. Off to the side, a group of farm kids played with a piglet and held up signs reading, My future is solar powered, and Solar power makes ewe smile.

Prior to the hearing, the Solar Farm Summit held a separate news conference and rally in support of the project, especially the plans for combining solar power production and agriculture.

The project would occupy 6,050 acres of land about 10 miles north of the Farm Science Review in Madison County. Most of the land parcels included in the project proposal are owned by Midwest Farms LLC, which has ownership links to Bill Gates, one of the founders of Microsoft. The ground is prime farmland in a county where a 210-bushel corn yield is merely average.

During the April 11 hearing, some commenters favored the Oak Run project because of the funding it would generate for local communities and schools, but others focused on the impact on agriculture.

Arly Drake, an agronomist who lives in Madison County, spoke at the hearing in opposition to the project.

I know that the project proposes to investigate agrivoltaics, Drake said. However, I know that most plants cannot grow well under shade and if farming is limited between the rows of these panels, soil compaction is likely to occur there, which is also not good for most plants and certainly not for the health of the soil.

Drake noted that growing grain crops on prime soils like those at the proposed project site produces better yields and requires fewer inputs that growing crops on poorer soils. Removing the higher quality soil from production pushes production toward those lower quality soils, she said.

Driving production to less healthy soils is costly, she said.

Avery Davison, who grew up on a Madison County farm, also spoke up at the hearing in opposition to the solar project.

I dont know if any of you have looked at land prices lately. Theyre astronomical, she said. Buying is not an option for beginning farmers. The next best option is going to be to rent. Unfortunately, solar projects are coming in and offering 3 to 4 times that what a beginning farmer can offer for the same acres.

The long lease terms for the solar projects is also a problem, Davison said. Its 40 years, so that basically robs two generations of the ability to farm those acres.

Opposition

The township trustees for all three townships that would have land in the Oak Run project unanimously passed resolutions opposing the project.

Some of the best, most fertile farmland in Madison County will be lost by this venture, the resolutions stated.

The Madison County Commissioners also passed a resolution opposing the project by a vote of two to one. The boards of local school districts, on the other hand, have passed resolutions in favor of the project.

Those resolutions have been submitted, along with nearly 600 other comments to the Ohio Power Siting Board for consideration as the board decides whether to approve the project, deny it or approve it with added conditions. The board will have an evidentiary hearing on the project May 15 and will schedule the project for a decision once the evidentiary process is complete.
MARIETTA, Ohio  The Wayne National Forest is planning a fishing derby at the Lamping Homestead Recreation Area, April 22. Kids up to 12 and accompanied by a parent or guardian are invited to take part in the free fishing derby from 10 a.m. to noon. Prizes for heaviest fish, longest fish, and youngest angler will be awarded. A free lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers will be served from noon to 12:45 p.m.

Other activities include an indoor archery range, vine weaving, a naturalist booth with wildlife furs and skulls and an appearance by Smokey the Bear.

Call Wayne National Forest at 740-373-9055 for more information. Participants should bring their own fishing poles, buckets, bait, and chairs. Limited poles and bait will be available for children who do not have their own. All who attend are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather.
CANTON, Ohio  Stark Parks, in partnership with the Stark County Federation of Conservation Clubs and Berkley Fishing Team, is hosting free derby events as part of the 2023 fishing derby circuit.

Kids ages 4-15 can join the circuit with a chance to fish for prizes at derbies held through the spring and summer. Attendance at each derby will earn one entry into a drawing to win a cash prize from the Berkley Fishing Team.

One free fishing pole will be given to each child participating in a derby throughout the circuit by the Stark County Federation of Conservation Clubs while supplies last. Prizes and trophies are awarded at each derby for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in various age groups.

Fishing starts at 8 a.m. for each of the circuit events:

 Jack Cullen Towpath Trail Trout Derby, April 29, St. Helena Heritage Park, Canal Fulton

 Richard Fry Memorial Catfish Derby, May 13, Petros Lake Park

 Pep Tamargo Memorial Derby, May 27, Sippo Lake Park-Marina. Pre-registration required. Lunch, trophies and prizes provided by the Berkley Fishing Team.

 Cooks Lagoon Derby (ages 4 to 15 and seniors), June 10, Cooks Lagoon

 Sandy & Beaver Canal Derby, Aug. 12, Magnolia Mill Pond

The Night Fishing Derby is July 14 at Sippo Lake Marina for all ages. The entry fee is $5. The Berkley Fishing Team is hosting the Bob Meister Special Needs Derby Sept. 9 also at Sippo Lake Marina. The event is free but pre-registration is required. For more information about the derbies, visit StarkParks.com/Derbies.

If you have a boat, you can participate in the Ranger Bass Tournaments. Registration is $60 per boat for cash prizes (subject to vary), and the proceeds benefit the Ranger Explorer program. The bass tournaments are May 6 and June 17 at Walborn Reservoir. Registration begins at 6 a.m. with fishing from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Advance registration is required for the May 6 tournament. Visit StarkParks.com/Bass for additional information.

The annual Catfish with Cops shoreline fishing tournament is July 29 at Walborn Reservoir. Entry fee is $5 per person.

Sippo Lake and Walborn Marinas will open May 6, weekends only, until Memorial Day weekend. After Memorial Day weekend, marinas will be open seven days a week. Services provided include watercraft rentals, live bait, snack and beverages. Pontoon Boat rides will be offered this summer at Sippo Lake Marina starting in June. Reservations are encouraged.

About Stark Parks

Stark Parks manages 15 parks, four lakes, and over 120 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails, totaling over 6,800 acres of land.

Stark Parks prides itself on 55 years of innovation, creativity, and serving the Stark County community with the best parks, trails and resources available. For more information on Stark Parks, visit StarkParks.com.
The abolition of Feed in Tariffs and the business rates relief scheme for privately owned hydropower projects has led to a 'slowdown' in on-farm energy investment.

This is according to the Farmers Union of Wales (FUW), which has responded to a Welsh government consultation on reviewing renewable energy targets, acknowledging the need to set targets which go beyond 2030.

On-farm renewable energy production has been high on the Welsh farming industry's agenda for decades.

However, the importance of such has been brought into sharp focus over recent years as the UK faces an energy crisis.

The FUW said farms continued to seek ways in which they could diversify and the focus on reaching net zero was increasing.

However, it said the end of Feed in Tariffs and the Welsh government business rates relief scheme for privately owned hydropower projects had led to a significant slowdown in on-farm investment into renewable energy sources

The union said this had 'weakened' the environmental benefits associated with private initiatives, while diminishing the momentum of reaching the "70% of Wales electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2030" target.

FUW senior policy officer, Gareth Parry said: Action is required now more than ever to tackle the UKs energy shortages and to secure future energy production.

"We have previously written to Julie James MS, Minister for Climate Change, urging her to work with colleagues in other administrations to ensure that all possible actions are undertaken to further increase renewable energy production."

The FUW has welcomed the Welsh governments ambition to set a target for at least 1.5GW of renewable energy capacity to be locally owned by 2035.

It has also welcomed the devolved government's acknowledgement that the uptake of small-scale renewable energy technologies could be a key contributor to meeting this target.

Mr Parry said that pathways to reaching such targets must include urgent action at all levels of the government.

He added: "This must include the introduction of new incentives for farmers to invest into small-scale renewable energy projects on their land and buildings.

"The removal of barriers to such developments, if the required fivefold increase in the generation of electricity in Wales between now and 2050 is to be achieved."
The Wales Woman Farmer of the Year Award has launched to champion the contribution that women make to farming businesses and wider rural life.

In what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, Wales farming heroines often dont get the full recognition they deserve.

But the NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual Wales Woman Farmer of the Year competition, now in its 25th year, aims to change that by celebrating the contribution of women in the farming industry.

NFU Cymru deputy president Abi Reader, a winner of the award who will be one of this years judges, said: "Over the past 25 years we have had a variety of winners, all representing different sectors and parts of the farming industry.

"We look forward to receiving applications for the 2023 title and celebrating the 25th anniversary of this great award.

The winner of the NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual award will receive 500 and a Welsh Royal Crystal bowl.

The closing date for the competition is Monday 29th May 2023.

The award will be presented on 27 July on the NFU Cymru stand at the Royal Welsh Show.

Lona Davies, NFU Cymru & NFU Mutual group secretary, who will be judging said: "For generations women have played a crucial role in Welsh agriculture, from running farm businesses to leading diversification enterprises to increase farm income and NFU Mutual is proud to support this award.

"We hope the award inspires other women in Wales to take centre stage and influence farming in the future."

If you are interested in entering, or know someone who you think is worthy of a nomination, visit the NFU Cymru website or contact the NFU Cymru office by telephoning 01982 554200 or emailing clare.williams@nfu.org.uk.
The future of the UKs iconic native pig breeds is becoming 'increasingly insecure' in the wake of the wider pig industry crisis, campaigners have warned.

The British Landrace pig breed has seen a dramatic decline with just 23 dams producing pedigree progeny in 2022, down from 43 in 2021.

This compares with 495 dams registered in 2006, according to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST).

The low numbers are in stark contrast to the 1970s, 80s and 90s when the breed expanded rapidly to become one of the UK's most popular for commercial pigs.

The RBST's watchlist, an annual situation report for breeds, also shows a major fall in British Saddleback pig registration numbers.

The Gloucestershire Old Spot pig now has the lowest number of breeders registering progeny since 2000, while the Oxford Sandy & Black pig has seen the number of dams producing pedigree progeny fall 32% since 2020.

RBST chief executive, Christopher Price said the crisis in the pig industry over the past two years was driving "a very worrying and worsening situation" for rare native breeds.

"Fewer people are keeping these breeds now, and the number of new piglet births is falling too," he explained.

"Each of these breeds has unique characteristics, they are part of the UKs heritage but they also have an important role in food production today and the resilience of our pig industry into the future."

Mr Price said the government must consider the 'urgent plight' of native breeds as it reviewed the pork supply chain.

He warned that the British Landrace was in a particularly worrying situation: "It is a fantastic breed for really high quality bacon and pork production, very easy to manage and excellent for improving other breeds of pig," he said.

The RBST Watchlist highlights a number of other breeds across the UKs native livestock and equine breeds which are in growing need of support.

The Llanwenog sheep has seen a significant drop in registered births for the 2nd consecutive year. The breed is considered At Risk.

And the Gloucester cattle breed has seen another drop in the number of breeders and registered births.

The RBST and the Gloucester Cattle Society have begun a programme of work aiming to revive the breeds fortunes.
A scholarship worth up to 3,000 has been launched for young farmers in Wales looking to learn more about agriculture in other countries.

The scholarship, which receives an annual donation from the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust, is looking for applicants considering travelling in the UK, Europe or further afield.

The Gareth Raw Rees Memorial Scholarship, launched in 1984, is available to farmers under 30 years old.

The scholarship was launched in memory of the late Gareth Raw Rees MBE from Ceredigion, who promoted the interests of young people in farming.

He was a firm believer in the benefits of travelling towards the fulfilment of a broader and more rewarding education.

Trevor Lloyd, chairman of NFU Mutuals Advisory Board for Wales, said: The scholarship offers fantastic opportunities for young people to travel and learn about farming methods in other parts of the world.

In todays fast changing agricultural industry, its vital that our young farmers gain a wider perspective to help them farm successfully, which is why NFU Mutual is a strong supporter of the scholarship scheme.

"Weve received some exceptional applications from some very capable and enterprising young people and have been able to support their efforts in visiting and learning about a variety of agricultural techniques.

"We very much look forward to receiving some equally impressive applications once again in 2023.

The closing date for applications is 23 June 2023 and the winners will be announced at this years Royal Welsh Show.

Those interested are being told to contact Peter Howells at NFU Cymru on 01982 554200 or email Peter.Howells@nfu.org.uk.

The scholarship is managed by the Raw Rees family; NFU Cymru; NFU Mutual; Wales YFC; the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University and the Future Farmers of Wales.
A Russian woman who called Volodymyr Zelensky a "handsome young man" was fined 40,000 rubles by a Moscow court.

A Russian pensioner was fined for calling Volodymyr Zelensky 'handsome'

Olga Slegina, 70, was handed the punishment for comments she made last December about the Ukrainian president, according to the Memorial Human Rights Centre that is based in the Russian capital.

Slegina reportedly spoke to another woman at a health centre in Nalchik who had called Zelensky a "freak", saying that he had a "good sense of humour".

In a court hearing that is said to have lasted for only five minutes, she was charged under 'war censorship' laws introduced in March 2022.

The laws were brought in following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to provide "huge administrative fines" for people who "discredited" the Russian Armed Forces and its operations.

According to Memorial, Slegina was tried for her comments and charged under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences.

Three days later, she was approached by a man in civilian clothes who informed her that she had been reported to the police for her remarks.

Slegina was taken to a police car and driven to the police station where it was alleged that she had "praised Zelensky", to which she responded by saying that she only commented on his appearance.

She was interrogated and was asked to sign a document that she was unable to read due to her cataracts.

Memorial said that the document signed by Slegina "altered" her words.

Slegina was unable to attend the trial due to health issues but the presiding judge did not consider it a good enough reason to postpone the court session.

She said: "Slegina is not in intensive care... walks, alive, health."
Just Stop Oil activists have refused to rule out protesting at King Charles' coronation.

Protesters could target King Charles' coronation

The ecowarriors warned they will do "whatever is non-violently necessary" to further their campaigning on the climate crisis and remained evasive when asked if the ceremony at Westminster Abbey on 6 May would be off limits.

During 'Good Morning Britain' on Thursday (20.04.23), presenter Adil Ray asked protester James Skeet: "The King's coronation is coming up, is that off limits? Would you do something disruptive there, will you throw something at the Queen's, at the King's carriage?"

The sound engineer replied: "Just Stop Oil will do whatever is non-violently necessary. We'll do whatever is non-violently necessary to save us...

"Look I know it's unpleasant, I know it's horrible to think about. But we are on course for civilizational collapse.

"When crops fail, people die, civilizations collapse. We've got to connect with the reality of the situation. We are in the most critical situation we've even seen.'"

And on GB News, another representative from the campaign group, Anna Holland, was asked if she would "like to rule out on air" that Just Stop Oil wouldn't disrupt the coronation following speculation they would after liking a map of the procession route on Twitter.

She replied: "I think it's an incredibly important thing to note that when you say Just Stop Oil's tactics aren't working, the fact that we liked a post on Twitter has made national news.

"If that doesn't show that our disruption is working - we're getting the climate crisis into mainstream conversation - I don't know what does."

But presenter Isabel Webster said: "That doesn't answer the question. I'm not asking you right now about your effectiveness, I'm asking you will you be disrupting the coronation of King Charles III?'

Her guest replied: "I can't answer that, I'm sorry."

The host suggested the royals were not the right people to target because they have been huge supporters of conservation and the argument.

Anna said: "I never said if we're targeting the royals or not."

Anna went on to argue the group were not "trolling" the public.

She said: "Well, no, we're fighting for our lives, we're not trolling. We want to end new oil and gas because it's going to kill us all."
Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet "hang out every week".

Kylie Jenner is rumoured to be dating Timothee Chalamet

The 25-year-old make-up mogul and the 27-year-old actor have grown close over recent months, but an insider insists their relationship is "not serious" for the time being.

The source told PEOPLE: "She is getting to know him.

"Kylie is having fun. After years of back and forth with Travis [Scott], she just wants to date without any pressure."

Kylie - who has Stormi, five, and Aire, 14 months, with Travis - met the actor at an event in Europe earlier this year.

The brunette beauty considers Timothee to be "fun and charming".

The insider added: "They have a lot to chat about."

Meanwhile, Kylie recently insisted that she wants to keep her personal life out of the spotlight.

The TV star explained that in spite of her celebrity status, she actually prefers to spend time at home with her friends and family.

She told HommeGirls: "I value a lot of personal time.

"So, I usually have people over for dinner, or I go to someones house, or if were going out somewhere usually my friends come over and we get ready together."

Kylie finds it tough to engage with fans while also retaining a degree of privacy.

She explained: "The internet is amazing because obviously thats where I started my business. Its been great for me to connect with my fans but now I think its about finding balance. Theres a dark side to it. Its just about finding that balance."

Kylie rose to international stardom through her appearances on 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians', her family's hit reality TV series.

But Kylie insists she doesn't actually watch a lot of reality TV and she doesn't have any ambitions to branch out on her own.

Asked which other reality show she'd like to appear on, Kylie replied: "Oh my God, I dont really watch a lot of reality TV. This is hard. I would never switch up and leave Hulu and my sisters."
Tom Parker Bowles thinks protests should be "allowed" at King Charles' coronation because the UK is a "free country."

Tom Parker Bowles encourages the right to protest at the coronation

The 48-year-old writer - who is the son of Queen Consort Camilla and her ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles - isn't too concerned about the possibility of the Westminster Abbey service being disrupted on 6 May because he believes "everyone has the right" to express their beliefs.

Speaking on 'The News Agents' podcast, he said: "Everyone has the right to think what they want... Going back to Extinction Rebellion and Animal Rebellion and republican whatever it is, everyone has a right to their say. We live in thankfully a free country If people want to protest that's their right to do so If people protest, people protest. You're allowed to protest. We all are allowed to have different views and I think that makes for an interesting and civilized country."

Tom also went on to add that while the Queen Consort may be "anxious" about the coronation, she has adopted an attitude of "just getting on with it".

He added: "I think anyone would be anxious on an occasion of this sort of importance in terms of the historical. And yes, I think I'd be terrified if I had to sort of walk out wearing ancient robes She's 75, but you know, it's tough to do it. But she's never complained. You just do it. Get on with it."

The food critic insisted it would be "appalling" if he and his sister Laura Lopes suddenly underwent drastic lifestyle changes because of Camilla's new role as Queen Consort, but he doesn't think it is "weird" that that's her title now.

He said: "It's not really [weird] because she's still my mother... I think change happens, but I don't care what anyone says. This wasn't any sort of end game, she married the person she loved, and this is what happened. I think that's it. So, yeah, you're not going to find us with great estates and being called the Duke of Whatever. No, that would be appalling."
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have adopted the reform of the European Unions (EU) Emissions Trading System (ETS) including for aviation and maritime, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and a new Social Climate Fund (SCF). The parliament has approved the deals reached with EU countries in late 2022 on several key pieces of legislation that are part of the Fit for 55 in 2030 package.

The adoption of the reforms is part of the EUs plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels in line with the European Climate Law, the European Parliament said in a press release.

The European Parliament has approved the reform of the EU's ETS for aviation and maritime, the CBAM, and the new SCF. The parliament has approved the deals reached with EU countries in late 2022 on several key pieces of legislation that are part of the 'Fit for 55 in 2030' package. The reforms aim to reduce GHG emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030.

The reform of the ETS was adopted with 413 votes in favour to 167 against and 57 abstentions. It increases the ambition of the ETS, as GHG emissions in the ETS sectors must be cut by 62 per cent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. It also phases out free allowances to companies from 2026 until 2034 and creates a separate new ETS II for fuel for road transport and buildings that will put a price on GHG emissions from these sectors in 2027 (or 2028 if energy prices are exceptionally high).

The European Parliament also voted to include, for the first time, GHG emissions from the maritime sector in the ETS (500 votes to 131 and 11 abstentions) and agreed to the revision of the ETS for aviation (463 votes to 117 and 64 abstentions). This will phase out the free allowances to the aviation sector by 2026 and promote the use of sustainable aviation fuels.

With 487 votes to 81 and 75 abstentions, the European Parliament adopted the rules for the new EU CBAM, which aims to incentivise non-EU countries to increase their climate ambition and to ensure that EU and global climate efforts are not undermined by production being relocated from the EU to countries with less ambitious policies.

The CBAM will be phased in from 2026 until 2034 at the same speed as the free allowances in the EU ETS are being phased out.

The deal with member states to set up an EU SCF in 2026 to ensure that the climate transition will be fair and socially inclusive was adopted with 521 votes to 75 and 43 abstentions. Vulnerable households, micro-enterprises, and transport users who are particularly affected by energy and transport poverty will benefit from this. When fully in place, the SCF will be funded from auctioning ETS II allowances up to an amount of 65 billion, with an additional 25 per cent covered by national resourcesamounting to an estimated total of 86,7 billion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
Aaradhya Bachchan case: The granddaughter of Amit Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, Aaradhya Bachchan, has taken legal action against a YouTube tabloid for spreading false information about her health. As per reports, the 11-year-old child has sought an injunction against such reporting in the media as she is a minor.

Actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan became proud parents of Aaradhya on November 16, 2011. Since her birth, the star kids have been in the limelight and have been targets of trolls on multiple occasions. On April 20, 2023, the star kids moved to the Delhi High Court against YouTube tabloids running fake news about her health, some even declaring her to be dead.

WHAT DID THE DELHI HIGH COURT SAY?

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While hearing the case on Thursday, the Delhi High Court rebuked YouTube, which is owned by Google, over the circulation of "fake news" relating to Aaradhya Bachchan. Directing the platform to remove such videos, a bench headed by Justice C Hari Shankar slammed the firm and asked why they don't have a policy in such matters.

11-Yr-Old Aaradhya Bachchan Moves Delhi HC Against YouTube Channel; Wondering What Happened? Check DEETS Here

Stating that such fake news should not be shared in the future either, the court asked, "When you're told these types of YouTubes are circulating, should there not be some way of handling these things? You are a YouTube platform, don't you have some responsibility for such kinds of things?"

Adding that the company is providing a platform for people to circulate misinformation, the court asked the counsel representing the firm, "You mean to say you're only providing a facility for people to only misinform the public... You are providing a platform on which misleading information is circulating to the public. How can such a thing be tolerated?"

The court also summoned Google and all the parties mentioned in the petition and directed them to change their policies as per the amendment in the IT rules and stated, "Every child is entitled to be treated with honour and respect, be in celebrity or a commoner. Misleading information on child, especially with respect to her health, is completely intolerable in law."

Exclusive! Abhishek Banerjee Shares His Excitement On Working With Amitabh Bachchan In Section 84

AARADHYA BACHCHAN'S LAWYERS' STATEMENT

Aaradhya's counsel further argued that such videos use morphed pictures of the star kid, which is a breach of her privacy. They stated, "These videos are false, fake, defamatory, and uploaded with the end and intent of gaining eye balls and added viewership and subscription to the channel."

Further, the court has ordered Google to take down all the video clips that discuss Aaradhya's health. "The Delhi High Court has recognised that the privacy of young Aaradya Bachchan needs to be protected against those that are spreading false news and are gaining profits from misusing her family name," Aaradhya's lawyer, Pravin Anand, said.
April 29 marks International Dance Day 2023, a special day that honors the art of dance and serves as a reminder to governments, politicians, and institutions that have not yet acknowledged its significance to individuals and society and its potential for economic advancement.

The Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute ITI, UNESCO's primary partner for the performing arts, established International Dance Day in 1982. Every year, the International Dance Committee and the International Theatre Institute ITI also choose a remarkable dance figure to craft a message for the occasion.

On this special occasion, we'll talk about the inspiring journey of Josh star Shivani Kandalgaonkar, her love for dancing, and journey so far. The journey from being aspirational to becoming inspirational hasn't been easy at all for Shivani, a 26-year-old girl who has finished her BA and is a dancer by profession.

She has got training of some Indian folk dance forms. She also practiced some western styles by her own and is now learning Bharatnaytam from her guru Prajakta More and Kathak from Guru Deepali Vichare with her partner Hitesh who is also a Josh creator.

According to her, being an artist is it self a uniqueness. She really feel that everybody can't do what an artist can do and she's proud be one.

However, Shivani had her share of struggles as well. People always said to her that dance and all its ok but it's not an ideal career option. She's in the industry from almost 7-8 years now and experienced many hurdles but she never regreated her choice .

During her early day, Shivani had done many shows and worked as background dancer. She had done Marathi IMFFA awards as well which were held in Europe and it was great experience for her. After facing several issues while doing shows and shoots, she stopped doing that .

Shivani then started her dance academy with partner Hitesh at Virar but they had to shut it down before COVID-19. The pandemic period turned out to be really tough for her but at that point, she realised she never had enough time to work on herself. She tried to utilised the time and practiced new styles andi learnt a lot of new things about herself.

During the same time, she started recording videos and uploading them on social media. She got a nice response from viewers. One day, suddenly, Shivani got a call from her manager Apoorva and told her about Josh app and asked if she would like to join the popular short-video platform.

She instantly said yes as it was a great opportunity for her. It turned out to be the best decision for her because she got opportunities to collaborate with so many artists. Thanks to Josh, her followers increased from just 10 to 2 million now.

Shivani is also getting brand collaborations through Josh and she worked with several brands includign Josalukkas Pune, VI CAMPAIGN, Amazon, Colorbar was great. She has also done promotional videos for Marathi movies and series like TamashaLive, Pet Puran, 36 Gun, and got chance to meet this amazing artists like Sai Tamhankar, Lalit Prabhakar, Santosh Juekar, Sonali Kulkarni, and many others.

She now wants to make it big with the help of Josh and wants to be known as one of the best dance creators. According to her, new influencer are very talented and advices that consistency and quality, talent, and creativity are some of the important factors to make a name for themselves.

Here's her Josh account, check out her amazing content:

https://share.myjosh.in/profile/3b0a548f-8f62-44ab-bacb-453d38a3f8cd

For latest download Josh app and follow community activity on https://linktr.ee/Josh_TeamHindi
Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chorpa passed away this morning. According to media reports, she was battling health issues and was on a ventilator for two weeks now. She was 74. The news of her demise has sent a wave of grief across the industry. Several celebs have taken to social media to mourn Pamela's demise.

Amid this, Yash Raj Films had issued an official statement confirming that Pamela's cremation took place in Mumbai this morning. In fact, Rani Mukerji, Aditya Chopra and Uday Chopra sought privacy in these difficult times. It is indeed a heartbreaking moment for Rani and Aditya as Pamela passed away a day before their 8th wedding wedding anniversary.

For the uninitiated, Rani and Aditya tied the knot in a hush hush wedding on April 21, 2014 after dating each other for a while. The news came as a surprise for everyone as their wedding was an extremely low key affair. But did you know, Pamela wasn't happy with Aditya and Rani's relationship. According to a report published in Mumbai Mirror and IB Times, while Yash and Pamela didn't appreciate of Aditya and Rani's relationship, the late filmmaker had even asked Aditya to leave the house. The media reports also suggested that Aditya had stayed in a hotel for almost a year.

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On the other hand, media reports also claim that Aditya had moved out of the house as he didn't want his parents to intervene in his life. However, Pamela agreed with Aditya's decision as she didn't want to stay away from her son which was apparently the condition of the wedding.

"Adi is back because his mother was very keen to have her son back home. She does not like Rani much, but has had to bend because she could not stay away from her son. A family reunion has happened and now things are better, though still not fully fine. In fact, he (Aditya Chopra) categorically told his parents that he would shift only if they did not interfere in his personal life," a source had reportedly told Mumbai Mirror.

The couple is happily married for around 8 years now and is also proud parents to daughter Adira. They share a great equation and Rani often describes themselves as 'Parvati and Shiva'. In fact, Rani is often seen having Aditya's back through thick and thin.
Salman Khan Rakhi Sawant: Salman Khan and Rakhi Sawant have shared a long-standing association, with Rakhi making multiple appearances on various seasons of Bigg Boss and Salman having helped her during personal difficulties.

However, in a surprising disclosure, Rakhi has stated that the gang of Lawrence Bishnoi has sent her a threatening email warning her to stay away from Salman and declaring their intention to kill the Bollywood superstar in Mumbai.

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As per the latest report by News 18, Salman Khan has received fresh death threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang via email, and Rakhi Sawant has also been mentioned in the threat.

RAKHI SAWANT REVEALS GETTING WARNING FROM LAWRENCE BISHNOI GANG

The threats were made hours after the former Bigg Boss contestant apologised to the gangster's gang on Instagram on behalf of the Dabangg star. Speaking to ETimes, Rakhi stated, "They're saying if you talk about Salman Khan, we'll kill you. But I'll speak about Salman Khan because he helped my mother when she was unwell."

Unke Jo Dushman Hai..: Rakhi Sawant Gives Befitting Reply To Salman Khan Naysayers Sending Death Threats

She added, "He spent Rs 50 lakh to try to save my mother from cancer. Why shouldn't I speak? They shot Sidhu Moosewala. People walk in candle marches and cry after someone's death. Shouldn't we take a stand when a person is alive?"

She further said that she will not take any legal action against the emails and said that, though she is scared, she is going to leave it to God.

RAKHI SAWANT REVEALS SHE RECEIVED TWO EMAILS

Rakhi has received two emails from someone named Prince Mavi, who claims to be from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's gang and is affiliated with the Goldy Brar group, the report stated. The first email was sent on April 18 at 7:22 a.m., and the second was sent at 1:19 p.m. In the first email, the gang told Rakhi that they had no enmity with her and asked her not to get involved in Khan's matters, otherwise she would get into grave problems.

Salman Khan Receives Threat On Email, FIR Against Lawrence Bishnoi, Security Beefed Up Outside Actor's House

The email also mentioned that Salman will be killed no matter how much security he has. Whereas the second email said that Salman Khan can't be saved and that the actors should talk to Goldy Brar or get ready to die.
Bigg Boss Malayalam 5 has been exciting since the beginning of the programme. The show will include a midweek episode, presented for the first time by Mohanlal, which will heighten the anticipation.

In the weekend programme, the host revealed that, in contrast to his usual approach, he would be meeting the competitors on Wednesday and Thursday.

The actor recently finished filming in Jaisalmer for his eagerly anticipated Lijo Jose Pellissery film, "Malaikottai Vaaliban." The actor is eager to spend time with his loved ones on vacation because the next shooting location for the film is anticipated to be Chennai in a few weeks.

Most of the movie stars make the holidays beautiful. Videos and photos of actors spending time with their families go viral on social media. Now, after a long time, Mohanlal is preparing to celebrate a holiday with his family.

Mohanlal said this on the stage of Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 5. The episode that was supposed to happen every weekend has already happened, and the second one will be telecast tonight as the actor is going on vacation.

"It's been a long time since I went on a holiday. I couldn't do it because of COVID. If not, I would have gone every year. So I'm going to Japan. That's why I came to see you earlier this time. My friends and family have already left for Japan. We go every year. The next day, I will leave here alone. I have been to Japan before. The film 'Iniyengilum' was shot there. Then I went to do a Japanese film. Learned Japanese. Even if I go there, you all will be with me in my heart," Mohanlal said in yesterday's episode.

Mohanlal last acted in Malaikottai Valiban. The first look poster of the film, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, was released recently. Marathi actresses Sonali Kulkarni, Hareesh Peradi, Manikandan Achari, Rajeev Pillai, Danish, Hariprasanth Verma, Suchitra Nair, and others are playing roles in the film. Max Lab Cinemas and Century Films are the production partners, along with Shibu Baby John's John and Mary Creative.
"This film with Dhanush will be a big leap in my career. That's why it's so late." - says director Mari Selvaraj.

Neer Mor Pandhal (Water & Butter Milk Pavilion) opening ceremony was held in Chennai on behalf of Dhanush fans. Director Mari Selvaraj participated in this function today and distributed 'Neer Mor' (Water & Butter Milk) to the public. He continued to meet reporters and said,

"Dhanush's fans have set up a water pavilion as it's hot, it's a happy thing. Filming with Dhanush is already planned. Due to unavoidable reasons it could not be started immediately. Now it has started and is going well. An unexpected update is Dhanush's Wunderbar Films is producing it. We will start this film after finishing the film with Dhruv."

Reporters asked, "Is actor Vadivelu there in Dhanush as well?"

Mari Selvaraj replied to the question, "It has not been decided yet, Dhanush and I are in the film now. This film with Dhanush will be the biggest leap in my career. That's why it's so late. It is a bi-historical film. I had a fear in myself. I thought I had to mature a bit to do this film.

I need to learn some cinema. There will be huge expectations after Karnan. And not only to fulfill that expectation, I have to move on to the next place. So it took time. Dhanush sir is confident that this film will be a big one."

Dhanush-Mari Selvaraj is teaming up again in actor Dhanush's Wunderbar Film's 15th production after Karnan.

2 years have passed since the release of the movie Karnan, this announcement was made recently. While Dhanush is currently busy with Captain Miller, it is expected that the shooting of the film with Mari Selvaraj will start after the completion of this shoot.
Akkineni Akhil Agent Photo Credit: Gallery

Akkineni Akhil's latest action thriller titled 'Agent' under the direction of Surender Reddy is finally gearing up to release all over the world. The movie is scheduled to hit theatres on April 28.

The movie has been in post-production for quite some time, although the filming was completed a long time ago. During COVID and Surender Reddy's hospitalization, the filming was delayed by a year or so. After the shooting was completed, it took another year for the film to finally book a release slot.

The agent was extensively shot at Vishakapatnam, Hyderabad, Budapest, and Manali. Ahead of the film's release, the makers released a trailer on April 18. Within 24 hours of the film's trailer release, it clocked 10.54 Million views and gained about 192.1 K likes, according to the information available on the fan pages. However, the fan pages pointed out that the film's teaser got a great reach and views more than its trailer.

Surprisingly, Mammootty stole the entire limelight in the trailer. Fans of the actor as well as moviegoers couldn't help but express their love and appreciation for the 70-year-old actor for his portrayal of the character in Agent.

It is now to be seen if Agent enthralls the fans of the Akkineni family and film-buffs at the theatres after its release. As per the sources, Agent is the movie about a RAW agent who is assigned to bring down a crime syndicate headed by the 'The God.' But, when Station Master NSG Colonel Mahadev orders the Agent to kill him, the Agent has to embark on a wild ride to investigate the blue notice.

Agent Cast

In the high-octane action entertainer, Akkineni Akhil played the role of Jonathan Raj Shekawat aka Agent Johnny. Sakshi Vaidya was cast in the role of Vidya. Veteran Malayalam superstar Mammootty played the role of Colonel Mahadev. Bollywood actor Dino Morea was roped in for the role of 'The God.' Vikramjeet Virk and Denzil Smith played the roles of Deva and Abhijeet Mehta respectively.

Agent Crew

The story of Surender Reddy's directorial is written by his friend and partner Vakkantham Vamsi. The film's cinematography was cranked by Rasool Ellore except for a song that was recorded by George C Williams. Naveen Nooli worked as Agent's Editor. Kollywood Musicians Hiphop Tamizha worked on the film's music and background score. Akhil's Agent is produced by Rambrahmam Sunkara under the AK Entertainments banner in association with Surender Reddy's Surender 2 Cinema.
The Nippon Foundation, the sole Global Impact Partner of The Valuable 500, have reaffirmed their commitment to disability inclusion by investing a further $2 million in 2023.

in 2023. The Nippon Foundation previously made history by investing $5 million - the largest ever single investment into disability inclusion in business.

- the largest ever single investment into disability inclusion in business. Valuable 500 is the largest global network of CEOs committed to disability inclusion . Its membership includes Apple, Deloitte, Dentsu, Fujitsu Google, Hitachi, HSBC Microsoft, Nestle, NTT Group, P&G, The Coco-Cola Company, and Sony.

LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nippon Foundation today announces an investment of a further $2 million into promoting disability inclusion and generating systemic change within business. This latest injection brings their total investment to $7 million, following a $5 million investment in 2021.

The Nippon Foundation is an independent, non-profit, foundation founded in 1962 which provides humanitarian aid globally. As a Global impact Partner of the Valuable 500, their aim is to promote economic participation for persons with disabilities.

Ichiro Kabasawa, Executive Director, The Nippon Foundation commented: "Investing in the activities of the world's 500 most successful and well-funded corporations is a contradictory decision for a non-profit organization like the Nippon Foundation. However, we are making this investment because we know that ensuring systematic change is what truly is needed, and we are confident that The Valuable 500 will bring about success."

The Valuable 500 will maximise this investment and harness the power of collective actions across the 500 global businesses. This will be achieved by focusing on three pillars: Representation, Leadership and Inclusive Reporting. Each pillar is developed and delivered in partnership with several Iconic companies amongst the likes of Google, Sony and Verizon. The Iconics represent some of the largest brands in the world which will invest in products and services which will affect system change - materially improving disability inclusion within business.

With over 10% (53) of the Valuable 500's membership being head quartered in Japan, the Valuable 500 and The Nippon Foundation will be convening Japanese businesses to discuss how they can continue to improve disability inclusion within business and combat ESG obstacles effectively.

Caroline Casey, Founder, The Valuable 500 commented: "Central to this work is tackling one of the greatest barriers to change - the lack of disability data in business. It is our ambition that all our companies will be reporting on disability performance in their annual reports against a harmonised set of metrics. Thus, enabling us to hold ourselves to account and create new frameworks for driving system change."

In January, the Valuable 500 launched its white paper, 'ESG and Disability Data: A call for inclusive reporting', co-funded and developed with Allianz and London Stock Exchange Group. The culmination of their efforts will be showcased in the world's first accountability event on disability business performance in Tokyo 2025 on International People with Disabilities Day (IDPD).

About the Valuable 500

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2058285/Nippon_Director.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/the-nippon-foundation-invests-a-further-2-million-to-disability-inclusion-collective-the-valuable-500-301801995.html
Crowds of people from all over the world gathered in Weifang city located in East China's Shandong province to gaze up into the heavens one bright April day.

High above them, hundreds of kites were hurtling through the sky as the 40th Weifang International Kite Festival took flight on April 15.

The city of Weifang boasts a rich history of kite-making and is widely known as the world's kite capital.

It's played host to the kite festival from its inception in 1984 and since then, the kite industry in Weifang has grown at a rapid pace, playing an increasingly important role in both the city's commercial and cultural development.

By the end of 2022, there were more than 600 kite enterprises in Weifang, with over 80,000 people engaged in the sector. The annual sales generated by kite making have exceeded 2 billion yuan ($291 million), with various types of kite products exported to more than 50 countries and regions worldwide including Europe, the US and Southeast Asia.

In fact, Weifang's kite industry holds a dominant position in the Chinese market, with a more than 80 percent market share and a more than 85 percent market share of the international market.

Wangjiazhuangzi village, the largest kite processing export base in Weifang, has become a hub for the kite industry, boasting a complete supply chain.

The village has not only promoted the development of upstream and downstream companies such as those producing kite bones and kite strings, but has also driven the growth of related industries such as bamboo weaving and printing.

Currently, Wangjiazhuangzi has over 20 bamboo-weaving enterprises, more than 10 processing enterprises for kite bamboo and wood and three kite paper-printing enterprises.

This has led to a powerful boost in the local economy, with e-commerce platforms further enhancing the sale of kite products. More than half the kites produced in the village are sold on e-commerce platforms, with daily sales reaching a staggering 200,000 units at most.

In order to continue promoting the kite industry, plans are underway to build a kite culture creative industry park that integrates research and development, e-commerce incubations, live-streaming sales, logistics and rural tourism.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419006082/en/

Contacts:

Weifang Municipal Publicity Department

Anita Liu

zfwz@wf.shandong.cn
20 April 2023

Picton Property Income Limited

("Picton" or the "Company")

LEI: 213800RYE59K9CKR4497

Trading Update

Asset Management progress and stabilising valuations

Picton provides a trading update ahead of its full year results, to be released on 25 May 2023.

Valuation

The independent valuation of the Group's property portfolio as at 31 March 2023 was 766.2 million, reflecting a 1.2% decline relative to 31 December 2022.

This compares with the recently released MSCI UK Monthly Property Index which shows that All Property Capital Growth over the first three months of the year was -1.2%. This represents a significant improvement relative to the prior period and reflects stabilisation following the marked repricing after the September 2022 mini budget. Specifically, the MSCI Index has shown positive Capital Growth movements in March in both the industrial and retail sectors, for the first time since June 2022.

Rent collection

Rent collection remains consistently strong at 99.8%, for the last quarter.

Occupancy

Occupancy has improved to 91% (from 90% at 31 December 2022) following several leasing transactions offsetting space which has become available.

Portfolio activity

Activity over the three months included 19 lease renewals and extensions, 15 lettings, eight rent reviews and six surrenders. Key highlights over the quarter include:-

Capturing rental growth in the industrial sector

At Parkbury Industrial Estate, Radlett, an existing occupier was upsized, with two leases extended from 2025 to 2030 and the rent increased by 46% from 0.4 million to 0.6 million per annum, effective January 2025. In addition, Picton has pre-leased a unit which will become vacant in 2024, increasing the passing rent by 60% to 0.2 million per annum. Rents were in line with the December ERV.

At Riverway Industrial Estate, Harlow, an occupier has agreed to take an additional unit which became vacant at the end of 2022, after completion of upgrading works by Picton, including the installation of solar panels. Their rent increases from 0.3 million to 0.7 million per annum, which is in line with the December ERV.

At Madleaze Trading Estate, Gloucester, a rent review has been agreed with the largest occupier, increasing the rent by 29% to 0.3 million per annum, which is 23% ahead of the ERV at the time of acquisition in 2021. Elsewhere on the estate, two leases were renewed and separately occupier break options were removed in a further two leases, securing income until 2029. These transactions resulted in a combined uplift on the previous passing rent of 52% to 0.3 million per annum, 5% ahead of the December ERV.

Repositioning office assets

In response to market conditions, Picton is exploring higher value alternative uses at several office assets. Further details will be provided as these progress, but specifically at Angel Gate, London, EC1, Picton has used permitted development rights to secure residential use at this part vacant office scheme. Consent has been secured across seven buildings, totalling 17,760 sq ft, with the potential to create 19 residential units. In addition, applications are being progressed for residential use on another six buildings totalling 11,700 sq ft, creating a further 16 units.

Maintaining high retail occupancy

At Parc Tawe, Swansea, a lease has been renewed to a national retailer. The new rent is 110,000 per annum and is 10% above the December ERV but 17% below the previous passing rent.

At Gloucester Retail Park, a rent review was settled on one unit, increasing the rent by 30% to 78,000 per annum, 8% ahead of the December ERV.

In Cheltenham, a lease to a local retailer has been surrendered, securing a premium payment and a new letting to a national retailer has been agreed. This increases the passing rent by 6% to 45,000 per annum which is 1% ahead of December ERV.

A small retail unit has been leased to a local retailer at Charlotte Terrace, London, W10, for 25,000 per annum in line with December ERV.

Michael Morris, Chief Executive commented.

'Our own independent valuation and the recent MSCI figures appear to indicate that the marked repricing seen at the end of last year has substantially run its course. In our portfolio increasing rents and rising rental values are having a positive valuation impact and offsetting some of the outward yield movement we have seen in recent months. Being able to improve occupancy and adapt our portfolio to changing market conditions is also encouraging.'

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE UK MARKET ABUSE REGULATION

For further information:

Tavistock

James Verstringhe, 020 7920 3150, james.verstringhe@tavistock.co.uk

Picton

Michael Morris, 020 7011 9980, michael.morris@picton.co.uk

Note to Editors

Picton, established in 2005, is a UK REIT. It owns and actively manages a 766 million diversified UK commercial property portfolio, invested across 49 assets and with around 400 occupiers (as at 31 March 2023).

Through an occupier focused, opportunity led approach to asset management, Picton aims to be one of the consistently best performing diversified UK focused property companies listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

For more information please visit: www.picton.co.uk

ENDS
Exeter, UK - 20 April 2023: SENISCA, a biotechnology company developing RNA based therapeutics to reverse cellular senescence and target the diseases of ageing, today announces that it has been awarded a 571,350 grant from Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency, towards the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Built on 15 years of pioneering research, SENISCA's proprietary technology is harnessing RNA biology to rejuvenate aged 'senescent' cells. Senescent cells behave differently to young, healthy cells in a number of ways, such as ceasing growth or secreting pro-inflammatory chemicals. Senescent cells, with a pro-inflammatory profile and disrupted function, are emerging as causal factors for multiple age-related diseases, including IPF.

IPF is the most common and aggressive form of interstitial lung disease characterised by chronic, progressive fibrosis associated with decline in lung function, progressive respiratory failure, and high mortality. The only currently available treatment options for IPF are palliative and only mildly slow disease progression in a subset of patients. Both the incidence and prevalence of IPF are rising sharply and are predicted to continue to do so, leading to increased pressure on healthcare systems around the world.

SENISCA is developing novel advanced biologic therapies utilising oligonucleotides, short strands of DNA or RNA, engineered by SENISCA to reverse senescence in IPF-specific tissues. Early, compelling preclinical data generated by SENISCA have shown that these proprietary senotherapeutic oligonucleotides have beneficial impact on IPF biomarkers.

The Innovate UK grant will enable SENISCA to rapidly progress preclinical work towards IND filing.

Professor Lorna Harries, SENISCA's Chief Scientific Officer said: "Our technology has real disruptive potential for the treatment of the diseases of ageing. This is an exciting research project that will build on the previous work carried out by SENISCA that led to the identification of a new and druggable set of target genes which enable significant senescence reversal effect in primary human cell models."

Kirsty Semple, SENISCA's CEO said: "Our ambition is to be the world-leader in the development and use of senotherapeutic oligonucleotides to treat complex disease. This project has the potential to lead to an innovative avenue of investigation for novel IPF therapeutics, capable, for the first time, to attenuate the IPF disease mechanism and potentially to reverse the condition rather than mitigating symptoms only. We are grateful to Innovate UK for their support and look forward to reporting our progress to address this unmet medical need."

ENDS

For more information

Jennie Jepperson

Executive Assistant, SENISCA

Jennie.Jepperson@senisca.com

For media

Consilium Strategic Communications

Chris Welsh

welsh@consilium-comms.com

About SENISCA

SENISCA is an RNA therapeutics spinout from the University of Exeter, founded in 2020. The Company is developing proprietary technology intended to 'turn back' the ageing clock in old cells. SENISCA has identified a key component of the cellular ageing response, which can be targeted in the context of multiple pharmacological and aesthetic indications.

The Company develops oligonucleotide and small molecule interventions to manipulate cellular ageing in the context of age-related disease and ageing aesthetics and is building a portfolio of novel interventions which can be mined and commercialised through partnership or co-development models and tailored to meet clinical need.

SENISCA currently has multiple candidate oligonucleotides and small molecules that target its novel mechanism and has completed evaluations of cellular rejuvenation in human primary cell models across 9 different cell types. The company has started ex vivo research and expects to move towards a pre-IND package in 2024.

SENISCA's initial target indications are: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Osteoarthritis, and Age-related Macular Degeneration all of which currently have no cure and for which treatments are only palliative, with varying success rates. These diseases are driven by senescence, are amenable to a local route of administration, and have very high unmet clinical need. Targeting these specific diseases will streamline progress towards the clinic by avoiding potential pitfalls of systemic delivery.

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas.

We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth.

We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R & D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation.

For more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org

Attachment
History as the teacher of life and death

WARSAW, Poland, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "History is a teacher of life and, for Poles, also a teacher of death" - this is how the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Dr Karol Nawrocki, paraphrased the ancient proverb at one of the panels of the Congress of National Remembrance held in Warsaw on 13-15 April 2023. It attracted 13 thousand participants, including 7 thousand young people.

As a result of the Second World War, Poland lost approximately 12 million citizens. Of this number, nearly 6 million Polish nationals were murdered, especially by the Germans, but we also remember the victims of Soviet crimes, for example, those at Katyn. Co-author of the "Black Book of Communism", Professor Stephan Courtois told at the Congress that "Poles experienced a double occupation during the Second World War, but the Soviet-German pact that led to it is a real gap in history and in European memory. This is the main cause of today's European problems, as revealed especially by the war in Ukraine."

Another 6 million Poles found themselves outside the country as a result of deportation to Germany and the Soviet Union, forced emigration or border changes.

Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk recalled that Poland is demanding reparations from Germany for the extermination of Polish nationals and other crimes and destruction. He recalled, for example, that "the Germans stole 200,000 Polish children, which was of no interest to the Nuremberg Tribunal after the war".

Among other events, the Congress included the "Echoes of Katyn" International Film Festival on Totalitarianism The main prizes went to Latvian director Viesturs Kairiss for his film "January", and Polish director Milosz Koziol for his film "Captain Pilecki", about a Pole who volunteered to be imprisoned in the German concentration camp Auschwitz in order to send information about this tragic place.

The Institute of National Remembrance inaugurated at the Congress a new multimedia exhibition "Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom". It shows the struggle of Poles on many fronts of World War II and the fate of the civilian population evacuated from the USSR with General Anders's army and later scattered around the world. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin agreed to organise among Polish exiles an army of almost 100,000 soldiers who were evacuated through Iran. The exhibition will be shown in around 50 countries.

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-DXC and Cegeka to transform the healthcare experience of millions of Belgian citizens as part of European Commission initiative

BRUSSELS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) has been contracted by the Flemish Government to help digitalize healthcare in Belgium. As part of the four-year deal worth around $3 Million USD, DXC will work with local business partner Cegeka to build a patient-centric platform which will enable greater connectivity between patients, local healthcare agencies and medical professionals.





Responsible for the personal wellbeing of citizens in Belgium, the Flemish Care and Health Agency, part of the Flemish Government, is working to put patients in control of their own personalized care plans.

Comprising a website and mobile app, the new digital health platform will improve patient experiences by empowering them to select care options, treatments and appointments in line with their preferences. The platform will provide an accurate, real-time view of the patient and their care plan, enabling seamless and secure collaboration between patients, healthcare providers, and medical professionals, making communication easier, faster and more accessible.

The new service is expected to launch at the end of 2023, with a pilot for patients suffering from long-term or life-limiting illnesses.

The European Commission, the EU's politically independent executive arm, has provided funding for the initiative as part of its efforts to improve citizen health and help EU countries develop innovative and sustainable healthcare systems.

"We are focused on the modernization of our public services and are glad to continue that work in collaboration with DXC Technology and Cegeka," said Joris Moonens, spokesperson for the Flemish Care and Health Agency. "We are striving to accelerate our IT transformation to develop innovative projects that will improve, simplify, and accelerate our services for citizens."

"We are delighted to have been awarded this contract and are proud to continue our role as a trusted partner to the Flemish Government," said Benjamin Revcoleschi, Managing Director of DXC Technology Benelux and France. "We are helping the Flemish healthcare system use the power of data and platform-centric business models to deliver better public services for millions of citizens."

DXC Technology

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global enterprises manage their mission-critical systems and operations by modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private, and hybrid clouds. The world's largest public sector enterprises and organizations rely on DXC to implement services that drive new levels of performance, competitiveness and customer experience in their IT facilities. Learn more about how we deliver excellence to our customers and colleagues on DXC.com.

About Cegeka

Cegeka is an ambitious and leading European IT solutions provider. In line with our motto 'In close cooperation' we strive to provide the best possible customer service and support our more than 2,500 customers in their digitization journey. Cegeka offers end-to-end solutions in the fields of Data, Applications and Infrastructure, which are strongly interconnected. Cegeka has over 5,500 employees with locations in the Benelux, Germany, Austria, Romania, Moldova, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden, and a consolidated turnover of 744 million euros (in 2021).

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/flemish-government-to-digitalize-healthcare-with-dxc-technology-301802846.html
Rise in the prevalence of obesity, surge in health risks associated with being overweight, and increase in number of R&D activities on several potential drug molecules that target both obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus drive the growth of the global anti-obesity drugs market.

PORTLAND, Ore., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Anti-Obesity Drugs Market by Drug Type (Prescription Drugs and Over the Counter Drugs), by Mechanism of Action (Centrally Acting Anti-Obesity Drugs and Peripherally Acting Anti-Obesity Drugs), by Route of Administration (Oral Route and Subcutaneous Route), by Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies and Online Pharmacies): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the global anti-obesity drugs industry generated $1,605.36 million in 2022, and is anticipated to generate $4,439.34 million by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 10.7% from 2023 to 2032.





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Prime determinants of growth

Increase in the prevalence of obesity, increase in number of drugs in pipeline, increase in number of clinical trials devices, surge in health risks associated with being overweight, and increase in number of R&D activities on several potential drug molecules that target both obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus drive the growth of the global anti-obesity drugs market. However, potential side effects of anti-obesity drugs and stringent regulatory compliance for the approval of new drugs are hampering the anti-obesity drugs market growth. On the contrary, the growing prevalence of obesity rates and surge in awareness and concern about obesity and other health risk associated with obesity such as diabetes are expected to offer remunerative opportunities for expansion of the anti-obesity drugs market during the forecast period.

Report coverage & details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $1,605.36 million Market Size in 2032 $4,439.34 million CAGR 10.7 % No. of Pages in Report 461 Segments covered Drug Type, Mechanism of Action, Route of Administration, Distribution Channel, and Region. Drivers Increase in the prevalence of obesity Increase in number of drugs in pipeline Increase in number of clinical trials Opportunities Surge in awareness and concern about obesity and other health risk associated with obesity such as diabetes Restraints Potential side effects of anti-obesity drugs

Impact of COVID-19 on Anti-Obesity Drugs Market-

The global anti-obesity drugs market was negatively impacted during the pandemic, owing to disruption in several clinical trials on novel drugs and decrease in number of patients seeking treatment for obesity.

However, the market is expected to witness a recovery post pandemic, owing to rise in prevalence of obesity and surge in number of research and development activities aimed at developing new and more effective anti-obesity drugs. This, in turn, presented various growth opportunities for companies operating in the anti-obesity drugs market.

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The prescription drugs segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on drug type, the prescription drugs segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly three-fifths of the global anti-obesity drugs market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. The same segment is projected to manifest significant growth with a CAGR of 11.0% from 2023 to 2032, owing to rise in the prevalence of obesity and increase in the number of anti-obesity drugs in the pipeline phase.

The centrally acting anti-obesity drugs segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on mechanism of action, the centrally acting anti-obesity drugs segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than three-fifths of the global anti-obesity drugs market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This segment is projected to manifest a significant CAGR of 11.2% from 2023 to 2032, owing to rise in awareness among people regarding the availability of centrally acting anti-obesity drugs and increase in number of product approvals across the world.

The oral route segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on route of administration, the oral route segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than two thirds of the global anti-obesity drugs market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This segment is projected to manifest a significant CAGR of 11.1% from 2023 to 2032, owing to the fact that oral medications are typically more cost-effective than other forms of administration, such as injections or infusions, which require more resources and equipment.

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North America to maintain its dominance by 2032

Based on region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global anti-obesity drugs market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. The anti-obesity drugs market is mainly driven by the increase in the obese population and high healthcare expenditure on anti-obesity drugs. In addition, a rise in awareness among the population regarding severe chronic diseases related to obesity and a rise in investment by key market players in R&D activities are expected to fuel the market growth. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 11.4% from 2023 to 2032, owing to increase in prevalence of obesity and obesity associated chronic disease, rise in geriatric population, growth in health care expenditures, and rise in adoption of anti-obesity drugs.

Leading Market Players: -

Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC

Pfizer Inc.

Novo Nordisk A/S

GlaxoSmithKline plc

KVK Tech Inc.

CHEPLAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH

Gelesis Holdings Inc.

VIVUS LLC

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players of the global anti-obesity drugs market. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario.

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Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - COELACANTH ENERGY INC. (TSXV: CEI) ("Coelacanth" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its financial and operating results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022. All dollar figures are Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

2022 HIGHLIGHTS

On May 31, 2022, as a result of the closing of an arrangement agreement between Coelacanth, Leucrotta Exploration Inc. ("Leucrotta"), Vermilion Energy Inc. ("Vermilion"), and the shareholders of Leucrotta (the "Arrangement"), Leucrotta transferred approximately $45.1 million cash, net of transaction costs, and certain oil and natural gas assets primarily located in the Two Rivers area of British Columbia ("Two Rivers Assets") to Coelacanth in exchange for one common share of Coelacanth and 0.1917 of a common share purchase warrant of Coelacanth (one whole warrant being an "Arrangement Warrant") for each common share of Leucrotta outstanding. The Coelacanth Shares and Arrangement Warrants were transferred to the shareholders of Leucrotta. Vermilion then acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Leucrotta in exchange for $1.73 cash for each common share of Leucrotta held.

Completed the Vermilion private placement and management private placement as outlined in the Arrangement for proceeds of $21.9 million.

Received proceeds of $14.6 million on exercise of 54.2 million Arrangement Warrants.

Exited 2022 with adjusted working capital (2) of $67.7 million.

Financial and operational results below present the carved-out historic financial position, results of operations and cash flows of Leucrotta's Two Rivers Assets for all prior periods up to and including May 31, 2022 and the results of operations from May 31, 2022 forward include the results of Coelacanth after assuming the Two Rivers Assets upon close of the Arrangement.

FINANCIAL RESULTS

Three Months Ended



Year Ended





December 31



December 31

($000s, except per share amounts)

2022



2021



% Change



2022



2021



% Change

























Oil and natural gas sales

1,676



1,621



3



7,833



7,772



1



























Cash flow used in operating activities

(636 )

(805 )

(21 )

(9,741 )

(2,730 )

257

Per share - basic and diluted (1)

(-)



(-)



-



(0.03 )

(0.01 )

200



























Adjusted funds used (1)

(60 )

(818 )

(93 )

(350 )

(2,387 )

(85 ) Per share - basic and diluted

(-)



(-)



-



(-)



(0.01 )

(100 )

























Net loss

(725 )

(1,604 )

(55 )

(11,163 )

(7,824 )

43

Per share - basic and diluted

(-)



(0.01 )

(100 )

(0.03 )

(0.03 )

-



























Capital expenditures (1)

8,876



668



1,229



13,904



1,337



940



























Adjusted working capital (1)













67,738



265



25,462



























Common shares outstanding (000s)























Weighted average - basic and diluted

425,106



289,792



47



363,743



289,792



26



























End of period - basic













425,106



-



na

End of period - fully diluted













461,955



-



na



(1) See "Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures" section.









Three Months Ended



Year Ended

OPERATING RESULTS (1)

December 31



December 31





2022



2021



% Change



2022



2021



% Change

























Daily production (2)























Oil and condensate (bbls/d)

55



72



(24 )

62



102



(39 ) Other NGLs (bbls/d)

15



24



(38 )

18



29



(38 ) Oil and NGLs (bbls/d)

70



96



(27 )

80



131



(39 ) Natural gas (mcf/d)

1,468



1,993



(26 )

1,614



2,411



(33 ) Oil equivalent (boe/d)

315



428



(26 )

349



533



(35 )

























Oil and natural gas sales























Oil and condensate ($/bbl)

103.34



91.31



13



116.29



74.67



56

Other NGLs ($/bbl)

45.14



41.53



9



49.98



32.78



52 Oil and NGLs ($/bbl)

91.33



78.75



16



101.64



65.33



56

Natural gas ($/mcf)

8.03



5.05



59



8.26



5.29



56 Oil equivalent ($/boe)

57.83



41.16



41



61.48



39.97



54



























Royalties























Oil and NGLs ($/bbl)

24.88



26.94



(8 )

31.22



22.26



40

Natural gas ($/mcf)

2.08



1.51



38



2.24



1.25



79 Oil equivalent ($/boe)

15.25



13.08



17



17.50



11.14



57



























Operating expenses























Oil and NGLs ($/bbl)

17.13



8.04



113



14.14



11.39



24

Natural gas ($/mcf)

2.85



1.47



94



2.36



1.59



48 Oil equivalent ($/boe)

17.11



8.66



98



14.15



9.99



42



























Transportation expenses























Oil and NGLs ($/bbl)

1.91



2.15



(11 )

2.70



2.33



16

Natural gas ($/mcf)

1.30



0.64



103



1.08



1.19



(9 ) Oil equivalent ($/boe)

6.48



3.45



88



5.61



5.97



(6 )

























Operating netback (3)























Oil and NGLs ($/bbl)

47.41



41.62



14



53.58



29.35



83

Natural gas ($/mcf)

1.80



1.43



26



2.58



1.26



105 Oil equivalent ($/boe)

18.99



15.97



19



24.22



12.87



88



























Depletion and depreciation ($/boe)

(14.26 )

(15.10 )

(6 )

(14.79 )

(19.80 )

(25 ) General and administrative expenses ($/boe)

(46.11 )

(36.70 )

26



(36.34 )

(25.13 )

45

Share based compensation ($/boe)

(14.02 )

(6.30 )

123



(75.61 )

(7.87 )

861

Gain on insurance proceeds ($/boe)

-



-



-



5.16



-



100

Finance expense ($/boe)

(2.59 )

(1.19 )

118



(3.14 )

(0.83 )

278

Finance income ($/boe)

25.11



-



100



10.33



-



100

Other income ($/boe)

1.53



2.61



(41 )

1.12



0.53



111

Deferred income tax recovery ($/boe)

6.32



-



100



1.44



-



100 Net loss ($/boe)

(25.03 )

(40.71 )

(39 )

(87.61 )

(40.23 )

118



(1) See "Oil and Gas Terms" section.

(2) See "Product Types" section.

(3) See "Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures" section.

Selected financial and operational information outlined in this news release should be read in conjunction with Coelacanth's audited financial statements and related Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2022, which are available for review under the Company's profile on The System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com .

COMMON-CONTROL TRANSACTION

On May 31, 2022, the arrangement agreement between Coelacanth, Leucrotta Exploration Inc. ("Leucrotta"), Vermilion Energy Inc. ("Vermilion"), and the shareholders of Leucrotta (the "Arrangement") closed and Vermilion acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Leucrotta in exchange for $1.73 cash for each common share of Leucrotta held.

Pursuant to an asset conveyance agreement between Coelacanth and Leucrotta made as of May 31, 2022, and immediately prior to the closing of the Arrangement, Leucrotta transferred approximately $45.1 million cash, net of transaction costs, and certain oil and natural gas assets primarily located in the Two Rivers area of British Columbia ("Two Rivers Assets") to Coelacanth in exchange for one common share of Coelacanth ("Coelacanth Share"), and 0.1917 of a common share purchase warrant of Coelacanth (one whole warrant being an "Arrangement Warrant") for each common share of Leucrotta outstanding. The Coelacanth Shares and Arrangement Warrants were then transferred to the shareholders of Leucrotta.

Since the shareholders of Coelacanth and Leucrotta were the same both before and after the conveyance of the Two Rivers Assets (at the time Coelacanth was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leucrotta), this transaction was deemed a common-control transaction. The financial and operational results below present the historic financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the transferred Two Rivers Assets for all prior periods up to and including May 31, 2022 on a carve-out basis as if they had operated as a stand-alone entity subject to Leucrotta's control. The financial position, results of operations and cash flows from March 24, 2022 (the date of incorporation of Coelacanth) to May 31, 2022 include both the Two Rivers Assets and Coelacanth on a combined basis and from May 31, 2022 forward include the results of Coelacanth after assuming the Two Rivers Assets upon close of the Arrangement.

OPERATIONS UPDATE

Coelacanth commenced operations June 1, 2022, with its lands previously being a small part of a larger business plan for Leucrotta. Although the lands had been geologically delineated and production tested with vertical and horizontal test wells, there was significant infrastructure and corresponding pad drilling required to bring the greater vision for the area to fruition.

To that end, Coelacanth has geographically divided up its two projects as Two Rivers West ("TRW") and Two Rivers East ("TRE") with TRW already producing from two Montney wells into a small battery facility owned and operated by Coelacanth.

At TRW, a small pad has already been licensed and Coelacanth plans to have two wells completed on the pad and producing in Q4 2023. A battery upgrade was also initiated to accommodate additional volumes.

At TRE, a larger scale development is planned that includes constructing a battery to process up to 20,000 boe/d of production coming from larger pads that would carry our products to market through approximately 25 miles of new gathering and sales pipelines. The initial pad (5 wells) is planned offsetting a previously drilled Montney well that tested over a 1,000 boe/d but was only drilled with a one-mile lateral and completed with 41 fracs. New pad wells will be a minimum of 2-mile laterals and completed with approximately 160 fracs. To date, Coelacanth has completed the engineering design and secured a site to build a battery capable of handling approximately 20,000 boe/d, surveyed and started the process of securing land access to construct the gathering and sales pipelines, and applied for a license to drill its first pad at TRE.

Industry had previously experienced delays and uncertainty due to the court ruling on the dispute between the BC Government and Blueberry River First Nations regarding Treaty 8 rights. A settlement agreement was reached and announced on January 18, 2023, that will allow industry to resume business but with new restrictions to adhere to particularly on Crown surface lands.

Coelacanth now has more certainty as to the timing of the initial development of its large Montney resource and is excited to initiate this project.

ORGANIZATIONAL UPDATE

On April 18, 2023, Mr. Dion Hatcher advised the Board that he will not be standing for re-election at the Company's 2023 annual shareholders meeting as he focusses on his recently expanded responsibilities at Vermilion Energy. Although he will not serve on the Board next term, Mr. Hatcher expressed his support of the Coelacanth team and its projects and indicated that Vermilion Energy is very pleased with its investment in the Company. On behalf of the Board, Coelacanth's Executive Chair, William Lancaster, thanked Mr. Hatcher for his exemplary service since June 2022, stating that, "Mr. Hatcher's understanding of the Montney region and his global asset management experience was appreciated by the Board, and that while Mr. Hatcher will no longer serve the Board, Vermilion Energy remains a significant CEI shareholder and the Company looks forward to continued relationship strength".

OIL AND GAS TERMS

The Company uses the following frequently recurring oil and gas industry terms in the news release:

Liquids

Bbls Barrels Bbls/d Barrels per day NGLs Natural gas liquids (includes condensate, pentane, butane, propane, and ethane) Condensate Pentane and heavier hydrocarbons

Natural Gas

Mcf Thousands of cubic feet Mcf/d Thousands of cubic feet per day MMcf/d Millions of cubic feet per day MMbtu Million of British thermal units MMbtu/d Million of British thermal units per day

Oil Equivalent

Boe Barrels of oil equivalent Boe/d Barrels of oil equivalent per day



Disclosure provided herein in respect of a boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion rate of six thousand cubic feet of natural gas to one barrel of oil equivalent has been used for the calculation of boe amounts in the news release. This boe conversion rate is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.

NON-GAAP AND OTHER FINANCIAL MEASURES

This news release refers to certain measures that are not determined in accordance with IFRS (or "GAAP"). These non-GAAP and other financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. The non-GAAP and other financial measures should not be considered alternatives to, or more meaningful than, financial measures that are determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of the Company's performance. Management believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP and other financial measures provides useful information to shareholders and investors in understanding and evaluating the Company's ongoing operating performance, and the measures provide increased transparency to better analyze the Company's performance against prior periods on a comparable basis.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted funds used

Management uses adjusted funds used to analyze performance and considers it a key measure as it demonstrates the Company's ability to generate the cash necessary to fund future capital investments and abandonment obligations and to repay debt, if any. Adjusted funds used is a non-GAAP financial measure and has been defined by the Company as cash flow used in operating activities excluding the change in non-cash working capital related to operating activities, movements in restricted cash deposits and expenditures on decommissioning obligations. Management believes the timing of collection, payment or incurrence of these items involves a high degree of discretion and as such may not be useful for evaluating the Company's cash flows. Adjusted funds used is reconciled from cash flow used in operating activities as follows:





Three Months Ended



Year Ended





December 31



December 31

($000s)

2022



2021



2022



2021 Cash flow used in operating activities

(636 )

(805 )

(9,741 )

(2,730 ) Add (deduct):















Decommissioning expenditures

748



118



1,402



162

Restricted cash deposits

-



-



8,060



-

Change in non-cash working capital

(172 )

(131 )

(71 )

181 Adjusted funds used (non-GAAP)

(60 )

(818 )

(350 )

(2,387 )

Operating netback

Management considers operating netback an important measure as it demonstrates its profitability relative to current commodity prices. Operating netback is calculated as oil and natural gas sales less royalties, operating expenses, and transportation expenses and is calculated as follows:





Three Months Ended



Year Ended





December 31



December 31

($000s)

2022



2021



2022



2021 Oil and natural gas sales

1,676



1,621



7,833



7,772

Royalties

(442 )

(515 )

(2,230 )

(2,167 ) Operating expenses

(495 )

(341 )

(1,802 )

(1,943 ) Transportation expenses

(188 )

(136 )

(715 )

(1,160 ) Operating netback (non-GAAP)

551



629



3,086



2,502

Capital expenditures

Coelacanth utilizes capital expenditures as a measure of capital investment on property, plant, and equipment, exploration and evaluation assets and property acquisitions compared to its annual budgeted capital expenditures. Capital expenditures are calculated as follows:





Three Months Ended



Year Ended





December 31



December 31

($000s)

2022



2021



2022



2021 Capital expenditures - property, plant, and equipment

4,372



475



8,944



888

Capital expenditures - exploration and evaluation assets

4,504



193



4,960



449 Capital expenditures (non-GAAP)

8,876



668



13,904



1,337

Capital Management Measures

Adjusted working capital

Management uses adjusted working capital as a measure to assess the Company's financial position. Adjusted working capital is calculated as current assets and restricted cash deposits less current liabilities, excluding the current portion of decommissioning obligations.

($000s)

December 31, 2022



December 31, 2021 Current assets

67,938



759

Less:







Current liabilities

(8,901 )

(494 ) Working capital

59,037



265

Add:







Restricted cash deposits

7,389



-

Current portion of decommissioning obligations

1,312



- Adjusted working capital (Capital management measure)

67,738



265

Non-GAAP Financial Ratios

Adjusted Funds Used per Share

Adjusted funds used per share is a non-GAAP financial ratio, calculated using adjusted funds used and the same weighted average basic and diluted shares used in calculating net loss per share.

Operating netback per boe

The Company utilizes operating netback per boe to assess the operating performance of its petroleum and natural gas assets on a per unit of production basis. Operating netback per boe is calculated as operating netback divided by total production for the applicable period.

Supplementary Financial Measures

The supplementary financial measures used in this news release (primarily average sales price per product type and certain per boe and per share figures) are either a per unit disclosure of a corresponding GAAP measure, or a component of a corresponding GAAP measure, presented in the financial statements. Supplementary financial measures that are disclosed on a per unit basis are calculated by dividing the aggregate GAAP measure (or component thereof) by the applicable unit for the period. Supplementary financial measures that are disclosed on a component basis of a corresponding GAAP measure are a granular representation of a financial statement line item and are determined in accordance with GAAP.

PRODUCT TYPES

The Company uses the following references to sales volumes in the news release:

Natural gas refers to shale gas

Oil and condensate refers to condensate and tight oil combined

Other NGLs refers to butane, propane and ethane combined

Oil and NGLs refers to tight oil and NGLs combined

Oil equivalent refers to the total oil equivalent of shale gas, tight oil, and NGLs combined, using the conversion rate of six thousand cubic feet of shale gas to one barrel of oil equivalent as described above.

The following is a complete breakdown of sales volumes for applicable periods by specific product types of shale gas, tight oil, and NGLs:





Three Months Ended



Year Ended





December 31



December 31

Sales Volumes by Product Type

2022



2021



2022



2021

















Condensate (bbls/d)

6



11



9



15

Other NGLs (bbls/d)

15



24



18



29

NGLs (bbls/d)

21



35



27



44



















Tight oil (bbls/d)

49



61



53



87

Condensate (bbls/d)

6



11



9



15

Oil and condensate (bbls/d)

55



72



62



102

Other NGLs (bbls/d)

15



24



18



29

Oil and NGLs (bbls/d)

70



96



80



131



















Shale gas (mcf/d)

1,468



1,993



1,614



2,411

Natural gas (mcf/d)

1,468



1,993



1,614



2,411



















Oil equivalent (boe/d)

315



428



349



533

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This document contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "believe", "intends", "forecast", "plans", "guidance" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information.

More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company's oil and condensate, other NGLs, and natural gas production, capital programs, and adjusted working capital. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including expectations and assumptions relating to prevailing commodity prices and exchange rates, applicable royalty rates and tax laws, future well production rates, the performance of existing wells, the success of drilling new wells, the availability of capital to undertake planned activities, and the availability and cost of labour and services.

Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general such as operational risks in development, exploration and production, delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures, the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production rates, costs, and expenses, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, marketing and transportation, environmental risks, competition, the ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources and changes in tax, royalty, and environmental legislation. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this document are made as of the date hereof for the purpose of providing the readers with the Company's expectations for the coming year. The forward-looking statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes. 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.

Coelacanth is an oil and natural gas company, actively engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration, and production of oil and natural gas reserves in northeastern British Columbia, Canada.

Further Information

For additional information, please contact:

Coelacanth Energy Inc.

Suite 2110, 530 - 8th Avenue SW

Calgary, Alberta T2P 3S8

Phone: (403) 705-4525

www.coelacanth.ca

Mr. Robert J. Zakresky

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Nolan Chicoine

Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163080
WPP (NYSE: WPP) today announces the acquisition of amp, one of the world's leading sonic branding companies.

amp's expertise will strengthen WPP's offer in experiential branding and its ability to create high-quality, differentiated, and ownable sound experiences for clients. The acquisition comes as sound continues to grow as a vital branding element, with 75% of GenZ consumers saying that music helps them to feel more connected to brands1

amp will join WPP brand and design consultancy, Landor Fitch, adding to the agency's expertise in delivering immersive brand identities that transform customer and employee experiences and set brands apart in a competitive marketplace.

Founded in 2009 by Michele Arnese, amp is based in the US, Europe and Asia, with main office hubs in Germany and the US. Its global team of more than 60 people has created award-winning sonic identities for some of the world's most influential brands, including Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Kraft Heinz, Deloitte, Shell, and General Motors.

amp's strategic rigour and deep expertise in music and sound is based on its Sonic DNA design approach. This unique creative platform is elevated by Sonic Hub its AI toolset allowing it to analyse, create and manage sonic assets, delivering these at scale by harnessing the potential of generative AI. This innovative approach ensures that a brand's audio content is consistent yet tailored to diverse audiences, delivering a seamless experience across all consumer touchpoints.

Mark Read, CEO, WPP, said: "With the rise of streaming, podcasting and short-form media, audio has become a critical component of the marketing mix. The acquisition of amp enhances our offer to clients, helping them create immersive experiences that engage consumers on a deeper level and drive their competitive advantage."

Jane Geraghty, Global CEO of Landor Fitch, said: "I'm delighted to welcome amp into the fold. The team is truly best-in-class and has effectively defined the rapidly growing sonic branding space with its work on clients like Mastercard and Mercedes-Benz. This acquisition gives us an unparalleled breadth of capability graphic, digital, motion, physical, product and experiential and now sonic. It will also help us accelerate our rapidly growing accessible design practice. I'm enormously excited about what we can achieve together."

Michele Arnese, Global CEO of amp, said: "We are excited to join the WPP family. This industry-first move shows the significance of sound as a must-have brand design and experience component. Integrating more closely with Landor Fitch, true pioneers in brand design and consulting, will give us the opportunity to scale our award-winning Sonic DNA design framework and our sonic AI platform Sonic Hub within a broader brand identity context. Our global team of creatives, sonic experts, producers, client leads and researchers will team up with Landor Fitch and WPP to unleash the power of audio, making brands sound better. We are beyond thrilled to begin this new chapter."

About WPP

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.

About amp

amp is the world's leading sonic branding company. Utilizing its award-winning Sonic DNA, amp creates holistic sonic identities for global brands. Leveraging sound, voice, and music, amp builds authentic connections for brands across audible touchpoints. With a diverse portfolio of clients, including Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Deloitte, Zurich Insurance, Uber, Klarna, and Kraft Heinz, amp activates 360 sonic experiences and assets. From digital advertising to branded content and user experiences, amp's Sonic Hub Ecosystem uses AI-driven audio testing and voice technologies combined with implementation and research tools to deliver valuable audience insights and create sonic experiences for brands.

ampsoundbranding.com

About Landor Fitch

We are a leading global specialist brand and design company, dedicated to creating transformative brands for ambitious clients. With 1,200 curious minds across more than 20 countries, our teams connect business ambition to brand strategy, expressed through expansive, differentiated design. Using data and analytics, we provide certainty to brand choices. With design capabilities that span graphic, digital, motion, sound, verbal, product and physical, we bring every facet of a brand to life. We help drive brand-led growth across multiple categories, with clients that include Apple, Bang Olufsen, bp, Kellogg's, LEGO, Microsoft, Nike, Procter Gamble, Singtel, S&P Global and WPP, to name a few. We are here to make a positive difference to our people, our clients and the world around us. We are proud to be part of WPP, a creative transformation company dedicated to building better futures.

https://landorandfitch.com/

1 A study by PHMG found that 75% of 18 to 24-year-olds and 62% of under 45s say music helps them feel more connected to a brand, compared to just 41% of those 55 and over. Source: PHMG (2019)

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005953/en/

Contacts:

Louise Lacourarie, WPP

+44 (0)20 7282 4600 +44 7741 360931

louise.lacourarie@wpp.com

Kellie Carey, Landor Fitch

kellie.carey@landorandfitch.com

Chris Bergin, amp US Contact

chrisbergin@ampcontact.com

Farah Syed, amp EU Contact

farahsyed@ampcontact.com
The collection and customer activation embody the Italian designer's unique expression of his brand amplified through the reimagined awards platform

DALLAS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Neiman Marcus launches the exclusive Brunello Cucinelli Icon Collection featuring 50 styles across all categories including women's and men's ready to wear, handbags and shoes. The unique collection pays tribute to the long-standing partnership between the luxury retailer and the brand's Founder, Executive Chairman, and Creative Director, Brunello Cucinelli, who was recently bestowed the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion.





"The Neiman Marcus Awards program was brought to life for our customers after a successful inauguration with the award recipients, industry notables, and top brand partners in Paris," said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Chief Executive Officer, NMG. "Customers who prize Brunello Cucinelli's work were invited to witness first-hand the unique expression of his brand. In turn, Brunello Cucinelli was given premium access to our merchandising and marketing magic to amplify his business to the American luxury customer. Creating impactful connections between recognized brands and our customers is the trademark of our reimagined awards platform."

The Icon Collection is designed by Brunello in collaboration with his daughters Carolina and Camilla. It is composed of timeless yet modern styles that exemplify traditional Italian craftsmanship. Each piece demonstrates the versatile yet elevated Brunello Cucinelli spirit, with soft neutral colors, lightweight natural fabrics, and intricate textures created by open-weave knits and embroidery. Neiman's customers collect Brunello Cucinelli designs like they are works of art, a testament to the superior design, quality, craftsmanship and allure of his brand. For the first time in the history of this partnership, each style in the collection is labeled "Exclusively Designed for Neiman Marcus," and select pieces are uniquely numbered in celebration of the collector-focused customers. The collection has already seen great demand with some customers purchasing each piece in the assortment.

To celebrate the launch of the exclusive collection, Brunello made a special visit to Dallas, hosting top customers and friends at a private dinner at the historic Hall of State in Fair Park. To amplify the city's excitement for his arrival, a billboard near the retailer's NorthPark store welcomed Brunello with a picture of him with his award. Guests were treated to an intimate evening with the Italian designer and humanitarian as he inspired them with his philosophical beliefs and celebrated his 20-year relationship with Neiman Marcus. Attendees enjoyed music by the Dallas String Quartet and a three-course Italian meal. The event culminated with fireworks and a second musical performance. Notable attendees included Nastia Liukin, Olympic gold medalist, Kira Nasrat, renowned make-up artist, and Aparna Bawa, Chief Operating Officer of Zoom. During his time in Dallas, Brunello dedicated time to visit the Neiman Marcus NorthPark store sharing more about the exclusive collection and mingling with associates who service some of the retailer's top Cucinelli customers.

"It was a source of great joy for me to enjoy this magnificent evening in the company of my esteemed friends from Neiman Marcus, in a setting as beautiful and special as the Dallas Hall of State," said Brunello Cucinelli, Executive Chairman and Creative Director of Brunello Cucinelli. "Right here, in the great state of Texas, in this land so close to that 'state of nature' that the great Rousseau liked so much, and yet at the same time so comfortable and welcoming, I felt as at home as in my own little, beloved hamlet of Solomeo. Indeed, the friendly Texan people, whose affection I fully felt, reminded me of the Umbrian region I come from, because of its industriousness and strong ties to the land and its roots. It is a land that can be very generous, shaped by the skillful work of man and full of authentic people, outspoken and generous in their turn. It is said that everything is bigger in Texas, and I can confirm that the spirit, kindness and generosity with which I have been welcomed are truly enormous."

"Brunello Cucinelli has made a significant impact on the luxury fashion industry, making him the clear choice for this year's Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion," says Lana Todorovich, Chief Merchandising Officer, Neiman Marcus. "We are honored that Brunello chose to create a unique expression of his brand exclusively for our customers. His elevated designs resonate with their desire for impeccably crafted pieces that are true works of art."

The reimagined awards are more than a recognition program. The platform is one of many ways the luxury retailer creates a differentiated halo effect for all brand partners and makes life extraordinary for its luxury customers. Brunello Cucinelli CEO Luca Lisandroni stated earlier this week during the company's earnings call that the brand has seen sales accelerate since Brunello was revealed as the recipient of the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion, further validating the modern lens of the program. The awards will bring exclusive activations from recipients to Neiman Marcus customers throughout the year. Brunello Cucinelli will unveil a second exclusive collection for customers in the fall inspired by Hollywood glamour. As additional recipients of this year's awards, Jonathan Anderson for LOEWE and Amina Muaddi will each develop exclusive activations in the Fall/Holiday time period.

Neiman Marcus invites customers to shop the Icon Collection online and in select stores, including Dallas NorthPark, Houston Galleria, Northbrook, Beverly Hills, Fashion Island, San Francisco, San Diego, Michigan Avenue, Tysons Galleria and Scottsdale.

Assets from the Icon Collection can be downloaded here. For more information and detailed history about the Neiman Marcus Awards, view the Press Kit.

NeimanMarcus | @neimanmarcus | @brunellocucinelli_brand

ABOUT NEIMAN MARCUS

Neiman Marcus is a Dallas-based luxury retailer, providing customers access to exclusive and emerging brands, anticipatory service, and unique experiences since 1907. Each day, Neiman Marcus connects with customers worldwide while delighting them with exceptional experiences across a 36-store U.S. presence, one of the largest U.S. e-commerce luxury platforms, and industry-leading remote selling and personalization technology. From delectable dining to indulgent beauty services to bespoke experiences and exclusive products, there's something for everyone. To keep up with the latest news and events at Neiman Marcus, visit NeimanMarcus.com or follow the brand on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

Neiman Marcus Group is a relationship business that leads with love in everything we do for our customers, associates, brand partners, and communities. Our legacy of innovation and our culture of Belonging guide our roadmap for Revolutionizing Luxury Experiences. As one of the largest multi-brand luxury retailers in the U.S., with the world's most desirable brand partners, we're delivering exceptional products and intelligent services, enabled by our investments in data and technology. Through the expertise of our 10,000+ associates, we deliver and scale a personalized luxury experience across our three channels of in-store, eCommerce, and remote selling. Our NMG|Way culture, powered by our people, combines individual talents into a collective strength to make life extraordinary. Our flagship brands include Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. For more information, visit NeimanMarcusGroup.com.

ABOUT NM AWARDS

NM Awards is a new platform to recognize and amplify breakthrough luminaries in fashion globally. The platform includes the return of the prestigious Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion, a legacy established by Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus 85 years ago, as well as two expanded categories: the Neiman Marcus Award for Creative Impact in the Field of Fashion and the Neiman Marcus Award for Innovation in the Field of Fashion.

The Distinguished Service Award has been given to over 150 luxury fashion luminaries in the industry, including Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Grace Kelly, Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Salvatore Ferragamo, Carolina Herrera, Estee Lauder and Baccarat, among others.

The reimagined awards are an extension of the company's growth strategy to Revolutionize Luxury Experiences. It celebrates brand partners who share an interest in NMG's innovative approach to retail and purpose-driven commitment to creating impact. As a relationship business, the awards platform embodies the company's differentiated business model, connecting brand partners to luxury customers in entirely new ways.

ABOUT BRUNELLO CUCINELLI

The Brunello Cucinelli story started in 1978 and has always been guided by the desire to respect moral and economic dignity of humankind: pursuing a healthy and balanced growth while protecting nature's beauties, acting as "lovable guardians," are the main ethical principles that shaped the company's life. The adventure started from the intuition of dyeing cashmere knitwear, and since the beginning, its main goal has been to make high quality creations to last and to be passed down to future generations. The Italian hamlet of Solomeo hosts the company's headquarters and has always been its beating heart: its natural and artistic beauties, together with the culture and the rich traditions of the land, inspire the brand's continuous aesthetic research on elegance. The company is rooted in the history and legacy of great Italian craftsmanship as well as modern design, combining the finest quality raw materials, creativity and savoir-faire.

The brand has developed over time a personal vision of total looks, which is reflected in the exclusive ready-to-wear collections for Women, Men, and Kids as well as lifestyle accessories line, embodying a sophisticated concept of contemporary elegance. The brand is distributed internationally through monobrand boutiques in leading capitals and cities worldwide and in the most exclusive resorts, with a significant presence in selected multibrand and department stores.

















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Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Company Appoints De Novo Ventures Co-Founder Richard Ferrari as Chairperson, and Names Hendrik Lambert, PhD., as Chief Medical Officer

Anaconda Biomed, a medical technology company developing next-generation thrombectomy systems, today announced the appointment of a new board chairperson, and the naming of a new chief medical officer.

Anaconda named Richard Ferrari, the co-founder of De Novo Ventures, as chairperson. Ferrari has co-founded, led, and advised scores of medical device and biotechnology companies for more than two decades, raising some $1 billion in financing and participating in approximately $1.8 billion worth of acquisition events for emerging medical technology firms.

Most recently, Ferrari was chairman and CEO of PQ Bypass, which was acquired by Endologix for $350 million. He also led two publicly traded medical device firms, Cardiovascular Imaging Systems and CardioThoracic Systems, to successful nine-figure acquisitions as CEO. In addition to Anaconda Biomed, he serves as chairman and board member of multiple medical device and biotech companies.

"Rich has dedicated more than two decades to bringing ground-breaking medical technologies into being, helping to better the lives of thousands of patients," said Francois Salmon, CEO of Anaconda Biomed. "His guidance will be invaluable as we pioneer a new standard of care in treating ischemic stroke."

"Anaconda's novel and elegant solution to treating neurovascular clots made it easy to accept the role of chairperson," added Ferrari. "The ability to quickly navigate challenging vessel anatomy, engulf the entire clot, and rapidly restore blood flow is associated with less damage to the brain and better outcomes."

The company also announced the appointment of Hendrik Lambert, PhD., as chief medical officer. Lambert has more that 25 years of experience in the development of innovative medical device technologies, ranging from early-stage startups to large multi-national corporations in the cardiac, vascular, and neurological therapy spaces.

Most recently, Lambert was co-founder and vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs at ONWARD Medical, helping to develop the Lausanne, Switzerland-based company's treatment for patients with spinal cord injuries. He was also vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs at Endosense, which was acquired by St. Jude Medical (now Abbott), where he developed and executed the global clinical-regulatory strategy. Lambert is also an associate teaching professor at the University of Ghent, Belgium.

"Hendrik's passion for crafting clinical studies that bring innovative solutions to patients and the medical community aligns perfectly with our vision of a world with minimal deaths and disability due to stroke," said Salmon.

About Anaconda Biomed

Anaconda Biomed is a medical technology company dedicated to developing next-generation thrombectomy systems to treat ischemic stroke. Its flagship product is the Advanced Thrombectomy System. Anaconda Biomed has received funding from leading life science investment firms Ysios Capital, Omega Funds, Innogest, Asabys Partners, and Banco Sabadell and private investors. The company has also received public support from Enisa, CDTI (Neotec), Ministry of Science Innovation (Emplea and Retos), EIB, and EIT Health public grants. The ANA Catheter System is an investigational device and is not available for sale in the United States or the European Union. For more information, please visit https://anaconda.bio/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005317/en/

Contacts:

Joe Duraes

Pazanga Health Communications

jduraes@pazangahealth.com

917-687-6419
The award continues to acknowledge the female chefs paving the way for future industry leaders

One of the most important figures in Mexican gastronomy, and chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City , Elena Reygadas is awarded this year's accolade, voted for by a global panel of experts

, is awarded this year's accolade, voted for by a global panel of experts Named Latin America's Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas is a passionate advocate of Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production

Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas is a passionate advocate of Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production The chef has recently launched a scholarship programme in Mexico for young women studying gastronomy to encourage the female leaders of the future

LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the first of this year's pre-announced awards, The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 today reveals that Elena Reygadas, chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City, has been named as The World's Best Female Chef 2023. Since being recognised as Latin America's Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas has become one of the most important figures within Mexican gastronomy.

A passionate advocate for Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production, she has recently launched a female-focused scholarship programme in Mexico with the aim to promote greater gender parity in kitchens. With the goal of championing equal opportunities and strengthening the leadership of Mexican women in the gastronomic world, the 'Beca Elena Reygadas' scholarship is open to Mexican students who have been accepted into a culinary school.

Hailing from a large family, Reygadas learnt to cook as a child and later went on to study English Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. However, she never stopped cooking - Reygadas worked in restaurants throughout her studies and continued cooking at home; several years of dedicated practice led her to become a chef after finishing university. Studying in New York led to four years in London under the tutelage of Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli, before returning to Mexico City to open Rosetta, today celebrated as one of the best in the city.

Rosetta opened in a beautiful mansion house in Mexico City'sRoma district in 2010, serving an elegant menu that focuses on revamping traditional Mexican dishes. With a daily changing offering thanks to its focus on seasonal, local ingredients sourced from small producers, it placed at No.60 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 list and No.37 in Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2022.

From her speciality of exquisite hand-made pastas which helped Reygadas make her name - such as the hoja santa tortelinni - to favourites like the pistachio pipian and romeritos taco, and the fresh corn tamal serviced with warm smoked cream, her inspired dishes seek to elevate and celebrate indigenous ingredients.

As well as an adjacent Rosetta bakery, which provides bread to many of Mexico City's leading restaurants, Reygadas also runs casual Mexican restaurant Lardo and bistro Cafe Nin, both in the capital. Her first cookbook was published in 2019, with a focus not just on recipes and the philosophy behind them, but on Mexican ingredients, in particular the environment and traditions that shape them.

William Drew, Director of Content for The World's 50 Best Restaurants, says: "It's an honour to bestow The World's Best Female Chef award this year on Elena Reygadas, a chef who is paving the way for future generations of female leaders in Mexico and beyond. With her advocacy of traditional dishes and indigenous biodiversity, Reygadas is promoting the future of Mexican gastronomy and we're proud to support her mission with this prestigious award."

Reygadas says: "I'm very grateful and honoured to have been awarded by people I admire so much. Cooking is a communal practice. And so, for me, this award belongs to my entire team, as well as to all the women in the kitchen who have preserved our culinary legacy for generations."

The World's Best Female Chef 2023 award is the first of several awards to be revealed ahead of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 awards ceremony in Valencia, which will be held at Les Arts opera house, part of the city's modernist City of Arts and Sciences complex, on the evening of Tuesday 20th June. This year's programme will include a series of key events which have become the cornerstone of 50 Best Restaurants celebrations: thought-leadership forum #50BestTalks; the 50 Best Signature Sessions series of collaborative dining events open to the public; a Chefs' Feast showcasing the finest produce and cooking from the Spanish region, all culminating in the awards ceremony and countdown itself.

The world's most renowned chefs will also impart their knowledge to local culinary students through a 50 Best educational event, as 50 Best continues its mission to amplify diverse voices and positive messages, foster progressive discussion and cross-border collaboration, and encourage greater gastronomic discovery and exploration.

For media centre access, please visit:

https://mediacentre.theworlds50best.com

50 Best Social Media

Follow on Instagram: @TheWorlds50Best Worlds50Best

@TheWorlds50Best Worlds50Best Follow on Twitter: @TheWorlds50Best

@TheWorlds50Best Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/50BestRestaurants

https://www.facebook.com/50BestRestaurants Subscribe to the YouTube channel: 50 Best Restaurants TV

About The World's 50 Best Restaurants

Since 2002, The World's 50 Best Restaurants has reflected the diversity of the world's culinary landscape. The annual list of the world's most prestigious restaurants provides a snapshot of some of the best destinations for unique culinary experiences, in addition to being a barometer for and a pioneer of global gastronomic trends. The 50 Best family also includes Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants, The World's 50 Best Hotels, The World's 50 Best Bars, Asia's 50 Best Bars, North America's 50 Best Bars, 50 Best Discovery and the #50BestTalks series, all of which are owned and run by William Reed. 50 Best aims to bring together communities across the hospitality sector to foster collaboration, inclusivity, diversity and discovery and help drive positive change.

About the host destination: Visit Valencia

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain with more than 800,000 inhabitants. Bathed by the waters of the Mediterranean, it is clean and green, thanks to multiple urban parks, and boasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year. Its rich Mediterranean cuisine is based on local produce from the orchard that surround the city and nourish its markets, bars and restaurants. In addition, Valencia is the birthplace of the most international Spanish dish: paella. It is a perfect city to enjoy at any time of the year thanks to all its Unesco Heritage attractions such as: the Lonja de la Seda, the Tribunal de las Aguas or the Fallas. Valencia is at the forefront of sustainable projects that have earned it several international awards such as European Smart City 2022, as well as European Green Capital 2024.

About the main sponsor: S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna

S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the main partners of The World's 50 Best Restaurants and 50 Best for Recovery. S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the leading natural mineral waters in the fine dining world. Together they interpret Italian style worldwide as a synthesis of excellence, pleasure and well-being.





Our partners:

Visit Valencia - Official Host Destination Partner

- Official Host Destination Partner S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna - Main Partner & Official Water Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Restaurant

- Main Partner & Official Water Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Restaurant Estrella Damm - Official Beer Partner; sponsor of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award

- Official Beer Partner; sponsor of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award American Express Resy - Official Credit Card & Booking Platform Partner (Resy); sponsor of the American Express One To Watch Award

Gin Mare - Official Gin Partner; sponsor of the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award

Flor de Cana - Official Rum Partner; sponsor of the Flor de Cana Sustainable Restaurant Award

Sosa - Official Ingredients Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Pastry Chef Award

Beronia - Official Wine Partner; sponsor of the Beronia World's Best Sommelier Award

Aspire Lifestyles - Official Concierge Partner

Dassai Sake - Official Sake Partner

Tequila Ocho - Official Tequila Partner

- Official Tequila Partner illycaffe - Official Coffee Partner

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. - Official Whiskey of the World Partner

Techlam - Official Premium Worktop Partner

Cinco Jotas - Official Iberico Ham Partner

Nude Glassware - Official Glassware Partner

Jaen Seleccion - Official Olive Oil Partner

Villa Massa - Official Limoncello and Amaretto Partner; sponsor of Villa Massa Highest Climber Award

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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2048202/50_Best_Female_chef.jpg

PDF - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2054678/World_50Best_Restaurants_2023.pdf

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/mexico-citys-elena-reygadas-is-named-the-worlds-best-female-chef-2023-301802917.html
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Aton Resources Inc. (TSXV:AAN) ("Aton" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract with Geodrill, to undertake a 10,000m programme of reverse circulation percussion ("RC") drilling at the Company's 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession ("Abu Marawat" or the "Concession"), in the Eastern Desert of Egypt (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Geology and prospect plan of the Abu Marawat Concession

"We are delighted to announce that we have signed a contract with Geodrill for 10,000 metres of RC drilling at Abu Marawat. This programme has been years in the making, and we are really excited to now finally be getting ready to drill some of our highly prospective regional targets." said Tonno Vahk, Interim CEO. "We are also pleased to be working with Geodrill on this programme, who entered the Egyptian market 2 years ago. Geodrill are very much an expanding global player and are well established as one of Africa's leading drilling companies. We have been busy the last couple of months preparing for this programme, with excavators and loaders working on access roads and drill pads around the licence area, ahead of starting the drilling in early May. We continue to work closely with our partners at the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, and are still on track for the submission of our application for the mining licence at Abu Marawat in Q3 this year, and are looking forwards to updating investors on what we hope to be very positive drill results in the coming months."

2023 Abu Marawat RC drilling programme

Aton has now signed a contract with Geodrill's Egyptian branch, Geodrill for Leasing and Specialized Services Freezone LLC, for 10,000m of RC drilling at the Abu Marawat Concession. Established in 1998, Geodrill is a leading TSX listed exploration drilling company, with a fleet of 82 drill rigs operating in seven countries across Africa and South America. Geodrill operates the largest and most modern fleet of multi-purpose rigs on the African continent, and entered Egypt in 2021, winning the major underground RC drilling contract at the Sukari gold mine, as well as several exploration drilling contracts for other clients in Egypt. Geodrill will supply an X900 multi-purpose rig for the contract, designed by AustEx and built in-house, with a 1200cfm/430psi onboard compressor, and an additional service unit equipped with a 1200cfm/430psi auxiliary compressor and 1800cfm/900psi booster pack. The X900 rig has a rated RC depth capacity of 400m.

The rig is expected to mobilise to site during the first week of May 2023, with drilling starting at West Garida to follow up on the highly promising 5 hole 2022 RC programme (see news release dated September 1, 2022), before moving to the Semna and Abu Gaharish prospects. Drilling is also being planned at the Zeno, Bohlog, and Sir Bakis prospects.

About Aton Resources Inc.

Aton Resources Inc. (AAN:TSX-V) is focused on its 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession ("Abu Marawat"), located in Egypt's Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200 km north of Centamin's world-class Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified numerous gold and base metal exploration targets at Abu Marawat, including the Hamama deposit in the west, the Abu Marawat deposit in the northeast, and the advanced Rodruin exploration prospect in the south of the Concession. Two historic British gold mines are also located on the Concession at Sir Bakis and Semna. Aton has identified several distinct geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display potential for the development of a variety of styles of precious and base metal mineralisation. Abu Marawat is 447.7 km2 in size and is located in an area of excellent infrastructure; a four-lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline are in close proximity, as are the international airports at Hurghada and Luxor.

Qualified person

The technical information contained in this News Release was prepared by Javier Orduna BSc (hons), MSc, MCSM, DIC, MAIG, SEG(M), Exploration Manager of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Orduna is a qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

For further information regarding Aton Resources Inc., please visit us at www.atonresources.com or contact:

TONNO VAHK

Interim CEO

Tel: +1 604 318 0390

Email: info@atonresources.com

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Aton Resources, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750200/Aton-Signs-10000m-RC-Drilling-Contract-with-Geodrill
Papendrecht, 20 April 2023

Boskalis through its subsidiary SMIT Salvage has reached an agreementwith the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the oil removal from the FSO Safer moored off Yemen's Red Sea coast. This project is a part of the UN-coordinated operation to remove and transfer more than one million barrels of oil from a decaying tankerinto a safe modern tanker and the responsible disposal of the Safer.

Peter Berdowski, CEO Boskalis, "We have been assisting the UN in their endeavors to avert a potential massive environmental and humanitarian disaster off the coast of Yemensince 2021. We are extremely delighted that these efforts and the perseveranceof the UN to raise the necessary funds has brought us to this agreement. Following a long planning period, our salvage experts are keen to get to work and to remove the oil from the Safer.

I would like to express my admiration and gratitude to the many UN member statessupporting this operation including the Netherlands,which played a prominent role. The Boskalis vessel Ndeavorwill depart tomorrow from the port of Rotterdam stocked with all the necessary salvage equipment and I wish the crew all the success in this important mission."

Liesje Schreinemacher, Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation: "An enormous oil disaster is looming, which could have serious humanitarian, environmental and economic implications. But we now have a chance to prevent that disaster. The Netherlands has worked hard to mobilize funds for the operation and now a major new step has been taken. It's good that Dutch firm Boskalis is taking on a key role in the response. The Netherlands will continue helping the UN to bring this to a good end."

"The agreement today between UNDP and Boskalis subsidiary SMIT Salvage, to deploy a team of leading experts aboard the Ndeavour marks another critical milestone of the 'Stop Red Sea Spill' operation to transfer oil from the decaying FSO Safer to a safe temporary vessel," said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. "We look forward to be working with Boskalis and other leading experts to prevent a humanitarian, environmental and economic disaster.We also appeal to leaders from governments and corporations to step forward and help us raise the remaining $29 million required to complete this complex rescue operation."

The project scope for Boskalis consists of a number of phases. The Boskalis multipurpose support vessel Ndeavor has been prepared in the Netherlands and will sail to Djibouti over the coming three weeks. The salvage crew will make the final preparations in Djibouti before departing for the Safer located off the coast of Yemen. The initial onsite phase will focus on a thorough inspection of the vessel, its cargo and creating a safe working environment. Once the vessel and its cargo tanks are declared safe, a UN purchased Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) will come alongside at which point the ship-to-ship oil pumping operation can commence. The tanks of the Safer will subsequently be cleaned and the residual water will also be transferred into the VLCC. The entire onsite operation is expected to be completed within two months. Once the Safer is declared clean and empty, it will be prepared for towing to a green scrapping yard under the responsibility of the UN.

About the FSO Safer

The Safer is a Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) facility moored approximately 9 kilometers off the Red Sea coast of Yemen and 50 kilometres northeast of the port of Hodeida. Constructed in 1976 as an oil tanker and converted in 1987 to be a floating storage facility, the Safer is single-hulled and is believed to contain an estimated 1.14 million barrels of light crude oil. The FSO has not been maintained since 2015 because of the conflict in Yemen, and it has decayed to the point where there is a risk it could explode or break apart, which would have disastrous environmental and humanitarian effects on the region.

More information for the media

For more information about this project, please visit: www.boskalis.com/safer

In addition to the current project animation, we will also provide regular photo and video footage of the operation on the website. This material may be used freely for media purposes as long as it is credited to Boskalis. We will be providing periodic updates as the salvage operation progresses by means of a blog on www.boskalis.com/safer. Any significant events will also be posted on social media and if you want to stay up to date, you are advised to follow Boskalis on LinkedIn and/or Twitter:) orbeleefboskalis).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Martijn L.D. Schuttevaer

press@boskalis.com

T +31 786969310

?

Boskalis is a leading global services provider operating in the dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services sectors. The company provides creative and innovative all-round solutions to infrastructural challenges in the maritime, coastal and delta regions of the world. With core activities such as coastal defense, riverbank protection and land reclamation Boskalis is able to provide adaptive and mitigating solutions to combat the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather conditions and rising sea levels, as well as delivering solutions for the increasing need for space in coastal and delta regions across the world. The company facilitates the development of offshore energy infrastructure, including renewable wind energy. Boskalis is furthermore active in the construction and maintenance of ports, waterways, access channels and civil infrastructure, thus helping to facilitate trade flows and regional socio-economic development. In addition, Boskalis is a global marine salvage expert and has a strategic partnership in terminal services (Smit Lamnalco). With a versatile fleet of more than 500 vessels and floating equipment and approximately 10,000 employees, including associates, Boskalis is creating new horizons around the world.

This press release can also be found on our website www.boskalis.com.





Attachments
Mondi plc

Incorporated in England and Wales

Registered number: 6209386

Tax registration number: 454 12394 14454

LEI: 213800LOZA69QFDC9N34

LSE share code: MNDI ISIN: GB00B1CRLC47

JSE share code: MNP

20 April 2023

Mondi Group - 2022 Final Dividend euro/sterling Exchange Rate

On 23 February 2023 Mondi plc announced that it will, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM, pay a final dividend for the year ended 31 December 2022 of 48.33 euro cents per ordinary share on Friday 12 May 2023. The dividend will be paid in euro.

However, ordinary shareholders resident in the United Kingdom will receive the final dividend in sterling (unless shareholders have elected to receive their dividends in euro). The last date for euro currency elections was 18 April 2023. It was stated in the announcement on 23 February that the exchange rate for the final dividend payment would be set today. Accordingly, it is confirmed that sterling dividend payments will be converted at a rate of EUR 1 to GBP 0.88171. Therefore, the equivalent final dividend in pence per ordinary share will be 42.61304.

Mondi plc South African branch register shareholders will receive the final dividend in South African rand cents, converted at a rate of EUR 1 to ZAR 19.45225. Therefore, the equivalent gross final dividend in rand cents per ordinary share will be 940.12724.

Information relating to the dividend tax applicable to Mondi plc South African branch register shareholders can be found in the ZAR/euro exchange rate announcement released by Mondi on 23 February 2023.

About Mondi

Mondi is a global leader in packaging and paper, contributing to a better world by making innovative solutions that are sustainable by design. Our business is integrated across the value chain - from managing forests and producing pulp, paper and films, to developing and manufacturing sustainable consumer and industrial packaging solutions using paper where possible, plastic when useful. Sustainability is at the centre of our strategy, with our ambitious commitments to 2030 focused on circular driven solutions, created by empowered people, taking action on climate.

In 2022, Mondi had revenues of 8.9 billion and underlying EBITDA of 1.8 billion from continuing operations, and employed 22,000 people worldwide. Mondi has a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange (MNDI), where the Group is a FTSE100 constituent, and also has a secondary listing on the JSE Limited (MNP).

Sponsor in South Africa: Merrill Lynch South Africa Proprietary Limited t/a BofA Securities.
SoftServe, a leading software development and IT consulting company, has received the Outstanding Impact Partner of the Year award from NVIDIA in recognition of its significant impact across countries and areas of expertise, including accomplishments in the design space.

As a member of the NVIDIA Partner Network (NPN), SoftServe's collaborative work with NVIDIA has created groundbreaking advances for companies such as Valeo, a global leader in mobility. SoftServe recently used NVIDIA's Omniverse technology to create photorealistic duplicates of physical lighting products in a virtual space for Valeo's automotive lighting products.

"It is an honor for SoftServe to be recognized as NVIDIA's Outstanding Impact Partner of the Year," said Volodymyr Semenyshyn, SoftServe President, EMEA. "This is a special award for us, as NVIDIA is one of the technological market leaders and most innovative companies in the world. The award also shows how important it is to join forces to solve complex challenges with the help of cutting-edge technologies and strong partners like NVIDIA. SoftServe is fully dedicated to the collaboration with NVIDIA to advance our shared vision of accelerated computing. NVIDIA's trailblazing technologies and SoftServe's strong industry expertise deliver leading IT solutions and services that empower our customers."

"Accelerated computing is at the forefront of helping enterprises solve complex challenges with unprecedented innovation, speed, and precision," said Alfred Manhart, Vice President EMEA NVIDIA Channel GSI at NVIDIA. "As the NPN Outstanding Impact Partner of the Year, SoftServe has demonstrated broad expertise in delivering transformative IT solutions and services and a commitment to helping customers advance their work with NVIDIA accelerated computing."

SoftServe is the only partner member in NVIDIA's Professional Services (SDP-PS) program covering all Nvidia competences. The cooperation between SoftServe and NVIDIA allows companies to solve complex business challenges with artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.

About SoftServe

SoftServe is an IT consulting company that transforms and optimizes how enterprises and software companies do business. Our end-to-end approach assures innovation, quality, and speed across the healthcare, retail, energy, manufacturing, and financial services verticals.

Visit our website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005527/en/

Contacts:

Michelle Neal

VP Marketing

mneal@softserveinc.com
LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nayms, the world's first fully-regulated marketplace for on-chain insurance, announced that it has closed it's private token sale in a round led by UDHC, a leading DeFi investor headed up by the previous senior team at the Maker Foundation, which developed and deployed the MakerDAO protocol. UDHC is aiming to bring DeFi to the mainstream by funding and guiding projects that are building on established DeFi protocols.

Nayms has now raised a total amount of $12m and long-standing supporters such as UDHC, New Form, Tokentus and Keyrock participated in the latest funding round assisting the insurtech startup in their busiest year to come.

"As a fully-regulated marketplace for on-chain insurance, Nayms represents the next major step in risk transfer. Using blockchain technology, Nayms extends traditional risk markets using decentralized tools and features that take risk pricing and management to a new level," said UDHC CEO Steven Becker. "Bringing on-chain capability to traditional markets creating a new, efficient, and transparent financial future is the primary focus of UDHC, and we believe the team at Nayms has the potential to shape that future."

The Funding

Nayms will use new funds to expand its global team and accelerate the development of their marketplace for crypto-native insurance. Nayms plans to grow to further support its product development, marketing, and speed up global business expansion. The additional capital will allow Nayms to continue building an end-to-end marketplace to connect brokers, insureds, sponsors, and capital providers.

Pioneering a Future Insurance Market

The startup is reaching final stages of development before launching a number of insurance programs with the likes of Aon, Breach and Evertas. Thanks to the new capital it's possible to accelerate the engineering efforts for continuous upgrades post-launch as onboarding continues for the first users of the marketplace.

Nayms was the first in the space to hold both the full Digital Asset Business Act license and Innovative Insurer General Business license out of Bermuda, allowing their insurance partners to conduct regulated insurance business on-chain for the first time.

Dan Roberts, CEO of Nayms stated, "It is very exciting for us to work more deeply with one of our very first investors and board members. The real experience that the UDHC team has continues to drive us forward as we navigate building and launching our proposition to the market. This round of funding has set us up for an extremely strong 2023, with all the right players behind us."

Founded in 2019, the company aims to bring the insurance marketplace into the twenty-first century by building the world's leading digital insurance marketplace for transparent, traceable, and tradable digital assets risk.

About UDHC

The UDHC is bringing DeFi to the mainstream by funding and guiding early-stage projects that build on established protocols. It focuses on supporting projects it believes will become the integrated ecosystem that provides the critical infrastructure of DeFi.

About Nayms

Nayms is building the world's leading, fully-regulated marketplace for on-chain insurance. Through our work so far with the industry we are paving the way in providing a new digital asset risk market that allows regulated brokers and underwriters to find digital asset capital providers to share in the premium and liability entailed in covering digital asset risk.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nayms-raises-at-80m-valuation-in-a-private-funding-round-led-by-udhc-301802104.html
LINCOLN, NE / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) has renewed its partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation to support the planting of 80,000 trees across the U.S. each year. The reforestation projects will focus on a mixture of sustainable forestry and land restoration efforts. Forty PHLY employees kicked-off this year's campaign during a two-day planting project this week in Clackamas County, Oregon. They joined the Arbor Day Foundation and local forestry partners in Milo McIver State Park on Wednesday and Thursday planting 950 of the 80,000 trees.

Since 2015, the national insurance carrier has invited independent agents, brokers, and policyholders to support its annual mission of planting 80,000 trees in forests and communities throughout the U.S. by enrolling in paperless billing. The company uses the cost savings to help fund planting projects each year.

To date, the partnership has resulted in the planting of over 570,000 trees. In 2023, PHLY will fund tree planting efforts in forests located in Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia. The focus of these projects will assist restoration efforts involving fire recovery, watershed improvement, and better forest management on historically degraded land.

"It's so exciting to partner with an organization who not only wants to make this world a better place, but also invites colleagues, clients, and communities to get involved in that effort," said Dan Lambe, Chief Executive Officer of the Arbor Day Foundation. "Thanks to their dedicated support of helping restore our most vulnerable ecosystems, Philadelphia Insurance Companies has brought meaningful participation through their network to the large scale impact we strive to accomplish."

For the past 50 years, the Arbor Day Foundation has worked to plant nearly 500 million trees in forests and communities around the world. Through a global network of partnerships, the Foundation facilitates projects that empower organizations of all sizes to reach their sustainability goals via measurable, impactful work through trees and forests. The Foundation recently announced an initiative to plant 500 million trees over the next 5 years in the forests and communities that need them most.

"This is a remarkably fun and important project for PHLY and to our employees, who appreciate the opportunity to make a sustainable impact all across the country," said John Glomb, President and CEO of Philadelphia Insurance Companies. "The continued support of our business partners, customers, and employees has helped us plant over half a million trees in areas in need, benefitting several communities for years to come."

In addition to helping recover devastated forests, the PHLY80K Trees initiative aims to provide security for communities across the U.S. where. As insurance losses from increasingly frequent wildfires and natural disasters impact the lives of more and more individuals, promoting healthier forest ecosystems helps protect surrounding communities from further loss. Healthy tree populations help to mitigate flooding, improve air and water quality, and stabilize soil, all of which can help minimize and even prevent excess damage when disasters occur.

About Philadelphia Insurance Companies

Philadelphia Insurance Companies designs, markets, and underwrites commercial property/casualty and professional liability insurance products incorporating value added coverages and services for select industries. The Company is rated "A++" (Superior) by AM Best Company and "A+" for counterparty credit and financial strength by Standard & Poor's. In business for over 60 years, PHLY is nationally recognized as a member of Ward's Top 50, one of the Best Places to Work in Insurance, and one of the Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America. Based outside of Philadelphia, the organization has offices strategically located in all major metro areas across the United States to provide superior service. For more information, please visit www.PHLY.com

About the Arbor Day Foundation

Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is the world's largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. With a focus in communities and forests of greatest need, the Foundation - alongside its more than 1 million members, supporters and valued partners - has helped to plant nearly 500 million trees in more than 50 countries. Guided by its mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees, the Arbor Day Foundation is committed to unlocking the power of trees to help solve critical issues facing people and the planet. Learn more about the impact of the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Arbor Day Foundation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Arbor Day Foundation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/arbor-day-foundation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Arbor Day Foundation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750347/Philadelphia-Insurance-Companies-Plants-Over-Half-a-Million-Trees-Across-the-US
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Aclara Resources Inc. ("Aclara" or the "Company") (TSX:ARA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nelson Donoso as General Manager of the Company effective May 15th, 2023.

"We are delighted to welcome Nelson as our new General Manager," said Ramon Barua, CEO and Director of Aclara. "Nelson, born in Penco and educated in the Biobio region, is a highly recognized local leader with vast experience leading and executing projects that have driven significant progress in Biobio. He has remarkable in-country experience, and will bring strong business network and enthusiasm to our Aclara story."

Mr. Donoso is currently a board member and Vice President of the "Camara de la Produccion y del Comercio Biobio" (Biobio's Chamber of Production and Commerce), the most important guild association in the Biobio Region, which brings together the main productive sectors, including more than 140 companies and trade associations. In this entity, he also serves as President for Clean Energy and Climate Change Committee. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Council of Biobio's Regional Ministry of the Environment and of the Environmental Advisory Committee for the Regional Governor of Biobio. He is also a board member of the "Asociacion de Gas Natural de Chile" (Chilean Association of Natural Gas), a guild organization that seeks to promote the development of the natural gas industry in Chile.

With 29 years of professional experience, Mr. Donoso has managed organizations focusing on safety, health and environmental matters. He has also led teams in the development of large-scale industrial energy transformation projects, as well as executed infrastructure projects for the transportation and regasification of natural gas.

Between 2019 and 2023, Mr. Donoso served as the General Manager of Innergy Soluciones Energeticas S.A. and Gasoducto del Pacifico, a company that has been supplying natural gas to the Biobio and Nuble regions since 1999. Between 1998 and 2019, Mr. Donoso served as the Chief Operating Officer at Innergy Soluciones Energeticas S.A., where he oversaw the commercial and risk prevention areas, as well as the operations of the Pacific Gas Pipeline between Argentina and Chile.

Mr. Donoso's accomplishments include designing, obtaining environmental permits for, and overseeing the construction of over 120 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, implementing a Pipeline Operation and Maintenance Program, and forming an operations team with a working culture focused on safety and planning.

About Aclara

Aclara Resources is a Rare Earths company with a development project in Chile, and is listed on the TSX (TSX:ARA).

Aclara is initiating the development of its resources through a project called the Penco Module, which covers a surface area of approximately 600 hectares, and which hosts ionic clays rich in rare earth elements. Aclara is currently focused on the development and future construction and operation of the Penco Module, which will aim to produce a rare earth concentrate through a processing plant fed by clays from nearby deposits. Aclara's extraction process offers several environmentally attractive attributes such as: no requirement to blast, crush, or mill the feedstock; no tailings facility; minimal water consumption due to a high level of water recirculation; amenability to leaching with a fertilizer; and containing no radioactivity. In parallel with the development of the Penco Module, the Company intends to identify additional opportunities to increase future rare earth element production via intensive greenfield exploration programs and the subsequent development of additional project "modules" within the Company's concessions.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the Company's current expectations regarding future events, including statements with regard to, among other things, management's expectations as to the accretive value to the Company from the appointment of Mr. Donoso as General Manager. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated as of March 28, 2023 filed on the Company's SEDAR profile. Actual results and timing could differ materially from those projected herein. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required under applicable securities laws.

For further information, please contact:

Ramon Barua

Chief Executive Officer

investorrelations@aclara-re.com

SOURCE: Aclara Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750295/Aclara-Appoints-General-Manager
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Silver Dollar Resources Inc. (CSE: SLV) (OTCQX: SLVDF) (FSE: 4YW) ("Silver Dollar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the signing of an Option Agreement and Exclusivity Agreement with Canasil Resources Inc. ("Canasil").

Pursuant to the agreements, Silver Dollar will provide Canasil with a $200,000 non-interest-bearing loan (the "Loan") in return for a two-month exclusivity period to conduct due diligence on the assets of Canasil (the "Exclusivity Period") and an option to earn a 100% interest in Canasil's Nora property (the "Nora Option").

The purpose of the Exclusivity Period is to give Silver Dollar the opportunity to review Canasil's assets and consider a corporate merger (the "Transaction"). The Exclusivity Period can be extended for an additional 30 days if requested by Silver Dollar at no cost. Should Silver Dollar decline to propose a Transaction or the parties find the terms of a proposed Transaction unacceptable, then the Exclusivity Period will terminate, and Canasil will have 60 days to repay the Loan. Completion of a proposed Transaction will be subject to the support of key stakeholders, shareholder approval and regulatory approvals.

Canasil owns a 100% interest in the Nora property that is located in the State of Durango, Mexico (the "Property"). Under the terms of the Nora Option, Silver Dollar can earn a 100% interest in the Property by incurring total exploration expenditures of $3,000,000 and making cash payments totalling $375,000 over five years. Upon earning a 100% interest in the Property, Silver Dollar will grant Canasil a 3% net smelter returns royalty (the "Royalty"), with Silver Dollar having the right to buy back 1% of the Royalty for $3,000,000. After granting the Royalty, Silver Dollar will also pay an annual royalty of $25,000 which will be offset against the 1% Royalty buyback.

About the Nora Property

The Property is located approximately 200 kilometres (km) northwest of the City of Durango, with good access and infrastructure. The geological setting is a Tertiary-aged volcanic flow-dome complex. Gold-silver mineralization is hosted within two structurally-controlled epithermal veins, Candy and Nora. Mineralization is typical of that found at many mines in the region, with gold and silver associated with galena, sulfosalt minerals, and lesser pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. There is evidence of some historical mining activity on the Candy vein, which is exposed in discontinuous outcrops for over 900 metres. The fault structure hosting the Candy vein has been traced for over 3 km. Samples of vein outcrop and mineral dumps from the Candy vein returned significant gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead values. The second vein, Nora, is found 600 metres northeast of the Candy vein and can be traced for 230 metres with widths of over 9 metres. Surface samples from this vein returned anomalous silver values associated with trace sulphides, with a geochemical signature typical of the higher levels of epithermal vein systems in the region. Drilling programs completed by Canasil in 2020 and 2021 were the first on the Property and consistently returned encouraging intercepts with high gold, silver, and copper values from the Candy vein.

Historical systematic grid soil sampling over an area of 3 km by 2 km covering the Candy and Nora veins and their projected extensions showed elevated silver, base metal (copper, lead, and zinc), and pathfinder (antimony and arsenic) values. The combination of the vein outcrops with large areas of anomalous silver and base metal values in soil samples may indicate additional concealed mineral systems. Major deposits in the region include La Pitarrilla, located 50 km east of the Property.

A follow-up news release will be issued highlighting the target areas and Silver Dollar's exploration plans.

Mike Kilbourne, P.Geo., an independent Qualified Person (QP) as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company. The QP and the Company have not completed sufficient work to verify the information on the Nora Property, particularly regarding historical exploration, neighbouring companies, and government geological work.

About Silver Dollar Resources Inc.

Silver Dollar is a mineral exploration company that completed its initial public offering in May 2020 and is fully funded with approximately $5.7 million in the treasury. The Company's projects are located in two of the most prolific mining jurisdictions in the world. They include the advanced exploration and development stage La Joya Silver Project in the state of Durango, Mexico, and the discovery-stage Pakwash Lake and Longlegged Lake properties in the Red Lake Mining District of Ontario, Canada. The Company has an aggressive growth strategy and is actively reviewing potentially accretive acquisitions with a focus on drill-ready projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions.

For additional information, you can download our latest presentation by clicking here and you can follow us on Twitter by clicking here.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Michael Romanik"

Michael Romanik,

President, CEO & Director

Silver Dollar Resources Inc.

Direct line: (204) 724-0613

Email: mike@silverdollarresources.com

179 - 2945 Jacklin Road, Suite 416

Victoria, BC, V9B 6J9

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding future capital expenditures, anticipated content, commencement, and cost of exploration programs in respect of the Company's projects and mineral properties, anticipated exploration program results from exploration activities, resources and/or reserves on the Company's projects and mineral properties, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "will", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that market fundamentals will result in sustained precious and base metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future exploration of the Company's properties, the availability of financing on suitable terms, and the Company's ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, statements as to the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, including possible acquisitions, the Company's options to acquire mineral properties, the proposed expenditures for exploration work thereon, the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to fund its business activities and plans, delays in obtaining governmental and regulatory approvals, permits or financing, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, the Company's limited operating history, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims, and environmental issues and liabilities.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release except as otherwise required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163099
Hole Drilled Too Steeply to Reach Deeper Thunder Au Zone, Finds Significant Additional Porphyry Cu-Au Mineralization Between Zones

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Tower Resources Ltd. (TSXV: TWR) ("Tower" or the "Company") is pleased to report that assays received from Hole 042 on the Company's Rabbit North property near Kamloops, British Columbia, between New Gold's New Afton underground Cu-Au mine and Teck's Highland Valley open pit Cu-Mo mine (see Fig. 1), show that the new, near-surface Rainbow Cu-Au-Mo Zone that was just discovered in Hole 041 (see press release from April 5, 2023) increases in both grade and thickness to the west. A 72.4 m section beneath thin basalt cover (see Figs. 2, 3) averages 0.27% Cu, 0.40 g/t Au and 0.01% Mo, or 0.57% Cu-equivalent (see Table 1).

Significance of the Increase in Grade of the Rainbow Zone in Hole 042

The 0.57% Cu-equivalent grade of the 72.4 m long intercept of the Rainbow Zone in Hole 042 compares very favourably with the reported reserve grades of three of the largest, currently producing open-pit porphyry CuAuMo mines in BC (see Table 1) - Highland Valley @ 0.35% Cu-equivalent, Red Chris @ 0.53% and Mt. Milligan @ 0.48%. In addition, the Rainbow Zone is very close to surface (see Fig. 3); it has the best combination of grade and depth of any of the known porphyry Cu-Au occurrences on the property.

Deposit Company Cu

% Au

g/t Mo

% Cu-

Equivalent

%* Category Data Source















Rainbow Zone Tower 0.27 0.4 0.01 0.57 72.4 m DD intersection DDH RN23-42















Highland Valley Teck 0.31 0 0.008 0.35 Proven & probable reserves Mining Data Solutions















Red Chris Imperial Metals 0.36 0.27 0 0.53 Proven & probable reserves 43-101 Technical Report, 2021















Mt. Milligan Centerra Gold 0.37 0.18 0 0.48 Proven & probable reserves 43-101 Technical Report, 2021 *Based on Cu @ US $4.00/lb, Au @$1800/oz and Mo @ $20.00/lb



Table 1 - Grade of the Rainbow Zone in Hole 042 relative to those of selected BC porphyry CuAuMo deposits.

Potential Extent of the Rainbow Zone

Holes 041 and 042 were drilled from the same pad at the same 070 azimuth (see Fig. 2) but at flat (045) and steep (065) dips, respectively (see Fig. 3). The increase in thickness of the Rainbow Zone in Hole 042 indicates that the holes intersected the eastern edge of the Rainbow Zone and that the eastern contact dips to the west at ~60. The Rainbow Zone is hidden by basalt cover, explaining why it was not discovered earlier. The basalt extends much further southwest than previously mapped (see Fig. 2) and the Rainbow Zone remains wide open to the west and to depth beneath it. The significant increase in the grade of the Rainbow Zone westward from Hole 041 to Hole 042 suggests that even higher grades may be expected further west toward the center of the zone.

Exceptional Progress from Limited Early Exploration

The Thunder and Rainbow Zones were discovered just six months after identification of the Central gold grain dispersal train in the till, matching the speed with which the Lightning Zone was discovered from the Dominic Lake Train.

Their discovery required just four diamond drill holes totaling 1403.1 m at an all-in cost of ~$500,000, with each zone intersected in two holes. The guidance of the gold grain dispersal train was essential because the discoveries were otherwise made blindly in an area that is devoid of outcrop and was previously considered to be unprospective.

The basalt cover rocks were historically assumed to be limited to a narrow band through the Holes 039/040 area (see Fig. 2), probably in part because they are much more magnetic than the basement rocks yet, paradoxically, produce a magnetic low due to being erupted during a reversal of Earth's north and south magnetic poles.

Hole 042 Drilled Parallel to and Beneath the Thunder Zone

Hole 042 specifically targeted the Thunder Zone because the significance of the Rainbow Zone intersection in Hole 041 was not apparent at the time Hole 042 was drilled. The south-southeast strike of the Thunder Zone was evident from the intersections in Holes 039 and 041. Its dip was interpreted to be near-vertical but Hole 042 was drilled toward the zone at -65 to a depth of 480.6 m without reaching it, suggesting that the zone actually dips to the east at an angle of -70 or flatter (see Fig. 3).

The alternative possibility that the Thunder Zone is steeper and does not extend as deep as Hole 042 is considered improbable because the upward projection of the zone to the base of the till would then be east of rather than coincide with the strongest part of the gold grain dispersal train in the till (see Fig. 4).

Visual Differences between the Alteration and Mineralization of the Thunder and Rainbow Zones

The sulphide mineralization associated with the shear-hosted, orogenic Au mineralization of the Thunder Zone, like that of the previously discovered Lightning Zone, consistently consists of pyrite alone with no chalcopyrite whereas the Cu-Au mineralization of the Rainbow Zone and other, historical porphyry occurrences on the property includes both pyrite and chalcopyrite.

Low-grade, porphyry-type mineralization is widespread in the Nicola volcanic rocks west of the Durand Stock (see Fig. 2) including those in the current drill area, resulting in anomalously high Cu and Au "background" levels of ~0.03-0.05% and 0.05-0.15 g/t, respectively. The alteration associated with this low-grade Cu-Au mineralization is of the propylitic type with conspicuous epidote.

Higher-grade Cu-Au mineralization such as that of the Rainbow Zone is generally accompanied by sericitic rather than propylitic alteration, and these sericitized rocks are susceptible to shearing. Consequently, the highest grade zones of porphyry Cu-Au mineralization closely resemble the shear-hosted, QSP (quartz-sericite-pyrite) altered orogenic Au mineralization of the Thunder/ Lightning type. The main distinction between the two types of mineralization then becomes the presence or absence of chalcopyrite, a mineral that may not be noticed at concentrations below 1% (~0.3% Cu), especially in sections with abundant pyrite such as those encountered in Holes 041 and 042. For this reason Hole 042 was initially interpreted to have intersected the Thunder Zone as well as the Rainbow Zone

Deeper Cu-Au Mineralization in Hole 042

Eight intervals of porphyritic Cu-Au mineralization were intersected down-hole from the Rainbow Zone in Hole 042. The six most significant intersections, ranging in width from 2.7 to 17.5 m, are summarized in Table 2. The alteration in most of these zones is of the sericitic rather than propylitic type, resulting in significant shear deformation, and the sericite locally includes considerable fuchsite, the Cr-bearing variety that is normally associated with orogenic Au mineralization. Thus the deep mineralized sections were initially thought to be related to the late-orogenic (~149 Ma) Thunder Au zone rather than the pre-deformation (~215 Ma) Rainbow porphyry Cu-Au-Mo zone.

The first four Cu-Au mineralized intervals below the Rainbow Zone (including two not listed in Table 2 or shown on Fig. 3) contain significant Mo whereas the others lack this metal, apparently due to their more distal and thus cooler position in the hydrothermal system that introduced the mineralization. The bottommost and thus most distal mineralized section, and also the one with the highest Cu-Au grades (0.42% and 1.41 g/t, respectively) is a 2.7 m vein of massive sulphides. Its original position in the cool, outer part of the hydrothermal system is attested by the presence of significant silver (average 16.97 g/t; Table 2) and highly anomalous levels of bismuth (average 371 ppm compared to background of <2 ppm).

Methods and Qualified Person

The drill core was logged at Tower's leased, fully equipped core facility near Kamloops by Matthew Husslage, P.Geo, and Lauren Vollo, BSc. Geology. Both have extensive experience with B.C. gold and copper deposits and Mr. Husslage has managed or co-managed all of Tower's Rabbit North diamond drilling programs since the discovery of the Lightning Zone in December 2021.

Split samples of the core, generally 1.0 or 1.5 m in length, were delivered directly to Activation Laboratories (ActLabs) in Kamloops, BC, a laboratory certified as ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited (Lab 790) by the Standards Council of Canada. QA/QC samples including blanks and standards were inserted regularly into the sample sequence at a ratio of approximately 1:20.

The samples were analyzed for Au by fire assay and ICP-OES and for Ag and 36 additional elements by ICP-OES using a four-acid, near-total digestion. Any over-limit (>5 g/t) Au analyses were repeated using the same fire assay procedure but with a gravimetric rather than ICP finish.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stuart Averill, P.Geo., a director of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Tower Resources

Tower is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects in the Americas. The Company's key exploration assets, both in B.C., are the Rabbit North copper-gold porphyry project located between the New Afton copper-gold and Highland Valley copper mines in the Kamloops mining district and the Nechako gold-silver project near Artemis' Blackwater project.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Tower Resources Ltd.

Joe Dhami, President and CEO

(778) 996-4730

www.towerresources.ca

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

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.





Figure 1 - Location of Tower's Rabbit North property relative to the active mines of the Kamloops district.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/163142_0b5dd90f44e65bdc_002full.jpg





Figure 2 - Locations of the four exploratory diamond drill holes and new Thunder Zone relative to the Central gold grain dispersal train. Chilcotin basalt cover flows were intersected in all four drill holes and thus may overlie part of the mineralized zone.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/163142_0b5dd90f44e65bdc_003full.jpg





Figure 3 - Section through Holes 041 and 042 looking north-northwest. Note the downward (outward from the Rainbow Zone) change from high-temperature Cu-Au-Mo to low-temperature Cu-Au-Ag-Bi mineralization.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/163142_0b5dd90f44e65bdc_004full.jpg



Depth (m)

Grade Hole No. From To Length (m) Cu

% Au

g/t Mo

% Ag

g/t Bi

ppm RN23-042 56.0 128.4 72.4 0.27 0.40 0.010 Nil Nil

181.7 189.8 8.1 0.13 0.30 0.006 Nil Nil

205.0 210.0 5.0 0.16 0.22 0.005 Nil Nil

286.7 297.2 10.5 0.19 0.41 Tr Nil Nil

371.0 378.5 7.5 0.16 0.29 Nil Nil Nil

399.5 417.0 17.5 0.16 1.10* Tr Nil Nil

428.6 431.3 2.7 0.42 1.41 Nil 16.97 371

Table 2 - Average grade of the main Rainbow Zone and other, deeper intersections of porphyry-style mineralization in Hole 042.





Figure 4 - Projected subcrop of the Thunder Au Zone beneath the till in Holes 039 and 041 assuming the zone dips eastward @ -70.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/163142_0b5dd90f44e65bdc_005full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163142
Appointment brings deep industry and investment experience to the company, helping the company's expansion and growth globally

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd. (CSE: CGN) (OTCQB: CGNSF) (FSE: 1UB) (the "Company" or "Cognetivity"), a technology company that has created a unique brain health assessment platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Karimah Es Sabar as a Board Director. Ms. Es Sabar is a highly-recognized life sciences leader with broad international experience, spanning the global biopharmaceutical industry, start-ups, not-for-profit organizations, and venture investment. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer and General Partner at Quark Venture LP and Chair of the Health Bioscience Economic Strategy Table for the Government of Canada.

Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Es Sabar has demonstrated her ability to nurture and build high impact teams and organizations, with a focus on international marketing, business development, strategic alliances, public-private partnerships, and health technology venture capital investments. She has raised over $1.5 billion for various private and public global biosciences enterprises.

In her previous roles, Ms. Es Sabar has led The Centre for Drug Research and Development as President & CEO, re-engineered and rebranded BC Biotech into LifeSciences BC, and held senior management positions with multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi Pasteur. She has also served as Vice President and COO for Medsurge Medical Inc., founded two start-up companies, and served on numerous corporate boards.

"We are thrilled to welcome Karimah Es Sabar to our Board of Directors," said Cognetivity Neurosciences CEO, Dr Sina Habibi. "Karimah's extensive experience and deep knowledge of the life sciences sector both in corporate and commercial development will be invaluable as we continue to advance our artificial intelligence platform technologies and expand our global outreach. Her impressive track record of leadership and strategic partnerships will be a great help in driving our company's growth and success over the coming years."

"I am delighted to work with the talented team at Cognetivity," said Ms. Es Sabar. "Their user-friendly and incredibly effective AI technology addresses a significant gap in brain health care, both in clinical and wellness contexts. The platform's remarkable scalability positions it as a powerful tool for detecting and managing brain health issues at a population level, enabling greater access to care and significantly improving health outcomes."

Ms. Es Sabar holds an Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a MSc degree in Neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England, and a BSc Joint Honors degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Salford, Manchester, England.

About Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd.

Cognetivity is a technology company that has created a cognitive testing platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments. Cognetivity's ICA uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques to help detect the earliest signs of cognitive impairment by testing the performance of large areas of the brain. The ICA is currently available for clinical use in the USA, UK, Europe and the Middle East, with regulatory approval for other regions planned for 2023.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Sina Habibi"

Sina Habibi

Chief Executive Officer and Director

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "assume" "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This news release contains forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Such statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information: Please visit: www.cognetivity.com or contact: info@cognetivity.com; for media inquiries please contact pr@cognetivity.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163154
Induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey supports drill target at Nakoro project in Fiji.

Chargeability/resistivity target is coincident with gossan and surface sampling.

U.S. State Department Minerals Program Director visiting Thunderstruck projects in relation to its critical minerals initiative.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Thunderstruck Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AWE) (OTC PINK: THURF) ("The Company") reports that the scope for a substantial increase in the scale of the Nakoro zinc/copper/silver prospect has been provided through a recent IP geophysical survey.

Nakoro is one of four projects being advanced by Thunderstruck on the main island of Fiji. The current work follows up on exploration by Anglo Pacific in the 1970s. Historic drilling includes 12 meters grading 12.7% zinc, 0.3% copper, 56 g/t silver. Volcanic Massive Sulphides (VMS) deposits, like this one at Nakoro, typically occur in clusters. The work by Thunderstruck is aimed at expanding outward from the area of the historic work.

Lawrence Roulston, Director, commented: "These results show the potential for size in a deposit where earlier drilling has already demonstrated favourable grades."

Nakoro Prospect - IP Geophysics

The recent IP survey outlined a chargeability/resistivity target 200 meters from the area of historic drilling by Anglo where Thunderstruck geologists identified outcropping mineralization and gossans. (See Figure 1 below).

Zonge Engineering, a highly regarded international firm specializing in geophysics, conducted the IP survey utilizing a pole-dipole electrode configuration with electrodes spaced at 50m (dipoles) along 200m spaced lines. The survey included a total of 2.5-line kilometres across two lines and identified multiple geophysical features to assist interpretation and target definition.

The survey has successfully identified a priority drill target that aligns with the mineralization at surface. The chargeability/resistivity signature is characteristic of VMS targets. Figure 3 shows the chargeability and resistivity profiles along the two lines.





Figure 1: Summary map of Nakoro Prospect, showing location of previous drilling, geology and completed PDIP surveying coverage

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2901/163144_7f3c2e891496ebb0_002full.jpg

Further areas of gossan and mineralization at surface offer further upside potential and will be followed up after drill testing this target.





Figure 2: Map of Nakoro showing newly mapped area and some points of Interest.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2901/163144_7f3c2e891496ebb0_004full.jpg

Thunderstruck's geological team carried out further geological mapping and sampling at Nakoro, which features an 8 km untested prospective geologic horizon highlighted through the interpretation of regional magnetics. (See Figure 2.) That work revealed a significant extension to the mineralized system at Nakoro. Extensive gossan outcrops were discovered along the Navakaruku creek area with one instance of massive sulphide mineralization associated with quartz veins within the gossan. The gossans are associated with strong limonite staining and small chlorite-epidote veinlets and amygdules. These results are typical for a VMS system, which typically occur in clusters.





Figure 3: Nakoro Prospect - Pole-Dipole IP Chargeability, Resistivity/Conductivity 2D Inversions



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2901/163144_thunderstruck_fig3.jpg

Site Visit by U.S. State Department

At the request of the U.S. State Department Minerals Program Director, the director and his team plan to visit Thunderstruck's copper-zinc VMS projects in April as part of the on-going efforts by the U.S. Government to expand supplies of critical raw materials from reliable sources. The purpose of their visit is to learn more about Fiji's mineral sector and discuss potential opportunities. Thunderstruck, as a leading explorer in Fiji, is hosting part of the visit intended to inform the U.S. Government of the critical resource potential of Fiji.

Share Consolidation Update

Thunderstruck Resources Ltd. (The "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received the approval from the TSX Venture Exchange for the previously announced five to one share consolidation (the "Consolidation"),as previously announced on April 10, 2023.

The common shares will commence trading on a post-consolidation basis effective as at April 24, 2023. Post consolidation, the Company will have approximately 25,402,562 shares outstanding. The Company's shares will continue to trade under the existing symbol "AWE". The CUSIP and ISIN of the Company's shares will change to 88606V203 and CA 88606V2030 respectively.

As previously announced, a letter of transmittal will be sent by the Company's transfer agent, Odyssey Trust Company, to the registered shareholders providing instructions to surrender the share certificates evidencing their pre-consolidated common shares for replacement certificates representing the number of post-consolidated common shares they are entitled to as a result of the consolidation. Until surrendered, each certificate representing the pre-consolidated common shares will be deemed to represent the number of post-consolidated common shares of the company that the holder thereof is entitled to as a result of the consolidation.

Warrant Price Update

Further to Thunderstruck's news release dated, April 10, 2023, please note that the full warrant attached to the private placement is 0.50 per unit, not 0.75. We apologize for the error.

About Thunderstruck Resources

Thunderstruck Resources is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of high-value mineral deposits on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. Fiji has a long history of mining, including the Vatukoula Gold Mine which has already produced seven million ounces. Other Fiji deposits include Lion One's Tuvatu gold mine, which has just commenced mining, and the 1.8 billion tonne Namosi porphyry copper-gold deposit of Newcrest Mining.

Thunderstruck has exclusive exploration rights over 284 square kms, making it one of the largest holders of mineral rights in Fiji. Projects include gold-silver epithermal and copper-gold porphyry targets along with the two VMS projects.

The Company provides investors with exposure to a diverse portfolio of exploration projects with potential for copper, zinc, gold and silver in a politically safe and stable jurisdiction.

Thunderstruck trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSXV) under the symbol "AWE" and United States OTC under the symbol "THURF."

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Peter Duerden, RPGeo, an advisor to Thunderstruck Resources, and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

For additional information, please contact:

Rob Christl, VP Business Development and Investor Relations

Email: rob@thunderstruck.ca

P: 1-778 840-7180

or, visit our website: http://www.thunderstruck.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Although Thunderstruck believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Thunderstruck's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Thunderstruck undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163144
The Events Take Velo3D's Technology to New Countries in Europe and Asia to Educate Engineers on Scaling Production with Additive Manufacturing

Velo3D, Inc. (NYSE: VLD), a leading metal additive manufacturing technology company for mission-critical parts, today announced it has expanded its 2023 Proof is in the Printing Additive Manufacturing event series with eight more events across Asia and Europe. The events will educate engineers of all backgrounds and experience levels on how additive manufacturing can transform their business and considerations for achieving high-volume production with the technology. It will also share how to qualify 3D printed parts for use in real-world environments and achieve consistent outcomes across any printer for scalable supply chains.

"Our 2023 tour will help engineers understand how they can incorporate 3D printing into their standard manufacturing workflows and workforces without needing extensive specialisation, like a Ph.D. in additive manufacturing," said Renette Youssef, Velo3D Chief Marketing Officer. "Last year's events visited a few countries in Europe and Asia and focused on educating customers and prospects on the latest advancements in metal additive manufacturing. Based on the interest in and success of those shows, we've expanded the number of events outside of the U.S. to educate new engineers in new industries on how to achieve reproducible, predictable outcomes for scalability."

The workshops are half-day events that educate engineers on the latest advancements in metal additive manufacturing through presentations and real-world examples of companies using the technology to produce their most ambitious designs. They are free to attend and those interested can register to attend online. Dates and locations for the European and Asia legs of the Proof is in the Printing tour include:

Augsburg, DE: May 3, 2023

Midlands, UK: May 16, 2023

Stavanger, NO: May 24, 2023

Toulouse, FR: June 1, 2023

Tokyo, JP: June 2023

Busan, KR: June 2023

Augsburg, DE: September 26, 2023

Bern, CH: September 2023

Over the past two years, Velo3D has been steadily growing its presence in Asia and Europe. The company opened its European Technology Center in Augsburg, Germany in June 2022. Growing into these new regions has allowed Velo3D to capitalise on the growing interest in its fully integrated metal additive manufacturing solution, which combines software, hardware, and underlying manufacturing processes to simplify the 3D printing of complex, high performance parts.

In addition to the Asia and Europe events, the Velo3D team will also be visiting eight cities across the U.S. Engineers interested in attending one of the shows on the tour can visit velo3d.com/roadshows to register or email info@velo3d.com.

About Velo3D:

Velo3D is a metal 3D printing technology company. 3D printing-also known as additive manufacturing (AM)-has a unique ability to improve the way high-value metal parts are built. However, legacy metal AM has been greatly limited in its capabilities since its invention almost 30 years ago. This has prevented the technology from being used to create the most valuable and impactful parts, restricting its use to specific niches where the limitations were acceptable.

Velo3D has overcome these limitations so engineers can design and print the parts they want. The company's solution unlocks a wide breadth of design freedom and enables customers in space exploration, aviation, power generation, energy, and semiconductor to innovate the future in their respective industries. Using Velo3D, these customers can now build mission-critical metal parts that were previously impossible to manufacture. The fully integrated solution includes the Flow print preparation software, the Sapphire family of printers, and the Assure quality control system-all of which are powered by Velo3D's Intelligent Fusion manufacturing process. The company delivered its first Sapphire system in 2018 and has been a strategic partner to innovators such as SpaceX, Honeywell, Honda, Chromalloy, and Lam Research. Velo3D has been named as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies for 2023. For more information, please visit Velo3D.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1996. The Company's actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect", "estimate", "project", "budget", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "may", "will", "could", "should", "believes", "predicts", "potential", "continue", and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company's goals for 2023 and the Company's other expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, or strategies for the future. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described in the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside the Company's control and are difficult to predict. The Company cautions not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, including projections, which speak only as of the date made. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

VELO, VELO3D, SAPPHIRE, and INTELLIGENT FUSION, are registered trademarks of Velo3D, Inc.; and WITHOUT COMPROMISE, FLOW and ASSURE are trademarks of Velo3D, Inc. All Rights Reserved Velo3D, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005190/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Dan Sorensen, Senior Director of Public Relations

press@velo3d.com

Investor Relations:

Bob Okunski, VP Investor Relations

investors@velo3d.com
Rudy Kuhn joins Celonis to help customers accelerate the path to value

Celonis, the global leader in Process Mining, today announced the appointment of Rudolf (Rudy) Kuhn as Lead Transformation Evangelist. The accomplished entrepreneur brings 14 years of process mining expertise and a remarkable track record in process automation. His mission at Celonis is to help customers realize value with process optimization, by enabling them to capture significant opportunities hidden inside their processes, and drive sustainable business transformation.

Kuhn's appointment comes shortly after Celonis was named a leader in Gartner's first-ever Magic Quadrant for Process Mining Tools. The report catapulted process mining into c-level consciousness and placed Celonis highest in both axes, Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. In union with their customers and partners, Celonis continues to advance the category, most recently with the market introduction of Object-Centric Process Mining, an innovation providing new perspectives into how businesses run, next-level process intelligence and intelligent automations.

"Celonis' process data, intelligence, and insights are truly market leading, and the introduction of Object-Centric Process Mining is groundbreaking, giving customers the power to find and capture the opportunities in and across interconnected processes," says Kuhn. "When intelligence this advanced is used to power process transformation and automation, companies can expect business results almost immediately and achieve effective and sustainable transformation. Millions in free cash and significantly improved customer service can be achieved in quarters, not years. I've decided to join Celonis, because this is where the value is really created and I firmly believe it's the biggest and most impactful technology innovation I've ever been involved in."

Alex Rinke, co-CEO and co-founder of Celonis, said: "Rudy is a strategic visionary and entrepreneur with an obsession for driving results. He saw the potential of process mining over a decade ago and bet his career on it. I am excited that Rudy joins Celonis and our other process mining evangelists like our Chief Scientist Prof. Dr. Wil van der Aalst and Dr. Lars Reinkemeyer to accelerate the path to value for our customers."

This is the latest in a set of strategic hires as another process mining pioneer joins the Celonis powerhouse. Prof. Dr Wil van der Aalst, often cited as the Godfather of process mining and one of the top 10 most cited computer scientists in the world, joined Celonis as Chief Scientist, along with Lars Reinkemeyer, another process mining pioneer, who established one of the first Celonis Centers of Excellence at global industry giant Siemens and authored "Process Mining in Action: Principles, Use Cases and Outlook."

Kuhn adds that "for successful process transformation, Process Mining and automation are essential. But using process intelligence as a search engine for automation opportunities alone is like having the latest iPhone and only using it for SMS. It barely scratches the surface of what's possible. Celonis gives you the power to go beyond automation, enabling customers to orchestrate all the working parts of their business, and continuously optimize performance across the top, bottom and green line. This is where the value is really created and how businesses of the future will run."

About Celonis

Celonis enables customers to optimize their business processes. Powered by its leading process mining technology, Celonis provides a unique set of capabilities for business executives and users to continuously find improvement opportunities within and across processes, and execute targeted actions to rapidly enhance process performance. This optimization yields immediate cash impact, radically improves customer experience, and reduces carbon emissions. Celonis has thousands of implementations with global customers and is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and New York City, USA, with more than 20 offices worldwide.

2023 Celonis SE. All rights reserved. Celonis, Execution Management System, EMS and the Celonis "droplet" logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Celonis SE in Germany and other jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005357/en/

Contacts:

Celonis

press@celonis.com
Regulatory News:

Carmila (Paris:CARM) shareholders are invited to participate in Carmila's Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholder Meeting to be held on Thursday 11 May at 9:30AM at OnePoint, 29, rue des Sablons, 75116 Paris

The Notice of the Meeting including the agenda and draft resolutions was published in the French bulletin of compulsory legal announcements (Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoire BALO n 40) dated 3 April 2023. A copy of this publication is available on the Company's website (www.carmila.com).

The documents and information referred to in Article R.22-10-23 of the French commercial code are available on the Company's website (at www.carmila.com section "Finance" then "Annual General Meeting").

Shareholders may obtain these documents by post, in accordance with the provisions of the French commercial code, by addressing a written request to the company's Head Office or its representative UPTEVIA Corporate Trust.

Shareholders are invited to consult regularly the updated documents in the section dedicated to the Shareholder Meeting.

INVESTOR AGENDA

20 April 2023 (after market close): First-quarter 2023 financial information

11 May 2023 (09:30 am Paris time): Annual General Meeting

15 May 2022: Ex-dividend date

17 May 2022: Dividend payment date

25 July 2023 (after market close): First-half 2023 results

26 July 2023: First-half 2023 results presentation

19 October 2023 (after market close): Third-quarter 2023 financial information

ABOUT CARMILA

As the third-largest listed owner of commercial property in Europe, Carmila was founded by Carrefour and large institutional investors in order to transform and enhance the value of shopping centres adjoining Carrefour hypermarkets in France, Spain and Italy. At 31 December 2022, its portfolio was valued at 6.2 billion, comprising 208 shopping centres, all leaders in their catchment areas.

Carmila is listed on Euronext-Paris Compartment A under the symbol CARM. It benefits from the tax regime for French real estate investment trusts ("SIIC").

Carmila has been a member of the SBF 120 since 20 June 2022.

Important notice

Some of the statements contained in this document are not historical facts but rather statements of future expectations, estimates and other forward-looking statements based on management's beliefs. These statements reflect such views and assumptions prevailing as of the date of the statements and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause future results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Please refer to the most recent Universal Registration Document filed in French by Carmila with the Autorite des marches financiers for additional information in relation to such factors, risks and uncertainties. Carmila has no intention and is under no obligation to update or review the forward-looking statements referred to above. Consequently, Carmila accepts no liability for any consequences arising from the use of any of the above statements.

This press release is available in the "Financial Press Releases" section of Carmila's Finance webpage:

https://www.carmila.com/en/finance/financial-press-releases

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005622/en/

Contacts:

INVESTOR AND ANALYST CONTACT

Jonathan Kirk Head of Investor Relations

jonathan_kirk@carmila.com

+33 6 31 71 83 98

PRESS CONTACT

Elodie Arcayna Corporate Communications Director

elodie_arcayna@carmila.com

+33 7 86 54 40 10
Overview of the acquisition

OTO acquires and joins forces with South West Brands, creating OTO Group, a UK based, female-founded global consumer packaged goods group of lifestyle brands.

acquires and joins forces with South West Brands, creating OTO Group, a UK based, female-founded global consumer packaged goods group of lifestyle brands. The Group is based around the existing businesses and brands of OTO International ("OTO") and South West Brands ("SWB").

The acquisition of SWB by OTO is the first step of a 'build and buy' strategy and accelerates the group's mission to build the wellness brands of the future, today.

Operating at the cutting edge of global wellness trends, the group is led by a world-class management team with a track record of successfully establishing and growing FMCG lifestyle and wellness brands.

OTO and South West Brands share a focus on Responsible Business practices and SWB is a B-Corp Pending.

Financial impact

7m acquisition of female-founded, UK-based CPG business South West Brands, which includes consumer brands FEWE (female wellness), Love MeMeMe (Gen-Z beauty).

(female wellness), (Gen-Z beauty). FY 2023 impact for OTO of c. 2m in Wholesale Sales revenue.

Group sales growth now expected to be between +80% and +150%, to 4- 6M , with c.65-70% gross margins.

, with c.65-70% gross margins. Significant operating synergies across the group, delivering break-even position within the first 12 months and 15-25% positive EBITDA in 2024 FY.

OTO has secured additional funding and will continue to raise to accelerate growth and achieve scale ahead of a potential public listing.

LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gemma Colao , Founder, OTO said: "I have always been passionate about creating products and building brands that people feel inspired by - as a creative and designer, it's my heartland. The opportunity to work with SWB's inimitable founder, Rebekah Hall to further our mission of building a powerhouse brand for women, by women is incredibly exciting."

Rebekah Hall , Founder, South West Brands said: "The acquisition of SWB by OTO accelerates our mission to build a portfolio of global female focused wellness brands that serve our customers at the cutting edge of innovation. In OTO, a fellow female founded and focused business, we have found a shared vision, ethos and drive."

Mindy Grossman , Board Advisor to SWB, and now to OTO Group said: "People's health and wellness has always been incredibly important to me. Now more than ever, we need access to well-formulated, high-performing products and resources backed by current research to promote better outcomes that foster resilience. With SWB joining OTO as an industry leader, these powerhouse brands can leverage their cross-category expertise in product development, innovation, retail and spa, and global distribution to democratise wellness. They'll be able to serve customers across age group and socioeconomic backgrounds with high-quality, efficacious products to enhance all aspects of their lives. I couldn't be more excited to join the team as an adviser on their meteoric rise."

Leadership Team

Gemma Colao - Founder (OTO), Chief Brand Officer .

- Founder (OTO), Chief . Rebekah Hall - Founder (SWB), Chief Growth Officer.

- Founder (SWB), Chief Growth Officer. James Bagley - Co-founder (OTO), Group CEO.

Current board advisors Nicky Kinnaird MBE , Mark Barnard , and Antonia Jamison are joined by Mindy Grossman and Lord Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch, CBE.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/acquisition-of-south-west-brands-by-oto-international-301802432.html
Deep definition drill hole LT-22-135 returns one of the most significant high-grade graphitic carbon intercepts to date at Lac Tetepisca, further demonstrating the potential for a significant extension of the MOGC deposit at depth along strike.

KINGSTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Focus Graphite Inc. (TSX.V:FMS)(OTCQX:FCSMF)(FRANKFURT:FKC) ("Focus" or the "Company") is pleased to report the results for an additional nine (9) holes from the Company's 2022 exploration and definition drilling program at its 100%-owned Lac Tetepisca graphite project, located southwest of the Manicouagan Reservoir in the Cote-Nord administrative region of Quebec, on the Nitassinan of the Pessamit Innu.

Between March 3 and November 17, 2022, Focus completed 14,900.5 metres of core drilling from 74 holes, including 6,640.2 metres of definition drilling from 27 deep holes along strike of its Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor ("MOGC") deposit.

The results reported today are for five (5) deep definition holes drilled on sections at a 50-metre spacing over a 200 m strike length section of the MOGC deposit's south end, between Line 9+00S and Line 11+00S; and four (4) deep definition holes drilled between Line 2+00S and Line 3+50S at the north end of the deposit (Table 1).

Highlights :

Hole LT-22-135 , drilled at -65 o to a vertical depth of 190.3 metres on Section L9+00S, intersected 77.14 metres* grading 17.63% Cg (from 92.85 metres to 183.6 metres**; Table 1).

, drilled at -65 to a vertical depth of 190.3 metres on Section L9+00S, intersected 77.14 metres* grading 17.63% Cg (from 92.85 metres to 183.6 metres**; Table 1). Hole LT-22-136 , drilled at -68 o to a vertical depth of 191.9 metres on Section L9+50S intersected 88.44 metres* grading 12.60% Cg (from 57.66 metres to 166.2 metres**; Table 1), including:

, drilled at -68 to a vertical depth of 191.9 metres on Section L9+50S intersected 88.44 metres* grading 12.60% Cg (from 57.66 metres to 166.2 metres**; Table 1), including: 51.56 metres* grading 16.21% Cg (from 95.45 metres to 159.00 metres**).

Hole LT-22-137 , drilled at -68 o to a vertical depth of 191.9 metres on Section L10+00S, intersected 42.47 metres* grading 10.36% Cg (from 97.00 metres to 149.20 metres**; Table 1), including:

, drilled at -68 to a vertical depth of 191.9 metres on Section L10+00S, intersected 42.47 metres* grading 10.36% Cg (from 97.00 metres to 149.20 metres**; Table 1), including: 22.49 metres* grading 14.31% Cg (from 98.20 metres to 126.00 metres**).

Hole LT-22-124 , drilled at -62 o to a vertical depth of 196.0 metres on Section L3+50S intersected 76.60 metres* grading 10.83% Cg (from 110.30 metres to 198.55 metres**; Table 1), including:

, drilled at -62 to a vertical depth of 196.0 metres on Section L3+50S intersected 76.60 metres* grading 10.83% Cg (from 110.30 metres to 198.55 metres**; Table 1), including: 34.28 metres* grading 14.86% Cg (from 110.30 metres to 149.90 metres**).

Hole LT-22-121 , drilled at -70 o to a vertical depth of 247.9 metres on Section L2+00S, intersected two mineralized horizons (Table 1):

, drilled at -70 to a vertical depth of 247.9 metres on Section L2+00S, intersected two mineralized horizons (Table 1): 34.71 metres* grading 15.64% Cg (from 99.00 metres to 143.20 metres**) and,

56.41 metres* grading 9.62% Cg (from 158.70 metres to 229.50 metres**).

Holes LT-22-122 and LT-22-123, drilled on Sections L2+50S and L3+00S, respectively, intersected the southwest extensions of the two mineralized horizons intersected in hole LT-22-121, with similar thicknesses and grades (Table 1).

Holes LT-22-138 and LT-22-139, drilled on Sections L10+50S and L11+00S, respectively, intersected at depth the mineralized horizon reported in holes LT-20-89 and LT-17-66, with similar grades but greater thickness, although discontinuities are noticed.

* True thickness ** Core length

Marc Roy, President and CEO of Focus states. "The latest results from our 2022 definition drilling program at Lac Tetepisca continue to demonstrate the potential for a significant extension of the MOCG deposit at depth and along strike. The results also reveal marked differences in the style of graphitic mineralization between the north and south ends of the deposit. We look forward to the results from the set of deep definition holes drilled along the central section of the deposit, which are pending, to gain a better understanding of the geological controls on graphite mineralization distribution and grade along the full length of the deposit, a key consideration for the preparation of a future updated mineral resource estimate for the project."

Drill core analytical results continue to be delivered to Focus at a rate of about one hole per week and they will be released by the Company as they are received from ACTLABS laboratories, with interlaboratory checks at COREM, and compiled, processed and QA\QC-verified by IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc. ("IOS") who designed the 2022 drilling program and are managing the analytical program for the Lac Tetepisca project for the Company. Please monitor the Company's website at (www.focusgraphite.com) and regulatory filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) for the latest news on the Lac Tetepisca project.

Geological sections showing the results of the 14 definition drill holes from the 2022 drilling program released by the Company in 2023, together with the results from 2014 to 2020 drilling, are available on the Company's website at www.focusgraphite.com , along with a map showing the location of the drill holes.

Table 1. Highlights of the nine (9) drill holes from the 2022 deep definition core drilling program targeting the MOCG deposit.

Hole ID Section True Intercept Length Graphitic Azimut Dip Length Depth From To Core True width Carbon Grade (deg) (deg) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) (m) (% Cg) LT-22-121 L2+00S 302 -70 263.85 113.84 99.00 143.20 44.20 34.71 15.64 - - - - - including: 103.95 140.00 36.05 28.31 18.00 - - - - - 182.36 158.70 229.50 70.80 56.41 9.62 - - - - - including: 167.40 212.80 45.40 36.08 11.66 LT-22-122 L2+50S 302 -65 227.75 98.53 87.30 130.40 43.10 36.23 14.41 - - - - - including: 88.05 123.70 35.65 29.98 16.17 - - - - - 154.03 145.40 195.05 49.65 41.08 8.91 - - - - - including: 150.80 181.75 30.95 25.85 10.64 LT-22-123 L3+00S 302 -70 233.00 150.13 99.55 219.7 120.15 96.08 9.59 - - - - - including: 106.45 136.20 29.75 23.53 16.42 - - - - - including: 160.55 190.65 30.10 24.01 11.85 LT-22-124 L3+50S 302 -62 222.00 136.50 110.30 198.55 88.25 76.60 10.83 - - - - - including: 110.30 149.90 39.60 34.28 14.86 - - - - - including: 160.75 171.80 11.05 9.58 14.27 LT-22-135 L9+00S 302 -65 210.00 123.90 92.85 183.60 90.75 77.14 17.63 - - - - - including: 94.50 181.50 87.00 73.94 18.13 LT-22-136 L9+50S 302 -68 207.00 103.63 57.60 166.20 108.60 88.44 12.60 - - - - - including: 73.60 87.00 13.40 10.87 12.02 - - - - - including: 95.45 159.00 63.55 51.56 16.21 LT-22-137 L10+00S 302 -68 207.00 70.95 65.35 86.80 21.45 17.20 7.68 - - - - - 114.516 97.00 149.20 52.20 42.47 10.36 - - - - - including: 98.20 126.00 27.80 22.49 14.31 LT-22-138 L10+50S 302 -65 212.90 63.60 56.60 84.20 27.60 23.25 6.57 - - - - - 103.719 98.00 132.05 34.05 28.76 10.87 - - - - - including: 99.60 119.30 19.70 16.64 12.89 LT-22-139 L11+00S 302 -75 243.00 122.72 109.60 144.50 34.90 25.36 9.36 - - - - - including: 109.60 135.70 26.10 18.97 10.15

Notes:

(1) True thicknesses are reported in this news release and are calculated based on a dip of -58.5 for the mineralised envelope. Core descriptions, sampling information and analytical results were captured in Geotic core logging software, and then exported to LeapFrogtm software for three-dimensional (3-D) rendering. The 3-D mineralisation envelope has an azimuth of N035.5 and dips at -58.5 to the south-east according to the 3-D model. The drill holes crosscut the envelope of the main mineralised zone's strike (80) and dips (60o) at high angle.

(2) "Best intercepts" and "significant mineralisation" are defined as Cg grading a minimum of 5.0% over at least 6.0 m with internal dilution set at a maximum of 7.0 m consecutive and no external dilution. "Best sub-intercepts" are defined as Cg grading a minimum of 10.0% over 6.0 m with same limitations on dilution. The 5% cg and 10% Cg cut-offs are used solely to delineate the extent of the mineralised envelopes corresponding to "Best intercepts" and "Best sub-intercepts", respectively. Economic cut-offs based on geological, metallurgical, mining, and economic factors, parameters and considerations will be determined as part of the mineral resource estimate update planned for the Lac Tetepisca project later in 2023 and through subsequent technical studies.

(3) Barren core intervals within the mineralised envelope of the MOGC that were not analysed are considered as 0.0% Cg internal dilution.

(4) Analyses were performed by COREM of Quebec City, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified facility using LECO combustion in induction furnace and infrared spectrometry (code LSA-M-B10) and are reported as graphitic carbon (Cg) and total sulphur.

(5) QA/QC program: IOS introduced 10% reference samples, including certified and internal reference materials, duplicates, and blank samples. Ten percent of the drill core samples were also analyzed by COREM for total, organic and inorganic, carbon. Duplicates of the same 10% of the drill core samples were also sent to ACTLABS Laboratories of Ancaster, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with CAN-P-1579) for interlaboratory verification where they were analyzed for graphitic carbon, total sulphur and for trace metals by ICP-MS after aqua-regia digestion.

2022 drilling program

The 2022 core drilling program at the Lac Tetepisca project was designed and operated by IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc. ("IOS") of Saguenay, Quebec, under the supervision of Table Jamesienne de Concertation Miniere ("TJCM") of Chibougamau, Quebec, acting as an independent technical adviser to the Company. Drilling was performed by Forage G4 of Val-d'Or, Quebec using a single drill rig. Drilling commenced on March 3, 2022, and ended on November 17, 2022.

The drilling program consisted of systematic definition drilling along strike of the Company's MOGG deposit together with exploration drilling at the nearby West Limb and Southwest MOGC geophysical (MAG-TDEM) targets. A total of 74 holes were completed, from LT-22-107 to LT-22-179 (total: 14,900.5 metres), including 27 deep holes drilled over a 1.5 km strike length on the MOGC deposit (total: 6,640.2 metres); 29 exploration holes drilled on the West Limb target (total: 5,421.6 metres), and 18 exploration holes drilled on the Southwest MOGC target (total: 2,838.8 metres). Drilling completed on the MOGC deposit includes seven (7) 300 m-length vertical HQ-diameter holes, 19 high angled holes drilled to a vertical depth of 200 metres, plus a short hole drilled at moderate angle (LT-22-173A).

Starting in March 2022, drill core boxes for each hole were packaged by sequential numbers onto pallets in the field by IOS personnel and then shipped by truck every two weeks to IOS's facilities in Saguenay where they are currently archived. Sampling has been conducted with a diamond saw, with NQ-diameter core from the Southwest MOGC and West Limb targets being halved, while all HQ-diameter core from the MOGC deposit was quartered. Sample preparation work consisting of crushing and grinding began last September and is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. Pulverized splits were sent to COREM, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified facility located in Quebec City, for graphitic carbon (code LSA-M-B10) and total sulphur (code LSA-M-B41) analysis using LECO induction furnace with infrared spectrometry until last February, and subsequently to Activation Laboratories in Ancaster, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with CAN-P-1579) for graphitic carbon (code 5D - C Graphitic) and total sulphur analysis (code 4F - S Combustion infrared detection) using an Electra induction furnace with infrared spectroscopy. Historic results indicate excellent interlaboratory comparable results. A subset of 10% of samples was analyzed for 35 trace element analysis using ICP-OES and ICP-MS after an aqua-regia digestion at Activation Laboratories (Code 1E2 - Aqua Regia). Holes concerned by the present news release, include 1,251 graphitic carbon analyses.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

The analytical quality control program for the Lac Tetepisca project has been implemented by an IOS-certified chemist and is identical to the one used for previous drill programs at Lac Tetepisca or at the Company's Lac Knife project. Under the QA/QC program, the current set of analyses included 132 of the core samples, or about 11% of the samples, which were also analyzed by COREM for total carbon (code LSA-M-B45), organic carbon (code LSA-M-B58) and inorganic carbon (code LSA-M-B11). Duplicates of the same 132 samples were sent to ACTLABS Laboratories or COREM for graphitic carbon (code 5D - C Graphitic or code LSA-M-B10) and total sulphur (code 4F - S Combustion infrared detection or code LSA-M-B41 determinations. A total of 174 reference materials (about 14%) are inserted in the sample sequences, either certified or internal reference material samples (CDN-GR1, CMRI12, Oreas-723, OREAS-724, OREAS-725, CGL-004, NCS-DC-60119, NCS-DC-60120, NCS-DC-60121), duplicates (quarter-split core or grinding duplicates), and preparation and analyses blanks.

Qualified Persons

The technical content disclosed in this news release was reviewed and approved by Rejean Girard, P.Geo. (QC), President of IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc., and a qualified person as defined under National Instrument NI-43-101.

Mr. Marc-Andre Bernier, geo. (QC), P.Geo. (ON), M.Sc., Senior Geoscientist for Table Jamesienne de Concertation Miniere, a consultant to the Company and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument (NI) 43 - 101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects has reviewed and approved the non-technical content this news release.

About the Lac Tetepisca Graphite Project

Focus Graphite's 100%-owned Lac Tetepisca Graphite Project is located in the Southwest Manicouagan reservoir area of the Cote-Nord region of Quebec, one of North America's leading emerging flake graphite districts. The project lies on the Nitassinan of the Pessamit, 234 km north-northwest of the city of Baie-Comeau, an industrial city located where the Manicouagan River intersects the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. It comprises two contiguous properties, Lac Tetepisca and Lac Tetepisca Nord. Together, the two properties form a block of 126 map-designated claims (total area: 6,785.14 ha). Focus purchased a 100% unencumbered interest of the mineral rights in the 67 CDC claims constituting the original Lac Tetepisca property from a third party in August 2011. The Lac Tetepisca Nord property was map-staked by the Company in 2012. The Lac Tetepisca Project is accessible year-round by way of a network of secondary gravel roads that extend north from Highway 389, 10 km to the south of the Manic 5 hydroelectric power station.

The Lac Tetepisca project hosts the Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor ("MOGC") graphite deposit with a pit-constrained Indicated resource of 59.3 Mt tonnes ("Mt") grading 10.61% Graphitic Carbon1,2 ("Cg") for an estimated content of 6.3 Mt of natural flake graphite (in-situ), and an Inferred resource of 14.9 Mt grading 11.06% Cg1,2 for an estimated content of 1.6 Mt of natural flake graphite (in-situ).

1A cut-off grade of 3.9% Cg was applied to all estimates.

2Source: "NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate Lac Tetepisca Graphite Project, Quebec" by DRA America's Inc., dated April 4, 2022, available on www.sedar.com/, under Focus graphite Inc.

Additional maps of the Lac Tetepisca property showing the location of the MOGC graphite deposit, along with drill sections, are available on the Company's website at www.focusgraphite.com.

About Focus Graphite

Focus Graphite Inc. is an advanced exploration company with an objective of producing flake graphite concentrate at its wholly owned Lac Knife and Lac Tetepisca flake graphite projects located in the Cote-Nord administrative region of Quebec. In a second stage, to meet Quebec stakeholder interests in developing second transformation industries within the province and to add shareholder value, Focus is evaluating the feasibility of producing value added specialty graphite products including battery-grade spherical graphite.

Focus Graphite is a technology-oriented graphite development company with a vision for building long-term, sustainable shareholder value. Focus also holds a significant equity position in graphene applications developer Grafoid Inc. For more information about Focus Graphite, please visit www.focusgraphite.com .

For more information about Focus Graphite and the Company's Lac Tetepisca and Lac Knife projects, please visit Focus's website at www.focusgraphite.com or contact:

Kimberly Darlington

Communications, Focus Graphite

kdarlington@focusgraphite.com

Judith Mazvihwa-MacLean

CFO, Focus Graphite

jmazvihwa@focusgraphite.com

(613) 581-4040

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information, including references to the plans and project of the Company such as proceeding with production at the Company's Project, proceeding with exploration activities on its permits on Lac Tetepisca. Generally, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "potential", "high-potential", "expected", "optimistic", "looking forward", "moving forward", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would" or "might". 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, including but not limited to: (i) volatile stock price; (ii) the general global markets and economic conditions; (iii) the possibility of write-downs and impairments; (iv) the risk associated with exploration, development and operations of mineral deposits; (v) the risk associated with establishing title to mineral properties and assets; (vi) fluctuations in commodity prices; (vii) the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising during the course of exploration, development and production; (viii) competition faced by the issuer in securing purchasers, off-taker markets, clients and experienced personnel and financing; (ix) access to adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development and exploration activities; (x) the risks associated with changes in the mining regulatory regime governing the issuer; (xi) the risks associated with the various environmental regulations the issuer is subject to; (xii) risks related to regulatory and permitting delays; (xiii) risks related to potential conflicts of interest; (xiv) the reliance on key personnel; (xv) liquidity risks; (xvi) the risk of litigation; and (xvii) risk management.

Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made, including but not limited to, continued exploration activities, no material adverse change in metal prices, exploration, and development plans to proceed in accordance with plans and such plans to achieve their stated expected outcomes, receipt of required regulatory approval, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such 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. Such forward-looking information has been provided for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's business, operations and exploration plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is given as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update such forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Focus Graphite, Inc.

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BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Sappi North America, Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and pulp, today announced the call for entries for its 2023 Ideas that Matter grant program, welcoming projects from designers and creatives that positively impact people, communities and the planet. For more than two decades, the grant program has celebrated the power of print design by supporting projects created to address social issues.

Grant applications should focus on addressing social justice, environmental, healthcare and community issues, among other critical and timely societal concerns. Entrants are asked to align submissions with at least one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are required to submit projects that incorporate wood-fiber solutions, such as paperboard packaging or graphic papers.

"Sappi's mission is to harness the power of trees to help build a thriving world, and we believe it's equally important to work with people and organizations who share our values to drive positive social impact," said Patti Groh, Director of Communications, Sappi North America. "For over 20 years, our grantees have incorporated sustainable paper-based solutions to support the work of nonprofits around the globe. All projects help advance local communities while aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, which are also key pillars to Sappi's business and sustainable practices."

Ideas that Matter is the only grant program of its kind in the paper and packaging industry and is a key part of Sappi's corporate social responsibility efforts. Since 1999, the program has provided over $14 million to support over 500 projects that change lives, communities and, ultimately, the planet.

Selection Criteria and How to Enter

Ideas that Matter proposals are evaluated on creativity, potential effectiveness and ability for distribution and implementation by an annually selected, independent panel of judges who are influential in the design and design for social impact industries.

The Ideas that Matter call for entries is open to individual designers, design firms, agencies, in-house corporate design departments, design instructors, individual design students and design student groups. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000 USD per project. Each application must include an IRS 501 (c) 3 letter or Canadian equivalent of the applicant's nonprofit organization.

Entrants have until July 11, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. PST to submit their application via the online portal.

To learn more about Ideas that Matter and view previous winners, visit: https://www.sappi.com/sappi-ideas-that-matter.

About Sappi North America, Inc.

Sappi North America, Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. Our four diversified businesses - high-quality Graphic Papers, Dissolving Pulp, Packaging, and Specialty Papers deliver premium products and services with consistent quality and reliability. Our high-quality Coated Printing Papers are used for premium magazines, catalogs, books, direct mail and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Dissolving Pulp, which is used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods. We deliver sustainable Packaging and Specialty Papers for luxury packaging and folding carton applications with our single-ply packaging brands and for the food and label industries with our specialty papers. We are one of the world's leading suppliers of Casting and Release Papers with lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries.

Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries. www.sappi.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Sappi North America on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Sappi North America

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/sappi-north-america

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Sappi North America

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750364/Sappi-Opens-2023-Ideas-that-Matter-Call-for-Entries
Research from fintech lender Sonovate reveals 49% of businesses in London would consider introducing unlimited annual leave compared to just a third (35%) across the UK

London firms are much more likely to offer attractive flexible working perks compared to businesses in other regions eight in ten (78%) businesses in the capital would consider allowing workers to choose their own hours whilst 67% would consider a four day week

Half (49%) of all businesses in London would consider introducing unlimited holiday allowance as the capital takes the lead in flexible working practices, reveals research from fintech lender, Sonovate.

Across the UK, this figure drops to around a third (35%) of businesses who would consider offering unlimited annual leave to workers. These findings come as businesses increasingly look to introduce flexible working practices and other benefits to differentiate from competitors.

The research also shows that businesses in London are more likely to introduce generous job perks to attract and retain talent compared to businesses across the rest of the UK. Eight in ten businesses in London (78%) would consider allowing workers to choose their own hours compared to a UK average of 58%.

Whilst almost three quarters (72%) of London employers think offering flexibility over the hours or days people work is appropriate, this falls to 56% for the UK as a whole.

Over two thirds (67%) of London businesses would consider implementing a four-day week for employees, compared to under half (48%) across the rest of the UK.

Some of the interesting job perks available through businesses in London include free electric vehicle charging, the option to work abroad for up to 180 days per year, 'Pawternity Leave' (additional paid leave for employees to bond with new pets), and weekend access to a company villa in Spain.

Richard Prime, co-CEO of Sonovate, comments: "London firms continue to lead the way in offering the most generous and competitive perks to workers. With the cost of living crisis impacting businesses as well as employees, it is vital that employers look for innovative ways to stand out from the crowd when attracting and retaining talent.

"Businesses across the rest of the UK should be looking at the capital's example not just to identify new flexible working approaches but also perks for employee benefit packages."

Londoners are most demanding for flexible working practices

The research highlights that Londoners demand the most choice and flexibility over their contracts with over two thirds (67%) of businesses in London saying they're introduced contract working because of demand from workers, compared to half (51%) of businesses across the UK as a whole.

Similarly, three quarters (74%) of London firms are considering introducing initiatives where permanent workers can move to temporary or contract roles compared to an average of just 53% across the UK.

Richard Prime adds: "With the highest costs in the country, Londoners are understandably demanding the most flexible working patterns as well as the most generous perks. "In order to offer increased flexibility, businesses will also need reliable access to funding to help manage cashflow as employees change working patterns to freelance or contract roles."

Business lender Sonovate provides embedded finance and payment solutions to support the contingent workforce including contract and freelance workers. It serves recruitment businesses, consultancies and labour marketplaces globally to smooth cashflow and ensure contingent workers can get paid on time.

Sonovate recently announced that it surpassed 3.5bn in total funding and 1 billion in annual funding for the first time as rising costs force businesses to seek finance to manage cashflow and drive growth. During 2022, Sonovate provided businesses with 1.1 billion in finance, a 58% increase on the 700 million lent in the previous year and 312 million in Q4 2022 alone.

To date, more than 33,000 freelancers, contractors and gig workers in 44 countries have received payments from over 3,300 businesses supported by Sonovate.

ENDS

Methodology

Research conducted by Opinium, commissioned by Sonovate, of 500 senior decision makers in SME businesses (excluding large businesses) between 30th September and 6th October 2022.

ABOUT SONOVATE

Sonovate is the leading provider of embedded finance and payment solutions for the contingent workforce. Its finance and technology services cater to recruitment businesses, consultancies, and labour marketplaces who place contractors and freelancers around the world. Sonovate's platform and expert service deliver swift credit decisions, same-day funding, credit insurance, and collections services, empowering companies to concentrate on expanding their business, confident that funds are in place to help meet payment deadlines.

Since it started funding in 2014, Sonovate has lent over 3.5 billion to 3,300 businesses and 40,000 workers in 44 countries.

www.sonovate.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005524/en/

Contacts:

sonovate@seven-consultancy.com
Regulatory News:

GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible) (Paris:SIGHT), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today announces that the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT)1 of the Committee Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) assessed the data presented during the oral explanation2 on LUMEVOQ European regulatory dossier.

As provided by the review procedure and following responses to the D180 questions, an oral explanation was held on April 19. GenSight invited the world renowned LHON3 experts, Patrick Yu-Wai-Man, MD, PhD (Cambridge University, UK) and Jose-Alain Sahel, MD (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA) to share their clinical practice and perspective on LUMEVOQ data.

Following interactions with the CAT indicating that the data provided thus far would not be sufficient to support a positive opinion of the marketing authorization of LUMEVOQ by EMA, GenSight decided to withdraw its application ahead of a final opinion by the CAT. This decision enables the Company to discuss the best possible path forward for LUMEVOQ with the EMA in the coming weeks, aiming at submitting a new application addressing remaining objections as soon as possible, in Europe and other countries. The company is exploring options including generating new clinical data, which may induce material delays and additional costs.

"GenSight teams have gathered a huge dataset of 252 ND4-LHON patients treated with LUMEVOQ showing that 70% of LUMEVOQ-treated patients present a visual recovery, in contrast to the poor and limited recovery observed in the natural history of the disease," said Jose-Alain Sahel, Co-founder of GenSight Biologics and of the Institut de la Vision, Paris, France, "In light of the study results, confirmed by real-life data, LUMEVOQ is the current best therapeutic option for ND4-LHON patients given the 3-fold difference in vision function in treated patients. It is disappointing that the contralateral effect of the therapy limited the perceived strength of these data, published in top-tier peer-reviewed journals by leaders in the field."

"We disagree with the current CAT assessment and remain highly confident in the clinical benefit of LUMEVOQ for LHON patients, which is supported by extensive evidence from multiple clinical trials and real-world data," commented Bernard Gilly, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of GenSight Biologics. "The decision to withdraw our application allows us to continue to work with EMA to agree as soon as possible on a regulatory path forward. I want to thank the patient communities for their support and reaffirm our determination to bring this innovative therapy to ND4-LHON patients in need of an efficacious treatment. I also want to thank the scientific community and our teams for their long-lasting commitment."

GenSight confirms that the manufacturing validation campaign is on track with its partner in the United-States, as planned, with a product released for human use by the end of the year.

GenSight's Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) submission of LUMEVOQ to the EMA was based on the benefit-risk balance established by results from 252 patients treated through clinical trials or compassionate use. This unprecedented data set for ND4-LHON establishes that LUMEVOQefficacy compares positively to both natural history and idebenone.

GenSight management team will host a live webcast at 4:30 pm CEST (10:30 am EST) today to further comment on this decision. The webcast will be held in English, and a simultaneous French translation will also be available.

Live webcast in English, with a simultaneous French translation also available: https://bit.ly/3LcxrMD

The webcast will be available in replay using the same link above.

The Company will report its cash position as of March 31, 2023, in a separate press release later today.

About GenSight Biologics

GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics' pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics, to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics' lead product candidate, LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), is an investigational compound and has not been registered in any country at this stage; a marketing authorization application is currently under review by the EMA for the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease affecting primarily teens and young adults that leads to irreversible blindness. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics' product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery.

About LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec)

LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec) targets Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) by leveraging a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) proprietary technology platform, arising from research conducted at the Institut de la Vision in Paris, which, when associated with the gene of interest, allows the platform to specifically address defects inside the mitochondria using an AAV vector (Adeno-Associated Virus). The gene of interest is transferred into the cell to be expressed and produces the functional protein, which will then be shuttled to the mitochondria through specific nucleotidic sequences in order to restore the missing or deficient mitochondrial function. "LUMEVOQ" was accepted as the invented name for GS010 (lenadogene nolparvovec) by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in October 2018. LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), is an investigational compound and has not been registered in any country at this stage.

1 The Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) is the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) committee responsible for assessing the quality, safety and efficacy of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and following scientific developments in the field.

2 After the second clock-stop, an oral explanation in which the applicant directly addresses the committee can be requested either by the applicant or by the CHMP https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/marketing-authorisation/evaluation-medicines-step-stepclock-stop-2-section

3 Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and ND4 is the most frequent mutation with worst prognosis for LHON patients

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005662/en/

Contacts:

GenSight Biologics

Corporate Communications Director

Clothilde Caillet

ccaillet@gensight-biologics.com

RooneyPartners

Media Relations

Jeanene Timberlake

jtimberlake@rooneypartners.com

+1 646-770-8858

LifeSci Advisors

Investor Relations

Guillaume van Renterghem

gvanrenterghem@lifesciadvisors.com

+41 (0)76 735 01 31

Orpheon Finance

Retail Investors

James Palmer

j.palmer@orpheonfinance.com

+33 (0)7 60 92 77 74
Highlights:

The University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RTPU) study shows high potential for technology to reduce emissions from road travel, driving progress towards EU Green Deal targets

Introducing just 20% of connected vehicles on EU city roads can save up to 18% of CO2 emissions

Connected vehicles to improve traffic efficiency, allowing drivers to save up to 15 hours of travel time annually during peak hours

GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / New research from The University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RTPU), commissioned by Qualcomm Europe Inc., showcases the significant potential of connected vehicle applications to reduce CO2 emissions in the transportation sector. The considered applications in the study include city optimization applications such as dynamic traffic signals traffic junctions, and routing. These applications have the purpose to reduce start-stops as well as congestion, improving travel efficiency and travel time. The study demonstrates that introducing just 20% of connected vehicles on EU city roads can save up to 18% of CO2 emissions. Some EU27 countries, for example Germany, may even show emissions savings of up to 24%. The potential of connected vehicles to reduce transport related emissions represents significant progress towards the EU Green Deal targets by which the EU Commission aims to achieve a 90% reduction in transport-related emissions by 2050.

The study uses a new simulation approach, extrapolating results from detailed map-based traffic simulations in selected cities to all cities across the EU27 Member States. The study predicts that EU cities, with populations ranging from fewer than 100,000 to greater than 500,000, could reap the benefits of connected vehicles and from this mix of cities draws EU-wide conclusions. Benefits include reduced emissions and increased traffic efficiency.

In addition, it is estimated that drivers can save up to 15 hours of travel time[1] annually during peak hours, leading to higher levels of productivity and comfort.

"The results of this study show how technology can help reduce emissions, making road transport more efficient and sustainable without compromising the safety of road users," said Enrico Salvatori, Senior Vice President and President, Qualcomm Europe/MEA, Qualcomm Europe Inc. "Utilizing our highly advanced Snapdragon Digital Chassis automotive solutions spanning telematics and connectivity, the digital cockpit and driver assistance and vehicle automation, we are supporting automakers to design and deliver next-generation connected and autonomous vehicles. The RTPU study marks an important milestone towards the widespread adoption of connected mobility and greener, more efficient road transport for all."

Professor Dr. Hans D. Schotten, RTPU, said: "This study impressively demonstrates the potential of connected mobility applications to reduce emissions in the transport sector. We have learned that already simple combinations of connected mobility applications and realistic penetration rates of connected vehicles allow significant reductions in emissions to be achieved, without having to compromise on driver comfort."

Read the research paper in full, including a detailed methodology and results, here .

[1] 15 hours in Bremen, 5 hours in Cologne, 3 hours in Frankfurt and 2 hours in Munich

About Rheinland-Pfalzische Technische Universitat Kaiserslautern-Landau

The RPTU is the technical university of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate with over 20,000 students, more than 300 professorships and around 160-degree programs.

The RPTU emerged on January 1, 2023, from the merger of the University of Kaiserslautern and the University in Landau. It combines expertise in engineering and natural science with emphases in social sciences and has many years of expertise in teacher education for all types of schools. The RPTU sees itself as responsible for making scientific contributions to the transformation processes of society and the economy, especially on topics of sustainability, digitalization and education. It is also characterized by a high level of third-party funding and a variety of coordinated research projects.

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm is enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected. Our one technology roadmap allows us to efficiently scale the technologies that launched the mobile revolution - including advanced connectivity, high-performance, low-power compute, on-device intelligence and more - to the next generation of connected smart devices across industries. Innovations from Qualcomm and our family of Snapdragon platforms will help enable cloud-edge convergence, transform industries, accelerate the digital economy, and revolutionize how we experience the world, for the greater good.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business. Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm patented technologies are licensed by Qualcomm Incorporated.

Snapdragon and Digital Chassis are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Qualcomm on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Qualcomm

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/qualcomm

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Qualcomm

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750380/New-Research-Commissioned-by-Qualcomm-Shows-That-Connected-Mobility-Solutions-Could-Reduce-Emissions-by-Up-to-18
LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Consulting, the company that's bringing ingenuity to life, is proud to announce another year of strong growth for the year ending December 2022.

In 2022, its 80th year, PA:

Generated fee income of 785 million, growing its business by 14 percent YOY and 96 percent over five years.

Launched The PA Foundation, committing to disbursing 10 million over five years, with over 1.2 million donated to 20 charities.

Donated more than 10,000 hours of its people's time and expertise to support communities where its people live and work.

Welcomed over 1,300 new colleagues, grew its partner numbers by 52, and made 815 promotions.

Welcomed two new teams to strengthen its design and innovation capabilities - Design Partners, a product design and innovation agency, and The Cambridge Group, a leading strategy consulting firm.

PA is the only company to deliver end-to-end innovation, driving significant value for clients. In the face of constant change and uncertainty in the world, clients are seeking a partner who can create opportunity from complexity. They're also recognising that capitalising on those opportunities requires fundamentally new approaches that can only be achieved by bringing together diverse teams of experts.

PA strengthened its expert ranks with more than 1,300 new colleagues, including growing its partner numbers by 52, and awarding 815 promotions.

PA also welcomed two new teams: Design Partners, an award-winning product design and innovation agency in Europe, and The Cambridge Group, a leading strategy consulting firm in the US.

PA's teams earnt critical acclaim for their exceptional design work, receiving several high-profile awards including:

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Special Achievement Award recognising their work creating industry-leading products for Nike, Microsoft, Logitech, and more.

A Red Dot Award for their work designing the Backbone One Mobile Gaming Controller.

Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards for two sustainability-led client projects. Green Boom, which has developed a sustainable way to help prevent, reduce, and clean up oil spills, and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, for leading the creation and delivery of a roadmap to put an end to plastic waste.

In 2023, PA's newly formed team of design, engineering, and science experts will continue to work together across a global network of creative studios, research labs, and engineering centres, creating breakthrough solutions to their clients' most challenging opportunities.

Now in its 80th year, PA has a rich heritage of innovating for its clients, from start-ups with world-changing ideas, to some of the most important global companies and organisations. Delivering many world-firsts: the first self-service parking system, the world's first private digital telephone exchange, the first recordable compact discs, the first breadth-actuated metered dose inhaler, and the world's most powerful prototype handheld laser.

At each step of the way, PA has found innovative ways to enable its client to be faster and nimbler,?and to create the services and products that grow clients' businesses, delight customers, and serve citizens.

2022 highlights: building a positive human future

In its 2022 Ingenuity Review, PA identifies six global shifts, which will create new and exciting opportunities for clients.

Empowered consumers

The customer has always been at the centre of commercial success. What's changed is the power that connected, informed, choice-conscious customers now wield.

In 2022, PA worked with Gjensidige - Norway's leading insurance provider - to help them meet the demand for digital, customer-centric services. PA's team designed a more cost-efficient delivery model and ways of working across countries to enable Gjensidige customers to enjoy quicker and smoother journeys.

Healthier humans

Health underpins our personal and collective experience and the way we receive care, and the way outcomes are delivered, is evolving at speed.

In 2022, PA worked with clients to create new care approaches, reflecting the shift toward more personalised care and medicines, and greater autonomy for patients. PA worked with Viscero to design a revolutionary way for people suffering arrhythmia to monitor their heartbeat that's non-intrusive and can be done without seeing a medical professional.

Future organisations

In a world where aware, alert, inclusive teams can respond to customer needs and competitor moves at pace, digital transformation is at the crux of today's future-focused agendas.

Faced with a disrupted market, Pret a Manger sought to accelerate plans to take its business online. PA teamed up with Pret to design a new digital customer experience, roll-out a new coffee subscription proposition, launch Pret's first customer loyalty programme, evolve back-office operations, and build a new data platform.

Business for better

Today, what organisations stand for matters as much as what they do. The power of a purpose that drives their 'why' as well as their 'what' is increasingly important. In the case of the Danish Diabetes Association, PA created a strategy that kept a laser focus on the Association's purpose, delivering to the population they were tasked to serve, and keeping those living with diabetes at the centre of every decision.

Safer societies

Be it our homes and families, the technologies we use, or wider geo-political uncertainty, security is the foundation of our individual and collective success.

PA's team worked with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, a specialist division of the UK Ministry of Defence, to apply quantum technologies to the process of human decision-making, enabling quicker, more informed decisions in a complex military environment.

Sustainable world

From tackling worldwide plastics use to capitalising on renewable energy classes, finding ways to make life more sustainable has never been more urgent.

Securing a prominent project to bring clean energy to America's shores was a long-held ambition for offshore wind development company, US Wind. In seamlessly pooling expertise in analytics, regulation, and energy policy, PA enabled US Wind to punch above its weight and prepare a winning bid to deliver offshore wind for the state of Maryland against tough competition.

Investing in PA people

PA is not only committed to delivering great outcomes for its clients but to making PA a great place to work. PA was thrilled to see its Women in Tech team win the 'Best Employer Network' category at the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2022 for their work to proactively build an inclusive community, provide learning and development experiences, and drive opportunities for women in STEM careers. PA also grew its internal support networks, introducing Working Families, Neurodiversity, and PA Jewish communities to better support and represent its diverse workforce.

PA people also gave back to the communities where they live and work. Through the PA in the Community programme, and The PA Foundation - which both share the mission to develop and inspire people, particularly those facing disadvantage, to be the innovators and leaders of tomorrow - PA people gave over 10,000 hours of their time and expertise. The PA Foundation distributed over 1.2 million to charity partners, supporting greater educational access, STEM, and social mobility, and has committed to disbursing 10 million over the next five years.

Ken Toombs, PA Consulting CEO says: "It has been another year of great accomplishments for PA as we've been bringing ingenuity to life. We've delivered superb results for our clients, creating lasting value for them. The impact we've been able to have is down to our brilliant team.

"We're a team of changemakers, and I'm so proud of PA's incredible accomplishments: with our clients, with one another, and in the communities where we live and work. Together, we're building a positive human future."

About PA.

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.

Our diverse teams of experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

Discover more at paconsulting.com and connect with PA on LinkedIn and Twitter.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

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LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Champagne Bollinger hosted a regal Coronation celebration at the Bollinger Burlington Bar, Mayfair, in partnership with Illustrated London News (ILN) to unveil the first portrait released of His Majesty King Charles III, since the change of reign, which will be showcased exclusively in the Bar's window during the Coronation period. The private gathering was the first occasion when the original painting was presented to an audience.

The portrait, painted in oils by Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) Scholar, Alastair Barford, who was at the celebration, was commissioned by ILN and appears on the cover of "TheIllustrated Coronation Edition", for those not able to visit the Bollinger Burlington Bar to view the portrait. The portrait was unveiled to the impressive sights and sounds of the London Scottish regimental band, which helped to get everyone into the Coronation mood. Guests at the celebratory evening were greeted with a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee served en Jeroboam, to toast His Majesty and were amongst the first to see the magnificent Coronation installations that were unveiled that day in Burlington Arcade. The special installations include archival imagery of the Champagne Bollinger Royal Warrant history, dating back to the first royal appointment in 1884 by Queen Victoria, celebrating almost 140 years of continuously holding this prestigious honour, a recognition greatly treasured by the Bollinger family.

Champagne Bollinger will be commemorating the historical occasion with their take on the quintessentially British afternoon tea, with an exclusive Coronation Afternoon Treat menu, created in collaboration with fellow Royal Warrant holder, patisserie chef Didier Merveilleux, who presented some of the delicacies on the evening. The Afternoon Treat menu, paired with a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee, will be available exclusively at The Bollinger Burlington Bar for a limited period, 27 April to 14 May and will be served on stunning Thomas Goode & Co tableware, the tertiary Royal Warrant holder, making it a tasting experience of truly royal standards. Champagne Bollinger will be making a donation to QEST for each afternoon tea sold in recognition of the charity's work in supporting excellence in British craftsmanship.

Victoria Carfantan, Director of Champagne Bollinger UK & Global Partnerships says: "As a Royal Warrant holder since 1884, Champagne Bollinger were delighted to bring so many partners and friends of the brand together to raise a toast to His Majesty King Charles III to celebrate his Coronation. We look forward to welcoming guests to the Bollinger Burlington Bar in the coming weeks to indulge in the Champagne Bollinger Coronation Afternoon Treat, a true one-off experience, created by Royal Warrant patisserie chef Didier Merveilleux."

Lisa Barnard, Chief Executive of Illustrated London News, commented: "ILN was delighted to co-host this event and celebrate the magnificent new portrait we commissioned of The King by the talented artist Alastair Barford and The Illustrated Coronation Edition. What better than to toast this with a glass of Bollinger on the day of the unveiling of the splendid Coronation decorations in Burlington Arcade?"

The Bollinger Afternoon Treat Menu will be exclusively available at The Bollinger Burlington Bar from 27 April to 14 May priced 125/pp and includes a glass of the House's signature Bollinger Special Cuvee.

For further images please view here: https://we.tl/t-dkORrrMRAL

Please note credit for reproduction of the painting of King Charles III (one-time editorial usage only): HM King Charles III by Alastair Barford Illustrated London News, commissioned for The Illustrated Coronation Edition. www.britishcoronation.com

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The "Irish Whiskey Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global Irish whiskey market size reached US$ 4.7 Billion in 2022. Looking forward, the market is set to reach US$ 7.5 Billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.1% during 2022-2028

The increasing preference for premium alcoholic beverages, rising number of distilleries, and the growing popularity of home delivery services represent some of the key factors driving the market.

At present, key players operating worldwide are introducing novel variants, such as apple, berries, mint, spiced, coffee, and honey, to expand their product portfolio.

Irish Whiskey Market Trends:

There is an increase in the preferences for premium alcoholic beverages on account of the expanding purchasing power of consumers. This, coupled with the growing adoption of western drink culture and significant growth in the food and beverages (F&B) industry, represents one of the major factors driving the demand for Irish whiskey around the world.

In addition, there is a rise in the number of commercial spaces, such as distilleries, microbreweries, cafes, pubs, restaurants, bars, and hotels, which offer a variety of Irish whiskey-based experimental cocktails. This, along with the increasing collaboration of Irish whiskey brands with these establishments to launch various endorsement programs, is strengthening the growth of the market.

Moreover, the growing use of Irish whiskey in the preparation of different fancy food recipes, such as truffles, cheesecakes, mousse, ice cream, brownies, tiramisu, pudding, and oatmeal, is influencing the market positively. Besides this, the increasing awareness among the masses about the benefits of consuming Irish whiskey as compared to other alcoholic beverages is propelling the growth of the market.

Apart from this, key players are focusing on investing in different marketing strategies, such as celebrity endorsements and social media campaigns, to expand their market reach. They are also adopting innovative and environment-friendly packaging due to the emerging trend of gifting unique premium items, such as Irish whiskey.

Furthermore, the growing popularity of home delivery services through online portals that provide convenience, vast collection, and fast shipping facilities is creating a positive outlook for the market.

Key Questions Answered in This Report

What was the size of the global Irish whiskey market in 2022?

What is the expected growth rate of the global Irish whiskey market during 2023-2028?

What are the key factors driving the global Irish whiskey market?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global Irish whiskey market?

What is the breakup of the global Irish whiskey market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the global Irish whiskey market based on the pricing?

What is the breakup of the global Irish whiskey market based on the sales channel?

What are the key regions in the global Irish whiskey market?

Who are the key players/companies in the global Irish whiskey market?

Competitive Landscape:

The report has also provided a comprehensive analysis of the competitive landscape in the global Irish whiskey market.

Competitive analysis such as market structure, market share by key players, player positioning, top winning strategies, competitive dashboard, and company evaluation quadrant has been covered in the report.

Some of the companies covered include

Beam Suntory Inc. (Suntory Holdings Limited)

Boann Distillery

Brown-Forman Corporation

Connacht Whiskey Company Limited

Diageo plc

Edrington

Pernod Ricard

Sazerac Company Inc.

Teeling Whiskey Distillery

West Cork Distillers

William Grant Sons Ltd.

Key Market Segmentation:

Type Insights:

Blended represented the largest segment

Blended

Single Malt

Single Pot Still

Single Grain

Pricing Insights:

Premium accounted for the largest market share

Mass

Premium

Sales Channel Insights:

Off-trade represented the largest segment

On-trade

Off-trade

Regional Insights:

North America (the United States and Canada) was the largest market for Irish whiskey. Some of the factors driving the North America Irish whiskey market included increasing tourist visit, product innovations, rising marketing strategies, etc.

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/p9zyz7

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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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Entergy Corporation



As we celebrate Earth Month, Entergy remains steadfast in our commitment to creating a cleaner, more resilient energy future for our customers and communities. Now in its 22nd year, Entergy's Environmental Initiatives Fund, or EIF, is a component of our business strategy. The EIF provides $1 million in shareholder-funded grants each year to support environmental projects and solutions that benefit our region.

"Since 2001, our fund has awarded nearly $42 million in Entergy shareholder contributions to support environmentally beneficial projects and programs across our service area of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas," said Kelli Dowell, director of environmental policy. "We're proud to partner with community organizations to reduce environmental risk and ensure a cleaner, brighter tomorrow for our communities."

Do you have a project idea that promotes conservation, energy efficiency or delivers environmental benefits? Submit your proposal for funding consideration through this 2023 request for proposal. All proposals must be received by midnight Central time, May 31, 2023.

Our Sustainability and Environmental Policy organization manages the EIF, evaluates project proposals, solicits approval from company leaders and awards funding to the most impactful project ideas.

Funding will be granted to proposed projects based on:

Potential to create environmental benefits.

Projects within the utility service area will be given preference.

Project quality.

Proponent's standing, reputation and co-party risk.

The likelihood that a project will not move forward without EIF funding.

Cost.

Marketing and public relations opportunities.

Project-specific terms and conditions.

Uniqueness, innovative quality or opportunity to expand into self-funding projects.

View our 2022 awarded grant recipients here. For more information on Entergy's Environmental Initiatives Fund, email EIF@entergy.com.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Entergy Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Entergy Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/entergy-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Entergy Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750408/Entergy-Grants-Now-Available-to-Support-Environmentally-Beneficial-Projects
Highlights

Solis has 42 mining concessions and applications totalling 32,400 Ha in prospective areas of Southern Peru, 17 concessions fully granted with a further 25 currently being processed.

New target areas now identified on both Ilo Norte and Ilo Este through processing and interpretation of new remote sensing Worldview-3 data in conjunction with historic data sets.

Extensive historic dataset recently acquired, data includes airborne geophysics plus ground magnetics and geochemistry for updated interpretation and review.

Boots on the ground with field season now commencing, follow up ground checking of recently identified remote sensing anomalies and field mapping at Ilo Este, Cinto and Ilo Norte.

Areas to be identified for potential drilling will lead to submission of environmental permitting applications.

Exploration season commencing in Peru.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Solis Minerals Ltd. (ASX: SLM) (TSXV: SLMN) (OTCQB: SLMFF) (FSE: 08W) ("Solis Minerals" or "the Company") is pleased to provide shareholders with an update on the commencement of the field season in Peru. Recently acquired and interpreted Worldview-3 remote sensing data has identified numerous targets to follow up on the Ilo Este, Ilo Norte, and Cinto project areas and the expansion of the Solis tenement portfolio with the addition of a further 17 mining concession applications since November 2022.

Executive Director Matthew Boyes quoted:

"It's great to see exploration commencing again in Peru on what I see as a very large and prospective land position. There has been a considerable amount of ground acquired by major copper producers and developers close to and around our Cinto and Ilo projects demonstrating the importance of expanding large land position in what we consider to be a significantly unexplored region within this major copper bearing district. I look forward to moving into the next phase of exploration and continuing to add value to our Peruvian assets while we look to grow and advance the Brazilian lithium portfolio."

Peru Copper Projects

Ilo Este

Recently acquired Worldview-3 ("WV3") remote sensing data has been processed and interpreted and resulted in the delineation of a large high priority area never drill tested. The focus on previous campaigns of drilling was targeting zones of argillic alteration and porphyry dykes towards the eastern border of the Ilo Este tenement. The newly acquired higher resoultion WV3 remote sensing data, however, has identified an area approximatley 500m to the west of an historic drill hole IE-DDH-005-15 with a moderate to strong phyllic alteration halo approximately 2km by 1.5km in size with associated jarosite alteration.

The team is now mobilising to site and will commence follow up ground checking and surface sampling of the area to better locate and target drill sites which will commence subject to obtaining the environmental permits scheduled for Q1 2024.







Figure 1: Worldview-3 remote sending alteration model overlain on topography

and regional geology at Ilo Este



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/163174_picture%201.jpg

Additional Tenement pegging

Solis has continued to grow its footprint in Peru with the pegging of additional mining applications in the areas adjacent to the Ilo Norte and Kelly project areas. These additonal applications increase the total project area to approximately 32,400 hectares (42 mining concessions) in a highly prospective district which has attracted significant interest from major copper producers such as First Quantum and Southern Copper - the latter owning major infrastructure and processing facilities in the region.





Figure 2: Newly applied exploration concessions and existing concessions in Solis Portfolio Peru



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/163174_picture%202.jpg

About Solis Minerals Ltd.

Solis Minerals is a Latin American battery mineral-focused mining exploration company. The Company recently acquired a 100% interest in the Borborema Lithium Project in NE Brazil, covering 24,800 ha, and holds a 100% interest in 32,400 ha of combined licences and applications of highly prospective IOCG (iron oxide copper/gold) and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru within the country's prolific coastal copper belt - a source of nearly half of Peru's copper production.

This Announcement has been authorised for release to ASX by the Board of Solis Minerals.

For further information, please contact:

Australia

Matt Boyes

Chief Executive Officer

Solis Minerals Limited

+61 8 6117 4798

Stephen Moloney

Investor Relations

Corporate Storytime

+61 (0) 403 222 052

North America

Jason Cubitt

Non-Executive Director

Solis Minerals Limited

+01 (604) 209 1658

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that relate to future events or performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made 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, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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 by applicable law.

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Fred Tejada, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

Competent Person Statement

The information in this ASX release concerning Geological Information and Exploration Results is based on and fairly represents information compiled by Mr Anthony Greenaway, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Greenaway is an employee of Solis Minerals Ltd. and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the exploration activities undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Greenaway consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Greenaway has provided his prior written consent regarding the form and context in which the Geological Information and Exploration Results and supporting information are presented in this Announcement.

All information about exploration results that were previously released to the market is appropriately referenced in this document.

APPENDIX 1

Mining Concessions table

Westminster Peru SAC- Concessions and Applications as of April 17th 2023



Number Concession No Registered Owner Name Size (Ha) Status 1 01-05005-08 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE I 800 Granted 2 01-05003-08 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE II 900 Granted 3 01-05001-08 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE III 600 Granted 4 01-01952-14 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE IX 900 Granted 5 01-00830-09 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 1,000 Granted 6 01-00831-09 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 1,000 Granted 7 01-02511-09 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 700 Granted 8 01-01844-11 Westminster Peru Sac BRIDGETTE 1 1,000 Granted 9 01-01849-11 Westminster Peru Sac ESSENDON 26 1,000 Granted 10 01-02513-09 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 1,000 Granted 11 01-01845-11 Westminster Peru Sac MADDISON 1 1,000 Granted 12 01-02512-09 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE

7 1,000 Granted 13 01-01840-11 Westminster Peru Sac KELLY 00 700 Granted 14 01-00125-21 Westminster Peru Sac CARUCA 600 Granted 15 01-00134-22-A Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS 02A 100 Granted 16 01-00134-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS 02 200 Application Submitted 17 01-00135-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS03 500 Application Submitted 18 01-00136-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS04 400 Granted 19 01-00137-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS05 500 Application Submitted 20 01-003231-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS06 1,000 Granted 21 01-00139-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS07 300 Application Submitted 22 01-00139-22A Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS 07A 200 Application Submitted 23 01-00122-21 Westminster Peru Sac UCHUSUMA A 1,000 Application Submitted 24 01-00123-21 Westminster Peru Sac UCHUSUMA B 400 Application Submitted 25 01-00124-21 Westminster Peru Sac PALLAGUA 1 600 Application Submitted 26 01-02999-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 1 1,000 Application Submitted 27 01-03000-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 2 500 Application Submitted 28 01-03001-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 3 1,000 Application Submitted 29 01-03002-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 4 900 Application Submitted 30 01-03003-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 5 1,000 Application Submitted 31 01-03004-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 6 1,000 Application Submitted 32 01-03005-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 7 1,000 Application Submitted 33 01-03007-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS SUR 1 400 Application Submitted 34 01-03008-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS SUR 2 900 Application Submitted 35 01-03006-22 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS SUR 3 900 Application Submitted 36 01-00232-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 8 1,000 Application Submitted 37 01-00324-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 9 1,000 Application Submitted 38 01-00325-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 10 1,000 Application Submitted 39 01-00326-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 11 400 Application Submitted 40 01-00327-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 12 1,000 Application Submitted 41 01-00328-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS KELLY 01 1,000 Application Submitted 42 01-00329.23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS KELLY 02 1,000 Application Submitted Total Ha





32,400 -

APPENDIX 2

JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling.

Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used.

Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report.

In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. Sampling across the Ilo Este and Ilo Norte projects has included rock chip sampling from trenches, and rock outcrops, and reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling. There is no record of previous exploration at the Cinto Project.

There is no detailed record of how outcrop or trench chip sampling was completed or the size of the samples.

RC drilling was completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Norte (8 holes for 2,690m completed in 2011) and Rio Tinto at Ilo Este (12 holes for 2,128m completed in 2000).

Apart from collar locations there are no other records available for the Rio Tinto drilling.

The RC holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources had 1,345 samples collected over 2m intervals.

Diamond drilling was completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Este (3 holes for 2,073m completed in 2014-15) and Compania Minera Zahena SAC at both Ilo Norte (16 holes for 12,658 m completed in 2014) and Ilo Este (9 holes for 5,322m completed in 2015-16).

Diamond core was sampled nominally on 2m (Peruvian Latin Resources) or 3m (Compania Minera Zahena SAC) intervals. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). Reverse circulation samples were collected from a rig-mounted cyclone in large plastic bags before being split down to a 4-5kg sample using a 2-tier riffle splitter and then placed into calico bags for despatch to the lab. There is no record of the bit type used for either of the RC drilling programs but the hole completed by Peruvian Latin Resources used 5 inch bit.

Diamond drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Este were initially drilled as PQ size (85mm core diameter) to depths varying between 87-109m and were then drilled at HQ size (63.5mm core diameter) until the end of hole. All the holes were completed using a standard tube.

Diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena SAC at Ilo Este were drilled as HQ size (63.5mm core diameter) until the end of hole. All the holes were completed using a standard tube.

Diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena SAC at Ilo Norte were drilled using a combination of HQ size (63.5mm core diameter), NQ (core diameter 47.6mm) and in one drill hole BQ (core diameter 36.5mm) for the last 88m. All the holes were completed using a standard tube. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed.

Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples.

Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. RC sample recovery was assessed visually and from sample weights recorded at the laboratory.

Core barrel length and core length measurements were made so that core recoveries could be estimated. Recoveries were good and no significant core loss was experienced. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies.

Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography.

The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. The RC drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources were qualitatively logged for lithology, alteration, and mineralisation.

All of the diamond drill core was qualitatively logged for lithology, alteration and mineralisation which has been inspected qualitatively. No geotechnical logging was performed. Photographs were taken of all the core in sample boxes. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken.

If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry.

For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique.

Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples.

Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling.

Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. RC samples were collected from a rig-mounted cyclone in large plastic bags before being split down to a 4-5kg sample using a 2-tier riffle splitter. The splitter was cleaned with compressed air between each sample. All the samples were recorded as dry.

Diamond core was sampled by company technicians under supervision of company geologists using a diamond saw to cut along the axis of the core taking care to representively split any visible mineralisation. Half core samples over two or three-metre intervals were bagged for dispatch to SGS laboratories in Peru. (SGS del Peru S.A.C laboratory in Arequipa for sample preparation and then to the SGS laboratory in Lima for analysis).

Laboratory sample preparation consisted of weighing the samples upon receipt, crushing the samples so 70% <2 mm, splitting off approximately 1,000g of sample and then pulverising the coarse split to 85% passing 75.

Laboratory sample preparation for diamond drill samples consisted of jaw crushing the samples to a 1/4 inch and then riffle split to obtain 200-250g for pulverising.

Blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a rate of approximately 1 in 40 to 1 in 50 samples each and certified reference standards were inserted approximately 1 in 20. Laboratory duplicates were also undertaken approximately 1 in 40 samples. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total.

For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc.

Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established. RC samples were assayed for 22 elements using an X-ray florescence assay technique (ME-XRF).

Gold was assayed in diamond drill holes using a 30g fire assay, which is considered a total assay technique.

Copper and 35 other elements were assayed in diamond drill holes using ICP-AES following a 4-acid digest and is considered total for Cu and Zn. This method is considered suitable for Cu and other base metals considering the matrix minerals present in the deposit.

Analytical techniques and procedures are appropriate for the style of mineralisation.

Blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a rate of approximately 1 in 40 samples each and certified reference standards were inserted approximately 1 in 20. Laboratory duplicates were also undertaken approximately 1 in 40 samples. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

The use of twinned holes.

Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols.

Discuss any adjustment to assay data. There has been no verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

There have been no twin drill holes completed.

There have been no adjustments made to the assay data.

Sample data recorded in the field was entered into Excel spreadsheets and verified and cross checked against assay reports from the laboratory.

Logging data was entered into Excel spreadsheets and subsequently cross checked against hand drawn summary logs.

All data is stored electronically in a company server-based file system with regular offsite back-ups. Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation.

Specification of the grid system used.

Quality and adequacy of topographic control. Drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources had collar surveys completed using a hand help GPS unit. Down hole surveys were not undertaken.

The diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. had drill hole collars surveyed with a handheld GARMIN GPS (Model GPSMAP 64s) and downhole surveys completed every 50-100 m with a Ranger Survey Systems FlexIT survey tool.

Data has been collected in UTM zone 19S coordinates.

The Ilo topography is a 1:5,000 scale Digital Terrain Model generated from digital restitution of ortho-rectified 1:20,000 scale aerial photography and associated ground controls. The accuracy is considered adequate for the current early phase of exploration at each project. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results.

Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied.

Whether sample compositing has been applied. Drilling at both deposits has been completed on an irregular grid and at varying orientations.

Given the mineralisation is structurally controlled and/or discreet this current drill spacing is too wide to interpret continuity between drill holes.

Sample compositing has not been applied. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type.

If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. Due to the wide spaced drilling and variable nature of the mineralisation at each deposit the relationship between the sample length and the true thicknesses of the mineralisation is currently unknown. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. Company representatives completed the despatch and transport of samples to Lima in numbered and locked containers. At no time were the samples accessed by third party personnel.

Diamond drill core is stored in a warehouse at the llo East project. Coarse rejects and sample pulps were initially stored at the SGS Laboratory warehouse before being returned to Peruvian Latin Resources Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. There have been no detailed audits or reviews of the historical or recent sampling techniques.

Solis Minerals has conducted an internal technical review of the historical Ilo Project data.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163174
BEIJING, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 7th The TOJOY Science and Technology Association celebrated its first anniversary in Beijing. The association is comprised of scientific and tech workers within Chinese business accelerator TOJOY and the Beijing Association for Science and Technology's membership. The association leverages innovative technology to empower the scaling and upgrading of enterprises through TOJOY's acceleration platform.

The association was founded last year at the TOJOY Association Congress. TOJOY CEO Ge Jun served as the chairman of the congress's first committee. In July of the same year, Ge Jun was elected as a member of the Tenth Committee of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology.

At the anniversary meeting, Ge Jun commented on TOJOY's consistent support and enablement of the promotion of innovative technology in business as a key part of value creation and enterprise competitiveness.

As of 2022 TOJOY had hosted more than 12,000 online and offline innovation project roadshows, promoting more than 9,000 science and tech innovations in partnership with TOJOY Boss Cloud and innovative companies accelerated on the TOJOY platform.





According to the company, TOJOY's business acceleration platform was built with scientific innovation as a key contributor to the success of the enterprises accelerated on its service platform. Cooperation and exchanges between entrepreneurs have been increasingly stimulated as the company has integrated innovative tech and practices into its platform, helping thousands of member businesses to transform and upgrade their business models. Such digital programs include TOJOY's Boss Code Business Card and Yuan Universe Live Studio.

At the event Ge also announced TOJOY's Science and Technology Innovation Pioneer List. The list will recognize entrepreneurs, scientists, and researchers for their contributions to innovation in China. The upcoming list announcement is promoted as an opportunity for high-quality, high-value networking and exchange for those in China's science and technology industries.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2059168/image_846138_33616518.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ge-jun-tojoy-association-for-science-and-technology-is-an-innovative-uniter-of-enterprise-science-and-tech-301803273.html
Business growth in 2023 following an historic year in 2022

Acquisition of a 66% stake in the capital of the company Markleen

Regulatory News:

SergeFerrari Group (FR0011950682 SEFER) (Paris:SEFER), a leading global supplier of innovative flexible composite materials under the Serge Ferrari and Verseidag brands and listed on Euronext Paris Compartment C, today announces its revenues for Q1 2023.

Sebastien Baril, Chairman of the Management Board of SergeFerrari Group, comments: "Despite a record base of comparison and a still unstable environment, SergeFerrari Group shows an increase in its activity level. The Group thus confirms its trajectory and resilience thanks to the commitment of all its teams and the market's confidence in our products. In addition, at the beginning of the year, with the acquisition of Markleen, we are continuing to implement our external growth strategy to extend our positioning within the value chain. Markleen will contribute to the development of our innovative solution offering to make a positive contribution to current and future environmental challenges. In 2023, we will focus on maximizing our presence in our strategic markets through continuous innovation and focus on our HRse policy "Act now to build a better tomorrow"."

Revenue breakdown by region (unaudited)

( thousands) Q1 2023 Q1 2022 Ch. at current

scope and

exchange rates Ch. at constant

scope and

exchange rates Europe 64,770 60,558 +7.0% -2.1% Americas 9,276 7,582 +22.3% +16.8% Asia Africa Pacific 10,777 10,922 -1.3% +1.0% Total revenues 84,823 79,062 +7.3% +0.2%

Q1 2023 performance

Q1 2023 revenues amounted to 84.8million, up 7.3% at current consolidation scope and exchange rates, and up 0.2% on a like-for-like, compared to the very dynamic first three months of 2022 (23.4% growth versus Q1 2021).

This positive Q1 results from:

A price-mix effect that continues to contribute to sales growth, up 11.8% (or 9.3 million);

A volume effect of -11.5%, mainly due to the maintenance of the arbitration policy production in favor of higher margin products such as Tensile Architecture vs Modular Structures;

A strong momentum from the 2022 acquisitions in Europe, consolidated from the second half of 2022, which contributed 5.6million in revenue over the quarter, representing a +7.1% contribution to business growth.

Over this period, the currency effect was +0.1%.

Further external growth to support value chain integration

During the Q1 2023, Serge Ferrari Group finalized the acquisition of a 66% stake in the Spanish company Markleen, an engineering and manufacturing company using innovative membranes specializing in effluent and pollutant collection systems in the maritime sector. Markleen had a revenue of around 6 million in 2022 and employs 45 people. The company is also already active in covering elements for biogas production in mechanizers and in closed cages for fish farming

Following the acquisition in 2022 of MSE and DCS, companies specializing in the design and implementation of mechanization domes, SergeFerrari Group is continuing to develop its Solutions business, which has strong development potential to support its growth trajectory.

Outlook

Following a Q1 in line with the company's business plan, the Group confirms its 2023 objectives, i.e. an increase in its revenue and a maintenance of its operating profit compared to its historically high level of 2022.

Combined General Meeting of April 19, 2023

The shareholders at the General Meeting voted on the resolutions presented by the Management Board in accordance with its recommendations.

The General Meeting approved the payment of a dividend of 0.40 per share for the financial year 2022, to be paid on April 28, 2023.

New geographical breakdown

As of 1er January 2023, the company has changed its organization by geographical area to monitor its commercial performance.

The quarterly revenues figures for 2022 have been restated below to reflect this new organization.

( thousands) Q1 2022 Q2 2022 Q3 2022 Q4 2022 2022 Europe 60,558 66,851 53,993 63,826 245,227 Americas 7,582 9,498 10,854 9,089 37,023 Asia Africa Pacific 10,922 14,629 14,829 16,066 56,446 Total revenues 79,062 90,978 79,676 88,980 338,696

Financial calendar

Publication of the H1 2023 revenues on July 19, 2023, after market close

- Publication of the H1 2023 results on September 4, 2023, after market close

- Publication of the Q3 2023 revenues on October 18, 2023, after market close

ABOUT SERGEFERRARI GROUP

Marketing its products under two brands, Serge Ferrari and Verseidag, the Serge Ferrari Group is a leading global supplier of composite materials for Tensile Architecture, Modular Structures, Solar Protection and Furniture/Marine, in a global market estimated by the Company at around 6 billion. The unique characteristics of these products enable applications that meet the major technical and societal challenges: energy-efficient buildings, energy management, performance and durability of materials, concern for comfort and safety together, opening up of interior living spaces etc. Its main competitive advantage is based on the implementation of differentiating proprietary technologies and know-how. The Group has manufacturing facilities in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Asia. Serge Ferrari operates in 80 countries via subsidiaries, sales offices and a worldwide network of over 100 independent distributors.

In 2022, Serge Ferrari posted consolidated revenues of 338.7 million, over 80% of which was generated outside France. The SergeFerrari Group share is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment C (ISIN: FR0011950682). SergeFerrari Group shares are eligible for the French PEA-PME and FCPI investment schemes. www.sergeferrari.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005665/en/

Contacts:

SergeFerrari Group

Philippe Brun

Executive Board Member

Valentin Chefson

Investor Relations

investor@sergeferrari.com

NewCap

Investor Relations Financial communication

Theo Martin Quentin Masse

Tel: +33(0) 1 44 71 94 94

sferrari@newcap.eu
Nine Imeglimin abstracts to be presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Diabetes Society

Regulatory News:

POXEL SA (Euronext: POXEL FR0012432516) (Paris:POXEL), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for serious chronic diseases with metabolic pathophysiology, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rare metabolic disorders, announced today that nine abstracts based on Imeglimin Phase 2b and Phase 3 clinical trials have been accepted for oral presentations at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Diabetes Society (JDS), held in Kagoshima, Japan, May 11-13, 2023.

Partnered in Japan with the diabetes market leader, Sumitomo Pharma (Sumitomo), TWYMEEG is Poxel's first commercialized product. Launched in 2021, sales have demonstrated a strong growth trajectory in recent months that led Sumitomo to increase its full year 2022 forecast1. Sumitomo is continuing to strengthen TWYMEEG's therapeutic profile, specifically exploring its potential benefits in Type-2-diabetes mellitus patients with chronic kidney disease with an open-label, multi-center Phase 4 study. The objective of this study is to assess the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of TWYMEEG in Japanese type 2 diabetes patients with renal impairment.

The abstracts accepted for oral presentation2 at the upcoming JDS are:

Analysis of early responders to Imeglimin monotherapy:

a post-hoc analysis of clinical trial data in Japanese patients with Type-2-diabetes mellitus Time analysis of treatment response and treatment failure to Imeglimin treatment:

a post-hoc analysis of a study of Imeglimin monotherapy in Japanese patients with Type-2-diabetes mellitus Characterization of responders to Imeglimin treatment:

a post-hoc analysis of a study of Imeglimin add-on to insulin monotherapy in Japanese patients with Type-2-diabetes mellitus Efficacy and safety of Imeglimin by concomitant insulin type:

a post-hoc analysis of a study of Imeglimin add-on to insulin therapy in patients with Type-2-diabetes mellitus Efficacy and safety of Imeglimin in Japanese patients with history of recent Type-2-diabetes mellitus: A post-hoc analysis of the Imeglimin monotherapy study Efficacy and safety of imeglimin in patients with and without drinking habit:

a post-hoc analysis of a clinical study of Imeglimin in Japanese patients with Type-2-diabetes mellitus Efficacy and safety of Imeglimin in patients with and without smoking habit:

a post-hoc analysis of a clinical trial of Imeglimin in Japanese patients with Type-2-diabetes mellitus Antihyperglycemic effect of Imeglimin monotherapy: an analysis of response trajectories using time series cluster analysis Effect of Imeglimin monotherapy on HOMA-: a post-hoc analysis of a clinical study of Imeglimin in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Imeglimin is partnered with Sumitomo Pharma in Japan, and 12 other Asian countries3. Poxel is also considering potential additional partnerships in specific territories.

About Poxel SA

Poxel is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments for chronic serious diseases with metabolic pathophysiology, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rare disorders. For the treatment of NASH, PXL065 (deuterium-stabilized R-pioglitazone) met its primary endpoint in a streamlined Phase 2 trial (DESTINY-1). In rare diseases, development of PXL770, a first-in-class direct adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activator, is focused on the treatment of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). TWYMEEG (Imeglimin), Poxel's first-in-class product that targets mitochondrial dysfunction, is marketed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in Japan by Sumitomo Pharma and Poxel expects to receive royalties and sales-based payments. Poxel has a strategic partnership with Sumitomo Pharma for Imeglimin in Japan, China, and eleven other Asian countries. Listed on Euronext Paris, Poxel is headquartered in Lyon, France, and has subsidiaries in Boston, MA, and Tokyo, Japan.

For more information, please visit: www.poxelpharma.com

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release about future events are subject to (i) change without notice and (ii) factors beyond the Company's control. These statements may include, without limitation, any statements preceded by, followed by or including words such as "target," "believe," "expect," "aim," "intend," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "plan," "project," "will," "can have," "likely," "should," "would," "could" and other words and terms of similar meaning or the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control that could cause the Company's actual results or performance to be materially different from the expected results or performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not endorse or is not otherwise responsible for the content of external hyperlinks referred to in this press release.

1 Sumitomo's fiscal year ends 0n March 31 2023.

2 Official titles of presentations translated from original Japanese.

3 Includes: China, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005715/en/

Contacts:

Contacts Investor relations Media

Aurelie Bozza

Investor Relations Communication Senior Director

aurelie.bozza@poxelpharma.com

+33 6 99 81 08 36

Elizabeth Woo

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Communication

elizabeth.woo@poxelpharma.com

NewCap

Emmanuel Huynh or Arthur Rouille

poxel@newcap.eu

+33 1 44 71 94 94
SENS ANNOUNCEMENT

(the "Announcement")

ISSUER



ZCCM INVESTMENTS HOLDINGS PLC ("ZCCM-IH")

Incorporated in the Republic of Zambia

Company registration number: 119540000771

Share Code: ZCCM-IH

ISIN: ZM0000000037

BROKER

Pangaea Securities Limited

[a member of the Lusaka Securities Exchange]

Regulated and Licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission Zambia

Telephone Number: +260 211 220707 | Website: www.pangaea.co.zm

AUTHORISATION

Approval for this Announcement has been granted by:

The Lusaka Securities Exchange ("LuSE")

The Securities and Exchange Commission Zambia ("SEC")

ZCCM-IH

DISCLAIMER AND RISK WARNING

The announcement contained herein contains information that may be of a price sensitive nature.

Investors are advised to seek the advice of their investment advisor, stockbroker, or any professional duly licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zambia to provide securities advice.

ISSUED ON: 20 April 2023

ZCCM INVESTMENTS HOLDINGS PLC

[Incorporated in the Republic of Zambia]

Company registration number: 119540000771

Share Code: ZCCM-IH

ISIN: ZM0000000037

["ZCCM-IH" or "the Company"]

MARKET ANNOUNCEMENT

The board of ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc ("ZCCM-IH" or the Company") wishes to inform its shareholders and the public that it has partnered with Kobold Metals and EMR Capital ("the partners") on a Copper exploration project, Mingomba ("the project"), in Chililabombwe District of the Copperbelt Province in Zambia.

The project is at the exploration stage with a view to attaining mine development once the feasibility studies are completed. The project is adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The investment is a ZMW 25,000 equity subscription into Mingomba Mining Limited with ZCCM-IH assuming 20% of the equity in the new company via a free carry mechanism with no capital contribution over the initial exploration period. A free carry mechanism ensures ZCCM-IH does not provide any financing in the initial exploration. Kobold will be providing financing of approximately $35 million during the initial three-year phase of exploration and it is only after this initial $35 million is exhausted, that ZCCM-IH and EMR would be expected to provide financing into the project.

Thereafter, depending on the results of the initial exploration program, an additional $30million is expected to be spent to complete the exploration program over the next 3 years, should the exploration results be positive. All parties will then be expected to contribute to the cost of exploration commensurate to their respective shareholding.

About Kobold Metals and EMR Capital

Kobold Metals

KoBold Metals is an exploration company based in the United States of America with notable investors such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mike Bloomberg and Mitsubishi Corporation. KoBold is owned by multiple investors, the largest being Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and T.Rowe Price.

KoBold has projects across the world with a strategic focus on Copper, Cobalt, Lithium and Nickel that shall improve global climate with a focus on Green Energy via electric vehicles.

EMR Capital

EMR Capital is a specialist mining private equity firm based in Melbourne, Australia with additional offices in Sydney, Australia and George Town, Cayman Islands. The firm specializes in investments in coal, coking coal, iron ore, potash, copper or gold projects and mining. They have owned and operated 9 mining operations and projects in 7 countries globally, across Four core commodities, with a proven track record in the three dimensions critical to achieving superior investment. EMR Capital has been in partnership with ZCCM-IH in Lubambe since 2017.

By Order of the Board

Charles Mjumphi

Company Secretary

Lusaka, Zambia - 20 April 2023

Sponsoring Broker

Pangaea Securities Limited

(Member of the Lusaka Securities Exchange)

(Regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission)

______________________________________________________________

Tel: +260 (211) 220 707 or 238 709 / 16 Fax +260 (211) 220 925

First Floor, Pangaea Office Park, Great East Road, P.O. Box 30163 Lusaka, Zambia

First Issued: 20 April 2023

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF) (the "Company", "Stillwater" or "SWCM") is pleased to announce that Wolfgang Maier, Ph.D., a recognized world expert geologist in magmatic mineral deposits, has joined the Company as Senior Geological Advisor.

Figure 1 - Stillwater Critical Minerals personnel at Stillwater West in August 2022 (L-R): Dr. Wolfgang Maier, Senior Geological Advisor, Dr. Danie Grobler, Vice-President Exploration, and Greg Johnson, Chairman of the Board

Dr. Maier has more than 25 years of global experience in mafic-ultramafic igneous systems and the formation of magmatic ore deposits, including deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements ("PGE"), and chromium. He has authored and co-authored 144 publications which have received 5,175 citations to date and has been a contributing author or editor of several books, monographs, and geological maps. Dr. Maier studied geology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany and at Rhodes University, South Africa, including doctoral studies on the Bushveld Complex in 1992. He taught igneous petrology and economic geology at the Universities of Pretoria (South Africa), University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (Canada), UWA (Australia), and Oulu (Finland) before joining Cardiff University in 2013 where he is currently a professor with the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. In addition to his work studying the formation of magmatic ore deposits including PGE, Ni-Cu, Cr, and V-Ti-Fe deposits, Dr. Maier is also interested in increasing the sustainability of both exploration and mining.

Dr. Wolfgang Maier commented, "I am very impressed with the potential of the Stillwater project and excited to contribute to the exceptional team assembled by Stillwater Critical Minerals. During my site visit in 2022, I was impressed by the relatively underexplored nature of the lower Stillwater complex, which is surprising as the Stillwater Igneous Complex hosts the highest-grade platinum group element reef system in the world and the lower Stillwater complex shows similar exceptional PGE tenor within the more broadly mineralized nickel, copper, cobalt and chromium enriched lower magmatic stratigraphy. I look forward to further collaboration as SWCM focuses on expansion of their current resources and follows up on its exciting high-grade discovery holes in 2023. The potential for continued discovery of these important battery metals along with significant PGEs at Stillwater is outstanding."

Dr. Danie Grobler, Stillwater Critical Minerals' Vice-President of Exploration, stated, "We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Maier to the technical team at Stillwater in follow-up to his extended tour of the project last year. During his career, Dr Maier has worked on and published papers about most of the economically important layered mafic-ultramafic intrusives globally. Dr Maier's extensive scientific understanding of these important critical metal deposits complements our experienced exploration team as we prioritize high-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group element mineralized zones within the lower part of the Stillwater layered magmatic stratigraphy. We are currently finalizing our exploration plans for 2023 which will focus on continued expansion drilling at the resource areas. Particular focus is planned for targets adjacent to high-grade discovery intersects such as CM2021-05 at Chrome Mountain which intersected 13.2 meters of high-grade nickel sulphide grading 2.31% Ni, 0.35% Cu, 0.115% Co and 1.51 g/t PGEs+Au within 400.8 meters of continuous mineralization, and CZ2021-01 at Iron Mountain, which intersected 4.6 meters grading 0.96% Ni, 0.49% Cu, 0.073% Co and 0.87 g/t PGEs+Au within 367.6 meters of continuous mineralization."

About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSX.V: PGE | OTCQB: PGEZF) is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the recent addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper, and chromium, and the on-going production of platinum group and other metals by neighboring Sibanye-Stillwater. An expanded NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January 2023, delineates a compelling suite of critical minerals contained within five Platreef-style nickel and copper sulphide deposits at Stillwater West, which host a total of 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt, and 3.8 million ounces of palladium, platinum, rhodium, and gold, and remains open for expansion along trend and at depth.

Stillwater Critical Minerals also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Treasury Metals' development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum's Wellgreen deposit in Canada's Yukon Territory.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director - Stillwater Critical Minerals

Email: info@criticalminerals.com Phone: (604) 357 4790

Web: http://criticalminerals.com Toll Free: (888) 432 0075

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

2021 drill core samples were analyzed by ACT Labs in Vancouver, B.C. Sample preparation: crush (< 7 kg) up to 80% passing 2 mm, riffle split (250 g) and pulverize (mild steel) to 95% passing 105 m included cleaner sand. Gold, platinum, and palladium were analyzed by fire assay (1C-OES) with ICP finish. Selected major and trace elements were analyzed by peroxide fusion with 8-Peroxide ICP-OES finish to insure complete dissolution of resistate minerals. Following industry QA/QC standards, blanks, duplicate samples, and certified standards were also assayed.

Mr. Mike Ostenson, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Group Ten believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750421/Stillwater-Critical-Minerals-Appoints-Dr-Wolfgang-Maier-as-Senior-Geological-Advisor
Attensi and Onebright co-create training to help all employees understand the needs of neurodivergent colleagues

LONDON, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Everyone should feel comfortable at work.

No-one should feel isolated, misunderstood or unseen.

Sadly, not all people feel as safe, valued and secure as they should - especially employees with conditions that aren't necessarily visible, but who nevertheless feel vulnerable or at a disadvantage.

That can often be true for neurodiverse individuals - those with conditions such as autism, ADHD, ADD, dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia. It's especially true in retail, where staff routinely work on the frontline dealing with customers in an environment that can often be challenging and stressful.

It is an issue that has been raised by Attensi's partners in the sector - and we are playing our part in raising awareness alongside Onebright, the UK's largest outpatient mental healthcare provider, who works with more than 200 UK businesses to provide support and mental healthcare to employees.

Decision making

Neurodiverse individuals are incredible assets to organisations of all shapes and sizes. By fostering inclusive and supportive working and learning environments, we can all help reduce the stigma around neurodiversity and embrace different perspectives and ways of thinking.

Alongside Onebright, we have created an app that throws light on neurodiversity in the workplace. The bespoke simulations we have created are designed to help line managers and senior leaders hold constructive conversations with staff; to help employees understand the needs of co-workers; and to tackle any stigma or confusion that surrounds neurodiversity in the workplace.

"When building this training journey we wanted to go beyond statistics and stereotypes," said Justin Blanchard, Creative Director at Attensi.

"We have worked closely with neurodivergent individuals to incorporate their lived experience into the solution, as we wanted to ensure the delivery and content was completed in a sensitive way.

"With Onebright we designed simulationsto reinforce positive decision-making and improve managers' ability to help individuals with mental health conditions."

It is clear from research carried out across the retail industry that working conditions and the nature of the employment can have a real impact on mental health and wellbeing. That was accelerated during the pandemic, when staff were often required to work in public in ways that left them feeling vulnerable to infection.

Research also shows that there is a need for greater education across the retail industry about neurodiversity and the unique skills and benefits that neurodiverse individuals bring to the workplace.

A Retail Trust survey looked at the mental health of employees in the sector and this is what it found:

Over 50% of 2,000 workers questioned could not recognise the signs of someone needing emotional support

Around 25% would not feel confident approaching an upset colleague

More than eight out of 10 (83%) said they have experienced a decline in their mental health in the last year, with retail workers aged between aged 16 and 29, those working in distribution and warehouses, and employees of larger retailers found to be struggling the most

85% of retail managers reported an increase in mental health problems among their teams

More than half (54%) said team members have experienced issues that they felt ill-equipped to deal with



It's a moral and an ethical issue for companies of course, who owe a duty of care to their staff. But it is also a business issue. Unhappy staff eventually leave, and managers often cite 'staff churn' and retaining people as among their biggest headaches. The Retail Trust survey reported that one in five (21%) British retail workers and almost a third (31%) of people working for the UK's biggest retailers are planning to quit the sector. A quarter (26%) of retail managers say they also want to leave the industry.

Poor mental healthcan impact on staff-related KPIs such as absence, performance, NPS scores, productivity, and customer service standards.

It makes much more sense in the long run to implement workplace strategies and policies that help and support the mental health of employees and ensure individuals feel valued, than it does to keep hiring and training new staff, only to lose them because they do not feel supported and valued.

The training Onebright and Attensi co-created sets out how to nurture better understanding of neurodiversity, and to encourage open discussions in the workplace.

It aims to:

Increase employees' understanding and awareness of neurodiversity

Encourage and make it easier for managers and leaders to have conversations about neurodiversity and mental health in the workplace

Use memorable and factual minigames, simulating realistic conversations and scenarios to help line managers and senior leaders learn in a low-risk environment

Provide an engaging and enjoyable way to learn about mental health

Through close collaboration with clinical experts, we developed a solution to foster understanding of:

What neurodiversity is and the various types of conditions

How neurodiversity may present itself in the workplace

How businesses can best support neurodivergent individuals



The solution we created is largely based around the experiences of three employee characters with various neurodiverse conditions, including autism and ADHD.

Tim Dunn, Chief Commercial Officer at Onebright, said:

"People and their health are the most important part of any business, and mental health support, including training, forms part of wider wellbeing at work. Workplace training helps to increase understanding of mental health across a workforce and ensure individuals feel supported and secure in their employment.

"Gamified digital training provides a true-to-life environment for employees to learn about mental health through various techniques. Managers and leaders can interact with characters and procedures which are set in realistic settings and situations. Gamified mechanics encourage users to repeat scenarios, driving learning and adoption to change behaviour and give confidence in the ability to hold mental health conversations in the workplace.





Healthy conversations

The training app makes a real difference in improving the knowledge retention of managers, giving them the confidence and skills they need to improve the management of mental health in the workplace and be better placed to support colleagues. It also helps employees understand how to better spot the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions.

"One in six employees are likely to need support through their employer for a mental health condition at some point," said Clare Price, Onebright Director of Clinical Services

"We're so happy we can make a real impact in the retail sector through gamified mental health training. This training has the potential to trigger countless healthy conversations across workplaces, and help so many people feel supported, valued and more secure when they go to work."

ABOUT ATTENSI

Attensiis the world's leading provider of high impact gamified training- the most effective way to upskill your people with significant improvements in your KPIs. Engage your staff with immersive 3D training, powered by the best insights from human psychology, learning, and gaming.

Whether on mobile, desktop, or VR, empower your people to master new skills with training they will want to complete and repeat. Recreate their working environments with immersive 3D graphics, realistic scenarios, and interactive dialogues with voice-acted avatars to test their knowledge. All in a safe, learning-by-doing environment.

Attensi has delivered gamified simulation training in over 150 countries and more than 50 languages. Our customers include Microsoft, Equinor, Circle K, Bosch Siemens Home Appliances, NHS, Accenture, Wagamama's, Hiscox, Scatec Solar and many more. Attensi is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices in London, Koln, Boston and Palo Alto.

You can follow Attensi on LinkedInfor updates.

MEDIA CONTACT

Anthony Wong | anthony.wong@attensi.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6a3ee89b-0556-480c-a964-ebb3aae3db8c
Rungis, 20 April 2023 - Omer-Decugis & Cie (ISIN: FR0014003T71 - symbol: ALODC), an international group specialising in fresh and exotic fruits and vegetables, announces the strengthening of its logistics capacities in Cote d'Ivoire with the creation of a new packaging station and the opening of a second mangoes shipping line from the port of San Pedro in partnership with MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company).

Omer-Decugis & Cie announces the commissioning of a new packaging station to expand its existing logistics arrangements for the exportable production of mangoes from Ferkessedougou (capital of the Ivorian region of Tchologo, bordering Mali and Burkina Faso). The new station, which will be operated by Sopromat[1], a subsidiary specially created for the purpose, complements the existing stations in Cote d'Ivoire (Poro region - towns of Korhogo and Sinematiali), but also in Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal. Omer-Decugis & Cie now covers all of Cote d'Ivoire mango production in the Savanes District and consolidates its leadership position in the export of African mangoes marketed under the Dibra brand, through its subsidiary SIIM.

Officially launched on 5 April, the annual West African mango campaign covers four producing countries (Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal) and runs until the end of July. During this period, West Africa becomes the main supply area for European countries. As the leading exporter of mangoes from Africa, Omer-Decugis & Cie is aiming for seasonal export production of more than 12,000 tonnes from this region to cement its position as market leader in France. The Group, which markets mangoes all year round through its various distribution channels and complementary imports (Peru, Brazil, Israel, Spain), ripens, packs and markets nearly 20,000 tonnes of mangoes each year.

In addition, to improve the efficiency of its supply chain and enhance the quality of service for its customers throughout Europe, Omer-Decugis & Cie is this year establishing with MSC a second shipping line from the Ivorian port of San Pedro. The mangoes, whose first ship arrivals are expected at the end of April, will thus benefit from two maritime services from the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro to the European destination ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam and Tilbury (UK).

Vincent Omer-Decugis, Chairman and CEO of Omer-Decugis & Cie, said: "Our logistics developments in Cote d'Ivoire build on the longstanding relationships we have forged there since the late 1970s and consolidate our leadership position in African mangoes. The creation of a new packaging station reflects our commitment to operate in all Ivorian mango production regions to secure our supplies over the long term and guarantee export volumes consistent with the high expectations of our European customers. The deployment of a second shipping line allows us not only to be more flexible by serving several European ports but will also help ensure better continuity of service by providing us with additional port capacities."

Read more: www.omerdecugis.com

A propos d'Omer-Decugis & Cie

Founded in 1850, Omer-Decugis & Cie is a family group which specialises in fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly exotic ones, for European consumers. The Group covers the entire value chain from production to imports and has specific expertise in ripening. The Group markets fruit sourced mainly from Latin America, Africa and Europe through all distribution networks (supermarkets and superstores, out-of-home foodservice, specialised distribution and fresh cuts). Committed to sustainable agriculture that is respectful of regions and people, the Group obtained an "Exemplary" ESG EthiFinance rating of 82/100. Established in the Rungis market, Omer-Decugis & Cie posted revenue of 188.6 million at 30 September 2022, representing over 150,000 tonnes of fresh fruits and vegetables distributed.

Contacts

Omer-Decugis & Cie

Emeline Pasquier

epasquier@omerdecugis.com

www.omerdecugis.com ACTUS finance & communication

Corinne Puissant - Investor Relations

+33 (0)1 53 67 36 77 - omerdecugis@actus.fr

Fatou-Kine N'DIAYE - Press Relations

+33 (0)1 53 67 36 34 - fndiaye@actus.fr

[1] 69% owned by the Group

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Lonza Group AG / Key word(s): Bond/Financing

Lonza Increases Straight Bond by CHF 150 Million



20.04.2023 / 18:30 CET/CEST





Basel, Switzerland, 20 April 2023 - Lonza Swiss Finance Ltd, a wholly owned company of Lonza Group Ltd, Basel ("Lonza"), announced today the increase of the Straight Bond issued on 8 February 2023 by CHF 150 million, in line with its financing plan for 2023. The increment has the same maturity (6.5 years) and coupon (2.100%) as the initial issuance.



The issuer is Lonza Swiss Finance Ltd, Basel, and the bonds will be guaranteed by Lonza. Lonza will apply for the listing of the bonds on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The proceeds of the bonds will be used for refinancing and general corporate purposes.

Key Data

Issue Size 6.5-Year Bond: CHF 150 million



Expected Payment Date: 04 May 2023



Maturity: 12 September 2029



Issue Price: 98.961 percent



Redemption Price: 100 percent



Coupon: 2.100 percent p.a.



Joint Lead Managers: Credit Suisse AG, UBS AG and Zurcher Kantonalbank

About Lonza

Lonza is a preferred global partner to the pharmaceutical, biotech and nutrition markets. We work to enable a healthier world by supporting our customers to deliver new and innovative medicines that help treat a wide range of diseases. We achieve this by combining technological insight with world-class manufacturing, scientific expertise and process excellence. Our business is structured to meet our customers' complex needs across four divisions: Biologics, Small Molecules, Cell & Gene and Capsules & Health Ingredients.?Our unparalleled breadth of offerings across divisions enables our customers to commercialize their discoveries and innovations in the healthcare industry.

Founded in 1897 in the Swiss Alps, today, Lonza operates across five continents. With approximately 17,500 full-time employees, we comprise high-performing teams and individual talent who make a meaningful difference to our own business, as well as to the communities in which we operate. The company generated sales of CHF 6.2 billion with a CORE EBITDA of CHF 2.0 billion in Full-Year 2022. Find out more at www.lonza.com

Follow @Lonza on LinkedIn

Follow @LonzaGroup on Twitter

Lonza Contact Details

Victoria Morgan

Head of External Communications

Lonza Group Ltd

Tel +41 61 316 2283

victoria.morgan@lonza.com

Lyle Wheeler

Investor Relations

Lonza Group Ltd

Tel +41 79 154 9522

lyle.wheeler@lonza.com

End of Media Release


The "UK Health Insurance Market Size, Share Trends Analysis Report By Type (Public, Private), By Demographics (Minor, Adult, Senior), And Segment Forecasts, 2023 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The UK health insurance market size is anticipated to reach USD 437.8 billion by 2030 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2023 to 2030.

Due to the increasing prevalence and public awareness of numerous chronic conditions, health insurance has elevated to the top of people's priority list in the UK. Another key aspect fueling market expansion is the rising cost of healthcare.

In the United Kingdom, healthcare is publicly funded and mainly financed by taxes. However, the country has a separate private healthcare system wherein medical care is obtained through private health insurance. Normally, this is paid as part of a healthcare plan that is supported by the employer or by the patient directly.

There is a huge backlog of patients waiting for treatments and procedures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's significant burden on the NHS. Long waiting times combined with a severe shortage of doctors, nurses, and other critical healthcare personnel have put the national health service at a critical point.

Thus, driving many individuals to purchase private health insurance. For instance, in March 2023, UK insurance provider Aviva Plc stated that the National Health Service has been under pressure since the pandemic, and this has raised the demand for private health insurance. Sales of health insurance increased by 14%, and it is anticipated that this trend will continue as more people look for alternatives to the NHS.

Several government initiatives are further expected to boost market growth over the forecast period. For instance, to help more businesses, and maintain workers employed, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) proposed reforms to the pension tax relief system and the health insurance tax in the Spring Budget 2023.

UK Health Insurance Market Report Highlights

Based on type, the market is segmented into public and private health insurance providers.

The public segment dominated the market in 2022, as all permanent residents of the UK are provided with healthcare through the National Health Service (NHS). In 2021 about 83% of total healthcare expenditure was covered by the government in the UK.

The private sector is predicted to undergo maximum growth due to NHS's poor access and quality of care. Limited coverage provided by government plans is also one of the major factors contributing to market growth.

The private segment is further sub-segmented into company-paid PMI (private medical insurance), company-paid self-insured, and individual. The company paid PMI held the largest market share in 2022 and is further expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period.

Based on demographics, the market is segmented into minors, adults, and seniors.

The adult segment held the largest market share in 2022, as the majority of adults are covered by health insurance, most commonly through private plans offered by their employers.

The senior segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate over the forecast period, owing to the growing geriatric population in the country.

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope

Chapter 2. Executive Summary

Chapter 3. UK Health Insurance Market Variables, Trends Scope

Chapter 4. UK Health Insurance Market: Type Estimates Trend Analysis

Chapter 5. UK Health Insurance Market: Demographics Estimates Trend Analysis

Chapter 6. Competitive Landscape

Companies Mentioned

Cigna

Bupa

AXA Health

Aviva Plc

Vitality Health

Freedom Health Insurance

Western Provident Association

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gnwq8j

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005848/en/

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press@researchandmarkets.com

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DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Paralel Distributors is proud to announce the official launch of its Medallion Distribution Services for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Paralel Distributors was established by industry veterans in the registered fund distribution space. Prior to founding Paralel, Jeremy May spent 24 years leading one of the industry's largest third-party distributors. "There hasn't been anything new happening in the world of investment company underwriting and medallion distribution services in quite a while. We found that by assembling a team of elite industry veterans, giving them a blank sheet of paper, and then building an insight platform using the latest technology, you can change the entire value proposition for your clients," said May.

Bradley Swenson joined Paralel Distributors in 2022, after spending 17 years serving on the executive team with May at their prior firm. "We've not only built out the traditional statutory distribution services like advertising review, registered representative administration, and intermediary payments and due diligence, but are delivering those services in a new way that provides unique insight and transparency using our proprietary technology," said Swenson. "When coupled with Paralel's high touch service culture and deep industry experience, we have created an elevated standard of service to offer new and existing registered fund issuers."

The registered fund distribution landscape is growing increasingly complex and can be a challenge for new entrants to negotiate. "Whether an issuer is launching a new product or expanding into other channels of distribution, we know every marketing strategy is unique and may require a custom-tailored approach. Through our expansive intermediary relationships and supporting services, Paralel is well positioned to help firms successfully navigate mutual fund and ETF distribution," said Swenson.

About Paralel Distributors LLC

Paralel Distributors LLC is registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker-dealer and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Paralel serves as principal underwriter and distributor to investment companies including, but not limited to, mutual funds and ETFs.

Paralel Distributors LLC is majority owned by Paralel Technologies LLC; a FinTech firm redefining the relationship between asset managers and their back office. The service combination creates a full-service fund administration, transfer agent and distribution solution.

For more updates, see Paralel's website or follow on LinkedIn

https://www.paralel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/paralel-technologies/

For Media Inquiries Please Contact

Alyssa Boccia

Alyssa@paralel.com

(303) 226-4151

SOURCE: Paralel Distributors LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750418/Paralel-Distributors-Brings-New-Technology-and-Deep-Industry-Experience-to-Fund-Distribution
CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Arizton's latest research report, the Italy data center market will grow at a CAGR of 3.29% from 2022-2028.





To Know More, Download the Free Sample Report: https://www.arizton.com/request-sample/3784

BROWSE IN-DEPTH TOC OF THE ITALY DATA CENTER MARKET????

12 - Tables?????

20 - Figures?????

117 - Pages???

Italy is a prominent and emerging data center market in Western Europe. There is a high demand for cloud services from Italian enterprises. In December 2021, the country's Government allocated around $950 million to develop a national cloud to migrate its workloads carrying sensitive data to the cloud, which will be completed by the end of 2025. Investments in Italy data centers will be driven by submarine cable deployment, cloud migration, 5G deployment, and other digitalization initiatives. The advent of new entrants will provide significant data center investments during the forecast period.

Italy Data Center Market Report Scope

Report Attributes Details Market Size (Investment) USD 3.65 Billion (2028) Market Size (Area) 370 thousand Sq. Ft (2028) Market Size (Power Capacity) 80 Mw (2028) CAGR Investment (2022-2028) 3.29 % Colocation Market Size (Revenue) USD 840 Million (2028) Historic Year 2021-2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2028



Looking for More information? Download the Free Sample Report: https://www.arizton.com/request-sample/3784

Milan is a prominent data center hub in Italy and hosts the country's maximum number of facilities, constituting over 26% of the existing data center area. A strong base of hyperscale operators and colocation data center providers leads Milan.

The increasing demand for cloud services from huge industries has made it a hub for cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Google. In June 2022, Google partnered with TIM, an Italian telco, and opened a cloud region in Milan. Further, the Italy data center market has a presence of local and global colocation and telecom operators such as Aruba, Equinix, Irideos, Telecom Italia, and SUPERNAP Italia, among others. The growing digitalization and introduction of new submarine cables expand the country's data center footprint. There are 24 submarine cables and nine upcoming ones, increasing the country's digital connectivity.

Why Should You Buy This Research?

Market size available in the investment, area, power capacity, and Italy colocation market revenue.

colocation market revenue. An assessment of the data center investment in Italy by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators.

by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators. Investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across states in the country.

A detailed study of the existing Italy data center market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about industry size during the forecast period.

data center market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about industry size during the forecast period. Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in Italy

Facilities Covered (Existing):84



Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 07



Coverage: 16+ Locations



Existing vs. Upcoming (Area)



Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity)

Data center colocation market in Italy

Market Revenue & Forecast (2022-2028)



Retail Colocation Pricing

The Italy market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast.

market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast. A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry.

Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry.

A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspects of the industry.

Request for Customization According to Your Business Needs Now: https://www.arizton.com/customize-report/3784

ARIZTON'S EXPERTISE IN THE DATA CENTER INDUSTRY

Exhaustive syndicated reports, databases, country-wise market analysis, & customized consulting projects are published by our exuberant and well-experienced analysts who possess exemplary skills in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research. Subscribe to our complete portfolios to access premium research reports at competitive prices. Partner with Arizton for your next strategic business decision and gain a competitive advantage with real-time, data-driven research.

The report includes the investment in the following areas:

IT Infrastructure

Servers



Storage Systems



Network Infrastructure

Electrical Infrastructure

UPS Systems



Generators



Transfer Switches & Switchgears



PDUs



Other Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems



Rack Cabinets



Other Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

CRAC & CRAH Units



Chiller Units



Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers



Economizers & Evaporative Coolers



Other Cooling Units

General Construction

Core & Shell Development



Installation & Commissioning Services



Engineering & Building Design



Fire Detection & Suppression Systems



Physical Security



Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

Tier Standard

Tier I & Tier II



Tier III



Tier IV

Geography

Milan



Other Cities

Major Vendors

IT Infrastructure Providers

Atos

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Huawei Technologies

IBM

Lenovo

NetApp

Nutanix

Oracle

Pure Storage

Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors

AECOM

Ariatta

Eiffage

EDITEL

DBA PRO

Future-tech

ISG

In-Site

NORMA Engineering

Starching

Support Infrastructure Providers

ABB

Alfa Laval

Caterpillar

Climaventa Climate Technologies

Cummins

Emicon

Legrand

HiRef

Honeywell International

Piller Power Systems

Munters

Mitsubishi Electric

Pramac

Rittal

Schneider Electric

Siemens

Socomec

STULZ

Trane

Vertiv

Data Center Investors

Amazon Web Services

Aruba

Equinix

Microsoft

Telecom Italia

IRIDEOS

SUPERNAP Italia

New Entrants

Geoveda

Compass Datacenters

Google

STACK Infrastructure

Vantage Data Centers

Check Some of the Top Selling Research Reports:

France Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027: The France data center market to reach USD 4.20 billion by 2027. The market has witnessed the adoption of smart grid technology. For instance, the French Government installed a smart grid project in Corsica, Guadeloupe, and La Reunion, France, in 2016. Cloud service providers such as OVHcloud, AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle have a strong presence in France and are expanding further with the construction of new facilities. For instance, in June 2022, Oracle announced its new cloud region opening in Paris, whereas it opened the first region in Marseille in November 2021.

Netherlands Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027: The Netherlands data center market to reach USD 4.71 billion by 2027. The digitalization across the Netherlands, driven by COVID-19, deployment of 5G services, the impact of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, and improved connectivity with other European countries, such as the UK, Belgium, Ireland, and others, makes the Netherlands data center market an attractive industry to investors.

Germany Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunity 2022-2027: The Germany data center market to reach $7.33 billion by 2027. The Government of Germany is making a continuous effort to improve the country's digital economy. By 2025, the German government wants to invest $3.09 billion in AI research and development. Cloud operators and colocation operators highly dominate the industry. Also, the Germany data center market is witnessing the entry of a new investor, Yondr, who plans to build a facility in the country.

United Kingdom Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027:

Table of Content

Chapter 1: Existing & Upcoming Third-Party Data Centers in the Italy

 Historical Market Scenario

 80+ Unique Data Center Properties

 Data Center IT Load Capacity

 Data Center White Floor Area

 Existing Vs Upcoming Data Center Capacity by Cities

 Cities Covered

o Milan

o Other Cities

 List of Upcoming Data Center Facilities

Chapter 2: Investment Opportunities in Italy

 Microeconomic and Macroeconomic factors of the Italy Market

 Investment Opportunities in the Italy

 Investment by Area

 Investment by Power Capacity

Chapter 3: Data Center Colocation Market in Italy

 Colocation Services Market in the Italy

 Retail vs Wholesale Data Center Colocation

 Colocation Pricing (Quarter Rack, Half Rack, Full Rack) & Add-ons

Chapter 4: Market Dynamics

 Market Drivers

 Market Trends

 Market Restraints

Chapter 5: Market Segmentation

 IT Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

 Electrical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

 Mechanical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

 General Construction Services: Market Size & Forecast

Chapter 6: Tier Standard Investment

 Tier I & II

 Tier III

 Tier IV

Chapter 7: Geography

 Milan

 Other Cities

Chapter 8: Key Market Participants

 IT Infrastructure Providers

 Construction Contractors

 Support Infrastructure Providers

 Data Center Investors

 New Entrants

Chapter 9: Appendix

 Market Derivation

 Quantitative Summary

About?Us:????????????

Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovative and quality-driven firm that offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients worldwide. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.???????????

We offer comprehensive market research reports on consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals, materials, I.T. and media, logistics, and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts.???????????

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Submittable:

Google.org shatters the traditional CSR mold in a variety of ground-breaking ways. Jen gives you a glimpse into the future of corporate philanthropy as she explains how to tap into every employee's unique potential.

About Jen

Jen Carter is the global head of technology and volunteering at Google.org , the social impact arm of Google. She founded the Google.org Fellowship and pioneers new ways companies can use their technical expertise to contribute to nonprofits around the world.

More episodes packed with practical insight

To hear more from industry leaders - including Carmen Perez of Better Next, Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas of CECP, Patricia Toothman of Splunk, and Angela Parker of Realized Worth - on how to create blueprints for navigating a CSR career, building a social impact program, and adapting to changing times, visit Submittable's Impact Studio . You'll hear six episodes revealing a number of practical insights you can use in your mission.



View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Submittable on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Submittable

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/submittable

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Submittable

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/750449/Podcast-Lessons-From-the-Future-of-CSR-and-Corporate-Volunteering
Abbott is joining the Climate Amplified Disease and Epidemics (CLIMADE) consortium, which will use data science to predict, track and control diseases that may be amplified by climate change

A changing climate may increase the spread of both known and unknown viruses, particularly those transmitted by water or animals carrying diseases

CLIMADE's initial work will start with disease surveillance in Africa and expand to countries often impacted by infectious disease outbreaks caused by climate change

ABBOTT PARK, IL / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Abbott (NYSE:ABT) announced today that it is partnering with the Climate Amplified Disease and Epidemics (CLIMADE) consortium, a group of more than 100 global scientists in public health agencies, academia and industry focused on using data science technology and diagnostic testing to assess and potentially mitigate the impact climate change has on disease outbreaks.

A changing climate, such as warmer temperatures and a rise in extreme weather events like droughts and floods, has the potential to accelerate the spread of disease, which could fuel a new era of pandemics. Research has found that climate change could impact more than half of known infectious diseases, which commonly spread via water or animals carrying diseases, such as West Nile virus and malaria.1

As part of the consortium, scientists trained in infectious diseases, bioinformatics and data science will develop technologies that can aggregate environmental, weather and viral sequencing data sets to predict if conditions could cause a disease outbreak. If a potential outbreak is identified, resources and rapid surveillance testing can be sent to that location to prevent further spread.

"Imagine being able to track weather patterns to determine if rising floods may lead to a water-borne disease outbreak," said Gavin Cloherty, Ph.D., head of infectious disease research and the Pandemic Defense Coalition in Abbott's diagnostics business. "Abbott's work with CLIMADE is focused on tracking and predicting events so testing and medical resources can be deployed to prevent the spread of disease - making a real impact in communities and people's lives."

The CLIMADE consortium will be focused on improving surveillance tools and expanding access to resources to decrease the impact of climate amplified diseases and epidemics. The global group of scientists is led by Tulio de Oliveira, Ph.D., a professor at Stellenbosch University and Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) in South Africa as well as Luiz Carlos Alcantara, Ph.D., a professor at the Fundacao Osvaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) in Brazil and Edward Holmes, Ph.D., an evolutionary biologist and virologist and professor at the University of Sydney. CLIMADE members include public health agencies, like the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that bring decades of experience in genomics surveillance and epidemic response, as well as academic organizations such as the Broad Institute, University of Washington and University of Oxford.

Abbott and its partners in the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition will provide viral sequencing and testing data as part of the technology being developed and can provide diagnostic testing for potential outbreaks.

"We are bringing together the best minds in the medical, scientific and public health communities to help the world create a robust surveillance system that quickly identifies pathogens and tracks their evolution and spread," said Oliveira. "This collaboration across the private and public sectors is critical to pandemic preparedness and to our ability to go from responding to outbreaks to predicting them before they occur."

CLIMADE's initial work will start with disease surveillance in Africa and expand to countries around the world that are often impacted by infectious disease outbreaks.

Protecting Health in an Evolving Climate

Safeguarding a healthy environment is a longstanding part of Abbott's purpose to help people live fuller lives through better health. Building on our longstanding commitment to minimize our environmental footprint and protect precious resources, we're also focused on taking action to protect people's health in the face of climate change. At Abbott, our work focuses in two areas: tracking and finding solutions for emerging health threats and preparing frontline systems and communities. Across our business and in collaboration with others, we'll work to identify and address emerging health issues, strengthen underlying health systems and help build more resilient communities in a warming world. For more information, visit abbott.com/sustainability.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 115,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/abbott-/, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews.

About CERI

The Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) is an academic and research entity located within the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking in the Faculty of Science at Stellenbosch University and the laboratories are situated at the state-of-the art facilities at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences based at the Tygerberg Medical Campus. CERI's goal is to strengthen Africa's capacity to quickly identify and control its own epidemics and pandemics before they become a global problem.

Connect with us at www.ceri.org.za and on Twitter @ceri_news

References:

1. Mora, Camiloet al. Nature Climate Change 8 Aug 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01426-1





View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Abbott on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Abbott

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/abbott

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SOURCE: Abbott

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First Quarter 2023 revenues 1 of 428.3 million, up 13.4% year-over-year; 2 and up 13.1% at constant currency. 3 Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues were up 19.1% year-over-year and up 18.9% at constant currency.

Direct-to-Consumer Revenues for both ZEGNA and Thom Browne rebounded strongly, up 24.9% year-over-year and up 25.1% at constant currency.

All regions showed strong underlying momentum, including the Greater China Region which was up by 15.9% year-over-year and up 17.2% at constant currency.

Ermenegildo Zegna N.V. (NYSE: ZGN) ("Zegna Group," the "Group," "Zegna," or the "Company"), owner of the ZEGNA and Thom Browne brands, today announced unaudited revenues of 428.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 13.4% year-over-year and 13.1% at constant currency. As previously disclosed, the licensing agreement for the production and worldwide distribution of luxury men's ready-to-wear and made-to-measure clothing, footwear, and accessories under the TOM FORD brand expired with the deliveries of the Fall/Winter 2022 collection, and a supply agreement to act as the exclusive supplier for certain Tom Ford menswear products commenced starting with the Spring/Summer 2023 collection (the revenues from the expired licensing agreement and the supply agreement are henceforth referred to as revenues from "Tom Ford Products"). Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues were up 19.1% year-over-year and up 18.9% at constant currency.

Ermenegildo "Gildo" Zegna, Chairman and CEO of the Zegna Group, said: "We started 2023 with an encouraging upswing led by further reopening in the Greater China Region following COVID-19-related restrictions. We also saw robust growth across our business in the United States and Europe driven by our own retail. For ZEGNA growth was driven by a healthy increase in productivity, which is one of our strategic priorities. This ongoing strength underscores the success of both our brands as well as the value of our vertically integrated Luxury Textile Platform, which has allowed us to scale up our internal manufacturing and production capabilities."

"The successful ZEGNA rebranding has further embedded the brand as a frontrunner in the luxury market, and a leader in 'quiet luxury.' As we focus on continuing to grow, we remain determined to provide our customers with the best and highest touch client experience one that they would expect based upon the quality of the products we offer. Motivated by this mission, we launched ZEGNA X, a digital ecosystem and customization tool which bridges the gap between our physical stores and digital channels, allowing our customers to interact with the brand in unprecedented ways."

He added: "We remain mindful of the ever-changing global environment. As the year progresses, we continue to relentlessly execute Our Road strategy to achieve our medium-term ambitions. Last but not least, we look forward to completing the TOM FORD FASHION business transaction alongside The Estee Lauder Companies, which we anticipate to close in the second quarter and start operating the business under a long-term licensing agreement with The Estee Lauder Companies."

Select Highlights for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023 and Recent Events

Strong revenue growth The Group recorded revenues of 428.3 million in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 13.4% year-over-year. Revenue growth was strong across all regions, driven by direct-to-consumer (DTC) strength in both ZEGNA and Thom Browne. Both segments saw revenue growth: ZEGNA by 12.6% and Thom Browne by 15.4% year-over-year. The strength of the Group's DTC channel is a testament to the soundness of the Group's strategy and the ongoing desirability of its brands. The healthy year-over-year progression of Group revenues comes despite the negative impact from Tom Ford Products on overall revenue growth of 5.6% for the quarter. Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues for the quarter were up 19.1% year-over-year (18.9% at constant currency). During the second quarter of 2023, the Group expects to complete the TOM FORD FASHION business transaction alongside The Estee Lauder Companies and begin operating the TOM FORD FASHION business under a long-term licensing agreement with The Estee Lauder Companies.

ZEGNA One Brand and ZEGNA X Launch The transition to the ZEGNA One Brand, officially launched in July 2022, continues to prove successful, with increased demand for the brand's iconic products and a solid rebound in the formalwear business. This is driving a healthy uplift in the productivity of our ZEGNA stores which is a key strategic priority for the brand. After the early March announcement, on April 17, 2023, ZEGNA unveiled its new ZEGNA X digital ecosystem and technology at an event held in Milan in partnership with Microsoft. ZEGNA X includes a set of tools, including a customization tool and our proprietary clienteling app, providing a powerful outreach tool to intercept demand and capitalize on the increasing popularity of ZEGNA collections and iconic products. Revenues generated through outreach represent over 45% of the revenues generated by ZEGNA boutiques year to date in 2023. In addition, ZEGNA launched a number of collaborations and campaigns which support the amplification of the ZEGNA brand message. These include, among others, the partnership announced in January with the Canadian technical trail-running shoe company Norda Run, a fall collection presented in February in partnership with Los Angeles-based The Elder Statesman, and the ongoing collaboration with Real Madrid for their travel wear.

Thom Browne Returns to New York Fashion Week; TIME 100 influential people On February 14, 2023, Thom Browne returned to New York Fashion Week to present its Autumn/Winter 2023 runway collection. The collection received very positive media coverage and reviews across traditional and social media channels, as well as from VIPs and celebrities. All of this reinforces the cultural relevance of the Thom Browne brand on the global fashion scene and beyond while also supporting brand awareness. On April 13, 2023, Mr. Thom Browne was named in the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2023 in recognition of his contributions and innovative take on fashion and design in menswear and womenswear.

Group: warrants redemption On January 26, 2023, the Company announced the redemption of all the warrants to purchase ordinary shares of the Company that remained outstanding at 5:00 p.m. New York City time on February 27, 2023. This led to an increase in the number of outstanding shares which amounted to 248,563,813 as of March 28, 2023.



Revenues for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023

For the three months ended March 31, 2023, Zegna Group generated revenues of 428.3 million, an increase of 13.4% year-over-year and an increase of 13.1% at constant currency. This growth in revenues comes despite the negative impact from Tom Ford Products of 5.6% year-over-year, primarily on the Wholesale channel, North America and Europe. Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues were up 19.1% year-over-year (18.9% at constant currency).

Revenues by Segment

Zegna Segment: For the first quarter 2023, revenues for the Zegna segment amounted to 319.3 million, growing by 12.6% year-over-year and 11.9% at constant currency. Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues were up 20.2% year-over-year and up 19.7% at constant currency. This growth was driven by ZEGNA DTC performance and solid Textiles revenue growth.

Thom Browne Segment: Revenues for Thom Browne were 113.3 million, up 15.4% year-over-year (and up 16.1% at constant currency), with the brand continuing to grow across all channels. Womenswear and children's products saw strong revenue growth, outpacing growth for men's products during the quarter.

Revenues by Product Line

Zegna Branded Products: Revenues for Zegna branded products were 271.9 million, up 21.4% year-over-year. This growth was driven by a healthy double-digit growth pace recorded by footwear, luxury leisurewear, and by our Made to Measure products.

Thom Browne: Revenues for Thom Browne were 112.6 million, up 14.9% year-over-year, with the brand continuing to grow across all channels. Womenswear and children's products saw strong revenue growth, outpacing growth for men's products during the quarter.

Textile: Textile revenues were 33.8 million, up 11.8% year-over-year, reflecting broad-based strength across the Group's luxury textile platform.

Third-Party Brands: Third-Party Brands were negatively affected by the expiration of the Tom Ford International distribution licensing agreement with the Fall/Winter 2022 season deliveries last year, resulting in revenues of 8.9 million in the first quarter of 2023, a 63.5% year-over-year decrease. Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, the product line saw revenues grow in excess of 60%.

Revenues by Channel

The Group enjoyed particularly strong DTC revenues, which increased 24.9% year-over-year for both ZEGNA and Thom Browne during the first quarter of 2023. DTC accounted for 64% of Group revenues in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 58% in the same period of last year, consistent with the Group's increasing strategic shift towards retail.

DTC revenues for ZEGNA were 229.6 million, up 24.8% year-over-year, with solid double-digit growth across all regions. Boutique productivity, which is a strategic area of focus for the brand, was up by a very healthy double-digit year-over-year, driven by higher average price per unit, increased traffic, as well as rightsizing of the brand's stores.

DTC revenues for Thom Browne were 42.8 million, up 25.4% year-over-year, thanks to sound comparable store growth, and the addition of net 11 stores worldwide compared to the first quarter of last year, reaching a total of 62 stores as of March 31, 2023. Japan and the EMEA region performed particularly well during the quarter as well as the Greater China Region.

Wholesale revenues were 154.7 million, down 2.4% year-over-year due to the impact from Tom Ford Products on the Third-Party Brands and Textiles wholesale operations. Wholesale revenues for Zegna branded products were up 5.5% year-over-year, while Thom Browne wholesale revenues were up 9.3% year-over-year.

Third-Party Brands and Textiles wholesale revenues were down 21.8% year-over-year. However, excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues grew by mid-teens year-over-year at constant currency.

Revenues by Geography

The Group's revenues continued to grow across all key geographies in the first quarter of 2023 despite the impacts from Tom Ford Products as mentioned above.

Revenues from the Greater China Region were 164.5 million, up a strong 15.9% year-over-year, and 17.2% year-over-year at constant currency, benefitting from the normalization of operations following COVID-19-related closures. This led to revenues from the APAC region totaling 205.3 million, up 17.4% year-over-year, with Japan up 31.9% year-over-year and 38.8% at constant currency.

Revenues from the EMEA region were 150.1 million, up 11.6% year-over-year. Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues in the EMEA region were up high-teens compared to the same period of last year. The Middle East and Africa especially outperformed thanks to strong retail trends in the United Arab Emirates.

Revenues from North America were 65.6 million, up 6.2% year-over-year. Revenues from the United States in particular were affected by Tom Ford Products but still grew 1.9% year-over-year, driven by DTC outperformance for both ZEGNA and Thom Browne. Excluding the impact from Tom Ford Products, revenues from North America were up mid-teens, and revenues from the United States showed low double-digit growth, both at constant currency.

Dividend and AGM

On April 6, 2023 the Company announced that subject to the finalization and adoption of the annual statutory accounts of the Company, provided that the distribution is permitted under Dutch law, and also subject to the approval of the proposed distribution by Zegna's 2023 annual general meeting (currently expected to be held on June 27, 2023), it intends to make a dividend distribution to the holders of Ordinary Shares of 0.10 per share, corresponding to a total dividend distribution to shareholders of approximately 25 million.

Outlook

On May 17, 2022, at its first Capital Markets Day, the Group announced its financial goals for the medium term, which management defines as the end of fiscal year 2025. Within this time frame, the Group is aiming for annual revenues to exceed 2 billion and for Adjusted EBIT Margin4 to reach at least 15%, excluding the TOM FORD FASHION business. The Group expects 2023 results to show that it is on this trajectory. The Group's medium-term targets assume no further future escalation of the war in Ukraine, no significant macroeconomic or financial markets deterioration, no further disruption linked to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Greater China Region or elsewhere, and no other unforeseen events.

Next Scheduled Announcement

The next scheduled announcement will be on July 27, 2023 in connection with the release of the Group's 1H 2023 unaudited revenues. To receive email alerts of the timing of future financial news releases, as well as future announcements, please register at https://ir.zegnagroup.com.

About Ermenegildo Zegna Group

Founded in 1910 in Trivero, Italy, the Ermenegildo Zegna Group (NYSE: ZGN) is a leading global luxury group. The Group owns the world-renowned brands ZEGNA and Thom Browne. The Group also manufactures and distributes the highest quality fabrics and textiles through its Luxury Textile Laboratory Platform. At the Group's core is a uniquely vertically integrated supply chain that brings together the best of Italian fine craftsmanship. Responsibility towards people, community and the natural world has been at the heart of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group's belief since its founding by the Zegna family over 100 years ago. Ensuring the highest quality of products without compromising the quality of life for future generations is a commitment carried from the Group's home in Italy to its operations around the world. Today the Group operates in approximately 80 countries around the world through 500 ZEGNA and Thom Browne stores, of which 304 are directly operated by the Group as of March 31, 2023 (242 ZEGNA stores and 62 Thom Browne stores). At the end of 2022, Ermenegildo Zegna Group had more than 6,000 employees and revenues of approximately 1.5 billion.

Forward Looking Statements

This communication, including the section "Outlook", contains forward-looking statements that are based on beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to the Company. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," "target," "seek" or the negative or plural of these words, or other similar expressions that are predictions or indicate future events or prospects, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including strategies or plans, are also forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that it has a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this communication, the Company cautions you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known and projections of the future, which are inherently uncertain. In addition, risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's filings with the SEC. These filings may identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside the Company's control and are difficult to predict. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by the Company and its directors, officers or employees or any other person that the Company will achieve its objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. The forward-looking statements in this communication represent the views of Zegna as of the date of this communication. Subsequent events and developments may cause that view to change. However, while Zegna may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise publicly forward-looking statements. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing the views of the Company as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

Unaudited Revenues for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023

Group Revenues by Segment (Unaudited)

For the three months ended

March 31, Increase/(Decrease) ( thousands, except percentages) 2023 2022 2023 vs 2022 % at constant

currency Unaudited Unaudited Zegna Segment 319,324 283,523 35,801 12.6% 11.9% of which Tom Ford Products 4,972 22,007 (17,035) (77.4%) (78.4%) Thom Browne Segment 113,251 98,128 15,123 15.4% 16.1% Eliminations (4,263) (4,072) (191) 4.7% n.m. Total revenues 428,312 377,579 50,733 13.4% 13.1%

Group Revenues by Sales Channel (Unaudited)

For the three months ended

March 31, Increase/(Decrease) ( thousands, except percentages) 2023 2022 2023 vs 2022 % at constant

currency Unaudited Unaudited Direct to Consumer (DTC) Zegna branded products 229,596 183,909 45,687 24.8% 24.6% Direct to Consumer (DTC) Thom Browne branded products 42,849 34,181 8,668 25.4% 27.8% Total Direct to Customer (DTC) 272,445 218,090 54,355 24.9% 25.1% Wholesale Zegna branded products 42,293 40,070 2,223 5.5% 3.7% Wholesale Thom Browne branded products 69,703 63,756 5,947 9.3% 9.2% Wholesale Third Party Brands and Textile 42,728 54,646 (11,918) (21.8%) (22.9%) of which Tom Ford Products 4,972 22,007 (17,035) (77.4%) (78.4%) Total Wholesale 154,724 158,472 (3,748) (2.4%) (3.3%) Other 1,143 1,017 126 12.4% 10.6% Total revenues 428,312 377,579 50,733 13.4% 13.1%

________________________________________ Zegna branded products include apparel, bags, shoes and small and large leather goods, as well as licensed goods and royalties.

Group Revenues by Geographical Area (Unaudited)

For the three months ended

March 31, Increase/(Decrease) ( thousands, except percentages) 2023 2022 2023 vs 2022 % at constant

currency Unaudited Unaudited EMEA (1) 150,108 134,456 15,652 11.6% 11.6% of which Italy 74,434 64,091 10,343 16.1% 15.9% of which UK 10,381 10,970 (589) (5.4%) (3.4%) of which MEA (2) 21,787 15,037 6,750 44.9% 43.2% North America (3) 65,634 61,803 3,831 6.2% 1.8% of which United States 58,035 56,933 1,102 1.9% (2.4%) Latin America (4) 6,773 5,665 1,108 19.6% 8.1% APAC (5) 205,253 174,816 30,437 17.4% 18.9% of which Greater China Region 164,526 141,980 22,546 15.9% 17.2% of which Japan 18,655 14,139 4,516 31.9% 38.8% Other (6) 544 839 (295) (35.2%) (35.5%) Total revenues 428,312 377,579 50,733 13.4% 13.1%

________________________________________ (1) EMEA includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa. (2) MEA includes the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. (3) North America includes the United States of America and Canada. Revenues from Tom Ford Products in North America amounted to 2,511 thousand and 9,718 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, of which the United States amounted to 2,397 thousand and 8,809 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. (4) Latin America includes Mexico, Brazil and other Central and South American countries. (5) APAC includes the Greater China Region, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, India and other Southeast Asian countries. (6) Other revenues mainly include royalties.

Group Revenues by Product Line (Unaudited)

For the three months ended

March 31, Increase/(Decrease) ( thousands, except percentages) 2023 2022 2023 vs 2022 % at constant

currency Unaudited Unaudited Zegna branded products 271,889 223,979 47,910 21.4% 20.8% Thom Browne 112,552 97,937 14,615 14.9% 15.6% Textile 33,818 30,244 3,574 11.8% 11.5% Third Party Brands 8,910 24,402 (15,492) (63.5%) (64.6%) of which Tom Ford Products 4,972 22,007 (17,035) (77.4%) (78.4%) Other 1,143 1,017 126 12.4% 10.6% Total revenues 428,312 377,579 50,733 13.4% 13.1%

________________________________________ Zegna branded products include apparel, bags, shoes and small and large leather goods, as well as licensed goods and royalties.

Monobrand(1) Store Network at March 31, 2023

At March 31, At December 31, At March 31, 2023 2022 2022 # Stores Zegna Thom

Browne Group Zegna Thom

Browne Group Zegna Thom

Browne Group EMEA (2) 67 10 77 65 10 75 69 9 78 Americas (3) 54 7 61 53 7 60 50 5 55 APAC 121 45 166 121 46 167 125 37 162 Total Direct to Customer (DTC) 242 62 304 239 63 302 244 51 295 EMEA (2) 58 6 64 57 6 63 88 5 93 Americas (3) 62 3 65 64 4 68 73 3 76 APAC 35 32 67 35 32 67 32 30 62 Total Wholesale 155 41 196 156 42 198 193 38 231 Total 397 103 500 395 105 500 437 89 526

________________________________________ (1) Monobrand store count includes our DOSs (which are divided into boutiques and outlets) and our Wholesale monobrand stores (including also monobrand franchisees). (2) Does not include any stores in Russia at March 31, 2023 or at December 31, 2022 (14 Wholesale stores in EMEA at March 31, 2022). Although some stores may still be operating at March 31, 2023, they have not been supplied by Zegna since February 2022 and have therefore been excluded from Zegna's store count. (3) Americas include North America and Latin America.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

Zegna's management monitors and evaluates operating and financial performance using several non-IFRS financial measures including: adjusted earnings before interest and taxes ("Adjusted EBIT"), Adjusted EBIT Margin, and revenues on a constant currency basis. Zegna's management believes that these non-IFRS financial measures provide useful and relevant information regarding Zegna's financial performance and financial condition, and improve the ability of management and investors to assess and compare the financial performance and financial position of Zegna with those of other companies. They also provide comparable measures that facilitate management's ability to identify operational trends, as well as make decisions regarding future spending, resource allocations and other strategic and operational decisions. While similar measures are widely used in the industry in which Zegna operates, the financial measures that Zegna uses may not be comparable to other similarly named measures used by other companies nor are they intended to be substitutes for measures of financial performance or financial position as prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Adjusted EBIT and Adjusted EBIT Margin

Adjusted EBIT is defined as profit or loss before income taxes plus financial income, financial expenses, foreign exchange losses/(gains) and the result from investments accounted for using the equity method, adjusted for income and costs which are significant in nature and that management considers not reflective of underlying operating activities.

Adjusted EBIT Margin is defined as Adjusted EBIT divided by revenues of the applicable period.

Zegna's management uses Adjusted EBIT and Adjusted EBIT Margin for internal reporting to assess performance and as part of the forecasting, budgeting and decision-making processes as they provide additional transparency regarding Zegna's underlying operating performance. Zegna's management believes these non-IFRS financial measures are useful because they exclude items that management believes are not indicative of Zegna's underlying operating performance and allow management to view operating trends, perform analytical comparisons and benchmark performance between periods and among segments. Zegna's management also believes that Adjusted EBIT and Adjusted EBIT Margin are useful for investors and analysts to better understand how management assesses Zegna's underlying operating performance on a consistent basis and to compare Zegna's performance with that of other companies. Accordingly, management believes that Adjusted EBIT and Adjusted EBIT Margin provide useful information to third party stakeholders in understanding and evaluating Zegna's operating results.

Constant Currency Information

In addition to presenting our revenues on a current currency basis, we also present certain revenue information on a constant currency basis, which excludes the effects of foreign currency translation from our subsidiaries with functional currencies different from the Euro. We use revenues on a constant currency basis to analyze how our underlying revenues have changed between periods independent of the effects of foreign currency translation.

We calculate constant currency revenues by applying the current period average foreign currency exchange rates to translate prior period revenues of foreign subsidiaries expressed in local functional currencies different than the Euro.

Revenues on a constant currency basis are not a substitute for revenues on a current currency basis or any GAAP-related measures, however we believe that revenues excluding the impact of foreign currency translation provide additional useful information to management and to investors in analyzing and evaluating our revenues and operating performance.

____________________________

1 Throughout this press release, revenues for the first quarter 2023 and the first quarter 2022 are unaudited.

2 Throughout this press release, growth rates refer to year-over-year growth on a current currency basis, unless otherwise indicated.

3 This press release includes information about our revenues measured on a constant currency basis, which is a non-IFRS financial measure. See the non-IFRS financial measures section starting on page 7 of this press release for a definition of such non-IFRS financial measure.

4 Adjusted EBIT and Adjusted EBIT Margin are non-IFRS financial measures. See the non-IFRS financial measures section starting on page 7 of this press release for the definition of such non-IFRS financial measures.

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Contacts:

Investor Relations/Group Communications/Media

Francesca Di Pasquantonio

francesca.dipasquantonio@zegna.com

+39 335 5837669

Clementina Tito

clementina.tito@zegna.com

Media

Brunswick Group Brendan Riley Daria Danelli Marie Jensen

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+1 (917) 755-1454 +39 348 635 1149 +33 (0) 6 49 09 39 54

Community

Marco Rubino

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NHLANGANO - Communist Party Of Swaziland (CPS) member, Mvuselelo Mkhabela (21), has been arrested by the police and charged with seven counts.

Mkhabela is the same man who was engaged in a scuffle with a police officer at KaLiba and got shot in the lower part of his leg. This was during the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) civic and voter education exercise, at the chiefdom. The youth of the area disturbed the voter education exercise after they demanded answers on why they were supposed to engage about the elections because their Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza, was arrested for voicing out his views.

Questioned

They questioned the EBC team after the officers had told the constituents in attendance that they were supposed to choose someone who would represent them and their views in Parliament. After the voter education exercise was disturbed, the youth went to block the road leading to the chiefdom and pelted police cars with stones. It was then that Mkhabela was said to have been involved in a scuffle with a police officer as he tried to grab his (police) gun and ended up getting shot. Mkhabela was later taken to Hlatikhulu Government Hospital, where he was admitted, only to disappear before he was even attended to. He disappeared with the bullet lodged in his body after police checked on him twice at the hospital. He was reportedly arrested around Kwaluseni during another EBC exercise, after being noticed as he made a submission during the exercise.

According to the charge sheet, Mkhabela is facing seven charges; four of which are common assault, as he is said to have assaulted four police officers. The fifth charge is that of malicious injury to property, in that on the same day, he damaged a white double cab Isuzu motor vehicle registered GSD 243 PO valued at E501 802. 70. The property, according to the charge sheet, belonged to the Eswatini Government and was in lawful possession of 5041 Detective Constable Mfanakathina Ngwenya, who was executing his duties at KaLiba during EBC voter exercise.

Charged

Mkhabela was further charged for contravening the Crimes Act No:6 of 1889, as he was said to have been found with a dangerous weapon identified to be a knife last Saturday April 15, 2023 around Matsapha in the Manzini Region. The last count is that of escaping from Hlatikhulu Government Hospital, while he was in lawful custody on the same day of the KaLiba incident, having been taken to the hospital. He was charged for contravening the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938. Initially, Mkhabela was expected to appear at the High Court on Tuesday, but after deliberations, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Office saw no reason for him to, hence he was sent back to the Shiselweni Region. He appeared at the Shiselweni Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where he was remanded in custody until April 27, 2023, pending a directive from the DPP regarding jurisdiction.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Red Cloud Securities ("Red Cloud" or the "Company) is pleased to announce it is now officially a participating organization operating under broker number 98 on both the TSX Venture and Canadian Securities Exchanges. This function will allow the investment dealer to facilitate institutional and retail trading.

"Our own broker number is an exciting development in the company's history. We've worked hard at growing our brand to reach this level of excellence and see this opportunity to scale our service commitment to clients," said Bruce Tatters, CEO, Red Cloud Securities.

Since becoming and IIROC Regulated dealer in January 2020 Red Cloud has grown to become the preeminent global mining investment bank providing extensive coverage to explorers, developers, and junior producers. It works with more than 200 issuers globally providing cross-platform, comprehensive capital market services and market making support.

As a part of this offering the Company has

Led/co led 24 Bought equity financings for gross proceeds of C$341M

Acted as a finder on 213 non-brokered equity financings raising C$297M

Participated in 325 financings for aggregate proceeds of C$2.2B.

Over the last month, the company has traded more than 100M shares, making it one of the lead players in volume for its client base.

The official launch of the new trading number will be celebrated at the Opening Bell Ceremony at the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 21, 2023. Tune in as we come together as a team, ringing the bell as we move into the next stage of accelerated company growth.

For additional information, please contact info@redcloudsecurities.com.

About Red Cloud Securities Inc.

Red Cloud Securities Inc. is an IIROC-regulated investment dealer focused on providing a full range of brokerage services to all investor types focused in the junior resource sector. Our services include: Investment Banking, Research, Institutional and Retail Trading, Institutional Sales, and Retail Investment Advisory services.

For additional information, visit:

https://redcloudsecurities.com/

https://redcloudresearch.com/

https://twitter.com/RedCloudSec

https://www.linkedin.com/company/red-cloud-securities

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163206
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Wedgemount Resources Corp. (CSE: WDGY) (OTCQB: WDGRF) ("Wedgemount" or the "Company"), announces it has closed the second and final tranche of a non-brokered private placement announced March 28, 2023, by issuing 708,224 units (each a "Unit") at CAD$0.17 per Unit for gross proceeds of CAD$120,398 (the "Offering"). Each Unit entitled the holder to receive one (1) common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one (1) transferable Common Share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one (1) Common Share at CAD$0.30 until April 20, 2025, subject to an accelerated expiry provision, whereby in the event the closing price of the Company's Common Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "Exchange") exceeds CAD$0.60 for a period of 20 consecutive trading days, at the Company's election, the period within which the Warrants are exercisable, will be reduced and the holders of the Warrants will be entitled to exercise their Warrants for a period of 30 days commencing on the day the Company provides notice, any outstanding Warrants not exercised during the 30 day period will expire (the "Accelerated Expiry Provision").

In connection with the Offering, the Company paid finder's fees of CAD$345, equal to 7% of the total proceeds raised by eligible finders, and issued 2,058 finder warrants (each, a "Finder Warrant"), equal to 7% of the number of Units sold by eligible finders. The Finder Warrants are exercisable at CAD$0.30 until April 20, 2025, subject to the Accelerated Expiry Provision.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for general working capital purposes and the acquisition of oil and gas assets.

All securities issued under the Offering, including securities issuable on exercise thereof, are subject to a hold period expiring August 21, 2023, in accordance with the rules and policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange and applicable Canadian securities laws.

About Wedgemount Resources Corp.

Wedgemount is a junior natural resources company focused on maximizing shareholder value through the acquisition, discovery and advancement of natural resource projects in North America.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

WEDGEMOUNT RESOURCES CORP.

Mark Vanry, President and CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Telephone: (604) 343-4743

info@wedgemountresources.com

www.wedgemountresources.com

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements made in this news release include the anticipated completion of the acquisition and the proposed timing thereof, the anticipated benefits of the acquisition, the potential for gas production and production from additional zones on the Assets, and potential additional acquisition opportunities in the area of the Assets and the proposed use of the proceeds of the Offering. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, availability of funds, personnel and other resources necessary to conduct exploration or development programs, successes of the Company's exploration efforts, availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada 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.



To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163187
Kindred, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of a members-only home swapping network, raised $15M in Series A funding.

The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Caffeinated Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Outset Capital, and welcomed new individual investors such as Evan Moore, and Dylan Field.

The company intends to use the funds to scale community-driven home swapping in North America and Europe, expanding across core cities in North America in major markets including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Mexico City, and more, and launching in several major European cities later this year, as well as to invest in its mobile app, build out its matchmaking technology and help members discover new home swap opportunities.

Founded by Justine Palefsky and Tasneem Amina in 2021, Kindred is a members-only home swapping network that harnesses its community for a lifestyle with travel and human connection. By exchanging their homes and apartments with peers, both renters and owners alike can access the opportunity to travel between vetted, off-market homes.

Since launching its private beta last spring, Kindred has received 20,000 membership applications, largely from primary residences instead of investment homes.

FinSMEs

20/04/2023
YellowBird, a Phoenix, AZ-based provider of an EHS and Risk Management technology platform, raised $6.25M in Seed funding.

The round was led by Rebalance Capital and Manifold Group, joined by QBE, Nationwides Venture Capital team, Plug and Play, Cameron Ventures, and other investors.

The company intends to use the funds to further invest in building technology and accelerate its customer acquisition and marketplace strategy, to hire engineering team members to continue developing advanced technology, growing the customer success team to improve client satisfaction and invest in sales and marketing advancements.

Led by Michael Zalle, Founder and CEO, YellowBird is a comprehensive EHS and Risk Management platform that works on the complex and fragmented world of safety and loss control management. With more than 5,000 Professionals registered, the platform simplifies EHS and Risk Management. Its customer list features Fortune 100 companies, including Nationwide and QBE Insurance, along with brands in manufacturing, construction and energy sector.

FinSMEs

20/04/2023
Looks like Meghan Markle is in a patching up mood with the British Royal Family and wants to end the bitter feud for good. According to the Mirror reports, Meghan Markle is reportedly set to try to mend the fractured relationship with her father-in-law, King Charles III, in a bid to give her kids and the royal a special bond. Guess, some sense has prevailed and she has realised that in her ego fight, she is depriving her children from the royal rights, pleasure and happiness that they deserve.

Meghan now has decided to mend the fractured relation with her father-in-law, King Charles III, in a bid to give her kids and the royal a special bond. As for Charles Coronation finally came to a close last week with the revelation Prince Harry will fly solo for the occasion  but that isnt to say Meghan wants to continue the fighting. will remain stateside to look after hers and Harrys two children, with the Coronation landing on son Archies fourth birthday.

According to Page Six, a source close to Meghan has revealed she wants her children to know their grandfather, King Charles. The insider revealed this is especially the case as they wont know their grandfather from their mothers side, her long-estranged dad Thomas Markle.

The source added: She does hope they will meet and hopes her decision will be seen as an unselfish one, as it was best to keep the attention on His Majesty. She just really doesnt want a song and dance and everything being lived out in the public eye. Meghans decision to not be by her husbands side on the momentous occasion has divided the publics opinion, with some believing she was in a no-win situation.

The CEO of celebrity PR agency Daddy The Agency said: Whether theres a solid reason behind this play or it shows Meghans stance, one might reckon that theyd hit the pause button on their differences. However, only the Royal Family and the Royal Institution will know the full story behind Meghans decision to stay away.

There are also rumours that the party for Prince Archie could in fact upstage the Kings special occasion, with eyes focusing on events in the US.

Harry and Meghna losing popularity in US

On the other hand, Meghan and Harry, once the most popular couple in US is losing their popularity. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are facing a barrage of negative energy in the US as per a royal expert who believes the tide has shifted and their popularity is steadily taking a hit. So, the big question is with Harry and Meghan losing popularity in US and they not welcomed in UK, where do they go? But not just Meghan, both are responsible for this messy situation.

Talking to Express UK, the host of the Royally US podcast, Christine Ross, suggested that while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed good press in the US since breaking away from British royals, US media and people in general must now be tired of them.

Americans used to fall into three camps. They were either passionately pro-Sussex or firmly anti-Sussex, and everyone in between didnt really care either way, Ross said, adding that there has now been a shift in attitudes.

Harrys US Visa was at risk

Few months back there was news about Harrys visa at risk. According to reports, a conservative think tank is calling for Prince Harrys US visa application to be released so Americans can see whether or not he admitted to his past drug use before moving to California in the summer of 2020. Now the question is what will happen to Meghan Markle if Harry gets deported from USA over visa issues? Will Harry go back to Britain? Will Meghan continue to live in US? Lets wait and watch.

The Heritage Foundation, one of the countrys preeminent right-wing think tanks, is arguing that US officials should release the details of the princes application so Americans can see whether or not he was properly vetted before being allowed to enter the country. Applicants for US visas are typically asked about their criminal history and drug use.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, wrote that he smoked marijuana while he and his family were staying at US actor Tyler Perrys house in Los Angeles in 2020, after they left Canada. In the memoir he wrote: Late at night, with everyone asleep, I would walk the house, checking the doors and windows. Then I would sit on the balcony or the edge of the garden and roll a joint.

(With inputs from agencies )

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All the Oscar-winner of India came together in a single frame and what can be better than that? Film producer Guneet Monga who is presently basking in the success of her award-winning documentary, The Elephant Whisperers, had a great time in the company of celebrated filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves, music composer AR Rahman, and sound designed Resul Pookutty. Taking to her social media handles, Monga shared a picture of their gathering while calling it a moment to remember! Guneet Monga along with Kartiki Gonsalves scripted history after their documentary film The Elephant Whisperers won an Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards this year.

Speaking about her outing with her fellow Oscar winners, Monga shared a picture of them on her Instagram story and further tweeted about it. 5 Oscars in one picture, a moment to remember! Such an honour to spend time with Resul Pookutty, AR Rahman, and Kartiki Gonsalves. Jai Ho!, her caption read.

As soon as she shared the picture, many took to the comment section and applauded the legends. A user wrote, PRIDE OF INDIA, while another one wrote, You can call it as Gang of Oscars.

Wishing for you all to collaborate together, a third user commented.

Notably, while Monga and Kartiki have joined the Oscars club recently, AR Rahman also won an Oscar for his music in Slumdog Millionaire at the 81st Academy Awards. Resul Pookutty also won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing in the same year.

The Elephant Whisperers Oscar win

Guneet Monga and Kartiki Gonsalves The Elephant Whisperers won an award under the category of Best Documentary Short. The documentary explores the story of an aged couple Bomman and Belli who took the responsibility of looking after an orphaned elephant calf named Raghu. The couple living in the Mudumalai National Park has been looking after abandoned and orphaned elephants for several years now.

Following the documentarys Oscar win, Monga has been sharing several videos and pictures on her social media, showing her moment of celebration. She also paid a visit to Golden Temple to seek blessings.

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The Japanese government is attempting to call out companies for a harassing university students.

The practice, known as Owahara, sees firms pressure potential new hires to cut ties with rival organisations.

The Mainchi reported that the government has told businesses to stop this practice as it hampers freedom.

Lets take a closer look:

How does Owahara work?

According to Japan Times, it is normal for university students to have a job in hand before they graduate.

Some even begin hunting in their third year. Others, if they fail to secure a position, even repeat a year.

The trouble begins when recruiting staff reach out, as per The Mainchi.

The staff get the ball rolling by first informally offering jobs to young students.

They then make students sign a letter of consent  which lays out the students desire to join the company.

The recruiting staff then invite the students to informal company gatherings and training sessions, as per The Mainchi.

At the same time, they ask students not to entertain job offers from other companies. Or, if theyre in the middle of applying to rival company, ask them to halt the process.

The newspaper spoke to a 23-year-old that had this experience.

In December, a tech firm offered this young woman a job after she participated in their internship programme.

They repeatedly urged her not to talk to other companies and even made her sign a consent letter that vowed she would not refuse an offer if made.

The recruiter was a sympathetic listener when I was an intern there and I had a good impression of them. But their tone was harsh when they were pressing me (to not look for other jobs), the graduate student said. Im finding myself unsure about joining that company due to severe Owahara.

According to Japan Times, the government in a 10 April letter to the Japan Business Federation as well as the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry called on the industry not to engage in such behaviour.

Daily News quoted Yohei Tsunemi, associate professor at Chiba University of Commerce as saying, The fact that the government released its official stance on the issue thats been shared among students and related parties is significant.

The Japan Times quoted a 2021 Cabinet Office study as saying that nearly 10 per cent of those polled had experienced Owahara.

Another 64 per cent were pressured into concluding their job hunt, while 42.3 per cent were asked to give an acceptance letter.

Whats more, 11.6 per cent said they were continuously harassed and some even said they were physically prevented from leaving after turning down a job offer.

Taichiro Tsuji, head of the Tokyo-based non-profit DSS, told Japan Times Owahara is just part of the problem.

It is best to consult universities career centers when such issues arise, Tsuji said.

With inputs from agencies

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Its all over but the spinning.

At the eleventh hour, after the jury was sworn in and the lawyers were ready to make their opening statements, the judge presiding over Dominion Voting Systems v Fox News announced on 18 April, 2023, that the parties have resolved the case.

Little is known about the reported $787.5 million (6,475 crore) settlement, one of the largest known defamation awards in the countrys history. Fox issued a vaguely worded statement confirming the merits of Dominions defamation claims  We acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false  but was not required to make on-air apologies or corrections. With that, the lawsuit that captured public attention for two years ended.

Dominions claims that Fox and its on-air pundits had damaged the voting equipment companys reputation by falsely questioning the integrity of its operations during the 2020 elections were the same essential claims that any libel plaintiff must make for a case to proceed to trial.

The issue is not truth, alone, but whether false statements harmed the plaintiffs reputation, and whether the news organisation was at fault for publishing those statements.

Also Read: Fox News to pay Dominion $787.5 million over US election rigging: What was the case and why did the news outlet pay?

Presiding Judge Eric Davis had already ruled that the many accusations Fox hosts and guests hurled at Dominion after the 2020 election  most notably that it switched votes from former President Donald Trump to challenger Joe Biden  were false as a matter of law.

It was CRYSTAL clear, he wrote. All that remained for a jury to decide was whether the statements were made with actual malice.

Actual malice is the legal standard established by the Supreme Court in 1964 in New York Times v Sullivan that applies to public officials and public figures. In most cases, corporations like Dominion that offer goods or services for sale are also considered public figures, as the Supreme Court held in 1984 in Bose Corp v Consumers Union.

In these cases, corporations must prove that the statements about their businesses were published with knowledge that they are false, or with reckless disregard for whether they were true or not.

The high courts rationale in New York Times v Sullivan, which involved a police commissioner in Alabama who was unhappy with media coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, was that powerful individuals should not be able to file frivolous suits aimed at silencing the press in order to vindicate their reputations.

As a scholar of media ethics and law, I have followed Dominions defamation suit against Fox News closely, because it presented a direct threat to the Sullivan standard, which for nearly 60 years has protected journalists and authors from lawsuits brought by US politicians, sheriffs, international arms dealers, political operatives and many others who would seek to punish and curtail robust reporting about them and their activities.

The facts were on Dominions side

Dominion had a tremendous advantage on the eve of trial. Pretrial discovery revealed a trail of texts and email messages that documented the doubts of executives, editors and pundits at Fox about the veracity of the claims of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 elections, of which Dominion was supposedly an integral part.

They showed that, although Fox fact-checkers operating in the networks own brain room had debunked many of these claims as early as 20 November, 2020, Fox hosts continued to invite guests like Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, who clung to their theory of a vast conspiracy to steal the presidency from Trump.

And it appeared that the motivation for these decisions was to try to hold on to viewers who, once they heard Fox call the state of Arizona for Biden, temporarily decamped to other conservative news outlets like OANN and Newsmax that reinforced their preferred narrative rather than challenge it.

So, things didnt look good for Fox, and that was before the parade of high-profile witnesses, ranging from Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch to hosts like Maria Bartiromo, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, were expected to be required to take the witness stand and submit to cross-examination.

Also Read: How endorsing Donald Trumps claim that Joe Biden stole 2020 polls could spell trouble for Fox News

Dominions lawyers, no doubt, were about to evoke the legendary Watergate hearings question  What did [the president] know and when did he know it? And Foxs institutional integrity would be on the line, as well as that of its pundits.

After the settlement was made public, Dominion claimed vindication of its reputation, declaring that truth matters, and that for our democracy to endure another 250 years  we must share a commitment to facts.

Fox, for its part, grudgingly conceded that it had to acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false, but added that the settlement was really a victory of sorts, because it reflects Foxs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.

I can hear the gales of cynical laughter from many who think Fox has no journalistic standards whatsoever. Those critics must be dismayed that Fox and its employees will not be raked over the coals and otherwise humiliated in the court of public opinion, as well as in the courtroom.

Disinformation was at the heart of the case

But those who are disappointed may have been seeking more from this case than a libel suit can deliver. For many, it had become a surrogate for their unhappiness  or even incandescent rage  directed toward Fox for its editorial positions.

It was a referendum not only on Foxs coverage of Dominion, but also on its long-established pattern of favouring one political viewpoint over all others, even at the expense of telling the truth. In other words, it was about disinformation and the people who are persuaded by it.

Many people would like to ban disinformation. But who decides what is disinformation? Under US law, we dont ask government tribunals to decide the truth. I have written about how experiences in other countries show that it is dangerous to ask courts, or any instrumentality of government, to do so.

If that sounds improbable, recall that it wasnt that long ago that Donald Trump, while still a candidate, was calling news media like CNN and The New York Times fake news.

He wanted to open up the libel laws and threatened to shut these outlets down. If the government decides which media sources are real or fake, a free press  and freedom of expression as we have known it  will cease to exist.

As the late Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote in West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette in 1943, If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in matters of politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.

That means that the law tolerates errors in journalism  which are inevitable  as part of the search for truth.

I hold no brief for Fox. But had the Dominion case gone to the jury, the inevitable appeal by whomever lost would give the Supreme Court the chance to reconsider and possibly eliminate the New York Times v Sullivan standard that protects all news media of all political stripes.

At least two justices, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, have indicated they are eager to do just that, even though it has been the constitutional standard for nearly 60 years.

Also read: Why Fox News imposed soft ban on former US president Donald Trump

Given this courts willingness to overturn precedent, as it did with abortion rights, there is no guarantee that another three justices might not join them.

In the end, this lawsuit was about two questions: Did Fox knowingly publish false statements about Dominion that harmed the companys reputation, and did it do so knowing, or having reason to know, that they were false? It has already vindicated Dominion and exposed Foxs questionable practices to the public.

Anything more will have to wait for another day, which may come sooner than we think. Smartmatic, which builds electronic voting systems, has a pending libel suit against Fox and is poised to continue the battle.

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

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The Karnataka Assembly elections is around the corner and all political parties are working their hardest to ensure that come 13 May they emerge victorious in the southern state. On Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party announced their list of star campaigners and it comprised of the whos who of the party in the state and on a national level.

The 40 names on the list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP president J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadvavis. Theres also Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, strongman B S Yediyurappa, former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and other state leaders.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader and Karnataka BJP General Secretary (Organisation) G V Rajesh, and film stars Jaggesh, also Rajya Sabha member, Shruthi and Thara Anuradha also found their way on the list.

However, what was even more newsworthy than the names on the list, was the omissions from it. Firebrand leader Tejasvi Surya, BJPs youth morcha president and MP from Bengaluru South, was left off the list, raising eyebrows among many.

The decision to omit the 30-year-old prominent face from the state also prompted the Congress to react. According to a Hindustan Times report, the Congress called him a nafrati chintu and added that nobody cares for him even in his state and it was time for him to get down from his high horse.

Why was he left off the list?

Tejasvi Surya is undoubtedly one of the most prominent names in the state and his exclusion from the star campaigners list is raising questions. Is it a case of the high command being unhappy with him, is it about his declining political clout or is it a strategic move by the saffron party?

BJP sources speaking to NDTV said Suryas exclusion from the list is not a negative thing neither is it about the recent ridicule he has been receiving. Surya received a lot of flak after it emerged that he was the person who had opened an emergency exit on a passenger flight before take-off.

It has nothing to do with that, said a BJP official to NDTV, adding, He was a star campaigner in a few other states previously, like in Tripura.

Another party member was quoted as telling The Print that it was a strategic move to keep the focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and keep Surya focused on his constituency and organisational work.

He is a member of Parliament from Karnataka and a popular leader for us. He is anyway campaigning for the party and has been doing so for weeks now. But we also need people from the organisation who can be sent at short notice for meetings, everyone cannot be burdened with the responsibility of campaigning all the time, a BJP leader told NDTV.

Who is Tejasvi Surya?

A lawyer by training and profession, Tejasvi Surya made big headlines in 2019 when at the age of 28 he was elected as MP from Bengaluru South. He describes himself as a history enthusiast and a core believer in Hindutva, the inclusive philosophy that is the core of Bharat since its ancient times.

Tejasvi is said to have been heavily influenced by his paternal uncle, Basavangudi BJP MLA Ravi Subramanya. As a child, he attended RSS shakhas.

Also read: Will actor Kichcha Sudeep be a hit for the BJP in the Karnataka Assembly elections?

Surya has also seen himself mired in controversies over his remarks. In June 2018, after the BJP lost the Jayanagar Assembly bypoll to the Congress, Surya tweeted that it was because of the complete consolidation of Muslim vote. He then called on the BJP to really become a Hindu party.

When thousands carried out a morcha against the Citizenship Amendment Act at Delhis Shaheen Bagh, he stirred a row by saying the Mughal raj is not far away if the majority community is not vigilant.

In December 2021, while speaking at the Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt in Karnataka, the fiery leader had said that temples should have yearly targets to reconvert people whove left the Hindu religion. He even said that during festivals, the temples should have special targets of bringing back those who left the Hindu religion for whatever reasons over the course of history.

#WATCH Only option left for Hindus is to reconvert all those people whove gone out of the Hindu foldthose whove left their mother religion must be brought back.. My request is that every temple,mutt shouldve yearly targets for this:BJP MP Tejasvi Surya at an event on 25 Dec pic.twitter.com/8drw0lfKAh  ANI (@ANI) December 27, 2021

He later apologised for his remarks after he was called out for being hateful and communal in nature.

The most recent controversy in which he was embroiled was in January this year. It was revealed that Surya had accidentally had opened the emergency door of an IndiGo aircraft in December 2022. His action had caused a delay in the flight for over two hours after a strict security check of the door by engineers. However, he was allowed to fly in the same aircraft after issuing an apology letter.

The Congress had then mocked the BJP MP with NDTV quoting the state party as saying, Tejasvi Surya is an example of what will happen if children playing games are given the proprietorship. An act of children's mischief by trying to open the emergency exit door of the plane has come to light. Why prank with the lives of passengers? said the Karnataka Congress.

Who else was left off the list?

And it wasnt just Tejasvi Surya who hasnt been named a star campaigner for the BJP for the Karnataka Assembly elections. BJP strongman in the state BS Yediyurappas younger son B Y Vijayendra has also been omitted from the list. He is contesting from Shikaripura.

BJP MP Pratap Simha, who represents Mysuru, has also been left off the list. He is also known for his firebrand Hindutva politics.

Will this decision be helpful to the BJP or will it hurt them? The answer will be revealed on 13 May.

With inputs from agencies

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MANZINI  Bank accounts of former Siphofaneni Constituency MP Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane have been frozen.

Simelane, who is founder and President of the Swaziland Liberation Movement (SWALIMO), had his accounts frozen in an alleged bid to frustrate his run from the law. According to sources, Simelanes bank accounts were frozen after he was declared a fugitive from the law by government. The sources claimed that the move was instituted in a bid to frustrate his movements. The SWALIMO president also confirmed that his bank accounts were frozen. Simelane said: Like they did on my passport issue, at least on the passport issue they declared openly as they said the Home Affairs has been instructed to do all they can to frustrate me (sic).

Simelane said fortunately for him, when the move to freeze his bank accounts was made, some people tipped him off. The SWALIMO leader said he was lucky that he was always able to be ahead of the administration because almost all those working in strategic places were for the noble cause he had embarked on. He said it was always a moral obligation to them (workers in supposed strategic sectors) to give them a heads-up ahead of any act. I was aware and I was able to act accordingly in time, hence there was minimal inconvenience. I salute our people back home for strategically supporting us in this battle through information sharing, Simelane said. The former Member of Parliament (MP) said he was able to seek alternative means before the act (freezing of his accounts) was implemented. Simelane said he was not definite of the period when his bank accounts were frozen.

Comment

Meanwhile, Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said: The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) knows nothing about it. Mnguni had been sought for comment, to establish if the police had sought a court order that would freeze the accounts of the former legislator as he was a fugitive from the law. Meanwhile, sources claimed that the move to freeze the SWALIMO presidents accounts started when he went on self-imposed exile after he had been co-charged with incarcerated Hosea Constituency MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwempisi Constituency MP Mthandeni Dube. The trio was charged after spearheading calls for political reforms from 2021, during a Parliament sitting. They spoke of the ideology outside Parliament, where it received support, mainly from the youth. The three legislators made calls that the premier should be elected by the people so that he could be accountable to them. It is currently the prerogative of the head of State to appoint the prime minister (PM), on the recommendation of the Kings Advisory Council, known as Liqoqo.

As the call for the election of the premier by the people intensified, the youth delivered petitions to various tinkhundla centres across the country. They mandated their respective MPs to support the three MPs who were calling for political reforms. Trouble started when the petition delivery was banned by the then Acting PM, Themba Masuku, who felt the gatherings at the tinkhundla centres violated COVID-19 regulations. Meanwhile, as law enforcers arrested the pair in MP Mabuza and MP Dube, the ex-Siphofaneni MP had a warrant of arrest issued against him; but he did not hand himself over to the law enforcers. Instead, Simelane left the country and this later resulted in Parliament invoking Section 98(1) (c) of the Constitution. His Parliament seat was declared vacant as he was absent from 20 consecutive sittings. The section invoked by Parliament reads: The seat of a senator or of a member of the House shall become vacant where the holder is absent from 20 sittings of the chamber during any meeting of that chamber without the permission in writing of the presiding officer and is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges.
Karachi: Animal experts will decide in coming days whether an ailing elephant at a zoo in Pakistan needs to be euthanised after it collapsed in its pen last week and has since failed to stand up, officials said.

The 17-year-old African elephant underwent emergency treatment for a tumour in Karachi on 5 April, but collapsed days later and has since lain stricken on its side.

The pitiful plight of Noor Jehan is being shared by animal rights activists on social media in Pakistan and abroad, prompting calls for the zoo to be shut down.

Pakistans zoos are frequently accused of disregarding animal welfare, and in 2020 a court ordered the only facility in the countrys capital to close because of its decrepit state.

Noor Jehans fate now lies with a committee waiting for the arrival of Amir Khalil, the Austria-based chief vet of animal charity Four Paws International.

Khalil, who led the team that treated Noor Jehan for the tumour, told AFP he wanted to have one last try at helping the pachyderm recover.

We will fight till the last for her recovery, and the rest is in the hands of Allah, said Kanwar Ayub, the director of Karachi Zoo.

We are diligently following Four Paws instructions for Noor Jehans treatment.

Noor Jehan is still eating despite being on her side, pin-pricked by drips and regularly doused with water to cool her down.

Her condition remains critical and uncertain, Four Paws said.

Vet Khalil said the focus would likely shift to Noor Jehans pen pal, Madhubala, with the hope of finding her better accommodation.

We will do what we can for Noor Jehan but really we need to move the other animal, he said.

In 2019 Islamabads zoo was shut down after drawing international condemnation for its treatment of an Asian elephant named Kaavan.

Kavaan was later airlifted to retirement in Cambodia in a project spearheaded by US popstar and actor Cher, and carried out by Four Paws.

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Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharifs upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia has reportedly been shelved.

According to a News18 report, Saudi Arabia has cancelled Sharifs trip because of the current political crisis gripping Islamabad.

Why did Saudi Arabia cancel the Pakistan prime ministers visit? Have relations between the two allies become strained? Why is there a political crisis in Islamabad? Lets take a closer look.

Shehbaz Sharifs Saudi visit cancelled?

Top sources in Pakistans foreign office told News18 that Sharifs visit has been cancelled due to the ongoing confrontation between the government and the Supreme Court.

The Pakistan prime minister was slated to visit Riyadh, along with his ministers, next week.

However, Riyadh disinvited Sharif after no meeting could be fixed with the Saudi Royals, as per the report.

Notably, Sharif visited Saudi Arabia for a three-day visit last April on his first foreign trip after taking office earlier that month. His trip to the oil-rich Middle East country had come on the heels of an invitation by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

According to News18 sources, Sharif will now visit the United Kingdom in May, where he will attend King Charles IIIs coronation ceremony.

During his London trip, he will also meet his elder brother and former Pakistan prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to discuss the election issue in the cash-strapped country, the report added.

Are the two allies becoming distant?

When it comes to assisting Pakistan financially, it seems that Saudi is toughening its stance.

The Pakistan prime minister told the lower house of Parliament on Monday (17 April) that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have pledged to provide financial assistance  a pre-condition by International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a much-needed bailout  in order to strengthen the economic crisis-hit countrys foreign exchange reserves.

Showing great kindness, Saudi Arabia has provided us another $2 billion while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also promised to give us $1 billion, Sharif said while addressing the Nation Assembly, as per The Express Tribune.

He also said that Pakistan has met all conditions of the IMF to secure the $1.1 billion bailout.

Pakistans junior finance minister earlier said that Saudi Arabia had told the IMF about its intention to provide funds to Pakistan, as per Reuters.

Addressing a ceremony in Lahore last Saturday, the Pakistan prime minister credited the countrys army chief for securing financial assistance from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir has contributed to the governments efforts to secure funds from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Sharif was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

However, this time, the assistance has not come easily from Riyadh.

Middle East Eye (MEE) reported in March that Saudi refused any further bailouts to Pakistan unless it meets certain conditions, leaving Islamabad in shock.

These provisions, similar to those set by the IMF, included strict monetary and fiscal reforms along with a drastic reduction in Pakistans current account deficit, MEE reported.

Umar Karim, an associate fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, told MEE that authorities in Islamabad are surprised by Saudis reluctance to grant further financing.

While previously Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries would bail Pakistan out off the back of a phone call from the foreign minister or the prime minister, this time around they are really being put through the mill, Karim stated.

In January this year, Saudi finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan highlighted the kingdoms change in policy.

We used to give direct grants and deposits without strings attached and we are changing that. We are working with multilateral institutions to actually say we need to see reforms.

We are taxing our people, we are expecting also others to do the same, to do their efforts. We want to help but we want you also to do your part, he had said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as per MEE.

Pakistans political crisis

Pakistan has been in a political upheaval since former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from power in April last year through a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

Since then, the political crisis has shown no signs of abating. Khan has been calling for early national elections, which are scheduled to be held later this year.

The Pakistani government is also engaged in a rift with the countrys judiciary.

The Shehbaz Sharif-led government is trying to curb the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)s power after the Supreme Court took a suo motu notice of the election body delaying provincial elections in the countrys most populous province, Punjab.

On 1 March, a five-judge bench of the apex court in a 3-2 majority directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce the election schedule for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

Khans party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had dissolved the provincial assemblies it controlled in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in January this year. With this, the PTI chairman aimed to pressurise the government to announce early polls as Pakistan historically conducts provincial and national elections together, reported Al Jazeera.

On 4 April, the Supreme Court declared ECPs decision to defer the assembly elections in these provinces as unconstitutional, creating a standoff between the judiciary and the government.

The top court also ordered the Pakistan government to carry out elections in Punjab on 14 May.

This verdict came after Khans PTI challenged the election commissions decision to postpone the polls in Punjab from 30 April to 8 October following the governments refusal to allot funds to hold elections citing the economic crisis.

What is the Sharif government doing?

According to a Dawn report, the Sharif government has decided to hold a national dialogue with the parties in the ruling coalition after Eidul Fitr to decide on constitutional and legal issues.

After a high-level meeting, chaired by Sharif on Wednesday, the ruling coalition parties said in a statement that the process of pre-consultation and negotiations regarding the holding of elections is going on among the coalition parties, for which the prime minister has already formed a committee, Dawn reported.

With inputs from agencies

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Ahmedabad: A special court in Gujarat on Thursday acquitted all the 67 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case.

The Ahmedabad-based court of S K Baxi, special judge for SIT cases, acquitted all the accused  including ex-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Maya Kodnani  in one of the major post-Godhra riots cases which was probed by a Supreme-Court appointed Special Investigation Team.

Among those acquitted are Kodnani, former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

There were a total of 86 accused persons in the matter, of which 18 died during pendency of the trial, while one was discharged earlier by the court.

(With inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi: The governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday in the presence of Union Home Minister of Amit Shah to resolve their 50-year-old pending border dispute.

The agreement was signed by signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Prema Khandu.

The signing of an agreement for the settlement of an inter-state boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is a very big achievement, Shah said.

Today, we have crossed the milestone for the establishment of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free northeast, the Union Home Minister said.

Speaking on the momentous occasion of ending a long-standing border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

https://t.co/YJzX8naMIT  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 20, 2023

The decision was finalised by the Assam cabinet on Wednesday which approved the recommendations given by 12 Regional Committees formed by the state government to settle the decades-long border dispute issue with Arunachal Pradesh.

Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804 km long boundary. The border dispute between the two states dates back to colonial times.

Back in 1873, the British announced the inner line regulation, which demarcated an imaginary boundary between plains and the frontier hills. In 1915 it was designated as the Northeast Frontier Tracts.

The region of the frontier hills makes up present-day Arunachal, which was earlier a part of Assam.

After India's independence, the then government of Assam assumed jurisdiction over the North East Frontier Tracts, which became the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) in 1954.

The Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh was formed in 1972. It gained statehood in 1987.

The two states have had frequent disputes along the border since the 1990s. The main reason for almost the disputes were often said to be a 1951 report of a committee headed by then Assam chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi.

The report had suggested that about 3,648 square km of the plain area of Balipara and Sadiya foothills were transferred from the NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh) to Lakhimpur and Darrang districts of Assam.

However, Arunachal has for long been assertive that the transfer was done without the consultation of its people and the state still held customary rights over these lands.

On the other hand, Assam believed that the 1951 notification was constitutional and legal.

The dispute came to the fore when Arunachal Pradesh became a Union Territory and till 1974 several efforts were made to demarcate the boundary.

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New Delhi: At least three soldiers were killed after their vehicle caught fire in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. The incident happened on a highway in the Bhata Dhurian area, reported PTI.

According to media reports, the cause behind the fire is yet to be identified, but it is suspected that the fire may have broken out due to a lightning strike.

VIDEO | Indian Army vehicle catches fire in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch sector. More details are awaited. pic.twitter.com/E4gyvthM54  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 20, 2023

PTI reported that army and police personnel have rushed to the spot, which is around 90 kms from Poonch.

Visuals from the site of the incident showed the burning vehicle on the Jammu Poonch highway.

More details are awaited

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Surat: In a major setback for Rahul Gandhi, a court here on Thursday rejected the Congress leaders application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark.

The court of additional sessions judge RP Mogera rejected Rahul Gandhis application filed for a relief pending his appeal against a lower courts order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case, PTI reported.

Key Takeaways

1) On April 3, the Congress leader approached the sessions court for appeal against the lower courts order. A stay on conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for his reinstatement as the Member of Parliament.

2) He approached the sessions court for appeal after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname? made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

3) Rahul Gandhis lawyers had filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for stay on conviction till the disposal of his appeal.

The 52-year-old politician was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, but was disqualified a day after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail in the case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

While granting bail to Gandhi, the court had issued notices to complainant MLA Modi and the state government on the Congress leaders plea for a stay on conviction.

The sessions court will continue its hearing on Rahul Gandhis main plea against the lower courts order.

(With inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi: As gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on Saturday in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj district, the question remained unanswered whether the actual extent of his illegal financial empire will ever be ascertained.

The question is pertinent considering the situation that his most-trusted partner-in-crime, his younger brother and former MLA Ashraf also killed on Saturday night by three armed assailants.

Even after the UP government in a recent statement claimed to have already seized properties and assets worth around Rs 1,169 crore belonging to Atiq Ahmed, authorities are putting all-out efforts to unearth unaccounted properties that are estimated to be of several thousand crores.

Atiq was accused of several heinous crimes and over 100 cases of kidnapping, attempt to murder, and murders registered against him.

Atiq had declared movable and immovable assets worth only Rs 25 crore in the last affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India in 2019 when Atiq had contested as an independent candidate from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

But over the past three years, as the UP authorities vigorously chased him, trying to dismantle his clout, the value of his properties and investments was already more than Rs 1,100 crore, News 18 reported.

Read also: Projecting lawbreaker as lawmaker: Why Western media fails to see a gangster in Atiq Ahmed



It was very recently that the Enforcement Directorate began its probe into don Atiqs financial empire. In April itself, raids were conducted at multiple locations of UP, including Atiqs native district of Prayagraj.

News 18 quoted sources in the government as saying that attachments, seizures, and demolitions so far, accounting for Rs 1,169 crore in assets, could just be the tip of the pan-India and probably also offshore business and investment empire that the former bahubali MP created.

The question is with Atiq and Ashrafs deaths, will the truth ever be conclusively known?

A top cop of UP who had followed the Atiq gang for years feels Shaista Parveen could be the key to the unfinished probe.

The way she allegedly played a key role in the conspiracy of the Umesh Pal murder case suggests she had risen up the ladder within the gang ever since Atiq and Ashraf were mostly behind bars, he said.

Over the past five years at least, she had been a key party to the gangs investments of the ill-gotten wealth, said the official.

Read also: 40 years after killing his guru, Atiq Ahmed murdered in similar fashion



A big reason for her still absconding despite the deaths of her son Asad and husband Atiq could well be the urgency to settle the financial support base of the family, say sources. Her two adult sons, Ali and Umar, are also behind bars, thus leaving only her to manage and settle the financial issues. Following the deaths of Atiq and Ashraf, probably Shaista alone is the only key person with knowledge of the gangs white support base, say sources.

Sources in the government told News 18 that Atiqs family has business interests in major Indian cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Pune, apart from Prayagraj, Lucknow, and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. There is a strong possibility of offshore investments in countries of the Gulf and Southeast Asia, News 18 quoted sources as saying.

In the 2019 election affidavit, Atiq described himself as a contractor, builder, property dealer, and agriculturalist. However, a much larger base of contractors, builders, businessmen, and probably politicians had been the real handlers of Atiqs ill-gotten wealth, say sources.

With the don being buried now, the real war against organised crime will really be successful if this support base is exposed, they maintain. And the absconding Shaista Parveen probably remains the last link alive to decoding this secret.

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Bengaluru: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be arriving in Karnataka on Friday on a two-day visit to take stock of the partys preparations for the Assembly elections, and this will be his first visit to the state after the announcement of poll schedule, reported PTI.

Amit Shah will hold a roadshow in Devanahalli town. He would also hold a meeting with senior party functionaries regarding poll preparations in the evening, BJP sources said, as reported by PTI.

Shah will campaign in Devanahalli for party leader Pilla Munishamappa, who will contest against the sitting JD(S) MLA LN Narayanaswamy and Congress candidate KH Muniyappa, a former Union minister and seven-time MP.

Muniyappa is foraying into the Assembly polls for the first time, according to PTI.

The fight in the 2018 Assembly election was mainly between Narayanswamy (86,966 votes) and Venkataswamy (69,956) of the Congress. The BJP candidate K Nagesh was a distant third with 9,820 votes.

The state will go to the polls on 10 May and the results will be out on 13 May, reported PTI.

With inputs from agencies

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Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would campaign in about 20 places in the poll-bound state.

The Chief Minister said the Prime Ministers campaign programme is being finalised. There is all possibility of the Prime Minister campaigning in about 20 places, Bommai told media.

In most (of these) places, he will address rally-meeting and in some, there will be road shows, the Chief Minister said. Karnataka would vote on May 10, and the results will be declared on May 13.

Karnataka Elections 2023: Karnataka Polls 2023: Eshwarappa vows to bring miffed leaders back to BJP



The partys state leadership in the poll-bound state has demanded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for campaigning for the party.

The demand for Yogi as BJP campaigner for Karnataka elections has gone up after Asad Ahmed, son of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed killed in a police encounter. The Uttar Pradesh CM is also gaining popularity in Karnataka for his hit slogan Mitti mei mila denge.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJPs national president JP Nadda, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari and Smriti Irani are among the 40-star campaigners for the BJP for the assembly elections in Karnataka.

The election on 224 sets of Karnataka Assembly will be held in a single phase on 10 May. The results will be declared on 13 May. The BJP, Congress and JD(S) are the three main players in the Karnataka polls 2023.

In the 2018 assembly polls, Karnataka threw up a fractured mandate with BJP emerging as the single largest party winning 104 seats, Congress bagged 87 seats, while the JD(S) secured victory on 30.

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MBABANE  Investigations have unearthed that the E800 000 medical supplies that were intercepted at the Oshoek Border Gate belong to a private pharmaceutical company, which is known to be supplying government.

The consignment of the medical supplies was discovered with a liSwati who was transporting them into South Africa and were suspected to have been stolen locally. The suspect, who was arrested at the South African side of the Ngwenya Border Gate  Oshoek, reportedly informed South African law enforcers upon his arrest that he had been recruited to transport the medical supplies. He supposedly informed the law enforcers that someone had bought the medical supplies locally. However, it is worth noting that the country imports medical supplies as there is no pharmaceutical plant producing them locally. The liSwati who was driving the truck ferrying the supplies was later identified as Bongani Sifiso Shongwe, who is believed to be employed by the pharmaceutical company. The medical supplies were supposed to be transported by air freight or sea, not road as per the South African Medicines regulations.

Shongwe (31) appeared at the Chief Albert Luthuli Magistrates Court on Monday charged for contravening the South Africa Medical Act. He was remanded in custody and will return to court today. Stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry have confirmed that the consignment of the medical supplies belonged to a local private company. The name of the company is known to this publication but will not be revealed as investigations are still ongoing. A source in the pharmaceutical industry revealed that the medical supplies arrived into the country about three years ago, through the Durban Sea Port from India. According to the source, they did not know where the supplies had been stored all this time and where they were being taken to before they were intercepted at the border.

Permit

The source stated that the medicine required an export permit to be moved outside the country, which was never obtained. When sought for comment on the matter, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Simon Zwane, said they could not comment further on the matter as investigations were still ongoing. Meanwhile, efforts to get a comment from the local pharmaceutical company hit a snag. A woman who is employed by the company, who said she was from the human resource administrator, stated that she could also not comment on the matter. She requested for this reporters contact details, adding that she would pass the contacts to the relevant people who would contact her later. The human resource officer was asked to comment on whether the medical supplies belonged to their company and why the regulations to transport the consignment were breached. At the time of compiling this report, no responses had been obtained.

The arrest of the man transporting the consignment happened almost eight weeks after the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, submitted a report in Parliament detailing that over E151 million of medical drugs were unaccounted for in the public health facilities. This, he said, resulted in a shortage of medical supplies yet government had improved its budget for them by over 55 per cent.

Meanwhile, the destination of the medical supplies is yet to be ascertained as the driver supposedly claimed ignorance to the contents of the consignment when he was arrested. In a media statement, which was issued by the office of the Provincial Commissioner in Mpumalanga, it was reported that the suspect was nabbed after failure to produce authorisation for transportation of the consignment across the border. It was stated that the police, who were busy with their routine duties, searched a truck which was pulling two trailers. During their search, the law enforcers reportedly discovered that the truck was transporting a huge consignment of medication and that it was headed to South Africa (SA) from Eswatini.
Love can make a person do the most unimaginable thing possible. Be it crossing continents to be with your significant other or fighting the shackles of society to be with your partner, there is no dearth of stories where love has inspired a person to change their entire life. But a love story took a turn towards crime for one person in Bihar. Hemant Kumar Raghu, who was an IIT- Madras graduate working in Dubai, turned to crime to please his girlfriend.

Raghu had a high-paying job in Dubai, but he quit the job after he fell in love with a nightclub dancer in Dubai. The IITian took to crime keep her happy, as per reports. The 40-year-old was arrested by the police on charges of theft.

According to the Economic Times, Raghu was arrested for allegedly stealing Rs 2.2 lakh from a woman. Three other people were also arrested in the matter.

Bihar Police recovered some cash, ammunition, arms and two stolen bikes from the suspects. As per media reports, Raghu was nabbed from Tamil Nadus Tiruvallur district.

Raghu told the cops that he had asked his girlfriend to quit her job at the nightclub. The woman agreed but stated that Raghu would also have to resign from his job and come with her to her native place- Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Raghu told the police that he had spent all his savings on his girlfriend and finally decided to take part in a crime to gain some money.

Police stated that Raghu had created a network with criminals in the area. He would choose his targets after a lot of planning.

Muzaffarpur (East) DSP Manoj Pandey stated, He (Raghu) has clearly turned into a professional criminal and confessed to his involvement in several crimes across the district.

This is not the only case of love turning the way to crime. In 2021, a man was arrested for stealing an iPhone at Knifepoint. The reason- he wanted to impress his girlfriend. The man and his friend, who helped him commit the theft, were arrested over a week later.

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New Delhi: Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who went missing earlier this week after falling into a deep crevasse on Mount Annapurna in Nepal, has been found alive in critical condition by rescuers. He is currently undergoing treatment in a hospital.

He is found alive. He has been taken to the hospital in critical condition, but he is still alive, news agency PTI quoted Maloos brother, Sudhir, as saying.

We will have to shift our focus towards the medical side now, he added.

The 34-year-old climber from Kishangarh city in northern Indian state of Rajasthan went missing on Monday. He was on a trekking expedition with the Seven Summit Treks when he disappeared while descending from Camp III of Mount Annapurna, Mingma Sherpa, the chairman of the group told earlier this week.

He fell from around 6,000 metres while descending from Camp III.

Maloo was on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals.

For the unversed, Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world.

An extensive search was launched for Maloo shortly after he went missing. His family had written a letter to India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar requesting him to issue a joint rescue operation of Indian and Nepalese army to search and rescue Maloo.

Also Read: Search continues as Indian climber goes missing at Mt Annapurna in Nepal

"We understand that the rescue operation may be challenging due to the harsh weather conditions and the difficult terrain of the mountain, but we believe that a joint effort of the Indian and Nepalese army can help in locating Mr Maloo, the letter read.

Maloo has been awarded REX Karam- Veer Chakra and became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India.

With inputs from PTI

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday dialled his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen and reviewed the progress of the India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership. The two leaders also expressed satisfaction at the growing cooperation between the two countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation on Thursday with Ms Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark. The PM congratulated PM Frederiksen on her appointment as the Danish prime minister for a second term, a statement from the PMO said.

Taking to microblogging platform Twitter, PM Modi wrote, Pleased to speak with PM of Denmark, H.E. Ms. Mette Frederiksen. We reviewed progress in our Green Strategic Partnership and shared ideas on celebrating the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations in 2024. Appreciate her support for Indias ongoing G20 Presidency.

The Indian prime minister also brought Frederiksen up to date on Indias G20 presidency and the key initiatives undertaken by the country during this tenure. His Danish counterpart lauded Indias efforts and assured of Denmarks full support and cooperation while India is at the helm of the influential grouping.

The two leaders also pledged to explore more sectors to further diversify the bilateral ties between the two nations.

Thank you @narendramodi for good discussions on taking our Green Strategic Partnership even further. Also excellent talks on regional and global issues, including Indias G20 Presidency. Denmark is ready to support you, a statement released by the Denmark prime ministers office read.

Diplomatic relations between India and Denmark were set up in September 1949 while the Green Strategic Partnership was established on September 20, 2020 during a virtual summit.

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New Delhi: Amid hearing on a batch of pleas seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the inflow of cases in the apex court is so heavy that it is impossible to list constitution bench matters unless the time taken to argue is rationed.

Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, who is heading a five-judge constitution bench which is hearing the matter, said the chief justices before him had not set up constitution benches because of the kind of pressure which is there in terms of the inflow of matters, PTI reported.

If constitution benches really have to go on, you know, with five judges leaving their regular works. That is why chief justices before me have not constituted constitution benches because you dont know the kind of pressure. Every evening I ask what is the filing and how much is the disposal, he said.

We dont want to add. That is the real problem in our court. The inflow is so heavy, unless we start rationing time, you know, it is impossible to list constitution benches, said the CJI, who is heading the bench, which also comprises Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha.

At the beginning of the hearing on the same-sex marriage issue for the third successive day, a counsel handed over to the bench a list of lawyers who would argue on behalf of the petitioners along with the indicative time which they would take.

The CJI said the petitioners side will have to conclude their submissions by the end of the day as the court has to give sufficient time to the other side as well.

You know, if I am having a very long telephonic conversation, my better half only does this to me, which is, please now get on with your work and stop the conversation, Justice Chandrachud said in a lighter vein and asked senior advocate A M Singhvi, who was to argue for one of the petitioners, to continue with his submissions.

There are Supreme Courts where the entire arguments could be over in 30 minutes. We have given three days (to the petitioners side) in this court, I think that is good enough, the CJI said.

Justice Kaul said the bench had indicated in the very beginning the issue on which it would focus and deal with in the matter.

The CJI said Singhvi could conclude his submission within 45 minutes and after that the court will give hour-and-a-half between senior advocates Raju Ramachandran and K V Viswanathan, who are also appearing for some of the petitioners.

Senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for some petitioners, asked, Why should one person get more time than the others?

The bench said in the next week it will sit on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so that arguments from both the sides could be over.

When Grover referred to diversity of views on the issue, the CJI said, Then you can merrily go on in July. We have no problem.

People have to be bound by time, Justice Kaul said, adding, Look at the time schedule given. Is this a realistic time schedule?

One of the advocates said they would cut down the time indicated and the petitioners side will conclude their submissions on Monday.

You people also know this case has been taken up on some priority. We are trying to wind it up. If you dont want to wind it up, you dont wind it up, Justice Kaul said.

Justice Chandrachud said the estimated time given by the petitioners side is about 16 hours which means four complete days for one side.

It cant be like this, Justice Kaul said, adding, Nuances cant be addressed as if you are beginning a new case.

Justice Bhat said the oral hearing which is happening in the matter is meant to give some voice to the people.

But our real work begins after that. So dont be under the impression that if you dont get to address your contents, we will not apply our minds. Our duty lies elsewhere. Once this is over, the whole court system is right now geared as though everything depends on what you say or what you dont say. It is not correct, he said.

Justice Bhat said, Please keep that in mind and restrain yourself to the extent possible and present the clearest picture without taking us through too many things.

The hearing then started with Singhvi resuming his submissions.

At the end of the days hearing, the bench asked the petitioners side to complete their submissions on April 24, the next date of hearing.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the bench had emphasised on the need to finish a matter in a time-bound manner, saying there are other cases waiting to be heard.

The judicial outcome in the matter will have far-reaching consequences for the country that is sharply divided on the subject of same-sex marriage.

On November 25 last year, the apex court had sought the Centres response to separate pleas moved by two gay couples seeking enforcement of their right to marry and a direction to the authorities concerned to register their marriages under the Special Marriage Act.

(With inputs from PTI)

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It needs no great thinking to conclude that Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyels recent meeting with the Indian leadership, starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was mainly to update them about the ongoing border talks with China, but not to seek Indias approval for whatever is agreeable to his country. Going beyond the traditional bonding at the bilateral level, the current phase of the Bhutan-China talks are of added interest and equal concern to India, in the aftermath of the Doklam stand-off.

By rushing troops to the tri-junction when Bhutan was almost under siege in 2017, India ensured that an avaricious China had to take a step forward then, and return to the negotiations table with Thimpu, which is what the current negotiations are all about. Going by reports, Bhutan seems confident about a border agreement with China, independent of what it may mean for India per se. But Thimpu would be doubly cautious and would not want to keep India out of the loop, even if that is what Beijing may want.

It is not without reason. Should the talks fail, or should Bhutan alienate India and Chinese dragon spits fire on the Himalayan kingdom one more time, then Thimpu would have nowhere else to go. That is the regional reality, where at the time of Doklam stand-off, no western friends of India even issued a statement that was supportive of India and sympathetic to Bhutans plight. Reluctantly, Japan came up with a brief statement three or four days down the line.

The US and the rest of the West were seemingly weighing their geo-political, geo-economic preferences and options at the time. However, by the time China staged the gruesome cruelty of Galwan (2020), the West had become alive to the Indian street-opinion on their stoic silence during Doklam. Theirs were among the statements condemning China for the bludgeoning of 20 Indian soldiers, returning war-related violence to the Stone Age.

Positive consensus, but

Leaving aside sea-centric territorial disputes with many of its neighbours, big and small, China has 14 nations with which it shares borders. It has had border disputes with every one of them. It has long since resolved those disputes with 12 nations. Only disputes with India and Bhutan need to be resolved. After Doklam, there is a perception that they are inter-linked.

In January this year, experts from the two countries met in the Chinese town of Kunming and agreed to push forward their boundary talks and to reach agreements. Thus far, the two sides have met more than 20 times and are said to be working for a positive consensus, whatever it means. We are not experiencing major border problems with China, but some territories have not yet been demarcated, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering said after the January talks, as if down-playing the extent of Chinas intrusions. After one or two more meetings, we will probably be able to draw a dividing line.

It is not up to Bhutan alone to solve the problem, the Bhutanese PM said in an interview. There is no big or small country, there are three equal countries, each counting for a third, he said in a loaded statement. We are ready. As soon as the other two parties are ready too, we can discuss. It is an indicator that Thimphu is willing to negotiate the Doklam tri-junction in Doklam with China and India. This is problematic for India, as it has nothing to negotiate or bargain, especially with China.

If it materialises, China extending reach in Doklam has security concerns for India. The plateau lies close to the sensitive Siliguri Corridor, the narrow tract that separates Indias North-East from the rest of the country. The tri-junction, as reflected in international maps, lies at a point known as Batang La. Chinas Chumbi Valley lies to the north of Batang La, Bhutan lies to the south and east, and the North-Eastern Indian State of Sikkim, in the west. The issue is about China wanting the tri-junction to be shifted 7 km south of Batang La to a peak called Mt Gipmochi, making the entire Doklam plateau a part of China. This is unacceptable to India, for obvious reasons.

Even months before the Kunming talks, Bhutanese Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji told The Hindu in an interview in July 2022, that their decision with China for a three-step road-map to resolve border disputes, will not compromise Indias interests. Of course, in his first interview since he signed the roadmap MoU with China in October 2021, and ahead of Bhutans decision to reopen its borders for tourists in September 2022, Minister Dorji said that neighbours must find a way to resolve issues between them. Bhutan and China were hopeful of resolving their disputes soon, and would later take up the tricky issue of the Doklam tri-junction area that involves Indias interests as well.

Blowing hot and cold

It is in this background that the Bhutanese Kings New Delhi visit assumes significance. Apart from PM Modi, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Kumar Doval also held discussions with the royal visitor. He had stopped over in New Delhi, en route to London to attend the British Queens funeral in September, and met PM Modi, in the midst of the continuing border talks with China.

Briefing newsmen after the Kings talks with PM Modi this time, Indias Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, said that the two countries were maintaining close coordination over all security matters, indicating that the talks possibly covered the latest situation along the India-Bhutan border as well as the progress in boundary talks between China and Bhutan, particularly above the Doklam tri-junction. As was to be expected, Secretary Kwatra did not spell out details, other than saying that the King and the PM discussed the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation and issues of national and regional interests, and that the two countries share an exemplary relationship of trust, goodwill and mutual understanding. He was in Thimphu in February, where he would have been updated about the Kunming talks the previous month.

In context, it is not known what new developments might have occurred between then and now, for King to confer with the Indian leadership, and personally so. The question is if he stopped with updating the Indian leadership about the progress made in talks with China, or indicated that those talks have progressed to the level when New Delhi would have to join in and/or take a position, or went onto seek Indias inputs for Bhutan, too, to proceed with the ticklish foreign and security issues that are both the cause and effect of the bilateral talks. Or, was there more to his visit than meets the eye?

In this background, observers of the India-China relations should be perplexed even more by Beijing blowing hot and cold on the matter. On the one hand, Chinese authorities reportedly approved of the Mumbai polices request, sent through the Centre, to extradite Prasad Pujari, who is wanted in many extortion cases. It is anybodys guess at this stage what China meant by asking India to send the extradition request in Mandarin, but initial indications are that Beijing will honour the Indian request. This, if it works out finally, should be a rarity, considering that China has repeatedly stone-walled even a global entity like the UN Security Council (UNSC) naming anti-India terrorists, propped up and shielded by Pakistan.

Whatever the final outcome, China timed the Bhutan Kings India visit to re-name 11 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, after similar exercises in 2017 and 2021. An official Chinese map, released with the latest announcement also shows much of Arunachal Pradesh marked as Zangnan in the south of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, that China calls Xizang. Alongside, Beijing also withdrew the professional visas granted to two Indian journalists, and told two others back home on holiday, not to return.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchchi has since pooh-poohed the Chinese re-naming of places in Arunachal Pradesh, pointing out how some of them, including rivers, did not exist. Even without it, for India, such episodes, whether enacted one time or more, do not make any difference to ground realities or future negotiations, other than being a foot-noted irritant.

Less harmful repeat

Yet, it does remind all observers of the bilateral scene, nearer home and globally, how it is a less harmful repeat of the Doklam and the gruesome Galwan episodes, coming as they did after the Xi initiated informal summits with PM Modi, first, post-Doklam at Wuhan (2018) and later, pre-Galwan Summit in Mahabalipuram (2019).

All of it leads to the question of what if China wants to be heard in any future border talks between India and Pakistan, as New Delhi seemingly wants to be informed and consulted on near- similar ongoing discussions between Thimpu and Beijing. Aksai Chin in Chinas illegal possession, acquired through an illegitimate process involving unlawful Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is Beijings fig leaf.

However, if Bhutan and China sign a border agreement without involving Doklam tri-junction, then New Delhi can do nothing about it. If despite Indias known position and protestations, Bhutan signs on Doklam, too, with China, bilateral relations with Bhutan  where a democratically-elected government is the decision-maker  could become messy, also on the ground. With China, Indias ties cannot worsen as long as there is not another showdown of the Galwan kind or a more serious military engagement.

If so, India would have lost one more neighbour, Bhutan. That should be the short-term worry, medium-term concern and long-term problem.

The writer is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator. Views expressed are personal.

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This is not a political column. Nor is it about appeasement or otherwise. Neither is it about religion and communalism. It is a serious concern for the due process of law as guaranteed by the Constitution. It is about the attempt to glorify summary justice demolishing the rule of law. It is about the fatal consequences of romanticizing encounter raj. It is about the damning nexus between politics and criminals. It is about the dismal state of our dilatory judicial process. And, finally, it is about the increasing servility of the police and other investigative agencies to their political masters.

The immediate context of this column, expectedly, is about the dramatic murder in full public view of dreaded don Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, surrounded by police meant to protect them, even as Atiq had appealed to the Supreme Court for protection since he felt his life was in danger after his arrest. It does not matter that Atiq was a Muslim. There are as many Bahubalis who are Hindus, or of other religions, against whom too there are dozens of cases for heinous crimes. Criminals are criminals and have no caste or creed in the eyes of the law.

It is undeniable that Atiq Ahmed was an unrepentant criminal, with over 100 cases against him. But it is also pertinent to ask how he escaped the law for so long? What were the forces that nurtured, supported and even endorsed his criminal deeds and protected him? The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Apna Dal party have much to answer on that question; the former made him a candidate for the Lok Sabha election in 2004, and the latter gave him a ticket for an MLA seat in 2002, in spite of his known credentials of a mafia don, simply because he could guarantee electoral dividends. On other occasions, he fought as an Independent, but could hardly have done so without the covert support of certain political parties.

However, are the SP and the Apna Dal, the only parties guilty of benefitting from the nexus between crime and politics? Look around the political landscape across the country and you will see that there is hardly any political party worth its name that is not similarly guilty. Look also at the statistics of the current Parliament to know how many of our elected representatives on both sides of the aisle are facing cases for crimes including dacoity and murder. Most recently, in Bihar, the Jail Manual has been amended to enable, as everyone in the state seems to know, an infamous don  who is serving a life sentence in jail  to be released prematurely, in order to benefit one of the leading components of the currently ruling alliance, since he can, out of the fear he invokes, bring in votes.

Encounter killings are often lauded by common citizens. They give the impression of zero tolerance towards crime and project a strong government that is determined to pursue the end goal irrespective of the means. There is a reason for this. Our jurisprudence is based on the principle that nine criminals can go free rather than one innocent pronounced guilty. This naturally involves the prosecuting authorities to produce sustainable evidence before the courts to convict an accused. This process allows criminals with influence, good lawyers, political backing, money, intimidated witnesses and the loopholes within the law to escape conviction or even be declared innocent on the basis of shoddy police investigation, the convenient reluctance of the prosecution to pursue the case diligently and competently, and compromised judicial officers. The entire process can take yearsoften decadesto come to fruition, until which the criminal is either out on bail, or pursues his criminal activities with impunity from inside jail, and even gets elected to the state Assembly or Parliament. No wonder that the common person feels that encounter killings are a much faster and more effective way to tackle crime.

But there is a serious problem in this kind of justice. If encounter killings and summary justice acquire legitimacy, what prevents the State from using them even against the innocent or to settle scores against opponents? Those who laud this kind of action will regret it when, without recourse to the due process of law, they become the victims. Bulldozer justice against the allegedly guilty, immediately and without due notice or an opportunity to prove themselves innocent before the law, is yet another growing example of this excess. During the Emergency in the 1970s, the middle class was initially its biggest supporter. But soon enough its members realized that when the rule of law is removed between crime and punishment, no one is safe. An enthusiastic supporter of the Emergency I personally knew, was left shattered when one of his young nephews was sterilized (nasbandi) as punishment for travelling ticketless on a bus.

Finally, our police system is in need of a serious overhaul. The effortless ease with which even senior police officers become willing handmaidens of their political masters and jettison their bounden duty to uphold the law impartially, has assumed dangerous proportions, irrespective of which government is in power. Long-awaited police reforms which insulate the upholders of law and order from political interference and ensure the independence of investigative agencies need to be implemented urgently. A rogue State and a compliant police system are a lethal cocktail against the democratic rights of citizens guaranteed under the Constitution.

We say with legitimate pride that we are the worlds largest democracy with a democratic Constitution. Criminals deserve speedy and exemplary punishment, but not by circumventing the rule of law guaranteed by that very Constitution. I am happy that a judicial enquiry has been instituted in the murder of Atiq, and that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in this regard. One can only hope that the truth will impartially and credibly prevail for otherwise the consequences can be ominous.

The author is a former diplomat, an author and a politician. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

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Peoples Republic of China (PRC), i.e. Communist China, manipulated the world community to replace Republic of China, i.e. Taiwan, in the United Nations Security Council in 1971. Taiwan has made several attempts to enter the UN since then, but it has been rebuffed by the UN.

Life has been tough for Taiwan, a nation of around 25 million people. Ever since 1971, they have been denied entry to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and even the World Health Organisation. And it is China that has been using strong arm tactics to isolate Taiwan as it wants to gobble it up as one of its provinces.

In the 1960s, both Taiwan and the Communist China had diplomatic relations with an equal number of countries. Today, Taiwan has diplomatic relations with only 13 countries which primarily consist of very small countries. China has been using strong-arm tactics and especially its economic heft to wean away any support in the international community for Taiwan.

Chinese coercion: Case Study of Lithuania

In November 2021, Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a new representative office in Vilnius. The office was officially called the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius. It was a significant move as it marked the first opening of a new Taiwan representative office in Europe in 18 years. Prior to this Taiwan had opened a representative office in Slovakia in 2003. It was also the second such office to exist under the name Taiwanese in the world, after Somaliland. China was outraged and it decided to coerce Lithuania for having bilateral ties with Taiwan.

Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) assessed this situation and came out with a brief titled Lithuanias Confrontation with China Over Taiwan: Lessons from a Small Country. Exposing the Chinese modus operandi, it said, Opening of a Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius unleashed the full wrath of China. As a result, Beijing downgraded the status of its diplomatic representation in Lithuania to the level of the charge daffaires, renamed its embassy in Lithuania as the Office of the Charge dAffaires, and began urging the Lithuanian side to do the same.

Shortly thereafter, Lithuanian diplomats in China were forced to leave Beijing urgently because their diplomatic status was simply revoked. Then, in December 2021, Lithuanian exports to China were almost completely blocked, with more than 90 percent of the usual flow of goods prevented from entering the Chinese market. These unofficial trade sanctions (China never issued a formal decision to sanction Lithuanian goods) had little impact on Lithuanias economy, as exports to China accounted for less than one percent of Lithuanias total exports. However, concern rose significantly following unofficial reports that China had blocked exports from other EU companies when they contained components of Lithuanian origin.

Lithuania, however, has stood its ground and refused to budge to Chinese coercion. Fortunately, it didnt have very strong economic links with China, so its economy wasnt impacted much. But for all those who have strong economic links with China there is a lesson in this stand-off.

Practically speaking, it would be better to cut off the most sensitive links with China now, so as not to suffer painful consequences later. And most importantly, the potential fight against China will require concentrated efforts by the entire EU, as well as the support of all democratic partners. China is a large country, but it is mostly alone. The consolidation and unity of many countries, even small ones, is the most effective way to withstand bullying by authoritarian regimes like the PRC, says the GIT report.

How China has blocked the UN access to Taiwan

Since 1971, China has kept not only Taiwans government representatives out of the United Nations, even the civil society and private citizens face the Chinese wrath through severe restrictions imposed on them in the UN. According to a General Marshall Fund report, ROC passport holders continue to face restrictions accessing UN buildings and offices In the past few years, there have been numerous instances of the PRC preventing NGOs, civil society representatives, and even high schools, from accessing UN resources or attending UN-organised forums and events if Taiwan features on their websites or organization materials as Taiwan, as opposed to Taiwan, Province of China.

Affected organisations that often do not want to become involved in geopolitical issues, are unaware of the nuances, or seek to avoid negative repercussions generally acquiesce to enable entry and access to UN-related organisations.

Nomenclature War

China is very particular that in all the UN documents Taiwan should be mentioned as a province of China to enforce its One China Policy. Communist China applies the same criteria to all multilateral organisations. An interesting case study in this regard is the manipulation of the standards set forth by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). The latter is an independent, non-governmental international organisation with a membership of more than 165 national standards bodies. ISO helps in developing international standards and it uses the United Nations data base to give specific numeric codes for different countries. It hasnt been designated as a separate country, instead it has been designated as ISO 366, Taiwan (Province of China) since 1974. Taiwan has made several unsuccessful efforts to get this tag removed

Analysts Jessica Drun and Bonnie S Glaser aptly explain this in the George Marshall Fund report (The Distortion of UN Resolution 2758 and Limits on Taiwans Access to the United Nations), The PRCs objective appears to be to implant the One China Principle across all levels of the UN and its related organisations, and to establish an equivalency between it and UN Resolution 2758 so that this position becomes customary international law, or international obligations arising from established international practices.

Highlighting this issue, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a press statement in October 2021 saying: Members of civil society from around the world engage every day in activities at the UN, but Taiwans scientists, technical experts, business persons, artists, educators, students, human rights advocates, and others are blocked from entry and participating in these activities simply because of the passports they hold.

Why Taiwan should be granted UN membership

There are ample reasons for granting UN membership to China. Many of these reasons were put forward by a letter dated July 7, 1998 that was addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations by representatives of Burkina Faso, El Salvador, the Gambia, Grenada, Liberia, Nicaragua, Sao Tome and Principe, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Swaziland and Solomon Islands. Urging the United Nations to immediately review resolution 2758, and grant membership to Taiwan, the letter argued: As a global organization, the United Nations should not ostracize any member of the global village. The cases of the now unified East Germany and West Germany and the still divided South Korea and North Korea serve as precedents for parallel representation of divided nations in the United Nations. The exchanges between the two parts of Germany via the United Nations and other international organisations undoubtedly contributed to their peaceful unification in 1990.

Since their separation half a century ago, the Republic of China and the Peoples Republic of China have developed under two different systems of political and social values. Until unification is achieved, the Republic of China is entitled to have its own representation in the United Nations. In the meantime, however, the Peoples Republic of China does not in any way represent the 21.8 million people of the Republic of China.

The representatives further said, The geographic location of the Republic of China makes it a focal point of the Asia-Pacific region, so its sense of security and its commitment to cooperation and peace are critical to the stability of the region as a whole.

The letter added, The General Assembly should address the unjust situation created by the adoption of resolution 2758 (XXVI) and restore to the people of the Republic of China their lawful right to participate in the United Nations and all of its activities. The perpetuation of resolution 2758 (XXVI) is the main obstacle barring the Republic of China from the United Nations. It totally ignores the fact that China has been divided into two separate political entities and that each of them exercises jurisdiction over a portion of Chinese territory.

These representatives also reminded the UN that a review by the General Assembly of its resolutions is not without precedent. In 1950, the General Assembly adopted resolution 386 (V) to overturn resolution 39 (I), which had barred Spains participation in the activities of the United Nations. The revocation of resolution 3379 (XXX) in 1991 is another example.

The letter summed it up well, In the current international situation, the continued exclusion of the Republic of China from the United Nations is archaic, unjust and unwarranted. The resolution that perpetuates this exclusion must be reviewed, with a view to restoring to the 21.8 million people of the Republic of China their right to participate in all the activities of the United Nations.

The strange and interesting aspect of these developments where China has been acting as a bully within and outside the United Nations is the fact that these developments, despite being in plain sight, could never make it to the headlines building a global narrative that could put China in a tight spot. This is yet another indication of how China dominates and controls the global narrative. The time has come for the world community to collectively challenge the Chinese narrative. The first step in this direction could be to support Taiwans re-entry into the UN.

(continues)

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed are personal.
Two military events have coincided this week. One, since that ubiquitous mud in the fields of Ukraine has dried, everybody starts to expect a serious showdown there. Two, Chinas new minister of defense, Li Shangfu, showed up in Moscow for his maiden visit abroad.

According to military experts, essentially, Li was asking for details that may help China to understand better how modern wars are being fought. That has to be something that you cannot learn at the maneuvers, small and humble things like the need to have in stock enough of field kitchen equipment working independently of power supply. It is these details that may help China to be ready, in case its been provoked into a conflict, like Russia was.

That reminds me of one of my columns, published last October and titled Russia And Art Of War. A lot of new lessons on the art of war have cropped up in Ukraine since that time.

First lesson is, you may not know, at first, how long it may take and who your real adversary is, so you better stock up for any eventuality. Its not a secret by now, that Russia is really fighting NATO, while the Kiev regime only acts as a proxy in this war. The result is surprising. NATO countries, the US and Europe, have depleted their stocks of ammunition and weapons, spent or destroyed in East Ukraine. We, in Moscow, are holding conferences on the subject of the prospects for NATOs rearmament, which may take 5-6 years and completely change the structure of European economy, struggling under the weight of all kind of predicaments today.

Second, the logic of Kievs actions is in line with the mentioned NATOs stockpile realities. Meaning that the long-awaited spring or summer offensive may be needed only to achieve some success before negotiations. If there is no offensive at all, the Russian long-range strikes will render the whole Ukraine/NATO machinery useless, and what then?

So, Moscow is literally digging in, seriously planning to repel that offensive, with full awareness that the first days of it may bring plenty of nasty surprises. But, at the same time, the slow pressure forward is still going on, increasing the need for NATO to do something drastic to stop the current unfavorable trends. In fact, Russia provokes the adversary into hasty steps.

Third, the human factor in wars is becoming more and more important. That, simply speaking, is about the fate of civilians in the East of Ukraine.

There were three battles won by Russia in this war, and all were about taking the relatively big cities, inhabited by friendly population held hostage by the Ukrainian military. Thats Mariupol, Soledar and, today, Bakhmut. The first two cities have been taken long ago, Bakhmut is taken, too, although the victory has not been proclaimed officially. In any case, only 10 per cent of the Western suburbs of the city are not in Russian hands yet.

To remind, there were several general principles followed by Moscow in this war. One is, lose as few of own soldier as possible. And this order is still standing, there are no heroic suicidal attacks anywhere, soldiers morale is high because of that, and losses are really at a minimum. The other principle is, no destruction of East Ukraine civilian areas, no harm to civilians. Which only makes sense, since we are talking about the generally Russian population, being harassed and decimated by West Ukrainians since 2014. This war is not about taking territories, its about the people living there and wanting out of Ukraine with its endless persecution and atrocities.

And it was exactly why the battle for Bakhmut became a sad experience for all Russians, up to Vladivostok. Ask yourself a simple question: how about the citizens of Bakhmut, what happened to them? Only now we are beginning to get information about it.

The tactics of holding Bakhmut and other cities were built around the idea that residential quarters with people kept inside are the best defensive positions against Russians. Its reported that the Ukrainian command gave them a choice  to go West or stay. Figures are not yet known, but it looks like a sizeable part of population of the city opted for staying and waiting for their Donbass brothers and Russian troops to come. After all, its an East Ukrainian city, and the peoples opinions were obvious. And thats what made them hostages.

The battle for Bakhmut took 8 months, with hand-to-hand combat and moving from house to house, and dont forget the order to avoid losses. But then, when they retreated, Ukrainians began to explode multi-storied buildings, often with civilians in the basement. After all, that city was their logistic hub, and there was not much chance to move out all these huge amounts of explosives. So, in the final days of the battle, earth-shaking blasts were heard from the western streets of the city where Ukrainians still were, and Russian soldiers could not do much to avert it.

The jihadis of ISIS in Syria used that terrorist tactics, too. It looks that taking civilians hostages and holding on in their houses will be a standard tactics of future wars.

So, what now? The situation at the frontline is tricky and double-edged. Taking Bakhmut was an exception in the general defensive strategy of Moscow, because this is a transport hub of all the Eastern Ukraine. All kind of supplies were fanning out of this place, feeding garrisons of Ukrainian troops in dozens of positions. Taking the city lets Russian troops to have their pick among the disjointed defense areas of the adversary. They may advance either on the city of Avdeevka, an artillery shooting range used by Ukrainians to devastate civilian areas in the capitol city of Donetsk, or move West, to the twin city-fortress of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, the headquarters of all Ukrainian operations in East Ukraine. A Ukrainian offensive may hinder these plans, so it has to start soon, as in now, or never.

Dmitry Kosyrev is a columnist for the Russian State agency website ria.ru, as well as for other publications. Views expressed are personal.

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Centered around a post-World War I era, this show tells the story of street a gang in London and their ambitions to prosper by any means necessary
Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt responded Tuesday to a group of artists who claimed them of widespread copyright infringement by exploiting the artists work in generative AI systems.

The businesses requested that a federal court in San Francisco reject the artists proposed class action lawsuit on the grounds that the AI-produced pictures are not comparable to the artists creations and that the case lacked precise details about the photos that were allegedly misappropriated.

Midjourneys lawyer declined to comment. Requests for comment on Wednesday were unanswered from reps for Stability, DeviantArt, and the artists.

Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz sued the companies in January. The artists alleged that the unauthorized copying of their works to train the systems and the creation of AI-generated images in their styles violated their rights.

Stabilitys Tuesday filing said the artists fail to identify a single allegedly infringing output image, let alone one that is substantially similar to any of their copyrighted works. Midjourneys motion said that the lawsuit also does not identify a single work by any plaintiff that it supposedly used as training data.

DeviantArt, an online artist community with a service that allows users to create images through Stabilitys Stable Diffusion system, echoed those arguments and also said it was not liable for the AI companies alleged misconduct.

Even taking Plaintiffs claims at face value, DeviantArt did none of the things that supposedly give rise to the liability asserted, it said.

The case is Andersen v. Stability AI Ltd, US District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-00201.

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MBABANE  The Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, is wishing for His Majesty King Mswati III to continue leading his nation with wisdom.

In a recorded birthday message to the King, the PM, who left the country on Tuesday for the Republic of Korea on a working visit on invitation by the pm of that country, stated that; On behalf of government and emaSwati, I wish His Majesty King Mswati III a happy birthday as he turns 55 years, wishing him many more years of good health and strength, so that he can continue to lead the country with wisdom to greater heights and prosperity. Lunwele Loludze Wena Waphakathi.

Celebrations

Yesterday marked the Kings birthday, though celebrations have been deferred to September 6, when the country will be celebrating 55 years of independence. The PM said his other wish would be for the nation to present His Majesty with the special gift of sustained peace. In a previous question and answer interview with this publication for the Kings Birthday supplement, Dlamini said the unemployment situation in the country, especially among the youth, was a cause for great concern. We simply are not creating enough job opportunities. It is very disturbing to see unemployed people, be they young or old, said the PM. He stated that every liSwati deserved a decent standard of living and this could only be achieved by having access to employment opportunities, including self-employment across the economy.

Responsibility

The PM was questioned on what kept him awake at night, if anything at all, regarding his role and responsibility and why. Furthermore, he said the deteriorating state of the countrys social infrastructure  roads, schools and health facilities, were a cause for concern. He said some of the road networks, especially in the rural areas, were in a bad state of repair. This, he said, limited economic activity and the free movement of goods and services. Such, he said compromised access to health facilities and schools. The PM also stated that the security situation in the country had improved, but how do we keep it like that; we all want peace.
Washington: The Biden administration dismissed Republican senators worries that the Strategic Petroleum Reserves sensitive salt caverns had been harmed by last years record oil withdrawal, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The SPR, a network of naturally occurring salt caverns along the coastlines of Texas and Louisiana, is a source of oil that the government sold in 2017 at a previously unheard-of rate of 180 million barrels. The deal was started by President Joe Biden to reduce the high gasoline costs that had increased following Russias invasion of Ukraine and as more people started travelling as the worldwide epidemic subsided.

That withdrawal sapped the SPR, the worlds largest emergency oil stockpile, to the lowest level since 1983. It also led to concerns by some Republicans that the withdrawal potentially damaged some SPR caverns. Thats because oil is pushed out of the SPR by injecting water into the salt caverns, which can partially dissolve their walls, affecting the shapes and volumes of the containers.

Senator John Barrasso and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, both Republicans, had written to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in November with concerns that the rapid depletion of the SPR may have caused damage to SPRs pipelines and caverns, compromising its ability to meet its energy security mission in the event of a true energy supply interruption.

Kathleen Hogan, an infrastructure official at the Department of Energy, said in a letter received by lawmakers on April 12 that those concerns were unfounded. The necessary emergency sales that took place in 2022 did not damage our SPR pipelines or caverns, Hogan said in the letter, which had not been reported previously.

The Nations top geoscientists at DOEs Sandia National Laboratory continue to closely monitor cavern integrity, and the SPR remains operationally ready to respond to future supply disruptions, should they occur, Hogan said.

Granholm told Reuters late last month that two of the SPRs four sites, Bryan Mound and Bayou Choctaw, would be down until the fall due to life extension work.

That work and a congressionally mandated sale of 26 million barrels from the SPR have delayed buybacks, she said.

The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.

Hogan said in the letter that maintenance was initiated in 2016 and that DOEs request of Congress last year for an additional $500 million was for increased costs, not due to damage from the release. The maintenance work experienced the same supply chain impacts, labour shortages, and other issues that many commercial companies have faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hogan wrote.

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Washington, United States: Following news stories that raised concerns regarding conservative Justice Clarence Thomass interactions with a real estate magnate, Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court was requested to appear before a Senate committee on Thursday.

Roberts or another justice of his choosing was requested by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Democrats, in a letter to attend on 2 May and give a public testimony explaining the ethical standards that apply to the nine justices.

There has been a steady stream of revelations regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards expected, wrote Senator Richard Durbin, the committees head, since the justices most recent appearance before Congress in 2011, also on ethics-related matters.

These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the courts decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence, Durbin wrote.

Thomas, the longest-serving justice on the court and one of its most conservative voices, came under scrutiny after reports by the independent ProPublica news outlet on him and his wife Ginni taking luxury trips with billionaire Harlan Crow.

Thomas, who had crafted an image of a humble justice who prefers to travel around the US in his camper, went island-hopping in 2019 in Indonesia on Crows 162-foot (49 meters) yacht after flying to Asia on Crows private jet, ProPublica reported.

Thomas has also vacationed at Crows ranch in Texas and typically spends about a week every summer at Crows private resort in New Yorks Adirondack mountains, it said.

Crow, a major donor to the Republican party and conservative groups, also bought properties in Savannah, Georgia from the justice, including the home occupied by Thomass mother, ProPublica reported.

But Thomas didnt report any of the transactions or gifts, according to ProPublica and other media reports.

In a 7 April statement, Thomas defended the relationship with Crow and said he had understood that such hospitality from a good friend did not require reporting under official guidelines.

These guidelines are now being changed, he noted.

It is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.

However, Roberts could face more questions about the activities of both Thomases. When two justices were questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2011, a major focus was on the Thomases relations with Crow and other powerful Republican donors.

A specific focus then was Crows donation of $500,000 to fund Ginni Thomass new Liberty Central advocacy group.

Roberts could also be asked about Ginni Thomass role in former president Donald Trumps late-2020 campaign claiming, without evidence, that Joe Bidens election victory over him was fraudulent.

That campaign led directly to the 6 January 2021 assault on Congress by Trumps supporters.

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Johannesburg: Ukrainian Nobel peace prize winner Oleksandra Romantsova on Wednesday urged South Africa to not allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a BRICS summit in the country in August, reported AFP.

Romantsova urged the South African government to show us that they care.

For us South Africa is a place where people are fighting for freedom, for equality for dignity, said Romantsova at a media briefing in Johannesburg, reported AFP.

She added that it would be a great disappointment, if Putin were to come here and not be arrested.

The International Criminal Court warrant against Putin arises from allegations that Russia illegally deported Ukrainian children.

According to AFP, Romantsova, the executive director of the Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties (CCL), advised that the Russian president attend the BRICS summit via Zoom  or send a minister who is not wanted by the ICC.

Last year, CCL shared the peace prize with Belarusian and Russian co-winners.

South Africa, a continental heavyweight, has declined to denounce the invasion of Ukraine, which has largely isolated Moscow on the international scene, claiming that it wishes to remain neutral and favours diplomacy to resolve the crisis.

It undertook a contentious joint military drill with Russia and China earlier this year, which critics point to as proof of a shift towards the Kremlin.

With inputs from agencies

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Washington, United States: Tyre Nichols family has filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Memphis police, according to his familys attorneys on Wednesday. Tyre Nichols was a Black man who passed away after being brutally assaulted by police in the US city.

The assault of Nichols in January, which was caught on tape, triggered rallies against police violence all around the United States. Nichols, who passed away in the hospital three days later, was allegedly beaten by five cops, all of whom were Black.

The savage beating of Tyre Nichols was the direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and decisions of the city of Memphis, in Tennessee, and its police chief, Cerelyn Davis, the lawyers for the family said in a statement.

The federal suit filed by lawyers for Nichols mother, RowVaughn Wells, seeks a jury trial and financial damages.

Its my turn to make sure that my sons death does not go in vain, Wells said at a news conference Wednesday. This has nothing to do with the monetary value of the lawsuit, but everything to do with accountability. Those five police officers murdered my son. They beat him to death and they need to be held accountable.

The lawsuit claims the SCORPION unit launched by Memphis Police Director Cerelyn CJ Davis used extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence and disproportionately focused on and targeted young Black men. It says that the department permitted this aggressive approach and ignored complaints by others targeted before Nichols death.

The lawsuit is seeking $550 million in damages, an amount chosen to send the message to other cities that have similar policies that say its ok to terrorize Black people in Black and brown communities, lawyer Ben Crump said at a news conference.

The number is also a reference to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated 55 years ago this month.

Nichols was pulled over on 7 January by a Memphis special police unit during a traffic stop and was brutally beaten after he ran.

In the aftermath, the officers were fired and faced separate criminal charges.

By early March, more than a dozen city police and fire department employees were facing charges related to Nichols beating, broadcaster NBC reported.

Outrage around Nichols death swept the country, spurring a call to the family by President Joe Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris attended Nichols funeral.

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Kyiv: A flash over the sky in Ukraines capital Kyiv on Wednesday sparked confusion and anxiety as local officials said it was a NASA satellite reentering the atmosphere, however the US space agency denied any involvement, reported AFP.

According to Sergiy Popko, the head of Kyivs military administration, a bright glow was seen over the city about 10:00 pm (1900 GMT).

He added that an air raid alert was activated, but air defence was not in operation.

According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a NASA space satellite falling to Earth, Popko said, reported AFP.

WATCH:

Something happened in Kyiv sky tonight. The whole city is at a loss, what it was. UFO? pic.twitter.com/DAic7QHae2  olexander scherba (@olex_scherba) April 19, 2023

A NASA spokesman, however, rejected this judgement, telling AFP that the satellite was still in orbit.

The retired 660-pound (300-kilogram) Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft (RHESSI) will reenter the atmosphere on Wednesday, according to the US space agency.

However, that reentry has not yet occurred - RHESSI is still in orbit. NASA and the Department of Defense continue to track RHESSI. No other NASA satellite reentered the atmosphere earlier today, a NASA spokesman told AFP.

The RHESSI spacecraft, used to observe solar flares, was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018, NASA said.

The Ukrainian Air Force also said the flash was related to the fall of a satellite/meteorite.

Speculation and memes abounded on Ukrainian social media after videos posted to several channels showed a powerful flash lighting up the sky over Kyiv.

While social media is amused by flying saucer memes please do not use the official symbol of the Air Force to create memes! the Ukrainian Air Force said.

NASA announced in a statement on Monday that the majority of the RHESSI spacecraft would burn up when it enteres the atmosphere.

However, some components are expected to survive reentry, NASA said, adding that the probability of danger to anyone on Earth was negligible.

With inputs from agencies

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New York: A US court ordered on Wednesday that a former prosecutor who formerly oversaw the criminal investigation of former US President Donald Trump by the Manhattan district attorney must appear before a congressional committee.

Last week, Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted Donald Trump in the first-ever criminal case against a former president, sued Republican Representative Jim Jordan to stop a subpoena for testimony from Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor who oversaw the offices Trump investigation.

Jordan, who is the chair of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, issued the summons. The deposition for Pomerantz is set for Thursday.

After hearing arguments in federal court in Manhattan on whether to block the subpoena, US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil issued a written ruling approving the subpoena but encouraging the parties to reach a compromise as to how the subpoena of Pomerantz would proceed.

Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition, Vyskocil wrote, adding in a reference to a phrase frequently used by Trumps critics, No one is above the law.

Less than an hour later, Bragg appealed to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. He asked Vyskocil to delay Pomerantzs testimony until the appeal is heard, saying Jordan had not responded to a similar request.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Jordan said the decision shows Congress has the ability to conduct oversight.

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Bragg, argued that Jordan was seeking to interfere in a local prosecution and intimidate the district attorneys office.

Matthew Berry, the House general counsel, countered that the subpoena was covered by constitutional protection for speech or debate in Congress and that the committee needed Pomerantzs testimony to weigh legislation restricting what he called politically motivated prosecutions of presidents.

Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential campaign, pleaded not guilty on 4 April to 34 felony charges over a hush money payment made before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, to prevent her from discussing a sexual encounter she said they had. He denies the liaison took place.

Vyskocil, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, said she did not endorse either sides agenda. She said she presumed Bragg was acting in good faith, but some of his constituents wish to see Trump prosecuted. She said Jordan had also initiated a political response to Braggs charges.

The sole question before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to quash a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose, she wrote. He does not.

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Following the successful inauguration of the Apple BKC shop in Mumbai, iPhone CEO Tim Cook also launched Apples second retail location in Indias, the Apple Saket store in Delhis Select City Walk mall on April 20, 10:00 AM

People have gathered outside the Apple store in Delhi ahead of its official launch today to get a personal look at the citys new buzz. Tim Cook met with Prime Minister (PM) Modi on his India tour and committed to Apples services and experiences in India, particularly the creation of more employment.

As Apple shops in Delhi and Mumbai take over the cities, here are some interesting facts that highlight, how, despite following the same customer-centric, and sustainable philosophies at both, Apple BKC and Apple Saket, the stores are different.

The logos

The logos of both the Apple stores celebrate the respect cities and the joie de vivre of those cities. While Apple BKCs logo has been inspired by the colourful and unique, kaali-peeli taxis of Mumbai, Apple Sakets logo is inspired by the many historic gates of the capital city and the legacy that these gates enjoy.

The staff

The staff is another area where both the stores differ. Apple BKC will employ about 100+ people across its sections, who speak a total of 20 different languages. Apple Saket, on the other hand, will employ about 70+ people from various states in India, who speak a total of 15 different languages. The difference in number of employees, is mainly because of the size of the stores. Also the store employs 50 per cent women across all positions, including leadership roles.

The size of the outlets

When it comes to the size of the outlets, Apple BKC is spread across 20,000 sq. ft. and has two operational floors, whereas Apple Saket is spread across roughly 10,000 sq. ft and has one operational floor. However, the rent that Apple will pay for both of these stores are almost the same. Apple BKC will cost Apple Rs 42 Lakhs a month whereas Apple Saket will cost the tech giant Rs 40 Lakhs a month in rent.

Sustainability

Both stores have been designed and constructed with sustainability as a major priority. Apple BKC is not only naturally well-lit because of its huge windows, it also runs on 100 per cent renewable energy. Apple Saket on the other hand, may not be as naturally well lit as its Mumbai counterpart, but still, will run on 100 per cent renewable energy. Both stores are also expected to turn carbon neutral pretty soon.

Other than these differences, the experience that both the stores offer, are pretty much the same. The stores have amazing demo areas which will let users experience the product they are about to buy and help them make informed decisions, and the stores have a some highly motivated, and expertly trained staff to take care of everything that a customer might face.

The stores also have a corner for educational sessions called Today At Apple, where artists and tech experts conduct small sessions that help customers get the most out of their Apple products and services.

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Washington: US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John Christopher Aquilino on Wednesday said the US values its partnership with India and is assisting it in all possible ways to counter China as the country defends its border on the northern side.

Noting that India and the United States are facing the same security challenges from China, he said that the Biden Administration is not only providing assistance to New Delhi with cold weather gear, as it defends its border on the northern side, but also helping India in its effort to develop its own industrial base.

We value our partnership with India, and weve been increasing it and doing a lot more, over time. They have the same security challenge, primary security challenger that we do, and its real on their northern border. Two skirmishes now in over the past nine or 10 months on that border, as they continue to get pressurised by the PRC for border gains, Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Indo-Pacific National Security Challenges.

Admiral Aquilino was responding to a question from Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna.

I would like you to reflect on the importance of the relationship  postcolonialism India and China had a relationship to emerge as the Asian voice. But that relationship now has really soured with a concern that there should not be a hegemon in Asia and that China is treating other countries as junior partners, Khanna said.

It seems to me that this gives us an opportunity to ensure that China doesnt emerge as a hegemon to strengthen the relationship with India, said the Indian American Congressman.

Aquillino said both India and the US have the same security challenges. We also have the desire to operate together, based on the worlds largest democracy. We have common values, and we also have people, the people ties for a number of years. I met with General Chauhan, my counterpart, at the Raisina Dialogue not long ago. Ive been to India five times now in the past two years.

So, the importance of that relationship cant be overstated. We operate together, frequently, with the Quad Nations. Again, the Quad is not a security agreement, its diplomatic and economic, but the Quad Nations come together, often, to operate together in multiple exercises. So, we continue to work to be interoperable and to expand the relationship, he observed.

India is a critical partner

In response to another question from Congressman Patrick Ryan, the admiral said India is a critical partner and besides conducting joint war exercises in the Malabar, the US is providing assistance to India as it applies to cold weather gear and other capabilities that they might need, as they defend their border on the northern side.

But additionally, were expanding our cooperation in the form of production as India tries to work to develop its own industrial base. So, C-130 critical components made in India, helicopter critical frameworks made in India. That is expanding the partnership and moving them towards self-sufficiency and increased partnership with the United States, Aquilino added.

Referring to the recently launched India-US initiative for critical and emerging technology announced by the national security advisors of the two countries, Jedidiah P Royal, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security, said, Were already delivering offers under the context of the ISAT arrangement. This is a real moment of convergence for the United States and India and were looking to take full advantage of it, going forward.

Testifying before the committee, Royal said, India faces the same challenger that we face in the region. So what were seeing right now is a moment of strategic convergence in our relationship with the government of India. Theres a lot of momentum in that regard. With respect to your question on from whom do they buy their weapons, we believe that they are through a generational process of looking to diversify off of traditional suppliers.

We want to make sure that the US defence industrial base is in the best position possible to be Indias partner of choice moving forward, he said.

In response to another question, Aquilino said the US is working with our Indian partners both to advance their warfighting capabilities together to ensure that the US is sharing information thats needed.

We do have the same strategic competitor or whatever definition we want to put on it and in my time over in the theatre now for five years straight, it has increased exponentially. Its trending in the right direction. Theyre really good partners, he said.

With inputs from agencies

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Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said it was time for Kyiv to be invited into NATO as his country buoyed by fresh aid from Western allies prepared for a spring offensive to counter the Russian onslaught.

Now, when the majority of people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support the entry of our country into the alliance, it is time to take the appropriate decision, Zelenskyy told the media accompanied by visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Thursday, his first since the Russian invasion, during which he reaffirmed NATOs commitment to Ukrainian victory. This comes as several countries pledged more aid to the war-torn country. The NATO chief reiterated that the alliances priority was to ensure Ukraine prevails in the war against Russia and that a membership plan for Kyiv will be discussed at a summit in July.

Zelenskyys reminder to the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation comes days after Finland threatened by Russias invasion of Ukraine last February became NATOs 31st member recently.

I am grateful for the invitation to visit the summit, but it is also important for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation, he said referring to Ukraines long pending aspiration to join NATO.

There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support NATO accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions, Zelenskyy said.

Echoing the sentiments of a section of NATO members, Stoltenberg on his part clarified that Ukraines rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraines rightful place is in NATO. And over time, our support will help to make this possible, Stoltenberg told reporters in Kyiv.

He pledged further military support for Ukraine, saying that, so far, NATO allies had trained thousands of Ukrainian troops and provided 65 billion euros ($71.31 billion) of military aid alone to the war-ravaged nation. He also assured Zelenskyy that the issue of membership will be high on the agenda at the NATO summit in Vilnius this summer.

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South Padre Island, Texas: Minutes after taking off on its first test flight on Thursday, SpaceXs massive new rocket caught fire and plummeted into the Gulf of Mexico.

From the southern edge of Texas, close to the Mexican border, Elon Musks business planned to launch the almost 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket on a round-the-world journey. Neither humans nor satellites were aboard.

As the rocket ascended from the launch pad and reached a height of 24 miles (39 kilometres), images revealed that a few of the 33 main engines were not functioning. How many engines failed to start or shut down early was not immediately known from SpaceX.

Minutes after liftoff, the rocket was expected to separate from the spaceship, but that didnt happen. Four minutes into the flight, the rocket started to tumble before exploding and falling into the gulf.

The spacecraft was planned to attempt to circle the earth after detaching before crashing into the Pacific Ocean not far from Hawaii.

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: Go, baby, go!

Musk, in a tweet, called it an exciting test launch of Starship!

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk gave 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit.

You never know exactly whats going to happen, said SpaceX livestream commentator and engineer John Insprucker. But as we promised, excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a rather spectacular end.

The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.

It was the second launch attempt. Mondays try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASAs moon rockets  past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceXs smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.

The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.

SpaceX has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for more test flights. Musk wants to fire them off in quick succession, so he can start using Starships to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit and then put people on board.

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MBABANE  Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini has reacted on the issue of Bills being delayed in Senate as alleged by some Members of Parliament (MPs) in recent times.

The issue of delayed Bills in Senate was first raised by Motshane MP Robert Magongo while making remarks at an event at Lobamba Lomdzala Inkhundla, hosted MP Marwick Khumalo, where the former said there were nine Bills which were with Senate, some dating back to 2019, having been deliberated on in the House of Assembly and waiting the green light from Senate. Magongo highlighted the Farm Dwellers Control (Amendment) Bill No.19 of 2019 and the Roads Authority Bill No.5 of 2021, stating that these were very significant Bills that Senate should have prioritised for the betterment of emaSwati, but that has not been the case. Magongo said having so many Bills at their hands was enough to declare that they were actually a sleepy Senate because it amounted to sleeping on the job. Magongo said his friend, in MP Marwick, told him that he was considering retiring from politics, but one option was to join Senate. He asserted that his advice to him was to quit the thinking of joining Senate because they were sleepy and that was justified by the number of Bills that were with them currently.

Bad

On Monday, Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini also touched on the issue of Bills being delayed in Senate, stating that it would put them in bad light as parliamentarians if the Bills remained stuck in Senate. He requested the Speaker, Petros mavimbela, to do anything that he could to ensure that the Bills were pushed to reach their finality and become law so that emaSwati could work. He was making his submissions in relation to the Citizens Economic Empowerment Bill 2021, whose report of the portfolio committee of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade was adopted by the House of Assembly on Monday. In response to recent remarks about the Kingdom of Eswatinis Senate, the Senate president said they would like to update the public on the extensive work the esteemed senators had undertaken and reaffirmed their commitment to a transparent, accountable, and diligent legislative process.

In the statement that was shared to the press, the Senate president said before the 2022 session ended, Finance Bills underwent workshops, and various Bills were at different stages of the legislative process. She said some were in committee stage, others awaited stakeholder consultation via advertisement, and the rest were at the Clause-by-Clause stage. She asserted that these Bills were revived using the appropriate standing order to ensure continuous progress. The Senate prioritised the budget at the beginning of the current session, diligently working to conclude it in a timely manner despite House of Assembly delays. After the budgets conclusion, the Senate developed an extensive programme to address the influx of pending Bills.

It is essential to note that Bill progress depends not only on senators availability but also on the presence of relevant ministers piloting the Bill. Occasionally, scheduling conflicts have arisen, prompting the Senate to find a balance to effectively execute its mandate. In the coming week, the Senate will concentrate on Finance Bills and the Roads Authority and Education Bills, scheduled for discussion on Thursday. The National Payment Systems Bill is slated for Friday. The Ministry will refresh senators on this Bill to ensure a well-informed discussion, she said.

thoroughness

The Senate president said the Senate was dedicated to thoroughness and stakeholder engagement, involving representatives from diverse industries and sectors. She shared that they were committed to not rubber-stamping bills, but rather considering the interests of all emaSwati in their decision-making process. She added that transparency and accountability remained at the heart of their stakeholder engagement and that they documented and publicised all feedback received, enabling stakeholders to monitor Bill progress and hold the Senate accountable for its decisions. In summary, the Kingdom of Eswatinis Senate is deeply committed to the rigorous examination of Bills, active stakeholder engagement, and considering all citizens interests. We take our mandate seriously and prioritise enacting good laws through careful scrutiny instead of hastily passing legislation without proper evaluation. Our focus remains on serving emaSwatis best interests and ensuring that the laws we enact are effective, inclusive, and address the needs and concerns of our citizens, she said.
New Delhi: On Pakistans participation in the foreign ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)  scheduled to take place in Goa from May 4-5  the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said it would not be appropriate to focus on a particular member.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India has been inviting all the SCO member-states for events under Indias presidency that are underway. As the current Chair, India will host the next Summit of the Council of Heads of State this year.

He further underlined that India had extended similar invitations to all SCO member-states, and looked forward to a successful meeting. Specifically, for the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting that is scheduled to take place in Goa on May 4, and 5th, we had extended similar invitations to all SCO member states, and we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not be really appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country, Bagchi said.

On the request for bilateral meetings, he added that it was premature. He further emphasised that the External Affairs Minister does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings. Regarding the request for bilateral meetings, I think, it is premature. Lets see the full participation. Usually, EAM does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as it can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings. You saw that on the occasion of the G20 Foreign Minsiters meeting, the official spokesperson of MEA said.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India in May for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Goa, officials said on Thursday.

Bhutto-Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the meeting of SCO Foreign Ministers (CFM), according to Pakistans Foreign Ministry.

Pakistan Foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, during a weekly presser on Thursday, stated that Bhutto-Zardari is attending the SCO-CFM meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistans continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, the spokesperson said.

Bilawal will be the first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years, reported Business Recorder. In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India.

Relations between the two countries have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks.

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are also likely to participate in the meeting. India took over the chairmanship of the 9-member mega grouping in September last year and will be holding key ministerial meetings and the summit this year.

(With inputs from ANI)

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Toronto: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has informed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) officials in private about Canadas inability to reach the blocs military spending target, according to a leaked Pentagon document obtained by the Washington Post.

According to rules, NATO requires member states to spend at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.

Trudeau informed the alliance that Canada will never reach two per cent defence spending, the document says, noting that Ottawas military budget has not exceeded 1.4 per cent of its economic output in nearly 30 years.

A number of documents from intelligence agencies were leaked in March this year, including information about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China, Turkey, South Korea and Israel.

One of the documents revealed that the US complained about its northern neighbour, saying that Widespread defence shortfalls hinder Canadian capabilities while straining partner relationships and alliance contributions within NATO.

Politically motivated procurement decisions have also left parts of the Canadian military underequipped, Russia Today quoted the leaked assessment as saying, observing that most of its 89 Leopard 2 tanks require extensive maintenance.

It also said that in one unit of 40 tanks, only nine are operational, while the military now has just half of the pilots it needs for full readiness.

As per the document, those enduring deficiencies prompted the Canadian military to conclude earlier this year that it could not conduct a major operation while simultaneously maintaining its NATO battle group leadership and aid to Ukraine.

Trudeau, however, avoided the question regarding spending shortfalls in Canadas spending, saying that Ottawa would do its share while explaining that governments are challenged with a whole bunch of different priorities that we have to get the balance right on.

According to NATO, Canada currently spends around 1.29% of its GDP on defence.

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United Nations: Next months UN-organized summit on Afghanistan wont be focused on the potential global recognition of the Taliban regime, a UN official said on Thursday after remarks made by the deputy UN head raised questions and uncertainty.

On 1 May to 2 May, special envoys on Afghanistan from several nations are scheduled to meet behind closed doors in Doha at the invitation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. On Monday, his deputy Amina Mohammed said the group could find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition.

The Doha conference on the 1st and 2nd of May is not focusing on recognition and we dont want there to be any confusion about that, said Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq. The point of discussion  is to build a more unified consensus on the challenges at hand.

The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew following 20 years of war.

In December, the 193-member UN General Assembly approved postponing, for the second time, a decision on whether to recognize the Afghan Taliban administration by allowing them to send a United Nations ambassador to New York.

Earlier this month the Taliban began enforcing a ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations after stopping most women working for humanitarian aid groups in December. Since toppling the Western-backed government, they have also tightened controls over womens access to public life, including barring women from university and closing most girls high schools.

The Taliban says it respects womens rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

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Kyiv: That wasnt the real Putin, said Ukraine, claiming that it was the Russian Presidents doppelganger instead, who recently travelled to Ukraines Kherson and Luhansk regions partly held by Russia.

Well, first of all, Putin was not there. This is a well-known fact, Ukraines National Security Council Secretary Olexiy Danilov said.

There was no Putin here

In order to communicate with the real Putin, you need to self-isolate for 10 to 14 days. There was no Putin there. There was an ordinary double, of which he has more than one. This is also a well-known fact, Danilov said.

Danilov stated that Putin is a frightened person, and it is simply impossible to think that he could come in such a way.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled again to the war zone in Ukraine and met Russian troops as well as high-ranking officers.

It was one of the rare trips by Putin, although he made a surprise visit to the city of Mariupol, the war zone, in March this year.

Putin a frightened man

Danilov also called Putin a frightened man and claimed that the reason for which he had decided to visit the war zone was simply impossible.

He also said that the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had visited the contested eastern town of Avdiivka on Tuesday, was the exact opposite of his Russian counterpart as he has repeatedly visited the war zone.

Thats the difference with bunker grandpa Putin, who will soon be scared of himself, Danilov alleged.



Putin visits occupied Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin, on Monday (17 April) took a helicopter to the command post of Russian forces in southern Ukraines Kherson province. He then flew to headquarters of the Russian National Guard in Luhansk province, in the countrys east.

Also Read: Putin visits military headquarters in Ukraines Kherson and Luhansk, says Kremlin

Video shared showed the Russian President donned a dark suit and attended briefings with his military brass on both of his stops.

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New Delhi: Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships that are moving in the Nordic seas and collecting data for potential sabotage of underwater cables and wind farms in the region, according to a collaborative investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

The broadcasters, according to CNN, including Norways NRK and Swedens SVT, used data analysis, intercepted radio communications, and intelligence sources to illustrate how some 50 boats had been gathering intelligence for the last 10 years by deploying underwater surveillance equipment to map important spots for future sabotage.

The report states that the Russian ships have been cruising by key oil and gas fields, deep-water quays, small airports and locations crucial for the Norwegian Armed Forces.

According to CNN, The Admiral Vladimirsky, one of the ships at the centre of the investigation, is reportedly a Russian espionage ship, even though it is officially employed for underwater research expeditions.

The investigators followed the boats movements and discovered that it had spent a month travelling across Nordic waters with its transmitter off in order to remain undetected, passing by wind farms and Swedish Armed Forces naval training grounds.

A masked man with an assault rifle stepped on deck as a TV crew from Danish public broadcaster DR approached the ship in the water between Sweden and Denmark. The incident was captured on tape.

The investigation also points out that the Russian fishing vessel Taurus, which brought fish to Norway between 2015 and 2022, has also been spotted in strange locations, including very close to military sites where all nautical traffic is forbidden.

The Dutch intelligence officials had earlier warned that Russia in the past has tried to gain information with the motive of a potential sabotage of important infrastructure.

Tensions between Moscow and Helsinki have also heightened after Finland joined NATO. In return, Russia has warned that expanding NATO will not bring more stability to Europe.

With inputs from agencies

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London: Sundar Nagarajan, a 66-year-old Indian citizen, was arrested here on suspicion of funding the proscribed terrorist organisation Hizbollah.

Sundar Nagarajan, (27.08.57) of Hayes UB3, was taken into police custody before appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court this afternoon for commencement of extradition proceedings, read a statement by the Metropolitan Police, ANI reported.

On request of US authorities, the officials from the National Extradition Unit  acting on an international arrest warrant  detained Nagarajan from West London.

Born in Madurai, Nagarajan  also known as Kasiviswanathan Naga and Nagarajan Sundar Poongulam  faces extradition to the US where he faces charges of helping to launder money to evade US sanctions and fund Hizbollah.

Nagarajan was taken into police custody before appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court this afternoon for the commencement of extradition proceedings. He was remanded to next appear at the same court on April 25, added the release.

Officers from the Mets Counter Terrorism Command also arrested one Nazem Ahmad on suspicion of funding terrorism, as part of a wider UK and US coordinated action targeting terrorism financing.

According to the US, the Lebanese terrorist outfit Hizbollah uses Nazem Ahmad, and his companies, to launder substantial amounts of money bound for the terrorist group and Nagarajan is the international accountant for Nazem.

Ahmad is believed to be connected to a wealthy art collector and diamond dealer and is suspected of being a funding source for Hizballah, said Metropolitan Police.

Sanctions against Ahmad were announced earlier today by the UK Government. The US government also announced sanctions against Ahmad and a number of his associates, added the release. Todays arrests are the result of ongoing work and cooperation with our American colleagues, and are a key milestone in what is a complex investigation into terrorist financing, said Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, of the Mets Counter Terrorism Command.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese militant group, backed by Iran, which the UK government classified as a terrorist organisation in 2019. Terrorist groups rely on financial support and funding for their activities and the NTFIU works closely with agencies in the UK and around the world to identify and take action against those people who provide and facilitate this funding. With our international partners, we will never give up on our mission to disrupt terrorist activity, both in the UK and abroad, in order to keep the public safe, Rees added.

The US Treasury Department had on April 18 this week unveiled sanctions on what it said was a vast international money laundering and sanctions evasion network, targeting 52 people and entities over the payment and shipment of cash, diamonds, precious gems, art and luxury goods for the benefit of Nazem Ahmad.

The network operating in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Angola, Cote dIvoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong facilitated the payment, shipment, and delivery of cash, diamonds, precious gems, art, and luxury goods for the benefit of Hizballah financier and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Nazem Said Ahmad, who was designated on December 13, 2019, for providing material support to Hizballah, the US Treasury Department said.

According to a US Treasury Department release, Sundar Nagarajan acted as Nazem Said Ahmads primary international accountant, providing material support through his management of, and accounting for, businesses in Nazem Said Ahmads network.

Nagarajan is the central manager of financial ledgers detailing the networks operations in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. Sundar Nagarajan also facilitated payment for and shipment of art that Nazem Said Ahmad purchased from major auction houses and galleries, it said.

(With inputs from ANI)

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London: After Stats showed that black people make only 1% of the blood donors across the country, UK government has launched a campaign to encourage people of black heritage to donate blood in order to save black lives.

As part of the campaign, influential black people have been asked to motivate people to donate blood and address the bigger cause which is to help black people fight deadly diseases.

As per reports, the campaign has been launched in order to enable people of black fraternity to fight against deadly genetic diseases such as sickle cell, which is the fastest growing genetic condition in the UK. And doctors believe its best treatment is using blood that is an ethnic match.

The campaign to raise awareness of the issue has been started by Lord Simon Woolley, the originator of Operation Black Vote, Dame Sharon White, the chair of the John Lewis Partnership, and Anne Mensah, Netflixs vice president for UK content, according to a Sky news report.

According to the most recent NHS Blood and Transplant data, barely 1% of active donors in the nation are Black.

The best treatment for illnesses like sickle cell anaemia is blood that matches the patients ethnicity.

As she gave blood at a brand-new NHS donor site in east London to launch the campaign, Dame Sharon said to Sky News, I have a sickle cell trait in my family, but we were very lucky we have not had the full-blown condition. Anything I can do to inspire people to donate blood is wonderful.

Dame Sharon, who hadnt given blood in 20 years, said it was wonderful to support her neighbourhood.

She continued, Its just such a small thing to do that can have such a wonderful impact on those in need.

Compared to 2% of the general population, more than 55% of Black people in the UK have the Ro subtype needed by sickle cell sufferers, and 250 donations per day are now required to treat sickle cell, the UKs fastest-growing genetic disorder, as opposed to 150 per day five years ago.

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Mexico City: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address Mexicos Congress by video on Thursday in an effort to gain support for his nations ongoing conflict with Russia, according to two persons with knowledge of the situation.

The leftist president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has come under fire from certain Ukrainian sympathisers for his opposition to European arm supplies to Kyiv. The Mexican administration has stated its desire to maintain neutrality in the crisis.

Nevertheless, Mexico has cast a vote on a number of significant UN resolutions with the United States and other Western nations.

According to the sources, the address was scheduled to start Thursday at about noon.

Zelenskyys address to the lower house of Congress came at the invitation of a congressional friendship group between Mexico and Ukraine, according to the sources. There are other similar groups in the Mexican Congress, including one for Russia.

The Ukrainian embassy in Mexico did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The German president and the US ambassador to Mexico have been among the diplomatic allies that have sought to persuade the Mexican government to side with Ukraine against Russia.

Attempts to sway public opinion in Mexico over the war in Ukraine have led to some notable spats in Congress.

Last year, the Russian ambassador to Mexico told Mexican lawmakers that Mexico would never take orders from Uncle Sam, prompting the US ambassador to urge Mexico to support Ukraine.

Lopez Obrador last year proposed a plan to halt the fighting in Ukraine, although Ukrainian officials opposed it, arguing it would be advantageous to Russia.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard met separately with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the peace plan at the UN General Assembly in September. Nothing has come of the plan so far.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is currently on a Latin American tour, visiting Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

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Khartoum: As competing troops fought for a sixth day on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded with Sudans warring sides to respect a ceasefire throughout the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr to enable people to enter safe places.

To the sound of gunshots and explosions, thousands of citizens fled Khartoums city. Several thousand people entered Chad to escape conflict in Darfurs western area.

In the event that it chose to evacuate its embassy in Khartoum, the United States declared that it was deploying extra soldiers to the area.

The violent power struggle that broke out last weekend between two formerly associated leaders of Sudans governing military junta has already claimed the lives of more than 330 people.

The fiercest battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been around Khartoum  one of Africas largest urban areas  and in Darfur, still scarred by a long conflict that ended three years ago.

Guterres, speaking to reporters after meeting virtually with the heads of the African Union, the Arab League and other organizations, said: There was a strong consensus on condemning ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for cessation of hostilities as an immediate priority.

Civilians trapped in conflict zones should be allowed to escape and seek medical treatment, food and other supplies, he said.

Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told Al Jazeera he would support a truce on condition it allowed citizens to move freely  something he said the RSF had so far prevented.

He also said he currently saw no partner for negotiations, and no other option but the military solution.

His rival, RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, told Al Jazeera he was ready to implement a three-day truce over Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and will start on Friday or Saturday.

Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, has said several times he supports short ceasefires but each has quickly collapsed.

We are talking about a humanitarian truce, we are talking about safe passages  we are not talking about sitting down with a criminal, Dagalo said, referring to Burhan.

Burhan accused Dagalo, until last week his deputy on the council that has ruled since a coup two years ago, of a power grab.

An alliance between the two men had mostly held since the overthrow four years ago of long-time strongman Omar al-Bashir, whose rule saw Sudan become an international pariah that was on the US terrorism list.

The latest violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government. Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition.

Fighting and fleeing

Since hostilities erupted, much of the fighting has focused on the compound housing the army HQ and Burhans residence. The embassy district and airport have also been the scene of clashes.

Witnesses in the city of El-Obeid, east of Darfur, described clashes between the army and RSF troops and widespread looting.

In Khartoum and sister cities Omdurman and Bahri, residents gathered at bus terminals with suitcases after more explosions and gunfire in the morning.

Theres no food, supermarkets are empty, the situation isnt safe, honestly, so people are leaving, said a resident who gave only his first name, Abdelmalek.

Many other local people remain trapped, along with thousands of foreigners in a city that has become a war zone.

Burnt-out vehicles litter the streets and shells have torn gaping holes in buildings including now-closed hospitals, where bodies lie unburied.

In Geneva, the World Health Organisation urged the combatants to open a safe corridor for medics and to allow those trapped to flee.

Around 10,000 to 20,000 people escaping the fighting have taken refuge in villages along the border inside Chad, the UN refugee agency UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

Even before the conflict, around a quarter of Sudans population was facing acute hunger but the WFP halted one of its largest global operations in the country on Saturday after three workers were killed.

Sudan borders seven countries and sits strategically between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africas volatile Sahel region, so the hostilities risk fanning regional tensions.

Chad said it had stopped and disarmed a Sudanese contingent of 320 soldiers on Monday, while the RSF has returned Egyptian troops it captured at the northern Merowe base at the weekend.

Looting

The RSF has up to 100,000 troops, according to analysts. The army has artillery and warplanes and controls access to Khartoum. It appeared to be trying to cut supply routes to RSF fighters, residents and witnesses said.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Burhan said much of the RSF was now out of control, accusing fighters of looting and attacking foreign diplomats and aid workers.

Washington has said it had preliminary indications the RSF was behind an attack on its diplomats, and witnesses say RSF gunmen have been involved in looting and attacks on aid workers.

Separately, Dagalo told the FT the armed forces were to blame for hitting hospitals and non-military targets, as well as the attacks on diplomats and guests.

The Pentagon said in a statement it was deploying additional forces to the region to evacuate US Embassy personnel from Sudan if circumstances require it.

The United States said it was not currently safe to evacuate private citizens, while Japans defence ministry placed military transport aircraft in Djibouti to prepare to evacuate 63 of its nationals.

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Washington: As Ukraine continues to burn through artillery munitions at a high rate, the United States on Wednesday announced $325 million in new military aid for Ukraine.

According to Voice of America (VOA), the package is expected to include more artillery rounds and rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

Before the aid was made public, defence sources told VOA that it also included AT-4 anti-armour guns, anti-tank mines, and TOW anti-tank guided missiles, which were needed to drive back Russian ground forces that had fortified themselves in seized areas of Ukraine.

The package marks the 36th authorised presidential drawdown of military equipment from Defence Department inventories.

According to VOA, the aid comes as battle lines in Ukraine have become static, exposing the larger Russian powers weaknesses and Ukraine stubbornly defending its territory, according to a senior US official.

As per the head of Ukraines ground forces, Russia was increasing its use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, even as Russia continued to sustain significant losses in the battle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently made an appeal to the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on Wednesday and renewed his call to confiscate Russian Central Bank assets held around the world and use them to help rebuild Ukraine.

To charge the aggressor with compensation for damagesRussia must feel the full price of its aggression, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said by video link.

At a virtual roundtable hosted by the World Bank and the IMF on Wednesday (local time), Zelensky stood and called for a moment of silence for a Ukrainian soldier who appears to have been beheaded. A gruesome video that purports to show the beheading spread quickly online and drew outrage in Ukraine, in the latest accusation of atrocities said to have been committed by Russian troops.

Also, the World Bank announced today $200 million in grant financing for a project that will repair Ukraines energy infrastructure.

With inputs from agencies

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MBABANE  He wants another judge for his case.

This is the lawyer who is accused of sexually violating his children, cousin and helper. He contends that the presiding Judge, Sabelo Masuku, is the son of Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku. His contention is that, besides the judge being a son to the DPM, the latter made some statements, which he claimed influenced his arrest and subsequent prosecution.

On Tuesday, *Musas representative, Khumbulani Msibi, told the court that his client intended to file an application for the recusal of Judge Masuku. Together with Crown Counsel Mncedisi Dlamini, Msibi approached Judge Masuku in chambers, where he moved the recusal application. The procedure is that the party who seeks the recusal of a judicial officer first makes the application in chambers.

Recuse

If the judicial officer refuses to recuse himself from the matter, the party seeking the recusal proceeds to file a formal application, stating their reasons to want the judicial officer to be removed. In chambers, the judge was informed that by virtue of the parent-and-child relationship between him (judge) and the DPM, an ordinary bystander watching from afar would not have confidence in the outcome of the trial. The judge was also informed that in other words, justice would not manifest and undoubtedly be seen to be done. He said although his client did not have evidence of interference by the DPM in the trial, by virtue of their relationship, the judge may be unconsciously influenced to act on the DPMs sentiments. The judge, on the other hand, said it was unfair because, as a politician, the DPM talked politics on any subject anytime, every day. He wondered if that meant that he had to recuse himself from every case the DPM made comments on.

When Msibi and Dlamini returned from seeing Judge Masuku in his chambers, Msibi applied that the trial should be deferred to another date. In the meantime, Msibi applied for leave to file a formal application for the recusal of Judge Masuku. The formal recusal application on notice of motion will be filed tomorrow. Msibi said they were entitled to be heard on the application. Dlamini told the court that the Crown was opposed to the application for the recusal of Judge Masuku. The Crown will advance its reasons for the opposition when responding to the application yet to be filed. Judge Masuku said there had been an indication (in chambers) that the accuseds attorney wanted to apply for his recusal. He stated that the normal course was that counsel approached the judge in chambers. The judge also said it was better that the application be done on notice of motion, since the Crown was opposed to it.

The Crown will file its answering papers next Wednesday. Msibi said he would file a replying affidavit on May 2, 2023 and heads of argument, and other relevant documents, on May 5, 2023. The Crown will file its heads of arguments on May 10, 2023. Since the High Court will be on recess from April 28, 2023, the recusal application will be heard on the next session, on a date yet to be allocated. The accused lawyer, who was dressed in a black suit and a striped white shirt, was in leg irons when he arrived at the High Court.

Pictures

The lawyer almost lost it when some journalists took pictures of him as he told them to ask for permission to photograph him. His sister also did not take kindly to the pictures of the accused being taken by journalists. The attorney, who is detained at Zakhele Remand Centre, remained locked in discussion for some time with his legal representative after the court had adjourned indefinitely. His relatives, including the children he is accused of sexually violating and their mothers, were present in court. The helper who was also allegedly impregnated by the lawyer was also present with her child. Among them were other witnesses, one from the Republic of South Africa (SA), since the trial was supposed to start on Tuesday. Members of the Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) were also present to observe the proceedings.

PUDEMO Deputy President Wandile Dludlu addressed members of his party and SWAYOCO after the court proceedings and informed them that they had previously delivered a petition to the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration/Integrity, which was headed by Masuku (now judge). Dludlu said the then Masuku-led commission compiled a list of individuals who were killed during the political unrest and presented the list to the State. He alleged that the list was used by State agents to visit homesteads of the people who were killed and those who sustained permanent injuries. You can see the kind of judge we are dealing with here. That is why you must take this matter very seriously, said Dludlu. The accused attorney is still in custody after Judge Zonke Magagula dismissed his application for bail in October 2022.

The lawyer, whose identity will not be revealed to protect the complainants, subsequently filed an appeal against Judge Magagulas decision to dismiss his application for bail. One of the reasons for dismissing his application was that he knew the complainants in the matter and was likely to interfere with them.

Removal

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare was granted an order by the Mbabane Magistrates Court, for the removal of the lawyers four-year-old daughter and another from his homestead. The department had filed the application after making an assessment of the living conditions at the lawyers homestead and the court granted the order that the children be removed to a place of safety. The four-year-old child and the other, who was aged 17 years, were removed from the homestead of the lawyer, as per the order. The involvement of the Department of Social Welfare officers in the matter, regarding another minor who was allegedly sexually violated by the lawyer, was at the instance of a prosecutor, who is related to the child.

One of the abused children told the police that she tried to commit suicide several times and another had been removed from the lawyers homestead to a safe house. This publication established that the lawyer allegedly took some of the children to SA for abortion procedures once they fell pregnant. It has been gathered also that one of the children allegedly fell pregnant about four times. One of his daughters, his niece and a helper, allegedly gave birth to the attorneys children after failed abortion attempts at his instance. The minors were allegedly sexually abused by the lawyer for years, beginning from when some of them were as young as 12 years old. One of the abused children now works for one security services and another is a studying in SA.

Investigation

An investigation by this publication established that members of the community where the attorney resides, who were aware of the alleged sexual abuse experienced by the children at the hands of their father, were enraged that nothing was seemingly being done to the lawyer. The community members were said to be contemplating taking the law into their own hands, due to the snails pace at which the matter was being addressed. One of the children, *Lungile, informed the police that everyone at home was blaming me for having sexual intercourse with my father, as if it was my fault. She told the police that she stayed with her father, stepsister, her brother and a helper in 2006, when she was doing Form I and was 12 years old. She said her stepmother stayed in another town, where she was employed and she would visit them on weekends. In the same year, according to Lungile, the lawyer began touching her inappropriately and sexually abusing her and her aunt, who was a year older than her. *Not real names to protect complainants
New Delhi: The Philippines on Wednesday said that it wont allow the United States to stockpile weapons that could be deployed to defend Taiwan on bases Washington has access to under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

According to South China Morning Post, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo told a senate hearing that Washington would not be permitted to conduct activities that were not stipulated in the 2014 deal.

Our view is that EDCA is not aimed at any third country outside, its meant for use for the Philippines, Manalo was quoted as saying by the news outlet.

Philippines friends to all policy

Noting that governments key foreign policy was really to be friends to all, Manalo pledged the security agreement would reflect that position.

According to The Philippine Star, the minister also said Manila would not authorise US troops to refuel, repair and reload at EDCA sites.

Senator and President Ferdinand Marcos Jnrs sister Imee Marcos questioned the rationale behind the selection of the locations during the hearing.

Defence chief Carlito Galvez Jnr said the sites were chosen to protect the countrys vulnerable north and its maritime interests in the West Philippine Sea.

Unconvinced, Marcos retorted that she and the fishermen in the northern region did not believe they were at risk.

US has access to nine bases

Washington has access to nine sites near the Taiwan Strait and the disputed South China Sea under EDCA, which allows the US to rotate in troops for prolonged stays as well as build and operate facilities on its bases.

The new locations, according to Manila and Washington, will mostly be used to respond to natural and man-made disasters in the Southeast Asian country.

The US has been accused of using the bases to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Strait to serve its geopolitical goals, but China has harshly slammed the pact and rejected that explanation.

China has also denounced the Philippines for its defence alliance with the US.

As a result, President Marcos said on Wednesday that he would meet Beijings ambassador in Manila and seek an explanation over his remarks on how the Philippines was stoking the fire over Taiwans independence.

With inputs from agencies

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New Delhi: American arms manufacturers are having trouble getting enough rocket motors to make missiles for Ukrainian forces, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The largest ground war in Europe since World War II isnt translating into boom times for US defence contractors as supply chain disruptions, a tight labor market and a Pentagon procurement process that can take years are pushing the production targets back.

According to the report, in a quarterly earnings report released on Tuesday, Lockheed Martin said that although its overall sales rose from a year earlier, sales of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) fell due to a lower volume leaving its factories.

GMLRS projectiles are artillery rockets, and are fired from Lockheed Martins M142 HIMARS platform.

US military aid to Ukraine

According to the most recent Pentagon data, the US has provided 38 HIMARS platforms to Ukraine. The Defence Department does not publicly state how many GMLRS projectiles have been delivered to Kiev, but a Reuters investigation put the number at over 5,000 last November, exceeding the 4,600 that Lockheed Martin can produce annually.

A shortage of rocket motors has hindered the companys efforts to boost production, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Other missile makers like Raytheon Technologies have also been affected, the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Lockheed Martin also uses solid-fuel rocket motors in its Javelin anti-tank missiles, of which more than 8,500 have been sent to Ukraine over the last year.

During a visit by President Joe Biden to the companys Javelin manufacturing facility in Alabama last May, CEO Jim Taiclet vowed to double production of the shoulder-fired missiles by 2024. However, the company and the Pentagon said that the date has since been pushed back to 2026.

We thought we could get there earlier, the Wall Street Journal quoted Jay Malave, Lockheed Martins Chief Financial Officer, as saying.

Sole supplier

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings is the sole supplier of rocket motors to US missile manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies.

However, despite receiving a $216 million contract from the Pentagon last week to increase production, Aerojet claimed that it was still recovering from a fire that occurred in one of its factories the previous year, and antitrust authorities are still looking into the companys sale to aerospace giant L3Harris Technologies.

While rocket artillery and guided missile production are apparently hindered, Ukraine is also grappling with a shortage of conventional artillery rounds. Leaked Pentagon documents recently suggested that the shortfall is delaying a planned spring offensive by Kievs forces, while the US is reportedly looking to its allies to replenish its depleted stockpiles.

Russia has cautioned that the proliferation of Western weapons will only make the conflict in Ukraine worse. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, said earlier this month that the Wests role is gradually increasing and that it cannot influence the final outcome of the special operation.

With inputs from agencies

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Washington: According to a US official, as new heavy gunfire broke out on Thursday, the US is ready to send a sizable number of extra troops to its base in Djibouti in case an ultimate evacuation from Sudan occurs.

The official declined to go into further detail while speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Last weekend saw the start of a violent power struggle between forces led by two formerly associated members of Sudans ruling council that have so far claimed more than 330 lives and plunged the country into what the UN has dubbed a humanitarian crisis.

We are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel from Sudan if circumstances require it, the Pentagon said in a statement.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden ordered the pre-positioning of military forces to be ready, adding that Biden was closely following developments.

Kirby added that there are no indications Americans are being targeted, but that it was a dangerous situation.

The best thing that can happen is for the two sides to lay down arms, abide by the ceasefire and let humanitarian aid get to the people in Khartoum, Kirby said.

The State Department previously told US citizens in Sudan to remain sheltered in place indoors.

A State Department spokesperson said Washington does not provide numbers of US citizens living in or travelling to a particular country and for security reasons declined to say how many embassy staff are in Sudan.

The fiercest battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been around Khartoum, one of Africas largest urban areas, and in Darfur, still scarred by a brutal conflict that ended three years ago.

Sudans military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, heads a ruling council installed after the 2021 military coup and the 2019 ouster of veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, who analysts say may command more than 100,000 fighters, was his deputy on the council.

The latest violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government. Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition.

A group of four countries known as the Quad  the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia  have pushed international efforts to find a political solution in Sudan, along with the United Nations, the African Union and African trade bloc IGAD.

Sudan has been a focus of US diplomatic efforts in Africa as Washington works to counter Russian influence in the country and the wider region. Russia is investing in gold mining in Sudan and has been trying to finalize an agreement to establish a naval base on Sudans Red Sea coast.

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Kyiv: An unidentified flare that lit up the sky over the capital of Ukraine sparked a lot of rumours on Wednesday night.

Around 22:00, a bright glow was seen in the sky above the nations capital. (19:00 GMT).

Although an air raid alert was raised, Serhiy Popko, the chief of Kyivs military administration, stated on Telegram that air defence was not in operation.

Popko speculated that it was caused by a retired 300 kilogramme (660 lb) spacecraft, which the space agency said was scheduled to re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday, crashing to Earth.

However, according to a BBC report, the US space agency believes the NASA satellite was still in orbit, contrary to what officials in Kyiv initially believed.

Later, according to Ukrainian space officials, the flash was likely caused by a meteorite entering the atmosphere.

Watch Video:

There was a mystery flash lights up in skies over Kyiv last night. We know what caused it, right? The Strafe is nigh! pic.twitter.com/cnWfVmAz73  Shatterline FPS (@ShatterlineFPS) April 20, 2023

Since the invasion last year, the air force had reason to believe it was not a Russian air attack.

The RHESSI satellite, which was placed into low Earth orbit in 2002 and used to monitor solar flares, was decommissioned in 2018, according to Nasa.

The satellite, however, was still in orbit when the light was seen, and Rob Margetta from NASAs office of communications informed the BBC that it was scheduled to re-enter Earths atmosphere during the night.

The RHESSI satellite was nowhere near Ukraine at the time, according to the satellite tracking website Satflare.

Theories and jokes about what the flash could have been have proliferated on Ukrainian social media, with aliens being a common subject.

The flare was also spotted above Belarus to the north, according to air force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat, and the Ukrainian space agency said it was likely caused by a cosmic body entering the dense layers of the atmosphere.

Officials in Kiev stated that while experts would determine what it was, the security of the city was of utmost importance.

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The death toll from a stampede during a charity distribution in Yemens capital Sanaa on Thursday has risen to 85, AFP reported. Over 100 people have also been injured in the incident.

The dead and injured have been moved to nearby hospitals and those responsible for the distribution were taken into custody, the interior ministry run by Houthi rebels said.

Authorities have called for an investigation.

Houthis fired shots in the air, caused panic: Eyewitnesses

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told AP that armed Houthis fired shots in the air in an attempt to control the crowd. The gunshots apparently struck an electrical wire and caused it to explode. That sparked panic, and people began stampeding, they added.

The Houthis interior ministry said a random distribution of sums of money by some merchants.

The distribution in the Bab al-Yemen area of Houthi-controlled Sanaa came days ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Videos circulating on social media showed bodies lying on the ground inside a large complex as people clamoured around them.

Yemens conflict broke out in 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year to prop up the internationally recognised government.

Fighting in Yemen has triggered what the United Nations describes as one of the worlds worst humanitarian tragedies.

More than 21.7 million  two-thirds of the population  need humanitarian assistance this year, according to the UN.

With inputs from agencies

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MBABANE  All the complainants, who are the accuseds daughters, helper and cousin, reportedly fell pregnant during the alleged sexual abuse by the lawyer.

This is reflected in the indictment that has been presented to the court by the Crown. *Musa is alleged to have raped and impregnated three of his daughters. Others who recorded statements with the police, include the lawyers niece and helper, who he also allegedly impregnated. The lawyer is facing five counts; three of rape and two under the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act 15/2018. The offences, according to the charge sheet, are accompanied by aggravating factors as the complainants are his biological daughters. The Crown will parade nine witnesses to prove its case. The lawyers daughters are expected to narrate to the court how their father allegedly assaulted them sexually. They are also expected to tell the court about their pregnancies and what happened after they fell pregnant.

This publication reported previously that the lawyer allegedly took some of the children to the Republic of South Africa (SA) for abortion procedures once they fell pregnant. It was also reported that one of the children fell pregnant about four times. One of the attorneys daughters, his niece and the helper, allegedly gave birth to his children after failed abortion attempts allegedly at his instance. The minors were allegedly sexually abused by the lawyer for years, beginning from when some of them were as young as 12 years old. One of the abused children now works for one of the security services and another is a studying in SA.

An investigation by this publication established that members of the community where the attorney resides, who were aware of the alleged sexual abuse experienced by the children at the hands of their father, were enraged that nothing was seemingly being done to the lawyer. This was prior to his arrest. The community members were said to be contemplating taking the law into their own hands, due to the snails pace at which the matter was being addressed. *Not his real name to protect the complainants
vivo just announced the X Fold2, the companys latest foldable phone and the X Flip, its first flip phone at an event in China, as it had promised. Both these have 120Hz AMOLED foldable displays and are powered by Snapdragon 8 series SoCs.

vivo X Fold2  Display

The X Fold2 features worlds first 8.03 2K+ internal and 6.53 1080p external E6 AMOLED LTPO screens with 120Hz refresh rate. The 8.03-inch super large screen when unfolded. The screen has SCHOTT UTG glass cover and supports 3D ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner on the inside and outside.

Design

It also has a new ultra-durable and lightweight hinge uses vivos self-developed FS54 aviation-grade material, which has higher strength and lighter weight, and has passed the Rheinland 40W fold-free worry-free test. The water drop hinges diameter is now 5mm compared to 4.6mm in the X Fold and X Fold+.

Compared with the previous generation, the thickness and weight have been reduced by 2mm and 33g, respectively. The hinge parts of X Fold2 is reduced by 83 compared with the previous generation, and the hinge weight is reduced by 30%.

The folding life of the new machine is 33% higher than that of the previous generation, and can achieve a folding life of 400,000 times, said the company.

Performance

It is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC with 12GB of RAM, and the company says that it has scored 1.348 million points on AnTuTu. The phone has industrys exclusive new-generation SPU security chip, which can provide comprehensive security and privacy protection. The X Fold2 has, 2448 mm industrys largest VC liquid cooling heat dissipation area, the company added.

Camera

It has a 50MP rear cameras with VCS bionic spectrum technology developed by vivo and Sony that reduces noise by 20%, and increases color reproduction ability by 15%. There is Zeiss T* coating for the lens.

There is vivos self-developed imaging chip V2. When shooting night scenes, the brightness is significantly increased, and uses extreme noise reduction, so the highlights are not exposed, and the dark parts have details, according to vivo.

The phone packs a 4800mAh battery, and it is the worlds first foldable phone to feature 120W wired fast charging that can charge up to 100% in 26 minutes, and the phone also comes with 50W wireless charging.

vivo X Fold2 specifications

8.03-inch (2160 x 1916 pixels) 2K+ E6 AMOLED LTPO display with 1-120Hz refresh rate, HDR 10+, Dolby Vision, up to 1800 nits brightness

6.53-inch (2520  1080 pixels) FHD+ E6 AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, up to 1600 nits brightness

Octa Core Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 4nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 740 GPU

12GB LPDDR5X RAM with 256GB / 512GB UFS 4.0 storage

OriginOS 3 based on Android 13

Dual SIM

50MP camera with Sony IMCX866 sensor, f/1.75 aperture, OIS, Zeiss T* coating, V2 chip, 12MP 108 ultra-wide camera with Sony IMX663 sensor, f/2.0 apeture, 12MP portrait telephoto camera, f/1.98 aperture

16MP front camera on the inside and outside with f/2.45 aperture

In-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on the inside and outside

USB Type-C Audio, Stereo speakers

Dimensions: 161.29143.435.95mm (expanded)/ 73.42mm12.9mm (Black) / 13.2mm (Red and Blue) (folded); Weight: 278g (Red and Blue) / 279g (Black)

5G SA/NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ax (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.3 LE, GPS (L1 + L5 Dual band), NFC, USB Type-C

4800mAh (typical) battery with 120W fast charging, 50W wireless charging, reverse wireless charging

vivo X Flip

The X Flip has a 6.74-inch foldable 120Hz AMOLED screen with UTG glass an invisible crease and a 3-inch large external screen, with a mirror application opening features, so several apps can also be opened on the external screen without opening the inner screen.

The soft light makeup mirror function promises the experience of using a physical makeup box, and turns into a real makeup box in seconds. The upper half of the screen is as clear as a mirror, and the lower half of the screen has a variety of Makeup function.

It has worlds first TUV Rhineland certification that can achieve a folding life of 500,000 times. The phone is powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC with 12GB of RAM, has a 50MP rear camera, and packs a 4400mAh battery with 44W fast charging.

vivo X Flip specifications

6.74-inch (2520  1080 pixels) FHD+AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, 1920Hz High frequency PWM dimming

3-inch (682  422 pixels) AMOLED display with 60Hz refresh rate

Octa Core Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 730 GPU

12GB LPDDR5X RAM with 256GB / 512GB UFS 3.1 storage

OriginOS 3 based on Android 13

Dual SIM

50MP camera with f/1.75 aperture, OIS, Zeiss T* coating, 12MP 106 ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture

32MP front camera on the inside and outside with f/2.45 aperture

Side-mounted fingerprint sensor

USB Type-C Audio, Stereo speakers

Dimensions: 166.42 (expanded) / 86.4mm (folded) 75.257.75~8.19mm (unfolded)/ 16.62~17.56mm (folded); Weight: 198g (Purple and Black) / 199g (Gold)

5G SA/NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ax (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.3 LE, GPS (L1 + L5 Dual band), NFC, USB Type-C

4400mAh (typical) battery with 44W fast charging

Pricing and availability

The vivo X Fold2 comes in Shadow Black, China Red and Azure Blue colours and is priced at 8999 yuan (US$ 1380 / Rs. 1,07,455 approx.) for 12GB+256GB and 9999 yuan (US$ 1,455 / Rs. 1,19,400 approx.) for 12GB+512GB models.

The vivo X Flip comes in Diamond Black, Purple and Silk Gold colours and is priced at 5999 yuan (US$ 872 / Rs. 71,640 approx.) for 12GB+256GB and 6699 yuan (US$ 974 / Rs. 80,000 approx.) for 12GB+512GB models. These are available to order and will go on sale in China from April 28th.

Source 1, 2
MBABANE  The lawyer who is accused of sexually violating his children, cousin and helper has made six demands to the prosecution before the start of his trial.

In a four-page letter he wrote from prison, he among other things, demands minutes of an alleged meeting purportedly held by the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Dlamini, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku, National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police William Dlamini, with the prosecution, to supposedly discuss his matter. He claimed he was informed that it was during that meeting where his matter was allegedly discussed at length, leading to his arrest. He also stated that according to information he gathered, the said meeting was held at Cabinet Offices. The accused said he wanted to be furnished with minutes of the alleged meeting so that he could have sight of all the things that were allegedly discussed thereat.

Remove

Further, he wants the Crown to provide him with a copy of the ex parte application that was used to remove one of his children from his home, to a place of safety. An ex parte application is used by a party to ask the court for an order without providing the other party a notice, or opportunity to file an opposing application. The lawyer contends that the Crown ought to have served him with the application as he was an interested party in the matter. The order for the removal of one of the children from his homestead was granted by Mbabane Senior Magistrate Sifiso Vilakati, after officers from the Department of Social Welfare made the application. In the letter, he went on to demand the warrant that was used to remove one of his children, who is a complainant, to a place of safety.

Further, he wants the Crown to provide him with a copy of the statement recorded by the officers from the Department of Social Welfare when interviewing some of the complainants. He is further demanding the instrument that was used to authorise the removal of one of the complainants from his homestead to a place of safety. The accused lawyer also wants to be given a copy of the statement that was allegedly made by the DPM prior to his arrest. It should be noted that after there was uproar over the allegations against the lawyer, as a custodian for childrens rights, the DPM was sought for comment by the media, where he only called for action in the matter. The demands were handed to the prosecution team, which consist of Principal Crown Counsel Futhi Gamedze and Mncedisi Dlamini in court on Tuesday. On Tuesday, his trial was expected to begin but it had to be postponed after he moved an application for recusal and further provided the demands. The accused is adamant that his arrest was politically motivated as outlined in his bail application.

According to the lawyer, the Crown is not really interested in securing a conviction against him on the charges he is facing, but was reacting to the comments he made on social media about the prevailing political situation in the country. It was further his contention that his arrest was not conducted in utmost good faith. This is a pure government crackdown on its critics, irrespective of whether the criticism is constructive or not, submitted the lawyer. During the political unrest in the country, the lawyer was one of those who took to social media to make comments that were critical of government. Meanwhile, several women were reportedly coming out to report their horrific experiences, allegedly at the hands of the attorney.

According to the investigator of the cases, Inspector Millicent Dlamini, more charges were likely to be added against the lawyer. The lawyer is alleged to have impregnated his children and forced them to take abortion tablets. Two of the minors and his helper allegedly gave birth to his children.

In his replying affidavit, the attorney denied having committed the offences; instead he claimed that the charges against him were fabricated by his enemies and that they were politically driven. My arrest remains unlawful, because according to the prevailing jurisprudence in our country, the proper approach would have been to secure my attendance on summons and amend the charge sheet to accommodate the new charges, submitted the accused. He went on to dismiss the allegations by the investigator, that several women were coming out to report cases of abuse against him. It would have been proper if the Crown had filed confirmatory affidavits from the complainants, together with the alleged new ones, who are said to be emerging with fresh complaints to verify the assertion by the investigator, he argued.

Absence

The accused averred that, in the absence of the confirmatory affidavits from the complainants, all the charges remained unverified and were hearsay evidence. May I mention further that in our law, arrest for purposes of investigation remains unlawful and if the reason of my arrest is to investigate me while in detention, then I am in unlawful custody, contended the accused. He further maintained that he never committed the unlawful acts which were alleged on the charge sheet. In his papers, he informed the court that he intended to plead not guilty when the charges were read to him.
The value of Bahrains imports increased by 5% to BD1.431 billion ($3.796 billion) during the first quarter of 2023, compared to BD1.363 billion for Q1 2022.

The top 10 countries exporting to Bahrain accounted for 68% of the value of imports, said an Information &eGovernment Authority (iGA) report.

According to the report, China ranked first in imports to Bahrain, with a total of BD199 million, UAE was the second with BD146 million, and Brazil third with BD117 million.

Non-agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top product imported into Bahrain with a total value of BD136 million, while aluminum oxide was second with BD100 million, and gold ingots third with BD62 million.

The value of exports of national origin decreased by 20% to BD1.004 billion during the quarter, compared to BD1.254 billion for Q1 2022. The top 10 countries in terms of the value of exports of national origin accounted for 73% of the total value.

Saudi Arabia ranked first among countries receiving Bahraini exports of national origin, importing BD266 million worth goods from Bahrain. The UAE was second with BD98 million and the US third with BD93 million.

Unwrought aluminum alloy was the top product exported during Q1 with BD306 million, agglomerated iron ores and concentrate alloy was second with a value of BD153 million and aluminum wire not alloyed third with BD55 million, the report said.

The total value of re-exports increased by 17% to reach BD186 million during the first quarter of 2023, compared to BD159 million for the same quarter of the previous year. The top 10 countries accounted for 84% of the re-exported value. The UAE ranked first with BD59 million, Saudi Arabia second with BD45 million, and Singapore third with BD14 million.

Airplane parts were the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD29 million, four-wheel drive vehicles came in second with BD11 million, and wristwatches and non-precious metal came third with BD7 million.

Bahrain recorded BD240 million deficit in trade balance in the quarter, compared to a surplus of BD50 million, during the same period. TradeArabia News Service
Dubai International Airport has extended support to Sudanese transit passengers unable to complete their journey from Dubai to Khartoum due to their connecting flights being cancelled arising from the current situation in Sudan.



A spokesperson said Dubai International Airport provided various kinds of support to the passengers, who flew into Dubai from various countries. The passengers have been offered temporary accommodation until they are able to travel to Khartoum or they choose to travel to other destinations.



The spokesperson further said Dubai Airports places the highest priority on the safety of passengers and crew. Dubai Airports is closely monitoring the situation in Sudan to determine the course of action in the coming days.  TradeArabia News Service
News

Galveston school board president 'troubled' by superintendent's job hunt

Anthony Brown Jerry Gibson Johnny Smecca

GALVESTON

Galveston ISD Superintendent Jerry Gibson on Wednesday interviewed by Zoom for the top job at Collier County Public Schools in Florida, days after he withdrew his name as a semi-finalist to lead another district in that same state.

News about Gibsons interviews with other schools in a state that, unlike Texas, requires public disclosure of superintendent candidates, didnt sit well with some of his bosses, including school board President Tony Brown.

It hasnt been a good day, Gibson said Wednesday as news spread of his interview with Collier County Public Schools.

Brown had met with Gibson on Tuesday morning, he said. During that meeting, Gibson told Brown what he told The Daily News in an article published Wednesday  he had on Sunday morning withdrawn as a semi-finalist for superintendent at Charlotte County School District in Florida, citing his love for Galveston students and unwillingness to walk into a job where the community appeared discontented.

He did not disclose to me he was going to participate in another interview with another school board virtually and I am troubled by this, Brown said.

Gibson on Wednesday said he wasnt attempting to be untruthful and was purposefully specific about having withdrawn his name at Charlotte County School District.

But he also conceded his very public job interviews and applications to other districts had become a source of awkward relations with the school board.

Trustees couldnt meet with Gibson in closed session to clear the air Wednesday because the school board meetings agenda already had been posted. For that reason, trustees also couldnt legally address the elephant in the room in open session at Wednesdays meeting.

Gibson said Wednesday he wouldnt be called to interview again at Collier County and that district likely was leaning toward its interim superintendent. And he regretted not withdrawing as a candidate for the position.

His heart wasnt in it and he likely was at a disadvantage for choosing Zoom, rather than travel to Florida for an in-person interview as Collier County school board members requested.

Traveling to Florida for the interview would have possibly interfered with his ability to attend Wednesdays school board meeting, Gibson said.

But that likely worked against him, he said.

I felt like it put me at a disadvantage, but I thought it was the right thing to do as superintendent in Galveston right here and now, he said.

Collier County was tempting because it was a district with 48,000 students and a superintendent salary of about $315,000, Gibson said.

He attributed his application for the Collier County job to pride, a bit of arrogance and ambition.

Ive always been considered a go-getter, he said. Its, Do I have what it takes to run a district that size? The only thing is it hurts people behind you. Never in my life would I hurt anyone intentionally.

Gibson didnt do anything wrong in seeking to better his and his familys situation, school board Trustee Johnny Smecca said. But the school district needs someone extremely focused on the job and he fears Gibsons very public employment searches, which include school districts in Tennessee and elsewhere in recent months, are a distraction for the superintendent and the hundreds of people he employs, Smecca said.

I have one job, Smecca said. I cant have one foot in and one foot out. I dont have that luxury. Staff may have that luxury. My focus is 100 percent. You would like your staff to be laser-focused  100 percent. I cant say thats the case.

Trustees have a single objective of improving the school district, Smecca said.

Thats our focus, thats our goal, he said.

What the job search revelations mean for Gibson, who leads a district of 7,000 students with a salary of $247,450, is unclear.

Gibson, who was hired in December 2020, has a contract with Galveston ISD through July 2025.

Under his contract, Gibson wouldnt receive severance pay if he left before the end of the contract.

If the school board decided Gibson was no longer committed to the district and chooses termination, they would need cause or would have to pay his salary for the remainder of the contract. But a superintendent entertaining other job offers isnt necessarily cause.

Gibson said Wednesday hes committed to the island school district.

I work hard, and if it appears that Im not effective as a leader because of this, that would be disappointing, but its also the nature of what I do, Gibson said. I dont want to be a distraction here.
Cairo, Apr 20 (UNI) The Sudanese military said on Wednesday that 177 Egyptian soldiers, captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have been evacuated to their homeland.

On Wednesday night, the Al-Qahera News broadcaster reported that the Egyptian soldiers, who were in Sudan for exercises and were captured by the RSF at the Merowe military base, have departed for Egypt. Following media reports, Egyptian army spokesman Gharib Abdel Hafez said that the country's armed forces were closely monitoring the situation in Sudan and were coordinating with the relevant Sudanese authorities to guarantee the safety of the Egyptian soldiers.

"In coordination between the Sudanese and Egyptian sides, today [on Wednesday] 177 Egyptian air force specialists, who were detained in Merowe during the mutiny of the Rapid Support Forces formations, were evacuated to the Arab Republic of Egypt from Dongola airport [in northern Sudan] aboard four Egyptian military transport aircraft," the armed forces of Sudan said on social media.

On Saturday, the RSF said that a battalion of Egyptian armed forces had surrendered at the Merowe military airbase. The armed forces of Egypt said they were coordinating with the Sudanese authorities to ensure their safety. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that the Egyptian troops had arrived in Sudan for exercises but not to support any party.

The RSF said on Wednesday that the soldiers, who were at the Merowe military base, were being transferred to Khartoum and would be handed over to Egypt if a "suitable opportunity" arose.

Violent clashes between the Sudanese regular army and the RSF broke out on Saturday, with the epicenter located in Khartoum. Government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Later that day, Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese military, issued a decree disbanding the RSF. On Tuesday, the parties agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire beginning at 6 p.m. local time (16:00 GMT).

The Sudanese Health Ministry estimated that around 270 people had been killed and 2,600 others injured in the four days of clashes.

UNI/SPUTNIK GNK
The Linn Benton NAACP Branch will host the second annual Keys for the People, a Black, Indigenous and people of color-centered housing festival, on Saturday, April 29.

The free, family-friendly event is set for 1 to 5 p.m. at the Corvallis Community Center, 2601 NW Tyler Ave. Supported by Community Services Consortium and Linn Benton Health Equity Alliance, the festival aims to increase housing equity by highlighting community initiatives that improve housing accessibility and transparency for BIPOC communities, educating the community about housing discrimination in Oregon, and providing a space for individuals to connect with local housing providers and resources.

The local and national NAACP recognize that access to fair and equitable housing has both historically and presently impacted our BIPOC communities in negative ways, Jason J. Dorsette, Linn Benton NAACP Branch president and vice chair of CSCs community advisory board, said in a statement.

The generational neglect by housing officials in many communities has adversely impacted the lives of individuals who reside in public housing, and unfortunately the traditional models of federal public housing continue to contribute to the segregation of people of color and those of lower socioeconomic status.

To that end, the branch is thrilled to partner with CSC again, and LBHEA for the first time, on this now-annual event. Together, we can make lasting positive impact on the housing crisis and create paths toward upward economic mobility.

The festival will feature multiple panels, also available via livestream, by local housing professionals and service providers on topics such housing discrimination and land use, tenant and landlord rights, current affordable housing creation projects, and more.

There will be tables of community resource providers available for attendees to browse and connect with, food from local BIPOC-owned eateries, giveaways, music, childrens activities, and more. There will also be free showings of the documentary Priced Out: 15 Years of Gentrification in Portland.

Learn more and find updates on the Keys for the People event page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/events/243825781545364.
If Im not good, you shouldnt be good.

Thats the philosophy MaryEtta Callier-Wells, a Portland-based educator with a New Orleans heart, charges others to live by. Through her interactive and compassionate conversations about supporting families of color, Callier-Wells has the ability to transform a room full of strangers into a family within an hour.

Mid-Willamette Valley residents had two opportunities this week to participate in one of these open, heartfelt talks about listening and respecting others. On Tuesday evening, April 18, 20 community members gathered at the Corvallis Museum to schmooze and learn how to grow as educators and leaders at an event put on by the Linn Benton NAACP.

Evee Lawler attended Tuesdays talk with a learning mindset, she said. She is studying to be a social worker and is interested in learning to support children from marginalized groups who are experiencing poverty.

Others came because they want to be more mindful educators, family members and community allies. While the talk was titled The State of Black and Brown Families in the Mid-Valley, the event was for people of all backgrounds.

As Callier-Wells puts it, she likes to make people feel uncomfortable, because being uncomfortable is the best place to be.

Fear is something that can help you to grow, she said.

On Wednesday, April 19, Callier-Wells spoke at Linn-Benton Community College's Albany campus to those who work with children and families. Participating organizations included Oregon Head Start, Linn Together, Strengthening Rural Families, Parenting Success Network, Young Roots Oregon and many more.

From New Orleans, Callier-Wells likes to bring a little of the 70118 wherever she goes. This means lots of gumbo references, mardi gras music and Southern friendliness.

She deposits her graceful spirit in you, and it stays with you, said Nina Petrovich, who works with the Parenting Success Network. Her capacity to connect with people transcends cultural barriers. There are very few people like that in the world.

Petrovich first heard Callier-Wells speak six years ago when she moved to Oregon. Also from the South, Petrovich said she felt isolated when she moved to the Pacific Northwest  until she met Callier-Wells.

She wraps us up in warmth, she said.

Callier-Wells challenges those who attend her talks to leave a different person than who they were when they walked in. She asks people to listen out loud and find themselves in all they do.

Abigail McCallum works with the Healthy Families program at Old Mill Center, and she walked away taking to heart Callier-Wells advice to be an active listener at all times.

Its going to make me more empathetic and grow as a person, McCallum said.

Shauna Tominey, the principal investigator for the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative, said the mid-valley is in desperate need of community building, and Callier-Wells has the knowledge and experience to help make that happen.

Having conversations like these with a tremendous educator opens the door to having these conversations in our community, Tominey said, and it builds compassion for one another.

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.
Netflix Slashes Subscription Prices in 116 Countries Following India Success News oi -Afrin Humayon

Following the success of its low-cost plan in India, Netflix has slashed the prices of subscriptions in 116 countries.

Netflix's reduced subscription model in India showed almost a 30 percent growth in customer engagement and a 24 percent growth year-on-year.

The OTT platform introduced a low-cost subscription plan in India in 2021, reducing prices by almost 20-60 percent. The aim was to get more number of subscriptions in the country by making its plan more affordable.

"These reductions -- combined with an improved slate -- helped grow engagement in India by nearly 30 percent year-on-year while F/X (forex) neutral revenue growth in 2022 accelerated to 24 percent (versus 19 percent in 2021). Learning from this success, we reduced prices in an additional 116 countries in Q1," Netflix said in its earnings report for March 2023 quarter.

The 116 countries where Netflix has slashed subscription prices contributed less than 5 percent of their total revenue last year.

"We believe that increased adoption in these markets will help to maximize our revenue in the longer term," the company said.

As per the company data, Netflix had 232.5 million members in the first quarter of this year overall, and a net 1.75 million paid streaming members in the Asia-Pacific region.

Netflix has also been in the news for several other reasons. Recently, the OTT-streaming giant announced that it planned to close its DVD mailing business.

"Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the DVD business continues to shrink that's going to become increasingly hard," the company reported to ANI.

With reported profits, Netflix has also postponed its plan of tightening down on password-sharing plans to the second quarter of the this year.

"While this means that some of the expected membership growth and revenue benefit will fall in Q3 (third quarter) rather than Q2, we believe this will result in a better outcome for both our members and our business," Netflix said.

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Elon Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft: Alleges Illegal Use Of Twitter Data To Train ChatGPT? News oi -Alap Naik Desai

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has threatened to take legal action against Microsoft. Musk claims Microsoft illegally fed Twitter data to the ChatGPT language model.

Microsoft may have welcomed a legal battle after refusing to support Twitter. After Microsoft reportedly refused to pay Twitter API's fees, Elon Musk threatened to sue the Windows OS maker.

Microsoft Openly Refuses To Support Twitter

Microsoft has openly clarified that it won't pay Twitter to access and use the social media platform's API (Application Programming Interface). In a message that appears on the top of a support page for Microsoft's advertising platform, the company has categorically stated that it will "no longer support Twitter" starting on April 25.

What this means is that the companies that rely on Microsoft's products and services will no longer be able to use Microsoft's platform to manage their tweets or engagement. Simply put, Microsoft has threatened to cut backend ties with Twitter.

Introducing a new form of Free (v2) access for write-only use cases and those testing the Twitter API with 1,500 Tweets/month at the app level, media upload endpoints, and Login with Twitter.



Get started: https://t.co/CqCRD3vbE5  Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) March 29, 2023

Incidentally, it was Twitter, or more specifically speaking Elon Musk, who tried to earn from Twitter's backend support system and information pathways.

Musk has been trying to ramp up Twitter's revenue. After firing thousands of employees, and jacking up the price of the Twitter Blue subscription, Musk decided to start charging companies and businesses that rely on Twitter APIs to interface with the social media platform.

Elon Musk has essentially put Twitter's APIs behind a paywall. The majority of businesses, including Microsoft, would have to pay as much as $42,000 per month to gain access to Twitter's APIs. This facility and access were free when Twitter was a publicly traded company.

Musk Threatens To Sue Microsoft But Doesn't Appear To Have Proper Justification

Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft. He responded to a Tweet from T(w)itter Daily News which mentioned Microsoft has dropped Twitter from its advertising platform as the company refuses to pay Twitter API fees.

They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Musk responded to the Tweet by claiming Microsoft illegally used Twitter data and it's now "Lawsuit time". Needless to say, Musk's Tweet doesn't mention specifics.

It is possible the Twitter CEO meant Microsoft used Twitter data to train the GPT language model which is powering the ChatGPT Generative AI platform. If true, it is not Microsoft but OpenAI whom Musk should have threatened.

OpenAI has developed, built, and is currently improving the third iteration of the ChatGPT Generative AI platform. The organization did recently receive a significant investment from Microsoft.

Musk has issued similar threats in the past but he has seldom acted on them. Hence, it's unclear whether Musk will actually sue Microsoft at this point. Incidentally, Google has been similarly accused recently. However, nothing has developed yet.

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New Apple Beats Studio Buds+ Spotted on FCC, IMDA Sites; Launch Imminent News lekhaka -Anu Joy

Apple's upcoming Beats Studio Buds+ has arrived on Singapore's IMDA certification website, suggesting that the TWS earbuds might debut soon. The device was earlier spotted on the FCC site as well.

The rumored Studio Buds+ will succeed Apple's Studio Buds debuted in 2021. As of now, Apple hasn't revealed any specifics about the purported TWS device.

Apple Beats Studio Buds+ Rumored Features

The Studio Buds+ were spotted on the IMDA certification website bearing model numbers A2872 and A2871. Its arrival on the website suggests that the device will likely launch very soon.

The Apple Beats Studio Buds+ previously received the FCC certification, revealing documentation submitted by Apple. The device, bearing model numbers A2872 and A2871, will support automatic device-switching, audio sharing, and "Hey Siri."

To recall, Apple's AirPods and older Beats earbuds also support these features. According to a 9to5Mac report, the new Studio Buds+ will feature a custom Beats processor.

This means that the upcoming Buds+ might not get some nifty features of the AirPods, AirPods Pro, and Powerbeats Pro. However, the custom Beats chip offers one key advantage: the Apple Beats Studio Buds+ can be used with Android and iOS products.

According to the report, the Apple Beats Studio Buds+ will feature media controls for play/pause. It will also have a function for press and hold which will allow users to alternate between noise-canceling modes.

As for the design, the Studio Buds+ will appear quite similar to the original Studio Buds. Apple will reportedly introduce a new model in black with gold details.

Apple Beats Studio Buds: Quick Recap

The Apple Beats Studio Buds sport an in-ear design with silicone ear tips and physical buttons for control. The TWS buds feature two modes, ANC and Transparency Mode. The device also includes hands-free Siri support.

Apple claims the earbuds can last up to eight hours on a single charge. The Beats Studio Buds can reportedly last for up to 24 hours with the charging case. A USB Type-C cable can be used to charge the case.

Via

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Alleged Chinese police station operator is a familiar face in Chinatown

Lu Jianwang, who was arrested this week in New York, took part in pro-China demonstrations.

By Jane Tang and Tara McKelvey for RFA 2023.04.19 -- When Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited New York in March, a group of residents of the city who favor China's reunification rallied outside the Lotte New York Palace where she was staying, holding up signs calling her a traitor and chanting slogans denigrating the idea of Taiwan's independence.

Among the group of demonstrators was a man with a high forehead, straight black hair and a blue jacket who was holding both Chinese and American flags.

That man, Lu Jianwang, 61, is one of two people arrested this week and charged by the U.S. government as helping to run an unauthorized overseas Chinese police station in New York.

An acquaintance who knows Lu from the Chinatown community in Manhattan said he spoke in the past about being feted by officials back in his hometown in Fujian province in southeastern China.

"He often talks about how he was treated with great food and red carpet when returning to his hometown," said the person, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid being harassed for speaking out.

President's Tsai's visit to New York last month saw competing rallies with Taiwanese pro-democrats shouting support for Tsai while pro-Beijingers vented outrage that she was able to visit the United States - which Beijing views as a tacit form of diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. China regards the self-governing island as a renegade province.

In one photo, Lu can be seen among a huddle of protesters. One holds a placard reading: "Tsai Ing-wen is a Big Traitor of China."

In New York, Lu served as president of the America ChengLe Association New York, a Fujianese community group named for Lu's hometown, from 2012-2018. The association owns the building on East Broadway where the alleged Chinese police station was located, according to the New York Post.

That station was allegedly set up by the Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau early last year and later closed in October as FBI agents investigated its activities.

'Relationship of trust'

The bureau is a branch of the Ministry of Public Security, or MPS, which the U.S. and other countries allege is behind efforts to target Chinese exiles who criticize the government.

The charging document includes a picture of Lu with a person identified as an MPS official and a sign in Mandarin that reads, "Fuzhou Public Security Bureau, Overseas 110 Report to Police Service Station."

Lu, 61, was allegedly asked to confirm that a Chinese dissident and democracy advocate was living at a California address, among other tasks.

According to the charges, Lu had a "longstanding relationship of trust" with China's government, including with officials in the MPS.

Lu also told FBI agents that he had been given a plaque in 2015 for his work helping to organize counter protests to an anticipated demonstration against Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit to Washington, D.C.

The charging document also includes a picture of Lu receiving the plaque from what it says was the then deputy director of the MPS.

Embassy denies allegations

Lu and the other man who allegedly ran the station with him, Chen Jinping, 59, declined to be interviewed when contacted by phone.

"I am busy with some matters here at the court," Chen told RFA. Efforts to reach their lawyers were not successful.

A spokesperson for the Chinese government has denied the accusations about the police stations and said U.S. media accounts have mischaracterized them.

"The Chinese government strictly abides by international law, and fully respects the law enforcement sovereignty of other countries," said Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu in a statement to RFA. "There is no breaching of laws or regulations."

But U.S. prosecutors allege that the station operated by Lu and Chen was part of a global campaign by the Chinese government to intimidate and harass people who speak out against Beijing and its authoritarian policies.

U.S. officials say MPS officials pressure former citizens to return to China to face corruption charges. The people targeted are often critics of the government.

Lu and Chen have been charged by Justice Department prosecutors with obstructing justice and conspiring to act as a Chinese government agent without registering as such with the U.S. government.

If convicted of the crimes, Lu and Chen could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Lu and Chen are currently out on bail, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office. He said prosecutors are collecting additional evidence that can be presented to a grand jury.

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Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Suspected US Intelligence Leaker Remains Jailed

By Ken Bredemeier, Katherine Gypson April 19, 2023

U.S. senators said Wednesday the leak of top-secret military intelligence records by a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard should prompt a serious re-evaluation of security procedures in the United States.

The suspect, Jack Teixeira, was arrested last week by heavily armed FBI agents at his mother's residence in Dighton, Massachusetts. He is facing criminal charges for leaking those documents to a group of friends on a gamer website and remained in jail on Wednesday. His scheduled detention hearing was delayed for two weeks.

"There are too many people with too much access to too much information without guardrails and safeguards," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters after a classified briefing on the leak Wednesday.

"If you're going to give someone with this level of emotional maturity access to the information, why weren't we using technology to stop him from sharing?" Republican Senator John Kennedy said, telling reporters the briefing raised more questions than answers.

Teixeira had been scheduled for a court hearing in Boston on Wednesday. The hearing was intended to determine whether he should be detained while awaiting trial on two charges of copying and taking the classified documents off the Cape Cod air base where he worked and then sending them to his friends on the Discord social media site a possibly to impress them about his access to the sensitive material and to educate them about Russia's war in Ukraine.

Investigators say they believe that Teixeira passed the documents to his friends believing they would not be further disseminated. But one of his friends posted the material to a wider audience, and the documents quickly spread worldwide on social media sites.

Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters Wednesday, "We need to make sure that internal security processes from things like copying documents, production of documents, as well as the overall access questions get thoroughly examined."

"One of the things that we have moved into in this internet-driven age is a process called continuous vetting," he said. "So even once you get a security clearance, a top-secret security clearance, you're supposed to be vetted on an ongoing basis."

The classified material, according to U.S. news accounts, disclosed U.S. spying on friends and foes around the globe: American assessments of the strength of Russian and Ukrainian military forces, and a belief that the Chinese air force holds a distinct aerial advantage over the military defense of Taiwan, the democratic island territory that Beijing claims is part of mainland China.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters Wednesday the leaks had a serious impact on U.S. national security.

"Trouble that has created domestic political problems for key allies, undermined our relationship with those allies and potentially cost us access to future key intelligence. I think it's stunning that the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies found out about it primarily from the press a it's unacceptable," Rubio said.

Friends liked playing war games online

Authorities with information about the investigation have said that the young cadre of friends linked to Teixeira liked to play war games online and were intensely interested in weaponry and military gear.

Federal prosecutors in the case told U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy they intended to seek Teixeira's continued detention. However, about two hours before the hearing, Teixeira's team of federal public defenders filed a request asking the judge to delay the detention hearing for two weeks because they needed "more time to address the issues presented by the government's request for detention." Hennessy agreed to the delay.

It was not clear whether Teixeira will opt to challenge the government's detention request.

Pentagon calls leak 'criminal'

On Wednesday morning, Teixeira was brought to the courtroom in handcuffs and orange jail clothing as he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He said nothing beyond answering yes and no to questions about whether he understood his rights and the proceeding.

Authorities say the leaked documents at the center of the case constitute the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak from the Massachusetts air base in the northeastern U.S. a "deliberate, criminal act."

A criminal complaint made public on Friday charges Teixeira with one count of violating the Espionage Act related to the unlawful copying and transmitting of sensitive defense material, and a second charge related to the unlawful removal of defense material to an unauthorized location.

Legal experts say that Teixeira could face more charges as additional evidence is presented over time to a grand jury.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.

Editor's note: The article was updated to remove a sentence characterizing what defendants typically detained or released on bail pending trial.

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Oklahoma Army Guard Headed to Horn of Africa

By Sgt. Anthony Jones, Oklahoma National Guard April 19, 2023

OKLAHOMA CITY -- More than 800 Oklahoma Army National Guard members bid farewell to their families before beginning a year-long deployment to the Horn of Africa April 15.

The Citizen-Soldiers are part of Task Force Tomahawk, more than 1,000 Soldiers from multiple units across the Oklahoma Army National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, including two companies from both Nebraska and Indiana.

While overseas, Task Force Tomahawk will provide security support at five installations across multiple East African countries. In addition to conventional security operations, the Task Force will staff the East African Response Force.

During the farewell ceremony, Lt. Col. Brent Weece, Task Force Tomahawk commander, charged his Soldiers with remembering the support of family and friends when times are hard overseas.

"When we're thousands of miles from Oklahoma, when you're tired, when you're hot, when you miss home and you think no one cares, remember this arena, remember all the people here today," Weece said. "Remember the amazing support we have from our family and friends and our state. We couldn't have greater support than we do from the people here today and from the state of Oklahoma."

Thousands of family members attended the deployment ceremony, including one very high-profile father saying goodbye to his son.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt joked that his son, Spc. Drew Stitt, an infantryman assigned to Task Force Tomahawk, asked him not to mention him, but he had to tell Stitt how proud he was of him.

"It's an honor to be here today as the governor to send off the young men and women of Task Force Tomahawk," Stitt said. "I'm also honored to be here as a father. To each of you deploying, I know your families are very proud of you and love you very much. ... On behalf of all 4 million Oklahomans, thank you for your service and your sacrifice."

Following the ceremony, Soldiers were released to their families to spend time together before departing for post-mobilization training at Fort Bliss, Texas. Once they complete that training, the Soldiers will deploy overseas. They return to Oklahoma next spring.

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Georgia: Secretary General's report says little progress in human rights and humanitarian situation in conflict areas

Council of Europe

Secretary General

Strasbourg

19 April 2023

Serious concerns persist regarding the human rights situation in the areas affected by the armed conflict between the Russian Federation and Georgia in August 2008, according to a report by Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric presented to the Committee of Ministers on 19 April.

The bi-annual report (covering the period November 2022-March 2023) on the conflict in Georgia highlighted that core issues concerning the human rights and humanitarian situation in the conflict-affected areas continue to see little progress. Various restrictions on freedom of movement and access to education and healthcare remain of serious concern, including in terms of their impact on vulnerable groups.

Against the continuous impediments by the Russian Federation to peaceful conflict resolution, security, and stability in the wider region, the Secretary General welcomed Georgia's continuous efforts and initiatives to promote dialogue and reconciliation, and their provision of free access to health care, education, and other social benefits for all residents of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as their efforts to address the needs of internally displaced persons.

During the period under review, operational activities on Confidence-Building Measures continued. The report, for instance, notes that archive specialists from both sides of the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) continued to work in online format and met in person for the first time since the Covid-19 public health crisis. Efforts were made to facilitate dialogue between psychologists specialised in war traumas and on the prevention of gender-based violence on both sides of the ABL. The development of further initiatives continues in close co-ordination with the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality.

The Secretary General stressed that continuing her periodic reporting on the conflict in Georgia to the Committee of Ministers will remain a high priority.

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April 19, 2023

Transcript

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Joint Press Conference With Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson in Stockholm, Sweden

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III; Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson

SWEDISH DEFENSE MINISTER PAL JONSON: And once again, Secretary Austin, warmly welcome to Sweden, to Stockholm and to the naval base of Musko, and thank you for you and visiting -- for your delegation to visit us here in Sweden.

During the meeting today, we've been discussing such things as Sweden's accession into NATO. We've been discussing the situation in Ukraine. We've been discussing the connection between the security situation in the Europe and Atlantic area and, also the Indo-Pacific. In addition, we've also been discussing, of course, bilateral defense cooperation.

We are very grateful for the continued support from the United States for -- for Sweden's application to NATO and the clear message from you on the importance of a quick ratification for Sweden's bid to join the alliance and become a full-fledged member of NATO. Your visit to Stockholm today, together with the United States' very frequent military presence through training, exercises, and other activities in Sweden and in our neighborhood is also very much appreciated. As we speak, there is a battalion from the U.S. Marine Corps, together with other important U.S. military assets and capabilities who are also participating now in the exercise Aurora 23.

I would also like to thank you, Secretary Austin, for the United States' leadership for NATO and European security at a critical time for our security due to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. I think that a strong transatlantic link is indispensable for Europe's security, and also for handling challenges such as China and Russia.

But thank you also for your support and your personal leadership in supporting Ukraine and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group that's been indispensable, and we're also going to be meeting at the Ramstein forum at -- later on this week. I always say that supporting Ukraine is the right thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do when it comes to the military support that we provide for Ukraine. It is needed so that Ukraine can -- Ukraine can reclaim lost territory and regain its freedom. And by supporting Ukraine, we're also investing into our own security as Ukraine is, of course, fighting for its freedom, but it's also fighting for a safer and more secure Europe.

It's a top priority for the Swedish government to continue support for Ukraine being that politically, being to monetarily, being it economically and military for as long as needed. Sweden has so far provided 1.9 billion euros in support for Ukraine, out of which 1.5 billion euros is military support.

The fundamentally-altered security environment in Europe and the federation of the security environment in Europe, our assessment is that it's long term and it's something we have to take into consideration. We also, of course, stepping up support for Ukraine, and therefore, we have to also invest into the deterrence and defense demands that are stepping up. And, of course, Sweden is also stepping up with defense investments, and our aim is to reach two percent of GDP by the latest, by 2026.

The United States is a much-appreciated partner to Sweden and a key partner when it comes to security and defense matters. I'm also grateful that we are on the same page on the many possibilities to enhance and further develop our already-strong relationship when it comes to defense. Also, for example, now, we have started negotiations also on a bilateral defense cooperation agreement.

Again, thank you, Secretary, for being here today and for assuring us of your continued support both for Sweden's security and for our -- our membership application to NATO. I look forward to continuing developing Sweden's relationship with the United States in the years to come, and hopefully soon, also as allies with inside NATO. Thank you very much.

Secretary?

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Well, Mr. Minister, thanks for hosting me today, and -- and thanks for the warm welcome, and a special thanks for this great weather.

(Laughter.)

It's great to be here in Stockholm and to be among friends in a proud fellow democracy.

Now, we're meeting in a crucial moment for European security. It has been more than a year now since Russia launched its cruel and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which has dragged Europe into its worst security crisis since the end of World War II. And as Minister Jonson just said, the United States, our allies and our partners are deeply-committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes. And Sweden has shown tremendous leadership in rushing -- rushing security assistance to Ukraine, so thank you for your invaluable contributions to Ukraine's fight to live in freedom.

Now, the ties between Sweden and the United States -- run strong and they run deep, and the partnership between our two democracies continues to flourish.

Now, during the turbulence of the past year, Sweden has taken two major steps to strengthen our relationship even further. First, you have made the bold and historic decision to apply for NATO membership. And you have the full and firm support of the United States. We recently welcomed Finland as the 31st member of NATO. And we look forward to soon welcoming Sweden as the 32nd. And to be clear, we look forward to that to happen before the summit in July.

So, we encourage our allies, Turkiye and Hungary, to ratify Sweden's accession as soon as possible. And we fully anticipate that Sweden will be a member of NATO by the time of the Vilnius Summit in July. And to underscore our deep support, the department has increased the number of ship visits and bomber task force missions and high-level engagements with Sweden.

But we're doing all of this for a simple but important reason. Sweden's membership in NATO is going to mean a stronger alliance and a more secure Europe. As I've seen firsthand on this trip, the Swedish Armed Forces are an exceptionally capable and highly professional fighting force. And Sweden's troops and capabilities will enhance NATO's operations to deter conflict, including in the Baltic Sea region.

And that brings me to my second point, the second important step forward that Sweden has taken. We're looking forward to completing the negotiation of our U.S.-Swedish Defense Cooperation Agreement. And once that agreement is finalized, it will allow for closer and deeper defense cooperation between our democracies.

Mr. Minister, Sweden is already one of our strongest and most capable partners. And I look forward to very soon calling Sweden an ally.

So it's great to be here with you. And thanks for being a great host. And with that, I guess we'll take some questions.

MIN. JONSON: I guess we do.

(Laughter.)

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. And I think we stand ready to take any questions. And I think (inaudible) has the microphone.

STAFF: All right. We will take some questions from the floor, and I will call out the name and publication, and then my colleague will arrive with a microphone. Please speak clearly into the microphone.

First question is for (inaudible). Please raise your hand so we can find you. There you are.

Q: Thank you very much for asking (sic) questions.

Secretary Austin, our government here in Sweden has reassured the population that, during the period until we become a full member of NATO, your administration has given us what they call "security guarantees." Can you please reaffirm these guarantees from -- from the U.S.?

And can you please describe how extensive they are? Does it mean that American troops would come to Sweden whether Sweden -- if Sweden would be attacked?

And a follow-up question on that is, for how long will these guarantees maintain, now that Turkiye and Hungary has decided not to let us join NATO yet? Thank you very much.

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, I don't want to speculate on any hypotheticals, but I -- what I would tell you is that Sweden is an important partner to us. And you've seen evidence of that over the years, the many years that we've joined you in exercising with you. Our troops have -- have worked together to increase interoperability and -- and modernize our forces. And I want to applaud what you've done to date in your -- in your efforts to continue to modernize. I think it's very, very impressive.

Sweden, as you just heard me say a couple of minutes ago, adds significant value to -- to NATO, and we look forward to Sweden joining NATO. So what you've seen over the last several years, and most importantly over the last year, is an increased number of port visits by our -- our Navy, and our ships working together. You've seen a number of our aircraft work alongside your aircraft. You've seen visits by -- by our senior leadership. And -- and we'll continue to -- to do those kinds of things, going forward.

So Sweden will remain a partner for us forever. And -- and so, again, I don't want to forecast any -- any timeline in terms of troop deployments or engagements or that sort of business, but I will just tell you that we will continue to do what you've seen us do here over the last several years and especially the last several months.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much. The next question is from Lita Baldor, AP.

Q: Thank you. Mr. Minister, Secretary Austin has talked about the goal being for Sweden to join NATO by the NATO Summit this July. How confident are you that that can happen?

And in the meantime, do you think these are dangerous times for Sweden? Are you worried about any vulnerabilities for attack by Russia?

And, Mr. Secretary, do you believe that the F-16 deal that the U.S. just reached with Turkiye earlier this week is a final linchpin for getting Turkey to approve Sweden's admission into NATO, or do you think there is more the U.S. is going to have to do to make that happen?

Thank you.

MIN. JONSON: If I may, let me say I feel, and I think Sweden feels more secure now after we became invitee to NATO. We're militarily more integrated now than before we had the invitee status. We have received reassurances from the United States and other important partners about our security. We see a much more active exercise pattern from the United States and other countries in our vicinity, and that builds security.

And I take Secretary Austin's, your visit here, is a commitment to the United States engagement into Sweden's security, as is -- so in this regard as well as our bid to join the alliance.

Now, let me say I'm hopeful that we will be able to join NATO by the Vilnius Summit. I think the Vilnius Summit is going to be a very important moment for the alliance as it's stepping up its activities when it comes to deterrence and defense, with everything from regional plans, force capabilities and new command-and-control structures. And of course, we want to be there at the table in order also to have -- to have -- being able to be a security provider into the alliance. And we think that we can provide the alliance with strategic depth and make it also better and more effective ways also, in order to show deterrence and defense, at least when it comes to the Baltic states and Finland.

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, thanks, Lita.

Turkiye is an important NATO ally. So it's important that they have a capable and up-to-date capability. And so, in terms of when they're going to make decisions, I won't -- I won't second-guess their leadership, or predict when their leadership's going to make decisions. I would just say that it's important to all of us that they make the decision sooner versus later. Because we all look forward to having a very capable Sweden sitting at the -- at the desk beside us in Vilnius this summer.

STAFF: All right, next question, (inaudible) News Agency.

Q: Thank you. Question for Secretary Mr. Austin: You say that you want to welcome Sweden as a NATO member before the summer. What can the U.S. do to make sure that the remaining states ratify Sweden that soon?

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, we'll do what -- what we've done thus far and even more in -- in -- in engaging our -- our very important allies and -- and encourage -- encouraging them to -- to come to that decision as quickly as possible. And I join the other 30 ministers of defense in the -- in the alliance that I know that they feel the same way. Again, I'm sure that these countries will -- will reach that decision, and -- and I -- I -- I feel confident that they'll reach it before July, so --

STAFF: All right, and then we move on to the next question: Helene Cooper, New York Times. Please raise your hand.

Q: Thank you. For Secretary Austin: I'd like to ask you about a question that's been hound -- we've been hounded by for the last two weeks, and that is why would the Pentagon allow a 21-year-old to have access to Americans' crucial and sensitive American national security documents, and also documents that are crucial to the national security of our allies? And I have a follow-up for the defense minister.

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, thanks, Helene. I would -- I would just tell you upfront -- and you've heard me say this a number of times -- that this -- this incident is under investigation. The DOJ is leading that investigation, and I think as that investigation unfolds, we're all going to learn a lot about -- about exactly what happened and how it happened.

For context, I would tell you that this young man is -- was a systems administrator, so he was a computer specialist that -- that worked in an intelligence unit, and so their business was intelligence and he -- you know, part of his responsibility was provide -- was, you know, maintaining the network that's -- that they operate on. So again, that's just some context, and I don't want -- I won't say any more. I'll just let the -- the investigation play out as it should, so --

Q: But the question of his age, I'm talking specifically about the fact that this is a 21-year-old. You think that's -- that's fine for -- for access to the high-level American intelligence?

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, I think you know, Lita (sic), that the vast majority of our -- our military is young. And -- and so it's -- it's not exceptional that -- that young people are doing important things in our military. That's -- that's really not the issue; the issue is -- and -- and by the way, he had a top-secret clearance. The issue is, you know, how you responsibly execute or carry out your duties and how you protect the information. You know, all of us have a -- have a requirement to do that, and supervisors have a requirement to make sure that that's being done, so --

Q: Thank you.

For the defense minister, did you discuss the leaks case with Secretary Austin? And do you have any concern that the reaction by the United States to this case could stymie or hurt the ability of Sweden to access its intelligence that it needs in the future? Thank you.

MIN. JONSON: The -- this issue was not part of the agenda today in today's deliberations on our bilateral cooperation. I can just say that we have a good intelligence cooperation between Sweden and the United States as we have a strong defense and security cooperation and we rest assure of U.S. commitments of -- of -- of taking this seriously, and we've been reassured on that on a bilateral basis, and we feel sure -- sure of the U.S. commitment of -- of handling the situation, as is -- as it has occurred.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3367750/

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April 19, 2023

By C. Todd Lopez , DOD News

Austin Hopes NATO Partnership for Sweden by Summer

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has told his Swedish counterpart he hopes that Sweden will get NATO membership before the summer.

On the first day of a four-day trip to Sweden and Germany, Austin met with Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson for a Tuesday morning defense meeting at the headquarters of the Swedish navy on Musko Naval Base near Stockholm.

"Mr. Minister, thanks for the tremendous hospitality. We're delighted to be here, and I really appreciate the warm welcome from your troops this morning," Austin told his counterpart. "We look forward to continuing to advocate for your swift admission to NATO, and we'll work hard to get that done before the summer. I think that's really, really important."

Austin told Jonson that the admission of Sweden to NATO  something that happened earlier this month for neighboring Finland  will greatly enhance the NATO alliance.

"You will ... add a lot of value to NATO, our overall effort," Austin said. "You have ... a highly professional military, and you have invested a lot in modernization over the last several years. As you know, our forces have done a lot together and, thereby, increased interoperability here over the last several years. We have one of the largest exercises in recent history ongoing as we speak, and I look forward to some good results coming out of that."

Right now, Sweden, the U.S., and other European nations are participating in the Swedish military Exercise Aurora 23, which runs to May 11. It is the largest Swedish military exercise in decades and readies participants for responding to an attack on Sweden.

The U.S, Sweden and multiple other European nations are also spinning up for Exercise Defender 23, which will demonstrate some of the interoperability Austin referenced.

"You're a great partner," Austin told Jonson. "We look forward to, very soon, being able to call you an ally."

During his four-day trip in Europe, Austin is expected to meet with the Swedish prime minister in Stockholm and to also travel south to Germany to host the 11th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

As in past meetings of the UDCG, discussions are likely to revolve around providing continued support to Ukraine, both now and for the future, while at the same time ensuring the nations involved can maintain their own defense.





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The President: Lithuania consistently supports Armenia's efforts to protect its sovereignty and pursue democratic reforms

President of the Republic of Lithuania

April 19, 2023

On Wednesday, President Gitanas Nauseda met with President Vahagn Khachaturyan of Armenia, who arrived on an official visit to Lithuania. The Lithuanian and Armenian leaders discussed bilateral cooperation, rapprochement between Armenia and the European Union within the framework of Eastern Partnership, diplomatic resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and Russia's war in Ukraine.

At the meeting, Gitanas Nauseda underlined that Lithuania consistently supports Armenia's efforts to protect its sovereignty and pursue democratic reforms. The President noted that Lithuania - the first country to recognize Armenia's independence in 1991 - remembers the painful Soviet past shared by both nations. Their long-standing mutual support for each other's struggle for self-determination and independence serves as a solid basis for consolidating bilateral relations, the President said.

Gitanas Nauseda assured the Armenian leader that Lithuania strongly supports diverse cooperation ties between Armenia and the European Union. "Lithuania firmly supports the efforts of the European Union and our transatlantic allies to strengthen Armenia's sovereignty and resilience to external and internal threats. As EU member state, Lithuania stands ready to contribute to a lasting peace, which is vital for building a prosperous democratic future for your country," the President said.

Gitanas Nauseda underscored Lithuania's unwavering support for developing closer contacts between Armenia and the European Union via Eastern Partnership, which is a viable path towards strengthening the region's resilience, stability and security.

The Presidents of Lithuania and Armenia also discussed Russia's war in Ukraine and its consequences for European and regional security. "Today, our continent is gripped by aggression and violence unprecedented since the Second World War. It is now more evident than ever that the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our nations cannot be seen as a given," the President said.

Later on, the two leaders will open a Lithuania-Armenia business forum, which will gather representatives from the fields of information technology, renewable energy and other business sectors.

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Marine Corps announces ACV Transition Training Unit

US Marine Corps News

19 Apr 2023 | Capt. Ryan Bruce Headquarters Marine Corps

WASHINGTON, DC -- A Marine Corps-established Transition Training Unit at the Assault Amphibian School is developing a rigorous and standardized program to ensure that Amphibious Combat Vehicle Marines possess the technical knowledge, skills, and proficiency required to safely operate, maintain, supervise, and employ the ACV.

The decision to stand up the TTU came after the Marine Corps identified significant differences between the safe operating procedures of the ACV and its predecessor, the Assault Amphibious Vehicle. Preliminary findings from recent mishap investigations recommend that ACV operators receive more training focused on the internal mechanical systems of the ACV and how the platform differs from the AAV.

"We are clear eyed about the need to get this right," said Gen. David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps. "Our Marines deserve no less, and our Nation depends on it. Amphibious operations, to include the use of ship-to-shore connectors, are a foundational aspect of the Marine Corps. Our Marines will be trained safely and to the highest standard to ensure we remain the Nation's premier expeditionary force in readiness."

The TTU is staffed by a hand-selected cadre of experienced and proficient ACV operators, maintainers, and trainers, augmented by other subject-matter experts from across the Marine Corps.

The TTU is currently consolidating ACV lessons learned and best practices into an updated, continuous skills validation program. Upon program approval, the TTU will evaluate and re-certify ACV operators and maintainers previously trained on the ACV platform.

"We are developing a program focused on performance-evaluated measurements associated with the safe operation of the ACV both on land and in water," said Col. Howard Hall, the TTU officer-in-charge who is leading actions on the ground to stand up the unit. "The exceptional intensity and professionalism exhibited by the Marines of the TTU combined with the coordination and support of leaders at all levels across the Marine Corps is a testament to our commitment to facilitating the ACV transition and leveraging its impressive capabilities. This training will lay the foundation for future Assault Amphibian School and assault amphibian battalion proficiency."

The TTU's proficiency evaluation and validation standards developed by the TTU will be sustained on an enduring basis through entry-level ACV operator, maintainer, and unit leader training and advanced training for Marines as they progress through their career.

"It is not enough to put a check in a box when it comes to safe operation and maintenance of the ACV," added Maj. Jim Agostino, the TTU operations officer, and a former 3d AABn company commander. "We are looking to certify Marines in the technical operation of the vehicle from each crew station, to ensure they possess the requisite skills of operating the ACV safely and have a firm foundation to enhance their capability in follow-on training."

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Arie Kruglanski in The Conversation:

The year 2023 is still young, and already there have been at least 146 mass shooting events in the U.S. on record, including the killing of five people in a Louisville, Kentucky, bank that the shooter livestreamed. There were 647 mass shootings in 2022 and 693 in 2021, resulting in 859 and 920 deaths, respectively, with no respite in sight from this ghastly epidemic. Since 2015, over 19,000 people have been shot and wounded or killed in mass shootings.

In the wake of most shootings, the news media and the public reflexively ask: What was the killers motive?

As a psychologist who studies violence and extremism, I understand that the question immediately pops to mind because of the bizarre nature of the attacks, the out-of-the-blue shock that they produce, and peoples need to comprehend and reach closure on what initially appears to be completely senseless and irrational. But what would constitute a satisfactory answer to the publics question?

More here.
34 million Afghans mired in poverty amid US freeze on assets: UN

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 19 April 2023 5:19 PM

The United Nations has warned that around 34 million people in Afghanistan are mired in poverty, as sanctions by the US against the de-facto Taliban government and the freeze on the country's assets have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis there.

In its stark new assessment of 2022 data released on Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that the number of people in poverty nearly doubled to 34 million in Afghanistan, well more than a year after the Taliban returned to power and two decades after the group was ousted by a US-led NATO invasion.

The appalling figure is a staggering increase of 15 million in 2020, the last full year of rule by the US-supported government that crumbled in a matter of weeks the following summer by advancing Taliban fighters.

"Some have been compelled to sell their homes, land, or assets that generate income," the UNDP report - titled "Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook-2023" said, adding, "Others have resorted to the distressing practice of commodifying their own family members, turning children into laborers and young daughters into brides."

In the absence of contemporary census data for Afghanistan, the UN uses a population estimate of 40 million for the country, meaning that 85 percent of the nation, based on the assessment, is projected to be in poverty.

Since the full collapse of the US-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban takeover in August 2021, vast foreign subsidies were halted and aid programs and financial assistance dramatically cut back as many countries refused to deal with the Taliban authorities.

Afghanistan's heavily aid-dependent economy, mostly funded by international donors, has been in chaos since the Western countries suspended humanitarian aid and froze Afghan assets.

"The cutoff in foreign assistance that previously accounted for almost 70 percent of the government budget, has resulted in a sizable squeeze of public finances," the report's executive summary said.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has frozen over $7 billion in Afghan assets since NATO's withdrawal from the country. Back in February last year, Washington also said that half of the assets would be made available to victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Nevertheless, the UN claims that it has managed to airlift about 1.8 billion US dollars into Afghanistan - between December 2021 and January 2023 - to pay staff and operating costs, saying that such cash injections have been vital in shoring up the nation's faltering economy.

The world body, however, says that the financial assistance is far from enough and that the minimum for international assistance that is required to help Afghans in need should reach $4.6 billion in 2023.

The UN said that restrictions, particularly the US crippling sanctions on the Taliban, may turn off the aid tap at the source, with donors wary of committing cash to projects that cannot be implemented, warning that any reduction in international aid would deteriorate the economic situation of Afghanistan and would result in extreme poverty that would perpetuate for decades.

"If foreign aid is reduced this year, Afghanistan may fall from the cliff edge into the abyss," the UNDP resident representative in Afghanistan, Abdallah al-Dardari, said.

Furthermore, many organizations suspended their operations in protest against the December ban on NGOs employing Afghan women.

In December, the Taliban government first decided to suspend university education for women, and later issued an outright ban on education for women.

"Only the full continuity of girls' education and women's ability to pursue work and learning can keep the hope of any real progress alive," UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja, said.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. American forces occupied the country for about two decades on the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban stormed into Kabul, weakened by continued foreign occupation.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the United States invaded and occupied Afghanistan, despite the fact that no Afghan was involved in the attacks. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died in the US war on the country.

Millions of Afghans are without work today, the banking system is virtually dysfunctional, medical facilities are lying in shambles and the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history is unfolding.

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Fighting rages in Sudan; death toll grows despite truce

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 19 April 2023 10:31 AM

Fighting continues between rival military factions in Sudan for a fifth day as a 24-hour ceasefire breaks down and the death toll rises to at least 270.

Gunfire and explosions were heard on Wednesday in central Khartoum near the defense ministry compound and the airport, which has been fiercely contested between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The warring sides had agreed to the 24-hour truce, which was expected to take effect at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.

However, the ceasefire shattered, dashing the hopes of trapped Khartoum residents to obtain desperately needed relief and supplies.

The army, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, headed by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as "Hemedti," accused each other of violating the truce.

"The RSF didn't even give the ceasefire a chance to take effect," said Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, spokesman for the Sudanese Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least 270 people have been killed and more than 2,600 wounded since the conflict broke out on Saturday.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation in Sudan as "deeply concerning," adding that the supplies that the UN agency had distributed to health facilities "are now exhausted," with Khartoum hospitals "reporting shortages of medical personnel and lifesaving medical supplies."

Similarly, the Sudanese Health Ministry raised the alarm about the deteriorating healthcare situation in the African country.

In a statement on Twitter, the ministry said that the public health sector in Khartoum was verging on "total collapse" as 16 hospitals went completely out of service.

Heavy clashes erupted between the Sudanese military and the RSF on Saturday amid disagreements over the latter's integration into the armed forces.

The fighting has derailed the latest internationally backed plan for a transition to a civilian government, four years after the fall of President Omar al-Bashir and two years after a military coup.

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Nicaragua bars EU envoy over 'interventionist' remarks

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 18 April 2023 10:30 PM

Nicaragua has barred the European Union's designated ambassador from entering the country over the bloc's meddlesome remarks concerning the Central American nation.

The envoy Fernando Ponz was banned from entering Nicaragua on Tuesday after an earlier EU communique accused Managua of, what it called, "systemic repression" of dissent over the past five years since anti-government protests hit the country's streets.

The government maintains that the 2018 protests were part of a failed coup backed by the United States.

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said the country had decided to block the European Union's ambassador-in-waiting in response to an "interventionist, bold, and insolent communique" from the bloc.

"In these circumstances and in the face of the permanent siege on the right of our people to national sovereignty, we will not receive their representative," Moncada said in a note addressed to Brussels.

He also said Brussels' allegations against his country indicated the "imperialist and colonialist positions that characterize the European Union."

The EU statement, however, said the bloc "confirms its readiness to support all efforts aimed at a democratic, peaceful, and negotiated solution to the protracted political crisis in Nicaragua."

Ponz had been nominated for the role after Nicaragua declared the previous ambassador to the country, Bettina Muscheidt, "persona non grata" in September.

The bloc, in turn, declared Nicaragua's ambassador "persona non grata."

It also prolonged sanctions against 21 individuals and three entities given the "deteriorating political and social situation" in Nicaragua -- including Ortega's wife and vice-president Rosario Murillo.

The steps included an assets freeze and a travel ban.

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Vietnam speeds land reclamation in South China Sea

Developments include new harbors, helipads and radar domes but no military installations.

By RFA Staff 2023.04.19 -- Vietnam continues accelerating its land reclamation in the South China Sea but an investigation by Radio Free Asia has found no indication of the militarization of any outpost.

Satellite images obtained via Planet Labs, a U.S. Earth imaging company, show that reclamation works have been carried out at many of the 27 maritime features under Vietnam's control in the Spratly archipelago.

New harbors that could serve as shelters for ships have been developed at five more features including Tennent Reef, Pearson Reef, Namyit Island, Barque Canada Reef and Sand Cay, bringing the number of such facilities to at least nine.

The Spratly archipelago, with hundreds of atolls and reefs, is located in an area frequently hit by typhoons and the Vietnamese government has said it is committed to protecting fishermen at sea.

Some of the features have been developed further since the last report in December 2022 on Vietnam's island expansion by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Two small features, Sand Cay and Barque Canada Reef, have witnessed a great transformation since the end of last year.

The land area on Barque Canada Reef has increased from 58 acres (24 hectares) in AMTI report to the current 76 acres (31 hectares), according to RFA's research.

Another feature, Tennent Reef, which until 2021 still hosted only a couple of steel structures, now has been developed into an islet with buildings, a harbor and a pier.

AMTI estimated that at the end of 2022, there were 64 acres (26 hectares) of artificial land at Tennent Reef.

A mid-sized feature, the Namyit Island, has expanded significantly to 117 acres (47 hectares), with a port that can accommodate larger ships including supply vessels.

No militarization

The island, listed as a natural marine reserve by the Vietnamese government, boasts a sovereignty monument installed in 1956, a lighthouse, a clinic and a Buddhist Temple.

A close look at images of Namyit obtained from Planet Labs reveals a number of buildings, two radar domes and a helipad at the eastern edge of the island but no obvious military installations or facilities.

Greg Poling, AMTI's director, said Vietnam has built helipads on most of its features in recent years to facilitate resupply.

Until now there's only one small airport equipped with a 1,200-meter runway on the Spratly Island that Hanoi has controlled since 1975.

Reuters news agency in 2016 reported that Vietnam moved a number of mobile rocket launchers to five of its islands in the South China Sea.

"The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days," the report said.

The Vietnamese government denied the information.

RFA also examined the latest photos of Vietnam's other reclaimed islands and has not found any evidence to back Reuters' claims.

AMTI's December report said Vietnam created roughly 420 acres (170 hectares) of new land in 2022 alone, bringing its total in the last ten years to 540 acres (219 hectares).

It is still a fraction of China's reclaimed 3,200 acres [1,295 hectares].

Six parties - Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam - hold conflicting claims over the South China Sea but only China, the Philippines and Vietnam are known to have been reclaiming land for further construction on their occupied islands and reefs.

Beijing is believed to have finished the construction and militarization of three of its artificial islands - Subi, Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef - all within the Spratly archipelago.

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 April 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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Australian lawmakers meet with Dalai Lama, government-in-exile in northern India

They discussed the threat posed to Tibet by China's communist government.

By Yeshi Dawa and Lobe Socktsang for RFA Tibetan 2023.04.19 -- A four-member delegation from Australia's All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet who met with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday offered support to preserve Tibet's language and culture amid China's efforts to restrict Tibet's linguistic and cultural rights.

MP Sharon Claydon, who also serves as deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Sen. Janet Rice, MP Sophie Scamps and MP Susan Templeman arrived in Dharamsala, India, on Monday for a four-day visit. The hillside city in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh is home to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, and to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

The delegation was accompanied by Zoe Bedford, executive officer of the Australia Tibet Council and Karma Singey, the Dalai Lama's representative for Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

The bipartisan Australian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet seeks to put pressure on the Australian government to encourage negotiations between Beijing and the Tibetan government-in-exile, while recognizing that Tibet is an occupied country which had independent ties with Britain.

"His Holiness told us that our concern and support for the Tibetan cause gives hope to the millions of Tibetan people and to His Holiness," Rice said after the delegation's audience with the Dalai Lama.

"We discussed China and many other things and the core message of His Holiness is that the courage of the Tibetan people is more powerful than the threat that the Chinese Communist government poses," she added.

About 2,500 Tibetans live in Australia, many of whom are former political prisoners, according to the Australia Tibet Council, an NGO that campaigns for the freedom and human rights of Tibetans.

The delegation also met with Penpa Tsering, the leader, or Sikyong, of the Central Tibetan Administration, or CTA, as the government-in-exile is called.

The Dalai Lama and the CTA have long advocated a Middle Way approach to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet and to bring about stability and co-existence based on equality and mutual cooperation without discrimination based on one nationality being superior than the other.

There have been no formal talks between the Dalai Lama and Beijing since 2010, and Chinese officials have made unreasonable demands of the Dalai Lama as a condition for further dialogue.

Chinese communists invaded Tibet in 1949, seeing the region as important to consolidate its frontiers and address national defense concerns in the southwest.

A decade later, tens of thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Lhasa, the regional capital, in protest against China's invasion and occupation of their homeland. But People's Liberation Army forces violently cracked down on them and surrounded the Dalai Lama's summer palace, forcing him to flee to Dharamsala.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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 April 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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Cambodian court orders arrest of opposition party officials

The charges are similar to those facing other Candlelight Party officials who switched from a smaller party.

By RFA Khmer 2023.04.19 -- A provincial court ordered the arrest of two senior Candlelight Party officials on fraud charges, the latest such charges - which critics called politically motivated - that stem from political party registration documents filed last year.

Seng Visal, the Candlelight Party's finance officer in Prey Veng province, and Bin Chhong, a commune council member in Prey Veng, were arrested and charged with submitting fraudulent documents to the Ministry of Interior for last year's local commune election candidate lists.

The two officials were members of the National Heart Party at the time. They have since switched their allegiance to the Candlelight Party - the main opposition party and the biggest threat to the ruling Cambodian People's Party.

The CPP filed the complaint against the two officials as a way of intimidating opposition party activists ahead of the July parliamentary elections, said Dim Yun, the executive director for the Candlelight Party in Prey Veng.

"I am very disappointed with the arrest. This is very inappropriate. During the election, the government should allow more political parties and not arrest any party's activists," he said. "This is not about criminal offenses, it is a politically motivated case to intimidate opposition party officials in Prey Veng."

Four other Candlelight Party officials have been arrested on similar charges in recent weeks.

In previous similar cases, the Ministry of Interior has said that the National Heart Party collected several hundred forged thumbprints on documents it filed when it registered ahead of the 2022 commune elections.

Aimed at intimidation

But any problems that the ministry had with last year's candidate lists should have already been resolved, said Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, or Licadho.

"These arrests will lead to criticism saying the arrests were aimed at intimidating the opposition party officials who will compete in the election," he said.

Seng Visal and Bin Chhong were questioned at Prey Veng provincial court for four hours before their arrest, their lawyer Sam Sokong told Radio Free Asia. They are being held without bail even though their alleged crime is minor and they have full-time jobs, he said.

"According to the law, they have permanent jobs - particularly Bin Chhong, who is a commune councilor - so they should be safe to be released on bail," he said.

Outside the courthouse, about 50 supporters gathered to show solidarity with the officials before they went inside the court for questioning.

After the questioning, Presiding Judge Hem Krishna ordered the arrests and that Seng Visal and Bin Chhong be detained while they await trial. Later, Prey Veng Provincial Prison Department officials refused to allow a defense lawyer and party officials to see them.

Court spokesman Ath Sokhon refused to comment when contacted by RFA.

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 April 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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Azerbaijan Says It Has Detained 20 People For Allegedly Promoting Iranian 'Propaganda'

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda April 19, 2023

Azerbaijani media say 20 people allegedly affiliated with Iran's Intelligence Ministry were arrested on April 19 as relations between the two countries fray.

According to the official APA news agency, the individuals detained were involved in promoting "the Islamic Republic's propaganda, spreading religious superstitions, attempting to overthrow the secular government of Baku, and engaging in drug trafficking," all under the guise of religious activities.

The news agency published photographs of the arrested individuals, some of whom were clerics who had studied at the Qom Seminary in Iran, alongside the Islamic republic's religious propaganda flags.

The arrests are the latest in a series of detentions of people who the Azerbaijani government says are working for Iran.

Relations between Tehran and Baku has become increasingly strained in recent months, particularly after an armed attack on Baku's embassy in Tehran.

Baku ordered the evacuation of staff and family members from its embassy in Iran on January 29, two days after a gunman shot dead a security guard and wounded two other people at the facility in an attack Baku said was an "act of terrorism."

Tensions were further heightened following a failed assassination attempt in Baku on an Azerbaijani parliamentarian who has been critical of Iran.

In response to the assassination attempt on Fazil Mustafa, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, authorities arrested four individuals on charges related to the armed attack and accused the Islamic republic of orchestrating the assassination plot.

Azerbaijan has also accused Iran of backing Armenia in a long-standing conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Iran has long accused Azerbaijan of fueling separatist sentiments among its sizeable ethnic Azeri minority.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijan- arrests-iranian-propaganda/32370865.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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Early Voting In Referendum On New Uzbek Constitution Kicks Off

By RFE/RL's Uzbek Service April 19, 2023

TASHKENT -- Early voting has started in Uzbekistan in a referendum on a new constitution that would allow 65-year-old President Shavkat Mirziyoev to run again and opens the way for him to retain power until 2040.

The Central Election Commission said early voting for those who will be unable to take part in the referendum on April 30 started on April 19 and will run until April 26.

The amendments changing the constitution, initiated by Mirziyoev last year and approved by lawmakers in March, are expected to be backed by a majority of voters in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic, which, according to Uzbek officials, will "nullify" Mirziyoev's previous and current terms, allowing him to run for another two consecutive terms.

The amendments also extend the duration of a presidential term to seven years from five years. Mirziyoev's current term ends in 2026. According to Uzbek lawmakers, the amendments will change about two-thirds of the constitution, with the number of articles in the document rising to 155 from 128.

The draft also declares Uzbekistan will be "a social state" while almost tripling the state's obligations to citizens.

The proposed amendments originally included abolishing the country's Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic's right to secede.

However, Mirziyoev dropped the idea to change Karakalpakstan's status after thousands of Karakalpaks protested in early July 2022 against the elimination of the region's long-standing right to seek independence from Uzbekistan.

Uzbek authorities say 21 people died in Karakalpakstan when the protests were dispersed by security forces. Dozens of participants in the rallies were later handed prison terms on charges of plotting to seize power by disrupting the constitutional order, organizing mass unrest, embezzlement, and money laundering.

The referendum is the third referendum in the history of independent Uzbekistan.

Mirziyoev's predecessor, authoritarian first President Islam Karimov, who died in 2016, held two referendums in 1995 and 2002 that allowed him to prolong his reign without elections. The length of presidential terms was also changed.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-constitution- referendum-mirziyoev/32370425.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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Manila Refuses to Allow Storage of US Weapons Meant for Taiwan Defense at Philippine Bases

Sputnik News

20230419

Fantine Gardinier

The Philippine government has said it will not allow the United States to use its bases in the country as staging places for potential operations against China in case of a war over Taiwan.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo delivered the news during a hearing in the Philippine Senate on Wednesday regarding the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two countries.

"We would not agree to any kind of activity or even materiel not consistent with these agreed activities," Manalo said. "Our view is that EDCA is not aimed at any third country outside its meant for use for the Philippines and of course in connection with our treaty with the United States."

He added that their decision about whether to let the US store weapons at certain sites in the Philippines "will be guided by the main purposes" of the deal.

"And I think, at this stage, our main foreign policy is really to be friends to all. And therefore, I think, anything that is inconsistent with that would not be also consistent with our position," he continued.

The 2014 agreement is a supplement to the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement, which provides for the temporary stationing of US forces at several Philippine-controlled military bases on regular rotations of personnel. Both agreements are predicated upon the 1952 mutual defense treaty between Washington and Manila, the latter of which only gained independence from the former five years earlier, following 50 years of colonial rule.

Balancing Washington and Beijing

Sen. Imee Marcos, the Senate foreign affairs panel chairperson and the president's sister, further grilled defense and foreign affairs officials at the hearing, saying that the selection of four new sites for US military installations seemed to be "random and no longer purposeful with regard to the modernization of the (Armed Forces of the Philippines.)"

After a senior defense official said the sites were chosen to address a defense "vulnerability" in the country's north, which is close to Taiwan, the senator replied: "In the north? I come from the north, sir. I don't feel very vulnerable. Our fishermen in Cagayan and the Ilocos sea are not being harassed by anyone."

Another senior defense official said that installations in the country's west were selected because "we are projecting force in the islands."

Manalo's comments follow similar remarks by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos last week, who sought to assuage Beijing's fears that a deal to open four new US bases would lead to "more tensions and less peace and stability" in the region.

"China's reaction is not really surprising because they are worried," he said. "But the Philippines will not allow the use of its bases for any offensive action. These will only be used to help the Philippines if it needs help."

Since the administration of Marcos' predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, Manila has plotted a middling path between Washington and Beijing, seeking to use each to gain an advantage over the other.

Ramping Up for 'Great Power Competition'

The US has looked to bolster its alliance with the Philippines since adopting its strategy of "great power competition" with Russia and China in 2017. On the edge of the South China Sea and the Bohai Strait, the archipelago nation is a key part of the "First Island Chain" over which both the US and China are preparing for a likely conflict to be fought.

Taiwan, a Chinese province in rebellion that receives open but informal support from Washington, is also a part of that island chain, and US President Joe Biden has steadily eroded the US' long-held policy of "strategic ambiguity" on the question of whether it would come to Taiwan's defense in case China tried to forcibly reunite the island with the mainland.

"Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack." Biden said in a September 2022 interview when asked if the US would defend Taiwan. In a previous interview that May, Biden was asked the same question and also said "yes," adding: "That's the commitment we made."

In fact, the US canceled its mutual defense treaty with Taiwan in 1979, when it switched its recognition of the legitimate Chinese government from Taipei to Beijing.

Beijing has said it seeks peaceful reunion with Taiwan under a structure of "One Country, Two Systems," which would preserve Taiwan's capitalist economic system and liberal political system. A similar system was put in place when Hong Kong and Macao were reunited with China in the 1990s, following centuries of European colonial rule.

 Sputnik

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Treasury Sanctions Three Nicaraguan Judicial Officials Involved in Human Rights Abuses

U.S. Department of the Treasury

April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three Nicaraguan judicial officials involved in human rights abuses conducted by the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and the broader oppression of Nicaraguan citizens who oppose his government.

The three individuals designated today are judges or presiding magistrates in the Managua District Court of Appeals, the Second District Trial Court in Managua, and the First Criminal Appeals Court of Managua. These courts affirmed decisions that revoked the citizenship of more than 300 Nicaraguan citizens.

The Managua District Court of Appeals declared 222 Nicaraguan citizens traitors of the state and stripped them of their citizenship. An additional 94 individuals had their citizenship revoked and were declared "fugitives of the law." One of the judges designated today issued a sentencing order imposing penalties on a prominent Nicaraguan Catholic bishop who was given the opportunity to depart Nicaragua along with the 222 departing individuals but refused to go into exile. The bishop was sentenced to over 26 years in prison, stripped of his citizenship, and declared a traitor for being critical of the regime. These actions reflect the regime's disregard for human rights in Nicaragua.

"The Ortega regime continues to engage in anti-democratic actions that target the most vocal opposition figures in Nicaragua, including through its judicial system," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "The United States will continue to support the Nicaraguan people as they strive to restore democratic institutions."

ERNESTO LEONEL RODRIGUEZ MEJIA

Ernesto Leonel Rodriguez Mejia (Rodriguez) was designated pursuant to E.O. 13851, as amended, for being an official of the Government of Nicaragua or for having served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua at any time on or after January 10, 2007. Rodriguez is a presiding magistrate of the Managua District Court of Appeals.

On February 15, 2023, Rodriguez announced the court's decision to strip 94 Nicaraguan citizens of their nationality, declaring them traitors. The denationalized individuals were outspoken critics of the Ortega regime and included notable journalists, human rights defenders, and clergy.

NADIA CAMILA TARDENCILLA RODRIGUEZ

Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodriguez (Tardencilla) was designated pursuant to E.O. 13851, as amended, for being an official of the Government of Nicaragua or for having served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua at any time on or after January 10, 2007. Tardencilla is a judge in the Second District Trial Court of Managua.

On February 10, 2023, Tardencilla issued a judicial order that stripped Catholic Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos of his Nicaraguan citizenship and convicted him for treason, undermining national integrity and authority, aggravated obstruction, and spreading false news.

OCTAVIO ERNESTO ROTHSCHUH ANDINO

Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh Andino (Rothschuh) was designated pursuant to E.O. 13851, as amended, for being an official of the Government of Nicaragua or for having served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua at any time on or after January 10, 2007. Since 2021, Rothschuh has held the position of elected president magistrate of the Court of Appeals of Managua.

On February 10, 2023, the president magistrate announced the court's decision to deport 222 Nicaraguan individuals, declaring them traitors to the nation.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of these persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from its ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from OFAC's willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC's Frequently Asked Question 897 here. For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list.

For more information on the individuals designated today, click here.

###

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The violence must stop to give dialogue and peace a chance to succeed.

Statement by Ambassador Kariuki at the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Great Lakes region

19 April 2023

Thank you, President. I will focus on the situation in eastern DRC and regional processes to end the conflict.

The United Kingdom remains deeply concerned by intensifying violence and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Great Lakes region, particularly in eastern DRC. We strongly condemn the continuing violence by all armed groups, including the UN-sanctioned M23 armed group. In the limited areas from which they have withdrawn, the horrors perpetrated by M23 are gradually being exposed, with allegations of mass rapes and summary killings.

The redeployment of resources to tackle M23 has also undermined the protection of civilians elsewhere. There have recently been horrifying accounts of executions and attacks on civilians by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and CODECO. We call for comprehensive investigations into allegations of human rights and international humanitarian law abuses by armed groups and for those responsible to be held accountable. All support to these non-state armed actors must stop.

President, we reiterate our full support for regional diplomatic efforts, including the Nairobi and Luanda processes, which promote de-escalation and aim to create the conditions for lasting peace in the region. We are making a financial contribution to the Nairobi process to this end. We urge all parties to respect commitments made under these processes, including the withdrawal of M23, to end of all support of armed groups, and to stop the use of incendiary hate speech. We welcome Special Envoy Xia's support to these processes and encourage increased engagement as the conflict worsens.

We welcome M23's handing over of some locations to the EAC Regional Force, but any withdrawal must be complete and in line with the agreed process through the Luanda roadmap. We hope the forthcoming Angolan troop deployment will help reinforce this withdrawal.

President, there is only one way out of this conflict. The violence must stop to give dialogue and peace a chance to succeed. The United Kingdom calls upon countries in the region, members of this Council, and Special Envoy Xia to intensify efforts to de-escalate the situation, improve regional cooperation, address security challenges, improve humanitarian access, and bring peace to the Great Lakes region.

Thank you.

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US Reviews Afghan Policy, Scolds 'Draconian' Taliban Edicts

By Akmal Dawi April 19, 2023

After nearly two years of standoff diplomacy with de facto Taliban authorities, Washington is reviewing its Afghan policy in response to what U.S. officials call "draconian" Taliban governance.

The review comes as the United Nations is reportedly mulling a suspension of operations inside Afghanistan because the Taliban have banned Afghan women from work at U.N. agencies.

"The U.S. government has been reviewing our approach and engagement with the Taliban in the context of their increasingly draconian edicts targeting and discriminating against women and girls in Afghanistan," a spokesperson for the Department of State told VOA.

Unmoved by global condemnation of their misogynistic policies, including from Muslim-majority countries, the Taliban insist that depriving women of education, work and political participation is an internal Afghan issue.

Washington's tougher tone comes as the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is reportedly planning to convene an international gathering in May to discuss the possibility of giving the Taliban a seat at the U.N. General Assembly in exchange for reversing the Islamist regime's cascade of restrictions on Afghan women.

When asked about the proposed meeting's goals on Wednesday, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told reporters in New York that he does not believe the group will consider recognition.

"I understand the Secretary-General, as he shared it with some of the member states, me included, will be looking for the opinion of those special envoys on how they see the way out for Afghanistan."

Despite maintaining firm control over the entire country for nearly two years, the Taliban have failed to gain recognition from any government while the Afghanistan seat at the U.N. is still occupied by Naseer Ahmad Faiq, an appointee of the former Afghan government.

Meeting the opposition

Amid growing U.S. frustration with the Taliban, American diplomats have reached out to some former Afghan politicians and warlords who have set up political bases outside Afghanistan.

This week, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West met with several Afghans in Istanbul saying he heard "deep concerns" about the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

The National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan, an anti-Taliban group, said its representatives met West on Monday at his request. The group said in a tweet that it gave West a roadmap for "saving the country from the ongoing crisis."

No U.S. official has traveled to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021, but Washington has bypassed the Taliban and maintained robust diplomatic and humanitarian engagement with Afghans.

Still, some think the U.S. should do more to engage. "Why is every other envoy traveling to or staying in [Afghanistan] but him," tweeted Obaidullah Baheer, an Afghan analyst, about West's meetings in Turkey. "I fail to see the logic behind meeting exiled and failed Republic warlords and politicians."

I appreciate Tom West travelling to meet Afghans and discussing the situation in Afghanistan. Two issues with these meetings are the choice of 'leaders' and the location of these meetings. Why is every other envoy travelling to or staying in Afg but him? 1/ https://t.co/osjc10d57r

 Obaidullah Baheer (@ObaidullaBaheer) April 18, 2023

While not extending a formal recognition, most regional countries, including Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan, have kept their embassies open in Kabul and have accredited Taliban representatives in their capitals.

Shinkai Karokhail, a former Afghan ambassador to Canada and a women's rights activist, said even if U.S. diplomats were to travel to Afghanistan, they would not have access to unfiltered realities.

"The Taliban will not allow meetings with the representatives of the people or women's groups and other civil and political activists," she told VOA.

The U.S.'s continued engagement with former Afghan officials, often blamed for massive corruption and cataclysmic failures, is also seen by some as unhelpful.

"When there is a vacuum of representation or leadership, what is achieved by filling that vacuum by platforming victors of tragic failures?" said an Afghan activist who asked not to be named.

Intervention?

Under the Doha agreement signed between U.S. and Taliban officials in February 2020, the U.S. committed not to intervene in Afghanistan's domestic affairs.

U.S. officials say they are not backing military uprisings against Taliban rule but demand they form an inclusive government.

Last month, an audio of part of a speech to a group of Afghan women by Karen Decker, the Qatar-based charge d'affaires of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan, was circulating on WhatsApp.

"We are trying to figure out how to get the best parts of the previous government and create and figure out how we can help Afghans create a new government for their country," Decker is heard saying.

A spokesperson for the Department of State said Decker's comments were consistent with a long-standing position by the international community.

"We have been clear in calling on the Taliban to form an inclusive and representative government that can legitimately speak for all Afghans."

U.S. officials say the formation of an inclusive government should be exclusively an issue for Afghans to handle, not imposed by the international community.

"If the Taliban hope for a government that enjoys international legitimacy, launching a political dialogue among Afghans is a first step. Legitimacy begins at home," the spokesperson said.

Such calls have thus far found no listeners among Taliban leaders.

"It is not clear yet whether the Taliban leadership in Kandahar has a roadmap for a political process that would strengthen legitimacy at home and abroad," Omar Samad, a former Afghan ambassador to France, told VOA.

While the Taliban remain internationally isolated, Samad said "conditions, circumstances, threat perceptions, balance of power and the regional and international order are very different" now compared to the 1990s.

The Taliban made a commitment in the Doha agreement to forbid international terror groups in areas under their control, a change from their position that allowed al Qaida to operate freely. And unlike the 1990s when the Taliban were battling warlords for control of the country, since the 2021 U.S. withdrawal the Taliban has been Afghanistan's ruling power with no real challengers.

"The question now is whether there is political will in both capitals for reframing and relaunching new talks on the way forward," Samad said.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this article from New York.

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Cameroon's Large-Scale Boko Haram Attacks Leave Thousands Homeless

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka April 19, 2023

Officials on Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria say Boko Haram militants in the past week destroyed hundreds of homes in large-scale attacks that killed at least six villagers and two soldiers, and left thousands homeless. Cameroon's government says troops retaliated Wednesday morning and killed at least 12 militants.

Officials in Cameroon's Mayo-Moskota district, on the border with Nigeria's Borno state, say hundreds of Boko Haram fighters launched deadly attacks on villages over the past five days.

Cameroon's military says six civilians and two government troops were killed in the attacks and the militants stole two military jeeps and some ammunition.

Guedjeo Salomon is Cameroon's official in charge of agriculture in Mayo-Moskota, where he spoke by phone Wednesday to VOA.

He says the militants looted markets, ranches, farms, and shops and sent villagers fleeing for safety.

Salomon says thousands of civilians are hiding in the bush on the border with Nigeria and neighboring towns, including Mokolo, Moskuta and Koza. He says on Monday the militants destroyed close to 400 shops and houses.

"They militants crossed the border to Nigeria with stolen loot, including about 200 cows, more than 250 goats and sheep, and one hundred motorcycles," he added.

Salomon says Cameroon's military chased the militants back across Nigeria's border into Borno state, the birthplace of Boko Haram.

Cameroon's government says at least 12 militants were killed on Wednesday morning in a military raid on its side of the border.

VOA could not independently verify the number of casualties, but witnesses confirmed the attacks involved hundreds of militants.

The governor of Cameroon's Far North region Midjiyawa Bakari spoke to VOA via a messaging app.

Bakari says Cameroon's military has been deployed to protect civilians on the border with Nigeria who are again suffering because of fresh Boko Haram incursions.

"Besides fighting the insurgents, troops will provide first aid to wounded civilians and work with local militias, who have a mastery of roads used by the militants to enter Cameroon through the porous border," he said.

Villagers are calling on troops to better protect them from the militants.

Cameroon's military said Tuesday the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission met in Mora, a northern border town with Chad and Nigeria.

The task force, made up of troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, discussed how to stop the attacks.

Cameroon in March said at least 3,000 people were displaced in fighting along Nigerian border towns and villages, including Mayo-Moskota.

Cameroon's government repeated calls for villagers to report any strangers in their villages and said it remobilized militias to assist troops fighting Boko Haram.

Boko Haram attacks began in Nigeria's Borno state in 2009 before spreading to neighboring countries, including Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The United Nations says the Islamist insurgency has left more than 36,000 people dead, mainly in Nigeria, and 3 million displaced.

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Sudan Rival Forces Declare New 24-Hour Cease-Fire After Failure of Tuesday Attempt

By VOA News April 20, 2023

Rival forces battling in the streets of Sudan's capital declared a new 24-hour cease-fire Wednesday, a day after a similar truce attempt failed.

The Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, announced separately that they would abide by a temporary halt in fighting beginning at 6 p.m. local time, or 1600 UTC.

There were reports of sporadic fighting after the cease-fire went into effect.

In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called for both sides to respect the truce, "renounce violence and return to negotiations." She said the country's two top generals, whose forces have turned the capital into a war zone for the past five days, "are responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and non-combatants."

Heavy fighting was reported earlier Wednesday around the main military headquarters in Khartoum, with military jets launching airstrikes on RSF forces attempting to take control of the complex.

Streets in the capital were empty except for fighters and people attempting to flee the city, some leaving on foot, some crowding into vehicles. Most residents have sheltered indoors to avoid the fighting, enduring a cutoff in electricity and dwindling food supplies.

"Khartoum has become a ghost city," said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Sudan Doctors' Syndicate, who is still in the capital.

The fighting has killed nearly 300 people in the past five days, the U.N. health agency said, but the toll is likely higher, since many bodies have been left in the streets, unreachable because of the clashes.

World leaders have pressured General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of Sudan's military, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the Rapid Support Forces, to call a halt to the fighting. The rival forces agreed to a cease-fire Tuesday after speaking separately by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who appealed for a truce on humanitarian grounds. The cease-fire fell apart within minutes and fighting raged throughout the day on Wednesday.

Japan announced Wednesday it has begun plans to evacuate about 60 of its citizens from Sudan aboard military planes amid the worsening situation in Khartoum.

The U.S. State Department told VOA on Wednesday it has been in communication with American citizens about safety measures and other precautions, adding that it is unaware of any deaths or injuries of U.S. citizens in Sudan.

Sudan's military said four Egyptian military transport planes evacuated 177 Egyptian soldiers who were being held by the RSF. The Egyptian troops had been in Sudan to conduct joint exercises with the Sudanese military.

Calls for dialogue

The fighting between the army and RSF broke out Saturday after months of rising tension over the country's political future and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.

Calls to end the fighting have come from around the world and within Africa, including the African Union, the Arab League and East African regional bloc IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

Sudan's two top generals, however, have yet to express a willingness to negotiate and each has demanded the other's surrender.

Dagalo said Monday on Twitter that he was defending democracy in Sudan and called Burhan a "radical Islamist." Dagalo's forces emerged from the notorious Janjaweed militias in Sudan's Darfur region and have been accused of carrying out atrocities in the region.

The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Burhan, who also heads Sudan's ruling military council, and General Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the council. The two generals joined forces in October 2021 to overthrow the transitional government formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.

The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis.

VOA English to Africa's Carol Van Dam Falk, VOA Africa correspondent Mariama Diallo, VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer, VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell, VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching and VOA reporter Michael Atit contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 19 April 2023 - Day 420

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

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 since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state has systematically used information operations as a major element of its strategy. It has cultivated multiple channels and proxies to spread disinformation: the intentional creation and sharing of false or manipulated information.

One component of Russia's disinformation is 'narrative laundering', whereby Russia promotes information from proxies, or unverified social media sources, which then permeates to more mainstream or state-run media. This aims to cloud the source of the information, making it easier for the Russian state to distance itself from the message. It then promotes misleading fragments of the narrative, while masking its vested interest.

Russian state actors present manipulated narratives in both orchestrated and opportunistic ways. Their current priorities almost certainly include discrediting the Ukrainian government and reducing international support for Ukraine.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of April 19, Russian forces launched 3x missile and 37x air strikes. The attacks included employment of 12x Shahed-136 UAVs. 10x of them were destroyed by Ukrainian defenders. In addition, Russian forces launched 57x MLRS attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements, killing and wounding civilians, destroying and damaging private houses and other civilian infrastructure. The likelihood of missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.

At the cost of heavy losses, Russia continues to focus its main efforts on offensive operations on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mar'inka axes. More than 40x Russian attacks were repelled in the above-mentioned frontline areas during the day of April 19. The fiercest fighting is for Bakhmut and Mar'inka.

Volyn, Polissya, Sivershchyna, and Slobozhanshchyna axes: no significant changes. During the day of April 19, Russian forces shelled the settlements of Boyaro-Lezhachi, Iskryskivshchyna, Volfyne, Katerynivka, and Kindrativka (Sumy oblast), Strilecha, Ohirtseve, Vovchans'k, Petropavlivka, Karaichne, Zemlyanky, and Odradne (Kharkiv oblast).

Kupyans'k axis: Krasne Pershe, Novomlyns'k, Dvorichna, Zapadne, and Berestove (Kharkiv oblast) came under Russian artillery fire.

Lyman axis: Russian forces attempted to improve its tactical situation and conducted unsuccessful offensives in the vicinity of the southern outskirts of Kreminna. Stel'makhivka, Nevs'ke, Dibrova, Kuz'myne, Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), Ivanivka, and Verkhn'okam'yans'ke (Donetsk oblast) were shelled with artillery.

Bakhmut axis: Russia continues its offensive operations.

Heavy fighting for the city of Bakhmut continues. Fedorivka, Vasyukivka, Min'kivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Novomarkove, Hryhorivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Predtechyne, Kostyantynivka, Druzhkivka, Oleksandro-Shul'tyne, Bila Hora, Druzhba, and Zalizne (Donetsk oblast) were shelled by Russian forces.

Avdiivka axis: Russian forces attempted offensives in the vicinities of Avdiivka, Vodyane, and Pervomais'ke (Donetsk oblast), to no success. In particular, the invaders shelled Novokalynove, Avdiivka, Netaylove, Pervomais'ke, and Nevel's'ke.

Mar'inka axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled numerous Russian attacks in the vicinities of Mar'inka and Pobjeda (Donetsk oblast) during the day of April 19. At the same time, Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, and Novomykhailivka came under Russian fire.

Shakhtars'ke axis: Russian forces made unsuccessful attempts at offensive operations in the vicinity of Vuhledar. The Russian invaders shelled Vuhledar, Novoukrainka, and Velyka Novosilka (Donetsk oblast).

Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: Russia stays on the defensive. At the same time, the Russian invaders shelled more than 30x settlements during the day of April 19. Among them are Vremivka, Novopil' (Donetsk oblast), Burlats'ke, Malynivka, Zaliznychne, Mali Shcherbaky, Kam'yans'ke (Zaporizhzhia oblast), Havrylivka, Beryslav, Vesele, Antonivka (Kherson oblast), and the city of Kherson.

In the village of Kabychivka (Luhansk oblast), the so-called "authorities" put installed by Russian occupation forces received an order to set up a military hospital for the occupiers with 40x beds on the territory of the village cultural centre. Russian military doctors are expected to arrive at the newly established medical facility by the end of the week.

Russia continues to use the civilians of the temporarily occupied territories for its own purposes, using them as human shields to hide behind. Thus, in the city of Skadovs'k (Kherson oblast), the Russian occupiers began to force all collaborators and those cooperating with them as of 18 April to sign a commitment to not travel outside the district.

The Ukrainian Air Force launched 7x air strikes on the concentrations of the occupiers troops during the day of April 19. In the meantime, missile and artillery troops hit 2x concentrations of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment, as well as 2x ammunition depots.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that PMC "Wagner" continues to fight for Bakhmut. The successes of the Russian units "in certain areas" were recognized, including by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. At the same time, the deputy head of the department, Anna Malyar, announced the "assault actions" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this direction, calling it an "element of the counteroffensive."

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported unsuccessful attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack PMC attack aircraft in the areas of Stupochek and Krasnoye, as well as in the north-west and in the center of Bakhmut. At the same time, the "Wagnerites", the agency says, liberated 3 blocks in the northwest, southwest and in the center of the city.

According to the agency, aviation conducted 4 sorties in the Bakhmut direction during the day, artillery performed 67 fire missions. In the area of Seversk, a crossing over the Seversky Donets, induced by the enemy, was destroyed, and a fuel depot for military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit in Konstantinovka.

The situation in other directions

DPR

During the day, Ukrainian armed formations opened fire on Donetsk, Gorlovka, Makiivka, Shakhtyorsk and Yasinovataya.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced the defeat of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of Pavlovka and Vugledar. An ammunition depot of Ukrainian troops was destroyed in the Krasnogorovka area, and a command and observation post in Avdiivka. At Vladimirovka and Neskuchny, the actions of 2 enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups were stopped. Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down 2 Ukrainian MiG-29s in the areas of Novoukrainka and Sergeevka in a day. A Su-25 aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit by air defense systems in the Ugledar area.

LC

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on strikes against the positions of the Ukrainian army in the areas of Novoselovsky, Nevsky and Chervona Dibrova.

Zaporozhye region

In Melitopol, a local resident was detained for passing information to the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the location of civilian infrastructure and units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to a source in the local law enforcement agencies.

A trade union of workers has been created at the Zaporozhye NPP, which has already been joined by almost 1.4 thousand people. The first meeting of the organization took place on Wednesday.

Kherson region

In the Kherson direction, Russian troops destroyed up to 30 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 vehicles, a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery mount and a D-30 howitzer during the day. An ammunition depot of the territorial defense was hit in the Zmievka area.





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Cyber Direct Commissioning Program enhancement to onboard future cyber officers

Published April 19, 2023

By Air Force Recruiting Public Affairs

Air Force Recruiting Service

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas (AFNS) -- The U.S. Air Force is revolutionizing how it recruits and commissions the next generation of cyber professionals. The Air Force is utilizing the Cyber Direct Commissioning Program to address current manning requirements in the cyber workforce. Leveraging this authority allows the Air Force to fulfill critical technical skills desired by various missions throughout the service. This program reduces the training cycle for officers and accelerates the onboarding process to meet urgent and future mission needs.

"We want to use the Cyber Direct Commissioning Program to tap into talent pools that we have not been able to access effectively. The goal is to create an enticing opportunity for folks that would otherwise want to serve their nation, remove unnecessary barriers that might turn them away from service, and accelerate those that get selected into the officer ranks with rank and pay commensurate to their actual experience levels," said Lt. Gen. Leah Lauderback is the deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Cyber Effects Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.

The CDCP is designed to tap talented individuals outside the traditional military pipeline. This initiative selects highly qualified subject matter experts to fill the ranks of Lieutenant to Colonel to meet current mission needs utilizing constructive service credit. Individuals must meet a few basic requirements to be eligible to join the direct commissioning track. The CDCP aims to attract people with cyber-related civilian work experience and graduate degrees. Applicants must meet basic officer eligibility requirements and possess demonstrated cybersecurity or cyber operations expertise through advanced academic degrees, relevant industry experience, or professional certifications.

The CDCP aims to add more cyber professionals to the U.S. Air Force and provide them with a direct pathway to success. By allowing individuals to start their military careers without completing a lengthy commissioning process, the program hopes to recruit the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Leveraging Cyber Direct Commissioning authority, the Air Force has acquired highly talented cyber professionals to address emerging cyber operational requirements. In January 2023, the service selected eight CDCP candidates as Cyberspace Warfare Operation Officers. Additionally, the board considered and recommended all eight candidates for constructive service credit.

"We're seeking the best talent across America to join our Air Force to serve as cyberspace officers," said Brig. Gen. Terrence Adams, director, Cyberspace Operations and Warfighter Communications, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Cyber Effects Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.

The career field will accept applications to commission FY24 Cyberspace Warfare Operation Officers beginning April 26 for civilians, enlisted, and private industry professionals interested in working in the cyber domain. Click here and select Apply Now at the top of the screen and complete contact information.

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April 19, 2023

By David Vergun , DOD News

Official Discusses Steps to Deter, Defeat Missile Threats

A Defense Department leader detailed missile threats from adversaries and addressed DOD countermeasure steps during testimony, yesterday, at the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Over the past year, China has continued to develop, test and field advanced missile systems of all classes and ranges. It also launched ballistic missiles in unsuccessful attempts to intimidate and demonstrate a capability to forcefully unify with Taiwan, said John D. Hill, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Space and Missile Defense.

Russia launched thousands of missile strikes in Ukraine to terrorize the Ukrainian people and degrade Ukraine's warfighting capability, he said.

Iran launched missile attacks into neighboring states and provided rockets and unmanned aerial systems to non-state actors, who in turn use them to target U.S. forces and partners, Hill said.

North Korea showcased an array of missile systems, including 11 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and it conducted yet another ICBM test just last week, he said.

To stay ahead of the threat from North Korea, the department is making improvements to its ground-based midcourse defense system as part of a comprehensive missile defeat approach, he said.

"Missile defense is a notable element of our $35 billion of support to Ukraine since Russia's further invasion last year. Ukraine endures today as a sovereign and free nation in large part because it made air and missile defense top priorities as it leveraged extensive assistance from the United States, our NATO allies and many others," Hill said.

International missile defense cooperation includes developing testing and training with allies and partners around the world and supporting them through sales of equipment, he said.

"Missiles have become foundational to our adversaries' way of war and missile defense has become foundational to integrated deterrence and defense of the nation. To that end, the best thing Congress can do to support the warfighter is pass on time the Defense and Military Construction Appropriations Act," he said.

Hill detailed the spending request:

To defend our homeland, $3.3 billion to improve Ground-based Midcourse Defense, including $2.2 billion for the Next Generation Interceptor.

$1.5 billion for the defense of Guam, an increase of over $600 million compared to last year's request.

$64 million to improve the defense of Hawaii through investments in air surveillance and other capabilities.

$423 million to continue fielding over-the-horizon radars.

Nearly $5 billion for modernizing space capabilities with new missile warning, missile tracking and next generation overhead persistent infrared architectures.

$259 million for hypersonic missile defense sensors and development of the glide phase interceptor.

$2.2 billion for the Standard Missile 3, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot PAC-3 interceptors.

$1.5 billion to counter lower tier missile threats.

$308 million for directed energy development.

Navy Vice Adm. Jon A. Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency; Army Lt. Gen. Daniel L. Karbler, commander of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command; and Space Force Maj. Gen. David Miller, director of operations of the U.S. Space Command, also testified.

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Treasury Sanctions Procurement Network Supporting Iran's UAV and Military Programs

U.S. Department of the Treasury

April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated one individual and six entities in a sanctions evasion network that has facilitated Iran's procurement of electronic components for its destabilizing military programs, including those used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Particularly, this action targets the head of U.S.-designated Iran's Pardazan System Namad Arman (PASNA), and the entity's Iran-, Malaysia-, Hong Kong-, and PRC-based front companies and suppliers that have enabled PASNA's procurement of goods and technology. This action also updates the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) entry for PASNA to include an alias and the names of two fictitious companies used by PASNA in its procurement efforts.

Iran's proliferation of UAVs and other weapons continues to destabilize the Middle East region and beyond. Since September 2022, OFAC has issued several rounds of designations targeting Iran's UAV and missile programs, to include elements involved in production, procurement, and proliferation.

"The network sanctioned today has procured goods and technology for the Iranian government and its defense industry and UAV program," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "Treasury will continue to enforce its sanctions against Iran's military procurement efforts that contribute to regional insecurity and global instability."

On January 12, 2018, OFAC designated PASNA pursuant to E.O. 13382, which targets weapons of mass destruction proliferators and their supporters for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, Iran Electronics Industries (IEI), which is subordinate to Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).

PASNA'S IRAN-BASED PROCUREMENT NETWORK

Iranian national Mehdi Khoshghadam is the managing director of PASNA and is responsible for the company's sanctions evasion efforts. Using numerous front companies, Khoshghadam has sought a variety of electronic components from foreign suppliers primarily based in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Khoshghadam is designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, PASNA, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13382.

PASNA uses a mix of front companies and aliases when conducting business with foreign suppliers. The front companies include Amv AJ Nilgoun Bushehr CO. (AMV AJ) and PASNA International SDN. BHD. (PASNA International).

AMV AJ is an Iran-based front company for PASNA. Khoshghadam has used AMV AJ to procure electronic goods for PASNA, including electrical components and connectors.

PASNA International is a Malaysia-based PASNA front company that has procured goods for PASNA, including encoder boards, copiers, transmitters, remote controls, optical components, and various crystals.

AMV AJ, and PASNA International are designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, PASNA, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13382.

OFAC is updating PASNA's SDN List entry to include its alias, Faraz Tejarat Ertebat Company. In addition, OFAC is exposing PASNA and Khoshghadam's use of two fictional companies in their sanctions evasion efforts by adding the names as aliases on PASNA's SDN List entry. These names are Sino Trader Co. and Pouyan Electronic Co.

PASNA'S SUPPLIERS

Arttronix International (HK) Limited (Arttronix) is a Hong Kong-based company that has supplied electronic components to PASNA through Khoshghadam. Arttronix uses its alias, Aderal Industrial (HK) Ltd., to conduct business. Arttronix has supplied a number of different electronic goods to PASNA.

Jotrin Electronics Limited (Jotrin) is a PRC-based PASNA supplier. Jotrin has supplied PASNA components through Khoshghadam and PASNA's front company AMV AJ, including microelectromechanical systems and accelerometers.

Vohom Technology (HK) CO., Limited (Vohom) is a PRC-based PASNA supplier. Vohom has supplied electronic goods to PASNA through Khoshghadam.

Yinke (HK) Electronics Company Limited (Yinke) is also a PRC-based PASNA supplier. On multiple occasions, Yinke has supplied PASNA, through Khoshghadam, foreign manufactured electronic components.

Arttronix, Jotrin, Vohom, and Yinke are designated pursuant to E.O. 13382 for having provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of, PASNA, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13382.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of the individual and entities mentioned above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. All transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons are prohibited.

In addition, persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals or entities designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction or provides significant financial services for any of the individuals or entities designated today pursuant to E.O. 13382 could be subject to U.S. sanctions.

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC's ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC's FAQ 897.

For identifying information on the individual and entities designated today, click here.

####

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Second Conspirator in Russia-Ukraine Sanctions Violation Case Arrested

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, April 19, 2023



Sergey Karpushkin, 46, of Miami and a citizen of Belarus, has been arrested and charged by a federal criminal complaint with engaging in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against oligarch Sergey Kurchenko and two related companies by purchasing over $150 million in steelmaking materials. Karpushkin's alleged co-conspirator, John C. Unsalan, 41, of Orlando, was indicted by a federal grand jury for the same scheme on April 12, and was arrested on April 14 on related charges.

According to court documents, Kurchenko was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2015 for his role in misappropriating Ukrainian state assets or economically significant entities. The two sanctioned companies - Kompaniya Gaz-Alyans, OOO (Gaz-Alyans), based in the Russian Federation, and ZAO Vneshtorgservis (Vneshtorgservis), based in the unrecognized territory of South Ossetia - were designated by OFAC in 2018 for acting on behalf of and providing material support to the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in the separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine.

The complaint charges Karpushkin with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The indictment against Unsalan charges him with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the IEEPA; 10 counts of violating the IEEPA; one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering; and 10 counts of international money laundering. If convicted, Karpushkin and Unsalan each face up to 20 years in federal prison on each count with which they are charged. Unsalan made his initial appearance in federal court on April 17, and has been detained pending further court proceedings. Karpushkin made his initial appearance in federal court this afternoon and was also detained.

The FBI Tampa and Washington Field Offices are investigating the case, with valuable assistance provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, OFAC, and the FBI Miami Field Office.

Trial Attorney Sean O'Dowd of the Criminal Division's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, Trial Attorney Emma Ellenrieder of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt for the Middle District of Florida, are prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

The investigation was coordinated through the Justice Department's Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia's unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2, 2022, and under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the Department's tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

Topic(s): Countering Nation-State Threats

Export Control

Component(s): Criminal - Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section

National Security Division (NSD)

Office of the Deputy Attorney General

USAO - Florida, Middle

Press Release Number: 23-440

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April 19, 2023

Release

Biden Administration Announces Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine

Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced critical new security assistance for Ukraine. This includes the authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance with more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, artillery rounds, and anti-armor capabilities essential to strengthening Ukraine's defenders on the battlefield valued at up to $325 million.



The Presidential Drawdown is the thirty-sixth such drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine that the Biden Administration has authorized since August 2021. The capabilities in this package include:

Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);

155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;

Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;

AT-4 anti-armor weapon systems;

Anti-tank mines;

Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing;

Over 9 million rounds of small arms ammunition;

Four logistics support vehicles;

Precision aerial munitions;

Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair;

Port and harbor security equipment;

Spare parts and other field equipment.

The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3367924/

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HEFEI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Volkswagen will invest around 1 billion euros (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars) to establish a new development, innovation and procurement center in China, the Volkswagen Group announced on Tuesday at the ongoing Auto Shanghai 2023.

The new center, with the project name 100%TechCo, will be set up in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.

It will combine vehicles and components research and development (R&D) teams with purchasing, leverage synergies in the development process and integrate state-of-the-art local technologies into product development at an early stage, the company said.

The center is expected to be launched in early 2024 and will comprise more than 2,000 employees from procurement and R&D. It is expected to gradually shorten the development time of new products and technologies by around 30 percent.

"By consistently bundling development and procurement capacities as well as integrating local suppliers at an early stage, we will significantly accelerate our development pace. This will also strengthen the efficiency of cooperation for our joint venture and increase our profitability," said Ralf Brandstaetter, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group China.

The establishment of 100%TechCo is an important step of the company's "in China, for China" strategy, according to Brandstaetter.

Based in Hefei, Volkswagen Anhui is Volkswagen Group's first joint venture in China that focuses on the R&D and manufacturing of new energy vehicles.
US announces additional $325 million in military aid for Ukraine

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 19 April 2023 9:56 PM

The United States has announced an additional package of military aid for Ukraine worth $325 million, including artillery rounds and anti-armor weapons, on the same day that Kiev confirms receiving US-made Patriot missile systems.

The package was announced on Wednesday, including additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), advanced missiles, and anti-tank mines.

"This security assistance package includes more ammunition for US-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine's defenders on the battlefield," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

In addition to the HIMARS ammunition, the package includes artillery rounds; tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missiles; anti-tank mines; port and harbor security equipment, and over nine million rounds of small-arms ammunition, a Statement Department spokesperson said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine's defense minister said his country had received the US-made Patriot surface-to-air guided-missile systems.

A Patriot surface-to-air defense missile system was acquired by Ukraine last week from Germany.

The Netherlands announced it would supply parts of the advanced air defense system to Ukraine, specifically two launchers and missiles.

The Ukrainian defense chief Oleksii Reznikov said that the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands had "kept their word" after promising to provide Ukraine with the missile system.

Russia has been carrying out what it calls a special military operation against its neighbor since last February. Moscow says the operation aims to stop Kiev's persecution of pro-Russian population in eastern Ukraine and to "de-Nazify" the ex-Soviet republic.

Kiev has, ever since the onset of the conflict, been pressing its Western allies for a constant and increasingly-improving flow of state-of-the-art weapons.

The US aid package, which was announced on Wednesday, was the 36th security package for Ukraine since the start of the war, and brings total US military assistance for the Kiev government to more than $35.4 billion in that time.

Russian officials have, however, repeatedly warned that further armament of Kiev would only prolong the conflict.

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Russia warns to arm North Korea if South Korea sends weapons to Ukraine

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 19 April 2023 6:57 PM

Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev says Moscow can equip North Korea with advanced weapons if South Korea begins to provide military assistance to Ukraine.

Ahead of his state visit to the United States next week, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol indicated, during an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, that Seoul might bring about a policy shift regarding Ukraine, against which Russia waged an ongoing war in February last year.

"If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support," the South Korean leader said.

Yoon said Seoul has been exploring how to help defend and rebuild the ex-Soviet republic, just as the South received international assistance during the 1950-53 Korean War.

Later in the day, Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chair of the Russian National Security Council, responded to Yoon's new stand toward Ukraine, warning that Moscow, in a retaliatory move, would send advanced weapons to Pyongyang, Seoul's arch-foe.

"I wonder what the residents of this nation would say when they see the newest example of Russian weapons in possession of their closest neighbors, our partners from the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]?" Medvedev wrote on social media.

South Korea, which is a key US ally and a major producer of artillery ammunition, has so far refused to send lethal aid to Ukraine, citing its policy against supplying weapons to war zones.

After Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last year, Seoul ruled out the possibility of sending lethal weapons to Kiev, trying to avoid antagonizing Russia due to its companies operating there and Moscow's influence over Pyongyang.

"I believe there won't be limitations to the extent of the support to defend and restore a country that's been illegally invaded both under international and domestic law," Yoon said on Wednesday.

"However, considering our relationship with the parties engaged in the war and developments on the battlefield, we will take the most appropriate measures."

Last week, South Korean media reported that Seoul had considered "loaning" the US some 500,000 rounds for 155mm artillery guns.

This is while Kiev is reportedly in desperate need of this type of munition to boost its military might against Russian forces.

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US-made Patriot systems arrive in Kiev as West continues to fan flames of war

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 19 April 2023 5:20 PM

Ukraine's defense minister says his country has received the US-made Patriot surface-to-air guided-missile systems as the West has promised Kiev a raft of new military aid worth billions of dollars despite Russia's warnings.

Oleksii Reznikov said on Wednesday said that the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands had "kept their word" after promising to provide Ukraine with the defense system.

"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

Reznikov further said that Ukrainian personnel has been trained on the Patriot battery, which can need as many as 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

"Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word."

A Patriot surface-to-air defense missile system was acquired by Ukraine last week from Germany.

Germany's federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers in Berlin on Wednesday. Baerbock also said Germany has delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year.

In January, Germany said that it was following the United States in sending one of the Patriot systems to Ukraine.

The Netherlands announced it would supply parts of the advanced air defense system to Ukraine, specifically two launchers and missiles.

The US has also committed two Patriot batteries and, in late March in Oklahoma, completed the training of 65 Ukrainian servicemen in their use. The Netherlands has also promised two Patriot units.

The Patriot was first deployed by the US in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per round and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say.

The Patriot can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian officials have previously said the arrival of Patriot systems would be a major boost. Experts, however, have cautioned that the system's effectiveness is limited, and it may not be a game changer in the war.

Separately, the Ukrainian army said Wednesday that France's light AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicles were "already in service."

Ukraine's Western allies have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets.

Russia says it launched the military operation in Ukraine in February last year in order to defend the pro-Russia population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against alleged persecution by Kiev.

Ever since the conflict began, Kiev's allies, led by the United States and Britain, have been supplying Ukraine with weapons, which Russian officials have repeatedly warned would only prolong the conflict.

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Ukraine Receives Patriot Air-Defense Systems As Russia Attacks Odesa With Iranian Drones

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service April 19, 2023

Ukraine on April 19 said that it has received its first Patriot air-defense systems as Russia launched a fresh wave of drone attacks on the southern port city of Odesa and Ukrainian defenders repelled more attacks in the eastern region of Donetsk, where a protracted battle for the city of Bakhmut has been under way for months.

"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian skies have become more secure because Patriot air-defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov wrote on Twitter.

Reznikov wrote that the Ukrainian air-defense forces have trained to master the complexities of the Patriot systems "as quickly as they could" and thanked the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands for having "kept their word" on delivering the system.

"We will win together," Reznikov said, without specifying which country the systems had come from.

However, Germany on April 18 listed the Patriot system on a government website that records Berlin's deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine.

The mobile surface-to-air Patriot system is one of the most advanced in the world and can be used against aircraft, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles.

The United States and Germany pledged Patriot systems to Ukraine following waves of Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that began in October.

The Netherlands promised Kyiv parts of a Patriot system, including two launchers and missiles.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Patriot will "significantly" beef up Ukraine's air defense.

An additional $325 million in U.S. military aid announced on April 19 also will help. The package will send rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the Pentagon says Ukraine has used effectively on the battlefield, as well as an array of other missiles, small-arms ammunition, and antitank ammunition.

The supplies will be pulled from Pentagon inventories, meaning they can go quickly to the front line as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Counteroffensive actions by Ukrainian troops are already taking place in eastern Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said. The dates of counteroffensive actions will not be announced, Malyar said, but certain actions already are under way in areas around Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka.

The announcement of the arrival of Patriot systems came after Russia attacked the southern port city of Odesa with Iranian-made drones overnight.

"This time, 10 out of 12 Shahed kamikaze drones were destroyed by the members of the Odesa antiaircraft missile brigade of the Southern Air Command," the military said in a statement.

Yuriy Kruk, the head of the military administration in the Odesa region, said a public infrastructure target was hit during the drone attack, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

In the east, Ukrainian defenders repelled more than 60 attacks as Russian troops continue their assault on Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, Ukraine's General Staff said in its daily report on April 19.

The fiercest battles are fought for Bakhmut and Maryinka, which remain the epicenter of hostilities, the military said.

The months of fighting for Bakhmut in particular has turned into one of the bloodiest battles of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with both sides reportedly suffering heavy casualties.

The Ukrainian military said April 19 that it had taken delivery of France's light AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicles, which were "already in service."

Ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which consists of dozens of countries that provide military aid to Kyiv, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for more arms and ammunition to be sent to Ukraine.

"We recognize the enormous amount of weapons, ammunitions, supplies that have already been provided to Ukraine, but we need to do even more," Stoltenberg told CNN on April 18.

"Because we need to ensure that Ukrainians are in a position where they can punch through the Russian lines and also across minefields and be in a position where they can liberate, take back territory," he said.

The Contact Group is due to meet again on April 21 at the U.S. air base in Rammstein, Germany.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and CNN

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-drones- odesa/32370013.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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U.S. Announces $325 Million In Additional Military Aid For Ukraine

April 19, 2023

The United States is sending Ukraine about $325 million in additional military aid, including an enormous amount of artillery rounds and ammunition, the Pentagon said on April 19.

The aid resembles other recent weapons packages that sent Ukraine rockets for howitzers and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the Pentagon says Ukraine has used effectively, as well as an array of other missiles and antitank ammunition.

"This security assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine's defenders on the battlefield," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The package also includes 9 million rounds of small-arms ammunition, a State Department spokesperson said, according to Reuters.

The package is the 36th drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine and brings total aid since Russia launched its invasion to more than $35.4 billion, according to the U.S. State Department.

"Russia could end its war today. Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes," Blinken added.

The HIMARS are truck-mounted systems that can fire guided missiles in quick succession. The missiles that the Pentagon is supplying for the systems have a range of up to 80 kilometers.

The supplies included in the package will all be pulled from Pentagon inventories, meaning they can go quickly to the front line as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces.

The United States will continue to stand with Ukraine in response to Russia's "war of aggression," Blinken said. "This new security assistance will enable Ukraine to continue to bravely defend itself in the face of Russia's brutal, unprovoked and unjustified war."

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-us-military- aid-325-million/32370958.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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European Commission Proposes Support for Farmers Affected By Ukrainian Grain Transports

By RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service April 19, 2023

The European Commission has proposed measures for wheat, maize, sunflower seed, and rape seed from Ukraine after a joint complaint from five EU countries -- Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia -- over a drop in prices on local markets because of the influx from Ukraine.

The five countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grains that could not be exported by sea because of Russia's invasion, but delays in moving the grains have caused a glut of cheap imports, prompting complaints from farmers and bans on the grains by some countries.

The situation forced the European Union to seek a solution, and on April 19 European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis discussed the measures with ministers from the five countries as well as with their Ukrainian counterpart, the European Commission said in a news release.

An EU official quoted by Reuters said the proposal would only allow the grains to enter the five countries from Ukraine if they were to be exported to other EU members or to the rest of the world. The measure would last only until the end of June.

Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea atold Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskiy that aRomania will implement additional security measures for goods transiting Romania's territory to third countries.

The European Commission has proposed that the commodities be either sealed or monitored by the Global Positioning System (GPS) to ensure that they are not opened during transit and therefore should not affect the markets in the states they pass through.

The commission's proposal, which also includes a second tranche of agricultural financial support, is subject to the countries lifting unilateral measures, the commission said.

Separately, the European Commission plans an investigation into whether measures are required for other sensitive agricultural products.

Bulgaria announced earlier on April 19 that it will temporarily ban the import of grain, milk, meat, and other food products from Ukraine, following steps taken by Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia.

The ban, announced by Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev and Economy Minister Nikola Stoyanov at a news conference in Sofia, will come into effect on April 24 and will last until June 30.

The ban will affect nearly 20 types of Ukrainian produce, including wheat, wheat flour, sunflower seeds, honey, raw and dry milk, eggs, poultry, pork, mutton, lamb and goat meat, wine, and ethylic alcohol among others.

The transit of goods from Ukraine intended for third countries through the territory of Bulgaria is still permitted, the two ministers announced.

Hungary also made an announcement on April 19 on Ukrainian agricultural products, saying it is widening its ban to include honey, wine, bread, sugar, and a range of meat and vegetable products.

The list of items to be banned was announced in a government decree after Budapest previously announced a ban on imports of grain, oilseeds, and several other products in step with Poland and Slovakia.

With reporting by Reuters and digi24.ro

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-ukrainian-grain- food-ban-hungary/32370719.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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Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the situation surrounding the Black Sea Initiative

19 April 2023 07:30

741-19-04-2023

Amid numerous statements by Western representatives regarding the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative on Ukrainian food exports, we are compelled to make another detailed commentary.

Currently, the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul is indeed experiencing difficulties with registering new vessels and conducting inspections. They arise solely as a result of actions by Ukrainian representatives as well as UN officials who are apparently unwilling or unable to stand up to them. Having finally discarded not only humanitarian considerations, but even elementary human decency, they are striving to make the most out of the Black Sea Initiative stooping to anything from outright abuse of the rules of procedure to demanding bribes from the ship owners, doing all of the above for the sake of maximising commercial profits.

As a result of these actions, the share of recipients of Ukrainian food in poor countries has fallen to the lowest level (out of 28.3 million tonnes of exported grain, those countries received only 742,000, or 2.6 percent). The owners of incoming ships who refused to pay a bribe are forced to wait for registration for many months. Outgoing dry cargo ships that have paid also have to wait for the inspection, because once they receive the money the Ukrainians lose interest in them. This situation stems from the fact that in line with the current practices (importantly, not the rules of procedure), the process for obtaining applications for registration under the Black Sea Initiative is in the hands of the Ukrainians, while the UN is in charge of the inspection plans (for the entry and exit of ships).

Under these circumstances, the registration of ships, which Russian experts carry out strictly within the approved rules of procedure and their respective powers, is the only way to restore order to some extent and to build a fair and transparent basis for participating in the initiative.

However, our proposal to add to the registration lists the ships which will then sail to the countries in need, in particular Africa, as well as those that have been waiting in line for more than one month, was met with hostility by Ukrainian representatives. Kiev was not ready to jeopardise its commercial corruption schemes. As a result, the Ukrainians first blocked the registration process having disagreed with our proposals, and then suspended all inspections, including inspections of outgoing ships (27 ships with 1.2 million tonnes of cargo on board). It is clear what they are banking on: launching a propaganda machine and playing the food card with the help of Westerners and the UN.

Brussels and Washington wasted no time: first, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Russia allegedly broke its promises to the countries in need of grain and blocked 50 ships in the Black Sea. The EU did not stop there and expressed a belief that is striking in its absurdity and amateurishness: the sanctions imposed on Russia are so well calibrated and balanced that they do not interfere with Russia's agricultural exports, an example of which is the supply of Russian grain under the Black Sea Initiative.

Unfortunately, Brussels still has not figured out that only Ukrainian food is being exported across the Black Sea under the grain deal. Washington is no stranger to issuing valuable tips to other countries about their obligations, completely forgetting about its own.

Clearly, the Ukrainians and Westerners no longer trouble themselves with either analysing compliance with the Black Sea Initiative (not to mention the failure to act upon the Russia-UN Memorandum), or making any attempts to comply with their own high-flown statements about global food security. Having, in fact, trampled upon the original humanitarian goals of the Istanbul package agreements and shown complete disregard for the countries' needs for grain and fertilisers, the Europeans threw all their weight into satisfying Kiev's growing commercial appetites and fulfilling their goals of filling their warehouses with cheap Ukrainian grain.

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Seoul Predicted to Announce Supply of Lethal Weapons to Ukraine Following US Pressure

Sputnik News

20230419

Seoul may exploit Ukrainian fake news regarding the Russian special military operation in order to find a pretext to aid Kiev, argued Director of the South Korean Institute of Eurasian Strategic Studies and former Minister at the Korean Embassy in Moscow Byong Hwan Park.

According to the expert, South Korean policy on arms supplies to Ukraine has de facto changed and we may see Korean weapons shipped to Ukraine after Yoon Suk-yeol upcoming visit to the US.

His comments come as the discussion about the possible approval of supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine "if there is a situation the international community cannot condone," has flared up again in the media against the backdrop of statements by the South Korean president. Byong Hwan noted that if Russia wants to prevent this change, it needs ed to stop Ukrainian provocations, like falsely attributing their own murders to the actions of Russian military.

"Therefore, it is possible that more clear and advanced changes will be announced during the upcoming visit of the president to the United States, or shortly after his return. Gradually, under pressure from the US, this turn will be rationalized more and more for the domestic audience. And this is very sad news," Byong Hwan said.

Byong Hwan noted that the accusations of "war crimes" and "bombardments of civilian infractructure" made by the Ukrainian regime against Russia are serving as an excuse for Seoul to change its policy, and then explain this sudden shift to the domestic audience. In reality, however, the decision to send weapons to Kiev is a result of the constant US pressure on South Korean authorities - since Washington wants them to join the US camp on the issue, the expert said.

"If, as previously reported, North Korean military personnel may go to Donbass to help Russia, this could also become an excuse (for supplying weapons to Kiev). Because this will be a convenient reason for President Yun's administration to explain military aid to Ukraine, stating that since Russia and North Korea behave this way, there can be no objections to our support from the United States," expert added.

A Sputnik

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Hungary Expands List of Banned Ukrainian Farm Imports Amid Price Row

Sputnik News

20230419

BUDAPEST (Sputnik) - Hungary has published an expanded list of cheap Ukrainian farm products whose import it is banning until the end of June amid concerns that unfair competition is undercutting local producers.

Hungary and Poland announced Saturday that they would halt imports of Ukrainian grain, which has been clogging up their warehouses despite EU promises to send it to poorer countries. They were later joined by Slovakia.

The list published in the Hungarian government's official journal, Magyar Kozlony, also features beef, pork, goat meat, mutton, poultry, eggs, honey, fresh and canned fruit, sugar, flour, bread and pastry, wine and must for wine-making.

Sandor Farkas, state secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, warned on Monday that Hungary could extend the ban beyond the June 30 deadline if the European Union did not protect EU farmers.

The European Commission has criticized this unilateral action. Germany, whose former defense minister now heads the EU's executive in Brussels, slammed Poland for undermining EU solidarity with Ukraine and urged Warsaw to prioritize European cohesion.

A Sputnik

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At the state level, everything is being done to increase the ability to defend against Russian strikes - address by the President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

19 April 2023 - 23:47

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

I am on my way back from a working trip.

Today I was in Volyn, visited our border guards, on the border, in particular, with Belarus. Arrangement of the border, defense, development of the border area - many issues. Volyn shows true strength, and this is felt in the way the region strengthens the security of the entire state.

I awarded our border guards... Together with all our defense and security forces, border guards are fighting on the frontline, particularly in the most difficult areas. Bakhmut, Donetsk region in general... True heroes who successfully completed hundreds and hundreds of combat missions.

We are also preparing new units - units of border guards in particular - that will join our active actions, the movement that we are gradually building up.

We constantly work on the development of our regions - absolutely all of them. Today in Volyn, I held a broad meeting with the region's leaders, local law enforcers, military personnel, and all those responsible for the security and social condition of the region. We agreed on several infrastructure projects that will strengthen Volyn - this is important - and will make it possible to guarantee long-term jobs and economic growth. I am sure that we will definitely implement all this. Very soon.

We continue to prepare our international steps not only for this week, but in general for the near future. The defense of Ukraine, the rules-based international order remain the number one issue on the global agenda.

By the way, I am grateful to the United States for another package of military support announced today.

And today I would like to note separately our defenders of the sky - the Air Forces and the corresponding units of other branches of the troops.

At the state level, everything is being done to increase the ability to defend against Russian strikes. Air defense systems and other weapons to protect the sky are already here in Ukraine, they are really powerful. But they should be - and, I am sure, will be - even more powerful.

I am thankful to everyone who, with their accuracy and speed, ensures the effectiveness of all the weapons that our state has received!

Soldiers of the 160th Odesa anti-aircraft missile brigade of the "South" air command and mobile fire groups of the 164th Slobidska radio engineering brigade of the "East" air command were particularly effective this night. Thank you! During the day, our soldiers protected the skies of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Kyiv, the region, other cities, other regions of ours...

Glory to each and every one who is now fighting for our country, for the sake of Ukraine!

Glory to our strong people!

Glory to Ukraine!

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President held a meeting on the socio-economic and security situation in the Volyn region

President of Ukraine

19 April 2023 - 15:09

During a working trip to Volyn, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting on the arrangement and protection of the state border, as well as the current security situation in the region.

Head of the Volyn Regional Military Administration Yurii Pohuliayko informed the participants of the meeting about the socio-economic situation in the region, the arrangement of fortification and defense engineering facilities.

During the meeting, reports were heard on the situation in the area of responsibility of the "Volyn" operational group of troops and the readiness of military units to perform tasks, as well as on measures to reinforce the state border within the Volyn region.

In addition, the parties discussed the operational and criminogenic situation in the region.

The participants discussed issues related to the work of customs authorities at international checkpoints in the Volyn region, as well as the work of the State Emergency Service in protecting the civilian population of the region.

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President observed the arrangement of the state border of Ukraine in Volyn

President of Ukraine

19 April 2023 - 14:47

During a working trip to the Volyn region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the border area where the borders of three states are adjacent: Ukraine, the Republic of Poland, and the Republic of Belarus.

He observed the arrangement of the state border in this area.

As reported to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in order to ensure reliable protection of the Ukrainian border and readiness to repel a possible invasion of the enemy from the territory of Belarus, engineering barriers, fortifications are being built and remote video surveillance systems are being set up.

Border guards demonstrated the amount of work that has been done since the beginning of 2022 to reinforce the border with Belarus within the Volyn region.

The President also inspected the observation post and the two-level trench system on the border. From the position of the observation post, round-the-clock surveillance of the border line with the help of remote video surveillance systems was demonstrated. The Head of State was shown systems for detecting unmanned aerial vehicles.

The President spoke with military personnel of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and presented them with awards, in particular the orders of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the III degree, "For Courage" of the III degree, as well as medals "For Military Service to Ukraine".

"I have the honor to be here today, to congratulate you, to thank you for protecting the state border. I want to talk about the border, being right here, in Volyn, near the border of Ukraine with Belarus and Poland. You are heroic and strong people. I want to thank you for protecting our country in Bakhmut. I know how firmly you stood there, holding Bakhmut. I would like to thank you and your brothers-in-arms. I want to wish health, strength to you, and warmth to your loved ones. We are all proud that we have such strong border guards. I wish you to keep the power, justice and fury that we have in the defense of our state. I wish everyone only victory!" Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The memory of the fallen border guards was honored with a moment of silence.

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US Providing Ukraine With $325 Million in New Military Aid

By Carla Babb April 19, 2023

The United States on Wednesday announced $325 million in new military aid for Ukraine in a package that is expected to include more artillery rounds and rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as Ukraine continues to burn through artillery munitions at a high rate.

Defense officials who spoke to VOA ahead of the package's release say the latest aid also includes TOW anti-tank guided missiles, anti-tank mines and AT-4 anti-armor weapons needed to push back Russian ground forces that have dug into occupied areas of Ukraine.

Wednesday's aid package marks the 36th authorized presidential drawdown of military equipment from Defense Department inventories.

The aid comes as battle lines in Ukraine have become static, exposing the larger Russian power's weaknesses and Ukraine stubbornly defending its territory, according to a senior U.S. official. The head of Ukraine's ground forces said on Tuesday that Russia was increasing its use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, even as Russia continued to sustain significant losses in the battle.

Moscow began a renewed offensive in Ukraine earlier this year that has stalled, and Kyiv is preparing for a massive counteroffensive that is expected to begin in the coming days or weeks.

"If and when Ukraine tries a spring offensive, and it's sort of petered out, then maybe you're at a point where there could be enough of a stalemate that we see somebody show interest in a cease-fire," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

U.S. officials and analysts, including O'Hanlon, have warned the war could potentially drag into the U.S. Republican primary season and throughout next year. But O'Hanlon said he thinks U.S. and Western resolve over Ukraine will remain.

"I don't see us deserting Ukraine. I think the West has made this a matter of high strategic and moral importance, and we will keep it that way," he told VOA.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley will travel to Germany later this week for another meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which includes about 50 nations coordinating aid to help Kyiv fend off Russia's invasion that began in February 2022. This week's meeting at Ramstein Air Base marks one year since Austin first gathered the group.

O'Hanlon said the group has worked better than predicted in terms of maintaining supplies for Ukraine, showing Western resolve to face down Russian aggression and having "Ukraine's back even without having forces on the battlefield."

The priorities during Friday's meeting are expected to be ground-based air defenses, armor and artillery needs, according to a senior defense official.

"We think it will be a clear signal of not just unity a we continue to be as strong as we were a year ago a but also that that support is enduring going forward," the official said, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the meeting.

Even with massive help from the group, Ukrainian forces have experienced munitions and weapons shortages on the battlefield. A leaked memo from the U.S. military shared concern that Ukraine could run out of Soviet-era air defenses as soon as May, leaving Ukraine more exposed to Russian air assaults.

Sweden and NATO

Austin arrived in Sweden on Tuesday for a visit meant to emphasize U.S. support for Sweden's application for NATO membership, according to a senior defense official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. Sweden and Finland sought to join NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.

Finland was admitted as the 31st NATO member earlier this month, but Turkey and Hungary have so far withheld ratification of Sweden's application over bilateral differences.

The senior U.S. official said Sweden's ascension would enhance NATO's defense capabilities in the Baltic Sea, where Russia has a "substantial presence."

Austin will meet with Sweden's defense minister on Wednesday and the prime minister on Thursday. He will also view some of Sweden's advanced military capabilities during the visit.

Earlier this week, Sweden launched its largest military drills in the country in more than 25 years. The Aurora 23 military exercises include troops from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and neighboring Nordic nations and will run through May 11.

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US Justice Department Seeks New Authority to Transfer Seized Russian Assets to Ukraine

By Masood Farivar April 19, 2023

The U.S. Justice Department is pressing Congress for additional authority to funnel seized Russian assets to Ukraine.

In December, Congress authorized the Justice Department to transfer assets seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs to the State Department for Ukrainian reconstruction. But the power applies only to assets confiscated in connection with violating U.S. sanctions under certain presidential executive orders.

As a result, millions of dollars' worth of Russian properties confiscated in violation of U.S. export controls and other economic countermeasures cannot be transferred.

Now, the Justice Department is urging Congress to expand the range of forfeited assets that it can transfer to Ukraine for rebuilding.

"We're leaving money on the table if we don't expand our ability to use the forfeited assets that we gain from enforcement of our export control violations and expanding the sanctions regimes that that transfer authority is applicable to," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. "So, I urge the Congress to give us the additional authority so we can make the oligarchs pay for rebuilding Ukraine, as well."

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has been cracking down on Russian oligarchs as part of the Biden administration's response to the incursion.

The law enforcement agency set up a task force shortly after the invasion to enforce sweeping U.S. sanctions and export controls imposed on Russia.

Task Force KleptoCapture has since seized more than $500 million in assets owned by Russian oligarchs and others who support Moscow and dodge U.S. sanctions and export controls, Monaco said.

The seized assets include a $300 million super yacht owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov and a $90 million yacht belonging to Viktor Vekselberg, another Russian oligarch.

The Justice Department has used its congressional authority to transfer seized Russian assets only once.

In February, Garland authorized the transfer of $5.4 million taken from a Denver-based bank account of sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev.

Last year, Malofeyev was charged by the Justice Department with violating U.S. sanctions imposed on him following Russia's first incursion into Ukraine in 2014.

He is one of more than 30 Russian oligarchs and others to face U.S. charges of sanctions evasion, export control violations, money laundering and other crimes.

In addition to seizing the yachts and luxury homes of pro-Moscow oligarchs, Western governments have frozen more than $300 billion in assets of Russia's Central Bank.

Despite calls by U.S. lawmakers and others that the assets be transferred to Ukraine, the U.S. and other G-7 countries have agreed that they will remain "immobilized" until Russia ends its invasion.

Ukraine's reconstruction is projected to require more than $400 billion.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said "the real money" was in the frozen Russian funds and asked Monaco if the Justice Department needed more power to transfer them to Ukraine.

Monaco noted that most of the funds were held abroad and that using them for Ukraine posed thorny legal questions, but she insisted that Russia must ultimately pay for Ukraine's rebuilding.

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Minuteman III test launch showcases readiness of US nuclear force's safe, effective deterrent

Published April 19, 2023

Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFNS) -- A joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and Navy aircrew launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with one test re-entry vehicle from aboard the Airborne Launch Control System April 19 at 5:11 a.m. Pacific Time from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

This test launch is part of routine and periodic activities intended to demonstrate that the United States' nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter twenty-first century threats and reassure our allies. Such tests have occurred over 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events.

"Strategic deterrence is the most critical mission in our Air Force and the cornerstone of America's defense," said Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. "The foundation of our command and our ability to execute our mission is because of Striker Airmen, and I have full and unwavering confidence in their abilities.

"This test launch reinforces what our allies and partners already know a we're always ready to defend the United States with combat ready nuclear forces anytime, anywhere, on order, to conduct global strike."

Airmen from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron out of Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, were aboard the U.S. Navy E-6 aircraft to demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of the ALCS system.

The ICBM's reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These test launches verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system, providing valuable data to ensure a continued safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent.

"We have a unique ability to strike a target anywhere, at any time, should the commander-in-chief deem it vital to our national security and the security of our allies," said Col. Chris Cruise, 377th Test Evaluation Group commander. "An Airborne Launch Control System test validates that capability, ensures we have redundancy in our weapons systems, and showcases the interoperability with our Navy counterparts."

The test launch is a culmination of months of preparation that involve multiple government partners. The Airmen who perform this vital mission are some of the most skillfully trained and educated the Air Force has to offer.

Airmen from the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, were selected for the task force to support the test launch. The missile bases within Air Force Global Strike Command have crew members standing alert 24 hours a day, year-round, overseeing the nation's ICBM alert forces.

The ICBM community, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and U.S. Strategic Command, uses data collected from test launches for continuing force development evaluation. The ICBM test launch program demonstrates the operational capability of the Minuteman III and ensures the United States' ability to maintain a strong, credible nuclear deterrent as a key element of U.S. national security and the security of U.S. allies and partners.

Air Force Global Strike Command is a major command with headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, in the Shreveport-Bossier City community. The command overseas the nation's three intercontinental ballistic missile wings, the Air Force's entire bomber force, to include B-52, B-1 and B-2 wings, the Long-Range Strike Bomber program, Air Force Nuclear Command, Control and Communications systems, and operational and maintenance support to organizations within the nuclear enterprise. Approximately 33,700 professionals are assigned to two Numbered Air Forces, nine wings, two geographically separated squadrons and one detachment in the continental United States and deployed to locations around the globe. More information can be found at: https://www.afgsc.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Article/454593/air-force-global-strike-command-air-forces-strategic-air/.

The LG-35A Sentinel will replace the Minuteman III ICBM with an initial capability of 2029. Until full capability is achieved in the mid-2030s, the Air Force is committed to ensuring Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent.

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Westford, USA,, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The propane market is expanding at a CAGR of 4.7% in the forecast period (2023-2030) and is expected to reach $180.26 billion by 2030 according to Skyquest latest research report The market growth is being driven by the demand for propane in various sectors, including residential and commercial heating, agriculture, industrial production and supply, and propane exports. In 2020, the residential and commercial sectors consumed about 5.5 billion gallons of propane, mainly for space heating, water heating, and cooking, as revealed by SkyQuest's latest research findings.

Additionally, the agricultural sector consumes about 3.7 billion gallons of propane annually for use as a feedstock in producing chemicals and plastics, in refining processes, and as fuel for forklifts and other equipment. The industrial sector consumed approximately 2.2 billion gallons of propane in 2022, according to the EIA.

Get sample copy of this report:

https://www.skyquestt.com/sample-request/propane-market

Browse in-depth TOC on "Propane Market"

Pages - 242

Tables - 88

Figures - 76

The widespread use of propane as a fuel source in residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial sectors makes the propane market important today. Propane is a versatile and relatively clean-burning fuel that can be used for heating, cooking, and power generation. Furthermore, the U.S. relies on propane exports to play a crucial role in the global energy market.

Prominent Players in Propane Market

AmeriGas

Ferrellgas

Suburban Propane

CHS Inc.

DCC plc

Energy Transfer Partners

Flogas

Heritage Cooperative

Lykins Energy Solutions

Marsh LP Gas Company

NGL Energy Partners

Paraco Gas

Superior Plus Energy Services

ThompsonGas

UGI Corporation

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation

Chevron Corporation

ConocoPhillips

ExxonMobil

Royal Dutch Shell

Residential and Commercial Segment to Drive Higher Sales Owing to the Widespread use of Propane for Heating, and Cooking

A recent analysis revealed that the residential and commercial segment played a significant role in the rapid growth of the Propane market in 2021, and this trend is anticipated to continue from 2022 to 2030, owing to the widespread use of propane for heating, cooking, and other purpose. Nonetheless, propane is also used in other sectors such as agriculture and industry. SkyQuest's research has disclosed that approximately 50% of the propane consumed in the US is for residential and commercial purposes, such as space heating, water heating, cooking, and other uses. Propane is the most prevalent fuel source for water heating in rural areas, accounting for 46% of all water heaters in those regions, according to a study by the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC).

Research analysis suggests that North America is well-positioned to become a dominant player in the Propane market from 2022 to 2030. SkyQuest has predicted that the region may experience a CAGR of 3.82% during the forecast period, driven by the significant consumption and production of propane and the government's initiatives to encourage its use and reduce toxic emissions in the region. According to the Canadian Propane Association, propane is used in more than 6 million Canadian households, serving as the primary heating fuel for 3% of those households and a secondary heating fuel for an additional 5% of households.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://www.skyquestt.com/report/propane-market

Natural Gas Type Propane Segment to Exhibit Strong Growth due to Higher Quality and Increased Availability

The Natural Gas Type Propane segment dominated the Propane market in 2021 and is anticipated to continue its dominance from 2022 to 2030 due to the higher quality and increased availability of propane from expanding natural gas processing plants. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the propane production from natural gas processing has steadily increased over the last decade, reaching 1.4 million barrels per day in 2020, up from 0.8 million barrels per day in 2010. The EIA has also projected that natural gas processing plants will continue to expand and increase production of propane and other natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the coming years, primarily due to the rise in natural gas production from shale formations and the associated increase in NGL production.

The Asia Pacific region has also emerged as a significant force in the Propane market and is poised to maintain its leading position by 2030. SkyQuest has predicted significant growth in the Propane market for the Asia Pacific region, with a projected CAGR of 4.97% during the forecast period. This expansion can be attributed to the increasing demand in sectors such as residential, commercial, and transportation, as well as the growing availability of propane as a byproduct of shale gas production in the region.

A comprehensive analysis of the major players in the Propane market has been recently conducted in a report. The report encompasses various aspects, including collaborations, mergers, innovative business policies, and strategies, providing valuable insights into key trends and breakthroughs in the market. Furthermore, the report scrutinizes the market share of the top segments and presents a detailed geographic analysis. Lastly, the report highlights the major players in the industry and their endeavors to develop innovative solutions to cater to the growing demand.

Key Developments in Propane Market

Superior Plus Corp. (TSX:SPB) completed the acquisition of the equity interests of Kamps Propane, Inc., High Country Propane, Inc., Pick Up Propane, Inc., Competitive Capital, Inc., and Propane Construction and Meter Services (together referred to as Kamps Propane) and Kiva Energy, Inc. for approximately US$240 million (CDN $302 million). The Transaction was funded using Superior's existing credit facility.

Sinopec, the state-owned oil and gas company in China, has announced plans to increase natural gas production by 4.8% in 2022, and focus on developing the gas supply chain to meet decarbonization and energy security targets. The company believes that the natural gas business will not only support its transformation but also generate good profits. Therefore, Sinopec plans to continuously increase the proportion of clean energy, particularly natural gas, in its overall energy mix.

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Key Questions Answered in Propane Market Report

What specific growth drivers are projected to impact the market during the forecast period?

Can you list the top companies in the market and explain how they have achieved their positions of influence?

In what ways do regional trends and patterns differ within the global market, and how might these differences shape the market's future growth?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Drilling Fluid Market

Global Citrus Oil Market

Global B20 Fuel Market

Global Enhanced Oil Recovery Market

Global LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) Market

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Singapore, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NP Digital, a leader in performance marketing and the 2nd fastest-growing agency network globally recognised by Adweek, has launched its Southeast Asia regional office in Singapore, with the appointment of Manuel Denoual as Managing Director. Manuel will lead the expansion in Southeast Asia as the growing digital economy continues to expand at a double-digit rate.

NP Digital was founded in 2017 by Neil Patel, a New York Times Best Selling Author and one of the world's most influential marketers, according to The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. NP Digital is the agency that brings his passion, innovation and insights to life for brands across the globe.

With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing, Manuel Denoual is a seasoned professional with valuable business acumen and extensive expertise in performance marketing. He has previously held positions at GroupM, OMG, and Dentsu, and most recently served as a Senior Client Partner at Twitter. Manuel will report to Dan Kalinski, Managing Director, APAC.

As digital transformation in Southeast Asia continues to boom, I am delighted to welcome Manuel to the NP Digital family. With his deep understanding of the industry and his proven track record of success, Manuel is well-positioned to help APAC clients achieve their marketing goals and drive business growth, said Dan Kalinski, Managing Director, APAC, NP Digital.

NP Digital's services are in high demand across the APAC region, with the internet economy forecasted value of $1 trillion by 2030, driven by a fast-growing base of digital consumers. To meet this demand, NP Digital recognizes the importance of offering full-funnel expertise, from Search Engine Optimization (SEO), data, analytics, consumer insight, programmatic advertising services that can connect brands in APAC with their customers.

I am excited to be leading the Singapore team. As we see increased demand for our services, our regional hub in Singapore will deliver to customers across all digital touch-points with targeted, highly relevant and personalized experiences, said Manuel Denoual, Managing Director, Singapore.

NP Digital's outstanding growth and unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality solutions worldwide remains a key focus. Their latest expansion in APAC is a clear indication of their recognition that clients need help in defining customer audiences and understanding the journey in this digital economy.

Our clients are challenger brands, ranging from medium-sized businesses to enterprise clients who increasingly come to us to benefit from our custom, high-touch services and ROI first approach. The significant growth within the enterprise segment has become a key area of focus for our business as we continue to disrupt the market with our tech and content proposition, Manuel concluded.

The agencys success is attributed to its unique ability to drive growth for clients in the TikTok era, where consumers are always connected, and where any point of brand interaction can lead to a purchase. NP Digital's competitive edge is its innovative "growth marketing" approach, which replaces analogue, mass marketing and campaigns. They leverage their proprietary technology stack, which includes SEO, CRO, and Content, to deliver exceptional results to over three million active marketers worldwide.

With over 500+ clients globally, NP Digital has serviced customers including large brands such as CNN, Adobe and Hewlett Packard, to SaaS companies and E-com start-ups. This will be NP Digitals first office in Southeast Asia, with plans to further expand in the near future.

For more information, please visit https://npdigital.com/.

###

About NP Digital

NP Digital is an end-to-end performance marketing agency focused on enterprise and mid-market challenger brands. Underpinned by its proprietary technology division with the platforms Ubersuggest and AnswerThePublic, NP Digital is regarded as one of the fastest-growing, award-winning performance marketing agencies in the industry. NP Digital views marketing through a consultative lens that takes a holistic view when applying specialist execution to build meaningful partnerships. These partnerships include some of the worlds most prominent Fortune 500 brands in addition to mid-size, direct-to-consumer challenger-type organizations. NP Digital spans the globe with 750 employees in 15 different countries. For more information visit npdigital.com.

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Westford, USA,, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The forecast period (2023-2030) predicts that the B5 Fuel market will reach $77.95 billion, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.68% according to Skyquest latest research report Government policies and regulations, consumer demand, feedstock availability, and the price of crude oil fuel the market's growth. SkyQuest's recent global research shows that crude oil prices have a significant impact on the competitiveness of biofuels in the transportation fuel market. The report states that biofuels like B5 struggle to compete with petroleum-based fuels when crude oil prices are low. In contrast, when crude oil prices are high, biofuels become more competitive, increasing demand.

According to SkyQuest, 80% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably produced biodiesel, with over half of them willing to pay up to 10 cents more per gallon for this fuel. In January 2020, diesel fuel cost $3.07 per gallon, and biodiesel was priced at $3.48 per gallon in the United States. However, in April 2020, diesel fuel fell to $2.44 per gallon, while biodiesel remained at $3.48 per gallon, making biodiesel less competitive compared to diesel fuel due to a wider price gap between the two fuels.

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Browse in-depth TOC on "B5 Fuel Market"

Pages - 242

Tables - 37

Figures - 66

The B5 fuel market has become increasingly important as it offers a renewable and sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-based fuels. B5, a blend of 5% biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel, can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower the dependence on foreign oil, and promote local agriculture. Moreover, the rising demand for biofuels such as B5 is stimulating innovation and investment in the bioenergy industry, which can generate new employment opportunities and boost the economy.

Prominent Players in B5 Fuel Market

Archer Daniels Midland Company

BIOX Corporation

Bunge Limited

Cargill, Inc.

Renewable Energy Group, Inc.

Wilmar International Limited

Louis Dreyfus Company B.V.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC

Neste Corporation

Total SE

Chevron Corporation

ExxonMobil Corporation

Valero Energy Corporation

PetroChina Company Limited

Sinopec Limited

China National Petroleum Corporation

Indian Oil Corporation Limited

Petron Corporation

PT. Pertamina (Persero)

Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB)

Transportation Applications to Drive Higher Sales Due to Increasing Demand, and Cost-Effectiveness

In 2021, the transportation application segment significantly contributed to the rapid development of the B5 Fuel market, according to recent analysis. This trend is expected to continue from 2022 to 2030 due to increasing demand, cost-effectiveness, and government initiatives to promote sustainable transportation options. In 2022, the transportation sector accounted for over 95% of total biodiesel consumption in the United States, with on-road applications like diesel trucks, buses, and passenger vehicles being the major consumers. The report also highlights the growing use of biodiesel in off-road applications, such as construction equipment and agricultural machinery.

North America is poised to become a dominant player in the B5 Fuel market from 2022 to 2030, according to SkyQuest's projections. The region is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.82% during the forecast period, driven by the increasing demand for renewable energy, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and government initiatives. The government has implemented policies to promote adoption of biofuels like biodiesel, including a Renewable Fuel Standard that mandates a minimum of 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil. Additionally, the government has provided funding for research and development of new biofuel technologies.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://www.skyquestt.com/report/b5-fuel-market

Passenger Vehicle Segment to Exhibit Strong Growth Due to Increasing Demand For Sustainable Transportation Options Among Consumers

The B5 Fuel market was dominated by the Passenger Vehicle segment in 2021, and it is expected to maintain a leadership position from 2022 to 2030. The increasing demand for sustainable transportation options among consumers, coupled with the government incentives and regulations, and the potential environmental benefits of using biodiesel blends, are driving this trend. In the recent years, the sales of biodiesel to the passenger vehicle sector in the United States have been rising steadily. As of 2022, passenger vehicle sales accounted for 35% of total biodiesel consumption in the United States that indicates a significant increase of 12% in 2016. The report also highlights that the use of biodiesel in passenger vehicles can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 89% compared to petroleum diesel.

The Asia Pacific region is a significant force in the B5 Fuel market and is expected to maintain its leading position by 2030. SkyQuest has projected a significant growth rate of 4.97% CAGR during the forecast period for the B5 Fuel market in the Asia Pacific region. The expansion can be attributed to the increasing demand for sustainable fuel options, government initiatives, and incentives, leading to an increase in investments in the region. To meet this demand, Neste, a Finnish renewable diesel producer, has announced plans to expand its production capacity for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel in Singapore. The expansion is expected to significantly increase the supply of biodiesel in the region.

A comprehensive analysis of the major players in the B5 Fuel market has been recently conducted in a report. The report encompasses various aspects, including collaborations, mergers, innovative business policies, and strategies, providing valuable insights into key trends and breakthroughs in the market. Furthermore, the report scrutinizes the market share of the top segments and presents a detailed geographic analysis. Lastly, the report highlights the major players in the industry and their endeavors to develop innovative solutions to cater to the growing demand.

Key Developments in B5 Fuel Market

In partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and World Fuel Services, PRIO has recently introduced a new ECO Bunkers B30 biofuel. This biofuel is a blend of 30% advanced biofuel produced from waste feedstocks, and is blended at PRIO's tank terminal in Aveiro. The blending process is flexible, allowing the percentage of biodiesel mixtures to be adjusted based on demand and sustainability objectives, with the potential to produce up to a 100% renewable product and achieve an up to 86% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This follows the earlier launch of ECO Bunkers B15 and E20 by PRIO, which are green fuels for ships with 15% and 20% biodiesel blends, respectively.

The Prime Minister of India inaugurated India Energy Week 2023 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, showcasing India's rising prowess as an energy transition powerhouse. The E20 Fuel was launched and flagged off at Green Mobility Rally organized by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. The Prime Minister also launched E20 fuel at 84 Retail Outlets of Oil Marketing Companies in 11 States/UTs in line with the Ethanol Blending roadmap. The Government aims to achieve a complete 20% blending of ethanol by 2025, while HPCL and other oil marketing companies are setting up 2G-3G ethanol plants to facilitate the progress.

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Key Questions Answered in B5 Fuel Market Report

What specific growth drivers are projected to impact the market during the forecast period?

Can you list the top companies in the market and explain how they have achieved their positions of influence?

In what ways do regional trends and patterns differ within the global market, and how might these differences shape the market's future growth?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Hemp Seed Oil Market

Global Butane Market

Global Torrefied Coal Market

Global Methanol Market

Global Hybrid Heat Pump Market

About Us:

SkyQuest Technology is leading growth consulting firm providing market intelligence, commercialization and technology services. It has 450+ happy clients globally.

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LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Portnoy Law Firm advises Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE: UP) investors that a lawsuit filed on behalf of investors that purchased Wheels Up securities between November 9, 2022 and March 31, 2023, (the Class Period).

Investors are encouraged to contact attorney Lesley F. Portnoy , by phone 844-767-8529 or email : lesley@portnoylaw.com, to discuss their legal rights, or click here to join the case via www.portnoylaw.com . The Portnoy Law Firm can provide a complimentary case evaluation and discuss investors options for pursuing claims to recover their losses.

The lawsuit alleges that during the Class Period, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements or failed to disclose important information. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Wheels Up did not address significant weaknesses in its internal controls, and that its financial statements contained errors that understated net loss and overstated goodwill from September 30, 2022, to the present. As a result, the company would have to restate its previously reported financial statements for certain periods. The lawsuit further alleges that Defendants statements about Wheels Up's business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and lacked a reasonable basis. When this information was revealed to the public, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

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Pune, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As per SNS Insider, the 3D Metrology Market had a valuation of USD 9.5 billion in 2022, and is projected to expand to USD 19.69 billion by 2030, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.7% during the forecast period spanning from 2023 to 2030.

Market Report Scope

3D metrology involves the use of various techniques such as optical scanners, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), laser trackers, structured light systems, and computed tomography (CT) scanning, among others. The data obtained through 3D metrology is used to create accurate 3D models of the object being measured, which can be analyzed for quality control, inspection, design, and reverse engineering purposes. This technology finds applications in various industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical, electronics, and consumer goods.

Download PDF Brochure For 3D Metrology Market: https://www.snsinsider.com/sample-request/1470

Market Analysis

The 3D metrology market is witnessing a significant growth trend as a result of the increasing adoption of cloud computing services. Businesses across industries are striving to reduce operating costs and improve profit margins, and cloud storage presents an attractive solution by avoiding large capital investments in physical storage devices and servers. Manufacturing metrology, which has traditionally been used for quality control purposes, is facing limitations due to the growing demand for higher speed, accuracy, security, and flexibility. As a result, innovative manufacturing technologies, such as data-driven cloud computing services, are gaining popularity as a means of overcoming these limitations and meeting current requirements.

Impact of Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The long-term outlook for the market remains positive, with increasing adoption of 3D metrology technology across a range of industries and applications, such as quality control, inspection, design, and reverse engineering. Nonetheless, the geopolitical situation will be closely monitored by industry players, as it has the potential to disrupt the market dynamics and create new challenges for the industry in the coming years.

Key Regional Development

The 3D metrology market has witnessed significant growth, with North America being the major revenue contributor. This is primarily due to the presence of numerous automobile manufacturers such as Ford Motors, General Motors, and research institutes in this region, which have increased the demand for 3D metrology equipment. Additionally, the presence of large semiconductor corporations in North America has further fueled the growth of the market. However, the Asia Pacific region is expected to record a healthy market growth rate during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the presence of major automotive giants in the region, such as Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda, among others.

Buy Exclusive PDF Copy of 3D Metrology Market Along With ME Sheet: https://www.snsinsider.com/checkout/1470

Recent Developments Related to 3D Metrology Market

Singapore-based startup Augmentus has unveiled its latest offering in the form of a 3D Scan & Plan Robotic Programming System. The system aims to simplify and accelerate the process of programming robots by using 3D scanning and planning technology. By integrating 3D scanning technology, the system allows users to capture and digitize physical objects and environments. The resulting 3D models can then be used to plan and simulate robot movements and tasks, streamlining the programming process.

ZEISS, the renowned German optics company, has announced its plan to acquire LENSO Sp. z o.o., a Poland-based manufacturer of high-quality industrial measurement and inspection systems. The acquisition is expected to strengthen ZEISS' portfolio in the field of quality assurance solutions and enable the company to expand its presence in the Eastern European market.

Key Takeaway from 3D Metrology Market Study

According to SNS Insider, the Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) segment is expected to take the lead in the market. This comes as no surprise, as CMMs are highly accurate measurement devices used extensively in manufacturing, aerospace, and other industries.

Recent market research has indicated that the quality control and inspection segment is expected to dominate the market. This is due to the increasing demand for high-quality and accurate products across various industries, including automotive, aerospace, and healthcare.

3D Metrology Market Scope

Report Attributes Details Market Size in 2022 US$ 9.5 Billion Market Size by 2030 US$ 19.69 Billion CAGR CAGR of 8.7% From 2023 to 2030 Report Scope & Coverage Market Size, Segments Analysis, Competitive Landscape, Regional Analysis, DROC & SWOT Analysis, Forecast Outlook Key Segments  by Offering (Hardware, Software, Services)

 by Product (Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), Video Measuring Machine (VMM), Form Measurement, Optical Digitizer and Scanner (ODS), Automated Optical Inspection)

 by Application (Quality Control & Inspection, Virtual Simulation, Reverse Engineering, Other)

 by End-User (Aerospace & Defence, Architecture & Construction, Semiconductors & Electronics, Heavy Machinery, Automotive, Medical, Energy & Power, Mining) Company Profiles Exact Metrology, 3D System Corp, Automated Precision, Creaform, Keyence, KLA-Tencor, Mitutoyo Corporation, Carl Zeiss AG, Applied Materials, 3D Digital Corp, GoM, Perceptron, Jenoptik, Nikon Corporation, FARO Technologies, Hexagon AB and Other players. Market Drivers  Research and Development.

 Advancement in Technology. Restraints  High cost for setting-up 3D Technology.

 Complicated process.





Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. Market Dynamics

4. Impact Analysis

5. Value Chain Analysis

6. Porters 5 forces model

7. PEST Analysis

8. Global 3D Metrology Market Segmentation, by Offering

9. Global 3D Metrology Market Segmentation, by product

10. Global 3D Metrology Market Segmentation, by application

11. Global 3D Metrology Market Segmentation, by End-User

12. Regional Analysis

13. Company Profiles

14. Competitive Landscape

15. Conclusion

About SNS Insider

At SNS Insider, we believe that businesses should have access to the best market intelligence and insights, regardless of their size or industry. That's why we offer a range of solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of each client, from startups to big corporations. With a passion for our work and an unwavering commitment to delivering value, we are dedicated to helping our clients achieve their full potential.
Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Japan Mobile Mapping Market, By Component, By Type, By Application, By End User, Estimation & Forecast, 2017-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



By 2030, the market is expected to be worth USD 35,860.5 million.

The Japan mobile mapping market is expected to grow rapidly over the forecast period due to increased adoption of satellite mapping technology and smart city projects. Furthermore, growing investment in strategic movements is expected to boost market expansion.

Furthermore, significant market participants are actively engaged in strategic activities such as collaborations, product launches, and joint ventures. The market is divided into components, types, applications, and end users.

Satellite mapping technology's increasing use, as well as its smooth integration into smartphones as well as Internet of Things (IoT)-connected devices, is propelling market revenue growth.

To fulfil the demand for accurate and up-to-date spatial data, the increased utilisation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in 3D mapping, environmental control, machine control, accident investigation, including disaster response is driving the mobile mapping market. The mobile mapping market is supporting the creation of novel methods for automatic and speedy data collection, thanks to the help of the most recent 5G internet.



Digital piracy and data security remain major challenges for mobile mapping companies. Information about municipal planning, transportation, and utility administration is stored on mobile mapping data servers. Data hacking is a possibility, and these data may be exposed by cyberattacks such as phishing, malware, and spam.

Some pirates hack into accounts in order to steal legitimate users' credentials, which they subsequently sell on the dark web. The risk of data breach and data confidentiality is expected to constrain revenue growth in the mobile mapping market. Governments in certain places carefully limit access to public data.



Increasing investment in city planning and smart city projects



Smart cities are fast growing as a result of increased urbanisation and government-supported programmes around the world. A smart city cannot exist in the absence of a 3D map. Mobile mapping technology for smart cities aims to improve people's quality of life by optimising resources and maintaining sustainability through 3D city modelling, autonomous navigation, traffic and disaster management, digitising roadway property, and pollution reduction.



Companies such as Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, and others are utilising mobile mapping technologies for augmented reality 3D models. As a result of 3D urban modelling for mobility, sustainability, IoT, and autonomous driving, the mobile mapping business has grown dramatically.

Furthermore, increased 5G technology connectivity has unlocked bandwidths of more than 1 GHz, enabling quality of service to both consumers and mobile mapping technology vendors via a reduction in latency with real-time data transmission. Thanks to 5G technology, mobile mapping firms can now show GIS assets with exact and scalable 3D representations of objects such as buildings, trees, and light posts, as well as night vision photographs. Investments in city planning and smart city projects have increased, as have advancements.



Increasing demand for terrestrial mobile mapping in logistics and transportation especially for aging population

The mobile mapping market is giving new possibilities for establishing new databases and updating old databases in areas such as transportation, utility management, and city planning. Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others are continuing to deploy mobile mapping technologies for aerial photogrammetry or terrestrial surveying using 360 long-lasting real sense cameras (LiDAR).

In the monitoring environment, mobile navigation Geographic Information System (GIS) is becoming increasingly popular. Environmental scientists are using mobile mapping GIS tools to assist with tasks such as storm and hurricane forecasting and monitoring. The revenue rise in the mobile mapping sector is being driven by a NASA-funded research project focusing on environmental monitoring and natural resource management.

Competitive Landscape



The top players in the market held around 75% market share.

The prominent players operating in the Japan mobile mapping market include Topcon Corporation, PASCO Corporation, NV5 Japan, Inc., Esri India Technologies, Genesys International, McElhanney companies, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Quantum Spatial, Timmons Group, Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd., and others.

Genesys International Corporation is an Indian mapping, surveying, and geospatial services company. In advanced mapping, surveying, and geospatial services, they are a leader. The company provide specialist services in the Geographical Information System (GIS) and Geospatial Engineering domains with a team of over 2000 professionals and extensive experience.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 94 Forecast Period 2021 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2021 $5212.06 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $35860.5 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 24.4% Regions Covered Japan

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Topcon Corporation

PASCO Corporation

NV5 Japan, Inc.

Esri India Technologies

Genesys International

McElhanney companies

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Quantum Spatial

Timmons Group

Dynamic Map Platform Co., Ltd.

Segments Overview:



By Component

Hardware

Software

Service

The software segment is estimated to hold the highest growth rate of 27.8% over the forecast period.



By Type

Vehicle/Land Based Mobile Mapping

Indoor 3D Mobile Mapping

Marine-Based Mobile Mapping

Aerial Mobile Mapping

The vehicle/land based mobile mapping segment held more than 55% of the market share in 2021.



By Application

Emergency Response Planning

Internet Applications

Road Mapping and Highway Facility Management

Road Inventory and Asset Management

Digital Twins Applications

Others

The internet applications segment is likely to cross the mark of US$ 135 billion by 2030 in terms of revenue.



By End Users

Agriculture

BFSI

Government & Public Sector

Real Estate

Retail

Mining

Telecommunication

Transport & Logistics

Others

The real estate segment held the opportunity cost of US$ 3,158.6 million. In addition to that, the transport and logistics segment held the largest market share of more than 30% in 2021.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/krjh8a

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Behavior Analytics Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Deployment Type, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449947/?utm_source=GNW

In addition, the market of behavior analytics facilitates the collection, analysis, and efficient utilization of customer data.



Knowing what drives and motivates customers is a crucial component of this process. Consumers of digital products, such as applications and websites, whose behavior is collected and analyzed through data collection and analysis. With this information, businesses may assess the future advancement of their digital services based on the level of customer involvement with the virtual experience.



Integration of sophisticated analytics with machine learning algorithms into behavior analytics and an increase in investments in security solutions contribute to the expansion of the market for behavior analytics. In addition, the rise in insider security threats within businesses benefits the markets expansion.



The significant benefits of behavior analytics include acquiring a better understanding of client preferences, identifying ways to improve client interaction, enhancing customer retention, decreasing customer churn, and boosting customer happiness. Behavior analytics can also assist firms in identifying consumer behavior trends, gaining customer preference insights, and optimizing business operations. Moreover, behavior analytics can help firms increase productivity, save expenses, and enhance customer service.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has had a substantial effect on the behavior analytics business. Demand for behavior analytics solutions and services has decreased due to the pandemic. Companies are concentrating on mitigating the pandemics impact on their operations. Also, the pandemic has decreased the number of IT projects performed by enterprises. This is because organizations are focused on mitigating the pandemics impact on their business operations. As a result, the market for behavior analytics is anticipated to suffer in 2020.



Market Growth Factors



Grown investment in security solutions



Many investors are turning to alternative investments, such as real estate, to create a haven for their money. This asset class provides many of the benefits that are traditionally associated with haven investments. These benefits include a lack of correlation to equities, lower volatility, and strong performance throughout market cycles. Additionally, this asset class provides the potential for much better returns than highly rated sovereign bonds. As a result, investors are making it possible for security solutions to have a risk-free investment, which in turn is boosting the expansion of the market.



Behavior analytics helps in mitigating risks



Analytics of behavior can uncover and flag various unusual behaviors for the business to take action on. Activities carried out intentionally, accidentally, or in a compromised manner by a worker, user, or third-party entity are all examples of potential hazards. In addition, it is used in various industries to detect and prevent insider threats and investigate and understand user habits to comply with and fulfill regulatory requirements. Due to this ability of behavior analytics to mitigate errors, these solutions are widely being adopted by the various industry verticals, thereby supporting market growth.



Market Restraining Factors



Growing security concern especially for cloud-based solutions



Cloud-based environments are highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. For example, if consumers flee to competitors, cyber intrusions could become market-altering occurrences that signal major brand names decline and eventual demise. Similarly, after analysis, the anonymity of the data may be compromised, posing a security risk to the company. Hence, privacy and security issues provide a significant barrier to the widespread adoption of analytics solutions. This is anticipated to hinder the growth of the behavior analytics market during the forecast period.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the behavior analytics market is segmented into solution and services. In 2021, the solution segment held the highest revenue share in the behavior analytics market. Due to the increasing number of insider attacks worldwide, the market for insider threat detection systems is predicted to increase significantly. Organizations have been under threat from insider attacks for more than a decade. Advanced analytics techniques are used by insider threat detection software to efficiently identify and mitigate the effects of insider attacks.



Deployment Mode Outlook



By deployment mode, the behavior analytics market is classified into on-premise, and cloud. The cloud segment garnered a substantial revenue share in the behavior analytics market in 2021. Due to cost-effectiveness and ongoing improvements to the security of cloud platforms, demand for cloud-based products is predicted to rise in the future.



Industry Vertical Outlook



By industry vertical, the behavior analytics market is bifurcated into retail & e-commerce, BFSI, healthcare, IT & telecom, energy & utilities, government & defense and others. Analytics can reduce the cost of client acquisition by optimizing marketing expenditures with a greater understanding of the customer. Using behavior analytics, marketing teams may target & acquire customers with similar profiles to the best customers. These prospects are more likely to respond positively to messaging and incentives and are likely to have high customer loyalty.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the behavior analytics market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA. In 2021, the North America region led the behavior analytics market by generating the largest revenue share. The regions cyber security market is anticipated to be driven by the regions strong cloud platform basis and the resulting requirement to reduce cyber threats. Several small and medium-sized businesses are concentrating on the potential of cloud computing and its advantages, such as cost-effectiveness, scalability, and flexibility.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Splunk, Inc., IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, NTT Data Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, Tibco Software, Inc. (Vista Equity Partners), Varonis Systems, Inc., Cynet Security, and LogRhythm, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Behavior Analytics Market



Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:



Feb-2023: LogRhythm came into partnership with Trend Micro, a Japan-based company operating in the application software industry. The partnership includes supporting companies across the globe in automating threat detection and response. The integrated solution enables security teams to extract the data, correlate, and automate.



Dec-2022: LogRhythm teamed up with SentinelOne, a cloud-based cybersecurity company. The collaboration includes providing authority to security teams to recognize behavior anomalies. The integrated solutions allow security teams to deal with noise and gather insights into cybersecurity threats more effectively and rapidly.



May-2022: LogRhythm came into partnership with REAL security, a Slovenija-based IT company. The partnership includes providing businesses with security tools to develop a defense against increasing cyber threats. Together the companies aim to reinforce the cybersecurity of businesses in Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania.



Mergers and Acquisitions:



Nov-2022: NTT Data completed the acquisition of Aspirent, a US-based provider of management and technology consulting services. The addition of Aspirent reinforces and broadens NTTs advisory and analytics capabilities.



Jul-2022: IBM took over Databand.ai, an Israel-based developer of data observability platform. The addition of Databand.ai reinforces IBMs software portfolio and further enables IBM to provide a full-fledged set of observability capabilities intended for IT across multiple applications, data, and ML.



Jul-2022: SAP took over Askdata, a US-based search-driven analytics company. The addition of Askdata would benefit SAPs clients by allowing them to make better-informed decisions by cashing on AI-driven natural language searches.



Jan-2021: LogRhythm completed the acquisition of MistNet, a US-based developer of multi-entity threat detection and response platform. The acquisition would enable the acquirer to provide ML-based response and detection capabilities that would include user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), network detection, endpoint detection, and response data (EDR). Further, the addition of MistNet advances the acquirers market presence in the XDR market.



Product Launches and Expansions:



Nov-2022: IBM introduced Business Analytics Enterprise. Business Analytics Enterprise is a comprehensive suite including business intelligence planning, forecasting, and budgeting, and is equipped with dashboard capabilities that furnish the user with a wide view of data sources across their entire enterprise. The new software is developed to break down silos of data to make data-based decisions. Further, the launch of the software aligns with IBMs strategy to deliver tools that support data-driven decision-making to businesses.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Component



 Solution



 Services



By Deployment Type



 On-premise



 Cloud



By Vertical



 Retail & E-commerce



 BFSI



 IT & Telecom



 Energy & Utilities



 Healthcare



 Government & Defense



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Splunk, Inc.



 IBM Corporation



 Microsoft Corporation



 NTT Data Corporation



 Oracle Corporation



 SAP SE



 Tibco Software, Inc. (Vista Equity Partners)



 Varonis Systems, Inc.



 Cynet Security



 LogRhythm, Inc.



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449947/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
PHOENIX, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StrataTech Education Group (StrataTech) is proud to announce the appointment of DaKenya Douglas as the new Senior Vice President of Compliance. Douglas will be responsible for ensuring compliance with all state, accreditation, agency, and Department of Education laws and regulations for both StrataTech Education Groups Tulsa Welding School and The Refrigeration School, Inc.

Douglas brings over 20 years of experience in leadership roles in higher education to StrataTech, including Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Student Services, and Vice President of Compliance. She also serves as a commissioner for the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges. Her focus on ensuring adherence to regulatory and legal requirements, process improvement, building efficiencies through policies and procedures, and hiring and retaining compliance and regulatory staff members, have resulted in improved operations, continued compliance, and organizational excellence.

Prior to joining StrataTech, DaKenya was the Senior Vice President of Operations & Compliance at Blue Cliff College, where she established a compliance department and designed its purpose, vision, staffing model, communications and strategy. She also held the position of Director of Education at Fortis College, where she provided oversight and management of academic operations, leading the development of training and professional development programs, fostering relationships with accrediting agencies, and establishing a culture of transparency and collaboration.

DaKenyas leadership experience in compliance and operations will be a valuable asset to StrataTech, said Mary Kelly, CEO of StrataTech Education Group. We are confident that with her credentials, expertise and experience, coupled with her dedication to excellence and passion to support student success, she will make a positive impact on our organization and students.

Douglas holds a masters in business administration and a bachelors in science business management from University of Phoenix. She has held roles with several community organizations in a variety of capacities, including Chief Operating Officer and founding board member for the OneBReath project, member of the education committee for the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, member of the resource committee for the Junior League of Baton Rouge, and member of the Womens Council of Baton Rouge.

###

About StrataTech Education Group

StrataTech Education Group focuses on the education, growth and development of specialized career education schools, particularly skilled-trade programs designed to address the nations growing infrastructure needs. Holding an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau, StrataTech Education Groups portfolio includes The Refrigeration School, Inc. (RSI) (Phoenix), Tulsa Welding School (TWS) (Tulsa, OK), Tulsa Welding School Jacksonville (FL), Tulsa Welding School & Technology Center (Houston) and Tulsa Welding School Dallas (TX). For more information, visit StrataTech.com.

Attachment
Waynesboro, Virginia, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- April 17, 2023, Waynesboro, Va - Taylor Hospitality, a respected leader in the hospitality industry, is proud to announce its continued growth in West Virginia. Starting April 17, 2023, Taylor Hospitality will take over professional management of the two South Branch Inn hotels located in Moorefield and Romney.

The South Branch Inn Hotels are embarking on major renovations and we are thrilled that the ownership group reached out to us to help with the renovations and overall operations. Our team has completed and currently working on multiple full hotel renovation projects and ground-up hotel construction. The two hotels are an integral part of the Moorfield and Romney communities and we are honored to be welcomed into another West Virginia community. said Sean Taylor, CEO of Taylor Hospitality. We are committed to providing our guests exceptional service, and these two properties will be an excellent addition as we continue our tremendous growth in West Virginia.

Located in Moorefield and Romney, West Virginia, the South Branch Inn offers guests convenient access to outdoor activities such as hiking trails, fishing, and boating on the nearby South Branch Potomac River. The accommodations feature comfortable rooms equipped with modern amenities like flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi. Guests can also enjoy a complimentary continental breakfast each morning during their stay, free movie tickets to South Branch Cinema 6, and best of all complimentary ice cream at the nationally recognized, farm-to-spoon Sweet Rose Ice Cream.

The South Branch Inn Hotels will be going under an extensive multimillion-dollar interior renovation to embrace the West Virginia Scottish Highlands Heritage. This classic and modern design fully equipped with new flooring, furniture, beds, bedding, and modern conveniences will welcome guests after a day of West Virginia activities.

Owners Sam and Kelly Williams shared, "Our family is so excited to partner with Taylor Hospitality. The South Branch Inn has always held a strong mission to serve our guests and the surrounding towns of Moorefield and Romney. The new management team at both hotels will allow us to give our guests an elevated experience with renovated facilities and excellent customer service, continue to promote tourism in West Virginia's beautiful South Branch Valley, and deepen our involvement and support in the surrounding community."

In addition to superior accommodations and outstanding amenities, both South Branch Inn locations boast convenient access to some of West Virginia's top attractions including Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, Lost River State Park, and more. The hotels are also situated within 2 hours of the capitol belt, making them the perfect weekend destination for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.

"We're excited to be part of this wonderful community," said Regional Director of Hotel Operations for Taylor Hospitality, Michael White. "We look forward to offering our guests comfortable accommodations coupled with world-class service."

The South Branch Inn is an independent family-owned boutique hotel operation in the beautiful and historic towns of Moorefield, WV, and Romney, WV. For more information, visit https://www.southbranchinn.com

- - -

About Taylor Hospitality

Taylor Hospitality is a premier hospitality management and consulting company creating lifetime memories for our guests, homeowners, and associates through our profitable properties, value-added services, and community relationships. For more information, visit https://taylorhospitality.com.

Attachments
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Data Center Construction Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Tier Type, By End-Use, By Type, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449932/?utm_source=GNW

Backup power sources, data transmission links, security equipment, fire suppression systems, and air conditioning are typically included in the infrastructure.



Construction of data centers as per proper planning ensures that every resource is used to its fullest potential and that every environmental factor is considered. A data center is utilized to address IT-related computer equipment and systems. Under the flooring and the tiles, air can circulate owing to the data centers structure. Data volumes have also increased with a large increase in internet usage, sophisticated software development & installation methods, and a rise in the number of equipment connected to both public and private networks.



In essence, a facilitys design, planning, and building are all included in the construction process. IT infrastructure, several ancillary expenditures, power distribution, and cooling solutions are all included in the data center construction. The demand for data center building is expanding due to rising data consumption and industry demand for cloud computing.



Continual investments in building hyperscale structures, which house cooling equipment, IT infrastructure, and power products, are also predicted to occur in the market. The industry for data center building is expected to increase as public cloud providers like Facebook, Google, and Amazon continue to spend on modernizing their current infrastructure.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the market for data center building. However, the COVID-19 outbreak came when demand for data center capacity was rising quickly, which stopped the development of new facilities. In addition, the market had a specific effect, such as increased data network traffic due to more people using programs like Microsoft Office and Zoom. A data centers construction was further complicated by the pandemics supply chain interruption, which hindered the markets expansion. The need for data capacity has almost tripled since the pandemic, and many businesses are moving toward hybrid cloud infrastructure. As a result, the market has witnessed a rise in data center construction.



Market Growth Factors



Increasing number of connected IoT devices



The Internet of Things (IoT) is a setting in which various electronic gadgets, including computers, electric meters, televisions, air conditioners, and mobile phones, are connected to computers and networks. Due to minimal human involvement, gadgets can now consume, exchange, and generate data. One element anticipated to propel the data center construction market is IoT device creation and rising use. Data centers have emerged to meet the need to store this data due to the substantial information exchange among devices. Many billions of connected IoT devices contribute to the production of more data and are anticipated to increase the demand for data center construction. Therefore, in the coming years, the expansion of the IoT industry will directly influence the expansion of the data center construction market.



Increasing number of data center expansion projects



The number of data centers being created worldwide has significantly increased due to large investments being made in new expansion and construction by top data center service providers. Real estate, as well as investment firms, are encouraged to purchase data centers by the developed nations data center industry. Such purchases typically result in expansion plans, which strengthen market growth. With unanticipated demand from both existing as well as new clients in data centers, the majority of expenditures will be concentrated on the expansion of the edge data center sector. Hence, the increasing number of data center projects worldwide and the improved battery technology are propelling the markets growth.



Market Restraining Factors



Limitations of data center services and providers



The effects on the environment are extensive, affecting biodiversity, climate change, pollution, and natural resources. Despite the complexity of the problems, there are several chances for growth and long-lasting beneficial effects. Small and medium-sized businesses might not establish a new data center because of the high expense of building one. The vendors attention is directed at areas with lower construction prices. Therefore, these limitations may restrict the growth of the data center construction market in the coming years.



Type Outlook



On the basis of type, the data center construction market is divided into IT infrastructure, electrical infrastructure, and miscellaneous expenses & others. The miscellaneous expenses and others segment witnessed a substantial revenue share in the data center construction market in 2021. The costs of the security infrastructure, the property, the building, and the shell construction, among other charges, are included in other expenses. Physical and digital security of the data center is included in the security expenditures. The increasing frequency of cybercrime and data breaches drives service providers to invest aggressively in highly advanced security solutions.



Tier Type Outlook



Based on tier type, the data center construction market is segmented into tier 2, tier 3, and others. The others segment garnered a remarkable growth rate in the data center construction market in 2021. The other segment consists of tier 1 and tier 4. Tier 1 infrastructure has enough power and cooling to handle IT demand. These facilities have only one path for electricity and cooling, and no important systems are redundant. Additionally, tier 4 is essentially a data center with every component redundant and entirely fault-tolerant.



End-Use Outlook



On the basis of end-use, the data center construction market is divided into IT & telecom, BFSI, government & defense, healthcare, energy, and others. The IT and telecom segment procured the highest revenue share in the data center construction market in 2021. The segment is expanding as a consequence of the spread of smartphones as well as the increase in the number of people using the internet activity around the world. In addition, the segment led due to the rollout of 5G networks, and the trend is anticipated to persist during the forecast period.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the data center construction market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region witnessed the largest revenue share in the data center construction market in 2021. Strong investment in data center construction projects has contributed to North Americas high revenue share. Since the US has a developed economy, it already has a well-established, high-tech network infrastructure. In addition, major cloud service companies, including Amazon, Google, and Facebook, are also based there. Such businesses are investing in building mega facilities to increase their processing power and data storage. As a result, the market for data center construction has fresh growth prospects.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Cisco Systems, Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. are the forerunners in the Data Center Construction Market. Companies such as Schneider Electric SE, ABB Group and Oracle Corporation are some of the key innovators in Data Center Construction Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Hewlett-Packard enterprise Company (HP Development Company L.P.), IBM Corporation, ABB Ltd., Schneider Electric SE, Oracle Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Vertiv Holdings Co., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.), Fujitsu Limited and Equinix, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Data Center Construction Market



Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:



Mar-2023: Equinix expanded its collaboration with Colt, a provider of the global network and voice services. With this collaboration, Enterprise would have access to Colts On Demand infrastructure interconnecting with Equinix Fabric across Spain, Italy, and Sweden, also in the Netherlands, Singapore, the UK, Germany, France, and Hong Kong. Additionally, this collaboration would aim to meet the rising demand across key regions.



Jan-2023: Schneider Electric announced an expanded partnership with Tech Data, a distributor of technology products, solutions, and services. Following this partnership, Schneider Electric would make value-added sustainable data solutions highly accessible to enterprises and contributes to appreciable efforts in greening the complete value chain.



Aug-2022: ABB signed an agreement with ATS Global, a provider of independent solutions for Smart Digital Transformation. This partnership aims to broaden the reach of the ABB Ability Data Center Automation business. This agreement would grow through a network of channel partners.



Aug-2022: IBM teamed up with Vmware, a cloud computing and virtualization technology. This partnership would support enterprises in regulated sectors including healthcare and the public sector and financial services.



Jun-2022: Oracle announced a partnership with Vodafone, the European and African technology Communications Company. This partnership would advance the operators European IT infrastructure and boost its transformation to the cloud. Additionally, Vodafone would modernize and move a large number of its systems to OCI dedicated region, a completely managed cloud region



Jun-2022: Oracle partnered with Kyndryl, a provider of IT infrastructure services. The partnership would help customers boost their journey to the cloud by offering managed cloud solutions to businesses across the world. The key area of focus would be Network and Edge computing capabilities that leverage Oracles data center presence using kyndryl managed services and Oracles Roving Edge Infrastructure.



Mar-2022: Vertiv entered into a partnership with Elea Digital, a data center infrastructure platform. Following this partnership, Elea would provide edge data center services across Brazil. In addition, Vertiv would offer maintenance and operation services for Elea Digital data centers in major metro areas including Curitiba, Brasilia, and Porto Alegre.



Feb-2022: IBM partnered with SAP, a software technology company. Following this acquisition, IBM aims to deliver technology and consulting specialization to make it simple for clients to embrace a hybrid cloud approach and move critical workloads from SAP solutions to the cloud for non-regulated and regulated industries. Moreover, moving to SAP S/4HANA on IBM Cloud from on-premise data centers can provide various benefits.



Feb-2022: Hewlett Packard Enterprise collaborated with Ayar Labs, a leader in chip-to-chip optical connectivity. Following this collaboration, both companies would innovate data centers by developing silicon photo



Jan-2022: Huawei announced a partnership with Hatten Land, the property development arm of the Hatten Group. Under this partnership, both companies would develop data centers and other digital infrastructure in the country.



Aug-2021: ABB Group joined hands with ST Telemedia Global Data centers, the fastest-growing global data center operator. Under this collaboration, the companies aimed to conduct an Artificial Intelligence energy optimization pilot across Singapore to leverage Machine Learning and AI technology along with advanced analytics to optimize energy use within a data center.



Jul-2021: Hewlett Packard Enterprise signed an agreement with HanmiGlobal, a construction project management organization. Under this agreement, Hewlett Packard Enterprise would deliver the technology and consultations needed to create the centers and HanmiGlobal would offer project management services.



May-2021: Huawei came into an agreement with Moro Hub, a subsidiary of Digital DEWA. With this agreement, the companies aimed to construct the biggest solar-powered Uptime TIER III-Certified Data Centre across the Middle East and Africa at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Feb-2023: Vertiv unveiled the Vertiv MegaMod and Vertiv MegaMod Plus, a turnkey prefabricated modular (PFM) data center solution. The products are combined and tested with thermal management solutions, IT equipment racks, Vertiv power management systems, and remote monitoring. Moreover, the solution capacity is standardized for medium size data centers and can be simply broadened and deployed as the business needs to grow.



Sep-2022: Schneider Electric rolled out Easy Modular "all-in-one" data centers, a standardized and pre-tested mobile container data center solution. The latest solution fulfills the demand of countries in need of ready-made, modular solutions that could offer cost predictability, and fulfill strict deadlines and productivity.



Dec-2021: Schneider introduced enhancements in its data center and digital transformation capacity. With this product expansion, the company aimed to fulfill the increasing domestic demand of its customers for increased digitization and automation capabilities to enhance and futureproof the security of their operations.



Oct-2021: Schneider launched Easy Micro Data Center Series, a Micro Data Center solutions range for standard IT and commercial environments. The new product range is developed to comprise and deliver all computing, storage, and necessary infrastructure to support edge computing applications, reliability, combining speed, and affordability.



Sep-2021: Vertiv rolled out the Liebert RXA remote power panel and Liebert MBX busway system. The new Liebert RXA is a safe and flexible solution for high-density power applications, while the new Liebert MBX enables reliable overhead power distribution across data centers of multiple sizes.



Jun-2021: Schneider introduced EcoStruxure Modular Data Center, a liquid-cooled all-in-one module. The new solution aimed to enable the most GPU and CPU-intensive high-performance computing edge applications to be installed with more reliability in a rough and remote environment.



Mar-2021: Vertiv unveiled Vertiv Liebert EXM2, an advanced UPS design. The new product aimed to provide industry-leading reliability, efficiency, and performance with power capacities spanning from 100 to 250 kVA and a flexible and compact footprint. In addition, the new product is developed for a broad range of applications and is currently available across Australia & New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.



Mar-2021: Huawei introduced FusionModule500, FusionModule800, and FusionModule2000, advanced Data Center and Power Supply Solutions. The new solutions are developed to meet distinct industrial requirements. Moreover, these solutions would also enable enterprises to turn any room into a data center.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Jan-2023: Schneider Electric completed the acquisition of Aveva, Britains technology company. Through this acquisition, Schneider Electric would improve the potential advantages for customers and meet the demands faster with a stronger offering of solutions.



Nov-2021: Vertiv took over E&I Engineering Ireland and its affiliate, Powerbar Gulf. With this acquisition, the company aimed to integrate the robust capabilities of the E&I team into its portfolio. Moreover, the companies would also amplify their integrated ability to bring value to employees, customers, and shareholders.



Sep-2021: Equinix, Inc. completed the acquisition of GPX Global Systems, Inc., a provider of a secure, neutral environment within each GPX facility. Through this acquisition, Equinix would broaden into India and unlock opportunities for Indian companies expanding globally, as well as for multinational corporations pursuing innovation and growth in the Indian Market.



Geographical Expansions:



Oct-2022: Equinix expanded its geographical footprint in Indonesia. Following this Expansion, Equinix would allow Indonesian enterprises, as well as global players with a presence in Indonesia, to leverage its platform to bring together and connect the basic infrastructure to power their business.



Mar-2021: Cisco expanded its geographical footprint in Germany with the introduction of a new data center in Frankfurt. This geographical footprint aimed to allow the company to better serve its customers by leveraging its Collaboration platform Webex across the European Union, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Tier Type



 Tier 3



 Tier 2



 Others



By End-Use



 IT & Telecom



 BFSI



 Healthcare



 Government & Defense



 Energy



 Others



By Type



 IT Infrastructure



o Server



o Networking Equipment



o Storage



 Electrical Infrastructure



o Cooling



o Power Distribution



 Miscellaneous Expenses & Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Hewlett-Packard enterprise Company (HP Development Company L.P.)



 IBM Corporation



 ABB Ltd.



 Schneider Electric SE



 Oracle Corporation



 Cisco Systems, Inc.



 Vertiv Holdings Co.



 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)



 Fujitsu Limited



 Equinix, Inc.



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449932/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Internet of Things in Healthcare Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By End-use, By Application, By Connectivity Technology, By Component, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449902/?utm_source=GNW

Moreover, IoT applications in healthcare simplify crucial activities, such as improving patient outcomes, while relieving some pressure on healthcare practitioners.



Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled gadgets have made remote monitoring possible in the healthcare industry, releasing the potential to keep patients safe and healthy and empowering physicians to provide exceptional care. The major factors contributing to the growth of the internet of things in healthcare market include technological advancements, rising occurrence of chronic diseases, including genetic diseases, respiratory diseases, COPD, and others, improved access to high-speed internet, and favorable government regulatory policies.



In addition, growing demands for cost-effective treatments & disease management, greater acceptance of smart devices & wearables, increased interest in self-health monitoring, and lower healthcare costs with advanced and cost-effective IoT in healthcare devices & solutions. The healthcare industry likely benefits from the Internet of Things (IoT), driven by digital transformation and technological innovation. The healthcare industry is expected to benefit from the growing emphasis on patient participation and patient-centric care, as well as the necessity to implement cost-control measures. The market is expected to be propelled by factors such as the rise of high-speed network technologies for IoT connection and the increasing geriatric population.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



During the Covid-19 pandemic, vendors introduced cloud-based intelligent robot systems that continuously monitor vital signs, such as heart rate, temperature, and blood oxygen levels. In addition, the Union Health Ministry has launched the Aarogya Setu app in India. This smartphone application assists users in determining whether or not they are at risk for contracting COVID-19. Hence, COVID-19 has increased the need for the internet of things in healthcare market and gives the potential for manufacturers in various healthcare domain applications throughout the projection period. Thus, the market has benefited from the pandemic outbreak.



Market Growth Factors



Rising adoption of digital technologies in healthcare sector



Hospitals and other healthcare facilities can now serve more patients at once while greatly reducing their workload due to the development of digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which have enormous promise in the healthcare business. Using patient data and other information, AI can help medical personnel provide more accurate diagnoses and treatment recommendations. The market expansion is anticipated to be aided by the healthcare sectors rapid embrace of digital infrastructure.



Rising adoption od wearable IoT devices



Wearable Internet of Things devices is intended for disease prevention and health maintenance, particularly monitoring of weight & physical activity. Doctors/physicians can immediately monitor their patients with these gadgets for patient or disease management. Additionally, they can directly influence clinical decision-making. Hence, wearable Internet of Things devices is widely utilized in the healthcare industry to improve patient safety. This increased usage of wearable devices is anticipated to contribute to expanding the internet of things in healthcare market.



Market Restraining Factors



Increase in attack surfaces and internet disruption leading to rugged IoT device performance



IoT is becoming more widely used, and with it comes a threat to data privacy & security, making the healthcare sector even more vulnerable to hacks. Also, a significant amount of private data is continuously transmitted by IoT devices. These assaults allow hackers to breach healthcare networks and expose Personal Health Information (PHI) belonging to patients and medical professionals. As technology develops, the likelihood of cyberattacks likewise rises. These issues may restrict IoT adoption in healthcare, impeding the market growth.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the internet of things in healthcare market is segmented into medical devices, system & software and services. In 2021, the system & software segment covered a considerable growth rate in the internet of things in healthcare market. The creation of innovative connected technologies for the healthcare sector is receiving increasing operational player investments and credit for this growth from the technology advances driving it. Also, during the study period, the segment may benefit from the growing adoption of digital & connected systems in medical facilities.



Connectivity Outlook



By Connectivity, the internet of things in healthcare market is categorized into cellular, wi-fi, Bluetooth & Zigbee, LPWANs, and RFID. The LPWANs segment acquired a substantial revenue share in the internet of things in healthcare market in 2021. This is due to the unique characteristics of LPWAN, like low power consumption and long communication range for wireless monitoring and novel healthcare applications. For instance, LPWAN is ideally suited for telemedicine applications that provide data in the event of weather circumstances that increase mistake rates, such as inclement weather.



Application Outlook



On the basis of application, the internet of things in healthcare market is fragmented into telemedicine, patient monitoring, connected imaging, clinical operations, medical management and others. The patient monitoring segment garnered a significant revenue share in the internet of things in healthcare market in 2021. The adoption of patient monitoring services is greatly influenced by the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and congestive heart failure, which is anticipated to increase the demand for IoT solutions in the healthcare industry. Moreover, the rising cost of modern medical equipment, the rising geriatric population, and the increasing need for home healthcare services drive the demand for patient monitoring.



End-Use Outlook



Based on end-use, the internet of things in healthcare market is classified into hospitals & clinics, clinical research organizations, research & diagnostic laboratories and others. The hospitals & clinics segment held the highest revenue share in the internet of things in healthcare market in 2021. The enhanced operational & functional efficiency realized by hospitals due to IoT is a key driver driving market expansion. These solutions, for instance, aid hospitals in managing real-time communication, medical records and billing, hospital workflows, and medication compliance, enhancing overall operational efficiency.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the internet of things in healthcare market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA. In 2021, the North America region led the internet of things in healthcare market by generating the largest revenue share. Increased utilization of telehealth, mHealth, e-prescribing, and other HC IT technologies in response to COVID-19, as well as rising government mandates and support for IoT solutions in healthcare, are the key growth drivers for the market. In addition, the rise in hospitals, advanced research institutions, and medical device makers has positively affected market expansion.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Microsoft Corporation is the major forerunner in the Internet of Things in Healthcare Market. Companies such as Qualcomm Inc., Medtronic PLC, and GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc. are some of the key innovators in Internet of Things in Healthcare Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Medtronic PLC, Cisco Systems, Inc., GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, SAP SE, Infosys Limited, Oracle Corporation (Cerner Corporation), Qualcomm Inc. (Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.), Amazon Web Services, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.), Wipro Limited, and Intel Corporation.



Recent strategies deployed in Internet of Things in Healthcare Market



Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:



Feb-2023: Medtronic India came into collaboration with Zydus Hospitals in Ahmedabad for opening an AI-enabled Hub and spoke network to support stroke patients in the western coastal state of Gujarat. The companies would utilize AI technologies developed locally for offering timely diagnosis and treatment to stroke patients.



Jan-2023: GE Healthcare collaborated with Ordr, a company engaged in connected device security. The collaboration aims to provide a solution for health systems to customers utilizing Ordrs market-leading platform. The solution addresses significant patient care difficulties throughout three key stakeholder groups: IT teams, who support security teams in identifying, prioritizing, and self-managing security risks; biomedical and healthcare technology management (HTM) teams, who provide them with granular visibility and performance and utilization insights they need to improve medical device management.



Dec-2022: Cisco announced that Cylera, a healthcare IoT and Medical device cybersecurity and Intelligence Company, integrated with the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Ciscos Network Access Control product. The integration of both companies solves the issue of policy and cybersecurity gap obtained through the inefficiency of NAC Solutions.



Oct-2022: Oracle Cerner extended its collaboration with Validic, a remote care, and digital health company. The expansion brought the latter companys integrated digital health and remote care platform to Oracle Cerner clients. Moreover, it would allow clients to deploy remote monitoring programs directly within their Oracle Cerner electronic health record for better managing chronic conditions population-wide.



Aug-2022: Wipro GE Healthcare came into collaboration with Boston Scientific, for offering end-to-end innovative interventional cardiac care solutions in India. The collaboration aims to provide robust medical imaging systems from GE Healthcare, including cardiac catheterization labs, along with Boston Scientifics cutting-edge medical devices and capabilities. This will support the cardiac patient-care route from diagnosis through treatment and monitoring.



Aug-222: Medtronic announced its partnership with BioIntelliSense, a continuous health monitoring and clinical intelligence company. The exclusive U.S. hospital and 30-day post-acute hospital-to-home distribution rights of the BioButton multi-parameter wearable for continuous, connected monitoring would be utilized by Medtronic. Additionally, the partnership allowed Medtronic Patient Monitoring Business to deliver access to the medical-grade device that offers continuous vital sign measurements of general care patients in-hospital and after discharge.



Apr-2022: Medtronic came into an agreement with Vizient, a provider of analytics and advisory services. Following the agreement, Medtronic added its Touch Surgery Enterprise, the first AI-enabled surgical video management and analytics platform for the operating room, to Vizients portfolio. Touch Surgical Enterprise makes recording, evaluating, and sharing surgical videos extremely simple, giving surgeons a strong new tool to enhance performance and guide others.



Dec-2021: Medtronic Canada announced an exclusive corporate agreement with Cloud DX for providing virtual and remote patient monitoring solutions throughout the country. Following this agreement, the former company would be able to advance its patient outcomes and reduce overall costs.



Oct-2021: Cerner teamed up with Microsoft following which Cerners electronic health record system has been integrated with Microsofts cloud-based healthcare service. The integration would enable providers to conduct telehealth visits easily through the Microsoft Teams EHR Connector for Cerner directly from Microsofts patient portal.



Sep-2021: Medtronic India partnered with Stasis Health Private Limited, a division of Stasis Labs, Inc. The partnership was aimed to augment and expand access to its state-of-the-art Stasis Monitor, a connected care bedside multi-parameter monitoring system. Additionally, both companies would utilize their strengths and grow Medtronics position in remote monitoring and Statis reach in India.



Apr-2021: Medtronic came into partnership with Sternum, a cybersecurity startup, for protecting cardiac pacemakers from hackers. Medtronic has secured its 100,000 devices approximately, with the help of Sternum. The Sternum platform safeguards existing Internet of Things devices with a simple software update as opposed to a complete rewriting of the coding.



Apr-2021: Microsoft Azure Edge Devices, Services, & Platforms teamed up with ASUS IoT business unit on the launch of Azure Percept DK, a comprehensive development kit for creating AIoT edge solutions with Microsoft Azure Percept. The partnership aimed to create AI solutions for edge devices. The new ASUS Azure Percept DK offers users a complete edge AI platform, facilitating the development of edge AioT solutions.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Mar-2023: Qualcomm announced the launch of integrated 5G IoT processors, which would support four different operating systems for creating new opportunities for partners. This would enhance affordability, ease of configurability, and advanced features. Additionally, it aims to help businesses easily deploy, build, and operate a wide range of Windows IoT-based cloud-connected edge devices in healthcare, retail, and industrial sectors.



Jun-2022: GE Healthcare introduced Portrait Mobile, the wireless patient monitoring system. This new system has been designed for helping clinicians in detecting early patient deterioration and monitors patients health constantly during their hospital journey. Portrait Mobile has patient-worn wireless sensors which communicate with a mobile monitor and helps in capturing oxygen saturation, respiration rate, and pulse rate for post-surgery and general ward patients continuously.



Dec-2021: GE Healthcare announced a series of AI-enhanced technology products including 60 products for utilization in healthcare including an enterprise imaging option in the cloud and algorithms embedded on a mobile X-ray device. One of these was Critical Care Suite 2.0, a set of AI algorithms for automated measurements, case prioritization, and quality control that was integrated into a portable X-ray device. Another is Enterprise Imaging in the Cloud, a cloud-based solution that enables users to access the companys AI capabilities remotely.



Jul-2021: Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com Company, unveiled Amazon HealthLake, a HIPAA-eligible service for healthcare and life sciences organizations. This service aims to ingest, collect, and analyze the data at scale. Amazon HealthLake organizes, indexes, and saves this information in chronological order after utilizing machine learning to comprehend and extract pertinent medical information from unstructured data. The result offers a comprehensive understanding of patient health. The service makes use of the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) industry standard format by enabling information sharing between healthcare systems, pharmaceutical firms, clinical researchers, health insurers, patients, and others.



Jun-2021: Qualcomm introduced cutting-edge IoT solutions for enabling the expansion of next-generation IoT Devices: Qualcomm QCS6490/ QCM6490, Qualcomm QCS4290/ QCM4290, Qualcomm QCS8250, and the Qualcomm QCS2290/ QCM2290. These solutions would fulfill the requirements of changing the IoT ecosystem for warehousing, transportation & logistics, smart cameras, video collaboration, healthcare, retail, and others.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By End-use



 Hospitals & Clinics



 Clinical Research Organizations



 Research, Diagnostic Laboratories & Others



By Application



 Telemedicine



 Patient Monitoring



 Connected Imaging



 Clinical Operations



 Medical Management



 Others



By Connectivity Technology



 Cellular



 Wi-Fi



 Bluetooth & Zigbee



 RFID



 LPWANs



By Component



 Medical Devices



o Stationary Medical Devices



o Implanted Medical Devices



o Wearable External Devices



 System & Software



o Remote Device Management



o Network Bandwidth Management



o Application Security & Network Security



o Data Analytics



 Services



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Medtronic PLC



 Cisco Systems, Inc.



 GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc.



 Microsoft Corporation



 SAP SE



 Infosys Limited



 Oracle Corporation (Cerner Corporation)



 Qualcomm Inc. (Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.)



 Amazon Web Services, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)



 Wipro Limited



 Intel Corporation



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449902/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Medical Image Analysis Software Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Type, By Modality, By End User, By Application, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449898/?utm_source=GNW

The purpose of this software is to save, view, train, and share medical data.



Growing demand for diagnostic imaging software in disciplines, including dental, orthopedics, neurology, urology, and oncology, is projected to expand the market. Furthermore, the need is anticipated to increase as ultrasonic imaging devices are used more frequently for quicker diagnosis, particularly chronic disorders. Additionally, it is projected that ongoing advancements in imaging technologies, like computer-aided diagnosis (CAD), would increase demand for these systems.



Furthermore, medical image analysis software market dynamics have evolved in recent years as a result of the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), and this is expected to continue in the near future. Applications for AI-based solutions in medical imaging include image analysis, clinical decision support, diagnosis, and detection. Although the use of AI in MRI and CT technologies is still in its infancy, it is projected that demand for efficiency, accuracy and patient safety will grow throughout the forecast period.



Growing consumer demand is fueled by the adoption of technologically advanced goods such as multimodality imaging platforms and 3D imaging, as well as the advantages of using these systems, like high-resolution imaging, easy use, and flexibility. In the upcoming years, the market expansion is anticipated to be fueled by the release of technologically sophisticated products and the development of effective information management systems.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The market was positively impacted by the rise in demand for medical image analysis software used in clinical or medical applications to analyze chest scan pictures and diagnose COVID-19-infected patients. Also, there was a huge surge in the usage of telehealth globally. Patients might communicate with medical professionals remotely and share their medical records, including X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, and other imaging modalities images. These elements supported the expansion of the market for medical image analysis software.



Market Growth Factors



Incorporation of AI in medical image analysis software



Medical imaging has proven to be an indispensable diagnostic and monitoring tool for serious diseases and disorders. Artificial intelligence (AI) improves picture processing and analysis in medical imaging. AI-enabled medical image analysis software utilizes enormous quantities of medical data to train its algorithms to recognize certain anatomical markers in medical pictures acquired from X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound imaging, and other modalities. Using image algorithms and a rigorous study of medical picture patterns, AI-enabled software for medical image analysis derives metrics and outputs.



Technological enhances in medical imaging systems



ML will enable radiologists to discover and interpret results, control quality, and potentially automate findings, interpretations, and dosage estimation in radiological imaging by automating the correlation and integration of pictures with other data. Using data-driven decisions, point-of-care medical imaging also supports radiologists, emergency personnel, doctors, and patients in hastening diagnosis and treatment. These innovative technological advancements are anticipated to support the growth of the medical image analysis software market in the upcoming years.



Market Restraining Factors



Rising concern regarding the softwares compliance & security



In the medical image analysis software market, hacking is a significant issue because hackers can readily manipulate system equipment, leading to data breaches or affecting patient outcomes. In addition, the growing reliance on software exacerbates problems such as bugs, malfunctions, and cyber vulnerability. Due to the detrimental effects of inadvertent malfunction and hacking, healthcare practitioners are cautious about using IT solutions, like image analysis software, in medical procedures. Loss of effectiveness & adverse consequences on patients may come from tampering with medical equipment. This may be an obstacle to the expansion of the market in the years to come.



Type Outlook



Based on type, the medical image analysis software market is segmented into integrated and standalone. In 2021, the integrated segment held the highest revenue share in the medical image analysis software market. This large proportion is attributed to the advantages of using these solutions. A variety of radiology applications can benefit from the integrated toolkits improved workflow. Increased acceptance of integrated systems because of their advantagesaffordability, centralized data storage, and access to real-time data for various users to processis projected to further expand the segments revenue share.



Modality Outlook



On the basis of modality, the medical image analysis software market is fragmented into computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, combined modalities and others. In 2021, the ultrasound segment recorded a remarkable revenue share in the medical image analysis software market. Ultrasound is among the primary techniques used for imaging organs and soft tissues. Ultrasonic imaging is a non-invasive, radiation-free imaging technology. Moreover, it offers imaging in real-time. Ultrasound is a low-cost procedure when compared to other medical imaging methods. The domains of medical image analysis and computer-assisted interventions are concerned with reducing digital picture volume.



Application Outlook



By application, the medical image analysis software market is divided into orthopedic, dental, neurology, cardiology, oncology and others. In 2021, the neurology segment projected a prominent revenue share in the medical imaging market. This is due to the rising prevalence of brain cancer, tumors, and other brain-related disorders, leading to the increased usage of CT and MRI, pushing the market for software over the forecast period. In addition, the increased emphasis on the most recent technological breakthroughs in the medical industry has a substantial impact on the expansion of the market.



End User Outlook



Based on end user, the medical image analysis software market is bifurcated into hospitals, diagnostic centers and others. In 2021, the hospital segment registered the maximum revenue share in the medical image analysis software market. Supportive infrastructure, which is essential for performing surgical procedures with medical imaging software, is one of the most important aspects contributing to the segments growth. The installed base of diagnostic imaging equipment and solutions is greater in hospitals compared to research and diagnostic facilities. In addition, the influx of patients is significantly greater. Hence, the end-use market continues to maintain its advantage.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the medical image analysis software market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA. In 2021, the North America region led the medical image analysis software market by generating the highest revenue share. Its rise is attributable to the availability of well-established medical facilities with sophisticated diagnostic equipment and favorable government measures that encourage the deployment of healthcare information technology in this region. In addition, increasing R&D expenditures and the presence of important market participants also contribute to expanding the regional market.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc., Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG), Canon, Inc.(Canon Medical Systems Corporation) are the forerunners in the Medical Image Analysis Software Market. Companies such as Koninklijke Philips N.V., MIM Software, Inc. and Spacelabs Healthcare (OSI Systems, Inc.) are some of the key innovators in Medical Image Analysis Software Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Canon, Inc. (Canon Medical Systems Corporation), Koninklijke Philips N.V., GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc., Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG), Spacelabs Healthcare (OSI Systems, Inc.), Agfa-Gevaert Group, MIM Software, Inc., Esaote SpA, Aquilab SAS (Coexya), and Merative L.P. (Francisco Partner)



Recent Strategies Deployed Medical Image Analysis Software Market



Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:



Feb-2023: Agfa joined hands with Lunit, a company engaged in the development of medical AI software. This collaboration would aim to provide clinicians with the latest critical findings notification workflow by combining the Lunit INSIGHT CXR software in the MUSICA Workstation. Additionally, Agfa would aim to deliver on its vision to transform digital radiography.



Nov-2022: GE Healthcare teamed up with MediView XR, an augmented reality med-tech company. Under this collaboration, Companies would develop the OmnifyXR Interventional Suite System for the combination of medical imaging into mixed-reality solutions. Additionally, the collaboration intends to develop precision care utilizing remote collaboration, intuitive visualization, and evidence-based insight.



Jul-2022: Siemens Healthineers partnered with Subtle Medical, a provider of artificial intelligence solutions for medical imaging. Following the partnership, Siemens Healthineers Open Recon, the companys reconstruction pipeline subtle Medicals SubtleMR image-enhancement software. Moreover, this partnership would deliver better time savings to existing Siemens customers.



Apr-2022: Philips entered into a partnership with Prisma, the industrys most complete Cloud Native Application Protection Platform. This partnership aimed to improve healthcare across the enterprise and unleash the power of patient data. Through the Philips HealthSuite safeguard cloud platform at its foundation, Philips would strengthen enterprise interoperability, standardize patient monitoring, and boost innovation in enterprise imaging solutions to improve patient care and enhance clinical performance.



Feb-2022: MIM Software, Inc. partnered with AMG Medtech Ltd., a provider of artificial intelligence, software solutions, and process improvement medical technologies throughout a variety of diagnostic and therapy care paths. This partnership would focus on advancing MIM softwares prospective and existing customer base in the United Kingdom and Ireland.



Dec-2021: Canon Medical teamed up with Spectronic Medical, a research, and development company. This collaboration aimed to provide integrated AI solutions for precise radiotherapy planning in MRI.



Jul-2021: Canon came into a partnership with Cleerly, a digital healthcare company. Under this partnership, the companies would facilitate simple and streamlined adoption of cardiac CT and introduce new standards of heart disease care.



Apr-2021: Siemens Healthineers came into a partnership with Radlink, a leading medical device manufacturer. This partnership aimed to introduce Radlink HIP and Radlink TRAUMA Software Apps, which would offer a fully integrated, app-based solution for orthopedic surgeons to simplify intraoperative imaging guidance, verify component positioning and enhance efficiency during surgery.



Mar-2021: Siemens Healthineers announced a partnership with Epsilon Imaging, a provider of visualization and analysis software. Through this partnership, Siemens Healthineers would broaden precision medicine into routine care by combining a vendor-neutral tool for training imaging into cardiovascular clinical practice.



Mar-2021: Royal Philips partnered with DiA Imaging Analysis, a leader in providing AI-powered applications for ultrasound. Following this partnership, the companies would offer automated solutions to clinicians at the point of care. Additionally, Philipss high image quality in combination with the AI library of automated solutions of DiA Imaging Analysis would help increase operational efficiency, diagnostic confidence, and access to care for Point-of-Care customers everywhere.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Nov-2022: Philips announced the launch of The Advanced Visualization Workspace, the new version of Philips diagnostic imaging platform. The platform is created to connect a hospitals neurology, radiology, cardiology, and oncology departments in one virtual space, enabling them to ease the process of sharing patient data and communicating with each other regarding the result and diagnosis.



Apr-2021: Royal Philips expanded its product line by introducing improved digital diagnostic and interventional neurovascular imaging solutions in the new Central Acute Services Building at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia. This latest technology would offer up-to-date MR information at any time while surgical procedures that would assist clinicians to develop real-time adjustments to treatment in such procedures.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Feb-2023: GE Healthcare signed an agreement to acquire Caption Health, an AI healthcare company. With this acquisition, Caption Healths AI application would help allow consistent, reliable ultrasound examinations to provide more precise diagnoses, improved treatment decision-making, and further better patient outcomes.



Feb-2023: Spacelabs Healthcare completed the acquisition of PeraHealth, a predictive analytics company. Through this acquisition, PeraHealths powerful analytics would be combined with Spacelabs digital health offering. Also, the acquisition would further help healthcare businesses provide better outcomes and decrease costs with a better picture of their patients health.



Jan-2023: GE HealthCare took over IMACTIS, a France-based company that created CT-Navigation. CT-Navigation is a unique interventional radiological innovation for the advantage of patients and caregivers. Following this acquisition, companies would offer substantial expansion opportunities for the IMACTIS CT-Navigation system with the help of GE Healthcares global presence and infrastructure.



Approvals and Trials:



Sep-2022: GE Healthcare got FDA approval for AIR Recon DL software, a MRI software. The product produces better image quality and offers patients a quick trip inside the scanner.



Apr-2021: Philips received FDA approval for SmartCT 3D imaging software, an image acquisition, visualization, and measurement software. The Product would be able to improve streamline workflows, and clinical confidence, and accelerate productivity by bringing the intuitive touchscreen controls of advanced 3D image acquisition, visualization, quantitative measurements, and vessel/organ segmentation inside the uncontaminated zone of the intervention lab and the table-side.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Type



 Integrated



 Standalone



By Modality



 Computed Tomography



 Ultrasound



 Magnetic Resonance Imaging



 Combined Modalities



 Others



By End User



 Hospitals



 Diagnostic Centers



 Others



By Application



 Cardiology



 Orthopedic



 Neurology



 Dental



 Oncology



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Canon, Inc. (Canon Medical Systems Corporation)



 Koninklijke Philips N.V.



 GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc.



 Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG)



 Spacelabs Healthcare (OSI Systems, Inc.)



 Agfa-Gevaert Group



 MIM Software, Inc.



 Esaote SpA



 Aquilab SAS (Coexya)



 Merative L.P. (Francisco Partner)



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449898/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Microbial Fermentation Technology Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Application, By End User, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449896/?utm_source=GNW

For decades, this technology has been employed in producing highly prized goods. Still, to accomplish the shift to a bio-based society, it is urgently necessary to dramatically speed this technologys development.



Also, there is constant interest in and demand for developing novel microbial fermentation methods for several crucial reasons, including the potential to produce novel compounds and the sustainability element. One of the most crucial elements of contemporary biotechnology is fermentation engineering, which has been widely used in many fields.



Many techniques, like product and substrate evaluation, microscopy, toxicity tests, or biomass monitoring, help to provide a comprehensive image of the traits and requirements of the strains and allow control over specific fermentation processes. Yeasts are single-cell microorganisms that participate in pulque fermentation by producing ethanol and carbon dioxide while also assisting bacterial growth by creating vitamins, amino acids, and other metabolites.



They also provide the necessary aromatic constituents and proteolytic and lipolytic activities. The processes used to ferment yeast include alcoholic fermentations like beer, wine, and cider fermentation, as well as non-alcoholic yeast fermentations like coffee, bread, and chocolate fermentation. Yeasts are unicellular, eukaryotic microfungi found all over the natural world. They are part of the class of organisms known as fungi, which also include mushrooms and molds.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



Markets worldwide started focusing on microbial strain production technology as it increased the output of microbial-based medications. Additionally, the government supports both small and large biotechnology companies in researching vaccinations, medicines, and products that improve gut health and boost immunity. Therefore, the pandemic aided in speeding up the R&D processes associated with the technology. But the closure of industries and disruptions of supply chains prevented the use of technology in any other sector. As a result, the pandemic had a moderate impact on the microbial fermentation technology market.



Market Growth Factors



Increasing demand for alcoholic beverages



Demand for alcoholic beverages has increased in establishments like hotels, restaurants, taverns, and pubs. Every year, wine, spirits, and beer are consumed worldwide in amounts of about 446 billion liters. Beer, lagers, and cider account for about 400 billion liters of all alcohol consumed, with wine and spirits coming in second and third, respectively. Additionally, the industry for alcoholic beverages is predicted to rise due to the growing demand for artisanal spirits in many developing nations. Therefore, as the demand for alcoholic beverages rises, it will propel the demand for microbial fermentation technology, which will ensure the markets growth.



Rising utilization of technology in food enrichment



The amount of protein in mechanically controlled canola meal increased after solid-state fermentation using Pleurotus ostreatus, and the amounts of glucosinolates and phytate decreased by up to 98.8% and 75.8%, respectively. In soybean meal (SBM), solid-state fermentation boosted the amino acid and protein content, with B. subtilis having a bigger influence than A. oryzae. These established experimental results have expanded the use cases for microbial fermentation technology. Hence, the microbial fermentation technology market will expand in the coming years owing to all these factors.



Market Restraining Factors



Issues associated with the fermentation process



Fermented products can be contaminated over time as they undergo continual natural variations. However, contamination through contamination sources is easy even if no variation occurs. Additionally, the product needs more processing because it is impure. The result was unintended and unpleasant; bad germs grew and multiplied while beneficial microbes perished. Some common fermentation processes, like solid state fermentation, have some drawbacks, including using microorganisms that can only withstand low moisture levels and the inability to precisely monitor SSF. Therefore, such difficulties associated with the microbial fermentation processes may hamper the markets growth in the coming years.



Application Outlook



Based on application, the microbial fermentation technology market is categorized into antibiotics, probiotics supplements, monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, biosimilars, vaccines, enzymes, small molecules, and others. The monoclonal antibodies segment procured a considerable growth rate in the microbial fermentation technology market in 2021. One of the most useful biologics for various applications is monoclonal antibodies. These compounds high binding affinity, selectivity, and specificity often make them advantageous.



End User Outlook



On the basis of end-user, the microbial fermentation technology market is divided into bio-pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations (CROs), CMOs & CDMOs, and academic & research institutes. The contract manufacturing organizations (CROs) and contract development & manufacturing organization (CDMOs) segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the microbial fermentation technology market in 2021. CMOs and CDMOs are quickly evolving into the preferred choice for biotherapeutics producers because the majority of the invention in the bioprocess industry is produced by smaller businesses that lack the capacity, skilled personnel, and resources necessary for the development of these products.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the microbial fermentation technology market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The Asia Pacific segment procured the maximum revenue share in the microbial fermentation technology market in 2021. This results from acknowledging Asian nations as a center for outsourcing in the biopharmaceutical industry. An estimated 50% of new bioprocessing facilities worldwide are being built by Asian businesses, including domestic competitors and international powerhouses. For example, China plans to build several bioprocessing facilities to accommodate domestic demand.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Biocon Limited, BioVectra Inc. (H.I.G. Capital, LLC), Danone S.A., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Koninklijke DSM N.V., Lonza Group AG, Novozymes A/S (Novo Holdings A/S), Corbion N.V., and Bangalore Biotech Labs Pvt. Ltd. (BiOZEEN).



Strategies Deployed in Microbial Fermentation Technology Market



Feb-2023: Danone opened a new Research and Innovation Center in Paris. The new research center would enable the company to develop and innovate fresh dairy and plant-based products and natural mineral water categories.



Nov-2022: Biocon took over Viatris, Inc., an American pharmaceutical and healthcare corporation. The acquisition enable the company to emerge as a leading biosimilar player with eight commercialized products. Additionally, it would improve the research and development, global-scale manufacturing, and commercialization abilities of the company.



Nov-2022: BioVectra Inc. unveiled single-use fermentation microbial technology. The new technology contains 100 L and 1,000 L single-use fermenters. The single-use fermentation microbial technology would allow the company to provide greater flexibility, faster turnaround times, and increased capacity utilization to its customers.



Jul-2022: Novozymes introduced Innova Apex and Innova Turbo. The two new advanced yeasts are intended to break down fermentation bottlenecks and at the same time decrease the demand for urea, and also improve ethanol yield. The yeasts maximize the fermentation process, thereby enabling ethanol producers to achieve their production targets. The Innova Apex pushes the plant to 36 & dry solids and decreases glycerol by 38%.



Sep-2021: BioVectra signed an agreement with ABEC, a customized process solutions and services provider. The integration of ABEC CSR single-use fermentation solutions would enhance BIOVECTRAs high-growth microbial fermentation processes and would enable the company to offer a turnaround product to product and between batches.



Apr-2019: BioVectra Inc. expanded its geographical footprints in Windsor, Canada. The new manufacturing facility enables the company to manufacture substances to be used in developing treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and diabetes.



Mar-2019: DSM and Cargill, agricultural, financial, and industrial products provider, together launches Avansya, a producer of produce zero-calorie, great-tasting sweeteners through fermentation. Avansya would produce sweet-tasting molecules, such as steviol glycosides Reb M and Reb D through a fermentation process.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Application



 Antibiotics



 Recombinant Proteins



 Enzymes



 Monoclonal Antibodies



 Probiotics Supplements



 Vaccines



 Biosimilars



 Small Molecules



 Others



By End User



 CMOs & CDMOs



 Bio-Pharmaceutical Companies



 Contract Research Organizations (CROs)



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Biocon Limited



 BioVectra Inc. (H.I.G. Capital, LLC)



 Danone S.A.



 F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.



 Koninklijke DSM N.V.



 Lonza Group AG



 Novozymes A/S (Novo Holdings A/S)



 Corbion N.V.



 Bangalore Biotech Labs Pvt. Ltd. (BiOZEEN)



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449896/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Mining Automation Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Offering, By Technique, By Application, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449894/?utm_source=GNW

The procedure is implemented to improve mine site productivity, efficiency, and safety and to reduce operating expenses. In addition, it eliminates human labor in the mining process.



The demand for mining automation is driven by key causes such as an increase in miner safety concerns, a rise in mining activity productivity due to automation, the elimination of high labor costs and time, and the advent of mining automation software. Working in underground mines is considered extremely dangerous due to potential dangers such as exposure to toxic gases, inadequate ventilation, and negative health impacts.



This worry spawned the demand for sophisticated mining equipment for underground mining processes to protect mine workers, which drives the market significantly. Automation in the mining process eliminates the need for manual labor. In addition, the reduction in time required to move through the mine during a shift reduces the overall cost of the mining operation, hence driving market expansion.



Rapid technological advancements, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots, have led to a rise in the use of mining automation systems to increase production efficiency. Automated mining solutions are expanding due to the rising prevalence of new technology implementation. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) in this industry provides mine management with real-time data & analytics via visualization tools. In addition, many operators are collaborating with technology firms for the underground deployment of wireless networks.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



Mining automation is suitable in this market environment. The mining industry was affected a lot due to the spread of COVID-19. Nevertheless, automation technologies are used to regulate these losses. The industry uses software and machinery in place of laborers. Automation in this sector is changing things for the better. The mining industry uses automation extensively. In the upcoming years, the market is anticipated to experience several developments. The mining automation market has thus benefited from the widespread of COVID-19 pandemic and is predicted to witness growth over the upcoming years.



Market Growth Factors



Growing demand for digital twin technology



Digital Twin simulations may be employed to forecast outcomes and project future scenarios, allowing operators to manage the physical environment via the digital duplicate. By assuming full control of machinery and equipment, individuals can be replaced with total automation enabled by a virtual simulation that enables efficient route mapping, timing, and method. Digital Twin also enables on-site workers to construct accurate virtual training simulators for new employees to face a variety of scenarios that can be simulated electronically. As the demand for digital twin technology rises, the mining automation market is predicted to grow significantly.



Presence of technologically advanced equipment



Ores can be transported from mines to the port using a self-driving load haul dump vehicle. In the future years, it is anticipated that robotic gadgets will replace roughly half of all manual jobs. In addition, 3D imaging technology, automated drilling, a sophisticated aerial gravity gradiometer for mineral prospecting, and a sophisticated shaft and tunnel boring system are anticipated to facilitate mining operations. Thus, the availability of technologically advanced mining equipment contributes to the development of the mining automation market.



Market Restraining Factors



High cost of operating and expensive machinery



Some mines continue to face the difficulty of insufficient investment dollars to adopt new technologies. The increased pricing of these machines due to the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pollution restrictions is also anticipated to hinder the markets expansion. The national and global regulators overseeing these massive machines will impose more regulations, which will likely restrict the industrys expansion. In addition, regulations about the safety of the operator and personnel in the workplace are predicted to affect product demand and impede market expansion.



Offering Outlook



On the basis of offering, the mining automation market is segmented into software, communication services, and equipment. In 2021, the software segment held the highest revenue share in the mining automation market. Automation of mining software enables the administrator to boost accountability, pinpoint production bottlenecks, and gain a better understanding of the investments return. Mining businesses utilise mining automation software or procedures to better manage their operations. The softwares automation of the procedure eliminates all human labour from the mining business.



Technique Outlook



By technique, the mining automation market is bifurcated into underground mining, surface mining. The surface mining segment covered a considerable revenue share in the mining automation market in 2021. World mineral production is dominated by surface mining techniques. The evolution of technology over the years has enabled the use of surface techniques for deeper and less dense deposits. In addition, much progress has been achieved in mobile equipments remote & autonomous operation in surface mining, like trucks and shovels.



Application Outlook



Based on application, the mining automation market is categorized into metal mining, mineral mining, and coal mining. In 2021, the mineral mining segment dominated the mining automation market with the maximum revenue share. Mining minerals involves removing them from their ores. Rocks called ores are concentrated sources of precious metals, such as bauxite for aluminum, galena for lead, and cassiterite for tin. The two basic types of mining for minerals are surface mining and underground mining. Mineral ores are removed from the grounds surface using the surface mining.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the mining automation market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA. In 2021, the Asia Pacific region led the mining automation market by generating the largest revenue share. The regional market is expected to be driven by Australias growing embrace of automation technology. Remote controlled equipment and robots are being utilized in the Australian economy to safely and effectively extract minerals. Over the projection period, it is anticipated that the untapped drilling and exploring of the potential in developing nations like China and India will present significant growth prospects.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Caterpillar, Inc., Rockwell Automation, Inc. and Siemens AG are the forerunners in the Mining Automation Market. Companies such as Hexagon AB, Sandvik AB, and Komatsu Ltd. are some of the key innovators in Mining Automation Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Caterpillar, Inc., Hexagon AB, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., Komatsu Ltd., Sandvik AB, Liebherr-International AG, Rockwell Automation, Inc., Siemens AG, Trimble, Inc. and Autonomous Solutions, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Mining Automation Market



Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:



Dec-2022: Caterpillar teamed up with Luck Stone, a family-owned and operated producer of crushed stone, gravel, and sand. The collaboration includes incorporating Caterpillars autonomous solutions in Luck Stones bull run plant located in Virginia, United States. This collaboration advances Caterpillars autonomous solutions beyond mining. Further, the collaboration involves implementing Caterpillars MineStar command for hauling systems at Luck Stones plant, which would enable Caterpillar to gain an understanding of the quarry operations.



Apr-2022: Komatsu announced a partnership with Anglo-American Minas-Rio, a UK-based multinational mining company. The partnership involves conducting a trial of an ICT mining bulldozer with remote control functions. The company plans to trial D375Ai-8 tele remote control bulldozer at Anglo-Americans Minas-Rio iron mine. Through this trial, the company intends to develop a new solution intended to accelerate productivity and safety at mine sites.



Jan-2022: Caterpillar came into partnership with Teck Resources, a Canada-based multi-line mining company. The partnership involves working together to design, develop, pilot, and at the end deploy 30 fully connected, autonomous, zero-emission large haul trucks to Tecks mines.



Oct-2021: Trimble partnered with Microsoft, a US-based developer of consumer and enterprise software. The partnership aims at accelerating technology adoption and advancing digital transformation in the agriculture, construction, and transportation industries.



Sep-2021: Hexagon partnered with Hard-Line, a US-based company operating in the wireless communications market. The partnership aims at improving international mining capabilities, automation, and modernizing safety. Additionally, the partnership includes Hexagon acting as a major distributor for Hard-Lines TeleOp tele-remote technology in the Americas region, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia.



Sep-2021: Hexagon signed an agreement with Volvo Construction Equipment, a Sweden-based manufacturer of wheel loaders, articulated haulers, excavators, etc. The agreement aims at delivering autonomous safety systems intended for the mining industry.



Sep-2021: Hexagon came into partnership with Liebherr, a Switzerland-based company primarily in the construction machines and equipment business. The partnership involves combining Hexagons technologies and Liebherrs autonomous solutions to provide intelligence with less-dependency on-site infrastructure. Further, this partnership aligns with Hexagons aim of an autonomous future and its commitment to the safety of miners.



Aug-2021: Caterpillar partnered with BHP, an Australia-based miner primarily supplying copper, metallurgical coal, and iron ore. The partnership involves designing, developing, and deploying zero-emission vehicles to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.



Jun-2020: Hexagon partnered with Proudfoot, a US-based management consulting firm. Integrating safety technology and people-centric change methodology results in mitigating risk in the mine operations, and protects the equipment.



Mergers and Acquisitions:



Feb-2023: Sandvik completed the acquisition of Polymathian Industrial Mathematics, an Australia-based developer of software intended to equip businesses with industrial mathematics. The acquisition of Polymathian expands Sandviks product offerings and further advances productivity.



Oct-2022: Rockwell Automation took over CUBIC, a company that specializes in modular systems intended for the construction of electrical panels. The addition of CUBIC reinforces Rockwells intelligent motor control technologies portfolio. Further, the combination of Rockwells competence in intelligent devices and industry knowledge and CUBICs flexible and efficient modular systems benefits customers by providing them with faster time to market and producing smart data to enhance productivity and sustainability.



Jun-2022: Komatsu took over Mine Site Technologies (MST), an Australia-based developer of network infrastructure intended for the mining industry. The addition of MST increases the availability of low-latency, high-speed digital communication. Further, through this acquisition, the acquirer intends to improve the frequency at which it provides advanced technology solutions, including teleoperation and automation of the mining equipment.



Apr-2022: Sandvik acquired Deswik, an Australia-based developer of mine planning software. The addition of Deswik expands Sandviks digital solutions portfolio and further enables the acquirer to furnish its clients with a full-fled suite of technologies.



Jan-2022: Hexagon took over Minnovare, an Australia-based developer of industrial drilling technology. The addition of Minnovares mining solutions advances Hexagons underground development roadmap and further reinforces its blast and drill product and solutions offerings.



Product Launches and Expansions:



Mar-2023: Sandvik unveiled Toro LH518iB, a battery-powered, automation-ready, 18 metric-ton underground loader with various design updates, and enhanced quality to provide field service. Additionally, the new loader is compatible with the AutoMine system and is equipped with features including, built-in hardware for automation, standard valves, and harnesses.



Jul-2022: Caterpillar introduced the Cat MineStar reporting platform intended for MineStar Solutions, a reporting and analytics product. The dashboards and reports created by the new platform are perfect for multiple or single mine sites. Additionally, the new platform enables the platform used to develop tailor-made reports and share appropriate information with each concerned person.



May-2022: Caterpillar launched Cat 120 GC Motor Grader and Cat 303 CR Mini Excavator. The introduction of the new products broadens the companys market presence in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors in India.



Jan-2022: Hitachi Construction Machinery launched ConSite Mine for the global market, a solution that delivers machine analytics to help support addressing the issues at mining sites. The recently introduced solution remotely monitors ultra-large hydraulic excavators and rigid dump trucks and delivers two kinds of status reports, monthly and alarm reports. The monthly report furnishes the user with updates on the machinerys operational condition, and the alarm report provides the personnel with any abnormalities detected.



Geographical Expansions:



Oct-2022: Sandvik expanded its global footprint by setting up a new plant in Quebec, Canada. The new facility includes warehouse space, an expanded workshop, a rock tools shop, and customer service. The new facility enhances Sandviks aftermarket capabilities and further enables the company to fulfill the evolving needs of the Quebec region.



Aug-2022: Liebherr expanded its already existing Perth facility. The expanded facility houses the resources, infrastructure, and capability needed for the delivery and development of its technology and mining decarbonization projects.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Offering



 Software



 Equipment



 Services



By Technique



 Underground Mining



 Surface Mining



By Application



 Mineral Mining



 Coal Mining



 Metal Mining



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o Australia



o India



o South Korea



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Caterpillar, Inc.



 Hexagon AB



 Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.



 Komatsu Ltd.



 Sandvik AB



 Liebherr-International AG



 Rockwell Automation, Inc.



 Siemens AG



 Trimble, Inc.



 Autonomous Solutions, Inc.



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449894/?utm_source=GNW



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__________________________
BALTIMORE, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adams Funds, comprised of Adams Diversified Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE: ADX) and Adams Natural Resources Fund, Inc. (NYSE: PEO), two of the nations oldest closed-end funds, today announced that, after 10 years leading the Companies, Mark E. Stoeckle has retired. He served as Adams Funds Chief Executive Officer since February 2013 and President of ADX since January 2015. He also led the Funds Management Committee.



Before joining Adams Funds, Mark had a 32-year career in financial services and asset management. He came to the Funds from the global investment management firm BNP Paribas Investment Partners and last served as Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Equities and Global Sector Funds. Prior to that, he co-founded 646 Advisors, a long/short market-neutral equity fund. He also served in portfolio management roles for Liberty Financial Corporation and MFS Institutional Advisors. Earlier in his career, Mark was a Senior Vice President in the Investment Banking Group at Bear, Stearns & Co.

A graduate of Bethany College in West Virginia, Mr. Stoeckle earned an MBA in Finance from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. He will continue to serve Adams Funds in his role as a director on the Boards.

Adams Funds also announce that James P. Haynie, who was elected by the Boards to succeed Mr. Stoeckle, has assumed his new responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer of Adams Funds and has also been elected to the Boards, effective today.

Kenneth J. Dale, Chairman of the Boards, said Marks distinguished service and contributions to the success of the Funds, including navigating turbulent markets and an unprecedented pandemic, have served our shareholders well and we wish him all the best in retirement. We are confident that our shareholders will continue to be well served by Jim Haynie as he steps into his new responsibilities.

About Adams Funds

Since 1929, Adams Funds has consistently helped generations of investors reach their investment goals. Adams Funds is comprised of two closed-end funds, Adams Diversified Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE: ADX) and Adams Natural Resources Fund, Inc. (NYSE: PEO).The Funds are actively managed by an experienced team with a disciplined approach and have paid dividends for more than 85 years across many market cycles. The Funds are committed to paying an annual distribution rate of 6% or more, providing reliable income to long-term investors. Shares can be purchased through our transfer agent or through a broker. For more information about Adams Funds, please visit: adamsfunds.com.

For further information please contact:

adamsfunds.com/about/contact

800.638.2479
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Quality and Lifecycle Management Software Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Enterprise Size, By Deployment Type, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449878/?utm_source=GNW

They assist in lowering the expenses related to error correction. A product can now be marketed more quickly due to these methods. Managing quality through specialized QLM software is profitable and aids organizations in staying ahead of the competition in the market due to the fierce competition in the market and the complexity of business processes and manufacturing.



The main drivers of the growth of the QLM software market are the increasing need for continuous innovation and iteration, lower production costs, and rising demand for smart homes. Also, the increased adoption of QLM software by midsize enterprises, with limited resources available to optimize their operations, has considerably contributed to the expansion of the market in terms of the user base.



Quality management software helps firms to automate or streamline their quality management operations. It also offers a central location for all information and documents about quality. This aids companies in keeping tabs on the development of their quality management initiatives. Managing a products whole lifecycle, from conception to retirement, is made possible through product lifecycle management software. It aids companies in keeping track of and managing the different phases of a products life cycle, including design, development, testing, and production.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



Industries all across the world were badly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The markets overall growth is constrained by the disruption of supply chain operations and a decline in end-user expenditure on goods and services. The market for quality and lifecycle management software (QMS) was moderately impacted by COVID-19s expansion. Due to financial limitations and reluctance to invest in new technologies, the markets growth was slow. The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic has badly damaged the logistics, transport, and manufacturing sectors.



Market Growth Factors



Rising use of high-tech smart devices and electronics



Quality management is essential in the electronics sector to guarantee that products fulfill the highest performance, dependability, and safety requirements. Electronic devices are used daily in modern life, from computers and cell phones to home appliances and business machinery. Due to this, a significant need for high-quality electronic products can only be met by efficient quality control systems (QMS). This is predicted to support the growth of the quality and lifecycle management software market in the upcoming years.



Growing need for quality management



Quality management aids businesses in enhancing product dependability, longevity, and performance. These variables serve to distinguish a company from its rivals. Customers who are more satisfied with a products quality spend more. Consumers will anticipate the same level of quality every time they purchase from the organization. However, the same product could be sold to clients with varying quality requirements without a suitable quality control system. As a result of these factors, the need for quality management is increasing, which is anticipated to positively impact the market expansion.



Market Restraining Factors



High cost to be spent initially



Although the cost of Quality is always a big factor, Quality management is a different concept. Because quality management necessitates a shift in worldview, rigorous project management, complete documentation of all processes, and extensive training, it can be time- and cost-intensive initially. Suppose a company wishes to use quality & lifecycle management software and reap its full benefits. In that case, it will need extensive education and knowledge to do it effectively. That does not mean companies must hire one of the big four consulting firms, but they must have a clear action plan and competent counsel. As a result, the market is anticipated to witness slow growth during the projection period.



Component Outlook



By component, the quality and lifecycle management software market is bifurcated into solution and services. In 2021, the solution segment accounted the largest revenue share in the quality and lifecycle management software market. This is because these solutions are very flexible and let the firm change the platform without writing any code. With a fast implementation, its easy to change and build apps that meet regulations and standards around the world. In addition, the organization will have real-time, device-independent access to high-quality data, documents, analytics, and reports.



Deployment Mode Outlook



On the basis of deployment mode, the quality and lifecycle management software market is divided into cloud and on-premises. The cloud-based segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the quality and lifecycle management software market in 2021. Software that is hosted on the cloud includes cloud-based quality lifecycle management systems. Software of this kind can be accessed at any time and from any location. Software for managing the quality lifecycle in the cloud is simple to use and doesnt need to be set up or installed.



Organization Size Outlook



By organization size, the quality and life management software market is classified into small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises. The SMEs segment garnered a significant revenue share in the quality and lifecycle management software market in 2021. This segments rise can be due to the demand for cost-effective, straightforward quality & lifecycle management solutions. The continued development of new capabilities to QMS results from the softwares adaptability and versatility, which drive demand among significant enterprises. Globally, organizations use various technologies and systems to generate huge quantities of data.



Verticals Outlook



Based on the verticals, the quality and lifecycle management software market is bifurcated into aerospace & defense, automotive & transport, consumer goods & retail, healthcare & life science, industrial manufacturing, IT & telecom and other verticals. In 2021, the industrial manufacturing segment procured a promising growth rate in the quality and lifecycle management software market. Manufacturing requires quality and lifecycle management software to verify that the manufactured items meet the appropriate requirements. The software needs to monitor and track the entire production process, from raw materials to completed goods.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the quality and lifecycle management software market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region led the quality and lifecycle software market by generating maximum revenue share in 2021. The region is the leader in adopting numerous technologies of the next generation, including IoT, advanced telecommunication technologies, sophisticated analytics, Augmented Reality (AR), AI, and ML. Several organizations and industries are implementing QLM systems at various phases of product development to sustain in the market, raise productivity, and enhance the production process. As a result, the market is growing gradually and has the opportunity to expand further in the region.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships and Acquisitions. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Microsoft Corporation are the forerunners in the Quality and Lifecycle Management Software Market. Companies such as Siemens AG, Dassault Systemes SE and IBM Corporation are some of the key innovators in Quality and Lifecycle Management Software Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, SAP SE, Siemens AG, Dassault Systemes SE, Autodesk, Inc., PTC, Inc., Aras Corporation, SAS Institute, Inc., and Parasoft Corporation.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Quality and Lifecycle Management Software Market



Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:



Feb-2023: Microsoft partnered with SignDesk, a provider of digital documentation & contract lifecycle solutions. This partnership would strengthen businesses to leverage the Microsoft Azure capabilities that are integrated with the SignDesk portfolio across the solution stack.



Oct-2022: Dassault Systemes signed a partnership with Sanofi, a global healthcare company. Through this partnership, Dassaults 3DEXPERIENCE platform models would allow Sanofi to generate virtual twins to propel the reliability, agility, and performance of Sanofis new facilities. Moreover, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform would help Sanofi to address the complexity of product lifecycle management in a regulated environment.



Sep-2022: Aras came into partnership with AVEVA, a company engaged providing in industrial software, propelling digital transformation and sustainability. Following this partnership, both companies would aim to offer industrial Asset Lifecycle Management solutions.



Jul-2022: Siemens Digital Industries Software, a division of Siemens AG, partnered with TeamViewer, a provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalization solutions. Through this partnership, companies would aim to bring the strength of TeamViewers enterprise AR platform Frontline to Siemens Teamcenter software, a Product Lifecycle Management solution from the Siemens Xcelerator offering. Additionally, this partnership enables Siemens global customers to enhance their product development process based on better experiences with communicable, 3D content connected to the digital twin of a product.



Feb-2022: Dassault Systemes came into partnership with Cadence Design Systems, Inc., a company engaged in electronic systems design, with expertise in computational software. Under this partnership, both companies would aim to deliver enterprise customers in various vertical markets consisting of industrial equipment, defense, and healthcare, with combined, advanced solutions for the growth of high-performance electronic systems.



Oct-2021: Dassault Systemes partnered with Synopsys, Inc., an American electronic design automation company. Under this partnership, Synopsys optical design solutions would be integrated into the Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE platform to support the development of safer, smarter vehicles.



Oct-2021: SAS teamed up with Red Hat, the provider of enterprise open-source software solutions. Under this Collaboration, SAS Viya, a cloud-native AI, analytic, and data management platform, would be available on Red Hat OpenShift. With this collaboration, businesses would gain real intelligence so that they would better respond to transformation and challenges in growing business environments.



Apr-2021: SAP joined hands with Siemens Digital Industries Software, a division of Siemens AG. This partnership would allow both companies to provide late solutions for the Service and Asset Lifecycle. Moreover, with starting focus on discrete manufacturing, Siemens would deliver the SAP Asset Strategy and Performance Management application, the SAP Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management package, and SAP Asset Intelligence Network.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



May-2022: Autodesk, Inc. announced the launch of Autodesk Build, a complete field and project management software, and Autodesk Takeoff, which Empowers estimators to perform 2D and 3D quantification workflows, across Japan. The products would broaden Autodesk Construction Cloud, a powerful cloud-based construction management solution. Additionally, the launch would strengthen construction companies to achieve improved business outcomes.



Feb-2022: Dassault Systemes unveiled Sustainable Innovation Intelligence, a life cycle assessment solution. The product allows companies to reduce the environmental impacts of materials, processes, and products.



Jul-2021: Autodesk, Inc. introduced Autodesk Tandem, a cloud-based digital twin platform. The product allows a project to start digital, stay digital and deliver digital, changing rich data into business intelligence.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Jan-2023: PTC completed the acquisition of ServiceMax, a Service Execution Management company. This acquisition would include critical field service management capabilities to PTCs closed-loop product lifecycle management and digital thread portfolio.



May-2022: PTC acquired Intland Software, an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) platform. This acquisition would expand and deepen PTCs Application Lifecycle Management suite across safety-critical and regulated industries, consisting of consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace and defense, and life sciences.



Dec-2021: Autodesk, Inc. acquired ProEst, a cloud-based estimating solution. Following this acquisition, Autodesk would combine ProEst with Autodesk Construction Cloud, a complete construction management platform that connects data, workflows, and teams. Also, the acquisition would strengthen Autodesk Construction Clouds preconstruction suite and support construction teams to manage all their key construction and preconstruction workflows on one platform.



Apr-2021: Autodesk, Inc. took over Upchain, a company engaged in offering cloud-based product lifecycle management and product data management solutions. This acquisition offers Autodesk to provide more value for suppliers, engineers, manufacturers, and other product stakeholders by enhancing collaboration across the decentralized product value chain, regardless of the CAD system.



Jan-2021: PTC took over Arena Solutions, a company engaged in software as a service (SaaS) product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. Under this acquisition, Arena Solutions integrated with Onshape, a subsidiary of PTC, would deliver a powerful pure PLM and SaaS CAD solution that would place to catch the quickly developing shift toward SaaS for realization and product design.



Jan-2021: SAS completed the acquisition of Boemska, a company specializing in low-code/no-code application deployment. This acquisition would enhance SAS Viya, a cloud-native AI, analytic, and data management platform, with a new set of capabilities that accelerates SAS objective of facilitating the whole analytics life cycle and supporting customer migration to the cloud.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Component



 Solution



o Quality Management



o Document & Product Data Management



o Bill of Material (BOM) Management



o Governance & Compliance Management



o Cost Management



o Change Management



o Lifecycle Analytics Management



o Others



 Services



By Enterprise Size



 Large Enterprises



 Small & Medium Enterprises



By Deployment Type



 Cloud



 On-premise



By Vertical



 Automotive & Transport



 Industrial Manufacturing



 Consumer Goods & Retail



 Healthcare & Lifesciences



 Aerospace & Defense



 IT & Telecom



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 IBM Corporation



 Microsoft Corporation



 SAP SE



 Siemens AG



 Dassault Systemes SE



 Autodesk, Inc.



 PTC, Inc.



 Aras Corporation



 SAS Institute, Inc.



 Parasoft Corporation



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449878/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Intracranial Aneurysm Market was valued at USD 1.2 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 2.7 billion in 2032 at a CAGR of 8.8%. The prevalence of brain aneurysms is expected to increase in the future years, and minimally invasive intracranial aneurysm treatments are expected to be used more frequently. A brain aneurysm causes a cerebral artery's wall to swell.

The result is an aberrant ballooning, bleb, or widening. Risk factors for a brain aneurysm include smoking, hypertension, blood artery trauma, and genetic predisposition. Medical therapy, surgical clipping, endovascular therapy, and coiling without or with additional devices are available treatments for cerebral aneurysms.

Get additional highlights on major revenue-generating segments, Request an Intracranial Aneurysm Market sample report at https://market.us/report/intracranial-aneurysm-market/request-sample/

Key Takeaway:

By Type, the Endovascular coiling segment dominated the largest market share in type analysis and accounted for the largest revenue share in the Intracranial Aneurysm market in 2022.

dominated the largest market share in type analysis and accounted for the largest revenue share in the Intracranial Aneurysm market in 2022. By end-user, the hospital's sector segment dominated the largest market share in end-user analysis

dominated the largest market share in end-user analysis In 2022, North America dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 27%.

Factors Affecting the Growth of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market?

There are several factors that can have an impact on the growth of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market. Some of these factors include:

Increasing Prevalence of Intracranial Aneurysms: The increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms is a major element propelling the market's expansion. The Brain Aneurysm Foundation estimates that 6 million Americans have unruptured brain aneurysms and that 30,000 individuals in the country suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm every year.

The increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms is a major element propelling the market's expansion. The Brain Aneurysm Foundation estimates that 6 million Americans have unruptured brain aneurysms and that 30,000 individuals in the country suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm every year. Advancements in Imaging Technologies: The early detection of intracranial aneurysms made possible by the development of sophisticated imaging technologies, such as computed tomography (CT) angiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and digital subtraction angiography (DSA), has helped the market expand.

The early detection of intracranial aneurysms made possible by the development of sophisticated imaging technologies, such as computed tomography (CT) angiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and digital subtraction angiography (DSA), has helped the market expand. Aging Population: As the risk of having intracranial aneurysms rises with age, the aging population is another important factor influencing the development of the intracranial aneurysm market. The aging populace is growing in many nations, which is anticipated to fuel market expansion.

As the risk of having intracranial aneurysms rises with age, the aging population is another important factor influencing the development of the intracranial aneurysm market. The aging populace is growing in many nations, which is anticipated to fuel market expansion. Increasing Awareness: Intracranial aneurysms are now more frequently diagnosed and treated early thanks to rising public knowledge of their warning signs and symptoms, which has further fuelled the market's expansion.

Intracranial aneurysms are now more frequently diagnosed and treated early thanks to rising public knowledge of their warning signs and symptoms, which has further fuelled the market's expansion. Technological Advancements in Treatment Options: The market has expanded as a result of the creation of cutting-edge treatment choices like endovascular coiling and flow diversion. These procedures have superior results and are less invasive than standard surgical procedures

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Top Trends in Intracranial Aneurysm Market

Endovascular coiling is anticipated to continue developing steadily in the future. A catheter is used in a minimally invasive way to treat a brain aneurysm by stopping blood from entering arteries. The benefits of this technique, such as easy access to the vertebrobasilar system, the ability to treat several aneurysms in difficult-to-reach places, and its quicker recovery time than other procedures, are what is causing the segment to grow. Also, there is a good chance that the increasing number of strokes that take place worldwide will rupture blood vessels and result in cerebral aneurysms, which will promote market revenue growth.

Market Growth

Due to several factors, including the increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms, improvements in available treatments, and rising public knowledge of the condition, the global market for intracranial aneurysm treatment is predicted to expand considerably over the next few years. The growth of the intracranial aneurysm market is supported by an increase in clinical trials for the creation of drugs to treat them.

Regional Analysis

North America dominated the market for intracranial aneurysms and accounted for a Revenue share that will continue to increase due to the presence of well-established healthcare facilities, an aging population, and a high prevalence of hypertension and stroke. Furthermore, the need for less invasive procedures as well as an increasing prevalence of cerebral aneurysms is driving market development in the region. The industry is expected to experience growth due to an increasing number of initiatives introduced by various organizations. The Bee Foundation (TBF), through advanced research, is striving to raise awareness and reduce fatalities caused by brain aneurysms. For example, The Bee Foundation (TBF) is dedicated to raising awareness and decreasing brain aneurysm-related mortality through cutting-edge research. Applications are currently being accepted by TBF for a brain aneurysm.

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Scope of the Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 1.2 billion Market Size (2032) USD 2.7 billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 8.8% North America Revenue Share 27% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

The increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms brought on by an increase in unhealthy behaviors like excessive smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug abuse is one of the major factors driving the intracranial aneurysm market's revenue growth. The aging population, which has a greater risk of developing an intracranial aneurysm, as well as an increase in blood pressure-related disorders and trauma incidences, are all contributing to the growth of the intracranial aneurysm market.

Market Restraints

Patients without insurance or limited access to healthcare may face high costs for treating Intracranial Aneurysms. Patients may struggle to access treatment options and lack financial resources to cover necessary medical care. The general public often is unaware of the symptoms and dangers of Intracranial Aneurysms, delayed diagnosis and treatment, and patient suffering. There are alternative treatments for Intracranial Aneurysm, such as endovascular coiling and flow diversion, which can be less invasive than surgery. patients may prefer less invasive options rather than surgery, these alternatives could limit access to surgical solutions.

Market Opportunities

Due to an aging population and factors like smoking and hypertension, the prevalence of intracranial aneurysms is rising. Companies have a unique opportunity to create new devices and treatments to address this market need. Due to advances in medical technology, the treatment and diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms have become more accurate and precise. Companies now have the opportunity to develop treatments using these advances. Research and development of new treatments have seen an increase in investment. Companies now have the chance to develop devices and treatments that enhance patient outcomes while reducing the potential for complications.

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Report Segmentation of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market

Type Insight

The market for intracranial aneurysms was dominated by the endovascular coiling segment, which also generated the largest revenue share in the global market. In this most minimally invasive technique, a catheter is used to locate the brain aneurysm. The catheter is inserted into the artery with the aneurysm through the groyne area. Coils or fluids that embolise are inserted to halt the aneurysm's blood supply. Endovascular coiling has advantages over surgical clipping procedures, including better access to the vertebrobasilar system, multiple aneurysms in the distant region, and a quicker recovery time. Therefore, the benefits offered by the arterial coiling technique are promoting the segment's growth.

End User Insight

The hospital segment is most profitable in the intracranial aneurysm market and accounted for the largest revenue share. This is attributed to the growth of hospitals across the globe, the application of state-of-the-art medical technology in operating rooms and intensive care units, and higher government funding for hospitals. Hospitals frequently use cutting-edge technology to deliver excellent care. In addition to streamlining the therapeutic procedures, these tools aid in producing better, quicker, and more accurate outcomes.

Hospitals are better equipped to handle any post-operative complications because they have post-operative physical rehabilitation equipment. Intracranial aneurysm surgeries, among the most difficult and important surgeries, depending on the reliable, high-quality supplies available in the hospital.

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Market Segmentation

Based on Type

Surgical Clipping

Endovascular Coiling

Flow Diverters

Other Types

Based on End-User

Hospitals

Clinics

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Other End-Users

By Geography

North America

The US Canada Mexico



Western Europe

Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe



Eastern Europe

Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC



Latin America

Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America



Middle East & Africa

Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Competitive Landscape

Several major rivals in the intracranial aneurysm market concentrate on constructing medical facilities with cutting-edge technology. The main rivals comprehend and concentrate on brand-new methods that target aneurysm-specific wall mending and blood prevention. Due to the growth of the intracranial aneurysm industry, the marketplace is now more dynamic and versatile.

Braun

Delta Surgical

Evonos Gmbh & Co. KG

Integra Life-Science Holding Corporation

Medtronic PLC

Microport Scientific Corporation

Mizuho Medical Incorporation

Spiegelberg

Stryker Corporation

Terumo Global

Johnson and Johnson Services Inc.

Codman Neuro

Other Key Players

Recent Development of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market

January 2022: Codman Neuro, part of Johnson & Johnson, announced the launch of its new device, the ENVOY Transcarotid Stent System, for the treatment of carotid artery disease and intracranial aneurysms.

Codman Neuro, part of Johnson & Johnson, announced the launch of its new device, the ENVOY Transcarotid Stent System, for the treatment of carotid artery disease and intracranial aneurysms. October 2021: Medtronic announced the launch of its Pipeline Flex Embolization Device with Shield Technology, designed to prevent brain aneurysm rupture while preserving blood flow to vital areas of the brain.

Medtronic announced the launch of its Pipeline Flex Embolization Device with Shield Technology, designed to prevent brain aneurysm rupture while preserving blood flow to vital areas of the brain. July 2021: Cerenovus, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced the launch of its new device, the EMBOTRAP III Revascularization Device, for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

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Neurovascular devices market was valued at USD 27,100 million in 2021. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% during the forecast period.

Neurovascular Catheters Market size is expected to be worth around USD 5,988.60 million by 2032 from USD 3,072.9 million in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032.



ICAD (Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease) Pathology Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 10.84% over the next ten years and will reach USD 577.0 million in 2032, from USD 186.0 million in 2022, according to a new Market.us study.



Brain Implants Market size in 2021, was estimated to be worth USD 4.55 billion. It is anticipated to expand between 2023 and 2032 at a compound annual rate of 9.85%.



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TSX and OTC: MPVD

TORONTO, April 19, 2023 - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province" or the "Company") (TSX: MPVD) and (OTC: MPVD) wishes to provide the details of its Q1 2023 earnings release and conference call.

Earnings Release and Conference Call Details

The Company will host its quarterly conference call on Wednesday May 10th, 2023 at 11:00am EST. Prior to the conference call, the Company will release Q1 2023 financial results on May 9th, 2023 after-market.

Conference Call Dial-in Details:

Title: Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call

Conference ID: 44495174

Date of call: 05/10/2023

Time of call: 11:00 Eastern Time

Expected Duration: 60 minutes

Webcast Link:

https://app.webinar.net/dpA23QXRjg8

Participant Toll-Free Dial-In Number: (+1) 888-390-0541

Participant International Dial-In Number: (+1) 416-764-8677

A replay of the webcast and audio call will be available on the Company's website.

****

About Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.

Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls over 113,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases surrounding the Gahcho Kue Mine that include an Indicated mineral resource for the Kelvin kimberlite and Inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites. Kelvin is estimated to contain 13.62 million carats (Mct) in 8.50 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 1.60 carats/tonne and value of US$63/carat. Faraday 2 is estimated to contain 5.45Mct in 2.07Mt at a grade of 2.63 carats/tonne and value of US$140/ct. Faraday 1-3 is estimated to contain 1.90Mct in 1.87Mt at a grade of 1.04 carats/tonne and value of US$75/carat. All resource estimations are based on a 1mm diamond size bottom cut-off.

For further information on Mountain Province Diamonds and to receive news releases by email, visit the Company's website at www.mountainprovince.com.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to operational hazards, including possible disruption due to pandemic such as COVID-19, its impact on travel, self-isolation protocols and business and operations, estimated production and mine life of the project of Mountain Province; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; the future price of diamonds; the estimation of mineral reserves and resources; the ability to manage debt; capital expenditures; the ability to obtain permits for operations; liquidity; tax rates; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Mountain Province, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates," "may," "can," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "targets," "intends," "likely," "will," "should," "to be", "potential" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "should" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Mountain Province and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the development of operation hazards which could arise in relation to COVID-19, including, but not limited to protocols which may be adopted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and any impact of such protocols on Mountain Province's business and operations, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in market conditions, changes in project parameters, mine sequencing; production rates; cash flow; risks relating to the availability and timeliness of permitting and governmental approvals; supply of, and demand for, diamonds; fluctuating commodity prices and currency exchange rates, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated.

These factors are discussed in greater detail in Mountain Province's most recent Annual Information Form and in the most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with these statements. Mountain Province cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Mountain Province believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.

Although Mountain Province has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be 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. Mountain Province undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as the property is developed. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Further, Mountain Province may make changes to its business plans that could affect its results. The principal assets of Mountain Province are administered pursuant to a joint venture under which Mountain Province is not the operator. Mountain Province is exposed to actions taken or omissions made by the operator within its prerogative and/or determinations made by the joint venture under its terms. Such actions or omissions may impact the future performance of Mountain Province. Under its current note and revolving credit facilities Mountain Province is subject to certain limitations on its ability to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration of dividends is at the discretion of Mountain Province's Board of Directors, subject to the limitations under the Company's debt facilities, and will depend on Mountain Province's financial results, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mountain-province-diamonds-provides-details-of-first-quarter-2023-earnings-release-and-conference-call-301802141.html

SOURCE Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.
VANCOUVER, April 19, 2023 - Gatos Silver Inc. (NYSE/TSX: GATO) ("Gatos Silver" or the "Company") today provided a Q1 2023 update on the drilling and exploration programs in the Los Gatos district ("LGD") in Mexico, including details of additional intercepts of high grade mineralization that could provide new mineral resources and reserves to extend the life of its 70%-owned Cerro Los Gatos ("CLG") mine.



"These drill results demonstrate excellent potential for a multi-year mine life extension at CLG," said Dale Andres, CEO of Gatos Silver. "We are continuing to intercept strong widths and grades of silver, zinc, lead, gold and, in the case of the South-East and South-East Deeps zones, copper. We are very encouraged by the results of the resource conversion and extension drilling which will be reflected in an updated mineral reserve and mineral resource that is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023. We also continue to see significant potential for new discoveries beyond the CLG deposit, as highlighted by the district exploration progress during the period."

Q1 2023 Highlights

Drilling results at CLG continue to demonstrate excellent mine life extension potential

Resource conversion drilling in the North-West ("NW"), Central and South-East ("SE") zones of CLG continues to intercept significant mineralization (see Table 1 for complete intercept details) Drilling highlights in the NW zone include hole NW-501 that intercepted 8.0 meters (estimated 5.7 meters true width) at 596 g/t silver, 9.75% zinc, 2.70% lead and 0.71 g/t gold and NW-497 that intercepted 5.7 meters (estimated 4.8 meters true width) at 178 g/t silver, 14.66% zinc, 3.65% lead and 0.42 g/t gold Drilling highlights in the SE zone include hole SE-491 that returned 4.0 meters (estimated 2.6 meters true width) at 411 g/t silver, 3.75% zinc, 9.29% lead, 0.47 g/t gold and 1.42% copper and hole SE-513 that returned 9.0 meters (estimated 7.5 meters true width) at 133 g/t silver, 6.64% zinc, 4.91% lead, 2.33 g/t gold and 0.47% copper

Resource expansion drilling in the SE and South-East Deeps ("SE Deeps") zones of CLG extended mineralization to the north and below the existing mineral resource (see Table 2 for complete intercept details) Drilling highlights include hole SE-514 that intercepted 16.5 meters (estimated 12.3 meters true width) at 271 g/t silver, 3.25% zinc, 4.30% lead, 0.36 g/t gold and 1.06% copper and hole SE-506 that intercepted 5.9 meters (estimated 4.8 meters true width) at 222 g/t silver, 6.90% zinc, 8.75% lead, 0.47 g/t gold and 0.37% copper

Greenfields exploration work in the LGD has identified additional new high priority targets Follow up drilling has recently commenced at the Mamba target located within 1km of the CLG mine Detailed mapping and rock geochemistry at Alma, Portigueno, Lince and Santa Ana continues to generate new targets for drill prioritization





CLG Resource Definition Drilling

Results from surface drilling in Q1 2023 continued to improve confidence in the higher-grade inferred resources in the SE zone. Assay results for holes drilled in late 2022 in the Central and NW zones were also received during the quarter. In addition to the surface drilling results described below, underground drilling in these zones continues to target both resource conversion and resource expansion which will also be used in the mineral reserve and mineral resource update planned for the third quarter of 2023. Preparation for this update has commenced with the database cutoff at the end of the first quarter and the geological modelling has been completed.

Drilling results from all three zones confirmed the presence of additional material above the current reserve cut-off grade. This material is adjacent to the 2022 mineral reserve and is anticipated to require only minimal additional access development. The intercepts in the NW and SE zones delivered strong widths and grades of silver, zinc and lead, with strong copper intercepts in the SE.

Figure 1: Long section of CLG1 showing select drilling intercepts (drilled width) from resource conversion drilling. See Table 1 for full details including true width estimates.





A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cfce956c-ed00-4243-96f6-1737338f1e80

1 The 2022 Mineral Reserve and 2022 Mineral Resource is disclosed in the Technical Report dated November 10, 2022 ("the Los Gatos Technical Report").

CLG South-East and South-East Deeps Resource Expansion Drilling

As previously announced in our press release dated October 3, 2022, drilling in the area beneath the main SE zone discovered both silver-copper and silver-zinc-lead mineralization extending significantly below the bottom of the current mineral reserve, an area that is referred to as the SE Deeps.

For much of the first quarter the Los Gatos Joint Venture ("LGJV") prioritized drilling at tighter spacing immediately north of and below the existing SE mineral resource. The current interpretation is that this zone is an overlap of mineralizing events of both the SE and SE Deeps zones which has generated impressive widths and grades of silver, zinc, lead, gold and copper.

The deepest drillhole during the quarter, SE-504, intersected the vein system but returned assays with less than economic metal contents and it appears this may be at the lower limit of the high grade zone in this area. The system still remains open laterally and at depth at both the north and south extents.

In several drill intercepts, copper provides a substantial contribution to the potential in-situ value, surpassing lead and in some instances zinc. While CLG does not currently produce copper in concentrates at payable levels, metallurgical test work is being conducted to help analyze the economics of the potential installation of a copper separation circuit.

Recent drill results continue to demonstrate excellent potential for a multi-year mine life extension, with a wide, high grade zone extending north and below the existing mineral resource. The drill intercepts to date show continuity of the SE Deeps mineralization and a potential higher-grade core extending approximately 1km laterally and 400m vertically, which overlaps with the existing SE mineral resource.

Over the coming months, drilling in the SE Deeps zone will continue to prioritize in-fill and definition drilling. Our current target is to report a maiden inferred resource for the SE Deeps zone in Q3 2023, and to further upgrade the classification through conversion drilling in the second half of 2024.

Figure 2: Long section of CLG1 showing SE resource expansion drilling intercepts (drilled width). See Table 2 for full details including true width estimates.





A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8f8f8c30-f677-4e93-a2f0-77f333c21f2c

1 The 2022 Mineral Reserve and 2022 Mineral Resource is disclosed in the Technical Report dated November 10, 2022 ("the Los Gatos Technical Report").

2 Please refer to press releases dated October 3, 2022 and January 23, 2023 for further information relating to previously reported South-East Deeps drill intercepts.

Figure 3: Cross-section through SE Deeps at drillhole SE-514 showing intercepts (drilled width)





A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/503eda34-79c2-4b84-bdf9-6a51b07d2844

1 Please refer to press releases dated October 3, 2022 and January 23, 2023 for further information relating to previously reported South-East Deeps drill intercepts.

Los Gatos District Exploration Update

The Company considers the LGD, comprised of a large land package covering over 103,000 ha, to be very prospective for hosting additional Ag-Zn-Pb-Au-Cu deposits (see Figure 4). The LGJV has established a pipeline of prospects with over 45 targets identified to date. Work is advancing on detailed mapping and drill testing of the highest priority known targets, as well as on district mapping and geophysics to identify additional targets.

Follow up drilling at the Mamba prospect, approximately 1km southwest of CLG is now underway. As reported in the Company's January 23, 2023 press release, initial drilling in late 2022 showed elements consistent with those expected near the top of a mineralized epithermal system (As, Sb, Hg and Mn). The current drillhole is targeting intercepting the structure approximately 300m below the previous drillhole (MAM-01).

Final assays were received for hole WA-06 drilled in the Wall-e area in late 2022. As described in the January 23, 2023 press release the logging indicated that the host rock type intercepted with this drillhole was not conducive to significant fracturing. The drillhole intercepted the expected structure but the widths and grades were not economic. See Table 3 for the intercept details. The area remains of interest and future mapping will be focused on better understanding the area lithology.

Detailed mapping across the property is the current focus and is advancing well. During the first quarter of 2023 work was progressed at Alma, Portigueno, Lince and Santa Ana.

The Alma area is located approximately 9km northwest of CLG and 2km south of Wall-e. The Alma vein has now been mapped over approximately 2.5km laterally and 250m in elevation making it one of the more continuous vein structures in the area. While the surface rock geochemistry has promising metal grades, the vein at surface is typically thin at 0.2 to 1.5m. Mapping is continuing with the aim of identifying where potential structure for greater widths may exist at depth.

The Portigueno area is located approximately 2.5km southeast of CLG. Detailed mapping has shown that this area of the basin is more complex than previously thought and that a significant northwest trending fault in the area, the Roja Fault, forms a basin boundary between tuffs to the southwest and the epiclastic basin to the northwest. This is a similar structural setting to the Los Gatos fault at CLG. No vein mineralization has currently been observed but mapping is continuing.

The Lince area is located approximately 20km northwest of CLG. Mapping has identified historic artisanal workings on veins in the area, referred to as Los Rieles, and mapping and rock geochemistry is now underway. Drone capture of lidar and detailed air photos is planned for the second quarter and will aid reconnaissance mapping of this large area.

The Santa Ana area is located approximately 1km north of the NW zone at CLG. Calcite and manganese veining has been identified within the epiclastic basin. This is not typical as the basin is thought to have evolved at the same time or after the CLG epithermal system that would produce this type of veining at high elevations. The presence of the veining may be pointing towards the existence of a later stage system at depth. Further mapping and rock geochemistry is underway. The LGJV is planning to complete a magneto-telluric geophysical survey during 2023 over an area from Santa Ana southwest to Esther.

Figure 4: Plan view of the LGD with select prospects and high priority targets





A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/44f7ad9b-4697-42a4-9c31-d8a652b3a2a0

Table 1: Resource Definition Drilling Results

Drillhole From To Drill Width Estimated True Width Ag Zn Pb Au Cu m m m m g/t % % g/t % GA-NW-497







429.0 431.0 2.0 1.5 25 7.32 2.17 0.07 0.15 and 525.0 546.5 21.5 18.2 105 9.93 2.88 0.23 0.11 including 539.3 545.0 5.7 4.8 178 14.66 3.65 0.42 0.09 GA-NW-500 535.0 543.0 8.0 6.2 135 11.79 5.62 0.09 0.22 GA-NW-501 516.0 524.0 8.0 5.7 596 9.75 2.70 0.71 0.15 GA-CZ-505 366.7 368.7 2.0 1.9 118 9.02 4.14 0.14 0.76 GA-SE-491



550.0 564.7 14.7 9.4 169 5.20 3.76 0.18 0.67 including 560.7 564.7 4.0 2.6 411 3.75 9.29 0.47 1.42 GA-SE-496 644.7 650.0 5.3 4.2 185 4.88 4.91 0.37 0.32 GA-SE-508 646.0 649.0 3.0 2.9 468 4.67 1.07 0.17 0.43 GA-SE-513 601.5 610.5 9.0 7.5 133 6.64 4.91 2.33 0.47 GA-SE-519 339.7 345.0 5.3 5.3 136 6.66 2.25 0.14 0.17

Table 2: SE Drilling Results Outside Existing Resource

Drillhole From To Drill Width Estimated True Width Ag Zn Pb Au Cu m m m m g/t % % g/t % GA-SE-504 NSV GA-SE-506







635.0 639.0 4.0 3.2 69 3.18 1.80 0.27 0.75 and 645.3 659.0 13.7 11.1 167 4.87 5.37 0.23 0.70 including 645.3 651.2 5.9 4.8 222 6.90 8.75 0.47 0.37 GA-SE-DV-507







786.5 788.5 2.0 1.8 66 2.85 0.88 0.08 0.28 and 821.5 824.5 3.0 2.8 67 0.56 0.96 0.05 0.16 829.1 832.4 3.3 3.0 87 2.04 0.30 0.04 1.08 GA-SE-509



643.0 648.0 5.0 4.0 58 3.24 2.76 0.04 0.18 and 652.0 656.8 4.8 3.9 234 10.60 2.49 0.04 0.77 GA-SE-DV-510 916.0 920.5 4.5 4.0 12 4.53 1.24 0.08 0.07 GA-SE-DV-511 809.0 814.6 5.6 5.2 120 1.84 1.15 0.03 0.92 GA-SE-512 636.0 656.0 20.0 20.0 79 4.99 1.28 0.07 0.58 GA-SE-514 666.5 683.0 16.5 12.3 271 3.25 4.30 0.36 1.06 GA-SE-517 680.0 683.2 3.2 2.7 55 5.94 1.72 0.48 0.19

Table 3: Greenfields Exploration Drilling Results

Drillhole From To Drill Width Estimated True Width Ag Zn Pb Au Cu m m m m g/t % % g/t % DDH-WA-06 648.2 650.1 1.9 1.5 11 0.88 0.52 0.11 0.02

Table 4: Drillhole Locations

Drillhole Target Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Hole Depth GA-CZ-505 Conversion 369,139 3,047,443 1,582 209 -66 384 GA-NW-497 Conversion 368,412 3,047,879 1,591 215 -52 558 GA-NW-500 Conversion 368,413 3,047,879 1,591 209 -55 561 GA-NW-501 Conversion 368,485 3,047,821 1,590 212 -51 540 GA-SE-491 Conversion 369,395 3,047,501 1,620 213 -58 582 GA-SE-496 Conversion 369,515 3,047,555 1,615 215 -51 678 GA-SE-508 Conversion 369,582 3,047,577 1,604 216 -50 690 GA-SE-513 Conversion 369,457 3,047,570 1,631 211 -57 635 GA-SE-519 Conversion 369,216 3,047,304 1,570 210 -61 359 GA-SE-504 Expansion 369,823 3,047,536 1,596 215 -64 981 GA-SE-506 Expansion 369,438 3,047,614 1,643 215 -58 669 GA-SE-DV-507 Expansion 369,492 3,047,711 1,615 212 -64 846 GA-SE-509 Expansion 369,457 3,047,570 1,631 214 -54 674 GA-SE-DV-510 Expansion 369,823 3,047,536 1,596 215 -64 941 GA-SE-DV-511 Expansion 369,492 3,047,711 1,615 212 -64 843 GA-SE-512 Expansion 369,433 3,047,712 1,629 211 -47 669 GA-SE-514 Expansion 369,439 3,047,615 1,643 213 -59 696 GA-SE-517 Expansion 369,661 3,047,495 1,577 216 -56 705 DDH-WA-06 Greenfields 359,605 3,051,417 1,833 64 -67 780

About Gatos Silver

Gatos Silver is a silver dominant exploration, development and production company that discovered a new silver and zinc-rich mineral district in southern Chihuahua State, Mexico. As a 70% owner of the Los Gatos Joint Venture, the Company is primarily focused on operating the Cerro Los Gatos mine and on growth and development of the Los Gatos district. The LGJV consists of approximately 103,000 hectares of mineral rights, representing a highly prospective and under-explored district with numerous silver-zinc-lead epithermal mineralized zones identified as priority targets.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

The half core samples from the LGJV's surface exploration drillholes are shipped directly in sealed bags to the ALS Limited ("ALS") preparation facilities in Chihuahua City, Mexico. After sample preparation in Chihuahua, sample pulps are shipped to ALS in North Vancouver, Canada for analysis. The remaining half core is retained on site. Samples sent for analysis are sawn half-core NQ or HQ in diameter and normally 2m in length but varied based on geological contacts. Samples are prepared using a method whereby the entire sample is crushed and a subset is pulverized. Samples are analyzed for base metals and silver using inductively coupled plasma methods. Gold and overlimit silver are assayed using fire assay techniques. Sample batches include intermittent blanks, duplicates and certified standards. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data. ALS is a third-party independent laboratory.

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical disclosure in this press release was approved by Anthony (Tony) Scott, P.Geo., Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Technical Services of Gatos Silver who is a "Qualified Person" as defined in S-K 1300 and NI 43-101.

Qualification Regarding Exploration and Drilling Results

Any statements herein regarding ranges of potential tonnage and grade or quality of any exploration target are conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration of the relevant properties to estimate a mineral resource; it is uncertain whether further exploration will result in the estimation of a mineral resource; and any exploration target therefore does not represent, and should not be construed to be, an estimate of a mineral resource or mineral reserve (mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates are stated exclusively in the Los Gatos Technical Report).

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of U.S. and Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release, including statements regarding exploration or development programs at the CLG mine or in the Los Gatos District, including mine life extension potential, resource conversion and expansion and timing thereof, prospects for potential development, new high priority zones, economic potential of drilling results, and interpretations of mapping, or of geological, geophysical or geochemical indicators are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, and such other risks and uncertainties described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities commissions. Gatos Silver expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based unless required to do so by applicable law. No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

Investors and Media Contact

Andre van Niekerk

Chief Financial Officer

investors@gatossilver.com

(604) 424-0984
NOVAGOLD's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") will be held virtually on May 18, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. PST





Shareholders may vote on matters before the Meeting by proxy, join the virtual Meeting and vote, and may submit questions either during the webcast or in advance by email





Following the Meeting, Chairman Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan and President and CEO Greg Lang will host a virtual presentation centered on Donlin Gold, a premier Tier 1 gold development project1 located in a Tier 1 gold jurisdiction2, uniquely positioned to be the right asset at the right time

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 19, 2023 -- NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NOVAGOLD" or the "Company") (NYSE American, TSX: NG) will hold the Company's 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders virtually on May 18, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. PST (4:00 p.m. EST). On this occasion, Shareholders will elect Directors for the ensuing year, including three new nominees: Hume Kyle, Daniel Muniz-Quintanilla, and Dawn Whittaker. Following the official Meeting, Chairman Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan and President and CEO Greg Lang will provide an overview of NOVAGOLD's 2022 achievements and share their outlook on the year ahead. Topics to be covered will range from the significance of the latest Donlin Gold drill results (some of which stand among the best in the entire gold industry) to the promising outlook for NOVAGOLD amidst a confluence of supportive trends - in particular: the scarcity of high quality, high volume gold projects; a possible new "long wave" for a higher in gold price; and the ever-increasing geopolitical risk and resource nationalism that will redefine the ultimate meaning of what constitutes Tier 1 assets going forward.

NOVAGOLD EXPRESSES GRATITUDE TO RETIRING DIRECTORS SHARON DOWDALL AND CLYNTON R. NAUMAN FOR THEIR EXEMPLARY SERVICE

The three new candidates standing for nomination to the Company's Board of Directors shall fill one vacancy and replace two current directors who have chosen to retire from the Board after many years of dedicated and excellent service to NOVAGOLD.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors of NOVAGOLD, I wish to express my most sincere gratitude to Sharon Dowdall and Clynton R. Nauman for their superb insights and remarkable contributions to the Company during their tenure," said Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan, NOVAGOLD's Chairman. "Their wonderful camaraderie will be missed on every level, personally and professionally. That they both were fully engaged in the successful recruitment process for independent candidates to succeed them speaks volumes - not only about their appreciation for the attractiveness of a seat on NOVAGOLD's Board, but also about their dedication to ensuring that our commitment to transparency and best practices remains steadfastly upheld in the future with the selection of truly fine candidates."

"Sharon is a gold standard for integrity. Her constant engagement and exceptional guidance over the past 11 years at NOVAGOLD have played an important part in the success and growth of the Company. Her considerable and broad expertise in the mining industry, coupled with an equally impressive legal background, have provided tremendous value to the Board. We are grateful for Sharon's leadership role as Chair of the Governance Committee and for her rigorous work on the Compensation Committee. It has been a genuine pleasure to collaborate with Sharon for more than a decade and we all wish our dear friend great success in her future endeavours."

"Clynton has been a simply phenomenal asset to the NOVAGOLD Board over the past 24 years. Drawing on a wealth of technical and operational experience, he has made a series of pivotal contributions to the Board - helping advance the Company through several stages of growth to become the success it is today. As the Chair of our Technical Committee for many years, Clynt provided outstanding support and guidance through the extraordinary resource growth and technical evolution of the Donlin Gold project in Alaska. We will never forget how much NOVAGOLD benefitted from his extensive knowledge and unwavering commitment to the Company and are immensely grateful for his service."

NEW NOMINEES TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

In surveying the candidates presented for election, Dr. Kaplan highlighted the following:

"It is a testament to the unique combination of attributes of the Donlin Gold asset, the NOVAGOLD management team's proven excellence in advancing the most important project of its kind, and our Board's reputation for transparency and shareholder engagement, that our search would result in multiple fine candidates from which to choose. All three of the newly selected nominees are first-rate, bringing to our Board individual track records of both success and integrity, as well as an exquisite collective frame of reference that does justice to their predecessors and shall provide the Company with multiple areas of expertise as Donlin Gold continues its ascent up the value chain as one of the 'best in class' in the gold development space."

NOMINATION OF HUME KYLE TO NOVAGOLD'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Kyle has over 35 years of private sector and public accounting experience working with natural resources companies. He recently retired from his role as Executive Vice President and CFO of Dundee Precious Metals Inc., a multinational gold mining company, where he served from 2011 to 2022. Prior to that, Mr. Kyle was Vice President, Treasurer and Controller of TransAlta Corporation, a multinational power generation and wholesale marketing company (2009 to 2011), and Vice President, Finance and CFO of Fort Chicago Energy Partners L.P., a pipeline, natural gas liquids processing, and power company (2003 to 2009). He also held increasingly senior finance and accounting roles at Nexfor Inc., Noranda Inc., Deloitte & Touche, and Price Waterhouse & Co.

In addition, Mr. Kyle served on the boards of Stornoway Diamond Corporation (2014 to 2019), Alliance Pipeline (2004 to 2009), Aux Sable (2004 to 2009), and the Canadian Association of Income Funds (2005 to 2009), serving on several committees, including as Chair of the Audit Committee. He holds a bachelor of arts in economics and accounting from the University of Western Ontario, a graduate diploma in public accounting from McGill University, a CA designation from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, a CFA designation from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, and an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

The Board of Directors of NOVAGOLD has determined that Mr. Kyle should serve as a Director for the Company to benefit from his extensive senior executive and board experience working with large, publicly-traded, capital-intensive, multinational companies operating in the mining, energy and natural resource sectors, as well as from his expertise in a broad range of areas, including finance, international accounting and financial reporting, corporate strategy, business planning and performance management, taxation, risk management, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate communications, leadership and governance.

NOMINATION OF DANIEL MUNIZ-QUINTANILLA TO NOVAGOLD'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Muniz has more than 25 years of experience in international law, capital markets and finance in the mining, logistics and infrastructure industries. His expertise in mining is wide-ranging, from operations to mergers and acquisitions. After serving as Managing Director (CEO) of Industrial Minera Mexico, the underground mining division of Grupo Mexico from 2010 to 2014, Mr. Muniz was elevated to the role of Managing Director (CEO) and Executive Vice Chair of Americas Mining, the holding company of the mining division of Grupo Mexico, a position he held from 2014 to 2018. During this tenure, he was directly responsible for tens of thousands of employees and operations spanning Mexico, Chile and Peru. In addition, he served as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice Chairman of Southern Copper Corp., a 90% subsidiary of Americas Mining.

Prior to his career in operations, Mr. Muniz served as CFO of Grupo Mexico, where he successfully raised over US$11 billion in capital through a variety of securities, including loans, bonds, structured bonds and project finance in a variety of real assets, such as mining, railroads, electricity, gas, oil, toll roads, airports, construction, engineering, and real estate. Mr. Muniz holds a law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, a master's degree in law from Georgetown University, and a master's degree in business administration from Instituto de Empresa.

Mr. Muniz currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation and serves on the board of directors and as chairman of the Audit Committee of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, the world's largest infrastructure private equity fund. He also serves as a Director of Hudbay Minerals Inc., and Gatos Silver Inc. He is a founding partner of Whetstone Resources, a private base and EV metals acquisition company; Executive Chair of privately-held Minera Adularia, and Executive Vice-Chair of privately-held Sunshine Silver.

The Board of Directors of NOVAGOLD has determined that Mr. Muniz should serve as a Director for the Company to benefit from his wide-ranging and long-standing experience as an executive and director of various mining and infrastructure firms in the areas of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, finance, and corporate leadership.

NOMINATION OF DAWN WHITTAKER TO NOVAGOLD'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ms. Whittaker has more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer working in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate governance. She currently serves as the Independent Board Chair of Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp., an NYSE and TSX-listed precious metals streaming and royalty finance company. Ms. Whittaker served as a member of the company's advisory board leading up to its initial public offering in May 2021, which constituted the largest precious metals IPO globally by market capitalization since 2008. She then served as Chair of the Board through the company's transformative acquisition of Maverix Metals completed in January 2023, thus positioning Triple Flag as the leading emerging senior streaming and royalty company.

Ms. Whittaker is a member of the Board of Sierra Metals Inc., and previously served on the Boards of Detour Gold Corp. (2018 to 2020) and Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. (2012 to 2016). Prior to her retirement in 2018, she was a senior partner at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, a global law firm, where she was the national leader of the firm's Mining and Commodities Team in Canada from 2012 to 2015 as well as a member of the firm's Canadian partnership Committee from 2014 to 2017. In addition, Ms. Whittaker previously served on the Continuous Disclosure Advisory Committee of the Ontario Securities Commission. She holds a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of laws from Queen's University.

The Board of Directors of NOVAGOLD has determined that Ms. Whittaker should serve as a Director for the Company to benefit from her significant experience as a lawyer and board member of various mining industry firms, as well as from her considerable expertise in the areas of corporate governance, insights on best practices in representing shareholder interests, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance.

NOVAGOLD VIRTUAL MEETING AND SHAREHOLDER PARTICIPATION

NOVAGOLD's 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will be held virtually only. Shareholders may cast their vote in advance by proxy or may cast their vote during the Meeting. Shareholders may also participate in the Meeting from any geographic location. Please refer to NOVAGOLD's Management Information Circular dated March 24, 2023 for detailed instructions on voting. We believe this constitutes an important step in enhancing accessibility to our annual Meeting for all of our shareholders as well as reducing the carbon footprint of our activities.

Shareholders may watch a live webcast of the Meeting, while registered shareholders as well as duly appointed proxyholders may submit questions digitally during the Meeting at: www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NG2023.

Questions may also be submitted to management and to the Board of Directors prior to the Meeting via email at info@novagold.com. Shareholders are encouraged to log in to the Meeting 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Please make sure to have the 16-digit control number from your voting materials available when logging in to the Meeting.

NOVAGOLD's Management Information Circular dated March 24, 2023 and Annual Report to Accompany the Management Information Circular are available on the Company's website, www.novagold.com/investors/mic/, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

NOVAGOLD Contacts:

Melanie Hennessey

Vice President, Corporate Communications

1-604-669-6227 or 1-866-669-6227

_______________________________

1 NOVAGOLD defines a Tier One gold development project as one with a projected production life of at least 10 years, annual projected production of at least 500,000 ounces of gold, and average projected cash costs over the production life that are in the lower half of the industry cost curve.

2 Alaska ranks number 4 globally in the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2021 Investment Attractiveness Index.
VANCOUVER, April 20, 2023 - MAG Silver Corp. (TSX / NYSE American: MAG) ("MAG", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been informed by Fresnillo Plc ("Fresnillo"), the operator of the Juanicipio Mine ("Juanicipio") (56% Fresnillo / 44% MAG), that concentrate production at the high-grade Juanicipio Mine has commenced with the shipment of its first commercial lead and zinc concentrates in late March 2023. Regular concentrate shipments have commenced and are planned going forward.

Construction activities are now substantially complete, commissioning and start-up of the process plant has gone well, and we look forward to ramping up to design rates over the next few months. During March 2023, milling rates were around 60% of design, delivering an average of 2,476 tonnes per day with rates periodically reaching up to 3,900 tonnes per day. Current mill feed is a combination of mineralized material from underground stopes and lower grade stockpiles that were earmarked for commissioning activities. Mining operations continue to perform as planned and will ramp up high grade feed as the plant approaches commercial production and recovery rates are in line with design.

Over the course of March 2023, lower grade commissioning material was processed with recovery rates averaging 84% for silver, slightly above expectations at this stage of the commissioning. We expect the recovery rates to increase steadily and reach design as throughput rates and feed grade increase.

"With first concentrate production ushering in the next chapter for Juanicipio, we are extremely proud of the progress that has been achieved as it graduates to a high-quality, low-cost, tier-1 silver producer," said George Paspalas, President and CEO of MAG. "We are delighted with the high silver recoveries we are seeing so early in the commissioning process and look forward to the operation progressing into a significant cash flow generator for the Company and a substantial contributor to the local and regional economy."

Qualified Person: All scientific or technical information in this press release including assay results referred to, and Mineral Resource estimates, if applicable, is based upon information prepared by or under the supervision of, or has been approved by Dr. Peter Megaw, Ph.D., C.P.G., a Certified Professional Geologist who is a "Qualified Person" for purposes of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("National Instrument 43-101" or "NI 43-101"). Dr. Megaw is not independent as he is an officer and a paid consultant of MAG.

About MAG Silver Corp. (www.magsilver.com)

MAG Silver Corp. is a growth-oriented Canadian development and exploration company focused on becoming a top-tier primary silver mining company by exploring and advancing high-grade, district scale, precious metals projects in the Americas. Its principal focus and asset is the Juanicipio Project (44%), being developed with Fresnillo Plc (56%), the operator. The project is located in the Fresnillo Silver Trend in Mexico, the world's premier silver mining camp, where the operator is currently advancing underground mine development and commissioning a 4,000 tonnes per day processing plant. Underground mine production of mineralized development material commenced in Q3 2020, and an expanded exploration program is in place targeting multiple highly prospective targets at Juanicipio. MAG is also executing multi-phase exploration programs at the Deer Trail 100% earn-in Project in Utah and the recently acquired Larder Project, located in the historically prolific Abitibi region of Canada.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor the NYSE American has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.



This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts are forward looking statements, including statements that address our expectations with respect to the timing and success of commissioning activities and the full-scale ramp up of milling activities, processing rates of development materials, future mineral production, and events or developments. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Although MAG believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, impacts (both direct and indirect) of COVID-19, timing of receipt of required permits, changes in applicable laws, changes in commodities prices, changes in mineral production performance, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, political risk, currency risk and capital cost inflation. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, including that data is incomplete and considerable additional work will be required to complete further evaluation, including but not limited to drilling, engineering and socio-economic studies and investment. The reader is referred to the MAG Silver's filings with the SEC and Canadian securities regulators for disclosure regarding these and other risk factors. There is no certainty that any forward-looking statement will come to pass, and investors should not place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.

Please Note: Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosures in MAG's annual and quarterly reports and other public filings, accessible through the Internet at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

LEI: 254900LGL904N7F3EL14




Highlight Intercept 4% CuEq over 39m

Most Significant Interval Encountered at Tesla to Date

Drilled Strike Length Extended to 550m and Remains Open in All Directions

VANCOUVER, April 20, 2023 - Foran Mining Corp. (TSXV: FOM) (OTCQX: FMCXF) ("Foran" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from Hole TS-23-10 from its 2023 winter drill program at the Tesla discovery, located approximately 300 metres ("m") north of Foran's McIlvenna Bay Deposit in Saskatchewan.

Key Highlights:

Significant assay results from Hole TS-23-10:

39.0m grading 2.86% Cu, 0.88% Zn, 41.4 g/t Ag and 0.74 g/t Au (3.98% CuEq), including 11.2m grading 4.97% Cu, 1.72% Zn, 60.2 g/t Ag and 1.26 g/t Au (6.88% CuEq).



5.9m grading 0.54% Cu, 7.18% Zn, 24.9 g/t Ag and 0.16 g/t Au (3.52% CuEq), including 1.4m grading 0.22% Cu, 13.67% Zn, 20.8 g/t Ag and 0.09 g/t Au (5.56% CuEq).

Intercept of 4% CuEq over 39m is the most significant intercept encountered at Tesla by grade-thickness to date.

Discovery of new, copper-gold rich lens below the known Tesla horizon, located at the northern limit of current drilling and open for expansion.

Drilling confirms mineralization along 550m strike with borehole electromagnetic ("BHEM") surveys suggesting the conductor continues along strike to both the NW and SE.

Tesla continues to remain open in all directions, with assays pending from three additional holes.

Summer exploration program to focus on continued expansion of the Tesla Zone.

Dan Myerson, Foran's Executive Chairman & CEO, commented "Adequately describing the exceptionality and growing potential of the Tesla Zone is a thrilling task. Step-out drilling has uncovered a new lens of copper-gold rich sulphide mineralization below the main horizon and identified one of the most significant intercepts since Tesla's discovery. We believe we have only just begun to tap into the potential of this near-mine opportunity, with continued expansion drilling at Tesla to be conducted from land, while we also systematically drill-test additional targets across our tenement package. We look forward to sharing further results as we continue to explore and define this exciting district, moving ever closer towards establishing Canada's next world-class critical minerals infrastructure-type asset."

Tesla Zone

The Tesla Zone lies adjacent to the McIlvenna Bay Deposit and was discovered during the 2022 summer program (see June 8, 2022, press release), while drill testing a ~900m (strike) by 300m (width) electro-magnetic conductor (Figure 1). Significant widths of copper and zinc-rich sulphide mineralization have now been intersected in thirteen drill holes, successfully expanding the currently defined strike of the zone to approximately 550m. Tesla remains open in all directions for expansion with downhole EM showing that conductors continue along strike in both directions.

TS-23-10 was collared approximately 100m northwest of TS-23-07 and drilled to a depth of 1,464.5m, representing the northern-most hole drilled to date along the Tesla conductor. This hole returned one of the longest intervals of mineralization encountered so far from the Tesla exploration program and included a new zone of high-grade copper and gold mineralization located in the footwall below the Tesla main lens.

TS-23-10 intersected the predicted Tesla horizon associated with the known EM conductor at approximately 1,050m where it encountered a five-metre-wide zone of zinc-rich massive sulphide and associated copper-rich stringer style mineralization. This was followed downhole by a second six-metre-wide zinc-rich massive sulphide zone at 1,214m, which was directly underlain by a 39m thick zone of copper +/- gold-rich sulphide mineralization which appears to represent a new footwall zone at Tesla. The copper-gold zone consists of stringer-style and foliation parallel pyrite and chalcopyrite mineralization associated with moderate to strong chlorite alteration and local silicification and/or quartz veining. Locally the sulphide mineralization becomes massive to semi-massive in character with strong concentrations of chalcopyrite in the groundmass and assay intervals grading in excess of 5% copper, see Figure 2 below.

We currently consider this new copper-gold zone to represent a second lens of mineralization in the footwall of the main Tesla zone which appears to be spatially related to mineralized intercepts lower down in previously released holes TS-23-06A and TS-23-07, located approximately 330m and 100m away respectively. These are the only three drill holes that have passed through this area and given the tenor of the mineralization intersected to date from this drilling, the area represents a priority exploration target for subsequent drilling campaigns.

A third interval of zinc-rich massive sulphide 2.93m wide was also intersected in TS-23-10 below the copper-gold zone at 1,291m, consisting of medium to coarse grained pyrite in a sphalerite-rich groundmass, associated with weak to moderate chlorite alteration and silicification. Assays are still pending from TS-23-10 below 1,295.46m. Results from the bottom of the hole will be reported when final assays are received.

Modelling the BHEM response from the upper intersection shows the Tesla conductor continuing along strike to the NW for several hundred metres more than the 550m drilled extent reported to date. This provides Foran increased confidence to continue stepping out on additional sections to the NW to extend the proven strike of Tesla during the summer program. Of note, the lower interval of massive copper sulphide in TS-23-10 was much thicker and more conductive than previously encountered. Future surveys in this zone will use lower base frequency for this thicker, more conductive mineralization to aid with signal penetration and to fully characterize decays.

The results from three additional holes: TS-23-08w1, TS-23-09Aw1 and TS-23-11w2, remain pending. All drill holes intersected significant sulphide mineralization and will be reported when assays are received from the lab. A cross section showing the relationship between the Tesla mineralized zones and drill holes is provided in Figure 3, and a table of detailed composites from the 2023 winter program are provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1 - 2023 Tesla Assay Results1 (*Denotes Previously Released)

Hole From_m To_m Interval_m Cu % Zn % Ag g/t Au g/t CuEq % TS-23-10 1050.4 1055.1 4.7 1.10 5.98 42.7 0.21 3.79 Including 1051.4 1053.2 1.8 1.21 13.58 51.7 0.27 6.86 TS-23-10 1214.0 1219.8 5.9 0.54 7.18 24.9 0.16 3.52 Including 1218.5 1219.8 1.4 0.22 13.67 20.8 0.09 5.56 TS-23-10 1219.8 1258.8 39.0 2.86 0.88 41.4 0.74 3.98 Including 1221.9 1233.1 11.2 4.97 1.72 60.2 1.26 6.88 TS-23-10 1290.6 1293.5 3.0 0.28 12.61 43.5 0.09 5.39 TS-23-07w1* 951.2 985.5 34.3 0.25 8.47 57.5 0.41 4.11 Including 951.2 971.0 19.8 0.25 12.44 74.6 0.37 5.70 TS-23-07w1* 987.0 1001.8 14.8 1.05 0.15 7.3 0.35 1.39 Including 994.8 1001.8 7.0 1.51 0.13 7.5 0.33 1.83 TS-23-07w2* 977.5 988.2 10.7 0.38 4.86 34.2 0.46 2.75 Including 977.5 980.0 2.5 0.49 13.17 38.8 0.30 5.91 TS-23-07w2* 988.2 1028.7 40.5 1.05 0.21 8.9 0.23 1.34 Including 988.2 990.5 2.3 2.52 1.56 39.7 0.99 4.04 And 1005.8 1011.0 5.2 1.57 0.06 7.2 0.16 1.75 TS-23-09A* 936.7 941.7 5.0 0.94 5.00 19.0 0.21 3.09 Including 937.3 938.8 1.5 1.26 14.32 39.8 0.42 7.20 TS-23-09A* 963.3 967.3 4.0 1.40 3.98 24.8 0.06 3.11 TS-23-09A* 986.0 1013.0 27.0 0.69 0.77 9.8 0.12 1.13 Including 986.0 988.0 2.0 1.30 2.09 22.0 0.27 2.42 And 997.5 1001.0 3.5 1.14 0.51 11.8 0.03 1.44 TS-23-07* 1034.5 1042.3 7.9 1.17 4.38 28.6 0.33 3.24 Including 1035.2 1038.7 3.6 0.22 8.34 30.2 0.17 3.68 And 1039.8 1042.3 2.5 2.51 1.04 26.1 0.70 3.55 TS-23-07* 1045.8 1046.9 1.1 1.72 0.42 13.7 0.62 2.38 TS-23-07* 1051.9 1061.3 9.4 1.22 0.17 6.9 0.24 1.49 Including 1056.6 1059.8 3.2 2.18 0.30 10.2 0.32 2.58 TS-23-07* 1223.1 1227.6 4.5 0.12 4.12 79.1 1.49 3.22 Including 1225.2 1226.4 1.2 0.08 3.91 78.8 3.22 4.23 TS-23-08* 1003.0 1019.9 16.9 1.07 6.06 30.4 0.02 3.58 Including 1010.9 1014.0 3.1 0.29 14.50 22.7 0.01 5.90 TS-23-08* 1019.9 1052.0 32.1 2.04 1.06 21.5 0.02 2.61 Including 1034.2 1037.8 3.6 4.17 1.97 29.5 0.001 5.12 And 1040.4 1049.5 9.1 3.40 0.43 25.0 0.001 3.74 TS-22-06A* 809.2 812.8 3.6 0.56 0.07 4.3 0.003 0.62 TS-22-06A* 886.2 901.4 15.2 1.35 0.15 11.9 0.07 1.54 Including 889.0 892.4 3.4 3.05 0.25 24.0 0.07 3.36 TS-22-06A* 905.4 915.5 10.1 3.10 3.00 32.2 0.25 4.62 Including 911.1 914.5 3.4 6.10 3.96 61.9 0.39 8.29 TS-22-06A* 937.5 941.0 3.5 0.95 0.07 9.5 0.62 1.45 TS-22-06A* 991.6 996.0 4.4 1.86 0.25 11.9 0.10 2.11 Including 992.4 993.0 0.6 9.90 1.48 57.8 0.17 10.99 TS-22-06A* 1058.5 1059.7 1.2 1.01 3.82 14.0 0.002 2.55 TS-22-06A* 1064.9 1066.6 1.7 0.74 2.71 8.7 0.001 1.82 TS-22-06A* 1073.6 1076.0 2.4 0.48 1.30 5.9 0.001 1.01 TS-22-06A* 1078.0 1093.7 15.7 2.17 1.21 18.6 0.01 2.77 Including 1080.0 1081.5 1.5 5.90 2.06 39.6 0.02 6.97 TS-22-06A* 1093.7 1100.8 7.1 0.26 11.82 16.7 0.004 4.82 Including 1093.7 1096.4 2.7 0.15 18.90 19.4 0.006 7.38 TS-22-06A* 1103.6 1105.7 2.1 0.29 9.15 19.5 0.01 3.87 TS-22-06A* 1105.7 1109.9 4.2 0.78 0.91 15.7 0.04 1.26 TS-22-06A* 1114.6 1132.0 17.4 2.08 4.47 29.3 0.11 4.04 Including 1117.9 1119.9 2.0 6.64 6.14 59.5 0.14 9.47 TS-22-06A* 1205.0 1222.1 17.1 0.59 13.07 23.5 0.04 5.69 Including 1205.4 1210.1 4.7 0.29 19.41 20.9 0.02 7.73 TS-22-06A* 1224.9 1246.5 21.6 0.57 7.09 30.2 0.23 3.60 Including 1238.4 1242.4 4.0 0.25 14.26 17.4 0.14 5.82

Note: True widths for are estimated to be approximately 80% of reported intersections, except TS-23-06A which was drilled down dip. Intervals generally composited using a 0.5% Cu cut-off grade in stringer zones. 1Copper Equivalent values calculated using metal prices of $4.00/lb Cu, $1.50/lb Zn, $20.00/ounce Ag and $1,800/ounce Au with no provision for metallurgical recoveries.

2023 Exploration Program

With the 2023 winter exploration program now completed, Foran is currently preparing for an expanded drill program at the Tesla Zone from land during the remainder of the year utilizing directional drilling technologies. Planning is underway for the summer regional exploration program focusing on drill targets located both proximal to McIlvenna Bay and on our Bigstone Project (25km to the west), along with geophysical surveys to define drill targets on our extensive land holdings to the south. It is currently anticipated that the summer program will begin in June.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Drilling was completed using NQ size diamond drill core and core was logged by employees of the Company. During the logging process, mineralized intersections were marked for sampling and given unique sample numbers. Sampled intervals were sawn in half using a diamond blade saw. One half of the sawn core was placed in a plastic bag with the sample tag and sealed, while the second half was returned to the core box for storage on site. Sample assays are performed by the Saskatchewan Research Council ("SRC") Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. SRC is a Canadian accredited laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025:2017) and independent of Foran. Analysis for Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn is performed using ICP-OES after total multi-acid digestion. Au analysis is completed by fire assay with ICP-OES finish. A complete suite of QA/QC reference materials (standards, blanks and duplicates) are included in each batch of samples processed by the laboratory. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data.

Qualified Person

Mr. Roger March, P. Geo., Senior Geoscientist for Foran, is the Qualified Person for all technical information herein and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.

The Company's head office is located at 409 Granville Street, Suite 904, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6C 1T2. Common Shares of the Company are listed for trading on the TSXV under the symbol "FOM".

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Foran Mining

Foran Mining is a copper-zinc-gold-silver exploration and development company, committed to supporting a greener future, empowering communities and creating circular economies which create value for all our stakeholders, while also safeguarding the environment. The McIlvenna Bay project is located entirely within the documented traditional territory of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. The Company also owns the Bigstone Project, a resource-development stage deposit located 25km southwest of its McIlvenna Bay project.

McIlvenna Bay is a copper-zinc-gold-silver rich VHMS deposit intended to be the centre of a new mining camp in a prolific district that has already been producing for 100 years. McIlvenna Bay sits just 65km West of Flin Flon, Manitoba and is part of the world class Flin Flon Greenstone Belt that extends from Snow Lake, Manitoba, through Flin Flon to Foran's ground in eastern Saskatchewan, a distance of over 225km.

McIlvenna Bay is the largest undeveloped VHMS deposit in the region. The Company announced the results from its Feasibility Study on February 28, 2022, outlining that current mineral reserves would potentially support an 18-year mine life producing an average of 65 million pounds of copper equivalent annually. The Company filed a NI 43-101 Technical Report for the McIlvenna Bay Feasibility Study on April 14, 2022. The Company filed a NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Bigstone Deposit resource estimate on February 11, 2022. Investors are encouraged to consult the full text of these technical reports which may be found on the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

Foran trades on the TSX.V under the symbol "FOM" and on the OTCQX under the symbol "FMCXF".

Forward Looking Statements

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, as defined under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or to the future performance of Foran Mining Corp. (the "Company") and reflect management's expectations and assumptions as of the date hereof or as of the date of such forward looking statement.

All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "potentially", "intends", "likely", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date specified in such statement.

Inherent in forward-looking statements are known and unknown risks, estimates, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors include management's belief or expectations relating to the following and, in certain cases, management's response with regard to the following: The proposed strategic investment by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan; the status and progression of credit facility discussions; unlocking the untapped value of the Company's properties, delivery of superior or any investment returns; scale, scope and location of future exploration and drilling activities; the potential for the Company's land package to be transformational, the focus of the Company's future drill programs, the incorporation of geotechnical and hydrogeological information into the overall project design; The long-term investment horizon of shareholders; The growth of the Company from developer to producer; The certainty of funding; The future of the Company; De-risking McIlvenna Bay; Delivering on the Company's Net Positive Business strategy; Ownership and reliance on the Company's mineral projects; The Company's history of losses and potential inability to generate sufficient revenue to be profitable or to generate positive cash flow on a sustained basis; The Company's statements about the expected life of mine, productive capacity and other technical estimates on its projects, and the Company's reliance on technical experts with respect thereto; The Company's exposure to risks related to mineral resources exploration and development; Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Infectious Diseases and Other Health Crises on the Company; Global financial volatility and its impact on the Company; The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict; Government, securities, and stock exchange regulation and policy; Legal proceedings which may have a material adverse impact on the Company's operations and financial condition; Capital market conditions and their effect on the securities of the Company; Insurance and uninsurable risks; Environmental, health and safety regulation and policy; Mining hazards and risks; Title rights to the Company's projects; Indigenous peoples' title and other legal claims; Mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates; Uncertainties and risks relating to the Feasibility Studies; Fluctuations in commodity prices, including metals; Competition; Expertise and proficiency of management; Limited operating history; The availability of future financing; Dilutive effects; Impacts of global climate change and natural disasters; Inadequate infrastructure; Relationships with local communities; Reputational damage; Risks arising from the Company's reliance on financial instruments; Risks arising from future acquisitions; Management conflicts of interest; Security breaches of the Company's information systems; and the additional risks identified in our Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2023 and other securities filings with Canadian securities regulators available at www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, economic and regulatory uncertainties and contingencies. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Readers are cautioned against undue reliance on forward-looking statements and should note that the assumptions and risk factors discussed above do not contain an exhaustive list of the factors or assumptions that may affect the forward-looking statements, and that the assumptions underlying such statements may prove to be incorrect. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the Company's securities filings and this news release. All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by this cautionary statement. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE Foran Mining Corp.
Vancouver, April 20th, 2023 - Norsemont Mining Inc. (CSE:NOM), (OTC:NRRSF), (FWB:LXZ1) ("Norsemont" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Nikolas Perrault to the Company's Board of Directors, effective immediately.

Mr. Perrault is a Corporate Finance executive who, over the last 32 years, has built an international network of strategic relationships and has raised directly and indirectly hundreds of millions of dollars for public as well as private companies. He has considerable experience in securities trading, going-public transactions, capital markets, spin-offs, mergers, and acquisitions ("M&A") and other matters related to those fields.

Mr. Perrault is currently CEO of Twilight Capital, a capital market advisory consulting firm based in Montreal, which he founded in 2008. Twilight focuses its efforts primarily in the natural resources sector.

Previously, Mr. Perrault served as an investment executive with some of Canada's largest institutions. This includes National Bank, Merrill-Lynch, CIBC, and Scotia Capital.

Mr. Perrault graduated from Concordia University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1997.

Nikolas was born in Rwanda and has spent decades traveling the world.

Marc Levy, CEO of Norsemont said, "We are pleased to attract someone of Nikolas's caliber to our board of directors. His strong background in corporate finance and development will benefit all stakeholders. We look forward to his guidance and direction in helping to advance Choquelimpie."

Kyle Haddow has resigned from the Board of Directors. Marc Levy, CEO of Norsemont said, "I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for Kyle's hard work and dedication in advancing the Choquelimpie project and wish him the very best in his future endeavors. We look forward to his guidance as an advisory board member."

The company has granted 300,000 stock options to directors, officers, employees, and consultants exercisable at a price of 31 cents per share for a period of five years which vest over two years and 35,000 Restricted Stock Units.

About Norsemont Mining Inc.

Norsemont comprises experienced natural resource professionals focused on growing shareholder value and developing its flagship project through bankable feasibility. Norsemont Mining owns a 100% interest in the Choquelimpie gold-silver-copper project in northern Chile, a previously permitted gold and silver mine.

Choquelimpie has over 1,710 drill holes, with significant existing infrastructure, including roads, power, water, camp and a 3,000-tonne-per-day mill.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Norsemont Mining Inc.

Marc Levy

CEO & Chairman

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Telephone: (604) 669-9788; Facsimile: (604) 669-9768

Investor Relations:

Paul Searle (778) 240-7724

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
In the first 100 days of every administration, theres always lots of discussion about executive orders and unilateral presidential action. President Joe Biden is no exception, and any evaluation of his first few months in office will include a conversation about his executive orders. Yet, the history of the executive order isnt a story of consistent expansion, and understanding its role in some of the biggest moments of our nation is essential to evaluating the presidency.The Constitution does not articulate a presidential right to issue proclamations or executive orders. Indeed, they arent even mentioned. But almost from the very beginning, George Washington understood that presidential authority had to include activities that werent specifically defined in the Constitution in order to lead the nation. On June 8, 1789, President Washington issued his first directive . Congress had not yet established the new executive departments, so the secretaries of the existing Confederation departments had remained in office in acting fashion. Washington asked John Jay, acting secretary of foreign affairs, to provide a clear account of the Department at the head of which you have been, as may be sufficient  to impress me with a full, precise and distinct general idea of the United States.Over the next eight years, Washington issued seven additional proclamations or orders, such as a proclamation declaring a day of thanksgiving on Nov. 26, 1789, and the Neutrality Proclamation on April 22, 1793, declaring the United States neutral in the war between France and Great Britain. In the 21st century, we wouldnt necessarily consider letters requesting information or proclamations of thanksgiving to be executive orders, but they established an important precedent for Washingtons successors.Executive orders have precipitated many of the most significant events in our nations history. For example, on Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln officially issued the Emancipation Proclamation , which ordered all persons held as slaves in the Confederate states shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. On July 26, 1948, President Truman also used executive orders to expand citizenship and civil rights for Black Americans by ordering the desegregation of the military in Executive Order 9981 While Presidents Lincoln and Truman utilized executive orders for good, Executive Order 9066 undermined citizenship rights for minorities. After Japan attacked the American naval base in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans living in western states.Finally, on Sept. 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford issued a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed while serving as president of the United States. While many Americans are familiar with Fords pardon, not many know that it technically counts as an executive order, officially classified as Proclamation 4311 Although executive orders have played a central role in these key moments and many others, not all presidents have relied on this tool equally. In fact, contrary to our current political narrative, there has not been a steady increase in the reliance on executive orders. A brief statistical overview actually shows that executive orders have declined since the mid-twentieth century.After Washington issued eight orders during his presidency, the next five presidents made little use of this presidential tool. In fact, Andrew Jackson was the first president to issue executive orders in the double digits. In the 1850s, executive orders began a steady uptick and accelerated during President Ulysses S. Grants administration, when he relied on unilateral executive action to enforce Reconstruction measures.Perhaps unsurprisingly, executive orders peaked during Franklin D. Roosevelts unprecedented 12 years in office. Roosevelt issued 3,721 orders to tackle the Great Depression, implement New Deal programs and wage World War II. After FDR, Woodrow Wilson came in second with 1,803 orders and Theodore Roosevelt in third with 1,081 orders.While FDR relied on executive orders more heavily than any other president, he also issued the highest number of orders per year with an average of 307. Analyzing executive orders per year can be a more interesting and helpful way to get a better sense of pace. For example, Reagan issued 381 orders and Carter issued 320, but that number is much more revealing when we consider that Reagan served for two terms, and thus issued an average of 48 orders per year, whereas Carter issued an average of 80 orders per year.Critically, since President John F. Kennedys administration, the annual average has actually continued to decline, with two exceptions. Carter issued an unusually high number of orders per year (80) and Trumps presidency represented a significant uptick as well. He issued 220 orders total, for an average of 55 orders per year. While Trumps pace did not match Carter, it far surpassed the 35 orders per year for Obama, 36 per year for George W. Bush, 46 per year for Clinton and 42 per year for George H.W. Bush.In his first week in office, President Joe Biden issued 22 executive orders  more than any other president issued in their first week. Although many of Bidens early orders overturned his predecessors actions, and hes issued far fewer in recent weeks. We will have to wait and see whether he will overturn recent precedent by relying heavily on executive orders in order to govern, or whether he will follow his predecessors' examples and try to work with Congress to pass legislation.
Renewed rumours about two circuits alternating single annual calendar spots in Formula 1 are giving hope to axed French GP host Paul Ricard.

As the sport's calendar aggressively expanded, some traditional hosts including France and Germany were priced out of the market.

Former race host Hockenheim is now hopeful that talks with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali about a race alternating idea could revive the German GP.

"We would only tie up the enormous resources needed to hold a Formula 1 race every two years whilst retaining the image and status of a Formula 1 circuit," Hockenheim boss Jorn Teske told Auto Bild.

"In that respect it is absolutely ideal."

And now, former F1 driver and new Paul Ricard president Jean Alesi also sounds very keen on the race rotation idea.

"Perhaps now in Europe there will be a new way of having F1," the Frenchman said on the Eurosport program Les Fous du Volant, "with one country alternating with another.

"It will also help to save money," Alesi added. "Maybe Spa or an Austrian GP or Imola will alternate with us.

"Everything is on the table."

The former Ferrari driver says the biggest problem with France's F1 demise was not purely financial, but also political.

"In Formula 1 today there are 32 countries asking to have grands prix," Alesi revealed. "But there are only 23 grands prix.

"So F1 has people almost on their knees in front of them saying 'please, please come - we welcome you with open arms'. But that is not the case in France," he smiled.

"In the last five years, apart from the covid year of course, we had a very successful grand prix that was nonetheless shunned by our politicians.

"I'm not talking about in the region, because it's thanks to them that F1 was able to come back. But not having a president on a Formula 1 grid is frowned upon today," said Alesi.

"Now, it's normal when you go to any grand prix that if it isn't the king there then it's the prime minister. So if we don't have the president, it's wrong.

"Everyone else uses F1 to convey the image of their country."

(GMM)
Ghanas economy valued at GH610.22 billion in 2022

Emmanuel Bruce Business News Apr - 20 - 2023 , 05:49

The value of Ghanas economy grew from GH461.69 billion in 2021 to GH610.22 billion in 2022, provisional estimates from the Ghana Statistical Service has indicated.

This represents a growth of 3.1 per cent which is slower than the growth of 5.1 per cent recorded in 2021.

The 3.1 per cent growth is lower than the governments projected growth of 3.7 per cent in the 2023 budget.

It is also lower than forecasts from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank which projected a GDP growth of 3.6 per cent, 3.5 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.

Non-oil GDP grew by 3.8 per cent in 2022, compared to 6.6 per cent in 2021, while non-gold GDP also grew 2.1 per cent in 2022, compared to 7.1 per cent in 2021.

Ghanas 2022 GDP growth compares favourably with some of its peers on the continent, with Nigeria, Tunisia and South Africa, recording annual GDP growths of 3.1 per cent, 2.4 per cent and two per cent respectively.

Countries such as Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana and Namibia,however, recorded higher GDP rates of 8.7 per cent, 8.2 per cent, 5.8 per cent, 4.6 per cent respectively.

Presenting the GDP figures, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, said the services sector continued to dominate GDP growth, contributing 44.9 per cent of the value of the economy in 2022.

This was followed by the industry sector with 34.2 per cent and the agriculture sector with 20.9 per cent.

Sector growth

The services sector grew by 5.5 per cent in the year under review, with the information and communication sub sector recording the highest year on year GDP growth rate of 19.7 per cent.

This was followed by education (10.2 per cent); health and social work (9.2 per cent); public administration, defence and social security (6.1 per cent); financial and insurance activities (5.7 per cent); transport and storage (4.7 per cent); and trade, repair of vehicles, household goods (1.3 per cent).

Some of the sub sectors which contracted include hotels and restaurants (-1 per cent); other personal service activities (-1.3 per cent); real estate (-7.6 per cent) and professional, admin and support services (-10.9 per cent).

The industry sector also grew by 0.9 per cent in the year under review, with the mining and quarrying sub sector recording the highest year on year annual GDP growth rate of 8.1 per cent.

All the other sub sectors contracted in 2022. The manufacturing sub sector contracted by 2.5 per cent, the electricity sub sector contracted by 3.3 per cent, the construction sector contracted by four per cent and the water and sewerage sub sector also contracted by 4.9 per cent.

The agriculture sector on the other hand also grew by 4.2 per cent in 2022, with the fishing sub sector recording the highest year on year growth rate of 8.8 per cent.

This was followed by the livestock sub sector (5.5 per cent); crops (3.8 per cent) and forestry and logging (1.7 per cent).
Caretaker laments safety, security at Fuller Waterfalls

Gloria Apprey Life Apr - 01 - 2023 , 15:52

The caretaker of Fuller Waterfalls at Yabraso, in the Bono East Region, Mr Adamu Amidu, is concerned about the absence of professional lifeguards and security personnel at the site.



He said the absence of these professionals put swimmers, particularly children, at risk.

According to Mr Amidu, although most of the children were good swimmers, he was worried about their safety and security especially because they swam unsupervised.

In an interview with The Mirror last Friday, he said Even though the children are very good swimmers, anything can happen and I wish the site had some security, for instance a fence wall or gate to deter unauthorised entry since I cannot always be around to supervise.

Children within the community swim at the falls for hours

At the time of the visit, there were a number of schoolchildren from neighbouring communities who had come to swim.

While some jumped from nearby rocks into the water, others, mainly the boys, competed among themselves on who could jump farther into the water.

Throughout The Mirrors stay there, there were more than 20 school children swimming at the falls with more trooping in while the team was leaving the site.

Investment

Mr Amidu who has been in charge of the site for over three decades added that with the right investment and amenities, the site could rake in revenue and also become one of the most visited waterfalls in the country.

He therefore appealed to government and private businesses to develop the site in order to boost tourism in the area.

The facility, he said, needed restrooms, a restaurant and accommodation for tourists who wanted to spend longer periods there.

Currently, the site only has a small urinal shared by both men and women which was constructed by Mr Amidu from the entry fees he collected.

This washroom, constructed by the caretaker is used by both men and women

Due to the absence of toilet facilities, tourists and locals who visited the site had no choice than to defecate in the nearby bushes.

The caretaker has also constructed a small sign post and bamboo barrier from the entry fees pegged at GH10 for Ghanaians, GH20 for foreigners and GH2 for locals.

According to him, although he kept no proper records, he averagely made GH1,000 monthly on regular days and GH2,000 during peak seasons such as Christmas and Easter.

He added that after he paid himself out of that money, the remainder was not enough for any significant development.

Parts of the Fuller waterfalls located at Yambraso, Bono East Region

When asked about support from the District Assembly, he said it had been of little help although he accounted for parts of the revenue to them in the past. He said due to the lack of support, now, he was the only cashier and manager of the site.

Back in 1996, I used to account the revenue I generated to the District Assembly so they could support the falls when the need arose.

However, I never got any support. I have followed up several times but to no avail so I decided to manage the place myself, he said

Prayer retreat

Aside tourists who come to swim and enjoy the serene nature of the site, it is also a popular site for religious groups, particularly Christians.

Mr Amidu said many church groups within and outside the area, held prayer retreats and services there often.

Originally this site was a prayer camp before it became a tourist attraction. Till date, many churches come here for their services. Even for locals, we still believe this is a spiritual place and God dwells here, he added.

History

The falls cover an area of 173 metres above sea level and cascades down several layers of rocks into a wide pool of water.

According to Mr Amidu, the site was discovered by a Filipino missionary, Rev. Father Joseph Panabang, in 1988.

At the time, I was into the business of charcoal making by the waterfall and Father Panabang asked me to quit my job in order to help him develop the site into a prayer camp.

Originally, the name was Our Lady of Kintampo Prayer Camp. I agreed and I have been the official caretaker since then under the authority of the Wu chieftaincy clan of Kintampo, he said.

The caretaker added that the falls was later named after a British soldier, Captain Fuller who led an army to win battles in 1911.

Savannah Safari

The stop at Fuller Waterfalls was part of a three-day road trip quest for wildlife in the Mole grasslands of the savannah curated by WangoWango,a lifestyle and concierge focused on curating unique memories through domestic tourism and food.

When The Mirror team was driving out of the premises, it spotted an ongoing construction of chalets near the site but could not tell if they were for a private developer and for what purpose as the caretaker, Mr Amidu, had left the site after our earlier interview.

Attempts to reach him by phone proved futile.
Drinking bar operator granted GH50,000 bail over wee possession

Gloria Apprey Life Mar - 04 - 2023 , 12:36

A 33-year old drinking bar owner has been granted bail in the sum of GH50,000 with two sureties by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly possessing two plastic bags of Indian hemp.

The accused, Baba Hassan is suspected of selling the hemp and smoking some.

The case was presided over by Judge Samuel Bright Acquah and Hassan is to reappear on March 13, 2023, to allow for further investigations by the police.



Facts of the case

Inspector Daniel Danku who narrated the case before court said the complainants were police officers with the Special

Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit of the Greater Accra Regional Headquarters of the Ghana Police Service.

According to Inspector Danku, on February 21, 2023, while on normal patrol duties at Airport junction in Accra, the officers received an intelligence report about a suspected narcotic drug operation.

The officers proceeded to the location given which was a drinking bar at Airport junction, Gate Four. Upon arrival, the officers saw the accused person, Hassan, at the entrance casually smoking and they suspected it would be Indian hemp, the prosecutor said.

Inspector Danku added that when Hassan spotted the police officers, he dropped the suspected weed into a dustbin which was later retrieved by the officers.

The accused approached the officers and he was arrested immediately, the prosecutor added.

A search was conducted in the bar which also happened to be where Hassan lived.

A plastic container containing dry gin, other suspected narcotic substances and two small bags of dried leaves suspected to be the said weed were found, the prosecutor stated.

Upon questioning at the police station, Inspector Danku said Hassan admitted ownership of the substances and claimed they were for his personal use.

The accused was however unable to lead the police to his supplier who he claimed was in the Volta Region.

Hassan claimed he did not have the contact or address of his supplier, Inspector Danku said.

The prosecutor added that the substances had been sent to the crime lab for examination.

Per the criminality of the offence, the accused, Hassan, has been charged with unauthorised possession or control of narcotic drugs, the prosecutor stated.
Police officer defrauded of $15,000

Gloria Apprey Life Apr - 16 - 2023 , 16:45

An Accra Circuit Court has remanded into police custody a trader, Jeffery Owusu who allegedly defrauded a police officer of $15,000.

The accused person pleaded not guilty in court last Tuesday presided over by Halimah El-Alawa Abdul Baasit and he is to reappear on April 28, 2023

The case as recounted in court by the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector John Gohoho was that, the police officer had put his generator plant, a Caterpillar D343, valued at $15,000 on sale and that the accused claimed he had a client who wanted to purchase it.

The accused, Owusu, then asked the police officer to allow him to show the generator to the said client for inspection and the officer agreed. However, the accused never returned with the generator or account for its sale, the prosecutor added.



Brief fact

Chief Inspector (C/Insp.) Gohoho said the complainant was stationed at the Police Headquarters in Accra while the accused, Owusu, is a trader and lives at Sapeiman, a suburb of Accra.

The prosecutor said in July 2016, the complainant put the said generator plant on sale and was later introduced to the accused person.

According to the prosecutor, on February, 20, 2017, a case was made at the police station when the accused failed to return or account for the said machine, but rather went into hiding.

C/Insp. Gohoho said the accused person was then arrested and at the police station, he admitted to the offence and pleaded with the police that he would return the generator or the money to the complainant.

The accused was then released on police enquiry bail but escaped and immediately, efforts went underway to trace him, the prosecutor added.

C/Insp. Gohoho said when the search for the accused person yielded no results, a forfeiture bond was served on the surety of the accused to provide the accused.

The prosecutor added that on March, 27, 2023, a similar case was made against the accused person which finally led to his arrest.

The prosecutor said during interrogation, Owusu said he sold the said generator plant to one Alhaji Dramani Wayo in Kumasi and led the police to Kumasi to arrest the said Alhaji Dramani Wayo.

After investigation, the accused person was charged with the offence and put before court.
Meet the newly ordained auxiliary bishops of Accra Archdiocese of Catholic Church

Augustina Tawiah Apr - 20 - 2023 , 16:43

The Catholic Archdiocese of Accra now has two auxiliary bishops.

The two, both Catholic priests, the Most Rev. Anthony Narh Asare, Titular Bishop of Castellum in Numidia, and the Most Rev. John Kobina Louis, Titular Bishop of Fessei, had their episcopal ordination at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in a solemn but colourful ceremony yesterday.



It is the first of its kind for the Catholic Church in Ghana to have two auxiliary bishops to be appointed at once for one Diocese.



Their appointment as auxiliary bishops followed an appeal from the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, the Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, to Rome for support in the governance of the archdiocese.

Auxiliary Bishops

In the ranking of Diocesan episcopal officials of the Catholic Church, the Bishop enjoys the highest status, a coadjutor the next, followed by any auxiliary bishop and then the emeriti bishops.

Since auxiliaries are nominated upon the request of the Diocesan Bishop, their roles may differ depending on the diocese and the Diocesan Bishop but, in general, auxiliary bishops may assist with confirmations, baptisms, ordinations and special masses or even in the regional governance of a particular part of the diocese. They are called to perform their duties with solicitude and in a spirit of harmony and unity with the Diocesan Bishop.

In the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, the archbishop may call on the newly elected auxiliary bishops to serve as moderators with pastoral responsibilities of some selected deaneries of the archdiocese to ensure pastoral efficiency as well as serve in various roles within the archdiocesan curia.

Ordination

The ordination ceremony was performed by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Most Rev. Henryk M. Jagodzinski, who was the principal consecrator with the principal co-consecrators being the Most Rev. Kwofie and the Bishop of Sunyani, who is also the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), Most Rev. Mathew Gyamfi.

Done within the rite of ordination of the church, the two auxiliary bishops were anointed on the head by Most Rev. Jagodzinski, who also presented to them the book of the gospels as well as did the investiture with ring, which is a seal of their fidelity and the investiture with mitre and pastoral staff, which is also a sign of their pastoral office.

The two auxiliary bishops also received fraternal kisses from the principal ordinating bishop and all the other bishops.

The beautiful ceremony was attended by Catholic faithful across the country and from other sister African countries, families and friends of the two auxiliary bishops as well as the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, the Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, among other government officials, and some members of the diplomatic community.

Homily

In an eight-point advice contained in his homily, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Kumasi, the Most Rev, Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, urged the two auxiliary bishops to keep in mind that their archbishop must increase while they decreased, pointing out that, that meant they must uphold the truth which is Jesus Christ.

The red colour in your episcopal dress signifies your readiness to defend the truth, which is Jesus Christ, at all times to the point of shedding blood.

Therefore, at all times, with your Bishop, stand by the truth. Never let there be found any contradiction among the three of you. There is only one bishop and two auxiliary bishops.

My brother Louis, you have no other thing, but to live like John. Cardinal Tony, you are Anthony, the Franciscan friar, the theologian, the pastor who defended the truth in Lisbon, Portugal; in Paris, France and in Padua, Italy till he died. That is your name and your calling! You must defend the truth, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana charged.

He further asked them to bear in mind that as auxiliary bishops, it was the archdiocesan bishops vision and strategic planning initiatives that served as a guide to the archdiocese and not theirs.

Making reference to observations made by anatomist, Most Rev. Anokye said the major vital organs of the body which were the heart, the lungs, liver, kidneys and the pancreas did not make noise, yet worked without pump and pageantry.

He, therefore, charged the two to seek to avoid whatsoever thing that was so nice, cheap and beautiful.

Goodwill Messages

In his message, the Most Rev. Kwofie announced both of them as vicar generals and asked members of the church to pray and support them in their work.

For his part, Most Rev. Jagodzinski congratulated them and asked God to help them to be good shepherds of His people.

The message from the GCBC was read by the Most Rev. Gyamfi, who welcomed the two auxiliary Bishops to the conference and expressed the hope that they would bring their various expertise and experiences to bear on the work of the conference.

There is no doubt that your appointment and ordination today has come as a great relief to our brother Archbishop Kwofie who has not enjoyed the best of health in almost three years. We also believe that your new role as auxiliary bishops will make the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Accra a bit easier and make lighter the pastoral demands on our brother, Archbishop Kwofie, he said.

Who are the two auxiliary bishops?

Most Rev. Asare is the fifth born of eight children. He began is seminary formation at the Sowutuom Philosophy Campus in September 1988. He proceeded to the St Peters Seminary in Pedu, Cape Coast, in 1991 and was ordained a priest on July 22, 1995 for the Clergy of Accra by Archbishop Dominic Kodwo Andoh at the St Joseph the Worker Parish in Tema Community 8.

Most Rev. Louis, on the other hand, was born in Accra in 1964 and baptised in 1965 at the Holy Spirit Cathedral by the late Very Rev. Fr Charles Schneider. He was admitted to the St Peters Seminary, Pedu, Cape Coast in September 1986. He was ordained as a deacon by the then Rt Rev. Dominic Andoh at the Holy Family Catholic Church, Mataheko, in 1991.
Health Ministry cautions against misuse of medical drones

Emmanuel Baah Apr - 20 - 2023 , 11:35

The Ministry of Health has cautioned against the misuse of medical drones in the country.

It reminded health facilities and their managers that drones were meant for only emergency cases.

The sector minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who was speaking at a three-day meeting of senior managers of the health ministry in Kumasi last Tuesday, said a recent visit to some health centres showed that the managers were making requests for items that were not meant for emergency medications.

Some even request drugs such as antibiotics to be transported via drones, he said.

Mr Agyeman-Manu, however, said considering the huge cost associated with flying medical supplies, it was not prudent to make such demands and, therefore, urged health directors to ensure their requests did not contravene requirements as contained in the usage of medical drones.

Event

The meeting was on the theme: Enhancing primary healthcare approaches towards achieving universal health coverage.

It took stock of the Ghana Health Service(GHS) performance in 2022, and strategised on the way forward.

The event was attended by senior officers of the service drawn from the 16 regions, including some key partners and sponsors.

Also in attendance were the Otumfuos Mawerehene, Baafour Osei Hyeamann Brantuo VI, and the Council Chair of the GHS, Dr Sefa Sarpong Bediako.

In 2018, Parliament approved a plan to use medical drones to deliver blood, drugs, vaccines and other critical health supplies to remote areas in the country.

Since then, Zipline, a US-based company has been delivering life-saving medical supplies to needy communities.

Improvements

The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said there were improvements in some health indicators during the year under review.

For instance, he said institutional maternal mortality rate reduced significantly, in spite of some challenges.

Mr Aboagye also said the GHS exceeded its target in the percentage of women seeking maternal care, while half a million of the people were put on long-term family planning methods.

There was also an improvement in children under five years receiving vitamin A and the number of babies benefiting from early breastfeeding initiation, he added.
Political capture of media risky - Report warns

Timothy Ngnenbe Apr - 20 - 2023 , 11:28

Political capture of the media landscape has been identified as a major threat to media freedom and the countrys democracy.

According to a research conducted by the Department of Communication of the University of Ghana, there was an increasing concentration of the media in the hands of partisan actors who controlled the public space through their media empires.

The study, dubbed: "the State of the Ghanaian Media Report", stressed that although there was a semblance of media pluralism in the country, the media was actually concentrated in "a few powerful hands"

"We find the political capture of the broadcast media space, in particular, and the increasing concentration of the media in a few hands as worrying for the country's democracy, and there is the need to address this situation," the Dean of the Department of Communication at the University of Ghana, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, who presented the findings of the study, said.

The research, conducted in collaboration with the Media Foundation for West Africa (MfWA), with funding support from the U.S Embassy and the College of Education of the University of Ghana, provided scientific evidence on the ownership of the media, financial viability of media organisations, working conditions of journalists, safety issues, professional practices as well as training and capacity building.

Opaque ownership

Throwing more light on the report, Prof. Gadzekpo said the study revealed that media ownership in the country was shrouded in opacity, with political faces found to be behind most of the broadcast media entities.

Political faces behind broadcast media ownership mean that partisan actors and governments can control public discourse, and this is not good for our democracy, she stressed.

She added that while there were growing tendency towards media empire-building, the National Communication Authority (NCA) had a laissez faire attitude to questions about transparency of the media ownership.

Financial viability

The study found that most of the media organisations were not financially viable and only hanged on to thin straws to be in business.

Generally, many organisations in Ghana are not profitable; they are, at best, breaking even and cannot fund investigative reports because of the cost involved, she said.

Again, she said the study found that the traditional media organisations were heavily dependent on the pharmaceutical industry, especially herbal products, for adverts.

In terms of working conditions of the media, the study found that journalists worked in precarious conditions, with some of them working without any contract or receiving salary at all.

Working conditions

The report further revealed that most media organisations had poor recruitment practices with some of them hiring journalists without advertising for qualified people to apply.

Even worst, it was found that many media establishments did not have structured remuneration system, with conditions of service based on who brought you.

Prof. Gadzekpo said it was discovered that in most of the media houses, there was no clear-cut promotion mechanisms.

Furthermore, the report found that salaries of journalists were shockingly low, averaging GH1000 while some of them received GH500 or no pay at all.

This situation is promoting the culture of soli where journalists take money in the name of transport fare, she said.

She added that while just a handful of media organisations had healthcare systems for their workers, almost all of them had no counselling support mechanisms for journalists who suffered trauma.

Safety of journalists

Touching on the safety of journalists, the report said there was growing insecurity among journalists in the country as violations against them were rife.

It added that while male journalists were found to be mostly at risk of physical attacks, their female counterparts suffered more in terms of online abuse.

Investigative journalists are the most at risk of attack and state actors, including political appointees and police, are the worst perpetrators of attacks on journalists, the report stated.

Prof. Gadzekpo said the report also found that many journalists had the feeling that law enforcement agencies and the judiciary did very little to protect their safety.

findings

The report established that journalists and media owners had a positive disposition towards the constitutional provisions to support the promise of a media for development.

It established that the media were generally inclined to covering national development issues, but they were constrained by financial challenges in the coverage of such issues.

According to the report, although journalists had a clear understanding of their position in society and their roles as watchdogs, there was a disconnection between role conception and performance.

Again, the study found that media training institutions had accreditations from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, but some of the authorisations had lapsed and needed renewal.



Time to act

The Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Prof. Amin Alhassan, observed that 30 years after the coming into effect of the 1992 Constitution, the time had come for urgent steps to be taken to review

the constitutional arrangements for media freedom.

He noted that although the constitutional guarantees in Chapter 12 of the Constitution, including the establishment of the National Media Commission (NMC) and National Communication Authority (NCA) had helped to ensure media liberalisation, the time had come to review the mandates of those bodies.

After 30 years, we need to have robust systems that will ensure a free and responsible media, which calls for content regulation.

Going forward, we need to have content regulation; and this is not about censorship, he stressed.

Stakeholders

The Executive Director of MfWA, Sulemana Braimah, said it was important for stakeholders to work together to build a robust media landscape for the country.

"The strength and wellbeing of a democracy depends on the health of the media; when the media dies, democracy dies, so we need to keep the Ghanaian media in a good health," he said.

Professional media

The Deputy Chief of Missions at the U.S Embassy, Nicole Ann Chulick, urged all stakeholders to take the report seriously because "a free, fair and professional media is critical for every democracy."

"We need professional journalists who will be well trained, ethical and professional; and who will ask the tough questions," she stated.

She observed that without a vibrant media, low voices would be muted further while governance would also lack issue-based discourse.

Ms Nicole also underscored the need for strong safeguards to protect freedom of speech.
John Mahama criticizes President Akufo-Addo for increasing the tax burden on citizens

GraphicOnline Politics Apr - 20 - 2023 , 06:57

The former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, has criticized the current government for increasing the tax burden on Ghanaians, going against its promise to prioritize production over taxation.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently approved the implementation of three new revenue taxes, which have been controversial.

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 were all passed by parliament on March 31.

Speaking during a tour of the Greater Accra region, Mahama expressed concern that the taxes have become a burden on the public, with supermarket prices skyrocketing.

He criticized the government's excessive borrowing, which he believes has led to the country's economic troubles.

He claimed that the government could have avoided seeking debt forgiveness from external creditors if it had controlled its borrowing.

The country wouldnt have been in this economic mess if government had not engaged in excessive borrowing. We are now seeking for debt forgiveness from external creditors, ex-President Mahama said.
Return to IPAC "Political parties urge NDC"

Kester Aburam Korankye Politics Apr - 20 - 2023 , 07:25

Representatives of some political parties have urged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to return to the Inter-Party Advisory Committees (IPAC) engagements which the party boycotted in 2020.

The party representatives at a closed-door meeting dubbed Political Party Trust Building Programme at the National Peace Council (NPC) in Accra yesterday, expressed their desire to have the largest opposition party in the country back to the committee.

In March 2020, the NDC boycotted IPAC meetings following the failure of the committee to grant the partys request for the EC to postpone all future meetings indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The General Secretary of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Nana Yaa Jantuah, told the Daily Graphic in an interview after the closed-door meeting that the various political parties present at the meeting unanimously encouraged the NDCs General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, who represented the party, to lead discussions within his party to return to IPAC deliberations.

One of the political parties suggested it and we all agreed that it was important for the NDC to return to IPAC, she said.

Meeting

Some political party leaders present included the General Secretary of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Janet Nabla; the second Vice-Chair of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Rita Asobayire; the National Youth Organiser of the All People's Congress (APC), Abu Hassan, among others.

Also present were some members of the National Peace Council (NPC), including Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih, Numo Blafo Akotia Omaetu III, Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu and Joana Adzo Opare.

Ms Jantuah said the meeting was a needful engagement that could help address the growing impact of hate speech in the countrys political space.

Flag bearers

The General Secretary of the APC, Mordecai Thiombiano, told the Daily Graphic in a separate interview that it was important for all parties to come to the discussion table and deliberate on issues that would foster peace.

He said it was appropriate for the NDC to return to the IPAC to ensure consensus building.

Another issue that came up during the discussions held behind closed doors, according to Mr Thiombiano, was for the NPC to engage with the flag bearers and founders of the various political parties on the need to tone down on hate speech.

Mr Thiombiano explained that founders of political parties generally had sway on their supporters and their actions, therefore, influence the conduct and utterances of their followers; hence, the need to guard their utterances.

Normally, the followers of these political actors only mimic the posturing of their leaders, especially their flag bearers so we have encouraged the peace council to take a step further to engage them on this important issue of hate speech, he said.

Hate Speech

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the NPC, Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, has said the country could be pushed into chaos if political party representatives and communicators did not refrain from public pronouncements that incite tensions.

He said the council had reviewed several audio and video clips in the last few weeks that suggest that if steps were not taken to guard public political statements, the country could be pushed into chaos.

We think that at this point we are pushing our tolerance level to a limit that we have to be careful to maintain the peace and stability of this country and this must be our guiding principle, he said.
Eight German partners are collaborating in a project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, to develop new technologies and components that can be used to produce lithium-ion batteries more efficiently and in a way that conserves resources.

The revoLect project (High-efficiency electrodes with ultra-light fabric-based current collectors for lithium-ion batteries) is pursuing two key innovations: replacing the usual metal foils with a metallized fabric structure and using silicon as the anode material.

The project partners intend to pool their expertise along the entire battery production process chain and develop novel electrodes with lightweight fabric-based current collectors for lithium-ion batteries using a resource-saving technology. The process requires less use of primary raw materials such as copper and aluminum compared with previous lithium-ion batteries.

At the same time, the technology enables further material savings from the cell to the system level through higher energy density. As part of the project, the Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University is to develop processes for coating the fabric-based current collectors with slurry-based electrode materials.

Among other things, the pilot plant for cell production will be adapted to process the novel materials. In addition, the RWTH facility is investigating the design and production of the battery cells.

Particular attention is paid to the contacting of the electrode sheets. Since they are not made of aluminum or copper, alternative processes to the usual ultrasonic welding may have to be used here.

Subsequently, the battery cells are to be tested with regard to their performance, and the respective values are compared with those of reference cells. These reference cells will also be manufactured at PEM and constructed with copper or aluminum foils as current

The project partners are:

PEM of RWTH Aachen University

Institute of Experimental Physics of TU Freiberg

Institute of Textile Machinery and High Performance Material Technology of TU Dresden

Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology (FEP)

elfolion GmbH

Porcher Industries Germany GmbH

ROMONTA GmbH

Customcells Holding GmbH

The project runs through 31 August 2025.
At this years demopark open-air exhibition, Mercedes-Benz is presenting a prototype of the Unimog based on the U 430 with hydrogen-powered combustion engine as part of the publicly funded WaVe project.

The project, funded by Germany Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, is being implemented jointly by 18 partners from industry and science and began in July 2021. The consortium leader is Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks, administrative control is in the hands of Commercial Vehicle Cluster Nutzfahrzeug GmbH.

The hydrogen engine is provided by Keyou and is equipped with H2PFI injectors made by Hoerbiger. (The two companies signed a cooperation agreement early in 2022 aimed at the joint development, production and commercialization of injectors for hydrogen engines, with a focus on PFI for the heavy-duty sector.)





The WaVe hydrogen ICE Unimog at a test drive by the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Economic Affairs Daniela Schmitt in March.

After the first test phase of the H2 engine was successfully completed on the test stand in autumn 2022, the enginetogether with fuel tank, safety and monitoring systemswere installed in the Unimog at the turn of the year, and initial tests in driving operation were carried out. In the second quarter of 2023, the prototype will be equipped with a body implement for mowing in order to then gain further insights into work mode.

The aim of the WaVe project is to examine the extent to which the tasks of a conventional diesel engine as a multi-power distributor for the traction drive and all power take-offs (PTOs) can also be performed by a hydrogen-powered combustion engine in the future.

This variant could prove to be a possible alternative drive type for the Unimog. This is because the implement carrier places high demands on output, performance and payload. However, as space is limited, the installation of a purely battery-electric drive or hydrogen-based fuel cells would be challenging.

By 2039, Daimler Truck intends to offer only climate-neutral new vehicles in driving operation in its core global markets (EU30, USA and Japan). In order to achieve this objective, the company has clearly set the strategic course for itself and is consistently pursuing a dual strategy in the electrification of its portfolio: with battery and hydrogen-based drives.

In addition, by the end of June 2024, for research purposes, complementary drive systems such as hot hydrogen combustion in the piston engine for the Unimog will be investigated as part of the aforementioned WaVe joint venture.

Unimog. Specifically developed for implement use, the Unimog in association with many qualified body partners offers individual system solutions that can increase both productivity and the capacity utilization of a fleet. Standardized and normed interfaces ensure quick implement changes. The U 535 and U 435, among others, showcase this at demopark.

The U 535, the heaviest and most powerful Unimog model series, can be seen here with a rear-mounted mower without additional axle locking from Unimog ExpertPartner Mulag. Last year, the Unimog and Mulag were able to look back on a 50-year collaboration. At the trade fair, the U 435 can be seen with a spreader from Bucher Municipal. Both vehicles are equipped with a diesel engine with an output of 260 kW (354 hp).

In the Unimog, the fully synchronized electropneumatic manual transmission translates the output of the maintenance-friendly, economical, smooth-running and high-torque Euro VI engines into propulsion. The synchronized Electronic Quick Reverse reversing group makes it easier to change direction quickly, for example when clearing or maneuvering.

Comfort steering also offers high added valueit reduces the steering forces at low speeds and when the vehicle is stationary. This is particularly advantageous when working with heavy-duty front-mounted implements such as mowing combinations or large-volume tires. The electrohydraulic system adapts to the respective driving situation depending on the speed. The comfort steering thus generates a variable steering feel adapted to the driving situation.

To make working with the Unimog even more efficient and comfortable for customers, the vehicle is optionally available with hydropneumatic suspension on the rear axle. Here, gas is compressed or expanded by a change in oil volume, which creates a resilient effect. In conjunction with hydraulic cylinders, spring accumulators, hydraulic valves, sensors and control unit, the hydraulic spring enables a more stable driving behavior in addition to the constant driving level under a wide range of load conditions or heavy rear-mounted implements. Ride comfort is significantly increased, particularly for one-sided loads and when cornering. At the same time, the system assist when coupling and uncoupling attachmentsit makes work easier and reduces set-up times when changing implements.
April 10

At 12:50 p.m., Animal Control Officers responded to a report of an injured deer. It was reported the deer had been attacked by a dog and was severely injured. Officers observed the injured deer and contacted the Wyoming Game and Fish Office. Officers received permission to have the deer dispatched and officers dispatched the deer. Officers located the owner of the dog and issued a citation to Leslie Price, of Green River, for alleged animal at large - 2nd offense. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 3:19 p.m., officers responded to a report of a verbal domestic. Officers met with individuals involved in a dispute, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 4:52 p.m., officers responded to Probation and Parole at 140 Commerce Drive in reference to an individual with an arrest warrant. Officers met with agents and the individual, confirmed the arrest order, and placed Kieran Leclair, under arrest. Officers transported Leclair to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident.

At 6:15 p.m., officers responded to the area of Apache Avenue for a report of a disturbance. Officers met with the individuals involved in a dispute. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 6:24 p.m., officers responded to a residence on N 4th E Street for a report of a burglary. Officers met with an individual who reported an unknown individual had entered a residence through a window and believed the individual was squatting in the unoccupied residence. Officers made contact at the residence, gathered information, and placed Kaleb St. Helen, of Green River, under arrest for alleged trespassing. Officers transported St. Helen to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident.

April 11

At 1:36 a.m., officers were dispatched to the area of Wind River Drive for a report of shots fired in the direction of Hitching Post Drive. Officers canvassed the area and were unable to locate anyone in the area or signs of where the noise was generated from. Officers made contact with several residents, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 10:05 a.m., officers responded to a residence on Adams Street for a report of nuisance property. Officers observed the property in violation of the City ordinance 17-3(b) and attempted to make contact with the property owner. Officers posted a notice and completed a report of the incident.

At 12:22 p.m., officers responded to the area of E Teton Boulevard for a report of a two-vehicle collision. It was reported both vehicles were traveling westbound on E Teton Boulevard when the second vehicle passed the first vehicle in a no-passing zone. Both vehicles then turned onto Uinta Drive and were traveling northbound toward the river bridge. The first vehicle was in the right-most lane, while the second vehicle was in the left lane. The first vehicle attempted to pull into the left lane in front of the second vehicle and the two vehicles collided. Officers met with both drivers and gathered information. Officers issued a citation to Misty Fowler, of Green River, for alleged improper lane usage and a citation to Anthony Chitica, of Green River, for alleged no passing zones violation. Officers completed a report of the incident.

At 1:35 p.m., officers responded to a residence on E Teton Boulevard for a civil standby. Officers met with an individual who reported a dispute while another individual was moving out. Officers gathered information, conducted a civil standby, and completed a report of the incident.

At 2:39 p.m., officers responded to the GR Animal Shelter at 80 E Teton Boulevard for a report of a two-vehicle collision. It was reported one vehicle was parked in a parking space in front of the animal shelter. A second vehicle was in the traveling lane of the parking area of the shelter. The first vehicle began to back out of the parking space into the travel lane of the parking area when it collided with the second vehicle. Officers gathered information, issued a citation to Charles Bryan III, of Green River, for alleged improper backing, and completed a report of the incident.

At 6:57 p.m., officers responded to a residence on Wilkes Drive for citizen assistance. Officers met with individuals involved in a dispute. Both parties refused to separate from each other, in order to avoid confrontation. Officers offered assistance, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 8:35 p.m., officers responded to a residence on N Center Street concerning a violation of a protection order. Officers met with an individual, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident, which was forwarded to the County Attorney for review.

At 9:20 p.m., officers responded to a report of threats/harassment. Officers met with an individual who reported a subject in a vehicle almost hit them and then words were exchanged. Officers located and made contact with the driver of the vehicle. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

April 12

At 8:58 a.m., officers responded to a report of an individual receiving unwanted phone calls. Officers met with the individual who advised they had received threatening phone calls from an unknown number. Officers gathered the information and completed a report of the incident.

At 10:21 p.m., officers responded to a report of threats made over the phone. Officers met with the reporting party who advised he was on a conference call with a friend and an unknown individual and during the call the unknown individual made threats directed towards the reporting person. Officers gathered the information and completed a report of the incident.

April 13

At 4:09 a.m., officers responded to a report of trespassing. Officers met with the reporting party who advised there was a person at their door who has been court ordered to have no contact with them. Officers met with the suspect and advised them they needed to leave the area. The individual left the area without issue and officers completed a report of the incident.

At 5:02 a.m., officers responded to a report of a barking dog. Officers attempted to make contact with the owner but were unsuccessful at the time of the report. Officers left a message for the owner advising of the complaint. Officers completed a report of the incident.

April 14

At 2:37 p.m., officers responded to a residence on W Teton Boulevard for a report of fraud. Officers met with an individual who reported they had received an email with a bill stating it was from Microsoft for Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection. After clicking on the link, in the email, the individual was directed to a customer service number. The individual who answered the phone requested bank account information and requested funds. When the individual did not comply with the request, their computer was hacked and a financial page opened. After what appeared to be funds being transferred from their account, the screen went black. The computer was disconnected from the server in an attempt to cut off the connection. The individual and officers reported the incident to the financial institution; no monetary losses were reported. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 7:28 p.m., officers responded to a residence on Riverbend Drive for a report of an animal problem. Officers met with an individual who reported the neighbors dogs were trying to get into their yard and kill their chickens. Officers made contact at the residence, advised of the complaint, issued a verbal warning, and completed a report of the incident.

At 11:19 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop and issued the driver a written warning for alleged speed.

April 15

At 5:16 a.m., officers conducted a traffic stop and issued the driver a written warning for an alleged when headlights are required violation.

At 10:24 a.m., Animal Control Officers responded to a residence on South Carolina Drive for a report of a barking dog complaint. Officers made contact with the dogs owner, advised of the complaint, issued a verbal warning, and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:35 p.m., officers responded to a report of domestic violence. Officers met with the individuals involved in a dispute and gathered information. The parties separated and officers completed a report of the incident.

At 10:10 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop and issued the driver, a juvenile, age 16, of Green River, a citation for alleged when headlights are required violation and a written warning for alleged no valid drivers license and/or violation of drivers license conditions.

At 11:14 p.m., officers were dispatched to a fight in progress. Officers met with the individuals involved in the disturbance who advised it was a verbal dispute only. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

April 16

At 12:01 a.m., officers responded to a report of domestic violence. Officers met with the individuals involved in an altercation and gathered information. Subsequently, officers placed Camrin Frye, of Green River, under arrest for alleged domestic battery. Officers transported Frye to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident.

At 3:35 a.m., officers conducted a traffic stop in the area of E Teton Boulevard and Scotts Bottom Road on a vehicle for a speeding violation. Officers found the driver to have an ignition interlock device requirement on their drivers license. Subsequently, Samantha Robeson, of Eugene, Oregon, was placed under arrest. During an inventory search of the vehicle, officers located several items of paraphernalia and suspected controlled substances: 26.61g of suspected marijuana, marijuana wax or dab, and psilocybin. Officers transported Robeson to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and issued Robeson citations for alleged vehicle superintendents speed zone violation (6+ MPH over), driving without an interlock device, and three counts of unlawful possession - plant form < 3 ounces. Officers then completed a report of the incident.

At 8:41 a.m., officers responded to the GRPD at 375 W Flaming Gorge Way for a report of a citizen assist. Officers made contact with an individual who reported concerns about a previous incident. Officers gathered information and completed a report of the incident.

At 9:07 a.m., officers were dispatched to a residence on Riverview Drive for a report of a disturbance. Officers met with the individuals involved in a verbal dispute, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 3:24 p.m., officers were dispatched to a residence on Riverview Drive for the report of a disturbance. Officers met with the individuals involved in a verbal dispute, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 3:24 p.m., officers responded to the area of Uinta Drive and E Flaming Gorge Way for a report of a hit-and-run collision. Officers met with the owner of the second vehicle who reported that they had been stopped at the traffic light facing east on E Flaming Gorge Way at the intersection with Uinta Drive and Highway 530 when they observed another vehicle approaching rapidly behind them. The driver of the second vehicle tried to accelerate to get out of the way but the first vehicle collided with the rear of the second vehicle. The driver of vehicle two reported the first vehicle had pulled past them, then pulled off the roadway for a minute or two before it left the area towards the interstate. Officers attempted to locate the vehicle, gathered information, and completed a report of the incident.

At 5:55 p.m., officers were dispatched to the Buck N Bar at 50 E Flaming Gorge Way for the report of a traffic hazard. Upon arrival, officers observed a vehicle running and parked in the alley behind the Buck N Bar. Officers located an individual inside the vehicle who appeared to be sleeping and was unresponsive. Officers smelled a strong odor of an alcoholic based beverage coming from the vehicle and attempted to wake up the individual. Officers turned the vehicle off and the individual awakened. Officers gathered information and located several open containers of alcohol. Officers placed Yazzie Melbert, of Sanostee, New Mexico, under arrest and issued a citation for alleged DWUI of alcohol: incapable of safely driving. Officers then transported Melbert to the Sweetwater County Detention Center and completed a report of the incident.

At 6 p.m., officers, while on the call mentioned above, for safety purposes turned the vehicle off, and as they did so, the vehicle rolled back into a Green River Police Department patrol truck. The only contact that was made was between the rear bumper of the vehicle and the padded portion of the push bumper on the patrol vehicle. Officers completed an incident report. No damage was discovered to either vehicle.

At 10:22 p.m., officers responded to a shoplifting complaint from Smiths Grocery Store, located at 905 Bridger Drive. Officers met with a store supervisor who reported an individual left the store with a full basket of groceries, but a store employee was able to recover the cart from the individual. The store supervisor requested a trespass warning be issued to the individual. Officers identified a possible suspect and made several attempts to make contact with the subject then completed a report of the incident. Officers will continue to try and make contact to issue the trespass order.
Hospital has new Emergency Management Coordinator

Stevie Nosich is Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County's new Emergency Management Coordinator.

Nosich, the hospital's environmental safety officer, accepted the additional responsibilities in February. She replaces David Beltran who recently retired.

Tami Love, MHSC Chief Financial Officer, said Nosich is a perfect fit for the job.

"Stevie has always gone above and beyond in all of her prior positions," Love said. "We are excited to have her enthusiasm and work ethic on our Emergency Management team."

Nosich said, "In taking on this position, I knew my No. 1 goal would be to help our staff in any way I can to make sure we are prepared at all times for any situation. We found out on April 3 that we are. Our staff worked quickly and efficiently to ensure every contingency was met in case we received victims of an active shooter incident. Thankfully, the incident was a hoax. We had all hands on deck and called in extra staff to make sure every area was covered."

In this role, Nosich's responsibilities include developing, training and managing emergency operations and preparedness for the hospital per requirements set by The Joint Commission, the hospital's accreditation agency.

"I provide the staff with education and training such as MOAB (Management of Aggressive Behaviors) De-escalation Training," said Nosich, who has worked at the hospital for more than 14 years. "Along with the Emergency Management Team, I help to make sure the hospital and staff are prepared in the event of any emergency situation within the hospital or our community such as loss of resources, mass casualties, natural disasters, pandemics, and more."

"An important part of my role is working directly with community partners such as first responders, law enforcement, public health, and county emergency management," Nosich said. "We not only want to make sure we are prepared and can take care of our employees and patients in the event of an emergency, but also make sure we are prepared for the community. We live in a rural area and are the only full-service hospital in Sweetwater County. It's very important that we are prepared for any emergency situation."

The hospital's Emergency Management Team consists of leadership, registered nurses, community members, first responders, physicians and other staff members. The group meets quarterly to ensure MHSC is compliant with its training. It organizes in-house exercises and participates in community-wide training. The team also develops plans based on MHSC's Hazard Vulnerability Analysis for Sweetwater County.

To qualify for the position, she is FEMA trained, including Incident Command Structure Training, disaster supervisory training. She also is a MOAB De-escalation/Defense instructor and is currently providing that training for MHSC staff.

Nosich is President of the Wyoming Society of Healthcare Engineering Board, an affiliate of the American Society of Healthcare Engineering, which is the largest association dedicated to optimizing the healthcare-built environment. She is a member of the Local Emergency Preparedness Committee and the Western Wyoming Healthcare coalition.

Pediatric Clinic welcomes new provider

Juli Forrester is thankful to be able to work where she grew up, and serve a community she says helped raise her.

The Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, Family Nurse Practitioner, joined Tammy Walker, PMHNP, CPNP-PC, and the team at the Pediatric Clinic of Sweetwater Memorial earlier this month.

"I'm really excited about this," Walker said. "I've known Juli for a time and have been able to work with her on some cases. She's intelligent, fun, hardworking, and energetic. I know she will be an excellent addition to the pediatric team."

Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County CEO Irene Richardson agreed. "We are excited that Juli has joined us, and we welcome her to our hospital family," she said.

Forrester, who most recently worked at Castle Rock Medical Center in Green River, is a born-and-raised Wyoming resident. She graduated from Green River High School. She lived in Big Piney for a time with her husband. They currently live in Green River with their two kids and two dogs.

"We love Wyoming, and southwest Wyoming in particular," she said. "We are big outdoors people. We enjoy camping, hiking, fishing and hunting."

Forrester said she initially went into nursing because she wanted a challenging job. "I also wanted a job that would allow me to help others become the healthiest versions of themselves," she said.

"I later became a nurse practitioner and found my passion for pediatrics," Forrester said.

Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County photo Juli Forrester

"I love working with not only the kids I see, but their parents and families. Being able to make a positive impact on families that will lead to better health outcomes as these kids reach adulthood is really a goal of mine in my practice."

She has provided care to populations across the lifespan, with an emphasis on pediatric care and acute care needs.

Prior to her work at Castle Rock, she worked for Big Piney School District No. 9 in Marbleton, Sublette Center Long-Term Care in Pinedale, and Sublette County Rural Healthcare District in Marbleton.

Forrester has a Master of Science in Nursing from Frontier Nursing University, an Associate of Science in Nursing from Western Wyoming Community College, and an Associate of Science from Western.

The Pediatric Clinic of Sweetwater Memorial is at 3000 College Drive. For an appointment, call 307-212-7717.
The water was dark and cold, but more than 100 feet down in Long Island Sound, the divers could see about 10 yards around them at the gravelly sea floor.

They connected a reel to the line that ran up to the surface and began swimming against the current, knowing they only had one shot at finding their prize before the window awarded by the tides closed again. The water pressing against the special dry suits they wore hovered at 44 degrees, cold enough that hypothermia was a concern.

They swam for about 25 feet, and then the profile of the sunken submarine, buried under the waves for nearly 80 years, emerged from the gloom.

"Bam, there it was," recalled Steven Abbate, who dove off the coast of Old Saybrook to the wreck Sunday with co-diver Joe Mazraani.

Contributed/Joe Mazraani

The team, led by commercial diver Richard Simon, of Coventry, located the Defender, a 92-foot-long submarine built by Simon Lake in 1907 at his Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport. Lake, a millionaire who Simon said was inspired by Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," tried unsuccessfully to sell the experimental craft to the U.S. Navy, according to Simon.

"The profile of the sub was absolutely amazing," Abbate said in a phone interview Thursday, recalling the discovery.

However, there was little time for he and Mazraani to celebrate.

The pair of divers made their way up from the seabed over the top of the vessel and toward what they later determined was the bow.

"As we were going to the bow, we were passing hatches," Abbate said, while Mazraani filmed and took photographs of the site.

He described the submarine as intact and sitting on the bottom, listing slightly to one side on the gravelly seabed. After exploring the bow, they made their way to the stern of the vessel.

"We didn't have much time at the bottom because your decompression is building the longer you dive," Abbate said.

"The Defender is completely intact sitting on the bottom. It's incredible," he added. "I can't wait for others to dive to the Defender and be as amazed as we were."

Contributed/Joe Mazraani

Lake was unable to get the Navy interested in Defender, which had previously been named "Lake" and "Simon Lake XV," according to the website NavSource Online. In 1929, the sub was re-fitted to work in salvage, but nothing came of it. The sub sat at the docks in New London before being abandoned on a mud flat at Old Saybrook.

In 1946, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers towed the boat into Long Island Sound and the sub either sank or was scuttled, according to Simon.

"Knowing the time period, knowing it was after World War II, we have all these excess ships sitting around, my guess is it was scuttled," he said. "We scuttled a lot of things in the ocean because, you know, for years, unfortunately, we used it as a dumping ground."

He became interested in the sub and assembled a crew to try and find the vessel. As it turned out, the vessel's location was charted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he said, only the wreck was marked as unidentified.

"No one knew what it was," Simon said. "So by being inquisitive and going and saying, 'Hey, let's check this out,' and having the capabilities, we were able to positively identify her."

Contributed/Jennifer Sellitti

The search team believes the vessel they found is the Defender based on the dimensions of the keel and the shape and location of the diving planes.

The group is now trying to learn more about the history of the vessel and hope to protect it.

Simon said the vessel was unique and ahead of its time, outfitted with wheels to traverse the bottom of the sea and a dive door for a diver to access the water.

During the dive, Simon drove his company's research vessel while Abbate and Mazraani dove to the site. He recalled watching "a little orange ball" in the fog in the middle of Long Island Sound waiting for news of the find.

The crew has kept the exact location and depth of the site under wraps, but the Associated Press reported the wreck is more than 150 feet down. That puts it out of the reach of most amateur divers, according to Simon.

"This isn't something that just anyone can go and visit and dive," he said. "You know, it's deep, it's dark, there's current. So that's a really important thing worth noting, and that's why we don't want everyone and their mother trying to go out there."

Simon said they're now trying to get the site protected by Connecticut authorities.

"This is all of our history," he said. "This isn't my wreck, it's all of our shipwreck and we all need to preserve it and be good stewards of it."

Contributed/Joe Mazraani

Simon, who grew up in Coventry, got his start in commercial diving through his father. Shoreline Diving, the company he owns with his wife, mostly handles infrastructure projects like dams, and salvaging boats that sink in accidents. Maritime history and shipwrecks are his hobby. At 35, he said he's often the youngest person on a dive, and hopes he can inspire the next generation to take up an interest in diving.

Abbate, who owns a home inspecting business, said he got into diving more than a decade ago after his wife asked if he was interested. "I believe my wife had in mind the Caribbean and scuba diving," he said. But like Simon, he soon became interested in technical diving and diving on wrecks in the Long Island and Block Island sounds. He now dives out of a rigid inflatable boat, or "rib" that he takes out on the water.

Abbate turned 60 the day after they made the discovery.

"Ricky did promise me a better birthday present next year," he added, referring to Simon. "So things are yet to come. There's more discoveries to be made."
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Pentagon is moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan.

Two Biden administration officials say the deployments to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti are necessary because of the current uncertain situation in Sudan, where fighting is raging between two warring factions.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the administrations planning for a potential evacuation. That planning got underway in earnest on Monday after a U.S. Embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

In a statement Thursday, the Pentagon said it will deploy additional capabilities to the region to potentially help facilitate an evacuation of embassy personnel from Sudan if required, but provided no details, and did not state the location.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the decision to prepare for a possible evacuation was made by President Joe Biden in the last couple of days. The president authorized the military to move forward with pre-positioning forces and to develop options," Kirby told reporters at the White House.

Theres no indication that either side is deliberately going after or trying to hurt or target Americans, Kirby said. But its obviously a dangerous situation.

Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said conditions were not yet safe to mount any evacuation but stressed that all embassy personnel are safe and accounted for and that those who havent been moved to a secure centralized location had been instructed to shelter in place at their homes.

U.S. officials have told lawmakers concerned about the situation that there are roughly 70 American staffers at the Khartoum embassy, according to congressional aides.

An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan, but the State Department has cautioned that that figure is likely inaccurate as there is no requirement for Americans to register nor is there a requirement to notify the embassy when they leave.

Since hostilities between the two factions erupted last weekend, the U.S. has been contemplating the evacuation of government employees and has been transporting them from their homes to a secure, centralized location to prepare for such an eventuality.

The officials said Djibouti, a small country on the Gulf of Aden sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, will be the staging point for any evacuation operation.

However, any evacuation in the current circumstances is fraught with difficulty and security risks as Khartoums airport remains non-functional and overland routes from the capital out of the country are long and hazardous even without the current hostilities.

If a secure landing zone in or near Khartoum cannot be found, one option would be to drive evacuees to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. But that is a 12-hour trip and the roads over the 523-mile (841-kilometer) route are treacherous.

Another might be to drive to neighboring Eritrea, however that would also be problematic given that Eritreas leader, Isaias Afwerki, is not a friend of the U.S. or the West in general.

The last time the U.S. evacuated embassy personnel overland was from Libya in July 2014, when a large convoy of U.S. military vehicles drove staff from the Tripoli embassy to Tunisia. There have been more recent evacuations, most notably in Afghanistan and Yemen, but those have been conducted largely by air.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  A major anti-abortion group blasted former President Donald Trump on the issue Thursday, saying his contention that abortion restrictions should be left up to individual states, not the federal government, is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.

The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group was responding to a statement by Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung for a Washington Post story about division among the 2024 GOP presidential field on abortion-related issues. The group has said it would not support any White House candidate who did not at a minimum support a 15-week federal abortion ban.

The Supreme Court made clear in its decision that it was returning the issue to the people to decide through their elected representatives in the states and in Congress," the group's president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said in a news release. Holding to the position that it is exclusively up to the states is an abdication of responsibility by anyone elected to federal office.

The condemnation by one of the nation's largest anti-abortion groups amounted to a stunning rebuke of the former president, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. His three nominations of conservative judges to the Supreme Court paved the way for the reversal of Roe v Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years.

Cheung had told the Post that President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level.

Trump has referred to himself as the most pro-life president in American history. But in the early months of his 2024 bid, he has often sidestepped the issue of abortion, even as Republicans across the country celebrate the Supreme Court decision stripping federal constitutional rights to abortion. He wont be among the GOP hopefuls gathering this weekend at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalitions spring kickoff but will instead be speaking to the group by video.

Last month in Iowa, Trump repeatedly refused to say whether he would support a federal law restricting abortion in every state, a move that anti-abortion activists have been demanding of the GOPs presidential contenders.

Were looking at a lot of different things, Trump said when asked twice by the AP whether he supports a federal abortion ban.

Dannenfelser said in the statement Thursday that life is a matter of human rights, not states rights" and that Trump's characterization of last year's Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization case was wrong.

President Trumps assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold," she said.

Pointing to a 2021 social media post from Dannenfelsers organization calling Trump the most pro-life president in U.S. history, a spokesman for Trumps campaign also noted, Even though much work remains to be done to defend the cause of life, President Trump believes it is in the States where the greatest advances can now take place to protect the unborn.

All of the candidates running in the Republican presidential primary or moving toward a bid have supported state bans on abortion. Most have been much more cautious about staking a position on a nationwide ban, though entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamys campaign has said he believes its an issue for the states, not the federal government.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who launched a presidential exploratory committee last week, has said he would support a federal law to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a state abortion ban that, if upheld by the courts, would ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, or before many women know they are pregnant. It will take effect only if the state Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservatives, upholds Floridas current 15-week ban that is part of an ongoing legal challenge. The Florida ban would be one of the toughest in the U.S. But DeSantis has not made clear his position on whether such restrictions should be imposed across the country.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and one-time United Nations ambassador, has called abortion a personal issue that should be left to the states, though she has left open the possibility of a federal ban. Haley is scheduled to give a speech on abortion next week.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, campaigning in Iowa, stopped short of saying whether he would support a federal six- or 15-week ban as president. Obviously I would want to look at the bill, said Hutchinson, who as governor signed a law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Trumps stance has provided an opening on the right for potential rivals like former Vice President Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian with long-held anti-abortion views.

Pences advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, has pushed for Congress to pass legislation including a national abortion ban beginning around six weeks.

___

Associated Press writer Sara Burnett in Chicago contributed to this report.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden hosted Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday for talks at the White House amid deep differences on U.S. drug policy and Venezuela but a shared desire to deepen cooperation on climate change, migration and energy policy.

The leaders, in remarks before reporters at the start of the Oval Office meeting, tried to keep the focus on areas of agreement, including strengthening their democracies and building economies less dependent on carbon sources.

We are going down the same river, a river that leads us to ever-greater democracy and ever-greater freedom," Petro said. He added: We have a common agenda and a lot of work to do.

Biden said the countries shared a goal to build a united, equal, democratic and economically prosperous Western Hemisphere. Colombia is the key to the hemisphere," he said.

The two even joked about their ages; Petro turned 63 on Wednesday and Biden, at 80, is the oldest U.S. president in history. But their exchange before the cameras glossed over some of the growing differences between Washington and Bogota.

Petro has sharply criticized U.S.-led efforts to prohibit cocaine, saying at a speech at the United Nations last year that oil consumption promoted by global powers is more deadly than cocaine and that the war on drugs has failed."

During his White House visit, Petro dialed back the direct criticism of the U.S. After the meeting, he told reporters that the two sides discussed his agricultural reform efforts and shift in drug policy.

As cocaine production in Colombia continues to rise, Petros government has been reluctant to eradicate coca fields planted by small farmers. The Colombian president says that he prefers to chase money launderers and large-scale drug traffickers instead of stripping small farmers in isolated areas of their livelihood.

We framed it in the context of the construction of a drug policy ... (in which) peasants can have better guarantees and conditions to produce anything other than the coca leaf, Petro said.

This new approach has been criticized by U.S. officials who long have advocated for the eradication of coca fields in Colombia as part of the effort to undermine drug trafficking groups and loosen their grip on some parts of the country.

In order to broker peace deals with rebel groups, Colombia will have to lift arrest warrants against rebel leaders who are wanted in the U.S on drug trafficking charges. The South American nation is looking to spend millions of dollars on economic development projects in rural areas that have long been afflicted by violence and is seeking U.S. support on that front.

Petro, who was elected last year, is in the midst of an ambitious effort to bring total peace to his nation of 50 million after six decades of conflict.

A 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group, known as FARC, reduced violence throughout much of the country. But homicides and forced displacement have increased in some isolated areas, where smaller groups began to fight over drug trafficking routes, illegal mines and other resources abandoned by FARC.

Under Petro, Colombias policy toward Venezuelas authoritarian government has shifted. Colombia no longer backs U.S.-led plans to isolate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and force him to resign or call for new elections. Instead Petros administration has engaged the Maduro, held bilateral meetings and resumed diplomatic relations.

Petro has called for sanctions on Venezuelan government companies and officials to be lifted and for talks on democratic reforms in Venezuela to resume. His government will host an international conference on Venezuela next week.

Petro told reporters after the meeting he advocated for a gradual and progressive deactivation of sanctions" that would allow Venezuelans "to decide freely, without sanctions, without pressure, their own destiny.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier that the Biden administration would review our sanctions policies in response to constructive steps by the Maduro regime and if the Venezuelan parties can make meaningful progress in returning to democracy.

Colombias government and its largest remaining rebel group  the communist-inspired National Liberation Army, known as ELN  launched talks in November, shortly after Petro was elected president. Petro has called the talks with the ELN a cornerstone of his effort to resolve a conflict that dates back to the 1960s.

Some rural areas of Colombia are still under the grip of drug gangs and rebel groups despite the 2016 peace deal with the larger FARC.

Some U.S. lawmakers have also been critical of Petro's warming relations with Maduro and President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. in a Medium post before the leftist Colombian president's visit, argued that Petro is misguided in thinking that the Venezuelan and Cuban leaders will use their influence over ELN to Colombia's favor. Venezuelan security forces have carried out joint operations with ELN against former members of the FARC rebels on the countries' shared borders. Cuba has held talks in Havana between Colombian officials and ELN.

But its a fools errand, because internationally ostracized dictators have nothing to gain from increasing stability in the region, Rubio wrote.

The two governments have cooperated on the migration issue.

The United States, Panama and Colombia announced last week that they will begin a 60-day campaign aimed at halting illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, where the flow of migrants has multiplied this year.

The announcement came as the Biden administration awaits the expected end of a pandemic-related rule May 11 that has suspended rights to seek asylum for many. Without that instrument of dissuasion at the U.S. border, there is concern migrant arrivals could again become unmanageable.

Colombia has seen more than 2.4 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants cross into the country, stretching the capacity of hospitals, educational institutions and other infrastructure, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Biden thanked Petro for the hospitality and support Colombia continues to show to Venezuelan refugees.

___

Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia, and Garcia Cano from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
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LONDON (AP)  U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday reviewed the findings of a long-awaited investigation into allegations his top deputy bullied government employees, but didn't make a decision on his fate.

An independent employment lawyer issued the report after investigating eight formal complaints that Justice Secretary Dominic Raab had been abusive toward staff during a previous stint in that office and while serving as foreign secretary and Brexit secretary.

Raab, who is also deputy prime minister, has denied claims he was overly demanding and belittled and demeaned his staff. He said he behaved professionally at all times, but would resign if the bullying complaints were upheld.

Sunaks spokesperson, Max Blain, said the prime minister received the report Thursday morning and was considering the findings to determine if Raab had violated the ministerial code and whether any action  up to dismissal  should be taken.

The code of conduct requires ministers to treat people with respect and have proper and appropriate relationships with colleagues, civil servants and staff. It says harassment, discrimination and bullying will not be tolerated.

Although Blain said the decision would be made as swiftly as possible, Sunak had not reached a decision by the end of the day Thursday.

Until then, he said, Sunak still has "full confidence in Raab.

Raab, 49, was first elected to Parliament in 2010 and unsuccessfully sought to become the Conservative party leader in 2019 before throwing his support behind Boris Johnson. Appointed deputy prime minister under Johnson, he briefly took charge of the government when Johnson was hospitalized with COVID-19 in April 2020.

The report is the latest ethics headache for Sunak, who vowed to restore order and integrity to government after three years of instability under predecessors Johnson  brought down in summer 2022 after multiple scandals  and Liz Truss, who quit in October after six weeks in office when her tax-cutting economic plans sparked mayhem on the financial markets.

But he has struggled to shake off opposition allegations that the Conservative government remains mired in scandal and sleaze.

Wendy Chamberlain, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker, repeated that criticism as she accused Sunak of dither and delay.

It feels like almost every week there is an issue with sleaze and scandal where Rishi Sunak is either implicated ... himself or too weak to get to grips with it," Chamberlain said. "People are crying out for a government that will just get on with tackling the issues that matter, (and is) not focused on saving their own skin.

Sunak also faces an investigation announced this week by a parliamentary watchdog over whether he properly disclosed his wifes interest in a company that stands to benefit from a massive boost to free child care in his administrations budget.

A member of his Cabinet, Gavin Williamson, quit in November over bullying claims. In January, Sunak fired Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi for failing to come clean about a multimillion-dollar tax dispute.

A separate inquiry is underway into claims Johnson secured a loan with the help of a Conservative donor, Richard Sharp, who was later appointed chairman of the BBC.
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CAIRO (AP)  A crowd apparently panicked by gunfire and an electrical explosion stampeded at an event to distribute financial aid during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Yemens capital late Wednesday, killing at least 78 people and injuring at least 77 others, according to witnesses and Houthi rebel officials.

The tragedy was Yemen's deadliest in years that was not related to the country's long-running war, and came ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan later this week.

Armed Houthis fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently striking an electrical wire and causing it to explode, according to two witnesses, Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen. That sparked a panic, and people, including many women and children, began stampeding, they said.

Video posted on social media showed dozens of bodies, some motionless, and others screaming as people tried to help. Separate footage of the aftermath released by Houthi officials showed bloodstains, shoes and victims' clothing scattered on the ground. Investigators were seen examining the area.

The crush took place in the Old City in the center of Sanaa, where hundreds of poor people had gathered for a charity event organized by merchants, according to the Houthi-run Interior Ministry.

People had gathered to receive about $10 each from a charity funded by local businessmen, witnesses said. Wealthy people and businessmen often hand out cash and food, especially to the poor, during Ramadan.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Brig. Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, blamed the crush on the random distribution of funds without coordination with local authorities.

The Houthi-run Ministry of Health said 78 people were killed, and at least 77 others were injured, including 13 in critical condition. It said 62 were discharged from hospitals after treatment.

The rebels quickly sealed off a school where the event was being held and barred people, including journalists, from approaching.

The Interior Ministry said it had detained two organizers and an investigation was under way.

The Houthis said they would pay some $2,000 in compensation to each family who lost a relative, while the injured would get around $400.

Yemens capital has been under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthis since they descended from their northern stronghold in 2014 and removed the internationally recognized government.

That prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 to try to restore the government.

The conflict has turned in recent years into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, killing more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians and creating one of the worlds worst humanitarian disasters.

More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the countrys population, need help and protection, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Among those in need, more than 17 million are considered particularly vulnerable.

In February the United Nations said it had raised only $1.2 billion out of a target of $4.3 billion at a conference aimed at generating funds to ease the humanitarian crisis.
After long negotiations with the government, Apple was given the green light to open up its first official stores in the country. India requires at least 30% of the companies' production to be on Indian soil in order to qualify for store locations. And after opening the Apple BKC store in Mumbai two days ago, Apple opened its store in New Delhi.



Apple Saket store opening in New Delhi

Admittedly, the New Delhi Apple Saket store isn't as grand as the BKC one in Mumbai as it's more of a standard mall store, but it attracted a lot of fans. The video below shows a massive crowd on more than one floor.



Apple Saket store opening in New Delhi

Still, the store's interior is in line with Apple's design language, with oak tables displaying Apple's products and accessories along with a feature wall manufactured in the country.

Source
Xiaomi's 13 Ultra was unveiled yesterday for the Chinese market, and it's only expected to go on sale on April 21 - in the meantime, pre-orders are up in the country. And yet, today the phone is already receiving its first software update. This should thus await all buyers once they take the phone out of the box.

The new build is MIUI 14.0.8.0 TMACNXM, and it's based on Android 13 of course, like the previous 14.0.7.0 was too. The update brings with it unnamed improvements to the overall user experience, along with a boost of system stability, and increases in camera image quality.

Speaking of the camera, the default zoom rate for Quick Snap mode changed to 1.5x, the focal length options for Quick Snap mode are changed to 0.6m / 1.2m / 5m, and various optimizations have been applied to image quality "for specific scenes". Finally, the China-only Mi Wallet gets optimizations for transit card functionality "for various locations".

Via
Anita Borja Enriquez, Mary Okada and LeGene Quesenberry have been announced as the three finalists for the position of University of Guam president.

Enriquez is the senior vice president and provost at the University of Guam. She is an entrepreneur, former corporate planning and development manager and management consultant. She has a doctorate in business administration from Alliant International University, an MBA from University of Guam and a bachelors degree in management from University of Maryland Global Campus.

Okada has been the president of Guam Community College since 2007. Prior to becoming president, she served as vice president of financial affairs, controller and accounting supervisor at the college. She has a doctorate in educational leadership from University of Phoenix, a masters in Public Administration and a bachelors in business administration from University of Guam.

Quesenberry, an attorney, served as interim president of the American University in Nigeria, acting president and vice president of academic affairs for the Royal University for Women in Bahrain and dean of the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics & Strategic Research. Her law degree is from Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington, and she has a bachelors degree from Washington State University.

We are pleased with the high-level talent and caliber of these finalists, said search committee Chairperson Agapito Pete A. Diaz in a news release. Each candidate has a wide range of experiences and executive expertise, and we are excited with what they each potentially have to offer towards the continued progress and growth of the university.

The finalists will be invited to visit the campus within the next few weeks to meet with UOG students, faculty, staff, administrators and the Board of Regents. The dates of their visits will be announced later.

There were 31 local, national and international applications received by the March 17 deadline, and the field was narrowed to five semifinalists. After an extensive interview process, the three finalists were selected.

President Thomas W. Krise announced his retirement on Aug. 5, 2022.
A third round of $500 power rebates got support from GovGuams finance heads at a Thursday public hearing.

But the funding source being considered comes up about $10 million short of whats needed to carry ratepayers through to September.

With residents facing a hot summer and higher power bills, the Guam Power Authority was in support of extending relief, assistant general manager for administration Tricee Limtiaco told lawmakers.

April is the last billing cycle for the $100 monthly credit that residents and businesses have enjoyed since last summer. Bill 83 would extend the program for another five months, at a cost of $26 million.

Residents shouldnt have to choose between feeding their kids are keeping their power on, said Speaker Therese Terlaje, main sponsor of the bill.

Historically high

Although the Power Authority on Thursday morning proposed a May cut to the fuel surchargethe most expensive part of a residential power billresidents will still be facing historically high costs for power, GPAs Limtiaco said.

The rate would be 25.7 cents per kilowatt-hour after the cut, down from the current 31 cents, which amounts to about $61 in monthly savings for the average customer. But the rate was hovering between 13 cents and 15 cents before the COVID-19 pandemic and rising global oil prices kicked costs up in 2020, Limtiaco said.

Moving forward, as we put more and more renewables (energy sources) on, were hoping to stay below 20 centswell below 20 centsbut of course, it remains to be seen.

Fluctuating oil prices, a more active storm season, and the aging Cabras baseload generators still presented energy threats.

Funds short

Adelup supported extending the rebate, GovGuam Budget Director Lester Carlson said, which would piggyback nicely on any rate cut from GPA.

But there is not enough money in the pot to fund the full rebate, he told lawmakers. The bill eyes excess tax revenue collected last fiscal year, and the amount of money that is available from FY 22 is $15,580,167. Which leaves a shortfall of $10,800,833, Carlson said.

Education money

Carlson proposed that the $10 million balance could be covered by backpedaling some of the $20 million that lawmakers recently gave to the Guam Department of Education for maintenance and repairs.

Im not going after DOE, Carlson said, when pressed by Sen. Telo Taitague, but DOE has been before this body so many times in the last couple of weeks, explaining capacity issues, procurement issues, and that theyre sitting on well over $100 million in (American Rescue Plan) funds, which could be used for repairs.

Raiding GDOE was a non starter, said Sen. Chris Duenas, who led the charge to fund schools through Public Law 37-5. The school system still had $130 million worth of deferred maintenance costs to deal with, he said.

I respectfully request that you look elsewhere. And I dont think youll have the votes in this body to reduce that $20 million appropriation, and I think it would be a sad day for us to contemplate that.

Wait and see

While GovGuam has been raking in more tax revenue than projected this fiscal year, Carlson told Speaker Terlaje that the excess revenue available as of the close of March was not enough to cover the $10.8 million gap.

The latest revenue report from the Bureau of Budget and Management Research was not available as of Thursday afternoon.

Terlaje said the power credit could be covered from May to July, while lawmakers waited to see if more excess tax revenue came in this fiscal year. About $4 million remained, as of the last report, she said.

That would be reasonable. I think if  our revenues dont come in like that, that would be really unfortunate and signs of some not such good times as we have been counting on.
Power customers could see some relief from high power bills starting next month, because the Guam Power Authority will recommend cutting the fuel surcharge, which is the most expensive part of the power bill.

The average residential customer could see their bill drop by $61.

The price of fuel oil and diesel for the power plants has dropped from its peak last September, GPA General Manager John Benavente told the Consolidated Commission on Utilities Thursday morning.

He said if the current fuel surcharge remains in place, GPA will over-recover its fuel costs by July.

Instead of doing that, Benavente said, the proposal is to cut the fuel surcharge so GPA instead breaks even on its fuel costs.

According to GPA, it was $24.1 million in the hole for its fuel expenses as of Feb. 1.

The current fuel surcharge of 31.8 cents per kilowatt-hour would drop to 25.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, from May through next January, according to GPAs recommendation.

Any change in the surcharge must be approved by the Public Utilities Commission, which is scheduled to meet next week.

If the cut is approved by the PUC, the average residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month will see their bill drop from $416.10 to $355.07.

Benavente said if fuel prices continue to drop GPA can recommend cutting the fuel surcharge even more in the coming months.

The proposal to cut power bills comes as lawmakers are considering extending an existing monthly $100 power bill credit for several more months.
Guam should consider ending the requirement for foreign travelers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations, and improve on the reasons tourists come to the island  such as clean, white sandy beaches  instead of making excuses for low arrival numbers.

These were among key takeaways from Guam Visitors Bureau Board Chairman George Chius tourism-centered address to the Rotary Club of Guam Thursday at Hyatt Regency Guam.

Japan will be reclassifying COVID-19 to the level of the regular flu by May 8, but Chiu said Guam also needs to make travel much easier and convenient for tourists.

The successful rollout of the electronic customs declaration form is not enough.

I think maybe removal of vaccination requirements. If youre a U.S. citizen, you come back to the United States, you dont need to show proof of vaccination. But if youre a foreigner, you do. Those are some of the little things Im thinking of, Chiu said.

Various countries have already dropped all internal COVID-19 restrictions for residents and foreign visitors, beefing up their tourism and getting their economies back to where they were prior to the pandemic.

Guam has been relatively lucky At the end of the day, Guam pretty much made it through the pandemic OK, if youre not in the tourism business.

Shipping lines, freight forwarders, wholesalers and supermarkets survived, Chiu said, thanks to federal pandemic money.

But relief and recovery funds are running out, so its imperative that the community support government efforts to beef up tourism, he said. While Guam currently has a strong military buildup, the economy should not rely on just the defense industry, Chiu added.

We need to get tourism to where it was not just at pre-pandemic, but exceeding pre-pandemic levels in order to make sure that our economy gets better, Chiu said.

Rather than making excuses for why arrivals are still down, Chiu said its time Guam focus on further improving its greatest tourist attractions, which are its beautiful white sandy beaches, clean air, clean ocean water and culture. Keeping beaches and parks clean and safe goes a long way in maintaining Guams competitiveness, he said.

Work together

Chiu said the challenges and obstacles that GVB and the whole tourism industry are facing can be overcome with hard work and collaboration.

Theres been a lot of controversy going on at GVB, and my job here is to try and make sure that controversies dont get in the way of getting our job done, Chiu said, noting that the GVB board and management need to work together to continue tourisms recovery.

Chiu, of Tan Holdings, said an important measurement of how well Guams tourism recovery is going is whether its maintaining its fair share of the outbound tourism markets, rather than just arrival numbers.

We need to recapture our market share, he said, adding that Guam is competing with all other beach destinations.

Exit survey

He brought up the results of the most recent exit survey among Korean tourists, which have been leading Guams tourism recovery.

Believe it or not, they (tourists) like the air, they like the clean air. We take this for granted when we walk outside. We take it for granted when we see the sunset, when you walk along Tumon Beach because we live here. People who live in the big cities dont see that, Chiu said. You go to California, you go out and look at that water. Its not blue like ours. Even in Hawaii, the Waikiki water is not blue like ours. Our water here is beautiful. Our sunsets here are beautiful.

Chiu said its important that Guam recognize the negatives, which the exit survey also showed, such as the quality of food and the limited activities.

We need to basically recognize what our problems are and come up with a strategy to solve (them). If we dont admit that we have a problem and we keep patting ourselves on the back, say Hey were doing a great job, were doing much better now  We got a long ways to go. Ill be the first one to tell you that we got a long ways to go, Chiu said.
By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Australia's vast Nullarbor Plain was created when the local climate "dried out" around 2.5 million years ago, according to new research.

The arid, almost treeless, expanse located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north is the world's largest single exposure of limestone bedrock and occupies an area of about 77,000 square miles (200,000 square kilometers).

At its widest point, it stretches about 685 miles (1,100 km) from east to west across the border between South Australia and Western Australia.

Now researchers have discovered how long ago the iconic plain dried out, with a new approach shedding light on how ancient climate change altered some of the driest regions on Earth.

Iron-rich layers formed in ancient sediments were used to narrow down when an area dried out in response to changes in climate, such as the dramatic decline of groundwater in southern Australia.

Scientists say that the relics of drying suggest the Nullarbor "drastically shifted" to dry conditions between 2.4 and 2.7 million years ago.

The environmental changes were "key" in shaping Australias diverse flora and fauna, according to the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Lead author Dr. Maximilian Drollner said defining the timing of climate change in ancient landscapes had proved "challenging" for geoscientists.

Dr. Drollner, of Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, said: Almost half of the Earths land surfaces are considered drylands, and they host about three billion people.

Changes to these arid areas can impact both our society and regional biodiversity in profound ways and aridification has been instrumental in shaping the landscapes and ecosystems we see today.

Researchers have previously relied on indirect observations, such as marine sediments in neighboring areas, to determine when climate events occurred in arid areas.

Co-author Associate Professor Milo Barham, also from Curtin University, explained that directly measuring products of the drying of landscapes can provide a much clearer timeframe.

Dr. Barham said: The amount of helium trapped in these iron-rich horizons can be used to determine when they were formed.

Exposing these relics of drying to a tiny laser releases helium, which we can measure to constrain the timing of these dramatic environmental responses to Earths climate history.

The researchers say that determining when the events occurred can help explain how they impacted the biodiversity of the area and, particularly in the case of southern Australia, provides a timeframe for the evolution of several native species.

Dr. Drollner said: The drying of Australias interior separated the common ancestors of many species that once roamed freely across Australia.

This separation led to the independent evolution of these isolated populations on the east and west coasts, eventually resulting in distinct species or sister species."

He added: Today we observe many examples of sister species of birds, insects, and plants that have common ancestors but now live thousands of kilometers apart, separated by environmental barriers created through ancient climate change.
A school bus driver who witnessed a man trying to lure a 15-year-old girl into his car ordered the man to leave her alone and gave the girl a ride to safety, according to a Guam Police Department news release.

Melencio V. Santos, 65, of Dededo, was later located by police at a gameroom and arrested in connection with attempted kidnapping, terrorizing, unlawful restraint and harassment, police said.

After being dropped off at a bus stop Thursday, the girl was approached by Santos, who was driving along the roadway. He asked her if she needed a ride home, and the girl told him several times that she did not, police said.

Santos continued to drive next to her as she walked.

A Department of Public Works school bus driver witnessed the encounter and instructed Santos to leave her alone.

The girl ran to the bus and briefly told the driver what was happening, and Santos left the area.

The bus driver took the girl home, and the police were called.

After conducting interviews and gathering information about the motorist, officers located the vehicle and Santos at a Dededo gameroom.

According to police, Santos admitted to the allegations.

Santos was booked and confined at the Department of Corrections, and the case was turned over to the Attorney General's Office.
Sen. Tom Fisher said he is concerned about criminal activity at the Department of Educations federal programs division, following a recently released audit by the Office of Public Accountability which states dozens of ineligible education employees, including the federal programs administrator, received more than $640,000 in unauthorized overtime during the pandemic.

Public Auditor Benjamin Cruz testified during a legislative oversight hearing Wednesday evening, answering questions about the audit and informing lawmakers that Guam taxpayers are on the hook for the $640,000 because DOE did not  and cant  seek federal reimbursement for the unauthorized overtime costs.

We probably didnt want to ask the federal government for that money back because we didnt want to disclose our criminal activities, Fisher said.

Although OPA audits typically do not provide the names of the people involved, only job titles, Cruz Wednesday evening acknowledged that federal programs administrator Ignacio Ike Santos is the certifying officer who received $80,000 in unauthorized overtime, which Santos approved himself. The federal programs administrator is one of the positions at DOE that are ineligible for overtime.

According to Cruz, Santos signed off on four of the five lines of documents to approve his own overtime payments, as the requester, approver, certifier and federal programs administrator.

According to DOE officials, former Superintendent Jon Fernandez was the default certifying officer for the public school system, but he delegated his authority to several people, including Santos.

I think an individual approaching this fresh-eyed would say that the federal programs administrator was on the grift, Fisher said. He was using that job for personal gain, is what it suggests.

Sen. Chris (Barnett) found a bunch of rats at Simon Sanchez. I think we found a rat in the federal programs  on steroids, Fisher said.

According to auditors, the federal programs administrator and other ineligible DOE employees banked significant overtime hours without seeking prior approval from their supervisors, requiring them to be compensated 1.5 times their base pay for those hours.

DOE later capped those overtime payments at 30% of the employees salary, according to testimony at Wednesdays hearing, but Santos payments exceeded that cap.

Cruz said they had been accumulating overtime hours for about 17 months.

In contrast, critical DOE employees who had to work during the pandemic, such as nurses, counselors and those who distributed grab and go instructional material at the schools, received only 10% to 25% additional pay for that work, according to auditors.

Some of these people were getting exorbitant numbers of overtime hours to receive the amount of overtime some of them claimed, Cruz told lawmakers Wednesday. They would have been working 30 additional hours a week, for months on end they had to be working 60 to 80 hours a week.
Michael Lujan Bevacqua is an author, artist, activist and the curator for the Guam Museum.
South Africa: Govt to assist municipalities to settle debt: Deputy President Mashatile

Deputy President Paul Mashatile says government acknowledges that debt relief alone will not return Eskom to financial sustainability, as the state works with municipalities to help settle mounting bills.

A key assumption considered in the debt relief determination is the implementation of the recent tariff increase approved by the regulator. Without this increase, debt relief arrangement is not sustainable, he said.

In January, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) agreed to an 18.65% increase in electricity tariffs, effective from 1 April this year.

In his Budget speech, Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, announced Eskoms debt relief of R254 billion.

The Deputy President was answering questions in Parliament on Thursday relating to the municipal debt to Eskom and water entities, illegal electricity connections, critical economic infrastructure sabotage, and animal vaccine shortages.

He said government is of the view that the sustainable provision of essential services such as water, electricity and sanitation must be the hallmark of a developmental government.

His task, working with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, National Treasury and other departments, is to ensure that municipalities deliver critical services.

In the meantime, government has been working around the clock to help municipalities settle their debt owed to Eskom and water boards.

Citing the latest data, he said by the end of 2022, municipalities owed Eskom R56.3 billion and this debt continues to rise.

Government has introduced a debt relief package for Eskom intended to improve the utilitys balance sheet whilst proposing that Eskom writes off some of the municipalities debts under strict conditions with guidance from National Treasury.

Meanwhile, he announced that municipal debt relief will be conditional and application-based.

This relief is aimed at correcting underlying behaviour and operational practices in defaulting municipalities.

Parallel to this process, the state-owned power utility is introducing a smart metering solution to change consumer behaviour by reinforcing a culture of payment for services rendered.

The Deputy President described the culture of non-payment by municipalities, but also organs of state and individual household customers, as concerning.

As the government, we cannot overemphasise the need to enforce the culture of payment for services rendered.

National Treasure further developed the Eskom debt relief as a measure to improve Eskoms financial situation.

He told Members of Parliament that municipalities and water boards are responsible for 65% of the debt to the water trading entities, of which R10.9 billion is overdue by more than three months.

According to the countrys second-in-command, the escalating debt in the water sector is attributed to the absence of economic and regulatory regimes for infrastructure investment, costing and pricing, non-payment of services, and unauthorised connections.

The government has put in place the measures to strengthen billing and revenue collection to address the escalating debt of municipalities to water entities.

These include the adoption of credit control and debt recovery measures across all water boards and the installation of bulk-prepaid metres in municipalities.

The success of all these relief measures is dependent on coordination across all spheres of government. This is why the government will continue working with all sectors of society to increase and build sustainable economic activities in all municipalities to create viable tax bases to develop revenue for social and economic development, he added.

In addition, he said government, working with Members of Parliament and all civil society formations, is ready to work with every sector to advance the common national agenda of fast-tracking and addressing the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-04-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
CHONGQING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Old items with an obvious imprint of traditional Chinese culture, such as quaint windows, screens and abandoned laundry boards, have become new carriers of the creative ideas of Italian artists. As displayed during the ongoing month-long "Connecting Point" contemporary art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, dozens of artworks that blend traditional Chinese culture and trendy Italian design have appealed to even the most finicky of art fans in the city. Decorating discarded items with graffiti, a number of Italian artists are injecting vitality with a modern touch into old memories. Divided into halves, an old wooden window now presents itself with an armed warrior and a crowned princess common in Italian opera on one side, and a typical actress and an elder male actor from Peking Opera painted on the other side. Such a collision of different but seemingly interlinked cultural elements is a common theme at the exhibition. This piece of art is named "Opera" and is the creation of Barbara Vaccaro, who was born in 1975 and hails from Italy's Sicily. She is committed to showing the hidden connections between China and her motherland, using everyday goods no longer used, produced or needed by Shanghai residents as conduits for her artistic expression. Through her reuse of discarded furniture and windows, old items gain a new vision and life as if time was "sealed up." One of her artworks, "No more," consists of three old-fashioned laundry boards, one of which even has some cracks on its surface. However, Vaccaro's paintings on these items have enriched their meanings. "Housework, such as washing clothes, was usually the duty of Chinese women in the past. With the development of society and technology, women have freed their hands and the washboards are no longer used, which also represents the progress of Chinese women's social status and role," said Vaccaro. Orlando Daga, another exhibitor, is more interested in integrating ideas from Chinese classical works into his creations. He brought 13 pieces of artwork from his latest series, named "Window." Traditional Chinese-style windows of different shapes and in various colors are interwoven with multiple silk threads by Daga. The window itself symbolizes the external world, while strands of silk can be seen interlacing through the window, which is indicative of the internal connection between different elements -- an artistic expression of existence in traditional Chinese philosophy, said Daga. Daga has learned more about oriental philosophies since he first came to China in 2014. The Italian soon found that many traditional Chinese philosophical works, such as "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu and the work of ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, became his main sources of inspiration. In addition to using windows, Daga also combines colors with the Eight Diagrams in his paintings themed on water, fire and earth etc., to explore the relationship between humans and space. Different diagrams and colors are used as his major background color with blue representing lake water, while brown and yellow represent mountains. The image of people in the middle of the canvas is also often wrapped in layers of ripples, symbolizing the connection between natural elements and mankind. "Chinese philosophy is very interesting because it gives you a different point of view about how to interpret things," he explained, adding that Chinese philosophy allows him to reflect on topics including harmony with the inner self, the outer energy of people and our relations with the universe and nature. The exhibition, which starts from April 7 and will last until May 7, provides visitors with opportunities to appreciate the fusion of Chinese and Italian art and culture.




Haiti - Politic : The UN in Haiti signs a 5-year cooperation framework for sustainable development





This Thursday, April 20, 2023 at the Karibe Hotel, Ricard Pierre the Minister of Planning and External Cooperation and Ulrika Richardson, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Haiti will sign a cooperation framework for sustainable development in Haiti for the next five years in the presence of heads of United Nations agencies, funds and programs in Haiti.



The document will support the country in its response to the major issues affecting its development trajectory. To implement its strategic priorities, the United Nations in Haiti favors an integrated approach that takes into account the response to the immediate and long-term needs of the populations and groups most at risk, in particular women and young people. To do this, the United Nations strives to strengthen opportunities for peacebuilding and development and to foster the effective respect of human rights, leaving no one behind.



The UN is counting on a broad partnership to achieve the five Main Outcomes of the cooperation framework that will contribute to the desired transformative change in Haiti. These effects relate respectively to the areas of good governance and the rule of law; human rights and security; an inclusive business model; basic social services, environmental protection, multidimensional risk management and territorial governance.



The Framework for Cooperation for Sustainable Development promotes a model of cooperation that will help Haiti to exploit its own wealth and the potential of its inhabitants to promote inclusive economic growth, effective respect for human rights and the gender equality, well-being and a better distributed prosperity, and on the other hand to improve capacities for resilience and prevention of conflicts and natural disasters.



The document is aligned with the priority actions of Haiti's Strategic Development Plan, as well as the Doha Program of Action for Least Developed Countries and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - National Day of the Haitian Diaspora : Message of reflection from Lesly Conde





This Thursday, April 20, 2023, as part of the National Day of the Haitian Diaspora celebrated every year since 2011 (presidential decree of March 16, 2011 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2667-haiti-society-the-diaspora-will-be-celebrated-each-year-on-april-20.html ), Lesly Conde Former Consul General of Haiti in Chicago (August 2004 - May 2018), delivered a message of reflection that we invite you to read and to share.



Message from Lesly Conde :



"Members of the great Haitian family from everywhere,



I have the immense privilege of being with you, again this year, to commemorate the annual day of the Haitian diaspora. It is an opportunity for us to reflect together on the many and gigantic challenges that constitute the daily life of our compatriots. This day of the Haitian diaspora is very important because it puts us in the presence of the role that we are all called to play in the survival of the country that saw us born. As the situation in our country is slow to improve, the collaboration of our diaspora becomes more and more necessary. There are skills everywhere in the diaspora who can, one day, mobilize for the development of our country.



The Haitian diaspora is diversifying and expanding as time passes and the situation in our country refuses to improve. Today we have a diaspora on all continents. Above all, we must be aware of the fact that citizens who are so desperate that they want to leave their country at any cost are extremely vulnerable. There are therefore compatriots in the diaspora who need solidarity.



Our young compatriots do not hesitate to throw themselves by the thousands into the arms of uncertainty rather than face certain obliteration. It is not uncommon for the opportunities found to be virtual slavery. But we are, all the same, satisfied to be able to work, and there is the family there waiting.



The primary concern of the majority of Haitians in the diaspora is the financial assistance to be sent to the family in Haiti. This is how money transfers are an important part of our country's economy. It is to be hoped that this important contribution of the Haitian diaspora will one day be able to serve the cause of the development of our native land.



We all dream of the day when members of the Haitian diaspora will be able, if they wish, to return to the country to allow their compatriots to benefit from the training and experience they have acquired far from the soil."



Reflection messages from Lesly Conde in 2023 :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39222-haiti-holy-week-2023message-of-reflection-from-lesly-conde.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-39124-icihaiti-social-international-day-against-racism-message-from-lesly-conde.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-39116-icihaiti-international-francophonie-day-message-from-lesly-conde.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39016-haiti-social-message-of-reflection-by-lesly-conde.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38747-haiti-black-history-month-message-of-reflection-from-lesly-conde.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38592-haiti-earthquake-2010-message-of-reflection-from-lesly-conde.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38507-haiti-history-message-of-reflection-from-lesly-conde.html



All Lesly Conde's reflection messages in 2022 :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38451-haiti-christmas-end-of-year-message-from-lesly-conde.html



All Messages from Lesly Conde in 2021 :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35584-haiti-social-wishes-from-lesly-conde-on-the-occasion-of-the-new-year.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2023/04/19 | Source

Actor Cha Seo-won's original TVING "Unintentional Love Story" had a happy ending.

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The trust-recovery heart-throbbing romance drama "Unintentional Love Story", which tells the story of two men who fell in love with each other in a relationship that began with a lie on the 14th, ended.

Cha Seo-won plays the role of Yoon Tae-joon, a genius potter, in "Unintentional Love Story", completing a heart-shaking romance every episode. From the first meeting between Cha Seo-won (Yoon Tae-joon) and Gongchan (Ji Won-yeong), the excitement-filled moment of confirming mixed feelings, to the end of solving deep misunderstandings and loving each other, Cha Seo-won settled on viewers' hearts.

Cha Seo-won, who revitalized the character Yoon Tae-joon, said through his agency Namoo Actors, "Thanks to the work "Unintentional Love Story" that came like spring, Yoon Tae-joon's six months were really warm and happy. I would like to express my gratitude to the production company, director, writer, many staff members, our actors, and viewers who created this moment", he said.

As Cha Seo-won challenges this genre for the first time, he made various efforts to build a character called Yoon Tae-joon by participating in pottery practice for months as well as detailed analysis to build a character. Having joined the military in November last year, he is currently fulfilling his national defense duties.
Published on 2023/04/19 | Source

Netflix's original series "Bloodhounds" will release Kim Sae-ron's appearance without full editing.

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On the 18th, a Netflix official said, "Kim Sae-ron is not edited out in "Bloodhounds"", adding, "She does not participate in official promotional activities".

Netflix's new series drama "Bloodhounds" tells the story of three young people who chase money and enter the world of the private loan industry as they are caught up in huge forces. Actors Kim Sae-ron, Woo Do-hwan, Lee Sang-yi, Park Sung-woong, and Huh Joon-ho will appear.

Earlier, Kim Sae-ron was handed over to trial on May 18th last year for driving drunk at Hakdong Intersection in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and was fined 20 million won on the 5th. Both Kim Sae-ron and the prosecution gave up their appeal and the first trial sentence was confirmed.

After the drunk driving was discovered, the production said, "We decided not to participate in the scheduled filming of "Bloodhounds. Most of the filming has already been completed, and we are discussing editing the existing film".

Since then, actor Jung Da-eun has been newly added to "Bloodhounds" and Kim Sae-ron was expected to be edited out. However, it turned out that Jung Da-eun and Kim Sae-ron were not the same characters, and Kim Sae-ron's volume was also not edited out.
Published on 2023/04/19 | Source

New stills added for the Korean drama "Duty After School" (2023).

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Directed by Seong Yong-il

Written by Yoon Soo-I

Network: TVING

With Shin Hyun-soo, Lee Soon-won, Lim Se-mi, Kwon Eun-bin, Kim Ki-hae, Kim Min-chul,...

10 episodes - Fri 16:00

Part 1 - 6 episodes: 2023/03/31

Part 2 - 4 episodes: 2023/04

When mysterious alien spheres start invading the world, high school students are called upon to join the world's first war against extraterrestrial forces.

Synopsis

Unidentified extraterritorial spheres take over the world. The Department of Defense, in a desperate bid to recruit more soldiers, offers college admission incentives to get 18-year-olds to sign up as part of the reserved forces. A High school's class of 2022 seniors sign up to become soldiers, and they soon become frontline fighters in the war.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2023/03/31 - 2023/04/21
The Board of Directors of the North Carolina Community Foundation has elected Katharine Kack Harrison Hardin as its 10th chair. Hardin succeeds Steven W. Wangerin who served as chair since 2021.

Kack Hardin. Photo submitted.

A member of the board since 2014, Hardin previously served as Vice Chair/Treasurer and Finance Chair.

Hardin, a native of Rocky Mount, N.C., is currently the office administrator for James C. Hardin III, PLLC. Following a career as a congressional staff member and a vice president/secretary of NationsBank (now Bank of America) in the Foundation and Endowment Trust Group, Hardin assisted her husband in establishing his own law firm which specializes in trust and estate planning.

She currently lives in Rock Hill, S.C., and has been involved as a board member for Saint Marys School in Raleigh and the YMCA of Upper Palmetto, a member of the Junior Leagues of Washington, D.C., and Charlotte as well as a committed community volunteer. Hardin received her degrees from Saint Marys Junior College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I am grateful for the opportunity to further serve North Carolina and Im proud to be joined by a group of strong servant leaders, Hardin said. Im looking forward to continuing NCCFs forward momentum of growth and providing strong philanthropic support of North Carolinas rural communities.

Steven Wangerin. Photo submitted.

Wangerin stepped in as chair after the death of Rodney E. Martin. Wangerin is the executive vice president and chief credit officer for Coastal Bank & Trust in Jacksonville. He has a long history of involvement with NCCF and is a founding member of the Onslow Caring Community Foundation, an affiliate of NCCF.

My involvement with NCCF began more than two decades ago and Im honored to have had the opportunity to lead the board, Wangerin said. I am proud of the work this organization accomplished during my tenure, including distributing $5.5 million through the North Carolina Healing Communities Fund in support of nonprofits impacted by the pandemic.

Steve followed in the footsteps of a strong leader and Kack does the same. She is a steady leader who brings a deep understanding of the needs across our state, says Jennifer Tolle Whiteside, NCCF President & CEO. As we enter our 35th year, she will provide the stability and support we need to continue to grow as we serve our communities.

Additionally, William Brody, of Raleigh, joined the board as a member at large. Originally from Greenville, N.C., Brody is the co-founder and CEO of Nooshee Inc., a biotechnology company focused on creating products in the womens and family health space. Nooshees first product, a novel breast pump, is actively in development.

William Brody. Photo submitted.

Brody earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University in Economics in 2012 and an M.B.A. from Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business in 2018. Prior to his time at Nooshee, William founded and managed BlueDot Properties, a real estate investment firm focused on value-add opportunities in eastern and central North Carolina.

He currently serves on the Board of Visitors for the Fuqua School of Business, chairs the Investment Committee for the East Carolina University Medical and Health Sciences Foundation and sits on the Greenville, N.C., regional board for Towne Bank.

About the North Carolina Community Foundation

The North Carolina Community Foundation is the single statewide community foundation serving North Carolina and has administered more than $217 million in grants since its inception in 1988. With more than $440 million in assets, NCCF sustains more than 1,200 endowments established to provide long-term support of a broad range of community needs, nonprofit organizations, institutions and scholarships.

NCCF partners with a network of affiliate foundations to provide local resource allocation and community assistance across the state. An important component of NCCFs mission is to ensure that rural philanthropy has a voice at the local, regional and national levels.

To learn more, visit nccommunityfoundation.org.

Courtesy of the North Carolina Community Foundation.

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The Board of the Hanken School of Economics has announced the establishment of a new English-taught Bachelor's degree program alongside the traditional Swedish-taught program during its meeting on April 19, 2023. The first students for the new program will be selected in 2024. Additionally, the board appointed Gyongyi Kovacs , Mika Gabrielsson , and Soren Kock as new vice-rectors.

English Bachelor's Program

The Hanken board decided in its meeting that, from 2024, bachelor's studies will be offered in English alongside the Swedish program. The English-taught Bachelor in Business program will commence in Helsinki in the summer of 2024, with 80 study places available.

The Swedish-taught bachelor's program will continue to be Hanken's main educational focus, with a larger number of students than the English program. Moving forward, just over 300 students will be admitted to the Swedish-taught program and 80 students to the new English-taught program. Students can pursue a Bachelor of Commerce degree in both Swedish and English in Helsinki and Vaasa. All bachelor's program students are automatically entitled to complete a master's degree at Hanken.

The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has encouraged universities and higher education institutions to admit more students, including international students. By establishing the English-taught bachelor's program in 2024, Hanken contributes to raising Finland's educational level and to the training of international professionals employed in Finland.

Vice-Rectors

Hanken has appointed Gyongyi Kovacs, Mika Gabrielsson, and Soren Kock as vice-rectors for a three-year term starting from August 1, 2023. Gyongyi Kovacs will be responsible for research, Mika Gabrielsson for education, and Soren Kock for international relations and acting as the rector's deputy in Vaasa.

In addition to these three vice-rectors, two deputy vice-rectors were also appointed. Current vice-rector Kaj Storbacka will continue as deputy vice-rector with responsibility for continuing education and corporate cooperation. Nikodemus Solitander will serve as deputy vice-rector with responsibility for sustainable development.

HT
Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) architect students got 30 visitors from Germany and Greece at the end of March. Erasmus Blended Intensive Program (BIP) courses are unique international cooperation in the field of engineering.

The first intensive part was held in Tampere, Helsinki and Seinajoki. Germany will follow in the autumn, and Greeks turn will be in the spring 2024. Finnish students participate to all these three parts.

The students worked in the same small groups the whole week. The groups consisted in two students from each country. The theme for the study unit is light. Light was chosen, because it is very different in the North, in central Europe and Mediterranean countries.

"As architects, we should not only look but also see.We focus on little things that make a difference. Different shades and colors of light. Being adaptive to the environment is something that we have learned as well. If we would have done this group assignment in Germany or Greece, it would have been totally different", says Konstantinos Tsinsis from Aristotle University.

"We have learned a lot about the light, taking a lot of closer inspection. We visited many places and we had to focus more on finding light and seeing how it enters the spaces. So, I think we approach every building and every space in a different way than we would if we were just tourists around here", adds Vanessa Herold from Jade Hochschule.

New dimension to international educational cooperation

TAMK's part is coordinated by teachers Minna Nystrom-Jarvinen and Elina Ritola. According to Nystrom-Jarvinen, the language of architecture is international.

"In previous years, we have attended construction architecture training at universities in our discipline. So, something similar has been done in the past, but now the Erasmus BIP Program gave a whole new dimension of cooperation. Despite the huge amount of work, it's great to see the students' enthusiasm, and how teaching methods and practices from different countries are compared and utilized."

The project started when Birgit Remuss, Jade Hochshule's teacher, spent an academic year at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and with her colleagues there, she thought about expanding the cooperation between the universities.

"Erasmus BIP projects must have the cooperation of at least three higher education institutions. I remembered that Minna Nystrom-Jarvinen gave a good lecture in Oldenburg a few years ago. I asked Minna if TAMK would be interested in joining the project, and she was immediately excited about it."

Nystrom-Jarvinen believes that the project will be for everyone an experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

"We definitely want to continue this kind of cooperation patterns. We hope that our students will be granted a travel grant for this type of purpose, just like Greek and German students."

The real character of Tampere

Tampere appears cozier and warmer to our international guests than Helsinki. According to German student Hai Duc Vuong, Tampere is a very well-planned city.

"I like the urban planning and public transport. The distances are so short that you can walk them. There is an opportunity to do anything. The buildings are another story."

The teachers of the Greek group, Venetia Tsakalidou and Styliani Lefaki, think it is surprising to see a theater in the center of Tampere in dialogue with a factory.

"We are used to historical centers of towns  our urban life doesnt include the industrial zone. But this a very unique experience, how you have resolved. The real character of Tampere is that it combines everything together."

HT

Source: Tampere University of Applied Sciences
A new report by UNICEF reveals that 67 million children worldwide missed basic vaccinations over the past three years, with a drop in vaccination rates recorded in 112 countries. The report, entitled The State of the World's Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination, highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems, limited resources, conflicts, and instability, and the decrease in vaccination confidence.

The report warns that vaccine hesitancy may be on the rise due to several factors such as uncertainties related to pandemic management, the spread of misinformation, distrust of expert knowledge, and political polarization.

Despite this decline in vaccination rates, overall support for vaccines remains relatively strong, with over 80% of respondents in almost half of the 55 surveyed countries considering vaccines important for children. However, the report calls for further research to determine if the decrease in trust is indicative of a longer-term trend. The report cautions that the threat of vaccine hesitancy is increasing due to the combined effect of several factors, and if trust in routine vaccinations is not maintained, the next wave of deaths could be from preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, or other vaccine-preventable diseases.

The pandemic interrupted vaccination programs worldwide, and as a result, the worst setback in children's vaccination rates in 30 years is ongoing. Disruptions were caused by healthcare system overload, redirection of vaccination resources to COVID-19 vaccines, lack of healthcare personnel, and social distancing guidelines. The pandemic has worsened inequality, and children living in poor and remote communities still do not receive vaccinations as they are unavailable or too expensive. Of the 67 million children who missed routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, 48 million did not receive any routine vaccinations. Unvaccinated children often live in hard-to-reach communities such as rural areas or urban slums.

To prevent disease outbreaks, action must be taken to increase vaccination coverage. For example, in 2022, the number of measles cases was more than double the previous year. The number of children paralyzed by polio increased by 16% compared to the previous year in 2022. To ensure that every child is vaccinated, primary healthcare must be strengthened, and employees must have the resources and support they need.

UNICEF calls on governments to:

Urgently identify and reach all children who did not receive vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Strengthen vaccine demand by increasing trust and knowledge of vaccination.

Ensure that vaccines are available and affordable to everyone.

Invest in primary healthcare systems and healthcare workers to provide quality services to all children.

In conclusion, the report highlights the urgent need to prioritize routine vaccinations to prevent preventable deaths and disease outbreaks, especially in marginalized communities. It is crucial to rebuild trust in routine vaccinations to ensure that children worldwide receive the basic protection they need to lead healthy lives.

HT
Defendants get prison time for multiple felonies

Numerous defendants pleaded guilty to crimes that included simple drug possession, felony possession of a firearm, indecent liberties with a child, armed robbery and drug trafficking during the most recent two-week session of Henderson County Criminal Superior Court, District Attorney Andrew Murray announced.

Among the most serious offenses:

Abel Carbajal-Gonzalez, 29, of East Flat Rock, pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine and conspiring to traffic in cocaine. According to court records and the sentencing hearing, on Oct. 23, 2019, the SBI along with the Henderson County Drug Task Force, after a lengthy investigation involving countless hours of surveillance and numerous confidential informant-controlled drug purchases, executed an arrest warrant for Abel Carbajal-Gonzalez, along with a warrant for his residence at 104 Jody Street (unit A) in East Flat Rock. As a result of the executed warrants, over 5 ounces of cocaine, several guns, and a plethora of drug paraphernalia were confiscated. Carbajal-Gonzalez was taken into custody without incident. In court, he entered a guilty plea to trafficking in cocaine and conspiring with others to traffic in cocaine. Chief Resident Superior Court Judge Peter Knight accepted the plea arrangement and sentenced Carbajal-Gonzalez to a consolidated sentence of five years 10 months to seven years 11 months in prison and ordered him to pay a mandatory minimum fine of $50,000.

Charles W. Tozer, 37, of Asheville, pleaded guilty to robbery with a dangerous weapon for the armed robbery of a Shell gas station in Fletcher on March 26, 2022. The defendant displayed a black revolver to a gas station employee and then proceeded to forcefully remove cash from the register. On the same day as the robbery, Fletcher detectives appealed for public assistance via social media, along with pictures of the defendant. Shortly after the broadcast, detectives received a tip identifying the perpetrator. The information was corroborated with evidence collected at the crime scene, including a partial palm print. Tozer was arrested pursuant to an issued warrant. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years 11 months to nine years five months in prison.

Dax E. Suarez, 42, of Hendersonville, pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise. To win a conviction on the charge, prosecutors must prove the defendant violated a series of continuing felony drug laws and acted as a manager in concert with five or more other violators. In addition, the state must prove the defendant gained a substantial income or resources from his/her drug enterprise. Through a multiple-month extensive investigation, the Henderson County Drug Task Force was able to establish that Suarez, along with many others, was involved in the distribution of large quantities of methamphetamine in Henderson County and the surrounding area. Investigators were able to establish probable cause on Dec. 20, 2019, for a blue light stop of a vehicle operated by Suarez. An inspection of the vehicle rendered multiple ounces of methamphetamine. The defendant was arrested without incident. Suarez pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years 11 months to nine years five months maximum in prison as part of a plea arrangement.

Murray thanked state and local law enforcement officers for their professional investigations, hard work, selfless sacrifices and unwavering commitment to protecting the lives of Henderson County residents. Through their tireless efforts, numerous lives have undoubtedly been saved, he said.
$206,000 missing from cemetery remains a mystery

A hearing on a contempt of court motion against Shepherd Memorial Park last week raised more questions than answers in the hunt for a potential $206,000 in business receipts and efforts to locate missing records of the troubled business that remains in court-ordered receivership.

Melody Shepherd, the sole surviving owner of the business that operated Thos. Shepherd & Son funeral home for more than a century and still owns the cemetery, testified in court last week that her offices at the cemetery and funeral home had been cleaned out when she returned from a long leave of absence while caring for her husband, Thomas R. "Tom" Shepherd, who died on Dec. 31, 2021, three weeks after state regulators revoked the funeral homes license and shut it down.

The testimony came during a hearing on a motion filed by the N.C. Cemetery Commission to find Shepherd Memorial Park in contempt for failing to turn over records and take corrective action to fix problems a receiver found at the cemetery. Stephen P. Lindsay, who is Melody Shepherds new attorney along with Mary Ann Hollocker, made reference repeatedly to progress he and the defendant had made to sort things out by working with Gary McDowell, the cemeterys court-appointed manager, and Sharon Alexander, the Hendersonville attorney who represents the cemetery commission.

Were looking for solutions, Lindsay said, and I think weve been working together to try to accomplish that and working with Ms. Alexander to try to accomplish that. Given what we have learned, it sounds to me like there is more information out there from a financial perspective that needs to be obtained before the court can rule on the contempt motion.

Superior Court Judge Marvin P. Pope of Asheville agreed to recess the hearing until next week to give the receiver and the attorneys more time to search for records and potentially question former employees.

Both Shepherd and McDowell testified that they believed the cemetery was being managed in Melody Shepherds absence by an employee, Daniel Yeager. Lindsay said that Shepherds former attorney, Michael Edney, had been hired to assist in the operation of these businesses and dealing with problems that come up, some of which were dealing with here today.

In a status report he filed with the court last Wednesday, Lindsay said that:

We do not have any records about receipts of payments totaling $205,867.35. He said he tried to get information from Edney, who told him that the bank account was closed many months ago and that Edney had no information about these receipts. Records from First Bank and First Citizens Bank had been provided to the receiver; Lindsay said in court last Wednesday that McDowell was meeting with United Community Bank, a third bank where the business had an account, later that day.

Vehicles that were identified as problematic  broken down or unusable  were removed from the memorial park as the Cemetery Commission demanded.

We have no information about burials performed in 2021. Records, he said, would have been maintained by Yeager, whom Lindsay had been unable to locate or contact.

He is unaware of any trust payments made to the cemetery. He requested trust account information from Edney but only received information related to an unrelated pending lawsuit.

While Lindsay said his office had received several bankers boxes filled with cemetery files, his questioning of McDowell and Shepherd suggested that there is more unknown than known about the cemeterys business and finances in the time Melody Shepherd was absent.

Based on your personal investigation into things and inquiries into things, some questions have come up about the integrity of the way Yeager may have handled some of these?

Yes, McDowell responded.

Despite missing records and questions about what happened in 2021 and 2022, McDowell, who also is manager of Western Carolina State Veterans Cemetery in Black Mountain, has gotten the cemetery up and running.

If Im understanding things correctly, youre actually moving forward with the business, the business is holding its own, Lindsay said. Theyre performing burials. Youve got a staff there thats helping you work and things are moving in a positive direction.

Yes, McDowell said.

Melody Shepherd's offices were cleaned out

Shepherd testified that she was away from the business for at least two or three years during the period when the N.C. Board of Funeral Service was investigating numerous complaints that led ultimately to the shutdown of the funeral home and when the N.C. Cemetery Commission was also forcing the cemetery into receivership.

I had a key and Tom had a key, and I went to the cemetery, she said of her first visit back. I had not been there for quite some time. It was after the surgery and my office  the door was open and it had literally been cleaned out. At the funeral home, too, Everything in my office was cleaned out, she said.

At one point, Edney had access to the businesss post office box but that has since been closed, Shepherd said.

Lindsay said, And you dont have any funds, any checks or anything like that that would have been in payment made for services?

I dont know where they are or where theyve gone, she said. I dont know. Im sorry.

Lindsay told Judge Pope that he and his staff would continue to go through the boxes of records they now had, in coordination with McDowell and Alexander, in an effort to fill out a historical picture of burials, vendor records, bills paid or received in 2021 and 2022 and recover the missing $206,000.

Im also expecting some additional information from former counsel and I have a number of banker boxes of records that I got from former counsel that Im going through that may have some helpful information for you, Lindsay told the receiver.

Toward the tail end of her testimony, Shepherd thanked Lindsay for trying to sort things out.

You have been a gift from God and Ive been living in hell for the last three years, she said.

Well, lets hope that we both can work our way out of it, the attorney said. I dont know that I rise to the level of God but I dont know that anybody really deserves to be in hell.
A CORONER has warned that more allergy sufferers will die due to a lack of national leadership following the death of an aspiring doctor from Henley.

Heidi Connor said the case of 17-year-old Alexandra Briess was not new territory, citing three other incidents of people dying of anaphylaxis.

She has written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay saying that lives are at risk without better funding and research into the condition.

Mrs Connor, senior coroner for Berkshire, is calling for the creation of a new leadership role for allergies and responsibility within NHS England to co-ordinate a national plan.

Her comments follow an inquest into the death of Miss Briess in December which heard that she had died from a reaction to a common anaesthetic.

She had undergone an uneventful tonsillectomy in May 2021 but suffered post-operative bleeding and required further surgery eight days later.

During anaesthesia, her condition suddenly deteriorated and she suffered a cardiac arrest.

Despite attempts to resuscitate her, she died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Investigations revealed that the most likely cause of her death was as an anaphylactic reaction to Rocuronium, a drug she had not had before. Her reaction to it was unpredictable.

Mrs Connor described Miss Briess as a bright and well-loved young woman who had planned to study medicine.

She has also written to allergy organisations demanding change.

Allergy charities in the UK have long been calling for more funding to research the field. Mrs Connor called for a new job role to be created within the NHS to act as the leader for allergies at a national level, overseeing and

co-ordinating funding and research.

She said the organisations were already in place and showing goodwill to understanding allergies but they needed to work together. If not, more people were at risk of death.

In a report called Prevention of Future Deaths, Mrs Connor said: The only way to improve understanding and prevent or reduce future deaths is to gather information nationally and fund appropriate research.

Appropriate organisations already exist and there is a lot of goodwill towards improving understanding in this area.

It does, however, require national leadership and joining up of these organisations. There is significant goodwill and desire to improve among numerous organisations involved in anaphylaxis work.

What is lacking is national leadership and funding. In my view, consideration should be given to creating a leadership role and responsibility within NHS England to co-ordinate a national approach.

Mrs Connor said it should be mandatory that fatal reactions are referred to the UK Fatal Anaphylaxis Registry, something which charities have been calling for.

The registry was happy to take on the task and distribute information to relevant organisations.

Mrs Connor said the process of information sharing should be

prioritised.

She said: Gathering data and using this to research and reduce the risk of future deaths requires funding, and this should be reviewed. Mrs Connor cited the cases of three other people who died from allergies and where coroners raised concerns.

Celia Marsh, 42, died after eating a vegan Pret A Manger wrap with milk in, Shante Turay-Thomas, 18, died after eating hazelnut at home and Ruben Bousquet, 14, died after eating popcorn contaminated with milk while at a cinema.

At their inquests, coroners warned there needed to be more funding to prevent allergy deaths.

A tribute page set up in Miss Briesss memory raised almost 9,000.

Friends remembered the beautiful girl and a loyal and loving friend with a great sense of fun.

Miss Briesss father David is a retired doctor and her mother Tanya is a GP practice nurse.
Jews in the process of being deported from the Warsaw Ghetto following the revolt of April-May 1943. (From the family archives of Maciej Grzywaczewski, son of Leszek Grzywaczewski.)

(JNS) - The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was not the only example of armed Jewish resistance against the Nazis during the Holocaust. A very small percentage of ghetto prisoners fought, and the revolt occurred late in the war, from April 19 to May 16, 1943.

"There is plenty of ignorance in the general public about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and about the context in which it took place," Zachary Mazur, a senior historian at the Warsaw-based POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, told JNS.

Mazur will participate in a discussion on "Battles over the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Memory Wars" on Apri...
No trip to Jerusalem is complete without a bit of shopping. Here, the Chabad of North Orlando group visits the upscale Mamilla Mall, where we all wore white "Land and Spirit" scarves. It wasn't for religious reasons - it was cold!

Mystical, spiritual, busy and darn fun! That's my description of my recent eight-day trip to Israel sponsored by the Jewish Learning Institute, Chabad's comprehensive learning/educational resource company headquartered in Brooklyn.

The trip was attended by some 750 Jews and 60 rabbis from across the United States, plus a few international travelers. The March 12-19 Israel trip was unique in that it offered seven different programming tracks, with names like "Food and Wine," "In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors" and "Meet the Israelis." "The trip appealed to Jews who had never been ther...
The annual March of the Living at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in Poland, April 28, 2022.

(JNS) - This year's March of the Living, the annual tribute to the 6 million held at the site of the former German death camp Auschwitz in Poland, was conducted under the theme of "Honoring Jewish heroism in the Holocaust."

The event took place April 19, on Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was the first time since the global pandemic that the March was held in its full format, with delegations from well over 25 countries and 10,000 participating.

It falls one day before the historical date marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

"Jewish bravery during the Holocaust...
(JTA)  Berlin police are investigating a pro-Palestinian rally where demonstrators allegedly chanted Death to the Jews and Death to Israel, phrases that if verified could be criminal offenses under Germanys strict post-World War II hate speech laws.

Hundreds of people showed up in the Kreuzberg and Neukolln neighborhoods on Saturday at a rally organized in response to the police clashes with Muslim worshipers at the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem last week. In video captured by a watchdog called Democ, many were also shown praising the Qassem Brigades armed...
(JNS)  Nearly half a century ago, the U.S. Congress proclaimed 1978 as a year of education, and over the next four and half decades the president has annually proclaimed Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersons Hebrew birthday, the 11th of Nissan, as education day in his honor.

Now, following the bipartisan tradition, U.S. President Joe Biden has announced that day, which this year fell on April 2, as a national Day of Education and Sharing to commemorate the life of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.

On Education and Sharing Day, we honor the memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Mena...
(JTA)  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew his firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing a sharp rise in violence in recent days, and suggested that proposed changes to the countrys judicial system that have sparked widespread protest were no longer imminent.

In another concession to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have flooded the streets to protest the planned changes, Netanyahu added on Monday that a yet-to-be established national guard corps would not answer directly to his far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

In recent days, we have wor...
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2023 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando this summer.

For more than 30 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award, said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last years recipient was Dr. Edward Zissman. Former recipients have included Sarah Stern (2017), Loren Londo...
(JNS)  Victims and relatives have yet to claim millions of belongings that Nazi authorities stole from Jews and others during the Holocaust, a British official said on March 28 during an international conference of Holocaust representatives in London.

Eric Pickles, the United Kingdom governments special envoy for post-Holocaust issues, complained that international auctioneers are profiting from stolen artwork and other valuable artifacts as survivors who can identify their previous possessions dwindle.

We need to get a grip on this in the next five years, or it will be too late,...
Palestinian terror cell arrested in Jenin

(JNS)  Israeli forces on Tuesday arrested a terrorist cell in Jenin, in northern Samaria, that intended to carry out an attack in an immediate time frame.

Five terrorists were detained during the operation carried out by the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Border Police, according to a statement from the IDF.

The IDFs Duvdevan undercover counterterror unit, a paratrooper patrol and a Shin Bet-directed military unit conducted the morning arrests, seizing ammunition and military equipment.

During the raid in Je...
(JTA)  When Israel and Poland agreed to resume Israeli youth trips to Polish Holocaust sites last month, their agreement stipulated that new sites be added to the students itineraries, including some that document Nazi crimes against non-Jewish Poles. Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust memorial and history authority, is now calling those additions inappropriate and problematic.

In statements to Haaretz published on Monday, leading historians condemned the development, arguing that the new trip rules advance what they call Polands track record of obscuring its Holocaust re...
(JTA)  Picture a cute-looking, 6 1/2-year-old girl with curly braided hair. She is standing on a sidewalk, on a cold, dreary day in Leipzig, Germany, together with her parents and my wife and me. My granddaughter Vivi is staring intently at a 75-year-old worker, kneeling on the ground. He is digging a hole through the pavers to install several 4 x 4 brass plaques mounted on cement cubes  memorials to relatives who perished at the hands of the Nazis more than 80 years ago.

In February, we traveled 9,500 miles round-trip to dedicate 12 Stolpersteine plaques in memory of relatives...
(JNS)  In a social-media post on Friday night, Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. (res.) Tal Russo urged fellow anti-government activists to skip the demonstrations scheduled for the following evening.

In light of the difficult events throughout the country, security and police forces are on high alert and deployed in central locations from the Gaza Strip to the northern border, he tweeted. I therefore call on my comrades-in-protest against the coup to cancel tomorrows countrywide rallies. The situation demands it!

Russo, who served in various high positions in the IDF and ha...
Throughout the streets of Efrat, the Judean mountain town of about 12,000 in which I live, on Sunday afternoon, thousands of people stood silently, in reverence and grief, to provide comfort. Praying. We had been asked to line the streets as the Dee family drove from their home in my neighborhood to the cemetery just a few miles away, to bury Maya (20) and Rina (15) who had been murdered in a terrorist attack two days earlier. Entire families stood silently, even with children too young to know why they were standing there.

Among the thousands of people, there were hand-printed signs show...
This week is anticipated to be eventful in terms of celestial occurrences, with one of the most significant transits of the year taking place - Jupiter moving into Aries sign. In addition, there will be celebrations of festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya (Akha Teej) and Ganga Saptami (Ganga Jayanti). Apart from this, there will be auspicious muhuratas for sale and purchase of property and vehicle. Let's explore the essential Panchanga details for New Delhi, NCT, India, for the week.

Shubh Muhurat This Week

According to Vedic Astrology, the odds of accomplishing a task successfully are significantly enhanced if they are carried out during an auspicious muhurata. An auspicious muhurata provides us with the best outcome possible according to our destiny if we execute the work in harmony with the cosmic timeline. That is why it is essential to take muhurata into account while commencing any auspicious work. This weeks Shubh Muhurat for various activities are as follows:

Vivah Muhurat: There is no auspicious muhurata available for marriage this week

Griha Pravesh Muhurat: There is no auspicious muhurata available for griha pravesh this week

Property Purchase Muhurat: Auspicious muhurata for purchasing property this week is available on April 27 (05:44 AM to 07:00 AM)

Vehicle Purchase Muhurat: Auspicious muhurata for purchasing vehicle this week is available on April 23 (05:48 AM to 07:47 AM), April 24 (08:24 AM to 02:07 AM, Apr 25), April 26 (05:45 AM to 11:27 AM) and April 27 (01:38 PM to 05:43 AM, Apr 28)

Upcoming Planetary Transits This Week

In Vedic astrology, planetary transits are particularly crucial since they are the principal way of anticipating the changes and advances in life. Planets move on a daily basis and go through several nakshatras and rashis in the process. It assists in comprehending us the nature and characteristic of events as they occur. Here are the upcoming transits this week:

Mercury becomes retrograde on April 21, Friday, at 2:04 PM

Jupiter enters Aries sign on April 22, Saturday, at 6:12 AM

Mars enters Punarvasu nakshatra on April 22, Saturday, at 9:11 AM

Ketu transits Swati pada on April 24, Monday, at 8:33 PM

Venus enters Mrigashira nakshatra on April 26, Wednesday, at 3:45 PM

Upcoming Festivals This Week

Chandra Darshana (Friday, April 21): Also known as Chandra Darshan, it is a Hindu festival that is observed to celebrate the sighting of the crescent moon after the new moon day, marking the beginning of a new lunar month in the Hindu calendar.

Also known as Chandra Darshan, it is a Hindu festival that is observed to celebrate the sighting of the crescent moon after the new moon day, marking the beginning of a new lunar month in the Hindu calendar. Akshaya Tritiya (Saturday, April 22): Also known as Akha Teej, it is a Hindu festival celebrated on the third day (Tritiya) of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of the Hindu month of Vaishakha.

Akshaya Tritiya is considered an auspicious day for various activities, including religious rituals, starting new ventures, buying gold, and giving to charity.

Matangi Jayanti (Sunday, April 23): Is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth anniversary of the goddess Matangi, who is considered to be one of the ten forms of the Divine Mother, or Dasa Mahavidyas, in Hinduism. Matangi is also known as Ucchishta Chandalini, the goddess who represents the outcaste or the marginalized sections of society.

Is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth anniversary of the goddess Matangi, who is considered to be one of the ten forms of the Divine Mother, or Dasa Mahavidyas, in Hinduism. Matangi is also known as Ucchishta Chandalini, the goddess who represents the outcaste or the marginalized sections of society. Ganga Saptami (Thursday, April 27): Ganga Saptami, also known as Ganga Jayanti, is a Hindu festival celebrated to honour the descent of the holy river Ganges, also known as Ganga, to Earth. It falls on the seventh day of the waxing phase of the Hindu month of Vaishakha.

Inauspicious Rahu Kalam This Week

According to Vedic astrology, Rahu is an inauspicious planet. During transition of planets the time under the influence of Rahu should be avoided to do any auspicious work. Doing Puja, Hawan or Yagya to propitiate auspicious planets during this time is interfered by Rahu due to its malefic nature. It is important to consider Rahu Kaal before starting any new work. By doing so, possibility of achieving desired results is increased. Following are the timings of Rahu Kalam for this week:

April 21: 10:43 AM to 12:20 PM

10:43 AM to 12:20 PM April 22: 09:04 AM to 10:42 AM

April 23: 05:13 PM to 06:51 PM

April 24: 07:25 AM to 09:03 AM

April 25: 03:36 PM to 05:14 PM

03:36 PM to 05:14 PM April 26: 12:19 PM to 01:58 PM

April 27: 01:58 PM to 03:36 PM

Panchanga is a calendar used in Vedic astrology to determine the auspicious and inauspicious time for performing day-to-day tasks based on the prevailing planetary position. It comprises of five elements - Vaara, Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana. The essence of the Panchanga is the inter-relationship between Sun (our soul) and Moon (mind) on a daily basis. Panchanga is used for different branches of Vedic astrology such as natal, election, prashna (horary), religious calendars and to understand the energy of the day. The day of our birth panchanga depicts our emotions, temperament, and nature. It can provide more insight into who we are and how we feel. It can amplify the effect of the planets and endow us with additional characteristics that we may not understand only based on our natal chart. Panchanga is the life force energy that nourishes the birth chart.

----------------------

Neeraj Dhankher

(Vedic Astrologer, Founder - Astro Zindagi)

Email: info@astrozindagi.in, neeraj@astrozindagi.in

Url: www.astrozindagi.in

Contact: Noida: +919910094779
Rajeev Bhargavas columns on ethics and politics in leading national dailies have been quite popular. His latest book, Between Hope and Despair, a collection of 100 essays, also examines the ethical issues with which India is currently grappling. It does so by asking questions, simplifying them, offering solutions, and exhorting readers to make ethical value judgements. Inter caste violence in Saharanpur in May 2017. (Shankar Shukla/Hindustan Times)

The book begins provocatively: Indias collective ethical identity is under duress. While the statement might evoke immediate cynicism, the author goes on to provide a guide to making ethical value judgements. He contends that the nations issue is not a refusal to judge, but rather an excess of value judgement manifested in self-congratulatory positive value judgement about ourselves and negative value judgement about others. In other words, we quickly categorise things into right and wrong without fully comprehending them. The anti-national category thats been in vogue for around a decade now reeks of exactly such a value judgement. To explain, Bhargava cites pro-Nazi political scholar Carl Schmitt who made the friend-enemy distinction as constitutive of politics itself. Bhargava calls this friend-enemy mentality undemocratic because no one is an enemy in a democracy; especially one who is a fellow citizen of the country. Its a distinction thats often used at election time  supporting a particular party means you are a patriot; supporting a different one means you are the enemy.

352pp, 699; Bloomsbury (Amazon)

Bhargava points out that for a long time, educated Indians refused to make their value judgement public and eschewed the use of ethical terminologies. This could have been due to the fear of gatekeepers like religious leaders, or the loss of fame. Whatever the reason, it created a huge moral vacuum in the public sphere and could perhaps have led to the emergence of a morally coarse public culture. About moral coarseness, he asks Why do we react feebly or, worse, not at all, when people beyond our little community are treated cruelly? He believes we need a moral answer to situations like mob lynching, or caste atrocities and adds that the indifference of the middle class towards evil in our society is problematic.

He points to an emerging new form of ideological violence. Events like the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh by assassination squads run by hate groups against hapless individuals for merely holding and expressing their (different) views in public, he believes, is pushing the nation towards despair. Its a situation that seems to have no immediate solution. And then there is the depressingly everyday violence rooted in toxic masculinity that individuals from underprivileged sections most often face. Like the killing of the Dalit who dared to sport a moustache or the merciless beating of a young girl who asked her lover to marry her. A key feature exhibited through images of social violence and integral to a culture of masculinity is the belief that real men are directly responsible for sustaining a moral order. Being its guardians, they must restore that order when it is disturbed, writes Bhargava. Sadly, these incidents dont elicit much response beyond social media outrage that lasts for a brief while or a symbolic protest by a few people.

Well written in a succinct style that breaks down complex concepts and explains them in the easiest way possible, Bhargavas writing makes the reader uncomfortable enough to think deeply. Between Hope and Despair raises some pertinent questions on the ideological crisis of liberal democracy. It has failed to create a commitment towards the common good that presupposes a strong sense of public spiritedness. Indeed, today the Indian urban middle class seems to believe that not speaking up on issues like mob lynching is an individual preference.

Author Rajeev Bhargava (Courtesy Bloomsbury)

We are inescapably ethical creatures, Bhargava says, and we cannot but help being oriented to the good or the bad or to the right or the wrong. This seems somewhat naive given that it seems certain that the large mass of the middle class has been refusing to take a stand. Bhargava also misses another crisis that we are faced with  collective boredom. Young people, who increasingly feel a sense of disenchantment and cynicism, prefer to adopt a more oblivious outlook toward prevalent socio-political problems. Unemployment, the nature of work, family expectations, technological interventions, and social media fuel this uneasy monotony causing them to self medicate with alcohol and drugs in an attempt to shake themselves out of this state. Until a few decades ago, this had seemed like a First World problem; no longer.

Still, this is an interesting work. These essays are a must-read for the contemporary Indian and should be translated into multiple languages so that we, as citizens of this nation, can reflect on the issues that confront us.

Edward Said contended that a public intellectuals mission should be to advance human knowledge and freedom. Following this, Bhargavas work avoids the solipsism that marks the work of most academics and his writing is direct, eschewing any unnecessary verbiage while putting forward complex ideas.

At a time when real issues are easily obfuscated and it has become imperative to know right from wrong, this book acts as a handy guide.

Mayank Jain Parichha is an independent bilingual journalist. He writes about the environment, wildlife, culture, literature, and politics.
As the crypto market is surging, what are some of the coins to keep an eye on?

The cryptocurrency market is regaining a lot of momentum, and the trend of meme coins is becoming increasingly popular. Signature Bank, a large lender to New York City apartment landlords known for its real estate lending, also provided short-term loans for private-equity investors and launched a transaction platform targeting crypto businesses. These ventures helped the bank diversify and become less vulnerable to a real estate downturn, but they were also a major reason why the bank failed. After Silicon Valley Bank was taken over by regulators, Signature Bank faced a crisis of confidence. In addition, their bet on crypto banking collapsed after the sector imploded and banking regulators cracked down on lenders exposure to digital assets. The closure of Signature Bank by regulators last week is a blow to apartment owners in New York City who often relied on the bank to refinance loans, usually with better terms than other banks.

As the crypto market has seen a surge in activity, this has led Signature Bank insiders to sell $100 million in stocks. This is an indicator of the increased interest and confidence in the crypto industry. Among the new meme coins that have emerged is Dogetti (DETI), a presale coin with a unique approach to building a strong community and increasing net worth. In this article, we will delve deeper into Dogetti and explore what makes it appealing to many investors. Lets dig in.

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The main function of Dogetti is DogettiSwap, which is built on the Ethereum network and is only compatible with ERC20 tokens.

Dogetti (DETI) is a new presale meme coin that aims to create a strong community of holders who are rewarded regularly through a 2% reflection protocol. This means that 2% of every transaction is redistributed to all wallets, which increases the net worth of all holders. The community of Dogetti (DETI) is referred to as "The Family," and this is a clear indication of the brand's focus on building a community of like-minded individuals.

The main function of Dogetti is DogettiSwap, which is built on the Ethereum network and is only compatible with ERC20 tokens. DogettiSwap has a 6% tax fee, which is broken down into three parts: 2% is redistributed to all wallets, 2% goes to a charity wallet, and 2% goes to liquidity. This approach ensures that the community benefits from every transaction, and a portion of the funds are allocated to charitable causes.

In addition to DogettiSwap, Dogetti also offers DogettiNFTs, which allow holders to collect, buy, trade, and sell NFTs. The tax breakdown for DogettiNFTs is the same as that of DogettiSwap. This feature adds an element of fun and excitement to the brand and is likely to appeal to its target audience.

Dogetti (DETI) is likely to appeal to individuals who are looking for a crypto investment opportunity that has the potential to increase their net worth. The brand's focus on building a strong community and rewarding holders is likely to appeal to individuals who value community and shared success. Furthermore, the brand's commitment to charitable causes will likely appeal to individuals who want to impact society positively.

Dogetti (DETI) is currently in the presale stage, and the brand is offering a limited-time promo code "DON50" that gives a 50% bonus on any purchase. This offer is likely to attract early investors and increase interest in the brand. DogettiSwap and DogettiNFTs will be available to the community soon, which means that holders will start benefiting from the 2% reflection protocol.

The recent sale of $100 million in stock by Signature Bank insiders during the crypto surge serves as a reminder that even as a bank like Signature Bank may be selling off shares, the crypto market is still continuing to go strong and gather momentum. Dogetti (DETI) is one of the new presale meme coins rising up with the surging crypto tide, a coin that has the potential to create a strong community of holders who benefit from a 2% reflection protocol. The brand's focus on building a community and rewarding holders is likely to appeal to its target audience. With the upcoming launch of DogettiSwap and DogettiNFTs, the brand is poised to become a significant player in the crypto industry.

Presale:https://dogetti.io/how-to-buy

Website:https://dogetti.io/

Telegram:https://t.me/Dogetti

Twitter:https://twitter.com/_Dogetti_

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 contents of the article/advertisement and/or views expressed herein.

The reader is further advised that Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.

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 views, opinions, announcements, declarations, affirmations etc., stated/featured in same. The decision to read hereinafter is purely a matter of choice and shall be construed as an express undertaking/guarantee in favour of Hindustan Times of being absolved from any/ all potential legal action, or enforceable claims. The content may be for information and awareness purposes and does not constitute a financial advice.
Struggling to gain attention in the realm of Instagram? Looking for the best website tobuy Instagram likes?

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Thunderclap.It is a well-known social media growth marketing platform that has received glowing reviews from reputable media outlets such asNDTV, Outlook India,HindustanTimes,and many others. It provides a variety of services, including Instagram likes, and has risen to prominence in the business as a result of its emphasis on delivering authentic likes from real Instagram users and great results to its clients.

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Key Highlights

Key Highlights of Thunderclap

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Step 2: Provide Required Information

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Step 3: Pay

After you've chosen a package and entered all of the essential information, it's time to pay. You can purchase as many likes as you want. Thunderclap.it's team will begin working to deliver genuine Instagram likes of high quality shortly after payment is confirmed.

Step 4: Sit Back and Relax

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GPC.FM is another renowned and trusted platform for easily purchasing Instagram likes. The business takes pleasure in providing high-quality likes from real users, which can assist in boosting your profile and online presence.

Their services are available in a variety of packages with quick turnaround times. GPC.fm, with its 24/7 customer assistance, is an ideal alternative for individuals and organizations wishing to increase their digital presence. Their offerings ensure higher client involvement and reach. Gpc.fm provides a simple and clear approach for purchasing Instagram followers, likes, and views with prompt delivery.

Key Highlights

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Swayy.co is a prominent Instagram growth service provider that provides a range of services to assist you in increasing your social media presence, including purchasing Instagram likes. One of the primary advantages of hiring Swayy.co is that they deliver genuine likes from real Instagram users, which is vital for keeping your account's integrity and reputation.

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Customer Support Quality: 7 out of 10

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Using the iDigic service is one of the greatest ways for gaining quality Instagram followers. The service has been around for a long time and has an enviable track record for providing high-quality services at reasonable pricing.

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Customer Support Quality: 7 out of 10

Follower retention rate: 6 out of 10

Overall service Score: 6 out of 10

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Why Is Thunderclap The Best Site To Buy Instagram Likes?

Thunderclap is regarded as the best site to buy Instagram likes due to its remarkable reputation and impressive services. The site has received numerous awards for its services and has garnered positive reviews from reputable media outlets such as NDTV, Outlook India, Tribune, and many others. These honors clearly exhibit Thunderclap's dependability and effectiveness in providing clients with peace of mind when using the platform.

The site's reputation and professionalism attest to its commitment to offering its clients safe, high-quality services. As a result, Thunderclap has grown into an increasingly popular choice for people and organizations looking to increase their Instagram profiles by purchasing likes.

Here are some of the features that make it stand out of the crowd;

 No Password Required

Thunderclap is one of the few sites where you can buy Instagram likes without providing your Instagram login. This means you can keep your account secure and private. You can reduce the danger of personal information being compromised by not requesting your password. This additional security feature ensures your account is safe while purchasing Instagram likes.

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Thunderclap provides a range of packages for buying Instagram likes, ranging from 50 likes to 20k likes, depending on your need. They have reasonable rates and varied packages to fit any budget. This allows you to select the bundle that best meets your needs and increases your Instagram interaction without breaking the budget.

Who Are Buying Instagram Likes in 2023?

The struggle to stick out from the rest of the pack is not new, but with the emergence of Instagram, the battle for attention has reached a whole new level. Not only are individuals competing for attention on this platform, but so are businesses and influencers. As a result, many of them have turned to purchasing Instagram likes in order to boost their visibility and gain more followers.

Let us have a look at various occupations and the advantages they can gain by buying Instagram Likes;

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Most Trending Buy Instagram Likes Packages In The Market With Price List

To have the varied needs of businesses and individuals covered, some of the top players in the market offer different packages. Let us go over the different packages that will help you buy likes for your Instagram posts.

Check out the Likes Packages at Thunderclap.it

Thunderclap.it is a renowned name in the industry when it comes to buying Instagram likes. The best part about likes from them is that people have seen a significant increase in their Instagram followers.

Besides the Instagram likes packages listed below, you can reach out to their customer support team if you are looking for some other element to increase your social media presence.

Buy 50 Instagram Likes

This is the starting package with the minimum number of IG likes that the company offers. The package includes high quality likes that you can try out for your Instagram account and see what benefits it delivers. They will not offer likes from any fake accounts, instead will deliver the services from real Instagram users.

The Package To Buy 50 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $0.99

Buy 100 Instagram Likes

The next package for increased Instagram engagement of their customer's profile is the one where they offer 100 likes. The package is a great choice for businesses who have just started with buying services for their account. With such small packages, the Instagram algorithm doesn't get affected. The package with 100 likes costs $1.99 with Thunderclap.

The Package To Buy 100 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $1.99

Buy 250 Instagram Likes

The next package that the company offers for the benefit of its customers is 250 likes. Real social media accounts will like your posts and the visibility of your profile will start increasing gradually. As soon as you place an order, you will get instant likes on the posts you want. The package with 250 likes will cost you $4.49.

The Package To Buy 250 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $4.49

Buy 500 Instagram Likes

Both businesses and individuals can buy the package with 500 likes for their profile. You will get to obtain the maximum benefits with these many likes, and also your posts will get some organic engagement. Instagram content will get a decent engagement with 500 likes on the post. Spend $5.99 to buy this package.

The Package To Buy 500 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $5.99

Buy 1000 Instagram Likes

If you want to buy real Instagram likes, and in a decent quantity, buying 1,000 likes can be a good start. Thunderclap ensures that all of them are not delivered instantly, rather a gradual delivery is done. Just by spending a few dollars, you can also make your posts go viral by opting to buy Instagram likes. The package is priced at $9.99 for affordability.

The Package To Buy 10,00 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $9.99

Buy 2500 Instagram Likes

This package has bigger offerings for businesses who are looking to get more engagement on their Instagram posts. The likes are offered from all real Instagram users, and Thunderclap assures that every time a purchase is made. The package will also help develop a social proof for your brand, and will cost you around $19.99.

The Package To Buy 2,500 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $19.99

Buy 5000 Instagram Likes

Buy real Instagram likes from your target audience with Thunderclap. They offer bigger packages as well and ensure to deliver real Instagram likes. The package with 5000 likes will cost you around $39.99 which is quite affordable as compared to the offerings of other service providers.

The Package To Buy 5,000 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $39.99

Buy 10000 Instagram Likes

The package is best suited for brands who are looking to make their posts viral among their target audience. Thunderclap offers bigger and better packages with 10,000 likes that are available at much affordable rates of $74.99.

The Package To Buy 10,000 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $74.99

Buy 20000 Instagram Likes

You can buy a whopping amount of 20,000 likes for your Instagram account. With Thunderclap, you can ask for gradual delivery to obtain the maximum benefits. This is one of the best Instagram likes packages for established businesses.

The Package To Buy 20,000 Instagram Likes Will Cost You $119.99

Checkout the Buy IG Likes Packages at GPC.fm

Another major social media marketing growth service provider on the market with the best Instagram likes packages for individuals and businesses. It offers numerous packages at affordable rates for other Instagram users to make the most of its services.

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Many consider this package to be a trial package, since the first package of 50 likes cost only $0.99 with GPC.fm. Without making a huge investment, you can try their Instagram likes service to decide better.

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The next package is of 100 likes that is perfect for getting started. Get likes on your posts from your target audience at an affordable rate of $1.99. With GPC.fm you can buy Instagram likes safely.

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Buying likes is one of the best Instagram marketing techniques that will help you grow your profile. Purchase Instagram likes easily from this company and grow your visibility.

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You can buy Instagram likes from real accounts, and in good quantity, at affordable rates. Easily buy likes without violating Instagram's terms for $5.99.

Buy 1000 Instagram Likes

You can buy 1000 likes for your Instagram posts and grow the engagement on your profile without much effort. Pay only $9.99 and get ready to grow your profile.

Buy 2500 Instagram Likes

This package is best suited for Instagram users who want to grow their profile organically. It will cost you $19.99, and you will get likes from all real accounts.

Buy 5000 Instagram Likes

GPC.fm enables you to get a good number of Instagram likes for your posts and the package of 5000 likes will cost you $39.99. They offer all real Instagram likes and keep fake accounts away.

Buy 10000 Instagram Likes

This package is best suited for large businesses looking for more engagement on their new posts. eCommerce businesses also buy this package for their posts showcasing fresh arrivals so that the post reaches many people from their target audience. You can divide the likes between posts and Instagram stories for maximum benefits. Their packages are available at affordable prices and this will cost you $119.99.

Let us now go over the best practices besides buying Instagram likes, that will help you grow the visibility of your profile.

8 Best Practices for Using Instagram Likes to Grow Your Profile

Besides buying likes for your Instagram account, you need to take care of a few other components related to your Instagram account. Below we mention some tips for Instagram popularity of your brand. Leverage them along with buying IG likes and gaining followers to unleash the potential of Instagram for your business.

Post High-Quality Content

Momentum along with the quality of content matters on Instagram. To get maximum engagement and new followers on your profile, we recommend you to post high-quality content consistently. Posting randomly on Instagram will not help. To build your audience and keep them engaged you need to create content that provides value.

Use Relevant Hashtags

While posting, ensure to use relevant hashtags on your posts so that your audience can resonate better. Instagram users can follow hashtags, and if you use hashtags relevant to your post and business, more and more people will find your brand. Be proactive when using hashtags, and ensure to use the ones that have less competition and to the point.

Post Consistently

As already stated, you need to maintain consistency when posting on Instagram. Stick to a regular posting schedule to obtain the maximum benefits on Instagram. Posting consistently on your Instagram page will help you keep the followers that you have gained over time. Instagram content will act as a social proof for your brand.

Monitor Analytics

After you post content, or buy real Instagram likes, ensure to monitor the analytics. By going through the analytics you will get to understand more about your audience, that is what their interests are, the demographics, and similar other traits. Analytics will also help you track down the best time to post, how often to post, etc.

Collaborate With Brands/ Influencers

No doubt, you can buy as many Instagram likes as you want to, besides buying Instagram services and instant likes, you can try collaborating with brands and influencers. It will help you capture the followers of the influencers and brands as well, and help grow your audience. Content creators will help bring your brand in front of your target audience on the social media platforms.

Engage With Audience/ Followers

Engagement is the key to retain followers on your account. Engaging with your audience will help gain more followers on your Instagram profile. The best way to engage with your audience is by republishing and responding to the comments of your followers. Also, it will help you stay away from fake accounts. Instagram likes services will only add to the benefits.

Use Insta Stories/reels

Reels are the form of video content that you get to post on your Instagram profile. People nowadays are engaging with video content more and so reels are the most effective way to get more targeted followers. Furthermore, you will not feel like buying Instagram followers, as it will help you gain them organically. Instagram stories are also very helpful in increasing engagement for your profile to a great extent.

Post Timely

It is highly recommended that you should determine the best time to post on Instagram, the ideal social media platform. The time should be when most of your followers are online. To seek help with identifying the best time to post, you can check out the analytics section. For you, the best time to post should be when real users interact with your content more, or when most of your followers are online.

Conclusion

The decision of buying Instagram followers or purchasing Instagram likes is not easy. You need to be extra careful with the Instagram services that you choose to buy, as the services should not violate Instagram's terms. Additionally, you cannot trust all websites to buy growth services for your profile. Be wise in deciding the company to purchase Instagram likes.

Dealing with an unreliable service provider will not help you in any way, rather, it will only result in financial loss. Boost your Instagram account with real likes and real followers.

FAQs

1. How will Instagram Likes help my business?

With more likes, you will have a robust Instagram presence and your profile will seem credible on social media networks. Believe it or not, Instagram likes are an important engagement factor for Instagram algorithms. When you get more likes on your photos or reels, the chances of getting on the top of the Explore page increase.

A few likes will help your posts get seen by more people in your target audience, and the good news is that you can buy them, too, at affordable rates.

2. Can I buy Instagram likes safely?

You need to be vigilant when choosing the service provider when buying likes. The one offering active likes from real accounts will ensure that the algorithm is not affected. If you choose the right service provider, you can buy likes safely for your profile, and the services will only help you grow.

3. What is the cheapest site to buy Instagram likes?

When looking for Instagram popularity at affordable prices, you can choose Thunderclap. They offer trustworthy and experienced services to businesses and individuals. All they need is your Instagram username to deliver the order to the right account. Furthermore, their services have helped several brands get organic engagement for their business on the platform.

4. How to get more Instagram likes in an hour on my posts?

You can easily get real likes on your posts within an hour on Instagram. No matter how much quality content you post, expecting maximum likes organically within an hour is unrealistic. To overcome this issue, you can simply opt for buying likes.

It will not only help enhance the credibility of your profile, but also showcase your post to more people. The best Instagram growth service providers offer instant delivery after purchasing likes. Furthermore, it will help you get in front of more interested users.

5. How can buying Instagram likes improve the engagement rate of my profile?

Buying active likes helps improve the engagement rate of your profile to a great extent. Instagram's algorithm considers likes as one of the visibility factors. More likes will help your profile reach the top of the explore pages. Furthermore, when you buy likes for your posts, the post will reach more accounts of other Instagram users, who will know about your brand.

If interested in your offerings, chances are that they will convert into followers and offer benefits. Interested users will connect with your brand and also talk about it with their peers.

6. How can buying likes help me have a wider audience base?

You should be aware of the fact that when you post on Instagram, not all of them reach all the followers of your account. Furthermore, you will not know the exact number of people who saw your posts. On the contrary, when you buy a certain number of likes for your posts, you are aware that many people will see your posts.

When you post quality content, the value may not reach the maximum of your audience, and your efforts go in vain. This is why it is recommended to buy likes so that your posts reach a wider audience.

7. How is buying likes and Instagram algorithms interrelated with each other?

IG likes are one of the many metrics that help measure the success of different accounts. The more likes you have on your posts; the algorithm will understand that people like your content. Considering this, the platform will bring your posts in front of people who share similar interests with the ones who already liked your content. This way, besides buying services for your profile, you will get organic benefits as well because of how Instagram algorithms work.

8. How many IG likes should one buy?

The choice of a number of buying likes depends on certain factors. These include your goals, the number of likes you already have on your posts, the number of likes you want, etc. Also, you will have to consider your budget before buying likes for your profile. Know that there are no restrictions to buy Instagram likes, and you can buy as many as you want.

9. How much does it cost to buy 50 IG likes?

The package of 50 likes with Thunderclap or GPC.fm is really cheap, and you will not even have to spend a dollar for it. You can easily buy 50 likes for your Instagram posts at only $0.99. The best part about choosing Thunderclap for Instagram likes is that you will get all real likes, and not a single one is from fake accounts or bot followers.

10. I am an influencer. Can I buy 10,000 Instagram likes in one go?

Yes, if you make a wise choice with purchasing likes for your profile on Instagram, you can easily buy 10,000 followers for your account and even more. Service providers like Thunderclap will help buy likes for posts and Instagram stories, and in your desired quantity in one go.

Placing an order with them is super easy. Just select the Instagram likes packages you want to buy, go to the payments page to make the payment, and they will deliver real Instagram likes. To be honest, you will not find buying like this easy with any other service provider.

11. I just started my business 3 days ago, can I buy IG likes? Would it look suspicious?

If you wish to buy Instagram likes, then go for it. It would not look suspicious at all if you start with buying 50 likes for a particular post.

Then after a couple of days, go for 100 likes. Simultaneously you should work on your content. Try to make your content as creative and unique as possible, then increase the number of likes. As you move further to 10k, your content should look worthwhile and appealing.

The idea is to keep things looking natural and authentic. Take your time with likes; this can make your Instagram account look fake.

12. Which site is best to buy Instagram likes?

If you are looking for the best site to buy Instagram likes, choose Thunderclap.it. It is our award-winning site and has seamlessly crossed all the hurdles of social media marketing.

It promises to deliver the best to its clients in no time. Thunderclap's best feature is getting likes from real and active accounts. You will never face the issue of bot accounts or fake followers; they know their work and perform it even better. They have a brilliant team of dedicated professionals who are for your support 24*7 with their attentive and genuine efforts.

13. Which is the best site to buy Instagram likes in the USA?

Thunderclap.it and Swayy.co are among the most elite platforms for buying Instagram likes in the USA. It enables the fastest delivery without asking you for passwords or passcodes. If you seek authentic and genuine Instagram likes, choose Swayy.co and get impressed with their phenomenal results. Also, you would be glad to know that Swayy.co comes in the top five websites to buy instagram likes along with Thunderclap.it.

Check out their website for impressive offerings for your needs and their effects on your Instagram posts. Choose different combos and avail of various discounts.

14. Which is the best site to buy Instagram likes in China?

GPC.FM is the best site to buy Instagram likes in China. It offers you likes and followers from genuine Chinese accounts. Their incredibly competitive prices offer significant discounts for bulk orders, so make the most of it.

Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Chengdu, Wuhan, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Ningbo, Dalian, Xiamen, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Fuzhou are some of the top cities for which you can buy IG likes from GPC.FM.

15. Which is the best site to buy Instagram likes in the UK?

If you are British and looking for a genuine site for buying Instagram likes, choose Thunderclap. It guarantees you fast delivery with quality followers. The best thing about Thunderclap is, in rare cases, if you miss out on a follower, they help you replace it for free. Such a great benefit! Isnt It?

So dont think much; simply choose Thunderclap, and they will help you with all your social media needs.

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 and Thailand on Thursday reviewed the progress of talks on connecting the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) with Prompt Pay Service of the south-east Asian country and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency, the commerce ministry said on Thursday. The issues were discussed during the 13th meeting of the India-Thailand Joint Trade Committee. (Representative)

The issues were discussed during the 13th meeting of the India-Thailand Joint Trade Committee.

The meeting was co-chaired by Auramon Supthaweethum, Director General of the Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, and Indu C Nair, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce, India.

In the meeting, India raised the restriction faced by domestic exporters of marine, poultry and meat products in Thailand.

Both sides discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve them, it said.

"The meeting also reviewed the progress of the ongoing efforts on connecting UPI of India with Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency," it added.

Thailand is Indias important trading partner in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) with total trade of USD 16.89 billion.

Thailand accounts for 13.6 per cent of Indias total trade with ASEAN.

It is an important destination for Indias gems and jewellery, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components and agricultural products, especially marine products.

Both sides emphasised the need for identifying new potential products and priority sectors for expanding the bilateral trade.

The officials identified a range of potential commodities and sectors for strengthened partnerships such as value-added marine products, smartphones, electric vehicles, food processing and pharmaceuticals.

"The countries also agreed that there is huge scope in collaboration in the service sector and agreed to explore establishing mutual recognition/cooperation arrangements in nursing, accounting, audiovisual and medical tourism," it added.
Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah is arriving here on Friday on a two-day visit to take stock of the party's preparations for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, his first visit to the state after announcement of poll schedule. Union minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Davanagere and Devanahalli tomorrow. (PTI)

He is slated to hold a roadshow in Devanahalli town, the birthplace of 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan, in Bengaluru Rural district on Friday afternoon.

READ | Karnataka Election 2023 Highlights: Amit Shah to visit Karnataka tomorrow

Shah would hold a meeting here with senior party functionaries regarding poll preparations in the evening, BJP sources said.

On Saturday, he is scheduled to attend an event organised by a private news channel before flying back to Delhi.

In Devanahalli, the BJP leader will campaign for the party's Pilla Munishamappa, who is pitted against the sitting JD(S) MLA L N Narayanaswamy and Congress candidate K H Muniyappa, a former Union minister and seven-time MP.

READ | Karnataka Assembly Polls: CM Bommai, Siddaramaiah, Shettar file nominations

Muniyappa, who was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is foraying into the Assembly polls for the first time.

In the 2018 Assembly election, the fight was mainly between Narayanswamy (86,966 votes) and Venkataswamy (69,956) of the Congress. The BJP candidate K Nagesh was a distant third with 9,820 votes.

The state will go to the polls on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13.
The Bengaluru Rural MP and the brother of KPCC president DK Shivakumar  DK Suresh  has filed his nomination papers from the Kanakapura constituency, where his brother is contesting from. The move is reportedly a precautionary measure by the Congress party, in case DK Shivakumars nomination gets rejected by the Election Commission. DK Shivakumar's brother, DK Suresh files nomination from Kanakapura

As Thursday is the last date to file nominations, Suresh has filed his papers in the Kanakapura constituency. Earlier, it was speculated that the Congress is planning to field DK Suresh from the Padmanabha Nagar constituency in Bengaluru against the BJP minister R Ashoka.

Along with Padmanabha Nagar, R Ashoka is also contesting from Kanakapura as the party high command has fielded him against the Congress strong man DK Shivakumar. But DK Sureshs nomination from Kanakapura constituency came as a surprise to many.

According to DK Shivakumars affidavit, there are 19 pending cases against him where he is accused of tax evasion and money laundering. DK Suresh will be Congress' plan B, if the KPCC president's nomination gets rejected.

On April 17, DK Shivakumar who is also aiming to be the chief minister of Karnataka filed his nomination papers by going as a rally with his supporters. He said that the people of Kanakapura have always blessed him and this time, the Congress is winning at least 150 seats in the state.

The elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13. April 24 is the last date to withdraw the nomination.
Intangible cultural inheritors and folk artists from nine provinces and autonomous regions along the Yellow River gathered in Dongying, Shandong province, at a festival to showcase the rich cultures cultivated along the Yellow River basin.

Handicrafts and performances were on display in booths and on stages along the banks of a downtown lake, when the city hosted a two-day Yellow Cultural Forum which started on Tuesday.

The Yellow River Festival from Sunday to Tuesday attracted citizens and tourists.

At the booth of Huanghekou Huamo, a flower-shaped steamed bun, the craftswoman, Bi Wenjing, placed a huge flower bun weighing 30 kilograms in the booth, attracting tourists to watch and take photos. Bi said she started work at 9 am and saw the visitors soaring as darkness fell.

In addition, more than 100 characteristic agricultural products were on sale, while delicious foods were also available, including barbecue from Zibo, Shandong province, which recently trended on Chinese social media.

Sun Zhaohai, a resident of Dongying said people could taste delicious food while learning about folk customs at the festival, making it perfect for children.

The Yellow River, the second-longest river in China, originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and flows through nine provinces and autonomous regions from west to east, eventually reaching the Bohai Sea. It is often called the cradle of Chinese civilization.
A day after the attack and firing on law students, Sangrur police on Thursday booked an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Sandeep Bansal alias Monu Choudhary, and his partner Munish Garg. Video grab of the attack on two law students in Sangrur. (HT)

Bansal was recently appointed as the chairperson of a government industrial training institute.

The police confirmed that Bansal is the same person, whose name was added to the FIR registered at the Sadar police station on Wednesday.

Ten persons were booked after two law students were allegedly attacked and shot at over suspicion of liquor smuggling at Mehlan Chowk in Sangrur.

Three of the accused were identified as Babbla Ghutra, Angrej and Kuldeep Ladda of Sangrur district, who have been charged under IPC Section 307 and provisions of the Arms Act.

The police said the accused were self-appointed vigilantes, who worked for contractors to check illegal sale of liquor.

According to the police, the accused were aides of local liquor contractors. Some of the accused are history-sheeters, the police added.

A police official privy to the investigation said, The liquor vends which are the centre point of the investigation are being run by three Panchkula-based partners, who belong to Sangrur.

Sangrur SSP Surendra Lamba said, During the preliminary investigation, names of liquor contractors Monu and Munish had come up. Their names are written on the signboards of liquor vends as contractors. We will not care about who the person is. Whosoever took law into their hands will be dealt with strictly.

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Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at five locations in Faridkot districts Jaitu subdivision in connection with an alleged fraud case wherein coins worth 11 crore had gone missing from the vaults of a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Rajasthans Karauli. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at five locations in Faridkot districts Jaitu subdivision in connection with an alleged fraud case wherein coins worth  11 crore had gone missing from the vaults of a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Rajasthans Karauli. (Image for representational purpose)

The alleged fraud was detected during the counting of coins at the SBIs Mehandipur Balaji branch in Karauli in August 2021.

The searches were carried out at the residences of five Jaitu-based traders -- Monu Baba of Bathinda Road, Tarun Jindal of Jindal Colony, Sahil Garg of Navi Abadi, Lavish Jindal and Nitin Jindal, both residents of Teli Mohala -- as a part of the ongoing investigation in the case.

The CBI team left after conducting investigation for five hours at the residences of the traders. As per the officials privy to the development, with the alleged connivance with bank staffers, five traders of Jaitu brought these missing coins and used them for betting in IPL matches and also invested in the share market.

After these coins went missing, suspected transactions were made to the accounts of these traders from SBIs Mehndipur Balaji branch. CBI has sought an explanation from these traders on the transactions, they added.

Faridkot senior superintendent of police Harjeet Singh said a CBI team had visited the residences of some people regarding an ongoing investigation and served them summons to appear before the agency in person for further investigation.

The matter came to light after the SBI branch decided to count the money after a preliminary inquiry indicated discrepancy in its cash reserve in August 2021.

The counting was outsourced to a private vendor, which revealed that coins worth over 11 crore were missing from the branch.

CBI had registered a case on April 13, 2022, in compliance with orders of Rajasthan High Court, and taken over the investigation of the case which was earlier registered at Todabhim police station, Karauli, Rajasthan.
In a bid to create awareness among residents regarding the fire safety norms, Central Fire Station organised a week-long campaign to mark Fire Safety Week from April 14 to 20, a rally was carried out in the city marking the concluding day on Thursday. Throughout the week, the fire station officials conducted awareness sessions at public places, including malls and education institutes to guide the residents about guidelines for fire safety, and important measures in case of a fire emergency. (HT Photo)

Throughout the week, the fire station officials conducted awareness sessions at public places, including malls and education institutes to guide the residents about guidelines for fire safety, and important measures in case of a fire emergency.

Mock drills were also organised in different industrial units and major hospitals to raise awareness among the residents. The staff here was apprised about the steps which can be taken in case any fire incident is reported in their respective buildings.

During the awareness rally, the firefighters moved around different parts of the city in the fire tenders for raising awareness among the residents. The rally moved through Jalandhar Bypass, Samrala Chowk, Sherpur Chowk, Dholewal Chowk, and Gill road among other areas.

Fire station officer (FSO) Maninder Singh stated that all sub-stationsGill road, Sunder Nagar, Haibowal and Focal pointparticipated in the drive. He said that residents should apply for no-objection certificates from fire department and make sure to put in place the required fire safety measures at their properties.

Fake calls keep alarms ringing for officials

Bogus calls on the fire brigade helpline number which caters to a population of around 40 lakhs, remains to be a major problem for fire officials as it distracts them from genuine calls and makes the helpline unavailable for genuine incidents of fire which need a quick response.

Firefighters claim that they receive over 30 calls each hour out of which 95 percent turn out to be residents either faking an emergency or dialing by mistake. Sub-fire officer Navrang Singh said the fire station is already facing a crunch of staff with long duty hours. The fake calls do not stop even at night, affecting the emergency service.

He added that for fire officials each call is important, sometimes residents get nervous in case of an emergency but maintaining patience is part of our job. He added that along with fire helpline 101 and the official number of the fire station, residents can also connect to the police control room in case of emergency.
The Chandigarh Police have launched a hunt to nab a man who duped a city-based woman of 3.4 lakh after befriending her online. The complainant, Gurdeep Kaur, told the Chandigarh Police that she had been interacting with one Dave through Instagram for the past two months. (Getty images)

The complainant, Gurdeep Kaur, told the police that she had been interacting with one Dave through Instagram for the past two months.

Dave, who claimed that he lived abroad, told her that he will visit India on April 18 and send a parcel before his visit. She said she had asked him to bring the parcel himself as he was coming to India anyway, but he claimed that he will be travelling via sea and wont be able to carry much weight.

On March 14, she received a call from customs officials in Delhi who informed that she needed to pay 50,000 fee for the parcel. As Dave assured to pay her back on arriving in India, she made the payment. Later, she got another call that the parcel contained illegal articles, including gold jewellery and foreign currency notes, and that she needed to pay another 1.88 lakh to avoid legal trouble.

Two days later, she got another demand for 1 lakh as stamp duty. Kaur said she paid the entire fee after securing a loan from a private bank. But she never received the parcel. On realising that she had been duped, she informed the cyber cell of Chandigarh Police that registered a case, and launched a probe to trace and arrest the accused.
The long-pending demand for direct flights between Canada and Amritsar has got a welcome boost with leader of opposition Conservative Party of Canada Pierre Poilievre announcing his campaign for starting direct flights between Canada and Amritsar. The long-pending demand for direct flights between Canada and Amritsar has got a welcome boost with leader of opposition Conservative Party of Canada Pierre Poilievre announcing his campaign for starting direct flights between Canada and Amritsar. (Twitter)

The Conservative leader recently spoke at an event in Brampton with room full of people holding banners Direct Flights to Amritsar Now and Open the Skies to Amritsar.

Poilievre said: Punjabi Canadians have been calling on the federal government to deliver direct flights between Amritsar and Canada. But even after years of activism from the Punjabi community, the Liberal government has failed to fight gatekeepers and open the skies to Amritsar.

In 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had signed a new Open Skies Agreement with India. Travellers wishing to go to Amritsar often have to wait additional seven hours once they arrive at an airport in India or endure an eight-to-10-hour drive to reach Punjab, said Poilievre.

He further added, I, along with my deputy leader Tim Uppal, shadow minister Jasraj Singh Hallan and a group of other conservatives, are launching a full campaign to get the direct flight from Canada to Punjab, especially Amritsar, so that over a million Canadians who have their origins in that part of the world can fly directly from our country to that beautiful place.

FlyAmritsar Initiative, an independent advocacy group working to promote better air connectivity to Amritsar for last one decade, has welcomed the announcement, saying Canada-Amritsar direct flights would immensely benefit the Punjabi diaspora.

Its global convener Sameep Singh Gumtala said, The direct flights will not only benefit the Punjabi community but also provide an opportunity for Canadians to experience the rich culture and heritage of the region, including the holiest place for Sikhs -- the Golden Temple.

Canada-based NRI activists Mohit Dhanju and Anant Singh Dhillon also thanked Poilievre and MP Uppal for their efforts and urged the Conservative Party leadership to continue reaching out to Canadian and Indian airline carriers.

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An ex-serviceman allegedly opened fire at his wife and minor daughter after they objected to him drinking alcohol in Kishtwar district late on Tuesday night. An ex-serviceman allegedly opened fire at his wife and minor daughter after they objected to him drinking alcohol in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir. (HT File)

After opening fire at his family, the accused, who has been identified as Ghulam Hussain, also tried to end his life by shooting himself with a 12-bore rifle.

The injured have been identified as Rubeena Begum and the couples 13-year-old daughter Yasmeena Banoo.

Sharing details about the incident, a police officer said, The incident took place in Angole area of the Thakrai belt. The accused and victims were shifted to a hospital.

The woman and her daughter objected to the drinking habit of the accused and had heated arguments with him on Tuesday evening. In a fit of rage, the accused opened fire at his wife and minor daughter, the officer added.

Hearing gunshots, neighbours rushed to the house. The accused and the victims were shifted to the Kishtwar district hospital.

The weapon of offence, licensed 12 bore gun, was seized by the police and a case under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 30 of the Arms Act has been registered at Kishtwar police station.
Haryana government has informed the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that the state directorate of medical education and research (DMER) has lodged First Information Report (FIR) against a private nursing institute allegedly involved in forging documents to claim post matric scholarship. Haryana government has informed the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that the state directorate of medical education and research (DMER) has lodged First Information Report (FIR) against a private nursing institute allegedly involved in forging documents to claim post matric scholarship. (HT File)

In an action-taken report submitted to the NCSC regarding disbursement of post-matric scholarship to the Scheduled Caste (SC) students studying in various medical colleges of the state, the DMER has submitted that in the last six months and till March 31, 2023, the DMER has disbursed about 15 crore to 5,232 students of the state.

According to a statement NCSC has released, the Haryana government has further said that the benefits of post matric scholarship were due for 9,716 SC medical students till January and that the government has already disbursed the funds to 5,232 students.

NCSC chairman Vijay Sampla said that he has directed the DMER Haryana to issue guidelines to all medical colleges to ensure that if the student has applied for post matric scholarship and there is a delay in disbursement of the same, the institution will not debar/prevent any student from appearing in the examinations. The medical college will also not retain the degree/original certificate of such students nor charge any kind of fees/funds.

We are tracing the remaining 4,484 students and no case related to post matric scholarship of SC students will remain pending in Haryana, the DMER has stated, informing that already three camps were organised to reach out to the beneficiaries who had not received post matric scholarship due to various reasons, including incomplete documents.

The state government also informed the NCSC chairman Vijay Sampla that the scholarship amount has also been released to a student of ESIC Medical College, Faridabad, who had deposited 4 lakh as fee for four years and had later complained to NCSC for non-disbursement of the scholarship amount.
Police have launched a culpable homicide probe after a 30-year-old man died of suspected drug overdose in Ambala Cantonment. The deceased worked at a drug de-addiction centre in Himachal Pradeshs Solan. (Getty image)

The deceased worked at a drug de-addiction centre in Himachal Pradeshs Solan.

As per his mother, who runs a boutique in Shimla, her two sons had left home around 2 pm on Sunday to travel to New Delhi by bus and had halted at Batra Hotel behind Ambala bus stand. Around 1 am on Tuesday, she received a call from Ambala police about her sons fight.

The cop informed her that her sons were inebriated, purportedly due to high drug intake, on which she asked the police to let them go, as they had to reach Delhi to buy a car.

She spoke to her younger son an hour later and he informed her that they were fine.

At 3 am, her elder son called her up for money. Around 4.30 pm on Tuesday, the same cop informed her that her sons had been dropped at the railway station in a stable condition. But another cop called her up at 6 pm, stating that her elder son had died.

Investigators said the man was found in an unconscious state behind the railway station near BCN depot at railway colony and taken to the sub-divisional civil hospital by Dial 108 ambulance service, but he died during treatment.

The family arrived at the hospital on Wednesday and identified the deceased, while his brother remained unconscious and unfit for statement.

In her complaint, their mother alleged that her dead son procured drugs from Ambala Cantonment and died due to drug overdose.

Based on her complaint, a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Parao police station.

Investigating officer sub-inspector Pawan Kamboj said, An autopsy was conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death and the body was handed over to the family. After regaining consciousness, the womans other son was sent home with her. Further investigation is underway.
A youth died while his brother sustained injuries in a blast at their house in Kishtwar district on Wednesday, officials said. A youth died while his brother sustained injuries in a blast at their house in Kishtwar district, Jammu and Kashmir. (HT File)

Sharing details about the incident, Kishtwar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Khalil Poswal said, Initial reports revealed that a suspicious blast occurred in the kitchen at the house of one Mohammad Abass Naik in Symbol village.

One person died and another was injured in the blast. Reportedly, they both were brothers and had gone to the jungle looking to collect morchella (guchhi), where they found an abandoned rod-like rusted object, which they brought home. They were heating it in the kitchen when a blast occurred, said Poswal.

Police investigation has been initiated into the incident.

Teen founding hanging from tree in Kathua

Kathua An 18-year-old youth, Pankaj Kumar, was found hanging from a tree in ward number 3 of Muni Panchayat in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district on Wednesday. Reports said the youth of late had been insisting his parents buy him a motorbike. However, the parents were opposed to it on the grounds of him being too young and not having a licence. The body of the deceased was shifted to the hospital and police have initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 of the Cr PC.
The Supreme Court has pulled up an investigating officer (IO) of the Uttarakhand Police for preparing a closure report of a criminal case even as an appeal against a high court order quashing it remained pending. The Supreme Court. (ANI)

A bench of justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said when criminal proceedings are quashed, there cannot be any closure report. ...preparing or filing of closure report in cases which are quashed is unknown to the Code of Criminal Procedure, it said. We are surprised and shocked that when criminal proceedings/FIR [First Information Report] were quashed by the high court and it is challenged by the state in appeal, thereafter how can there be a closure report.

The case was filed against journalist Umesh Kumar Sharma after he levelled corruption charges against former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

In October 2020, the high court quashed the case and directed the registration of an FIR against Rawat. The Supreme Court set aside this part of the order as it was issued without hearing Rawat.

The Supreme Court last month noticed the closure report was filed while hearing the Uttarakhand governments appeal against quashing the FIR against Sharma. It asked the investigating officer to submit an explanation.

The officer apologised for the mistake and clarified it was merely drafted and kept in a file that was inadvertently submitted without consulting him.

The bench said in the event of the quashing of FIR, there cannot be a closure report. It directed a copy of its order to be circulated to all police stations in Uttarakhand to prevent a repeat of such instances.

Additional solicitor general Balbir Singh, who appeared for the state government, said the mistake cannot be justified. He added this cannot be a valid closure report and should be ignored.
Apple on Thursday launched its first store in the national Capital and second in the country at the Select CityWalk mall in Delhis Saket amid much fanfare. Apple CEO Tim Cook at the opening of Indias second Apple retail store, at Saket. (PTI photo)

CEO Tim Cook launched the store at 10am amid loud cheers and claps from staff and Apple enthusiasts who had gathered at the store since morning.

While the waiting time for entering the store was almost over an hour, visitors said that they werent perturbed as they wanted to meet the Apple CEO even if it made them wait.

Also Read: Glad to exchange, says Modi as Tim Cook reveals shared vision on technology

Rohan Sehgal, a banker, took half a day off from work to visit the store.

Sehgal said that he reached the mall at 9:30am with the hope of meeting Cook.

Im excited to be here today since Delhi is getting the first official store. The store will provide better services with more options. We will be able to purchase products according to our needs and with better guidance from Apple store staff, said Sehgal.

Another ardent fan of Apple products, Aakanksha Agarwal said she had taken an off from work just to be at the launch.

Im an Apple loyalist and own multiple products from the brand. Im really looking forward to meeting Tim Cook and purchasing some new products, if something interests me, said Agarwal, a marketing professional.

Visitors in the queue were offered a complimentary drink before entering the mall while performances from artists kept them engaged before the official store opening.

The security at the mall was also beefed up on Thursday evening to manage the crowd.

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Delhi on Thursday recorded 1,603 fresh Covid-19 cases, a slight decline from the earlier tally of 1,767 cases on Wednesday. Similarly, a total of 1,526 recoveries have also been recorded with no reports of death in the last 24 hours. According to the health bulletin by Delhi government, around 5,993 tests have been conducted. Delhi on Thursday recorded 1,603 fresh Covid-19 cases.(PTI)

According to the bulletin, 386 new Covid-positive patients have been admitted in hospitals, whereas, 4,131 patients have been self-isolated at their homes.

However, a 20% surge in the nation's daily Covid tally has been recorded today with 12,591 cases. The country's active caseload currently stands at 65,286  0.14% percent of the total cases.

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Rajasthan is planning to amend a notification issued after the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the poll-bound state in May last year under which employees were to return the governments contributions to the National Pension System (NPS) along with the interest, officials aware of the matter said. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government was the first to restore OPS in April 2022. (PTI)

Employees contribute 10% of their salary monthly to NPS while the government makes a matching contribution. The Rajasthan government planned to take its contribution as well as the employees to NPS and deposit it under the general revenue head.

Officials said the state government is now planning to amend the notification to preempt the possibility of the Union governments objection to the diversion of NPS funds under the general revenue head. Since the money belongs to the employees, technically the state cannot show it under its revenue head, said a finance department official, requesting anonymity.

The official said the state government is considering approaching the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, which regulates the NPS, for the return of its contribution of about 14,000 crore.

The government plans to deposit the money into General Provident Fund opened in 2021. The Union government has maintained that states will not get back NPS funds.

Vinod Kumar, the coordinator of the New Pension Scheme Employees Federation of Rajasthan, said the state has the right to get back the funds. Pension is a state subject and the Centre should allow the release of funds to states which have restored the OPS.

The ruling Congress plans to make OPS a major poll plank given its resonance among government employees also in other states headed for elections this year.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government was the first to restore OPS in April 2022 before another Congress-ruled state Chattisgarh followed suit. Employee organisations in other states have been seeking OPS restoration as well.

The promise of the restoration of OPS is believed to have been among the reasons for Congresss return to power in Himachal Pradesh last year.

The Union government has appointed a committee to review the NPS and to make it more employee-friendly.

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JAIPUR: Three men accused of harassing a tea vendor who died by suicide in Jaipur have been arrested, police said on Thursday amid a continuing protest by his family who have refused to hand over the body to the police for post-mortem examination unless the accused are arrested. Sachin Pilot said justice should not be delayed for the tea vendors family and justice should also be visible, (Twitter/SachinPilot)

In a video message which he recorded before the suicide, the tea vendor said the Jaipur heritage municipal corporation sent him a notice and stopped construction work on his house, saying it was illegal. He also named blamed Rajasthan minister Mahesh Joshi and six others, Devendra Sharma, Lalit Sharma, Rakesh Tak, owner of Royal Sheraton hotel, Manuji Tak, Dev Awasthi and Lalchand Devnani.

Police said Rakesh Tak, Dev Awasthi and Lalchand Devnani have been arrested.

But the family members, who have received support from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, have not relented and continued with their protest at Chandi ki Taksal area of the walled city for the fourth day. On Thursday, police commissioner Anand Srivastav also held talks with the family members..

BJP MP Kirordi Lal Meena, who has been sitting with the family, said it was unfortunate that the Gehlot government hadnt acted against all the accused. The dharna will continue till the family gets justice, he said.

The government has handed over the case to the CID CB which has recorded statements of the family members of the deceased.

On Thursday, Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who skipped the Congress partys meetings with MLAs, reached Jaipur from Delhi and went to the dharna site where he met the family members of the deceased. Earlier in the day, Congress MLA Harish Meena, considered close to Pilot, also visited the dharna site.

Rajasthans Aam Aadmi party chief Naveen Paliwal and BSP state president Bhagwan Baba also met family members.

Sachin Pilot, who is involved in a tussle for power with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the state unit of the Congress, demanded an impartial and time-bound probe in the case after meeting the family members at the dharna site near their home, said a PTI report. He also talked to Kirodi Lal Meena during his visit.

A person from the ST community has died by suicide. It is a shock if someones life is lost. It is a very heart-wrenching incident. I talked to his father, brother and son, and they have said several things, Pilot told reporters.

The victims family should get justice. Justice should not be delayed and justice should also be visible, he said.

Asked about the family members talking about an atmosphere of fear, Pilot said, The family is speaking, so there must be pressure. I do not understand why the delay is happening? There are proofs coming up. If the action is seen, then it will generate confidence in them, he said.

(If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist. Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050 and Sanjivini: 011-24311918, Roshni Foundation (Secundrabad) Contact Nos: 040-66202001, 040-66202000, ONE LIFE: Contact No: 78930 78930, SEVA: Contact No: 09441778290
As West Bengal readies itself for the upcoming panchayat polls likely next month, leaders in the states Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hope to strengthen party organisations, exercises essential to winning the upcoming elections. Workers campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. (BJP Bengal | Twitter)

There are around 80,000 polling booths in Bengal. In December 2022, a survey showed that our committees at polling booth level were either very weak or existed only on paper in around 40% booth areas across the state. The survey showed the party had lost ground in several of the 18 Lok Sabha seats won in 2019, a state BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.

Also Read: Mukul Roy to be soon missing from TMC? Leader says he wants to be with BJP

Union home minister Amit Shah, who was present at the December 2022 meeting where these findings were discussed, emphatically said permanent polling booth committees must be set up. A reality check recently showed that in south Bengal, which accounts for majority of states voters and where we are still weak, our booth committees exist in only 5-15% areas in some regions, the leader added.

In the last 2018 panchayat polls, TMC bagged around 90% seats, amid reports of violence and murders, of which 34% were uncontested.

In the three-tier panchayat system, the fiercest contest was fought in the gram panchayats, the first tier accounting for maximum number of seats and candidates.

The BJP however made a comeback in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, winning 18 of Bengals 42 seats.

It was found that unprecedented support from Left voters accounted for this victory.

The situation has changed since then with the CPI(M) coming second in the 2022 municipal polls.

The Congress, too, recently won the assemby bypoll, defeating the TMC.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said, BJPs organisation in the districts is limited to the district presidents and, in most places, fractured district committees. Below that level, there is no organisation.

Majumdar said, BJP central leaders are aware of this. At his April 14 rally in Birbhum, Shah did not waste a single word on panchayats. He only talked about Lok Sabha seats. They think Lok Sabha seats can be won because of the so-called Narendra Modi magic. If Bengal BJP does very bad in the panchayats, can it expect to do a miracle in the Lok Sabha? Thats a utopian idea in the current scenario.

At the April 14 rally, Shah said the TMC government will collapse automatically if voters can ensure his partys victory in more than 35 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.

Bengal BJPs chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya argued that his partys booth-level committees are in place, but the details cannot be shared with the media.

Asked if such committees are operational in at least 90% of polling booth areas, Bhattacharya said, I will not go into percentages. All I can say is BJP will field candidates in maximum number of seats and contest earnestly. If the polls are fair, TMC will not be able to form zilla parishad (the top tier) in any district. The ruling party has been alienated from the masses because of the corruption charges its leaders face.

Shahs pan-India agenda right now is to focus on Lok Sabha polls. He came to Bengal only for that. Why would he talk about panchayats? Results of the Lok Sabha polls can already be predicted. TMC wont have a cakewalk in the rural polls, Bhattacharya said.

Citing recent public speeches of Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the legislative assembly, TMCs Majumdar claimed the BJPs panchayat poll strategy, too, exposes organisational weakness.

At his recent meetings, Adhikari asked people to cast their votes against Mamata Banerjee. He told people not to see if their votes were going to the Left, Congress or BJP. This means he is campaigning only for anti-TMC votes. This is not his partys official line, said Majumdar, who was the state vice-president of the Bengal BJP till January 2022. He joined TMC in March last year.

Congress and CPI(M) have reacted to Adhikaris public posture saying it cleverly hints at an unwritten opposition alliance against TMC.

Voters cannot be fooled with such tactics. The question of having BJP as an ally in any form simply does not arise. Our allies are the Congress and other secular forces. TMC and BJP are our adversaries, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.

Adhikaris strategy has been a topic of discussion among the BJP leaders.

Requesting anonymity, a BJP functionary said, Adhikaris slogan, No vote to Mamata, was questioned at a closed-door meeting held on April 13 to analyze the panchayat poll preparations in the presence of central observers Sunil Bansal and Amit Malviya. Lok Sabha member and convenor of the committee on panchayat poll preparations, Debasree Chaudhuri, said at the meeting that BJP will contest alone.

Chaudhuri said if any party wants to have any electoral understanding with BJP at village level, then its candidate will have to contest with the BJPs election symbol. Even a child knows that Congress and CPI(M) will never agree to that, the BJP leader added.

Though BJP bagged 77 of Bengals 294 assembly seats in 2021, its tally has effectively come down to 70 since it lost two seats in by-polls and five legislators have joined TMC without officially quitting the BJP.

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Two school girls were injured when their school van met with an accident near Vrindavan Colony Sector-18 intersection under PGI police station area on Thursday afternoon. Four including 2 minor girl students injured in car-school van collision in Lucknow on Thursday. (HT)

Of the two students who are now admitted in a hospital, one of them, a student of class I, is reportedly critical after suffering a severe head injury, police said.

Two others, the driver of the school van as well as driver of the car with whom the van collided too were injured and admitted to trauma centre, where the school girls too have been admitted, police said.

School van driver Virendra Kumar told us he was going to drop 10 children. He had dropped eight children home and was on way to drop the remaining two, Riddhi Singh of class 5 and Nisha Verma of class I when his van was hit by a car coming from Rae Bareli near the sector 18 intersection. The van overturned and the driver and the two girl students were trapped inside, said Rajesh Kumar Singh, the station house officer (SHO) of PGI police station.

People of the area used a brick to break the glass of the van to rescue those trapped. The car driver was also injured in the process. All the injured were taken to Trauma-II. While Riddhi, Virendra and the driver of the other car Vivek are stable, Nisha had suffered a severe head injury, the SHO said.

No FIR has been registered as yet, the police said.
Mumbai: The decision of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to remove the theory of biological evolution from Class 10 CBSE has been met with consternation by several scientists, science teachers and educators. They believe that the understanding of the process of evolution is crucial for building a scientific temper, and that depriving students of this exposure is making a mockery of education. HT Image

The Breakthrough Science Society, a nationwide voluntary organisation committed to the cause of science, culture and a scientific outlook, has issued an open letter titled An Appeal Against Exclusion of Evolution from Curriculum, which demands the restoration of the theory of Darwinian evolution in secondary education. The letter has been signed by over 1,800 scientists, science teachers, and educators, including scientists from noted institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), and the IITs.

The scientific community feels that students will be seriously handicapped in their thought process if deprived of exposure to this fundamental discovery of science. Evolutionary biology is not only important to any sub-field of biology, but it is also key to understanding the world around us. The principles of natural selection help us understand how pandemics progress, why certain species go extinct, and address critical issues such as medicine and drug discovery, epidemiology, ecology and environment, psychology, and human evolution.

According to a document by NCERT on the list of rationalised content in textbooks for Class 10, Chapter 9, titled Heredity and Evolution, has been replaced with Heredity. The list of dropped topics in this chapter includes Charles Robert Darwin, Origin of life on Earth, Molecular Phylogeny, Evolution, Evolution and Classification, Tracing Evolutionary Relationships, Evolution by Stages, and Human Evolution. Scientists argue that these changes, which were first introduced as a temporary measure during the pandemic, are being continued even though schooling has gone back to offline mode.
The Gujarat high court on Wednesday issued notices to union ministry of health and family welfare, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA), state government and two Gujarat based pharmaceutical companies in connection to a PIL (public interest litigation) for strict action against companies selling banned medicines in the Indian market. The petitioner claimed that massive dumping of substandard and banned drugs is being done in India. (HT archive picture)

The court has sent notices to the Centre, FDCA and pharma companies Cadila Pharmaceuticals and JB Chemicals. The next for the hearing has been fixed for June 15. The PIL is keeping in view public health and to ensure that medicines that are banned all over the world are not sold in India, said advocate Jay Thaker who is representing the petitioner Rajeshkumar Mishra.

Also Read:Guj HC orders re-hearing for 5,882 cr dues recovery by DGVCL from ArcelorMittal

In his application, the petitioner said his concern is about medicine reaching the human body and not giving its intended effect.

Humans consume antibiotics as life-saving drugs. When LMX forte was not of approved standard quality, Cadila pharma was duty bound to report such serious quality issues to drug controller and immediately recall the whole batch which was not done, it said, a copy of which HT has seen.

Mishra has claimed that he held two vials of medicine from the same batch which were turning black.

The petitioner claimed that massive dumping of substandard and banned drugs is being done in India.

Mishra is a visiting professor at LJ School of Law and a practicing advocate before Gujarat high court.

If Brand Aciloc is considered as an example, Cadila has sold Aciloc for nearly 190 crore in 2021 and 220 crore in 2022, it said. This value is nearly 50% of Indian market share of Molecule Ranitidine which is contaminated/adulterated, the PIL has alleged.

Aciloc brand has been showing quality issues. Similarly, Drug LMX forte (Amoxicillin and Clavulanic Acid) was sold for nearly 1 crore each month in 2021 and 2022, the PIL stated.

The facts pleaded in the petition are based on the information that Mishra has sourced from the market as well as from various photographs, videos as well as medicines. Some information is available on the public and individual source/s as well, the PIL said.

Every big brand has brand managers. Brand managers from JB chemicals managing Rantac and Cadila Pharma managing Aciloc, which are top two Proton pump inhibitors PPI/anti-acidity sellers in the country must be joined for initial level probe by regulators. At this threshold level, the brand managers of Aciloc and Rantac must be interviewed in a protected environment and their answers must be placed on record of this Honorable Court, the PIL stated.
PRAYAGRAJ/NEW DELHI A day after the Allahabad High Court ordered the states secretary finance Shahid Manzoor Abbas Rizvi and special secretary finance Saryu Prasad Mishra to be taken into custody, the Supreme Court on Thursday put a stay on the order. The apex court also ordered the release of the two secretaries in the case concerning post-retirement benefits for judges in Uttar Pradesh. The SC bench which stayed the Allahabad HC order was led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. (HT Photo)

The SC bench which stayed the Allahabad HC order was led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. The bench, also comprising Justice PS Narasimha, asked the SC registrar-general to communicate the order to the registrar-general of the high court.

On Wednesday, the two senior officers were present before the high court during the hearing of the plea concerning the facilities provided to retired judges. During the hearing, the HC directed that the two officers be taken into custody and produced before the court on Thursday (April 20, 2023) for the framing of charges. The HC bench, however, allowed the officers to produce a show-cause before it explaining why charges should not be framed against them for contempt of court. Subsequently, the HC directed to list this writ petition after decision in the special leave petition pending before Supreme Court.

The high court also issued bailable warrants against Durga Shankar Mishra, chief secretary, and Dr Prashant Trivedi, additional chief secretary (finance), through the concerned chief judicial magistrate to ensure their presence before the court on Thursday.

The HC bench -- comprising Justice Suneet Kumar and Justice Rajendra Kumar -- passed the above directives on a writ petition filed by the Association of Retired Supreme Court and High Court judges and one other party. Earlier, while hearing this petition, the Allahabad high court had, on April 4, 2023, directed the state government to immediately implement the proposed rule regarding increasing the facilities of retired high court judges in the state, sent to it by the Chief Justice of the high court. The proposal pertains to providing domestic help and other facilities to former chief justices and former judges of the high court.

Besides, the court also directed that while implementing this proposal, the earlier government order issued in this regard on July 3, 2018, should be superseded. Issuing the above directives, the court had further asked the finance department of the state to accord approval to the said proposal within a week.

In its order dated April 4, the high court also directed that the notification of the government order regarding the said proposal and the approval thereof shall be placed on record on the date fixed, which would be April 19, 2023. On Wednesday, when the matter was taken up by the court, an affidavit was filed on behalf of the state government.

After perusing the affidavit, the court noted that the order dated April 4 has not been complied with. Taking a serious note of it, the court observed, Affidavit does not clarify as to why the government order as proposed by the law department was not approved by the finance department till date. In the circumstances, having regard to the averments made in the affidavit and the conduct of the officers suppressing material facts and misleading the court, prima facie, have committed criminal contempt of the court, it added.

(With inputs from agencies)
PATNA: Five men on two motorcycles shot dead a grocer inside his shop in Muzaffarpur districts Bakhri locality late on Wednesday evening after he resisted an attempt to loot him. Police said Raja Babus shop was the second that was robbed by the five unidentified men in the locality on Wednesday. The gang of five robbers struck ar Muzaffarpur districts Bakhri locality late on Wednesday (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Moments before the five men stopped their motorcycles outside Raja Babus shop, the five robbed another shopkeeper, Sandeep Kumar but could get only 10,000 cash from him.

Raja Babus employee, Neelkamal, said two men barged into their shop at about 9.45pm, just as they were preparing to pull down the shutter. They told Raja Babu to hand over the days earnings but the 28-year-old resisted the robbery attempt. Neelkamal said one of the two men fired at his employer, picked up the cash and valuables that he had kept in his bag to take home, and fled.

Raja Babu, who had sustained multiple gunshot injuries, was rushed to a nearby hospital by other shopkeepers and residents. He didnt survive. Doctors said he died due to excessive bleeding.

On Thursday, traders in the area did not open their shops and commercial establishments to protest Raja Babus murder and marched on the streets with his body to protest the murder which reflected poorly on the law and order situation.

North Bihar chamber of commerce general secretary Sajjan Sharma demanded the immediate arrest of the suspects and said the markets in the area will remain shut till the culprits are arrested.

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar said the police teams were analysing the CCTV footage from cameras at the shops for clues about the suspects.

Multiple teams have been formed to nab the miscreants and police are investigating the involvement of both local and outside criminals, he said.

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The Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP) education department has revoked the permission of the Blue Bells High School and Junior College, Kondhwa Budruk, and ordered its closure in seven straight days, claiming that the school had obtained its first accreditation and self-accreditation using fake and forged documents. The ZP education department has further said that the students of this school will now be transferred to and adjusted in other nearby schools. Blue Bells High School and Junior College at Kondhwa Budruk. (HT PHOTO)

The Pune ZP education officer (primary) Sandhya Gaikwad on Thursday issued an order in this regard stating, The Blue Bells High School and Junior College has received the first approval and self-approval from this office by submitting the order to allow Blue Bells High School and Junior College to start a self-financed school in all branches of English medium and the order from the deputy director of education.

Upon verification, both the aforementioned orders have been found to be fake and forged. Both the orders are being cancelled as the approval was obtained by submitting the first approval and self-approval proposal to the Pune ZP office using fake and forged documents. As the school is unauthorised, all students should be adjusted in the nearest recognised schools and such a report should be submitted to the office within seven days, the order further stated.

On September 22, 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had seized two floors of the Blue Bells High School and Junior College building after investigations revealed that the premises were being used for terrorist- and anti-national activities including weapons training and radicalisation of Muslim youth by the banned Islamic outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI). Thereafter, an inquiry conducted by the office of the deputy director of education had found the school to possess a bogus recognition certificate. The school was found to have a letter signed by the then deputy director of education but the inbound and outbound number of the letter was found to be unavailable with the office of the deputy director of education.

Asked about the Pune ZP education departments latest action against the school, Reshma Fazalekarim Shaikh, founder and principal, Blue Bells High School and Junior College, said, We have not received any order from the Pune ZP but we have got to know from the news that our school has been considered illegal by the ZP education department. We have all the proper permissions and documents to run the school. If there is any fake or false document given, it is from the government system through which we have got the documents and permissions. We are now going to hold a meeting with the education department officials.
The late filmmaker Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chopra has died. She was 74. As per reports she died at a Mumbai hospital, where she was admitted for almost two weeks. On Thursday, veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar confirmed the news of Pamela Chopra's death. She is survived by her sons Aditya Chopra, who is married to actor Rani Mukerji, and Uday Chopra. Also read: Pamela to accept award for husband Yash Chopra Pamela Chopra with daughter-in-law, actor Rani Mukerji at a 2014 event in Mumbai. (File Photo)(PTI)

Also know as Pam among her industry friends, Pamela had made an appearance in the 2023 Netflix series The Romantics recently. Tweeting about her death on Thursday, Javed Akhtar, said, Today Pam ji, the better half of Shri Yash Chopra has passed away. She was a great lady. Intelligent, educated, warm and witty. Those who like me have worked closely with Yash ji know about her contribution in his scripts and music. She was an exceptional person.

According to several reports, Pamela was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati hospital for the last 15 days, where she was put on ventilator; but her health deteriorated, and she died on Thursday. Yash Raj Films issued a statement about the last rites of Pam Chopra.

Pamela Chopra has collected several awards in her late husbands honour since his death. Yash Chopra had died of multi-organ failure in 2012, a week after he was admitted to the Lilavati hospital with dengue. Yash Chopra, who celebrated his 80th birthday on September 27, 2012, had changed the face of romance in Hindi cinema to become a brand in Bollywood, with hits such as Kabhie Kabhie, Silsila, Chandni and Dil to Pagal Hai in his five-decade long illustrious career.

Yash and Pamela's son Aditya Chopra is a successful director and producer. Their younger son Uday had tried his hand at acting, and is now a producer.

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Kiara Advani is currently busy filming for her next, Satyaprem Ki Katha. After filming at a cold location, she once again returned to Mumbai on Thursday. The actor was spotted at the Mumbai airport in a happy mood despite her early morning flight. She also bent down to pick something up from the ground, and hand it over to the photographers, as she thought they had dropped it while capturing her at the airport. Also read: Kiara Advani is glowing in unseen wedding pics as she poses with brother at dreamy Jaisalmer ceremony. See post Kiara Advani was spotted at Mumbai airport early Thursday.

Kiara was seen without makeup in a simple blue vest and navy blue velvet pants. She carried a big hand bag along with her. As a paparazzo shared a video from the airport on Instagram, her fans couldn't stop praising her simple look, while some also shared their liking for her velvet pants.

A fan commented, She's just perfect. Another wrote, Always pretty. A fan also commented, Simple and beautiful. One more comment read, Kind, humble, beautiful, amazing. Kiara, cute as always.

Directed by Sameer Vidhwans, Satyaprem Ki Katha has Kiara uniting with her Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 co-star Kartik Aaryan. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film is scheduled to hit the theatres on June 29 this year.

Kartik and Kiara were earlier shooting for the film in Kashmir. On Tuesday, Kiara shared a without makeup selfie from a hilly location on Instagram and wrote, "Lunch with a view."

Kiara also has Telugu film Game Changer with Ram Charan. Meanwhile, her actor husband Sidharth Malhotra is busy working on his own projects. He has Rohit Shetty's web series Indian Police Force, and a film Yodha in pipeline.

Kiara and Sidharth tied the knot in February at Suryagarh Palace in Jaisalmer. They followed it with two wedding receptions for family and friends, one each in Delhi and Mumbai.

The couple stepped out together for the inauguration of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre earlier this month. It was one of their most stylish joint outings after their wedding. While Sidharth was in a cream kurta-pyjama and blazer, Kiara was in a studded pearl blouse and a silver skirt with a quirky bow shrug.

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Parineeti Chopra visited Manish Malhotra's house in Mumbai on Wednesday. The actor's personal life has been grabbing attention lately after some reports claimed that she is in a relationship with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha. While Parineeti or Raghav have not confirmed or denied the dating rumours, some reports have also said that the two are planning to marry. Amid the ongoing rumours, Parineeti was all smiles and posed for paparazzi as she visited Manish's home. Also read: Parineeti Chopra on media discussing her personal life Parineeti Chopra at designer Manish Malhotra's home in Mumbai. (Pic: Varinder Chawla)

Reacting to a new video of Parineeti shared by a paparazzo on Instagram, a fan commented, "I think she is completely in love." The actor blushed as she greeted paparazzi and made her way inside the designer's house. A fan commented, "Cute and shy." A comment also read, "Aww, she's blushing." Parineeti wore a white pantsuit with a black crop top for the outing. She carried a white handbag and wore black heels. In another recent paparazzi video from a Mumbai outing, Parineeti was seen flaunting a silver band on her ring finger, and smiling as she posed for paparazzi.

Parineeti Chopra and Raghav Chadha have been spotted together in recent weeks at the Delhi and Mumbai airports. The two have also been seen stepping out for dinner together in paparazzi videos. Last month, fans wondered if Parineeti and Raghav are engaged as AAP leader Sanjeev Arora had congratulated them. While they remain tight-lipped, Sanjeev Arora hinted at their engagement, when he tweeted, "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to @raghav_chadha and @ParineetiChopra. May their union be blessed with an abundance of love, joy, and companionship. My best wishes!!!

In a recent interview, Parineeti said that there is a thin line between the media discussing her life and 'crossing the line by being too personal or disrespectful'. When asked how does the actor fulfill her duty as a public figure, while also ensuring her personal life remains stable, Parineeti told Lifestyle Asia India, "There is a thin line between the media discussing my life and sometimes crossing the line by being too personal or disrespectful. If that happens, I will clarify if there are any misconceptions. If it is not necessary to clarify, I won't."

Parineeti was last seen in Uunchai. Before that she was seen in Code Name: Tiranga. The film was released in October 2022.

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Nick Jonas has shared a few romantic pictures from Priyanka Chopra and his photo shoot as they attended the London premiere of her upcoming show, Citadel. Priyanka decked up in an off-shoulder red gown and Nick complemented her to perfection in a black suit paired with a turtleneck. Priyanka was widely praised for her fiery red look. Also read: Priyanka Chopra on why she loves to invite Indian colleagues to LA home: Ki dekho hamari ladki hai waha pe Nick Jonas shared some pictures with Priyanka Chopra on Instagram.

In the pictures shared by Nick, the two can be seen getting romantic in the lift, posing in the balcony and sharing a laugh in the theatre. While he has his hands on her waist as they are about to kiss in the first picture, the second shows Priyanka moving a finger on Nick's cheek as they stand in the balcony. The third shows them sharing a light moment.

Sharing the pictures, Nick wrote on Instagram, Congrats to my (heart emoticon) @priyankachopra and the entire cast of @citadelonprime on the world premiere. Streaming April 28th on @amazonprime! A fan commented on the post, Red is her color yall look amazing!! Another wrote, Rare is it that you see celebrity couples that seem like they're genuinely in love. All of the Jonas Brothers clearly have true love and I love it. One more said, you can really tell in these photos that he loves her (p.s im very jealous). A comment also read: Nice! Love that you are so supportive.

Priyanka's Citadel co-star Richard Madden, her mom Dr Madhu Chopra, cast members from the Indian version Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and director duo Raj and DK were among those who attended the London premiere of Citadel.

Priyanka continues to keep busy with Citadel promotions but does try to balance work and family life. She and Nick are now parents to one-year-old daughter Malti. In an interview to PTI on her recent India visit, Priyanka had said, It's very important for me to have time with my family and to be able to finish working in the evening and go back home and actually have just time for myself. I go away for the weekends. So I don't feel perennially exhausted.

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Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu says she was 'truly humbled' to attend the world premiere of Citadel on April 18 in London, where she mingled with 'some of the world's best'. Samantha is set to reunite with her The Family Man directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK for the Indian chapter of Citadel, a globe-trotting spy drama. She also gave her co-star Varun Dhawan a shoutout as she shared their photos on Thursday from Citadel's London premiere. Samantha posed with Citadel's lead actors Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, among others in the pictures. Also read: Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Varun Dhawan twin in black at Citadel London premiere Samantha Ruth Prabhu shared fresh photos from Citadel premiere.

Samantha, who was dressed in black for the event, wrote in her Instagram caption, "Truly humbled to be amongst some of the world's best at the global premiere of Citadel in London. The camaraderie, the creativity, the talent, the love, the shared vision, the dream of the people in that room was so inspiring and invigorating that I feel truly lucky and blessed to be part of this team and the Citadel Universe."

The actor further wrote as she wished Priyanka Chopra and the Citadel cast and crew the best, In awe of this world created by @therussobrothers and kudos to @primevideo for backing that vision. All the best to @priyankachopra @maddenrichard @stanleytucci, Leslie Manville and the stellar star cast. Be ready to catch the exhilarating series, @citadelonprime on April 28 on @amazonprime. This is just the beginning. We cannot wait to bring to you the Indian chapter soon @rajandk @varundvn @mensit.

Samantha is working alongside Varun Dhawan on the Indian original series within the Citadel franchise, whose flagship show, featuring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden, starts streaming on Prime Video on April 28. The upcoming series is full of action. In a recent interview, Samantha said even though her health posed a major challenge, she enjoyed doing action for Citadel.

"Physically, the show is very intense, there is a lot of action in Citadel and we recently shot something and we are very happy and proud to show it to the world, I am really looking forward to that. Considering the challenges that I am facing health wise, I am glad I am able to do what I am doing in Citadel. Everyone is being patient and kind and I am truly grateful for that," the actor had told PTI earlier this month.

Samantha had opened up about being diagnosed with myositis last year. She had taken a break from films after she was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune disease, while shooting for her Telugu film Kushi. She was last seen in Shaakuntalam, which was released on April 14.

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Actor Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan complete 16 years of marriage on Thursday. As they continue to be one of the most popular couples in Bollywood, lets look back at the time when Aishwarya opened up about her sudden roka, which she had no idea about as she belongs to a South Indian family. She said the ceremony took place without her father. Also read: When Aishwarya Rai revealed the only time in her life that she 'really cried' was in school Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan celebrate their wedding anniversary on Thursday.

Aishwarya and Abhishek got engaged in 2007 after he proposed to her on a balcony in New York. She said yes and shortly after the couple made their relationship public. They got married in the same year in a private ceremony at the Bachchan residence in Mumbai. Also read:

Recalling their roka, Aishwarya Bachchan told Filmfare in 2019, He proposed, which was amazing! And it happened like really suddenly. I didnt even know theres something called a roka ceremony. We are South Indians, so, I dont know what a roka is and suddenly there is this call from their house to ours; we are coming. My dad was out of town, she recollected and said her dad would have taken a day to return.

Abhishek was like We are all coming and I cant stop dad. We are on our way this evening. We are coming to your place. Im like, Oh my God! So, this roka is happening with a call to my father, who is out of town. Mum is here, we are here. Theyve all arrived home, they are emotional and all. Im like, Oh my God, its happening. Then its like, Come on, lets go home. Im like, Mom, okay... is this...is this an engagement? Like, what just happened? Aishwarya added. She further added, And, then I am sitting on Ashus (Ashutosh Gowariker) set and we did Khawja Mere Khwaja, sitting as a bride, and I am like, oh my god this is surreal, all happening on-screen, off-screen, this it was really really weird.

Aishwarya and Abhishek starred together in films like Dhoom 2, Guru and Raavan. The two welcomed daughter Aaradhya Bachchan in 2011. While Aishwarya will be next seen in Ponniyin Selvan: 2, Abhishek has Ghoomer in the pipeline.

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The late Yash Chopra's wife Pamela Chopra died in Mumbai on Thursday. She was 74. Javed Akhtar as well as Yash Raj Films had confirmed the news on Twitter. In a 2015 interview, Pamela had said that when she first met Yash Chopra, it was 'very briefly', as he was too busy trying to convince Hema Malini to do a film. Yash Chopra, who died in 2012, was known for his romantic films, and had worked with the biggest names of Bollywood during his five-decade long film career, both as a director and a producer. Also read: Aditya Chopra's mother Pamela Chopra dies at 74 Yash Chopra and Pamela Chopra had married in 1970.

Pamela Chopra is survived by her sons Aditya Chopra, who is married to actor Rani Mukerji, and Uday Chopra. Aditya heads the production house Yash Raj Films (YRF). In an old interview, Pamela, also known as Pam Chopra, had spoken about the men in her life  her late husband, and sons Aditya and Uday.

Pamela had told Rediff in 2015 about her first meeting with Yash Chopra, "I think the first time I spoke to him was at Yash ji's niece's wedding sangeet. I was in Mumbai for my holidays and staying at Simi's (veteran actor and talk show host Simi Garewal, who is also her cousin) home. They were invited and took me along. They said I would be a great asset as I sing Punjabi songs. I met him very briefly at first. He was too busy trying to convince Hema Malini to do a film. He and Hema were on the balcony the whole time. He came in only when the singing started. I was singing. He came up to me and complimented me on my singing. That was it."

Pamela and Yash Chopra had an arranged marriage in 1970. In the same interview, Pamela was asked if she knew he was a filmmaker, when they first met. She had said in response, "Oh, yes, I was a complete film buff. Every Friday when a film released, we would watch the matinee show. But I was not a Yash Chopra fan; I was more of a Raj Kapoor fan... Our families (Yash and her's) had a common friend in (actor) Romesh Sharma's mother. She had seen me at a wedding in Delhi, where I was singing and thought I would be ideal for Yash. She was not wrong because we had a wonderful marriage."

Pamela was last seen in the Netflix documentary The Romantics, where she spoke about her late husband.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday attacked Congress for including Rajya Sabha member Imran Pratapgarhi's name in its star campaigners' list for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted a video signalling connection between murdered gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad with Pratapgarhi and said, Notorious criminal Atiq Ahmed's 'younger brother and heartbeat' will now campaign for Congress in Karnataka. Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf - who was shot dead alongside him on live national TV - were both accused in the February murder of Umesh Pal.

"Imran is special to Rahul Gandhi, is a Rajya Sabha MP and also a follower of Atiq, he wrote on Twitter posting a video.

In the video, Atiq Ahmad is seen calling Pratapgarhi his younger brother and heartbeat.

Earlier on Thursday, Union minister Shobha Karandlaje claimed a connection between Atiq Ahmad - shot dead last week by three men while in custody of Uttar Pradesh Police - and the Congress and declared the party was 'in support of those who are criminals and anti-nationals'.

Speaking less than three weeks before the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election, the junior union agriculture minister pointed to a 'friendship' between Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf and Pratapgarhi, who is No 37 on the party's list of star campaigners for this poll.

"Gangster Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf were his (Imran Pratapgarhi) friends. Imran used to call them brothers... Congress has kept him on the list of star campaigners for Karnataka polls, which shows Congress is in support of criminals and anti-nationals," she declared to news agency ANI.

Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf - who was shot dead alongside him on live national TV - were both accused in the February murder of Umesh Pal, who was a witness to the 2005 killing of Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Raju Pal. Atiq's son Asad Ahmad, also an accused in the case, and his aide were killed last week too - in an 'encounter' with UP Police's Special Task Force.

An under-fire UP government and police force have announced independent investigations into Atiq's murder, with questions being asked about the ease with which his killers broke his 'guard'.

The Congress released its list - 40 star campaigners for the Karnataka election - on Wednesday.

The list includes expected heavyweights like Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, and Rahul Gandhi - who remains disqualified from the Lok Sabha after a Gujarat court earlier today refused to stay his conviction in the 2019 'Modi surname case' - as well as party boss Mallikarjun Kharge and the leader of the Congress' state unit DK Shivakumar.

Also on the list is ex-chief minister Siddaramaiah - widely seen as Shivakumar's rival in the race for the CM's post should the Congress win - and another former chief minister in Jagadish Shettar, the ex-Bharatiya Janata Party leader whose cross-over this week made national headlines.

The list also includes Congress veterans like KC Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, P Chidambaram, and the chief ministers of the three states the party rules - Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh), Sukhwinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh).

On the candidates' side, the Congress has released six lists totalling 223 names for the state's 224-seat Assembly. Karnataka will vote on May 10 and results will be announced May 13.

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A special court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all 68 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre of 11 members of the Muslim community during the communal riots. The special court for SIT cases acquitted all the accused in one of the major post-Godhra riots cases probed by a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team. Ahmedabad: People accused in the case related to the Naroda Gam massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots, arrive at the court on the day of the verdict, in Ahmedabad, Thursday, April 20, 2023.(PTI)

Former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani, former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel, and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi were among the 86 accused, of which 18 died in the intervening period.

The accused were facing charges under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others.

Eleven people belonging to the Muslim community were killed in the riots that broke out in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad city during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning a day before in which 58 passengers, mostly Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

Maya Kodnani was made an accused in 2008 in the Naroda Patiya and Naroda Gam massacre cases by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the riots. In August 2012, a special SIT court sentenced her to 28 years in jail for her role in the Naroda Patiya massacre case. The Gujarat high court, however, acquitted the former BJP minister in April 2018 overturning the trial court's verdict.

In September 2017, senior BJP leader (now Union home minister) Amit Shah appeared as a defence witness for Maya Kodnani after she requested the court to summon him to prove her alibi in the Naroda Gam massacre case. Kodnani had said she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital when the massacre took place.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in New Delhi to end a 51-year-old inter-state border dispute. Union home minister Amit Shah with Assam chief Mmnister Himanta Biswa Sarma (L) and Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu during signing of the boundary agreement between the two states, in New Delhi. (PTI)

The MoU was signed by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah and Union law minister Kiren Rijiju, who represents Arunachal Pradesh in Lok Sabha.

We are witnessing a historic moment in India and northeasts history. The border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which was going on since 1972 has been resolved permanently. Its a big achievement and a milestone in Prime Minister Narendra Modis dream of a peaceful, developed and dispute-free northeast, said Shah.

The signing of an MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh today to settle an inter-state boundary dispute will prove to be a milestone. This will bring peace and development to the Northeast region, said Sarma.

This momentous occasion will ensure sustained, lasting peace and spur our shared growth and overall prosperity in the northeast, said Khandu.

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804 km long boundary. Though there was no dispute initially, allegations of residents of one state encroaching on the others land stoked disputes and violence. A suit has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1989 on the issue.

In 2021, on the insistence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, both states resolved to settle their dispute through talks.

There was a dispute related to 123 border villages which were spread across almost the entire length of the 800km boundary. The agreement will lead to permanent peace... Arunachal Pradesh government had some land in Assams Jorhat town. At our request, they have agreed to give it to us, Sarma said.

Under the agreement, both the states have agreed that this agreement will be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither of the states will make any new claim related to any area or village in future.

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Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the national Capital in the presence of union home minister Amit Shah to resolve the long pending border dispute along the boundaries of both northeastern states. Amit Shah with Assam CM and Arunachal Pradesh CM during signing of the boundary agreement. (PTI photo)

The MoU was signed by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu in presence of union home minister Amit Shah and union minister for law and justice Kiren Rijiju, who represents Arunachal Pradesh in Lok Sabha.

Also Read:Arunachal and Assam to sign MoU on border dispute: Minister

We are witnessing a historic moment in India and northeasts history. The border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which was going on since 1972 has been resolved permanently. Its a big achievement and a milestone in Prime Minister Narendra Modis dream of a peaceful, developed and dispute-free northeast, said Shah.

He informed that since 2014, when Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government under PM Modi took charge in Centre, several peace deals have been signed with rebel outfits in the northeast and agreements to end border disputes between states in the region have taken place.

More than 8,000 cadres of rebel outfits have surrendered arms and joined the mainstream. There has been nearly 66% decrease in incidents of violence since 2014, 70% reduction in deaths of security personnel and 83% decrease in deaths of civilians in violence. There has been significant reduction in areas under purview of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, said Shah.

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804-km long boundary. Though there was no dispute initially, over the years allegations of residents of one state encroaching land on the other have led to disputes and violence.

A suit has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1989 on the issue.

In 2021, following the insistence of both Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah, both states had resolved to settle their border dispute out of court through talks.

There was dispute related to 123 border villages which were spread across almost the entire length of the 800-km boundary between the two states. The agreement will lead to permanent peace in our border. Arunachal Pradesh government had some land in Assams Jorhat town. At our request, they have agreed to give it to us, Assam CM Sarma said.

He added that the MoU was signed on basis of a give and take policy where Assam gave some disputed areas to Arunachal Pradesh and vice versa.

Sarma said that three things were taken into account to resolve the disputeadministrative convenience, ethnicity of residents residing in the disputed villages and will of the people.

According to Thursdays deal, disputes in 71 of the 123 villages have been amicably resolved. Of these, 71 villages, one village from Arunachal Pradesh will get included in Assam, ten villages will continue to remain in Assam while 60 villages from Assam will be included in Arunachal Pradesh.

Of the remaining 52 villages, boundary of 49 villages will be finalised by the regional committees of both states in the next six months while residents of three villages situated inside an Indian Air Force (IAF) bombing range, located in the border between both states, will be rehabilitated.

Its a historic day for Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It will end the border dispute between both states which had been pending for more than 50 years. The border between our states is the longest among northeastern states. We have resolved our dispute based on the report of the Local Commission submitted in 2007, Arunachal CM Khandu stated.

Besides Arunachal Pradesh, Assam has border disputes with Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoramstates which were carved out of it.

Last year, Assam and Meghalaya inked a deal to resolve six of the 12 points of dispute along their border.

Efforts are underway to resolve all the remaining disputes through talks.

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Assam and Arunachal Pradesh chief ministers came together on Thursday to sign an agreement to settle the decades-old inter-state boundary dispute between the two states. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Prema Khandu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in presence of home minister Amit Shah. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Prema Khandu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in presence of home minister Amit Shah.

The signing of an agreement for the settlement of an inter-state boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is a very big achievement. Today, we have crossed the milestone for the establishment of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free northeast, the home minister told news agency ANI.

Speaking to reporters, Shah further said, We are a part of a historic moment in Indian history. Since 1972, this border dispute hasnt been solved. The local commissions report was continually considered contentious by different governments and courts. That report has been accepted by both the state governments and the 800-km long border issue has been ended by them today.

What was the dispute about?

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which was earlier a part of undivided Assam, share an 804 km long boundary. While there were no tensions reported initially, frequent issues eventually came up.

People have alleged that residents of one state go to the other side and encroach on the land. This did not just lead to disputes but also violence. A lawsuit on the issue has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1989.

During British rule, there was a law which involved setting boundaries between plains and hills. This was later known as North East Frontier Tracts (NEFT). However, after independence, the Assam government was in control of the NEFT. This, in 1954, became the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and in 1972 became Arunachal Pradesh. It is essential to note that Arunachal Pradesh was a Union Territory in 1972 and gained statehood only in 1987.

However, a 1951 report claimed that over 3,000 sq km of the area from Arunachal Pradesh had been transferred to Assam. While Arunachal Pradesh has constantly held that this area was transferred without the consent of its people, Assam has maintained that the transfer was legally carried out.

Did other governments try to solve the issue?

Several efforts have been made to solve the issue over the years.

After Arunachal Pradesh became a Union Territory, a tripartite committee was set up to sort the issue and decided to hold discussions with both sides.

However, over the years, the issue always came to a halt because neither side agreed on the same conditions in terms of the boundary and demarcation. Neither of the states could come to a consensus.

Eventually, in 1989, Assam filed a case in the Supreme Court stating encroachment by Arunachal Pradesh.

What led to signing of the MoU?

In 2021, following the insistence of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Shah, both states resolved to settle their border dispute out of court through talks, people familiar with the matter said.

In July last year, both states signed the Namsai Declaration, where it was agreed to bring down the number of disputed villages from 123 to 86 and resolve the boundary row by forming 12 committees, each headed by a cabinet minister, that visit disputed areas, take feedback from residents and submit reports to their respective governments, they added.

Twelve Regional Committees had been formed in Assam to solve the dispute, Assam cabinet approved their recommendations on Wednesday.

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In its final list of two candidates, the Bharatiya Janata Party denied a ticket to former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappas son KE Kantesh from Shivamogga assembly constituency and the Congress, in its last list of five candidates, replaced its sitting MLA from Sidlaghatta, V Muniyappa, with BV Rajeev Gowda, drawing the battle lines for the May 10 assembly polls. Both lists were released on Wednesday. Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar shows a victory sign as he holds a campaign in support of party candidate BL Devaraj on Thursday. (ANI)

The BJP has announced candidates for all 224 assembly seats in the state, and the Congress for 223 seats, leaving one seat for Sarvodaya Karnataka Party, a regional outfit. Thursday was the last day for filing nominations.

Almost half BJPs candidates are from the two dominant castes in the state, Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The party has nominated 68 Lingayats, who constitute about 17% of the states population. The Vokkaligas, who are about 11% of the states population, and reside mainly in Old Mysuru region, have got 42 seats.

Lingayat and Vokkaglia representation has increased in the BJP candidates as compared to 2018.

The party had fielded 55 Lingayats and 41 Vokkaligas in 2018. This time, the BJP has given tickets to 28 candidates from Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The party has also nominated 37 persons from Scheduled Castes and 13 Brahmins.

Among the BJPs candidates, 147 are businessmen, 38, farmers and nine are doctors.

In comparison, the Congress has fielded 46 Lingayat candidates as compared to 44 in 2018. The party has given tickets to 42 Vokkaligas, down from 41 in 2018.

Interestingly, the grand old party has gone back to the AHINDA formula (a Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits and a political terminology coined by states first backward leader Devraj Urs in 1980s) .

Under former chief minister, Siddaramaiah, the Congress has revived AHINDA. The party has named fewer on to Vokkaligas as candidates because the community is loyal to the Janata Dal (Secular).

The AHINDA imprint is visible in the candidate list with 20 candidates from Siddaramaiahs Kuruba or shepherd community.

In all, candidates from the OBCs are representing the Congress in 57 contests, other than Lingayat and Vokkaliga, who also are covered OBC reservation in the state.

The party has also given tickets to 15 Muslim candidates and three Christians.

Among the Scheduled Castes, the party has given 17 tickets to SC (right), the community of Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, considered Congress backers, as compared to eight to SC (left).

Political science professor at Azim Premji University, A Narayana, said, Congresss support is drawn from a broad base of social coalition. So, it cant afford to keep any single community unhappy. Earlier, it used to come from OBCs and SC-STs, but its no longer the case. Therefore, Congress always has the limitation to keep everyone happy, more when compared to the BJP. Another challenge for it (Congress) is to keep those unhappy, satisfied, unlike the BJP which can offer some positions of power later. Therefore, Congress has to operate in a constrained space, while the BJP has more freedom to experiment. You can see this to some extent in the candidates list, Narayana added.

On Thursday, the BJP gave ticket to Channabasappa from Shivamogga, from where K S Eshwarappa is the sitting MLA. Eshwarappa , who recently announced his decision to retire from electoral politics agreed with the partys decision. I am not angry with BJP. Those who have left the BJP have to be brought back, he said.

However, senior BJP leader and MLC Ayanur Manjunath, an aspirant from Shivamogga, quit the party and joined JD(S). He is now the JD(S) candidate from the constituency. From Manvi, a ST reserve constituency, the party has fielded B V Naik, who had joined the party on Monday from Congress.

In the Congress final list, the only surprise was nomination of Gowda.

In a related development, BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh on Thursday said only a leader from the Lingayat community will become chief minister in the state and revealed that it is a universal truth in the party, as reported by news agency PTI.

Singh hit out at the Congress for creating a narrative that the BJP did injustice to the Lingayats following the exit of Shettar and Savadi, saying that the opposition party has no other issue left with it.

Congress does not have any other issue. They are saying that we did injustice to Lingayat. How is it possible? Lingayats are the ones contesting the election. In Hubballi also, a Banajiga Lingayat party worker is contesting the election, Singh told reporters in Belagavi, referring to BJP candidate from Hubli-Dharwad central seat Mahesh Tenginkai.
Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday dared Trinamool Congress to go to court against him a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rubbished his claim that she had called Union home minister Amit Shah over the Election Commission's decision to revoke TMC's national party status. BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari(Twitter/BJP)

He told news agency ANI, They (TMC) should go to court against me...There are two state parties in West Bengal - TMC & All India Forward Bloc. TMC's (national party) status is gone.

Addressing a rally at Singur in Hooghly district, Adhikari on Tuesday claimed that Banerjee had called Shah asking him if the national party status for TMC can be retained until 2024.

"Yesterday, we saw how Mamata Banerjee had demanded the resignation of Amit Shah. But, after the EC revoked the national party status, she had repeatedly called him to request that the decision be repealed. It, however, did not yield any result," Adhikari had said.

Banerjee on Wednesday had told reporters that she would resign from her position as West Bengal CM if any evidence was found to support Adhikari's claims. I will resign if it is proven that I called up Amit Shah over TMC's national party status.

She also stated that her party's name will continue to remain All India Trinamool Congress despite EC's decision.

TMC on Wednesday attacked Adhikari saying he was spreading fake news and the party was legal remedies to expose him.

The party alleged that Adhikari indulges in these theatrics to curry favor with his political masters & spread fake news."

"We're exploring legal remedies to expose his baseless claims and bring out the truth.

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With the Congress touting the defection of two senior Lingayat leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, state BJP leaders want their party to name a Lingayat CM to counter the fallout. The politically influential Lingayat community accounts for around 17% of the states population. (HT photo)

According to party leaders familiar with the discussions, former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday night held a meeting with legislators from the community, including chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, to discuss ways to counter the Congresss narrative of the BJP as anti-Lingayat.

Also read | Karnataka elections: Congress builds strategy on corruption in BJP govt, sops

The leaders are believed to have asked Yediyurappa to convince the party to announce that its chief minister will be from the community so as to consolidate votes from the community. Yediyurappa is not contesting the election but his son BY Vijayendra is the BJP candidate from family bastion Shikaripur in Shivamogga district.

Bommai is also a Lingayat, but most party leaders, including Yediyurappa, have thus far avoided any mention of him as chief minister. Bommai was doing good work, Yediyurappa said in an interview to HT this week, but added that any call on a chief minister would be taken only after the results.

This approach could hurt the BJP, people present at Wednesday nights meeting said.

Read | Congress releases 6th and final list of candidates

There was a consensus that if the party fails to announce a Lingayat as the chief minister candidate retaining the communitys vote would not be easy, said a senior BJP leader who was in the meeting and who asked not to be named.

The politically influential Lingayat community accounts for around 17% of the states population. The community has traditionally backed the BJP but the departure of senior Lingayat leaders and the manner of their exits -- they left after they were not named candidates -- has caused a stir. Shettar , a former BJP CM of the state, has been named as star campaigner by the Congress.

Talking to reporters about the meeting on Thursday, Bommai said, There were some suggestions (on Lingayat CM). Dharmendra Pradhan (the Union minister who is the Karnataka election in-charge of the BJP) was also there. He (Pradhan) said he would convey our sentiments (on the need for Lingayat CM) to the high command.

Responding to a reporters question about the Congress branding the BJP anti-Lingayat, the chief minister lashed out: You want to keep the issue alive? In the last 50 years since 1967, the Congress has not made a Lingayat as the chief minister except for the nine-month tenure of Veerendra Patil.

Bommai added: Dont ask this question again! There were several instances that show how poorly the Congress treated senior Lingayat leaders, the chief minister said, and added that people would not forget how the party tried to break the community (by demanding a separate religious status for it) to create a vote bank five years ago.

The Congress, meanwhile, has been attempting to break the BJPs Lingayat hold since the exit of two senior Lingayat leaders from the ruling party, and amid rumours of Yediyurappa being sidelined.

State Congress chief D K Shivakumar has claimed that 2-3% of Veershaiva-Lingayat votes are shifting towards the Congress after Shettar and Savadi joined the party.

Our estimation was that we would win 141 seats. After Shettar and Savadi joined the party, we will reach 150 seats (out of a total of 224), Shivakumar said.
Bengaluru : Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state election management committee convener Shobha Karandlaje on Thursday accused the Opposition Congress of using anti-nationals for its campaign in the upcoming assembly elections. Union minister and BJP state election management committee convener Shobha Karandlaje ook exception to the inclusion of Rajya Sabha member Imran Pratapgarhi in the list of 40 star campaigners of the Congress. (HT Archives)

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Karandlaje took exception to the inclusion of Rajya Sabha member Imran Pratapgarhi in the list of 40 star campaigners of the Congress. She also sought to know the connection between Congress and slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was recently shot dead in Uttar Pradesh.

The person who should have been arrested for standing in support of Atiq, has become the star campaigner. What is the relation between Atiq Ahmed and Congress? the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, asked.

Karandlaje alleged that Pratapgarhi, during his earlier visit to Karnataka, made several speeches to provoke Muslims against the Hindu community in the past, and suspected that the Congress was trying to get him to the state again to instigate Muslims.

She alleged that Pratapgarhi is a close friend of Ahmed and used to call the latter as his guru and brother. The MP used to write poetry in praise of Ahmed, who used to take part in mushairas (a gathering at which Urdu poetry is read), Karandlaje said.

Despite knowing that Imran Pratapgarhi was involved in anti-national activities, you (Congress) send him to the Rajya Sabha and appoint him as Karnatakas star campaigner, she said, lashing out at the opposition party, which released its list of star campaigners on Wednesday.

Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead, allegedly by three men posing as journalists, while being taken for a medical check-up in police custody, on April 15. One of Ahmeds sons, Asad, and his accomplice Ghulam had been killed in an encounter by UP Police on April 13.

Meanwhile, IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted a video where Atiq Ahmed can be seen sharing stage with the Congress MP and heaping praises for him. Imran Pratapgarhi, Rahul Gandhis handpicked member of Rajya Sabha and Congresss star campaigner in Karnataka, is an apologist of don and now murdered criminal Atik Ahmed, Malviya tweeted.

Karnataka will vote in a single phase on May 10 and the results are scheduled to be out on May 13.

(With inputs from agencies)
The Indian armed forces, their valor and welfare are very close to Prime Minister Narendra Modis heart. Since he took over as PM in 2014, he has made it a point to spend his Diwali with the armed forces deployed on the Indian borders and personally feeding ladoos to the jawans from frozen heights of Siachen Glacier to super-heated Thar desert at Longewala, the site of famous 1971 tank battle with Pakistan. Before he won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he announced at the famous ex-servicemens rally in Rewari on September 15, 2013, that he would implement one rank one pension if elected to power. Despite contradictions between Finance and Defence Ministry, the OROP scheme was implemented by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on the basis of principles as defined in the letter to the three service chiefs on November 7, 2015. The Supreme Court upheld the scheme on March 16, 2022, and asked the government to pay arrears within three months. But this deadline was extended by the Defence Ministrys Ex-Servicemen Department thrice. A year later on March 20, 2023, the same Supreme Court intervened and directed the Defence Ministry to pay the arrears by February 28, 2024, in three equal installments. Due to procedural delays on part of Defence Ministry bureaucrats, the entire episode made the apex court a savior for ex-servicemen and put the Modi government, which had implemented the scheme after several decades of political wrangling, in the dock. The bureaucratic delays and poor oversight over OROP arrears left PM Modi most upset and he let his unhappiness be conveyed to his Cabinet and to the errant Defence Ministry officials. The bureaucratic delay over OROP arrears clearly also worked against the BJP in the November 2022 Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, where ex-serviceman reside in large numbers. The difference between BJP and the Congress was merely 0.9 per cent of popular vote and had the arrears been paid in time, the electoral result perhaps would have been different. After being in power for nearly nine years, the Indian bureaucracy still is not up to speed with PM Modis decision making and implementation on ground. To date PM Modi follows a punishing 14-hour work schedule sitting in his office till 11 pm in the night clearing files and holding key meetings. He and his key ministers like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari spend their entire weekends outside the Capital, reaching out to the people from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat, from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. Fact is that there is no fun in becoming a minister in Modis Cabinet as the days of projecting pelf and power are over with continuous grind and accountability with PM himself setting the lofty standards. File photo of PM Narendra Modi clearing files while travelling on an official visit to the US.

While PM Modi and his Cabinet stand accountable, the Indian bureaucracy with exception of a significant few are still on a work to rule basis with focus on procedure not productivity. In spite of the Modi government clearly defining its short term and long-term national objectives, these arrogant legatees of the British colonial rule work for individual institutions they represent not towards the larger national interest. Even a Home Minister as strong and as determined as Amit Shah sounds frustrated when his developmental plans on Jammu and Kashmir are met with bureaucratic hurdles at the highest UT administration levels. Had the Modi government listened to the Indian bureaucracy and the vested interest within the security and diplomatic apparatus, Article 370 and 35 A would never have been abrogated and the country would have continued playing a daily slanging match with Pakistan with Indias global adversaries adding fuel to fire. The same holds good for China as it was PM Modi who decided to take on the expansionist Middle Kingdom by the horns at Doklam in 2017 and in East Ladakh in 2020. The role played by the Modi government and its national security planners in injecting cement into the backbone of national security will come out in flying colors when war history of the past decade is recorded for posterity. Even as recently as Baisakhi day, a top paramilitary official wanted orders in writing on deployment in Punjab from the Home Ministry rather than do on his own initiative as self-preservation is a key bureaucratic skill. After all the bureaucratic focus is on completion of file not on wastage of public money and resources or the national security response.

While PM Modi ad nauseam talks about Atmanirbhar Bharat to create a military-industrial complex for the new rising India, the main military-civilian bureaucratic players in this plan are still playing in their own silos as if there was no urgency despite a neighborhood global superpower defining India as a key adversary. The focus is on meetings not on results with every bureaucrat ready with advice of the ministry he or she represents. In diplomatic parlance, these are called TP or talking points.

In his speech to mark 75th year of Indian Independence, PM Modi talked about decolonization of Indian mind as part of Paanch Prans or five commitments to make India a developed country by 2047. The first step towards this should be the decolonization of Indian bureaucracy as they are the interface with the public from gram panchayat level to the PMO. The British Civil Services system needs to be taken down as it creates divisions within on the basis of the three letters after the name of the serving bureaucrat. New India needs a new administrative system based on contemporary issues facing the country and a new syllabus and domain knowledge. It needs an administration which is grounded in India not merely doing a job for pay, perks and a house in posh Lutyens Delhi. A bureaucrat living in the prime residential areas of the national capital and state capitals with children studying or settled abroad cannot be expected to be in touch with real India. While PM Modi is put to sword by the electorate every six months in state assembly elections every five years in a Lok Sabha election, a bureaucrat survives for 30 years and more on the basis of a single exam. Will the PM hold Indian bureaucracy accountable when he addresses them on April 21, 2023, Civil Services Day.

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BENGALURU: Congress leader and DK Suresh on Thursday filed his nomination from the Kanakapura assembly constituency as the backup candidate in case there are issues with the papers filed by his brother and the partys state unit chief DK Shivakumar, people familiar with the matter said. DK Suresh, 57, represents the Bangalore Rural seat in the Lok Sabha (Twitter/ANI)

DK Shivakumar, 60, is the official candidate from Kanakapura, the constituency that has elected him in the last three state elections in 2008, 2013 and 2018.

DK Suresh, 57, is the only Congress MP from Karnataka in the Lok Sabha. He represents the Bangalore Rural seat. The Kanakapura assembly segment is one of the eight assembly segments of the Bangalore Rural seat.

The ruling BJP has fielded a senior minister and its prominent Vokkaliga face R Ashoka from Kanakapura to take on DK Shivakumar.

To be sure, it is not unusual for political parties to field a backup candidate who withdraws from the race after the main candidates papers are formally cleared by the returning officer

DK Sureshs nomination has been filed as a precautionary measure, said Shivakumar, according to ANI.

There was speculation that the Congress could field DK Suresh from Padmanabhanagar segment, the other assembly seat from where Ashoka is contesting as its payback for fielding Ashoka from Kanakapura.

Earlier, there was buzz that the Congress could field DK Suresh from Ramanagara, against JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamys son Nikhil Kumaraswamy. Suresh had, however, rebutted this possibility, saying he was not interested in coming to state politics.

In his affidavit, DK Shivakumar has 19 criminal cases against him including 10 that relate to holding protests against the government. There are four other tax evasion cases and two under the money laundering law. A bribery case is also pending against him. Two other cases were filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Lokayukta in connection with alleged disproportionate assets.
The Congress on Thursday released its sixth and final list of five candidates for the May 10 assembly elections in Karnataka. B V Rajeev Gowda has been fielded from Sidlaghatta replacing V Muniyappa, who won the seat in 2018. The Congress is contesting 223 of the 224 seats. (PTI)

The Congress is contesting 223 seats and has left the remaining seat for Sarvodaya Karnataka Party. On Wednesday night, Congress released its fifth list of three candidates, denying Srinivas Murthy a ticket from Pulakeshinagar Akhanda.

Murthy, a Dalit, won the 2018 assembly election with a record margin of 81,626 votes. He filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate on Wednesday. Murthy said he has faith in the people of his constituency. I hope the people of my constituency will back me because they gave me the maximum votes in the state [in 2018], he said.

In Bengalurus K R Pura, Congress has fielded D K Mohan against minister Byrathi Basavaraj. Basavaraj won the seat on a Congress ticket in 2018. He was among the 17 lawmakers whose resignations led to the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government and paved the way for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s return to power in 2019. In the subsequent by-poll, he won on a BJP ticket.

The Congress on Wednesday replaced Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from the Shiggaon constituency and fielded Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan. Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai defeated Sayed Azeempeer Khadri from Shiggaon in 2018.

Thursday is the last date for filing nominations. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on Friday. April 24 is the last day for the withdrawal of candidature. The election results will be announced on May 13.
Congress's Supriya Shrinate said she is worried about the mental health of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after the chief minister, a former Congress leader, in a television interview, asked whether Manmohan Singh ever wore Assam's gamosa in any official programmes. On a question of Himanta's role in the northeast, Himanta said he is just a karyakarta and people have trust on PM Modi for his respect for the northeast. Himanta Biswa Sarma in a recent interview questioned the commitment of the former PMs to the northeast.

"Nehruji was also the prime minister of this country. But did anyone ever see Assam's gamosa around his neck? There was Indira Gandhi and then Manmohan Singh who was an MP from Assam. But have you seen him carrying gamosa in any official function? So we can ask that you were Assam's MP for 18 years. But on the day you took the oath, you could have worn Assam's gamosa, we would have been happy. At that time we did not know that this carries a message," Himanta Biswa said.

Assam plans Kamakhya Temple corridor; PM Modi calls it a landmark initiative

"But now when PM Modi wants to get vaccinated, he has Assam's gamosa with him. Won't people have much greater respect for him?" Assam chief minister said.

"Dr Manmohan Singh ji represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha for 18 years. How many times did we see him wearing our Gamosa? Not even during his oath taking. Whereas, Hon PM Shri @narendramodi ji dons Gamosa on all important occasions - taking the vaccine or during foreign visits," Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote as he shared the clip from the interview.

NSUI leader Anushesh Sharma countered Himanta and shared two photos of Manmohan Singh with gamosa. "Just for your reference I have attached two pictures of Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji wearing an Assamese Gamosa. If possible, try to act like an elected representative not like a fake news peddler," the NSUI leader wrote.

"Himanta ji, lest you forget you are the CM of Assam not the 2 troll incharge of North East. Worried about your mental health, have been repeatedly advising you to see a good doctor please!" Congress's Supriya Shrinate wrote.

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The Dalai Lamas participation in the first Global Buddhist Summit was the subject of intense discussions involving the culture and external affairs ministries, days after the Tibetan spiritual leader was involved in a controversy over a video of him with a minor boy at a meeting. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. (AFP)

Some sections of both ministries questioned whether the Dalai Lama should participate in the meet so soon after the controversy, and others opposed his inclusion in the gathering at the inaugural session that was addressed by the Prime Minister, people familiar with the matter said.

Also read | BJP MP slams attack on Dalai Lama over video row, says unacceptable

Eventually, a solution was worked out whereby the 87-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader would join the deliberations on Friday, the second day of the event that is bringing together more than 300 delegations from around the world, the people said.

Officials from both ministries believed it would not be appropriate for the Dalai Lama to be present at the same gathering with Modi following the controversy, even though the Tibetan leader had offered an apology over the video, the people said.

Last week, the Dalai Lama issued an apology to a minor boy and his family after a video of the spiritual leader and the child surfaced on social media. The video depicted an incident that occurred on February 28 at Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama is based.

Officials of the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), which organised the Global Buddhist Summit along with the culture ministry, said last week that the Dalai Lama had been invited to the event but it was unclear whether he would attend. An invitation has been sent but because of his health, I dont know if he can attend, IBC director general Abhijit Halder told a news conference.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and is currently under home quarantine. Defence minister Rajnath Singh (PTI)

A team of doctors have examined him and recommended he rest for a few days. The minister is currently under home quarantine with mild symptoms, according to an official release.

Also Read | Rajnath says war preparedness is a continuous phenomenon

Singh was scheduled to attend the Indian Air Force Commanders' conference in the national capital today but had to skip it after being tested positive for the virus, the statement said.

On Wednesday he attended the Army Commanders conference during which he was accompanied by Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande and other senior Army officers. He practised firing on small arms firing simulator. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday discussed the worsening situation in Sudan with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and said the focus is really on how to get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result of a workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire. United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres meets with Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at U.N headquarters in New York City, US.(REUTERS)

Jaishankar met Guterres and also discussed a range of issues, including India's presidency of the G20 and the Ukraine conflict.

Jaishankar said the focus is really on how to get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result of a workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire.

Also read | Avoid movements: India advises citizens in Sudan as armies of 2 generals fight

He is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning on Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean.

Before his travel to Latin America, he arrived in New York and met the UN chief at the UN headquarters here on Thursday afternoon.

Noting that he had a very good meeting with Guterres, Jaishankar said once the fighting in Sudan started out, I felt that it was very important that he met the UN Secretary-General Guterres.

"Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also of course discussed the G20 and we also spend some time on the Ukraine conflict. But essentially it was about the Sudan situation, he said.

Jaishankar said that in Sudan, the UN is at the heart of the efforts to establish a ceasefire.

And that is really key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it is not safe for people to really come out," he said.

The UN is doing its bit talking to everybody. We of course have obviously very strong interest in the matter because so many Indians are there, Jaishankar added.

Around 300 people, including an Indian, have been killed, and more than 3,000 injured in clashes in Sudan, according to the World Health Organisation. The violence between forces from Sudans army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on Saturday.
In a relief for Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday recognised him as the general secretary of the AIADMK updating its records with changes that have effectively abolished the dual leadership. The ECI in its communication informed EPS that the partys amended rules and regulations and change in office bearer have been taken on record subject to any further court order/direction. (PTI)

The ECI in its communication informed EPS that the partys amended rules and regulations and change in office bearer have been taken on record subject to any further court order/direction.

The ECI has also allotted AIADMK the two-leaves symbol, as per another letter issued by the poll body. There letter addressed to Karnatakas chief electoral officer (CEO), where assembly elections are due in May, states that the AIADMKs candidates are eligible for the two-leaves symbol.

Both EPS and his former colleague-turned-rival O Panneerselvam (OPS) have fielded a candidate each in one seat in the neighbouring Karnataka states assembly.

With this development, EPS urged his cadre to ensure that AIADMK wins all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in neighbouring Puducherry in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

This journey has been rough for me. It was full of thorns, EPS said in a statement.

So many tests and betrayals. But, we have now overcome all the problems created by traitors. The struggle to protect AIADMKs 1.5 crore cadre went up to the Supreme Court and we won. Now, our victory is that the ECI has recognised us.

By holding the July 11 general council meeting last year as valid, the Madras high court and the Supreme Court have favoured EPS in petitions filed by OPS against his ouster. The present case pertains to OPS and three of his supporters  P H Manoj Pandian, R Vaithilingam and JCD Prabhakar challenging the resolutions passed during this meeting which they say the top court has not gone into.

A bench comprising Justices R Mahadevam and Mohammed Shaffiq are hearing this batch of petitions.

However, OPS faction has not yet accepted defeat. The ECI has given them the two-leaves symbol similar to how it allotted the symbol to them for the Erode-east by-election held in February, said Panruti Ramachandran, a veteran leader supporting OPS.

It is only temporary... So, we are not worried, he said.

The ECI has said that they are recording it until the final verdict of the court so we do not consider this a problem, he added.

The ECIs decision came on the same day of Madras high court resuming the hearing of the expelled leader OPS and his supporters over their ouster and the elevation of EPS on July 11, last year.

The Delhi high court had on April 12 directed the ECI  based on EPS petition (after he was elected the AIADMKs general secretary on March 28)  to decide on updating their records with the changes within 10 days.

The Commission has decided to extend the concession sought by the party under Paragraph 10. of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order. 1968. Accordingly, the candidate set up by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam at the current general election to the legislative assembly of Karnataka from all assembly constituencies of the said state shall be allotted the symbol two leaves, the ECI said on Tuesday. (Pl check )

The EPS-led AIADMK held meeting with its district secretaries in the headquarters in Chennai on Thursday. Before starting their discussion, the party celebrated, rasising slogans in support of the new general secretary.

EPS paid his respects to the statues of AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran and his protege J Jayalalithaa and distributed sweets.

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Billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani  battling controversy after short seller Hindenburg Research's report alleging financial malpractice and stock manipulation by the Adani Group - met Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar at his Mumbai residence Thursday, sources told news agency PTI. Last week, Pawar had said that he did not favour the formation of a JPC to probe into the issue and that Adani was being targetted over the Hindenburg report. (File)

The two spoke for nearly two hours, the same sources indicated.

The meeting took place after Pawar last week seemed to back down from an earlier statement - that allegations against Adani be probed by a Supreme Court-monitored team - and said he had 'no objection' to the Congress-led opposition's call for inquiries by a joint parliamentary committee.

"I believe a probe should be conducted but a JPC will be constituted based on the strength of political parties in Parliament. So, if a 21-member JPC is formed 14-15 will be from BJP as it has over 200 MPs in the Lok Sabha (only) the remaining six-seven (will be) from the opposition. The question is - how effectively can these six people work in that committee?" Pawar had reasoned.

"Despite that, if all opposition parties want a JPC to be formed I have no objection to it."

The difference of opinion between Sharad Pawar and the Congress (his ally in Maharashtra) on how best to investigate the charges against Gautam Adani and his conglomerate erupted in April, after the former said a panel appointed by the top court, by the Chief Justice of India, would be more effective at uncovering the truth than one that could be influenced by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The opposition has repeatedly alleged improper links between the BJP and Adani; those links were, in fact, the subject of a fiery speech - expunged - by now-disqualified Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi.

The Supreme Court last month set up a six-member committee led by a former judge to probe regulatory aspects of stock markets and make necessary recommendations and suggestions.

The Congress was less than impressed by Pawar's statement. The party's Maharashtra leader Prithviraj Chavan called it 'baseless' and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, although he acknowledged the comment as 'logical', stressed,  opposition will be able to ask questions ask for documents.

The comments were also not received fourably by his other Maharashtra ally either; Sanjay Raut from ex-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's faction of the Shiv Sena, made it clear 'it (a parliamentary probe) is the demand of the united opposition and Shiv Sena is part of it'

Pawar also came under attack after an interview to national broadcaster NDTV in which he referred to the accusations against Adani as 'targeted'. In that same interview he also seemed to defend Adani (and Reliance Industries Limited chairperson Mukesh Ambani) from attacks by the Congress.

Gautam Adani's business group has lost, by some accounts, over $20 billion since the Hindenburg report was released in January; his personal fortune has plummeted by over 60 per cent - he was then the second richest man in the world - after share prices tanked.

The Adani Group has denied all claims by Hindenburg and has stressed its innocence.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the noble teachings of Gautama Buddha at the Global Buddhist Summit inaugurated here in New Delhi on Thursday. PM Modi at Global Buddhist Summit in Delhi on Thursday.(ANI)

"The noble teachings of Gautama Buddha have impacted countless people over centuries. Inspired by the teachings of Lord Buddha, India is taking new initiatives for global welfare," said PM Modi.

Also Read | Can PM Modi reform bureaucracy for New India?

He said, "Buddha is an understanding beyond the person, Buddha is a thought beyond the form, Buddha is a consciousness beyond the image, and this consciousness of the Buddha is eternal and constant..."

"This thought is eternal, this understanding is unforgettable," said PM Modi.

PM Modi further said that India is moving ahead in 'Amrit Kaal' towards becoming a developed country, and the biggest inspiration behind the same is Lord Buddha.

"In this Amrit Kaal, India has taken new initiatives on many subjects and our biggest inspiration for this is Lord Buddha. India is moving ahead in the 'Amrit Kaal' towards becoming a developed country. India has resolved for the welfare of not only India but also for the whole wide world," Modi said.

The two-day Global Buddhist Summit is being held at a time when India is celebrating 75 years of her independence when India is celebrating the 'Amrit Mahotsav'.

PM Modi said that India has continuously spread the values of Lord Buddha. "The path of Buddha is Pariyakti, Patipatti and Pativedha. Means Theory, Practice and Realization. In the last 9 years, India has progressed rapidly on all these three points," he said.

The Prime Minister further stressed that when many people come together with a vision for a better future, "the future will indeed be magnificent".

"India has had its firsts in so many fields, and it has derived great inspiration for the same from Lord Buddha. That's why today people from different countries, and different geographical-cultural environments are present here together," Modi said while adding that this is the extension of Lord Buddha which unites the entire humanity in one thread.

PM Modi underscored the importance of the path of Buddha adding that his path is of the future, the path of sustainability.

He also said that India has not given war to the world, but 'Buddha'.

"The war and unrest that the world is suffering from today, centuries ago Lord Buddha had given a solution. The journey of solving problems is the journey of Buddha. India considers the sorrow of every human being as its own sorrow," PM Modi said.

Modi said that the world can embrace happiness only if "we renunciate realisations of Victory, Defeats, Fights, Wars".

"Lord Buddha has taught the path to overcome these. Enmity can not vanish with enmity but with Love. Actual happiness lies in peace, in living together with peace. If we want to make the world happy, then this Buddha mantra of inclusiveness is the only way by leaving the self, the world, the narrow thinking," PM Modi said.

Refering to the earthquake in Turkey, PM Modi said, "Be it peace missions in different countries of the world or a calamity like an earthquake in Turkey... India stands with humanity in times of every crisis, with 'Mum Bhav', by putting its full potential."

He also informed how India played a key role in improving the Buddha Circuit.

"We improved the Buddha Circuit in India and Nepal. Be it Kushinagar International Airport or Lumbini, where India International Centre for Buddhist Culture is being established; India is working holistically in this direction," said PM Modi.
The Union government on Thursday released for feedback changes to rules regarding Aadhaar, suggesting the identity verification mechanism be opened for entities other than government ministries and departments, and expanding the purpose for which the ID can be used to include ease of living services. HT Image

If formalised, the rules could reopen the Aadhaar system to more private companies, which will need to submit a proposal to a government department or ministry to be allowed to use Aadhaar for authentication.

At present, financial institutions and telecom companies are the only agencies that can seek Aadhaar for authentication of users or clients. They were included by way of a 2019 law, after the Supreme Court in its 2018 order on Aadhaar barred all private companies from seeking the 12-digit identity number.

The new rules will essentially allow any private entity other than a bank, insurance company or telecom provider to ask people to present their Aadhaar numbers voluntarily, said an official aware of the matter, asking not to be named.

The government, in a statement, said the new rule was meant to enable ease of living and better access to services for citizens.

Enable ease of living will, if the rule is adopted, become the fourth purpose for which Aadhaar can be sought, in addition to ensuring good governance, prevention of dissipation of social welfare benefits, and enablement of innovation and the spread of knowledge.

The new rule also says that any entity that desires to use Aadhaar authentication for the listed purposes shall prepare a proposal giving justification and demonstrate that it is in the interest of state to gain permission by the ministry or department related to use Aadhaar.

Experts said the move could be at odds with the spirit of the Supreme Court rulings, including the one on privacy.

The amendments, particularly those at Rule 4, need to be implemented keeping in mind the caution from the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy judgment. Consent or choice built into the Aadhaar Act also has to be adhered to whilst evaluating proposals. Need for specificity on the entities to which this facility is being extended means that UIDAI intends to adapt to protect or ring fence against misuse is critical, said NS Nappinai, Supreme Court lawyer and founder of Cybersaathi.

In seeking to provide for Aadhaar authentication by entities other than ministries and departments of the Union and state governments, the draft amendments stand in violation of the Puttaswamy judgement, said Prateek Waghre, a policy advisor with tech policy thinktank Internet Freedom Foundation.

Further, that this is happening despite a pending challenge to the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019, in the Supreme Court and the absence of a robust and functional data protection regime, which will adversely affect the Right to Privacy of the citizens of India, he added.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit number that links to biometric data of an individual, creating a unique identity. This identity is linked to the persons bank details, phone number, government schemes and other financial services.

At present, over 300 government ministries and departments are allowed to use Aadhaar-based authentication.
A Surat sessions court on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhs plea to suspend his conviction in a criminal defamation case for comments made four years ago on the Modi surname, dealing a blow to his hopes of quickly reversing his disqualification as a Member of Parliament (MP). Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (ANI)

Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera cited Gandhis stature as an MP and former chief of the countrys second-largest political party, and said he should have been more careful in his comments. He cited prima facie evidence and observations of the trial court and said it appeared Gandhi made certain derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi apart from comparing the people with the same surname with thieves.

...the appellant was not an ordinary person and was sitting MP, connected with public life. Any word spoken by appellant would have large impact in mind of common public...Moreover, high standard of morality is expected from a person like appellant and the learned trial court had inflicted sentence which was permissible in law, said the 27-page judgment.

I am of the opinion that the appellant has not made out any case to suspend the conviction recorded against him, the judge added.

The Congress called the decision unsustainable and erroneous. The conviction has been upheld contrary to all basic elementary principles of law...let me assure you that the judgement will be challenged in accordance with law in the very near future, senior leader Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in Delhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was a victory of the people and the judiciary. Surat court rejecting Rahul Gandhis plea once again proved that the Congress dynast intentionally insulted the OBC community of India, said Union minister Anurag Thakur.

On March 23, a Surat court convicted Gandhi for criminal defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for a remark he made ahead of the 2019 national polls about the Modi surname. Under the law, the conviction and two-year jail term rendered Gandhi unfit to enter either House of Parliament for a period of eight years. The next day, the former Wayanad member of Parliament (MP) was disqualified from the Lok Sabha, sparking a political storm and a rare moment of Opposition unity in Parliament.

Any elected representative who is sentenced for any offence for a period of two years or more faces immediate disqualification under the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RP Act). One provision of the Act that granted three months protection from disqualification was struck down in 2013 as ultra vires by the Supreme Court.

In 2019 at a rally in Karnataka, Gandhi asked the crowd, How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? referring to fugitives Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, and targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2019, former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi filed a case against Gandhi in Surat, saying the opposition leader had insulted all members of the Modi community.

In his verdict, sessions court judge Mogera said Gandhi needed to argue there was a rare and exceptional case , special and compelling circumstances, irreversible consequences leading to injustice and irretrievable damages, and prove there were no criminal antecedents or a prima-facie case on merits.

The judge found against Gandhi on five counts.

One, Gandhis advocates argued that the complaint was not maintainable because there was no definite or identifiable group in the case. But the court disagreed.

Looking to prima facie evidence and observations...it transpires that the appellant had made certain derogatory remarks against the Honble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in general public and further compared the persons having Modi surname with thieves and the complainant is also having surname of Modi. Moreover, the complainant is ex-minister and involved in public life and such defamatory remarks would have certainly harmed his reputation and caused him pain and agony in society, the order said.

Two, Gandhis lawyers argued that he didnt receive a fair trial, the lack of jurisdiction, and that the trial court was unduly harsh.

But the court said that the lower court gave thoughtful consideration to the complaint, verification and documents produced, and issued the summons, which were never challenged by Gandhi, and therefore the lack of territorial jurisdiction could not be accepted at this stage.

So far as imposing of maximum punishment is concerned, it would be worthwhile to observe that the appellant was not an ordinary person and was sitting MP, connected with public life. Any word spoken by appellant would have large impact in mind of common public. The alleged speech given by appellant on 13/4/2019 was during election, the court said.

Three, the court said Gandhi failed to show that there was a prima facie case in his favour. Judge Mogera said given his stature, Gandhi should have been more careful with his words, which would have large impact on the mind of people. Any defamatory words coming from the mouth of appellant are sufficient enough to cause mental agony to aggrieved person. In this case, by uttering defamatory words viz. comparing persons having surname Modi with thieves would definitely have caused mental agony and harm the reputation of complainant, who is socially active and dealing in public.

Four, Mogera said Gandhis lawyers failed in demonstrating that by not staying the conviction and denying an opportunity to contest the election on account of disqualification, irreversible and irrevocable damage is likely to be caused to the Congress leader.

Considering the juxtaposition of law with regard to considering criteria of disqualification as enumerated in Section 8(3) of Representation of the People Act, 1951, I hold, based on the above discussion, that removal or disqualification as Member of Parliament cannot be termed as irreversible or irreparable loss or damage, the order said.

Five, the judge cited Supreme Court pronouncements that the power to suspend/stay the conviction is required to be exercised with caution and circumspection. ...if such power is exercised in a casual and mechanical manner, the same would have [a] serious impact on the public perception on the justice delivery systems and such order will shake public confidence in [the] judiciary, Mogera said. Hence, I am of the opinion that the appellant has not made out any case to suspend the conviction recorded against him.

The developments come amid a prolonged election season, where at least five states will go to the polls this year, leading up to the general elections next year. The Wayanad seat continues to remain vacant.

We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter earlier in the day.

BJP leader Amit Malviya hit out at Gandhi and said on Twitter, Despite having insulted the OBC community, calling them all chor (thief), Rahul, shamefully remains defiant... His arrogant attitude reeks of entitlement.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said at a press conference in New Delhi that the courts decision is a blow to the arrogance of the Gandhi family, especially Rahul Gandhi.

Its a slap on Gandhi familys arrogance...Gandhi family had thought that they can get away after abusing backward classes. But that did not happen, Patra claimed.

Today is the black day in the democracy of India as the main Opposition leader is being treated like this. BJP wants to make India a Banana Republic, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti told the media.
A sessions court in Gujarats Surat on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhis plea for a stay on his conviction, which led to his disqualification as a Member of Parliament (MP), in a 2019 criminal defamation case related to his remarks on the Modi surname. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (ANI)

The order means the Congress leaders disqualification continues. A metropolitan magistrate on March 23 convicted Gandhi and sentenced him to two-year imprisonment. Gandhi was disqualified as MP from Keralas Wayanad on March 24.

On April 3, Gandhi filed his appeal before the sessions court against the magistrates verdict. He was subsequently granted bail till the disposal of his plea.

Gandhi on Thursday last told the sessions court that his disqualification would cause him irreparable loss and irreversible injury.

Conviction and two-year jail term also leave Gandhi ineligible to contest elections for eight years. This can be reversed if a higher court overturns his conviction or reduces his sentence to less than two years.

Gandhi argued his comments about the Modi surname during a speech in Karnataka were not defamatory and taken out of context.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi, who is the complainant in the case, called Gandhi a repeat offender and said the Congress leaders appeal was a dirty display of childish arrogance.

The accused is in the habit of making such defamatory and irresponsible statements which may either defame others or may hurt the feelings of others, in the name of freedom of speech and political criticism and dissent, Modi said in his affidavit in response to notice on Gandhis plea.

Additional sessions judge RP Mogera on Thursday last reserved his verdict on Gandhis application for the stay. Gandhi submitted the trial court treated him harshly after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

Purnesh Modi filed the case against Gandhi under Sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code over the remark wondering how all thieves have Modi as the common surname during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka in April 2019.

The sessions court heard both parties last Thursday before reserving the order.

Gandhis lawyers argued the trial in the case was not fair and that there was no need for maximum punishment. Gandhi argued the excessive sentence was contrary to the law on the subject and unwarranted in the present case which has overriding political overtones.

He called his conviction erroneous and patently perverse. Gandhi linked the sentence to his disqualification, saying the trial court was aware of his status as a parliamentarian.

He said the by-election once held for his Lok Sabha seat due to his disqualification cannot be undone even if subsequently he is acquitted. Gandhi said such an election will cause a loss to the state exchequer
Thiruvananthapuram In March, the high court had stayed the forest departments order to make Arikomban a kumki (trainer) elephant after the intervention of animal activists and appointed an expert committee. (HT)

As uncertainty over finding a suitable location for Idukkis rogue elephant named Arikomban continues, the state radio collar from Assam to be fitted on the animal reached the forest departments office in Munnar, said a senior forest officer.

The usual radio collars will not function in deep forest areas so the satellite collar provided by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was brought from Assam, courtesy of their forest department, said the official.

The collar can transmit information directly without the help of mobile towers, he said, adding that this will make it easier for the forest officials to track the elephants travel route.

While ordering the translocation of the elephant last month, the Kerala high court had directed the state forest department to appoint a nodal officer to monitor the animal once it is fitted with the collar.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court had rejected the Kerala governments plea questioning the relocation of Arikomban from Idukki to Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad, refusing to interfere with the Kerala high courts direction.

The state approached the apex court after many villages surrounding the tiger reserve opposed the high court-mandated relocation.

In the prevailing situation we cannot take the elephant to Parambikulam forcibly. We are not giving the list of any new locations either. Let the expert committee choose a new site for its release, said forest minister A K Saseendran adding the court orders and agitation of local people put the government in a quandary.

We have to protect human lives and their properties but at the same time we have to protect our wildlife also. In many places space for a healthy co-existence is shrinking, said the minister.

On Wednesday the division bench of the high court comprising of Justices Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath directed the state to consult experts and arrive at a decision before the next hearing on May 3.

The court had declined to review its order but gave the government about two weeks to come up with an alternate location.

As the government and court struggled to find a new habitat for Arikomban it continued its rogue behaviour, said local residents in Idukki adding it destroyed another house on Wednesday night, with many inhabitants escaping narrowly.

In March, the high court had stayed the forest departments order to make Arikomban a kumki (trainer) elephant after the intervention of animal activists and appointed an expert committee.

Following the expert panel report, the high court had ordered that the 40-year-old elephant be darted, radio-collared and translocated to Parambikulam tiger reserve.

MLA K Babu on Wednesday had started an indefinite fast outside the office of the wildlife warden of the tiger reserve, saying that the locals will create a human chain to protest the translocation on April 24.
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday advised its citizens in Sudan to shelter in place amid the intense fighting between the regular army and a paramilitary force, with officials saying New Delhi has contingency plans in place to ensure the safety and security of nationals. This video grab on April 19 shows an aerial view of black smoke covering the sky above the capital Khartoum. Explosions and gunfire resounded in Sudan's capital on April 20, as fighting between the forces of two rival generals showed no signs of abating (AFP)

As fighting continued for the sixth straight day, Sudan Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his rival, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, ruled out negotiations, quashing hopes for a ceasefire. One Indian national was among the more than 300 people killed so far in the fighting, which has forced thousands to flee the capital of Khartoum.

Our advice is that at this point they [Indian nationals] need to be where they are, and seek shelter where they are rather than trying to go somewhere else till the situation improves, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular weekly media briefing.

The situation on the ground is very tense, which renders any movement very risky. Currently, our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of the individuals wherever they are located, he said in response to questions about the status of Indians caught up in the fighting.

We are in readiness for taking multiple options, Bagchi said, adding that the Indian side already has contingency plans and teams on the ground. Any decision on pulling out the Indian citizens would depend on a pause in fighting or a ceasefire, he said.

Bagchi declined to give the number and location of Indians stranded due to the fighting that erupted over the weekend, citing security reasons. Everybody is safe and sound, I want to emphasise that the embassy is trying to track down every Indian, he said.

We have been keeping a very close watch on the evolving situation...The mission in Khartoum is in contact with the Indian community through multiple formal and informal channels, and it has issued multiple advisories.

According to the website of the Indian embassy in Khartoum, there are about 2,800 Indian nationals in Sudan, many of them professionals working in key sectors. A sizeable number of Indian businesspeople, who travelled to Sudan to finalise deals before the Eid holidays, are stranded in hotels in Khartoum.

There are no officials at the premises of the Indian embassy located opposite the airport in Khartoum, a zone that has witnessed intense fighting. The officials are operating from other areas, and have been building up a database of all the Indian nationals. They have also been reaching out to stranded Indians and counselling them on how to cope, especially in areas where power supply and internet connectivity has been patchy.

The Indian side is also working closely with several countries, especially the US, the UK, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, to explore options regarding the possible evacuation of Indian citizens. Other countries too are looking at options for getting out their diplomats and nationals.

India is in close contact with them. Some countries have influence and information, others could guide us, what measures theyre taking, and perhaps we could pool resources, Bagchi said.

Following contacts with his Saudi and UAE counterparts, external affairs minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Egyptian counterpart on Thursday. Jaishankar, who made a stopover in New York while en route to Latin America, would also discuss the situation in Sudan with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Meanwhile, the body of the Indian national killed in the fighting  Kerala resident Albert Augestine  has been moved from his apartment complex to a mortuary so that it can be repatriated.

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Amid reports of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar meeting Gautam Adani at his residence in Mumbai, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday said no politician should engage with the industrialist. Mahua Moitra, who has been aggressive on the Adani issue, claimed that the business tycoon tried to contact her and a few others through his friends/ wheeler-dealers but couldn't find the door. TMC MP Mahua Moitra and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

The TMC MP said she has nothing to discuss with Adani on a one-on-one basis, adding that no politician should engage with him until the government takes action, apparently on the damaging allegations made by US short seller Hindenburg Research against the conglomerate.

She also launched a sharp attack on Sharad Pawar with a famous Hindi proverb, and said she has no fear in taking on Great Marathas.

Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships, she wrote. And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest.

Mahua Moitra's tweet came hours after Adani reportedly met Pawar at the latter's Silver Oak residence in south Mumbai amid the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue. The meeting lasted for nearly two hours, reported PTI citing people familiar with the matter.

Pawar's stand on the Adani issue caused rumblings in the Opposition ranks amid their attempt to unite ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Pawar took a position at variance from senior ally Congress and said he favoured a Supreme Court committee to probe allegations against the Adani group instead of a JPC. The NCP supremo opined that the ruling BJP would have a majority in the JPC based on numerical strength in Parliament and this would lead to doubts on such a probe.

While the NCP chief had downplayed the allegations of fraud and stock manipulation against the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group, he later said that his party will not oppose the demand for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee for the sake of unity.

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Hours after a session court in Gujarat's Surat rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's petition for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case, People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti alleged the laws and probe agencies are being abused to favour one partys supremacy. In a series of tweets, Mufti said that the Bharatiya Janata Party hounding the opposition's most prominent face and criminalising any and all forms of criticism reveals their true designs of establishing a BJP rashtra." (Also Read | Know my religion': Mehbooba defends temple visit, offering water to Shivling) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija Mufti lead the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, at Awantipora, in Pulwama. (ANI / FIle Photo)

The court additional sessions judge R P Mogera on Thursday rejected Gandhi's plea for a stay on the conviction which could have paved the way for his reinstatement as a member of Parliament. Dismissing Gandhi's application, the court said his counsel failed to demonstrate that an "irreversible and irrevocable damage" is likely to be caused to him if he is denied the opportunity to contest the election under section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 on account of his conviction not being stayed.

Gandhi was convicted in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his remarks on Modi surname during an election campaign in Karnataka's Kolar.

Our last hope lies with the judiciary. Tragically we are witnessing the manner is which justice is delayed & how punishment is selectively meted out. Courts drag their feet on Article 370, Bilkis Bano & CAA but fast track trivial cases of alleged defamation (sic), Mufti wrote on Twitter.

J&K was the first to bear the brunt of BJPs catastrophic unilateral decisions, she added, referring to the abrogation of Article 370 and downgrading the state into a Union territory.

Today, that fire is raging through India and threatens to engulf it in flames. Hope people of this nation comprehend the gravity of the situation and realise that the power to prevent this lies with them, she said,

While the BJP hailed the Surat court's decision as a "victory" of the judiciary and the people, the Congress said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law. Gandhi's lawyer Kirit Panwala said the sessions court's order would be challenged in Gujarat High Court.

(With PTI inputs)

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World population data: Average Indian 10 years younger than Chinese The median age of Indias population is 28.2 years, data from the World Population Prospects (WPP), which forms the basis of the UNFPA report released on Wednesday, shows. Read more The UNFPA report said 25% of Indias population is in the age group of 0-14, 18% in 10-19, 26% in 10-24, 68% in 15-64. (Reuters/Representative)

Visva-Bharati to take possession of land from Amartya Sen on May 6

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Parineeti Chopra visits Manish Malhotra in stylish powersuit, internet asks 'wedding preparations on?': Watch

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'Watching KL Rahul bat is the most boring thing': Did Kevin Pietersen destroy LSG captain on-air with bombastic remark?

It seems like former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has taken a ruthless dig at KL Rahul amid the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday. Read more

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A special court in Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all accused in the Naroda Gam massacre case where 11 Muslims were killed, bringing the curtain down on the trial in one of the worst episodes of violence in the 2002 Gujarat riots that spanned two decades. Gujarat ex-minister Maya Kodnani leaves the court after her acquittal, in Ahmedabad, on Thursday. (PTI)

The special investigation team (SIT) court pronounced a one-line verdict letting off all 67 accused in the case  another 18 were charged but died during the course of the trial  including former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel.

The court today pronounced a one-line verdict saying that all the accused have been acquitted of the charges against them. While 18 persons died during the course of the trial, one person was discharged in 2009 due to mistaken identity. The remaining 67 accused have been acquitted today, special public prosecutor Gaurang Vyas said.

We will seek a copy of the order tomorrow and after studying it we will decide about appealing before a higher court, he added.

On February 28, 2002, 11 Muslims were killed as communal violence rocked the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad city, a day after 58 passengers on board the Sabarmati Express were charred to death when the train was set on fire in Godhra. In 2008, a Supreme Court-instituted SIT filed a charge sheet against 86 people, booking them under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others.

The verdict was delivered amid tight security with police cordoning the Bhadra Civil and Sessions Court compound area with barricades. The proceedings were held in-camera with no live telecast or journalist being allowed inside the court. The verdict by special judge Shubhada Baxi was pronounced around 5.30pm, and was welcomed outside the court by chants of Jai Shri Ram and Bharat Mata ki Jai by the relatives of those who were acquitted.

This is a black day for us. We have waited for 21 years to get justice. The accused were named in the SIT report. So, what does the verdict say about the SIT investigation? I fail to understand how everyone was set free, said 50-year-old Imtiaz Qureshi, one of the prime witnesses in the case.

This is the second major case in which Kodnani has received a reprieve. A former minister, she was convicted in the Naroda Patiya case, where 97 Muslims were killed, by a lower court in 2012 and sentenced to life in jail, but acquitted by the Gujarat high court in 2018. The Naroda Patiya massacre occurred 3km away from Naroda Gam. Bajrangis conviction in that case was upheld by the high court.

I am very happy with the verdict. It is a historic verdict. My faith in the judiciary has strengthened. The April 20 date is very important for me. For it was on this date in 2018 that the high court acquitted me in the Naroda Patiya case and today on the same date I have been acquitted in Naroda Gam case, Kodnani said over the phone.

The Naroda Gam massacre was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SIT and heard by special courts. The prosecution and defence examined 187 and 57 witnesses respectively during the trial that started in 2010 and went on for nearly 13 years. Seven judges heard this case at different stages.

The 11 people killed in Naroda Gam included six members of a single family, Qureshi said. The rioters had set their house on fire and a newly married woman in the family was stabbed while she was trying to escape. I saved her and she later got settled in some other place, he said. Another family of three members were killed in the violence. I saw an elderly couple and their granddaughter being burnt alive. The couple had lost their son earlier and they were taking care of the granddaughter. We lived in the same neighbourhood. I did not expect the court to release all the convicts, he added.

Mohammad Malik, another prime witness in the case, said they still have faith in the judiciary and will challenge the verdict. I have seen everything which happened that day with my own eyes. It was a conspiracy. We will study the court order and take legal advice for challenging it in a higher court. We have not lost hope, said Malik, who works in the social sector.

The defence witnesses included Union home minister Amit Shah, who appeared as a witness for Kodnani to establish her alibi that she was at the Sola Civil Hospital on the morning of February 28, 2002. The prosecution witnesses had claimed she was at the Naroda Gam along with Patel at that time. In 2017, Shah told the court he saw Kodnani in the Gujarat Assembly around 8:30am and at Sola civil hospital around 11:15am on the day the violence took place.
Bhubaneswar: A first information report (FIR) has been registered against the Nayagarh district collector Rabindra Nath Sahu on the complaint of a laterite mines leaseholder, who alleged that the official demanded 25 lakh in bribes from him. The case was registered following orders of the Orissa high court on a petition by the mines leaseholder Sushant Kumar Barad. The FIR against Nayagarh district collector RN Sahu and three others has been registered under multiple sections of the IPC (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The FIR against Sahu and three others has been registered under sections 294 (obscene acts or words), 506 (criminal intimidation), 385 (causing fear or injury to commit extortion), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons with common intention) of IPC on the basis of a complaint lodged by 35-year-old Barad.

According to Barad, the district collector and three others visited Mayurjhalia laterite mine area on January 26 and asked for bribe of 25 lakh. The three other persons, who have been booked are Dillip Kumar Samantaray, Deepak Kumar Routray and Ganeswar Mandhata.

Barad told the high court that he filed complaints against the district collector with the Chandpur police station but no action was taken, forcing him to approach the high court.

Chandpur police station inspector Mukesh Behera said the investigation into the allegation is currently underway. More information about the incident could be divulged following the completion of the probe, he said.

District collector Sahu refuted the allegations, saying the allegations have been levelled to divert attention from illegal mining done by the leaseholder.

NGT has slapped a fine of 2.81 crore on the mining lease holder following a survey. Section 144 has also been clamped in the mining area, Sahu said. The senior official added that he hadnt even seen that place that he was accused of visiting and that he was busy with various programmes on January 26 on account of Republic Day celebrations.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed a chargesheet against six persons for their involvement in the 2022 blast in a car in Coimbatore, in which the alleged bomber Jameesha Mubeen was killed. The agency said it recovered handwritten notes from the house of the main accused during searches. (PTI file image)

As first reported by HT, NIA has claimed in its chargesheet that Mubeen was inspired by Maulvi Zahran bin Hashim, mastermind of April 21, 2019, Sri Lanka bombings, in which over 260 people were killed, and was planning to carry out similar strikes in India, particularly Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Also Read: NIA chargesheet on Shivamogga IS conspiracy: 2 B.tech graduates paid in crypto

An explosion had taken place at an ancient Temple Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil at Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam, Coimbatore on October 23.

The vehicle-borne Improvised Explosives Device (V-IED) driven by Jamesha Mubeen had blown up in front of the temple.

Mubeen was killed in the blast.

Investigations had revealed Mubeen was inspired by ISIS ideology to carry out this attack. He had also taken bayath or oath of allegiance to its self-proclaimed Caliph Abu-al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, said NIA in its chargesheet.

A pen drive recovered from his associate - Mohammed Asarutheen, arrested by NIA, contained videos recordings of Jamesha Mubeen, where he had identified himself as a member of Daulat-e-Islamia (or Islamic State).

Mubeen had spoken extensively on his intention to commit a suicide terror attack against the kafirs (non-believers) and to become a martyr. Mubeen was inspired by the bayans (sermons) of Zahran Hashim, a radical Islamic cleric of Sri Lanka, who masterminded the easter serial suicide bomb attacks in 2019 killing around 260 people. Mubeen wanted to orchestrate a similar kind of attack against the kafirs in India, NIA statement said.

The agency said it recovered handwritten notes from Mubeens residence wherein criticism of the existing democratic system, which are not in tandem with Islamic laws, has been mentioned.

There is also a mention of targets, including government office buildings, district court, public gathering places like parks, railway stations and few other local temples, NIA said.

Islamic State of Khorasan Provinces online magazine called Voice of Khorasan corroborated this in an article titled, A Message to the Inhabitants in the Land Occupied by Cow and Mice Worshipping Filths where ISKP took responsibility for the attack held at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, agency said.

The article goes on to state that the attack was revenge to uphold the honour of their religion and to establish Allahs deen and his law upon his land and to terrorize the Kufr and its followers with the threat that it was just the beginning, it said.

Mubeen was aided by associates Mohammed Asarutheen, Mohammed Thalha, Firose Khan, Mohammed Riyas, Navas and Afsar Khan in arranging logistics.

NIA said Thalha had sourced the Maruti 800 blue colour car bearing which was used in the explosion of vehicle-borne IED while Firos, Riyas and Navas had loaded the explosives and gas cylinders in the car making it the potent weapon.

Asarutheen and Afsar, both cousins of Mubeen had procured, weighed, mixed and packed the chemical constituents used to manufacture the VBIED used in the attack, agency added.

Earlier, the NIA probed a module of ISIS in Coimbatore, headed by Mohammad Azharuddin in 2018-19 and found that he, along with another associate Sheikh Hidayatullah, was in touch with April 21, 2019, Sri Lanka bombings mastermind - Maulvi Zahran bin Hashim.

Mubeen too used to follow Hashims videos and was inspired by him.

Hashim and another Sri Lanka bomber - Mohammad Azaan had even travelled to India in 2017 and 2018 to discuss the plans of Islamic State.

Indian agencies, based on NIA probe into Coimbatore module, had sent three alerts to Sri Lanka security agencies about a plan to carry out a major strike there.
After reports of Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari heading his country's delegate to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, the Union external affairs minister on Thursday said it will not be appropriate to focus on a particular member and said India, as the host, has been inviting all the SCO member states for the events that are underway. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on Thursday.(ANI)

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said similar invitations have been extended to all SCO member states and that It would not be really appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country. He further added that it would be premature to point at any bilateral meeting between the two countries, however, he said that Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such multilateral meetings.

"Regarding the request for bilateral meetings, I think, it is premature. Let's see the full participation. Usually, EAM does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as it can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings. You saw that on the occasion of the G20 Foreign Minsiters' meeting," Bagchi said.

Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson Zahra Baloch had earlier confirmed Bhutto-Zardari's visit to India to attend the SCO- Council of Foreign Ministers meeting.

"Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said at a presser.

The meeting will be held on May 4 and 5 in Goa. Apart from Bhutto, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov are also expected to attend the meet.

(With ANI inputs)

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The United Nations believes that Indias population has overtaken Chinas or will do so by July 1. By then, Indias population will be an estimated 1.429 billion, 2.96 million more than Chinas estimated population on that day. A high population, especially in a younger age cohort, is generally seen as an asset rather than a liability for the economic fortunes of a country. The simple reason for this is that more people also means more working hands. PREMIUM Chinas population will peak in 2029 at 1.44 billion before beginning a period of unstoppable decline, a government report said.(AP File Photo)
The cheetahs introduced in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park from South Africa and Namibia have been renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought suggestions from the public during his Mann ki Baat programme in September last year. The government received 11,565 entries suggesting new names for the reintroduced cheetahs. Kuno National Park received eight cheetahs from Namibia on September 17 last year, all of which were released into an enclosure by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (PTI)(HT_PRINT)

The ministry of environment, forest and climate change said in a statement that the names were selected following scrutiny by a selection committee based on their significance and relevance to the conservation efforts and cultural value.

Namibian Cheetah's old name Asha (female) has been changed to Aasha, while Oban (male) has been rechristened to Pavan. The female Namibian cheetah Savannah is now Nabha, while Siyaya is now Jwala. Elton's (male) name has been changed to Gaurav, Freddy's (male) to Shaurya, and Tiblisi's (female) to Dhatri.

A four-and-a-half-year-old female Namibian cheetah, named Sasha, died last month due to a kidney ailment.

The new names of 12 South African cheetahs reintroduced in Kuno National Park are Daksha, Nirva, Vayu, Agni,Gamini, Tejas, Veera, Suraj, Dheera, Uday, Prabhas, Pavak.

The ministry congratulated the winners of the competition who suggested new names for Namibian and South African cheetahs.

The first batch of 12 South African cheetahs (7 males, 5 females) were translocated to India on February 18, 2023. The ministry said the animals were released into the larger enclosure in a phased manner.

Providing an update on the Namibian cheetahs, the ministry said that four of them are free ranging in the wild and are being continuously monitored. It said that all the 19 translocated adult cheetahs and four cubs are healthy and doing well.

The last cheetahs in the Indian wilderness were recorded in 1947 when three cheetahs were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests of Koriya District, Chhattisgarh State. The main reasons for the decline of cheetahs in India were large-scale capture of animals from the wild for coursing, bounty and sport hunting, extensive habitat conversion with a consequent decline in prey base and in 1952 Cheetahs were declared extinct.

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Oxfam India planned to create a structure to continue its operations with the support of foreign funds after its application for renewal of its licence under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was cancelled in January 2022, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)s First Information Report (FIR) against the NGO and its office bearers. Oxfam India has not commented on the CBI FIR. (Twitter)

The FIR, which was registered on Monday over the alleged violation of the FCRA, said the NGO planned to pressurise the Indian government through institutions such as European Union, the US state department, World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank, and European countries to get its licence renewed. It added the NGO was supporting agitations through its funding and violated FCRA by utilising 33% foreign funds more than allowed (20%) for administrative purposes.

The income tax department surveyed the offices of Oxfam India and the Centre for Policy Research in September last year as part of its probe into foreign funding. The department has since recorded statements of Oxfam office bearers and examined its financial documents and email conversations.

Union home ministry on April 5 ordered a CBI probe into the matter. It asked the CBI to refer the matter to the Enforcement Directorate if any laundering angle is unearthed.

The CBI FIR is based on the findings of the income tax department. It said Oxfam India was planning to create a structure to circumvent legal requirements for using foreign funds.

Oxfam India is currently ineligible to receive foreign funds as its licence for the purpose has not been renewed.

The FIR said Oxfam India planned to focus on Indian fund-raising and knowledge-based influencing and to develop projects focusing on education, womens economic empowerment, and violence against women.

The income tax department said it found an internal email of top office bearers of Oxfam India, which reveals that the organization is selectively nominating the NGOs who would give Oxfam India complete freedom to plan the program and staffing in manner they want.

It said another email dated February 15, 2022, from Amitabh Behar, former CEO of Oxfam India, shows that the embassy of Ireland was also approached for a letter to the government of India from the EU on the FCRA issue.

Oxfam India had funded Environics Trust to mobilize communities with the help of local unions against the coal industries, said the income tax. The organization and its office bearers were supporting agitational activities in violation of FCRA.

The department found Oxfam received donations from foreign nationals from 2013-14 to 2018-19 of amounts ranging from 15,000 to 35,000. It said Oxfam has not replied to a query as to how these individuals were contacted for donations and that the transfers appear suspicious as these were done in Indian rupees.

The FCRA was amended in September 2020 to prevent NGOs from using more than 20% of foreign funds on administrative expenses. But the income tax department probe found Oxfam India used 33% of foreign funds for such expenses.

The department said it needs to further investigate a property worth 4.1 crore British citizen Banwari Lal gifted to Oxfam India

Oxfam India has not commented on the CBI FIR. It has previously maintained it is fully compliant with Indian laws and has filed all its statutory compliances, including FCRA returns, timely since its inception.
Pakistan said on Thursday foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers in Goa next month, setting the stage for the first visit by a senior Pakistani leader to India in nearly a decade. Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is attending the meet at the invitation of Jaishankar, the current chair of the CFM. (AP)

The move is in line with Islamabads decision to not skip any important meetings under the framework of SCO, whose current chair is India. The announcement by Pakistans foreign office followed months of intense speculation on whether Bilawal or minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar would attend the meeting in Goa during May 4-5. There was, however, no official word from both countries on whether Bilawals visit would lead to a bilateral meeting with external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

The last senior Pakistani leader to visit India was former premier Nawaz Sharif, who travelled to New Delhi to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis inauguration on May 26, 2014. Modi subsequently made a surprise stopover in Lahore in December 2015 to meet Sharif while on his way back to New Delhi from Kabul.

In a related development, people familiar with the matter said Pakistans defence minister Khawaja Asif will virtually join a SCO defence ministers meet, to be hosted by India during April 27-29. Asifs decision to not attend the meeting in-person was believed to have been influenced by several factors, including the fragile political situation in Pakistan.

Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch told a weekly media briefing in Islamabad.

Bilawal is attending the meet at the invitation of Jaishankar, the current chair of the CFM. Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO charter and processes, and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was circumspect when asked at a weekly briefing whether Bilawals visit will set the stage for a bilateral meeting with Jaishankar. Bagchi said the visit by Pakistans foreign minister should be seen in the context of Indias invitation to all SCO member states to attend meetings being hosted in the country.

For the SCO foreign ministers meeting...in Goa...we had extended similar invitations to all SCO member states and we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not really be appropriate to focus on participation by any one particular country, Bagchi said.

Regarding requests for bilateral meetings, I think its premature...Usually, the external affairs minister does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such multilateral meetings. Till such time as they are locked in, I dont think it would be correct for me to comment on that, he added.

On the Indian side, Bilawals visit will be closely watched to see whether he uses the trip to raise contentious issues such as Kashmir, people familiar with the matter said. Bilawal has used recent public appearances at multilateral forums such as the United Nations to criticise Indias policies on Kashmir and other matters.

However, Bilawal told a media conference that he would be going to India to attend a multilateral forum and wouldnt raise any bilateral issues there.

Indias invitations for the SCO foreign ministers meeting were sent out in January, days after Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had offered conditional talks with India on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. However, Sharif later clarified talks couldnt be held until India reversed its decision of August 5, 2019 to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan and India have not held any substantive talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Efforts to revive dialogue following Modis visit to Lahore were hit by terror attacks at Uri and Pathankot in 2016. The suicide attack at Pulwama that killed 40 Indian troops in February 2019 and the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmirs special status in August the same year took bilateral ties to a further low.

Hina Rabbani Khar was the last Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in 2011. Pakistans foreign office said the countrys participation in SCO meetings reflected its commitment to the eight-member grouping. Pakistans climate change minister Sherry Rehman participated in the online meeting of SCO ministers for environmental protection on April 18, while a senior official virtually joined the meeting of SCO heads of agencies for preventing emergency situations on Thursday.

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NEW DELHI: Pakistan said on Thursday foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers in Goa next month, setting the stage for the first visit by a senior Pakistani leader to India in nearly a decade. Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday (AP)

The move is in line with Islamabads decision not to skip any important meetings under the framework of SCO, whose current chair is India. The announcement by Pakistans Foreign Office followed months of intense speculation on whether Bilawal or minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar would attend the meeting in Goa during May 4-5.

There was, however, no official word from both countries on whether Bilawals visit would lead to a bilateral meeting with external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

The last senior Pakistani leader to visit India was former premier Nawaz Sharif, who travelled to New Delhi to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis inauguration on May 26, 2014. Modi subsequently made a surprise stopover in Lahore in December 2015 to meet Sharif while on his way back to New Delhi from Kabul.

In a related development, people familiar with the matter said Pakistans defence minister Khawaja Asif will virtually join a SCO defence ministers to be hosted by India during April 27-29. Asifs decision not to attend the meeting in-person was believed to have been influenced by several factors, including the fragile political situation in Pakistan.

Foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch told a weekly media briefing in Islamabad.

Bilawal is attending the meet at the invitation of Jaishankar, the current chair of the CFM. Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO charter and processes, and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was circumspect when asked at a weekly briefing whether Bilawals visit will set the stage for a bilateral meeting with Jaishankar. Bagchi said the visit by Pakistans foreign minister should be seen in the context of Indias invitation to all SCO member states to attend meetings being hosted in the country.

For the SCO foreign ministers meeting...in Goa...we had extended similar invitations to all SCO member states and we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not really be appropriate to focus on participation by any one particular country, Bagchi said.

Regarding requests for bilateral meetings, I think its premature...Usually, the external affairs minister does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such multilateral meetings. Till such time as they are locked in, I dont think it would be correct for me to comment on that, he added.

On the Indian side, Bilawals visit will be closely watched to see whether he uses the trip to raise contentious issues such as Kashmir, people familiar with the matter said. Bilawal has used recent public appearances at multilateral forums such as the United Nations to criticise Indias policies on Kashmir and other matters.

However, Bilawal told a media conference that he would be going to India to attend a multilateral forum and wouldnt raise any bilateral issues there.

Indias invitations for the SCO foreign ministers meeting were sent out in January, days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered conditional talks with India on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. However, Sharif later clarified talks couldnt be held until India reversed its decision of August 5, 2019 to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan and India have not held any substantive talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Efforts to revive dialogue following PM Modis visit to Lahore were hit by terror attacks at Uri and Pathankot in 2016. The suicide attack at Pulwama that killed 40 Indian troops in February 2019 and the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmirs special status in August the same year took bilateral ties to a further low.

Hina Rabbani Khar was the last Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in 2011. Pakistans Foreign Office said the countrys participation in SCO meetings reflected its commitment to the eight-member grouping. Pakistans climate change minister Sherry Rehman participated in the online meeting of SCO ministers for environmental protection on April 18, while a senior official virtually joined the meeting of SCO heads of agencies for preventing emergency situations on Thursday.

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NEW DELHI: Lord Buddhas teachings are the basis for solutions to the greatest challenges confronting the world, including war, economic instability, terrorism and climate change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the first Global Buddhist Summit on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of First Global Buddhist Summit in New Delhi on Thursday (HT Photo/Raj K Raj)

Addressing the inaugural session of the meet that was attended by Buddhist spiritual leaders from across the world, diplomats and representatives of influential organisations, PM Modi said the Buddha had provided a solution centuries ago for the war and unrest that the world is currently grappling with.

The two-day summit, jointly hosted by the culture ministry and the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), is being seen as part of the Indian governments efforts to strengthen the countrys credentials as a leading player in Buddhism, especially at a time when rival China has sought to host similar meetings.

The IBC is supported by the Indian government and more than 300 delegations were set to participate in the summit. Some 170 foreign delegates from countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Mexico are participating, and Vietnam and Sri Lanka have sent large delegations for the summit, whose theme is Responses to contemporary challenges: Philosophy to praxis.

It is universally accepted that todays era is the most challenging time of this century. Today...two countries are at war for months [and] the world is going through economic instability. Threats such as terrorism and religious fanaticism are attacking the soul of humanity. A challenge like climate change is looming large over the existence of humanity, Modi said, speaking in Hindi.

But amid all this, there are millions who have faith in the Buddha and believe in the welfare of all living beings, and this faith is the biggest strength of the earth, Modi said in a speech peppered with quotations from Buddhist scriptures. He noted the Buddha had preached about abandoning war, defeat and victory for eternal peace, and said enmity can never be countered with enmity.

Lord Buddha also said happiness lies in unity and living together with all people, Modi emphasised. There is no problem in the modern world whose solution we cannot find in the teachings of the Buddha hundreds of years ago. The Buddha had provided a solution centuries ago to the war and unrest the world is suffering from today, he said.

The path of the Buddha is the path of the future and of sustainability. Had the world followed the Buddhas teachings, it would not have faced the problem of climate change, Modi said, adding that this problem arose because countries stopped thinking about others and future generations.

Every person can contribute towards fighting climate change, Modi said while pointing to Indias Lifestyle For Environment or LiFE initiative, which has been influenced by the teachings of the Buddha.

The Indian government has worked to take the Buddhas teachings to the people, and this includes steps such as the development of the Buddhist circuit in India and Nepal, rejuvenating pilgrimage centres such as Sarnath and Kushinagar, building an India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage at Lumbini with Indias cooperation, he said.

The Buddhas legacy also inspired Indias moves to help other countries affected by calamities such as the recent earthquake in Turkey. This emotion of 1.4 billion Indians is being seen, understood and accepted by the world, he said.

The IBC is helping create new opportunities for like-minded countries to spread Buddhism and peace, and discussions on how to handle current challenges hold a ray of hope for the world. Countries have to abandon narrow thinking and focus on poverty-stricken people and other nations affected by a lack of resources, as this is the only way to establish a better world, Modi said.

The session was also addressed by culture minister G Kishan Reddy and law minister Kiren Rijiju, while ministers of state for culture Arjun Ram Meghwal and Meenakshi Lekhi, and International Buddhist Confederation secretary general Dhammapiya were present on the occasion.

The prime minister visited a photo exhibition and offered flowers to a Buddha statue. He also offered monks robes or chivar dana to 19 eminent monks, including representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Australia and Mexico.
Top political leaders on Thursday extended condolences over the death of five army soldiers in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge strongly condemned the terror attack on the army vehicle carrying the soldiers and condoled their death saying We are united against terrorism. Poonch: An army vehicle in flames after a terror attack in Mendhar in Poonch district, Thursday, April 20, 2023.(PTI)

Paying tributes to fallen soldiers and extending condolences to the bereaved families, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the news of the death of five soldiers in the terrorist attack was extremely saddening.

Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal expressed shock over the death of the soldiers and called for the strongest punishment for those "behind this cowardly attack."

"Condolences to the bereaved families of our soldiers. God bless their soul," he said in a tweet.

People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said, "Strongly condemn the heinous attack in Poonch. My deepest condolences to the families of the army jawans who were killed."

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: The dastardly terrorist attack on an army vehicle in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch is highly condemnable. The whole country is united against terror.

Humble tribute to our brave soldiers who were martyred in this attack. The country will always be indebted to the martyrs and their families. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families.

Five Army personnel were killed and another was seriously injured after their vehicle caught fire following a terrorist attack in Poonch, the Army said in a statement. The deceased Army soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counterterror operations.

Today, at approximately 1500 hours, one Army vehicle, moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajauri sector was fired on by unidentified terrorists, taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area, the statement read. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists.

The injured soldier is receiving treatment at the Army Hospital in Rajauri.

The Army said operations are underway to catch the perpetrators.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was briefed by Army Chief General Manoj Pande on the death of five soldiers, reported ANI quoting defence officials familiar with the matter. The army jawans on the ground were reportedly keeping a watch on the situation and taking appropriate action.

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Same-sex marriage SC hearing highlights: The Supreme Court on Thursday entered into day 3 of its hearing on a bunch of at least 15 petitions regarding the demand for marriage equality in India.

Wednesday's hearing began with Centre's affidavit to the Supreme Court seeking to admit all the states as parties in the matter, stating that the case requires an assessment of state rules, and customs of different sections of society.

Centre has raised preliminary objection to the hearing and said the parliament is the only constitutionally permissible forum to decide on creation of a new social relationship.

Meanwhile, senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi,appearing for the petitioners, stated the affidavit irrelevant. Rohatgi, defending the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community, argued that the State's recognition of union of homosexual couple will reduce the stigma around homosexuality and gave references of several case laws where marriage equality was upheld in other countries.
A special investigation team (SIT) of UP police formed to probe the murders of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf recreated the crime scene on Thursday at Colvin Hospital in Prayagraj. Atiq and his brother were killed late Saturday evening when they were being taken to the hospital for a medical check-up mandated by the court. A special investigation team (SIT) recreates the crime scene at Colvin Hospital.

The three accused  Lovelesh Tiwari, Arun Maurya and Sunny Singh  opened fire at Atiq and Ashraf when they were speaking to mediapersons outside the hospital. While the police present at the crime scene failed to prevent the murder, they quickly overpowered the assailants and took them into custody.

In the video shared by news agency PTI, police officials can be seen recreating the crime scene.

A three-member judicial commission formed by the state government to inquire into the killings also visited the spot. The commission, headed by Retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi of Allahabad high court, will give a report to the UP government in two months. The committee includes retired IPC officer Subesh Kumar Singh and Retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni.

On Wednesday, five police personnel were suspended for negligence in connection with the twin murder case. The suspended policement include Shahganj police station in-charge Ashwani Kumar Singh, a sub-inspector and three constables.

A senior police officer said the five personnel were suspended after an SIT charged them with negligence in discharging their duties, reported PTI.

Earlier today, three friends of Lovelesh Tiwari, the main accused in the double murder case, were detained by a special investigation team in Uttar Pradesh's Banda.

"The trio were caught at Banda railway station," officials said.

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Hailing the Surat court order dismissing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday called that the appellate court's decision a "slap on the face of the Gandhi family". Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (ANI)

The BJP said that the court proved that the law is equal for all and "there cannot be preferential treatment for any family".

This comes after the Surat court on Thursday dismissed Rahul Gandhi's application in which he had sought a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case on the 'Modi surname' remark.

The former Wayanad MP will now have to appeal in Gujarat High Court or Supreme Court against the Surat court's order.

Addressing a press conference on the issue, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the decision is a victory for the people of the country.

"The decision of the Appellate Court of Surat has come today, there is an atmosphere of happiness in the whole country. The backward class for whom Rahul Gandhi had used objectionable words and abused them... and by doing all this, the Gandhi family thought that they would get away with it, that has not happened," he said.

"Court's decision is a slap on the face of the Gandhi family. Today the court of Surat proves that the law is equal for all," Patra added.

Describing the court's order as a special moment for the judiciary, the BJP leader said that it states that "no protests, or mobilisation can make the judiciary buckle under pressure".

"One thing is clear from today's decision that in this country the constitution rules, the family does not rule and there cannot be preferential treatment for any family," he said.

Earlier on April 3, the Surat Sessions Court granted bail to the Congress leader, who had filed an appeal following his conviction in the case.

While granting bail to the former MP, the court also issued notices to complainant Purnesh Modi and the state government on the Congress leader's plea for a stay on his conviction. It heard both parties and then reserved the order for April 20.

Rahul Gandhi was a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad but was disqualified after a lower court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi.

The case pertained to a remark Rahul Gandhi made using the surname 'Modi' while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

At a rally in Karnataka's Kolar in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?".

Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA is automatically disqualified if convicted and sentenced to two years or more.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered release of two IAS officers of Uttar Pradesh after they were taken into custody on an order of the Allahabad high court over non-compliance with an earlier high court decision to provide facilities for retired judges. The bench also stayed the order of the high court by which bailable warrants were issued to the officers. (ANI file image)

On an urgent mentioning of the case by the Uttar Pradesh government, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud also stayed the order of the high court by which bailable warrants were issued to the chief secretary and additional chief secretary.

Also Read: SC pulls up IO for closure report during pendency of appeal against its quashing

Terming it as an unfortunate incident, the state government led by additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj urged the Court for immediate orders as the two officers -- finance secretary SMA Rizvi and special secretary (finance) Sarayu Prasad Mishra  were still in custody.

Moreover, the ASG pointed out that the orders were passed in a writ petition filed by the association of retired Supreme Court and high court judges.

The bench, also comprising justice PS Narasimha, issued notice on the states appeal and posted the matter for April 28.

It said, Till the next date of hearing, there will be stay of the orders passed by the HC on April 4 and April 19.

Further, it added, The officers of the UP government taken into custody shall be released forthwith.

The top court also directed the Supreme Court registrar to communicate the order telephonically to the registrar general of the Allahabad high court for immediate compliance.

The division bench of the HC had on April 4 passed directions to the state to implement a rule that will provide facilities to retired judges.

This included a provision of domestic help/s to retired judges. As the state failed to provide the same, the Court issued show cause notices of contempt against the chief secretary and additional chief secretary ordering arrest of the two officers of the state present in Court.

ASG Nataraj told the Court that the issue on which HC required compliance from the state was a finance-related matter which required Governors concurrence too.

The state filed an affidavit in HC earlier this week informing that a proposal with regard to benefits to retired judges had been forwarded by the law department to the finance department.

The HC accused the state of suppressing facts and misleading the Court as the affidavit did not disclose reasons for not approving the proposal seeking perks for retired judges.
The Supreme Court will on Friday hear disqualified Samajwadi Party lawmaker Abdullah Azam Khans plea for a stay on his conviction, which has necessitated a by-election to his Suar assembly seat on May 10. The Supreme Court. (ANI)

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, who appeared for Khan, said Thursday was the last date for filing nominations for the by-poll.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justice PS Narasimha agreed to list Khans petition.

In March, Khan moved the Supreme Court against an interim order of the Allahabad high court, which issued a notice on his petition against the conviction and posted the matter for a hearing three weeks later. On April 5, the top asked the high court to hear the matter on April 10.

A trial court on February 13 convicted Khan and sentenced him to maximum two-year imprisonment for assaulting and using criminal force against a public servant to deter him from performing his duty during a sit-in. He was disqualified as an assembly member on March 29.

On April 13, the high court said Khan was seeking a stay on absolutely non-existent grounds. The court said Khan faces 46 criminal charges and the need to have purity in politics demands that public representatives be men of clear antecedents.

Refusal to stay the conviction would not, in any way, result in injustice to the applicant.

Khan argued his conviction cannot be sustained as he was a minor when slapped with charges he was convicted of.

Any elected representative sentenced for any offence for two years or more faces immediate disqualification under the Representation of People Act.
Update: Rahul Gandhuii's plea was rejected by the Surat court A Surat sessions court declined to accept Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay on his conviction in the 2019 Modi-surname case. A lower court had sentenced him to two years' imprisonment in the case, following which he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha. If the sessions court had ordered a stay on the lower court's order, it could have allowed Gandhi's reinstatement as an MP. Read | 'Judge was misled, harsh; called me dheeth': Rahul Gandhi's lawyer The order on Rahul Gandhi's appeal to stay his conviction is likely today.

Here's what happened so far in the case:

March 23: Rahul Gandhi was convicted in the Modi-surname case.

March 24: Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha

March 27: Rahul Gandhi was asked to vacate the official bungalow allotted to him as the MP by April 22.

April 3: Rahul Gandhi appealed against his conviction and said he was treated harshly at the stage of determination of sentence and the maximum sentence has caused him irreparable loss.

Rahul Gandhi's lawyers also filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for a stay on conviction till the disposal of the appeal.

April 13: The court heard both parties -- Rahul Gandhi and complainant Purnesh Modi and reserved the verdict for April 20.

April 14: Rahul Gandhi started the process of vacating his official bungalow.

April 20: The sessions court rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea for the stay.

What is the Modi-surname case?

In 2019, addressing a rally in Karnataka's Kolar, Rahul Gandhi wondered why 'all thieves have Modi surname in common'. Gujarat's BJP leader Purnesh Modi filed a complaint and Rahul Gandhi was convicted in 2023. The Congress cried political vendetta behind this as they said the conviction took place soon after Rahul Gandhi raised the Adani question in Parliament. The conviction and the subsequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha brought the opposition together in condemnation.

Rahul Gandhi repeat offender: Purnesh Modi

Opposing Rahul Gandhi's stay plea, Purnesh Modi said Rahul Gandhi is a repeat offender who makes defamatory statements. Commenting on how Rahul Gandhi submitted his plea against the conviction with a band of Congress leaders, Purnesh Modi said it was very "dirty display of childish arrogance and an immature acy of bringing pressure upon the court".

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At least five soldiers were killed and one more was injured after terrorists ambushed an army truck on Thursday afternoon in the Rajouri sector in Jammu, the Indian Army said, adding that the attackers took advantage of poor visibility due to heavy rain. HT Image

The victims were attached with the armys Rashtriya Rifles unit and were deployed for counterterrorist operations in the area. Operations were launched to trace the perpetrators, the statement said, adding that there was no clarity yet on the attackers.

Today, at approximately 1500 hours (3pm), one army vehicle, moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector, was fired upon by unidentified terrorists while taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists, said a statement by Jammu-based defence spokesperson, Lt Col Devender Anand.

Another soldier, who was seriously injured was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri and is under treatment, he added.

Such attacks on the army rare, if not unprecedented, in recent times. On October 11, 2021, during a counter-insurgency operation five army personnel were killed in Poonchs Chamrer and three days later, four more soldiers were killed in the districts Narkhas forest.

On Thursday, the bodies of the soldiers were shifted to a garrison hospital in Rajouri.

People in the intelligence community told HT that the Sangiot area where the army truck was ambushed on Thursday afternoon is a traditional transit route for Pakistan-based terrorists. There were recent inputs of suspected movement of terrorists in the area, one of these people added, asking not to be named.

Army chief General Manoj Pande briefed defence minister Rajnath Singh on the incident, a government statement issued later added.

A local teacher, who asked not to be named, said: The area has dense forests and natural caves that provide them safe haven. The Jammu-Poonch highway passes through this area spread in around 30 km area from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot and Tota Gali.

Soon after the incident, the commander of the 13 sector Rashtriya Rifles and police officials rushed to the spot, which is 90km from Poonch.

Locals, who were the first to reach the spot, informed police.

Defence minister Singh offered condolences to the families of the deceased, tweeting that he was anguished by the tragedy.

Last year, at least four people were charred to death after a bus carrying pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine caught fire near Katra in Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir. As many as 22 others were injured. A letter purportedly issued by an unknown terror outfit Jammu and Kashmir Freedom Fighters later claimed responsibility for the fire, which it said was an IED blast triggered by one of its special squads.

On Thursday, the police suspended traffic movement on from Bhimber Gali to Surankote following the terror attack. In wake of some incident in Bhatta Dhuriyaan, traffic will remain suspended from BG to Surankote Road. All commuters are advised to adopt the alternative routes, that is, from BG- Mendhar-Jarran Wali Gali to Surankote-Poonch or via KG Top to Poonch, read a statement issued here.

Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha expressed grief over the killings. I am deeply anguished by the loss of lives of brave Army personnel in a tragic incident at Poonch. Their rich service to the nation will never be forgotten. My thoughts are with the bereaved families, he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of the Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack. Tagging a tweet by defence minister Rajnath Singh, PAFF wrote, You know very well how the truck caught fire. Lightning it sure was, only it didnt strike from the sky.

The PAFF also released a video that says, #PoonchLightningStrikes #PAFF lightning #G20 Welcome.

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A special investigation team (SIT) of Uttar Pradesh Police formed to probe the murders of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf last week recreated the crime scene in Prayagraj on Thursday. The SIT team recreates the crime scene in Prayagraj on Thursday. (ANI)

The committee, along with a forensic science laboratory team, visited the area outside Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital, where Atiq and Ashraf were gunned down in full public view when they were brought for a medical check-up on April 15, and spent 30 minutes at the site to understand the sequence of events.

The policemen who were escorting Ahmad and Ashraf during the shootout were also called to the spot, a police officer said, seeking anonymity.

Also read | 'If murdered': Atiq Ahmad's mystery letter sent to Yogi Adityanath, CJI Chandrachud

At the site, the panel members first inspected the scene and spoke to police constable Man Singh who had sustained a bullet injury on his hand in the firing. Station house officer of Dhumanganj police station, Rajesh Maurya, was also quizzed, the officer said.

The gangster and his brother were in the custody of Dhumanganj police when the killings took place.

The panel questioned the policemen in detail over the sequence of events, right from the killings till the surrender of the assailants.

They also spoke to doctors and the hospital staff who were on duty at the time of the incident, the officer said, seeking anonymity.

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The Uttar Pradesh Police are on the hunt for three women, the only missing pieces in their war on crime  the wives of jailed and slain gangsters Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmad, Afshan Ansari and Shaista Parveen, respectively, and Atiqs sister Ayesha Noori. Shaista Parveen.

The police increased the reward for information that leads to the capture of Afshan Ansari to 75,000 on Tuesday and have announced a 50,000 reward for the capture of Shaista Parveen whose name surfaced among key conspirators in the sensational killings of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police gunners in Prayagraj on February 24.

Ghazipur superintendent of police (SP) Omvir Singh confirmed the increase in the reward for Ansari.

SIT recreates crime scene in Atiq Ahmad-Ashraf murder case | WATCH

Mukhtar Ansari has been lodged in Banda jail since 2019  he has 49 criminal cases against him  while Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead by three assailants when they were brought for a routine medical check-up at Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital in Prayagraj on April 15.

The police are also looking for Ayesha Noori, who is believed to have helped the assailants behind Umesh Pals murder to escape.

A police officer who asked not to be named said Afshan Ansari is wanted in a February case of land grab. A similar first information report (FIR) of land grabbing in Chaavni line and Babedi locality was lodged against her in 2019.

Atiq Ahmads wife Shaista Parveens has been named among key conspirators in the sensational killings of lawyer Umesh Pal and his two police gunners allegedly by six assailants, including her third youngest son Asad in Prayagraj in February. She has been on the run since then and a reward of 50,000 has been announced on her arrest.

There were speculations of her surrender when her third youngest son, Asad (19) was killed by the UP state task force in an exchange of fire in Jhansi on April 13, and again after the gunning down of Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf, but she did not make an appearance.
Former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday lauded UGC chairman's "local language" push in university exams, saying "it's high time we shed the colonial legacy". Former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu(PTI)

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday asked universities to allow students to write exams in local languages even if the course is offered in English medium, while arranging evaluators and encouraging the translation of textbooks.

"The UGC Chairman, Prof. Jagadesh Kumar, deserves to be commended for his letter to universities to allow students to write examinations in local languages even if the medium of instruction is English. Promotion of the teaching-learning process in mother tongue is a welcome move," Naidu said in a series of tweets.

Also read: UGC likely to introduce courses in regional languages across disciplines

"I have always advocated the wider use of ones mother tongue in education at all levels and am very pleased at this development. It is high time we shed the colonial legacy which had been impeding our all-round socio-economic growth & give equal importance to local languages," he added.

Noting that the academic ecosystem continues to be English medium-centric, the UGC chief had said that once the teaching, learning and assessment are done in local languages, student engagement will gradually increase, leading to an increase in the success rate.

Asked about how students writing in local languages will be evaluated, he said, "This will be possible if the evaluators also know the local language and the university can make the effort to find the evaluators who know the local language."

"The idea is to let the students write the answers in a language that will provide them the opportunity to express easily," Kumar had said.
Visva-Bharati has issued an eviction order to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen saying the central university will take possession of 13 decimal of the 1.38-acre leased land from his ancestral property on its campus at Santiniketan in West Bengal on May 6. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. (PTI)

The order, a copy of which HT has seen, accusing Sen of occupying public land was issued on Wednesday under the Public Premises (Eviction and Unauthorised Occupants) Act. Sen, 89, is in the US and usually visits his ancestral home in Santiniketan in winter.

There are directives/advisories from the Govt of India/West Bengal, reports of the expert committees on security and maintenance of assets of Visva-Bharati, and the CAGs audit observations regarding the necessity and urgency of removing unauthorized occupation or encroachment from the public premises of Visva-Bharati, the order said.

Now, the question is which portion covering .13 decimals area in the scheduled public premises may be recovered from Sri Sen.

The notice said Visva-Bharati owns plots on the west and east sides of the premises. On the southern side, Sri Sen and his family own their private lands. Sri Sen could have participated in joint survey/hearing, etc., and indicate his choice.

It cited the absence of such choice and study of survey reports and access to Sens ancestral house and said it has been decided that .13 decimals of land are to be recovered.

Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty has claimed Sens father, Ashutosh Sen, a professor at the university, rented only a 1.25-acre land on a 99-year lease in 1943 and thus the 13-decimal land should be returned.

Three letters have been sent to Sen in this regard since January 24. The first eviction notice was issued to him on March 17. Sen sent his lawyers to the university hearings. He returned to the US in February.

Visva-Bharati officials did not comment on the fresh eviction notice.

Gora Chand Chakrabarty, Sens lawyer, said he was indisposed and does not know about the fresh notice. I did not receive any e-mail from Visva-Bharati till Wednesday night.

On January 30, chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Sen, who has been a critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government, and handed over a state land and revenue department record showing that all land covered under his property belong to him through a mutation executed in 2006. Visva-Bharati challenged the document.

In an earlier notice, the university said it has come to the understanding that Sen does not want to face an inquiry and that no further opportunity for showing cause or attending a personal hearing shall be allowed.

Sen sent an e-mail to Visva-Bharati on April 17 saying the universitys claim on part of the leased land has no legal standing. I am the holder of the land, and it was passed on to me after the death of my parents, Ashutosh Sen and Amita Sen. They also purchased other land in close proximity to the leased land.

He added the use of the land has remained the same for over 80 years. Any contrary claim to this leased land before the expiry of the lease cannot stand, Sen wrote. He added he would visit Santiniketan in June.

Chakrabarty said that based on his clients appeal, a magistrate issued an order asking police to maintain peace and tranquillity at Pratichi, Sens ancestral home. That order is still valid.

Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore founded the university in 1921 and the Prime Minister is its chancellor.

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After the Surat court rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that the ruling party at Centre wants to make India a "Banana Republic". Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (File)

"Today is the black day in the democracy of India as the main Opposition leader is being treated like this. BJP wants to make India a Banana Republic," said Mufti said.

A Surat court on Thursday rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case on the 'Modi surname' remark.

Former Wayanad MP will now have to appeal in Gujarat High Court or Supreme Court against the Surat court's order.

Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera cited Gandhi's stature as an MP and former chief of the country's second-largest political party and said he should have been more careful. He cited prima facie evidence and observations of the trial court and said it transpires that Gandhi made certain derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi apart from comparing the people with the same surname with thieves.

Mogera said the surname of the complainant in the case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi, is also Modi. "...the complainant is [also an] ex-minister and involved in public life and such defamatory remarks would have certainly harmed his reputation and caused him pain and agony in society," he said.

Mogera cited the disqualification criteria under the Representation of the People Act and added that removal or disqualification as MP could not be termed irreversible or irreparable loss or damage to Gandhi.

Any elected representative sentenced for any offence for two years or more faces immediate disqualification under the Representation of People Act. The Supreme Court struck down in 2013 one provision of the Act that granted three-month protection from disqualification as "ultra vires".

Earlier on April 3, the Surat Sessions Court granted bail to the Congress leader, who had filed an appeal following his conviction in the case.

While granting bail to the former MP, the court also issued notices to complainant Purnesh Modi and the state government on the Congress leader's plea for a stay on his conviction. It heard both parties and then reserved the order for April 20.

Rahul Gandhi was a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad but was disqualified after a lower court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi.

The case pertained to a remark Rahul Gandhi made using the surname 'Modi' while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

At a rally in Karnataka's Kolar in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?".

Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA is automatically disqualified if convicted and sentenced to two years or more.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday shared a video shot on Made in India iPhone in which Apple CEO Tim Cook, who launched the companys second store in India today, can be heard saying, Oh wow, thats special, wow after being apprised about the Jammu and Kashmirs Chenab Bridge. Ashwini Vaishnaw with Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Twitter/ Ashwini Vaishnaw)

The 26-second clip shows a part of the conversation between Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw and Apple's Tim Cook, wherein the former can be seen explaining the Chenab Bridge. This bridge connects the northern state of Kashmir. And this bridge is about 30 metres taller compared to the Eiffel Tower, said Vaishnaw, to which Cook replied, Wow.

"Again, fully designed in India, we recently commissioned the railway track over it. And by December we will be running the Vande Bharat train on this," added Vaishnaw as Cook said, Oh wow! that is special! Wow!"

The post has garnered over 2.88 lakh views and 13,000 likes on Twitter at the time of writing this report. Many users seemed impressed by the CEOs reaction and felt pride in the countrys growth in infrastructure and technology.

Shot on Made in India iPhone!! Shows Indias journey from the bottom to being on the top! commented one.

Innovative, dedication and hardwork at its best, wrote another.

From his first visit to now, India has changed a lot.. now future #iphones will be #MakeInIndia brand. Look at the confidence on his face and our @AshwiniVaishnaw sir displays all on a screen... remarked a Twitter user.

The railways minister met Tim Cook on Wednesday and presented a memento of a replica of the Vande Bharat train. Met with @tim_cook, CEO, Apple. Discussed deepening Apples engagement in India across manufacturing, electronics exports, app economy, skilling, sustainability and job creation especially for women. Jointly charting a long-term and strong relationship, Vaishnaw wrote on Twitter.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday interacted with civil services aspirants in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, two days after he visited the Matia Mahal market in the old city. A video shared by news agency ANI showed the former Lok Sabha member holding an animated discussion with a bunch of aspirants for the top government jobs. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with UPSC aspirants in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar. (ANI)

Gandhi, who has been disqualified from Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case, could be seen gesturing as he talked to the students amid a tight security cover, while bystanders captured the scenes on their mobile phones.

This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has met civil services aspirants and listened to their concerns. During the UPA 2 government in 2014, then Congress vice-president played a key role in allowing two additional attempts to appear in the exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with consequential age relaxation to all categories of candidates.

At that time, the aspirants had met Gandhi at his residence at 24 Akbar Road demanding a re-look into the sudden change in the pattern of the examination, which they had said was unfair to those coming from a rural background.

On Tuesday, Gandhi was captured in Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk, which is particularly lively during the ongoing month of Ramzan. The ex-Congress chief was greeted by swarms of people at the market, who followed him around and also raised slogans, news agency PTI reported.

Gandhi was seen relishing popular Indian street food, including golgappas' at the famous Nathu sweets at the Bengali market. He was also spotted at a famous vendor's 'sharbat' shop, surrounded by a crowd of people and mediapersons.

(With agency inputs)
Radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh has remained elusive on the second day of Punjab Police's crackdown on Waris Punjab De while two more FIRs have been registered against him -- in connection with the recovery of a weapon from an abandoned car. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Jalandhar range) Swapan Sharma on Sunday was asked whether Amritpal Singh has been planning to flee to Canada through Nepal and whether his wife had sought a Canada visa. To this, Sharma said it is a possibility but it is a matter of investigation. Amritpal Singh got married in February this year to NRI Kirandeep Kaur.

READ | Amritpal Singh's wife stopped at airport, trying to flee to London

Who is Amritpal Singh's wife?

1. According to reports, 29-year-old Amritpal Singh married UK-based NRI Kirandeep Kaur in February this year.

2. The wedding took place at Amritpal Singh's ancestral village of Jallupur Khera in Amritsar.

3. Amritpal Singh, after his wedding, said his wife will stay with him in Punjab as this marriage was a message for reverse migration and they want all Punjabi migrants to return to the state.

4. Kirandeep's family is reportedly from Jalandhar.

Before becoming the chief of Deep Sidhu's Waris Punjab De, Amritpal Singh used to be a truck driver in Dubai when he reportedly got indoctrinated and became a Khalistani sympathiser. Police said in Dubai, he came in contact with ISI agents.

READ | Lawyer among 3 arrested in Punjab for helping fugitive Amritpal Singh

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Sunday issued a notice to the Punjab government on a petition seeking 'release' of Amritpal Singh. Petitioner Imaan Singh Khara claimed Amritpal Singh has been "illegally and forcibly" detained by the police.

READ | On fugitive Amritpal Singh's arrival in Amritsar, top Punjab cop said...

After Amritpal Singh gave a slip to the police on Saturday, the police went to his house, his in-law's house. Police asked Amritpal Singh's father Tarsem Singh to advise his son to surrender. Amritpal Singh's father said he did not have the correct information on whether Amritpal Singh was arrested or not. He said his son went to attend religious programmes as per schedule.

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The wife of one of the 20 braves killed in a skirmish with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakhs Galwan Valley in June 2020 is set to get commissioned in the army as a lieutenant, officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Rekha was married to Naik Deepak Singh of the 16th Battalion of Bihar Regiment who was killed in action in the remote valley while fighting numerically superior Chinese soldiers on June 15, 2020.

Rekha Singh will be among the 200-odd cadets, including 40 women, who will graduate from Chennai-based Officers Training Academy on April 29, the officials said, asking not to be named.

In a first, five lady cadets from this latest batch of officers are expected to be commissioned into the in the regiment of artillery.

Also read | Father of soldier who died in Galwan clash, thrashed, arrested for building memorial for son, claims family

Rekha was married to Naik Deepak Singh of the 16th Battalion of Bihar Regiment who was killed in action in the remote valley while fighting numerically superior Chinese soldiers on June 15, 2020, and was posthumously awarded Vir Chakra (VrC) for his heroism in November 2021. VrC is Indias third-highest wartime military honour after Param Vir Chakra (PVC) and Maha Vir Chakra (MVC).

The infantry battalions commanding officer, Colonel B Santosh Babu, who was awarded MVC, was among the 20 Indian soldiers killed in the seven-hour deadly conflict near Patrolling Point 14 in Galwan Valley. According to Indias assessment, PLAs casualties were twice as many as Indian Armys though Beijing officially claimed that only four Chinese soldiers were killed.

A growing number of army wives whose husbands were killed in combat or in the line of duty is hitting the reset button and choosing to pursue a career in the armed forces to carry forward the legacy of the brave men, soldiering on in the aftermath of upheaval in their lives and inspiring others to follow suit.

The army is encouraging women who are eligible to become officers to follow in the footsteps of their late husbands, and also providing them guidance to make a fresh start.

The wives of soldiers killed in action are granted exemption from appearing for the Combined Defence Services Examination, conducted by Union Public Service Commission (USPC), to qualify for the Services Selection Board interview. They are also entitled to age relaxation.

The upcoming commissioning of women into artillery is the latest in a series of steps taken by the armed forces to open more doors for women.

Women in uniform are no longer on the fringes but are being assigned central roles on a par with their male counterparts across the three services  they are flying fighter planes, serving on board warships, being inducted in the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) cadre, eligible for permanent commission, being assigned command roles, and undergoing training at the National Defence Academy.

To be sure, tanks and combat positions in infantry are still no-go zones for women.
Eid moon sighting refers to the traditional practice of Muslims observing the crescent or new moon to determine the start of the tenth Islamic month of Shawwal, which marks the end of a month-long fasting of Ramadan and the beginning of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival where the sighting of the new moon is traditionally done with the naked eye or using telescopes and once the sighting is confirmed, the news is usually broadcasted via media outlets, mosques and community organizations but it's important to note that the exact method of determining the start of the month of Shawwal may vary between different Muslim communities and countries. The ninth month in the Islamic Lunar Calendar is Ramadan and the tenth is Shawwal whose first day is marked as the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr across the world and Muslims across the world are gearing up to sight the crescent moon tonight, to welcome the month of Shawwal with Eid-ul-Fitr or Eid-al-Fitr celebrations as Shawwal translates to, festival of breaking of the fast.

While the West culturally follows the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic calendar is lunar which means it is based on the sighting of the crescent moon and every year, Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr occur approximately 10-11 days earlier depending on when the crescent moon is sighted. This is because the lunar months are shorter than solar months and so it varies from country to country by about a day.

Ramadan takes place for 720 hours i.e. four weeks and two days during which the followers of Islam or Muslims fast between dawn and sunset, pray for peace and guidance, give back to the community in the form of charity or zakaat or engaging in humanitarian activities such as feeding the underprivileged and introspect to enlighten their souls. During the end of Ramadan, intense prayers take place during the Laylatul Qadr or the Night of Power, which is believed to be the holiest night of the year. It generally falls on the 27th day of Ramadan and is a commemoration of the night when the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
"Sarah, I want to go to one of those islands with the white buildings," my dad told me as we pondered Greek destinations to visit with my Michigan-based parents a few weeks prior. Although I prefer Greece's lesser-known islands  there are 227 inhabited Greek islands, after all  we decided on Santorini. Going to Santorini in the off season is perhaps the only time worth visiting. (Sarah Hucal/DW)

Beyond selfies

Although many will say it is overrated and has been ruined by throngs of Instagram obsessed travellers who care little about the island's culture, it is undeniably picturesque. One side of the crescent-shaped volcanic island is a steep cliff, called the caldera, formed by a volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. The views over the water from the caldera side are stunning. The island's smaller villages like Emporio and Pyrgos are charming. There's also a spectacular hike along the cliff connecting the two main villages, Oia and Fira.

Yet it's true that many tourists go there simply to take the famous photos in front of the island's blue-domed churches, splurge on expensive accommodations and clap when the sun sets at the village of Oia  ignoring the rest of what the island has to offer. This is what Santorini has come to be known for internationally. My mom said it best: "I wouldn't really say it's really a Greek island experience, but it's certainly a Santorini experience."

A room with a view

Since it was low-season and our budget was tight, we managed to find an affordable place to stay. In the summer months, Oia accommodations can easily soar above 500 ($545) per night  which is almost half the monthly salary of a Greek professional, by the way  and in my humble opinion, isn't worth it.

Santorini is one of the most expensive destinations in the Aegean, along with the expensive party island of Mykonos. It's thus a cash cow for Greece, a country which derives 18% of its gross domestic product (GDP) from tourism.

On our first morning, I realized I had foolishly forgotten to brief my parents on where to buy coffee (Hint: Look for the local bakery and stay off the main tourist drag). My dad returned with three cups of espresso, lamenting that he had paid a total of 17 ($18). I didn't have the heart to tell him a typical coffee to go in Greece is usually around 2 ($2.20).

Fresh paint and anticipation

During our visit at the end of March, preparations were underway for the upcoming season. All over Oia, workers were scaling buildings, covering them with fresh coats of white paint. The sound of hammering and drilling filled the air, but the streets were calm, with few tourists.

Prior to the pandemic, Santorini was earmarked as an over tourism problem spot by the EU's transport committee. In 2019, the island saw 2 million visitors  not in the least because cruise ships were dislodging up to 3,000 people a day. In the five years prior to the pandemic, overnight stays on the island increased by 66%.

During the last couple of years, plans to combat over tourism have been muted, as Greece's tourism industry set its sights on getting tourists back into the country after the pandemic devastated business. In 2020, Greece saw only 7.4 million tourists, while in 2022, Greek airports counted 31 million international arrivals, surpassing even 2019 numbers. Can 2023 beat that record?

I met up with tour guide, Kostas Sakavaras. "I'm feeling overwhelmed," he said. "Since March, I've been running non-stop. The 2021 season was my best ever, with an ideal balance between work and leisure time. 2022 was busier, and my bookings for 2023 indicate that it will be even more demanding."

Sakavaras and his wife own Caveland, an accommodation that's already fully busy until the end of October. "However, the island's infrastructure is not designed to handle such vast amounts of visitors," he added. "Managing the garbage and dealing with the impossible traffic situation are becoming more challenging each year."

Skipping the summer season

Visiting off season was a good move. Our car rental was cheap and we didn't suffer the famous traffic that clogs the island in summer. There were enough bars and restaurants open, although many establishments were still closed.

The riskiest element of traveling this time of year, however, is the tempestuous weather. We had one incredible blue-sky day and a couple of very windy nights, making the sunset viewing experience a particularly frigid one.

Yet, despite the cold, Oia was full of underdressed women in colourful clothing smiling for the camera. After all, the biggest driver of Santorini's popularity in recent years is social media.

Several young women were wearing elegant evening gowns as professional photographers took their photos. The price of the photo package presumably included said colourful gown and an assistant to hold the end of said gown and ruffle it at the perfect moment. This struck me as the kind of vain touristic circus that Santorini has been criticized for becoming.

Oia is notably dotted with signs reminding tourists to keep their voices down and stay off private property. Indeed, the words "Stay off!" were painted on rooftops and private walkways, where people would otherwise try to strike a pose.

The best time to visit

In short, if you feel you absolutely must go to Santorini, I can recommend going before or after summer and exploring sights off the well-trodden tourist beat.

I turned to my parents for the US tourist summary of the trip. "Santorini is famous for a reason, because the beauty is really unique," my mom mused. "I feel really lucky we were able to come here in the off-season because we were able to avoid the crowds."
The first Global Buddhist Summit hosted by India on April 20-21 brings together over 170 prominent monks, scholars, and practitioners from 30 countries to deliberate upon how the infinite wisdom of Buddhism can be harnessed to solve contemporary international problems. By convening such a diverse gathering of Buddhist thinkers, India is sending across a message that it has the vision to take on the core leadership role in the sustenance of the timeless spiritual heritage which originated in India and influenced large parts of Asia over the past two millennia. PREMIUM PM Modi at Global Buddhist Summit in Delhi on Thursday.(ANI)

Indias current keenness to don the mantle of the propagator of Buddhisms knowledge is in keeping with its historical legacy as the fountainhead from which the teachings of the Buddha spread worldwide. The diffusion of Buddhism in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Central Asia owed greatly to empires based out of undivided India, such as the Mauryas and the Kushans. Had it not been for the patronage and the cultural vision of emperors such as Ashoka and Kanishka, Buddhism would not have grown wings and reached so many corners of Asia.

Today, Buddhism is the majority faith in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Laos and Mongolia, and also a significant minority faith in Japan, South Korea, China, and Vietnam. This phenomenon owes to India and the sagacity of its rulers, travellers and universities like Nalanda and Vikramashila. By consolidating the global Buddhist universe and connecting it to the motherlode that is India, the government is indicating that India is back to being what it once was  a civilisational superpower  a vishwaguru.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis assertion that India has been following the path shown by the Buddha, and the policy initiatives he has spearheaded to modernise and facilitate international tourism along famous pilgrimage sites of the Buddhist Circuit in India and to unify different sects and regional variants of Buddhism, have won hearts of people in Buddhist countries. The establishment of the International Buddhist Confederation, an organisation that unites Buddhists from all over the world, is a major institutional innovation by India that has echoed widely in Asia.

Although Buddhists make up a tiny proportion of Indias population, in absolute numbers, they comprise a fairly large group. The 9.2 million-strong Indian Buddhist community, which thrives with considerable religious freedom and State support, is a living testimony to the fact that India is as much a Buddhist country as any Buddhist-majority nation. There has been much speculation about the supposed clash between Hinduism and Buddhism in medieval India, when Adi Shankaracharya defeated Buddhist scholars through logical argumentation. But if one takes a longer historical view, Hinduism and Buddhism have coexisted for centuries. Buddhisms revival within India and flourishing transnational ties between Indian Buddhists and their co-religionists in Asia augur well for Indias image.

Mega conclaves such as the Global Buddhist Summit also have a strategic dimension. China may be the main lender and trading partner of all the Buddhist-majority countries of Asia, but the soul-crushing nature of Chinas Communist dictatorship and the cultural genocide of Tibetan Buddhists under Chinese rule is known. Seen from a Buddhist lens in, say Myanmar or Sri Lanka, India stands out as a highly tolerant country in contrast to the atheistic and tightly controlled China.

In international relations, realist thinkers dismiss cultural diplomacy and spiritual outreach as irrelevant or wishful exercises because materialistic factors such as economic might and military strength are ultimately what matter in determining a countrys position and stature. But what if a country keeps growing in hard power attributes while simultaneously enhancing its soft power? The result would be more impressive and it would ensure heft in that countrys strategic partnerships.

India cannot simply do Buddhist diplomacy and hope that its partners around Asia will flock to it and accept Indias leadership. Rather, the strategy should be to further enhance economic and security ties with key partners and overlay it with a heavy dose of Buddhist camaraderie, so that it is not just the State elites or corporate houses of those countries that want more of India, but also the citizens who see India as an upholder of dhamma.

The re-emergence of India as a leader of global Buddhism is part of the bigger story of Indias aspiration to be a leading power. Only by investing more in the former campaign can the latter end goal be achieved.

Sreeram Chaulia is dean, Jindal School of International Affairs

The views expressed are personal
Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Thursday welcomed customers at the company's first store opened in the national capital. (Follow Apple Saket store opening LIVE updates here) Apple CEO inaugurates Saket store.(ANI/ screengrab)

Located at Select Citywalk Mall in Delhi, the barricade for Apple Saket features a unique design that takes inspiration from Delhi's many gates. However, the Saket store is smaller than the Apple store opened in Jio World Drive at Bandra Kurla Complex on Tuesday.

The Apple Saket store in Delhi is half the size of the Mumbai store where the company will pay a portion of total sales from the store as rent or 40 lakh per month, whichever is higher, according to sources.

ALSO READ: Union ministers meet Apple CEO Tim Cook; Discuss job creation, innovation

The company has more than 70 highly skilled retail team members at Saket store, who has come from 18 states of India and collectively speak more than 15 languages.

Cook during his visit met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the iPhone manufacturer is looking to invest more in the world's second-largest smartphone market.

According to government sources, the iPhone maker is likely to double the employment base at its contract manufacturers in India to around 2 lakh soon.

Cook, on his first trip to India in seven years, opened Apple's first official retail store in the country in Mumbai on Tuesday .

Cook had last visited India in 2016 when the tech giant was just beginning to scale up operations in the country.

Looking to replicate what China did to Apple's business in the last 15 years, the tech giant is eyeing India's massive market with an expanding middle class to power sales growth, and potentially make it a home base for the production of millions of Apple devices.

Cook during his visit met Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

As per the sources, Cook has sought government support to widen its components supplier base in India.

Apple CEO is learnt to have also discussed manufacturing facilities and app design and development accelerator in Bengaluru with both ministers.
Twitter will kickstart its crackdown on legacy blue ticks on Thursday, the company announced on the microblogging platform. Only individuals and organisations that pay for the premium Twitter Blue subscription will be able to retain the verified credential on their profiles. Twitter CEO Elon Musk.(via Reuters)

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on April 11 tweeted that users will lose the legacy blue check marks from April 20. He wrote, Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.Many saw the date as a pun around cannabis, as the number 420 is associated with marijuana smokers.

Prior to this, Musk had announced that the legacy verification badges will be removed from April 1.

The New York Times no longer has the verified mark after Twitter refused to restore it following the media companys rejection of the paid blue tick.

While earlier the Twitter Verified handle on the microblogging platform followed all verified accounts, it unfollowed all accounts this month, hinting at the overhaul of the original blue tick system. However, it seems like the legacy blue ticks have remained unchanged for majority of the accounts as of Thursday.

Twitter Blue is priced differently for every region and according to the device. In the United States, it costs $11 a month or $114.99 a year for iOS or Android users and $8 a month or $84 a year for web users. In India, the price for Twitter Blue is 900 for iOS monthly, web monthly is 650 while yearly rate for iOS is 9400. For Android users, monthly rate is 900 while yearly cost is 9,400.

Musk is pushing for paid verification to pump in revenue for the cash-strapped company. Businesses and organisations have to fork out $1,000 (  82,300) per month for verification badges.

According to the information shared on the microblogging site, a gold checkmark and square avatar will be given to business or non-profit companies that buy a subscription to Verified Organizations, while a grey checkmark and circular avatar is reserved for government organizations.

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Ever since its release, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, has made waves across the globe. Many people experiment with it and try to test its abilities. Not only that, but several people are also using ChatGPT to complete their assignments. Now, a recent post shows a student using this AI to complete their assignment; however, their teacher quickly realied that the essay had been written from ChatGPT. ChatGPT logo is seen in this illustration.(REUTERS)

In a post shared by Twitter user Justine Moore, she shared an image of the assignment. The student must have asked the AI to write an essay on Twelfth Night, a play by Shakespeare. However, while printing the assignment, they didn't notice the first paragraph where the ChatGPT informed them that it is an AI model and won't be able to help complete the assignment. The teacher pointed this out and wrote, "ChatGPT. Rewrite this assignment in your own words."

Take a look at the post below:

This post was shared just one day ago. Since being posted, it has been viewed over eight million times. Many have even commented on the post.

Check out a few reactions below:

An individual wrote, "Apart from the cheating, this student is irretrievably stupid." Another added, "I think it's time to bring back the handwritten essay. At least they had to process the essay when copying it." A third shared, "Wow, they didn't try at all."
Apple CEO Tim Cook is currently in India to open flagship Apple stores in different parts of the nation. He is also actively taking to Twitter to share different posts related to his visit. One such post was about meeting students from The Indian School of Design & Innovation in Mumbai. And a reply to his post has created a chatter. The sister of one of the students that Cook met with re-shared the CEOs post to express how proud she is of her sibling. Her tweet has won people's hearts and may leave you smiling too. The image that the woman re-shared was originally posted by Apple CEO Tim Cook.(Twitter/@tim_cook)

The Indian School of Design & Innovation is helping the next generation of creatives unlock their full potential. Thanks for sharing how you create those amazing designs using iPad! Tim Cook wrote as he shared a picture of himself with the students. Tim stands with three students at the Indian School of Design & Innovation. Everyone looks at an iPad as one student speaks while pointing to the screen. In the background, several students work at their desks, surrounded by mannequins displaying a variety of fashion designs, reads the image description posted along with the picture.

While re-sharing the post, the Twitter user wrote, THE GIRL IN THE PINK BLAZER IS MY SISTER AAAHHH.

Take a look at the posts:

The post was shared on April 19. Since being tweeted, the share has received more than 96,000 views. Additionally, the share has accumulated close to 1,600 likes. People posted various comments while reacting to the post.

Heres how Twitter users reacted:

A big congratulations to her, shared a Twitter user. Omg thats so cool, so proud!! commented another. Proud moment for her and your family, posted a third. That's so cool, expressed a fourth. Omg please say congratulations to her from my side! Such a star. This is the coolest thing ever, wrote a fifth.
Pakistan announced Thursday that foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will head the countrys delegation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit to be held in May in Goa. Bilawals visit to India is the first by any Pakistani leader after Nawaz Sharif in 2014. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a briefing that the SCO foreign ministers meeting is scheduled from May 4 - 5. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.(via REUTERS)

"Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India. Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Mumtaz said.

Bilawal is also the first foreign minister to visit India 12 years after former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar came to India. The high level visit could lead to a thaw in the bilateral relations.

Indian and Pakistans ties have been strained following the Balakot strikes in response to the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

India has formally sent invitations to all SCO members including Pakistan and China for the foreign ministers' meeting. Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are also likely to attend the meet.

India assumed the chairmanship role of the 20-year-oldtrans-regional international organisations in 2022. The last SCO meeting was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Its members includeRussia, India, China, Pakistan,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.Iran is the newest member, set to join SCO this month. The 2023 summit comes in the wake-up of Russia-Ukraine war and India's G20 Presidency.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Western media reports on China's population being overtaken by India deliberately ignores China's development, using the topic to "bad mouth" it and advocate decoupling, state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday. Chinas population will peak in 2029 at 1.44 billion before beginning a period of unstoppable decline, a government report said.(AP File Photo)

CCTV's sharply worded commentary said the subtext from Western media in recent years was that China's development was in "big trouble" and that when China's demographic dividend disappears, it would decline, and the global economy would also suffer.

"They slandered all the way and China has developed all the way, creating a miracle of sustainable and stable economic development with a huge population."

India is overtaking China as the world's most populous nation, and will have almost 3 million more people than its neighbour by the middle of this year, data released on Wednesday by the United Nations showed.

"The United States is stepping up efforts to contain China's development and advocate further decoupling and found new hype points from the United Nations report," CCTV said, adding that the West simply equated population size with development achievements.

"Such hype lacks a basic understanding of the law of population development. With the development of human society today, the decrease in birth rate and decline in willingness to bear children are common problems faced by the whole world," CCTV said, adding that Western developed countries generally faced problems such as labour shortages.

Last year, China's population fell for the first time in six decades, a historic turn expected to usher in a long period of decline in citizen numbers, with profound implications for its economy and the world.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said population dividends did not only depend on quantity but also on quality.

"Population is important but talents are also important...China has taken active measures to respond to population aging," Wang told reporters on Wednesday.
A giant panda on long-term loan from China died in a zoo in northern Thailand on Wednesday, six months before she was due to return home, officials from the Chiang Mai Zoo said. The cause of Lin Huis death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday.(AP/Representative image)

The cause of Lin Huis death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday morning, and her nose was seen bleeding when she laid down after a meal, said Wutthichai Muangmun, the zoo director.

She was rushed into the care of a joint Thai-Chinese veterinarian team but her condition deteriorated and she died early Wednesday morning, he said.

Tewarat Vejmanat, a veterinarian who spoke at a news conference broadcast live on the zoos Facebook page, said the panda, who had a health check every day, was already at an advanced age at 21, and there had been no sign of illness or any difference in her behavior before she became sick.

China is saddened by the death of the giant panda Lin Hui, Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in Beijing.

Wang said that after China learned about the panda's illness it immediately organized experts to guide the Thai side to carry out rescue work through video link, but unfortunately did not save her life." He added that the Chinese authorities would soon set up a team of experts to carry out a joint investigation into the cause of death.

Lin Huis male mate, Chuang Chuang, who was kept with her at the Chiang Mai Zoo, died there in 2019 at the age of 19. The couple arrived in Chiang Mai in 2003 on a 10-year loan that was later extended for another 10 years.

While the loan was ostensibly for research and conservation purposes, it was generally regarded as an act of friendship by China, which has sent pandas to many countries in what is regarded as a striking example of soft power diplomacy.

When Chuang Chuang died in 2019, Thailand's then-Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said the country had to pay $500,000 to the Chinese government in compensation. It was later reported that heart failure was the cause of his death.

Zoo director Wutthichai said the zoo has a 15-million-baht ($435,000) insurance policy on Lin Hui, who was due to be returned to China this October.

Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang had a daughter, Lin Ping, in 2009 through artificial insemination. A scheme to encourage them to mate naturally by showing them videos of pandas having sex made headlines in 2007. Lin Ping was sent to China in 2013 in what was initially said to be a one-year visit for her to find a mate, but has remained there.

The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38. Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.

A Chinese influencer living in Thailand who identified herself as Shanshan visited the zoo Tuesday morning and posted several videos of Lin Hui on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. One of them showed her nose, which appeared bloody, and a red spot could be seen on her neck. In another clip, she was lying down while licking her nose, and there were red stain trails on a concrete slab beneath her head. Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

This is when we just got here, she was lying on her side. Then I saw her nose was bleeding, she commented in one of the clips. She looked like she had nausea. We were not sure.

Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

The cause of Lin Huis death will take time before it can be determined, Wutthichai said, and how and when that would be revealed will be entirely up to China. Under an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese governments panda conservation project, an autopsy cannot be performed until a Chinese expert is present.

Some Thai internet users speculated that air pollution in northern Thailand, which in recent weeks has spiked to levels considered dangerous to human health, contributed to Lin Huis death. The zoo staff, however, said that was unlikely, as Lin Hui lived in a closed space in an area of the zoo considered to have the cleanest air.
Almost 67 million children partially or fully missed routine vaccines between 2019 and 2021 because of lockdowns amid Covid pandemic throughout the world, United Nations (UN) said. "More than a decade of hard-earned gains in routine childhood immunization have been eroded," a new report from the UN's children's agency, UNICEF, said. A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child at a railway station during a vaccination campaign in Karachi.(AFP)

Getting back on track will be challenging as the vaccines have been "severely disrupted", the body said. Of this, 48 million missed out on routine vaccines entirely, UNICEF said, raising concerns over potential polio and measles outbreaks.

Vaccine coverage in children declined in 112 countries as the percent of children vaccinated slipped to 81 percent for the first time since 2008. Africa and South Asia were particularly hard hit, the body warned, saying, Worryingly, the backsliding during the pandemic came at the end of a decade when, in broad terms, growth in childhood immunization had stagnated.

"Vaccines have played a really important role in allowing more children to live healthy, long lives," the report's editor in chief Brian Keeley told AFP, adding, Any decline at all in vaccination rates is worrying.

"You've got increasing number of conflicts, economic stagnation in a lot of countries, climate emergencies, and so on," he said.

This all sort of makes it harder and harder for health systems and countries to meet vaccination needs, he explained.

With this, UNICEF called on nations "to double-down on their commitment to increase financing for immunization" with focus on vaccination.

"We cannot allow confidence in routine immunizations to become another victim of the pandemic," Catherine Russell- UNICEF's executive director- said, adding, Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases.

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A 66-year-old Indian citizen Sundar Nagarajan has been arrested in London on suspicion of funding the proscribed terrorist organisation Hizbollah, British police said. Nagarajan was taken into police custody before appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court this afternoon for the commencement of extradition proceedings. (File)

"Sundar Nagarajan, (27.08.57) of Hayes UB3, was taken into police custody before appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court this afternoon for commencement of extradition proceedings," read the Metropolitan Police press release.

Officers from the National Extradition Unit - acting on an international arrest warrant - detained Nagarajan from west London following a request by US authorities.

Madurai-born Sundar Nagarajan also known as Kasiviswanathan Naga and Nagarajan Sundar Poongulam, now faces extradition to the US where he faces charges of helping to launder money to evade US sanctions and fund Hizbollah.

Nagarajan was taken into police custody before appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court this afternoon for the commencement of extradition proceedings. He was remanded to next appear at the same court on April 25, added the release.

Officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command also arrested one Nazem Ahmad on suspicion of funding terrorism, as part of a wider UK and US coordinated action targeting terrorism financing.

According to the US, the Lebanese terrorist outfit Hizbollah uses Nazem Ahmad, and his companies, to launder substantial amounts of money bound for the terrorist group and Nagarajan is the international accountant for Nazem.

Ahmad is believed to be connected to a wealthy art collector and diamond dealer and is suspected of being a funding source for Hizballah, said Metropolitan Police.Sanctions against Ahmad were announced earlier today by the UK Government. The US government also announced sanctions against Ahmad and a number of his associates, added the release.

"Today's arrests are the result of ongoing work and cooperation with our American colleagues, and are a key milestone in what is a complex investigation into terrorist financing," said Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.Hezbollah is a Lebanese militant group, backed by Iran, which the UK government classified as a terrorist organisation in 2019.

"Terrorist groups rely on financial support and funding for their activities and the NTFIU works closely with agencies in the UK and around the world to identify and take action against those people who provide and facilitate this funding. With our international partners, we will never give up on our mission to disrupt terrorist activity, both in the UK and abroad, in order to keep the public safe," added Rees.

Also Read | California Gurdwara shootings: 2 mafiosos wanted in India for murders among 17 arrested

The US Treasury Department had on April 18 this week unveiled sanctions on what it said was a vast international money laundering and sanctions evasion network, targeting 52 people and entities over the payment and shipment of cash, diamonds, precious gems, art and luxury goods for the benefit of Nazem Ahmad.

The network operating in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong facilitated the payment, shipment, and delivery of cash, diamonds, precious gems, art, and luxury goods for the benefit of Hizballah financier and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Nazem Said Ahmad, who was designated on December 13, 2019, for providing material support to Hizballah, the US Treasury Department said.

According to a US Treasury Department release, Sundar Nagarajan acted as Nazem Said Ahmad's primary international accountant, providing material support through his management of, and accounting for, businesses in Nazem Said Ahmad's network.

Nagarajan is the central manager of financial ledgers detailing the network's operations in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. Sundar Nagarajan also facilitated payment for and shipment of art that Nazem Said Ahmad purchased from major auction houses and galleries, it said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday it was 'time' for Kyiv to be invited into NATO. NATO head Jens Stoltenberg (L) shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the end of a joint press conference in Kyiv, on April 20, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

"Now, when the majority of people in NATO countries and the majority of Ukrainians support the entry of our country into the alliance, it is time to take the appropriate decision," Zelensky said at a press conference with visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Zelensky also asked Stoltenberg to help Kyiv "overcome the reluctance" of some member states on providing long-range weapons to Kyiv to counter Russia's invasion.

"I addressed the Secretary General with a request to help us overcome the reluctance of our partners regarding the delivery of certain weapons, namely long-range, modern aviation, artillery, armoured vehicles," Zelensky said at the press conference.
Kate Middleton was not allowed to meet the dying Queen Elizabeth II in September as King Charles wanted to justify not giving the same permission to Meghan Markle, a new book claimed. Writing in his book 'Our King', Robert Jobson claimed that Kate Middleton has "built up resentment" towards the Meghan Markle over the situation as she didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the late monarch. Kate Middleton-Meghan Markle: Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are seen. (File)

Instead, Kate Middleton had then remained in Windsor.

"Harry was insisting Meghan travel with him to Scotland as the Queens life ebbed away but the King said it was only for the children and grandchildren to be with the Queen," Robert Jobson shared.

The author further claimed that King Charles asked Prince William to come without his wife, because "if Catherine doesnt come, Meghan cant either, its not appropriate for wives to attend."

Privately, he wanted to say Meghan was not welcome but he couldnt say that to Harry so he personally intervened and asked Kate to stay back so that it was fairer on Meghan, the author continued.

Kate deliberately stayed away but she desperately wanted to be there with the Queen in her last moments. Thats eaten Kate up and has built up resentment towards Meghan, he added.

Queen Elizabeth passed away on September 8, hours after it was announced that her health was rapidly declining. Members of the royal family made their way to Balmoral to bid her goodbye.

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Prince William can be difficult to work with and often short-tempered, a royal insider claimed according to author Robert Jobson. Compared to King Charles, Prince William is less calm when dealing with issues, the author claimed in his book Our King: Charles III: The Man and Monarch Revealed. Prince William: Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales speaks to young Ukrainian refugees.(Reuters)

Quoting the insider, the author wrote about Prince William that "he is a driven person and that can make him impatient." On King Charles, the insider said that this "can make William short-tempered when dealing with Charles".

"The Boss (Charles) has a temper, too, but it does not go on and on. He can get frustrated and flare up and then, in an instant, it is forgotten about. With William, it is rarely forgotten, the insider said. This comes as reports claimed that Prince William rejected demands made by his brother Prince Harry ahead of King Charles coronation.

Royal experts claimed that "warm interactions" between the brothers are not anticipated. Prince William has also rejected his brother's demand for a meeting before the coronation.

"We know that palace staff is planning every entry, exit, and seat with the battling brothers in mind. The palace's ultimate objective is to avoid conflict," Kinsey Schofield said.

William, without a doubt, was the most hurt by Harry's actions. The two have not spoken since the queen's funeral. And certainly not since the Netflix series or book. And despite Harry telling media outlets that he would only attend the coronation if his family received an apology... my sources say that no such apology has happened in private," the expert added.

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Grain Rain is one of the 24 solar terms in Chinese culture and is celebrated each year during late April to early May. The customs include young women walking between villages to visit relatives, drinking Grain Rain Tea, the ancient tradition of Cangjie worship, and eating Chinese Toon. These customs are intended to bring people closer to nature, promote physical and spiritual wellbeing, and are still celebrated in Chinese culture today as a means of connecting to ancient traditions and practices.
Gorla leads the implementation and optimization of the Outrigger DISCOVERY loyalty program (in partnership with Global Hotel Alliance) to increase cross-brand and repeat revenue; drive member enrollment and guest acquisition; and raise brand awareness. He will also develop strategies and implement tactics to maximize the value of our global partnerships and direct the development and optimization of the Outrigger Platinum Membership Program.

Gorla was most recently head of product & managing director for Ribbon Labs, a next-generation social-planning platform. Before that, he was chief marketing officer and head of product at Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC) and head of product & managing director at VOILA Hotel Rewards, a division of HMC. Familiar with resorts, Gorla was chief marketing & technology officer for Taunovo Bay in Viti Levu, Fiji, and with video streaming and music, he was vice president of product development for LAUNCH Media and founder and CEO/CTE of MUSICVIDEOS.com.

Gorla holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and certifications in Amazon Web Services Certified Solutions Architect - Associate and Enterprise Design Thinking Co-Creator and Artificial Intelligence, IBM.
Optii Solutions, the leading hotel operations software, has announced the appointment of Jami Poe as Senior Director of Sales for North, Central, and South America to support strong demand in the region. Poe will also lead key strategic engagements in the region following a number of brand and management level agreements.

Poe joins Optii with nearly three decades of sales and marketing leadership experience. Most recently, Poe was Vice President of Sales at Lodgistics, a hotel operations and collaboration platform. Having previously served as Senior Director of Enterprise Relationships at ALICE for 4 years, she brings deep expertise and understanding of hotel operations, technology, and the intersection of the two. At TravelClick, Poe assisted hotels with their digital strategy to generate greater demand from the right mix of distribution channels, grow brand exposure, increase capture of high-value bookings, and ultimately increase revenues.

Poe also brings extensive brand and property level experience with her to Optii, including Hilton, Marriott, Fairmont, and Kimpton. Additionally, she played an integral role in successful property openings ,including Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park and Solage by Auberge Resorts in the Napa Valley. Poe holds a bachelor's degree from Oregon State University and is active in multiple industry organizations.
The HOTEL Yearbook (HYB), the prestigious annual publication that serves as a trusted resource for hotel professionals worldwide, is delighted to announce the upcoming release of its highly anticipated HYB 2023 Technology Edition, to be published in conjunction with HITEC Toronto. This special edition, set for publication on June 25th, promises to provide hoteliers with unparalleled insights into cutting-edge technologies and innovative solutions shaping the future of the global hospitality industry.

HYB 2023 Technology Edition will showcase an impressive roster of industry experts, thought leaders, and tech pioneers who will explore the latest trends, developments, and advancements in hospitality technology. This edition will not only delve into the existing innovations that have become essential to the industry but also explore emerging technologies that are poised to redefine the guest experience, the distribution landscape, operational efficiency, and sustainability in the hotel business.

Some of the key topics covered in the Technology Edition include:

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning : Understand how these transformative technologies are revolutionizing hotel operations, from personalizing guest experiences to optimizing revenue management.

: Understand how these transformative technologies are revolutionizing hotel operations, from personalizing guest experiences to optimizing revenue management. Pricing & Distribution Technology : The next phase of hotel distribution technology and digital marketing is set to revolutionize the way hotels attract, engage, and retain guests.

: The next phase of hotel distribution technology and digital marketing is set to revolutionize the way hotels attract, engage, and retain guests. Robotics and Automation : Learn about the integration of robots and automated systems in various hotel functions, such as housekeeping, F&B, and guest services.

: Learn about the integration of robots and automated systems in various hotel functions, such as housekeeping, F&B, and guest services. The Next-Gen Techstack : Explore how new systems architecture combined with innovative thinking generates unmatched ROI.

: Explore how new systems architecture combined with innovative thinking generates unmatched ROI. Biometrics and Security : Get insights on the latest biometric technologies, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, and their applications in ensuring hotel security and guest privacy.

: Get insights on the latest biometric technologies, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, and their applications in ensuring hotel security and guest privacy. Sustainability and Green Technologies: Discover the innovative solutions that help hotels minimize their environmental footprint and embrace a more sustainable future.

HYB 2023 Technology Edition will also feature exclusive interviews with top industry leaders and technology entrepreneurs, shedding light on their perspectives on the digital transformation of the hotel industry and their visions for the future.

"The HOTEL Yearbook has always been committed to providing our readers with the most relevant, timely, and insightful content. With the rapid evolution of technology in the hospitality industry, the need for such knowledge has never been greater. We're confident that this year's Technology Edition will be an invaluable resource for hoteliers seeking to stay ahead in this ever-changing landscape," said Henri Roelings, HYB publisher.

Interested to contribute?

Contributing a thought leadership article to the HOTEL Yearbook offers an opportunity to showcase expertise, share innovative ideas and insights with industry peers, and establish oneself as a forward-thinking authority in the hospitality sector, ultimately fostering growth, collaboration, and innovation. Click here if interested to contribute.

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About The Hotel Yearbook (HYB)

First published in 2007, The Hotel Yearbook (HYB) is a family of publications that call upon a wide-ranging group of senior executives, analysts, consultants, and opinion leaders worldwide to give their expert view on "What lies ahead for the global hotel industry?" In The Hotel Yearbook TECHNOLOGY Edition, forward-looking contributors share the key trends and developments that they believe will shape the immediate future of applied technologies in the global hotel business. Learn more at hotelyearbook.com.

About Hospitality Net

Acting as a neutral broker and publisher of hotel business information, Hospitality Net is the #1 ranked global website for the global hospitality community. Hospitality Net enables all industry stakeholders to amplify visibility on its platform and connect with the industry globally through a membership business model, unlike any other publishing initiative in the industry. Members include actors throughout the hospitality spectrum - hotel groups, vendors/suppliers, associations, universities/schools, consultants, and event organizers. To learn more, visit hospitalitynet.org. To learn more, visit hospitalitynet.org.
The Ascott Limited (Ascott), a lodging business unit wholly owned by CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI), has achieved its target to secure 160,000 units by 2023, with the signing of over 4,000 units in 1Q this year. Sharpening its focus on quality growth, Ascott is renewing its target to double fee revenue to more than S$500 million in the next five years. The fee revenue target is set off the FY 2022 base of S$258 million  the highest earnings on record for Ascott. Fee revenue from the lodging business increased by 36% year-on-year (y-o-y) in FY 2022 on the back of record signings and property openings. This demonstrates Ascotts strength as a key contributor of fee-related earnings to CLIs overall business.

Ascott also achieved a record net room growth1 of 20% in FY 2022, underpinned by its acquisition of Oakwood which added about 15,000 units to its portfolio, of which approximately 8,000 are operational units that contributed to its fee revenue. In the last five years, Ascott has rapidly grown its operational units from more than 56,000 units in 2018 to over 95,000 units in 2022. This year, it expects to open more than 13,500 units in over 70 properties. Ascott will continue to expand its product offerings spanning a portfolio of serviced residence, hotel, coliving and senior living brands, positioned from mid to luxury scale. Fee revenue growth will be driven by new property openings as well as new signings at an expected annual net room growth rate of 8-10% in the next five years.

Mr Kevin Goh, Chief Executive Officer for Ascott and CLI Lodging, said: With our asset-light strategy, Ascott has doubled in units every five years, growing from about 20,000 units in 2008 to over 160,000 units today. We are now seeing the positive financial impact of growing our portfolio by eight-fold and will focus on driving even stronger fee growth over the next five years. Over 80% of our total units are under management and franchise contracts, up from 43% ten years ago. These management and franchise contracts typically have sticky recurring fee revenue and long tenures.

Ascott also demonstrated strong operating performance in FY 2022, with a 40% y-o-y increase in revenue per available unit (REVPAU) with the recovery of international travel. Ascott is riding on this momentum to further optimise the performance of its operational portfolio.

Notable resources have been deployed for a global Brand 360 exercise to position its suite of brands to cater to a diverse range of guests across different age groups with varying sets of expectations. It seeks to strengthen Ascotts portfolio through sharpened brand stories and elevated signature experiences and programmes unique to each brand. Brand 360 initiatives rolled out have resulted in higher customer satisfaction rates, positive reviews, and increased loyalty. Launched in the latter half of 2019, Ascotts loyalty programme  Ascott Star Rewards (ASR) has also grown exponentially despite the onslaught of COVID-19. In 2022, ASR membership grew 36%, with member revenue increasing five-fold from 2021.

To achieve our new growth target, we will secure more management and franchise contracts for prime properties that generate higher quality fees; and leverage our strong brand equity and direct distribution channels to deliver greater value to property owners and customers. Ascotts suite of award-winning hospitality brands and products has the flexibility to cater to both long- and short-stay customers across different market segments. In addition to ramping up the opening of our properties, we will be stepping up efforts to upgrade several of our strategically located properties into brand flagship assets. Properties in the pipeline for these asset enhancement initiatives include The Robertson House by The Crest Collection in Singapore, The Cavendish London and Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Pres Paris, which will be re-branded under The Crest Collection.

Besides powering growth organically, we will also actively seek strategic merger and acquisition opportunities to accelerate our ambition to be a significant global player in the lodging space. With vertically integrated capabilities, we can also leverage our strong investment and asset management capabilities to expand through our sponsored lodging trust and private funds, added Mr Goh.

Building on Ascotts sixth consecutive year of record signings and openings

In 1Q 2023, Ascott added over 4,000 units across 20 properties in cities including Shanghai and Shenzhen in China; Bali and Gorontalo in Indonesia; Fukuoka and Osaka in Japan; Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia; and Chonburi in Thailand. Ascotts continued growth momentum this year builds upon its record growth of about 33,000 units across 160 properties in 2022.

Ascott expanded its presence in key cities including Vienna in Austria; Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Sanya, Shanghai, Suzhou, Xian and Zhuhai in China; Goa in India; Jakarta in Indonesia; Penang in Malaysia; Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; Bron in France; Djibouti in Africa; Antalya in Turkey; and Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia. These properties, slated to open between 2023 and 2028, are primed to meet the growing demands from business and leisure travellers as economic activities, urbanisation and foreign direct investments increase.

Riding on the recovery of international travel, Ascott also achieved its highest-ever property openings in 2022, launching more than 9,300 units across 45 properties. This includes the launch of lyf Collingwood Melbourne, Ascotts first lyf coliving property to open in Australia; Ascott Huaishu Road Ningbo, Ascotts first operational property in Chinas bustling port city; Oakwood Residence Foshan, Ascotts first Oakwood-branded property in one of the largest cities in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone; and Somerset Pattaya, Ascotts first property to open in Thailands thriving resort city.

Ascott also opened Citadines South Vienna and Somerset Westview Nairobi, its first property in Austria and Kenya respectively. In Singapore, Ascott opened four properties comprising lyf Farrer Park Singapore, Citadines Raffles Place Singapore, Citadines Connect City Centre Singapore and Citadines Connect Rochester Singapore.

In the first three months of 2023, Ascott opened more than 920 units in six properties. This includes Ascott Dadonghai Bay Sanya, which is located in a popular tourist destination in China.

With the relaxation of travel restrictions in China, customer enquiries have increased significantly and average daily reservations volumes for Ascotts properties in China grew by about 150% in March 2023 compared to December 2022. As the frequency of flights continues to normalise and return to pre-pandemic levels, Ascott is well-positioned to capture Chinas inbound and outbound demand.
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the worlds leading hospitality companies, introduces Vignette Collection to the UK with the signing of The Halyard at Ropewalks Liverpool, Vignette Collection in partnership with Molo Hotels.

Vignette Collection is IHG Hotels & Resorts first collection brand and is a family of one-of-a-kind properties in sought-after urban and resort locations where guests can indulge in a growing passion for stays that are authentic, experiential and considerate. Here for the next generation of luxury travellers seeking both discovery and purpose, Vignette Collection weaves responsibility, community and locality together for stays that are as distinct as the hotels themselves.

The Halyard at Ropewalks Liverpool, Vignette Collection will open later this year under a franchise agreement with Molo Hotels and will be operated by Lighthouse Hotel Management. The 133-key luxury hotel is set in the historic Ropewalks district in the heart of Liverpool, boasting a restaurant, an on site gym, conferencing facilities and roof top terrace that will further boost the areas reputation as a gastronomic hub.

Liverpool continues to grow as a destination for domestic and international travellers as the UK Governments Levelling Up Fund invests in key cities across the nations. The growing presence of international events, such as Eurovision 2023, alongside the growing demand for UK staycations following the pandemic, make destinations like Liverpool increasingly popular with leisure and business guests alike. The signing of the first luxury branded hotel in the city marks IHGs commitment to investing in the city.

Were thrilled to be bringing Vignette Collection to the UK  a new luxury brand in an established market for IHG. Vignette Collection gives strategic partners and owners, like Molo Hotels, the opportunity to retain their distinctive hotel identity, while benefitting from IHGs global scale, Luxury & Lifestyle expertise, and powerful IHG One Rewards loyalty programme. The brand has shown incredible success across the globe in its first year, with 14 hotels signed or opened, which speaks volumes to its emphasis on delivering one-of-a-kind stays and memorable moments alongside a commitment to more responsible travel. Liverpools popularity continues to grow as a hub of culture and Im confident the luxury offering of Vignette Collection will bring a new offering to the city. Mrs Willemijn Geels, VP Development, Europe, IHG Hotels & Resorts

Im so excited to be opening the first Vignette Collection hotel in the UK. We see a gap in the market to deliver luxury stays in Liverpool and were excited to partner with IHG Hotels & Resorts to deliver a one of a kind hotel that celebrates the history of such an important city. Liverpool is a thriving market with growing demand and IHGs enterprise system will allow us to better serve guests at The Halyard at Ropewalks Liverpool, Vignette Collection from later this year. Mr Ross Morrow, Managing Director, Molo Hotels

With more than 6,000 hotels spanning over 100 countries, IHG Hotels & Resorts is proud to be at the heart of thousands of communities around the world and strive to make a difference every day by delivering True Hospitality for Good. The tourism industry accounts for 1 in 10 jobs in the UK** and IHGs impressive growth aims to drive economic and social change through skills training and innovation. The signing of a luxury Vignette Collection property in Liverpool will create 71 jobs and further boost the local economy as guests explore and spend in local businesses.

We're thrilled that the first Vignette Collection hotel in the UK will be opening in Liverpool this year. The passion the brand has for responsibility and community, alongside the brilliant facilities the hotel will bring will make it a great addition to the Ropewalks district of the city. With Liverpool attracting a growing number of international and domestic visitors alongside the ever popular city region offer, we're delighted to see new properties arriving in Liverpool to help further boost our visitor economy, create new jobs and provide a wonderful visitor welcome. Chris Brown, Director of Marketing Liverpool

The signing of The Halyard at Ropewalks Liverpool, Vignette Collection follows a number of signings for the brand across Europe, including in Reit im Winkl , Germany and Budapest , Hungary, and the opening of the first European Vignette Collection hotel in Porto , Portugal . More than 100 properties globally are anticipated to join Vignette Collection over the next 10 years.

IHG Hotels & Resorts currently has 356 hotels* operating under 8 brands in the UK&I including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, voco hotels, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites, and a further 21 in the pipeline.

*Numbers as at 31 December 2022

**WTTC 2022 Annual Research

About Vignette Collection

Vignette Collection, IHG Hotels & Resorts first collection brand, is a family of one-of-a-kind properties in sought-after urban and resort locations where guests can indulge in a growing passion for stays that are authentic, experiential and considerate. Here for the next generation of luxury travellers seeking both discovery and purpose, Vignette Collection weaves responsibility, community and locality together for stays that are as distinct as our hotels. The first hotels committed to join the collection include Hotel X Brisbane Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Australia and The Aquatique Pattaya in Pattaya, Thailand. More than 100 properties globally are anticipated to join over the next 10 years. For more information, visit vignettecollectionhotels.com.

About IHG

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
In my work at Shiji with our various teams, partners, and clients around the world, as much as 60 to 70% of my time is spent traveling and staying at hotels. In those travels, I often hear top-level executives at major hotels, praising themselves for their great offers. In all honesty, Im not sure theyre so great. I often wonder if they stay in their own hotels, as what they claim to offer simply doesnt correspond to reality even the basics are not done right. For me, a lot of it comes down to technology supporting everything else. With that in mind, Id like to share what I see as the current state of hotel technology in 2023.

When Technology Becomes a Bandaid

A hospitality business may come to us wanting to implement new technology, meanwhile, the core parts of the tech stack are thirty years old. Its crucial that these core parts are addressed first, rather than trying to patch in new solutions and Frankenstein-ing them.

Building or upgrading the tech stack of a hotel is similar to building a house: if your foundation is fragile, you can build on top of it, but it will crumble at some point; then youll need to build a new house from scratch, as you cant work with a faulty foundation.

Lets illustrate this point with mobile check-in. Too many players still treat it simply as a pre-registration on an app, which does nothing but provide a pre-filled form that is called up once the guest reaches the property. The guest meanwhile still needs to queue up for their turn at reception. While it is great that hotels are thinking of different solutions for improving the experience, it is utterly frustrating that this is their whole digital check-in program, for as a guest, having this kind of digital option often turns out to be an even worse experience than the traditional alternative. Going through the digital check-in steps creates the expectation of a faster, simpler arrival process, but quickly turns into a disappointment when the need to stand in line for the same procedures isnt eliminated.

Make Technology Work for You

This year should see many hotels using technology to enhance their offering. As mentioned, it is first necessary to take a step back and evaluate the technology platforms already in place before strategically building upon them. We saw this happen very recently, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing everyone to quickly jump into digital in new ways. New startups were popping up like mushrooms and building mobile apps that were very quick to market, causing hotels to surf the contactless anything wave a bit like it was Y2K. Everyone thought they needed a mobile app and didnt look at the holistic guest journey, instead bandaging but a small piece of that journey and ultimately wasting time and money.

Its not surprising that this didnt fix anything, because the whole circle needed to be closed  the guest experience leads but has to be followed with the right technology. If we learned anything from this experience, it was to not let ourselves be fooled by the latest hype but rather to look at the specific guest journey of your property and try to offer solutions that will actually be relevant to your guests.

I recently experienced this at a budget two-star hotel in Amsterdam, where I had to leave very early for a flight and received a prompt from the hotel the night before to do my check out. It took about 30 seconds to type in my email and companys address to be used on the invoice for expensing purposes, and the following day, while I waited for my cab to arrive, the receptionist used those few minutes to get me a coffee instead of fumbling with an invoice. The system had done its job, and when I was sitting in my cab, en route to the airport, coffee in hand, seeing the invoice arriving in my email inbox, I reflected on what a great experience it had been. The staff member, because the technology was deployed in the right way, was able to provide me with service that enhanced the final moment of my guest journey. It was such a small thing, but one that left a pleasant last impression and also reduced the staff members workload.

The Age of BYOD  Bring Your Own Devices

This year will also be all about giving the guests choices. Guests have become accustomed to having everything at their fingertips, using their mobile phones and tablets, and QR codes are a big part of this. It does depend, however, on how they are used: will a QR code placed on a table simply download a PDF menu onto the guests device and leave them stranded, trying to flag a staff member to place the order, or will it open a portal where it is possible to order and make a payment right away, making it a streamlined experience for the guest?

In the current labor market, it is overkill, and quite frankly, sometimes even impossible, to have staff in certain parts of the hotel at all times, such as in the lobby, lounge areas, or during meal times. Using technology the proper way eliminates this need, and provides an impeccable guest experience with very limited staff. It also makes it possible to schedule staff at key service timings, for example, having a waiter or bartender at the bar in the evening, when it is more important, allowing the option to go for interaction and full service or fully digital self-service.

The power is now in the hands of the guests, but some hotels are not yet fully optimizing the digital experience. The full journey needs to be catered for, from ordering right through to payment, and that can be quite complex in certain parts of the world when it comes to fiscal and legal regulations and compliance. Still, it is crucial for meeting guests expectations.

Current Tech Trends and Their Hotel Implications

To help you get a more detailed understanding of the state of hotel technology, what follows are current tech trends that, in my view, are the most worth watching and potentially adopting for hospitality businesses in 2023.

The Cloud

Cloud is old news to anyone in the tech industry, but only 22% of enterprise companies in the world have moved their technology to the cloud.

The question of moving completely onto the cloud still remains a big one, though, and I believe the hospitality industry needs to work together to elevate their collective tech and fully do away with legacy systems, bringing them into this new era. There is still a lot of fear from properties and investors regarding moving to the next generation of systems, and, I believe this is mostly unwarranted. Moving the entire tech stack ensures that certain risks are mitigated, such as PCI compliance and payment gateways. Having surviving legacy systems  including those that might no longer be supported  increases the likelihood of exposing the data you do have on the cloud to threats, and makes the whole organization vulnerable.

Large Language Model AI

Were at the beginning of a very different model for computing and technology. For the first time, one can actually talk to a computer in normal language and it can interpret the information and conversationally do things. We dont know everything it will change yet, but a lot of things will change. Searching for a hotel is one of them Find a hotel near Googles office in London with quiet rooms for less than $200 on Monday night is not a complex search. But it totally changes how we search. This will get integrated into all technology products at all levels for guests and for hotel staff. I think in a few years there will be language-based commands for data analytics, business intelligence tools, and maybe even things like checking into a hotel room.

The Metaverse

The metaverse is also a big topic, especially for those of us in the travel and retail spaces. It was initially misinterpreted as something clunky, where everyone runs around wearing big goggles, and where you dont go on vacation anymore but sit at home and think that youre at the beach or get inside your bathtub to pretend that youre in the sea. Thats not the metaverse, and not how it can help our industry. To me, the way it can be used in hospitality is really more about simulating the experience at property A and property B to compare and make informed decisions before booking.

However, from my perspective, this technology still needs to advance much further to be utilized this way. It needs to be natural, it needs to be an immersive experience that would allow, for instance, a family to sit on their couch and look at and experience hotels together when choosing a trip destination. As it is now, the space is still too fragmented, with providers not being able to offer more value just yet, and there is a large possibility for hotels to make bad investments and go in the wrong direction.

Hybrid Meetings

Yet another area that grew in popularity due to the global health pandemic was hybrid meeting environments. In the last few years, meetings were largely conducted remotely, and as life returns to normal, so will the need for getting together to work and discuss projects. Granted, it wont go back to how it was before when everybody was required to fly in for different meetings all the time, but things will settle on something of a hybrid model. Perhaps fewer people will participate in person, maybe even at a lower frequency, with some members able to provide support and attend remotely. I dont think hotels have invested enough yet in meeting technologies and the processes are still very cumbersome. Big meetings will surely come back, but theres also plenty of room for hybrid activity in the market.

Decentralized Identity

Last but not least, there are already industry initiatives for integrated systems that cooperate amongst various vendors in the travel and hotel space. One such project proposes a decentralized global profile to make individual digital footprints for each guest, which will include someones personal information and can be used for flight and hotel bookings, trumping the need for separate hotel and airline brand apps. Needless to say, this simplifies usage for guests and has the potential to become a powerful tool, provided that issues with security and information interfacing are attended to. It is technology still in its infancy, but that offers big promises for the future of travel.

The State of Hotel Technology Today

Between the post-pandemic boom in travel to the maturation of some technology and the proliferation of other new technology, 2023 could shape up to be an inflection point for our industry. Today, many technologies are converging to meet guest behaviors and expectations, transforming the current state of hotel technology into something that takes the industry as a whole into the next stage of evolution.

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In years past, Norah Basyouni would have had to choose between going to work or spending time with her family on Eid al-Fitr, one of Islam's most important holidays.

The Houston ISD teacher won't have to worry about that decision this Friday, as the state's largest school system is recognizing Eid as an official spring holiday, a significant moment for the Muslim community that will receive one of its holy days off for the first time.

"It shows they're acknowledging and respecting the fact that there's a lot of Muslims in our community," said Basyouni, who teaches third-grade math and science at Gregg Elementary School in southeast Houston. "HISD is a huge district and it has a lot of Muslims, so for the kids to be recognized with the day off, that is special."

RAMADAN AT SCHOOL: Here's what Houston schools are doing to accommodate Muslim students during Ramadan

The move to recognize Eid as a district holiday comes after years of pushing from local advocacy groups that wanted to see the city's sizable Muslim population accommodated the same way other religious groups are. While the U.S. Census Bureau does not collect data on religious affiliation, the U.S. Religion Census, which is conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, estimates there are over 91,000 Muslim people in Harris County.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

HISD, in a statement, said it drafted a calendar with a second spring holiday for Eid at the behest of Houston's Muslim community. The district already takes off Good Friday, observed by Christians to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as another spring holiday.

"Presently, our district calendar includes several holidays throughout the year that align with religious observances for other key stakeholder groups within our district," the district said. "Each time an addition of this sort has been made it has been at the request of stakeholder groups and has received support from a majority during stakeholder engagement opportunities."

Eid now joins Good Friday and Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, as the only religious holidays recognized by the district aside from those that fall during winter break, such as Christmas and, occasionally, Hanukkah.

Sayed Omid Denarkhail, an Afghan emigre whose younger siblings attend Wisdom High School, said he hadn't initially realized Eid was the reason for Friday's day off. Instead of spending the day apart from his siblings and children, who attend a charter school that also has the day off, Denarkhail, 27, will take them to the mosque for morning prayers before heading to a relative's house in new holiday garb for a celebration with family.

Having recently moved to Houston after a brief stint in Washington, the development came as a pleasant surprise.

"If it's for Eid, that's great news," Denarkhail said. "This day is so important for all Muslim people."

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Shariq Ghani, executive director of the interfaith advocacy group Minaret Foundation, which pushed for the holiday designation, said the district's recognition of Eid is an "exceptional moment" for Houston Muslims, and is fighting to see similar privileges extended to Muslims and other religious groups across the state.

His organization is pushing to get bills passed in the Texas Legislature that would make it easier for students of all faiths to observe religious holidays. One bill, HB 1883, would ban standardized testing on religious holidays, which is what happened in 2021 when the state scheduled STAAR tests on Eid. That bill was left pending in committee, state records show.

LATINO MOSQUE GROWS: At Houstons Latino-led mosque, an increasingly multicultural city is on display

The other bill, HB 1212, would make it easier for students to obtain excused absences for religious holidays by providing a note from a parent instead of a religious clergy member, as is required in some districts  though not HISD, which says written notes from a parent are "not required but encouraged."

HB 1212 was passed Wednesday in the Texas House and will be sent to the Senate at an unknown date.

"For us, it wasn't just about Eid. It's about all of our faith partners, how can we advocate for religious freedom for all because no child at the end of the day should have to choose between their faith and their academic success," Ghani said.

Basyouni, the Gregg Elementary teacher, said she was fortunate to have a principal who allows her to sometimes come in late during the last 10 days of Ramadan  when many Muslims stay awake until sunrise because the final nights of the holy month confer extra blessings  instead of having to walk in bleary-eyed. She knows, however, that not every Muslim in HISD has been so lucky; this year, the recognition of the holiday will relieve them of the choice.
From Jennifer Chang, Houston Chronicle managing editor:

The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News are teaming up to launch a statewide meteorological team that covers weather in the two largest cities in Texas using a smart, science-driven approach to better serve the communities we cover.

Weather in South Texas has a huge effect on peoples lives, and we aim to report on it with greater depth and expertise, said Express-News executive editor Marc Duvoisin. We may not be able to do anything about the weather, but we can help readers understand and prepare for it better.

The newsrooms are looking to build a team of forecasters and subject-matter experts to write in-depth analysis, unique stories and useful information, as well as approachable and fact-based forecasts to help readers navigate their everyday lives.

The team is currently hiring for three key roles, with more journalists to be added in the coming months. Applicants are welcome to apply for:

Weather Science Editor

Newsroom Meteorologist, Houston Chronicle

Newsroom Meteorologist, San Antonio Express-News

The two newsrooms, owned by Hearst and part of HNP (Hearst Newspapers), have worked together on statewide initiatives before, including through an award-winning Austin bureau, covering statewide politics, and the Texas DataHub, which creates graphics, interactive pieces and other types of innovative journalism.

"Weather is the one topic that is universal everyone cares about it, talks about it, worries about it, has an opinion. We want to use our combined resources to bring cutting-edge coverage of weather- and the science behind it to our Texas readers," said Maria Reeve, Houston Chronicle executive editor.

In launching the team, the Chronicle and Express-News have consulted extensively with local experts and the San Francisco Chronicle, another HNP newsroom whose success in building the California Weather Wonks team was instrumental in shaping the Texas initiatives framework and mission: focus on the science, help readers navigate their lives, report the news relentlessly, use graphics and data to explain complex information, and have some fun.

The focus of our core newsrooms like the Chronicle and Express-News is to provide the best journalism bar none in our markets, said Tim ORourke, vice president for content strategy at HNP. Elevating our weather journalism and adding scientists to our staff will better inform our audience and heighten our work covering local communities.

In addition to daily forecasts and science explainers, Chronicle and Express-News subscribers will continue to have access to weather-related reader tools such as the Texas Flood Map and Tracker, Texas Power Outage Tracker, and more.

About the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News

The Houston Chronicle serves Houstons 2.3 million residents  as well as all of Texas  with content and marketing solutions across two of Houstons largest websites, HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com, along with our newspaper and magazine brands. The content and innovative business solutions we provide invite readers to join conversations about communities weve been helping prosper for more than 120 years.

The San Antonio Express-News has been the voice of South Texas since 1865, educating, informing, and entertaining an important and growing community. Its award-winning journalists cover the news that matters most, from restaurant openings and local events to the global economy, from military homecomings to foreign affairs, and from neighborhood struggles to international disasters. The leading news organization delivers unparalleled reach across multiple platforms, through a trusted portfolio of brands.

About HNP and Hearst

With more than 3,000 employees across the nation, HNP (Hearst Newspapers) publishes 24 dailies and 52 weeklies, including The San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union. We believe in the power of local news and were building teams to help elevate our journalists impact in the communities we serve.

At Hearst, it is our mission to be the most trusted, most respected and most accurate source of news and information in the communities that we serve. We place our readers' interests above all others, and dedicate ourselves to the principles of truthfulness, fairness and independence. We understand that the free flow of accurate information is vital to our system of government and the foundations of our economy.
Investors outside of Texas are betting the states competitive  and at times chaotic  electricity market will help bolster their bottom lines.

Gainline Capital Partners. a Connecticut-based investment firm, said Wednesday it purchased a majority interest in Flagship Power, a retail electricity broker operating in Texas. Houston-based holding company Utility Rescue launched Flagship Power in 2022 and will remain a significant shareholder in it, the companies said in a statement.

Its a partnership between a financial company and an operating company to make money for the financial company, and make the operating company bigger, faster, better, said Tom Schmidt, CEO of Utility Rescue. On the Flagship and the Utility Rescue side, we get the benefit of the capital. And the financial partner, theyre looking to us to make them a bunch of money.

Schmidt, who will remain on Flagships board, declined to say how many customers the company serves, but said its adding thousands a week. The companies also did not disclose the value of the deal, or exactly how much of an interest Gainline will have in Flagship.

RELATED: Reading your Texas electric bill can be confusing. Here are some tips to help.

Schmidt has been involved in the Texas retail electricity market since its current structure was set up, he said. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Texas lawmakers overhauled the electricity system, breaking it up into three parts: power generators who compete to sell electricity; transmission and distribution companies, such as CenterPoint, that own and operate poles and wires to deliver power to homes; and the retail market.

Retail electricity providers do not generate power, though some are owned by companies that do, nor do they own or operate the poles and wires to deliver electricity to customers. Brokers connect customers with retail providers, which are tasked with selling electricity plans, billing customers and buying electricity from power generators.

Over the years Schmidt has helped launch multiple retail electricity brands in Texas, including Pulse Power which was sold to Shell Energy in 2021. He expected Flagship to attract private equity investment, but said it happened even faster than he anticipated.

Gainline has had an eye on Texas, said Zach Greenspan, a vice president at the investment firm, because of what he called the success of the states electricity market.

Gainline is a private equity firm that invests in businesses with revenues between $5 million and $50 million that dont already have a private equity sponsor, according to Greenspan. He said Flagships management team would run the day-to-day operations, and characterized the deal as a partnership.

Were just the financial sponsor backing them to continue their growth, he said.

This story has been changed to correctly attribute statements made by Tom Schmidt and to correct Flagship's role - it is an electricity broker.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday approved certificates for two multibillion-dollar Brownsville-area liquefied natural gas facilities planned by Houston companies, with one commissioner arguing local residents should have been given more time to lodge their opposition.

The approval, which came at a regular monthly meeting that was delayed for hours as the commissioners hashed out differences, could give Houston-based NextDecade the momentum it needs to obtain the necessary financial backing and build the hulking Rio Grande LNG facility off Highway 48, analysts have said. The other big South Texas LNG project planned by energy developer Glenfarne, based in Houston and New York, also received approval, but has less financial traction than the NextDecade project.

Both plants, which would super-cool natural gas into a liquid more easily shipped overseas, have faced fierce opposition from environmental groups in South Texas and have divided communities in Brownsville and the Port Isabel. Together, the industrial facilities could bolster the economic future of the South Texas region but also threaten its status as a natural haven beloved by tourists and fishermen on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border.

The number of LNG plants and export terminals in coastal communities along the Gulf Coast is expected to grow exponentially amid soaring sales to Asia, where nations are transitioning from coal to cleaner energy sources, and to Europe, which is reeling from natural gas shortages caused by the war in Ukraine. Global demand is expected to lead energy companies, particularly those along the U.S. Gulf Coast, to spend $42 billion a year by 2024 building liquefaction plants and export terminals, according to Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August 2021 that FERC needed to more closely examine Rio Grande LNG's impact on climate change and local communities. Commissioner Allison Clements said the commission had failed to do what was requested of it and that moving forward without doing so creates a lose-lose situation that would invite more legal challenges and deprive potentially impacted communities of the chance to comment on the developments.

This procedural corner-cutting represents a gobsmacking departure, frankly, from the lessons I took away from the environmental justice roundtable we held just a month ago, Clements said.

FERC Chairman Willie Phillips, viewed as more moderate on climate issues than his predecessor Richard Glick, said he thought the commission had reached an appropriate middle ground.

Importantly, today's order takes an unprecedented and bipartisan step to protect environmental justice communities from potential concerns about the projects effect on air quality, Phillips said. The commission is for the first time on its own accord, requiring that the project sponsors ensure that the overlapping construction and operation of a project do not cause any significant air quality impacts on environmental justice communities.

The projects have divided the South Texas community into camps with opposing visions of the future. Proponents of the projects argue they could infuse the region with jobs and people, while critics point to the damage they could do to the environment that local fishermen and businesses offering pelican watches and dolphin watches rely on.

We're selling nature, Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema, who opposes the LNG developments, told the Chronicle last year. That's what we're in the business of selling. If you drive to Corpus Christi, it doesn't look like that. Unfortunately, you see a bunch of smokestacks, you see ugly industrial development, and so we don't want that type of development on the way to our city.

Bettina Tolin, a Port Isabel restaurateur and a Laguna Vista town councilor, said the LNG facilities would bring higher-paying jobs into an area that relies mostly on tourism, hospitality and a shrinking shrimping industry for work. Plus, she said, it would create demand for housing and other economic benefits that would ripple throughout the community.

"It creates a lot of really good quality jobs for a number of years," she said. "It does a lot of really good economic things for our community."

NextDecade has reached sales and purchase agreements for 10.75 million metric tons of its anticipated 27 metric tons of LNG per year, positioning it among projects expected to reach a final investment decision  a precursor to construction  this year.

This story was updated April 21 to correct the date of the FERC approval and of the D.C. Circuit Court ruling.
ROME (AP)  A Texas-born princess who lives in a Rome villa containing the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio is facing a court-ordered eviction Thursday, in the latest chapter in an inheritance dispute with the heirs of one of Romes aristocratic families.

Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, a widow formerly known as Rita Carpenter, was still holding out at the Casino dellAurora on Wednesday night, awaiting what she expected to be the arrival of Carabinieri police in the morning. With her are her Ukrainian housekeeper Olga, and the housekeeper's daughter and two young grandchildren who fled Kyiv last year after Russia's invasion.

In January, Rome Judge Miriam Iappelli instructed Carabinieri police at the Via Veneto station to evict her, accusing the princess of having failed, among other things, to maintain the home in a good state of conservation after an exterior wall crumbled. With the warning time now up, the decree calls for police to evict anyone still living there, take possession of the property, change the locks and dispose of or destroy any furniture or documents left behind.

The house, located off the swank Via Veneto, has been in the Ludovisi family since the early 1600s. After Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi died in 2018, the villa became the subject of an inheritance dispute between the children from his first marriage and his third wife, the San Antonio, Texas-born Princess Rita, whom he married in 2009.

The children have argued that the home, built in 1570, belongs to them, that their grandfather intended for them to inherit it and that their late father abused them and mismanaged his fortune. They have mounted a multi-pronged legal campaign to get control of the property so it can be sold.

One of the children, Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi, took to Twitter on Wednesday to praise Iappelli's eviction order and assert the children's right to the villa and its contents.

The widow Boncompagni Ludovisi says she and her husband worked diligently to restore the villa as best they could, adding that she has tried to negotiate with her late husband's children. In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday, she called her imminent eviction unexpected and unjust.

What a brutal ending to my beautiful life with my beloved Nicolo, she wrote.

The eviction order marked the culmination of a bitter inheritance saga that simultaneously saw the villa put on the court-ordered auction block last year and assigned a court-appraised value of 471 million euros ($533 million). After the minimum bid of 353 million euros ($400 million) failed to get any takers in the first auction, the price was progressively lowered in a series of successive auctions, with more scheduled until a buyer is found.

The villa, also known as Villa Ludovisi, is famous for the Caravaggio that graces a tiny room off a spiral staircase on the second floor.

It was commissioned in 1597 by a diplomat and patron of the arts who asked the then-young painter to decorate the ceiling of the small room being used as an alchemy workshop. The 2.75-meter (9-foot) wide mural, which depicts Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune, is unusual: Its not a fresco, but rather oil on plaster, and represents the only ceiling mural that Caravaggio is known to have painted.

The American princess previously was married to former U.S. Rep. John Jenrette Jr. of South Carolina.
ElAas Valverde II/TNS

Fans have endured long lines outside of NRG Stadium ahead of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour stop in Houston as fans clamor for exclusive T-shirts from the official merch truck.

Swifties began lining up at an Eras Tour merch truck at 3 a.m. Thursday, despite the truck not opening until 10 a.m that day. So far, thousands have snagged merch waiting hours in one of five lines outside the truck. But it appears to be no trouble for fans who are singing and dancing to Swift's songs in the parking lot as they wait.
NEW BRITAIN  Fire officials will investigate what caused an early Thursday morning blaze that destroyed an unoccupied home on Reservoir Road when they can safely get near the building, fire Chief Raul Ortiz said.

Neighbors reported the blaze about 3 a.m. Thursday after seeing flames coming from the single-family home in the 300 block of Reservoir Road, officials said.

The house, which was unoccupied, was fully engulfed in flames and threatening nearby homes when firefighters arrived minutes later, Ortiz said.

"On arrival, they determined that the house was a total loss and it would be more impactful to protect the other nearby structures," Ortiz said.

Officials are confident that no one was in the home at the time of the blaze, Ortiz said, but police and the city's fire marshal are working to notify the man who lives in the home.

"There were cars in the driveway, but his car was not in the driveway," Ortiz said.

Since the house was a total loss, firefighters didn't go into the building, which collapsed as they tried to extinguish the flames, Ortiz said. No firefighters were injured battling the blaze, and no other homes were damaged, he said.

"They did a good job making sure the fire didn't travel," Ortiz said.

Firefighters at the scene called for a second alarm at 3:36 a.m., with the building collapsing minutes later. Firefighters were initially hampered by a power line that was down but still live, officials said.

The fire was brought under control at 4:52 a.m., with firefighters from other cities covering local stations, officials said.

Firefighters were still on the scene at 11 a.m. Thursday, pouring water on the "deep-seated fire" that remained, Ortiz said. The Fire Marshal's Office is investigating but won't be able to get inside the building until it has been deemed safe, he said.
There was a time when Spanish rolled off my tongue with ease, and my comprehension was sharp. To improve my skills, I read "The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait," which is mostly in Spanish.

Kahlo's journal is a passionate 40-year record of her fascinating, creative journey as a Mexican artist, feminist and wife of the late Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. Her diary captures the emotional and physical pain of the complex life of one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century.

Now it seems everyone has a piece of Kahlo  whether it's a T-shirt, art print, tote bag or greeting card. There's a Frida Barbie that's fetching $175 on Amazon. Even Beyonce dressed as Kahlo for an arty Halloween party in 2014.

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In Houston, artist Lizbeth Ortiz is determined to keep Kahlo's footprint deep in the local art community with her free Frida Festival, which is celebrating its 18th year on April 29 at MECA, 1900 Kane. While MECA is the festival's fiscal sponsor, the Alley Theatre is the creative sponsor for the first time.

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Ortiz, a Mexico City native who moved to Texas at age 2 with her family, started the event to celebrate Kahlo's birthday on July 6 in 2005. More than 800 people turned out, many dressed in Kahlo's signature style of full skirts, embroidered blouses, flower headdresses and thick, bushy unibrows. Between 2018 and 2021, more than 30,000 people attended.

Frida Festival When: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. April 29 Where: MECA, 1900 Kane Details: fridafestival.org See More Collapse

The festival also engages emerging artists and students to create artwork influenced by Kahlo. This year, 6-year-old Isabella Arias Perea was the youngest artist to participate. Her piece sold for $350 to a collector in Florida, Ortiz said.

"There is a romanticism about Frida and her work," said Ortiz, who also works at the Story Hive video production firm. "She turned pain into art. It's a universal language. When we see her cutting off her long hair after her divorce, we can relate. She had a very hard life and found a way to express herself through art."

Ortiz's home celebrates the Mexican artist with her own inspired paintings. She spent nearly a decade in New York working as an artist. Representation is what resonates from Kahlo's work, she said.

"To see a morena with facial hair on a canvas was incredible growing up. I saw myself represented in her art. Everyone has an artistic side. We often have so much bottled up that if we leaned a little more into that creativity, we'd be healthier."

Ortiz knows not everyone gets Kahlo's surrealist paintings. They can be jarring.

Take "The Broken Column," in which she appears constrained by a cage-like brace exposing a broken column as her spine, tears streaming down her face. It represent the effects of the injuries Kahlo endured at 18 years old when she was involved in a streetcar accident that left her with a broken spinal column and other major injuries. In her painting, "Henry Ford Hospital," Kahlo appears lying on a hospital bed naked and hemorrhaging after a miscarriage. In reality, she suffered a miscarriage while married to Rivera.

"Life is raw," Ortiz said. "Sometimes life throws you things you don't want to look at, but you have a choice to look at it or look away."

Ortiz expanded the Frida Festival this year to include a fashion show and dinner benefit, which was held on Wednesday and featured designer Alan Gonzalez, also a native of Mexico who graduated from what is now Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, attended Houston Community College and was featured on Bravo's "Project Runway" in 2020.

Gonzalez has since relocated to New York, where he works as a designer and stylist for TV and Broadway. He recently won an Emmy as part of styling team for the Disney+ show "The Quest."

For the Frida Festival fashion show, he created a 10-piece capsule collection inspired by Kahlo's artwork.

"I came to the U.S. at age 2, so I don't know my birthplace," Gonzalez said. "But Frida Kahlo's art allows me to connect to my home. I can relate to her work and her passion. She crossed international barriers."

Kahlo's work continues to stay relevant. This fall, "Frida the Musical" is set to debut on Broadway. It follows her journey from Mexico City to Paris to New York and back to her blue house, Casa Azul, where she died in 1954.

In 2021, Kahlo's self portrait "Diego and I" sold for $34.9 million at a Sotheby's auction, marking an all-time high for a piece of artwork created by a Latin American artist. It shattered the record previously held by husband Diego Rivera, whose painting "The Rivals" sold for nearly $10 million in a 2018 auction.

Reading Kahlo's journal in Spanish was one of my proudest moments, as I immersed myself in the culture while living in Mexico years ago. I made multiple trips to Mexico City's Museo Frida Kahlo, which includes her birthplace, Casa Azul, where she spent most of her life.

Kahlo's art touched me profoundly because of her transparency in sharing her pain; she used art like therapy. That's what Ortiz hopes visitors to the Frida Festival take away, among other things.

"This is about community and the power of art to heal. We all need that," she said.
Certain Facebook users were eligible to claim their piece of Metas $725 million lawsuit payout, although it was not yet known how much that would be.

A class action lawsuit was brought against Facebook, alleging the company shared user data with third parties without proper consent and failed to monitor the third partys access or use of the data.

In 2018 it was revealed Facebook shared the personal information of 87 million users with Cambridge Analytica. The company was a British political consultancy used in Donald Trumps presidential campaign.

Meta settled the lawsuit for $725 million while denying wrongdoing.

If approved, the court will create a settlement fund of $725 million to pay out all user claims.

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How do I claim part of the settlement?

Anyone who had an active Facebook account between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022 in the U.S. waseligible to file a claim to receive part of the payout.

Claims must be submitted online or printed and mailed to the Settlement Administrator at Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, c/o Settlement Administrator, 1650 Arch St., Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

The last day to submit a claim is Aug. 25.

To submit the claim you must provide your name, address, email address and confirm you were in the U.S. and were active on Facebook during the given time period.

If you opt-in to receive part of the settlement claim you forfeit the ability to sue or be part of another lawsuit related to the allegations of the case.

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If this does not sit right with you and you want to pursue that course of action, you must opt out of the settlement. Those who would like to object or opt-out, they must do so by July 26.

If you do nothing  not filing a payout claim nor opting out  you will not get the payout and you will forfeit your ability to sue or be part of another lawsuit related to the allegations.

How much money will I get?

Whether the settlement will foot the bill for a four-course meal or fail to pay for a gumball from a machine will depend on a number of factors. It is unclear how much each claimant will receive.

How much each person receives will depend on how many eligible claims are filed and how long you were active on Facebook between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022.

Starting with the $725 million, a portion will be subtracted for administrative costs, costs to Class Counsel and any Service Awards to the Settlement Class Representatives, the resulting amount will be the net settlement fund.

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The net settlement fund will be distributed among settlement class members who submit valid claims.

To determine how much each person gets, the settlement administrator will assign claimants one point for each month they had an activated Facebook account during the highlighted time period. The administrator will divide the net settlement by the total number of points assigned to the claimants, so a cash amount will be assigned for each point. Each claimant will get the per-point amount for the points they were assigned.

When will I get my payout?

Not until after Sept. 7.

The Final Approval Hearing for the Settlement is scheduled for Sept. 7. At the meeting the court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, according to the claim filing website. The Court will also consider whether to approve the request for attorneys expenses and Settlement Class Representatives Service Awards.
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Drug dealers and suppliers whose illicit products contain fentanyl will be the target of a new unit created by the Harris County District Attorney's office.

The goal of the group will be to bring felony charges, including murder charges, for drug suppliers, District Attorney Kim Ogg said Wednesday.

"We have more people dying of this than murder," Ogg said. "It's time that we took strong action."

Fentanyl overdoses aren't a new problem in Texas. As early as 2018, officials were warning about worrying spikes in overdose deaths from the synthetic opioid. At that time, deaths had increased from 49 statewide fentanyl deaths in 1999 to 250 statewide deaths in 2016.

The number of deaths attributed to the drug has increased even more sharply in recent years.

In 2022, county medical examiners determined nearly half of the 1,096 overdose deaths in Harris County involved fentanyl, according to figures distributed by the district attorney's office.

Among young people, the rate of fentanyl-connected deaths was even higher, officials said.

A new major narcotics unit in the district attorney's office will work with local law enforcement to investigate overdose deaths and attempt to track them back to suppliers, Ogg said.

Prosecutors will take evidence from investigations and present them to grand juries in pursuit of charges of delivery of drugs causing death, negligent homicide, manslaughter or murder, Ogg said.

A police task force  which includes investigators from the Houston Police Department, Harris County Sheriff's Office and U.S Drug Enforcement Administration  already is working more than 30 overdose investigation, said Daniel Comeaux, the special agent in charge of the DEA's Houston Division.

"We're going after those who are profiting from these drugs and causing these overdose deaths," Comeaux said. "We're coming after you and we'll put you in jail."

The announcement came less than a week after Ogg's office told police agencies to wait longer and pursue lab confirmation before filing charges against people suspected of carrying small amounts of drugs. That policy, which applied to cases in which a person was suspected of carrying less than 4 grams of a substance, was described as a way to ease a backlog of cases in Harris County's forensic labs.

During the press conference, Ogg said the narcotics unit's focus would be "ensuring prison for those who profit from the addiction caused by fentanyl and treatment for those addicted to fentanyl."

"All of us in law enforcement are being asked to do more with less," Ogg said. "We have come to the agreement and concept that force multiplying through collaboration is the best way to have an impact."

Ogg said the idea of prosecuting drug dealing that causes a death is a "new practice area" and that laws around the concept are new and still being created.

"Our country is changing their perspective on criminal justice on drugs, on how we treat users and how we treat traffickers," she said. "I think that's what you're seeing here."
The Houston Community College board of trustees approved a redrawn voter map that made small changes to all nine single-member districts but failed to reunify a split Third Ward.

The trustees approved the drawing, 8-1, with only District 4 Trustee Reagan Flowers voting against it. She sought to regain the north part of the historic Third Ward 10 years after her district ceded it to District 3, a predominately Hispanic area in east and southeast Houston that had lost population in the 2010 census.

Alternate maps that Flowers favored never gained traction. Latino communities came out in force to support the plan that was approved, and election lawyers said it contained the most equitable changes across the districts and had the least potential of diluting voter strength.

The map "actually rebalances you as a system," said Lisa McBride, a partner at Thompson & Horton LLP. "Its a little bit of impact to every single member district, but its not so much that it actually would change any election outcome."

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The redistricting effort occurred as HCCs District 3 again counted population losses in the 2020 census. Districts have to be redrawn when the population of the most populous district  now District 6, in west Houston  exceeds the population of the least populous district by more than 10 percent at the time of major census updates.



The population estimates led the HCC board to spend the last 14 months considering various redrawn maps -- all with the intent of finding places for District 6 to shed population and District 3 to expand. The trustees needed to approve a new map by the summer, in time to plan for the November election.

In approving "Map 1A," District 3 Trustee Adriana Tamez said, the board succeeded in its goals of preserving existing boundaries when possible and preserving constituent relations.

"There were challenges, including population growth in the west side of the system," she said. "Map 1A adheres to our agreed-upon criteria, with as little disruption as possible, not only for District 3, but for all districts across the system."

HCC voters voiced opinions in a number of public forums and board meetings, often along racial lines. The League of United Latin American Citizens favored Map 1A, and many Black voters in the Third Ward opposed the proposal.

While the Hispanic population is the fastest-growing in the state, the alternate redistricting plans muted the voices of some majority-Hispanic communities, said Sergio Lira, chair of the LULAC Redistricting Task Force. Only Map 1A was not so disruptive, he said.

"This is a 10-year census that we have to look at and make the right decisions that impact our communities," Lira said at a February board meeting. "We want our voice to be heard. ... They say that we don't speak up and we don't vote and we don't do this and all of that. We're here to say that's not true."

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The alternate versions of the map would have boosted the Black population in District 4. With the Third Ward split in two, residents said they felt they couldnt speak with one voice on HCC issues -- exacerbating an existing problem as gentrification has physically fragmented the community in past decades.

HCCs District 4 currently represents the Texas Medical Center, Museum District, Sunnyside and the south part of the Third Ward. The community college appears to be the only government that carves up the neighborhood, and some residents worried that HCCs map could set a precedent for others at City Hall or the Houston Independent School District to follow its lead.

In the end, District 3 gave back one precinct of Third Ward to its original District 4 but retained most of the north side of the neighborhood.

"It's heartbreaking when you're trying to amplify the voices of the community, of their concerns, their wishes," Flowers said. Third Ward residents "did a yeoman's job of showing up and speaking out and asking for it to be reimagined."

District 9, in south and southwest Houston, also faced some losses to District 3. Trustee Pretta VanDible Stallworth said her voters were concerned throughout the process but ultimately felt the plan was better than any alternatives.

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"It took some discussion," she said. "They saw the losses, they understood the precincts that District 9 would lose, and they were somewhat uncomfortable with it."

The HCC System oversees a roughly $378 million operating budget and more than 52,000 students across 20 campuses and centers of excellence. Trustees are elected in nine single-member districts for six-year terms and levy a 9.5 cent ad valorem tax rate per $100 value of valuation.
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Houstons newest hires have a hunger for landscaping like no other. An assembled team of 150 goats will be clearing out the citys green spaces next month.

The Houston Arboretum is enlisting the help of a goat herd to graze overgrown vegetation spanning 2.5 acres around its Wildflower Trail.

As the goats eat the vegetation, it will clear the way for a more diverse and open woodland habitat, Debbie Markey, executive director of the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, said in a news release. The goats grazing is an eco-friendly alternative to commercial mowing and herbicides, she said.

The goats are brought to Houston by Rent-A-Ruminant Texas, a company offering the grazing service. Their goats have stacked resumes with experience reducing undesirable plants including brush overgrowth, green briars, poison ivy and ragweed.

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Depending on their speed, the goats will be grazing at the arboretum for seven to 10 days, before moving onto greener pastures or going back home to their ranch in Brownwood, Texas.

They will be at the Houston Arboretum beginning May 4.

People are welcome to watch the hard workers plow away, but are asked to not disturb them. They're trying to work. People should not be touching or feeding the goats for the safety of both parties.

Markey said a bonus of having the goats is drawing in more visitors who want to come look at them.

They can learn about nature, how plants and animals are important to our eco-system and why this is a healthy way to manage land, Markey said in the news release.

The goats have been to the Houston Arboretum several times in the past to remove overgrown vegetation and invasive plants, Markey said. The goats were last in Houston a year ago when they grazed near the 610 Parking Loop, eating invasive species and other vegetation.

We feel like the goats are almost family now, she said.
SpaceX hopes to launch the world's most powerful rocket Thursday from South Texas.

This will be the company's second attempt at launching its Super Heavy rocket and Starship spacecraft. The first launch attempt was scrubbed on Monday due to a pressurization issue. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said a valve appeared to be frozen. So instead of igniting the engines, SpaceX turned the day's activities into a dress rehearsal. It practiced loading the rocket with propellant but did not fire the engines.

SpaceX has a 62-minute launch window that opens Thursday at 8:28 a.m. and closes at 9:30 a.m. A live video will be available at spacex.com about 45 minutes before liftoff.

The company has spent years developing the fully reusable Super Heavy rocket and Starship spacecraft in Boca Chica, outside of Brownsville. It has launched Starship prototypes on high-altitude flight tests  which often ended in fireballs  but it has never launched Starship atop the Super Heavy rocket.

On Thursday, Super Heavy is expected to push Starship upward for 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Super Heavy would then separate from the spacecraft and land in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles from Boca Chica. Starship would continue around the planet and, about an hour and a half after liftoff, splashdown off the coast of Hawaii. It'll land before taking a full lap of the Earth.

SpaceX live video
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND  SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket Thursday morning from South Texas. Its engines flashed through the fog, and the rocket slowly climbed 24 miles into the sky  before exploding about four minutes after liftoff.

The Super Heavy rocket made history as it powered upward. But then it failed to separate from the Starship spacecraft, and they began to spin above the Gulf of Mexico before erupting into a big fireball. It was still a successful mission for SpaceX, which with NASA has huge ambitions for this supersized rocket that could push deeper into space and open new avenues for reaching Earths orbit.

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The company's founder, Elon Musk, previously said the goal Thursday was to clear the launch pad, as that would take months to rebuild if it were destroyed by the rocket's 33 engines (a SpaceX live video suggested three engines weren't firing several seconds after liftoff). Anything else would be a success.

SpaceX has a fast-paced iterative development style of test, fail, fix and test again. Data from this flight test will be used to adjust the rocket and fly again. The next launch could be in a few months, Musk said on Twitter.

"As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced rapid unscheduled disassembly," SpaceX said on Twitter.

Rapid unscheduled disassembly, RUD, is space lingo for an explosion. The flight, which did not have people onboard, was terminated so the rocket didn't fly dangerously off course. The company said it will work with local authorities to recover the rocket's remains. Some images are showing significant damage to the launch facility, too.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Thursday's launch was the second try for this rocket in Boca Chica, outside of Brownsville. The first attempt Monday was scrubbed due to a frozen valve.

Crowds on the southernmost tip of South Padre Island, roughly 5 miles from the launch pad, cheered as the rocket flamed to life at 8:33 a.m. They held their breath as it appeared to linger on the launch pad for a few seconds, only to cheer again as it started to climb and the engines could be heard and felt.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

"It was incredible. It was shockingly loud, too," said Chris Marshall, who traveled from Portland, Maine, with his girlfriend Joelle LaFreniere. It was their first rocket launch.

"It was the right one to go to," LaFreniere said.

Even more people watched from live video provided by SpaceX and the legion of YouTubers who document the companys progress.

Space enthusiasts wanted to see the rockets revolutionary technology and sleek design. Entrepreneurs were intrigued by the potential for a dramatically cheaper ride into orbit. NASA was seeking an update on the Starship spacecraft that's supposed to lower its astronauts to the moon.

But not everyone was watching with the high hopes promised by a 4/20 liftoff. Environmentalists were wary of the damage that could be created as Starship took flight near a wildlife refuge and state park known for bird-watching.

With 33 engines, Super Heavy has twice the power of Saturn V

Thursday was the companys first South Texas launch in nearly two years. And it was by far the most ambitious.

The Super Heavy rockets 33 engines are capable of generating between 16 million and 17 million pounds of thrust. Thats twice as powerful as the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon with 7.6 million pounds of thrust.

The Super Heavy liftoff was similar to Saturn V's in the sense that both rockets ambled from the launch pad with a sense of authority, said Phil Smith, a space industry analyst at BryceTech.

"What I loved about it, just aesthetically, is it gave this greater sense of power," Smith said. "It's this massive thing that conveys the feeling of, 'I'll get there when I'm ready to get there.' There's a majesty to that."

No other rocket has attempted to launch 33 engines together in a single stage. A Soviet Union rocket, the N1, tried to launch with 30 engines, but each of its four launches failed within seconds of liftoff.

Super Heavy did better than the N1, but it still needs some work. On top of the three engines that weren't firing seconds after liftoff, the rocket had a few additional engines turn off before the flight was terminated.

SpaceX said a flight termination system was used on both Super Heavy and Starship to blow them up. Most rockets have these systems in case something goes awry and the flight needs to be terminated to protect public safety.

Smith said he considers the mission "a great success" because Super Heavy survived the full 2 minutes and 49 seconds that its engines were supposed to be ignited.

He said operations become more complex when Super Heavy separates from Starship, which proved true Thursday.

Super Heavy was supposed to separate from Starship and land in the Gulf of Mexico; Starship was supposed to ignite six engines and then continue traveling around the planet, almost making a complete lap before landing off the coast of Hawaii.

Eventually, both these vehicles are designed to land in an upright, vertical position. The Boca Chica launch tower has giant robotic arms that would help catch Super Heavy.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Another small step toward Mars

More South Texas launches are expected as SpaceX continues developing the Super Heavy rocket and Starship.

SpaceX has built a Starship launch tower in Florida, but its rocket needs to be more reliable (meaning its less likely to explode and cause damage) before flying from Cape Canaveral, an area that supports more launches. Boca Chica, which Musk calls Starbase, is the companys test bed.

We want to kind of get past the developmental stage here at Starbase before we launch out of the Cape, Musk said Sunday during a conversation on Twitter Spaces.

For exploration, Starship is expected to help NASA astronauts land on the moon  NASAs Orion spacecraft cant land on the moon, so its astronauts will transfer to Starship to reach the lunar surface  and will help SpaceX carry humanity to Mars.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on Thursday. "Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward," he said on Twitter. "Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight testand beyond."

For the commercial sector, the Super Heavy rocket and Starship spacecraft could dramatically reduce the cost of accessing microgravity.

Driving down the cost of accessing space

SpaceX is already credited with bringing down launch costs. Its Falcon 9 rocket, which launches up to 60 times a year, has reduced the price to between $2,500 and $3,000 per kilogram of cargo, Smith said. This rocket can launch 25 tons to low-Earth orbit.

Shipping one kilogram on the fully reusable Starship, which can launch 100 to 150 tons, could cost less than $1,000, Smith said.

Is there enough demand for a rocket this big? Not yet, space analysts said, but they expect businesses will find new, innovative uses for this cheaper rocket once it's reliable. And in the meantime, SpaceX will use Starship to launch the satellites for its Starlink broadband internet service.

"That solves the early question of, 'Well, what the hell are you going to put inside this rocket?' " said Brendan Rosseau, a teaching fellow and research associate focused on the economics of space at Harvard Business School. "You'll see more and more people designing satellites specifically for Starship. It's a different kind of vehicle, and you can think about and design satellites a little bit differently."

Rosseau agreed Starship will bring down the cost of accessing space, but he said it might not be as dramatic as some are expecting. Because Starship will do work that is now done by another SpaceX rocket: the Falcon 9.

"They're only cutting into their own margins, and launch is a pretty tough industry," Rosseau said. "That's something that we're watching for. When this does come online and they do start launching it with some frequency, what will be the actual cost that they're charging people?"

Marshall and LaFreniere, the couple from Maine, are excited for this future promised by a fully reusable rocket.

Theyre excited for their own future, too. Marshall waited for the beach to clear out, then told LaFreniere there was one more thing he wanted to do.

I said, You cant top the rocket launch,  LaFreniere recalled.

Then he asked LaFreniere to marry him.

It was the most memorable day for many reasons, she said.
San Marcos school leaders have signed off on hiring armed marshals to protect students in the districts eight elementary schools.

The plan, approved this week by the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School Districts board, calls for hiring a school marshal to serve as a safety officer at each elementary school campus in the district. The marshals responsibilities would include patrolling the campuses, performing safety checks and audits, and conducting safety training drills.

The board's decision comes in the wake of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that killed 19 students and two teachers.

A school marshal would in essence take the place of the hired off-duty officers who presently reside on campuses. They will not wear uniforms but they will carry a concealed handgun and be a (school district) employee, according to school board documents. A marshal's primary role is to engage and protect during an active attack.

GUN DEBATE: Uvalde families urge Texas lawmakers to raise age requirement for buying assault-style rifles

To be hired as marshals, applicants would be required to have certification from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The marshals will also take part in regular training through the San Marcos Police Department, according to district officials and San Marcos police Chief Stan Standridge, who spoke during the Monday school board meeting.

Sam Owens/Staff photographer

Standridge said 74 Texas school districts are operating marshal programs, with about 300 marshals currently in place. There are about 1,200 school districts in the state.

The plan calls for each school marshal to carry a concealed handgun and for their identity to be confidential, according to school board documents.

The board members voted 6-1 to have the district pursue a three-year pilot program using school marshals, but they did not set a date for the program to begin. The district said it expects to spend more than $500,000 per year on the program over the three years.

In a presentation to board members, Doug Wozniak, director of school safety for the San Marcos CISD, said the plan does not call for arming teachers or other district employees.

San Marcos school board members said they prefer the school marshal program over the idea of arming teachers or adding fencing around campuses or metal detectors at school entrances  something board member Brian Shanks compared to minimum security prisons.

I think thats a worse experience for our kids, Shanks said.

DEALING WITH TRAUMA: Uvalde grief counseling center born in part from New Braunfels donations

Bonnie Bevers, youth pastor at San Marcos United Methodist Church and a volunteer for the school district, was among those opposed to having a marshal on campuses whose identity would not be provided to students and parents.

As a family and youth pastor, I spend my days working with students in San Marcos.  I cannot count the number of conversations we have had about their fears of guns on their school campuses, Bevers said. Having armed law enforcement officers on the school campuses adds a sense of safety and security to their minds. They can see who is there to protect them.  In arming school district employees and asking them to remain anonymous and to carry a concealed weapon, we are adding to the anxiety of our students.

Standridge, the San Marcos police chief, said he agreed the best solution would be to have more uniformed school resource officers on the districts campuses. He said the city doesnt have the resources to make that happen, mainly due to swift population growth in San Marcos that has contributed to an increase in violent crime.

If school officials asked for more school resource officers, even if I had the additional officers, we would not assign them to campuses," Standridge said. Why? Because we need them in the field responding to 911 to mitigate this remarkable increase in violent crime.

The San Marcos school district serves about 8,000 students and has an annual budget of nearly $100 million.
Roughly every four hours, Chase Beardens body would remind him to take his pain medication. Bearden, who broke his neck in an accident nearly 30 years ago and uses a wheelchair, had grown accustomed to the routine. His legs would begin twitching, his muscles would ache, so he would head out to his truck and swallow hydrocodone pills to numb the pain.

By 2017, Bearden, 45, had been taking prescription opioids for more than a decade.

One trip to Colorado changed his life. While visiting the state  where marijuana is legal recreationally  with a friend, he tried a small dose of a tincture, a liquid, cannabis-infused product. After 15 minutes, his muscles relaxed and his over-stimulated nerves stopped firing. The next day, he halved his pill dosage. Within weeks, he had shaken a decade-long opioid drug habit. Four years later, owing to Texas relatively nascent medical marijuana program, Beardens quality of life has improved tremendously.

Once I was off of opioids, my health rebounded, my eyes were clear, even my mom noticed, Bearden, now the deputy executive director of the Coalition for Texans with Disabilities, told the editorial board. Thats why we wanted this program to be regulated, because what's important about this is its removing the stigma from it so that you can work one on one with your doctor.

At a time when thousands of Texans are dying of drug overdoses and overdose deaths involving fentanyl have ballooned by 399 percent since 2019, having a state-of-the-art medical marijuana program is not just some glorified marketplace for stoners; its a potential life-saving necessity. Several recent studies have found that having access to medical marijuana leads to decreases in prescription opioid use as well as improvements in physical and mental health.

This research is encouraging lawmakers to finally give patients more options for pain management than endless supplies of pills. A bill sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, would allow physicians to prescribe medicinal cannabis instead of opioids for patients battling chronic pain. The bill authorizes the Department of State Health Services to add more medical conditions to the program through the agency's rulemaking process. Critically, for patients with severe pain management needs, it would also increase the amount of THC  the substance in marijuana that is effective against pain, depression, anxiety and other maladies  to 10 milligrams per dosage unit. The limit is currently 1 percent by weight. Advocates say this volumetric change allows THC to be delivered more efficiently, without the additives of oil or sugar that can cause gastrointestinal issues.

Klick's bill, which the House approved on a 127-19 vote last week, would be a massive improvement on a program that remains one of the most restrictive in the nation. In the eight years since the Texas Legislature established its Compassionate Use Program, managed by the Department of Public Safety, expansion has been glacial. Despite adding to the list of qualifying conditions in the previous two legislative sessions  Beardens spasticity didnt qualify until 2019  the program has licensed only three dispensaries to serve roughly 50,000 patients. By comparison, medical marijuana programs in neighboring states such as Oklahoma serve more than 370,000 patients with hundreds of dispensaries to choose from.

The limitations of Texas medical marijuana program are excessive. Patients require a doctors prescription if they have a qualifying condition but must pay exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for any marijuana dosage, since Texas has such a limited dispensary market and health insurers dont cover it. Even as lawmakers have expanded the program, many common medical conditions, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohns Disease, still dont qualify. The meager dosage of medical cannabis available to those who need it  the state currently only allows 0.5 percent THC  means that patients end up paying a fortune for repeat prescriptions just to manage their pain. Some patients may drop out of the program entirely, seeking relief with more readily available and highly addictive prescription pills or other drugs on the black market.

Raising the THC limit alone would make a significant difference, yet some doctors say that even a 10 milligram dosage falls short of the needs for patients in severe pain. During a House committee hearing last month, Matthew Brimberry, a hospice and palliative care physician who is active in the medical marijuana program, noted the irony that he is authorized to prescribe morphine and benzodiazepines that are highly addictive with brutal side effects, yet can't prescribe a high-dosage cannabis gummy for a cancer patient.

"If I am afforded that leeway with those dangerous medicines, I feel like as a physician, with my medical judgment and knowledge, I should be able to prescribe a concentrated medicine that is safe and effective and not as addictive," Brimberry said.

We agree, and while we urge the Senate to pass Klick's bill, the ultimate goal for the program should be to serve every Texan with a substantial pain management need that over-the-counter aspirin or Tylenol can't fix. Bringing more people into the program would lower the price of prescriptions  which can range from $300 to $1,000  and allow the state to license more dispensaries that can serve a broader geographic region. The three licensed dispensaries are all in Central Texas. Patients who live elsewhere can get products delivered, though that can also be costly. In January, DPS announced it was opening the application process up to potentially add more dispensaries, which will be all the more necessary if Klick's bill is signed into law and thousands of chronic pain patients have access to the program.

Texas' pot prohibitions have long frustrated us and it's time for a broader public debate about legalization. Having a narrowly-tailored medical marijuana program made some sense eight years ago as it was just getting off the ground. Now that the basic infrastructure is in place, along with a high demand for product, at a minimum, the state should be doing everything in its power to build out a safe, regulated program that allows people with chronic pain to achieve a better quality of life.
About six months ago, Elon Musk bought your favorite neighborhood bar. Then he fired veteran bouncers and bartenders, tried to stiff the landlord and at least one vendor, and demanded that regulars pay a cover charge. Hes frequently struggled to serve his customers, yet hes penalized them for mentioning the competition. Hes tamped down the revelry in general, really  a lot of conversation at his watering hole has been drowned out by Musks own never-ending stage act, which consists mainly of him yelling dad jokes at customers through a bullhorn.

Pour one out for Twitter, then. Id been open to Musks purchase of the social network, but half a year in, its been an unmitigated disaster. Musk moved fast and broke nearly everything  the speed and totality with which hes ruined the site has been almost impressive. By Musks own reckoning, the company is now worth less than half of what he paid for it. It has lost many large advertisers, most of its employees and, with them, much of its functionality.

More than that, Twitter under Musk appears to have lost the thing that made it impossible to quit: Its centrality. The site was once the most consequential place online, not just a disseminator of breaking news and commentary, but something like an arbiter. At its cultural peak, from about 2015 to perhaps 2020, what people talked about on Twitter seemed to set the agenda for discussions elsewhere. Even last year, it still mattered: After years of mismanagement and glacial innovation, Twitter, on the eve of Musks reign, was still the one place to visit when anything big happened anywhere.

Whatever Twitter is now, it is no longer that venue. Cultural relevance is difficult to quantify, but you know it when you feel it. And now, when somethings going down, Twitter rarely feels like the place where everyone is gathering to watch.

I noticed this when Donald Trump was arraigned. Trump, the most powerful tweeter the world has ever known, a man whose every typo could send Twitter into paroxysms of easy dunks, appeared in court and Twitter was, as Voxs Shirin Ghaffary put it, a snoozefest.

There could be many reasons for the snooze, including that people care less about Trump than they used to  or that even after Musk reinstated Trumps suspended Twitter account, the former president has stuck to using the platform he founded, Truth Social, for his ad hoc missives.

But Id bet much of the problem stems from changes Musk has made to Twitters news feed.

These days its often difficult to know whats happening on Twitter. Musks self-serving changes to the sites ranking algorithm have significantly reduced its usability: Where Twitter was once pleasantly varied, serving up ordinary peoples tweets pretty evenly with those of celebrities and politicians, now it seems to highlight the same few users all the time. (I love your tweets, Matt Yglesias, but I wish you werent always at the top of my feed!)

Other signs of Twitters declining relevancy: Several news organizations, including The New York Times, have said they wont pay for Twitter Blue, Musks subscription service for acquiring a verified user badge on the site. NPR said it would stop posting to its official Twitter accounts because Twitter labeled it as state-affiliated media, then as government-funded media. PBS, which has also been labeled government-funded, said that it, too, would stop tweeting in protest of the label. (NPR is a nonprofit that receives very little funding from the government; the label, it says, undermines its credibility.)

Musk doesnt like the news media  Twitters public relations email address auto-responds with a poop emoji  but I cant see how fighting with the media can help his site. At the risk of blowing my own horn, media organizations are vital to Twitter because the news is at the core of the sites utility.

Musk has said that Twitters algorithms wont recommend unverified users in its For You section, and that the free verification badges  the simultaneously coveted and maligned blue checks  that many journalists have will soon be removed. The change will further reduce Twitters usefulness: If many journalists are removed from the sites primary feeds, why would people continue to see it as their go-to news source?

As a longtime tweeter, I was saddened and angered by Musks trashing of the service. Twitters employees and users didnt deserve this fate. In the hands of a less volatile, more thoughtful leader, Twitter could have been so much more than the raggedy fiefdom of a thin-skinned billionaire it has become.

But as a person who wants to live in a just world with friendly people and nice things, Im not altogether broken up about Twitters decline. As Ive argued before, Twitter has been a font of misinformation, an accelerant to polarization and a contributor to cultural groupthink. Just before Musks takeover, my Times colleague Michelle Goldberg, worrying about similar problems, hoped for a quick, spectacular flameout: If Musk makes Twitter awful enough, she wrote, users will flee, and it will become less relevant.

Well, it looks like Michelle got her wish. Stick a fork in it, Elon: Twitter is done.
The Texas House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a ban on books in public school libraries that include sexually explicit material.

The measure, House Bill 900, is a priority of House Speaker Dade Phelan, and it passed the chamber, 95 to 53, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans in support. Similar legislation has already passed the Senate.

INVESTIGATION: See every book Texas schools banned and challenged in our interactive database

There are hundreds of books that -- I would submit to the members -- that you would not be comfortable going to that back mic and reading the contents on the House floor, said Rep. Shawn Thierry, a Houston Democrat who supported the bill. You would never sit at your kitchen table and read some of the content to your own children. And if that is the case, then how can you say that these books belong in our public school if you wouldn't even read them out loud?

The House proposal would require book vendors to rate books as either sexually relevant, sexually explicit or neither. Books rated as sexually explicit would be prohibited from school libraries altogether, while books rated as sexually relevant could only be accessed by students whose parents or guardians have agreed to let them.

Books included in a school's curriculum would be exempted from the restrictions, according to the current language of the bill. That would theoretically shield some classic works of literature, such as "Catcher in the Rye" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." But if those books aren't included in the curriculum, they could be banned.

Critics, including civil rights advocates and most legislative Democrats, said the bill was aimed at restricting the availability of books with LGBTQ+ themes.

Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Missouri City Democrat and the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, cited data from PEN America that shows efforts to ban books have surged in recent years, particularly around authors of color or those who are showcasing LGBTQ+ characters.

Others said the bill risked depriving Texas students, particularly teens, of books they could use to help process difficult things in their lives.

RELATED: As book bans ebb, the battle to criminally charge Texas librarians has started

We all have concerns about exposing kids to adult materials, but the truth is our kids, particularly our teens, sometimes have to live adult lives, said Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Kyle, who recounted a story of having been sexually assaulted as a teenager. I didn't have the words to call that rape for a decade," Zwiener said, adding that she "could have used a book to help me know that what happened was not my fault."

Much of the concern over sexual material in schools traces back to 2021 when former Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, queried districts around the state on whether they carried library books relating to systemic racism or containing sexual content. A Hearst Newspapers analysis of his list of books at that time found that most related to LGBTQ+ issues.

Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco and the author of the bill, said he was motivated to file the legislation after coming across the popular graphic novel Gender Queer: A Memoir. The book details a persons experience not fitting into a traditional gender binary and embracing that fact.

Patterson said he objects to passages in the book that depict sexual scenes.

This is not a race issue or anything like that," he said. "This is a problem with sexually explicit material. He also noted that school library standards are voluntary in Texas, and that its time to enact a bill instituting uniform requirements.

Pattersons bill would require vendors to rate the books they sell to schools. That could include any business selling books to schools, from small bookstores to large corporations such as Amazon. Anyone who disagrees with a rating could appeal to the Texas Education Agency.

Vendors that don't comply with a TEA ruling could be blacklisted from selling to schools, Patterson said.

edward.mckinley@houstonchronicle.com
On Election Day last year, an unusual problem occurred around 6 p.m.  the polling place at El Lago City Hall ran out of paper ballots.

Republican presiding judge Chris Russo, the election worker running the polling location in the far southeast corner of Harris County, said he had been calling the county elections offices hotline for more than three hours to request more paper. Russo said he told the 40 or so voters waiting in line that they had a few options.

If you stay in line, you will vote today, he recounted telling them. But if you think you can make it to another polling location that has ballot paper and you think that is a better use of your time, you are free to do so.

When the county finally delivered more paper at 9 p.m., only a handful of people remained and were able to vote.

MORE FROM THIS INVESTIGATION: No, 121 Harris County polling places did not run out of ballot paper. Blame misleading messaging.

El Lago was one of about 20 polling locations in Harris County that ran out of paper on Election Day, according to a Houston Chronicle review of county data and interviews with dozens of poll workers. That is a tiny fraction of the 782 polling places across the sprawling county that day.

Now, the ballot shortages in Harris County are placing local election officials at the center of a legal showdown and a raging political debate in Austin as the GOP-controlled Legislature is trying to move urgently to strip local officials of the power to oversee elections. County election officials also face scrutiny from lawsuits filed by 22 local Republican candidates who lost and a separate suit by Houston furniture mogul Jim McIngvale. One of the lawsuits, which involved a Texas House race, was dismissed by Speaker Dade Phelan in January.

A Houston Chronicle examination of election data found that while there were problems and technical glitches, there remains no evidence voters were systematically disenfranchised. Nor is there evidence the Election Day issues prompted people not to vote in numbers great enough to change the outcome of any of the races being contested.

Nonetheless, without all the facts being known, bills filed in Austin this year could make it easier for the state to order new elections and strip the countys oversight and authority to conduct elections. They would also add criminal penalties for running out of ballot paper, create a team of state marshals to investigate election code violations and file criminal charges, and abolish the county Elections Administrators office.

The remaining lawsuits filed by 21 local Republican candidates include one from Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer, whose bid to oust incumbent County Judge Lina Hidalgo fell short by more than 18,000 votes. These candidates are asking judges to overturn the results and order new elections. Most of those candidates lost their races by 12,000 to 29,000 votes, according to official county results.

The argument made in most of those lawsuits is that Election Day problems, including ballot paper shortages and technical issues that delayed the opening of some polls, resulted in polling locations turning away thousands of voters whose ballots could have changed the outcome of those races.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

It is impossible to know if or how many people at El Lago City Hall, let alone countywide, did not vote because of paper shortages or other technical or equipment malfunctions.

Harris County uses a countywide voting system, meaning voters could cast ballots at any of 782 polling locations on Election Day instead of being restricted to their home precincts. Voters turned away from one location could go to another polling place, typically about a mile away.

To win, the plaintiffs would need to prove that voting irregularities affected the election results.

That could prove a high bar to clear.

Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said the challenge will be proving that people intended to vote but could not.

If they ended up voting, its clear that it wasnt so onerous that they werent able to effectively overcome it, he said.

Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer

Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer A man scans his ballot at West Grey Multi-Service Center, 1475 W Gray St., on Election Day Nov. 8, 2022, in Houston. / People prepare to scan their ballots as they vote at West Grey Multi-Service Center. (Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer) A man scans his ballot at West Grey Multi-Service Center, 1475 W Gray St., on Election Day Nov. 8, 2022, in Houston. / People prepare to scan their ballots as they vote at West Grey Multi-Service Center. (Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer)

Shortage fallout

The Republican candidates are asking a judge to order new elections based on the premise that county officials deliberately created ballot paper shortages at polling locations in strongly Republican neighborhoods, turning away so many voters that GOP candidates lost elections they otherwise would have won.

Some of the lawsuits could go to trial in mid-June at the earliest. A judge will weigh how the paper shortage impacted the election outcomes, but not whether it was intentional. However, two agencies are conducting a criminal investigation into the shortage that would examine intent, the Texas Rangers and the Texas Attorney Generals office.

Four of the Republican election judges who spoke with the Chronicle said investigators with the Texas Rangers or the Texas Attorney Generals office had reached out to them to get their account of Election Day, though none of the judges who are Democrats said they had been contacted.

While it could take months for the legal challenges and state criminal investigation to sort through these questions, the bills filed by Republican lawmakers in Austin could be passed in the coming weeks.

All of those bills are moving forward, having already received Senate committee approval; three have won approval by the full Senate. One measure, allowing the state to suspend county elections administrators, has had a House committee hearing. In more than eight hours of public hearings largely focused on Harris Countys November election, no one testified that they had difficulty casting a ballot in Harris County.

ELECTION LAWSUIT: Mattress Mack blasts Harris County as 'besieged by criminals' as he pushes for election records

Harris County Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum has denied there was a deliberate effort to short ballot paper supplies at certain locations on Election Day.

In an interview, he said the elections office considered several factors when deciding how much paper each location would get, including voter turnout projections and the number of polling places and registered voters in the area.

We didnt meet the early voting projections, which meant those people who didnt vote early actually held over and voted on Election Day, Tatum said. So, there was enough supplies out in the field. It turns out that they werent in the right locations.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

A post-election report by Tatums office said its findings were largely inconclusive as to the number of polling locations that ran out of paper, citing conflicting reports from election workers. It does state that 68 locations reported paper shortages, 61 of which received additional deliveries. At some of those polling places, judges at the same location gave conflicting reports, making it impossible to determine based on interviews alone whether they received additional paper, the elections administration office said.

The report also stated that a review of call logs found about 8 percent  around 128  of the calls to the offices helpline were related to supplies and ballot paper.

Tatum said many election judges had questions about the new voting machines, especially how to clear paper jams with Harris Countys lengthy two-page ballot. Among changes Tatum said he is implementing:

The county will have one hotline operator for every three locations in the upcoming May election.

A system that tracks calls and requests from judges.

A log to note when issues are resolved.

Monitors for technicians in the field.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Election judges vs. voting data

In court filings, Republicans have identified 29 polling places where they say voters were turned away, including 26 locations with paper shortages and three with equipment problems.

In one of the lawsuits, attorneys for Republican judicial candidate Erin Lunceford, who lost by 2,743 votes, have attached signed declarations from judges at the 29 polling places, all of them Republicans, estimating how many voters were turned away at each location.

By state law, every polling place is run by two election judges  a presiding judge from the party that won that precinct in the most recent governors race, and an alternate judge typically from the opposite party. Election judges are not actual judges; they are trained poll workers from all backgrounds, including teachers, engineers and retirees.

The Chronicle contacted the election judges from both parties who ran the 29 polling locations, ultimately interviewing 32 judges from 24 locations. The Chronicle also looked at time-stamped data showing when polling places had gaps in voting and compared those to the times the election judges said they ran out of ballot paper.

At some locations, all of the information lined up neatly: judges from both parties gave the same story, which then matched county data that showed a gap in voting at the time the judges indicated.

For example, at the Houston Community College Alief Hayes Campus polling location, the Republican alternate judge wrote that the center ran out of paper and turned away 100 voters.

That fits what Pamelia Lester, the Democratic presiding judge, told the Chronicle: the center was out of paper from around 4:40 p.m. to 5:55 p.m. and approximately 100 voters left without casting ballots there. That is a clear match with county data, which shows a gap in voting at the times Lester specified.

At El Lago City Hall, the Democratic alternate judge told the Chronicle the same story as the Republican presiding judge, and their stories aligned with the data: for much of the day, the location checked in at least 50 voters per hour, but no one voted after 6 p.m. until a small group of three voters cast ballots after 9 p.m.

Based on interviews and the county time-stamped data, the Chronicle was able to confirm 20 of the 29 voting locations cited by Republicans ran out of ballot paper.

At 15 of the 29 locations, there was a clear match between what judges told the Chronicle and when county data showed the polling place had gaps in voting.

At five locations, the county elections data did indicate there were paper shortages, but the details from judges were not a clear match.

A judge at the Unity of Houston church polling place submitted a declaration in one of the lawsuits estimating 100 voters were turned away. However, she told the Chronicle there was no way to estimate how many people were turned away because she was driving to other locations looking for more paper at the time.

At some polling places, there were inconsistencies.

For example, the Republican presiding judge at Lake Houston Church of Christ wrote in a declaration that the location ran out of paper and turned away approximately 150 voters, but the data shows the location steadily checked in voters throughout the day until around 8 p.m. without any gaps.

Problems with GOP narrative

GOP court filings allege roughly 73 percent of polling locations that ran out of paper were located in Republican stronghold precincts, implying the shortage intentionally targeted GOP voters.

Under the countywide election system in place since 2019, voters can cast ballots at any polling place  they are not limited to their home precinct. Around half of Election Day voters cast ballots outside their home precincts that first year.

The Chronicle analyzed results from the 2020 presidential election in the neighborhoods where the polling locations identified by the GOP were located. The data reflects the voters who live in each precinct, not those who cast ballots there.

Of the 29 locations, 55 percent were in precincts won by former President Donald Trump. Thirteen locations were in precincts Trump won by more than 10 points, three were won by Trump by fewer than 10 points. Eleven were located in precincts President Joe Biden won by more than 10 points and two were in precincts Biden captured by fewer than 10 points.

One of the busiest polling locations in a Republican-leaning neighborhood is Trini Mendenhall Community Center, where Republican presiding judge William A. Harris confirmed they had box after box after box of paper.

While many Republican judges told the Chronicle they believe the paper shortages were deliberately orchestrated, Harris said he doubted the elections office would be capable of pulling off a plan to target certain voters.

I dont think they have the comprehension or foresight to think that far ahead to screw it up that well, Harris said. Its such a clusterfluster that it would be a mastermind master of operations to create such a screw-up.

Kellianne Hill, the Democratic presiding judge at I P S P, a church in the Heights, said her polling location does not fit the GOP narrative.

Well, I am a lifelong Democrat and my precinct is very Democratic and we did, in fact, run out of paper, Hill said.

What would help improve Harris County elections the most is consistency, in both state policy and local leadership, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston.

Tatum moved from Washington, D.C. and started the job just two months before early voting began last October, giving him little time to oversee operations before his first election.

You cant come in cold off the bench and score big for your team, Rottinghaus said.

Tatum is the fifth person in five years to run Harris County elections, a level of inconsistency matched by few offices other than the Texas Secretary of State, which oversees elections statewide and also has had five people in charge in the past five years.

The goal here is to get secure, fair, safe elections, Rottinghaus said. And if the Legislature is overreacting to one election cycle, then it could be misleading in terms of trying to make the best choices for the state.
While Harris County Republicans are battling in court over the 29 polling places they say ran out of paper or experienced equipment failures on Election Day in November, Republican lawmakers in Austin are working to pass legislation based on the argument that problems extended to 121 voting locations, and that the paper shortages were deliberately orchestrated.

At least 20 of Harris County's 782 polling locations ran out of paper on Election Day in November, according to a Houston Chronicle review of county data and interviews with dozens of poll workers.

Some Republican election judges interviewed by the Chronicle said the paper shortage was far more widespread than GOP court filings have indicated. They said 121 locations ran out of paper, and accused the county elections administrator of targeting GOP voting locations.

READ THE INVESTIGATION: GOP leaders say Harris County's ballot shortage was targeted at Republicans. Here's what the data says.

"You project 120 votes over 121 locations  that's literally the margin of victory in the election. That's a big deal," said Chris Russo, the Republican presiding judge at the El Lago City Hall polling place, who estimated up to 120 people left his location without voting due to a shortage of ballot paper.

Since January, that 121 figure has been widely cited both by local Republicans and state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, and is the basis for some election-related bills at the Texas Legislature aimed specifically at Harris County and its elections administrator's office.

The figure comes from a Jan. 30 KHOU story that reported 121 county polling locations initially did not receive enough ballot paper to cover their voter turnout that day.

KHOU also found 52 locations received less paper in 2022 than ballots cast in 2018. That is a more complicated comparison because there have been major changes in the period between those elections: Harris County switched to new voting machines that use paper and transitioned to a countywide voting system in which voters can cast ballots at any polling place in the county.

According to Bob Stein, a professor of political science at Rice University and political analyst at KHOU, the analysis does not tell the full story.

"I know I work for Channel 11, so it's going to be a hard thing to say," Stein said, "but they didn't ask the obvious question: did it impede voting?"

Stein said the facts in the story are accurate  many locations had more voters show up than the 600 ballots they initially were given.

"But did it have consequences to the stream of voting? Were there significant stoppages of voting because there weren't ballots? And the answer is, there were locations that ran out of ballots and they created stoppages, but there weren't 121 locations," he said.

In response, KHOU said in a statement that it has made efforts to answer those questions: "In an attempt to learn more about how many voters were turned away due to paper ballot shortages, KHOU-TV filed numerous open records requests immediately after Election Day. Those included more paper allocation records, election hotline call logs, technician activity logs, and e-mails and text messages by the Harris County Elections Administrator. Instead of releasing those records, Harris County requested an opinion to the Texas Attorney Generals Office. When the AGs office ruled they were to be released, Harris County did not do so, but instead filed a lawsuit to continue to withhold this information. KHOU-TV is now intervening in that lawsuit as we believe voters deserve more transparency."

ELECTION BATTLE: Why Harris County is suing the Texas attorney general's office to withhold public records

Harris County Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum said he was frustrated with how the story had been interpreted.

"Without giving validity to that analysis, I explained to KHOU that their analysis was flawed from the beginning and that it would be taken as specifically that 121 locations ran out of paper," Tatum said. "That's the way it's being spun. And that's the way it's being run with."

A Houston Chronicle analysis found at least 20 polling places ran out of paper  some for only 15 minutes and others for up to three hours.

"If there are more people that voted than the ballots they were given, that means that they were resupplied," said David McClendon, a researcher at Houston-based data science consulting firm January Advisors. "Otherwise, we wouldnt have those votes. I think its a flag for initial undersupply, but thats not an indication that people were turned away."

The elections office delivered more paper to locations countywide throughout the day, so many of the locations that initially did not get enough paper did receive deliveries before a shortage occurred. Since the county did not have a tracking system at the time, there is no record of how many of those locations received deliveries, or what time those deliveries were received. According to a post-election review report, 68 locations reported paper shortages, 61 of which received additional deliveries.

Tatum said a new tracking system monitoring calls and requests from judges, times when issues are resolved and the locations of technicians in the field will get its first test in the May election.

The Chronicle contacted election judges from both parties who ran the six polling locations KHOU named in its story, interviewing seven judges from five locations. At three locations, judges said they did not run out of paper. At two locations, one of which was on the GOP list, judges said they did run out.

The Chronicle conducted an analysis of Election Day voter turnout and initial paper allotment at all 782 polling locations, reaching a similar conclusion as KHOU: 119 polling locations initially did not receive enough ballot paper to cover this year's voter turnout. It then analyzed time-stamped voting data for those locations to look for signs of paper shortages, such as a gap in voting that coincided with the time the location would have run out of its initial paper allocation if additional paper was not delivered in time.

Twenty of the 119 locations showed signs of a paper shortage, the majority of them overlapping with the GOP list of 29 polling places. Eighty-nine locations did not appear to have run out of paper, meaning they steadily checked in voters when they would have run out of paper through the end of the day, though shortages may have occurred.

Ten locations were inconclusive, such as polling places that may have run out at the end of the day, making it difficult to determine if there were fewer voters or not enough paper.

Some locations may have run out of paper earlier than projected, depending on how many pieces had to be discarded because of paper jams or voter errors.

At the Legislature, GOP lawmakers have relied heavily on a map of the 121 polling places identified by KHOU as evidence the paper shortages had a dramatically disproportionate impact on Republican voters. The map, created by a member of the local GOP, depicts those polling places alongside large, deep red blobs indicating where Republican primary voters live.

At a Senate committee hearing on March 30, state Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, presented the map as evidence of criminal intent to support his bill that would allow the state to suspend county elections administrators.

"We'll leave it up to the courts to decide, but when you look at a map like this, there's literally 110 out of 121 precincts that are in the Republican areas of the county and only 11 that are not," Bettencourt said. "It seems to be a rather concentrated pattern."

Screenshot/Jen Rice Russ Long State Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, holds up a heat map (right) at a Senate committee hearing on March 30. (Screenshot/Jen Rice) (John "Russ" Long) State Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, holds up a heat map (right) at a Senate committee hearing on March 30. (Screenshot/Jen Rice) (John "Russ" Long)

Since Harris County residents can vote at any polling place  they are not limited to their home precinct  it is all but impossible to estimate accurately who may have been impacted by the voting problems. Around half of Election Day voters cast ballots at a location other than their home precinct's polling place in November 2019, the first year the option was available.

However, to get some sense of the political leanings of these areas, the Chronicle analyzed results from the 2020 presidential election in the neighborhoods where the 119 polling locations that initially did not receive enough ballot paper were located. The data reflects the voters who live in each precinct, not those who cast ballots there.

Fifty-one percent were in precincts that went for former President Donald Trump: 44 locations where Trump won by more than 10 points and 17 in precincts Trump won by fewer than 10 points. Forty-seven locations were in precincts President Joe Biden won by more than 10 points and 11 were in precincts Biden won by fewer than 10 points.

The map used at the Legislature to show "Republican areas of the county" does not indicate where Republicans outnumber Democrats; instead, it shows where there are Republican voters.

Bettencourt said the map shows exactly what he said it does.

"The map is correct because it is advertised as a Republican heat map of where Republicans live. Now, it doesn't mean that Democrats don't live there either. It just means there's a higher concentration of where Republicans live in that area than anywhere else in the county," Bettencourt said. "So, mathematically, it's fine."

McClendon, the data scientist at January Advisors, said heat maps like the one Bettencourt is touting are too imprecise to be used as evidence.

"The map is misleading at the very least," McClendon said. "It makes it seem as if there really are zero Republicans outside of these bright red areas."

jen.rice@houstonchronicle.com
After some Harris County polling locations ran out of ballot paper on Election Day, 21 Republican candidates who lost county races filed lawsuits challenging the results in court and asking a judge to order a new election. So far, Republicans have identified 29 of Harris County's 782 polling places where they say voters were turned away, including 26 locations that ran out of paper and three with equipment problems.

The Chronicle contacted the election judges from both parties who ran those locations to get a clearer picture of what happened.

READ THE INVESTIGATION: GOP leaders say Harris County's ballot shortage was targeted at Republicans. Here's what the data says.

Here are four takeaways from our investigation:

Election workers at 20 Harris County voting locations said they ran out of paper

Of the 26 locations the Harris County Republican Party alleges ran out of paper on Election Day, judges who worked at 20 locations told the Chronicle they did run out of ballot paper at some point in the day  some for only 15 minutes, others for up to three hours. Judges at three locations said they never ran out of paper, while judges at another four locations either declined or did not respond to interview requests.

Multiple Republican election judges said the shortage was, in fact, far more widespread than the GOP's list  they said 121 locations ran out of paper on Election Day, referencing an often-cited KHOU story from January that reported 121 polling locations initially did not receive enough ballot paper to cover voter turnout. Based on a Chronicle analysis of county data, 20 of those locations had signs of a paper shortage, 88 locations did not appear to have run out of paper and eight locations were inconclusive.

Just over half of impacted polling places were in Republican-leaning neighborhoods

Of the 29 locations where the Harris County GOP has said either paper shortages or major equipment problems occurred, 55 percent were located in neighborhoods that voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election.

Thirteen locations were located in precincts former President Donald Trump won by more than 10 points, three in precincts Trump won by less than 10 points, 11 in precincts President Joe Biden won by more than 10 points and two in precincts Biden won by less than 10 points.

It's impossible to know how many people didn't vote because of the paper shortage

Election judges who gave the Chronicle an estimate said a total of up to 1,199 voters left their 11 locations without voting, while several others said they could not give an accurate estimate.

Melissa Phillip/Staff Photographer

It is impossible to know how many people would have voted in the election but did not because of the paper shortage because Harris County had over 700 other polling places available.

MISSING THE MARK: No, 121 Harris County polling places did not run out of ballot paper. Blame misleading messaging.

"The difficulty is that you would have to first know that someone approached a polling place and wanted to vote but, at the time they showed up, there were not ballot papers," said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University. "The second is you'd have to know even if they, at that point, did not vote, that they didn't go somewhere else and vote."

A criminal investigation is ongoing

Many Republican judges told the Chronicle they believe county officials deliberately orchestrated the paper shortage to suppress Republican votes. When the election lawsuits go to trial, a judge will weigh in on how the paper shortage impacted the election outcomes, not whether it was intentional. However, two agencies are conducting a criminal investigation into the shortage that would examine intent  the Texas Rangers and the Texas Attorney General's office.

Four Republican presiding judges told the Chronicle that investigators with the Texas Rangers or the Texas Attorney General's office had reached out to them to get their account of Election Day.

However, the five Democratic presiding judges interviewed by the Chronicle all said they had not been contacted by state investigators.
Even as Gov. Greg Abbott successfully pressures Texas universities to retreat from using diversity, equity and inclusion programs, he is adamant that doesnt mean hes against diversity on college campuses and in the government.

Diversity is something that we support, Abbott said in an exclusive interview with Hearst Newspapers.

THE ISSUE: As Gov. Abbott attacks diversity hiring, Biden launches all-out defense of the programs

The Republican governor said everyone is for equality and anti-discrimination policies. But he contends that diversity, equity and inclusion programs proliferating on college campuses have drifted far from advancing equal opportunity and are instead leading to hiring decisions based on the race of applicants. Further, he says they are part of a larger effort to purge conservative thought.

What weve seen in our universities is DEI practices that are there for political purposes, advancing political agendas, blanketed with the perception that they are trying to protect diversity, he said.

Advocates of diversity and equity programs say Abbott has it wrong. They say the goal is to increase pools of applicants for positions and address systemic barriers that have kept people from underrepresented backgrounds from advancement opportunities in the past.

In the past, many institutions thought they were hiring people based on merit when they were really hiring and promoting people based on how they fit with the organization, said David Hinojosa, the director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. That often meant decisions reflected the biases of the people doing the hiring, he said.

The bottom line is these diversity, equity and inclusion programs are mostly set up because of these institutional biases against people of color, said Hinojosa, a graduate of Edgewood High School in San Antonio who has argued affirmative action cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abbott said his fight over DEI is bigger than just one program. He said hes concerned about the atmosphere of college campuses where conservative ideas are not allowed to be expressed.

They are purging any conservatives from the faculty and allowing the faculty to be led only by liberal leftists, he said.

Universities move to comply

Abbott is already seeing results since his office sent stern warning letters to all public Texas colleges and universities about DEI in January.

First, Texas Tech University officially removed DEI statements from faculty hiring requirements.

Then, the University of Texas last week announced that it had paused all new DEI initiatives and launched a review of existing programs.

On Thursday, the Texas A&M University system ordered all its schools and agencies to remove requirements that job applicants provide personal statements about their commitment to DEI efforts. Some units of the A&M system had such requirements, but others did not.

Those moves all come as the Republican-dominated Legislature has threatened funding for universities that espouse DEI.

Unfortunately, were paying for these things that we know are bad, state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, said during a panel discussion of the matter put on Thursday by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin. The state of Texas shouldnt be paying for that.

DEI has been around for decades, but after the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer in 2020, those programs got a boost as colleges addressed demands that they foster more diverse leadership on campuses.

Some university trustees didnt know what hit them, anti-DEI advocate John D. Sailer said at the Thursday panel discussion.

Sailer said that nationally, schools are imposing DEI priorities in all facets of university life, including making it a litmus test for promotions, tenure and hiring. The result, he said, is applicants know that if they dont subscribe fully to DEI efforts, that can be used against them.

Universities exist for the pursuit of truth, said Sailer, who is a fellow with the New York-based National Association of Scholars. But DEI represents a distortion of that mission to pursue social justice and a specific political goal.

In January, Sailer issued a report on DEI programs at UT-Austin. He said DEI has invaded every aspect of the school.

These policies espouse a specific set of contentious political views, dictate a new curriculum and embed the principles of DEI into the fabric of the university, his report said.

Less than two weeks after the report, Abbott's staff sent a letter to all Texas public colleges, including UT, the governor's alma mater, warning them about DEI and repeating Sailer's concerns.

Rebranding this employment discrimination as 'DEI' does not make the practice any less illegal, wrote Gardner Pate, Abbott's chief of staff.

'Enormous harm'

On the other side, Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe has called the effort to dismantle DEI an attempt to return to Jim Crow-era laws and set back progress that communities of color have made.

The governor's initiative will do enormous harm and take the state backwards, Bledsoe said at a news conference last month blasting the effort.

Bledsoe says it is absurd for Abbott to claim he supports diversity when hes going after the very programs that are helping to diversify institutions.

You cannot support diversity and kill DEI, Bledsoe said.
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The negotiations over what could be the largest property tax cut in Texas history have devolved into name-calling, ghosting and political tactics aimed at making the other side look out of step with voters.

And its all Republican-on-Republican blood with just 40 days left in the GOP-dominated Texas Legislatures regular session, with the potential to get all kinds of other issues caught in the crossfire.

ISSUE FOCUS: Leaders of Texas Legislature set battle lines over property tax relief

It always gets testy in the final five weeks of any legislative session in Texas, no matter who is in leadership. But whats playing out this year appears different  House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who runs the Texas Senate, have barely spoken to one another this year. Instead, they're taking jabs at one another during TV appearances, on social media and in front of the Austin press.

California Dade wants a California tax plan or a New Jersey tax plan, Patrick, a Houston Republican, told Spectrum News anchor Karina Kling in an interview Tuesday, waving fistfuls of dollars as a prop.

That came days after Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who is not from California, last week told reporters that comparing the House tax plans to Californias system is like comparing apples and bowling balls.

And that all happened after Patrick used a news conference to declare he couldnt work with the House on a compromise tax plan.

Let me be very clear: You dont negotiate on bad math, Patrick said. Just on math, their plan gives far less, their plan disrupts the market, their plan isnt needed.

TIMELINE: Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's media stunts, 1991 to 2023

After the House passed its plan overwhelmingly last week, Phelan said: Our proposal is just as popular as the Senates proposal and its passage should send a message.

The center of the fight is how to deliver property tax relief  and for whom. Both the House and Senate have plans to spend billions to drive down or compress property taxes collected by school districts, which account for about half of the average homeowner's bill.

But Patrick also wants to increase the states homestead exemption for school district property tax levies to further reduce homeowners' bills, while Phelan is calling for a cap on year-to-year increases in taxable appraisal values. The House plan would benefit businesses and owners of rental properties much more than the Senate plan.

We want to have the caps so that there's predictability and stability for our property owners, state Rep. Morgan Meyer, a Dallas Republican who is a chief architect of the House plan, said during the debate on the issue last week.

Patrick says the reforms the Legislature has enacted since 2019 mean property tax rates have more influence on tax bills than appraisals do now. He said tinkering with appraisal caps sounds like a good idea but doesnt have the impact many think it would.

Theyre not a factor essentially anymore in a persons tax bill, No. 1, Patrick told Spectrum News. No. 2, it doesnt benefit any senior at all, which are 40 percent of homeowners.

When Texas homeowners hit 65, property taxes are frozen and cannot go up even if cities and counties raise rates on others.

Patrick is right in that reforms passed years ago have made increasing appraisals less of a factor on tax bills. Because of the reforms passed over the last four years, homeowners saw their property tax bills go down for the first time in decades in places like Harris and Bexar counties, despite climbing appraisals. Those reforms included capping how much tax cities and counties could collect, sending more state money to school districts and raising the homestead exemption.

Patrick said the result is today the more the appraisal value goes up, it's OK because local governments have to adjust their tax rates to comply with caps on how much money they can collect.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, has called reducing appraisal caps a Band-Aid that produces short-term relief that can be washed away in a few years as local governments raise tax rates on nonhomestead properties, such as rentals and commercial property.

Patrick has told senators hes requested meetings with House leaders to negotiate, but it hasnt happened. Thats not surprising given Patrick and Phelan havent spoken much at all over the last two years.

Thats very different from Patricks relationship with Dennis Bonnen, the Texas House Speaker during the 2019 session. Despite big policy disagreements, Patrick and Bonnen spoke regularly, and at one point had a big public showing for the media with Gov. Greg Abbott to prove they could all work together.

Both sides of the fight this year are also trying to win the disagreement with polling they've commissioned to show the other side is wrong.

After the Texas Senate put out results of a private poll that showed 82 percent of people support the homestead exemption plan, Phelan had a poll commissioned of 1,000 people that showed 68 percent back the House plan.

But the House poll also included a test of the favorability rating of key politicians. It showed just 32 percent of the respondents had a favorable view of Patrick  10 percentage points lower than the most recent Patrick favorability rating published by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the homestead exemption increases in the Senate plan apply only to school district tax levies.
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A closer look at popular Latin Music subgenre Corridos Tumbados

LA-based label Rancho Humilde is paving the way for corridos tumbados with a stellar lineup of talent placing corridos as one of the most popular subgenres in Latin music.

by Felipe Garrido from the Chartmetric Blog

One of the fastest growing Mexican genres is corridos tumbados, also known as trap corrido, a variation on traditional corridos with an urbano flare. Natanael Cano, one of the leading artists of the genre, told LA Times he defines it as regional Mexican like the one you, or, I dont know, your parents used to listen to; but with a younger seasoning, a younger regional Mexican. Chartmetric examined the exponential rise of Trap Corrido back in 2021 and then saw artists of this genre come up in the 2022 H2 6MO report as some of the fastest-growing in the world. Considering that several Corridos Tumbados artists are currently among the top Mexican artists based on Chartmetric rank, we wanted to take a look at Rancho Humilde, an independent label in LA that signed Cano and many other artists leading this booming genre.

Rancho Humilde was founded in LA around 2011 by Jimmy Humilde, Jose JB Becerra and Roque Rocky Venegas, who met each other when Jimmy was working at a tacos food truck. They began by supporting emerging corridos artists, but eventually managed to sign their own artists, reaching a roster of more than 80 artists today. The labels approach was to foster the growth of the new regional Mexican music that included elements of urban music, specifically hip-hop and trap. Jimmy told LA Times that he based his business approach on the success of legendary west coast hip-hop labels such as Death Row and Bad Boy Records, but applied to the corridos tumbados development in LA.

The soaring popularity of corridos tumbados is spearheaded by three best-selling Rancho Humilde artists: Natanael Cano, Junior H and Fuerza Regida. The combined total Spotify monthly listeners for the three artists increased from 1.6 million at the beginning of 2019 to 54.1 million in 2023, at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 142%.

The three artists have experienced an outstanding steady growth of Spotify monthly listeners, which became exponential around the second half of 2022.

Corridos tumbados currently have a huge importance in Spotify playlists. According to Chartmetric data, the 2nd and 3rd most followed playlists of Mexican music are entirely focused on this genre. Los Que Mandan and Corridos Perrones, with 3 million and 2.7 million followers each, are two of the most popular playlists worldwide. When filtering for Latin music playlists globally, Los Que Mandan comes in #13 and Corridos Perrones #19 on the worldwide ranking, competing with Latin urban music, Argentine trap and Brazilian music playlists. The three leading artists of Rancho Humilde represent 21% of the songs in Corridos Perrones and 25% of Los que Mandan.

Natanael Cano

Nathanael Ruben Cano is Rancho Humildes stellar phenomenon. At just 21 years old, he has experienced a non-stop rise in popularity worldwide and has become the face of trap-infused corridos tumbados. His 2019 album Corridos Tumbados hit #4 on Billboards Top Latin Albums chart. He has remained a constant in Billboard Latin charts, hitting #13 with 2020s album Corridos Tumbados Vol. 2, and #15 with Trap Tumbado in 2020, and #9 with A mis 20 in 2021.

Canos strategy relies on collaborations with other artists. In 2019, he released Soy El Diablo  Remix, a reimagined version of a song he previously released, this time with Bad Bunny. He constantly counts with collaboration from other corrido artists like Victor Cibrian, and his fellow label artists Junior H and Fuerza Regida. In 2021, he collaborated with mariachi veteran Alejandro Fernandez, for a more traditional twist of Amor Tumbado. This way, he represents the zeitgeist of the traditional regional music meeting the modern trap aesthetic.

His most recent notable collaborations have been with corridos man of the hour Peso Plumawho has dethroned Bad Bunny as the most streamed artist in Mexico. The duo, along with Gabito Ballesteros, scored their first Billboard 100 hit in February 2023 with AMG and later released PRC which is also currently in the chart.

Canos Spotify monthly listeners have been steadily growing at a CAGR of 156% in the last four years, moving from a few thousand to over 17 million. He currently boasts almost 6 million Spotify followers.

The sharp increase in Spotify monthly listeners by the end of 2022 correlates to the increase in reach of Spotify playlists. He has been featured in popular playlists like La Reina, Corridos Perrones, Los Que Mandan and Viva Latino.

Around 44% of Canos Spotify monthly listeners are from Mexico, and 18% from the US, followed by Guatemala, Colombia, and Spain, which account for a little more than 10%. In social media, mainly YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, he appeals to mostly male audiences in 18-24 age groups, with the largest proportion in Mexico (65%), with the United States coming second (27%).

Canos active presence on TikTok has been key for tapping to younger generations. His TikTok followers have been steadily growing at a rate of 63%, with an important jump in September 2021, following his skateboarding posts that were very popular with his fans.

Moreover, Arriba, AMG and Amor Tumbado are the leading songs used in TikTok posts, with a combined total of 1.2 million posts and growing.The top influencers that have used Canos songs include JD Pantoja from Mexico, Naim Darrechi from Spain, and Kevlex from the U.S. These are followed by top content creators from places like Chile and Germany, showcasing Canos international reach.

Junior H

Antonio Herrera Perez, better known as Junior H, is a 21-year-old Rancho Humilde artist and one of the fastest growing acts in the corridos tumbados scene. Junior H started his career in 2019, with the album Mi Vida En Un Cigarro, garnering attention from music producers. Jimmy Humilde signed him to Rancho Humilde shortly after, where he met Natanael Cano and released Disfruto lo Malo with him, to great response from the audience. He also has released songs with Oscar Maydon, Peso Pluma, El Chachito, and Ovi, among many other growing artists. His following albums topped many Billboards Latin lists.

Junior Hs remarkable growth can be observed in his Spotify monthly listeners CAGR of 332%, jumping from hundreds of thousands in 2019 to 17 million in 2023.

He also benefited tremendously from his playlists presence on Spotify. His Spotify monthly listeners growth correlates closely to the playlist reach on the platform. Along with Cano, he is one of the protagonists of the playlists Corridos Perrones and Los Que Mandan. Moreover, Junior H is also included in more traditional playlists like Exitos Mexico.

Roughly 39% of Herreras Spotify monthly listeners are from Mexico, while 20% are from the U.S. Similar to Cano, his audience demographic on Instagram and YouTube is concentrated in 18-24 males. Junior Hs YouTube audience is 58% Mexican and 29% American. Notwithstanding, for Instagram, a majority of 68% of followers are from the U.S., and only 29% are from Mexico.

Despite Junior H not having a TikTok account, his songs thrive on the platform thanks to his fans. The top tracks El Rescate, Clave Ali, Se Amerita and El Hijo Mayor account for over 360K TikTok posts. Top influencers that have featured Junior Hs songs in their posts are mostly Mexico-based, with the exception of Big Soto from Venezuela.

Fuerza Regida

Jesus Ortiz Paz fronts the quartet Fuerza Regida, originally from Sinaloa, now based in California. They are considered pioneers of requinto urbano, which features rural vernacular acoustic guitar and urban lyrics and is known as the predecessor of corridos tumbados. Their debut album, En Vivo Puros Corridos, was released in 2018, followed by Del Barrio Hasta Aqui in 2019. In 2021, they surprised fans with the charting Del Barrio Hasta Aqui, Vol. 2. Fuerza Regidas latest releases in 2022 are two 13-track full length albums, Sigan Hablando and Pa Que Hablen.

Fuerza Regidas highest charting songs have counted with collaboration from Grupo Frontera, Natanael Cano, Edgardo Nunez and Peso Pluma. The band has been uninterruptedly charting on Billboards Regional Mexican Album charts and Top Latin Album charts.

The bands evolution since 2018 has seen unceasing growth. They have shifted from a few thousand Spotify monthly listeners to over 19 million in 2023, at a steady CAGR of 278%. Fuerza Regida currently has over 2.6M followers on Spotify.

Spotify playlists have also been vital for Fuerza Regida, since their playlist reach evolution closely resembles the bands streaming growth in the platform. Besides Corridos Perrones and Los Que Mandan, which are strictly focused on this genre, they have also been included in top listened playlists such as La Reina and Viva Latino.

Fuerza Regidas Spotify monthly listeners are predominantly from Mexico (40%), while 22% are from the USA and the rest come from other Latin American countries. Their audience reach is mostly 18-24 male audiences similar to Canos and Junior Hs, but, Fuerza Regida does have a bigger reach for 25-34 age cohort and female audience, particularly on TikTok and Instagram.

The bands songs have been included in over 1.5 million TikTok posts, with the top tracks being Bebe Dame, El Dinero Los Cambio and 911, all still trending upwards in the platform. Their top influencer is Bella Poarch from the Philippines, followed by a majority of Mexican content creators, and a few Spanish and North Americans.

The Future of Corridos Tumbados

As Natanael Cano, Junior H and Fuerza Regida continue growing, Rancho Humilde is signing a new cohort of promising artists in the corridos tumbados scene. Some of them are Ovi, Ivonne Galaz, Oscar Maydon, Jesus Ortiz de Paz, Los Hijos de Garcia, as well as the established norteno Orange County-based group, Legado 7. Collaborations and strong streaming playlist reach have played a fundamental role in the growth of Rancho Humildes artists, and we can expect corridos tumbados to continue growing on a global scale on its way to becoming a mainstream genre and a staple of Latin music.

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Can Country Music enact Common Sense Gun Control? 60 top artists pledge to try

Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant, Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, Maren Morris, Margo Price, Kelsea Ballerini, and dozens of other top Nashville musicians have signed a letter and met with Tennesse lawmakers to call for common sense gun legislation.

The letter calls for stronger extreme risk protection laws that allow a judge to temporarily remove a persons access to guns when there is evidence that they pose a serious risk and the strengthening requirements for securing the storage of firearms. It was drafted after the deadly Covenant School shooting last month.

Other musicians and fans can sign on in support here.

[Full text of the letter and list of signatories below.]

The letter

To Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee State Legislature:

Here in Nashville, we care about our community, and we look after one another. Some of us are parents, some of us are gun owners, and some of us love to hunt. While we may come from different backgrounds, we all chose Nashville as our musical home, and weve built our lives around that. We love this city, and were writing to you because were concerned.

The tragic shooting at The Covenant School hit us hard. It was a tragedy that shouldnt have happened. Those families should be enjoying dinner together tonight, but instead, they are grieving, burying their children, or staring at empty chairs around the table. This shooting was preventable.

We all believe its time for you to pass common sense gun safety legislation to protect our loved ones. We need to put the safety of our children above politics and special interests. We appreciate Governor Lee taking steps towards creating a safer community against gun violence, however we believe these are only the first steps in improving the safety for our children and Tennesseans. Its time for you to pass effective measures that will keep guns out of dangerous hands before the shooting starts.

Gun violence in Tennessee is not inevitable. We are not hopeless, and we will not accept inaction. This does not have to be our normal and we ask that you stand with us! We know that gun safety laws work. Policies like extreme risk protection laws and secure storage of firearms, can save lives. And we ask that you keep your session open until these policies are put into place.

Sincerely,

Allison Moorer

Allison Russell

Amy Grant

Ben Folds

Ben Rector

Brandy Clark

Brittany Howard

Brittney Spencer

Charlie Worsham

Devon Gilfillian

Drew & Ellie Holcomb

Emmylou Harris

Gabe Simon

Hayes Carll

Jason Isbell

Jars of Clay

Jess Ray

Jimi Westbrook

John Tibbs

Kacey Musgraves

Karen Fairchild

Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsey Waldon

Ketch Secor

Langhorn Slim

Leah Blevins

Lola Kirke

Lucie Silvas

Lucinda Williams

Lydia Luce

Madeline Edwards

Maggie Rose

Margaret Becker

Margo Price

Maren Morris

Martina McBride

Mat Kearney

Matt Maher

Maxi Diaz

Michelle Branch

Mickey Guyton

Miko Marks

Nick Howard

Patrick Carney

Paul McDonald

Rodney Crowell

Ron Pope

Ruby Amanfu

Ruston Kelly

Ryan Hurd

Sarah Buxton

Sarah Jarosz

Shane McAnally

Sheryl Crow

Sierra Hull

Sista Strings

Sixpence None the Richer

The Brook & the Bluff

The Cadillac Three

The Wood Brothers

TJ Osborne

Will Hoge

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.

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Cycle of Mozart Sonata Performances at Simon's Rock Continues

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  The violin and piano team of Ronald Gorevic and Larry Wallach will offer the third installment of their traversal of the complete Mozart violin sonatas on Sunday, April 23, at 3 pm in Kellogg Music Center on the campus of Bard College at Simon's Rock.

The public is invited, and admission is free.

This is the third cycle of sonatas the team has presented. Earlier ones surveyed the works of Brahms and Beethoven. This program will consist of four works dating from various points in the composer's career and exhibits the varieties of expressions, moods, and drama that Mozart was able to create within this form. A fourth and final installment is scheduled for September 2023 at Simon's Rock.

According to a press release

Ronald Gorevic has had a long and distinguished career as a teacher and performer on both the violin and viola. As a violinist, Mr.Gorevic has given many recitals to critical acclaim, throughout the U.S. and Europe, including such major cities as London, New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and Atlanta. As a violist, he has been a member of several well-known string quartets, spanning over twenty years and covering most of the quartet repertoire. He has performed the Beethoven cycle twice and has toured throughout the U.S., Germany, Japan, Korea, and Australia. Mr.Gorevic was a founding member of the Prometheus Piano quartet in 1995. He has been heard on radio stations across the U.S. and has also been broadcast on S. German and S.W. German radio and on the Australian Broadcast network. For a number of years now, Mr.Gorevic has been actively teaching and performing on both the violin and viola, utilizing his great experience to successfully transition between the two instruments.

Larry Wallach has taught music at Simon's Rock for five decades.

He is a performer, composer, musicologist, and educator whose interests span the history of Western music up to the present day, with particular focus on baroque and modern repertories. He has published articles about Charles Ives and Johannes Brahms, and as pianist, performed all the Ives violin sonatas.

He is a founding board member of the Berkshire Bach Society. Dr. Wallach is active as a keyboard player on harpsichord, organ, and piano, collaborating with Ronald Gorevic, Paul Green, the Avanti Wind Quintet, John Cheek, Daniel Stepner, Stephen Hammer, Lucy Bardo, Paul Green, Susanna Ogata, Allan Dean, Ronald Barron, the Berkshire Bach Society chorus, Crescendo, and Anne and Eva Legene. He has organized and performed in a concert for the Bard Retrospective Festival for Charles Ives in 1996, for the Housatonic River Festival Concert in 2004, for the Boston Early Music Festival in 2009, and for a program of music for four harpsichords that was performed in Norfolk CT, Great Barrington, MA, Albany NY, and Hunter NY in 2009 and 2010. He started writing music reviews for the Columbia College newspaper, resumed in 2009 for the Berkshire Review of the Arts, and is currently a music critic for "The Berkshire Edge."
CHP Berkshires and Elizabeth Freeman Center Form One Door Project

The partnership hopes to improve safe reporting of domestic and sexual abuse?

Compared with the pre-Covid era, EFC has seen a 262 percent increase in calls to its Berkshire County hotline

For a victim of sexual or domestic violence, trafficking, or other abuse, seeking help can be a high-risk act. For many, confiding in a medical professional may, at first, feel safer than calling a domestic abuse hotline.??

Health care centers where clinicians are trained in trauma-informed care can be safe and private access points for victims. Research shows that women who talked with a health care clinician about domestic abuse were four times more likely to seek out intervention help, and they were 2.6 times more likely to exit the abusive relationship.?

The research, data, and experience of the Elizabeth Freeman Center (EFC), along with CHP Berkshires' familiarity with trauma-informed care, has led to a unique partnership called The One Door Project: Collaborative Care for Sexual Trauma Survivors. A grant of $175,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health supports this project.?

The two organizations have held two initial training sessions to share mutually valuable knowledge and insight about caring for sexual trauma survivors.? Next, CHP Berkshires and EFC will work together to develop protocols for assisting at risk patients and clients in accessing care and then making safe and direct connections to EFC counselors and resources.

"These numbers mean many of our patients have had sexual trauma in their history  whether it was last night or years agoso our care of patients must reflect this awareness," said Dawn Kohanski, FNP, associate medical director of CHP Berkshires. "As we provide medical attention and support, we now have a stronger link between CHP and EFC, to quickly help our patients get support and safety resources." ?

At EFC, survivors will receive a range of services according to their needs, such as medical appointment accompaniment to legal advocacy for protection orders, safe housing, financial advocacy, and trauma-informed psychoeducational counseling.?

In Berkshire County:?

The per capita rate of abuse protection order filings for sexual and domestic violence is 35% higher than the state average, according to FY2022 MA court reports.?

Compared with the pre-Covid era, EFC has seen a 262% increase in calls to its Berkshire County hotline.??

Immigrant communities, especially undocumented immigrants, are particularly concerned seeking help for fear of exposing their immigration status.?

"For our community, One Door means that both CHP and EFC speak the same language around sexual abuse, and we share each other's resources quickly and seamlessly to help people get the immediate help and support they need, whether medical or other support care," said Janis Broderick, executive director of Elizabeth Freeman Center. ?"All you need to do is walk through One Door."?

EFC's toll-free hotline is 866-401-2425, or email info@elizabethfreemancenter.org




iciHaiti - Economy : The first Sunrise Airways flight from PAP lands in Panama City





On Wednesday April 19, 2023, the private Haitian airline Sunrise Airways based in Port-au-Prince, made its first flight from Port-au-Prince, to Panama City, the most important hub in Central America, thus allowing passengers from and to Port-au-Prince to increase their connection options to international destinations and in particular to Latin America.



This first flight to Panama City was baptized upon its arrival on the tarmac of Tocumen International Airport by water cannons as is the tradition when a company lands a plane for the first time in a destination.



This new Sunrise Airways flight was highly anticipated https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38924-haiti-notice-sunrise-airways-announces-2-weekly-flights-port-au-prince-panama-city.html . Panama City is indeed renowned throughout the region for purchases of all kinds and an unparalleled choice with a free zone at unbeatable prices.



This new air link takes place aboard a 50-seat Jet Embraer 145,2h05 and in complete comfort for passengers and their luggage, departing from Port-au-Prince every Wednesdays and Saturdays.



Visit www.sunriseairways.net for more information on flight schedules and prices, as well as health and consular formalities.



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iciHaiti - Insecurity : The Council of the Bar Association of Port-au-Prince, condemns





In a note of condemnation bearing the signature of Battoniere Marie Suzy Legros dated April 19 "The Council of the Bar Association of Port-au-Prince condemns in the strongest terms the assassination on Wednesday April 12 2023, of Me Andre Charleus, in Montrouis, in the zone Deluge https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-39305-haiti-news-zapping.html [...] In these tragic circumstances that defy human understanding, the Council presents its sympathies to the parents of the deceased as well as to his friends and colleagues.



The Council notes, not without some dismay, the increasingly marked tendency among the protagonists of certain conflicts to take the path of violence, yielding to impulses of hatred, rather than relying on the decision of the courts [...]



Far from being an isolated event, this new act of barbarism lengthens the list of lawyers who have been victims of assassinations, kidnappings or attacks every year in recent months. The Council points out in particular the serious attacks on the person and the property of certain lawyers, including Me Jacques Miguel Sanon, former counselor of the Order, victim of a robbery in the enclosure of his home, which was vandalized, looted and is still occupied by criminals.



The Council would like to recall the essential role of the lawyer in assisting litigants and the importance of his presence in the context of carrying out a fair trial. To refuse to protect the lawyer in his function is to accept the precedence of arbitrariness, the system of expeditious justice and the reign of brutal force [...]"



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BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Calling Gabon a good friend and partner of China in Africa, Li said that under the strategic guidance of the two countries' leaders, China-Gabon relations have steered onto a fast track.

China is willing to better synergize development strategies, share development experience, work with Gabon to explore new areas of cooperation and innovate cooperation models, work for common development and promote bilateral ties to new high, said Li.

Li also said the two countries should deepen communications and cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, foster new growth points of cooperation, further tap into the potential of green cooperation, and forge a paradigm of South-South cooperation in response to climate change.

Li stressed that China supports Gabon in playing a bigger role in international and regional affairs, and is ready to strengthen coordination with Gabon on multilateral affairs, jointly uphold international justice and fairness, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries

Noting that Gabonese and Chinese people treat each other with sincerity and trust each other with mutual respect, Bongo said the two countries enjoy a special cooperative relationship that is of high quality, adding that China's development mode provides important inspiration for Gabon.

Gabon is willing to work with China to strengthen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, jointly implement the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative, enhance cooperation under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and international organizations, oppose politicizing human rights issues, and respond to climate change and other global challenges.
Name: Corey Nachreiner

Organisation: WatchGuard

Job title: CSO

Date started current role: February 2021

Location: Seattle, Washington

Corey Nachreiner is the chief security officer (CSO) of WatchGuard Technologies. Recognised as a thought leader in IT security, Nachreiner spearheads WatchGuards technology and security vision and direction. He has operated at the frontline of cybersecurity for 22 years, evaluating and making accurate predictions about information security trends. As an authority on network security and an internationally quoted commentator, Nachreiner's expertise and ability to dissect complex security topics make him a sought-after speaker at forums such as Gartner, Infosec, and RSA. He is also a regular contributor to leading publications including CNET, Dark Reading, Forbes, Help Net Security, and more.



What was your first job? If you mean the real first job, besides babysitting from the age of 12, then it was in the 1980s in Maryland, when I was 14. My father helped me get a work permit (for under 16 work) and I got a job at Arbys. Nothing fancy, but instead of saving for a car, like most teens, I saved my first $800 (big money to a teen then) to buy an 8086 computer.

My first more professional, after college job was as technical support for a plastic surgery imaging company (think photoshop software made for plastic surgeons), but I quickly left there to start a support career at WatchGuard, a budding network security company in 1999. And thus started my path to CSO/CISO of the company.

How did you get involved in cybersecurity? I didnt actually know/think cybersecurity would be my career at first, even though I was involved in learning about hacking and security on my own, at a young age. When I was in college (1992) cybersecurity was rarely discussed. I was taking a normal CompSci program and expected to be a coder. However, I had gotten a computer in my house when I was eight; a TRS or Trash-80, that my dad bought, but never used. I quickly learned basic, and got my dad to buy a coupler modem, eventually buying my own PC. In the early BBS days, I learned about phreaking and hacking via e-zines and famous test papers like Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit, so while I didnt know that cybersecurity would be my career at the time, I had a strong interest in how hacking worked well before high school and college, though I dont have a black hat bone in my body. In any case, after college, finding a company that did computer security helped me realise that I could mix my personal interest in hacking with my formal training, and the 2000s were a perfect time for this as computer security has blown up in importance compared to the 70s and 80s.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I have an AA, and started 1.5 years of a BS in CompSci, but never finished it. I took a quarter off to save money, but also got married and quickly conceived a child, so had to focus on career for a bit. As the career took off, I had less need to finish my degree as my experience started to speak for itself. I have earned various tech certifications, but getting my CISSP was probably the biggest one for this industry.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. I would say realising I could make a career in InfoSec was a big detour, as it didnt seem like an obvious choice to me in the early 90s. I always knew I would be in tech. Computers and digital equipment always seemed natural and intuitive to me. I loved taking things apart, learning how they work, and putting them back together, and doing the same concepts with software too. However, I assumed the money was in coding, and thought I would be a software engineer at a big tech company. Getting married and conceiving our child early in the marriage was the first life detour that added randomness to my career patch. I felt I had to get a decent job quickly to support a new family, so started in a support job at that plastic surgeon imaging company, I mentioned above, more for the money than as my intended path. Then that company went chapter 13, forcing me to find a new job quickly (I had my baby daughter by then). That is where luck and serendipity got me to my dream path that I should have realised earlier. WatchGuard was hiring for support, I had some experience from the job I didnt plan, and that got my foot into the door to cybersecurity and many job titles here that gave me experience in many aspects of cybersecurity.

Was there anyone who has inspired or mentored you in your career? Early on, no. My interest in hacking and digital security was internal, and since in the 80s it wasnt discussed as a career much, there was really few people to look to for inspiration, that came more from grey hat community members who eventually became the big names in cybersecurity decades later. However, at WatchGuard, Steve Fallin was a person in cybersecurity education and communication at our company. He noticed that in my support cases, I didnt only fix the customers main tech support problem, but I also gave security advice and other policy recommendation. He invited me to help at security conference like RSA and Black Hat, to learn more about me, and eventually recruited me onto his team. Without him, and other leaders at WatchGuard I met as I moved forward, I may not have grown to the CSO/CISO I am today.

What do you feel is the most important aspect of your job? Procedure and diligence. I got interested in cybersecurity for all the cool and technically interesting ways you could make systems do unintended things. Researchers who find complex remote code execution zero days are my heroes, and I tend to geek out about cool software hacks. However, defence should be boring and programmatic. Deep coding and technical knowledge are not really that important to the blocking and tackling of defence. The hardest part of security is just the repeated diligence of going through your programmatic procedures to support your policies. If you are doing it right, it might seem a little boring as you have playbook and procedures for everything, and you are obsessive about running them.

What metrics or KPIs do you use to measure security effectiveness? Many, but here are a few:

Security incidents per year

Mean time to detect, mean time to respond to and mean time to resolve security incidents or alerts

Security Awareness KPIs (some people think these arent worth tracking, but we have lowered and maintained these) Click rate on phishing simulations Overall security awareness risk score (based on employees completing required trainings, privilege level of employee, and things like click rate)

Many Patching and VA metrics: # of external high and critical Time to patch SLA misses



Is the security skills shortage affecting your organisation? What roles or skills are you finding the most difficult to fill? Yes. Our organisation is a security vendor. We make network, endpoint, and identity security products, so have some specialised security expertise needs on top of the CISO/CSO needs. It is hard just finding experiences SOC incident responders for our CSIRT team, but we also have need for deep malware researchers, threat hunters, etc. The deeper the technical expertise in a cyber security domain, the harder it seems to fill the role.

Cybersecurity is constantly changing  how do you keep learning? Conferences, blogs, and videos. There is endless media now available to learn about security. I have researchers I follow, YouTubers that cover security, I have a news aggregator that focuses on cybersecurity news, and I and my team attend Black Hat and DEF CON every year we can.

What conferences are on your must-attend list? We like Black Hat and DEF CON, although there are many other great ones like them. If you can only do one, DEF CON is very inexpensive, and has the more uncensored version of many of the Black Hat talks. We avoid other conferences that get a little to vendor-y, unless we are specifically looking for a new product. Ones like RSA do still have good research talks, but we feel it seems more like a conference where security industry folks are doing B2B with each other. If you are low on conference funds, B-sides follows around just about every big conference, and often has good stuff without the high cost.

What is the best current trend in cybersecurity? The worst? The best trend is machine learning and other technologies helping automate some of the rote tasks in cybersecurity. The worst tread is adversaries starting to realise how machine learning and automation can help the black hat too.

What's the best career advice you ever received? The best leaders listen more and talk less.

What advice would you give to aspiring security leaders? Stay humble; always keep learning; treat everyone with equal respect; most importantly, listen more and talk less.

What has been your greatest career achievement? Strangely, my greatest career achievement is seeing and helping my employees grow into leaders themselves. There are a lot of things I did as an individual contributor that I am proud of, but my biggest joy is seeing people that I helped lead develop into leaders. Once you hit a certain point of personal achievement, the only way you can exponentially achieve for your company and other is by helping everyone around you achieve their goals. A leaders goal is not to continue being an individual rock star, but to help many others become rock stars themselves.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? Learn faster and try to introspectively work on my weaknesses even earlier. Im not sure if I would change the past. While I guess others might create a more direct path to their end goal, I feel like the path I took to get to where I am is part of what forged me to be able to fit the situation. You cant change outside factors; you can only change yourself. None of us are, or will ever be perfect, but we can improve forever, as long as we are willing to do the introspection to learn our strengths and weaknesses. The only think I would do differently would be to learn that and get to the introspection much earlier in life.
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To sing is to pray twice, said St Augustine. Its a haunting line  perhaps celebrating the miracle of human hope over any expectation of divine attention that Tracey Thorn quotes with aching resonance on Fuse, Everything But the Girls first album in 24 years. Its an album that makes a church of its elegant electronica: all vaulting arcs of yearning melody and glimmers of stained glass that dance upwards, to the familiar urban spire of Thorns beautiful, hangdog voice.

Ive always been an atheist, Thorn wrote in a column published in the third month of the pandemic. But, taking her daily walks around a London graveyard, she found her questions and her internal dialogue with her mother (whod been dead for a decade) beginning to feel a bit like prayers. How long, oh lord, how long? Perhaps its strange to say, but EBTG have always had a kind of lockdown mood, in the way their music seems to freeze scenes of Britain like in a strange blue-lit suspension  like Damien Hirsts shark. On hit single Missing (1994), they described heartbreak on a train; on Walking Wounded (1996), the heartbreak takes place on the bus. A quarter of a century later  on this abums biggest banger, No-One Knows Were Dancing, Thorn is singing about a guy driving a Fiat Cinquecento and dryly recording the lifestyle of an EU lawyer. He does London, Paris, Munich she sings, like a sarky Sade.

Thorn and Ben Watt  who have been together since the 1980s and married in 2009  began working on Fuse the following spring. After so much time apart professionally, says Thorn, there was both a friction and a natural spark in the studio when we began. So although theres nothing new about the bands sound (especially not to those whove enjoyed Thorns solo records), they have a rekindled appetite for tunes that enable them to get into the murky corners of modern melancholy. Theres a strangely disconnected chiming and then a distorted effect (resonant of old internet dial-up tone) on Lost, as she intones: I lost my place/ I lost my bags/ I lost my biggest client/ I lost my mother then I just lost it. Her voice is layered in the background as though lines are crossed.

A repeated, three-note piano motif backs When You Mess Up, on which Thorn delivers the Augustinian line as part of a gentle urging toward self-care. In a world of micro-aggression/ Little human transgressions/ Forgive yourself Have a cigarette/ Dont think youre inappropriate. As the mother of grown children, I can hear a woman caught in the middle of the culture wars as her vocal soars up to the chorus of We all mess up/ And baby, youll mess you. The track fades out like whale song.

Nothing Left To Lose sounds like older school EBTG with its snappy, trappy, bass-squelching subterranean beats and a rich soulful vocal that finds Thorn urging her partner to kiss me while the world decays/ Kiss me while the music plays. A clarinet prowls like a ghost cat through the mournful melody of Interior Space. The album ends with the slow snow-crunch pulse of Karaoke on which Thorn asks herself: Do you sing to heal the broken hearted? Do you sing to get the party started?/ You know I try Its a prayer for audience connection that ends in finger snaps. Amen.
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A court in western Indias Gujarat state dismissed an appeal filed by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi against his conviction in a defamation case that subsequently led to his disqualification from parliament last month.

The Surat sessions court on Thursday dismissed the 52-year-old Congress leaders appeal against his conviction in a defamation case for a 2019 election speech mocking the Modi surname.

The case against Gandhi had been filed by a Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi.

Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names, Gandhi allegedly said during the rally.

He was referring to fugitive business tycoon Nirav Modi, the Indian prime minister, and former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi, respectively.

Dismissing his application, the court said that being a member of parliament and president of the second largest political party, Gandhi should have been more careful with his words, which would have a large impact on the mind of people, reported legal news portal LiveLaw.

The court added that a high standard of morality is expected from Gandhi and his contention that the trial court had been unfair to him was wrong.

It appears from the record that all opportunities were accorded to Gandhi for cross-examining the witnesses and hence I do not agree with the contentions about him being deprived of a fair trial, the court remarked.

On 23 March the court sentenced him to two years in jail and subsequently granted him bail and suspended his jail sentence for 30 days, allowing him to appeal.

The sentencing in Gujarat, Modis home state, was followed by a parliament notice a day later which said that the lawmaker representing Keralas Wayanad constituency stood disqualified as a member of the lower house from the date of his conviction in compliance with constitutional requirements.

The disqualification was seen as a major blow to Indias opposition, just a year before the country is to hold a general election, when Modi will seek a third term in office.

The controversial disqualification was followed by protests both inside and outside parliament against Mr Modis ruling BJP.

If his application on Thursday had been allowed by the court then his membership of the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) would have been restored, subject to the issuance of notification of the Lok Sabha secretariat.

Addressing a press conference later on Thursday, Congress politician Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the party will move the high court soon against the decision.

The courts move to dismiss his stay on the conviction has been condemned by opposition Congress Party.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor questioned the courts remarks that Gandhi has not been able to show any exceptional circumstances to grant stay on conviction.

Isnt it exceptional enough to get a two-year sentence for criminal defamation? Just long enough to be disqualified from Parliament?

Gandhi has maintained that he is facing action for asking questions about the prime ministers relationship with billionaire businessman Gautam Adani, who belongs to Mr Modis home state and has often been accused of benefiting from close ties with the prime minister.

After the Surat courts decision on Thursday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the Surat courts decision marks the victory for common people in India.

Despite his disqualification, Gandhi said last week while visiting his constituency that his relationship with the people will not change.

BJP can take away my MP tag, my house or put me in jail, but they cannot stop me from representing the people of Wayanad, he said.
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A six-month old infant born to a teenage rape survivor is battling for his life after a mob comprising those accused of gang-raping the teen torched her family home once they were out on bail, police in India say.

The incident took place at a village in Unnao in Indias Uttar Pradesh state and has affected a family from the Dalit community  historically among the most oppressed in the Hindu caste system.

Two of the five accused of gang-raping the girl, who had recently managed to get out of jail, went to the minors home along with the teenagers uncle on Monday and set it on fire, police officials said.

Inside the house was the girls six-month-old son and her infant sister  both of whom suffered burn injuries in the attack.

The infants were initially being treated at a district hospital in Kanpur city, about 20km away from Unnao.

After their condition worsened, however, doctors referred the two to King Georges Medical University in state capital Lucknow, about 90km away, on Wednesday night.

The teenagers child  born prematurely after the gang-rape  has suffered severe burns on his stomach, face and limbs.

The doctors have asked us to arrange blood for the baby as his condition deteriorated overnight in the ICU, the survivors father told The Independent over a phone call.

We need to arrange Rs 5,000 (48.9) to save the child but our house has been burnt down and we do not have a single penny to arrange blood. The situation is very grim, he said.

I dont know how I will save them when they are battling for their life, he said.

The father says he was also assaulted by an axe last week by one of the rape accused. I have not recovered from my injuries, he said.

He says his daughter also suffered injuries from the attack.

The rape survivors mother had filed a complaint with the police on Monday night in a First Information Report  the first step before police action is taken in India  that said the house was torched by seven men.

The rape survivors father alleged that the family had been threatened to withdraw the case or face consequences.

The threats have continued from the time the case was filed against the accused and there was pressure on us to withdraw the case. They threatened to kill my daughter as well, he said.

Police officials confirmed they are investigating the role played by the rape survivors own uncle in the burning down of their home.

In the video shared with us, it is clearly visible that the girls uncle... started the fire. Upon further investigation, it is found that he is a family member and the minors uncle, said Siddharth, a police superintendent who goes by a single name.

On Thursday, the police arrested a total of four accused out of the seven, including the rape survivors uncle and grandfather.

A police investigation revealed the teens immediate family was battling a land and house dispute with her uncle and grandfather.

The family say the teenager was raped by a group of five men last February, out of which only three were arrested. The girl had delivered her baby prematurely in September.

Several rape cases have been reported in Unnao, where the local administration is run by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a harrowing case from 2017, a former BJP state assembly member from Unnao, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, was accused of raping a 17-year-old teenager girl and was found guilty of rape two years later.

The case had gained prominence in April 2018 when the teen had attempted to immolate herself to protest police inaction.

A day later, her father  who brought the case to police on her behalf  was beaten up by a group of men that allegedly included Sengars brother and died from his injuries in hospital.

In 2019, the teenager was travelling with her lawyer and two female relatives when their car was involved in a head-on collision with a truck  killing the relatives.
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Pakistan has become the latest Asian country to import Russias discounted crude oil, joining India and China which are importing heavily from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

Petroleum minister of Pakistan Musadik Malik told Reuters that Islamabad has placed its first order for crude oil after striking a new deal with Russia and the cargo will dock at Karachi port in May.

Under the new deal struck with Moscow, the South Asian nations imports are expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day if the first transaction goes smoothly, Mr Malik said on Wednesday.

"Our orders are in, we have placed that already," Mr Malik said.

Russia scored a new oil trade partner as it pivoted to Asia, Africa and other Latin American countries redirecting its barrels from traditional buyers in Europe after the West imposed sanctions to ban exports to cut the Kremlins profits to sustain the invasion of Ukraine.

It comes after months-long negotiations following Russian energy minister Nikolay Shulginovs visit to Pakistan earlier this year to make in-roads Islamabad.

The Independent reported last week that India and China have become the largest buyers of Russian oil since the invasion, buying 1.9 million barrels of oil per day each, together accounting for 90 per cent of oil exports.

It would also mark a crucial beginning to Pakistani and Russias bilateral cooperation in the energy trade, widening its trade partners from long-established suppliers like Saudi Arabia and others in Gulf states.

The idea of importing cheap Russian crude has long remained on Pakistani leaders wishlist and has cross-party support in Pakistan.

Ousted prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chair Imran Khan told The Independent in an interview last month that we wanted to buy discounted oil from Russia, just like India did.

We cant afford to be partisan, we should be neutral, when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, Mr Khan said at the time. Our main concern is our own people. Whatever is good for them should be my priority.

Mr Malik declined to comment on the commercial aspect of the deal.

However, the discounted crude offers to Pakistan would be a huge relief for the cash-strapped nation which is in the midst of an economic crisis with the balance of payments crisis and critically low foreign exchange reserves.

Mr Malik said that Pakistan Refinery Limited will initially refine the Russian crude and others will be included in the later stages following a trial run.

According to data from analytics firm Kpler, Islamabad imported 154,000 barrels per day of oil in 2022, remaining relatively static from the previous year while it fulfilled most of its oil requirement from Saudi Arabia followed by the United Arab Emirates which were the top exporters of Asia before the war.

The latest deal with supplies rising to 100,000 barrels per day would mean a potentially big drop in sales of Middle East suppliers to Pakistan, which is likely to irk the partners in the fellow Muslim nations.
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The boss of NatWest has said that nearly a quarter of the carbon emissions that its borrowers emit come from farms, despite only a fraction of its loans going to the agriculture sector, as she stressed the importance of working with companies to help them cut their environmental impact.

Speaking in a short film made on behalf of charities WWF, RSPB and National Trust, Alison Rose said that her company supports 40,000 farmers across the country.

But despite only 2% of NatWests loans going to these farmers, they account for close to 19% of the carbon emissions on the banks balance sheet, Ms Rose said.

If I want to halve my emissions Im not going to stop lending to agriculture, so I now need to develop, having measured it, how do we help make a transition that is supportable, sustainable for the future that allows us to reduce our emissions but in a just and fair way? she added.

It came as Steve Waygood, chief responsible investment officer at Aviva, warned that the world could face civilisational collapse by the end of this century.

But he added that there is enough money in the global financial system to solve both the climate and nature crisis if it is invested well.

Where were heading to by the end of the century is potentially as extreme as civilisational collapse, Mr Waygood said.

It is estimated that in 2021 economic losses due to natural catastrophes was 270 billion dollars.

Roughly 400 trillion of capital is out there in the global financial system. We know that is many times what is needed to solve the climate crisis, the nature crisis, simultaneously.

He added: For me, nature-positive is a mindset. Its a guiding rule for how the board should think.

Every decision thats made really should think about its consequences on nature and also how nature itself provides constraints for the businesss growth going forwards.

The three charities called on companies to put nature at the heart of every decision they make in the boardroom. Businesses have a major impact on the natural world across their value chains, they added.

In a joint statement, National Trust director general Hilary McGrady, RSPB boss Beccy Speight, and Tanya Steele, the head of WWF, said: We need all hands on deck to tackle the nature and climate crisis and we wont get the speed of change necessary without the support of businesses and their leaders.

Nature underpins everything  it is our life support system and the foundation of our health, our jobs, and our nations wealth.

Businesses must publish nature-positive transition plans that leave no room for greenwash.
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A retired builder has told how he woke up in horror to find that his pet puppy had chewed his big toe to the bone.

David Lindsay, 64, was startled by his wifes scream as he lay asleep on a sofa at their home only to find his right big toe was a bloody stump.

The bone in his toe had been fractured by his seven month old bulldog puppy Harley as he slept and his toe nail left hanging off.

However the horror incident turned out to be a potential life-saver as medics later discovered he had lost the feeling in his feet due to two blocked arteries in his legs.

David, a father to five daughters and grandfather to 11 children, has no plans on getting rid of the naughty pup after it inadvertently saved his life.

David, from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, who suffers from diabetes, said: I was asleep on the couch when my wife walked in and shouted, Dave, the puppys chewing your toe!

My puppy had near enough chewed my big toe off! It chewed down to the bone and cracked it.

But because of all this, I discovered that my foot is completely numb, I cant feel anything.

His wife wrapped up his toe and rushed him to Addenbrookes Hospital where hes been for nine days.

Dave has been put on intravenous antibiotics to stop the infection, caused by the dog bite, from spreading to his bone.

(David Lindsay / SWNS)

But only because of the severe mauling his toe endured, Dave discovered he couldnt feel his foot.

During CT scans for the fractured toe, the doctors discovered not one, but two blocked arteries.

The blockages could put his whole leg in danger of needing amputation if the blood supply wasnt returned.

Thanks to the mixed-colour pup, Dave is now being assessed for stents which would open up the arteries and allow the blood flow to return to his leg.

He said he has no plans to get rid of the life-saving bulldog, having lost his two large Neapolitan Mastiff dogs last year.

(David Lindsay / SWNS)

Dave, who hadnt owned a bulldog before now, said: Youve got to laugh about it. Hes done me a favour by chewing my toe.

So Im waiting to find out if they can put stents in. Ill be keeping the dog.

Ill try to keep my toe too, but if not I told the doctor to cut it off and I can take it home for him!

David hopes to go home to his wife and cheeky bulldog by the end of the week.
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Three gay men who are in a throuple  a three-person romantic relationship  are raising an adopted daughter together and are in the process of becoming the second three-person relationship in the US to be recognised as legal parents of a child on a birth certificate.

Ben Rolam, a director of sales and education, 37, and his long-term boyfriend, Mitch Rolam, a manager of account development, 37, always discussed bringing a third person into their relationship, and, after being together for 12 years, they found their perfect match, Benjamin Rolam, an entrepreneur, 35, on a gay cruise in 2018.

They all now live in Los Angeles together with their one-year-old adopted daughter, Tegan, and one day they hope to have two more children through surrogacy.

When Ben and Mitch met Benjamin, none of his family members knew he was gay  so, when introducing his new partners to his loved ones, he had to both come out and tell them he was in a throuple, which he said they took surprisingly well.

Now, all three of the mens parents have accepted their relationship and happily share grandparent duties.

The trio adopted their daughter after advertising themselves online as a throuple looking to adopt a child, and are in the process of becoming the second three-person relationship in the US to be recognised as legal parents of a child on a birth certificate.

Ben believes there are misconceptions about throuples  that they are all about sex or there is an element of jealousy  but he asserts that his relationship is based on support, growth, love and care.

Day-to-day, the throuple spend almost every moment with each other, share the same bed and split chores and baby duties equally.

Ben said: If Im looking after the baby one day, while the other two are at work, they will look after the baby for the next two days.

We alternate nights to be with the baby, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night, I can take care of her, the next day is Mitch, the next day is Benjamin.

So we all feel like we get an equal amount of rest, we all get equal amounts of support, we all get equal time with our baby.

(PA Real Life)

Ben feels as though, as three fathers, they have more benefits day-to-day than traditional straight couples.

He said: In traditional relationships, typically women carry most of the weight when it comes to chores in a household, from the cleaning to the cooking to taking care of the baby.

In our household, we are all divided equally, Benjamin does the dishes, I cook, Mitch vacuums and does laundry  I think thats also whats beautiful about our dynamic  we can divide and conquer, we can get so much more accomplished without feeling exhausted.

The throuple said they have not received any negative comments about their relationship, but if anyone were to question what their daughters future will look like, they said: (We would tell them) Tegan is going to love having three dads  she will always have so much love.

We would let them know love is love from a mother or a father.

Ben thinks being in a throuple is just like being in a regular couple apart from the fact there is one more person.

But, he believes there are a lot of misconceptions about throuples, especially regarding jealousy and sex.

(PA Real Life)

He said: Theres no jealousy between Mitch, Benjamin and I, in terms of if I feel like hes connecting with him more, or vice versa.

Theres a misconception that couples are all about sex all the time  our relationship is not based on sex, our relationship is based on support, growth, love and care.

Ben and Mitch met almost 17 years ago, in the summer of 2006, at an LGBTQ+ community building programme, and the pair instantly hit it off.

Ben said: We connected right away  we invited each other to dinner, and then the rest is history. We saw each other every day after that.

After being together for around three years, the couple began considering becoming a throuple.

Ben explained: Weve always believed that to love one person alone was unrealistic, at least the way we saw it.

We both felt like we just had so much love to give and that if there were an opportunity ever to bring a third person to a relationship, we would completely be open to that.

Before trying to find the third person, Ben and Mitch felt it was important to go through every possible challenging situation to understand each others boundaries.

Ben said: Wed ask the tough questions about what would happen if, for example, Mitch had sex with the third person and I wasnt in the room or vice versa.

In 2018, the couple went on a gay cruise holiday and unexpectedly found their perfect match  Benjamin Mui  who was in the early stages of a relationship at the time.

After meeting Ben and Mitch, Benjamin soon realised that he did not feel the same excitement for his boyfriend of three months.

So, after the cruise, he broke up with his boyfriend and started dating Ben and Mitch.

At the time, Benjamin was based in Canada, so for around six months they would visit each other on weekends.

Ben said: Thats how we kind of knew that this was going to work  we made that commitment.

Ben and Mitch did not experience any teething issues when first bringing Benjamin into the relationship because of going through every scenario before becoming a throuple.

But, Ben thinks becoming a throuple allowed him to see Mitch in a different light.

He explained: I got to learn a completely different side of Mitch, meaning he was treating Benjamin very differently than he ever treated me.

Benjamin brought a completely different dynamic to the relationship  so watching Mitch just fall in love with another person from an outside perspective was fun to watch.

In July 2019, Ben and Mitch proposed to Benjamin at San Diego Pride to make him part of the family and got married spiritually as a three in Hawaii in September 2019.

Ben said: We did it among ourselves with a celebrant  we didnt want to make a big thing out of it with friends yet, and we hadnt told our family we were in a throuple yet.

Watching Mitch just fall in love with another person from an outside perspective was fun to watch. Ben

The wedding was unofficial, but in 2022 Benjamin and Mitch decided to legally change their last names to Rolam  Bens surname.

After the ceremony, Benjamin wanted to introduce his two partners to his loved ones, but he had not even told them he was gay at that point, so he had to come out and tell them he was in a throuple at the same time.

Ben explained: They are from Hong Kong, so I think it was a little bit of a shock culturally because its not something that is so openly talked about in their culture.

But, they were very accepting and took it surprisingly well  I know they had spoken to Benjamins sister, and his sister helped them understand that being gay is normal and should be accepted.

When it came to the relationship, I think once they saw our dynamic and how supportive we were of one another, they didnt have anything to say.

When Ben told his family that he was in a throuple, they were also very accepting but could not help but feel shocked.

Mitch was the most hesitant to tell his parents because when he came out to them, they did not talk to him for around five years. But, to the throuples surprise, they were very accepting.

In December 2021, the throuple hired a website developer and lawyer to advertise themselves as a throuple looking to adopt a baby, as when they were with an adoption agency, they only had three mums show interest in them in two years.

The throuple began getting 30 to 40 women reaching out weekly, and by March 2022, they found Tegan, their baby daughter.

Mitch, Ben and Benjamin are currently in the process of being recognised as legal parents of a child on a birth certificate  if successful, they will be the second throuple in the US to do so.

Ben said: To know that Im making a path for other relationships that look like mine feels good.

It reminds me of the early days when I was fighting for legal rights to get married to a man or two lesbians to marry.

Looking to the future, the throuple are hoping to have another two children through surrogacy.
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Elon Musk has claimed that birth control and abortion may lead to the collapse of civilisation.

In his recent interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the billionaire tycoon spoke about how the urge to have sex and procreate has been subverted by birth control and abortion, leading to population decline.

In the past we could rely upon, you know, simple limbic system rewards in order to procreate, the Tesla CEO told Carlson on Tuesday. But once you have birth control and abortions and whatnot, now you can still satisfy limbic instinct, but not procreate.

The SpaceX founder felt that society hasnt yet evolved to deal with the effects of contraception, because forms of birth control are all fairly recent, in the last 50 years.

Im sort of worried that hey, civilisation, if we dont make enough people to at least sustain our numbers, perhaps increase a little bit, then civilisations going to crumble, Musk said. The old question of, will civilisation end with a bang or a whimper?

He added: Well, its currently trying to end with a whimper in adult diapers, which is depressing as hell.

Unsurprisingly, Musks comments about birth control and abortion received a flurry of equally amused and angered reactions online following Tuesdays interview with Carlson. For starters, many people pointed out that forms of contraception have existed far longer than just 50 years ago, like Musk claimed.

Birth control and abortionfamously non-existent until 50 years ago, joked one user on Twitter.

Some early records suggest that people have been using contraception for as long as, well, humans have been reproducing. The earliest forms of birth control date as far back as 1850 BC, in which Ancient Egyptian women mixed acacia gum with honey as a cervical cap to prevent sperm from entering the womb. Many plants such as the now-extinct silphium plant, Queen Annes lace seeds, and pomegranate seeds were also popular forms of contraception in ancient Greece and Rome. The invention of modern-day oral contraception was led by Margaret Sanger in the 1950s, and before that came the latex condom in the early 1900s. Of course, there was also the pull-out method too.

Despite the mass production of oral contraceptives and hormonal birth control methods, the human population has actually more than doubled in the last 50 years from 2.5 billion to 8 billion, according to the United Nations.

This conversation alone is pretty amazing birth control, tweeted someone else. Women arent baby incubators, keep coming for our rights, were ready to keep fighting back. Deal with it you gross misogynistic bros.

Musk, who himself is a father to nine children, has long shared his ideas of procreation and population decline posing a threat to civilisation. Last year, the billionaire tweeted that population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilisation than global warming.

In July 2022, Musk echoed a similar sentiment about declining birth rates after news broke that he secretly fathered secret twins with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.

Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far, he tweeted, making light of the reports. I hope you have big families and congrats to those who already do!

In fact, Musk made almost identical comments about the crumble of civilisation in adult diapers less than one year ago. He once again predicted that civilisation will not die with a bang, it will die with a whimper in adult diapers in an interview with The Financial Times last October, and said at an event in December 2021: If people dont have more children, civilisation is going to crumble  mark my words.

Carlson has made his own fair share of sexist comments about women in the past. Despite the so-called subversion of the human urge to have sex and procreate due to birth control, Carlson himself once ridiculed the United States militarys efforts to be more inclusive towards women when he said that pregnant women are going to fight our wars.

The Fox News host also refused to apologise after he was heard comparing women to dogs in a resurfaced clip from 2007: Theyre extremely primitive, theyre basic, theyre not that hard to understand. And one of the things they hate more than anything is weakness in a man.

After Musks comments about birth control and abortion circulated on social media, many peoples reactions to the Tucker Carlson interview were summed up in one tweet, which read: I cant think of two people whos thoughts on sex Id be less interested in hearing.
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Vogue staff have revealed that an employee was once tasked with digging through a garbage dump in the hopes of recovering invites to the Met Gala while reflecting on some of the major mishaps that have occurred during the planning for the annual party.

Vogues editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has helmed the Met Gala since 1995, with the magazine tasked with ensuring every moment of the biggest night in fashion goes off without a hitch.

However, despite the months of planning and preparation that go into the gala, everything isnt always as perfect as it looks, according to Vogue staff, who revealed some of the problems theyve encountered behind the scenes during the latest episode of the podcast The Run-Through with Vogue.

I remember there was a very dramatic call, I cant remember what year, regarding the invitations, Vogue contributing editor Chloe Malle recalled, with one of her Vogue colleagues noting that it must have been 2015 or 2016.

The invitation send-out is a very lengthy, involved process and takes the span of a few days. And over the course of a few days, we had not labelled them properly while we were storing them overnight. And they got thrown away, Malle continued of the invitations, which are extremely expensive and take weeks to produce.

Beautiful, printed letterpress, theyre all in cardboard boxes that were mistaken for trash by housekeeping, Vogue special projects and events consultant Eaddy Kiernan Bunzel recalled.

Malle then revealed that, in an effort to remedy the situation, theyd sent a team member to the garbage dump in the hopes of finding the invites.

And, to be fair, we had not labelled them properly. And we ended up having to send someone to the New York City town dump to try and, you know, dig through, she said.

According to Bunzel, the employee had been a very good sport about the task, which required her to take the ferry to Staten Island.

However, the attempt at recovering the invitations was ultimately unsuccessful.

It was a young woman named Lindsay and she was a very good sport  She took the ferry to Staten Island to the dump and had to stand with a hard hat looking into the dump saying, where are my invitations? she remembered, adding: And guess what, we were not successful.

The Vogue employees said the dilemma has stuck with them and that they are reminded of the story each year when it comes time to mail out the highly coveted invites for the Met Gala.

During the podcast, they also reflected on the call theyd received about Katy Perrys dress shortly before the 2019 Met Gala, as there had been concern the bejeweled chandelier Moschino dress would not fit through the doors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

To ensure Perry could wear the outfit for the theme: Camp: Notes on Fashion, staff had to make a last-minute trip to the museum to measure the doors.

Fortunately, the outlet said that it has yet to receive a panicked call ahead of this years event.

The 2023 Met Gala will take place on 1 May and celebrate the opening of the Costume Institute exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.
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Adele Roberts has recalled the moment that Prince William sent her a supportive message following her bowel cancer diagnosis.

The BBC Radio 1 DJ, 44, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2021, has been open about her treatment journey on social media.

Roberts appeared on Thursdays instalment of Lorraine (20 April), to back ITVs No Butts campaign, which honours the late cancer campaigner Dame Deborah James who died in June aged 40.

Prince William also appeared on the show to support the campaign, before delivering a message to Lorraine viewers.

Roberts then revealed that she and William had spoken before.

Youve interviewed him before, youve spoken to him before and he actually sent you a message of support when you were diagnosed? host Lorraine Kelly asked the radio DJ.

Roberts recalled the conversation, remarking: Yeah, I couldnt believe it.

She continued: Im sure hes very busy and has got lots of things to do but thats how much he cares about this campaign and about people being aware [of the symptoms].

Deborah James posed with William after he made her a dame at her parents home (PA Media)

William has shown continuous support for campaigns surrounding bowel cancer awareness and he personally delivered a damehood to Deborah James one month before her death, to recognise her efforts as a cancer campaigner.

Elsewhere in the episode of Lorraine, the Prince of Wales shared a message encouraging viewers, especially men, to take note of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer.

Prince William told the show in a video message: Hi Lorraine, I just want to say a big thank you to you and your team for all youre doing to raise awareness around bowel cancer through your No Butts campaign.

As you know I got to meet Dame Deborah, so I know how important this was to her. 46,000 people each year get diagnosed with bowel cancer and yet many of us dont know the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, particularly in us men.

So if youre watching this, please take a second to listen and learn about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, it could save your life.

The No Butts campaign outlines the most common symptoms of bowel cancer as blood in your poo or from your bottom, obvious change in your bowel habit, weight loss you cant explain, extreme tiredness for no apparent reason and a lump or pain in your tummy.
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Tom Parker Bowles, son of Queen Consort Camilla, has hit back at Prince Harrys claim that his mother played an end game to become Queen.

Parker Bowles is the eldest child of Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles, who were married from 1973 to 1995. They also share daughter Laura Rose Lopes (nee Parker Bowles).

On Thursday 20 April, the 48-year-old British food writer appeared on The News Agents podcast where he discussed Camillas marriage to Charles, insisting that she just married the person she loved.

I think change happens but I dont care what anyone says  this wasnt any sort of end game, he said. She married the person she loved and this is what happened.

His comments come after the Duke of Sussex labelled his step-mother as the villain in his highly-publicised memoir, Spare, which was released last January. In the tell-all memoir, Prince Harry claimed that the Queen Consort leaked stories about the royal family to the media to bolster her image as part of a long game for marriage and the crown. I have complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar, he wrote.

However, sources close to the Queen Consort have said that Camilla was hurt to be branded as the villain by Harry.

Asked if his mother would be anxious in the run-up to the coronation, Parker Bowles said it was difficult for her to take on such a role during the ceremony but shes never complained.

I think anyone would be anxious on an occasion of this sort of importance in terms of the historical. And yes, I think Id be terrified if I had to sort of walk out wearing ancient robes   he said. Shes 75, but you know, its tough to do it. But shes never complained. You just do it. Get on with it.

He said it was not really weird to think of Camilla as the Queen, because shes still our mother. I say our but not the royal we, speaking for my sister and me. Shes our mother.

His remarks reflect those made by Charles and Camillas former royal butler, Grant Harrold, who told The Independent that she would be nervous and terrified ahead of the historic event.

[Charles] has done this for so long, the only thing that will worry him is that he is very particular and likes everything done and to go perfectly, Harrold said during an etiquette event this week.

Hell be more focused on making sure everybody knows what theyre doing. Hell trust his team, including the household team, the office, secretaries, hes going to trust that theyll get it right so that he just has to worry about making sure he gets the crown on the right way.

Tom Parker Bowles denied claims his mother played an end game to become Queen (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

The Duke of Sussex has confirmed his attendance at King Charles and Queen Camillas coronation on Saturday 6 May. In a statement, Buckingham Palace announced Prince Harry will attend the ceremony while his wife, Meghan Markle, will stay at home in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May, the Palace said on 12 April. The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Prince Harrys confirmation at the Kings coronation comes after months of speculation over whether the royal couple would attend the ceremony. It was reported that Harry was seeking an apology from Charles and Prince William before he made any commitment to the ceremony. Ahead of the publication of his memoir, Harry said in an interview that the door is always open for reconciliation.

In the same interview, Parker Bowles spoke about planned protests that are set to take place during the coronation on 6 May.

Everyone has a right to think what they want, he told podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. You know, we live in a, thankfully, a free country.

Republic is an activist group that calls to see the monarchy abolished and the King replaced with an elected, democratic head of state. The group says its supporters will march along The Mall on 6 May, which the King will proceed down from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. The demonstrators have been known to carry yellow protest signs emblazoned with the words, Not My King.

When asked whether he was worried that anti-monarchy demonstrators would get in the way of the King and his mothers coronation, Parker Bowles backed their right to protest. If people want to protest, thats their right to do so, I think, he added. If people protest, people protest. Youre allowed to protest, were all allowed to have different views. I think that makes for an interesting and civilised country.

Republic is set to stage the largest protest action in its history by lining the coronation procession route and gathering in Trafalgar Square. From there, they will march down the procession route towards Westminster Abbey  the site of the coronations of England and Britains monarchs since 1066.

Additional reporting by PA.
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Although King Charles III has been preparing for his coronation his entire life, Queen Consort Camillas trajectory has been rather different.

Because her life has taken such a different turn, the couples former butler has predicted that Camilla will be nervous on the day both she and the King are crowned.

From their 6 May coronation, Camilla will be known as Queen Camilla. Her new title was confirmed in the official coronation invitiations, which was designed by Andrew Jamieson.

Grant Harrold, who worked for Charles and Camilla from 2004 to 2011 when they were known as the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, told The Independent that Camilla will be absolutely terrified on the big day.

He said he is absolutely convinced that the new Queen will be nervous, adding that she is doing it to support her husband.

[Charles] has done this for so long, the only thing that will worry him is that he is very particular and likes everything done and to go perfectly, Harrold said during an etiquette event this week.

Hell be more focused on making sure everybody knows what theyre doing. Hell trust his team, including the household team, the office, secretaries, hes going to trust that theyll get it right so that he just has to worry about making sure he gets the crown on the right way.

Harrold described Camilla as a kind, kind lady who is genuinely not in it for this.

Charles and Camilla at a State Opening of Parliament (Alastair Grant/PA) (PA Archive)

She really loves the King, Ive seen that, its wonderful, he added. Its a friendship, a partnership, a relationship, so shes doing it to support him, thats why shes doing it.

If you said to her tomorrow, would you rather go and do something else? She probably would do something completely different. But because shes in it and she signed up to do this, shes going to go and do it, but I think she will be absolutely terrified because she didnt ask for this.

But the former royal butler was reassured that the King would ensure his wife will be OK during the historic occasion.

King Charles III (L) and Camilla, Queen Consort (R) cut a cake during an afternoon tea with volunteers and service users of the charity organisation Age UK at the Colchester Library during a visit to Colchester on March 7, 2023 (Getty Images)

Its going to be really quite special. Its going to be a surreal moment when we see them getting crowned, almost finishes the Queen Elizabeth era, he mused.

Harrold also revealed some insight into the King and Queen Consorts relationship. The couple have been married for 18 years.

She doesnt take her eyes off him, they are very good, he said. Shes got a separate home and everything  thats why I think it works so beautifully because shes got her own life, shes got Tom, Laura, her grandkids.

They are a really good team. Theyre very good with each other.
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Prosecutors say the mother charged in a triple murder case took part in a complex conspiracy that included unusual spiritual beliefs and efforts to kill those who stood in the way of her goals. Here, a look at the defendants and the first witnesses in the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell:

THE DEFENDANT:

Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, is a beautician by trade, a mother of three, and a wife  five times over. Shes pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of her two youngest kids and her new husbands previous wife.

Vallow Daybells first marriage, to a high school sweetheart when she was just 19, ended quickly. She married again in her early 20s, and had a son named Colby before divorcing. In 2001, Vallow Daybell married again, this time to a man named Joseph Ryan. The couple had a baby girl named Tylee in 2002, but divorced just a few years later. Ryan later died in his home of a suspected heart attack.

Charles Vallow, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, entered the picture several months later. Vallow Daybell joined the LDS church and the pair married in 2006. They later adopted Joshua Jaxon JJ Vallow.

But by 2019, that marriage had also soured. Charles Vallow filed for divorce, contending in court papers that Vallow Daybell also believed herself to be a deity tasked with helping to usher in the Biblical apocalypse.

The two were estranged but still married when Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles Vallow outside his Phoenix suburban home.

Cox told police the shooting was in self defense, and was never charged in the case. Shortly after Charles death, Vallow Daybell moved to eastern Idaho with JJ, Tylee and her brother Cox.

Chad Daybell became her fifth husband on November 5, 2019  roughly two weeks after his previous wife Tammy Daybell died under suspicious circumstances.

Meanwhile, JJ and Tylee were missing. They were last seen in September, and they were declared missing in November after extended family urged police to investigate. Their bodies were found the following year buried in Chad Daybells yard.

CHAD DAYBELL:

Daybell, 54, was also a member of the LDS church and a self-published author who wrote doomsday-focused fiction loosely based on church teachings. He married Tammy Daybell in 1990, and they had five kids.

Prosecutors say he met Vallow Daybell at a conference in Utah in 2018. The two purportedly felt an instant connection and claimed they had been married to each other in a past life, according to police records. Friends of the couple told investigators that the pair shared the same unusual beliefs, including that they could tell if someone had been taken over by an evil spirit.

Chad and Lori led a group of friends in trying to cast out the supposed evil spirits by praying and doing energy work, prosecutors said. Friends told police that in some cases they determined a person had become a zombie, fully controlled by the evil spirit. Vallow Daybell claimed the only way to get rid of a zombie was to destroy the persons body, prosecutors say, and one friend told police she heard Vallow Daybell call the children zombies before they disappeared.

Tammy Daybell was initially described as having died in her sleep of natural causes. But an autopsy showed she was asphyxiated to death, Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors on Monday.

Chad Daybell is also charged in the triple murder case. Like Vallow Daybell, he has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. He is expected to stand trial several months from now.

COLBY RYAN:

Ryan, 27, is Vallow Daybell's only living child. Though he was born of Vallow Daybell's second marriage, when his mother remarried Colby took Joe Ryan's last name.

Colby Ryan, who testified that he had a happy childhood, started crying on the stand when prosecutors showed him photos of Tylee and JJ, and talked about how Tylee was receiving social security benefits because her biological father Joe Ryan died in 2018. Sometimes she would send money to Colby Ryan through a phone app, and sometimes his mom would put money into Tylee's account to send to him, he said.

After Ryan moved out of the family home, he continued to exchange texts with Tylee. But shortly after what would have been Tylee's 17th birthday in September of 2019, the tone and syntax of those texts changed. Tylee had last been seen alive a few weeks earlier, but at the time Ryan didn't know she was missing.

The occasional money transfers continued too, though through a different phone app under his mother's name, he said.

After his siblings' bodies were found, Ryan confronted his mother in an emotional recorded phone call that was played for jurors.

The call starts with Ryan asking Vallow Daybell if she thought she could keep hiding from him.

I'm not hiding, why would you think I'm hiding?" she responds.

Probably because you murdered my siblings! Maybe you should understand," Ryan continued, before his mother interrupted:

I didn't. I'm sorry you feel that way, she said.

KAY WOODCOCK:

Woodcock is JJs grandmother, and she convinced Idaho police to check up on JJ after her normally regular phone calls and visits with the boy dried up. That welfare check in November of 2019 revealed that both kids were missing. JJs father, Charles Vallow, is actually Woodcocks brother: He adopted JJ as a baby because JJs biological parents  including Woodcocks son  were unable to care for the child.

Woodcock was the first witness in the trial. She told jurors that JJ was born with some disabilities and was diagnosed with autism. After Charles died, Woodcock feared Vallow Daybell no longer wanted the boy. She was also worried that JJ may had witnessed his fathers death.

We were so worried about JJ, and did he see what happened to his dad, Woodcock told jurors.
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A judge on Wednesday denied a motion to move the trial of a woman accused of killing and dismembering a man in Green Bay.

Taylor Schabusiness, 25, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault in the killing of Shad Thyrion, 25, in February 2022.

Lawyer Christopher Froelich, who represents Schabusiness, had argued that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in Brown County ... due to substantial pre-trial publicity and other factors.

But Brown County Circuit Judge Thomas Walsh decided that publicity exhibits presented by the defense were insufficient to warrant a change in venue or bringing a jury in from another jurisdiction.

The state said it would not object to questionnaires being sent to prospective jurors about their consumption of news about the case.

A judge ruled in March that Schabusiness is competent to stand trial.

In February she attacked her previous attorney during a hearing moments after a judge agreed to hear his request for an additional two weeks for a defense expert to review her competency. A deputy wrestled Schabusiness to the floor of the courtroom.

Schabusiness has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. She is being held on a $2 million cash bond.
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GDPR, which was introduced in May 2018, has had a significant impact on the B2B data industry in the UK. The regulation sets out strict rules regarding how businesses can collect, store and use customer data. These rules have forced many companies to re-evaluate their data collection and storage practices and to implement stricter data controls.

One of the key changes resulting from GDPR is a renewed focus on data accuracy. The regulation requires businesses to ensure that the personal data they collect and process is accurate, up-to-date and relevant. This has led to a greater emphasis on data cleansing and data validation services, which help businesses to ensure that their data is accurate and reliable.

Another important change in the B2B data industry is the increasing emphasis on data refresh speed. With businesses relying more heavily on data to inform their decision-making, it is essential that the data they use is up-to-date and relevant. The traditional c.12-18 month supplier refresh cycles is no longer acceptable for data purchasers.

The focus on data accuracy and refresh speed is not just about complying with legislation. It is also about improving the customer experience. By using accurate and up-to-date data, businesses can provide more personalized and targeted marketing and sales campaigns, which are more likely to resonate with customers. Using our patent pending technology, Go Live Data revalidates the entire data-universe a maximum of every 30 days.

There have also been developments in the B2B data industry relating to data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies enable businesses to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour and preferences, which can be used to inform marketing and sales strategies.

Looking to the future, B2B data purchasers are looking for ever more niche data sets and the mantra of the next decade will almost certainly be that less is more.

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A new Covid strain behind a surge of infections in India has sparked fears it could also lead to a rise in cases in the UK.

Research indicates Arcturus could be one 1.2 times more infectious than the last major sub-variant.

Also known as Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, the strain was first identified in January and has been monitored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 22 March, which upgraded it to a variant of interest in mid-April.

Addressing Arcturuss emergence at a press conference on 29 March, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHOs technical lead for Covid, said: Its been in circulation for a few months.

We havent seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations, but thats why we have these systems in place. It has one additional mutation in the spike protein, which, in lab studies, shows increased infectivity as well as potential increased pathogenicity.

The sub-variant, one of 600 spawned from Omicron so far but seemingly no more lethal than others, has been detected in 34 countries so far, including Britain and US.

In India, the countrys health ministry reported 63,380 active Covid cases on 25 April, part of a steady six-week rise that has prompted compulsory face masks to be introduced in some states, hospitals to carry out mock drills and vaccine production to be ramped up.

India was devastated by the Delta wave in 2021 and suffered a total of 4.7m excess deaths, according to WHO estimates.

Dr Vipin Vashishtha, a paediatrician and former head of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Immunisation, told The Hindustan Times that Arcturuss symptoms include a high fever, a cough and itchy conjunctivitis or pinkeye.

Five deaths and around 135 cases have been detected in the UK so far, according to the UK Health Security Agency, but Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia has told The Daily Mail it is too soon to say that Britain could face a fresh surge in infections driven by Arcturus.

Commuters wear face masks amidst the spike in Covid cases in Chennai, India (EPA)

Although in India it has taken off in the past few weeks so far it has not been increasing rapidly globally, Professor Hunter said.

I suspect we will see a wave of infections with this variant but I doubt it will cause a big wave probably not even as great as the one we have just had in the UK and so probably not put as great a pressure on health services than recently.

The professor was alluding to the Kraken strain of Covid, also known as XBB.1.5, which was the dominant form of the disease in Britain until February.

Scientists at the University of Tokyo comparing the Kraken and Arcturus sub-variants have suggested that the newer strain spreads about 1.17 to 1.27 times more efficiently than its relative, warning that it will spread worldwide in the near future aided by the fact that it seems robustly resistant to antibodies lingering in the body from previous Covid infections.

In the US, Arcturus is now responsible for 9.6 per cent of American Covid cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO.

Virologist Professor Lawrence Young from the University of Warwick told The Independent that the rise of the new variant in India is a sign that were not yet out of the woods.

We have to keep an eye on it, he said. When a new variant arises you have to find out if its more infectious, more disease-causing, is it more pathogenic? And whats going to happen in terms of immune protection.

These kinds of things highlight the importance of genomic surveillance but a lot of countries including our own have let our guards down a bit and we cant be sure what variants are around and what level of infection theyre causing until we see a significant outbreak.
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Ralph Yarl was shot at point-blank range in the head by a white homeowner but miraculously survived the bullet to his skull, the attorney for the family of the Black teenager said.

As Yarl, 16, recovers at home, the 84-year-old owner of the Kansas City, Missouri, home where Yarl mistakenly went to pick up his brothers faces his first court appearance Wednesday. Andrew Lester is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He could face life in prison if convicted. Lester does not yet have an attorney listed, according to Missouri's online court reporting system.

Do you all understand that this 16-year-old boy was shot at point blank range in the face?" Merritt asked the crowd of about 150 supporters Tuesday at a downtown rally. "A bullet traveled from (Lester's) gun less than 5 feet into his upper temple, penetrated his skull, and they scraped bullet fragments off his frontal lobe on Thursday. On Saturday, he was home playing with his dog.

One sign at the rally read, He is only 16. Another: Is this what Kansas City has come to? Stop gun violence.

Lester turned himself in Tuesday and was later released on bond. Conditions of his bond include monitoring of his cellphone, prohibition for possessing weapons of any type, and a stipulation that Lester not have contact with Yarl or his family.

Merritt and some civil rights leaders urged a hate crime charge. Merritt said Yarl was shot because he was armed only with his Black skin."

But Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson said first-degree assault is a higher-level crime with a longer sentence of up to life in prison. Meanwhile, it was unclear if the U.S. Department of Justice was weighing a federal hate crime charge. Messages seeking comment from the Justice Department were not returned.

The shooting happened about 10 p.m. Thursday. Police Chief Stacey Graves said that Yarls parents asked him to pick up his twin brothers at a home on 115th Terrace.

Yarl, an honors student and all-state band member, mistakenly went to 115th Street  a block away from where he meant to be. When he rang the bell, Lester came to the door and shot Yarl in the forehead, and then shot him again in the right forearm.

Lester told police he lives alone and was scared to death when he saw a Black male on the porch and thought someone was trying to break in, according to the probable cause statement.

But Merritt said Yarl is hardly an imposing figure.

The question is, at 5-8 and 140 pounds, what did Andrew Lester look out and see? Merritt asked. And the answer is he saw a Black person. And for him, that was enough justification. And that would just be a tragedy except law enforcement agreed with him.

No words were exchanged before the shooting, but afterward, as Yarl got up to run, he heard Lester yell, Dont come around here, the statement said.

Yarl ran to multiple homes asking for help before finding someone who would call the police, the statement said.

James Lynch was the neighbor who found Yarl. He didnt respond to an interview request, but his wife confirmed an NBC News report that said Lynch heard shouting and saw Yarl banging on the door of another home.

I heard somebody screaming, Help, help, Ive been shot! Lynch, who is white, told NBC. The father of three ran out and found Yarl covered in blood. Lynch checked his pulse and, when another neighbor came out with towels, helped stem the bleeding until paramedics arrived.

The shooting outraged many in Kansas City and across the country. President Joe Biden spoke with Yarl on Monday, and on Tuesday invited him to the White House.

No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, Biden tweeted. Weve got to keep up the fight against gun violence.

Thompson said Monday that there was a racial component to the shooting. He did not elaborate. Assistant prosecutor Alexander Higginbotham said in an email Tuesday that there is not a racial element to the legal charges that were filed.

Merritt said the Yarl family met privately with Thompson. The prosecutor said he was echoing the words from law enforcement that obviously theres a racial dynamic at play in this case, said Merritt, who called the answer shallow.

Legal experts agreed with Thompson that charging Lester with a hate crime would have potentially meant a shorter sentence if he is convicted. Washington University School of Law professor Peter Joy said the state hate crime law is used only to enhance low-level felony or misdemeanor charges.

Experts expect Lester's lawyers will claim self-defense under Missouris stand your ground law, which allows for the use of deadly force if a person fears for their life. Missouri is among roughly 30 states with such statutes.

___

Salter reported from OFallon, Missouri. Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed to this report.
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The scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI) group has passed fresh information to the police regarding a report of a serious criminal offence.

The CBI, one of the countrys most influential business organisations, said it is liaising closely with the authorities and has urged anyone with further information to come forward.

In a separate incident, police launched an investigation after the group fired former director general Tony Danker and suspended three other employees following allegations of misconduct that rocked the CBI.

It is understood the latest allegation relates to a new incident rather than previously reported incidents.

A CBI spokesperson said: Late yesterday afternoon, the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence.

We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters.

Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police.

We are anticipating findings from Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently.

The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.

Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that more than a dozen women had approached the publication saying they had been victims of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the lobbying group.

One woman alleged to the newspaper that she had been raped during a staff party in 2019 and was later told by a manager to get counselling rather than pursue the issue further.

The woman said she had not reported the event to the police and the CBI told the newspaper it had no record of the incident.

Separately, former CBI director-general Tony Danker was sacked last week after being accused of making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the organisation.

Separately, former CBI director-general Tony Danker was sacked last week after being accused of making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the organisation (PA)

On Wednesday, he said his reputation has been totally destroyed by the allegation and claimed he has been made a fall guy for a wider crisis.

Mr Danker told the BBC his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims, including the rape which allegedly happened before he joined the CBI.

After initial allegations, the business group also suspended three other employees and hired law firm Fox Williams to carry out an internal investigation.

On Thursday, the CBI spokesman added: We are anticipating findings from Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently.

The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.
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A rape charge against the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation has been dropped after a German court said it did not have jurisdiction over the case.

Christian Brueckner was due to go on trial for an alleged rape in Portugal but a court in the city of Braunschweig threw out the case, his lawyer said, Bild newspaper reported. The rape allegation is not linked to Madeleines case.

German prosecutors last year said they had charged Brueckner with several sexual offences they believe he committed in Portugal between 28 December 2000, and 11 June 2017. The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brueckner first came up in the Madeleine investigation in 2020 and he was officially named as a suspect last year.

Three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from the bed of her holiday apartment while her parents and family friends dined 180 feet away.

Her two-year-old twin siblings were also in the apartment she went missing from. Madeleines parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been searching for answers ever since.

The Metropolitan Police took over the investigation, Operation Grange, in 2011 but they hit dead ends. Brueckners emergence in the case was the first major breakthrough since 2007.

Christian Brueckner (Reuters)

He is described as being about 6ft tall, slim and white with short blond hair.

Already in prison in Germany for the rape and murder of a 72-year-old woman, he was charged with multiple sex offences which were alleged to have taken place between 2000 and 2007.

Police in Germany claimed to have concrete evidence that Madeleine was dead but this has not been confirmed.

A spokesperson from the Braunschweig prosecutors office previously said: The accused is the same person against whom charges were brought in connection with the disappearance of the then three-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann.

Madeleine McCann disappeared from the bed of her holiday apartment while her parents and family friends dined 180 feet away (PA Media)

Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children.

The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues.

The charges mentioned do not relate to the McCann case. But in May German police claimed to have found new evidence linked to Madeleine inside a van belonging to Brueckner.

Brueckner had reportedly been using a yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan in and around Praia da Luz  the Algarve resort where the McCanns were holidaying at the time Madeleine vanished.

German prosecutors said telecomms data showed Brueckner received a phone call on 3 May 2007 near the Praia da Luz holiday apartment from which the three-year-old went missing. He claimed to have been miles from the scene with a young German woman.

Brueckner, who has always denied any involvement in Madeleines disappearance, insists he drove the woman, who was on holiday with her parents, to the airport in Faro for her return flight home the following day.
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An electrician has been jailed for three years for killing a millionaire banker outside The Ivy Club after a mistaken identity - with the victims family having sought a longer sentence.

Steven Allan punched Paul Mason three times outside the Soho venue on December 15, 2020, in a brutal attack which floored the chief executive of Qatar National Bank.

Mr Mason suffered serious head injuries from which he died six months later. His brother Simon Mason died three months after that from a reported alcohol overdose which was reportedly brought on by trauma and grief, according to their sister Rachel Mason.

It was said in court that Allan, 35, was several drinks deep when he confronted the victim after wrongly believing he had stolen his friends mobile phone.

The Ivy in Soho, the scene of the crime (Google)

The Old Bailey had heard that Mr Mason did not react with any violence or aggression and had attempted to turn the other cheek and walk away when approached by Allan.

It was then Allan delivered a devastating uppercut, poleaxing Mr Mason, who flew back and landed on his back with his head hitting the pavement. The incident took 12 seconds and was captured on CCTV.

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC said the defendant was aggressive and seemed to want to continue fighting even as Mr Mason lay gravely injured.

According to one witness, Allan had shouted: Wheres your fight now, show me your fight now.

Allan, 35, from Hook in Hampshire, had admitted manslaughter and was cleared of the more serious offence of murder after a trial.

His guilty plea and lesser charge were the reasons for the lighter sentence.

Steven Allan pleaded guilty to manslaughter (PA)

On Thursday, Mr Masons family blamed Allan for a double tragedy as they told how his vulnerable brother took an overdose three months after his death.

Reading her victim impact statement in court, Mr Masons sister Rachel Mason said: You, Steven Allan, violently attacked and killed my brother and have left me heartbroken and devastated.

A feeling of melancholy will continue for the rest of my life as I have to live without Paul. You have broken my family forever.

She detailed the traumatic journey of horror, hope and then devastation in the months after the brutal attack.

Addressing the dock, she said: Can you imagine how frightening that was for him when he woke up and how hard it was for us not to be with him when he needed us.

We ultimately watched Paul die as the brain damage you caused took his life and the life support was withdrawn.

Paul Mason died from his head injuries (PA)

Mr Mason, who was made a freeman of the City of London for charitable works, was a remarkably kind, decent, gentle soul who was successful in all aspects of his life, she said.

On the death of her other sibling, she said: My other brother Simon, a vulnerable adult, could not cope with the killing of his little brother.

He was consumed by trauma and grief and took an overdose three months after Paul died. You have left me with no brothers at all.

I have no doubt whatever your actions contributed to the death of my other sibling.

She added: I hope you feel sick to the pit of your stomach every day for the rest of your life, shame and disgust as you live with  in my mind  being a murderer.

Holding up her brothers mobile, she told Allan: This is Pauls phone  you killed him for this.

Mr Masons elderly parents Ian and Linda, who attended court by video link, also blamed Allan for the death of both their sons.

The Old Bailey, where the case was heard (PA Archive)

His father said in a statement read in court: He is responsible for taking the lives of two people. I hope a vile thug will be taken off the streets so he cannot ruin the lives of another family the way he has ruined ours.

In mitigation, William Boyce KC said the defendants remorse for what happened had affected every aspect of his life.

Jailing Allan to three years and nine months, Judge Michael Topolski KC said: The circumstances that led to the defendant causing the death of a perfectly respectable, wholly innocent stranger who happened to be passing by are as extraordinary as they are tragic.

The sudden and exceptional nature of the circumstances that led to his death have, I am sure, significantly exacerbated the familys feelings of disbelief, distress and anger at the nature of his passing.

The judge acknowledged the defendants admission his actions were born from unsupportable nonsense.

He went on to highly commend the off-duty critical care nurses who witnessed the attack on Mr Mason and went to his aid before emergency services arrived.

He added: For all they knew this could have been some kind of terrorist operating going.

Detective chief inspector Wayne Jolley, said: Paul Masons death tragically illustrates the consequences of resorting to physical violence. Even where there is no murderous intent, there is no guarantee that a violent attack wont result in death.

A spokesperson for Paul Masons family, said: We are immensely disappointed that the jury did not all see the intent to cause serious harm that most people who saw the CCTV concluded.

We really hoped he would get a life sentence, but we must try to accept the jurys decision.

At least he will be imprisoned for killing Paul and we can start to move forward a little.
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A man has been jailed for three years and nine months for drunkenly attacking and killing a respected international banker after he left The Ivy Club in Londons West End.

Kind and gentle Paul Mason, 52, a boss at Qatar National Bank, was set upon in the street near the exclusive private members club in Soho, on the evening of December 15 2020.

Electrician Steven Allan, who had been out drinking with a colleague, punched Mr Mason three times in the mistaken belief that he had stolen a mobile phone belonging to his friend.

The incident took just 12 seconds and was captured on CCTV viewed by jurors in Allans trial.

The Old Bailey had heard that Mr Mason did not react with any violence or aggression and had attempted to turn the other cheek and walk away when approached by Allan.

When Allan delivered an upper cut, Mr Mason was poleaxed, flew back and landed on his back with his head hitting the pavement.

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC said the defendant was aggressive and seemed to want to continue fighting even as Mr Mason lay gravely injured.

According to one witness, Allan had shouted: Wheres your fight now, show me your fight now.

Mr Mason had suffered serious head injuries from which he died six months later.

Allan, 35, from Hook in Hampshire, had admitted the manslaughter and was cleared of the more serious offence of murder after a trial.

On Thursday, Mr Masons family blamed Allan for a double tragedy as they told how his vulnerable brother took an overdose three months after his death.

Reading her victim impact statement in court, Mr Masons sister Rachel Mason said: You, Steven Allan, violently attacked and killed my brother and have left me heartbroken and devastated.

A feeling of melancholy will continue for the rest of my life as I have to live without Paul. You have broken my family forever.

He is responsible for taking the lives of two people. I hope a vile thug will be taken off the streets so he cannot ruin the lives of another family the way he has ruined ours Paul Mason's parents

She detailed the traumatic journey of horror, hope and then devastation in the months after the brutal attack.

Addressing the dock, she said: Can you imagine how frightening that was for him when he woke up and how hard it was for us not to be with him when he needed us.

We ultimately watched Paul die as the brain damage you caused took his life and the life support was withdrawn.

Mr Mason, who was made a freeman of the City of London for charitable works, was a remarkably kind, decent, gentle soul who was successful in all aspects of his life, she said.

On the death of her other sibling, she said: My other brother Simon, a vulnerable adult, could not cope with the killing of his little brother.

He was consumed by trauma and grief and took an overdose three months after Paul died. You have left me with no brothers at all.

I have no doubt whatever your actions contributed to the death of my other sibling.

She added: I hope you feel sick to the pit of your stomach every day for the rest of your life, shame and disgust as you live with  in my mind  being a murderer.

The circumstances that led to the defendant causing the death of a perfectly respectable, wholly innocent stranger who happened to be passing by are as extraordinary as they are tragic Judge Michael Topolski KC

Holding up her brothers mobile, she told Allan: This is Pauls phone  you killed him for this.

Mr Masons elderly parents Ian and Linda Mason, who attended court by video link, also blamed Allan for the death of both their sons.

His father said in a statement read in court: He is responsible for taking the lives of two people. I hope a vile thug will be taken off the streets so he cannot ruin the lives of another family the way he has ruined ours.

In mitigation, William Boyce KC said the defendants remorse for what happened had affected every aspect of his life.

Jailing Allan to three years and nine months, Judge Michael Topolski KC said: The circumstances that led to the defendant causing the death of a perfectly respectable, wholly innocent stranger who happened to be passing by are as extraordinary as they are tragic.

The sudden and exceptional nature of the circumstances that led to his death have, I am sure, significantly exacerbated the familys feelings of disbelief, distress and anger at the nature of his passing.

The judge acknowledged the defendants admission his actions were born from unsupportable nonsense.

He went on to highly commend the off-duty critical care nurses who witnessed the attack on Mr Mason and went to his aid before emergency services arrived.

He added: For all they knew this could have been some kind of terrorist operating going.

We are immensely disappointed that the jury did not all see the intent to cause serious harm that most people who saw the CCTV concluded. We really hoped he would get a life sentence, but we must try to accept the jurys decision. At least he will be imprisoned for killing Paul and we can start to move forward a little Paul Mason's family after sentencing

Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, said: Paul Masons death tragically illustrates the consequences of resorting to physical violence. Even where there is no murderous intent, there is no guarantee that a violent attack wont result in death.

Mr Masons family are devastated by this incident. Paul was an innocent victim of an unprovoked attack which resulted in a serious brain injury. They have had the unenviable experience of a trial and a retrial but have acted with dignity throughout. Our thoughts are very much with them today.

A spokesperson for Paul Masons family, said: We are immensely disappointed that the jury did not all see the intent to cause serious harm that most people who saw the CCTV concluded. We really hoped he would get a life sentence, but we must try to accept the jurys decision. At least he will be imprisoned for killing Paul and we can start to move forward a little.

Words cannot express how traumatised and distressed we were when we were told about the attack on Paul, a senseless act of violence on an entirely innocent man simply making his way home from an evening out with friends.

We will be eternally grateful to the three nurses who bravely, after witnessing the attack, stepped in to protect and care for Paul as he lay unconscious on the pavement before Pauls killer ran away.

The helicopter emergency service, on scene medics, the critical care team at St Marys who battled to save Pauls life and all the clinicians involved in Pauls care. Our wonderful NHS at its very best despite being mid-pandemic.

Also, the Met police and CPS for bringing the perpetrator to justice and face the consequences of his actions which thankfully was caught on Londons CCTV network.
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A self-pitying husband murdered his wife and their daughter after his wife began a relationship with a colleague at the Homebase store where she worked, a court heard.

Police found the bodies of Jillu Nash, 43, and 12-year-old Louise at their home in Great Waldingfield, Sudbury, Suffolk, while 47-year-old Peter Nash was found covered in blood and holding a knife.

Nash had stabbed himself in the chest multiple times and tried to gas himself to death, prosecutor David Josse KC said.

He said that the defendant murdered the pair either late on September 7 or early on September 8 last year.

In a video played to jurors at Ipswich Crown Court, a Taser officer yelled at Nash: Theres a red dot on you, drop the knife.

Mrs Nashs partner, Homebase colleague Mark Leamey, had become concerned when she did not respond to his messages late on September 7 and on the morning of September 8 last year.

Having killed his wife and his daughter, the defendant made a determined attempt to try to cover up not so much the killing, but some of the evidence behind it David Josse KC

He visited the Tesco store, where Mrs Nash also worked part-time, and then Louises school when he could not find her at her workplace, before visiting their home, with police called when there was no response.

The prosecutor said that Mr and Mrs Nash married in 2009, and at the time Mrs Nash was an Indian national.

She applied for leave to remain in the UK as the spouse of a British national in 2010 and their daughter Louise was born soon after, later to be diagnosed with non-verbal autism.

The family had lived in Leicester before moving to Suffolk in 2018.

Mr Josse said Mrs Nashs life rather flourished in Suffolk.

He said that Nash was made redundant from Philips Electronics in the summer of 2020.

Mr Josse earlier told jurors that the couple had a difficult and unhappy marriage.

The prosecutor said that after the deaths police found a series of videos on Mrs Nashs phone, of the pair talking, adding: We would suggest it appears that Jillu was trying to record this covertly.

In one clip, Mrs Nash tells her husband youre a certified c***, and he replies youre a validated cheater.

In a second, Nash asks his wife: The one youre cheating with  is he at Homebase, or Tesco, or is he a friend of the family?

He attempted to destroy his telephone, his wifes telephone and made some attempt as well at their home computer David Josse, KC

In a third, recorded less than a fortnight before the deaths, Nash accuses his wife of being a schemer, you cause chaos, you try to cause drama to get attention.

And in a fourth clip, he says: The past four months youve been cheating, after which she tells him it is actually eight months.

Mr Josse said that having killed his wife and his daughter, the defendant made a determined attempt to try to cover up not so much the killing, but some of the evidence behind it.

He attempted to destroy his telephone, his wifes telephone and made some attempt as well at their home computer, he said.

The prosecutor said police managed to access Mrs Nashs phone, where the videos were stored, but have not been able to access Nashs phone.

Police also examined a computer tower from the family home.

Mr Josse said that three TikTok videos were accessed at 6.25am, which he said showed the embittered and self-pitying mindset from which the defendant had become entrenched.

One of the clips had the text: A broken man who has rebuilt himself is very dangerous.

A second said: Tell me why when anything gets rough in a relationship women are told to leave him and men are told to try and fix things.

The third, which showed Kermit the Frog by a fire, said: Do girls actually feel for hurting a guy or do they just say their apologies and never think about how she affected his life again.

The prosecutor said that Mrs Nash died of compression of the neck and Louise died of a single stab wound to the abdomen.

Nash denies two counts of murder.

The defendant, who has chosen to represent himself, was not in the dock on Thursday and the judge, Mr Justice Edward Murray, addressed jurors about this.

He said: You will see that the defendant isnt here today, but you shouldnt speculate about the reason for his absence.

The trial continues.
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Dominic Raabs position as Deputy Prime Minister is in the balance as Rishi Sunak considers the findings of a long-awaited report into bullying allegations.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister is carefully considering the report, from senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC, which was handed to No 10 on Thursday morning.

Mr Sunaks previous expression of having full confidence in Mr Raab still stands, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said.

But obviously hes carefully considering the findings of the report before coming to a judgment.

Mr Raab was investigated over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

Downing Street would not indicate when the report will be published but insisted a resolution will be sought as swiftly as possible.

Obviously he's carefully considering the findings of the report before coming to a judgment Spokesperson for Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister has received the report from Adam Tolley, the independent investigator. He received the findings this morning  he is considering those findings, the spokesman said.

While there was no formal role for Mr Sunaks ethics tsar Sir Laurie Magnus in the investigation, the Prime Minister could consult him before delivering his verdict on Mr Raab -though such conversations are usually kept private.

Sir Laurie had not been appointed as the independent adviser on ministers interests when the investigation into Mr Raab was launched.

Mr Sunak is the ultimate arbiter on issues around ministerial conduct and the final decision on his close ally Mr Raab will rest with him.

One person involved in the process described the review as devastating, while a senior Government official said Mr Raab is toast, according to the Financial Times.

The Guardian said senior Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Mr Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, is cleared of the allegations.

A decision not to sanction him would be demoralising for staff in the department, a source told the paper.

Mr Raab has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully and defended his forthright approach to his work.

The minister funded his own legal team to defend against the allegations, it emerged on Wednesday.

The declaration in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests came despite taxpayers footing an estimated 222,000 bill for former prime minister Boris Johnsons legal fees in the partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

In the register, Mr Raabs entry notes read: The minister has engaged lawyers at his own expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.

Mr Tolley was appointed in November to lead the investigation into Mr Raabs conduct but it is not known when Mr Raab first engaged legal representation.

Mr Raab remained at work on Thursday morning, responding to Crown Prosecution Service statistics on rape cases.

He issued a tweet and statement on the issue in his role as Justice Secretary.
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Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry has hit out at the outdated system for dealing with complaints in Westminster which has allowed Dominic Raab to continue in his job while under investigation.

Amid reports that the review of the Deputy Prime Ministers conduct could be released as soon as Thursday, Sir Jake said it was wrong for Mr Raab to continue in his job while facing bullying allegations.

Appearing on ITVs Peston show on Wednesday night, Sir Jake, who served in the cabinets of both Boris Johnson and Theresa May, said: It does seem to me quite wrong that when people are under these kinds of investigations of this type that they continue in their job.

He added: Whatever the outcome is, and were going to find out tomorrow, I actually think theres a fundamental rethink required about how we deal with these sorts of allegations, both in Government made against ministers and made against Members of Parliament.

Its a massively outdated system that isnt what our constituents would expect of any of us.

Sir Jakes comments come amid reports that senior Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Mr Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, is cleared of the allegations.

A decision not to sanction him would be demoralising for staff in the department, the Guardian quoted a source as saying.

One person involved in the process described the review as devastating while a senior Government official said Mr Raab was toast, according to the Financial Times.

Mr Raab has been under investigation for months over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

The result of the long-running probe is expected imminently, with reports that it may be a matter of hours before the review by Adam Tolley KC is made public.

The Deputy Prime Minister has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully but defended his forthright approach to his work.

Senior lawyer Mr Tolley is said to have been thorough in his handling of the investigation, having interviewed Mr Raab multiple times and spoken to or taken written evidence from a number of others.

It emerged earlier on Wednesday that the minister had forked out for his own legal team to defend himself against the allegations.

The declaration in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests came despite the taxpayer footing an estimated 222,000 bill for Boris Johnsons legal fees in the partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

In the register, Mr Raabs entry notes read: The minister has engaged lawyers at his own expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.

Mr Tolley was appointed in November to lead the investigation into Mr Raabs conduct but it is not known when Mr Raab first engaged legal representation.

It remains unclear why he paid for his own lawyers when Mr Johnson  whose outside earnings since leaving office have made him the highest-paid MP over the past 12 months  received Government support.

Mr Raabs team did not respond to the reports on Wednesday apart from to suggest it would be inappropriate to comment on the investigation before it had been completed.
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Dominic Raabs position as Deputy Prime Minister remains precarious as Rishi Sunak continues to consider a report into allegations he bullied officials.

The report was handed to the Prime Minister on Thursday morning and despite promises of a swift response several hours passed with no word from Downing Street on Mr Raabs fate.

Mr Sunaks previous expression of having full confidence in Mr Raab still stands, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said during a regular briefing for reporters.

But obviously hes carefully considering the findings of the report before coming to a judgment.

Mr Raab was investigated over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

Downing Street would not indicate when the report will be published but insisted a resolution will be sought as swiftly as possible.

The Prime Minister has received the report from Adam Tolley, the independent investigator. He received the findings this morning  he is considering those findings, the spokesman said.

At a later briefing, another No 10 spokesman declined to give further details of the deliberations  and would not guarantee a decision would be reached on Thursday.

Obviously he's carefully considering the findings of the report before coming to a judgment spokesperson for Rishi Sunak

Asked if Mr Sunak had spoken to his deputy, the spokesman said: Im not going to get into private conversations while the process is ongoing.

The Prime Minister continues to consider the findings of the report.

While there was no formal role for Mr Sunaks ethics tsar Sir Laurie Magnus in the investigation, the Prime Minister could consult him before delivering his verdict on Mr Raab  although such conversations are usually kept private.

Sir Laurie had not been appointed as the independent adviser on ministers interests when the investigation into Mr Raab was launched.

Mr Sunak is the ultimate arbiter on issues around ministerial conduct and the final decision on his close ally Mr Raab will rest with him.

One person involved in the process described the review as devastating, while a senior Government official said Mr Raab is toast, according to the Financial Times.

The Guardian said senior Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Mr Raab, who is also Justice Secretary, is cleared of the allegations.

A decision not to sanction him would be demoralising for staff in the department, a source told the paper.

Mr Raab has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully and defended his forthright approach to his work.

The minister funded his own legal team to defend against the allegations, it emerged on Wednesday.

The declaration in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests came despite taxpayers footing an estimated 222,000 bill for former prime minister Boris Johnsons legal fees in the partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

In the register, Mr Raabs entry notes read: The minister has engaged lawyers at his own expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.

Mr Tolley was appointed in November to lead the investigation into Mr Raabs conduct but it is not known when Mr Raab first engaged legal representation.

Mr Raab remained at work on Thursday, responding to Crown Prosecution Service statistics on rape cases.

He issued a tweet and statement on the issue in his role as Justice Secretary.
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Rishi Sunak has received the long-awaited report into bullying allegations made against Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and maintains full confidence in him while he carefully considers its findings, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Ministers official spokesperson confirmed the review was handed over by Adam Tolley KC on Thursday morning.

Mr Raab has been under investigation for months over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

The Prime Minister has received the report from Adam Tolley, the independent investigator. He received the findings this morning  he is considering those findings, Downing Street said.He does have full confidence in the (Deputy) Prime Minister  that still stands. Obviously he is carefully considering the findings of the report.
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Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said that the new EU-UK trade deal for Northern Ireland will not be renegotiated, but added that Brexit will never just be done.

The Taoiseach also said he is working with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to attempt to restore the powersharing institutions after Northern Irelands local elections next month.

In a push to revive the Stormont Assembly and executive, a new trade agreement was struck by the EU and UK in February that sought to amend the post-Brexit protocol and resolve the concerns about red tape raised by Northern Ireland businesses and unionists.

Although the British parliament and EU have formally signed off on the Windsor Framework deal, the DUP and former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have voted against a key element of it.

I dont think the DUP will be browbeaten or bullied into doing anything. Leo Varadkar

The DUP has made clear its ongoing boycott of the powersharing institutions will continue until it secures further assurances over its concerns around sovereignty and the application of EU law in Northern Ireland.

During a live interview at Bloombergs New Economy Gateway Europe event in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said that he believes the Windsor Framework resolves the relationship between the UK and EU.

It has now been agreed between the EU and the UK, nobody is calling for it to be opened or renegotiated, not even the DUP, he said on Thursday.

The issues they raise are bilateral with the UK Government. So I do think it gives us a settled trading relationship for Northern Ireland.

Now we need to focus on getting institutions back up and running, but that wont involve reopening the Windsor Framework.

He also said that he hoped for a closer trade relationship between the UK and the EU in future years, but added that the prospect of the UK rejoining the bloc was remote.

What I would say though, is that none of these things are necessarily the final word with the UKs trading relationship with the EU, he said.

We know that in the next few months, they are going to start their checks on imports from the EU.

Thats going to affect us, and anyone who trades with the UK. Brexit will never just be done, it will require constant negotiations and alterations to the relationship.

The beautiful thing about the single market is that you dont need to worry about any of that, you all have the same rules.

The relationship with the UK is going to be more like the relationships we have with Switzerland or other third countries like Norway, where agreements have to be amended from time to time.

One thing I would still hope for in the future, and its not impossible in my view, is that a future British government  maybe not the next one, maybe not the one after that  will seek a closer relationship with the European Union again.

That might not be rejoining, I think thats a remote prospect, but it might involve a revision of the Trade Cooperation Agreement to have a closer relationship, and thats something that the door will always be open to.

He said he hoped pressure on DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson would have a positive effect.

But I dont think the DUP will be browbeaten or bullied into doing anything. They will make their decisions based on what they think is right, hopefully, what is right for Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the UK, and not what is just right for them as a political party.

And they have set up a group under Peter Robinson that is advising them on what the next step forward should be.

There are local elections in May, but Prime Minister Sunak and I will be working towards a window after the local elections to try and get the institutions stood up.

Im very keen to talk to the five major parties about that.

Lets not forget there are five major parties in Northern Ireland. The DUP is important because it is the biggest party representing the unionist community. But it is not the only one. It has 20% of the vote and we shouldnt forget that.

And I do think that if the new Executive is going to be set up, it will need help from the two governments  political help, financial help, and were up for that.

He said that the only plan is to stand up for the institutions and said that he didnt believe that anyone thought direct rule from Westminster was viable.

And nobody thinks that a new set of elections will change things. So Plan A is the only plan at the moment, he said.
Recommendations for a more joined-up approach to the care of disabled children in care homes must be fully implemented otherwise appalling harm suffered by this vulnerable group could be repeated, experts have warned.

Health and education watchdogs should carry out joint inspections of residential settings and urgent training must take place on the use of physical restraints, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel said.

It has made nine recommendations to government departments, inspectorates and NHS England, as it published its latest report on protecting children with disabilities and complex health needs from abuse in these settings.
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One of the first prisoners affected by a law that makes it harder for certain killers to be released from jail has been told he will face a public parole hearing.

Glyn Razzell was refused release from prison in October while serving a life sentence for the murder of his estranged 41-year-old wife, mother-of-four Linda Razzell, who disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College in Wiltshire in March 2002.

He was one of the first prisoners to be considered by the Parole Board under Helens Law  which makes it harder for killers to get parole if they refuse to reveal where they hid their victims body.

The Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Act 2020 was named after insurance clerk Helen McCourt, who vanished on her way home from work in Billinge, Merseyside, in 1988.

Razzell denied killing his estranged wife but was found guilty by a jury but no trace of her body has ever been found.

The pair were embroiled in divorce proceedings when she went missing. His trial heard that he faced a financial settlement which he was not prepared to accept.

Razzell, 63, appealed over the Parole Boards decision to refuse him early release from prison in 2021, claiming the panels use of Helens Law was irrational. The bid was denied.

On Wednesday, the Parole Board said the killer opposed requests for a public hearing but the victims familys wishes for proceedings not to be held in private were granted.

Razzell is set to join wife killer Russell Causley and notorious prisoner Charles Bronson as one of the first inmates in UK legal history to have their case heard in public after rules were changed last year in a bid to remove the secrecy around the process.

The Parole Board said it had received a number of representations over why the case should be heard in public  including that Razzell is one of the few prisoners to fall under Helens Law and the high level of public interest in the matter.

He will now face a two-day parole hearing, beginning on August 24.
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A fit and healthy doctor died of unintended consequences of vaccination after a rare reaction to the AstraZeneca Covid jab, a coroner has ruled.

As an NHS clinical psychologist and frontline health worker, Dr Stephen Wright, 32, of Sevenoaks, Kent, was among the earliest groups of people to be given the vaccine during the pandemic. He died 10 days later.

A small group of people, Dr Wright included, have had a severe reaction to the jab and health authorities are investigating, an inquest at Londons Southwark Coroners Court heard.

Dr Wright suffered from a combination of a brainstem infarction, bleed on the brain and vaccine-induced thrombosis.

He was taken to Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington and moved to Kings College Hospital as his condition rapidly worsened but the nature of the bleed meant he was unfit for surgery.

Coroner Andrew Harris described a very unusual and deeply tragic case.

Regarding the official documents detailing Dr Wrights death, Mr Harris said it is very important to record as fact that it is the AstraZeneca vaccine  but that is different from blaming AstraZeneca.

He said: Dr Wright was a fit and healthy man who had the AstraZeneca vaccine on January 16 2021, awoke with a headache on January 25 and later developed left arm numbness.

He attended an A&E department just after midnight where was found to have high blood pressure and a sagittal sinus thrombosis.

Charlotte Wright outside Southwark Coroner's Court, London following the inquest into death of her husband (PA)

He was transferred to Kings College Hospital at 6.39am but, due to the extent of the bleed and very low platelets, was unfit for surgery

Dr Wrights widow Charlotte is considering taking legal action against AstraZeneca.

After the inquest, she said: It was made clear that Stephen was fit and healthy and that his death was by vaccination of AstraZeneca.

My understanding is that this condition is rare Coroner Andrew Harris

For us, it allows us to be able to continue our litigation against AstraZeneca.

This is the written proof.

Work is underway to try and understand why severe reactions the jabs can happen, the inquest was told.

Mr Harris said: My understanding is that this condition is rare.

Causes are being examined by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).

It seems to me that there is not an action one can take at the moment.

There was nothing that could have been done to have a successful operation Consultant neurosurgeon Francesco Vergani

It is being looked at and there are reports being given to the Government from the MHRA and there is advice on the matter.

Medical experts told the court nothing could be done to save Dr Wright as his condition quickly worsened.

Earlier, consultant neurosurgeon Francesco Vergani said platelets provide the bodys first response to try and stop bleeding and are important for clotting.

He said: There was nothing that could have been done to have a successful operation.

When you have someone with critically low platelets who is bleeding in the brain, the surgery is a disaster.

Dr Mark Howard, a consultant pathologist and medical examiner at Kings College Hospital, said scientists and medical experts were not aware of the vaccines possible deadly side effects because Dr Wrights case happened so early in its rollout.

The circumstances arise in a very small number of people. There was no way of knowing that Stephen would have this consequence Dr Mark Howard

He said: Stephen was a very fit, young and healthy man in January 2021.

It is a truly tragic and very rare complication of a well-meant vaccination.

We had no knowledge that this was a potential side effect at this time.

Its not fully understood why this happens.

Its an idiosyncratic reaction.

The circumstances arise in a very small number of people.

There was no way of knowing that Stephen would have this consequence.

It was a rare and unintended consequence.
More than half of ethnic minority Britons do not trust the Metropolitan Police, damning new data has revealed.

Fresh figures from YouGov found that 56 per cent of ethnic minority Britons distrust the Met, compared to just 32 per cent who do.

The results were similar to those collected for all Britons in February, with 54 per cent of the whole population distrusting the Met while 30 per cent said they had some trust in the force.
More than 1,300 homeless people in the UK died in 2022, with deaths steadily increasing in England year on year, new research has found.

The annual audit by charity Museum of Homelessness found that most deaths occurred among people living in temporary accommodation rather than rough sleeping, prompting concerns about the standard of housing and support provided for people when they are taken off the streets.

Deaths in England and Wales rose by 18 per cent from 2021 to 2022, but fell in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The nationwide figure of 1313 deaths in 2022 is likely to be an underestimate, as a number of councils, including Ealing, Birmingham and Blackpool, refused to contribute to the research.
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Social media is abuzz with conspiracy theories and misinformation about the governments emergency alert system which is set to blast from phones within days.

The UK Emergency Alert system is intended to be used in life-threatening situations including flooding and wildfires and will be tested this Sunday.

The test will be received on 4G and 5G mobile phones, along with sound and vibration for up to 10 seconds even if devices are on silent.

Though touted by the government as a "vital tool to keep the public safe in life-threatening emergencies", advances in smart technology or government initiatives are often met with scepticism and the system has sent certain corners of the internet into a frenzy of conjecture.

Bizarre conspiracies have surfaced ahead of Sundays test - including the notion the alert is an activation signal for the pathogen in the Covid vaccine, among others.

This theory is one of several circulating on social media, with experts warning of potentially harmful consequences.

The emergency alert will appear in this format on devices (Cabinet Office)

Pippa Allen-Kinross, news and online editor at Full Fact, a charity of fact-checkers and campaigners, said: We have seen multiple instances in which bad information about the emergency alert has already been shared thousands of times online.

Be careful what you share on social media. Misinformation about this alert may lead to unnecessary alarm, and in some instances, may even cause people to opt out of future alerts (as many online have claimed they already have) based on incorrect information.

Ahead of Sundays test, Full Fact has debunked five of the most troublesome instances of misinformation spreading about the alert online:

Emergency Alerts wont match personal data with information collected during the pandemic

Claims on social media suggesting that the emergency alert system will allow personal data to be collected, and that this will be matched with data collected when people signed into venues during the pandemic, are not true, Full Fact said.

The cabinet office confirmed to the charity that the alerts will not collect personal data. The alerts will also not enable the government to know if phones are active or where they are.

The government website describes the alert as one-way and confirms that the alert does not require the government to know any individual phone numbers. Since no data is collected by the Emergency Alert system, it isnt possible for it to be matched with personal data collected during the pandemic.

Besides, the NHS Covid-19 app did not share personal information, such as someones name and address, with local authorities. It shared the time and date an infected person visited a venue.

The alert is not an activation signal for the vaccine pathogen

Full Fact also highlighted a conspiracy theory that the emergency alert test was an activation signal for the pathogen in the shot.

This appears to be a reference to the Covid vaccineswith the shot commonly referred to this way on social media, although none of the posts directly specify that they relate to Covid vaccines.

Theres no way a signal from a cell tower could activate a pathogen or anything that was in the Covid-19, or any other, vaccine, Full Fact said.

Dr Al Edwards, associate professor in biomedical technology at the University of Reading, told Full Fact: There is no mechanism known to physics or biology that could connect radio signals set by mobile phone data systems, to the biological or chemical materials found in vaccines.

The emergency alert will not access your personal data

When an alert is triggered, all cell towers in the area concerned will broadcast the alert to connected devices.

The government does not need to know your location or phone number to do this. The cabinet office confirmed to Full Fact that no personal data is collected by the alert.

The alert will not be a text message you need to reply to

The alert will not be a message that needs to be replied to, but a notification that will need to be acknowledged before you can keep using your phone as normal.

What it will contain, however, is a website link containing further information relating to the threat and how you can best protect yourself from it.

The cabinet office confirmed that phone calls wont go to voicemail if you havent acknowledged the alert and the alert wont stop a phone call in progress.

Other notifications will also still come through to your phone. However, in order to answer a call or view notifications, you will need to acknowledge the alert.

The emergency alert test will not breach GDPR

Full Fact identified claims online suggesting that phone network providers have breached GDPR by allowing the emergency alert to take place.

When an alert is triggered, mobile phone masts broadcast it to every compatible phone and tablet within range. The government wont be using your personal data, like your mobile phone number, to do this.

This means that your phone network provider has not breached GDPR by giving your number to another agency outside of your permission, because the alerts are sent to phones that are connected to cell towers, not via a list of numbers that networks have given the government.

The Independent has contacted the cabinet office for further comment.
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The head of the Police Federation of England and Wales said he accepts that the Metropolitan police is institutionally racist, misogynistic, and homophobic.

This comes after Baroness Louise Caseys report on the Met, commissioned after Sarah Everards murder, laid bare some of the failings of Britains largest police force.

Steve Hartshorn, who was elected the chief of the Police Federation of England and Wales last year, said in an interview with The Guardian that he fully accepted the Casey report. He pointed out that making his personal views public was an act of leadership.

The Casey report found there to be deep-seated homophobia within the Met and also said women officers and staff routinely face sexism and misogyny.

There are people in the Met with racist attitudes, and Black, Asian and ethnic minority officers and staff are more likely to experience racism, discrimination and bullying at their hands, the report said.

Discrimination is often ignored, and complaints are likely to be turned against Black, Asian and ethnic minority officers, it said.

For me, I personally do accept the findings in the report. I represent lots of those people that have come forward to speak. Some of my colleagues will probably not like the fact that Im accepting there are institutional failings and biases within such a massive organisation, Mr Hartshorn said.

But then many will, and [will] go: Well, whats the harm in accepting it if we understand that its not labelling every officer as institutionally racist, sexist, homophobic, corrupt?

His colleague, Met police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, however, has not accepted Baroness Caseys deeply troubling diagnosis in full.

He said the force may have systemic failings, but refused to adopt the labels of institutional racism, misogyny, and homophobia.

Mr Hartshorns comments have come in the wake of the 30th anniversary of Stephen Lawrences murder.

Lawrence, an 18-year-old Black aspiring architect, was attacked by a group of young white men as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, southeast London on the evening of 22 April 1993.

Five men were arrested, but it took until 2012 before two of them, David Norris and Gary Dobson, were given life sentences after being found guilty of murder.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Lawrences mother, later said the force is rotten to the core.

The case later led to a report by Sir William Macpherson which detailed the failings of the police force that let Lawrences killers free and was the first official report that labelled the Met force racist in 1999.

Theres been clear failings in leadership... to address the very issues that should have been dealt with, and consigned to history, Mr Hartshorn said.

It could be argued that, yes, it manifestly has got worse because, you know, 25-30 years on, things dont seem to improve and were still having these horrendous issues.

If its institutional failings of racism, sexism, homophobia, that has to sit at levels of senior leadership throughout the organisation. He also called for a mindset shift to move on from the problems plaguing the force for decades.

Acceptance is the first step to moving on, he said.
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Filming for Star Wars Andor has been cancelled after landslip concerns were raised in Winspit Quarry in Dorset.

It was previously announced the disused quarry near Worth Matravers would be the location for episodes in the Disney+ television series.

The National Trust said recent turbulent weather [has] increased the risk of rockfalls and landslips which has led to filming being cancelled.

The warning to stay away also applies to visitors to the Dorset coastal site. Anyone approaching Winspit Quarry will see signs asking them to stay away from unsafe areas until examination has taken place.

Crews had previously been at the site in 2021 for filming the saga, which is a prequel to the 2016 film Rogue One, and follows Diego Lunas character Cassian Andor.

The quarrys otherworldly characteristics have seen it double for the headquarters for character Saw Gerrera and it featured in the eighth episode of the sci-fi seriess first season which was broadcast in October and November last year on the streaming service.

Winspit Quarry has been used for a number of productions (Tome Clarke/National Trust)

It has not been said when the filming will resume.

The picturesque spot has also been used as a set for television series such as Doctor Who and Blakes 7.

Winspit Quarry has been at risk of landslips (Tom Clarke/National Trust)

Tracey Churcher, manager of the National Trust for the local Purbeck area, told the BBC: The coast and cliffs along this stretch of the coast, including the quarry, can be unstable and naturally liable to landslips and falls - particularly after extreme weather including heavy rainfall and hot, dry periods.

"People should always stay well back from the cliff and rock edges, whether on or below them, and we ask people not to visit Winspit Quarry until our experts are confident it is safe to visit again.

Andor has also been filmed at English sites such as Black Country Park, Buckinghamshire, Coryton refinery, Corringham, Middle Peak Quarry, Derbyshire. In Scotland, it has been filmed at sites such as Cruachan Dam, Argyll and Bute, and Glen Tilt Park in Perthshire.
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A peer has been found to have broken the Code of Conduct after failing to properly declare her role in a not-for-profit company.

Baroness Caroline Cox has agreed to apologise to the House of Lords following an investigation by the Standards Commissioner.

The peer had claimed her failure to register her directorship of Equal and Free Limited was inadvertent, citing her massive commitment to humanitarian aid and advocacy combined with little administrative support in her duties.

May I begin by acknowledging with profound apologies my failure to register and declare my Directorship of Equal and Free Ltd and the research support I have received from the company Baroness Cox

But the commissioner found these reasons to be insufficient, concluding: Considering Baroness Coxs otherwise diligent approach to registering and declaring her interests during the period in question, I do not consider the reasons she provided for not registering and declaring her interests in Equal and Free Ltd to be sufficient.

The findings add: I considered that remedial action was an appropriate outcome regarding Baroness Coxs breaches of the Code.

Because of the significant period during which these breaches occurred, I proposed that a personal statement of apology to the House would be appropriate in this case. Baroness Cox agreed to make such a personal statement to the House.

The investigation came after the commissioners office received a complaint from Liron Woodcock-Velleman, who at the time worked for the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate.

Hope Not Hate alleged that the Equal and Free company headed by Baroness Cox had links to a group of US evangelical philanthropists.

Equal and Free describes itself on its website as UK-based network of academics, parliamentarians, lawyers and womens groups who champion the rights of British Muslim women who do not (yet) have the protection of legal marriage.

In a letter to the commissioner, Baroness Cox offered her profound apologies and said she never personally received funds from Equal and Free Ltd.

But she acknowledged that she had benefited from the support of part-time researchers employed by the company.

She said: May I begin by acknowledging with profound apologies my failure to register and declare my Directorship of Equal and Free Ltd and the research support I have received from the company. As soon as I became aware of this, I took steps to rectify it by telephoning the office of the Registrar of Lords Interests.

The letter added: I can only offer an explanation of my failure with reference to the massive commitment to my humanitarian aid and advocacy work with the small charitable organisation I founded Our work involves frequent travel to spend time with our partners in war zones in Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Abyei, Nagorno Karabakh and Myanmar.

Baroness Cox originally sat as a Conservative and is now a crossbench peer.

Attempts have been made to approach Baroness Cox and Equal and Free Ltd for comment.
The boss of Ryanair said the UK will rejoin the single market in the next 15 years as there is no question Brexit is holding Britain back.

Michael OLeary said as Brexiteers die off, a pro-European generation will see the UK strike a Norway or Switzerland-style trade deal with the EU.

"I think they will pay into a European budget, I think they will have no choice," said the outspoken airline boss. Mr OLeary added: "The fundamental strength of the single market is something that is too attractive for the UK economy to be excluded from."
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Dominic Raabs political career hangs in the balance as Rishi Sunak has received the report into bullying allegations against his deputy prime minister.

Downing Street confirmed that the findings of an independent investigation had landed on the prime ministers desk on Thursday morning  with its release now expected within hours.

Mr Sunak must decide if the review by lawyer Adam Tolley KC  said to be devastating  is enough to sack the senior Tory cabinet minister, or ask him to resign.

The PMs official spokesman said he was carefully considering those findings, but would not comment further on exactly when the report will be published.

But it is thought the result of the long-running probe by Mr Tolley KC will be made public, along with a decision by Mr Sunak, later on Thursday.

The PMs spokesperson said the PM does have full confidence in the deputy prime minister  that still stands. Obviously he is carefully considering the findings of the report.

Mr Raab has denied allegations of bullying  insisting that he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully. But the justice secretary has said he will resign if a bullying claim is upheld.

Senior officials at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are reportedly preparing to quit if the PM chooses to keep Mr Raab in government because it would be demoralising for staff.

Mr Raab has been under investigation for months over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

Rishi Sunak must now decide fate of his deputy PM (PA Wire)

Unnamed civil servants have accused Mr Raab of causing staff to break down in tears or throw up before meetings. The minister was also accused of chucking Pret-A-Manger tomatoes across a room in a fit of rage  an episode he denied.

Mr Tolley is said to have been thorough in his handling of the investigation, having interviewed Mr Raab multiple times and spoken to or taken written evidence from a number of others.

If he stays in the department, senior people will want to walk, one official told The Guardian, while another said some would get ready to leave in the near future.

One person involved in the process described the report by Adam Tolley KC as devastating while a senior government official said Mr Raab was toast, according to the Financial Times.

Dominic Raab has paid for his own legal fees during probe (PA)

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry has hit out at the outdated system for dealing with complaints in Westminster which has allowed Mr Raab to continue in his job while under investigation.

Sir Jake told ITVs Peston show on Wednesday night it was wrong for Mr Raab to continue in his job while facing bullying allegations. Its a massively outdated system that isnt what our constituents would expect of any of us.

The senior Tory, who served in the cabinets of both Boris Johnson and Theresa May, said: It does seem to me quite wrong that when people are under these kinds of investigations of this type that they continue in their job.

It emerged in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests on Wednesday that Mr Raab had forked out for his own legal team to defend himself against the allegations.

The decision to pay for his lawyers came despite the taxpayer footing an estimated 222,000 bill for Boris Johnsons legal fees in the Partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

Mr Raab tweeted about rape statistics on Thursday. The justice secretary said a 38 per cent increase rape convictions in the last quarter show our efforts are working. He added: Theres more to do and were quadrupling victims funding and improving police-CPS collaboration so victims feel better supported.
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Top officials working for Dominic Raab are said to be ready to quit if the deputy prime minister is cleared of bulling, with Rishi Sunak set to decide his future within the next 48 hours.

The result of the independent investigation into Mr Raabs behaviour is expected to land on Mr Sunaks desk by the end of the week, and could even be released as soon as Thursday.

Senior officials at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are preparing to quit if the PM chooses to keep Mr Raab in government because it would be demoralising for staff, according to The Guardian.

If he stays in the department, senior people will want to walk, one official told the newspaper, while another said some would get ready to leave in the near future.

One person involved in the process described the report by Adam Tolley KC as devastating while a senior government official said Mr Raab was toast, according to the Financial Times.

Mr Tolley is said to have been thorough in his handling of the investigation, having interviewed Mr Raab multiple times and spoken to or taken written evidence from a number of others.

Mr Raab has been under investigation for months over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

The deputy PM and justice secretary denies allegations. He has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully while defending his forthright approach to his work.

Unnamed civil servants have accused Mr Raab of causing staff to break down in tears or throw up before meetings. The minister was also accused of chucking Pret-A-Manger tomatoes across a room in a fit of rage  an episode he denied.

Raab awaits fate of investigation into bullying allegations (AFP via Getty Images)

The Tolley report is not expected to offer a verdict and will leave Mr Sunak to assess whether Mr Raabs behaviour amounts to bullying and merits punishment. But Mr Raab has said he will resign if a bullying claim is upheld.

It emerged earlier on Wednesday that the minister had forked out for his own legal team to defend himself against the allegations.

The declaration in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests came despite the taxpayer footing an estimated 222,000 bill for Boris Johnsons legal fees in the Partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

In the register, Mr Raabs entry notes read: The minister has engaged lawyers at his own expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.

It remains unclear why he paid for his own lawyers when Mr Johnson  whose outside earnings since leaving office have made him the highest-paid MP over the past 12 months received government support.

Rishi Sunak will decide Dominic Raabs fate within hours (PA Archive)

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry has hit out at the outdated system for dealing with complaints in Westminster which has allowed Mr Raab to continue in his job while under investigation.

Sir Jake told ITVs Peston show on Wednesday night it was wrong for Mr Raab to continue in his job while facing bullying allegations. Its a massively outdated system that isnt what our constituents would expect of any of us.

The senior Tory, who served in the cabinets of both Boris Johnson and Theresa May, said: It does seem to me quite wrong that when people are under these kinds of investigations of this type that they continue in their job.

He added: Whatever the outcome is, and were going to find out tomorrow, I actually think theres a fundamental rethink required about how we deal with these sorts of allegations, both in government made against ministers and made against members of parliament.

Mr Tolley was appointed in November to lead the investigation into Mr Raabs conduct but it is not known when Mr Raab first engaged legal representation.

Mr Raabs team did not respond to the reports on Wednesday apart from to suggest it would be inappropriate to comment on the investigation before it had been completed.
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Rishi Sunak has now been handed a report into bullying allegations against his deputy Dominic Raab  and will now decide whether any action should be taken.

Downing Street said the prime minister is considering the findings of the report, drawn up by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC.

Mr Raab has faced questions about his conduct at work, with FDA union leader Dave Penman saying that civil servants had quit or changed roles because of his behaviour. Mr Raab has denied any wrongdoing.

Here is a timeline of how the case mounted against him.

Gina Miller has alleged that Mr Raab bullied her after they took part in a BBC radio programme in 2016 (Reuters/Getty)

2010 - 2018

Former civil servant and lawyer Mr Raab enters parliament as Conservative MP for Esher and Walton in 2010. He is a prominent Leave supporter in the lead-up to the 2016 referendum, and gets his break in 2018 when he becomes Brexit secretary.

According to reports in October 2022, concerns were raised about Mr Raabs behaviour as secretary of state in 2018. A document outlining a serious expression of concern was dispatched to the Cabinet Office citing unprofessional, even bullying conduct of the minister towards his private office. No action was taken.

A source close to Mr Raab says these allegations are baseless and malicious claims, timed to jump on a political bandwagon.

2019 - September 2021

An ally of Boris Johnson, Mr Raab becomes foreign minister in 2019 having himself unsuccessfully stood for the top job after Theresa Mays departure. He also acts as de facto deputy prime minister and fills in for Mr Johnson when the PM is not well enough to attend Covid briefings after being struck down by the virus.

Mr Raabs tenure coincides with a 24 per cent staff departure rate in the 2019/20 financial year, and 28 per cent in 2020/21, compared to 12 per cent in 2021/22  although sources have said this was coincidental.

Dominic Raab filling in for his then boss Boris Johnson at a Covid briefing in 2020 (PA)

September 2021 - September 2022

Mr Raab is made justice secretary in September 2021, a role he initially holds for a year. News stories published on 21 November 2022 claim that he behaved so badly in a meeting with Home Office chiefs that he had to apologise afterwards for his behaviour. He leaves the role as Liz Truss takes office.

October 2022

Mr Raab is reappointed justice minister only one month later under new prime minister Rishi Sunak, who, crucially, has denied having had knowledge at this point of any of the allegations that would later emerge. Mr Raab also takes the deputy prime minister role, and fills in for his boss on occasion at Prime Ministers Questions.

Around 15 senior civil servants at the department are reportedly offered respite or a route out, with some still said to be traumatised by Mr Raabs previous behaviour.

November 2022

Two official complaints are made against Mr Raab relating to his time as justice secretary. Mr Raab vows to thoroughly rebut and refute the accusations.

Simon McDonald, former head of the diplomatic service, said he warned Mr Raab and told him to change his behaviour. It was language, it was tone, he would be very curt with people. And he did this in front of a lot of other people, he said.

On 16 November, the prime minister says he intends to appoint an independent investigator to examine claims of alleged bullying. The request is made by Mr Raab himself after two formal complaints are submitted. The deputy prime minister says he will respect whatever outcome Mr Sunak decides, although he continues to deny the allegations.

At Prime Ministers Questions on the same day, Labour MP Clive Betts challenges Mr Raab over the integrity promise made by the government. Mr Raab insists he has done nothing wrong, adding: I am confident I have behaved professionally throughout. I immediately asked the prime minister to set up an independent investigation and I will comply with it fully.

On 23 November, Mr Sunak appoints experienced barrister Adam Tolley KC to investigate. The following day, fresh complaints are said to have come forward across a number of departments. It is reported on Newsnight that formal complaints will be submitted. On 25 November, the inquiry is expanded to include a third complaint.

Rishi Sunak has been under pressure to suspend Dominic Raab (UK Parliament/AFP via Getty)

December 2022

The inquiry is expanded further, with five new complainants submitting official requests, bringing the total to eight. Leaked reports of a civil service survey suggest that nearly a third (30 per cent) of all workers under Mr Raab have reported being bullied at some point. Mr Raab claims that nobody raised concerns during his years in the roles.

He genuinely thinks hes just being a tough taskmaster, a source tells the media. He just doesnt get that this behaviour is not acceptable in the modern workplace.

February 2023

Calls for Mr Raab to be suspended intensify, with three senior civil servants interviewed as part of the process. Mr Sunak has, has so far, withstood pressure to sack him.

Mr Sunak refuses to say on Wednesday 1 February whether he knew of complaints about Mr Raabs behaviour before appointing him.

The prime minister was not aware of any formal complaints at the time of appointing Dominic Raab, the prime ministers press secretary says. Following formal complaints being made, the prime minister asked for the facts to be established.

As many as 24 civil servants have now made complaints. Mr Raab still denies any wrongdoing, and Mr Tolleys investigation is continuing.

March 2023

In late March, ITV News reports further allegations  this time the claims of former Foreign Office official who had worked under Mr Raab.

The official says Mr Raab is 100 per cent a bully, and also took no steps to intervene in bullying by others.

I think you can have high expectations and not be a bully. I think he had high expectations and was a bully, the anonymous ex-official said.

The broadcaster also spoke to other officials including one who described Mr Raab as the most difficult minister Ive ever had to work with.

April 2023

After almost 150 days, Adam Tolley KCs report into the allegations against Mr Raab was handed to Rishi Sunak on Thursday 20 April. The prime minister is now set to decide the fate of his deputy.
Rishi Sunak has been forced to climb down on his pledge to only open new safe and legal routes for asylum seekers after stopping the boats, amid a Tory rebellion.

An amendment to the Illegal Migration Bill will see the government commit to setting up new alternatives to small boat crossings within six months after the law is passed.

It follows calls by Conservative MPs led by Tim Loughton to ensure that people left with no option but to pay smugglers to cross the Channel are not detained and deported under the government's plans.
Rishi Sunak has caved in to pressure from right-wing Tory rebels and agreed to toughen his controversial small boats bill by allowing ministers to ignore the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Tory rebels say they have reached a deal with the government to amend the Illegal Migration Bill  aimed at removing people who arrive in the UK on small boats  after threatening to revolt over the legislation.

The government has reportedly agreed to give the home secretary Suella Braverman powers to disregard injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights  so-called rule 39 orders  in some instances.
 Close Im surprised when one of my colleagues is arrested, says SNP leader

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Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf insisted the SNP was not facing bankruptcy amid a financial scandal, as the UK government issued a threat to cut off the partys funding if it fails to find new auditors within weeks.

Mr Yousaf addressed questions over the sustainability of SNP finances, telling reporters: We are definitely not facing bankruptcy, Im pleased to say we are on a steady footing, though he admitted the party stilled owed money to ex-chief executive Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeons husband.

The new party leader was yesterday thrust into the role of overseeing the SNPs accounts, as treasurerColin Beattie quit after police detained him for questioning in an investigation into suspected fraud over 660,000 of SNP donations earmarked for independence campaigning.

In Westminster, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt said if the SNP does not file audited accounts by 31 May their short money, payments to opposition parties for parliamentary work, will be cut off.

SNP leader Humza Yousaf said the party was still in conversations with prospective new auditors after the previous firm quit last year.
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The SNP still owes money to Nicola Sturgeons husband, her successor Humza Yousaf has confirmed.

Mr Yousaf said there is money outstanding to Peter Murrell, who loaned the party 100,000 in 2021.

Mr Murrell, the SNPs former chief executive, quit the post last month and was arrested weeks later amid a probe into the partys finances.

Ms Sturgeon had quit as the partys leader a month earlier and senior SNP figures fear she could soon be arrested as well.

Mr Yousaf denied on Thursday that the party is facing bankruptcy and said it is on a steady footing financially. But the first minister told reporters: I think there is money still absolutely outstanding to Peter Murrell.

He said he would lay out details of how much is owed after a review into the partys governance takes place.

The SNP leader said the party has not yet appointed new auditors and is still in conversations to fill the vacancy.

The first minister said: Were definitely not facing bankruptcy, Im pleased to say we are on a steady footing when it comes to the partys finances.

I dont think parliament is the place to do a statement on the partys finances.

Ive, of course, instructed the governance and transparency review and when the report comes in on that review, Ill make that public.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Murrell was seen in public for the first time since his arrest.

He was spotted by the PA news agency leaving the home he shares with ex-first minister Ms Sturgeon near Glasgow.

Mr Murrell was detained earlier this month and questioned by detectives for 11 hours before being released without charge pending further investigation.

Police investigating the partys finances also arrested the then SNP treasurer Colin Beattie on Tuesday, who was later released without charge, while a motorhome that was intended to be used for party campaigning was seized from the driveway of Mr Murrells mother.

Mr Beattie resigned as treasurer on Wednesday.

The SNP MSP served as treasurer from 2004 to 2020, and again from 2021.

Opposition politicians hit out at the first minister, with Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie saying Mr Beatties decision to resign was the right thing but it was taken by the wrong man.

During FMQ, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross called on Mr Yousaf to make a statement to Holyrood on the SNPs finances.

He said there are legitimate questions that the Scottish public deserves the answer to.

Mr Yousaf did not respond in the chamber to the calls for a statement, but told MSPs there are serious issues relating to the party which he will not shy away from.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the treasurer vacancy is the least appealing in Scottish political history.

The arrest this week has ensured the police investigation into the SNPs finances has continued to overshadow the early days of Mr Yousafs tenure.

Police announced Mr Beattie had been taken into custody in the hours before the first minister was due to lay out his priorities for Scotland under his premiership.
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Suella Braverman has said she briefly considered posing as a caller to a radio station to defend herself against claims of racism.

It comes as the home secretary defended her use of unfashionable facts by highlighting the British-Pakistani background of grooming gang members.

Last week a radio show had a phone-in asking listeners to debate whether Im a racist, the top cabinet minister wrote in The Spectator  saying she wanted to quote Margaret Thatcher.

Ms Braverman said: I thought about calling in as Margaret from Fareham, to suggest the home secretary take courage from another Margarets words: I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

The home secretary has come under fire ever since she wrote a newspaper column earlier this month where she described members of grooming gangs as groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani.

A government review published in 2020 found that members of child grooming gangs come from diverse backgrounds and there is not enough evidence to suggest more are Asian or black than other ethnicities.

The research, commissioned by the Home Office, said most group child sex offenders are men under the age of 30, and the majority are white.

Ms Braverman defended her comments in her latest column: To say the overwhelming majority of perpetrators in towns such as Rotherham, Telford, and Rochdale were British-Pakistani and that their victims were white girls is not to say that most British-Pakistanis are perpetrators of sexual abuse.

The former is a truth, one that made authorities reluctant to confront the issue. The latter is a lie, the speaking of which would be a disgraceful prejudice. I know that my motives will be questioned  such is a politicians lot. But there are lines that we must not cross. If everything is racist, nothing is, said the home secretary.

Suella Braverman under fire over grooming gangs remarks (PA Wire)

She added: Casually accusing me of racism for speaking plain truths distorts the meaning of the term, and does a great disservice to all of us working to combat racism.

Addressing accusations of racism over her recent comments on grooming gangs, she said it is not racist to speak plain truths  but stressed that most British-Pakistani men are not perpetrators of sexual abuse.

The home secretary also took aim at Labour for Sir Keir Starmers attacks on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over law and order policy and his assertion that "99.9% of women" do not have a penis.

Ms Braverman said: There is something peculiar about this political moment, where those of us advancing unfashionable facts are beaten over the head with fashionable fictions.

I suppose the ethnicity of grooming gang perpetrators in a string of cases is the sort of fact that has simply become unfashionable in some quarters - like the fact that 100% of women do not have a penis.
Calls to suspend or stop the development of artificial intelligence due to fears about the new technology are misguided, the security minister has suggested.

Tom Tugendhat, addressing the CyberUK conference in Belfast, said he understands fears about the potential danger of AI but added that the genie wont go back in the bottle.

Italy said last month that it will temporarily block the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT amid global debate about the power of such new tools.
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Rishi Sunak has full confidence in Dominic Raab while he carefully considers the findings of a long-awaited report into bullying allegations made against the Deputy Prime Minister, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman confirmed the months-long review by Adam Tolley KC was received by No 10 on Thursday morning.

Mr Raab had been under investigation over eight formal complaints about his behaviour as foreign secretary, Brexit secretary and during his first stint as justice secretary.

Downing Street would not indicate when the report will be published but insisted a resolution will be sought as swiftly as possible.

He does have full confidence in the (Deputy) Prime Minister - that still stands Spokesman for Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister has received the report from Adam Tolley, the independent investigator. He received the findings this morning  he is considering those findings, the spokesman said.

He does have full confidence in the (Deputy) Prime Minister  that still stands. Obviously he is carefully considering the findings of the report.

One person involved in the process described the review as devastating, while a senior Government official said Mr Raab is toast, according to the Financial Times.

And the Guardian reported that senior Ministry of Justice officials could quit if Mr Raab, who is also the Justice Secretary, is cleared of the allegations.

A decision not to sanction him would be demoralising for staff in the department, a source told the paper.

The Deputy Prime Minister has insisted he believes heart and soul that he is not a bully, but defended his forthright approach to his work.

It emerged on Wednesday that the minister had forked out for his own legal team to defend himself against the allegations.

The declaration in the heavily delayed register of ministerial interests came despite the taxpayer footing an estimated 222,000 bill for Boris Johnsons legal fees in the partygate inquiry into whether he lied to MPs.

In the register, Mr Raabs entry notes read: The minister has engaged lawyers at his own expense in relation to the investigation being conducted by Adam Tolley KC.

Mr Tolley was appointed in November to lead the investigation into Mr Raabs conduct but it is not known when Mr Raab first engaged legal representation.

The Deputy Prime Minister remained at work on Thursday morning, responding to Crown Prosecution Service statistics on rape cases.

He issued a tweet and a statement on the issue in his role as Justice Secretary.
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The late Queen told George Carey I cant resign when the then-Archbishop of Canterbury announced he was stepping down, a new documentary reveals.

Lord Carey recounted his conversation with the monarch in The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, a five-part ITV series, adding: But she would never go anyway.

He also describes how before Charles and Camilla married he arranged a secret meeting with the now Queen Consort, in the south-east London flat of his son, to get to know the future royal.

The series chronicles the royal family throughout the Queens reign and her successor the King, featuring interviews with contemporary figures.

Lord Carey, tells the final episode of the documentary series: I remember going to see the Queen once to hand in my resignation and said: Your Majesty the time has come.

And she looked at me, more or less she said: You people come and go, I cant resign, I cant surrender  Ive got to keep going.

And I said: Well, the Lord tells me at the age of 70 Ive got to go. But she would never go anyway.

Lord Carey served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991-2002 and during his period in office took part in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and became the first Archbishop to ordain women to the priesthood.

He also reveals how the Queen Consort talked about the earliest days of her relationship with the King during their secret meeting in Peckham.

He said: She walked through the front door, we met and had coffee together and I was really struck by her.

Very nice looking lady, very presentable, very intelligent, we had a really animated conversation.

And we talked about her relationship with Charles, going way back to when they were teenagers and so on. And after she left, I said: Well, theres no way I could ever treat her as other than a really nice human being whos deeply in love with Charles.

And that affected me in talking to other people behind the scenes and I hoped it had a way forward  I think it did.

All five episodes of The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor are now available to screen on ITVX.
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Climate campaigners staged a protest in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament as well as in the foyer despite new restrictions to deter such action.

Two protesters from This Is Rigged stood on top of a wooden beam in a waiting area in the public area of Holyrood on Thursday, just before First Ministers Questions began.

The activity caused disruption and a large police and security presence in the main foyer, where school groups and others visitors arrive at the Parliament.

First Ministers Questions was also briefly disrupted by protesters from the same group.

One protester said: We have to stand up and demand action now.

Were here today because we have a really simple question.

All we want is for the Scottish Parliament to oppose new oil and gas projects like they did with Stop Cambo.

All we need is a statement.

They are not providing a fully-funded just transition for Scotlands oil workers.

They talk about it and talk about it but there is no concrete action.

We need action and we need action now.

The demonstration came after the Scottish Parliament brought in new security measures, requiring visitors to store electronic equipment in lockers.

Everyone wishing to attend to watch the weekly First Ministers Questions clash between the party leaders also has to book a ticket in advance, giving their name and address, with Holyrood bosses insisting ticket requests will not be processed without this information.

For groups of people attending together, the names and addresses of all members will have to be given, instead of the previous system whereby only the details of the lead person making the booking was required.

Everyone collecting a ticket will have to show identification, with mobile phones and other electronic devices having to be stored in a secure locker and not taken into the gallery.

On Wednesday, This is Rigged insisted the measures would not stop the disruption, as they urged First Minister Humza Yousaf to listen to the people on the issue of climate change.

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson confirmed six individuals were denied access to the chamber on Thursday as there were grounds to believe they would disrupt proceedings.

The spokesperson added: All of the individuals who protested in the Mail Hall will be issued with six-month bans as we do not allow protests anywhere inside the building.

One further individual, who briefly disrupted FMQs, will also receive a six-month ban from all of our public galleries.

The Parliament will continue to implement these new measures to protect the integrity of chamber business, and will keep under review whether further steps are necessary.

While we very much regret the inconvenience these measures have on the many people who come to watch FMQs peacefully, we cannot allow the democratic process to be disrupted by a small number of individuals.

These protests have served only to disrupt MSPs from holding the First Minister and government to account.

Police Scotland confirmed no arrests were made and protesters left of their own accord.
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A campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the urgent need for more black blood donors.

Some of the most influential black people in Britain including John Lewis partnership chair Dame Sharon White and founding director of Operation Black Vote Lord Simon Woolley have joined efforts to raise awareness of the shortage.

The latest data from NHS Blood and Transplant shows that just 1% of active blood donors in England are black.

More black donors are urgently needed to meet the increasing demand for the particular type of blood needed by sickle cell patients, known as the Ro subtype.

NHS Blood and Transplant said sickle cell is the fastest growing genetic condition in the UK and the number of donations needed to treat it has grown from 150 a day five years ago to 250 a day now.

Sickle cell  a group of inherited blood conditions that affect red blood cells is more prevalent in black people and ethnically matched blood provides the best treatment, the NHS service said.

More than half (55%) of black people in the UK have the Ro subtype, compared with 2% of the general population and, therefore, more black donors are needed to meet the increasing demand.

Dame Sharon and Lord Woolley, who both feature on the Powerlist 2023  a list of Britains most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage  appealed for more black donors to come forward.

Dame Sharon said: We know that black people are more likely to suffer from sickle cell which can require regular blood transfusions.

By increasing the number of black heritage donors we can go a long way to ensuring that all patients across England receive the best matched blood.

It is vital that more black people are aware of the importance of giving blood and feel confident to do so Lord Woolley

Lord Woolley, a former Government adviser on race and the first black man to be elected head of an Oxbridge college, said: Giving blood is a simple but essential act of kindness that can save lives.

It is vital that more black people are aware of the importance of giving blood and feel confident to do so.

The pair visited a new NHS donor centre in east London to launch the campaign, which is also supported by Netflix boss Anne Mensah.

Ms Mensah, vice-president of UK content at the streaming giant said: I am proud to support this campaign and have been giving blood at my local centre for years. Giving blood can be the difference between life and death for someone in our community.

I encourage us all to do it if we can.

Mark Croucher, assistant director for donor experience services at NHS Blood and Transplant said: We are delighted to have the support of some of the most influential people in the country to help us raise awareness of the urgent need for more black heritage blood donors.

The demand for ethnically matched blood for sickle cell patients is on the rise and has already doubled in recent years.

If you havent donated blood before, or havent in a while, wed love to welcome you to our amazing community of lifesaving blood donors and help meet the needs of patients right now and in the future.

Each blood donation can save or improve up to three lives.
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Students who apply only to a narrow range of highly competitive and selective university courses are unlikely to receive many offers as demand for places grows, an admissions expert at Cambridge University has warned.

Ucas, the universities admissions body in the UK, has predicted there could be 30% more applicants to higher education by the end of the decade.

Reducing the number of choices that applicants can make could help university admission staff focus on those at the border for receipt of an offer, Mike Nicholson, director of recruitment, admissions and participation at the University of Cambridge, has suggested.

A debate about the challenges and opportunities created by rising demand was launched by Ucas last month as it projected that around a million people a year could apply to higher education by 2030. Last year, 767,000 people applied to higher education in the UK.

A starting assumption could be that every major town should have some form of higher education institution Lord Willetts, president of the Resolution Foundation

In an essay as part of the debate, Mr Nicholson said: (Candidates) who opt to cluster all their options around a narrow range of highly competitive and selective courses and universities are unlikely to receive many offers.

This also, however, requires universities to be honest and open in setting their entry requirements and selection criteria. It is in no-ones interests for large numbers of candidates to waste applications for courses where they are not remotely qualified to secure a place.

He added: The current Ucas process allows candidates five choices; a reduction to four would immediately alter the volume that most universities would then have to consider, and potentially allow admissions staff more opportunity to focus on those who are at the border for receipt of an offer.

The University of Cambridge admissions expert said universities have very limited controls at their disposal to manage their numbers.

Raising entry grades, expecting highly specific subject requirements, sifting candidates through use of admissions assessments, or asking for interviews or auditions require significant investment of time and resource, he said.

Mr Nicholson added: The only short-term response is to limit the number of offers, which can carry reputational risks, particularly if it results in significant numbers of applicants not securing an offer of admission, but the closer we get to 2030, the less time there will be to develop the other alternatives.

Competition for places in higher education is likely to intensify as more students seek to secure university courses or apprenticeships, Ucas has said.

On the proposal to reduce the number of choices applicants can make from five to four, Sander Kristel, chief operating officer at Ucas, told the PA news agency: I think this is one of the options that we seriously need to discuss.

If thats the debate that the sector wants to have, I think that could be a very useful debate, he said.

Ucas said the projected growth in demand is driven by a rise in the number of young people in the UK turning 18 over the coming decade, as well as a rise in the number of international students applying to UK universities.

We see an anticipated 30% increase in demand for higher education and to capitalise on this once-in-a generation opportunity, we need to see an expansion of existing, and creation of new, opportunities across post-secondary education Sander Kristel, chief operating officer at Ucas

Ucas has seen a decline in the offer rate to students in the last year, particularly at the most competitive courses, and without an increase in the supply of opportunities the admissions body believes this is likely to continue.

In a series of essays, published as part of Ucass national debate, a number of leading experts in the sector have outlined how they would tackle the challenges which an increase in demand will bring.

Lord Willetts, a former universities minister who oversaw a hike in tuition fees, has suggested that new universities could be built in cold spots across the UK where there are no higher education institutions.

He said: It would be a vivid and practical form of levelling up if priority were given to the cold spots which currently dont have their own university.

A starting assumption could be that every major town should have some form of higher education institution.

The Tory peer highlighted evidence by former prime minister Sir Tony Blair and Lord Adonis to the Times Education Commission in 2021 which suggested that there are 46 towns in England with a population of over 80,000 which have no university, such as Hartlepool, Doncaster, Batley and Blackpool.

Lord Willetts, president of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: That at least suggests a possible longlist of candidates.

Mr Kristel said: Student choice and opportunity in the last decade has been shaped by a decline in the 18-year-old population, which has created a buyers market.

We see an anticipated 30% increase in demand for higher education and to capitalise on this once-in-a generation opportunity, we need to see an expansion of existing, and creation of new, opportunities across post-secondary education.

He told PA: A wider set of choices, including apprenticeships etc, we think is an important part of growing that supply.
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A trove of letters offering a unique glimpse into the private life of the late Queen are to go under the hammer in Belfast.

The original handwritten letters by Queen Elizabeth II and an emerald and diamond bracelet and ring belonging to Wallis Simpson are among items to be sold at Bloomfield Auctions.

The letters from the late Queen to her midwife Helen Rowe in 1950 discuss how they can work together to obtain the royal signatures for an embroidered tea cloth.

The white linen tea cloth referenced in the letter will be included in the upcoming auction, and is embroidered with the signatures of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Margaret, amongst others.

There is another royal connection with the sale of a seven-piece silver tea service used to entertain the young Duke of Edinburgh at a polo match in the United States.

The managing director of Bloomfield Auctions, Karl Bennett, said the sale will offer a unique glimpse into the private life of Queen Elizabeth II.

In her letters, her close relationship to her lady-in-waiting is revealed, who is affectionately addressed as Rowie, and was present at the births of all four of Queen Elizabeth IIs children, he said.

We can also pick up on clues as to her relationship with her sister, Princess Margaret, with the letter recording: I havent succeeded in getting Margarets signature as I havent seen her privately for ages, but if you send the cloth to her lady-in-waiting, you will have much more chance of getting it signed and returned promptly, than if I did it!

Given the historic importance of King Charles IIIs upcoming coronation early next month, I have no doubt that this sale will be one of the best yet for Bloomfield Auctions, as we expect considerable interest not just from the UK, but around the globe.

Mr Bennett said the jewellery which once belonged to Wallis Simpson was a gift from her husband Edward.

He said the vendors grandmother, Esther McCreery, was a well-known socialite in the early 20th century and is believed to have purchased the items of jewellery from Ms Simpson after becoming acquainted with the couple through her role as a liaison for the American Embassy in the Bahamas.

The ring and bracelet are expected to fetch between 25,000-35,000 at next weeks auction.

The sale will also include a Harland and Wolff minute book, which is believed to contain records of the first minutes taken immediately after the First World War.

Chronicling the years 1918-1927, the book contains various historical references, including the Armistice in 1918, the Titanic memorial and details of the death of Viscount Pirrie, chairman of Harland & Wolff, whose signature is recorded throughout the book.

The sale will take place across two days on Monday April 24 and Tuesday April 25 both online and in the auction house. For more information, visit: www.bloomfieldauctions.co.uk.
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The family of suspected shooter Andrew Lester have said they are disgusted by the 84-year-olds shooting of Black teenager Ralph Yarl.

Mr Lesters grandson Klint Ludwig spoke to CNN on Thursday about his reaction when he learned his grandfather was responsible for the shooting that has shocked the nation and renewed debates around racial justice, gun rights and Stand Your Ground laws.

I was disgusted. I thought it was terrible, said Mr Ludwig.

Myself and my family stand with Ralph Yarl and seeking justice. This is a horrible tragedy, it never should have happened.

Mr Ludwig, who said he is estranged from his grandfather over the 84-year-olds right-wing views, said he was speaking out against what his relative has done because it is the right thing to do.

[In] this country, it happens over and over again where people get away with killing unarmed, innocent Black people people need to speak out and not make any excuses for this kind of behaviour and this violence, he said.

Mr Ludwig claimed that his grandfather has a history of making racist comments and interest in QAnon-level conspiracy theories.

I believe he holds racist tendencies and beliefs, he said, adding that he has bought into conspiracies and weird random, racist things.

A lot of it was like the QAnon-level conspiracies of election denying and he got really weird about some Fauci dogs... And I would push back on some of that stuff and he couldnt handle being pushed back on and at a certain point we kind fof lost touch and I think it was more his choice than mine, he said.

Mr Lester has also made offensive comments about minorities in the past, he said, including having what he described as a hot take about abortion and about Black women having abortions.

In part, Mr Ludwig said he attributes his grandfathers actions to being scared because of this 24 hour news cycle of fear and paranoia from right-wing networks.

Andrew Lester appears in court for his arraignment (AP)

I feel like a lot of people of that generation are caught up in this 24 hour news cycle of fear and paranoia perpetuated by some other news stations, he told Don Lemon.

He would sit and watch Fox News all day every day blaring in his living room.

I think that stuff really reinforces that negative view of minority groups and leads people  it doesnt necessarily lead people to be racist, but it reinforces and galvanises racist people in their beliefs.

Mr Lester appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday over the shooting of the Black teenager.

He pleaded not guilty to two felonies of first-degree assault and armed criminal action and was released on bond.

His next court appearance is scheduled for 1 June.

The 84-year-old is facing life in prison on the charges but is also said to be under investigation for a possible hate crime.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Ralphs family, told reporters outside Clay County Court on Wednesday that the Justice Department is looking into the case.

Andrew Lester appears in court to answer charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action on Wednesday

Before I even made it to Kansas City, we reached out to the Department of Justice, myself and my co-counsel Ben Crump, we have some longstanding relationships there, Mr Merritt said.

We thought that this was something the DOJ should be looking into. They are (looking into it). Its under investigation, theyve received our complaint and now theyre looking into it.

While the Kansas City police chief initially said that there was no evidence to indicate that the shooting was racially motivated, Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson confirmed when announcing charges that there was a racial component to the case.

Ralph Yarl was shot twice last week by the white homeowner (Ben Crump Law)

Officials have not elaborated on what they mean by this.

Mr Lester is accused of shooting the 16-year-old high school junior twice on 13 April when the boy went to pick up his younger twin brothers from a friends house.

Kansas City Police said that Ralph had gone to collect his siblings from a friends house on 115th Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri, but got muddled up with the address and accidentally went to a home on 115th Street by mistake.

There, Ralph allegedly rang the doorbell and the Mr Andrew Lester opened fire on him, shooting him twice.

The Black teenager was rushed to hospital in critical condition.

The shooting and the treatment of the white homeowner has sparked outrage from celebrities, civil rights attorneys and the victims family.

While Ralph spent days in hospital and is now recovering from his injuries at home, Mr Lester was detained for less than two hours after the shooting  before being released without charge.

Mr Lester was finally charged on Monday afternoon with two felonies but more than 20 hours passed before he was taken into custody, when he surrendered to authorities.

He was released again less than two hours later after posting $200,000 bond.

Donations have been flooding in on a GoFundMe campaign, set up to help pay for the boys recovery.

As of Thursday morning, a staggering $3.35m had been raised.

On the campaign page, a woman who identified herself as Ralphs aunt described the teenager as a fantastic kid who had dreams of doing to Texas A&M University to major in chemical Engineering.

At school, he is a member of the Technology Student Association and Science Olympia Team. Jazz and competition band. He is a section leader in the marching band; a scholar and one of the top base clarinet players in Missouri. He recently earned Missouri All-State Band recognition with an honorable mention. He plays multiple instruments in the metropolitan youth orchestra. He is a 2022 Missouri scholar academy alumni. Ralph can often be found with a musical instrument. He loves them all, the page reads.

Last summer, Ralph attended Missouri Scholars Academy, where he got a full college life experience. His goal is to attend Texas A&M to major in chemical Engineering.

Protesters rally in support of the Black teenager

When asked how he plans to get into this university, he said, Well, if they have a scholarship for music or academics, I know I can get it. Ralphs teacher and friends describe him as  a kind soul, quiet, friendly, well-mannered, always willing to help, super smart, and a musical genius. Ralph was looking forward to graduating high school and finally getting the opportunity to visit West Africa before starting college.

Life looks a lot different right now. Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally. The trauma that he has to endure and survive is unimaginable. He is our miracle. We have heard these types of stories many times, and unfortunately, most black boys are not alive to get another chance.

Ralph deserves to have the future that he has dreams about. He deserves to be the light that shows the world that LOVE wins and that humanity is still Good. However, he will need a lot of help to get there. Funds from this account will be used for his medical bills and therapy. Any additional funds will be use for college expenses at Texas A&M, a trip to West Africa, and other expenses.
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One of the grandsons of the man accused of shooting Black teenager Ralph Yarl said his grandfather believed in a crazy conspiracy theory involving US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci.

Ralph, a 16-year-old high school junior, was shot twice last Thursday when he went to pick up his younger twin brothers from a friends house in Kansas City, Missouri, on 13 April.

Kansas City police said the teen had gone to collect his siblings from a friends house on 115th Terrace, but got the address muddled up and accidentally rang the doorbell of a home on 115th Street, where he was shot.

Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old resident, has been charged with opening fire on him. Ralph was shot twice allegedly by Mr Lester.

Klint Ludwig, one of Mr Lesters grandsons, said he was estranged from his grandfather as he had embraced right-wing conspiracy theories.

During the Covid pandemic, in an instance when the family was sitting together, Mr Lester had shared a conspiracy theory against Mr Fauci, said Mr Ludwig, without elaborating on what the conspiracy theory was.

I was like, Man, this sounds crazy, Mr Ludwig told The New York Times. I told him it was ridiculous.

The two have been distant from each other since then, he said.

The 28-year-old grandson also claimed Mr Lester used to make disparaging comments about Black people, gay people, and immigrants.

Mr Lester pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and armed criminal action at his first appearance in Clay County Court on Wednesday over the shooting.

One unidentified relative of Mr Lester said the 84-year-old spent considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programs at high volume.

The grandson also said Mr Lester kept a large number of firearms in his home, including rifles and handguns.

Lee Merritt, the lawyer for the Yarl family, told reporters on Wednesday that the shooting was now being probed by the Justice Department as a hate crime.

The 16-year-olds mother Cleo Nagbe told CBS on Tuesday about the horror injuries her son suffered in the shooting.

Ralph was shot on the top of his left eye  his frontal lobe and the top of his right arm, she said.

He had the bullet up here [in his head] for about 12 hours before it was taken out, so that injury is extensive.

Ms Nagbe said the extensive injuries mean Ralph has a long road ahead to recovery.
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Black teenager Ralph Yarl was shot by a white homeowner after he accidentally rang the doorbell at the wrong house while going to collect his brothers.

The 16-year-old accidental visit to Andrew Lesters home in the Northland suburb of Kansas City quickly turned violent and the high school student was left hospitalised with serious injuries.

Instead of going to a home in the 1100 block of Northeast 115th Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri, to pick up his brothers, he mistakenly went to Northeast 115th Street, police said.

Now prosecutors have brought charges against the homeowner.

Here is everything we know about the suspect.

The homeowner

The identity of the shooter was revealed on Monday afternoon as Andrew D Lester, aged 84.

He is now facing the rest of his life behind bars over the shooting.

His family broke its silence for the first time to condemn the shooting.

Mr Lesters grandson Daniel Ludwig told The Daily Beast that the violent encounter never should have happened.

Its just crazy. I wish it didnt happen, he said.

Mr Ludwig, who said he is very close to Mr Lester, revealed he understands how easy it was for Ralph to get lost on the streets.

Id go to visit my grandpa, and I would get lost on those streets, he said.

Its easy to do. They all look the same and everything.

Other people who knew the 84-year-old have described a penchant for anger and conspiracy theories.

Another grandson Klint Ludwig said that he was estranged from his grandfather because of the 84-year-olds right-wing views.

Andrew Lester appears in court to answer charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action on Wednesday (AP)

He claimed that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Lester had shared a crazy conspiracy theory about Dr Anthony Fauci.

He said his grandfather also used to make disparaging comments about Black people, gay people, and immigrants  and kept a large number of guns in his home.

Another relative, who did not want to be named, said Mr Lester spent considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programs at high volume.

Mr Lesters ex-wife Mary Clayton has also spokem out to reveal why she isnt surprised by the shooting.

Ms Clayton, who was married to Mr Lester when she was young and had three children with him, told The New York Times she was always scared of her former husband.

During their 14-year marriage, she said he had anger issues and would smash up items around their home.

She called the police at least once over his rages but she said that nothing was done about it and she was told Mr Lester could do what he wanted in his home.

I was always scared of him, she said, adding of the shooting: It doesnt surprise me, what happened.

The charges

Following the shooting, Mr Lester was initially taken into custody on Thursday and placed on a 24-hour hold.

However, under Missouri state law, a person can only be held for 24 hours on suspicion of a felony before officials must either charge or release them. Attorneys for Ralph  and jail officials  said that the suspect was actually released after less than two hours.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a press conference on Sunday that  due to Ralphs injuries  police had been unable to get a formal statement from him.

This was also contradicted by Ralphs attorneys who said that the teenager gave an interview from his hospital bed on Friday.

In an appearance on CNN, Mr Crump described the shooting as an attempted murder.

The home where the suspect shot Ralph Yarl (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

On Monday afternoon, Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson announced that Mr Lester had been charged with two felonies: assault in the first degree, which carries a punishment of 10 to 30 years or life imprisonment, and armed criminal action, which carries a punishment of 3 to 15 years.

However, more than 20 hours passed before Mr Lester was taken into custody.

He surrendered to authorities on Tuesday before being released again less than two hours later after posting $200,000 bond.

Under the conditions of his release, he is not allowed to possess weapons of any type or have any contact with Ralph or his family.

Mr Lester appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday for his arraignment.

He pleaded not guilty to the two felonies and was released on bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for 1 June.

The 84-year-old is facing life in prison on the charges but is also said to be under investigation for a possible hate crime.

Mr Merritt told reporters outside Clay County Court on Wednesday that the Justice Department is looking into the case.

Before I even made it to Kansas City, we reached out to the Department of Justice, myself and my co-counsel Ben Crump, we have some longstanding relationships there, Mr Merritt said.

We thought that this was something the DOJ should be looking into. They are (looking into it). Its under investigation, theyve received our complaint and now theyre looking into it.

On Monday, when asked if Mr Lester could be charged with a hate crime by the state, the prosecutor said that it would not be possible under Missouri law.

In Missouri, a hate crime is a lower level of felony and to add the charge would amount to double jeopardy, he said.

Ralphs attorneys have also questioned why the suspect has not been charged with attempted murder.

While Mr Merritt said the family is happy that two felony charges have been brought, he has questions as to why Mr Lester has not been charged with attempted murder.

Ralph Yarl was shot twice on 13 April (Ben Crump Law)

He told CBS Mornings on Tuesday that, while Mr Lesters age may be a factor in the case, the current and former president of the United States is about that age. He made a conscious decision to shoot a 16-year-old boy, he said.

Ralph Yarl was shot because he was armed with nothing but other than his Black skin, he said.

The motive

Initially, officials denied any racial element to the shooting and offered no motive for the gunman opening fire on the teen.

Speaking on Sunday, the police chief said that there was no evidence to indicate that the shooting was racially motivated.

But, on Monday, when charges were announced, the prosecutor said he believed there was a racial component to the case.

He did not give details as to what led officials to that conclusion and nothing to that end was outlined in the probable cause document.

Mr Merritt, who is representing Ralph and his family, said that they were meeting with the prosecutor on Tuesday where they hoped to learn what racial element investigators had found.

He told CBS Mornings that the suspects claim that he felt threatened by a Black boy ringing his doorbell sounds awfully familiar.

Being Black has been seen as a threat often in this country. It is unjustifiable for him to use deadly force against this so-called threat. Again, Blackness is not a threat, he said.

He added that the investigation itself shows bias in the treatment of the Black teen and the white shooter.

We saw law enforcement respond by essentially criminalising the boy, he said of Mr Lesters lack of arrest.

[Mr Lester] went home and slept in his bed that night, he said.

Andrew Lester in mugshot (Clay County Jail)

Mr Crump told CNN that he believes things would have been different if the races of the suspect and victim were reversed.

Nobody can tell us if the roles were reversed, and you had a Black man shoot a white, 16-year-old teenager for merely ringing his doorbell that he would not be arrested, he said.

I mean, this citizen went home and slept in his bed at night after shooting that young Black kid in the head.

What happened

According to court documents, a witness told police that they saw a vehicle pull into Mr Lesters driveway at around 9.30pm.

Mr Lester told investigators that he had just lain down when the doorbell rang, he picked up a .32 pistol and opened the interior door of his house.

He told police that he saw a Black male pulling on the exterior door and thought he was trying to break into the property.

He claimed he was scared to death at the boys size and feared he was unable to defend himself given his elderly age, the documents state.

Mr Lester said that he fired twice and that no words were exchanged with the victim.

Ralph Yarl was discharged from hospital after suffering two gunshot wounds (AP)

During an informal police interview at Childrens Mercy Hospital, the teenager said that he did not pull the door and was waiting outside.

He told investigators that a man opened the door and immediately shot him, causing him to fall to the ground where he was shot for a second time.

Ralph told police the man said, Dont come around here.

Following the shooting, Ralph managed to stumble away to some other homes in the neighbourhood to get help and was rushed to hosptial.

On Monday, he was released from hospital to recover at home from his injuries.

Celebrities join demands for justice as GoFundMe appeal soars

Before charges were announced  and when the suspect had been freed from police custody without charge  several celebrities joined calls for justice for Ralph.

Halle Berry posted Ralphs image on Twitter and urged her Twitter followers to contact the local prosecutor to urge him to bring charges against the homeowner.

His name is #RalphYarl and Im sick and tired of this feelingmy heart completely broke when I learned this precious 16-year-old, who accidentally rang the door of the wrong address in an attempt to pick up his siblings, was shot in the head by a man who didnt want him on his property. This innocent child is now fighting for his life, she wrote.

Fellow Black actor Viola Davis also took to Instagram to demand action.

ALL HANDS ON DECK!! she wrote, directing people to the posts of civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt.

Meanwhile a GoFundMe appeal to try and help raise funds for his treatment saw donations flooding in.

On Thursday morning  around two days after its launch  a staggering $3.35m had been raised.

On the campaign page, a woman who identified herself as Ralphs aunt described the teenager as a fantastic kid who had dreams of doing to Texas A&M University to major in chemical Engineering.

At school, he is a member of the Technology Student Association and Science Olympia Team. Jazz and competition band. He is a section leader in the marching band; a scholar and one of the top base clarinet players in Missouri. He recently earned Missouri All-State Band recognition with an honorable mention. He plays multiple instruments in the metropolitan youth orchestra. He is a 2022 Missouri scholar academy alumni. Ralph can often be found with a musical instrument. He loves them all, the page reads.

Protesters in support of Ralph Yarl on Tuesday 18 April (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Last summer, Ralph attended Missouri Scholars Academy, where he got a full college life experience. His goal is to attend Texas A&M to major in chemical Engineering.

When asked how he plans to get into this university, he said, Well, if they have a scholarship for music or academics, I know I can get it. Ralphs teacher and friends describe him as  a kind soul, quiet, friendly, well-mannered, always willing to help, super smart, and a musical genius. Ralph was looking forward to graduating high school and finally getting the opportunity to visit West Africa before starting college.

Life looks a lot different right now. Even though he is doing well physically, he has a long road ahead mentally and emotionally. The trauma that he has to endure and survive is unimaginable. He is our miracle. We have heard these types of stories many times, and unfortunately, most black boys are not alive to get another chance.

Protesters have also taken to the streets of Kansas City in support of Ralph and to demand justice for his alleged attacker.

On Tuesday, over a thousand students at Ralphs school Staley High School staged a walkout  or unity walk  in solidarity with their classmate.

They were joined by school staff, civil rights leaders and politicians in a huge rally in downtown Kansas City where they chanted Justice for Ralph and We love you Ralph.

I was out here to support my friend Ralph through this time he is going through today, one of the boys friends told KSHB.

The student said he wasnt surprised by the number of people who had come out to support Ralph because everyone is willing to support a friend at our school.
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A teenager from Texas is recovering in the ICU from being shot after her friend accidentally entered the wrong car in the parking lot of a grocery store.

Payton Washington, 18, was coming home from cheerleading practice around 12.15 am with three other friends on Tuesday when gun fire occurred in the parking lot of an H-E-B in Elgin, Texas.

Authorities from the Elgin Police Department responded to the report of gun fire and found, two occupants of the vehicle were struck by gun fire, according to a statement shared on the Elgin Police Departments Facebook

One victim was treated and released on scene. The other sustained serious injuries and was transported to the hospital by helicopter where they remain in critical condition, the statement says.

Paytons father, Kelan Washington, told NBC News that his daughter was shot in the leg and the back during the incident which required doctors to remove her spleen.

Payton is in stable condition at the Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas according to Mr Washington.

Paytons accomplished everything she has with only one lung [from] when she was born. Shes as tough as they come, Mr Washington told NBC News.

Authorities have arrested 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr in connection to the shooting and charged him with deadly conduct.

Lynn Shearer, the owner of the cheer team, told KXAN that the girls were returning from cheerleading practice at Woodlands Elite Cheer Company when the incident occurred.

Ms Shearer said the cheerleaders carpooled to the gym in Oak Ridge and were returning to their respective cars when one of the girls accidentally tried to enter the wrong vehicle.

Upon noticing it was the wrong vehicle, she got back into her friends car when the man got out to confront them.

The guy got out and they saw that he had a gun. And so they tried to speed off, and he shot his gun, like five times or so into the car, Ms Shearer told KXAN.

Ms Shearer said the situation was unfortunate because these girls were just trying to get home.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for Paytons medical expenses.

On Instagram, Woodlands Elite Cheer Company wrote: 4 of our girls were involved in a horrific incident on their way home after practice last night. Please keep these girls and our WE cheer family in your thoughts and prayers. WE appreciate our cheer community.

The Independent has reached out to Woodlands Elite Cheer Company for comment.

This is the third recent incident of young people being met with gun fire when making a mistake. Ralph Yarl, 16, was recently shot after he mixed up the addresses of a house he was supposed to go to in order to pick up his younger brothers. After ringing the doorbell, Ralph was shot twice.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was fatally shot after accidentally driving up the wrong driveway of the wrong home.
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Kerisha Johnson was just days away from welcoming her baby to the world when they were both killed in a drive-by shooting.

Johnson, 36, was found dead inside her vehicle after Baton Rouge police officers responded to reports of shots fired near an Easter party in the early morning hours on Sunday (16 April).

According to an arrest report obtained by local news station WBRZ, Johnsons assailants mistook her for someone else driving a similar model car who had fired shots in the air earlier.

Marques Porch, Gregory Parker and Derrick Curry, all 19, have since been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and first-degree feticide. They were reportedly caught on video opening fire on Johnsons vehicle and fleeing the scene.

The tragedy has sparked outrage in the Baton Rouge community and is the latest in an alarming spike in gun violence in the US.

Heres everything we know about the shooting:

Suspected gunmen mistook Johnson for a shooter

Baton Rouge Police said in a press release on Sunday that a nine-month pregnant Johnson was shot while attempting to pick up people from a party located in the North Carrollton area. Authorities responded to the scene around 12.30am, but Johnson and her unborn child were already deceased.

According to reports by WBRZ, the gunmen targeted Johnsons white Sedan because they believed a person who had opened fire earlier that night was behind the wheel. They were captured on video as they gunned down the expecting mother.

The footage has not been released. Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to drive away but was struck before she could escape the violence.

The suspects reportedly left the scene in two different vehicles. Mr Porch, who was driving one of the cars, was also wounded by an unknown shooter.

It is unclear how many times Johnson was shot, and whether all the suspects struck her.

Corrections officer among alleged shooters

Mr Porch reportedly told law enforcement that he gave the other two suspects the weapons that were used in the shooting. He then allegedly arranged for a third party to dispose of them before authorities arrived to question him, Mr Curry and Mr Parker.

They all stated that they believed the white car was a vehicle from earlier in the night where [an] occupant had fired a round into the air as it drove past the teen party, a warrant obtained by WBRZ stated.

Officials confirmed to the outlet that Mr Porch was previously employed as a corrections officer at the West Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office until November last year. Mr Porch then worked as a transportation driver until he was terminated on Sunday following the charges brought against him.

The suspects are being held in custody without bond at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and are scheduled to appear in court on Monday, according to ABC News.

Its senseless

In the aftermath of the tragedy, loved ones and relatives of Johnson have remembered her as a hardworking mother.

It was just senseless, Johnsons longtime friend Deanna Williams told WBRZ. She was an innocent person.

Johnson was also described as light-hearted and helpful. Her classmate Crissina Finister said in a Facebook post that Johnson was a mother-of-two and her unborn child was a baby girl.

She didnt deserve this. Kerisha was the nicest, sweetest person you could ever meet, Ms Finister wrote. She has [two] other children that now have to remain without their mother due to senseless violence from humans with no regard for human life ...
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Cult mom Lori Vallow is currently on trial in a case that has shocked the nation with its bizarre doomsday cult ties and the tragic deaths of almost everyone close to the mother-of-three and her new husband Chad Daybell.

The 49-year-old is charged with the murders of her children Joshua JJ Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 16, and conspiracy to murder Mr Daybells first wife Tammy Daybell.

JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to authorities for many months.

One month after they were last seen alive, Tammy  an otherwise healthy 49-year-old  died suddenly and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell soon jetted off to Hawaii to get married on the beach.

In June 2020, the remains of JJ and Tylee were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybells property in Rexburg, Idaho, and the doomsday cult couple were eventually charged with murder.

Prosecutors allege that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Ms Vallows brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their bizarre cult beliefs  but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammys life insurance money and the childrens social security and survivor benefits.

After lengthy delays  due to the pandemic and Ms Vallows admission into a mental health facility  her trial is finally under way in a courtroom in Boise, Idaho.

Here are the key revelations from the trial  so far:

Money, power and sex

During opening statements, prosecutors said that Ms Vallow was driven by money, power and sex to murder her two children and her new husbands then-wife.

Money, power, and sex  thats what this case is about, said Fremont County prosecutor Lindsey Blake.

Tylee had money. Lori wanted it. Tylees gone. JJ took time and he also lost his father. When he lost his father, he became much more difficult to care for. He was entitled to social security benefits. The defendant didnt want to have to take care of JJ anymore. He had money. JJs gone.

Ms Blake told jurors that the saga first began back in October 2018 when Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell met in person for the first time at a religious conference.

Despite both being married, their romance grew with Ms Blake saying: The defendant will remove any obstacle in her way to get what she wants  and she wanted Chad Daybell.

Lori Vallow is seen in a courtroom sketch (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Doomsday couple used cult beliefs to justify murder

The doomsday couple allegedly used their cult beliefs to justify their actions, the prosecutor said in opening statements.

She was here on a religious mission to gather the 144,000, so she needed to spend her time and energy there, said Ms Blake. What she did on earth no longer counted for her.

As part of their cult beliefs, they believed in a rating system of light and dark for how they ranked the spirits of the people around them.

Over time, this evolved into the belief that some people  including the children  were zombies and the only way to get rid of the zombies was for the human body to be destroyed.

Tammy Daybells cause of death revealed

The cause of death of Mr Daybells first wife Tammy was revealed for the first time during opening statements.

Ms Blake told jurors that Tammy, 49, died at the hands of another and died of asphyxiation, citing the Utah medical examiner.

Tammy died suddenly on 19 October 2019. Mr Daybell declined an autopsy  despite her young age and lack of health concerns  and her death was ruled natural causes.

The prosecutor said that, 10 days before her death, Tammy had called 911 to report that someone had taken a shot at her in the driveway of her home.

When Tammy then died and her body was about to be exhumed, Cox raised concerns about being made the fall guy for her death by the doomsday couple.

Tammy and Chad Daybell were married in 1990. He is now accused of conspiring with Lori Vallow to kill her (Facebook)

One day after he made that comment  on 11 December 2019  Cox also died suddenly at the age of 51. His death was also ruled natural causes, however the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.

After the investigation into the missing children ramped up, Tammys body was exhumed and an autopsy carried out.

Sobbing Brandon Boudreaux testifies about children and shooting

Ms Vallows former nephew-in-law Brandon Boudreaux broke down in tears as he testified about the moment he learned about JJ and Tylees deaths  and then had to identify JJs remains.

He was married to Ms Vallows niece Melani Pawlowski for ten years and was close to JJ and Tylee.

However, in 2018 he said things changed and got more bizarre when Ms Pawlowski became more involved in the doosmday cult with Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell.

The couple divorced and he was living in a new home when, on 2 October 2019, he was the victim of a failed shooting attempt. After that, he said he began looking into his estranged wifes doomsday cult and learned that Mr Daybells wife Tammy had also died recently.

Alarming items found in Vallows garage

Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo testified how his officers found several alarming items during a search of Ms Vallows home.

Arizona officials had raised the alarm about JJ and Tylees disappearance but, by that time, Ms Vallow had moved the children from Arizona to Rexburg.

After being railroaded by Ms Vallow, Mr Daybell and Cox as to the childrens whereabouts, police executed a search warrant on her home in November 2019.

In the garage, investigators found several guns, ammunition, empty magazines, silencers and Army-grade knives. There was also Hazmat-style suits and preparedness bags with emergency kits and a camouflage suit.

Black trash bags full of clothes and papers and JJs toys and prescription medication was also found in the search.

He testified that Ms Vallow appeared to have fled, with no clothes left behind in her closets.

The last photo  and known sighting  of Tylee Ryan (pictured with JJ and Alex Cox at Yellowstone National Park) (FBI)

Graphic photos show JJ was buried in pyjamas

Graphic photos revealed that JJ was still wearing his red pyjamas and a pull-up nighttime diaper when his remains were found buried in a shallow grave on Mr Daybells property on 9 June 2020.

The last proof of life of JJ is a photo taken on 22 September 2019 showing the little boy sitting on a sofa dressed in a matching set of red pyjamas.

Shocked jurors were shown images of JJs body found in the shallow grave  still dressed in the red pyjamas.

His arms were wrapped in duct tape and his head was wrapped in a white plastic bag with thick layers of duct tape around it. He had been partly covered in a blue childrens blanket before wood panelling and three white stones were placed on top of him in the shallow grave.

Det Hermosillo told the court that search teams digging on the property were first struck by the strong odour of a decomposing body.

The team then uncovered what appeared to be the crown of a head  later found to belong to JJ  protruding through the earth. Tylees remains were then found not far from her younger brothers, close to a fire pit in the pet cemetery on the property.

JJ Vallow on the day he was last seen alive (Ada County Court)

State of Tylees remains meant autopsy was impossible

Tylees body was so badly burned that an autopsy to determine her cause of death was impossible, jurors heard.

The 16-year-old had been dismembered, burned and her body parts were dispersed around the grounds.

Eventually we uncovered bits and pieces of Tylee, whom we assumed was Tylee, that had been burned. There were pieces of bone, charred flesh, just globs of flesh that were falling apart, he said.

Jurors gasped and JJs grandparents sobbed as harrowing images were shown in the courtroom of both the burial site and images taken JJs autopsy.

At one point, Ms Vallows attorneys asked the judge to allow her to be excused from the court while the graphic testimony and photos were shown. The judge swiftly denied the request.

Jailhouse call reveals Daybell warning Vallow as police close in

Jurors heard a jailhouse phone call where Mr Daybell warned Ms Vallow that police were closing in on the day that her childrens remains were discovered buried on his property.

In the call, made at 11.03am on 9 June 2020, Mr Daybell is heard telling his new wife that law enforcement were on the scene searching his property in Rexburg, Idaho.

At the time, Ms Vallow was behind bars in Madison County Jail after she failed to meet a court order to present the children.

They are searching the property, a forlorn-sounding Mr Daybell says.

He later adds: So, well see what transpires.

Just around one hour later, the remains of JJ and Tylee were discovered buried on Mr Daybells property.

Vallow lied that missing JJ was watching Frozen 2 with a friend

Ms Vallows former friend Melanie Gibb testified that the cult mom had lied to police about JJs whereabouts  using her as an alibi.

Jurors heard that Mr Daybell called Ms Gibb a few days before Thanksgiving 2019 to tell her that the police would be calling her about JJ and Tylees whereabouts and that she shouldnt answer.

Investigators are seen digging in Chad Daybells yard on the day the children were found (AP)

Ms Vallow had claimed to authorities that JJ was with Ms Gibb watching Frozen 2 and asked her friend to take photos of random children at the movies to show police, jurors heard.

Initially, Ms Gibb said she didnt know what to do so ignored police calls before speaking to them and admitting she hadnt seen JJ.

A December 2019 phone call, secretly recorded by Ms Gibb, captured her confronting Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell about asking her to lie about JJs whereabouts.

In the call, Ms Vallow also claimed that she was trying to protect JJ because his grandmother Kay Woodcock was trying to kidnap him. She insisted that JJ  who was already dead  was safe and happy but refused to reveal where he was.

Ms Gibb told her friend: If you really loved me, you would not have told the police I had JJ with me.

Ms Vallow responded by telling her it sounds like you have been influenced by somebody dark and obey dark things.

Cult mom believed children had dark spirits

Jurors heard testimony about the dark doomsday cult beliefs of Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell.

Ms Gibb testified that Ms Vallow told her JJ and Tylee had been taken over by dark spirits in September 2019  the month of their disappearance.

She claimed that JJ had become dark that month, would climb on top of the fridge and cabinets, and would say things like I love Satan.

Ms Gibb testified that JJ appeared to be acting like a typical seven-year-old who had autism.

Ms Vallow allegedly also claimed that Tylee had moved into dorm rooms at BYU-Idaho and that all of the teens belongings had been moved into storage.

As part of their cult beliefs, the doomsday couple believed in a rating system ranking peoples spirits from light to dark, said Ms Gibb.

They believed that some people  including the children  were zombies and the only way to get rid of the zombies was for the human body to be destroyed.

Ms Vallows fourth husband Charles Vallow was also labeled as dark, said Ms Gibb.

Cult mom laughed as surviving child confronted her about dead siblings

In a chilling jailhouse phone call played to the court, Ms Vallow was heard laughing as her only surviving child confronted her about the deaths of his two siblings.

Colby Ryan, Ms Vallows eldest son from her second marriage, took the stand to testify against his mother on day six of he trial.

During his testimony, jurors heard an emotional phone call between him and Ms Vallow as she was held behind bars in August 2020  two months after JJ and Tylees remains were discovered.

Lori Vallow being escorted to a court appearance in 2022 (AP)

My siblings, my whole family, my dad  everyone is gone except my mom and youre in jail because of it. You ripped my heart out. You ripped everyones heart out, he told her.

When Mr Ryan told her you murdered my siblings, Ms Vallow denied it saying: I didnt. Im sorry you feel that way.

In the call, Mr Ryan pleaded with his mother to tell him the truth about what happened to his brother and sister and questioned how she could believe Jesus Christ was on her side.

Ms Vallow was heard laughing in response, and saying that only Tylee and JJ know what happened.

They love me and they are fine and they know the truth and we are the only people that do, she said, claiming that all would become clear in the afterlife.

Mr Ryan also confronted his mother about texts that were sent from Tylees phone to him after she had already been killed, accusing her of posing as his sister to keep up the pretence that she was alive.

Vallows chilling response when asked about Tylee

Zulema Pastenes was in the cult with Ms Vallow, Mr Daybell and Cox and married Cox just weeks before he died suddenly.

She testified that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell performed ritualistic castings to drive out dark spirits from individuals and that the cult mom also taught other women classes on how to cast out demons.

In September 2019, she said she went to Rexburg and saw JJ there alive but didnt see Tylee.

She said she asked where Tylee was and Ms Vallow told her that her daughter had to be freed.

She then allegedly put her hand in front of Ms Pastenes face and told her: Dont ask.

Prior to her disappearance, Ms Pastenes said Ms Vallow had claimed Tylee was possessed by a demon named Hillary and that JJ was also being attacked by dark spirits. She also claimed her husband Charles Vallow was possessed by a dark spirit named Garrett.

Vallow went to Burger King minutes after brother killed husband

Ms Vallow went to Burger King minutes after her brother Alex Cox shot and killed her fourth husband Charles Vallow, jurors heard.

Charles Vallow was shot dead by Cox at Ms Vallows home in Chandler, Arizona, in July 2019. Cox claimed he shot Charles in self-defence because he tried to attack him with a baseball bat. Ms Vallow is now charged with conspiracy to murder Charles in Arizona.

Detective Cassandra Ynclan, with the Chandler Police Department in Arizona, testified about Ms Vallows lack of concern for her husband when he was shot dead. She told the court how Ms Vallow claimed she did not witness the shooting but heard a gunshot and saw Charles on the ground.

Charles and Lori Vallow pictured together. Lori is charged with conspiracy to murder Charles in Arizona (Provided)

She left the scene and took JJ to school, stopping off at Burger King on the way. She returned around an hour later.

A firefighter who responded to the scene also testified that no one had performed CPR on Charles before his arrival.

Vallow and Daybell were planning new life in Hawaii  without children

The doomsday couple was planning to embark on a new life together in Hawaii  without any children.

Jurors were shown an email sent by Mr Daybell to a realtor in Hawaii in November 2019, just days after the couple wed on a beach there.

In the email, he said that they were looking for a home for a couple with no pets or children.

We are interested in seeing this property. Would the owners be interested in leasing this property to a clean couple with no pets or children? Please let us know. Thank you, he wrote.

Grand theft timeline revealed

Several law enforcement officials testified about what was described as the grand theft timeline  revealing the alleged financial motive for the killings.

Jurors heard how, in the months surrounding the murders, there were several suspicious changes to the social security payments meant for Tylee and JJ.

Tylees father  and Ms Vallows second husband  Joseph Ryan died in 2018 and so the teenager was eligible for the benefits.

On 16 August 2019, Tylees social security benefits were changed so that they would be paid into her mothers bank account instead of her own. Three days later, Ms Vallow and Tylee opened a joint bank account.

Days later  on 31 August  Ms Vallow moved Tylee and JJ to Rexburg, Idaho, to where Mr Daybell lived. On 8 September,Tylee was last seen alive.

A similar pattern was presented to jurors with JJs finances. After Charles Vallows death, his son JJ began receiving social security payments. Ms Vallow began receiving the payments into her bank account on her sons behalf in September. Days later, prosecutors say JJ was killed.

Even after the deaths of JJ and Tylee, Ms Vallow allegedly continued to collect the social security payments.

Chad Daybell pictured in court (Post Register)

Ms Vallows accounts were then used to pay for flights for herself and Mr Daybell.

Jurors also heard how Mr Daybell made a life insurance claim for Tammy Daybell just days after she died in October 2019. He ultimately received $400,000 in benefits from it.

Vallow believed Charles was possessed by demon called Ned Schneider

Ms Vallows friend testified that the cult mom believed her fourth husband Charles Vallow was possessed by demon called Ned Schneider.

April Raymond said she met Ms Vallow at a church in Hawaii in 2016  when she was married to Charles Vallow  and became very close. In February 2019, she said that Ms Vallow called her and asked if she and Tylee could stay with her because she was leaving Charles.

Ms Raymond testified that Ms Vallow told her that Charles was possessed by a demon.

Charles was already dead and a demon was using his body as a host. The demons name was Ned Schneider, she said.

Ms Vallow allegedly said she knew he was no longer Charles because he looked shorter.

She also allegedly told Ms Raymond that she was done with JJ.

Ms Vallow told her that she was the leader of the 144,000 and was there to gather her so she too could be saved.

JJ vanished after knocking over picture of Christ

Ms Vallows former friend David Warwick testified about the last time he saw JJ alive.

Mr Warwick said he and his wife Melanie Gibb visited Ms Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, over a weekend in September 2019.

JJ was there for most of the weekend but then, on the morning they left, was nowhere to be seen.

Ms Vallow allegedly told him that JJ had an episode and knocked over a picture of Christ.

We went downstairs to say goodbye and Lori was there and she just said that JJ had an episode, he said.

She said he was out of control and she could not control him and so she had Alex come get him She said that he climbed the cabinets and the fridge and the upper cabinets and pushed over her picture of Christ.

Chad Daybells chilling dream

Jurors also heard about a chilling dream that Mr Daybell claimed he had about his wife Tammy dying.

Mr Warwick testified that Mr Daybell told him he dreamt Tammy was going to pass away by the time she was 50.

I asked him how his marriage was with Tammy and if she was a good wife and he said he had no complaints and she was a good wife, he told the court.

Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan (AP)

He said her time was coming up and him and Lori were going to do things they committed to do for God.

Tammy died sudenly on October 19 2019 aged 49. he would have turned 50 in about six months time.

Chad Daybells raccoon text

Jurors also heard about a chilling text Mr Daybell sent to his wife Tammy Daybell on the day after Tylee was last seen alive.

Tylee was last seen on 8 September 2019 at Yellowstone National Park.

On 9 September, Mr Daybell sent his wife this text: Well, Ive had an interesting morning! I felt I should burn all of the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms.

While I did so, I spotted a big racoon [sic] along the fence. I hurried and got my gun, and he was still walking along. I got close enough that one shot did the trick. He is now in our pet cemetery. Fun times!

Months later, in June 2020, Tylees remains were found buried in the pet cemetery on the Daybells property.

Chilling internet searches revealed

Chilling internet searches have revealed that Ms Vallow shopped for life insurance policies for her children two months before they were murdered and buried on the Daybell property.

FBI analyst Nicole Heideman testified that Ms Vallows lollytime4ever Gmail account was used in July 2019 to google gerber life insurance policy and life insurance for children  the Grow-Up Plan. A few days later, the same Gmail account searched for how to sell a service dog.

At the time, Tylee and JJ were still alive and JJ, who had autism, was using a service dog.

Jurors also heard how Ms Vallow appeared to begin making plans to marry Mr Daybell as far back as May 2019  while both of their spouses were still alive.

In August 2019, her account searched for malachite wedding rings before buying a pair on 2 October 2019  days before Tammy was killed. On 22 October  the same day that Tammys funeral took place  Ms Vallows account then looked up wedding dresses and wedding dresses in Kauai.

Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell got married on a beach in Hawaii on 5 November 2019, with photos showing them both sporting rings that matched those ordered online.

Meanwhile, Mr Daybell allegedly searched on 8 September 2019 for what the wind direction was going to be the following day  the day prosecutors believe Tylee was buried on the grounds of his property.

Trove of burner phones

Jurors also heard that Ms Vallow and her alleged co-conspirators were using a trove of burner phones around the time of the murders.

In total, Ms Vallow, Mr Daybell and Cox used a total of 21 burner phones over an 18-month period  18 of them billed to a PO BOX in Sugar City, Idaho.

Only one phone belonging to Cox pinged at both Ms Vallows apartment and the fire pet and pet cemetery on Mr Daybells property on 9 September and 23 September  the days when prosecutors say Tylee and JJ were buried there.

Sister says she threw children away like garbage

Jurors heard a devastating jailhouse phone call where Ms Vallows sister Summer Shiflet accused her sibling of throwing her murdered children away like garbage.

The call, made on 24 June 2020 when Ms Vallow was behind bars, reveals Ms Shiflet sobbing uncontrollably as she confronted her sister about the discovery of Tylee and JJs remains days earlier on Mr Daybells property.

Did you know they were there? she asked, to which she replied, I cant talk about it.

Ms Vallow continued to refuse to reveal what had happened to her children in the call, telling her sister you have no idea what happened when she asked why she did nothing after the children died.

[JJ and Tylee] deserve a proper burial with their family that loves them, at the least, Ms Shiflet shouted.

You threw Tylee in a pet cemetery like a piece of garbage. That is not Christ-like. There is nothing good in that. They were innocent and they were loved.

Ms Vallow responded saying: I took care of them their whole life. Me, me.
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Three teenagers have been arrested for the Louisiana killing of a pregnant woman who was set to give birth within days, in a killing that was reportedly a case of mistaken identity.

The young men, all 19 years old, face charges of second-degree murder and first-degree feticide after the killing of Ketisha Johnson, 36, who was found dead in her car in Baton Rouge.

The teenagers, Marques Porch, Gregory Parker, and Derrick Curry, were arrested after Ms Johnson was found dead in her car in the early hours of 16 April.

At about 12.30am, Ms Johnson was set to pick up attendees from an Easter party in North Carrollton when she was shot several times. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Affidavits for the detained young men state that in surveillance footage from just before the shooting, a dark Honda was spotted parked across the street from where the party was taking place, The Advocate reported.

A group of people stand outside the car talking to each other when Ms Johnson arrives in her white sedan, prompting the people near the Honda to crouch down. They can then be seen pulling out guns and firing them at the white sedan.

While Ms Johnson tried to get away, she was hit by the gunfire and killed, including her unborn child. The suspects can then be seen on the video fleeing the area in the Honda.

The men were identified by witnesses present at the scene. The suspects all told police that they thought Ms Johnsons car was one that had passed by earlier that same evening. An occupant of that separate vehicle had fired several rounds of gunfire into the air while driving past.

Mr Porch was also wounded in the incident. He told police he owned the Honda and that he had supplied the firearms to the other teenagers, the affidavits state. He admitted that he arranged for someone to pick up the guns before the three men were arrested.

When he was detained, Mr Porch was a corrections officer working part-time for the West Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office.

The offices public affairs officer, Corporal Landon Groger, said on Monday that the teenager had been fired after he was arrested.

Mr Porch was a full-time corrections officer between June and November 2022 and then part-time from February of this year until his Sunday firing.

Police Sgt LJean McKneely told WAFB, Through the course of [the] investigation, we believe that the person who was shooting at her thought that she was the person who had just fired the multiple shots.

A childhood friend of Ms Johnson, Deanna Williams, told WBRZ that it was just senseless and that Ms Johnson was an innocent person.

Jail records state that the three suspects were booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. When they appeared before a judge on Monday, they were ordered to remain in pretrial detention without bond, according to Law & Crime.
 Close Four bodies found inside home connected to shooting on I-295, Yarmouth Police says

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Court records in the Maine shooting spree revealed the grisly crime scene discovered by police called to the scene after suspect Joseph Eaton allegedly shot and killed four people, including his parents and their two friends.

The suspect appeared in court in West Bath on Thursday, his first appearance since the killings.

The victims, who all died of gunshot wounds, include his parents Cynthia Eaton, 62 and David Eaton, 66, and their friends Robert Eger, 72 and Patricia Eger, 62.

Court documents state that Pattis sister visited the home at about 9am, finding drops of blood near the door, WABI reported.

Inside, she discovered a number of guns and bullet holes. She exited the home and called 911.

Police have said they found one victim in a barn and three others in the home. Court documents reveal that a dog was also shot at the scene.

Detectives searching the area also discovered a note stating that someone had been molested and that there was nothing done about it

The note also stated that someone had been freed of pain and that the author of the note wanted a new life.

The four victims are believed to have been killed one day before they were discovered on Tuesday morning.

Not long after the discovery, police responded to a shooting along a highway where Sean Halsey, 51, and his two children, Justin, 29, and Paige, 25, had all been shot.

They were transported to Maine Medical Center.

The father and son suffered injuries not considered life-threatening while Ms Halsey was in critical condition. Mr Halsey said on Wednesday afternoon that his daughters breathing tube had been removed and that she was on the road to recovery.

The car the suspect had been driving was rented by his parents at Portland Jetport when they arrived in the state on 13 April to collect their son upon his release from prison.

Mr Eaton didnt enter a plea in court on Thursday. His next court date has been scheduled for 28 June.
 Close Ralph Yarl: Prosecutors charge Kansas City homeowner for shooting teen

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The family of suspected shooter Andrew Lester have said they are disgusted by the 84-year-olds shooting of Black teenager Ralph Yarl.

Mr Lesters grandson Klint Ludwig told CNN that myself and my family stand with Ralph Yarl and seeking justice.

This is a horrible tragedy, it never should have happened, he said.

Mr Ludwig also revealed details about his grandfathers racist comments and interest in QAnon-level conspiracy theories prior to the 13 April shooting.

The 84-year-old is accused of shooting Ralph, 16, twice through the glass screen door of his home in Kansas City, Missouri, when the Black teenager accidentally called at the wrong home to pick up his brothers.

Ralphs recovery is still ongoing, with attorney Lee Merritt sharing a photo of him back at home following his release from hospital.

Meanwhile, Mr Lester appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday where he pleaded not guilty to two felonies.

The shooting has led to protests and an outpouring of support for Ralph from celebrities and donors to a GoFundMe campaign, as the incident casts a renewed spotlight on Americas stand your ground laws and whether they help to fuel random shootings and racism.
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A Home Depot employee in San Francisco was shot dead after confronting a shoplifter armed with a hand gun.

Authorities said the shooting took place on Tuesday at around 2.15pm inside a Home Depot in Pleasanton in the San Francisco Bay Area, reported ABC News.

Blake Mohs, an unarmed loss prevention employee, attempted to stop a theft in progress when a struggle ensued, said a statement by the Pleasanton Police Department.

The female suspect was allegedly trying to leave the store with what was believed to be an electrical item when she resisted and shot him.

Police said Mohs later succumbed to his injuries.

Blakes life was cut short by this senseless act of violence that started as a theft and turned into a robbery and ended in his murder, Pleasanton Lt Erik Silacci was quoted as saying at press briefing on Wednesday.

The suspect was identified by police as 32-year-old Benicia Knapps who allegedly escaped in a car driven by David Guillory, 31.

Police said Ms Knappss two-year-old child was also in the car and was later taken to relatives.

Ms Knapps and Mr Guillory were detained in Oakland by Alameda County Sheriffs Office deputies, said authorities.

The handgun believed to be used in the incident was found at a nearby intersection, police said.

Home Depot issued condolences to the Mohs family after the senseless tragedy.

Were heartbroken over this senseless tragedy, it said in a statement. Blake was our associate and friend, and our hearts go out to his family and everyone who knew and loved him.

Pleasanton mayor Karla Brown called the shooting senseless and said the tragedy was infuriating.

To have a life cut short is heartbreaking and infuriating, the mayors statement said.

Im joined by the City Council in offering our deepest condolences to Blakes family, friends, loved ones, and to everyone impacted by this tragedy.

Police said Ms Knapps, who is receiving care at a hospital, will be charged with murder, robbery, child endangerment and conspiracy, with further charges possibly being added later.

She is believed to have been struck by the getaway car while escaping the shooting.

Mr Guillory has been charged with obstruction, evading a police officer and child abuse.
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Dominion Voting Systems agreed to settle its defamation lawsuit with Fox News for $787.5m on Tuesday  but its legal battles are far from over.

While the Fox News case attracted most of the headlines, Dominion filed a swathe of defamation suits against right-wing networks, lawyers and media personalities in the months after the 2020 election.

Heres everyone who is being sued by Dominion.

Mike Lindell

Mike Lindell has continued to spread false claims about Dominion while being sued for $1.3bn (AFP via Getty Images)

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell emerged as arguably the most prominent Trump ally to engage in spreading fact-free conspiracy theories about Dominions voting machines being rigged to help Joe Biden win the 2020 election.

At rallies, television appearances, in a 90-minute documentary called Absolute Proof and on the streaming service he self-funds, Mr Lindell repeated widely debunked claims that Dominion had been infiltrated by a vast and ever-changing cast of ne'er-do-wells to commit voter fraud.

By February 2021, Dominion had had enough, and filed a damages claim seeking $1.3bn from the pillow salesman.

The lawsuit alleged that Mr Lindell had knowingly lied about Dominion to sell more pillows to people who continued tuning in to hear what they wanted to hear about the election.

Fox News eventually banned him from the network, even though he was a top advertiser.

In court filings in the Dominion case, Foxs lawyers admitted to knowing he was not a reliable source of information when he appeared on Tucker Carlsons show in January 2021.

Mr Lindell has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but his efforts to have the civil action dismissed have been unsuccessful.

In a ruling in the District of Columbia District Court in August 2021, Judge Carl Nicholas wrote: In addition to alleging that Lindells claims are inherently improbable, that his sources are unreliable, and that he has failed to acknowledge the validity of countervailing evidence, Dominion has alleged numerous instances in which Lindell told audiences to purchase MyPillow products after making his claims of election fraud and providing MyPillow promotional codes related to those theories.

Then in October 2022, Mr Lindells appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Mr Lindell appears completely undeterred by the legal setbacks.

In March, he called on Dominion to show us whats inside your machines?

According to the New York Times, he described Dominions lawsuit as the biggest cover-up for the biggest crime in United States history  probably in world history.

Dominions attorneys will likely be keeping tabs on his public statements.

Sidney Powell

Sidney Powell promised to release the Kraken after Donald Trumps 2020 election defeat (REUTERS)

Sidney Powell emerged in the days after the 2020 election as a key figure in Magaworlds effort to delegitimise Mr Bidens victory.

As a member of the former presidents so-called Elite Strike Force legal team, Ms Powell promised she would release the Kraken  referring to a legendary sea monster  in an interview with Fox Business days after the November election.

The Dallas-based former federal prosecutor helped to file a slew of lawsuits that challenged the election results, all of which failed.

Her inflammatory public statements about election rigging, bribery and fraud led Dominion to file a $1.3bn defamation claim in January 2021.

Powells statements were calculated to  and did in fact  provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm, an attorney for Dominion wrote in the lawsuit.

Dominion alleged in the lawsuit that Ms Powell had used the profile gained from media appearances to raise money through a company called Defending the Republic, which is also named as a defendant in the suit.

Ms Powell tweeted in response that the claims were designed to harass, intimidate, & to drain our resources as we seek the truth of #DominionVotingSystems' role in this fraudulent election.

Rudy Giuliani

Hair dye runs down Giulianis cheek during a bizarre press conference in November 2020 (Getty)

With hair dye dripping down the side of his face, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed Dominion had used Venezuelan technology, approved by the late Hugo Chavez, and supported by Cuba and China, to rig the 2020 presidential election.

The comical scene at a press conference in mid-November 2020 was part of a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion, the company alleged in a $1.3bn lawsuit filed two months later.

Dominions attorneys again claimed that Mr Giuliani had been motivated by financial gain as he made false election fraud accusations in media appearances, on Twitter and his YouTube show.

Mr Giuliani had cashed in by hosting a podcast where he exploited election falsehoods to market gold coins, supplements, cigars and protection from cyberthieves, Dominions attorneys wrote.

Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement that even the family and friends of its employees were among those who were duped by the avalanche of lies.

Mr Giuliani responded that he welcomed Dominions lawsuit as it would allow him to investigate their history, finances and practices fully and completely.

Newsmax

Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly interviewing Donald Trump (Newsmax)

After the 2020 election, the Chris Ruddy-owned right-wing news channel Newsmax saw its market share increase as it refused to acknowledge Mr Bidens victory and hosted a string of election-denying conspiracists.

In doing so, Newsmax helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote, Dominion said in a $1.6bn lawsuit filed in August 2021.

For Ruddy and Newsmax, the facts did not matter. What mattered was feeding the audience what it wanted  even if it was spreading false information. And the race to the bottom began in earnest, dragging Dominion down with it, the lawsuit argued.

In June last year, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis denied Newsmaxs motion to dismiss and ruled the lawsuit could proceed.

In a statement to ABC News, a Newsmax spokesman said it was confident of defending the case under First Amendment protections.

Newsmax reported on both sides in the election dispute without making any claim about the results other than saying they were legal and final, the statement said.

One America News (OAN)

OAN host Chanel Rion has been accused of spreading false claims about Dominion (AFP via Getty Images)

Dominion filed a $1.6bn lawsuit against One America News in August 2021, claiming that, like Newsmax, the San Diego-based cable channel had spread false and manufactured stories about election fraud.

Dominion quickly became the focus of this downward spiral of lies, as each broadcaster attempted to outdo the others by making the lies more outrageous, spreading them further, and endorsing them as strongly as possible, the suit alleged.

It also named OAN hosts Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb in the lawsuit, accusing them of fuelling election conspiracies.

In February, OAN filed a countersuit alleging tortious interference with its business.

Patrick Byrne

Patrick Byrne speaks during a panel discussion at the Nebraska Election Integrity Forum on 27 August, 2022 (Associated Press)

In August 2021, Dominion filed a defamation lawsuit against former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne for spreading election conspiracies, alongside suits against OAN and Newsmax.

It alleged that Mr Byrne had manufactured and promoted fake evidence to convince the world that the 2020 election had been stolen as part of a massive international conspiracy among China, Venezuelan and Spanish companies, along with the Justice Department and Chief Justice John Roberts.

We are filing these three cases today because the defendants named show no remorse, nor any sign they intend to stop spreading disinformation, Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement at the time.

Mr Byrne lost a bid to have the case dismissed in April 2022.
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Residents in Port Isabel, Texas, felt the effects of SpaceX's Starship following its highly publicised test launch and subsequent explosion, when sand dust coated the city.

The rocket launch was nearly five miles away, but that distance did not spare cars and homes from being covered in a thin layer of dust after blast-off.

"Cameron County Emergency Management Division has confirmed that the dust that fell this morning in Port Isabel was sand and soil from near the Space X launch site that was lofted into the air by the force of lift-off," the city confirmed.

Residents shared photos on social media of the dust and other "particulates" covering their homes following the launch.

The rocket's flight was streamed online and viewed in-person by a crowd at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site near Brownsville, Texas. Cheers erupted from the audience as the rocket soared into the sky, but those cheers turned to surprise when the rocket began tumbling back to the ground before exploding in a fireball.

An official at an elementary school in Port Isabel said the ash covered cars in the city, according to Insider.

"When the rocket launched, after it exploded, all the vehicles got a whole bunch of ash on them. Inside the school, we didn't get anything," she said. "It was just the outside."

The school official said the explosion rattled doors in Port Isabel enough that they worried they might break.

Christopher Hooks, a journalist based in Austin, pointed out that SpaceXs launch facility was built in a migratory bird nesting area while commenting on photos of the particulate fallout.

SpaceX elected to build this launch site in the middle of a one-of-its-kind preserve for migratory sea birds, some of which travel thousands of miles to lay eggs there, he wrote.

The explosion became a trending topic on Twitter, where users poked fun at SpaceX's corporate-ese explanation for the explosion. According to SpaceX, the rocket underwent "rapid unscheduled disassembly," which means it blew up.

"The Hindenburg encountered a rapid unscheduled heating problem," NBC News report Ben Collins quipped.

The infamous airship explosion wasn't the only disaster the launch was compared to on Thursday.

"As if her maiden voyage was not exciting enough, RMS Titanic experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before arrival," comedian Janel Comeau wrote.

Despite the explosion, SpaceX still counted the launch as a win. The test flight's primary goal was to see if the rocket would actually take off and maintain flight, which it did for approximately four minutes before it tumbled and exploded.

Daniel Dumbacher, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, praised the flight and the company's decision to make the launch publicly accessible.

They put them out there for everybody to see, Mr Dumbacher told The New York Times. And thats great. In fact, I applaud them for that because it demonstrated how hard some of this stuff is.

Mr Collins was less charitable in his view of the launch.

"I cannot believe how many people are falling for 'we wanted the rocket to explode actually!'" he wrote. "I realize we are on the app that [SpaceX and Twitter CEO Elon Musk] spent $44 billion to turn into his fan zine, but come on!"
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A Tunisian investigative judge has ordered that influential Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi remain in custody, his party said Thursday on its official social media.

The Ennahdha party denounced in a statement on Facebook the unjust imprisonment of its leader, after Ghannouchi was arrested by police Monday. On its English-language Twitter account, the party said Ghannouchi has been charged with conspiracy against state security and ordered to be imprisoned pending trial.

Ghannouchi, 81, is the most prominent critic of President Kais Saied. He served as speaker of Tunisias parliament until Saied dissolved the body last July and seized most executive powers in the North African country  a move that Ghannouchi and other opponents call a coup.

He has been detained for questioning a number of times in the past, but the circumstances of his latest detention suggested that this time was more serious.

Tunisias official TAP news agency reported earlier this week that he was detained on a warrant by counterterrorism prosecutors as part of an investigation into recent provocative comments. It did not elaborate.

Other Tunisian media reported that Ghannouchi was to be questioned over a video circulating online in which he purportedly says that the presidents perceived efforts to eradicate" Islamist opposition threaten to unleash civil war.

The move comes amid growing social tensions and deepening economic troubles in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement more than a decade ago.
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Donald Trump has said he shouldnt attend E Jean Carrolls rape civil trial as he doesnt want to burden New York City.

In a letter to Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday, Mr Trumps attorney Joe Tacopina said that the former president wishes to attend the civil trial beginning next week  but is concerned about the logistical and financial burdens of his attendance on the courthouse and New York City.

As a result, Mr Tacopina asked that jurors be instructed the following: "While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City. Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify.

The letter leaves open the possibility the former president could still testify in person in the upcoming trial.

Mr Trump appears on the defences list of potential witnesses, but does not on that of Ms Carroll, who alleges the businessman-turned-politician raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

In a separate letter to the court on Wednesday, the writers attorney indicated they would probably ask a pre-taped deposition of Mr Trump be played for jurors in lieu of in-person testimony, writing that Ms Carroll has a right to play Donald Trumps deposition at trial but that theres no need for him to testify live, NBC News reports.

The message also expressed scepticism about the former presidents communications, arguing "the notion that Mr. Trump would not appear as some sort of favor to the City of New Yorkand that the jury should be instructed as muchtaxes the credulity of the credulous.

On Monday, the New York court declined Mr Trumps request to postpone the trial for a month, which the former president had argued was necessary due to the deluge of prejudicial media coverage following Mr Trumps indictment in Manhattan for hush money payments.

In denying the request, Judge Kaplan wrote that such headlines were invited or provoked by Mr Trumps own actions.

It does not sit well for Mr. Trump to promote pretrial publicity and then to claim that coverage that he promoted was prejudicial to him and should be taken into account as supporting a further delay, the judge wrote, according to The New York Times.

In November, Ms Carroll sued Mr Trump under a new New York law allowing individuals a one-year window to bring civil charges against alleged abusers for rape even if the statute of limitations had expired.

The magazine columnist previously sued Mr Trump for defamation relating to the alleged incident, after he accused Ms Carroll of lying about the attack for her personal gain.
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Decades after she was allegedly raped by a New York real estate mogul who would go on to be the 45th President of the United States, E Jean Carroll is getting her day in court.

Ms Carroll, a writer and former advice columnist for Elle magazine, is the plaintiff in a pair of civil lawsuits against former president Donald Trump.

One of those lawsuits is now being presented in a New York City federal courtroom under the supervision of US District Judge Lewis Kaplan. The proceedings began on 25 April.

The jurors in the trial will remain anonymous on Judge Kaplans orders due to the risk of threats, intimidation or outright violence against anyone seen as an enemy by Mr Trump and his supporters as they hear evidence of allegations made by Ms Carroll against the twice-impeached and indicted ex-president.

Ms Carroll has claimed that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s.

The magazine columnist spoke out about the allegations for the first time in 2019 when Mr Trump was president.

After he denied the allegations and accused her of lying in a bid to bolster sales of her forthcoming book, she filed a defamation lawsuit against him in November 2019.

That suit stalled in the courts for years and is yet to make it to trial.

Then, last year, New York lawmakers passed the states Adult Survivors Act, giving sexual abuse victims a one-year window to sue attackers for assaults that took place years ago.

That law paved the way for Ms Carroll to file a second lawsuit against the former president in November accusing him of both raping her and then defaming her years later by denying the assault took place.

That second lawsuit  seeking damages and a retraction of his denial  is now playing out in a New York court.

What Carroll said about the alleged dressing room rape

The allegations against Mr Trump were first laid out in an excerpt from her book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, that ran in New York magazine in June 2019.

In the book excerpt, she said she was shopping at the Bergdorf-Goodman department store in New York when Mr Trump approached her and struck up a conversation, with him asking her for help picking out a gift for a woman.

She then alleged that he took her to the lingerie section of the store and asked her to try on an item for him in a dressing room before pinning her up against a wall and sexually assaulting her for three minutes.

At the time, Ms Carroll said the emergence of the #MeToo movement in late 2017 motivated her to tell her story publicly.

Mr Trump addressed the allegations days later when pressed on them by reporters at the White House.

He claimed he had never met her and denied raping her by telling the White House press corps that Ms Carrol was not [his] type.

He also accused her of lying to boost sales of her memoir.

She is trying to sell a new book  that should indicate her motivation, the then-president said, adding that her book should be sold in the fiction section.

Ms Carroll pushed back on his claims, sharing a photo of herself and Mr Trump together with his then-wife Ivana Trump and her then-husband John Johnson at an NBC party in 1987 to show they had met.

In her 2019 defamation suit against Mr Trump, she alleged his denials had caused her to suffer reputational, emotional, and professional harm and said she was suing to obtain redress for those injuries and to demonstrate that even a man as powerful as Trump can be held accountable under the rule of law.

Justice Department involvement delayed the defamation suit

Although a Clinton-era Supreme Court case, Jones v Clinton, allows presidents to be sued for conduct which occurred before the start of their time in the White House, Mr Trumps legal team asked the Department of Justice to aid in his defence of the 2019 case.

The department filed papers seeking to shield him from liability on the grounds that he was acting in an official capacity as president when he made the allegedly defamatory statements about Ms Carroll. But Judge Kaplan rejected those arguments and said the suit could proceed. An attempt by Mr Trump to appeal that decision failed in September 2021 as well.

His legal team took up another approach in February of last year when they moved to countersue Ms Carroll.

But Judge Kaplan blocked that bid in a scathing decision on 11 March 2022, in which he slammed Mr Trumps continuing attempts to delay the case as futile and in bad faith.

The defendants litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less, Judge Kaplan wrote.

Granting leave to amend without considering the futility of the proposed amendment needlessly would make a regrettable situation worse by opening new avenues for significant further delay.

Letting Mr Trump countersue would make a regrettable situation worse, the judge added.

Carroll suing Trump for alleged rape

Last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year suspension of statutes of limitations for rape and other civil claims arising from allegations of sexual misconduct.

The law allows sexual assault survivors to sue their attackers regardless of when the alleged assault may have taken place.

In November 2022, shortly after the bill signing, Ms Carroll filed a second lawsuit against Mr Trump for rape.

The new case accuses him of battery  and also adds a new defamation claim based on recent posts in which he called her a con job.

Both lawsuits are seeking monetary damages from the ex-president.

Judge Kaplan rejected Trumps last-minute delay bid

After Mr Trumps lawyers made an 11th-hour attempt to once again postpone the long-delayed civil trial on the grounds that publicity surrounding his recent indictment necessitated a cooling-off period to ensure an impartial jury, Judge Kaplan said the one-month delay Mr Trumps attorneys had asked for would have no impact on the potential jury pool in the case, which will be tried in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

There is no reason to assume that a sufficient number of fair and impartial jurors cannot be found on April 25, 2023 or that it would be materially easier to find such jurors on May 23, 2023, he said.

Former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll walks into Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in New York (AP)

Is Trump attending?

In a court filing last week, Mr Trump said he shouldnt attend the trial as he doesnt want to burden New York City.

In a letter to Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan on 19 April, Mr Trumps attorney Joe Tacopina said that the former president wishes to attend the civil trial beginning next week  but is concerned about the logistical and financial burdens of his attendance on the courthouse and New York City.

Ms Carroll meanwhile is attending the proceedings.
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Mountains of evidence boxes were wheeled into a seventh-floor courtroom on Tuesday morning, moments before lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems planned to eviscerate Fox News and its Fox Corporation leadership for the volley of false claims about the company in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Later that morning, jurors were sworn in. They ordered lunch. Hours later, it was over. And Fox News admitted that statements on its airwaves about Dominion were false, agreeing to pay the voting machine company more than $787m in a settlement that averted one of the biggest-ever defamation trials in American history.

In a twist of fate, the trial involving the countrys most-watched cable news network was not going to be broadcast at all. Cameras or audio feeds were not allowed in the courtroom. The judge presiding over the case in Wilmington, Delaware warned that anyone photographing or livetweeting from inside his courtroom could even face contempt of court charges. Officers removed at least one person for tweeting a photo of the inside  she happened to be a representative for Fox.

While a court spokesperson set up a lectern outside the courthouse steps, with news cameras from around the world jockeying for a sweet spot to film them, attorneys for Fox rushed out the other side of the building, chased down by photographers and two men carrying signs reading FOX IS GUILTY and MAKE EM PAY.

It was a fitting end to a trial that wasnt: A made-for-TV courtroom drama that would never be televised, and the highest-profile and most significant attempt to extract accountability for 2020 election lies, ended with two men both named Bill framing the Fox legal team with white posters reminding Americans what is at stake.

Ive been following Fox News for the last seven years and how they are basically pushing lies to increase their viewership, without any regard for the damage it has done to our country, to people I know, to people in my own family, one of those men, Bill Schultz, who stood outside the courthouse all day, told The Independent.

If Dominion doesnt win, theres something wrong here, he said.

A settlement averts a six-week trial after more than two years of litigation, and nearly three years after Mr Trump and his allies launched a bogus campaign to overturn millions of Americans votes.

The former president waged a public assault on 2020 elections before a single vote was even cast, sowing public doubt about the process in an apparent effort to justify challenges to the outcomes.

In the months that followed, Republican lawmakers across the US launched a coordinated campaign under the guise of preserving election integrity and restoring voter confidence that the president himself undermined.

The persistent lie that the election was stolen from him  and his legal teams baseless attempts to overturn millions of Americans votes  fuelled violence at the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021, sustained partisan investigations to reverse the outcomes in states that Mr Trump lost, inspired GOP-led legislation in nearly every state to change how elections are run, and is baked into Republican Party dogma, forming the basis of his 2024 run.

That lie also propelled failed litigation and bogus claims involving Dominion, including allegations that its technology flipped votes, has ties to Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, and gave kickbacks to election officials.

Those statements made their way to Fox News.

Dominions case argued that the media empire relies on lying to its audience. The companys extensive court filings revealed private admissions among Fox producers, executives and programme hosts questioning or ridiculing the networks unreliable guests and their dubious arguments about Dominion, while, at the same time, conceding that the network risked alienating Fox viewers and losing them to competing far-right networks if Fox publicly rejected those claims.

Jurors were not even asked to consider if those statements were true or not. The question wasnt up for debate. Judge Davis asserted in a ruling last month that it is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion in the 2020 election are true.

Instead, they were tasked with figuring out if those statements meet the high legal standard of actual malice for defamation cases  in other words, deciding if the network and its leadership knowingly aired false statements or aired them with reckless disregard for the truth.

Reporters from around the world filled every inch of seating on the long wooden benches inside the courtroom. An overflow room reserved for media converted a smaller courtroom into a satellite station for reporters who could send updates from the trial to their newsrooms and social media. That room was also full, with reporters sprawled out on tables otherwise reserved for lawyers, and in the brown leather seats in a jury box otherwise filled with jurors.

An 11th hour settlement means Fox avoids that heightened level of scrutiny from the nations top media and elections reporters in a trial that was set to last six weeks. A witness list was likely to include the networks biggest names, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo, and Fox Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch.

 'Lies have consequences': Dominion announces settlement with Fox

Defamation cases rarely get this far. Most are settled out of court before a jury can look at them.

Speculation about a possible settlement was growing over the weekend as the parties neared a court date on 17 April.

Instead, Judge Davis announced that the trial would be delayed  by one day.

From the bench on Monday morning, Judge Davis stressed his announcement was not a press conference.

I dont do that, he said.

It was nothing unusual, he said, underscoring the fact that both parties were headed towards a real-deal trial. Twenty-four hours later, jury selection was underway. A trial was imminent.

Meanwhile, a truck carrying a sign reading RUPERT MURDOCH KNEW and TUCKER CARLSON KNEW was circling the courthouse for hours.

Twelve jurors and 12 alternate jurors were selected and sworn in shortly after 11am on 18 April. There was a break for lunch, followed by a nearly three-hour long delay.

Shortly after returning to the courtroom, Judge Davis announced that the parties have resolved their case. The jury was excused. Reporters raced out the room.

A mob of journalists and cameras followed lawyers for Dominion after addressing cameras parked outside the courthouse, hoping to get a better idea of what exactly is inside the massive settlement.

Moments later, a statement from Fox attributed only to the network confirmed the settlement.

We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems, the statement said. We acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects Foxs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.

That afternoon, Fox host Howard Kurtz  who attended the near-trial in Delaware  read the statement on his programme, adding that claims from Mr Trump and his allies on Fox and elsewhere about Dominion stealing votes and flipping them to Joe Biden in the 2020 election were obviously false.

Those were conspiracy theories, he said.

And that is likely as far as the admission will go. It does not appear likely that the settlement includes conditions that any Fox personalities admit the same on air.

I hope this exposes Fox New as the liars they are, Mr Schultz told The Independent on Tuesday outside the court, where he held a GOP + FOX = FASCIST PROPAGANDA sign while wearing a MAKE AMERICA KIND AGAIN T-shirt. And our country can get back to a point where were not as divided.
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Before pulling back from the brink of a trial, Fox News and Dominion Voting systems faced a stern deadline  not from an impatient judge or jury, but from a man on a Danube River cruise with his wife half a world away.

A mediator hired late Sunday pushed the two sides toward a $787m settlement that brought a stunning end to the most-watched media libel case in decades, one that sought to put a price on lies told about the 2020 presidential election on conservative America's most popular news outlet.

It's a deadline that I always impose because I know that once a jury is empaneled and opening statements are made, then one or other of the parties will dig into their positions, Jerry Roscoe, of the Washington-based JAMS mediation service, said Wednesday. It makes negotiations much more difficult.

As the haggling went on, over the phone and in back rooms of a Delaware courthouse, lawyers, journalists and spectators waited as a scheduled 1.30pm start of the trial came and went Tuesday.

Finally, two minutes before 4pm, Superior Court Judge Eric Davis emerged with an almost matter-of-fact announcement, given the stakes.

The parties have resolved their case, he said.

It was a settlement months in the making, since the Colorado-based voting technology firm sued Fox for $1.6bn, alleging its business was harmed and employees threatened when it was baselessly accused of rigging its voting machines against former President Donald Trump in 2020.

In the two months prior to the scheduled start of the trial, a mountain of evidence  some damning, some merely embarrassing  showed many Fox executives and on-air talent didn't believe allegations aired mostly on shows hosted by Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro. At the time, they feared angering Trump fans in the audience with the truth.

Judge Davis had ordered the two sides to try to mediate their differences last December, but it was a non-starter for Dominion. The company didn't want the case to end without all of the evidence it had gathered made public. That happened through February and March, with document dumps that essentially outlined the case Dominion would have presented at trial.

That was something we had committed to from the beginning, Dominion CEO John Poulos said Wednesday on ABC's Good Morning America. We had complete support with our partners, and it's something that we owed to our customers.

Fox had argued that it was airing newsworthy allegations made by Trump aides, and that Dominion's case was an attack on press freedom.

Libel is tough to prove  a jury must find journalists knowingly published false information or with a reckless disregard for the truth. Yet Fox's path to victory narrowed, both through the evidence presented and rulings by Judge Davis, who said that the allegations against Dominion were unquestionably false, and that newsworthiness was no defense against defamation.

Attorneys for both sides, Justin Nelson for Dominion and Dan Webb for Fox, quietly began to seek a deal before trial. With the two sides far apart, they reached out to mediator Mr Roscoe, then cruising between Budapest and Bucharest with his wife. He agreed to take the case on, using much of Monday to read through the evidence.

My job is to create options and to give them choices, Mr Roscoe said.

He spoke on the phone constantly from the boat, mostly with lawyers other than Nelson and Webb Tuesday, as they were preparing for opening statements, and principals like Mr Poulos, ensconced in a conference room at the courthouse.

Judge Davis gave the two sides Monday off to talk. On Tuesday morning, a jury was selected that included five Black men, four white women, two Black women and one white man. It was a majority Black jury deciding the financial fate of a network whose audience is 94 per cent white and 1 per cent Black, according to the Nielsen company.

Jury selection can be a key moment in pushing two sides toward a last-minute settlement, said Lee Levine, a veteran First Amendment attorney.

There's a strong possibility that Fox had decided to wait and see what kind of jury it drew and to see if they had a couple of people on the jury they had good feelings about being holdouts, Mr Levine said.

Fox privately resisted the idea that jury selection was key to a deal, saying instead that there were complicated negotiations that had to play out.

Meanwhile, after a lunch break, people returned to a courtroom cluttered with boxes filled with evidence. Mr Webb spoke on a cellphone and approached Mr Nelson to quietly talk more than once. At one point, Mr Webb was seen walking out of the courtroom with a wide smile on his face.

Mr Levine was walking on a beach in North Carolina with his wife, wearing ear buds to catch the audio feed of opening statements. When court hadn't resumed by 2.30pm, his instincts told him that a settlement was near.

When did Mr Roscoe have that feeling?

When it came together and not a moment before, the mediator said. The parties had different analyses of the law and the facts and were vigorous advocates for their positions all along the negotiations.

The agreement was reached before 3pm in Delaware, or 10 p.m. on Roscoe's boat.

The negotiations were primarily financial. Fox had issued a public statement Monday saying that Dominion had reduced its estimate of damages by $600m. Dominion disputed that, but the eventual deal was closer to what Fox said was the adjusted figure.

Some Fox critics were angry about the deal, wanting instead to see a trial with Fox figures forced to testify in public, or at least Fox personalities compelled to apologize to Dominion on the air.

Instead, Fox issued a statement that said it acknowledged Davis' findings that certain claims about Dominion were false. This settlement reflects Fox's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards, Fox said.

Mr Levine sees it this way: At the end of the day I think a reasonable reading of what happened was there was a line that Fox wouldn't cross or couldn't cross because of their business model.

They couldn't have their anchors go on the air and tell (viewers) they lied to them, he said.

I don't think a forced apology is worth a nickel, said Stephen Shackelford, Dominion's co-lead counsel. He said that following a legal threat in December 2020 by another technology firm, Smartmatic, Fox aired an interview with an election expert debunking fraud claims, and it had little effect on Fox's audience or how Fox operated.

Smartmatic has a pending lawsuit against Fox that is similar to Dominion's.

You can't change their culture and approach from the outside, Mr Shackelford said. They have to do it themselves.

Fox had no immediate comment on Wednesday besides the statement issued with the settlement.

In making the deal, Mr Poulos said he had to take into account employees and customers who had suffered from harassment following the false claims. He noted that Fox had acknowledged the court's rulings that the allegations were false.

Given the challenges he faced trying to bring Fox and Dominion together with their disputes over the facts and legal theory, Mr Roscoe said it's one of the most meaningful cases he's worked on in his career. His wife may insist upon another vacation, though.

She was probably on the Internet looking for another husband, he joked.
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The troubled New York congressman who is now known to have fabricated wide parts of his background amid his 2020 congressional run says he has a clear conscience about seeking a second term in office.

George Santos was grilled about the issue on Newsmax of all places by one of the networks right-leaning hosts, Rob Schmitt. During the interview, Mr Santos was asked whether he would remain a candidate for office were he still facing questions from authorities about rumours of criminal activity in 2024.

I would not run if I thought I have ... if I knew I had made or committed any crime. So, that should show you proof that I have a clean conscience moving forward, said Mr Santos.

He even seemed to argue that he had made up for lying about being descended from Holocaust survivors as well as about his educational and work histories by being publicly exposed, and suffering the subsequent consequences of political humiliation.

Look if anything, Ive hurt myself, right? he asked. But ... I have delivered on every single one of my campaign promises.

The first-term congressman already faces calls for his resignation from both Democratic and Republican members of the House  especially those from his home state, a number of whom have taken to trolling the freshman legislator on social media as well as at press conferences.

But he has been somewhat embraced by the Maga wing of the Republican Party and as a result has become newly acquainted with far-right members of the House like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. In the weeks and months since his swearing-in, he has defied the hopes that he would fade into the background held by senior Republicans and attempted to make a name for himself with media appearances, frequent floor speeches, and legislation crafted for the attention of the media.

Mr Santos recently filed paperwork to seek a second term in 2024, and is touting his track record of winning a Democrat-leaning district in 2020 (before the bulk of his deceit was revealed) as his primary electoral strength.
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An IRS special agent is seeking whistleblower protection to disclose information about what the agent alleges is mishandling of an investigation into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent to members of Congress.

Mark Lytle, the attorney for the IRS whistleblower, wrote to lawmakers Wednesday that his client has information about a failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition" of a criminal investigation related to the younger Biden's taxes and whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase.

Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle, Lytle said in a letter, obtained by The Associated Press, that was sent to the chairmen and ranking members of several House and Senate committees.

The letter states that the supervisory special agent previously disclosed the information they are seeking to share with Congress internally with the IRS and a watchdog for the Justice Department. Lytle added that his client is able to contradict sworn testimony to lawmakers by a senior political appointee." That appointee is not named.

The special agent also wants to disclose examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected," the lawyer added.

The Justice Department declined to comment. Requests for comment from the IRS and Hunter Biden's legal team were not immediately returned.

Hunter Bidens taxes and foreign business work have been under federal investigation by a federal grand jury in Delaware since at least 2018. So far no charges have been filed. Additionally, his membership on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and his efforts to strike deals in China have long raised questions by Republicans about whether he traded on his fathers public service.

Joe Biden has said he has never spoken to his son about foreign business. There are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president.

The whistleblower letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as House Republicans have opened their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden's business dealings, including examining foreign payments and other aspects of his finances.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, recently reviewed financial transactions by members of the Biden family that were flagged for attention. Those financial reports are routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the government, and are not evidence on their own of misconduct.

But Comer, who has been leading the various probes into Hunter Biden, said the whistleblower letter is further evidence of the importance of congressional inquiryinto the president and his family.

Its deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations," Comer said in a statement Thursday.
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President Joe Biden's nominee to be the next labor secretary, Julie Su, will testify to the Senate Thursday with key Democrats unwilling to voice support for her confirmation, creating uncertainty about her prospects in the narrowly divided chamber.

A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su's nomination ahead of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the current deputy labor secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labor.

The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the first Asian American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden called her path proof of the American dream and that shes committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.

Su was previously confirmed as the deputy labor secretary, but has faced opposition from business groups critical of her record leading California's labor department. They point to her support of an overturned California law that would have required app-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft, as well as trucking businesses, to treat their workers as employees, providing benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, rather than independent contractors.

Su has also faced blame for problems at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency during the pandemic when unprecedented numbers of people applying for unemployment benefits faced long work times and the state potentially paid out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, all declined to say whether they would vote for her confirmation this week. Democrats cannot afford to lose more than a couple votes in a Senate divided 51-49. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is also recovering from shingles in California, with no firm return date.

Manchin repeatedly declined to comment on Su's nomination this week; Tester said he would meet with her after the meeting to make sure she's still right"; Kelly said he did not have concerns about her record but added he does not preview his votes; Sinema said through a spokeswoman that she does not preview votes.

Su was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 by a 5047 vote.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she voted against Sus confirmation in 2021 because of how she had handled the unemployment compensation issues in the state of California."

Top Democrats, meanwhile, have signaled their support for Su with meetings at the Capitol this week.

At a meeting with Su on Monday, Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, pointed to her work on job growth and said, Shes done a good job and I think shes got a two-year track record that is strong.

Late last year, Su was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies and helped avoid an economically debilitating strike. She has also led efforts to crack down on wage theft.
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Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is still smarting after she was silenced and barred from speaking at Wednesdays House Homeland Security Committee hearing by a fellow Republican, Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee.

Mr Green ordered a series of incendiary statements by the second-term congresswoman to be taken down, or officially stricken from the hearings official record, after she broke House rules by calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar while questioning him on the Biden administrations border policies.

After a prior motion to silence her for accusing California Democrat Eric Swalwell of having carried on a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy was tabled by the panels GOP majority, Ms Greene laid into Mr Mayorkas with a series of accusations about his purported responsibility for fentanyl overdoses among American youth.

After she asked him how long he would continue this outrage, the former prosecutor turned Cabinet secretary attempted to defend his departments performance. He told Ms Greene that he could assure her that the department is not letting it go on and is fighting the trafficking. But before he could finish, Ms Greene interjected again, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Youre a liar. You are letting this go on (and) the numbers prove it. You cant lie about the fact, Secretary Mayorkas, while you live in denial and sit over there with this attitude that youre doing everything right ... you are killing Americans with your policies, she said.

After Ranking Member Bennie Thompson asked for that statement to be sticken, Mr Green asked if Ms Greene would withdraw her statement.

She refused, and Mr Green immediately ruled that shed violated the rules and ordered the words stricken from the record.

A day later, she told CNN she had complained to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the incident, and described herself as surprised and angered by Mr Greens decision to actually enforce the House rules to her detriment.

She claimed Mr McCarthy agreed with [her] and implied the House Speaker did not believe the bodys decorum rules should have been used to keep her from speaking.

She also said she had a conversation about the matter with Mr Green after the hearing.

He basically said that we have two different styles so we have a disagreement still about what took place yesterday, but, you know, I am still new to committees so I will make sure I am following the rules, which I do think is important, but at the same time I am still going to keep pushing, she said.

Mr Green told CNN in a separate interview that he didnt concur with Ms Greenes claim that the House Speaker had sided with the Georgia Republican in the dispute.

He described her actions as a clear violation of House rules.

I had a conversation that was maybe a little different with him, he said, adding that he and Mr McCarthy didnt really get into the details of the incident.

He also said Ms Greene understands the rules and will comply with them going forward.
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Even before the US Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade last year, anti-abortion activists and Christian conservative legal groups were taking aim at medication abortion, the most common form of abortion care in the US.

The Supreme Courts June ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organization revoked a constitutional right to abortion care that was affirmed by the case of Roe v Wade nearly 50 years earlier.

In the months that followed, more than a dozen states have effectively outlawed abortion care altogether, or implemented severe restrictions that have complicated access to abortion for millions of Americans. All of those states have separate laws targeting medication abortion, and at least 15 other states restrict access to the procedure.

The Supreme Court returned to abortion rights with a challenge from anti-abortion activists to reverse the federal governments approval of mifepristone, a widely used drug for medication abortion procedures and miscarriage care.

On 21 April, justices upheld the governments approval while the case plays out in an appeals court next month, but a move to strip the governments approval could devastate access to abortion and miscarriage care for millions of Americans across the country, including in states where access is legally protected.

What is mifepristone?

A medication abortion procedure typically consists of a two-drug protocol of mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone is used in more than half of all abortions in the US.

The drug was first approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration in most cases up to 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2000. A vast majority of abortions occur within the first nine weeks of pregnancy. From 2019 through 2020, nearly 93 per cent of all abortions were performed before the 13th week, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mifepristone is also used to treat miscarriages. Roughly 10 per cent of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriages, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The drug blocks the hormone progesterone, which helps support the uterus. A healthy uterine lining supports a fertilized egg, embryo and fetus. Without progesterone, the uterus will expel its contents.

Roughly 24 to 48 hours after a patient takes mifepristone, the patient then takes misoprostol, which helps empty the uterus.

Last year, the FDA permanently lifted the in-person requirement for medication abortion prescriptions, allowing patients to access the drugs via telehealth appointments and online pharmacies so patients can take the drugs from the comfort of home.

The FDA also has approved a generic version of the drug that its manufacturer GenBioPro says makes up two-thirds of the US market.

Last year, Republican lawmakers across the US filed dozens of bills to restrict the availability and distribution of abortion drugs, while abortion rights advocates, President Joe Bidens administration and Democratic members of Congress sought to bolster their availability.

 Abortion rights advocate describes abortion to members of Congress in testimony

Major medical groups and research from hundreds of studies over the last two decades have confirmed the overwhelming safety and efficacy of the drug. Studies show it is as safe to use as common over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and the protocol for medication abortion is used in more than 60 other countries.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association also signed a brief in the latest case opposing the challenge from anti-abortion groups.

How did the drug end up at the Supreme Court?

In November, the right-wing legal group Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Amarillo, Texas on behalf of a group of anti-abortion activists incorporated as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which was organised that same month with an address in Amarillo.

The Alliance Defending Freedom also led the challenge at the Supreme Court that ultimately struck down Roe v Wade.

US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk  a former right-wing activist lawyer who was appointed to the federal judiciary by Donald Trump  held a hearing in the case on 15 March in Amarillo.

Earlier this month, Judge Kacsmaryk issued a ruling to suspend the FDAs approval of mifepristone. His order was set to take effect a week later, pending a decision from on appeal. But in a separate ruling in Washington state, a federal judge ruled that the FDA cannot change the status quo when it comes to mifepristones approval, setting up potentially duelling decisions over the drug.

Abortion rights advocates, providers, major medical groups and legal analysts condemned the ruling, and the US Department of Justice and Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone, filed an appeal.

That appeal landed at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the Amarillo court.

A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit blocked a part of the judges ruling, but struck against mail-in prescriptions and rules that expanded the drugs approval for use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

What did the Supreme Court do?

On 21 April, the Supreme Court blocked the lower courts rulings from taking effect while the case returns to the appeals court. It was unclear whether the justices on the conservative supermajority court would uphold the Texas ruling or pause the decision while the legal battle continues.

The case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v FDA returns to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana.

Both parties will have a chance to file briefs, and the case will be argued before a three-judge panel on 17 May.

Can the FDA just ignore the ruling?

Thats what several members of Congress have argued, though President Joe Bidens administration and abortion rights advocates have stressed that the case must play out in court and affirm the FDAs ability to make such decisions.

Democratic senator Ron Wyden, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the FDA, has repeatedly argued that the administration ignore a ruling that undermines the FDAs regulatory powers.

US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has argued that an increasingly partisan-driven federal judiciary weaponised by right-wing activist groups has undermined its legitimacy in making such decisions.

Republican US Rep Nancy Mace also has suggested that a ruling that revokes the FDAs approval of the drug should be ignored or tossed out.

What happens if mifepristone is not available?

Abortion providers and civil rights groups have warned of grave consequences to the loss of widely used abortion drugs from the market.

Providers could turn to a misoprostol-only medication abortion regimen, though that would be considered an off-label pharmaceutical use for the drug in the US. Misoprostol is currently approved by the FDA for the prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers but also is administered for other obstetric or gynecologic care.

Several Democratic-led states are stocking up on mifepristone and proposing legal protections for pharmacists and providers who dispense the drug.

A ruling that undermines the FDAs drug approval process could also open the door for other activist-driven legal battles over other drugs, potentially inviting other destabilising lawsuits to Covid-19 vaccines, contraception, HIV medication, gender-affirming care, and other life-saving drugs.

This story was first published on 20 April and has been updated with developments
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Nevada took a major step toward becoming the next US state to legalise assisted dying, with the state Senate voting 11-10 on Wednesday to advance a bill that would allow terminally ill residents to take medication designed to end their life.

Every Republican in the chamber voted against the bill, as did two Democrats. The bill, SB 239, now heads to the Democratic-controlled state assembly. The states Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, has not yet indicated if he plans to sign or veto the legislation should it reach his desk in the coming weeks.

If Mr Lombardo does sign the law, it would make Nevada the ninth state in the country to legalise medically-assisted suicide. Under the terms of the legislation, licensed medical practitioners could prescribe lethal drugs to willing Nevada residents 18 years of age and older with less than six months to live.

Oregon was the first state to legalise the practice after voters narrowly passed the Death With Dignity Act in 1994, and since then, Washington, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, DC, New Jersey, Maine, and Vermont have all followed suit. Medically assisted suicide is also legal in Montana under a court order.

Assisted dying is also legal in several European countries, including the Netherlands and Spain, as well as Canada.

SB 239 lays out a number of the arguments that support the practice assisted dying, including that mentally capable adult patient should have the right to self-determination concerning his or her health care decisions.

The bill also notes that patients who experiencing terminal or otherwise life-altering illnesses may experience excruciating mental and physical pain that does not allow them to live fulfilling lives. Those illnesses may drain families financial resources in a country that lacks a comprehensive safety net for senior and end-of-life care.

Opponents of assisted dying argue that the law can be used to coerce people into choosing to die and violates medical practitioners oaths to their patients. Some people are also opposed for religious reasons.

The states that have passed assisted sucide laws all now have solid Democratic majorities, which Nevada, a perennial swing state that elected Mr Lombardo in November while sending Democratic Sen Catherine Cortez-Masto back to Washington, does not.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a swipe Thursday at leaders who have adopted postures of neutrality regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling them populists.

Zelenskyys comments, in a video link before a committee of Mexican legislators, were an apparent reference to leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian leader has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine, has appeared to ascribe blame to both sides and has proposed a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.

Mexico, under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has voted to condemn the invasion, although it has declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

There are some leaders who have not visited Ukraine once and who have not seen what the brutal Russian aggression brought, and why it is important to defend lives, Zelenskyy said, adding "but simply seeking to achieve some sort of populism they say things like Ukraine is supposedly not ready to go for peace.

Zelenskyy also slammed different companies and big multinational firms that want to make millions by trading with Russia, adding unfortunately, the world is full of hypocrisy.

Earlier this month, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations  Russia and Ukraine  had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop stimulating the continued fighting and start discussing peace.

Lula has also suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, something the spokesperson for Ukraines foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.

The Ukranian president got an expected standing ovation from the legislators of the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group, most of whom belong to opposition parties.

In 2022, Lopez Obrador decried NATO policy of supporting Ukraine, claiming it was equivalent to saying Ill supply the weapons, and you supply the dead. It is immoral.

How easy it is to say, Here, Ill send you this much money for weapons, Lopez Obrador said. Couldnt the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could.

Lopez Obrador did not say how, other than Russia not invading. In 2022, a half-dozen legislators from Lopez Obradors Morena party helped create a congressional Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee.

The Morena party said we respect the freedom of thought of our members after a youth group apparently affiliated with the party sent an open letter to the Russian ambassador supporting the invasion.

Russia has been making a sort of diplomatic push in Latin America this week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.

Lavrov on Thursday met with recently reelected Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the last leg of a Latin American tour that took him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
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Fox News has had very little to say about Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6bn defamation lawsuit for nearly the entirety of its existence, but finally deemed the story worth covering on Tuesday when it announced the parties had settled.

Dominion sued Fox News for defamation, alleging that the Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcast network gave a platform to and failed to challenge conspiracy theorists that suggested Dominion was engaged in voter fraud during the 2020 election. Those conspiracies reportedly damaged Dominion's business and resulted in employees receiving threats from angry Fox News viewers.

The trial was scheduled to kick off this week, but on Tuesday, Dominion and Fox News reached a settlement. Fox News has agreed to pay Dominion $787.5m to put the issue to bed.

However, you would not know that if you read Fox News' own coverage of the settlement.

In Fox News' story  which comes in at 256 words, approximately 70 of which are a block quote from a Fox spokesman we do not learn why the company was sued, just that it was broadly sued for defamation. We also do not learn how much it cost the network to make the trial go away.

(It was $787.5m, in case you missed it.)

We get two minor attempts at an explanation in the piece. The first is the canned Fox News spokesman's line that the network "acknowledge[s] the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,"  followed immediately by an assurance that the settlement "reflects FOX's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards."

The second is a bit further down, where the network essentially blames former President Donald Trump for everything.

"Then-President Donald Trump and his allies fiercely challenged Joe Biden's victory in the weeks following the election," the story reads. "Some of them, including members of his legal team, made false and unsubstantiated claims against Dominion Voting Systems and are the subject of separate defamation lawsuits."

Even that deflection is buried near the end of the story, placed after a bizarre inclusion about the judge saying both parties' lawyers did well.

I have been on the bench since 2010.  I think this is the best lawyering Ive had, ever, reads the quote from Judge Davis said, who reportedly added: I would be proud to be your judge in the future.

Heartwarming, sure, but also not particularly newsworthy.

Attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems speak at a news conference outside New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington, Del., after the defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News was settled just as the jury trial was set to begin, Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (AP)

Its notable that a line about how well the lawyers involved were made it into the story, but there is no mention of the scandals and revelations that resulted from the lawsuit. Thanks to discovery and public records, we learned that even the network's prime-time hosts thought Mr Trump's election deniers were raving maniacs. We learned that Tucker Carlson secretly hates Mr Trump and desperately wants to move on. And we learned that the network's top executives were terrified that doing actual journalism on election night by calling Arizona for Joe Biden wouldn't play well with their viewers.

Had the lawsuit gone to trial, it is likely some of Fox News' top personalities and officials would have been called to testify about their work, which would have been an obviously enticing bit of infotainment.

Dominion has also sued Mr Trump's "kraken" lawyer Sidney Powell, "melting/flatulent" lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and "weird pillowmonger" Mike Lindell for defamation, so its likely that there will be more trials involving the Fox News universe in the future.
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Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the year on Thursday for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

The Ukrainian photographers March 9, 2022, image of the fatally wounded woman, her left hand on her bloodied lower left abdomen, drove home the horror of Russias brutal onslaught in the eastern port city early in the war.

The 32-year-old woman, Iryna Kalinina, died of her injuries a half hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby named Miron.

For me, it is a moment that all the time I want to forget, but I cannot. The story will always stay with me, Maloletka said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most defining images of the Russia-Ukraine war amid incredibly challenging circumstances. Without his unflinching courage, little would be known of one of Russias most brutal attacks. We are enormously proud of him, said AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace.

AP Director of Photography J. David Ake added: Its not often that a single image becomes seared into the worlds collective memory. Evgeniy Maloletka lived up to the highest standards of photojournalism by capturing the decisive moment, while upholding the tradition of AP journalists worldwide to shine a light on what would have otherwise remained unseen.

Maloletka and AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov, who also is Ukrainian, arrived in Mariupol just as Russias Feb. 24, 2022, invasion sparked Europes biggest conflict since World War II. They stayed for more than two weeks, chronicling the Russian military pounding the city and hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. An AP investigation found that as many as 600 people may have been killed when a Mariupol theater being used as a bomb shelter was hit on March 16 last year.

The pair were the only international journalists left in the city when they finally managed a risky escape.

Maloletka said he and Chernov believed it was important to remain in Mariupol, despite the danger, "to collect the peoples voices and collect their emotions and to show them all around the world.

A series of photos by Maloletka from besieged Mariupol also won the European regional World Press Photo Stories award that was announced in March. Maloletkas images from Mariupol also have been honored with awards including the Knight International Journalism Award, the Visa dor News Award and the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie.

I think it is really important that specifically a Ukrainian won the contest showing the atrocities against civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine, he said. It is important that all the pictures we were doing in Mariupol became evidence of a war crime against Ukrainians.

In the three other global categories announced Thursday, two-time World Press Photo winner Mads Nissen of Denmark won Photo Story of the Year for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures, titled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan, about daily life in Afghanistan in 2022.

Anush Babajanyan of Armenia won the Long-Term Project award for Battered Waters for VII Photo and National Geographic Society, and Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award for Here, The Doors Dont Know Me.

The four global winners were selected from more than 60,000 entries submitted by 3,752 entrants from 127 countries.

Regional winners announced earlier included Maya Levin for her image for AP of Israeli police beating mourners carrying the coffin of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was fatally shot while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Following international pressure, Israeli defense forces admitted it was likely that one of their soldiers shot the prominent correspondent. The IDF denied that the shooting was intentional and declared the case closed.

Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer Emilio Morenatti, who lost a leg while reporting in Afghanistan, was awarded an honorable mention for a series of images of people in Ukraine who have undergone amputations as a result of the Russian invasion.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Railway workers in France staged a strike on Thursday, 20 April, in a continuing dispute over Emmanuel Macrons pension reforms.

The French president signed the deeply-unpopular bill raising the state pension age from 62 to 64 into law on Saturday, despite vocal opposition from unions who have called for mass protests - which started in January - to carry on.

Frances Constitutional Council has ruled in favour of the provisions and determined that the bill, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote, was in accordance with French law.

The law is due to take effect from 1 September 2023.

Mr Macron has said that the pension changes are needed to avoid billions of euros of defecit every year by the end of the decade, but unions say this funding could be found elsewhere, such as taxing the rich more heavily.

Unions have called for further strike action on 21 and 28 April, and 1 May.

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A Russian pensioner who described Ukraine's president as a "handsome young man" has been fined by a court in Moscow.

Olga Slegina was convicted of discrediting the Russian armed forces by calling Volodymyr Zelensky a "handsome young man with a good sense of humour", Russias human rights group Memorial said.

The 70-year-old was arrested in Nalchik, southern Russia, after making the comment to a waitress in a canteen at the medical centre where she was a guest last Christmas.

The Kremlin introduced sweeping censorship laws shortly after ordering tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine a year ago.

Last month Vyacheslav Volodin, a senior government minister, said he was toughening up the legislation to ensure the security of our country and our citizens.

In Russia, "discrediting" the army was punishable by up to five years in prison, while spreading knowingly false information about it could attract a 15-year jail sentence.

Mr Volodin introduced amendments to the law which he said would bring in a maximum of 15 years for both offences.

Mr Zelensky enjoyed a successful career as a comedian before entering politics and winning the presidency in 2019. He had performed on Russian state television, including at a New Years Eve show in 2013 before Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

Ms Sleginam, who also said everyone used to laugh at his jokes, was reported to police by three other visitors at the cafe.

According to Memorial, which has been outlawed by the Kremlin, the officer who arrested the pensioner told her: You have no right to praise him because he is our enemy.

President Zelensky (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)

Memorial also said Ms Sleginam, who has eyesight problems, was tricked into signing a statement that claimed she had shouted, Glory to Ukraine. She denied the allegation.

Ms Sleginam was fined 40,000 roubles (393) by a court in Moscow.

She is the latest Russia to fall foul of the draconian censorship laws. Last month a man was facing three years behind bars for joking about the war.

Vasily Bolshakov was detained by armed police who raided his home in the Ryazan region, his wife told OVD-Info, a human rights group.

He has been charged with discrediting the Russian army after being reported to authorities by a fellow Metro passenger.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent opposition activist, was facing up to 25 years in prison on charges of high treason after speaking out against the war in the United States last March.
 Close Related: Putin visits Russian troops in Ukraines Kherson and Luhansk regions

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Three Russian military ghost aircraft have been intercepted in international airspace over the Baltic Sea, Germanys Luftwaffe said on Wednesday.

The planes were flying without transponder signals.Germany and Britain sent Eurofighter jets to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft, the German air force said on Twitter.

Earlier, an ally of Russias president Vladimir Putin warned that the world is probably on the verge of a new world war as the risks of a nuclear battle escalate.

The world is sick and quite probably is on the verge of a new world war, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev told a conference in Moscow.

He said such a new world war was not inevitable but that the risks of a nuclear confrontation were growing  and more serious than concerns about climate change.

It comes as Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the River Dnipro begin frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday.
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Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky has told Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg that it is time to let his country into the alliance  during Mr Stoltenbergs first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion began.

Mr Stoltenberg said that the rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family ... is in Nato, inviting Mr Zelensky to a Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July. The Ukrainian president said that he believed the summit could be historic but that his nation needs a roadmap to membership.

There is no objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in Nato countries and the majority of Ukrainians support Nato accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions. Mr Zelensky said.

The statements will rile the Kremlin and Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has made various claims about the reasons behind Moscows invasion of Ukraine but has insisted in recent months that preventing Kyiv from joining Nato was a key goal. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that bringing Ukraine into the military alliance will present a serious, significant danger to the security of our country. Moscow said similar things when Finland officially joined Nato last month, a move that doubled the size of the land border the alliance shares with Russia. Neighbouring Sweden is expected to join soon too, possibly by the time of the Nato summit in July.

Ukraine announced a bid for fast-track membership of Nato last September after the Kremlin unilaterally announced it had annexed four Ukrainian regions that its troops have partially occupied. Nato has no official presence in Ukraine and provides only provides non-lethal support to Kyiv, but has provided a significant amount of support during the 14-month war. Mr Stoltenberg pledged continued military support for Ukraine, saying that, so far, Nato allies had trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops and provided 65bn (57bn) of military aid alone and tens of billions of pounds in other areas. Nato stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes, Mr Stoltenberg said.

The Nato secretary-generals visit to Kyiv comes at an important juncture in the war, with Kyiv hoping to launch a counteroffensive against Russias forces in the coming weeks or months. Mr Zelensky has pushed for more weapons from the West to enable Kyivs troops to hold off any Russian advances on the ground in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, and then push on. Mr Zelensky pushed Mr Stoltenberg to help ensure those weapons arrived, saying that delays in receiving more weapons caused deaths in Ukraine.

Stoltenbergs trip came a day before Nato defence officials discuss new military supplies for Ukraine at their latest meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday. Denmark and the Netherlands announced on Thursday they would jointly donate 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. In a joint statement, the Danish and Dutch defence ministers said the estimated cost of 165m (145m) to jointly acquire, refurbish and donate will be equally divided between the two Nato members. In this way, we will jointly take part in the Leopard 2 coalition, supported by many partners and allies, they said.

Acting Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen stressed that the tanks were not Danish but are bought in collaboration with the Netherlands.

On Wednesday, the US announced $325m (261m) in new military aid, including ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars), advanced missiles and anti-tank mines.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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Russia's military has launched a video campaign to lure more professional soldiers to fight in Ukraine  by challenging potential applicants to be "a real man" and swap civilian life for the battlefield.

The ad, set to stirring music, follows a report from British military intelligence that suggest Moscow is seeking to recruit up to 400,000 professional soldiers  on a volunteer basis  to bolster its forces in Ukraine.

The advert has so far been released on major Russian social networking sites.

Russia does not disclose full casualty figures. But up to 43,000 Russians have been killed in the war so far, according to a recently leaked estimate from the US Defence Intelligence Agency. It estimated up to 17,500 Ukrainians had been killed too. Ukraine has claimed that Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties.

The ad, which invites men to sign a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry for a salary starting at 204,000 roubles (2,000) a month, shows a man in supermarket dressed in military uniform holding a heavy machine gun. He is then shown in the uniform of a security guard with the question:

"Is this the kind of defender you dreamt of becoming?"

Next in the video, a man is walking through the fog with other soldiers on what looks like a battlefield. He is then shown as a gym instructor helping a client lift weights.

"Is this really where your strength lies?" the video asks, before cutting to a taxi driver taking a client's fare who then transforms into a soldier on the battlefield.

"You're a real man. Be one," says the ad.

After launching a partial mobilisation drive in September which prompted tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country to avoid being drafted, the authorities are playing down the possibility of a second mobilisation call - despite a move to introduce electronic call up papers to clamp down on draft dodgers - and are seeking to recruit volunteers instead.

Posters seeking professional soldiers have sprung up in the Russian capital in recent weeks declaring that "Our Profession is to defend the Motherland."

The posters, which say the army is looking for gunners, sappers, military medics, drivers and tank commanders, promise potential recruits "respect, an honourable profession and decent pay."

Reuters
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A Texas-born princess has been evicted  following a bitter inheritance dispute  from a historic villa in Rome that contains the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio.

Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, nee Rita Carpenter, abandoned the Casino dell'Aurora off the swank Via Veneto hours after Carabinieri police arrived to enforce a court-mandated eviction order. Before she had even left, a locksmith changed the locks on the big green front door.

Her dramatic exit capped a remarkable, years-long soap opera involving one of Rome's aristocratic families. The Boncompagni Ludovisi are perhaps best known for having produced Pope Gregory XIII. But lately, they have attracted more attention due to the inheritance dispute and court-mandated auction of their famous villa in the heart of Rome.

I feel like Im in a surreal movie, like Sartres No Exit, the princess said on the street, interrupted repeatedly by a barking fluffy white dog in her arms and three others at her ankles.

Casino dellAurora, also known as the Villa Ludovisi, has been in the Ludovisi family since the early 1600s. After Prince Nicolo Boncompagni Ludovisi died in 2018, the villa became the subject of an inheritance dispute between the children from his first marriage and his third wife, the San Antonio, Texas-born Princess Rita, whom he married in 2009.

The children have argued that the home, built in 1570, belongs to them, that their grandfather intended for them to inherit it. They mounted a multi-pronged legal campaign to get control of the property.

The latest chapter in the saga came in January after Rome Judge Miriam Iappelli issued an eviction order, accusing the princess of having violated a previous order forbidding her from conducting guided tours of the property.

Ms Boncompagni Ludovisi has said the tours were necessary to raise money to maintain the villa. In addition, the judge found that the princess had failed to maintain the home in a good state of conservation after an exterior wall crumbled.

One of the heirs, Prince Bante Boncompagni Ludovisi, was on hand Thursday at the villa to watch that woman, as he refers to his fathers widow, leave the property.

This house needs renovations. The pipelines of water need to be restored and the frescoes are in danger, he told reporters. This is a country: we have our police, we have our judges and you need to respect our country and our laws if you stay here.

It's not clear who will now undertake the work on the house, which needs at least 11m (8.8m) in renovations to bring it up to code.

The villa was put on the court-ordered auction block last year as part of the inheritance dispute and assigned a court-appraised value of 471m (415m), in large part due to the Caravaggio. After the minimum bid of 353m failed to get any takers in the first auction, the price was progressively lowered in a series of successive auctions, with more scheduled until a buyer is found.

The Caravaggio ceiling graces a tiny room off a spiral staircase on the second floor. It was commissioned in 1597 by a diplomat and patron of the arts who asked the then-young painter to decorate the ceiling of the small room being used as an alchemy workshop. The 2.75m (9ft) wide mural, which depicts Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune, is unusual: Its not a fresco, but rather oil paint on plaster, and represents the only ceiling mural that Caravaggio is known to have painted.

While the villas fate is uncertain, so too is that of the princess.

Vowing that the truth will eventually come out, Ms Boncompagni Ludovisi insisted she had cared for the villa during her two decades living there and digitised the family's archive, with the help of Rutgers University.

I see no logic in this. I was a good custodian for the villa, she said.

She didnt say where she would go next, though she noted that the Episcopal Church in Rome had reached out to help.

I love Italy and Im so sorry to have such a brutal ending to what has been a labour of love for 20 years, she said. Her book, on the villa and its famous ceiling, is expected to be published at the end of the year.

Its dedicated to my husband, Nicolo, she said.

Associated Press
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President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has refused to sign into law a controversial new bill against homosexuality that prescribes the death penalty in some cases, requesting that it should be amended.

Museveni's decision was announced late Thursday after a meeting of lawmakers in his ruling party, almost all of whom support the bill approved by lawmakers last month.

The meeting resolved to return the bill to the national assembly with proposals for its improvement, a statement said.

Museveni condemned homosexuality during the meeting in the capital, Kampala, charging that Europe is lost. So they also want us to be lost," according to footage released by public broadcaster UBC.

Museveni also praised lawmakers for approving the bill, which has drawn international condemnation.

I congratulate you for that strong stand," he said in the released video. "It is good that you rejected the pressure from the imperialists. And this is what I told them. Whenever they come to me I say, You, please shut up."

A spokesman for the presidency said Museveni is not opposed to the punishments proposed in the bill but wants lawmakers to look into the issue of rehabilitation.

(Museveni) told the members that he had no objections to the punishments but on the issue of rehabilitation of the persons who have in the past been engaged in homosexuality but would like to live normal lives again," spokesman Sandor Walusimbi said on Twitter. It was agreed that the bill goes back to parliament for the issues of rehabilitation to be looked at before he can sign it into law."

Homosexuality is already illegal in the East African country under a colonial-era law criminalizing sex acts against the order of nature." The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.

Museveni is under pressure from the international community to veto the bill, which needs his signature to become law. The U.S. has warned of economic consequences if the legislation is enacted. A group of U.N. experts has described the bill, if enacted, as an egregious violation of human rights.

Amnesty International in a statement earlier on Thursday had urged Museveni to veto what the group described as a draconian and overly broad bill.

The passing of this appalling bill is a heart-breaking moment for the LGBTI community and their loved ones in Uganda," Agnes Callamard, the group's leader, said in the statement. "Nobody should ever be criminalized for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill enjoys wide support in Uganda, including among church leaders and others who have called for a harsh new law targeting homosexuals. It was introduced by an opposition lawmaker who said his goal was to punish the promotion, recruitment and funding of LGBTQ activities in the country. Only two of 389 legislators present for the voting session opposed the bill.

The bill prescribes the death penalty for the offense of aggravated homosexuality, and life imprisonment for homosexuality.

Aggravated homosexuality is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people.

Jail terms of up to 20 years are proposed for those who advocate or promote the rights of LGBTQ people.

A suspect convicted of attempted aggravated homosexuality can be jailed for 14 years and the offense of attempted homosexuality is punishable by up to 10 years, according to the bill.

Anti-gay sentiment in Uganda has grown in recent weeks amid press reports alleging sodomy in boarding schools, including a prestigious one for boys where a parent accused a teacher of abusing her son.

The decision in February of the Church of England to bless civil marriages of same-sex couples also has angered many in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa, including some who see homosexuality as imported from abroad.

Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africas 54 countries.
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Elon Musks SpaceX is about to launch its most daring rocket ever.

Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. Eventually, SpaceX hopes it can carry people to the Moon and Mars.

But first it must conduct the short orbital test  which Mr Musk says it is as likely to fail as it is to succeed.

SpaceX is targeting Thursday morning local time.

It will be the first launch with Starship's two sections together. Early versions of the sci-fi-looking upper stage rocketed several miles into the stratosphere a few years back, crashing four times before finally landing upright in 2021. The towering first-stage rocket booster, dubbed Super Heavy, will soar for the first time.

For this demo, SpaceX wont attempt any landings of the rocket or the spacecraft. Everything will fall into the sea.

Im not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement. It wont be boring, Musk promised at a Morgan Stanley conference last month. I think its got, I dont know, hopefully about a 50% chance of reaching orbit.

Heres the rundown on Starships debut:

Supersize rocket

The stainless steel Starship has 33 main engines and 16.7 million pounds of thrust. All but two of the methane-fueled, first-stage engines ignited during a launch pad test in January  good enough to reach orbit, Musk noted. Given its muscle, Starship could lift as much as 250 tons and accommodate 100 people on a trip to Mars. The six-engine spacecraft accounts for 164 feet (50 meters) of its height. Musk anticipates using Starship to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit, including his own Starlinks for internet service, before strapping anyone in. Starship easily eclipses NASAs moon rockets  the Saturn V from the bygone Apollo era and the Space Launch System from the Artemis program that logged its first lunar trip late last year. It also outflanks the former Soviet Unions N1 moon rocket, which never made it past a minute into flight, exploding with no one aboard.

Game plan

The test flight will last 1 1/2 hours, and fall short of a full orbit of Earth. If Starship reaches the three-minute mark after launch, the booster will be commanded to separate and fall into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft would continue eastward, passing over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans before ditching near Hawaii. Starship is designed to be fully reusable but nothing will be saved from the test flight. Harvard astrophysicist and spacecraft tracker Jonathan McDowell will be more excited whenever Starship actually lands and returns intact from orbit. It will be "a profound development in spaceflight if and when Starship is debugged and operational, he said.

Launch pad

Starship will take off from a remote site on the southernmost tip of Texas near Boca Chica Beach. It's just below South Padre Island, and about 20 miles from Brownsville. Down the road from the launch pad is the complex where SpaceX has been developing and building Starship prototypes for the past several years. The complex, called Starbase, has more than 1,800 employees, who live in Brownsville or elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley. The Texas launch pad is equipped with giant robotic arms  called chopsticks  to eventually grab a returning booster as it lands. SpaceX is retooling one of its two Florida launch pads to accommodate Starships down the road. Florida is where SpaceX's Falcon rockets blast off with crew, space station cargo and satellites for NASA and other customers.

The odds

As usual, Musk is remarkably blunt about his chances, giving even odds, at best, that Starship will reach orbit on its first flight. But with a fleet of Starships under construction at Starbase, he estimates an 80% chance that one of them will attain orbit by years end. He expects it will take a couple years to achieve full and rapid reusability.

Customers

With Starship, the California-based SpaceX is focusing on the moon for now, with a $3 billion NASA contract to land astronauts on the lunar surface as early as 2025, using the upper stage spacecraft. It will be the first moon landing by astronauts in more than 50 years. The moonwalkers will leave Earth via NASAs Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket, and then transfer to Starship in lunar orbit for the descent to the surface, and then back to Orion. To reach the moon and beyond, Starship will first need to refuel in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX envisions an orbiting depot with window-less Starships as tankers. But Starship isn't just for NASA. A private crew will be the first to fly Starship, orbiting Earth. Two private flights to the moon would follow  no landings, just flyarounds.

Other players

There are other new rockets on the horizon. Jeff Bezos Blue Origin is readying the New Glenn rocket for its orbital debut from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the next year or so. Named after the first American to orbit the world, John Glenn, the rocket towers over the companys current New Shepard rocket, named for Mercury astronaut Alan Shepards 1961 suborbital hop. NASA will use New Glenn to send a pair of spacecraft to Mars in 2024. United Launch Alliance expects its new Vulcan rocket to make its inaugural launch later this year, hoisting a private lunar lander to the moon at NASAs behest. Europes Arianespace is close to launching its new, upgraded Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana in South America. And NASAs Space Launch System moon rocket that will carry astronauts will morph into ever bigger versions.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
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Nasa has said the strange flash of light seen over Kyiv was not caused by one of the space agencys satellites scheduled to crash on Earth, as has been claimed by Ukraines military administration.

Kyivs city military administration head Serhii Popko said citing preliminary data that a mysterious bright flash of light spotted in the sky over the city at about 10pm local time on 19 April was from falling Nasa satellite debris.

The city then turned on its air raid alert to prevent casualties from any of the suspected falling debris, but air defence was not in operation, Mr Popko noted.

According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a Nasa space satellite falling to Earth, he said in a post on Telegram.

Nasa had said earlier in the week that its retired 300kg (660 pound) RHESSI satellite used to observe solar flares would re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday.

The US space agency predicted the spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere at about 8.50pm EDT on Wednesday.

It said it expected most of the spacecraft to burn up as it traveled through the atmosphere, with some components to survive re-entry.

The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low  approximately 1 in 2,467, Nasa said in a blog post.

Nasas Office of Communications, however, told the BBC that the satellite was still in orbit at the time the flash was reported from Ukraine, adding that the US defence department and the American space agency continued to track RHESSI.

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell also tweeted on Thursday that the bright flash seen over Kyiv had NOTHING TO DO with the reentry of Nasas RHESSI satellite.

He said the satellites orbit does not come within even thousands of kilometres of Ukraine, adding that the odds of it entering Kyiv were zero.

RHESSI orbit did not pass over Ukraine at all, he tweeted.

The astronomer, known for tracking orbit trajectories, said the Nasa satellites re-entry track to Earth included South America, northern Africa, central Asia, and China.

He said the satellite was only re-entering Earth 9.55 pm EDT on Tuesday.

Re-entry window for RHESSI has now opened. It will reenter in the next 2 hours. However we may not know when and where it reentered for seveal hours after that, unless someone sees the reentry breakup fireball, Mr McDowell tweeted few hours earlier.
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As summer approaches, many will be looking forward to heading abroad to discover exotic beaches, sprawling cities or expansive countryside.

Most of these trips will be enjoyable, incident-free visits to foreign countries, where the majority of tourists are respectful of local cultures and traditions.

However, not every traveller knows how to act appropriately abroad. Increasingly, tourists hit headlines for all the wrong reasons, with behaviour thats scarcely believable.

Such incidents often happen at historic monuments or sacred religious sites  places where you dont need an in-depth knowledge of local customs to know that, for example, you really shouldnt be stripping off and posing naked.

Last week, a tourist was arrested in Indonesia for doing exactly this, with a local telling them to go back to your country if you cant respect our tradition and culture.

In light of this, The Independent has compiled a list of the most mindless things tourists have done while abroad in recent years.

Posing naked by a sacred tree

The photo caused controversy both in Indonesia and online (Ni Luh Djelantik / Instagram)

A woman was arrested in April 2023 after posing naked by the Bayan Ancient Tree, a sacred tree in Bali, Indonesia.

Having been detained by immigration officers, the woman reportedly faces being deported from Bali for the photo in front of the 700-year-old tree.

Calling out the womans behaviour, Instagram user Ni Luh Djelantik posted the tourists picture, writing: All foreigners who disrespect our land, Bali is our home, not yours!

They added: Do you think youll look cool taking naked picture on our holy trees? Go back to your country if you cant respect our tradition and culture.

Posing naked by a sacred tree... again

Ni Luh Djelantik, a social media activist in Indonesia posted a photo of the Russian tourist [pictured above] who posed nude in front of the sacred, ancient tree in Bali (Ni Luh Djelantik /Instagram)

A story from 2022 makes the above event appear even more foolish; last year a Russian influencer was reported to the authorities for a similar naked pose in front of a similar sacred tree.

Alina Fazleeva posted the provocative images to her 27,000 followers, but the photos were found and reported by an angry local.

Facing a potential prison sentence of up to six years  as well as a fine up to 55,000 - Ms Fazleeva quickly deleted the photo and apologised on Instagram. She also posted a photo of her praying near a similar tree. At the time, local news outlets reported that she and her partner were going to be deported.

Posing naked on a sacred mountain

The since deleted post by Russian tourist, Yuri (instagram.com/chila_brazila)

There seems to be a common theme emerging... In March 2023, a Russian man  known only by his first name, Yuri  apologised after posting a photo of him naked from the waist down atop Mount Agung in Bali.

An active volcano, the mountain is considered by locals to be a dwelling place for the gods. In addition to the photo, Yuri was said to have been part of a group who climbed the mountain without registering previously, which is also prohibited.

He subsequently apologised on Instagram and met with community leaders to apologise formally.

The only thing that led to this video was my personal ignorance, he said in the video. I am very sorry that this happened.

Smashing ancient Roman sculptures

Inside the Chiaramonti Museum (Getty Images)

Late last year, an American citizen was arrested in Vatican City after smashing a Roman sculpture that stood in the Chiaramonti Museum.

The man became irate after being denied his request to see the Pope during his visit, and subsequently grabbed one of the busts and dropped it to the floor.

Luckily, the Director for the Press Office for Vatican Museums told the media that the statues were not damaged particularly badly, with one losing part of a nose and an ear, while the head of the other came off the pedestal.

The estimated repair costs were 15,000, with an estimated time of 300 hours. The man reportedly faced charges of aggravated damage.

Riding a scooter down the Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps, Rome (Getty Images)

An American tourist in Rome was banned from the citys iconic Spanish Steps for life after she and a friend caused $26,000 worth of damage to them with an electric scooter.

The woman, a 28-year-old American tourist, reportedly hurled an electric scooter down the famed steps. The incident was caught on camera by a passerby who was filming at the time.

Just before the incident, the woman and another man were trying to bring their scooters down the stairs. The woman apparently got tired of trying to drag the scooter and decided to just throw it the rest of the way instead.

Breaking a Roman statue (and not telling)

An Austrian tourist accidentally broke the toes off a 200-year-old statue in Italy after posing with it for a photo in 2020.

The unnamed man was caught on video reclining next to the 19th-century Paolina Borghese as Venus Victrix sculpture at the Museo Antonio Canova.

CCTV footage shows him pose for a picture, before he appears to realise the damage hes caused, looking down and touching part of the sculpture.

However, he did not report the incident, according to the museum, which is based in Possagno in northeast Italy. The mayor of Possagno, Valerio Favero, called the tourists actions criminal.

Stealing sand in Sardinia

Taking sand from Sardinia is illegal (AP)

Dozens of tourists faced fines of up to 3,000 in 2021 after stealing sand from Sardinian beaches.

A Facebook group of activists, with a name translating to Sardinia Robbed and Plundered, estimated the amount of sand taken during 2021 totalled around six tonnes.

Trading Sardinian sand, pebbles and shells was made illegal in 2017.

In June that year, local authorities reported that 41 individuals  in separate incidents  were being investigated for the theft of about 100kg (220lb) of sand in total.

Surfing the Venice canals

In 2022, two tourists filmed surfing along the canals of Venice were handed a significant fine, after the citys mayor labelled them overbearing idiots.

Footage of the pair gliding along the iconic waterways on motorised foil surfboards was shared widely on social media, drawing anger from residents.

Accusing the surfers of making a mockery of the city, mayor Luigi Brugnaro effectively launched a hunt for the pair, offering dinner to anyone who could help locate them.

I ask everyone to help us identify them to punish them even if our weapons are really blunt, Mr Brugnaro said, adding that his office urgently required more powers to uphold public safety.

Several hours later, he announced that the surfers had been identified and their boards, reportedly worth some 25,000 (21,000), confiscated.

Smuggling precious artefacts

Turgutreis Marina (Getty Images)

In 2017, a British man was arrested at Bodrum airport on suspicion of finding Turkish artefacts without notifying authorities.

Toby Robyns, aged 52 at the time, had found 13 gold coins while snorkelling in Turgutreis. He tried to take them home as a souvenir but was reportedly detained at Milas prison.

At the time, a family friend called the actions harmless fun on a holiday, while a Foreign Office spokeman confirmed they were helping Robyns.

Going to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun

A selfie of Mr Routledge that hes posted on Twitter (Miles Routledge/Twitter)

Sometimes the silly thing isnt a single act, but rather the act of visiting the country in the first place.

Take so-called danger tourist Miles Routledge, who was held along with two other men by the Taliban in April. While the other two men had legitimate reason to be in the country, Routledge simply goes to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun, having recently been to both South Sudan and Ukraine.

To make matters worse, Mr Routledge had previously been evacuated from the country by armed forces during the Taliban takeover in 2021.
The Prince of Wales has urged the public to check for potential signs of bowel cancer as he praised Lorraine Kelly for her campaign on behalf of Dame Deborah James.

The journalist raised millions of pounds for cancer research through her Bowel Babe fund before she died aged 40 last June.

Prince William, who awarded Dame Deborah a DBE, said: 46,000 people in the UK each year get diagnosed with bowel cancer and yet many of us dont know the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, particularly in us men.

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In the early hours of Valentines Day 1981, a fire occurred at the Stardust Ballroom in Artane in which 48 people died.

The fire occurred on the early hours of 14 February 1981 in the Artane area of Dublin

A lawyer representing families of people who died in a nightclub fire in Dublin in 1981 has raised concerns over the proposed order of witnesses to be called at an upcoming inquest.

In the early hours of Valentines Day 1981, a fire occurred at the Stardust Ballroom in Artane in which 48 people died.

A jury has been empanelled for an inquest into the fire, which begins on Tuesday April 25.

More than 100 others were injured in the tragedy (PA)

The inquest will begin with pen portraits which are not considered formal evidence.

The formal call of witnesses is due to start with staff and management rather than patrons of the nightclub.

At a pre-inquest hearing on Thursday, Sean Guerin SC said this approach was a source of concern.

Theres a couple of reasons for that, he said.

The first is that patrons of the premises and those who went there on the night with friends and family expecting to be received and accommodated in a safe and hospitable way, that those are the witnesses of first importance in the inquest process.

We do think that the natural order (is) for the patrons of the premises to be heard first.

Family members of victims of the stardust tragedy along with supporters. pictured last year (Brian Lawless/PA)

Dublin district coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said the reason the reason staff and management would be called first is in the interest of chronology and taking into account one the modules of the inquest which is the preparations for the night of the fire.

Mr Guerin contended it would be preferable to call patrons and emergency service personnel first because their testimony may lead to evidential issues which would be required to be addressed by staff and management.

If you call them (staff) first without them having had an opportunity to hear that evidence, the very real possibility arises that some or many of them have to be recalled, he said.

Thats a practical and evidential aspect of the issue.

Mr Guerin said this would be the approach in a criminal trial where one would start with core facts and then in a structured way develop the background.

The core facts here are the starting of the fire and the experience of the patrons in their efforts, obviously in many cases unsuccessful, to escape from that fire and the premises in which it was taking place, Mr Guerin said.

It makes a lot more sense and will be in fact more consistent with the way in which one generally presents a case, he said.

Eugene Kelly, holds a photo of his 17-year-old brother Robert who died in the 1981 Stardust fire (Niall Carson/PA)

Dr Cullinane pointed out the inquest was not a criminal trial.

My primary concern is that the jury in this inquest follows the evidence and understands their task.

They are not in a criminal trial, they are at an inquest.

And I think I indicated in my proposed procedure, that this will be an inquest conducted in the same manner as any inquest in the State notwithstanding the much broader scope of witnesses to be heard.

Mr Guerin said chronological presentation is not necessarily the easiest way for a jury to assimilate information.

Dr Cullinane said she would give more consideration to the order of witnesses.

However she said it would be not on his position but rather on how she feels the jury will be able to assimilate evidence.
The Dail was taking statements on organised crime.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party stands with the Special Criminal Court against the threat of organised crime as she faced questioning about former councillor and convicted criminal Jonathan Dowdall.

She was speaking in the Dail after Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy said there were many serious questions unanswered by Ms McDonald about Dowdall, who he described as her political protege-turned-gangland torturer.

Dowdall, a former Sinn Fein councillor, is serving a four-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

We're talking about a gentleman who was involved in organized crime at the same time he was a public representative for a political party. Colm Brophy

He was a key State witness in the unsuccessful case against Gerry The Monk Hutch in the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

Mr Brophy asked a series of specific and targeted questions towards Ms McDonald on her relationship with Dowdall.

Were talking about a gentleman who was involved in organised crime at the same time he was a public representative for a political party.

We are talking about somebody who the leader  who seeks high office in this country  of a political party, went out of her way to facilitate him remaining within her party.

Jonathan Dowdall had no business in Sinn Fein. Mary Lou McDonald

Mr Brophys contributions to the Dail were criticised as straying from the topic by the Ceann Comhairle and Leas-Ceann Comhairle.

This is a provision for statements, not questions and answers. So were not going to turn it into a circus, Sean O Fearghail said.

In her debate time, Ms McDonald responded to Mr Brophy: Sinn Fein stands 100% with law-abiding citizens, with the members of an Garda Siochana, with the the court system  all of it, including the Special Criminal Court  against the threat of organised crime.

Ms McDonald then attempted to distance herself from Dowdall.

He and he alone is responsible for his actions. Mary Lou McDonald

Much has been said in the aftermath of the case at the Special Criminal Court, which concluded this week.

For the avoidance of doubt, let me say again that Jonathan Dowdall had no business in Sinn Fein. He shouldnt have been in our party.

He joined in June 2013. He left in February 2015. But it was in March 2016 that his criminal activity was discovered.

She said he went on to commit heinous crimes.

He and he alone is responsible for his actions. He has been convicted before the courts.

Court sketch of former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

If I had known for a second what he would be capable of, what he would go on to do, he wouldnt have been near me.

He wouldnt have been near Sinn Fein and he certainly would not have been running for public office.

Fine Gael TDs Fergus ODowd and Alan Farrell also used portions of their time to raise Dowdalls criminality, including his conviction for false imprisonment which involved torture.

During the approximately three-and-a-half scheduled hours of debate on organised crime, Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon criticised the use of Dail time to take shots and settle vendettas.

Earlier, Sinn Fein said it anticipates to support legislation to modernise Offences Against the State Acts.

Our courts need to have all the powers and resources they need to fight 21st century criminals. Pa Daly

The Oireachtas has to annually renew certain sections of the Offences Against the State 1998 and the Criminal Justice Act 2009.

These sections relate to laws around membership of an unlawful organisation, inferences that can be drawn and used as evidence, direction of an unlawful organisation, as well as penalties for certain offences.

Sinn Fein has abstained from votes on extending the Special Criminal Court which tries such offences.

The partys justice spokesperson Pa Daly told the Dail that it hopes the legislation can be modernised.

Members of the Garda Armed Support Unit outside the Special Criminal Court, Dublin (Sam Boal/PA)

Our courts need to have all the powers and resources they need to fight 21st century criminals.

Every year, Fine Gael make a virtue of renewing decades old legislation and everyone accepts this is an outdated means of dealing with criminals of 2023.

Mr Daly expressed support for an ongoing review of the Offences Against the State Acts.

This review is ongoing and is due for report soon, according to what the Taoiseach said on Tuesday, he said.

An Garda Siochana will never stop pursuing and dismantling the criminal gangs causing fear, violence and murder across this country. Simon Harris

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it is hoped the review will be published before June and the vote on extending the Special Criminal Court.

We anticipate that its recommendations will include modernisation, and we expect to support the new legislation that it recommends in order to robustly dismantle criminal gangs, Mr Daly said.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris said the convictions on Monday of two people involved in the Regency Hotel murder are an example of the non-jury Special Criminal Court working and carrying out its duties.

I do want to send out a very strong message today: Justice always prevails. You can run. You can try hide.

But An Garda Siochana will never stop pursuing and dismantling the criminal gangs causing fear, violence and murder across this country. 

Mr Harris said there are parties in the Dail who abscond when votes on the Special Criminal Court arise.

Those who doubt its role in the criminal justice system need to be questioned on what their alternative is.

There are trials which would not have taken place before the Special Criminal Court had some parties in this House been in Government.

They would have exposed men and women on juries in gangland and paramilitary trials and in the direct eye line of criminal gangs and subversives.

They would put people at risk  and weaken our criminal justice system.
Ultimately what matters is what government accepts, not what the civil service accepts, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (left) and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly attend the official opening of a new wing at The Mater Hospital, Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the government expects senior civil servant Robert Watt to carry out the findings of a report into a botched secondment.

The secretary general of the Department of Health rejected the findings of an external report into an attempt last year to second former chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan to a post in Trinity College.

The report found there was a lack of formal consultation with the Taoiseach, Minister for Health and the Department of Public Expenditure, and that the corresponding proposed annual funding of two million euro bypassed accepted protocols.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe (Brian Lawless/PA)

Appearing before an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday, Mr Watt strongly rejected parts of the report put to him by TDs, and was accused of being arrogantly dismissive.

When asked whether he had confidence in Mr Watt, Mr Varadkar said that the government has accepted the recommendations of the report, which does not make findings against any individual and found that those involved acted in good faith.

We cant see this happen again, he said, adding: I fully expect Mr Watt to fully implement that report and its findings.

He continued: I didnt have a chance to see everything he said (at committee), but my understanding is that he said that he would implement it and thats part of his responsibility now.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: Ultimately what matters is what government accepts, not what the civil service accepts.

Government accepts the report, the recommendations will be implemented, Minister Donohoe and I are talking to that effect, and there is no question about that. It is government who has accepted this, it is government who will implement it and thats all there is to it.

It doesnt matter whether civil servants accept or do not accept recommendations in reports.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly attend the official opening of a new wing at The Mater Hospital, Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

Mr Donnelly was also asked about a revelation in the Oireachtas committee by Mr Watt that he had tried to contact the minister about the two million euro annual funding  but it never reached him because his phone had been hacked.

He and another department official were advised not to use their devices during a St Patricks Day trip to the US in March 2022.

Mr Donnelly said: There was a security issue with our phones and with our laptops when we were in Texas. We need to keep the details reasonably vague, but yes, there was a period of time where we were asked not to use our phones, not to use our laptops.

He said they had been asked not to use their emails for a week.

I wasnt aware of an email being sent, it wasnt received, but Im not sure of the details on that, he added.

When asked if Wednesday was the first time Mr Donnelly had heard about an attempt to send an email to him about the secondment, he said it was.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaking at the official opening of a new wing at The Mater Hospital, Dublin. (Brian Lawless/PA)

Asked whether senior civil servants contradicting each other in public was damaging to the working of government, Mr Varadkar said it was not.

When I talk to voters, when I talk to constituents, theyre not talking about this issue, the Taoiseach said.

Theyre talking about job security, theyre talking about traffic, theyre talking about housing, theyre talking about healthcare and how we should invest more in healthcare, which is exactly what were doing here.

Those are the issues people are talking to me on the doorsteps about.

When asked whether he would lead Fine Gael into the next general election, Mr Varadkar said: I will.

My expectation in the next election is that we will have an election result in the mid-20s, that we will have roughly 45 seats and well have between 10 and 15 new TDs.

He also said: Lets not forget in the last general election  which was a difficult election for my party  we elected five new TDs. Two of those are ministers and three of those are very much on the rise within the party.
Finance Minister Michael McGrath said the cabinet is looking into initiatives to speed up home building. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

Money will be available in Budget 2024 to tackle the housing crisis, the finance minister has promised.

But Michael McGrath insisted he would set aside some of the extra cash in a new resilience fund while continuing to pay down the States 225bn debt pile  and also continue to borrow on financial markets.

The commitment I can give is that funding is not going to be the constraint when it comes to tackling the housing challenge, Mr McGrath told reports on the fringes of an event in Wicklow on Thursday afternoon.

He said the Government is working on a number of issues and initiatives to incentivise house building, following reports in the Irish Independent that developers may be granted subsidies in the next budget to build cost rental homes.

We in Government really appreciate the scale of this challenge, the importance of it for society and for our economy, and we are always looking for new initiatives, for new things that we can do to boost supply, he said at the Bloomberg New Gateway Europe event at the Powerscourt Hotel.

There are viability challenges around the country in respect of different developments and we are examining what role the Government and the State can play to make sure that a whole host of schemes that have planning permission actually start construction.

His comments came after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pledged to use some of a forecast 10bn surplus this year to fund tax cuts, welfare hikes and spending on childcare, public transport, education, hospitals and housing.

Mr McGrath said there were "always lots of demands and pressures for funding from various economic sectors, and warned that the forecast budget surplus may not come to pass.

What we have for this year and for future years are a set of forecasts that we hope do come to pass, but there is nothing certain in that, he said.

He would not be drawn on demands from tourism firms for supports to mitigate the financial hit to their businesses from the use of rooms to house refugees.

The same principle will apply to the demands from the tourism sector as will apply from every other sector of the economy, Mr McGrath said.

He said it was important to keep issuing government bonds despite Irelands large surplus, which is expected to double to 20bn by 2026 on the back of windfall corporation tax receipts.

Some of that windfall should be banked in a new reserve fund, he said, but some could be used to pay down the national debt.

He said he will also speak to the National Treasury Management Agency about continuing to borrow on financial markets.

Even though Ireland has a significant cash pile at this point in time, it is important that we do remain in the market. There may be opportunities that, as some forms of debt mature, that that debt is actually paid down.

"That may also play a role ultimately in what we decide to do with the surpluses that are currently projected.
DAA flies back to profitability but says it wont pay State a dividend for years

DAA says it has hired 1,000 new staff members in 2022

Former Ryanair executive Kenny Jacobs was appointed the CEO of the DAA last year

The DAA has pledged to have new anti-drone technology operational at Dublin Airport within three weeks  before the busy summer travel season starts.

DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs has told the Irish Independent that staff have been trained in its use and that relevant licences have been secured. It comes after a spate of drone incursions into Dublin Airport airspace that forced flights to divert and posed major safety issues for aircraft, crews and passengers.

Weve had the kit now for over a month, everybodys trained, said Mr Jacobs. Were about three weeks away from being able to use the drone kit.

The anti-drone tech will be able to bring down a drone or to return it to its original launch location, helping gardai to trace the operator.

The DAA, which is the semi-state company that operates Dublin and Cork airports, has also warned that it might not be in a financial position to pay a dividend to the Exchequer for years to come despite returning to profitability.

It has insisted it would find it difficult to do so after racking up a 387m loss between 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic and working under a new regulatory determination that has set passenger charges at Dublin Airport at a level well below what the DAA wanted.

The DAA said on Thursday that it surged back to profitability as the pandemic waned and passenger numbers soared.

The DAA paid dividends totalling 125m to the Exchequer between 2016 and 2019.

It could be five years before the airport company pays a dividend again

The board will decide if were going to pay a dividend or not and do that in consultation with our shareholder, which is the Department of Transport, Mr Jacobs told the Irish Independent, adding that it could be five years before the airport company pays a dividend again.

The DAA has posted a pre-exceptional profit after tax of 98m for 2022, compared with a 101m loss the previous year. Revenue at the group more than doubled last year to 752m, from 324m in 2021. It has net debt of 840m, compared with adjusted net debt of 578m at the end of 2019.

Dublin Airport expects to handle 31.1 million passengers this year

The company has insisted that a decision by the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) before Christmas  that sees the maximum level of passenger charges that can be levied at Dublin Airport between 2023 and 2026 set at a level significantly lower than what the DAA wanted  will hamper its ability to pay a dividend.

The DAA has said it will struggle to deliver all the required infrastructure projects it needs at Dublin Airport if its passenger charges arent set at a higher rate. The DAA plans to spend nearly 2bn on capital investment at Dublin as passenger numbers at the gateway rise.

It has now taken a High Court challenge against the CAR decision. Ryanair  the DAAs biggest customer at Dublin Airport  has applied to the High Court to join that action in support of the CAR.

Dublin Airport boomed in the years following the financial crash and before the Covid crisis. It was a cash cow for the Exchequer.

While it did not pay a dividend in respect of its 2019 financial year because the Covid crisis had just begun, the DAAs coffers allowed it to hand over generous payments to the State between 2016 and 2019. It paid 18.3m in 2016, 29.1m in 2017, 37.4m in 2018 and 40m in 2019.

DAA chief financial officer Catherine Gubbins said the company, which held its annual general meeting on Thursday morning, welcomed the return to profitability and confirmed that a dividend would not be paid to the State in respect of 2022.

The board also has concerns in relation to the groups ability to pay a dividend over the next number of years, she said.

Mr Jacobs said the dividend will remain a matter for the board, but agreed that its position is that it could be four or five years before dividends recommence.

Dublin Airport handled 28.1 million passengers last year, compared with 8.5 million in 2021

Thats certainly our position now, that we may not be in a position to pay a dividend for a number of years, he said, adding that there will be greater dialogue between the board and the Department of Transport on the issue.

Dublin Airport handled 28.1 million passengers last year, compared with 8.5 million in 2021 and a record 32.9 million in 2019.

Mr Jacobs said Dublin Airport has continued to enjoy strong passenger numbers so far in 2023.

He said he does not anticipate any return to the type of chaos seen at Dublin Airport last year. An under-resourced airport struggled to manage huge numbers of passengers as Covid restrictions were eased.

Mr Jacobs said the DAA has hired 750 security screening staff for Dublin Airport, with a target of having just over 800 in place by June bank holiday weekend. He said its on track to have all those staff hired by then.
Precision's drones are capable of carrying five US gallons of liquid (nearly 20 liters) per flight and covering roughly 80 acres (0.3 square km) an hour. Stock image: Getty

For the past three years, Terry Aberhart has watched the spindly, fixed-wing drones zip across the big skies over his farm in Canada's Saskatchewan province, testing a technology that could be the future of weeding.
BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Wednesday met with Boris Kollar, speaker of the Slovak National Council, in Beijing.

Han said that the traditional friendship between China and Slovakia has seen steady development, and that exchanges and cooperation in various fields have grown constantly.

China is ready to work with Slovakia to carry forward the friendship, consolidate the political foundation of bilateral relations, uphold mutual respect and mutual trust, treat each other as equals, achieve win-win results, and properly accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns to create a sound political atmosphere for the sustained and healthy development of bilateral ties, Han said.

He called on both sides to continue deepening cooperation, enhancing cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and working together to promote the sound and steady development of relations between China and the European Union, as well as China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) cooperation. He also briefed the Slovak side on China's economic and social development.

Kollar said that Slovakia attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with China and hopes to strengthen bilateral cooperation on the economy, culture, people's livelihoods, transportation, logistics and other fields, and to deepen exchanges between the two legislatures to improve bilateral relations.
Block booking of accommodation by State has hit footfall for other operators in the tourism sector

Durty Nelly's in Bunratty, Co Clare, has cut music to three nights a week from seven. Photo: Liam Burke/Press 22

Businesses in the hospitality sector say they need Government supports to mitigate the financial hit to their businesses as a result of the use of hotels and other tourist accommodation to house refugees.
Government will invest some of the estimated 12bn in windfall corporation tax receipts in a reserve fund to pay for future pensions and healthcare

The government will use some of its expected 10bn budget surplus this year for tax cuts, welfare hikes and infrastructure spending, the Taoiseach has pledged.

But Leo Varadkar said he would also set aside a portion of the windfall corporation taxes in what he called an anti-austerity fund.

Yes, we will reduce income taxes, yes, there will be a welfare package in the budget to help people with the cost of living  particularly pensioners and people on social welfare  and yes, we will be able to invest more in capital and infrastructure, he told the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway event in Wicklow.

But its also important we set aside some of that windfall gain and we pay down the debt. Sooner or later it will come to pass that revenues fall.

I dont want a future government to be in the position that we were back in 2011 when my party came to office [] and the IMF were in town.

"What were not building up is a rainy day fund. What were building up is an anti-austerity fund, so that when that day comes  when revenues fall off  we wont have to cut pensions, we wont have to increase income tax, we wont have to cut back on investment.

He said the Government will invest some of the estimated 12bn in windfall corporation tax receipts this year in a reserve fund to pay for future pensions and healthcare.

He said some money would also be used to increase investment in housing, hospitals and education, to reduce the cost of childcare and permanently cut the cost of public transport.

He said energy supports for households and firms would not be reduced too quickly.

The Irish Independent reported today that Housing Minister Darragh OBrien is mulling subsidies of up to 750m for developers of cost rental homes.

Energy supports for households and firms would not be reduced too quickly

Mr Varadkar said Irelands debt was very high and that he was not only thinking about the next election.

Yes, the next election is important, he told Bloomberg economics editor Stephanie Flanders. But future generations judge you too. Nobody is going to thank a government in six, seven, 10 years that could have prevented another boom-bust cycle.

Mr Varadkar said Irelands corporation tax windfall, which is largely responsible for generating the double-digit surplus, would eventually disappear  even though it seems like every time the country changes corporation tax rules more money comes in.

Were not a tax haven. We dont want to be perceived as one, he said.

On Irelands military neutrality, Mr Varadkar said that while he had no intention or plan to apply to join Nato or any military alliance, he would be spending more money on defence and would cooperate more with European-led peace missions.

When the election does come, European policy, for the first time, will be an issue.

On Northern Ireland, he said he and UK premier Rishi Sunak are looking to stand up the power-sharing institutions and that they are working towards a window after the local elections in May.

He said he hoped the Democratic Unionist Party would do whats right for Northern Ireland, Ireland and the UK, not just whats right for them.

He also said he hoped a future British government would seek a closer relationship with the EU again.

They might not be rejoining. Thats a remote prospect. But it might involve a renegotiation of the trade and cooperation agreement to have a closer relationship. Thats something the door will always be open to.
Irish DPC Helen Dixon speaks on a panel session with Anu Bradford, Columbia law professor (left) and Chad Thomas, executive editor at Bloomberg News at Powerscourt Hotel yesterday. Photo: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/Bloomberg

A decision over whether to ban Facebook data transfers to the US is due by mid-May, Irelands Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has confirmed.

DPC Helen Dixon also said artificial intelligence (AI) systems like ChatGPT must be regulated but warned against outright bans and rushing into prohibitions that arent really going to stand up.

In relation to the Facebook case, Helen Dixon told an event in Wicklow on Thursday that the case, which is subject to an EU dispute resolution procedure, was coming to a conclusion.

The process stems from a decision by the EU courts in 2020, in a case taken by Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems.

If enforced, it could result in severe restrictions on the Meta-owned Facebook app.

Ultimately, it will decide whether the Facebook service transfers from the EU to the US are lawful and whether they can continue, Ms Dixon said.

The final decision will issue from my office before the 12th of May.

More generally, Ms Dixon said she wants to speed things up when it comes to regulating big tech firms, many of which have their regional headquarters in Ireland.

But she defended Irelands role as the EUs lead regulator, saying many people understand very little about the length of time it takes to conclude an investigation.

We all want things to speed up, she told the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway event at Powerscourt Hotel.

We want to be able to conduct and conclude matters faster.

Some of the people that comment on speed understand very little about the process of conducting an investigation, the complexity of finding the facts, the implementation of fair procedures in the process. So these things do take time to do properly.

Ms Dixon, who will soon be stepping down from her role as the countrys data privacy watchdog, said she would advise her successor to reach out to fellow regulators across the EU to explain Irelands role.

A much broader communications campaign that takes in the global remit, in reality, of the office, I think, would be warranted for attention by my successors.

Recognition of the role of Ireland and the Irish DPC has being global in effect, global in reach, and having global stakeholders, would need to be embraced by my successor, I think. I started too late positioning permanent staff out in Brussels.

Last year the DPC concluded 17 large-scale inquiries and issued fines in excess of 1bn, including a record 405m fine against Instagram over its processing of minors data.

In January, the commission fined Whatsapp Ireland 5.5m over a complaint made by a German citizen over data processing.

Ms Dixon said the body of case law being created through the Irish and EU courts on foot of EU law and the DPCs decisions would make it easier to conclude investigations in future.

As fast as we hand out those enforcement measures, the issues are being contested in court.

Were going to see a lot of case law now arising from the enforcement actions the DPC has taken.

Were going to see some big judgments from the Irish High Court, perhaps references off to the Court of Justice of the EU, and were going to get to a point of greater legal certainty.
Latvias Rietumu Banka, in which billionaire Dermot Desmond owns a 33pc stake, said that it has set aside a total of 30m to pay fines and fees imposed in France following a long-running case there.

And it plans to significantly reduce its loan exposure in Russia and Belarus by refinancing loans or selling them to other providers. Its net risk exposure to Russia is 129m, 18m in Belarus and 3m in Ukraine.

Rietumu was alleged to have been used by clients involved in tax evasion and money laundering. While an 80m fine imposed on the bank was reduced in 2021 to 20m, Rietumu said in its newly-published annual report it remains liable for 10m in damages to be paid to the French state after it lost an appeal earlier this year.

In 2017, the Paris Criminal Court found that Rietumu was guilty of aggravated money laundering by providing assistance, as a bank, to placement, concealment or conversion operations of the proceed of an offence.

It was ordered to pay a fine of 80m and, jointly and severally with other defendants, 10m in damages to the French state, along with 100,000 in court expenses. Rietumu was also banned from operating in France for five years.

In 2021, a court of appeal reduced the 80m fine to 20m. Rietumu then appealed the 10m in damages due to the French state. However, in January this year it lost that appeal.

Taking into account that the bank had previously created sufficient savings for the payment of a possible penalty, the outcome of the mentioned criminal case will not affect the future operation and stability of the bank, Rietumu notes in its latest annual report.

The bank made a 19m profit last year, down from the 22m it made in 2021.

Rietumu Banka chairman Jelena Buraja said that while the global economy has been impacted by Russias invasion of Ukraine, the bank has overcome these complex challenges.

We have managed not only to maintain a high level of stability and reliability, but also to continue supporting clients in the development and implementation of their new projects, she said.

When the war began, Rietumu immediately ceased new lending activity in Russia and Belarus. At the end of 2022, the banks total loan portfolio was 584m.

The bank is planning a moderate increase in its lending portfolio in 2023 in Latvia, the other Baltic states and the European Union, it noted.
Snap Inc. has attracted more than three million users to its Snapchat+ subscription service, a $3.99-a-month offering that provided early access to features like its new artificial intelligence chatbot.

The growth has exceeded the company's expectations and includes the addition of about a million paying users in the past 11 weeks, Snap said at its annual partner summit, held in its hometown of Santa Monica, California.

The service launched last year but got a boost in February when the company added exclusive access to a chatbot, called My AI, that's powered by OpenAI's GPT technology.

"We never expected that we could grow to three million subscribers," Snap Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel said in an interview.

"What we essentially see is that when we release new features, that gets more people excited about signing up or trying Snapchat+. We definitely saw some nice momentum with My AI."

Snap will soon be opening the My AI features to all users, not just subscribers, the company said Wednesday.

Spiegel said at the event that his "medium-term goal" is for Snapchat+ to reach 10 million users. The progress so far suggests Snap is making headway in a challenging area for social media companies: getting users to pay.

At Twitter, owner Elon Musk has struggled to attract subscribers to the company's Blue service.

Meta Platforms Inc., meanwhile, began testing a subscription bundle on Instagram and Facebook in February and has yet to disclose paid user figures.

Customers can also get the Snapchat+ service through Verizon Communications Inc.'s +play platform. In addition to offering the AI features, the subscription lets users customise the look and feel of the app.

Like its social media peers, Snap is looking to offset a deceleration in ad revenue. The company's overall sales growth stalled at the end of last year, and revenue is expected to decline in the first half of 2023.

Snap is coping with the slump by cutting jobs and culling projects that are no longer seen as a priority. That's meant refocusing on efforts that increase user numbers and revenue, as well as augmented reality technology.

Snap launched Snapchat+ in June, making it available to a handful of countries, including the US, UK, Germany and United Arab Emirates. Even with the recent growth, it remains a small part of Snap's revenue and its user base.

At about $4 a month, three million users would generate less than $150m. Snap reported a total of $4.6bn in revenue last year and has 750 million users.

The company is also considering ways for its users to make money on the app.

Now, all users aged 18 or older can post Stories on Snapchat publicly. That's meant to make it easier to become a creator and amass followers on the app. To lure more of those kinds of users, Snap said it will give select creators a cut of revenue if ads run between their Stories posts.
Dublins Waystone Group has acquired the Irish and UK business of Link Fund Solutions (LFS) in a deal brokered to finance a redress scheme for investors in the Woodford Equity Investment Fund.

The group, which provides services to the global asset management industry, has agreed to pay at least 110m (125m) to buy the business, a division of Australias Link Group. The final price could rise to 140m (159m) depending on how the deal is valued on completion in October 2023.

The purchase will add more than $190bn (174bn) in assets under administration for Waystone, and see 600 new staff join the firm, including 150 employees in the companys first office in India.

The addition of LFS will enhance Waystones fund administration offering following the recent acquisitions of Centaur in January, as well as KB Associates and T Bailey last year.

The transaction will also partially pay for 235m Link now owes 300,000 investors to partially cover their losses in the Woodford fund, which collapsed in 2019, after a settlement with the UKs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The LFS sale also comes after a shake-up in the senior management team at Waystone last month.

Chief executive Derek Delaney, chief operating officer Paul Cahill and chief financial officer Glen Magee all left the business after a disagreement at board level over the future strategy of the firm.

The move happened after the board assessed the needs of the asset management services company for its next phase of growth after several years of rapid expansion via acquisition.

However, the existing management team were not in agreement about the new direction proposed for the firm.

A spokesperson for Waystone confirmed that chair Nancy Lewis had stepped in to lead the business on a full-time basis while the board searched for successors.

The Woodford Equity Income Fund was set up by star stock picker Neil Woodford in 2014 and grew to a reported 10bn at its peak.

But it ran into trouble in 2018 as nervous investors began pulling money out over concerns about the investments Mr Woodford was making.

The surge of withdrawals led to liquidity problems. Mr Woodford was forced to suspend trading in 2019 and the fund was eventually put into liquidation to recover the value of the assets it held.

There has already been a total of 2.56bn paid to investors since the suspension of the fund from the distribution of proceeds from the sale of investments, according to the FCA.

The FCA found that LFS failed to properly measure and manage liquidity in the fund, leaving some investors stuck with unsellable assets, while other investors were able to exit, when it was suspended

The FCA estimated losses at 306m, which were less than the available assets left in LFS. Link Group has agreed a deal with the FCA to make up some of the shortfall, bringing total compensation to 77pc of the losses.

The authority said the amount was intended to cover the losses that flowed from LFSs conduct which we consider fell below the required standards.
The Hollywood actor had faced two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting on the set of the movie in October 2021.

The case against Alec Baldwin over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has been dismissed, his lawyers said.

The Hollywood actors lawyers said they were pleased with the decision and encouraged a proper investigation into the tragic incident.

Baldwin had faced two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting on the New Mexico set of the Rust movie in October 2021.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident Lawyers for Alec Baldwin

The incident occurred after a prop gun held by Baldwin went off, killing Ms Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

The actor previously pleaded not guilty to both charges of involuntary manslaughter.

A statement from his lawyers, shared with the PA news agency on Thursday, said: We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before a preliminary hearing in the case in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was to be determined whether there was enough evidence to take it to trial.

Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, had previously stepped down from the case.

Their decisions came after much back-and-forth between the two sides, with Baldwins lawyers arguing that Ms Reebs involvement was unconstitutional due to her elected position in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

In turn the DAs office had accused Baldwin of using his fancy attorneys to distract from the gross negligence in the case.

The actor was formally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter by the DA in February, alongside the films armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

The first charge required proof of underlying negligence and included the misdemeanour charge of negligent use of a firearm.

The second charge included a firearm enhancement, which would have made the crime punishable by a mandatory five years in jail.

Alec Baldwin speaks to officers (Santa Fe County Sheriff/PA)

The enhancement was later dropped by the DA after Baldwins lawyers argued that it was unlawful, and said prosecutors had committed an unconstitutional and elementary legal error.

In the statement of probable cause, filed alongside the charges, the DA accused Baldwin of showing wilful disregard for the safety of others in the days leading up to the shooting.

His reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused Ms Hutchins death, the DA had alleged.

Baldwin also faces a separate civil lawsuit, filed on February 9 by the family of Ms Hutchins.

The family are suing the actor and the Rust movie production company for alleged battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and loss of consortium.

Loss of consortium is a claim which seeks to recover compensation for damage to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.

Thursdays development coincided with the resumption of production on the movie, which has begun again in the US state of Montana.

Legal representatives for Rust Movie Productions stressed that all use of working weapons or ammunition is, and always has been, prohibited on set.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was fatally shot on the set of Rust. Photo: Fred Hayes

Production of the Western movie Rust will restart on Thursday in Montana, 18 months after actor Alec Baldwin fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming in New Mexico.

Baldwin will be back on set two weeks before the start of a court hearing in New Mexico to decide whether he should stand trial for a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins' death in October, 2021.

Filming will resume at Montana's Yellowstone Film Ranch set, according to Melina Spadone, a lawyer for Rust Movie Productions.

Baldwin in October settled a lawsuit with the cinematographer's husband, Matt Hutchins, under which filming would restart with the same principal actors and the same director, Joel Souza, who was wounded in the 2021 shooting. Under the deal, Hutchins became an executive producer on the movie.

Alec Baldwin on the set of Rust. Photo: Santa Fe County Sheriff/PA

The production company finalised a settlement last month with New Mexico workplace safety regulars over serious violations, agreeing to a $100,000 fine to resolve a scathing safety review that detailed unheeded complaints and misfires on set before Hutchins was shot and killed in October 2021.

Prosecutors in Santa Fe are pressing forward with involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Baldwin and a weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty.

Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun when off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said the gun went off accidentally and that he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham this month signed a new $360,000 allowance for prosecution of the case. Evidentiary hearings are scheduled in early May in state District Court to decide whether to proceed toward trial. Baldwin has indicated that he won't attend those hearings.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies says her office is pursuing justice in the death of Hutchins and wants to show that no one is above the law when it comes to firearms and public safety. She says the Ukrainian-born cinematographers death was tragic and preventable.

Rust safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest in March to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months of probation.

Souza, the director, has said he will return to the Rust production to honour the legacy of Hutchins.

Parts of a documentary about Hutchins' life will be filmed simultaneously with Rust.
Selected cinemas; Cert 15A

The fine line between domestic terrorism and civil disobedience is traced in this dramatisation of Andreas Malms uncompromising climate activism manifesto.

Eight young environmentalists assemble in a remote cabin in the Texas desert. They hail from different backgrounds and arrive with their own reasons for collaborating on a highly dangerous and illegal act  a plot to destroy a piece of Big Oil infrastructure.

Local farmer Dwayne (Jake Weary) resents the pipeline through his land, while bedroom explosives student Michael (Forrest Goodluck) seethes at the drilling near his North Dakota reservation. Alisha (Jayme Lawson) is there to support her girlfriend Theo (American Honeys Sasha Lane), who has contracted terminal cancer from living next to a chemical plant.

A heist film with a muscular young ensemble cast, there are depths to Daniel Goldhabers tense indie drama that recommend it. Aside from the argument for direct action as society dithers through the climate crisis, the script by Goldhaber, Ariela Barer, and Jordan Sjol also takes in US health, indigenous rights, and youth disenfranchisement.

Four stars
Black comedy punctures absurd priorities of millennials and Gen Z-ers

Signe (Kristine Kujath Thorp) and Thomas (Eirik Sther) live lives of bourgeois privilege among the cafe terraces and high-end galleries of Oslo.

The couple may present to the world the semblance of devotion, but the truth is each holds a resentment towards the other that is all about one-upmanship and scoring points.

From her mundane job as a waitress, Signe looks on as Thomass artwork  garish sculptures fashioned out of stolen lounge furniture  begins to make a slight stir among the fickle beard-strokers of Oslos contemporary art scene. And she cant stand it.

One day, a customer is mauled by a dog at her workplace, and Signe finds herself trying to comfort the victim until the ambulance can arrive. After it does and she is given a precautionary look over by paramedics, she notices that suddenly people are interested in her as a figure of heroism.

The attention gives her such a sugar rush that a perverse and all-consuming addiction to its sweet nectar starts to take hold.

Signes conviction that she has always been more amusing and interesting than her friends is at last calcifying. Her time has come, and she intends to milk any crumbs of recognition for all theyre worth.

Feigning a nut allergy at a dinner party, shes able to draw the focus off Thomass crowing about his art  so the conversation centres around her.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg, though. She gets wind of a Russian pharmaceutical that has become notorious for causing extensive skin rashes and blisters, and coerces her supplier of party drugs to procure some on the sly.

Soon, Signes disfiguring appearance is racking up followers and likes on social media, where her obsession with attention is catalysed. A realm where victimhood tends to be fetishised, social media turns her into a darling of strength and inner beauty who comes to be courted by a fashion brand seeking a woke edge to its marketing.

Thorp wears prosthetics for the second half of the movie

Doctors, meanwhile, are baffled, allowing her to pass the hideous condition off as a mystery illness unique to her. After journalist friend Marte (Fanny Vaager) agrees to write a tell-all feature about her struggles, Signes mind turns to the possibility of a lucrative book deal.

Marte may be the only bright soul in this world, however, and her research throws up hints that Signe mightnt be all she seems.

Lets get something straight  characters dont need to be likeable in order for a film to be.

Signe is a monstrosity of jealousy and self-obsession (and Thomas is not much better). Grossly exaggerated she may be, the character reflects a real malaise in media culture so recognisably hideous it makes us recoil.

We never look away, however. Like Aubrey Plazas Instagram loony in Ingrid Goes West (2017), Signe is a satirical vehicle for our modern-day fixation on celebrity and digital narcissism. The difference between that particular anti-heroine and what writer-director Kristoffer Borgli delivers here is that this world is more blackly comic and morally irredeemable.

Bemoan your fondness for scrolling and trashy reality TV all you like  this is another level. And where better to find such a twisted inversion than the clean, pretty, Instagram-friendly streetscapes and balconies of Oslo.

With a decidedly Scandinavian flair for the coldly grotesque, Sick of Myself smears body-horror (Thorp dons prosthetics for much of the second half of the film) and deep personality dysfunction across what we often perceive as among the most functional societies around.

Think a mild David Cronenberg written by Ruben Ostlund and youre somewhere close.

Borglis puncturing of the absurd priorities of millennials and Gen Z-ers is pulled off with the considerable help of Thorp, whose centre-stage performance won her a best actress gong at the recent Dublin International Film Festival.

This is built for those who like their satire served cold, and as such, comes with a health warning. So relentlessly lacerating is Signes spectacular existential haemorrhage that it could be a revival of some horror-comedy from the heyday of the Grand Guignol.

Of course its entertaining  but you laugh and wince, knowing that any chance of a deeper exploration of Signe or some scant salutary wisdom to take home is increasingly unlikely.

Four stars

Selected cinemas; Cert 15 (UK)
Courts

Man caught drunk driving his horse and cart to get cigarettes ordered to do a safer driving course
A YOUNG man with a chronic alcohol addiction who launched cowardly attacks on two off-duty gardai, a junior doctor and a group of restaurant workers as they walked home after work was jailed for over two years.
A 40-year-old man has been remanded in custody after gardai charged him with the murder of a man in a hostel in Dublin in the early hours of Wednesday.
A murderer who strangled his partner of three months in her own bed after a two-day drink and drugs binge has appealed his conviction, arguing that gardai failed to put the contents of their field notes to him in interview.
A shoplifter who is really struggling at present has asked a judge to jail him, so he can go back into prison and clear out his head.
Regency murder getaway drivers are now in Monks old jail quarters

Regency Hotel getaway drivers Paul Murphy (61) and Jason Bonney (52) are languishing in the same jail isolation unit where their friend Gerry The Monk Hutch spent almost 19 months on remand while facing trial.

It is the 3G wing landing of Wheatfield Prison  the so-called Hutch Wing  a high-security area where they are separated from other inmates because of the perceived threat from the Kinahan cartel to their lives for their involvement in the murder of gangster David Byrne.

The pair will remain there until May 8 when they will be sentenced after being found guilty of the charge of participating in or contributing to the murder of Byrne (33) by providing access to vehicles used in the Regency attack.

The 3G wing was the same landing Jonathan Dowdall once shared with his former friend Hutch before he asked to become a state witness and gave evidence, which was deemed unreliable by the Special Criminal Court.

It is a wing with 18 individual cells, but now with only five prisoners, including The Monks criminal nephew Ross Hutch, who is serving 10 years for violent offences and is said to be in a state of complete panic after his uncle left the prison system.

Ross doesnt have Gerrys protection in jail any more  there is a rumour that he is going to be transferred to Portlaoise because of the overcrowding issue in the jails now. He could be eaten alive down there by Hutch enemies, a prison source said.

Also said to be extremely nervous after this weeks court judgment that freed Hutch is Dowdall, perhaps the most high-profile criminal informant in the history of the criminal justice system.

He is in Limerick Prison and has been officially granted access to the States Witness Protection Programme. There is an expectation he could be moved out of the country very soon.

He shares a special isolation unit, including individual cells, with his father, Patrick, and a disabled drug dealer. The three cannot mix with other inmates for security reasons.

While all this plays out, new details have emerged about Bonney, whose black BMW X5 SUV was part of a convoy of six cars that parked at St Vincents GAA club grounds in Marino, north Dublin, before the Regency shooting on the afternoon of February 5, 2016.

Bonney, who has been convicted of being a getaway driver in the hotel bloodbath, was telling anyone who would listen to him that Im going to beat that rap in the weeks before he was convicted at the Special Criminal Court, according to sources.

He is a long-term associate of The Monk and owns two houses and four apartments.

He built up a property portfolio worth millions of euro that was always suspected of being linked to his involvement with his north inner city friend and The Monks alleged armed heists.

Bonney is a strange one, for sure. He was going around saying he would be beating the rap, a source said.

Then he would say he was over 80pc sure  that he was happy it was those judges rather than other Special Criminal Court judges sentencing him, and he was always giving out about Jonathan Dowdalls lies and the trouble they had caused Gerard.

Suspected of being involved in some of The Monks biggest heists, Bonney is described as an affable enough type who allegedly hates the drugs business and has links to dissident republicans as well as Provo factions before that.

For many years, he was what criminal sources have described as a man of substance in the Donaghmede and Coolock areas which were his bases.

Jason Bonney was no ordinary fool, he had money and plenty of it at a time when many people didnt even have a bean in those patches, a source said.

There was always a whiff of dodginess about him, even though he seemed on the outside to be a very successful builder. A kind of a Del Boy mostly, but not a Del Boy you would row with without serious consequence.

Bonney was involved in Corinthians gym with The Monk when it opened in 1998 and later ran a club with his father, William, in Swords.

By the time former accomplished boxer Bonney got involved in the murder of Byrne for the Hutch gang, he was living in an upmarket property in Portmarnock, and thought his days of involvement in organised crime were behind him.

Instead, he was quickly targeted by the Kinahan cartel, who identified his role in the feud murder, leading to threats and armed garda protection around his upmarket property.

This man has not had one good nights sleep since the Regency Hotel attack, a pal said.

Maybe he will finally get a good kip in jail, but who knows?

He seemed calm enough when he was found guilty on Monday.

He has literally been looking over his shoulder for almost seven years, and this a lad that claimed he did a jail stretch in the UK but no one knows any details about that.

When contacted for comment, the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on individual prisoners.

On Monday at the Special Criminal Court while delivering the judgment in relation to Bonney, Judge Tara Burns said the court had been lied to in the most malevolent manner when Bonneys since deceased father William Bonney was implicated in the Regency attack.

It was asserted in evidence that William Bonney had been using the BMW on the day of the shooting. Judge Burns said the court was satisfied William Bonney was at home that afternoon and had not .

She also said the court was satisfied that William Bonney did not leave his house until after the Regency events had happened.

The judge said she was satisfied that Jason Bonney was the only person driving his BMW throughout that day and that he was the driver when one of the gunmen, Kevin Flat Cap Murray, got into the car at St Vincents GAA car park following the shooting.

In relation to Murphy, she said the Avensis seen on CCTV footage before and after the shooting belonged to him, that he remained driving it for the afternoon and that it was also used by one of the gunmen at St Vincents car park.
Politics

I will wait and see  potential blow for Fine Gael as Richard Bruton yet to make mind up about running at next election
Mr Hanna died on Monday in Kathmandu

Noel Hanna died after returning to his tent after a successful summit on Annapurna, the Co Down climbers wife has said.

Mr Hanna (56) died on Monday after summiting the 8,091 metre Annapurna peak in western Nepal.

His wife Lynne paid tribute to her late husband after arriving in Kathmandu on Wednesday to bring his remains home and said in a Facebook post that it was just the renowned climbers time to go.

"I have arrived in Kathmandu to bring Noel home he passed away at Camp 4 on Annapurna, she said.

"After a successful summit he returned to the tent took some hot soup and fell asleep never to awaken again. No drama, no big story; it was his time to go.

He died in the Himalayas  what better place for my Mountain Man. Sleep well Noel.

One of Irelands best known climbers, Mr Hanna, from Dromara, had scaled Mount Everest 10 times.

In 2018, he became the first person from the island of Ireland to successfully summit and descend K2.

Born in Dromara in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, his passion for mountaineering was sparked at an early age.

Mr Hanna quickly made a name for himself in the local climbing community, and by his mid-20s, he had already scaled some of the highest peaks in Europe and Asia.

There are gambles to climbing, but I think it is just the buzz of being up there and pushing your body to the extremes which drives you to do it, Mr Hanna told the Belfast Telegraph in 2016.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson led tributes to Mr Hanna, saying it was devastating news.

I had the privilege of meeting Noel and hearing about his mountain-climbing exploits, including his conquest of Everest, he added.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his fellow mountaineers at this sad time.

Mourne Mountain Adventures said: There is some peace in that he spent his last moments doing what he loved best.

Such a great man and one of Northern Irelands finest mountaineers.

Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world at 8,091 metres (26,545 ft) above sea level.

It is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its ascent.

At least 365 people have climbed Annapurna and more than 72 have died on the mountain, hiking officials said.

Earlier this week, Indian climber Baljeet Kaur went missing near Camp IV while descending from the summit point, organisers said. On Tuesday, it emerged she had been found alive. An aerial search mission was launched after she sent a radio signal asking for immediate help.

A third climber, Anurag Maloo, went missing after falling from 6,000m into a crevasse while descending from Camp IV.
Politics

BREAKING | Taoiseach Leo Varadkar among 21 landlord TDs named in Dail amid calls for them not to vote on Bill to reduce rent
Jonathan Dowdall in front of one of his ABCO vans

The operator of Dublin Airport says it paid former Sinn Fein councillor Jonathan Dowdall less than 75,000 to carry out works at the airport.

It comes after Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald named the airport in an RTE interview as one of Dowdalls clients of his electrical business.

Airport operator DAA confirmed Dowdalls company carried out minor works for it between 2011 and 2014.

Meanwhile, the heads of Government have called on Sinn Fein to answer further questions on how Dowdall was selected to run for Sinn Fein.

The Indo Daily: The Gangland Trial of the Century (Part 3) - Jonathan Dowdall, criminal connections, and his shadow over Sinn Fein

Ms McDonald told RTEs Six One on Monday night: When Jonathan Dowdall went forward for election, he was a very successful businessman from the inner city.

She said she didnt know of his involvement in crime and his business clientele didnt know either.

There was nothing to suggest for me that he would go on to carry out the kind of criminal actions that he did.

The Indo Daily EXTRA: Gerry The Monk Hutch NOT guilty of murder in the Regency Hotel gangland shooting

People in his ambit, his list of business clients which featured banks, the Dublin Airport Authority and other statutory agencies, they didnt know either.

Independent.ie can now reveal Dowdalls company carried out work at the airport over the course of several years..

Dowdall Electrical Limited, which traded as ABCO Integrated Services Limited, undertook minor works at Dublin Airport between 2011 and 2014, valued at less than 75,000, with a full tax clearance certificate, said a DAA spokesperson.

A spokesperson for AIB denied that it ever contracted work to Abco

In 2017 Dowdall pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning a man and threatening to kill him in 2015, for which he received a prison sentence of 12 years. The victim was waterboarded during his ordeal.

During the Regency Hotel trial, he pleaded guilty to helping to facilitate the murder of David Byrne and is now serving four years in prison.

A dormant social media profile of Dowdalls lists some of his clientele, including Bank of America, AIB, DAA, IAA, Aramark, LotusWorks, Serco and G4S. Dowdall named himself as a company director of Abco Electrical Contractors.

A spokesperson for AIB denied that it ever contracted work to Abco.

It is understood multinational security company G4S stopped working with Dowdalls company in early 2017.

Aramark said it works with hundreds of suppliers and contractors. Work with Abco Electrical Contractors ceased in early 2016 and we have not engaged in any work with the organisation since then, said a spokesperson.

Multinational company Serco, which provides public services in the areas of defence, justice and immigration, transport and health, said Dowdall has not been a supplier for the company for at least the past two years.

The IAA, Lotus Works and Bank of America did not respond to queries.

In the past, Dowdall said his company employed 12 people.

Sinn Fein said yesterday that Ms McDonald met Dowdall and his wife, who worked as a civil servant in the Department of Social Protection, at a local event in 2011. At the time of Dowdalls departure from Sinn Fein in 2014, Ms McDonald said he was a hard worker who will be missed in his elected role by local constituents.
Senator Gerard Craughwell will write to Drew Harris

Independent Senator Gerard Craughwell has said he will ask the Garda Commissioner to carry out a full investigation of the alleged hacking of the Health Ministers laptop.

It comes after the top civil servant at the Department of Health Robert Watt told the Oireachtas Finance Committee yesterday that a detailed note of Dr Tony Holohans botched secondment to Trinity College Dublin was sent to Minister Stephen Donnelly.

However, the email didnt make it to the Minister, who was in the US, because his machine was hacked, the committee heard.

His system got corrupted and it slipped our mind to give him the detail," Mr Watt said.

There was an IT challenge with the minister and the system."

Senator Craughwell said if a Ministers laptop can be accessed through a hacking, then there is a serious security problem.

I will write to the Commissioner to ask that Minister Donnellys laptop and mobile tech should be examined, he said.

Senator Craughwell has already asked the Garda Commissioner to examine Mr Watts laptop.

But then he admitted he misinterpreted his comments yesterday and accepts that Mr Watt said Minister Donnellys laptop got hacked and not Mr Watts.

He will now ask the Garda Commissioner to examine Minister Donnellys phone and laptop.

I believe that in light of the Cyber-attacks on the HSE, MTU etc. this is a most serious admission from the most senior official in the Department of Health, Senator Craughwell wrote in a letter to the Taoiseach, Taniste, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and junior Minister Ossian Smyth.

I would ask that Government ask the National Cyber Security Centre to immediately carry out a full cyber audit of all government departments as a matter of urgency.

The Department of Communications said yesterday Minister Donnellys device was examined at the time and there were no signs of compromise.

A spokesperson for Minister Donnelly said he and his officials were asked to not use their devices during the US trip due to concerns about a cyber security risk.
Lorraine Courtney: Why are candidates for the Aras so uninspiring? And don't we deserve better?
Four in 10 of us have experienced sexual violence at some point in our lives. One in five have experienced some form of sexual violence during our childhood. One in two women have endured sexual violence, and one in five have experienced rape as an adult.
The food, service and interior fail to impress our critic at this new restaurant in Rathmines

Oh dear, oh dear. Where to begin to describe our experience at Flaneur, a new restaurant from the same hospitality stable as the successful Sprezzatura, which doesnt seem to know its cul from its coude? Perhaps with the website, the first port of call for most customers. Currently, this offers no indication as to the food or drink available (the full website, it says, is coming soon). I reckon there must be a menu on Instagram, so thats where I head next. Nope. Nothing there either.
Not understanding the latest gadgets and tech speak makes you feel incompetent  so its easier to avoid it

I have a vivid and abiding memory of the day the first escalator in Cork came to Roches Stores. I was young, but I distinctly remember my mother proclaiming: Well thats it, I can never again go upstairs in Roches Stores. And to the day she died, I dont think she ever went on an escalator. An irrational and unfounded fear of something she knew nothing about and wasnt prepared to try.
Irish renters share the horror of living in damp accommodation for a new exhibition highlighting the housing crisis

The Got Damp exhibition in Dublin, which features 1,000 litres of water collected from 30 households in Ireland, explores an overlooked symptom of the housing crisis

Artist Avril Corroon wanted to explore the housing crisis from a different perspective Photo: Acme Archives

Azmia Riaz Thu 20 Apr 2023 at 15:10
CORK firefighters launched a campaign of industrial action as they warned that staff shortages now pose a danger to both personnel and to the public.

The campaign of industrial action commenced with a public protest by firefighters after their Thursday shift at the main Cork Fire Brigade depot at Angelsea Street.

Firefighters warned that, if urgent concessions are not made, they are prepared to escalate their industrial action.

Cork City Council reassured members of the public that the industrial action will not impact emergency response services.

Cork firefighters trade union, SIPTU, warned that enhanced resources urgently need to be provided.

SIPTU organiser, Con Casey, said firefighters were being asked to cover greater areas without adequate resources including additional staffing - and said it was "shameful" that they had been forced to launch industrial action.

The root cause of this dispute lies with the failure of fire service management to reinstate the Ballincollig Retained Fire and Rescue Service or provide additional resources to the Cork City Fire Brigade to provide cover in this area," he said.

The consequences of this has been to expand the area covered by the Cork City Fire Brigade without providing staff to operate the fire appliance in Ballincollig fire station, which is known as the Fourth Pump."

"Vacancies for retained fire and rescue service members in the Ballincollig area have remained unfilled since September 2021 even though the first recruitment campaign commenced in October 2020.

It is shameful that Cork City Council should force firefighters, who literally put their lives on the line for their communities, into industrial action in this way."

"Official notice of industrial action, up to and including strike action, was served on Cork City Council earlier this month. If our members must escalate their industrial action to force a resolution to this dispute, they will.

SIPTU division organiser Karan O Loughlin said the dispute would be immediately resolved if agreed staffing levels were provided.

The resolution to this dispute lies in the appointment of retained fire and rescue service personnel in the Ballincollig area to allow the Fourth Pump to be operated at agreed manning levels."

"If this proves unattainable, the Cork City Brigade must be provided with adequate personnel to allow the Fourth Pump to operate.

Cork City Council said it was committed to achieving a resolution to the dispute and had contacted the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

"Cork City Council invited SIPTU to talks with a view to finding a solution to this dispute and the Council remains available to meet union representatives," a spokesperson said.

"Last night, Cork City Council also sought the assistance of the WRC."

"Cork City Council is committed to engaging in meaningful and focused discussions with all parties involved and to using the established industrial relations machinery of the State to agree a path forward to resolve matters."

City Hall management said they were "disappointed" that SIPTU members chose to mount industrial action when the council had already made itself available for discussions.
One of the countrys leading planning lawyers has hit back at remarks made about him by the new chair of An Bord Pleanala, saying they were unwarranted and inappropriate.

Oonagh Buckley, who took up the interim position at the scandal-hit planning authority in January, told a planning conference today she was intrigued that lawyer Fred Logue was invited to address the two-day event tomorrow.

I hope the questioning you subject him to will be vigorous, she told delegates at the Irish Planning Institute gathering in Clonmel.

Ms Buckley said Mr Logues firm, FP Logue, was responsible for half the judicial reviews taken against An Bord Pleanala decisions last year and it was a lucrative business for him.

Mr Logue was a long-standing critic of the now abandoned fast-track Strategic Housing Development scheme which resulted in a surge of judicial review proceedings.

He has also expressed serious concerns about proposals in the new Planning and Development Bill which he has said will create new grounds for legal challenges.

He's right by the way, Ms Buckley said. Rewriting the planning code just means he has another 20 years of judicial reviews. That is going to make his life very lucrative.

Ms Buckley said there were business models associated with judicial reviews, whether in planning or in asylum and citizenship law in which she previously worked.

Solicitors work out a way of making money from taking judicial reviews. They dont have to be successful. In fact they dont even have to be majority successful.

Theyll still make enough money from the State that it makes it worth their while to do it.

So once you have a firm thats worked out that business model, theres no doing back. The genie is out of the bottle.

Contacted for comment, Mr Logue said the fact that he was busy with judicial reviews was because of poor legislation.

The only reason planning reform will be lucrative for lawyers is if the State passes legislation that breaches EU regulations and the Aarhus Convention (on environmental justice).

That's completely within their control, he said.

Instead of taking swipes at me, she [Ms Buckley] should be advising the government to be conservative about their reform to make sure the law is compliant.

That's the whole function of judicial review  to ensure compliance.

Mr Logue said he ran a business and should not be criticised for doing so. She gets paid to do her job and I dont have a problem with that.

I have not set the system up to revolve around FP Logue. If anything, the system has been set up to revolve around property developers.

I actually think its inappropriate for somebody like her to be saying things like that, especially as I wasnt there to speak for myself.

She has a certain function and its supposed to be independent and be seen to be independent, and singling out me for criticism is not appropriate.

Mr Logue is due to speak to the conference during a session titled Persepectives on Planning Reform tomorrow morning.
A serving garda has been arrested after being caught with suspected cocaine at Dublin Airport.

The female officer, aged in her 30s, was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply this afternoon.

She had been due to travel on an outbound flight but was detained prior to boarding.

Sources told Independent.ie that gardai put an operation in place after receiving information in relation to the possession of controlled drugs at the airport.

The investigation is being led by the Garda's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) who are tasked with investigating alleged misconduct and criminality within the force.

It's understood that cocaine, with an estimated value of around 100, was recovered.

The garda was subsequently arrested in relation to the possession of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply and taken to Ballymun Garda Station.

She has since been released without charge.

One source said: This individual was arrested as part of an intelligence led operation.

The seized drugs will be sent for analysis as is standard procedure. The fact that this person was outbound allegedly in possession of suspected drugs makes this as even more serious matter.

It's understood that the arrested member is attached to a garda station in the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR).

Gardai confirmed details of the arrest operation this evening.

A spokesman told Independent.ie: A female in her 30s was arrested by gardai this afternoon, Thursday 20th April 2023, at Dublin Airport having been found in possession of a small quantity of controlled drugs (analysis pending). She was taken to Ballymun Station and later released without charge.

The drugs will be forwarded to FSI (Forensic Science Ireland) for analysis.

The female concerned is serving member of An Garda Siochana based in the Dublin Region.

No further information is available at this time. Enquires are ongoing.
A farmers political party based on Dutch model has potential to do well in next election
Every child should get the sort of care that is offered in France. Photo posed

When my child fell ill in rural France, the excellent healthcare left me wondering whats wrong with us that we cant organise ourselves to provide similar reassurance. And why are our costs so high?
Whether it was prompted by jealousy or begrudgery, it was to be expected that a large section of the English media would be very critical with some scandalous comments on Joe Bidens recent and visit to Ireland.

A number still seem to have trouble recognising the UK is not the centre of the universe, and the British empire, like the Roman empire, is a thing of the past.

The Falkland Islands, the northern part of Ireland, Scotland and Wales are now just the remnants of said empire. I almost forgot about Gibraltar.

Brexit (an own-goal) was an invention to compensate for the fact they were not allowed to control Europe. Ireland has never been forgiven for initiating the break-up of the empire with the 1916 Rising, hence the continuous flow of vitriol.

Liam Burke, Dunmore, Co Kilkenny



Incoming excise duty hikes on fuel despite mega surplus

Charlie Weston writes of the welcome drop in diesel and petrol prices at the pumps, only to then tell us they are going back up again due to the Governments ending of excise duty reductions (Prices at the pumps fall to lowest in 18 months  but it wont last, Irish Independent, April 19).

Finance Minister Michael McGrath has said increases in excise duty of a total of 21c on petrol and diesel will amount to more than 700m for the Exchequer in a year.

This is despite the same minister telling us a few days ago that the estimated budget surplus for this year and next will be 10bn and 16bn respectively.

State-owned ESB recently announced record operating profits of 847m, with a dividend of more than a third of this going to the Government. No relief, though, for hard-pressed consumers when they see their electricity bills increase by 200 next month due to state reliefs being withdrawn.

Let no one ever tell you that governments, through their policy decisions, dont contribute needlessly to hardship on ordinary everyday working people.

Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry

Perrys multi-billion-euro question like a double Irish

I was intrigued by RTE Newss Caitriona Perry asking her colleague, economics correspondent Robert Shortt, about the extraordinary budget surplus figures as a result of corporate tax receipts. She asked: It looks too good to be true  is it?

Shortt responded nicely when he said: It is both too good and too true. Would that be a double Irish?

Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18



Neither rhyme nor reason to why tax on fuel is returning

The Exchequer had a surplus last year of 8bn and expects to have one this year of over 10bn, yet the Government still intends to reintroduce the excise duty on fuel to bring in more revenue. Why?

Kieran Burke, Ashbourne, Co Meath

Blair asks pertinent question that the DUP should answer

Tuesdays Irish Independent headline, Mitchell implores NI leaders to show courage, quotes Tony Blair as saying, regarding the Good Friday Agreement, that you know in your heart of hearts what the right thing to do is and you just get on and do it.

Why not ask the DUP to respond to that question?

Leo Gormley, Dundalk, Co Louth

Preserve time and space for women in crisis pregnancies

The committee on the review of abortion legislation recently drafted its report, which is now before the Government for consideration.

The majority of the media reporting on this issue has been vocal in supporting broadening access to abortion services, in particular the removing of the three-day waiting period. This waiting period affords women time to reflect on their decision to terminate a pregnancy.

The statistics from the HSE inform us that nearly 20pc of women who initially make contact with an abortion provider do not return to start the process to terminate the pregnancy after this waiting period.

I appreciate there may be other reasons for a small percentage of these women not returning to end their pregnancies  miscarriage, for example. However, the effectiveness of the three-day period in allowing women to consider all options is borne out by the statistics.

Surely no matter what side of the abortion divide a person is supportive of, we should afford women the time and space to consider all options available in a crisis pregnancy.

Eamonn OHara, Rossbracken, Manorcunningham, Co Donegal
Earlier this month, the 43 year old founder of the Cash App, Bob Lee, was killed in San Francisco. It took police a few days to arrest another tech worker, Nima Momeni, who police say was known to the deceased. But by then, a narrative had spread across the media about Lee being a victim of San Francisco's decline into lawlessness.

This week Adrian Weckler is joined by the editor of San Franciscos Mission Local, Joe Eskenazi, to discuss the case and the coverage that it received.

Joe says that while there was an outpouring of grief after the news broke of Lees death, conversations around the safety of San Francisco quickly followed.

The grief that came out for him very quickly devolved into a recrimination of San Francisco and this being part and parcel of street crime and lawlessness and chaos and a devolution of the city.

The Big Tech Show: The killing of Bob Lee  what happened to the tech founder?

However, Joe says that the police never believed this to be an indiscriminate attack.

From the outset...police never saw this as a random crime or as a robbery attempt because he did have that phone that he was calling 911 on. So very quickly, the police zeroed in on this being a targeted attack.

And it also became clear, reading the narrative afterwards, that they had their suspect very quickly.

The Big Tech Show: The killing of Bob Lee  what happened to the tech founder?

You can listen to the full episode of the Big Tech Show on Independent.ie or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Monk has been sighted at the inner-city home of a relative, where its understood he has been staying since he was acquitted of murder on Monday.

Garda presence in the area is significant with The Monk once again a target for the Kinahan Cartel.

So, what next for Hutch and his brother Patsy, who was implicated in planning of the Regency Hotel murder in the special Criminal Court?
Courtney Rose Ni Linechain, Sinead Allen, Eibhlin Ni Donachda and Clodagh de Brun representing Kilmurry to claim runner up place at the Munster Scor na nOg Final. Picture John Tarrant

The Boherbue Set Dancers line up of Niamh Aherne, Katie Clifford, Chloe Linehan, Holly ORiordan, Cathal Hegarty, Aidan Keohane, Tomas Aherne and Aaron Breen participated in the Munster Scor na nOg Final. Picture John Tarrant

Tracy Cronin (Iveleary) sang the national anthem ahead of the Munster Scor na nOg Final. Picture John Tarrant

Eddie Kiely, Boherbue and Alan Finn, Buttevant perform the backing music for Set Dancers at the Munster Scor na nOg Final. Picture John Tarrant

Cork teams added to the enjoyment in the 50th Anniversary staging to the Munster Scor na nOg in the Eire Og GAA Pavilion, Ovens.

A terrific atmosphere surfaced at the Mid Cork venue as the Golden Jubilee celebration saw GAA clubs from across the province parade a feast of music, song and dance.

Outright honours belonged to a number of counties; Kerry landed a trio of outright wins for Glenflesk, Crotta ONeills and Spa. Cork saluted success for both Carbery Rangers and Clonakilty with Tipperary delighted for Newcastle and Templederry Kenyons.

Limerick acknowledged victory for Banogue in an excellent showpiece from a Novelty Act team.

North and Mid Cork representatives added to the special occasion as Kilmurry Figure Dancers of Courtney Rose Ni Linechain, Sinead Allen, Eibhlin Ni Donachda and Clodagh de Brun collected runner up position.

A young Boherbue set dancing group of Chloe Linehan, Katie Clifford, Holly ORiordan, Emma Enright, Cathal Hegarty, Aaron Breen, Niamh Aherne and Aidan Keohane were thrilled with the experience.

Cork based Munster Scor Chairperson Margaret Whelan applauded all involved in Scor and particularly Scor na nOg confined to participants under 17 years of age.

50 years ago, in 1973, the first All Ireland Scor na nOg Final took place, since then, we have seen talent second to none from every corner of the province with competitors from our six proud counties in Munster collecting silverware on the national stage regularly, she said.

Proceedings opened with the National Anthem sung by Tracy Cronin representing Muskerry and Iveleary GAA club.

Munster GAA Chairman Ger Ryan commended all involved in the promotion of Scor.
Bridie Milward and Ruth Daunt at the registration desk at the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springford Hall Hotel. Picture: Mike English

Delia Tobin, Peggy O'Brien, Mary McNamara and Maura O'Neill committee members of Aosta at their Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English.

John Arnold, (centre) Bartlemy, MC for the event, who regaled the huge gathering with stories and jokes, with Sorcha Ni Chrualaoich, Principal Community Worker HSE, Jackie Hehir, Lorna Hurley and Denis Justice, Rural Community Health Project at the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall. The organisation which was founded in 1980 decided to "call it a day" as older people's groups are not now as dependent on AOSTA like in the past. Picture: Mike English.

Liz Downes and Maura Corr, members of Cork County Council's Older People's council attending the Aosta Conference held at Springfort Hall, Mallow.

Eileen Clifford, Susan Hickey, Josie Stack and Mary Murphy, Newmarket, attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow.

Margeret Burke and Susan McAuliffe, Newtownshandrum, attending the Aosta, Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English

Members of Mitchelstown Social Club attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English

Anne Madden, Eileen Broderick and Marjorie O'Regan, Fremont Active Retirement group, attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English

Elizabeth Roche and Essie Nagle, Women's Shed Mallow group, attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English.

Photographed are Mary McNamara, Bridie Millward, Ruth Daunt, Frances Linihan, Maura O'Neill, Michael Stubbs and Delia Tobin who received tokens of appreciation for their work over the years at the Aosta gathering in Springfort Hall in north Cork.

A north Cork group which first got together in 1980 to provide a social outlet for the elderly held its final fling in Springfort Hall near Mallow this week.

Elizabeth Roche and Essie Nagle, Women's Shed Mallow group, attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English.

Over 200 people attended and heard from an array of speakers on such issues as Looking after your Mental Health, Money Advice, Singing4theBrain and Rural Community Cultural Companions.

Anne Madden, Eileen Broderick and Marjorie O'Regan, Fremont Active Retirement group, attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English

As it was founded in 1980 members had lots of memories to share on what was a poignant day.

Members of Mitchelstown Social Club attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English

Current chairperson, Ruth Daunt, said "We had our day and did a lot of good work, times have changed and older people's groups are not as dependent on AOSTA like in the past, so we decoded that we would call it a day"

Bridie Milward and Ruth Daunt at the registration desk at the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springford Hall Hotel. Picture: Mike English

Delia Tobin, Peggy O'Brien, Mary McNamara and Maura O'Neill committee members of Aosta at their Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow. Picture: Mike English.

John Arnold, (centre) Bartlemy, MC for the event, who regaled the huge gathering with stories and jokes, with Sorcha Ni Chrualaoich, Principal Community Worker HSE, Jackie Hehir, Lorna Hurley and Denis Justice, Rural Community Health Project at the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall. The organisation which was founded in 1980 decided to "call it a day" as older people's groups are not now as dependent on AOSTA like in the past. Picture: Mike English.

Liz Downes and Maura Corr, members of Cork County Council's Older People's council attending the Aosta Conference held at Springfort Hall, Mallow.

Eileen Clifford, Susan Hickey, Josie Stack and Mary Murphy, Newmarket, attending the Aosta Final Fling Conference at Springfort Hall, Mallow.
Ronan O Domhnaill was the Coimisineir Teanga during the period covered by this report. He has since been appointed to Coimisiun na Mean and the post of An Choimisineir Teanga is vacant.

Cork County Council has been found to be in breach for the second time of a scheme it has agreed with the Gaeltacht Minister to publish official documents such as the County Development Plan simultaneously in Irish and English, the States official languages.

According to the Annual Report for 2022 from the Office of An Choimisineir Teanga, the Council was the subject of an investigation by the Language Commissioner for failing to publish a draft version of the County Development Plan in Irish when it published its English version last year.

There was a notable increase in the number of complaints from County Cork received by the Language Commissioner during 2022. Approximately 4.3% of 600 complaints received by the Commissioner from the public came from Cork, up from 3.2% the previous year.

In the report, the Commissioner found, following the investigation, that the Council had breached the statutory language obligation ratified in subsection 10(a) of the Official Languages Act 2003 by not publishing the Draft Development Plan in Irish when it was published in English.

The Commissioner also said the Council had breached the Official Languages Act 2003 ( sub-section 18(1)) by using unofficial English versions of Gaeltacht place-names for official purposes despite the provisions of the Councils own statutory language scheme.

The report of the Commissioner said following the receipt of complaints, the issues were raised with the County Council through the informal complaints resolution process that the Coimisineir Teanga operates as the first step of an investigation.

"Having considered the County Councils response to these queries, I decided to launch an investigation into the subject matter of the complaints.

"It is important to mention, at this time, that my Office had previously conducted an investigation of Cork County Council in 2017, which was relevant to this current investigation in as much as the same statutory obligations were under scrutiny.

Cork County Council confirmed in correspondence on 11 May 2018 that it had taken steps to implement the recommendations of said investigation.

During the investigation by the Commissioner, the Council described the arrangements it had made to provide an Irish language version of the Draft County Development Plan.

"Primarily, it indicated that a budget of 200,000 had been provided in order to translate the appropriate volumes from English to Irish and a tendering process was organised in collaboration with the Office of Government Procurement.

"It was advised that the tender had been published on the 7 January 2021 with a deadline of the 25 January. The Council confirmed that no bid was received as a result of that competition.

"A period of 12 working days had been indicated as the turnaround period in which to produce an Irish translation of more than 750,000 words or so, according to the Councils report.

According to the Commissioners report, the Council cited a strict statutory schedule of time lines in relation to the stages of the Development Plan as set out in sections 11 & 12 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

In correspondence dated July 26, 2021, the Council said:

"The question of translation relates to the timeline we have been given to do this work. We had no choice in this regard as the closing date for Council approval of the Draft Plan was 1 April and would have to be published on 22 April 2021. We also needed time to format the Draft Plan after it had been translated (publication/desktop design) but prior to publication and therefore we had no choice in terms of the Directives request for the Draft Plan to be completed and transferred back to the PPU by midday on Friday 16 April 2021.

This explanation was not accepted by the Commissioner who said that Cork County Council had given notice on March 12, 2020, that a Draft Development Plan was to be prepared.

"But it did not contact the Office for Government Procurement until seven months later to make arrangements to run a tender competition for an Irish language translation service.

"It is my opinion that the Council did not exercise due diligence to ensure that it had made the necessary arrangements to find a supplier for the translation service in good time to fulfil its statutory obligations.

"The tender competition for the translation service could have been announced much earlier in the Draft Plan development process, which would have given the Council a better opportunity to re-advertise the tender competition and not rely on potential suppliers to be found at a time when the Draft Plan had been prepared in English and approved by the Council.

In a second complaint upheld by the Commissioner, he found that the Council had breached its obligations by using unofficial English versions of Gaeltacht place names in the County Development Plan.

"The volumes of the Draft Development Plan were examined by the staff of my Office and it was noted that there was widespread evidence of a lack of compliance with the use of official Gaeltacht placenames in some volumes in particular.

"For example, the English language version Ballyvourney, of the Gaeltacht placename Baile Bhuirne was used 7 times on page 20 of Volume No. 2 Heritage and Amenity.

"There was a lack of consistency in the Councils compliance with this obligation regarding the accurate use of Gaeltacht placenames in the Draft County Development Plan and it was clear to me that the Council was not compliant with this statutory language obligation.

The Commissioner has recommended that Cork County Council should provide a satisfactory implementation plan to his office which would set out the procedure by which it would ensure that the statutory legal requirement in respect of the simultaneous publication in each of the official languages of documents setting out public policy proposals and other relevant documents would not be breached in the future.

"I recommended that the implementation plan should set out clearly the complete process in respect of the preparation and publication of a document of that nature and the specific steps that Cork County Council will take to ensure that the relevant documents are published simultaneously in Irish and English."

The Commissioner also suggested that the Council would advise his office what steps would be taken to ensure that the official version of Gaeltacht placenames be used in future for official purposes.
Ukrainian Community in North Cork town come together to celebrate easter Sunday in the McAuliffe Culturlann

Margaret Daly, Theresa Shine and Kathleen O Sullivan were at the Ukrainian Easter Sunday celebration in Newmarket

Daria was serving up some Borsch at the Ukrainian Easter Sunday celebration

Ksenia, Daryna, Olha and Tetiana pictured at the Ukrainian Easter Sunday celebration at the Culturlann, Newmarket. Photos by Sheila Fitzgerald

Kristina with locals Mary and Anne Fitzpatrick at the Ukrainian Easter Sunday celebration at the Culturlann, Newmarket.

McAuliffe Culturlann custodian Mossie Angland chatting to Kseniia and Daryna at the Ukrainian Easter Sunday celebration in Newmarket

Delicious dishes such as borsch, olivie, deruny, golubtsy and varenyky were on the menu as members of the Ukrainian community currently living in Newmarket invited the local people to celebrate with them last Sunday, April 16th which was Easter Sunday in the Ukraine.

The venue for the get together was the McAuliffe Culturlann, where tables groaned under the weight of an amazing and appetising array of traditional Ukrainian food which went down a treat with locals.

Daryna who spoke to The Corkman said that she and her fellow Ukrainians wanted to say thank you to the people of Newmarket who have welcomed the visitors with open arms since they first arrived. We thought it would be good to use our Easter celebration to invite everyone to join in with us and try our national foods she said.

Daryna who is a native of Kyiv said that it was wonderful to be living in a quiet and beautiful environment in Newmarket after fleeing war torn Ukraine.

The word for Easter in Ukrainian is Velykden, which translates to Great Day. It is one of the most celebrated holidays in the country. Easter in Ukraine originates from the same holiday celebrated in other Christian communities, but it mostly adheres to the Orthodox faith and calendar. Thus, it is celebrated the week after the Catholic Easter Feast day.

Preparations for Easter begin two months in advance. Some people fast with strict devotion, as many in the country remain passionate about adhering to the faith. Everyone looks forward to Easter day, as a festive mood prevails throughout the country and families come together to celebrate with food.

In Ukraine, Easters festive table is of great importance and people prepare traditional delights for the family. The table is always full of fish, meat and dairy dishes in particular, and it is usually decorated with spring flowers like daffodils or tulips.

An Easter basket is filled with Pysanky (decorated eggs) and blessed early on Easter Day in many homes.

And going by comments on social media after the get together, the people of Newmarket really enjoyed the Ukrainian Easter Sunday.

The food was amazing, Happy Easter to all the Ukrainian Community.

It was lovely to meet all the Ukrainian people and the food was fabulous.

Thanks for the feast, the Borsch was great. Happy Easter.

Fabulous foods, Happy Easter to all our Ukrainian friends.

It was absolutely delicious, thank you for sharing with us.

The Easter celebration ended on a high note with renditions of traditional Ukrainian music from the 30 strong group who now call Newmarket home.
Alan Swan (52) has 13 previous convictions for the unauthorised use of trademarks

A man who pleaded guilty to offering to sell counterfeit luxury goods with an estimated value of over 36,000 is to be assessed for community service.

Alan Swan (52) of Donard Road, Drimnagh pleaded guilty to eight counts of the unauthorised use of trademarks including Adidas, Nike, Ugg, and Hugo Boss on December 21, 2015 and December 19, 2017 at Liberty Market. He has 13 previous convictions for the unauthorised use of trademarks.

At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday, Judge Orla Crowe said this was an unusual case and she directed the Probation Service to prepare a report to assess the defendant's suitability for community service.

The court heard that gardai carried out an operation at the market after receiving confidential information about the suspected sale of counterfeit goods. During this operation, a member of An Garda Siochana paid for suspected counterfeit items including 30 for a pair of Ugg boots at one stall and 50 at another stall for two tracksuits, including an Adidas one.

Sergeant Brian Quinn gave evidence that gardai then obtained a search warrant for four stalls operated by Swan and carried out a search on December 21, 2015. Counterfeit Ugg, Adidas and Under Armour items were seized, with a street market value of 20,000.

Detective Garda Alan Gordon of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation also gave evidence that gardai carried out a search of five stalls at Liberty Market on December 19, 2017. A large quantity of counterfeit Adidas, Nike and Hugo including sportswear, footwear and outerwear were seized. These goods had a street market value of 16,300.

All the goods seized by gardai were inspected and confirmed to be counterfeit by brand protection managers for the relevant companies. The items have been held in secure storage, at a cost of 50,000 to Adidas.

Alan Swan

The court heard that Swan was later interviewed under caution in 2018 in relation to events in 2015. Swan confirmed that he rented several stalls where some branded items were sold. Swan denied knowing the items were counterfeit and told gardai he bought goods to sell from the internet and from people closing other shops.

Det Gda Gordon told the court that he asked to speak with Swan in 2019 about the search carried out in 2017. During a cautioned interview, Swan admitted to selling items, which he said he had purchased online or in Manchester. Swan told gardai he didn't know or inquire into the authenticity of the goods.

Sgt Quinn agreed with John Gallagher BL, defending, that his client declined an offer to have a solicitor present during the 2018 interview, during which he admitted he was the proprietor of these stalls. The witness accepted a suggestion made by defence counsel that the victims in this case were the copyright holders, rather than the people who bought the goods. The sergeant also agreed with defence counsel that the guilty pleas were of value to the prosecution.

Det Gordon agreed with Mr Gallagher that his client was cooperative and took responsibility for the goods.

Mr Gallagher asked the court to treat his client's previous convictions at the District Court as a single conviction as they relate to one offence date.

Swan has two adult children and cares for his grandchildren. Mr Gallagher said his client is a hard-working man, but his propensity for work had been misdirected. Swan has applied for a taxi licence and also has some temporary work.

A number of references were handed into the court on behalf of Swan, who is also involved in community work. Mr Gallagher asked the court for as much leniency as possible for his client.

Judge Crowe said the court is minded to impose a community service order, but this would be subject to the assessment of Swan's suitability. The case was adjourned to July 7 for finalisation.
Catherine Young, a Dublin born, Kerry based dancer and choreographer is bringing her new work A Call to You to Siamsa Tire this coming Saturday April 29. She spoke to Fergus Dennehy this week about the origins of the show and why her main hope is that people leave the theatre buzzing after watching it...

Kerry based dancer and choreographer, Catherine Young, is days away from facing into what will be, in her own words, the most nerve-wracking" of all the shows on her upcoming nationwide tour of her new show A Call To You when she stages it in her adopted home of Tralees famous Siamsa Tire.

But, putting the nerves aside, Catherines over-riding emotion is one of huge excitement as she bids to achieve her goal of putting a big ol smile on the faces of every single one of the Tralee audience who come to see her and her talented troupe of dancers and fellow artists on-stage.

The show will be staged on Saturday April 29 at 8pm and it's Catherines hope that by the end of the show, people will walk out of the auditorium feeling absolutely buzzing about what theyve just seen. Now, thats no easy feat by any stretch but looking at Catherines extensive history and experience in her craft, theres no better person youd want taking on the task.

She is an Associate Artist with Siamsa Tire where she has been Dancer/Choreographer in Residence multiple times since 2006 as well as Dancer in Residence with Kerry County Council while in 2011, she also established Catherine Young Dance and has been making and touring work to critical acclaim with sell out runs of her recent company works State of Exception, Welcoming the Stranger, Ultima Thule and Woman Stood Regardless.

As well as this, Catherine has also toured the US and Europe and also holds an MA in Contemporary Dance from the University of Limerick where she is also a guest lecturer/choreographer on the BA and MA programs and has a Certificate in Theatre Directing from National University of Ireland, Maynooth, as well as many, many other accolades that are simply too numerous to list fully here.

Speaking to The Kerryman this week, when put to her that the show she's obviously most looking forward to on the whole tour is the upcoming one in Siamsa, Catherine laughed and said "of course", adding that it's her "home turf" such is her strong connection and history with the famous Tralee theatre.

"It's also the one that's most nerve-wracking too to be honest because you know the audience. It's like having your parents in the crowd when you were younger," she laughed, adding "it's so much easier in anonymous places where no-one knows you."

When asked to give a little teaser or synopsis of the show for people, Catherine said only this:

"They [the audience] can expect to come out of the show feeling great, she laughed before delving into the origins of the show.

"We made the show last year just as we were coming out of lockdown last year. It was the first time that we were all back in the room in about three years so it was a really important moment in time. We had to get used to actually seeing people in the same room again and not on a screen. The war in Ukraine had just broken out as well so there was a lot going on in the world."

"The way I work, I am influenced by what's going on in the world and what's happening outside the studio and I work to communicate with audiences and make sure the work is meaningful to whoever is coming to see it. So, I just felt at that moment in time, people needed to see something joyful and something happier and hopeful," she said.

"The show is kind of a journey of the autonomous individual where everybody doing their own thing and getting on with their own lives and trudging through life unaware of others to getting back to the community and back to a society where people are inter-connected. I think what COVID taught us, whether we like it or not, is that we are inter-connected and what we do affects other people.

"You might be sitting next to someone who's completely anonymous at a show but you're connected to them through watching and experiencing this same show together. I think that's important because yeah we can all watch Netflix at home but there's something about going to the theatre, it's where you see your 'tribe' so to speak. It's an activity of meeting people, meeting your tribe and socializing together after the show and that's a hugely important feeling, she continued.

The show will feature a cast of outstanding international performers and live music and inspired by Ukrainian folk dance traditions. It has received glowing reviews to date and it is described as a passionate celebration of life, togetherness and dance.

"I want people coming out of the theatre to be buzzing because I miss that and I want to give that to an audience. I want them to leave thinking that going to the theatre is great because they can physically, kinaesthetically and viscerally feel the music and the dancing and they can feel good about life and more hopeful about things when you come out," she said.

"In the world and the media right now, it's the darkness that tends to get communicated and not the joy so I think for me, as an artist, I feel like my job is to bring some light into world, Catherine finished.

Originally created at Backstage Theatre for the Dublin Dance Festival 2022, this tour is funded by Arts Councils Touring Award with the support of the NASC network.

Tickets for the show will cost 18.50 / 16.50 + booking fee and can be purchased from the Siamsa Tire website or by calling the booking office on . 066 712 3055.
Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne students Conor Corduff, Ruairi O hOgain, Ella Ni Ainifein and Tom O Neachtain with West Springfield High School students Ainsley Kearney, Eibhlinn White and Billy Flaherty at the Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance AGM in the Skellig Hotel on Monday. Photo by Declan Malone

Tourism businesses in West Kerry need to put local communities and culture ahead of short-term gains, according to the Dingle Peninsula Tourism Alliance (DPTA) which launched a Charter for Sustainable Tourism at its AGM in the Skellig Hotel on Monday.

The strategy outlined in the charter emphasizes the need for tourism operators to respect local communities, their language, culture, heritage and the environment. It marks a move away from the kind of tourism where businesses seek to maximise their profits without regard for the negative impact tourism can have on local people and places.

Our Sustainability Charter will put us on a focused path to inspire Corca Dhuibhnes hospitality sector in a way that restors and sustains the environment, nurtures our language, culture and heritage, and enriches local communities while respecting the importance of tourism to our economy, said DPTA Chairperson Shane Finn.

The thinking behind the Charter for Sustainable Tourism is that tourists come to Corca Dhuibhne for the scenery, culture and people that make the area unique. However, over-development or careless development of tourism can undermine the very things that make West Kerry attractive to visitors in the first place and that does nobody any good in the long term.

The alternative proposed by the DPTAs Charter for Sustainable Tourism seeks to avoid killing the golden goose by putting respect for local communities, heritage, culture, the environment, and the Irish language as core values. Tourism can develop around that, but without descending into what Philip King has described as the opencast mining of culture.

Tied in with the DPTAs Charter for Sustainable Tourism is the promotion of regenerative tourism, which is essentially the same idea, but with the added aim of tackling climate change.

In a regenerative framework, conscious travellers, host communities, businesses and governments care, connect and contribute to the regeneration of local communities, places and nature  the assets on which tourism is based. It places equal weight on prosperous local economies and the health and wellbeing of people, places and nature, the DPTA plan states.

As part of the policy of promoting regenerative tourism the DPTA has joined an EU-wide consortium that includes Stichting Business Development Friesland in the Netherlands, the Iceland Tourism Cluster, Eastsavo Educational Federation in Finland, Danmar Computers in Poland, and Munster Technological University.

We absolutely must do what is right to preserve our culture, heritage, beautiful landscape, our family businesses and the people who make up our communities. Those are exactly the reasons why holidaymakers visit us in the first place and why future travelers can make a positive difference by slowing down and staying longer in local communities, supporting the local economy, said DPTA marketing consultant Caroline Boland.

Family run businesses, which are micro, small and medium in size, make up 96 per cent of our local tourism businesses, she added. Small is beautiful, quality over quantity and connecting with our local guides, local businesses, local communities and local transport while being mindful to protect our landscape and environment are our road map.

Meanwhile, at its AGM on Monday the DPTA revealed the results of a survey conducted at this years Big-E Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts. The survey, conducted among almost 3,000 of the people attending the third largest gathering of its kind in the USA, found that over half the respondents were planning to visit Ireland over the next three years and 99 per cent of those would consider Corca Dhuibhne as their base for exploring the Wild Atlantic Way.

Two thirds of American tourists visit Ireland to experience culture and heritage and 18 per cent come to connect with local people, the survey found. This shows that we need to work hard to preserve our identity on the Dingle Peninsula. It is something were strong at, and something we need to keep doing, DPTA Chairperson Shane Finn said at the AGM.

The survey also found that 55 per cent of potential American visitors to Ireland would opt to fly into Shannon airport, if flights were available. The DPTA, in cooperation with Kerry County Council, plan to use this statistic to press the government and airlines for the re-opening of transatlantic routes into Shannon.
Kerry Church of Ireland Reverends retire  We still plan to offer a spiritualism beyond what the parish can offer

Having been based in Killorglin since 2018, Rev Annmarie and Rev Isabel served together for over 40 years in England as priests and Anglican nuns. They now plan to retire in Kerry.

Rev Annmarie Stuart and Rev Isabel Keegan are retiring as priests. Photo by Michael G Kenny.

Stephen Fernane Kerryman Thu 20 Apr 2023 at 13:47
Keel native Chris Clifford is looking forward to taking up his new role as President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) for 2023-24 having been elected at the USIs Comhdhail earlier this month.

The Health and Leisure graduate is the current Munster Technological University (MTU) Kerry Students Union President, and the first MTU candidate to become President of the USI.

Chriss brief is about to increase exponentially when he oversees the pressing concerns affecting some 300,000 students, nationally. But its a challenge he is ready to accept.

After graduating from MTU, Chris was elected Education Officer in his Students Union. He then went on to be elected SU President and was re-elected to the position last year.

His top priority will be personal engagement with students as he feels there is a disconnect emerging between policy making and personal interaction.

Coming from a union of just 2,500 students in Tralee, Chris feels he is in tune with the smaller issues that are frequently overlooked.

When I was a student, I just felt there was a lack of personal engagement with students. Thats when I decided to run for the students union, he said.

In 2022, Chris and his running mate Pa McCarthy pitched their proposals to MTU students. They received the highest number of votes ever in a student union election at MTU, and the second highest nationally.

Chris explained how national union politics tends to be overly political in nature. His aim is to put the focus back on the individual student. Being relatable and reducing the problems facing students in an interpersonal way is his objective.

If we are fighting for students, we need to show that we understand students. This engagement problem is a national one, he said.

"I plan to engage with student unions around the country to help increase their engagement locally. I think this approach would naturally blend into a better national relationship among the unions, Chris added.

Some of the pressing issues affecting students that Chris has in his sights on are student fees and accommodation. He wants fees abolished on the premise that everyone should be entitled to education.

Im hearing stories about students who are driving three or four hours to college and are sleeping in their cars. Its about trying to make education accessible and easier. This includes tackling fees and accommodation, Chris said.

We are lucky in Tralee that a lot of people opened their homes to students. We would have had a massive accommodation crisis this year if it wasnt for that. Were very grateful for this, even though more work needs to be done, he said.

The post-COVID phase is producing issues for many students who are trying to make up for the lack of social interaction caused by repeated lockdowns. Chris feels more work is needed to help students to re-integrate.

You can still see that hangover from COVID. Students are still very introverted and stick to themselves. I think there was a better sense of student community before the pandemic, he explained.

"At MTU we do encourage cross-course communication, but I think more relationship building will be needed. Education and academic wise students are coping. However, the social element remains a struggle. It will take some more time yet to fully solve, he added.

While Chris doesnt take up his new role until July 1, he remains focused on MTU matters for now. He will delegate in the coming weeks with student unions in England and Northern Ireland in an effort to merge the key issues affecting students.

Im up to the challenge and Im looking forward to the year ahead. Theres a great team there, so hopefully we can get a few things over the line, Chris said.

"Thats the plan: to fight for students and fight for whats right for them. Theres a lot on my shoulders, but Im ready for the role.
Pictured here is boatman John Michael Lyne who is Aine's wingman when she is out in the water. Aine Ni Shuilleabhain is Killarney National Park's longest serving volunteer. Photo by Valerie O'Sullivan.

Aine Ni Shuilleabhain is the longest serving volunteer in Killarney National Park, with over 41 years volunteering as a research biologist - dedicated to the recording of valuable scientific data on waterfowl and water quality in Killarney National Park. Photo by Valerie O'Sullivan.

Aine Ni Shuilleabhain is the longest serving volunteer in Killarney National Park, with over 41 years volunteering as a research biologist. Photo by Valerie O'Sullivan.

Kerry woman Aine Ni Shuilleabhain has more than earned her title as the longest serving volunteer in Killarney National Park, with over 41 years volunteering as a research biologist - dedicated to the recording of valuable scientific data on waterfowl and water quality in Killarney National Park.

Her research observing ecosystems, and reporting on her findings have been and will continue to be an invaluable source of material with recordings dating back to 1982.

What has drive Aine throughout her career is her love of Killarney National Park. Though her job took her way from home her love of one of Kerry's most vital attractions has always brought her back and she continues to play a key role there today.

Aines wingman is Boatman and co-counter, John Michael Lyne, who operates from Muckross boathouse, Johns knowledge of the lakes and interest in wildlife is remarkable. Generations of John Michaels family have been involved with Muckross and Killarney National Park.

"Its a wonderful privilege to be working in Killarney National Park, the Rangers are so open and welcoming. I first came to the park in 1974, working with Dan Kelleher and the late Paudie OLeary, and then on contract from 1976-1984. My supervisor suggested that I link my work as a fresh water biologist looking at the lake water quality with my great interest in wildlife ecology and management, thats how I started doing the waterfowl counts.

Its unique having a long series of data going from 1982 to 2023, thats because of the commitment from past and present staff and for me to continue to work as volunteer is a wonderful privilege, its great to be out in nature, in such a beautiful place, so many different ecosystems and great wildlife.

When Aine was appointed Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer in Donegal and Cavan (1982-2008), she still found time to travel to Killarney and carry out her bird counts.

Just recently on a day on the lakes, John Michael, Aine and Bird Expert and National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Ranger, Sam Bayley, observed, nesting Herons, ringed Mute Swans, Golden Eye pair, an Egret, Cormorants, Irish Red Deer Hinds by the shoreline, and a White Tailed Eagle in the distance

After retiring, Aine returned to Kerry and Glenflesk became her home place. She immersed herself helping Glenflesk GAA Club, with her strong Kerry roots, she served as Club PRO and now as Health Club Officer. She was appointed to the role of Kerry County Board Childrens Officer, a role she is very proud to hold and aside from all that she is still out in Killarney National Park and the waters around it whenever she can.
Cllr Kevin Meenan, Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District; Cllr Michelle Hall, Mayor of Drogheda Borough District; Thomas McEvoy, Louth County Council; Cllr Conor Keelan, Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council; Cllr Paula Butterly, Cathaoirleach of Ardee Municipal District; Ashling Scanlon, Tourism Ireland; Joe McGuinness, Louth County Council; and Jeffrey Yau, Tourism Ireland, in the Tourism Ireland office in New York.

Louth County Council officials and elected representatives launched a robust defence of the annual St Patrick's Day trip to New York at their April meeting.

The Louth delegation included An Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Cllr. Conor Keelan as first citizen of Louth, Cllr. Kevin Meenan, Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District, Cllr. Michelle Hall, Mayor of Drogheda, and Cllr. Paula Butterly, Cathaoirleach of Ardee Municipal District.

Louth County Council officials Joe McGuinness and Thomas McEvoy also travelled to the Big Apple.

Councillor Maeve Yore queried if the final cost of the trip was available, and also suggested that in 2024, members of the County Louth Society of New York, who host the local delegation, could perhaps come to Ireland instead.

Director of Services, Thomas McEvoy revealed that the final cost of the trip was not available yet, while Chief Executive Joan Martin said the council has a long-standing tradition of visiting New York and the benefits are immeasurable. She said it was difficult to grasp the value of the trip or seeing the Louth chains of office worn by the county chairperson, Mayor or Drogheda and chairs of the Ardee and Dundalk Municipal Districts in the parade without experiencing it in person.

Councillor Kevin Meenan, who is currently chair of Dundalk Municipal District, agreed with the Chief Executive. He pointed out that in 2004 when he was last chair of Dundalk Town Council, he turned down the opportunity, but that this time around he was glad he travelled as he learned more on the trip than he thought possible. He said it's an opportunity to sell Louth from a business and tourism point of view.

Councillor Marianne Butler added that it also means a great to deal to Louth expats in New York to see Louth representatives in the parade, describing it as a huge connection.

She then suggested that members of the Louth Society be invited over here to celebrate St Brigids Day, pointing out that it was in fact Councillor Tomas Sharkey's idea.

The discussion veered into a north-south Louth quarrel when Mayor of Drogheda Michelle Hall suggested it was a great opportunity for her to represent the south of the county, as most of the other elected officials and council staff were from the north of the county.

Chief Executive Joan Martin took exception to those comments stating that council officials always represent every part of the county equally.

Drogheda Councillor Pio Smith joked that in 2022 there were no north Louth councillors on the trip, so he had to stick up for Dundalk.

Councillor Kevin Callan agreed that it is a hugely important trip and felt it would be highly irregular" if Louth didn't show up. He added that next year it will be even bigger for Louth and Mayo, following Joe Biden's successful visit. He said inviting the Louth Society to Louth for St Patrick's Day wouldn't make sense, but that a reciprocal visit on St Brigids Day was a great idea.
The Morrigan mural on Patrick Street, by This Is Friz, an artist currently based in Bangor, Co. Down.

Lula Goce's mural for DRAWDA features Boann, the mythological goddess of the River Boyne. DRAWDA, a multi disciplinary public art programme (a collaborative project between Droichead Art Centre, and LoveDrogheda has been shortlisted in both the Rising Star category and in the Digital Tourism category of the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023.

Two Drogheda projects  Love Drogheda, Love your Town and Drawda Urban Art Trail join one from Dundalk, Visit Blackrock Tourism, in the running for these prestigious national awards.

The .IE Digital Town Awards recognise and reward projects with a digital element created by town groups, individuals and local communities

Love Drogheda, Love your Town, has been shortlisted in two categories; in the Community Digital category, which is proudly sponsored by Western Development Commission. This series of projects has created a positive perception of Drogheda including a local gift card, public opinion surveys and commuter surveys. The newly installed public Wi-Fi hotspot, along with a charging bench promotes easy internet access and digital inclusion, while the use of social media has helped to spread the word about the project, in turn promoting community engagement activities promoted community engagement which has been vital to success.

Drawda Urban Art Trail and Digital Legacy has been shortlisted in both the Rising Star category and in the Digital Tourism category, which is proudly sponsored by AIB Merchant Services. The Drogheda Urban Art Trail was developed to reinvigorate lesser visited spaces in the town using public art to bring stories of characters from mythology to life. Murals and art installations are promoted using QR codes, audio trails, digital maps, and brochures as well as on social media and websites of partner organisations. To ensure longevity of the project and provide a behind-the-scenes view, videos recordings of the making of the murals were published on YouTube.

Visit Blackrock Tourism has been shortlisted for the Digital Tourism category, proudly sponsored by AIB Merchant Services. Blackrock seaside fishing village decided to use digital platforms to attract visitors including a new website, social channels, video, e-newsletters, podcasts as well as digital maps. The website is content-rich with information about events, things to do, accommodation, food, and drink as well as information on the history and heritage of the town.

The awards, now in their third year and have welcomed Vodafone as a partner for 2023, recognise and reward projects created by town groups and local communities that have a digital element, supporting Irelands digital development. .IE provides the pathway for people, communities and businesses to access and unlock a digital world of potential and opportunity by managing the infrastructure that allows this to happen.

Congratulating the finalists, National Director, .IE Digital Town Programme Oonagh McCutcheon said their purpose is to enable and empower people, communities and businesses across Ireland to thrive online and they are advocates for all things digital at all levels.

"The .IE Digital Town Awards are a celebration of the incredible work being undertaken at a local level to promote innovation and breathe new life into local communities, she added. The awards also afford the opportunity to recognise and show appreciation to the volunteers across the country who devote their spare time working tirelessly to enhance their local area, towns and villages and we look forward to celebrating all of our finalists at our Gala Awards ceremony in May.

Chair of the .IE Digital Town Awards 2023 judging committee Joan Mulvihill also said the calibre of entries received for this years awards has been astounding.

"I speak on behalf of my fellow judges when I say that we were blown away by the wealth of stories and commend each and every entrant who took the time to complete an application, she said. The digital future looks incredibly bright when we look at adoption of digital technology to solve everyday problems in towns and communities across the country.

The awards offer a prize fund of 100,000 which is split across the 10 categories. Winners will be announced at a Gala Awards event on Wednesday May 24th.

Follow .IE on Twitter and at #DigitalTownAwards

The .IE Digital Towns Awards is an initiative of .IE, the national registry for .ie domain names.

Find out more at www.weare.ie
Woman reported to gardai her purse was stolen from her car

Judge Sandra Murphy ordered a Probation Report on a 20 year old man before the district court charged with handling stolen property and drug possession.

Alan Fahy of Chestnut Close, Clonbalt Woods, Lonford was charged on a date unknown between 10/10/20 and 11/10/20 at Mulberry Park, Sligo with handling stolen property to wit public services card, AIB debit card and Revolut card belonging to Ellie McGovern knowing the property was stolen.

He is also charged with possession of three deals of mdma total value 150 at Quay St, Sligo on October 11th 2020.

Sergeant Derek Butler told the court gardai received a call that there were youths acting suspiciously at Quay St.

At 3:45pm gardai arrived at the scene and when speaking to the youths, Gda Tighe got a smell of cannabis and carried out a search.

He checked the pockets of his jacket and found a bank card with another persons name and when asked who it belonged to, he ran off.

Gda Tighe gave chase and the defendant was attempting to get a taxi.

There was a struggle and Gda Tighe managed to handcuff him.

He was arrested and searched and during the search, there was two packets of white powder found in his waistband and there was another packet also found.

He said they were not his and he was holding it for someone else.

The substance found was mdma to the value of 150, Sgt Butler said.

He said that on October 10th 2020, Ms Ellie McGovern reported to gardai that her wallet containing cards was stolen from her vehicle parked outside her house sometime between 6pm and 10:30am.

When gardai were dealing with Alan Fahy and the drugs that were found, they found cards including an AIB debit card and Revolut card in his coat pocket.

Defending solicitor Mr Gerard McGovern said he is now 20 years old and was a very young man when these events occurred.

His mother was with him in court and says that during covid he was down in himself and hanging around with the wrong people.

He has changed completely now and plans to reside with his brother in Scotland and go back to eduction and do something with his life.

He is now away from the bad company and is drug free. His father died in 2011 when he was very young.

Sgt Butler said he had two previous convictions.

Judge Murphy said she needed a Victim Impact Statement as her car was parked outside her house and her purse was taken from it which was a very personal thing.

She said Fahy was on a Probation bond and she needed a Probation Report.

Judge Murphy adjourned to July 27th to have a Probation Report and also to have a Victim Impact Statement from the lady.
Ambassador gives a commitment to return to Sligo for future discussions

Japanese Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Norio Maruyama, with Susan OKeeffe, Director of the Yeats Society Sligo, Cathaoirleach of Sligo Co Council, Cllr Michael Clarke, Mayor of Sligo Borough District, Cllr Tom MacSharry and Chief Executive of Sligo Co Council, Martin Lydon.

The Japanese Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Norio Maruyama, paid a visit to Sligo on Thursday where he met with local representatives to discuss encouraging more Japanese companies to invest in Sligo and he also attended a film screening in The Model.

Cathaoirleach of Sligo Co Council, Cllr Michael Clarke, Mayor of Sligo Borough District Cllr Tom MacSharry, Chief Executive of Sligo Co Council Martin Lydon and Susan OKeeffe, Director of the Yeats Society Sligo, were among those to welcome the ambassador to Sligo.

He had the opportunity to discuss future co-operation and H.E. Ambassador Maruyama presented them with an ikebana calendar.

Ambassador Maruyama attended the screening of Sligo Film Societys PLAN 75 in The Model Sligo as part of the 2023 Japanese Film Festival Ireland.

Mayor of Sligo Borough District, Cllr MacSharry said it was a very worthwhile visit.

As Mayor of Sligo Borough District, I was delighted to meet Ambassador Maruyama on his visit to Sligo.

His knowledge of Sligo was very impressive. The Sligo delegation present at the meeting made a very strong case as to why Japanese companies should invest in Sligo.

He has given a commitment to return to Sligo for future discussions in the near future.

The meeting was a positive one and it is hoped to encourage more Japanese companies to invest in the Northwest.

I was personally very impressed to hear that Ireland as a country export so much to Japan and they see us as one of the world leaders in this regard, he added.
A 51-year-old woman with paranoid schizophrenia who stabbed her elderly father to death on his 94th birthday because she believed the voice of God told he was an imposter trying to hurt her has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court deliberated for just 48 minutes before returning their unanimous verdict on Thursday in the trial of Julie Flood, with an address listed as The Oyle, Oylegate, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. Ms Flood had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the murder of her father, Patrick Flood, on April 14, 2019.

The jury heard evidence from two psychiatrists who agreed that Ms Flood did not know that what she was doing was wrong when she stabbed him.

When the verdict was read out, Ms Flood said: Thank you very much, jury, thank you very much for your patience, thank you very much for supporting me.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury for their attention in the case and excused them from jury service for the next five years. He adjourned the matter to tomorrow (FRIDAY) to finalise the arrangements for Ms Floods care.

During the trial, evidence was given by witness Alan Somers, who said that he was driving to work on the morning of April 12 when he saw a woman trying to flag people down. He said the woman was hysterical, and she told him: "I'm after stabbing my daddy.

Mr Somers ran up to the woman's house and saw an elderly man wearing chequered pyjamas who was covered in blood and in some distress standing by the porch entrance. Mr Somers gave evidence that the man said: "She is after stabbing me.

Ms Flood told gardai that she heard God say: He's not your daddy, stab him in the heart three times, stab him, stab him, stab him.

Mr Flood died two days later on April 14. Before he died, Mr Flood told Dr Paul Cromwell that he had woken up at 7am on April 12 to find his daughter standing in the hall screaming at him that he was an imposter. He said his daughter had come up to him and stabbed him in the stomach.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster, who conducted a post-mortem on Mr Flood, made a statement saying that Mr Flood was suffering from severe heart disease, which he could have died from at any time. She said the cause of death was congested cardiac failure complicated by ischemic colitis on the background of a recent stab wound.

The jury heard evidence from two psychiatrists concerning Ms Floods mental health history.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright gave evidence to defence counsel Michael Delaney SC that Ms Flood experienced auditory hallucinations over the years. Dr Wright said that Ms Flood had a close relationship with God, and she would talk to God and he would comfort her.

Dr Wright said that Ms Flood heard voices telling her, This is not your real father and felt tormented by these. Ms Flood experienced delusions of being raped and felt an evil man would intrude into her house and rape her.

Ms Flood said that a voice told her that her father wasnt my daddy, and Dr Wright said that this was a delusion of misidentification, where someone believes that a person known to them has been replaced and is now a threat to them.

The witness said that her diagnosis of Ms Flood was one of schizophrenia. She said that at the time of the stabbing, Ms Flood did not know the nature and quality of her actions.

Doctor Sally Linehan, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital called on behalf of the prosecution, gave evidence to Shane Costello SC that she reached the same conclusions in this case as Dr Wright.

Dr Linehan said her diagnosis of Ms Flood was that she has paranoid schizophrenia. She said that at the time of the stabbing, Ms Flood was suffering a relapse of her schizophrenic illness.

Im satisfied that she fulfils the criteria for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, said Dr Linehan.

In his closing statement on behalf of the prosecution, Mr Costello said that the jury could be certain that the elements of the offence of murder had been proved in this case.

He said it would be perverse for them not to accept the evidence of the two psychiatrists, and if they accepted it, they must return the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

In the closing statement for the defence, Mr Delaney said that Ms Flood, who was 48 at the time of the stabbing, had been living with her elderly father and the pair were devoted to each other.

On the morning of his 94th birthday, she picks up a knife and stabs him, and brings to an end the life of someone so important to her, he said.

There is nothing in the evidence to provide any rational explanation as to why she did what she did that morning to her father, said Mr Delaney.

He said that Ms Flood had an active mental illness, and she met all three conditions under the mental health act: she did not understand what she was doing; she did not know what she was doing was wrong; and she was unable to refrain from doing it.

In his direction to the jury, Mr Justice McDermott said that there was very little in the way of dispute involved in the facts of this case.

He pointed out that there was no contrary evidence to that given by the medical experts, and all evidence pointed to the existence of a mental illness from which Ms Flood suffered.

This is a case about the killing of Mr Flood, the loss of his life. You dont lose sight of that, but criminal responsibility has to be very carefully assessed. Those who should not bear responsibility due to mental illness should not be condemned, said the judge.
There is no shortage of talent in Irish media, with the Rising Star award, sponsored by Mediahuis, set to be presented at tonights Media Awards to celebrate those leading the way.

You dont need to spend very long working in the Irish agency and media scene to understand that it is an industry driven by talent, dedication and hard work. While that level of work ethic and commitment it shared across the board, there are certain stand-out individuals who make contributions that are particularly commendable.

This isnt about clocking in three hours early or pulling an all-nighter several days a week. More often than not what sets these people apart is having an ability to lift others around them or find innovative ways to improve their business and the industry as a whole.

These six finalists emerged from a large and very strong field across agency and media owners across the Island of Ireland.

Competition was very high, and the decision-making process was not at all easy. One thing is for certain however, the future of the media industry is bright!

Alice OLeary

Position: Paid Social Client Director

Company: Core

In high-performing teams, there are always people whose attitude lifts those around them. Theyre not necessarily the most senior person on the team, but by their actions, and by their proactive and positive nature, they inspire those around them.

In the Paid Social Team, thats Alice OLeary. During her time with the business, Alice has fostered a strong learning culture.

Throughout her time with Core Performance, she has helped their largest clients navigate through the increasingly complex social landscape. Alice has also played a leading role in ensuring Core retains key clients as well as acquires new ones through competitive pitch processes.

Ryan Reid

Position: Client Director

Company: Zenith, Part of Core

If you were to ask Ryans colleagues to describe working with him, one keyword that is bound to pop up again and again is collaboration. His natural ability to work with others ensures he maintains strong connections with clients, colleagues and media owners alike, which not only delivers success for the business but helps ensure a more positive work environment as well.

He played a massive role in ensuring a successful merger between Zenith and Mediaworks in June 2022 and was a driving force behind Cores D&I Committee. From being involved in Outvertising, keeping the company updated on D&I best practice and supporting LGBTQ+ colleagues at all levels, he is a real asset to the organisation.

Ryans professionalism is helping the business grow. He is an exceptional talent and an exceptional colleague, and we can all be proud to have people like Ryan in our industry.

Johnluke Hayes

Position: Account Manager

Company: Wavemaker

In a mere four years of working in the industry, Johnlukes ambition and willingness to get involved has seen him take direct and sole ownership of key agency clients. Within his team he demonstrates a knowledge and ability beyond his years and was integral in delivering Wavemakers first media award.

Hes taken a leadership role on many important clients, delivering award winning work, helping drive new business and taking an ownership role on internal initiatives that helps train others with the agency. As well as that, he has helped win and retain new business whilst also having an instinct for identifying and developing growth within the clients he manages.

Grainne McDonald

Position: Head of Advertising and Events

Company: Reach PLC

Working her way from intern to Head of Advertising and Events at Reach Ireland in a little over five years, Cork native Grainne McDonald is a rising star in the truest sense of the word. Her ambition, boundless creativity and ability to forge strong relationships with clients and colleagues have all contributed to her success, both as an individual and as a member of the team.

Overcoming the odds has been a recurring theme for Grainne. As a teenager, a car accident left her with serious spinal injuries, forced to undergo months of rehab while studying for the Leaving Cert. Despite this, she earned her degree in English and Politics.

Sarah McGovern

Position: Agency Sales Manager

Company: News Ireland

Its important not to misconstrue the meaning of a rising star, as there is never a bad time in life to take on a new challenge and rise to the top. As someone who represents those who took on a new career challenge later in life, Sarah McGovern took her decades of experience from working outside the industry and has had a remarkable first two years in media.

Her direct sales experience and affable nature meant it was a seamless transition when she was promoted to Agency Sales Manager last year. In fact, her style has led to her hitting the ground running on some of Ireland's biggest agencies such as Dentsu and Group M.

Ciara OConnor

Position: Strategy Director

Company: Mindshare

It only took a short number of months for Ciara OConnor to become something of a superstar within Mindshare, with clients requesting more and more of her time. Her ability to continuously find new ways to challenge herself has seen her and those around her consistently keep up with clients expectations and guide them through planning for what comes next.

A natural leader, its only a matter of time until Ciara progresses her career and mentors a team of people to follow the standards she sets herself. She exudes leadership in every undertaking and regularly takes accountability beyond her role.
Our beauty writer on the best faff-free beauty gadgets to up your skincare game

Ive never really been into skincare gadgets. For me, they usually involve too much faff. I have too many appliances to charge as it is, and being prepared enough to have any additional gadget ready to go has simply seemed out of reach. I was never entirely sold on the idea that I needed them, or that they could add much to my routine in terms of improving my skins appearance.

However, as a beauty columnist, I felt I owed it to you to spend some time researching and testing devices, so over the last few months, I have.

Humea Smart Sonic Facial Brush

I began with Irish brand Haumea Skincares offering, created and developed by Anna Forde, a skincare expert and owner of The Beauty Suite, an award-winning salon in Tuam, Galway. Fordes experience in the field led her to create three pieces of at-home skin technology, starting with the (1) Smart Sonic Facial Brush (99.99 via haumeaskincare.com), which uses 12 adjustable pulsations to get rid of stubborn dirt and grime along with stimulating the skin. If you have a good cleansing routine (eg double cleansing with a hot cloth) you probably dont need it, but if you struggle to properly cleanse, it will do all the work for you (including making sure youre cleansing for long enough via a two-minute timer).

Haumea Light Therapy Mask Device

The (2) Light Therapy Mask Device (149.99 via haumeaskincare.com) is the first product to get me properly interested in LED light. It feels lovely in the hand, and is designed to be smoothed over a serum or sheet mask for five minutes with the option of a red, blue or yellow LED light. Each colour increases the absorption of the active ingredients in your serum or mask, as well as stimulating various skincare benefits. Red, for example, targets fine lines and wrinkles, yellow reduces redness and inflammation, while blue is antibacterial. You can do this sitting in front of the telly  which always appeals to me.

Humea Ultrasono Device

The (3) Ultrasono Device (229.99 via haumeaskincare.com), the most recent launch, was developed for use both at home and by skincare professionals, which immediately piqued my interest. Dont we all want professional-grade skincare at home? This device has two functions  to cleanse and tone. The cleanse mode uses 30,000Hz high-frequency vibrations and positive ions to get out every bit of trapped dirt and grime on the skin, along with sloughing off dead skin cells. The tone mode uses high-frequency pulsations to increase blood circulation and stimulate collagen and elastin production. When I use this device, I feel like its working. My skin feels like its had a salon treatment, stimulated and clean to a level I dont normally achieve at home and like its absolutely drinking up my skincare products afterwards. Im a big fan.

Cryo Cool Skin Tool

Not every skincare tool has to be high-tech, though. Cryo tools are great for soothing inflammation, even if the results are temporary. Seoulistas (4) Cryo Cool Skin Tools (25 via meagherspharmacy.com) aluminium cooling plates always remain cool, so theres no faffing about with the freezer.

Penneys PS... Skin Fit Facial Roller

Lymphatic massage also has an immediate impact on the face, and can be performed with the fingers, but tools like the (5) Penneys PS... Skin Fit Facial Roller (8 in store) or any gua sha tool will assist with the process. YouTube can help you teach yourself the most effective techniques.

Buying Irish

Nunaia Ground & Glow Skin Ritual Set

Earlier this month, Nunaia, the vegan skincare brand by Nicola Connolly, won the Green & Organic award at Cosmoprof, the worlds leading beauty industry event. The winning product was the brands Ground & Glow Skin Ritual Set (129 via blarney.com), which includes Nunaias gorgeous Superfood Cleansing Balm and Nourishing Radiance Serum. This is no small achievement for Nunaia, as it beat 690 international brands to be the winner. Anyone with an interest in sustainably packaged organic skincare will be a fan of these products.

Something old

LOreals Lash Paradise Mascara

LOreals Lash Paradise Mascara (16.99 via boots.ie) is a staple of many a makeup bag for good reason. This formula feels smooth and silky, meaning it applies easily without clumping. One coat delivers on impact, with lashes looking at least doubled in volume and improvement on length too. Unlike some mascaras that deliver on the first coat, the lashes dont feel hard and spiky (which, personally, I do not enjoy). This may be down to the fact that the formula includes castor oil, which the brand says softens the lashes and prevents flaking. One way or the other, this is a product which is friendly on the wallet and delivers on impact. Plus, the pink packaging is pretty, and who doesnt need another pretty item in their life?

... Something new

Fenty Beauty Hella Thicc Volumizing Mascara

Fenty Beauty consistently delivers. Its products perform just as you want them to, and Hella Thicc Volumizing Mascara (22 via boots.ie) is no different. This product features a tapered bristle brush, and an intensely black, creamy formula which is noticeably different to any mascara Ive used before. I was excited from the get-go. Lashes are immediately and dramatically thickened, but subsequent coats apply well without clumping. The tapered brush makes it easy to reach every lash without making a mess. Is it my new favourite mascara? Its certainly a contender.
The European Unions top humanitarian official in Sudan has been shot, as international evacuation plans were yesterday thrown into chaos by intensifying fighting between rival military factions.

Wim Fransen, a Belgian who heads European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) in Sudan, was found in Khartoum on Tuesday by his colleagues, after going missing on Sunday. He had serious but not life-threatening injuries .

The EU Commission confirmed the shooting, first reported by the New York Times, but did not give further details.

Reports are growing of abuse and looting by gunmen in Khartoum, including an incident on Monday, when Aidan OHara  the Irishman currently serving as EU ambassador to Sudan  was assaulted in his home.

The EU Commission said: Armed men wearing military fatigues stormed the residence and robbed it. They did not identify themselves.

The fighting has broken out between forces loyal to two top generals  the head of the military, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the leader of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohammed Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemedti.

The rise in attacks on foreigners during the unrest has prompted governments and non-governmental organisations to review evacuation plans.

Many are hoping a second attempt at a 24-hour ceasefire, announced by the RSF yesterday, will allow an evacuation of foreigners and civilians.

An EU Commission spokesman said: For the time being, were not evacuating staff. Were assessing the situation constantly.

Theres no functioning airport, said Mathilde Vu of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who fled last week. The airport is in the city  but its impossible to get to the airport because of the risk in the streets.

At the moment what we need is a ceasefire to let people leave and let people get water and food. Everybody right now is running out of stocks.

A mission by the German military to evacuate about 150 citizens from Sudan had to be halted yesterday because of the fighting in Khartoum, according to Der Spiegel news magazine.

The UK said Britons in the country should shelter, with a spokesman saying: British nationals in the country are advised to remain indoors, particularly while Khartoum International Airport remains closed.

The US embassy in Khartoum said it is gathering citizens personal details, while urging them to remain indoors  and away from any windows.

Due to the uncertain security situation and closure of the airport, there are no plans for US government-coordinated evacuation, the embassy tweeted.

As explosions and heavy gunfire shook the Sudanese capital in a fifth day of fighting yesterday, ordinary citizens were also looking to flee the city. One resident in Khartoum said neither of the rival forces was particularly popular with citizens.

A lack of popular support could make it harder for the army to decisively defeat the RSF, which has already proved a formidable force.

Nearly 300 people have been confirmed killed in the past five days, the UN health agency said, but the toll is likely to be higher.
The chief executive of Ryanair has claimed Britain will be forced to rejoin the EUs single market by a generation of pro-Europeans as Brexiteers die out.

Michael OLeary, the boss of Europes largest airline, claimed the British people had been sold a tissue of lies and said exiting the bloc had been unbelievably messy.

He accused Boris Johnson of being completely delusional about Brexit and said leaving the EU would be a net negative. 

He claimed Britain would be forced to rejoin the single market within 15 years, arguing that demographics would support the shift.

The 62-year-old said: In the next five to 10 years, quite a number of the Brexiteers will die as the average age of them is about over 70. Younger people coming through are much more pro-European.

Mr OLeary has been a long-standing critic of Brexit and campaigned for the Remain vote during the 2016 membership referendum.

Speaking at a Bloomberg event, he said: Everything that was promised to the UK population, the sunny uplands and the ability to do trade deals everywhere around the world, was shown to be a tissue of lies.

We mistakenly assumed there would be some kind of competence at the top of the government under Johnson and they would at least put the economy first and do a sensible deal.

It turns out that was completely delusional, just like Johnson and the rest of his Brexit cohort.

Mr OLeary said he was more optimistic now that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are in office, but launched a broadside against aviation minister Baroness Vere, calling her not the brightest sandwich in the picnic basket.

He said: The problem we find dealing with the government is theres an obsession ... to find excuses that show where Brexit benefits.

Duty free is back on flights to and from Europe, thats about the only benefit.

Mr OLeary previously claimed last summers airport disruption across the UK was completely to do with Brexit over the struggle to hire EU workers.
SNP treasurer Colin Beattie has quit his job, a day after being questioned by police investigating the partys finances as senior figures fear Nicola Sturgeon could be the next to be arrested.

Mr Beattie was taken into custody on Tuesday and released without charge.

Yesterday, he said he was stepping down as party treasurer with immediate effect and would also be giving up his role on the Scottish parliaments public audit committee.

On a personal level, this decision has not been easy, but it is the right decision to avoid further distraction to the important work being led by Humza Yousaf to improve the SNPs governance and transparency, he said.

I will continue to co-operate fully with Police Scotlands inquiries and it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further on a live case.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said it was the right decision made by the wrong man.

While Humza Yousaf played for time and failed to do the right thing, Colin Beattie at least could see the writing on the wall, she said. For too long, a culture of secrecy and cover-up has been allowed to fester at the heart of the SNP.

And while the investigation spreads, the SNP is still refusing to take the basic step of suspending MSPs who are the subject of police inquiries.

Scottish Tory chair Craig Hoy said it was right for Mr Beattie to step back.

He added: But the SNPs leadership should have moved to address this immediately instead of dithering. They should now suspend him, Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon from the party until this murky business is cleared up.

Mr Yousaf has so far rejected calls to suspend his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell as the police probe rumbles on.

Police Scotland is currently investigating the matter of 660,000 (749,000) that was raised by the SNP for independence campaigning, following allegations of donations fraud.

The inquiry, Operation Branchform, was launched in 2021 after it was alleged that money had been diverted from a ring-fenced fund to fight a second Scottish independence referendum, sparking the resignations of several senior people from the SNPs ruling body.

Mr Beatties arrest and resignation followed the arrest two weeks ago of chief executive Mr Murrell, who was released without charge pending further inquiries. The 71-year-old will remain as the deputy convener of Holyroods economy and fair work committee for now.

Mr Yousaf, who won the contest to replace Ms Sturgeon last month, will be thrust into the role of party treasurer until a permanent replacement for Mr Beattie is appointed.

Mr Beatties arrest and resignation is the latest shock to hit the beleaguered party. It comes as senior members of the SNP fear Ms Sturgeon could be the next figure to be arrested.

One senior party figure said it was likely Ms Sturgeon would be arrested, given she is one of three names believed to be on party accounts.

Ms Sturgeon, Mr Murrell and Mr Beattie were named on the financial information presented to the SNP conference last year, the source said, but added that the police would want to cover their bases before any arrest.

Some of the partys MPs and MSPs have also said it is inevitable Ms Sturgeon will be interviewed by police under caution in the weeks ahead.

Despite Mr Beatties arrest, Mr Yousaf said he does not believe the SNP is operating in a criminal way.
Protesters greeted French president Emmanuel Macron with boos and calls for him to resign in his first public appearance since he signed into law an unpopular rise in the retirement age.

Outside a factory he was visiting in the eastern Alsace region, Mr Macron was faced with hostile banners and banging on pots and pans.

Unionised workers briefly cut electrical power inside the factory.

Then, as he walked through a crowd in a nearby village, many shouted Macron, resign! and one man told him: We dont want this pension [reform], what dont you get?

Another man told him he led a corrupt government and added: Youll fall soon, just wait and see.

There were also some cheers  one man told him to hang in there, a woman thanked him for his work and others asked for selfies.

But even in an area that is pro-Macron and voted slightly more for him than the national average in the 2022 presidential election, the reception was mostly hostile.

Mr Macron signed into law at the weekend a rise in the retirement age which means citizens must work two years longer, to 64, before receiving their state pension.

That was after three months of protests that mobilised huge crowds and at times turned violent.

Opinion polls show a vast majority of voters oppose the reform.

In the village of Selestat, the centrist president said he was fine with people expressing their discontent but the country must move forward.

Earlier during the factory visit, Mr Macron shrugged off the display of discontent, saying: Pans wont help France move forward.

He added that it was not possible for a society to listen only to those who make the most noise, as he sought to highlight positive aspects of people having to work two years more.

Mr Macrons government wants to move on and change other measures to do with working conditions, law and order, education and health issues.

But yesterdays outing made clear many were not ready to move on. And they were not the only ones.

In Paris, a free climber known as the French Spiderman scaled a 38-storey skyscraper to demonstrate his opposition to the pension law.

Im here to tell Emmanuel Macron to come back down to earth... by climbing with no safety net, said climber Alain Robert.
Windfarms off the coast of the UK. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA

Russian spy ships are mapping wind farms and communication cables in the North Sea as part of plans to sabotage critical infrastructure, an investigation has found.

A number of European intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the threat posed by the fleet of Russian boats, often disguised as fishing trawlers or research vessels, operating in the area.

Possible targets are believed to include internet cables, offshore wind farms and connectors carrying electricity and gas pipelines .

One underwater research ship was tracked touring wind farms off the east coast of the UK.

The latest details of sabotage plots emerged from a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Senior officials from AIVD, the Dutch equivalent of MI5 and MI6, previously warned that the Russia had been caught mapping installations in the North Sea after a vessel was intercepted near a wind farm last autumn.

In February, a Russian ship without its automatic identification system, which lets the vessel be tracked, entered Belgian and Dutch waters.

At the time, the Dutch intelligence services accused Moscow of trying to map what the Dutch energy supply looks like.

Around 50 Russian ghost ships are believed to be operating in the North Sea as part of the sabotage plot.

The investigation by the Scandinavian broadcasters identified the ship Admiral Vladimirsky, officially registered as an oceanographic research vessel, as a possible protagonist.

The outlets reported that a man armed with a military-grade rifle and wearing a balaclava was on board as their journalists approached it.

The vessel, which sailed for a month with its transmitter turned off, was tracked by a former UK Royal Navy expert in the vicinity of seven wind farms off the coast of the UK and the Netherlands on a single mission.

It was reported to have slowed down when it approached the infrastructure. The ship was the same one announced to have entered Belgian waters, reports citing security sources said.

The vessel was reportedly spotted off the Scottish coast last year, when it was allegedly sighted entering Moray Firth on November 10.

A Danish intelligence officer told the broadcasters sabotage efforts were being planned by Russian president Vladimir Putin in the event of a full-scale conflict with the West.

The head of Norways intelligence services said the efforts were vital for Russia and controlled directly from Moscow. ( Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2023)
Attack: A shell from a heavy multiple launch rocket system is seen if front of a tractor in the Zaporizhzhia region. Photo: Reuters/Stringer

Ukrainian forces probed Russian lines in the south of the country overnight yesterday in apparent preparation for an anticipated counteroffensive.

Russian-occupation officials said that the Ukrainians mounted two successive attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region but were repulsed by tanks.

After artillery preparation, an AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] armoured group went on the offensive near the town of Orikhiv in the Polohy district of Zaporizhzhia region, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed council of occupied Zaporizhzhia region.

Most likely the enemy was probing our defences on this part of the front, but now theyre doing it after dark. They may have received new night equipment, he wrote on Telegram.

Ukraines general staff did not immediately respond to the Russian claims. It does not generally comment on operations until they are over.

Ukrainian units have long operated night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment, much of it bought on the open market by volunteers.

They have conducted night-time operations throughout the war.

Some western-provided equipment, such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, work better at night because their thermal sights find it easier to distinguish targets in the cold.

The United States listed night-vision equipment in a $2.5bn (2.2bn) aid package announced in January.

Ukraines government said it is preparing a counter-offensive this spring to retake ground occupied by Russia but has refused to discuss timing or location of the strike.

But speculation among both Russian and Ukrainian commentators has focused on a possible strike southwards to cut the land bridge linking Donbas with the Crimea.

Mr Rogov earlier claimed Ukrainian forces had been observed concentrating near the border of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

Last month, Ukraine struck a rail depot electricity infrastructure in Melitopol, a key logistics hub on the land bridge. The strikes were widely interpreted as shaping operations for a coming offensive.

She said the offensive would involve multiple operations and was being planned so the enemy does not have time to react to it

Hanna Maliar, a deputy Ukrainian defence minister, yesterday rebuffed requests for a timeline for the offensive, citing national security.

It is important to understand that there will be no day when the armed forces will say: tomorrow we will launch a counteroffensive, she told the Ukrainian national broadcaster. This is impossible in a time of war because this is classified information.

She said the offensive would involve multiple operations and was being planned so the enemy does not have time to react to it.

It came as the White House yesterday announced a package of artillery ammunition for Ukraine as the country gears up for the counter-offensive. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the package will include ammunition for the Himars multiple-rocket system and artillery rounds.

The package, as part of our ongoing efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russias brutal invasion, will include more ammunition for US-provided Himars rocket systems and anti-armour systems, as well as additional artillery rounds, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

Ukraines defence minister said his country has received the US-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile systems it has long craved.

Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet: Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defence systems have arrived in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have previously said the arrival of Patriot systems, which Washington agreed to send last October, would be a major boost and a milestone in the war against Moscows full-scale invasion.

The Patriot can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles. Russia has used that weaponry to bombard Ukraine, including residential areas and civilian infrastructure, especially the power supply over the winter.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late on Tuesday that delivery of the system would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

Mr Reznikov thanked the people of the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many systems had been delivered, or when they arrived.
Alarm has grown that the countrys medical system is on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down.

Sudans military has ruled out negotiations with a rival paramilitary force, saying it would only accept its surrender as the two sides continued to battle in central Khartoum and other parts of the country, threatening to wreck international attempts to broker a longer ceasefire.

A tenuous 24-hour ceasefire that began the previous day ran out on Thursday evening with no word of extension.

The militarys statement raised the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly week-long violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudans population to the breaking point.

Alarm has grown that the countrys medical system is on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies.

The expiring truce had failed to put a stop to fighting throughout the day and brought only marginal calm to some parts of the capital Khartoum.

But many residents took advantage to flee the homes where they have been trapped for days.

Massive numbers of people, mostly women and children, were leaving in search of safer areas, said Atiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors Syndicate.

On Thursday afternoon, the military said in a statement that it would not negotiate with its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, over an end to the crisis and would only discuss terms of its surrender.

There would be no armed forces outside (of) the military system, it said.

The demise of the truce, the second attempt this week, underscored the failure of the United States, UN, European Union and regional powers to push Sudans top generals to halt their campaigns to seize control of the country.

We are living a very important moment in the Muslim calendar. I think this is the right moment for a ceasefire to hold Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general

Instead, army chief General Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have each appeared determined to win outright military victory over the other.

In a sign they expect violence to escalate, the US and other countries were making preparations to evacuate their citizens in Sudan  a difficult prospect since most major airports have become battlegrounds and movement out of Khartoum to safer areas is dangerous.

The US military is moving assets to a base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti for a possible evacuation of American embassy personnel, administration officials said.

Japan plans to send military planes to Djibouti, and the Netherlands has dispatched its own to Jordan.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres appealed for the combatants to commit to a three-day ceasefire to coincide with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, beginning on Friday, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

We are living a very important moment in the Muslim calendar. I think this is the right moment for a ceasefire to hold, he told reporters.

But so far direct communications to the rival generals by US secretary of state Antony Blinken, the Turkish president and others over the past days have been unable to secure even 24 hours of calm, much less a longer truce aimed at leading to negotiations to resolve the crisis.

Each sides main regional allies, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have called in vain for talks.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began Saturday, the UNs World Health Organisation said, but the toll is likely to be higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

Through the day on Thursday, gunfire could be heard constantly across Khartoum.

Residents reported the heaviest fighting around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum.

Military warplanes struck RSF positions at the airport and in the neighbouring city of Omdurman, residents said.

We are worried that Sudans healthcare system could completely collapse Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN secretary-general

The military said its warplanes on Thursday struck a convoy of RSF vehicles heading into the capital, though the claim could not be independently confirmed.

Khartoum residents have been desperate for a respite after days of being trapped in their homes, their food and water running out.

Aid groups have been unable to deliver help to Sudans overwhelmed hospitals, Atiya said.

Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water.

Around 70% of hospitals near the clash sites throughout the country are out of service, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said on Thursday.

At least nine hospitals were bombed, it said.

We are worried that Sudans healthcare system could completely collapse. Hospitals need additional staff, they need additional supplies, and they need additional blood supplies, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said.

Air strikes on Thursday afternoon hit medical facilities in Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan province south-west of Khartoum, killing at least 26 civilians and 17 policemen, the Doctors Syndicate said.

Clashes have intensified in the city, driving more than 3,300 people from their homes, many of them crowding in a school and a sports facility, it said.

The fighting has been disastrous for a country where the United Nations says around a third of the population  some 16 million people  are in need of humanitarian aid.

The UN childrens agency Unicef warned that critical care has been disrupted for 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children, who need round-the-clock treatment.

Save the Children said power outages across the country have destroyed cold chain storage facilities for lifesaving vaccines, as well as the national stock of insulin and several antibiotics.

Millions of children, the aid group said, are now at risk of disease and further health complications.

It said 12% of the countrys 22 million children are suffering from malnutrition and are vulnerable to other diseases.

The Egyptian and Sudanese militaries said that Egypt succeeded in repatriating dozens of its military personnel who had been detained by the RSF when it attacked Merowe airport, north of the capital, early in the fighting.

Egypt said its personnel were there for training and joint exercises.

The conflict has once again derailed Sudans attempt to establish democratic rule since a popular uprising helped oust long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir four years ago.

Gen Burhan and Gen Dagalo jointly carried out a coup purging civilians from a transitional government in 2021.

The explosion of violence came after weeks of growing tensions between the two generals over new international attempts to press a return to civilian government.

Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral ... (but) Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war Benjamin Hunger, Verisk Maplecroft, risk assessment firm

Both sides have a long history of human rights abuses.

The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudans western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

The conflict has raised fears of a spillover from the strategically located nation to its African neighbours.

Sudans fighting has also caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, the UN said on Thursday.

At least 320 Sudanese soldiers fled to Chad, where they were disarmed, said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chads defence minister.

The troops were apparently fleeing from Darfur, where the RSF is the most powerful armed force.

Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral  (but) Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war, said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.
The Nato secretary general has been a strong voice in defending Ukraines independence against Russian aggression.

Ukrainian soldiers fire a howitzer at the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region (Roman Chop via AP)

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Ukraine for the first time since last years invasion by Russia, an alliance official said on Thursday.

The Nato secretary general is in Ukraine. We will release more information as soon as possible, said an alliance official, who asked not to be identified in line with Nato procedures.

Pictures of Mr Stoltenberg apparently paying tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyivs St Michaels Square were published by local media.

Apart from the important symbolism of the visit, the exact purpose of Mr Stoltenbergs trip was not immediately clear. Nato has no official presence in Ukraine.

As an organisation of 31 countries, it only provides nonlethal support: generators, medical equipment, tents, military uniforms and other supplies, to the government in Kyiv.

Mr Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the year-long war and has been instrumental in garnering and co-ordinating support by the 31 members for the embattled nation as it sought to hold on to its territory.

Mr Stoltenberg had been to Kyiv before the war, but this is his first visit during the hostilities and underscores the longstanding commitments of the alliance in defence of Ukraines independence.

Earlier this month, Finland joined Nato, dealing a major blow to Russian president Vladimir Putin with a historic re-alignment of Europes post-Cold War security landscape triggered by Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

The Nordic countrys membership doubles Russias border with the worlds biggest security alliance.

Neighbouring Sweden is expected to join in coming months, too, possibly by the time US president Joe Biden and his Nato counterparts meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12.

The worlds biggest security alliance has focused on bolstering defences on its own territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member country.

Under Natos collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered to be an attack on them all.

The US and many other members are providing weapons, ammunition and training for Ukraines embattled troops bilaterally and in groups, but Nato as a whole wants to avoid being dragged into any potential war with nuclear-armed Russia.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a Ukraine defence contact group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Andrew Lester, who was charged over the shooting of black teenager Ralph Yarl in Kansas City. Photo: Reuters

An 84-year-old white man charged in the shooting and wounding of a black teenager who mistakenly walked up to the mans house in Kansas City pleaded not guilty to felony charges yesterday during his first court appearance in the case.

Andrew Lester would face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of first-degree assault, as charged, for shooting Ralph Yarl (16) on the doorstep of his suburban home late last Thursday night.

He also was charged with armed criminal action, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

He entered not guilty pleas to both counts during a brief arraignment in a Clay County courtroom, online court records showed.

With his attorney at his side, the defendant walked up to the bench with the help of a cane and briefly spoke with judge, video footage of the session showed.

Mr Lester surrendered to police on Tuesday, but was subsequently released on $200,000 bond.

The ill-fated encounter occurred when Ralph had walked up to Mr Lesters house at around 10pm to pick up his younger siblings, who were at a nearby house with a similar address, according to authorities.

Mr Lester fired two shots through a glass door with a .32-caliber revolver, prosecutors said.

The boy, who was struck in the head and an arm, did not cross the threshold, and it was not believed that any words were exchanged before the gunfire, according to Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson.

However, local media, citing court documents, reported that Ralph Yarl told police who interviewed him at the hospital that Mr Lester told him: Dont come around here.

Mr Thompson has said the case has a racial component, without elaborating.

Prosecutors have not filed hate-crime charges, which carry lesser penalties in Missouri than the two counts Mr Lester faces.

The teen has been recovering at home, according to his family.

Mr Lester was initially taken into custody, placed on a 24-hour investigative hold, then released pending an interview with the youngster and the collection of forensic evidence.

His swift release fuelled days of protests.

In another case of a person being shot after going to the wrong address, a homeowner in upstate New York fatally wounded a 20-year-old woman on Saturday when she turned onto the wrong driveway while looking for a friends home.

Two Texas cheerleaders were also shot northeast of Austin after they got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot early on Tuesday.

In both the New York and Texas incidents, the shooters have been charged with felonies.
The military alliances secretary general met the Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky during his visit.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has defiantly declared that Ukraine deserves to join the military alliance and pledged continuing support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion just over a year ago.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Mr Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshalling support from Natos members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armoured vehicles.

The Kremlin has given various justifications for going to war, but repeated on Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining Nato was a key goal behind its invasion, arguing that Kyivs membership in the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia.

Nato leaders said in 2008 that Ukraine would join the alliance one day, and Mr Stoltenberg has repeated that promise throughout the course of the war  though the organisation has established no pathway or timetable for membership.

Let me be clear, Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine's rightful place is in Nato Jens Stoltenberg, Nato secretary general

Let me be clear, Ukraines rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family, Mr Stoltenberg told a press conference.

Ukraines rightful place is in Nato.

Mr Zelensky said he was grateful for an invitation to a Nato summit in July in Vilnius, Lithuania, but said his country needs a road map for becoming a member.

The time has come for the (alliances) leaders to define the prospects of Ukraines acquisition of Nato membership, to define the algorithm of Ukraines movement towards this goal, and to define security guarantees for our state for the period of such movement  that is, for the period before Nato membership, he said.

Mr Stoltenberg said he and Mr Zelensky discussed a Nato support programme.

This will help you transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to Nato standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance, Mr Stoltenberg said. Nato stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.

He noted Thursdays announcement by Denmark and the Netherlands that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least another 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks from early 2024.

He added that he expected countries to make new announcements of concrete military support to Ukraine at a meeting in Germany on Friday.

The fighting in recent months has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum. But Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive in coming weeks, and it has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies.

Nato has no official presence in Ukraine and provides only provides nonlethal support to Kyiv, but Mr Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the war.

A procession of international leaders has made the journey to Kyiv over the last year, and the former Norwegian prime minister is one of the last major Western figures to do so.

Nato, formed to counter the Soviet Union, has long feared being dragged into a wide war with nuclear-armed Russia, but as the West has moved from hesitantly providing helmets and uniforms to tanks, warplanes and advanced missile systems, high-level visits have become routine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining Nato remains one of the goals of what Moscow calls its special military operation.

Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Peskov said that Ukraines accession would pose a serious, significant threat to our country, to our countrys security.

Earlier this month, Finland joined the alliance, setting aside decades of neutrality in a historic realignment of Europes post-Cold War security landscape.

While Nato says it poses no threat to Russia, the Nordic countrys accession dealt a major political blow to Mr Putin.

Finlands membership doubles Russias border with the worlds biggest security alliance.

Neighbouring Sweden is expected to join in coming months, too, possibly by the time US president Joe Biden and his Nato counterparts meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.

The alliance has focused on bolstering defences on its own territory to dissuade Mr Putin from attacking any member country.

Under Natos collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered to be an attack on them all.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a Ukraine defence contact group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin.
This publication is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in the Indian market and includes a gu...
Image Credit: apple.com

New Delhi/IBNS: Apple CEO Tim Cook welcomed customers to India's second Apple retail store in New Delhis Saket.

The iPhone makers second retail store in India called 'Apple Saket' opened in South Delhis posh neighbourhood Saket at the Select Citywalk Mall.

Apple CEO Tim Cook inaugurated the store along with Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail + People.

In a Tweet, Cook called it an "incredible reception" while thanking Delhi. Excited gadget enthusiasts were seen taking selfies with Cook as he threw open the doors of the second India store to loud cheers and claps.

What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! Were delighted to welcome our customers to our newest storeApple Saket! pic.twitter.com/5Jmi79ixzl  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 20, 2023

Last Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook had inaugurated India's first retail store in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

The newly opened Apple retail store in Delhi is smaller than Mumbais 20,000 square feet-two-level store, but it gathers importance as it marks the first-ever Apple store in the national capital and the second in India.

The Delhi Apple store features a dedicated Apple Pickup station, allowing customers to conveniently order their devices online and pick them up at the store at a time that suits them.

"Like all Apple facilities, Apple Saket and Apple's operations in India run on 100 percent renewable energy and are carbon neutral," a statement added.

Apple said the store has more than 70 highly skilled retail team members who come from a combined 18 states in India and collectively speak more than 15 languages.

"Genius Bar appointments can help with everything from setting up a device, recovering an Apple ID, selecting an AppleCare plan, or modifying subscriptions," it added.

Tim Cooks India visit is also high on business as he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apple is looking to expand its manufacturing presence in India, and its Taiwanese contractors, Foxconn and Wistron, have already begun assembling iPhones in the country.

Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on Indias future  from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, were committed to growing and investing across the country. pic.twitter.com/xRSjc7u5Ip  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 19, 2023

Despite being the world's second-largest smartphone maker, Apple has a relatively small market share of 6% in India due to the high prices of its devices.

The company is looking to expand its manufacturing operations in India and Vietnam, as an alternative to China, where it currently manufactures a majority of its products.
Kolkata/IBNS: Schneider Electrics new factory is all set to come up in Kolkatas Prospace Industrial Park Pvt Ltd at an investment of Rs 140 crore.

The company hosted the groundbreaking ceremony of its new manufacturing plant on Thursday.

Covering an area of 9 acres, this new facility is planned to be completed by February 2024.

Schneider Electric aims to accelerate and significantly grow its capacity in producing products such as Vacuum Interrupters (VI) and strengthen its power systems vertical through this new factory, the company said.

The manufacturing operations are expected to start in the second quarter of the next financial year.

Schneider Electrics MD and CEO SEIPL (Designate) Deepak Sharma said, Today marks a momentous occasion for the Schneider Electric family.

The new facility will enable economic development and job creation in the state, he stated.

Our efforts are aimed at cementing Indias position as a world leader in exports and manufacturing, he said.

Schneider Electric Global Vice President Supply Chain- India, MEA, SAM & Pacific Nitin Bakshi added, This new facility will export 50% of the peak volume capacity, meeting the need of customers in India and across the world.

He said the companys new-age digital technologies will prove to be a game changer in the energy management industry for years to come.

In December 2022, we announced the consolidation of six of our existing factories to launch one of our largest smart factories, globally, in Bengaluru, the company said.

In Sept 2022, Schneider Electric had announced the groundbreaking of its new smart factory in Hyderabad which will be its second smart factory in the city.

Our existing smart factory in Hyderabad has been recognized as an Advanced Lighthouse by the World Economic Forum, the company said.
Image Credit: Wallpaper Cave

Guwahati/IBNS: The "mPowerBusinessWomen Meet" was held on April 17 at Assam Startup- the nest in Guwahati, in partnership with Assam Startup- IIM CIP.

The event aimed to enhance the capabilities of women-led enterprises and women collectives in expanding their businesses.

Entrepreneurship can play a key role in improving the economy by giving a voice and greater representation to women in leadership roles. Women are sometimes unaware of the potential they harbour within themselves."

"With the right mentoring and encouragement, they are sure to shine as confident, smart and successful businesswomen, who have the strength and capability of making a mark for themselves in the business world," stated Juan Clar, Deputy Director of the American Center Kolkata.

Enabling entrepreneurship among women is crucial to enhance their economic potential, but they often face challenges such as limited resources, higher risk factors, lack of marketing, management and financial skills, and compliance costs.

To address these issues and promote women's workforce participation in South Asia, the U.S. Consulate General Kolkata and Contact Base, a social enterprise based in Kolkata and Dibrugarh, are collaborating on a project.

The initiative aims to create solution-based support networks that empower women in leadership roles in business and workplaces across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

During the "mPowerBusinessWomen Meet" at Assam Startup- the nest on April 17, business mentors provided guidance on the use of technology to streamline business processes and shared information about government schemes and funding opportunities available for rural women clusters and women-led startups.

Women-led startups were given the opportunity to present their businesses through an Elevator Pitch, which was evaluated by experts and mentors.

The experts also provided suggestions on how to effectively pitch a business to investors. The event showcased posters displaying business offerings and visions.

About 50 women-led businesses and startups from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya participated in the event, and 15 experienced business mentors and experts conducted sessions and engaged in one-on-one interactions with the women entrepreneurs in five consultation camps.

Each of these camps focused on different aspects of entrepreneurship, such as branding, go-to-market strategies, fundraising, operations and logistics, and sales and customer acquisition.
Image credit: Facebook/Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi/UNI: The Congress on Thursday said it will continue to avail all the options available under the law in connection with the defamation case of its former party president Rahul Gandhi.

"We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law," said Congress general secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh in an apparent reference to the former party chief defamation case.

The statement of the Congress MP comes amid reports that a court in Gujarat's Surat dismissed Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking stay on his conviction in the defamation case.

Last month, the Congress leader was convicted in a defamation case by Surat court for his alleged "all thieves have Modi surname" remarks at a rally in Karnatakas Kolar in 2019.

The court had sentenced him to two years in jail.

Later, he was disqualified from Lok Sabha as a member following his conviction by the court.

The Congress had termed the judgement "erroneous".
Image source: Social media

Amritsar: Absconding Khalistani separatist leader Amritpal Singhs wife Kirandeep Kaur has been detained at the Amritsar Airport while she was trying to flee to London, media reports said.

Immigration Authorities stopped her from boarding the flight.

Kirandeep Kaur was going to take the London flight on Thursday at 1:30 pm but she was detained by the customs officials.

Media reports said that Kirandeep has not been arrested and is only being questioned by the officials.

India Today reported citing officials that she will not be allowed to leave the country as she is required for investigation purposes here in India.

The officials stopped Kirandeep Kaur as there is already a circular in place stating that close aides/relatives of Amritpal cannot leave the country.

According to Punjab Police sources, Kirandeep is a British citizen and holds a UK passport.

There are no cases filed against her in Punjab or any other part of the country.

There is no solid proof or FIR registered by the central agencies or the Punjab Police, suggesting that Kirandeep Kaur is an active member of Babbar Khalsa International while residing in the UK.

Kirandeep Kaur has been held into custody as a preventive measure, using the same legal process applied to the family and acquaintances of the absconding accused, India Today.

She had been earlier questioned at Jallupur Kheda village in connection with alleged foreign funding for the activities of Amritpal Singh.

Kaur married Amritpal Singh in February this year, months after he took over as the head of Waris Punjab De, the outfit formed by actor-activist Deep Sidhu.

After her marriage to Amritpal Singh, she started residing in his ancestral village, Jallupur Kheda. Her own ancestral routes are said to be in Punjabs Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, Amritpal Singh continues to be at large. He has been seen in different attires in several CCTV footage released by Punjab police till now.
Image: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Instagram page

New Delhi: Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers's meet to be held on May 4 and 5 in Goa, media reports said.

This will mark the first visit by a top Pakistani leader to India after former Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to New Delhi for the oath ceremony of PM Modi in 2014.

During the 2022 SCO Summit held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, India took over the rotating presidency of the SCO. As the current president, India will be hosting the upcoming summit of the Council of Heads of State later this year.

India has been actively engaged with the SCO since becoming a full member in 2017 and is now concentrating on proposing initiatives that can benefit not only member states but also observers and dialogue partners.

On Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will preside over a meeting of heads of departments from member states of the SCO responsible for the prevention and elimination of emergency situations.

Shah will also hold bilateral meetings with the ministers of some of the SCO member states.

During the meeting, the delegates from the SCO member states will share information about large-scale emergency situations that have occurred in their respective territories, and the measures taken to handle them will also be discussed.

The SCO member states will discuss and approve an action plan for the implementation of the agreement on cooperation in aiding in the elimination of emergency situations in 2023-2025.

The SCO consists of eight member states including China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Image credit: Twitter/PMO

New Delhi/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Mod i on Thursday spoke on the phone with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen during which they reviewed progress in the bilateral Green Strategic Partnership.

He also appreciated her support for Indias G20 Presidency.

In a tweet, PM Modi said: Pleased to speak with PM of Denmark, H.E. Ms. Mette Frederiksen. We reviewed progress in our Green Strategic Partnership and shared ideas on celebrating the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations in 2024. Appreciate her support for Indias ongoing G20 Presidency.

Pleased to speak with PM of Denmark, H.E. Ms. Mette Frederiksen. We reviewed progress in our Green Strategic Partnership and shared ideas on celebrating the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations in 2024. Appreciate her support for Indias ongoing G20 Presidency. @Statsmin  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 20, 2023

The Danish PM in a tweet said the two leaders had excellent talks on regional and global issues and that Denmark is ready to support Indias G20 Presidency.

Thank you @narendramodi for good discussions on taking our Green Strategic Partnership even further.

Also excellent talks on regional and global issues, including Indias G20 Presidency. Denmark is ready to support you. #GreenStrategicPartnership.

Prime Minister Frederiksen:

Thank you @narendramodi for good discussions on taking our Green Strategic Partnership even further. Also excellent talks on regional and global issues, including Indias G20 Presidency. Denmark is ready to support you. #GreenStrategicPartnership.  Statsministeriet (@Statsmin) April 20, 2023

According to an official statement, PM Modi congratulated PM Frederiksen on her appointment as the Prime Minister of Denmark for a second term.

The two leaders reviewed the progress of the India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership. They expressed satisfaction with the recent high-level exchanges and the growing cooperation.

PM Modi briefed PM Frederiksen on India's ongoing Presidency of the G20 and its key priorities.

PM Frederiksen appreciated Indias initiatives and conveyed Denmarks full support to them.

The two leaders agreed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India-Denmark relations next year in 2024 in a befitting manner and to explore areas to diversify their relations further.
Image: Screengrab from Twitter

Zemithang, Arunachal Pradesh: In a strong, clear and unambiguous message to China, a group of top Himalayan Buddhist leaders on Monday visited Arunachal Pradesh and held a day-long national conference on Nalanda Buddhism Tradition at Gorsam Stupa, Zemithang in the state's Tawang district on Monday.

In a fresh attempt to lay claim on sovereign Indian territory, China recently attempted to rename 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh following which the meeting of top Himalayan Buddhist leaders was held in the border state.

About 600 delegates reportedly attended the day-long conference and it is also being seen as an attempt to give a strong push to Himalayan Buddhism.

Zemithang in Arunachal Pradesh, where the meeting was held, is the last village in India, along the Indo-China border.

Earlier, in December 2022, Chinese PLA troops clashed with Indian soldiers on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.

According to reports, delegates of revered Rinpoches, Geahes, Khenpos and scholars from all the Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh (Union Territory), Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir (Paddar-Pangi), Sikkim, North Bengal (Darjeeling, Doors, Jaigaon and Kalimpong), Densa South India Monasteries and 35 delegates from various parts of Arunachal Pradesh like Tuting, Mechuka, Taksing and Anini and others attended the conference on Monday.

Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the Buddhist culture, which thrives on the peaceful co-existence of every sentient being, should not only be preserved but also propagated, reports ANI.

"The state has a big chunk of the Buddhist population and fortunately they have kept their culture and traditions safe with religious fervour," the Arunachal CM added.

"The main pillar on which Nalanda Buddhism stands is the principle of 'reasoning and analysis'. This means we can even bring the teachings of Lord Buddha under the ambit of reasoning and analysis. This logic is based on science and perhaps Buddhism is the only religion that gives its followers this liberty," CM Khandu said.

The Arunachal CM welcomed the delegates, and said the state is home to a mix of religious followers.

"Arunachal Pradesh is not home only to Buddhism but to several religions, including those who follow their own indigenous faith. I believe that every religion and faith should flourish and exist peacefully. I am proud that we Arunachalis are doing just that," he said.

Khandu expressed gratitude to the Indian Himalayan Council of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition (IHCNBT) for organising the one-day national conference on Nalanda Buddhist tradition, ANI reported.
Image Credit: UNI

Stockholm: Sweden will not stop trying to join NATO until the summit of the alliance in Lithuania in mid-July, Swedish EU Affairs Minister Jessika Roswall said on Thursday.

"Sweden will continue its efforts to become a NATO member before the Vilnius summit in July," Roswall said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Razon.

Finland's inclusion in the alliance does not change Swedens security situation, in fact, this development boosts it, the minister added.

Finland and Sweden submitted bids for NATO membership in May 2022, several months after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine.

On March 31, Finland's application was ratified by all 30 members of the alliance. Sweden's bid is still pending approval by Hungary and Turkey.

(With UNI/SPUTNIK inputs)
The Chinese government's exploitative intentions and the "China model" involving serious human rights abuses and corruption will undermine the dignity and freedom of Africans as the Asian giant led by Xi Jinping helmed Communist Party of China makes deep inroads in the African continent, according to an opinion piece in The Washington Post.

"Beijings involvement in Africa raises several red flags, not only because of the Chinese governments exploitative intentions but also because of the 'China model,' in particular serious human rights abuses and corruption against Africans," wrote Washington Post commentators Jianli Yang and Carbone Beni. While Yang is a political prisoner of China and a Tiananmen Square Massacre survivor, Beni is a human rights defender and former political prisoner of Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They said according to a recent report by the London-based nonprofit Business and Human Rights Resource Center, of 1,690 allegations of human rights abuses related to Chinese investments worldwide, 181 were reported in Africa.

Most of these human rights abuses occurred in Africas mining and construction sectors. In every single case, the Chinese companies involved either denied the allegations or simply ignored them, they wrote.

The writers said while Chinas diplomatic and economic engagement with Africa can be dated back to the period of African decolonization (the mid-1950s to 1975), when African countries started to gain independence, in recent years, the Chinese government, through state-owned and state-funded enterprises, has poured massive sums of money into sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to more than 1.1 billion people  over 75% of Chinas estimated population.

According to the article, the violations were accelerated by Chinese leader Xi Jinpings launch of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 to create more international collaboration.

It may be noted that China's BRI is its ambitious infrastructure project across the globe amid fears that it will lead to a wider debt trap for countries across the world. According to the US think tank Council on Foreign Relations, launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the vast collection of development and investment initiatives was originally devised to link East Asia and Europe through physical infrastructure. In the decade since, the project has expanded to Africa, Oceania, and Latin America, significantly broadening Chinas economic and political influence.

According to the Washington Post article, Africas rapidly growing population and increasing urbanization have increased the demand for development, particularly in the infrastructure industry. "In 2020 alone, it is estimated that Chinese companies were responsible for 31% of infrastructure projects on the African continent. China continues to pour billions of dollars into Africa in efforts to dominate the continents natural resources sector and use its presence in Africa to promote the Chinese Communist Partys anti-Western foreign policy agenda," they wrote.

"In the decades that followed the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Chinas rapid economic growth was virtually unparalleled in the history of human civilization. Pundits sometimes refer to this as the 'China miracle.' This 'miracle,' however, would not have occurred without the following four features  one high and three lows of Chinas system of autocratic governance: high corruption, low human rights, low environmental regulations and low morality (i.e., an absence of, disregard for, or inability to discern right from wrong).

"In a sense, China has disseminated the same model to Africa. This makes the CCP much more competitive in Africa (in terms of its ability to engage in influence peddling) than in Western democracies such as the United States and Canada," they wrote.

Chinese government-owned or -sponsored companies operating on the African continent are known for indulging in corruption.

"According to a 2017 report, 60% to 87% of Chinese companies admitted paying 'tips' or 'bribes' to obtain licenses. In 2019, a federal court in New York sentenced former Hong Kong Home Affairs Secretary Patrick Ho to three years of incarceration for his role in a scheme to bribe African officials to boost a top Chinese energy company that was part of Beijings global Belt and Road initiative. As evidence in the case showed, Mr. Ho paid off top African officials to support the operations of CEFC China Energy and China National Petroleum Corp. in Uganda and Chad," they wrote.

"As it turns out, the governments of China and the Democratic Republic of Congo reached an agreement in which the two parties would not exchange actual money but instead would operate in accordance with Chinas preferred African policy, which involves Chinese companies acquiring substantial equity stakes and operational control of companies in strategic sectors in Africa.

"This infrastructure-for-minerals deal between the Chinese and Congolese sides later became known as the deal of the century. Chinese companies, financed by state-owned banks, seized control of cobalt deposits in the DRC," said the article.

"According to documents obtained by the independent French investigative online newspaper Mediapart and the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa, state funds were siphoned from the Central Bank of the Congo and the state-owned mining company Gecamines to former Congolese President Joseph Kabilas family and associates. The documents revealed that Mr. Kabila, his family, and his associates embezzled more than $138 million between 2013 and 2018."



Jianli Yang, a former political prisoner of China and a Tiananmen Square Massacre survivor, is founder and president of Citizen Power Initiatives for China and the author of For Us, The Living: A Journey to Shine the Light on Truth. Carbone Beni, a human rights defender and former political prisoner of Democratic Republic of the Congo, is executive director of the Icon initiatives for Alternatives institute.
Image: Wikipedia Creative Commons

Pakistan's much touted metro railway project in the historical city of Lahore, called the Orange Line, seems to have brought many tough lessons for the Pak government.

The 27.1 km long project built at a cost of $2.2 billion by Chinese companies using Chinese loans was completed in 2020.

Financed with a $1.6 billion loan from China's EXIM Bank, the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) is jointly constructed and operated by China Railway and Norinco International. Guangzhou Metro Group and Daewoo Pakistan are also involved in the project which took six years to achieve the first run.

The project has often been criticized in Pakistan where opposition parties have argued that the high debt and subsequent public support required by it deprives the poor people of potential welfare benefits.

Besides debt issues, the project was a centre of various controversies ranging from endangering UNESCO heritage sites to complaints over demolishing low- income housing along the route. Environmentalists and citizens have been concerned about the impact of the project on Lahore's historical sites, green spaces, and public health.

However, for Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) which operates the line, the real trouble has been building the metro line and handling its operations during the past three years. Long construction delays and rampant disruptions owing to the indifferent attitude of implementing agencies from China have left the authority high and dry on many occasions.

Despite regularly flagging technical glitches and other issues, PMTA gets no respite from the responsible Chinese companies. These days it is seen running after the joint venture (JV) of Norinco International, Guangzhou Metro Group and Daewoo Pakistan for resolution of problems in design of the project.

The authority has complained several times that some of the outdoor fire hydrants are incorrectly installed within the road along the metro stations, which is clearly a design fault. Due to this, several vehicles have crashed into fire hydrants leading to severe human injuries, vehicular



damage and destruction of fire hydrants. In view of the problem, PMTA is requesting to review the design and propose a new plan to relocate fire hydrants at metro stations to resolve the issue. However, response of the JV on the issue has been reclusive till now. While it is not ready to take any responsibility for the defect, it blames the authority for the issue arguing that it could not take proper care of the fire hydrants which led to the damages.

Another persistent issue affecting smooth operations of the metro line is water leakage and draining. Even after three years of running of service, the drainage systems have failed to function properly. National Engineering Services Pakistan Pvt Limited (NESPAK) which is the engineering entity looking after the maintenance has complained to the Chinese companies several times on the issue.

Holding Norinco international responsible for the lapses in construction, NESPAK officials argue the leakage and several unsealed holes may cause mishaps. Further, it is a cause of disruptions in train operations and inconvenience to commuters. Weary of the attitude of Chinese companies, PMTA and NESPAK are now demanding them to undertake a clear bifurcation of responsibilities.

The issues faced by the Pak agencies managing the Orange line demonstrate a clear lack of responsibility owned by the Chinese companies. In general, such problems can be attributed to a lack of long term vision on the part of developing countries when conceiving a project through Chinese aid or loans. While the repayment rates and terms themselves mean a big drag on their revenues for several years, the real impediment comes in the form of project restrictions.

The conditional use of Chinese resources and companies constrain the commercial and operational autonomy, pushing the country away from its socio-economic goals. With a mammoth project burden on its head in the form of CPEC, the case of Pakistan is more pitiable.
Representational image by Charlie Jin on Pexels

Beijing: Netherlands intelligence agency and Service warned about the increasing internal and external threats against the rule of law, reports said.

The Dutch agency also called China "the biggest threat to the Netherlands' economic security," ANI reported, quoting Anadolu Agency.

Speaking at the press conference on the report on Monday, the director-general of the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), Erik Akerboom, said that China is the biggest economic threat to the Netherlands.

Akerboom added that China is targeting new technologies in the Netherlands and the nation is constantly trying to steal these technologies.

The officials said in the AIVD 2022 report that the threats to the country have been raised due to the war in Ukraine, spying activity and cyberattacks.

Earlier, the Netherlands government said that they have imposed restrictions on the export of chip manufacturing equipment and raw materials used in chip making to China, according to reports.

Meanwhile, reacting to the Dutch intelligence claim, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the Netherlands "irresponsible for relevant Dutch authorities to frame such mutually beneficial cooperation as an issue about security."

Chinese Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Wang Webin on Tuesday said, "This could sour the atmosphere for bilateral cooperation and does not serve the interest of the Netherlands."

"We hope the Netherlands will abandon the Cold War mentality, stop creating hypothetical pretexts to smear Chinese companies, academic institutions and their personnel, and be open-minded, rational and objective about having normal economic and academic cooperation with China," the Chinese spokesperson added.
Representational image by Mehak Wajid Ali via Wikimedia Commons

Balochistan: Haq Do Tehreek (Give Rights Movement) has claimed that Balochistan has been made hell for political activists, ANI reported quoting Pakistan vernacular media Qudrat.

According to Haq Do Tehreek, protest rallies for the release of Maulana Hidayatur Rahman and Mahil Baloch and the recovery of missing persons would be taken out across Balochistan.

It added that black bands would be tied on hands on the occasion of Eid to express solidarity with aggrieved families and condemn the governments insensitivity on the issue.

Spokesperson of the movement, Hafiz Kayani, said that the situation in Balochistan is worse than in Palestine, according to Qudrat.

ANI reported quoting a recent report by Geo News that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has sounded alarm over growing public frustration pertaining to enforced disappearances, economic exclusion, curbs on press freedom, misgovernance and allegations of political manipulation by the establishment in Balochistan.

A HRCP-led fact-finding mission in October last year said that a palpable sense of anger was seen among ordinary citizens, many of whom even called Balochistan as a colony of the state during meetings with the organisation, according to the news report.

The mission also raised concern about the states widespread use of enforced disappearances to stop dissent, a grievance echoed in numerous conversations, as per the Geo News report.
Image: Unsplash/Pawel Czerwinski

Montreal/IBNS: A Quebec Superior Court judge directed Google to pay $500,000 to a Montreal man for restoring a link to an online post falsely accusing him of being a pedophile.

The derogatory post was first found by the man in 2007 when he used Google to search his name.

The man's identity is protected by a publication ban.

Although the man successfully removed the link from search results that appeared on Google's Canadian site, the company later restored a link.

The man, reportedly being a prominent businessman, argued the defamatory post damaged his career and personal relationships.

Headquartered in California, Google argued that Quebec defamation law was not applicable to the case and U.S. law had no obligation to remove the link.

Late last monthIt Quebec Superior Court Judge Azimuddin Hussain ruled that Quebec law does apply and although Google is not required to monitor the links to its search engine, it must act when it is informed that it is enabling access to illicit content.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
Road accidents are the biggest cause of unnatural deaths in India and with every passing year, the number of mostly-young lives lost on roads is only increasing.

While many of these deaths can be attributed to bad roads and other unforeseen factors, there is no denying that lack of awareness and our careless attitude towards road safety adds to this ever-growing problem.

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The importance of road safety awareness in India cannot be overemphasised, and the earlier it is done, the more lives will be saved.

This is what Rise Up, an NGO in Ranchi, Jharkhand, has been doing since 2016.



Playschool teaching road safety

The NGO runs a unique initiative under which traffic and road safety lessons are imparted at a very young age.

Rise Up's initiative is called Cartoon Play School; as the name suggests, it is a playschool, but the lessons there are slightly different.

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Along with their introduction to the world of alphabets and numerals, the kids also receive their first lessons on road safety.



"Since 2016, we were running several traffic and road safety awareness campaigns in schools and colleges. After doing this for around two years, I felt it would be more beneficial if I started talking to even younger children, and that is how Cartoon Play School was born. It has both car and cartoon, which the children like," Rishabh Anand, the founder of Rise Up, told Indiatimes.

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Catch them young

The school in Ranchi even has a traffic park, where simulated roads, traffic signals, signs, speed-breakers, etc., give the students a feel of the road.



"In the three-four hours, apart from the regular lessons, the kids also are taught about road safety and traffic rules, like stopping at the red light, wearing seatbelts and helmets, etc. We also use videos and games to make the lessons interesting and understandable for them," Anand said.

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The lessons, Anand said, were designed based on the feedback from holding road safety and traffic awareness lessons in schools.



"The idea was to catch them young so that they grow up being road safety-conscious. We have also seen our students tell their parents that they should wear helmets and seatbelts and don't jump the signal as they have grown up with these basic lessons, which they will never forget in their lives," he said.

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From journalist to road safety campaigner

Anand, who started his career as a journalist in Delhi, took up road safety awareness seriously after his return to Ranchi in 2016.



"When I came back to Ranchi, after being away for many years, I realised that there is a lack of traffic awareness among the people and felt that I need to do something. So I started with a road safety poster campaign, which got support from many people. After that, we expanded the campaign to non-motorised transport. We also started reaching out to schools and colleges to hold road safety awareness sessions," Anand recalled.

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Road safety is boring

He, however, admitted that making traffic safety awareness an exciting topic is a challenge.



"Road safety is a very important subject, but it is boring. The biggest challenge is to make it interesting. What a lot of people don't realise is that driving is a highly skilled task - you have to be really attentive while being behind the wheel. But instead of that, we are always distracted. Even though most people are aware of the dangers involved, once they hit the road, they tend to forget that," Anand said.

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CPR and first aid for first responders

Besides road safety awareness and playschool, Rise Up provides basic CPR and first aid lessons to school and college students.

"The role of the first respondents is very important in a road accident. That is why we started giving CPR and first-aid lessons to youths so that they are aware of how to go about if they come across a road accident. We have tied up with some private hospitals to do this," he said.

Supporting accident victims to overcome trauma

Rise Up also provides psychological help to road accident victims to overcome their trauma.

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"A lot of road accident victims and their families suffer psychological trauma after the mishap. To help them cope up with the trauma, we provide them psychological counselling," he said.



Distributing free helmets

Since 2018, Anand and his team have also been distributing helmets to two-wheeler riders, but he said the aim was not to give them away for free.

"If you can buy a motorbike, the chances are that you can afford a helmet too. So we are not into just giving helmets away for free. We are just reminding people, especially those riding pillion, that wearing a helmet is important for their own safety," he said.

For more on news, sports and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Eid ul Fitr marks the end of the holy period of Ramadan and the beginning of Shawwal, the tenth Islamic month. On Eid ul Fitr (also known as Eid al-Fitr or Id ul-Fitr), Muslims thank Allah for the holy Quran.



The sacred book of the Muslims was revealed to Prophet Muhammed on Laylat al-Qadr, one of the odd-numbered nights during the last ten days of Ramadan. Hence the significance. And moreover, fasting (Sawm) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and therefore Muslims fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

Eid Mubarak 2023 image | Photo: Freepik

Eid is significant because it marks the completion of a month-long fast from dawn to dusk. And as Muslims worldwide look forward to celebrating the joyous festival of Eid. Eid Ul-Fitr is the time to get busy with shopping, decorating the house, and buying gifts for your loved ones. Eid is one of the most important festivals in India which is celebrated by Muslims with great happiness and joy.



When will Eid ul-Fitr be celebrated in India?

The holy month of Ramadan is coming to an end and Muslims worldwide have started preparing for Eid al-Fitr/Eid ul-fitr. In 2023 Eid ul Fitr is expected to be celebrated on Friday, April 21, or Saturday, April 22, 2023 in India, subject to the sighting of the moon. If the crescent moon is not seen, Ramadan will be extended for another day meaning Muslims will then fast one more day to complete a 30-day month. However, please note that the exact date of Eid ul Fitr may vary based on the sighting of the moon, and it is always best to confirm with local authorities or your local mosque.

Muslims around the world will be eagerly anticipating the arrival of Eid ul Fitr, which is a time for celebration, feasting, and spending time with family and friends. During this time, people exchange gifts, wear new clothes, and offer prayers at the mosque. Eid ul Fitr is a time of joy and gratitude, marking the end of a month of spiritual purification and self-discipline.

As of April 20, 2023, there is 1 day left for Eid ul Fitr if the moon is sighted on Thursday, 20 April, then Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on April 22, Friday or if the moon is sighted on Friday, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on April 22, Saturday it means two days are left, depending on the sighting of the new moon.

Eid Ul-Fitr or Eid al-Fitr History

The history of Eid Ul-Fitr dates back to the time of Prophet Muhammad, who founded Islam in the 7th century. According to Islamic tradition, the Prophet received the first revelation of the Quran during the month of Ramadan, which is why the month is considered sacred. The end of Ramadan is marked by the celebration of Eid Ul-Fitr, which means "festival of breaking the fast" and also signified the end of fasting from dawn to dusk throughout Ramadan and the opening of the Shawwal month.

Send warm and heartfelt wishes, and text messages to employees, wishing them Eid Mubarak. Surprise them by sending beautiful wishes as a warm Eid greeting to them and making this day all the more special to them. Here we have provided a wonderful list of Eid Mubarak wishes, messages, and quotes for employees. Lets read on and pick your favorite one.

Eid Ul-Fitr 2023 best wishes for employee:

1. Wishing you and your family a happy and blessed Eid Ul-Fitr. May this day bring you joy, peace, and prosperity.

2. On this joyous occasion of Eid Ul-Fitr, I wish you and your family Allah's blessings and mercy. May your prayers be answered and your dreams come true.

3. Eid Mubarak to you and your loved ones! May this day fill your heart with love, happiness, and contentment.

4. May Allah's love and blessings be with you and your family on this special day of Eid Ul-Fitr. Enjoy the day with your loved ones.

5. Wishing you and your family a very happy Eid Ul-Fitr. May Allah's grace and blessings be with you always.

6. May this Eid bring you and your family closer to Allah and help you lead a life filled with love, kindness, and compassion. Eid Mubarak!

7. Dear employee, on this special day of Eid Ul-Fitr, I pray that Allah blesses you with good health, wealth, and success in all your endeavours . Eid Mubarak!

8. May Allah's blessings and mercy be with you and your family on this joyous occasion of Eid Ul-Fitr. Have a blessed day filled with happiness and joy.

9. May this Eid be a new beginning of greater prosperity, success, and happiness for you and your loved ones. Eid Mubarak!

10. Wishing you and your family a very happy and blessed Eid Ul-Fitr. May Allah's love and grace be with you always.

Eid Ul-Fitr 2023 best messages for employees:

1. May this Eid bring peace, harmony, and love to your life, and may Allah shower His blessings upon you and your family. Eid Mubarak, dear employee!

2. Dear employee, on this auspicious occasion of Eid Ul-Fitr, I pray that Allah fulfils all your wishes and blesses you with success in all your endeavours. Eid Mubarak!

3. May the spirit of Eid Ul-Fitr fill your heart with joy, happiness, and peace, and may Allah's blessings be with you always. Eid Mubarak!

4. Dear employee, may this Eid bring you and your family good health, wealth, and prosperity, and may you be surrounded by the love and warmth of your loved ones.

5. May Allah bless you and your family with happiness, success, and prosperity on this special day of Eid Ul-Fitr. Eid Mubarak!

6. Dear employee, may Allah's love and blessings be with you and your family on this joyous occasion of Eid Ul-Fitr. Enjoy the day with your loved ones.

7. On this auspicious occasion of Eid Ul-Fitr, I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed day. May Allah's blessings be with you always.

8. May this Eid be a new beginning of greater success, happiness, and prosperity for you and your loved ones. Eid Mubarak, dear employee!

9. Wishing you and your family a joyous and blessed Eid Ul-Fitr. May Allah's grace and blessings be with you always.

10. May the spirit of Eid Ul-Fitr fill your heart with love, peace, and happiness, and may Allah's blessings be with you and your family always. Eid Mubarak!

Eid Ul-Fitr 2023 best quotes:

1. "By no means shall you attain al-birr (righteousness) until you spend (in Allaah's cause) of that which you love."

2. "O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous."

3. "O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honoured of you in Gods sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware."

4. "Eid is a day to rejoice and laugh hysterically. Its a day to thank Allah for all of his magnificent favours bestowed upon us."

5. "Eid is a day to cheer and to laugh with all your heart. Its a day to be grateful to Allah for all of his heavenly blessings on us. Wishing you a happy Eid."




Why cant a bank like that of the BRICS have a currency to finance trade relations between Brazil and China, between Brazil and other countries?" he continued. "Its difficult because we are unaccustomed [to the idea]. Everyone depends on just one currency". Lula made these remarks criticizing US dollar hegemony in a speech for the New Development Bank (NDB).

Brazil's Lula travels to China and calls to end US dollar dominanceBrazils President Lula da Silva took a historic trip to China, where he signed many cooperation agreements and pledged to challenge the dominance of the US dollar.Geopolitical Economy Reportby Ben NortonApr 16, 2023Brazil's President Lula da Silva with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing on April 14, 2023Brazil's left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known popularly as Lula, took a historic trip to China this April.There, the two countries deepened their comprehensive strategic partnership, signing 15 agreements involving trade, scientific research, technology, renewable energy, agriculture, meat production, finance, the digital economy, communications, the media, the fight against poverty and hunger, and even the joint development of satellites and space cooperation.China pledged investments estimated at around $50 billion Brazilian reais. Symbolically, under one of the deals, a Brazilian factory previously run by US automaker Ford will instead by operated by the Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD.Lula's meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing came just weeks after China and Brazil reached a deal to use their local currencies in bilateral trade, excluding the US dollar.While visiting China, Lula made it clear that de-dollarization is a top priority for his country."Every night I ask myself why all countries have to base their trade on the dollar, Lula said, according to a report in the Financial Times."Why cant we do trade based on our own currencies? the Brazilian leader asked. Who was it that decided that the dollar was the currency after the disappearance of the gold standard?Many US politicians were outraged by the historic de-dollarization agreement between China and Brazil.Neoconservative Republican Senator Marco Rubio fumed on Fox News:Today, Brazil - in our hemisphere, the largest country in the western hemisphere south of us - cut a trade deal with China. Theyre going to, from now on, do trade in their own currencies, and get right around the dollar.They're creating a secondary economy in the world, totally independent of the United States.We won't have to talk sanctions in five years, because there will be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar, that we won't have the ability to sanction them.Lula, now in his third term as president, was unfazed by the criticism in Washington.The Brazilian leftist leader has already publicly pledged to create a new currency for trade in Latin America. He stated clearly that the goal is to weaken the region's "dependence on the US dollar".Who decided that our currencies were weak, that they didnt have value in other countries? Lula asked while in China.Why cant a bank like that of the BRICS have a currency to finance trade relations between Brazil and China, between Brazil and other countries?" he continued. "Its difficult because we are unaccustomed [to the idea]. Everyone depends on just one currency".Lula made these remarks criticizing US dollar hegemony in a speech for the New Development Bank (NDB), the financial institution birthed by the BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.Lula was one of the creators of the BRICS, back when it was previously just the BRIC. The leftist Brazilian president co-founded the group during his first two terms in office, which ran from the beginning of 2003 to the end of 2010.Lula among the founding members of the BRICThe NDB was meant as an alternative to the US-dominated World Bank, which is notorious for imposing devastating austerity measures and neoliberal economic reforms on countries in the Global South.On April 12, Lula flew into Shanghai, where the NDB is located. He was the first foreign head of state to visit the BRICS bank's headquarters.There, Lula was greeted by his successor, Brazil's former President Dilma Rousseff, a fellow member of the left-wing Workers' Party.Dilma is now president of the New Development Bank. There, she has pledged to use the institution to fund high-quality "sustainable development" to fight climate change and "promote social inclusion".Dilma said the NDB plans to finance "critical and strategic infrastructure projects" like ports, airports, and highways, as well as "more modern models of transportation", such as high-speed trains, in underdeveloped countries in the Global South.Lula's trip to China was his first state visit outside of the Americas in his third term.The Brazilian president traveled to the United States in February, but only for one day. In contrast, Lula spent four days in China - a symbol of how important their alliance is."No one will prohibit Brazil from improving its relationship with China", Lula said during his trip, in a clear message to the United States.Lula also visited the research center of China's tech giant Huawei, which has been unilaterally sanctioned by the US - another message to Washington.Brazilian's Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad, who joined Lula in China, explained that their goal is "reindustrializing Brazil in partnership with Chinese capital.Reporting on the historic trip, S&P Global Market Intelligence noted (emphasis added):The 20 new agreements have a broad scope, indicating that the Lula administration is looking to prioritize deepening economic ties with China. Lula's visit to mainland China, which was postponed due to illness, had been planned to last five days and would have included a delegation of around 200 business representatives, compared with the one day that Lula spent in the United States in February, with no clear agreements reached.China is Brazil's largest trading partnerWhen Lula ended his second term at the end of 2010, he was one of the most popular leaders in world history, with a staggering 87% approval rating.Lula and his successor Dilma transformed the country. In a speech in China, Lula boasted that their Workers' Party-led governments helped lift 36 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty, taking Brazil off of the UN Hunger Map for the first time in history.In 2002, the year before Lula entered office, Brazil's GDP PPP was $1.72 trillion; when he left, it was $2.8 trillion.Today, Brazil has the eighth-biggest economy on Earth, when measured with purchasing power parity (PPP). It is even bigger than the economies of France and Britain.When Lula was previously president, Brazil had become the sixth largest, but following a US-backed political coup, Brazil's economy suffered from years of right-wing rule and aggressive neoliberal policies that devastated the country and fueled deindustrialization.biggest economies countries 2023 IMFThe biggest economies in the world by GDP (PPP), according to 2023 IMF dataChina has the world's largest economy, when measured with purchasing power parity. It is also among the top two most populous countries (India's population is expected to overtake China's in 2023).For its part, Brazil is the most populous country in Latin America, and the seventh-most populous on Earth.China has been Brazil's top trading partner since 2009. Commercial exchange between the two giants has skyrocketed in the past two decades.The Brazilian government boasted that their bilateral trade increased by a staggering 21 times since Lula's first visit to China in 2004.In 2022, China and Brazil did US$150.4 billion in trade. From 2021 to 2022 alone, their bilateral trade grew by 10.1%.What is unique about this relationship is that Brazil has a significant trade surplus with China, exporting roughly $90 billion in 2022 while importing approximately $60 billion.In fact, Brazil exports three times more to China what it sells to the United States. (Brazil has a trade deficit with the US.)Brazil is a commodities powerhouse.The South American nation is the world's second-biggest exporter of iron ore.Brazil is also among the top 10 biggest oil producers. As of 2021, it produced more oil even than Iran, representing roughly 4% of global output.US-backed political coups in 2016 and 2018 damaged Brazil's economyUnder the rule of the Workers' Party, Brazil had established itself as the sixth-largest economy on Earth.But years of US meddling pushed the South American giant into recession and stagnation.A huge drop in commodities prices in 2014 caused significant economic problems. This crash was intentionally pushed by the United States, which massively expanded its own shale production while pressuring Saudi Arabia to overproduce oil to collapse crude prices on the global market, in an effort to hurt the economies of major oil producers Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.Dilma governed from 2011 until 2016, when she was overthrown in a political coup backed by the United States, impeached on an absurd budgetary technicality that far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro regularly engaged in.Lula was subsequently imprisoned in 2018, on fraudulent charges overseen by the corrupt judge Sergio Moro, as part of the lawfare (judicial warfare) campaign known as Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash), which was closely supported by the US Justice Department and State Department.Brazil's top court later dropped all charges against Lula. Even the United Nations Human Rights Committee determined that Lula's civil rights and due process guarantees had been violated.UN Lula due process jailBut the imprisonment of Lula on false pretenses, under Washington's watch, essentially handed the 2018 election to the fascistic Bolsonaro, who openly praised Brazil's previous extreme-right, US-backed dictatorship, as well as the fascist junta of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.Bolsonaro rewarded Moro, the judge who jailed Lula, by appointing him as his "super justice minister". Bolsonaro and Moro then promptly visited CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to thank the notorious US spy agency.Under Bolsonaro, Brazil's foreign policy was totally subordinated to Washington. He eagerly recognized US-appointed coup leader Juan Guaido as the so-called "interim president" of Venezuela, and even supported cross-border terror attacks on the country's leftist Chavista government.The geopolitically motivated 2014 commodities crash, US-backed political coups in 2016 and 2018, and six subsequent years of right-wing rule devastated Brazil's economy.Brazil-based journalist Brian Mier also explained to Geopolitical Economy Report that "Lava Jato sabotaged the economy, causing a 2.5% drop in GDP by paralyzing and bankrupting Brazil's five largest construction and engineering companies".He pointed to studies that found that the US-backed Lava Jato lawfare led to the loss of 4.4 million jobs."Lula and Dilma had quintupled the foreign reserves, and Brazil was prepared for a commodities bust cycle, so Lava Jato had a bigger effect on the recession than the commodities bust", Mier said.All of this led to what was essentially a lost decade. The country is only recovering today.Brazil GDP PPP World BankLula says the NDB offers "extraordinary hope" to "become the great bank of the Global South"On April 13, Lula met with New Development Bank officials in Shanghai. The Brazilian government published an official transcript of his remarks.Lula recalled that the 2008 financial crash was caused by "greed" and risky financial speculation. Today the crises continue, Lula noted, with large banks like Credit Suisse collapsing."I think the world has never needed an instrument to help in the world's development as much as it needs it now", he said of the NDB.In light of this instability, the NDB offers "extraordinary hope", Lula argued."We have to be more concerned with serving the countries that are most in need of money", the Brazilian president said. He argued that their goal should be to "help the neediest and poorest countries"."I hope that this bank is able to lend money for the development of the African continent. I hope that this bank is able to have money to lend to the poorest countries in Latin America", he urged.While in China, Lula tweeted:It is a dream of developing countries to have an instrument that invests in their development.During the 8 years I was in the presidency, I tried to create a Bank in the South, which would allow investment in the necessary things in our region, without submitting to the rules of the IMF.He added:The BRICS Bank represents a lot for those who dream of a new world.The dream of creating the BRICS was for an instrument of development, which will certainly be strong, with the goal of benefiting countries. If not, we will never have the poorest countries be able to develop themselves.It would not be fair if we ended the 21st century as we started the 20th century, with those who were rich getting richer and those who were poor getting poorer.As Dilma Rousseff was officially sworn in as director of the New Development Bank, Lula delivered another speech.He said the NDB has potential to "become the great bank of the Global South", praising it as a "tool for reducing inequalities between rich countries and emerging countries", which could help prevent "social exclusion, hunger, extreme poverty, and forced migration"."Many developing countries are accumulating unpayable debts", Lula warned"The unmet financing needs of developing countries were and remain enormous", he added.Lula called the NDB a "milestone" in South-South cooperation."For the first time, a development bank with global reach was established without the participation of developed countries in its initial phase", the Brazilian leader said.The NDB is "free, therefore, from the shackles of conditionalities imposed by traditional institutions on emerging economies. And more: with the possibility of financing projects in local currency", he continued.Lula explained, "The creation of this Bank shows that the union of emerging countries is capable of generating relevant social and economic changes for the world. We don't want to be better than anyone else. We want opportunities to expand our potential and guarantee dignity, citizenship and quality of life to our peoples"."The New Development Bank has great transformative potential, as it frees emerging countries from submission to traditional financial institutions, which try to govern us, without having a mandate to do so", he added.Lula noted that, in Brazil, the NDB has helped finance infrastructure projects, income support programs, sustainable transportation, climate change adaptation, sanitation services, and renewable energies.Referring to the former Brazilian president affectionately as "comrade Dilma", Lula emphasized that her new global leadership role is an important accomplishment for women's representation.He also noted Dilma's revolutionary struggles in the 1970s "to put into practice the dream of a better world". Dilma had been part of the leftist resistance against Brazil's US-backed fascist dictatorship, and she was imprisoned and tortured.Lula explained:"The time when Brazil was absent from major world decisions is in the past. We are back on the international stage, after an inexplicable absence. We have a lot to contribute to key issues of our time, such as mitigating the climate crisis and fighting hunger and inequality.""It is intolerable that, on a planet that produces enough food to meet the needs of all humanity, hundreds of millions of men, women and children have nothing to eat.It is inadmissible that the irresponsibility and greed of a small minority put the survival of the planet and of all humanity at risk.Brazil is back. With the willingness to contribute again to the construction of a more developed, fairer and environmentally sustainable world.In another Brazilian government statement, Lula stated:We want the Brazil-China relationship to transcend the trade issue; we want to have a deep relationship in science and technology; partnerships between universities to have more Brazilian students in China, and more Chinese students in Brazil.We count on China in our fight for the preservation of planet earth, defending a healthier climate policy. That is why an energy transition is extremely important, so that we can produce cleaner energy, especially wind, solar, and biomass energy.Brazil is committed to achieving, by 2030, zero deforestation in the Amazon, and to making our contribution to preserving the planet.We are convinced that the development of Brazilian agriculture does not need irresponsible deforestation, let alone fires. Brazil can practically double its agricultural production by recovering degraded land, without having to cut down a single tree.For his part, Chinese President Xi said:China has a strategic and far-reaching relationship with Brazil, which has a place of priority in our foreign relations. You are our longtime friend.The Brazil-China relationship, in healthy and stable development, will play an important role for peace, stability, and mutual development, for both countries and the world.
A 14-year-old boy has been remanded at the Agodi Corrections facility in Ibadan by a Family Court in Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State on Thursday, for allegedly defiling a 22-month-old baby.

The police had charged the boy, a minor, with defilement before Chief Magistrate P. O. Adetuyibi, who did not take the plea of the minor for want in the jurisdiction.

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Adetuyibi ordered the police to send the case to the Oyo State Directorate of Public Prosecution for legal advice.

Arowosaye alleged that the boy defiled the baby between March 31, and April 3. She said that the baby, an orphan, was left in the care of her sister.

The offence, she said, contravenes the provisions of Section 34 of the Childs Right Law of 2006.

The baby has been taken by the Oyo State Child Welfare Department of the Ministry for Women Affairs.
A Saudi lawyer has called for Cristiano Ronaldo to be deported after he appeared to grab his crotch towards fans following Al-Nassrs 2-0 defeat to Al-Hilal on Tuesday.

The crude gesture came after fans began chanting Lionel Messis name.

According to a video making wave on social media, shows Ronaldo grabbing his manhood as he was jeered off the pitch by fans who chanted: Messi, Messi, Messi, as he walked down the tunnel.

Taking to Twitter, to slam Ronaldos actions, lawyer Nouf bin Ahmed wrote:

READ MORE: Ronaldo Double Helps Portugal Thrash Luxemburg

It is considered a crime of public dishonor, and it is one of the crimes that entails arrest and deportation if committed by a foreigner.

The lawyer vowed to file a complaint to the Saudi Prosecutors Office for his crime of public indecency.

Meanwhile, Al-Nassr sources have defended Ronaldo and claim he didnt make the gesture towards supporters and rather it was a reaction to a blow he received earlier in the match when the ball directly struck his genitals.

However, Saudi journalists werent so forgiving of the Portuguese. One member of the press, Ozman Abu Bakr, called the action an immoral and impolite gesture against the spectators and indicated that Al-Nassr should terminate Ronaldos contract as a result.
The federal government has announced Friday and Monday as public holidays for Muslims in the country to celebrate the end of Ramadan fasting.

The announcement was made in a statement released by Shuaib Belgore, permanent secretary in the ministry of interior.

Belgore said Rauf Aregbesola, the minister of interior, made the announcement on Wednesday.

In the statement, Aregbesola wished the Muslim faithful a happy celebration and asked them to imbibe the virtues of kindness, love, tolerance, peace, self-denial, and sacrifice.

READ MORE: Ramadan: Tinubus Daughter Calls For Prayers, Support From Nigerians

He added that the deep spiritual consciousness of the fasting period should not end but be maintained.

The federal government has declared Friday 21st and Monday 24th April, 2023, as public holiday to mark this years Eid-al-Fitr celebration, the statement reads.

Ogbeni Aregbesola assures that President Muhammadu Buhari is fully committed to a peaceful transition of government following successful elections.
Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, says he accused presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi of treason because he did not rebuke his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, for saying if the president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu is sworn in May 29, it would be the end of Nigerias democracy.

According to Mohammed, the failure of Obi to correct his running mate means that he concurs with Baba-Ahmeds position.

Mohammed stated this while addressing state house correspondents on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting.

He said, I went to the US to balance the skewed report about the just-concluded elections.

And everywhere I went, I said it very unambiguously that the last general elections in Nigeria are the most transparent, the freest and authentic.

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And thats despite the efforts of the opposition to delegitimise or discredit the elections. And I forwarded my position there as to why these elections were the best.

What I said about Mr Peter Obi is very clear. I said, Mr Peter has every right to seek redress in court like Labour Party.

But nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the President-elect is sworn in, that would be the end of democracy.

That was precisely what the running mate of Mr Peter Obi said on television. And I have not heard Peter Obi reign him in or correct him.

So if your running mate says something, of course, he was saying it on behalf of the party and the candidate.

Thats why I said that it was treason for anybody to say that if a duly elected President in Nigeria is sworn in, that would be the end of democracy. So I dont see anything controversial in that.
The federal government has approved the sum of N3.4 billion for the procurement of an aircraft by the nations Customs Service.

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, disclosed this to State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday, April 19.

According to him, The Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning presented a couple of memos for which approvals were obtained.

READ MORE: Customs Intercept 450 Drums Of Explosives In Ogun

The first one was for the award of contract for the procurement of a Cessna Caravan aircraft by the Nigerian Customs in the sum of N3,447,442,710 inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT with a delivery period of 12 months.

This aircraft is an addition to the current fleet in the Customs Service and it is aimed towards combating smuggling activities and enhancing intelligence gathering. It is also to provide aerial surveillance and reconnaissance for the Customs across our borders.
Homeless persons along side mentally unfit persons living in Nigeria would be counted in the upcoming 2023 housing and population census, says the National Population Commission (NPC).

Chairman of the Commission, Nasir Isa Kwarra, who was represented by Oyo State federal commissioner of the NPC, Eyitayo Oyetunji, at a town hall meeting organised by the National Census Publicity Committee (NCPC) noted that the commission had made adequate preparation for a successful census through the deployment of latest technology.

Oyetunji, who spoke with journalists during the press briefing, further stressed that the support of media was imperative in the census processes, urging them to combat misinformation and disinformation.

Chairman of the NCPC, who is also the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, represented by Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Garba Abari, said that census is an important national event that requires active participation of all Nigerians.

Census is about development; everyone must collaborate with the enumerators for adequate result and they will be addressed in a language they understand, he said.

Director, public affairs of the Commission, Isiaka Yahaya, who said the 2023 census is digital through the use of technology, urged Nigerians to respond to questions and provide accurate answers.

He further said Nigerians who do not stay in regular homes would be counted for proper enumeration

Similarly, executive secretary, National Commission for People Living With Disabilities (PLWD), James Lalu, said there are changes and innovations in the 2023 census compared to past census.

He further urged every household that has a person living with disability not to hide their disabilities.

READ ALSO: 2023 Poll: Step Down Now, We Want Peace  Afenifere Youths Tell Adebanjo

Also on Wednesday in Ondo State, NPC Federal Commissioner, Prince Diran Iyantan, at a one-day capacity-building workshop for the 2023 population and housing census publicity committee assured Nigerians that the 2023 census would have at least 98 per cent success.

Iyantan explained that the purpose of the workshop was not to undermine the professionalism of the publicity committee members.

But it is to enhance their capacity to deliver on their mandates.

Iyantan said that the committee was one of the most important committees to drive the exercise, due to the psyche of the public, because many people were usually reluctant to subscribe to government programmes.

Because of the importance of this exercise, our governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, thought it wise to assemble the committee with seasoned professionals to have a seamless exercise in the state.

State Director of NPC, Oluyemi Falusi, speaking on the digital innovations of the 2023 census, said digitisation of the census was in line with United Nations recommendation.

According to Falusi, the 2023 exercise would be the first digital census to be conducted by Nigeria, adding that it would facilitate faster processes, reduce error, track progress, ensure efficiency and ensure prompt publication of results, among others.

READ ALSO: Police Raid IPOB, ESN Hideout, Recover Ammunitions In Imo

He explained that the training, recruiting, deployment, conduct, analysis and publication and other processes of the exercise were fully digitalised.

Falusi furthered that there would be a call centre and a situation room in the State to assess the daily progress of the exercise.

He further said that data analysis would be done promptly with available digital technology tools to ensure reports were published promptly.

The Head of Census Department in the state, Olufunbi Olowookere, on her part said that the conduct of the population census in the country had been irregular.

According to Olowookere, the current population figures in the country had been based on estimation and postulations, hence the need to conduct the 2023 population and housing census.

She explained that the census was needed for economic and socio-political planning and implementation of government policies.

Olowookere added that Nigerias land mass had been demarcated for the exercise and data from the exercise could be used by experts in the health, agric, business, education and other sectors.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State has urged Yakubu Gowon, former Military Head of State, to apologise to South-Easterners over the role he played in the Biafra civil war.

According to Abraham Amah, the acting State publicity secretary of the Party, Gowons name unsettles a lot of people in the the region owing to the Civil war involvement.

The spokesperson said this in reaction to a statement that Gowon, alongside the state governor-elect, Alex Otti, would lead a prayer session scheduled at Masters Vessel Church in Umuahia area of the State on Sunday.

Amah who said he was not against praying for the State, however expressed worry over the choice of Gowon as special guest.

The statement read, The attention of the Abia PDP has been drawn to a news item in circulation on social media indicating that Nigerias former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon would on Sunday April 23, 2023 lead a prayer session in one Masters Vessel Church Umuahia, Abia State under the auspices of his pet project, Nigeria Prays, to herald a new Abia. Whatever a new Abia means.

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The name, Yakubu Gowon is unsettling to many people in the South East given the ignoble roles he played during the Biafran Civil War for which he is yet to render any public apology.

He furthered that the choice of Gowon as special guest in a State that is the home town of slain General Aguiyi Ironsi was insensitive.

While wondering why no other man of God was invited for the prayer session, the PDP noted that Abia State had produced a Catholic Bishop and other high-ranking clergymen.

The State chapter of the PDP also maintained that Gowon had yet to publicly admit his mistakes in the Civil war.

He added that, the only way the prayer session would make meaning to the millions of South Easterners, dead and alive, is for Gowon to use the opportunity of the prayer session and convert it to a moment of truth and apologise to the people for his role in the atrocious war that led to the untimely death of millions of our very resourceful people.
Morocco and Paris Saint-Germain defender, Achraf Hakimis mother, Saida Mouh has reacted to the rumours that her sons assets was transferred into her name.

At the weekend, following the formal separation of Hakimi and his wife, Hiba Abouk, social media went avid as she discovered she couldnt claim half her ex-husbands assets because they are in his mothers name.

As the issue attracted reactions from the world over, Mouh told the Moroccan media that her son did not inform her of such a transfer.

She said, If he has taken any action to protect himself, Im unaware of it. Whats the problem if the news is true? If my son does not do this, he will not be able to get rid of that woman [Hiba Abouk].

READ ALSO: Zelensky Congratulates Tinubu, Invites President-Elect To Ukraine  Tinubus Aide Says

Information Nigeria reports that last Friday, Abouk was requesting half of Hakimis property and wealth but she discovered that he has nothing to his name.

According to Morocco World News, Hakimis mother has been receiving his wages in her bank account for some time, and she is the sole beneficiary of his income and wealth.

The 24-year-old Moroccan and the 36-year-old Spanish-Tunisian actress, Hiba Abouk divorced last month.

Hakimi is one of the most expensive players in Africa and is regarded as one of the worlds best right-backs.
The Federal Government (FG) through Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on Wednesday revealed why President Muhammadu Buhari did not intervene in the controversy around the governorship election in Adamawa State.

Information Nigeria reports that the reason was revealed while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, (FEC) meeting in Abuja

According to Mohammed, the 2023 general elections in Nigeria were the most transparent and rancour-free elections, because of the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).

He furthered that the president also did not use security to rig elections in favour of the ruling party.

READ ALSO: Be Afraid; With Adamawa In The Bag, PDP Coming For You At Presidential Tribunal  Reno Omokri To Tinubu

Speaking on him not acting on the alleged misconduct of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in charge of Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa Ari, who announced the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Aishatu Binani as the governor-elect while collations were ongoing, Mohammed said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman could handle the issue.

He said, I dont think this government has ever intervened in the way the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducts elections.

So there was no need for us to intervene. It was entirely an INEC matter and INEC handled it.

The Chairman of INEC is in charge of all employees of INEC and he is handling it, so what do you want the government to do?

Mohammed when informed that INEC had written a petition to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to inform Buhari of Aris action, he maintained that the INEC Chairman is capable of handling the matter.
Improved agriculture, infrastructure help to boost nation's poverty alleviation efforts A little more than a decade ago, Tian Rubing, sensing that the time was ripe, made a prosperous decision. He left Shanghai, where he had worked for several years, and in 2011 moved back to his home village of Changputang in Central China's Hunan province. Once home, he joined other villagers who lifted themselves out of poverty by growing fruit trees and seedlings. Today, Tian is among the many residents of Changputang benefiting from what one official calls "green, precision agriculture". He has an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan ($14,545). Changputang, which is in Fenghuang county of Hunan's Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, has a population of about 2,800. Before the 1980s, the village was in extreme poverty due to limited land, lack of water and poor roads. The average annual income of villagers, who at that time grew only rice and corn, was about 600 yuan. New fruits introduced Wang Anquan, then Party secretary of Changputang, and other officials visited Zhejiang, Henan and Fujian provinces to learn how to grow fruit. They decided to introduce watermelon, citrus fruits including pomelo and Chinese honey oranges, and kiwi to the village, because these were suitable for growing due to the area's humid, subtropical monsoon climate and selenium-rich soil. Wang recalled that, when President Xi Jinping conducted an inspection tour of Hunan in November 2013, Changputang was the first stop. "Xi's know-how of fruit growing was impressive," Wang said. Xi said that better technology and a bigger market were needed to improve agriculture in the village, and he advised Changputang's farmers to keep an eye on the market while looking ahead. "Xi pointed the way forward for the village's growth," Wang said. "Encouraged by the president, the villagers have worked harder and turned the village into a land of fruit." The village's 960 hectares of orchards  four times as much as in 2012  have the potential to produce fruit worth more than 36 million yuan each year. The rapid, beneficial development of the village's fruit-growing industry was soon followed by the growing and selling of seedlings, which have become another important source of income for Changputang's residents. In 2021, after the village set aside 86 hectares of land for tea and fruit seedlings, the output value of the seedlings hit 47 million yuan, Wang said. "Now every family has an orchard and a nursery where young plants and trees are raised," said Tang Jinsheng, an official of Changputang. "We have built greenhouses for fruit trees where trickle and sprinkler irrigation methods were introduced," Tang said, adding that cameras and sensors have been installed to monitor temperature, moisture, pH levels and trace elements. "What we are doing is green, precision agriculture," Tang said. Zhou Zuhui, Party secretary of the village, said, "Changputang village is developing its agriculture and fruit growing through science and technology." In 2022, Changputang's per capita disposable income was more than 30,392 yuan. During his Hunan inspection tour in 2013, Xi also visited Shibadong, a once impoverished village where 60 percent of its population lived below the poverty line. In his talks with Shibadong farmers, Xi first put forward the idea of targeted poverty alleviation. The pioneering notion focuses on tailoring poverty alleviation efforts to individuals, local conditions and the root causes of poverty. Picturesque Shibadong is popular today, but a decade ago it lacked infrastructure, industry and investment. Since 2013, however, Shibadong has become increasingly accessible to tourists, thanks to the construction of infrastructure including roads, parking lots and parks and the renovation of buildings. Villagers were motivated to work and start their own businesses, such as homestays, and they knew the future was promising. Over the years, Shibadong has developed several industries that build on its strengths. The village has turned ethnic Miao embroidery into a distinctive industry. In addition, capitalizing on its mountain springs, the village established Shibadong Mountain Spring Water Co in 2017 and has also promoted various forms of farming. In 2013, the average annual income of Shibadong villagers was 1,668 yuan, just 18.8 percent of the national average. In 2021, the figure reached more than 20,000 yuan, according to Xinhua News Agency. With a landmark victory in poverty alleviation in 2020, China removed the last barrier on its way to realizing the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021. To advance the cause of eradicating absolute poverty, Xi once visited 14 contiguous impoverished areas and inspected 24 impoverished villages in Hunan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, as well as the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Chongqing and other provincial-level regions, where he talked with villagers. "In fighting against poverty, we must avoid paying lip service or setting unrealistic goals," Xi said during his visit to Shibadong in 2013. "Instead, we should follow a reality-based, adaptable, category-specific and targeted approach." The concept of targeted poverty alleviation was included in the United Nations' first-ever resolution addressing poverty eradication in rural areas adopted by the General Assembly in 2018. Now China is forging ahead with rural vitalization in an all-around way as the nation marches forward on its path to modernization.
A woman identified as Cynthia Ukachukwu has been arraigned before a Magistrates Court sitting in Yaba, Lagos State for her failure to produce her husband, Augustine, before the court for trial after he was released to her on bail.

Ukachukwu was arraigned by the state police command before Magistrate O. Y Adefope on Friday, on one count of an attempt to pervert justice.

According to the prosecutor, Haruna Magaji, Ukachukwus husband, Augustine, was arraigned for obtaining money by false pretences and stealing N2.2m from one Grace Uzoigwe under the pretence of selling a parcel of land to her.

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According to The Punch, before the arraignment of the defendant, she and her husband, who disguised as a pastor, in March 2018, promised the complainant, Uzoigwe, that they would sell a parcel of land that was partially developed to her, and convinced her to pay N2.2m into Augustines bank account.

It was learnt that when the complainant noticed that she had been duped, she started asking them for a refund but Augustine started threatening her which made her report the case to the police.

Magaji told the court that the defendants husband, Augustine, was released to the surety through a duly signed bail bond by a Deputy Commissioner of Police on March 2, 2021, with a promise to always be available whenever the police authority needed his presence in the pending matter, a promise she failed to uphold before her arrest.

According to Magaji, the offence contravened and is punishable under Section 97 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.

The charge read, That you, Cynthia Ukachukwu, on March 2, 2021, at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, M. A. K Smith Street, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, in the Yaba Magisterial District, did stand in as a surety for the bail of one Augustine Ukachukwu, involved in a case of obtaining money by false pretence and stealing wherein you undertake to produce the defendant at any time until the case is disposed of, but failed to produce him, an attempt to pervert the cause of justice and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 97 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.

However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the one count preferred against her.

Magistrate Adefope granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500.000 with two responsible sureties. Adefope adjourned the case till May 9, 2023.
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, seen here in 2019 in Los Angeles. Peretti announced to staff on Thrusday that BuzzFeed News is being shut down. Read more

BuzzFeed News is shutting down.

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced the move to staffers in an email Thursday, writing the company is unable to fund its news division as a standalone organization.

Peretti said he was slow to accept that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter would not provide the distribution to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media.

I made the decision to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love the work and mission so much, Peretti wrote.

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BuzzFeed purchased HuffPost from Verizon in 2020, and Peretti said there would be jobs available there for some of the news reporters impacted by the closure. About 60 people at BuzzFeed News are affected, according to the New York Times.

We will concentrate our news efforts in HuffPost, Peretti wrote in the memo.

BuzzFeed News launched in 2011 under the leadership of Ben Smith, who recently founded the online news organization Semafor. BuzzFeed News is probably best known for publishing a Russian dossier featuring unsubstantiated claims made about former President Donald Trump. It also won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for its coverage of the Chinese governments mass detention of Uyghurs.

Im heartsick about it, Smith told the Washington Post. I do think it marks the end of the marriage between news and social media. "

The companys main website, known for its online quizzes, will continue to operate. Overall, BuzzFeed is laying off about 15% of its employees, about 180 people.

BuzzFeeds stock price closed down almost 20% on Thursday to 75 cents a share.

As its sign off, BuzzFeed News staffers sent a push notification referencing a 2019 story it published about Blippi, a YouTube entertainer popular among children.

BuzzFeed news is logging off with a reminder that blippi pooped on his friend, the notification said.
Signs and entrances to Saint Joseph's University can be seen along City Avenue on Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Read more

The message from Catholic church leaders has been clear: When it comes to marijuana, no means no.

That stance was renewed in the last decade as many states have legalized medical and recreational cannabis. Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana in 2016.

So when theology professor R. Jared Staudt came across a cannabis certificate program offered at St. Josephs University, a Jesuit Catholic university, he smelled a heady conflict of religious values.

According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, drug use impairs the health of the body and ones ability to make free choices, which is the heart of morality, Staudt said over email from Colorado, where he teaches at the Augustine Institute.

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St. Josephs launched its cannabis studies program in 2020, though its not the only college showing interest in one of the fastest growing job markets in the country.

Thomas Jefferson Universitys cannabis program predates St. Joes by two years, while researchers at Drexel, Temple, and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine conduct cannabis studies of their own.

Unlike an undergraduate or graduate degree, students enrolled in St. Joes program study for six-month terms to earn certificates in specialty areas like The Business of Cannabis and Cannabis Agriculture and Horticulture, according to the programs website. All classes occur online and are administered by Green Flower, the universitys education partner.

As a Jesuit, Catholic institution, we aim to treat all people with dignity and respect and care for the most vulnerable in our community, said Father Peter A. Clark, director of the Institute of Clinical Bioethics at Saint Josephs University. These programs address the medical aspects of marijuana, which has been proven effective in treating various medical conditions.

Statistics show the 171-year-old institution is keeping pace with an expansive field. Nearly 430,000 people work in the $13 billion legal cannabis industry in the United States, with employment growing over 100% over the last five years.

Theologists question toeing the Vaticans hardline opposition to legal pot.

I would say that any efforts to promote or encourage the recreational use of marijuana is not something that a Catholic school should be teaching people how to do, said the Rev. Eric Banecker, pastor of Saint Francis de Sales parish in West Philadelphia and an adjunct professor of theology at the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary.

St. Joes isnt calling for anyone to light up a joint, though graduates have their pick of 21 states to work in where both recreational and medical pot are legal.

Those who stick in Pennsylvania will be subject to state laws regulating the sale of cannabis to medical patients. That took effect in 2016, and with new Democratic control in the state House, more action could be on the way. In the meantime, New Jersey has a flourishing recreational cannabis industry, where sales topped $100 million after regulators opened the floodgates in 2022.

Staudt and Banecker held a hard line on getting high, similar to Pope Francis decry against drug use in 2014. Catholic support for fully legalized marijuana that year was a mixed bag, with 46% in acceptance, rising to a slim majority last year.

For centuries, people across cultures have used cannabis for pain management. When it came to the plants medicinal potential, both theologists were open to debate.

Banecker sees similarities to drugs like opioids, explaining how Catholic values permit using painkillers when scientifically appropriate.

St. Josephs program addresses cannabiss role in modern health care, with at least one certificate touching on its uses for ailments like autoimmune diseases and cancer, as well as its treatment potential for mental health conditions and addiction.

Staudt needs to see more evidence before he can get behind the idea, citing negative health outcomes and the potential for the product to get into the hands of those who dont have a medical card.

Other Christians keep the faith on pot.

For California-based pastor Craig Gross, using cannabis did more than provide respite from his frequent migraines  it brought him closer to God.

Gross wrote on his blog, Christian Cannabis, that before trying marijuana, hed never gone anywhere near the devils lettuce  thanks, in large part, to that very connotation, and the taboo that has long surrounded this controversial plant.

Then in 2017, Gross experimented. Microdoses led to feelings of clarity and direction that allowed God into his heart.

Through Christian Cannabis, Gross now evangelizes cannabis to other believers, urging them to reconsider longstanding beliefs.

As Gross writes on his blog, Christians are always late to the party.

St. Josephs Universitys location was incorrectly stated. It is located in Philadelphia
Natalie Mrak, freshman, Isabella Gigliotti, freshman, and Chris Buck, fourth year, work on a baby food product at the Drexel Food Lab on Wednesday. Read more

Take an onion, Jonathan Deutsch explained. Spend some time with it, thinking carefully what you could do with it. Or with fish bones. Or broccoli stems.

Think about the potentiality of every item, Deutsch said.

This is not a culinary Zen exercise. Its a start to handling your household food waste in a more environmentally sustainable manner.

For Deutsch, a chef, professor, and founding director of the Drexel Food Lab, this is how the home cook should start dealing with our countrys burgeoning plate to trash can problem  one food item at a time.

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The Drexel Food Lab has been awarded an EPA grant for almost $740,000 to develop educational videos for home cooks focused on preventing and minimizing food waste, and measure their impact.

Over the next three years Deutsch and his staff will work with 100 households hosting community-based education sessions featuring a series of eight videos on how to reduce household food waste throughout the food prep cycle including meal planning, shopping, consuming, storing, and disposing.

Assistant administrator Chris Frey, of the EPAs Office of Research and Development, said that the grants will help us identify successful strategies to empower communities to reduce food waste while improving food security.

Back to the future

Until the 1970s, using every bit of an animal, fruit, or vegetable was the norm. Every culture had a way of dealing with food [scraps]. Thats the idea behind scrapple, soups, sorbets, and agua frescas, for example, Deutsch said.

But attitudes drastically changed as agriculture industrialized, bringing with it low food prices and high food abundance. The result, a General Accounting Office 1977 report noted, was that food waste prevention was an activity that did not justify the economic expenditure necessary to reduce loss.

We now waste 50% more food than we did 50 years ago. Once food starts to smell, look unattractive, or taste bad, over half of Americans throw it away instead of repurposing it.

An estimated $162 billion worth of food a year is thrown away. For the average family of four, thats at least $1,500 a year tossed in the garbage.

 READ MORE: Philly was wasting tons of produce. Then a scrappy start-up stepped in.

Reducing environmental harm

Making matters worse, this food waste starts an unfriendly environmental domino effect.

Dana Gunders, formerly of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), wrote in an influential white paper a decade ago, Getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of all fresh water consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten.

Uneaten food is about a fifth of Philadelphias solid waste stream. As landfills fill with organic waste, it leads to increased emissions of methane gas.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys food waste hierarchy, landfills should be the choice of last resort. The best move is to reduce whatever surplus you have, and to donate whats left to feed the hungry.

Food waste and hunger insecurity are related problems. A 2010 study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that wasted food contains enough calories to feed more than 150 million people each year, far in excess of the 35 million estimated food insecure Americans.

Reversing the fork to trash cycle requires first understanding consumers obstacles. Research has shown they include heavy demands on their attention and time, as well as bureaucratic government policies and regulations.

In 2021 NRDC worked with two community groups, Strawberry Mansions CDC and Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association Coalition, to host focus groups to better understand how to craft food waste prevention messages that will resonant with the community. Residents discussed barriers to food waste prevention that included the inability to shop often, which resulted in larger purchases, the lack of access to a freezer, and pre-packed charity food boxes that contained unwanted items.

Rethinking your garbage

Despite a lack of large scale efforts to reduce food waste, Deutsch said you can start today in your own kitchen. He encouraged cooks to be creative, think about the ingredients they are using, and then play with their food.

Here are some waste reduction tips to consider:

Use your leftovers and dont let them get buried in the refrigerator. Buy what you need and use what you buy. Always carry containers or plastic baggies to restaurants to reuse the food you couldnt finish. Put your vegetable scraps in plastic freezer bags to eventually use in broths. Use fruit scraps in jams and sorbets. Invest in a good vegetable scrub brush and eat the peels. Compost your waste.

Upgrading once-ignored food into tasty, healthy treats is the brass ring of food waste prevention efforts. Take potato peels. They are becoming a star product of the potato industry, according to Potato News Today. But the home cook can benefit too with help from a growing number of food waste prevention recipes such as this one from the Drexel Food Lab for Potato Skin Crisps.
Brian and Christiana Sanders watched their daughter, Melanie, in the intensive care unit at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 2016. They recently settled a lawsuit against the hospital, after alleging that the baby died as the result of a preventable infection. Read more

When a virus infected 23 premature infants at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, an internal team of investigators found traces of it on devices that had been used to examine the babies eyes.

But that didnt explain how the infants got sick in the summer of 2016. Though the devices, called ophthalmoscopes, were unsanitized, they never came in contact with the babies eyes or skin.

Further investigation revealed the missing link: The eye doctors wielding the devices did not wear protective gloves, apparently transmitting the virus by touching the babies after using the germy scopes.

The hospital team wrote an article in a medical journal to describe how it cracked the case. But after three of the infants died, lawyers for CHOP fought to keep the details secret from their families in another forum: Philadelphias Court of Common Pleas.

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More than six years later, the families of those three children have quietly settled lawsuits against the hospital.

The settlement amounts have not been made public. Lawyers for the families and the hospital, who sparred in court for years over whether the hospital was negligent, both declined to comment. But court documents offer an inside look at how the legal system balances competing interests when hospitals are accused of medical malpractice.

Patients or their surviving relatives have the right to seek copies of their medical records through the process of discovery  as the families did in this case, obtaining grim details of how the three extremely premature infants suffered respiratory distress and ultimately died. Yet lawyers for CHOP successfully argued that certain internal records about the viral outbreak were off-limits  citing laws protecting documents that were created for the sole purpose of improving overall patient safety and health-care quality.

In Pennsylvania and other states, the intent of such laws is to make doctors and nurses feel free to identify problems and solutions without fear of legal repercussion, said George Kontos, an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

You want to be able to have the medical providers figure out the root cause, to say Heres where we messed up, and heres how we can do better so that this does not happen again, he said.

Secret records

In their cases against CHOP, the families lawyers accused the hospital of claiming that privilege too broadly  wrongly labeling certain records as being part of the quality-review process as a ploy to keep them secret.

 READ MORE: 23 infants infected at CHOP after eye exams with contaminated equipment

But in November, ruling on all three cases at once, an appellate panel found mostly in favor of the hospital. Judges said the families were entitled only to two sets of internal records: emails in which a CHOP physician discussed the case with a colleague at the University of Pennsylvania, and postings on the hospitals intranet site  one in August 2016 titled CHOP Serious Safety Events, and the other in February 2017, titled Learning from our Safety Events.

Hundreds of other documents, including PowerPoint slides from seven safety huddles at which CHOP physicians discussed their investigation, would remain off-limits.

Lawyers for the families had contended that the infections and deaths were the result of negligence by the hospital. Lawyers for CHOP argued the opposite, saying that the hospitals discovery of how the virus was transmitted marked the first time that phenomenon had been described in the medical literature.

Four months after the appellate ruling, on March 20, the three families settled their lawsuits against the hospital. The terms were not disclosed.

Fragile babies

Whats not in dispute is that the three babies were extremely fragile.

Two of them were girls who weighed less than 1.5 pounds at birth, both born during the 25th week of gestation. Babies born at that stage have a 70% to 80% chance of survival, according to a 2022 study in JAMA.

The other child, a boy who weighed just more than 2 pounds at birth, was born at 27 weeks. Babies born at that stage have a 90% chance of survival, on average.

The first sign that something was amiss came in mid-August 2016, when staff in CHOPs neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) identified a cluster of infections with a virus called an adenovirus, according to a summary in the appellate ruling.

The cases were so unusual that they prompted an immediate investigation. No such infections had occurred in the NICU during the previous 12 months. By the end of the month, 23 out of 43 children in the unit had tested positive for the virus.

All 23 had respiratory symptoms. Five of them developed pneumonia, and 12 required increased breathing support, the hospital reported in its case study. Six employees and three parents also tested positive for the virus.

Hospital infection-control staff tested the ophthalmoscopes for the virus because the infants all had been given eye exams. Some of the infants also developed symptoms of infection in their eyes.

The two eye doctors who performed the exams did not sanitize the scopes in between patients, nor did they wear protective gloves, according to a court deposition by hospital epidemiologist Julia Sammons.

When asked why not, the doctors said gloves would decrease their dexterity, making it harder to position the babies heads for the eye exams, Sammons said in response to questions from Elia Robertson, one of the lawyers representing the families.

The doctors cleaned their hands before seeing each patient, but not in between touching the germy scopes and touching the babies, Sammons said.

Shanin Specter, another lawyer representing the families, declined to comment on the case when The Inquirer contacted him this month. But when he filed one of the lawsuits, in 2018, he called the practices shocking, especially given the delicate nature of the babies health.

By definition, they are vulnerable to serious injury or death from getting an infection, he said at the time. And then you dont wear gloves when you do an eye exam, and you dont clean the ophthalmoscope?

Ever since the outbreak, Sammons said in her deposition, the hospital has required the scopes to be disinfected in between patients, and the eye doctors must wear gloves.
Virtua Health has agreed to acquire a South Jersey orthopedic practice with eight offices. Read more

Virtua Health, the largest health system in South Jersey, announced Wednesday that it reached a preliminary agreement to acquire Reconstructive Orthopedics, a physician-owned practice based in Moorestown with eight offices in Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, and Gloucester Counties.

The price was not disclosed. The deal is expected to be completed in July, Virtua said. About 300 Reconstructive Orthopedics employees are being invited to join Virtua, which already employs 14,000.

For decades, the doctors and professionals of Reconstructive Orthopedics have delivered outstanding care to this community and are held in the highest regard by their patients, Vitua CEO Dennis Pullin said in a news release.

The Virtua deal adds to recent health-care consolidation in South Jersey. Inspira Health bought Salem County Hospital in December. Also that month Cooper Health said it had reached a preliminary agreement to acquire Cape Regional Health System.

Virtua, which partners with the University of Pennsylvania Health System in cancer care and neurosurgery, had $2.4 billion in revenue and operating income of $199 million in 2021. Its full-year 2022 financial results are not yet available.

Virtua, a nonprofit health system with headquarters in Marlton, has five hospitals, include two added in its 2019 acquisition of Lourdes Health Care Network. The system already has a network of 35 surgery centers, many of them owned in joint ventures with doctors.
Jeffery "Jay" Young Jr. is running unopposed to replace City Council President Darrell L. Clarke in the 5th District. Read more

Jeffery Jay Young Jr., a lawyer who is running unopposed for a North Philadelphia-based City Council seat, has a history of offensive social media posts, insulting women, Asian Americans, and other groups.

Dear Chinese Stores, we dont eat dog, cat, or rat here in America, on purpose at least, Young posted on Twitter in 2013.

In 2012, Young tweeted, I swear I hate bitches. Now I gotta here this chick mouth about how she was right.

Young is poised to become something of an accidental Council member after all of his would-be opponents in the 5th District race were deemed ineligible to run due to flaws with their nominating petitions.

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 READ MORE: How Jay Young rose from a high-school intern in City Hall to a lawyer poised to succeed Darrell Clarke on Philadelphia City Council

Candidates for office often have their social media histories scrubbed of potentially embarrassing posts before they enter the spotlight. That was not the case for Young, a prolific Twitter user who has authored thousands of social media posts.

Youngs sudden entry into the public arena is a consequence of Council President Darrell L. Clarke delaying his long-awaited decision about whether to run for reelection. Clarke, who represents that district, instead announced he was retiring, and candidates hoping to replace him  including his former chief of staff Curtis Wilkerson, who Clarke hoped would be his successor  had a matter of days to collect nominating signatures to make the ballot.

Only Young, who is also a former Clarke staffer but did not wait for his former boss permission to begin collecting signatures, made the cut. Hes now all but certain to win the 5th District without a fight, although its possible a write-in candidate could defeat him in the May 16 primary or the Nov. 7 general election.

 READ MORE: Darrell Clarkes departure opens the door to a major leadership shakeup on City Council

After The Inquirer asked about his past posts, Young on Wednesday made his account private, meaning that only followers he approves can see what he writes on Twitter.

Had a feeling tweets from almost 15 years ago would resurface, Young posted after closing off his account to the public.

Young, 36, was in his mid-20s when he posted many of the offensive tweets, and in an interview he blamed them on his youth.

I tweeted a lot of stuff back then, not knowing what my future would be as a 23-year-old or 24-year-old, Young said.

To be fair to Young, like many Twitter users, he posted about nearly every other topic under the sun while authoring nearly 17,000 posts  musing about the pleasures of long walks on spring days, his interest in Center City Sips, and various everyday ruminations.

I hate when teabags open up in my tea. That was a waste of $1.08, he wrote back in 2014.

Youngs social media posts have also become more tame over the years, but in January, he responded to another user who posted, Men that act like females <<<<<<, by saying, Thats what happened when men raised by a bunch of women.

Derogatory comments on women were a consistent theme across many of Youngs tweets.

Ur not a whore, you just have a friendly vagina, Young wrote, seemingly to no one in particular, in 2011.

In 2012, he posted, I see why professional black dudes marry white women. Their crazy is way less then black women crazy. Lol
The mother of a homicide victim said Det. Ronald Suchinsky sexually assaulted her in her car outside the former Police Headquarters. Read more

First, the detective sent unusual emails  asking the mother of a Philadelphia homicide victim to send him photos of herself, she recalled, or suggesting that they go out together.

Then, the woman testified Wednesday, she drove to Police Headquarters to meet the detective, Donald Suchinsky, for an interview about her sons case. Suchinsky, the lead investigator, got into her car, she said, and as they drove around looking for a parking spot, he groped her, put his hand down her pants, and digitally penetrated her.

I was out of it, the woman said on the witness stand Wednesday. I was frozen. A little numb.

The womans testimony was the centerpiece of the preliminary hearing for Suchinsky, who has since been fired over the alleged assault in 2020. And after Wednesdays proceedings, Municipal Court Judge Lydia Y. Kirkland held Suchisnky for trial on all charges, including aggravated indecent assault, official oppression, and stalking.

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Suchinsky, 57, did not comment during the hearing, and his attorney, Charles Gibbs, declined to comment afterward.

Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorney Lyandra Retacco, also did not comment outside the courtroom. Retacco has said previously that she believes Suchinsky may have victimized other women, and that an investigation into his tenure on the force remains ongoing.

The woman who testified Wednesday said her interactions with Suchinsky began the day after her son was killed in the fall of 2020 (The Inquirer does not identify victims of sexual assault without their permission).

The woman said she met Suchinsky at her mothers house to talk about the investigation, and later went to the Homicide Unit for a formal interview.

As the investigation unfolded, she said, Suchinsky routinely called and emailed her asking about things that had nothing to do with the case  requesting photos of her, or suggesting they meet to hang out.

She said some details of the assault in the car were foggy, including the exact date it happened. But others stood out, she said, including the fact that she was driving close to a daycare when he began touching her, and the fact that he told her several times that the investigation was complex  he used the phrase chess, not checkers to emphasize the point, she said.

She said she first told an uncle about the incident, and later reached out to a lawyer for guidance on what to do. After that, she said, she spoke to the Police Departments Internal Affairs Division. Suchinsky was benched in 2021 as that unit investigated.

The woman then filed a federal lawsuit in January. And the District Attorneys Office charged Suchinsky in February, and he was later fired.

Suchinsky remains free on bail. He is scheduled to return to court for a formal arraignment next month.
Drexel students protesting outside of president John Frys office Thursday for almost 51 hours, demanding Drexel assist the preservation of the UC Townhomes low-income housing project in West Philadelphia. Read more

For residents of the University City Townhomes, Feb. 21. loomed for weeks.

That was the date when the federally subsidized apartment complexs housing contract was set to expire, leaving residents uncertain if they would have to vacate the West Philadelphia property some have called home for decades.

Residents had previously been told the contract was up on Jan. 31, though IBID Associates, the propertys owner, requested an extension. It was one of several amid the nearly two-year campaign fought by activists with the Save UC Townhomes Coalition to preserve the property from a proposed sale and demolition.

At Drexel, just blocks from the UC Townhomes, some of those activists escalated their efforts this week, holding a 78-plus hour sit-in outside university president John Frys office for what they call a campaign against corporate greed and displacement of the complexs mostly Black and brown residents.

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Beginning Tuesday morning, about 14 students occupied a corridor to demand the university contribute $10 million to preserve the UC Townhomes as 100% affordable housing.

The group, which at one point was joined by about 40 additional demonstrators, also demanded that one of IBIDs principals, Brett Altman, be removed from Drexels real estate advisory council.

Were planning on being here for however long it takes for our demands to be met, said Chelsea Martin, a fourth-year global studies major who phoned from the protest.

In an email statement Thursday, Fry underscored that Drexel is not involved in the sale or purchase of the UC Townhomes, but that the school acknowledged the complex and challenging situation surrounding it.

As a dynamically diverse university community, we encourage free inquiry, open discussion, and robust debate  with mutual respect, Fry said. In that spirit, we will continue to safeguard the right of student protestors to assemble peacefully without violating any University policies or disrupting classes or regular operations.

Fry also said he had previously met several residents of the UC Townhomes to discuss how the university could support them. According to Martin, students chose Frys office for the demonstration to pressure him to follow up on those talks.

Kevin Feeley, a spokesperson for IBID, did not comment on the demand for Altmans removal, but said the developer had recently requested yet another HUD contract extension, this one for two months should it be approved.

According to Feeley, 20 of the complexs 69 units remain occupied. Around two-thirds of the residents have vacated as IBID has helped provide Section 8 housing vouchers to be used with landlords at other properties.

We have been working with all residents who want our help to secure alternative housing, and that work will continue, Feeley said. For all residents who wish to work with us, IBID will continue to provide time for them to do so.

Meanwhile, student demonstrators slept in the building overnight despite facing an alleged threat of arrest and expulsion from officers in Drexels police department, who barricaded them into the corridor.

According to Martin, the barricade cut the students off from the publicly accessible portion of the building, though they had access to an exit door that opened onto Chestnut Street.

Martin urged for more transparency from the university surrounding its talks with residents, and thinks administrators dont believe the Save UC Townhomes Coalition has residents best interests in mind.

Over 30 students from the University of Pennsylvania held similar protests this week, demanding the university commit $10 million of its own to the preservation effort.

All of us are in community, weve been in meetings together, weve been communicating about the demands, Martin said. Folks are supporting each other from inside and outside.
The Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is pictured in Center City Philadelphia in May 2021. Read more

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is facing new accusations that it covered up sexual misconduct, this time involving a former priest who allegedly forced himself on multiple women and told them the unwanted encounters were special trials ordained by God.

In court filings this week, a 27-year-old woman said church officials failure to disclose previous complaints against the Rev. Kevin Barry McGoldrick enabled abuse she endured after he was transferred from Philadelphia to Nashville in 2013.

Even after the Philadelphia archdiocese had substantiated her claims that McGoldrick had plied her with bourbon and then sexually assaulted her while he was serving as a college chaplain in Tennessee, she said, church officials here still refused to acknowledge theyd received reports years earlier of his involvement in similar misconduct.

The woman, now living in Virginia and identified in court filings only as Jane Doe, made those accusations in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that seeks hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from church officials and McGoldrick himself in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

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Her legal action follows dozens of similar suits against the archdiocese in recent years alleging abuse by clergy and cover-up by the officials overseeing them.

Many of those claims have involved decades-old abuse and have been thrown out of court for falling outside state time limits on when a civil suit can be brought. But the lawsuit filed Monday is notable not only for the recency of the misconduct it alleges but also for the church officials it accuses of turning a blind eye.

Lawyers for the accuser say former Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput failed to disclose earlier investigations into McGoldrick and signed off on his transfer to Nashville in 2013. That move came two years after Pope Benedict XVI had tapped Chaput to take over the Philadelphia archdiocese and oversee reform efforts after a series of damning grand jury investigations highlighted its failures in handling clergy sex abuse complaints.

The archdioceses knowing acquiescence and silence with respect to the known  activities of pedophiles, sexual predators, child molesters, and  mentally ill individuals constituted a course of conduct through which acts of sexual perversion and the violation of young female adults [was] condoned, attorneys Brian D. Kent, M. Stewart Ryan and Alexandria MacMaster wrote in the womans court filing.

A spokesperson for the archdiocese and its current archbishop, Nelson J. Perez, declined to comment on the suit.

Efforts to reach McGoldrick, who has since volunteered to leave the priesthood and is married to a former employee of the Nashville diocese, were unsuccessful Thursday.

Ordained in 2003, McGoldrick, 48, served as a pastor and minister at several Philadelphia-area parishes including Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Port Richmond, St. Timothy in Northeast Philadelphia, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Monica in South Philadelphia, Holy Name of Jesus in Fishtown and Roman Catholic High School  before his transfer to Nashville to become chaplain at Aquinas College.

According to the lawsuit, even during his time in Philadelphia, McGoldrick had developed a reputation among parishioners and his fellow priests for his frequent socializing with younger women hed met through the course of his work.

Like many whose paths led them to Nashville, he arrived with dreams of music stardom. While there, he cut an album and toured, performing at Christian music concerts as well as the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. He talked theology over drinks in a YouTube channel he created and dubbed Whiskey Couch.

It was during that same period, McGoldricks accuser says, that she fell victim to his advances.

According to the womans account, he began inviting her and others to his quarters during her junior year at Aquinas for dinner and drinks. During one such visit in 2017, she said, he began touching her inappropriately and plied her with bourbon to the point that she blacked out.

Though the woman acknowledges in her lawsuit that she doesnt remember what happened, she believes she was sexually assaulted. The next day, she says in the suit, McGoldrick begged her not to tell anyone and continued to pursue her despite her efforts to put distance between them.

The woman says she reported the incident to the Diocese of Nashville in early 2019, but it was not until she filed a police report, sued the Nashville diocese and alerted the Philadelphia archdiocese to her claims against McGoldrick that church officials began to take note.

In January 2020, a church investigation in Philadelphia substantiated her claims. And within months, the diocese of Nashville settled her suit for $65,000.

Still, officials there maintained that they were unaware of any previous complaints against McGoldrick before he was transferred to Aquinas in 2013. In fact, a spokesperson told Philadelphia-area watchdog group Catholics4Change that McGoldricks superiors in Philadelphia had sent a letter describing him as a priest in good standing  standard practice when clergy members transfer between dioceses.

McGoldricks accuser also says in court filings that even after the Philadelphia archdiocese substantiated her allegations and McGoldrick began the process of laicization, church officials avoided her repeated questions over whether theyd received any earlier abuse complaints involving the priest.

She was shocked, she says, to learn last year while reading an article online that at least two other women had filed complaints against McGoldrick in 2013 and that the archdiocese had investigated those allegations.

It remains unclear what that earlier church investigation uncovered. According to the suit, it involved allegations from one woman who said McGoldrick insisted on serving as her spiritual director, invited her on religious pilgrimages to Europe, persuaded her to move to an apartment near him, and eventually raped her.

Another woman  a former church employee  asserted that McGoldrick sexually harassed her in 2012 and would book them couples massages, saying they needed a break from their messed up parish, according to the lawsuit. She eventually moved away from her parish and friends to escape his attentions, it said.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia never disclosed either the existence or the results of that probe. Had they, the Virginia accuser says, she might have been spared the abuse she says she endured.

If there was ever a case of reckless disregard for the safety of the public and parishioners, said her attorneys, its this one.

Neither McGoldrick nor the archdiocese has officially responded to the lawsuits claims in court.
Leslie Odom Jr. will be inducted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame on Thursday. Read more

Leslie Odom Jr. will be honored Thursday when a brass plaque on South Broad Street adds his name to the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame.

Odom Jr., 41, grew up in East Oak Lane and came to fame in the Broadway musical Hamilton, for which he beat out Lin-Manuel Miranda for a best actor Tony.

The multi-hyphenate has since found Hollywood fame, released four albums, and written two books, including I Love You More Than Youll Ever Know, a new childrens book written with his actor wife, Nicolette Robinson, and illustrator Joy Hwang Ruiz.

This fall, Odom Jr. returns to Broadway in Purlie Victorious, the 1962 satire about racism in the American South, as star and a producer. And he has the central role in David Gordon Greens reboot of The Exorcist, as the father of a possessed child, also due this year.

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Plaques will be unveiled outside the University of the Arts Hamilton Hall at 320 S. Broad Street at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. A (sold-out) gala will be held at 6 p.m. at Vie at 600 N. Broad, with performances by the Spinners, Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie, and others.

Odom Jr. spoke this week from his home in Los Angeles. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Are you surprised to be going into the Walk of Fame?

It actually comes in as a request. Would you mind being honored, or would you agree to be honored? Its a very respectful and loving way they come at you. So the yes came from me right away.

Youre young to be so enshrined.

I understand what you mean, but Im also not a kid. Ive lived though enough seasons, thank goodness, that if your city singles you out this way, its a wonderful opportunity in a time when Im still building. They could have waited 25 years, but Im certainly happy to come back to Philadelphia in a season of my life when Im just getting started in many ways and when I could be useful to a city that was so good to me.

You were born in Queens and moved to Philly when you were how old?

I was 6 or 7 years old when we moved to Philadelphia. I came of age in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, for better or worse, has a lot to do with the man I am today.

 READ MORE: Leslie Odom Jr., Bacon Brothers, Patty Jackson, John DeBella, and Ed Rendell are Philly Music Walk of Fame inductees

Where did you start singing?

In church. We were at Zion Baptist Church on Broad Street, when Dr. Leon Sullivan was there, and then Gus Roman took over and we followed Pastor Roman to Canaan Baptist Church [in Germantown]. It connected singing to something holy and spiritual. We were there to serve, to make an offering.

I really dont remember having some kind of voice that knocked people out. I spent a whole lot of hours in my parents basement, trying to get better.

Were you a hip-hop kid?

Even then, you could see that hip-hop was becoming the popular music. R&B got harder. That was part of the kinship that I had with Lin-Manuel. It was like we grew up in the same cradle. I understood that jukebox. With a character like Burr, hip-hop was obviously the main driving force musically, but I also got to do jazz, R&B, folk.

Youre going back to Broadway. Tell me about Purlie Victorious.

Ive pursued the rights to this show for six years and was finally able to convince the Davis children and the estate of Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee to trust me with their fathers work. The list of African American writers that have been produced regularly on Broadway is very short. Purlie Victorious hasnt been produced on Broadway since 1962.

Were going to do the original play. Alan Alda was in the original production, and as weve been doing readings and workshops, he told us this amazing story about Dr. King coming to the 100th performance of Purlie Victorious. Theres a picture with the cast taken backstage.

Mr. Davis was a great American. You talk about a Walk of Fame? That was a man who earned his place on the Walk of Fame for Black America, in film and on the stages of this country. I just think [the play] deserves to be produced. Its a real honor to get to do it in this time.

On your 2019 album, Mr, you include a sample of Sidney Poitier saying They call me Mr. Tibbs!, from In the Heat of the Night. Youre doing an Ossie Davis play. Who are your Black entertainer role models?

There are a lot of great Philadelphians. John Coltrane wasnt from Philadelphia, but he spent time there with his family and has been a great inspiration to me. I grew up when you couldnt find a bigger act than Boyz II Men, and they were such a fine example of uprightness and fun and fraternity. And then Marvin, Nat, Sam Cooke, of course.

Theres this stunning detail in your bio. At 17, he made his Broadway debut in Rent.' How did that happen?

When I was 16 the show came to Philadelphia, to the Merriam Theater. And Im hearing on Power 99 and Q102 that they were going to have auditions at [Delaware Avenue dance club] Shampoo. An open call, a cattle call. I convinced my parents to let me go.

What did you sing in the audition?

I sang For All We Know [a 1934 song, later sung by Donny Hathaway]. The most inappropriate song for a rock musical.

 READ MORE: 'Hamilton' star and jazz man Leslie Odom Jr. coming home to Philly for July Fourth

We spoke in 2016 about your self-titled album. You said: The album is called Leslie Odom Jr. The idea is to find out who is that guy and keep being true to that. Seven years later, who is that guy?

Thank you for that question. Ill hope you wont mind the way Im going to skirt the answer. I have two children, 10 years of a marriage. My parents live five blocks away, here in Los Angeles. I have a pretty clear understanding of who I am. And as nice as it is to talk to you every seven years, the best place to show people who I am is through the work. Through the choices I make. Thats the record of who I am.

As a Black man, do you make it a priority to play people of substance? I was walking around Philadelphia, and saw a plaque honoring William Still, the abolitionist you play in Harriet. In Murder on the Orient Express, youre a doctor. In Glass Onion, a computer genius.

It is that serious for me. The first couple decades of my career, a lot of it was learning, keeping the lights on. I made some mistakes for sure. But from here on out, its very important to me to leave behind truthful renderings of Black life.

That includes a wide spectrum. It includes the joy that Ive known. Ozzie calls being Black a secret cup of gladness. I want us to be able to recognize ourselves. The Black people that have known me and loved me on the streets of Philadelphia and have continued to love and support me. Everywhere I go.
Zulene Mayfield, an environmental activist from Chester City, being turned away from entering a meeting of the Philadelphia LNG Export Task Force on Friday at the Courtyard Philadelphia South at the Navy Yard. The picture is from a video taken by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. Read more

Environmental activists say they were blocked from entering or testifying Thursday at a hearing of the Philadelphia LNG Task Force, which is exploring the possibility of the first liquefied natural gas export facility along the Delaware River in or near the city.

Longtime activist Zulene Mayfield, who owns a home in Chester, a potential site of the facility, attempted to enter the hearing but was told she had to leave because the room at the Courtyard Philadelphia South at the Navy Yard was at capacity. At the time, others were allowed to stand in the back and along the walls of a small conference room where the hearing was held.

I want to talk about this sham process that this Liquefied Natural Gas Task Force is doing, Mayfield said at a news conference before trying to enter the meeting room. This committee and their process is deceptive. It reeks of systemic racism when you lock out a community that you know will be affected and impacted.

Mayfield was joined at the news conference by a member of the task force, Pennsylvania State Rep. Joseph Hohenstein (D., Philadelphia), who also objected to activists being kept from entering, or testifying. He said he had attempted to add panelists, including Mayfield, to the hearing agenda on Wednesday but was told it was too late.

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Despite my reservations, I placed my trust in the chair of the LNG Task Force that we would have an open debate that would provide a space for the voices of environmental justice communities so that they could speak truth to power, Hohenstein said. That trust has been lost, and it will take much to regain it.

However, State Rep. Martina White (R., Philadelphia), chair of the task force, said in an email before the meeting that Rep. Hohenstein has his facts wrong.

White said Hohenstein submitted names of prospective panelists after the slots for the testifiers was filled. White said others would have a chance to testify at future meetings, which have not yet been scheduled.

We look forward to working together in a bipartisan way to engage all of the different stakeholders involved in this conversation, White said.

What is the LNG Task Force?

White introduced legislation that created the task force a year ago. It was passed by legislators and signed by former Gov. Tom Wolf.

White said she initiated the task force in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine and the energy problem that presented to Europe. Pennsylvania, she said, could fill part of the void by providing natural gas for export, but a port would be needed.

Though the task force does not name a specific port, the only currently known plan for such a facility is in Chester. There, Penn America Energy has targeted a 60-acre waterfront site now occupied by a warehouse complex. Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland has supported the plan because of the tax revenue and job opportunities it could create.

 READ MORE: A proposed LNG plant in Chester would be gigantic and hardly anyone knows about it

The task force is expected to send its recommendations to Gov. Josh Shapiro later this year.

Mayfield, who owns a property just off the Chester waterfront, has long fought projects she thinks will bring pollution and traffic that will hurt the community.

The panel at the hearing did include Adam Nagel, a representative of PennFuture, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. The other four panelists represented industry, business, or trades. Nagel told the panel that PennFuture opposed an LNG facility because of the danger he said it presented in creating or shipping the liquefied gas, as well as pollution from methane venting. Methane is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Philadelphians are far too familiar with the health impacts from the fossil fuel industry given the citys long history as a former site of the largest oil refinery on the East Coast  primarily Black and brown residents of South and Southwest Philadelphia faced health battles for generations due to their proximity to the former PES refinery, Nagel said.

Jobs are desperately needed

However, industry representatives presented LNG as safe while providing a big economic opportunity for the region.

David Cuff, president of the Pilots Association for the Bay and River Delaware, said the professional mariners who work the Port of Philadelphia and elsewhere on the river are highly trained and have a solid safety record. He said theyve piloted thousands of large ships, including LPG carriers, petroleum tankers, and other vessels. An LNG facility would mean more work.

The ship-handling skills and local knowledge held by the state pilots are second to none in any port in the world, Cuff said.

Lisa Himber, president of the Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay, said 50,000 jobs are directly related to the Port of Philadelphia, which is responsible for $50 billion a year in economic activity, and generates $2 billion in state and local taxes.

With global demand for LNG increasing every year, Himber said, a new LNG terminal here can only strengthen the ports competitive position.

State Sen. Anthony Williams (D., Philadelphia), a member of the task force, said that he understood the environmental concerns but that jobs are desperately needed.

My hope is that in this space, that we create employment  good union-paying wages, Williams said.
Despite what Nicki Minaj told us in her 2012 hit single, it appears not all Starships are meant to fly.

Thursday morning, SpaceXs Starship rocket successfully lifted off from its South Texas launchpad, a feat for what the company has billed as the most powerful rocket ever built. Still, minutes later, sparks flew and the rocket exploded above the Gulf of Mexico. No people were on board.

Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder, hinted ahead of the launch that an explosion was a possibility, saying there was a 50% chance of success.

Im not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement, Musk said at the Morgan Stanley Conference last month. [It] wont be boring!

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Musk said Thursday that it could take several tries before Starship has a successful run. A successful test flight would mean the rocket would reach speeds fast enough to enter orbit and complete nearly a full lap of the planet before splashing down near Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.

Just getting off the launchpad marked a major success. SpaceX employees cheered and sprayed a bottle of champagne.

During a Sunday Twitter Spaces session, Musk said the biggest concern for Starship would have been if it fireballed and melted the launch pad, which would cause damage that would take months to rebuild. According to The New York Times, the launchpad appeared to be largely intact.

SpaceX is now looking to its next test flight, informed by data collected during Starships roughly four-minute flight.

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, SpaceX said in a tweet Thursday after the rocket exploded. Todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.

Musk says Starships ultimate goal is to send humans to Mars for the first time. NASA has plans to use a version of the rocket to land astronauts on the moon for the first time in 50 years.
Police on the scene at the Marie Dendy Recreation Center at 10th and Jefferson Streets, where a 15-year-old was shot in the back Wednesday afternoon. Read more

A week after city officials held a media event at a North Philadelphia recreation center to tout new surveillance cameras to improve safety for children, police said a 15-year-old boy was shot in the centers playground area Wednesday afternoon.

Just before 4:15 p.m. at the Marie Dendy Recreation Center along 10th Street between Jefferson and Oxford Streets, the teen was shot in the back, police said. He was taken by medics to St. Christophers Hospital for Children, where he was listed in stable condition.

Investigators reviewing video from the new cameras saw that an unidentified assailant rode up on a bicycle in the playground area and began firing at the victim, police said. A gun was recovered at the scene.

Evidence markers were placed next to the playground equipment where the shots were fired.

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Last Wednesday, city officials held a news conference at the recreation center to announce that 100 surveillance cameras were being installed at or around 14 recreation centers.

The locations were dubbed Safe Play Zone camera sites and were selected by police based on crime data.

The Marie Dendy center was picked to have 11 cameras, city officials said.

According to the Parks and Recreation Department, nearly 300 incidents of gun violence have taken place around recreation centers and playgrounds since 2019.

In May 2021, a 19-year-old woman was shot at the playground next to Dendy Recreation Center. The woman survived but no arrest was made.
Police in North Philadelphia on the scene of a double shooting in this Subaru that left one man dead and the other in critical condition Wednesday night, April 19, 2023. Read more

A 25-year-old man was killed and a second man was critically wounded when they were shot inside a car Wednesday night in North Philadelphia, police said.

Just before 8:30 p.m., both men were inside a Subaru on the 200 block of West Ontario Street when at least one assailant shot them multiple times.

The 25-year-old man was transported by police to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:43 p.m., police said

The second man, whose age was unknown, also was taken by police to Temple with multiple gunshot wounds. He was listed in critical condition.

Police reported no arrests.
Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi on Thursday unveiled the first step in a comprehensive effort to foster diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at the university, including creating an online hub for students to find equity resources, investing in existing on-campus support, developing a comprehensive faculty hiring and retention program, and scrutinizing the schools current system for reporting bias.

But across campus at the Flex Theater and over Zoom, a coalition of Black faculty members simultaneously hosted an alternative teach-in event, saying the universitys beleaguered diversity efforts ring hollow, and calling the format of Bendapudis presentation  one in which viewers were not permitted to ask questions in real-time  an example of false transparency and the attempt to silence us all.

Its insulting in the sense that theyre not even giving us the chance to participate in the process, nor ask questions about it, said Gary King, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State and coauthor of the More Rivers to Cross report, which in 2021 outlined diversity issues to address among faculty at Penn State. In particular, the report called on the university to address lackluster efforts to hire and retain Black professors, and found that a majority of Black faculty who responded to a survey said they had faced racism from students, administrators, supervisors, and colleagues.

Bendapudis livestreamed Thursday event, King said, was essentially a teaching of what not to do with regard to matters of anti-racism and DEI, particularly as it relates to an announcement of a grand plan ... thats going to affect almost 100,000 students, and its also going to affect staff, the faculty as well.

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 READ MORE: What gets measured gets managed: Penn State president launches her vision for the university

The teach-in, which drew dozens in person and online and featured student and faculty speakers, is a time-honored academic method hearkening back to activism on college campuses around the Vietnam War and civil rights in the 1960s and 70s, King said.

It is important to have an independent voice from the administration, he told the group Thursday.

A university spokesperson said the format of the livestreamed discussion between Bendapudi and Jennifer Hamer  the special adviser for institutional equity, whose findings were presented during the hour-long conversation  was selected because it would be difficult to expect members of our community to ask questions in a town hall format when they had not yet had the benefit of hearing the findings or initial recommendations, having not heard any initial institutional commitments, nor had time to digest them.

The presentation included a link to a form to submit questions or comments, and Bendapudi said students, faculty and staff will be able to provide feedback on a summary of the universitys findings to be published on the schools website Friday.

During the universitys livestream, Hamer extended her thanks to various groups, specifically naming the More Rivers to Cross authors.

Theyre the ones I feel like have been really pushing for the university to do more, she said. We absolutely heard you and appreciated the time that you gave us earlier this semester.

During the livestream, Hamer said she had spent eight weeks meeting with campus stakeholders to understand where the universitys existing DEI efforts stood, and developing recommendations including centralizing siloed DEI strategies across the campuses, investing in hiring and retaining diverse professors, and bettering the system for reporting bias and harassment.

Still, the teach-in highlighted the rift over Penn States diversity initiatives and comes amid mounting tensions at the university over racial equity. Last fall, Penn State canceled its plans for a Center for Racial Justice  an initiative born from the 2020 racial justice protests and once touted as just the beginning of the universitys antiracism efforts. The cancellation drew rebuke from more than 400 faculty members who, in a letter to university leadership, accused Penn State of backsliding on commitments to racial equity.

 READ MORE: Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi defends decision to cancel Center for Racial Justice

Bendapudi, Penn States first president of color who started her tenure in 2022, later defended the decision to reverse course on the center, saying the university would still prioritize racial equity, including measuring retention of students of color and the diversity of its faculty.

The university again faced backlash last fall after a conservative student group planned to host a campus event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McGinnes. The school ultimately canceled the comedy show the day of the event, citing violent student demonstrations and counterprotests against the far-right white nationalist group leader.

 READ MORE: Penn State cancels appearance by Proud Boys founder after protest and threat of violence

And earlier this month, professor Michael West, head of the African American studies department, publicly resigned from his post, blaming university leadership for breaking commitments to hiring tenure-track African American studies faculty, as well as wavering on their commitment to diversity.

Since his resignation, West, who has been at Penn State for four years, said his concerns have been dismissed.

In a statement through a university spokesperson, leaders said claims that the college broke promises to the African American studies department are false and that they are seeking a new head of the department.

During Thursdays teach-in, West was commended by King as one who exemplifies what courage is, and what it takes to change a university, a community, a society, a world.

As they say in East Africa, when the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, West told the group. It is from there, in the grass, that the soul of the university must be lifted up  and the struggle for racial justice fought, and won.
The number of Philadelphia officers out with injury claims has dropped by 31%, while the number cleared for court duty has more than tripled. Read more

For years, Philadelphia police officials had been alarmed by an internal list that tracked the number of officers who were out of work but still getting paid.

The list, updated every Monday, first grew by dozens of names. Then by hundreds.

Cops stayed out longer, with injured-on-duty claims, while continuing to collect their full paychecks  plus a 20% raise, in the form of tax breaks provided by Pennsylvanias Heart and Lung Act, a generous disability benefit for first responders.

And doctors handpicked by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 diagnosed the vast majority of officers as being so injured that they couldnt even do menial work, like testifying in open criminal cases.

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By September 2021, the weekly list of injured cops exceeded 650  a staggering 14% of all patrol officers in Philadelphia, and a vastly higher percentage than in other major cities.

For the last year, The Inquirer has investigated potential fraud and abuse in the police disability system as part of a series, MIA: Crisis in the Ranks. Since the first installment was published in February, the weekly total of cops who are labeled no duty has changed dramatically.

Now, according to a recent list obtained by The Inquirer, the number of officers out with injury claims has dropped by 31%, while the number of injured officers cleared for court duty has more than tripled.

Two FOP-selected doctors, meanwhile, have left the Heart and Lung program, and Holmesburg Family Medicine, a Northeast Philadelphia practice that evaluated most injured officers, closed its Frankford Avenue doors in July.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw in February called abuse of the disability benefit absolutely repulsive. She acknowledged that the steep drop in officers listed as injured-on-duty is a sign of progress.

While its certainly a positive trend in the right direction, the fact remains that we still need all officers who are able to return to work to do so in as expeditious a manner as possible, Outlaw said in a statement last week.

To be clear, when personnel are legitimately injured, we want them to receive the best care available; none of us are looking to rush them back, she added. However, if individuals are taking advantage of the system, and that can be proven, we dont want or need them back in our ranks.

Stay home, get a raise

Under the Heart and Lung program, there is no cap on how long officers can remain out of work, or how many times they can submit a claim during their careers. The investigation found that at least 74 officers had been unavailable for two or more years, far longer than accepted treatment guidelines recommend.

The newspaper reported that some officers who were supposedly too hurt to do police work managed to simultaneously hold down second jobs, in violation of a police directive, or engage in other strenuous activities, such as competing in a softball league. While out of work, officers do not have to pay state or federal taxes on their police salary, creating an incentive for some to milk the system.

The investigation found that compared with other cities, Philadelphia had a much higher percentage of its entire police force  11%  out of work due to injuries in late 2021. In Phoenix, 0.6% of officers were out with injuries. In Tampa, Fla., it was 1%; in Portland, Ore., about 1.9%, and in Chicago, that number was 3.3%.

In October, then-City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart released an audit that showed that the city had spent a massive sum since the 2017 fiscal year on salaries for injured officers: $205 million. But little had been done to investigate or punish abuse of the program, the audit found, due to unreliable city data and bureaucratic mismanagement.

Rhynhart said on Friday that the decrease in officers who are listed as injured is a positive development, but speaks to the need to have a much more thorough process in place for keeping track of those who are on Heart and Lung and Injured on Duty.

For much of the last two decades, city officials have grumbled among themselves about police officers taking advantage of the Heart and Lung benefit.

Former Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey was the most outspoken critic of the benefit, when he ran the Police Department from 2008 to 2016; the number of officers who were listed as being unavailable to work did shrink toward the end of his tenure.

In recent years, though, that number ballooned.

Rhynhart said the mayors office, the Police Department, and the Office of Risk Management need to work closely  and consistently  to review data about police injuries, and investigate fraud.

That type of rigor and coordination isnt occurring, she said. I wouldnt say that its surprising. Its disappointing. But it can be fixed.

The doctor isnt in

Police officials, from Ramsey to Outlaw, have long complained about the role that FOP-selected doctors play in the Heart and Lung system.

The union has held the right to choose which doctors treat its members as part of a settlement reached with the city in 2003. Philadelphia is, in this regard, something of an outlier; other large cities, like New York and Chicago, dont allow their police unions to hold such power.

As part of its investigation, The Inquirer found that some of the FOP-backed doctors have been involved in questionable practices; one even falsely claimed to be a Philadelphia police officer when she was arrested on a DUI in 2020.

 READ MORE: Takeaways from our investigation into doctors chosen by the police union to treat injured cops

Last December, one Heart and Lung doctor, Rocco Costabile, resigned. Another, Richard Berger, stepped away in April. Both men practiced at Holmesburg Family Medicine.

Their absence left only one Heart and Lung doctor, Paul Sedacca, and created an instant backlog of patients. In response, the city began instructing injured cops to begin seeing another physician, Robert Heininger. But according to sources familiar with the disability system, the union has told some members that they should not be seen by Heininger because it had not OKd his selection.

Kevin Lessard, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, said the city is working with PMA  a third-party company it pays to help manage the Heart and Lung program  to reach a contract with Temple University Hospital, which could treat officers at an occupational medicine clinic.

As the City continues to work on improving this issue, the latest figures indicate that some progress has been made, Lessard said Friday.

 READ MORE: Reform bill targets disgraceful abuse by Philly police of a disability program

After Rhynharts audit in October, John McNesby, president of the Philadelphia FOP, acknowledged that the police officers union and the city needed to work together to prevent officers with bogus or questionable injuries from collecting injured-on-duty pay.

We need to get those cops back to work, and were willing to sit down starting this afternoon and put some of them back to work, McNesby said during a news conference at the unions headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia.

The FOP declined to comment for this article.
Students from two Philadelphia schools closed by asbestos - including Mitchell Elementary, shown in this file photo - are expected to return to in-person learning May 1. Read more

Two Philadelphia schools closed by damaged asbestos now have plans to reopen in person in a few weeks.

Students who attend Building 21, a West Oak Lane school closed since March 1, are slated to return to their school May 1, district officials said. In the interim, the schools seniors are learning a few days a week at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.

And Mitchell Elementary, a Southwest Philadelphia K-8 closed since early April, will remain closed for the rest of the school year, but its students will relocate to McMichael Elementary, also beginning May 1.

 READ MORE: What to know about the ongoing asbestos issues in Philly schools

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McMichael, in Mantua, is about three miles from Mitchell; students will be bused from Mitchell to McMichael.

Mitchell principal Stephanie Andrewlevich, in a letter to families, said McMichael was chosen because it can accommodate all of Mitchells 339 students, and offers the school a separate floor, separate space for breakfast and lunch, and a separate entrance and exit.

Thank you for your immense patience and cooperation while we worked collaboratively with the district to identify a relocation space for staff and students to come together in person for learning and laughter while environmental repairs are made at Mitchell School, Andrewlevich wrote. A committee of district staff and Mitchell leaders worked together to find an appropriate space for relocation, she said.

By contrast, district officials had initially ordered Building 21 relocated to Strawberry Mansion High School, a plan that parents roundly rejected. Few students showed up to Mansion, and district officials at one point said they were exploring alternative sites for in-person learning.

But that never happened. Instead, environmental work at the school is wrapping up and, pending the results of more environmental testing  conducted both by the district and by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers  Building 21 staff and students will be back in their building on Limekiln Pike on May 1.

A third school, Frankford High, will be closed for the rest of the year because of damaged asbestos. Though officials said they would explore relocating students, no site has been publicly identified yet, and Frankford students are learning virtually indefinitely.

The vast majority of the district nearly 300 buildings were built when asbestos was a common building material in floor tiles, pipe insulation, and some paint and cement products. Undamaged asbestos is not dangerous; when damaged, it can release potentially toxic fibers into the air.

Asbestos was discovered at all three schools in plaster and paint that had been erroneously labeled as non-asbestos containing for years, calling into question the accuracy of environmental records and state of building safety at dozens of other Philadelphia School District buildings.

The districts Inspector General is now investigating the mishandling of the situation at Building 21.

As more inspections occur, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has said he expects more buildings to turn up damaged asbestos, with more closures possible. Students last day of school is June 13; staffers school year concludes June 14.
Save UC Townhomes protesters gather outside Marriott Hotel Center City on Wednesday. The group demanded the city assist in its fight to preserve the 69-unit federally subsidized housing complex in West Philadelphia that's planned to be demolished and sold by its owners. Read more

For the first 16 years of Mel Hairstons life, home was elusive.

The 45-year-old remembers bouncing between residences as a teenager before settling in at the University City Townhomes, a 69-unit affordable housing complex in West Philadelphia. There, Hairston found community.

Nearly three decades later, hes fighting to keep that community alive.

He and about two dozen Save UC Townhomes protesters convened Wednesday outside the Marriott Hotel in Center City  where Mayor Jim Kenney was speaking at a luncheon  to demand the Kenney administration assist their campaign to preserve the federally subsidized complex at 40th and Market Streets.

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Many areas of the city dont have a safe place for children, said Hairston, who watched his daughter grow up in the complex. With the violence going on, your child can get shot, can get snatched off the street. In the townhomes, we dont have to worry.  Its a safe space.

In 2021, the buildings owner, IBID Associates, announced it would not renew its Section 8 contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Soon after, Hairston and other residents were told they had to find housing elsewhere.

After multiple extensions, the contract that was set to expire Jan. 31 has now been pushed to the end of February, buying the remaining residents a few more weeks to search for a home as IBID aims to demolish the site and sell it to developers who reportedly valued it at at least $75 million.

Residents in 13 units  around a third of the Townhomes occupancy  have remained on site, citing a dearth of affordable units in other neighborhoods and discriminatory landlords who are wary to accept the housing vouchers they were provided.

Oversize cutouts of painted faces presided over the protest, attached to wooden sticks and hoisted proudly in the air  faces of the sick and elderly of the Townhomes, many of them Black and brown residents who were unable to attend. They stood outside as Kenney attended the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphias annual mayoral luncheon and discussed his priorities for his last year in office.

A smaller group of protesters entered the hotel during the mayors event but were escorted out by security. No arrests were made, according to the group.

Among Save UC Townhomes demands were that Kenney preserve a minimum portion of the complex for affordable housing, grant displaced occupants the right to return in the future, and give the group a seat at the table in plans for the property.

Protesters have also taken aim at the mayors administration for what they see as a failure to communicate with Townhomes residents the outcome of an ongoing federal lawsuit between the city and IBID Associates, which sued to block City Councils moratorium on demolitions at the site.

Sarah Peterson, a spokesperson for Kenneys office, declined to comment on the suit.

Affordable housing is and has always been a priority to the Kenney administration, Peterson said in an email. Despite limited federal, state and local funding, the Citys Department of Planning and Development and the Citys full-service community development nonprofit PHDC work together to create and preserve affordable housing. The need outweighs the resources, but we are using creative strategies to maximize opportunities for residents in need.

For Krystal Young, a 29-year-old single mother who remained at the Townhomes, that need is immediate as she searches for alternative housing amid a record surge in rental costs in Philadelphia.

Kevin Feely, a spokesperson for IBID Associates, said in an email that the buildings ownership has worked with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to issue residents tenant protection vouchers, which HUD issues to low-income families who are displaced from public housing to assist with rent payment at other properties.

Since the announcement of its intention to opt out, IBIDs relocation experts have been available to work with all residents who sought our assistance, Feeley said. That work continues, as evidenced by the growing number of residents who have relocated from UCity Townhomes.

But according to Young and housing experts who joined the protest, landlords can choose whether they accept the vouchers  and for Young, many hadnt.

I couldnt get scheduled in to even see the property, because they wasnt accepting them, Young said. What can we do, when a landlord doesnt accept vouchers?

Young, who has a 14-year-old daughter, had to put her education on hold as she searches for apartments full time. Before she was told about the lapsed contract, Young was studying at Community College of Philadelphia toward a degree in nursing to help provide for her family.

Activists with the Save UC Townhomes organization said that some low-income residents were paying around $90 per month to live on the property, a figure determined by their income level. Many had lived there for decades. Residents benefited from the highly walkable area with amenities and hospitals nearby, making them hesitant to leave and willing to march on City Hall for their cause.

Stop putting profit over the people, Young said. Were gonna fight back, were going to. Were not going to stop until we get what we need.
Lt. Sean Williamson, 51, was killed June 18, during a building collapse at a fire scene at 300 W. Indiana Ave. in Philadelphia's Fairhill section. Williamson was a 27-year veteran of the Fire Department, most recently assigned to Ladder 18 located in the Hunting Park section of the city. Read more

Two more men are facing federal charges in connection with the June conflagration at a Fairhill pizza shop that resulted in the death of Philadelphia fire Lt. Sean Williamson, federal authorities announced Tuesday.

Prosecutors said one of the men  Isaam Jaghama, 29, of Philadelphia  was caught on security cameras helping a friend  the buildings owner Al-Ashraf Khalil, 29, of Philadelphia, who had already been charged in the case  in setting the blaze that destroyed Star Pizza, Fish and Chicken on the 300 block of West Indiana Street.

Authorities did not identify the second man now facing charges as his case remains under court seal.

Williamson, 51, died after the three-story building collapsed on him and five other firefighters who were inspecting the damage. His body was uncovered in the rubble after an hours-long search.

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 READ MORE: Truly one of our best: Hundreds mourn Philadelphia firefighter killed in Fairhill building collapse

According to charging documents, Khalil planned the fire weeks in advance along with Jaghama and others in hopes of collecting a payout on his nearly $500,000 fire insurance policy on the building.

Using surveillance footage, investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives identified two men entering the pizza building through a basement door shortly before smoke began billowing out of the building around 1:30 a.m. on June 18.

Prosecutors now say those men were Khalil and Jaghama, who fled the scene shortly after with the assistance of an acquaintance.

Khalil returned moments later in a car driven by the third man who has since been charged but whose name prosecutors have not yet released. The collapse that killed Williamson, a 27-year-veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department, occurred while both suspects were on the scene.

Khalil filed a claim with his insurance company that same afternoon and initially told investigators hed been at home in Northeast Philadelphia when he learned of the blaze from a tenant in one of the apartments he leased out above the pizza shop.

But footage later obtained from nearby security cameras showed him and Jaghama leaving the burning building during the time Khalil said he was at home.

He was arrested days afterward at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after what prosecutors have described as an attempt to flee to Jordan to escape prosecution.

He has remained in custody since then. His lawyers, however, insist he had nothing to do with the crime.

Mr. Khalil had no role in starting the fire of this property and is in awe of the courage of the firemen involved and especially the sacrifice of Lt. Sean Williamson, defense lawyer R. Emmet Madden said. He gives his condolences to the lieutenant and his family during this difficult time. He has and will continue assisting fully in this ongoing investigation.

The exact nature of the relationship between Khalil, Jaghama and the third man charged remains unclear, as does whether the cooperation Madden described led to the newly filed charges.

According to court records, ATF agents arrested Jaghama on Monday in Philadelphia. His lawyer, federal public defender Elizabeth A. Toplin, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

Like Khalil, Jaghama faces counts of conspiracy and arson punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of 17 years and up to life in prison.

Khalil faces an additional count of lying to federal investigators that is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Sheryl Lee Ralph, left, and husband Pa. state Sen. Vincent Hughes attend the premiere of "Abbott Elementary" at The Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California, on Dec. 4, 2021. Read more

Sheryl Lee Ralph, who stars as the unflappable veteran teacher in the hit comedy Abbott Elementary, will be the commencement speaker for Rutgers University main campus in New Brunswick on May 14.

Ralph, who plays fictional Philadelphia public school teacher Barbara Howard on Abbott, was among the first class of undergraduate women at then-Rutgers College in 1972, the university said. The Emmy award winner and Broadway star graduated in 1975 at age 19, near the top of her class, with a degree in English literature and theater arts. Along the way, she earned the lead in a campus play, the school said.

Her selection was announced at Rutgers board of governors meeting Thursday.

 READ MORE: Abbott Elementarys Quinta Brunson will speak at Penn education schools commencement

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As we celebrate the birthday of Paul Robeson, great actor, great artist, outstanding athlete, outstanding student, Im so happy to represent his legacy as one of the first women, especially one of the first Black women, to graduate from Rutgers College, Ralph said in a statement. Legacy matters.

Shes not the only Abbott Elementary star on the graduation speaker circuit. Last month, the University of Pennsylvanias Graduate School of Education announced that Quinta Brunson, star and creator of the show and a Philadelphia native, would be its graduation speaker.

The career of Ralph, the wife of Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent Hughes, spans decades stretching back to her performance as Deena Jones in the 1982 Broadway hit Dreamgirls, for which she was nominated for a Tony award. She won a 2022 Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her Abbott Elementary role. Her character, she has said, is based in part on her mother-in-law, Ann Hughes, who had been a longtime Philadelphia school system secretary.

In 2002, Ralph was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

Dana Redd, former mayor of Camden and a 1996 graduate of the Rutgers School of Business-Camden, will be the commencement speaker at Rutgers-Camden on May 15.
State Rep. Torren C. Ecker (center) making his opening statement at the start of a symposium hosted by the Pennsylvania House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order. Read more

A Pennsylvania state representative who was a key proponent in the Republican effort to remove District Attorney Larry Krasner from office is under investigation for suspected driving under the influence after a car crash Tuesday night.

The Pennsylvania State Police reported that State Rep. Torren C. Ecker, 37, crashed a 2020 Honda Accord into a guide rail on Carlisle Pike in Huntington Township, which is between Harrisburg and Gettysburg.

The state police report said Ecker was driving south on Carlisle Pike just after 11:45 p.m. when the Honda drifted into the guide rail, causing the car to become disabled.

Alcohol was a factor in this crash. Investigation continues, the state police said in the report, which was released Wednesday.

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The state police on Thursday said the results of a blood test are pending and could take several weeks to complete.

In a statement, Ecker (R., Adams) said: Most importantly, I am relieved that my lack of judgment did not result in any injury to others or myself. I take responsibility for my actions. To my family, constituents, and colleagues, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible behavior and ask for your forgiveness.

As this process moves forward, I will accept accountability and seek to restore the trust so many have put in me.

Ecker was a member of the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order that investigated Krasner for the Philadelphia prosecutors policies on crime. Ecker had called for Krasners impeachment before the committee was formed.

In January, Pennsylvanias Commonwealth Court ruled the impeachment effort was unconstitutional.
A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot in Southwest Philadelphia on Thursday morning, police said  the second teen to die from a gunshot in Philadelphia in less than a week.

Police said the teen was shot twice in the head about 10:30 a.m. near 53rd Street and Grays Avenue. Police took him to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died a short time later.

Police said the preliminary investigation suggests the teen may have been part of a group attempting to break into a rowhouse on the street. Detectives found a ladder propped up against the side of a rowhouse on Grays Avenue, and an air-conditioning unit appeared to have been ripped from the second-story window of one rowhouse.

There was at least one bullet hole through the glass of that second-story window, police said, and the shot appeared to have been fired from inside the house. Police found blood inside, but the teen was found collapsed about 50 yards away in the middle of 53rd Street.

Initially, police thought there were people inside the house, but it was empty when SWAT officers cleared it. Crime scene officers and detectives were collecting evidence from inside Thursday afternoon.

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Police said the teen, whose name has not been released, did not live in the neighborhood where he was shot.

He is the second child to die from gun violence in Philadelphia in less than a week, and the eighth to be fatally shot this year. More than 40 people under 18 have been injured in shootings, according to city data.

 READ MORE: Simon Gratz students grapple with losing a friend  a pain too many Philly teens have endured

Just last Thursday night, 16-year-old Nafis Betrand-Hill was fatally shot near his home in North Philadelphia.

Other victims this year include Semaj Richardson, 16; Shaheed Saoud, 16; Isaiah Odom, 17; Anthony Pinckney, 14; Neko Rivera, 15; and Devin Weedon, 15.
Volunteers put up signage during a gathering at The People's Townhomes at 40th and Market Streets in Philadelphia in December. Read more

The drama surrounding the future of the University City Townhomes in West Philadelphia could be drawing to a close, multiple sources familiar with the negotiations say.

The owner of the site, IBID Associates, is close to reaching a settlement with the City of Philadelphia that would secure a portion of the land for a new affordable housing development. A fund would also be established to provide resources to the 69 displaced households for their housing needs. Most of the tenants have already left the site, according to IBID.

The proposal has not been finalized and approved by U.S. District Court, which has jurisdiction because IBID sued the city and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier after she enacted a temporary demolition moratorium at 3900-60 Market St., along with changing the zoning of the parcel.

At the time, IBID described her Council legislation as an illegal and unenforceable effort to prevent it from exercising its constitutional right to sell the property.

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The judge overseeing the case still needs to sign off on any settlement before it becomes final. Parties on both sides hope he will do so in the coming weeks.

The court has ordered that no one involved discuss the case until it is approved. IBID, Gauthier, and the City of Philadelphia declined to comment.

But sources familiar with the negotiations between Philadelphia and IBID say that the city would obtain a half-acre of the site at 40th and Market Streets for future development of affordable housing. The rest of the site would remain under IBIDs control for sale and future redevelopment.

IBID would provide $3.5 million for the displaced households, or $50,000 per family, with the fund administered by the city. Major University City institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, will provide resources for a separate, services-based fund to support the tenants.

The controversy over the site began when the federal subsidies supporting the existing low-rise affordable housing complex at 40th and Market were set to expire, and IBID Associates decided not to renew the contract.

The vast majority of affordable housing in the United States is supported through federal programs that encourage public-private partnerships, with contracts often lasting decades. When the agreements expire and land in an area has appreciated in value in the interim, many for-profit owners decide to sell.

Thats precisely what happened in University City. IBID Associates is a partnership that includes Brett Altman as a principal, whose family acquired the property in 1982 for $1 to operate the townhomes. But 40 years later, the market in this corner of West Philadelphia had changed radically and they hoped to sell the land to a developer with plans for life sciences and housing.

That decision meant that all tenants would have to be relocated. They received housing vouchers that would allow them to settle affordably in other locations.

The tenants, allied with housing activists and student groups, quickly organized protests of the sale. They occupied the site even after subsidies expired, protested local powerbrokers, and drew substantial media attention to the case.

After initial negotiations between Gauthier and IBID broke down, the case wound up in court. The most recent settlement conference was held on Friday, according to the court docket.

The life sciences real estate market has cooled substantially since the debate over the future of University City Townhomes began in 2021, which may complicate the plan for a new complex built speculatively for the sector. But the site is on the edge of the University of Pennsylvanias campus, with easy transit access to Center City, and will likely remain exceedingly marketable  if the zoning changes at the heart of the lawsuit are altered.

This story has been updated to clarify that IBID and the University City anchor institutions will be paying into separate funds to support the displaced tenants and to clarify Brett Altmans role.
Business owners and public officials: What if I told you about an idea to help address the shortage of workers, give Pennsylvania a leg up in competing for talent, reduce turnover, and better protect your staff during daunting situations like the COVID-19 pandemic?

Youd probably say, Tell me more.

Finally, what if I told you the idea might cost businesses less than what is being spent right now on a big problem while providing a benefit of intense appeal to young employees?

Youd probably be whipping out a pen and saying, Where do I sign?

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So, keep all that in mind when I tell you this: The idea is a government-run, paid family and medical leave program, one that has been tried in various forms to solid success in several other states  and is now proposed for Pennsylvania.

Heres how the plan would work: All workers statewide contribute a small percentage of their pay to an insurance pool, overseen by the state government, which pays out claims to employees who qualify for paid leave. The pool also reimburses employers if they cover the claims as part of their short-term disability policies. Employers wont have to contribute, but they will be expected to make the states family leave benefit available to all employees. (Of course, employers can even offer a more generous benefit if they wish.)

Yes, I know: For some of you, the term government-run is a showstopper, a cue to race for the exits, to slap a protective hand on your wallet.

But dont let that reflex blind you to the documented reality.

 READ MORE: The single policy intervention that can improve health for moms and babies | Expert Opinion

As founder and chair of Diversified Search Group, Ive spent nearly 50 years identifying top executives and matching them with jobs where they can shine. The best of them have always been distinguished by their ability to go beyond the conventional wisdom, to look honestly at the data, and to embrace fresh ideas that the data support.

When it comes to paid leave, heres what the data tell us: Paid leave programs save companies money, even when companies have to contribute to the programs.

First, they reduce or eliminate the cost already being borne by the roughly one-quarter of employers that now offer paid leave for one or more parents after the birth of their children.

Second, a shelfful of studies shows that paid leave for parents of newborns makes them significantly more likely to return to full-time work for the same employer.

I know from a lifetime of helping companies find new people for jobs that turnover is a huge expense  equal to at least one-fifth of the pay for a given position. How can turnover cost money? From recruiting, interviewing, moving, and training new employees, and hidden costs such as lost productivity and higher stress for those forced to fill in for long periods.

Third, studies also show that this benefit, which supports your workers and their loved ones during times of challenge or crisis, brings them back to the workplace with less stress and more loyalty, leading to greater productivity  and, therefore, profits. A 2019 study found that when manufacturing companies offered a paid leave program, their profits rose by more than 10%; in the tech sector, profit increase topped 25%. So you save money by retaining your employees, who  thanks to paid leave  are able to work hard and feel invested in the company.

You save money by retaining your employees.

Although some opponents of paid leave argue that the burden of filling in for workers outweighs the benefits, the Boston Consulting Groups report Why Paid Family Leave is Good Business found that the opposite is true.

Heres a factor that employers, particularly small businesses, should weigh heavily: competition for talent.

Ive had a front-row seat many times as gifted managers tried to decide whether to move to a new job in a new state. These are complex decisions, with family issues often weighing heavily.

Pennsylvania is competing for business investment and talent against states that have set up paid leave programs, including our neighbors Delaware, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. In those states, when crises hit  a premature birth, an ill relative, a military deployment, or an ailing parent  companies are better able to help their workers cope and rebound.

The pandemic has made workers more discerning and demanding about work-life balance and equity.

Given all that, it is time to pass a paid family leave bill in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, akin to the 2021 Family Care Act, which had strong bipartisan support. This measure would add an important arrow to the competitive quiver of Pennsylvania companies.

This is particularly true for small businesses that simply cant afford to offer the perk on their own dime. Thats why seven out of 10 owners of those businesses told a Small Business Majority survey they favor a government-run paid leave program.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania needs a stronger competitive edge in recruiting the strongest candidates to staff the companies of this great state, and universal access to paid leave unquestionably puts our state in the game.

Judith von Seldeneck is the founder and chair of Diversified Search Group, an executive search group based in Philadelphia.
Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the day our fathers testified before the U.S. Senate.

Though only recently removed from the clutches of Philadelphias criminal justice system and Holmesburg Prisons fierce cell blocks, Allan Lawson and Leodus Jones, leaders of the Prisoners Rights Council and the Community Assistance for Prisoners, were on an unprecedented mission.

After suffering through their dehumanizing experience as imprisoned human guinea pigs, they felt compelled to inform Congress that thousands of indigent prison inmates in Philadelphia were being exploited as experimental test subjects. Not only were inmates confronted with unreasonably high bail, horrid conditions, and pervasive sexual violence, they were imprisoned in a bizarre world of medical research. While in prison, they and others had been subjected to unethical tests of viruses, fungus, asbestos, LSD, and a component of Agent Orange, conducted by a University of Pennsylvania faculty member. All testing behind the prison systems razor wire fences and high walls, they demanded to Congress in 1973, should be stopped.

Sen. Edward Kennedy and the other members of the Senates subcommittee on health, which was looking into the controversial issue of human experimentation in the aftermath of the shocking Tuskegee syphilis study revelations, learned that the countrys vast penal gulag had become the backbone of pharmaceutical development and human research. During the postwar years, thousands of prisoners from Sing Sing to San Quentin had been incorporated in a wide array of clinical trials including testicular biopsies, injections of radioactive materials, studies of typhoid and scurvy, and burns, in which the participants must be burned. And to Philadelphias everlasting embarrassment, its county prison system was the site of some of the most extensive experimentation in America.

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 READ MORE: Penn must cut ties with Dr. Albert Kligman, who conducted unethical human research on Black men | Opinion

In their testimony, our fathers recounted the chilling jail experiences they and other Philadelphia inmates experienced. Prisoners had shampoo dropped in their eyes for 24 hours and were infected with potentially deadly bacteria, all for just a couple of dollars per day. Jones said he was laid up for two days after taking an unidentified pill, for which he believed he was paid $30. Prisoners may have been given informed consent waivers, they said, but to most prisoners, it was akin to reading hieroglyphics  meaning, impossible to understand.

The experiments were often spearheaded by Albert M. Kligman, a dermatologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Over the years, they testified, Kligman conducted several thousand experiments on thousands of prisoners, testing drugs and cosmetics that Kligman (and Penn) then profited from.

As children at the time, we saw our fathers return home with strange scars on their bodies and surly dispositions that forever changed the family dynamic. Once loving and supportive, they now turned grim and abusive. Their marriages failed, and our childhoods turned dark and problem-ridden.

We saw our fathers return home with strange scars on their bodies and surly dispositions.

As our fathers explained at the Senate hearing, these experiments included men and women who had not been found guilty of any crime. Of the nearly 3,000 inmates in the Philly jail population at the time, 85% were pretrial detainees who didnt have the money to post bail before their trial, so spent an average of nine months in jail awaiting their day in court. Once their trials took place, Jones and Lawson said, two-thirds of these inmates were eventually found not guilty or saw their cases dismissed.

Making bail was a constant goal, so indigent detainees flocked to the only way to earn money in jail: Kligmans medical experiments. Little did they know what was harmless and what was a potential threat to their health.

This went on for decades, during which no one in Philadelphia seemed to have a problem with the citys criminal justice system becoming the nations largest purveyor of clinical trials. Hence the reason for the recent flurry of apologies from Penn, the city, and the College of Physicians, which recognized Kligman with an award in 2003.

But these apologies  which our fathers needed 50 years ago  are too little, and too late.

We consider ourselves survivors of the horrific, unethical experiments and torture conducted at Holmesburg Prison. Weve been heartened by the recent action taken by the city of Philadelphia to address social injustice by awarding $9 million to demonstrators for physical and emotional injury during the protests over the killing of George Floyd, as well as providing $500,000 for free mental health counseling. This action gave us a glimmer of hope that our voices may finally be heard and help given to us and our families.

But so far, our pleas have not been answered.

Both of our fathers have since died. Even in cases like ours, where Holmesburg prisoners are no longer alive, families deserve help for the suffering they experienced. They, too, were affected by the physical scarring of their loved ones bodies, side effects from the experiments that still affect their everyday lives both mentally and physically, the depression, the nightmares, the inability to provide for their families due to recurring flare-ups of debilitating side effects, withdrawal, and psychological trauma. Divorces became common; fathers became estranged from their children.

We and other survivors and their descendants of the Holmesburg prisoners need mental health therapy so that our families can heal from the social injustice perpetrated by Kligman and his collaborators. Where is our justice? Where is our help? Where is the needed compensation to help us and our families receive the physical and mental services that will help us to heal? Why are you ignoring our cries for help from injuries that have crippled us and our families for life?

Adrianne Jones-Alston and Pam Godwin-Lawson are the daughters of former inmates at Holmesburg Prison, living in Virginia and Philadelphia, respectively. Next Wednesday, they will discuss reparations and the Holmesburg experiments at St. Josephs University.
The needs of disabled residents should be particularly important in Philadelphia, which has the highest disability rate of the largest U.S. cities; 22% of Philadelphians living in poverty are also disabled. Read more

When Maria Quinones Sanchez dropped out of the candidate-heavy mayors race April 9, as the only Latinx candidate, she said:

Latinos are 18% of this city, and none of the candidates have been speaking to them, and I felt it was my responsibility as I exit to challenge all of the candidates to really speak to that community.

As a member of one of Philadelphias largest minority groups, Quinones Sanchezs statement resonated with me. I havent heard any of the many Democratic candidates for mayor even mention my community or what they would do to better serve it.

I am speaking of the one in six Philadelphians who are disabled  though the number is likely far more. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four U.S. adults has a disability  related to mobility, vision, hearing, or cognition, for instance  that impacts major life activities, such as working or getting around.

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The needs of disabled residents should be particularly important in Philadelphia, which has the highest disability rate of the largest U.S. cities; 22% of Philadelphians living in poverty are also disabled.

Do any of the mayoral candidates know these stats or have a disability platform? When I searched for data on where candidates stand on disability issues or disability rights, I found nothing.

Many of the current candidates have mentioned Philadelphias pothole problem in their ads. Millionaire Allan Domb even has an ad where hes driving over potholes for effect. But what about Phillys curb cuts? How many mayoral candidates know that Philadelphia was sued in 2019 under the Americans with Disabilities Act for having terrible curb-cut access? The ADA was, by then, almost 30 years old, and the suit alleged that the city had still not managed to comply with the law that its sidewalks be accessible to people with disabilities.

With only $3.2 million annually budgeted for ramps at the time of the lawsuit, it was determined that it would take 170 years to address the approximately 72,000 that needed to be replaced.

The suit was finally settled in October with an agreement requiring the city to build or remediate at least 10,000 curb cuts over the next 15 years.

Fifteen years. A disabled child on my block will have graduated college by the time our curb cuts are fixed.

A disabled child on my block will have graduated college by the time our curb cuts are fixed.

The problem is not just curb cuts. Its access everywhere. The ADA has been law since 1990, but for many Philadelphians, its as if it never happened. Its restaurants and venues that are supposedly accessible that have steps at the entrance. Or have inaccessible restrooms. When the Wilma Theatre opened on Broad Street after years of being in an inaccessible site on Sansom Street, it was crushing to discover people in wheelchairs were relegated to limited seating in the back row because of steps throughout the auditorium. And at my first visit to the Kimmel Center, I had to be carried to my seat and my wheelchair left a half-floor away because my seat was not accessible, even though my spouse had been told it would be when the tickets were bought. It was a frightening and humiliating experience.

Disability is rarely addressed during elections. While Democratic and even some Republican candidates seem eager to respond to many historically disenfranchised groups, people with disabilities  the largest single minority group in the U.S.  are not among them.

Its not just candidates at fault. I am sure some might talk about issues relevant to the disabled community if people asked them questions. But the media mostly ignores disability issues, and in years of covering elections as a politics reporter, I have yet to hear a debate moderator ask about disability platforms in any election forum, local or national. (I was pleased to see there was a forum Thursday for mayoral candidates on behavioral health that included intellectual disability.)

There was a flurry of media attention to disability during the 2022 midterms when then-Senate candidate John Fetterman had a stroke. There was more discourse when Fetterman was hospitalized for severe depression in February. But the tone of that conversation was largely uninformed and, in many cases, stigmatizing and judgmental.

Another element of disability rights ignored by both media and candidates alike is voter suppression of people with disabilities. Many disability rights activists hoped the pandemic and the advancement of mail-in ballots  which many disabled voters require  would change that. It has not. The GOP has discredited and lobbied against mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and nationally. I was paralyzed in 2016, and the city lost my application for an absentee ballot; Commissioner Al Schmidt ended up coming to my house to collect another. Would I have gotten to vote in those elections without his help? Seems not.

Gun violence in the city has led to long-term disability for hundreds of Philadelphians each year. Yet too often, they are left without necessary resources such as accessible housing. Why arent we talking about them?

 READ MORE: If you have a program to help paralyzed gun victims and they dont know about it, thats a problem | Helen Ubinas

The Mayors Office for People with Disabilities has a vague mandate, and its voicemail directs you to the 311 helpline. The new mayor should demand improvement, expansion, and clarity for this office.

These are just some of the myriad disability issues the mayoral candidates could and should address. As yet another election looms, candidates silence on disability renders people with disabilities voiceless and invisible. We deserve the dignity and respect of being heard.

Victoria Brownworth is a Philadelphia journalist and writer and the editor of Restricted Access: Lesbians on Disability and Coming Out of Cancer: Writings from the Lesbian Cancer Epidemic.
Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avoid a trial in the voting machine companys lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election. Read more

For Fox News, the first bill came due for airing repeated lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen. But whether the cable news network learned its lesson remains to be seen.

Fox paid nearly $800 million to settle a defamation lawsuit that alleged its cable news hosts and guests spread false claims that the technology used by Dominion Voting Systems helped rig the election for Joe Biden.

Donald Trump and his allies launched those lies, which helped to stoke the anger that led to a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Fox was a willing partner in promoting not only the election lies but Trumps entire chaotic and crooked candidacy and presidency.

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 READ MORE: The old fight against Trump begins anew | Editorial

Dominions lawsuit exposed how Fox executives and TV personalities knew the stolen election claims were false but continued to broadcast them anyway.

Fox, which has long promoted Republican propaganda, argued it was covering newsworthy claims about election fraud that were protected by the First Amendment. But the judge ruled the evidence was CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion and the 2020 election were true.

News organizations have a responsibility to report information accurately and fairly. Most strive to be right, but the litigation showed Fox operated as if the rules do not apply to it.

During the run-up to the Dominion trial, the judge sanctioned Fox for not turning over evidence in a timely manner and planned to appoint a special master to investigate whether the company deliberately withheld information regarding Fox founder Rupert Murdochs role.

That is all in keeping with the Murdoch media empire built on sleaze.

Ongoing fallout from a 2011 phone-hacking scandal involving Murdochs British tabloids has surpassed $1 billion. Fox paid $50 million to settle a sexual harassment scandal involving the networks founding chairman Roger Ailes and former host Bill OReilly in 2017.

Last year, Fox paid $15 million to a former female host and other women who said they were paid less than male colleagues, and an undisclosed amount to settle with the family of a Democratic political staffer after the network promoted a false conspiracy theory about his death.

Fox has long played fast and loose with the facts. Even worse, the networks impact on America since its founding in 1996 has spurred resentment, sown division, and led to a misinformed electorate.

Fox aided and abetted Trumps takeover of the Republican Party, which has morphed into an angry cult hellbent on undermining government institutions, driving the racial divide, and supporting foreign dictators.

One study found that watching Fox News leaves viewers less informed about current events compared with people who didnt watch any news. Another study found Fox News uses the word hate five times more often than its competitors.

Fox is the most-watched cable news network, and Tucker Carlson is one of its most successful personalities. He uses his show to prey on viewers fear and grievances while spreading disinformation.

 READ MORE: Dont confuse Fox with facts | Editorial

Carlson has voiced support for authoritarian strongmen like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, while also riling up viewers with nonsense about the dangers of immigrants and the great replacement theory. An analysis of more than 1,100 episodes of Carlsons show found it is one of the most racist in the history of cable news.

The Dominion settlement may have saved Murdoch, Carlson, and other Fox hosts from having to testify. But the company is not out of legal and financial peril.

Fox News faces another defamation lawsuit related to its spread of election lies. Smartmatic, another voting technology company, is seeking $2.7 billion. Meanwhile, Dominion is also suing other right-wing media companies that went even further than Fox in spreading election lies.

Following the settlement with Fox News, Dominion attorney Justin Nelson said, The truth matters and lies have consequences.

Perhaps. But Fox News barely mentioned the lawsuit and did not apologize for its actions. Sadly, until Fox viewers and advertisers wake up, the nearly $800 million payout may be just another cost of doing reckless business.
A citizen breaks down marijuana in a ten dollar bill as they roll a joint in New Jersey in 2021. Read more

If you have marijuana in your possession, you could either be arrested, fined or entirely left alone, depending on where you are in the tri-state area.

Pennsylvania has the most strict marijuana laws, whereas New Jersey fully legalized marijuana, and Delaware may be on the cusp of doing so in 2023. Many people in the Philly region have access to legal marijuana through New Jersey or by getting a marijuana prescription from an approved doctor. But there are also those still buying weed from unapproved sellers on the underground market.

 READ MORE: How do Phillys marijuana laws work?

Curious about the kind of trouble you can land in for marijuana? Here are the laws on marijuana possession in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

How much marijuana can you possess legally in Pennsylvania?

None. Nil. Zilch. You cant legally possess marijuana in Pennsylvania as its still considered illegal under state law. According to the state polices director of communications, Lt. Adam Reed, Marijuana is a Schedule I Controlled Substance in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As Pennsylvanias law currently stands, a person can be charged by any law enforcement agency in Pennsylvania for illegal possession of marijuana.

It doesnt matter how much marijuana you have on you. Police can arrest you for even less than 1 gram of weed if they find it in your possession. Out of the PA tri-state area, Pennsylvania is the only state yet to decriminalize or legalize marijuana statewide.

What if Im a Pennsylvania medical marijuana patient?

Medical marijuana patients can legally possess a 90-day supply of their medicine, but the law doesnt explicitly state what that means. Pro tip: As a medical patient, only buy cannabis products from your approved dispensary. They will only allow you to buy a certain amount and keep those products in their original packaging.

How much marijuana can you possess legally in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh?

While marijuana isnt legal in these Pennsylvania cities, local laws have reduced the penalties for marijuana-related offenses to a civil violation that doesnt appear on your criminal or driving record. This means police wont arrest you for possessing, buying or consuming small amounts of marijuana.

According to laws in both cities, a small amount is considered up to 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish/oil in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

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 READ MORE: Gov. Carney is still mum on legal weed in Delaware  but it could become law anyway

The reduced penalties only apply to possessing, buying and consuming  though, if youre caught selling weed, you will be arrested. Same deal if you have more than 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish/oil, you can get arrested. If youre caught with a small amount of weed, you receive a $25 fine. If youre caught smoking weed, its $100. Heres what you need to know about Phillys marijuana laws.

How much marijuana can you possess legally in New Jersey?

Six ounces. In 2022, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed bills into law that did three things:

Legalize adult-use marijuana. Decriminalize possession of weed (up to six ounces). Delete low-level marijuana criminal records.

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Since then, police wont arrest someone with six ounces of marijuana or less. It doesnt matter if the weed was bought at a legal dispensary or from someone in a parking lot. Heres what you need to know about New Jerseys marijuana laws.

What if Im a New Jersey medical marijuana patient?

The six-ounce rule still applies to medical marijuana patients. However, medical patients can only buy three ounces of marijuana per month unless terminally ill (then maximums dont apply).

How much marijuana can you possess legally in Delaware?

One ounce. Since 2015, state law has reduced the penalties for possessing one ounce of marijuana or less to a civil violation that doesnt show up on your criminal or driving record. If youre caught with a small amount of marijuana, expect a $100 fine.

For context: Weed is technically still illegal in Delaware, however, the state legislature passed a bill last year to legalize marijuana but was vetoed by Gov. John Carney. This year in March, the state legislature passed the bill again and is currently awaiting a signature or veto from the governor.

What if Im a Delaware medical marijuana patient?

Six ounces. According to state law, Delaware medical marijuana patients can buy three ounces of marijuana every 14 days, for a total of six ounces per month.
A long-running debate about stop-and-frisk has yet again become a campaign issue in the Philadelphia mayors race, with several top contenders expressing more openness to the controversial tactic than the current administration.

During a televised debate Tuesday night, seven candidates weighed in on how police should use stop-and-frisk as a means of fighting crime. The back-and-forth between the contenders was largely over whether they support constitutional stop-and-frisk versus unconstitutional stop-and-frisk.

None said they support the unconstitutional version. But in some ways, that conversation obscures the reality: Constitutional stop-and-frisk is a legal tactic that police can and do use in Philadelphia. Unconstitutional stop-and-frisk is illegal.

The bigger questions are whether mayoral candidates believe that Philadelphia police should be stopping and frisking more people, how they would ensure officers dont run afoul of the law, even unintentionally, and whether they think the benefits of more stops would outweigh the potential drawbacks.

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Data collected in Philadelphia have shown that an aggressive approach to the use of stop-and-frisk disproportionately targeted Black and brown residents, and that the stops were in many cases legally groundless.

Heres a look at the use of stop-in-frisk in Philadelphia and whats allowed under the law.

What is allowed right now in Philadelphia?

So-called constitutional stop-and-frisk  often referred to by police as pedestrian stops  is a legally authorized method in which police can stop and pat down a person for such things as guns and drugs.

Stopping a person is considered within the bounds of the Constitution if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person may be involved in criminal activity  a lower standard than the probable cause required for an arrest.

Frisking a person requires the officer to believe that person may be armed or is otherwise presently dangerous. A person merely matching the description of a report to police for a person with a gun does not, in itself, meet the legal standard. But if police observe other evidence they could initiate a frisk.

If that standard is not met, the stop or frisk could be considered unconstitutional and in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from being subjected to unreasonable search and seizure.

 READ MORE: Bring back stop-and-frisk? With shootings soaring, some on Council say the tactic merits another look.

Who came up with that standard?

The Supreme Court. The legal standard for stop-and-frisk was decided in the 1968 case Terry v. Ohio, a landmark case that allowed for the use of stop-and-frisk in America.

Thats why sometimes you hear people, including mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker, referring to the stops as Terry stops. The name is the legal term and refers to the Supreme Court case. There is no difference between a Terry stop and a constitutionally sound stop.

How has the use of stop-and-frisk changed in Philadelphia?

The tactic gained prominence in the early 2000s, when major cities such as Philadelphia and New York began emphasizing the strategy as a proactive way for officers to drive down crime.

Stop-and-frisk was used aggressively during the administration of former Mayor Michael Nutter, who was a strong proponent of the tactic. The ACLU sued in 2010 because police were overwhelmingly stopping people of color, often without legal justification. The city agreed to let the ACLU monitor the practice.

The number of pedestrian stops peaked in 2015 at about 200,000.

That year, Jim Kenney ran for mayor on a pledge to eradicate stop-and-frisk from Philadelphia, arguing its racially biased and ineffective. He was supported by myriad Black elected officials who said residents were unfairly targeted and in many cases antagonized by police. Under Kenneys administration, the number of pedestrian stops in the city plummeted to fewer than 10,000 last year, according to police statistics.

Still, Kenney did not end the practice, and, to a degree, softened how critical he was of its use, although hes been consistent that it should not return as a widespread tactic.

Racial disparities also have not abated. A 2020 ACLU report said Black residents were 50% more likely than whites to be stopped without reasonable suspicion. Kenneys administration pledged to take further steps to address biases.

What are the mayoral candidates saying about it?

Mayoral candidates debated the language around stop-and-frisk during Tuesdays forum, but none supported illegal stops.

Rebecca Rhynhart: I am against returning to the policy of stop-and-frisk, and the reason is because it has been proven to be racist and unconstitutional.

Cherelle Parker: We cannot afford to take any legal tool away from law enforcement so that they can ensure that our public health and safety is our No. 1 priority. I support whats called Terry stops. That means law enforcement must have just cause and reasonable suspicion.

Helen Gym: Im clearly against it because its unconstitutional, and I actually dont think we should be using that language. We want clarity for police officers. ... The last thing we need is a return back to the failed practices of the past. What we need is actual targeted interventions.

Allan Domb: I am in favor of constitutional Terry stops. ... I also feel that every one of you has the right not to be shot, and we need every tool that we have in order to prevent that from happening.

Jeff Brown: Im not for the old style stop-and-frisk because its illegal. ... But there is a form of stop-and-frisk that is being done today, and thats where you have cause, legal cause, to stop someone. And if you have legal cause to stop someone, you should, because it keeps our citizens safe.

Is stop-and-frisk an effective crime-fighting strategy?

In 2020, Philadelphia police found a gun in less than 3% of all stops, according to the ACLU.

Mary Catherine Roper, a civil rights lawyer who formerly worked at the ACLU, said the tactic does not get guns off the street, and it is very harmful to the community. She and other opponents have said stop-and-frisk erodes public trust in police, making residents less forthcoming with authorities who are investigating violent crime.

Proponents have pointed to Nutters administration, when the use of stop-and-frisk, along with other strategies, coincided with the citys lowest homicide rate in 50 years.

Other evidence contradicts that. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in favor of the practice, but it was swiftly and dramatically curtailed in 2013 when a judge ruled it was used in an unconstitutional manner. Pedestrian stops were slashed, and crime rates in New York still continued to decline.

Inquirer reporter Chris Palmer contributed to this article.
WASHINGTON  John Fetterman had been here before  but not really.

There were no billowy pink blooms on the cherry blossoms the first time around. The Washington Monument didnt seem to pop quite as boldly against the sky in January. When people approached to congratulate him, or ask for a picture, he felt numb, instead of flattered, like he does now.

Fetterman says his return to the Capitol this week after six weeks of hospitalization for treatment for clinical depression was his first time experiencing the Senate as himself.

Its so wonderful to actually be enjoying your job, because it really wasnt any of that during my time when I started here, Fetterman told The Inquirer in his first interview since resuming work in the Senate.

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 READ MORE: Its great to be back: John Fetterman returns to the Senate

As Fetterman readjusts to the daily life of a senator, he is also rounding out a year of intense highs and lows  a stroke that nearly killed him last May, winning a brutal campaign for a coveted Senate seat in November, and a public battle with severe depression. He returns to Capitol Hill, his depression in remission, eager to highlight Democratic priorities, as well as the importance of mental health care. And he and his staff are determining his legislative priorities, shaped by his health challenges, and how to assist him with his lingering auditory processing challenges (lots of iPads with transcription services).

Less than a week in, Fetterman said hes prepared to serve his full term.

Oh my gosh, of course I have six years ... absolutely, he said. I want to be, to serve Pennsylvania, and Im honored by the trust that they vested in me. ... I want to work to honor their trust.

It was a typical week back in some ways  a few votes a day, committee hearings, constituent meetings. Atypical in others: Fetterman chaired his first subcommittee hearing just days after resuming work, and hes meeting some newer staffers for the first time.

Still, his return was just one storyline in the Senate, which resumed Monday after a two-week recess. Reporters stopped lawmakers to ask about the debt limit, or a briefing on leaked Ukraine documents. And Fetterman wasnt the only senator in the spotlight: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also just returned after suffering a concussion, and Democrats are grappling with intensifying calls for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D, Calif.) to retire.

For Fetterman, the coming weeks will involve preparing for an office move and reacclimating to the Senate customs and logistics, all while continuing outpatient therapy for auditory processing.

The little stuff  forgetting his glasses and being late to a press conference, or getting stuck in a Capitol Subway tram car  bother him less now, he said, because of the tougher battle hes winning.

Being happy and having fun, thats the adjustment, Fetterman said in his subterranean temporary Senate office. And interacting with people  now I enjoy it.

Back in black on the Hill

As Fetterman stepped out of the SUV that had taken him from his Washington apartment to the Capitol on Monday, a crush of reporters and photographers waited. Wearing his signature black Carhartt hoodie and shorts, he didnt respond to shouted questions (he still has trouble hearing in noisy environments) but put his hands over his chest in gratitude.

Its great to be back, he said. Thank you.

Gratitude is overwhelming him these days. One of the first things he did when he got inside the building was join an all-staff meeting to thank his team.

Then he dropped off a Prantls almond torte and some beer for Sen. Bob Casey and the senior Pennsylvania senators staff, who had supported his own during his absence. Casey and Fetterman walked down to vote together  taking the long way past the cameras.

Im just amazed at how much better he sounds, Casey said. And how upbeat he was about not only the fact that he could come back, but also about the treatment he got. I think hes gonna be in great shape to resume his work.

Fettermans public battle with depression, which he announced when he checked into Walter Reed Medical Center on Feb. 15, in many ways marked a change in how the Senate talked about mental health. He received an avalanche of bipartisan support from colleagues who commended him for speaking out about an often stigmatized illness. Cards and donuts flooded his office. His disclosure prompted other lawmakers to speak about their own struggles with depression, which affects roughly 1 in 7 Americans and about a third of all stroke survivors.

Sen. Katie Britt, a Republican freshman senator from Alabama, who temporarily shared an office suite with Fetterman, has become a friend and visited him in the hospital, as did Casey.

Hes given hope and strength to so many people in this country, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters this week after a one-on-one meeting with Fetterman.

During the heated campaign last year, which Fetterman says likely contributed to his depression, retiring Sen. Pat Toomey described the Senate as a place with intense and sometimes informal, sometimes spontaneous communication. He suggested Fetterman might not be up to that, given lingering auditory processing and hearing loss following his stroke.

 READ MORE: From 2022: Sen. Toomey says Fetterman is not up to the job of senator, pointing to lingering speech issues following his stroke

Those challenges remain, but Fetterman has a system in place to ensure he can do the job. When hes on the move, an aide trails him with an iPad equipped with transcription software so that he can fully understand any impromptu conversations. His office is equipped with flat-screen TVs displaying transcriptions of conversations. Over the course of the week, he spoke at a press conference, questioned administration nominees, met with constituents, and cochaired a subcommittee hearing.

He is still disconnected from the rapid-fire conversations between lawmakers and reporters in the hallways, but his chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, said Fetterman wants to engage more.

He wants to be accessible and wants to answer questions and with a little trial and error, well figure out a system, Jentleson said. Hes not gonna be hiding.

Getting back to work

A few of Fettermans staffers waited for him to speak at a press conference on a breezy spring morning. Some had just met the big guy that week, and others were getting to know him for the first time post-treatment. They listened as he joined fellow senators at the foot of the Capitol to announce legislation that would ban members of Congress from buying or trading stocks.

Lawmakers should not be able to profit off of the same companies they are regulating, he said at the press conference. Lawmakers should be focused on getting results, not lining their own pockets.

It was a brief statement that he might not have given before getting treated, Jentleson said. Fetterman still sometimes jumbles some words as a result of the stroke but he gets his message across.

One thing thats different in a big way from before  that stuff was very anxiety-inducing, Jentleson said. Its hard to be grappling with clinical depression when everything you do is micro-analyzed and people make fun of every stutter and every mistake.

Scrutiny of his speech continued this week when Fetterman chaired his first subcommittee hearing on agriculture food and nutrition on Wednesday. His at-times choppy speech was ridiculed by some on Twitter, which Fox compiled into a story.

The hearing was particularly timely, given a Republican plan to restrict some benefits to SNAP in the new Farm Bill.

SNAP is one of the most effective programs to fight poverty and hunger, Fetterman said at the hearing. We need to come together and stop playing political games with Americans access to food.

For Fetterman, the return to work is also about elevating some of the priorities he ran on  like the Congressional stock ban and protecting food assistance programs. Sometimes he can do that just by showing up. The ethics press conference, for instance, was covered by several Pennsylvania news organizations.

During his hospitalization, Fetterman didnt miss many critical votes, but some nominations were put on hold, given the tightly divided chamber. At a hearing on banking, housing and urban affairs on Tuesday, he asked questions aimed at propping up three of President Joe Bidens administrative nominees.

Coming off of leave also means a long list of constituents eager to meet with you. His week included a half dozen meetings, including one with Michael Kovach, the head of the Pennsylvania farmers union. Kovach told him small-farm owners need help accessing federal subsidies. As he spoke, a flat-screen TV in the conference room displayed a transcript of the conversation.

I think if we tripled the staffing at NRCS (National Resource Conservation Services) that would be a great start, Kovach, a livestock farmer from Allegheny County, told Fetterman. And it would have to be folks with farming backgrounds but also the regulatory backgrounds. So itd be a tall order.

So it would be telling family farmers that we are really listening and that theyre invested in my survival, Fetterman said.

He asked Kovach to be a future witness in a hearing. Then an official Senate photographer sitting in on the meeting asked to get a photo of the two men, and Fetterman joked about them both having bald heads and gray beards.

Such little moments come as a huge relief to his staff, who saw him at his lowest point, when he wasnt eating or engaging at all. Fettermans expression as he walks the Senate halls may still be the scowl he was known for long before his health challenges, but one-on-one, hes bantering more, connecting with people.

Hes even joking about the (false) internet theory that he has a body double.

He has a steadiness and a positivity that was certainly not there before, Jentleson said.

Moving forward

When Fetterman left Walter Reed, he brought with him a collection of post-it notes his children had plastered on his hospital wall: pink and yellow squares filled with words of encouragement. You will get better. Best dad ever.

Fetterman also has a new wedding ring to mark 15 years married to Gisele, who he said helped him through the toughest year of their marriage. The Braddock-made silver band is from Studebaker Metals, inscribed G&J 15.

As he looks to the year ahead, Fetterman said his goal is exactly what he ran on  to hold the line for Democrats and Biden. He also wants to find ways to improve access to the kind of excellent mental health care he received. He gets choked up thinking about the people who dont have that support.

Before my treatment compared to now is beyond black and white, dark and day, he said. Im so grateful, and I would plead [with] anybody: If you or someone that you love  a friend, anybody  please do something about it, because treatment works and you dont have to suffer through that.

For now, his staff is still in a basement windowless office waiting for their permanent space to open up next month. Its cramped, across from where they print the Senate stationery, with low ceilings and bad lighting. Recently, Fetterman figured out the trip hes been taking underground only takes about 10 minutes walking outside.

He realized wed been going back and forth in these basement tunnels, Jentleson said. And he was like, Why arent we walking outside? The trees are in bloom.
Gallagher has grown in Asia over the last few years and with a number of the emerging economic global powerhouses based in the region it is an area of expansion for us, Wang said. Gallaghers proposition is all about delivering a great service to clients, which I am passionate about, and having a team based directly in Japan will enable us to ensure that our regional and multinational clients will get the very best in local knowledge and technical insurance expertise. The new team in Japan build in our long-standing presence in other parts of Asia, and I continue to look for further opportunities to expand our presence.
As a company, we are committed to helping people, businesses, and society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times, Coull-Cicchini continued. That means playing an active role on the climate change front, from supporting initiatives such as the Intact Centre through to equipping brokers with the practical tools and resources they need to help their customers adapt to the impacts of extreme weather.
Jain had invested in just three funds across the client base, according to the FSRA notice allegations. Jain was further accused of misleading the insurers by signing key documents when he had not met clients and unlicensed Tiffin was acting as the agent. In addition, Jain was accused of having actively attempted to conceal arrangements between Gold Standard and Tiffin when investigated by Hub.
Paul Adamson, CEO of GIG Gulf, said that the collaboration with the new shareholders, both KIPCO and Fairfax, has been extremely smooth and positive. He said he is convinced that Fairfax is well placed to ensure that GIG continues with its plan to be a leading regional insurer and pursue its growth path.
If you have underwriting data digitized, you can pass that data into any portal and send it off to any insurer and hit any API, he told Insurance Business. But none of that is possible if the underwriting data itself is not digitized.
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A parking garage collapsed Tuesday in lower Manhattans Financial District, killing one worker, injuring five and crushing cars as concrete floors fell on top of each other like a stack of pancakes, officials said.

Vehicles tumbled into what looked like a frozen stream of sedans and SUVs. People nearby described a fearsome rumbling, followed by screams.

Ahmed Scott arrived to collect his car after work and found a disaster in the making.

In video he shot from across the street, someone off-camera yells, Guard! 911! 911! Theres a building collapsing on Ann Street, followed by the sound of something crumpling. About 45 seconds later, two women run out, saying the building fell while they were inside it. A man stands on a fire escape as bystanders try to figure out how to help him get down. He eventually did, Scott said.

I hope aint nobody else in there, Scott recalled thinking, worrying for the garage workers hed gotten to know.

To Jadess Speller, a student at nearby Pace University, the collapse felt like an earthquake  like the earth opened up inside, like thats how violent it was.  Other students described seeing cars falling in the building.

One vehicle landed on its end in the garage entrance, a photo posted by Mayor Eric Adams office showed.

Authorities believed they had accounted for everyone inside the building, but searches continued Tuesday evening to make sure no one was in any of the squashed cars, Fire Department Chief of Operations John Esposito said. One garage employee was rescued via a neighboring roof after being trapped on an upper floor, he said.

He was conscious and alert and moving around, calling us. He just couldnt get down, Esposito said. Four of the injured were hospitalized and in stable condition, and the fifth refused medical attention, he said.

The garage caved in around 4 p.m., a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, and about half a mile (0.8 km) from the New York Stock Exchange. Pace evacuated an adjacent dorm and classroom building, and canceled all evening classes as it assessed the buildings safety. School officials sent the displaced students to a student center while working out other accommodations.

Don Mulligan was on the 17th floor of a nearby hotel when he heard a roar like a jet flying overhead and felt the high-rise sway.

You knew something was happening, said Mulligan, of Cincinnati. The hotel was evacuated, he said.

It wasnt immediately clear what caused the collapse. City Buildings Department records show the three-story structure has been a garage at least since the 1920s, and there are no recent permits for construction.

Messages were left for a parking company that lists the garage as one of its properties.

The collapse left the building completely unstable, Adams said at a news conference. Esposito said firefighters had to pull out because of the danger, conducting searches instead with a drone and robotic dog.

The building was all the way pancaked, collapsed all the way to the cellar floor, acting Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik said.

William Flashnick, 19, was in a Pace classroom when he and his friends thought they heard an explosion and ran to a window to look. As they opened the window, a plume of thick dust rose in the air.

When it cleared, they peered down into the parking structure, where cars were tossed asunder and a top deck had cracked open.

Flashnick initially worried for all of their lives. One of his first thoughts was of the World Trade Center, which looms over the neighborhood.

We freaked out. Given the history of this place, its a little scary, he said.

Photo: Cars are seen piled on top of each other at the scene of a partial collapse of a parking garage in the Financial District of New York, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and Deepti Hajela contributed.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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A Pennsylvania employer cannot be sued for blocking an employee from suing the third party responsible for her workplace injury, the states high court has ruled in reversing two lower courts.

In a case involving an employee who was bitten at work by a customers dog and then prevented by the employer from suing the dog owner, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has issued a strong endorsement of the exclusive remedy provision of the states Workers Compensation Act and refused to recognize an exception to that doctrine that shields employers from lawsuits related to job injuries.

In the 6-0 opinion written by Justice David Wecht, the high court stated that while the result may be unfair, it is not the courts place to subvert legislative intent based upon the outcome or equities of any one case.

Lindsay Franczyk did not seek to recover from Home Depot for the dog bite itself; she accepted workers compensation payments for her injury and related surgery. But she sued her employer for the economic harm she suffered when she lost the opportunity to file a third-party claim against the dog owner.

Franczyk reported the bite promptly to her supervisors, who investigated the incident, but barred Franczyk from having any further contact or interaction with the dog owner or any witnesses. Home Depot questioned two individuals who separately had brought dogs into the store, and also spoke to an eyewitness, but ultimately allowed all of them to leave the store without taking any identifying or contact information.

Home Depot contended that, because Franczyks injury occurred in the course of her employment, the WCA barred her claim notwithstanding any failure on its part to act more diligently in securing the information she needed to bring a third-party claim.

The high court granted Home Depot summary judgment, agreeing with the retailer that the WCAs exclusivity protected it from being sued because the harm of not being able to sue was intertwined inextricably with the workplace injury.

According to the high court, the WCAs linchpin is its exclusivity provision, which provides that the liability of any employer shall be exclusive and in place of any and all other liability to employees.

The court noted that over the long history of the WCA, courts have recognized only a few narrow exceptions to this exclusivity. It cited a few examples of possible exceptions involving intentional harm and fraudulent misrepresentation by employers in some states. But in almost all situations in Pennsylvania where there is a workplace injury, matters must be settled within the workers compensation system.

Two lower courts denied Home Depot summary judgment and ruled instead that Franczyks lawsuit could proceed. The lower courts agreed that the WCA exclusivity is not absolute.

The trial court found that Home Depot could not fail to obtain any identifying information from the third party, and then turn around and tell the employee that her only other remedy in this case is against that third party who she has no way to identify.

The Superior Court concluded that Home Depot was estopped from seeking WCA protection because its acts effectively stripped Franczyk of her ability to file a claim against the third-party dog owner, as contemplated by the legislature.

But the Supreme Court rejected what it called this novel exception to WCAs exclusivity. The exception proffered by the lower courts cannot be reconciled with the Acts design, purpose, or plain language, Justice Wecht wrote.

The court offered its view of what is often called the grand bargain of workers compensation:

The exclusivity clause of the WCA reflects the historical quid pro quo between an employer and an employee whereby the employer assumes liability without fault for a work-related injury but is relieved of the possibility of a larger damages verdict in a common law action. The employee benefits from the expeditious payment of compensation but forgoes recovery of some elements of damages. The comprehensive system of substantive, procedural, and remedial laws comprising the workers compensation system should be the exclusive forum for redress of injuries in any way related to the work place.

The court acknowledged that while the WCA generally precludes employees from bringing workplace injury claims against their employers, it preserves the employees rights to bring negligence claims against third parties who bear some responsibility for employee injuries. It further noted that when an employee recovers on such a claim, the employer may seek subrogation, recouping its workers compensation expenses up to the amount recovered from the third party.

Franzyck argued that an employer has a public duty to assist an employee in exercising its right to sue the third party, but the court warned that imposing such a burden could lead to precisely the sort of litigation the WCA seeks to avoid, because once an employers reasonableness becomes a factor determinative of liability, a trial likely follows.

Franczyk also argued that her claim against Home Depot was based upon an injury distinct from her workplace injury itself. But the court found that the asserted injury was intertwined inextricably with the workplace injury. Here the court cited a prior opinion that held that WCA exclusivity barred a lawsuit that sought relief for an insurers bad faith in settlement negotiations, which allegedly so adversely affected the employees psychological health that he attempted to take his own life. Even though the tortious acts occurred after the workplace injury and thus stated a distinct harm, those acts and the consequent injury were completely intertwined with the original injury, the court noted.

In closing, the justices offered that the court is not responsible for what might seem an unfair resolution:

If the result in this case is not entirely equitable for Franczyk, that is an unavoidable incident of the balance that the General Assembly struck. It is in the nature of global policy compromises that, in any given case, either party may receive more or less than what equity alone might call for. The General Assembly made a calculated if generalized judgment about the public interest writ large, and it is not our place to subvert legislative intent based upon the outcome or equities of any one case.

Topics Lawsuits Workers' Compensation Pennsylvania
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A judge has ended the nearly 50 years of federal oversight of police in Hartford, Connecticut, despite continued concerns the department still has not hired enough minority officers to reflect the citys large Black and Hispanic populations.

U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley in Bridgeport issued a 10-page ruling late Friday saying the plaintiffs failed to prove the police department was violating any part of the original 1973 consent decree agreement or revisions made to it in 2010. Dooley approved the citys request to dissolve the consent decree, which was to have ended four years after the 2010 revisions but was later extended.

The consent decree was one of the longest in the country and resulted from a 1969 civil rights lawsuit against city police by several Hartford residents. The lawsuit accused police of inflicting numerous acts of violence, intimidation and humiliation upon Hartford citizens based on their race and ethnicity.

Sydney Schulman, a Hartford lawyer for the plaintiffs who has been involved in the case since 1969, said Monday that he was reviewing the ruling and would be contacting his clients about a possible appeal or other actions.

I was totally shocked by getting the opinion, Schulman said. Im extremely concerned.  Its always been the position of the  plaintiffs that the city of Hartford should have a police force that reflects the population of the city of Hartford, which is mostly minority.

We need officers in Hartford who understand the culture and the community of color, he said. We need officers who understand the city, who are living in the city or have lived in the city. We need officers who are out on the street and can work with community residents in order to avoid the violence that weve seen.

Mayor Luke Bronin, a Democrat, said the citys commitment to improving diversity at the police department will not end because the consent decree has been dissolved. He also said in a statement that building trust and partnerships between the police department and city residents remains a priority.

Its important to recognize that the (consent decree) wasnt just about recruitment, it was also about promoting transparency and accountability, increasing civilian oversight, and embracing best practices in policing, he said. And while that work is never done, the Hartford Police Department has been a leader in those areas here in Connecticut.

A city police spokesperson did not return an email message seeking comment Monday.

Just last month, the city council passed a resolution calling for an indefinite extension of the consent decree until the police department fully complies with it.

In court papers filed in October, the plaintiffs said there has been little change in the racial and ethnic makeup of the department since the late 1960s. They said only about 35% of the 400-plus member force is non-white. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 36% of city residents are Black and 46% are Hispanic or Latino.

Corrie Betts, president of the Greater Hartford NAACP, called the judges ruling troubling and disappointing. He said he would be talking to national NAACP officials about a response, including possible legal action.

Given the troubling circumstances surrounding the Hartford police department, the decision really makes no sense at all, Betts said.

Firearms Cases

Besides not hiring enough people of color, the plaintiffs also claim the department has not been complying with the consent decree because it has failed to conduct immediate investigations into some instances of officers discharging their firearms. They also said the force is not always taking sworn statements from citizens when seeking arrest warrants as required.

The judge, however, rejected all their arguments and noted police officials have provided evidence of their efforts to increase the recruitment and promotion of minority officers.

Schulman said that while the department has increased recruiting of minorities, many of them have had trouble passing police academy tests. Betts said the department hasnt done enough to change those tests so more Black and Hispanic officer candidates get hired.

In court papers, police officials say there have been numerous reforms at the department, and the consent decree and federal oversight were no longer warranted.

The conditions present in 1969 that led to the federal jurisdiction are no longer present, city lawyers wrote. Simply put, over 50 years of litigation has exhausted any basis for continuing jurisdiction over this matter.

Photo: Police officers respond after an officer was stabbed in Spectra Boutique Apartments on May 17, 2018, in Hartford, Conn. A judge on Friday, April 14, 2023, has ended the nearly 50 years of federal oversight of police in Hartford, despite continued concerns the department still has not hired enough minority officers to reflect the citys large Black and Hispanic populations. (Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant via AP, File)

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Law Enforcement
German reinsurer Hannover Re on Wednesday became the third major company to leave a global climate alliance focused on reducing emissions that has faced growing political pressure in the United States.

Hannover said in an emailed statement that it was leaving the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance after careful consideration, without giving details.

Regardless of this, Hannover Re remains committed to its sustainability strategy, the associated goals and its support for the Paris Agreement, and aims to achieve full climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest, it added.

The move to leave the NZIA, part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero set up by U.N. climate envoy Mark Carney, follows the exit of founding members Munich Re at the end of March and Zurich Insurance earlier in April.

While Zurich had said it was leaving to focus on helping customers in the transition to a low-carbon economy, Munich Re said it was leaving because of antitrust concerns.

The charge that companies in such climate alliances could be guilty of breaking antitrust laws has been increasingly leveled by Republican politicians in some U.S. states as part of a pushback against sustainability efforts.

(Reporting by Tom Sims and Simon Jessop, editing by Helen Reid, Kirsten Donovan)

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BMS Group, the London-based independent specialist re/insurance broker, has entered into an agreement to acquire West Australian specialist broker Western United Financial Services (WUFS).

The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

WUFS was founded in 2002 and offers tailored insurance broking, risk management and claims handling services. The company advises on the full range of general insurance products as well as offering risk management solutions including the design, development, training and implementation of workers compensation, injury management and workplace health and safety systems.

WUFS is headed by Brett Waterman who has over 40 years of experience in the industry and is an owner of WUFS. Waterman was also a former president of the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) in Western Australia.

This announcement follows a number of recent acquisitions by BMS as they look to grow their operations in Australia. The transaction is also in line with BMS global strategy to deepen their experience in speciality lines within chosen markets.

BMS will acquire WUFS in full, with all staff and infrastructure transferring into BMS existing Australian business.

Waterman will remain in a leadership role after the acquisition and will lead the BMS business in Western Australia.

The acquisition of Western United Financial Services presents another step in the expansion of BMS in Australia and, as well as providing us with more depth in some specialties, it also gives us access to additional ones such as hospitality and transport. Brett and his team have built up a very successful and well-respected business and we look forward to working with them in the future, commented Andrew Godden, chief executive of BMS Australian business.

This is an exciting transition for WUFS as BMS is a partner that shares very similar values and, like us, is committed to ensuring all our clients are valued and that a commitment to service excellence is paramount, said Waterman. This deal will provide us with the advantages that come with being part of a global speciality broking organisation with significant risk expertise, depth of market knowledge and highly regarded technology platforms.

Source: BMS

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies Australia
Gallagher has launched an insurance brokerage in Japan, which specializes in insurance solutions to both commercial clients and wholesale facultative insurance to other brokers.

The Japanese unit is led by two former Marsh executives: Takuya Aibe and Tetsuro Nakazawa. Previously managing director at Marsh, Aibe has been appointed CEO of Gallagher Japans retail operations. Nakazawa was formerly Marshs placement leader, and has been named CEO of Gallaghers wholesale and facultative insurance division, which is dedicated to providing insurance services to other brokers in Japan, who may not have Gallaghers global access, scale and reach.

The business will form part of Gallaghers North Asia operations under Regional CEO Thomas Wang, who joined the company in 2021 to grow the firms presence in the region.

A team of approximately 15 people will look after clients from Gallaghers Japan headquarters in Tokyo, providing risk management and insurance solutions for businesses in sectors including property/casualty, marine, financial lines, energy, construction and aviation. As well as broking and risk management services, the team will also offer businesses support with employee benefits services and products.

The Japan team will complement Gallaghers existing reinsurance team in Tokyo, led by Tsuyoshi Noguchie, and part of the Gallagher Re global business.

Gallagher said it already has a significant client base in Japan, the worlds second largest developed economy. The creation of a new hub in the country enables the firm to further expand its offering and provide tailored products and services from a team that is based locally and understands the Japanese trading environment.

The launch marks another major milestone in Gallaghers plans to expand across in Asia. The firm already has hubs in Singapore and India, complemented by operations in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

I am thrilled to be leading Gallaghers insurance and risk management offering to clients in Japan. Gallagher is well known for its ethical approach to doing business and having an on-the-ground presence in Japan presents strong growth opportunities, commented Aibe.

As one of the worlds largest brokers with extensive access to global markets Gallagher is well placed to work alongside in-country brokers to support those looking to place insurance for more complex risks, Nakazawa said. Japan is home to many large businesses with a range of risk management and insurance needs and we can draw on the experience of our 43,000 employees globally, and our extensive 130 country strong network to ensure they get the right cover.

Gallagher has grown in Asia over the last few years, and with a number of the emerging economic global powerhouses based in the region, it is an area of expansion for us, Wang said.

With a team based in Japan, Gallaghers regional and multinational clients will get the best in local knowledge and technical insurance expertise, he added.

Gallagher is the brand name of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the global insurance broker, risk management services and consulting firm headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Ill.

Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Photograph: Mount Fuji appears behind the skyline of skyscrapers in the Shinjuku shopping and business district Monday, March 29, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Topics Agencies A.J. Gallagher
Russias second-largest oil producer Lukoil has bought into insurance company GARDIA, a former subsidiary of AIG, one of the worlds biggest commercial insurers, GARDIA said earlier this week.

(Editors note: Reuters included a note with this article saying: This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.).

AIG sold its subsidiary in Russia to local investors last year, following in the footsteps of many Western companies that left the country after the start of what Moscow calls a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

Could G-7 Sanctions Against Russia Have Unintended Insurance Consequences?

GARDIA said that as international reinsurance markets have become less accessible for the Russian oil and gas industry, managing technical and production risks in Russia and abroad has become relevant.

The acquisition of the insurance company (by Lukoil) will help improve the quality of risk management, create additional insurance capacity and portfolio diversification, it said.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Mark Potter)

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Russia
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Lawmakers in Iowas Senate passed a controversial bill Tuesday that would allow minors to work longer hours and work in currently banned roles, like serving alcohol at restaurants, the Des Moines Register reported.

Supporters of the bill  mainly Republicans  said it would give children valuable opportunities to work and get paid, whereas opponents  largely Democrats  said it would harm children.

Although two Republicans defied their party and voted against the bill with Democrats, the measure still passed 32-17 in the GOP-controlled Senate. The bill requires approval from the Republican-controlled House and from Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds to become law.

The bill would allow kids under 16 to work up to six hours a day, which is two more hours than currently allowed for that age group. It would also allow 16- and 17-year-olds to serve alcohol at restaurants, with written permission from their parent or guardian.

Ultimately, parents and kids will decide if they want to work or not, Reynolds has said favorably about the bill. It teaches the kids a lot. And if they have the time to do it and they want to earn some additional money, I dont think we should discourage that.

The U.S. Department of Labors top lawyer, Seema Nanda, disagreed, saying it is irresponsible for states to consider loosening child labor protections.

Democrats and labor unions echoed that sentiment, saying the bill would increase the chance of workplace accidents and injuries among youth.

The Biden administration this month urged U.S. companies to make sure they arent illegally hiring children to perform dangerous jobs, after an investigation found more than 100 kids working overnight and handling hazardous equipment  like skull splitters and bone saws  for a company that cleans slaughterhouses across the country.

The Labor Department says it has more than 600 child labor investigations underway, and officials are concerned about the exploitation of children, particularly migrants who may not even have a parent in the United States.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Iowa
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U.S. veterans and members of the military on Wednesday urged a judge to dismiss 3Ms bid to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary Aearo Technologies to shield itself from nearly 260,000 lawsuits over military-issue earplugs that former users allege were defective and damaged their hearing.

3M and Aearo say the earplug litigation has spiraled out of control. But attorney Adam Silverstein, who represents veterans suing 3M over hearing loss, said at a court hearing in Indianapolis that filing for bankruptcy, like pulling a fire alarm, should be reserved for urgent threats.

Aearo was not in need of emergency rescue, because it had filed for bankruptcy solely as a strategic alternative to managing 3Ms litigation, Silverstein said.

If the firemen determine something is a false alarm, they dont wait around to see if a fire might start later or if theres some other problem they can assist with, he said. They leave.

Aearo, which made the combat arms earplugs, filed for bankruptcy last July, with 3M pledging $1 billion to fund its liabilities stemming from the lawsuits that accuse both Aearo and 3M of misrepresenting the earplugs effectiveness, leading to hearing damage.

The plaintiffs have called that move a bid to escape the Florida federal court where the earplug lawsuits are consolidated in a so-called multidistrict litigation, following a series of unfavorable legal rulings and trial losses.

On Tuesday, Aearo attorney Chad Husnick said U.S. law does not require the house to be on fire before a company files for bankruptcy. Aearo should be allowed to proactively resolve the growing problem of earplug lawsuits through a bankruptcy settlement, Husnick said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham will continue to hear evidence on Thursday before he makes a ruling on whether to dismiss the case.

3Ms bankruptcy strategy, along with a similar effort by Johnson & Johnson, has attracted both criticism and support, sparking a debate about whether bankruptcy is an appropriate solution for financially healthy companies facing significant litigation.

The case against 3M and Aearo is the largest-ever multidistrict litigation in U.S. history, with nearly 330,000 cases filed and approximately 260,000 pending cases, according to court statistics from March 16.

3M has lost 10 of the 16 cases that have gone to trial so far, with about $265 million being awarded in total to 13 plaintiffs.

Topics Lawsuits
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Shortly before Google introduced Bard, its AI chatbot, to the public in March, it asked employees to test the tool.

One workers conclusion: Bard was a pathological liar, according to screenshots of the internal discussion. Another called it cringe-worthy. One employee wrote that when they asked Bard suggestions for how to land a plane, it regularly gave advice that would lead to a crash; another said it gave answers on scuba diving which would likely result in serious injury or death.

Google launched Bard anyway. The trusted internet-search giant is providing low-quality information in a race to keep up with the competition, while giving less priority to its ethical commitments, according to 18 current and former workers at the company and internal documentation reviewed by Bloomberg. The Alphabet Inc.-owned company had pledged in 2021 to double its team studying the ethics of artificial intelligence and to pour more resources into assessing the technologys potential harms. But the November 2022 debut of rival OpenAIs popular chatbot sent Google scrambling to weave generative AI into all its most important products in a matter of months.

That was a markedly faster pace of development for the technology, and one that could have profound societal impact. The group working on ethics that Google pledged to fortify is now disempowered and demoralized, the current and former workers said. The staffers who are responsible for the safety and ethical implications of new products have been told not to get in the way or to try to kill any of the generative AI tools in development, they said.

Google is aiming to revitalize its maturing search business around the cutting-edge technology, which could put generative AI into millions of phones and homes around the world  ideally before OpenAI, with the backing of Microsoft Corp., beats the company to it.

AI ethics has taken a back seat, said Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, which supports private messaging, and a former Google manager. If ethics arent positioned to take precedence over profit and growth, they will not ultimately work.

In response to questions from Bloomberg, Google said responsible AI remains a top priority at the company. We are continuing to invest in the teams that work on applying our AI Principles to our technology, said Brian Gabriel, a spokesperson. The team working on responsible AI shed at least three members in a January round of layoffs at the company, including the head of governance and programs. The cuts affected about 12,000 workers at Google and its parent company.

Google, which over the years spearheaded much of the research underpinning todays AI advancements, had not yet integrated a consumer-friendly version of generative AI into its products by the time ChatGPT launched. The company was cautious of its power and the ethical considerations that would go hand-in-hand with embedding the technology into search and other marquee products, the employees said.

By December, senior leadership decreed a competitive code red and changed its appetite for risk. Googles leaders decided that as long as it called new products experiments, the public might forgive their shortcomings, the employees said. Still, it needed to get its ethics teams on board. That month, the AI governance lead, Jen Gennai, convened a meeting of the responsible innovation group, which is charged with upholding the companys AI principles.

Gennai suggested that some compromises might be necessary in order to pick up the pace of product releases. The company assigns scores to its products in several important categories, meant to measure their readiness for release to the public. In some, like child safety, engineers still need to clear the 100% threshold. But Google may not have time to wait for perfection in other areas, she advised in the meeting. Fairness may not be, we have to get to 99 percent, Gennai said, referring to its term for reducing bias in products. On fairness, we might be at 80, 85 percent, or something to be enough for a product launch, she added.

In February, one employee raised issues in an internal message group: Bard is worse than useless: please do not launch. The note was viewed by nearly 7,000 people, many of whom agreed that the AI tools answers were contradictory or even egregiously wrong on simple factual queries. The next month, Gennai overruled a risk evaluation submitted by members of her team stating Bard was not ready because it could cause harm, according to people familiar with the matter. Shortly after, Bard was opened up to the public  with the company calling it an experiment.

In a statement, Gennai said it wasnt solely her decision. After the teams evaluation she said she added to the list of potential risks from the reviewers and escalated the resulting analysis to a group of senior leaders in product, research and business. That group then determined it was appropriate to move forward for a limited experimental launch with continuing pre-training, enhanced guardrails, and appropriate disclaimers, she said.

Silicon Valley as a whole is still wrestling with how to reconcile competitive pressures with safety. Researchers building AI outnumber those focused on safety by a 30-to-1 ratio, the Center for Humane Technology said at a recent presentation, underscoring the often lonely experience of voicing concerns in a large organization.

As progress in artificial intelligence accelerates, new concerns about its societal effects have emerged. Large language models, the technologies that underpin ChatGPT and Bard, ingest enormous volumes of digital text from news articles, social media posts and other internet sources, and then use that written material to train software that predicts and generates content on its own when given a prompt or query. That means that by their very nature, the products risk regurgitating offensive, harmful or inaccurate speech.

But ChatGPTs remarkable debut meant that by early this year, there was no turning back. In February, Google began a blitz of generative AI product announcements, touting chatbot Bard, and then the companys video service YouTube, which said creators would soon be able to virtually swap outfits in videos or create fantastical film settings using generative AI. Two weeks later, Google announced new AI features for Google Cloud, showing how users of Docs and Slides will be able to, for instance, create presentations and sales-training documents, or draft emails. On the same day, the company announced that it would be weaving generative AI into its health-care offerings. Employees say theyre concerned that the speed of development is not allowing enough time to study potential harms.

The challenge of developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence in an ethical manner has long spurred internal debate. The company has faced high-profile blunders over the past few years, including an embarrassing incident in 2015 when its Photos service mistakenly labeled images of a Black software developer and his friend as gorillas.

Three years later, the company said it did not fix the underlying AI technology, but instead erased all results for the search terms gorilla, chimp, and monkey, a solution that it says a diverse group of experts weighed in on. The company also built up an ethical AI unit tasked with carrying out proactive work to make AI fairer for its users.

But a significant turning point, according to more than a dozen current and former employees, was the ousting of AI researchers Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell, who co-led Googles ethical AI team until they were pushed out in December 2020 and February 2021 over a dispute regarding fairness in the companys AI research. Samy Bengio, a computer scientist who oversaw Gebru and Mitchells work, and several other researchers would end up leaving for competitors in the intervening years.

After the scandal, Google tried to improve its public reputation. The responsible AI team was reorganized under Marian Croak, then a vice president of engineering. She pledged to double the size of the AI ethics team and strengthen the groups ties with the rest of the company.

Even after the public pronouncements, some found it difficult to work on ethical AI at Google. One former employee said they asked to work on fairness in machine learning and they were routinely discouraged  to the point that it affected their performance review. Managers protested that it was getting in the way of their real work, the person said.

Those who remained working on ethical AI at Google were left questioning how to do the work without putting their own jobs at risk. It was a scary time, said Nyalleng Moorosi, a former researcher at the company who is now a senior researcher at the Distributed AI Research Institute, founded by Gebru. Doing ethical AI work means you were literally hired to say, I dont think this is population-ready, she added. And so you are slowing down the process.

To this day, AI ethics reviews of products and features, two employees said, are almost entirely voluntary at the company, with the exception of research papers and the review process conducted by Google Cloud on customer deals and products for release. AI research in delicate areas like biometrics, identity features, or kids are given a mandatory sensitive topics review by Gennais team, but other projects do not necessarily receive ethics reviews, though some employees reach out to the ethical AI team even when not required.

Still, when employees on Googles product and engineering teams look for a reason the company has been slow to market on AI, the public commitment to ethics tends to come up. Some in the company believed new tech should be in the hands of the public as soon as possible, in order to make it better faster with feedback.

Before the code red, it could be hard for Google engineers to get their hands on the companys most advanced AI models at all, another former employee said. Engineers would often start brainstorming by playing around with other companies generative AI models to explore the possibilities of the technology before figuring out a way to make it happen within the bureaucracy, the former employee said.

I definitely see some positive changes coming out of code red and OpenAI pushing Googles buttons, said Gaurav Nemade, a former Google product manager who worked on its chatbot efforts until 2020. Can they actually be the leaders and challenge OpenAI at their own game? Recent developments  like Samsung reportedly considering replacing Google with Microsofts Bing, whose tech is powered by ChatGPT, as the search engine on its devices  have underscored the first-mover advantage in the market right now.

Some at the company said they believe that Google has conducted sufficient safety checks with its new generative AI products, and that Bard is safer than competing chatbots. But now that the priority is releasing generative AI products above all, ethics employees said its become futile to speak up.

Teams working on the new AI features have been siloed, making it hard for rank-and-file Googlers to see the full picture of what the company is working on. Company mailing lists and internal channels that were once places where employees could openly voice their doubts have been curtailed with community guidelines under the pretext of reducing toxicity; several employees said they viewed the restrictions as a way of policing speech.

There is a great amount of frustration, a great amount of this sense of like, what are we even doing? Mitchell said. Even if there arent firm directives at Google to stop doing ethical work, the atmosphere is one where people who are doing the kind of work feel really unsupported and ultimately will probably do less good work because of it.When Googles management does grapple with ethics concerns publicly, they tend to speak about hypothetical future scenarios about an all-powerful technology that cannot be controlled by human beings  a stance that has been critiqued by some in the field as a form of marketing  rather than the day-to-day scenarios that already have the potential to be harmful.

El-Mahdi El-Mhamdi, a former research scientist at Google, said he left the company in February over its refusal to engage with ethical AI issues head-on. Late last year, he said, he co-authored a paper that showed it was mathematically impossible for foundational AI models to be large, robust and remain privacy-preserving.

He said the company raised questions about his participation in the research while using his corporate affiliation. Rather than go through the process of defending his work, he said he volunteered to drop the affiliation with Google and use his academic credentials instead.

If you want to stay on at Google, you have to serve the system and not contradict it, El-Mhamdi said.

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.

Topics InsurTech Data Driven Google Artifical Intelligence
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A U.S. judge on Thursday halted most of the tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging Johnson & Johnsons baby powder and other talc products caused cancer and stopped any trials as part of a company subsidiarys second attempt to settle cases in bankruptcy proceedings.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan put most of the litigation temporarily on hold during a hearing in Trenton, New Jersey. The decision, for the most part, granted a request from J&J to freeze cases while it attempts to reach a permanent settlement with current plaintiffs that would also set aside money for future lawsuits.

J&J says it has broad support for a proposed $8.9 billion settlement, a contention disputed by lawyers representing talc claimants who oppose it.

Related stories: J&J Talc Unit 2nd Bankruptcy Must Be Dismissed, Cancer Victims Lawyers Say J&J Unit Files for Second Bankruptcy to Pursue $8.9B Talc Settlement Johnson & Johnson Unit Loses Bid to Stay in Bankruptcy During Supreme Court Appeal U.S. Court Rejects J&J Bankruptcy Strategy for Thousands of Talc Lawsuits

The J&J subsidiary, LTL Management, filed for bankruptcy a second time earlier this month to help finalize the latest deal, despite a federal appeals courts decision in January that invalidated its first Chapter 11 filing, on the grounds the J&J unit was not in financial distress.

I have more questions than answers, Kaplan said during Thursdays court hearing, referring to arguments made to him about the second bankruptcy case earlier this week.

The judge halted roughly 38,000 talc lawsuits consolidated in a federal district court in New Jersey. He allowed other cases to proceed as long as no trials commence.

He said he would revisit the ruling in late May.

Erik Haas, J&Js worldwide vice president of litigation, in a statement called the ruling a win for claimants and expressed confidence they would ultimately approve the proposed settlement.

LTL Management argued that allowing litigation against J&J to continue would imperil current settlement efforts. J&J previously used a complex legal maneuver, known as a Texas two-step, to shift responsibility for the lawsuits to LTL.

Leigh ODell, one of the lead lawyers for plaintiffs in cases consolidated in the New Jersey federal court, said prohibiting trials limits pressure on J&J.

We continue to believe that this bankruptcy effort is illegitimate  and that stance will be affirmed through the appellate process, she said in a statement.

The judges ruling kept in legal limbo consumers alleging J&J talc caused their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. Some plaintiffs allege asbestos in the talc sickened them. For now, none can test their claims before juries.

J&J has said its talc is safe, asbestos-free and does not cause cancer.

The healthcare conglomerate has not filed for bankruptcy itself. In October 2021, J&J divided its consumer business in two and offloaded the talc lawsuits onto a newly created subsidiary, LTL, which then declared bankruptcy.

In January, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia invalidated LTLs bankruptcy filing. Kaplan dismissed the bankruptcy earlier this month, only for LTL to file for Chapter 11 again in his court about two hours later.

UPHILL BATTLE

Talc plaintiffs opposing J&Js proposed settlement plan to file a motion to dismiss the second bankruptcy filing, one of their lawyers said in court on Tuesday.

They portray J&Js actions as an abuse of the bankruptcy system by a multinational conglomerate valued at more than $400 billion and in little danger of running out of money to pay cancer victims.

A U.S. Department of Justice official charged with monitoring the case has also pushed back against the second bankruptcy.

Undoubtedly, the debtor has an uphill battle, Kaplan said, referring to LTLs settlement and reorganization prospects.

J&J and its subsidiary have argued bankruptcy delivers settlement payouts more fairly, efficiently and equitably than a lottery offered by trial courts, where some litigants get large awards and others nothing.

Jim Murdica, a lawyer tasked with resolving talc cases for J&J, testified in a deposition last weekend that as many as 80,000 claimants support the companys settlement offer  enough to meet a bankruptcy threshold requiring agreement from 75% of all claimants, he said.

Lawyers representing opposing talc plaintiffs contend those figures reflect mostly unfiled claims and that people behind them have not yet agreed to the settlement. J&J and LTL argue their settlement process is typical.

LTL terminated a funding agreement with its parent company that the appeals court found insulated it from the financial distress necessary to legitimately declare bankruptcy.

Its lawyers now argue that new financing agreements leave LTL Management in financial distress. At the same time, they contend the agreements provide enough funds to pay plaintiffs and avoid rendering LTL insolvent, countering arguments from plaintiffs lawyers that the transactions were fraudulent.

Topics Lawsuits Legislation
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Cannabis enthusiasts have the 4/20 holiday, but in two days some 7.9 billion people have cause to celebrate.

Earth Day is Saturday, and while todays eyes are on the cannabis holiday, the media is already starting to turn coverage to the upcoming environmental holiday.

A Google news search of Earth Day yields somewhere near 316,000 results, many reporting on events being organized around the annual April 22 event that began in 1970 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

Beyond the events being reported on, a report tied to Earth Day from Pew Research Center charting Americans views on climate change is getting some traction.

The poll shows nearly seven-in-10 Americans favor the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050, a goal outlined by President Biden at the outset of his administration. Roughly the same ratio say the U.S. should prioritize developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, over expanding the production of oil, coal and natural gas.

Despite that, the Pew poll shows many Americans fear relying exclusively on renewable energy sources. Roughly three-in-10 say the U.S. should completely phase out oil, coal and natural gas.

Two-thirds of those polled say large businesses and corporations are doing too little to reduce the effects of climate change.

Most tellingly, 54% describe climate change as a major threat to the countrys well-being.

Moodys

A new Moodys Investors Service report shows automakers will turn to innovating financing, including labeled sustainable debt issuance, to fund decarbonization strategies and electrify vehicle fleets.

According to Moodys, more stringent emissions regulations and changes in market preferences will drive the trend.

Other highlights of the report include:

Since 2014, 17 automakers have issued $39 billion in green bonds and $6 billion in sustainability bonds.

Moodys expects battery electric vehicles to account for 45% to 52% of all global light vehicle unit sales by 2035. An increase in EV production will require additional investments to expand charging infrastructure, develop lower-cost batteries and scale up production capacity.

Most automakers are not currently publicly announcing or implementing emissions reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement. The average temperature alignment of automakers rated by Moodys Investors Service is 2.2C, with 59% of automakers above the 2.0C mark.

Beyond decarbonization, expect continued sustainability bond issuances in which automakers combine social and environmental objectives into their frameworks to support a just transition, advance supplier security and diversity, and address natural capital risks.

Hannover Re

Hannover Re this week became the third major company to leave a global climate alliance focused on reducing emissions that has faced growing political pressure in the U.S.

Hannover said in an emailed statement that it was leaving the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance after careful consideration, without giving details, according to a Reuters article on Insurance Journal.

The statement said Hannover Re is still committed to its sustainability strategy, its support for the Paris Agreement and that the reinsurer aims to achieve full climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.

This follows the exit of founding members Munich Re at the end of March and Zurich Insurance earlier in April. Zurich said it was leaving to focus on helping customers transition to a low-carbon economy, while Munich Re said it was leaving over antitrust concerns.

The charge that companies in such climate alliances could be guilty of breaking antitrust laws has been increasingly leveled by Republican politicians in some U.S. states as part of a pushback against sustainability efforts, the Reuters article states.

TikTok

The video app TikTok will begin removing videos that deny the existence of climate change just ahead of Earth Day on Saturday.

TikTok said it was updating its misinformation policy to remove any content that undermines well-established scientific consensus about climate change, Sky News is reporting.

The Chinese company also plans to roll out a feature that directs people searching for climate content towards authoritative information that is sourced in partnership with the UN, similar to a YouTube practice that promotes links to the UNs web pages on climate change, the report states.

Despite repeated attempts to improve its reputation among sceptics, the company is still facing the prospect of an outright ban in the US, where politicians argue it is used to push misinformation and pro-China propaganda, the article states. And in the UK, the company was recently fined almost 13m for misusing childrens data.

Past columns:

Topics Trends
A tornado outbreak on in central Oklahoma left three people dead and caused heavy damage Wednesday night.

Three fatalities were reported in McClain County, where a tornado hit the town of Cole. Another tornado touched down in Shawnee, causing damage to roofs of homes and businesses.

Oklahoma Baptist University, located in Shawnee, reported substantial damage to buildings throughout campus, though no injuries were reported on campus.

University president Heath Thomas told KOCO that the school suffered the worst natural disaster in its history.

Last night, the OBU campus experienced the worst national disaster in its 113-year history, Thomas said. Buildings can be rebuilt, what Im really happy to report is we have no reported injuries and no reported fatalities.

The same storm system that spawned the tornadoes Wednesday is expected to bring severe thunderstorms across the central United States Thursday, according to the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center. Damaging winds and large hail should be the primary hazards, the Storm Prediction Center said, with a few tornadoes possible, especially across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Oklahoma
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In the wake of a deadly school shooting last month, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee awarded final passage Tuesday to a proposal that would further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits.

The Senates 19-9 vote sends the bill to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, despite pushback from Democratic lawmakers saying their GOP counterparts are trying to shield gun companies just weeks after the Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three 9-year-olds.

The final vote came as Lees administration was still trying to drum up enough support among lawmakers in his party to pass legislation to keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others. The fate of that kind of measure remains uncertain.

Lawmakers are hurrying to finish a legislative session as soon as this week while receiving national scrutiny over the expulsion of two young Black lawmakers  who are now reinstated  over a House floor gun control protest. Students, parents and others have also applied pressure for weeks to pass gun safety measures.

Democratic Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis lawmaker, said its disrespectful timing to push through protections for gun companies while people continue to march at the Capitol for gun control changes. The civil liabilities bill passed just ahead of a protest in which people formed a human chain through Nashville to the Capitol in support of gun control measures.

I am challenging you not to pass this bill because we need to do more to protect citizens from gun violence than the people making the guns that people can use to kill more people, Lamar had said.

In the demonstration, scores of people gathered in the late afternoon along a three-mile route from the childrens hospital at Vanderbilt University, where victims of the school shooting were taken, to the state Capitol, some with arms outstretched and hands clasped, and others linked arm in arm. The demonstration stretched from sidewalks near campus to a plaza outside the Capitol where many held signs with messages such as, Im A Voice for Gun Safety.

The bills sponsor, Sen. Joey Hensley from Hohenwald, said his legislation doesnt prevent any other proposal from passing. The bill passed the House ahead of the March 27 shooting at The Covenant School.

This is just to try to help businesses in this state that have chosen to come here, to give them a little civil liability, Hensley said.

The Tennessee bill spells out a half-dozen situations in which gun and ammo companies could be held civilly liable in Tennessee state courts, exempting others.

Three Republicans voted against the legislation, including Sen. Art Swann of Maryville, who said gun-makers have encouraged the environment weve got right now.

Theyre accountable for it, and we need to hold them to it, Swann said.

The firearm industry remains largely shielded from liability under federal law. Seventeen states do not have special immunity for the gun industry, and Tennessee is already not among them, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group.

Last year, Remington, the company that made the rifle used in the the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut, settled with the families of those killed in the shooting for $73 million. The families had accused the company of targeting younger, at-risk males in advertising and product placement in violent video games.

And in February, families of those killed and injured in a 2018 Texas high school shooting settled a lawsuit they filed against a Tennessee-based online retailer, Lucky Gunner, that was accused of illegally selling ammunition to the student who authorities say fatally shot 10 people. The owner of the company, Jordan Mollenhour, sits on the Tennessee State Board of Education. The company was accused of failing to verify Dimitrios Pagourtzis age  he was 17, at the time  when he bought more than 100 rounds of ammunition on two occasions before the May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School.

There are people that we should be going out of way to protect this week, Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville said. And weve been receiving emails and calls, people are holding up signs, telling us to go out of our way to help those people. Not one of those signs says to protect the gun manufacturers.

Photo: Covenant School student Alex Eissinger-Hansen at a demonstration for gun control legislation Tuesday. Participants created a human chain spreading from Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital at Vanderbilt, where victims of The Covenant School shooting were taken on March 27, to the Tennessee State Capitol. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Legislation Gun Liability Tennessee
Crest Insurance Group, headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, hired Bob Howard as vice president, director of sales.

Howard has a history with large insurance brokers and consulting firms involving complex construction and real estate projects, publicly traded companies and global organizations.

Howard previously served as resident sales director at Aon, senior vice president at Marsh and principal owner at Intelligent Risk LLC.

Topics Leadership Arizona
Cannabis tax revenue in Colorado fell nearly $100 million in 2022, while California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington all saw sales decline as the industry began its first downturn. Conversely, sales were up big time in Michigan, Illinois and Massachusetts.

It isnt just regional differences in the industry. Sales of flower are down, but edibles are enjoying stellar growth.

Heres a nugget of wisdom for some perspective: As it was during the rise and fall of the Gold Rush, businesses cant survive without goods and services  ancillary operators selling pickaxes and the like just need to look for the opportunities.

For our latest podcast we spoke Charles Pyfrom, chief marketing officer at CannGen Insurance Services, and Erich Schutz, vice president of Jencap Specialty Insurance Services.

Following are takeaways from that conversation.

Schutz immediately tackled the green rush vs. gold rush question  how much is the rush into cannabis like the rush more than a century ago into gold, and how will things play out?

Well, theres that good old expression, Would you like to be gold mining or selling the pickaxes? And, you know, for me, I definitely want the pickaxe route for a number of reasons. I do think that therere a lot of ancillary businesses out there that are going be around for a while. And I feel like, you know, to a degree, some people arent looking at them because theyve got their sights sets on the bigger cultivation facilities. Honestly those are bigger ticket operationsbut the bottom line is if youre selling jars, scales, packaging lights, theyre always going to need those things.

He added: It doesnt matter whether its dispensed from a pharmacy or Johns Pot Shop, its going to always, always have an (ancillary) need. And I think people dont necessarily recognize that these smaller operations do have big facilities. Theyre often manufacturing, and oftentimes these are easier risks to write.

While Pyfrom said the cannabis landscape is a lot more complex than merely slowing sales in the West vs. a rise of opportunities in the East, his firm is putting greater effort into cultivating growth in the newly legal states.

A lot of the newer up and coming states where were seeing operators not only being rewarded with licenses but expanding into new verticals  whether its cultivation, manufacturing or distribution  were seeing a lot of our bigger operators finding success from the Midwest all the way to the East Coast, predominantly in the Northeast, where weve gotten lots of traction recently and are finding our operators who are really receptive to the best in class coverage that CannGen offers that is targeted in those geographies, Pyfrom said.

Thats not to say that states like Colorado or California are being ignored.

We still have meaningful market share and that is a very real opportunity for us to keep writing those states, which we appreciate and love the culture and the opportunity to write risk in those states, he added. But the biggest influx of new business and newer opportunities are coming from the Midwest all the way up to the Northeast, depending on where theyre at from a type of license issuing standpoint.

Pyfrom said the firm is also looking for other opportunities beyond a regional perspective as the space continues to evolve.

Lounges are the newest topic in terms of where cannabis offers a kind of vertical thats being underserved and where brokers can find a margin for entering a new deal that they maybe didnt have access to before, Pyfrom said. So lounges are a hot topic. So are the opportunities for whats known as non-store front deliveries, which really boomed over the pandemic and its still happening in states like New York, where theyre starting to issue licenses.

Asked which products will bring the insuring cannabis space the most business in the next few years, Pyfrom cited a report that Whole Foods believed one of their top five products by the end of the year was going to be a CBD product.

Based on the amount of submissions we see that are CBD-focused, I would certainly agree that that is a very high level, not only a talking point, but a real insurable hazard for operators like CannGen and our broker partners to focus on, he said.

He also said that insuring edibles are super attractive.

Schutz believes beverages and extracts hold a great deal of promise for the insuring cannabis space.

Beverages is just an underserved, underdeveloped area of the market, Schutz said. As we get more consumption lounges, more normalization, its just going to be a product were gonna see more commonly.

Related:

Topics Cannabis
An insurance company offering home warranties must refund Californians who were reportedly deceived by a misleading mailer sent to hundreds of thousands of consumers.

According to an investigation by the California Department of Insurance, Response Indemnity Company of California worked with an unlicensed marketing company that mailed a final notice to consumers falsely warning that their home warranty was expiring.

CDI actions required Response Indemnity to allow consumers to cancel the home warranty and receive a refund if they purchased the warranty because of the mailer.

The CDI served an order to show cause to Response Indemnity after discovering it had entered into an agreement with Integrity Admin Group Inc., an unlicensed marketing company, that resulted in fake home warranty brand names and the mailing of final notice mailers to hundreds of thousands of California consumers.

The fake brand names reportedly included Home Warranty Direct, Home Warranty Resolutions, Home Warranty Solutions, New Home Warranty, and Like New Home Warranty. The CDI served a cease and desist order to Integrity Admin Group.

Topics California
Source: Streetwise Reports

April 20, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Phase 3 trials are the last major step in new drug approval and can cost a lot to operate. However, one Canadian pharma company's product is so promising it has convinced the UK government to foot most of the bill.

Awakn Life Sciences Corp. (AWKN:NEO; AWKNF:OTCQB) is a Canada-based biotechnology developing firm commercializing therapeutics to treat addiction with a focus on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Its therapeutics focus on the brain circuits that drive addiction, targeting multiple receptors rather than the single receptor targeting of older therapies.

Awakn's development segment focuses on repurposing ketamine in combination with therapy and developing methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA)-also in combination with therapy to treat substance and behavioral addictions.

Concurrently, the company's delivery segment, which includes a chain of psychedelic medical clinics across Europe, is expanding its reach by providing its drugs and service models as white-label solutions to various treatment operators in the U.S. market.

The Catalyst: Phase 3 Trial at a Fraction of the Cost

Yesterday (April 18, 2023), Awakn announced that it signed a collaboration agreement with the University of Exeter (UoE), putting in place a framework for an upcoming Phase 3 trial, exploring the use of ketamine-assisted therapy to treat severe AUD - a condition currently afflicting over 70 million adults worldwide.

This agreement formalizes the design, budget, and Awakn's contribution to the cost of the trial, which will be a Phase 3, n=280, two-armed, randomized, placebo-controlled study delivered in the UK across ten National Health Service (NHS) sites.

Under the terms of the agreement, the corporation will contribute GBP 800,000 toward the costs of the trial. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the Medical Research Council (MRC), and the UoE will cover the balance of the costs.

Considering that a 2018 Nature Reviews: Drug Discovery report lists the median cost of a Phase 3 trial at US$21.4 million, Awakn will be enjoying an enormous discount.

Why This Sector? Wide Demand for Psychedelic Medical Solutions

Demand for the reassessment of alternative therapies like Ketamine and MDMA has been growing steadily, with InsightAce Analytic projecting a total market valuation of US$8.31 billion by 2028.

While there are many avenues to explore in this newly-relevant market space, few companies are anywhere near Phase 3 trials, and none have announced any - especially not any this widely bankrolled by public institutions.

The global substance abuse treatment market, which overlaps somewhat with the alt therapies market, is projected to surpass US$23.1 billion by 2031. With a promising therapy currently closing in full availability, Awakn is poised to secure a considerable fraction of this market.

Why This Company? First to Get This Far

Once underway, Awakn's Phase 3 trial will be the largest ketamine-assisted psychological therapy clinical trial to date and the only Phase 3 psychedelic clinical trial to receive government funding. If the trial results are positive (as the results from phases I and II have been), Awakn plans, in due course, to apply for marketing authorization for ketamine-assisted therapy to treat severe AUD in multiple markets.

Celia Morgan, Professor of Psychopharmacology at UoE and Awakn's Head of Ketamine-

Assisted Therapy will lead the trial based on the results of the Phase II a/b trial announced in January 2022, which resulted in participants experiencing, on average, 86% abstinence at six months post-treatment versus 2% pre-trial.

Why Now? The Phase 3 Trial Inflection Point

In most cases, the Phase 3 trial is the last major hurdle blocking a newly-developed therapy from wide availability. While some two in five therapies fail to complete these trials, for those that do, passing usually represents the final inflection point - the last chance for a prospective investor to "get in on the ground floor."

In February 2023, Awakn received an Innovation passport as part of the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This passport aims to accelerate the time to market for research programs, much like the FDA's fast-track designation.

ILAP recognition will provide Awakn with access to specialist advice from the MHRA and its partners, including the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

As Awakn CEO Anthony Tennyson explained, "We are delighted to formalize an even stronger working collaboration and agreement with the University of Exeter, particularly when this gives such a clear roadmap for our Phase 3."

"We have been working side by side for several years now, and they are a world-leading institute for research and a partner we are very happy to work with. We share the same vision of providing a new, more effective treatment for AUD available to the millions of people who are in such desperate need for it."

Analyst Clive Maund, who has been following the company, reported on March 12 that Awakn's stock price "hit bottom early in November and has since been marking out a base pattern. There was a strong breakout move on persistent heavy volume early last month, although due to its moving averages still being unfavorably aligned, it was unable to hold the gains and has since dropped back into the base pattern."

"However, that attempt to break out, which is classed as a 'preliminary breakout,' has bullish implications, and with its volume pattern and volume indicators remaining very favorable and the price and moving averages converging, a successful breakout into a bull market looks set to occur soon, and it is rated a Buy for this at the current favorable entry price."
Kingston, Ontario - April 20, 2023 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Delta Resources Limited (TSXV: DLTA) (OTC Pink: DTARF) (FSE: 6GO1) ("Delta" or "the Company") is pleased to provide assay results from two additional drill holes D1-23-31 and D1-23-32 from its 2023-Phase 1 drill program at the Delta-1 gold project located 50 km west of Thunder-Bay, Ontario.

Andre Tessier, President and CEO, commented: "These latest Delta 1 results contain economic widths and grade of gold mineralization in a very strong, pervasive and expansive alteration zone. Delta is slowly defining a very large mineralized system. As our understanding of the mineralized zone improves, our chances of finding similar zones elsewhere at the Delta-1 project also improve. We believe that we have barely scratched the surface of this exciting project."

Holes D1-23-31 and D1-23-32 were drilled on the same drill-pad and define a North-South section, 100 metres east of an intercept of 4.23 g/t Au over 26.2 metres from drill hole D1-23-30 reported on April 12, 2023 and 300 metres from an intercept of 5.92 g/t Au over 31.0 metres in drill hole D1-22-18 reported on October 15, 2022 (see figures 1 and 2). Both drill holes D1-23-31 and D1-23-32 intercepted wide zones of near-surface gold mineralization in intensely altered rocks.

Through 3D modeling and with Delta's 2023-Phase 1 drill results to date, the geometry of the gold mineralized zone appears to emerge as three (3) distinct zones of higher-grade mineralization within an envelope of lower-grade material. From north to south, the zones were labelled: "Alpha, Beta and Gamma" (see Figures 1 to 3 and Tables 1 and 2). The Beta Zone is the most important so far, but each zone may pinch and swell, sometimes converging into very wide zones. Each of these gold zones have the potential to expand or host high-grade mineralization. The Gamma Zone has never been tested near surface while some drill holes have collared into the Alpha Zone.

At the end of March 2023, Delta completed 13 drill holes for a total of 3,506 metres at the Delta-1 project. The drilling tested a 600 metres extension of the gold zone towards the east, extending the total strike length of the mineralized zone to 1.5 kilometres. Assays are pending from five (5) of these drill holes to the east and results will be reported as they are received and interpreted. Delta is currently planning an additional 5000 metre drill campaign and expects to announce a resumption of drilling shortly.

The mineralized zone trends roughly 100 azimuth, dips 80 towards the north, and has now been intersected over a strike length of approximately 1.5 kilometres to a vertical depth of approximately 220 metres. Towards the east, as gold grades increase, the zone appears to turn to an azimuth of 115 azimuth. This change in the orientation of the mineralized zone may be responsible for the improved gold grades and widths of the mineralized zone.

The gold mineralization is generally located at the contact between sandstones to the north and mafic volcanics to the south, spatially associated with feldspar porphyry intrusive dikes that crosscut both rock types. All three rock types are mineralized and altered. Kilometre-scale, texture destructive alteration consists of intense ankeritization, albitization, silicification and sericitization. Gold mineralization consists of a network of multiple generations of quartz-ankerite-pyrite veinlets locally with disseminated grains of visible gold.

The Delta-1 project is located in the Shebandowan Greenstone Belt and covers a 17 km strike extent of the Shebandowan Structural Zone.

Analytical Protocol and QA/QC

Chemical analyses reported in this press release were performed at SGS Canada Minerals Laboratories. Sample preparation was performed in Sudbury, Ontario. Sampling and analytical procedures are subject to a comprehensive Quality Assurance and Quality Control program that includes duplicate samples, blanks and analytical standards.

The following assaying protocol was adopted at Delta-1 in an attempt to reduce the assay variability due to nugget effect caused by visible gold:

If visible gold is observed in the sample or within the assumed mineralized zone, the assay is performed by Metallic Screening whereby the entire sample is crushed, a 1 kg portion is pulverized and screened to 106m and analyzed by 50 g fire assay with gravimetric finish at the SGS Laboratory in Lakefield, Ontario.

If no visible gold is observed or outside of the mineralized zones, an initial assay is performed by 50 g Fire Assay with ICP-OES finish at the SGS Laboratory in Burnaby, British Columbia. If the assay result exceeds 2.0 g/t gold, remaining rejects are pulverized, a 1 kg portion is screened to 106m and analyzed by 50 g fire assay with gravimetric finish at the SGS Laboratory in Lakefield, Ontario.

NQ-size drill core was sawed in half lengthwise and half of the core was sampled and sealed in clean plastic bags before being shipped for assay. The remaining half of the core was replaced in core boxes and is stored at Delta's core storage facilities. Standards and blanks are inserted in the sequence of samples on site as quality assurance and quality control in addition to the regular insertion of blank, duplicate, and standard samples accredited by SGS Canada Minerals Laboratories during the analytical process.

Qualified Persons

Daniel Boudreau, P.Geo. and Manager of Exploration at Delta Resources Limited, is the Qualified Persons as defined by NI-43-101. He has reviewed the technical information presented in this press release.

About Delta Resources Limited

Delta Resources Limited is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on growing shareholder value through the exploration of two very high-potential gold and base-metal projects in Canada.

DELTA-1 covers 58.3 square kilometres located 50 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, Ontario where a gold mineralized zone 950 metres long was outlined through drilling in a multi-kilometre-scale intense alteration halo. Best grades to date include a drill intercept of 14.8 g/t Au over 11.9 metres, within a broader interval of 5.92 g/t Au over 31 m. The zone is open in all directions.

DELTA-2 VMS and DELTA-2 GOLD covers 194 square kilometres in the prolific Chibougamau District of Quebec. The property holds excellent potential for gold-rich polymetallic VMS deposits as well as hydrothermal-gold deposits. Delta targets VMS deposits such as the LeMoine past producer where 0.76 Mt were mined between 1975 and 1983, grading 9.6% Zn, 4.2% Cu, 4.5 g/t Au and 84 g/t Ag.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DELTA RESOURCES LIMITED.

Andre C. Tessier

President, CEO and Director

www.deltaresources.ca

We seek safe harbor. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange has not approved nor disapproved of the information contained herein.

Figure 1: Vertical longitudinal section looking north 010 of the eastern portion of the Delta-1 Gold Zone showing piercing points of drill holes with grades and metal factors. The section shows the metal factors increasing towards the east and at depth, as defined by drill holes D1-22-18, 24, 25 and D1-23-32.

Figure 2: Total magnetic map showing the projected gold-mineralized zones at Delta-1. Assay results are pending for five drill holes to the east.

Figure 3: Vertical cross-section of the Delta-1 Gold Zone looking east, showing the newly interpreted Alpha, Beta and Gamma Zones

For Further Information:

Delta Resources Limited

Frank Candido, Chairman, VP Corporate Communications

Tel : 514-969-5530

fcandido@deltaresources.ca

Andre Tessier, CEO and President

Tel: 613-328-1581

atessier@deltaresources.ca

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Some statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases (including negative or grammatical variations) or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and involves risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual facts to differ materially. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by management. The forward-looking information contained in this press release constitutes management's current estimates, as of the date of this press release, with respect to the matters covered thereby. We expect that these estimates will change as new information is received. While we may elect to update these estimates at any time, we do not undertake to update any estimate at any particular time or in response to any particular event.

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April 20, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) It's fair to say that the Russia-Ukraine war has now literally "gone nuclear".

Late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed plans to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, an ally nation sandwiched between the two warring sides. The move - while predictable - would inevitably necessitate a response from the West.

That response has come, with the G-7 nations now pledging to end Russia's dominance over the atomic fuel markets. As reported by Bloomberg on April 17, Western allies including Canada, France, Japan, the UK and US have committed to jointly dislodge Russia from global nuclear supply chains.

The commitment took shape at a nuclear industry conference convened on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting in the Japanese city of Sapporo, Bloomberg sources said.

"This agreement will be used as the basis for pushing Putin out of the nuclear fuel market entirely, and doing so as quickly as possible," according to a statement from UK Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.

Russia's Nuclear Fuel Dominance

The US and its European allies have long been weighing tough sanctions targeting Russia's nuclear sector but have struggled to find an agreement. This is because such an agreement, when effected, could have a calamitous effect on the global energy market.

According to the World Nuclear Association, nuclear power energy now provides about 10% of the world's electricity from about 440 power reactors worldwide.

Russia is the world's biggest supplier of enriched uranium, the type used to fuel nuclear power reactors around the world. The country is also a major supplier of mined uranium with 8% of global resources, though it buys most of the radioactive material from top producer Kazakhstan and turns that into nuclear fuel through its world-leading uranium enrichment capabilities.

For many countries, it would be an economic catastrophe to completely shut off their own nuclear industries from Russian supplies. The US and EU, for example, currently rely on nuclear power for one-fifth of their electricity generation.

Rosatom - the Kremlin-owned nuclear giant - provided about a quarter of the enriched uranium needed for the 92 reactors in the US in 2021. In Europe, utilities that generate power for countries with about 100 million inhabitants still rely on the company, customs data shows.

According to UxC, a nuclear industry researcher, Russia produces about 35% of the world's enriched uranium for reactors, about twice as much as the No. 2 provider, and supplies about 20% of the US industry.

"If enrichment is curtailed, or supply from Russia is curtailed, it will have an immediate impact on the market," Jonathan Hinze, president of UxC, told Bloomberg shortly after the war commenced. "Because the West and countries like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and others don't have their own enriched uranium, we rely heavily in the world on Russian enrichment."



Source: Bloomberg

Complicating matters for the West, Russia's dominance in nuclear exports has only surged since the war started in February 2022 despite the sanctions.

Exclusive trade data compiled by the UK's Royal United Services Institute shows that Russian nuclear fuel and technology sales abroad rose more than 20% last year. Purchases by EU members climbed to the highest in three years.



Source: Bloomberg

For Russia, while the trade brings in plenty of money already, that's not the full measure of its importance. Every time the Kremlin's nuclear giant Rosatom PJSC agrees to build a new reactor, it locks in cashflows - and political clout - for potentially decades ahead, Bloomberg reporter Jonathan Tirone said.

As described by Tirone: "Atomic commerce creates relationships that last. It involves large upfront costs - with Russia usually providing the credit - and long-term agreements to service plants, train their operators and replenish fuel. That kind of financial and technical collaboration can strengthen diplomatic ties too."

"This is part of the great power competition that we're in right now," says Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. Russia's leaders "see nuclear trade as a way to bolster alliances."

What This Means For Uranium

We've seen in the past how Western sanctions have impacted the market for key commodities such as nickel, palladium and potash. The latest decision by the G-7 nations to isolate Russia from the nuclear fuel supply chain could cause a similar, if not bigger, disruption to uranium.

Surely, shutting out a major provider of the nuclear fuel means that other countries would be relied upon to meet the world's energy needs. But that's not as easy as it sounds.

Take Saudi Arabia, for example, which had ambitions to break into the ranks of global uranium suppliers but eventually came short as its exploration investments failed to find any significant deposits of the heavy metal.

"A cut-off would affect nuclear power plants," Paul Dabbar, the Department of Energy's former deputy secretary warned last year. "It would put pressure on Western markets. Changing these supply lines will take a lot of time."

Moreover, even amid Western sanctions, Russia's Rosatom has remained the world's biggest exporter of reactors and fuel, with many buyers being NATO countries, and it has also been eyeing new reactor projects across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

As recently as February, Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev told Bloomberg that the company is in talks with about 10 countries on new projects, and three or four are close to signing inter-government deals. In all the countries where Rosatom is already building nuclear plants, "everything is on track," he added.

It's also important to note that Rosatom isn't handicapped by non-proliferation rules imposed by the US Department of Energy. In India, Russia is supplying its nuclear fuel and is building two reactors scheduled to open in 2025. In China, it provided more than $375 million worth of fuel for a reactor last year, and the two nations are reportedly deepening cooperation on a key atomic technology.

Meanwhile the US, which boasts the biggest fleet of nuclear reactors, can only supply 1% of its demand, which means it has been reliant on Russia's uranium. In 2021, the US imported about 14% of its uranium and 28% of all enrichment services from Russia, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. The EU, too, imported 20% of its uranium from Russia.



Source: Bloomberg

These figures imply that any measure taken against Russia and its nuclear sector could severely handicap many uranium buyers, potentially leaving the global uranium market in complete disarray and causing prices to skyrocket.

"We've allowed ourselves to become dependent on too few sources of supply," said Dan Poneman, CEO of Centrus Energy Corp., which is trying to reboot the US uranium-enrichment industry. "It will take four or five years to replace that capacity that the world has come to rely on."

One thing we have to remember is that nuclear power plays a key role in the clean energy transition, and so demand for uranium is only going to rise and outstrip supply. Demand for uranium is expected to grow by about a third through 2030, the World Nuclear Association said last year, citing a projected 16% increase in global reactor capacity.

On the supply side, the forecast is much more uncertain despite several production restarts being scheduled in North America. Kazakhstan, which produces more than 40% of the world's uranium, cut its output guidance this year due to supply chain challenges.

Bullish Fundamentals

As things stand, the market fundamentals are quite bullish for uranium. Sprott Asset Management's latest uranium report revealed that the heavy metal has fared well against other commodities since the start of 2023.

While spot U3O8 fell slightly from $50.85 to $50.70 for the month of March, it remains up 4.93% year-to-date, whereas other commodities declined 6.47% (as measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index) over the same period.

Over the longer term, uranium has demonstrated even greater resilience within the commodity space, Sprott said. For the five years ended March 31, 2023, U3O8 spot appreciated a cumulative 140.95%, compared to 20.62% for the BCOM.



Physical uranium and uranium stocks have outperformed other asset classes over past five years. Credit: Sprott



Uranium spot demonstrates low correlation to other commodities. Credit: Sprott

"We believe that uranium market fundamentals, which are the most positive in over a decade, will continue to support prices. Physical uranium, which demonstrates low correlation to other major asset classes, also shows low historical correlation to other commodities," stated Jacob White, ETF Product Manager at Sprott Asset Management.

These characteristics, according to Sprott, make uranium "an attractive option when considering portfolio diversification," especially since the metal has appreciated significantly in the past couple of years as part of a decade-long bull market (see below).



Uranium Bull Market Continues (1968-2023). Credit: Sprott

Going forward, Sprott cited uranium's critical role in energy security as a key driving force in solidifying its bullish long-term outlook. Growing global recognition by governments, catalyzed by the need for greater energy security, is likely to continue to be a dominant theme, the firm said.

"We believe the uranium bull market still has a long way to run. Conversion and enrichment services price increases may likely cascade to the uranium spot price and support uranium miners. Over the long term, increased demand in the face of an uncertain uranium supply may likely support a sustained bull market," the firm wrote.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also sparked a global energy crisis that forced many countries to reimagine their energy supply chains. In past years, Western countries' energy policies have predominantly favored renewable energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

However, renewables often suffer from intermittency and low capacity and require offsets with baseload energy sources, such as coal, natural gas or nuclear power plants. Of these, nuclear power has the highest baseload capacity.

"We believe ongoing supply chain risks may likely cause utilities to seek out the baseload reliability of nuclear power," Sprott's White said, adding that the "uranium bull market remains intact despite the uncertain macroeconomic environment."

Conclusion

Uranium has found itself in a solid upward trajectory after years of downtrend following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Governments are continuing to recognize nuclear power as a crucial solution for decarbonizing the economy, which will further tighten the uranium market that is already undersupplied.

A weakened Russian influence on the nuclear energy market could serve as a reminder of the fragility of supply. At the same time, there is an unprecedented amount of power plants being restarted around the globe. These developments would uphold the uranium bull market for much longer.

Richard (Rick) Mills

aheadoftheherd.com

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Food delivery firm Deliveroo said its UK and Ireland division was driving an increase in overall group revenues despite weakness in some international territories in recent months. The shares closed almost 3% higher.

Total revenues rose 4% to 512m (580m) in the three months to the end of March from the period a year earlier, the company figures show, marked by an 11% increase in UK and Ireland, its largest business by far, contributing almost 300m of the overall revenues.
Generative AI, such as OpenAIs ChatGPT, needs to be regulated, but governing bodies must figure out how to do so properly before rushing into prohibitions that really arent going to stand up, Irelands data protection chief said.

It needs to be regulated and its about figuring out how to regulate it properly, Irelands Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon told a conference hosted by Bloomberg in Wicklow on Thursday, saying the debate extended to thousands of ChatGPT equivalents.

For the Irish data protection commission, where we are at is trying to understand a little bit more about the technology, about the large language models, about where the training data is sourced.

So I think its early days, but its time to be having those conversations now rather than rushing into prohibitions that really arent going to stand up.

The body that unites Europes national privacy watchdogs last week set up a task force on ChatGPT following a unilateral move by Italy to temporarily ban the chatbot which is rapidly growing in popularity.

Italys watchdog said on Tuesday that it is ready to allow the return of ChatGPT at the end of April if its maker OpenAI takes useful steps to address the agencys concerns. Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI took it offline in Italy last month.

While the Irish DPC is the EUs lead regulator of many of the worlds largest technology companies due to the location of their EU headquarters in Ireland, it does not hold the same power over OpenAI which has no offices in the bloc.

Dixon added that the issues around Generative AI span far beyond data protection and include copyright and defamation concerns.

We also want to contribute to broader discussions about the risks and about other areas of law that converge in AI, she said.

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT are complicating governments efforts to agree on laws governing the use of the technology.

Summit on AI systems

Across the EU, 12 lawmakers urged world leaders to hold a summit to find ways to control the development of advanced AI systems, saying they were developing faster than expected.

The European Data Protection Board, which unites Europes national privacy watchdogs, said it had set up a task force on ChatGPT, a potentially important first step towards a common policy on setting privacy rules on AI.

EU lawmakers are discussing the introduction of the European Union AI Act that will govern anyone who provides a product or a service that uses AI. Lawmakers propose classifying different AI tools according to their perceived level of risk, from low to unacceptable.

The UK Government said last month, it planned to split responsibility for governing AI between its regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than creating a new body.

In the wake of Italys initial ban, Frances privacy watchdog CNIL said it was investigating several complaints about ChatGPT.

In the US, the Biden administration said it was seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems.

US President Joe Biden had earlier told science and technology advisers that AI could help address disease and climate change, but it was also important to address potential risks to society, national security, and the economy.

Reuters
A family of renowned traditional musicians from Limerick are set to be celebrated at the upcoming TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards.

The Mulcahy family from Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick will be presented with the Music Group Award at this year's Gradam Ceoil Awards. Known as the Oscars of traditional music, the annual event represents the creme de la creme of traditional music and song.

The Music Group Award was first introduced last year with father and daughters Mick, Louise and Michelle Mulcahy set to receive the 2023 prize. The Limerick family are successful solo musicians as well as being highly regarded as a trio.

Mick, who is father to Louise and Michelle, hails from Kilmainham, Co Kerry. The renowned traditional musician plays the accordion, melodeon and the concertina as well as being a composer and recording musician. With two solo albums, Mick was also a member of the Brosna Ceili band from Co Kerry.

Musical talent unsurprisingly runs in the family and by age five, daughter Louise was playing the tin whistle, before later moving over to the flute. By age 13, she began to play the uilleann pipes and is now a highly regarded musician in what is typically a male-dominant instrument. Michelle has also been playing the tin whistle since the age of five before moving to the button accordion, concertina, harp, fiddle, piano and melodeon.

In its 26th year, the Gradam Ceoil Awards also promise to be a night of great music with live performances from Caoimhin O Raghallaigh, Fidelma, Aoife and Ciara Ni Bhriain, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Kaitlin Cullen-Verhaus and many more.

Mick O'Brien will be presented with the Ceoltoir award. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22

Other recipients on the night will include Mick OBrien who is set to be awarded the highest accolade in Traditional Irish Music with the Ceoltoir/Musician award. The piper and tin whistle player has performed as a solo artist and with other musicians including the RTE Concert Orchestra. Fiddler-player Meabh Smyth will receive the Young Musician award while Connemara native Sile Denvir will be presented with the Singer award.

Meanwhile, the Lifetime Achievement will go to musician, lecturer and writer, Fintan Vallely. Maurice Lennon will receive the Composer award while the award for Outstanding Contribution will go to the renowned Irish musician and educator, Frank McArdle.

The awards will be hosted by TG4 presenter Paidi O Lionaird and broadcast live on TG4.

Recipients attending the launch of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2023 Awards in the irish World Academy of Music & Dance, UL Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22

TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2023 recipients:

Ceoltoir /Musician  Mick OBrien

Amhranai /Singer  Sile Denvir

Ceoltoir Og/Young Musician  Meabh Smyth

Gradam Saoil/Lifetime Achievement  Fintan Vallelly

Cumadoir / Composer  Maurice Lennon

Grupa Ceoil/Music Group- Mick, Louise, Michelle Mulcahy

Gradam Comaoine/Outstanding Contribution  Frank McArdle

The live concert and awards show will take place at the University Concert Hall, Limerick, and will be broadcast live on TG4 at 9.30pm on Sunday, April 23.

Tickets for TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards are available via https://uch-tickets.uch.ie/
His screen credits include such iconic projects as a Bond movie, a Star Wars epic and the much-loved Father Ted. His latest thriller spent three weeks as Netflixs most-watched movie globally.

Yet Cork actor Dermot Crowley goes about his days largely unrecognised - and that is fine with him. Sometimes, he laughs, he notices people trying to place him. Occasionally, people kind of think they recognise the face but they think I might have been a dentist that they went to a few years ago!

For many decades, the Douglas actor has been notching up a great variety of projects on stage and screen. Luther: The Fallen Sun - in which he reprises his role as the straight-talking and intuitive Martin Schenk - has been a smash hit for Netflix. It gave Crowley the chance to work on a standalone movie opposite Idris Elba, having co-starred with the star on the small screen over many years.

He played General Madine in Star Wars Return of the Jedi, and Kamp in Octopussy, while his role as Father Liam Deliverance saw him assist Father Ted at the Lovely Girls competition. His theatre work has made him a regular on Broadway and the West End. Most recently, he came home to work with Florence Pugh on The Wonder.

Idris Elba, Andy Serkis, Dermot Crowley and Jamie Payne at the US premiere of Luther: The Fallen Sun in New York. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Its been a remarkable career, following a very early disappointment when illness caused him to miss a coveted role in the nativity play in his Cork school.

I went to Turner's Cross Convent, to the junior school, and the first Christmas they were putting on a nativity play, he recalls. I was cast as the third shepherd, and before the play happened, I got measles and couldn't do it.

We eventually got to see the play without me in it. They'd promoted somebody else into the role of the third shepherd. I remember being incandescent, with four-year-old rage, that there was somebody else up there instead of me, Crowley laughs.

It was an early sign of a passion for performance that was to serve him well, and Crowley is thankful that he got some breaks along the way.

I went to Turner's Cross school and Colaiste Chriost Ri. I was kind of blessed with luck in that my English teacher was John OShea - he was one of the founding members of the Everyman Theatre, along with Sean O Tuama and Rachel Burrows.

I suppose he must have seen something because I started doing small parts in shows in Everyman Theatre. The late, great Jim Stack was an elocution and drama teacher, as well as producing plays in the Opera House, and I went to his drama classes in the School of Music. The bug hit me really seriously. I felt comfortable on the stage - I thought, I'm home. I kind of knew that with a fair wind, I was going to try and become an actor.

Dermot Crowley and his wife Suzanne Crowley attend the US premiere of Luther: The Fallen Sun in New York. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Netflix)

Well aware that acting was a precarious career that was difficult to break into, he took an arts degree at UCC (where he spent much of his time working on plays), followed by a HDip that saw him teaching for a time at his former school.

In the meantime, that particular summer, which was 1968, RTE put an ad on the back of the Irish Times for Radio Eireann Rep, this wonderful acting company. The studios were at the top of the GPO.

They auditioned 50 of us then of the 50, they offered seven of us a two-year contract. That's how I became a professional actor, it started me off. Because there were no drama schools at the time, there was nothing you could do apart from knocking on the door of the Abbey and saying: Will you let me become an actor?

When I started off in the business, you had no choice. You either stayed in Dublin, hope to get into Tolka Row, or RTE, or you took the boat to England. Lots of very famous Irish actors like Jim Norton and TP McKenna and Milo O'Shea and all of that generation, they found that they had to go because there wasn't enough work here to make a living let alone have a family. They generally went over in a play. I went over with Siobhan McKenna, god rest her noble beautiful soul, in a production of Juno and the Peacock.

Dermot Crowley as General Madine in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

He was thrilled to get to work on the Luther movie having spent years developing the character of Schenk in the TV series, where he first started working with a young Idris Elba many years ago.

He was originally described as having a razor sharp brain. He came into the middle of the first series, basically to try and find out if Luther stepped over the line or was acting on a criminal level. After I did that first episode, Neil Cross, who lives in New Zealand and has written every single one of them, got in touch with me and said that he liked what I was doing and would I like to do more.

We started shooting the first one in 2009. Idris had come from big success in America where he was discovered in The Wire. It was a really big thing for him (when) he took on Luther. It was a big journey for him - absolutely everything was on his shoulders. The show was named after him, he's the undisputed lead. And as the years went on, and his star grew brighter, and he became the big charismatic film star that he is today, his confidence, to be able to shoulder Luther, just grew and grew. He's delightful, and dead easy to work with. Though based largely in London, Crowley has a home in the Beara Peninsula where he spends much of his time. He bought a house there after becoming beguiled by the region while filming the drama Falling For a Dancer.

I owe all the joy in my life that Beara brings to me to Deirdre Purcell, God rest her who I miss so much.

She wrote Falling for a Dancer, which was a four part series, all filmed on the Beara Peninsula. I remember calling my wife Suzanne and saying: I can't leave this place behind. We were filming there for 10 weeks. Every time I had a day off, I'd drive around looking for somewhere to buy a plot and eventually found Eyeries village. We've been there for the last 20 years or more. I love it to bits. Now in his seventh decade he is as busy as ever, with two new projects on the way. They include the forthcoming Irish feature Baltimore. Its about the raid on Russborough house, where all the paintings were stolen belonging to Alfred Beit, the Goyas and Gainsboroughs and Rubens. Another thing I'm about to start is called a Gentleman in Moscow, which is from a rather wonderful novel about a Russian count. Ewan McGregor is playing the lead role in that.
The family of Michael Schumacher plans to take legal action against a German magazine for publishing what it claimed to be an artificial intelligence-generated interview with the former Formula One star.

Family spokesperson Sabine Kehm confirmed to The Associated Press that legal action is being planned over a fake artificial intelligence interview by German outlet Die Aktuelle.

The magazine printed a photo of 54-year-old Schumacher on its front page last weekend along with the words: Michael Schumacher, the first interview!

The magazine also wrote it sounds deceptively real with the supposed quotes attributed to Schumacher generated by AI.

Michael Schumacher in 2010 (David Davies/PA)

Die Aktuelle is one of many tabloid celebrity magazines in Germany.

It was while skiing in the French Alps at Meribel that Schumacher fell in December 2013 and suffered a near-fatal brain injury.

His head hit a rock which split open his helmet.

Doctors removed blood clots but others were left untouched because they were too deeply embedded in his brain.

Since being transferred from hospital in September 2014, the seven-time F1 champion continues to be cared for privately at a family home in Switzerland.

Schumacher shares the record for most F1 titles with British driver Lewis Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes.

Schumacher retired from F1 in 2012 after three seasons with Mercedes and was replaced on the team by Hamilton.
Hello, its Ros e aleen here in Ballydesmond, how can I help you today sir or madam? Ah feck it, this new job in the call centre is after taking over my mind, youd be addled from it.

It wasnt so bad when they had me working from home, theres a kind of perverted pleasure in helping people renew their insurance in your knickers.

Well wasnt that wrecked the other day when they summoned us all into the office in Cork on Monday for something called a town hall, where some 35-year-old blouse of a one tried to motivate us with her American accent.

I was the oldest person there by a few years I can tell you, my colleagues are so trendy that even the women have man-buns.

Anyway didnt we go to a bar afterwards, and I want to have a word with the gowl who said young people cant drink any more, because he obviously hasnt met my lot.

The last thing I remember was being cancelled for telling the truth about personal hygiene in Scartaglin, and the next morning, didnt I wake up in bed with my boss.

A woman no less, the same woman who was trying to motivate us with her American accent.

Dont ask me if there was any hows your father because my mind is still as foggy as a fine day in Knocknagree.

Oh lads, Ill be a bag of nerves in Mass on Sunday in case the priest gets up and says I hear Ros e aleen from Ballydesmond swings both ways, hes a fright for the gossip. Should I ask my boss if we did the biz, tell me?

 Rosealeen from Ballydesmond

I feel your pain. I was really nervous our local priest would spread rumours about my kinks in the bedroom  I had to break it off with him in the end.

Cmere, what s the story with AI chatbots pretending to be human?

Im not the real Dowcha Donie now lah, I do be a chatbot, so would you do me a solid and check if my question sounds like it came from a n actual person.

Myself and the old doll have decided to go jogging together like those nobby couples you see on the southside, smiling away at each other while goading the rest of us with their healthy relationship.

We were out for a jaunt around Glen River Park yesterday when I noticed other old dolls were giving me the eye when they spotted me jogging with my old doll, it must be some kind of signal that Im a catch.

The thing is, whenever I tried to give the eye back to them, Id get caught in the act by my old doll, and thered be war.

So, whats the best way to give the eye on the sly when youre jogging?

 Dowcha Donie, Blackpool, but not really like.

I tell My Conor I want to run one step behind him so I can admire his arse. And youre clearly not the real Dowcha Donie, jogging in Glen River Park. Real Northsiders like to cross the river and do their jogging near my house on the Marina  unfortunately.

N ow listen up, Paddy.

Ive just engaged the top Kings Counsel here in London to sue West Cork for false advertising.

One hadnt a clue what the locals were saying when I popped over for a dirty weekend with Flicky Higginbottoms wife.

We spent half a day in Bandon, which was half a day too long as hardly any of the people we met sounded like Graham Norton.

It is ones view, shared by my barrister, that West Cork should not be sending Norton over to London without a warning that his mode of speaking isnt representative of the norm.

When a local started speaking to me outside Dunmanway, I asked him to speak into my phone so it could translate his gibberish into Queens English.

The damn thing detected his language as Serbo-Armenian, which doesnt even exist.

I did encounter one group in West Cork with upper-class English accents, but they were hippies unfortunately and one gagged at the whiff of stinky cheese.

Is there anything can be done to make West Cork natives speak properly?

 Lord Edmund DServant-Spanker, Monte Carlo, for tax reasons.

Now listen up Lord Edmund  its just as well you couldnt make out what they were saying, you langball.

Its getting Baltic on our WhatsApp group, Douglas Road Stunners who Are Actually Thinking of Moving to Kerry Because of the Temperatures This Week.

Fifi_IncrediblyTonedArms said you wouldnt mind people assuming you were a clueless muck-savage if you could enjoy the 20 degrees they had in Kerry on Monday .

I for one have had enough of the 12 degrees were getting here in Cork Audrey, youd swear we were jinxed.

Sorry, but whats the point of living in the best city in the world if you have to wear your three-grand cashmere coat (Brown Thomas) in April.

Do you think we should move?

 Jenni, Douglas Road

M y sister moved to Kerry to get away from the weather and the low-level aggression people bring to a conversation in Cork. I rang her there and said, do you think the move has changed you? She said, yerra it has and it hasnt, lyyyyke.
Please look after this bear. Thank You.

My son is starting in my secondary school this September. Unlikely to don a red hat or blue duffle, Im holding out hope that hell let me hang Paddingtons placard around his little neck. What could possibly go wrong? Itll be a conversation starter, right? Right?

In some ways, I wish he wasnt coming to my school but its the only multi-denominational mixed secondary near us. Im not going to cope if I see him alone or sad looking. As a teacher, I know its ok if he does feel that way sometimes. Its natural. Ill just need to REMOVE my mum hat. Be cool.

My son has me thinking about all school transitions this week. I spoke with Brian Barron, principal of Portlaw National School on the topic, asking how they manage children coming into junior infants and leaving sixth class for secondary.

Honestly, I dont know how the general public can teacher-bash if theyre even half-aware of the incredible work being done by teaching staff across Ireland. Its truly inspiring.

MANAGING TRANSITIONS

Principal Barron takes a two-pronged approach in preparing to welcome all incoming students. He is concerned by the lack of uniformity around transitioning from preschool. There is no official handover and no official guidelines for preschools to follow in communicating with primary schools.

To overcome this lack of clarity Portlaw National School asks all parents to fill out a fairly extensive enrolment form, checking for any previous hearing or sight tests, for assessments, or social-emotional needs. Their special education teacher also visits the pre-schools in person.

Parents wont always know how a child is with their peers. Its the social-emotional characteristics of a child we need to know about before they join us. The learning can be sorted out later. We need to know if they have sensory needs, how they respond to their teachers, their classmates.

Portlaw School is making these observational visits to all relevant pre-schools over the next month, trying to get an adequate feel for their imminent arrivals.

Starting in primary can be a bit of a cliff edge in terms of supports, Mr Barron explains. Children in playschool have a right to extra hours, so the preschool employs extra staff to meet their needs. "This all stops when they start in primary. There is a total disconnect. They arrive with nothing," he says.

I like the new model in which the principal makes decisions around SNA allocation, he says. However, the respect shown to us as professionals dries up once we ask for more. The system is labyrinthine and is designed to slow down access to more supports. This is why it is so important for us to know the needs of the children we are welcoming through our doors each September.

THE HANDOFF

Brian Barron feels the connection piece between preschool, primary, and secondary is hugely significant. For this reason, his sixth-class teachers meet the staff of all secondary schools receiving their outgoing students.

We sit down and go through every child. We have professional conversations, educator to educator, to ensure that the childs transition will be as smooth as possible. It is all about collaboration and vitally, it is all about doing the best by children.

Relatedly, the passionate and committed principal highlights the importance of helping children transition from special classrooms to mainstream settings within a school.

Integrating children can be very scary for children and their parents because you have to take away some of that scaffolding.

Speaking to Mr Barron, Im conscious of the great work carried out by my own school in helping students, and now my own son, in making the big transition. Along with the required assessment day we hold two social days in the run-up to September. Ive already filled out a robust enrolment form. I know we have a proactive approach, are more intent on listening and responding than prescribing a one-size-fits-all solution to everyone.

In truth, my boy Sam wont need the Paddington placard around his neck. Im very proud of my school and the care it shows toward all students. Like any school, were imperfect but we have a hell of a heart. All staff appreciate that every parent has an invisible please look after this bear sign on their child.

Teaching is a wonderful profession. Speaking to Brian Barron reminds me of that. I cant wait to get stuck into our last term together. And, ultimately, I cant wait for my little boy to start this exciting new chapter.

And theres always the lunchbox option of sneaking in a marmalade sandwich or two
Hiqa has been asked to publish a report into a care home where so-called chemical restraints were allegedly used.

The report relates to an inspection in August 2017 into the Cluain Fhionnain facility which was operated by the HSE in Killarney, Co Kerry, before it closed down.

The report was never published, with Hiqa later stating that this was because key people were on annual leave.

Speaking in the Seanad, Independent senator Dr Tom Clonan called for a probe into allegations about prescription practices at the home.

He also called on Hiqa to hand over to gardai what he described as its suppressed draft inspection report on the centre, which the agency had categorised as high risk.

He said this was necessary because of the need to examine what he described as the use of so-called chemical restraints at the facility.

Dr Clonan referenced the fact that inspectors on a follow-up inspection were informed that a resident was taken off medication used to block hormones.

On the use of such medication, Dr Clonan said: This is sometimes referred to as chemical castration or chemical incarceration, to sedate persons with disabilities in a residential setting.

I'm calling for a Garda investigation into the prescribing regime and regime of care in Cluain Fhionnain.

Dr Clonan said he also wanted Hiqa to hand over any evidence used to support the draft 2017 report.

He said he was also calling on gardai to interview all Hiqa staff involved with the inspection and subsequent draft report.

I'm calling on Gardai to investigate any possible concealment or destruction of evidence of any wrongdoing, he said.

A HSE audit completed in October 2016 identified concerns in relation to the levels of medicines being used at the centre.

These included questions about the use of psychotropic medicines and other medicines being used for the management of challenging behaviour.

That same audit acknowledged that medicines were being used that blocked the effect of hormones.

Report 'could not be published'

When the Irish Examiner asked Hiqa in 2021 about the unpublished draft report on the August 2017 inspections, a spokesperson said: While an inspection did take place, the draft report did not go through the due process that is applied to all inspection reports in advance of publication, including the provider's right of reply and opportunity to provide feedback on the content of the draft report.

Therefore the report could not be published.

There has been an adjudication by the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) into a decision by Hiqa not to release records, including draft reports, in relation to the August 2017 inspection as requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

In its justification of why it deactivated the report, it stated that key persons in the inspectors team were on leave.

As a result, Hiqa told the OIC that line management was not in a position to complete the quality check of the draft report within timelines.

According to the OIC, Hiqa said: A draft report must be completed within 15 days of the inspection.

Thereafter, a timeline of 10 days applies for quality assurance review by management and a further two days for the draft report to be issued to the provider for the purpose of factual accuracy checks and feedback.
The wife of the Irish mountaineer who died in the Himalayas on Monday has said there was no drama  it was his time to go.

Lynne Hanna said Noel had made himself soup after having just climbed one of the tallest mountains in the world and then fell asleep, never to wake again.

Posting on Facebook, she said she was in Kathmandu to bring her 'mountain mans' body home. She arrived in the Nepalese capital on Wednesday.

When news of 56-year-old Noel Hanna's death emerged on Tuesday morning, it was not clear how Noel  whose climbing career included 10 summits of Mt Everest, two of which had been with Lynne  had died.

According to the Kathmandu Post, his body was found lying at Camp IV, about 1,000m from the summit of Mt Annapurna, in an area prone to avalanches.

Noel had reached the top of the 8,091m peak, which is one of the highest and most treacherous mountains in the world.

The bodyguard and fitness instructor was on his way down on Monday night when he died, becoming the latest fatality on a mountain where more than 72 have died so far.

Lynne, who is also an accomplished climber, said on Facebook: I have arrived in Kathmandu to bring Noel home. He passed away at Camp 4 on Annapurna after a successful summit.

He returned to the tent, took some hot soup and fell asleep, never to awaken again.

There was, she continued, no drama, no big story.

She added: It was his time to go and he died in the Himalayas  what better place for my Mountain Man.

Sleep well Noel.

Thaneswar Guragai, manager of Seven Summit Treks in Nepal, said that a colleague of his had gone to Camp IV on Tuesday morning and tried to wake him up.

He tried to wake him up but he found him dead, he told the Irish Examiner.

It wasnt like a lack of oxygen or anything, or that he fell down. He was sleeping well and the following morning when (they) tried to wake him up, he was dead.

He died in a sleeping bag in Camp IV on Annapurna.

Thaneswar, who brought Lynne and Noels brother to the hospital where his body was, said he had known Noel for years.

He was a wonderful person. He was a truly great climber. He was always in the front to help people. He would help anybody who might have been in trouble going up or down any of the various peaks he was on over all the years he was climbing.

I dont think we will ever find a climber like Noel in the future.

He was a one-in-a-million climber.

Noel was well aware of the risks he knew he was taking.

Climber Noel Hanna. Picture: noelhanna.com

You know when you go away there is a chance youre not coming back, he once told a Belfast Telegraph reporter.

"The only thing we are sure of is dying.

Ever since I was young, Ive always felt that since the day you are born, theres a nick in the calendar when you are going to die.

And should you live life to the extreme, or should you not go out the door, lightning will strike the house and you will get killed in the house, and thats been my motto for living life to the full.

He served as a police officer in the North for 15 years until 2002.

During one of Bill Clintons presidential visits to Northern Ireland in the 1990s, he was assigned as one of his close protection officers.

Although Noel and Lynne did not have children, the couple both shared a passion for their three German Shepherd dogs Babu, Ruskie and Buddha.
US peace envoy George Mitchell says he holds out hope he will be able return to Northern Ireland in the company of his children.

The former senator, 89, who has undergone three years of intensive treatment for leukaemia, revealed his attendance at this weeks landmark conference commemorating the Good Friday Agreement was in doubt just days before he flew out.

Mr Mitchell, who chaired the 1998 Good Friday negotiations to their successful outcome, told the PA news agency that he had made alternative arrangements to address the event at Queens University from a TV studio in the United States.

The speech delivered by the veteran diplomat on the first day of the conference has been lauded as the most impactful of the entire event.

Senator George Mitchell stands beside a new bust of himself by Irish visual artist Colin Davidson at Queens University Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)

As he prepares to return to the United States on Friday, Mr Mitchell described his visit to Northern Ireland as very meaningful and emotional.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with acute leukaemia and was very seriously ill and I thought that my travelling days were over, he said.

But, fortunately  and this is the first time in three years that Ive attended and spoken at a major public event  I was able to make this trip and Im very grateful for it.

Mr Mitchell said he and his family had come to love Northern Ireland and its people.

On his contingency arrangements if he had been unable to travel, Mr Mitchell said: I made alternate plans, a television studio in the United States to do my address by videotape, if that was necessary, he said.

But a few days before, I went to the hospital, went through some tests with my doctor, and he thought it was fine but I had to be careful and prudent about how much I do.

I don't know if this is my last trip or not to be perfectly frank

And, so far, while the chemotherapy that I received over the past three years is necessary to combat the cancer, it greatly weakens your body and leaves you lacking in stamina and energy, so Ive had to pace myself a little bit, get tired a little bit, but really it was well worth it.

A bronze bust of the talks mediator was unveiled at Queens University to mark the anniversary of the accord.

I dont know if this is my last trip or not to be perfectly frank, I dont know whats going to happen, he said.

The doctors have told me that I might go for a period of time without a resumption of cancer and die from something else, Im going to be 90 years old in a couple of months.

On the other hand he said the cancer might come back in a few months and youll have to go back into chemotherapy. So I live every day thanking God that Im still here and still around and, for me, its wonderful to be able to come back here.

Ive seen many old friends that I had not seen for a very long time, renewed acquaintances.

Things take on a different context and a different meaning when you reach the stage of life that I have reached, and I enjoy what we would think of as routine things more than I appreciated and did before.

And my children love Northern Ireland on the occasions that they came and I hope very much I can come back again, not at any conference, but just as a visitor, as I had often, and have my children come with me, but I cant be sure of that.

So I want to make the most of this visit as I can.
A Cork woman is living in emergency accommodation despite her landlord offering to sell her home to the local authority, the Dail has been told.

Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty raised the case of the unnamed woman and another family during Leaders' Questions. He said the cases illustrated "what is happening on the ground" since the ending of the no-fault eviction moratorium.

"A family of four have received their eviction notice," Mr Doherty, who did not say whether Cork City or County Council was being referred to, said.

"The council said 'No' to buying the property. They now say it is overcrowded, despite the fact they were paying Hap for this family for the last four years. What about another individual in the Tanaiste's own county of Cork, a lady who was evicted on Friday?

"She was gone on Friday and she is now in emergency accommodation. She got a call after all her bags were packed and after she moved out, from the council, to say they would buy the house.

"Yet, it is too late. She was evicted. She is in emergency accommodation. The landlord had been communicating with the council as far back as August of last year to sell the house to the council. He has pulled out now because it has taken too long. She has been evicted and she is in emergency accommodation in the Tanaiste's own county of Cork."

Mr Doherty said the housing crisis has "gotten worse" since 2017 when Micheal Martin called it a "national scandal" and asked the Tanaiste what the Government's plan would be for people like those he had referred to.

The question sparked an argument between the two men as the Tanaiste asked Mr Doherty to acknowledge that home completions in 2022 were 45% above 2021.

He said the Government had told councils to purchase homes in these situations, but said he was not aware of the specifics of each case.

"I cannot deal with every individual case the deputy may raise. It is easy for him to take one case at a time. However, the policy is there. Councils have been instructed to buy houses where a person is under threat of eviction.

"A specific unit has been established in the department to ensure, co-ordinate and direct councils to follow through. The evidence is that there are now substantial numbers of cost-rental tenant-in-situ scheme situations being progressed by councils across the length and breadth of the country."
Noeline Blackwell is to step down as CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) later this year.

Ms Blackwell, who has been the organisations CEO since March 2016, plans to retire from the role in Autumn.

Leading the DRCC executive has allowed me to be part of a movement to effect substantial positive change for those who experience sexual violence, or who are at risk of it.

"I have been lucky to work with dedicated board members, staff and volunteers, who are unstinting in their support for victims and survivors.

"I have also been able to engage with those directly affected by sexual violence  it has been a great honour to learn from their experience and to help address the issues they identify, Ms Blackwell said.

Noeline Blackwell. Picture: Maxwells Dublin

After seven years in the role, and as Dublin Rape Crisis Centre begins the implementation of a new strategic plan, I believe that its the right time for me to step down and to allow others to shape the next stage of the organisations development, she added.

A solicitor who studied at UCD, Ms Blackwell was previously director general of the Free Legal Advice Centres and managing solicitor at a Dublin general law practice.

Speaking on behalf of the board, DRCC chairperson Ann Marie Gill said: I want to thank Noeline for her expert and professional leadership and advocacy for the rights of victims and survivors of sexual violence throughout her time with us. We are sincerely grateful for her leadership and her dedication to the work of the organisation.

"Noeline has brought issues facing survivors of sexual violence to public attention and contributed significantly to law and policy reform in this area.

"In particular, she has championed the need to bring about a better popular understanding of consent as a way to prevent sexual violence.

The DRCC's board of directors will now launch a search for Ms Blackwell's successor.
A farmer outbid at a cattle mart assaulted another man who had disclosed that he had spoken about the specific lot to someone else.

Noel ORegan of Lissaphooka, Kilbrittain in Co Cork struck John Lordan "a number of times" and also verbally abused him on March 29 of last year, arising out of Mr ORegan losing out on a bid for cattle at Skibbereen Mart some weeks previously.

Bandon District Court heard that Mr ORegan, 48, was pleading guilty to the simple assault on Mr Lordan, who was known to him, with a separate public order charge withdrawn.

Sgt Paul Kelly told Judge John King that on May 25 last year, Mr Lordan went to Kilbrittain Garda Station and alleged that he had been assaulted by Mr ORegan, who was known to him, at his farm.

Apparently it was as a result over bidding on cattle at a local mart in Skibbereen some weeks previously, Sgt Kelly said.

'Extremely shaken'

The court heard that Mr Lordan  who declined at invitation to attend court or provide a victim impact statement  was extremely shaken by the assault and the threatening words which followed, Sgt Kelly said.

Mr ORegans solicitor, Plunkett Taaffe, told the judge that his client had previously mentioned to Mr Lordan that he would be bidding on a particular lot at the mart but he was ultimately outbid by someone else.

On the day of the incident, Mr ORegan had a casual encounter with Mr Lordan while en route to taking a machinery part to another farmer, and was asked if he could help in moving cattle. In the course of that exchange, the matter of the bidding at the mart arose.

Mr Lordan had told, inadvertently or otherwise, someone else, Mr Taaffe said of the bidding at the mart.

That person had outbid him.

One word led to another and he did strike out at him. Mr Taaffe said there had been no further communication between the two men and no intention to communicate, and that Mr ORegan apologised in court for what had occurred.

It was isolated  it is not going to happen again, Mr Taaffe said, adding that his client was under a lot of pressure at the time.

Sgt Kelly said that when asked about the court proceedings Mr Lordan had said he just wanted to be left alone.

Judge King observed that the injured party had waited some time before contacting gardai. He heard that Mr ORegan was a truck driver and farmer who had one previous conviction, of driving with an excess load, dating back to 2005.

Judge King gave Mr ORegan the benefit of the Probation Act with Mr ORegan making a 500 contribution to the court poor box.

The reason I am doing that is I do not expect to see him again, the judge said.
The family of a father of three young children are maintaining a bedside vigil as he fights for his life following the industrial accident at a Stryker plant in Cork.

Calls are mounting for a full safety review of the global medical devices giant's operations in East Cork, following the incident which left the 41-year-old on life support with extensive burns to about 70% of his body.

He was rushed to Cork University Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, was placed on life support, and transferred later to Dublin for ongoing treatment.

He and another man suffered burn and blast injuries in a mini explosion as they worked on the roof of the Anngrove plant just after 1pm on Tuesday. Employees of external contractors, they were carrying out maintenance or repairs to vents on the roof when the blast occurred.

It has emerged that Stryker has refused to engage with the trade union, Siptu at the Anngrove plant, which is now the focus of a major health and safety probe following the accident.

The company has also effectively ignored two 2019 Labour Court recommendations that it should recognise and engage with the union at its other two plants in East Cork, where Siptu members made a protected disclosure in 2021 in relation to major health and safety concerns.

This is despite the fact the company engages with Siptu at its Limerick facility, and at a recently acquired plant in Macroom, Co Cork, where negotiations on a pay deal concluded earlier this year.

The Irish Examiner has also learned the Labour Court issued a recommendation on Wednesday that the company recognise Siptu as the representative of some 80 staff at the facility where the industrial incident occurred less than 24-hours earlier.

The union has now sought an urgent meeting with Stryker management amid growing calls for a full safety review of the company's operations in East Cork.

Cork East TD Sean Sherlock called on Tanaiste Micheal Martin, who opened a massive extension at the Anngrove facility last year, to intervene.

This is an IDA-backed company. I do believe that the Minister needs to intervene with Stryker to ensure that we can continue to maintain jobs and ensure that workers have a safe working environment."

Siptu took three complaints against Stryker for union representation to the Labour Court  two in 2019 in relation to Strykers plants at Tullagreen and Springhill, near Carrigtwohill, and the third earlier this year in relation to the nearby Anngrove plant.

The company did not attend the hearings. The complaints went uncontested.

The Labour Court issued two recommendations in late 2019 that Stryker recognise the union at the Tullagreen and Springhill plants, but there was no official engagement. The protected disclosure about health and safety issues came two years later.

Following the Labour Court's recommendation on Wednesday, Siptu sector organiser Neil McGowan said they have now written to management seeking an urgent meeting to discuss the safety concerns of workers on the three Stryker sites in Carrigtwohill.

The family of the critically injured man, from a well-known family in the Carrigtwohill area of Cork, have asked people to pray for him describing him as a kind, mild-mannered family man, with a loving wife, a baby, a young child, and a stepson who are his world.

"His devoted parents, wife and siblings are devastated and keeping vigil at the hospital. Our extended family are heartbroken and feel helpless at the shocking turn of events," they said in a statement to the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork's RedFM.

Operations at Anngrove resumed on Wednesday following an inspection by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). Its probe is expected to focus on the vent and its filters, and on how often they were cleaned or replaced.

Stryker said it is in communication with the families of both injured men, and that its employee assistance programme is available to staff and personnel are on-site to support them.

"We continue to work closely with the HSA as they carry out their investigations into the incident," a spokesperson said.
Tanaiste Micheal Martin has said while Stryker may be a considerable employer in the Cork region, it must still ensure every worker in it complexes is safe.

His comments come as a father of three young children continues to fight for his life following an industrial accident at a Stryker plant in Cork.

The 41-year-old and another man suffered burn and blast injuries in a mini explosion as they worked on the roof of the Anngrove plant just after 1pm on Tuesday.

Speaking in the Dail, Micheal Martin described the accident as very worrying. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has to independently examine and investigate what happened, he said.

"Stryker is a considerable employer of up to 6,000 people in that area. However, that is a separate issue from the absolute need to have safety for every employee within the complex," Mr Martin said.

Sinn Fein TD for East Cork Pat Buckley told the Dail he received a very large protected disclosure relating to Stryker in 2020 which he forwarded to the HSA and to Leo Varadkar, then tanaiste and enterprise minister.

But my heart sank, my stomach sank when I heard [about] that accident, knowing that all this information was with the HSA and in the department and obviously these things weren't carried out.

Titanium dust, titanium fires, that's what we're dealing with here. I went to the County Fire Service; they don't have the capabilities of putting out these titanium fires," he said.

He called for a full safety review going back as far as 2019.

Minister for State at the Department of Enterprise Neale Richmond said Stryker is working with the HSA.

"I can assure you that this investigation will be thorough and the HSA will take whatever action they deem to be appropriate."
Many thanks to the folks at Callanans Bar on Georges Quay for posting a picture on social media last week. Of a phonebox just down the street.

Does eircom still exist?, ran the caption underneath the picture.

Any chance theyd take away this yoke? Id love to see the stats on its usage or is it even functioning? Some interesting stickers on it though.

Ah, the great days of the payphone. And the great days of finding a payphone. One that worked. Which didnt retain a particular smell from a recent visitor, a more difficult task than you might imagine on a wet Saturday night, and practically impossible on a Sunday morning.

This was a time when we had payphone etiquette. It would be interesting to see how todays oversharers would deal with a communal phone: I distinctly remember an elderly lady tapping a person on the shoulder who was hogging a payphone in Merchants Quay and telling her to get off her call, and quick. (She did.) We also had payphone outliers. For a brief period in the late 80s there was one up on the Western Road which had some kind of glitch which allowed you to ring anywhere in the world for free: it was easily identifiable by the long queue outside, and your columnist enjoyed a lengthy though pointless conversation with a cousin in Massachusetts once he got to the head of the queue.

(The truly interesting part of this memory is not that a vanload of engineers soon arrived to remedy the situation, but that so many people learned of the glitch and availed of it without the benefit of social media.) Further out the same road you could land in the Western Star pub, which featured an old-fashioned payphone of the Press Button A variety, though I never availed of this facility myself, as I had better things to be doing in the Western Star pub.

A public telephone in Cobh, Co Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane.

All of this is not even to touch on the vexed question of whether payphone is even the correct term, given the fact that we once relied so heavily on phone cards, which older readers will probably recall with a swift slap across their own foreheads.

As an indication of how swiftly life evolves, this year is the 20th anniversary of the end of the phone card  use of those once-vital items declined seriously with the advent of the mobile phone, so production ceased in 2003.

A brief mention here for the person known to this columnist whose entire family cherished one particular phone card  which celebrated Tina Turner, for some reason  that never seemed to run out and worked long after its ten units (units!) should have run out. Hence its nickname, Magic Tina.

The lads in Callanans were correct to ask about how much their local phone box is used. Ultimately thats the raison detre for these little cubicles and as far back as 2016 it was being reported that the majority of Irelands remaining public pay phones werent protected under Eirs universal service obligations and were thus in line for the chop.

This was because their usage levels fell below the thresholds at which Eir was required to keep them working, the Irish Times reported: At the end of 2015, there were some 900 public pay phones remaining in Ireland, but 621 were being used for less than a minute per day on average, with less than 30 seconds of this usage relating to freephone and emergency services calls.

Eir is permitted to remove a pay phone unit if the average usage over a period of six months falls below these thresholds ....

Hence the removal of 90% of the countrys phone boxes by December 2020, though a few of them hung on by their fingertips in Cork  that same year Eir reported that the Rebel County had the highest number of phone boxes remaining in the country, with 13, though as recently as last October four more phoneboxes in Patrick Street were removed.

Its not clear how the Georges Quay box is surviving, because lack of use isnt the only issue with phoneboxes, of course. In the years since theyve fallen out of use, many phoneboxes have fallen prey to vandalism and graffiti, and what might be euphemistically called antisocial behaviour. When Kingsley Amis wrote his celebrated description of a hangover (His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum) he might have been thinking of many a defiled phonebox, though with the complications resulting from use by a larger creature of the etc, etc.

Classic: A solid cream and green phonebox.

The decline of the phonebox is regrettable for aesthetic reasons, as its classic street furniture  not the glass cabinet to be seen on Georges Quay, true, but the originals, the solid cream and green phoneboxes, the first of which was erected on Dawson Street in 1925.

It took a long time to get the name above the door correct, mind. It was only two years ago Eir decided to get rid of the old telefon and replace it with the more correct teileafon at the behest of Foras na Gaeilge.

(Loath though I am to contradict Foras na Gaeilge, is teileafon itself not an example of what Mr Hurley in the North Mon used to call a seaclaid-y word? What happened to the reliable guthan?)

Fair dues to the communities repurposing those phoneboxes, some of which are here in Cork.

If you tipped down to Clonakilty a couple of summers ago you could enjoy a phone box library in Kent Street, while in many parts of the country the old phonebox now houses a defibrillator.

Plans are underway to use some as rapid electric vehicle charging units as well. Eir recently reached agreements with eight county councils to install 80 EV chargers nationally though I note the list  Offaly, Mayo, Cavan, Waterford, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Monaghan  does not include Cork.

In addition, there appears to be ongoing plans to replace some phone boxes with new digital pedestal kiosks that provide touch-sensitive screens and advertising space. Last month we learned over 20 of these digital pedestal kiosks were to be installed across Dublin  not Cork, I note again  and Eir has said these modern kiosks will preserve public telephone access while adding additional functionality.

Well, hopefully the forlorn outpost on Georges Quay will survive this latest cull. Its dodged the axe so far but its days may be numbered unless we can find a new use for it.

We could take a leaf from the American company which, a few years back, announced a new line of public toilets designed to look like red British phoneboxes on the outside  the tele-toilette (seriously).

I have the company number to hand if anyone wants to call. If it were 35 years ago we could go up to the Western Road and ring from the phonebox there. For free.
American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, according to the countrys defence minister.

The US agreed in October to supply the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles which Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

Defence minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted: Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure.

Patriot missile launchers deployed in Warsaw, Poland (Michal Dyjuk/AP)

Mr Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.

Western allies have pledged tanks, artillery and some fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed a Patriot system was among military item delivered in the past week, saying the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defence systems pledged by Germany last year had also been delivered.

Air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

The Patriot was first deployed by the US in the 1980s.

The system costs approximately four million US dollars (per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say.

At such a cost, its not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he has visited Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraines southern Kherson and easternmost Luhansk provinces.

The purpose of the trip was to meet with the military, whom I did not want to distract for a long time and a long distance from the deployment of the units they command, he said.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Ukraine for the first time since last years invasion by Russia, an alliance official said on Thursday.

The Nato secretary general is in Ukraine. We will release more information as soon as possible, said an alliance official, who asked not to be identified in line with Nato procedures.

Pictures of Mr Stoltenberg apparently paying tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyivs St Michaels Square were published by local media.

Apart from the important symbolism of the visit, the exact purpose of Mr Stoltenbergs trip was not immediately clear. Nato has no official presence in Ukraine.

As an organisation of 31 countries, it only provides nonlethal support: generators, medical equipment, tents, military uniforms and other supplies, to the government in Kyiv.

Mr Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the year-long war and has been instrumental in garnering and co-ordinating support by the 31 members for the embattled nation as it sought to hold on to its territory.

Mr Stoltenberg had been to Kyiv before the war, but this is his first visit during the hostilities and underscores the longstanding commitments of the alliance in defence of Ukraines independence.

Earlier this month, Finland joined Nato, dealing a major blow to Russian president Vladimir Putin with a historic re-alignment of Europes post-Cold War security landscape triggered by Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

The Nordic countrys membership doubles Russias border with the worlds biggest security alliance.

Neighbouring Sweden is expected to join in coming months, too, possibly by the time US president Joe Biden and his Nato counterparts meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12.

The worlds biggest security alliance has focused on bolstering defences on its own territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member country.

Under Natos collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered to be an attack on them all.

The US and many other members are providing weapons, ammunition and training for Ukraines embattled troops bilaterally and in groups, but Nato as a whole wants to avoid being dragged into any potential war with nuclear-armed Russia.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a Ukraine defence contact group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown on Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen.

In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals.

The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon  something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on.

Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

Beauticians paint the hands of customers with traditional henna in preparation for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr celebrations, in Karachi, Pakistan (Fareed Khan/AP)

This year again, the holiday comes amid fighting and devastation, particularly in the Middle East.

In Sudan, the holiday was eclipsed by raging battles between the army and its rival paramilitary force, despite two attempted ceasefires.

The fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands.

In Yemen, the Arab worlds most impoverished nation, a stampede late on Wednesday at a charitable event in the rebel-held capital Sanaa killed at least 78 people and injured 77.

Religious authorities in both Sudan and Yemen said they will mark the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.

In Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population worldwide, the second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah  with more than 60 million members  said that according to its astronomical calculations, the holiday of Eid al-Fitr starts on Friday.

People on motorcycles head to their home villages, leaving from Jakarta, Indonesia (Achmad Ibrahim/AP)

However, the countrys religious affairs minister had announced on Thursday that the start of the holiday would fall on Saturday.

In some places, tensions and fighting had calmed.

Long-time Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed last month to restore diplomatic ties after China-brokered negotiations  an ongoing reconciliation that has de-escalated proxy wars in the region.

Saudi officials and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen recently began talks in Sanaa and during the last days of Ramadan exchanged hundreds of prisoners captured in Yemens civil war, which erupted in 2014.

Riyadh also sent its top diplomat to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a significant step towards ending his political isolation and potentially returning the war-torn country to the Arab League.

However, Tehran and Riyadh disagreed on the start of the holiday  for Saudis, Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday while officials in Iran said it starts on Saturday.

The start of the holiday is traditionally based on sightings of the new moon, which vary according to geographic location, while some countries rely on astronomical calculations rather than physical sightings to determine the start of Eid al-Fitr.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar followed Saudi Arabia and announced the holiday would begin for them on Friday, while their Gulf Arab neighbour, Oman, declared that the moon had not been sighted and the holiday would begin on Saturday.

Somalis shop at a street market in Mogadishu as preparations are made for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr (Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP)

Iraqs Sunni authorities announced the holiday would begin on Friday, while the countrys top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, set a Saturday start date.

The governments of Lebanon and Syria, both in the throes of crippling economic crises, said Friday would mark the beginning of the days-long holiday.

Indonesias security minister Mohammad Mahfud called on Muslims to be respectful of each others celebrations, and asked Muhammadiyah members to have their holiday feasts at home  in consideration of the Muslims who would still be fasting on Friday.

The countrys roads and highways were gridlocked as millions crammed into trains, ferries, buses and on motorcycles, as they left cities to return to their villages to celebrate with family.

The government estimated that more than 123 million travellers were expected to crisscross the vast archipelago that spans 17,000 islands, with about 18 million departing from Jakartas greater metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, clerics of Pakistans state-backed moon sighting committee announced at a news conference in Islamabad that Eid al-Fitr would be celebrated on Saturday in Pakistan as there were no sightings of the moon there.

Egypt, Libya and Jordan said that for them Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday.

In Afghanistan, the head of the Taliban-appointed judiciary, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, also said the holiday would start on Friday.
The case against Alec Baldwin over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has been dismissed, his lawyers said.

The Hollywood actors lawyers said they were pleased with the decision and encouraged a proper investigation into the tragic incident.

Baldwin had faced two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting on the New Mexico set of the Rust movie in October 2021.

The incident occurred after a prop gun held by Baldwin went off, killing Ms Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

The actor previously pleaded not guilty to both charges of involuntary manslaughter.

A statement from his lawyers, shared with the PA news agency on Thursday, said: We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before a preliminary hearing in the case in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it was to be determined whether there was enough evidence to take it to trial.

Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, had previously stepped down from the case.

Their decisions came after much back-and-forth between the two sides, with Baldwins lawyers arguing that Ms Reebs involvement was unconstitutional due to her elected position in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

In turn the DAs office had accused Baldwin of using his fancy attorneys to distract from the gross negligence in the case.

The actor was formally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter by the DA in February, alongside the films armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

The first charge required proof of underlying negligence and included the misdemeanour charge of negligent use of a firearm.

The second charge included a firearm enhancement, which would have made the crime punishable by a mandatory five years in jail.

The enhancement was later dropped by the DA after Baldwins lawyers argued that it was unlawful, and said prosecutors had committed an unconstitutional and elementary legal error.

In the statement of probable cause, filed alongside the charges, the DA accused Baldwin of showing wilful disregard for the safety of others in the days leading up to the shooting.

His reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused Ms Hutchins death, the DA had alleged.

Baldwin also faces a separate civil lawsuit, filed on February 9 by the family of Ms Hutchins.

The family are suing the actor and the Rust movie production company for alleged battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and loss of consortium.

Loss of consortium is a claim which seeks to recover compensation for damage to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.

Thursdays development coincided with the resumption of production on the movie, which has begun again in the US state of Montana.

Legal representatives for Rust Movie Productions stressed that all use of working weapons or ammunition is, and always has been, prohibited on set.
Burma China Hosts Myanmar Junta and Bangladesh to Discuss Rohingya Repatriations

A Rohingya camp in Bangladesh. / AFP

DHAKA  The Chinese-backed pilot project to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Rakhine State from Bangladesh gained momentum this week after diplomatic visits between China and Bangladesh.

But Rohingya leaders said any repatriation must guarantee equal human rights in Myanmar and return them to their land.

Bangladeshs foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen visited Kunming to meet representatives from China and Myanmars junta on Tuesday and Chinas special envoy for Asian affairs, Deng Xijun, visited Dhaka on April 6.

Repatriation is our main objective, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. But we have not seen any result so far. So what can we do? We are keeping our fingers crossed.

He said in two previous attempts, Rohingya were taken to the border but no one from Myanmar appeared.

China encouraged us but we only found a horse egg, he said. Western countries are not keen on it, saying the environment in Rakhine is troublesome. Democracy is yet to be established.

The minister said Bangladesh witnessed previous repatriations between the 1970s and 90s under military rule, saying returns might reduce the venom of hatred.

A retired major general, Shahidul Haque, who was Bangladeshs embassy defense attache in Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy that over 100,00 Rohingya who were driven from Sittwe in 2012 have yet to return to their homes.

But he said recent Chinese intervention was a new factor.

Mg Mg Tein, a Rohingya community leader in Coxs Bazar, said the initiative would be another cage if people could not return to their land and have their rights guaranteed.

He said the project was just an attempt for Myanmars regime to reduce pressure ahead of next months International Court of Justice hearing in The Hague.

In July 2022, the court rejected Myanmars objections to the case brought by The Gambia and asked it to file a reply by April 24.

This month it gave Myanmars regime a months reprieve and scheduled the next hearing for May 24.

Human Rights Watch on March 31 called on Bangladesh to suspend repatriations, saying the Rohingya would be put in danger.

Myanmars junta in March interviewed around 480 Rohingya in Coxs Bazar for the repatriation project.

The New York-based rights group said the Rohingyas were deceived or coerced by Bangladeshi administrators into meeting the junta delegation.

Possible resettlement to a third country was mentioned ahead of the interviews and Rohingya did not want to return to military-run Myanmar, the group said.

The United Nations refugees agency, the UNHCR, in March said: Conditions in Rakhine State are currently not conducive to the sustainable return of Rohingya refugees, adding that no refugee should be forced to return.
Burma Eight Myanmar Junta Troops Killed as Fighting Intensifies in Kayah State

Karenni Army troops parade in Kayah State. (fPhoto: KNDF)

At least eight junta soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with local resistance forces in eastern Demoso township, Kayah State on Wednesday, according to local media.

The Karenni Information Center (KnIC) reported that that one junta soldier was also captured by combined forces of the Karenni Army (KA) and Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces (KNDF) on Wednesday at around 1 pm.

KNDF said they seized weapons and ammunition in two days of clashes.

Fighting is still ongoing near Daw Ngay Khu village and we seized many weapons and ammunition on April 16 and 17, a KNDF spokesman said.

A Karenni Army member was reportedly killed in the clashes. The number of casualties among regime troops remains unclear as fighting is continuing in Demoso township.

Clashes also continued in Demosos neighboring Shan State townships of Pekon and Pinlaung, where more than 6,000 civilians have fled since early March according to local sources.

On Sunday, the junta launched three airstrikes against eastern Demoso, where three detachments of regime troops have been advancing since February.

We have been assaulted by regular bombing and shelling by junta troops. They conducted three airstrikes that destroyed a hospital in eastern Demoso on April 16, the KNDF spokesman said.

A jet fighter also dropped two bombs near a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on Sunday. However, the bombs failed to detonate and no casualties were reported.

Another regime airstrike killed two medical workers and wounded three other civilians on April 7.

KNDF said that at least 102 clashes broke out in eastern Demoso and the neighboring townships of Pekon and Pinlaung in southern Shan state in March, killing 281 regime troops and wounding 80.

At least 228 houses, two Buddhist monasteries, and three schools were destroyed in the area by regime troops in March.
Burma Myanmar Regime Troops Destroy Japan-Funded Hospital and Kill Teenage Boy

The Japan-funded hospital after it was torched by regime forces. / MVRF

Myanmar junta forces burned down a Japan-Myanmar Friendship Hospital on Tuesday during a raid on a village in Myaing Township, Magwe Region.

Military regime troops killed a 15-year-old boy during the raid and abducted 19 people including medics from the Japan-funded hospital, according to locals and resistance groups.

At 11am on Tuesday, around 80 junta troops dropped by two transport helicopters raided Magyi Kan village in the north of Myaing Township, while a Russian-made MI-35 helicopter gunship attacked the village and the Japan-Myanmar Friendship Hospital, said resistance groups and media outlet We Love Myaing, which monitors regime atrocities in the township.

The boy was killed when soldiers cut his throat. They [junta troops] also abducted 19 people including the hospitals doctor and a female medic when they left the village, said a representative of resistance group Myaing Villages Revolution Front (MVRF) who witnessed the aftermath of the attack.

The hospital building donated by Japan was totally destroyed, added the MVRF representative.

A Magyi Kan villager said that the regime troops mainly targeted the hospital during the raid and initially detained over 100 people, including hospital patients. The soldiers also stole over 100 cellphones from the villagers, said the MVRF.

Four homes were torched by regime forces during the raid, along with two vehicles and a number of motorbikes.

In a statement on Tuesday, the junta said that it raided Magyi Kan and neighboring Kan Gyi Village after a tip-off about a Peoples Defense Force (PDF) base in the area.

The regime made no mention of the airstrikes and arson attacks on the village, but said that 30 people were detained, 20 of them women, under suspicion of having links to resistance groups.

The junta claimed to have seized a large quantity of explosives and PDF uniforms from the hospital, along with three vehicles and five motorbikes.

An improvised grenade, a vehicle and 15 motorbikes were seized from a school during the subsequent raid on Kan Gyi Village.

Locals told The Irrawaddy that regime forces were airlifted out of the area on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, on April 8 and 9, a Myanmar military column burned down nearly 50 houses during raids on two villages in the south of Myaing Township, as well as abducting and killing a 37-year-old villager with mental health problems.
Burma Sky-High Atrocities: The Deadly Rise of Myanmar Juntas Aerial Campaign

Min Aung Hlaing at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the Myanmar Air Force in 2022. / Cincds

Myanmars military regime is increasingly using air attacks to tackle the nationwide resistance movement as its ground troops fail to contain the popular armed uprising.

A report issued by the United Nations Human Rights Office in March said the number of junta air raids between February 2022 and January 2023 more than doubled from a year earlier, from 125 to 300.

The military regime is also deliberately targeting civilians including women and children in its air operations.

The parallel National Unity Government (NUG) said that around 160 civilians were killed in nearly 200 air raids targeting civilians between February 2021 and December 2022.

The regime mainly uses A-5, G-4, and K-8 light jet fighters, and Mi-35, Mi-17, and Mi-2 assault helicopters in air attacks in Sagaing and Magwe regions, according to former air force captains who defected following the coup.

For air missions targeting areas controlled by ethnic armed organizations, which have anti-aircraft machine guns and rocket launchers, the junta uses multi-role jet fighters along with JF-17, Yak-130 and Su-30 bombers.

The helicopter gunships and most fighter jets used in the juntas air raids come from Russia.

The following are some of the deadliest air raids over the past two years.

Attack on Pazi Gyi Village

The airstrike on Pazi Gyi village in Sagaing Regions Kantbalu Township on April 11 is the most horrific air attack so far since the coup.

According to the NUG, 168 people including 40 children  six aged under five, 24 aged between five and 18, and 10 whose ages could not be identified  were killed. Women were also among the victims.

The NUGs defense and health ministries are providing treatment for the injured, 16 of whom remain on the critical list.

A junta jet fighter bombed the village as around 200 people, many of them civilians, were attending the opening of the peoples defense authority office in Pazi Gyi. A junta helicopter strafed the crowd as they fled, leaving the ground strewn with dismembered bodies and pieces of flesh.

The regime admitted the airstrike on a PDF base but alleged the heavy casualties were inflicted when improvised explosive devices at the PDF base detonated.

Air attacks on Chin villages

At least eight civilians including a schoolteacher were killed when junta aircraft attacked a school in Webula village tract in Chin States Falam Township on April 10 this year in retaliation for a resistance attack on a junta outpost.

The Chin National Defense Force raided a junta outpost near Varr village by the Manipur River in Falam on the morning of April 10, inflicting heavy casualties on the regime. The junta retaliated by carrying out bombing raids.

Eight civilians were killed instantly and a dozen others were injured.

At least eight civilians including two children were also killed in an unprovoked air attack by the regime on Kwar Poe village near Thantlang town in Chin State on March 30.

The regime also carried out attacks on Pan Par village in the north of Mindat Township on April 17, with two jet fighters killing two children and one woman, and injuring four others, according to CDF (Mindat).

Air attacks in Karen State

The regime often responds with air attacks on mining operations controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) and civilian villages in retaliation for attacks on junta troops and outposts in Karen State.

A church, schools, and around 20 houses were damaged in a junta air raid on Lay War village in Papun town in northern Karen State on January 12 this year. Five civilians including a two-year-old toddler and a pastor were killed.

The regime also bombed a mine near Payathonzu in Kyainseikgyi Township near the Thai-Myanmar border, an area controlled by KNU Brigade 6, on December 1, 2022. The regime bombed the mine on three occasions in 2022. Three miners were killed and six including a Chinese national were injured in the bombings, according to the KNU.

At least 20 civilians were killed when the regime carried out bombing raids on mines in areas controlled by KNU Brigades 3 and 5 in March 2021.

Airstrike on ANang Pa, Kachin State

Civilian performers and business owners were among 100 people, including a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) brigade commander, officers and other ranks, killed when regime warplanes attacked a concert organized by the KIA to mark the 62nd anniversary of the armed ethnic groups political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization, in ANang Pa village in Hpakant Township on October 23, 2022.

One of the three bombs dropped by junta jet fighters hit the concert hall, making the ANang Pa incident the deadliest air attack in 2022. The KIA denounced the airstrike as an unprovoked attack targeting civilians and the ethnic armed group.

Let Yet Kone Massacre

Seven people including children were killed and 21 students were injured when two Russia-made Mi 35 helicopters strafed a monastic school and surrounding area in Let Yet Kone village in Sagaing Regions Depayin Township on September 16, 2022.

The regime defended the atrocity, saying the KIA and PDFs were taking children and villagers as human shields into the village monastery, but photos from the scene show only the dead bodies of children, notebooks, and schoolbags.

Attack on Yin Paung Taing village

The regime carried out air raids and airborne operations on Yin Paung Taing village in Sagaing Regions Yinmabin Township, in August 2022. alleging that Chinland Defense Force had transported weapons to the village.

As junta helicopters strafed the village for hours, troops were airlifted into the area to carry out ground raids.

Junta forces occupied the village for three days from August 11 to 14. The bodies of 17 civilians including two children aged 10 and 17 were found after junta troops left the village.
Burma Tens of Thousands Flee Myanmar Junta Raids in Sagaing

Residents flee junta raids on Wednesday in Khin-U Township, Sagaing Region. / Khin-U True News

Myanmar regime raids on Wednesday forced over 20,000 residents of 16 villages in Sagaing Region to flee their homes.

A Myanmar military detachment of 100 troops based at a hospital in Ye-U Township raided villages in the west of nearby Khin-U Township early Wednesday, said Khin-U True News Site, which monitors regime atrocities in the township.

The column coordinated with other junta forces stationed on the Ye-U-Khin-U highway to raid Mya Kan Village in Khin-U at 8am on Wednesday.

Regime troops used both weapons and heavy explosives during the raid. A firefight erupted when local resistance forces attempted to defend the village.

Three resistance fighters were killed by junta forces, and two were tortured and killed after being detained by regime troops, a representative of resistance group Khin-U Guerrilla Force told the media.

Four of the five slain resistance fighters were members of local resistance group Doh Nyi Naung, said Khin-U Regional Defense Alliance Force.

Five villagers were also detained by regime soldiers to be used as human shields, according to Khin-U True News Site.

After the clashes, the military column raided and torched homes in nearby Aung Thar Village.

On Wednesday afternoon, junta troops stationed at the monastery in Kyun Lal Village shelled nearby villages.
Guest Column Myanmar Needs New Education Skills to Envisage Democracy

Yangon high school students after taking the matriculation exam in 2017. / The Irrawaddy

Philosophers from Socrates onwards have commented on the transformative power of education. As Nelson Mandela noted, Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

But can education transform the current situation in Myanmar? Does the Myanmar education system have transformational power within it?

Researchers generally concede that a particular type of learning is associated with educations transformative power. This education is frequently referred to as liberal learning, and it enables students to use reason, think systematically, imagine a world beyond their current predicaments, and seek sustainable solutions. As the name suggests, liberal education liberates the student from the contingencies of their birth and allows them to envision the world anew.

At the heart of this enterprise is the ability to think critically. Critical thinking, when aligned with powerful ideas, such as democracy and equality, is essential for building a more just society in fragile states such as Myanmar.

21st-century challenges require us to think the unthinkable and seek democratic values. The ability to think beyond can enable Myanmar students to change their country. Thomas Eugene Robbins, an American novelist, said, to achieve the impossible, its precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.

Unfortunately, Myanmars classrooms are noted for their rote memorization and teacher-centered approaches. Teachers echo the ideas of the authoritarian system, which are then forced on students. This traditional, rote learning does not allow students to think, create, and challenge intrinsic social structures.

The conventional education entrenchment has de facto favored the military regime in perpetuating its unconstitutional and undemocratic authority. For that reason, the Myanmar military encourages state-sanctioned values in education to ward off students ability to think and raise difficult questions.

Simply put, the absence of critical thinking in education incubates docility and malleability in students, a tendency significantly exacerbated under military rule. Moreover, the Buddhist respect for teachers, embedded in students minds from childhood, makes students loathe to question or disagree with their teachers. Overall, religious, social, and political factors inculcate in students submissive attitudes toward people in authority.

To change the traditional education system, international non-government organizations (INGOs) and the National League of Democracy government introduced critical thinking skills and a student-centered curriculum in Myanmar.

However, these much-needed reforms were soon suffocated by social factors. For example, Marie Lall notes in her recent book that teachers have limited time to implement the student-centered approach because they need to finish the course set up by the Ministry of Education. Also, Myanmars societal mindset values accreditation, certificates, degrees and potential employment opportunities, which are indispensable for individuals to gain social mobility.

One of the authors, Dr. Sheraz Akhtar, observed what might be termed the credentialist mindset when he recently visited community learning centers in the Thai-Myanmar border region. One has sympathy for and can easily understand the individual desire for social mobility; however, this mindset has limitations for changing the trajectory of a nation via educations transformational power.

Before the February 1, 2021 coup, a scarcity of critical thinking skills in the education system made Myanmar citizens unprepared to take on the powerful military. The inclusion of teachers and students in the Civil Disobedience Movement and the ensuing military crackdown with unlawful arrests, detentions, and harassment forced citizens to disengage from the education system. The junta holds a tight grip on the education system, claiming it wants to normalize it. At the same time, it has dismissed thousands of teachers, including university professors, and turned schools and university buildings into barracks and ammunition depots.

Consequently, Myanmar parents and university students have demonstrated their dissatisfaction by not enrolling in educational institutions. As a Myanmar parent noted, Im uncomfortable sending my daughters to school, specifically when the military is using a portion of that school as barracks. The parents have genuine concerns considering their childrens safety and protection.

The scarcity of critical thinking skills and the disruption of education leave citizens in a parlous Catch-22 situation. To put their country back on the path to democracy, students need access to the transformational power of liberal learning. However, given the obstacles the military government sets, seeking realistic solutions for Myanmar students will be an enormous challenge.

Turbulent historical events have shown how education is vital in transforming a nations future. For example, many Jewish refugees in post-World War II ended up in Western European camps. Initially, they faced hostility from their host societies, which restricted their access to educational institutions. Nevertheless, refugee scholars and academics took responsibility for educating the next generation. These non-formal groups in confined refugee camps were unconcerned about accreditations and certifications. Their concern was cultivating and nurturing students, allowing them to think the unthinkable and imagine a prosperous future.

A massive obligation falls on teachers, scholars, students, and the international community. Myanmar needs to engage teachers to think, imagine, and create lesson plans and syllabi for non-formal settings; INGOs could help by supporting, for example, teacher training. Additionally, rather than banking on bricks and mortar structures, community centers and online resources can become excellent platforms for teachers and students.

Perhaps most importantly, Myanmar students should read widely about great thinkers who have contributed to democracy and a just world. As the great political philosopher Leo Strauss noted, Liberal education consists in the constant intercourse with the greatest minds It liberates us from vulgarity and supplies us with experience in something beautiful. Through reading, students can learn from those historical personages and events to gain strength, envision things beautiful and plan a brighter, democratic future for their nation.

Dr. Sheraz Akhtar lectures at Indiana Wesleyan University (United States) and Chiang Mai University (Thailand). His research focuses on refugee communities social, economic, and education development including teacher trainings in emerging countries.

Patrick Keeney holds a Ph.D. in the philosophy of education from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He divides his year between Kelowna, B.C, and Thailand, where he is currently a visiting scholar in the Faculty of Education at Chiang Mai University.
Our participating #tasteofkeybiscayne restaurants are offering some of the best meal options - and deals - on this Thursday, April 20.

Tutto Pizza & Pasta

Open for Indoor & Outdoor Dining, Takeout or Delivery.

Today is Pizza Day at Tutto's... join us for our Thursday lunch special... choose any 8" Pizza and a soda for only $12 - served from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

328 Crandon Blvd #111, Key Biscayne / Galleria Shopping Center - (305) 361-2224.

Open 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Daily Close at 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

To order online, click here

Costa Med Bistro

Everything tastes better with Truffle fries, including our unique Petit Filet Mignon. Try it today!.

Join us for lunch or dinner!

Costa Med, a TripAdvisor Traverlers Choice nominated restaurant, is located in the Square Shopping Center. 260 Crandon Blvd. Reservations recommended.

Call Antonio or Harold at (305) 361-7575

Hours.

Lunch Mon to Sat: Noon a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dinner Mon to Sat: 6 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. / Sun 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Order online for take out here!

Randazzo by Yesenia

Open for Indoor & Outdoor dining, Takeout or delivery. Reservations recommended

What could be better than a Randazzo dinner with your favorite wine?

Join us Mon to Fri, between 5 and 7 p.m. for $5 Wine & Beer specials and HALF OFF Appetizers

Please call (305) 456-0480 to place an order or make a reservation

Open Monday, Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., open until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Closed Tuesdays

328 Crandon Blvd Ste 112, Galleria Shopping Center

Delivery service with Postmates or UberEats

Gran Inka

Open for Outdoor Dining, Takeout or Delivery.

El Gran Inka brings to every dish authentic Peruvian gastronomy featuring a unique creation and a touch of gourmet.

Join us for a special Happy Hour celebration - all drink 2 for 1 and special $7 appetizers. Available Mon to Fri 4 to 6 p.m. and Sundays 7 p.m. to close

Offering Delivery or Take out directly from El Gran Inka. Order directly from us by calling (305) 365-7883

Open 7-days Noon to 10 p.m.

606 Crandon Blvd. Suite 4 / Key Biscayne (across from Winn Dixie)

UberEats Available

D'Lite Bistro & Bakery

Who says eating healthy means sacrificing taste and flavor? Not at DLite!

We are a unique and healthy restaurant that serves salads, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, protein smoothies and cold press juices made fresh every morning  including gluten-free, vegetarian and keto options.

Join us for a delicious & healthy lunch and enjoy our $14.99 special... today featuring either our Pesto or Perfect Egg wrap, served with soda!

We open at 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily except Sat and Sun when we close at 6 p.m.

DLite is located in the Arcade Mall, 180 Crandon Blvd. To place an order, call (305) 882-9284 or visit us online by clicking here.

The Golden Hog

Eat Local. Help local. Shop Safely. Email us your grocery list at orders@thegoldenhogmarket.com

Do you Poke? Love tuna? Salmon? Our delicious Poke Bowl station is now open, located in our juice bar area and made fresh to order. ENJOY!

Todays menu:

Soups & Creams: Chicken Chupe / Minestrone / Vegan Veggie

Main Course: Beef Milanesa / Chicken Marsala / Fish & Calamari / Alfredo Pasta with Clams

Side Dishes: Green Rice / Creamy Polenta / Asparagus

The Golden-Hog has a complete line of specialty groceries for delivery.

Call (305) 361-1300 to place a delivery or order online here

Boaters Grill & Lighthouse Cafe / Bill Baggs

The restaurants inside Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park  the popular Boaters Grill, located at No Name Harbor and accessible by boat, and the beachside Lighthouse Cafe are ready to serve.

Outdoor dining is our specialty and nobody serves fresher seafood on the island!

Boaters Grill is open Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Lighthouse Cafe is open 7-days a week, from 9 a.m. to Sunset

The restaurants are located inside Bill Baggs State Park, at 1200 Crandon Blvd., Key Biscayne.

Call (305) 361-0080 to place your order.

Sake Room

Open for Indoor & covered Outdoor Dining, Takeout & Delivery

Have you tried the Sake Room for lunch? Select from a varied and special menu with entries starting at $8.99

Today, enjoy a FREE Crunchy Crab Salad on us*!!!

Open daily Noon to 10 p.m. Close at 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday

Call (305) 456-0488 to place a takeout or delivery order directly

Following all CDC safety protocols

328 Crandon Blvd Ste 108, Galleria Shopping Center

Grub hub  UberEats also available. Please if you can call us first

*Offer good on any $50+ order

Kazumi

Open for indoor & ample and comfortable Outdoor Dining, Takeout & Delivery

Enjoy one of our special rolls - different one every day

Our modern Japanese fusion restaurant offers creative treatments & creativity in our dishes for takeout and delivery by our own employees. Available for lunch and dinner.

Open Monday through Saturday Noon to 10 p.m. Closed Sunday

Only accepting credit card payments.

To place an order call (305) 361-2675 or order online here.

Brasas KB

Our delicious half pound hamburger, with one side and a soda, only $10.99 - loaded it up with a fried egg, bacon, cheese and pickles to make it a "completa" for only $4 more! Can't beat the quality! Unmatched value!

Have you tried our Peruvian Chicken Rotisserie for lunch or dinner that include 2 sides and sauce of your choice: huancaina, aji amarillo, huacatay and olivas negras peruanas.

Open for Indoor & Outdoor Dining, Takeout & Free Delivery

Call (786) 615-2399 to place a takeout order. Open Noon to 8 p.m.

328 Crandon Blvd, Galleria Shopping Center

Miss Mui Chinese Bistro

Serving authentic Chinese and Cantonese food.

Miss Mui is a family owned and operated restaurant, serving Cantonese cuisine staples like special fried rice, BBQ Spare Ribs, but also lumpias, a Venezuelan-style spring roll and more.

Savor our authentic Cantonese dishes on this Thursday

Miss Mui is located in the Square Shopping Center at 260 Crandon Blvd. Suite 14, on Key Biscayne. To place an order, please call 305)-381-0694. Follow them on Instagram. Click here.

La Scala

Ready for dinner? So much pasta, so little time

A La Scala Italian meal makes any night that much more special. Join us for dine-in, open for indoor dining, and weve added to our outdoor seating, reservations recommended.

Come in even if just to say hello to Chandra, and the la Scala team!

To place a takeout - offering curbside service - order call (786) 773-3633 or visit us online by clicking here.

Open 5 to 10 p.m.

Located at 180 Crandon Blvd in the Arcade Shopping Center.

Please remember to order from the restaurant directly before using one of the apps  this way we support the local restaurants by saving them the commission they are charged, which at times is as much as 30%
Thursday, Apr 20th, 2023 (10:35 am) - Score 12,576

The Director of Fixed Infrastructure, Engineering and Delivery at broadband ISP Virgin Media UK (VMO2), Matt Tully, has revealed that their upgrade from legacy Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) infrastructure to 10Gbps capable XGS-PON based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines will start to go live for homes later this year.

Just to recap. Around 14.3 million out of Virgin Medias 16 million premises passed are currently still reached via their older HFC network using DOCSIS 3.1 technology, while well over 1 million of their premises are also being served by full fibre (FTTP) using the older Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG) approach to ensure compatibility.

The operators existing FTTP and HFC deployments are already capable of gigabit speeds, but in order to stay competitive into the future, VMO2 needed to go beyond this. The solution they chose, as announced in 2021 (here and here), was to upgrade all of their existing HFC areas  at a cost of c.100 per home (i.e. using their existing ducts to avoid digging new trenches)  to support the latest 10Gbps XGS-PON powered FTTP technology by 2028 (aka  Project Mustang).

The first closed trial users went live last year as part of an initial pilot build for 50,000 premises around Stoke, Salisbury and Wakefield (here), and theyve since been ramping up this upgrade programme across the UK. But VMO2 werent expected to announce new products until theyve completed a big enough portion of the rollout.

Progress Update  Project Mustang

Sadly, its very difficult to get any useful progress updates out of Virgin Medias PR team, and so we usually have to rely on our own sources. But luckily, Matt Tully has helped to provide an excellent summary of their progress as part of his recent presentation to the SCTE  Society for Broadband Professionals. Naturally, weve watched it all and pulled out some of the details, so you dont have to.

The presentation explains a lot about how the XGS-PON upgrade is being conducted, the challenges they faced and what customers can expect. The operator currently expects the ramp-up of their XGS-PON upgrade programme to add another 1 million homes passed in 2023, and it appears as if theyve already done around 700,000. Theyre currently dropping in 5 new Optical Line Terminals (OLT) every single day.

Matt Tully added: Later this year well be going to that ready for sale stage, well be doing trials all summer on this brownfield network and then, at some point later this year, this network will be going live and ready for sale. And then from that point on, every home we build will be fully active day-by-day as we grow this network.

However, in a perhaps unsurprising admission, Matt also states that were not going to be offering 10Gbps for many.. many years yet. Were still at 1Gbps today, and our initial offerings are not going to be anywhere near 10Gbps.

Matt didnt specify precisely what consumers can expect when the new products go live later in 2023, but we do know that Virgin Media have already conducted several 2Gbps trials. The Engineering Director confirmed that 2Gbps was planned for the future, although he also added that customers dont need it yet, which is odd since the providers desire for faster speeds has always seemed to be led more by marketing than need.

On the subject of upload speeds, Matt noted that upstream is so much more important for consumers these days and he confirmed that the ISP would be launching 100Mbps upstream speeds later this year, at least on their older HFC network (we might still see symmetric speeds when XGS-PON goes live, but its unclear). Indeed, weve seen evidence that this is already being softly deployed for their 1Gbps customers (here).

Virgin Media is also home to around 2 million premises inside big residential buildings (MDUs / flats), which Matt acknowledged was the next challenge they had to tackle for the XGS-PON upgrade. Apparently, Virgin Medias historic records of past wayleaves (legal land/property access agreements) arent perfect and could be an issue, thus theyre working out which ones can be re-purposed and how many might need to be re-negotiated. The latter would be tedious, as a lot of the rules and regulations around MDUs have changed  not to mention the impact of competition from rival networks.

As weve said before, the reason why Virgin Medias XGS-PON upgrade is so cheap is because they can harness their existing fully ducted network to run the new fibre. But rather than try to replace all of their old street cabinets and adapt them, they instead found it easier to simply build new cabinets alongside the old.

A programme is also being developed to help retire the legacy network and cables, but that will occur gradually (some cables will be removed as customers gradually migrate across) and wont be one massive programme. The long-term plan is of course to remove all that dead cable, thus creating room for more fibre cables in the future.

Finally, we got a useful overview of Virgin Medias network traffic growth over the years, which uses their Peak Traffic figure (Terabits per second). The figures here are actually substantially higher than those theyve released to us before (e.g. in Feb 2023 we were told 24.7Tbps), which makes it difficult to know precisely what this reflects without more context for the data.

If you have the time, then we highly recommend watching Matts full presentation, as theres a lot of little details that we havent fully covered above.
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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.
The ongoing deadly battles between Sudanese rival armed forces have forced citizens to flee their homes.

Meanwhile, despite another attempted ceasefire, the situation in the region remains far from peaceful.

Another conflict is raging in the town of Las Anod in Somaliland, with the Dulbahante clan demanding it leave Somaliland and rejoin Somalia.

The ongoing battles between rival armed forces in Sudan have left many of its citizens fleeing their homes in search of safety. Despite a recent ceasefire attempt, the situation in the region remains far from peaceful.

For years, Sudan has been plagued by violence and conflict, with various factions vying for control and power. The recent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have only added to the turmoil.

As a result, thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes, leaving behind everything they know and love. Many have sought refuge in neighboring countries, while others have been internally displaced within Sudan.

In addition to the conflict in Sudan, another battle is raging in the town of Las Anod in Somaliland. The Dulbahante clan is demanding that the town leave Somaliland and rejoin Somalia.

This conflict has been ongoing for years, with both sides refusing to back down. The Dulbahante clan argues that they were never consulted when Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and that Las Anod belongs to Somalia.

Meanwhile, Somaliland maintains that Las Anod is an integral part of its territory and has vowed to use force to defend it.

The situation in both Sudan and Somaliland is a stark reminder of the devastating impact of conflict and violence on innocent civilians. It is imperative that all parties involved work towards finding a peaceful resolution to these conflicts and prioritize the safety and well-being of their citizens.

The international community can play a crucial role in supporting efforts towards peace and stability in these regions. This can include providing humanitarian aid to those affected by the conflicts, as well as diplomatic and political support to help resolve the underlying issues driving the violence.

In the end, the only way to truly bring about lasting peace and security is through dialogue, compromise, and a commitment to finding common ground. It is time for all parties involved to put aside their differences and work towards a brighter future for their people.

Jowhar
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Kyiv on Thursday for the first time since the Russian invasion, reaffirming NATOs commitment to Ukrainian victory.

Several countries have pledged more aid to Ukraine. Polands agriculture minister called for a wider ban on Ukrainian imports, including milk, poultry, and honey.

Swiss sanctions against Russia have been expanded to include private military Wagner Group and news agency RIA.

The battle for Bakhmut has intensified, while Hungary has banned the import of certain Ukrainian meat products and honey, as well as grains.

Denmark and the Netherlands will donate 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, while the US has coordinated with South Korea for additional support for Ukraine. American-made Patriot missiles have also arrived in Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenbergs visit to Kyiv on Thursday marked the first time the organizations leader has visited the Ukrainian capital since the Russian invasion.

Stoltenbergs visit reaffirmed NATOs commitment to Ukrainian victory, and several countries have pledged more aid to Ukraine in its ongoing battle against Russian aggression.

Polands agriculture minister has called for a wider ban on Ukrainian imports, including milk, poultry, and honey.

The move comes as the battle for Bakhmut, a key city in the region, has intensified. Meanwhile, Hungary has banned the import of certain Ukrainian meat products and honey, as well as grains.

These actions highlight the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and its neighbors, as well as the wider geopolitical implications of the conflict.

Switzerland has also expanded its sanctions against Russia to include private military Wagner Group and news agency RIA, further isolating the country on the international stage.

The move is part of a wider effort to hold Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea and ongoing support for separatist groups in the Donbass region.

Despite these challenges, Ukraine has received significant support from its allies. Denmark and the Netherlands will donate 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, bolstering the countrys military capabilities.

Additionally, the US has coordinated with South Korea for additional support for Ukraine, and American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in the country.

These developments underscore the importance of international cooperation in addressing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

As Stoltenberg noted during his visit, NATO stands with Ukraine in solidarity and with practical support. With continued support from its allies, Ukraine can continue to resist Russian aggression and work towards a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Official reports dozens dead in Yemeni capital due to stampede

78 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede during a financial aid distribution event in Yemens capital on Wednesday night, according to a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Interior Ministry.

The incident occurred in the Old City of Sanaa, where a large group of people had congregated for the event organized by local merchants.

The spokesperson, Brig. Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, attributed the tragedy to the random distribution of funds without coordination with local authorities.

Eyewitnesses said that armed Houthis fired shots in the air, causing an electrical wire to explode and triggering a stampede.

The Houthi-run Interior Ministry has detained two organizers and launched an investigation.

Yemens capital has been under Houthi control since 2014, prompting the intervention of a Saudi-led coalition in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government.

The conflict has evolved into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with more than 150,000 deaths and the creation of one of the worlds worst humanitarian disasters in recent years. (Jowhar wth AP)
Sudans military has rejected negotiations with a rival paramilitary force and instead demanded its surrender, amid ongoing fighting in central Khartoum and elsewhere.

A 24-hour ceasefire ended on Thursday, with no new extension. There are concerns that the medical system in the country is about to collapse, with many hospitals having shut down or running out of supplies.

Many people, especially women and children, are leaving their homes for safer areas. There is growing alarm over the deaths of hundreds and fears the countrys current crisis could spiral into civil war.

The US and other countries are making preparations to evacuate their citizens in Sudan, as most major airports are no longer operational.

The United Nations has appealed for a three-day ceasefire beginning on Friday to coincide with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 more wounded in the fighting. The UNs Sudanese Doctors Syndicate has said that 70% of hospitals near the clash sites throughout the country are out of service with at least nine bombed.
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Newark, Delaware (Feature  Special to Informed Comment)  The recent visit of Reza Pahlavi to Israel and his meeting with PM Netanyahu raise many questions. Why now and what is the meaning of this pilgrimage? What is it about water? Is water the main issue in Iran? This must be a joke.

Reza Pahlavi coordinated an alliance with activists calling for regime change in Iran. They issued a manifesto to that effect. Unfortunately, it did not go over well; it came to naught.

He said that anyone can board the bus! Yet immediately after some opposition figures tried to get on the so-called bus, they were dismissed. So how is this bus towards the establishment of democracy supposed to move when its passengers have been thrown off?

Reza Pahlavi has spoken well in recent times, yet Iranians are wary of mere talk. They dont believe talk until the words spoken are put into action.

Reza Pahlavi also met and shook hands with the most right-wing people in the U.S. The name of Sheldon Adelson comes into mind. He was about bombing Iran. By the way, according to Forbes, he was worth only $29 billion! He said once, Okay, let it go: So theres an atomic weapon, goes over ballistic missiles in the middle of the desert that doesnt hurt a soul. [] And you say See? The next one is in the middle of Tehran.

Can those close to individuals who have endorsed the idea of nuking Iran be legitimate representatives of change in Iran?

There are those who want to see Iran broken up into pieces. Some years ago, in Washington, D.C., I remember attending a meeting at the American Enterprise Institute around this theme.

Michael Ledeen, a well-known advocate of this idea, had organized the meeting, which was attended by so-called representatives from different ethnic minorities of Iran. The infamous Paul Wolfowitz was present as well. He was shy about responding to my questions about Iraq or perhaps he was too embarrassed.

The meeting didnt end well as even those minorities who supposedly represented Irans various minorities said that they wanted a united Iran.

Reza Pahlavi may be an alternative but what about those who are struggling in Iran, facing imprisonment, torture and death?

Is there no one else? We obviously have many good alternatives, inside and outside Iran.

Article continues after bonus IC video

Irans exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi visits Israel, shares a message of unity | WION Pulse

Reza Pahlavi is just one of many. Yet his message is unclear. One day he is for a republic and the next day he feels the need to respond to his supporters  many of whom want the return of the monarchy in Iran.

In 1979, his fathers monarchy was toppled. Whether this was good or bad it is for history to judge.

But Iranians, especially women, have shown through their heroic struggle that we cannot rely on foreign interference. We must rely on ourselves.

Kissing the Wailing Wall and putting on a yarmulka may be fine gestures. In this crucial moment in history, however, we need more heroic action. It does not include kissing the hands of Bibi Netanyahu, who is not even liked in his own country judging by the millions who have protested his legislative overreach. Israelis came out into the streets by the thousands to protest the actions of the PM who is only about keeping his government but not the rule of law.

We need strength from our own people, and we must rely on our own people.

Certainly Iranians and Israelis have much in common. What they share most of all is a common struggle for democratic rule. Neither Reza Pahlavi nor Netanyahu fits into this equation.

I rely on the power of our people.
( Middle East Monitor )  The deteriorating security situation has given Israelis a great opportunity to list the failures of the new government 100 days after its formation. Members of the current coalition admit that many electoral plans and promises have not yet been fulfilled, and it is not clear whether they can be considering the prevailing circumstances.

Before his election, Benjamin Netanyahu was full of promises about the economy, the cost of living and housing, as well as personal security, but the fact that the government immediately pushed for a judicial coup pushed those issues aside.

In terms of dealing with the Palestinian resistance, the government was repeatedly strongly criticised by prominent ministers for being lenient and the government did not appear ready for a military offensive in the occupied West Bank.

Despite government promises, Israel did not take steps to combat crime among Palestinians citizens of Israel. In addition, there is a deep disagreement and lack of confidence between Police Chief Kobi Shabtai and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, who did not deliver many of his electoral promises, claiming that he suffers from a massive shortage of manpower. His critics say that instead of being busy recruiting forces, hes always fighting leaks from the police.

Regarding the normalisation agreements, Netanyahu hinted during the elections to the warming of relations with other countries in the region, as part of a move to expand the so-called Abraham Accords. However, since the start of the legal coup, and the increase in security tensions, this warmth seems to have disappeared, and Saudi Arabia renewed its relations with Iran, which caused serious strategic harm to Israel.

A hundred days since the coalition government took office, it is clear that it has failed to deliver what it promised voters during the elections. Mass protests have been seen across the country, with roads blocked and confrontations with the police. It is obvious that Israel is in a much worse position now than it was before the formation of the coalition.

The new government also had obvious security failures; whether related to Al-Aqsa Mosque, the escalation of tension with the besieged Gaza Strip, the growth of resistance operations in the occupied West Bank, or the outbreak of the Lebanon front.

Netanyahu and his ministers are not claiming responsibility for the deterioration of the security situation and have blamed the previous government. The Netanyahu government insists on dealing with this with no clear strategy and inconsistent decisions.

The second security failure for Netanyahus government during the first 100 days was the firing of dozens of missiles by Hamas from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government did not respond to many of them. Meanwhile, armed operations in the West Bank and within the Green Line escalated, which witnessed many Israeli deaths. Since March 2022, commando operations in Beersheba, Hadera, Bnei Brak, Tel Aviv and Elad have escalated, with the government unable to stop them.

To its north, Israel was shelled with Hamas missiles from Lebanon, in what many say could only have taken place with Hezbollahs approval. Though Tel Aviv responded to the air strikes by shelling the south of Lebanon, its response was weak and ineffective.

This weak response can be seen in Israels response to Iran since the new coalition has taken office. The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran led by China is a clear example of this, it has brought Tehran out of relative obscurity especially after it supplied weapons to Russia.

While Prime Minister Netanyahu carries himself as a leader capable of calming security and military storms. These matters paint a more accurate picture of the failure of his administration, which will certainly affect his popularity on the one hand and increase the security risks on the other hand.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.

Via Middle East Monitor
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Joint Statement Urges Warring Parties to Reveal Fate of Forcibly Detained

Human Rights Watch  (Beirut)  All parties to the conflict in Yemen should immediately release anyone arbitrarily detained and to reveal what happened to those who have been forcibly disappeared since the conflict began in late 2014, Human Rights Watch, Mwatana for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said today in a joint statement.

While the recent release of almost 900 detainees by the Houthis and Saudi Arabia was a significant move by both parties, it is only a start, said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. Many people remain arbitrary detained or forcibly disappeared, when they should be reunited with their families just like those who were recently released.

The armed conflict in Yemen began in 2014 but escalated militarily in March 2015, when a Saudi- and UAE-led coalition intervened in support of the internationally recognized government forces against the Houthis, the de facto authorities in Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. Throughout the conflict, all parties have carried out enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests.



Photo by asamw on Unsplash

Men and women have been targeted for their political and religious beliefs or their membership in a religious or political group. Journalists, other media professionals, aid workers, and human rights defenders have also been targeted. All parties to the conflict have committed grave human rights abuses against women, who are often victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and children, including child recruitment and use by armed groups.

Mwatana for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, and Amnesty International have all documented numerous incidents of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance against civilians by all parties to the conflict in Yemen since 2015 until now.

Despite a lack of evidence of wrongdoing, the warring parties continue to detain and forcibly disappear civilians. Some have been given grossly unfair trials on trumped-up charges and effectively used as bargaining chips in deals to exchange detainees. Many of these individuals have been held incommunicado, tortured, and subjected to cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.

The detainees have been accused of bogus charges in violation of their right to fair trial and to liberty and security of person. Moreover, detention centers are often overcrowded and unsanitary, with cells lacking adequate ventilation, toilets, and shower facilities.

The international community should use its influence to pressure the parties to the conflict to put an end to the arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of civilians, the groups said.

The organizations are:

Amnesty International

International Federation for Human Rights

Human Rights Watch

Mwatana for Human Rights
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE: AG) (TSX: FR) ("First Majestic" or the "Company") announces that total production from the Company's four material properties; the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine, the La Encantada Silver Mine and the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine reached 7.6 million silver equivalent ("AgEq") ounces in the first quarter of 2023, consisting of 2.5 million silver ounces and 60,594 gold ounces. This represents a 6% increase in total production compared to the first quarter of 2022 and a 1% increase compared to the prior quarter.

Q1 2023 HIGHLIGHTS

Strong Q1 Silver Production from Mexican Operations: The Company's Mexican operations produced 2.5 million silver ounces and 44,252 gold ounces, or approximately 6.2 million AqEq ounces in the quarter. Silver production increased 6% over the prior quarter primarily due to higher grades at both San Dimas and La Encantada. Gold production in Mexico decreased 4% as slightly lower grades were processed at Santa Elena and San Dimas. At Jerritt Canyon in Nevada, USA, gold production reached 16,431 ounces, or a 3% decrease over the prior quarter primarily due to lower processed tonnes caused by continued extreme winter weather conditions.

Ermitano Achieves Full Quarterly Production at Santa Elena: In Q1 2023, Santa Elena transitioned full mine production to Ermitano achieving strong throughputs rates of 208,821 processed tonnes, or 26% higher than the prior quarter.

Refocus of Resources at Jerritt Canyon: On March 20, 2023, the Company announced the temporary suspension of all mining activities at Jerritt Canyon in order to reduce overall costs and refocus on mining and exploration plans. For the rest of 2023, the Company plans to shift the focus of its exploration activities towards growth of the Inferred Resource and testing locations with favorable geologic settings and large volume resource potential. Approximately 28,000 metres of drilling are planned to be drilled in 2023 at Jerritt Canyon.

18 Drill Rigs Active: The Company began the 2023 exploration program during the quarter by completing a total of 36,688 metres of drilling across all sites, representing a 128% increase over the prior quarter. Throughout the quarter a total of 18 drill rigs were active consisting of seven rigs at San Dimas, five rigs at Santa Elena, two rigs at La Encantada, and four rigs at Jerritt Canyon.

Safety: In Q1 2023, the consolidated Total Reportable Incident Frequency Rate (TRIFR) was 1.11 and the Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate (LTIFR) was 0.45. To support a strong safety culture, the Company has started several safety initiatives to maximize safety performance throughout the business. One key deliverable was the establishment of the Rules to Live By program which is composed of 12 critical rules that when lived, followed, and owned by employees, contractors, business partners, and visitors will lead to lower incident rates and lower severity incidents.

"During the quarter, our Mexican operations saw strong production as a result of higher silver grades and overall plant performance," said Keith Neumeyer, President & CEO. "At our San Dimas and La Encantada mines, each operation experienced double-digit increases in silver grades as well as higher plant throughputs. At Santa Elena, significantly higher production levels at the Ermitano mine were achieved following the Company's decision to transition away from the Main Vein and only process Ermitano ores in 2023. In addition, Santa Elena's new dual-circuit processing plant completed its first operational quarter with solid recovery improvements following increased leaching times and the processing of finer grind ores. Lastly, due to ongoing challenges at Jerritt Canyon we decided to take a step back to complete a full reset of the operation. We are not walking away from Nevada - but repositioning the project to be successful for when we decide to restart operations. The first quarter of 2023 will be an inflection point towards improving the cash flows and overall financial position of the Company going forward."

Production Table: Q1 Q1 Y/Y Q4 Q/Q 2023 2022 Change 2022 Change Ore processed/tonnes milled 845,868 877,118 -4% 851,564 -1% Silver ounces produced 2,543,059 2,613,328 -3% 2,396,696 6% Gold ounces produced 60,594 58,892 3% 63,039 -4% Silver equivalent ounces produced 7,627,105 7,222,002 6% 7,558,791 1%

Quarterly Mine by Mine Production Table:

Mine Ore Processed Tonnes per Day Ag Grade (g/t) Au Grade (g/t) Ag Recovery Au Recovery Ag Oz Produced Au Oz Produced AgEq Oz Produced San Dimas 219,367 2,284 241 2.98 94% 96% 1,602,483 20,124 3,296,367 Santa Elena 208,821 2,252 31 4.00 50% 90% 104,129 24,039 2,105,336 La Encantada 271,278 2,769 132 0.01 72% 90% 836,448 89 843,951 Jerritt Canyon 146,403 1,951 - 4.03 - 86% - 16,341 1,381,452

*Certain amounts shown may not add exactly to the total amount due to rounding differences.

*The following prices were used in the calculation of silver equivalent ounces: Silver: $22.55 per ounce; Gold: $1,890 per ounce.

At the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine:

San Dimas produced 3,296,367 AgEq ounces during the quarter consisting of 1,602,483 ounces of silver and 20,124 ounces of gold. Silver production increased 15% compared to the prior quarter primarily due to a 10% increase in silver grades and a 4% increase in tonnes processed. Gold production was relatively unchanged compared to the prior quarter.

The mill processed a total of 219,367 tonnes of ore with average silver and gold grades of 241 g/t and 2.98 g/t, respectively. Silver and gold grades from the Perez vein are expected to continue to improve in the second quarter as long-hole open stoping began in early April.

Silver and gold recoveries during the quarter remain unchanged averaging 94% and 96%, respectively.

The Central Block and Sinaloa Graben areas contributed approximately 80% and 20%, respectively, of the total production during the quarter.

During the quarter, seven underground drill rigs completed a total of 14,145 metres of drilling on the property.

At the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine:

Santa Elena produced 2,105,336 AgEq ounces during the quarter consisting of 104,129 ounces of silver and 24,039 ounces of gold. Total production decreased 9% primarily due to processing slightly lower grade silver and gold ores at the Santa Elena plant when compared to the prior quarter.

The mill processed a total of 208,821 tonnes of ore from Ermitano containing average silver and gold head grades of 31 g/t and 4.00 g/t, respectively.

Silver and gold recoveries from Ermitano averaged 50% and 90%, respectively, during the quarter. The new 3,000 tpd filter press and dual-circuit reached continuous performance in the quarter with good results. Silver recoveries increased 18% and gold recoveries were mostly unchanged compared to the prior quarter despite lower head grades being processed.

During the quarter, five drill rigs consisting of four surface rigs and one underground rig, completed 14,499 metres of drilling on the property.

At the La Encantada Silver Mine:

During the quarter, La Encantada produced 836,448 ounces of silver, representing a 4% increase compared to the prior quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher tonnes milled and improved silver grades offset by slightly lower recoveries.

The mill processed a total of 271,278 tonnes of ore with an average silver grade and recovery of 132 g/t and 72%, respectively. During the quarter, the Company began production in the Southern portion of the first level of Ojuelas, known as the Beca Zone, which delivered higher than expected silver grades. The Northern portion of the Beca Zone is expected to begin stope production in the second quarter of 2023 and further improve overall production.

During the quarter, two underground rigs completed 1,863 metres of drilling on the property.

At the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine:

During the quarter, Jerritt Canyon produced 16,341 ounces of gold, representing a 3% decrease compared to the prior quarter. The slight decrease was primarily due to an 18% decrease in tonnes milled partially offset by a 15% increase in gold grades. Throughput was below plan due to excessive downtime in the crushing circuit driven by multiple failures in the dryer fines conveying system and issues with processing wet and frozen ore resulting from severe, record winter conditions in northern Nevada. Intermittent power outages continued for most of January and February which impacted production from all the underground mines.

The mill processed a total of 146,403 tonnes of ore with an average gold grade and recovery of 4.03 g/t and 86%, respectively. As previously announced on March 20, 2023, the Company temporarily suspended all mining activities at Jerritt Canyon to reduce overall costs and refocus the mining and exploration plans.

As the remaining stockpiles are processed in the second quarter, employees and onsite activities will be reduced and milling operations will begin moving to temporary care and maintenance. The Company recently held a two-day reverse career job fair enabling Jerritt Canyon employees being impacted by the workforce reduction to meet with over 30 local companies that are looking to hire.

During the quarter, four underground drill rigs completed 6,181 metres of drilling on the property. For the remainder of 2023, exploration will shift focus towards growth of the Inferred Resource and testing locations with favorable geologic setting and large volume potential. Approximately 28,000 metres of drilling are planned for 2023. Drilling is planned to focus on testing geologic targets, such as structural intersections and stratigraphic horizons, that have historically been known to contain significant volume of resources.

Q1 2023 EARNINGS AND DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENT

The Company is planning to release its first quarter 2023 unaudited financial results, and to announce the first quarter dividend payment, and shareholder record and payable dates on May 4, 2023.

MANAGEMENT UPDATE

In support of the ongoing changes and future growth of the Company, the Exploration and Technical Services Groups have been combined into a single entity under the leadership of Gonzalo Mercado, who has been promoted to Vice President of Exploration and Technical Services. This restructured Exploration and Technical Services Group will focus on cost effective and efficient exploration, modeling, mine planning, ore control, capital project and land management for the Company. Ramon Mendoza has left the Company after nine years of service and we thank Ramon for his work in advancing First Majestic through almost a decade of growth. In addition, Michael Deal has been promoted to Vice President of Metallurgy and Innovation and will take on the additional responsibilities of Processing and Innovation within First Majestic. Persio Rosario has also left the Company and we thank him for his efforts over the past two years.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

First Majestic is a publicly traded mining company focused on silver and gold production in Mexico and the United States. The Company presently owns and operates the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine, the La Encantada Silver Mine and the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine.

First Majestic is proud to offer a portion of its silver production for sale to the public. Bars, ingots, coins and medallions are available for purchase online at its Bullion Store at some of the lowest premiums available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , visit our website at www.firstmajestic.com or call our toll-free number 1.866.529.2807.

FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER CORP.

"signed"

Keith Neumeyer, President & CEO

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forwardlooking information" and "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws (collectively, "forwardlooking statements"). These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance, business prospects or opportunities that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management made in light of management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: release of the Company's financial statements; dividends; the Company's business strategy; future planning processes; commercial mining operations; decommissioning activities at Jerritt Canyon; the timing and amount of estimated future production; ore feed and grades; recovery rates; mine plans and mine life; costs and timing of development at the Company's projects; capital projects and exploration activities and the possible results thereof. Assumptions may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Consequently, guidance cannot be guaranteed. As such, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon guidance and forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, assumptions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements. Statements concerning proven and probable mineral reserves and mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forwardlooking statements to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as and if the property is developed, and in the case of measured and indicated mineral resources or proven and probable mineral reserves, such statements reflect the conclusion based on certain assumptions that the mineral deposit can be economically exploited. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "forecast", "potential", "target", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forwardlooking statements".

Actual results may vary from forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the duration and effects of the coronavirus and COVID-19, and any other pandemics or epidemics on our operations and workforce, and the effects on global economies and society; general economic conditions including inflation risks; actual results of exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; commodity prices; variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; actual performance of plant, equipment or processes relative to specifications and expectations; accidents; labour relations; relations with local communities; changes in national or local governments; changes in applicable legislation or application thereof; delays in obtaining approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; exchange rate fluctuations; requirements for additional capital; government regulation; environmental risks; reclamation expenses; outcomes of pending litigation; limitations on insurance coverage as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Description of the Business - Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form, available on www.sedar.com, and Form 40-F on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Although First Majestic has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.

The Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forwardlooking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forwardlooking statements included herein should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date hereof. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws.
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Zephyr Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ZFR) ("Zephyr" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the Company entered into an option agreement to acquire up to a 75% interest in the MC-2 Gold Property (the "MC-2 Property"), from four arms length citizens of Zimbabwe (the "Owners"). The MC-2 Property comprises five mining claims totaling approximately 50 hectares and are strategically located within approximately 2 kilometers of the recently announced option acquired on the MC Gold Property (news release January 12, 2023). The two properties are on trend, sharing many of the same geological characteristics and excellent exploration potential for large scale, shear zone hosted gold deposits. The proximity of the two claim groups with each other is a synergistic feature from a development perspective in the event of a discovery.

Loren Komperdo, President and CEO stated: "The MC-2 Property is characterized by favourable rock types such as iron rich meta-basalts, strong evidence of pervasive structural preparation providing abundant loci for gold deposition, widespread small scale mining activity, and strong synergies with Zephyr's nearby MC Gold Property. The geological characteristics look very similar to the Red Lake gold camp in northern Ontario. To the best of our knowledge this property with numerous drill targets has never been drilled. We remain focused on identifying and optioning mining properties in Zimbabwe that show high discovery potential for large gold deposits."

The MC-2 Property is currently being mined by small scale miners to a shallow depth, typically to 8 to 10 meters in the easily mined weathered zone. Records show that small scale mining on the claims date back to 1986 as reported thereon by Kalbskoff, Zimbabwe Ministry of Mines. Historic shafts and open cuts on gold mineralized structures are present on all of the five claims which collectively cover a width ranging between 200 to 400 meter and strike length of 1,500 meters. The principal focus of mining has been on the 'Main Reef' (quartz vein) which strikes 077 degrees azimuth & dips 85 degrees S-SE and occupies the fold axis of a similarly trending anticlinal fold, with splay veins and parallel vein structures being a secondary focus.

Host rocks are principally silicified, sheared meta-basalts showing silicification and shearing adjacent to the reef. Reported (Kalbskoff 1986, and Mupaya 1999), gold grades range from 0.8 g/t gold over 1.58 m to 105.52 g/t over 0.30 m. Of particular interest is Kalbskoff's report (June, 1986), of mineralized and silicified schist with limonite grading 5.4 g/t gold over 0.6 m; mineralized greenstone grading 13.4 g/t gold over 0.40 m; mixed quartz and mineralized schist grading 8.4 g/t gold over 0.43 m, and grab samples from a stockpile showing abundant galena grading 7.6 g/t gold and 82.2 g/t silver. Grab samples of reef and sulphide mineralized material collected during a preliminary investigation by Zephyr ranged from 0.12 g/t gold to 36.28 g/t gold, and wallrock assays from 0.18 g/t gold to 1.42 g/t gold.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Zephyr through its wholly own Zimbabwean subsidiary, Sutter Mining (Private) Limited ("Sutter") can acquire 75% of the Lion Property by incurring US$665,000 in exploration expenditures and making cash payments to the Owners totaling US$65,000 over five years. The Owners are permitted to continue small scale mining within prescribed parameters from areas currently being mined until Sutter makes a decision to transfer the Claims into a new operating company (Newco), owned as to Sutter 75%and the Owner 25%.

QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL ("QA/QC")

Grab samples were bagged, sealed and sent to the facility of Zimlabs in Harare, Zimbabwe, where each sample was dried, crushed, and pulverized before being fire-assayed (Lab Method Code G703). Gold analyses were obtained via 30g fire assay, lead collection and AAS finish. As part of its QA/QC program, the Company inserted blank and duplicate samples into its sample batch.

Qualified Person

Mr. Arimon Ngilazi, an independent consultant to the Company, and a qualified person as the term is defined under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Mr. Ngilazi has not visited the property.

References

S. Kalbskoff; Zimbabwe Geological Survey; A Report on the Swift Reef, 27 June 1986 and; A Progress Report, September 1986.

F.B. Mupaya; Zimbabwe Geological Survey; A Geological Note on the Mine: Claim14; 13 September 1994 and; A Progress Geological Report 14, 8 July 1999.

About Zephyr Minerals Ltd.

Zephyr Minerals Ltd. is active in mineral exploration in Colorado, USA and Zimbabwe. In Colorado Zephyr has been focused on mine permitting activities at its 100% owned Dawson gold property, which is presently in hiatus pending the collection and submission of additional water well data and satisfying certain other environmental related questions. The additional required water wells are still in the planning stage and will be drilled once available funds are in hand. Upon collection of the additional data the Company plans to reapply for a mining permit at Dawson.

In Zimbabwe the Company is working to build a mineral property portfolio and to this end has applied for two Exclusive Prospecting Orders covering 124,000 hectares. Zephyr is actively assessing additional mineral opportunities in Zimbabwe on an ongoing basis. Zimbabwe boasts favourable foreign ownership rules for mineral properties as well as prospective, underexplored Archean greenstone belts.

For further information please contact:

Loren Komperdo, President & CEO

or

Will Felderhof, Executive Chairman

T: 902 706-0222

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To be included in the Zephyr email database for Company updates please contact

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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. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including, with respect to the use of funds from the private placement, expectations and assumptions concerning timing of receipt of required regulatory approvals and third party consents and the satisfaction of other conditions to the completion of the exploration work on the Dawson-Green Mountain Property. The forward-looking statements contained in this document 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.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 19, 2023 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSXV:XIM) (FRA:1XMA) (OTCQB:XXMMF) (the "Company" or "Ximen") announces that it has received the Final Mines Act Permit for its Kenville Gold Mine project in southeastern BC.

"The Kenville Gold Mine, which began operations in 1888, was one of the first underground gold mines in British Columbia. After years of working on this particular permit, the Kenville Gold Mine is now on track to becoming one of the greenest and environmentally-friendly gold mines in Southern BC. While there is still very much to do, our team's tenacity has brought us this far, and we are ready for the next phase of milestones that will finally bring this gold mine to fruition." States Anderson CEO Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp's - Kenville Gold Mine - Manager Lloyd Penner

A Mines Act Permit was issued to the Company for the Kenville Mine Project approving the following work:

Establishment of new Venango Portal and 1200 m of decline development with associated drill bays, re-mucks, safety bays and sumps.

Underground Exploration Drilling (20,250 m) from the new decline.

Establishment of one Waste Rock Storage facility.

Installation of surface water management structures.

Location of portable office structure.

Onsite fuel storage.

The permit is comprehensive and includes several conditions for Health and Safety, Geotechnical, Environmental Land and Watercourses, and the Reclamation and Closure Program. Items to be addressed before starting include:

60 days prior to commencement of construction, engineering drawings must be submitted for surface water ponds, ditches, water management and water treatment system pipelines, pumping systems, or diversion channels.

60 days prior to installation of the required monitoring wells and underground dewatering, the location, installation depths, and water level monitoring frequency must be submitted for review and approval.

Has Completed and submitted, a Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP) that addresses potential downstream effects on Eagle Creek associated with groundwater inflow rates to the underground workings must be developed and submitted.

Has Completed and submitted, underground development, a Ground Control Management Plan must be developed and implemented.

Has Completed and submitted, waste rock dump construction, a foundation inspection confirming that unsuitable materials have been removed from the footprint area.

Prior to initiation of the first blast, 2 days notification to the Senior Health & Safety Inspector, and 3 business days notification to Fortis BC are required.

Several other items are required once operations commence, as is typical for permits of this type.

The Company is very happy to have this permit in hand and can finally focus on developing the Kenville gold mine project. Design work for water management infrastructure is underway and the Company is looking forward to starting the mine development and finally getting the project underway.

Photo of ore-type vein material from Kenville.

Photo of rock truck and scooptram to be deployed at Kenville mine.

Technical disclosure in this news release has been approved by Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and VP Exploration for Ximen Mining Corp.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Christopher R. Anderson"

Christopher R. Anderson,

President, CEO and Director

604 488-3900

Investor Relations:

Sophy Cesar,

604-488-3900,

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About Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100% interest in three of its precious metal projects located in southern BC. Ximen`s two Gold projects, The Amelia Gold Mine and The Brett Epithermal Gold Project. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver Project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine. Currently, the Treasure Mountain Silver Project is under an option agreement. The option partner is making annual staged cash and stocks payments as well as funding the development of the project. The company has also in addition acquired 100% interest in the Kenville Gold mine near Nelson British Columbia which comes with surface and underground rights, buildings and equipment.

Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XMA and WKN with the number as A2JBKL.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval and the exercise of the Option by Ximen. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction in a timely manner, if at all. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Coquitlam, BC - TheNewswire - April 20, 2023 - Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. (TSXV:CCW) (OTC:CCWOF) (Frankfurt:4T9B) (the Company or Canada Silver Cobalt) announces that the Company has expanded its holdings between Sangster and Potter Townships in the Cochrane District, Ontario by staking 799.8 hectares in 38 new claims contiguous to the Sangster Claim Block for a total holding of 111 claims over 2,337 hectares in cooperation with the original property optionor (see company News Release of November 9, 2022). The newly staked claims are 100% held by Canada Silver Cobalt Works.

Highlights

The additional 799.8 hectares include multiple pegmatites mapped by Noranda in 1995 and includes a 130m wide by 1km long zone interpreted by Noranda as pegmatite.

This brings CCW holdings up to 26,373 hectares around the Case Lake Batholith, one of the largest land packages for this geological setting.

CCWs Sangster and St-Denis blocks are in similar geological setting as Power Metals nearby Case Lake lithium project.

The new staking brings the total St-Denis project area to 26,373 hectares (including 24,036 hectares in the St-Denis Main block and 2,337 hectares in the Sangster block) and is one of the largest land holdings in the emerging Case Lake LCT (lithium-cesium-tantalum) pegmatite district of Northeastern Ontario. The property is strategically positioned over an ideal geological environment for pegmatite mineralization, as demonstrated by a number of observations of pegmatite in outcrop and drill core in the historic assessment work files and government mapping. The Project is supported by year-round ease of access, proximity to services and suppliers in the mining communities of Timmins and Cochrane, and location along strike to a known LCT (lithium-cesium-tantalum) pegmatite occurrence (Case Lake LCT pegmatite swarm).

Property Highlights

The Sangster claim block is a separate portion of the greater St-Denis LCT pegmatite project east and northeast of Cochrane, Ontario. The Sangster block is located 38 km northeast of the town of Cochrane and is road accessible year-round by logging roads from the main Detour Lake Mine Road. The St-Denis Main block is road accessible via Translimit Road from Cochrane. See Figure 1 for the location of the Project.

The Sangster claim block is situated over the northwestern contact between the Case Lake evolved S-Type granite and Archean metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks (and associated gneisses) of the Porcupine Assemblage. The Sangster block is located 62 kilometers northwest of the Case Lake lithium-cesium pegmatite swarm (claims currently held by Power Metals Corp., Power Metals). Power Metals has identified significant lithium and cesium grades in spodumene and pollucite rich pegmatites at the West Joe Dyke and Main Dyke areas, including 1.58 % Li2O (lithium oxide) over 15.0 m in drill hole PWM-22-134 (see Power Metals Corp News Release September 8, 2022) and 6.74% Cs2O over 5.0 m, 11.0 to 16.0 m in drill hole PWM-18-126. Canada Silver Cobalts Sangster claim block covers a similar geological environment to that of Power Metals Case Lake lithium-cesium property, and the St-Denis Main block covers ground west along strike of the Case Lake property.

The Company has performed extensive research, data review, and data compilation and has been successful in gathering a number of historic assessment work reports and government records of geological data and exploration activity in the area. These new claims at the Sangster claim block were staked as a direct result of this data review, as Company geologists found references to pegmatites in outcrop in a geologic map produced by Noranda Exploration Inc. in 1995 (Ontario Assessment File Record 42H07SE0003). The pegmatites mapped by Noranda geologists were not well described and there is little information about their mineralogy, so their significance may have been over-looked as Noranda Explorations focus at the time was on base metals. In addition to the pegmatite occurrences, Noranda interpreted an area approximately 1km in strike length by 130m width as pegmatite in their compilation map. Company geologists are encouraged by these findings and this area will be a focus of Canada Silver Cobalts on-going work.

Canada Silver Cobalts next steps at the Sangster block will be to ground truth, map, and sample the pegmatite outcrops identified by Noranda in order to evaluate the area for its lithium-cesium mineralization potential. The Company is excited for the snow to melt so that our geologists can visit the property to see the characteristics of the outcrops and test that expanse for potential lithium-cesium mineralization.

Figure 1. Location of the St-Denis Project and Sangster claim block.

Figure 2. Location of expanded claim staking by Canada Silver Cobalt Works.



Figure 3. Geologic environment of the Sangster claim block.

Qualified person

The technical information in this news release was approved and prepared under the supervision of Mr. Matthew Halliday, P.Geo., (PGO), President and COO of Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc., a qualified person accordance with National Instrument 43-101.

About Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc.

Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. recently discovered a major high-grade silver vein system at Castle East located 1.5 km from its 100%-owned, past-producing Castle Mine near Gowganda in the prolific and world-class silver-cobalt mining district of Northern Ontario. The Company has completed a 60,000m drill program aimed at expanding the size of the deposit with an update to the resource estimate underway.

In May 2020, based on a small initial drill program, the Company published the regions first 43-101 resource estimate that contained a total of 7.56 million ounces of silver in Inferred resources, comprising very high-grade silver (8,582 grams per tonne un-cut or 250.2 oz/ton) in 27,400 tonnes of material from two sections (1A and 1B) of the Castle East Robinson Zone, beginning at a vertical depth of approximately 400 meters. Note that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to Canada Silver Cobalt Works Press Release May 28, 2020, for the resource estimate. Report reference: Rachidi, M. 2020, NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate for Castle East, Robinson Zone, Ontario, Canada, with an effective date of May 28, 2020, and a signature date of July 13, 2020.

The Company also has: (1) 14 battery metals properties in Northern Quebec where it has recently completed a 16,000-metre drill program on the Graal property; and (2) the prospective 1,000-hectare Eby-Otto gold property close to Agnico Eagles high-grade Macassa Mine near Kirkland Lake, Ontario where it is exploring. (3) lithium property  230 square kilometers of greenfield exploration ground focussed along a significant volcanic sedimentary rock  Archean granite contact near Cochrane, Ontario contiguous to Power Metals Case Lake Lithium properties.

Canada Silver Cobalts flagship silver-cobalt Castle mine and 78 sq. km Castle Property feature strong exploration upside for silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, and copper. With underground access at the fully owned Castle Mine, an exceptional high-grade silver discovery at Castle East, a pilot plant to produce cobalt-rich gravity concentrates, a processing facility (TTL Laboratories) in the town of Cobalt, and a proprietary hydrometallurgical process known as Re-2Ox (for the creation of technical-grade cobalt sulphate as well as nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) formulations), Canada Silver Cobalt is strategically positioned to become a Canadian leader in the silver-cobalt space. More information at www.canadasilvercobaltworks.com.

Frank J. Basa

Frank J. Basa, P. Eng.

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, contact:

Frank J. Basa, P.Eng.

Chief Executive Officer

416-625-2342

Or:

Wayne Cheveldayoff,

Corporate Communications

P: 416-710-2410

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Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements. A detailed discussion of the risk factors encountered by Canada Silver Cobalt is available in the Companys Annual Information Form dated July 19, 2021 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. (TSXV: ELE) (OTCQX: ELEMF) ("Elemental Altus" or "the Company") announces 2023 guidance of between 9,000 to 10,200 Gold Equivalent Ounces ("GEOs") representing at its midpoint an approximate 65% increase on the 5,800 GEOs received in 2022. At a US$1,800 per ounce average realized gold price and US$3.75 per pound of copper, this guidance would provide the Company with 2023 revenue of approximately US$16.2 million to US$18.4 million1 with approximately 70% attributable to gold and 30% to copper.

Frederick Bell, CEO of Elemental Altus, commented:

"The strong growth in our guidance for 2023 maintains our track record of increasing guidance every year since 2018. Our diversified portfolio of producing royalties on high quality mines, with proven operators, provides a strong foundation to our further growth. For 2023 we are projecting an approximate sixty five percent increase on the approximate 5,800 GEOs received in 2022. The increase is attributed to an uplift in GEOs expected from the Bonikro gold mine, along with incremental increases in production from the Karlawinda, Wahgnion, and Mercedes gold mines."

Significant Asset Updates

Elemental Altus announces that it has paid a total of US$300,000 in cash to a private third-party entity to acquire an additional 0.25% NSR royalty on AuTECO's (ASX:AUT) Pickle Crow gold asset in Ontario, increasing the effective NSR royalty held by the Company to 2.25%.

Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN) announced on March 27, 2023 that it has entered into a binding purchase agreement to acquire a 51% interest in the Caserones copper mine in Chile. Elemental Altus holds an effective 0.443% NSR royalty interest on Caserones2.

Frederick Bell

CEO and Director

Corporate & Media Inquiries:

Jacy Zerb, VP Investor Relations

Direct: +1 604-243-6511 ext. 2700

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Elemental Altus is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: www.discoverygroup.ca or contact 604-653-9464.

TSXV: ELE | OTCQX: ELEMF | ISIN: CA28619K1093 | CUSIP: 28619K109

About Elemental Altus Royalties Corp.

Elemental Altus is an income generating precious metals royalty company with 10 producing royalties and a diversified portfolio of pre-production and discovery stage assets. The Company is focused on acquiring uncapped royalties and streams over producing, or near-producing, mines operated by established counterparties, as well as generating royalties on new discoveries. The vision of Elemental Altus is to build a global gold royalty company, offering investors superior exposure to gold with reduced risk and a strong growth profile.

Qualified Person

Richard Evans, FAusIMM, is Senior Vice President Technical for Elemental Altus, and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release.

Notes:

1 Royalty revenues are at zero cost and Ming stream revenues are subject to a 20% cost of sales.

2An effective 0.025% of the 0.443% remains subject to the closing of the acquisition announced by the Company on March 9, 2023.

Gold Equivalent Ounces

Elemental's adjusted royalty, streaming, and other revenue is converted to an attributable gold equivalent ounce, or GEO, basis by dividing the royalty and other revenue from associates in a period by the average gold price for the same respective period, plus the net gold ounces received in the period from streaming investments. The presentation of this non-IFRS measure is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently. The production forecast was derived using information that is available in the public domain as at the date hereof, which included guidance and estimates prepared and issued by management of the operators of the mining operations in which Elemental holds an interest. The production forecast is sensitive to the performance and operating status of the underlying mines. None of the information has been independently verified by Elemental and may be subject to uncertainty. There can be no assurance that such information is complete or accurate.

On behalf of Elemental Altus Royalties Corp.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This news release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology.

Forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the date that the name change is expected to become effective, whether shareholders will be required by their broker to exchange their issued certificate for a new certificate or take any other action in connection to the name change, the Company's ability to deliver a materially increased revenue profile with a lower cost of capital, the future growth, development and focus of the Company, and the acquisition of new royalties and streams. Forward-looking statements and information are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that, while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies.

Forward-looking statements and information are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the ability of Elemental Altus to control or predict, that may cause Elemental Altus' actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied thereby, and are developed based on assumptions about such risks, uncertainties and other factors set out herein, including but not limited to: the impact of general business and economic conditions, the absence of control over the mining operations from which Elemental Altus will receive royalties, risks related to international operations, government relations and environmental regulation, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties; the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration data; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with Elemental Altus' expectations; accidents, equipment breakdowns, title matters, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions in operations; fluctuating metal prices; unanticipated costs and expenses; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions; liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of important factors which could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements, refer to the annual information form of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2021. Elemental Altus undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements and information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking statements and information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement or information can be guaranteed, and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
Vancouver, British Columbia  TheNewswire - April 20, 2023: Headwater Gold Inc. (CSE:HWG) (OTC:HWAUF) (the "Company" or "Headwater") is pleased to announce it has finalized drilling plans for the maiden drill program at the Midas North project, located directly north and adjacent to the historic high-grade Midas gold-silver mine now owned by Hecla Mining Company (Hecla). Headwaters maiden Midas North exploration drill program is fully funded by Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest), pursuant to the option and earn-in agreement announced on August 16, 2022.

Highlights:

Multiple priority drill targets have been identified within the multi-kilometre epithermal alteration footprint at Midas North;

Drill plans have been finalized with Newcrest for a two-rig maiden drill program projected to consist of up to an initial 3,000 metres;

Drill permits have been received and drilling is currently scheduled to commence in early June 2023;

Recent geologic mapping and hyperspectral alteration mapping, combined with previously announced geophysics, have facilitated detailed targeting of potential mineralized feeder structures at depth;

Headwaters drill program will represent the first-ever modern exploration drilling within the Midas North land position; and,

In addition to Midas North, Headwater is finalizing plans for drill programs for the Spring Peak, Katey, and Mahogany projects. In total, the Company is expecting 5 to 6 drill rigs to be in operation across the Headwater portfolio during the summer drill season.

Caleb Stroup, the President and CEO of the Company, states: We are extremely excited about the upcoming drilling at Midas North which is located in a highly prospective region of Nevada that has a proven history of high-grade epithermal gold discoveries. Our team is confident that the Midas North project has the potential to yield a new discovery and we are committed to utilizing the very best exploration techniques to unlock its full potential. Through our partnership with Newcrest, we have compiled a comprehensive geologic and geophysical dataset that has allowed us to generate numerous high-priority drill targets. Headwater interprets Midas North to represent a fully preserved epithermal alteration cell with no known historic drilling completed on the project. This upcoming drill program presents Headwater shareholders with a rare opportunity to be the first to explore this portion of the Midas District, which hosts multiple past producing high-grade veins at the historic Midas Mine immediately to the south.

Figure 1: Map of the Midas high-grade vein district in northern Nevada. Headwater Golds Midas North project adjoins Heclas past producing Midas Mine complex, encompassing another large epithermal alteration cell north along the trend of the Midas Mine.

Geologic and Hyperspectral Alteration Mapping

A geologic mapping and alteration study was completed where structure, lithology, and alteration were mapped in the field and an airborne hyperspectral survey was used to classify clay alteration mineralogy. The results from the survey correlate very well with mapped silica alteration and structures which are often associated with gold-silver mineralisation at depth. Abundant kaolinite and alunite alteration overlies mapped structures along the Big Opal and Nevada Grande fault corridors (Figure 2) with the most intense clay alteration occurring in the hanging wall of the Big Opal fault, surrounding the mapped extent of a true sinter exhibiting fossilized geyser vents. Kaolinite and supergene alunite are common minerals associated with steam-heated alteration in the upper portions of fully preserved epithermal systems and often serve as indicators for potential mineralized feeder structures at depth. Shallow post-mineral gravel cover in the northern half of the project area limits the effectiveness of surface mapping but provides additional exploration upside under cover.

Figure 2: Hyperspectral mineralogy map highlighting zones of abundant alunite and kaolinite alteration relative to mapped silica alteration and faults.

Midas North Drill Targets

Final drill target selection at Midas North (Figure 3) has been completed by synthesizing detailed geological mapping, hyperspectral alteration mapping and multiple geophysical datasets. Multiple faults associated with mapped alteration bisect the Midas North property and will be tested for high-grade epithermal mineralization in the epithermal boiling zone at depth. These structures have been identified through a combination of geologic mapping and interpretation of controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) resistivity geophysics. Individual drill targets were ranked using multiple criteria including alteration intensity, structural complexity, pathfinder element geochemistry and geophysical characteristics. Three primary fault corridors will be targeted in the 2023 drilling, with an initial focus in the Big Opal sinter area where a structurally-controlled high-resistivity feature underlies silica sinter and is surrounded by intense alunite and kaolinite alteration (Figures 2, 3, and 4).

Figure 3: Drill targets and planned drill holes for the maiden drill program at Midas North which is interpreted to represent a fully preserved epithermal system. Section A-A corresponds to Figure 4.

Figure 4: Interpretive cross section through section A-A with CSAMT geophysics apparent resistivity profile, modelled geology and planned drill holes.

The Big Opal resistivity anomaly (see news release dated January 23, 2023) underlies the length of the Big Opal fault corridor and is interpreted by Headwater geologists to represent a broad area of intense silicification, potentially relating to epithermal feeders at depth. Two main high-angle faults appear to cut this resistivity feature (Figure 4) and represent the primary feeder targets that the Company intends to drill test within the projected epithermal boiling zone at approximately 200 metres vertical depth.

Detailed geological mapping in the Big Opal area has identified a large area of silica sinter with a number of diagnostic silica sinter features including silicified microbial mats, reed casts and geyser vents. This sinter is surrounded by multiple crater-shaped closed depressions approximately 50 metres in diameter and 5 metres in depth containing opaline silica and recessive clay alteration. Headwater geologists interpret these craters as large epithermal collapse structures, analogous in form to similar structures found in modern geothermal systems, including the Champagne Pool hot spring in New Zealand (Figure 5). Champagne Pool is particularly a well-studied active geothermal system that serves as a global analog for fossil geothermal systems. Direct comparison of the sinter characteristics, geothermal features and footprints of both areas suggests the Big Opal sinter area alteration was developed as the result of a high-energy geothermal system which vented to surface and implies potential for mineralized feeder structures at depth immediately below this alteration.

2023 Drill Program

A multi-rig, mixed reverse circulation and diamond core drill program has been planned and is currently scheduled to commence in June, 2023. Authorization for drilling has been granted by the Bureau of Land Management and drill contracts are in place. The initial Midas North drilling is projected to consist of an initial 8 to 12 holes with drill depths ranging from 250 metres to 400 metres. This program will represent the first known exploration drilling campaign within the Midas North land position.

Figure 5: Comparison of sinter and geothermal (hot-spring-related) features at Midas North (top) and Champagne Pool, New Zealand (bottom). Champagne Pool is a globally recognized modern analog for low-sulfidation epithermal systems. Photos demonstrate the comparable sinter characteristics, collapse structures and the relative scale of the two systems, which indicates the potential for Midas North to represent a robust and fully preserved epithermal system.

About the Midas North Project

Headwaters 100% owned and royalty-free Midas North project adjoins Hecla Mining Companys (NYSE: HL) Midas Mine complex and covers a large hydrothermal alteration cell, extending at least 4 kilometres in strike and 1 kilometre in width. Rock chip and stream sediment samples collected by the Company from the project area have highlighted several priority areas of anomalous precious metal values with highly anomalous values of epithermal pathfinder elements (see Headwater news release dated October 4, 2021). Extensive epithermal alteration exists on the project, including widespread zones of high-level chalcedonic to opaline silica flooding, clay alteration and local sinter formation, including fossilized geyser vents. The project has seen very limited historic exploration with no documented exploration drilling. The Company believes the project has potential for epithermal mineralization at depth.

Option and Earn-in Agreement with Newcrest

Newcrest will sole fund a firm minimum commitment of US$2,000,000 in exploration expenditures on the Midas North project or pay the difference to Headwater.

During the staged earn-in phase, Newcrest has the right to earn up to an initial 65% interest in the Midas North project by sole funding exploration expenditures (inclusive of the minimum commitment) of US$30,000,000 over a 6-year period.

Newcrest retains the further right to earn an additional 10% interest in the project (for a total interest of 75%) by ceding a 2% net smelter return royalty to Headwater subject to certain partial buydown rights and completing a Pre-Feasibility Study, solely funded by Newcrest and which includes a minimum 1.5 million ounce gold or gold-equivalent resource within an additional 24-month period.

The Midas North project is one of four Headwater projects under option and earn-in agreements with Newcrest (see news release dated August 16, 2022 for information on all Newcrest option and earn-in agreements).

About Headwater Gold

Headwater Gold Inc. (CSE: HWG, OTCQB: HWAUF) is a technically-driven mineral exploration company focused on the exploration and discovery of high-grade precious metal deposits in the Western USA. Headwater is aggressively exploring one of the most well-endowed and mining-friendly jurisdictions in the world with a goal of making world-class precious metal discoveries. Headwater has a large portfolio of epithermal vein exploration projects and a technical team comprised of experienced geologists with diverse capital markets, junior company and major mining company experience. The Company is systematically drill testing several projects in Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon and in August 2022 announced a significant transaction with Newcrest Mining Limited where Newcrest acquired a 9.9% strategic equity interest in the Company and entered into option and earn-in agreements on four of Headwaters projects.

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.headwatergold.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Caleb Stroup

President and CEO

+1 (775) 409-3197

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For further information, please contact:

Brennan Zerb

Investor Relations Manager

+1 (778) 867-5016

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Qualified Person:

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Scott Close, P.Geo (158157), a Qualified Person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding future capital expenditures, exploration activities and the specifications, targets, results, analyses, interpretations, benefits, costs and timing of them, Newcrests anticipated funding of the earn-in projects and the timing thereof, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as pro forma, plans, expects, may, should, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates, believes, potential or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, including the Companys exploration plans and the proposed expenditures for exploration work thereon, the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to fund its business activities and plans, the risk that Newcrest will not elect to obtain any additional interest in the Projects in excess of the minimum commitment, the ability of the Company to obtain the required permits, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, the Companys limited operating history, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims, environmental issues and liabilities, as well as those factors discussed under the heading Risk Factors in the Companys prospectus dated May 26, 2021 and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Companys profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by law.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Aclara Resources Inc. ("Aclara" or the "Company") (TSX:ARA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nelson Donoso as General Manager of the Company effective May 15th, 2023.

"We are delighted to welcome Nelson as our new General Manager," said Ramon Barua, CEO and Director of Aclara. "Nelson, born in Penco and educated in the Biobio region, is a highly recognized local leader with vast experience leading and executing projects that have driven significant progress in Biobio. He has remarkable in-country experience, and will bring strong business network and enthusiasm to our Aclara story."

Mr. Donoso is currently a board member and Vice President of the "Camara de la Produccion y del Comercio Biobio" (Biobio's Chamber of Production and Commerce), the most important guild association in the Biobio Region, which brings together the main productive sectors, including more than 140 companies and trade associations. In this entity, he also serves as President for Clean Energy and Climate Change Committee. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Council of Biobio's Regional Ministry of the Environment and of the Environmental Advisory Committee for the Regional Governor of Biobio. He is also a board member of the "Asociacion de Gas Natural de Chile" (Chilean Association of Natural Gas), a guild organization that seeks to promote the development of the natural gas industry in Chile.

With 29 years of professional experience, Mr. Donoso has managed organizations focusing on safety, health and environmental matters. He has also led teams in the development of large-scale industrial energy transformation projects, as well as executed infrastructure projects for the transportation and regasification of natural gas.

Between 2019 and 2023, Mr. Donoso served as the General Manager of Innergy Soluciones Energeticas S.A. and Gasoducto del Pacifico, a company that has been supplying natural gas to the Biobio and Nuble regions since 1999. Between 1998 and 2019, Mr. Donoso served as the Chief Operating Officer at Innergy Soluciones Energeticas S.A., where he oversaw the commercial and risk prevention areas, as well as the operations of the Pacific Gas Pipeline between Argentina and Chile.

Mr. Donoso's accomplishments include designing, obtaining environmental permits for, and overseeing the construction of over 120 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, implementing a Pipeline Operation and Maintenance Program, and forming an operations team with a working culture focused on safety and planning.

About Aclara

Aclara Resources is a Rare Earths company with a development project in Chile, and is listed on the TSX (TSX:ARA).

Aclara is initiating the development of its resources through a project called the Penco Module, which covers a surface area of approximately 600 hectares, and which hosts ionic clays rich in rare earth elements. Aclara is currently focused on the development and future construction and operation of the Penco Module, which will aim to produce a rare earth concentrate through a processing plant fed by clays from nearby deposits. Aclara's extraction process offers several environmentally attractive attributes such as: no requirement to blast, crush, or mill the feedstock; no tailings facility; minimal water consumption due to a high level of water recirculation; amenability to leaching with a fertilizer; and containing no radioactivity. In parallel with the development of the Penco Module, the Company intends to identify additional opportunities to increase future rare earth element production via intensive greenfield exploration programs and the subsequent development of additional project "modules" within the Company's concessions.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the Company's current expectations regarding future events, including statements with regard to, among other things, management's expectations as to the accretive value to the Company from the appointment of Mr. Donoso as General Manager. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated as of March 28, 2023 filed on the Company's SEDAR profile. Actual results and timing could differ materially from those projected herein. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required under applicable securities laws.

For further information, please contact:

Ramon Barua

Chief Executive Officer

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Rome Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RMR) (FSE: 33R) ("Rome" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Gasson as its President and CEO.

Mr. Gasson is a qualified geologist with more than 33 years of experience developing mineral deposits throughout the globe, predominantly in Africa. He has been active in South Africa, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 1986 in gold and base metals exploration and resource development. Mr. Gasson was instrumental in the negotiations, acquisition and discovery of Alphamin's Bisie tin project (the world's highest grade tin deposit at 4.5% tin) which is located 8 km to the south of the Company's Bisie North Tin Project. Mr. Gasson and his technical team, who have extensive experience and understanding of the geology and mineralisation at Alphamin's deposits, which are located in Eastern DRC in one of the world's highest grade tin provinces, are confident that the Bisie North Project has excellent potential for significant discovery of tin and base metal mineralisation within their current priority target areas. Mr. Gasson has 19 years' experience in the DRC, has built up a network of high-profile contacts in DRC and was also instrumental in the discovery of 1 million tonnes of copper at Kipoi and 3 Moz of gold at Amani's Giro deposits, which are both in the DRC. Mr. Gasson currently serves on the boards of AJN Resources and Pathfinder Minerals. He is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and holds a B.Sc. Honours degree.

The Company thanks its former President and CEO, Dr. Georg Schnura for his valuable contributions to the Company over the past nine years. Prior to Rome, Dr. Schnura incorporated Alphamin Resources where he worked closely with Mr. Gasson on the development and financing of Alphamin's Bisie project. Dr. Schnura was instrumental in getting the Rome's shares reinstated for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2022 and in the Company acquiring its options on the Bisie North Tin Project.

Dr. Schnura commented: "I am pleased that Mr. Gasson has accepted the position as CEO of the Company. His expertise and experience in the area neighbouring Alphamin Resources' property, where he was instrumental in discovering the world's richest tin deposit, is needed to move Rome Resources into the next stage of development."

Dr. Schnura continues as non-executive director where he is expected to add significant support with promoting the Company going forward.

The Company also announces Michelle Robinson's resignation from the board of directors and thanks her for her valuable contribution to the Company over the past nine years. The Company wishes her the very best in her future endeavours.

About Rome Resources

Rome Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that has entered into two option agreements to acquire 51% direct and indirect interests in two contiguous properties situated in the Walikale District of the North Kivu Province in eastern DRC, which are collectively referred to as the "Bisie North Tin Project". Rome intends to fund exploration on the project up to the completion of a definitive feasibility study.

Contacts

Investors / Shareholders

Mark Gasson

President, CEO & Director

P: (604) 687-6140

Media

E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release may include certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Although Rome Resources Ltd believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, Rome Resources Ltd disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX.V:LAB | OTCQX:NKOSF | FNR: 2N6) (LabGold or the Company) is pleased to announce results from recent drilling targeting the highly prospective Appleton Fault Zone. The drilling is part of the Companys ongoing 100,000 metre diamond drilling program at its 100% owned Kingsway Project.

Highlights of the drilling include an intersection of 5.22g/t Au over 2.80 metres from 418.6 metres that included 22.02g/t Au over 0.4 metres in Hole K-22-214B which also included 8.62 g/t Au over 0.7 metres from 496 metres. This hole was a wedge off Hole K-22-214 that was previously abandoned in mineralization at 486 metres due to excessive fracturing after intersecting 1.19g/t Au over 41.8 metres from 397 metres that included 2.32g/t Au over 18.6 metres including 61.15g/t Au over 0.3 metres (see news release dated March 2, 2023). Thes two holes form part of a new mineralized zone, the Greenmantle Zone, that lies below the HTC Zone at a vertical depth of 415 metres.

Hole K-23-225, a 100m step out to the northeast intersected 1g/t Au over 10.1 metres from 46.9 metres, that included an interval of 2.28g/t over 2.26 metres containing visible gold.

The Big Vein SW zone was extended a further 60 metres to the southwest with intersections of 3.69g/t Au over 2.97 metres from 389.41 metres including 12.05g/t Au over 0.59 metres in Hole K-23-216 and 1.95g/t Au over 9 metres including 8.97g/t Au over 1.6 metres in Hole K-23-218.

Our aggressive step outs to the northeast and southwest continue to intersect gold mineralization at Big Vein which has now been extended to 722 metres in strike length and remains open in both directions. In addition, the discovery of the Greenmantle zone demonstrates the potential for continued mineralization at depth, said Roger Moss, President and CEO of Labrador Gold Corp. Recent 3D modelling has given us a much better understanding of the structural complexity and controls on gold distribution at Big Vein. Mineralization is closely associated with splays off the Appleton Fault Zone which we now believe to run through Big Vein. This interpretation will guide our drilling as we seek to continue to expand Big Vein along strike and at depth.

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au (g/t) Zone K-23-225 46.90 57.00 10.10 1.00 Big Vein including 47.64 49.90 2.26 2.28 K-23-218 104.70 105.70 1.00 1.56 Big Vein SW 385.00 394.00 9.00 1.95 including 386.10 387.70 1.60 8.97 including 386.10 387.00 0.90 12.18 K-23-216 267.00 268.00 1.00 3.24 Big Vein SW 389.41 392.38 2.97 3.69 including 389.41 390.00 0.59 12.05 K-22-215 137.00 140.00 3.00 2.75 Big Vein including 137.77 138.24 0.47 14.37 K-22-214B 400.40 411.00 10.60 1.06 Green Mantle including 407.00 408.30 1.30 2.53 418.60 421.40 2.80 5.22 including 419.75 420.15 0.40 22.02 442.65 448.00 5.35 1.19 473.00 475.40 2.40 1.20 496.00 496.70 0.70 8.62

Table 1. Summary of assay results. All intersections are downhole length as there is insufficient Information to calculate true width.

Over 69,000 metres have been drilled to date out of the planned 100,000 metre program. Assays are pending for samples from approximately 3,500 metres of core.

The Company has approximately $15 million in cash and is well funded to carry out the remaining 31,000 metres of the planned drill program as well as further exploration to add to the current pipeline of drill targets on the property.

Figure 1. Plan map of Big Vein showing significant intersections.

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation (m) Azimuth Inclination Depth (m) K-23-225 661623 5435460 47.7 145 50 275 K-23-218 661249.3 5434860 42.8 140 45 572 K-23-216 661299 5434884 42 140 45 526.24 K-22-215 661297.1 5434880 46.6 130 45 565 K-22-214 B 661579 5435370 48.6 145 60 676

Table 2. Drill hole collar details

QA/QC

True widths of the reported intersections have yet to be calculated. Assays are uncut. Samples of HQ split core are securely stored prior to shipping to Eastern Analytical Laboratory in Springdale, Newfoundland for assay. Eastern Analytical is an ISO/IEC17025 accredited laboratory. Samples are routinely analyzed for gold by standard 30g fire assay with atomic absorption finish as well as by ICP-OES for an additional 34 elements. Samples containing visible gold are assayed by metallic screen/fire assay, as are any samples with fire assay results greater than 1g/t Au. The company submits blanks and certified reference standards at a rate of approximately 5% of the total samples in each batch.

Qualified Person

Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., President and CEO of LabGold, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this release.

The Company gratefully acknowledges the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Natural Resources Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) Program for its financial support for exploration of the Kingsway property.

About Labrador Gold

Labrador Gold is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in Eastern Canada.

Labrador Golds flagship property is the 100% owned Kingsway project in the Gander area of Newfoundland. The three licenses comprising the Kingsway project cover approximately 12km of the Appleton Fault Zone which is associated with gold occurrences in the region, including those of New Found Gold immediately to the south of Kingsway. Infrastructure in the area is excellent located just 18km from the town of Gander with road access to the project, nearby electricity and abundant local water. LabGold is drilling a projected 100,000 metres targeting high-grade epizonal gold mineralization along the Appleton Fault Zone with encouraging results. The Company has approximately $15 million in working capital and is well funded to carry out the planned program.

The Hopedale property covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Work to date by Labrador Gold show gold anomalies in rocks, soils and lake sediments over a 3 kilometre section of the northern portion of the Florence Lake greenstone belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold. In addition, anomalous gold in soil and lake sediment samples occur over approximately 40 km along the southern section of the greenstone belt (see news release dated January 25th 2018 for more details). Labrador Gold now controls approximately 40km strike length of the Florence Lake Greenstone Belt.

The Company has 170,009,979 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.

For more information please contact:

Roger Moss, President and CEO Tel: 416-704-8291

Or visit our website at: www.labradorgold.com

Twitter: @LabGoldCorp

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.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words may, would, could, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those factors discussed in filings made by us with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such as actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of gold and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - IMPACT Silver Corp. (TSXV: IPT) (OTC Pink: ISVLF) (FSE: IKL) ("IMPACT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the Non-Brokered financing previously announced on April 6th, and upsized on April 12th, 2023 (the "Offering").

The Company received an aggregate proceeds of C$8,343,813.24 from the issuance of 30,903,012 units (the "Units") of the Company at C$0.27 per unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one full Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one Common Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of C$0.35 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the Offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for exploration, development and general corporate purposes.

Frederick Davidson, CEO and President of the Company comments, "With global currencies on a near-term pause from further rate hikes and recent historical highs in precious metal prices - the demand in gold and silver as fundamental wealth preservation assets is growing and we are motivated to grow IMPACT's operation and shareholder value with proceeds of this financing."

In consideration for their services, the Company has paid certain registered dealers a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross subscription proceeds raised from certain subscribers in the Offering for total commissions of $183,295.22. Additionally, the Company granted an aggregate of 678,871 non-transferable broker warrants to finders under the Offering. Each broker warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at a price of $0.35 per common share until April 19, 2025.

The securities issued under the Offering are subject to a standard hold period of four months and one day, expiring on August 20, 2023, all in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Offering is subject to the Company's remaining filing requirements with the TSX Venture Exchange.

A director of the Company participated in the Offering. This participation by an insider in the Offering constitutes a related-party transaction as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. However, the Company considers such participation would be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101, as the fair market value of the Units subscribed for by the insiders, and the consideration for the Units paid by such insider, do not exceed 25 per cent of the Company's market capitalization.

The Company plans to follow up with a small second tranche for gross proceeds of up to $500,000 or up to 1,851,851 units. The units will have the same terms as the units sold under the current Offering and largely allocated waiting payment and documentation reviews. The Company expects to close this second tranche by the end of April.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

ABOUT IMPACT SILVER

IMPACT Silver Corp. (TSXV: IPT) is a successful producer-explorer with two mining projects in Mexico.

Royal Mines of Zacualpan Silver-Gold District: IMPACT owns 100% of the 211 km2 Zacualpan project where four underground silver mines and one open pit mine feed the central 500 tpd Guadalupe processing plant. To the south, the Capire Project includes a 200 tpd processing pilot plant adjacent to an open pit silver mine with an NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource of over 4.5 million oz silver, 48 million lbs zinc and 21 million lbs lead (see IMPACT news release dated January 18, 2016 for details and QP statement, and footnote4 for report reference); Company engineers are reviewing Capire for a potential restart of operations. Over the past 17 years, IMPACT has placed multiple zones into commercial production and produced over 12 million ounces of silver, generating revenues over $241 million.

Plomosas Zinc-Lead-Silver District: IMPACT signed a purchase / sale agreement with Consolidated Zinc Limited (ASX: CZL) of Australia to purchase the Plomosas property and mining operations for US$6 million (cash and shares) plus a 12% NPI (net profit interest) and a third party 1% NSR royalty. Plomosas is a high-grade zinc-lead-silver producer with exceptional exploration potential. Upon closing of the transaction, IMPACT plans to upgrade the mill and mine

with the aim to recommence operations in the near term followed by plans for expanding operations. Exploration potential at Plomosas is exceptional with only 600m of the 6 kilometre long structure assessed plus other exploration targets including untested copper-gold targets. Regionally, Plomosas lies in the same mineral belt as some of the largest carbonate replacement deposits in the world.

On behalf of IMPACT Silver Corp.

"Frederick W. Davidson"

President & CEO

For more information, please contact:

Jerry Huang

CFO | Investor Relations

(604) 664-7707 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(778) 887 6489 Direct

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This IMPACT News Release may contain certain "forward-looking" statements and information relating to IMPACT that is based on the beliefs of IMPACT management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to IMPACT management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to future silver prices, interpretation of drill results, future work plans, the timing of closing of the Offering, proceeds received and use of funds, the potential of the Company's projects, and potential and plans for the Plomosas project, are forward looking statements. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "planned", "expect", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential", and similar expressions, or describes a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "should", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the expected use of proceeds of the Private Placement.

Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks and assumptions, including with respect to, without limitations, exploration and development risks, expenditure and financing requirements, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors, general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events. There are no assurances the Company will close the acquisition of the Plomosas project. Should any one or more risks or uncertainties materialize or change, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and forward-looking statements may vary materially from those described herein. IMPACT does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

The Company's decision to place a mine into production, expand a mine, make other production related decisions or otherwise carry out mining and processing operations, is largely based on internal non-public Company data and reports based on exploration, development and mining work by the Company's geologists and engineers. The results of this work are evident in the discovery and building of multiple mines for the Company and in the track record of mineral production and financial returns of the Company since 2006. Under NI 43-101 the Company is required to disclose that it has not based its production decisions on NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource or reserve estimates, preliminary economic assessments or feasibility studies, and historically such projects have increased uncertainty and risk of failure.

303-543 Granville Street Telephone (604) 664-7707

Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1X8

www.impactsilver.com

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LinkedIn
Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Gold79 Mines Ltd. (TSXV: AUU) (OTCQB: AUSVF) ("Gold79" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Mr. Peter Mercer has been appointed as an independent director effective April 19, 2023. Mr. W. William (Bill) Boberg has stepped down as a director but will remain as an advisor to the Company.

Derek Macpherson, President, CEO and Director stated, "We are pleased to add Peter to the board, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our team. In particular, his hands on experience in mine development and operations adds technical expertise that was previously under represented on the board. We look forward to working with Peter."

As a seasoned industry leader, Mr. Mercer will strengthen Gold79's Board of Directors. Mr. Mercer's knowledge and experience in mineral exploration, permitting, construction, and mine development will be a great asset to Gold79. He brings years of expertise from his recent role as Vice President at Rambler Metals and Mining plc, where he provided technical oversight, stakeholder engagement and managed corporate development and strategic initiatives. Mr. Mercer recently joined American Pacific Mining Corp as Senior Vice President, Advanced Projects.

Peter is experienced in the exploration and development of volcanic massive sulphide ("VMS") and epithermal gold deposits. He has previously held the role of General Manager of the Ming Copper-Gold Mine in Newfoundland and Labrador. Before that, he worked as an exploration geologist helping successfully advance several projects in Labrador, including the Michelin uranium deposit, the Kami Project, and the Ming Mine. Mr. Mercer is a professional geologist and holds a Bachelor of Science from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Gary Thompson, Executive Chairman stated, "I would like to thank Bill for his long service to the Company, starting as a director in 2008. His experience and insights have been invaluable for both the current and prior management teams. We look forward to his continued support as an advisor to Gold79."

About Gold79 Mines Ltd.

Gold79 Mines Ltd. is a TSX Venture listed company focused on building ounces in the Southwest USA. Gold79 holds 100% earn-in option to purchase agreements on three gold projects: the Jefferson Canyon Gold Project and the Tip Top Gold Project both located in Nevada, USA, and, the Gold Chain Project located in Arizona, USA. In addition, Gold79 holds a 32.3% interest in the Greyhound Project, Nunavut, Canada under JV by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited.

For further information regarding this press release contact:

Derek Macpherson, President & CEO

Phone: 416-294-6713

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.gold79mines.com.

Book a 30-minute meeting with our CEO here.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are made as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions which involve risks and uncertainties associated with our business including any future private placement financing, the uncertainty as to whether further exploration will result in the target(s) being delineated as a mineral resource, capital expenditures, operating costs, mineral resources, recovery rates, grades and prices, estimated goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, plans and references to the Company's future successes with its business and the economic environment in which the business operates. All such statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as a number of factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially from current expectations. Please refer to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent annual MD&A and the Company's continuous disclosure documents that can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Gold79 does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei announced he will visit Taiwan this weekend, as the island looks to shore up its diplomatic links with Latin American nations.

Giammattei's announcement Tuesday came just two weeks after he welcomed Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Guatemala City, where she promised continued assistance for "democratic partners."

Tsai then traveled to neighboring Belize -- the only other Central American country to retain diplomatic ties with Taiwan since Honduras shifted its allegiance to China last month.

China considers self-ruled, democratic Taiwan part of its territory to be retaken one day, and does not allow other countries to recognize both Beijing and Taipei.

On Wednesday, Beijing warned Giammattei's government "not to help evildoers and go against the general global trend and aspirations of the Guatemalan people for their own benefit."

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular briefing: "There is no path for Taiwan independence, and any move that ignores global trends and international justice, stubbornly sticking to wrong positions, is doomed to failure."

- War games -

Tsai's stopover in the United States -- and meeting there with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy -- irked Beijing, which bristles at any official diplomatic contact with the island.

In response, China staged three days of military exercises around Taiwan.

Giammattei, who reaffirmed Guatemala's "recognition of the sovereignty" of Taiwan, said the partner countries would sign an agreement to boost exports of Guatemalan coffee, sugar and other products.

Taiwan would also assist Guatemala with a fund for natural disasters, the president said, and provide $1.5 million for the air conditioning system at the airport in Guatemala City.

Taiwan had said that before Honduras decided to cut ties, it had asked for money, but Taipei would "not engage in a meaningless cash diplomacy contest with China."

Since the break with Honduras, only 13 places diplomatically recognize Taiwan.

In Latin America, Nicaragua shifted its allegiance to Beijing in 2021, El Salvador in 2018, Panama in 2017 and Costa Rica in 2007.

Giammattei said he would start a two-day visit to Taiwan on Saturday.

burs-je/lb
Evidence against the Kherson police collaborators began to be gathered back in May 2022. The case files included more than 20 alleged defectors. The information was received from various sources - publications on the Internet, including the Telegram channel of the "Head Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Kherson Region", and eyewitness testimonies.

On November 11, 2022, Ukrainian forces freed Kherson and the locals became subject to prosecution. Many collaborators fled with the Russians, some out of fear of future accountability, and others probably out of ideological support. However, there were those who did not leave.

Last January, 58-year-old Viktor Kyrylov went to Mykolaiv at the request of an investigator. He was checked through databases and it was found that the man worked as a police driver in the Kherson police under the occupiers authority. A couple of weeks later, investigators also identified Viktor Kozodoy. When he met with law enforcement, he wrote a statement of voluntary surrender.

If not for a wartime amendment of Ukraines Criminal Code, people like Kyrylov and Kozodoy could have been tried for treason, which under martial law results in 15 years in prison or even a life sentence. But in March 2022, in the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian parliament approved a new article of the Criminal Code regarding collaborationism, establishing various forms of cooperation with the enemy and, consequently, less severe punishments in some cases, including some with no prison term. (Since Russias invasion in February 2022, Ukraines Criminal Code has been amended 18 times and the Code of Criminal Procedure 20 times, more than at any time before the war.) But the leniency does not significantly affect the cases of employment in an illegal law enforcement agency in occupied territories. Such actions are punishable by 12 to 15 years in prison.

"Its not like I was fighting against Ukraine"

On March 29-30, the cases of Kyrylov and Kozodoy were heard in the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv. The two men admitted that they had worked during the occupation, agreed that they were guilty of something, but were eventually shocked by the severity of the punishment. They said that they were only drivers in the police.

According to the prosecutor, the illegally created law enforcement agencies helped the occupation authorities. They were fully controlled by the Russian Federation and assisted the Russian Armed Forces in crimes and war against Ukraine.

From 1995 to 2010, Viktor Kyrylov had worked in the Ukrainian police as a patrol inspector, before he retired. After Russias invasion, he said that an acquaintance of his worked in the police under the occupiers authority and offered him a position as a driver. On June 16, 2022, in Russian-occupied Kherson, he was employed as a police driver in the "guard unit of the Korabelnyi city police department", a law enforcement agency created by the occupiers and considered illegal by Ukraines authorities.

"I worked as a driver, drove an investigation team, repaired cars. The situation was difficult. There was no work. There was banditry and marauding. I thought I was helping people of Kherson to protect public order," Kyrylov said. "We did community protection, we didn't relate to Russia. We responded to family scandals, robberies, marauding. We were not chasing guerrillas. The military commandant's office and the FSB [Russias intelligence services] were in charge of that, we had nothing to do with it. It's not like I was fighting against Ukraine. I was just a driver... I am not an investigator, I am not an operative."

500 dollars a month

"They could have been transporting detainees, those tortured or killed. We do not know this, we do not accuse [them] of this. But it was one mechanism. The driver is also a part of this mechanism. You did not go on calls with the investigative team just as a driver. You know that, because you worked [in the police]," the prosecutor told Kyrylov.

"I did not pass certification there due to my age. I am not certified. I can't be a police officer," the accused tried to argue.

"What certification? This is an illegal fake authority!" the prosecutor replied.

When questioned by the prosecutor, Kyrylov said that he was given a weapon only by the end of his service. "They made me take a gun," he said.

The man was paid 40,000 Russian rubles (about 500 US dollars) a month. He was not receiving his Ukrainian pension because ATMs were not working. After the liberation of the city, Kyrylov stayed, he did not flee to the occupied territories or to Russia, he did not go to the "other side" because he did not consider himself a collaborator. He was first interrogated in November 2022 and then released. He was served with a notice of suspicion only two months later.

Kyrylov helped the investigation by identifying three other people like him who had been employed by the occupiers. But he claims that during the occupation of Kherson he had no idea that he was breaking the law. His service car still had Ukrainian license plates. He did not receive a Russian passport. Local Ukrainians worked alongside him. However, hoping for a lighter sentence, the man still has to admit that his "department" was subordinate to the Russian police.

Looking for a lenient sentence

Kyrylov did not object to a simplified trial, without examining all the evidence. It was explained to him that he would not be able to appeal the verdict on the factual circumstances that were not examined in the court hearing. Having pleaded guilty, Kyrylov still tried to justify himself, and sometimes contradicted his own statements. While he said that he allegedly did not know that he was not just a driver but a law enforcement officer, he also insisted on the fact that he was engaged in the protection of public order in the occupied city.

"I served the purpose of protecting public order in the city of Kherson from these bandits," Kyrylov explained.

"From what bandits?" the judge asked.

"There was no authority there. The occupiers didn't care about that. They were minding their own business."

"How many of them were arrested?"

"They were repressed, yes. But the courts did not work, of course. Robberies - yes..." (indistinct)

"Illegal handling of weapons - has anyone been arrested?"

"It wasn't us..."

"How effective was your unit?"

"A call would be received by the duty department: "Grandma has died". We would go to make a report. Someone had a fight - we would go and make a report."

Kyrylov asked for a shorter prison term than the law prescribes.

"Given my age, I will never get out of prison. I will already be over 70. But I am very remorseful," he said.

"A dead-end situation"

Before the Russian invasion, Viktor Kozodoy worked in a car repair shop. But he is also a former police officer of the Kherson patrol service. In December 2008, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for abuse of power by a law enforcement officer. He was released on parole after serving just over 10 months behind bars.

From August 2, 2022, under the occupation, Kozodoy took the position of a police driver in the same unit as Kyrylov. He is believed to have continued working there until November 11, the day of the official liberation of Kherson.

"During the occupation, I took a job. [It was] a dead-end situation," he told the court.

"Do you admit that you were a police officer?" the judge asked.

"I had no documents, I had nothing as a police officer," Kozodoy replied.

"So, you don't admit that you were holding the position of a police officer?"

"The guilt is that I took a job."

"What position?"

"A police driver."

Kozodoy explained that he was unable to evacuate during the occupation, nor to take his sick mother away with him. Russians were shooting at cars and it was dangerous to leave. He and his wife lost their jobs, and his mother was not receiving her pension because the post office was not working. Kyrylov was the one who approached him about joining the police under occupation. He worked in shifts - one day and then two days off - and drove investigators in response to calls. He says that they often went to places where people had died of natural causes and had been lying in their apartment for several months. Police officers would report the incident and call for a mortician.

Viktor Kozodoy was sentenced to 12 years in prison for collaboration with the enemy.  Iryna Salii

Pointing to collaborators

Kozodoy said that the first time he was paid 37,000 rubles, then another 50,000 for two months, and then the occupiers administration began to "evacuate" from Kherson.

"Did you realize that you joined the agency of an enemy country?" the judge asked.

"A dead-end situation," the accused repeated.

"And how many people worked in this department?"

"About 20 people."

"How many people remained in Kherson during the occupation?"

"During the occupation? The last I knew, there were 60,000."

"And 20 were in the most desperate situation [to agree to work for the police]?"

"At that time, many went to work as security guards, on the railroad, and in the police."

Kozodoy said that as soon as the city was liberated, he immediately approached people in military uniforms and asked them what to do. On January 29, 2023, SBU [Ukraines investigation branch] officers came to his house during a check in the city. In the course of this meeting, the man wrote a six-page confession. Just like Kyrylov, he pointed out to the investigators several local residents who also collaborated with the occupiers.



Kozodoy lived in Kherson in civil partnership with a woman and her two children, and also took care of his disabled mother. He received a positive personal assessment from the condominium board members. The defendant's partner addressed the court and said that he was a caring father and son.

"He suggested we leave. But I have a dog, a cat. His mom doesn't walk, there's no way we could have taken her. And when we decided and were ready to leave, it was already too dangerous. He was not setting anyone against Ukraine. We were waiting for them to liberate us," said his partner.

Shocked convicts

When Kozodoy heard that the prosecutor was requesting 12 years and six months in prison, he was at a loss for words. His lawyer, referring to the difficult life circumstances and his clients cooperation with the investigation, dared to ask for a 5-year probation.

After the judge went to the deliberation room, the defense lawyer did not hide his disappointment: Kozodoy should have spoken more persuasively at the hearing, expressed regret for what he had done, and not remain silent.

Kyrylov was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison, and Kozodoy to 12 years. They have the right to appeal the severity of this punishment. When Kozodoys lawyer asked whether to file an appeal against the verdict, Kozodoy sighed and said that it was useless and that instead he should be sent to the 90th correctional facility in Kherson, where the hostilities are still ongoing. The prosecutor indicated that this facility is currently not working.

This report is part of our coverage of war crimes justice produced in partnership with Ukrainian journalists. A first version of this article was published on the "Sudovyi Reporter" website.
Just when Jang Dong Yoon begins to exact his revenge, his secrets get revealed to the world. In "Oasis" episode 14, Chu Young Woo then orders his men to take down his estranged brother. Keep on reading to know more.

Oh Jung Shin Severs Ties With Choi Cheol Woong

In the previous episode, Lee Doo Hak (Jang Dong Yoon) returns to South Korea to reunite with his lover Oh Jung Shin (Seol In Ah).

To ensure his safety, he hides behind a mask; a Japanese tycoon who is an undercover thug. He also lays down his thoroughly planned revenge on the culprit who killed his late father.

Lee Doo Hak also comes clean to his lover, confessing his relation with Choi Cheol Woong (Chu Young Woo) who's behind his imprisonment six years ago.

In episode 14, Oh Man Ok (Jin Yi Han) gets kidnapped by Lee Doo Hak who's determined to find the root of everything that has happened to him and his family.

Meanwhile, Oh Jung Shin confronts Choi Cheol Woong about the truth. Because of his love for the other, he reveals everything.

Lee Doo Hak's lover cries her heart out after realizing that everything fell apart because of Choi Cheol Woong; Lee Doo Hak's dream of becoming a teacher and his life itself.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Oasis' Episode 13: Jang Dong Yoon Avenges Father's Demise



Choi Cheol Woong kneels down and explains his side. However, Oh Jung Shin dismisses him with utter disgust on her face.

The Great War Between Two Brothers Begins

Oh Jung Shin wreaths Lee Doo Hak into an embrace in hopes to remove all the pain inside his heart. She promises that she will do everything to put out the painful fire inside him no matter what.

At the end of the episode, Lee Doo Hak visits his poor mother and apologizes for being far away for a long time. The mother and son cry their hearts out, creating a heart-wrenching atmosphere.

On the other hand, Oh Man Ok decides to be Lee Doo Hak's spy after Choi Cheol Woong's mother orders her men to kill him.

After hearing the news of Lee Doo Hak's appearance, Choi Cheol Woong scours the town to find him.

He then sees Lee Doo Hak and Oh Jung Shin together, smiling at each other with loving eyes. Because of this, Choi Cheol Woong's anger rises, and a plan to kill the other once again is formed inside his head.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
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In this episode, we talk with family physician Heather Awad about how to be an example of whats possible for your patients on their weight loss journey. Heather shares her experience of embracing imperfection and how that has helped her patients shed their own perfectionistic tendencies. Based on neuroscience research, she also gives practical tips on making small changes and creating habits that stick. Join us for an insightful conversation on how to inspire your patients through your own vulnerable human experience.

By sharing her own journey and encouraging patients to embrace imperfection, Heather provides a powerful example of whats possible for anyone on a weight loss journey. So join us for an inspiring and informative conversation that will help you make small changes, do them consistently, and celebrate your progress towards a healthier and happier life.

Heather Awad is a family physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, Be a shining example for your weight loss patients.

The Podcast by KevinMD is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience.

With so many demands on their time, physicians today report record levels of burnout. Burnout is caused by many factors, one of which is clinical documentation. Studies indicate physicians spend two hours documenting care for every hour spent with patients.

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We need an urgent pain consult for patient Lucy Bee in room 5621. Shes a 17-year-old drug addict and is screaming and wanting morphine, I was told. Lucy Bee is not a real patient, but a composite of patients I have cared for either when providing pain management services on our inpatient floors, or in the operating room.

Hearing the reason for the consult, I made many assumptions, even before reviewing Lucys record. Most of those assumptions turned out to be wrong, as I learned she had a complicated history.

Lucy was born with congenital cardiac disease. She had undergone several operations prior to getting an orthotopic heart transplant six years ago. Her recovery from her transplant surgery was complicated and prolonged. At 15, she was found using left-over opioids from her previous surgeries in a manner other than how a physician had prescribed them. At 16, she started obtaining opioids from other sources to treat what she reported to be ongoing chest/sternal chronic pain. She felt the pain limited her enjoyment of life and ability to engage in school and other activities, and these medications helped. She reported anxiety but did not want to see a psychiatrist, psychologist, or counselor, and had not been seen by a pain specialist.

Two days prior to the pain consult, Lucy and her mother had been in a car accident, and she had sustained fractures of her right leg, arm, and ribs as well as lacerations and bruising. She was scheduled to undergo an open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of her right femur and casting of her right arm and complained of severe pain. The primary care team was limiting her opioids given her previous history.

So, is Lucy a drug addict? Given her history we cant really say. What we can say is shes someone who used opioids in a manner other than as prescribed, and the words we use to frame her care can significantly impact her treatment and outcome. Its important to acknowledge that not all pain patients are the same, and not all people who use medications in a manner other than as prescribed are the same.

We must recognize that the language we use to describe patients with mental health disorders, particularly those with substance use disorder (SUD), is often very stigmatizing.

Terms like addict, drug abuser, drunk, alcoholic, junkie, stoner, or even substance abuser, assumes moralistic and judgmental connotation. They blame, shame, and stereotype the patient, even though increased medical and scientific evidence reveals that addiction and SUD are diagnoses best made by experts in these diseases. They are chronic diseases with high remission, recurrence, and relapse, and stigmatizing them can lead to treatment avoidance and poorer psychological outcomes and social functioning.

Several studies have documented the impact of stigmatizing language on both individuals with SUD and their caregivers decisions regarding treatment. It can negatively influence health care workers, including physicians, when caring for these patients, and dissuade the patient from seeking help for their SUD and other health issues. Whenever possible, person-first language, which focuses on the person not their illness, should be used. Lucy is not the drug-addicted heart transplant patient, she is a patient who has undergone a heart transplant and used opioids in a manner other than prescribed in the past for pain.

In this example, Lucys care was already impacted by the label of drug addict. She has suffered major trauma, but the concern over her previous nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) has prevented her from receiving appropriate and humane medical treatment. Prior to this incident, as is so common in teenagers and young adults, she was reluctant to receive appropriate treatment for NMPOU and chronic pain. If shes labeled an addict or drug abuser, its even less likely that she will seek treatment. Furthermore, if shes left to languish in terrible pain after this accident, the harm to her mental and physical health would be incalculable.

There are many great resources on what language to use and to avoid to decrease stigma and negative bias when caring for patients with SUD. Childrens hospitals are often less experienced in caring for patients with SUD, so they may have less education around best practices. Resources include:

After Lucy and her family provided a detailed history at the consultation, which included eliciting their concerns and fears, Lucy reported feeling scared that she was being punished for her previous opioid misuse and would never get her pain treated properly. She felt guilt and shame for having been weak in the past. She was terrified of experiencing acute pain, on top of her chronic pain, and of being labeled a drug abuser. Her father was worried that she would become addicted to drugs and turn into a junkie, while simultaneously denying that she was a drug addict.

Prior to Lucys surgery, we developed a plan that optimized the use of multimodal analgesics and regional anesthesia, while not eliminating opioids completely. We acknowledged her fears, concerns, and pain, and set realistic expectations that she would probably have some pain after surgery. The goal was for it to be tolerable, not zero. We also discussed the critical role that our psychiatry and mental health care teams would have in her overall recovery. After her operations, she was treated with respect and understanding. Throughout our many interactions with her over the course of her hospitalizations, we made a conscious effort to never use the terms drug addict, drug abuser, or any other stigmatizing words. She was ultimately discharged feeling confident to begin her road to recovery.

Rita Agarwal is a pediatric anesthesiologist.
The voices of city dwellers against the poor state of Kampalas roads are becoming louder every day.

A day after the Kampala City Traders Association threatened to stop paying Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) trading licenses if the roads were not urgently fixed, several other groups including motorists, pedestrians, and boda boda cyclists have also spoken out.

A section of them has shared their horrifying experiences using the potholed roads that have become a pain in the neck.

First, we pick the minds of pedestrians and motorcyclists

Some of us have gotten accidents because of those things [potholes], we have lost people because of those things. We have had a bad experience, a pedestrian on the streets of Kampala told KFM.

And for one motorist, the potholes are affecting the mechanical health of their vehicles, thus increasing the cost of maintenance.

I drive a new car so I experience bad rough roads in Kampala. So you use Makindye, its bad, you use Kampala road, its slightly and has jam. The jam is not caused by so many cars but it is caused by the potholes, the motorist told KFM.

Meanwhile, according to the Kampala Capital City Authority Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka, they need Shs100 billion to repair several roads in the city that are in a sorry state
The Kabaka of Buganda Kingdom, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, has implored Muslims across the country to use this years Eid-al-Fitr celebrations to pray to Allah for a better Uganda.

In a press statement released on Thursday, Kabaka asked Muslims to pray to Allah so that the countrys leadership provides the expected service delivery to its people, especially the most underprivileged.

He said the social-economic lives of Ugandans need to be boosted through the provision of better health, education, and housing services. He noted that many health facilities lack medical equipment and many Ugandans are living in poor houses, citing those in the ghetto and rural areas.

He further noted that many pregnant mothers and babies die in rural areas due to lack of medical equipment and drugs in health centres.

The Kabaka is dismayed to see that there are still schools in Uganda with no toilets and classroom structures for learners, which he said affects the quality of the countrys education system.

Muslims across the world have concluded the Holy Month of Ramadan after the moon was sighted in Saudi Arabia ahead of Eid al Fitr slated for tomorrow Friday, April 21, 2023.
The State Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Amos Logoloobi has been released on a cash bail of Shs10 million by the Anti-Corruption Court grade one Magistrate Ebert Asiimwe on charges related to the diversion of iron sheets meant to benefit the vulnerable communities of Karamoja.

He has been ordered to deposit his diplomatic passport before court, not to travel out of the country without courts knowledge, to deposit his land title for his home at Makindye Lukuli Kizungu zone, and to desist from interfering with investigations and state witnesses.

The magistrate also ordered each of his 6 sureties to sign a non-cash bond of Shs100 million and that if the accused failed to abide by the bail conditions, his bail will be cancelled.

The magistrate also relied his bail on the introductory letter written by LC1 chairperson Kizungu Zone in Makindye indicating that the minister is a law-abiding citizen with no previous criminal records.

The sureties are EALA MP, James Kakooza , Namutumba Woman MP, Mariam Naigaga , Dr. Kefa Kiwanuka, the MP for Kiboga East, his Bestman Dr. Paul Charles Mugamba (also former Ugandan Ambassador to Brazil), his business associate Martin Ssekajja, Busoga Kingdom Prime Minister James Muvawala and the Kayunga district NRM chairperson, Moses Karangwa.

Minister Lugoloobi is charged with two counts of dealing with suspect property.

Prosecution instigated by the DPP Jane Frances Abodo states that the minister who is also the Ntejeru North MP between July 2022 and February 2023 at OPM stores in Namanve, Matugga  Wakiso district and in his own constituency, dealt with 700 pre-painted iron sheets marked Office of the Prime minister having reason to believe that they were acquired as a result of loss of public property.

He has been ordered to return to court on June 2, 2023, for mention of the case.
By Andrew Bagala | Monitor

The Minister of State for Defense and Veterans Affairs, Mr Jacob Oboth Oboth has reported to Criminal Investigations Directorate at Kibuli, Kampala to record an additional statement in regard to the diversion of iron sheets meant for vulnerable communities in Karamoja sub-region.

The mood at CID headquarters was by press time tense after the counterterrorism officers deployed in the premises ordered the ministers military escorts to remain at the gate as detectives grill him. He was by press time appearing before the Deputy CID director, Beata Chelimo.

This comes just days after Christians at St Andrews Church of Uganda Kiyeyi in Nabuyoga Town Council, Tororo District said they were in a dilemma after the minister returned iron sheets he received to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Mr Oboth who is the Member of Parliament for West Budama Central had donated 137 iron sheets towards the roofing of the parish priests house at St. Andrews Church of Uganda.

He is among the senior government officials implicated in the scandal that has left President Musevenis government struggling to save face amid public outcry over increasing corruption and abuse of office. Read more
Ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentary caucus has resolved to send back the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 to parliament with proposals for improvement.

On Thursday, government chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said President Museveni agreed with NRM legislators- to sign the Bill into law after the improvements anticipated to make it tougher.

Before that is done, we also agree that the Bill will be returned in order to facilitate the reinforcement and the strengthening of some provisions in line with our best practices, Obua was quoted by news agency Reuters.

The resolution was reached following Mr Musevenis keynote address to the NRM parliamentary caucus on the controversial legislation passed by Parliament on March 21.
The Norwegian government has given out a grant of 5 million US dollars which is approximately Sh18.6 billion to facilitate the implementation of a four-year project which is intended to promote issues affecting women in the country.

The project code-named Women Peace and Security Program 2022-2026, will be implemented by the UN-Women and it is meant to address the existing emerging issues such as the escalating violence and extremism against women, election-related conflicts, and among other issues hindering womens development in the country.

The Minister for Gender, Labour, and social Development, Betty Amongi while officiating at the launch of the project on Thursday said, women are key drivers in promoting peace and security in the country therefore, it is a mistake to neglect them.

She says the government is committed to enacting laws and policies which protect womens rights.


The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPS are today expected to meet President Museveni at State House Entebbe.

According to the Government Chief Whip and the chairperson of the NRM parliamentary caucus, Hamson Obua, the MPS will, among other things; discuss the Anti homosexuality Bill, 2023.

The Bill passed by Parliament last month introduces tough penalties for same-sex activities including; death for aggravated homosexuality, as well as imprisonment of up to 20 years for acts of homosexuality, and promoting the vice.

The president has been put under pressure by local and international rights groups including the US not to assent to the Bill.

The Attorney General has also written to the president advising him on how to deal with the contentious Bill.

Opposition MPs have since criticized the intention of the NRM MPs to discuss a Bill already passed by parliament.
By Mike Sebalu

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director, Dorothy Kisaka has welcomed President Musevenis directive to release the Authoritys quarterly contribution of Shs6b billion to fix potholes but says, it is not enough.

Speaking to KFM on Thursday morning, Kisaka confirmed meeting the president last evening at State House to discuss the poor state of roads in the city.

She says the president directed the finance ministry to release the Shs6 billion for every quarter on top of the current Shs26 billion annual budget allocation the authority receives for road development and maintenance.

Yes its a drop in the ocean according to the need but when you are in red in the bank and something drops that takes you to black, you rejoice. We are glad, its not enough but we shall use it to co-correct the areas that need correction, Ms. Kisaka told KFM.

The meeting follows criticism by Ugandans who have taken to Twitter to express anger over the potholes in the city under the hashtag #KampalaPotholeExhibition where users share photos of roads with potholes.

KCCA recently revealed that it would require Shs100 billion to fix the problems on Kampala roads.
SAO PAULO, April 20 (Reuters) - Brazil's finance minister said on Thursday the country would implement a "digital tax" on shipments from e-commerce giants, after backtracking earlier this week from a decision to tax individual-to-individual shipments of up to $50.

"We will follow the example of developed nations, a digital tax," Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters. "Consumers will be exempt from any tax collection when they make the purchase, companies will collect it without passing on any additional cost."

The move comes after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked his economic team not to proceed with a previously planned ending to tax exemptions for international orders from individuals.

Haddad did not provide further details on the new proposal.

According to a source at the Finance Ministry, the proposed measure will not involve creating a new tax, but instead adopting an improved collection system. The source emphasized that the tax in question already exists and will be collected electronically prior to the shipment of goods.

"We are not going to create or increase taxes, we are just going to make easier electronic collection possible," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity since discussions are private.

International shipments made by companies are subject to the existing 60% taxation.

Haddad had already announced the government would look for administrative means and implement heightened oversight to close a loophole that Asian e-commerce giants were seen taking advantage of by dispatching orders as if they were individuals to benefit from the tax exemption.

Alibaba Group's (9988.HK) AliExpress, Sea Ltd-owned (SE.N) Shopee and Shein were seen as the main targets of the measure.

Haddad previously said AliExpress and Shopee had agreed with the tax proposal before the government reversed it. He said on Thursday that Shein was planning to nationalize 85% of its Brazil sales by implementing local production, which the company later confirmed.

In a statement, Shein said it will invest 750 million reais($148.85 million) in Brazil in the coming years as it intends to partner with 2,000 manufacturers in the country, which should generate the creation of 100,000 jobs over the next three years.
TORONTO, April 20 (Reuters) - Canadian advisors to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) expect a shift toward low-carbon technologies and government subsidies for them will spur dealmaking in mining for years to come and some are already gearing up for it.

Critical minerals including copper, nickel, lithium, and cobalt - all abundant in Canada - have a big role in the manufacturing of renewable energy systems, especially electric vehicles (EVs), making those miners prime candidates for dealmaking.

"We're very bullish on the next couple of years in mining," said Bill Vlaad, a Toronto-based recruiter who specializes in the financial services sector.

Vlaad said his team is adding a new recruiter shortly with a mining and capital markets background. Clients are hiring mining people within dealmaking teams, and boutique M&A advisory firms are adding talent, mostly in mining, he said.

Canada this year expanded an investment tax credit to equipment needed by mining companies - and any other companies in the EV supply chain - to extract or process critical minerals. But companies are already scrambling to scale up.

Mining deals with any Canadian involvement hit $29.5 billion in the first few weeks of the second quarter of this year, the best quarter since the third quarter of 2007, according to data from Refinitiv.

For copper and nickel deals, it was the best quarter on record since at least 1990, the data showed.

Over the past month, Canada's copper and zinc miner Teck Resources Ltd (TECKb.TO) has rebuffed multiple bids from Glencore Plc (GLEN.L), while Canadian Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) bought a 51% stake in Chile's Caserones mine for $950 million.

This month, Canadian copper miner Hudbay Minerals Inc (HBM.TO) announced it was buying peer Copper Mountain Mining Corp (CMMC.TO) in a $439 million deal, and Grid Metals Corp. said it was acquiring additional land in southeast Manitoba, prospective land for nickel and copper.

At the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto, one of the biggest mining conferences in the world, investment bankers predicted that deal activity would kick off in companies offering assets like copper, due to the low availability of new mines in the space.

Neil Selfe, founder and CEO at INFOR Financial Group, told Reuters the firm recently shifted about 10% of junior staff away from less active sectors to support mining franchise leaders.

"As we enter what many believe will be a sustained upswing in the resource sector, we believe we are uniquely positioned to help Canadian corporates capitalize on the opportunities that present themselves," said Deep Khosla, Co-head of Canadian corporate and investment banking at Bank of America.

The bank recently hired Kelsey Scott in Calgary as head of Canadian Energy Investment Banking, promoted Garrett Healey in Toronto to oversee its metals and mining business, and promoted Felipe Rojas to complement their coverage efforts on the corporate banking side.

Bank of America ranked number two for dealmaking in Canada in the first quarter, according to data from Refinitiv.

"Whether the mining sector as a whole is going to be on a tear is something everybody is prepping for," said a banker at another Canadian lender who was not authorized to speak on the record. "Mining is one of those sectors where you really want to be prepared for the inevitable market pickup."
LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) was accused on Thursday of having "learnt nothing" from the 2008 financial crisis on the first day of a trial at London's High Court over residential mortgage-backed securities.

Loreley Financing, a special purpose vehicle set up by German bank IKB, is suing Credit Suisse over its 2007 purchase of $100 million of notes as part of a collateralised debt obligation transaction.

The Jersey-registered company said in court filings that it bought the notes because of Credit Suisse's "false and dishonest representations" about their value.

Loreley also argues the allegedly false representations were part of a "systemic fraud" by the Swiss bank in relation to the securitisation of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

Credit Suisse denies that there was any fraud in relation to its RMBS business, saying in written arguments that Loreley's case is "thoroughly implausible".

Loreley's lawsuit, which was filed in 2018, long pre-dates Credit Suisse's takeover by its rival UBS (UBSG.S) last month.

But the case underlines the legacy issues facing UBS in taking on Credit Suisse  which has suffered from high-profile risk management failures and a string of losses in recent years.

Opening the case on Thursday, Loreley's lawyer Tim Lord repeatedly referred to Credit Suisse's $5.28 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which was agreed in 2016 to settle claims it misled RMBS investors.

Lord said Credit Suisse's defence to the lawsuit suggests the bank considers its conduct as set out in a statement of facts agreed with the DOJ was "acceptable banking practice".

However, Credit Suisse argued in court filings that the settlement with the DOJ "makes no reference to dishonesty, fraud, knowing misrepresentation or anything of that kind".

Its lawyer Patrick Goodall added that, if Loreley is correct, "then it is not merely Credit Suisse which was running a wholly dishonest business  many of the allegations made against Credit Suisse were matters which were replicated across the entire industry".
LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Market jitters over the U.S. debt ceiling lifted the cost of insuring exposure to its debt to the highest level in over a decade on Thursday, while JPMorgan warned of a "non-trivial risk" of a technical default on U.S. Treasuries.

A showdown over U.S. government efforts to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for the world's largest economy has sent jitters through global financial markets. Some U.S. Treasury bill yields have hit fresh highs on fears that the deadline to raise the borrowing limit may come sooner than expected.

Spreads on U.S. five-year credit default swaps - market-based gauges of the risk of a default - widened to 50 basis points, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showed , more than double the level in January.

The cost of insuring U.S. debt against default for one year stood at over 100 basis points as of Wednesday, according to Refinitiv data. This is well above 2011 levels, when a standoff over the debt ceiling triggered the first credit downgrade of the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, yields on U.S. T-bills, the most sensitive to the debt ceiling debate, again pushed higher, with three-month T-bill yields hitting a new 22-year peak of 5.318% .

JPMorgan said in a note published late Wednesday it expected the debt ceiling to become an issue as early as May, and that the debate over both the ceiling and the federal funding bill would run "dangerously close" to final deadlines.

The bank's U.S. rates strategy team expects the Treasury could run out of available resources by mid-August.

"Signs of stress typically start in the T-bill market 2-3 months before the X-date given money market funds (MMF), which are large holders of T-bills, will begin to more actively advertise that they don't hold any bills that mature over those dates," JPMorgan said.

TAX FLOWS

Investors are closely watching the Treasury's 2022 tax filing season receipts to determine revenues. Tax collections brought total deposits into the Treasury General Account at the Federal Reserve to $283.53 billion on Tuesday, with a closing balance of $252.55 billion after withdrawals.

"Today is another big day to watch as it will capture a portion of Tuesday's deadline day tax flows, yet to be reported," Deutsche Bank said in a note on Thursday, adding that the overall total was softer than some initial assumptions.

Weaker-than-expected tax collections earlier in April indicated that the government could exhaust its ability to pay all of its obligations - the so-called "X-date" - sooner than previous August forecasts, unless the federal debt ceiling is raised, some analysts have said.

Recurring legislative standoffs over debt limits in the last decade have largely been resolved before they could ripple out into markets, but some investors worry the Republican party's narrow majority in Congress could make it harder to reach a compromise this time.

Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday unveiled a plan to raise the borrowing limit by $1.5 trillion and cut federal spending by three times that amount.

President Joe Biden has said that Congress should raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit without conditions, as it did three times under his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

"The serious beginning of the discussion to avoid a technical default is encouraging news," BMO Capital Markets Strategists said in a note.

"Our baseline cynicism leaves us skeptical of any agreement being struck before the 11th hour."
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(Kitco News) - The European Union has moved one step closer to establishing a comprehensive framework for regulating cryptocurrencies as the European Parliament has conducted its final vote on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, also known as MiCA.

The bill's passage comes after two consecutive delays and extended debates about the finer points of the bill, which looks to create a licensing regime for digital asset service providers in the EU. The bill passed with 517 voting in favor, while 38 members of parliament voted against it.

Next up, the European Council will review the bill and vote on its approval in order for MiCA to become effective regulation. Once passed, it will still take some time for the policies laid out in the bill to take effect. Provisions related to stablecoins will come into force in July 2024, while many of the other provisions wont take effect until January 2025.

To get a better understanding of how MiCA will affect the various countries of the EU, Kitco Crypto had a conversation with Albert Isola, Minister for Digital and Financial Services at HM Government of Gibraltar.

When asked what effect MiCA will have on the broader EU zone, Isola started off by highlighting the fact that the effects will not come into play overnight. In order to create effective frameworks, transitional testing will be required.

Nevertheless, introducing new crypto-specific laws will allow for greater transparency, better protection for retail investors, and, in general, a far more stable and secure market, he said. I suspect more broadly across the EU we will see an increase in economic activity.

Multiple global crypto players have already expressed interest in becoming licensed and approved to operate in the EU, he said, but the region needs to make sure that it doesnt overregulate the sector and stifle innovation.

For this reason, Gibraltar has taken a more balanced approach between the need to protect consumers and the jurisdiction with the need to innovate and inspire entrepreneurship, Isola said. Our principles-based, risk-based approach allows participants to respond quickest to the latest developments in the industry, while still providing enough oversight to ensure everything remains safe and secure.

Gibraltar has been one of the more open jurisdictions to the blockchain industry, introducing the first regulatory framework for digital ledger technology (DLT) in 2018. Due to its industry-leading effort to regulate the industry, MiCA will not necessarily affect Gibraltar directly, he said. Indirectly, a framework governing such a large market should have an impact on the industry generally when it comes into effect in late 2024.

When it comes to the creation of a global cryptocurrency regulatory framework, Isola said that MiCA is another step in that direction, and the topic is high on the G20s agenda, but this will not happen overnight either.

We all acknowledge that the creation of robust legislation does not happen in a vacuum, so collaboration will undoubtedly need to take place in appropriate forums, he said. There is a difference however in having one standard, global framework as compared to a global market having distinctly nuanced but common underlying standards. I do not believe the former is likely in the near future. When the latter will come to fruition, only time will tell.

Isola noted that the fallout from the bankruptcy of FTX has highlighted the need to establish a global regulatory framework for the blockchain industry to help minimize the associated risks. Thorough, global regulatory standards is the answer and by far the best way to restore peoples confidence in the sector in the wake of the FTX scandal.

Transitioning the conversation to another popular topic in the world of crypto  central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)  Isola said that Gibraltar has no specific plans for a CBDC at the present time.

It remains to be seen whether there is public demand for a digital alternative to cash, but we will continue to monitor this closely, he said. Cash will remain in place for the near future and any digital alternative will run in parallel.

For now, the regions government is content to track the progress of CBDC projects in neighboring jurisdictions, including the digital euro across Europe and the digital pound in the U.K., as well as the hundred-plus other CBDC projects currently in development across the globe.

In closing, Isola reiterated Gibraltars dedication to helping advance the adoption of blockchain technology on a global scale.

Gibraltar has led the way in establishing standards of market integrity following the work of the Market Integrity Working Group and the introduction of the tenth regulatory principle in April 2022, he said. Since then, the jurisdiction has maintained a long-standing record of providing innovative, reliable, and compliant regulatory support to DLT firms. Gibraltar is at the very forefront of regulatory compliance and market integrity on the global stage.
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(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are modestly up in early U.S. trading Thursday, as the precious metals market bulls have stabilized their markets after the recent selling pressure. A dip in the U.S. dollar index and in U.S. Treasury yields today are also working in favor of the metals market bulls. June gold was last up $6.00 at $2,013.30 and May silver was up $0.044 at $25.42.

Global stock markets were mixed to weaker overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward lower openings when the New York day session begins. Risk aversion is more elevated this week, which has helped to prompt selling pressure in much of the raw commodity sector, led by crude oil prices dropping to a three-week low overnight.

Said analyst Craig Erlam of OANDA: "We're now at a pivotal point in the (central bank monetary policies) tightening cycle, one made all the more difficult by the mini banking crisis last month and the ripple effects it will have on credit and the economy over the course of the rest of the year. Central banks, the Fed in particular, are now at even greater risk of overtightening just as the data may show price pressures easing considerably. The fear of that not materializing will probably drive another round of rate hikes next month, after which discussions will likely be far more balanced. It's this uncertainty that appears to be driving the most recent period of choppy trading."

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly lower. Nymex crude oil prices are lower and trading around $77.75 a barrel. Oil prices have backed off recently on demand concerns amid global economic recession worries. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 3.558%.

U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes the weekly jobless claims report, the Philadelphia Fed business survey, existing home sales, and leading economic indicators. Several Federal Reserve officials are also scheduled to speak today.

Technically, the gold futures bulls still have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a five-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart, but the bulls need to show more power soon to keep it alive. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close in June futures above solid resistance at the April high of $2,063.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the April low of $1,965.90. First resistance is seen at this week's high of $2,028.00 and then at the March high of $2,031.70. First support is seen at $2,000.00 and then at this week's low of $1,980.90. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.5

The silver bulls have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in an uptrend on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing May futures prices above solid technical resistance at $27.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $23.50. First resistance is seen at this week's high of $25.71 and then at $26.00. Next support is seen at today's low of $25.155 and then at $25.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.5.
TORONTO, April 20 (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) believes its planned takeover of First Horizon Corp (FHN.N) is unlikely to close by its slated deadline and the company is in talks about a "possible extension," TD's chief executive officer said on Thursday.

"We have opened discussions with First Horizon about a possible extension, and we will update our shareholders when we can," Bharat Masrani, Group President and CEO at the Canadian lender said at the firm's annual general meeting (AGM).

TD is awaiting regulatory approval of the $13.4 billion transaction, which was set to close on May 27, and had previously said it was in discussions with First Horizon to extend the date.

Some shareholders have been urging TD to ditch deal after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month triggered a crisis of confidence.
MOSCOW, April 20 (Reuters) - The value of Russia's exports fell 35% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, due in part to a Western price cap on some Russian oil products, Russia's central bank said on Thursday.

A fall in exports and a recovery in imports helped push the rouble this month to its weakest level in more than a year, while a drop in export tax and duty, a large chunk of which comes from oil and gas, has widened Russia's budget deficit this year and slashed its current account surplus.

"The cost of oil exports decreased both due to lower prices and because of the embargo and price ceiling by a host of countries on Russian oil and oil products," the central bank said in a report.

It said the price of Brent crude averaged $81 a barrel in the quarter, down 18% year on year.

"Russian oil prices have declined more strongly," the bank said. "The discount for Russian oil to Brent crude has widened, including because of the price ceiling."

It added, however, that a drop in oil exports to the European Union had been offset by an increase in sales to Asian countries seeking oil at a discounted price.

As the price of Russian oil has dropped below the Western price cap, large volumes are now not subject to any restrictions, the bank said.
Electronic Data Processing PLC (LON:EDP  Get Rating) was up 1,916.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as GBX 90.50 ($1.12) and last traded at GBX 90.50 ($1.12). Approximately 4,657,952 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 57,849% from the average daily volume of 8,038 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 4.49 ($0.06).

Electronic Data Processing Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 90.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 90.50.

About Electronic Data Processing

(Get Rating)

Electronic Data Processing PLC provides computer software solutions in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company provides ERP solutions for the merchanting/wholesale distribution industry, as well as e-business, application hosting, and sales intelligence solutions. It also offers hosting services, such as Software as a Service managed hosting, disaster recovery/business continuity, and online backup.

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Elementis plc (LON:ELM  Get Rating) insider Paul Waterman sold 87,641 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 118 ($1.46), for a total value of 103,416.38 ($127,974.73).

Elementis Price Performance

Shares of ELM opened at GBX 122.60 ($1.52) on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.88, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.21. Elementis plc has a fifty-two week low of GBX 85.10 ($1.05) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 130.10 ($1.61). The businesss 50-day moving average is GBX 120.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 113.93. The company has a market capitalization of 716.05 million, a P/E ratio of -1,362.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 2.10.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a GBX 144 ($1.78) price objective on shares of Elementis in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and set a GBX 170 ($2.10) price objective on shares of Elementis in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Barclays reiterated a buy rating and issued a GBX 170 ($2.10) price objective on shares of Elementis in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Elementis to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st.

About Elementis

Elementis plc operates as a specialty chemical company in the United Kingdom, North America, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal Care, Coatings, Talc, and Chromium. The Personal Care segment produces and sells rheological modifiers and compounded products for antiperspirants/deodorants, bath and soap, color cosmetics, and hair and skin care products.

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Wilmar International Limited (OTCMKTS:WLMIY  Get Rating) announced a dividend on Thursday, April 20th, investing.com reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 27th will be given a dividend of 0.7719 per share on Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 26th. This is an increase from Wilmar Internationals previous dividend of $0.39.

Wilmar International Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:WLMIY opened at $30.80 on Thursday. Wilmar International has a 52 week low of $24.13 and a 52 week high of $33.77. The stocks fifty day moving average is $30.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.45.

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Wilmar International Company Profile

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Wilmar International Ltd. is an investment holding company, which engages in the processing, merchandising, and distribution of agricultural products. It operates through the following segments: Tropical Oils; Oilseeds and Grains; Sugar; and Others. The Tropical Oils segments processes, merchandise, brands and distributes palm oil and laurics related products including oleo chemical and biodiesel.

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By Shlomo Ben-Ami



TEL AVIV  As the United States focuses on its showdown with Russia in Ukraine and its escalating competition with China, the Middle East has been left to run its affairs the way it always has: with marriages of convenience between rival powers. These are not Catholic-style "holy matrimonies," comprehensive and permanent, but coolly pragmatic deals to survive through short-term relationships that fit changing strategic conditions. If only Israel understood that.



Of course, one relatively constant factor  religion  does play an important role in determining whether countries in the region are rivals or allies. But the Sunni-Shia divide has been accorded excessive weight in assessments of the Middle East's diplomatic shifts. Geopolitical interests and regime survival always prevail over religious identities. This helps to explain why conservative Arab regimes have shown such a remarkable ability to withstand both internal upheaval  exemplified by the resounding defeat of pro-democracy forces during the Arab Spring  and external pressures.



The Gulf countries exemplify this hardheaded approach. Business-oriented and living in the shadow of predator states like Iraq and Iran, they are much more concerned with commerce and discreet security understandings than with ideology. A particularly striking display of such diplomatic pragmatism came last month, when Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Sunni world, and Shia Iran reestablished relations.



Beyond the headlines trumpeting China's role in mediating the rapprochement, the logic driving the shift is clear. For Iran  desperate to extricate itself from the economic and social crises that have fueled popular uprisings in recent months  Saudi Arabia is a much-needed lifeline. For the Saudis, the failure of America's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran  thanks, not least, to the Islamic Republic's alliance with China and Russia  and Iran's imminent emergence as a nuclear state make detente a necessity.



Saudi Arabia was most likely also motivated by the prospect of ending the war in Yemen, where it has suffered humiliating losses at the hands of the Houthis, Iran's proxies. Peace would enable the Kingdom to focus its attention on diversifying its economy away from oil and petrochemicals. As a trade-dependent economy, Saudi Arabia can thrive only in a context of peace and security.



Saudi Arabia's opening with Iran is part of a broader regional accommodation. The United Arab Emirates reestablished diplomatic relations with Iran last year, with Bahrain expected to follow suit soon. Turkey has reached out to both Syria and Israel, and the Arab states seem to be allowing Syria  with its distinctly secular and nationalist Ba'ath regime  back into the fold. Last month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, long shunned as a pariah, visited the UAE, and a Saudi reconciliation with the "butcher of Damascus" is now in the offing.



Here, too, pragmatism has been the guiding principle. Different conditions call for different policies, and at a time when the US  Assad's main international nemesis  has become less assertive in the region, Syria has come to seem like a legitimate partner.



But no one should expect that the Arab League will welcome Syria back only if it pledges to reduce Iran's military deployment on its territory. A key feature of Middle Eastern marriages of convenience is that they do not entail policy changes that reflect the parties' core interests. Iran will not downgrade its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, whether it has embassies in Saudi Arabia or not.



Likewise, the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement will not change the fact that the US is the ultimate guarantor of Saudi Arabia's security. Nor does it rule out a Saudi-Israeli peace agreement. The House of Saud is always keen to diversify its strategic options.



Before a Saudi deal with Israel can happen, however, Israel will have to put its domestic political house in order, avoid escalation in the occupied territories, freeze settlement expansion, and restore its relationship with the US. More fundamentally, Israelis must comprehend what the Arabs, Turks, and Iranians already understand: pragmatic deal-making will do it a lot more good than an impossible quest for total victory.



The 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, were more a product of American pressure than diplomatic savoir faire on Israel's part. And, in the eyes of its newfound Arab partners, Israel's standing is already deteriorating, owing not only to its domestic crisis, but also to its refusal to rethink its Iran strategy.



While other Middle Eastern countries adapt to current strategic conditions, Israel remains committed to its longstanding "shadow war" against Iran, with its covert attacks, including drone strikes and cyberattacks, as well as airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria. Despite the region's recent surfeit of marriages, Israeli leaders' lack of vision and courage implies that they are unlikely to step up to the altar any time soon.





Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, is vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace and the author of "Prophets Without Honor: The 2000 Camp David Summit and the End of the Two-State Solution" (Oxford University Press, 2022). This article was distributed by the Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).




In this May 29, 2022 file photo, a large banner sits out in front of the Steuben County Courthouse to direct people toward the building so they can vote absentee. Early voting for this years primary election starts on Saturday at the Courthouse on the Public Square and St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 700 W. Maumee St., is from 8 a.m. to noon. Voting early at the courthouse on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Monday, May 1 from 8 a.m. to noon. On Election Day, Tuesday, the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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ASTRO's agency Fantagio has now responded to reports of Moonbin's passing.

Read their full statement here.

Fantagio Releases Official Statement Regarding ASTRO Moonbin's Passing

On April 20 KST, Fantagio has dropped their response to Moonbin's passing. Initially, the sudden news was first announced by the police authorities.

Fantagio firstly expressed their sadness over the unfortunate news. The agency confirmed the details released by the Seoul Gangnam Police Station and extended their condolences to everyone who were affected by Moonbin's passing.

The agency also sympathized with fans who gave their unconditional support to Moonbin. Fantagio encouraged everyone to refrain from speculative and malicious reports. This is to pay respects for Moonbin's bereaved family and friends, who were greatly impacted with sorrow.

They also announced that Moonbin's funeral will be held discreetly, and will only accommodate his family, close friends, as well as his colleagues in the agency.

Read their full statement below:

"Greetings. This is Fantagio. First of all, we would like to apologize for this heartbreaking news. On April 19, our artist Moonbin of ASTRO has suddenly passed away, and has now become a star in the sky. His fellow artists here at Fantagio are also mourning with his departure with sorrow. Although the grief cannot be compared to Moonbin's bereaved family, who were affected by his passing. This shocking news is even more painful to announce to fans, who gave their unwavering support and love to Moonbin. We are overly aware of how much the late Moonbin gave his love to AROHAs, making the news even more overwhelming to bear. We would like to encourage you to avoid speculative or malicious reports about Moonbin's departure. This is to pay respects to Moonbin's grieving family, who were incredibly shaken by this unfortunate news. Moonbin's funeral will be conducted as quietly as possible, with the attendance of his dear family, friends, and agency colleagues. Once again, we express our deepest condolences to the deceased, who now walked on his final journey."

ASTRO Moonbin Passes Away, Police Releases Statement

[Trigger Warning: Possible mention of suicide]

On April 19, KST, reports of Moonbin having passed away quickly circulated online, getting the attention of the K-pop community.

The claims were made by the Seoul Gangnam Police Station, who announced that Moonbin was found dead by his manager at his residence on Gangnam district. The manager found Moonbin at approximately 8:10 p.m., and called the police immediately.

In their claims, the police also mentioned that Moonbin appeared to have taken his own life. According to sources, talks of an autopsy were being established to determine the exact cause of death. Additionally, Moonbin was originally scheduled to perform at the Dream Concert, prior to his sudden passing.

"It appears that Moonbin took his own life. We are now currently discussing plans to hold an autopsy, in order to determine the exact cause of death."

We offer our condolences to Moonbin's family and friends during this sorrowful time. May Moonbin rest in peace.

Read KpopStarz for more K-pop news.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: ASTRO Moon Bin Makes Hearts Warm After Seeing THIS Small Detail on His Phone

KpopStarz owns this article

Written by Riely Miller




The emergency motion was filed in the early morning hours of Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where he previously filed a motion for reconsideration of said Court's decision to dismiss a precautionary measure filed by Toledo with the same purpose.





In the document, Toledo's defense states that the Court has not yet resolved the plaintiff's motion for reconsideration, so it requests that it stay his detention and extradition until an opinion is made on the matter.





Contradictory stance

This requests contrasts with earlier statements by Toledo's attorney, Roberto Su, who affirmed the ex-president would surrender to U.S. authorities on Friday.

In an interview with Exitosa, the lawyer said that Peru Posible party's leader would arrive in four or five days the length of time that the extradition proceedings may take to complete.

Furthermore, he questioned the fact that Justice Minister Jose Tello has referred to him as a delinquent, noting that this shows his bias.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Thomas S. Hixson, ordered former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo to turn himself in to U.S. Marshal agents on Friday, April 21, 2023, at 9 a.m. (11 a.m. Peruvian time) to proceed with his extradition to Peru.

The order came after the United States Department of Justice requested to issue a new arrest warrant for the ex-president, in order to continue with the extradition.

Likewise, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Toledo's latest motion to stop his extradition back to Peru

During a virtual court hearing held on Wednesday afternoon, the ex-president's defense stated that no additional appeals would be filed so as to avoid delaying the execution of the extradition.

Alejandro Toledo who resides in the U.S. is being investigated by the Peruvian justice for having allegedly received a bribe worth nearly US$32 million from the Brazilian Odebrecht company to favor it in the bidding for the Interoceanic Highway, while he was President of the Republic (2001-2006).

(END) FGM/CVC/RMB

After a U.S. judge ordered Alejandro Toledo to surrender to the Marshal on Friday, April 21 , Peru's ex-President filed a motion to stay his detention in the United States and extradition to Peru.Published: 4/20/2023
Moreover, Su stated that the former President will be in Peru in four or five days, in compliance with the extradition request.

According to his lawyer, after his surrender, it will be left to Peruvian authorizes to handle the proceedings and corresponding coordination with U.S. authorities to finalize the extradition.

"After that comes the proceedings by Peruvian authorities, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interpol, the International Cooperation Office of the Public Ministry, which seek the extradition at the request of the Court. They have to coordinate directly with U.S. authorities," he told TV Peru.





Su said that he does not know if Toledo will be taken to Washington D.C., the capital of the United Sates, before bringing him back to Peru.





However, he affirmed that once he has turned himself in to U.S. authorities, a quick process will be completed so that he can be in Peru in four or five days.





"I understand that the process must be quick. It should take four or five days," he stated.




New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has alleged that industrialist Gautam Adani tried to "get to me" and some other people through his "wheeler dealers" and criticised NCP leader Sharad Pawar for meeting the Gujarat-based businessman.

No politician should engage with Adani till government takes on charges levelled against him, she said.

Also Read | Delhi Rains: Light Rain Brings Respite to National Capital Amid Heatwave Conditions (Watch Video).

Without taking Pawar's name, Moitra said she hoped the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar puts the country first and not his old relationships.

"Adani tried utmost to get to me & few others through his friends/ wheeler dealers. He couldn't even find the door, let alone get past it. I have nothing to discuss on 1:1 basis with Adani. I firmly believe till govt takes action no politician should engage with this man," she said in a tweet.

Also Read | Jiah Khan's Suicide Case: Special CBI Court to Pass Judgment on Actress' Litigation on April 28.

Moitra, who has been one of the the harshest critics of the Adani group, also tweaked a Hindi idiom to sharpen her attack -- "Adani hamaam mein to saare hi nange hai", which roughly means everyone being in the same boat as far as Adani is concerned.

"I have no fear in taking on Great Marathas. Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships.

"And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest," she said.

Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday morning at the politician's residence, Silver Oak, in South Mumbai.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Guwahati, April 20: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh government will be signed on Thursday (April 20) to resolve the long pending border dispute between both states in New Delhi in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The Assam cabinet on Wednesday approved the recommendations given by 12 Regional Committees formed by the state government to resolve the decades-long border dispute issue with Arunachal Pradesh.

The decision was taken during the state cabinet meeting held in Guwahati under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma. Announcing the cabinet decisions, Assam Minister Ashok Singhal said that the long pending border dispute issue between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is going to resolve. Villagers Assault Four People on Suspicion of Practising Witchcraft in Assam's Sonitpur, 8 Arrested.

The state cabinet also approved an investment of Rs 8201.29 crore for 8 mega projects in the state and the MoUs will be signed on May 9.

Around 6,100 people will be benefited from direct employment under these projects.

The state cabinet also approved providing a monthly pension of Rs 15,000 each to 301 Loktantra Senani of the 1975 Emergency. On the other hand, the state cabinet approved a joint venture company of Oil India Limited and Assam Gas Company (51 per cent share) for city gas service.

Earlier in March 2022, Assam and Meghalaya governments had signed a historic agreement here in the national capital to resolve their 50-year-old pending border dispute. Assam to Pay Monthly Pension to People Jailed During Emergency.

The agreement was signed between Assam and Meghalaya two months after a draft resolution was submitted by the chief ministers of the two states to Amit Shah on January 31 for examination and consideration by the MHA. The governments of Assam and Meghalaya had come up with a draft resolution to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 "areas of difference" along the boundary.

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Prayagraj, April 20: The Judicial committee constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government visited Prayagraj on Thursday while the Special Investigation Team recreated the crime scene where gangsters Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on April 15 while being taken to a hospital for medical checkup.

After the killing of the gangsters in police custody, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a judicial probe into the incident. Three-member judicial enquiry committee pertaining to the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother will give a report to the UP government in two months. The committee will be headed by Retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi of Allahabad HC, including retired IPC officer Subesh Kumar Singh and Retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni. Atiq Ahmed Shot Dead on Camera Video: Visuals From The Spot Where Mafia-Turned-Politician and His Brother Ashraf Were Shot Dead Surface (Graphic Warning)!

Days after Atiq Ahmed's son Asad was killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi, the mafia-turned-politician and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were killed on April 15 night while being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj. Three assailants posing as mediapersons had shot both dead from point-blank range while the gangsters were speaking to the media. Umesh Pal Murder Case: Atiq Ahmed, His Brother Ashraf Sent to Four-Day Police Custody by Prayagraj CJM Court.

Earlier today, three friends of Lovelesh Tiwari, the main accused in the sensational killing of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed, were detained by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Uttar Pradesh's Banda.

"The trio were caught at Banda railway station," officials said. The SIT team has also reached Hamirpur and Kasganj to conduct the further probe, they added. Uttar Pradesh Police conducted raids in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of Atiq Ahmed, in Kaushambi on Wednesday.

"Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding. The operation lasted for about 2 hours. A drone camera was also used in operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today," Samar Bahadur, ASP, Kaushambi told ANI.

Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader's murder, in February this year. As many as three people were arrested and identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lovelesh Tiwari.

All three attackers were apprehended at the scene after they voluntarily turned themselves in. They have been kept in the custody of the police and questioned. A CJM court in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on Wednesday remanded gangster Atiq Ahmed's killers to four-day police custody.

This comes after the Special Investigation Team filed an application in the court seeking remand for questioning for all three accused. The district court sent them to 14-day judicial custody on April 16.

During the police remand, the police will question the accused about the weapon they used to kill Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 night, where did they get the weapon from and who gave it to them.

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Bengaluru (Karnataka), April 20 (ANI): Several senior leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Congress leader Siddaramaiah filed their nomination papers for the Karnataka assembly polls on Wednesday as the political parties exchanged barbs in the electoral heat in the southern state.

Congress attacked BJP over its chief JP Nadda's remarks urging people for support so that the state is not "devoid of blessings" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Nadda, who addressed a public meeting before Bommai filed his nomination papers from Shiggaon, sought people's support for the constant growth of Karnataka and said Congress means "commission, corruption and criminalisation".

"I urge you all to make the 'Lotus' win, make the BJP win! Karnataka should not be devoid of Modiji's blessings and it should never remain behind in the race towards development. This, you all must ensure by choosing 'Lotus'," Nadda said.

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Congress attacked Nadda and alleged that he has threatened to withhold constitutional rights from the people of Karnataka if they do not vote for BJP.

The party alleged it was an attack on democracy.

"BJP President JP Nadda threatens to withhold constitutional rights from the people of Karnataka if they don't vote for the corrupt 40 per cent BJP govt. This is a blatant attack on democracy and shows how the BJP plans to treat the Kannadigas. We are not subjects of a Raja but citizens of a federal country governed by the constitution," Congress said in a tweet.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Nadda had "threatened" people of Karnataka and said that Congress will form the government in the state with the support of the people.

Nadda and Bommai also held a roadshow. People thronged the roads and waved BJP's flags. Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep and BJP leaders were present during the roadshow.

Bommai said that there is a huge support for the party and the people of the state are with them.

Congress on Wednesday released its fifth list of candidates for the Karnataka polls, fielding Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan against Basavaraj Bommai from the Shiggaon Assembly constituency. The party changed its candidate for the seat. Earlier, it had fielded Mohammed Yousuf Savanur from the seat.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah filed his nomination from the Varuna assembly constituency.

"Congress is a secular party. We are not seeking votes on the basis of caste. We are hopeful of garnering vote from across communities, including Linagayts, Vokkaligas and others," Siddaramaiah told reporters.

Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the upcoming elections will be his last and he will retire from politics.

"I am contesting from Varuna assembly constituency as my native village comes under this constituency. This is going to be my last election. I will retire from electoral politics," Siddaramaiah had told ANI.

The last date for filing nominations is April 20.

Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who resigned from the BJP over the denial of the ticket and joined Congress, also filed his nomination from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central Assembly constituency.

Shettar is the second senior leader from the Lingayat community to leave the ruling BJP and join Congress in less than a week. Earlier, former Karnataka deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, also a Lingayat leader, joined the Congress after being denied a ticket by the saffron party.

Shettar is pitted against BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai in the May 10 polls.

Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday exuded confidence that his son Vijayendra, who is contesting from Shikaripura, will register a win with a margin of nearly 50,000 votes.

"Vijayendra will win with a margin of 50,000 votes. And everyone insisted that he should contest from Shikaripura because I'm not contesting. So now he is going to get complete support from almost every community," Yediyurappa told ANI.

"Long back, I took the decision not to contest in the election. And wherever I go, people give me the same respect as they us to give me when I was the Chief Minister and my people are happy with my decision," he added.

He said that the party will retain power in the state as it has worked for the people of the state.

"Because of our development work in Karnataka, I have no doubt that we are going to get absolute majority and we are going to form the government, nobody can stop it," he asserted.

Janata Dal-Secular released its third list of 59 candidates for Karnataka polls.The party announced support to Congress candidate Darshan Dhruvanarayan in Nanjanagudu constituency. Ayanur Manjunath, who resigned from BJP, to contest from Shivamogga central constituency.

Raghu Achar, who joined JD(S) after quitting the Congress party, will contest from Chitradurga.

The BJP and Congress released their list of star campaigners for the polls.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP list includes Union Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

The Congress also released its list of star campaigners which includes party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party leaders Jairam Ramesh, DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, Shashi Tharoor, Jagadish Shettar, KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Three party chief ministers - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are in the list. It does not have name of former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. Dictator Aliyev once again threatened and insulted the Armenian people and the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia in an interview given to Azerbaijani television yesterday, the former State Minister of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan said in a statement.

Dictator Aliyev once again threatened and insulted the Armenian people and the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia in an interview given to Azerbaijani television yesterday. His continuation of the policy of ethnic cleansing forces us to be more persistent, and it is the responsibility of the international community to take practical measures to fulfill their duty to protect.

Quote from Aliyev: Armenians living in Karabakh should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or find another place to live. There is complete freedom here, and all democratic fundamentals are offered. This issue should be resolved on the basis of human rights.

Answer: Is that solution based on the same democratic principles and human rights that genocidal acts were carried out against the Armenians of Azerbaijan and Artsakh, that now not a single Armenian is left in Azerbaijan, and on the same principles, all Armenians under the control of Azerbaijan throughout the conflict were either brutally killed or tortured and humiliated? On the same "democratic principles" are Armenians displayed at the "Strategist's Grove" museum for the "education" of Azerbaijani children, and on the same principles, a sleeping Armenian is beheaded by an Azerbaijani axe-wielder who has become a national hero? Is it on the same principles and human rights that Azerbaijani society is fed with fascist hatred against Armenians and distracted from internal problems, and judged by the same principles, Azerbaijan is considered one of the most dictatorial countries in the world? Or, did you mean other human rights, Your Excellency, Mr. best human rights defender, democrat, and pacifist?

The indigenous Armenian people of Artsakh made their decision a long time ago. Being annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan against their will, the people of Artsakh in 1988 and 1991 chose self-determination and freedom. We, the people of Artsakh, have no other place to live than our homeland, and we want to hold citizenship of no other country except the Republic of Artsakh. This is our choice based on the fundamental norms of international law. It's worth reminding that the threat of expelling people from their own homeland is a policy of ethnic cleansing, for which those responsible will one day stand before the international court.

Quote from Aliyev: The separatists who invented fake names for themselves (one calls himself president, minister, head of parliament), that group of clowns must finally understand that they will not play with our patience. We tried to explain to them many times in different ways that they should either follow our words or leave. The Armenians who live there, who are in fact their captives and hostages, should be left alone. I am sure that most of the Armenian population currently living in Karabakh is ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. Only those leeches, those predatory animals don't let these people live in peace, they have kept them as captives for 30 years.

Answer: Not stooping to the level of dictator Aliyev and not using offensive labels in public speech, I would advise him to look in the mirror and ask himself questions before labeling: who is preventing Armenians from living in peace, who is draining the blood not only of Armenians but also of his own people, who is holding the people of Artsakh as prisoners and hostages for at least the last 130 days, who is keeping prisoners of war as hostages for years, who was truly elected in democratic elections, and who inherited power through multiple violations and repressions of the norms of his own constitution. He should also question who is playing bloody and corrupt performances of human rights and democracy, not only in front of his own people but also in front of the world

The people of Artsakh have repeatedly demonstrated their desire for independence and freedom through free referendums, elections, and rallies. They have unanimously declared that they do not see any future under Azerbaijani rule. Our choice and will are irreversible because we have the right and determination to decide our own destiny in our own homeland, without encroaching upon anyone else's territory.

Quote from Aliyev: No one can influence our will. We proved it during the war and after the war. If the need comes, we will prove it once again in every way.

Answer: This statement amounts to yet another threat of the use of force, and I would even argue that it constitutes a threat of committing a crime against humanity, as he explicitly mentions the use of "any way" of force. It is particularly concerning coming from someone who professes readiness for peace and espouses human rights and other such values.

Quote from Aliyev: Let them (the people of Armenia) think carefully; one day, they may open their eyes and see the flag of Azerbaijan above their heads.

Answer: This is also a clear threat against the people and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, even regarding the occupation of Yerevan. And after all this, who can believe such a dictator who "wants" peace and "has" no ambitions for other countries and peoples?

Quote from Aliyev: First, for the fact that they won that great victory in Armenia, an enemy state, both Azerbaijans and Turkey's eternal enemy, they raised the Turkish flag.

Answer: In the end, this dictator openly reiterates and acknowledges that he considers Armenia to be an 'eternal enemy' whom he seeks to humiliate and destroy. Despite years of state policies rooted in Armenian hatred, threats, and crimes, he continues to play the victim. It is clear that peace and stability in the region cannot be achieved with such a fascist approach. The only viable solution is to apply practical internal and external measures to deter the dictator Aliyev and prevent further crimes against the Armenian people and humanity, Beglaryan said.
New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): Taking firm action against the private schools over expensive books and uniforms, the Delhi government has sent show-cause notices to 12 schools, and also initiated an enquiry against six other schools, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

The "immediate action" has been taken based on parents' complaints, the Delhi government said in the statement.

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Delhi Education Minister Atishi also said that "unsatisfactory responses" from the schools will lead to strict action against them.

"Following complaints from parents, show cause notices were sent to private schools for charging exorbitantly high for books and uniforms. Strict action under the Delhi School Education Act 1973 to be taken against schools violating the guidelines of the Education Department on books and uniforms. Unsatisfactory response from schools on the issue will lead to strict action against them," Atishi said.

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Earlier on April 7, the AAP Minister had taken cognizance of the issue of private schools compelling parents to buy expensive books and uniforms from specific vendors and directed the Education Department to take strict action against these schools.

"Violation of Education Department guidelines on books and school uniforms by private schools will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against such schools," Atishi had said in a statement.

The Education Department had issued strict instructions to schools on March 17 to comply with the guidelines on the sale of books and school uniforms. It states that immediate notice must be issued stating the reasons in case of any complaint. In case of violation, action will be taken under the relevant provisions of the DSE Act 1973.

It is to be noted that the guidelines of the Education Department state that private schools must display a class-wise list of books and other study materials on their website before the beginning of the new academic session to inform parents. Additionally, schools must also display at least five nearby shops' addresses and phone numbers on their websites where parents can purchase books and school uniforms. Parents have the freedom to buy these items from any store as per their convenience, and the school cannot compel them to purchase from a particular vendor.

The guidelines also state that private schools cannot change the colour, design, or other specifications of school uniforms for at least three years. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Ganderbal (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 20 (ANI): A landslide occurred near Jammu and Kashmir's Rezin, Ganderbal district on Thursday which led to blockage of the Srinagar-Sonamarg road, the officials said.

According to the police, no loss of life or damage to property has been reported in the incident so far.

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Meanwhile, Kangan Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), with Tehsildar Gund and the Police team from Gund police station have reached the spot.

Traffic has been diverted via Zirpora Road and roads will be cleared with the help of Beacon authorities, the police informed.

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More details are awaited.

On Wednesday, a landslide occurred near Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam which led to the blocking of a road, district officials informed.

No casualties have been reported in the incident.

"A landslide was caused by torrential rain which led to the blocking of the road between Pahalgam and Chandanwari road which was later cleared by District administration Anantnag and Municipal council Pahalgam," an official said.

District authorities further informed that traffic has been restored on the route. (ANI)

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Bengaluru, Apr 20 (PTI) The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday dismissed the petition by state Congress president D K Shivakumar challenging the sanction given by the State Government to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for prosecuting him.

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Following a request by the central agency, the State Government had given the sanction on September 25, 2019, based on which it had filed an FIR against him on October 3, 2020.

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Shivakumar had challenged both the sanction and the FIR in two separate petitions before the High Court.

The court had earlier this week reserved its judgment on the petition challenging the sanction.

On Wednesday, it had adjourned the hearing of the other petition challenging the FIR to May 30. On Thursday evening, the single-judge bench of Justice K Natarajan dismissed the petition challenging the sanction.

The Income Tax Department had conducted a search and seizure operation in the offices and residence of Shivakumar in 2017. Based on it, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) started its own probe against Shivakumar. Following the ED investigation, the CBI sought sanction from the State Government to file an FIR against him.

Shivakumar had challenged the sanction on grounds that this was a politically motivated FIR, and three earlier FIRs have already been filed against him in relation to disproportionate income.

Since he was an MLA, the permission of the Speaker of the Assembly had to be obtained which was not done in this case. The Government had also not mentioned the reasons for granting the sanction.

The CBI had objected to the petition stating that the accused cannot demand which agency should conduct investigation against him.

It argued that since the CBI was enacted under a special act, there was no need to mention the reasons to grant sanction for prosecution.

It was claimed that 90 per cent of the investigation was complete. The CBI had also submitted a status report on the investigation to the court. Since it was a special case related to disproportionate income the petition was sought to be dismissed.

Shivakumar has been charged under Section 13(2), Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

While the High Court dictated the dismissal of Shivakumar's petition on Thursday evening, the copy of the judgment is awaited.

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Belagavi (K'taka), Apr 20 (PTI) The BJP sought to fend off criticism of its treatment of Lingayat leaders as party national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh on Thursday said only a leader from the community will become Chief Minister in the state and revealed that it is a "universal truth" in the party.

His categorical statement came a day after Lingayat leaders of the BJP raised the pitch with a campaign to name a leader from the community for the CM post in the poll-bound state to counter the Congress' narrative of branding the ruling party as "anti-Lingayat".

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The politically-influential Lingayat community comprises about 17 per cent of Karnataka's population, mostly in northern parts of the state that the BJP counts as its strong vote base.

Senior Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi quit the BJP over denial of ticket to contest in the May 10 Assembly elections and joined the Congress.

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The ruling party has been on damage-control mode since then with the Congress accusing it of doing "injustice" to Lingayats and going against the interests of the community with just a few weeks to go for polling.

Lingayat leaders from the BJP met at the residence of party strongman and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday evening, where there were suggestions for countering the Congress narrative by projecting a Lingayat face as the next CM in the event of the party retaining power.

On Thursday, Singh hit out at the Congress for creating a narrative that the BJP did injustice to the Lingayats following the exit of Shettar and Savadi, saying that the opposition party has no other issue left with it.

"Congress does not have any other issue. They are saying that we did injustice to Lingayat. How is it possible? Lingayats are the ones contesting the election. In Hubballi also, a Banajiga Lingayat party worker is contesting the election," Singh told reporters in Belagavi, referring to BJP candidate from Hubli-Dharwad Central seat Mahesh Tenginkai.

There was no injustice to anyone as the entire Lingayat community is with the BJP, he asserted.

To a question whether a Lingayat will become CM, the party state in-charge said: "It is known to everyone. It is a universal truth in the BJP who will be the chief minister."

When asked if his statement meant that only a Lingayat will become chief minister if BJP wins in Karnataka, Singh said: "It is. Just see."

In the last 50 years, the BJP leader said the Congress had only one chief minister in the state coming from the Lingayat community (former CM Veerendra Patil) and that too only for nine months.

(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 20 (ANI): In wake of the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases across the country, Dr PK Mishra, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday to assess the situation.

The PMO informed in a statement that the focus of the meeting was on the status of preparedness of health infrastructure and logistics, drugs, vaccination campaign in the country and the key necessary steps as a response to the recent surge in Covid cases.

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"Dr PK Mishra stressed that the time tested 5-fold strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and adherence COVID Appropriate Behaviour must continue to be implemented and equally crucial to promote awareness within the community regarding COVID appropriate behaviour and caution citizens against complacency," the PMO statement read.

During the meeting, a comprehensive presentation was made by Rajesh Bhushan, the Secretary of Health and Family Welfare providing an overview of the global COVID-19 situation.

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Bhushan highlighted that India has been witnessing a rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases with the majority of cases being reported in eight states; Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. Further, the sudden increase in positivity was also highlighted along with the status of tests being conducted in the country. A detailed analysis of active cases within these eight states was presented. It was highlighted that approximately 92 per cent of the cases are under home isolation.

The presentation also provided an overview of the Genome Sequencing of different variants since January 2023 and noted the proportion of circulating variants in India. The status of vaccination was discussed, followed by drug availability and infrastructure preparedness across the country, the PMO stated.

As per directions of the Prime Minister, a nationwide mock drill for the assessment of functional infrastructure was conducted and the status of the mock drill was presented to participants. Further, the expenditure of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and budget provisions for drugs and vaccine raw materials were also reviewed.

Health Secretary also informed that states have already been advised that they may take steps for procurement of requisite Covid vaccine doses directly from the manufacturers at their end without any prior approvals from the Union Ministry of Health. Private Hospitals situated in the States may also directly procure such Vaccines from the manufacturer These vaccines once procured may be administered as per the existing Covid vaccination guidelines.

After the detailed presentation, Dr PK Mishra highlighted that for managing localized surges it is essential that sufficient health infrastructure should be available at the sub-district level and the same may be ensured in consultation with States. He further exhorted that the advisories for guiding States should be assessed based on evolving scenarios and updated accordingly, as the PMO further stated.

Further, the attendees deliberated that it is critical to focus on the identification of emerging hotspots and States should monitor trends of ILI/SARI cases, send sufficient samples for testing of Covid-19, and ramp up of Whole Genome Sequencing.

"The meeting was attended by Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary; Dr Vinod Paul, Member NITI Aayog; TV Somanathan, Finance Secretary; Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, S Aparna, Secretary Pharmaceuticals; Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Civil Aviation; Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH; Rajiv Bahl, Secretary DHR and DG ICMR; Rajesh S Gokhale, Secretary Biotechnology and Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Information and Broadcasting," the PMO added.

He also advised the officials to maintain a strict vigil on the COVID-19 situation and take necessary actions to contain the COVID-19 spread. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan's plea on Friday, challenging the Allahabad High Court order which rejected his plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a matter related to a protest case.

Abdullah Azam Khan's lawyer mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who agreed to list it on Friday.

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Abdullah Azam Khan's lawyer seeks an urgent hearing on the plea in view of the bye-election.

Recently the Allahabad high court refused to stay the conviction of Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan in connection with a 2008 protest case, which led to his disqualification as an MLA from the Uttar Pradesh assembly.

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Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, who is the son of the Senior SP leader Azam Khan, has moved the top court against Allahabad HC's order

The Supreme Court had earlier requested the Allahabad High Court to decide at the earliest Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan's plea seeking a stay of his conviction in a matter related to the protest.

Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan claimed that he was a juvenile as of the date of the incident, and has challenged the Allahabad High Court order dated March 17.

Mohd Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from UP Legislative Assembly after he was convicted and sentenced to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case. Abdulla Azam Khan was representing Suar in Rampur district in the Assembly.

Abdullah Azam Khan, and his father, were convicted by a local court in Uttra Pradesh of allegedly using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a matter pertaining to a dharna on a state highway in January 2008.

Abdullah Azam Khan moved Allahabad High Court against a trial court order seeking suspension of his sentence.

In the plea, Abdullah Khan apprised the court that on March 17, the High Court of Allahabad after perusing the application preferred by the Petitioner granted the respondent state a time period of 3 weeks to file a counter affidavit, however, failed to appreciate the fact that if the application is not decided expeditiously then the same would be rendered infructuous and the Petitioner would suffer irreparable harm.

On February 13, Trial Court convicted Abdullah Azam Khan for offences punishable under Section 353, 341 IPC and 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932, and sentenced him to undergo two years of simple imprisonment.

Subsequent to the order of the Trial Court on February 13, 2023, convicted the petitioner, the Assembly Secretariat, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on February 15, 2023, notified that the Constituency seat of Suar, district Rampur of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly has become vacant.

The petitioner appealed to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Rampur against the order of the Trial Court and also filed an application for a stay of conviction and sentence.

However, the Sessions Court dismissed the said application on February 28. Thereafter, the Petitioner approached the High Court against the order.

The Petitioner said that he believes that during the pendency of the application before the High Court, a by-election to the Rampur Constituency would be announced.

The Petitioner said he is concerned that if such an announcement is made and thereafter, the High Court passes a stay order the same would be rendered moot due to the announcement of the by-elections. (ANI)

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New Delhi, April 20: A teenager was stabbed to death allegedly by his former girlfriend's brother and her lover in northeast Delhi's Shastri Park area, police said on Thursday. The girl's brother Sahil (20) and her lover Yamin (18) have been arrested for killing the 16-year-old boy who was recently released from observation home, they said.

Police said the girl was in a relationship with the teenager earlier but after he went to an observation home in a case of theft, she developed feelings for Yamin. When the teenager was released, he found out that the girl no longer felt the same way about him which enraged the boy. He then began to threaten Yamin and the girl. The girl's brother, Sahil also disapproved of the teenager. Delhi Shocker: 16-Year-Old Boy Recently Released From Juvenile Correction Home Stabbed to Death on Highway.

According to police, the matter came to light on Wednesday morning when police found the body of the teenager with stab wounds near 2nd Pushta Road in the Khadar area, close to Saharanpur Expressway. The body had stab wounds on the chest, neck and head. His mobile phone was also found to be missing. During the inquiry, it emerged that the teenager was last seen by his mother at about 10 pm on Tuesday when he left home after dinner to meet some friends, they added. Delhi Shocker: Autorickshaw Driver Stabbed to Death by Two Passengers in Dwarka Area, Investigation Underway.

It was learnt that the teenager was a child in conflict with the law. He had spent four months in a government observation home in Noida and had been released on March 5, 2023, a senior police officer said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey said during the investigation, it was found that the teenager lived on the 3rd floor of the building in rented accommodation.

Local enquiry revealed that he was close to a girl who lived on the ground floor of the same building. It was found that her brother, Sahil had been against the relationship and had frequent attrition with the teenager over this. It was also learnt that while the teenager was locked up in the observation home for four months, the girl had come close to another boy named Yamin, he said.

Call Details Record analysis showed that Yamin had made a call to the teenager on the night of the incident. Thereafter, the teenager had left his house after telling his mother that he was going out to meet some friends, he added. "The police team laid a trap and managed to apprehend Sahil and Yamin near Jama Masjid and during interrogation, both broke down and admitted to have killed the teenager," the DCP said.

"On Tuesday, at about 9.46 pm, Yamin called the teenager and suggested that they go for a walk. Sahil was also present with Yamin. They walked down from the 2nd Pushta Road. Both Yamin and Sahil went down the road towards the Khadar. The teenager followed them unsuspectingly. "In the dark, they pounced upon him. Sahil held him down, while Yamin attacked him with a knife and fled the spot. Later, they disposed off the knife near Jafarabad. The weapon of offence is to be recovered. The girl is absconding and she needs to be examined in this case. Mobile phone of the teenager is to be recovered," the officer added.

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Chennai, Apr 20 (PTI) The State government had ensured adequate police protection when violence broke out at the AIADMK headquarters on July 11 last year owing to infighting in the party, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.

Denying opposition AIADMK's charge of alleged police inaction, the Chief Minister said -- amidst ruckus during a debate in the Assembly over the violence at AIADMK HQ -- that police were deployed outside the party office. About 16 persons were arrested in connection with the violent incidents, he said.

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Initiating a debate during the demand for grants for the home department, a portfolio held by the chief minister, AIADMK member Pollachi V Jayaraman alleged that police had been a mute spectator when a group vandalised the party office.

Violence had broken out outside the AIADMK headquarters coinciding with the expulsion of former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his followers from the party at a general council meeting held on July 11 chaired by another former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

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Intervening, Stalin sought to know the basis for making the allegation and said the police had provided adequate security.

Joining his colleague, Palaniswami, who is the Leader of the Opposition, claimed police were informed about the imminent attack but they failed to act.

Immediately, Stalin replied, "It was an internal affair of the AIADMK. What transpired inside the party is not known but outside (the party headquarters) the police provided protection."

Palaniswami persisted by saying that during a similar problem faced by the DMK in the past, the AIADMK, which was in power then, had rushed police forces to the party office.

"But (then) we did not fight like you AIADMK members did," Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, shot back.

Panneerselvam got up and remarked, "We were attacked by a group of persons. Police should thoroughly investigate and expose their identity and also those responsible for inciting the mob."

Stung by the barb fired by his erstwhile colleague, Palaniswami said, "The act of attacking the office has been recorded through CCTV cameras and people know who damaged the property inside the office.

"Had the police acted swiftly on our complaint, then violence would not have happened," he added.

Responding to a series of charges by Palaniswami, Stalin claimed Tamil Nadu had become an Eden of Peace after the DMK came to power. Despite being at the helm as chief minister, Palaniswami had failed to initiate action in the Pollachi sex scandal and even the Kodanad estate heist and murder, he said.

"It is the DMK which is taking action even in the Kodanad estate, owned by your late leader. The culprits will be brought to book soon," he said.

Also, the chief minister sought to know from Palaniswami why he had allowed the Thoothukudi anti-Sterlite protests to escalate into full-blown violence leading to the killing of 13 persons in police firing, rather than hold talks in the initial stage.

On the alleged custodial torture by the suspended Assistant Superintendent of Police Balveer Singh, the chief minister said the case had been transferred to the Crime Branch CID for investigation based on the interim report submitted by IAS official P Amudha, whom the government appointed to inquire into the allegations levelled against the ASP during his posting in Ambasamudram.

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New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the trial court proceedings against former IPS officer Amod Kanth in the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy case.

A bench of Justices KM Joseph, BV Nagarathna and Aravind Kumar quashed the proceedings against Kanth over the lack of sanction for his prosecution.

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The apex court in its order said, "...we find that the magistrate erred in the facts of this case in taking cognizance against the appellant contrary to the demands of section 197 of CrPC. On this short ground alone (of lack of sanction) the appellant (Amod Kanth) succeeded."

The top court, however, made it clear that its order will not stand in the way of the competent authority taking a decision in the matter and for granting sanction against Kanth in accordance with the law.

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The bench has now listed the matter for further hearing on April 26 for dealing with other aspects of the case including the de-sealing of the Uphaar cinema hall.

The top court on November 29, 2013, had stayed the trial court proceedings against Kanth and sought the response of the CBI on the petition of the officer.

Kanth, who has since retired, had challenged the 2010 trial court order summoning him for allowing extra seats in the Uphaar cinema hall where 59 movie-watchers died in a blaze in 1997.

The trial court had summoned the IPS officer on a plea by the victims of the fire incident and their families.

The Delhi High Court on October 3, 2013, had declined to quash the summons issued to Kanth and thereafter he approached the top court. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Retirement fund body EPFO has recorded a net addition of 13.96 lakh new subscribers in February 2023.

The provisional payroll data of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation released on Thursday highlighted that EPFO has added 13.96 lakh net members in February 2023.

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Out of 13.96 lakh members added during the month, around 7.38 lakh new members have come under the ambit of EPFO for the first time, a labour ministry statement said.

Among the newly joined members, it stated, the highest enrolment is registered in the age group of 18-21 years with 2.17 lakh members, followed by the age group of 22-25 years with 1.91 lakh members.

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The age group of 18-25 years constitutes 55.37 per cent of the total new members during the month. This indicates that the majority of the members joining the organised sector workforce of the country are first-time job seekers.

The data also highlights that approximately 10.15 lakh members re-joined EPFO membership, which rose by 8.59 per cent compared to the last year.

These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data reflects that enrolment of net female members has been 2.78 lakh in February 2023, which is around 19.93 per cent of the net member addition for the month.

Of these, 1.89 lakh female members are the new joinees. This is around 25.65 per cent addition of all the new joinees. In terms of female participation, the net female member addition and new female member addition have registered the highest proportion in the last four months. This indicates a growing trend of women's participation in the organised workforce, it stated.

State-wise payroll figures highlight that the month-on-month growing trend in net member addition is reflected in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc.

In terms of net member addition, the top 5 states are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi.

These states together constitute 58.62 per cent of net member addition during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading the chart by adding 20.90 per cent of net members, followed by Tamil Nadu with 11.92 per cent.

The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that 'Expert Services' (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc.) constitutes 41.17 per cent of total member addition during the month.

Comparing industry-wise data with that of the previous month, higher enrolments have been noticed in industries namely -- leather products, garment-making, establishments engaged in rendering courier services, fish processing and non-veg food preservation etc.

The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise. The previous data hence gets updated every month.

Since April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data, covering the period from September 2017 onwards.

In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining the EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joining as members, is taken to arrive at the net monthly payroll.

EPFO is a social security organisation responsible for providing social security benefits in the form of provident, pension and insurance funds to the organised workforce of the country covered under the provisions of the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

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YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. Not only Russia but Armenia is also ready for the deployment of a CSTO monitoring mission to its border with Azerbaijan, PM Nikol Pashinyan said.

Not only Russia is ready, Armenia is also ready. Weve outlined the circle of our concerns, and basically our desire is for the possible mission to be effective. This is important for both Armenia, the CSTO and the region. And we continue to work in this direction, he said.

Pashinyan urged to differentiate the CSTO from the EU mission when asked on the work of the EU monitors.

The CSTO has security obligations towards the Republic of Armenia, so does Armenia, which, as a member state, and Chairman in 2022, it fully implemented. The EU mission cant be placed in the same dimension as the CSTO mission. Thus, our expectations from the CSTO mission must be a lot higher than from the EU mission, Pashinyan said.

He added that the EU mission is a long-term mission, and its only been two months since its launch, and it hasnt even fully deployed yet and the process in ongoing.
Washington, Apr 21 (AP) President Joe Biden hosted Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday for talks at the White House amid deep differences on US drug policy and Venezuela but a shared desire to deepen cooperation on climate change, migration and energy policy.

The leaders, in remarks before reporters at the start of the Oval Office meeting, tried to keep the focus on areas of agreement, including strengthening their democracies and building economies less dependent on carbon sources.

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We are going down the same river, a river that leads us to ever-greater democracy and ever-greater freedom," Petro said. He added: We have a common agenda and a lot of work to do.

Biden said the countries shared a goal to build a united, equal, democratic and economically prosperous Western Hemisphere. Colombia is the key to the hemisphere," he said.

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The two even joked about their ages; Petro turned 63 on Wednesday and Biden, at 80, is the oldest US president in history. But their exchange before the cameras glossed over some of the growing differences between Washington and Bogota.

Petro has sharply criticised US-led efforts to prohibit cocaine, saying at a speech at the United Nations last year that oil consumption promoted by global powers is more deadly than cocaine and that the war on drugs has failed".

White House officials said the leaders were expected to discuss counternarcotic efforts, Venezuela, energy and other matters.

During his appearance with Biden, Petro dialled back the direct criticism of the US and leading powers for their oil dependence. The coveting of fossil fuel ... has evolved like a hurricane that is increasingly threatening our existence, Petro said.

As cocaine production in Colombia continues to rise, Petro's government has been reluctant to eradicate coca fields planted by small farmers. The Colombian president says that he prefers to chase money launderers and large-scale drug traffickers instead of stripping small farmers in isolated areas of their livelihood.

This new approach has been criticised by US officials who long have advocated for the eradication of coca fields in Colombia as part of the effort to undermine drug trafficking groups and loosen their grip on some parts of the country.

In order to broker peace deals with rebel groups, Colombia will have to lift arrest warrants against rebel leaders who are wanted in the US on drug trafficking charges. The South American nation is looking to spend millions of dollars on economic development projects in rural areas that have long been afflicted by violence and is seeking US support on that front.

Petro, who was elected last year, is in the midst of an ambitious effort to bring total peace to his nation of 50 million after six decades of conflict.

A 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group, known as FARC, reduced violence throughout much of the country. But homicides and forced displacement have increased in some isolated areas, where smaller groups began to fight over drug trafficking routes, illegal mines and other resources abandoned by FARC.

Under Petro, Colombia's policy toward Venezuela's authoritarian government has shifted. Colombia no longer backs US-led plans to isolate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and force him to resign or call for new elections.

Instead Petro's administration has engaged the Maduro, held bilateral meetings and resumed diplomatic relations.

Petro has called for sanctions on Venezuelan government companies and officials to be lifted and for talks on democratic reforms in Venezuela to resume. His government will host an international conference on Venezuela next week.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that the Biden administration "would review our sanctions policies in response to constructive steps by the Maduro regime and if the Venezuelan parties can make meaningful progress in returning to a democracy in the country.

Colombia's government and its largest remaining rebel group  the communist-inspired National Liberation Army, known as ELN  launched talks in November, shortly after Petro was elected president. Petro has called the talks with the ELN a cornerstone of his effort to resolve a conflict that dates back to the 1960s.

Some rural areas of Colombia are still under the grip of drug gangs and rebel groups despite the 2016 peace deal with the larger FARC.

Some US lawmakers have also been critical of Petro's warming relations with Maduro and President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. in a Medium post before the leftist Colombian president's visit, argued that Petro is misguided in thinking that the Venezuelan and Cuban leaders will use their influence over ELN to Colombia's favour.

Venezuelan security forces have carried out joint operations with ELN against former members of the FARC rebels on the countries' shared borders. Cuba has held talks in Havana between Colombian officials and ELN.

But it's a fool's errand, because internationally ostracized dictators have nothing to gain from increasing stability in the region, Rubio wrote.

Petro is also seeking ambitious economic and social reforms that will give the state a greater role in the economy as Colombia struggles to overcome problems such as growing rates of poverty and drug violence.

The two governments have cooperated on the migration issue.

The United States, Panama and Colombia announced last week that they will begin a 60-day campaign aimed at halting illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, where the flow of migrants has multiplied this year.

The announcement came as the Biden administration awaits the expected end of a pandemic-related rule May 11 that has suspended rights to seek asylum for many. Without that instrument of dissuasion at the US border, there is concern migrant arrivals could again become unmanageable.

Colombia has seen more than 2.4 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants cross into the country, stretching the capacity of hospitals, educational institutions and other infrastructure, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

I want to thank you for the hospitality and support Colombia continues to show to Venezuelan refugees," Biden said. "It's a humanitarian and generous thing that you're doing. (AP)

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Washington, Apr 20 (AP) President Joe Biden's nominee to be the next labour secretary, Julie Su, will testify to the Senate on Thursday with key Democrats unwilling to voice support for her confirmation, creating uncertainty about her prospects in the narrowly divided chamber.

A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su's nomination ahead of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee.

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Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the current deputy labour secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labour.

The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the first Asian American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level.

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Biden called her path proof of the American dream and that she's committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.

Su was previously confirmed as the deputy labor secretary, but has faced opposition from business groups critical of her record leading California's labour department.

They point to her support of an overturned California law that would have required app-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft, as well as trucking businesses, to treat their workers as employees, providing benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, rather than independent contractors.

Su has also faced blame for problems at the California Labour and Workforce Development Agency during the pandemic when unprecedented numbers of people applying for unemployment benefits faced long work times and the state potentially paid out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, all declined to say whether they would vote for her confirmation this week.

Democrats cannot afford to lose more than a couple votes in a Senate divided 51-49. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is also recovering from shingles in California, with no firm return date.

Manchin repeatedly declined to comment on Su's nomination this week; Tester said he would meet with her after the meeting to make sure she's still right"; Kelly said he did not have concerns about her record but added he does not preview his votes; Sinema said through a spokeswoman that she does not preview votes.

Su was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 by a 5047 vote.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she voted against Su's confirmation in 2021 because of how she had handled the unemployment compensation issues in the state of California."

Top Democrats, meanwhile, have signalled their support for Su with meetings at the Capitol this week.

At a meeting with Su on Monday, Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, pointed to her work on job growth and said, She's done a good job and I think she's got a two-year track record that is strong.

Late last year, Su was central to negotiations between labour and freight rail companies and helped avoid an economically debilitating strike. She has also led efforts to crack down on wage theft. (AP)

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Rome [Italy], April 20 (ANI/WAM): Seeds sent into space last year have returned to Earth in a new milestone for joint efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to develop resilient crops that can help provide sufficient food as the planet heats up.

Plants naturally evolve to thrive in their surroundings, but crops have been struggling to keep up with the current pace of climate change. The world is warmer and the global population is increasing, causing farmers around the world to struggle to meet food demand. To support these farmers and improve global food security, the IAEA and FAO, through their Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, sent seeds into space to explore the effects of cosmic radiation on speeding up natural, genetic adaptation of much-needed crops. Their return to Earth paves the way for scientists to start analysing the results.

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Launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, USA on 7th November 2022 and having spent around 5 months at the International Space Station (ISS), Arabidopsis and Sorghum seeds -- chosen because there is already a large bank of scientific data available for comparison -- were released from the ISS in the SpaceX CRS-27 cargo craft at 17:05 CEST on 15 April and made a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida, USA at 22:58 CEST. They will now begin their journey back to the laboratories of the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture in Seibersdorf, Austria, where they will be screened and analysed for desirable traits.

"The cosmic crops project is a very special one. This is a science that could have a real impact on people's lives in the not-too-distant future, by helping us grow stronger crops and feed more people," said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. "IAEA and FAO scientists may have already been mutating seeds for 60 years and creating thousands of stronger crops for the world to use, but this is the first time we have experimented with such an exciting field as astrobiology."

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"Now that the seeds are back on Earth, we can see the effects of cosmic radiation, microgravity and extreme temperatures and compare them with those induced in our joint laboratories. This ground-breaking experiment can help develop crops that are able to adapt to climate change and boost global food security," said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.

The seeds will undergo a phytosanitary import process which is a standard requirement for the transport of plant material across country borders to minimize the risk of introducing new pests, before final arrival at the laboratories.

Radiation in laboratories typically happens in a machine using gamma rays and X-rays, which accelerates the process of spontaneous genetic variation. Scientists work to identify positive traits in irradiated seeds and introduce that traits to future generations. In this way, plants evolve faster with desirable qualities, including resistance to disease and tolerance to drought. The wide range and heavier radiation in space combined with other extremes such as microgravity and temperature could trigger genetic changes not normally encountered with radiation sources on Earth.

"This is the first feasibility study of the FAO and IAEA to determine the effect of cosmic radiation, microgravity and extreme temperatures on plant genome and biology, towards generating sufficient genetic variation for enhanced adaptation to climate change," said Shoba Sivasankar, Section Head of Plant Breeding and Genetics at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre.

Arabidopsis, a type of cress that is easy and inexpensive to grow and produces many seeds, will be tested for tolerance to drought, salt and heat. Sorghum, a nutrient-packed cereal grain that can grow on arid lands and is resilient to changes in climate, will be tested for desirable traits for climate change resilience. Both seeds will be grown to the next generation before trait selection, and with the faster-growing Arabidopsis, depending on when they arrive in the laboratories in Seibersdorf, initial results could be available in October 2023.

In both crop species, DNA will be extracted and sequenced, to compare the changes between the seeds that were irradiated in a laboratory, those that were positioned inside the ISS, and those that were positioned outside the ISS and received full exposure to cosmic radiation, microgravity and extreme temperatures. These comparisons, together with the comparative analysis of plant biology, will help to understand whether harsh space conditions have a uniquely valuable effect on crop improvement and could potentially benefit people on Earth. (ANI/WAM)

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United Nations, Apr 20 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters here on Thursday.

Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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He is scheduled to meet the UN chief in New York on Thursday.

Jaishankar had last met Guterres at the world body's headquarters in December 2022, when India was President of the UN Security Council for the month.

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Jaishankar had presided over two signature events on counter-terrorism and reformed multilateralism held under India's Presidency of the UN Security Council, before the curtains came down on the country's two-year tenure as elected member of the powerful 15-nation Council.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in New Delhi that Jaishankar's visit to the four countries would provide an opportunity to continue high-level contacts with Latin America and the Caribbean nations and explore new areas of cooperation in a whole host of areas, particularly in the post-pandemic scenario.

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New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): India, in the last nine years, has been making big strides following Buddha teachings, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

Speaking at Global Buddhist Summit 2023 in New Delhi, Modi said that India has followed Buddha's teachings including the path of Theory, Practice and Realisation. India has progressed rapidly on all these three points.

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The Global Buddhist Summit is being held at a time when India is celebrating 75 years of her independence when India is celebrating the 'Amrit Mahotsav'.

"India is moving ahead in the 'Amrit Kaal' towards becoming a developed country. India has resolved for the welfare of not only India but also for the whole wide world," PM Modi said.

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"We can embrace happiness only if we renunciate realisations of Victory, Defeats, Fights, Wars. Lord Buddha has taught the path to overcome these. Enmity cannot vanish with enmity but with Love. Actual happiness lies in peace, in living together with peace," he said.

If we want to make the world happy, then this Buddha's mantra of inclusiveness is the only way by leaving the self, the world, and narrow thinking, he said.

Prime Minister also mentioned the Russia-Ukraine war in his speech.

"The path of Buddha is the path of the future, the path of sustainability. If the world had followed the teachings of Buddha, then even a crisis like a climate change would not have come in front of us. This crisis came about because, in the last century, some countries did not think about others, about future generations," he said.

Be it peace missions in different countries of the world or a calamity like an earthquake in Turkey... India stands with humanity in times of every crisis, with 'Mum Bhav', by putting its full potential, he said. (ANI)

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Bowdoin (ME), Apr 20 (AP) A man confessed to killing four people, including his parents, and then firing on motorists on a busy interstate highway, just days after being released from prison, police said Wednesday.

Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, called the shootings of four people at a home in Bowdoin and then three more people on Interstate 295 to the south in Yarmouth an attack on the soul of our state that shook neighbours, law enforcement and the state at large.

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It's a shock to everybody, he told reporters in Augusta. You want to naturally say, 'That can't be happening here in Maine.' But the reality is these senseless acts can and do happen everywhere.

The seven people shot in Maine were the latest victims of mass shootings in the US, whose targets included a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Sweet Sixteen party in a small city in Alabama.

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The gunman, Joseph Eaton, 34, had been released April 14 from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he was picked up by his mother after completing a sentence for aggravated assault, police said. That crime was serious enough to prevent him from possessing a gun in Maine. Over the past decade he has been charged with more than a half-dozen crimes.

The shootings began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims in Bowdoin were identified Wednesday as Joseph Eaton's parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said.

After Joseph Eaton fled the home, a chaotic scene developed on a highway over 20 miles (32 kilometers) away in Yarmouth, where shots were fired at moving vehicles, police said. Joseph Eaton later told police he was firing on cars because he thought he was being followed by law enforcement. Several vehicles were hit by gunfire but the three people injured were a family all in the same car -- Sean Halsey, 51, Justin Halsey, 29, and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey remains in critical condition, police said Wednesday.

Joseph Eaton was found in a wooded area not far from a vehicle believed to be his own, police said. He was taken to Maine Medical Center, where he was treated and released without injury, police said.

He's due to make an initial court appearance on Thursday.

Maine is a small state and has often been referred to as a single community, and I think Bowdoin epitomises that. I'm heartsick over this tragedy that occurred, and to the people and residences of this community, said Sagadahoc Sheriff Joel Merry.

The day before the shootings, an anguished man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted a roughly two-minute live video on Facebook criticising people who he said are Christian and don't give people a second chance. What good does it do to hate somebody? he said, choking back tears on the video. You know, it destroys you.

On the day he was released from prison, the man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted on Facebook that he was feeling thankful. "It's finally over. There are so many people I can't wait to see."

Moss confirmed that state police were aware of the video, and that it's part of their investigation.

Joseph Eaton, who was living in Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder but was not immediately charged in the highway shootings, she said. He was jailed while awaiting a court appearance. It was unclear if he had an attorney to speak on his behalf, a jail official said Wednesday.

Police declined to release more information about the investigation into the shootings, which they described as ongoing. They declined to speculate on a possible motive or the weapon that was used. The origins and ownership of the firearms used remain unclear.

Police declined to comment on Joseph Eaton's living arrangements after leaving prison beyond saying his parents were helping him with accommodations. Police also did not comment on whether drugs or mental illness played a role in the killings.

Meanwhile in Bowdoin, Denise Pride, 58, a neighbour, said one of the victims was famous for delivering baked goods to neighbours on holidays. They were very kind people, Pride said. The neighbours were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them.

A relative to the family shot on the highway, Ian Halsey of Bowdoinham, said that two of his cousins were shot and that his uncle suffered shrapnel injuries. None of the family knew the shooter, he said.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said of his family. It's horrible what happened." (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Smoke rises in Omdurman, near Halfaya Bridge, during clashes between the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army as seen from Khartoum North, Sudan April 15, 2023. (Photo/Reuters)

Khartoum [Sudan], April 20 (ANI): Rival forces battling in the streets of Sudan's capital declared a new 24-hour cease-fire Wednesday, a day after a similar truce attempt failed, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

The Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, announced separately that they would abide by a temporary halt in fighting beginning at 6 pm local time, or 1600 UTC.

Also Read | Anti-Trans Sports Bill: Republican-led House Passes Bill To Ban Transgender Athletes To Compete on Girls and Women's Sports Teams.

There were reports of sporadic fighting after the cease-fire went into effect, VOA reported.

Heavy fighting was reported on Wednesday around the main military headquarters in Khartoum, with military jets launching airstrikes on RSF forces attempting to take control of the complex.

Also Read | Eid Moon Sighting 2023 Live News Updates: Shawwal Crescent Not Sighted in Japan, Eid Ul Fitr on April 22; Announcement From UK, US, Canada Awaited.

Streets in the capital were empty except for fighters and people attempting to flee the city, some leaving on foot, some crowding into vehicles. Most residents have sheltered indoors to avoid the fighting, enduring a cutoff in electricity and dwindling food supplies, VOA reported.

The fighting has killed nearly 300 people in the past five days, the UN health agency said, but the toll is likely higher since many bodies have been left in the streets, unreachable because of the clashes.

World leaders have pressured General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of Sudan's military, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the Rapid Support Forces, to call a halt to the fighting. The rival forces agreed to a cease-fire Tuesday after speaking separately by phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who appealed for a truce on humanitarian grounds. The cease-fire fell apart within minutes and fighting raged throughout the day on Wednesday.

Sudan's military said four Egyptian military transport planes evacuated 177 Egyptian soldiers who were being held by the RSF. The Egyptian troops had been in Sudan to conduct joint exercises with the Sudanese military, VOA reported.

The fighting between the army and RSF broke out Saturday after months of rising tension over the country's political future and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.

Calls to end the fighting have come from around the world and within Africa, including the African Union, the Arab League and East African regional bloc IGAD, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

Sudan's two top generals, however, have yet to express a willingness to negotiate and each has demanded the other's surrender.

The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Burhan, who also heads Sudan's ruling military council, and General Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the council's deputy head. The two generals joined forces in October 2021 to overthrow the transitional government formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir, VOA reported.

The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], April 20 (ANI): The United States on Wednesday announced USD 325 million in new military aid for Ukraine in a package that is expected to include more artillery rounds and rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). This comes as Ukraine continues to burn through artillery munitions at a high rate, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

Ahead of the package's release, defence officials told VOA that the latest aid also includes TOW anti-tank guided missiles, anti-tank mines and AT-4 anti-armour weapons needed to push back Russian ground forces that have dug into occupied areas of Ukraine.

Also Read | Kagame Defends Russias Presence in Africa.

The package marks the 36th authorized presidential drawdown of military equipment from Defence Department inventories.

According to VOA, the aid comes as battle lines in Ukraine have become static, exposing the larger Russian power's weaknesses and Ukraine stubbornly defending its territory, according to a senior US official.

Also Read | Sudan Violence: UK Calls for Immediate End to Fighting, Lasting Ceasefire in African Country.

As per the head of Ukraine's ground forces, Russia was increasing its use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, even as Russia continued to sustain significant losses in the battle.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently made an appeal to the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on Wednesday and renewed his call to confiscate Russian Central Bank assets held around the world and use them to help rebuild Ukraine.

"To charge the aggressor with compensation for damages...Russia must feel the full price of its aggression," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said by video link.

At a virtual roundtable hosted by the World Bank and the IMF on Wednesday (local time), Zelensky stood and called for a moment of silence for a Ukrainian soldier who appears to have been beheaded. A gruesome video that purports to show the beheading spread quickly online and drew outrage in Ukraine, in the latest accusation of atrocities said to have been committed by Russian troops.

Also, the World Bank announced today USD 200 million in grant financing for a project that will repair Ukraine's energy infrastructure. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Riyadh, April 20: Muslims in several countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, UAE, UK, US and Canada, will try to sight the moon today, sighting of which will mark end of ongoing Ramadan month and start of Shawwal month. The moon sighting will also confirm date for Eid 2023 or Eid al-Fitr or Eid Ul Fitr festival, celebrated on first day of Shawwal month by Muslims worldwide. Ruet-e-Hilal committees or moon sighting committees are expected to make final announcements on the Shawwal moon sighting after Maghrib prayers.

A month in Islamic lunar calendar either complete 29 days or 30 days, depending on the moon sighting. On 29th day of each month, which is also called Chand Raat, Muslims try to see the moon. If the moon remain visible, the ongoing month ends and a new month commences. If the moon is not sighted, the ongoing month completes 30 days and Muslims welcome a new month after that. Eid 2023 Date in India: When Is Eid al-Fitr Moon Sighting? Know When Is Ramzan Chand Raat and Tentative Dates for Islamic Festival.

In Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Omar, Jordan, Palestine, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, UK, US and Canada, Ramadan fasting began from March 23. Therefore, for Muslims in these countries, today marks 29th of Ramadan. If the moon is sighted today, Ramadan shall end and Shawwal 1444 month commences. Eid will be celebrated on April 21. Islamic Calendar 2023: From Ramadan to Eid al-Fitr and Bakrid, List of Muslim Festivals, Events, Holidays and Their Georgian and Hijri Dates.

However, if the moon is not sighted today, Ramadan shall complete 30 days on April 21. In this case, Shawwal month will begin from April 22 and Eid will be observed on the same day. In India, Muslims in some parts of Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir will also try to see the moon this evening because they started Ramadan fasting from March 23 following the moon sighting. Muslims in the rest of India will try to see the moon tomorrow (April 21) because they started Ramadan fasting from March 24.

Do visit LatestLY to catch live news updates on the moon sighting announcements from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries around the world.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2023 08:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
On 19 April, Colombias President Gustavo Petro addressed the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, calling for a rewrite of the OAS charter.

Analysis:

Petros call for a rethink of the OAS central charter reflected his belief that the regions authoritarian governments can be brought to heel on human rights issues through engagement rather than isolation. But his speech only deepened a rift with Perus government, and may worsen relations with the Venezuelan opposition ahead of next weeks conference in Bogota aimed at reviving political dialogue in Venezuela.

Petro yesterday called for a re-write of the OAS charter, saying that we are violating the democratic pact of the Americas, instead of moving towards a broader legal charter that deepens democracy.

Im fighting for Venezuela to re-join the Inter-American human rights system, he said, adding that the OAS should also discuss [the integration of] Cuba, which was never in it. Other issues that Petro said need including in an updated version include the rights of nature and the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral land, among other things.

Venezuelas membership status in the OAS is disputed. President Nicolas Maduro s administration denounced the OAS charter in April 2017, which should trigger the countrys withdrawal from the OAS two years later. However, former opposition leader Juan Guaido , claiming to be Venezuelas legitimate president, annulled that denunciation and sent his own envoy to the OAS, Gustavo Tarre , who represented Venezuela in the regional body from 2019 until December 2022, when Guaidos interim government was dissolved.

s administration denounced the OAS charter in April 2017, which should trigger the countrys withdrawal from the OAS two years later. However, former opposition leader , claiming to be Venezuelas legitimate president, annulled that denunciation and sent his own envoy to the OAS, , who represented Venezuela in the regional body from 2019 until December 2022, when Guaidos interim government was dissolved. Petro used the impeachment and arrest of Perus former president Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) to argue that the OAS rules are being ignored by member states and that the organisations charter is no longer fit for purpose. Why dont we look at Peru, dont they have a president behind bars without a judicial sentence and without his political rights  thats to say, in contravention of the democratic charter? he said.

(2021-2022) to argue that the OAS rules are being ignored by member states and that the organisations charter is no longer fit for purpose. Why dont we look at Peru, dont they have a president behind bars without a judicial sentence and without his political rights  thats to say, in contravention of the democratic charter? he said. Perus Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi slammed Petros comments as new and unacceptable interference in Perus internal affairs. Petro, alongside Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has questioned the legitimacy of President Dina Boluartes government in Peru, resulting in the withdrawal of Perus ambassadors in Colombia and Mexico.

Looking Ahead: Petro will meet US President Joe Biden at the White House today (20 April), where he has said he will lobby for the lifting of sanctions on Venezuela.
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. The EU clearly recorded in its statement on the latest Azeri aggression in the Tegh village section that the 1991 border must be maintained, PM Nikol Pashinyan said in response to a reporters observation that the EU monitors did not give a targeted assessment regarding the attack.

I think that the EU statement, which didnt contain an assessment emotionally, but indeed contained a very clear political record that the 1991 border must be maintained. And we agree with this. This is a highly important, fundamental record and assessment. And this means that the violation of the state border of Armenia has been recorded, Pashinyan said.

On April 11, Armenian troops carrying out engineering works near the village of Tegh close to the border with Azerbaijan came under heavy gunfire in an unprovoked attack. Four Armenian soldiers were killed and six wounded.

The European Union issued a statement over the April 11 deadly Azeri attack on Armenian troops near the village of Tegh.

In a statement, the European Union External Action Service said the EU deplores the armed clashes.

Below is the full statement.

The EU deplores the armed clashes that yesterday led to several Armenian and Azerbaijani servicemen being killed or injured on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in the area of Tegh.

This incident yet again emphasises that in the absence of a delimited border, the 1991 line must be respected the forces of either side withdrawn to safe distances from this line to prevent any similar incidents from occurring.

Previous commitments must be respected, including those reached in Prague in October 2022 regarding the mutual recognition of territorial integrity in line with the 1991 Almaty Declaration. The EU also urges the intensification of negotiations on the delimitation of the border and continues to stand ready to support this process.

We renew our calls for restraint and for the settlement of all disputes by peaceful means. The EU continues to support these efforts, including at the highest level, and also through the presence of the EU Mission in Armenia.

Afterwards, PM Pashinyan said Armenia welcomes the EUs statement and is ready to withdraw its forces to a safe distance from the 1991 line, as proposed by the EU.
A SNAP benefits update will be benefiting recipients of food stamp payments. More than 42 million Americans receive the federal stipend for food, as of March.

The update refers to the new legislation that U.S. Kirsten Gillibrand proposed, with the measure expanding SNAP benefits payment in an effort to address the ongoing food insecurity in the country, according to Bronx News 12.

Gillibrand with other lawmakers introduced the Closing The Meal Gap Act, which eyes to strengthen and expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The proposed measure eyes to increase the minimum SNAP benefit, break down eligibility limits, and allow access to Puerto Rican citizens.

The Democratic lawmaker and other co-sponsors of the bill say that food security is a basic human right, putting significance to the protection of older adults, people with disabilities, and veterans.

Gillibrand went on to say if people can imagine feeding a family "on a $2.03 meal," which she said is less than the average cup of coffee.

She noted that the money that families receive through SNAP is not enough, especially since the emergency allotments of the program have expired.

Closing The Meal Gap Act

Other lawmakers pushing the "Closing The Meal Gap Act" include Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Brooker, Alex Padilla, and Elizabeth Warren, with Rep. Alma Adams.

Gillibrand's Senate press release noted that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, 35 million people experienced food insecurity.

The increasing prices of basic goods in the U.S. surpasses the SNAP benefits provided each year, as mentioned by the press release.

As a result, the lack of monetary funds place Americans in a situation wherein they need to choose between covering meal expenses or other essential costs.

The Act will allocate more funds to those with large medical and housing expenses while also increasing access to the program.

Vince Hall, Interim Chief Government Relations Officer of Feeding America, said that the group strongly supports the "Closing the Meal Gap Act." He added that it will strengthen SNAP's ability to help those in need.

Noreen Springstead, the executive director of WhyHunger, noted that protecting and expanding access to SNAP is critical for Americans facing hunger and food insecurity.

WhyHunger is a national profit organization working to end hunger.

READ NEXT: SNAP Benefits Update: Are You a Victim of SNAP Scam? There's a Chance You Could Get Your Money Back!

SNAP Benefits Payment

Households receiving SNAP benefits in 32 states, including Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands received at least $95 per month, which triggered fears among beneficiaries that they will face food insecurity or hunger.

U.S. News reported that areas in the Midwest and Mountain West are leaning towards lower rates of recipients participating in the food stamp programs, noting that Utah being the lowest participation in the country with 4.6%.

In 2022, SNAP recipients received an average of around $233 of assistance per month. it was 80% higher as compared to the 2019 figure of $130.

The increase was mainly due to the pandemic aid provided during the health crisis, including the 2018 Farm Bill that prompted changes in SNAP benefits.

States with the highest SNAP participation as of November 2022 include New Mexico, with 24.3%; Louisiana with 19.5%; West Virginia, 18.2%; Oklahoma with 17.2%; and Oregon, 17%.

READ MORE: SNAP Benefits Update: USDA Warns of Scammers Using EBT Card Skimming to Steal Your Money

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: John Fetterman Chairs Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing About SNAP Benefits And The Farm Bill - from Forbes Breaking News


The shooting of Black teen Ralph Yarl by an elderly White homeowner has sparked another debate on guns and stand-your-ground laws. Now, the suspect, Andrew Lester, 84, has pleaded not guilty.

Yarl was a 16-year-old honor student, and police say Lester shot him first in the head, and then in the arm after the teen came to his door by mistake. According to the Associated Press, he had confused the address with the home where he was supposed to pick up his younger brothers.

The teen managed to survive in what many say is a miracle, as he was shot at point-blank range. As for his shooter, Lester was charged with first-degree assault, which is a high-level crime. However, his family's lawyer, as well as civil rights groups are urging prosecutors to charge the suspect with a hate crime.

The suspect is now free again after posting $20,000 of his $200,000 bond. He also agreed to relinquish any weapons and have no contact with Yarl or his family. His cellphone will also be monitored.

According to police records, Yarl headed to the wrong house he was supposed to go to. He rang the doorbell intending to pick up his siblings but was instead shot by Lester with a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson 1888 revolver.

The suspect then told police he lives alone and was "scared to death" when he saw the boy on his porch. No words were exchanged between them, with Lester just shooting and arguing it was self-defense. He is expected to claim this argument for his legal defense and cite Missouri's "Stand Your Ground" law.

Yarl's attorney, Lee Meritt, argues that the "Stand Your Ground" law would not apply in this case. He stated that it would only be used if "someone's on your property and they're looking to do you harm .... We don't have any evidence of that. The Castle Doctrine does not apply to this case."

READ MORE: Texas Cheerleaders Shooting Suspect Arrested; 1 Critically Injured

Ralph Yarl Continues Miraculous Recovery After Shooting Incident

Ralph Yarl is continuing his process of recovery after miraculously surviving being shot in the head. His attorneys have stated that while he received a positive prognosis, he still faces a long road to recovery.

Merritt appeared in a photo alongside his young client in an Instagram post by activist and family spokesperson Shaun King, who praised the teen for being a "walking miracle" with a "head of steel."

"Had the bullet hit his head a fraction of an inch in any other direction he would probably be dead right now," wrote King in his social media post, according to CNN.

Ralph Yarl Shooting Should Not Have Happened, Says Suspect's Grandson

Daniel Ludwig, the grandson of Ralph Yarl shooting suspect Andrew Lester, spoke to The Daily Beast and admitted that the attack on the teen should not have happened.

Ludwig admitted that it was easy to get lost in the streets of the neighborhood where Yarl was shot.

"I'd go to visit my grandpa, and I would get lost on those streets," he said.

He describes himself as "very close" with Lester, though he maintains that the incident "never should have happened."

READ NEXT: Idaho Mother Accused of Killing Own Kids for Social Benefits

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Man accused of shooting Ralph Yarl pleads not guilty - CBS News
The President and First Lady released their 2022 federal income tax return. With this release, President Joe Biden has shared a total of 25 years of tax returns with the American public.

Once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people about the finances of the Commander-in-Chief, Biden has released the most tax returns of any president while in office.

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Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden filed their income tax return jointly and reported federal adjusted gross income of $579,514. They paid $169,820 in combined federal, Delaware, and Virginia income taxes. And their 2022 effective federal income tax rate is 23.8 percent.



The President and First Lady also reported contributions of $20,180 to 20 different charities. The largest gift to charity was $5,000 to the Beau Biden Foundation, a public charity dedicated to ensuring that all children are free from the threat of abuse.

They also donated to St. Joseph on the Brandywine, their home parish, to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, and the National Fraternal Order of Police Foundation, among other charities.

Specifically, Joe Biden and Jill Biden paid $137,658 in federal income tax. They also released their Delaware income tax return and reported paying $29,023 in Delaware income tax.

The First Lady released her Virginia income tax return as well, and reported paying $3,139 in Virginia income tax. View the President and First Lady's tax returns here.

Vice President Kamala Harris and the Second Gentleman Also Released Their 2022 Federal Income Tax Return

The Vice President and Second Gentleman also released their 2022 federal income tax return, as well as state income tax returns for California and the District of Columbia. Including today's release, Vice President Kamala Harris has published 19 years of tax returns.

Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff reported federal adjusted gross income of $456,918. They paid $93,570 in federal income tax, amounting to a 2022 effective federal income tax rate of 20.5 percent.

They also paid $17,612 in California income tax, and Emhoff paid $9,697 in District of Columbia income tax. They contributed $23,000 to charity in 2022. View the Vice President and Second Gentleman's tax returns here.

READ MORE: FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Private and Public Sector Investments for Affordable Electric Vehicles
The United States has announced sanctions against Nicaragua judges who removed the citizenship of political dissidents and activists in the country.

The government of Nicaragua is currently facing allegations of stifling opposition. U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said in a press release that the judges' sanctions had helped facilitate "government repression," as reported by Al Jazeera.

Blinken was also referring to the removal of the citizenship of more than 300 Nicaraguans, who were then forced to flee their own country.

The state secretary said in a press release that the U.S. is taking more action to hold perpetrators accountable, including those involved in the Nicaraguan regime's "repressive actions."

Nicaragua is currently being led by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo. The country's leadership has been criticized by the United Nations and other human rights groups for using the judiciary powers against its political opponents.

The Office of the High Commissioner, under the U.N., noted in a March press release that Nicaragua has committed "crimes against humanity for political reasons."

Nicaragua released 222 political prisoners in February and sent them into exile in the United States.

READ NEXT: Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega Says U.S. Sanctions Will Only Drive More Migrants to U.S. Border

Nicaragua Judges Sanctioned

Starconnect Media reported that the Nicaraguan judges sanctionee were Judges Nadia Camila Tardencilla Rodriguez, Ernesto Leonel Rodriguez Mejia, and Ernesto Rothschuh Andino.

Blinken said the three judges in Nicaragua have direct responsibility for the citizenship removal of the political dissidents in the country.

Rodriguez announced the court's decision to remove 94 Nicaraguan citizens of their nationality and declared them traitors.

The individuals were critics of the Ortega regime. They were known journalists, human rights defenders, and clergy, as cited by the Treasury Department.

Meanwhile, Tardencilla released a judicial order on February 10 stripping Catholic Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos of his Nicaraguan citizenship. He was also convicted of treason.

Other charges against Alvarez include undermining national integrity and authority, and aggravated obstruction.

Alvarez was also accused of peddling false news in the country.

Rothschuh is responsible for the deportation of 222 Nicaraguan citizens and declared them traitors to the nation on February 10.

Nicaragua's Citizenship Removal of Political Dissidents

In February, Nicaragua started removing the citizenship of 94 people in the country.

Rodriguez said on state TV that the 94 Nicaraguans were declared traitors, but did not say if the Nicaraguans were tried.

However, the Appeals Court Justice said that the political dissidents were not "fugitives of the law" and were sentenced to a civil death, which meant that they would lose their rights, their property, and their citizenship for life, as reported by NPR.

Among the 94 political dissidents, the poet Gioconda Belli and novelist Sergio Ramirez were included.

The most well-known human rights defender in Nicaragua, Vilma Nunez, was also among the people denationalized.

The additional 94 came after Nicaragua banished 222 political prisoners. The first 222 political prisoners were flown to the U.S. and had their citizenships removed.

Analysts claimed that it was the beginning of expanding authoritarianism in Nicaragua.

The U.N. noted that Nicaragua wields abuses, which include extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, and vague deprivation of nationality.

READ MORE: Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega's Critic Edgard Paralles Picked Up by Two People Not in Police Uniform and Was Detained

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: How Daniel Ortega 'demolished' democracy in Nicaragua - from PBS NewsHour


Donald Trump allegedly tried to sneak in fake electors in his attempts to overturn the 2020 elections in his favor. Now, Fulton County DA Fani Willis says some of them might flip as the Georgia elections probe continues to move forward.

The Fulton County DA's Office stated that it ran new interviews with several of those Republican activists who falsely claimed to be Georgia's legitimate presidential electors. DA Fani Willis noted that these interviews were done on April 12 and April 14, and this suggested that this is an active and ongoing investigation.

According to Politico, Willis suggested in the court filing that more than one of the false electors had described potential violations of Georgia state law by another one, suggesting that they may flip on each other.

During the 2020 elections, the Democrats flipped Georgia and Joe Biden won what used to be a deep-red state. However, in his efforts to overturn the election results, Donald Trump had a secret slate of Republican electors who would not vote for Biden, the state's winner, in the electoral college, but for Trump.

Lawyer Representing Donald Trump's Fake Electors in Georgia Is an 'Ethical Mess,' Says Fani Willis

Willis also asked a judge to disqualify Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow, the lawyer who is jointly representing most of the electors.

In the court filing, Willis stated that Debrow's representation of the electors has created an "impracticable and ethical mess" and is "rife with serious ethical problems." This is in connection to her saying that some of them might flip on one another and have accused each other of crimes.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Georgia Election Tampering Case: Fulton County Judge Says It Is OK for Jurors to Discuss Final Report

The Fulton County DA argued that Debrow's ability to represent her clients has been undermined and thus should be disqualified. However, according to Axios, Debrow pushed back in a statement, saying that Willis's claims are "baseless, false and offensive."

Debrow represents 10 of the alleged false electors, and with them potentially turning on each other, it may present a conflict of interest for the defense attorney.

According to reports, Debrow did not tell her clients of an offer of immunity from Willis in exchange for testimony about the alleged scheme to overturn Trump's election loss in Georgia.

Fake Electors Lawyer Previously Forced to Let Client Go in the Georgia Election Probe

The New York Daily News pointed out that this was not the first time that Debrow was involved in a having to let a client go in the Georgia Election Probe.

Debrow used to co-counsel 11 of the pro-Trump fake electors with Holly Pearson in a joint representation. However, Willis challenged this arrangement last fall, with Judge Robert McBurney siding with the Fulton County DA.

Judge McBurney noted in his ruling that one of these fake electors, Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer, a leading Trump defender in 2020, was "differently situated." This led to Debrow not being Shafer's lawyer anymore, with Pierson now acting as the solo counsel for the embattled GOP state official.

READ MORE: Tucker Carlson, Other Fox News Stars Privately Blasted Donald Trump's Election Fraud Claims

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Georgia's 'fake' Trump electors turn on each other, Fulton DA says - 11 Alive
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has threatened to file a lawsuit against Microsoft over what he alleged was the company's illegal usage of Twitter data to train its AI model.

Musk's warning came after it was reported that Microsoft would drop Twitter from its advertising platform, which allows ad buyers to manage all their social media accounts in one place.

The billionaire then tweeted: "They trained illegally using Twitter data... Lawsuit time," CNBC reported.

However, as of the moment, no lawsuit against Microsoft appears to have been filed. Microsoft invested $10 billion in a deal with OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT. Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI before deciding to leave its board in 2018.

He complained that the company moved from a nonprofit model to a highly valuable business influenced by Microsoft.

Data owners are now making a demand as AI model training is moving, with Reddit saying that it would charge companies for access to its programming interface used to feed users' conversations into AI training software.

READ NEXT: Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Billionaires List

Microsoft Removing Twitter

Microsoft said its social media planning and scheduling tools for advertisers would no longer support Twitter after it started charging for access to its programming interface.

Microsoft's Smart Campaign Service provides aid to advertisers managing social media campaigns on services such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Citing the company, Money Control reported that users of the product would not be able to write tweets and drafts or see past tweets and engagements by April 25.

The Microsoft Advertising feature allows advertisers to manage their social media platforms in one place. Users can respond to tweets and direct messages with messages received on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

The company earned more than $12 billion through its advertising platform in 2022.

Elon Musk Eyeing ChatGPT Rival

Elon Musk told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Monday that he wanted to join the AI development race and that he will call it TruthGPT.

According to CNBC, Musk said he would want his AI chatbot to be a "maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe."

The billionaire noted that the path to "AI dystopia is to train AI to be deceptive." He also said that the technology is "more dangerous" than a mismanaged aircraft designer.

Musk previously said he plans to pursue generative AU, a for-profit company. The billionaire also told Carlson he is concerned that the current AI developments are "being trained to be politically correct."

He earlier claimed that Bill Gates, one of the co-founders of Microsoft, and Meta leader Mark Zuckerberg do not have a good grasp of AI.

READ MORE: Elon Musk Removes New York Times Twitter Checkmark as Publication Won't Pay for Verification

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Elon Musk Plans 'TruthGPT' AI Chatbot to Rival Microsoft's - From Reuters




A California Home Depot employee died after he was shot while trying to stop a theft on Tuesday, according to authorities.

In a press release, the Pleasanton Police Department said that officers responded to reports of a man bleeding inside the store of Johnson Drive at around 2:15 p.m., Fox News reported.

The victim was treated by responding cops before he was rushed to a local hospital, the police said. The victim tried to stop a theft that was already happening, and witnesses said he was shot during a struggle.

After the shooting, the suspects drove away from the scene. The Alameda County Coroner told KTVU that the California Home Depot employee died from injuries but withheld the victim's age and name.

In a separate statement, Home Depot confirmed to the outlet that the man, who was shot dead, was an employee.

"We're heartbroken over this senseless tragedy," the store said. "Blake was our associate and friend, and our hearts go out to his family and everyone who knew and loved him."

READ NEXT: California Man, Who Goes on Shooting Spree, Is Behind State Capitol Shooting Threat

California Home Depot Employee and Shoplifter Identified

The man who died after being shot by the suspected Home Depot shoplifter was identified by Pleasanton police on Wednesday as Blake Mohs, a 26-year-old resident of Tri-Valley, CBS News reported.

On the other hand, police said the alleged shoplifter was a woman named Benicia Knapps.

Authorities noted that Mohs, a security guard, confronted the 32-year-old shoplifter who tried to steal an electric tool or charger and leave through the loading dock of the store.

When Mohs approached her, police said she fought back and shot the security guard. Knapps then ran to a getaway car driven by 31-year-old man David Guillory, who also had the alleged shoplifter's two-year-old child inside.

Alameda County sheriff's deputies eventually found Knapps and Guillory in a residential area of Oakland 15 minutes later and arrested them. The child was turned over to relatives.

Lt. Erik Silacci of the Pleasanton Police Department told reporters on Wednesday that Guillory had been booked into Santa Rita Prison while Knapps was receiving medical treatment in Alameda County and would be placed into Santa Rita Jail once she was discharged.

Police previously revealed that Knapps had harmed herself by choking herself with the seatbelt until she passed out in the back of the Alameda Sheriff's Department patrol car.

She is still being held for mental health evaluation and treatment. Several charges, including murder, robbery, endangering a child, and conspiracy, have been filed against Guillory and Knapps. Additional charges are also expected.

Silacci noted that they often worked with Mohs regularly, and local police had a lot of respect for him.

Shoplifters Widely Target Home Depot

According to the East Bay Times, thieves have long targeted Home Depot for its expensive tools and materials. It has been reported that in 2019, the retailer started paying police overtime rates, estimated to be at least $2.1 million by 2021.

Last month, a Hayward, California store employee was arrested for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items.

Blake Mohs was said to be planning a wedding for the summer, authorities said. He was well-known in the area and often helped with youth initiatives.

The Home Depot store in Pleasanton was full of customers on Wednesday, the day after the shooting. No memorials or other signs of the shooting were visible inside and outside the store.

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WATCH: California Home Depot Employee Shot and Killed While Trying to Stop Shoplifter, Police Say - From ABC 7 News Bay Area
Florida public schools are no longer allowed to teach about sexuality and gender identity after the state's Board of Education expanded the state's existing "Don't Say Gay" legislation on Wednesday.

CBS News reported that all Florida public school educators cannot "intentionally" instruct students in grades K-12 about sexual orientation or gender identity in line with the new rule "unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards" or "part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student's parent has the option to have his or her student not attend."

Alex Lanfranconi, the director of communications at the Florida Department of Education, told CBS News that state educators are expected to teach to the state's academic standards.

However, Lanfranconi added that topics about sexuality or gender identity have "no place in the classroom" unless it is required by law.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initially proposed the expansion bills in March. He imposed the first "Parental Rights in Education" law in the state over a year ago.

READ NEXT: Florida Man Arrested After Choking Uber Driver and Stealing Vehicle

Florida Schools Banning Sexuality and Gender Identity Teachings

The law initially prohibited the instruction of topics regarding sexuality and gender identity from kindergarten to third grade or in a way that was not age appropriate for all other grades, according to CNN.

Ron DeSantis argued that young children should not be exposed to concepts like gender identity, not pushing the ban to apply to upper-grade levels.

The measure has also sparked the war between DeSantis and Disney. On Wednesday, DeSantis noted that "gender ideology has no place" in the K-12 school system. He added that it was wrong for a teacher to tell a student they could have been born "in the wrong body."

A recent development includes lawmakers considering a bill that allows the state to fine, suspend or revoke the license of an establishment that admits children into an "adult live performance." LGTBQ advocates interpret it as a crackdown on drag shows.

Critics of Florida School Ban

Opponents of the measure argued that each person has their own sexual orientation and gender identity. Laura McGinnis, LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG, said the measure would make it impossible to do much instruction at all, ABC News reported.

Critics dubbed the measure as "Don't Say Gay," arguing that it aims to restrict curriculum that includes history, literature, and more topics that touch on LGBTQ identities.

The challengers of the "Don't Say Gay" said the bill would "censor speech" and prevent people from talking about their identities due to its vague descriptions of "instruction" and gender identity and sexual orientation.

An attendee at the Wednesday hearing told the board there was no clear distinction between discussion and instruction.

On the other hand, a supporter of the bill claimed it would strengthen "the relationship between parents and children" as it leaves very personal important conversations between students and their families.

READ MORE: Disaster SNAP Benefits Update: Are You Eligible for New Florida Payments?

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WATCH: 'Don't Say Gay' Expansion Requested by Gov. DeSantis Approved - From CBS Miami




A feud is reportedly brewing between Ben Affleck's wife, Jennifer Lopez, and his former wife, Jennifer Garner.

According to RadarOnline, the feud between Affleck's two women started when Garner implied Lopez for turning the actor into a laughingstock. A source familiar with the situation has reportedly denied the accusations.

However, other insiders told the outlet that the Puerto Rican-born actress would love to reveal what she thinks after Garner said she does not like to see stories about the celebrity couple dubbed "Bennifer" in the press, even if they are good ones.

"I really work hard not to see either of us in the press... It doesn't make me feel good, even if it's something nice about one of us," Garner said about her and Affleck.

The "Elektra" star added: "I don't need to see anyone in my family made into a meme. Although, I'm sure he's quite meme-worthy, yes!"

An insider told RadarOnline that the remark was a "real f--k you as far as JLo sees it." The source further noted that it was Garner's saying that Affleck looks miserable and "all his appearances in public are lame."

From Lopez's view, it was reportedly difficult not to take the remark as a personal attack. The insider noted that "part of her wants to fire back and tell Jennifer off, but she's smart enough not to make too much of a scene publicly."

READ NEXT: Jennifer Lopez Dating History: A Look Back at Her Former Flames as She Prepares to Settle Down With Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck Playing Referee Between Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner

According to the source, it will be up to Ben Affleck "to play referee," adding that "it's Ben's worst nightmare," MARCA reported. Jennifer Garner is the mother of Affleck's three children.

It was reported earlier this year that Garner was focusing on ensuring her children had a positive relationship with their new stepmother, Jennifer Lopez.

However, insiders revealed that the dynamic may have changed after Garner became Affleck's support system amid reports that the "Batman" actor and the Latina actress were having trouble in paradise.

There were reports that Affleck and Lopez have been facing marital problems since they got married last summer, Fandom Wire reported.

Sources previously told RadarOnline that things quickly began to sour between Bennifer due to the actress' nagging on what he can and can't wear and the actor's smoking habit.

Ben Affleck Meme

Ben Affleck, who attended the Grammys 2023 awards ceremony in February, seemed unhappy and looked miserable throughout the show.

The actor-director, known for his habitual frown and sullen demeanor while smoking, was spotted by the cameras several times during the show, sitting glumly next to his wife. Many viewers saw Affleck as having no interest in being at Crypto.com Arena, where the Grammys 2023 awards ceremony was held.

Musical icons like Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and Missy Elliott gave their all on stage, while more contemporary artists like Kacey Musgraves and Quavo delivered moving tributes to late musical legends.

However, Affleck made a steadfast commitment to looking bored, and the netizens were amused. The actor looking painfully bored at the Grammys was turned into a "Sad Affleck" meme that went viral.

In March, Affleck explained to The Hollywood Reporter that he knew they were framing him and his wife in the shot he was captured looking bored in the first row of the Grammys 2023 audience with host Noah Trevor, "but I didn't know they were rolling."

He added: "I leaned into her and I was like, 'As soon they start rolling, I'm going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.' She goes, 'You better fucking not leave.' That's a husband-and-wife thing."

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck rekindled their romance in April 2021, shortly after the Latina superstar ended things with ex-fiance Alex Rodriguez. After one year of dating, Affleck popped the question for the second time.

Their first wedding happened in a late-night Las Vegas drive-through chapel last July 16, while their second wedding was held at the actor's estate in Riceboro, Georgia, after a month or on August 20.

READ MORE: Jennifer Lopez Net Worth 2022: Is the Latin Pop Diva Richer Than Her Boyfriend Ben Affleck?

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Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Ben Affleck ALL SMILES Chatting With Jennifer Garner's Boyfriend - From Entertainment Tonight
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. A group of school students in Armenia were given the opportunity to speak with the crew of Shenzhou 15, the Chinese spaceflight that launched on 29 November 2022.

Chinas Ambassador to Armenia Fan Yong said that this event  first of its kind organized in Armenia  is a very good chance for Armenian young people to get to know Chinas achievements in space.

Because Armenia and China are very good partners and friends, we try to share our experience of development with Armenia. I think this is a very good chance to spark interest for space among Armenian young people, which will then develop the country. The development of astronautics played a big role in Chinas path of development, the Ambassador said.

I think the knowledge in this sector is highly important for Armenia because Armenia has also launched a satellite into space, he added.

Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Artur Martirosyan said the event is a sign of the friendship between Armenia and the Peoples Republic of China.

Around 60 children are participating in this online dialogue. I am sure that this will be a very good opportunity for them to choose a future profession, he said.

Students from 14 other countries from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation were also participating in the video conference with the crew of the Shenzhou 15 .

The students got to know the activities of the crew, their daily routine and work.
YEREVAN, 20 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 20 April, USD exchange rate down by 0.45 drams to 387.21 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.14 drams to 424.89 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 4.75 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.64 drams to 481.65 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 139.11 drams to 24780.53 drams. Silver price down by 4.60 drams to 308.11 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
Bethlehem is going after the same type of federal housing rehabilitation planning grant that Easton won.

Its known as a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Easton won a $450,000 planning grant through the program and is pursuing an implementation grant that could be in the neighborhood of $30 million to $50 million.

The Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved hiring COLLABO Planning + Design to help prepare the planning grant application.

HUD intends to award 20 (planning) grants of up to $500,000 nationwide during the 2023 funding round, Bethlehem Community and Economic Development Director Laura Collins wrote in a memo to the city council. The two-year planning grant helps communities develop comprehensive neighborhood transformation plans to update distressed public housing.

COLLABO is also working with Easton on its Choice Neighborhoods program and is a consultant on Bethlehems ongoing Comprehensive Housing Strategy planning.

Bethlehem hopes to use the planning grant to overhaul the Pembroke Village public housing development along the citys eastern edge, according to Sara Satullo, city deputy director of community development. Choice Neighborhoods would replace each housing unit and add additional homes for a new mixed-income development, she said following Tuesday nights council meeting.

Pembroke was built in 1941 and has 196 family and specially-designed apartments for people with disabilities, according to the Bethlehem Housing Authority, which would partner with the city on the Choice Neighborhoods initiative. It was last remodeled in 1995.

Easton is applying for a Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant to demolish 160 public housing units at Bushkill House, on Elm Street, and on or near North Union Street and build new homes. The city and Easton Housing Authority are proposing to purchase The Easton Home at 1022 Northampton St. for $2.6 million to create 60 to 80 homes there that could be used to relocate, at least temporarily, some of the tenants displaced by the public housing overhaul.

The efforts come as the Lehigh Valley has seen rent and home-purchase costs rise steeply in recent years, creating a housing crisis for low-to-moderate-income earners.

Choice Neighborhoods is HUDs successor program to HOPE VI. Both Easton and Allentown won HOPE VI grants around the same time that were used, respectively, to replace Delaware Terrace with Neston Heights and reconstruct Hanover Acres and Riverview Terrace as Overlook Park.

Bethlehems head-start on its housing strategy makes the city a good candidate for Choice Neighborhoods, and Eastons application does not exclude the neighboring Lehigh Valley city from being in the running for the program, according to Satullo.

In related federal grant news, the Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday approved the 2023 round of its annual action plan for spending U.S. Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships Program money. Bethlehem allocated $1,416,201 from CDBG, $98,000 from CDBG CARES Act funding and $455,213 from HOME. Visit the city council page at bethlehem-pa.gov to see the programs awarded funding.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
One of four suspects in an early morning home invasion that resulted in gunfire Thursday in Bethlehem Township remained at large Thursday afternoon, according to the Northampton County District Attorneys Office.

A resident home at the time shot and wounded two of the perpetrators of the robbery, District Attorney Terry Houck said in a news release.

The incident occurred about 4 a.m. in the 2000 block of Willow Park Road, according to the release. Three occupants were home at the time.

Suspect Michael Matas, 29, suffered seven gunshot wounds to the back and was initially taken to St. Lukes Hospital-Warren Campus in Phillipsburg before being taken to a hospital in Pennsylvania, officials said. He was listed in critical but stable condition and was awaiting arraignment as of Thursday afternoon, according to Houcks office.

Matas is expected to survive, the DAs office said.

Additional suspects Millito Delgado, 45, and 23-year-old Francis Ferrando were each arraigned and sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail each, according to Houcks office.

Ferrando was shot once in a leg in the incident, the DAs office said. Houck said his office is investigating how both wounded suspects made it to hospitals.

A fourth suspect, 29-year-old Anthony Santiago, remained at large, the news release states. There was no danger seen to the general public, Houck said.

Dont approach this guy, leave it to the police, Houck told lehighvalleylive.com.

Each suspect faces three counts of robbery-attempt serious bodily injury, two counts of possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault and related charges. Houck said the investigation is continuing and charges may be changed or added.

Court records were remaining sealed to protect the integrity of the probe, according to the release.

Anyone who made have surveillance video of the surrounding area should contact Bethlehem Township police, Houck said. To reach Bethlehem Township police in a non-emergency, call Northampton County 911 dispatch at 610-759-2200.

This was first-rate work by the Bethlehem Township Police Department, Houck stated. I want to thank Chief Gregory Gottschall and his officers for their immediate response and attention to detail in this case. Although there is still much to do, I am confident no stone will be unturned in our effort to apprehend the fourth male.

Reporter Sarah Cassi contributed to this report.

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Editors Note: This story first appeared on Armchair Lehigh Valley and is being published on lehighvalleylive.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters factual information in a nonpartisan way to help them make informed decisions at the polls. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein, two longtime local journalists who formerly worked at The Morning Call in Allentown. Learn more about Armchair Lehigh Valley and subscribe here.

Two seasoned attorneys with nearly 90 years of law enforcement and legal experience between them will face off in the Democratic primary for district attorney in Northampton County.

Incumbent Terry Houck, 67, is seeking his second four-year term. His opponent is former Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta, 66. No Republicans are running in the May 16 primary. Houck said he will run a write-in campaign for the Republican nomination.

Both served as first assistant district attorney under former DA John Morganelli, now a county judge.

In his first term as district attorney, Houck launched a number of initiatives, including expanding the drug task force into a full-time operation, starting a major crimes task force, organizing a support group for secondary victims of homicides, and expanding community outreach.

This is much more than a job to me; it is who I am to my very core, he said.

From his view on the bench, Baratta said, I saw a need for change. I was troubled by what was going on in the DAs office, So he retired in December to seek election.

Baratta has taken an offensive stance, holding press conferences and mailing fliers to highlight his concerns, which include Houcks handling of cases, staffing and First Assist District Attorney Richard Peppers part-time civil law work.

Houck said Baratta is basing his accusations on misinformation and lack of understanding on the role of the district attorneys office. He said some of Barattas proposed initiatives are already in place.

He doesnt know what he is talking about, said Houck.

Houck said Baratta is running for the job to pad his judicial pension.

Baratta said he didnt serve as a judge for 30 years, which is required to receive a full pension. In the long run it cost me an awful lot of money on my pension, he said.

Following are profiles of the candidates and campaign issues drawn from interviews, campaign websites, government data, newspaper articles and other sources.

Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck speaks at the unveiling of a new "Fake is Real" campaign aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of fentanyl on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, at the Northampton County Human Services Building, 2801 Emrick Blvd. in Bethlehem Township.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Terry Houck

Houck grew up in Philadelphia in a family of nine children. He graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy in 1977 and was a street and plain-clothes officer for nine years.

While working nights, he earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice from LaSalle University, a masters degree in human organization science from Villanova University and a law degree from Temple University.

In 1986, Houck was hired as an assistant district attorney in Bucks County where he later became chief deputy district attorney.

In 2002, he joined the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office as a chief deputy district attorney.

Four years later, he became Northampton Countys full-time first assistant district attorney, overseeing all specialized units and staff, including child abuse/sex offense, violent crimes, DUI, grand jury, narcotics and forfeiture, white collar, juvenile, appellate and domestic violence units.

His cases included the 2018 conviction of Daniel Clay, who shot a state police Cpl. Seth Kelly after he and trooper Ryan Seiple pulled him over a traffic stop.

Houck lives in Forks Township with his wife Linda. The couple has two daughters, a son-in-law and one granddaughter.

Foray into politics: Houck ran unsuccessfully for district attorney in Bucks County in 2001 and 2005 against then-incumbent Republican Diane Gibbons. Houck was terminated from the DAs office after he announced his first run against her.

In 2019, Houck ran for district attorney when incumbent Morganelli, a Democrat, opted to run for judge after serving 28 years as DA.

In the primary, Houck faced Nuria DiLuzio, defeating her with 69.76% of the vote. In the fall, he defeated Republican Tom Carroll with 55.5% of the vote.

Time in office: Houck, who earns $211,495 a year, oversees an office with 21 staff attorneys, seven detectives and 17 staff members.

In 2021, the latest year for state statistics, Northampton County processed 3,539 criminal cases. The DAs office saw 62.5% of its criminal cases ending in a guilty plea and 22.8% receiving a diversionary disposition. Statewide, guilty pleas were slightly higher at 64.9% while diversionary dispositions were lower at 15.7%.

In addition, 10.5% were listed as inactive, 3.2% were withdrawn or dismissed and slightly more than 1% involved a jury trial, a non-jury trial or other disposition.

Houck himself handles some cases, saying you must lead by example.

Cases included the trial of Jacob Holmes, who was convicted in December 2020 in the revenge shooting death of Miguel Aponte Jr., in 2009 in an Easton bar.

He also handled the case of Drew Rose, a former caretaker who pleaded guilty in 2021 to the 2019 robbery and slayings of Virgina Houck, 97, and her son Roger Houck, 61, in Palmer Township. Houck was not related to the mother and son.

Initiatives

Drug task force: Houck turned the countys drug task force, composed of police officers from throughout the county, into a full-time operation. From its inception in June through Dec. 31, he said, the task force made 43 arrests, seized six motor vehicles, 17 firearms and more than $120,000 in cash. The arrests led to the confiscation of 108 grams of cocaine, 1.28 ounces of fentanyl, including 38 pills, more than 30 pounds of marijuana, 35 ounces of methamphetamine, eight grams of crack cocaine and 70 doses of amphetamines. Houck said he joined a lawsuit filed by other Pennsylvania counties against opioid manufactures and received $2.1 million. The money is being used for drug abatement programs, including a fentanyl awareness program.

Major crimes: In January 2023, he created the countys first major crimes task force with 42 officers from county police departments. It operates on a standby basis to help in mass events and aid small police departments.

Diversionary programs: He expanded the diversionary programs to include nonviolent, first-time felony offenders with a goal of separating offenders who need incarceration from those who need treatment. The programs, which include Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) and the drug and mental health courts, seek to keep offenders out of prison if they seek treatment and follow other directives.

Homicide support group: Houck established a support group for secondary victims of homicides such as relatives of people who were murdered. The group meets on the first Tuesday of the month. He also expanded his offices victims unit to three people.

Marijuana: Houck said first-offense cases involving small amounts of marijuana for personal use are routinely routed into Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD). Thus, offenders do not have a criminal record. He said his office accepts Bethlehems local ordinance making the offense a summary. He said no one is in jail for the lone offense of a small amount of marijuana, but typically such offenders have been charged with other offenses as well.

Child advocacy center: He joined Lehigh Countys John Van Brakle Child Advocacy Center, located at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Allentown, to provide a safe space for children to be interviewed in cases of suspected abuse. Houck said his goal is for the county to have its own hospital-based center.

Community outreach: Houck hired a public relations administrator to help his office improve community outreach. Staff members have spoken to community and school groups about the juvenile justice system, cyberbullying and social media, among other topics. His office held a gun buyback program in Bethlehem and Bethlehem Township, where more than 300 firearms, including semi-automatic rifles, and hundreds of pounds of ammunition were turned in. Another gun buyback was held on April 15 in Lower Saucon Township and Northampton Borough.

Pardon Project: Houck said he is initiating a Pardon Project, where a team made up of representatives from probation, his office and the community will review letters of request for pardons with a goal of helping him make informed opinions that he can give to the state Board of Pardons on such requests.

Former Northampton County Judge Stephen G. Baratta, seen here at an event involving Central Booking at Northampton County Prison, retired from the bench at the end of last year.lehighvalleylive.com file photo

Stephen Baratta

Baratta graduated from Bangor Area High School in 1974 and then earned a bachelors degree four years later from Lafayette College. He earned a law degree from Fordham University School of Law in 1981, the same year he began private practice in Easton. His late father Renald Baratta was a criminal defense attorney.

Baratta served as solicitor for Northampton County Children & Youth Services from 1985-90. He was county solicitor from 1990-92. Baratta moved to the district attorneys office in 1992, where he spent five years as the first assistant district attorney, which was then a part-time post.

His first major case, in which he assisted Morganelli, was the conviction of Christopher Bissey, 19, in the 1995 shooting deaths of Mary Orlando, 15, and her friend Jennifer Grider, 17, at Lehigh Universitys overlook.

Baratta and his wife Margot live in Bethlehem and have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Foray into politics: In 1997, Baratta ran for judge for Northampton County Court of Common Pleas where he was among seven candidates who cross-filed in the primary election. It was an opportunity that just fell into my lap, he said. No one was expecting a new judgeship.

In the 1997 November election, Baratta faced Republican Edward Smith, who was later elected to the county bench and then appointed to the U.S. District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Baratta successfully ran for a 10-year retention in 2007 and 2017.

He served as president judge from 2013-18, maintaining a full caseload as he oversaw operations.

In his last 15 years on the bench, he was the administrative judge of juvenile court, duties that included overseeing the Juvenile Justice Center. He also has served as administrative judge to domestic relations, the asbestos docket, criminal court and custody court.

Among his cases, he presided over a 2011 legal dispute involving the potential sale of the county-owned Gracedale nursing home. I prevented the sale of Gracedale, he said. He also presided over a 2018 dispute over ownership of First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem. Baratta retired as judge in December with five years left on his term. He announced his candidacy for district attorney in January.

He said he plans to become involved in trying cases as DA.

Proposed initiatives: Baratta said he is running because he thinks he can make changes that will make the system better for all, including expanding diversionary programs, having a policy of fair treatment, decriminalizing marijuana and advocating for more no-bail cases.

Im blessed to be healthy. I still feel like I am at the top of my game. Im energetic, he said.

Drug and mental health courts: Baratta wants to expand use of Northampton Countys drug and mental health courts, which he said he helped create.

Opioids: Saying the opioid problem has gotten worse under Houck, Baratta said he wants to use drug forfeiture money and money from the opioid settlement with pharmaceutical companies for a prison treatment program. He also wants the county council to help pay for it, too. People go in broken, they are detained and isolated and they are released in the same condition.

Marijuana charges: Baratta wants to treat possession of small amounts of marijuana meant for personal use as a summary offense. With a misdemeanor charge, he said, people cant get student loans, they have difficulty getting into the Marine Corps. They might have trouble getting a job.

Bail: Baratta believes that too many economically disadvantaged people who are charged with low-level crimes are languishing in jail because they cant make bail. He said they often plead guilty to end their time in jail and get sentenced to time served. Baratta said he would have a policy of advocating for no bail to Pretrial Services in such cases.

Community outreach and transparency: He wants to have a drug education program in every Northampton County high school and use money from the drug forfeiture fund to develop community policing-neighborhood programs.

Campaign issues

First Assistant District Attorney Richard Pepper: Baratta filed a 65-page request for an investigation of Peppers private civil work with county officials and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. He said the countys Home Rule Charter prevents Pepper, whose county annual salary is $141,391, from doing so. (Armchair Lehigh Valley has filed a Right to Know request with Northampton County seeking clarification on this but has yet to get a response.)

He is full time but only works part time (for the DA) and has a thriving practice. No other first assistant DA does that. I think it is unethical, Baratta said.

Houck defended his approval of Peppers outside work.

He cant do anything that conflicts with his work for the county, Houck said.

Houck said Pepper, whose law career extends 45 years, puts in at least 50 hours a week for the DAs office and is allowed to request vacation time.

I couldnt think of a better person to be first assistant, he said.

Houck said at least two assistant district attorneys have part-time jobs, though not as lawyers.

Staffing: Baratta said Houcks management style has led to significant staff turnover. Houck disputed that characterization. He said many places saw employees leave during the pandemic. He said the ADAs who left his office all did so for higher pay or better hours for their families. Assistant district attorneys earn $65,535 to $102,597 annually, Houck said.

Case dispositions: Baratta outlined three cases that he thinks show Houcks incompetence, fundamental unfairness and ethical concerns.

Houck said Barattas portrayal of the cases doesnt accurately reflect what happened.

He picks three cases. Weve had over 10,000 cases and hes wrong on all three, Houck said.

One involved the case of Christopher Ferrante, who was charged with allegedly supplying drugs that led to the 2020 fentanyl overdose death of Michael Mikey Racciato. Bail was originally set at $250,000. In 2022, Ferrante was released under $1 bail after Judge Morganelli would not give Houck a second trial delay. Said Baratta in a statement, Was it negligent not to be ready for trial 15 months after Ferrante was arrested? Yes. Was it incompetent? I say yes.

Houck defended his delay request, saying he needed time to get test results and arrange for expert testimony on xylazine  a drug that is mixed with fentanyl  that he said was found in Racciatos system. Houck said he bought more time by filing an appeal of Morganellis denial. With the test results now in, he said he is ready to go to trial. He said Ferrante is not free to do as he pleases but is under GPS monitoring and other restrictions.

Baratta cited ethical issues in a case involving former Washington Township Police Chief Scott Miller, whose vehicle went off a road in January 2020, hitting a house. Houck said a tow truck operator alerted police, who filed no charges. About two weeks later when Houck found out about the incident, he ordered an investigation. Houck said it showed Miller had been eating and drinking at a restaurant for eight hours prior to the incident. Police did not do a breathalyzer test and police camera footage did not suggest Miller was impaired, Houck said. In addition, it had been snowing that night and roads were slippery, Houck said.

Houck ended up charging Miller with driving at an unsafe speed and failing to report the crash. Miller was found not guilty of the charges. Baratta said Houck didnt give his ADA the support he needed to convict Miller. Chief Miller was cleared on all charges. I dont know if he got preferential treatment because he was a chief of police. Maybe because Houck was a Philadelphia police officer for ten years in the 1980s, back when the department was known for issues regarding corruption and protecting the blue line, Baratta said.

Houck defended his decision, saying its difficult if not impossible to win a DUI case without evidence. We didnt have anything to arrest him for drunk driving, he said.

He also said he doesnt show favoritism to police, highlighting the March arrest of Lehigh University police officer Vincent Brunico.

The third example involved the case of Robert Gregory, who was charged in 2021 with allegedly driving while under the influence following an accident during which Houck said he struck three vehicles. Houck said Gregory refused a breathalyzer test. Houck said a drug recognition expert from Lehigh County was called to review Gregory at the scene. The expert was later allegedly involved in his own DUI incident, which led Houcks office to drop the DUI charge at the November 2022 trial.

Baratta, who presided over the case, said Houcks office didnt disclose the experts arrest until the trial, resulting in Gregory sitting in jail because he was unable to post $3,500 needed to be released.

Gregory sat for 11 months waiting for a trial that was never going to happen. On November 28, 2022, Gregory was found guilty of vehicle code violations and given a 45- 90 day sentence and he was released. He had been in jail for 11 months when he should have been there for only 45 days, Baratta said.

Houck said his office found out about the DRE expert in August 2022. He said his office was under no obligation to let Gregorys attorney know about a witness who wasnt going to be called to testify.
A 59-year-old Slatington man faces felony drug and firearms charges after law enforcement authorities executed arrest and search warrants in the Lehigh County borough, according to police.

Slatington police assisted the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office in executing the warrants at 12:39 p.m. Wednesday in the boroughs 1200 block of Fourth Street, according to a news release from police Chief Greg Winokur.

While on location, the suspect, David Rockel, was observed exiting his home and was taken into custody without incident, Winokur wrote in the release Thursday.

A subsequent search of both Rockels home and a nearby storage unit he had rented led to the seizure of over eight pounds of crystal methamphetamine, with a street value of around $370,000, according to the release.

Police also reported seizing drug paraphernalia and packaging materials, in addition to 14 firearms and a large amount of cash.

Rockel was arraigned Wednesday night before District Judge Tom Clair Creighton on felony counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and persons not to possess firearms, in addition to misdemeanor drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The firearms charge was filed for a .25-caliber pistol Rockel had on him, according to court records; he has a 1994 conviction in Carbon County for drug possession with intent to deliver that prohibits him from possession a firearm.

Rockel admitted in an interview with investigators to distributing meth at his home and the storage unit, the court records state.

He was sent to the Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled April 26 before Creighton to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in county court.

Rockel is being represented by the Lehigh County Public Defenders Office. Court records did not immediately list a name for his attorney, and the public defenders office did not immediately have the name of the attorney to release to a reporter.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
UPDATE: Intruders shot in Bethlehem Township home invasion, 1 of 4 suspects at large, DA says

A gunshot victim dropped off early Thursday morning at a Phillipsburg hospital was wounded in an incident in Pennsylvania, prosecutors say.

Police were called a little before 5 a.m. when a man showed up at St. Lukes-Warren with gunshot wounds, Warren County Prosecutor James Pfeiffer said. The man was transferred to another hospital for treatment.

The incident related to the shooting was in Pennsylvania and has nothing to do with us in Warren County, Pfeiffer said.

Asked if Northampton County authorities are investigating a shooting, District Attorney Terry Houck said we are investigating a shots fired incident that happened earlier Thursday morning in Bethlehem Township. Its very early in the investigation.

Houck declined to comment if the gunshot victim in Warren County was at this time related to the Bethlehem Township incident.

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Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.
UPDATE: Alleged attacker in Lehigh University campus hate crime pulled a gun, court records say

A Lehigh University student was assaulted over the weekend in what police are calling a hate crime on campus.

The Black student was walking with a group of friends and fellow Lehigh students on campus, when a group of four white people driving by yelled racist comments, university police said.

The people in the car are not affiliated with Lehigh and are not from the Bethlehem area, police said.

The Black student ran after the car before stopping and rejoining his group of friends. The group in the car then got out, followed the students and assaulted the Black student, according to police.

After an ongoing verbal exchange, some of the suspects followed the students into a campus residence hall, assaulting the Black student again, police said.

The victim, who has requested anonymity to their protect privacy, had no serious physical injuries, police said.

The suspects fled before the incident was reported to campus police, but the department said it has identified the people involved.

The victim and witnesses are cooperating with the investigation, and authorities are evaluating criminal charges or a potential restorative justice resolution, according to a statement sent by Lehigh University Chief of Police Jason Schiffer.

These racist comments and hate crime are deeply disturbing and upsetting. They affect not just the students involved, but also other Black students and individuals in the Lehigh community. Hate speech and violence are not tolerated on Lehighs campus, Schiffer wrote. My heart goes out to the involved students and to all members of our community who are undoubtedly impacted by incidents of hate and discrimination. We will vigorously investigate these incidents and hold people accountable.

University President Joseph J. Helble said he spoke with the victim, who was doing nothing more than walking down the street with friends.

While I am deeply relieved that he was not physically harmed as a result of the assault, that does not mean that this was somehow insignificant. We must all work together to do the hard work to eradicate hate and violence. Calling this out when it happens is a first and necessary step, and I am committed to our doing so. This must stop, Helble wrote in a message sent Thursday morning.

Helble said the hate crime on Lehighs campus comes amid other recent events, including a white homeowner shooting Ralph Yarl through a glass door when the Black teen mistakenly went to wrong house to pick up his siblings.

Andrew Lester has been charged with first-degree assault in the incident.

I understand the anger and the fear that our Black students, faculty and staff experience, especially following reports of events such as these. I, too, am angry. I am committed to our campus being that place where every member of the Lehigh community studies, engages and lives in an environment free from violence and free from hate, Helble said.

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UPDATE: 2 more grocery items bought from Lehigh County Giant Food Store may have needles, police say

Pennsylvania State Police are warning customers to check their groceries after they say an employee put sewing needles in food at a Lehigh County grocery store.

Troopers were contacted Wednesday for reported food tampering at the Giant grocery store at 7150 Hamilton Boulevard in Lower Macungie Township.

A juvenile, now a former employee, has been identified as a suspect and charges are forthcoming, troopers with the Fogelsville barracks said Thursday.

No one has been injured in the incident, Trooper Nate Branosky said.

No other stores are involved in this isolated incident, Giant said in a released statement.

State police are urging customers to check their food, specifically shoppers who purchased grocery items between Thursday, April 13, and Wednesday from the Lower Macungie store.

Giant said it was made aware of a product integrity issue on Monday and notified law enforcement for further action and investigation.

Giant said the product tampering occurred after 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 13, and investigators are confident there was no contamination before then, according to Branosky.

We believe its just one person involved, Branosky said. Troopers are investigating as we speak.

Troopers said the juvenile put sewing needles in bagged vegetables and individual Tastykake packages; the tampered items were bought and then returned by customers. Giant said surveillance video appeared to show the employee inserting sewing needles into at least three known food items and sewing needles were found in those items.

Out of an abundance of caution, Giant said it has removed the following products from the Lower Macungie stores shelves: single serve Tastykakes, fresh bagged green beans, loose sweet yellow and white onions, fresh green asparagus, soft packaged dog food and treats, soft packaged cat food and treats, instant boxed mashed potatoes, and cleaning sponges.

Anyone with information about the incident should call the Pennsylvania State Police Fogelsville Criminal Investigation Unit at 610-3951438.

Customers who find needles should call the State Police and immediately return the item to a Giant store, Branosky said. Giant said it is in the process of notifying customers who may have purchased these products based on available purchase data.

Giant notified the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the company is fully cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said his office is aware of the investigation and the juvenile will be charged in juvenile court.

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Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.
An area of unused land in Mountrath is being used as domestic dumping ground with sofas, beds, toys and also sorts of rubbish being fly-tipped over a wall at the boundaries of three housing estates.

The situation was highlighted by Cllr James Kelly, who didn't mince his words when calling out what is going on as 'criminal'.

The Independent representative provided pictures to the Leinster Express Laois Live which are proof of the problem which he said has been made worse by the waste being set on fire.

Furniture is mixed in with rubbish in big piles after apparently being pegged over a wall at the rear of St Fintan's Terrace / Fr O'Connor Cresent and Rushall housing estates in the town. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

While rusty cans appear to reveal a long standing problem, items in a new spate of dumping show the problem is has got even worse.

Cllr Kelly highlighted the problem when tabled a motion at a meeting with Laois County Council officials and other public representatives in County Hall. He was appalled by what is happening.

Its a disgrace. It is in a built up area. It is a continual problemIt is disrespectful and criminal, he said.

He praised the council staff for the quick response in the past fortnight but that drew another type of response from the culprits.

Somebody decided to set fire to the sofas which created another hazard. They knew that the coucil was out clearing up, he said.

The councillor said action is needed to put a stop to the problem.

Ive asked for the area to be fenced off to prevent cars and trailers dumping rubbish. Hopefully when the site is cleared the feincing can go up, he said.

Cllr Kelly was annoyed that such a step had to be taken.

That we have to stop people from using this lovely green area is terrible, its a disgrace, he insisted.

Cllr John King, Fine Gael, backed his colleague. He said boundary roles should be walls rather than wooden fences adding that this should be a condition of houses being built.

Cllr Ollie Clooney, Independent, also supported Cllr Kelly. He felt that the problem could be solved easily if bureaucracy is overcome.

It will be solved if we cut out the red tape and bring in (CCTV) cameras. There could be only a small number of people doing this but we have to know who they are and deal with it. This is a blight on everybody, he said.

In a written reply, Mr Trevor Hennessy, A/Senior Engineer, Housing, said his section would investigate the matter with the housing section to ascertain the issue.

The matter was raised at the April Borris-in-Ossory Moutmellick Municipal District meeting.
Work is underway in Portarlington on a blueprint to make the town which once burned nearly 200,000 tonnes of peat for power each year more energy efficient.

The Portarlington Business Association (PBA) Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) has appointed Tipperary Energy Agency (TEA) as consultants to work with the group to develop an Energy Master Plan for Portarlington.

Work on the plan is underway and a launch event will be hosted in the coming months. This project is grant funded by the SEAI with support from Laois County Council under the Sustainable Energy Communities programme.

The PBA outlined what is involved in an energy master plan for a town that was once home to a peat-fueled power station.

It said it includes three main elements the first of which will be an analysis of baseline energy usage for the town to understand the current level of energy consumption by homes, businesses and transportation within the town. The data collected will be used to measure the success of any future projects of the group aimed at reducing energy usage and CO2 emissions.

Secondly, energy surveys will be conducted in homes that represent different types of residential properties in the town. The group say a summary of the results of these audits will be included in the final plan and will be a useful guide for local residents on the basic steps needed to retrofit their homes, improve their BER rating, an estimate of the costs involved and the grant supports available from the SEAI/government.

Finally, the master plan will include a Register of Opportunities which will comprise a list of projects as well as a detailed guide on implementation which the SEC group can take on to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy usage and improve the overall level of sustainability of Portarlington.

Caroline Whitelegg, PRO for PBA SEC group, explained what's involved.

An Energy Master Plan (EMP) is a planning document for SEC groups around the country who want to take on projects within their local communities to reduce energy usage and improve energy efficiency. We are delighted to be working with Tipperary Energy Agency in preparing this plan which, once completed, will put us in a position to take on projects within the town, she said.

John Holland is the Secretary of the SEC group.

It is vital that local communities take ownership of the transition to a low or zero-carbon economy. This transition can be a win-win for the environment and local communities as it is possible to reduce energy usage and save money for local households and businesses.

"There is great scope within the SEC programme for groups such as ours to work with the local community to implement projects supported with grant funding from the SEAI, local authority or central government. We all need to do our bit to be sustainable and we look forward to publishing this plan and getting started on implementing its recommendations, he said.

The PBA SEC group would like to thank the SEAI for the 15,000 grant funding that was provided to complete this project, as well as Laois County Council for the provision of bridge funding which made it possible to get to this point.

Portarlington SEC, in conjunction with Tipperary Energy Agency, aim to launch the final Energy Master Plan once completed in the coming months.

The ESB says the Portarlington station was opened in 1950 and at the time it was Irelands first turf-fired generating station. It was decommissioned in 1988. The station was designed to use the full output of sod peat fuel produced on the adjoining Clonsast bog.

At its peak, the station consumed approximately 195,000 tonnes of peat per annum, producing 150 million units of electricity.

The building was demolished in 1997.
Childcarers in Laois have been praised for raising thousands of euro for Autism and early learning support.

Early Childhood Ireland has announced that 18 of its member settings in Laois contributed over 5,500 to an impressive total of 349,222 raised around Ireland on National Pyjama Day 2022.

Running for 19 years, National Pyjama Day is the largest one-day fundraising event organised by the Early Years and School Age Care sector in Ireland. On the special day last November, over 60,000 enthusiastic children and their educators were sponsored to wear their cosy pjs in 1,142 settings all across Ireland.

As well as supporting a new member project to enhance quality for children in Early Years and School Age Care settings, Early Childhood Irelands 3,900 members also voted to support AsIAm. The autism charity underwent an appraisal process conducted by the Community Foundation for Ireland.

Commenting on the announcement, Teresa Heeney, CEO, Early Childhood Ireland said: We are so proud of the positive impact that will happen as a direct result of the funds raised by our fantastic members.

These donations will make a tangible difference to the lives of children with autism and will also continue to enhance quality for children in the Early Years and School Age Care sector in Ireland.

On behalf of everyone at Early Childhood Ireland, I would like to thank our members, their educators and the children at their settings together with their families for supporting this important fundraiser year after year. For the first time ever, we also had a donation button for the general public and people have been so giving. Thank you for your generosity, she said.

The funds raised will benefit two projects.

AsIAms Child and Family Support Programme provides group-based support to autistic children and their families, while building the capacity of families to engage with support services and advocate for the critical support they require. This years donation will support 400 children to build meaningful relationships with others in similar situations, participate and thrive in local communities and reduce isolation and anxiety about the future.

Inspired by the commitment to quality for children, which Early Childhood Ireland shares with its members, the funds raised for the Reggio Children Project will deliver three interconnected activities:

A Reggio Emilia Study Tour for 24 members of Early Childhood Ireland in April.

A week-long event delivered by Reggio Emilia in Ireland in May, with a focus on quality in education aimed at Early Childhood Irelands members, stakeholders and policy makers, to include setting visits and seminars.

A bespoke eLearning toolkit for members of Early Childhood Ireland available from September, inspired by the collaboration between Early Childhood Ireland and Reggio Children.

For more information about National Pyjama Day, please visit www.earlychildhoodireland.ie/pyjama-day/
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. On April 20, the first trilateral political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of India were held in Yerevan.

The delegations were headed by Mnatsakan Safaryan, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Seyed Rasoul Mousavi, the Assistant of the Foreign Minister of Iran, Head of the Regional General Department of South Asia and J P Singh, the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

During the meeting, the sides particularly touched upon economic issues and regional communication channels, outlined the prospects of deepening cultural and people to people contacts as well as trilateral cooperation in various fields. The sides agreed to continue consultations in a trilateral format.
A public consultation on the addition of the chickenpox vaccine to the routine childhood immunisation schedule has been launched.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is encouraging Irish parents to have their say on a draft Health Technology Assessment (HTA) on the clinical effectiveness, safety, and cost effectiveness of expanding the schedule.

Chickenpox is a highly contagious acute infectious disease most commonly seen in children under 10 years old, with one infected person having the potential to infect 10 to 12 others.

Although it is usually mild, it can lead to serious complications requiring hospitalisation or shingles later in life after reactivation of the virus.

Currently over 55,000 cases are reported every year in Ireland.

HIQA's Chief Scientist, Dr Conor Teljeur, said, "Vaccines against chickenpox have been available for over 30 years. In Ireland, the vaccine is already recommended for non-immune individuals in certain risk groups.

"Many countries include vaccination against chickenpox in their childhood immunisation schedules; however, the type of vaccine given, the number of doses and the timing of the doses differ."

Children in Ireland currently receive fourteen vaccines in their first 13 months of life as part of the standard schedule, with the chicken pox (varicella) vaccine available to anyone over 12 months old for a fee.

Dr Teljeur continued: "From reviewing the evidence, HIQA found that the chickenpox vaccine is safe and effective. Including it in the childhood immunisation programme would reduce the occurrence of chickenpox and would substantially reduce severe disease including hospitalisations.

"Vaccination is likely to represent a good use of healthcare resources and, when the broader cost to society of chickenpox is taken into account, vaccination is cost saving."

HIQA is inviting members of the public to provide feedback on the HTA until Monday May 29, 2023.

Following this consultation, the report will be updated as necessary based on the feedback received and will be subject to approval by the Board of HIQA.

It will then be provided as advice to the Minister for Health to inform a decision on whether or not to add the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine to the routine schedule.

You can participate in the public consultation here.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) is warning farmers to be extra vigilant this week to protect forests from fire damage.

It comes after the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issued a Condition Orange High Fire Risk alert this week (April 18), which is set to remain in place in all areas until Saturday (April 22) unless there is significant rainfall.

IFA Farm Forestry Chair, Jason Fleming, cautioned that most fires spread from adjoining land into the forest.

He said, "It is important that farmers assess the risk to their forest and make sure that the firebreaks are maintained. A firebreak should consist of a six-metre-wide fuel free zone, typically around the boundary of the forest."

He encouraged farmers to review the fire plan for their forest or to prepare one, especially if the forest is in a high-risk area.

He continued: "If you do not have [a] fire plan, I would suggest that you prepare one with a map that identifies potential risks, assembly points, access and escape routes, reservoirs or water points and firebreaks. The plan should also contain contact details for the local fire station, local Garda station, and Forester.

"Forest fires can cause devastation and significant financial loss to farmers. Under the Afforestation scheme, farmers are obliged to replant where a forest is damaged by fire, so it is important that farmers consider the financial consequences of a fire and make sure there is adequate insurance cover in place."

#FireWarning



Condition Orange - high fire risk



We have issued an Orange Forest Fire Warning arising from weather patterns and expected level of risk



Warning in place until 6pm, Saturday, April 22  Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (@agriculture_ie) April 18, 2023

The DAFM is asking the public to keep the following in mind:

 Do not light fires in or near woodland. You will be responsible if fire spreads from a campfire or barbeque. Use only designated barbeque points where available. Thoroughly soak BBQ embers after use and make sure that they are extinguished completely.

 Do not block forest entrances or roads when parking - access may be required by the fire service or forestry personnel in the event of an emergency, their job will be made easier if the roads are clear.

 Be prepared  Many hikers, cyclists, etc will carry mobile telephone, maps and GPS. These can be used to provide very accurate location information if you have to report a fire incident to the emergency services.

 If you see a fire, report it immediately to the emergency services - Dial 999 or 112. Give clear details as regards location and any other useful information such as the size of the fire, wind direction, proximity to dwellings or forestry etc. You will not be billed by the fire service or local authority for making the call.

 Report any illegal and suspicious activity to the Gardai. Dangerous or irresponsible burning activity should not be tolerated in our communities. Note that the burning of growing vegetation on uncultivated land between 1 March and 31 August each year is prohibited by law.

 Do not approach fires - Wildfires can be extremely dangerous and can rapidly change direction and behaviour. Avoid traversing uphill above fires  in suitable conditions, fire can travel uphill faster than you can run. Smoke can be highly disorienting and damaging to health. Avoid passing through smoke.

 Do not attempt to extinguish fires yourself. Fire fighting is dangerous work and should be left to suitably equipped and trained personnel. If you see a fire, call the fire service and retire to a safe distance.

For more information on preparing a Forest Fire Plan, the IFA has developed an information note here.
Gwen Wilkinson set out from the shores of Lough Erne and navigated a 400km journey to the tidal waters of the River Barrow in Ireland.



More than just a travelogue, The Waters and the Wild explores the interwoven histories of the people and wildlife that shaped Gwens journey.



As the adventure unfolds, she also shines a light on pioneering women who have left their mark on Irelands landscape  both natural and cultural.



The following is what she wrote about County Leitrim.

It is well past noon, and I need to keep moving downstream. Theres another ten kilometres of this wild water ahead, which should bring me to Jamestown.

The Blueways kayaking guide estimates a journey time of three hours, so I should arrive there just in time to pitch the tent before sunset. At the foot of the slipway the river lies in wait, taunting and tugging at Minnows keel as soon as it touches water.

I climb into the hull and brace myself for round two. At least this time I wont be caught off guard.

Rivers are powerful adversaries.

They can be your enemy and your undoing. A small open canoe is unequally matched against such a powerful opponent. The only weapon at my disposal is a twin-blade paddle. It is made of wood and is a beautifully crafted object in its own right.



The paddle has the added advantage of having a two-part adjustable shaft. By adjusting the ferrule joint, the blades can be set in two different positions, feathered or parallel. Generally, I keep the blades feathered, so that they are at right angles to each other.



As one blade moves through the water, the opposite side slices through the air, reducing wind resistance. Feathered blades place a heavy workload on the wrists, which is constantly in motion.

Before leaving Carrick, I had repositioned the blades so that they were parallel, mirroring each other on either side  this limits the stroke of the paddle, but increases the breaking action.

Given the still strong current, I decided that I wouldn't need much forward propulsion, just a means of steering.



The river surges on, and with it goes the canoe, bobbing about like Susan Mitchells proverbial cork on a wave. I flash past ritzy marinas, where row upon row of floating pontoons are filled with luxury private and chartered hire boats. Theres a whiff of the Riviera about it all.



The vernacular Shannon boat is plastic-hulled and painted ubiquitous white with go-fast stripes. Each multi-storey vessel has tinted windows, and many are kitted out with swimming platforms.

All are equipped with steering wheels, bow and stern thrusters and even windscreen wipers. If there is a traditional Shannon boat, I have yet to see one, though its good to see the river being used and being important to the local economies.



The river hurries on, curling in a tight bow around the town, then racing eastwards, bracing sharply south, west and back east again. In these upper reaches, the river is erratic and confused as it figures out the optimum route down to the waiting sea.

Below Carrick the river spills into Lough Corry, where it has a chance to simmer down and relax its hold on the canoe.

The water is suddenly submissive and I am briefly back in control, able to dictate pace and direction. The waterscape is littered with foam, mini bergs of dirty polystyrene that tumble and scud about. Leaving the lough, the river pinches in again, but is still puzzling out which way to run.

Now it doubles back, heading north-east, in the opposite direction. It feels as if I am on a wild goose chase through the countryside.



Its at this point that engineers and navigators decided to take matters into their own hands, building a canal and bypassing surplus lengths of coiled and shoaly river. The Jamestown Canal is a short stretch of artificial waterway, incorporating a lock on its lower reaches.



Its a big relief to exit the river and enter the tame, stationary waters of the canal. Albert Lock is not listed on the Blueways guide as a designated camping ground, but it appeals to me because it is well off the beaten track and away from curious onlookers.



I rise bright and early to find that the weather has at last turned in my favour, and I will have a strong following wind to help me on my journey. I stow the bulk of my camping gear in the canoes stern. This lifts the bow high out of the water, helping the canoe track straight downwind, a simple trick that will save me valuable paddling energy.



The gusty wind and strong current ferries the canoe effortlessly downstream, depositing me at the entrance of Lough Boderg. River traffic is confined to a channel running down the centre of the lough since the shores are too shallow for most vessels. Hugging Bodergs rocky eastern shoreline, the canoe runs fast, cresting and surfing the waves.

Its a joyous and exhilarating ride once I overcome an initial fear of broaching and capsizing.



The canoe takes the pacey conditions in her stride, and Im impressed with her performance, even though she is designed for flat-water paddling.

Within an hour I reach the far end of the lough, where the shores converge to form a narrow pinch-point as the river flows into Lough Bofin.



The sheer volume of water squeezing through the tight gap creates a powerful current. Boats heading upstream struggle against the flow, and when I arrive theres a bottleneck of vessels waiting to pass through. Even with engines running at full throttle, their progress is painfully slow.

Anchoring the canoe in a reed bed, I sit back and watch the activity unfold. When the coast is clear, I let the current whisk me through and out into Lough Bofin.



Setting out across Bofin, it is as though I have passed into a different world. Where Boderg was vigorous and rushing, Bofin is slumbering, silent and eerily still.

The white-knuckle ride abruptly ends, and I am back to self-propulsion again. The shoreline is full of shallow recesses that are off limits to the average boat. Relaxed and unhurried, I dip in and out of coves to explore hidden inlets.
Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly and another department official were advised not to use their devices during a St Patricks Day trip to the US in March 2022, in an incident described by department secretary general Robert Watt as a hack.

Minister Donnelly and his officials were advised not to use their devices  particularly for email  due to concerns about a cyber security risk, a spokesman for the minister said.

The officials devices were powered off and surrendered to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) upon their arrival back in Ireland.

However, the NCSC said no signs of compromise were found on the devices.

A spokesman for the Department of Communications said the NCSC technically examines peoples devices as a precautionary measure on occasion.

Minister Donnellys device was examined at the time in question and no signs of compromise were found, the spokesman said.

The minister had travelled to Texas as part of a St Patricks Day visit, where he met then Texas secretary of state John B Scott and mayor of Austin Steve Adler.

Delighted to meet up with @MayorAdler and @txsecofstate this week. Some great opportunities on trade, investment, arts, healthcare and more between Ireland and Texas. pic.twitter.com/pNgoHkJlZ0  Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) March 18, 2022

At the Finance Committee on Wednesday, Mr Watt said a message relating to a controversial secondment of the chief medical officer was drafted for the minister but he did not receive it because his computer was hacked.

Mr Watt claimed the machine was corrupted for four to five days.

According to Mr Watt, the incident meant that an important email about the proposed secondment of then chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan was not passed on to the minister.

It would have contained details around proposals for the annual allocation of two million euro to accompany the secondment of Dr Holohan to Trinity College Dublin.

There was a technical issue that got in the way. I havent spoken about this before because that sounds like making excuses but thats actually what happened.

A controversy arose around the secondment and it ultimately did not take place.

An external review into the proposed secondment was published this week and highlighted a lack of formal consultation with the Taoiseach, Minister for Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform throughout the process.

There were conflicting reports of when key government officials were informed of significant details about the proposal.

It also said the associated annual commitment of two million euro in research funding to be allocated through the Health Research Board (HRB) was not based on any scope nor costings and that the HRB was not consulted.

The report said the proposed funding bypassed all accepted protocols for research funding and did not, in the authors opinion, meet accepted norms of scrutiny, transparency and accountability.

It said the proposed secondment and associated research funding should not have been linked together and that it should have been fully discussed at an earlier stage by Mr Watt with the Minister for Health.

Reflecting on the incident at committee, Mr Watt said: Whatever, we didnt communicate with him. We should have.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visits an exhibition displaying destroyed Russian military vehicles, in central Kyiv, Ukraine April 20, 2023. GLEB GARANICH / REUTERS

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday, April 20, his first since the Russian invasion, Ukrainian media and a NATO official said. The Kyiv Independent newspaper published images of Stoltenberg in central Kyiv, in front of a memorial for fallen soldiers. The photographs showed Stoltenberg with his head down in front of the memorial. Many Western officials traveling to Kyiv do not announce their trips in advance for security reasons.

"The NATO Secretary General is in Ukraine. We will release more information as soon as possible," a NATO official said. Stoltenberg's visit comes 14 months into Russia's invasion and ahead of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive. NATO has pledged to stand by Ukraine as it fights Russia.

Earlier this month, Stoltenberg invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to a NATO summit in July. He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin had "wanted to slam NATO's door shut" but "failed."

Denmark and Netherlands promise tanks

Stoltenberg's visit came on the same day that Denmark announced that it and the Netherlands had agreed to buy and donate 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as more heavy weapons are being pledged to Kyiv. The tanks have long been an item on Ukraine's military equipment wish list. "The Netherlands and Denmark today announce our intention to jointly acquire, refurbish and donate 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks for Ukraine," the Danish defense ministry said in a statement.

It said the tanks would be supplied from "early 2024," and that the estimated cost of 165 million euros would be "equally divided" between the countries. "In this way, we will jointly take part in the 'Leopard 2 coalition', supported by many partners and allies," the statement said.

In a separate statement, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said "Ukrainian and European security are inextricably linked". Germany and Britain last month delivered 18 advanced Leopards and 14 Challenger 2 tanks, respectively.

On Wednesday, American-made Patriot missiles arrived in Ukraine, the country's defense minister announced, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The US agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid. Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

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Residential buildings damaged in fighting are seen in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 20, 2023. MARWAN ALI / AP

The United Nations said on Thursday, April 20, up to 20,000 people had fled escalating violence in Sudan to seek safety in Chad, many of whom lacked basic needs such as food, water and shelter.

The UN's refugee agency said the majority of those arriving were women and children, who were currently sheltering out in the open. Some of the refugees had been caught up in the fighting in Sudan, it said.

"In the past days, an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people have fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region to seek refuge in neighboring Chad," the UNHCR agency said, citing figures from its teams at the border. "The initial, most pressing, needs are water, food, shelter, health care, child protection, and prevention of gender-based violence. Due to the violence experienced by those crossing the border, psychosocial support is also among our top priorities."

UNHCR said eastern Chad, which borders Darfur, was already hosting 400,000 refugees from Sudan, and the new arrivals were placing additional strain on the country's already overstretched public services and resources.

Chad's communications minister and government spokesperson Aziz Mahamat Saleh told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that between 10,000 and 20,000 people had been welcomed in, mainly in the Assoungha department in Ouaddai province. "Every day people are pouring in and a humanitarian corridor is open," he said.

Over 300 people have been killed since the fighting erupted Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

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The fighting between the forces of the two rival generals showed no signs of abating ahead of festivities marking the end of Ramadan.

"Tragically, we have already received reports of refugees caught in the ongoing fighting in Sudan," said Raouf Mazou, UNHCR's assistant high commissioner for operations.

"It is urgent that the conflict stops to prevent the loss of more lives. We reiterate our call for all parties to protect civilians, including refugees and displaced people, and to respect the safety of humanitarian staff so that critical aid can be delivered."

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French President Emmanuel Macron talks to journalists as he visits a middle school Thursday, April 20, 2023 in Ganges, southern France. DANIEL COLE / AP

French President Emmanuel Macron announced teachers nationwide would receive a pay raise in September, on a visit to a village in the South of France on Wednesday, April 20. Police fired teargas to hold off protestors as he visited a school, a day after he was booed and heckled over his unpopular pension reform.

After facing angry voters on Wednesday in eastern Alsace, the 45-year-old head of state traveled to the South on Thursday to talk about education. Saying he wanted to "acknowledge and pay teachers better", the 45-year-old former investment banker announced at a school in the village of Ganges that they would receive between 100-230 euros ($110-250) more a month after tax from September.

The trips outside Paris are intended to signal his desire to turn the page on his unpopular pensions changes and demonstrate he is not hiding from voters, many of whom have been outraged by the way the legislation was passed.

At Macron's arrival at the middle school, the site was hit by a power cut, which the local branch of the hard-left CGT union said was a protest action.

In the run-up to his speech, police fired teargas when hundreds of people shouting "Macron, resign!" and blowing whistles tried to advance towards the school. Local authorities also announced a ban on "portable sound equipment" which a spokesman said was meant to target amplifiers and speakers.

But the regional head of the CGT union, Mathieu Guy, said that protesters had also been prevented from entering the secure area close to the school with pans as well as local flutes, known as "fifres". Macron's left-wing political opponents urged their supporters to bash pans during Macron's televised address to the nation on Monday evening and the age-old protest tactic appears to be becoming an audible sign of discontent at Macron's policies.

'Democratic crisis'

The apparent pan ban led to ridicule on Thursday, with Communist party spokesman Ian Brossat saying he "couldn't wait for the legislation which will ban the sale of saucepans."

"Is it possible to leave a democratic crisis behind by banning saucepans?" asked leading Greens MP Sandrine Rousseau.

Speaking to voters on Wednesday, Macron argued again that raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 was necessary to help France reduce its public spending and bring the country into line with its European neighbors. He signed the legislation into law on Friday evening after a green light from the country's Constitutional Council.

Other protests continued on Thursday, with union members entering the headquarters of the pan-European stock exchange Euronext in the main Paris business district. The CGT union has called for scattered protest actions across the country. In Paris, hundreds of people gathered for a peaceful demonstration at the Gare de Lyon train station.

Earlier Thursday, some protesters in the northern city of Lille walked along the railway line, blocking all train traffic for about one hour. They then left peacefully. Several unions joined a strike at the national railway company SNCF, slightly disrupting train traffic Thursday. Some regional lines and Paris suburban trains were affected, while high-speed trains were running almost as normal, the SNCF said.

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THE LONGEST coffee morning in Ireland returned for the first time post-Covid and for some attendees it was the first time they left their house since the pandemic.

Mike ODonoghue opened up his home in Pallasgreen to one and all from 7am to midnight last Friday. He started the event in 2015 with Saoirse Corbett, Tara Campbell, Sarah Dillon to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society.

It grew bigger and bigger over the years but had to be called off in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to Covid. Instead, they held three 24-hour fasts and sleep-outs on the grounds of Nicker church.

In the intervening years, Mike, Saoirse, Tara, Sarah have been joined by Aine Looby, Maurice Barrett, Ellie and Sarah Phelan and they have become collectively known as the mighty eight.

Last Friday, they welcomed one and all back to the longest coffee morning in Ireland.

This is where we started, its fantastic to be back and lets hope we can continue with it. A good few of those that came met people they hadnt seen since Covid. We also had residents from St Anthonys Nursing Home and Brothers of Charity service users. We are absolutely thrilled with the day, said Mike.

They even welcomed a number of people that hadnt left their homes since Covid and this was their first time out. Like the over 230 who called, they were made feel at home with one of the mighty eight dishing up a hot cuppa and slice of cake.

Their first arrival came after 7am and a steady stream of people continued until after 11.30pm.

During the day a magnolia tree was planted and a plaque unveiled with the inscription, This tree was planted for all of those affected by cancer.

After Mass in Nicker on Saturday, the rosary was said and candles lit around the tree. Between donations at the coffee morning and Daffodil Day pin sales in local shops, more than 11,000 was raised for the Irish Cancer Society.

I want to say a special thanks to everybody who helped out in any way, donated food and donated money and were still open for donations, said Mike.
The number of Chinese car brands available in Europe is expanding again with the announcement that HiPhi and Zeekr will both be coming to the region.

There has been huge interest from growing Chinese car brands to expand their footprint into Europe, with Great Wall Motors (GWM) and BYD both being introduced to in recent months.

At this weeks Shanghai motor show, premium brand Zeekr and EV start-up HiPhi both announced further global expansion.

Starting with bold electric start-up brand HiPhi, which wants to have cars on European roads by the end of 2023. The firm has announced two new Hubs in Munich and Oslo, with Germany and Norway respectively being two of the main markets when it comes to EVs.

HiPhis X SUV has already been approved for sale by the European Union and will be the first model from the brand to be sold outside of China. It will be followed by the arrival of the recently-unveiled HiPhi Y in 2024.

HiPhi founder and CEO David Ding said: HiPhi has been committed to building a global high-end brand from China since its inception, so while we delve deeper into the Chinese market, we also look globally.

In 2023, we will launch a global brand strategy and expand into overseas markets, with the European and Middle Eastern markets the focus of our first wave of expansion.

Zeekr, owned by Chinese automotive giant Geely, which also operates Volvo and Lotus, has announced a similar expansion. This premium EV firm will introduce its 001 shooting brake and X urban SUV by the end of the year in Sweden and the Netherlands, and into further European markets shortly after.

The firm says it wants to create a one-stop shop for European customers and aims to address issues with charging anxiety, residual values, range and reliability with its 360-degree combination of services.

Spiros Fotinos, CEO of Zeekr Europe and formerly of Lexus, said: European consumers are increasingly ready to make the shift to EVs and are more open than ever to new technology brands  especially ones purely focused on electric vehicles.

With the resources, knowledge and experience weve got behind us, Zeekr is well positioned to offer world-class EVs, innovative services and an exceptional experience that will make the transition to electric easier than ever, allowing us to contribute to a more sustainable future.
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. During this period the opinion that they are abandoned by the international community has spread widely among the residents of the Republic of Artsakh, while Azerbaijan continues to violate its own international obligations without any consequences for itself. In this regard, "Artsakhpress" news agency asked Artur Tovmasyan, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, what kind of expectations there are, in particular, from the Council of Europe, an organization that is authorized to protect human rights in its entire geographical area, including Artsakh.

In response, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh noted that within the framework of informing the international community about the humanitarian and human rights-related consequences of blocking the Lachin Corridor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) has sent letters to the leadership of the Council of Europe and all member-states, asking them to take immediate measures, to prevent further violations of the European Convention on Human Rights by Azerbaijan.

Responding to the situation, the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the PACE co-rapporteurs on the issues of Armenia and Azerbaijan issued statements calling for the opening of the corridor, and the European Court of Human Rights applied interim measures against Azerbaijan. After the discussions on the pending issues held in January, a report entitled "Elimination of the consequences of blocking the Lachin Corridor" is being prepared in the Parliamentary Assembly. At the same time, we are deeply disappointed by the absence of a targeted appeal from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who after the very weak statement made on December 15, 2022, decided to remain silent in the conditions of the ongoing blockade and the publicly announced goal of ethnic cleansing of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, Artur Tovmasyan said.

According to Artur Tovmasyan, while all the leading international human rights defenders continue to raise the alarm and call for urgent steps to be taken to end the blockade of Artsakh, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe has stayed away from this human rights crisis, showing double standards and a selective approach to fulfilling his official duties and fulfilling the organization's mandate in general. The same can be said about the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

"Silence and inaction of such high-ranking officials is tantamount to giving consent, if not complicity, given that more than a hundred thousand people in the zone of responsibility of the Council of Europe remain abandoned amid massive violations of human rights, deep-rooted hatred, physical and psychological intimidation by the autocratic regime of Azerbaijan and its state apparatus. Ultimately, the leadership of the Council of Europe must be committed to the ideals and values of the organization and work for the benefit of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people, rather than being guided by the principle of political expediency.

Human rights and the rule of law should not be sacrificed for shameful economic and political calculations. Each new day of Azerbaijan's blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh is another day of shame for those who have an international mandate for protection and the necessary tools for it, but prefer not to act. We reiterate our call to the Council of Europe and its leadership to act decisively for the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. We expect from the Committee of Ministers an unequivocal political assessment of Azerbaijan's barbaric actions, as well as the use of all its tools, including the implementation of a fact-finding mission to end the policy of ethnic cleansing and hold Baku accountable for not fulfilling its obligations," said Artur Tovmasyan, adding , that while the Council of Europe is preparing for its 4th summit, it should demonstrate in practice that human rights are universal and that the values proclaimed by the organization are placed above political and economic interests.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party stands with the Special Criminal Court against the threat of organised crime as she faced questioning about former councillor and convicted criminal Jonathan Dowdall.

She was speaking in the Dail after Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy said there were many serious questions unanswered by Ms McDonald about Dowdall, who he described as her political protege-turned-gangland torturer.

Dowdall, a former Sinn Fein councillor, is serving a four-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.

He was a key State witness in the unsuccessful case against Gerry The Monk Hutch in the non-jury Special Criminal Court.

Mr Brophy asked a series of specific and targeted questions towards Ms McDonald on her relationship with Dowdall.

Were talking about a gentleman who was involved in organised crime at the same time he was a public representative for a political party.

We are talking about somebody who the leader  who seeks high office in this country  of a political party, went out of her way to facilitate him remaining within her party.

Mr Brophys contributions to the Dail were criticised as straying from the topic by the Ceann Comhairle and Leas-Ceann Comhairle.

This is a provision for statements, not questions and answers. So were not going to turn it into a circus, Sean O Fearghail said.

In her debate time, Ms McDonald responded to Mr Brophy: Sinn Fein stands 100% with law-abiding citizens, with the members of an Garda Siochana, with the the court system  all of it, including the Special Criminal Court  against the threat of organised crime.

Ms McDonald then attempted to distance herself from Dowdall.

Much has been said in the aftermath of the case at the Special Criminal Court, which concluded this week.

For the avoidance of doubt, let me say again that Jonathan Dowdall had no business in Sinn Fein. He shouldnt have been in our party.

He joined in June 2013. He left in February 2015. But it was in March 2016 that his criminal activity was discovered.

She said he went on to commit heinous crimes.

He and he alone is responsible for his actions. He has been convicted before the courts.

If I had known for a second what he would be capable of, what he would go on to do, he wouldnt have been near me.

He wouldnt have been near Sinn Fein and he certainly would not have been running for public office.

Fine Gael TDs Fergus ODowd and Alan Farrell also used portions of their time to raise Dowdalls criminality, including his conviction for false imprisonment which involved torture.

During the approximately three-and-a-half scheduled hours of debate on organised crime, Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon criticised the use of Dail time to take shots and settle vendettas.

Earlier, Sinn Fein said it anticipates to support legislation to modernise Offences Against the State Acts.

The Oireachtas has to annually renew certain sections of the Offences Against the State 1998 and the Criminal Justice Act 2009.

These sections relate to laws around membership of an unlawful organisation, inferences that can be drawn and used as evidence, direction of an unlawful organisation, as well as penalties for certain offences.

Sinn Fein has abstained from votes on extending the Special Criminal Court which tries such offences.

The partys justice spokesperson Pa Daly told the Dail that it hopes the legislation can be modernised.

Our courts need to have all the powers and resources they need to fight 21st century criminals.

Every year, Fine Gael make a virtue of renewing decades old legislation and everyone accepts this is an outdated means of dealing with criminals of 2023.

Mr Daly expressed support for an ongoing review of the Offences Against the State Acts.

This review is ongoing and is due for report soon, according to what the Taoiseach said on Tuesday, he said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it is hoped the review will be published before June and the vote on extending the Special Criminal Court.

We anticipate that its recommendations will include modernisation, and we expect to support the new legislation that it recommends in order to robustly dismantle criminal gangs, Mr Daly said.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris said the convictions on Monday of two people involved in the Regency Hotel murder are an example of the non-jury Special Criminal Court working and carrying out its duties.

I do want to send out a very strong message today: Justice always prevails. You can run. You can try hide.

But An Garda Siochana will never stop pursuing and dismantling the criminal gangs causing fear, violence and murder across this country. 

Mr Harris said there are parties in the Dail who abscond when votes on the Special Criminal Court arise.

Those who doubt its role in the criminal justice system need to be questioned on what their alternative is.

There are trials which would not have taken place before the Special Criminal Court had some parties in this House been in Government.

They would have exposed men and women on juries in gangland and paramilitary trials and in the direct eye line of criminal gangs and subversives.

They would put people at risk  and weaken our criminal justice system.
The three major IT firms have announced their March 2023 quarter results. Amongst the IT majors, HCL Tech has hired the most compared to its peers Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Even though HCL Tech, TCS net addition has slowed down in March quarter, Infosys has reduced its workforce.

HCL Tech:

HCL Tech added 3,674 employees in Q4 thus taking its employees count stood at 225,944 in the March quarter, compared to 222,270 employees in Q3FY23. For FY23 , the company's headcount rose by 17,067 employees, which is down by 57.3 per cent from the 39,900 employees added in FY22..

In the March quarter, HCL Tech added 4,480 freshers. The IT major had added 2,945 employees in the December quarter. HCL Techs full-year fresher hiring target of 30,000 too was missed. Total fresher addition for FY23 came in at 26,734.

For the quarter, HCL Tech's attrition (LTM) was at 19.5%, lower than the same December quarter of the fiscal year, where it stood at 21.7%.

Infosys:

Infosys reduced its workforce by 3,611 employees thus taking the total headcount to 3,43,234 employees in Q4FY23.

It had added 1,627 employees in December quarter and its employee count stood at 3,46,845 in Q3FY23 as compared to 3,45,218 employees Q2FY23.

Infosys reported a net addition of 51,819 people in FY23. Infosys onboarded 51,000 freshers during the 2023 fiscal, slightly above its guidance of 50,000.

In terms of attrition, Infosys attrition rate at dipped to 20.9% in Q4FY23 compared to 24.3% in December 2022 quarter from 27.1% in September 2022 quarter. During the June 2022 quarter, the attrition rate was 28.4%. Infosys expects the attrition rate to decline further in the near term.

TCS:

TCS made a net addition of 821 in Q4 thus taking the total to 614,795 employees by end of the fiscal.

In December quarter it had reduced it workforce by 2,197 employees and its workforce stood at 613,974. In the the September 2022 quarter, the headcount was 616,171.

For the 2023 fiscal, TCS onboarded 44,000 freshers after it had given a target of 45,000-47,000 freshers. TCS retained its fresher hiring targets at 40,000 for FY24.

On the positive front, TCS' IT services attrition rate inched lower to 20.1% on an LTM basis from 21.3% in Q3FY23.
gireesh.p@livemint.com

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is set to widen its peer review mechanism for audit firms to ensure transparency and audit quality, the regulators newly elected president Aniket Sunil Talati said in an interview emphasising that the watchdog will not hesitate to give exemplary punishment to erring professionals.

Talati said that ICAIs peer review, a way of checking the processes followed by an audit firm by an external and independent audit professional, which currently applies to firms that audit listed companies, will be extended to all audit firms with five or more partners from 1 July.

ICAI has in the past removed many professionals from practice for a specified period and in some cases, for life, as part of its disciplinary exercise, Talati said. ICAI presidents emphasis on the track record of the watchdogs disciplinary actions comes at a time a parallel regulator, the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), is tasked with ensuring the audit quality of listed and large unlisted businesses considered as public interest entities, has been proactive in its disciplinary actions.

We have removed certain chartered accountants for life. We have imposed the highest penalty, which is available under the law to chartered accountants. My request to you would be to visit the Institutes website. We are uploading these orders," Talati said.

He, however, admitted that there might be a lack of public awareness about the steps taken by ICAIs disciplinary committee that examines the conduct of professionals and passes orders. The committee has never been soft on professionals, he said.

Talati also said that the peer review mechanism, which is currently compulsory for firms that audit listed companies, will be extended to all audit firms with five or more partners from 1 July.

The peer review is a very important and very interesting concept. The third party verifies the audit firms documentation and the way the audit has been conducted and then issues a report," said Talati. Peer review of a firm can be conducted by an individual chartered accountant.

A statement from ICAI, citing Talati, states that 6,766 cases have been registered under a new disciplinary mechanism from 2007 till 31 March 2023, out of which decisions have been taken in the case of 4,249 cases (62.8%).
Johnson & Johnson won a temporary, narrow halt to more than 40,000 claims that the health-care giants baby powders caused cancer, but may see more lawsuits filed in the meantime.

US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan said Thursday the company wont have to go to trial over any talc lawsuits in the coming weeks, but is allowing new lawsuits to be filed and for discovery to continue in existing cases. The limited pause is designed to give J&Js bankrupt unit, LTL Management, time to try to win court approval of an $8.9 billion settlement.

The company was in court Tuesday in New Jersey to argue about whether the lawsuits should restart, or remain on hold while J&J tries for the second time to use the bankrupt unit to persuade cancer victims to accept the settlement. Critics say they would rather take their claims to juries around the country to try to win verdicts against J&J.

Kaplans pause is narrower than the one sought by J&J. Lawyers for J&Js bankrupt unit tried to convince Kaplan to block all the baby powder lawsuits from going forward, just as he did after J&J first put the company into bankruptcy in 2021.

Lawsuits against bankrupt companies are automatically paused while a plan to repay creditors  including people who have filed lawsuits  is hashed out. LTL argued that it cannot resolve the lawsuits as part of the bankruptcy case while J&J is fighting the tens of thousands of case around the country.

J&J has long denied any link between cancer and baby powder and argues that the best way to settle the lawsuits is through a negotiated plan blessed by a bankruptcy court.

Victims allege that for decades J&J sold baby powder that contained talc contaminated with the toxic substance asbestos. Although J&J has prevailed in some cases, it has lost nearly a dozen suits over the years. One case was that went all the way to the US Supreme Court resulted in J&J being forced to pay $2.5 billion to a group of about 20 women.

The new settlement proposal is backed by as many as 80,000 claimants, company lawyer Gregory Gordon told Kaplan in federal court on Tuesday. The proposal has split the law firms representing tens of thousands of women who say say the companys baby powder gave them cancer. Holdouts have questioned the number of claimants supporting law firms say they represent and claim J&J wrongly put LTL Management back into bankruptcy just hours after its first effort was dismissed on orders from a federal appeals court.

Eventually, LTL will need to send its proposal to claimants for a vote. Should 75% of those voting back the deal, LTL would set up a trust funded with the $8.9 billion from J&J. All current and future lawsuits would then be channeled to the trust, which would use a complex set of rules to decide how much each claimant would get.

J&J said Tuesday it incurred a $6.9 billion charge attributable to the proposed talc settlement, contributing to a $68 million loss for the first quarter of 2023.

The company has said it needs Chapter 11 to resolve the talc liability, which continues to grow. John Kim, LTLs chief legal officer, testified Tuesday the the number of pending talc claims doubled between the time the second bankruptcy was filed in April and the J&J subsidiary first filed Chapter 11 in October 2021.

The talc liability is enormous," Kim said.

The new bankruptcy filing is LTL Management LLC, 23-12825, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (Trenton).
New Delhi: Myntra's wholesale entity, Myntra Jabong Pvt Ltd, has acquired distribution and management rights for fashion brand, French Connection and its sub-brand FCUK, expanding its portfolio of international licenced brands.

Myntra will re-launch the brands in India and support their wholesale distribution through independent third-party franchise partners and authorized distributors, according to a company statement on Thursday.

The UK-based fashion brand will cater to premium shoppers, offering apparel such as t-shirts, shirts, jeans for men, and t-shirts, tops, jeans, and dresses for women. Myntra's partnership allows the Flipkart-owned fashion e-commerce platform to design and distribute French Connection and FCUK products in India exclusively, helping the brand establish a strong consumer base.

French Connection and FCUK will launch an online brand store on Myntra on 20 April and will also have a significant presence across the platform's social commerce channels.

We are delighted to have engaged Myntra as our India licensee for French Connection and FCUK. I have every confidence in the Myntra team to enable a successful launch and promote the ongoing presence of the brands in India," said Apinder Ghura, chairman and director, French Connection Group.

Nihal Rajan, senior vice president of House of Brands at Myntra, said that the partnership would enable French Connection and FCUK to access the growing Indian fashion consumer base, including Myntra's Gen Z and Millennial audience.

Myntra Jabong India, a part of the Flipkart Group, has previously collaborated with fashion brands such as Mango, Nautica, H&M, Slazenger, and bebe to distribute their products in India.
The launch of a new office for DISCO, a pioneer in AI-enabled legal technology, has been announced at Gurugram, India. The company will be able to extend its services and improve DISCO's capacity to provide 24/7 professional assistance to clients internationally thanks to the new office, which will operate locally as CS Disco India PVT LTD.

Enterprises and law firms want a partner they can work with on a global scale. The opening of our India office is an exciting next step in our evolution that will allow us to provide a 24/7 customer service and support model to clients worldwide. DISCOs mission is to assemble a team of world-class talent with a deep love and respect for the law, and we look forward to welcoming new team members who share our same values. Our track record of product innovation, including the recent introduction of DISCOs AI chatbot Cecilia, is changing the industrys expectations about what legal technology can do. With our team in India, we will be able to accelerate innovation, expand our global reach, and continue delivering exceptional value to our customers," said Kiwi Camara, Co-Founder and CEO of DISCO.

"The legal sector is finally starting to embrace innovation, and we expect that the current demand for cloud-based solutions and productized legal services will continue to increase. Opening an office in India is a strategic move that we believe will enable DISCO to accelerate growth. This office will also allow DISCO to tap into a new global pool of diverse professionals who share the vision of transforming the legal industry through advanced software and cutting-edge technology", said Krishna Srinivasan, Chair of the Board of Directors and Director at DISCO.

India has become a major technology talent hub and our expansion is not just a geographic move, but a strategic one that aligns with our goal of building a strong and diverse global team. DISCO is committed to optimizing and engaging talent from around the world, as well as creating an environment that values and celebrates our collective differences. We are excited to welcome our new colleagues at DISCO India, who we know will be invaluable to our future success," said Jignasha Amin Grooms, Executive Vice President and CHRO.

The 600 or so DISCOvians who now work throughout the world will be joined by the company's employees in India, and the new office will be guided by the same principles for which DISCO has grown to be recognised. This involves promoting diversity and inclusion, as well as fostering an atmosphere that encourages both individual and professional development as well as creativity and innovation.

For companies, law offices, suppliers of legal services, and governments, CS Disco, Inc. offers a cloud-native, artificial intelligence-powered legal solution that streamlines ediscovery, legal document review, and case management.
Tirupati Forge is a small cap company having a market cap of 107 Cr and the company deals in the auto ancillary sector. The stock exchanges have been notified by Tirupati Forge Ltd., a well-known producer of carbon steel forged flanges, forged components, and automotive parts, that it has been given the go-ahead to provide forgings and machined parts by reputable Indian major firms which will allow the company to contribute an additional growth rate of approximately 30% to its turnover from this financial year.

The demand of forging and machined components is going to rise further in view of large-scale expansion plans of existing companies and the new projects coming up in defence and infrastructure companies," said Tirupati Forge in a stock exchange filing.

From this year onward, the company's substantially enhanced capacity would be completely used, putting it in a position to post stronger growth rates in subsequent years. The company previously disclosed to the exchanges that it has planned to launch new products in the oil and gas sector with a focus on the American market (USA).

A notable producer of forged parts for automobiles, forged components, and carbon steel flanges is Tirupati Forge Ltd. The firm, which focuses on producing large numbers of high-quality products, has set itself up with a contemporary CNC Machine Shop and the secure infrastructure needed for painstaking machining, supported by a quality assurance department. With 90% of its products being used abroad, Tirupati Forge's activities are largely geared towards meeting the demands of the worldwide market.

Achieving prestigious accreditations like ISO-9001:2008 certification, PED - AD 2000, and CRN (Canadian Registration Number) under the Tirupati brand name, the company, which has an installed capacity of 18,000 tonnes per year, maintains strict quality control measures and a foolproof system. The firm frequently exports forged flanges and parts to the USA, Europe, and African nations.

Modern forging workshops and machining facilities in Tirupati comply to strict quality control standards, guaranteeing complete traceability of the finished product with the necessary paperwork and thorough proof checks as per ISO norms.

The shares of Tirupati Forge closed today on the NSE at 10.85 apiece, down by 1.36% from the previous close of 11. The stock touched a 52-week-high of 25.60 on (22-Dec-2022) and a 52-week-low of 8.35 on (29-Mar-2023), indicating that at the current market price, the stock is trading 57.61% below the 1 year high and 29.94% above the 1 year low.
NEW DELHI : Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting agreed to acquire Kerala-based packaged foods company Brahmins Foods on Thursday, building on its purchase of the Nirapara brand from the same region last year.

Bengaluru-based Wipro Consumer, known for its popular brands such as Santoor soap and Yardley talc, is bolstering its presence in the packaged foods business with its acquisitions of Nirapara and Brahmins. The aim is to consolidate its position in the market and expand beyond its traditional home and personal care offerings.

The Indian packaged food market, valued at approximately 5 trillion, is experiencing a shift as middle-class households switch from unbranded to branded food items. This trend has prompted several large companies to diversify their product lines and expand their offerings in the packaged foods sector.

Brahmins, established in 1987, sells a range of ethnic breakfast pre-mix powders, spice mixes, spice powders, pickles, dessert mixes, wheat products and other packaged foods. Its flagship sambar powder and puttu podi enjoy leadership in its home market.

The companys products are available across Kerala, metro cities in the rest of India, and overseas markets, including GCC countries, the US, UK and Australia.

In December, Wipro Consumer Care acquired KKR Group-owned Nirapara, marking the household goods companys foray into the packaged snacks, spices, and ready-to-cook food market.

We entered the food category with our first acquisition of Nirapara, and within six months, we are happy to share our latest acquisition of Brahmins. In Kerala, Brahmins is a strong heritage brand leading the spice and ready-to-cook category with a significant consumer recall," Vineet Agrawal, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and managing director of Wipro Enterprises, said.

This is the companys 14th acquisition overall. Wipro Consumer earlier acquired the energy drinks brand Glucovita and personal care brand Yardley.

Acquisitions aside, the company is also planning to launch its own packaged foods brand in the future. In fact, we are setting up our R&D lab in Bengaluru, and are working to launch our own brand in the next nine months. Our initial plans were to grow our foods business organically. Since these two deals with Nirapara and Brahmins came our way, we decided to take these up as these are great brands," said Agrawal.

Wipro is witnessing an unprecedented expansion of its foods business, said Anil Chugh, president of the foods business at Wipro Consumer Care. Spices and ready-to-cook are big categories that are poised to grow significantly. The deal will further bolster the companys position in the blended spices and ethnic breakfast (puttu podi, appams and other rice products) categories in Kerala and other markets such as the GCC countries, UK, US and Australia, Chugh said.

In FY23, Wipro Consumer Care recorded sales of 10,000 crore, with 51% of sales generated from overseas operations. Its flagship Santoor brand reported sales of over 2,650 crore, and its female toiletries brand Enchanteur exceeded 1,000 crore in the year.

Kochi-based investment banking firm Kafco Backwater provided advisory services to Brahmins on the acquisition by Wipro Consumer Care.
A court has thrown out rape and sexual offence charges against Christian Brueckner, who has been formally identified as an official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, his lawyer said on Thursday.

The court's decision means that legal authorities in Braunschweig have no jurisdiction over the case of "Maddie", a British girl who disappeared in Portugal in 2007 at the age of 3, lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher said in an email to Reuters.

German prosecutors last year said they had charged Brueckner with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children in Portugal between Dec. 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017. These charges are not linked to the McCann case.

Christian Brueckner has long been the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann but charges have never been laid in relation to the missing British girl. Source: AP

Confirming a report in Bild daily, Fuelscher said the court in Braunschweig had decided that it had no jurisdiction in the case and had revoked the arrest warrant against Brueckner.

The court, in the state of Lower Saxony, confirmed the decision, saying the fact that Brueckner had registered a place of residence in the state of Saxony-Anhalt meant it fell outside Braunschweig's jurisdiction.

A spokesperson for the court stressed that the charges were separate from the McCann case and declined to confirm Fuelscher's view that the move meant the court would no longer be able to consider the latter.

Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug trader who is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region of Portugal from where Madeleine went missing, was formally identified as an official suspect in the McCann case last year.

Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 while holidaying in Portugal with her family. Source: Met Police

Fuelscher did not say when Brueckner was due to be released or whether the court decision would affect that.

Story continues

German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was assumed dead and that Brueckner was likely responsible for it. Brueckner has denied being involved in the disappearance and has not been charged with any crime related to it.

The Braunschwieg state prosecutor said the decision changed nothing for the moment.

"We will continue to investigate in the Maddie case and the accused remains in prison," prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told Reuters in an email.

The prosecutors office in Portugal did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

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Spotify Technology SAs chief executive officer is engaged in a Washington charm offensive this week that he hopes will convince the US government to curb the power of his companys nemesis, Apple Inc.

Daniel Ek, who is also the companys co-founder, said in an interview that hes taking a bipartisan" approach as he encourages lawmakers to reintroduce policies that would lessen Apples enormous control over its app store.

He said hes had meetings with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer among many others on his first trip to Washington in years.

Ek added that Spotifys recent clashes with Apple over audiobooks prompted him to get personally engaged in the fight.

That got me to feel like this is untenable," Ek said, referring to Apple rejecting Spotifys new audiobook features several times before allowing it in a limited capacity last year.

Its the first time in history where weve co-developed a product with our legal team," he said. Ek spoke from backstage at a venue in Washingtons Union Market before a Spotify event that drew more than 200 attendees, including lawmakers and staffers.

Ek said that audiobooks would play an important role in the Swedish companys future, but right now the experience of buying audiobooks from Spotify on the Apple app store is pretty horrible."

Apple said in a statement that the Spotify app was rejected for not following the guidelines regarding including explicit in-app communications to direct users outside the app to make digital purchases. We provided them with clear guidance on how to resolve the issue, and approved their app after they made changes that brought it into compliance."

Eks visit comes as legislation known as the Open App Markets Act has stalled in Congress after Schumer chose not to bring it to the floor for a vote last year.

The measure would require Apple and Alphabet Inc.s Google to make it easier for users to download other app stores and switch the apps set as the defaults on phones.

At the same time, the Justice Department is investigating Apple for potentially anti-competitive behavior. Ek said that he didnt speak with Justice Department officials this week but added that hes sure we will interact with them in other forms."

Spotify has been fighting with Apple over its restrictions for years, prompting complaints in the European Union and around the world.

The important part for me isnt whether we deal with the past," Ek said. He said Spotify is most focused on pushing legislation in the EU and US that would force Apple to change, rather than investigating its previous behavior.
HCL Tech's fourth-quarter earnings are broadly in line with estimates. The company witnessed double-digit growth in YoY terms, however, sequentially the performance was feeble. Also, the company recorded a single-digit drop in new deal wins. However, the IT-giant's FY24 guidance looks encouraging. Overall, HCL Tech's Q4 results are not seen as a shocker and hence the market is expected to be appreciative of the stock price.

In Q4FY23, HCL Tech's consolidated PAT stood at 3,983 crore up by 10.85% YoY but down by 2.8% QoQ. Revenue from operations came in at 26,606 crore increasing by 17.74% YoY but marginally down on a QoQ basis. EBIT as well witnessed an 18.8% YoY growth but a downside of 7.5% QoQ to 4,836 crore in Q4FY23.

Similarly, in constant currency, HCL Tech's revenue dropped by 1.2% quarter-on-quarter but rose by 10.5% year-on-year.

Additionally, the company's new deal wins dropped by 8% YoY to $2.074 billion in Q4FY23. While it continued to witness a drop in LTM attrition to 19.5%.

For FY24, HCL Tech guided a revenue growth of 6% to 8% in CC terms. Services revenue growth is expected in the range of 6.5% to 8.5% for the full year. While the EBIT margin is seen from 18% to 19%.

Finally, HCL Tech has also declared an interim dividend of 18 per equity share for FY24. This would be the first interim dividend of the current financial year.

HCL announced its Q4 earnings after market hours and hence investors will react to the performance in Friday's session.

On Thursday, HCL Tech traded volatile to end at 1,037.55 apiece broadly flat on BSE compared to the previous session. The company's market cap is over 2.81 lakh crore.

Veer Trivedi, Research Analyst, SAMCO Securities said, "After two major misses in TCS and Infosys, the street was expecting another disappointment from HCL tech. The company however surprised on the positive side as the Q4 results came out in line with the expectations. There was a mild miss in revenue however, the profits came out a little better than expected aided by growth in other income. Overall, their revenue was down 0.3% QoQ, however, their services business grew 0.6% QoQ which is a positive. The guidance of 6-8% in CC for FY24 is good and so is the margin guidance of 18-19%. The deal wins have been stable above USD 2 bn and an increase in headcounts increases conviction on the sustainability of demand."

Overall, Trivedi believes that HCL's

result has not been a shocker like its leading IT peers and thus the street would be appreciative of the same.

Along similar lines, Manish Chowdhury, Head of Research at Stoxbox also believes that in HCL Tech's Q4, one thing which stands out is that the results apparently do not look as bad as other heavyweights such as TCS and Infosys.

However, Chowdhury expects a deterioration in the demand environment, especially on the telecommunication and manufacturing verticals, which also becomes evident in the FY24 revenue guidance which is sharply lower than that achieved in the current fiscal year.

Furthermore, Chowdhury added, "The companys operating efficiencies looks in place as seen from the 18-19% margin guidance provided for FY24. We would closely monitor whether the current challenges in the IT sector leads to a further downgrade to the guidance going forward."

Meanwhile, Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities said, "HCLT reported broadly in-line results for the quarter with margins slightly below our expectations while its PAT exceeded our estimates. Services business revenue grew 0.6% QoQ and 10.6% YoY in constant currency, which we consider is healthy. We expect HCLT to report a healthy revenue, driven by consistent transformation deal wins and increasing focus on ER&D services. At present, we have BUY recommendation on the HCLT."

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. has started settlement talks with its creditors to repay debts and remove the last hurdle in completing a merger with the Sony Group that would create a $10 billion media giant, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Indian television network has offered IDBI Bank Ltd., one of the creditors that moved insolvency court, to repay a loan of about 1.49 billion rupees ($18.1 million) in tranches, the people said, asking not to be named as the information isnt public. Zees founders are in separate discussions with Axis Bank Ltd. and JC Flowers & Co.s asset reconstruction unit to settle dues of 400 million rupees each made to entities controlled by them, they said.

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The repayments are crucial for the merger, which will create a media firm with the biggest viewership and pricing power in the country of more than 1.4 billion people. Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. will own a little more than half the shares once the deal is completed and Zees founders will hold 3.99% while public shareholders will get the rest.

Several creditors to the company and its founders had been approaching the bankruptcy court seeking repayments. Just last month, the company repaid dues of one creditor IndusInd Bank Ltd., and the lender will withdraw its objections against the merger, Zee said in a filing.

Spokesperson for Axis Bank bank declined to comment, while representatives for Zee, JC Flowers and IDBI Bank didnt respond to emails and phone calls seeking comments.

Atlanta-based Invesco Developing Markets Fund, which owned the largest chunk in Zee with an 18% shareholding at the time of the merger announcement, exited its entire holdings in the company as of last week, exchange filings show. Indias antitrust regulator approved the sixteen-month-old merger agreement in October.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
No bachelors. No single women. Only families. These are some of the restrictions that still greet Indian tenants in their house-hunting journey. And, the concept of a family is so traditionally defined that it excludes LGBTQ couples from a large swathe of Indias rental market.

A Mint analysis of rental listings on 99acres.com, one of Indias large property portals, shows that the number of properties available to single men or single women is between 30-50% of that available to families. To be sure, a single property can be open to both or all three categories of people, but a basic search filter of single men narrows down the number of listings significantly.

A constitution bench of the Supreme Court is currently hearing a batch of petition seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriages. A positive outcome may lead to change of attitudes and improve the rental market for the LGBTQ community. But, it may still not help them get rental accommodation. Landlords will still have the freedom to select tenants as per their cultural, religious, linguistic or other preferences.

I had finalized a flat but the landlord later told me that it is only for families. If LGBTQ couples are not recognized as a family, we will always be denied flats meant for families," said Yogesh Bharambe, an IT sector professional based in Pune.

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This sort of discrimination is what hinders LGBTQ couples from availing a home loan as well. While any two people can buy a property together, only relatives bound by blood or marriage can apply for home loans jointly. This would never enable LGBTQ partners to apply for a loan together if gay marriage is not legalized.

A home loan is very critical for a majority of couples in India. Same-sex marriage will provide a good financial opportunity for the LGBTQ community," said Ankit, founder, Smart Sync Services, a Sebi-registered investment advisory firm.

However, legalizing of gay marriage wont automatically resolve succession laws. Succession laws, which vary for different communities, recognize the rights of a spouse" based on gender. A same-sex spouse will not automatically be entitled to claim legal rights over property of a partner in case of the latters untimely death ," said Narendra Dingankar, partner, Pioneer Legal. This will require suitable amendments to the succession law."

However, writing a will in favour of the spouse will enable the latter to claim rights over property and other assets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Neil Borate Neil heads the personal finance team at Mint. A former colleague called them 'money nerds' and that's what they are. They cover topics like mutual funds, taxation and retirement, all to improve your chances of building wealth. Neil graduated with a degree in law and economics. He passed the CFA Level I exam and began his writing career at Value Research, a mutual fund research firm in 2016. He joined the personal finance team Mint in 2019. Everyday, the Mint Money Team tackles personal finance questions such as where to invest and where to borrow, through articles, charts and reader queries. They also have a daily podcast - 'Why Not Mint Money' and an annual ranking of mutual funds - the Mint 20. Read more from this author
At least five Army personnel were killed after terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the Poonch area of Jammu and Kashmir. Officials said that the terrorists took advantage of heavy rains and low visibility". Another personnel has received serious injuries in the terrorist attack in Poonch. He has been evacuated to the Army Hospital at Rajouri.

An Army official said the incident took place at around 3 pm. The Army has said that terrorists may have thrown grenades at the truck which led to the vehicle catching fire".

The five Army personnel who lost their lives belonged to the Rashtriya Rifles Unit. They had been deployed in the area to carry out counterterrorism operations.

"Today, at approximately 1500 hours, one Army vehicle, moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector was fired on by unidentified terrorists, taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists," the Northern Command Headquarters said.

#WATCH | Security forces secure the area where an Army truck was attacked by terrorists in Poonch dist, J&K. 5 personnel of Rashtriya Rifles deployed in this area lost their lives



Army says terrorists may have thrown grenades at the truck which led to the vehicle catching fire. pic.twitter.com/Z5JD7gFhZm  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

The security forces have secured the area where an Army truck was attacked by terrorists in the Poonch district.
An Ahmedabad court on Thursday acquitted all accused individuals in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case. Eleven people had been killed amid communal violence in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad at the end of February 2002 during a 'bandh' called to protest the Godhra train burning. The trial continued for nearly 13 years, with 18 of of the accused individuals passing away in the intervening period.

A total of 86 people had been accused in the case, with one being discharged earlier by the court. Those acquitted on Thursday include former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi. Notably, all the accused in the case are currently out on bail.

The prosecution and defence examined 187 and 57 witnesses, respectively, during the trial that started in 2010 and went on for nearly 13 years with six judges successively presiding over the case.

(With inputs from agencies)
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said on Thursday that embattled businessman Gautam Adani had made futile attempts to connect with her. The remarks came in response to a meeting between the Adani Group chief and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. While Moitra has been vocal in her criticism following the Hindenburg report, Pawar had recently sparked outrage with his call for a Supreme Court committee probe.

Adani tried utmost to get to me and a few others through his friends or wheeler dealers. He couldnt even find the door, let alone get past it. I have nothing to discuss on 1:1 basis with Adani. I firmly believe till government takes action no politician should engage with this man," she asserted.

Moitra also asserted that she had no fear in taking on Great Marathas.

Adani hamaam mein to saare hi nange hai.

I have no fear in taking on Great Marathas . Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships.



And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest. pic.twitter.com/YVWEceJWTw  Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) April 20, 2023

While the Opposition continues to clamour for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue, the industrialist reportedly met with Pawar at his home. The meeting - held at Pawar's south Mumbai residence - reportedly lasted for nearly two hours.

While Pawar is allied with the Congress he had reiterated a somewhat dissimilar stance earlier in April. Coming out in support of the Adani group, he hadcriticised the narrative around the US short seller's report. Pawar had said he favoured a Supreme Court committee to probe allegations against the Adani group since the ruling BJP would have a majority in the JPC based on numerical strength in Parliament and this would lead to doubts on such a probe.

The NCP supremo had later said although his outfit does not agree with the demand of anti-BJP parties for a JPC probe into allegations against the Adani group, it will not go against their stand for the sake of Opposition unity.

(With inputs from agencies)
The revenue department of the Delhi government is gearing up to adopt the faceless national generic document registration system (NGDRS) that will make it easier to obtain documents related to land deeds, lease rent agreements, and such other legal formalities, said officials.

In a recent review of the functioning of sub-registrar offices, Lt Governor VK Saxena had directed for the adoption of NGDRS, according to the news agency PTI.

They said that the system will make it simpler for people to upload the necessary documents required for the registration of sale deeds, power of attorney, and wills from the comfort of their homes, make payments and take appointments at the sub-registrar offices through the online system.

The officials added that the faceless service will do away with the need to visit the sub-registrar offices for these purposes and reduce the crowd of people there.

A pilot project in this regard will be launched in the next few weeks and the system is expected to be put in place by August, they added.

Last October, the central government has asked the state governments to install local servers as well as boost internet speed in sub-registrar offices to boost the digitalization of land records in India.

According to the official data, the government has integrated some of the sub-registrar offices and tehsils with land records as well. The government has also asked states to set up a local server for the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) to improve the internet speed for better upkeep of the digital data and ensure more digital tracking of land records.

Even though the NGDRS system is specifically designed for the use of sub-registrars and officials from registration departments, it can also be used by other citizens for land registration purposes. Many states are still doing land registration processes with private vendors and private partners. These states are yet to shift to NGDRS.

NGDRS system is the governments flagship program to digitalize the land record system in the country. The system will provide a major shift from the existing ways of land registration and even transaction. With NGDRS, people would be able to perform all the processes digitally, be it sales or land or transfer of land.

The system began as a pilot project in Punjab, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra in its initial phase and is now implemented in many states of the country.

(With PTI inputs)
NEW DELHI : Healthcare experts say they have spotted a 25% surge in patients turning up with gastrointestinal and respiratory complaints amid an unusually early mid-April heat wave.

This year, summer-related complications are showing up earlier than usual, with fatalities from heat stroke already nearing a dozen in Maharashtra.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warns of an intensifying heat wave across eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Konkan, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.

Persistent severe heatwave conditions are expected to affect West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha until Friday. Weather forecasters predict light rainfall, thunderstorms, and lightning in these areas over the weekend, from Friday to Sunday." said IMD.

Light rainfall is forecast for Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh over the next five days.

Additionally, hailstorms were anticipated in Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh on Thursday.

We are doing an active surveillance on heat related illnesses under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) as per the directions of the Union health ministry," said an official from the National Centre for Disease Control.

As the IMD issues new warnings for an intense heat wave in northern and central India, doctors recommend that the elderly, children, and individuals with pre-existing conditions stay indoors and maintain hydration.

Dr Gaurav Jain, senior consultant, internal medicine at Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital Delhi said, We have seen around 20-25 cases of heatwave related and associated symptoms in patients in the last few days. Most of them are being managed with conservative measures; however, severe cases require hospitalization."

Dr Hyacinth Peninnah Paljor, senior consultant, department of internal medicine, Amrita Hospital, Faridabad said, We are getting a lot of patients with heat-related complications such as heat exhaustion, heat cramps, dizziness, dehydration, etc. in the OPD.

These are those individuals including school children who are travelling outside during the daytime and when we examine them, we find that their pulse rate is very fast and very weak."

This is more of heat exhaustion. However, we havent seen any cases of heat stroke in which more critical situations require ICU setting. But in the coming days, when temperature may rise, chances are more for seeing more patients."

Meanwhile, the union health ministry has also issued advisory to the states for effective management of heat wave cases. Hospitals have been asked to take adequate stock of essential medicines, I.V. fluids, ice packs, ORS and all necessary equipment.

Earlier this week, chief minister Mamata Banerjee ordered closure of all educational institutions till 22 April in West Bengal in view of heat wave condition. Earlier this week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered closure of all educational institutions till 22 April in West Bengal in view of heat wave condition.

Dr. Sandeep Jain, consultant at Interventional Pulmonology department at Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Howrah said that as the temperature is on the rise, the number of cases is also rising. We are witnessing around 2-3 cases per day with such symptoms from the past week in OPDs. Weve managed such cases in an emergency setting with measures such as IV fluids, ORS etc.," he said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized 119 bank accounts, two luxury vehicles and some insurance policies under the anti-money laundering law after it raided the promoters of a Bihar-based real estate company that is alleged to have duped numerous home buyers.

The searches were launched on April 18 at about eight locations of the company called Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd, its CMD Alok Kumar Singh, Vijaya Raj Laxmi, Alka Singh, Rana Ranveer Singh along with those of a "key employee" Satvik Singh and Chartered Accountant Nishat Shrivastava in Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow and Delhi, the agency said in a statement.

"Agrani group of companies and its director have cheated the prospective home buyers and illegally diverted their deposits/investment for acquiring properties in their personal name or in the name of other companies," the ED alleged.

The money laundering case against the company and its promoters, filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from at least eight FIRs filed by the Bihar Police.

Further, the ED said, more than 73 complaints against Agrani Homes Pvt Ltd, Patna, CMD Singh and others were received by it where it was mentioned that the said company "cheated" prospective home buyers of a sum of 9.73 crore.

Sale deeds of properties purchased by Alok Kumar Singh in his name and in the name of his company were seized during the raids apart from 119 bank accounts, four insurance policies and two luxury vehicles (in the name of Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd. and its directors), the ED said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Manufacturing is on the minds of many of us these days, largely thanks to the announcement of Micron arriving in Central New York, but also because word is spreading that manufacturing is back in the U.S. This is an incredible moment for our region that promises to create thousands of career opportunities for a trained, skilled workforce in the years ahead.

That manufacturing is again on the rise is not a new phenomenon. This movement has grown for several years, and you can see it each day. Maybe you first noticed it in the media with news of regional manufacturing leaders expanding or new industries entering Central New York. Or on social media, where you saw that your neighbors child just simultaneously earned their high school diploma and a two-year college degree and signed a contract for a $60,000 starting salary with a local manufacturer. Thats the emerging trend in manufacturing  high-quality training followed by well-paying, local jobs.

Our region is no stranger to innovative manufacturing. Whether its Novelis, Huhtamaki, Currier Plastics, Nucor, or O-I Glass, or agricultural manufacturing like Cayuga Milk Ingredients or Denkavit, Central New York is home to some of the most successful forerunners in the industry. There are dozens of factors that explain their success  dynamic leadership, superior products and an expert workforce, just to name a few. The latter point is what I want to focus on today. Because along with the excitement of manufacturing advancements, one of the most common questions we hear at Cayuga is how someone starts their manufacturing career.

Central New York is brimming with manufacturing career prospects. These are jobs that demand an eagerness for problem-solving and an appetite for hands-on work. They offer stability, advancement and comfortable salaries while putting you at the forefront of technological and mechanical advances. Much of todays manufacturing is done in high-tech, clean environments where employees design and build exciting products that many of us rely on, whether we know it or not. The aluminum in the body of your car or your soda can, your to-go coffee cup, the pasta sauce and the glass jar it comes in  all of those products are made in Central New York.

No matter your age or experience, theres a road to employment in this exciting industry, and effective training is the thruway. This doesnt always mean earning a two- or four-year degree. Yes, there are those opportunities at Cayuga. Theres also certificates and microcredentials like our Electro-Mechanical System Fundamentals microcredential, which provides short-term training in hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical motor controls and other fields to fast-track students to entry-level positions. Its our goal for these diverse pathways to connect you to the training you need, so that you can achieve the career you want. For us, its that simple.

Our Advanced Manufacturing Institutes in Auburn and Fulton are designed with that goal in mind. They feature state-of-the-art equipment and flexible curriculum designed to provide students the instruction they need to excel. These programs are not created in a vacuum. Each training avenue has a goal to provide you the skills you need to land a well-paying job. We work with our manufacturing partners to make sure our classes teach you the skills you need for your career, and the abilities that employers are looking for in their workforce. Matching those two concepts is the best possible path for our manufacturing industry and its workforce to continue their record of success.

At Cayuga, were dedicated to illustrating the potential of these pathways to area students. Manufacturing expos at our Fulton Campus for students from the Fulton City School District will connect elementary through high school families with area employers who can demonstrate just how in-demand these positions are today. In Auburn, were hosting a similar event on June 7 thats open to all Cayuga County 6th grade and above families. Our partnerships with local districts have also led to the creation of an early college pathway for industrial maintenance and mechanical technology. Students in these programs can simultaneously earn their high school degree and a college certificate. This pathway can fast-track enrolled students to careers where their skillset and knowledge are indispensable.

By showing these diverse pathways to students, were demonstrating the long-term career potential our manufacturing industries offer their current and future employees. A skilled workforce is always in-demand for manufacturing, and as our local industry flourishes, that demand will only increase. Cayuga is happy to partner with school districts and industry partners to ensure that demand is met now and for years to come.

As our manufacturing industry grows, theres no better moment for you to start or continue your training than right now. If youre ready to build your next career or upskill into your next position, Cayuga and our neighboring community colleges are here to help. If your child is interested in a career in manufacturing, I encourage you to talk to us or your school district to see what training opportunities are available. Start fast-tracking yourself in these training pathways, and you can be part of Central New Yorks burgeoning manufacturing industry for years to come.

If you need additional information about these training pathways, please contact our Office of Community Education and Workforce Development at (315) 294-8841.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for stay on a defamation conviction that prompted his expulsion from parliament last month. The 52 year old former MP of Wayanad was accused of insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname during a rally in 2019.

The remarks made by Gandhi were seen as insulting PM Modi and those sharing his surname, some of them being fugitives, who stole money from the country. Rahul Gandhi during the election rally in Kolar in 2019 had remarked "all thieves have Modi surname".

Notably, the Narendra Modi led government has been accused of using the law to silence the Opposition and their critics. Critics highlight that the defamation conviction came after Gandhi repeatedly raised the issue of Modi's relationship with business tycoon Gautam Adani both inside and outside parliament.

The Surat court judge produced a 27 page judgement dismissing Gandhi's plea.

"An application Exh.5 - preferred by Appellant Mr Rahul Gandhi u/s.389 and 389(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for staying the conviction imposed by the judgment and order dated 23/3/2023 by the Ld Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat in Criminal Case No.18712/2019 is hereby dismissed. Pronounced in open court today on this 20th April, 2023 at Surat," the order read.

On Thursday, Judge RP Mogera went through all the papers of the appeal in the case. He then said, "application dismissed". The additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera refused to stay the conviction.

Under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Rahul Gandhi has ben sentenced to two years of jail time, and will remain disqualified as MP for the next six years.

The complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.

In his first reaction to the Surat court's verdict, Gandhi quoted Mahatma Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi about truth and non-violence.

"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it. -- Mahatma Gandhi,'' the Congress leader tweeted.

Here is what Mogera said while dismissing the plea

-"Although the accused was warned and advised by the supreme court, there is no evidence of any change in his conduct."

-"The accused is an MP who addresses the people in the capacity of an MP and impacts a large part of society, therefore the effect of this crime is much comprehensive in this case."

-"If the accused is given lesser punishment, it will send a wrong message to the public and the purpose of defamation (law) is not fulfilled and slandering will become easy."
New Delhi: Union minister for power and new and renewable energy Raj Kumar Singh expressed confidence that the country is well-prepared to meet demand this summer even as power demand soared to near record levels. In an interview, Singh highlighted the governments efforts to ensure adequate availability of coal at thermal power plants, with domestic coal stock standing at 31.71 million tonnes as of Wednesday. Edited excerpts :

Power demand is near record levels, and exchange prices are frequently hitting the price cap. How prepared is the power sector to meet the summer demand?

We are prepared. We carried out our exercises well in time, and we put systems well in advance. So, we are fully prepared. To ensure capacity, we issued orders under Section 11, saying that all imported coal-based plants have to be on par and offer power. Normally at any time of the year, 15,000-18,000MW is under planned maintenance. We have said that planned maintenance will not happen during this period when the demand is going to touch the peak. So, now, the planned maintenance has come down to 500-400MW. We have ensured that we have enough coal stocks to last. We have done that by taking steps in advance. We started blending from the beginning. Till now, our blending (of imported coal) would have amounted to about 33-34 million tonnes. The domestic coal stock (at power plants) yesterday was 31.71 million tonnes. The domestic coal stock yesterday was 31.71 million tonnes.

Coal India has increased its production. But our demand has increased much faster, which is a great thing. It is unprecedented for a country that power demand goes up by 10.5% in two years.

There was a move to bring electricity under GST and Deloitte had prepared a report. What has been the progress on that front?

Deloitte has carried out studies. The last time they presented it to us, it was clear that consumers would benefit because the prices would come down. Now, we also want it to be neutral for state revenues. There are two goals. One is that some states levy electricity duties on consumption. Suppose we put GST, that electricity duty will come to an end. So, that has to be neutral. Otherwise, the states will not accept it. The cost of electricity should also come down for the consumer. So, we have asked them to redo their maths according to this. Our objective is that for the states, it should be revenue-neutral. The consumers also must gain. It means that power costs must come down. So, these are the two main considerations, and once we have the configuration that has both these results, then we are there. Then we will send it to finance ministry which will send to the GST Council for its consideration. With these results, I dont see any problem with the states adopting it. It will be huge in the sense that even the cost of investment in power will come down tremendously.

Although the Centre has taken a strong stand against the creation of new regulatory assets, there are instances where regulatory commissions have been non-compliant. How do you plan to proceed in such cases?

Commission has been largely compliant now. We are in the process of prosecuting DERC. There is a provision for the removal of the chairman of electricity regulatory commissions. One of the grounds for removal is misconduct. Violation of the rule, law or order of the supreme court is misconduct. DERC has violated several orders of APTEL. Therefore, it is misconduct. The procedure is that the Centre or the state government moves to APTEL to carry out an enquiry into the charges. APTEL will carry out the enquiry and give its report to the appropriate government for removal. Now, the ministry of power has moved APTEL to conduct an enquiry.

I am very clear in my mind that there is not going to be any situation where any entity, whether it is a discom or a generator or whatever, no entity will be allowed to violate the law and go scot-free. If APTEL finds the charges we have brought are verified and correct, then they will send it to the Delhi government, the lieutenant governor in this case. The law is sacrosanct.

What are your expansion plans for hydropower in Arunachal as China is building major dams on its side?

Currently, 14,000MW is under construction in the country. Soon, our central PSUs will sign MoUs (memorandums of understanding) for starting further 12,000 MW in Arunachal. NHPC, SJVN, THDC, and NEEPCO would be among the PSUs which would sign the MoUs. We are aware of the fact that our neighbours to the north have been adding huge hydro capacities. To preserve our water security on our side of the border, we have to add capacity. The cost of 1MW would be 10 crore- 12 crore. Arunachal is going to become one of the states with the highest per capita income. The Dibang project with 2,800MW has also started. The 2,000MW Subansiri project is also underway. We will commission one unit in June.

In the past year, efforts have been increased to clear discom dues. By when would the dues be completely paid?

Discoms have become viable. The legacy dues are being wiped out. Nearly 50,000 crore worth of dues has been wiped out. We have put in place systems which are transparent and clear.

The system we have put in place is that if you consume electricity, you must pay for it. We dont mind if states dont want consumers to pay. But, states must pay for the subsidies announced.

If you dont pay your subsidy, then it will be a violation of the rule. Similarly, the subsidy has to be accounted for. The subsidy has to be announced on a per unit basis, and the bill has to be sent every quarter by the discom to the state government saying that this is the per unit subsidy announced by the government for so and so category of consumers. These many units have been supplied to this category of consumers. Therefore the subsidy is this much, and you must pay. We are just making sure that the law is followed." Similarly, if you draw electricity from a generator and dont pay for that, electricity will get cut off automatically. That is why my discoms have become viable. We have changed the whole power system in every way.

The availability of power was 12 hours in 2015. Today, it is 22 hours in rural areas. In urban areas, it was 23 and a half hours. We have reduced the AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses by 5% in one year (FY23). We have brought it down to 16.5% from 22%.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rituraj Baruah Rituraj Baruah is a senior correspondent at Mint, reporting on housing, urban affairs, small businesses and energy. He has reported on diverse sectors over the last six years including, commodities and stocks market, insolvency and real estate. He has previous stints at Cogencis Information Services, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) and Inc42. Read more from this author
A special court in Gujarat on Thursday acquitted all the sixty seven accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case. The brutal case saw eleven people killed. The acquitted include Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader and former minister of state Maya Kodnani, Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

There were a total of 86 accused in the case, of which 18 died during pendency of the trial, while one was discharged earlier by the court.

The Ahmedabad-based court of S K Baxi, special judge for SIT cases, acquitted all the accused in one of the major post-Godhra riots cases which was probed by a Supreme-Court appointed Special Investigation Team.

Maya Kodnani

Maya Kodnani is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. She is also the former Minister of State for Women and Child Development in the Government of Gujarat. She held the position of a state minister during the post-Godhra riots in 2022.

Kodnani was convicted of orchestrating the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacres of the 2002 Gujarat riots on 28 February 2002, in which 97 Muslims, including 36 women and 35 children, were murdered by stabbing, dismemberment and being burned alive individually as well as in groups.

Witnesses testified that Kodnani was at the scene of the crimes, handed out swords to Hindu rioters, exhorted them to attack Muslims and at one point fired a pistol.

Bajrang Dal members Suresh Richard and Prakash Rathod told Tehelka's journalists on spy camera that Kodnani drove around Naroda all day, urging the mob to hunt Muslims down and kill them.

Mobile phone records also placed her at the scene and showed her to be in regular communication with the top police officials, the Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia and the Chief Minister's office.

VHP leader Jaydeep Patel

Hindu nationalist organisation, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) former Gujarat state general secretary, Jaydeep Patel is another accused in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacres of the 2002 Gujarat riots, who was acquitted on Thursday.

According to reports and findings, Jaideep Patel was present in Godhra to attend to the victims of the incident, the victims of the Godhra train burning incident on 27 Fenruary 2022.

The trains carrying karsevaks or pilgrims, from a VHP-organized ceremony at Ayodhya, was burnt killing 59 people, including 25 women and 15 children.

Patel is believed to have had a role in the controversial decision taken to send the bodies of victims to Ahmedabad. The charred dead bodies were handed over to him by the executive magistrate of Godhra, allegedly at the behest of his senior officers, to be transported to Ahmedabad.

They were transported in 5 trucks, along with a police escort, to Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, reaching there at 4 A.M. on 28 February.

Patel testified to the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) that the BJP MLA's Maya Kodnani visited the hospital the next morning, and the Hindu mobs gathered at the hospital "thrashed them" for the inability of the Government to protect the karsevaks.

Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi

Babubhai Patel, known by his alias Babu Bajrangi, is a leader of the Gujarat-wing of the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu right wing organization in India. He was a central figure during the 2002 Gujarat violence.

In 2007, the Indian journal Tehelka published a hidden-camera interview with Bajrangi, in which Bajrangi talks of his role in the violence against Indian Muslims in the Naroda Patiya massacre, a particularly intense episode of brutality during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

We didn't spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire  we hacked, burned, set on fire  we believe in setting them on fire because these bastards don't want to be cremated, they're afraid of it  I have just one last wish  let me be sentenced to death  I don't care if I'm hanged ... just give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura where seven or eight lakhs [seven or eight hundred thousand] of these people stay ... I will finish them off  let a few more of them die ... at least 25,000 to 50,000 should die." he was heard saying.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is set to visit India from 4-5 May to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Goa. This will be a first, for a Pakistan foreign minister visiting India, after Hina Rabbani Khar came to India in 2011.

Twelve years later, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit India, leading a delegation to the meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers (CFM), that is scheduled to be held on 4-5 May in Goa.

Noatbly, India has formally sent invitations to all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers' meeting.

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch during a weekly presser on Thursday stated that Bhutto-Zardari is attending the SCO-CFM meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

"Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," the spokesperson said.

Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are also likely to participate in the meeting.

India took over the chairmanship of the 9-member mega grouping in September last year and will be holding key ministerial meetings and the summit this year.

Relations between the two countries have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks.

The 20-year-old organization has Russia, India, China, Pakistan, and four central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as its members.

Iran is the latest country to become a member and under Indian Presidency will for the first time attend the grouping's meeting as a full-fledged member.

The last meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in September 2022, was the first in-person summit since June 2019 meeting of the SCO leaders in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Notably, this year's SCO foreign ministers meeting comes in the wake-up of escalating Russia-Ukraine war and India's G20 Presidency.

(With ANI inputs)
The Namibian Cheetahs that were reintroduced in India's Kuno National Park in September, were renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited citizens to suggest new names.

PM Modi had urged the public to come up with ideas during his Mann Ki Baat on 25 September 2022 to promote and raise awareness about Project Cheetah.

In response, the Government of India's platform mygov.in organized a competition from 26 September to 31 October 2022, receiving a total of 11,565 entries. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said on Thursday that a selection committee scrutinized the entries and selected names that hold cultural value and significance for their conservation.

The new names are Aasha, Pavan, Daksha, and Nirva. The last cheetahs recorded in the Indian wilderness were in 1947, and they were declared extinct in 1952.

The goal of the Cheetah Introduction project is to establish viable cheetah metapopulations in India and contribute to global conservation efforts. As per the Action Plan, annually 10-12 cheetahs are required to be imported from African countries for the next five years at least.

In July 2022, the Government of India signed an MoU with the Republic of Namibia for cheetah conservation, resulting in the translocation of eight cheetahs from Namibia to India in September 2022. In January 2023, an MoU was signed with the Republic of South Africa for cooperation in cheetah conservation, and a batch of 12 cheetahs (7 males, 5 females) were translocated from South Africa to India in February 2023.

A consultative workshop involving international cheetah experts, scientists, veterinarians, and forest officials was organized on 20 February 2023 at the Kuno National Park to further India's ambitious project on Cheetah Introduction.
NEW DELHI : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with Canadian Minister of National Defence Anita Anand on April 19, 2023. According to the Ministry of Defence, the conversation was warm and cordial.

Glad to speak with Canadian Defence Minister Ms @AnitaAnandMP. Welcomed Canadas Indo-Pacific strategy. Excellent discussion on ways to develop the bilateral defence relations including industrial collaboration. Invited Canadian defence companies to invest & manufacture in India," Singh said in a tweet.

Both ministers discussed ways to develop bilateral defence relations, which shall be reflective of their democratic ethos and a shared interest in the peace and security of the Indo-Pacific.

Canadian defence minister Anita Anand briefed the Defence minister Rajnath Singh about Canadas Indo-Pacific Strategy and the importance attached to enhancing engagement with India.

According to the ministry, Rajnath Singh welcomed increased Canadian naval presence in the Indo-Pacific. Both Ministers discussed potential areas of defence cooperation - from UN peacekeeping training to defence industrial cooperation," it added.

The defence minister highlighted that India is an attractive defence manufacturing destination with competitive land and labour costs and two defence industrial corridors.

He invited Canadian defence companies to invest in India and carry out co-production. They would also find value in integrating Indian defence companies in their global supply chains.

Both ministers agreed to work on taking the defence relationship to next level and make defence an important pillar of India-Canada bilateral relationship, the ministry said.
NEW DELHI : Russia was the largest exporter of crude oil to India by value in February in spite of the western price cap of $60 per barrel, official data showed on Thursday.

Crude imports from Russia in February stood at $3.35 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia at $2.30 billion and Iraq $2.03 billion.

Between April and February Indian import of Russian oil jumped to $27 billion, second only to imports from Iraq which stood at $30 billion, making Moscow the second largest crude exporter to New Delhi in FY23.

Other top exporters included Saudi Arabia at $26.8 followed by the UAE $15.6 billion, US at $10.05 billion and Kuwait at $7.59 billion.

Despite the price cap that was imposed in December, Russia emerged as the top oil exporter in February at $3.35 billion, followed by Saudi Arab $2.30 billion and Iraq $2.03 billion, indicating little change in import trens.

India has significant import requirements for crude, as 80% of its ol needs come from importsand a large part of this is now being met from Russia. It is in Indias strategic interest to continue to buy Russian crude, even above the price cap, said Deepto Roy, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

Whether Indian companies need to buy above the price cap would depend on a number of factors - including whether there is adequate supply from alternative sources. Indian law does not recognize or subject Indian entities to sanctions with respect to purchase of Indian crude," Roy added.

But companies may be subject to sanctions through exposures to international banks, shareholders or directors, Roy added. The sanctions regime is complex and far-reaching and accordingly Indian companies should obtain specific legal advice on how sanctions may impact them and how they may proceed, he added.

Recently, BPs chief economist Spencer Dale said the price cap imposed by G7 countries was intended to ensure adequate supplies from Russia while capping its oil revenue. He noted that with that goal in view, the price cap has worked better than anticipated.

Russia emerged as a major supplier to India for the first time in FY23 after it started giving oil at discounted rates amid the Ukraine war.

Despite concerns raised by the west to Indias imports from Russia during the war, India has taken a strong stand and said that it looks at all options to achieve energy security.

Recently, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India could purchase Russian oil even if the price reached near or crossed the cap.

A ICRA report, however, said that sea-borne exports from Russia witnessed a significant decline in the first week of April 2023 to around 2.89 million barrels per day (mbd) from around 5 mbd at the end of 2021 indicating the impact of the production cuts by Russia.

This is likely to keep the supplies tight in the market," it said.
The Supreme Court of India's hearing into petitions seeking to legalize same-sex marriage continued on third day on Thursday, April 20. The constitution bench began the hearing today, that were live-streamed in the public interest.

Same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ activists are hoping for a judgment in their favor, while the government and religious leaders strongly oppose same-sex unions. The debate on same-sex marriage is turning out to be a lively one.

Senior advocate Dr. Singhvi and senior advocate KV Vishwanathan, appearing for the petitioners, presented their arguments today.

READ MORE HERE: Same sex-marriages: SC bench asks petitioners to conclude arguments on 24 April, here's more details

4:15 pm: Arguments are over for the day. CJI Chandrachud has read out the names of lawyers who would be arguing next - Geeta Luthra, Anand Grover, Jayna Kothari, Anitha Shenoy, Menaka Guruswamy, Saurabh Kirpal, Vrinda Grover, Karuna Nundy, Arundhati Katju, Raghav Awasthi, Shivam Singh, Namit Saxena and Manu Srinath.

The petitioners have been asked to conclude their arguments on Monday.

4:11 pm: Advocate Vishwanathan, for the petitioners, said the Centre needs to tailor the Special Marriage Act. "All that is needed is to add husband, wife or "spouse" in Special Marriage Act. Rest will follow. They [Centre] need to tailor it.

3:51 pm: Advocate Vishwanathan cited US court judgments which upheld miscegenation laws which prohibited inter-racial marriages. Read out passages to argue that the argument against same-sex marriages are similar to those arguments against inter-racial marriages, reported Live Law.

3:45 pm: Advocate Vishwanathan says LGBTQ parents are as qualified to rear children as the heterosexual parents. But, there has to be the availability of the choice.

3:40 pm: CJI Chandrachud said, Same-sex couples seek the same benefits of marriage." To which, advocate Vishwanathan says that the LGBTQ parents are as qualified to have children as the heterosexual parents.

CJI Chandrachud refers to the trolling he was subjected to yesterday over his notion of a man and a woman is not an absolute based on genitals" statement, saying, There are no absolutes as I said, even at the risk of getting trolled."

2:00 pm: During the hearing, the petitioners requested the CJI Chandrachud-led bench to allow them to present arguments till Monday. The top court is likely to hear the case on four days next week too, starting Monday.

On the third day of SC hearing on petitions seeking the legalisation of same-sex marriage, the court discussed which partner would be aged 18 years and who would be 21 years old as per the provisions of the Special Marriage Act.

Citing an interpretation of law from a case, Dr. Singhvi argued that the parliament's intention about enacting a legislation cannot restrain the court.

The argument was a response to the Central government's objection that the Supreme Court cannot hear the case since only the parliament is constitutionally permissible body to decide on the creation of a new social relationship, according to a report published by Hindustan Times.

CJI Chandrachud said that by decriminalizing homosexuality, the top court has not just recognized treating relationships between consenting adults of the same gender but also recognized that people who are of the same sex would even be in stable relationships.

The top court disapproved the central government's stand that the demand for legal validation of same-sex marriage is an urban elitist concept. It also said that an innate characteristic of a person cannot be called elitist".

On the second day, the top court was urged by the Indian government to use its plenary powers, prestige, and moral authority' in taking a decision on legalizing same-sex marriage.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners, said that the State should come forward and provide recognition to same-sex marriage."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, filed a fresh plea urging the top court that all the states and UTs be also made parties to the proceedings on the pleas

Centre urged SC that states, Union Territories be made parties to proceedings on pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages. In this, the Centre informed that it has issued a letter on April 18 to all the states inviting comments and views on the "seminal issue" raised in the pleas.

CJI Chandrachud had on Tuesday (day 1 of hearing) also said the very notion of a man and a woman, as referred to in the Special Marriage Act, is not "an absolute based on genitals".

Mehta cited it is restricted to the genitals and added there were several laws that the court will be making redundant inadvertently if it chose to give legal backing to same-sex marriages.

He cited the Code of Criminal Procedure's provision that women cannot be examined after a certain time and suggested that a man could claim not to be a man despite having male genitals.

The apex court had on November 25 last year sought the Centre's response to separate pleas moved by two gay couples seeking enforcement of their right to marry and a direction to the authorities concerned to register their marriages under the Special Marriage Act.

India decriminalized homosexuality in 2018, but has yet to extend family rights to the LGBTQ community.
New Delhi: India is coordinating with diplomatic partners like the US, UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia to ensure the safety of its nationals in crisis-hit Sudan, according to persons aware of the matter.

Days after fighting erupted between Sudans army and paramilitary forces, tensions remain high. On Sunday, an Indian was killed in the streets of Khartoum, Sudans capital, as fighting between rival armed factions escalated. According to the Indian embassy in Sudan, Kerala native Albert Augestine was hit by a stray bullet.

The Indian community in Sudan is estimated to be 4,000 strong, of which 1,500 are long-time residents.

According to the persons cited above, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar has spoken to counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to ensure the safety of Indian citizens. New Delhi is also coordinating closely with the US and UK through its envoys in those countries.

Situation on the street is very tense and movement is very risky at this stage. Our priority is safety of movement and well being of individuals wherever they are located," said the persons cited above.

Two figures are central to the in-fighting. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who took power in a coup in 2021, is clashing with his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The power struggle has shaken the country, with the accompanying violence killing an estimated 200 people.

As the violence has escalated, New Delhi and its embassy in Khartoum have moved to secure Indian nationals.

The ministry of external affairs has set up a control room at its headquarters in New Delhi to monitor the situation.

The embassy in Khartoum has put out advisories urging Indians to remain indoors and ration food.
New Delhi: India will have to make concessions in order to achieve a deep and comprehensive" free trade agreement with the European Union, said Brendan Ward, Ireland Ambassador to India. In an interview, Ward however, made it clear that India and Ireland are not considering a migration and mobility partnership. Ward said Ireland was looking to attract early-stage startups, particularly in the STEM sector, to establish a foothold in Ireland. Edited excerpts:

How is the India-EU FTA progressing?

The European Commission is leading on free trade agreements. We would like to see a deep and comprehensive FTA with India. We consider it to be of substantial benefit to both sides but the Indian government needs to understand that it will have to make concessions to achieve this. And the reality is that the EU accounts for 14% of Indias exports while India comes up to 2% of the EUs exports.

So, I think the balance of advantage in the FTA is pretty clearly on the side of India. For Ireland, the bulk of our trade with India is actually in the services sector, such as IT services. So, we would see advantages for a few sectors. One area that we would like to see a lot more exports to India would be in the alcoholic or liquor sector. Irish whiskey is a long way behind Scotch in the Indian market, and we would certainly like to see more exports in that area.

What about emerging sectors like technology and startups?

We have about 30 Indian companies with substantial presence in Ireland, and they include household names like Infosys and Wipro. And then you have other Irish companies in that field such as PM group, the computer systems design company, which has a big presence here in India. We have a certain amount of cross fertilization between these companies. We are also looking at ways in which we can help Indian startups at an early stage, while theyre still capitalized at $10 million or less, establish a toehold in Ireland as a way of accessing European markets.

India is signing a number of migration and mobility agreements with European countries. Are India and Ireland looking at something similar?

We have roughly 6000 or 7000 Indian students travelling to Ireland every year to study. They are then permitted to remain and work for two years after graduation. A lot of them, if theyre working for a big international company and are doing well, the company will usually arrange a work permit and longer term residence in Ireland. In addition to that we have a visa scheme for highly skilled workers.

In terms of India, this would normally include people like nurses and other health care professionals. But other categories including for example chefs and hotel workers are included, and about 4000 or 5000 Indians a year travel under those schemes. The Indian government is keen to promote these mobility agreements with European countries. But frankly, we see no need for one as the existing schemes meet our requirements and they meet the requirements of most Indians who are interested in travelling to Ireland.

Are there any initiatives planned to expand the bilateral partnership?

One area thats quite important is education. Theres a strong flow of Indian students to Ireland, but were looking at increasing cooperation between Irish and Indian universities.

So at the moment, there are around 21 agreements between Irish colleges and universities and their Indian counterparts, and they cover a variety of areas like their research cooperation, exchanges of staff and students. Theres a possibility of joint degree programs where you study part of the time in India, and part of the time in Ireland. so were looking at an MOU on education, which will facilitate cooperation between universities, but along the lines of their own choices.

How have the recent Ireland looks at India in terms of the business opportunities especially in light of investment moving out of China?

Over reliance on any one market or any one source of supplies is unhealthy for anybody and so looking at diversity, and diversifying supply chains is a logical step for any stage. But as I said, in Ireland, we dont dictate policy to industries and much of the major industry is global with multinational companies. There is certainly a lot of interest in India as part of diversifying ones investments in Asia.
Here's where you can catch art and other exhibits in the Cayuga County area over the next week:

(Have something to add to our listings? Email david.wilcox@lee.net. All listings are free.)

Baltimore Woods Nature Center, 4007 Bishop Hill Road, Marcellus; (315) 673-1350 or baltimorewoods.org; Open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays

 "An Abundance of Birds" (through April 28)

Cafe 108, 108 Genesee St., Auburn; (315) 252-2233 or cafe108.org; Open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

 Art by Drake Nix

Cayuga Museum of History & Art, 203 Genesee St., Auburn; (315) 253-8051 or cayugamuseum.org; Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays

 "Fabrication: Telling Stories Through Clothing"

 "Both Sides of the Wall: Auburn and Its Prison"

 CNY Emerging Artist Project: "Positive, Negative, Shallow and Deep" by Tyrone Johnson-Neuland (through May 28)

Cayuga Owasco Lakes Historical Society History House, 14 W. Cayuga St., Moravia; (315) 497-3906 or colhs.org; Open 9 a.m.-noon Mondays or by appointment

 New exhibit on President Millard Fillmore

Genoa Historical Association and Rural Life Museum, 920 Route 34B, King Ferry; (315) 364-8202 or genoahistorical.org; Open 10 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, Wednesdays by chance or appointment

 Easter bonnet display (bonnets old and new and Easter photos wanted) (through May 31)

 Collections on town cemeteries, photos of the community and a hands-on one-room 1840s schoolhouse museum

Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, 180 South St., Auburn; (315) 882-8060 or nps.gov/hart; Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, guided tours at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

 Exhibits about and artifacts from the life of Harriet Tubman

Howland Stone Store Museum and Opendore, Route 34B, Sherwood; howlandstonestore.org; Open 1-4 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays

 Exhibits on abolitionism, the Underground Railroad, and the early life and call of Emily Howland

Lock 52 and Montezuma historical societies, 73 Pine St., Port Byron; lock52hs@gmail.com; Open 1-3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays by appointment, May 13 through Sept. 16

 Unique display of artwork showing iconic scenes of the early Erie Canal era and local genealogy, digital library and photo collections related to Port Byron and Mentz

New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center, 25 South St., Auburn; (315) 258-9820; Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays

 Drawings by Karen Bove in honor of National Preservation Month

Old Brutus Historical Society, 8943 N. Seneca St., Weedsport; (315) 834-9342; Open 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays (historian's night) and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursdays (research and organization)

 Collections on the history of Brutus and its people

Schweinfurth: Featured artist releases microaggressions through art AUBURN  Artist Theda Sandiford channels microaggressions  commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental slights, whether intentional or un

Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn; (315) 255-1553 or myartcenter.org; Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 1-5 p.m. Sundays

 "Triggered, Truth & Transformation" by Theda Sandiford (through May 28)

 "Made in NY 2023" (through May 28)

 CNY Emerging Artist Project: "Positive, Negative, Shallow and Deep" by Tyrone Johnson-Neuland (through May 28)

Seward House Museum, 33 South St., Auburn; (315) 252-1283 or sewardhouse.org; Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays

 "Rooted in Reform"

 Art by Marika Chew

Shepherds Brewing Co., 132 Genesee St., Auburn; shepsbeer.com; Open 4-8 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 3-10 p.m. Fridays, 1-10 p.m. Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays

 Painted portraits by Caitlin Pallischeck

Skaneateles Artisans, 3 Fennell St., Skaneateles; (315) 685-8580 or skaneatelesartisans.com; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays

 Work by more than 175 local artists

Skaneateles Historical Society Museum at The Creamery, 28 Hannum St., Skaneateles; (315) 685-1360; Open 1-4 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays

 Records, photos, newspaper articles and more items from Skaneateles history

South Shore Artisans, 576 Main St., Fair Haven; facebook.com/southshoreartisans; Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays

 Local artists, including Marsha Decker's soaps

Sterling Nature Center, Jensvold Road, Sterling; (315) 947-6143 or cayugacounty.us.; Open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. daily

 2022 Cayuga Naturally Photograph Contest winners

The Underground Bottle Shop, 29 E. Genesee St., Auburn; undergroundbottleshop.com; Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, noon-6 p.m. Sundays

 Art by Martin Kepecs

Gallery: 2022 Cayuga Naturally Photograph Contest winners
Tragedy struck the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on April 20, as at least 78 people were killed in a stampede during the distribution of charitable donations. The event was held in a school, where hundreds of people had gathered to receive aid from merchants in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Witnesses reported that the donations amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about 750, per person. The stampede also left several people injured, with 13 in critical condition.

The Al Masirah TV news outlet, which is run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, reported that the director of health in Sanaa confirmed the injuries. The Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior's spokesperson also confirmed that the event was organised by two merchants and said an investigation was underway. The merchants have been detained.

Yemen has been embroiled in a brutal eight-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions into hunger. The conflict began in 2014 when the Houthis ousted the government from the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, and the conflict has been widely viewed as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Houthi movement's head, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, took to Twitter to blame the tragedy on the "aggression and blockade" of the Yemeni people. He said the stampede was a result of the "worst global humanitarian crisis" after eight years of fighting.

Recently, peace talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict. The top negotiator of the Houthi movement said the talks had made progress, and further discussions would be held to iron out remaining differences.

In March, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016, and prisoner exchanges this month have further boosted hopes of an end to the conflict.

(With agency inputs)
As King Charles III prepares for his coronation, reports suggest that his personal wealth has shot up to almost 2 million. While a monarch's wealth is typically tied up in the crown's assets and some monies that can be used only for official duties, earlier reports quoting royal experts had suggested that the late queen's personal fortune stood between $447 million and $600 million (assumed). It is also pertinent to note that Britain's royals enjoy a total immunity from inheritance tax.

While the British monarch's personal assets and fortune remain largely outside of public data, a recent audit of sorts conducted by the Guardian has tagged country piles, diamond-encrusted jewels, paintings by Monet and Dali, Rolls-Royces, racehorses, rare stamps and more. The claim has been dismissed by official representatives who tagged the report as bearing figures that are a highly creative mix of speculation, assumption and inaccuracy.

According to a Reader's Digest report from 2022 quoting royal expert and writer Marlene Koenig, Elizabeth II had inherited a fortune from her father when he died in 1952. She also inherited the queen mothers entire estate when she died in 2002. Her net worth had also included tangible assets such as jewelry, art, a valuable stamp collection, horses, stud farms, fruit farms and property - including Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Sandringham Estate.

According to the Guardian report Charles' private wealth is estimated stand at 1.815 billion. His role as as a working royal also brings in a steady income - including official state gifts that have been subsumed into private property and vast hereditary estates that pay out tens of millions each year.

In tangential news, a recent poll discovered that more than half of British people do not want the upcoming coronation of King Charles III to be funded by taxpayers. Nearly a third - 32% - said it should, while around 18% did not know.

But as a recession looms and the pound sinks to its lowest in nearly four decades, many have balked at the possibility of a lavish coronation event funded by taxpayers money. The YouGov poll found 51% of respondents believe the May 6 ceremony to crown Charles and Camilla should not be paid for by the government.

(With inputs from agencies)
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday had a telephonic conversation with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen and reviewed the progress of the India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership.

During the telephonic conversation, PM Modi and Frederiksen expressed satisfaction at the recent high-level exchanges and the growing cooperation between the two nations.

"Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation today with H.E. Ms. Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark. PM congratulated PM Frederiksen on her appointment as the Prime Minister of Denmark for a second term," the Prime Minister's office said in a press release.

The two leaders reviewed the progress of the India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership. They expressed satisfaction at the recent high-level exchanges and the growing cooperation, it added.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, PM Modi stated, "Pleased to speak with PM of Denmark, H.E. Ms. Mette Frederiksen. We reviewed progress in our Green Strategic Partnership and shared ideas on celebrating the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations in 2024. Appreciate her support for India's ongoing G20 Presidency."

According to Prime Minister's Office (PMO), PM Modi briefed PM Frederiksen on India's ongoing Presidency of the G20 and its key priorities. PM Frederiksen appreciated Indias initiatives and conveyed Denmarks full support to them.

The two leaders agreed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India-Denmark relations next year in 2024 in a befitting manner and to explore areas to diversify their relations further, it added.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the diplomatic relations between India and Denmark were established in September 1949. The bilateral relations between the two nations were elevated to the level of "Green Strategic Partnership" on September 28, 2020 during the virtual Summit held between PM Modi and PM Frederiksen.
Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 's (SCO) foreign ministers meeting on May 4-5 in India, according to a report published by news agency ANI citing Pakistan's foreign ministry.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India," she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in-person as quoted by PTI.

She said the Pakistan foreign minister would attend the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO meet.

Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said.

The SCO is a regional political and security bloc whose members include Russia, China, India, and Pakistan. The foreign ministers' meeting will be held in the western Indian coastal state of Goa.

It would be the highest level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after Indias warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistans Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmirs special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.

(With inputs from agencies)
Crisis-hit Pakistan reported a current account surplus for the first time in almost two and a half years due to an ongoing ban on non-essential imports in a country thats waiting for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive a $6.5 billion bailout program.

According to data from the State Bank of Pakistan, the current account was a surplus of $654 million in March 2023. The country recorded a current account surplus last in November 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic curbs.

The latest reading is unlikely to provide a relief to the $350 billion economy that is slowing down sharply as the Washington-based lender deliberates on whether to resume the loan program. The IMF wants Pakistan to secure financing support for the fiscal year ending June.

Analysts at Topline Securities thanked the tighter monetary and fiscal measures along with administrative steps taken by the federal government amid the country's worst economic crisis.

The Pakistani government has made various economic modifications including hikes in fuel prices, raising taxes, and others demanded by the financial body for loans.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates provided financing assurances helping the nation inch closer to the IMF funding and avert a default.

However, the lender is still seeking further assurances to ensure Pakistan has fulfilled the condition of arranging the $6 billion financing to reach a staff-level agreement.

Nathan Porter, the IMFs Mission Chief to Pakistan said that there was an agreement on the need to maintain strong financial policies and secure sufficient financing during the meeting between the Pakistani delegation and IMF staff.

He added that the IMF looks forward to obtaining important financing assurances as soon as possible to unlock the bailout package.

Responding to IMF's recent remarks, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized that the country has now met all tough conditions laid forth by the financial body and now it has no excuse to delay the state-level agreement.

Pakistan was not created to run on debts and act like beggars because their forefathers and different generations had given sacrifices for the motherland," PM Shehbaz said.

In absence of funding support, Pakistans dollar stockpile has declined to less than a months worth of imports, restricting its ability to fund overseas purchases and leading to production halts by several industries. Pakistans growth has been revised to 0.5% from 2% for year ending June by the IMF.

PM Sharif banned imports of luxury products, including raw materials for assembling mobile phones and manufacturing steel in May last year. Carmakers and pharma companies have also been impacted by import restrictions.

In Pakistan, imports fell more than 40% to $3.83 billion in March, the lowest since August 2020, while remittances rose to $2.53 billion, 27% higher than a month earlier.

The nine-month current account deficit stood at $3.37 billion vs $13 billion from a year ago, the latest data showed.
People stampeded at an event to distribute financial aid in Yemen's capital late Wednesday, and at least 78 people were killed and dozens more suffered injuries, a Houthi official said.

The crush took place in the Old City in the centre of Sanaa when hundreds of poor people gathered at an event organised by merchants, according to the Houthi-run Interior Ministry.

The ministry's spokesman, Brig Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, blamed the disaster on the random distribution" of funds without coordination with local authorities.

Dozens of casualties were taken to nearby hospitals. Motaher al-Marouni, a senior health official in Sanaa, gave the death tally and said at least 13 were seriously injured, according the Houthi's Al-Masirah satellite TV channel.

The rebels quickly sealed off the school where the event was organised and barred people, including journalists, from approaching.

Eyewitnesses, Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen, said armed Houthis shot in the air in an attempt to control the crowd, apparently striking an electrical wire and causing it to explode. That sparked panic and people began stampeding, they said.

The Houthi-run Interior Ministry said it had detained two organisers and an investigation was underway.

Yemen's capital is controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthis since they descended from their northern stronghold in 2014 and removed the internationally recognised government.

The Houthi move prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government.

The conflict has turned in recent years into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
The spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs in India, Arindam Bagchi, on Thursday said that the situation in war-torn Khartoum in Sudan remains tense. We are keeping close watch on developments in Sudan; situation there is tense Bagchi told reporters.

He further added that the Indian government is in touch in touch with people through different channels. We are in readiness. We are in close touch with our teams on the ground but it all depends on how long there is a ceasefire in fighting and safe locations available for evacuation", Bagchi said.

The safety and security of the Indians is our key focus, Bagchi said.

The Embassy of India in Khartoum is open, functioning and rendering all services with officials working from separate locations. Nobody is inside the Embassy building right now" Bagchi said addressing reporters on Thursday.

The MEA spokesperson said that plans are being worked out to evacuate Indians from Sudan. Some plans are being worked out but will depend on ground situation", he was heard saying.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in New York, is expected to meet UN Secretary General in New York on Sudan situation, Bangchi confirmed.

An Indian has lost their life by a stray bullet in the war like situation that has gripped Sudan.

The MEA had set up a control room for Indians in Sudan. Reportedly there are several people from Karnatka who are also stranded in the war torn country in Africa.

Contact details for Indians in Sudan

Phone: 1800 11 8797 (Toll free)

91-11-23012113

91-11-23014104

91-11-23017905

Mobile: 91 9968291988

Email: situationroom@mea.gov.in

Situation in Sudan

The latest attempt at a cease-fire between the rival Sudanese forces faltered as gunfire rattled the capital of Khartoum. As global pressure to stop the violence failed, Japan and the Netherlands flew transport planes closer to the conflict-battered nation ahead of a possible evacuation of their citizens.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 injured so far, the U.N. health agency said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

Through the night and into Thursday morning, gunfire could be heard almost constantly across Khartoum. Artillery shelling and airstrikes seemed to have eased from previous days, but residents still reported a few explosions.

Aid groups said they needed better guarantees of safety and a longer truce to help civilians trapped by the intense urban combat and to salvage hospitals that have been battered, shut down or overwhelmed by the violence.

Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water. Around 70% of hospitals near the clash sites throughout the country are out of service, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said Thursday. At least nine hospitals were bombed, it said.

(With inputs from agencies)
On April 20, SpaceX is set to make a second attempt to launch the Starship spacecraft, the world's most powerful rocket built to take astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The first scheduled launch on April 17 was aborted less than 10 minutes ahead of time due to a pressurisation issue in the first-stage booster.

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has been cautious about the inaugural test flight, noting the high risks involved. He cast some doubt on whether the launch would go ahead on April 20, saying, "The team is working around the clock on many issues. Maybe 4/20, maybe not."

If the launch goes according to plan, the Super Heavy booster will separate from Starship about three minutes after launch and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. Starship, which has six engines of its own, will continue to an altitude of nearly 150 miles, completing a near-circle of the Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after launch.

NASA has selected the Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the Moon in late 2025, marking the first time humans will travel to the Moon since the Apollo program ended in 1972. Starship comprises a 164-foot spacecraft that sits atop a 230-foot tall first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket.

The planned test flight aims to assess the performance of the spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket in combination. SpaceX conducted a successful test-firing of the 33 massive Raptor engines on the first-stage booster in February, but the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket have never flown together.

Starship is both bigger and more powerful than NASA's heavy rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development for over a decade. Starship generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

Musk has said that the eventual objective is to establish bases on the Moon and Mars and put humans on the "path to being a multi-planet civilization." The plan is to make Starship reusable and bring down the price to a few million dollars per flight.

Starship launch time in India

The launch window opens at 8:28 am Central Time and lasts for about an hour. For India, the timeframe for the launch of Starship on April 20 commences at 6:58 PM IST and concludes at 8:00 PM.

(With agency inputs)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sounak Mukhopadhyay Sounak Mukhopadhyay, who also goes by the name Sounak Mukherjee, has been producing digital news since 2012. He's worked for the International Business Times, The Inquisitr, and Moneycontrol in the past. He's also contributed to Free Press Journal and TheRichest with feature articles. He covers news for a wide range of subjects including business, finance, economy, politics and social media. Before working with digital news publications, he worked as a freelance content writer. Read more from this author
Energy forms the backbone of modern economies and is fundamental to economic development and prosperity. This is one of the major reasons for present geo-political arrangements, even as a world economy shaken by a pandemic and surging inflation has had to contend with a tragic conflict in Ukraine and its aftermath of rising energy costs and declining energy security. The energy sector, still largely dominated by fossil fuels in energy production, transformation and use, is responsible for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 90% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Energy has been a critical element of the G20 agenda since 2009 for a sustainable global economy. G20 member countries that are signatories to the Paris Agreement account for about 75% of global energy demand and 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and thus bear significant responsibility in playing a strategic role while pushing for a future of cleaner energy. The Energy Ministers Communique issued during Italys 2021 presidency announced a target of net-zero carbon emissions and this goal was reiterated during Indonesias 2022 presidency as well. An energy transition will play a critical role in India achieving its net zero target by 2070 and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced. This calls for nothing less than a complete transformation of how we produce, transport and consume energy. In short, we need a complete energy transition.

Energy production: Even though renewable energy production doubled in the past decade and its share of total primary energy consumption has grown from 10% in 2015 to 13% in 2021, the use of fossil fuels is also expanding to meet growing demand for energy; it grew by 10% from 2015 to 2021. As per BPs 2022 statistical review of world energy, the highest growth in renewable capacity was seen in lower middle-income countries (solar 1,298%; wind 134%; and hydro 24%), followed by upper middle-income countries (solar 702%; wind-239%; and hydro 14%) and then high-income countries (solar 163%; wind 72%; and hydro 1%).

Hence, to close a gap between the current emissions trajectory and a path towards capping global average temperatures at 1.5  Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the production of clean and green energy is vital. The deployment of renewable energy capacities in the energy mix must almost triple over the coming decade, to 500 Gigawatts (GW) annually, from an average of about 180GW from 2015 to 2021. India is the worlds third largest producer of renewable energy, with about 43% of its installed capacity (roughly 175GW) being renewable. But renewable energy on its own cannot solve a pressing issue of energy generation, as intermittency and grid stabilization are important factors which need to addressed.

Energy storage technologies will play a key role in ensuring continuous supply of renewable energy, by reducing peak energy needs, and help us deal with the problem of intermittency and improve overall grid management. New advances in storage technology, such as electrochemical (primarily battery technologies like sodium-ion and flow batteries), mechanical (pumped hydro, flywheel), chemical (hydrogen or derived bio-fuels, ammonia) and electrical (super-capacitors and cryogenic super-conducting magnets), will provide long-term energy-storage solutions. Unlocking economies of scale is a prerequisite for integrating high levels of variable renewable energy sources, which will not be possible without the development, transfer and deployment of a full range of emerging technologies in energy storage through collaborative actions to realize a cost-effective and time-bound transition along with the development of a diversified renewable-energy supply chain.

Energy transportation: As per an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analysis, the worlds big CO2-emitting sectors are energy systems (34%), industry (24%), agriculture (22%), transport (15%) and buildings (6%). Despite being home to over 1.4 billion people, Indias contribution to the worlds cumulative emissions is less than 4% and our annual per capita emissions are about one-third of the global average, as India is the only G20 nation that is well ahead of its climate-change mitigation targets. Decarbonizing the economy is the need of the hour, and it requires more cohesive action now towards transforming hard-to-abate sectors, including power, transportation, fertilizers, cement, steel, real estate, aviation and agriculture. Hydrogen will offer a solution for industrial and transport needs that are hard to meet through direct electrification, mitigating close to 12% and 26% of CO2 emissions, respectively, according to an IRENA 1.5 Celsius scenario. India presently contributes about 10% to global hydrogen demand and there is strong desire to shift to green fuels including biofuels, green hydrogen and green ammonia, as these are important for a transition to a low-carbon future (theyre fuels for future). This will not only result in an energy basket diversified for environmental benefits, but also energy security and reduced import dependency in hard-to- abate sectors, especially transport and industry.

Global demand of 100 million metric tonnes (MMT) for green hydrogen and its derivatives is projected by 2030, of which about 10% could be satisfied by India. To achieve this, there is a critical need to scale up the production and deployment of high-performance electrolysers from the existing 2-4GW per annum capacity to 25-30GW per annum in the next 3-5 years, while counting on emerging technologies and developing green hydrogen hubs. Also, in order to maximize the opportunity in green hydrogen and facilitate the development of a vibrant export market, there is a need to address cost economics, ensure that regulations are in place, and see that adequate private and public finance is provided, with the required supply-chain arrangements and necessary back-up infrastructure to go with it.

As India has set its sights on becoming energy independent by 2047 and achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2070, we recognize the critical role of green hydrogen. With its vast renewable energy resources, India has an opportunity to produce green hydrogen for the world.

Energy consumption: Sustainable energy consumption also has a major role to play in the energy transition. Through Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), a mantra given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the CoP-26 summit that is also now a G20 priority, there is an urgency to bring about a paradigm shift from mindless and destructive consumption to mindful and deliberate utilization of resources. Mission LiFE has had an enthusiastic response from world leaders, who have lauded Indias initiative of blending its spiritual idea of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam" (the world is a family) to drive a green transformation and also the motto of Indias G20 presidency, One Earth One Planet One Future". Under Indias presidency, LiFE has acquired added momentum as it wins support from the international community and those aspiring for a healthy, green and sustainable lifestyle, and is poised to become a global mantra against climate change.

Finally, as most countries grapple with the challenge of maintaining energy security based on their requirements and national circumstances, the development of affordable and secure channels of energy access to fuel economic growth and improve the living standards of people is imperative even as an energy transition progresses. While a shift to clean energy is critical to restrict global warming, it is equally important to remain cognizant of the social and economic impact of any such transition. The movement away from fossil fuels needs to be orderly, time-bound and in accordance with nationally defined development priorities. It must recognize both existing dependencies" and existing deprivations."

These are the authors personal views.

Amitabh Kant & Sujit Jena are, respectively, the G20 Sherpa and policy specialist, G20 Secretariat
AHMEDABAD : A Surat sessions court on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhs plea to suspend his conviction in a criminal defamation case for comments made four years ago on the Modi surname, dealing a blow to his hopes of quickly reversing his disqualification as a Member of Parliament (MP).

Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera cited Gandhis stature as an MP and former chief of the countrys second-largest political party, and said he should have been more careful in his comments. He cited prima facie evidence and observations of the trial court and said it appeared Gandhi made certain derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi apart from comparing the people with the same surname with thieves.

...the appellant was not an ordinary person and was sitting MP, connected with public life. Any word spoken by appellant would have large impact in mind of common public...Moreover, high standard of morality is expected from a person like appellant and the learned trial court had inflicted sentence which was permissible in law," said the 27-page judgment. I am of the opinion that the appellant has not made out any case to suspend the conviction recorded against him," the judge added.

The Congress called the decision unsustainable and erroneous. The conviction has been upheld contrary to all basic elementary principles of law...let me assure you that the judgement will be challenged in accordance with law in the very near future," senior leader Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in Delhi.

On 23 March, a Surat court convicted Gandhi for criminal defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for a remark he made ahead of the 2019 national polls about the Modi surname. Under the law, the conviction and two-year jail term rendered Gandhi unfit to enter either House of Parliament for a period of eight years.

In 2019 at a rally in Karnataka, Gandhi asked the crowd, How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?" referring to fugitives Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, and targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Cayuga County-area board of education races haven mostly taken shape following the petition deadline for candidates in all but one district.

The state Education Department's deadline for candidates in most public school districts to file to run for board seats was Monday, April 17. That includes eight out of the nine districts in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES region. The deadline for Auburn Enlarged City School District board candidates this year is Wednesday, April 26.

The Skaneateles Central School District did not respond to inquires from The Citizen on who is running for board seats, but of the eight districts that reported their candidates lists, three are currently slated to have contested races.

The statewide voting day for school board candidates, budget propositions and any other propositions districts might have is May 16.

Here's a breakdown of candidates who have filed 2023 board petitions for local school districts:

 Although the Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education's deadline for candidates is next week, three candidates have already submitted their petitions. Incumbents Francis "C.J." Calarco and Dr. Eli Hernandez are pursuing board seats again, while Freddie Wilson III is also running. Three three-year positions are up for grabs. Dr. Rhoda Overstreet-Wilson is not seeking another term on the board.

 The Cato-Meridian Central School District has six contenders angling for two three-year board openings. Board President Paul Byrne and fellow incumbent Jason Hirvela are running, along with Harmon Kent III, Beth Nasholts, Amanda Vallee and Nathan Wallace.

 The Jordan-Elbridge Central School District has three contenders up for three open three-year vacancies. Incumbent Annette Gustafson has put her hat in the ring, plus Molly Godfrey and Kurt Handley are running. Current board members Lisa Long and Gage Moulding are not pursuing reelection.

The Moravia Central School District has three people competing for two three-year positions. Diana Plue, Andrew Powers and Heidi McNail are all running. Board President Terry Thompson and fellow incumbent Michelle Lyon are not seeking terms again.

 The Port Byron Central School District board race involves familiar faces going for three open three-year seats. Vice President Benjamin Vitale and fellow incumbents Dr. Paul Ryan and Peter Svitavsky are set to be on the ballot.

 The Southern Cayuga School District has two three-year terms and three candidates this year. Incumbent Rachel McCarthy is running, in addition to Timothy Pallokat and Kishan Zuber. Vice President Christine Brozon is not vying for a seat.

 The Union Springs Central School District has three incumbents chasing three open three-year slots. Ann Marie Daum, Erin Tones and Vice President Daniel Testa are all running.

 The Weedsport Central School District has one five-year position available, with board President Colleen Borza pursuing another term.
In what can be a crucial day for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the sessions court in Gujarats Surat is likely to pronounce its verdict today on Congress leader Rahul Gandhis plea for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname" remark. Last week the court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera had reserved its verdict for April 20 on Rahul Gandhis application for a stay on conviction pending his appeal against a lower courts order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case. Gandhi had earlier submitted that the trial court treated him harshly after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

Rahul Gandhi had on April 3 moved the sessions court against the lower courts order. His lawyers also filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for a stay on conviction till the disposal of the appeal.While granting Rahul Gandhi bail, the court issued notices to complainant Purnesh Modi and the state government on his plea for a stay on conviction. It heard both parties on Thursday last week and reserved the order for April 20.

In his submission, Rahul Gandhi said that if the March 23 judgment of the trial court is not suspended and stayed, it will cause irreparable damage to his reputation. He said the excessive sentence is contrary to the law on the subject and unwarranted in the present case which has overriding political overtones.

Gandhi termed his conviction as "erroneous" and "patently perverse" and said the trial court treated him harshly after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

The appellant has been treated harshly at the stage of determination of sentence taking into account his position as a Member of Parliament, hence the far-reaching implications would have been in the knowledge of the trial court," he said.

MLA Purnesh Modi had filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi over his remarks, How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

The 52-year-old politician was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019 but was disqualified a day after a metropolitan magistrate court in Surat on March 23 sentenced him to two years in jail in a case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Arguing for Gandhi's plea for a stay on conviction, his lawyer told the court that the trial in the case was "not fair" and there was no need for maximum punishment in the case.

The Congress leader said that he was sentenced in a manner so as to attract the order of disqualification because the trial court was well aware of his status as a Parliamentarian.

The bye-election once held in Gandhis Lok Sabha constituency due to his disqualification cannot be undone if his conviction is not stayed even if the court subsequently acquits him, he said. Such an election will also cause irreparable loss to the state exchequer, he said.

Opposing his plea, MLA Modi had told the court that Gandhi is a repeat offender with several criminal defamation proceedings against him going on in different courts across the country.

Rahul Gandhi lost membership in the Lower House of Parliament after the Surat court convicted and sentenced him in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

The case pertained to a remark he made using the surname 'Modi' while addressing a campaign event ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

At a rally in Karnataka's Kolar in April 2019, Rahul, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?".

Following his conviction, Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24, as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013. Under the ruling, any MP or MLA is automatically disqualified if convicted and sentenced to two years or more

*WIth agency inputs
In 1941, in The Library of Babel", Jorge Luis Borges imagines a vast collection of books containing every possible permutation of letters, commas and full stops. Any wisdom in the stacks is dwarfed by endless volumes of gibberish. With no locatable index, every search for knowledge is futile. Librarians are on the verge of suicide.

Borgess nightmarish repository is a cautionary tale for the Supreme Court next week, as it takes up two cases involving a fiercely contested provision of a nearly 30-year-old law regulating web communications. If the justices use Gonzalez v Google and Taamneh v Twitter to crack down on the algorithms online platforms use to curate content, Americans may soon find it much harder to navigate the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data added to the internet each day.

The law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, has been interpreted by federal courts to do two things. First, it immunises both provider[s]" and user[s]" of an interactive computer service" from liability for potentially harmful posts created by other people. Second, it allows platforms to take down posts that are obsceneexcessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable"even if they are constitutionally protectedwithout risking liability for any such content they happen to leave up.

Disgruntlement with Section 230 is bipartisan. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have called for its repeal (though Mr Biden now says he prefers to reform it). Scepticism on the right has focused on licence the law affords technology companies to censor conservative speech. Disquiet on the left stems from a perception that the law permits websites to spread misinformation and vitriol that can fuel events like the insurrection of January 6th 2021.

Tragedy underlies both Gonzalez and Taamneh. In 2015 Nohemi Gonzalez, an American woman, was murdered in an Islamic State (IS) attack in Paris. Her family says the algorithms on YouTube (which is owned by Google) fed radicalising videos to the terrorists who killed her. The Taamneh plaintiffs are relatives of Nawras Alassaf, a Jordanian killed in Istanbul in 2017. They contend that Section 230 should not hide the role Twitter, Facebook and Google played in grooming the IS perpetrator.

The Biden administration is taking a nuanced stand against the tech giants. In its brief to the justices, the Department of Justice says Section 230 protects the dissemination of videos" on YouTube by usersincluding terrorist training videos by the likes of IS. But the platforms recommendation message[s]" are another story, the department says. These nudges, auto-loaded videos in a users Up next" sidebar, arise from YouTubes own platform-design choices" and should not be protected under the umbrella of Section 230.

Some 30 amicus (or friend-of-the-court) briefs urge the justices to rein in social-media websites immunity from lawsuits. The Anti-Defamation League, a civil-rights group, writes that the companies strategy of keeping us scrolling and clicking" through targeted algorithms threatens vulnerable communities most at risk of online harassment and related offline violence". Ted Cruz, a senator, along with 16 fellow Republican lawmakers, decries the near-absolute immunity" that lower courts decisions have conferred on Big Tech companies to alter and push harmful content" under Section 230.

But nearly 50 amicus briefs opposing a rejigging of Section 230 warn of unintended consequences. An internet resembling Borgess useless library is one worry. Meta, which owns Facebook, notes that virtually every online service" (from weather to cooking to sports) highlights content that is relevant" to particular users. The algorithms matching posts with users are indispensable", the company says, to sift through thousands or millions" of articles, photos or reviews. Yelp adds that holding companies liable for restaurant reviews posted by users would trigger an onslaught of suits". Kneecapping Section 230 would be devastating" for Wikipedia and other small-budget or non-profit sites, its parent foundation warns.

Danielle Citron and Mary Ann Franks, law professors at the University of Virginia and University of Miami, argue that the courts have long misread Section 230. There is, they say, no boundless immunityfor harmful third-party content". But Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt, a blog, thinks such a reconceptualisation of the law would invite havoc". The crux of Section 230, he says, is pinning responsibility for harmful speech on the proper party": the person who made the content, not the tool" he uses to communicate it. If that distinction disappears, Mr Masnick cautions, vexatious lawsuits would blossom whenever someone somewhere did something bad with a tool".

Thomas Wheeler, who chaired the Federal Communications Commission under Barack Obama, worries that tech companies have too much freedom to bombard" users with potentially harmful content. When platforms alert specific users" of videos or articles, Mr Wheeler says, conduct becomes content" and should no longer receive Section 230 protection. Some advocates of curbed immunity distinguish between benign and destructive algorithms. Somebody has to draw a line," Mr Wheeler says. The question facing the justices is whether a line can be found with something to recommend it.

Stay on top of American politics with Checks and Balance, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter, which examines the state of American democracy and the issues that matter to voters.

 2023, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com
In a first, Reddit will start charging third parties for access to its application programming interface or API data. Reportedly, Reddit's API data has been used to train some of the most popular chatbots in the market, including Google's Bard, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Microsoft's Bing Chat.

While it is widely known that the new chatbots based on large language models have been trained using data from social media sites, Reddit has become the first social media platform to charge these companies for its data.

In an interview with the New York Times, Reddit's co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman explained the importance of data on the social media site, saying, "More than any other place on the internet, Reddit is a home for authentic conversationTheres a lot of stuff on the site that youd only ever say in therapy, or A.A., or never at all."

According to Huffman, the key to producing the best results for large language models is using new and relevant data. As of 2019, Reddit had over 430 million monthly active users, who were active participants in more than 1.2 million special interest communities.

The New York Times reported that both ChatGPT and Bard have been trained using Reddit data in one form or another. Reportedly, large language models are trained by downloading and processing user data from Reddit through its API. API allows developers to access Reddit data in a structured and organized way.

So far, Reddit has had a mutually beneficial relationship with Microsoft and Google, who scrape data from Reddit to provide accurate search results. In turn, Reddit benefits from appearing higher in search rankings and attracting more visitors to its platform

With the onset of large language models-based chatbots Reddit has little to gain from letting these companies use its data. Huffman explains, The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable. But we dont need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free."

Huffman says that Reddit's API data will be available for free to developers who create applications that enhance user experience, though the platform has not yet revealed pricing for other third-party access.
April 20, or 4/20, may be the unofficial holiday for pot smokers, but its origins are particularly hazy.

Today is April 20  or 4/20 for all the marijuana enthusiasts out there. It is the unofficial holiday for people who want to get high all over the world.

The day has become so inextricably linked with the herbal leaf that a Google search lists 420 as simply one of the date's holidays and observances (along with UN Chinese Language Day). But how exactly did the association between 420 and marijuana begin?

The story told on countless couches around the country is that "420" is police code for a marijuana arrest. But take a clear-eyed look at that explanation, and it goes up in smoke.

Related: 25 Odd Facts About Marijuana

Arrest in progress myth

It turns out, the terminology that linked 4/20 with smoking pot took root in Northern California in the early 1970s, said Steve Bloom, (opens in new tab) the publisher of CelebStoner and the founder of Freedom Leaf magazine.

Bloom, however first came upon the connection when he was given a flier at a Grateful Dead concert at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in 1990. The flier recounted the now-famous apocryphal tale that 420 was police code for a marijuana arrest in progress.

"The makers of the flier thought it was a good idea to turn that around and smoke on 4/20," Bloom told Live Science.

The flier urged its readers to celebrate 4/20 as "the grandmaster of all holidays," when they should meet up with friends to smoke pot together at 4:20 p.m. on 4/20, Bloom said.

Bloom wrote about the flier in High Times magazine, and the idea soon took off, he said.

True origins of 420

But the police-origin story was off the mark, as that is not the code used for a marijuana bust.

"A few years later a few other people got in touch with High Times claiming they were the rightful owners of 420," Bloom said.

It turned out that a group of men who called themselves the Waldos went to high school in San Rafael in California during the 1970s, when the Grateful Dead lived there and the hippie culture reigned supreme. One day they heard a story from a friend about a patch of weed being grown by a U.S. Coast Guard member near the coastal town of Point Reyes. The Coast Guard member was too scared to go harvest it, so the Waldos decided to go on a treasure hunt for the marijuana patch. They decided to meet at a Louis Pasteur statue near campus at 4:20 p.m. to accommodate their school schedules, before heading off in search of the green gold, according to 420Waldos.com, a website set up by the high-school group of friends which now includes information on the holiday's origin.

The pot search routine went on for weeks and the group agreed to meet every day at "420 Louis" to continue the search. Though it wound up being a wild goose chase, it eventually gave rise to the shortened term "420" to denote smoking marijuana.

"We didn't know we were creating history at the time, it was just a private joke we were telling between ourselves," said Dave Reddix, one of the original waldos, who is now an independent filmmaker in San Francisco.

The Grateful Dead lived in San Rafael at the same time as the Waldos, and the group sometimes hung out in "deadhead" circles, even lingering backstage after shows. Gradually, their terminology spread through the Grateful Dead community into the wider stoner culture, Bloom said.

The Waldos not only spoke with an editor at High Times (not Bloom) and signed statements attesting the truth of their story, but they also provided documents, such as old letters referring to marijuana by its numerical nickname, old high-school newspapers using the term, and even a "420," batik-dyed marijuana flag, according to 420Waldos.com. Though they were initially anonymous, but in the late 1990s, a few of the original group have come forward with their real names. Recently, they even found the U.S. Coast Guard member, who is now homeless, and finally found the location of the original pot, Reddix said.

Wider cultural trend

People wait outside a Grateful Dead concert at the Oakland Arena on Dec. 12, 1992. Bloom first found a flyer describing the holiday "420" as a police arrest in progress at such a concert, but that urban myth had been circulating at least 15 years prior to the concert. (Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty)

But how exactly did the term make its way from a local term to a global holiday? The flier that Bloom and others received at the Oakland Grateful Dead concert may have been the catalyst that launched "420" from local Northern California underground slang to the central day for major marijuana celebrations and protests throughout the world. But the false association between police busts and 420 predates the Grateful Dead concert by at least 15 years, said Steve Capper, one of the Waldos, who is now in the financial services industry in San Francisco.

"The first time I heard it, I was going to school in Southern California," somewhere between 1974 to 1975, Capper told Live Science. "I'd fly back and would pass by a high-school kid hitchhiking."

After picking them up, he would ask them if they knew what 420 was.

"They'd say 'it's a police code for marijuana,'" Capper said.

The real turning point, however, was the Oakland concert, Bloom said.

"I was not the only person who got the flier, but was the one who was able to spread it out through the magazine," Bloom said. "Over the years, it just kind of picked up steam. That was really what started to build up the 4/20 phenomenon."

Exactly who created the flier, and launched 4/20 into a global day of celebration of all things cannabis, however, is still unknown.

"The mysterious deadheads behind the flier are the ones who created the holiday," Bloom said. "It's become the stoner high holiday, and these guys are the people who created it."

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in 2017 and updated April 20, 2023.
WILMINGTON, Del. - Fox News's $787.5 million settlement with a voting machine company sends a stark warning to others about the cost of making false statements, but that doesn't mean election falsehoods will disappear.

The constellation of conservative networks and right-wing websites that promote those falsehoods may just become more adept at spreading conspiracy theories and baseless claims, election officials and misinformation experts say, such as by avoiding naming companies and individuals.

"There are people who are so committed to the perpetuation of this narrative that it won't die completely," said Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer (R), a top election official in Arizona's largest county. "There are organizations, candidates, fundraisers who this has been their life for a few years, and one settlement isn't going to make them probably throw away their entire business model."

Election officials and academics described Fox's settlement with Dominion Voting Systems as one small part of a broad effort to restore Americans' faith in elections and hold those who tell falsehoods accountable. On its own, the settlement might not change much, they said.

"We shouldn't think that defamation suits are going to solve our problems with mass disbelief in the fairness of the 2020 election," said Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project.

Hasen said Fox News and other outlets are "going to be less likely to make statements about individuals or companies who could be defamed." But the need to keep viewership high could lead to decision-making driven more by ratings than truth, as illustrated by documents - released as part of the lawsuit - that showed an all-out push to stay on top of smaller right-wing cable network Newsmax.

"So you can imagine them still at least allowing guests to push election conspiracy theories so long as they don't defame identifiable people," he said.

Dominion sued Fox for $1.6 billion in 2021 after the network spent weeks broadcasting false claims about the company and its voting machines. A Delaware judge last month determined the statements were obviously false, undercutting many of Fox's defenses. The network agreed to the massive settlement - the largest known publicly disclosed defamation settlement in U.S. history - on Tuesday, just before opening statements began in a trial that was expected to last six weeks.

Fox acknowledged in a Tuesday statement that the court had found some of its claims about Dominion were false. It said its settlement "reflects Fox's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards." In a statement Wednesday, Fox said that it is committed to "expanding our newsgathering footprint both domestically and abroad while providing state-of-the-art resources to enhance our coverage."

The Dominion case, experts have said, was particularly strong because it focused specifically on defamatory comments made about a business that could point to government contracts that were lost as a direct result of misinformation - even as Fox News contested the extent of the damage.

David Becker, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Election Innovation and Research, said that the settlement may change how some news outlets deal with false claims but that falsehoods about elections will persist.

"The entire disinformation landscape is massive, and this lawsuit really demonstrated exactly how massive it is because of what it didn't cover. It didn't cover any of the lies about election officials or mail voting or drop boxes or any of the specific conspiracy theories around bamboo ballots and German servers and Italian satellites," he said, referring to some of the far-fetched conspiracy theories and disinformation that have bounced around the internet.

After Fox's settlement, media companies may shy away from statements that could prompt litigation. But Becker said those interested in spreading election falsehoods may see less risk by making false claims that don't mention companies or individuals by name, such as by maintaining that elections are rigged or falsely suggesting that large numbers of ballots are cast in the names of dead people.

"The continued spreading of lies on social media by people who profited from the lies for so long and even candidates themselves, that's ongoing," he said.

University of Cincinnati journalism professor Jeffrey Blevins, a misinformation expert, predicted that news networks "will be more careful."

"I think they'll get more savvy about how they cover [baseless claims], but I still think they're going to give platforms to those," he said. "If I had to guess, I would think the conspiracy theorists would move on to something else. Maybe the culprit won't be voting machine companies next time, but individual people. Those individuals don't have the resources to fight them in court."

Fox's critics have celebrated the size of the settlement - which was made public by Dominion - but said a trial featuring testimony from Fox executives and hosts may have done more to show the public that Fox officials knew what was being said on its shows was false.

"I think that the settlement is a good move on Dominion's part. As a private company, they should have, and they have been worried about their reputation and their own financial interests," said Yotam Ophir, a University at Buffalo communications assistant professor and misinformation expert. "For society at large, I'm not very convinced that the decision to settle outside of court will be beneficial."

The settlement will probably have major ramifications for Dominion's lawsuits against Newsmax and One America News - even though Newsmax is contesting that notion.

"Newsmax believes that the facts at issue in Dominion's case against it are materially different from those that may have driven Fox to settle and no conclusion about Newsmax should be drawn from that settlement," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "Newsmax stands by its coverage and analysis of the 2020 election and will continue to vigorously defend against the claim."

While Fox News did not issue a correction regarding the inaccurate claims, Newsmax published a statement in April 2021 telling online readers that the allegations made against Dominion and one of its employees were false. "Newsmax subsequently found no evidence that such allegations were true," the network said. "Many of the states whose results were contested by the Trump campaign after the November 2020 election have conducted extensive recounts and audits, and each of these states certified the results as legal and final."

Fox, Newsmax and other outlets will face challenges covering the 2024 presidential race because former president Donald Trump is running again and has not backed away from his falsehoods about the 2020 election. A day before Fox reached its settlement, Trump wrote in all caps on his Truth Social platform that the network and the chairman of its parent company, Rupert Murdoch, should "EXPOSE THE TRUTH ON CHEATING IN THE 2020 ELECTION."

"RUPERT, JUST TELL THE TRUTH AND GOOD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. THE ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLLEN . . . YOU KNOW IT, & SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE!" Trump wrote, misspelling "stolen."

Sentiments like that in recent years have led to threats against those who work on elections. That worry was made plain this week in Wilmington, where a police officer was stationed outside the hotel conference room where Dominion attorneys prepared for court proceedings.

"I don't think the settlement will reduce threats against election workers or elections in 2024 because really those who are most culpable were not even a part of the suits, those being the politicians and candidates and political leaders who continue to come up with these lies and then spread them," said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D).

She called Trump "one of the loudest voices in spreading misinformation" but said others are culpable, too.

"We also have to recognize the damage has been done, and . . . many people have lost faith in the integrity of our elections despite no evidence to suggest they should have lost faith," she said.

Two people who were deposed in the case and were expected to testify as witnesses for Dominion said they hope the settlement will lead Fox News to reassess its commitment to journalism.

"In an ideal world, what would come from this is that Fox thinks about the role it can play in both our culture and in journalism and the standards by which it should operate," said Frank Sesno, Dominion's expert witness on journalistic standards who is a George Washington University journalism professor. "Fox has a huge and dedicated audience, and they deserve the truth."

During the discovery process in the case, Fox executives revealed that the network does not have a written set of standards and practices, unlike most television networks. That should change, said Sesno, who served as CNN's Washington bureau chief. Fox News, he said, needs clear, documented standards "that constitute professionalism, excellence, and accountability."

Chris Stirewalt, who served as Fox News's political editor during the 2020 presidential election and was expected to testify, said Fox needs to choose between being a news organization and being an opinion organization, the latter being the direction he believes it has moved in recent years.

"Where they can't stay is being a little bit news," he said. "There's too much exposure attached to that."

Stirewalt, who now works for the cable news channel NewsNation and writes for online publication the Dispatch, said that Fox News and the Republican Party more broadly have fallen prey to a similar dynamic - choosing short-term gains by allowing viewers and voters to ignore hard realities and hear only what they want to hear.

"I think the risk for Republicans generally is most of them know the truth, but they would like to not have to say it," he said. "Life is hard, and sometimes you have to tell people the things they don't want to hear. Fox's experience in this is analogous with the GOP's experience with not wanting to confront its own voters and experience short-term defeats."

Richer, the election official in Maricopa County, said he wasn't sure yet how much Fox's settlement would affect the spread of falsehoods, but he was confident it would change the network's behavior in some important circumstances.

"If President Trump's the nominee in 2024, and he loses, and in January of 2025 - I don't think Fox treats this the same way as they did in January of 2021," he said. "And I think that that matters."
Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East

By Steven Simon

Penguin Press. 478 pp. $32

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Steven Simon's merciless new history of American engagement in the Middle East from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden spares few: In the estimation of the author, no American policymakers, across Republican or Democratic administrations, have much to be proud of.

I am hardly an uninterested party to the drama: I first grew acquainted with the region when the policymakers Simon ruthlessly castigates sent me to war there, repeatedly, as a young officer in the U.S. Army. After years of graduate study in the region, I returned to the government as a civilian and served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy for two years. I never worked with Simon, but I do know plenty of the people who come in for varying degrees of criticism in his book.

Some of those same people read early drafts of Simon's book, he tells us, and - along with various esteemed scholars and journalists he turned to for comment - wondered whether he was being too harsh. Those readers, he forthrightly acknowledges, "chalked up the negative judgments herein to the clarity of hindsight."

I'm not sure about that, but I do think this book, titled "Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East," often falls into the same trap that has frustrated successive U.S. administrations: an overestimation of the degree to which our actions really matter. At times, U.S. interventions in the region, most notably the invasion of Iraq in 2003, have had an outsize effect on the fates of the people who live there. But lots of interesting things happen in the region when Americans are not there, and those things - including Arab nationalism, various strains of political Islam and competing Zionist ideologies - are more important than most debates in the Situation Room.

Roughly 400 million Arabs, Israelis, Kurds and other groups live in the region, yet by focusing almost exclusively on American actions, the author effectively strips away the role of local residents in creating their own destiny.

"Grand Delusion" focuses primarily on the actions of the executive branch and is organized in chapters covering successive presidential administrations. The role of Congress is largely unexamined, as are the roles played by departments and agencies in which Simon has not personally served. Congress, aside from controlling the purse strings, shapes and constrains Middle East policy in various ways - such as requiring that the United States maintain Israel's qualitative military edge over potential foes in the region. My friends who have served at the intoxicating heights of the National Security Council, which can seem like the center of the universe, have been vulnerable to solipsistic tendencies, and Simon, who served on the council in the Clinton and Obama administrations, is perhaps no exception in this regard.

But like Simon, I worry I am being too harsh in my judgments: because this is an illuminating book, written with exceeding wit and erudition.

America's policies toward the Middle East, especially its policy toward Israel and the Iraq War, have often been the subjects of loud and nasty public debates. But Simon astutely observes that despite the heightened rhetoric, the surprising continuities between various administrations over the years outweigh the differences. Aside from the inevitable withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, for example, Simon provocatively yet correctly observes that "Trump continued Obama's second-term Middle East policy."

As you might expect, Simon is unsparing in his assessment of the George W. Bush administration and its disastrous decision to invade Iraq. But this story will already be depressingly familiar to most readers. One thing I appreciated about Simon's broader narrative is that it does not let earlier administrations off the hook for creating the conditions that led to America's greatest blunder since Vietnam: He rightly condemns the strategic malpractice of the Clinton-era policy of dual containment, whereby the United States attempted to independently constrain both Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Iran rather than balance them against one another. That policy, which may have pleased America's client states in the region at the time, was a product of post-Cold War hubris on our part. It not only helped pave the way for the Iraq War but also helps explain why tens of thousands of U.S. troops remain garrisoned in the region today.

This being a memoir as well as an analysis of policy, Simon cannot resist settling a few scores: He lost several high-profile policy debates during the Obama administration, and he clearly retains some contempt for the people who won. Simon dismisses the president's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, as "a former lawyer for the mortgage giant Fannie Mae" and brushes aside another senior aide, Ben Rhodes, as "an aspiring novelist."

These petty slights are unfair, and Simon should avoid credentialism when it comes to policymaking. As Simon himself notes, those most wrong in their judgments that the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria would quickly fall in the face of a disorganized and highly fragmented insurgency included some of the State Department's most seasoned Arabists. Indeed, sometimes the most effective policymakers are not those with the best academic or regional resumes but those with the soundest temperament and judgment. (Also, the author probably doesn't want to know what most regional scholars think of those who, like him, have primarily viewed the region through a counterterrorism lens.)

Simon also allows his arch-realism to carry him to dubious conclusions. It's one thing to roll one's eyes at the "peace process professionals" who produce much more process than peace, but is it also true, as Simon then argues, that there was "no compelling American strategic interest" in brokering peace between Israel and her neighbors once peace with Egypt had been negotiated? Successive American administrations have declared the security of Israel to be a vital U.S. interest, so it surely follows that the normalization of relations between Israel and other Arab states - including Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates - is a good thing, as are the efforts of U.S. diplomats toward that end.

But Simon's ideological biases prevent him from dwelling too long on anything that might look like American success in the region: The U.S.-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State between 2015 and 2017, for example, is dismissively summarized in a single paragraph.

Simon also argues that the United States should not have been so quick to jettison the Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi, whom he judges to have been a useful counterterrorism ally, in response to British and French entreaties to do so. But let's play out the counterfactual: Would historians have judged the Obama administration more favorably had it stood aside while Gaddafi crushed the popular uprising in 2011 "inch by inch, home by home, alley by alley," as he promised? That doesn't seem likely.

When serving in the Pentagon, I used to remind my staff each evening to go home to spend time with their families because "we're not going to fix the Middle East tonight." It was a joke: Simon would agree it shouldn't be the goal of U.S. policy to "fix" any region, much less one as complicated as the Middle East. But it's also not in our power to do so, and as important as it is to be humble about our accomplishments in the region - the victory against the Islamic State, for example, was purchased largely with Arab and Kurdish blood - it's also important not to be too hard on ourselves.

I hope all U.S. policymakers, then, read Simon's book. But I also hope they do not take it too personally.

- - -

Andrew Exum is a contributing writer at the Atlantic and a partner at Hakluyt & Company, a management consultancy. He deployed to Kuwait and Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division and to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 75th Ranger Regiment.
By Jean M. Twenge

Atria. 550 pp. $32.50

- - -

Jean Twenge thinks it's lame to name generations with letters. "It just seems lazy. We should be more creative and more descriptive," she recently said over Zoom from her home in San Diego, her face framed by long gray-blonde hair, her background concealed by a high-tech blur. Twenge is an author, professor of psychology and consultant whose life's work is devoted to characterizing generational differences. In 2017, she confidently unveiled the term "iGen," the title of her last book, hoping to bestow a lasting label on those born between 1995 and 2012. She even named her personal consulting business iGen. That remains the company's name, even as today's young adults are known, definitively and resoundingly, as Gen Z.

In her new book, "Generations," Twenge is trying again. Marketers are already threatening to name the youngest among us Generation Alpha, but Twenge instead suggests Polars. Why? For one, there's the rigid political polarization that characterizes the America into which they were born; for another, the polar ice caps are melting. Bleak to be sure, but certainly "descriptive." It's only for her own generation, Gen X, that Twenge endorses the alphabetical label. "We're in our 40s and 50s, and we still feel undefined," she said. "And X is the letter for an undefined quality."

Twenge has been on the generations beat for three decades - and three books. Her first taste came in 1993, when she was an undergrad at the University of Chicago, studying gender differences. She gave out a questionnaire called the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and noticed that the women who took it were scoring very differently on traits related to assertiveness compared with their 1970s counterparts; they were much more likely, for example, to describe themselves as "leaders." It turned out to be "the first generational difference I found," she said. Twenge would soon see an opportunity in the market: Books like William Strauss and Neil Howe's "Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069," published in 1991, made multiple bestseller lists, "and they were really fun to read, but there was very little data," she said. She thought she could do both.

The very idea of meaningful generational differences is a controversial one. Why is someone born on Dec. 31, 1979, associated with disaffection and black turtlenecks, and someone born on Jan. 1, 1980, with an inflated sense of self and an avocado toast addiction? "In the academic world, there's a general skepticism that generations are real," said social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who collaborates with Twenge on research about social media. But in her work, Haidt said, Twenge has shown "measurable and visible difference in the psychological make-up, the political preferences and in some very important behaviors across generations."

Still, Twenge's work has attracted a range of criticisms - and, a week before her latest book's publication, she set off a Twitter storm for her claim, featured in an excerpt in the Atlantic, that millennials are much better off financially than they seem to think.

The controversy echoes the firestorm Twenge faced when the Atlantic excerpted "iGen" in a piece titled "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" "What was really interesting to me was how fiercely she was attacked by many psychologists," Haidt said - critics who dismissed her claims about the impact of smartphones on young people as "another moral panic." He continued, "I think it's now clear that she was absolutely right."

Others are less convinced. Among the critiques Twenge has fielded is that she distorted common idioms just to make a point, citing, for instance, the increased usage of the phrase "I love me" as proof of the rise of narcissism among millennials. As the critic Annalisa Quinn pointed out in her review of "iGen," how often have you actually heard someone say "I love me"? It turned out, Quinn wrote, that there had been no rising incidence of the more natural phrase: "I love myself."

Twenge has also been accused of overemphasizing the effects of technology at the expense, for example, of economic explanations. The Marxist writer Malcolm Harris called her "profoundly incurious" about the deeper economic dynamics at play when it came to the malaise of young American adults. Howe, co-author of a rival book on millennials and the author of the forthcoming "The Fourth Turning Is Here," also thinks Twenge overemphasizes the power of technology, albeit for different reasons. "What's more interesting about technology is not how technology shapes generations," Howe said, "but how generations shape technology."

Despite the disbelievers, technology writ large - from air conditioning to television to smartphones - is core to Twenge's sense of what defines a generation, even down to when each one begins and ends. In fact, it is technology that has produced the two overall trends she emphasizes in her new book: an increase in individualism and a prolonging of the expected transition periods from childhood to full maturation.

One senses, picking up Twenge's tome - 515 pages before you get to the appendix - an attempt to quell past criticisms. "I see this book as my magnum opus," she said. "I think this is the one I've been preparing my whole life to write." The jaunty humor that characterizes her previous books has been reined in here, partly, she says, to save space. This is her most evidence-heavy work, using 21 different data sets collected from places like the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the American National Election Studies, and the American Time Use Survey. Her data represents some 39 million people, mostly, but not exclusively, in the United States. Her goal was to depict all living American birth cohorts and examine some of the most prevalent generational myths along the way.

Twenge begins with the Silent Generation (born 1925 to 1945), pointing out that Silents, despite their unassuming name, represent many of the most high-impact figures in American history, including Martin Luther King Jr., Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Robert F. Kennedy. Yet not one of them occupied the presidency until Joe Biden moved into the White House. Their generation is in some ways a study in contradictions: As young adults, the Silents were busy conforming to an idealized domesticity, with the average age of marriage dropping compared with the Greatest Generation before them. "Nearly half of new brides in the 1950s were teenagers," Twenge writes. But the generation also produced counterculture icons: Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Garcia - all Silents.

It is by now a cliche to describe their successors, the baby boomers, as the generation that launched the cult of the self. They were the first kids brought up on television, targeted by advertisements directly in their living rooms, whose values would shift so unapologetically toward the individualistic, the cultural mode we still accept as our default today. Less often discussed is a pattern Twenge discovered in the data: The boomers are also the generation that first saw a precipitous decline in mental health.

Ironically, when it came to her own Gen X, Twenge initially drew a blank. She leaned on fellow Gen Xer Meghan Daum's book "The Problem With Everything" to help crystallize her perception that the latchkey kids of Gen X valued "toughness," which members of subsequent generations (often referred to as snowflakes) tended to reject, calling instead for trigger warnings and safe spaces.

As for the millennials, Twenge continues the portrait she began in her 2006 book, "Generation Me": the millennial as the pumped-up narcissist. This was the "most wanted generation" in history (because of birth control and legal abortion), according to Twenge, children who were praised and presented with participation trophies, who went sailing into adulthood bound for disappointment, and who met it in the form of 9/11 and the Great Recession. And while she did sense a grim reality check coming for the cohort, "I don't think I would have anticipated the almost severe turn toward the negative that millennials took," she said, or "just how much their optimism was going to be kneecapped."

Yet in trying to understand why, Twenge unearthed an economic pattern that surprised her. "The data on the income, on median incomes, is extremely clear: The millennials are actually making more money than previous generations at the same age," she said. "That's very counter to the narrative around stagnant wages and being broke and that they're never going to earn as much as their parents. They're actually earning more."

As many critics have noted, median income is only one lens on prosperity. But Twenge maintains that, even accounting for housing costs and student loans, the overall picture of how the Millennials are faring does not align with their own sense of financial stress.

It is the members of Gen Z, rather than the millennials, who are the most straightforwardly affected by the development of the internet, Twenge argues, because they never existed in a world without it. In "iGen" she portrayed this group, then mostly in adolescence, as inclined to stay home in sweatpants and post on Snapchat, and to avoid driving cars, reading books and having sex, all preferences influenced by the sudden ubiquity of smartphones (in 2012, ownership of smartphones crossed the 50 percent line). Here, Twenge follows up with a deeper dive into their mental health. Her findings align with recent, much-discussed reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of teenage distress. "The number of teens with clinical-level depression doubled between 2011 and 2020," she writes. "There is a full-blown mental health crisis among young people, and it was building long before the covid-19 pandemic."

And if, as Twenge argues, the proliferation of internet-enabled devices is the defining factor in Gen Z's profile - and the main root of its problems - the Alphas, or Polars, remain an open question. The oldest are now in the fourth grade; the youngest were born into a world of Zoom calls and covid-19. They are a generation arriving at a "tenuous" time in American history, Twenge writes, "another low-birth-rate generation born in times of calamity," like the Silents were.

Reading Twenge, I find myself sometimes nodding in recognition, sometimes numb with pessimism, rejection or denial. I'm a reluctant millennial myself (or possibly - God forbid - an xennial), stuck in the pretty common category of not identifying with my so-called generation. I'm secretly scandalized by selfies, and I wish we could return to 2004 and tell Mark Zuckerberg "No, thanks." But I'm a millennial nonetheless, and, if Twenge prevails this time, my 3-year-old's generation will be named after political and environmental disintegration.

The study of generations can be bleak and foreboding. "Sometimes when you talk about differences among generations, people can assume it's about criticism," Twenge said. "For me, it's absolutely not about criticism. It's about understanding." Yet reduced to our data points, we aren't exactly at our most compelling. My recommendation for anyone who comes away from these generational portraits less than cheered: Feast your eyes on the endlessly colorful, always contradictory details of a single person's life.

- - -

Casey Schwartz is the author of "Attention: A Love Story."
A celebration and memorial over two years in the making is coming to Laredo on Sunday, April 23 as the Laredo Philharmonic is holding a concert honoring its former conductor Brendan Townsend who died unexpectedly in late 2020.

Brendans death was a great tragedy, a great sadness and a great loss to the community, former Texas A&M International University President Ray Keck said. He was a great friend to me and to (my wife) Patricia. We miss our friendship, and we miss him professionally.

Townsend died at the age of 52 on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 from a brain tumor. With the Laredo Philharmonic recently resuming performances after suspending them due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunday will be the first opportunity to honor Townsend with the Love, Joy & Remembrance Spring Concert at 3 p.m. at Laredo Colleges Guadalupe & Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center.

We are going to miss him, no doubt about that. We miss him already, said Joe Arciniega who partnered with Townsend on several productions he produced for the Laredo Theater Guild International. I feel like this is a cap. For many of us, it is like weve been in denial. We were in the middle of COVID and there wasnt any LPO for a while. Now that LPO is picking back up again, its like were feeling his loss fresh. There is no Brendan to lead the orchestra or to conduct a musical in the pit. It is nice to pay tribute to him.

A unique partnership

Originally from Cork, Ireland, Townsend first came to Laredo in 2003. Keck spearheaded the effort that brought Townsend to town. Keck helped work out a partnership between TAMIU, what was then Laredo Community College and the Laredo Philharmonic to hire a faculty member who is trained as an orchestra conductor to be shared by both schools. That person would help feed students and faculty members into the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra and would conduct concerts on both campuses.

He turned out to be astoundingly gifted at energizing a community and building an orchestra, Keck said. One of the first things he did was program a piece from a contemporary composer and had that composer present for the concert. We would play their piece, and that person would be present to answer questions.

Further solidifying his confidence in hiring Townsend, Keck was inspired by his creative methods for engaging an audience in the performance. One idea he implemented was using screens on either side of the stage to display information guiding people through the music.

For example, if it were Symphony No. 7 by Beethoven, it would tell you to listen for the theme in the violins, Keck said. Then youd go on a bit and it would flash that now the horns have it. It would lead you through the piece and cue you to what was happening in the music. It was absolutely brilliant.

Laredo Morning Times/Staff file

In addition to guiding an audience through the classics, Townsend was known for finding ways to make pieces so established and familiar feel fresh.

Brendan could take a famous piece of music I knew very well and do a production of it, and it would be as though Ive never heard the piece before, Keck said. He could make it into something so wonderful, different and interesting. I was astounded. A whole new vision of a piece I thought I knew well would emerge under Brendans hand.

A colleague and friend of Townsends since he first came to the city, Laredo Philharmonic President Joe Crabtree discussed how he also engaged the community by featuring a diverse lineup of music into each concert.

Brendan was really good at crossing boundaries. He did everything from orchestral concerts to an opera, Crabtree said. He also had Broadway and pop, and he even performed with Laredo Theater Guild International. He was everywhere and doing everything with everyone. He was really involved with the arts culture here in Laredo. He was tremendous in what he did and accomplished.

A wealth of experience

Townsend's accomplishments included serving as chair of the Fine and Performing Arts department and as president of the Faculty Senate. He previously directed Tennessees Bryan Symphony Orchestra, the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio and the Netherlands Ars Antiqua et Nova and Sinfonietta Geleen.

His international guest conducting included performances with the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Symphony Orchestra, Cork School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Broadway Dusseldorf, Opera Comique Maastricht, Opera Zuid and the Transylvanian State Symphony and the Orquesta Filarmonica de Honduras. In the United States, he conducted with orchestras in Charleston, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Knoxville, Mississippi, San Antonio and Topeka.

Townsends work with the Laredo Philharmonic received recognition in 2007 as the American Symphony Orchestra League presented it with a national ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music.

Along with being a proficient conductor, Townsend was also an accomplished cellist. Keck said he believes one skill informed the other and helped him reach new heights.

He was himself a very fine cellist and cello teacher, Keck said. Some composers are not themselves fine performers, and thats sad because it misses a very important ingredient. Brendan was a performer.

He played it beautifully, Arciniega said. His playing was superb. He was an inspiration to a lot of musicians in Laredo, but especially cello players.

A selfless heart

Arciniega recalled two specific cello performances from Townsend which illustrated his character. The first came in March 2020 when Arciniega  now a member of the National Board of Directors for the Alzheimers Association  was hosting an event at his home featuring the organizations chief science officer Maria Carrillo.

Brendan told me he wanted to play for me. I offered to pay, but he wanted to donate his time, Arciniega said. He played cello and Colin Campbell played piano. They both did it for the cause, and it was very special to me.

The other performance was later that year as he played at the bedside of Hortense Reuthinger-Offerle in the hospital as she passed away.

She sure loved Brendan, because she loved talent. We were both very close to her. We shared that love for Horty, Arciniega said. We were the last two non-family members who saw her when she died. He showed up with his cello and played as she was dying in the hospital. It is so special to know he did that.

A knack for the theater

When Arciniega co-founded Laredo Theater Guild International, he recruited Townsend for a production of Man of La Mancha as they christened the new performing arts theater at TAMIU in 2009. They also worked together on Annie, Cinderella and My Fair Lady. Their passion sometimes clashed, but they were always quick to work together again.

We were always arguing, different visions for the music or the tempos. It was always something with him and me, but I respected him and I know he respected me too, Arciniega said. I admire people who are all in to the art. You can feel it in them. Everything about them is all about that. He was totally like that. He was all about the music. Its a great loss for Laredo.

Arciniegas admiration was so strong that he even recruited Townsend to act without knowing if he could. He first cast him in the title role of Father Brendan Flynn in Doubt: A Parable in 2010.

Laredo Morning Times/Staff file

I had no idea if he could act, but I assumed he could because he was artistic, smart and literate, he said. He played the character and was brilliant. He also was in two other plays. He was adept at those as well. Im amused he had such broad talent and contribution to the arts in Laredo.

Remembering and replacing a legend

Those contributions will be remembered fondly with Sundays Love, Joy & Remembrance Spring Concert. Tickets are available for $30 and can be purchased by contacting Nancy De Anda at 956-763-9960.

We really decided that if we were going to do it, we should really take the time to remember and reflect on all the things Brendan has accomplished, Crabtree said. He was here since 2003, and that is quite a long time. As you look at what is going on and look at how the community has evolved, a lot has changed over the 20 years, and he has had a big impact on what we have done. It is a chance for us to get together as a community and remember and reflect on him.

Along with the Laredo community remembering Townsend, Sunday is also providing his brother Peadar Townsend with an opportunity to honor his memory. He is traveling from Ireland to play as a percussionist and direct a piece in addition to writing a chorale piece.

Having him here will tremendously enrich the experience, Crabtree said.

Laredo Morning Times/Staff file

Following Sundays concert, the Laredo Philharmonic will begin focusing on trying to fill the substantial void left by Townsends death.

We have to find a new person to conduct the orchestra, and were going to hopefully do that next year with our concerts, Crabtree said. We are planning on four concerts next year that will help to promote this. Well keep ideas of collaboration and crossing boundaries alive, because that is what he did. Well find the right person to fill has rather large shoes.

Keck expressed disappointment in TAMIU discontinuing the relationship with the Laredo Philharmonic following Townsends death and said he hopes they can go back to that model. He said it is important to feature a gifted conductor like Townsend to help inspire the local talent.

There are just as many kids talented in music living in south Laredo as there are living in the wealthiest part of north Dallas. It is spread evenly around the population, but the opportunity is not spread evenly, Keck said. The opportunity to develop that often doesnt happen in low-income communities. If a kid grows up in Laredo and never hears a symphony orchestra  and I dont mean once or twice, I mean regularly  they dont have any way of knowing what its supposed to sound like. Somebody has to show you. Thats what great teachers do.
Patrick PIEL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Netflix announced the release of "Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me" set to air on May 16. The documentary dives into Vickie Lynn Hogan's early Texas roots before trading in her name for Anna Nicole Smith and moving to Hollywood.

Ursula Macfarlane is directing the film, Variety reported. Her previous credits include the CNN Films documentary "The Lost Sons," the story of a man who was kidnapped from his mothers delivery room, and "Untouchable," a look at the demise of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams' first few town hall meetings received negative reviews from progressive activists who criticize the format and some of the Republican congressman's exchanges with the audience.

Williams, R-Sennett, held three town hall meetings in Madison and Oneida counties last week. At each town hall meeting, attendees could submit questions by writing them on an index card. The questions were compiled and a moderator read questions to Williams.

The inability for constituents to directly ask Williams their questions is one of the activists' complaints. Indivisible Mohawk Valley, a group that advocates for progressive candidates and issues, has been critical of the format and what they describe as Williams' "sham" town hall meetings.

At a town hall meeting in Morrisville last week, some attendees began shouting their comments when they disapproved of Williams' remarks.

"(Williams) told the audience to stop calling out responses because we need dialogue, but dialogue is a two-way street, and he gave us no way to speak," said Kristin Andersen, who attended the town hall meeting.

Jennifer Geiger, who is a member of Indivisible Mohawk Valley, panned Williams' town hall meeting in Rome. She accused the GOP congressman of being "afraid to take questions directly from his constituents."

Williams has plans for more town hall meetings. The next forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 1, at Bradley Elementary School in New Hartford.

In a recap of his first 100 days in office, his office noted that Onondaga County town hall meetings will be held during the first week of May. The times and locations of those events have not been announced.

Williams' office added that he is "listening to constituents questions and directly addressing them" at the town hall meetings.

When he opened his first town hall meeting in Chittenango last week, Williams told the crowd that he was encouraged by the turnout and the diversity in the audience.

"Several of you said 'thank you for coming' to which I answered, 'It's my job.' It's what I do is to come out and engage and to listen and to love and serve the people of New York's 22nd district," he said. "My goal is that when you walk out of here, you may or may not agree with me. But I hope that you will at least have some idea of who it is that represents you in Congress."
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  The city of Antioch, California and members of its scandalized police force have been hit with a federal lawsuit for civil rights violations stemming from a barrage of racist text messages that have shocked the community.

John Burris, an Oakland-based civil rights attorney known for his work exposing police brutality, filed the complaint in federal court Wednesday on behalf of four individuals who say they were targeted by police officers who sent text messages using slurs to describe Black people and boasting about fabricating evidence and beating on suspects. A fifth plaintiff is suing on behalf of his father, who was shot and killed by two of the officers involved in the text scandal.

This fact pattern is the most pervasive racial hatred case Ive ever been involved in," said Burris at a news conference Thursday outside the Antioch Police Department, during which he listed the racial slurs and derogatory terms used by officers. This conduct itself was so horrible that it was more than just locker room talk, it was a state of mind.

Burris said all the officers involved in the scandal should be fired, the remainder reassessed and a federal overseer brought in to ensure the department implements reforms. It's an area Burris is familiar with  in 2000, he and another attorney brought a class-action lawsuit that resulted in reforms and federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department.

The text messages, which came out of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa District Attorney's office, have rocked residents of the racially diverse city some 45 miles east (72 kilometers) of San Francisco. They also prompted the county's district attorney to undertake a review of criminal cases involving the department.

The texts include frequent use of the terms monkey and gorilla, and boast about beating up suspects and targeting Black people for traffic stops. In April 2020, one Antioch officer texted an officer at another police department: Since we dont have video I sometimes just say people gave me a full confession when they didnt, get filed easier.

The messages are largely from 2020 and 2021 and were sent by 17 named officers of the 100-person Antioch police force, including the president of the Antioch police union. The county public defender has said that nearly half of the department was included in the text chains, and nobody said anything.

Several Antioch residents spoke at the press conference, sharing their harrowing encounters with the police department.

Plaintiff Adam Carpenter, who is Black, said he was arrested in November 2020 by four of the officers in question. Before the arrest, the officers pulled him over multiple times and took his money and cell phones without documenting any of it, he said.

Carpenter, 33, said he was in custody for nearly a year and was released in April 2022. The state dropped charges against him last week, he said.

I have not been able to get a job or obtain any type of employment, he said. Basically, the system is set for us to fail.

Another plaintiff, Trent Allen, is one of four young men in their 20s who are all in jail facing charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. In the released texts, an Antioch officer brags that he field goal kicked" Allen's head and says his foot hurts because Allen's head was like a bowling ball.

I am devastated right now with these Antioch police officers that targeted my son, that text each other comments about my sons head was a bowling ball, that they kicked the field goal, that they was going to shoot him, said Shirelle Cobbs, Allen's mother. They need to be prosecuted because this is unacceptable.

The lawsuit names as defendants the city, three previous and current police chiefs, one sergeant and five police officers. Police Chief Steven Ford, who has led the department since April 2022, did not respond to emails and a phone call seeking comment.

Tammany Brooks, who was Antioch police chief from May 2017 through October 2021, also did not respond to an emailed request for comment sent to the Boise Police Department, where he is deputy chief.

The city attorney's office did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.

The officers named in the investigation have not been charged with crimes. There is no timeline for its completion.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden's nominee for labor secretary, Julie Su, won praise at her Senate hearing Thursday as a champion of the working class even as some key Democrats were unwilling to voice support, creating uncertainty about her confirmation prospects.

A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su's nomination ahead of Thursday's confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the deputy labor secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labor.

The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the Biden administration's first Asian American to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden last month called her proof of the American dream and said shes committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.

Su tapped into that spirit in her testimony, recounting how her parents were able to claw their way into the middle class through jobs that provided benefits as well as becoming entrepreneurs.

When he announced my nomination for U.S Secretary of Labor, the president called me the American Dream. My parents believed in it, I benefited from it, and I want to do my part to make sure it is a reality for workers across the nation, Su said.

She was previously confirmed as the deputy labor secretary, but has faced opposition from business groups critical of her record leading California's labor department. They point to her support of an overturned California law that would have required app-based ride hailing and delivery companies like Uber and Lyft, as well as trucking businesses, to treat their workers as employees, providing benefits like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, rather than independent contractors.

Su has also faced blame for problems at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency during the coronavirus pandemic when unprecedented numbers of people applying for unemployment benefits faced long wait times and the state paid out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims.

Industry groups have launched billboard and digital ads against Su in West Virginia, Montana and Arizona, while unions have assembled to support Su.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committees chair, voiced support as he opened Thursdays hearing, saying the debate over Su has nothing to do with her qualifications.

This debate really has everything to do with the fact that Julie Su is a champion of the working class of this country who will stand up against the forces of corporate greed, he said.

But Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Jon Tester and Mark Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, all declined to say whether they would vote for her confirmation this week. Democrats cannot afford to lose more than a couple votes in a Senate divided 51-49. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is also recovering from shingles in California, with no firm return date.

Manchin repeatedly declined to comment on Su's nomination this week; Tester said he would meet with her after the meeting to make sure she's still right"; Kelly said he didn't have concerns about her record but added he does not preview his votes; Sinema said through a spokeswoman that she does not preview votes.

Su was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 by a 5047 vote.

During her testimony, Su repeatedly referenced her work alongside Walsh, saying that Biden had asked her to finish the job that Secretary Walsh and I started.

Republicans appear unified in opposition to Su's confirmation. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a floor speech that Su has a lengthy track record for all the wrong reasons.

During the committee hearing, Republican senators closely questioned Su on whether she could forge relationships with industry groups, as well as her oversight of the California labor department when it paid out unemployment benefits to fraudulent claims during the pandemic.

The top Republican on the panel, Sen. Bill Cassidy, accused Su of unfairly favoring unions, telling her, We need a labor secretary who is fair and unbiased in enforcing the nations labor laws."

Su maintained a smile as she responded to Republican questions and emphasized that she knew the value of small business entrepreneurship through her parents. She insisted that she could build relationships with both labor and industry groups to help negotiate settlements and pointed out that Congress had lifted normal checks on unemployment claims for the enhanced benefits paid during the pandemic.

Late last year, Su was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies and helped avoid an economically debilitating strike. She has also led efforts to crack down on wage theft.

Republicans also asked if she would advance a California standard that classifies many workers as employees rather than independent contractors.

Su said she wouldn't and understands the value of independent contractors. But she also asserted that it is a problem in our economy that needs to be addressed when businesses avoid paying minimum wage, overtime or unemployment insurance by classifying regular workers as independent contractors instead of actual employees.

The Senate committee is expected to vote next week on whether to advance Su's confirmation to a vote in the full chamber.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  A Tunisian investigative judge has ordered that influential Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi remain in custody, his party said Thursday on its official social media.

The Ennahdha party denounced in a statement on Facebook the unjust imprisonment of its leader, after Ghannouchi was arrested by police Monday. On its English-language Twitter account, the party said Ghannouchi has been charged with conspiracy against state security and ordered to be imprisoned pending trial.

Ghannouchis lawyer Mokhtar Jemai confirmed his client was being detained Thursday.

Ennahdha said it was a political measure that aims to cover the bitter failure of the power to improve the economic and social situation and the daily lives of the people.

The National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition that includes Ennahdha, said in a statement that Ghannouchis detention shows the deterioration of freedoms in Tunisia.

Ghannouchi, 81, is the most prominent critic of President Kais Saied. He served as speaker of Tunisias parliament until Saied dissolved the body last July and seized most executive powers in the North African country  a move that Ghannouchi and other opponents call a coup.

He has been detained for questioning a number of times in the past, but the circumstances of his latest detention suggested that this time was more serious.

Tunisias official TAP news agency reported earlier this week that he was detained on a warrant by counterterrorism prosecutors as part of an investigation into recent provocative comments. It did not elaborate.

Other Tunisian media reported that Ghannouchi was to be questioned over a video circulating online in which he purportedly says that the presidents perceived efforts to eradicate" Islamist opposition threaten to unleash civil war.

The move comes amid growing social tensions and deepening economic troubles in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement more than a decade ago.
Authorities say deputies who were called to check on an unconscious man in a truck parked at a Dollar General store in East Tennessee fatally shot him when he produced a gun during an encounter
LOS ANGELESHard Bods 2, featuring Remy Cruze and Tyler Roberts on the cover, is the newest release from Hard Bods 2, featuring Remy Cruze and Tyler Roberts on the cover, is the newest release from Mile High Media s awarded gay studio Noir Male . The movie is now available on all platforms.

Cruze and Roberts lead a cast that also includes DeAngelo Jackson, Beaux Banks, Max Konnor, Skyy Knox, Deep Dicc and Adrian Hart in four scenes of hardcore sex.

Box art and release information is available here.

Skyy Knox and Max Connor are fire in this second chapter of the series, said Jon Blitt, vice president of Mile High Media. Their scene highlights an action-packed release featuring some of the hottest and most ripped men in the industry.

Hard Bods 2 opens with Remy Cruze and Tyler Roberts discovering each others hot buttons, followed by Deep Dicc and Adrian Hart finding mutual pleasure, then by Beaux Banks and Deangelo Jackson; and finally, by Skyy Knox and Max Konnor.

The movie was shot in 4K ultra high definition.



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The marijuana industry has too much pot. Could interstate trade help?
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The City of Flagstaffs Indigenous Initiatives Committee and the Coconino County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council are working to compile a report designed to help local leaders in criminal justice and law enforcement better serve Indigenous community members.

The report will contain feedback from Native American community members who have had law enforcement involvement, including data and anecdotes gathered from personal stories, to find out where the system is succeeding and where its failing Indigenous people.

More than 27% of the countys residents are Indigenous and the entire system needs to make sure their needs are met -- whether theyre cultural, linguistic or otherwise, said Mike Jackiewicz, director for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC).

The CJCC is a partnership between the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County, designed to be an information-sharing and problem-solving body.

The presiding judge of Coconino County Superior Court, the City of Flagstaff Municipal Court presiding judge, the Coconino County sheriff, Flagstaffs chief of police, the Coconino County attorney and the City of Flagstaff prosecutor are all CJCC members.

They formally get together, share, collaborate and work on ways to improve the justice system and make the community a better place, Jackiewicz said. A big priority with CJCC is ensuring that Indigenous community members have a system thats responsive to their needs.

The CJCC was initially formed when the Coconino County Detention Facility recognized the jail population was growing. The body set to work studying the judicial and criminal justice system in northern Arizona to find out why more people were being incarcerated and craft policies to address the issue.

Today, theyre not just focused on improvements at the jail; CJCC looks at ways to improve public safety and criminal justice as a whole.

Meanwhile, in 2016 and 2017 a grassroots effort began to encourage the city and county to better address issues Indigenous people face. Groups like the Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff appealed to Flagstaff City Council, recommending that a position be created to bridge the gap between the needs of the Indigenous community and official policies pertaining to wellness, public safety, criminal justice and more.

Thats why Rose Toehes job was created.

Today, shes the City of Flagstaffs coordinator for Indigenous Initiatives and the chair of a subcommittee within CJCC that was created to bring certain perspectives to the forefront. As interest grew among county and city leaders in ensuring equity for Native American community members in the justice system, the idea of listening circles take shape.

Listening circles are designed to feel culturally familiar -- a blend of Western listening sessions and Indigenous talking circles.

Most Indigenous people know what a talking circle is. Its where you kind of share about your life some of the things youre dealing with and get help that way through a talking circle, because other people can relate and also might be able to provide solutions, Toehe explained. Its usually a safe place to go to talk about ones situation, whatever it may be.

A small team of facilitators, including Toehe and Jackiewicz hosted listening circle sessions at the Aquaplex in Flagstaff, St. Judes Church in Tuba City and the public library in Page.

We wanted to hear directly from community members on their experiences and ways from them that we can both improve their experience with the justice system as well as reduce their experience, Jackiewicz said. We were very intentional at trying to keep away from justice-related facilities. We didnt want to hold them in the jail or the courthouse or even really county buildings.

In all three places, participants were encouraged to share their stories, explain how the system helped them or offer critiques.

The ultimate goal of the project is to reduce crime by discovering why and how Indigenous people end up in the system and how theyre treated on the inside.

Why are they just stuck in the system, for what reason? Were trying to uncover all those things and see how the leadership can hear about that and be able to respond to it," Toehe said.

Criminal justice involvement, for the purpose of these listening circles, was a broad term. Facilitators wanted to hear from folks who had been pulled over in traffic stops as well as people who had been arrested, incarcerated, or placed on parole or probation.

We also had a lot of family members that came and had powerful stories to share -- individuals who are directly affected by the justice system either themselves or through their relationships with their family and friends, Jackiewicz said.

The information gathered in listening circles is designed to be shared with people who work on the ground in law enforcement and the court system in particular. Thats one of the reasons why the final report will go to the CJCC.

My big takeaway is we need to hear more from the community, and its incredibly valuable. I was deeply affected by the stories that we heard, Jackiewicz said. "Im for making this a more regular activity to help inform the leaders who are coming up with the policies and the leaders who are running agencies. We need to hear from the folks. This was a great first step for that. Were really looking forward to digging in as a committee, to compiling the feedback and putting together that report that well send to the CJCC and that we will make public as well.

The formal report for the CJCC is expected to be completed by mid-summer.

Jackiewicz said a team is working to pull out themes and identify shared experiences, while "reviewing the notes and ensuring were accurately representing the community members who were brave and vulnerable enough to share their stories."

Toehe and Jackiewicz both said they want to share the information from recent listening circles with leaders who can make changes inside the system, but they also want to report to the communities that shared their experiences in the first place.

Were on the hook. We told everyone I talked to there that we were coming back to talk about the things that are being done, the things that arent being done, Jackiewicz said. Its important to us [at CJCC] that were bringing information back. Its not just information gathering; it does translate back to action.

Information sharing has to go both ways for the project to work properly, Toehe said.

I think that was a really good plus for people to hear. Were not just taking information, but were coming back to update you on the things. That was probably our only promise, that we will come back and share, she said. [Thats important] especially for Indigenous people. People have gone and taken information or done research and nothings ever been reported back to them as an update.

Toehe said the first round of listening circles are just a starting point. Its likely, she said, that more listening circles will be fostered by the city and CJCC in the future.
Time marches inexorably forward. The past we left behind is a ruin, a fragment of who we were, a skeleton of a previous self. This is as true for humanity as it is for the individual.



Today the people we see with masked faces are exceptions. A remnant of a recent past, a past where our future was less certain. Though only a short memory journey away, that past is already fading.

Preserving the emotion of those moments falls to art. At the end of this month Backstage Theatre presents an artistic creation that endeavours to curate a repository of those feelings.



'A Call To You' is a dance performance fabricated by Catherine Young. It captures the moment when we emerged from the urgency of those incomprehensible times.The show had a run at the Dublin Dance Festival in 2022. As part of her role as lead artist in residence with Backstage Theatre Catherine Young developed the performance with two new additions to the ensemble.



Among them is Longford dancer Orla McCarthy. Orla began her dance training in the Shawbrook School of Dance before pursuing a BA in contemporary dance in Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.

In 2015, Orla began working as a freelance dance artist based between Germany and the Netherlands. During this time she worked with choreographers of renown including: Ivan Perez, Jianhui Wang, Mor Shani, Connor Schumacher, Gal Fefferman, Adam Weinert and Luke Murphy.



She also performed in interdisciplinary works by theatre directors Michiel de Regt, Grzegorz Bral and Liliane Brakema.

Orla co-created the multidisciplinary dance project PERSON A, with Max Makowski; performing me a solo for Axier Iriate; two dance films MIND[e]SCAPE and Orla & Sam'' created in collaboration with Blitzkickers; and as part of a Backstage Theatre Activate Residency she created the film that's my sister. with her sister and collaborator SISTIR.



Orla is now sitting in an office adjacent to the Canal Studio rehearsal space in Backstage: Catherine approached me with the idea of adding two dancers to the second part of A Call To You, she tells the Leader, today is my third day working on it.

The dance show explores the fragility and friction of community. It features a cast of outstanding international performers, live music and is inspired by Ukrainian folk dance traditions. It's a passionate celebration of life, togetherness and dance.

Describing 'A Call To You' the dancer implies the importance of the audience: It's about the urgency for joy after the prolonged period of separation and isolation. That's the overarching theme of the piece. It's about community, celebration. That's what the audience will feel. It starts out with individuals, then moves toward the collective.



Orla's return costs a work security she enjoyed on the continent: I left Longford when I was 19. I am freelancing now. It's project based work. I move around a lot. So far it has been a big transition.

I have been gone for so long, and for work you rely on connections. I am just building that up, but I have friends working as freelancers and they have work all the time. It is important to try different things.



The name check of the dance collaborators in 'A Call To You' alludes to the international flavour of the show. Adrien Delepine, Axel Hampusson, Anna Kaszuba, Valentin Lemaitre, Simone OToole, and Carmen Palacios Saenz are the fellow dancers, while the music is performed by Martin Schaerer (music director / percussion) in collaboration with Seanan Brennan (guitar/mandola), Brian Hogan (bass), Ilse de Ziah (cello) and Jess Kavanagh in collaboration with Jade O'Connor (voice).



It's very friendly. I feel very welcome, Orla says of joining the group, From the very first conversation Catherine has made us feel like she wants us to be part of the group. She really values taking care of each other, and I think that can be seen in the work.



This month's return to her place of origin is a source of pride for Orla: It's really special. I feel very lucky. I didn't expect it. It feels like I have come full circle. The last time I dance in Backstage I was 18, here I am now as a professional dancer, it's a special moment.



In recent week's Orla's film that's my sister. created with her sister Aisling (who performs as SISTIR) had a festival showing in Wexford. Utilising a different platform to conventional live performance is essential for any professional dancer.

I like to make my own work, I like to choreograph. I'm particularly interested where dance and film come together.



I have made a few films now, it's something I really enjoy. A lot of dancers in Ireland make their own work. What I like about film is that you can reach so many people. It's readily accessible, it can be screened in multiple locations.

Having said that, I really do love live performance. The live performance is influenced by the moment; the here and the now. To be a good performer you have to be very present.



If you are present you are affected by what is happening in the room. There is a feedback happening all the time between an audience and the performers. The performer guides the audience's attention, guides it to where they want them to go.

Orla's enticement to prospective audience members to the single night of performance is simple: I think they will feel really good after watching it, they really should go.



'A Call To You' is funded by Arts Councils Touring Award with the support of the NASC network and will be staged at Backstage Theatre, Longford on Saturday April 22 as the first performance of their national tour.
Local News

By Long Island Published: April 20 2023

A fire broke out in a Bellmore residence, spreading to an adjoining home, but all occupants were safely evacuated and the fire was extinguished with the help of multiple fire departments.

The Public Information reports the details of a Fire that occurred on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 5:30 pm in Bellmore.

According to police, a 34-year-old male was notified by a neighbor that his Judith Drive residence was on fire. All the occupants exited the home and no injuries were reported.

The fire spread to an adjoining residence and all of the occupants safely evacuated the house. The Bellmore Fire Department with assistance from Merrick, Seaford and Wantagh Fire Departments, responded and extinguished the fire.

The Red Cross was notified to assist displaced residents.

Arson/Bomb Detectives and Nassau County Fire Marshals were on scene.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: April 20 2023

Clean Renewable Solar Energy Generation to Make Town of East Hampton's Parks Department Building the First Net Zero Building for Electricity, Providing Energy Cost Savings.

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the completion of the first solar-plus-storage project by a municipality on Long Island, now operating in the Town of East Hampton. The rooftop array makes the Parks Department building at the Town Hall campus the first building in the town to achieve the goal of net zero carbon emissions from electricity generation. The project, developed with the New York Power Authority, supports New York State's goal to procure 70 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030, and the Town of East Hampton's goal of community-wide renewable energy only in all sectors, also by 2030.

"Solar power is a key element in New York's push to achieve a zero-emissions electricity system and achieve our nation-leading climate goals," Governor Hochul said. "With the completion of this solar-plus-storage project, the Town of East Hampton is the first municipality on Long Island to commit to a solution that integrates solar into government operations. We will continue to make bold investments in clean energy that create jobs, save taxpayer money, and build a greener future for all New Yorkers."

The 165-panel system is tied directly into PSEG Long Island's distribution grid and will provide about 90 megawatt hours of energy annually. In the first year, it will offset nearly 110,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from more than 125,000 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle. The 75-kilowatt solar PV (photovoltaic) system will generate clean, renewable power and charge a 137-kilowatt hour battery. It is expected that 100 percent of the energy costs of the building will be offset with credits from the energy produced by the solar PV system. Any additional energy credits will be allocated to another building on the Town Hall campus.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said, "Not only will this project reduce carbon emissions and make the Town Hall campus more resilient, it is also estimated to save town taxpayers at least $10,000 a year between bill credits and reduced electrical costs."

The Town, in collaboration with the Power Authority, selected New York-based Solar Liberty and its financing partner on the project, Inclusive Prosperity Capital, through a competitive process to develop the solar-plus-battery storage system. The solar PV system will be financed through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Inclusive Prosperity Capital, with no upfront costs to the town. A PPA also enables the Town to benefit from cost offsets provided by tax credits.

The battery, which was added at no cost to the Town through grant support from NYPA, will capture energy and discharge it to the grid when needed, during the periods of highest demand.

NYPA Acting President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll said, "The Power Authority helps local governments and state agencies reach their decarbonization goals through innovative energy solutions that reduce expenses, increase resiliency and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The Town of East Hampton is charting new ground on Long Island by pairing solar and storage to offset energy costs. Such inventive projects are being constructed statewide that will help further advance New York's progress toward both its solar targets and its bold goal for a 100-percent zero-emissions electricity system by 2040."

NYPA recommended the system's installation as part of East Hampton's ongoing efforts to move toward a 100 percent renewable energy goal. NYPA Distributed Energy Resource Advisory Services assisted as advisor throughout implementation. The project also supports the State's aggressive solar and energy storage targets to fight climate change, which includes achieving at least 10 gigawatts of distributed solar by 2030.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has committed nearly $35,000 to the project through its Retail Energy Storage Program which provides funding to commercial customers for standalone, grid-connected energy storage or systems paired with a new or existing clean on-site generation like solar. New York's comprehensive approach to energy storage is helping to accelerate the market learning curve, drive down costs, and speed the deployment of the energy storage projects to better integrate renewable energy resources. Since 2019, more than $300 million has been deployed to fund the construction of more than 1,300 megawatts of energy storage projects across the state.

NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, "Pairing solar with energy storage allows clean, renewable energy produced to be used where and when the electric grid needs it the most. This project is a prime example of how the State and local municipalities can work together to make operations more resilient while improving local air quality and saving New Yorkers money."

In support of the Town's goals of using 100-percent renewable energy, the Supervisor has advanced energy sustainability efforts, including the Energize East Hampton campaign offering incentives to residents for solar installations and other energy-saving devices, and has continued assessments of and reductions in energy usage at public buildings. Other environmental initiatives include electric vehicle charging stations on the Town Hall campus and the development on Town land of the first megawatt-scale solar farm on Long Island's South Fork. NYPA also is working with the Town on LED streetlighting upgrades.

Vice President of Solar Liberty Nathan Rizzo said, "We are proud to have partnered with the Town of East Hampton, NYPA and IPC on this groundbreaking solar-plus-storage project. As the first of its kind at a town facility, this initiative sets a strong example for other municipalities in New York and beyond, showcasing the viability and benefits of adopting clean energy solutions. This installation not only moves East Hampton closer to its 100 percent renewable energy goal but also delivers significant cost savings for taxpayers while combating climate change."

Inclusive Prosperity Capital (IPC), a non-profit investment fund dedicated to financing clean energy projects that benefit traditionally underserved markets and credits, is partnering with the Town of East Hampton to own and maintain the system.

Managing Director of Clean Energy Transactions at IPC John D'Agostino said, "IPC is thrilled to support the Town of East Hampton and the New York Power Authority in developing the first municipal solar plus storage system on Long Island and to contribute to the Town's transition to renewable energy. The East Hampton project is a prime example of IPC and NYPA's focus on deploying clean energy in the municipal space."

State Senator Anthony H. Palumbo said, "I want to commend the Town of East Hampton for their efforts at reducing the region's carbon emissions and fostering a greener and healthier future for our children and grandchildren. This project is an important first on Long Island-achieving the goal of net zero carbon emissions for Town facilities and laying the foundation for a more sustainable future for the East End and New York State."

Assemblymember Fred W. Thiele Jr. said, "The Town of East Hampton's completion of the first solar-plus-storage project by a municipality on Long Island is a remarkable achievement and a significant step towards achieving sustainable energy goals. The project supports New York State's ambitious renewable energy targets and serves as a model for other communities across New York State. By achieving net zero carbon emissions, the Town of East Hampton has demonstrated its commitment to a cleaner, greener future. The partnership between the Town and the New York State Power Authority is a shining example of how government and industry can work together to achieve common goals."
NY State Troopers Announce Arrest of Suspect in 2003 Murder of Megan McDonald

Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: April 20 2023

McDonald was discovered deceased in the town of Wallkill, Orange County, on March 15, 2003, from blunt force trauma.

On April 20, 2023, the New York State Police arrested Edward V. Holley, age 42, of Wawayanda, NY, with Murder 2nd degree in connection with the March 2003 murder of Megan McDonald.

McDonald was discovered deceased in the town of Wallkill, Orange County, on March 15, 2003, from blunt force trauma.
Abu Yasir al-Jazairi as seen in the newly released video from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

In a newly released video, Abu Yasir al-Jazairi, a senior ideologue within al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), sends a message of encouragement to AQIMs Sahelian wing, the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

The public video also serves to provide religious and ideological justification to both al-Qaedas footsoldiers, and the general population, for JNIMs recent battles against the Islamic State. The two jihadi rivals have clashed repeatedly in recent weeks and months in Malis northern Menaka region.

Despite fierce battles between JNIM and the Islamic States Sahel Province (ISSP, or colloquially known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, or ISGS), including instances wherein JNIM utilized suicide car bombs against the rival jihadi faction, ISSP currently has the momentum in Malis remote north.

The Islamic State wing is currently directly controlling or influencing the vast majority of the Menaka region, the largest territorial gain by the local Islamic State branch since its founding in 2015.

AQIM thus feels it is imperative to boost the morale of its soldiers and rally its men to counter the Islamic States advances.

As such, Al-Jazairi does not mince words at the beginning of his speech. The Khawarij [historical Islamic term used to denote the Islamic State] are the worst of creation under the surface of the sky, the Algerian ideologue begins.

He then quickly summarizes to the listener about the recent battles with the Islamic State and notes that JNIM also fights crusaders [referring to Western forces], apostates [referring to local governments and militias], and Russian mercenaries [Wagner].

However, al-Jazairi makes it clear that the Khawarij, or the Islamic State, is the worst and most evil of the enemies faced by JNIM as they are deviants who have mastered heresy and have corrupted peoples hearts and minds.

The religious leader then turns to several ahadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, to bolster his case. The ahadith used all describe several narrations Muhammad made during his lifetime about a coming deviant sect that would lead followers away from Islam.

Much like other religious leaders over the past decade, both non-jihadi and jihadi, al-Jazairi puts the Islamic State within this lineage by using the hadith.

Other ahadith quoted throughout the video also describe the Khawarijs crime of bidah, or religious innovation that is in opposition to the Quran and Sunnah [traditions of the Prophet Muhammad].

For instance, al-Jazairi derides the Islamic States religious rhetoric by quoting medieval Islamic theologian Ibn Taymiyya by saying that the legitimate jihad, in that one strives in the path of God, must be distinguished from the jihad of the people of misguidance, who strive in the path of Satan.

The Algerian continues by stating that Ibn Taymiyya also preached that whoever fights so that the word of God is supreme is in the cause of God, but whoever fights intending to make money and spend it in disobedience, then these are the sinners.

Al-Jazairi explicitly states that the Islamic State fights for monetary gain and not for God and are thus allowed to be attacked by al-Qaedas men.

In addition to providing religious and ideological justifications for JNIM to continue its war against the Islamic State, the AQIM leader also offers a more personal rationale.

Al-Jazairi also provides the viewer with a list of all the crimes the Islamic State is guilty of inside the Sahel, including attacking and killing JNIM members, and the theft of weapons, money, and possession from locals, and the murder of those civilians supporting JNIM.

As such, al-Jazairi states it is thus obligatory for the mujahideen [referring to JNIM] to fight the Islamic State and defend those oppressed by it. The ideologue also makes it known to JNIMs men that they would be considered as martyrs if they die in combat with the Khawarij, or Islamic State.

Historical comparisons with Algeria

Though the speech is largely a religious and ideological diatribe against the Islamic State, al-Jazairi also interlaces a historical lesson regarding the jihad in Algeria for JNIMs soldiers. Al-Jazairi provides a brief, but gleaming overview of the history of AQIM and its direct predecessor group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

According to al-Jazairi, AQIM (and earlier the GSPC) was able to establish tamkeen, or the ability to hold and establish administrative governance over a territory, across various areas of Algeria, and thus have the hearts and minds of the populace under their rule.

The ideologue states that this was only possible because the mujahideen had patience and remained steadfast in their devotion to God under severe adversity.

Despite engaging in revisionist history of al-Qaedas successes in Algeria, the ideologue does make a wider point regarding how the Algerian mujahideen were able to achieve these so-called gains despite facing a similar threat in the former Armed Islamic Group, or GIA.

According to the ideologue, the mistakes of the GIA cost the mujahideen movement dearly during the early days of the Algerian jihad. According to al-Jazairi, the GIAs deviance cost the mujahideen to lose gains made in having the publics support.

The GIA was the principal jihadi faction during the Algerian Civil War in the early-1990s, with its own litany of al-Qaeda connections. Though as the war progressed, it soon began engaging in actions similar to the Islamic State, such as vast crimes against civilians and engaging in takfir [excommunication from Islam] against fellow armed groups, causing severe splintering of the group.

It is during this splintering that the GSPC emerged in 1998, which later officially became al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in early 2007. When the GSPC was first formed, it explicitly marketed itself as a group that opposed the GIAs wanton violence against civilians and instead as one that sought a return to a more moderate form of jihadism.

This marketing is not lost on al-Jazairi, as he paints JNIM within the same moderate light as the GSPC.

Indeed, al-Jazairi directly warns JNIM to not fall into the same trap as the one caused by the GIA and those who were blindly devoted to it. Al-Jazairi argues it is necessary for JNIM to fight the islamic State so that it does not cost JNIM dearly in Mali and reverse the gains made by al-Qaedas men in the region over the last decade, much like the GIA did in Algeria.

Continuation of the war of words

Despite al-Jazairis message being spurred by fighting on the ground and al-Qaedas losses therein, the speech also marks the latest addition to the war of words between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the Sahel. This ideological debate largely kicked off around the same time that the two sides began clashing with each other in the region.

Ideologues on both sides have made religious arguments against each other throughout the last four years. For instance, in February 2020, JNIM attempted to head off any further clashes (and defections to the Islamic State from its own ranks) between the sides by issuing two booklets meant to promote jihadi unity.

Though the books contained softer language than al-Jazairis recent speech, one such booklet, titled Responding to suspicions that you do not apply Sharia, which responded to internal criticisms of the groups governance, offers a subtle rebuke of the Islamic States harsh policies. However, the booklets did not stop the two sides from devolving into open warfare on the ground and on the web.

Indeed, in April 2020, the Islamic States Yemen branch took the first stab, accusing al-Qaeda of deviating in the region following the Arab Spring. A month later in May 2020, which followed the intensification of sporadic clashes into open warfare, the Islamic States weekly Al-Naba newsletter publicly lambasted the al-Qaeda branch.

The authors of the newsletter make it known that they blamed JNIMs leadership, primarily Iyad Ag Ghaly, JNIMs overall emir, and Amadou Kouffa, one of its deputy emirs, for starting the war between the two.

Later that year, Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the then-emir of the Islamic States Sahelian wing, penned his own critique of JNIM. According to the now deceased jihadi leader, al-Qaedas deviation in the Sahel started before the creation of JNIM in early 2017.

Sahrawi, who offers a competing view of the GSPC to al-Jazairi, states that the GSPC never learned from the lessons of the GIA and continued to have leadership and cohesion problems, which continued when AQIM was formed.

This disunity continued in the Sahel, wherein al-Qaeda consisted of several allied groups in the region, though many remained independent of one another. For its part, the creation of JNIM was indeed al-Qaedas answer to the regions disunity.

According to Sahrawi at the time, this lack of cohesion led to the inablity of the groups to effectively fight the French and which led some groups, particularly AQIM and its Malian affiliate, Ansar Dine, to work with local Tuareg factions. These tribal alliances were unacceptable to Sahrawi. These themes were continued in a follow up piece from Al-Naba following the confirmation of Sahrawis death in late 2021.

These ideological battles have continued into more recent years, though largely perpetrated by the Islamic State. Al-Qaeda, for its part, has largely kept the fighting on the ground.

For instance, AQIMs overall emir, Abu Ubaidah Yusuf al-Annabi, explicitly stated earlier this year that al-Qaedas policy was to try to not be distracted from the real enemies of France, the Malian government, or the Wagner mercenaries.

Its clear, however, that the Islamic States gains in northern Mali have forced al-Qaedas men in northern Africa to issue their sharpest ideological rebuke of the Islamic State to date.

Note: Article updated on April 22, 2023 to correct grammatical errors and include additional information from al-Jazairis speech.

Caleb Weiss is an editor of FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
(Alliance News) - Arc Minerals Ltd on Thursday said it has signed a binding joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of Anglo American PLC regarding its copper interests in northwestern Zambia.

The Africa-focused base metals exploration company with projects in Zambia and Botswana said Anglo American will have the right to retain up to 70% shareholding in the joint venture company of up to USD88.5 million, based on exploration expenditures announced in May last year.

At this time, Arc Minerals added that Anglo American will make cash payments to it of up to USD14.5 million as part of the investment.

The deal and its related investments and cash payments are subject to certain conditions being met, such as standard Zambian regulatory approvals.

It follows Arc Minerals and the Anglo American subsidiary agreeing a 13 business day extension over the deal's preceding exclusivity agreement to accommodate the completion of "certain outstanding steps"

"[This is] a major turning point for Arc Minerals. Upon closing this will see the recommencing of the exploration campaign by the joint venture under the management of Anglo American, a renowned industry leader, whom we are delighted to be partners with going forward. I look forward to updating shareholders on progress over the coming months," said Arc Minerals Executive Chair Nick von Schirnding.

Shares in Arc Minerals were up 6.6% to 4.37 pence each in London on Thursday morning, while Anglo American was down 2.5% to 2,694.00 pence each and down 1.5% to ZAR611.09 each in Johannesburg.

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Treysean Ware was sentenced Tuesday to serve 17 years in prison for shooting and killing his cousin, Frankie Jay Jackson, during an altercation in the spring of 2022 outside of Collins Irish Pub in downtown Flagstaff.

Ware in January pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Last spring he was charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct with a weapon.

The basis for Wares manslaughter plea comes from A.R.S. 12-1103 Subsection A, where the law states, A person commits manslaughter by ... committing second-degree murder ... on a sudden quarrel or heat of passion resulting from adequate provocation by the victim.

Because the shooting happened mere moments after a bar fight -- and in the midst of months of animosity, according to court documents -- adequate provocation was used to justify the reduction of Wares charge to manslaughter. Per his plea agreement, Ware could be sentenced to no less than 10 and a half and no more than 21 years in prison.

On March 20, 2022, Ware and a friend, Brandon Patrick, got into a fight outside of Collins Irish Pub with members of Wares family.

Ware and Jacksons branch of their shared family had been engaged in a feud for several months. The two had issued threats on social media and via messaging apps. According to court documents, both sides were posturing that evening.

Dealing a blow that knocked Patrick unconscious, Jacksons brother, Nico, threw the first punch, according to court documents and video footage shown in court. A fight involving a sizeable group of family members ensued.

The 6-foot-3 shooting victim was described by his sisters as a giant, weighing more than 400 pounds. At one point he struck Ware and body slammed him against the pavement. Ware and Jackson were eventually separated, and it appeared in the video footage Ware was walking away. Nine seconds after the fight appeared to have de-escalated, Ware turned to Jackson and fired his handgun twice.

Jackson died of his injuries at Flagstaff Medical Center shortly after the shooting.

The state asked that the defendant be ordered to serve no less than 18 years in prison.

Prosecutor Jonathan Mosher argued that those nine seconds after the victim had disengaged from the fight were a weighty factor for the judge to consider in sentencing Ware.

Mosher said on the night of the shooting, Ware was the victim of misdemeanor assault. Misdemeanors, the prosecutor said, dont warrant the death penalty. He went on to argue that Ware had acted as judge, jury and executioner.

Wares attorney, Ryan Stevens, argued that Patrick had been the victim of felony assault and that fear for the safety and life of his unconscious friend contributed to Wares decision to fire his weapon.

In the months leading up to the explosive and fatal altercation, the victim had sent messages to Ware saying that the next time he saw him he would break his jaw, texting yo dead homies and that he would hate to see Wares son grow up without a dad.

According to text messages cited by the defense, Jackson was not the only member of the family threatening Ware. The victims father made threats to Wares son, typing, [I] hope he gets smoked in this crossfire.

A tense sentencing

With members of both the Jackson and Ware families present in the courtroom Tuesday morning, the atmosphere was tense. Both sides of Judge Dan Slaytons courtroom were completely filled with people -- and with thinly veiled anger and anguish.

As the victims sisters took to the podium to tell the judge about their brother, they described a gentle giant. Over their shoulder, photos of Jackson were projected on a screen opposite the empty jury box. In them, Jackson appears behind a barbecue grill, at the beach with nieces and nephews, beaming in black and white.

If you choose to come over for Christmas, you will find a house full of lost souls, said Desiree Jackson, the victims sister.

As she and two of her siblings spoke, it grew difficult to remember the room was inside the Coconino County Superior Courthouse. The proceedings took on the feel of a funeral as racking sobs, tearful gasps and hiccup-like chuckles rippled through the gallery  responses to the pictures and memories of Jackson that loomed large.

Sobering reminders of the days gravity could be found in the chains wrapped around Wares waist in a blue inmates jumpsuit, and in increased security. Multiple Flagstaff police officers, at least three uniformed deputies and a number of bailiffs formed a T-shape in the courtroom, creating a barrier of armed bodies physically dividing members of an already torn family.

Emotions running high were among the catalysts for this case. The defense said it was Wares fear that led him to carry a gun that night. Threats of violence made to Ware, threats toward his child and irreverent online dialogue led all the way up to the court date.

A pre-sentence memorandum filed by Stevens included social media posts made as recently as this month by Jacksons family  posts that contain profanity and what defense counsel described as attacks of Mr. Wares fiancee and the mother of his children.

At the beginning of Tuesday's sentencing, Slayton said, This is a court of law; any inappropriate comments will not persuade me.

There were no outbursts in the courtroom, but some shushing was exchanged across the aisle and a few indiscernible comments were muttered under the breath of observers.

Poignantly, a member of Jacksons family came with a poster board of photographs of the victim and faced it out into the aisle toward the right side of the courtroom and the people who came to sit in solidarity with the defendant.

Ware, for his part, seemed affected by the scene. For much of the proceeding, his head hung low. A small pile of tissues appeared in front of him, an attempt to stifle the tears he shed before hearing the judges final word.

Both these boys were put into a predicament over a family group chat, a predicament they should never have been in," Felicia Galloway, Jacksons mother, told the judge. "Both said harsh things. Both were trying to stand ground for each others families."

Both the victim and defendant were described as peaceful in their own way prior that March night.

He didnt have no hate -- even to you, Trey, he didnt, Galloway said to the defendant. Right hand to God.

James Jackson, Wares uncle, has been in law enforcement for more than three decades. He wrote a letter on the defendants behalf, saying, I must tell you, out of all the people within my family, these two, in my mind, would be the last two I would ever think would be involved in such a situation. Neither one of them has ever displayed this side in front of me."

Slayton told Ware that he didnt understand why he never reached out to his uncle, a law enforcement officer, for advice when he felt threatened by the victim and their familys comments and threats.

Why didnt you utilize the folks who cared for you? Slayton asked.

As the defense asked Slayton for the presumptive sentence of 10 and a half years, Stevens referred back to Wares fear. He had worried that his family would act in violence, and during the evening's fight, Ware's fears were realized, Stevens said.

Based on testimony about his character, Ware would not be a threat to the broader community, Stevens argued, saying the violence of that spring night stemmed from a singular event and building bad blood.

The prosecution contended instead that Ware should be held accountable for his recklessness in firing his weapon that night at all. Mosher argued Ware had pointed his gun in the direction of Collins, a popular downtown bar, during peak hours, potentially endangering everyone inside in addition to ultimately killing the victim.

Mosher also cited emotional harm done to the family in aggravation -- many of the people sitting behind the prosecutor wore shirts with versions of John 3:16 on the back and Handsome J printed on the front. When the video of the fight and killing was played, the room erupted in fierce sobs as many family members spilled out of the gallery overcome with emotion.

Im sure they want to rage, Mosher said. If you had been there when a loved one was murdered, could you set that aside to talk about the person that they were?

Mosher added that the emotional harm done to Jacksons family could not be weighed in ounces and pounds. He said it had a gravitational pull.

Wares fiance and his grandmother spoke soberly on his behalf, calling him a strong provider and selfless person.

Before his sentence was delivered, Ware spoke on his own behalf, accepting responsibility for not leaving when the fight seemed to be reaching its conclusion, and instead reaching for a firearm.

I wish I could go back to that night to stop him from assaulting me and me from taking his life. ... A mother and father lost their son. A 6-year-old will now lose his father, Ware said, referencing his own sons loss during his impending incarceration.

Slayton ultimately said the presumptive sentence was not adequate, but the maximum not appropriate.

The use of violence, the use of guns has to stop, the judge said.

Slayton recalled watching the tape from the night of the shooting and said he simply couldnt understand the act in the footage.

I specifically watched the section where Jackson is in the street. I saw you come around and shoot him. He really wasnt looking in your direction, he said.

Slayton then handed down the sentence of 17 years, and Ware must serve 85% of his time before he is eligible for parole. The announcement was met by the sobs of Wares fiance and the mother of his children, as she crumbled into the arms of a loved one in the gallerys front row. His grandmother and other family there on Wares behalf abruptly left the courtroom before the issues of bond and restitution were addressed.

As he was led away, committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections, Ware hazarded one last glance over the bailiffs shoulder at his weeping fiancee and the emptying courtroom.

The judge had addressed both sides of the gallery before the end of the proceeding, with remarks that bookended his original warning and call for civility after the gavel first dropped Tuesday.

I think evil happened that night between both families. I am not here to judge Ware as a man; I leave that to a judge greater than me to judge his moral character, Slayton said, instructing the family to consider mending their broken ties.

Build a bridge, he said.
(Alliance News) - Ferrexpo PLC said on Thursday the Supreme Court in Ukraine ruled in favour of the company relating to a claim made to invalidate a share repurchase agreement from 2002.

Ferrexpo is an iron ore pellet producer operating in Ukraine.

The claim involved a 40% stake in investee Ferrexpo Poltava Mining. The latter was sold to nominee companies that were owned by the controlling shareholder of Ferrexpo.

Thursday's update comes after Ferrexpo appealed the Supreme Court's original decision that the share purchase agreement was "invalid". This resulted in the transfer of the 40% stake to the unnamed claimants back in September.

Shares in Ferrexpo were up 0.9% at 115.70 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Sabrina Penty; Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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A story as passionate and real as this one about family should be heard by everyone, said Gavin Mannino 25, film and video arts major, about one Lycoming College professors new independent film.

Leah Bedrosian Peterson, professor of film and video arts at Lycoming College, was awarded with a Faculty Research and Production Award Grant by The University Film and Video Foundation to support the post production color grading of her short narrative film, Brave Little Hawk. The film placed in the quarterfinals of the prestigious ScreenCraft Film Fund and the Outstanding Screenplays Shorts Competition, both of which are juried by Oscar-winning screenwriters and filmmakers. Petersons lecture and screening of the film will be held on Tuesday, April 25, at 5 p.m. in the Fine Arts Lecture Hall.

Its quite an honor to be selected for a grant by an organization that bases its award on scholarly and artistic achievement as well as projects that have a clear research trajectory, said Peterson.

Brave Little Hawk follows the story of two families struggling with their home lives in rural Pennsylvania. The families become intertwined when the Oberlin familys grandmother wanders off after tensions rise in the house. Themes related to single parenthood, elderly dementia, teen angst, sibling rivalry, unstable living environments, and relationship dynamics reflected in multi-generational family units are introduced in the film, said Peterson.

With the support from a Student Research Grant and a Professional Development Grant by Lycoming College, Peterson hired students as research scholars to help with the preproduction and production of the film, which took place in both Williamsport and Renovo, Pennsylvania. The following faculty, alumni, and students participated:

Chip Edmonds, Executive Vice President at Lycoming College

John Shaffer, Building and Grounds Supervisor at Lycoming College

Stephen St. Francis Decky, film and video arts professor

Mitchell Wheary 20

Emily Shaffer 19

Elizabeth Shaffer 24

Gavin Maninno 25

Rosemary Tovar 23, Lycoming College Gaul Scholar

Emily Doherty 23, Lycoming College Gaul Scholar

Achilles Wice 24, Lycoming College Gaul Scholar

Working on the set of Brave Little Hawk with Leah Peterson and a couple of alumni and classmates was such an honor and a privilege, said Rosemary Tovar 23, film and video arts major with minors in photography and business administration. I learned about the technical part of filmmaking while also getting familiar with advanced camera, lighting, and audio equipment by troubleshooting and problem solving. From being a part of this film set, I gained a more realistic perspective of how this career is going to be more for me in the future.

Each of the students showed initiative and the desire to learn, said Peterson. They worked incredibly hard and were invested in the vision of the film. The process of filmmaking is a true collaboration, so when all members of a production team work seamlessly together, then it makes for an incredible experience for everyone.

In their evaluation of Brave Little Hawk, a judge at The Golden Script Competition said, Among the first things to notice is the writers narrative voice. Their genuine approach towards the concept and characterization elevates the read experience and contributes to the overall authenticity. The keen attention to detail and the goal to define a set of specific traits for each of the characters give us a better idea of the scope and complexity. At the same time, we are curious to find out how the different storylines will eventually intertwine and bring the story to its conclusion most organically.

The trailer for Brave Little Hawk can be found at https://vimeo.com/814312914. Peterson looks forward to examining the complexities of relationships through her writing and filmmaking. Stay up to date with her film and art at www.leahbedrosian.com.

Aspiring filmmakers, 2D animators, and content creators thrive in Lycoming College film and video arts program. Our curriculum covers various levels of production, editing and post production, cinematography, sound design, 2D animation, and film studies. More information on studying film and video arts at Lycoming College is available at: https://www.lycoming.edu/film-video-arts/.
Almost exactly one year after Flagstaff Shelter Services (FSS) purchased The Crown on Route 66, it has acquired another hotel.

Now, in a play on the concept of Motel 6 "leaving the light on for you," the team at FSS has started calling its new site "The Lantern." The nonprofit's director, Ross Schaefer, hopes it will act as a guiding light to help people out of homelessness for good.

According to Schaefer, FSS's journey from operating only as a congregate shelter to offering housing solutions in repurposed hotels started because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When COVID came to town in 2020, we were really afraid of what it would do if it ripped through our organization in a congregate setting. Our organization made a very bold choice to move everyone in the property to hotels across the community, Schaefer said.

The decision helped cement the idea that housing is healthcare and that people need a private place to land and recover from whatever life throws at them.

It also illuminated the potential use of hospitality-industry properties such as the Motel 6 on Lucky Lane that the nonprofit just bought.

When the Department of Housing created this direct line for funding, we were able to purchase what is now known as The Crown on Route 66. That enabled us to provide 58 units of shelter and housing for families, and the medically vulnerable, Schaefer said. Very quickly we realized that it was a mechanism that could really solve homelessness for a lot of people, very quickly, in a community where housing is a crisis.

The acquisition of the old Motel 6 cost $8.95 million and was made possible by funding from the Arizona Department of Housings State Recovery Funds, allocated by the American Rescue Plan. The funding was specifically designated for the rehabilitation of hotels like The Lantern and The Crown.

According to Schaefer, the Forest Highlands Foundation also contributed to supporting funds for the project.

The Lantern, however, will differ from its predecessor in a few notable ways.

In its first year of operation, The Crown proved to be a valuable tool to help people transition into permanent housing  12% of the 134 people who stayed at The Crown have found permanent housing. According to data provided by FSS, 28% of the people who lived at The Crown this past year were senior citizens, and 30% have been chronically homeless.

The Crown was always designed to shelter the medically vulnerable and families. About 20% of the people who lived at the Route 66 shelter in its first operating year were children.

Now, renovations are underway to add more multi-bedroom units to The Crown so that larger families can move in. From now on, family shelter will be the primary purpose of the facility.

At The Lantern, FSS will work to help single people and families who dont have children to transition out of homelessness.

That shouldnt require tearing out any walls, Schaefer said, but it will make a major dent in the population of people who need housing in Flagstaff.

A piece of white poster board taped to the double doors leading to the office tells visitors the Location is Permanently Closed. The relics marking this 103-unit building as a hotel will soon be wiped away.

But potential residents will still have to cross a certain threshold before opening one of the facilitys navy blue doors.

You cant just walk up and get a room. Youll have to go through the process, Schaefer said.

Part of the process involves committing to seeking permanent housing and signing a lease-style agreement that sets standards for behavior under the buildings roof  guests and parties in the building, for example, will not be tolerated.

People need to be working toward housing opportunities and solutions the whole time theyre here, Schaefer said.

But that doesnt mean they wont have support.

One of the benefits of living at The Lantern will come in the form of access to on-site social services. Housing case managers, advocates from Native Americans for Community Action, and staff from the Guidance Center and Southwest Behavioral Services will all be available in the building to help people try to transition successfully out of homelessness.

I anticipate people stabilizing. That looks different for everyone. Theres no formula to making it happen. Some folks are going to need a more extensive and intensive case management plan. Some folks are going to be looking for something to bridge them into getting their next unit, Schaefer said. Its Flagstaff. We have a very long waitlist for any kind of housing opportunity. We have the resources to get it done pretty quickly for people, we just dont have the housing capacity. Thats where this program really is going to fill a critical gap.

When it comes to capital improvements to the building itself, there are a few things in the works. FSS has secured funding to add kitchenettes to roughly half of the units in the once-abandoned hotel, according to Schaefer. Asbestos abatement will get underway soon before anyone moves in or any major improvements are made.

This is one of the very first true opportunities that we have to get close to ending homelessness in our community. We just need to do it right, do it equitably, and stay focused on the prize of housing for folks. I think we can get there with a lot of people, Schaefer said.

Walking through the rooms -- which are modest, but inviting  its hard not to see the potential Schaefer sees in the new project. A small downstairs unit housed a single bed, small desk, television and chair. Its walls were painted orange. A bar of Motel 6-branded soap sat by the sink, and the small bathtub still had a clean white hotel towel draped over its side.

In addition to the single units, she said, there are rooms with two beds and space for couches and pullout beds elsewhere in the building.

There arent too many improvements that are necessary to get the facility up and running as a transitional shelter, according the FSS director. In fact, its almost a natural evolution for the building  which already housed people experiencing homelessness during the early throes of the pandemic.

Before we bought it, it was contracting rooms with almost every social service agency around town during COVID. They are no strangers -- were no strangers -- to this population and the kinds of needs that folks might have, Schaefer said.

She also wants The Lantern to be positively received by its neighbors and says that FSS is willing to put in the work needed to make connections on Lucky Lane.

I think our big goal in the next three to six months is to really listen to the neighbors in the area about their fears and about their hopes and expectations ... as we develop this property into the program that it will be, Schaefer said. We will be making sure our neighbors here know that we want to be good neighbors, and we want to really be able to identify challenges that they might have with us and move past those in a successful way.

On Wednesday afternoon, Schaefer, braving the wind, got to try her key fob  a kind of round blue master key -- and open a few rooms for the first time since FSS bought the property.

She said it only took 17 days for The Crown to become operational after its purchase. The newly acquired building, however, might take a longer to prepare, with move-in opportunities slated for early fall.

We want to get people in as soon as possible ... it feels silly to have this kind of building and not have people in it when there are so many people in need, Schaefer said.
The Spanish Airline Association (ALA) has asked the Spanish Government and the European Union to demand that France protects flights when they cross French airspace, as Spanish intra-European flights (especially those from the UK) are highly affected by French air traffic control, and even some domestic operations, according to a statement.

The president of ALA, Javier Gandara, has called for minimum services to protect overflights in French airspace in the event of a strike by French air traffic control, as happens in Italy and Spain, in order to protect the right to mobility of the thousands of Spaniards and Europeans.

The organisation points to a Eurocontrol report which indicates that Spain was the country most affected, after France, by the 34 days of French air traffic control strikes that took place between 1 March and 9 April, as part of the national protests against the Macron governments pension reform.

15% of flights operating on those days in Spain suffered some kind of delay, up to a total of 394 flights, with an average delay of 23 minutes, and cancellations increased by 61% in the country.

But what is most worrying is that 88% of the flights affected in Spain did not originate from or arrive in France, but flew over French airspace, said ALA.

In addition, according to the Eurocontrol report, the delays and diversions caused by the strike have caused the emission of more than 1,200 tonnes of additional CO2 per day, with its consequent impact on the environment.

Gandara added that the additional emissions generated in just one month of strike action are equivalent to a quarter of those estimated to be saved in an entire year by the ban on short flights recently implemented by the French government.

If there really is such concern for the environment, it is incomprehensible that measures such as this proposal are not being taken as a matter of urgency, he said.

In addition to Spain, other European countries are not unaffected by the adverse effects of the French air traffic controllers strikes.

As a result of the days of strikes in air traffic control in France, 30% of daily European flights have been affected, with a total of 237,000 European flights and 10 million passengers affected. It has also led to a 37% increase in daily cancellations and a 9% drop in punctuality.

On an economic level, these strikes mean eight million euros of costs per day on average for aircraft operators due to cancellations caused by these strikes and six million euros of additional costs due to delays per day on average.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the morning giving way to a few showers late. High 56F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of rain. Low near 40F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to occasional showers during the afternoon. High 57F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 39F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Tariffs on many imported goods will go down by June 2 under the terms of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said Thursday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will sign an executive order on the new tariff schemes, Pascual added.

The draft EO was among the measures approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board, which Marcos chairs.

Pascual said the order will be the basis for the Bureau of Customs to issue an administrative order to be distributed to all ports to allow preferential tariffs on imports from RCEP member countries.

Pascual allayed concerns that cheap imports will push out local agricultural products.

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He said the draft EO will also maintain current preferential tariffs on about 98.1 percent of the 1,718 agricultural tariff lines and 82.7 percent of the 8,102 tariff lines.

Out of the 1,685 agricultural tariff lines retained at current rates, 1,426 tariff lines are maintained at 0 while 154 tariff lines will remain in their respective most favored nation rates and excluded from any tariff concessions, he said.

Agricultural tariffs on 105 lines, he said, which are in the sensitive and highly sensitive list will be generally lower than MFN (most-favored nation) rates in the 20th year of RCEP.

Their rates, however, will still be higher or at par with ASEAN plus 1 rates.

There is really not one going below the ASEAN plus 1 rates to which the Philippines is already committed, he said.

These tariff lines will include agricultural products not really being produced very much in the country, he said.

RCEP is the largest regional free trade agreement in the world, accounting for 30 percent of the worlds population, 29 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), 29 percent of trade and 33 percent of global inward investments in 2020.

It includes the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five free-trade agreement partners: Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea.

The Senate approved the ratification of the countrys membership in RCEP on Feb. 21.

During the NEDA board meeting, the President said the government willneed to help the public understand the benefits of the trade agreement.

There is an opportunity here and its up to us on how to take full advantage of it, he said. So as the government, we must explain it deeper to small businesses, to large businesses.

The President instructed agencies to make it very clear to the people that the RCEP can benefit the countrys agriculture sector.

Basically, we now have access to a two billion population market, he said, adding that the Philippines should strengthen its manufacturing and production to make it more competitive regionally.

At the same time, he said, the trade bloc could create new assets for the country, and give it access to supply lines that it did not have.

In a separate briefing, Pascual described RCEP as a beneficial economic partnership agreement which provides opportunities for market access on trade, services and investments.

The agreement also establishes clear, stable and predictable rules on trade and investments in our region which makes it more convenient and competitive for Philippine businesses and stores to be integrated into the global economy, Pascual said.

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Florida on Wednesday extended its controversial ban on lessons related to gender identity and sexual orientation to all school grades, a move pushed by the southern US states Republican governor and likely presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.

Dubbed by critics as the Dont Say Gay law, the policy was initially limited to kindergarten through third grade, but the states Board of Education on Wednesday approved an expansion to grades four through 12.

The expansion had already been approved by the Department of Education, which like the board is led by DeSantis appointees, and does not need legislative approval to take effect.

The new rule stipulates that teachers shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction to students in grades 4 through 12 on sexual orientation or gender identity unless such instruction is  expressly required by state academic standards.

It also allows for an exemption if the lesson is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a students parent has the option to have his or her student not attend.

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Teachers who violate the policy could have their licenses suspended or revoked, according to the text.

Equality Florida, an LGBTQ rights group, expressed outrage at the move.

Shame on the DeSantis Administration for putting a target on the backs of LGBTQ Floridians, the group said in a statement.

It accused Republican officials of having a lust for government censorship.

DeSantis, who won reelection in 2022 in a landslide victory, has made battling politicians, teachers and businesses he accuses of wanting to impose a progressive woke ideology on others a central concern of his second term.

He has increasingly courted conservative voters with controversial proposals on education and immigration in recent months, as jockeying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination heats up.

A rising star of the American right, DeSantis is widely expected to go toe-to-toe with former president Donald Trump, who has already declared his candidacy.

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Republican Rep. Liz Harris listens as a resolution to expel her from the Arizona House of Representatives is read on April 12. Photo by Caitlin Sievers | Arizona Mirror

Allies and supporters of former Arizona state Rep. Liz Harris, who was expelled from the chamber last week, are up in arms over the decision. But the target of much of their vitriol, Republican Rep. Joseph Chaplik, actually voted against kicking Harris out of the House.

In an uncommon show of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives voted 46-13 to expel Harris. Chaplik is one of the 13 Republicans who voted against expulsion, but hes still facing criticism from Harris supporters for his role in chairing the House Ethics Committee that held a hearing March 30 on Harris transgressions and then recommended that she be censured.

Harris was expelled for lying to the Ethics Committee about how much prior knowledge she had of wild and unproven criminal allegations a woman she invited to present to the Senate and House elections committees made about multiple local and state officials. During the Feb. 23 presentation, insurance agent Jacqueline Breger accused Gov. Katie Hobbs, the mayor of Mesa and several members of the legislature, including Republican House Speaker Ben Toma, of colluding with the Sinaloa drug cartel in a fake housing deed bribery scheme.

The Arizona Mirror reviewed purported evidence of the scheme and found none of it to be credible.

The precinct committeemen in Harris District 13, which covers Chandler and Gilbert, voted Monday to nominate three candidates for Harriss replacement, and their top pick was Harris herself. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will pick which of the three nominees to appoint to the seat, and its unlikely that they will choose Harris.

The precinct committeemen in Chapliks own Legislative District 3, which covers Cave Creek, Scottsdale and Fountain Hills, in a Sunday press statement criticized the Ethics Committee saying that it should have dismissed the ethics complaint that Democratic Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton made against Harris. The committeemen also demanded that Harris be reinstated.

The committeemen slammed both the Arizona House and Senate for not investigating Bregers claims. Some of the alleged evidence provided for the fake housing deed scheme included copies of deeds showing only that local and state officials had purchased property or refinanced loans in Arizona, or that people with similar names to some of the officials also purchased property in the state. Breger questioned the veracity of the signatures on those documents.

In his response, Chaplik wrote that the legislature should use its power to expel members in only the most severe cases of unethical or unlawful behavior.

It is imperative that I address some of the recent unfounded attacks on me, the Ethics Committee, its investigation, and its report, Chaplik wrote in an April 18 reply to the District 3 committeemen.

Chaplik said that he does not believe Harriss transgressions rose to that level. He also reminded the committeemen that the Ethics Committee did not recommend any specific punishment for Harris, but only advised that she be censured and left the details up to the House.

I found it highly concerning that House Leadership moved so quickly to an expulsion floor vote less than 24 hours after the Ethics Committee report had been released to the public, Chaplik wrote. I found it even more concerning that Leadership would not allow sufficient time for the elected members of the House to review and discuss the report prior to being asked to vote on the matter.

The House voted to expel Harris April 12, a day after the Ethics Committee released its report.

Thats the reason that Chaplik said he asked Toma to stop the expulsion vote.

It has become clear from recent public statements that House Leadership had made up their mind to expel Rep. Harris from the moment her special elections committee wrapped on February 23, 2023, Chaplik wrote.

Neither Toma nor Chaplik immediately responded to the Arizona Mirrors request for comment.

In their statement, the committeemen also criticized the Ethics Committee for allowing anonymously submitted screenshots of text messages among Harris, Breger and Bregers boyfriend John Thaler, to be used as evidence in Harriss hearing.

The claims that Breger made during the Feb. 23 presentation were based on Thalers investigation into the supposed housing deed conspiracy, the subject of a book by Thaler.

One of the phone numbers visible in the screenshots belongs to Harris, and Harris admitted during the Ethics Committee hearing that she was a participant in the screen-shotted conversation.

Thaler, a lawyer, sent a cease and desist letter to Chaplik on April 3, saying that the screenshots appeared to be taken from his phone and that he did not authorize their use or provide them to the committee.

The accusation that Ms. Harris knowingly permitted false testimony is absurd and not well-taken, Thaler wrote. The complainant makes this statement as one of fact having never reviewed any evidence connected with the presentation and never having reviewed the tens of thousands of pages of evidence in the possession of my office.

Some of the alleged evidence that Thaler referred to was shared widely online. Additionally, Thaler has made similar claims in multiple lawsuits, which one Arizona District Court judge called delusional and fantastical, before dismissing the suit.

But the main purpose of Thalers letter was to demand that the Ethics Committee cease and desist disseminating the screenshots, and that the committee stop referring to the screenshots, that it destroy all copies in the committees possession and that it strike all references to the messages from the record.

Thaler threatened to file a suit against Chaplik and the committee if they refused to acquiesce to his demands.

The committee responded to Thaler via a letter sent from one of the legislatures rules attorneys, Jennifer Holder.

In the letter, Holder told Thaler that because Harris didnt present any evidence regarding Thaler during the Ethics Committee hearing, or call him as a witness, the committee would disregard his issues with the contents and outcome of the hearing.

In regards to his demands about the screenshots, Holder wrote you have failed to identify any legal basis for those demands. Accordingly, the Committee will take no further action on your letter.

In his letter to the District 3 committeemen, Chaplik wrote that he allowed the text messages to be entered into evidence because they directly related to the context of the ethics claim.

While he continued to receive blowback from other conservatives for his heading of the Ethics Committees investigation into Harriss actions, Chaplik stood by his stance that Harris deserved censure, even if he doesnt believe that her behavior warranted expulsion.

The Legislature is not a substitute for a court of law and the House Rules do not tolerate legislators who inappropriately invite individuals to use a legislative hearing as a platform for opportunistic reasons, Chaplik wrote.
MANISTEE  Manistee County Library is offering a special presentation on unusual and unexplained sightings in the state of Michigan.

UFOs Over Michigan is slated to take place at 6 p.m. on April 27 at the Wagoner Community Center, located at 260 St. Mary S. Pkwy. in Manistee.

Bill Konkolesky from the Michigan chapter of the Mutual UFO Network will highlight a number of famous UFO sightings that were reported in both the upper and lower peninsulas. The organization studies UFO sightings for the betterment of humanity.

That is sort of a lofty way to say that we want to help people identify things in the sky that they cant explain, Konkolesky said.

The Mutual UFO Network is a U.S,-based nonprofit with over 5,000 members across the globe and chapters in more than 40 countries. It was founded in 1969 with the intent to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects.

Konkolesky is the state director of the Michigan chapter, but was first introduced to the organization when he reported his own experience. In 1989, he and two friends witnessed a strange series of lights when parked in a car outside another friends home.

I was impressed how they handled the report and thought this looks fun. Ive been all in ever since, Konkolesky said.

He explains that the Michigan chapter receives approximately 200 reports per year and that every single case is investigated. Many of the sightings can be explained. Aircrafts, interesting weather, shooting stars, planets, drones, sky lanterns and satellites are found to be common causes of sightings.

The presentation at the Wagoner Community Center will cover a number of sightings that took place in Michigan, including a series of reports that occurred in the Grand Rapids area in 1994. Konkolesky discussed the sightings in a 2022 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" currently streaming on Netflix. The sightings he plans to discuss are large in scale with multiple witnesses.

If you come with an open mind, it would be difficult to leave a presentation like this and not believe something is going on, Konkolesky said.

Julie Cirone, the librarys assistant director, explains that the library is excited to provide events that offer unique perspectives.

People have a keen interest in stories about Michigan and the history of the state. UFOs have been popular in American culture for decades and were sure that this event will appeal to a wide audience, whether you are a believer or a skeptic, Cirone said.

UFOs Over Michigan is a free event that is open to the public. No reservation is required. For more information, visit the Manistee County Librarys website at manisteelibrary.org..
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MANISTEE  Manistee Area Public Schools will ask voters in its district to support a millage renewal in the May 2 election.

The 18-mill, non-homestead operating millage renewal would span a period of three years  2024, 2025 and 2026.

Michigan public school districts are required by law to periodically ask voters to approve an 18-mill levy on non-homestead property as a result of Proposal A, a system for funding Michigan schools which was passed in 1994.

Ron Stoneman, MAPS superintendent, said the millage is "extremely important" for the district.

"It's required that we levy 18 mills to receive our full per-pupil foundation," he said. "Twenty-five percent of our budget is made up of that  that's about $4.47 million."

One mill equates to $1 per $1,000 of a propertys taxable value. The cost of the millage on a non-homestead property with a taxable value of $100,000 is about $1,800 a year.

Stoneman said while the ballot language calls for 18.7468 mills, the district can only levy 18. The additional 0.7468 would be available to be levied to maintain that 18-mill level if millage is lost as a result of the reduction required by the Headlee Amendment. It would only be levied to the extent necessary to restore that reduction.

"We'll never be able to take more than 18 mills," Stoneman said. "That extra amount is if it takes more over the three-year period, we can tap into that, but never over 18 mills."

The money levied would come from non-homestead property, meaning many voters are not affected by the tax.

"It doesn't impact people on their principal residence," said Howard Vaas, MAPS business manager. "It would only apply to non-exempt properties like second homes or vacant property  that type of thing."

Stoneman said he is grateful to voters for approving the millage in the past and hopes they support it again May 2.

"It's always been something that the community has approved, but I never take that for granted," he said. "We hope the community turns up in support of the school, but you never know.

"... It's an opportunity for the community to support the school so the school can support the community and the kids."

Ballot language

The ballot language for the operating millage renewal proposal is as follows:

Manistee Area Public Schools Operating Millage Renewal Proposal

This proposal will allow the school district to continue to levy the statutory rate of not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance and renews millage that will expire with the 2023 tax levy.

Shall the currently authorized millage rate limitation of 18.7468 mills ($18.7468 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, in Manistee Area Public Schools, Manistee and Mason Counties, Michigan, be renewed for a period of 3 years, 2024, 2025 and 2026, to provide funds for operating purposes; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and 18 mills are levied in 2024 is approximately $4,469,284 (this is a renewal of millage that will expire with the 2023 tax levy)?
A person is dead and four others were hospitalized in West Stockbridge on Thursday morning after an SUV heading eastbound crashed on the Massachusetts Turnpike near the New York state lines, Massachusetts State Police said.

Police responded to the crash, which MassDOT said was a rollover incident, on Interstate 90 by mile marker 2 at around 8:02 a.m on Thursday, April 20. The SUV had five occupants, police said.

Two people were ejected from the SUV in the single-car crash, police said. One of the people ejected was pronounced dead at the scene. All of the people involved in the crash were adults, police said.

The other four individuals were taken to Berkshire Medical Center. The surviving adults conditions are not known at this time, police said. Police initially said those involved in the crash had life-threatening injuries.

All eastbound lanes of the Mass Pike were closed for crash reconstruction and are still closed as of 10:45 a.m., police said. The breakdown lane was the only eastbound lane open as of 10:45 a.m.

All lanes of traffic have since reopened as of 12:45 p.m., police said.

The westbound lane had originally been closed for the four ambulances  one from Lee, one from Lenox and two from Berkshire County EMS  to get through, police said, and reopened again as of 9:07 a.m.

The left westbound lane was closed again temporarily for polices ongoing crash reconstruction, police said.

Massachusetts State Police had requested New York State Police to shut down I-90 east at the last exit in New York before the Massachusetts border to reduce flow of traffic to the crash site, as the crash happened approximately two miles from the states borders.

New York State Police has since reopened I-90 in New York.
After the April 1 purge that never was, Twitter adhered to CEO Elon Musks pledge to remove legacy blue checks on Thursday, April 20, and started removing legacy checks from accounts on the platform.

Accounts belonging to celebrities, journalists, influencers, news organizations and others lost their blue checks if they acquired one prior to Musks monthly $8 subscription plan using Twitter Blue.

Organizations using accounts on Twitter, including MassLive, still have their gold check marks identifying them as an official organization on Twitter. Accounts for politicians kept their grey checks because, according to Twitters description, the user is a government or multilateral organization account.

Twitter Verified reminded users on Wednesday that it intended to remove the blue checks on its scheduled date while reminding users how to stay verified through Twitter Blue.

Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks. To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOXAX



Organizations can sign up for Verified Organizations here: https://t.co/YtPVNYypHU  Twitter Verified (@verified) April 19, 2023

CNN reported that some high-profile accounts appeared to still have their blue checks. This could mean that the purge is not complete or those users have since subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Actor William Shatner previously blasted Musk on Twitter for needing the subscription plan to stay verified. Musk replied that this plan was about treating everyone equally. There shouldnt be a different standard for celebrities (in my opinion).

As of this writing, the Star Trek actor still has a blue check next to his name.

The plan for users to pay $8 to stay verified was mocked following its announcement on Nov. 1, 2022, MassLive reported at the time. Author Stephen King criticized Musk when the plan was initially $20, before the CEO tweeted back, We need to pay the bills somehow!

The plan also led to criticism when accounts impersonating major companies and high-profile figures started to appear with blue checks. For example, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey was impersonated twice by a Washington Post columnist.

The purge happened on the same day a massive rocket from Musks other company, SpaceX, exploded four minutes after takeoff from Boca Chica Beach in Texas, according to the AP.
A man accused of fatally shooting his parents and their two friends in a Maine home, four days after he was released from prison for a 2-year sentence, was arraigned on four counts of murder in a Maine district court Thursday.

In West Bath District Court Thursday morning, Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, Maine was arraigned on four counts of murder in the fatal shooting of his two parents 62-year-old Cynthia and 66-year-old David Eaton, as well as the fatal shooting of their family friends 72-year-old Robert Eger and his wife, 62-year-old Patricia Eger.

Joseph Eaton was not required to enter a plea Thursday because he has not yet been indicted on the charges. Hes due back in court on June 28.

On Tuesday at about 9:21 a.m., police responded to a check for a Bowdoin home at 1459 Augusta Road. The caller told police they found a person dead inside the residence.

Officers found the homeowners, Robert Eger and his wife Patricia Eger, dead beside Cynthia Eaton inside the residence, according to officials.

Cynthia Eatons husband, David Eaton, was found dead in a barn outside the house. An autopsy report revealed all the people died of gunshot wounds. Their deaths have been ruled as homicides.

At 10:30 a.m., minutes after police found the four victims in the Augusta Road home, authorities responded to the report of several people shot while in cars traveling on Interstate 295 near exit 15 in Yarmouth. Police said one northbound vehicle was struck by stray gunfire and three southbound vehicles were hit by gunfire in this incident.

First responders rushed 51-year-old Sean Halsey and his two children, 29-year-old Justin Halsey, and 25-year-old Paige Halsey, who are from Bowdoinham, to a hospital following the shooting.

Paige Halsey is in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, there has not been any further status update on her condition. Police said Sean Halsey and Justin Halsey had non-life-threatening injuries.

Authorities identified Joseph Eaton as the suspect in the shootings and located the man in a wooded area outside exit 15 south on an off-ramp of I-295 at 10:50 a.m.

Joseph Eaton was taken to Maine Medical Center where he was medically cleared and then taken to the Portland Police Department, where an interview was conducted, police said.

Police claim the man told them he killed his parents, Cynthia and David Eaton and their friends Robert and Patricia Eger during the interview. Police also claim he said he admitted to shooting at the vehicles on the highway thinking they were police following him.

Records show that Joseph Eaton was released from Windham Correctional Center four days prior, on April 14, after serving two years for aggravated assault.

His mother picked him up from the prison and drove him to stay with family friends at the Egers home on Augusta Road, police said.

Hes currently being held without bail in Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.

Authorities are still investigating the shooting. Anyone with information on either incident is urged to call Maine State Police at 207-624-7076.
A Massachusetts State Police trooper providing an escort in Brookline on Thursday morning was hit by another vehicle, state police said.

At around 10:40 a.m. on Thursday, April 20, the trooper on the motorcycle was hit by a car while driving on Hammond Pond Parkway in the city, the department said.

The trooper was brought to a hospital in Boston, and the department said the troopers injuries appeared to be minor. Police did not release the troopers name.

Hammond Pond Parkway is a two-mile stretch of roadway in the Chestnut Hill area.

State police are still investigating the cause of the crash, and stated there was no further information on the incident available.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  The CEO of furniture company MillerKnoll has apologized to workers after a video of her telling employees worried about not getting bonuses to leave pity city went viral.

Andi Owen, who has led the Zeeland-based company since 2018, told employees during an online townhall meeting in March to focus on reaching MillerKnolls $26 million sales goal rather than whether they will get bonuses. She told them to leave pity city and concentrate on their jobs.

After her remarks went viral Tuesday, drawing local and national media headlines, Owen emailed an apology to workers.

I want to be transparent and empathetic, and as I continue to reflect on this instance, I feel terrible that my rallying cry seemed insensitive, she said. What Id hoped would energize the team to meet a challenge weve met many times before landed in a way that I did not intend and for that I am sorry.

Related: MillerKnoll CEO urges workers worried about bonuses to leave pity city

She went on to say: Nothing will lessen the power and strength of our collective team. My appreciation for each of you is huge and I will continue to do everything I can to help us meet our shared goals. Thank you for your hard work, your grace, and for the commitment you show to one another and our company every single day.

MillerKnoll was formed in 2021 after Herman Miller purchased Pennsylvania-based furniture manufacturer Knoll Inc. for $1.8 billion. Owen had served as Herman Millers president since 2018, and formerly served as an executive with clothing manufacturer GAP and Banana Republic, her LinkedIn page shows.

The company has the brands Herman Miller and Knoll, as well as Colebrook Bosson Saunders, DatesWeiser, Design Within Reach, Edelman Leather, Fully and more. It has roughly 11,000 employees, according to its website.

An edited, 1 minute and 20 second video of Owens remarks from a March town hall meeting went viral Tuesday after being posted on social media. It was picked up by CNN. CBS News, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, as well as local media.

Dont ask about what are we going to do if we dont get a bonus, she said in the video. Get the damn $26 million. Spend your time and your effort thinking about the $26 million we need and not thinking about what youre going to do if we dont get a bonus.

She goes on to say: I had an old boss who said to me one time you can visit pity city, but you cant live there. So people leave pity city, lets get it done.

Her comments sparked outrage on social media especially among those upset with her compensation.

A story by Fortune Magazine said Owen received $3.9 million in incentive pay last year on top of her $1.1 million fixed salary.

Read more:

Amazingly beautiful Grand Rapids Lantern Festival now open to the public

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Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation works to plug funding gaps to help kids thrive
A Connecticut man was shocked to see what looked like a puffy cloud wandering outside his house Tuesday morning.

Eric Captain Eric Cormier of South Windsor, Connecticut, said his Tuesday morning started off as normal as ever. The 32-year-old was getting ready to head out to his videogame retail job when he heard his black labrador, Gryffindor, bark hysterically at their front door.

The second I looked outside I saw a huge cloud puff of an animal standing out in the middle of the street in front of our house, said Cormier.

Cormier said the white, puffy sheep, with several tags attached to its ears and spray painting over its back was slightly damp from a morning rain shower. He walked outside his Brook Street home to snap a picture and say hello to the fluffy friend.

As Cormier began to greet the sheep, the animal walked closer and started running toward his door.

Reflexively, Cormier backed up, kept his space and closed his door so the animal couldnt get in. However, the second the sheep locked eyes on his door Cormier said she was dead set on coming into his house.

Cormier and his girlfriend, Megan DaCosta, proceeded to call animal control to help get the sheep back to its rightful home. Animal Contol officers reportedly told the man they were already aware of the wandering sheep in South Windsor and were calling local farms to see if anyone lost a sheep.

The sheep waited patiently in front of Cormiers door for hours, wanting to be let inside. Cormier and DaCosta decided to give her a name, Puffle, since she seemed to be staying for the long haul.

Every 20 seconds it would let out this grunt, Cormier said, adding he captured video of the strange growl. He believes it was the Puffles way of asking to come inside.

As Cormier waited for Animal Control to arrive and as the sheep waited to be let into his home, Cormier realized he was running out of time and needed to head to work  his girlfriend had already left for her job.

He wanted Puffle to stay out of danger and away from incoming traffic, so Cormier tried to lure the animal to his backyard with several strawberries and pears  the sheep wouldnt budge.

I started just telling myself I guess Im just gonna leave this sheep at my front door, said Cormier.

Once Cormier let his labrador into his backyard, Puffle decided to follow suit and herded itself to the yards back gate without direction.

Cormier said his dog briefly greeted Puffle before he put him back inside and opened the gate for their fluffy friend. And then she of course made a beeline to our backdoor, Cormier said the sheep was looking to go inside his house once again.

Animal Control Officers eventually made their way over to Cormiers home. The officers reportedly told Cormier they had the means to restrain the sheep and get it into their van but they didnt have an acceptable place to store Puffle as they looked for her owner.

Cormier told the officers Puffle was more than welcome to hang out in his backyard while he was at work. Animal control told the man theyll circle back later at around 5 p.m. or once Puffles owner was found.

He left the sheep, who was still stubbornly trying to get inside the home, in his backyard with some food and water while he left to work.

A few hours into his shift, Cormier said he realized that he just left a farm animal in his backyard. Thinking of all the mischief the unattended animal can get into behind his house, Cormier decided to take a long break and head home to check on Puffle.

When he arrived at his house, Cormier said Puffle was in the same position by his backdoor. He hung out with the sheep, feeding her some strawberries and pears.

It was calm, Cormier said. It didnt immediately want human contact but once you started petting it she didnt run away.

Cormier spent hours making memories with his new furry friend before heading back to work.

Expecting the sheep to already be gone, Cormiers girlfriend DaCosta was shocked to see the full-grown sheep staring at her through their backdoor window after 7 p.m. She assumed Puffle still wanted to be let inside.

Cormier said DaCosta loves animals just as much as he does, so she didnt mind Puffle staying at their house longer than originally expected.

Once Cormier came back to his house at 9 p.m., he and his girlfriend assumed Puffle may be staying the night and attempted to lure the sheep into their empty shed. But Puffle was relentless in her pursuit to go inside and wouldnt budge from their backdoor.

"Puffle" the sheep pays a visit to a South Windsor home on Tuesday. She stubbornly wanted to get inside.

Later that night, Animal Control came by to take Puffle back to her farm on Nevers Road in South Windsor. Cormier said Puffles departure was bittersweet, he was happy to see her safely returned home but was sad to lose a friend he had only just started to form a connection with.

Cormier said it was an animal finds the owner before the owner finds the animal endearing day where he wouldve gladly shepherded the sheep if given the opportunity.

On Thursday morning, Cormier went over to meet Puffles owner and bid his friend one final farewell. The owner thanked Cormier for watching his sheep and told him the sheep escaped into the woods while being transported Tuesday.

Cormier didnt speak to the owner about any of his plans for Puffle.

Im blessed for the day and the experience, said Cormier. After having conversations with his girlfriend the pair are now considering bringing a sheep into their home in the future.
CHICOPEE  Everyone in the car that careened into a home in Chicopee on March 25 was drunk or high except the 13-year-old who died, according to a newly released police report.

DaVant Byrd was unable to escape the car as it quickly became engulfed in flames along with the house, the report says. His older brother, Stefen Baulkman, 19, was allegedly in the drivers seat and had a blood alcohol content of 0.14  nearly twice the legal limit.

Baulkman was arrested Thursday morning and arraigned in Chicopee District Court on charges including manslaughter, operating under the influence of alcohol and causing serious bodily injury to the homeowner. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was held without bail.

Family members called out offers of support as Baulkman was led away in handcuffs.

Love you! Stay strong! his supporters yelled.

Baulkman, his little brother and two other teens had been partying at an aunts house in Springfield until around 2 a.m., witnesses told police. The party was being held in honor of their mothers 37th birthday, according to the report.

Who wanna drive? they debated, trying to discern who was the soberest of the bunch, the report says. Cause one of them drunker than the other so who wanted to get home safer?

One passenger, whose name was redacted in police reports because he is a juvenile, said Baulkman and Byrds mother told them to take her Lexus SUV and bring the child home to Holyoke. He said all but Byrd had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana prior to the crash.

A police officer initially attempted to stop the speeding vehicle, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said previously, but the driver raced away from the traffic stop.

The house sat near a dangerous curve in the road.

One of the passengers told investigators Byrd was sitting in the back seat and was thrown into the front center console upon impact.

Another passenger said Byrd was still alive after the impact of the crash. Assistant Hampden District Attorney Thomas Prendergast told a judge that despite Chicopee police officers heroic efforts to get everyone out of the car safely, the flames of the car fire overtook them and the boy perished. One witness believed Byrd, a Holyoke Middle School student, was even younger than his age.

The one whos dead ... I think hes no more than like 10 years old maybe younger, the boy told Massachusetts State troopers investigating the crash.

Linka (Baulkman) stated to troopers that she previously let her sons drive her vehicle due to they had permits but could not recall specifically who took her vehicle, the police report said.

Stefen Baulkman also was charged with driving without a license on the night of the crash.

Joey Lucia, the owner of 1084 Montgomery St., was sleeping on his couch that night when the car came hurtling through a wall at an estimated 86 mph, according to the police report. He remains in the intensive care unit at Baystate and suffered multiple internal injuries and traumatic brain trauma, the police report says.

Lucia became trapped under the car and rubble, the report adds. Lucia was bleeding from his mouth when first responders freed him.

Judge Bethzaida Sanabria-Vega set bail at $50,000 on Thursday.

Prendergast moved to revoke Baulkmans bail from a pending criminal case, which also involved a high-speed chase from police on Interstate 391 last year. A state trooper recovered an open container of liquor in the same car and a gun from Baulkmans pocket, those records say.

The other passengers in the car suffered broken bones or minor injuries, the police narrative related to the crash says. Baulkman arrived at Baystate Medical Center appearing intoxicated, lethargic and vomiting, the report says.

A pretrial conference in the case is set for May 19.
He would just kill anyone who got in his way.

Thats how a Springfield police captain describes Calvin Roberson, the admitted killer whose plea in Hampden Superior Court this week closed three unsolved murder cases, and is linked to a fourth.

For years, police in Springfield, led by Capt. Trent Duda, worked to make a case against Roberson  and got close. They brought charges against him in a 2006 murder, but the case unraveled. Weve chased him, Duda said.

In a breakthrough police interview three weeks ago, Roberson confessed to his role in three Springfield County killings over 11 years. He was a picture of calm, telling Duda he had been part of the 2006 robbery plot that resulted in the death of Loan Nguyen, a Springfield nail salon owner, and that he, alone, shot and killed brothers Yonaides Jimmy Pichardo and David Pichardo in 2016 and 2017. Prosecutors say Roberson was paid $5,000 to kill Jimmy Pichardo. He stalked and killed David Pichardo after that man tried to avenge his older brothers murder.

Springfield police Capt. Trent Duda, head of the department's homicide unit, sits in court Tuesday during the guilty plea of Calvin Roberson in the cases of three unresolved homicides. Ellie Ramos, mother of victim Yonaides Pichardo, prays in front of him. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

He was very soft-spoken and collected and factual, Duda told The Republican and MassLive, describing the mans confession.

That wasnt the man his victims faced. Not when they got in his way.

Roberson decided this year to admit to his role in three murders. It was likely not a matter of conscience.

Roberson is also charged with the 2021 killing of Francisco Roman of Chicopee. Authorities say Roberson and another man, Brandon Batiste, kidnapped and shot Roman, put his body in his own truck and set the truck on fire in Hartford. Add that killing, and this high school dropouts known violence stretches across 15 years.

Because the two men allegedly moved Romans body across state lines, the killing became a federal crime, opening the defendants to a possible death sentence. It is not yet known what kind of prison sentence Roberson may receive for the Springfield killings, since the federal case is pending in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

Facing his own death, if convicted in the killing of Francisco Roman, it appears Roberson caved. His guilty pleas in the three Springfield shootings are now part of a global agreement linked to the federal case. By entering guilty pleas to three charges of manslaughter this week, Roberson may believe that if convicted in Romans killing, the government will let him live.

Ellie Ramos, the mother of Springfield murder victim Yonaides "Johnny" Pichardo, fights back tears following the guilty plea of Calvin Roberson to the murder of two Pichardo brothers. (Don Treeger / The Republican)

The legal system may give him that, but in light of the brutality hes long meted out, and the horror inflicted on his victims and their families, Calvin Roberson is one of the least deserving defendants weve ever seen. It is jarring to see his crimes pleaded down to manslaughter.

But his pleas take a confessed killer out of circulation in Hampden County  and that should be a relief to all.
BOSTON  The Red Sox made two roster moves Thursday.

Yu Chang was reinstated from paternity leave after just one day away from the team. He will play shortstop and bat ninth when the Twins and Red Sox play the rubber game of their three-game series at 1:35 p.m. here at Fenway Park.

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Boston optioned prospect Enmanuel Valdez back to Triple-A Worcester. He was on the active 26-man roster for just one game, taking Changs spot.

The 24-year-old Valdez had an interesting MLB debut Wednesday. He went 2-for-4 but he also made two errors.
SPRINGFIELD  The properties that make up the Eastfield Mall have been sold.

Onyx Partners purchased the property for $4.5 million from Mountain Development, which owned the mall, according to documents filed Wednesday afternoon with the Hampden County Registry of Deeds.

Onyx plans to redevelop the Eastfield Mall into a complex titled Eastfield Commons, which will include retail outlets, offices and other services.

The mall is expected to close in July.

The companys redevelopment of the property will take approximately two years. The total cost will range between $65 million and $85 million.

The mall currently hosts a variety of mom-and-pop businesses, with commercial stores, including LensCrafters and Old Navy.

We cant announce all the tenants yet, but in the media recently, youve seen Old Navy, Chick-Fil-A and a number of others, Brian Kaplan, vice-president of development for Onyx Partners. We hope to announce some more in the future as well.

The transfer comes after the Springfield Planning Board unanimously approved Onyx Partners Limiteds request to rezone the mall at a meeting Wednesday night. Onyx, a financial services company, will go before City Council on Monday to request a special permit.

If approved, the company will be allowed to demolish and redevelop the mall. In an email, City Council President Jesse Lederman declined to comment on Onyx and the Eastfield Mall before Mondays meeting.

The Planning Board recommended 1685 Boston Rd., 1655 Boston Rd., 1719 Boston Rd. and NS Fernbank St.  the specific addresses that makes up the Eastfield Mall  be removed from the regional shopping overlay district.

The main intention for removing the property from the surrounding shopping district is to separate the mall from other retailers in the area.

Seth Stratton, Onyxs attorney, said during Wednesdays meeting that the company plans to work closely with the city during the redevelopment construction period to ensure the traffic along Boston Road will not be affected.

Responding to questions about residential uses for the property, Kaplan said at the meeting Onyx plans to review options for the separate parcels located in the back of the mall.
Worcester Regional Transit Authority buses will continue to be free to ride through June 2024 after the agencys advisory board voted to extend the program for another year on Thursday.

The WRTA first implemented fare-free bus service at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has repeatedly extended the program. Until the boards vote Thursday, it was set to expire in June 2023.

The WRTA Audit and Finance Committee submitted a budget for fiscal year 2024 last month which included funding to extend the program once again, using about $3.6 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. Tom Coyne, deputy administrator and CFO of the WRTA, said at the time that the agency had $19.8 million in CARES Act funding remaining, of which about $5.9 million will be used in fiscal year 2024.

While the budget was approved unanimously Thursday, board members said it would be important in the future to find other funding sources if the program continues.

Itll be important for all of us in all of our communities ... that they keep the pressure on the officials who ultimately will create that funding mechanism or not, because talk is cheap, and there is a finite number of monies available, board Vice Chair Douglas Belanger said. You cant keep using one-time money for ongoing expenses. So itll be important as we are able to once again be able to do a fare-free year. If you want to continue that, somebodys got to come up with more funding, and thats basically at the state and federal level.

Chair Gary Rosen agreed, but said he was optimistic that the regions legislative delegation would continue to work toward getting funding in place.

Theyve been on the ball the last couple of years and I think theyre making very good progress, Rosen said. From what we hear, the legislature does intend to come up with significant increases in funding, but obviously were not going to spend any of it until we actually see that and that happens. So theres a lot of talk and we hope it turns into action.

The WRTA budget for fiscal year 2024 was set at $19.98 million, a 6.3% increase over the previous year.

A report released Wednesday by the Worcester Regional Research Bureau showed that the WRTA was the only urban regional transit authority in Massachusetts to not only meet but exceed pre-pandemic ridership levels in 2022.

In 2019, the authority saw 2.9 million unlinked passenger trips. While that number dipped to a low of 1.9 million in 2020, it rose last year to more than 3.5 million.

The WRTAs exceptionally speedy ridership recovery, with 140% of 2019 pre-pandemic values by the end of 2022, may be due in part to the fare-free service begun in March 2020, the report said.
Lors de la prochaine seance parlementaire qui est prevue le 25 avril 2023, le Leader du Rassemblement Mauricien va poser ses quatre questions autorisees dont trois au Premier Ministre.

Whether the Hon Prime Minister can obtain information from the Commissioner of Prisons as to the number of prisoners who have been found guilty as drug traffickers, in particular those who are serving sentences of over 10 years and provide a list thereof?As regards to the recent incidents between rival gangs of inmates at the prisons, whether he will obtain information from the Commissioner of Prisons as to the number of such incidents since 2019, and whether an enquiry has been conducted and the outcome thereof?

PQ3 As regards to the programs of the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, can he obtain information for the House as to a new structure being implemented and the reasons therefor?

PQ 4 To ask the minister of Commerce and Consumer Protection as regards to the high percentage of increase in the price of baby milk, the reasons therefor and whether government intends to take any action?
A teenage girl who had to quit school and her job due to a painful, inoperable tumour on the side of her face has had life-changing surgery from a charity.

Khoudia, 18, from the Kaolack region of central Senegal, was 10 when she first noticed a small lump on her cheek that kept on growing.

Her mother, Atta, was quick to take her to several hospitals in the hope of treatment but was told the tumour was inoperable. As the years passed by, Khoudias childhood was overshadowed by feeling rejected by her peers.

Atta said: The only thing that my daughter told me all the time was, I want to keep studying.

But when she used to go to school, her friends used to make fun of her, and she would come back crying.

By the time Khoudia was 16, the tumour had become immensely painful. She felt like her face was being pricked by needles.

Khoudia said: I used to get pain till I could not see.

She eventually had to drop out of school and could no longer work seasonally as a maid.

During yet another unsuccessful hospital visit, Atta heard the news that international aid charity Mercy Ships had one of its hospital ships in the port of Dakar, delivering free surgery to those who have little access to safe medical care. She began exploring Mercy Ships as an option but discovered it had finished its current service.

Amazingly, the ship then returned to Senegal, and Atta was overjoyed when Khoudia was cleared for surgery at age 18.

Khoudia said: I never thought that this tumor would be removed from my cheek. So when they told me they were going to do it, I said, OK, but I never imagined that they would remove it all.

American nurse, Mary Toupin who was volunteering and looked after Khoudia, said: They were just so happy to finally be here. They had been on a journey together, and they had finally come to this day they had been waiting for.

The volunteer surgeons of Mercy Ships performed a left parotidectomy to remove the tumour. It was a life-changing maxillofacial operation that had been eight years in the making.

After the surgery, when they took off the bandages, they gave me a mirror, Khoudia remembered.

I looked at myself and said, Wow! I was so happy from then on.

Her mother watched the moment and was just as joyful.

Atta said: When they came and took off the bandages and I saw that, I was so happy because I never imagined that could be removed. I never thought I would see her cheek without the tumour in my life.

French nurse Caroline Grob was struck by Khoudias bravery.

Caroline said: It just blew my mind. She had a huge mass in her face and was just smiling. Never complained.

She added: When she saw her face after the surgery, she was even more joyful.

Mary said that it was such a privilege to be there for the bandage removal. Thats something really special, said Mary. She called it a moment that they will remember forever.

A month after her surgery, Khoudia was pain-free and her face had healed, so she was discharged from the hospital.

She and Atta applauded the good news. Atta remarked: I am just so happy. Now, I will return home with my beautiful daughter.

As she prepared to return to her village Khoudia said she was most excited to see her father, as she is very close to him.

Khoudia said: There will be a big party when I come home; I know it.

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County View

John Healy

The recent RTE expose of the fake psychologist who posed as an expert adviser to the HSE, but whose qualifications were shown to be totally bogus, is nothing new in the narrative of health delivery in Ireland. Caroline Goldsmith was not the first, and certainly wont be the last, to con her way past the recruitment gatekeepers who should have known better.

Goldsmith was engaged by Tusla as a world renowned authority in the field of autism. She was hired through a recruitment agency on the basis of a CV that proclaimed her to have, among other qualifications, a Masters degree and a Doctorate in clinical psychology. But, as the RTE researcher was to find out, all of her awards could be bought online by simply filling in a few forms and sending off the required fee.



Apart from highlighting how flimsy is the regulatory framework by which so-called medical experts are allowed to practice, the expose raised serious doubts about the screening process employed by the HSE before somebody is allowed loose to offer services to the public.

It is only a few short years since the colourful story emerged of the expert witness who was giving evidence at a Circuit Court hearing in the south of the country. The man was something of an acknowledged expert in the field of psychiatry, and his reports were generally accepted by the courts without question in matters of family law. It so happened that on this particular occasion he was waxing eloquent to the court as the clock approached lunchtime. A cross examining barrister, sensing something amiss, indicated that he would like to check out the experts credentials in a little more detail. The presiding judge, calling the lunchtime adjournment, suggested that the matter would be addressed on resumption.

But when the court re-assembled, there was no sign of the expert witness. As the minutes ticked by, and the witness chair remained unoccupied, it became obvious that the expert would not be returning. His cover, as they say, had been blown; he was no more an expert than was the court usher. Not surprisingly, he was never heard of again in judicial circles.

At Cork Circuit Court, a young second-year law student was jailed for six years having set himself up as a paediatrician and practising as a senior medic at the Mater Hospital. Nobody could explain to the incredulous judge quite how such an obvious imposter had managed to talk his way into a top hospital consultancy.

In one of many British cases, a fraudulent doctor of Eastern origin was found to have worked for 20 years with the NHS, earning over 1 million during his career. Nobody had even noticed that, in his forged letter of verification, the word verify had been repeatedly misspelled as varify.

Too often, charlatans are allowed to prey on the vulnerable and the desperate simply because the regulations are too lax. When Prime Time investigated the behaviour of an individual who was offering radical cancer therapy in county Clare, it found that he had been struck off the medical register in California. But because he made no claim to be registered in Ireland, the Medical Council was powerless to sanction his activities.

And where, as has often happened in Britain, an overseas doctor has raised the suspicions of colleagues, there is a marked hesitancy to bring things to a head. The tendency is to dismiss unusual or unorthodox conduct as a cultural anomaly, or as the product of non-British conventional medical training. And British doctors acknowledge a reluctance to call out what they are often doubtful about, all the more so should their actions be met with the accusation of racism as the first line of defence.
HE BROUGHT much of the county to a standstill back in 2016 when he visited as US Vice President, but Joe Biden took it to another level on Friday last with his sensational presidential visit to Mayo, and in particular, Ballina.

The trip had been widely anticipated since his inauguration as President in 2021 that Biden would return to Mayo at some stage. Once he announced his visit to Ireland to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement, a trip to his ancestral home in north Mayo was always on the cards.

Given the short turnaround in preparation for the event, it was hard to see how his visit to Mayo could not have gone any better. The 80-year-old presidents schedule during the four-day visit was packed, and his last day here in Mayo had a very busy agenda from the get go.

Ireland West Airport Knock has enjoyed a return to normality since Covid ground things to a halt for all at the airport, and all who work there definitely enjoyed seeing it in the spotlight of the world when Air Force One landed there on Friday afternoon.

Although President Bidens visit to Knock Shrine was private, it was a huge honour for Fr Richard Gibbons to give a guided tour of the shrine to Biden, and the visit will also have heightened the profile of the shrine for Americans and Catholics everywhere.

The president has a very special affinity with the Mayo Hospice, having turned the sod for the development in Castlebar. He of course lost his son Beau to cancer, and his close relationship with his cousin Laurita Blewitt, who works at the hospice, means the bond between him and the facilitys mission is strong.





Bidens visit to the North Mayo Heritage Centre at Enniscoe House in Crossmolina was unexpected but will most certainly act as a real boost for all at the centre. Many who were unaware of the fantastic genealogy work that goes on there are now sure to visit over the summer months.

Pride of place

But pride of place for the visit was most certainly Ballina. Although the thousands who attended had to be patient  and deal with some showery conditions  they were treated to a spectacular evening.

All those involved in the hectic organising of the event deserve huge plaudits. To turnaround something of this stature in such a short space of time is some feat, and there is no doubt that all 27,000 who were there will remember it for a very long time.

The carnival atmosphere along the banks of the Moy was evident from early afternoon, and the music of The Academic, The Coronas and The Chieftains really set the scene for the main event.

Taking to the stage to the sound of the Dropkick Murphys, President Biden address was not overly long but was on point and very well received.

The president told us that this was his third time to visit Ballina, and that he really felt like he was coming home.

Americans have been slow to begin travelling again after the Covid pandemic, but already in 2023, the numbers have risen significantly. This visit will surely lead to thousands more travelling to the west coast over the next number of years.

Before this historic trip, many of those US visitors may not have travelled north to Ballina, but now they will no doubt be keen to see St Muredachs Cathedral and all the town itself has to offer.

Our elected representatives and those in the tourism industry have been afforded a huge opportunity thanks to the publicity around the Biden visit, and now they must capitalise on that by continuing the great work that made the visit such a wonderful success.
An exciting evening of music is promised when the 55-member Mayo Male Voice Choir and special guests take to the stage for the choirs annual springtime concert in the magnificent St. Marys Hall at the ATU Mayo Campus in Castlebar, Soprano Emma Nash has been described as outstandingwith a vivid stage presence by The Arts Desk, splendid by Opera Magazine and a soprano with an exciting, individualised vocal colour by Opera Today.

Baritone Rory Musgrave performs extensively in concerts and recitals, including the National Concert Hall and Wexford Festival Opera. He performs as a guest soloist as well as performing with numerous ensembles including Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Crash Ensemble.

Formed over 20 years ago, the 55-member Mayo Male Voice Choir has grown from strength to strength, and is now one of the leading male voice choirs in Ireland. The choirs musical director since day one is Deirdre Lee, while its accompanist is Rebecca Cresham Heneghan.

Members hail from all over Mayo, including Achill, Ballinrobe, Castlebar, Swinford and Westport. The last year has been busy, with performances at Ashford Castle, the National Museum of Ireland Country Life, Ballintubber Abbey, Knock Airport and elsewhere. They recently performed at The Lodge at Ashford, raising 2000 for two charities.

Commenting on the upcoming show, chairman Jim Tiernan said: We are really looking forward to our annual springtime concert  our first in years. We will be giving our best performance ever! With our two special guests, Emma and Rory, it will be a brilliant evening of song and music.

The concert will take place in St. Marys Hall at the ATU, Mayo Campus, Castlebar, at 8pm on Friday, April 28. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets, 15, are available from any choir member or from www.mmvcsprint.eventbrite.com).
Michael Gallagher

Like his people before him, he left Tullaghbawn and took the emigrant trail in the early eighties. The road out through Louisburgh had seen many thousands leave home behind over the centuries and Ciaran Stauntons going was no different. However, the man with a savage love of place, would have a major impact on the shaping our history from beyond the seas.

Of course, like all who find themselves in historys eye, Staunton doesnt realise the impact he had on the Irish story at home and abroad. He was part of the movement which saw more than 60,000 Irish obtain US visas in the eighties. He was instrumental in Gerry Adams receiving a 48-hour visa to America in 1994, which kick-started the road to peace. He was with republican leader Joe Cahill when he toured America urging acceptance of the Peace Process before the Good Friday Agreement was signed and he now believes a wonderful future is within reach for all the people on the island of Ireland.





Stauntons early years in America were at a time when thousands of his country men and women flooded into New York and other cities in search of a better life.

I was bartending in Dorchester and every day of the week there were gangs of people arriving. The space under the jukebox in the corner would be full of cases and luggage every night and youd be saying, Will you put up these few lads or these few women for a few nights on the couch.

Some people would have relations to come to, others wouldnt so everyone helped out and helped as much as we could. At the time, the Irish Government didnt want to know about us. They just turned their backs  it was out of sight, out of mind.

Staunton and his friends decided to do something about it and tireless work first yielded the Donnelly Visas and followed up with the Morrison Visas to give thousands of Irish a stable life across the sea.

Staunch Republican

The Louisburgh man has always been a staunch Republican and became an integral part of the Irish American movement driving for a settlement to The Troubles and eventual Irish unity. The support of Irish America was crucial in bringing the issue to the fore internationally, according to Staunton.

The old Garrett Fitzgerald approach of any mention of human rights helping the Provisionals was trotted out for years. Whenever he got an opportunity to speak to the Americans, instead of addressing issues such as plastic-bullets, non-jury trials and human rights violations, he would talk about the men of violence. Christy Moore sang Though its ninety miles from Dublin, it seems so far away, its like were getting more support from the USA, and he was right.

We brought all those campaigns to Washington despite the Department of Foreign Affairs constantly telling people to stay away from us. It was frustrating but we wouldnt walk away from it, how could we? Our people were being ruled by tyranny.

We must remember if the British had held onto Connacht instead of Ulster, Long Kesh and the H Blocks would be in Westport of Castlebar or Ballina. The farmers sons and daughters from Armagh or Tyrone involved in the campaign in the North were the same as the farmers sons and daughters involved in the campaign here in 1919.

As time passed, things began to change and when Albert Reynolds was appointed Taoiseach in Ireland, the Irish Americans saw a glimmer of hope.

Albert Reynolds was crucial. He looked at the bigger picture. People were talking about it being the right time but that wasnt the case. We always had the right time, now we had the right men.

Then, in 1994, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was granted a 48-hour visa to visit America and Staunton was at the very centre of the pivotal moment.

Absolutely crucial

It was absolutely crucial. Up to then he was being talked about as a man of violence, a godfather  all that sort of stuff. We knew what we had to do was put him on national TV all across the States. I rang the Larry King Show the night before he landed in New York and when he touched down we drove him straight to the studios. The following morning, he was on Good Morning America and all those shows.

Our priority was for people to see the man for what he really was. When he went on Larry King, Larry began the show by saying This mans voice cannot be heard on TV in Ireland or Britain. His words have to be voiced by an actor.

That showed the madness of what the Government had been doing back at home.

The Peace Process began to move forward from there with John Hume and Adams meeting despite a lot of criticism. Republicans were giving their backing to it but the process wasnt without pitfalls.

Albert (Reynolds) was removed as Taoiseach and the whole thing was left hanging there. John Bruton was an absolute disaster for the Peace Process. There was nothing happening and the efforts people had made were being ignored.

Then Canary Wharf (bombing) occurred and it looked bleak for a while, but Bertie (Ahern) came in, the Republican leadership stayed with it and worked night and day to get it back on track. There was a commitment then from Dublin and London that the same mistake wouldnt be made again and within a matter of months talks began in real fashion.

There were many detours along the way. Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Pat Doherty and many others brought their people with them. John Hume stayed with it, Martin McGuinness worked closely with Seamus Mallon, great men in the Department of Foreign Affairs like Sean O hUigunn from Tourmakeady will never get the credit he deserves what he did in those times.

Those efforts eventually brought about the Good Friday Agreement and changed the course of Irish history forever. As the deal was signed, Staunton was in Manhattan in his newly opened pub, ONeills, celebrating the moment with family and friends.

It was a day I wont forget. It isnt perfect and isnt a final solution to anything but it has put us on course to a great future where unity is close at hand because people held their nerve when all seemed lost.

How many people are alive today who wouldnt be alive without that Agreement? How many people have been born since that know nothing about what went before? The future is full of opportunities now.
Anton McNulty

THE US Ambassador to Ireland believes that President Joe Bidens visit to Ballina on Friday will be a once in a generation event, similar to JFKs visit to Ireland in 1963.

US President Joe Biden will make a landmark address outside St Muredachs Cathedral on his visit to Ballina on Friday evening as part of his official visit to Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.



The public who wish to witness the historic occasion are asked to register their interest with the US embassy and the US Ambassador, Claire Cronin is encouraging families not to miss out on a once in a generation moment.

I am really excited because I feel this is going to be a moment in time. No President has ever given a major address in Mayo, and particularly one with Mayo roots. This is a wonderful opportunities for so many families in particular in Mayo.





I know if I was home with my kids and the President of the United States was coming I would make sure we went as a family, she said on her visit to Ballina last week.

Ambassador Cronin took up her role of US Ambassador to Ireland in February 2022 having been appointed by President Biden and she said that there was never any question that he would not visit Mayo as part of his official trip.

Speaking to local media, Ambassador Cronin said she was very excited about the Presidents visit and she could also feel the excitement among the public around Ballina.

Im really excited about it. This is really historic and I feel so optimistic about the trip itself but I feel emboldened and excited about the response I see from the Irish people about the impending trip.

It is significant in many ways. If you look at the relationships between our two countries. The foundation is our ancestral relationships and the trade and investment is the glue that keeps us together. A trip like this will have a significant impact on the economy but there after it will spread tourism to this area as well. The benefits are significant to the community.

I have no doubt it will be shown and there will be a great amount of interest in the States. This is a really big deal, she said.

Ever changing schedule

While it has been confirmed that President Biden will give a public address on the banks of the Moy there is very little information on what else he will do in Ballina and Ambassador Cronin said the schedule is ever changing.

The schedule in Ballina is still fluid. The biggest hurdle for us was to decide where the speech will be held and we have many suggestions of where he might stop and we are still reviewing them all. It is still very fluid and could be up until the day before.

A native of Brockton, Massachusetts, Ambassador Cronins has strong Irish roots with her fathers family coming from Inishowen in Co Donegal and her mothers side coming from Cork and Clare.

She said as a child growing up in Massachusetts in an Irish American family, a picture of JFK was always hanging on the wall and President Bidens visit to Ireland will be closely following by Irish Americans.

This trip is creating memories for not just this generation but for the next. This is an Irish American President who has a deep love and affection for this country. It is not cursory... this runs deep and there is no one who loves Irish culture and history and Irish music and poetry and the values we share as a country than President Biden.

This visit is huge. I remember as a child if your grew in Boston in the 1960s you had a picture of the Pope and John F Kennedy on your wall so it is never lost on me the significance of President Kennedys visit here as someone who comes from Massachusetts. In the same way with President Biden coming here. There are so many places within the United States where the President has a close connection to[the visit] will be well covered.

As well as the historical context of the visit, Ambassador Cronin added that the Presidents trip to Ireland will underscore the importance of the Good Friday Agreement as well as the economic ties between the two countries.

The trade and investment between our countries is very significant. One fact Im not sure people are aware of is Ireland is the ninth largest foreign direct investor in the United States. We often talk about our relationship of what the United States has invested in Ireland but it is very much a two-way street and that is a story that needs to be told, she said.
Anton McNulty

WITH US President Joe Biden arriving in Mayo this afternoon, An Garda Siochana have asked the public to be aware of traffic management measures which will take place across the county.

President Biden is expected to arrive at Ireland West Airport Knock around lunchtime this afternoon and will make a number of engagements in the county before finishing the day in Ballina with a public speech outside St Muredachs Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy.



During the day, President Biden will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock before travelling to Castlebar for a private visit to Mayo Roscommon Hospice.

He will then visit the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centres Family History Research Unit at Enniscoe House in Crossmolina and is expected to deliver his speech in Ballina at around 9pm.



An Garda Siochana have asked the public to be aware of traffic measures at various locations around the county and to make alternative travel arrangements.

Ireland West Airport will operate as normal at all times, but those travelling to and from the airport on the afternoon of April 14 should allow additional time due to possible temporary road closures. During the visit of President Biden traffic diversions will be in place on the Westport side of Castlebar Town from midday to 5pm. These will include partial closures of the Westport Road into Castlebar Lannagh Road, Old Westport Road from Lannagh Road to the main entrance to Mayo University Hospital and Humbert Way to Cathal Duffys Roundabout.

Diversions will be in place and access to Mayo University Hospital will be affected by traffic diversions and this will reduce car park availability. Any persons attending appointments tomorrow afternoon should arrive early. Emergency Services will be unaffected by traffic management on the day.

Access onto the Westport Road in Castlebar will be restricted for a period of time and any traffic, particularly large vehicles travelling to or from the Westport area via Castlebar, should divert through either Newport or Ballinrobe.



From approximately 12.30pm to 3pm, temporary traffic restrictions may occur on the N17 between Charlestown and Claremorris and diversions will be in place during any traffic restrictions. From approximately 1.30pm to 3.30pm, temporary traffic restrictions may occur on the N5 between Charlestown and Castlebar. Diversions will be in place during any traffic restrictions. Gardai say they will reopen roads as soon as possible.

From 10am until after the public event finishes in Ballina access to Ballina town will be restricted to local residents and business workers only. The N59 through Ballina will be closed to traffic from 10am for the duration of the event.

In general traffic intending on travelling through Ballina on the N59 should divert via N26/ N5/ N17 Foxford, Swinford, Charlestown, Tobercurry, Sligo.



Park and Ride

A Park and Ride service will be in place for those travelling into Ballina on the evening of Friday, April 14. The inbound shuttle service will begin at 3pm and conclude at 7pm. The outbound shuttle service will operate from the drop off points from 10pm and will conclude at midnight. Persons requiring disability access should make themselves known at the park and ride centres. Gardai will be present at the park and ride locations to assist the public.

If attending the public event in Ballina members of the public are encouraged not to be in possession of large bags. For security reasons pedestrians seeking to access certain areas and any bags in their possession may be subject to search. Any item that could be determined to be a safety hazard, including but not limited to large items such as flag poles, tripods, folding steps, folding chairs etc may be restricted.

Park and shuttle locations are as follows: Zone 1  Knockmore: GAA Car Park, drop-off and return location at the junction of James Street and Hill Street.





Zone 2  Castleconnor Community Centre Car-Park, drop-off and return location at Bunree Industrial Estate.

Zone 3  Crossmolina: various parking around town, drop-off and return location at Mercy Road.

Zone 4  North Ballina: McVann Furniture, Killala Road, drop-off and return location at Bohernasup.

President Biden will depart Mayo from Ireland West Airport to Dublin Airport on the late evening of April 14.
Anton McNulty

US President Joe Biden has arrived in Mayo after Air Force One landed in Ireland West Airport Knock to begin his whirlwind tour of the county.

President Biden emerged from Air Force One at approximately 1.56pm and was greeted by the Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Seamus Weir, and a number of other local dignitaries including Mayo TDs Dara Calleary, Michael Ring and Alan Dillon and Chairperson of Ireland West Airport, Arthur French.

President Bidens long awaited visit to the ancestral home of his great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt, who came from Ballina, concludes his four-day visit to Ireland to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

This is the first time a sitting US President has visited Mayo. President Biden has a number of engagements in the county before finishing the day in Ballina with a public speech outside St Muredachs Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy.



The location is poignant for the President as his great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827, which helped him to afford to buy tickets for himself and his family to sail to America decades later in 1851.

The first leg of his visit to Mayo will begin with a private visit of prayer at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, before travelling to Castlebar for a private visit to Mayo Roscommon Hospice.



In 2017, President Biden turned the sod on the site of the new hospice in Castlebar and sent a videolink message for the official opening. The Presidents son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015 and the hospice has previously paid tribute to the former Delaware Attorney General.

Following his visit to the hospice, President Biden and his entourage will travel to the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centres Family History Research Unit at Enniscoe House in Crossmolina.





Public speech

From there he will head for in Ballina for the highlight of the Mayo trip where he will deliver his only public speech during his Irish trip outside St Muredachs Cathedral on the banks of the River Moy.

Thousands of people are expected to gather along the banks of the Moy for a free outdoor with gates opening at 5.30pm and the official program to begin at 7pm.

Irish rock bands The Coronas and The Academic and legendary Irish folk band The Chieftains will be among the musical acts to perform in Ballina, prior to a public address by US President Joe Biden, who expected to arrive in after 8pm to deliver his address to the Ballina public at 9pm.

Ballina have been hoping that President Biden would visit the north Mayo capital since the day he was elected. Cathaoirleach of the Ballina Municipal District, Cllr Mark Duffy said the visit by President Biden will be a homecoming and he hopes everyone enjoys the historic event.

This is something we all of dreamed of. In a Mayo context St Muredachs Cathedral is an iconic location for the people of Mayo and is one of our centre pieces in Ballina. But now it is going to be elevated to the eyes of the world as a centre piece and people will say this is where President Biden made his speech that time. That will make it an iconic location and a tourism spot and that prospect is something you can never dream with.

An Garda Siochana have asked the public to be aware of traffic delays around the county during the day and diversions will be in place around Castlebar and Ballina.

Following his address to the public in Ballina, President Biden will depart Mayo from Ireland West Airport Knock for Dublin before returning to Washington DC.
Oisin McGovern

Excitement is building as the countdown continues to President Joe Bidens return to Ballina. Thousands have gathered in the North Mayo capital to see the 46th President, who is due to speak outside St Muredachs cathedral after 9pm.

Queues of hundreds formed before gates opened at 5.30pm this evening. Local businessman Anthony Heffernan told The Mayo News this evening that business has been unreal for the entire week.

Weve been a great two weeks on the back of him, said Mr Heffernan, owner of the Heffernans Fine Foods, which Biden visited while serving as US Vice-President.

Genuineness

Swinford woman Julie Doyle, who has been involved with the Mayo Association in Dublin, described the occasion as emotional.

Im going to see a wonderful homecoming of one of Mayos most famous sons, she told The Mayo News, and its a very emotional day for anybody in the county who has been affected by emigration to see somebody come home and have realised the American dream. Were here to celebrate that. 

Tubbercurry woman Niamh Walsh said: The fact that hes coming to the west is such a big occasion. Sometimes we miss out to Dublin getting all the big events. Its great that someone so powerful is coming to Ballina for the day. Theres buzz and excitement around the place in the last couple of days.

Mayo Sinn Fein TD Rose Conway-Walsh described the occasion as a wonderful day for Ballina and Mayo.

As were standing here the queues are getting longer and longer, she told The Mayo News. Hearing Joe Biden speak yesterday, the real sense of genuineness about him being happy to be here  sa bhaile  as he said, I think thats very genuine. I think it will do a huge amount for the county of Mayo and for Ballina, she added.

Presidents tears

Earlier today, President Biden visited Knock Shrine, where he broke down in tears after meeting Fr Frank OGrady, who administered The Last Rites to his late son Beau.

He later visited Castlebars Mayo Hospice palliative care facility, where he turned the sod when he visited as a private citizen in 2017.



He is expected to arrive at shortly at the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centre in Enniscoe, where he is due to meet with the centres family research unit.
Anton McNulty



The people of Ballina and Mayo turned out in their thousands along the banks of the Moy to welcome home one of their own.

US President Joe Biden received a hero's welcome to his ancestral hometown on the final leg of his four day tour of Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.



An estimated 27,000 people lined the banks of the River Moy to get a glimpse of the 46th President of the United States whose great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt left Ballina at the time of the Great Famine.

President Biden arrived on stage to a rapturous welcome shortly before 10pm to the sounds of Dropkick Murphys, 'I'm Shipping Up to Boston' and delighted the crowd when he declared 'It feels like coming home'.



The president spoke heavily of how proud he was of his Irish heritage and how those values shaped him to be a better person. He spoke of the joy of following in the footsteps of President John F Kennedy and how the links between Ireland and the US run deep.

Everything between Ireland and America runs deep; our history, our heritage, our sorrows, our future, our friendship. But more than anything, hope is what beats in the hearts of our people.

For centuries during the times of darkness and despair, hope has kept us marching forward toward a better future, one of greater liberty, greater dignity and greater possibilities.

From early afternoon, the people queued along the streets of the north Mayo capital to get the best vantage point to see President Biden deliver his speech in front of St Muredach's Cathedral.

The location is poignant for the President as his great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827, which helped him to afford to buy tickets for himself and his family to sail to America decades later in 1851.

It was an occasion like no other ever witnessed before in Ballina as the world's press set up camp on the banks of the Moy in front of the historic St Muredach's Cathedral to witness the President's address which was the only public address he delivered during his Irish visit.

President Biden arrived in Co Mayo shortly after 2pm when Air Force One touched down at Ireland West Airport Knock for the historic visit. During his visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, he met by chance Fr Frank O'Grady, a former chaplain with the US military who administered the last rights to the President's late son Beau who died from brain cancer in 2015.





The President then visited Mayo Hospice in Castlebar where there is a plage in memory of Beau and he referenced this in his speech in Ballina telling the crowd: I can tell you how special it is that a piece of his legacy lives here among his ancestors.

As darkness fell over the Moy, it was evident that the President was running behind schedule but the crowd were entertained firstly by Irish bands The Academic and The Coronas and then by the legendary folk group, The Chieftains, who were reunited for the special occasion.

The showers of rain failed to dampen the mood of the crowd with a rainbow appearing over the cathedral following one of those showers lifting their spirits even further.

As The Chieftains' set was coming to an end there was a sudden cheer from the crowd at 9.20pm as the president's Marine One helicopter flew low over the Moy.

Miniature tri-colours and stars and stripes were vigorously waved by the crowd as President Biden arrived on stage after being introduced first by Cathaoirleach of Ballina Municipal District, Cllr Mark Duffy and then by Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.

President Biden spoke of how this was the third trip he has made to Ballina and every time he arrived it felt like it was coming home.

Over the years, stories of this place have become part of my soul, part of my family love, while adding that he grew up in a home with a 'fierce pride in our Irish ancestry'.

A pride that spoke to both the history that binds us but more importantly the values that unite us.

To this day I can still remember hearing my dad say at the dinner table, 'Joey, everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect', I can still hear my mom tell me, 'Joey, no nobody is better than you but everyone is your equal'.

Before departing Ballina for his return to Washington DC and concluding his successful Irish visit, President Biden had one final message for the people of Mayo. Mayo for Sam, was his final rallying cry to the delight of the adoring masses.
NOTES OF MAYO Multiinstrumentalist Emer Mayock joins fellow female uillean pipers on Mn na bPiob Uilleann: Volume 1.





Ciara Moynihan

Traditional musician Emer Mayock from Ross West, Castlebar, has contributed recordings to the first-ever volume of female uilleann pipers. Na Piobairi Uilleann, the leading uilleann pipes organisation in Ireland, is launching the highly anticipated album  Mn na bPiob Uilleann: Volume 1  on Wednesday, April 19, in the Mansion House, Dublin.

This unique recording is the culmination of from many years of actively promoting and encouraging women and girls to play the pipes. Music has always run deep in the Mayock family, however, and Emer began to play traditional music during her childhood on a range of instruments including the flute, low whistles, fiddle and uilleann pipes.

For her part on the new CD, Mayock has focused on the music of her native Co Mayo for this recording, including performances of music from a manuscript collection compiled near Crossmolina by farmer and fiddle player Philip Carolan (c.1839-1910), a reel associated with Piper Caulfield of Liscat, Aghamore, and tunes sources from Mayo fiddle-player Delia Henry of Killaturley, Swinford.

Mayock is the founder and artistic director of Music of Mayo, which explores the rich traditional musical heritage of the county, past and present and creates a resource in which the music and song of Mayo can be further researched, shared and celebrated.

She has also cast her net beyond the countys borders. In 2014, she received a prestigious TG4 Gradam Comharcheoil award to celebrate her collaboration with Mick OBrien (uilleann pipes) and Aoife Ni Bhriain (fiddle), which led to the recording of the CD Tunes from the Goodman Manuscripts  an exploration of the music collected by Canon James Goodman in his native Munster in the 1860s.

For more on Music of Mayo, see www.musicofmayo.ie. Mn na bPiob Uilleann: Volume 1 will be available from pipers.ie after the launch.
PULLING TOGETHER FOR BOOKS Brid Conroy (front, third from left) with other booksellers in Prague, during a recent conference.



Local book shop a talking shop too





Book Talk

Brid Conroy

Bookshops all over the world are steadfast in their determination to promote the power of books. Recently I attended the first ever International Conference for Booksellers in Prague hosted by RISE Bookselling, an initiative supported by the EIBF (European and International Booksellers Federation), which represents over 25,000 members. Inspirational authors and speakers shared their stories with booksellers from 25 countries.

One speaker in particular wowed us all, Hannah Gold, a childrens author. With her debut book The Last Bear (HarperCollins), she won the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize in 2022. She tours schools encouraging children to write themselves, to read, to express themselves through the written word, to take joy in stories and in their imaginations.

Manys a grey day down at Westports Quay, business is slack and Im questioning my sanity, when over the counter a little head might pop and a book is slid through the (Covid) porthole with a huge smile, excited at what lies beneath the cover. I too smile, a smile that goes straight to the soul. Books are magic for children, and bookshops all over the world, share a vision of keeping this magic alive in any way we can.

Tereza Parizkov, whom I have had to joy to meet as part of the RISE Bookselling programme, is a childrens author as well as the owner of a childrens bookshop called Zlat velryba, just outside Prague. At the conference, she was rushing back to hold her weekly evening writing class for children. Tereza is inspired to write childrens stories but wants to support children in finding their own inspiration. At Tertulia, we too aim to support and encourage children in literary endeavours.

Bookclubs for young readers

Last year, we started some childrens bookclubs for ages 8-12 years and ages 13-15. They have been so successful that this year we have had to host additional dates. We choose a book for discussion at each club, but we also create stories through fun games on the day and encourage discussion and sharing.

We are so lucky to have Roisin Kelliher, teacher and literary graduate, who plans and hosts our club. However, this month I had to step in at the last minute and take the reins. What a joy. With the 8-12 year olds, we read Wolf Brother, by Michelle Paver (Orion Childrens Group) and with the 13-15 year olds, we read Hope Against Hope, by Sheena Wilkinson (Little Island). A joy, yes, but no piece of cake. I was kept on my toes indeed.

Wolf Brother tells the story of an ancient fantastical time of nomadic clans. One man and his child are living outside of the clans and are attacked by a demon bear. A major adventure in pursuit of the bear ensues. There are highs and lows in the story, and some bits are a little scary. There are many interesting characters and many twists and turns to discuss. We talked about the plot. Did they like it? Was it believable, for example? What time was it set in? Could we live like that today?

Hope Against Hope is set in Northern Ireland in 1921, when the hard border has just split the island. The main character runs away to Belfast and ends up in a hostel for women called Helens Hope, which aims to give women a degree of independence but also to bring Protestants and Catholics together in a community that is being split down the middle.

Again, our group considered questions. Were the characters believable? Did it tell the story accurately of what was happening in Ireland at that time? Did we like the characters? Are some of the issues still relevant today? What more would you have liked in the story?

As in all bookclubs, some liked the books more than others, but most importantly, all had an opinion and an opportunity to think about what they liked and didnt like.

Watch this space for other childrens events and competitions, sponsored by Tertulia, and please spread the word about our book clubs too.

Brid Conroy and her husband Neil Paul run Tertulia  A Bookshop Like No Other at The Quay, Westport.
Edwin McGreal

Could there be a modern day Lord Mayo in our midst?

The debate surrounding the title Viscount Mayo remains unresolved to this day, according to information discovered by author Anne Chambers for her new biography, Lord Mayo, released this month.





Focusing on the first Lord Mayo, Tibbott-ne-Long Bourke, son of the Pirate Queen, Grainne Uaile, Chambers explores the fascinating title controversy that erupted over 130 years after Tibbotts death in 1629. It is an engaging tale of claims, counter-claims, religious differences and long legal battles.

It all started with the death of John Bourke, the eighth Viscount Mayo in 1767. As he had no sons, a battle began for the title, and David Bourke, a Catholic freeholder from Asgalan (modern day Askillaun, outside Louisburgh) in the Barony of Murrisk, won out.

David Bourke made his claim on the basis of being the next male heir in direct descent from Richard Bourke, fourth and youngest son of Tibbott-ne-Long, the first Viscount Mayo and son of Grainne Uaile (Lord being the way viscounts are addressed).

David Bourkes claim was supported by sworn depositions from numerous people who knew him as well as those from relations and friends of the last Viscount, which I discovered in a long-forgotten file in the Genealogical Office in Dublin, explained Anne Chambers.

However, his claim was opposed by the 8th Viscounts son-in-law, Edmund Lambert, on the grounds that Tibbott-ne-Long Bourke, the first Viscount Mayo, had just three sons. Anne Chambers said her research discovered this was not the case.

From my research among contemporary records of the period, including the official notice registered at Athlone Castle of the death of the first Viscount Mayo in 1629, it was clear that Richard Bourke was the youngest son of the first Viscount and David Bourke his surviving legal descendant.

Because of David Bourkes perceived unsuitability by the government of the day, by virtue of his background, education and religion and despite the extensive evidence supporting his claim, in 1780 the Viscount Mayo title was deemed extinct in the male line by the authorities. David Bourke died without a male heir in Dublin in 1790 while pursuing his claim to the title through the courts, she added.

Anne Chambers hopes a modern-day claimant to the title may exist.

Miles and Stephen Bourke, also direct descendants of Richard Bourke, the fourth son of Tibbott-ne-Long, first Viscount Mayo, were living in the Aughagower area into the early decades of the 19th century. The Famine has made tracing that lineage difficult.

However, perhaps a contemporary Bourke  and there are plenty of them in Mayo today  might be able to trace their roots back to Tibbott-ne-Long Bourke and lay claim to the title Viscount Mayo.

Machiavellian time

In the course of her decades-long research into Lord Mayo, Anne Chambers got exclusive access to the vault at Westport House in the 1980s, which shed new light on the story.

She first brought out a biography on Tibbott-ne-Long Bourke, entitled Shadowlord, in 2007. Lord Mayo, published by Mayo Books Press, is a new edition with a considerable amount of updated information.

Chambers describes Tibbott-ne-Long Bourke as one of the forgotten major characters in Irish history.

He is forgotten because he didnt conform to what later generations of Irish historians set out to make as heroes. The fact that he actually managed to become the largest landowner in Mayo at the time of his death in 1629 I think really shows what a Machiavellian mind he was and he was up against very much a Machiavellian time.

With cunning and determination he outmanoeuvred his many competitors, both Irish and English, in an all-consuming passion to survive and prosper in the complex struggle for power and control then obtaining as the Gaelic world of his ancestors collapsed before the English onslaught.

There was a raw honesty about him that I found fascinating and that he maintained the loyalty of his followers here in Mayo, acting as a buffer between them and the advancing English planters, right to the end of his life, says a lot about him, said Chambers.

Lord Mayo  Tibbott-ne-Long Bourke, Son of the Pirate Queen, 1567-1629 is published by Mayo Books Press and is available in local stockists and online at mayobooks.ie.
AN Independent councillor has warned that the Government need to get tough on crime or face the prospect of Sinn Fein being the party of law and order.

Westport-based councillor Christy Hyland made the comments at a recent Mayo Joint Policing Committee meeting after hearing that in the last three years 9.3 percent of crime was committed by people while on bail.

The statistics were revealed by Chief Superintendent Ray McMahon who explained that while the numbers come with a health warning approximately 678 people in Mayo committed a crime while on bail over the last three years. He said that 8 percent of those were for burglary offences while 15 percent were for public order offences.

Cllr Hyland, who is the JPC chair of the sub committee on crime, called for a referendum on bail saying that career criminals are playing the system.

Countrywide a large number of crimes are being committed by people on bail and we need a referendum again on bail. I know some amendments were made but what is going on is career criminals are refused bail in the district court but they are going into the High Court and get bail. The career criminals are playing the system and coming out of court with bail and giving the finger to the victims of crimes, he said.

A retired garda, Cllr Hyland claimed the country was soft on crime and cited the recent court case where a man was given a four-and-a-half year sentence for his involvement in an assault on a girl in Dublin who lost her eye as an example of this.

He called on the Government TDs in the county to put pressure on the Minister of Justice and Garda Commissioner to do more to convince the public that crime will be not be tolerated.

We have got a soft touch on crime in this country. I would tell our Oireachtas members to get in there and discuss this with the Minister of Justice. Are we going to wait for Sinn Fein to be the new party of law and order? Fine Gael and Fianna Fail were always the parties of law and order, he added.
John Bradley

The violence that erupted in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s had been building up for decades. The heavy-handed treatment by the RUC of the early civil rights protests escalated into what was, effectively, a civil war that endured for three decades until brought to an end by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

The agreement negotiators designed power-sharing arrangements within which conflicting parties could work together with safeguards to protect each side from oppressive majoritarian rule. The primary aim was to end violent conflict by addressing grievances at least to the extent where all parties agreed to share governance. In this respect, the agreement was a stunning success, and its 25th anniversary is currently being celebrated for ending violence that destroyed so many lives.

Trust contaminated

In the aftermath of a civil war, economic policies play a crucial role in establishing the trust that is essential for recovery. The Good Friday Agreement brought an end to nearly all inter-communal violence, and the different communities within Northern Ireland arrived at formalised ways of living and ruling together. However, what remained unsettled was the level of inter-community trust, both within the Power-Sharing Administration (when it functioned) and within communities.

But the Good Friday Agreement also concerned the relationship between the two parts of our island, and post-agreement cross-border institutions were simply not up to the job of repairing the damage of decades of separation and distorted development.

Civil wars are difficult kinds of conflicts to bring to an end. Unlike wars between nation states, the victor or occupier does not pack his bags and leave. The legacy of mistrust left after a civil war does not depart with the victors forces. It hangs in the air and contaminates everything. Lack of trust delays or prevents economic recovery.

Stalled economic recovery promotes further distrust, challenges the often fragile post-war institutions, and risks creating circumstances where peace may not endure.

WWII lessons

However, maybe we can learn something from the wars between European nation states. The ending of the First World War was badly handled, and the vindictive terms set by the Treaty of Versailles led inexorably  as the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted in his 1919 book The Economic Consequences of the Peace  to the second great European war exactly 20 years later.

These lessons were learned, and in the aftermath of World War II, the western Allies tried to create conditions where European states could live in peace and prosperity. US-financed Marshall Aid served to kick start devastated European economies. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) put the European strategic industries necessary for war preparations into the hands of shared institutions. And the evolution of todays European Union was initiated by the Treaty of Rome in 1956.

The decades following the Good Friday Agreement were characterised by excessive optimism on the part of Northern policymakers, who believed that the ravages of three decades of violence and the destruction of much of Northern businesses could be repaired quickly.

There was much talk of a peace dividend. Investment would flow in. The underlying entrepreneurial culture of Northern Ireland would bounce back. Generous re-construction finance would be forthcoming from the UK treasury, from Europe and from America.



However, the reality was that, as a result of decades of violence, the Northern economy had become utterly dependent on the public sector, and even the business sector had become addicted to subsidies and grants.

Some inward investment did arrive, but foreign investors took a more jaundiced view of conditions in Northern Ireland, where the increasing polarisation of communities into separate areas caused serious difficulties for the operation of the labour market.

Proactive development

Nor was there much effective interest from Northern policymakers in understanding how peace was affecting different sub-regions of Northern Ireland in very different ways.

In the fraught negotiations that led to the agreement, there was unlikely to be any Irish equivalent of the ECSC, EEC or EU. There was never going to be any meeting of minds between the two development agencies on the island. There was never going to be any co-ordinated planning of island infrastructure, although some piece-meal co-operation did take place.

And the irony is that the nature of the Power Sharing Executive in Northern Ireland made it more difficult, and not less difficult, to achieve this kind of dynamic re-thinking of how the North fitted into the economies of these islands at a time when the other regions of the Britain were beginning to carve out new strategic postures.

There needs to be a radical re-think about why we need pro-active and dynamic cross-border institutions. At the time when the Good Friday Agreement was being negotiated, the role for these bodies was regarded as symbolic. But the time for symbolism is surely over. We now need reality. In a post-Brexit era, we need our own version of a European Coal and Steel Community.

John Bradley is a former ESRI professor and has published on the island economy of Ireland, EU development policy, industrial strategy and economic modelling.
Hong Kong: FS calls on central ministries

Financial Secretary Paul Chan today continued his tour of Beijing where he called on officials from various central ministries.

Mr Chan first visited the Office of the Central Commission for Financial & Economic Affairs and met Deputy Director Liao Min to exchange views on the economic and financial development of the country and Hong Kong.

He pointed out that Hong Kong is creating a strong impetus of growth and strengthening the synergy and co-operation among sister cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, so that Hong Kong can contribute to the high-quality development of the country.

He added that Hong Kong's financial market has been developing in a safe and orderly manner amid the fluctuating external environment of the past three years.

Later in the afternoon, Mr Chan met People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang and discussed matters that include supporting the development and mutual access between Mainland and Hong Kong financial markets, deepening the development of an offshore renminbi hub and strengthening co-operation on green and sustainable finance.

During a meeting with Vice Minister of Finance Wang Dongwei, Mr Chan thanked the ministry for continuing to issue Renminbi Sovereign Bonds in Hong Kong and supporting the development of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

Additionally, he pointed out that Hong Kong actively aligns with the national development strategies in the hope of taking advantage of its role as a top international fundraising platform and supporting the prudent promotion of the internationalisation of the renminbi.

Both parties also exchanged views on issues comprising strengthening audit oversight co-operation and international tax co-operation.

The Financial Secretary then visited the Ministry of Commerce and met its vice minister Guo Tingting. He stressed that to align with national development strategies, Hong Kong is making every effort to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as expanding its free trade network, so as to contribute to regional economic co-operation and development.

He emphasised that Hong Kong will fully leverage its role as an international financial centre and a high-level professional services platform, to contribute to the high-quality development of the Belt & Road Initiative.

The finance chief also delivered a speech at Peking Universitys Guanghua School of Management in the evening.

This story has been published on: 2023-04-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The topic "Zibo barbecue" on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, was played 4.96 billion times by Monday since the city of Zibo in east China stormed the Internet for over a month.

In March, the small city with a population of 4.7 million saw 4.8 million tourists flown in. The hype continued, Zibo topped the train ticket search chart on the 14 and 15 this month, Meituan data showed, with Beijing to Zibo train tickets for May 1, the first day of the five-day Labor Day holiday, sold out in a minute.

Zibo is certainly not the only city in China that offers barbecue, or even the most famous one, but its seemingly sudden fame was steps in the making.

Zhou Maosong, president of the Zibo Tourism Promotion Association, tracked the timeline of this round of the city's barbecue popularity.

Zhou said that it originated from the crowd-gathering effect of cultural and tourism activities including a music festival, then celebrities tasted the barbecue and put their experiences online attracting young people and eventually leading to a wave of students from surrounding cities visiting Zibo.

On top of the star effect, Zibo plays to its advantage of low living costs. What better way to lure adventurous, hungry and poor college students other than "tasty barbecue that makes you full within 50 yuan!"

The city government swiftly smelled the business opportunity and introduced a host of measures in supporting the barbecue sector, Zhou added.

It distributed 250,000 yuan in barbecue coupons and designed barbecue-themed one-day and two-day tour routes for tourists. Free barbecue maps and 21 shuttle buses are also being offered, moreover, a barbecue festival was scheduled during the Labor Day holiday.

Live up to the fame

Zibo did not fall into the trap of easy fame that dies fast where merchants cheat customers on price and quality for a maximum profit in the shortest time.

A blogger with close to 18 million fans on Douyin took an electronic scale to 10 barbecue stalls in Zibo to test if he will be offered less than labeled. To his surprise, not a single one was caught short of weight and some stall owners even offered him specialties free of charge. Local people's sincerity and hospitality touched even more people online and again lifted the city's popularity.

Apart from going for the gourmet, tourists also went to scenic spots and historical sites in the city during their stay, Meituan data showed.

The arrival of tourists has boosted Zibo's economy and created more employment opportunities. According to the Tianyancha, a business data provider, there are over 3,000 barbecue-related companies in Zibo, and more than 170 new companies were launched this month by the 16th on top of 197 new ones in March.

The employment demand for the barbecue sector raises and the city's employment office has arranged recruitment activities to help fill in the vacancies.

China has set the GDP growth target at around 5 percent for this year. Authorities around the country are finding ways to boost growth. Zibo has offered a success story of a collective effort from merchants and the government in boosting consumption. Governments in other parts of the country are watching and optimizing their ways of supporting local businesses.

source: CGTN by Huo Li
Healthcare Consulting Services Market Information by Type of Services(IT Consulting, Digital Consulting, Financial Consulting, Operations Consulting, and Strategy Consulting), Application (Operations Management, Financial, Population Health, and Clinical), End User (Hospitals & Clinics, Life Science Companies, Government Organizations), and Region(Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa)- Forecast till 2030

Healthcare consulting services market size was valued at USD 15.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow from USD 17.86 Billion in 2022 to USD 40.44 billion by 2030, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.38% during the forecast period (2022  2030).

The healthcare consulting services market provides a range of consulting services to healthcare organizations, including hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers. These services can include strategy and operations consulting, regulatory compliance, financial management, and technology consulting. The healthcare consulting services market has been growing rapidly in recent years due to the increasing complexity of the healthcare industry and the growing demand for high-quality, cost-effective healthcare services.

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The market is highly competitive, with numerous companies offering a wide range of services. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the healthcare consulting services market. The pandemic has highlighted the need for healthcare organizations to adapt rapidly to changing circumstances, leading to an increased demand for consulting services related to crisis management, supply chain management, and healthcare workforce management. The pandemic has also led to a growing demand for digital health solutions, which has driven the growth of consulting services related to technology and innovation.

Healthcare Consulting Services Market Segmentation

The Global Healthcare Consulting Services market has been segmented into type, application, and End-user

Based on the type, the market has been segmented into IT Consulting, Digital Consulting, Financial Consulting, Operations Consulting, and Strategy Consulting

Based on the application, the market has been segmented into Operations Management, Financial, Population Health, and Clinical.

Based on the End-user, the market has been segmented into Hospitals & Clinics, Life Science Companies, Government Organizations

Healthcare Consulting Services Market Key Players

Some of the key market players are

Accenture Consulting

McKinsey and Company

Cognizant

Deloitte Consulting

Ernst and Young

Bain and Company.

Healthcare Consulting Services Market Regional Analysis

The North American market is the largest for healthcare consulting services, with the United States being the biggest contributor. Factors such as a well-established healthcare industry, increasing demand for healthcare services, and growing healthcare expenditure are driving growth in this region.

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The European market is growing steadily, with countries like Germany, France, and the UK being major contributors. The market is driven by factors such as growing demand for healthcare services, increasing healthcare expenditure, and a focus on improving healthcare outcomes.

The Asia-Pacific market is growing rapidly, with countries such as China, Japan, and India being major contributors. The market is driven by factors such as a large population, increasing healthcare expenditure, and growing demand for healthcare services.

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Healthcare Big Data Analytics Market Research Report Information By Type (Descriptive Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Prescriptive Analytics, and Others), By Product (Hardware, Software, and Service), By Application (Financial Analytics, Clinical Analytics, Operational, Administrative Analytics, Population Health Analytics, and Others), By Mode of Delivery (On-Premise Model, and Cloud-Based Model), And By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, And Rest Of The World)  Market Forecast Till 2030

Digital Health Market Research Report Information By Technology (Digital Health Systems, Telehealthcare, mHealth and Healthcare Analytics), Application (Cardiology, Diabetes, Neurology, Sleep Apnea, Oncology and others), Delivery Mode (On-Premise and Cloud-Based), Components (Software, Services and Hardware), End User (Healthcare Providers, Healthcare Payers, Pharmaceutical Companies), And By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, And Rest Of The World)  Forecast Till 2030

Healthcare IT Market Research Report: By Products and Services (Healthcare Provider Solutions, Healthcare Payer Solutions), By Component (Services, Software), By End-User (Healthcare Providers, Healthcare Payers, Research Centers), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, And Rest Of The World)  Market Forecast Till 2030

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by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, April 19, 2023

There's not much more I can say about Fox News Channel's $787.5 million libel suit settlement with Dominion Voting Systems that you haven't already read by now, so I figured I'd just put it into a simple eye chart for the media math wonks among us to put it in explicitly visual terms.

Dividing that settlement by the 744 lies about the 2020 election results Fox News Channel ran in the two-week period following the election -- according to a Media Matters analysis -- yields an average of about $1 million-per-lie.

Whether the settlement actually deters Fox News from broadcasting more lies in the future is anybody's guess, but mine is -- I guess not.

That said, the company's finance and legal departments -- as well as its shareholders -- at least have a baseline CPL to work from.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, April 20, 2023

Google on Thursday said it will merge DeepMind and the Brain team from Google Research -- its two primary artificial intelligence (AI) research units -- to become one.

The unit is called Google DeepMind.

By creating Google DeepMind, I believe we can get to that future faster, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told employees, and later posted the news to the company's blog. Building ever more capable and general AI, safely and responsibly, demands that we solve some of the hardest scientific and engineering challenges of our time.

To accomplish those goals, he wrote, the company must work with greater speed, stronger collaboration and execution, and to simplify the way decisions are made.

Hassabis -- co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, which Google acquired for about $500 million in 2014 -- will lead the newly formed unit. Jeff Dean, the previous head of Google Research overseeing the Google Brain team, moves to a new role as chief scientist.

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The company also will create a new Scientific Board for Google DeepMind to oversee research progress and direction of the unit, which will be led by Koray Kavukcuoglu, the director of research at DeepMind, and will have representatives from across the organization. The final decision on board members will be made in the coming days.
The Beatrice Public Library is currently hosting the Association of Nebraska Arts Clubs traveling art exhibit.

The display will be open to the public until May 8.

The association is a unique type of group with no other states having this type of organization. Established in 1965, the group is comprised of art guilds throughout Nebraska with about 35 clubs and 500 individual members.

Each year the club hosts a traveling show of approximately 25 pieces of different mediums that were chosen from the summer conference the prior year.

The Beatrice Art Guild will be having their judged show on Friday from 3-7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Court Street Plaza Building at the intersection of sixth and Court.

Member Erna Beach says that there is a formula that determines how many of the winning pieces from local shows are taken to the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs conference in June.

Wendy Bonge will be the judge for the Beatrice Art Guild Spring Art Show. She will also be doing a workshop on colored pencils for members of the Art Guild on Saturday.

The spring show will include pieces from approximately 15 members of the guild of all different types of work but is open to any artist that would like to be available. The art would need to have been completed in the prior two years.

Beach plans to bring wood carvings.

Member Teresa Burt plans to bring pieces she has done in oils and acrylics.

I have pieces all over the living room and trying to decide what to bring, she said.

The Art Guild members are encouraging people to come to the show to view the art this weekend.

Its amazing the quality of artwork that is here in Beatrice, Beach said.

Bonge will choose approximately 10 pieces that will go to the summer ANAC conference in Columbus.

Beach noted that the summer conference also includes several workshops by professional artists.

It gives an artist a chance to try a new medium, she said. For example, I plan to go to the workshop on plasma cutting. I know I cant afford a plasma cutter, but I can go and learn the fundamentals.

The Art Guild also plans to do two workshops during the summer in Beatrice as a result of a grant they received from the Hevelone Foundation. The dates have not been scheduled, but information is available on the Facebook page. Interested people can also call Erna Beach at 402-228-2711 for more information on the Beatrice Art Guild.
Guitarist Philip Sayce returns to the UK for a six-date tour in November 2023. With a new album due this year to be released on Atomic Gemini, Sayces own label and a new single will be out in May, both are highly anticipated, given that his seventh album Spirit Rising, which Warner Music released during the pandemic, currently has over 11 million streams on Spotify.

I am beyond excited to return to the UK, Sayce says. Its been a long time coming, and it is a privilege to return to the country where I was born to perform. I cannot wait to reconnect with the UK audiences, who are always so gracious, supportive, and welcoming. We are going to light it up with everything weve got. Are you ready? Philip Sayce  November 2023 UK Tour

Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Sayce is the protege of guitar legend Jeff Healey and GRAMMY and Academy Award-winning superstar Melissa Etheridge. Born in Wales, raised in Toronto, Canada, and now an American citizen, Philips love of the guitar started at a young age when his parents introduced him to the greats early on, notably Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, Jeff Healey, and Jeff Beck.

The band consisting of Philip Sayce (vocals, guitar), Sam Bolle (bass), and Bryan Head (drums) will be performing featured music from Sayces rich catalogue, including 5:55 (Spirit Rising), Alchemy (Peace Machine), and Aberystwyth (Steamroller) which was produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer, Dave Cobb.

Sayce comes with full rock star backing. Players come along and challenge what you thought was possible, Joe Satriani said. Philip Sayce  I dont think Ive ever heard someone go that crazy in that direction for a long time.

At a GRAMMY event, Jon Bon Jovi told the audience, I want to give a special nod to Philip, who I immediately opened the program and said, Who the fuck is that guitar player? Pretty fabulous, Philip.

Sayces heralded performances at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada, the Dallas International Guitar Festival in Texas, and a devastating house-shaking appearance at Eric Claptons Crossroads Festival in New York City have left audiences stunned and amazed.

Special guest for the November tour is the excellent Troy Redfern.
D. OIKONOMOU: Here we are and wed like to welcome the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nikos Dendias. Minister, welcome.

N. DENDIAS: Good morning to you both.

D. OIKONOMOU: It's been so long since we last saw you in the studio.

N. DENDIAS: Yes, its been some years. I was trying to remember how many years its been since I was on a show. But, with the elections approaching, it's important to get some things said.

A. PAVLOPOULOS: It's a good thing anyway that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is not in the TV studios, but rather on his missions.

D. OIKONOMOU: Minister, before we get into the serious topics, I was really wondering how many days you spend away from Greece each month.

N. DENDIAS: About four days a week.

D. OIKONOMOU: Four days a week?

A. PAVLOPOULOS: So, youre only coming back to Athens to change your suitcase.

N. Dendias: Well, yes, and to receive instructions, as well as to give updates.

D. OIKONOMOU: Manolis Kostidis is also with us and weve heard that you will go there, as well, Minister.

M. KOSTIDIS: Good morning, Minister.

N. DENDIAS: Good morning, Mr. Kostidis.

D. OIKONOMOU: You will meet anyway, wont you? When? On Good Friday?

N. DENDIAS: Yes, indeed.

M. KOSTIDIS: We'll meet somewhere, I think.

N. DENDIAS: I certainly hope so.

D. OIKONOMOU: Is it in Gokceada (Imbros)?

N. DENDIAS: In Gokceada (Imbros). Im sure Mr. Kostidis told you that the Ecumenical Patriarch visits Gokceada (Imbros), every 10 years, and this time Id like us to be together at the Epitaph Procession.

Also, Gokceada (Imbros), is a case, "worthy of study", because you know that the Hellenism of Gokceada (Imbros), has doubled. It does not follow the corresponding shrinkage pattern in Turkiye.

There were 300 people. At the moment, there are almost 600 people. There is a school with almost 60 children.

D. OIKONOMOU: The Patriarch has put a lot of effort into it.

N. DENDIAS: So, its very important to encourage it and Id like to state, because I want to be absolutely honest about it, that we had unwavering facilitation on the part of the Turkish authorities with regards to my trip to Gokceada (Imbros). Unwavering facilitation, indeed.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Greater than other times?

N. DENDIAS: I haven't been to Gokceada (Imbros), before, so I cant compare, but I saw how overall Turkiye wanted to support rather than hinder my trip.

I understand you know, its not difficult.

D. OIKONOMOU: You're putting us right on the next page, Minister. A page weve just turned. We were discussing that earlier with Manolis, about Antakya I mean. It's two months after those disasters there.

You went there from the very first moment. Since then, everything has changed for Turkiye and its internal affairs, but apparently also for many aspects of its foreign policy. At least it seems that way. We don't know how long it will last; we don't know what this page is.

However, we seem to be writing a new chapter with Turkiye, Minister, don't we?

N. DENDIAS: We ought to be optimistic, but also cautious and not naive. The same applies to Turkiye. Turkiye is evidently not naive. Nor is it dismissive of its long-term interests.

However, I remain optimistic, not just because of the natural disaster and our own behavior, which in any case has neither claimed nor is claiming anything in return.

I completely separate the humanitarian and the geopolitical aspects. It is our duty to stand by our fellow human beings. But aside from that, I always have the feeling that Turkiye's long-term interests are converging with Greece's long-term interests.

If the Turkish leadership has come to the same conclusion at this juncture, that would be very encouraging.

D. OIKONOMOU: Do you find this attitude convincing, Minister? You have a lot of experience, you know everyone now, and you have friendly relations with many officials. Are you convinced by this attitude?

N. DENDIAS: I believe, first of all, that this is in Turkiye's long-term interest. I believe that this attitude, more than the previous one, serves the interests of Turkish society, and of the Turkish state.

But everything will be proven from there on. When is that? Immediately after the elections in both countries. If this climate persists and grows better, then

M. KOSTIDIS: Can I ask a question? I apologize for interrupting but I'm not in the studio. You have Mevlut Cavusoglu in front of you, who indeed in the past years, kept calling you my friend, my friend Mr. Dendias, but we all know what has happened in Turkiye's both foreign and defense policy and its threats.

Now he is telling you some things. Do you trust him?

N. DENDIAS: Yes, that's exactly what I was told previously. At the present juncture, I believe it is possible, not certain though, that Turkiye has a clearer view of its geopolitical interests. But aside from that, all this will be seen after the elections.

Greece is not abandoning its foreign policy firm positions; we have always made sailing in calm waters and the absence of threats a prerequisite for dialogue, and that is what is happening today. On the other hand, our foreign policy principles are well known: International Law, International Law of the Sea; we have never hidden them, and we have never changed them.

D. OIKONOMOU: What are we discussing, Minister? Wait a minute, because were hearing information, rumors, one way or another, that we and the Turks are under pressure from other powers to sit down at the table and find a solution to some issues, that Greece should add some water in its wine, that Turkiye should differentiate its position on some issues. Is there such an issue? Are we really under pressure or will we sit at the table if we want to?

N. DENDIAS: During my tenure, and I can only speak about this, there was no such phenomenon.

. PAVLOPOULOS: No pressure at all?

N. DENDIAS: There was no such phenomenon and I will tell you why. Nobody could tell you anything because of the nature and the tone of the threat. I do not wish to recall them because I'm going to bring back a climate

. PAVLOPOULOS: But they are very recent, they are very fresh and we all remember them.

N. DENDIAS: We all remember them. In this context, what should the Americans come to tell you or the Germans or the British?

. PAVLOPOULOS: But at this point, Minister, suspicion is growing precisely because it is very fresh.

N. DENDIAS: Thats right.

. PAVLOPOULOS: That is, the skepticism. Because until just before the earthquake, we had the long-range missiles, the maps, and the war game; they played war every day, the Turkish Tyfun that was heading to Greece, and all of that changed radically after the earthquake and Greece's instant reaction.

N. DENDIAS: The fact is that since that visit to Antakya, that tragic visit -I have never seen anything worse in my life, I must tell you- everything has indeed changed. Not only are there no violations or overflights in the Aegean, on the part of Turkiye, but theres also no longer flying activity at all.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Is that a sign of goodwill?

N. DENDIAS: Obviously.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Or is it because they realized that all this was going nowhere, so they decided to change course?

N. DENDIAS: Maybe both. There is no possibility whatsoever that this decision was made at a lower level than the Turkish leadership; this is a resolutely top-down initiative.

Aside from that, if I may say, what is Greece's obligation? In response to this behavior, it should demonstrate that it understands it and is ready to engage in an honest discussion.

. PAVLOPOULOS: But to what kind of discussion? Do you know why I am asking you? As a point of reference, consider Mr. Erdogan's confidant, Mr. Kalin, who, the day before yesterday...

N. DENDIAS: I know Mr. Kalin.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Yes, of course. So, he said, lets engage in a bilateral level, without the presence of third parties, such as the European Union and Washington, etc., so as to discuss and see where that can lead us.

But what are we going to discuss?

N. DENDIAS: There are firm principles.

D. OIKONOMOU: Sorry, Minister, to add to that, Mr. Kalin said that this conversation had started earlier. Let us call it a moratorium. Did it actually exist before the earthquakes? Was there something before them? Was it the Kalin-Boura meeting? Was it something else? Had you discussed something?

N. DENDIAS: No. There was an attempt, let us say, to somehow establish an understanding for the pre-election period.

D. OIKONOMOU: Just for this period.

N. DENDIAS: Because you recall the enormous anxiety, I assume there was similar anxiety in Turkiye, namely about what might occur during the elections.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Whether there would be a war incident.

N. DENDIAS: Imagine there was a discussion about not having a caretaker minister because something might happen. At its core, that was a tragic discussion, if you consider it.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Just a minute. Were we truly considering a war incident at the time?

N. DENDIAS: Considering there were violations, and overflights in heaps on a daily basis, wasnt there a possibility of an accident? Not in the sense that Turkiye would decide in the middle of the election period to attack Greece. For God's sake.

D. OIKONOMOU: As an accident, you mean.

N. DENDIAS: Yes, an accident.

D. OIKONOMOU: Did you discuss this with the Turks?

N. DENDIAS: Obviously. An accident during the election period, which we don't even comprehend, can infiltrate the public discourse and lead to anything.

D. OIKONOMOU: Did you contribute to this moratorium, Minister? And in what way?

N. DENDIAS: I don't know to what extent. First of all, I wouldn't call it a moratorium. Because the term moratorium has another connotation. Id say that theres now an informal understanding between the two sides, which may lead to an attempt to resume a serious dialogue so as to find a solution to our dispute after the elections.

D. OIKONOMOU: So, this happened before the earthquakes and evolved afterwards?

N. DENDIAS: No, it didnt happen that way and its pointless in reading too much into it. Prior to the earthquakes, there was an attempt to simply deal with the extreme situations that might occur during the pre-election period.

There was no climate conducive to a serious dialogue between Greece and Turkiye regarding our dispute. Why? Because we had set a condition. You remember that.

What was the condition? To stop the provocations. Then, that changed, without meaning of course, that Turkiye submitted to our condition. This is not what Im saying. Turkiye alone demonstrated a complete paradigm shift immediately after my visit.

Aside from that, Greece ...

D. OIKONOMOU: What does this mean for us now, Minister?

N. DENDIAS: Its simple. It is a window of opportunity.

N. DENDIAS: Of course, under our set conditions.

D. OIKONOMOU: But under what conditions? Because as Manolis will remind us, the casus belli and the blue homeland are still present on a daily basis. Are we going to enter the dialogue with these issues at the table?

N. DENDIAS: Excuse me. Greece is engaging in a dialogue with our foreign policy established principle: International law, and International Law of the Sea. That's it.

. PAVLOPOULOS: A question, please. Is there a possibility that all this de-escalation of tension, the goodwill and outreach gestures, and so on have a catch behind them? That is, to initiate a dialogue where they will present or attempt to present the claims, they have had from time to time until very recently, we reject them and they tell us that we are causing the rift, so lets turn back to the old ways.

N. DENDIAS: No, theres no possibility of that happening, that is, theres no possibility of us being charged with damage from something like that, because we have been clear from the outset about what the parameters with which we are entering the dialogue are. So, therefore, no one can put the blame on us afterwards.

And if I may, let me revert the argument. It would be a grave mistake for Greece not to extend a hand similar to the hand of friendship that Turkiye is currently extending.

D. OIKONOMOU: At what level do you feel that may happen?

N. DENDIAS: I don't speculate, I don't know what will happen; do you want me to place odds? There are few chances of success, but it's our national obligation to try and it would be a grave mistake to ignore it...

. PAVLOPOULOS: Because that's our position.

N. DENDIAS: It is exactly too grave to ignore it because if we do so from then on, any international actor would tell us: Well, what else did you expect? Weren't you telling us that you want a period of time when you are not challenged, or threatened? They hand it to you and you refuse to enter into a dialogue?

D. OIKONOMOU: But how can that be in practice? At what level? Could it be at the level of the Confidence Building Measures? Could it be at the level of Foreign Ministers? With you, if your party wins the elections and you are the Foreign Minister again?

N. DENDIAS: Its up to the Prime Minister to decide who the Minister will be; it wont be me to take this decision.

D. OIKONOMOU: I mean at what level the dialogue will take place? How do you imagine it will happen?

N. DENDIAS: I have a clear understanding of what could be improved regarding the way the exploratory talks are now being conducted. Why am I saying that? Because there have been 63 rounds of exploratory talks, actually 64 rounds, and they have led nowhere.

D. OIKONOMOU: Yes, exactly.

N. DENDIAS: If we proceed in exactly the same way in the 65th round, will the issues be resolved there? But that will have to be presented as my recommendation to the Prime Minister and it depends on the Minister who will handle it afterwards.

. PAVLOPOULOS: As the head of the Greek diplomacy, you said something that sounded particularly interesting, and obviously you mean something much more than that. Youre saying that you have in mind the next steps or the next trajectory that this entire diplomatic effort might take. Does that suggest, in your view, that we should change course after the elections and do something else in our effort

N. DENDIAS: I have some modifications to the process in my mind that, if Turkiye wishes, could possibly result in a better outcome as regards our dispute.

. PAVLOPOULOS: Compared to what is happening now?

N. DENDIAS: In relation to what has happened now.

D. OIKONOMOU: Manolis, over to you.

M KOSTIDIS: Let me ask you two small questions. The first question. What you mentioned, Mr. Dendias, applies to the current Turkish government. If the government changes, will these things continue to apply to a different government?

And a second one. Because there is a lot of talk about Cyprus and because of the two rounds of elections that we have here, if the Turkish President makes a move regarding Cyprus to attract the nationalists -and you know the scenario that is being heard- wouldnt that affect Greek-Turkish relations?



N. DENDIAS: Ill start by answering the second question and then move on to the first one. It would be desirable, and I have stated in every possible way, that there should not be any behaviour on the Turkish side in Cyprus that would cancel the excellent climate that has been created in Greek-Turkish relations.

Because let's not fool ourselves, I always state that Cyprus is not far away. And if something happens in Cyprus, it is obvious that it will also poison Greek-Turkish relations.



The second point is that Greece, like Turkiye I imagine, always talks to the legitimate government of the country. Therefore, Greece will be ready to discuss with any government that Turkish society, the Turkish people, deem to represent them.

For our part, we believe that we will win the elections, we will have a new government with the same Prime Minister. So, that government with whomever the Prime Minister chooses as Foreign Minister will be ready to discuss with the Turkish side.



D. OIKONOMOU: Our objective is to hold direct talks, Minister? Because so far, we are saying that we will refer to The Hague, since the Turks do not sit down and talk. What do we discuss?



N. DENDIAS: However, the Hague also requires understandings. In other words, we cannot agree overnight, we cannot go to The Hague within the existing framework.

There are our letters, our correct letters, I am referring to Venizelos' letter, the last one in 2015, which is a correct letter.

Therefore, within the existing framework, we need to have understandings to go to the Hague. The same applies to Albania, doesn't it?



D. OIKONOMOU: Is it the same with casus belli, Minister? Since 1995 we live with casus belli, it is an issue that creates problems in Greece.



N. DENDIAS: We have not, no government has, so far, set as a condition the lifting of the casus belli in advance. But aside from that Turkiye's behaviour, which shows that the casus belli is perhaps a past practice, was set as a necessary condition. And I believe that this condition has been met today.



A. PAVLOPOULOS: It invoked it recently, on the occasion of the extension or not of territorial waters to 12 miles.



N. DENDIAS: That was before the easing of tension. But excuse me, for three years I have been explaining everywhere that this is unacceptable. And first of all, I explained it to Turkiye itself and I stated it in Turkiye. We are not hiding. And Turkiye understands what we are saying.



So, the wording in 1995, which it would be interesting to read in its entirety at some point, namely the decision of the Turkish National Assembly, is indicative, because, in my humble opinion, the Turkish National Assembly has a sense of guilt when it formulates it, and at the end it is written "in the spirit of friendship". In other words, there is an issue in the paragraph itself, there is an inherent contradiction.



D. OIKONOMOU: Minister, you have already said, we have said, and we have been discussing the issue of territorial waters for all these years. We know that Greece retains this right, and it affirms everywhere that it will exercise it when it wishes to do so.

Is that a given for Greece? Is it 12 miles or up to 12 miles? Because we also hear such opinions.



N. DENDIAS: No, up to 12 miles is not a Greek position, it is exactly the wording of UNCLOS. UNCLOS says up to 12 miles. That's what it says.



A. PAVLOPOULOS: Does the de-escalation of tension and the apparent rapprochement, so to speak, bind us as to the timing of the decision? To put it another way, can all of this stop us from moving forward with an extension as we should?



N. DENDIAS: I believe that the extension of territorial waters is a unilateral right of Greece, which we have emphasized will be exercised when it is in the national interest. And this wording, which is the wording of the Mitsotakis government, is the same as that of all Greek governments over the years.



M. KOSTIDIS: Let's talk about domestic issues. Because you were the one who dealt with (Turkish) foreign and defence policy in the last few years, which was expressed in terms of "and one night, suddenly, we will come to the islands". And that was in the most formal way, at the highest level. Can the people on the islands sleep peacefully today? Do you believe Turkiye's policy has changed?



N. DENDIAS: Look, I believe, again, there's no point in talking about firm policy guidelines. But at the present juncture and with a narrow time horizon, until the elections, I think it's really useless to even discuss it. Turkish behaviour is such that any reference to this issue is seen as coming from a longer past than it actually does.



D. OIKONOMOU: Does the opposition, the oppositions attitude assist you in your work, Minister?



N. DENDIAS: The Greek opposition?



D. OIKONOMOU: I mean, here in Greece.



N. DENDIAS: One thing I am proud of as a Minister in the Mitsotakis Government is that we have managed to a large extent to keep foreign policy out of political dialogues toxic climate. And this is significant because, as I have already stated, Greece has always been divided on foreign policy issues since the Revolution in 1821. In 1826 Ibrahim burns the Peloponnese, and we have a civil war 50 kilometers away, English party, French party, Russian party. Recall the periods 1914-1915, 1920-1922, 1944-1949, we have always been divided on foreign policy issues. Traitors, betrayers, that has not been heard in four years.



And I would like to credit the Mitsotakis government for not allowing, through its behavior, a toxic climate in foreign policy to develop.



D. OIKONOMOU: And so, you also credit the opposition.



N. DENDISAS: Obviously, because there has been a response to a large extent. This is related to the briefing, the discussion, and the colleagues who represent the opposition parties in these briefings.



D. OIKONOMOU: And, finally to you.



N. DENDIAS: I carry out the instructions of the government.



D. OIKONOMOU: Minister, an important visit will take place in Greece tomorrow. Should we expect something? You have stated that Mr. Shoukry, the Egyptian Minister, is a friend of yours.



N. DENDIAS: Yes, he is one of my friends. You will tell me that I have a lot of friends. But, you know, having friends is important.



A. PAVLOPOULOS: And Mr. Cavusoglu, is one of your friends?



N. DENDIAS: Mr. Cavusoglu, too.



A. PAAVLOPOULOS: Is Mr. Cavusoglu, a friend of yours, with whom you maintain a personal relationship?



N. DENDIAS: Yes, Mr. Cavusoglu, is a friend of mine, and I have known him for 17 years. I have stated it in the most difficult moments. It was something he also used to say. He criticized me, but in the end, he added:"Dendias is a friend."



A PAVLOPOULOS: In the difficult moments, when you closed the door, so to speak, were you at ease to discuss with him or did you discuss at the point of 'will we make war'?



N. DENDIAS: I was at ease, and I am usually at ease calling him on his mobile phone. The difficult moment was when



A. PAVLOPOULOS: Did you reach the point where the two of you discussed the possibility of a military conflict?



N. DENDIAS: I've called him. No, now I don't tell you what, but there was a...



. PAVLOPOULOS: We talk about what happened.



N. DEMDIAS: There was a huge difficulty the moment when President Erdogan...



M. KOSTIDIS: What was the difficult moment?



N. DENDIAS: He forbade any contact.



D. OIKONOMOU: And you didn't even talk to each other?



N. DENDIAS: That was challenging. One day I'll tell you about it.



D. OIKONOMOU: So, there was no communication between the two of you?



N. DENDIAS: If I ever write a book, I'll write the story of that short period.



A. PAVLOPOUOS: You were afraid that we might enter into an escalation.



D. OIKONOMOU: How do you talk to each other? Do you address each other as Mevlut, Nikos?



N. DENDIAS: Yes, exactly. How could it be otherwise?



A. PAVLOPOUOS: Were you concerned that Erdogan's ban on contact might lead to a dangerous escalation?



N. DENDIAS: From then on, the tragedy of the situation was that if the slightest thing happened, there was no one to deal with it.



D. OIKONOMOU: There was no contact at all, huh?



N. DENDIAS: Not even the slightest

A. PAVLOPOULOS: Minister, when did this happen?

N. DENDIAS: I'm sorry, I can't tell you exactly when it occurred. It happened after the Prime Minister's speech to the Congress... That's when it occurred.

D. OIKONOMOU: That was a catalyst, Minister.

N. DENDIAS: Then I ceased to have the constant feeling that I could with one phone call, at least, deal with the random event.

D. OIKONOMOU: Minister, since you brought it up and we recalled the United States, what you see happening with the arms programmes? There's a big issue regarding Turkiye, Menendezs stance, United States stance, as well as the F-16s, the F-35s. What do you see?

N. DENDIAS: Senator Menendez is a friend of Greece, but he's primarily interested and rightly so in American interests. This is a matter between Turkiye and the United States.

Greece does not take a public position on this issue and rightly so. It has opinions. I, always state, that the United States should serve their own interests.

What are their own interests? It is that there should be no conflict in the region and that the two NATO member countries should not have...

A. PAVLOPOULOS: But Menendez from the outset has linked his opinion also to the threat against Greece. So, if after this

N. DENDIAS: Take a step further. Because he perceives that the threat to Greece is a threat to United States interests. Senator Menendez has taken an oath to the Constitution of the United States. Not to the Greek Constitution and the Greek flag. There is no need to fool ourselves. There is no need for sentimentality.

I reiterate that he is a friend of Greece. But, above all, he is an American senator.

D. OIKONOMOU: Therefore, he protects the interests of the United States. You didn't tell us, about Mr. Shoukry, whether we should expect anything else. What is the point of the visit?

N. DENDIAS: With Shoukry, or rather with Egypt, because I am not personalizing this either, we have a very good relationship. The Prime Minister has a very good relationship with President Sisi.

We have succeeded in having a strategic relationship. This is a great achievement for Greek foreign policy. Our contacts are constant, continuous, so I don't expect anything major, but rather a continuation of the convergence of views on a broader range of issues in our region.

Once again, I state, since it is relevant to the previous discussion, that Greece's understandings and strategic relations are not relations against Turkiye. They are relationships that demonstrate to Turkiye what ties it could have with us if our relations were normalized.

A. PAVLPOULOS: It is welcome.

N. DENDIAS: Of course. They are an example, not a hostile coalition.

A. PAVLOPOULOS: Regarding Turkiyes request to enter the regional energy game, and if this is dependent on, leads to, or is a pilot for de-escalation.

N. DENDIAS: Of course, it can enter, but it must recognize the Republic of Cyprus otherwise how will the energy map be read? Are we going to take Cyprus off the map and replace it by the sea?

D. OIKONOMOU: Did you also discuss this at the tripartite meeting, Minister, the day before yesterday with Cyprus and Israel?

N. DENDIAS: Energy was a major part of the discussion with my colleagues Mr. Kombos and Mr. Cohen.

D. OIKONOMOU: We don't need Manolis anymore. Minister, let us now turn to the question of arms programmes.

M. KOSTIDIS: Good morning and we'll meet with the Minister in Gokceada (Imbros).

N. DENDIAS: On Good Friday, Mr. Kostidis.

M. KOSTIDIS: We could ask him to bring us a candle, an easter bread, but well...

N. DENDIAS: No, I'll bring you anything you want, with great pleasure.

D. OIKONOMOU: He'll bring you, Manolis, we'll send you through the Minister. Good morning, I wish you well.

M. KOSTIDIS: I wish you well.

[]
The state Senate on Wednesday confirmed Gov. Greg Gianforte's pick for district court judge in north-central Montana.

The upper chamber voted 37-13 to approve the appointment of Judge Greg Bonilla to the Ninth Judicial District covering Teton, Pondera, Toole and Glacier counties. Three Democrats joined Republicans in approving the confirmation.

Bonilla comes to the bench after a 26-year career as an attorney, the last 10 working for the Montana Association of Counties.

The hearing Wednesday evening was temporarily brought to a halt when Senate President Jason Ellsworth cut into Sen. Andrea Olsen's testimony.

Olsen, D-Missoula, is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that heard from Bonilla earlier this week and grappled with the opaque process that led to his appointment. Gianforte's office assembled a local advisory panel to vet the two applicants for the district court bench, but closed its interview and discussion to the public.

That process is still freshly in contrast with one that had been in place for the last 50 years, in which the Judicial Nomination Commission conducted essentially the same function but out in the open.

The Governor's Office has contended it was legal for the advisory council to close its interview with Bonilla and the other candidate, Dan Guzynski from the Montana Department of Justice. That hasn't stopped local and state news outlets from suing the governor, alleging violation of open meeting laws.

Olsen was objecting the lack of transparency when Ellsworth repeatedly told her to keep her comments to the confirmation. After a brief rules meeting on the Senate floor with the majority and minority leaders, Olsen wrapped up her testimony with a quick line.

"I think that we as a Senate confirmation can't just rubber-stamp a judge," Olsen said during the hearing.

Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, a Great Falls Republican, stood to defend Bonilla's appointment over the process.

"I don't want to talk about the process; I want to talk about the nominee," Fitzpatrick said. "He's an outstanding lawyer  I worked with him for a year or so (and) I learned a lot from him."

Sen. Susan Webber, a Browning Democrat, raised a separate issue in dissenting from the majority Wednesday. Webber is a Blackfeet tribal member, whose reservation overlaps with Bonilla's judicial district. Bonilla conceded during the committee hearing Tuesday he had little experience with tribal jurisdiction matters.

"He should have at least some knowledge of Indian law since he will be adjudicating from within an Indian reservation," Webber told the Senate on Wednesday.

Bonilla noted during his Tuesday hearing the job does require leaning into new areas of law.

"There is a learning curve there for me," Bonilla told the committee. "Part of going to law school is you learn how to learn. In every case you get, you have to learn something, and that's what you do for a living."
A Bismarck man who authorities say took more than $2,600 from a Wells Fargo bank has pleaded guilty to a federal bank robbery charge.

Victor Velazquez, 30, faces a possible 20-year prison term and a $250,000 fine, court records show. Federal authorities also seek restitution to the bank. Hell be sentenced July 26.

Velazquez originally was charged at the state level. He pleaded guilty to bank robbery and terrorizing before the case was moved to federal court.

Police alleged that Velazquez on Jan. 6 handed a Wells Fargo teller a note that read Stay calm this is a robbery. Empty till into bag I have a gun. He then told the teller to quit stalling and that he didnt want to hurt anybody, and made a motion as if to grab a gun from inside his jacket, according to an affidavit.

Police said surveillance video from the Quality Inn just south of the north Bismarck bank -- the hotel where Velazquez worked -- shows he was wearing multiple clothing items that matched those worn by the robbery suspect. He had left work about an hour before the robbery. He was arrested later that night near his North Ninth Street home, in a car also seen in surveillance video, the affidavit said. Police used parole documents to locate his home. The affidavit does not state that police found a weapon.

Velazquez is still on probation for a 2018 Fargo jewelry store robbery. He was sentenced in January 2019 to four years in prison after pleading guilty.
LANSING  A billboard along Interstate-496 in Lansing promotes the virtues of Florida with a warped version of Michigans motto: If you seek a pleasant peninsula, move to Florida.

States attempting to poach people from other states is not unusual. But this advertisement points to the recent repeal of Michigan's right-to-work law.

The Free State of Florida protects your Right to Work, reads the billboard paid for by a conservative think tank called the James Madison Institute. It is a nonprofit organization that has ties to right-wing billionaire Charles Koch and is a member of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council.

The groups aim is to bring people to Florida, said Robert McClure, the president of the James Madison Institute. He cited Michigans declining population as a problem and that the people leaving should consider coming to Florida for the states Republican policies.

The nonprofit did the billboard to tweak Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer when she signed the repeal of the right to work law, a repeal which means employees can now be required to join a union as a condition of employment at a workplace.

Were just reminding people that Floridas a free state, and people are moving to Florida and theyre leaving states like Michigan, McClure said.

Whitmers office declined to comment.

The James Madison Institute also belongs to the State Policy Network, a Koch-funded network of conservative think tanks that the Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy also belongs to.

Jarrett Skorup, the centers vice president for marketing and communication, said he knew about the billboard before it went up. He declined to say with whom at the James Madison Institute he discussed the billboard.

Florida wasnt the only state to attempt to leverage the repeal as a recruitment tool. The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce placed a full-page advertisement in the Lansing State Journal touting the Tar Heel states low-unionization rate and that it is also a proud Right to Work state.

North Carolina has the second-lowest unionization rate in the country, with 2.8% of its workforce unionized. That state passed a right-to-work law in 1947.

In Michigan, the right-to-work repeal has been a priority of Democrats since Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed it in 2012. The bill repealing the labor law was one of six key priorities first introduced by Democrats in the current legislative session.

Gary Salamido, the president of the North Carolina Chamber, said the purpose of the ad was to let Michigan businesses know his state is open for business.

The North Carolina Chamber, Salamido said, wants to attract some of the great businesses in Michigan with his states low taxes, quality of life and beaches and mountains.

Salamido said the chamber chose to advertise in Lansing to make sure the people who are making the decisions to change policy would see it.

He is not concerned about offending workers in North Carolina or Michigan and the North Carolina Chamber has no plans for future advertisements, he said.<

While there was not a discussion between the North Carolina and Michigan Chambers of Commerce before placing the advertisement, Salamido said that there was afterward and that the two chapters have a good working relationship.

They said, We understand, and lets compete, Salamido said.

Other states viewing the repeal of Michigans right-to-work law as a marketing opportunity is unsurprising, Jim Holcomb, the president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, wrote in an email.

Frankly, we anticipate more states may start targeting Michigan and our employer, Holcomb said.

Whether right-to-work laws help economic growth has been studied for many years, but conclusive results have never been reached. Many scholars say it is hard to isolate right-to-work as a factor.

However, the American Journal of Sociology reported a study in 2020 that found after right-to-work laws are instituted, economic inequality in a state increases, as a result of decrease in wages and union power.
Four Muskegon County Sheriff's Office deputies were sentenced this week for their role in the death of inmate Paul Bulthouse in 2019.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday that deputies Jeffrey Patterson, Crystal Greve, Jamal Lane and David Vanderlaan were sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine after pleading no contest to willful neglect of duty.

"Bulthouses family remains deeply troubled by the care he received while held in the Muskegon County Jail," Nessel's office wrote in a Thursday press release. "The family has also expressed concern that the four deputies will remain in their positions with the sheriffs office."

The incident occurred on April 4, 2019, when Bulthouse, 39, died after suffering 18 seizures while being held in the Muskegon County Jail on a probation violation, according to the release. Bulthouse was arrested by Norton Shores police on March 22, 2019, and brought to jail. His health began deteriorating shortly after being booked.

"Bulthouse was on a suicide watch and was being monitored for drug and alcohol withdrawal symptoms and mental health issues," Nessel's office wrote in the release. "During the night of April 3, 2019, and the very early morning of April 4, 2019, surveillance video captured Bulthouse suffering from approximately 18 seizures while locked in his solitary cell."

The lack of response from the four deputies was also captured on the surveillance video.

Throughout the evening, Deputies Patterson, Greve, Lane and Vanderlaan can be seen "conducting quick, in-person checks into Bulthouses cell, as well as observing his cell through the closed-circuit monitor. At no point did any of the deputies attempt to ensure medical care for the prisoner," the release stated. His time of death was reportedly near 5:30 a.m.

Bulthouse was not discovered until around the time of the deputy shift change at 6 a.m., according to Nessel's office. He was found lying unclothed on the floor of his cell in a pool of his urine by a deputy who had not been assigned to the floor during Bulthouse's distress.

"This is a tragic case that only highlights the need for legislative efforts when it comes to the care and custody of those individuals who are detained or incarcerated," Nessel said in the Thursday release. "This was a horrible loss of life, that may have been avoided but for the inexcusable neglect of four deputies who serve roles of public service. We have a responsibility to increase the standards of service and care in this states corrections facilities."

Despite public statements in support of the deputies, the sheriffs office made several changes in response to the charges, according to Nessel's office. They include instituting new policies to provide for better care and custody of those held in jail. Muskegon County also changed its medical service provider for the treatment of its inmates.

The sheriff's office also moved to require all deputies to wear body cameras and microphones, including those deputies working inside the jail.

Additionally, Nessel's office will be working with the Michigan Legislature to:

Require jail correction staff to meet accreditation standards Strengthen consequences, including termination, for when jail correction staff do not meet or violate those standards Create a list of convictions that would prohibit a person from serving as jail correction staff

"I remain committed to protecting all residents of the State of Michigan, including those in the custody of law enforcement," Nessel said in the Thursday release. "Every person deserves to be treated with care and dignity, and to have the sanctity of their life valued, and we are committed to ensuring that our laws and law enforcement officials reflect the highest standards."
It's the first time Connecticut recreational cannabis users can spend April 20 smoking product purchased at retail location within the state's borders.

April 20  4/20  is a nationwide celebration of cannabis, a plant that remains illegal at the federal level, but is now legal for use and purchase in Connecticut. But, the meaning of the day varies wildly depending on who you ask.

There are multiple origin stories for the holiday ranging from a group of high school students in California who used to smoke each day at 4:20 p.m. A second explanation suggests 420 was the California police code for marijuana offenses.

Benjamin Zachs, chief operating officer of Fine Fettle, which owns several Connecticut cannabis retailers, including the state's first social equity joint venture in Manchester, said he considers 4/20 a celebration.

"There's a lot of colloquial history in it, but 4/20 has become sort of a celebration of cannabis day, I think, for those who are consumer-interested and consuming," Zachs said. "It has become a very big day in the industry.

For some Connecticut activists, the day is a chance to highlight that despite cannabis' legal status, the road is far from finished for those in prison on marijuana-related charges.

"I would explain 4/20 as a day to celebrate all the wins, but also to bring to light the things that we feel are important, which are free the people, free the plant," said Joseph Accettullo, of Hamden. "The plant has to be totally decriminalized and we have to have the social justice parts of legalization done before more people are able to profit off the planet. And that's the real message of 4/20.

Accettullo is a part of CT CannaWarriors, a group of advocates pushing for legislation that would release people who are still imprisoned on cannabis-related offenses and prioritize justice for victims of the war on drugs.

"For me, it's remembering that the plant itself has created all these miracles  that it's been oppressed, that the people who chose it and maybe not even those who only chose it, but those who needed it so badly, were persecuted and investigated, terrorized to some degree, for their use or acquisition or possession, or even sharing of that natural substance that has been so positive," said Christina Capitan, of East Windsor, leader of the CT CannaWarriors.

The CannaWarriors, along with advocates with Hartford-based BLM860 will rally at the Capitol Building on April 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a cookout afterwards. The rally is a reminder that the legalization of adult-use cannabis in Connecticut did not remedy the issues of the past, according to Ivelisse Correa, co-chair of Black Lives Matter 860.

Correa said her father was incarcerated for three years after being caught with "roaches" or burnt joints.

"The state of Connecticut locked my father up and sent him a bill," Correa said. "That's why it's important to me because I feel like state of Connecticut owes me and everyone else in the hood."

The Last Prisoner Project is a national nonprofit working to release people who are incarcerated for cannabis offenses. In Connecticut, Sarah Gersten, executive director and general counsel for the Last Prisoner Project, said it's hard to say how many offenders are still behind bars despite the legalization of cannabis.

"No one knows it right now," the West Hartford resident said. "Asked the state to get that number, and they have so far declined."

Gersten hopes this 4/20 is a chance to raise awareness to the inequalities that still exist.

"I've certainly met people in Connecticut, that truly don't know that when we legalized, we didn't release everyone," Gersten said. "We didn't drop pending targets, we didn't do a lot of the things we still need to do to repair the harms of prohibition and the war on cannabis. And so using 4/20 as an opportunity to do that is certainly really important for us as an organization and I think more and more cannabis justice champions are doing that."
MIDDLETOWN  Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim, who navigated the city through a pandemic just four months into his first term, cited unfinished work on several large, long-term projects and other initiatives as a big reason why he is seeking reelection in November.

I almost did two terms in the first one, he said jokingly Wednesday.

Florsheim, 31, won the 2019 election over challenger and former Republican Mayor Sebastian Giuliano.

This time around, he is being challenged by fellow Democrat and past Republican Common Council member Ed Ford Jr., 25, who stepped down from city leadership last August to focus on his growing family and Yale Divinity School.

Florsheim said he knew at the outset of his first campaign that the ambitious projects he hoped to accomplish with his team wouldn't be done within four years.

There was a sense going in that this was a long-term mission that we were signing up for, and we would have an election in four years that has our idea of change.  But I did have to go through a decision process, he said.

Those initiatives include redevelopment of the citys portion of the Connecticut riverfront, its largest endeavor, which last year received a $12 million infusion from the federal government, as well as canoe club renovations, Harbor Park beautification and a new parking garage.

The city has faced challenges over the last four years, Florsheim said. The mayor has learned that in many ways, challenges make us rise to our highest potential, he said.

He recalled a piece of advice he said his predecessor, former Mayor Dan Drew, gave: No matter where you are, whether youre in town or not, whether its day or night, whether its something you can do anything about or not, the buck stops with you, and you are responsible for the community," Florsheim said.

Thats a significant responsibility that I take seriously every day, he said. I have more I want to see through.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a litmus test for the community, he said. We learned a lot about ourselves in Middletown in how we responded to the pandemic in those earliest days.  We took office with a full plate to do, and then got hit by the pandemic, he said.

Opportunities for public participation in government affairs also increased by necessity during the past three years, aided by advances in technology, he said.

Hes also proud of the city incorporating a storefront into, and eliciting public feedback on, the Return to the Riverbend project, which saw some 1,200 people get involved. That was a brilliant stroke by the team," he said.

His message during the 2019 campaign was that the city needed to set higher goals, especially considering how long the riverfront project has taken to realize, as well as envisioning what the downtown could become, Florsheim said.

Already, the city has funds to clean up the sites along the river, such as Jackson Corrugated, one of many properties Middletown was able to purchase, he said.

It is also ready to open the new pool complex at Veteran's Memorial Park, and is finishing up the city's portion of readying the former Canoe Club for Tate's, a new restaurant and brewery from the owners of Eli Cannon's Tap Room.

The mayor's goals include ensuring the public schools are on track to be the best that they can possibly be, he said. On no issue that weve worked on over the past few years has there been more of an impact from the pandemic than on education.

"We are now in an incredibly unprecedented environment for student learners, teachers, school administrators for all aspects of public education," he said.

The district is working on student, family and staff wellness and life readiness, which is something that is getting a little bit lost, Florsheim said.

In the past, career readiness wasnt as much a part of the curriculum as it is now, the mayor said.

Skills are needed to cope with anxiety, and social skills to work with colleagues in an office environment.  We are hearing from employers that these programs are great, but we are still having problems with employees, and employers who are not giving them the rates of pay, communication, respect, etc., that is expected," he said.

And it is warranted, Florsheim said of concerns.

When Ford announced last week that he was turning his exploratory committee into a full-fledged mayoral bid, he set a goal of being more communicative to the public on projects such as the riverfront.

I take the point, Florsheim said. We have really tried to break down those barriers and make people feel comfortable coming into City Hall and participating in online meetings. More than that, he added, trying to get more information proactively out there.

The best way for people to keep up with local government is to sign up to receive notifications about city business by text or email, he said.

As far as being challenged for a second term by a member of his own party, Florsheim said, Im glad theres going to be a substantive exchange on issues, he said. Im looking forward to hearing about what Eds priorities are going to be now that hes decided to come back into the ring.
A recruit at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island who died at the base Tuesday was a 21-year-old from Decatur, Georgia, officials said Wednesday.

Pfc. Noah Evans died Tuesday during a physical fitness test, officials said in a news release. Evans was assigned to Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment. Evans' cause of death remains under investigation.

Officials did not provide additional details, including whether Evans had any prior medical conditions or what part of the test was being conducted when he died.

Previous deaths at base

This marks the fourth death at the base in two years.

In June 2021, Pfc. Dalton Beals, 19, of Pennsville, New Jersey, died during the last leg of marine recruit training, the Crucible. The exercise involves a 48-mile journey over 54 hours with 45 pounds of gear, 36 stations and problem-solving exercises with four to six hours of sleep and limited nourishment.

On the day Beals died, the temperature on the base was in the 90s. Despite policies in place to alter uniforms and gear when temperatures rise, Beals' drill instructor, identified by MCRD Parris Island officials as Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley, instead intensified training, according to investigative report obtained by the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Beals' fellow recruits described being discouraged from seeking out medical assistance and were mocked. Beals died of hyperthermia.

In November 2022, Smiley was charged with negligent homicide for Beals' death. As of Wednesday, those charges are still pending.

In September 2021, another recruit, 21-year-old Pvt. Anthony Munoz, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, died after "falling" from a balcony in an "apparent suicide," MCRD Parris Island officials previously told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Pfc. Brandon Barnish, 26, of Evans, Georgia, was found dead at the training depot on Sept. 29, 2021, according to the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

Including Evans, there have been at least 10 deaths on Parris Island since 2000.

___

(c)2023 The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.)

Visit The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.) at www.islandpacket.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Editor's Note: This article and headline were corrected to say that the ACV is only barred from operations in surf conditions. A previous version had indicated that the prohibition is more expansive.

The Marine Corps has announced that it is changing the way it trains the operators of its new Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV) after a series of mishaps in surf conditions led to safety stand-downs and investigations. Currently, the service isn't letting the craft drive in the waves.

The Marine Corps' No. 2 officer, Gen. Eric Smith, told Congress in written testimony submitted Wednesday that the craft "experienced some initial fielding challenges" but emphasized that "we have a phased plan that will allow our ACV operators to employ the vehicle safely and effectively."

That plan, announced in a press release Wednesday, involves the creation of a Transition Training Unit (TTU) that is developing a new program to make sure operators of the ACVs "possess the technical knowledge, skills, and proficiency required to safely operate, maintain, supervise, and employ" the vehicle.

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U.S. Marines with 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, signal the launch of an amphibious combat vehicle (ACV) during a training evolution at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, March 12, 2022. (Alexandra Munoz/U.S. Marine Corps)

The ACV was rushed into service to replace the older Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV), a craft that was in use from the 1970s until 2020, after a deadly mishap saw one AAV flood and sink while conducting an exercise off the coast of southern California, killing eight Marines and a Navy corpsman.

Since then, the ACV has experienced a string of safety mishaps. Aside from a stand-down over an issue with its towing mechanism in 2021, use of the craft was halted in the summer of 2022 after one of the vehicles tipped onto its side in a surf zone and another became disabled at Camp Pendleton in California.

The service let the craft get back in the water in September, 2022, only to pull them out again when an ACV flipped in the water off Camp Pendleton in October.

The press release from the service says that the investigations into both incidents are "currently in the redaction process," suggesting that public versions of those reports could be released in the coming months.

However, the Marine Corps noted as part of its press release that Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl recently told Congress that he "recognized a gap in the way that the service has historically conducted surf zone observations" and the service is working to "rapidly procure and deploy new surface observation systems."

Marines cannot currently use the ACV in the surf, but with the new training, the Corps says that they plan to start slowly putting them back on the beach this summer. Any discussion of deploying the vehicle with an expeditionary unit is on hold for now, though.

"It's important for us to get the training right before we speculate on future deployments," the Marines said in the press release.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Marines Put Amphibious Combat Vehicles Back into the Ocean After Safety Stand-Down
A 26-year-old man in Cowlitz County, Washington escaped from prison on Monday by impersonating his cellmate, who was supposed to be released that day. It helped that his cellmate was sound asleep when an official announced that he was free to go. It also helped that the two cellmates looked alike. The sly gentleman, Brian Roman, waltzed out of his cell, collected his cellmate's personal belongings, and forged his cellmate's name on release forms before fleeing. It wasn't until the snoozing cellmate finally woke up and asked when the hell he was getting released that prison officials realized what had happened.

As of Wednesday, Roman is still missing, free as a bird  or escaped jailbird, as it were.

From Newsweek:
In early 2021, the mental health of one Atlanta veteran was deteriorating. She lay awake every night, unable to sleep or stop herself from crying. Through her tears, she picked up the phone and called the Atlanta VA for help.

No one answered.

That happened several times to the veteran, who estimated she called the Atlanta VA about 10 times in the span of three months. About half the time, someone answered the phone. She has since gotten help from the VA, but knows it shouldnt have been so difficult.

I dont know how many veterans would have been able to go through that rejection as many times as I did, said the veteran, who requested anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could negatively impact her job.

Shes not the only one. Thousands of mental health calls to the Atlanta VA have gone unanswered over the past year, according to a recent whistleblower complaint obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The complaint alleges that out of roughly 22,000 mental health calls that were made to the Atlanta VA Health Care System over a 12-month period ending in January, about 7,200 went unanswered. The reason, according to the complaint made to the VA office of the inspector general, is that the VAs Human Resources Department is slow in hiring applicants who can answer the phones.

When asked about the complaint, an Atlanta VA spokesperson said the matter is being investigated.

The health and well-being of veterans is our number one priority, said Gregory Kendall, a spokesperson with the Atlanta VA. We are actively investigating these reports to ensure that veterans who call the Atlanta VA Health Care System get the timely responses and care they deserve.

According to documents reviewed by the AJC, the VA Office of the Inspector General has received the whistleblowers complaint. A spokesperson for the OIG said the office does not confirm or deny if a complaint is submitted, but reviews all complaints it receives.

The whistleblower complaint comes as government officials are bringing increased pressure to improve mental health services for military veterans in Georgia and across the nation. The federal government is doling out money towards suicide prevention, and Georgia lawmakers recently passed a bill that would improve mental health access for veterans in far-flung areas of the state.

But veterans and advocates say the basic systems in place to treat the mental health of thousands of veterans in Georgia are broken.

There is a shortage of therapists in the VA who can treat military veterans in the state, meaning the mental health services are very limited, according to Jim Lindenmayer, director and founder of the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program. Theres also frequent staff turnover, Lindenmayer said, meaning that even those veterans who are able to secure services often are getting inconsistent care as they switch therapists. Hes even spoken with veterans who have made appointments and the therapists dont show up.

Calls are canceled or no ones there, said Lindenmayer, whose program serves many veterans who struggle with their mental health. These veterans have [mental health conditions] that are triggering them already, and the VA is not responsive.

A whistleblowers complaint

The problems that plague the mental health system for veterans are undoubtedly complex, but the complaint made by the whistleblower is simple enough: there arent enough workers to answer the phone calls coming into the Atlanta VA.

There is no sense of urgency, the whistleblower wrote. Under federal law, whistleblowers are protected against retaliation from their employer. The AJC is not naming the whistleblower in order to provide additional protection for the persons job.

The complaint doesnt go into great detail about how the calls came in or were tracked, just the fact that thousands of calls are allegedly going unanswered. At the time the complaint was filed earlier this year, it reported the Atlanta VA has about a third of the staff needed to answer calls.

Human resources staff at the Atlanta VA are aware of the problems, the whistleblower wrote, but the complaints about staffing have gone unnoticed and unheard.

The ability of the department to answer phones and schedule appointments has been severely impacted, the whistleblower wrote.

In the past, the AJC and other media have reported the Atlanta VA has been plagued with problems around its mental health services for veterans. For example, in 2013, a rash of veteran suicides at the center were blamed on mismanagement within its mental health unit. In 2014, the center was on the hot seat after the murder-suicide of Marine veteran. Two years later, the Atlanta VA completed the installation of an anti-climbing fence to prevent veterans from attempting to kill themselves.

According to the VA, the number of veterans who have died by suicide has gradually decreased in recent years. But the number of veterans who have died by suicide is far higher than in the general population, a fact that stands out when examining Georgia-specific data.

In 2020, an average of 26 veterans per 100,000 living in Georgia have died by suicide. Thats lower than the national average, which is 32 veterans per 100,000, but much higher than Georgians who are not veterans, which is 18 non-veterans per 100,000.

Mental health services are inadequate for veterans nationwide, said Jim Lorraine, the president and CEO of Americas Warrior Partnership, whose organization works to prevent veterans dying by suicide. He said the VA is often reluctant to refer veterans outside of the VA system for care, including in Atlanta, even when they dont have enough capacity to serve veterans.

Lorraine said the whistleblower complaint was not surprising. The VA has a reputation for a notoriously slow hiring process, he says, which then makes it even more difficult for veterans to receive services.

I have friends whose process for getting hired to the VA was a year-and-a-half. It is a laborious process, he said. The joke everyone says is If you want to get a job in two years, apply to the VA.

The Atlanta VA did not provide clarity about whether there are issues with hiring or dont have enough people to answer phone lines.

One veterans odyssey for help

The first three months of 2021 were hell for the veteran who wouldnt give up calling the Atlanta VA.

She has a PTSD diagnosis, anxiety and depression from serving in combat. She also experienced sexual assault during her deployment.

When VA employees did pick up her calls, the veteran was told a mental health professional would call her back. But no one did.

I just remember being in tears every time I called, saying Im really stressed out. Im not sleeping, Im constantly crying, Im not okay, she said, and begged to speak to someone in mental health.

Calling the VA is extremely stressful, because you often get the runaround, she said. I would have to work myself up to have the energy in these moments of crisis.

The last time this veteran called the VA, she told the worker who answered that she felt like she wanted to go to sleep forever. That prompted someone from the VA to send her a drug prescription, but even then a mental health provider never followed up.

During another crisis in March, she drove herself to the Atlanta VA emergency room. Thats when she was finally checked in for care.

I dont even know how I mustered up the strength to get myself to the point that I did, she said. Its important that this is talked about and brought to light.

Improving the system

Lindenmayer, director and founder of the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program, said that traditionally, veterans dont seek treatment for mental health conditions.

Veterans are very proud, he said. They dont ask for help.

The good news is that that mindset is changing, Lindenmayer said. Its become more acceptable to talk about post-traumatic stress disorder and the other emotional scars from serving in the military. And he is seeing more veterans seeking help, even if the VA cant keep up.

Policymakers are also increasingly focused on mental health and veterans. For example, a recent bill that passed the Legislature will help provide free mental health and behavioral health services to veterans, military members, and their families. Separately, the state received a federal grant for mental health screenings that determine if a veteran is at risk for suicide and refer them to the VA or community groups that can offer care.

In Congress, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff recently sponsored a bill that reduces out-of-pocket expenses for veterans seeking mental health or substance abuse treatment at the VA thats since become law. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnocks office says he is exploring ways to support the VAs ability to increase staffing, particularly among mental health professionals.

But Lorraine, whose organization works to prevent veterans dying by suicide, said theres so much more work that needs to be done. He said the whistleblower complaint was tragic, particularly because he thinks there are enough mental health professionals to serve veterans in the greater Atlanta area.

Theres there is enough capacity in the Greater Atlanta area, whether its within the VA or within the community, he said. Veterans just have to have the opportunity.

WHERE VETERANS CAN SEEK HELP

Veterans who want to reach the Atlanta VA Health Care System directly should call (404) 329-2222, according to the Atlanta VA. For veterans who are in crisis and seeking immediate help, the VA instructed veterans to call the number 9-8-8, which is a national mental health hotline, and then dial 1 for specific help for veterans and their families. Callers do not need to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect: www.veteranscrisisline.net/.

Emory Healthcare Veterans Program is a two-week intensive program for veterans, treating a number of illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. The services are free for veterans, and include travel, lodging, and meals. Learn more here: www.emoryhealthcare.org/centers-programs/veterans-program.

The Warrior Alliance is a veterans organization that is affiliated with Americas Warrior Partnership. Number: (404) 210-1776 Email: info@thewarrioralliance.org.

The Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program serves veterans in Cherokee County by providing help with food, limited housing, clothing, and other support. Learn more here: www.cherokeehomelessveterans.com.

2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Navy has finally cleared its backlog of discharge paperwork, according to the services personnel chief, an issue that has plagued the service for the last year and stopped departing sailors from moving on with their lives.

The DD-214 backlog is gone, said Vice Admiral Rick Cheeseman, referring to the title of the form that is the key document all service members need at separation.

"Folks in Norfolk are working on July retirement DD-214s right now  in the middle of April, the Navys chief of naval personnel added.

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Cheeseman spoke with Military.com on Tuesday as part of a recording session for an upcoming episode of the publications podcast, Fire Watch.

The Navys struggle to get sailors their retirement and separation paperwork on time goes back to at least last summer. Sailors leaving the service told Military.com that the holdup in getting their DD-214 was costing them money, jobs and adding stress during a period of major upheaval in their lives.

The issue stemmed, in large part, from a push to consolidate the old personnel support detachments (PSDs) into a single command -- MyNavy Career Center, or MNCC.

The argument from the service was that the old, small personnel offices that many sailors were familiar with were inconsistent and that the processes needed to be standardized to be more efficient.

However, sailors and officials who work in these offices said that this change also removed a lot of the institutional knowledge and expertise about how to manage the often complex and multistep process of separating someone from the service correctly.

Cheeseman agreed. We hollowed out training for [clerks]; we took people savings based on technology that would come that didn't show up on time, he said before adding that we're putting that back in.

Though the admiral did note that while sailors may have enjoyed having a small, physical office to visit to get paperwork done, statistically about half of all transactions generated by a PSD had to be reworked up chain.

In addition, as these smaller PSDs closed, they passed their individual backlogs to the larger offices where they consolidated into a serious problem.

While the move to close these smaller personnel offices has been unpopular among the fleet, Cheeseman said that it was crucial in spotting and helping to fix the backlogs.

I am certain if we had PSD concepts that we would not have known in virtually real time last year, the scope of the travel claim problems and the scope of the DD-214 problem, he said.

Were able to generate the resources needed to get those backlogs down in those specific areas, to really take a hard look at all pay and personnel transactions, to clearly understand the standards, to clearly understand what we're resourced to -- which was not these aspirational standards that we had talked about, the three-star admiral explained.

Going forward, Cheeseman says that most sailors should not have problems getting their retirement paperwork on time -- though he does admit that there's 10% -- the complicated things -- that we need to get better at.

But Cheesemans top enlisted sailor, Fleet Master Chief Delbert Terrell, also noted that the old option of asking senior enlisted sailors to fix problems by talking to their peers still exists.

Terrell, also speaking with Military.com as part of the Fire Watch podcast, said that MNCCs command master chief is available to have conversations with fellow chiefs on the who, what, when, where, why, how of a problem, and he can do a deep dive on where he needs to go in his organization to remedy that solution.

I am certain we're better, Cheeseman said.

I am working very hard to produce tangible data that I can share with folks  because my word saying we're inside the  timeline is not good enough. I need to prove it to my Navy and my sailors.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: I Apologize: The Navys Pay Boss Says Discharge Paperwork Delays Being Fixed
Lawmakers had many unanswered questions after briefings from administration officials this week about an airman's alleged leak of reams of classified documents, but say one thing is clear: The system for deciding what information is classified and who has access to it is broken.

For years, lawmakers have expressed concern both that too much information is shielded from public scrutiny using classification labels and that the process for protecting government secrets is vulnerable to mishandling. Bipartisan interest in reforms had already been accelerating in recent months following the discovery of classified information in the homes and private offices of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Now, lawmakers say the arrest of 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira on allegations that he posted scores of top-secret documents to an online chat forum underscores their warnings. However, specific ideas for exactly how to fix classification and security clearance processes have been vanishingly rare, with elected officials saying proposals will depend on the findings from investigations into the Guardsman's alleged leak.

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"Clearly, there's going to be some changes," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., told reporters after a closed-door briefing Wednesday afternoon. "Now we, in a sense, have potentially the worst of both worlds where we have an overclassification problem and at the same time, in the public domain, it's been reported that we have more than 4 million people with clearances. So how do you square those?"

Last week, Teixeira was arrested and charged with violations of the Espionage Act tied to allegations that he shared top-secret documents for months with a group he led on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers. Teixeira worked in an IT job in an intelligence unit of the Massachusetts National Guard and held a top-secret security clearance with the added designation of being able to access even more closely held information known as sensitive compartmented information.

The full House and Senate were briefed on the case late Wednesday afternoon by National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security Ronald Moultrie, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

Watchdogs have warned for years of problems with the security clearance process. On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office again listed security clearances on its biennial "high risk list" of programs vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement.

"While the ongoing reforms in this area are promising, challenges remain regarding the timely processing of clearances, a lack of performance measures to assess quality at all stages of the process, and addressing IT system challenges," the GAO said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have bristled for years that too much information is being classified, oftentimes to prevent embarrassing details from becoming public. While they have not argued that the information in the Discord leaks was improperly classified, some are saying the case is indicative of the overall issues with the classification system.

"We have so many classified documents, and then we have such an incredible procedure in terms of vetting, and are we doing all of this and not really focusing on what needs to be done to the point where there are so many documents, there are so many procedures that you can't possibly do at all," said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. "It seems to me like we're trying to protect so much that the job becomes impossible and inevitably things that really, really matter slips through the cracks."

Other lawmakers were skeptical Congress needs to step in with reforms.

"I'm not convinced that they need legislation," said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who added he was awaiting the result of investigations into the leak to see whether there are systemic problems. "I think they need better enforcement of their own standards."

Any legislative response to the Discord leak is likely on hold until after the administration's reviews.

In addition to the law enforcement investigation into Teixeira, the military has launched a series of investigations to probe access to classified information and whether Teixeira's unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, complied with existing safeguards.

Several lawmakers complained about a lack of answers at Wednesday's briefings, including what the full scope of the leak is, how the leak wasn't detected sooner and what steps the administration is taking to prevent future leaks -- answers lawmakers say are imperative before they act.

"Those reforms have to be informed by information about how this happened," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "We don't have that information. We can't make those reforms."

Rubio accused the administration of withholding information from lawmakers, though he did allow for the possibility that officials also don't know the answers themselves, something he said is "even worse."

Rubio said it is concerning for "an IT person to have access to all of this in a way and in a format that he could disclose it in the way he did."

"There are hundreds, potentially thousands of members in the Armed Services that have equal access that are not doing this," Rubio said. "So what's unique about this one individual is something that the criminal justice system will define. I think the more important part is, how is this information compartmented?"

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Air Force Launches Investigation of Teixeira's Guard Unit After Leak Arrest
STOCKHOLM  The U.S. is sending Ukraine about $325 million in additional military aid, including an enormous amount of artillery rounds and ammunition as the launch of the spring offensive against Russian forces approaches, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The U.S. has declined to say exactly how much munitions will be sent to Ukraine, but the latest package resembles other recent deliveries, which included rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and howitzers, as well as an array of other missiles and anti-tank ammunition. It will all be pulled from Pentagon stocks, so it can go quickly to the front lines.

A Ukrainian official warned on Monday that it is only a matter of time before his country is militarily prepared to begin its counteroffensive. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council, told The Associated Press in an interview in Kyiv that the offensive against Russian troops will start when Ukraines troops are ready. And he said deliveries of armored vehicles and ammunition are key to the launch.

The recent leak of classified information included a number of documents detailing the timeline for weapon deliveries to Ukraine and previously unreleased assessments about how quickly the Ukrainian military could run out of critical air-defense munitions. They included projections that missile stocks could be exhausted as soon as late this month or May, which would provide greater opportunities for devastating Russian air and artillery strikes.

Danilov echoed other Ukrainian leaders who said they didn't see the leak as gravely damaging future offensives, stressing that Ukraine doesnt share highly sensitive information with anyone.

The announcement of the new U.S. aid comes before Friday's meeting in Germany of defense and military leaders from more than 50 countries to discuss and plan for future Ukraine security assistance. The Ukraine Contact Group was formed about a year ago by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to better coordinate the military aid, weapons and training for Ukraine. Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, will both attend the meeting.

The new U.S. aid package includes demolition munitions to clear routes, more than 9 million rounds of small arms ammunition, four logistics support vehicles, spare parts, and equipment for harbor security and maintenance and repair.

Officials have said the weapons and other equipment will help as Ukraine prepares to shift from what has been a long and bloody winter stalemate, focused on heavy fighting in Ukraines east, particularly around the town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk province.

While the fighting has been brutal, not much territory has changed hands. Moscow controls about half of Donetsk, and capturing Bakhmut would be a stepping stone to seizing the remaining half.

This is the 36th package of Pentagon stocks to go to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, and it brings the total U.S. military aid to nearly $36 billion.
The United States wasnt the first country to develop a jet-powered fighter aircraft, but it was definitely the first in which a pilot flew wearing a gorilla mask and derby hat while holding a cigar.

It seems the test pilot for what would become the Bell P-59 Airacomet had a pretty robust sense of humor.

Sadly, not everyone got the joke  especially those who didnt know what the P-59 was. All they saw was a mysterious, fast-moving aircraft flown by a comical gorilla, in the skies over a secret aircraft testing area in the middle of World War II.

If you think about it, its actually not that bad of an idea. If youre flying a top secret, experimental airplane in the middle of the day when other pilots are in the air, it makes sense to help create a story so outlandish that no one on the ground would ever believe it.

In 1942, the Bell P-59, the United States first jet engine fighter aircraft, took to the skies for the first time. It was Americas entry in the race for an operational jet-powered fighter for use in the war. Britains Royal Air Force was already a year into developing its fighter, and Nazi Germany had been testing one since 1939.

Bell Aircrafts senior test pilot was Jack Woolams, a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, fearless record setter and renowned practical joker. Had he not died in a postwar plane crash in 1946, he would have been the first person to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 rocket plane, instead of Chuck Yeager.

Bell test pilot Jack Woolams after breaking the altitude record of 47,600ft in a Bell P-59. (U.S. Air Force)

Woolams tested a number of aircraft for Bell during WWII, but none of the planes he tested would see service with the United States. Most Bell aircraft ended up in the Soviet Air Force, where prop-driven planes like the P-39 Airacobra were used to decimate the German Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front.

The P-59 Airacomet, however, was never going to end up in the hands of the USSR. Its existence was a closely guarded secret, one that only the British knew about, because they lent the U.S. their jet engine designs.

In order to keep it secret, American airmen would use some pretty creative deception tactics to dupe outsiders (and potential spies) who might be looking for anything unusual on the flightline. The Airacomet was often fitted with a fake propeller on its nose, so it wouldnt stand out while taxiing.

Woolams practical jokes on the ground continued even while he was in the air, according to author Sterling Michael Pavelecs book The Jet Race and the Second World War. While flying the only jet aircraft in the skies over the United States, a plane no one else in the air knew about, he would join formations of propeller planes wearing the gorilla mask and derby hat, holding a stogie.

Its important to remember that pilots had a pretty good view of one another at this time in aviation history, and the sight of a gorilla flying a plane with no propeller  which pilots believed was necessary for flight  must have been more than a little surprising.

(U.S. Air Force)

The P-59 Airacomet would ultimately never be used in combat. Germany and Britain were the only belligerent countries of WWII whose jet fighters became operational during wartime, but came much too late to affect the outcome of the war.

Still, its speed and maneuverability made piston engine planes obsolete. By the time the U.S. entered its next major conflict, the skies over those battlefields would be dominated by jet engines.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on LinkedIn.

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No, "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant" isn't based on a true story, but viewers wouldn't be too far off in thinking it might be.

By the end of 2021, The Wall Street Journal estimated 62,000 Afghans who served with American forces, along with thousands of family members, were left behind, waiting for the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) they were promised.

It seemed there is no rhyme or reason to why some received their SIV and why others didn't, no matter what work they did, what their accomplishments were or how many American lives they saved. Stories are still emerging about Afghans who cleared land mines, took up arms and otherwise risked their lives for their American units.

There are even groups of American veterans and private citizens who continue to work where the U.S. government has failed. Projects like Task Force Argo work to fulfill the promise of those SIVs for Afghan interpreters who served with U.S. troops by arranging their evacuation from the country.

In short, "The Covenant" might not be a true story, but it is a story many veterans of the War in Afghanistan wish they were a part of. Many vets with a close connection to their interpreters see the way the U.S. left them behind as a betrayal, both of their promise and of the Afghans' service to the United States. That's what "The Covenant" is about.

It follows U.S. Army Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal, "Jarhead"), who leads a team of soldiers looking for hidden Taliban arms caches. After an attack forces his unit to find a new interpreter, he is introduced to Ahmed (Dar Salim, "Game of Thrones"), who gives the impression that he is more than just a native speaker.

(Christopher Raphael/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)

After Ahmed risks his life in an epically heroic effort to save Sgt. Kinley, the tale of his effort catches fire across the country. Kinley returns home to California when he is ultimately returned to the safety of friendly lines, but Ahmed is left behind.

The story takes place at a time when U.S. forces were still fighting in Afghanistan, but Kinley learns that Ahmed, his wife and his newborn child did not receive their SIV or passage to the United States. Kinley, unable to go on in the comfort of his stateside life without helping the man who brought him there, returns to Afghanistan on his own. Waiting for him, however, are the Taliban. Embarrassed by Ahmed's widespread fame in aiding an American soldier, they are determined to capture and kill both Ahmed and Kinley.

Gyllenhaal (left) and director Guy Ritchie (right) on the set of "The Covenant." (Christopher Raphael/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)

The film depicts the dangers faced by U.S. troops during the war, especially when fighting the Taliban. It also shows what life was like for interpreters working for the Americans during the war. They faced constant threats against themselves and their families, even at the height of American involvement there.

Interpreters and their family members were kidnapped, tortured and killed for their perceived betrayal against the Taliban, even before the U.S. withdrawal. Once the Americans were gone, they were forced to go into hiding -- and even then weren't completely safe.

The situation for those Afghan interpreters and their families left behind is still a dire one. No One Left Behind, a nonprofit advocate, estimates 300 translators and family members have been killed by the Taliban since 2014 for the kind of assistance depicted in "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant."

"Guy Ritchie's The Covenant" opens in theaters April 21, 2023. Find out more about the movie on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on LinkedIn.

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Yesterday, Dustin Cain of Topeka, Kansas was the subject of a viral video in which he smashed a bunch of cases of Busch beer at a Walmart, presumably in protest of Anheuser-Busch's "woke" policies. (Busch and Bud Light are both owned by Anheuser-Busch.)

The viral video ends with Cain's arrest. He was booked for criminal damage to property; felony battery; physical contact in rude, insulting, angry manner; as well as assault.

He was also charged with, "Lewd and lascivious; Exposing sex organs to another =>16," according to Topeka Police.

It's not clear when exactly Cain whipped it out  there's no indication of a flopping penis flail in the viral video, though I suppose his hands were otherwise occupied. Did he whip it out at the cops when they tried to arrest him? Was he smashing the Busch light cans not as a political statement, but rather in a fit of rage after being rejected by someone in the store whom he had already exposed himself to without consent?

It remains clear. Cain is currently being held on a $1500 bond, according to local news. (That same local news network says Cain exposed himself to a teen, but I think the "=>16" distinction in the police statement is meant to indicate that the person was, at the very least, not legally a minor.)

Man In Viral Video Destroying Beer At Walmart Charged With Exposing Himself [Matt Novak / Forbes]
The Bingham (West Mountain) mining district is located 22 mi southwest of Salt Lake City in southwest Salt Lake County. Bingham is the oldest and largest district in Utah and hosts a giant porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit. The Bingham Canyon open pit porphyry Cu-Au-Mo mine is the largest mine in the U.S. and the Bingham district is the largest Cu, Mo, Au, Ag, Pb, and Zn producer in Utah. The districts total historical metal production at modern metal prices is valued at approximately $174 billion and the Bingham Canyon mine is still in production.

The Bingham district forms a lynchpin in the Bingham-Park City mineral belt in the Basin and Range Province. The district is centered on a giant, high-K, calc-alkaline, porphyry Cu-Mo-Au-Ag deposit (USGS Model 17). This deposit is associated with a small, composite monzonite stock dated at about 38 Ma. This stock intrudes a thick, intercalated sequence of Pennsylvanian- Permian marine quartz sandstones and limestones. A 400- to 1000-ft-wide quartz monzonite porphyry dike and a swarm of narrower, east-northeast-trending dikes cut the north flank of the early monzonite stock. The hypogene porphyry mineralization is concentrically zoned around the quartz monzonite porphyry dike from a deep, inner, low-sulfide core through progressively overlapping hypogene molybdenite, bornite-chalcocite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite zones. The inverted cup-shaped Cu shell is largely coincident with potassic alteration and garnet Cu-Au skarns (USGS Model 18a). The surrounding pyrite halo is spatially associated with propylitically-altered rocks. Each of three major phases of porphyry intrusion is followed by cycles of fracturing, alteration, veining, and metal deposition. This cyclic vein formation resulted in complex vein relationships partly constrained by age dates and crosscutting relations. The quartz monzonite porphyry dike and younger dikes are spatially coincident with the highest grades of Cu and Au in the orebody (Porter and others, 2012). The exposed quartz monzonite porphyry stock is too small to have provided the fluids and metals for the district, necessitating a connection to a far larger magma chamber at depth.

The outermost fringe of the pyrite halo is overprinted by the inner margin of a 3000-ft-wide, intermediate-sulfidation, sphalerite- galena tetrahedrite manto-vein zone where alteration is largely confined to the immediate vein walls (USGS Model 19a). The outer perimeter of the Pb-Zn veins locally contains rhodochrosite and/or barite. The Barneys Canyon and Melco distal disseminated Au deposits (USGS Model 19c) lie 4 mi north-northeast of the center of the district and outside Binghams megascopically recognizable sulfide and alteration system, but on the outer fringe of a weak As-Au geochemical halo (Babcock and others, 1995).

In 1848, Erastus Bingham and his two sons were the first to discover mineralization in Bingham Canyon. Because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (L.D.S. church), of which they were members, discouraged mining, the location was forgotten until 1863, when Colonel P.E. Conner of the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City and others rediscovered the silver-rich lead ore while picnicking in the area. On September 17, 1863, George Ogilvie (a logger who first reported the find), Colonel Conner, and 23 others staked the Jordan claim in Bingham Canyon (Eldredge and Wilkerson, 1990). This claim was the first in the district and the first recorded in Utah. In 1863, the West Mountain mining district was officially organized. In 1864, placer gold was discovered near the mouth of Bingham Canyon by a group of California miners. With this discovery, gold became the first mineral mined in the district. Placer mining recovered approximately 72,600 ounces of gold. The largest gold nugget (over 7 ounces) ever found in Utah was in Bingham Canyon. By the early 1870s, placer mining was declining because the deposit was almost played out.



Beginning in 1870, mining began on the silver-rich oxidized lead ores at the Highland Boy, Jordan, Last Chance, Brooklin, and Yosemite mines (the Jordan, Last Chance, and Brooklin mines have since been consumed by the present-day Bingham Canyon open-pit mine). By the late 1880s, most of the shallow silver-rich ore bodies had been exhausted, and between 1890 and 1900 many of the mining properties were consolidated. Extensive underground mining of the silver, lead, gold, and copper ores began at mines that included the Lark, U.S., Butterfield Group, Highland Boy, and Carr Fork. Underground mining continued until 1971 when the Lark and U.S. mines closed.



In 1885, native copper found growing in organic rich portions of upper Bingham Creek led to the discovery that the creek water contained copper in solution. A small operation began to produce metallic copper by running creek water over scrap iron, where the copper in solution would precipitate onto the iron. In 1897, Enos Wall noticed copper carbonate mineralization on both sides of Bingham Canyon and scattered copper mineralization in monzonite in several abandoned mining tunnels. He subsequently staked a number of claims, known as the Wall Group (subsequently acquired by the Utah Copper Company). About the same time, Samuel Newhouse, who developed and sold the Highland Boy mine, also was aware of scattered copper mineralization and acquired property southwest of the Wall Group for the Boston Consolidated Mining Company.



The Boston Consolidated and Utah Copper companies began to mine copper ore in the early 1900s. Both companies started steam-shovel stripping or open-pit mining in 1906. Utah Copper shipped the first ore in 1907, and Boston Consolidated shipped ore in 1908. Over the next several years, Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated properties were the leading producers of copper in the district. In 1910, Utah Copper merged with Boston Consolidated for 310,000 Utah Copper shares valued at nearly $19 million. In 1936, Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation acquired the mine from the Utah Copper Company. During World War II, Kennecott supplied one-third of the total amount of copper used by the allied forces. In 1978, Kennecott Utah Copper was sold to Standard Oil Company, a subsidiary of British Petroleum. British Petroleum sold its interests to the Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation in 1987. In the 1980s, copper became uneconomical to mine due to high labor, haulage, smelting, and refining costs. Over the next several years, Kennecott spent $2 billion modernizing its operations and facilities. As a result, the mine is now one of the most efficient in the world. At present (2005), the Bingham Canyon mine is more than a half-mile deep and about 2.5 miles across from rim to rim.



The Barneys Canyon and Melco gold deposits, located north of the Bingham Canyon mine, were initially found in 1878, but the significance was unrecognized. Sampling was conducted in 1968-69 at an old mine dump in Barneys Canyon that returned values of 0.10 to 0.20 ounces of gold per ton. Drilling on the Barneys Canyon deposit began in 1985 and the deposit was discovered on the third hole. In 1986, drilling began on the Melco deposit and the ore body was discovered on the first hole. Mining began at Barneys Canyon and Melco deposits in 1989 and continued until late 2001.

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References

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USGS Professional paper 38 (1905) Babcock, R.C., Jr., Ballantyne, G.H., and Phillips, C.H., 1995, Summary of the geology of the Bingham district, Utah, in Pierce, F.W., and Bolm, J.G., editors, Porphyry Copper Deposits of the American Cordilleran: Tucson, Arizona, Arizona Geological Society Digest 20, p. 316335. Porter, J.P., Schroeder, K., and Austin, G., 2012, Geology of the Bingham Canyon Porphyry Cu-Mo-Au Deposit, Utah, in Hedenquist, J.W., Harris, M., and Camus, F., editors, Geology and genesis of major copper deposits and districts of the worldA tribute to Richard H. Sillitoe: Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication 16, p. 127146. Warnaars, F.W., Smith, W.H., Bray, R.E., Lanier, G., and Shafiqullah, M. (1978) Geochronology of igneous intrusions and porphyry copper mineralization at Bingham, Utah. Economic Geology: 73: 1242-1249. Phillips, C.H., Smith, T.W., and Harrison, E.D. (1997) Alteration, metal zoning, and ore controls in the Bingham Canyon porphyry copper deposits, Utah. In: Geology and Ore Deposits of the Oquirrh and Wasatch Mountains, Utah (.A. John & .H. Ballantyne, editors). Society of Economic Geologists, Guidebook Series 29: 133-145. Waite, K.A., Keith, J.D., Christiansen, E.H., Whitney, J.A., Hattori, K., Tingey, D.G., and Hook, C.J. (1997) Petrogenesis of the volcanic and intrusive rocks associated with the Bingham Canyon porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit, Utah. In: Geology and Ore Deposits of the Oquirrh and Wasatch Mountains, Utah (D.A. John & G.H. Ballantyne, editors). Society of Economic Geologists, Guidebook Series 29: 1242-1249. Redmond, P.B. (2002) Magmatic-Hydrothermal Fluids and Copper-Gold Ore Formation at Bingham Canyon, Utah. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, California. Redmond, P.B., Einaudi, M.T., Inan, E.E., Landtwing, M.R., and Heinrich, C.A. (2004) Copper deposition by fluid cooling in intrusion-centered systems: new insights from the Bingham porphyry ore deposit, Utah: Geology: 32: 217-220. Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C. (2005): Porphyry Copper Deposits of the World: Database, Map, and Grade and Tonnage Models. USGS Open-File Report 05-1060. Ege, C. L., (2005), Selected Mining Districts of Utah, Miscellaneous Publication 05-5, p. 9-10.

External Links

Localities in this Region

See also Tooele County Bingham Mining District: https://www.mindat.org/loc-37464.html A Cu-Au-Ag-Mo-Sb-Pb-Mn-Hg-Bi-As mining district with porphyry Cu-Au-Mo ores at the heart of the district and Ag-Au ores in replacement bodies surrounding the intrusive.Also see an old movie here: http://www.archive.org/details/copper_mining_and_smelting There are 1 fossil localities from the PaleoBioDB database within this region.- These data are provided on an experimental basis and are taken from external databases. Mindat.org has no control currently over the accuracy of these data.
In a vile example of the depths to which anti-abortion activists will stoop to push their agenda, Cincinnati Right to Life leader Laura Strietmann employed misinformation during her proponent testimony at an Ohio House Constitutional Resolutions Committee hearing to protect women's reproductive rights in the state. Strietmann sought to leverage a harrowing case of a 9-year-old rape victim to argue against abortion, asserting that the child's body was designed to carry life and that the abortionist failed to report the crime.

"I know that a 10-year-old might not understand pregnancy, but I also know that a 10-year-old understands life and playing with dolls," Streitmen said. "I know when my daughter was ten years old, she cried and begged for a little sister or a baby. And while a pregnancy might have been difficult on a 10-year-old body, a woman's body is designed to carry life. That is a biological fact. It is not designed to have disgusting death instruments remove her preborn child from her womb. Both situations would be difficult. But we know for a fact that every single time life wins. And that, again, is a statistical fact. It's a terrible, tragic situation. And we must do better to protect children from that kind of difficult situation that allows such heinous horrible abuse. And I'm sorry the abortionist did not report the rape. And I'm sorry that the mother permitted this."

However, Democratic Rep. Jessica E. Miranda vehemently corrected Strietmann's falsehoods, reminding the committee that the rape had indeed been reported and urging for accuracy on the record.

"So in an effort to have things that are accurate on this record, in this very distinguished body, in these halls where laws are made, that is simply untrue," said an upset Miranda. "It was reported. So let us not continue to spread disinformation time and time again about certain families' personal issues that they have dealt with in terms of a 10-year-old rape victim being raped and child sexual abuse. I take extreme offense to that on behalf of the family and the poor 10-year-old who was subjected in that in that way to being raped at such a young tender age."

WCPT820 Radio reported that "throughout the rest of her testimony, Strietmann also argued that over 90% of abortions in Ohio are performed for 'convenience' and simply to 'kill children for profit,' effectively denying that many abortions are needed to save the life of the mother for a variety of medical reasons."
A body pulled from Lake Michigan has been identified as a missing U.S. Navy sailor.

According to WGN in Chicago, the body pulled from Waukegon Harbor matched the description of Seamus Gray, who went missing in the early morning hours of March 18.

Gray was reported missing on March 21 after he did not return to Naval Station Great Lakes where he is assigned.

Gray was last seen at Ibiza bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan north of Chicago following St. Patricks Day. Surveillance footage also showed him walking near Sheridan Road and Washington Street, not far from Lake Michigan, at 1:40 a.m.

An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

According to the TV station, Waukegan Police Department Chief Edgardo Navarro said ComEd workers were doing routine work near the harbor when they found the body around 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Deputies went into the water and brought the body back to shore.

The incident is being investigated by the Waukegan Police Department, U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Lake County Coroners Office.
Former WWE Tag Team Champion Ted DiBiase Jr. was charged with multiple felonies Thursday in federal court according to the Department of Justice. Theodore DiBiase Jr., 40, of Madison, Mississippi along with his co-conspirators are accused of fraudulently obtaining federal funds that were designed to assist needy and low-income families and using the money for their own personal benefit.

DiBiases co-conspirators were listed as John Davis, Christi Webb, Nancy New, and others.

Prosecutors allege that scheme worked through various levels of fraud that started with Davis who was the executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Davis is accused of directing the MDHS to subgrant federal funds to a pair of nonprofit organizations that were operated by Webb and New respectively.

From there, Davis would then direct the pair to award sham contract to companies that were owned by DiBiase (Priceless Ventures LLC and Familiae Orientem LLC) and others. As part of the contracts, the non-profits would pay DiBiases companies for social services that were not provided and allegedly were never intended to be provided. At least five sham contracts were awarded to DiBiases companies, according to the DOJ.

DiBiase is accused of using the federal funds to buy a car, a boat, as a down payment on a home and more.

The ex-WWE star is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and four counts of money laundering.

DiBiase faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the wire fraud charges and up to 10 years for each count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and money laundering.

DiBiase last wrestled in the WWE in 2013 and is the son of WWE Hall-of-Famer The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. Last month, his brother Brett DiBiase pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a similar scheme also operating in Mississippi.

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A new proposal would revive the practice of sending monthly checks to families.

The End Child Poverty Act was introduced earlier this month by Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib, Michigan and Jesus Garcia, Illinois. The bill would establish a universal benefit to give families $393 per month until the child turns 18.

Congress must take federal action to address child poverty and help millions of families afford basics like food, rent, childcare and healthcare. The End Child Poverty Act would cut childhood poverty by nearly two-thirds, Omar said.

The new program would replace the Child Tax Credit. The CTC, which currently provides a credit of up to $2,000 a year, was expanded during the pandemic to $3,000 per child ages 6-17 and $3,600 per child aged 5 and younger, with half payable in monthly installments of up to $300. It was allowed to expire back to pre-pandemic levels and no monthly payments, however, with Congress seemingly resistant to making it permanent.

The expanded Child Tax Credit lifted 2.9 million children out of poverty and cut child poverty in nearly half, but now that it has expired, too many families are struggling to make ends meet. In the richest country in the history of the world, no family should have to choose between keeping a roof over their head and putting food on the table to feed their children, Tlaib said in a press release.

The newly proposed program would include no caps on income and children would automatically be enrolled at birth. Payments would be distributed by the Social Security Administration.

The payments  about $4,700 a year per child  would help reduce child poverty by 64%, proponents said.
GRAYLING TOWNSHIP, MI -- A 36-year-old man was taken into custody following a standoff with police last week after he escaped from a hospital and locked a pair of homeowners out of their house. According to 9&10 News, the man -- who has not been publicly identified -- escaped from Munson Hospital in Grayling on April 15 and fled to a relatives house in Grayling Township.

Once at the house, the man -- who was ordered to be at the hospital and not permitted to leave -- was able to lock his relatives out of their home and police were called to the scene. While police were talking to the homeowners, the man could allegedly be seen holding a knife. As mre officers arrived, the suspect then barricaded himself inside the house and would not leave or respond to officers.

Police eventually used tactical equipment and negotiators to convince the man to surrender peacefully. He was taken into protective custody by police and returned to the hospital. It is unclear if criminal charges will be filed against the man.

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Michigans governor and one of its famous breweries got a national spotlight Wednesday night, as Gretchen Whitmer shared a beer with Daily Show host Jordan Klepper.

Whitmer sat down with Klepper, who was born in Kalamazoo and graduated from Kalamazoo College in 2001, for an interview and a pint of Oberon at Bells Brewery before the two helped patch potholes with a Kalamazoo road crew.

Its happy to be here in a Michigan health foods store  a microbrewery, Klepper joked.

The interview highlighted Democrats recent moves on gun restrictions and abortion rights after winning control of the House and Senate in last years elections. Whitmer also criticized conservative leaders in states like Florida who pick fights and get headlines.

Were trying to make Michigan a place where every business can thrive and every person has rights and freedoms to make their own decisions and to live the life they want and be successful here in Michigan, she said.

Michigan is the most diverse swing state, the governor told her liberal interviewer, and its why politicians must try to solve problems instead of just feed frenzies and anger.

Whitmer and Klepper also criticized Kristina Karamo, the newly elected Michigan GOP chair, for views that include election denial, QAnon sympathizing and calling Democrats demonic.

I dont have time for people who want to call Beyonce satanic, the governor said.

Wednesday night was the latest national TV appearance for Whitmer, who was featured on CBS Sunday Morning in March. Reporter Martha Teichner labeled her as the Democrats woman to watch before the 2028 presidential election.

Klepper was last spotted in Michigan filming a segment at former President Donald Trumps rally in Warren last October.

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ANN ARBOR, MI - Graduate student instructors now on strike for three weeks at the University of Michigan gained support from a familiar friend to unions -- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The progressive Vermont senator wrote on Twitter that no graduate student worker should be living in poverty at UM, given the universitys $17-billion endowment.

These...workers deserve safe working conditions and living wages, Sanders wrote. The university must bargain a fair contract immediately.

Sanders, who finished second in the last two Democratic presidential primaries, identifies as a democratic socialist who frequently supports unions and criticizes capitalism. The Graduate Employees Organization, on strike since March 29, consists of more than 2,200 members.

While Sanders criticized the university for sitting atop its $17-billion endowment, Michigan law states endowment assets, unless otherwise stated by the donor, are restricted to be used for the intent of the donor and may be appropriated in only certain circumstances.

UMs endowment is made up of more than 12,400 separate endowments that are mostly donor-restricted, officials stated in an endowment FAQ.

To ensure continuing support for future generations, the funds themselves are not spent but invested so that part of the annual distribution can provide a steady flow of dollars each year, officials said. The university distributes about 4.5% of its endowment every year, or $765 million, officials said.

The union is seeking, among other items on its platform, an annual wage of $38,500 for each of its members. That would equate to $84.7 million in wages alone for the 2,200 union members.

The groups current contract expires May 1.

A judge, acting on behalf of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, ruled April 18 that the union should end the strike after it violated the current agreements no-strike clause.

The union plans to continue striking and appeal the judges decision, said union secretary Karthik Ganapathy. The university wants to resolve the matters at the bargaining table, said university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald.

While the university has worked diligently to ensure that the negative impact felt by students is minimized, it is in the best interest of the entire campus community, especially our undergraduate students, for GEO to stop its strike and return to the classroom, Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Sanders last visited Ann Arbor during the 2020 presidential campaign, stumping for President Joe Biden in the Kerrytown neighborhood.

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FLINT, MI -- Grant F. Hamady, the long-time owner and broker of a Flint-based real estate company, has died at 84.

Hamady died Wednesday, April 19, and funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 26, at Swartz Funeral Home, 1225 West Hill Road.

Born in Flint, Hamady owned Grant Hamady Realty, specializing in residential property in Flint, particularly in the citys College and Cultural neighborhood.

He was one of four children of the late Jack Hamady, the former president of Hamady Bros., which at its peak owned 37 supermarkets in Genesee County.

I am saddened to learn of the passing of Grant Hamady. Like the entire Hamady family, Grant found many ways to serve our community, including in the military, as a realtor and a businessman, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Twp., said in a statement issued by his office. He never forgot his hometown of Flint and was always looking to give back. Our community is a better place to work, live and raise a family because of Grants work. He was a very good friend, and I will miss him dearly.

Hamady graduated from the University of Michigan with a business degree after serving in the Army, according to his son, David Hamady. He worked as a real estate agent before starting his own company in the early 1970s.

The company was later affiliated with Weichert Realtors and Grant Hamady never stopped working at the business.

He had a work ethic like nobody else. He worked constantly, David Hamady said of his father. He dedicated all of his time to his company.

That dedication likely came from Grant Hamady having seen his own father, Jack, a native of Lebanon, routinely wake at 3 a.m. to travel to Detroit for produce for the Flint-area Hamady grocery stores.

David Hamady said his father never entertained the idea of fully retiring but later in life, facing health challenges, he conceded he might slow down but would continue to work seven days a week -- just maybe a little less than he used to.

Through his work, his son said, he was able to encourage others to take advantage of their opportunities in real estate and property management.

He always looked to give somebody an opportunity, David Hamady said. He was just very kind and willing to help people.

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Civil War reenactor Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, of Winchester, Virgina pleaded guilty this week for placing a pipe bomb on the pretend battlefield. The bomb didn't explode but caused the organizers to cancel the reenactment. Doesn't he know that pipe bombs weren't used in the Civil War? Why would Drake do such a thing? Welp, turns out he's a total asshole. From NBC News:

He also admitted writing letters in 2017 and 2018 in which he falsely portrayed himself as part of a group of antifa activists who were targeting the reenactments because they believed them to glorify slavery. The letters threatened violence at subsequent Cedar Creek reenactments as well as an annual Remembrance Day Parade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

"This defendant sought to intimidate and harm innocent people, and further, he tried to sow discontent by falsely claiming that the attempted bombing was politically motivated," said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Christopher Kavanaugh, whose office prosecuted the case.
FLINT, MI -- A new program that would pay a cash allowance to every expectant Flint mother and her children during their first year of life has gained an important benefactor.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation said in a news release on Thursday, April 20, that it intends to grant up to $15 million over three years to Michigan State University to support the launch of Rx Kids, a demonstration project for the nation that aims to provide all expectant mothers a one-time prenatal allowance of $1,500 and all families with infants an additional $500 in monthly payment.

The support from Mott is described by the foundation as a $15 million challenge grant -- a one-to-one match that will unlock once Rx Kids raises an additional $15 million from other sources.

RxKids is led by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician whose research helped end the Flint water crisis by exposing rising levels of lead in the blood of young children living in the city.

Through Rx Kids, families will be prescribed a total of $7,500 in cash, the Mott Foundation announcement says. All pregnant women and infants who are residents of Flint will be eligible for the program regardless of income and allowances can be spent in whatever way families think is best.

Mott said the MSU College of Human Medicine plans to begin enrollment for the program in 2024, with the intent of continuing the initiative for at least five years.

The program is a collaboration between MSU and the University of Michigan and is partnered with H. Luke Shaefer, a professor and national expert on child allowances. Its supported by the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, the Greater Flint Health Coalition, GiveDirectly, and other residents and nonprofit organizations.

Were supporting Rx Kids because of the boldness of its approach to significantly reducing childhood poverty and associated negative health effects, Ridgway White, Mott Foundation president and chief executive officer said in a statement released by the foundation. While similar projects elsewhere have focused on smaller or more unique cohorts, nothing like this has been done on a citywide scale. Were excited to see how it could help children and families -- both in Flint and throughout the country.

Hanna-Attisha spoke of the Rx Kids program last month during a Flint City Council meeting.

She said then Rx Kids expects to request a part of Flints American Rescue Plan Act funds when community grants are considered later this year and that shes been working to raise the $10 million needed for the programs first year of operation.

In addition to city and grant funds, Hanna-Attisha said she has also made funding appeals to the state and federal governments.

Backers of the program identify Flint as the poorest city in Michigan with more than 80% of young children living in poverty in many neighborhoods. Census Bureau data from 2017 ranked the city as the poorest municipality of its size in the nation with nearly 39% of residents and 60% of children living in poverty.

Mott said in its announcement that the impacts of poverty, the water crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic mean local children face daunting obstacles to growing up healthy.

Early childhood science has demonstrated the lifelong consequences of adversity, but also the promise of bold, preventative and justice-driven interventions, Hanna-Attisha said in the foundations news release. Driven by our visionary Flint parents and children, Rx Kids is a much-needed infusion of joy, hope and opportunity for the entire city ...

Read more at The Flint Journal:

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A former Michigan congressman says he received death threats during his time in office.

In talking about his experience with political violence, former U.S. rep. Peter Meijer told the gathered audience Wednesday night that he knows other elected officials who had to take their kids out of school due to harassment and violence threats. The violent threats against female politicians are even worse, he added.

A Kent County government official, who detailed in an email to county commissioners in 2021 his fears for the safety of his family due to backlash to his COVID-19 health order, addressed the effect political violence can have on governmental employees.

Over the last three years, nearly half of the staff at the Kent County Health Department have left their job because of mounting polarization and violent threats surrounding the countys COVID-19 mitigation policies, said health officer Adam London.

London and Meijer shared their experiences dealing with polarization and violent threats during a moderated discussion about political violence Wednesday. The discussion was part of an annual Progressive/Conservative Summit hosted by Grand Valley State Universitys Common Ground Initiative.

In Michigan and across the U.S., there has been a rise in political violence against public and elected officials  a trend that London and Meijer attributed, in part, to a loss of trust in public institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The materialized violence is relatively rare, but the threats can be very constant, Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, said April 19 in Grand Rapids.

I think we learned during the pandemic that people who are isolated, who are excluded, who are disenfranchised  and in many cases, theyre receiving information thats not complete  they tend to manifest behaviors that are disorderly, London said.

RELATED: I need help: Kent Countys top health official tells commissioners after threats, road rage over COVID-19 response

Democrats and Republicans are targeted equally by political violence, and the threats come from Americans from both sides of the political spectrum, the health officer said.

We see that on both sides, London said. This is not exclusive to one side or the other.

While violent threats only make up a small minority of views expressed by Americans, they tend to be the loudest, Meijer said. Social media has created an echo chamber that amplifies the most extreme and angry opinions, he said.

The amplification of those angry voices has led to more people feeling like they cant trust their elected officials to represent their best interests, the former congressman said.

I think the violence we saw over the summer of 2020 and the violence of the Capitol on Jan. 6 was folks believing that they could not address their frustrations through the institutions, that the institutions that we have were irreparably corrupt or irreparably delegitimate, Meijer said. And so the only thing left then, the logical conclusion is to work outside of those institutions.

The governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic added fuel to the fire of political polarization, Meijer said.

He referenced mixed messaging from the CDC at the start of the pandemic, when the surgeon general tried to avoid a medical mask shortage by telling the public not to buy N95 masks and claiming they wouldnt work. The CDCs response made people feel like the government thought the public was stupid, he said.

There was the ping-pong between, masks dont work, to, now you have to wear a mask, Meijer recalled. That, I think, leads to that sense of mistrust.

Meijer said government entities need to do better at not treating Americans like they are dumb, because people will notice.

People are smart, he said. And I think its important for officials to always recognize that, because as soon as you start to treat your constituents as one manipulatable mob, youre going to just ensure that thats how they end up viewing themselves to fit that.

London said the Kent County Health Department is working to improve the communitys trust by getting back to focusing on resources and services not related to COVID-19: Things like hearing, vision, food safety, lead inspections and more.

Were really getting back to the things that we have done well and do well, he said. We offer programming on a huge variety of issues, and we have people who are trained as experts in a wide variety of areas.

When it comes to preventing political violence and repairing the distrust between the public and government, Meijer said its everyones responsibility.

Political violence is something that is abhorrent toward democratic process, he said. Its abhorrent to the way that our country operates. In a participatory democracy, theres nobody who doesnt bear some obligation. It may be larger or smaller depending on your ability to project influence, but everybody bears that responsibility.

London agreed, and urged community members to spread kindness and promote a sense of unity rather than focusing on divisions.

We need to get back to having a shared sense of mission and purpose in the community, and thinking kindly of one another, he said.

Wednesdays discussion was moderated by Megan Rydecki, director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies.

Each year, the Hauenstein Center hosts a Progressive/Conservative Summit, bringing policymakers and scholars together to find actionable common ground on issues facing our polarized democracy. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation partners with Hauenstein Center to create the annual summit event.

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JACKSON COUNTY, MI -- Charges against an 18-year-old man accused of causing a fatal crash have been temporarily dismissed to allow police to investigate further, officials said.

A ruling of nolle prosequi -- which translates to will no longer prosecute -- was entered in the case of Cross Herrera before a pretrial hearing April 19, according to court records.

Herrera previously faced a misdemeanor charge of moving violation causing death stemming from a July 19, 2022 vehicle crash on Behling Road in Concord Township resulting in the death of Amber Taylor.

The charge was dismissed without prejudice -- meaning it could be reinstated at a later date, or Herrera could face new charges altogether -- said assistant prosecuting attorney Steve Idema.

The dismissal was ordered by prosecutors to allow the Michigan State Police time to further investigate the case, Idema said.

Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jerry Jarzynka previously said prosecutors planned to ask for additional investigation to see if more evidence can be gathered to support increasing the criminal charge following an April 4 meeting with Taylors family. This was meant to be the subject of Wednesdays scheduled hearing before Jackson County District Judge Robert Gaecke Jr.

The crash took place at about 6:27 a.m. June 19, 2022, when the vehicle Herrera was allegedly driving left the road, destroying two mailboxes before striking a tree, police said. Taylor died from her injuries while Herrera was hospitalized.

Police previously said alcohol may have been a factor in the crash. A Freedom of Information Act request submitted by MLive is still pending at the time of this story.

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MUSKEGON, MI  A four-year-old case came to a close with the sentencing of four Muskegon County Sheriffs corrections officers.

The four jail workers were sentenced Thursday, avoiding any time behind bars for their roles in the death of a jail inmate.

Through plea deals, deputies Jeffrey Patterson, Crystal Greve and Jamall Lane and Sgt. David Vanderlaan pleaded no contest to willful neglect of duty on Thursday, April 20, in connection to inmate Paul Bulthouses death inside a Muskegon County Jail cell.

They were each originally charged with involuntary manslaughter - failure to perform a legal duty. The codefendants were sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.

The case was prosecuted by the Attorney Generals Office after the Muskegon County Sheriffs Office found no wrongdoing in its investigation back in 2019.

This is a tragic case that only highlights the need for legislative efforts when it comes to the care and custody of those individuals who are detained or incarcerated, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a prepared statement.

Bulthouse was in a single-person detoxification cell when he suffered 18 seizures over the course of 4  hours before dying on April 4, 2019.

Bulthouse, who was on suicide watch, died because of gross neglect from the people who were supposed to be checking on him every 15 minutes, Nessel said.

Jail officials saw Bulthouse having continuous and numerous seizures through video surveillance and in-person and did not offer medical care.

Nessel said the sentences come after numerous lengthy court hearings, a lack of cooperation from critical and necessary witnesses, and adverse rulings regarding key pieces of evidence.

This was a horrible loss of life, that may have been avoided but for the inexcusable neglect of four deputies who serve roles of public service, Nessel said.

Marc Curtis, representing the deputies, disputed Nessels characterization. The pleas come a month before they were scheduled for trial.

The Defense was prepared to demonstrate that the Deputies were put in a no-win situation while performing their duties with the utmost honor. At trial, evidence would have shown that the medical staff, not these deputies, neglected Mr. Bolthouse even after being alerted of his deteriorating condition by these same deputies, Curtis wrote in an email to MLive.

Curtis claimed an aggressive defense strategy prompted the Attorney General to offer a deal.

After the death, Bulthouses family filed a lawsuit against the county alleging that authorities covered up circumstances of his death. The defendants in the lawsuit were Muskegon County, healthcare provider Wellpath, and workers for both organizations, as defendants.

The family reached a $2.4 million settlement in October 2021.

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MOUNT PLEASANT, MI  For months after his wife died, an Isabella County man told no one. Instead, he allegedly kept her body in a kitchen freezer in his rural home.

With police having recently discovered the body during a well-being check, the widower is now facing a criminal charge.

Terrell L. York, 54, on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 19, appeared in Isabella County District Court for arraignment on one count of concealing the death of an individual. The charge is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The arraigning judge set Yorks bond at $5,000 cash-surety. As of Friday morning, York remains jailed.

According to an affidavit penned by deputies and contained in court files, Isabella County Sheriffs deputies on Tuesday morning were contacted by the daughter of Yorks wife, 67-year-old Patricia M. York. The daughter, living in North Dakota, said she had not heard from her mother in two years and was concerned for her, saying he had Alzheimers disease.

Deputies went to the Yorks home in the 800 block of West Baseline Road in Deerfields Township. Terrell York told them his wife had moved out and was living with family in Newaygo. He would not elaborate further, deputies wrote in the affidavit.

Deputies arrested York on an outstanding warrant of third-offense driving while under the influence, which authorities issued in October 2021.

Patricia Yorks sister tried calling her sister multiple times after this, but could not reach her, she said.

Interviewed in jail, Terrell York told deputies his wife had moved out a year prior, packing up her clothes and driving off in their Ford SUV. He did not explain why she moved out or where she moved to, deputies wrote.

His answers were erratic and he was looking all around the room throughout the interview, deputies wrote. He said she did not want her family to know where she was living.

Terrell York said his wife later returned the SUV to him and he last saw her three to four weeks prior. He refused to give deputies permission to search his home.

Deputies then spoke with the Yorks landlord, who said Patricia York had paid him rent in cash until a year and a half ago, when she told him she had cancer. After that, Terrell York brought over the rent money.

The landlord advised he asked Terrell every month how Patricia was doing with her cancer, deputies wrote. He would say she was getting treatment or something like that.

The landlord was never told Patricia York had moved out and assumed she still lived there, though he hadnt seen her in more than a year, he told deputies.

Deputies obtained a search warrant for the Yorks home.

There was no power to the home, it was filthy, smelled and had animal feces throughout the floors, deputies wrote.

Deputies found a chest freezer in the kitchen. On opening it, they found Patricia Yorks body inside.

The body was partially frozen and appeared to have been inside for quite a length of time, wrapped in a blanket, deputies wrote.

Deputies then reinterviewed Terrell York in jail. He told deputies his wife died Sept. 13, 2022, of natural causes. He said he did not tell anyone, and instead placed her body in the freezer, deputies wrote.

He advised he was scared because she was so sick before she died, deputies wrote.

Terrell York also said his wife was receiving Social Security payments. He did not notify the Social Security Administration of his wifes death and continued receiving her benefit, which he spent on food and bills, deputies wrote.

Sheriff Michael J. Main said an autopsy was conducted on Patricia Yorks remains, preliminary results of which indicate no foupl play in her death. Toxicology results are still pending before a final ruling on her cause and manner of death can be issued.

Terrell York is to appear for a preliminary examination at 11 a.m. on May 4.

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SAGINAW, MI  After months of treatment, a Saginaw teenager accused of killing his 10-year-old stepsister has had his mental state restored enough for trial.

A handcuffed and jumpsuit-clad Jameion L. Peterson, 14, on Thursday, April 20, appeared before Saginaw County Judge Elian E.H. Fichtner for a competency hearing.
SAGINAW, MI  Going on three years ago, a Saginaw County 3-year-old girl died when a drunken man allegedly sat on her. Now, the man in question has accepted a plea deal that will likely see him face prison time.

John E. Graves, 57, on April 4 appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello and pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, the lone charge he faced. The charge is a 15-year felony.

Borrello indicated he would sentence Graves within his advisory sentencing guidelines, which have been calculated at 19 to 38 months.

By pleading no contest rather than guilty, Graves did not admit to having a committed a crime. Borrello had to rely on other documents to enter a conviction on the record.

The conviction stems from the Sept. 20, 2020, death of Paris N. Sharp. In an October 2021 preliminary examination, forensic pathologist Dr. Randy S. Tashjian testified he performed an autopsy on Paris remains and ruled she died of asphyxiation.

In the same hearing, Paris grandmother, Stephanie Steward, testified she resided at Northfield Center Apartments in Bridgeport Township in September 2020. On the night of the 19th, she had Graves and others over to her unit. Paris was one of two children present.

The adults drank and played cards while the children played with a dollhouse, Steward said. As the night progressed, Steward had a woman guest go to sleep as she was intoxicated and arguing with Graves, she said.

Steward steadfastly maintained Graves was not intoxicated, however.

A little before 5 a.m. on Sept. 20, Steward went upstairs to lie down and Graves said he would watch over the two children in the first-floor living room. At the time, Paris and the other child were sleeping feet-to-feet on a couch, Steward said.

He said, You know Ill watch over the babies, sis. You know I love them, Steward said.

Steward went to sleep, with her next memory being her daughter screaming.

My Paris was on the ottoman, Steward said. Someone put her on the ottoman and put a sheet over her face. She was not responsive. She had a red mark on her cheek.  I was screaming, What happened?! What happened?!

Steward saw Paris in that state about 7 a.m., she said. Graves was still in the apartment at the time, she said.

A few days later, Steward spoke with Graves at another house and encouraged him to surrender to authorities. He told her, It was a mistake, she said.

Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Chris Siegert testified he responded to Stewards apartment the morning of Sept. 20, 2020. At the time, Paris body was lying on the floor, he said.

Siegert noticed a distinctive red mark on Paris cheek, about the size of a quarter, he said. The lip of a vodka bottle recovered from between couch cushions lined up with the injury, he added.

Siegert and another detective interviewed Graves at police headquarters on the afternoon of Sept. 20, 2020. Graves was not under arrest at the time.

He basically said he didnt have a whole lot of knowledge as to what had happened, Siegert said.

Siegert interviewed Graves again on Sept. 26, 2020. In this second interview, Graves said he believed he sat on the couch and realized he was sitting on one of the children.

He said he sat on Paris for approximately 15 minutes and realized what had happened and got up from his seated position, Siegert said.

Graves gave different accounts of what he did immediately thereafter, the sergeant said. In one version, Graves said he moved Paris body from the couch to an ottoman.

He did make some statements, too, that he knew he was intoxicated and he had drank two pints of vodka and he thought maybe a couple beers also, Siegert said.

Graves only grew emotional during his second interview with police, Siegert said.

I think he was sad for what he had done, Siegert said.

Detectives did not read Graves his Miranda rights during this second interview but told him he was free to go at any time, Siegert said.

Police in Des Moines, Iowa, arrested Graves in June 2021, after which he was extradited to Michigan.

Paris had a smile that lit up the room, her obituary states. She was so sweet and energetic and stood out with her sandy brown hair. That is one of the reasons we called her Pear Bear.

Paris loved music and most of all she loved taking selfies with her grandmothers phone, the obituary continues. Paris will truly be missed by our entire family.

Judge Borrello is to sentence Graves at 1:30 p.m. on June 14.

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Michigans senators voted Wednesday to repeal a nearly century-old law prohibiting unwed men and women from living together  a move half of all Republicans in the chamber objected.

This type of family structure lends itself to instability and is not the optimal environment for raising children, Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, said. The problem with this reform is that it fails to recognize the secondary effects. ... This is a policy I cannot get behind, because there is clear and overwhelming evidence to show that it is better for children to be in a household with married parents.

Arguments on the topic came the same day senators advanced red flag legislation, which would temporarily remove firearms from people at risk of harming themselves or others.

Senate Bill 56 strikes from Michigan law the idea that an unmarried man and woman living together are inherently committing lewd and lascivious behavior. Under that 1931 law, a couple found guilty could be jailed for no more than a year or fined up to $1,000.

Couples, however, could not be prosecuted after one year from the time the offense was committed.

Michigan and Mississippi are the only states that still have this law, according to a 2016 Senate Fiscal Agency analysis of a prior bill with the same intent as SB 56.

The bill passed April 19 in a 29-9 bipartisan vote, with all nay votes coming from Republicans  something Democrats panned when talking to reporters following session.

What year are they living in? Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, joked. I hate to laugh, but ... I mean, I cant imagine, in the year 2023, that either they themselves or people that they know have not lived together before they were married.

Albert and Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, both rose to oppose the legislation. They spent the bulk of their remarks opining on how removing the law endorses what could occur to children parented by an unmarried couple in a broken home.

Albert, however, acknowledged the penalty should be removed from law. The policy of prohibiting cohabitation by having a criminal penalty is not good policy, he said.

Still, he pushed back on the idea that cohabitation before marriage was positive.

Alberts issues werent only with the concept that unmarried couples living together was a poor environment for children  he said children with married parents are more likely to succeed academically and go to college and less likely to be in poverty  but that it also paved the way for unjustly earned tax benefits.

Federal law prevents taxpayers from claiming some dependents if their relationship violates state law, Albert said. The bill before us today would clear the way for two unmarried individuals living together to meet dependency requirements and claim those tax benefits.

McBroom echoed those arguments. He said, explaining his own no vote, the initial reason for this bill was not to be mean or stodgy. It was passed because it was better for society  in particular, children.

A repeal of this law is not a promotion of the common good, McBroom said. Cohabitation has been consistently shown to decrease the resilience and permanence of marriage, and to decrease the potential that marriage happens at all. ... Broken homes are incredibly damaging to the future of children.

Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, rose to defend her bill, albeit somewhat incredulously.

I wasnt anticipating a floor discussion about this bill but figured Id take the opportunity to say a few things, she said. This bill is not about a moral issue, its not about changing peoples behavior, its not about marriage rates  its really just about bringing us into the 21st century.

As unmarried couples living together could meet dependency requirements, Chang noted that Michigans prohibition on unmarried men and women living together could legally prevent them from doing so.

Bill proponents have since pushed for the 1931 law to be deleted from statute altogether, for clarity purposes.

The bill now moves to the House for further consideration.

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Michigan lawmakers gave the final approval Thursday, April 20 to award a controversial electric vehicle battery project millions in state funding.

The state gave Gotion Inc. $175 million for a $2.4 billion battery parts plant in Mecosta County. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 10-9 to transfer grants to the Gotion project.

Funding comes from the Strategic Outreach and Reserve Fund  a pot of economic incentive dollars created to lure big business. SOAR grants awarded by the Michigan Strategic Fund then require legislative approval.

Gotion announced plans last year to invest $2.4 billion and create 2,350 jobs at two sprawling battery plants in Mecosta County.

Jerrilynn Strong, chair of the Mecosta County Commission, said during Thursdays Senate hearing the project is a great opportunity for people across the county. She also expressed disappointment at a small but vocal group of opponents, which she called professional picketers.

All of them think that they speak for the county, she said. They do not.

The project was put under a microscope after the Michigan Strategic Fund gave it $715 million in state incentives including a 30-year tax break valued at $540 million and two grants totaling $175 million. Senators gave the grants the green light on Thursday.

In a room packed full of people in opposition of the project, including Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo, many voiced concerns about the companys ties to China.

If you choose to give this money to Gotion, you are a traitor to this your republic, you are a traitor to your children, Karamo said.

Related: Tensions with China overshadow rural Michigan battery plant

Gotion is a U.S. wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese company Gotion High Tech. The publicly-held company established its headquarters in the Silicon Valley area in 2014.

Gotion Vice President of North America Operations Chuck Thelen has repeatedly pushed back on rumors that Gotion is associated with the Chinese Community Party.

He shared a statement Thursday regarding a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. After a four-week investigation into national security risks, there was no further action needed and they may proceed with the transfer, it stated.

Related: No communist plot: Gotion addresses claims about Michigan battery plant

Local residents who traveled from Mecosta County believe officials did not give the environmental impact of building a plant near the Muskegon River due diligence. They feel the process was rushed and didnt take resident viewpoints into consideration.

Marjorie Steele, a Big Rapids resident, said she was only notified of the project last month.

She said the community will continue to fight the construction of the plant and will hold the lawmakers who approved it accountable.

Were not just talking about the next elections, Steele said. If we have to recall senators, thats exactly what well do.

Three Democrats  Sens. Rosemary Bayer of Keego Harbor, Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor and Sylvia Santana of Detroit  voted with Republican committee members against the transfer.

Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, said she didnt want to speak on behalf of her Democratic counterparts, but she believes the committee did its due diligence in having conversations and seeking out information related to the project.

Lawmakers delayed last week a vote to approve the funding so the Michigan Economic Development Corporation could provide details related to national security and environmental risks. They instead approved two other electric vehicle battery projects for Ford Motor Co. and Our Next Energy worth $410 million in state funding.

The Ford project has also faced pushback from residents, in Marshall Township. Opponents to the 950-acre development are concerned the project will scar the natural landscape and destroy historic farmsteads.

Michigan is using SOAR dollars to compete in a high stakes race for multi-billion-dollar electric vehicle developments. Tied with Tennessee as a top state for investments, Michigan has landed $16.6 billion in electric vehicle projects in the past five years.

Read more from MLive:

Fords $3.5B plant bringing jobs  and disappointment  for Marshall residents

Michigan startup investing $1.6B in EV battery gigafactory, creating 2,112 jobs

Ford says Chinese government has no role in $3.5B Michigan plant
Abena Serwaa Frimpong Manso, the Ghanaian socialite known as Shugatiti, is facing backlash from some Christians after suing a pastor for defamation.

Shugatiti filed a lawsuit against Pastor Frank Gogo, also known as Prophet Ekatso, alleging that defamatory statements he made about her during a radio interview caused harm to her reputation and business.

In the interview, Pastor Ekatso claimed that Shugatiti is possessed by a marine spirit and that all those who visit her restaurant will end up being possessed.

He warned women to stay away from her restaurant or risk becoming possessed themselves.

Shugatiti argues these statements portray her as a demon possessed person of questionable character who is dangerous to associate with.

Her lawsuit seeks damages, a public apology, and removal of the interview from the media houses YouTube channel.

After news of the lawsuit spread, some Christians criticized Shugatiti for taking legal action against a pastor.

In response to her tweet announcing the suit, a Twitter user with the handle King asked her: So havent you heard about touch not my anointed that you don't value it?
Terry Kristopher Flournoy, 23, was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms. Terry Kristopher Flournoy, 23, posed with a handgun on social media. Terry Kristopher Flournoy, 23, is headed back to jail for another 2 1/2-year sentence.

According to court documents, officers from the Fort Myers Police Department arrested Flournoy on April 27, 2020, on an active warrant after he had posted a video on Instagram from a Fort Myers area restaurant. When arrested, officers located a loaded Glock pistol. Flournoy's fingerprint was later located on the magazine of the firearm.

Absurd carceral American bullshit. All the same, how hard is it to not flash your piece on Insta?
Musician Michael Ivan Nyagamagu, popularly known as Chief One, has defied language barriers to become a global sensation with his Ewe laced hit songs.

The young artiste, whose hit songs such as "Wotelewoea," "Du Agbe" and "Toyota" have gained popularity both locally and internationally, has made it to the Top 100 songs in the Chinese music charts with his single "Young Boy."

In a recent interview on Accra-based TV3 New Day, Chief One expressed his excitement about his global music success and the quality of his music as the reason for his popularity.

He said, "I play in Togo and other countries. Music is a language in itself and currently, my music, 'Young Boy,' is in the Top 100 China Charts."

Chief One remains optimistic about his music, stating that his home language, Ewe, is not a barrier to his success.

He added, "Aside from Ghana, the country with my most streams is the United States of America."

His unique blend of Ewe language and Hip-Hop beats has captured the hearts of music lovers around the world, and he continues to dominate the global music scene.

As a nominee for VGMA New Artiste of the Year, Chief One's success story is an inspiration to aspiring musicians.
To mark his 70th birthday celebration, the Minister for National Security, Honourable Albert Kan-Dapaah made a donation in cash to Talking Tipps Africa Foundation.

The donation was to enable the Foundation carry out its mission of advocating inclusion for persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other disabilities as well as training parents and supporting persons with ASD to achieve their maximum potential.

He said it is important that society does not shirk its responsibilities towards the less privileged in society.

My passion is to see every child or person with disability succeed and not left behind. We are all made in Gods image, he said.

On her part, the Founder of Talking Tipps Africa Foundation, Gifty Ayoka expressed gratitude to Albert Kan Dapaah for the kind gesture.

According to her, the support will go a long way to enhance the Foundation's campaign and awareness creation on Autism in Ghana.

She called on other individuals and organizations to emulate the kind gesture of the Minister to help deepen awareness of Autism in Ghana.

About Talking Tipps Africa Foundation

Talking Tipps Africa Foundation is an organization that offers speech and language therapy services to persons with communication disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

It also advocates for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in schools, workplaces etc as well as offers training for caregivers of persons with disabilities.
Government Spokesperson on Governance and Security, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah has said government would continue to foster an environment that will allow both permitted large-scale and small-scale mining firms to operate successfully in the nation.

He said despite the complexity and difficulty in bringing the situation under control, government will not rest on its oars until the fight against galamsey is finally won.

"The government must address illicit small-scale mining, just as it must address all other pressing problems in our nation; however, in order to do so, we will need the help and collaboration of all relevant parties," he stated.

According to him, mining companies play a crucial and important role in the development and expansion of Ghana's economy, and the government will implement any measures or provide any assistance that will make it easier for them to operate profitably.

He revealed that establishing the right conditions for a profitable mining business requires making sure that the minerals are obtained from reliable sources.

Traceability is key to us because we discourage people mining in our forests and people mining illegally and if these minerals are secured or procured from illegal miners then you need to find a way of ending it, he said.

He reiterated that the fight against illegal mining is a shared responsibility that must have the active participation of every Ghanaian.

"In light of this, government's aggressive push to eradicate illicit small-scale mining will not be successful if all parties, including the average Ghanaian, do not play their part in the conflict," Palgrave Boakye-Danquah told GhOne TV.

He argued that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and other organizations did a fantastic job by facilitating the efficient and successful operation of security agencies engaged in the conflict.
"His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led NPP government is fully committed to the well-being of the vulnerable in society for them to be self-sufficient so that they won't have to be dependent on their families," Gomoa West District Chief Executive, Hon Bismark Baise Nkum has said.

This, he noted the NPP Government quickly increased the percentage of the Disability Fund Component of the District Assembly Common Fund to increase the number of beneficiaries.

"Since 2017, a good number of Persons With Disability in the Gomoa West District have gotten their fair share of the fund to transform their lives leading to self-sufficient and less dependant on their families," he stated.

Hon. Bismark Baise Nkum said this when he presented six Deep Freezers to some Persons living With Disability at their different locations to save the cost of travelling from their communities to receive the items.

According to the DCE, hitherto the Assembly through the Department of Social Welfare, organise a durbar for the distribution of the items to the beneficiaries who had to travel from various destinations to the District Capital at Apam.

"We realised that the method was causing financial burden to the beneficiaries so the Assembly decided to reach out to them at their doorsteps instead of them risking their lives.

"Today we have been able to reach out to 6 Physical Disabled people at Gomoa Akyempim, Gomoa Kokofu, Gomoa Ansteadze, Apam and Gomoa Dago to enable them generate income for themselves and their families. These Deep Freezers will add value to their lives by using them for various businesses.

"I want to appeal to Chiefs, elders and opinion leaders in the various communities to assist the Assembly identify Persons With Disability in their areas so that we can register them in our database to become can benefit from the Disability Fund.

"As I speak, the Assembly has enough wheelchairs to be given to physically challenged persons for easy movement. Let's support our Assemblymembers to reach out to such people who are facing challenges in their movement," he stated.

The Gomoa West District Chief Executive added that the method of reaching out to PWDs would continue unabated till the last person is served.

"I want to thank His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana for giving me such an amazing opportunity to serve the good people of the Gomoa West District. Am seriously discharging my assigned duties of ensuring infrastructure development and improvement in the quality of lives of the people.

"Today, Persons With Disability can boast of a Corn Mill Machine at Gomoa Abonko which is generating income for the Gomoa West District branch of the Federation of Persons With Disability made up of the Blind, Deaf and Physically Challenged.

"The leadership of the Federation used the fund for the welfare of members. Additionally, individual Member of the Federation has benefited from laptops, fufu grindling machines, hair dryers, sewing machines and financial support to expand their businesses.

"Before I became a DCE, the fund was been disbursed to individual beneficiaries, but we realized that most of them did not use it for the intended purpose of improving their standard of living, some family members also borrowed from them but eventually failed to repay leaving them to square one so we had to change the method," the DCE noted.

The DCE was accompanied by the Gomoa West District Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr. Kras Arthur and other officials from the Assembly.
Burundian authorities said Wednesday a search has been launched for former prime minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni, seven months after he was sacked in a high-level political purge.

Bunyoni, once police chief and security minister, was fired last September in the first major reshuffle at the top of Burundi's government since President Evariste Ndayishimiye took office in 2020.

Police and intelligence officers searched three properties belonging to Bunyoni on Monday, but found no trace of him, according to security sources and media reports.

"They are still looking for him," Interior Minister Martin Niteretse told a press conference, adding he did not know the reasons behind the operation.

The former prime minister "had been warned in advance that the noose was going to tighten on him, he disappeared into the wild before the arrival of the police", a senior military official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said the authorities had arrested a senior police officer for allegedly telling Bunyoni about the search operations.

Niteretse told reporters a police colonel had been taken into custody, but did not elaborate on the reasons for the arrest.

An influential senior figure in the ruling CNDD-FDD party who was appointed prime minister in 2020, Bunyoni was fired just days after Ndayishimiye warned of a "coup" plot against him.

Bunyoni was seen as the leader of the "hardliners" among the generals who wield true political power in Burundi, with Ndayishimiye himself alluding to his isolation in a 2021 speech.

Ndayishimiye took power in June 2020 after his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza died of what the Burundian authorities said was heart failure amid widespread speculation he succumbed to Covid-19.

He has been hailed by the international community for slowly ending years of Burundi's isolationism under Nkurunziza's chaotic and bloody rule.

But he has failed to improve a wretched record on human rights and the country of 12 million people remains one of the poorest on the planet.

In 2015, Nkurunziza oversaw a crackdown on political opponents that left 1,200 people dead and made Burundi a global pariah.

The turmoil erupted after he had launched a bid for a third term in office, a move the opposition said was unconstitutional and violated a peace deal that ended a bloody civil war in 2006.

The United States and the European Union had imposed sanctions over the unrest that also drove 400,000 people to flee abroad, with reports of arbitrary arrests, torture, killings and enforced disappearances.
As part of its efforts to help develop actionable and outcome-oriented strategies to address the challenges of fluctuating prices facing Ghanas fertilizer and agro-input market, the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), in partnership with Feed the Future Policy LINK, convened a regional conference to discuss innovative approaches to improving the availability and affordability of fertilizer and agro-input to smallholder farmers in Ghana and across Africa.

The conference, themed The Future of Fertilizer and Agro-inputs in Ghana Towards the Soil Health Summit, to be held in Senegal in June, 2023 aimed to address the challenges impacting local supply chains and their negative consequences on the countrys fertilizer and agro-inputs sectors.

The discussion came at a time when stakeholders believe that government must help to address fertilizer and agro-input price fluctuations and disparities in the local market to protect farmers interest and guarantee them sustainable livelihoods.

The conference brought in more than 100 key stakeholders from government agencies, academia, farmer groups, private sector, other African nationals including notable participation by Yaw Frimpong Addo, Member of Parliament, Deputy Minister, Food and Agriculture Ghana, Godfred Seidu Jaswa, Ranking Member for the Select Committee of Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs at the Parliament of Ghana and Prof. Richard Mkandawire, Director of Africa Secretariat, Alliance for African Partnership (AAP), among others to discuss approaches to improving the availability and affordability of fertilizer and agro-input to smallholder farmers.

Speaking at the roundtable conference in Accra, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Ghana, Hon. Yaw Frimpong Addo, disclosed that the Government will need about two billion dollars to establish a fertilizer plant in Ghana to increase the volume of production and resolve the intermittent shortage of the commodity, which affects food production and security.

According to him, fertilizer production must be crop specific to ensure farmers increased productivity adding that the Fertilizer Council was undertaking a national advocacy to promote organic fertilizer use, especially for vegetables, to facilitate all-year round production.

The Ministry would speed up the plan to establish the fertilizer plant because Ghana is blessed with gas deposits, which would facilitate the establishment of the plant and help to cut down cost.

We need public, private partnerships to establish the fertilizer plant because we are all promoting Integrated Soil Fertility Management System to combine both organic and inorganic fertilizers to increase production levels and improve soil fertility and Government is committed to support and provide enabling environment for us to achieve it, he said.

Ranking Member of Parliament Select Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, supported the call by the minister adding that public, private partnership is critical, especially at this time that we facing fluctuating prices in Ghanas fertilizer and agro-input market.

This would ensure availability and affordability of the commodity by small-holder farmers to improve yield, he added.

Chief Executive Officer, AFAP, Michael Sudarkasa, emphasized the need for partnerships and collaboration in addressing the challenges facing the fertilizer and agro-input sectors in Ghana and across Africa.

He revealed that AFAP is committed to working with all stakeholders to develop practical solutions to the challenges facing the agriculture sector in Ghana.

Country Lead for Feed the Future Policy LINK, Yunus Abdulai, expressed his appreciation for the active participation of all stakeholders and noted that the discussions would inform the development of evidence-based policy recommendations to support the fertilizer and agro-input sectors in Ghana.

We are helping deal with agriculture trade facilitation, seeds, fertilizer, access to finance, and climate change as the five key areas the organisation focused on to ensure holistic solution to the sector challenges, he added.

Director, Alliance for African Partnership, Professor Richard Mkandawire, recommended the building of robust small and medium scale enterprises in the fertilizer value chain to boost production.

We need private sector and government to drive the change and transformation of the agriculture sector by leading the advocacy, building infrastructure to ensure accessibility and affordability of fertilizer, and investing in research and extension services to enhance the growth of the sector, he pointed out.
20.04.2023 LISTEN

The State has secured a court order to get the blood sample of Safina Mohammed Adzizatu for a DNA test.

Safina aka Safina Diamond is standing trial for the murder of Frank Kofi Osei, a Canadian.

When sitting resumed on Tuesday, Mr Wilberforce Mensah Ofori, a State Attorney told an Adenta District Court that the State encountered challenges in getting Safina's blood sample for the DNA test.

Thus, the State, he said, was compelled to secure a court order to be served on Safina for her blood sample to be taken.

According to the state attorney the blood sample of Safina had not been taken.

Mr Ofori, therefore, prayed for the court to give the state a month to complete the processes before committal proceedings would be conducted.

However, Safina's lawyers denied she had caused delays in the process.

According to the lawyers led by Gyau Bonsu Baffour Ashia, the State only secured the court order through an ex-parte application and served the order on Safina's mother last Thursday for them to appear before the court on Tuesday.

We are taking steps to set aside the court order served on our client. The state should ensure that processes were completed before the committal proceeding could be conducted, defence counsels said.

The court has adjourned the matter to May 23.

It is expected to conduct the committal proceedings for Safina and her accomplice, Michael Fiifi Ampofo Arku. The committal proceeding would enable them to stand trial at the High Court.

The accused persons have been charged with conspiracy and murder of Fran, a Ghanaian resident in Canada.

Frank was allegedly murdered in cold blood at Ashalley Botwe School Junction in July 2022 when he visited his girlfriend Safina.

Safina and Arku were arrested for their involvement in the murder of Frank.

The two accused persons are currently on bail awaiting committal proceedings.

GNA
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has announced that the countrys economy grew by 3.1% in 2022.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, April 19, Government statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim shared that Ghana's economy was estimated at GHS610 billion in the year 2022 which shows that the economy has expanded by 3.1% lower than 5.4% in 2021.

He further indicated that foreign nationals residing in Ghana have contributed more to our GDP compared to Ghanaians residing abroad looking at the per capita GDP.

The Government Statistician also shared that just as has been witnessed in the past, Ghanas economy is driven by the services sector.

Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim disclosed that the contribution of agriculture to the economy reduced in 2022.

"The economy continues to be driven by the services sector which in the last quarter of 2022 contributed 45.3 % to the GDP of the economy, we saw a marginal increase in the contribution of the industry sector growing from 33.4% in 2021 to 36.0% in 2022.

We saw a reduction in the contribution of the agricultural sector which grew by 22% in 2021 and slowed down to 18.7% deep of about 3.3% in 2022, the Government Statistician said.

Meanwhile, the mining sector grew 13.4% to push Ghana's GDP in the 4th quarter of 2022.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah has called on all universities in the country to build collaborations with start-ups to provide links for business students.

He made the call on Wednesday, April 19, while speaking as the main speaker at an event at Wisconsin International University College (WIUC) organised by the Universitys Business School as part of the maiden Entrepreneurship Week celebration.

In his address on the theme; The role of Business Schools and Industry in developing the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah said Universities have to set up their innovation support activities on campus to help students generate ideas.

He argued that this way, students will come up with various prototypes which can then be commercialised into products which can be sold or even exported to the international market.

While insisting that universities should have innovation labs on campus, the NEIP boss was quick to stress the need for universities to collaborate with the start-up and entrepreneurial community.

There is also a need for the universities to collaborate with the startups and the entrepreneurship ecosystem to provide this business development support for the ecosystem. The knowledge is in the universities, the knowledge is in the business schools so how are the universities collaborating with the Ghana hubs network, the startup community, and all the other groups to ensure that when they are doing the training, the marketing and the strategy and business courses are done by the universities.

So there is the need for us to create channels and have linkages with the startup groups, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah said.

Going on to admonish universities to inculcate in students the forming of partnerships, the NEIP CEO urged students of the Wisconsin International University College Business School to welcome the idea and build partnerships on campus.

Before ending his address, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah assured Wisconsin International University College that he will through his outfit support the school to set up its Innovation Hub.

To conclude, there is a focus on building an entrepreneurial state that empowers young people to be bold, innovative, proactive and dynamic to contribute to the economic transformation of our country and academia and industry have a critical role to play to help the government to achieve this to help us create jobs for the youth, reduce importation through our import substitution programmes and also achieve fiscal consolidation for the country so that we stop going to IMF to borrow.

I want to assure you that we will do whatever we can to support your innovation Centre and forge a strong partnership with Wisconsin University, Kofi Ofosu Nkansah emphasised.

Even before receiving the good news, the President of Wisconsin University College, Prof. Obeng Mireku had in his welcome address stressed the readiness of the school to partner with NEIP.

He added that the school is also ready to work with government to help in promoting entrepreneurship in the country.

Recognising the many efforts by government, Prof. Obeng Mireku used the platform to appeal to government to help Wisconsin International University College establish the schools innovation Centre.

Having congratulated the Dean of the Universitys Business School, heads of department and students for putting together the maiden Entrepreneurial Week, the President assured that the university remains poised to train students to become assets to the country.

The key aspiration of the university is to churn out students who will be beneficial to society. We aim to provide students that are fit for purpose, ready and prepared for the demands of the modern world

Todays forum is one of many initiatives of the University to partner with industry to enhance the capabilities of students to take on the world, Prof. Obeng Mireku noted.

As part of activities to mark the maiden Entrepreneurship Week, the Business School will on Friday, April 21, host a competition dubbed; the Shark Tank Wisconsin.

It is a pitching competition open to students from all faculties to select and reward students with the best original business ideas.

Before the competition on Friday, there will be a free pitching workshop on Thursday, April 20.
National Labour Commission (NLC) has directed the University of Cape Coast (UCC) branch of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSAUoG) to call off its strike within five days.

The Commission says it cannot address the Associations grievances if leadership does not call off the strike as directed.

This followed a meeting hosted by the Commission between management and the leadership of the senior staff on Wednesday, April 19.

The senior staff of UCC have been demanding payment of negotiated allowances and promotions for members.

They declared strike on Thursday, April 13 and have since stayed out of work, affecting students on campus.

The Commission has directed them to call off the strike to enable the Commission hear the matter, so the matter has been adjourned for one week because by law negotiations cannot go on while you are on strike, said Executive Secretary of NLC Ofosu Asamoah.

He told TV3s Daniel Opoku that a meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 26 to continue the arbitration but not after the strike has been called off before then.

National President of SSAUoG Zakari Mohammed admitted that its UCC branch received a letter from NLC not to proceed on strike but it had no option as management also failed to address the grievances.

Both of us flouted because the UCC management was earlier on directed to engage the senior staff [and] they flouted first, he said.

They also violated the directive of the [National] Labour Commission.

The UCC Chairman of SSAUoG, Sandy Kumi Sinatra, justified the strike action and said it was declared before NLCs letter to stay action came in.

We did notify the NLC, he said.The NLC had earlier directed that management should engage us [but] management flouted this and we reported to NLC and added that subsequent to managements refusal to engage us, we gave them a date after which when it elapses we embark on the strike and that date expired and we declared the strike lawfully.

He said the decision to call off the strike remains in the bosom of the National Executive Council (NEC) and not on him as an individual.

3news.com
SpaceX today launched Starship, the largest rocket in history. The unmanned vehicle exploded after takeoffa disappointment to onlookers, but one that came after what SpaceX described as a successful test launch.

SpaceX leadership has repeatedly stressed the experimental nature of the launch and said any result that involved Starship getting off the launchpad would be a success.

Starship is designed to carry cargo and people beyond Earth and is critical to NASA's plan to return astronauts to the moon. Two years ago, SpaceX won a nearly $3 billion contract from NASA to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander. That would see Starship be used for as part of NASA's Artemis moon program, delivering astronauts to the lunar surface from the agency's SLS rocket and Orion capsule.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stressed that the focus of his government is to set the country on the path of rapid development.

According to him, his vision is to have a developed, progressive and prosperous Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo shared this when speaking at the commissioning of the newly constructed Police Barracks at Kwabenya.

Besides the Police barracks, government is also looking at the redevelopment of the Aviation City enclave.

This, obviously, is a great step towards the redevelopment of the Aviation City enclave, which will give a positive facelift to our capital city. Let me assure you of my full commitment to the realisation of this Project towards the Ghana we aspire for. I am confident that, with God's guidance and your support, we will achieve our vision of a developed, progressive and prosperous Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stressed.

The President added, This facility, which I am commissioning today, is the outcome of one such urban renewal programme, the Aviation City Redevelopment Project at the Airport enclave. It is to pave way for this redevelopment that these state-of-the-art facilities have been constructed, through a public-private partnership with Unique Development Company, for our hardworking men and women of the Ghana Police Service.

President Akufo-Addo explained that the commissioning of the Police Barracks at Kwabenya is further testimony of governments unwavering commitment to providing decent accommodation and other facilities for the countrys security personnel.

He said the facility will not only improve the welfare of police officers but will also enhance their capacity to serve the nation even more effectively.
European Union parliamentarians on Tuesday gave the green light for citizens from Kosovo to travel freely in Europe without visas from next year. Kosovo, once a Serbian province in the former Yugoslavia, is the last territory in the Western Balkans without visa-free travel to the EU's Schengen travel area.

The reform was welcomed in Pristina as another step towards full recognition and a boost for the European ambition of a territory that won independence after a 1998-1999 war.

Serbia does not recognise the independence of its former breakaway province. Nor do five EU member states: Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Romania.

The move means that Kosovo's citizens will be able to travel in the 27-nation Schengen passport free area, which includes most EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, for periods of up to 90 days every six months.

Citizens in the Schengen countries will be able to visit Kosovo without visas too. The former Serbian territory was the last country in the Western Balkans region not to have such travel arrangements with the EU.

'Important step'

Kosovo leader Prime Minister Albin Kurti hailed the vote.

"This brings us an important step closer to the European Union and contributing to the richness that the EU offers. Thank you to the MEPs for their support," he said, in a social media post.

The measure will come into force once the new European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is in place to allow member states to better share information.

But if putting the system in place takes too long, the law will still come into effect at the end of 2024.

Dutch Socialist lawmaker Thijs Reuten, who chaperoned the process through the European Parliament, said the move finally enables the people of Kosovo to easily travel, visit relatives and do business in the EU.

But it is more than that, he added in a statement, as the assembly met in Strasbourg. This milestone is also an important foundation for the future and ever-closer cooperation between the EU and Kosovo.

Brussels Agreement

The announcement on the visa coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Brussels Agreement, a document aimed at normalising relations between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo, signed on 19 April 2013 in Brussels under EU auspices.

According to the Euractiv media network, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that "visa liberalisation for Kosovo, in the days around the 10th anniversary of signing the Brussels agreement, is an act of hypocrisy and insolence towards Serbia.

Serbia and Kosovo are both looking to join the EU, but all depends on Belgrade's willingness to recognize its breakaway province as an indpendent state.

There has been some progress.

The same day that Kosovo was allowed visa-free travel within the EU, the Union's External Action Service announced the creation of a Joint Monitoring Committee to oversee the implementation of the "Ohrid Deal", agreed upon on 18 March in Ohrid, North Macedonia, where Kosovo PM Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic orally agreed on formalising relations. The monitoring group will get together on 2 May in Brussels, after which it will meet "regularly."

In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Serbia, urging Vucic to "to find a global and sustainable solution" with Kosovo. His visit was followed by a series of trips by EU leaders, and pressure to set aside differences increased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mutual recognition of Serbia and Kosovo would increase European unity vis-a-vis Russia and fit into Macron's plan of a "sovereign Europe" where Belgrade would be less willing to ask for economic assistance from Russia or China.

(with wires)
The Minister of Energy, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh has hit out at customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) who are refusing to pay their electricity bills.

The Minister joined officials of ECG on Wednesday, April 19, during their rounds to chase debtors to pay what they owe.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the operation, Mathew Opoku Prempeh stressed that it is unacceptable for anyone to refuse to pay after consuming power.

As a country, we cannot continue to countenance the attitude of non-payment of bills, among other illegalities, and expect optimal service delivery, the Energy Minister said.

He further questioned, When you need fuel, you cannot but pay to get it, why cant you do same for the electricity you consume?

Mathew Opoku Prempeh explained that while his Ministry joins ECG to clamp down on all forms of losses and intra-sector debts, customers should understand and appreciate that the financial capacity of the generator, transmitter, and distributor is very much anchored on prompt payment of bills.

He said these 3 segments of the power value chain are symbiotically dependent on each other and therefore there is an urgent need for collaboration to clamp down on all forms of losses.

Through the operation of the Electricity Company of Ghana in the last few weeks, it has been able to recover millions from both private and public institutions.
Wealth In Limited, a Chinese business in Tema Community 12, has converted their residential units into a supermarket, converting residential ECG metres into commercial ones.

Mr. Emmanuel Ankomah, General Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Tema Regional Office, who discovered the fraudulent act during a routine inspection, stated that "as a result of an illegal convention, the company had issues with the tariff class, and they have been put on using their residential place for business purposes."

He went on to say that this meant that the ECG was not formally aware because they had yet to inform them of their commercial activities and that it is difficult to identify fraud even when officials of the ECG inspect their metres until they have suspicions and probe them.

Mr. Ankomah stated that "We will negotiate with them, and then the payment will be made." He added that "we will study the pattern of the bill and make sure we do retrospective billing so that all the components and elements that we had to miscalculate will be recalculated for them to pay."

When customers convert their residential properties to commercial ones, the ECG Rema Regional Manager advises them to notify the business in writing.

Mr Ankomah added that such information would allow the company to switch their metre prices from residential to non-residential.

Concerning the company's continuing nationwide revenue mobilisation campaign, he stated that it has been mainly successful, as some customers are willingly paying their debts, while those who were disconnected for failure to fulfil their obligations have not been restored.

The ECG Tema General Manager, on the other hand, stated that a few problems had been faced throughout the operation, including clients refusing to allow ECG workers to enter their premises to examine their metres.

He stated that a few such occurrences had been recorded in the ECG Nungua District and that the firm had taken measures to resolve them.

Customers were urged to verify the identity cards of the employees and allow them to perform their work since multiple public announcements had been made prior to the exercise, so blocking workers from doing their duties was unacceptable.

"We have identification, so we want to encourage them; if you have any doubts, please ask for the person's ID, and it is not the best if you deny us access to our metres."

"We expect our customers to cooperate with us; we are only in this to dialogue and negotiate in order to collect our money; let's have our money and we have no problems with you; if you resist us from entering your premises, then we need to approach it from a different angle," he remarked.

CDA Consult || Contributor
The National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has admonished members of the Council of State to consider their integrity with regard to the presidents recent appointments to the Electoral Commissions Board.

Sammy Gyamfi stated that the Council should attend to the letter the NDC wrote it to reconsider the appointments of Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani and Dr. Peter Appiahene to the board of the EC.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, the NDCs mouthpiece said all the party wants is to have the Council advise the president to rescind his decision on the appointment of Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani and Dr. Peter Appiahene.

What we are asking the Council of State to do is to purge themselves of this constitutional sacrilege and that is what we intend to achieve with the letter we sent to the Council.

The Council of State is a very important institution in our democratic system so therefore, in their advice to the president, they should be careful to consider the national interest. We believe in their competence and patriotism, and we will be very happy if, in light of the new evidence we have presented, they advise the president to reverse his decision.

Mr. Gyamfi added that the little confidence left in the Electoral Commission will be eroded should the two members remain on the Board.

This is hard evidence relative to the party inclination of these two people. They are publicly known NPP hardliners, and they are unredeemably partisan that if we accept them as members of the Electoral Commission, the whole institution will lose the little integrity and credibility it has left. Dont forget that public confidence in the Electoral Commission is at an all-time low of 10 percent and what we need to do now is what will boost public confidence in government institutions.

The NDC on Wednesday, April 19 wrote to the Council of State to reconsider the appointment of Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani and Dr. Peter Appiahene.

citinewsroom
Over 300 people have died and hundreds wounded in ongoing battles between Sudan's regular army and a powerful paramilitary force after long-running bitter brinkmanship spilled into conflict.

At its heart lies two rival generals, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the large and heavily armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), formed from members of the Janjaweed militia that led years of extreme violence in Darfur.

Together, they seized power in a 2021 coup.

On Saturday, their jostling for power erupted into violence, both in the capital Khartoum and other cities across Sudan, with deafening explosions, air strikes, artillery fire and intense gunfire in densely packed neighbourhoods.

Each general accused the other of starting the fight, and both have made claims they control key sites, which could not be independently verified.

On Thursday, the sixth day of fighting, explosions and gunfire echoed out in Khartoum, with thousands fleeing the city of more than five million people.

Here is what we know so far about the rapidly evolving violence:

Why did rivalry become conflict?

Map locating recent clashes in Sudan. By Sophie RAMIS, Sylvie HUSSON, Emmanuelle MICHEL (AFP)

In October 2021, Burhan and Daglo together orchestrated a coup, upending a fragile transition to civilian rule that had been started after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

Burhan, a career soldier from northern Sudan who rose the ranks under the three-decade rule of now jailed Bashir, took the top job.

Daglo, from Darfur's pastoralist camel-herding Arab Rizeigat people, assumed responsibility as his number two.

But it was only ever "a marriage of convenience", according to independent researcher and policy analyst Hamid Khalafallah.

"It was never a genuine alliance or partnership, they just had to tie their interests together to face the civilians as a united military front," Khalafallah added.

The rift widened, with Daglo -- commonly known as Hemeti -- coming to call the coup a "mistake" that has failed to bring about change and invigorated remnants of Bashir's regime.

This video grab taken from AFPTV video footage on April 19, 2023, shows an aerial view of black smoke covering the sky above the capital Khartoum. By Abdelmoneim SAYED (AFP)

As the army and civilian leaders came together to hammer out a deal to end the political crisis that began with the coup, the integration of the RSF into the regular army became a key sticking point.

For Alan Boswell, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group, Daglo saw in the agreement an opportunity to become "more autonomous from the military" and enact "very large political ambitions".

According to analyst Kholood Khair, a December framework agreement for the deal "ratcheted up tensions between Burhan and Hemeti," when it "elevated Hemeti's position into Burhan's equal, rather than his deputy".

Who are the RSF?

Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group that has its roots in the Janjaweed, have also fought in Yemen. By ASHRAF SHAZLY (AFP)

Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed fighters that now-jailed Islamist dictator Bashir unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in the western Darfur region a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.

The infamous militiamen were part of a campaign of terror that saw Bashir indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Criminal Court.

Experts estimate the RSF number as many as 100,000 gunmen.

In 2015, the heavily armed militia was deployed alongside regular Sudanese forces in the civil war in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition, which helped boost Daglo's profile abroad.

According to experts, the force has also been involved in the conflict in neighbouring Libya.

The RSF has been accused of more atrocities since, in particular as part of a security crackdown after the ouster of Bashir, when at least 128 people were killed in a violent dispersal of a Khartoum sit-in in June 2019.

"The RSF has continued to grow stronger since 2019," Boswell added.

What comes next?

People flee their neighbourhoods amid fighting between the army and paramilitaries in Khartoum on April 19. By - (AFP)

According to Boswell, "this is an existential power struggle on both sides".

As the full-scale fighting entered its sixth day, many suspected that the RSF may be receiving ammunition and supplies from abroad, via neighbouring nations.

Daglo met recently with the son of eastern Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but Haftar's spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari, said Thursday the force "categorically denies" it was backing either side.

Sudan's west, where the RSF also holds positions on the Chadian border, is also still "awash in weapons", said Eric Reeves, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute think tank.

Daglo will try "to use his connection to Chad and his power in Darfur to secure a supply line", he added.

With both generals out for blood, Khair finds it "unlikely they'll come to the negotiating table without one or both of them suffering heavy losses".

A satellite image taken on April 17, 2023 shows an Il-76 transport aircraft burned at Khartoum International Airport. By Handout (Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies/AFP)

Though both continue to make "bellicose" statements against each other, she told AFP, "neither of them will come out of this unscathed".

The longer they battle it out in city streets, she said, the higher the civilian toll climbs and the harder it will be for either general to rule over the wreckage.

"Both sides are strong enough that any war between them will be extremely costly, deadly and long," said Boswell.

Even with a partial victory for either side in Khartoum, "war will continue elsewhere in the country", dividing up Sudan into strongholds, he added.

"We're already in worst case scenario territory, and from here the scenarios only get grimmer and grimmer," he said, warning the impact will ripple throughout the region.

burs/pjm
20.04.2023 LISTEN

The Inspector-General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare has made a promise to the public that the police and other security agencies will collaborate to ensure that peace is maintained in the country.

While speaking at the commissioning of a new police barracks in Accra, the IGP emphasized that the primary purpose of security agencies is to maintain peace, and they will do everything in their power to ensure that Ghana remains peaceful.

He stated that the Police will work with other security agencies to protect Ghana's peace at all times.

My colleagues and I are working in partnership with other security agencies to give you the biggest of assurances to the government and the people of Ghana that we will never sleep nor rest until this country is at peace with itself, said the IGP.

In light of the upcoming 2024 general elections, the Ghana Police Service has engaged with political parties regarding two new security measures put in place.

The first measure is the establishment of the Police Election Security Secretariat, which will work closely with all political parties and stakeholders to manage security for all elections in the country.

The first strategic intervention shared with them is the establishment of the Police Election Security Secretariat to work with all political parties and other stakeholders to enhance the management of security for all elections in the country, a police statement said.

The second measure is the creation of a legal team to examine all politically related incidents and determine if they involve criminal elements before any police action is taken.

The second intervention is the setting up of a dedicated legal team to subject all politically related incidents to legal scrutiny to establish whether there are elements of crime or otherwise before any Police action is taken, part of the statement said.

The police have emphasized that it will not intervene in any situation where there is no criminality involved.

The Police will, therefore, not intervene in any situation where there is no criminality involved, the statement emphasised.
Controversial Ghanaian socialite Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa, popularly known as Afia Schwarzenegger, may soon find herself in jail after escaping the first one in her ongoing feud with Bernard Antwi Boasiako, the Ashanti regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Chairman Wontumi, as he is popularly called, has filed a motion in the Tema High Court seeking to enforce the bond Afia Schwarzenegger executed after being convicted of contempt of court in January.

In December 2022, Afia Schwarzenegger was sentenced to 10 days in prison for contempt of court over provocative social media posts about a defamation case filed against her by Chairman Wontumi.

The court later suspended the sentence and asked her to sign a good behavior bond for 36 months.

However, Chairman Wontumi claims Afia Schwarzenegger has continued to insult and attack him on social media in violation of the bonds terms.

He submitted videos to the court allegedly showing Afia Schwarzenegger engaging in verbal abuse, nudity, and discussing details of the ongoing defamation case during an interview.

Chairman Wontumis lawyer, Maurice Ampaw in a document obtained by Modernghana News argues that Afia Schwarzeneggers behavior amounts to continuing contempt of court and serious judicial embarrassment.

He claims the socialites actions expose the judiciary to public ridicule, hatred and contempt after the court gave her a second chance.

The motion seeks to enforce the bond by imprisoning Afia Schwarzenegger for 3 months without an option of a fine.

Read full copies of the suit document below:
Paul Adom-Otchere is a member of this destructive government, and because he has been put in place by Nana Akufo Addo, his support for and defense of the president's crimes has added more damage to the already delicate and broken state of our nation. It baffles me to this end that this moron continues to defend the crimes of his boss without seeing the harm his pointless journalism has caused to our country. Paul Adom-Otchere has resurfaced to defend Akufo Addo's misdeeds after a documentary film involving the president, Akufo Addo, in illegal mining was telecasted by the media Al Jazeera.

Journalism no longer has any credibility. The days of journalists being proud of their job are long gone since a small minority of them have rendered it completely meaningless and useless. They have deviated and are now advocating for immoral causes. I've mentioned before that the journalism Paul Adom-Otchere is practicing is extremely dangerous, and Im worried about the young people in Ghana who aspire to work as professional journalists in the field of journalism.



Future students who aspire to work as professional journalists are put at risk by Paul Adom-Otchere's promotion of criminal journalism in Ghana.

A journalist's heart might drive him to do the worst things that can endanger our country once he has no shame and takes pleasure in supporting the president of Ghana's crimes. That is exactly what Adom-Otchere is doing; making it abundantly clear to everyone that Akufo Addo and the entire partys politicians are a bunch of criminals. The NPP is growing from bad to worse because there is no intelligent person among them to put sense in the head of Adom-Otchere that his journalism is destroying the party.



For many people, including the police, attorneys, and journalists like Paul Adom-Octhere, crime is a source of income. Yet this so-called journalist, also known as the "Christmas tree price inflator," has the guts to criticize Mahama, but he is so blind and brain-damaged that he sees nothing wrong with the crimes committed by Akufo Addo, such as sending someone to kill J.B. Danquah-Edu, (from the confession of the killer) his gun violence on Serwaa Broni, and his widespread corruption, which has destroyed our nation and rendered the economy hopeless.

As is common knowledge in Ghana, elites implicated in severe crimes and pervasive corruption do not face prison time. However, thieves of poultry and goats do. The corrupt law in power can't pursue the murder case since the president is implicated in it, therefore a strategy must be brought up to make the case go cold. As a result, I wasn't surprised to learn that the judges working on the case had to give up because they hadn't been paid.

Paul Adom-Otchere has turned into a criminal because he failed to be a lawyer and is now being paid to defend the wrongdoings of the person who hired him. Many Ghanaians were previously aware of Akufo Addo's role in illicit mining before Kevin Taylor revealed it. More significantly, the president already exposed himself by defending Chairman Wutumi that he has stopped mining illegally.



Who asked him to stand up for someone whose significant unlawful mining activity is well known and hurts the community, ecosystem, and environment? The fact that water bodies are severely polluted and that everyone is aware that Bernard Antwi Bosiako is an illiterate who engages in unlawful mining, what came to mind as president to defend him? This implies that Akufo Addo receives proceeds of illegal mining from Chairman Wotumi.

It disturbs me that no intelligent NPP politician can see that Paul Adom-Otchere is rather harming both the president and the entire party, portraying them as a bunch of criminals, but that is untrue; I believe that there are decent NPP politicians who are not like Richard Ahiagbah. In reality, I don't know if the NPP's director of communications was appointed following a coin toss, because, in my opinion, he is unqualified and hurting the party more.

More than any other Ghanaian journalist, I have been writing about Paul Adom-Otchere. This is not because I hate him, but rather because the journalism he is promoting is harmful to both our society and the next generation of Ghanaian journalists.

We don't need journalists like Paul Adom-Otchere to destroy our country; we need those to fight crime and condemn violence in our society. For this reason, I pray that any government that succeeds Akufo Addo will have to imprison him. NPP politicians don't want to hear or accept it, but I'm telling them that the kingdom of Akufo Addo and the party as a whole have crumbled, and they will never be able to break the eight-year cycle through the rigging, let alone to win genuinely. What more do you require me to prove to you after what I have said about this irresponsible president has taken place?
Employees at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the country's largest oil refinery, are preparing to face the Board of Directors and the Energy Minister about the facility's terrible status, and have urged management to support the employees' struggle to resurrect the plant.

As part of their campaign, the workers have planned a series of proactive labor-empowered activities aimed at rebuilding the TOR for the benefit of the state and putting a stop to all those working for political and personal gain to ruin the national oil refinery.

The workers cited excessive political meddling as a major impediment to the endeavour to redesign TOR: "political actors work towards a political goal, not an industry target, thus defeating the purpose of TOR."

"Most of these political appointees were very competent on paper and in their previous practises, but when you assume a political position, it's not about your competencies, but your political interests, and you must serve all those who helped you climb to that position; by doing so, due process is sacrificed."

Mr. Anthony Koomson, Chairman of the TOR Senior Staff Union, has urged on the government to act promptly to retool and rebuild it so that it can work at full capacity, emphasising that when TOR functions, it benefits all Ghanaians and the economy.

Mr. Koomson, speaking at a "Red Staff Durbar," stated that if the issue is one of competent management, the government must hire the correct individuals rather than utilising the job as a reward for party members.

"TOR has had very competent management in the past that turned things around in the refinery; therefore, it was possible to revamp it with competent leadership," he explained.

"They start well but along the line begin to take purely business decisions based on political consideration," he remarked, explaining why most managements fail. This has been TOR's bane; the dynamics must shift."

As part of the proactive labor-empowered initiatives, the workers would picket at the Jubilee House to reiterate their desire for the refinery to be revamped.

The TOR workers would picket the Ministry of Energy and other critical locations, with the support of Organised Labour.

Mr. Bernard Owusu, National Chairman of the General Transport Petroleum Chemical employees Union (GTPCWU), who has thrown the union's weight behind the employees, stated that the strikes would take place before the May Day celebrations.

Mr. Owusu expressed concern that the refinery, which has the best engineers in the sub-region and a capacity of 45,000 barrels per day, was simply transporting completed products rather than fulfilling its fundamental purpose of refining oil.

He questioned why Ghana had crude oil but TOR couldn't get it to refine, saying that practically all of the enterprises founded by Ghana's first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, had failed.

He stated that TOR employees would not allow this to happen to the refinery.

He reminded the government that if TOR was operating at full capacity, it would supply the country with 50% of its total domestic consumption, 100% of residual fuel oil (RFO) for industrial operations, 20% to 25% of LPG consumption, and 100% of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).

According to the National Chairman of the GTPCWU, Ghana requires approximately $4.8 billion in petroleum imports each year on average.

He went on to say that once TOR started producing, the currency required for petroleum product imports would be reduced by more than half.

Other advantages, he claimed, included cheaper local ex-pump costs due to the elimination of some import levies, such as the freight rate of roughly $92/Mt for petrol, $101/Mt for diesel and $83/Mt for LPG.

He noted that restoring TOR to full capacity will reduce financing costs because these transactions were priced in cedis.

The Union underlined that, given Ghana's current financial difficulties and debt restructuring process, major advantages from TOR's efforts should be prioritised on the national agenda.

"Unless the country's managers have lost faith in those they have appointed to manage the TOR facility, the state is responsible for determining who constitutes the Board of Directors and the MD of TOR."

"Therefore, all past and current operational anomalies and challenges must be borne by the appointing authority of these key critical office holders, knowing very well that all operational controls are a function of management," he continued.

CDA Consult || Contributor
I'm sorry-not-sorry for bringing you more opossum content. It's not my fault they've been so newsworthy lately! Today, I'm sharing news about Grubby, an opossum who found its way to Homer, Alaska on a shipping container from Washington state, who is causing quite a stir in town. Megan Pacer, a reporter at Alaska Daily News who first broke the news about Grubby, explains that:

The critter arrived about two weeks ago, stowed away in a shipping container from Washington state that was bound for Spenard Builders Supply in Homer, according to Jillian Rogers, director of the city's animal shelter. Spenard Builders Supply workers called the shelter when they discovered the opossum in the back of the container on March 30, she said Friday. A shelter staff member called the state Department of Fish and Game for advice. Jason Herreman, assistant area biologist for the Kenai Peninsula, advised the shelter to set out traps to capture the opossum. Not only are the marsupials invasive to Alaska, they're not legal to own as pets, Herreman said.

Grubby was captured, but then escaped, and has since become famous in Homer. Again, Megan Pacer of Alaska Daily News:

More than 30 posts about the critter were circulating on a local Facebook page, Homer Communications, by Friday evening. They ranged from lighthearted jokes, photos and memes to public service announcements about the dangers of invasive species, and the hashtag #FreeGrubby appeared more than once. The opossum has been christened "Grubby" by locals since one of the last places it was spotted was near the police department, on Grubstake Avenue, Rogers said.

Folks in Homer are divided over what to do about Grubby. Some locals are rallying around Grubby, while others take the stance that opossums are an invasive species and could cause a lot of harm to Alaskan flora and fauna. Megan Pace, in an interview with Alaska Public Radio, explains that authorities like Alaska Fish and Game and seeking to exterminate Grubby because of this issue. Pace states:

With any invasive species, there is a serious connotation with that. They don't want non-native plants or animals to be messing with native flora and fauna in Alaska. So some of the specific concerns Fish and Game shared with me were that possums could potentially be preying on local birds, native birds to the Homer area. You know, if it was a female opossum that happened to be carrying babies at the time, you know, I was told the last thing we want to do is start a population, because that could grow and really kind of start to wreak havoc. And another big concern was that opossums could spread diseases to local wildlife.

Home Animal Shelter shared similar concerns in a post about the situation on their Facebook page, on April 13:

There is an opossum in town. It came up in a shipping container. Fish and Game are aware, and yes, if caught it will be put down. That decision is not ours. Not even a little bit. It is an invasive species, and ADFG's job is to protect local flora and fauna from such uninvited guests.

I feel terrible for Grubby, so many miles away from home, in a cold climate, all alone. I really hope Grubby's going to be ok, somehow, against all odds.
Explosions and gunfire resounded in Sudan's capital Thursday as fighting between the forces of two rival generals showed no signs of abating ahead of festivities marking the end of Ramadan.

Over 300 people have been killed since the fighting erupted Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Some of the fiercest battles have taken place in the capital Khartoum, a city home to five million people, most of whom have been cloistered in their homes without electricity, food and water.

"We were awoken today at around 4:30 am to the roaring sound of fighter jets and air strikes," said Nazek Abdalla, a 38-year-old in southern Khartoum. "We locked our doors and windows hoping no stray bullets would hit our building."

Satellite images of damaged airbases in Merowe, Jebel Aulia and El Obeid, Sudan. By Sophie RAMIS, Sylvie HUSSON, Emmanuelle MICHEL (AFP)

The fighting entered a sixth day hours after another truce unravelled, with the crackle of gunfire heard and columns of thick black smoke seen rising from buildings around Khartoum International Airport and the army headquarters in the capital.

The RSF, a powerful force formed from members of the Janjaweed militia that led years of extreme violence in Darfur, had said its forces would "fully commit to a complete ceasefire" from Wednesday evening for 24 hours, as did the army.

But witnesses said gunfire did not stop in Khartoum, as another ceasefire was breached within minutes of its supposed start for the second time in as many days.

Beyond Khartoum, witnesses reported loud explosions in the city of Obeid, in central state of North Kordofan.

'Reeks of death'

People flee their neighbourhoods amid fighting between the army and paramilitaries in Khartoum. By - (AFP)

"It reeks of death in some parts of town," said a witness who was leaving a hotspot in central Khartoum.

Ahmed Al-Mandhari of the World Health Organization said Thursday that "almost 330 people have died and almost 3,200 more" had been wounded in Khartoum, the western Darfur region and other states.

The fighting has taken a heavy toll on civilians across Sudan.

"We wish the fighting would stop during Eid festivities" which is to begin Friday marking the end of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting, said Abdalla, the resident of southern Khartoum.

"We know it will not happen though," he added.

File photographs show Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (top), leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. By Ashraf SHAZLY (AFP)

Burhan and Daglo's bitter dispute centred around the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army -- a key condition for a final deal aimed at restoring Sudan's democratic transition.

Around the capital and elsewhere, RSF fighters atop armoured vehicles and pickup trucks mounted with machineguns have taken over the streets.

Many have put up checkpoints to search cars carrying civilians trying to escape Khartoum's worst battle zones to safer areas in the capital and beyond.

Fighting has damaged residential and commercial buildings, and civilians sheltering in their homes are becoming increasingly desperate.

By Tuesday, thousands of Sudanese had fled the capital, with many saying they had seen corpses littering the streets as they made their way to safety.

Hospitals hit

Sudanese medics have warned of a catastrophic health care situation, especially in Khartoum where many hospitals were apparently caught in the crossfire.

Destroyed vehicles line the street in southern Khartoum. By - (AFP)

As many as 70 percent of the hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states have been rendered "out of service" due to fighting, the doctors' union said.

The union has warned the death toll was likely to be far higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals.

Many countries have started to make plans to evacuate thousands of foreigners from the north African country, but their efforts have been put on hold by the ongoing violence.

The Sudanese army said 177 Egyptian soldiers who had been captured by the RSF in the northern city of Meroe were evacuated Wednesday back to Egypt, which also confirmed their arrival, while another 27 soldiers were handed over to the Sudanese Red Crescent on Thursday.

Burhan and Daglo toppled autocratic president Omar al-Bashir together in April 2019 following massive protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule.

In October 2021, the two men worked together in the coup against the civilian government installed following Bashir's ouster, derailing an internationally backed transition to democracy.

Burhan, whose career advanced under Bashir, has maintained his coup was "necessary" to bring more factions into politics.

But Daglo, who rose to prominence during the Bashir government's scorched-earth policy against Darfuri rebels, has since called the coup a "mistake" that failed to bring about change and invigorated Bashir's remnants.
A report by OriginAll has said, officially, gold worth at least USD 22.8 and 23.45 billion leaves Africa and Latin America every year. However, it is estimated that 55 to 60 per cent of the gold mined on the two continents is considered illegal.

Local gold refineries, according to the report, are being "extensively used to launder gold from illicit sources in an artisanal mining sector involving several million people, forced labour, and high risks".

Illicit gold mining is "becoming a rising source of income for cartels, criminal gangs, and non-state armed groups, with the mineral sector averaging 17 per cent of global threat and conflict finance, compared to drugs at 28 per cent", the report said.

It noted that capital flight from the African minerals sector has been estimated at USD 50 billion at least  with a total range of USD 24 to 61 billion  compared to illicit oil exports of USD 7.65 to 37.5 billion.

Also, it said illicit annual exports from extractive industries in Africa account for at least USD 31 to 98 billion, compared to USD 32 to 62 billion from Latin America, with companies typically paying only 0 to 4 percent tax on official amounts.

The illicit trade in precious materials, according to the report, plays a particular role in obstructing conflict resolution.

It said a "significant amount of gold is smuggled from the eastern DRC to neighboring countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, and then onto international markets".

This illegal gold trade is primarily driven by artisanal and small-scale miners operating in the DRC, often under dangerous conditions and with little or no government oversight, the report revealed.

It said militia groups and criminal networks exploit this situation to control the gold supply and fund their activities through illegal taxation, extortion, and violence.

"The smuggled gold eventually makes its way into the global market, where it can end up in the supply chains of major companies".

"This creates challenges for organisations that are trying to ensure their supply chains are free from conflict minerals and other illicit goods", it added.

While efforts have been made to combat the illegal gold trade in the DRC, including certification schemes and traceability systems, these initiatives have had limited success in curbing the problem, the report observed.

It said a lack of government oversight, corruption, and the involvement of various armed groups continue to contribute to the persistence of this issue.

It pointed out that though timber may appear to be less precious than gold at first glance, illegal logging, is, in fact, the largest, least risky, and most profitable illicit environmental industry, with 15% to 30% of the global timber trade being illegal rising to 50% to 90% of the trade from tropical countries.

"In addition to funding organised crime, illegal deforestation compounds environmental degradation and climate change, threatening human security in affected areas and potentially triggering further conflicts down the line".

"Illicit trade does not stop at near-extinct species, either: The illegal wildlife trade is worth as much as USD 23 billion annually and is increasingly linked by investigators to financial crime and money laundering", it added.

Source: Classfmonline.com
A presidential staffer has burst into fury after being described as a wee smoker on social media.

Samuel Bryan Buabeng, an Assistant Technical Officer at the Office of the President, clashed with an NDC communicator, Kojo Dynamic who tagged him as a wee smoker.

Mr. Buabeng, a vocal defender of the Akufo-Addo administration, recently updated his Twitter profile picture, provoking Kojo Dynamic to scornfully label him an unworthy presidential staffer.

Outraged, the staffer blasted the critic, alleging that even former President John Mahama, who is a drunkard and smoker once held the highest office.

Im a non-smoker and teetotaller. If you dont have any meaningful contribution, I can help you become a MoMo agent, Buabeng retorted.

Your revered John Dramani Mahama who drinks and smokes was once the president of Ghana. Ofui! he added.

Unapologetic, Kojo Dynamic insisted You dont smoke wee mpo nie. Ei, then you do de nanka ahwisa paa o.

Mr. Buabeng remained unconvinced, claiming Akufo-Addo at his AGE looks younger and healthier than the former president.
The French police oversight body has called for disciplinary action against officers suspected of having physically and verbally brutalised seven young people, arrested at an anti-pension reform demonstration in central Paris on the night of 20 March.

"The next time, we won't cart you back to the police station, we'll put you in an ambulance for a trip to the hospital." This is followed by confused sounds, possibly blows. "I can give you another if you want, to straighten your jaw."

Those words, secretly recorded by an arrested protester and allegedly spoken by a police officer, have led the police oversight body IGPN to call for disciplinary action against members of the Brav-M mobile anti-riot unit.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, the director of the General Inspection of the National Police (IGPN), Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, confirmed that she was forwarding a file to the police authorities, with the recommendation that sanctions should be imposed.

Thibault-Lecuivre said she had been deeply shocked by the utterances of police officers, secretly recorded and made public by daily paper Le Monde and the website Loopsider.

Good behaviour a police obligation

"Even if we accept that these officers were under extreme pressure, at the end of a difficult duty in a tense environment," she said, "nothing excuses behaviour which falls short of the highest standards, and which is an obligation under all circumstances."

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has already accepted that action will "obviously" be taken against the officers involved.

Members of the Brav-M mobile anti-riot unit on duty on the night in question have already submitted their own reports on the events. They complain of "physical and emotional exhaustion".

One member of the brigade spoke of periods of "14, even 16 hours on duty, without any regard for our fundamental requirements. It was extremely difficult to get a drink of water or a bite to eat."

There are 59 judicial investigations in progress concerning police behaviour on the first day of the pensions protests on 31 January.
Ghanaian political firebrand Akwasi Addai Odike has laid the blame for Ghana's economic struggles squarely at the door steps of former President John Dramani Mahama.

According to Odike, Mahama and his National Democracy Congress (NDC) administration mismanaged the economy to the point that the country was rated as a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) at a point.

"When we genuinely talk about Ghanas main problems, then it is John Mahama who initiated it because after Ghana went into HIPIC, the country was keen to stabilise the economy but Mahama and Atta Mills [administration] increased Ghanas debt from GHC17 billion to GHC122 billion.

He [Mahama] went for loans and spent them on funding school projects across the country meanwhile, loans are not meant for building schools because it was never going to give any returns to the country  school buildings are instead built with taxes, Odike said.

The politician questioned why Mr. Mahama wants to lead the opposition NDC again and potentially become president once more given his poor record.

"I want to ask Mr. Mahama that upon all the state resources spent on him- from his days as an Assemblyman to when he became a Member of Parliament and then as Deputy Minister, Minister, Vice President and finally President- what has he been able to achieve or do with the experience garnered? he quizzed.

Speaking on Accra-based Angel Anopo Bofo morning show on Wednesday, April 19 Odike argued that Mahama dissipated the country's resources through mismanagement, reckless spending and abuse of power, leaving crippling debt and crippling economy.

Meanwhile, the Founder United Progressive Party (UPP) is set to launch a new party, Unity Government Movement (UGM) ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The official poster for the Cannes Film Festival has been unveiled. In elegant black and white, it features the French actress Catherine Deneuve on a film shoot in 1968. Her daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, has been chosen to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 76th edition which runs from May 16-27.

Deneuve stands on Pampelonne beach, near Saint-Tropez, running hands through her signature golden locks, in a pensive stance.

Created by Hartland Villa, the poster is based on a photo by Jack Garofalo on the set of La Chamade, directed by Alain Cavalier and adapted from the novel by Francoise Sagan.

In the film she plays Lucile, who leads a worldly and superficial life. Michel Piccoli and Roger van Hool also star in the 1968 feature.

"For more than 60 years, the biggest French star has never stopped filming, reinventing herself, taking a chance on experimental or first films. (...) Deneuve embodies in her own way the kind of cinema that the festival wants to defend: arthouse films but also quality popular films", the festival said in a statement.

Italy has pride of place

Deneuve has a very long history with the Cannes Film festival. In 1964, she was one of the stars in Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which won the Palme d'Or.

She was vice-president of the jury with Clint Eastwood in 1994 and received a Palme d'honneur in 2005, three years before a special prize for her entire career.

Meanwhile, Mastroianni, daughter of Deneuve and the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, has been chosen to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the event. She succeeds Virginie Efira who officiated last year.

A regular at Cannes and a key figure in French auteur cinema, Mastroianni won the Un Certain regard interpretation prize for her role in "Chambre 212" by Christophe Honore in 2019, 11 years after having been part of the jury of the feature films.

The official selection of the festival was announced last week, giving pride of place to Italian cinema with three films in competition, "Towards a radiant future" by Nanni Moretti, "The kidnapping" by Marco Bellocchio and "The chimera" by Alice Rohrwacher .

With five weeks to go, organisers are expected to add to the list of films in competition, as well as reveal the composition of the jury, which will be headed by the Swedish director Ruben Ostlund winner of the 2022 Palme d'Or for his film "Triangle of Sadness".

Facing the elements

Earlier this week, organisers announced that the closing film on 27 May will be animation feature "Elemental", directed by Peter Sohn.

The new animation from Pixar is set in Element City where residents made from fire, air and water live together.

It recounts the friendship between Flam, an intrepid and lively young woman with a strong character, and Flack, a sentimental and amusing boy, rather a follower at heart, in a city where the four elements coexist.

Pixar has presented three of its films at Cannes, "La-Haut", "Vice-Versa" and "Soul" in past editions.

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux said the film encourages viewers to think about our lives in such a powerful way.

Fashion on the big screen

In other Cannes festival news, French luxury brand Saint Laurent said last week that it was creating a film production company that would work with celebrated directors such as Pedro Almodovar, David Cronenberg and Paolo Sorrentino.

Its inaugural movie is the short film "Strange Way of Life", Almodovar's "queer Western" starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, that is premiering at the Festival.

"I want to work with all the great talents of cinema that have inspired me over the years and offer them space," Saint Laurent's creative director Anthony Vaccarello said in a statement.

Part of French conglomerate Kering, Saint Laurent says it is the first luxury brand to fully finance films.

Vaccarello, who took over as the label's designer in 2016, will oversee costumes for the company's films.

Kering sponsors Women In Motion at the Cannes festival, which gives out an award highlighting female filmmakers. This year's winner is Michelle Yeoh, fresh from her Oscar for best actress for "Everything Everywhere All at Once".
The Teachers and Educational Workers' Union (TEWU) has welcomed the National Labour Commission's (NLC) directive to the Ministry of Finance to respond to the letter of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC)on the payment of Professional Development Allowance for non-teaching staff.

The NLC directed the Ministry of Employment, the Ghana Education Service, and the FWSC to follow-up and ensure that the Ministry of Finance responded to the Commissions letter.

The Labour Commission also directed TEWU to hold off on its intended industrial action and urged parties to report to the NLC on May 3, 2023, for the necessary action.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Mark Korankye, the General Secretary, TEWU, said the FWSC had written to the Finance Ministry to address issues relating to the payment of PDA to the non-teaching staff of the Ghana Education Service.

Mr Korankye stated that the directive was strong enough because it was the expectation of the Union that the Ministry of Finance would respond accordingly to the letter from the FWSC on the issues.

He urged members of the Union to exercise restraint and wait for the outcome of the Ministry of Finances response to the FWSC.

It is our expectation that the Ministry of Finance will respond accordingly and approve the payment of the allowance of non-teaching staff, he said.

Reverend Michael Adu Poku, Greater Accra Regional Chairman, TEWU, said the agitations and frustrations from the Union were high and called on the Ministry to help address the situation.

We hope the response from the Ministry of Finance will inure to our benefit and avoid industrial action, he said.

Mr Francis Odoom, the Central Regional Chairman, said it was time to redeem the image of the Union and hoped the Ministry of Finance would respond as soon as possible.

GNA
A former National Democratic Congress (NDC) member, Stephen Atubiga has ridiculed the opposition party, indicating that they will soil their pants on election day in 2024.

Mr. Atubiga, who was an NDC communicator, reacted to a recent viral video in which a constituency chairman of the party was struggling with words while welcoming the partys presidential candidate aspirant, John Dramani Mahama at a campaign tour.

He ridiculed NDC, describing them as very coward as evidenced by the chairmans poor performance and the partys attacks on Abetifi MP Bryan Acheampong for his comment.

Look at how a coward whole NDC Constituency Chairman is panting in front of John Dramani Mahama in trying to welcome them.

This video supports why The NDC is very nervous about Bryan Achanpong's statement about not handing over, Atubiga said in a Facebook post.

He insisted that They [NDC] will stain their pants on Election Day, naaaneeeermaaa.
A key figure in Mali's ruling junta died when an official convoy came under attack in the jihadist-hit north of the country, a document from the presidency said Thursday.

Oumar Traore -- chief of staff of Colonel Assimi Goita, the Sahel country's transitional president -- was among four people who died in the attack on Tuesday near the Mauritanian border.

The ambush took place near the town of Nara and Wagadou forest, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Bamako in an area known for jihadist insurgents.

Traore was part of a team that was accompanying engineers to scout for sites to drill for water, under an initiative to help local people.

The document identified three other victims including a security guard, a contractor and a driver, but gave no details as to the assailants.

The funeral will take place on Thursday in Kati, a garrison town near the capital Bamako, it said.

Another driver is missing, the document said.

Mali's army on Wednesday confirmed the ambush had taken place, but the identities of the victims had not yet been released.

The attack has not been claimed.

"The mission did not have a proper escort," an administrative official in the region told AFP.

A local politician warned that the security situation was deteriorating by the day.

Twin crises

Mali has been battling a security crisis since jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north of the country in 2012.

French military intervention helped to quell the turmoil, but the jihadists regrouped, launching attacks in the tense centre of the country and in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

The violence has displaced millions of people across the three countries and cost thousands of lives, although tolls are sketchy.

In Mali, the unrest fed a political crisis, leading to two coups in 2020 and 2021.

The military junta, now led by Goita, broke a long-standing alliance with France and other Western partners in the fight against jihadism and turned toward Moscow, bringing in Russian paramilitaries.

Mali.. By (AFP)

Under international pressure, it has pledged to return power to elected civilians by March 2024.

A referendum on a draft constitution, validated by Goita, was due to be held on March 19 but has been postponed until further notice.

The new constitution is the centrepiece of plans the military has invoked to justify continuing to govern until 2024.

In January, Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga declared that the security situation in Mali had improved.

"Today, there is no part of the Malian territory where the Malian army cannot go -- this was not the case before the transition", he said on state television.

"So we have regained the whole of our national territory."

But in February he was forced to abandon parts of a visit to the north of the country because of insecurity.
Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, has given specific details to back his earlier allegation that there are people at the Jubilee House as well as members of the governing New Patriotic Party - from the lowest to the topmost officials - who are actively engaged in illegal mining (galamsey).

In the 37-page report, the former minister who said the kingpins orchestrated his ouster from the Akufo-Addo administration because he was fighting their galamsey activities, said the presidential galamseyers as well as the party people involved in the illicit enterprise, use Chinese as fronts.

Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the presidents commitment to protect the environment.

"I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the national to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers or relatives engaged in illegal mining. Most of them engaged Chinese working for them", he noted.

He clarified that, "I am not referring to party people who had their legitimate concession and were mining sustainably as they were instructed to do. There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining or interfering with the fight against the menace."

He cited an NPP MP in the Ashanti Region who used his position as a member of the Minerals Commission to acquire several dozen large-scale concessions in his district, ostensibly for community mining purposes only to sell them to private individuals, including party members, at GHS200,000 apiece.

This infuriated the party in the constituency so during the 2020 primaries to select a candidate the electorate voted against the sitting MP, who was more resourced than other candidates. Although there were allegations that he camped delegates and attempted to bribe them, he lost to a lesser known individual who did not have any financial muscle", he added.

He also said some leading NPP officials served as lawyers for some galamseyers.

The then-Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) also said he put together the report dated 19 March 2021, following an order from the chief of staff.

He also accused a reporter of engaging in unlawful excavator sales and money laundering at the behest of some government appointees.
Following 2023's earlier docu-exploitation The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, Netflix has continued a strange tradition of capitalizing off of older, viral news that's far beyond its expiration date. With Longest Third Date, director Brent Hodge recreates the moderately interesting, decently romantic and far too thin story of Khani and Matt, two people who met on the dating app Hinge, decided to spontaneously go to Costa Rica just days before global lockdown, and ended up stuck in a relationship neither of them apparently wanted.

Longest Third Date barely has the bonafides for an entire film. Even at seventy-five minutes, it feels stretched out and packed with unnecessary footage. The story goes that the two met for a meal over Indian food on the first date before a second date with drinks and ax throwing at which Matt strangely invited his best friend Mike, an Asian man almost explicitly there to make the Vietnamese-American Khani feel more comfortable with her White paramour. The third date  Costa Rica for a cheap $200 roundtrip cost on March 17th, 2020.

Hodge makes it easy to judge little things about Khani and Matt's partnership, particularly Matt's apparent Asian fetishism and overly eager quest for social media fame and fortune. There's also the inescapable oddity of these two people choosing to fly days before lockdown hit; while no one could have known the size and scope of the global pandemic, Hodge doesn't exactly let us question why these free spirits thought it a good idea to go to Central America when COVID cases were rapidly rising.

But the bigger judgment should be placed on Hodge and Netflix, which both spurn any and all potentially intriguing aspects of this story for what is essentially a People Magazine-style fluff piece way beyond the fifteen minutes it ought to have been. Oddest of all is that Hodge frames the story like Khani and Matt's status as a couple is a mystery, yet has both of them in physical recreations of their first two dates, kissing and holding hands.

The film is further plagued by a massive overuse of little threads and potential dangers that never crystallize, as if the filmmakers were self-conscious enough of the lack of full story here and felt the need to pad it out with innocuous mini-stories. Matt's history as a vlogger, Khani's pregnancy scares, a crashed car; all of these story elements are mentioned once or twice and never pursued further, leading to the inevitable conclusion of their continued romance. The film auspiciously never interrogates the fact that these two have the fortune of Khani's continued income nor never mentions Matt's, both of which feel like missed opportunities considering this is a romance taking place at the height of an uncommon (and quite deadly) global pandemic in which most people were laid off and many were evicted. No one wanted to be stuck anywhere, but the film frames their "misfortune" of being stuck in Costa Rica as if they were detained behind enemy lines, and not, as it turns out, gleefully jumping from one AirBnB to the next while enjoying private beaches.

Khani and Matt seem like a genuinely sweet couple together, and their romance is indeed uncommon, but as a documentary this leaves almost every provocative piece on the table. At this point it seems like Netflix is deliberately making content that will be forgotten in a week. Luckily for Khani and Matt, it seems their relationship is built to last much longer.
Aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, has called on government to implement effective policies to sustain the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Mrs. Mogtari emphasized that introducing such a program is not enough but finding ways to keep it running is what matters most.

"It is not enough to introduce an NHIS program and not find ways to ensure its sustainability," she said.

Her comments come in response to Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu's recent revelation that he was made to pay cash whenever he goes to the hospital due to challenges with the NHIS.

The Minister cited extortion by service providers as one of the factors collapsing the scheme.

"From the end-user point of view, it looks like the health insurance is not working. I am a patient and I know what it is.

"I pay when I go to Ridge Hospital. I pay when I go to UGMC. I don't even present my insurance card, the minister added.

Mogtari expressed concern that if the Health Minister is complaining about the service, then what about ordinary Ghanaians who rely on the scheme to access healthcare due to financial constraints.

"If the government's own head of the Ministry of Health is decrying his inability to access healthcare under the NHIS, then what happens to the ordinary citizens? The vulnerable who cannot afford to pay?"
The Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng has made a generous donation to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr. Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu and the general Muslim community towards the 2023 Ramadan.

The donation including 100 bags of rice, and gallons of cooking oil, among others, reflects his commitment to ensuring that members of the Muslim fraternity stay nourished in this solemn period.

The delegation, in a brief address, extolled the many roles the Chief Imam continues to play in Ghanas socio-economic settings and peace-building efforts.

The Chieftaincy Ministry made the donation to Chief Imam Sheikh Dr. Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu at his new Fadama residence on 19th April 2023. Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng indicated that the donation forms part of his commitment to giving back to society.

"Before I was approved as a Minister I came here for your blessings. I am here today to seek your advise and support for me to be successful as a Minister. I brought these items to support the 2023 Ramadan," he stated.

Receiving the items, Sheikh Sharubutu expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the Minister and his Ministry for their visit and generosity.

Chief Imam applauded the gesture of Mr Asamoah Boateng.

Allah is the only one who can reward you. But we will also add to your wish and desire by way of prayers so that God will bring into the fulfilment your heart desires, Chief Imam emphasised.
The Western North Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the Police, on their routine market surveillance, arrested two suspects for dealing in unregistered and falsified products at Sefwi-Dwenase in the Wiawso Municipality.

The suspects are Benjamin Arthur and Albert Baiden.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Mr Albert Ankamah, Regional Director of the FDA, said the first suspect Benjamin Arthur was arrested for selling a falsified product Dr cote D'voire and two other unregistered herbal products ABM Gone capsules and ABM Mr man capsules which had fake FDA product registration numbers.

The Regional head continued that Benjamin Arthur, led the team to the arrest of the second suspect Albert Baiden, the producer of ABM Gono and ABM Mr man capsules.

Mr Ankamah said the Food and Drugs Authority was mandated by the Public Health 2012 (Act 851) to ensure public safety by regulating food, drugs, cosmetics substances, blood products, tobacco and tobacco products which are healthy for public consumption.

We are on the alert to ensure all falsified, unregistered, deceptive and unwholesome products do not enter the market in the newly created region and will apply the necessary laws and sanctions to anyone who breaches the law

Mr Ankomah warned that the authority would soon take legal action against advertisers, including radio stations and local information centers who used their platforms to market unregistered and falsified products in the Region.

He indicated that both the owner of an unregistered product as well as the seller were all culpable and urged the public to buy medicines, especially herbal medicines from licensed shops.

Radio stations and local information centres must always request FDA license certificate from advertisers before airing their products or else the law will deal with you, he warned.

GNA
The Tamale Technical University branch of the Dagbon Students Association has leased with the chief executive officer of the Casta Diva Foundation, Hajia Fauziya Hudu to organize Ramadan Iftar for Muslims on campus.

The maiden iftar (breaking of fast) was well attended by students of the University, the Tamale Technical Institute and other ethnic groups.

Addressing the gathering, Hajia Fauziya specified the need to give back to society, revealing that it makes the world a better place for all.

Hajia Fauziya encouraged students of both the Technical University and the Technical Institute to continue pursuing their ultimate goals and not allow certain factors curtail them from achieving those dreams.

This according to her is achievable when they take their studies attentively, devoid of unproductive fancy lifestyle and laziness.

She mentioned that each individual in the world has a purpose for living, hence the students should unearth their talents and work towards them accordingly.

Hajia Fauziya further advised the students to build good relationships with each other as while still in school, indicating that they may need each other in the near future.

The President of the Association, Mr. Hassan Nantogma thanked Hajia Fauziya and her team for the mouth-watering Iftar which he described the CEO as a selfless woman with a golden heart.

We pray that, Allah protect her and replenish all that she has spent in the preparation of the Iftar, and to her team, may they continue to remain loyal to her, he stated.

Mr. Hassan was quick to appeal to philanthropists, sons and daughters of Dagbon to assist members of the Association clear off their school fees.
Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun has a rich heritage of culture, and its equally rich literature so far produced two Nobel laureates. The vibrant world of Japanese art, music, anime, and, movies -all can be a significant source of cultural exchanges between Bangladesh and it. Besides, Bangladesh and Japan share a common Asian Identity compared to any other nations in Asia. Japan is defined as an all-weather friend of Bangladesh since the inception of its independence. Bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Japan span a variety of domains, including socio-economic and people-to-people ties. Consequently, people tend to perceive this relationship in a reductionist manner focusing mainly on aid and asymmetry. However, these two countries have similar guiding norms and motives like peace, stability, freedom, protection of human rights, and democracy which they share in different degrees provide a solid foundation for a strong partnership. However, this dimension of the bilateral relationship doesnt get enough importance in the policy and academia, which merits serious attention. As Bangladesh aspires to graduate from the position of a lower middle-income nation to an upper middle-income country and from an LDC to a developing country, the bilateral cooperation socio-cultural domain is now more important than ever. In this context, the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina deserves enormous significance to refocus on the social and cultural dimensions of bilateral relations.

A New Horizon to Heart to Heart Relations

Japan is pioneering Bangladeshs achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promote Bangladesh as a significant economic power in the South Asian and Indo-Pacific regions. To lessen the negative economic and social effects of adopting the Sustainable Development Goals, Japan has been helping Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has backed Japan in a number of international forums, including when it abandoned its bid for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council in favor of Japan in 2014. Bangladesh also supports Japans aspiration to become a permanent member of the Security Council. Japan is one of the top contributors to the United Nations Peace Keeping Operation (UNPKO) like Bangladesh. Bangladesh and Japan both can share their experience in this field. However, Bangladesh views Japan as a true friend in all circumstances, thus Dhaka will look to Japan to lobby the international community and Myanmar for the safe and sustainable return of the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees who are now stranded in Bangladesh.

Throughout the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic, Japan was one of the first nations to begin supplying Bangladesh with vaccines. Bangladesh has received around 4.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as well as 75 billion yen in fiscal support up to this point. To lessen the socioeconomic effects of the virus, the Japan International Cooperation Agency inked a financing deal with Bangladesh to contribute US$330 million for COVID-19 crisis management.

Cooperation in the ICT Sector and Technology Transfer

It is amazing that Bangladesh's young ICT companies have managed to slowly carve out a niche for themselves in that industry over the past ten years. Japan has been Bangladesh's only major market for ICT during the past few years and if local businesses can take advantage of the market's potential, exports might increase significantly over the following several years. As a result, they have announced a $2.43 billion stimulus program. So much so that the country in the Far East can provide the majority of the government's $5 billion export goal for 2023. Furthermore, the worldwide coronavirus pandemic has created new opportunities for local Japanese enterprises, who are eager to relocate their linked operations to places other than China.

Japan is one of the world's most technologically advanced countries, thus its experience and knowledge may be helpful, in charting out a pathway for Bangladesh in the 4IR era so that Bangladesh may be able to successfully leverage technology to achieve its development objectives. Thus, regarding the 4IR, Bangladesh may benefit from the expertise of Japanese partners in academia, industry, and research. Bangladesh's industrial sectors are now suffering from a lack of competent personnel.

Bangladesh Keeps an Eye on Japans Labor Market and Remittance Flow

Bangladesh has already started preparing a sizable number of Bangladeshi youths with the essential skills with a view toward tapping the Japanese labor market by the end of the current year. Bangladesh has begun exporting labor to Japan as the Covid-19 situation has eased and the economy has begun to recover. Three thousand Bangladeshis have received the necessary technical training and Japanese language instruction. Moreover, the migrants can be also a crucial source for cultural exchanges and the flow of remittances between the host country and sending country.

However, diplomatic missions in the two nations are now urging them to take the required steps to ramp up the inflow of remittances from global peace, progress, and prosperity. Bangladesh and Japan have long worked to support one another in international forums to promote peace. According to the Bangladesh Bank statistics, the number of remittances received from Japan climbed by more than 37% to US$31.44 million in the fiscal year (FY) 201718 from $22.89 million the previous year. Bangladesh's central bank has made steps to hasten the flow of remittances coming in from Japan.

Bangladesh Can Learn from Japans Climate Experience

Even though they both experienced natural disasters, these lessons may be used for adaptation and mitigation. With the help of $650 million from Japan for disaster risk reduction, 117 hurricane shelters, five meteorological radars, 240 km of flood control dykes, and 300 experts were educated in disaster risk reduction. Bangladesh is very vulnerable to natural catastrophes due to its geographic location and climatic conditions. Bangladesh was the most climate change-susceptible nation in the world. Japan has also experienced natural catastrophes for a long time, mostly as a result of its location near the Pacific Ring of Fire. These two disaster-prone nations may work together to handle natural disasters and speak out against climate change on several international forums. From Tokyo's experience, Dhaka might learn how to lessen the effects of calamities, particularly earthquakes.

Role of Education and Discerning Knowledge

Japan offers scholarships to Bangladeshi students so they can visit, study in, and spread the culture of Japan in Bangladesh. Also, by giving students the opportunity to visit Japan and broaden their understanding of Japan to aid Bangladesh's growth, Japan is promoting practical possibilities. To create a bridge between Japan and Bangladesh, Japan offers various kinds of scholarships and exchange opportunities for Bangladeshis. For deserving Bangladeshi students, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (MEXT) offers a variety of scholarships. The young students help to disseminate the cultural and knowledge gap which is an obstacle to upgrading bilateral relationships.

Bangladesh and Japan should cooperate to fortify their partnership with a clear strategy for socio-cultural cooperation in the upcoming year as they stand at this crucial crossroads in their relationship. The upcoming visit of the Bangladesh Prime Minister to Japan will certainly put the spotlight on finding new ways and giving more impetus to strengthen Bangladesh-Japan bilateral cooperation through growing engagements in social and cultural matters.

Saume Saptaparna Nath

Research Associate

The KRF Center for Bangladesh and Global Affairs (CBGA)
Organized Labour has issued a stern warning to government against attempts to involve pension funds in the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

In a press statement released on Wednesday, April 20, the leadership of Organized Labour noted that they had become aware of a letter dated April 7, 2023, inviting the Board of Trustees of Pension Funds to participate in a new proposed alternative offer for pension funds.

After scrutinizing the letter and accompanying documentations, Organized Labour concluded that the alternative offer was an attempt to rope pension funds back into the DDEP, which goes against the spirit and letter of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the government and Organized Labour on December 22, 2022.

As part of the MOU, the government agreed to exempt all pension funds from the DDEP, according to the OL.

On the score, Organized Labour had earlier in a press release on February 1, reiterated its position that the exemption of pension funds in the DDEP is final and warned that any attempt to go contrary to the agreement will be fiercely resisted.

"We, therefore, urge the Board of Trustees of all Pension Funds not to honour the invitation to participate in the so-called alternative offer for pension funds," the new statement read in portion.

"Any attempt by Government or the Board of Trustees of Pension Schemes to undermine the MOU will be fiercely resisted by Organized Labour, it added.

The leadership of Organized Labour also called on all of its affiliates to close ranks and abide by the tenets of the MOU signed with the government.

The press statement was signed by Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, Secretary General of Trades Union Congress (TUC), Ghana; Dr. Isaac Bampoe Addo, Chairman of the Forum; and Mr. Abraham Koomson, Secretary General of GFL.

The involvement of pension funds in the DDEP has been a contentious issue in Ghana, with Organized Labour and other stakeholders expressing concerns about the potential risks to workers' retirement savings.

The MOU signed in December 2022 was seen as a step towards addressing these concerns, but the recent letter inviting pension funds to participate in an alternative offer has raised alarm among labour groups.

Read a copy of the full statement below;
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin has recalled Members of Parliament (MPs) from recess for an urgent sitting.

Currently, Parliament is on recess since March 31 after passing three revenue bills.

In a letter from the office of the Speaker of Parliament, it said MPs are being recalled to the house on Tuesday, May 2, to consider urgent parliamentary business.

The Speaker of Parliament is recalling the MPs to Parliament by exercising the power conferred on him as Speaker by order 42(3) of the Standing Orders of the Parliament.

In exercise of the power conferred on the Speaker by order 42(3) of the Standing Orders of the Parliament of Ghana, I, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, do hereby direct that Parliament shall notwithstanding anything to the contrary, be recalled from recess to sit on Tuesday, the 2nd day of May 2023, at ten oclock in the forenoon, at Parliament House, Accra, to consider urgent parliamentary business, a letter from the Speaker of Parliament said on Thursday, April 20.

Below is a copy of the letter:
20.04.2023 LISTEN

Ghana-based environmental group Eco-Conscious Citizens are marking International Noise Awareness Day on Wednesday 26th April with a presentation at La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly on the harmful effects of noise pollution by Dr. Kyeremanteg Amoah.

This will be followed by a Question and Answer session, and workshop focused on the role of the Police Service, Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies, and the Environmental Protection Agency, and how to engage them in dealing with noise nuisance.

Unfortunately, the lack of robust enforcement by the relevant authorities has led to noise pollution from religious organisations, event centres, drinking spots, roadside preachers, social events and vehicles mounted with loudspeakers, continually blighting the lives of the citizenry, damaging their health and robbing them of their constitutional right to peace and quiet in their homes.

The aim of the 26th April event is to raise awareness that causing noise nuisance is a criminal offence and against Metropolital and Municipal bye-laws and EPA regulations, highlight ways to deal with noise nuisance, share good practice and encourage the relevant authotites to enforce noise laws.

Eco-Conscious Citizens encourages all environmentally-conscious citizens to mark the Day by organising events within their locality to raise issues around noise pollution.

For further information, please contact [email protected] .
The opposition Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro Constituency of the Western Region, Dorcas Afo-Toffey, has supported the Muslim community in Jomoro with food items to help them observe the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan.

The humanitarian gesture is in line with the MP's annual support to Muslims to enjoy the Eid celebration with their families as the holy month of Ramadan fasting comes to an end.

The end of Ramadan is marked by the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr, which means "festival of breaking the fast" also signified the end of fasting from dawn to dusk throughout Ramadan and the opening of the Shawwal month.

The Islamic ritual (Ramadan) comes off this Saturday, April 22, 2023, across the world.

However, the Ministry for Interior of Ghana has in a statement declared Monday, April 24, 2023, as a statutory holiday to observe the sacred event.

The Jomoro MP presented 50 bags of rice and some boxes of cooking oil to the Muslim community which were received by the Deputy Chief Iman of Jomoro Municipality at Tikobo Number One Mosque on Thursday, April 20, 2023, for onward distribution.

Addressing the gathering, Dorcas Afo-Toffey thanked the Chief Imans and all Muslims in the area for their continuous unflinching support.

"Let me thank the Chief Imans and all the Muslims in Jomoro here for their total support. Since I became MP in Jomoro, our Muslims have been supporting me, especially through their prayers and I'm very grateful", she stated.

She urged the Muslim community in her Constituency to manage the food items and pledged to continue to support them annually.

"In fact, we all know that the economy of Ghana is very very difficult but I have managed to bring you some food items to celebrate your Eid-al-Fitr so please manage it, I will continue to support your celebration annually and I believe in Allah that next year I will bring more than this", she stated.

She took the opportunity to appeal to the Muslims in the area to remember her in their daily prayers and also former president John Dramani Mahama.

"I know you have been praying for me but this time around I will urge you to intensify it, I need King Solomon's wisdom, good health, long life, protection, humility to serve the good people of Jomoro so please remember me in your prayers", she stressed.

Dorcas Afo-Toffey pledged her commitment to establish 'Makalanta' (Arabic school for young Muslims) in the constituency and charged the leadership of Jomoro Muslim community to get her four acres of land for the establishment of the school.

"Last year, when we met I was told that there is no Makalanta in Jomoro here, today I will tell you that I have gotten an NGO that has promised to establish Makalanta in Jomoro for you so I will urge you to get me four acres of land for the establishment of the school," she intimated.

On his part, the Jomoro NDC Constituency Chairman, Mr. Anthony Armah Benle commended the MP for the area for always remembering the Muslim community during their festivals.

He called on them to continue to rally behind the MP in prayers to develop the Jomoro Constituency.

He urged the Muslims in Jomoro to continue to use the blessings of the Eid to pray for continued peace and tranquility in the constituency.

He also called on them to remain united with other religious believers in the constituency. "I will appeal to you to pray always for the Jomoro MP, Dorcas Afo-Toffey to develop the constituency. I will also call on you to pray for the peace of Jomoro and Ghana as a whole. Be united with other religious believers. We don't want any disturbance in Ghana, we want peace", he pleaded.

Moreover, the leadership of the Jomoro Muslim community expressed their profound appreciation for the kind gesture and prayed for the Jomoro MP, Dorcas Afo-Toffey and her entourage.

The MP was accompanied by the Jomoro NDC Constituency Chairman, Mr. Anthony Armah Benle, Jomoro NDC Constituency Secretary, Emmanuel Ndako Benle, Jomoro NDC Constituency Organizer, Benedict Boadi, Jomoro NDC Constituency Communications Officer, Lenrie Nyamekeh, Jomoro NDC Constituency Youth Organizer, Ernest Anaman, Jomoro NDC Constituency Zongo Caucus Coordinator, Ahmed Adams, Jomoro NDC Deputy Constituency Women's Organizer, Gertrude Amulley, Jomoro NDC Constituency former Communications Officer, Patrick Ellonu, Jomoro NDC Constituency Deputy Treasurer, Patricia Entsuah among others.
The World Health Organization (WHO), has urged stakeholders in Ghanas health sector to address vaccine hesitancy to ensure every child in the country is vaccinated.

WHO believes vaccine hesitancy in Ghana and to a larger extent Africa has become a growing concern which needs urgent steps to address it.

The Country Representative for WHO, Dr Francis Chikasa Kasolo who made the call appealed to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to invest in strong immunization systems and ensure vaccine accessibility to all children in the country.

He said this during the launch of the 2023 edition of the African Vaccination Week which was held at the Lancaster Hotel in Kumasi on Thursday, April, 20,2023.

Speaking on the theme "The Big Catch-Up", Dr Kasolo called on African leaders to work together in the spirit of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals which implore every country to provide quality healthcare to its citizens.

"As we celebrate the 2023 African Vaccination Week, we must work together in the spirit of the sustainable development goals, to ensure that no child is left behind, this means measures are put in place to ensure vaccines are available to all who need it," he stated.

Addressing participants of the launch, the Director General for Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye underscored the need for stakeholders in the health sector to team up and support active immunization programs in the country.

He noted that African vaccination week provides special opportunities for health officials to educate the public on the need to get vaccinated and its accompanying importance.

"The week provides the opportunity to showcase the importance of vaccines in all our lives, and how they protect us, young and old, against more than 25 vaccine-preventable diseases.

"As we work to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination efforts, it is critical that we dont ignore the urgent need to also strengthen routine immunization efforts," he emphasised.

Dr Aboagye pledged GHS's commitment to vaccinating all children across the country to protect them from childhood diseases.

He urged parents to visit any health facilities closer to them to get their children vaccinated.
A binding arbitration panel has ordered Mike Lindell to pay $5 million to a cybersecurity expert who proved that Lindell's evidence that China interfered in the 2020 Presidential election was bogus. The winner of the prize is Robert Zeidman, a 63-year-old computer forensics expert who says he voted for Trump in the two most recent elections.

According to The Washington Post, Zeidman attended Lindell's three-day symposium, where Lindell promised to reveal proof that the election was stolen. "There's a $5 million prize for anybody that can prove the election data that I have from the 2020 election was false, is not from the 2020 election," Lindell said in an interview before the event.

After examining the data, which Zeidman received as text and PDF files, he determined that one file was a flow chart describing the election process. Another was a list of internet IP addresses, and "others were enormous files of what appeared to Zeidman to be random numbers and letters," reports The Washington Post.

Zeidman submitted a 15-page report to Lindell's organization, which said, "I have proven that the data Lindell provides unequivocally does not contain packet data of any kind and does not contain any information related to the November 2020 election," he wrote. Lindell's organization rejected the claim.

The rules of the contest stated that disputes would be "resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration." It also said arbitration "is subject to very limited review by courts."

In the arbitration hearing, Zeidman's lawyer said the data Lindell offered at the symposium contained "no recognizable data in any known data format."

Despite the ruling, Lindell said he won't pay the promised $5 million.

When The Washington Post reached out to Lindell for comment, he texted: "They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!"

Lindell has been a vocal supporter of the false claim that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump through massive voter fraud, despite no evidence to support this claim. He has faced significant backlash and legal problems due to his continued promotion of these unfounded allegations. In addition to being ordered to pay $5 million to Zeidman for promoting false information about the election, Lindell is also facing a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which alleges that Lindell spread false conspiracy theories about their voting machines being used to rig the election. Lindell has repeatedly refused to retract his claims or apologize, and has vowed to continue fighting the legal battles against him.
Builsa South MP, Clement Apaak

20.04.2023 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South, Clement Apaak has reacted to revelations of illegal mining (galamsey) by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng about officials of the ruling NPP.

In excerpts of a document from the renowned surgeon Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng who once led the fight against illegal mining in the country, he said top officials of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are deeply involved in the illegality.

I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the national to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers, or relatives engaged in illegal mining. Most of them engaged Chinese working for them.

I am not referring to party people who had their legitimate concession and were mining sustainably as they were instructed to do, excerpts of the document by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng shared by Joy News said.

Reacting to the revelation, Builsa South MP Clement Apaak says he no longer has any doubt that the Jubilee House is the headquarters of galamsey in the country.

There is no longer an iota of doubt that Jubilee House is the headquarters of galamsey in Ghana. Prof Boateng's galamsey report has confirmed what we already suspected. Same people we pay to protect our environment have been doing the opposite, the MP said in a post on Twitter.

Clement Apaak insists that Ghanaians must arise because "such evil must be punished.
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has revealed why the Speaker of Parliament has called on Parliamentarians to report to the House for a one-day sitting next month.

In a letter from the office of the Speaker of Parliament, it said MPs are being recalled to the house on Tuesday, May 2, to consider urgent parliamentary business.

Taking to social media to express his surprise, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson further revealed that he understands the sitting is to consider loan agreements for government.

I have been inundated with calls asking why Parliament has been recalled for urgent business on May 2nd, 2023.

I wish to state that the minority leadership and members learned about the recall from the media, just like anyone else.

I have since been informed that Parliament will sit for only one day to consider loan agreements currently before it, the Minority Leader shared in his post.

According to Dr. Ato Forson, it is baffling that government is pushing to borrow more after borrowing to destroy the Ghanaian economy.

It is difficult to comprehend why the NPP government has the courage to continue borrowing, especially after its reckless borrowing has completely destroyed the Ghanaian economy beyond recognition for generations to come.

This government will never learn, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson bemoaned.
20.04.2023 LISTEN

The Ghana Police Service has issued a press release to set the records straight on the allegation of power theft.

The release has become necessary following reports in the media this week which noted that three buildings at the Osu Police Barracks and one building at the Kumasi Central Police Station had been disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) over alleged power theft.

According to the Police, its investigations into the allegations have revealed that none of these buildings were connected to power illegally.

Checks from our records indicate that the situation at both the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station has existed for some years now.

Investigation further established that all the connections at the Osu Police Barracks and the Kumasi Central Police Station were done by the ECG directly to the poles since the ECG had indicated that it did not have any meters available at the time. In both instances, the connections were done by officials of the ECG, parts of the Police press release said on Thursday, April 20.

Having settled the matter with the ECG, the security service is urging the public to disregard the false claims of power theft and illegal connections.

We would therefore like to call on the public to disregard the false claims of power theft and illegal connections levelled against the Police since there is no basis for the allegations, the Police press release stressed.

Read more from the release below:


Atento S.A. (NYSE:ATTO  Get Rating) shares crossed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $2.54 and traded as low as $1.78. Atento shares last traded at $1.84, with a volume of 4,766 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Atento in a report on Tuesday. They set a hold rating for the company.

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Atento Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.87.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atento

About Atento

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Atento stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Atento S.A. ( NYSE:ATTO Get Rating ) by 12.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,612 shares of the business services providers stock after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Atento worth $316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 48.01% of the companys stock.

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Atento SA is engaged in the provision of customer relationship management business process outsourcing services and solutions. The firm offers front-end and back-end services ranging from sales, applications processing, customer care, and credit management. It operates through the following geographical segments: Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), America, and Brazil.

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Deutsche Post AG (ETR:DPW  Get Rating)s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as 43.81 ($47.61) and last traded at 43.56 ($47.35), with a volume of 1381061 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at 43.59 ($47.38).

Deutsche Post Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $52.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 36.00 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 92.05, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of 41.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of 38.42.

Deutsche Post Company Profile

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Deutsche Post AG operates as a mail and logistics company in Germany, rest of Europe, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through five segments: Express; Global Forwarding, Freight; Supply Chain; eCommerce Solutions; and Post & Parcel Germany. The Express segment offers time-definite courier and express services to business and private customers.

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Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FMCB  Get Rating) shares crossed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,008.85 and traded as low as $985.00. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp shares last traded at $988.00, with a volume of 56 shares changing hands.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,008.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $996.80.

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Company Profile

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Farmers & Merchants Bancorp is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses. Its services include commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, agribusiness, consumer, credit card, residential real estate loans, and equipment leases.

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Great Wall Motor Company Limited (OTCMKTS:GWLLY  Get Rating) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,800 shares, a decrease of 21.7% from the March 15th total of 2,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Great Wall Motor Stock Performance

Shares of GWLLY stock remained flat at $13.07 during midday trading on Wednesday. The companys stock had a trading volume of 92 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,392. Great Wall Motor has a 1 year low of $9.06 and a 1 year high of $22.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.54.

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Great Wall Motor (OTCMKTS:GWLLY  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter.

Great Wall Motor Company Profile

Great Wall Motor Company Limited researches and develops, manufactures, and sells automobiles, and automotive parts and components in China, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Chile, and internationally. The company offers pick-up trucks, SUVs, sedans, and energy vehicles primarily under the Haval, WEY, ORA, Tank, and Great Wall Pickup brand names; and unmanned vehicles.

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Theratechnologies Inc (OTCMKTS:THERF  Get Rating) shares crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $0.88 and traded as low as $0.81. Theratechnologies shares last traded at $0.94, with a volume of 93,715 shares.

Theratechnologies Stock Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $74.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.71 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $0.88 and a 200-day moving average of $1.28.

Theratechnologies Company Profile

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Theratechnologies Inc, a specialty pharmaceutical company, addresses unmet medical needs to promote healthy living and improve quality of life among HIV patients. It offers EGRIFTA, for the reduction of excess abdominal fat in HIV-infected patients with lipodystrophy in Canada and the United States; and Trogarz, an injection refers to ibalizumab for the treatment of multidrug resistant HIV-1 infected patients in the United States.

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Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 388,981 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $14,633,000. Fidelity National Financial accounts for 0.9% of Mizuho Markets Americas LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Fidelity National Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Fidelity National Financial by 159.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,387 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 13,752 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Fidelity National Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $309,000. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in shares of Fidelity National Financial by 272.3% during the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 123,600 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,650,000 after purchasing an additional 90,400 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fidelity National Financial by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,795 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Fidelity National Financial by 269.8% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 244,448 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $9,196,000 after purchasing an additional 178,344 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.98% of the companys stock.

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Fidelity National Financial Stock Performance

FNF stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $35.58. 318,069 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,561,994. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.84 and a 52 week high of $45.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 1.34.

Fidelity National Financial Dividend Announcement

Fidelity National Financial ( NYSE:FNF Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.22). Fidelity National Financial had a net margin of 9.83% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.16 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 46.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fidelity National Financial, Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. Fidelity National Financials dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on FNF. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Fidelity National Financial in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Fidelity National Financial from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $47.00 price objective on shares of Fidelity National Financial in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Fidelity National Financial from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $48.60.

Fidelity National Financial Profile

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Fidelity National Financial, Inc engages in the provision of title insurance and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries. Its services include title insurance, escrow and other title-related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty products and technology and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries.

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Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Rating) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.64 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 26.09% and a net margin of 15.88%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. Abbott Laboratories updated its FY23 guidance to $4.30-4.50 EPS and its FY 2023 guidance to $4.30-$4.50 EPS.

Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT opened at $112.29 on Thursday. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $102.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Abbott Laboratories has a 1 year low of $93.25 and a 1 year high of $124.35. The firm has a market cap of $195.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 0.67.

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Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Abbott Laboratoriess payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

In related news, SVP Randel William Woodgrift sold 1,032 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total transaction of $103,922.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,256,842.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,222,103.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link . Also, SVP Randel William Woodgrift sold 1,032 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $103,922.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,203 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,256,842.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold a total of 1,971 shares of company stock worth $199,140 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 4,973 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $3,321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 19,327 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.93% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ABT. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. BTIG Research raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. They issued a buy rating and a $117.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $122.29.

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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In decades and centuries gone by, many people have come up with amazing invention ideas that have helped to make the world a very different place  in a positive way. In fact, most of us cannot imagine a world without some of the great inventions we have come to rely on, including more recent inventions such as tech ones.

If these inventors had never moved forward with their invention ideas, our lives would be very different, and not in a good way for the large part. Sadly, there are lots of people who do come up with great invention ideas, but they end up giving up before they have even started because they are unsure of the steps they need to take. Embarking on a new invention journey can seem exciting, but it can also be challenging and stressful if you dont have the right support. This is why it is important to do some research and consider getting professionals on board before you get started.

Those who come up with great ideas for inventions naturally want to move forward with them, and there are many things you need to keep in mind if this is something that you plan to do. In this guide are tips and ways in which the new invention service provider InventHelp can assist you in getting started.

Key Things You Need to Consider When Getting Started with Your Invention Idea

There are a number of key factors that you need to consider when it comes to starting with your first invention journey. Some of the main ones are:

Write Down the Details of Your Invention Idea

One of the first things you need to do is to write down the details of your idea. If you have a sudden lightbulb moment  even if this is in the middle of the night, as it so often is  make sure you document all of the details, as they can quickly fade away otherwise. Once you have documented the bare bones of your idea, you can always add to it later and work out the finer details. But make sure you log the details of your initial idea as quickly as you can so that you dont forget anything important.

When you document the idea, it can also boost the chances of you looking into it further rather than just pushing it to the back of your mind. It is all too easy to forget all about your idea and invention ambitions if your idea remains only in your head. However, if you write it down, you will have a reminder and something tangible to keep the idea at the forefront of your mind.

Research Demand and Viability for Your Invention Idea

Another thing you need to do is do some research to get an idea about the level of demand for your product and whether it is viable. Once you have a great idea, it is important to look into its viability, and this will give you a far better idea of whether you should move forward with it. You can carry out market research in various ways including the use of survey sites, commissioning a research company to do this for you, or even making use of social media.

Once you have carried out extensive research, you will have a better idea of what the demand for this type of product is like. This will then give you more of an idea of whether your invention idea is a viable one. It can even help you to make changes to the initial idea based on the feedback you receive during your research.

Check for Similar Inventions

The more unique your invention is, the better your chances of cornering the market. In addition, you dont want to spend time pushing forward with your invention idea if someone has already had the same idea and patented it, or if the same product already exists. This is why it is important to do your research to check for similar inventions or patents for the same idea.

If you find that there are no patents, and you are happy that someone has not already invented your product, you can then move forward with greater confidence.

Look at New Invention Service Companies

One other very important thing to look at is new invention service providers such as InventHelp. Turning to professionals as a new inventor can make a big, positive difference to your first invention journey. You can look forward to a host of support and assistance from the experts, and this means that you can push forward with your journey with greater confidence.

When it comes to looking for suitable service providers for new invention services, it is important to take a number of factors into consideration. This includes looking at the services offered, the cost of the service, and reviews from other people. With InventHelp, you can benefit from a provider with decades of experience and a solid reputation. Learn more about this provider below in this guide for new inventors.

What InventHelp Can Do for You

There are many ways in which experienced service providers such as InventHelp can assist you as a new inventor. Making sure you familiarize yourself with these is important, as you can then clearly determine if and how they can help and how you can benefit from using the providers services. Some of the things that InventHelp can do for you as a new inventor are:

Ensuring You Get the Support and Guidance You Need

One of the key ways in which InventHelp can assist you is by ensuring you get the support and guidance you need as a new inventor. Embarking upon your first journey can be a very lonely and challenging experience if you do not have any support in place. However, having a team of professionals on hand to assist can turn your experience around and turn it into an enriching and exciting one.

For those who know little or nothing about the new invention process, being able to turn to professionals for guidance can prove invaluable. It can even make the difference between continuing with your journey or giving up because you have no idea what you need to do next. This is why a lot of new inventors turn to the experts at InventHelp.

Helping You with Important Processes

Another important way in which the provider can assist you is by helping you with important processes that form part of the invention journey. This is far more involved than many new inventors realize at first, and a lot of these processes can be daunting and challenging. For instance, you need to ensure your invention or idea is legally protected with patent protection in place, which many new inventors know nothing about.

At InventHelp, the team can assist you with all sorts of vital processes. For example, they can provide referrals so you can get a fully qualified and experienced patent lawyer, and they can assist with the creation of a prototype for your invention. This can help to make your life far easier and can ease the burden and stress when it comes to ensuring vital processes are followed during your first invention journey.

Providing Access to Businesses to Review Your Idea

One of the huge challenges that you will face as a new inventor is getting businesses to take notice of your idea or invention. With a sea of new inventors to deal with, businesses can afford to be choosy about which ones they review, so you might struggle to connect with relevant businesses that are willing to look at your invention idea.

This is where the InventHelp team can also help, as they can provide access to a database of thousands of businesses that are keen to review the invention ideas of new talent. In addition, these companies sign confidentiality agreements, and this means that you wont have to worry about the details of your invention being leaked as part of the review process.

Enabling You to Learn as You Go

Those who are starting out on their first invention journey have a lot to learn, but without the right support and assistance, it can be difficult to do this. When you have experts on hand, you not only get support and guidance during your first invention experience, but you can also use it as a valuable learning curve that can help you with future invention journeys.

With access to a range of resources and tools as well as guidance and support, you can learn a lot from working with the experts at InventHelp. This knowledge and information can then prove invaluable for both your first and subsequent invention journeys.

More About InventHelp

If you are considering turning to InventHelp for support during your first invention journey, it is important that you do some research. Reading guides about the company can help you to do this, and looking at frequently asked questions from other new inventors can also prove invaluable. Below, you will find some common questions and answers that will enable you to learn more about this provider:

How Long Has InventHelp Been Around?

One of the things most new inventors are keen to find out is how long InventHelp has been around, as this gives some idea about experience, expertise, and whether it has a solid background in the world of inventions. Well, this company has been helping new inventors since the mid-1980s, so it has been around for four decades, and still going strong.

Over the years, InventHelp has assisted many new inventors by providing support, guidance, and practical assistance. It has a strong reputation and a proven track record, and this is something that many new inventors find very reassuring. For many new inventors, getting help from an established provider is very important for peace of mind and reassurance, which is why many have turned to this company over recent years.

How Big Is InventHelp?

Another key question that a lot of new inventors have relates to the size and coverage of the company. Naturally, new inventors come from all around the country and beyond, and many are keen to find out whether they can easily access services from InventHelp. This company has a strong presence with offices in 65 cities across both the United States and Canada. This makes it accessible to many people who are looking for assistance with their new invention journey.

The size of the company and its strong presence across the country and beyond means that people from all around can get the help they need with their new invention ideas. The company has its headquarters in Pennsylvania and has teams of experts with years of experience who are committed to assisting new clients with their inventions.

What Are the Costs for InventHelp services?

Of course, all new inventors are keen to find out what the cost of getting help from InventHelp will be, as they need to ensure they can afford to go through the company. Well, one thing you should keep in mind is that, while there is a fee for services, this can vary on an individual basis. So, you need to discuss your specific invention idea and situation with the team to learn more about the exact costs involved.

The good news is that you will never face hidden payments and fees when you go through InventHelp, as the company prides itself on total transparency with everything, including the costs involved. So, you will be able to find out exactly what the cost will be before you make any decisions or sign any agreements with InventHelp.

How Can InventHelp Assist Me with my Invention Idea?

Of course, one of the main things that new inventors want to know is how InventHelp can assist them and how they can benefit. Naturally, when you use the services of providers such as this, you want to be able to benefit and enjoy a more enriching first invention experience. InventHelp is able to assist you in a variety of ways, and this is why many new inventors decide to choose this invention service company. Some of the ways in which the provider can help are:

Providing valuable support and guidance

Helping with patent protection

Assisting in prototype creation

Providing access to a database of companies to review your idea

Offering access to resources and tools

Helping new inventors to stay on track

Making the journey more manageable and enjoyable

These are some of the key ways in which this provider is able to assist new inventors who want the expertise of experienced pros to help them on their first journey.

What About Confidentiality?

It is natural for new inventors with a great invention idea to worry about the security of their information and the details of their invention idea. No new inventor wants the details of their idea or design to fall into the wrong hands, and this can put some people off from turning to professionals to assist them with their invention journey.

One thing to keep in mind is that InventHelp takes confidentiality very seriously and has all sorts of protocols in place to protect the information of its clients. This includes confidentiality agreements that are signed by all those who will be exposed to the details of your invention idea, including those on the database of companies that are willing to review new invention ideas.

What Type of Inventions Can InventHelp Assist With?

People from all walks of life and different interests come up with invention ideas, and this means that ideas may emerge in areas ranging from technology and medicine to the environment and science. Some inventors are curious to know whether the teams at InventHelp are only able to help inventors with ideas in certain sectors, but this is not the case.

In fact, InventHelp can assist inventors with invention ideas in all sorts of sectors, which means that no matter what sort of invention idea you have, you can still get support and assistance from this company. This makes it very accessible to all new inventors, no matter their location or the type of invention idea they have come up with.

Am I Guaranteed Success?

Some new inventors are eager to know whether they will definitely enjoy success if they turn to professionals. Naturally, all new inventors want to achieve success with their invention idea, but it is important to remember that there are no guarantees when it comes to the world of new inventions. As such, the team at InventHelp cannot and should never provide any guarantee of success, as this would be unethical.

Of course, there may be some unscrupulous providers that might indicate that success is guaranteed, and this should definitely raise red flags. These are just false promises designed to bring new inventors on board, and there is no way that any provider can live up to the promise of guaranteed success.

InventHelp Reviews and Testimonials

Before you make any decisions with regard to the provider you will use for your new invention services, it is important to do some thorough research. You will find plenty of information about InventHelp online, so you can easily check out reviews and information to help you make a more informed decision. Among the things that you can look at when doing your research are reviews and testimonials from past and current inventors, as this will enable you to learn a lot and make your decision with greater ease. Below are a few testimonials to look at:

Very quick to reply and research my project, giving clear and precise advice. The high level of service and communication is rare! Looking forward to working with InventHelp and moving my project forward. Thank you.  Len, WA

It has been nearly 2 years since I decided on contacting INVENTHELP. From the very first meeting to writing this today it has been a wonderful experience, every time I write an e-mail they quickly respond and answer all of my questions. They are the very best.  Dan, FL

I used InventHelp's services a few years back. I was just a new inventor that had no idea of what was needed to actually patent and protect an invention. All I knew was that I had invented something amazing but didn't know how to make it available to the public and make money from it. Fortunately, I heard about InventHelp from a friend of a friend. They explained in great detail the procedure we were about to embark on and while it sounded scary, I trusted them. The first time when you hear what needs to be done, you'll want to run. Don't. Keep your calm and trust these guys. They know what they are doing, and they will help you a lot. I launched my first invention, and it became successful with their help. They found companies interested in it and made my job so much easier.  Riana

Definitely five stars and beyond. My experience with the team at InventHelp has truly given me confidence and motivation to move forward with persistence and determination. The knowledge, skill, and professionalism of everyone Ive talked to and consulted with in relation to my invention thus far had been outstanding. Thank you very much InventHelp. I truly appreciate your hard work, dedication, and ability to get it done.  Anthony Allen

So, why is it important to check out reviews and testimonials online? Well, there are many reasons you should do this, such as:

Being able to draw on the experiences of others

Learning more about the reputation of the provider

A better insight regarding what to expect

Ability to make a more informed decision

Getting a better idea of the pros and cons of the provider

When it comes to the pros and cons of using InventHelp, there are some key ones that you need to keep in mind. Some of these are:

Pros

Committed to confidentiality

High level of guidance and support

Help with important processes during your journey

Providing you with greater confidence and reassurance

High levels of expertise and experience

Strong presence across the country

Transparent and honest

No false promises made

A great learning curve

Access to a database of companies to review your idea

Cons

There are fees for the services provided

Unable to offer opinions about your idea

As you can see, there are far more pros than there are cons, which is why it is well worth considering using this provider as a new inventor setting out on your first journey.

Summary of Benefits of New Inventors

When it comes to finding a provider to help you with your first invention journey, you need to ensure you have a good idea of how it will benefit you. This will enable you to make up your mind with far greater ease. Some of the benefits new inventors can expect when using InventHelp are:

Support from the start to the end of the journey

Ability to learn as they go

Help with getting patent protection into place

Assistance with creating a prototype

Access to a range of resources

Experts that can provide guidance

A boost in confidence and motivation

Ability to stay on track with greater ease

A far less stressful journey

The expertise of professionals with years of experience

A key benefit of turning to professionals is that it is far less likely that you will give up on your invention ambitions, and this is because you will always have experts on hand to advise you and steer you in the right direction.

All too often, people decide to give up on their invention dreams and goals because they do not know how to progress. This makes it all far more stressful, which leads to some new inventors simply going back to their old routine and forgetting all about their invention idea. When you have the right team on hand for support and guidance, you can stay on track more easily and continue to move forward with your invention journey.

The Bottom Line

As we know, there are no guarantees of success in the world of new inventions. However, if you want to boost your chances of moving forward with your journey, and you want a more enjoyable and enriching experience, this guide can help. You need to be very organized, as you need to do your research thoroughly, as covered at the start of this guide. In addition, you need to ensure you find the right provider to assist you with your new invention journey, as this can also make a big difference to your overall experience.

By taking these tips on board and doing your research, you can look forward to a first invention journey that is exciting and rewarding rather than one that is stressful and confusing. This can then increase the chances of you continuing with your ambitions as an inventor in the future.

Lee Enterprises newsroom and editorial were not involved in the creation of this content.
Principle Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 82.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,848 shares of the information technology services providers stock after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLCs holdings in Accenture were worth $493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 502.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,191,413 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $563,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,827,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 5,457,405 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,404,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,603,071 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $318,306,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.4% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Accenture by 2,831.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 747,761 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $192,399,000 after acquiring an additional 722,252 shares during the last quarter. 73.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $1,750,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 174,084 shares of the companys stock, valued at $48,753,965.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the firms 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 owns 42,991 shares of the companys stock, valued at $12,060,265.23. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $1,750,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 174,084 shares in the company, valued at $48,753,965.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,658 shares of company stock valued at $5,467,791. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the companys stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Accenture Stock Down 0.0 %

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $310.00 to $327.00 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 Tuesday, April 11th. Edward Jones raised shares of Accenture from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $289.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Monday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $314.00.

NYSE:ACN opened at $279.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.86 billion, a PE ratio of 25.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $272.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.44. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $242.80 and a 12-month high of $330.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The companys revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.54 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.57 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 12th. Accentures payout ratio is 41.25%.

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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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ACN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating).

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Oppenheimer reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Alteryx (NYSE:AYX  Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $80.00 price target on the stock.

AYX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Alteryx from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Alteryx in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Alteryx from $62.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alteryx from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Alteryx from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alteryx presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $77.54.

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Alteryx Price Performance

Alteryx stock opened at $52.90 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.33 and a beta of 0.52. The stocks 50 day moving average is $60.03 and its 200-day moving average is $53.04. Alteryx has a 12 month low of $39.55 and a 12 month high of $72.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

Alteryx ( NYSE:AYX Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.28. Alteryx had a negative return on equity of 119.37% and a negative net margin of 37.24%. The company had revenue of $301.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $278.64 million. Equities research analysts expect that Alteryx will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

In other Alteryx news, Director Eileen Schloss sold 4,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.47, for a total transaction of $294,615.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,715 shares of the companys stock, valued at $439,631.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alteryx

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alteryx by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,636 shares of the companys stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alteryx by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 26,769 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,915,000 after buying an additional 3,212 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC bought a new position in Alteryx during the first quarter worth $236,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alteryx by 14.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,583 shares of the companys stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alteryx during the first quarter valued at $272,000. 74.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alteryx Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Alteryx, Inc engages in the provision of self-service data analytics software. Its subscription-based platform allows organizations to prepare, blend, and analyze data from a multitude of sources and benefit from data-driven decisions. The company was founded by Dean A. Stoecker, Olivia Duane-Adams, and Edward P.

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Altus Group (TSE:AIF  Get Rating) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at CIBC from C$68.00 to C$62.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. CIBCs price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.49% from the companys previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on AIF. Cormark upped their price objective on shares of Altus Group from C$70.00 to C$74.00 in a research note on Friday, February 24th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Altus Group from C$65.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Altus Group from C$65.00 to C$75.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Altus Group from C$59.00 to C$69.00 in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Altus Group from C$68.00 to C$69.00 in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altus Group has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$69.89.

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Altus Group Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of TSE AIF traded down C$2.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$55.61. The company had a trading volume of 109,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 69,832. The stock has a market cap of C$2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -2,796.00, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.84. The companys fifty day moving average price is C$58.17 and its 200-day moving average price is C$54.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 63.04. Altus Group has a 12 month low of C$41.27 and a 12 month high of C$61.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Altus Group ( TSE:AIF Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C$0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.51 by C($0.07). The company had revenue of C$183.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$185.65 million. Altus Group had a negative return on equity of 0.15% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. As a group, research analysts expect that Altus Group will post 2.0229439 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, Director Alex Probyn sold 5,672 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$57.50, for a total transaction of C$326,140.00. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the companys stock.

About Altus Group

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Altus Group Limited provides software, data solutions, and independent advisory services to the commercial real estate industry in Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through Altus Analytics and Commercial Real Estate Consulting (CRE Consulting) segments. The Altus Analytics segment offers ARGUS Enterprise, a commercial property valuation and asset management software; ARGUS Taliance, a real estate fund and alternative investment management software; ARGUS EstateMaster, a property development feasibility and management software; and ARGUS Developer, a real estate development pro forma and management software solution; ARGUS Voyanta, a powerful data aggregation, validation, and reporting software solution; ARGUS Acquire, a real estate acquisition deals and pipeline management software; and ARGUS ValueInsight, a commercial real estate valuation software.

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ARGI Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,599 shares of the retailers stock after purchasing an additional 1,978 shares during the quarter. ARGI Investment Services LLCs holdings in Walmart were worth $2,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMI Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.6% in the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,269 shares of the retailers stock worth $1,231,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 36.8% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 4,820 shares of the retailers stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Walmart by 31.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,162 shares of the retailers stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 123.9% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 10,566 shares of the retailers stock valued at $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Walmart by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 857,839 shares of the retailers stock worth $127,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.27% of the companys stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,504,039 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.51, for a total transaction of $218,852,714.89. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 245,711,516 shares of the companys stock, valued at $35,753,482,693.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director S Robson Walton sold 1,504,039 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.51, for a total value of $218,852,714.89. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 245,711,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,753,482,693.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 243,548 shares of the companys stock, valued at $34,834,670.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,053,710 shares of company stock valued at $2,982,527,217 in the last 90 days. 47.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Walmart Stock Up 0.1 %

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $155.00 target price on Walmart in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $163.00 price target on Walmart in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $164.00 target price on shares of Walmart in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $164.66.

WMT stock opened at $150.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $404.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.48. Walmart Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $117.27 and a fifty-two week high of $160.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $143.98 and a 200-day moving average of $143.20.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.20. Walmart had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 20.45%. The business had revenue of $164.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 6.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Walmarts dividend payout ratio is 53.27%.

Walmart Profile

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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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BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL  Get Rating) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,282 shares of the companys stock after selling 92 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc.s holdings in Estee Lauder Companies were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,112,285 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,910,442,000 after acquiring an additional 191,335 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,889,653 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,135,176,000 after acquiring an additional 94,600 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,417,198 shares of the companys stock valued at $953,675,000 after acquiring an additional 289,510 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,612,855 shares of the companys stock valued at $564,115,000 after acquiring an additional 8,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 2,583,300 shares of the companys stock valued at $558,587,000 after acquiring an additional 635,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.74% of the companys stock.

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Estee Lauder Companies Price Performance

Estee Lauder Companies stock opened at $256.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $91.67 billion, a PE ratio of 62.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.02. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.47 and a 52-week high of $285.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The companys 50 day moving average is $245.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.64.

Estee Lauder Companies Announces Dividend

Estee Lauder Companies ( NYSE:EL Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.25. Estee Lauder Companies had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 32.65%. The business had revenue of $4.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.01 EPS. The companys revenue was down 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. will post 4.96 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.66 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 27th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Estee Lauder Companiess payout ratio is 64.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Societe Generale raised shares of Estee Lauder Companies from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $294.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Estee Lauder Companies in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $245.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $215.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Estee Lauder Companies from $290.00 to $278.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $279.46.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jennifer Hyman sold 5,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.88, for a total value of $1,396,849.92. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $266,880. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Jennifer Hyman sold 5,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.88, for a total value of $1,396,849.92. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $266,880. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Fabrizio Freda sold 11,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $3,160,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 125,762 shares in the company, valued at $33,955,740. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,511 shares of company stock worth $8,943,120. 12.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Estee Lauder Companies Company Profile

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The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc engages in the manufacture of skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. It sells products under the following brand names: Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda and Too Faced. Its channels consist of department stores, multi-brand retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and prestige salons and spas.

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BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,130 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $53,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,134,691 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,425,858,000 after buying an additional 1,275,790 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 71,579,128 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,957,671,000 after buying an additional 513,208 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,302,349 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,896,798,000 after buying an additional 2,178,596 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 24,517,169 shares of the companys stock valued at $990,002,000 after buying an additional 1,192,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 6,084,403 shares of the companys stock valued at $245,688,000 after buying an additional 150,351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.68% of the companys stock.

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Altria Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MO opened at $46.21 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $82.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.59. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $45.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.59. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.35 and a fifty-two week high of $57.05.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

Altria Group ( NYSE:MO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $1.18. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for 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 for the quarter was down 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 23rd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.14%. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MO shares. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Altria Group from $49.50 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Two equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $45.50.

Altria Group Company 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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Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM  Get Rating) (TSE:BAM.A) shares fell 3.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $31.94 and last traded at $32.03. 154,203 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,687,185 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Brookfield Asset Management to an underperform rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Brookfield Asset Management from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Brookfield Asset Management in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Asset Management in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $47.06.

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Brookfield Asset Management Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.48.

Brookfield Asset Management Increases Dividend

Brookfield Asset Management ( NYSE:BAM Get Rating ) (TSE:BAM.A) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $958.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $21.81 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 27th. This is an increase from Brookfield Asset Managements previous quarterly dividend of $0.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Multi-Strategy Mast Brookfield sold 24,744 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 21,104,923 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $252,414,879.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Asset Management

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Asset Management in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 7,777.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 709 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 146.4% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 35.5% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 1,057 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management during the 1st quarter worth $35,000.

About Brookfield Asset Management

(Get Rating)

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. provides alternative asset management services. Its renewable power and transition business includes the ownership, operation, and development of hydroelectric, wind, solar, and energy transition power generating assets. The company's infrastructure business engages in the ownership, operation, and development of utilities, transport, midstream, data and sustainable resource assets.

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Camping World Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CWH  Get Rating) has been given an average rating of Moderate Buy by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.71.

CWH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Camping World from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. TheStreet cut shares of Camping World from a b- rating to a c rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Camping World from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Camping World in a report on Wednesday. They set an overweight rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Camping World in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd.

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Camping World Stock Up 1.7 %

Camping World stock opened at $21.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.46. Camping World has a twelve month low of $18.69 and a twelve month high of $33.99. The companys 50-day moving average price is $21.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.30.

Camping World Dividend Announcement

Camping World ( NYSE:CWH Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Camping World had a net margin of 1.97% and a return on equity of 53.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Camping World will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 14th were given a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 13th. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.39%. Camping Worlds dividend payout ratio is currently 77.88%.

Institutional Trading of Camping World

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWH. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Camping World by 5.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 49,959 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,396,000 after buying an additional 2,448 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Camping World by 3.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 525,929 shares of the companys stock valued at $14,700,000 after buying an additional 17,443 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Camping World by 63.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 45,766 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,279,000 after buying an additional 17,848 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Camping World by 51.1% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 23,224 shares of the companys stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 7,855 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its holdings in shares of Camping World by 12,962.0% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 369,786 shares of the companys stock worth $10,318,000 after purchasing an additional 366,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.92% of the companys stock.

About Camping World

(Get Rating)

Camping World Holdings, Inc operates as a retailer of recreational vehicles (RV) and related products and services. It operates through the following segments: Good Sam Services & Plans, and RV & Outdoor Retail. The Good Sam Services & Plans segment consists of programs, plans, and services that are geared towards protecting, insuring, and promoting the RV lifestyle.

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CCL Industries Inc. (TSE:CCL.B  Get Rating) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$62.91 and traded as high as C$66.46. CCL Industries shares last traded at C$64.94, with a volume of 262,118 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CCL.B. TD Securities boosted their price objective on CCL Industries from C$72.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. Raymond James cut CCL Industries from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a C$71.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Pi Financial lowered their target price on CCL Industries from C$80.00 to C$79.00 in a research note on Monday, February 27th. CIBC lifted their target price on CCL Industries from C$72.00 to C$74.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on CCL Industries from C$75.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Friday, January 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CCL Industries presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$74.63.

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CCL Industries Trading Up 1.0 %

The firm has a market cap of C$10.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$64.76 and a 200 day moving average of C$62.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.37, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.88.

About CCL Industries

CCL Industries Inc manufactures and sells labels, containers, consumer printable media products, technology driven label solutions, polymer bank note substrates, and specialty films. The company operates through four segments: CCL, Avery, Checkpoint, and Innovia. The CCL segment offers pressure sensitive and specialty extruded film materials for decorative, instructional, functional, and security applications in the consumer packaging, healthcare, chemicals, consumer electronic device, and automotive markets.

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Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH  Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,450,000 shares, an increase of 35.4% from the March 15th total of 1,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 358,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.8 days. Currently, 7.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Choice Hotels International Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE CHH traded up $1.27 on Wednesday, reaching $127.66. The company had a trading volume of 283,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,063. The firm has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.27. Choice Hotels International has a fifty-two week low of $104.15 and a fifty-two week high of $150.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $119.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.76, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $362.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $356.74 million. Choice Hotels International had a return on equity of 99.85% and a net margin of 23.69%. Choice Hotels Internationals quarterly revenue was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Choice Hotels International will post 5.9 EPS for the current year.

Choice Hotels International Increases Dividend

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.287 per share. This is an increase from Choice Hotels Internationals previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 31st. Choice Hotels Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.23%.

CHH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Choice Hotels International from $134.00 to $130.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Choice Hotels International from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and upped their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $134.00 in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Choice Hotels International from $120.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Choice Hotels International from $107.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Choice Hotels International in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Choice Hotels International has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $121.88.

Insider Activity at Choice Hotels International

In related news, insider David A. Pepper sold 7,932 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.94, for a total value of $959,296.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $3,675,003.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Choice Hotels International news, insider David A. Pepper sold 7,932 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.94, for a total transaction of $959,296.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $3,675,003.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick Cimerola sold 748 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.95, for a total value of $94,210.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,199 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,803,564.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 90,521 shares of company stock worth $10,955,487. Company insiders own 20.84% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Choice Hotels International

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,043 shares of the companys stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,796 shares of the companys stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,716 shares of the companys stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 13,319 shares of the companys stock worth $1,458,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Choice Hotels International by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 599 shares of the companys stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. 58.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Choice Hotels International Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Choice Hotels International, Inc engages in the franchising and operations of hotels. It operates through Hotel Franchising, and Corporate and Other segments. The Hotel Franchising segment refers to the hotel franchising operations consisting of the companys several hotel brands. The Corporate and Other segment deals with hotel revenues and rental income related to office buildings owned by the company.

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Big Tree volunteer firefighters in Hamburg will be answering calls in Blasdell under an agreement approved by Blasdell Village Board members Wednesday.

Blasdell has been struggling to reconstitute its volunteer fire department and last month sought proposals from neighboring fire companies for fire protection.

Big Tree will assign an assistant chief and seven firefighters who will respond to calls at the Blasdell Fire Hall on Miriam Avenue, according to Mayor Rob Hefner.

He said Big Tree firefighters will use one of Blasdell's engines and Blasdell firefighters will respond to calls with the other Blasdell engine.

"It is the hope of the Board of Trustees that with the guidance and leadership opportunities offered in Big Tree's proposal, the Blasdell Volunteer Fire Department can get up to speed, focus on training and recruiting and be standalone by time the contract expires," Hefner said in a statement.

"They are going to come in and really guide our department. Theyre going to take their expertise, guide and lead our folks so hopefully they get back up and stand alone within a year," Village Administrator Janet MacGregor Plarr said.

The contract is for one year, and will cost $20,000. Plarr said the village has some excess equipment that may be conveyed to the Big Tree company, which might reduce the monetary payment.

When the village issued its request for proposals in March, the Blasdell Fire Department had not responded to calls in six months because the ranks had dwindled to fewer than 20. Training had not taken place, and the village sold its ambulance because it had no certified emergency medical technicians.

After a recruitment effort, Blasdell has three new applications. And of the 17 members, 13 have gotten the required physicals and annual training, Plarr said.

She said Big Tree will handle ambulance calls.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has proposed creating a county ambulance service to address access to ambulance services in less populated parts of the county. The new service would station five ambulances and associated emergency medical staff across Erie County, under his plan.

Fire calls in Blasdell had been answered by neighboring fire companies through mutual aid, but village officials said that mutual aid is not a permanent solution.

There are nine volunteer fire companies in the Town of Hamburg, including the villages of Blasdell and Hamburg.
Great-West Lifeco (OTCMKTS:GWLIF  Get Rating) and Old Mutual (OTCMKTS:ODMUF  Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Dividends

Great-West Lifeco pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Old Mutual pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 14.7%. Great-West Lifeco pays out 47.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Old Mutual pays out 76.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

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Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.8% of Great-West Lifeco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.5% of Old Mutual shares are held by institutional investors. 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.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Great-West Lifeco N/A N/A N/A Old Mutual N/A N/A N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Great-West Lifeco and Old Mutuals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

This table compares Great-West Lifeco and Old Mutuals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Great-West Lifeco N/A N/A N/A $2.60 10.74 Old Mutual N/A N/A N/A $0.11 5.17

Old Mutual is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Great-West Lifeco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Great-West Lifeco and Old Mutual, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Great-West Lifeco 0 1 1 0 2.50 Old Mutual 0 2 0 0 2.00

Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus target price of $35.78, indicating a potential upside of 27.82%. Given Great-West Lifecos stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Great-West Lifeco is more favorable than Old Mutual.

Summary

Great-West Lifeco beats Old Mutual on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Great-West Lifeco

(Get Rating)

Great-West Lifeco, Inc. is a financial services holding company, which engages in the provision of life insurance, health insurance, retirement services, investment management and reinsurance services. It operates through the following segments: Canada, United States, Europe, and Lifeco Corporate. The Canada segment provides individual & group life insurance through the Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life. The United States segment offers asset management and financial services through the Great-West Financial, Putnam and insurance businesses in the branches of Great-West Life and Canada Life located in the U.S. The Europe segment consists of insurance, annuities and reinsurance business units. The Lifeco Corporate segment includes operating results for activities of Lifeco that are not associated with the major business units of the firm. The company was founded on November 8, 1979 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada.

About Old Mutual

(Get Rating)

Old Mutual Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides financial services primarily in South Africa and rest of Africa. The company operates through Mass and Foundation Cluster, Personal Finance and Wealth Management, Old Mutual Investments, Old Mutual Corporate, Old Mutual Insure, and Rest of Africa segments. It offers risk products, including group risk and funeral covers; long-term savings; lending products comprising micro-lending; and transactional products. It also provides financial advice, investment, and income products, as well as asset management services. In addition, the company offers investments, annuities, and consulting services to employee-sponsored retirement and benefit funds; and health, property, and casualty insurance products. It serves low-income and lower-middle income markets; high income and high net worth individuals; and employee-sponsored retirement and benefit funds. The company was founded in 1845 and is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Shares of Croma Security Solutions Group plc (LON:CSSG  Get Rating) were down 1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 47.10 ($0.58) and last traded at GBX 49 ($0.61). Approximately 7,453 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 10,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 49.50 ($0.61).

Croma Security Solutions Group Stock Down 1.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of 7.30 million, a PE ratio of 4,900.00 and a beta of 0.71. The businesss fifty day moving average price is GBX 50.82 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 56.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.10.

Croma Security Solutions Group Company Profile

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Croma Security Solutions Group plc provides various security services in the United Kingdom. The company operates through three segments: Croma Vigilant, Croma Security Systems, and Croma Locksmiths. It offers manned guarding and reception services for property assets and individuals; CCTV security, fire, and alarm systems; locksmithing keys, locks, and safes; and identity management and access control solutions.

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Citigroup lowered shares of El Puerto de Liverpool (OTCMKTS:ELPQF  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

El Puerto de Liverpool Price Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS ELPQF opened at $6.16 on Monday. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $6.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.56. El Puerto de Liverpool has a one year low of $6.16 and a one year high of $6.19.

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About El Puerto de Liverpool

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Further Reading

El Puerto de Liverpool, S. A. B. de C. V., together with its subsidiaries, operates a chain of department stores in Mexico. The company operates through Liverpool Commercial, Suburbia Commercial, and Real Estate segments. Its stores offer various products, such as clothes and accessories for men, women, and children; household goods; furniture; cosmetics; and other consumer products.

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Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV  Get Rating) issued an update on its FY 2023 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $32.70- for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.00. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Elevance Health Stock Down 5.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ELV traded down $25.75 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $457.33. 2,960,009 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,156,228. Elevance Health has a fifty-two week low of $440.02 and a fifty-two week high of $549.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $474.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $491.48. The firm has a market cap of $108.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.84.

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Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The company reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $5.20 by $0.03. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $39.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.14 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 32.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from Elevance Healths previous quarterly dividend of $1.28. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. Elevance Healths dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.88%.

ELV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $550.00 to $565.00 in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Elevance Health from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their target price for the company from $523.00 to $572.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $581.00 to $571.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, SVB Leerink reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $580.00 target price on shares of Elevance Health in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong 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 $584.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Elevance Health 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 value of $6,714,986.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 51,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,876,230.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Elevance Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ascent Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $758,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $823,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,070,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $654,000. Finally, American Trust acquired a new position in Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $470,000. 87.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Elevance Health

(Get Rating)

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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First Horizon Co. (NYSE:FHN  Get Rating) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 28,200,000 shares, a growth of 26.9% from the March 15th total of 22,220,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 7,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Horizon

In other First Horizon news, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 93,157 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.80, for a total value of $2,310,293.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,396,259 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $34,627,223.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other First Horizon news, EVP Terry Lawson Akins sold 4,694 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.67, for a total value of $115,800.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 145,691 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,594,196.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 93,157 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.80, for a total transaction of $2,310,293.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,396,259 shares of the companys stock, valued at $34,627,223.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Horizon

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Leeward Investments LLC MA bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $8,842,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of First Horizon by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 33,189 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Horizon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $339,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Horizon by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 892,323 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $15,865,000 after buying an additional 187,566 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.41% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

First Horizon Stock Down 0.2 %

Several research firms have issued reports on FHN. StockNews.com began coverage on First Horizon in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a sell rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Horizon in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded First Horizon from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 24th.

Shares of FHN traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $18.55. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,252,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,353,510. The firm has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.88. First Horizon has a 1-year low of $13.40 and a 1-year high of $24.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.81.

First Horizon (NYSE:FHN  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $863.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $871.36 million. First Horizon had a net margin of 25.66% and a return on equity of 12.98%. First Horizons revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that First Horizon will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Horizon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. First Horizons dividend payout ratio is 39.22%.

About First Horizon

(Get Rating)

First Horizon Corp. (Tennessee) operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of checking accounts, savings products, mortgage banking, lending, and financing to individuals and businesses. It operates the business through three segments: Regional Banking, Specialty Banking, and Corporate.

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First Horizon (NYSE:FHN  Get Rating)s stock had its sector perform rating reissued by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $25.00 price objective on the financial services providers stock. Royal Bank of Canadas price objective suggests a potential upside of 34.48% from the companys current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded First Horizon from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $25.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on First Horizon in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a sell rating for the company.

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First Horizon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FHN opened at $18.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.81. The company has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.88. First Horizon has a 12-month low of $13.40 and a 12-month high of $24.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

First Horizon ( NYSE:FHN Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $863.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $871.36 million. First Horizon had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 25.66%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Horizon will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

In other news, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 93,157 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.80, for a total transaction of $2,310,293.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,396,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,627,223.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Terry Lawson Akins sold 4,694 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.67, for a total transaction of $115,800.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 145,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,594,196.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO D Bryan Jordan sold 93,157 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.80, for a total value of $2,310,293.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,396,259 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $34,627,223.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Horizon

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in First Horizon by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,975,376 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,213,136,000 after purchasing an additional 784,435 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in First Horizon by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,554,395 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $427,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302,014 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in First Horizon by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,773,317 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $288,446,000 after purchasing an additional 635,481 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in First Horizon by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,525,265 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $282,369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,154 shares during the period. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Horizon during the 4th quarter valued at $209,132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.41% of the companys stock.

About First Horizon

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First Horizon Corp. (Tennessee) operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of checking accounts, savings products, mortgage banking, lending, and financing to individuals and businesses. It operates the business through three segments: Regional Banking, Specialty Banking, and Corporate.

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Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:FRGE  Get Rating) CEO Kelly Rodriques sold 50,202 shares of Forge Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.52, for a total transaction of $76,307.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,065,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,219,471.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Kelly Rodriques also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Monday, April 17th, Kelly Rodriques sold 64,018 shares of Forge Global stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.68, for a total transaction of $107,550.24.

Forge Global Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FRGE traded down $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $1.50. 279,534 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 309,684. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.66. The firm has a market cap of $258.96 million, a P/E ratio of -1.03 and a beta of 2.29. Forge Global Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1.26 and a 1-year high of $34.77.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Forge Global

Several research firms have weighed in on FRGE. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Forge Global from $2.00 to $2.40 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Forge Global in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. They set a neutral rating on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Forge Global from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a market outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Forge Global has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $3.23.

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FRGE. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Forge Global during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,140,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Forge Global by 479.9% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 478,381 shares of the companys stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 395,881 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Forge Global during the 4th quarter valued at $555,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Forge Global by 4,042.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 327,617 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,410,000 after buying an additional 319,709 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Forge Global during the 3rd quarter valued at $422,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.68% of the companys stock.

About Forge Global

(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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Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in shares of The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK  Get Rating) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 207,800 shares of the banks stock after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fondens holdings in Bank of New York Mellon were worth $9,459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 436,802 shares of the banks stock worth $16,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 30.9% during the third quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 24,182 shares of the banks stock worth $931,000 after buying an additional 5,703 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of New York Mellon in the third quarter valued at $1,962,000. Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 98,444 shares of the banks stock valued at $4,481,000 after buying an additional 4,538 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of New York Mellon by 238.6% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 948 shares of the banks stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Bank of New York Mellon Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:BK opened at $45.24 on Thursday. The Bank of New York Mellon Co. has a 1 year low of $36.22 and a 1 year high of $52.26. The stock has a market cap of $36.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.68.

Bank of New York Mellon Announces Dividend

Bank of New York Mellon ( NYSE:BK Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.03. Bank of New York Mellon had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.87%. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Bank of New York Mellon Co. will post 4.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 11th. Investors of record on Friday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Bank of New York Mellons dividend payout ratio is currently 51.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BK. Barclays dropped their target price on Bank of New York Mellon from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Bank of New York Mellon from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bank of New York Mellon from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Bank of New York Mellon from $53.00 to $46.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Bank of New York Mellon from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $51.61.

Bank of New York Mellon Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segment. The Securities Services segment includes Asset Servicing business, which provides global custody, fund accounting, integrated middle-office solutions, transfer agency and data and analytics solutions.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK  Get Rating).

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Fosterville South Exploration Ltd. (OTCMKTS:FSXLF  Get Rating) fell 4.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as 0.44 and last traded at 0.44. 16,100 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 42,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at 0.46.

Fosterville South Exploration Trading Up 12.6 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of 0.37 and a 200 day moving average price of 0.32.

About Fosterville South Exploration

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Fosterville South Exploration Ltd., a junior exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of epizonal orogenic gold deposits in Australia. The Company's principal properties are the 100% owned Lauriston Gold Project covering an area of 215 km2; Golden Mountain Project, which covers an area of 102 km2; Moormbool Project comprising three granted licenses; and Providence Project that covers an area of 650 km2.

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Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc. (OTC:FKKFF  Get Rating) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $17.36 and last traded at $17.36, with a volume of 0 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Fukuoka Financial Group from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th.

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Fukuoka Financial Group Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.14 and a beta of 0.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.36.

About Fukuoka Financial Group

Fukuoka Financial Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various banking services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various deposits, such as current deposits, ordinary and other demand deposits, time deposits, and negotiable certificates of deposit, as well as provides loan products.

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The civil attorneys representing the families of the victims of the May 14 massacre at Tops say they are facing a stumbling block in preparing lawsuits on behalf of their clients: limited access to the evidence from the criminal investigations.

A protective order requested by the U.S. Attorney's Office and granted by the federal judge in the potential death penalty case against Payton Gendron puts stringent restrictions on who can see the voluminous evidence in the case and even how they can see it.

Buffalo attorney John V. Elmore, who is representing the families of Andre Mackniel, Katherine Massey and Heyward Patterson, said that according to the order, he can view the evidence only while at the federal public defender's office.

Buffalo's May 14 victims face uphill battle in lawsuits against online platforms Victims attorneys signaled interest in six platforms they say played a role in the May 14 Tops massacre.

The attorneys can look at the evidence on the public defender's computer screen only and in the presence of a member of the defense team. They are prohibited from downloading any of the information. They cannot print any of the documents. They can't use any kind of recording devices, including a pencil and paper.

"You can't take notes. We're not allowed to take notes," Elmore said.

Those restrictions have made it difficult to prepare any lawsuits, the attorneys said.

"That protective order has impeded our progress," Elmore said.

Trini E. Ross, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, said in a statement that her office cannot comment on pending cases. But, she said, "In general, protective orders are not put in place to frustrate, rather they are obtained to protect the integrity of a case."

The attorneys are hoping to work out a better way to handle the evidence.

A mountain of evidence was collected as part of the investigation into the mass killing in which 10 people lost their lives and three others were wounded. They include videos of the crime, crime scene photos and the killer's online communications. "There's 4.5 terabytes of information," Elmore said. "That is more than all of the books combined in the Library of Congress."

The attorneys for the families are planning to sue parties they believe enabled Gendron's killing spree  they could include gun and body armor manufacturers as well as social media platforms.

In addition, the Department of Justice is asking the families to weigh in on whether they want the government to pursue the death penalty against him  an opinion the lawyers say would be better informed if they could see the evidence.

After sentencing, families of shooting victims look to future: 'Buffalo needs to look at its racist ways in the face' The families of the victims of the May 14 massacre want to do something to make sure no one can ever perpetrate a heinous crime like that again and also to confront the racism that brought the killing to fruition.

Elmore and Terrence M. Connors, who is representing the families of seven victims who died in the Tops massacre, said they want to be able to have full access to the material.

"If it was handed over to us on a thumb drive, we could have it digitally organized," Elmore said. Software is available that the lawyers could use to sort through the digital trove of data. The attorneys would be happy to comply with rules that would prohibit them from sharing the data, they said.

"We are hopeful that the government will reconsider and share the evidence with the families," Connors said.

Gendron pleaded guilty to all state charges against him and was sentenced in February to spend the rest of his life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

The federal case against him is ongoing. The U.S. Attorney's Office is determining whether the government will pursue the death penalty against him.

In September, the U.S. Attorney requested and received a protective order from U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. regarding access to the evidence, limiting access to the state

Brett A. Harvey, assistant U.S. Attorney, argued in a motion that protective orders are "routinely issued" by courts in the Western District "to protect against unwarranted disclosure of discovery materials to third parties."

Harvey argued that the order would protect the privacy of "family members of the deceased, survivors of the attack, and eyewitnesses to the attack," ensure a fair trial and allow those involved in the federal case to share material with those involved in the state case, which is now over. In court papers, the U.S. Attorney's Office said the material collected is "voluminous" and some of it is "sensitive, graphic and private."

Elmore and Connors say it's their understanding that Gendron's defense attorneys have no objection to the families having access.

Gendron's federal public defenders declined to comment on the matter because of the ongoing case.

But his attorney in the state case, Brian Parker, made clear at his sentencing two months ago that the state defense team had no objection to evidence being shared with the families as they pursue lawsuits that go beyond the criminal charges.

"We know that some of the families and their lawyers have asked for the information collected by law enforcement during their investigations of this crime," Parker said in court just before Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan sentenced Gendron to spend the rest of his life behind bars. "We support that request. We hope the resolution of this case brings the day for that information to be shared closer."
Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE:GTN.A  Get Rating) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 3,703 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 91% from the previous sessions volume of 1,937 shares.The stock last traded at $9.22 and had previously closed at $9.10.

Gray Television Trading Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $855.86 million, a PE ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.22. The firms fifty day moving average is $9.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.04, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

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Gray Television Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. Gray Televisions dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.37%.

About Gray Television

Gray Television, Inc, a television broadcast company, owns and operates television stations and digital assets in the United States. As of February 28, 2019, it owned and operated television stations in 91 television markets broadcasting approximately 400 program streams, including approximately 150 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network, and the FOX Network.

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Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,500,000 shares, a growth of 13.6% from the March 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.1% of the companys shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Honda Motor

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HMC. Credit Suisse AG increased its stake in Honda Motor by 3,638.7% during the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 1,159 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its stake in Honda Motor by 1,148.3% during the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,111 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. bought a new stake in Honda Motor during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Honda Motor by 142.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Honda Motor during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 5.48% of the companys stock.

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Honda Motor Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HMC traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.18. The company had a trading volume of 628,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,056,182. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.32. The company has a market capitalization of $44.78 billion, a PE ratio of 8.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Honda Motor has a one year low of $21.43 and a one year high of $27.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Honda Motor ( NYSE:HMC Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 10th. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.02 billion. Honda Motor had a net margin of 4.22% and a return on equity of 6.01%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Honda Motor will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HMC. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Honda Motor in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Honda Motor from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Honda Motor from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th.

Honda Motor Company Profile

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Honda Motor Co, Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of automobiles, motorcycles, and power products. It operates through the following segments: Automobile, Motorcycle, Financial Services, and Power Product and Other Businesses. The Automobile segment manufactures and sells automobiles and related accessories.

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Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN  Get Rating) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 0.21-0.23 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.39.

Horace Mann Educators Stock Performance

Shares of HMN traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $33.27. The company had a trading volume of 168,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,866. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -475.57 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.82 and a 200-day moving average of $36.44. Horace Mann Educators has a 12 month low of $32.02 and a 12 month high of $42.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The insurance provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $346.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $341.30 million. Horace Mann Educators had a negative net margin of 0.19% and a positive return on equity of 4.15%. Equities analysts anticipate that Horace Mann Educators will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Horace Mann Educators Increases Dividend

Analysts Set New Price Targets

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. This is a positive change from Horace Mann Educatorss previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 15th. Horace Mann Educatorss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,885.71%.

A number of research firms recently commented on HMN. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Horace Mann Educators from $38.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Horace Mann Educators in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Horace Mann Educators

In other news, EVP Matthew P. Sharpe sold 3,478 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.99, for a total value of $118,217.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 54,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,847,458.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.60% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Horace Mann Educators

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Horace Mann Educators in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $83,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Horace Mann Educators by 191.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,247 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Horace Mann Educators by 37.9% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,882 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Advisor Partners II LLC acquired a new stake in Horace Mann Educators during the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new stake in Horace Mann Educators during the 1st quarter worth approximately $211,000.

Horace Mann Educators Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Horace Mann Educators Corp. is an insurance holding company, which engages in the provision of insurance and retirement solutions to educators and school employees. It operates through the following business segments: Property and Casualty, Supplemental, Retirement, Life, and Corporate and Other. The Property and Casualty segment focuses on personal lines of automobile and property insurance products.

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Toews Corp ADV decreased its position in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW  Get Rating) by 40.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,500 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 2,400 shares during the quarter. Toews Corp ADVs holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ITW. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in Illinois Tool Works by 3.7% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 9,666 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $2,024,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 4.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,070 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,899,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Illinois Tool Works by 54.7% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,859 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,407 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 70.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 746 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the companys stock.

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Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

Illinois Tool Works stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $233.55. 74,687 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,069,755. The firm has a market cap of $71.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $234.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $224.13. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 1-year low of $173.52 and a 1-year high of $253.37.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

Illinois Tool Works ( NYSE:ITW Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.60 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 19.04% and a return on equity of 87.15%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.95 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Illinois Tool Workss payout ratio is 53.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ITW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $241.00 to $240.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $183.00 to $181.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Illinois Tool Works from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $222.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Illinois Tool Works in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $228.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Christopher A. Oherlihy sold 60,137 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.26, for a total transaction of $14,809,337.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,868,130.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Illinois Tool Works news, CEO Ernest Scott Santi sold 235,656 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,538 shares in the company, valued at $52,592,274.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Christopher A. Oherlihy sold 60,137 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 40,072 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,868,130.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.78% of the companys stock.

Illinois Tool Works Company Profile

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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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INVESCO Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc (LON:IPU  Get Rating) announced a dividend on Wednesday, April 19th, Upcoming.Co.Uk reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 11th will be given a dividend of GBX 6.79 ($0.08) per share on Tuesday, June 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 11th. This is a boost from INVESCO Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trusts previous dividend of $3.75. The official announcement can be seen at this link.

INVESCO Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust Trading Up 0.1 %

IPU opened at GBX 424.36 ($5.25) on Thursday. INVESCO Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust has a twelve month low of GBX 373.50 ($4.62) and a twelve month high of GBX 544 ($6.73). The stock has a market cap of 143.56 million, a PE ratio of -431.35 and a beta of 1.11. The businesss 50 day moving average is GBX 442.16 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 429.61.

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About INVESCO Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust

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INVESCO Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Invesco Fund Managers Limited. It is co-managed by Invesco Asset Management 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.

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Spire Wealth Management decreased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG  Get Rating) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,830 shares of the companys stock after selling 2,204 shares during the period. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF makes up 1.6% of Spire Wealth Managements investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Spire Wealth Managements holdings in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF were worth $29,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGG. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 145.5% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,590 shares of the companys stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 52,003 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,570,000 after purchasing an additional 13,829 shares in the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC grew its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 14,640 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.07% of the companys stock.

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iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Price Performance

NYSEARCA AGG traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $99.35. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,277,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,319,888. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $93.20 and a fifty-two week high of $104.39. The companys 50-day moving average is $98.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.96.

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Company Profile

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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Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:EFA  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 95,004 shares of the exchange traded funds stock, valued at approximately $6,236,000. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF comprises approximately 4.0% of Luken Investment Analytics LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 172.9% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 464 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,510 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank lifted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF by 189.7% in the 4th quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 504 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.78% of the companys stock.

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iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSEARCA EFA traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $73.25. The company had a trading volume of 4,138,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,871,752. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has a one year low of $54.61 and a one year high of $73.69. The firms fifty day moving average price is $70.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.89.

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF Company Profile

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Funds investment objective is to seek investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of its underlying index, MSCI EAFE Index (the Index). The Index has been developed by MSCI Inc as an equity benchmark for its international stock performance.

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Mesa Royalty Trust (NYSE:MTR  Get Rating) declared a monthly dividend on Tuesday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 28th will be given a dividend of 0.238 per share by the energy company on Monday, July 31st. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 14.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. This is an increase from Mesa Royalty Trusts previous monthly dividend of $0.16.

Mesa Royalty Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 29.3% per year over the last three years.

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Mesa Royalty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of MTR stock opened at $19.62 on Thursday. The firms 50 day moving average price is $16.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.34. Mesa Royalty Trust has a one year low of $8.76 and a one year high of $28.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mesa Royalty Trust

About Mesa Royalty Trust

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Mesa Royalty Trust stock. UBS Group AG raised its position in Mesa Royalty Trust ( NYSE:MTR Get Rating ) by 800.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,500 shares of the energy companys stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned 0.24% of Mesa Royalty Trust worth $39,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 11.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Mesa Royalty Trust holds royalty interests in oil and gas producing properties in the United States. It earns specified interests in certain producing oil and gas properties such as Hugoton Royalty Properties located in Hugoton field of Kansas, San Juan Basin located in San Juan Basin field of New Mexico, and the San Juan Basin in San Juan Basin field of Colorado.

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Mkango Resources Ltd. (LON:MKA  Get Rating) was up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as GBX 11.50 ($0.14) and last traded at GBX 11.25 ($0.14). Approximately 745,964 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 932,974 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 11.13 ($0.14).

Mkango Resources Trading Up 1.1 %

The firms 50 day moving average price is GBX 12.26 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 13.06. The stock has a market cap of 27.36 million, a P/E ratio of -281.25 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 125.65, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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Insider Transactions at Mkango Resources

In other news, insider William (Will) Drummond Dawes bought 400,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 13 ($0.16) per share, for a total transaction of 52,000 ($64,348.47). Insiders own 50.94% of the companys stock.

Mkango Resources Company Profile

Mkango Resources Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, explores for and develops rare earth elements and associated minerals in the Republic of Malawi, Africa. It explores for uranium, tantalum, niobium, zircon, nickel, cobalt, rutile, graphite, and gold ores. The company's flagship project is the Songwe Hill property within the Phalombe exploration license located in southeast Malawi.

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MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. (NYSE:MYTE  Get Rating) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $9.00 to $6.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Morgan Stanleys price target points to a potential downside of 2.12% from the companys current price.

MYTE has been the subject of several other research reports. Societe Generale downgraded MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $7.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price objective on MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. from $14.00 to $10.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $7.00 in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $10.75.

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MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. Price Performance

MYTE opened at $6.13 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $7.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.46. The company has a market capitalization of $520.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.11 and a beta of 1.07. MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. has a 12-month low of $5.87 and a 12-month high of $15.90.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MYT Netherlands Parent B.V.

MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. ( NYSE:MYTE Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.06). MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $194.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $206.80 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 734,760 shares of the companys stock worth $5,165,000 after purchasing an additional 25,644 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. by 67.5% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 98,233 shares of the companys stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 39,600 shares during the period. Natixis purchased a new position in shares of MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Sylebra Capital Ltd grew its stake in MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Sylebra Capital Ltd now owns 3,888,808 shares of the companys stock valued at $34,649,000 after acquiring an additional 145,030 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 72,560 shares of the companys stock worth $647,000 after acquiring an additional 22,963 shares in the last quarter. 21.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MYT Netherlands Parent B.V. Company Profile

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MYT Netherlands Parent B.V., through its subsidiary, Mytheresa Group GmbH, operates a luxury e-commerce platform for fashion consumers in Germany, the United States, rest of Europe, and internationally. It offers womenswear, menswear, kids wear, and lifestyle products. The company sells clothes, bags, shoes, accessories, and fine jewelry through online and retail stores.

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Buffalo police are investigating a shooting Tuesday night that wounded a man inside a barbershop on East Delavan Avenue, police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge reported.

According to the report, officers were called shortly before 9 p.m. to the scene in the 1300 block of East Delavan in the Schiller Park neighborhood.

DeGeorge said the victim was struck in the leg area and was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center, where he is listed in stable condition.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call or text to Buffalo police confidential Tipcall line at 716-847-2255.
Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR  Get Rating) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $43.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the oil and gas producers stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Capital reissued a buy rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $51.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Murphy Oil from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a report on Wednesday. They issued a neutral rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Five research 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, Murphy Oil has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $48.60.

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Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of Murphy Oil stock opened at $37.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Murphy Oil has a 1-year low of $25.97 and a 1-year high of $51.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 2.37.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

Murphy Oil ( NYSE:MUR Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.18 by ($0.08). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 18.82% and a net margin of 24.54%. The firm had revenue of $975.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $835.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Murphy Oils quarterly revenue was up 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Murphy Oil will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. Murphy Oils dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total transaction of $392,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,770.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Murphy Oil news, VP Louis W. Utsch sold 10,902 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $474,237.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 9,504 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $413,424. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paul D. Vaughan sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total transaction of $392,350.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $194,770.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Murphy Oil in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 1,800 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Murphy Oil by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,193 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.55% of the companys stock.

About Murphy Oil

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Murphy Oil Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the Exploration and Production and Corporate and Other segment. The Exploration and Production segment includes the United States, Canada, and all other countries. The Corporate and Other segment focuses on interest income, other gains and losses, interest expense, and unallocated overhead.

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Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA  Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of Hold from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $92.33.

A number of analysts have issued reports on ORA shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ormat Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $103.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ormat Technologies from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Ormat Technologies from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 27th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Ormat Technologies from $106.00 to $96.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $91.00 to $88.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 27th.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ormat Technologies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Fund Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $895,000. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $209,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $468,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 187.5% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 53,076 shares of the energy companys stock worth $4,575,000 after purchasing an additional 34,613 shares during the period. Finally, Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,724,000. 81.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ormat Technologies Stock Up 0.6 %

ORA opened at $85.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.33. Ormat Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $67.28 and a fifty-two week high of $101.81. The firms fifty day moving average is $86.12 and its 200 day moving average is $88.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 0.46.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The energy company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $205.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $199.33 million. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 8.97% and a return on equity of 4.60%. Ormat Technologiess revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ormat Technologies will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 8th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Ormat Technologiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

About Ormat Technologies

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Ormat Technologies, Inc operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power businesses. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses on the sale of electricity from the companys power plants pursuant to power purchase agreements.

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Shares of PagSeguro Digital Ltd. (NYSE:PAGS  Get Rating) have been given an average recommendation of Hold by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.54.

A number of research analysts have commented on PAGS shares. Susquehanna lowered their price target on PagSeguro Digital from $26.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on PagSeguro Digital from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a sell rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on PagSeguro Digital from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. New Street Research raised PagSeguro Digital from a neutral rating to a buy rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on PagSeguro Digital from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boit C F David purchased a new stake in PagSeguro Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in PagSeguro Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in PagSeguro Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new stake in PagSeguro Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in PagSeguro Digital by 99.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,816 shares of the companys stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.50% of the companys stock.

PagSeguro Digital Price Performance

Shares of PAGS stock opened at $8.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.61. PagSeguro Digital has a 1-year low of $7.51 and a 1-year high of $19.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.59 and a 200 day moving average of $10.14.

PagSeguro Digital (NYSE:PAGS  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $752.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $759.47 million. PagSeguro Digital had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 9.81%. Analysts anticipate that PagSeguro Digital will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

PagSeguro Digital Company Profile

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PagSeguro Digital Ltd. is engaged in the provision of financial technology solutions focused on consumers, individual entrepreneurs, micro-merchants, small companies and medium-sized companies in Brazil. Its business model covers the following pillars: Multiple digital payment solutions; In-person payments via POS devices that sell to merchants; Free digital accounts; Issuer of prepaid cards to clients for spending or withdrawing account balances, and Operating as an acquirer.

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Petropavlovsk PLC (LON:POG  Get Rating)s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 1.20 ($0.01) and traded as high as GBX 1.65 ($0.02). Petropavlovsk shares last traded at GBX 1.20 ($0.01), with a volume of 26,359,046 shares traded.

Petropavlovsk Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.95, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of GBX 1.20 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 1.20. The stock has a market cap of 47.51 million and a PE ratio of 120.00.

About Petropavlovsk

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Petropavlovsk PLC operates as a gold mining company in the Far East of Russia. It principally holds interests in the Pioneer, Albyn, and Malomir mining assets, as well as holds various gold licenses located in Amur region. The company also produces silver deposits. In addition, it provides construction, project and engineering, research, repair and maintenance, and transportation services; and operates educational institutes.

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Pipestone Energy Corp. (OTCMKTS:BKBEF  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,541,000 shares, a decline of 8.5% from the March 15th total of 1,683,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 120.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, National Bank Financial lowered their target price on Pipestone Energy from C$4.00 to C$3.50 in a research note on Tuesday.

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Pipestone Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Pipestone Energy stock traded down $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $1.97. The stock had a trading volume of 16,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,590. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $2.09 and a 200 day moving average of $2.37. Pipestone Energy has a twelve month low of $1.80 and a twelve month high of $5.34.

Pipestone Energy Announces Dividend

Pipestone Energy Company Profile

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a $0.0223 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 14th.

(Get Rating)

Pipestone Energy Corp. is an oil and gas exploration and production company, which focuses on developing its condensate assets in the Pipestone area of Alberta. The company was founded on January 4, 2019 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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PRW Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,856 shares of the healthcare product makers stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Arcus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.93% of the companys stock.

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Abbott Laboratories Price Performance

ABT stock traded down $1.25 during trading on Thursday, hitting $111.04. 2,956,410 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,292,972. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $93.25 and a 52 week high of $124.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.69.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

Abbott Laboratories ( NYSE:ABT Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 26.09%. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Abbott Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 available at this link. In related news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 available at this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total transaction of $68,375.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,091,998.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,971 shares of company stock valued at $199,140. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ABT shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $103.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Finally, SVB Leerink lifted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $122.00.

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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Rio Tinto Group (OTCMKTS:RTNTF  Get Rating) rose 5.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $83.22 and last traded at $83.22. Approximately 372 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.14.

Rio Tinto Group Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.72.

About Rio Tinto Group

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Rio Tinto Ltd. engages in finding, mining and processing mineral resources. It operates through following segments: Iron Ore, Aluminium, Copper and Minerals. The Iron ore segment engages in iron ore mining and salt and gypsum production in Western Australia. The Aluminium segment engages in bauxite mining; alumina refining; aluminium smelting.

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Lincluden Management Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY  Get Rating) (TSE:RY) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 794,694 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 21,614 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada comprises about 8.7% of Lincluden Management Ltd.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Lincluden Management Ltd. owned about 0.06% of Royal Bank of Canada worth $74,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in RY. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 817,482 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $90,144,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada by 5.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,030 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 2.0% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 23,498 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,591,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 47.1% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,942 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thomas White International Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Thomas White International Ltd. now owns 15,778 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.19% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

RY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$145.00 to C$147.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $138.33.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of RY traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $99.90. 4,275,198 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 869,088. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.93. Royal Bank of Canada has a 12-month low of $83.63 and a 12-month high of $112.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $138.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.82.

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY  Get Rating) (TSE:RY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $11.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.67 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Sell-side analysts expect that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 25th will be issued a $0.992 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 24th. This represents a $3.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. This is an increase from Royal Bank of Canadas previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Royal Bank of Canadas dividend payout ratio is currently 48.32%.

Royal Bank of Canada Profile

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Royal Bank of Canada engages in the provision of banking and financial solutions. It operates through the following segments: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Insurance, Investor and Treasury Services, Capital Markets, and Corporate Support. The Personal and Commercial Banking segment deals with a broad suite of financial products and services in Canada.

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Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LON:RBS  Get Rating)s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 120.90 ($1.50) and traded as high as GBX 123.10 ($1.52). Royal Bank of Scotland Group shares last traded at GBX 120.90 ($1.50), with a volume of 11,987,617 shares trading hands.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of 14.66 billion and a PE ratio of 5.37. The companys fifty day simple moving average is GBX 120.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 120.90.

About Royal Bank of Scotland Group

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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services to personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers worldwide. It operates through Personal & Business Banking, Commercial & Private Banking, RBS International, and NatWest Markets segments.

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Sepio Capital LP purchased a new position in Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 50,280 shares of the business services providers stock, valued at approximately $3,712,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Robert Half International during the 1st quarter valued at about $636,060,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Robert Half International by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,850,742 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $906,585,000 after buying an additional 1,458,092 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Robert Half International by 4,173.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 653,580 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $74,625,000 after buying an additional 638,287 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI increased its position in Robert Half International by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 1,273,368 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $97,413,000 after buying an additional 307,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Robert Half International by 957.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 317,395 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $24,281,000 after buying an additional 287,379 shares in the last quarter. 94.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on RHI shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Robert Half International in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. They set an underperform rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Robert Half International from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. StockNews.com started coverage on Robert Half International in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Robert Half International from $79.00 to $78.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $77.44.

Robert Half International Stock Performance

Robert Half International stock traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $75.02. 516,935 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 952,513. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.32. Robert Half International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.40 and a fifty-two week high of $118.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.58.

Robert Half International (NYSE:RHI  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The business services provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Robert Half International had a return on equity of 44.01% and a net margin of 9.09%. Robert Half Internationals revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Robert Half International Inc. will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Robert Half International Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Robert Half Internationals previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. Robert Half Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.89%.

Robert Half International declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 9th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Robert Half International news, EVP Robert W. Glass sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.94, for a total transaction of $1,011,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 217,049 shares in the company, valued at $17,567,946.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Robert Half International news, EVP Robert W. Glass sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.94, for a total transaction of $1,011,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 217,049 shares in the company, valued at $17,567,946.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dirk A. Kempthorne sold 3,456 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.54, for a total value of $278,346.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $872,087.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Robert Half International Profile

(Get Rating)

Robert Half International, Inc engages in the provision of staffing and risk consulting services. It operates through the following business segments: Temporary and Consultant Staffing, Permanent Placement Staffing, and Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services. The Temporary and Consultant Staffing segment offers staffing in the accounting and finance, administrative and office, information technology, legal, advertising, marketing, and web design fields.

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Fifty chickens were reported stolen from a private property in the Town of Hartland in Niagara County Wednesday, state police said.

The report came two days after the Niagara County Sheriff's Office issued a public warning to farmers of at least two instances of suspected trespassing on farmland in Newfane. Sheriff Michael Filicetti said a social media post had invited people to attend an animal "right to rescue summit" the previous weekend in the City of Tonawanda.
Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE:FC  Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 223,600 shares, a growth of 27.8% from the March 15th total of 174,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 81,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.9% of the companys stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Covey

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FC. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Franklin Covey in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Covey in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Covey by 61.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,022 shares of the business services providers stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Franklin Covey by 289.5% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,075 shares of the business services providers stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new position in Franklin Covey during the third quarter valued at $56,000. 68.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FC shares. Northland Securities cut their target price on Franklin Covey from $100.00 to $96.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. TheStreet downgraded Franklin Covey from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Barrington Research decreased their target price on Franklin Covey from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on Franklin Covey from $71.00 to $65.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Franklin Covey from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Covey currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $72.00.

Franklin Covey Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:FC opened at $38.11 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The businesss 50 day moving average is $44.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.70. Franklin Covey has a 52 week low of $34.00 and a 52 week high of $54.70. The company has a market cap of $527.82 million, a PE ratio of 28.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23.

Franklin Covey (NYSE:FC  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The business services provider reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $61.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $62.35 million. Franklin Covey had a return on equity of 18.48% and a net margin of 6.93%. On average, analysts predict that Franklin Covey will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

About Franklin Covey

(Get Rating)

Franklin Covey Co engages in organizational performance improvement. It operates through the following segments: Direct Offices, International Licensees, Education Practice, and Corporate and Other. The Direct Offices segment includes sales personnel that serve the United States and Canada. The International Licensees segment focuses on international licensees royalty revenues.

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Summit Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:USMV  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 32,182 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,320,000. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF accounts for 2.8% of Summit Investment Advisory Services LLCs holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp acquired a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC bought a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000.

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iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Price Performance

Shares of BATS USMV traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $73.67. 1,309,995 shares of the stock were exchanged. The companys 50 day moving average is $71.81 and its 200 day moving average is $71.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 0.76. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF has a one year low of $47.44 and a one year high of $55.45.

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Profile

The iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (USMV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI USA Minimum Volatility (USD) index. The fund tracks an index of US-listed firms selected and weighted to create a low-volatility portfolio subject to various constraints. USMV was launched on Oct 18, 2011 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding USMV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:USMV  Get Rating).

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TDCX (NYSE:TDCX  Get Rating) and GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY  Get Rating) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

11.9% of TDCX shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of GoDaddy shares are held by institutional investors. 85.0% of TDCX shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of GoDaddy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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Volatility & Risk

TDCX has a beta of 0.1, indicating that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GoDaddy has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score TDCX 0 2 0 0 2.00 GoDaddy 0 3 6 1 2.80

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for TDCX and GoDaddy, as provided by MarketBeat.

TDCX currently has a consensus target price of $12.55, indicating a potential upside of 57.47%. GoDaddy has a consensus target price of $93.70, indicating a potential upside of 23.70%. Given TDCXs higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe TDCX is more favorable than GoDaddy.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TDCX and GoDaddys revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio TDCX $493.92 million 2.31 $78.04 million $0.51 15.63 GoDaddy $4.09 billion 2.85 $352.20 million $2.20 34.43

GoDaddy has higher revenue and earnings than TDCX. TDCX is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GoDaddy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares TDCX and GoDaddys net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets TDCX 15.76% 19.79% 16.19% GoDaddy 8.61% -93.48% 5.10%

Summary

GoDaddy beats TDCX on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TDCX

(Get Rating)

TDCX Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides outsource contact center services for technology and other blue-chip companies in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, China, Spain, India, Colombia, South Korea, and Romania. It offers digital customer experience solutions, including after-sales service and customer support across various industry verticals, such as travel and hospitality, digital advertising and media, fast-moving consumer goods, technology, financial services, fintech, government and non-governmental organizations, gaming, e-commerce, and education. The company also provides sales and digital marketing services that help its clients to market their products and services to their potential customers in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets; and content monitoring and moderation services that create a safe and secure online environment for social media platforms by providing human interaction to content moderation services. In addition, it offers workspaces to its existing clients; and human resource and administration services. The company was formerly known as TDCX Capital Pte Ltd and changed its name to TDCX Inc. in January 2021. TDCX Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Singapore. TDCX Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Transformative Investments Pte Ltd.

About GoDaddy

(Get Rating)

GoDaddy, Inc. engages in the provision of domain name registration and web hosting services. It provides website building, hosting, and security tools. It operates through the Applications and Commerce (A and C) and Core Platform (Core) segments. The A and C segment consists of sales of products containing proprietary software, commerce products and third-party email and productivity solutions. The Core segment deals with the sales of domain registrations and renewals, aftermarket domain sales, website hosting products and website security product. The company was founded by Robert R. Parsons in January 1997 and is headquartered in Tempe, AZ.

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Telecom Italia S.p.A. (OTCMKTS:TIAIY  Get Rating)s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $3.32 and last traded at $3.32, with a volume of 4600 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $3.24.

Telecom Italia Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.52.

About Telecom Italia

(Get Rating)

Telecom Italia SpA engages in the provision of telecommunication and Internet services, digital contents, and cloud services. It operates through the following business segments: Domestic, Brazil, and Other Operations. The Domestic segment includes operations in Italy for voice and data services on fixed and mobile networks for retail and wholesale customers, the international wholesale through Telecom Italia Sparkle, and products and services for information technology through the Olivetti group.

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U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB  Get Rating) had its price objective decreased by Argus from $63.00 to $58.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, The Fly reports. Argus price objective would indicate a potential upside of 62.88% from the stocks previous close.

USB has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $54.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $50.35.

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U.S. Bancorp Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of USB opened at $35.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $54.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. U.S. Bancorp has a 12 month low of $32.72 and a 12 month high of $53.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.98.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

U.S. Bancorp ( NYSE:USB Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.09). U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 16.13%. The firm had revenue of $7.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 115,121,643 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,641,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,441,430 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 130,768.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,273,882 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,628,544,000 after purchasing an additional 60,227,825 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 58,898,088 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,402,820,000 after purchasing an additional 210,054 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,935,157,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 912.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,756,814 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,428,525,000 after acquiring an additional 29,521,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.83% of the companys stock.

About U.S. Bancorp

(Get Rating)

U.S. Bancorp operates as a bank holding company, which offers financial services including lending and depository services, cash management, foreign exchange and trust and investment management. The firm also offers mortgage, refinance, auto, boat and RV loans, credit lines, credit card services, merchant, bank, checking and savings accounts, debit cards, online and mobile banking, ATM processing, mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage and leasing services.

Further Reading

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Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut shares of Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on VLO. UBS Group started coverage on Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. They issued a buy rating and a $176.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Valero Energy from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $111.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $152.38.

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Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO stock opened at $124.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $46.17 billion, a PE ratio of 4.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $133.18 and a 200-day moving average of $130.14. Valero Energy has a one year low of $96.71 and a one year high of $150.39.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

Valero Energy ( NYSE:VLO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The oil and gas company reported $8.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $7.45 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $41.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $43.31 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 50.15% and a net margin of 6.54%. Valero Energys revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Valero Energy will post 25.17 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 14th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 13th. This is an increase from Valero Energys previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Valero Energys dividend payout ratio is presently 14.01%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valero Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Valero Energy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 33,427 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $3,394,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Valero Energy by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 100,006 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $10,163,000 after buying an additional 17,844 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Valero Energy by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 60,730 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $6,167,000 after buying an additional 6,735 shares during the period. Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter worth $1,253,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 21.0% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 6,780 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.28% of the companys stock.

About Valero Energy

(Get Rating)

Valero Energy Corp. engages in the manufacture and marketing of transportation fuels and other petrochemical products. It operates through the following business segments: Refining, Ethanol and Renewable Diesel. The Refining segment consists of refining operations, associated marketing activities, and logistics assets that support its refining operations.

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If there is one leader who is being discussed and ripped apart more than any other in poll-bound Karnataka, it is BL Santhosh, the National Secretary (Organisation) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP leaders who failed to get party tickets for the upcoming assembly elections are squarely blaming him. All leaders who fall under the bracket of mass leaders in the state are looking puny before Santhosh. Even opposition leaders are blaming Santhosh for the plight of some of the BJP leaders. Voting for the 224 assembly constituencies in the state will take place on May 10, 2023, and the results will be declared on May 13. If a Sangh man, such as Santhosh, who is hardly seen and heard, can wield so much influence over a national party like the BJP, what is the role of the so-called mass leaders, including BS Yediyurappa, in the party? Can Santhosh make or mar the political careers of super seniors such as former chief minister Jagadish Shettar? If the chief ministerial face of the Congress, Siddaramaiah, who is also perceived as a mass leader, has to rope in his family members, including a minor, to campaign for him in Varuna, how influential is Siddaramaiah? Also, why did Siddaramaiah wanted to contest from two seats? If JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy could not, for weeks, douse a rebellion at home over party tickets, can they influence the decisions of voters in the state? What were the major parties doing? All these developments raise the question: do the three major political parties that have ruled the state have mass leaders in Karnataka? The paucity of leadership is behind the anarchy in all parties. In the present situation, there is not even a single leader in Karnataka who can influence voters from Bidar to Bengaluru. Some leaders are only claiming so. The state is seeing only prominent caste leaders who have some sway over their community. In the case of Siddaramaiah, he can't just be branded as a Kuruba leader. He is also the face of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Yediyurappa draws strength from his powerful Lingayat community. He wields influence over parts of the Malnad and North Karnataka regions, where there is a sizable Lingayat population. But the three coastal districts, which have a strong cadre base, and Bengaluru city, as well as urban and rural districts, are not on his radar while campaigning. JD (S) state president Kumaraswamy has made a vain bid to reach out to voters beyond the Vokkaliga belt. JD (S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, despite becoming the prime minister of the country once, has not made any concerted effort to broaden the party base. Unexplored regions In April 2017, Kumaraswamy decided to expand the party's wings to North Karnataka. He rented a sprawling bungalow between Hubballi and Dharwad. Occasionally, he stayed there but never galvanized the party, camping there. Another chief ministerial candidate of the Congress, DK Shivakumar, in his capacity as a minister in 2018, tried to get a foothold in the Lingayat belt via the Belagavi district. He was seen trying to help out his party's MLA, Laxmi Hebbalkar, in a local bank election. The Jarakiholi brothers, who control politics in many taluks of Belagavi, openly asked the then chief minister Siddaramaiah to make Shivakumar stay out of Belagavi politics. And he did it. The BJP tried to project R Ashoka, a minister, as the Vokkaliga face of the party. He was put in charge of Mandya district, a Vokkaliga belt, in an effort to oversee the partys fortunes in the election year. He was a replacement for Minister K Gopalaiah, also a Vokkaliga. In January 2023, the local party workers ran a Go back Ashoka campaign as they didnt appreciate the replacement. Finally, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai cancelled the appointment. Why has Karnataka, for many years, lacked a mass leader, in letter and spirit? Congress leader and former minister PGR Sindhia, who was long associated with the Janata Parivar, says the main leaders of today did not develop any influence over various regions in the state. "Karnataka had seen two leaders with mass appeallate chief ministers D Devaraj Urs and Veerendra Patil. In the 1980s, voters used to look up to Ramakrishna Hegde as their leader. The strength of his community Brahminwas within 4 percent. Still, he had a good sway over the voting population. His team included me, MP Prakas, Ramesh Jigajinagi, RV Deshpande, Jivaraj Alva, and B Somashekar, all representing various regions. He believed in teamwork. But now, each is a leader, but they are confined to their community or certain districts. There are no leaders to groom the juniors now. Still, to a certain extent, Siddaramaiah and HD Deve Gowda went beyond their castes to influence voters. At least in 7 or 8 districts, they can make an impact on voters," he says. Shettar, while quitting, had declared that the BJP would lose 2025 seats because of his exit. Is he such an influential leader? Sindhia rubbishes it, saying, "He can damage the BJP's prospects in some constituencies. However, the question is how many seats can he win in Congress?" State vice president of the Congress, VS Ugrappa, says in each party, there are a couple of leaders who have been projected as mass leaders. They are leaders because of the positions they hold or for launching government welfare schemes. No statesmen in Karnataka "But there is no statesman in Karnataka. Urs, Nijalingappa, and Hegde were leaders in a real sense. Do we have statesmen like Nehru, Vajpayee, or Narasimha Rao now? The present-day battle is for a position. A party has to survive and grow, based on its ideologies and principles, he says. Retired IAS officer SM Jamdar, who hails from North Karnataka, had worked with many ministers. In his view, there are no mass leaders with a broad vision. "I have seen tall leaders, such as Nijalingappa, Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Urs, Hegde, and Veerendra Patil. To some extent, Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah can be called mass leaders. S Bangarappas influence was limited to certain districts where his community, the Idigas, was concentrated. Deve Gowda and his son have not been able to penetrate the North Karnataka region. The Congress, under the leadership of Veerendra Patil, could fetch 178 seats out of the 224 assembly seats. None of the present leaders have that sort of charisma. Yediyurappa, under his party banner, KJP, could win only six assembly seats in 2013. The BJP, under the leadership of Shettar, faced the 2013 elections. And it won as few as 40 seats. Lingayats are spread across the state, and their loyalty is not confined to the BJP." The Congress, since the time of the sacking of Veerendra Patil three decades ago, could not win back the confidence of the Lingayats. But now, it is jubilant as it has turncoat-Lingaytas, Shettar and Savadi, on its side. The Congress is backing the argument of Shettar that he would have got the BJP ticket but for Santhosh. Both the Congress and the JD(S) are trying to give a spin to the developments by saying the BJP is no longer a pro-Lingayat party because mighty Santhosh is keen to appoint a Brahmin CM. Finally, what is Santhoshs background? Santhosh cannot air his views in the media as per RSS norms. There is both appreciation and disapproval for his style of functioning. Senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa says Santhosh had no role in finalising the tickets. "Santhosh, 56, is an engineering graduate. He hails from Udupi and is unmarried. I had worked with him when he was a full-time Pracharak in Shivamogga. It is a fact that he is a Brahmin (Shivalli). In 2013, when the party won just 40 seats, Santhosh strived hard to hold back the cadre in Karnataka. It was the personal decision of Shettar and Savadi to quit because they did not accept the election committee's decisions. Of course, Santhosh is also on the panel." For the record, Santhosh hails from a lower-middle-class family. He studied engineering in Davangere. He has been an RSS pracharak for the last three decades. He is fluent in six Indian languages. In 2019, he was accorded the 16th rank in the Indian Express ranking of influential political leaders in India. The opposition parties and many leaders in the BJP are also apprehensive about Santhosh becoming chief minister. The BJP argues that he is an RSS man and has no desire to be politically active. However, so was Narendra Modi. He was also a pracharak. So, if Modi could become a chief minister and prime minister, what stops Santhosh from sitting in the chief ministers gaddi? The possibilities, though, look dim for now.
"Cheering and screaming is encouraged," an Apple official said moments before chief executive officer Tim Cook walked in to open the company's second retail store, with chants of "Saket, Saket, Saket" echoing throughout the massive mall where the store is located. Despite the sweltering heat in Delhi, Cook's infectious energy and upbeat attitude were on full display as he welcomed customers into the store. He happily posed for selfies, signed autographs and engaged in lively conversation with fans, who left feeling even more impressed by the tech giant. "What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! Were delighted to welcome our customers to our newest storeApple Saket!" Cook said in a tweet after the launch. What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! Were delighted to welcome our customers to our newest storeApple Saket! pic.twitter.com/5Jmi79ixzl  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 20, 2023 Located on a single floor (unlike the two-floor layout of the Mumbai store) inside Select City Walk, one of Delhi's popular malls, Apple Saket may require a bit of searching to find. With an estimated carpet area of just 8,400 square feet, this store is a far cry from the extravagant and grandiose structures that Delhi is known for. However, size is not a concern for Apple enthusiasts in Delhi who are simply excited to have an Apple Store in their city. All about the experience At first glance, the Apple Saket store provides a more personal and intimate experience compared to the Apple BKC store in Mumbai. As customers enter, they are greeted with a unique curved storefront that displays Apple's products and accessories on white oak tables. Additionally, the store has a specially designed feature wall that showcases a colourful display of phone covers, AirPods and an arcade centre. The Apple Saket store is also 100 percent sustainable, just like its BKC, Mumbai, counterpart and has more than 70 highly skilled retail team members who come from 18 states and collectively speak more than 15 languages. Aayush Jain, who brought a collection of Apple products including an iBook from 1999, a first-generation iPad and an Apple Watch, was ecstatic to witness the opening of the first Apple store in Delhi. "I am here for the experience and this is one area where size (of the store) doesn't matter," said Jain. Lakshya and Luv Chopra, twin brothers from Gurugram, were thrilled to receive an autograph from Cook. The twins were carrying an eye-catching teardown artwork of the iPhone 4S, which impressed the Apple CEO. The brothers thanked Cook for bringing a retail store to India. "We had been waiting for Tim for so long and were so excited to finally meet him. It was a beautiful experience within the store, with so many products," Luv said. "We will return if another store opens in the country," he added. Madhav Mimani, who had waited outside the mall since 7 pm on April 19, was the first to enter the store. His excitement knew no bounds as he stepped inside the store. "I told Cook and Deirdre O'Brien (Apple's senior vice president of retail) that I was in Mumbai as well and made it for the Delhi launch too," Mimani said of his conversation with Cook. "I gave them double high-fives!" Mimani purchased AirTags and had them autographed by Cook and O'Brien. "Every store that I go to, I will get an AirTag, get it signed, and all of it goes on my wall as a souvenir," he added. Jasneet Singh Kohli, an e-commerce manager for a sneaker reselling brand, expressed his excitement about the features offered by Apple products. He told Moneycontrol that he hopes to see more integrations in future products that are specifically focused on Indian culture, similar to what we have seen with the introduction of emojis such as the Sikh emoji. "My hands were shivering while taking a selfie (with Cook). I have no words to describe the feeling. The store and the atmosphere are amazing, and I managed to get tons of pictures, so I am very happy," said Kohli, who purchased an Apple TV 4K at the launch event. Sumit Raj and Ankur Soni walked into the store carrying a rucksack having arrived by train from Allahabad specifically for the launch. They said that experiencing the launch was a really big deal for them. "I grew up watching Apple Store events on YouTube, and today I am witnessing it live, so it is a dream come true moment for us," said Raj, who took the day off work to attend the store's opening. It is a great feeling to be here but I am upset that I missed the opportunity to meet and get a selfie with Cook, said Soni.
Koo, the homegrown microblogging platform, has laid off 30 percent of its employees over the past months to reduce role redundancies as the company focuses on increasing business efficiency and better its unit economics, it said in a statement. Koo has a total workforce of about 300 people, of which around 90 will be impacted by the decision, sources told Moneycontrol. Separately, Koo is also unable to raise funds because of which it had to axe jobs and lower its costs, according to a Bloomberg report. The Bengaluru-based company has however said that it remains well capitalised and is currently not looking to raise capital. ALSO READ: Twitter rival Koo integrates ChatGPT to help users create content The total number of layoffs at Koo, including the previous two rounds, does not exceed 30 percent of its total workforce, the company said in a statement to Moneycontrol. The Tiger Global-backed startup laid off 15 employees in September last year as it streamlined operations. Then again, in February Koo let go of around 30 employees, including a few from the top management to keep its costs in check, Moneycontrol has learnt. Like most startups Koo also built in a workforce to account for spikes. Given the current market environment and external realities of a global slowdown, we get affected tooIn line with this, we have acted on some role redundancies by letting go of 30 percent of our workforce over the course of the year and have supported them through compensation packages, extended health benefits and outplacement services, a Koo spokesperson told Moneycontrol. The cost-cutting exercise comes about a month after Financial Express reported that Koo was losing traction on active user count. Its monthly active users (MAUs) declined to 4.1 million in January, down from around 9.4 million in July 2022, the report added. To counter the declining MAUs, the firm was reportedly cutting back on its expenses to bring down the monthly cash burn rate to around Rs 6 crore, from about Rs 10 crore that Koo was losing each month till at least the beginning of this year. That was especially needed when Koos revenues increased by 75 percent year-on-year from Rs 8 lakh in FY21 to Rs 14 lakh in FY22. Its losses, however, jumped 460 percent from Rs 35 crore in FY21 to Rs 197 crore in FY22. Founded in 2020 by Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka, Koo has so far raised over $70 million from investors such as Accel, Blume Ventures, Kalaari Capital, 3one4 Capital and others. With over 60 million downloads, it claims to be the second-largest microblogging platform in the world, after Elon Musk-owned Twitter. Koo said it has a presence in over 100 countries and offers more than 20 global languages. In an interview with Moneycontrol in February last year, Koos founders said they were confident of hitting 100 million downloads in the near future.
Pret A Manger, the UK-based brand of restaurants for freshly prepared food and organic coffee, will open its first franchise in the country on April 21 in Mumbai in partnership with Reliance Brands Limited. According to the franchise chain that announced its India partnership with Reliance Brands last year, the first Pret shop recreates its iconic London location and includes a 2,567-square-foot dining area. Customers will have access to a large selection of mouthwatering and freshly cooked sandwiches, baguettes, salads and soups, as well as a choice of organic coffee, tea, shakes, and smoothie options, at the new Pret location. The British sandwich shop franchise chain said the food menu features well-known choices like the Pret Pickle & Posh Cheddar Granary Sandwich, Avocado & Toms-Stone Baked Baguette, Smoked Salmon Protein Box Salad, and a variety of freshly baked goods, including Pret's best-selling croissants and cookies, bringing to India Pret's classics free of additives. Saying that customers in India can now experience the same outstanding food that has made Pret A Manger a cherished and successful brand throughout the world, Darshan Mehta, MD, Reliance Brands Limited, said, "We are thrilled to be opening the first Pret A Manger shop in India. The freshness of ingredients, authenticity of recipes, and curiosity in processes define the new Indian consumer. Our partnership with Pret A Manger aims to tap into this curiosity with an offering that we can proudly say - ensures the traceability of coffee beans as much as a zero additive approach to food. In close collaboration with the RBL team, we have been developing a Pret-branded offer for Indian consumers that also takes into account local tastes and food habits, said Pano Christou, CEO of Pret A Manger. "People will recognize some of our freshly prepared lunchtime classics, our delicious croissants and 100 percent organic Arabica coffee. Coming to India has been a goal of ours for a long time, and the opening of our first shop in Mumbai is a landmark moment in our international expansion plans. Were confident that with the support of RBL, the Pret brand will be a hit with consumers in India and a welcome addition to the countrys growing food-to-go market, added Christou. Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
Thursday was a day during which a warm front divided Western New York in two, with a very wide range in temperatures north and south of the frontal boundary.

It's always difficult to predict the precise location of the front, with warmer air to the south battling the cooler, denser air from Canadian high pressure to the north. It can be a struggle for the front to make much northward progress at this time of the year. But the afternoon temperature spread closely resembled the morning forecast from the Buffalo National Weather Service. Hoodies and sweatpants north of the front, shorts and T-shirts in the Southern Tier.

During Friday into the early afternoon, the warm front will be north of our region, and with a trailing cold front still off to the west, there will be a more uniform jump in temperatures on a southwest flow behind the warm front.

High readings ahead of the cold front will reach to near 70 close to the Lake Erie shore, and jump to the upper 70s well inland. Clouds will begin increasing as the cold front draws near by mid-afternoon, and scattered showers along with a stray rumble of thunder will arrive later in the day as the front makes its passage.

Scattered showers, maybe a little thunder, with rain-free periods will still be around Friday night as temps drop back to the upper 40s by dawn Saturday, behind the front.

With the frontal boundary slowing down in its movement to the east Saturday, timing the more numerous showers is a tough call. It appears during the first part of the day, most of the rain will be just west of our region, but then cross the region toward early afternoon, making for the wettest part of the weekend.

Saturday highs will range from the mid-upper 50s farther west near Buffalo into the low 60s toward the Genesee Valley, and upper 60s farther east. Occasional to frequent showers will linger into the evening. Total rainfall by late Saturday night may be enough to bring a new round of muddy paws.

Fields are in better shape following the recent warm, dry spell ending last Sunday, so mud will probably not be a big problem for growers. As of Wednesday, there is no excess soil moisture anomaly in our region.

Sunday will be drier than Saturday, but there wont be that much to be said for the day. The sky will be partly to mostly cloudy, with seasonably cool temps in the upper 40s, a chilly breeze and maybe a few stray light showers.

Similar cool conditions will prevail on Monday, though with less of a breeze. More sun will mix with the cloud cover on Monday with the high again in the upper 40s. With some clearing Monday night, growers will have to be alert for possible interior patchy frost. After a mostly sunny Wednesday and highs returning to the low 50s, there again may be some risk of patchy inland frost Wednesday night.

Clouds will increase on a milder Thursday next week with an area of low pressure in the Tennessee Valley that may push some showers back into our region by late in the day or at night.

For some allergy sufferers, there should be reduction in the pollen count as shower coverage increases during Saturday, cleansing the air.

The Buffalo Lake Erie temperature is holding at 44 degrees, well above the average of 36 for the date. Our monthly mean temperature, despite a few chilly days following last weekends heat, remains at 6 degrees above average, continuing the positive monthly anomaly trend unabated since last November.

In the extended range, upper air ensembles continue to favor somewhat below average temperatures most (not all) days through the end of the month.

Some moderation in the pattern may be reaching our region by the end of the first week of May.



As we approach Earth Day on Saturday, Climate Central has supplied NOAA data showing warming has occurred in all 50 states since 1970. The warming began to accelerate in the 1980s as carbon dioxide levels continued to increase at a more rapid pace from global use of fossil fuels and widely used agricultural technology.

The rate of warming will be receiving a natural boost in the second half of this year into at least next spring as El Nino begins to amplify, always releasing more heat into the atmosphere on a largely global basis on top of the human-activity induced warming.
Abu Dhabi Fund 10X AD, Apollo Global are in talks to invest in Byjus parent or Aakash, according to a report by the Economic Times. According to the report, Byjus CEO Byju Raveendran is in discussions with US private equity major Apollo Global Management, Abu Dhabi-based fund 10X AD and Disrupt AD, Abu Dhabi-based ADQs venture capital arm for investment in the company or its arm Akash Education Services (AES). The troubled edtech firm is looking to raise at least $400-600 million from other investors, sources told the daily. Byjus has also approached Apollo Global Management, a leading US private equity and alternative asset management group, for a $200-250-million structured financing for Akash Education, sources told ET. However, it is not clear if 10X AD will lead an investor consortium of family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in Abu Dhabi or go it alone and invest $150-200 million, the report said. BYJUs is seeking to raise as much as $250 million through the issuance of convertible notes by its tutoring service unit. The Financial Express had reported earlier this month that Byjus is gearing up for a $700 million fundraise at a flat $22 billion valuation, a much-needed infusion that will help the edtech giant tide over a liquidity crunch, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday said it has cleared Berhyanda Ltd's acquisition of a 76.10 per cent stake in pharmaceutical firm Suven Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Berhyanda Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berhyanda Midco Ltd, which is an affiliate of Advent International Corporation. The proposed combination relates to the acquisition by Berhyanda Ltd for up to 76.10 per cent of the voting share capital of Suven Pharmaceuticals Ltd, by way of a share purchase agreement dated December 26, 2022, and pursuant to the mandatory open offer in compliance with Sebi's SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) regulations, according to an official release. Suven Pharmaceuticals Ltd is a biopharmaceutical company that offers its services to global pharmaceutical and agrochemical majors. Deals beyond a certain threshold require approval from the regulator, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices in the marketplace.

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Credit Suisse Group AG banker Alois Mueller is retiring from the Swiss lender, according to people familiar with the matter. Mueller, most recently head of Credit Suisses private markets group in Asia Pacific and co-chair of its global private equity investment committee, plans to leave the firm at the end of April, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. He may pursue other job opportunities after a career break, the people said. Mueller, who started his career in Switzerland and counts more than 35 years of banking experience in Europe and Asia, is likely to remain based in Hong Kong, they added. A representative for Credit Suisse declined to comment. He joined Credit Suisse more than six years ago in Zurich, and relocated to Hong Kong in 2021 to help lead the banks private and alternative markets business in the region, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was previously a managing director and head of north Asia at Rothschilds wealth management business, and prior to that worked at UBS Group AG for more than 20 years in Zurich and Hong Kong. Muellers departure follows other senior resignations at Credit Suisse in recent weeks. Those include Lim Zi-Kuan, until recently head of mergers and acquisitions for Southeast Asia, and whos joining Deutsche Bank AG as its co-head of M&A for Asia, Bloomberg News has reported. Bankers at Credit Suisse are facing a period of uncertainty after the lender was forced into a deal with larger rival UBS in March.
A fleeting moment in western India on the evening of March 8 will remain etched in Nikita Punjabis memory forever: The first glimpse of her newborn daughter as the doctor held her up after delivery. Aniket Rai, nervously waiting during the birth, cried tears of joy when the nurse told him he had a baby girl. It was surreal feeling... Unparalleled. I cannot describe it really, it can only be felt. Their baby, Prisha  which means gods gift  is but one of the millions born across India so far this year who have contributed to the historic milestone of passing mainland Chinas population. That comes just a few years after India snatched the title of worlds fastest-growing major economy from its northern neighbor. But labels alone wont be enough for India to take over as the worlds biggest growth driver, just as having the most people wasnt enough for China until it carried out economic reforms from the late 1970s. Bloomberg Economics says India needs to advance on four broad fronts  urbanisation, infrastructure, up-skilling and broadening its labour force, and boosting manufacturing  to fully cash in on its demographic dividend and reshape the global economy in the process. The country is young, English speaking and the rising labor force is already supporting the governments Make in India initiative, said Abhishek Gupta, senior India economist with Bloomberg Economics. Geopolitical tailwinds are also helping. Urbanisation How quickly India boosts its proportion of city dwellers and whether it can create enough quality jobs to accommodate the shift carries crucial significance for its growth needs. Over the period to 2040, India will likely add 270 million people to its urban population, according to the International Energy Authority. The shift is already on display in Indias megacities. Shiny new apartment buildings dot the capital Delhi as the newly wealthy ramp up realty investments. A top developer recently sold $1 billion of luxury homes in three days in Gurugram, one of Delhis satellite cities. But public services are still poor  Indias Supreme Court has even warned that air traffic controllers might be forced to steer planes around the massive garbage dumps on Delhis outskirts if they get any bigger. Yukon Huang, senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said India will need to follow the path of China and South Korea in making its cities modern and efficient. Over the past four decades, a four-fold increase in urbanization neatly correlated with the increase in productivity of labor in both countries, he said. Infrastructure For urbanisation to pay economic dividends, infrastructure investment will be needed on a massive scale. There has been progress  since Prime Minister Narendra Modis election win in 2014, the number of domestic air passengers has roughly doubled and the national highway network expanded more than 50 percent. On the technology front, Indias digital infrastructure is among the most advanced in the world. In just a few years, almost every Indian has received a national identity card  called Aadhaar  linked to everything from rental leases to bank accounts and social welfare benefits. Among Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Partys most significant achievements has been forging a single economic zone from Indias messy federal and state taxes. Thats helped with revenue collection, which hit a high last year, providing funds for new airports, roads and the like. But on other measures, China is still far ahead. Though India has some of the lowest phone tariff rates in the world, internet usage trails China, which has also zoomed past India on everything from air carrier departures to container port traffic. Infrastructure suffers from decades of underinvestment, a weak inter-modal system, over-reliance on roads for freight transport and inefficient work practices, said Priyanka Kishore, economic director at IMA Asia, which runs leading peer group forums for Asias business leaders. Education Education is another stumbling block. Many degrees are essentially worthless and a skills mismatch has jeopardized growth. Half of all graduates in India are unemployable, according to a study by Wheebox, a group that advises businesses. Unemployment is stubbornly high at around 7 percent. India has a serious learning crisis, said Shumita Deveshwar, India research senior director at TS Lombard. India boosted educational spending by 13% this year, the highest ever, to Rs 1.1 trillion ($13.4 billion) and is aiming to improve digital education and address educational deficiencies. But there is still much to be done, especially when it comes to female participation in the workforce. Between 2010 and 2020, the proportion of working women in India dropped from 26 percent to 19 percent, according to data compiled by the World Bank. Though they make up 48 percent of the population, Indian women contribute only around 17 percent of GDP, compared to 40 percent in China. Closing the employment gap between men and women could expand Indias GDP by close to a third by 2050, which equates to nearly $6 trillion in constant US dollar terms, according to a recent analysis from Bloomberg Economics. Manufacturing Four decades ago, China and India were both largely agrarian-based economies. But as the Western world outsourced production of everything from toys to TVs and tools, China seized a moment that India missed. Today, manufacturing comprises more than a quarter of Chinas economy, compared to just 14 percent for India. Increasing rivalry between the US and China is giving Modis government a new shot at boosting its manufacturing share to a targeted quarter of GDP. And there are pockets of progress. Apple Incs three key Taiwanese suppliers won incentives from India to boost smartphone production and exports. The California-based company now makes almost 7% of its iPhones in India, Bloomberg News reported recently, up from about 1% in 2021. The political and democratic set up in the country is more conducive for global investment than China, said Sanjay Kumar Mohanty, a professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai. But moving up the value chain wont be easy. Labor laws are still restrictive and compared to nations like Bangladesh or Vietnam, India has been less successful in creating the highly-efficient industrial parks preferred by many global manufacturers. Hope and Fear Rapid progress on urbanization, infrastructure, human development and manufacturing will be needed for decades, not just years, as the population continues to swell. Its expected to reach 1.67 billion by 2050  thats another 250 million people, or roughly the size of Indonesia. Health care is just one illustrative pressure point. Today, India has about five hospital beds per 10,000 people. The ratio in China is about eight times that, and analysts say India will take decades just to reach the level where China currently stands. The demographic window wont be open forever either. Indias population could start declining in 2047 and fall to 1 billion people by 2100, according to UN estimates. The UNs base case sees Chinas population at 1.3 billion by 2050. Unlike demographers, economists tend to avoid forecasting decades into the future, so its tough to find any estimates of India overtaking Chinas GDP. But if India can keep growing at around 7 percent and its currency holds firm, it should zoom past Germany and Japan to a third place ranking by 2030. For the Modi administration, there is no doubt this is Indias moment. With 1.428 billion people, India has passed mainland Chinas population, which stands at 1.425 billion, according to UN data released Wednesday. The nation will soon overtake China and Hong Kong combined. This is not just about beating our chest on rankings, in the end it is about providing a better quality of life for all Indians and also to create a system which allows for innovation, risk taking, entrepreneurship and so on, said Sanjeev Sanyal, an economic adviser to Modi. Baby Prishas parents are also optimistic. Our country is seeing such fast-paced growth, said Rai, an assistant vice president at Barclays who plans to raise his family in the city of Pune. Its a great era for Prisha to have been born.
Chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries Inc. on April 19 said it had filed a lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp (IBM), accusing it of unlawfully sharing confidential intellectual property (IP) and trade secrets, Reuters reported. New York-based GlobalFoundries said in its complaint that IBM had shared IP and trade secrets with Rapidus, a new state-backed Japanese consortium that IBM is working with to develop and produce cutting-edge two-nanometre chips. It also asserted that IBM had unlawfully disclosed and misused its IP with Intel Corp (Intel), noting that IBM had announced in 2021 it would collaborate with Intel on next-generation chip technology. "IBM is unjustly receiving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing income and other benefits," GlobalFoundries said in a statement. IBM pushed back in an emailed statement to Reuters saying: GlobalFoundries filed this meritless lawsuit after a court rejected the companys attempt to dismiss IBMs legitimate fraud and breach of contract claims. Their allegations are entirely baseless, and we are confident that the court will agree. Intel and Rapidus declined to comment. The complaint said GlobalFoundries and IBM had collaboratively developed technology over decades in Albany, New York, and the exclusive right to license and disclose the technology was sold to GlobalFoundries in 2015. GlobalFoundries is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as an injunction against IBM to stop using the trade secrets. It also said IBM has been recruiting GlobalFoundries' engineers  efforts which have accelerated since the Rapidus partnership was announced in December 2022, and asked the court to order an end to those recruitment efforts. Rapidus, which counts Sony Group Corp, NEC Corp and other major tech firms as consortium members, is of national strategic importance and has been hailed in Japan as a symbol of US-Japan cooperation. Japan long ago lost its lead in chip manufacturing, particularly in advanced semiconductors, and is now rushing to catch up and ensure its car makers and information technology companies do not run short of the key component. This is the second time GlobalFoundries has sued IBM since buying IBM's semiconductor plants in 2015. In 2021, GlobalFoundries asked a judge to rule that it did not violate a contract with IBM which claims it is owed $2.5 billion in damages. That litigation is still ongoing, according to a GlobalFoundries spokesperson.
The country's merchandise exports are likely to cross USD 500 billion this fiscal due to healthy demand for domestic goods in key global markets, including the US, and benefits from trade pacts, according to exporters. They said that other destinations like Russia would give a huge boost to the country's outbound shipments, particularly in the agri and food processing sectors. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said they are targeting to take the shipments to USD 500 billion-510 billion during the current financial year. Services exports are likely to reach around USD 390 billion in 2023-24 from USD 322.72 billion in 2022-23. "Together with goods and services, we are targeting exports of USD 900 billion this fiscal," FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said. He noted that free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia would provide a huge platform to boost exports in those markets. "Production-linked incentive scheme too will provide an impetus to our exports as domestic production would jump due to the incentives," Sahai added. Ludhiana-based engineering exporter and Hand Tools Association President SC Ralhan said there are healthy signs of economic growth in the US, which accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total outbound shipments. "Order books are good and we expect that going by the current trend, our exports would cross USD 500 billion this fiscal," he said. India's exports rose by over 6 per cent to USD 447.5 billion in 2022-23 compared to USD 422 billion in 2021-22. Mumbai-based exporter and Chairman of Technocraft Industries Sharda Kumar Saraf too said that this fiscal would be better than the last year for India's exports. "The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war is tapering off as industry has found an alternate route for trade and sources of energy. In India, there is a significant improvement in infrastructure and that would give solid support to exporters," Saraf said. Going by the current trend, the exports would cross USD 500 billion in 2023-24, he added. Engineering exporter and Director of Geco Trading Corporation Khalid Khan said that labour-intensive sectors are doing good and it would help in increasing the shipments. "I expect that the export growth will be better than the last fiscal," Khan added.
Medanta hospital chain operator Global Health was trading higher in the morning session on April 20, with market analysts optimistic about its expansion in underserved cities like Lucknow and Patna. Assessing healthcare in Uttar Pradesh, global broking and research firm Jefferies in a report touted the captial city of Lucknow as an emerging healthcare hub in the region. Jefferies said a significant demand-supply gap in in Lucknow bodes well for private hospitals like Medanta, which has the largest presence in the region, primarily led by cash and insurance patients. The firm also anticipates Lucknow to see a fast ramp-up and deliver strong growth if the existing trends were to sustain. Medanta's Lucknow Hospital started in 2019 and has a bed capacity of 950, with 475 of them being operationalised as of the December quarter of FY23. Occupancy is also at 60 percent, with an average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) at over Rs 58,000, funded entirely from cash and insurance patients, aiding strong revenue and margin traction for Medanta. Given the demand-supply dynamic, Jefferies said new bed expansion may be filled through cash and insurance patients, which can also result in positive surprises for Medanta. Jefferies has reiterated its buy call on Global Health with a target price of Rs 630, saying it likes the hospital company's strong clinical excellence reputation and the growth visibility via its new facilities in Lucknow and Patna. "We value Medanta at 20x FY25E EV/EBITDA (which is at 23 percent/9percent discount to our Max/Apollo price targets)," the broking firm said in the report. At 10.40 am, Global Health were trading at Rs 501 on the National Stock Exchange, with gains of 0.5 percent from the previous close. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Shares of NTPC rose about two percent on April 20 on reports that the power generator is expecting to commission 3.5 GW of capacity by 2030 from its two nuclear plants under construction. Work has started at the two plants of Mahi Banswara and Chutka. By 2030, we should be able to commission these plants, Mint reported citing a company executive. Nuclear capacity which is presently under NTPC may be later housed under its subsidiary NTPC Green Energy. Catch up on all LIVE stock market updates here The state-run company is also working with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Department of Atomic Energy to develop smaller reactors which can be set up quickly, the report added. The power generator is also in talks with American, French and Russian companies for partnership in developing small modular reactors. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report Power generated by way of small modular reactors would be a part of the companys targeted 60 GW installed green energy capacity by 2032. Currently, NTPC has a total installed power generation capacity of 71.644 GW, of which 3.01 GW is renewable energy. At 11:16 am, shares of the company were trading 1.4 percent higher from the previous close, at Rs 169.4 on the BSE. The stock was the second-biggest gainer on the Nifty 50 index. Analysts expect growth in NTPC would be driven by expansion of power generation and commercialisation of new capacities. While detailing its March quarter earnings, the market will closely monitor the companys management commentary on commercial capacity addition and the timeline for the monetisation of stake in the renewable asset subsidiary.
Shakti Pumps (India) shares rose around 5 percent after the company post-market Wednesday said it had received the pending USD 1 million for a Uganda project from EXIM Bank on behalf of the Government of Uganda. The company earlier on April 12, 2023, said that it has started operations in Uganda to supply solar powered water pumping system by Shakti Pumps (India) Limited. Under the project, Shakti Pumps will supply water to half a million Ugandans across 20 rural districts. The stock of Shakti Pumps Ltd was trading 4.88 percent higher at Rs 457.85, on BSE at 9:40 AM. The stock has given a return of 13.34 percent since the start of this year outperforming the Nifty50 benchmark index which has lost nearly 3 percent of its value since the start of this year. Whereas the stock has underperformed the benchmark index Nifty50 over the last five years by giving a return of negative 38.26 percent. The benchmark Nifty50 has given a return of 67.32 percent during the same duration. Shakti Pumps, a manufacturer of stainless-steel submersible solar pumps, pressure booster pumps among other products, was awarded this order from the Government of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Water and Environment for supplying a solar-powered water pumping system in March 2021 at a total contract price of USD 35.30 million (exclusive of VAT) funded by India Exim Bank in Uganda. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The market snapped a three-day fall and closed the weekly F&O expiry session with moderate gains on April 20. Select banking & financial services, and auto stocks supported the market, however, the gains were limited due to selling pressure in pharma, select FMCG and technology stocks. The BSE Sensex rose 65 points to 59,632, while the Nifty50 continued to hold the 17,600 mark, climbing 6 points to 17,625 and forming a Doji kind of pattern on the daily charts, indicating indecisiveness among buyers and sellers about the future trend. Nifty remained sideways during the day as the headline index failed to witness any kind of directional move. On the lower end, 17,580 is placed as a crucial support; any decisive fall below 17,580 may take the index towards 17,500-17,400, Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said. On the higher end, he feels 17,700 continues to remain a strong resistance, a decisive move above 17,700 may reinstate the bullishness in the market. However, the broader markets closed flat with a positive bias and the breadth was slightly tilted in favour of bulls. We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades: Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks in this article are the aggregates of three-month data and not just the current month. Key support and resistance levels on Nifty The pivot charts indicate that the Nifty may get support at 17,593, followed by 17,569 and 17,531. If the index advances, 17,669 is the initial key resistance level to watch out for, followed by 17,693 and 17,731. Nifty Bank The Bank Nifty gained 116 points to close at 42,270, slightly outperforming broader markets and benchmark indices. The index has formed small bodied bullish candlestick pattern with long upper and lower shadows on the daily scale. The fight between the bulls and the bears continued in the index and the broad range of 42,000-42,500 still remains intact. A break on either side will decide the clear momentum for the index, Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivatives Analyst at LKP Securities said. He feels the undertone within the range remains bullish as long as it holds the level of 42,000 on the downside. The support if breached will lead to a sharp correction toward the 41,500 level, he said. As per the pivot point calculator, the Bank Nifty may take support at 42,149, followed by 42,086 and 41,983. Key resistance levels are expected to be 42,355, along with 42,419 and 42,521. Call options data On the monthly options front, the maximum Call open interest (OI) was at 18,500 strike, with 1.23 crore contracts, which is expected to be a crucial level for the Nifty in the coming sessions. This was followed by 17,700 strike, comprising 1.02 crore contracts, and 18,000 strike, with more than 63.06 lakh contracts. Call writing was seen at 18,500 strike, which added 98 lakh contracts, followed by 17,700 strike, which accumulated 51.63 lakh contracts, and 18,200 strike which added 21.72 lakh contracts. Call unwinding was at 16,000 strike, which shed 61,150 contracts, followed by 17,300 strike which shed 12,450 contracts, and 17,200 strike, which shed 2,700 contracts. Put option data The maximum Put open interest was at 17,700 strike with 77.67 lakh contracts, which is expected to act as a crucial level in the coming sessions. This was followed by the 17,000 strike, comprising 73.55 lakh contracts, and the 17,600 strike where there were 55.79 lakh contracts. Put writing was seen at 17,700 strike, which added 41.61 lakh contracts, followed by 16,500 strike, which added 15.53 lakh contracts, and 17,600 strike, which added 14.49 lakh contracts. We have seen Put unwinding at 19,000 strike, which shed 42,600 contracts, followed by 18,000 strike, which shed 19,950 contracts, and 18,500 strike, which shed 7,200 contracts. Stocks with a high delivery percentage A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in the stock. The highest delivery was seen in Cipla, Ipca Laboratories, Marico, Maruti Suzuki, and HDFC, among others. 70 stocks see a long build-up An increase in open interest (OI) and price typically indicates a build-up of long positions. Based on the OI percentage, 70 stocks, including ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, City Union Bank, Navin Fluorine International, HDFC AMC, and Jubilant Foodworks, saw long build-ups. 15 stocks see long unwinding A decline in OI and price generally indicates a long unwinding. Based on the OI percentage, 15 stocks, including Abbott India, Can Fin Homes, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Granules India, and TVS Motor Company, saw a long unwinding. 67 stocks see a short build-up An increase in OI along with a price decrease indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the OI percentage, 67 stocks, including Coforge, Shree Cements, Ramco Cement, Metropolis Healthcare, and Chambal Fertilizers, saw a short buildup. 36 stocks see short-covering A decrease in OI along with a price increase is an indication of short-covering. Based on the OI percentage, 36 stocks were on the short-covering list. These included Tata Communications, Honeywell Automation, Jindal Steel & Power, Tata Chemicals, and Voltas. Bulk deals PNB Housing Finance: Nippon India Mutual Fund has bought 5 lakh equity shares or around 0.3 percent stake in the housing finance company via open market transactions at an average price of Rs 133 per share. Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius I Limited was the seller in this deal. (For more bulk deals, click here) Results on April 20 and April 21 Stocks in the news HCL Technologies: The IT services company reported lower-than-expected earnings for Q4FY23 with profit falling 2.8 percent QoQ to Rs 3,983 crore and revenue declining 0.4 percent to Rs 26,606 crore. On the operating front, EBIT fell 7.5 percent sequentially to Rs 4,836 crore with its margin down by 140 bps to 18.2 percent for the quarter. Revenue in dollar terms declined 0.3 percent and topline in constant currency terms was down 1.2 percent QoQ, but its attrition rate dropped sequentially to 19.5 percent from 21.7 percent. Cyient: The engineering and technology solutions company has recorded a 4.6 percent sequential growth in consolidated profit at Rs 163.2 crore for the quarter ended March FY23 on strong topline and operating numbers. Revenue for the quarter at Rs 1,751.4 crore grew by 8.2 percent and dollar revenue at $213 million increased by 8.1 percent, with constant currency revenue growth at 6.6 percent QoQ. Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy: The company posted a net loss of Rs 417.45 crore for the quarter ended March FY23, widening from a loss of Rs 126.3 crore in the same period last year, as consolidated revenue plunged 91.7 percent YoY to Rs 88.4 crore and EBITDA loss increased to Rs 352.12 crore from Rs 124.24 crore in the same period. Siemens: The company as part of a consortium along with Rail Vikas Nigam, has received two separate orders from Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRCL). Siemens's share in orders is Rs 678 crore. The orders are for Surat Metro Phase 1 and Ahmedabad Metro Phase 2. Suven Pharmaceuticals: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of up to 76.10 percent of the voting share capital of Suven Pharmaceuticals by Berhyanda. Berhyanda is ultimately managed by Advent International Corporation. Finolex Cables: The electrical and telecommunication cables manufacturer would set up a plant at the Urse facility in Pune to produce optical fibre preforms as well as expand on its fibre draw capacity. The plant with an initial capacity of 100 tons of preforms, is being set up at a cost of Rs 290 crore and would be funded entirely out of internal accruals. Life Insurance Corporation of India: The premium of the life insurance company in March FY23 dropped 32 percent compared to the year-ago month, but the premium for FY23 grew by 17 percent over the previous year. The retail annual premium equivalent growth stood at 10 percent YoY in March, reports CNBC-TV18. Fund Flow FII and DII data Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,169.32 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth Rs 832.72 crore on April 20, National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed. Stocks under F&O ban on NSE The National Stock Exchange has not added any stock to its F&O ban list for April 21. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Disclaimer: MoneyControl is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
A seismic change will soon take place at the helm of the Buffalo teachers union.

Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore announced Wednesday in a letter to teachers that he will step down from the role he has held since 1981 and retire.

The fight over a contract for Buffalo teachers is heating up For more than three years, the union that represents Buffalo public school teachers and the Buffalo School Board have been unable to agree on the terms of a new contract. The stress is beginning to show.

His decision comes as the union he has led for almost 42 years nears a tentative contract agreement expected to be presented later this week to the Buffalo School Board.

"Since I am confident that your future is secure, I will, with heartfelt appreciation, retire at the end of my term on June 30, 2023," Rumore wrote in his letter.

The 3,677-member union will vote on a new president next month.

"There comes a point when you say it's time to turn things over to someone else," Rumore told The Buffalo News. "We've worked together and accomplished a lot for our kids."

Rumore, who turns 81 in June, has negotiated five collective bargaining agreements, taken Buffalo Schools to court, outlasted 12 superintendents and organized dozens of pickets and strikes  including an illegal one that led to a brief stint in jail  during his four decades leading Buffalo's teachers union.

RUMORE OUT OF JAIL, DEFENDS TEACHERS STRIKE In a jailhouse interview, Philip Rumore said that city teachers would still be without a new contract if they had not gone on strike and that the school districts bargaining stance was driven by a desire to put the BTF in its place. Rumore gave the interview on Thursday afternoon, and he was released from jail at 7 a.m.

His life has been dedicated to fighting for teachers. He has never married and has no children.

James Sampson, president of the Buffalo School Board from 2014 to 2016, said Wednesday he "very frequently disagreed" with Rumore, but described him as an informed advocate for teachers.

"He was an organizing voice who was able to talk about issues important to teachers," Sampson said, pointing to major negotiating topics including salary and class sizes.

Rebecca Pordum, who has worked for the BTF the last nine years, described the president as "diligent" in his role.

"His institutional knowledge of the organization cannot be matched by anyone," Pordum said.

Andy Pallotta, president of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), said Wednesday on Twitter: "Phil has been a lion fighting for teachers, students and all of labor. His advocacy ruffled feathers but he fought with the best interests of his members  and public schools  in mind."

In 1981, as Rumore approached his first contract negotiations after succeeding Tom Pisa as union president, News reporter Modesto Argenio described Rumore as "a maverick who upset the political establishment when he won election."

"He doesn't especially like to be tagged a militant," Argenio wrote, "but he'll admit to being stubborn."

Forty years later, The News distilled Rumore's leadership ahead of his last term in office. It was eerily similar.

With contract settled, Rumore keeps firm grip on Buffalo schools Buffalo Teachers Federation president is about to turn 75 and has led the union for more than 35 years. But he has no plans to retire. Its just not me, he

"To his friends and allies, Rumore is a defender of public education and a relentless, hard-nosed negotiator. But to his critics, he is an obstructionist who holds the school district back from making needed reforms," then-News education reporter Jay Rey wrote.

The pending contract settlement will be the third Rumore has negotiated during the last 25 years. He has worked closely with labor relations specialists from New York State United Teachers, the BTF's parent organization.

Critics and some teachers have bemoaned the length of time between contracts, though Sampson said district officials have long known what they were in for when negotiating with the longtime president.

"It was going to be a battle," he said. "It was going to take a long time, and he would not agree to anything that teachers would not embrace."

Rumore could appear stern, stoic and even cold during negotiations  and willing to pursue litigation  but Sampson emphasized that the union leader could be kind, too.

TEACHERS' ADVOCATE TAKES HIS LUMPS After his 22 often turbulent years as president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, controversy swirls around Philip Rumore as perhaps never before. With the Buffalo schools embarking on a series of monumental reform efforts, critics see him as a major obstacle, a stubborn advocate of old ways that no longer work. But supporters describe Rumore as a staunch defender

When contract negotiations became fierce in 2014  a decade after the previous agreement  the Buffalo Teachers Federation picketed outside the homes of school board members. Rumore, aware that Sampson's wife was terminally ill, did not allow teachers to picket in front of his home, the former school board president said.

"That's a dimension to him that I think people should know," Sampson said.

Lupe Sauer, BTF secretary since 1974, on Wednesday recalled Rumore's first day as president. They went to lunch to outline his goals, and she said he had one request: that she never bring him his coffee.

"These duties were not beneath him," Sauer said. "I've been blessed I've been able to work with him that long."

Sauer and Pordum, the union vice president, underscored Rumore's generosity, whether it was helping people requesting money at the corner of Porter Avenue and Niagara Street, outside the teachers union office, or the holiday trinkets he gave to office members  often related to ducks, his favorite animal and office decoration.

Rumore, BTF leader for 35 years, is honored by state teachers union If you are a Buffalo teacher, you know that Phil Rumore always has your back, NYSUT leader

Pordum said Rumore's fierce advocacy for teachers led some to believe he did not care about students or the community. The opposite was true, she said.

"He put his members first  that's his job," she said, "but he genuinely believes in the district, teachers and students, and wants the best for them all."

Though Rumore would often frustrate district officials with his stubbornness and negotiating strategies, many grew to respect him.

During a recent board meeting focused on contract talks, Buffalo School Board President Sharon Belton-Cottman  irritated over the teachers union's demand for keeping retiree health insurance  introduced Rumore to the speakers' microphone by saying, "Mr. Rumore, I respect you, because you have never, not one time that I have ever called you for anything involving kids to help them get to the next level, you have never one time said 'No.' Never, in almost the 12 years I've been sitting here. You are an icon and you deserve to be respected, but on this issue, we can just not agree."

Rumore knew and wielded his political sway, too. Prospective school board members would curry for endorsement from the teachers union. Approval would almost guarantee a spot on the nine-member board. Some will look back on a legacy of union power  the might of teachers' togetherness  while others have wished this day would come for 40 years.

This year brings a rare contested presidential election in recent decades for the union. The process has been underway since March. A final ballot of candidates is expected to be released soon, with voting slated for May 5 to 18.

In his 21 two-year terms, Rumore rarely had to fight off challengers, with district teachers Marc Bruno and Patrick Foster recently falling short of unseating him. The teachers union confirmed both Bruno and Foster are expected to be involved in this year's election, too.

New union leadership will have great opportunity to change a four-decade status quo, and a likely three-year transition period before contract negotiations pick up again. In the meantime, the BTF vice president said Rumore deserves to be lauded for his career.

"Teachers owe him a huge debt of gratitude, in my personal opinion, for his leadership and stewardship," Pordum said.

Rumore has toyed with the idea of retirement in the recent past, he said, but something always caused him to reconsider. Not this time.

"Maybe it's time," he said, "to smell the roses."
Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia on Thursday reported a 10 per cent increase in global net sales to 5,859 million euros in the first quarter ended March 2023, on account of over a four-fold jump in Indian business. The company registered 5,348 million euros in net sales in the same period a year ago. "Network Infrastructure and Mobile Networks both grew at double-digit rates, with Network Infrastructure increasing 13 per cent, led by Optical Networks and IP Networks, and Mobile Networks increasing 13 per cent, reflecting the continued ramp up of 5G in India," Nokia said in its earnings report. Boost in Indian sales saved the company from the reduced spending in North America and other geographies. Nokia India sales zoomed by over four-fold to 853 million euros during the reported quarter from 200 million euros in the March 2022 quarter on account of fast pace deployment of the 5G network in the country. "Mobile Networks net sales grew 13 per cent (on constant currency basis) as 5G deployments in India ramped up, more than offsetting a slowdown in North America spending," Nokia President and CEO Pekka Lundmark said in the earnings report. Nokia reported a 9 per cent or 160 million euros dip in North American business to 1,666 million euros from 1,826 million euros on a year-on-year basis. "The double-digit decline in North America reflected lower net sales in Mobile Networks as customer spending returned to a more normal pattern in 2023 (compared to first-half biased spending in 2022), combined with some customer inventory depletion seen in the quarter," Nokia said. The company's business in Greater China declined by 14 per cent to 336 million euros during the reported quarter from 392 million, Asia Pacific sales dipped by 9 per cent to 578 million euros from 634 million on a y-o-y basis and business in Europe remained flat. Overall Nokia's business came down by 272 million euros but India alone added net sales of 653 million euros. "The strong growth in net sales in India was related to Mobile Networks, as 5G deployments continued to ramp in the first quarter of 2023. Network Infrastructure also saw strong growth driven by Optical Networks, IP Networks and Fixed Networks," Nokia said. India is the third biggest contributor to overall sales of Nokia after the US and Europe.
Emkay Global Financial Services has joined the likes of Angel One, Zerodha Broking and Helios Capital Management in getting an in-principle approval from the capital markets regulator to launch mutual fund business in India. In a regulatory notification, Emkay Global Financial Services said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had given the go-ahead on March 31. Bajaj Finserv, a diversified financial services group, had in March received the final registration from Sebi to kick off its mutual fund operations under Bajaj Finserv Mutual Fund. Before Emkay Global, Angel One (formerly known as Angel Broking) had received the in-principle approval for sponsoring a mutual fund in February. Nithin Kamath-led Zerodha Broking, Samir Arora-founded Helios Capital Management, and Kenneth Andrades Old Bridge Capital Management are waiting for their final mutual fund licences. As per the Sebi website, the in-principle approval is under consideration of four entities - Unifi Capital, Alpha Alternatives, Abira Securities and Wizemarkets Analytics. Stock brokerage firm Zerodha and wealth management company Smallcase recently announced a joint venture to launch an asset management company (AMC), which will focus on passive mutual funds. Zerodha Broking had in September 2021 received the in-principle approval from the markets regulator to set up an AMC. While Zerodha's approval for the final registration is under consideration with the watchdog, the joint venture has got the green light. While awaiting the final approval of our AMC (mutual fund), we asked if we should build it ourselves or collaborate. Given the 6+ years of experience that @smallcaseHQ has in building investment products, it made perfect sense to create a joint venture (JV) to build the AMC, Nithin Kamath, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zerodha, tweeted on April 12. According to Nithin, Smallcase will help Zerodha build simple low-cost passive mutual fund products. The mutual fund sector in India is a competitive zone with over 40 firms fighting in the Rs 40-trillion assets under management (AUM) industry.
Indias central bank has called a meeting with the board of directors of all public sector banks (PSBs) on May 22, 2023, in New Delhi to discuss issues related to governance and ethics, sources told Moneycontrol. This meeting has been called for the directors of PSBs to discuss issues related to governance, ethics and the role of boards, said one of the persons quoted. Another source who is familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol that, along with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, RBI deputy governors, executive directors from its Department of Regulation as well as Supervision are predicted to be present in that meeting. Ethics is extremely important from the banks point of view, especially after the global financial crises. Some reports in the past have highlighted that conduct of financial institutions has led them into crises due to a lack of ethics, said former RBI Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath to Moneycontrol. Unethical practices like misselling have been raised in the past meetings with the banks as well, Gopinath added. Bank executives, especially from public sector banks (PSBs), have been facing immense pressure from top management to sell third-party products like insurance. Failure to meet targets invites informal penal actions while meeting targets brings perks such as parties in five-star resorts, several bankers told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity. On April 3, 2023, in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, UCO Bank MD & CEO Soma Sankara Prasad said that selling insurance products should be done ethically. Theres we should take care to ensure that there is no misselling and we dont sell a product, which is not appropriate for a particular customer, Prasad told to Moneycontrol.
There is a need for the government, private sector and small builders, to work together to come up with efficient solutions for buildings and by-laws. The target should be to build signature buildings aimed at building signature lives, said D Thara, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). We all target to build signature buildings. It's time we think towards building signature lives, she said while addressing industry stakeholders at PHDCCIs Real Estate Summit 2023 titled Policies, Funding and Investment Framework: Realising the Potential of Real Estate held in the capital on April 20. She also said that Budget 2023 has increased the allocation for the Smart Cities mission and this is a great opportunity for all builders to come forward and change the way Indians live. It is time to collaborate for planning and delivering projects which take care of the blue and green infrastructure. The bigger builders should mentor the smaller builders to reduce errors and deliver quality projects, she said. Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director, Smart Cities Mission at MoHUA, said that over the next 35 years, ie, by the year 2047 when India completes 100 years as an independent country, we are looking at an increase from 460 billion to 1,000 billion people in urban areas which is more than double the population. Comparing Germany with India, he said 40 years from now that country will have only 10 percent new buildings as per their plans, against India, which by the year 2047, will witness 70 percent new buildings, providing a great opportunity for the real estate sector. Delhi-RERA Chairman Anand Kumar pointed out that most of the builders and property brokers are scared of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, popularly known as RERA, and try to avoid complying with the provisions of this legislation. "RERA Act is not only regulation, but it is for enhancing transparency and it is for active development of the real estate sector," Kumar said, adding that the regulators under the Act are facilitators. He also said that there was a need to create awareness about the Act. He said that there are several land parcels in Delhi that should be utilised for development of projects. "Unless we facilitate the development of the land we have, there will be unauthorised development," he said. A Grant Thorton Knowledge Report was also launched at the event. Vishesh Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton, said at the event that the current contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) from the real estate sector is around 6 percent, and by 2030, it is expected to more than double to 13 percent. The report said that despite the unexpected setback in 2020, the real estate sector bounced back in 2022 recording a significant growth across residential, retail and office segments and the upward trajectory is expected to continue in 2023. During 2022, the sector reported an equity investment of $7.8 billion, 60 percent of which came from foreign investors and the balance by Indian institutional investors and developers.
Investment by scheduled banks in state and central government securities rose by over Rs 1 lakh crore, or around 2 percent for the week ended on April 7. Scheduled banks held securities worth Rs 56.63 lakh crore as on April 7, which was up Rs 1.09 lakh crore from the previous fortnight on March 24, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. Similarly, in the other approved securities, the investment of scheduled banks increased to Rs 7,314.21 crore as on April 7, as compared to Rs 6,962.84 crore as on March 24. State and central government securities also include Treasury Bills, Treasury Deposits, Treasury Savings Certificates and postal obligations. Dealers are of the view that after the rate hike pause by the RBI, the sentiments of investors improved and they turned buyers of these securities leading to fall in yield. The central bank in April monetary policy kept repo rate unchanged and surprised the market. During the policy day, the yield on the 10-year benchmark bond touched 7.1469 percent levels then rebounded and ended at 7.2120 percent. Prior to the RBI monetary policy, the yield on 10-year benchmark 7.26 percent 2032 bond were trading at 7.2750 percent, but after policy it remained in the range of 7.20-7.23 percent. Today, the yield on 10-year bond closed at 7.2206 percent.

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Shares of textile company Alok Industries plunged on April 20 following weak March quarter earnings with revenues down and losses deepened. On a consolidated basis, the total revenue of the company fell to Rs 1,569.72 crore during the quarter from Rs 2,031.44 crore a year back. Losses for the quarter also surged over 10-fold to Rs 297.55 crore from Rs 26.76 crore in Q4FY22. As of 9.55am, the stock traded down 5.75 percent to Rs 12.14 on BSE. Textile sector has been under pressure in recent quarters. Exports have fallen as demand has declined. For instance, Indian cotton sheet exports to the US declined 13.1 percent MoM in February 2023, data shows. Our Industry checks suggest that the more painful part of global destocking in the home textile space is behind us and demand recovery could start trickling in by the end of Q2FY24, said Ashutosh Somani of JM Financial. He added that Indian home textile companies will also benefit from lower cotton prices which will likely aid margins going forward. The apparel companies also remain hopeful of market conditions improving from CY24 (resulting in improved order book from H2FY24). For Somani, Gokaldas Exports is the preferred pick in the space, while Welspun India stands to benefit from lower cotton prices and likely pick up in demand, he added. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
A drop in sugarcane production is pushing up sugar prices as sugar mills gear up to supply more ethanol, a byproduct of sugarcane, to oil marketing companies. Against 3.2 million tonnes in 2021-22 (marketing year from October to September), the government has fixed an allotment of 4.5 million tonnes of ethanol in 2022-23. With sugar prices ruling below the cost of production of the mills, the diversion of sugarcane products for ethanol production helps sugar mills to maintain a steady income. While the cost of sugar production is around Rs 36 per kg, the wholesale prices are in the range of Rs 31-32 per kg. In 2022-23, production is expected to be lower by 5 to 10 percent from the previous year. As a result, sugar prices have moved up to Rs 34-36 per kg from Rs 31.50 to 32.50 per kg. There is a decline in sugarcane crop in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The output in Uttar Pradesh is OK, said Atul Chaturvedi, executive chairman of Shree Renuka Sugars. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are the major sugarcane producers, followed by Karnataka. In 2022-23, the expected production is around 32.5 million tonnes with an opening stock of 7 million tonnes. The government has fixed a lower quota of 6 to 6.2 million tonnes for exports, considering the availability of sugar. As per the data of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) last year sugar availability was 43.946 million tonnes with a production of 35.760 million tonnes and an opening stock of 8.18 million tonnes. Since domestic consumption is in the range of 27 to 28 million tonnes, the government released more quantity for exports to stabilise prices. Export reached an all-time high of 11 million tonnes. Sugar shortfall in India, abroad In addition to India, there is a sugar shortfall this year and in several other countries like Thailand and European Union which has resulted in the rise in world sugar prices, Chaturvedi said. India is the second biggest sugar producer after Brazil. When sugar prices are going south, the mills can compensate it by producing more ethanol, which fetches better prices. But when the sugar prices are rising, the mills will have to find the right balance between sugar and ethanol production. The prices of ethanol may need to be revised, he said. Last year, the government allowed production of ethanol from sugarcane and B- molasses, a by-product. These products have higher sucrose content and hence were used more for sugar production. In other words, higher ethanol production can come at the expense of sugar output of a mill. Until 2022, sugar mills were churning out ethanol from C-molasses that have poor sugar content. Ethanol blending with petrol Ethanol supply is expected to rise in the coming years as the Centre is keen on checking a soaring fuel bill by blending ethanol with petrol. The blending level is likely to increase from 10 to 12 percent this year. Insufficient availability of ethanol had kept the blending levels below 10 percent in the past few years. The government has targeted a blending level of 20 percent by 2025. Many major sugar mills are expanding their ethanol production capacities to cater to future requirement. Ethanol blending programme will help in value addition and maintaining the financial stability of the sugar mills and is good for the sugar industry, said R L Tamak, ED and CEO of DCM Shriram Ltd. The government reckons that higher income from the sale of ethanol to oil marketing companies will help in settling the dues of sugarcane farmers in time. But the 50 million farmers are demanding a raise in the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar. Prices While the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane is revised every year, the MSP has not seen a change for the last few, years, said Praful Vithalani, chairman of All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA). The FRP was revised to Rs 305 per quintal for 2022-23 from Rs 290 in the previous year. The MSP has remained at Rs 3100 per quintal. We want it to be increased to Rs 3,400 per quintal as we are selling at 10 per cent below cost of production, said Vithalani, adding that the world average cost of production is Rs2,600 to Rs. 3,000 per quintal. The annual growth in domestic consumption of sugar has remained below 5 percent while the production growth has been in double digits in the last few years.
Koo, an Indian rival of Twitter, has laid off nearly a third of its workforce in recent months as it struggled with losses and failed to raise funds, Bloomberg reported on April 20. The microblogging application reportedly dismissed 30 percent of its 260 workers as the "global sentiment right now is more focused on efficiency than growth and businesses need to work towards proving unit economics", a spokesperson for the company told Bloomberg News. Also Read: Twitter now has 1,500 employees, down nearly 80% since Musks acquisition Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report. The three-year-old Bengaluru-based company benefited from Twitters spat with the Indian authorities over the content on its platform as many citizens, including government officials and Bollywood celebrities, flocked to Koo as a local alternative. However, the current struggle to access cash comes amid a global rout for technology companies and depressed investment activity that has slashed billions from valuations of once high-flying startups. Koo, backed by Tiger Global, has more than 60 million downloads and also counts Accel and Kalaari Capital among its investors. It had raised funds at a valuation of $273 million in 2022, according to research firm Tracxn. The startup has supported the dismissed employees through compensation packages, extended health benefits and aid in finding new jobs, the spokesperson told Bloomberg.

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Twenty-five airports in the country are using 100 per cent green energy while another 121 airports will be made carbon neutral by 2025, Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday. Scindia made these comments in his virtual address at the two-day EU-India aviation summit. He could not attend the event in person after testing Covid positive. "The emission contribution of the aviation industry has been under immense scrutiny. We have taken several measures to minimise the carbon footprint and mitigate emissions from the aviation industry," he said, asserting that India and the European Union have a common goal of tackling climate change. "We are encouraging airports to use 100 per cent green energy by 2024, and achieve net zero by 2030. 25 AAI airports are already using 100 per cent green energy. Our target is to make another 121 airports carbon neutral by 2025," he added. The minister informed that the government has mandated the use of renewable energy as part of the bid documents for upcoming airports. "We are also working towards encouraging the use of sustainable aviation fuel. Indian airline operators have already conducted demonstration flights using bio-fuel blended with ATF," he said. Scindia also invited EU players to partner India in developing adaptive technologies and support the objective of tackling emissions from the aviation industry. The summit, which began on Thursday, will focus on EU-India air transport relations and the mutually-shared challenges and opportunities of the two regions, such as the post-Covid recovery of air traffic, increasing sustainability, maintaining safety and the development of unmanned aircraft systems. The summit will bring together top-level policy makers, industry executives and stakeholders from both the EU and India. The aviation minister noted that India has reformed the regulatory mechanism to promote aircraft manufacturing in the country. "We have reformed the regulatory environment to make it as conducive as possible for MROs - reduced GST rates on MRO services from 18 per cent to 5 per cent and allowed 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment into the sector. New MRO guidelines have also been rolled out for rationalisation of the charges leviable on MRO service providers for ease of doing business. "I would urge industry players from EU to tap these opportunities, and become a part of the fastest growing aviation market in the world," he added.
YMCA on Thursday released new renderings of what the organization's new Wellness Center in North Buffalo will look like and said the project will have a transformative effect on the region.

The proposed $30 million project by the YMCA Buffalo Niagara calls for a new building on Elmwood Avenue north of Hertel Avenue to replace aging branches on Delaware Avenue and in the Town of Tonawanda.

The renderings for the new site showcase areas of the proposed wellness center that include the lobby, fitness center, climbing wall, gymnasium, aquatics center and building's exterior.

Construction on the 65,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to start in 2024.
The Assam and the Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed an agreement in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi to resolve their decades old border disputes. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed the agreement. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1-km-long border. The two states have been in discussions to resolve the border dispute with Sarma and Khandu signing the Namsai Declaration on July 15 last year wherein they had pledged to find a solution soon. Officials said the two states decided to resolve the dispute in 123 villages. Shah termed the border agreement as a "historic" event and said it ended decades long disputes. Sarma said the deal is a "big and successful" moment. Khandu described the deal as "historic". Regional committees dealing with specific areas were formed last year, comprising ministers, local MLAs, and officials from both sides to take the discussion forward. Arunachal Pradesh, which was made a union territory in 1972, has been maintaining that several forested tracts in the plains traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities and these were "unilaterally" transferred to Assam earlier. After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed, which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh. Assam contested this and the matter was in the Supreme Court for a long time.

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters on Thursday. Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is scheduled to meet the UN chief in New York on Thursday. Jaishankar had last met Guterres at the world body's headquarters in December 2022, when India was President of the UN Security Council for the month. Jaishankar had presided over two signature events on counter-terrorism and reformed multilateralism held under India's Presidency of the UN Security Council, before the curtains came down on the country's two-year tenure as elected member of the powerful 15-nation Council. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in New Delhi that Jaishankar's visit to the four countries would provide an opportunity to continue high-level contacts with Latin America and the Caribbean nations and explore new areas of cooperation in a whole host of areas, particularly in the post-pandemic scenario.

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India on Thursday said the ground situation in Sudan is very "tense" and it is in touch with various countries with a key focus on ensuring the safety of Indians in the violence-hit country. Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi said India is keeping a close watch on developments in Sudan. He said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet the UN Secretary-General in New York on the situation in Sudan. The safety and security of the Indians is our key focus, Bagchi said. When asked whether India is looking at evacuating the Indians in Sudan, he said some plans are being worked out but it will depend on the ground situation.

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A sessions court in Surat is today, on April 20, set to pronounce its order on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark. After hearing arguments from both sides on April 13, additional sessions judge RP Mogera said he will pronounce the order on April 20. Notably, a metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat had on March 23 sentenced the Congress leader to two years in jail after holding him guilty for his remark "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname" made during an election rally in 2019. Also Read: MC Explains | Why it is crucial for Rahul Gandhi to secure a stay on his conviction Gandhi, who was disqualified as Member of Parliament after the conviction, has filed an appeal before the sessions court against the verdict. He also prayed for a stay to the conviction in the meantime. Timeline In 2019, at an election campaign in Kolar, Karnataka, Gandhi is alleged to have said, "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname? And a case of criminal defamation was filed against Gandhi for insulting the Modi community. On March 23 2023, Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, held Rahul Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500, and also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court. On March 24, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Member of Parliament (MP) after his conviction and sentencing by a Surat court in a 2019 defamation. The Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 contemplates disqualification of MPs and MLAs on being convicted by a court. Section 8(3) of the Act notes that an MP stands disqualified the moment he/she is convicted of an offence with a sentence of imprisonment for not less than two years. Also Read | MC Explains: Why was Rahul Gandhi disqualified after conviction? The section further notes that the elected representative will continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since release. In Rahul Gandhi's case, the conviction if upheld, will disqualify him for eight years. The notification disqualifying Gandhi further refers to Article 102 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India. This article sanctions the act of disqualifying an elected representative from the house of the parliament by a law enacted by the parliament. What if stay is refused? A person convicted by a trial court has 90 days to appeal against the decision in the appellate court. Obtaining a stay from a sessions court can take 15 days to one month, subject to the discretion of the judge. In Gandhis case, if the sessions court in Surat refuses to stay the conviction, he will have to file an appeal in the Gujarat High Court. If the Gujarat High Court does not grant him a stay, the Congress leader will have to approach the Supreme Court. The entire process can take one to two months. (With wire inputs)
Google and Microsoft Corp are both exploring ways to integrate ads into their versions of ChatGPT. We should all brace for the consequences. In order to ensure that people see as much advertising as possible, there is a good chance both companies will become incentivised to make their chatbot tools engaging, and even addictive. Its the same impetus that pushed social media platforms to keep people rapt at all times, and fostered the spread of misinformation as well as mental health problems. According to the New York Times, Alphabet Incs Google is scrambling to develop an entirely new search engine that offers a more personalised experience using generative AI, the hot new technology underpinning ChatGPT. Both ChatGPT and Googles rival chatbot Bard use so-called large language models that predict sequences of words to give humanlike answers to queries. Meta Platforms Incs Facebook and Amazon.com Inc are also racing to add these AI tools to their own online services. But while tech firms havent spelled out how they will make money from the new technology, its clear that advertising will be in the mix on some platforms. For instance, Googles Project Magi, an umbrella for the generative AI features its bringing to search, will keep ads in the mix of search results, according to the Times. Any transactional search queries about buying goods, such as shoes or flights, will feature ads on the results page. Microsoft also has confirmed its AI-powered Bing chatbot will incorporate ads as sponsored links or in shopping results. Heres one example where ads responding to a question about the cheapest Honda car were signposted with small citations. Bing Chat now has Ads! It's going to be fascinating to see how the unit economics of Ads in language models will unfold and affect search advertising. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/o5YjRjikOP  Deedy (@debarghya_das) March 29, 2023 There is nothing inherently wrong with ads like these. But there is something insidious about how the incentives of advertising can spur the development of software aimed at keeping users glued to their apps all day long. Social media companies have been around the block with this problem. The misinformation and mental health issues that correlate with time spent on Facebook or Instagram, for instance, come in part from those apps being designed for maximum engagement. One of the great failings of the interne has been an inability to find a model for online businesses other than advertising. While the ad model has made the internet free and accessible, it also has created a kind of legalised addiction where people are constantly being sucked into distracting content funded by banner ads and pop-ups. Its why doom scrolling can be so lucrative. What makes the arrival of tools like ChatGPT more worrisome is that they could supercharge advertising because of their incredible potential to persuade and manipulate. Large language models are trained to make up believable things in a human-like way, former Google AI researcher Margaret Mitchell recently told me. These models often make factual errors, but the bigger and more powerful they get, the better they are at sounding persuasive. And while ads in Google search or on websites are generally clearly marked, a conversational response from a chatbot might make it more likely that people accept what they see in front of them as the truth, according to Sridhar Ramaswamy, the former head of Googles advertising business and founder of rival search engine Neeva. Of course, this can lead to unfortunate consequences. Remember a few months ago when the new Bing chatbot told a newspaper columnist that it was in love with him and suggested he leave his wife? That bizarre encounter illustrated how compelling a chatbot can be when its creators allow it to show more personality. Kevin Roose, the New York Times writer who had the conversation with Bing, found himself talking to the bot for hours, mesmerised by the comments it was generating. Microsoft ended up having to recalibrate Bing to a more boring, neutral set of responses. If Microsoft finds itself in the midst of a bitter rivalry with Google over the market for ad-driven search, it may want to bring some of that old personality back. A more fun and interesting version of Bing or Googles Bard would attract more users and keep them using the tools for longer, seeing more ads. Facebook has done this brilliantly  and at great social cost  by designing algorithms to show content that provokes emotions like outrage to keep people scrolling and clicking. The companys engineers have monitored peoples likes and comments to see which models powering the newsfeed maximise engagement. The models they use have often promoted controversy, misinformation or extremism. For now, Bing and Bard arent designed to maximise engagement. But neither was Facebook when it first exploded in popularity among college students in the mid-2000s. Back then, it was just a utility for connecting with friends and family, like ChatGPT, Bing and Bard are currently practical tools for writing or researching. But Google and Microsoft have ambitious plans for these tools to generate new revenue streams, and Google in particular looks likely to rely on its tried-and-tested ad model to do so. Google will have to ensure it isnt inadvertently sending its users down rabbit holes of emotional manipulation or conspiracy theories, something its YouTube division has had plenty of experience with. And if you dont think chatbots can be alluring, consider that many people have already developed friendships and even romantic relationships with AI companions on Replika, an app that has been downloaded more than 5 million times. The potential for chatbots to act as emotional outlets, therapists or entertainers could be even greater than their role as search engines, as their tenuous relationship with facts continues to be a problem. Microsoft and Google should tread carefully as they move to capitalise on Bing and Bard. Advertising might be the obvious way to keep their services free for all, but history has shown that model also has its costs. Parmy Olson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication. Credit: Bloomberg
After decades of winter for nuclear power in North America and Western Europe, theres recently been some long-overdue signs of spring. In the state of Georgia, the first unit of the 2.2 gigawatt Vogtle expansion project  $34 billion and 17 years in the making  was connected to the grid April 1. It may have come in at more than double the cost and seven years later originally forecast, but its just the second new civilian reactor completed in the US since 1996. The unit has begun testing and may start up as soon as this year. Similar green shoots are showing in northern Europe. Finlands 1.6 gigawatt Olkiluoto 3 reactor, plagued by similar time and cost overruns, finally delivered electricity April 16, becoming the continents first reactor in more than 15 years. Its popular to blame environmentalists for the way atomic power stopped growing in rich countries three decades ago. Too many protests and consequent safety regulations have made it impossible to build nuclear power plants (the argument goes) slowing what should be an easy path to decarbonising our economies. Clear away the red tape, and the market will do the rest. Look at the long and painful histories of Vogtle and Olkiluoto, however, and it becomes clear that the truth is close to the opposite. Its not simply a surfeit of regulations, but more importantly the deregulation of energy markets that has stifled atomic power in recent decades. Most of the world will need modest, but crucial, shares of nuclear energy in tandem with wind and solar to build affordable zero-carbon grids over the coming decades. Correctly identifying the source of the problem, rather than turning renewables versus nuclear into a culture-war battle, will be crucial to making sure those plants get built. Atomic power facilities are, by their nature, megaprojects. Only hydroelectric dams can compete with them in terms of sheer energy output. Theres an entire United Nations agency dedicated in part to ensuring that the fissile fuel supply isnt diverted toward military uses, and a complex global convention to help governments share liability in the event of an accident. Even in a best-case scenario, nuclear plants take the best part of a decade and billions of dollars to build, followed by further decades before theyve paid for themselves. Almost every other megaproject we construct depends on coordinated government support, if not outright ownership, because only states or protected monopolies have the capacity to take on the financial and operational risks. That was the case for power, too, during the nuclear boom from 1970 to 1990, when monopolistic utilities in Europe, North America and the former Soviet Union constructed plants with little regard to cost or even demand. Those risks have only been heightened by the way that western countries have deregulated energy markets since the 1990s, exposing multi-decade nuclear projects to the vagaries of volatile pricing rather than the fixed returns that they once expected. Its no coincidence that the nuclear construction boom has lasted longest in Asian and former Soviet countries where state-backed monopolies and managed power pricing still hold sway. While being ostensibly private-sector projects, Vogtle and Olkiluoto both underline this point. The former was only finished thanks to some $12 billion of loan guarantees from the US government. VC Summer, an almost identical plant across the state border in South Carolina that ran into simultaneous difficulties when their common contractor Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in 2017, failed to attract funding from Washington and was abandoned. The key ultimate shareholder in Olkiluoto, meanwhile, is not a profit-maximising investor, but a cooperative of local power users. Some form of government support will be necessary if atomic power isnt to wither as its aging plants reach the end of their lives. Contracts-for-difference are a type of financial derivative used in the UK power market that allow low-carbon generators to swap volatile electricity prices for fixed ones, with a government agency acting as counterparty. Sticking to boring but familiar water-cooled reactor designs, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with fast neutron or small modular reactors, is the best way of ensuring that projects come in closer to time and budget plans. Governments shouldnt be long-term owners of reactors, but their vast financial capacity and ability to knock heads together means theyre best-placed to manage the construction stage before selling off operating projects to private investors. It might be an enjoyable sport to turn the problems of our power grids into a cage fight between hippies and engineers. If we want affordable zero-carbon power in 2050, however, we will need to fix the real-world issues that have held back nuclear energy for decades, rather than blaming everything on omnipotent environmental campaigners. There are solutions to atomic powers malaise. But the first step toward recovery is admitting you have a problem. David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities, as well as industrial and consumer companies. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. Credit: Bloomberg
Ideally, there should be no banding together by G7  described euphemistically as the advanced industrialised democracies  within G20, which is a mixed group of advanced economies and emerging market economies. The Twenty should have a common purpose, however defined. The evolution of the informal formation of the two groups shows that they emerged out of different circumstances. G7 A Relic, G20 The Future The G7 was an ideological grouping harking back to the now dim Cold War past. When the Cold War ended with the collapse of communism and Russia was admitted to G7 and it became G8 between 1998 and 2014, it looked uncharacteristically cheerful. The exit of Russia after the occupation of Crimea  which is in many ways a prelude to the ongoing war in Ukraine  brought back the adversarial nature of G7. But G20 was a different ball game. After the 1997 Asian crisis and the meltdown of the Thai baht, it seemed that there was need for consultation among all the major economies, advanced and emerging. And a decade later, the crumbling of the big American banks in 2008 made the huddle of the major players all the more compelling. Then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh with his academic-economist credentials became a mentor-figure in the early G20 leaders summits. It is the political contours of G7 and G20 that make them the curious phenomenon in the ever changing scenario of a multi-polar world. The superpowers are indeed dead, literally and metaphorically. Russia is a crumpled power. America has become a wrinkled economy and its military might isnt what it appeared to be in the past. But no new power has emerged. China is still the struggling giant on the edge. There are no dominant players. This should have made G7 and G20 more amenable formations than they have been. G7's Power Play The two meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors (FMCBG) in Bengaluru in February and Washington last week under Indias G20 presidency showed up sharply the differences between G7 and G20. In Bengaluru, even as the differences cropped up over the issue of the war in Ukraine, and some of the members, including Russia and China, apart from the G7, differed on what should be said and not said, the G7 finance ministers held a small conclave of their own and issued a statement on the sidelines of FMCBG about their uncompromising position on Ukraine. Nothing showed the diplomatic fissure than this indiscreet gesture. And the G7 finance ministers meet in Sapporo in Japan last week declared their own goals of increasing the renewable energy component of their economies as part of their climate agenda. If the differences that surfaced at Bengaluru reflected the political divisions in the world at large, the second G20 FMCBG meeting at Washington last week showed that there was no consensus on the global economic agenda, which was not unexpected, but reiterated that the dividing lines were drawn along the G7 and the G20 minus G7 lines. No Meeting Ground The United States, the undeclared leader of G7, was not too inclined towards regulating cryptocurrencies despite the major blowup of FTX in the US, though India is much more optimistic about paving the crypto pathway as part of future financial transactions across borders. US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen has indicated that it would involve domestic changes in rules and America would not want to go there. In a world dominated by cryptocurrency, regulated by central banks, the American dollar would lose its role of prima donna. India has a long way to go before it can create the majority opinion in the grouping to steer towards a global digital currency exchange. And among the worlds political heads, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all for embracing the new gateway. There are interesting sociological reasons why PM Modi can move forward on this frontier with greater vigour and sense of purpose compared to his counterparts in other countries, especially G7 leaders. China is the only other country that can push for cryptocurrency if it chooses to do so. So, India as a leading G20-minus-G7 economy cannot really push the global agenda but in small measures. In contrast, Yellen was able to push the American viewpoint of a minimal global corporate tax of 15 per cent in G20 and beyond because America came up with the issue of rich Americans evading taxes at home and stashing away their wealth in secret Swiss bank accounts, an issue that is so familiar to the Indian ears. G7 & G20: Twain Shant Meet The Washington G20 FMCBG meeting saw the setting up of a committee under Indias NK Singh and USs Lawrence Summers on the issue of multilateral development banks (MDBs), which is a roundabout way of discussing the restructuring of the World Bank, increasing its capital and making it a more effective instrument for dealing with alleviation of global poverty. The question of poverty remains the theme song of the larger part of the global economy. Without going into a rhetorical debate on Whither Capitalism, it can be seen that crucial issues like climate change are tied up with that of poverty and hunger. India is not in a position to push the agenda forward because it cannot recapitalise the World Bank and China sits out as an unfriendly observer in the debate. The US which is the largest shareholder in the bank refuses to budge. And debt restructuring in a distressed global economy falls into the same slot as the issue of global poverty, and the G7 inside G20 has other issues on mind. There is a clear incompatibility on how to go about dealing with crises in the global economy between G20 and G7. For a solution, the power tussle on the economic and political fronts between the two formations must ease. Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr is a New Delhi-based journalist. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.
A court in Gujarats Surat rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhis application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark. The court of additional sessions judge R P Mogera rejected Rahul Gandhis application filed for a relief pending his appeal against a lower courts order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case. Since sessions court has rejected his plea for stay, Gandhi will have to approach the Gujarat High Court with an application for stay. Also Read: MC Explains: Why was Rahul Gandhi disqualified after conviction? Gandhi had on April 3 approached the sessions court for appeal against the lower courts order. Gandhi approached the sessions court for appeal after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname? made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019. Gandhi was disqualified by LS secretariat under Section 8(3) of Representation of peoples act . According to the section, a lawmaker sentenced with two or more years of imprisonment will stand immediately disqualified. His lawyers had filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for stay on conviction till the disposal of his appeal. A stay on conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for Gandhis reinstatement as the Member of Parliament. Not obtaining a stay from any court would lead to his disqualification for 8 years (2 years conviction + 6 years thereafter) Also Read: Rahul Gandhi takes swipe at former Congress leaders as he keeps up attack over Adani issue The 52-year-old politician was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, but was disqualified a day after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail in the case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. While granting bail to Gandhi, the court had issued notices to complainant MLA Modi and the state government on the Congress leaders plea for a stay on conviction. The sessions court will continue its hearing on Gandhis main plea against the lower courts order. Recently, Lakshadweep MP was reinstated back to the parliament after he obtained a stay of his conviction in an attempt to murder case from Kerala High Court.
It has been a landmark week for the tech space in India as Apple launched two of its stores- one in Mumbai on Tuesday and a second one in New Delhi on Thursday- both of which saw the presence of company CEO Tim Cook. In the New Delhi launch on Thursday, a fan named Lakshya arrived at the store with a framed collection set of all the parts of the iPhone 4S. The significance of this Apple product was it was the first iPhone that Cook had launched as an Apple CEO. Watch Lakshya, an ardent Apple fan got every part of the iPhone 4s framed. It was the first iPhone that Cook had launched as an Apple CEO #iPhone #iPhone4s #AppleSaket #Apple #TimCook pic.twitter.com/Rz1OqvSgWY  Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) April 20, 2023 Later on, during the store launch, the fan got the framed collection signed from Cook. In the same video, a man can be seen hugging and touching Cook's feet. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) This is one of many unforgettable moments that fans have had at both the store launches in India. In the Mumbai store launch on Tuesday, a fan arrived with an Apple Macintosh computer and got a chance to meet Cook. Another fan, who had camped out the Mumbai store from 8 pm on Monday, arrived at the store with an unboxed iPod which he later got it signed from Cook. The Mumbai store is also Apple BKC while the New Delhi store is called Apple Saket. During his visit to India, Cook also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and Minister of State in Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Also Read: Watch: Long queues outside Apple Saket ahead of store launch
The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023, which was proposed in 2019, has been cleared by the government after around 15 consultations with the members of the film industry as well as the public. A draft version of the Bill was circulated in 2021 which proposed stricter punishment against piracy and had also proposed age-appropriate ratings for films. The Bill has been cheered by the film industry with actors including Ajay Devgn and R Madhavan terming the development as a brilliant move. Moneycontrol deep dives into what the Bill entails and how soon it will come into effect. When will the Bill be introduced? The Bill will be introduced in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told the media on April 19. What does the Bill entail? The Bill has provisions to curb transmission of pirated film content on the internet. It also has provisions to classify films on the basis of age group, instead of the current practice of 'U', 'A', and 'UA'. How will the Bill curb piracy? The Bill will not only make filming of content for piracy an offence but it will also make the act of transmitting pirated content punishable. The government has proposed to block websites that show pirated content. The Bill will likely include a penalty of Rs 10 lakh and three years of imprisonment against those who engage in piracy. Many in the film industry pointed out that the government has gone beyond ending video recording of movies but is also focusing on online streaming of pirated content. India is considered as the third highest contributor in terms of visits to pirated websites for content with over 7 billion visits on such sites in 2022, highlighted global advisory firm Ankura's report. It said that a lot of pirated content is available on messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram and through these apps, a lot of information is circulated on torrent apps which are not usually found on Google Play Store. The report noted that TV content accounted for 46.6 percent of all traffic to piracy websites followed by publishing content (books) which accounted for 27.8 percent, film piracy makes up 12.4 percent followed by music and software which accounted for 7 percent and 6 percent respectively. In 2022, Spider-Man: No Way Home was the most pirated Hollywood movie in India and KGF: Chapter 2 and RRR were the most pirated Indian films. Game of Thrones was the most pirated series in India last year. According to a 2017 KPMG report, the film industry faced an annual loss of around Rs 18,000 crore accompanied by a loss of 60,000 jobs every year. What type of ratings the Bill proposes? The Bill is expected to expand ratings from the current three categories of U, UA and A. U is for unrestricted public exhibition and A is restricted to adult audiences, while UA is for unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for children below the age of 12. The Bill proposes to add new age-appropriate ratings including classifications like UA-7+, UA-13+, and UA-16+ in place for 12 years. The expansion of age ratings was suggested by the expert committee headed by veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal in 2017. Experts note that the rating expansion will allow filmmakers to address mature themes without attracting an A certificate. While more details of the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023 are awaited, Thakur said that it will live up to the expectations of the industry.
Fortis Healthcare Limited, on April 20, announced it has signed definitive agreements with the VPS Group for the acquisition of its Medeor Hospital in Manesar, Gurugram, Haryana. The hospital has a potential bed capacity of 350 beds and can be operationalised in a phased manner in nearly 9 months. The transaction entails the purchase of land, building, and movable assets of Medeor Hospital in Manesar, Gurugram, owned by Medeor Hospitals Limited, and is expected to close by end of July 2023, subject to the completion of certain conditions precedent as stipulated in the definitive agreements. Also read: India gets first National Liver Board aimed at counselling thousands of liver patients every year The transaction will be funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals. The acquisition fits well with the companys strategic approach of expanding its presence in focus geographic clusters, including Delhi NCR. The acquisition will enable the company to deliver quality healthcare services to patients in the upcoming areas of New Gurgaon, Dwarka Expressway, IMT Manesar, and National Highway 48, it said. The hospital is easily accessible from these areas and can additionally benefit patients from across Rewari, Mahendargarh, Bhiwadi, Pataudi, Farukh Nagar, and other areas in the vicinity. Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO of the Company, said the company had been evaluating various acquisition opportunities to expand its presence in the existing markets and enable it to leverage the benefits of scale and synergies. We believe this is a good strategic fit as we already have a significant presence in Gurugram with our flagship facility and this acquisition will make us the second largest healthcare services provider in Gurugram with over 850 beds, including our ongoing brownfield bed additions in Fortis Memorial, he said.
When US-based Sunil Dhar started planning his younger sons wedding, he was faced with an unusual dilemma  the brides parents, based in Delhi, did not have the visa permits necessary to enter the United States. The wait time for a visitor visa to the US can run as high as one year for Indians. This despite the fact that last month, the US deployed temporary visa officers to Mumbai in an effort to reduce visa wait time. Dhar, 65, did not want his future daughter-in-law to go ahead with the wedding without her parents by her side. This is a memory that lasts a lifetime, he told The New York Times. And I wouldnt want her to not have her parents there at her wedding. The bride and the grooms sides came up with a clever solution to the problem. Despite living in San Francisco Bay Area, the Dhars have decided to hold the wedding ceremony in Blaine, Washington, near the Peace Arch  a monument located on the US-Canada border. The Peace Arch has a park that covers both US and Canada. This park, according to NYT, is considered neutral ground where Americans and Canadians can mingle without going through immigration. The Dhar family will host the wedding in the southern half of the park in a building called The American Kitchen. Meanwhile, the brides parents and other family members, who have Canadian visas, will enter from the Canadian side. They can go as far the parking lot on the American side without needing US visas. With this jugaad, both families will be able to attend the wedding.
Apple CEO Tim Cook's visit to India to open two stores- one in Mumbai and one in Delhi- has caught everybody's attention with fans thronging the stores to catch a glimpse of it. Dairy giant Amul has not been left behind in the Apple CEO's visit to India to open the stores, posting a creative tweet related to his visit to Mumbai to launch Apple's first store in the country. #Amul Topical: Apple's first store in India opens in Mumbai! pic.twitter.com/exgb0tz6Ub  Amul.coop (@Amul_Coop) April 19, 2023 The doodle was praised by many on Twitter. "Amul definitely has the best copywriter having great sense of humour and articulation skill," one user wrote. "Amul never fails to amaze you with their ads," another wrote. Cook was present in Mumbai during Apple's first ever store launch on Tuesday as fans gathered at the Bandra-Kurla Complex to meet him in person, as well as take a look at the store. Among the Apple fans present on Tuesday, two fans caught the attention of many- one who had got an Apple Macintosh with him and other who had camped outside the store from 8 pm on Monday and later got his unboxed Apple iPod signed by Cook at the store launch. On Thursday, Cook was in New Delhi to launch the second Apple store, named Apple Saket. Prior to that, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. "Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on Indias future  from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, were committed to growing and investing across the country," Cook had written on Twitter on Wednesday. Also Read: Tim Cook reaches Delhi for Apple Saket opening. His first stop was
Pakistan announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here. "Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India," she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in-person. She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot. "Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said. It would be the highest level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations. The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack. The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
The battle for control of Sudan, the strategically located east African country, between two powerful rival military factions since Saturday has left at least 296 people dead and 3000 injured. Most victims are civilians. Fighting erupted on April 15 in the capital Khartoum and other thickly populated cities in Sudan dashing all hopes of a peaceful transition to civilian rule and increasing the risk of a nationwide civil war. Despite calls for a ceasefire, the fighting has continued. Observers feel that even if the violence ends due to outside pressure, the truce between the two sides will be temporary. Moneycontrol explains what is going on and what's at stake. Who is fighting whom? The clashes are between two former allies, the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, popularly known as Hemedti. The two generals had worked together to overthrow Sudans brutal dictator Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years. In 2019, when a popular uprising brought thousands of people to the streets against his misrule, they staged a coup to throw him out of power. After the coup, a power-sharing council was formed, made up of civilian and military groups. The proposal was for the new regime to run the country for a few years and oversee a transition to a completely civilian-run government. But in 2021, Burhan, who had become chief of the power-sharing council, dissolved it and declared he would instead hold elections in 2023. But there was tension between the two after a December framework agreement elevated Dagalo from being Burhans deputy to be his equal. Why are they fighting now? The current fighting broke out between the army and the RSF as a result of negotiations over integrating the two forces ahead of the intended restoration of civilian rule. There was disagreement over which general would be subordinate to the other, and how quickly the RSF would be incorporated into the Sudanese military. Experts say the hostilities have turned into an existential fight between the two for dominance. How has been the state of affairs in Sudan before the current violence? Sudan has a history of turbulence. Bashir who ruled the country for 30 years before his ouster in 2019 had faced a series of violent unrest in the country. After a prolonged struggle, oil-rich South Sudan had split from the north. Bashir also faced an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Darfur, the western region which wanted to secede because of neglect by the central authority. After Bashirs ouster, Sudan was ruled by an uneasy alliance between the military and civilian groups. That all ended in 2021, when the power-sharing government was dissolved by armed forces. What is the RSF? It is the preeminent paramilitary group in the country, whose leader Dagalo, a former camel-herder, has enjoyed a rapid rise to power. The RSF evolved from the notorious Janjaweed forces, which were implicated for war crimes during the Darfur conflict in the 2000s when the government used it to put down the rebels. It was created in 2013 and four years later in the face of an international outcry, a law was passed to legitimise the RSF as an independent security force. As Dagalo rose to prominence, his business interests grew with help from Bashir, and his family expanded holdings in gold mining, livestock and infrastructure. But despite being a long-time ally of Bashir, he did not hesitate to join the coup that overthrew him as president when the 2019 uprising broke out. Who is Burhan? He is the de facto leader of Sudan. He was the armys inspector general during the coup that ousted Bashir. Burhan also rose in prominence during the Darfur conflict as a close ally of Bashir and helped him in putting down the rebellion. That was also the time when he came in contact with Dagalo. Both Burhan and Dagalo became close to the Saudi leadership when they commanded separate battalions of Sudanese forces that were sent to serve with Saudi forces during the war in Yemen. How strategically important is Sudan? Sudan borders the Red Sea, the Sahel region and the Horns of Africa. Its strategic location and agricultural wealth and minerals have attracted regional players to the country. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have close ties with the RSF and Dogalo, a relationship that was built during the Yemen war. The two Gulf countries along with the United States and the United Kingdom have formed the Quad and have supported mediation in Sudan along with the African Union and the United Nations. Western powers fear that Russia, which has a strong foothold in the country, could open a military base on the Red Seaa possibility that was supported by Bashir. There is also fear in the West that Russia, which has stakes in Sudanese gold mines, was using the money to bankroll its war in Ukraine. What is the situation of Indians in Sudan? The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has been in touch with key players in the region like Saudi Arabia, UAE and the US to coordinate the safety and security of Indians in Sudan. There are about 2,800 Indians in the country. The worry in Delhi has been increased by the recent death of an Indian, Albert Augestine from Kerala, in the ongoing violence. What to expect in the future? Despite appeals by regional players asking both generals to step down and return to negotiations, an early cessation of violence seems unlikely. Since both Burhan and Dagalo are fighting to establish supremacy over the other, they may continue their battle until one of them gains the upper hand. Several of Sudans neighbours like Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan have also been affected by political upheavals in recent years. A prolonged conflict in Sudan can only add to the instability in this crucial region.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg visited Kyiv on Thursday for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion, showing the military alliance's support for Ukraine as it prepares to launch a counteroffensive. Stoltenberg laid a wreathe to honour Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed fighting in the east of the country, and reviewed captured Russian armoured vehicles on the capital's St Michael's Square. Ukrainian leaders and NATO officials did not immediately make any announcements about the trip. Wartime visits by foreign officials are often shrouded in secrecy but top leaders visiting Kyiv often hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Stoltenberg began his unannounced trip at a vital juncture in Russia's almost 14-month-old invasion which has killed thousands, uprooted millions, destroyed cities and devastated the Ukrainian economy. After weathering a Russian winter and spring offensive that has made only small advances in the east, Ukraine now hopes to retake land in its south and east in a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months. After paying his respects to Ukrainian soldiers, the NATO secretary-general got into a car and drove off after the event, a Reuters photographer said. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has supported Ukraine throughout the war, with member states sending weapons but not fighting troops. Kyiv has repeatedly called for more weapons from its allies. Ukraine sees its future in the alliance and last September announced a bid for fast-track membership after the Kremlin said it had have annexed four Ukrainian regions that its troops have partially occupied. Moscow regards NATO as a hostile military bloc bent on encroaching on what it sees as its sphere of influence. Ukraine gained independence from the Russia-led Soviet Union in 1991. Russia did not immediately comment on Stoltenberg's visit.
China is making "significant progress" in Antarctica after years of gap in construction, satellite photographs have revealed. China has picked up work on its fifth base in the continent for the first time since 2018. The fifth base on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea will feature an observatory and satellite ground station, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, countries like the US and China are obligated to limit their activities on the continent to "peaceful purposes". Although military personnel are permitted to do scientific research, they are barred to set up facilities, conduct manoeuvres, or test weaponry. China, however, disputes assertions that these stations would be used for espionage. "The ground station is well positioned to collect signals intelligence over Australia and New Zealand and telemetry data on rockets launched from Australia's new Arnhem Space Centre," stated the report. The station is likely to include a wharf for China's Xuelong icebreaker ships. The US still maintains a larger research presence in Antarctica. It has the biggest facility in its McMurdo station. However, the growing Chinese presence in the polar areas has alarmed western countries since it may provide China's People's Liberation Army with more surveillance power.

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Tesla Inc has settled a lawsuit against one of its former engineer, Alexander Yatskov, whom it accused of stealing trade secrets related to its AI-training supercomputer Dojo, according to a filing on Wednesday in San Francisco federal court. The joint filing said the terms of the settlement were confidential but Yatskov would make a monetary payment to the company. Representatives for both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Yatskov was a thermal engineer working on Dojo, a supercomputer that Tesla said in its lawsuit would "help solve difficult engineering problems, such as vehicle autonomy. The company said it had hired Yatskov last January and that he had resigned that May after being put on administrative leave. Tesla sued Yatskov that month for allegedly keeping confidential information about Dojo on his personal computer. The lawsuit also alleged Yatskov had provided a "dummy computer for Tesla to investigate to "cover his tracks. Yatskov previously told the court that Tesla had filed the lawsuit during his last day of work and that he had turned over the companys materials after he left. According to the Wednesday filing, Yatskov admitted to transferring confidential Tesla information to his personal computer during his employment but said that he only had kept it for work purposes and had sought to delete it after the work was finished. A San Francisco federal judge sent the case to arbitration last August, rejecting Yatskovs plea to keep it in federal court so he could publicly contest Teslas claims, which the engineer described as "humiliating.
News / National

by Staff reporter

FASTJET Zimbabwe, the value-based airline, yesterday unveiled its new uniform designs marking the airline's readiness for the runway.fastjet's new uniform, representing a modern and smart look that captures the airline's brand identity, will be worn by its ground staff and aircrew across all its bases in Zimbabwe and South Africa from today.The airline's new uniform continues to feature the signature yellow and grey colour scheme elements that have made it an iconic piece over the years, incorporated into a restyling that combines a traditional look with contemporary fashion characteristics.A patent yellow runway stripe on the new cabin crew dress is a timeless pattern, creating a prominent presence for inflight crew. The distinctive speedmark, a recognisable part of the aircraft livery, features in the scarves worn by the female staff, and is represented by a yellow triangular fold on the cabin crew jacket collars and sleeve folds.In addition, the female cabin crew will wear stylish grey or yellow aprons when performing service duties, whilst male cabin crew will sport a modern cut grey waistcoat with subtle yellow features.Male crew and ground staff uniforms have been favourably replaced with a classic grey suit, boldly distinguished with the iconic yellow scarf for females and a bespoke tie for the male staff, which features the airline's mascot.In keeping with the cabin crew jacket design, the shorter jacket design has followed on trend for all-female jackets.The fastjet signature features introduced on the new uniform include subtle changes to the design of grey suits worn by the pilots, championing the importance of gender diversity amongst the staff.Fastjet group chief operating officer, Mr Donahue Cortes, said: "Our new uniform has been designed to make our staff feel proud, comfortable and empowered, ensuring they stand out and excel in every environment."Over the past year, we have worked closely in consultation with different departments and colleagues within the business to design a functional, practical and distinguishable uniform. "This uniform considers the varying working conditions of our staff while maintaining compliance with the relevant requirements."Mr Cortes added that in designing the new uniform, they focused on their corporate colour palettes whilst introducing some of their most distinctive branding elements, such as the livery speedmark and their well-known mascot."Using bespoke fabrics with enhanced breathability capabilities, we are bringing back classic elegance with a smart modern look and some fun elements such as branded socks that will become a signature statement for our staff," said Mr Cortes.Mr Nunurai Ndawana, fastjet Zimbabwe spokesperson, said: "A uniform is a key element of any brand identity and often creates the first impression. We welcome this uniform that embodies elegance and functionality while maintaining the stylish signature touch that fastjet uniforms are known for."
News / National

by Staff reporter

TWO more heads of state, King Mswati III of Eswatini and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema have confirmed their attendance at the Transform Africa Summit (TAS) in Victoria Falls next week.This brings to five foreign heads of state billed to attend.Already, Rwanda leader, President Paul Kagame, who is the chairman of the Smart Africa Board, Malawi and Senegal Presidents, Lazarus Chakwera and Macky Sall respectively, have confirmed their attendance.Other key speakers include Serbia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr Sinisa Mali, Estonia's Deputy Minister for Economic and Development, Ms Mariin Ratnik and the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank, Dr Benedict Okey Oramah and Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Director General, Dr Gift Muchengete.TAS, which is in its 6th edition, is set for April 26 to 28 and runs under the theme: "Connect, Innovate, and Transform."The previous five editions were all held in Rwanda.Close to 3 000 delegates from over 100 countries are expected to attend the summit whose focus is on the digital transformation of the African continent.The Summit is Africa's leading annual forum bringing together global and regional leaders from Government, business and international organisations to collaborate on new ways of shaping, accelerating and sustaining Africa's ongoing digital revolution.
April 20, 2023

Russia And NATO Agree - The War In Ukraine Will Continue

NATO chief says Ukraines rightful place is in the alliance - AP - Apr 20, 2023

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraines rightful place is in the military alliance and pledged more support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion just over a year ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.

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Prevention of Ukraines accession to NATO remains one of special ops goals  Kremlin - Tass - Apr 20, 2023

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Prevention of Ukraines accession to NATO remains one of the special military operations goals, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday. "Of course, because, otherwise, this will pose a serious, significant threat for our countrys security," the spokesman said, answering a question.

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News / National

by Staff reporter

POPULAR Cleric, Bishop Kandros Mugabe, who was barred by the party from contesting for Kwekwe Central Constituency in the recently concluded primary elections, said he was not deterred by the move.He has pledged to continue working harder for the party. Bishop Mugabe who is also into gold mining and a well-known philanthropist, was barred from contesting by the party leaving Energy "Dhala' Ncube to sail through uncontested.Both Mugabe and Ncube were disqualified for indiscipline' in the 2022 by elections after the death of the then legislator Masango Blackman' Matambanandzo.But after investigations, the party decided that Bishop Mugabe paves way for the youthful Ncube. "I am not deterred by the party's decision and I respect the party's decision. This goes on to show that no one is bigger than the party and our main focus is to garner votes for the elected candidate and President Emerson Mnangagwa," he said. He said, though it was a bitter pill to swallow, he will continue supporting the party and doing what he knows best-giving."I always support the elderly with mealie meal and food. The underprivileged I also support them in whatever way I can. I also assist in funerals and I will do that even more in the name of Zanu-PF," he said.He said he is throwing his weight behind Ncube."He was nominated by the party and I respect the party's decision and I will support him all the way. Recently we were together at an anti-drug function that he organised in Amaveni, I am with him all the way," said the clergyman.
Mercedes Cordero/Midland Reporter-Telegram

Ryder Booth, vice president of Chevrons Mid-Continent Business Unit, provided high praise for Midland Mayor Lori Blong for her State of the City address on Wednesday.

Booth commented specifically about the mayors call for collaboration to deal with key issues. Collaborations included the creation of a mayors task force to respond to a community problem  specifically discipline inside Midlands public schools and in the community. She said collaboration is needed from leaders inside the city, school district, law enforcement, county government, the courts and the community.
Buyenlarge/Getty Images

This West Texas town seven hours from San Antonio has a grocery store, post office, motel, a gas station, and a restaurant. It just doesn't have any locals. But it could have residents, should you decide to purchase this ghost town near Marfa that its owners have put up for sale. Alexander Bardorff, one of the owners of Lobo, Texas, told Texas Monthly that he is selling the land because it's become difficult to maintain.

Lobo is off Highway 90 between Valentine and Madonna and is near the booming tourist destination, Marfa, where travelers come to see lights they believe are visitors from another galaxy. Texas Monthly says the town was along the San Antonio-San Diego postal route that grew when trains would stop to fill their water tanks in 1907.
A female teen at the center of the case that resulted in the arrests of four Trinity administrators testified she came forward after the arrests of school leaders at another Midland private school.

The teen testified she had left Trinity and enrolled in Midland Christian School, and when she saw the arrests take place there in February 2022, she told Midland Rape Crisis and Childrens Advocacy Center she had come to believe that Trinity approached her situation the wrong way.

The testimony came during the afternoon session of the first day of the trial of four Trinity School administrators charged with failure to make a required child abuse report.

Morning opening arguments

Beginning with the statement that parents take a leap of faith sending their children to school, Assistant District Attorney Lacey Holloman addressed the jury, which is evenly mixed between men and women. She went on to describe nude photos being sent between two middle school students and when it was reported by another student just before Christmas 2019.

Holleman said the female students parents were concerned, but no discussions occurred until after the holidays. Several students were subsequently interviewed along with both teens involved and their parents. Chrystal Myers, head of Middle School, filed an online report to CPS in January 2020, and COVID-19 caused the school to go to virtual instruction. The females parents ultimately removed her from Trinity, believing the school was focused on protecting the male student and its reputation.

In their opening remarks, the four defense attorneys laid into the character of the female teen, her family members, and the police detective. Frank Sellers stated that none of the seven students interviewed corroborated the females story about groping and inappropriate touching incidents. Both sets of parents were in the loop from the very beginning, he stated, and e-mails praising the work of his client, Myers, and the staff were sent by the females parents after the male student was suspended for three days.

Sellers then turned his spotlight on MPD Detective J. Alonzo who, he said, has started prosecuting administrators at private schools. Based upon information supplied by the female students mother, the detective called in Child Advocacy Center in February 2022 to do a forensic interview with the child, over two years after the initial complaint of abuse.

Attorney Daniel Hurley described this trial as the most tragic case of the childhood telephone game which distorts information. His client, Todd Freese, was a former minor and major league umpire used to calling them like he saw it. Freese wanted to be certain there was cause to believe through investigating before reporting something that could ruin lives.

Brian Carney, representing Head of School Shelby Hammer, said he went over to the school as the officers were making the arrests. He followed them to MPD but was refused initial access to them. He also derided Alonzo for listening to the blamethrower drama mama and getting arrest warrants before search warrants had been executed.

Allison Clayton ended defense opening arguments simply by saying her client, Adrianne Clifton, was only involved in the two meetings with the male and female students parents and just has an administrative role at the school.

Witness calling begins

The state began calling witnesses just before the lunch break, one a former CPS records analyst from Austin and the other the custodian of records at the Childrens Advocacy Center. At issue was how long the report sent online by Myers to CPS was retained when no action was deemed necessary by that agency.

Then, the state called the teenage girl who claimed she was groped and fondled by another student to the stand for the rest of the afternoon.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Lively took the teen through her childhood of dance, twirling, cheerleading and pageants. She explained her relationship with the four defendants: Myers was her mothers friend, her fifth-grade science teacher and later her principal; Freese was her brothers history teacher and later dean of students; Clifton worked in the office and was the mother of an older cheerleader she admired; and Hammer was head of school and a neighbor.

Lively explored the young womans understanding of the birds and the bees, and she testified that, at age 12, she had never had the talk with her mother. She further indicated she was naive about dealing with a young man who was two years older. She explained that his touching of various body parts occurred for four months during the fall semester of 2019 and left her feeling gross and very confused. However, she conversed with him via texts and Instagram outside of the three classes they shared.

The first person she told about the incidents was a fellow male student, and he told someone who reported it to the dean of students (Freese). She didnt tell her parents until it was brought to light, she said.

She returned to Trinity in the fall of 2020, because the young man had moved on to high school. However, she said she suffered panic attacks and asked her parents if she could change schools. She enrolled at Midland Christian School, and when she saw the arrests that occurred there, she told the Childrens Advocacy Center of her situation.

Sellers began grilling the teen about the attention shes garnered from these criminal cases and about a Tik Tok post. Judge David Rogers recessed court for the day in the midst of defense attorneys cross examination.
The trial of four Trinity School administrators who have been charged with professional failure to make required child abuse report intentional conceal continued Thursday morning.

Defense attorney Frank Sellers picked up where he left off Wednesday, cross-examining the young female who came forward, saying she was sexually assaulted by the same male student while she attended Trinity.

The defense played a recording of the female students interview with the Child Advocacy Center from Feb. 22 of last year. The female student described the male student touching her inappropriately during a Spanish and gym class.

The female student said she went to a different male student and described the situation. This male student went to Trinitys Dean of Students Todd Freese and recounted what hed been told. Freese called in the young female the day after hed been told, according to testimony.

After speaking with Freese, the female student said she spoke with Trinitys Head of Middle School Chrystal Myers. The female student said that she never spoke to Head of School Shelby Hammer.

The female student said she did not tell those close to her or go into detail with her family and friends because, as a 12-year-old at the time, she was confused and scared by the situation. She said the male student who was touching her inappropriately was well-liked and she thought she would be viewed as a little cheerleader who lies a lot, the female student said in her interview with the Child Advocacy Center.

The defense wondered why the male and female student continued to be paired together for projects in Spanish class, because the inappropriate touching happened at their desk, in which they sat directly next to each other. The female student said she had told her Spanish teacher that she didnt want to work the male student anymore, but she never described why, and the Spanish teacher did not know what was happening.

The court went into recess and planned to resume after lunch.
BANGKOK (AP)  A giant panda on long-term loan from China died in a zoo in northern Thailand on Wednesday, six months before she was due to return home, officials from the Chiang Mai Zoo said.

The cause of Lin Huis death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday morning, and her nose was seen bleeding when she laid down after a meal, said Wutthichai Muangmun, the zoo director.

She was rushed into the care of a joint Thai-Chinese veterinarian team but her condition deteriorated and she died early Wednesday morning, he said.

Tewarat Vejmanat, a veterinarian who spoke at a news conference broadcast live on the zoos Facebook page, said the panda, who had a health check every day, was already at an advanced age at 21, and there had been no sign of illness or any difference in her behavior before she became sick.

China is saddened by the death of the giant panda Lin Hui, Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in Beijing.

Wang said that after China learned about the panda's illness it immediately organized experts to guide the Thai side to carry out rescue work through video link, but unfortunately did not save her life." He added that the Chinese authorities would soon set up a team of experts to carry out a joint investigation into the cause of death.

Lin Huis male mate, Chuang Chuang, who was kept with her at the Chiang Mai Zoo, died there in 2019 at the age of 19. The couple arrived in Chiang Mai in 2003 on a 10-year loan that was later extended for another 10 years.

While the loan was ostensibly for research and conservation purposes, it was generally regarded as an act of friendship by China, which has sent pandas to many countries in what is regarded as a striking example of soft power diplomacy.

When Chuang Chuang died in 2019, Thailand's then-Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said the country had to pay $500,000 to the Chinese government in compensation. It was later reported that heart failure was the cause of his death.

Zoo director Wutthichai said the zoo has a 15-million-baht ($435,000) insurance policy on Lin Hui, who was due to be returned to China this October.

Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang had a daughter, Lin Ping, in 2009 through artificial insemination. A scheme to encourage them to mate naturally by showing them videos of pandas having sex made headlines in 2007. Lin Ping was sent to China in 2013 in what was initially said to be a one-year visit for her to find a mate, but has remained there.

The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38. Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.

A Chinese influencer living in Thailand who identified herself as Shanshan visited the zoo Tuesday morning and posted several videos of Lin Hui on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. One of them showed her nose, which appeared bloody, and a red spot could be seen on her neck. In another clip, she was lying down while licking her nose, and there were red stain trails on a concrete slab beneath her head. Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

This is when we just got here, she was lying on her side. Then I saw her nose was bleeding, she commented in one of the clips. She looked like she had nausea. We were not sure.

Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

The cause of Lin Huis death will take time before it can be determined, Wutthichai said, and how and when that would be revealed will be entirely up to China. Under an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese governments panda conservation project, an autopsy cannot be performed until a Chinese expert is present.

Some Thai internet users speculated that air pollution in northern Thailand, which in recent weeks has spiked to levels considered dangerous to human health, contributed to Lin Huis death. The zoo staff, however, said that was unlikely, as Lin Hui lived in a closed space in an area of the zoo considered to have the cleanest air.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)  A Singaporean man is scheduled to be hanged next week for abetting an attempt to smuggle cannabis into the island-state, in a resumption of executions after a half-year pause, activists said Thursday.

The family of Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was notified in a letter that he would be executed next Wednesday, anti-death penalty activist Kokila Annamalai said.

Tangaraju was detained in 2014 for drug consumption and failure to report for a drug test, according to another activist, Kirsten Han. He was later linked to two drug traffickers through a phone number used to coordinate the delivery of cannabis. The High Court found Tangaraju guilty of conspiring to traffic 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis and sentenced him to mandatory death in 2018, Han said.

The last execution carried out in Singapore was in October 2022. Death row prisoners, their family members and abolitionists have been holding our breath for the past six months, terrified of when the killing spree will begin again. We will fight for Tangaraju till the end, Annamalai said.

Singapore, which has harsh drug laws, executed 11 people last year for drug offenses. The hanging of one particular Malaysian sparked an international outcry because he was believed to be mentally disabled. It brought the country's capital punishment under deeper scrutiny, with rights groups slamming it as a blatant flouting of international human rights norms.

Both the activists said access to justice for Tangaraju was denied because he was questioned without a lawyer. Tangaraju also never handled the drugs he was accused of conspiring to traffic, they said. He had to represent himself in his appeal, which was rejected by the top court on Feb. 26 on the grounds that Tangaraju failed to show a miscarriage of justice, they said.

Annamalai said Tangarajus family is appealing to the public to protest his execution.

"The idea that a man might soon be hanged for abetting an attempt to traffic 1 kilo of cannabis  a plant-based substance thats being decriminalized or legalized in a growing number of jurisdictions  is, in and of itself, outrageous in the most horrifying way, Han said.

Critics say that Singapores death penalty has mostly snared low-level mules and done little to stop drug traffickers and organized syndicates. But Singapores government defends it as necessary to protect its citizens and says all those executed have been accorded full due process under the law.

Han said Singapore's harsh criminalization would only drive the drug trade underground and block people from accessing health care or harm reduction services that could help address the root causes of their use.

Harsh, uncompromising measures like the death penalty are not proven to have a deterrent effect. Not a single person who uses drugs is helped or supported by a hanging of another, likely from a minoritized or marginalized community. It is especially useless, pointless and heartless when it comes to a case as problematic as Tangarajus. she added.
Opinion / Columnist

- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate, writer, researcher, and social commentator. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com

I recall a story I was told by my parents when I was still a little child.There was a ruling ZANU PF meeting at our local sporting facility, named 'Zisco Club', in the early 1980s  which at the time, was a plush place, offering every sports activity one could imagine.Of course, before independence in 1980, the place  located in the low density suburb of Redcliff  was exclusively for white folk.Nonetheless, this ruling party meeting was to be held at this venue  which had recently been desegregated in the new Zimbabwe.There happened to be a delegate who, upon entering the Zisco Club theatre, began wiping her dirty muddy shoes on the immaculately clean carpet.When my mother rebuked her for soiling and damaging the carpet, her rude response was an obstinate, "We're now free, so we can do whatever we want!"To be expected, my mother was horrified as to why anyone would assume that independence meant being free to damage and destroy our own properties and infrastructure.Should the logical thing not have been to take diligent and exceptional care of whatever we owned  whether inherited from the colonial era, or had always been in our possession?In fact, did independence not mean we were now free to develop our Motherland  so that every citizen of Zimbabwe could enjoy the standard of life that had previously been the preserve of only one race?However, for some strange reason, there were those of us who believed 'independence' was a license to destroy everything  just because it was now all ours.Unfortunately, this is precisely what we have been witnessing in the country for the past 43 years.Nothing has changed at all!We have a ruling elite that is actually convinced that they have the right to plunder every resource that Zimbabwe is blessed with  regardless of the subsequent ruination of the economy and the lives of ordinary citizens.Indeed, we are now masters of our country and all that it contains.At least on paper!Nevertheless, this can never translate into 'exploiting' these riches for the sole benefit of those in power  whilst, everyone else languishes in poverty.At the same time, what good is this 'independence' when lives of school children are placed in grave danger  simply because there are those who feel entitled to the gold underneath their classrooms  which is not only mined illegally, but recklessly, with the blessings of those in power.Is this not what happened at Globe and Phoenix Primary School, in the city of Kwekwe, a few months ago, when several pupils were injured when their classroom block caved in?Are those the 'fruits of independence' when thousands of employees and their families are abandoned to suffer  just because the ruling elite felt that this uhuru now gave them the right to loot from state-owned enterprises  whilst, appointing their underqualified or even unqualified relatives and comrades to run these companies?Did we not witness this with the inevitable demise of the former iron and steel making giant ZISCOSTEEL  whose closure in 2008 left thousands and thousands of people without a source of income and a means of earning a living, mostly in the small town of Redcliff?Furthermore, former workers have not received their terminal benefits, with some still owed outstanding salaries from more than a decade ago.This has been a common trend across Zimbabwe  as countless companies, predominantly owned by the government, have been reduced to ashes  at the thieving hands of those holding high office.As a result the country has lost billions of dollars  largely from exports of goods produced by those companies, as well as revenue through taxes.Let us remember that, at its peak, ZISCOSTEEL produced an impressive 1 million tones of steel a year  not to mention downstream industries that profoundly benefited, through the production of machinery, tools, and equipment of various types.We can move on to the US$3 billion a year that the country is being prejudiced via illicit cross-border financial transactions, with more billions lost through gold and diamond smuggling, and half the value of our annual GDP (currently standing at US$21.4 billion) to corrupt economic activities.Is that what we call being 'independent'?Is this the freedom we won, after a harrowing protracted liberation struggle  so that politically-connected cartel and Mafia bosses freely pillage our national resources (which should be equitably shared amongst the population)  yet, end up in the hands of a few?When these well-connected criminals are busy smuggling our gold and diamonds  would this be viewed in terms of 'independence and freedom'  despite, millions of ordinary citizens not seeing even a single cent of that money?When we talk of over US$100 million of our gold disappearing from our country every month, as well as an estimated US$25 billion in diamond revenue said to have never reached state coffers in the past 18 years  who is benefiting?In fact, in 2022, our mining sector officially earned Zimbabwe about US$$8 billion.Who is benefiting  when half the population is living in extreme poverty, with two thirds of the workforce earning below the poverty datum line, and 60 per cent of our people reportedly failing to access nutritional food?What is happening to this money when rural areas still appear as if were in stunted growth since the 1960s and 1970s  without any meaningful development having taken place, even with the coming in of independence in 1980?The majority of rural folk have no electricity and potable water reaching their homes, are still packed on infertile dry land, with their children without any decent schools.The 'lucky ones' are restricted to subsistence farming, through such programs as 'Pfumvudza'  never being provided sufficient land for real commercial agriculture  in spite of those in power owning gigantic tracts of farms they took from white farmers.Yet, some of these rural areas are located atop vast deposits of precious minerals  which are mortgaged to foreign entities, as the Chinese, for no apparent benefit to local communities  save for token 'development', such as menial jobs and mediocre trinkets, in the form of one or two classroom blocks.In fact, these villagers are being forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands by these mining companies, and moved to undeveloped areas that are not fit for human habitation.Furthermore, irrigation projects established during the colonial era  to, at least, give these rural folk a semblance of decency  have been lying idle, having never been repaired since breaking down eons ago.There are not even the only things inherited from Rhodesia that now either lie ruins, or in a near state of dilapidation  such as schools, hospitals, highways and urban roads, bridges, and functional water and sewer systems.With a GDP of US$21.4 billion, why are our health care institutions lacking the bare basics as antibiotics, paracetamol, antiseptic, anesthetic, and much-needed radiotherapy machines for cancer patients?Why are our elderly earning paltry pensions, especially NSSA beneficiaries, that are not even enough for a loaf of bread a day  let alone, covering their medical and household expenses?Be that as it may, the country is flooded with endless reports of those given charge over this social security authority plundering millions of dollars through devious schemes  with hardly anyone being thrown in prison.Is this the freedom we won via the country attaining independence?Does our independence mean the freedom to loot our national resources  whilst, destroying the country and lives of ordinary citizens?Is that what thousands died for during the liberation struggle?
Staff Reporter

Richelle obtained a bachelor of arts degree in mass communications from the Far Eastern University in Manila, the Philippines. She was a junior reporter for Marianas Variety from 2009 to 2010, and from 2014 to 2015. In the Maldives, she worked as a news reporter and marketing executive. In her free time, shes a painter, pianist, and mom baker.
A person holding a sign walks along a Marine Corps Drive median near the Micronesia Mall in Dededo on March 1, 2023.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai attends a news conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) trade negotiations are progressing "at a very quick pace" and she expects results from the talks as early as by the end of the year.

The United States and 13 Indo-Pacific countries last year launched negotiations on IPEF, Washington's first major pan-Asian trade engagement effort in nearly a decade.

"I don't have a crystal ball ... but it is absolutely in the spirit of the IPEF to be able to demonstrate that we can deliver real outcomes as we go, and not have to wait several years to realize an outcome," Tai told a Tokyo news conference.

"I'm very optimistic that you will see results soon and maybe even over the course of this year."

Washington has lacked an economic pillar to its Indo-Pacific engagement since former President Donald Trump quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) in 2017, leaving the field open to China to expand its regional influence.

Countries in the IPEF talks include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Together with the United States, the participants represent some 40% of global GDP.

The third round of IPEF negotiations is scheduled to take place in Singapore next month.

The China-backed free-trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), took effect last year, grouping 15 Asia-Pacific economies including Australia and Japan as well as all 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Zaldy Dandan is a recipient of the Best Editorial Writer Award of the Society of Professional Journalists, and the CNMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. His four books are available on amazon.com/.

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AV Gear

Mesa Community College Revamps Classroom Audio for Remote Learning

Arizona's Mesa Community College is renovating its classroom audio systems with a variety of solutions from conferencing, collaboration, and streaming technology provider ClearOne. The goal: to "enhance the flexibility and quality of remote learning experiences" for the institution's 20,000 students, according to a news announcement.

COVID-era shutdowns and funding provided both inspiration and opportunity for MCC to evaluate its existing classroom technologies and invest in a revamp, according to David Kollar, tech support specialist for Tech Services Media at the college. "As schools across the country searched for ways to deliver educational instruction to remote students, we had a strong sense that classroom technology had shifted from being a special feature to a basic requirement. Our team in the Media Department recognized that temporary school closures presented an opportunity to transform classrooms with new systems that deliver superior quality audio and video for remote learning," he recalled. "Based on colleagues' prior positive experiences with ClearOne audio and video products, we tested and eventually selected multiple ClearOne audio solutions to provide reliable, cost-effective audio capture and guarantee every remote learner can hear each word spoken in the classroom with outstanding clarity."

The project began in the spring of 2020 with a test of ClearOne's Collaborate Vera Pro CT beamforming in-ceiling microphone and Converge Huddle DSP mixer. After a positive response from college staff, MCC purchased 28 Huddle mixers to upgrade some of its existing room systems. By May 2023, the college plans to roll out ClearOne's Versa Pro CT solution in 200 rooms and the company's enterprise-grade Converge Pro 2 DSP solution in eight larger lecture halls. All told, about two-thirds of existing classrooms will benefit from the rollout.

ClearOne provided training for both technical and teaching staff to help optimize use of the new audio gear.

"With these investments in classroom technologies and the ability to support remote learners, Mesa Community College has positioned itself to be a leader in higher ed for years to come," commented ClearOne representative Jason Wiley. "Students of all disciplines can now enjoy crystal clear lectures and lessons wherever they choose, eliminating barriers for non-traditional students and enabling greater access to life-changing education."
Jacksonville Police

ACCIDENTS

 Romerakis J. Jackson, 19, of Jacksonville was cited on a charge of failing to yield after his vehicle and one being driven by Amber R. Henson, 44, of Virginia collided at 2:07 p.m. Tuesday at Mound Road and South Westgate Avenue. Jackson was treated at the scene; Henson was taken to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital for treatment.

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 Someone tried to steal an ATM from a business in the 1600 block of West Morton Avenue about 1:25 a.m. Wednesday.

 A truck was stolen from Dunlap Court and Morgan Street between 7 p.m. Tuesday and 1:29 a.m. Wednesday. It was later recovered.

VANDALISM

 The windshield of a vehicle was shattered about 5:10 p.m. Tuesday while it was parked on Central Park Plaza.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Two Indianapolis police officers wounded in a Thursday gun battle that left the suspect dead are expected to survive, a deputy chief said.

The shooting involved officers who were members of the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force, a joint effort among central Indiana police agencies charged with identifying and removing illegal weapons from the community, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief Christopher Bailey said during a news briefing.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  Denmark and the Netherlands announced Thursday that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least 14 refurbished German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks, to be supplied from early 2024.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen called it a significant donation which came on top of a contribution by Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, announced in February, to supply at least 100 older Leopard 1 A5 tanks.

In a joint statement, the Danish and Dutch defense ministers said the estimated cost of 165 million euros "to jointly acquire, refurbish and donate" will be equally divided between the two NATO members.

In this way, we will jointly take part in the Leopard 2 coalition, supported by many partners and allies," they said.

In January, Germany agreed to send 14 newer Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its militarys current stocks, and raised the number to 18 in February.

Acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stressed that the tanks were not Danish but are bought in collaboration with the Netherlands.

Denmark currently has Leopard 2 A7 tanks which are a different and newer model than the one we are donating now, Lund Poulsen added.

In a separate statement, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that having the Leopard 2 A4 main battle tank at its disposal will give Ukraine superiority on the battlefield, due to the tanks major fire power, high level of protection and speed.

Over the last few weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have already demonstrated that they are able to master the skills needed to operate the tank in a short amount of time, she added.

On Twitter, Ukraines Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba wrote that We are deeply grateful for this contribution.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Germany sent a total of 18 Leopard tanks, not 14.
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India should surpass Chinas population midway through this year, according to the latest projection from the United Nations.

Thats of course unless its happened already  or happens later in the year.

Demographers are unsure exactly when India will take the title as the most populous nation in the world because they're relying on estimates to make their best guess. The latest projection from the United Nations this week put it at midyear, though that remains an estimate.

China has had the most people in the world since at least 1950, the year United Nations population data began. Both China and India have more than 1.4 billion people, and combined they make up more than a third of the world's 8 billion people.

Actually, there is no way we can know exactly when India will surpass China," said Bruno Schoumaker, a demographer at Universite catholique de Louvain in Belgium. There is some uncertainty, not only about Indias population, but also Chinas population."

STILL, WHEN IS IT HAPPENING?

The U.N. said in a report Wednesday that India will have about 2.9 million people more than China sometime in the middle of this year  an estimated 1.4286 billion for India, 1.4257 billion for mainland China. But demographers have said the limits of population data make it impossible to calculate an exact date.

Mathematical calculations are made from data including a range of surveys, as well as birth and death records.

It's a crude approximation, a best guess, said Patrick Gerland, chief of the population estimates and projections section at the U.N. in New York.

Not long ago, India wasn't expected to become most populous until later this decade. But the timing has been sped up by a drop in China's fertility rate, with families having fewer children.

HOW IS IT CALCULATED?

Demographers at the U.N. Population Division make estimates based on projections from a wide variety of data sources to get what they believe are the most up-to-date demographic numbers. The last update to the data used for these calculations for both India and China was July 2022, said Sara Hertog, a U.N. population affairs officer in New York.

The demographers then use a statistical technique to infer when India's population has surpassed that of China, according to Stuart Gietel-Basten, a professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi.

The reality, of course, is that these estimates are just that, Gietel-Basten said. But at least they are based on a relatively solid and consistent methodology.

WHERE DO THE NUMBERS COME FROM?

The foundations of both nations' numbers are censuses, or head counts, conducted every decade.

China's last census was in 2020. Demographers used birth and death records, along with other administrative data, to calculate how the population has grown since then.

India's last census was in 2011. Its scheduled 2021 census was postponed by COVID-19. Without an actual door-to-door count for more than a decade, sample surveys have filled in the gaps to help demographers and India itself understand its population, said Alok Vajpeyi of the New Delhi-based non-government organization, Population Foundation of India.

Among the most important is the Sample Registration System, India's large-scale demographic survey that gathers data on such things as births, deaths, fertility and more.

Andrea Wojnar, the United Nations Population Fund's representative for India, said the agency is confident in the survey's numbers because it uses a very robust methodology.

WHY IS INDIA MOVING AHEAD?

China has an aging population with stagnant growth even after the government seven years ago retreated from a one-child policy, and just two years ago said couples could have three children.

India has a much younger population, a higher fertility rate and a decrease in infant mortality over the last three decades.

India has more babies born each year than in any other country, while China has joined many European countries in having more deaths each year than births, said Dudley Poston, Jr., an emeritus professor of sociology at Texas A&M University.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

There's more than bragging rights at stake over which nation is the world's most populous  there are social and economic consequences. In India, that means a growing labor force and growth that sparks economic activity. In China, that means fewer working-age adults able to support an aging population.

Once a country hits a low fertility level, it's often hard to recover population growth, even with changes in government policy to encourage more births, said Toshiko Kaneda, technical director of demographic research at the Population Reference Bureau in Washington.

Psychologically, it will be tough for China, especially given the rivalry in other areas between the two countries, Gietel-Basten said. It is a big moment in human history as the baton is passed to India."

___

Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India. Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida.

____

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at @MikeSchneiderAP

Follow Sibi Arasu on Twitter at @sibi123
Suppose that over a month or two, prices doubled. Would that be a crisis?

Would it be a crisis if the number of people out of work doubled? Or the number of drug overdoses doubled, or car crashes, or burglaries?

So, how is it that a doubling  and more  of illegal immigration isnt a crisis?

Even after two years of unprecedented levels of border-jumping, the Biden administrations point man on immigration, the not-yet-impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, mulishly refuses to use the word crisis to describe the massive jump in illegal immigration that started immediately after the presidents inauguration in January 2021.

Of course theres a border crisis.

The number of Border Patrol arrests on the Mexican border ran at 70,000 monthly at the end of the Donald Trump administration. That more than doubled to 170,000 in March 2021 because the new president canceled almost all of Trumps border-control policies  and the numbers have stayed high ever since.

President Barack Obamas Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, has said that 1,000 border arrests in a single day overwhelms the system and constitutes a crisis. Thats almost quaint when you consider that this past February, agents arrested nearly 5,000 daily. And when Title 42  a COVID-related measure that allows Border Patrol to expel border-crossers without a hearing  ends in May, the numbers could double or even triple.

Of course theres a border crisis.

Its not just a crisis for the Border Patrol. For instance, the hospital in the border town of Yuma, Arizona, is on the brink of financial collapse because of the cost of uncompensated care to migrants it is required to provide.

Then theres the fentanyl crisis, an outgrowth of the border crisis. While most seizures of the poison happen at legal border-crossing points, known as ports of entry, we have no idea how much more of this filth is coming across between the ports of entry, but its a lot. Precisely because the Border Patrol is overwhelmed by migrants responding to Bidens de facto invitation to come, there are frequently whole stretches of the border where no one is watching.

Cartels, in fact, use large groups of undocumented migrants as a diversion, ensuring that they can import their venom undisturbed.

The Trump administration faced a similar, if smaller, border crisis in early 2019 but didnt lie about it. With the end of the so-called family-separation policy, smugglers learned that any border-jumper bringing a kid with him was virtually guaranteed to be let go, so the number of family units soared. The DHS responded quickly and decisively, most notably with the Remain in Mexico policy, and the crisis ended.

In contrast, the Biden administration actually caused the current crisis. And to the extent it acknowledges that theres a challenge (but not a crisis!), it identifies the problem merely as one of disorder and chaos. In other words, the number of undocumented immigrants isnt the problem, just the messy way theyre getting into the country. Thats why the administration has created various unlawful programs to admit foreigners with no right to come here through ports of entry, so they wont be counted in the arrest statistics  or to just fly them directly into the interior of the country, bypassing the border altogether.

Over two years, Biden has released 2 million migrants into the country, few of whom will ever leave, effectively creating his own lawless immigration system. That means the border crisis is creating not only a spending crisis and a fentanyl crisis but also a brewing constitutional crisis.

Of course theres a border crisis.
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Last year, in a moment that stuck with many Americans, President Biden was asked directly about skyrocketing gas prices and what he planned to do about them. The president remarked, Theyre going to go up.  Cant do much right now. Russia is responsible.

The thought that the United States cant do anything about our energy crisis isnt just wrong  its unacceptable. Americans have suffered from rising energy costs everywhere they turn for two years. Rampant government spending, liberal politics and progressive energy policies have accompanied the worst inflation reports in decades, and America remains dependent on adversaries for oil, gas and critical minerals. There can be little doubt: today, American energy is facing a crisis on all fronts.

This crisis resulted from the administrations war on American energy. The administration has discouraged energy production through permitting delays, put a stranglehold on oil and gas land lease sales, and implemented a swath of oppressive climate mandates.

On Bidens watch, America rejoined the disastrous Paris Climate Accord, domestic energy production was stunted by the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, and our strategic petroleum reserve was depleted. In less than a year, Biden turned a surplus of American oil and gas into a deficit while doubling the amount of crude oil imports from Russia.

We are seeing the fallout in states like New Mexico  rich in natural resources but crippled by nonsensical regulations. Over the last decade, New Mexicos energy production has skyrocketed. Oil production alone has more than quintupled since 2019; the state now produces almost 60,000 barrels of oil a month, good enough for a nationwide top-three performance in crude oil production.

Despite the dramatic growth in a sector that directly correlates to state revenue, the New Mexico energy industry is under direct attack. State Democratic leadership  marching to the beat set by the Biden administration  seeks to reverse the record-setting gains, creating the paradox of an industry that is simultaneously booming and endangered. Sadly, this phenomenon is a symptom of the root problem: a failure in national leadership that actively disincentivizes energy production and punishes energy producers.

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives recently voted to reverse the damage done and restore American energy leadership when they passed the Lower Energy Costs Act. This critical legislation would put our country back on a path to energy dominance while lowering costs for families nationwide.

The act directly embraces two fundamental goals vital to unleashing American energy while growing the economy: energy security and comprehensive permitting reform. Perhaps most important, this legislation would  for the first time in two years  offer genuine support on the national level for a pro-American energy future. National leadership on energy and permitting reform is as long overdue as it is necessary, and the Lower Energy Costs Act is a bold step in the right direction.

For the last two years, the Biden administration has been presented with opportunity after opportunity to unlock our domestic energy potential and restore America as an energy leader. Instead, Democrats in Congress and the White House have actively disincentivized American energy production at every turn.

Thanks to House Republicans, another opportunity has been presented to the Senate and the White House to right this wrong and again put the American people first.

The Lower Energy Costs Act delivers the roadmap to prosperity, and House Republicans promised to put us on that path. Now, it is time for the Senate and the White House to do the same.

The energy crisis we face today didnt develop overnight, nor can it be fixed overnight. Reinvesting in American energy may take time and effort, but the alternative is far more costly.
Let's say you want to use the incognito feature in the Chrome browser or Chrome app (The name of this feature varies depending whether you're using Chrome, Firefox, Safari or something else.) Here's what to do:

To the right of the Chrome address bar, tap the three buttons in a vertical row (which brings up more features). Look for the New Incognito tab. Tap on that and a new window opens up. Alternately, pressing Control+Shift+N will send you to Incognito mode in just one step. You can tell you're in Incognito mode by the Incognito icon in the middle of the screen and at the top right.

" " An example of the Chrome incognito page. HowStuffWorks

In addition to the Incognito icon, you'll also see these warnings regarding private browsing on the home screen:

Advertisement

"You've gone incognito. Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity. However, downloads and bookmarks will be saved. Chrome won't save the following:

Your browsing history

Cookies and site data

Information entered in forms

Your activity might still be visible to:

Websites you visit

Your employer or school

Your internet service provider"

Here's what this means: Browsers typically store the web addresses (called URLs) of the sites you visit. That makes it easier for you to find them again later.

In private (incognito) mode, your browser works a bit differently. Your search history won't be stored locally. This is great for concealing your browsing history from anyone else who's using the same device, such as when you're shopping for a surprise gift or if you're on adult-oriented websites. But that doesn't mean your activities are entirely private.

Your browser also stores cookies, which are little data files that have a plethora of uses. Cookies can automatically enter passwords, for instance, so you don't have to type them each time you visit a site. Or, they can provide tracking information for advertising companies that really want to understand how you browse from site to site, all the better to help someone, somewhere sell products to you.

"The original design of web tracking features like cookies was based around the expectation that tracking would be within individual sites only, and would not connect separate browsing sessions unless the user wanted it to," says Schoen. "Both of these norms have been violated massively by the internet advertising industry, which often creates detailed, comprehensive profiles of what people do online over time."

Schoen adds that in some cases, private browsing mode can temporarily disconnect someone's browsing from the technical means used to maintain most of those profiles. In other words, in private mode cookies won't provide advertisers with the detailed information they'd otherwise mine from your activities.
Indonesia recovers bodies of 4 troops killed in Papua clash View Photo

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesian security forces recovered the bodies of four government soldiers who were killed in a separatist attack while searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in Indonesias restive Papua region, officials said Thursday.

The four elite army troops were killed on Saturday after attackers from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, ambushed 36 government soldiers in Nduga district in the mountainous Papua Highlands province.

Security forces found the bodies on Wednesday, including that of a soldier who fell into a 15-meter-deep (49-foot) ravine, and evacuated them to a hospital in Timika, a mining city in neighboring Central Papua province, said Papua military spokesperson Col. Herman Taryaman.

The troops were ambushed by the rebels while searching for Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot who was abducted by the rebels in February, Taryaman said. The rebels shot a soldier who fell into the ravine, and launched a second attack while troops were trying to get the body out, he added.

Taryaman said security forces are searching for a fifth soldier who is still missing, but bad weather conditions and steep forested terrain have impeded their search and evacuation operation.

Security forces retrieved the bodies of the four soldiers a day after Indonesias military chief on Tuesday dismissed the separatist groups claim that it had killed more than a dozen government soldiers in the attack.

Adm. Yudo Margono confirmed only one fatality and said four other soldiers were missing. The rest returned to their post, he said. Five soldiers were wounded and in stable condition and evacuated to a hospital in Timika.

Rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom said in a statement on Monday that his groups fighters were holding the remains of 12 soldiers, including nine who he said were arrested and executed. The rebels offered no proof to back up their statement.

Sambom said earlier the rebels carried out the attack in retaliation for Indonesias massive military operation in Papua and the killings of two rebels in a shootout with security forces last month.

Margono rejected the rebel claims as fake news and said the military operations in Papua were launched with a view to keep casualties at a minimum. However, he said that authorities will increase pressure on the rebels around several separatist strongholds, including in Nduga.

The rebels in February stormed a single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro and abducted its pilot. The plane initially was scheduled to pick up 15 construction workers from other Indonesian islands after the rebels threatened to kill them.

Authorities will continue to prioritize a peaceful approach for the release of Mehrtens, Margono said.

The kidnapping of the pilot was the second that independence fighters have committed since 1996, when the rebels abducted 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission in Mapenduma. Two Indonesians in that group were killed by their abductors, but the remaining hostages were eventually freed within five months.

The pilot kidnapping reflects the deteriorating security situation in Indonesias easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the region, which was divided into five provinces last year to boost development in Indonesias poorest region.

Saturdays fighting is the latest in a series of violent incidents in recent years in Papua where conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common.

Rebels attacks have spiked considerably in recent years, as the government extended infrastructure and the controversial Trans-Papua Highway, a road being built into the heart of highland Papua that has inflamed resistance. Many indigenous Papuans believe the moves are a threat to their identity and traditional way of life, prompting attacks by separatist groups that have been followed by further Indonesian military deployments.

The military activities in Papua have raised concern among rights groups who say the security approach that had been implemented by Jakarta for decades has proven unable to resolve violence in the region.

Amnesty International Indonesia called for prioritizing dialogue with the separatists to prevent potential human rights violations and a larger humanitarian crisis. Data collected by the rights group showed at least 179 civilians, 35 Indonesian troops and nine police along with 23 independence fighters were killed in clashes between rebels and security forces between 2018 and 2022.

____

Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.

By ALFIAN KARTONO and NINIEK KARMINI

Associated Press
Trade envoy Tai says US not seeking to decouple from China

Trade envoy Tai says US not seeking to decouple from China View Photo

TOKYO (AP)  Washington is not seeking to decouple the American economy from Chinas, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Thursday while on a visit to Tokyo.

Tai, who is on her fourth visit to Japan after being appointed the top U.S. trade envoy, said all members of President Joe Bidens administration have been very clear that it is not the intention to decouple Chinas economy.

U.S. trade sanctions against China are narrowly targeted, she said.

Given its huge size and importance, unraveling the ties with China that keep the world economy running is not a goal or achievable, Tai said in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

Chinese officials have often lashed out at the U.S. over trade sanctions and other restrictions on sharing of advanced technology with China, accusing Washington of trying to contain China and hinder its path toward greater affluence.

Tai said that regular trade work between the U.S. and China was continuing and she was completely open to engaging with my counterparts in Beijing, though she has no immediate plans to visit China.

At the same time, the United States is seeking to strengthen and expand economic security cooperation with its Asian allies and partners in response to Chinas growing assertiveness and its dominance in many manufacturing industries.

Security and stability of supply chains is an issue that has gained urgency after disruptions caused by the pandemic and controls imposed to try to fight outbreaks of COVID-1 resulted in shortages of computer chips and other goods.

A recent agreement on trade in critical minerals will allow electric vehicles using metals sourced or processed in Japan to qualify for tax breaks under the Inflation Reduction Act. That deal is one evidence of the U.S. commitment to building collective resilience and security, Tai said.

We have all experienced the fragility of our dispersed supply chains in recent years, especially through the pandemic and Russias brutal, unjustified attack on Ukraine. And weve become too reliant, we have discovered, on certain countries for the supply of critical minerals needed to fuel our clean energy future, Tai said.

The Biden administration has been adopting a new approach to global trade, arguing that Americas traditional reliance on promoting free trade pacts failed to anticipate Chinas brand of capitalism and the possibility that a major power like Russia would go to war against one of its trading partners.

Tai recently gave a speech at American University, where she spoke of friend-shoring  building up supply chains among allied countries and reducing dependence on geopolitical rivals such as China.

Tai pointed to a new trade partnership with Japan that she said has brought tangible results for our workers, small businesses, and producers on both sides of the Pacific. That includes an agreement to lift limits on U.S. exports of beef to Japan and a new biofuels policy to facilitate exports of more ethanol to Japan, she said.

Tai also reviewed the status of negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, a new trade pact proposed by Washington.

She said a third round of negotiations on the accord was planned in two weeks time in Singapore.

The framework has 13 members, including the U.S., that account for 40% of global gross domestic product: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The U.S. has stepped up diplomacy across the region, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopping over the weekend in Vietnam, which Washington sees as a key component of its strategy for the region given the countrys traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China.

Tais Tokyo visit follows a trip to the Philippine capital, Manila, to help fortify trade relations among the three countries as they build both economic and defense ties.

During her stay in Japan Tai met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and discussed making supply chains more resilient and secure, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

She also met with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The trade ministry said the two also spoke about strengthening supply chains  an issue that gained urgency amid shortages of computer chips and other goods during the pandemic. They also discussed ways to cooperate in the protection of human rights in business, the ministry said.

Japan and the United States have set up a taskforce that aims to eliminate human rights violations in international supply chains and to ban use of materials from suppliers that subject their workers to inhumane conditions.

To highlight such efforts, Tai toured an outlet of outdoor equipment and clothing retailer Patagonia in Tokyos popular Shibuya shopping and business district.

___

Associated Press journalist Haruka Nuga and AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Associated Press
4 protesters against Chinas COVID policy released on bail View Photo

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  Officials in Beijing have released four women on bail who were arrested for joining rare nationwide protests in late November against Chinas tough anti-coronavirus policies, an activist said.

One of the women, former book editor Cao Zhixin, had recorded a video before her detention saying, If youre watching this, it means that I have been taken away by the police.

She and her friends Li Yuanjing, Zhai Dengrui and Li Siqi were detained in Beijing in December and accused of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, a vague charge often used against dissidents, according to Human Rights Watch.

All four were released Thursday on bail, according to a Chinese activist who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of government reprisals.

Cao and a group of friends had joined a protest that was part of a burst of nationwide demonstrations against Chinas tough zero COVID policy, a rare display of direct defiance against the central government, after the deaths of 10 people in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Many questioned whether the coronavirus restrictions had impeded rescue efforts.

The protests were the most direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party in decades. In Shanghai, young people shouted directly for President Xi Jinping to step down.

For the first years of the pandemic, China had largely controlled the coronavirus by ordering strict lockdowns that confined people to their homes, sometimes for months. The strategy succeeded in keeping deaths low before vaccines were widely administered. But the policies were further tightened as the virus became more contagious and harder to control.

The protest in Beijing drew people who wanted to commemorate the victims of the Urumqi fire. Some participants held up blank pieces of paper representing restrictions on free speech.

In her video, Cao said police started detaining people on Dec. 18.

Four of our friends have already been taken away at the time of this video, she said. Police had detained Li Yuanjing, Zhai Dengrui and Li Siqi. A fourth friend, Yang Liu, was also taken but was released in January, according to Human Rights Watch.

We care about this society, and when our fellow countrymen die, we want to express our legitimate feelings. We are filled with sympathy for those who lost their lives, Cao said in the video.

Across the country, the protests died down amid a major police presence. The government dropped its zero COVID policy, and police began detaining an unknown number of people who had attended protests in several cities.

By HUIZHONG WU

Associated Press
Russian foreign minister Lavrov visits Nicaraguas Ortega View Photo

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.

The United States announced new sanctions Wednesday against three Nicaraguan judges who stripped 222 exiled opponents of their nationality.

Ortega told Lavrov that his government isnt concerned.

We already have hundreds of officials under sanctions  this doesnt cause them any concern or fear anymore, Ortega said.

Lavrov responded that sanctioned people in Russia take it as a recognition of their effectiveness in defending Russian interests. Lavrovs remarks were translated from Russian to Spanish by a government-provided translator.

Russian officials and oligarchs were hit by sanctions following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov repeated Russias warnings about Western expansionism and said he expected Nicaragua to be a strong pillar in the world that is being formed, adding multipolarism is a process that cannot be stopped.

In recent years, Ortegas government has essentially arrested all domestic political opponents as well as priests and a bishop.

On Feb. 9, Ortegas government released 222 opposition figures from prison and deported them, saying their Nicaraguan citizenship would be revoked and their property confiscated. Rights groups say that is an example of banishment, a violation of international norms.

Lavrov began his tour of Latin America on Monday with a stop in Brazil, where the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking to simultaneously develop ties with China, Europe and the U.S. while keeping an open door to Russia. During a visit to Dubai, Lula said that Russia and Ukraine share responsibility for the war.

Lavrov met Tuesday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and was expected to visit Cuba on Thursday.
The Cumberland Valley School Board on Monday approved a proposed 2023-24 general fund budget that would increase the districts real estate taxes by 4.1%, raising the millage rate of 10.891 to 11.337 mills.

Under the increase, an owner of property assessed at a current district average of $270,000 would pay an additional $120 in real estate taxes next year.

The increase meets the full available Act I index set for the district for the upcoming fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2023, to June 20, 2024.

Despite the proposed tax increase, the district is projecting a tentative deficit of $6,333,592 for next year and is proposing to use budget reserves to close the gap.

The $6.3 million deficit is largely due to the proposal to add 35 new positions next year, which the district says will accommodate anticipated enrollment growth and program needs. Current district enrollment totals 10,030 students and is projected to be at 10,300 next year, 10,600 in 24-25, and over 11,000 in 25-26, Superintendent David Christopher said.

Without the new positions in the budget, the deficit would have been $1.89 million after incorporating a full Act I index increase for real estate tax.

Over the past five years, weve gotten 1,500 more students. Now were projecting 1,000 more students over the next five years. Were not getting the funding we need from other sources, board member Barbara Geistwhite said during the meeting.

The district expects to receive 72% percent of its total 2023-24 revenue from local sources, with 27% expected from state funding and 2% in federal grants. The majority of next years local revenue is projected as real estate tax at 71% and earned income tax at 23%, with the remainder from real estate transfer taxes, investments earnings, local services tax, and delinquent tax collection.

Next years federal funding is projected to decrease by $1.9 million due to the elimination of pandemic relief funds, and state transportation reimbursement is expected to drop by $325,000.

The district also expects to pay $5.8 million next year in charter school tuition costs for CV students, which school board president Heather Dunn referred to as an unfunded state mandate. The district pays $15,207 annually per student for charter school tuition for 368 students. A student attending district classes costs the district $13,480 yearly.

School directors approved the proposed budget 7-1. Michael Gossert was absent, and Jessica Silcox voted against the proposal. Silcox didnt comment on her vote.

The school board is scheduled to vote on a final 2023-24 district budget May 22. Michael Willis, CVs director of business and support services, said Monday that the district may adjust the budget for further reductions until then but may not increase costs.

Change in contract

The board also approved a request Monday by district administration to withdraw its previous contract for upgraded safety lock systems in district buildings, while it accepted another proposal for the job from a different bidder.

The board agreed to withdraw a proposal that members approved April 3 to purchase 360 new door lock devices for installation at three district buildings by the start of the 2023-23 school year from Home Depot Pro Institutional for $256,146.80, with plans to install upgraded systems in more CV schools over the following year.

Immediately following that action, directors awarded a contract to install the same number of devices in the same time frame to Wesco/Anixter, of Glenview, Illinois, for $256,600, with plans to install upgraded systems in more district buildings over the following year. The high school, Eagle View Middle School and CV-9 will be the first schools to get the upgraded systems.

Willis, CVs director of business and support services, said the school board inadvertently awarded the door lock proposal to the wrong firm April 3 because he was not present to correct the action. Willis apologized Monday for the error.

Assessment policy

Also Monday, school directors approved a new policy that authorizes the district to initiate property assessment appeals through a third-party for certain properties believed to be assessed below their fair market value.

The policy permits the district to initiate an appeal process only where there is a reasonable expectation of generating at least $10,000 in new real estate tax revenue to the district.

Christopher previously said the policy requires that a property assumed to be under-assessed by the Cumberland County Assessment Office by more than $918,000 to be considered for an appeal under the districts current millage rate.

Even if a property is identified by the district or contractors supporting the district in this process, the district would need to go through an appeal process with Cumberland County prior to having any change in appraised value of a property occur, he said.

A full text of the policy draft is attached to Mondays meeting agenda posted on the districts website, www.cvschools.org.

Homeschool policies

The board also approved district policies and policy revisions for homeschooled students who take part in district activities and programs.

The board voted to update two policies and initiate two new policies, related to the districts mandated compliance with state Act 55 of 2022 concerning homeschool students access to district/career technical education programs.

Act 55 requires state school districts and area career and technical centers to permit homeschooled students to participate in a technical education program.

Homeschooled students participating in career and technical programs are also permitted to use district transportation to or from the program during times when district transportation is operating and space is available.

Currently, CV has 235 students whose families are homeschooling them, Christopher said previously. So, there is a potential that the changes in the School Code and the policies we are adopting to be compliant with them related to homeschool access to classes, CTC programs, extra-curricular and co-curricular activities could have some impact at CV.

Changes to the districts Home Education Programs policy require that a parent, guardian or other person with legal custody of a homeschooled child present a notarized affidavit stating that the childs home education supervisors and all adults living in the home or with legal custody of the child have no state School Code criminal offenses.

Complete texts of approved revisions to the existing policies and new policies are attached to Mondays online meeting agenda posted on the districts website.
Russian foreign minister visits Cuba, condemns US sanctions View Photo

HAVANA (AP)  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned U.S. sanctions on Cuba on Thursday as he visited the island and met with top leaders, including newly re-elected President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Lavrov was on the last leg of a Latin American tour that has taken him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The Russian foreign minister met with Diaz-Canel and semi-retired but still influential leader Raul Castro, according to photographs published by the Communist Party newspaper Granma, although no further details were offered on the content of the meetings.

During his visit to the island nation, which for decades was a staunch Moscow ally, Lavrov condemned the American economic sanctions on Cuba, and blasted the U.S. for seeking to impose its will on the world, according to a dispatch on the state media outlet Cubadebate.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov met with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez and took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial in Havana for Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

Rodriguez, for his part, rejected what he called the expansionist aspirations of NATO and the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Cuba has had an extensive relationship with Moscow since the 1960s, when it joined the bloc of socialist countries led by the then Soviet Union, receiving many vital imports  fertilizers, industrial equipment, spare parts and, above all, oil  in exchange for sugar.

Russia, along with Venezuela, is one of Cubas few suppliers of oil, sending an undetermined amount to the island, which is undergoing a severe energy crisis.

Also, two weeks ago, Cuban banks started to accept payments with MIR cards, a payment system in Russia that allows Russian tourists to make cash withdrawals and convert rubles to Cuban pesos.

MIR cards are accepted in other partner countries of Russia, including Turkey and Vietnam, and are operated by the state-owned Russian National Card Payment System.

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

Associated Press
Netanyahu taps far-right minister for New York consul post View Photo

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a Cabinet minister known for inflammatory comments and for leading a grassroots campaign against African migrants to the post of consul general in New York, a high-profile job that deals with outreach to American Jews.

May Golan, currently a minister without portfolio in Netanyahus government, built her political career on staunch opposition to African migrants in Israel. She calls them infiltrators and has portrayed the estimated 40,000 migrants, mostly concentrated in poor neighborhoods of the southern part of the city of Tel Aviv, as threats to security.

After a failed bid to enter parliament with the ultranationalist Jewish Power party in 2013, she joined Netanyahus ruling Likud party and was first elected to parliament in 2019.

Netanyahu recently promised Golan the role of the as yet uncreated Ministry for the Status of Women. His office confirmed media reports on Wednesday that he has offered her the consul general post, citing her excellent explanatory abilities in English.

In a post on Twitter, Golan said she was honored to be considered for the post and that she is completely committed to the unity of the Jewish people.

If appointed, I will work with the leaders of all the Jewish organizations  as part of the effort to strengthen the great partnership between Israel and the American Jewish communities, she said.

Israels previous consul general, Assaf Zamir, resigned last month in protest over the Netanyahu governments controversial judicial overhaul plan.

The United States is home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, with the single largest community living in the greater New York metropolitan area.

Netanyahus government is the most ultranationalist and religious in Israels 75-year history. Golan is part of the ultranationalist wing of Netanyahu s Likud and her political positions, including comments disparaging the liberal Reform Jewish movement, are likely to cause friction with American Jews, who are overwhelmingly liberal.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish movement in the U.S., criticized the appointment, saying Golans views are antithetical to most of the community.

She will harm not help Israels cause, he wrote on Twitter.

In addition to being a proponent of the judicial overhaul plan that has divided the country, Golan has also advocated annexation of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and has long campaigned for the deportation of African migrants.

The Africans, nearly all from long-reclusive Eritrea and war-torn Sudan, say they fled for their lives and face renewed danger if they return. Israel considers the vast majority of the Africans to be job seekers.

In 2014, Golan told the Haaretz newspaper that she avoided restaurants that employed African asylum seekers out of fear of catching diseases.

If I am racist for wanting to defend my country and for wanting to protect my basic rights and security, then Im a proud racist, she said at a rally in south Tel Aviv in 2013.

By ILAN BEN ZION

Associated Press
California could protect sex assault victims facing lawsuits View Photo

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California lawmakers voted Thursday to protect sexual assault survivors from retaliatory lawsuits, years after a former state lawmaker sued a woman over her sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Supporters of the legislation hope it will counteract efforts to silence victims.

The bill, which passed overwhelmingly in the Assembly with bipartisan support, would make it clear that a victims comments about sexual assault or harassment are protected against defamation lawsuits if the allegation is not knowingly false or made recklessly. It would also help a victim who successfully defends themselves in a defamation lawsuit to recover attorneys fees and damages.

Pamela Lopez, a lobbyist who accused a lawmaker of sexual assault in 2017, said a defamation lawsuit used as a retaliation tactic goes beyond trying to disempower survivors.

It is also an attempt to take away the power of every person who wants to be part of a conversation with survivors about how we wind up in a culture that perpetuates sexual assault and sexual harassment, she said.

She alleged that then-Assemblymember Matt Dababneh of San Bernadino pushed her into a bathroom and masturbated in front of her at a Las Vegas event in 2016. Dababneh denied the allegation but resigned in 2018 from the Assembly. He later sued Lopez for defamation over the allegation even though a lawyer hired by the Legislature to investigate the claims found them to be credible.

Lawyers who represented Dababneh in his lawsuit said Thursday they no longer represent him and will not speak on his behalf. Attempts to reach him through phone numbers listed in public records were unsuccessful.

Lopez was among 150 women who signed a letter in 2017 condemning a culture of pervasive misconduct and sexism in California politics where men forcefully groped women, made inappropriate comments about their bodies and undermined their expertise. The #MeToo movement spurred a slew of resignations by state lawmakers in California and in dozens of other states.

Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who authored the bill, said its essential for lawmakers to try to protect people from sexual misconduct in the first place.

It is just as imperative that we protect them from revenge lawsuits, the Democrat representing Colusa County said.

The bill would still have to pass in the Senate before reaching Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsoms desk.

In Illinois, a state lawmaker introduced a bill this year in an attempt to keep people accused of sexual assault or harassment from retaliating against accusers through litigation, but the legislation hasnt received a hearing. New York also strengthened protections in recent years against lawsuits used to retaliate against sexual assault survivors, said Jessica Stender, policy director at the Equal Rights Advocates.

Sexual misconduct allegations are often already protected under state law, but there are gray areas in the laws that leave victims susceptible to retaliation, said Beth Mora with the California Employment Lawyers Association, at a Judiciary Committee hearing in March.

She used the lawsuit against Lopez as an example. Dababneh alleged Lopez defamed him in comments she made about the accusation to the press.

Although the court ultimately upheld Ms. Lopezs speech as privileged, she had to endure years of litigation, and many survivors are simply unable to take on that cost and emotional toll, Mora said.

___

Associated Press Writer Tran Nguyen contributed to this report.

___

Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna

By SOPHIE AUSTIN

Associated Press/Report for America
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)  Cambodian army chief Hun Manet, who is widely expected to replace his father as the countrys prime minister later this year, was promoted Thursday to his countrys highest military rank.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, 71, explicitly declared his support in December 2021 to have the United States Military Academy-trained Hun Manet succeed him through constitutional means. In mid-March, Hun Sen hinted strongly that he intends to step down when a new government is installed after Julys general election.

Now we have found the young generation that will come to replace us. We should hand over to them and just stay behind them, Hun Sen said at the time.

Hun Manet, 45, was made a four-star general  a promotion from his three-star lieutenant-generals rank  at a ceremony attended by about a thousand senior officers at the Defense Ministry in the capital Phnom Penh.

He was formally granted his promotion in March by King Norodom Sihamoni, whose position is largely symbolic.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page after the promotion ceremony, Hun Manet thanked the king, his father, Defense Minister Tea Banh and all the armys officers for their trust and support, and for providing him a chance to serve Cambodia and its people.

Hun Manet holds several key security posts, and was already elevated in 2018 from the 865-member Central Committee of his fathers ruling Cambodian Peoples Party to its 37-member Standing Committee, the countrys key decision-making body, making him a de facto member of his fathers inner political circle.

In a speech at the ceremony, Tea Banh  one of Hun Sens most important early supporters  credited Hun Manet for upgrading and reforming Cambodias military since he became army chief in 2018.

Hun Sen has led Cambodia with an iron fist for 38 years, and during the last election in 2018 had vowed to stay in office for two more terms, until 2028. At the same time, he spoke often of having Hun Manet succeed him and appointed him to several high-profile and important positions. He said the new post-election government would likely be formed in September.

Hun Sen has maintained power as an autocrat in a nominally democratic framework. His Cambodian Peoples Party, with a stranglehold on power, is certain to top the next polls. It won all the National Assembly seats in the 2018 election, after a court ruling dissolved the only credible opposition grouping, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, for allegedly plotting the illegal overthrow of the government. The courts are widely seen as political tools of Hun Sens ruling party.
WALLINGFORD  Work started recently to transform the former 3M office building at 100 Barnes Road into the towns new police station.

They have started demolition on the interior, said Town Council Chairman Vincent Cervoni, who also sits on the Police Station Steering Committee. Theyre effectively going to the studs on the inside and theyre going to take down as many walls as they can because its going to be walled out differently.

The town paid $1.8 million for the almost 10-acre property in July 2021. As an office building, it included a gym, a conference facility and a cafeteria. The total bonded for the purchase was $3.3 million, which included architectural and engineering design studies on the renovation.

When completed, the department will move into the new space, vacating its current home in the old Armory building at 135 North Main St. That building was converted into a police station in 1986. The 28,000-square-foot building is almost half of the space that will be available in the Barnes Road building.

In January, the Town Council approved $34 million in bonding, which included the initial $3.3 million for the building, for the project. Initially, before the pandemic, that cost was estimated to be about $24 million, but over the last several years prices have skyrocketed due to supply chain issues, as well as gas price increases due to domestic supply issues and the Ukraine war. That forced the committee to re-evaluate its budget and adjust it for today's costs.

The bonding does not include the cost for installation of a communications system at the new station. Initially it was believed that an antenna would be able to be installed on the buildings roof, but later it was learned that a communications tower near the building would be needed. Its still not determined what that resolution will be, Mayor William Dickinson said.

Thats still in process, he said. Were getting advice from several companies and we'll be moving forward with that. We have to identify what the costs are going to be with that.

Its been estimated that that cost will be $1.5 million, which will have to be approved by the council.

The building is expected to be completed by July 2024. There already have been suggestions as to what will next happen to the armory building after the police department moves out.

To some extent there have been some discussions about it, Cervoni said. The future options include repurposing it for town uses or selling it on the open market.

The Board of Education expressed interest in moving its Central Offices there, as well as its Adult Education program currently housed at the former train station downtown.

Right now the adult ed program is in the old train station, and this building is easily at least twice the size of that, Cervoni said. It would be nice if we could save the board some rent money because theyre paying rent for Central Office space.
Cumberland County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to approve a $2.26 million capital project request to establish a firearms testing unit for the district attorneys office.

Commissioners Vince DiFilippo and Jean Foschi approved buying specialized equipment, hiring two technicians and building an addition to accommodate the unit at the forensics lab at 1201 Ritner Highway.

Citing concerns over future costs, Commissioner Gary Eichelberger voted against the project that will use a $1.5 million Gun Violence Investigation and Prosecution Grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The grant is being paid for with federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The grant will pay the salaries and benefits of two full-time lab employees for five fiscal quarters starting in late 2023 and extending through 2024. Once that portion of the grant is spent, the county would have to pay for testing unit staff. That cost is projected at $761,910 for years three, four and five of the five-year capital project.

My position hasnt changed on this, Eichelberger said Wednesday. My concern is the timing of it.

Approval of the testing unit comes at a time when the county faces a projected $2.5 million deficit in the mental health systems budget.

Eichelberger questioned whether it would be more prudent to wait for future grant opportunities to develop a firearms testing unit.

During a meeting in late March, Eichelberger referenced a decision that was made in the lead-up to the eventual sale of the Claremont Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.

I mentioned it before, Eichelberger said. Im jaded by past experience with the county saddled with long-term grants. The previous board approved a very bad proposal to add rehab at Claremont in the hope and belief that it was going to save Claremont. There are unknown unknowns right now.

This $761,910 estimate represents the worst-case scenario in terms of expenses with absolutely no income coming into the testing unit, said Eric Radnovich, director of the DAs forensic investigation division.

During finance committee meetings in March, District Attorney Sean McCormack outlined two ways the testing unit could generate enough revenue over the next five years to offset the budget impact.

In convictions involving firearms, his office could gradually recoup the expense by including the lab testing as a prosecution cost in sentences handed down by county judges.

Within three to four years, the testing unit could be established enough to accept firearms for testing from nearby counties and then charge those counties a fee for providing the service.

Another funding source could be the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms that is trying to encourage local agencies to use NIBIN. Short for the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, NIBIN is a database where expended bullet casings can be compared with ballistic imagery from other jurisdictions to generate leads on possible matches in violent crime. A NIBIN technician is one of the two full-time positions the grant would fund through 2024.
Remnants of a former air conditioning plant on San Antonio's Eastside lie scattered on the site of what will be a new apartment project that is finally moving forward after nearly six years of planning and pushback. Crews began demolishing large portions of the old Friedrich complex last week to make way for the Friedrich Lofts redevelopment.

Friedrich Lofts is a $92 million joint project between Dallas-based Provident Realty and San Antonio Housing Trust that will create 358 apartments at 1617 E. Commerce St., San Antonio, TX 78205. The Lofts will offer studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units once complete. Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition is responsible for tearing apart most of the old facility, according to Express-News reports.

Courtesy of Provident Realty Advisors

Basil Koutsogeorgas, director of multifamily development with Provident Realty, told MySA that 50% of the units will be affordable based on residents who earn 80% and 60% of the area median income. That range for a family of four is between $49,740 and $66,300 annually, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The rest of the units will be priced at market rate. Those rents would range from $767 to $1,800 per month, according to an Express-News report.

Amenities will include a pool with a courtyard deck and some grills, typical of class A apartments.

The hold up

This project has been in the works since 2018 with plans to redevelop the Friedrich site held up by financing and layers of approval, Koutsogeorgas says. Previous reporting on the project from the Express-News reveals that an investor backed out of the project at one point, an issue that has since been resolved with a loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Koutsogeorgas says.

Demolition on the complex began last week but it was the approval of that demolition that led to contentious protests from council members in June 2021.

Then District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales  who is also a former board member of the SAHT Public Facility Corp.  criticized council members at that June meeting, saying the push for affordability in a development on the Northside over one in the Eastside was "just flat-out racism," Express-News reported. The demolition approval was delayed, but then approved days later by the SAHT board despite residents' criticism.

William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

The demolition

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave Provident Realty approval to begin tear down of the vertical structures of the Friedrich complex, but developers still need TCEQ environmental testing and review as well as removal for the slabs. This abatement process could take a year, Koutsogeorgas says, before construction could begin.

The part of the complex that has the "Friedrich" sign on the roof is not owned by Provident Realty and will remain intact. Koutsogeorgas says that revitalization of the area was always the goal with this project.

"All I can say is were just thrilled to finally get started," Koutsogeorgas says.
It's not every day Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitarist stops into San Antonio for Tex-Mex, but that's exactly what happened on Tuesday, April 18, when ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons visited one of the Alamo City's beloved institutions.

According to co-owner Louis Barrios, the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer visited Los Barrios' original location at 4223 Blanco Road, San Antonio, TX 78212, for dinner along with singer Tim Montana. But this wasn't the first time Barrios has met the rock legend.

The first time was in 2008 by happenstance at the AT&T Center; and the second time occurred during Gibbons' visit to San Antonio to promote Pura Vida Tequila.

"My friend asked if I wanted to meet him, if my daughter, who played guitar, wanted to meet him, and I said, 'of course!'" Barrios shares. That meeting ended with Barrios gifting Gibbons an order of quesatacos, Los Barrios' take on a quesadilla with beef or chicken fajita and bacon.

Barrios says Gibbons enjoyed a plate of the restaurant's signature mole, a move Barrios said will make Gibbons a likely regular.

"If they pick our mole, they're our customers for life," Barrios says.

But above all, Barrios was impressed by Gibbons' humble attitude.

"This is the same guy who opened for Jimi Hendrix, and who Hendrix called the best guitarist ever," Barrios said. "I've never met a man more humble than him."

At 73 years old, Gibbons is still hitting the road. ZZ Top will play Bell County's Expo Center on Friday, April 21, in Belton, before heading to Amarillo on Sunday, April 23, and Midland on Tuesday, April 25. The band, now made up of Gibbons on guitar and lead vocals, Frank Beard on drums, and Elwood Francis on bass, first formed in Houston in 1969. In 2021, founding member Dusty Hill died in his Houston home.

Gibbons' latest recordings are featured in Sweetwater, the story of the first Black player to sign with the NBA.
Elizabeth Robertson/AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP)  The owner of a Philadelphia building that caught fire and collapsed last summer, killing a city firefighter and injuring five other people, has been indicted along with another man on charges they set the blaze, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Al-Ashraf Khalil and Isaam Jaghama, both 29-year-old city residents, are each charged with conspiracy and malicious damage. Khalil, the building's owner, was originally charged last year, but is now also charged with wire fraud and using fire in furtherance of committing that fraud.
For more than a year, progressive organizers in Texas have been waging a concerted  and largely successful  effort to convince voters to reform policing laws in their cities, pushing the envelope of what state law could allow.

But now they are facing their biggest test yet in San Antonio, the states second-largest city and home to a May ballot proposition that could spark the biggest showdown yet with the Republican-dominated state government.

Proposition A would decriminalize abortion and low-level marijuana possession, ban no-knock warrants and chokeholds by law enforcement, create a justice director job at City Hall and require police to issue citations for certain low-level, nonviolent offenses instead of making arrests.

The citys own attorney has called almost all of it unenforceable if passed, but organizers say the so-called Justice Charter is needed to reduce unnecessary arrests, to free up city money for other, more pressing needs  and to make a bold statement.

[The] big picture is sending a message to all our elected officials  local, county and state  on how we view criminal justice reform, the type of solutions that we want, said Ananda Tomas, executive director of Act 4 SA, the group leading the charge for Proposition A. We are valuing peoples lives and their rights above all else.

The proposition has drawn fierce opposition from the local police union and the business community, which are spending big to defeat it. They are largely focusing on the provision that would expand the citys cite-and-release policy, requiring cops to issue citations for offenses like theft from business of less than $750. Police currently have the discretion to either write tickets or arrest people for such offenses.

Complete with ominous scenes of street crime, TV ads and signs across the city have adopted a common slogan against the proposition: Its not about pot.

The abortion and marijuana aspects of Prop A  that is a Trojan horse, said Adam Blanchard, a San Antonio entrepreneur and treasurer of San Antonio Safe PAC, which opposes the proposition. That is 100% a Trojan horse to divert attention from what it will really do to our communities.

The proposition is one of the more dramatic races to watch in the May 6 municipal elections across Texas. Mayors in some of the states biggest cities are also on the ballot, but none faces serious opposition  or in the case of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, any opposition at all.

Progressives are also mounting a serious effort on the May 6 ballot in El Paso, pushing a proposition that would require the city to adopt an ambitious policy to address climate change. And in Austin, voters will decide on dueling propositions related to police oversight.

The fight in San Antonio  home to 1.5 million people, second only to Houston in Texas  represents a critical moment for the long-mounting struggle between a deeply conservative state government and heavily Democratic big cities. And it comes as Texas progressives have increasingly turned to the local ballot box to not only push for policy change but to organize Democrats year-round.

That has been the modus operandi of Ground Game Texas, started in 2021 by two former congressional candidates from the Austin area, Mike Siegel and Julie Oliver. They have successfully led several ballot initiatives in smaller cities across Texas to do things like decriminalize marijuana, though they have encountered resistance, including most recently a legal challenge from local officials wary of defying state law.

What were finding is that these popular issues actually get the folks who dont typically vote out to vote, Oliver said. And, she added, when local officials do not honor the will of the people, it really awakens communities to take action against the electeds and the bureaucracy.

Ground Game Texas is emphasizing that this is the first time Texas voters have an opportunity to directly weigh in on abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. That led to a near-total abortion ban in Texas, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

I think the eyes of Texas will be open that this is a popular issue and state leaders are not honoring the will of the people, Oliver said.

GOP leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott have publicly stayed out of the fight so far. But the state made its position clear earlier this year when it backed an unsuccessful lawsuit by an anti-abortion group to break the proposition into separate ballot measures.

This proposal contains a variety of different radical proposals that have been packaged together to confuse Texans, and it is imperative that this effort be stopped before it is too late, Attorney General Ken Paxton said at the time.

Paxtons office did not respond to a request for comment on how the agency would respond if Proposition A were to pass.

In the Legislature, Republicans are advancing legislation that would prevent local governments from regulating in a broad range of policy areas unless explicitly permitted to do so by the state. The bill, which Abbott has endorsed, received final approval from the House on Wednesday, sending it to the Senate.

City attorney questions propositions enforceability

Under the Texas Constitution, cities with 5,000 or more people can hold elections to amend their charters, but the changes cannot be inconsistent with the constitution or laws passed by the Legislature. That has raised all kinds of questions about what would happen if voters approved Proposition A  and the ripple effect it could have statewide.

On the day the city verified the petition signatures, City Attorney Andy Segovia said all but one part of the proposition  the justice director position  would run afoul of state law and thus be unenforceable. Proposition A organizers pushed back, saying Segovias comments amounted to advocacy and that his job should be to defend the will of voters.

The most timely element of the proposition is its proposal that police shall not investigate, make arrests, or otherwise enforce any alleged criminal abortion. It is a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that triggered a near-total abortion ban across Texas.

City officials plainly say they cannot go against state abortion laws. But supporters of Proposition A welcome the symbolic message that passage of the proposition would send  and the potential legal battle it could spark.

If [the proposition] stands, weve now found a rubric and a way for other cities that are figuring how to try and protect their rights, Tomas said. Weve now laid that roadmap for how to do this.

Anti-abortion forces acknowledge the stakes are high.

We are focused on defeating this in San Antonio because we recognize that doing so will discourage other groups in other cities from following suit, said Amy ODonnell, a spokesperson for Texas Alliance for Life, which filed the unsuccessful lawsuit to split the proposition into separate measures.

Another part of the proposition that has drawn attention relates to expanding the citys cite-and-release policy. Since 2019, San Antonio has given its police the discretion to issue citations rather than making arrests for certain Class A and B misdemeanors, like theft of business or service less than $750. Proposition A would make citations mandatory and add more eligible offenses, such as graffiti with damage of less than $2,500.

Critics say such a change would incentivize low-level crime and hurt businesses.

Shoplifters and restaurant patrons can rack up a bill for $750 and walk away without paying a dime, one anti-Proposition A group says in a frequent example it uses.

Proposition A supporters emphasize that offenders would still face consequences  prosecution, which can include fines, and arrest if they do not cooperate. Supporters also point out that another city, San Marcos, already showed the way three years ago, becoming the first Texas city to mandate cite-and-release for its cops  with little fanfare or resistance from the state.

As for other provisions of Proposition A, it aims to prohibit either citations or arrests for possession of marijuana of up to 4 ounces, a Class A misdemeanor under state law. Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales has been declining to prosecute possession of marijuana under 1 ounce since 2019.

No-knock warrants and chokeholds are already mostly prohibited under San Antonio Police Department policies. Proposition A supporters say it is important to codify those policies so they would continue beyond future leadership changes in the city.

A new political test for a blue city

The proposition is testing the political fabric of San Antonio, a reliably blue city but one that often does not find itself on the front lines of progressive policy fights. That mood has shifted a little, however, with the election in 2021 of two City Council members, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and Teri Castillo, who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The city also saw a huge fight over policing reform in 2021, when voters narrowly defeated a proposition that would have taken away the police unions collective bargaining rights.

McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo support Proposition A on this Mays ballot, as does Rosie Castro, the storied civil rights activist  and mother of Joaquin and Julian Castro  who is serving on the council on an interim basis.

But the citys political establishment has otherwise kept its distance from the measure  if not actively opposed to it. A columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, Cary Clack, said on a recent podcast that 17 of the first 20 City Council candidates that the editorial board met with were against Proposition A.

The highest-profile opponent locally has been the citys mayor, Ron Nirenberg, who does not identify with a political party but is often a Democratic ally. He is running for another term in the May 6 election but does not face serious opposition.

Nirenberg said in a local TV interview earlier this month that the proposition is trying to solve problems at the wrong level of government and cited what he called the lack of consequences for offenses like theft up to $750.

Thats not pocket change, Nirenberg said. Prop A unfortunately ignores the victims, from small businesses to nonprofits to really any working family who wakes up to a smashed car window.

Nirenbergs opposition sparked disappointment and anger from local progressives who had taken hope from his past support for some of their causes. They had especially taken note during the racial-justice protests of 2020 when Nirenberg urged San Antonians to hold me accountable for creating change in the city.

Alex Birnel, advocacy director for the progressive organizing group MOVE Texas, recently invoked that comment by Nirenberg as he slammed the mayors opposition to Proposition A.

It is a shocking and shameful move for  Nirenberg to oppose this measure that will only serve to protect and empower San Antonians, Birnel said in a statement, and we should demand to know what his plan is as a leader to address this political moment, outside of suggesting we wait on a hostile state legislature to act in everyday Texans best interests.

In Austin, GOP efforts to take away the autonomy of local governments are only ramping up. State Republican leaders are prioritizing legislation that aims to rein in rogue district attorneys, with one proposal advancing that would subject prosecutors to losing their jobs if they decline to prosecute a class or type of criminal offense.

While state-level Republicans have stayed out of the fray, two Republican members of Congress who represent the San Antonio area  Reps. Tony Gonzales and Chip Roy  have added their voices to the opposition. Gonzales has tapped his own campaign resources to work against the proposition, and he held a news conference last month in downtown San Antonio to warn that outsiders were trying to San Francisco our San Antonio.

Opponents have clear lead in fundraising

Opponents of Proposition A have had a massive financial advantage so far. The San Antonio Police Officers Association has funded a political action committee, Protect SA PAC, that disclosed spending $879,000 against the proposition through late March.

Both sides acknowledge there have been challenges in messaging against a proposition that addresses multiple issues.

Blanchard said it certainly has been difficult to change [the] narrative away from the provisions on abortion and pot. And boosters of the proposition have had to grapple with their decision to group the issues as Blanchards side gets louder about public-safety concerns.

Its crossed my mind once or twice, but really at the end of the day, it wouldnt matter if cite-and-release was there or not, Tomas said. Our opposition was always going to find something to grab on to and scare voters with.

While the vote is all-or-nothing, the potential implementation is not. The proposition contains a severability clause, meaning that if one provision is struck down in the courts, the others remain in force.
JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

A North Texas district has implemented a backpack ban for the remainder of the school year for students in the sixth grade or higher. DeSoto Independent School District officials announced on Twitter last weekend that the new rule goes into effect on Monday, April 24.

Students will only be allowed to bring a small clutch that is the size of a sandwich bag or a pencil bag for personal and sanitary hygiene items, according to the district. Student-athletes, band members, or those in activities that require clothes or equipment are to leave them in designated areas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Texas lawmakers and the families of victims provided chilling testimony that shook Texas House committee members during an emotional hearing on gun control late Tuesday, April 18. One Democratic legislator, state Rep. Joe Moody said during the hearing that the Robb Elementary shooter used victims' blood to write a "disgusting" message on the classroom whiteboard.

Moody was part of the investigation into how law enforcement handled the mass shooting on May 24, 2022 that killed 19 students and two teachers. He described a banner on the whiteboard that had the words "lovebirds" written on it. The shooter wrote a message in the victims' blood next to that banner, Moody said.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Senate rejected a Republican effort on Wednesday to reverse a Department of Veterans Affairs policy that has expanded some abortion services to veterans, a victory for President Joe Biden and Democrats who say the services are necessary medical care.

The vote was one of several that Republicans have forced in recent months to reverse Biden administration policies. The Senate rejected 51-48 the GOP bid to scrap the expanded services, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting with Democrats to preserve the rule.

The Sept. 2022 rule was put in place as Democrats have tried to find ways to maintain abortion access after the Supreme Court last year overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed the right to an abortion. The Biden administration says the rule is in direct response to new restrictions on abortion in some states that are creating serious risks to the life and health of our Nations veterans.

The policy would allow the VA to provide access to abortion counseling and also some abortions if the life or health of the parent would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. The rule, which applies regardless of state laws, would also allow abortion access in the case of rape or incest.

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican who led the effort to reverse the policy, said the government should focus on other ways to care for veterans. He and other Republicans argued that taxpayers should not be funding the abortions.

Tuberville said that allowing abortion at VA medical facilities is illegal and wrong, and that the rule does not provide enough protections for doctors and nurses with religious objections.

This rule is wrong on every level, he said.

In a statement of policy, the White House said Biden would veto the GOP resolution if it had come to his desk.

The effort to undo the rule undermines patient safety and invites political interference into deeply personal decisions made by pregnant veterans, the White House said, threatening their health and lives.

Buoyed by better-than-expected midterm election results in the wake of the Roe decision, Democrats enthusiastically opposed the resolution. In a news conference ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that reversing the rule would take away reproductive care for hundreds of thousands of veterans and their families.

The hard right is telling our veterans that theyll be treated as second-class citizens, Schumer said. And we say, no way, no way, no way!
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a Turkish bank's main arguments for avoiding prosecution on charges it helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions, but the court sent the case back for additional review.

Halkbank, a bank owned by Turkey, had argued that a federal law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, gave foreign states absolute immunity from criminal prosecution in U.S. courts. It also said federal courts dont have jurisdiction to oversee the case.
Employee charged after needles found in food

HARRISBURG  An underage employee of an eastern Pennsylvania supermarket will be charged in connection with sewing needles found in bagged vegetables and Tastykake packages customers returned after buying, police said Thursday.

Pennsylvania State Police are recommending customers check their groceries for tampering if they bought them from a Giant supermarket in suburban Allentown between April 13, and April 19, when troopers were alerted.

Troopers did not say what led them to blame an employee of the supermarket in Lower Macungie Township. The suspect is a minor and was not named. Charges were forthcoming, police said.

Police also did not say if anyone reported being injured by one of the sewing needles.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Ron DeSantis has yet to enter the 2024 presidential race, but former President Donald Trump is aiming to drum up support in the Florida governor's backyard, securing endorsements already from more than one-third of the Republicans in the state's congressional delegation.

Republicans hold 20 of Florida's 28 U.S. House districts, and eight of those lawmakers have announced their support for Trump. They include Rep. Byron Donalds, who introduced DeSantis at his reelection party last year. Earlier this month, Donalds called Trump the only leader at this time in our nations history who can seize the moment and deliver what we need.

Rep. John Rutherford backed Trump on Tuesday shortly after leaving a Washington meeting with DeSantis. Others going with Trump are Reps. Vern Buchanan, Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Cory Mills and Greg Steube,

In all, Trump has won the backing of more than 40 House Republicans across the country. His team, led by former White House political director Brian Jack, contacted some of those lawmakers, while others reached out to him.

Endorsements rarely have a dramatic impact on whom voters ultimately support, especially this early in a presidential primary. But they do signal which candidates are gaining support within a party. That's important as Trump tries to assert himself as the undisputed leader of the GOP in seeking the 2024 nomination.

Trump's endorsements are notable because they suggest his criminal indictment in New York this month did little to erode his support among elected Republicans. If anything, the charges may have enhanced his standing within the party.

I think after the indictment, a lot of people were willing to be very vocal with their endorsement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.

DeSantis' backers note that the governor hasn't formally launched his effort, making it harder for him to get official endorsements. He has expanded his travel outside of Florida, making his first appearances Wednesday in South Carolina, where support for any GOP nominee is critical, and where a few state lawmakers have said they will back him if he runs for the White House.

So far, DeSantis has three congressional endorsements, including one from Florida, first-term Rep. Laurel Lee, who served as DeSantis secretary of state for more than three years. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas was the first House member to sign on.

Rep. Thomas Massie, who has endorsed DeSantis, acknowledged Trumps growing endorsement advantage but emphasized that the Florida governor hasnt yet entered the 2024 race.

Ron DeSantis hasnt asked anybody for an endorsement," Massie, R-Ky., said in an interview Wednesday. He cant ask anybody for an endorsement because he is not a candidate for president.

The real question, Massie said, is why Trump has yet to lock up more endorsements, given that the former president is essentially an incumbent.

Im not concerned that Donald Trump is getting endorsements and getting a lot of them," Massie said. "He should have all of Congress. Why doesnt he have the whole Republican Congress?

DeSantis slow start in building out a national coalition underscores his long-standing disdain for investing in relationships with other Republican leaders. Fellow GOP governors and party officials regularly grumble about his tendency to ignore their public gatherings, fundraisers and conference calls.

In his recent book, DeSantis, who served nearly three terms in the House, referred to Congress as grotesque.

As a practice, DeSantis typically does not attend meetings of the Republican Governors Association. During the height of the pandemic, he did not participate in regularly nightly conference calls of Republican governors, according to Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H.

All the Republican governors, for the most part, are pretty tight. Were buddies, Sununu said in a recent interview. He didnt get on the phone calls. He didnt. He doesnt come to our events. If he comes to a governors event, he shows up, makes a speech and leaves. Thats just him and his style. At first, we were all taken aback by it, but thats just him.

DeSantis unwillingness to engage with colleagues stands in stark contrast with successful candidates at the national level in the past.

Former President George W. Bushs lengthy Christmas card list is cemented in political lore. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regularly sent handwritten notes to mark birthdays or graduations to local activists in New Hampshire and Iowa. Trump, before and after his 2016 election, was almost always on the phone with party officials, donors or business leaders.

Massie, who served with DeSantis in Congress for six years, said he hosted a private reception with him on Monday night, in part, to dispel this notion that he is not personable.

Massie noted that DeSantis spent less than 10 minutes of the two-hour event delivering a speech. The rest of the time, he said, DeSantis spoke one on one with other members of Congress.

He surprised me with the degree to which he understood peoples districts, Massie said. He is a student of politics.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Steve Peoples in New York and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
It was midnight when Maurice Mcleod received the email. Mcleod, a councillor in south London, racial justice activist and former journalist, had found out he would not be allowed to run as a parliamentary candidate for Labour.

I cant lie, I was absolutely devastated, he said. Not because I think: Oh, Im brilliant, I should be an MP, but I felt that  maybe naively  they would look at me and go: Hes been active in the Black Lives Matter stuff. He brings an audience that were not very good at connecting with. Hes worked with Starmer on race policy.

But it feels like they just looked at me and went: Yeah, lefty, Corbyn. Blocking you.

Labour is predicted to benefit from a huge swing in the UKs next general election, with scores if not hundreds of potential new seats on the cards. But in its process to select who will stand as potential MPs, accusations of purges, blockings and factionalism continue to arise.

openDemocracy has heard claims about outsiders being asked to stand in seats they have no connection to, members contact details being given early to selected candidates, and direct instructions from Keir Starmer to tighten vetting processes. Some applaud the new rigour applied to potential MPs, or see it as no different from what happened under other leaders. Others say candidate lists are being fixed  something the party has denied. Whats happening inside Labour?

For Mcleod, the decision to exclude him from the Labour longlist felt explicitly factional. One reason given by the National Executive Committee (NEC), which decided the longlist, was that Mcleod had liked a tweet by former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas a few years ago.

I think they were determined not to allow me to stand, he said.

The NEC, Labours governing body, later told Mcleod that he had been excluded because he had been absent from a council vote on the definition of antisemitism. He says this was a mixup, and that he had left the room assuming (wrongly) he could return.

Is the party purging the left? Absolutely. I dont know how anyone would pretend that thats not whats happening.

Selection processes differ from party to party, and leader to leader. They are both important to political makeup and slightly tedious. Currently, individuals who have been a member of Labour for longer than a year can apply to become parliamentary candidates, collecting endorsements from the likes of unions and MPs. They then go through a national panel, a due diligence check of social media and any internal complaints, and finally a local panel. At every stage, there are diversity requirements. Up until recently, there was no way to appeal the final decision.

Its the second stage of this, the due diligence check introduced under Starmer, that has resulted in the most pushback over excluded candidates. It has seen numerous applicants on the left of the party removed from longlists for what some see as minor transgressions.

One reason given for the exclusion of would-be Milton Keynes candidate Lauren Townsend was that she had liked a tweet by Nicola Sturgeon. Townsend had been endorsed by six trade unions. Former postal worker Matt Kerr, who had previously run for deputy leader of Scottish Labour, was blocked in Glasgow South West after due diligence found he had tweeted in support of Jeremy Corbyn.

Leigh Drennan  the chair of Labour North West, with endorsements from three unions and nine years as a Labour councillor under her belt  was blocked from standing in Bolton North East after a due diligence process, allegedly for signing a petition. Greg Marshall, who had previously stood as a parliamentary candidate for Boxtowe in 2017 and 2019, was blocked from standing again, despite being the only local candidate and receiving eight union endorsements. (Marshall told the Guardian he had not even been properly informed about the decision to block him, which prompted the entire executive committee of his local CLP to resign in protest, as well as earning the party a public rebuke from former shadow chancellor John McDonnell.)

In Stroud, Labour even blocked its own council leader, Doina Cornell, from the local parliamentary longlist. At the time, Cornell said she was given spurious and partisan reasons, with some reports suggesting it had been down to social media posts. She and two other councillors then quit the party, costing Labour its control of the town hall.

Many of those deselected or blocked from standing had previously been backed by the socialist campaign group Momentum. But critics of Labours current selection process say the same kind of scrutiny isnt being applied to those who do not identify with the left of the party.

Barking and Dagenham Council leader Darren Rodwell joked at a Black history event that, as a white man, he had the worst tan possible for a Black man. He was allowed to stand for a parliamentary candidate by the party after apologising. Frank McAveety, a former Labour MSP who described a 15-year-old girl as very attractive, dark and dusky, and very nice and very slim during a Holyrood committee meeting in 2010 made it onto Labours parliamentary shortlist for Glasgow Shettleston.

Sitting Labour MPs also can be removed from standing again  something that was made easier under Corbyns leadership, but which ended up taking place under Starmer. In October 2022, Sam Tarry was the first sitting Labour MP to be deselected since Anne Moffat in 2010, a process whereby local members and affiliates can vote not to automatically reselect their MP. Tarry, after losing the selection process, disputed the veracity of a voting system and called for an audit. Zarah Sultana, part of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, faced a trigger ballot process in Coventry, where constituency members were required to vote in order to allow Sultana to stand again in her seat. The 29-year-old eventually won in all branches of her CLP.

At the time, Sultana tweeted: When the Labour trigger ballot process began, a so-called Labour source said every branch is ready to press the button to deselect me.

While there are concerns the left are being cut out, there are also worries about who takes their place. A charity worker who spoke to openDemocracy for this feature was approached by a senior Labour figure to stand for a particular seat  even though he had absolutely no connection to the area and was not even a member of the party at the time.

There is no perfect mould for an MP, and local ties to an area  while important  arent always a marker of political rigour or compassion. But the sense that people are being parachuted into seats, cutting out those who have been local councillors or activists for years, has ruffled feathers.

For those who dont win, or who get excluded from the longlist, the emotional toll can be intense. Townsend  the councillor and trade unionist from Milton Keynes  came to politics after ten years of working as a waitress. She eventually became involved in trade unionism after organising a strike at TGI Fridays. In October 2022, Townsend was left off the longlist after a due diligence process picked out various tweets she had liked. One was by Novara journalist Aaron Bastani calling Starmer a prat. Another was by Nicola Sturgeon, saying she had recovered from Covid.

When it happened, Townsends mental health took a hit. She had given birth 5 weeks earlier, and was recovering from a traumatic operation and caring for a young baby while campaigning.

When it first happened, I had a bit of a breakdown. I actually just went to stay with my mum and the baby for a few days because I just couldnt stop crying. It was not a good time, she tells openDemocracy. It was the fact that it was so underhanded. It was so predetermined, and it was because they were trying to fix the decision for how they wanted the decision to be fixed. I was extremely low for a while.

Townsend believes she was blocked from running because she was not the leaderships chosen candidate. openDemocracy has seen messages sent to her by a senior Labour figure alleging that the candidate who went on to defeat her had been given early access to party members personal details before being selected, giving them a campaigning advantage  which would have been a breach of current selection rules. We asked Labour about these allegations but had not received a response at the time of publication.

When Starmer stood for leader, I was literally next to him holding a McDonalds banner [during a protest of striking McDonalds workers], said a disbelieving Townsend. I was in his campaign video next to him where hes in the middle of the picket line.

She added: Since when does being a trade unionist, and working for workers rights and wanting better for disadvantaged people, make you  whatever they want to call you  the loony left? I just feel sad.

This month, after calls from affiliated unions, Labour agreed to introduce an appeals process for those excluded from the longlist, following accusations of unfair longlist fixing. The appeal has to take place shortly after the decision is made, and a separate panel will be allowed to interview the candidate. This will only apply going forward, meaning Mcleod and Townsend wont be covered. Critics say this change is proof that, so far, Labours process of choosing candidates has been too selective.

Labours new appeals process is confirmation that the selection of MP candidates has been unjustly rigged by the party leadership, a spokesperson for Momentum told openDemocracy.

Across the country, the Labour machine has blocked popular local champions and trade unionists from being considered by local Labour members, all to clear the way for Starmer loyalists. The upshot is not just an unprecedented attack on democracy and pluralism. Worse, it risks producing a cohort of Labour MPs dominated by the professional political classes, further alienating Westminster from the communities it is supposed to serve. The blockings must now end.

Business as Usual?

But perhaps this is all business as usual. Starmer is by far not the first leader to be accused of controlling incoming MPs in his political image and with the rise of social media, a rigorous checking process is essential for future candidates. Luke Akehurst, director of We Believe In Israel, secretary of Labour moderate group Labour First and a member of Labours NEC told openDemocracy that the process was essential to ensure candidates arent later excluded over controversial comments.

There have been some disastrous candidates in recent elections when there wasnt good enough vetting done, said Akehurst. So there was a very strong push from Keir [Starmer] and other stakeholders who said weve got to vet people properly. We cant have this situation where we select people and then discover afterwards that they are a disaster that really embarrasses us.

If Labour doesnt do it, added Akehurst, the Tories will.

Our understanding is that the Tories have an attack research unit with about six people in it whose only job is to put together dossiers on everything that any potential Labour candidate has said So yes, maybe its controversial, but its an important political process.

Akehurst concedes that some of the vetting processes seem to focus on the left of the party, although he claimed this was because people accused of making antisemitic statements tend to be more concentrated on one wing of the party.

Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols, a former shadow cabinet member under Corbyn and one of the few red wall Labour MPs to survive the 2019 election, says whats happening during the selection process isnt necessarily new, but risks homogenising the party.

Its gone on forever and whichever leader it is, everyone always tries to use the mechanisms of selection to recast the parliamentary party in their own image, Nichols told openDemocracy.

But, she adds, the current Labour selection process seems to be excluding potentially good candidates.

There seems to be a much narrower range of professional backgrounds  a lot of people from local government, a lot of people who have been involved in public affairs and roles like this, like politicians almost, she said. We dont seem to be having many people coming through from formal trade unions, we dont see many people coming through who are teachers, with a more varied professional background.

For all of the stuff about making it fairer, whathaveyou, whatever criteria theyre using seems to be more people that look and sound like Starmer. In and of itself, you want that in the mix. But you want a broad church and a pretty large spread of people selected, and that doesnt seem to be what were getting at the moment.

Labour HQ declined to speak to openDemocracy for this piece. But former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was blocked from running again as a Labour MP in March, claimed members were being denied the right to fair and democratic selection processes. As millions are plunged into poverty, he said, we should be offering a more hopeful alternative. Instead, Keir Starmer has chosen to attack those in his own party.

Other Labour MPs who arent supportive of the partys selection process fear putting their name to criticism, lest they be next. One told openDemocracy they did not believe the deselections were ideological because Starmer barely stands for anything: It doesnt feel like its casting the copy in his ideological image because I dont think he has particularly clearly definable political ideology. Certainly, not one that hes bothered expressing. Still more fear it will only get worse. The purge hasnt even begun, another Labour MP told openDemocracy. One MP close to the selection process said: This is the most fundamental attempt to change the DNA of the Labour Party in its entire history.

Akehurst agrees the process is not watertight. Its never perfect, he said. Its always an iterative process. Its kind of impossible to design an absolutely perfect process. I think its pretty good. But theres always going to be things that we can tweak and improve.

Since Townsend was excluded, she has tried to put the process behind her, focusing on local politics and enjoying time with her son. Like others excluded, she does wonder what space is left for them in the Labour Party, and for those who have a different vision from the current leadership at a time it comes under fire for its political ads, approach to trans rights and policing strategy.

People are miserable, said Townsend. People are living crap lives, because theyre working their arses off for minimum to no reward. You cant get doctors appointments; you cant register with an NHS dentist. Everything just feels crap. People really do want something positive  they want a positive vision. And I just feel like, at the moment, were being offered the same watery vision by everybody. It also feels like were running out of time.

But without the potential to stand for an MP in the next election, theres a limit on what Townsend can reform: I guess were all going to have to just carry on doing what we can to make changes in our own way.

Correction 19/04/23: This article previously stated that Lauren Townsend had given birth 12 weeks before the selection decision. It was in fact five weeks.
Yves here. The raft of leaks of presumed-authentic highly classified US documents has produced a fair bit of commentary, even in normally gung ho outlets like the New York Times, about how they show Ukraines forces are in far worse shape than officials admitted. Tucker Carlson described how they vitiated US claims that a Ukraine victory was inevitable. Other right wing outlets have been showing clips from Lloyd Austins recent Congressional testimony, and have argued that the documents show Austin was lying to Congress.

Nevertheless, the officialdom is doing its best to get the easily-distracted US public to look the other way. One is to quickly try to make, as much as possible, the leaker the story. It was a little too cute that the FBI had invited a media helicopter to video the arrest of Jack Teixeira. Of course, the government also tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube by getting various social media platforms to remove copies of the images. That actually appears to have succeeded to a degree. Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson complained that despite looking hard, he was only able to find about a dozen of the >50 slides that most media outlets reviewed (recall the Washington Post said it had viewed roughly 300).

Finally, I wonder if the Washington perception-managers are adopting the strategy used by many US companies, of the bad quarter dump. They hold off making writedowns, and then make them when they have other bad news, like having to shutter a line of business. The idea is to get analysts to see the bloodbath as a one-off and look at normalized earnings as if all that hidden hemorrhaging hadnt been part of normal operations too.

But theres no way to sweep something as big as Ukraine under a rug. Its already lumpy and moving.

By Medea Benjamin, the cofounder of CODEPINK for Peace, and the author of several books, including Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Nicolas J. S. Davies, an independent journalist, a researcher with CODEPINK and the author of Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq

Leaked document predicts a protracted war beyond 2023. Image credit: Newsweek

The U.S. corporate medias first response to the leaking of secret documents about the war in Ukraine was to throw some mud in the water, declare nothing to see here, and cover it as a depoliticized crime story about a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman who published secret documents to impress his friends. President Biden dismissed the leaks as revealing nothing of great consequence.

What these documents reveal, however, is that the war is going worse for Ukraine than our political leaders have admitted to us, while going badly for Russia too, so that neither side is likely to break the stalemate this year, and this will lead to a protracted war beyond 2023, as one of the documents says.

The publication of these assessments should lead to renewed calls for our government to level with the public about what it realistically hopes to achieve by prolonging the bloodshed, and why it continues to reject the resumption of the promising peace negotiations it blocked in April 2022.

We believe that blocking those talks was a dreadful mistake, in which the Biden administration capitulated to the warmongering, since-disgraced U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and that current U.S. policy is compounding that mistake at the cost of tens of thousands more Ukrainian lives and the destruction of even more of their country.

In most wars, while the warring parties strenuously suppress the reporting of civilian casualties for which they are responsible, professional militaries generally treat accurate reporting of their own military casualties as a basic responsibility. But in the virulent propaganda surrounding the war in Ukraine, all sides have treated military casualty figures as fair game, systematically exaggerating enemy casualties and understating their own.

Publicly available U.S. estimates have supported the idea that many more Russians are being killed than Ukrainians, deliberately skewing public perceptions to support the notion that Ukraine can somehow win the war, as long as we just keep sending more weapons.

The leaked documents provide internal U.S. military intelligence assessments of casualties on both sides. But different documents, and different copies of the documents circulating online, show conflicting numbers, so the propaganda war rages on despite the leak.

The most detailed assessment of attrition rates of troops says explicitly that U.S. military intelligence has low confidence in the attrition rates it cites. It attributes that partly to potential bias in Ukraines information sharing, and notes that casualty assessments fluctuate according to the source.

So, despite denials by the Pentagon, a document that shows a higher death toll on the Ukrainian side may be correct, since it has been widely reported that Russia has been firing several times the number of artillery shells as Ukraine, in a bloody war of attrition in which artillery appears to be the main instrument of death. Altogether, some of the documents estimate a total death toll on both sides approaching 100,000 and total casualties, killed and wounded, of up to 350,000.

Another document reveals that, after using up the stocks sent by NATO countries, Ukraine is running out of missiles for the S-300 and BUK systems that make up 89% of its air defenses. By May or June, Ukraine will therefore be vulnerable, for the first time, to the full strength of the Russian air force, which has until now been limited mainly to long-range missile strikes and drone attacks.

Recent Western arms shipments have been justified to the public by predictions that Ukraine will soon be able to launch new counter-offensives to take back territory from Russia. Twelve brigades, or up to 60,000 troops, were assembled to train on newly delivered Western tanks for this spring offensive, with three brigades in Ukraine and nine more in Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

But a leaked document from the end of February reveals that the nine brigades being equipped and trained abroad had less than half their equipment and, on average, were only 15% trained. Meanwhile, Ukraine faced a stark choice to either send reinforcements to Bakhmut or withdraw from the town entirely, and it chose to sacrifice some of its spring offensive forces to prevent the imminent fall of Bakhmut.

Ever since the U.S. and NATO started training Ukrainian forces to fight in Donbas in 2015, and while it has been training them in other countries since the Russian invasion, NATO has provided six-month training courses to bring Ukraines forces up to basic NATO standards. On this basis, it appears that many of the forces being assembled for the spring offensive would not be fully trained and equipped before July or August.

But another document says the offensive will begin around April 30th, meaning that many troops may be thrown into combat less than fully trained, by NATO standards, even as they have to contend with more severe shortages of ammunition and a whole new scale of Russian airstrikes. The incredibly bloody fighting that has already decimatedUkrainian forces will surely be even more brutal than before.

The leaked documents conclude that enduring Ukrainian deficiencies in training and munitions supplies probably will strain progress and exacerbate casualties during the offensive, and that the most likely outcome remains only modest territorial gains.

The documents also reveal serious deficiencies on the Russian side, deficiencies revealed by the failure of their winter offensive to take much ground. The fighting in Bakhmut has raged on for months, leaving thousands of fallen soldiers on both sides and a burned out city still not 100% controlled by Russia.

The inability of either side to decisively defeat the other in the ruins of Bakhmut and other front-line towns in Donbas is why one of the most important documents predicted that the war was locked in a grinding campaign of attrition and was likely heading toward a stalemate.

Adding to the concerns about where this conflict is headed is the revelation in the leaked documents about the presence of 97 special forces from NATO countries, including from the U.K. and the U.S. This is in addition to previous reports about the presence of CIA personnel, trainers and Pentagon contractors, and the unexplained deployment of 20,000 troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Brigades near the border between Poland and Ukraine.

Worried about the ever-increasing direct U.S. military involvement, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz has introduced a Privileged Resolution of Inquiry to force President Biden to notify the House of the exact number of U.S. military personnel inside Ukraine and precise U.S. plans to assist Ukraine militarily.

We cant help wondering what President Bidens plan could be, or if he even has one. But it turns out that were not alone. In what amounts to a second leak that the corporate media have studiously ignored, U.S. intelligence sources have told veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh that they are asking the same questions, and they describe a total breakdown between the White House and the U.S. intelligence community.

Hershs sources describe a pattern that echoes the use of fabricated and unvetted intelligence to justify U.S. aggression against Iraq in 2003, in which Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan are by-passing regular intelligence analysis and procedures and running the Ukraine War as their own private fiefdom. They reportedly smear all criticism of President Zelenskyy as pro-Putin, and leave U.S. intelligence agencies out in the cold trying to understand a policy that makes no sense to them.

What U.S. intelligence officials know, but the White House is doggedly ignoring, is that, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, top Ukrainian officials running this endemically corrupt country are making fortunes skimming money from the over $100 billion in aid and weapons that America has sent them.

According to Hershs report, the CIA assesses that Ukrainian officials, including President Zelenskyy, have embezzled $400 million from money the United States sent Ukraine to buy diesel fuel for its war effort, in a scheme that involves buying cheap, discounted fuel from Russia. Meanwhile, Hersh says, Ukrainian government ministries literally compete with each other to sell weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers to private arms dealers in Poland, the Czech Republic and around the world.

Hersh writes that, in January 2023, after the CIA heard from Ukrainian generals that they were angry with Zelenskyy for taking a larger share of the rake-off from these schemes than his generals, CIA Director William Burns went toKyiv to meet with him. Burns allegedly told Zelenskyy he was taking too much of the skim money, and handed him a list of 35 generals and senior officials the CIA knew were involved in this corrupt scheme.

Zelenskyy fired about ten of those officials, but failed to alter his own behavior. Hershs sources tell him that the White Houses lack of interest in doing anything about these goings-on is a major factor in the breakdown of trust between the White House and the intelligence community.

First-hand reporting from inside Ukraine by New Cold War has described the same systematic pyramid of corruption as Hersh. A member of parliament, formerly in Zelenskyys party, told New Cold War that Zelenskyy and other officials skimmed 170 million euros from money that was supposed to pay for Bulgarian artillery shells.

The corruption reportedly extends to bribes to avoid conscription. The Open Ukraine Telegram channel was told by a military recruitment office that it could get the son of one of its writers released from the front line in Bakhmut and sent out of the country for $32,000.

As has happened in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and all the wars the United States has been involved in for many decades, the longer the war goes on, the more the web of corruption, lies and distortions unravels.

The torpedoing of peace talks, the Nord Stream sabotage, the hiding of corruption, the politicization of casualty figures, and the suppressed history of broken promises and prescient warnings about the danger of NATO expansion are all examples of how our leaders have distorted the truth to shore up U.S. public support for perpetuating an unwinnable war that is killing a generation of young Ukrainians.

These leaks and investigative reports are not the first, nor will they be the last, to shine a light through the veil of propaganda that permits these wars to destroy young peoples lives in faraway places, so that oligarchs in Russia, Ukraine and the United States can amass wealth and power.

The only way this will stop is if more and more people get active in opposing those companies and individuals that profit from warwho Pope Francis calls the Merchants of Deathand boot out the politicians who do their bidding, before they make an even more fatal misstep and start a nuclear war.
Yves here. John Helmers latest piece, which includes a translated article from a major foreign policy pubilcation, explains how Russia should and probably will shift its stance towards Israel, and as a result, towards Palestine. It argues that Israel has only somewhat restrained its support of Kiev, and that is likely to change due to increased techno-military cooperation between Russian and Iran and ever rising pressure of the US on its allies. Although the post does not say so quite as bluntly, increased unity in the Arab-Persian world give Russia a chance to be more explicit in its support of that development by backing Palestine.

By John Helmer, the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only western journalist to direct his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. Helmer has also been a professor of political science, and an advisor to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia. He is the first and only member of a US presidential administration (Jimmy Carter) to establish himself in Russia. Originally published at Dances with Bears

The title of an op-ed piece by a Moscow academic, published this week in Vzglyad, bellwether of Russian security analysts, requires reading between the lines. Every Russian knows how to do this since the tsars chancellery posted bulletins outside the Winter Palace on how well the Russian Navy was doing in battles against the Japanese at Port Arthur in 1904.

Neither the gap nor the remedy has been the point of any communique issued from the regular meetings of the Kremlin Security Council, nor has it been discussed publicly in the state media, including the Valdai Club.

The Vzglyad headline refers to the one international conflict on which President Vladimir Putin has said so little since the start of his term, and done so much  this is Israels war against Palestine.

The gap was made visible once by the General Staff; that was in September 2018 after the Israel Air Force caused the shoot-down in Syria of a Russian Ilyushin-20M electronic reconnaissance aircraft (lead image), and the killing of all fifteen crewmen on board. At that time the Russian military expressed a loss of confidence which had not been seen in public since President Boris Yeltsin countermanded orders for Russian military aid to Serbia under NATO bombing between March and June 1999, dismissing Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov on the US demand.

Read the first report of the evidence in the Il-20 case on September 18, 2018, and the second report on September 24, 2018. The third report two months later revealed what happened after Putin had what the Kremlin spokesman called a short talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris on November 11, 2018. The next day, the Security Council notice of November 12 reported Putin had informed the permanent members of the Security Council about several of his brief meetings on the sidelines of the events in Paris.

Four and a half years have elapsed since then. The Vzglyad headline of April 17 means there is a policy, and there is pressing reason of state to change it now. Inside the text, the point is expressed by its author more tentatively. Perhaps its time to change the approach somewhat? After all, it no longer fully corresponds to both the changed regional situation and Russian national interests.

Read the original here. The translation into English has not been acknowledged or approved by Vzglyad or its author, Gevorg Mirzayan. The only editing to the original text are modifications of punctuation. Illustrations and their captions have been added for reference.

Source: https://vz.ru/

April 17, 2023 Its time for Russia to change its position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

By Gevorg Mirzayan

Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is once again experiencing a stage of aggravation. Clashes between Israeli and Palestinian policemen on the Temple Mount  where the Wailing Wall, sacred to Jews, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, sacred to Muslims, are located  turned into real fighting, including bombing of the Gaza Strip and rocket attacks from the Strip on Israeli cities.

And this is not the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on the last Friday of which the Islamic world celebrates Al-Quds Day, that is, Jerusalem Day. Introduced by the late Supreme Ayatollah of Iran Ruhollah Khomeini in 1982, this day is actively used in the Muslim world to condemn the methods and consequences of the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem  that is, to express solidarity with the people of Palestine. In practice, this solidarity is expressed in loud statements by leaders, antiIsraeli rallies and other demonstrations  the exploitation by the Israelis, who have regularly violated the rights of the Palestinians, has always given enough reasons for loud words.

Until recently, Russia, a country with a large Muslim community, refrained from celebrating Al-Quds Day. At best, the leaders of Russian Muslims have spoken about the suffering of the Palestinian people, and academic conferences on the Middle East were held. And this was quite understandable: Moscow adhered to an equidistant policy on the Palestinian issue, trying to maintain relations with both Israel and the Arab world at the same time.

May 16, 2021: https://johnhelmer.net/

But perhaps its time to change the approach somewhat? After all, it no longer fully corresponds to both the changed regional situation and Russian national interests.

By changing the regional situation, we mean, first of all, the processes associated with the Iranian-Saudi normalization. Representatives of Tehran and Riyadh did not just shake hands after the talks in Beijing. They began a real process of resolving bilateral contradictions (in Syria, Yemen, etc.). And this means not only the collapse of Tel Avivs (and Washingtons) strategy of using Saudi Arabia for a war with Iran, but also the consolidation of the two leaders of the Islamic world on an issue that concerns the entire Islamic world. That is, simply put, the Palestinian issue.

At the same time, this issue is, in fact, an element of an even larger trend  the struggle of developing countries against the neo-colonialism of the West. A trend in which Russia is not just trying to embed its own security in Ukraine, but also to embed from the position of the new leader of the entire anti-colonial movement. And the leader must be ahead, including in terms of rhetoric.

Moscow needs this leadership from the point of view of its national interests. And, it would seem, they contradict another interest  the policy of neutrality, of equidistance. However, this policy was necessary  necessary and beneficial precisely until Israel took a very peculiar position with regard to the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO). This is the position of the blackmailer.

As part of this position, Tel Aviv is supplying the Kiev regime with various kinds of ordnance and even weapons, but so far is refraining from supplies of hightech systems. Tel Aviv explicitly says that its decision on these supplies will depend on the level of Russian-Iranian cooperation. Well, well. Or else this depends on the mood of a particular Israeli leader  after all, there is no consensus position on this issue in Israel. If the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes supplies, then his predecessor Yair Lapid (the same one who at the beginning of the conflict accused the Russian army of war crimes in Ukraine) was inclined in favour of supplies. In spite of the fact that the ideological descendants of those who committed the Holocaust are in power in Kiev.

Israels President Chaim Herzog (left) meeting Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky (right) in Kiev on October 5, 2021. How can you not help the victims of such aggression," Zelenksy told Herzog: I don't how to answer the questions that I always get about how has Israel helped and what else can Israel do.I am grateful to the people of Israel. I am grateful for the sincere and emotional support to the people of Ukraine...but we would like to also get support from your government. Naftali Bennett was Israeli prime minister at the time. Yair Lapid was alternate prime minister and foreign minister then; he became prime minister between July and December 2022, and was succeeded by Benjamin Netanyahu on December 29, 2022.

From a pragmatic point of view, Israels position can, of course, be understood  and even excused in some respects. First, Israels security largely depends on the United States. Yes, Tel Aviv (unlike, for example, Tokyo) has nuclear weapons. But recent conflicts show that the presence of the last argument of kings is not enough to wage large conventional wars. Israel needs an American army, weapons, intelligence resources  and as a payment for access to all this, the Israeli leadership is required to support the foreign policy of the White House. Including in the Ukrainian direction.

Secondly, Israel categorically does not like the current Russian-Iranian rapprochement. Yes, Tel Aviv understands that it is primarily due to Irans willingness to provide direct military-technical assistance to Russia within its framework  and Moscow cannot throw away friendship with such countries. Yes, in Tel Aviv they understand that even the SMO did not force Russia to abandon one of its key foreign policy postulates: Moscow is friends with those who are ready to be friends with it, but this friendship is not directed against those who are not hostile to Russia. Based on this concept, Russian-Iranian cooperation is not directed against countries which are friendly or at least neutral towards Russia.

Tel Aviv understands all this, but believes that circumstances have changed. That Russian-Iranian military-technical cooperation (forced or not, it doesnt matter) reaches such a high level that it can no longer but threaten the security of Israel. In particular, according to experts, Iran, with the help of Russian specialists, has created a very powerful layered air defense system, which has reduced the already small chances of Israel bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.

However, Russia, also understanding Israels position, can draw the following conclusions from this. Firstly, Israel supports the Kiev regime. Secondly, the level of this support will grow (partly due to US pressure, and partly due to the objective development of the Russian-Iranian partnership). Thirdly, it is pointless to make any concessions to the blackmailer.

Soviet poster of 1978. The text says: In the Israel occupied territory, Palestinians fighters against aggression and for the sacred right of their people to have their own independent state are arrested and kept in jail."

In regular polling by the Levada Centre of Moscow since 2006, between 2% and 5% of a nationwide sample of Russians has identified Israel as one of the top-5 allies of Russia; and the same proportion has identified Israel as one of Russias top-5 enemies. The pollster reports regular surveys showing Russian attitudes towards Palestine growing more positive towards the Palestinians, more hostile to the Israelis. Follow this here. For more on the evolution of Al Quds Day, read this.

That is why, perhaps, the time has come to take a new position on the Palestinian issue. To take the celebration of Al-Quds Day to a new level, as well as to take a more pro-Palestinian position in the Middle East conflict. To stand on the side of those who help Russia within the framework of their own interests (Iran, Saudi Arabia) against those who help our enemies. And thereby to send a very clear signal to the world  a signal that Russia will treat its partners exactly as they treat it. To help supporters  and not to act in the interests of opponents.
The evolution of my position with the Post dates to 2000, when I began work with The City Paper. In 2008, SouthComm Inc. bought the Post and TCP, with the latter ceasing operations in 2013. In 2018, FW Publishing acquired the Post, for which I have served as managing editor since 2011.

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Last week, rumors began to circulate around Madison County regarding layoffs happening at Missouri Cobalt. Soon after, there was conjecture that the mine was closing permanently.

The Democrat News contacted Missouri Cobalt Vice President Stacy Hastie who has confirmed the company has, unfortunately, had some setbacks causing layoffs, but it has no plans to close the mine any time soon.

Hastie said, due to mostly supply chain issues, the construction of the mines Phase I hydromet processing facility is not complete. He said this has created a void in mining activities at the site.

"Missouri Cobalt has been operating a concentrator on site since 2019, reprocessing tailings that had been left on site from previous mining operations as part of the ongoing superfund remediation efforts," Hastie said. "Due to the EPAs administrative order of consent, the site must be completely capped to complete the remediation. This capping of historical mine tailings includes the current mining area; therefore, surface mining and concentrator operations have been shut down."

Hastie said, it is due to this reduction in activity that Missouri Cobalt is discontinuing or curtailing certain operations and reducing its workforce.

"Upon completion of the remediation, the concentrator and mining operations will resume," Hastie said. "Our construction of the hydromet processing facility also remains on schedule for completion in quarter four 2023. If the processing facility had been complete, Missouri Cobalt could have transitioned this workforce to the processing operation to allow for the completion of the remediation. However, that is not the case, and the layoffs were unavoidable."

Hastie said, mining operations are expected to resume later this year.

Despite the setback, Hastie said, "we are more excited about this project than ever. Our vision for this project has expanded. The site in Fredericktown is positioned very well to become the first battery grade metals processing hub in the U.S. The potential scale of this project is much larger than initially predicted by our management team."

Hastie also revealed the company has invested $220 million in the project thus far and will be finalizing a private equity raise in the next 30-45 days, bringing the total investment to almost $500 million. He said, he is also anticipating another investment of $300-$500 million for future phases and business lines.

"Missouri Cobalt very much appreciates the support of the Madison County community, and we hope everyone becomes as excited as we are about this project and its potential," Hastie said. "Bottom line, Missouri Cobalt ownership and executive team have an immense amount of capital and sweat invested in this project, and we are going see this project to the end."
Trace Creek is stringy like a mop, thick with algae and Sphaerotilus natans, a bacteria-loving growth known as sewage fungus. Coming down Liz Smiths ridge in White Bluff, you can smell the creek before you see it. The odor falls somewhere between industrial cleaning solution and an over-chlorinated swimming pool.

According to Smith, its worse in the summer when the creek gets low and the air is hot. Last year, she began clearing a path to the creek for her grandkids when her brother, who had experience assessing water quality, raised concerns about the smell and a visible layer of gray-green scum.

This is what people do here  we go out in the waterways, says Smith, standing in her kitchen on a warm April day. I want that pipe shut down. Its a disaster.

On the edge of Smiths property, a white PVC pipe juts out from the bank, pumping treated sewage into Trace Creek. This is the discharge point for the White Bluff Wastewater Treatment Plant on Shady Oak Road, operated by the Dickson County Water Authority. Further upstream, before the discharge point, the scum and algae clear up, giving way to a rocky creek bed full of snails and camouflaged stoneflies.

Their discharge permit prohibits discharge that creates visible scum, objectionable appearance, anything that would interfere with the recreational uses of this stream, says George Nolan, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. It appears to us that its a very clear pollution problem that needs to be addressed. He brought the issue to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, which regulates water permits. They didnt see a problem. In fact, TDEC had just approved their discharge permit.

Frankly, we were shocked when TDEC took the position that there is no pollution, no permit violation and no problem, says Nolan.

The water authority, state regulators, residents and environmental groups are now navigating a maze of appeals, hearings, rulings and corrective action. In one corner, the Water Authority of Dickson County argues that its three sewage plants  water reclamation facilities in industry jargon  have remained compliant with their permits even while expanding capacity to absorb explosive population growth. In the other, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Harpeth Conservancy, an environmental group, argues that visible pollution from WADCs discharge point requires immediate action from TDEC regulators.

Both sides have gotten mixed results from state regulators. After initially dismissing environmentalists concerns  officially filed as whats known as a 118(a) complaint brought under the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act of 1977  TDEC will have to defend its rationale in administrative court. Nolan, SELC and the Harpeth Conservancy appealed TDECs dismissal, elevating the matter to the Tennessee Board of Water Quality. In its legal filing, SELC argues that TDEC is turning a blind eye towards visible pollution in Trace Creek. A trial date is set for late October.

On April 4, TDEC indicated it will block WADCs proposal for a new sewage treatment plant a few miles down Route 46 in Hickman County. The proposed plant would process up to 12 million gallons a day, several times bigger than WADCs existing facilities, and discharge into Lick Creek, a popular fishing spot and tributary of the Duck River. The Lick and the Duck are vaunted as exceptional Tennessee waterways, an official recognition that confers additional protections against industry and development. Thousands of freshwater mussels purify the Duck, while Lick Creek is blessed with the coppercheek darter, a ray-finned fish the size of a large sardine.

The state argued that the facilitys danger to Lick Creek is more pressing than the need for additional sewage treatment. WADC has not demonstrated that  degradation of Exceptional Tennessee Waters is necessary to accommodate important economic or social development  and has not demonstrated that less-degrading alternatives are not practicable, reads its official statement, in part. The Tennessee Wildlife Federation and Friends of Lick Creek, a local advocacy group, celebrated the news. TDEC will host a public hearing in May before issuing a final ruling.

In its own letter, WADC argued that Dickson and Hickman counties are suffering economically. Expanded sewage capacity facilitates growth, allows for more homebuilding, and promotes industry. Waterways bear the burden. Population spillover from Nashville has driven demand for more infrastructure. Developers have pounced on cheaper land in Nashvilles collar counties like Dickson, Hickman, Cheatham, Sumner and Wilson. New clusters of homes mean solutions for how to get clean water in and sewage out.

Builders, many from Nashville, come out to these rural communities that dont have infrastructure for that kind of density, says Dorie Bolze, who heads the Harpeth Conservancy. They start to scream, We dont have enough money for a sewer plant. Its hard for small towns. Growth needs water and sewer.

More homes means more toilets; more flushing means more chlorine, nitrogen, PFOS, PFAS, phosphorus, E. coli and other chemical aspects of human life. Sewage discharge puts the state in the middle of growth and environmental protections, arbitrating an increasingly intense competition for habitat in Middle Tennessee between the residents of its houses and the residents of its rivers.
(Natural News) As we watch story after story come out of blue cities across America, including theft, riots, property destruction, vandalism and murder, and that just in the last week, we see patterns of behavior causing people and businesses to get out as fast as humanly possible, and those same blue city leaders doubling down on the soft-on-crime policies that started it all.

(Article by Susan Duclos republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

I will also have a document embedded at the bottom, that shows conclusively that they claim of there being a red state murder problem, stemming from a March 2022 study from a leftist think tank, Third Way, is nothing more than a bait and switch, since those numbers come from the murder rate in individual blue state cities within a red state.

There is a lot to unpack here, so lets begin.

BLUE CITY MADNESS: CRIME WAVES

In Chicago, run by radical liberal Lori Lightfoot, until May 15, 2023 when her term ends, after a call went out on social media, a massive mob of teenagers erupted into violence, vandalizing properties, busting up windshields and torching vehicles, while attacking motorists, forcing law enforcement to escort innocent bystanders to safety.

It was a lot of cops here but they were still outnumbered, the witness said. There were so many teenagers that showed up, and they tried to keep the peace and keep them under control. One woman whose car was damaged by the mob reported her husband was beaten while sitting in the passenger seat, and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The two teens shot in the melee were also taken to the hospital, and were in fair condition.

According to another report, with videos, police were overwhelmed for three consecutive nights.

A reminder that Chicago is part of Cook County, Illinois, which has a George Soros-backed District Attorney, Kim Foxx.

Here is just a little bit of history on her:

Kim FoxxCook County (Chicago), Illinois. Probably the most famous Soros-backed DA, Foxx was boosted into office with the help of $2 million in Soros cash. Foxx has most recently been in the news for potential ethics violations in her 2019 decision to drop charges against Jussie Smollet for his infamous hate crime hoax. (Smollett was recently convicted on the same charges.) Foxx has also made headlines for presiding over Chicagos largest spike in homicides in more than 30 years while her office dropped charges against 30 percent of felony defendants during 2020.

We are also seeing businesses leaving crime-ridden democrat-run cities.

Walmart:

Also happening in Chicago right now, Walmart has just announced they are shutting down four of their stores in the windy city, due to rampant theft costing them tens of millions each year.

The shuttering of store in Chicago comes just weeks after it closed its last two stores in Portland, Oregon. Another city controlled by Democrats, that has often been in the news due to crime, rioting and destruction of property.

Oregons Governor is Tina Kotek, a Democrat. Portlands Mayor is Ted Wheeler, a Democrat.

Walmart has also closed stores in Everett Washington, led by Democrat Mayor Cassie Franklin. Another in Minneapolis, Minnesota, led by Mayor Jacob Frey, Democrat. Yet Another Walmart closed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, run by Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Democrat.

Seeing the pattern?

More:

A store on Portage Road in Indiana, in Hawaii on Fort Street, San Mateo Boulevard in New Mexico, 99 H Street in D.C. and two stores on Howell Mill Road and M.L.K. Jr Drive in Atlanta. It also closed a further two in Illinois on South Halsted Street and South Route 59.

Walmart is not the only big chain store name closing stores in democrat-led cities due to rampant theft.

Target:

After losing more than $400 million in profits last November due to organized gangs of shoplifters, Target has announced the closing of multiple stores.

Stores in Baltimore, Maryland, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Alexandria, Virginia are being shuttered.

All four cities run by Democrat Mayors.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
(Natural News) The House Judiciary Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Jim Jordan, has obtained evidence, with the help of two witnesses from the Obama era, that a letter discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation during the 2020 election had connections to Joe Bidens presidential campaign.

Jordan told Just the News in an interview that he plans to release a report later this month from a House panel investigating the weaponization of government. The report is said to provide evidence and identify the individuals involved in a letter that a number of Republicans claim interfered in the last presidential election and had a significant impact.

It was all done with politics, and it looks like there was some real connections with the Biden campaign, Jordan said during an interview late last week on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

He would not provide more specifics because he said there were more witnesses to interview this week.

For the better part of the past two years, the letter authored by 51 national security officials has been depicted as a grassroots initiative from the intelligence community to express apprehension that the discovery of Hunter Bidens laptop in autumn of 2020 might be linked to a foreign nation.

Subsequently, the authenticity of the laptop has been established, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has confirmed that it did not entail foreign disinformation efforts, Just the News noted.

Although the letter was eventually discredited, prior to that, it was utilized to suppress articles on the internet in publications such as the New York Post, Just the News, and other media outlets. That was characterized by many individuals, including former President Donald Trump and Jordan, as an attempt to interfere with the election and prevent voters from gaining knowledge about allegations of influence peddling involving the Biden family.

Jordan has stated that his investigative team has obtained valuable information from transcribed interviews with two former CIA officials from the Obama administration: Mike Morrell, who served as acting Director, and Nick Shapiro, a former adviser to ex-Director John Brennan.

It seems to me that one of the key players here was Michael Morell, that he was one kind of coordinating this, working this together, Jordan told the news outlet. And then there are a few other folks. We have talked to Nick Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro, I think, was the one kind of coordinating the outreach to the legacy media and how they wanted this story presented.

Morell works as a contributor at CBS News now; a spokesman for the network did not immediately return an email from Just the News seeking comment from Morell or the network.

Shapiro, who previously served as Obamas national security spokesman and later worked as the deputy CIA director under Brennan, did not respond immediately to a request for comment made to his consulting firm.

Jordan stated that the interim report will reveal the precise connections to the Biden campaign once further transcribed interviews have been concluded, the news outlet continued.

Last month, Jordan described how he is taking the lead this session of Congress in investigating a range of important issues, including Hunter Bidens activities, school board matters, and concerns regarding Big Tech.

Weve actually done several. I think maybe more than  I think the rest of the Congress combined, said Jordan, who, at the time, said he sent a final batch of letters to U.S. intelligence veterans for a probe related to Hunter Biden.

I would bet every one of those 51 former intel officials who signed that letter  that now-infamous letter, Jordan said. I would bet every one of them still has a security clearance. Why?

I think its for their personal benefit, Jordan continued. I think that thats something that has value, and frankly, they probably make money off the idea that they can get information. And many of them are contributors on various TV networks. So, why should they have a security clearance? Thats maybe one of the things we propose as legislation to help remedy some of the problems.

Sources include:

ConservativeBrief.com

JustTheNews.com
(Natural News) Authorities in New York City (NYC) arrested 327 people a combined 6,000 times for shoplifting in 2022, accounting for more than a third of arrests for the said crime.

The New York Times reported about the issue on April 15, citing remarks by NYC Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell. According to the commissioner, some engage in shoplifting as a trade, while others are driven by addiction or mental illness. The police did not identify the 327 people, the Times added.

Citing a new analysis of police data by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the Gray Lady reported that the theft of items valued at less than $1,000 at major commercial locations has increased by 53 percent since 2019. It added that shoplifting complaints nearly doubled over the past five years  peaking at almost 64,000 in 2022. Only about 34 percent of shoplifting complaints resulted in arrests last year, compared with 60 percent in 2017.

Breitbarts John Nolte put in his two cents on the issue in an April 17 op-ed. Taking the numbers as reported, he pointed out that 327 people were arrested an average of 18 times for shoplifting. However, Nolte lamented that the arrests mean nothing as they represent the number of times the culprits were caught.

Imagine how many times they shoplifted without being caught. Imagine how secure they feel shoplifting knowing that even if they are caught, there is no penalty other than the inconvenience of walking through the revolving door.

Nolte then challenged authorities in the Big Apple to put the 327 suspects in jail to decrease shoplifting  dramatically. But the Breitbart senior writer ultimately remarked that NYC wouldnt, because George Soros does not want them to.

He ultimately pointed his finger at the Hungarian globalist billionaire and the Democrat district attorneys he bankrolls  including Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg  for decriminalizing shoplifting. (Related: RIGGED: George Soros funded Manhattan DA Alvin Braggs campaign with $1 million as he pledged to jail Trump.)

Shoplifting also out of control in California

The problem is not only limited to the East Coast. A California DA also warned that soft-on-crime policies that guaranteed zero consequences for culprits contributed to out-of-control shoplifting.

During his appearance on EpochTVs California Insider, El Dorado County DA Vern Pierson zeroed in on criminal justice reform laws passed at the state level. One such law is Proposition 47, which voters in the Golden State passed in 2014.

Proposition 47 downgraded certain thefts and drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. It also permitted currently imprisoned felons to petition for re-sentencing under the new classifications. Those who have already served their prison terms can also have their past convictions reclassified as misdemeanors.

Its most well-known statute raised the minimum amount of stolen goods for a felony classification from $400 to $950. This statute, critics argued, was the main cause of a sudden increase in petty theft across California.

The practical reality is that most retailers have learned if they call law enforcement for a theft of less than $950, [police officers] will not respond, remarked Pierson. If they respond at most, what they will do is issue a citation [for court appearance]. The DA added that most theft suspects do not show up in court as there are little to no consequences.

Because of this, most businesses in the Golden State have a policy that prevents employees from reporting low-level property crimes. Some stores completely stopped reporting petty theft altogether as the police cant do much, Pierson said.

To make things worse, Proposition 47 empowered robbery suspects to sue establishments if store employees physically confront suspects while in the act. The DA lamented: Were a very litigious society here in California. The stores and their insurance carriers really are afraid of being sued for trying to stop a crime that has little to no consequence.

Visit Anarchy.news for more stories about out-of-control shoplifting and theft in blue areas.

Watch El Dorado County DA Vern Piersons full interview on California Insider below, where he expounds on the Golden States shoplifting problem.

This video is from the high impact Flix and more!!! channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Robbing spree: Organized criminal elements hitting California luxury retailers.

California DA: SHOPLIFTING in the Golden State is out of control, soft-on-crime policies to blame.

Businesses fleeing Washington, California and New York because of crime, violence and anti-business policies.

LAWLESS CHAOS: LAPD tells residents to comply with robbers as society collapses in blue cities escape while you still can.

Check out the worst NYC criminals who were repeatedly released by Manhattan DA Bragg while he focused on indicting Trump.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TheEpochTimes.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Just seven days after getting vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joel Wallskog developed a career-ending health condition called transverse myelitis that transformed him from a completely healthy 50-year-old to a crippled, unemployed orthopedic surgeon.

In a past lifetime, Wallskog would have garnered lots of love and support from his colleagues over his tragic fate, but because of the politically charged nature of Fauci Flu shots, Wallskog was abandoned by others in his profession who are apparently too scared or brainwashed to lend him any kind of support.

I was a completely healthy 50-year-old person with really no medical problems until about seven days after my first  or I should say one and only Moderna shot  that I received on December 30th of 2020, Wallskog told co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy of Fox & Friends Weekend during a recent appearance.

So, I was completely otherwise healthy until seven days after the shot.

Sympathetically, Campos-Duffy offered her sympathies and asked Wallskog what happens next for him and who takes responsibility for this, to which he responded:

What happens is youre abandoned. You get your shot, you do what you think is the right thing, and you kind of do your part, and then all of a sudden youre abandoned. And what I say is a lot of these people that are injured are really abandoned from the standpoint of physically, financially and emotionally.

(Related: Early on in the scamdemic, Dr. Patricia Lee, an ICU doctor, warned that covid jabs were causing many fully vaccinated patients to develop the kinds of life-altering health conditions that Wallskog suffered.)

Big Pharma raked in billions while evading all responsibility for jab injuries, deaths

None of this would have happened had the pharmaceutical industry not been granted a full liability exemption by Congress and the Trump administration just prior to the launch of Operation Warp Speed.

Had vaccine corporations like Moderna been held legally responsible for all negative outcomes from their products, they would not have been able to rake in billions of dollars, according to Wallskog, while evading the brunt of vaccine injuries and deaths.

Recognizing that there are many others like him who are now injured and have no financial recourse, Wallskog has created an advocacy organization to help others like him to survive the fallout from their misguided decision to get jabbed.

Thats who I fight for, Wallskog said. And fortunately, Im financially stable, but I fight for all the people that arent. And thats why I started an advocacy organization to try to help us support them.

You know, theres no pharma fund and theres a fund called  through the government  called the CICP or the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program. But to date, the program has only paid out three claims totaling less than $5,000. And unfortunately, their denial rate for these people that are injured is 96.5 percent.

According to Reuters, there were more than 7,500 official covid jab injury claims filed as of the end of the 2022 calendar year. Of these, 68 claims have been denied compensation.

Its devastated us, Wallskog says about all the online censorship that he and other victims are encountering as they attempt to tell their stories on social media.

I mean, as you know, through kind of the Twitter files or data dump from Twitter, they even acknowledged in the files that true stories of vaccine-injured people; they were instructed to censor them. And its devastating to us, because part of it is acknowledgment. I mean, with acknowledgment, we can hopefully then get diagnostics and treatments.

The latest news about deadly Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

FoxNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Solar and wind combined to produce more electricity than natural gas-fired power plants in Europe last year. But renewable energy is not enough to cover the declining hydro and nuclear output across the continent.

Last years droughts in Europe caused severe declines in hydropower electricity output. In Spain, for instance, hydropower output dropped by almost half because of the droughts.

Nuclear isnt doing so swell, either. France suddenly found that years of underinvestment in maintenance would lead to emergency reactor shutdowns for repairs and maintenance.

The Electricity of France (EDF), a French multinational electric utility company, suffered a massive annual loss of $19 billion as half of its reactors had to be shut down for maintenance.

Nuclear experts have seen this coming when France decided to bet on renewables over nuclear.

In October, PV Magazine reported how wind and solar had compensated for the reduced output from hydro and nuclear power plants.

The article noted that wind and solar accounted for 24 percent of Europes electricity generation between March and September. During the same period, hydro output fell by 21 percent and nuclear fell by 19 percent.

Wind and solar continue to produce electricity at a record rate. However, Reuters Gavin Maguire reported in a recent column that declines in hydropower and nuclear output are so severe they are more than offsetting those record output rates.

Things could become problematic later in the year as business activity across the continent begins to rebound after the energy crunch of last year, the Reuters columnist noted. And most of the Russian gas that was available last year may no longer be an option. (Related: Europes energy shortage about to hit full-blown crisis mode after Russia completely shuts down major pipeline.)

EU wants to stop Russian LNG imports as another energy crunch looms

The European Union (EU) countries agreed on March 28 to seek a legal option to stop Russian companies from sending liquefied natural gas (LNG) to them.

In March, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson urged European companies not to sign new Russian LNG deals. Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera made a similar request to firms in Spain.

However, such requests are not binding because Russian gas and LNG are not subject to EU sanctions.

The Energy ministers of EU countries proposed that the blocs new gas market rules should include the option for governments to temporarily stop Russian and Belarusian gas exporters from bidding up-front for capacity on the infrastructure needed to deliver LNG into Europe.

If approved, the proposal would offer member states a route to stop Russian LNG imports without using sanctions.

The bloc has pledged to ditch Russian gas in response to Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Europes pipeline imports of gas from Russia have plunged since the invasion, but LNG imports have increased.

EU countries like France may soon look for alternatives.

French nuclear energy is a major source of hope. But at the moment, French nuclear power plants are producing 17.5 percent less than the average output rate for 2020 and 2021.

Hydro is trickier because it is weather-dependent. A repeat of last years drought is a distinct possibility due to Europes mild winter that saw a lot less snow than usual.

Thus, EU countries may need to import a lot more LNG from their new top supplier, the United States.

Watch this video that explains why renewable energy is a scam.

This video is from the gocephas channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Europes energy crisis explained.

Europe energy prices spike as winds pause in stormy North Sea.

Bill Gates: Energy crisis taking out Europes economy is GOOD.

Europe is in a DEINDUSTRIALIZATION SPIRAL due to ongoing energy crisis.

Sources include:

OilPrice.com

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Ukrainian drones allegedly attacked two key Russian electricity supply stations, causing massive explosions that left thousands without power in a city 20 miles from the border with Ukraine.

Stunning footage that was taken overnight showed how the bombing of the power station sites in the city of Belgorod in the Belgorod Oblast (region) created a massive inferno that spiraled high into the night sky. The alleged Ukrainian drone strikes targeted a crucial substation in Belgorod citys Igumenka suburb and in the nearby village of Dragunskoe.

In Belgorod and the Belgorod region, two fires were recorded at civilian facilities, said Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. The governor noted that there were no casualties, but parts of the city of 340,000 suffered blackouts.

According to Telegram channels, there were separate unconfirmed Ukrainian claims that the drone strikes destroyed a Murom-P mobile surveillance complex. Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian military and civilian infrastructure using drones. The government in Kyiv has even admitted to using sabotage tactics to cause fires in Russia.

Much of this is no accident, said Ukrainian intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov. He admitted that Ukraine was paying Russian saboteurs to set off many of the unusual explosions and fires in Russia. Something is constantly on fire [in Russia].

Signaling equipment on railways, it lights up several times a day, on various highways constantly for two to three hours, sometimes for five to six hours, traffic gets suspended, he added. Clearly, it doesnt just happen like this I would put it this way: Money works wonders.

Drone strikes come as Ukraine prepares for counteroffensive

This recent drone strike occurred just as Ukraine is at the tail-end of its months-long effort to build up its forces over the winter for a spring counteroffensive, although there is no telling exactly when or where the attacks are likely to take place. (Related: Report  Ukraine to run out of anti-air missiles by end of May.)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal claimed that the counteroffensive would begin in the near future, while President Volodymyr Zelensky declared in a televised address that final preparations were being made.

The key is the constant destruction of the occupiers which is done to downgrade their logistic capabilities and any potential in the occupied territories. This is preparation for our active operations, this is counteroffensive work, said Zelensky.

But intense and ongoing fighting in the disputed Donbas region, particularly around the embattled city of Bakhmut, is thought to have absorbed a huge amount of Ukraines resources. The Wagner Group, a pro-Russian mercenary force that has been leading much of the Russian Armys pushes against the city, recently announced that it captures more of the city each day. Ukrainian defense officials maintain that their defenses have not capitulated yet.

Some of the classified American intelligence documents that were leaked revealed part of Ukraines plans.

One of the documents summarized the training schedules of 12 Ukrainian combat brigades, noting that nine of those brigades were being trained by specialists from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The document even outlined Ukrainian demands for an additional 250 tanks and more than 350 mechanized vehicles.

Visit WWIII.news for more updates on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Watch the video below that talks about the Ukraine war document leak.

This video is from the channel The Pete Santilli Show on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Report: Russia SLASHED oil output in March in response to Western sanctions, price cap.

Classified military documents detailing US-NATO plans in Ukraine leak online.

Pentagon vows to investigate after classified U.S., NATO plans to build up Ukrainian military leak online.

Zelensky admits Ukraine already OUT OF AMMO  another begging spree in the works.

Sources include:

The-Sun.com

DailyMail.co.uk

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) New reports show that certain meat products have been tainted with mRNA vaccinations for years, and there are plans to expand which meat products are injected with mRNA vaccines.

Research by Dr. Joseph Mercola shows that American pork producers have been using customizable mRNA-based vaccines on their herds since 2018. (Related: Government and Big Pharma plan to taint food supply by injecting animals with mRNA vaccines.)

[Pork] is one of the most popular meats worldwide outside of the Middle East and places like that  and theyre already putting [mRNA] in the food supply, warned Josh Sigurdson of World Alternative Media.

Theres evidence that there is already mRNA technology being found in meat at grocery stores, he added. Big Ag has already kickstarted the plan by injecting pigs  with mRNA gene therapy.

What Mercolas report means is that Americans have likely eaten pork products treated with gene therapy mRNA vaccines for nearly five years already.

The report added that it is impossible to determine how many pork producers have injected their herds with mRNA vaccines. Furthermore, it can also be safely assumed that so-called organic pork products could also be tainted as organic standards do not have any rules on the use of vaccines, let alone mRNA-based vaccines.

It seems reasonable to assume nearly all large-scale swine producers have made this transition, wrote Mercola. He further warned that more and more meat products in the United States are likely to be treated with mRNA vaccinations.

mRNA vaccines may soon contaminate beef and poultry supplies

Mercolas warning has been confirmed by multiple sources, including Ohio-based lawyer Thomas Renz, who warned that Big Pharma companies like Merck and Moderna are planning to expand access to these unregulated experimental technologies to the entire food supply to mass vaccinate the American population.

We know that [Big Pharma] can actually make whats called transmissible mRNA. And what that means is that they can put this stuff in an animal so that it transmits to whoever is ingesting whatever it is that theyre ingesting and they become vaccinated, said Renz. So they could engineer this into plants, into animals, into various things.

The National Cattlemens Beef Association denied that it has allowed mRNA vaccinations for beef in the United States.

There are no current mRNA vaccines licensed for use in beef cattle in the United States, said the association in a statement. However, one lobbyist for the association said specific herds have already been double vaccinated with mRNA vaccines against bovine respiratory disease.

Furthermore, the company Harrisvaccines  later acquired by Merck subsidiary Merck Animal Health  already developed an mRNA vaccine for avian influenza in 2015, licensed in the same year for use with poultry. Newer mRNA-lipid nanoparticle shots for avian influenza are also in the works.

Renz warned in an interview that certain Big Pharma companies, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), may have been pursuing infecting the food supply with mRNA vaccines for over 20 years.

Ive got documents from the NIH  from 2002  talking about integrating vaccines into foods, said Renz. Theyve been working on integrating these into our food supply. Theyve been working on it for at least two decades.

Renz noted that one way consumers can avoid accidentally eating mRNA products is through food product labeling requirements. One state  Missouri  currently has a bill going through its state legislature mandating such disclosures.

If we dont get disclosure, if we dont pass some informed consent laws, whats going to happen is, for all you guys that stood strong and said no to these mRNA vaccines, well youre going to get them anyways through your food, said Renz.

Learn more about the plan to introduce mRNA into the food supply at FoodEvolution.news.

Watch this episode of World Alternative Media as host Josh Sigurdson discusses the evidence proving the meat supply has already been tainted with mRNA.

This video is from the World Alternative Media channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Pork producers have been using mRNA-based GENE THERAPY on animals since 2018.

Mad scientists are now experimenting with mRNA injections in beef, poultry, pork and produce food supply bioweapons?

FOOD VAX: Study confirms development of oral mRNA vaccine thats produced in cows milk.

MIT confirms that RNA vaccines can be absorbed through the stomach and intestines, so what about mRNA vaccines in meat animals?

The INSIDIOUS Bill Gates intends to force-vaccinate all HUMANS by first injecting farm animals with deadly mRNA.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Articles.Mercola.com

Expose-News.com

InfoWars.com
History will come alive in Arcadia Valley this weekend. A Civil War Living History event will be held at the Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site, located at 118 East Maple St. in Pilot Knob, on Saturday.

The free event is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is open to the public. Visitors will see Civil War reenactors, dressed in period-correct regalia, practice military maneuvers and demonstrate what military and refugee life was like in the camps.

The occasion is being sponsored and organized by Missouri State Parks, a division of the Department of Natural Resources; and the Turner Brigade, a Union Civil War reenacting group made of infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineer, and civilian units.

In addition to bringing Civil War history alive for modern visitors, the event serves as an opportunity for the reenactors to muster for spring drills. During the war, spring was traditionally the time when units would reorganize after a long winter, readying themselves for the battle seasons of summer and fall.

The Spring Drill is used as a training event, according to Bryan Bethel, manager of the Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site. Bethel said members of the Turner Brigade will refresh their safety protocols, provide period-correct presentation, and practice the operation of the firearms and artillery used in reenactments.

As part of the Turner Brigade's annual training in advance of the upcoming reenactment session, reenactors will be firing both infantry firearms and artillery, and the camp will be open for visitors to interact with participants and ask questions.

They are very open to the public attending and will take time to explain to the civilians what they are doing and why, said Bethel. So it is a great opportunity for the public to peek behind the curtain and learn not only about the Civil War, but how the people at that time lived.

Bethel said Spring Drill also spotlights the many ways in which reenactors honor those who lived the history by portraying them in a respectful, accurate, and safe way.

By the time Saturday arrives, members of the Turner Brigade will already have experienced a warm-up to the drill, providing educational programs to eighth graders from Arcadia Valley, to the entirety of the Belleview School, and to third-graders from Roosevelt Elementary in Farmington.

Bethel confirmed this reenactment should not be confused with the larger event that sometimes takes place at the state historic site, reenacting the Battle of Pilot Knob. The large Battle of Pilot Knob reenactment is held every three years, and is next scheduled for September 2024.

Anyone who has any questions about the event, can call Bethel at 573-546-3454.
(Natural News) What could possibly cause almost every type of cancer to exacerbate within just months? What toxin are so many humans consuming over the past couple years that so many cancer cases are increasing, exponentially? Invasive breast cancer for 2022 was newly diagnosed in over a quarter million women, as incidence rates continue to increase. Also, in 2022, newly diagnosed lung cancer cases exceeded 230,000, as those also continue to increase. Plus, after decades of decline, now prostate cancer cases are on the rise. What in the world is happening?

Oddly, ever since the Covid-19 vaccines came out, millions of injected victims are either developing cancer out of the blue or their current case of cancer has suddenly worsened, or they had cancer that went into remission, and suddenly it has returned with a vengeance. This requires careful consideration. Lets take a closer look.

Dramatic rise in early onset cancers since the experimental mRNA Covid jabs were released for mass human trials

One could say that there are several billion guinea pigs on earth, wobbling around like confused zombies, wondering why they suddenly have chronic inflammation. Every single human who got injected with experimental mRNA technology is a like a lab-tested animal, waiting to find out if the medication takes, or takes them out instead.

Millions of cancer deaths are now being hidden by the medical industrial complex and the vaccine industrial complex.

A medical doctor in British Columbia, Dr. Charles Hoffe, ran PET/CT scans on cancer patients who got a Pfizer mRNA booster shot a week earlier, and found they had rapid progression of T-cell lymphoma, a dramatic increase of gastrointestinal lesions, plus a turbo-effect of spreading of cells in the lymph nodes under the arms near the armpits. Its called TURBO CANCER because the spike proteins serve as a turbo-like fuel or carcinogen that feeds the cancer cells so they multiply exponentially, invading the rest of the body. The spike proteins literally turn off genes that fight off cancer (P-53), leaving the genome unguarded.

Spike proteins, it turns out, are the perfect food for feeding cancer. That means that the majority of Covid-vaccinated patients could experience critical health damage in the coming months and years, especially as more and more people get booster shots. Cancer cells in the Covid-vaccine-injected body are being fed, while the human immune system is being instructed (think mRNA) to stand down and not fight the cancer.

Toxic prions known as spike proteins are recognized by the immune system as foreign invaders and pathogens that are invading vital organs

Attack of the killer clones. Tiny little terrorists (spike proteins) dressed up and wearing a mask that looks like a lab-concocted virus are invading human organs, causing the immune system to attack, while feeding evil cancer cells the fuel they need to grow and take over. These toxic prions mimic a deadly virus, and they do not remain in the injection site, as the vaccine industrial complex misinforms the masses with their disinformation about this.

Anyone who is battling cancer or already battled it and beat it, now has a new challenge on their hands, and its more of a war than just a battle. Millions of spike proteins are floating around in their Covid-vax-injected system, and its like spreading candy around the house for the cockroaches and ants to find. Cancer is being fed by the Fauci Flu injections, and MSM wont say a word about it. Just look at the skyrocketing cases of all kinds of cancer over the past two years, and you will see.

#1. Turbo cancer  existing tumors grow exponentially quicker (plus multiple tumors in multiple organs)

#2. Breast cancer

#3. Recurrence (and metastasis) after complete remission prior to Covid jab(s)

#4. Lung and bronchus cancer

#5. Prostate cancer

#6. Colon and rectum cancer

#7. Stomach and esophageal cancer

Bookmark Censored.news to your favorite websites for truth news about cancer and the Covid clot shots that are being censored from the rest of media as you read this.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

News.Harvard.edu

ThePeoplesVoice.tv
(Natural News) Ever since being illegally installed in the White House via a fraudulent election, fake president Joe Biden has been flooding the country with illegal aliens, reversing much of what President Donald Trump accomplished in the years prior to seal the southern border. Now, the Biden regime is looking for new places to house all these invaders, including in your spare bedroom.

In a video posted to the ShareAmerica YouTube page, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the launch of a new program called Welcome Corps that encourages ordinary Americans to open up their homes to all these new refugees that have flooded across the border in recent years.

The Department of State, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is pleased to announce the creation of the Welcome Corps, a new private sponsorship program that empowers everyday Americans to play a leading role in welcoming refugees arriving through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and supporting their resettlement and integration as they build new lives in the United States, Blinken states in the video, which you can watch below.

Over the past year, the American people have extended an extraordinarily welcoming hand to our Afghan allies, Ukrainians displaced by war, and Venezuelans and others fleeing violence and oppression. The Welcome Corps will build on Americans generosity of spirit by creating a durable program for Americans in communities across the country to privately sponsor refugees from around the world. The Welcome Corps is the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades.

(Related: The Biden regime also announced plans this week to expand illegal alien access to free taxpayer-funded health care and other exclusive benefits available only to invaders.)

How many illegal aliens will you welcome into your home to please Biden?

The first phase of the Welcome Corps program involves matching refugees with private sponsors so they can be put in placement homes straightaway. This was scheduled to occur within the first six months of 2023, meaning it is already well underway as we near the end of April.

Not only has the Biden regime abolished the southern border entirely, allowing untold numbers of illegal invaders to enter at will, but it is welcoming them by rolling out the red carpet and basically facilitating their entry into the country. From there, it is up to you to deal with the fallout, either by housing these people personally or watching them take over your local community.

The idea that Joe is going to let millions of people walk across the southern border and then ask you to take them in as if you were adopting a pet from a shelter may sound like the plot of a Saturday Night Live skit, reports AND Magazine. When you consider it in context, however, it seems completely consistent with this administrations policy.

The average American believes and expects that our government is at least nominally attempting to control the flow of migrants into this country. That is not even arguably true. In fact, it is now the explicit, formal policy of the United States government to ensure the orderly movement of huge numbers of people into this country. We are not trying to stop them and failing. We are bringing them here.

The Biden regime is framing it all much differently, of course, suggesting that this is the safe, orderly, and humane way to deal with the illegal immigrant migration around the world, including to the United States.

America has been taken over from within by globalists who want to gut and replace its population with third world invaders. More on this can be found at InvasionUSA.news.

Sources for this article include:

ANDMagazine.substack.com

YouTube.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) For supplying weapons to Taiwan, United States war corporations Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies Corp. have been sanctioned by communist China as the conflict between it and the West escalates.

In a statement issued this week, Chinas Ministry of Commerce announced that the sanctions include a ban on both imports and exports by the two companies to and from China in order to prevent Chinese products from being used in their military bases.

The Chinese government agency further added that Chinese companies should strengthen their due diligence and compliance system construction to verify transaction information, and make sure to never knowingly conduct business with either Lockheed or Raytheon while importing, exporting, or transporting products.

While it remains unknown exactly what penalties might be attached to violations of this order, it is clear that Lockheed and Raytheon will likely feel the pinch in their bottom line. The U.S. already bars most sales of weapons-related technology to China, but some military contractors do own civilian businesses in aerospace and other markets, which makes the new ban tricky and potentially even more impactful.

(Related: During covid, China was the first, and as far as we know only, country in the world that was swabbing peoples anuses in search of coronavirus.)

China aims to stop U.S. from equipping Taiwan with weapons of war

Last fall, Raytheon Missiles & Defense was the recipient of a nearly half a billion-dollar contract ($412 million) to upgrade Taiwanese military radar as part of a massive $1.1 billion taxpayer-funded package of U.S. arms sales to the island, which, though being self-governed, has been claimed by China.

It turns out that Taiwan gets most of its weapons from the U.S., its biggest unofficial ally. China is growing weary of this alliance, and as of late has been sending fighter jets and warships toward the island to surround it in acts of military pressure and intimidation.

The situation has further come to a head as far as U.S. defense contractors are concerned with China prohibiting the senior executives of both Lockheed and Raytheon from traveling to the country for work or otherwise.

Listed as barred from China are Lockheed Martin CEO James Donald Taiclet, COO Frank Andrew St. John and CFO Jesus Malave, and President Wesley D. Kremer and Vice Presidents Agnes Soeder and Chander Nijhon from Raytheon Missiles & Defense.

How is China going to enforce this sanction because Taiwan (province of China) will be importing billions of dollars in defense equipment from Raytheon and Lockheed? one commenter wrote on a Chinese state-run media article about the conflict. China going to blockade and confiscate the illegal shipments to Taiwan (province of China)?

This is funny because now USA programs may be crippled without raw materials, wrote another about how all China has to do to respond is cut the U.S. off from access to its rare earth mineral supplies. Without rare earth, I cannot guess what kinds of weapons they can produce.

Raytheon and Lockheed will need to award themselves a badge of honor for being on Chinas sanctioned list, wrote someone else. Perhaps the U.S. should block all access on advanced semiconductors of dual use.

Another wrote that the impact of this could be far-reaching, seeing as how all sorts of companies that do business with Raytheon and / or Lockheed also do business in China.

Any company that does business with these companies will not be allowed to do business with China, this person wrote. For example, Boeing has one-fourth of its aircraft market in China. I guess they are trembling.

More related news can be found at Overlords.news.

Sources for this article include:

DefenseNews.com

NaturalNews.com

SCMP.com
(Natural News) China plans to begin the construction of a lunar base in about five years using bricks made of moon soil, according to scientists connected to the project.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) first broke the news, citing a report by China Science Daily (CSD). Ding Lieyun, a scientist at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), told the outlet that the first brick would be made from moon soil during the Change 8 mission scheduled in 2028.

In a separate interview with Changjiang Daily, Ding said his team is designing robots called Chinese Super Masons to build bricks out of lunar soil. These robots will be launched during the Change mission. The scientist added that China seeks to recover the worlds first soil sample from the far side of the moon by 2025.

Building a habitat on the moon is needed for long-term lunar explorations, and will certainly be realized in the future, Ding told CSD. Eventually, building habitation beyond Earth is essential not only for all humanitys quest for space exploration  but also for Chinas strategic needs as a space power.

SCMP also reported that Yu Dengyun from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation had given an updated timeline for the next three Change missions. Change 6 will launch in 2025 to collect soil samples from the far side of the moon, while Change 7 will launch in 2026 to look for water ice. Lastly, Change 8 will launch in 2028 with the Chinese Super Masons to build the moon base.

However, the interview did not clarify whether the entire base will be constructed with lunar soil. Beijing has earlier stated that the planned lunar base will be powered by nuclear energy. It will also include a lander, hopper, orbiter and rover  all of which would be made by the three aforementioned Change missions.

China already making giant leaps on the moon

According to the SCMP, the remarks came amid Chinas first Extraterrestrial Construction Conference at the HUST. More than 100 Chinese scientists, researchers and space contractors attended the conference held in the city of Wuhan.

The moon base is the latest move in Beijings plan to assert cosmic superiority. It has already sent probes to the moon, constructed its own space station and is also setting its sights on Mars. According to a state media report, the Change 5 mission first got soil samples from the moons near side in 2020.

In 2021, China officially declared its plans to construct the International Lunar Research Station in collaboration with Russia. This is planned to be fully autonomous at first, with robots performing tasks such as exploiting local resources. (Related: China, Russia sign agreement to build space station on the moon, the high ground above planet Earth.)

Chinas progress in space has been stunning in the last few years, and this includes landing a rover on the far side of the moon for the first time; sending rovers, landers and orbiters to Mars; and constructing its own space station on Earths orbit.

Last month, Beijing stated its intent to bring its taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) to the moon by the end of the decade. The nation has said that it wants its astronauts to remain on the moon for long periods once it sets up a lunar research station.

Follow Space.news for more news about moon missions.

Watch this video about Chinas plan to build a lunar base using moon soil.

This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Space race? Russia to partner with China to build the first lunar base after rejecting US space deal.

China may try to claim the moon as prize if it beats US in space race.

China could claim parts of the moon, NASA head warns.

Russia plans to install nuclear-powered observatory on its future moon base.

NASA-Space Force agreement may pave the way for a military moon base.

Sources include:

FinancialPost.com

Reuters.com

BusinessInsider.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) While speaking at the NRAs Leadership Forum Friday, former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump said he will ask Congress to send national reciprocity to his desk during his second term.

(Article by Awr Hawkins republished from Breitbart.com)

Trump said, I will ask Congress to send a bill to my desk[for] national concealed carry reciprocity.

He added, Just like your drivers license or your marriage license, your Second Amendment must apply across state lines. It will. Well get it done pretty quickly, too.

BREAKING: Donald Trump calls for national concealed carry reciprocity at the NRA Convention: Just like your drivers license or your marriage license, your Second Amendment must apply across state lines. pic.twitter.com/0ImObQRIYX  ALX ?? (@alx) April 14, 2023

Breitbart News reported that Trump stressed his support for national reciprocity going into his 2016 presidential campaign.

He did so via a policy paper on Second Amendment rights, saying:

The right of self-defense doesnt stop at the end of your driveway. Thats why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A drivers license works in every state, so its common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving  which is a privilege, not a right  then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.

During his speech Friday at the NRA Leadership Forum Trump also pledged a tax credit for teachers who train to be armed.

Read more at: Breitbart.com
(Natural News) During an appearance with Fox News Tucker Carlson this week, billionaire electric vehicle (EV) guru Elon Musk promised to unleash a new TruthGPT artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that he says will function as a competitor against the chatbots previously unleashed by Microsoft and Google.

Calling it the third option in the AI chatbot race, Musk says his TruthGPT will not lie like the others, which he says are closed source and for profit.

Its simply starting late, Musk explained about his TruthGPT chatbot. But I will try to create a third option.

Musk, who claims to be a champion of free speech ever since he took over Twitter and made it private, is promising that the TruthGPT chatbot will have a lesser left-wing bias than the others, which are widely criticized for dispensing woke responses to all sorts of questions.

(Related: Last month, an AI chatbot committed its first murder by encouraging a mentally deranged man to kill himself in order to stop global warming.)

Wait, didnt Elon Musk just call for a six-month moratorium on all AI projects?

Musk also took aim at Google co-founder Larry Page, accusing him of failing to take the threat of AI seriously  even as Musk himself is announcing plans to unleash his own competitors AI system.

Im going to start something which I call TruthGPT, or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe, Musk stated, adding that TruthGPT might be the best path to safety in that it is unlikely to annihilate humans.

To make his project a reality, Musk is poaching AI researchers from Google parent company Alphabet Inc. From this, he plans to unleash a rival OpenAI platform.

Just last month, Musk registered a new firm in the state of Nevada called X.AI Corp, which lists Musk as the sole director and Jared Birchall, the managing director of Musks family office, as secretary.

The announcement about TruthGPT comes just days after Musk and a group of AI experts and industry executives called for a six-month pause on all AI projects, warning that they have the potential to destroy society and humanity itself.

Musk addressed this during his interview with Tucker, warning that AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production.

It has the potential of civilizational destruction, he added  you can watch a portion of the interview below:

An AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans.@elonmusk tells @TuckerCarlson why hes creating Truth GPT pic.twitter.com/ZylwsfkZfq  Fox News (@FoxNews) April 18, 2023

Musk says he is concerned that a super intelligent AI has the potential to write incredibly well and thus persuade and manipulate public opinions in one direction or another.

Over the weekend, Musk tweeted that he once spoke with Barack Hussein Obama about the threat of AI. Musk says he encouraged Obama to enact more AI regulation so as to prevent an AI takeover of the world.

Hypocritically, Musk co-founded his own AI development firm called OpenAI back in 2015, which he stepped down from in 2019 to focus his attention on Tesla and SpaceX.

Tesla was competing for some of the same people as OpenAI & I didnt agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do, Musk explained in the tweet.

The danger of training AI to be woke  in other words, lie  is deadly, Musk warned in another tweet.

Since its release last November, ChatGPT has been caught advising people on which antibiotic drugs to take; fooling job recruiters into thinking it was a real person with proper job qualifications; writing essays for students; developing recipes for cooks, and much more.

More related news about the AI takeover of the world can be found at FutureTech.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Now that at least 230 million Americans have already gotten at least two doses of a Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing the rules on a whim to only require one mRNA injection, period, with no additional boosters.

The FDA made the change this week under the guise of simplify[ing] the covid vaccination schedule, ending entirely the two-dose mRNA regimen that was aggressively pushed  and in many cases forced  on Americans as a result of Operation Warp Speed.

From now on, almost nobody older than 65 will be eligible for any further booster shots. And most people in general will only get one shot  unless they have already gotten more, in which case they are up a creek without a paddle.

The FDAs latest claim is that the new bivalent injections are more than enough to cover all the things as the earlier multi-dose injections. We are told that the bivalent shots work better against the latest Omicron (an anagram for Moronic) strains of the so-called virus, despite the fact that there is zero evidence to suggest that any of these shots do anything other than destroy a persons health.

Most unvaccinated individuals may receive a single dose of a bivalent vaccine, rather than multiple doses of the original monovalent mRNA vaccines, the FDA now says.

(Related: Check out this piece we published showing Ron Paul and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calling out the covid pandemic as a sham.)

Fauci, too, is now telling Americans to skip second covid jab

Not to be outdone by the FDA in its hypocrisy, government career criminal Tony Fauci, formerly of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has also come out with a warning that Americans should skip the second covid jab dose  even though most of them already received it.

It is hard to overstate the importance of this change, which effectively undoes more than two years of public health guidance on the importance of the two-dose mRNA regimen, notes Alex Berenson, writing on his Substack.

The change is even bigger than it appears. Each dose of the Moderna bivalent vaccine contains only half as much as [sic] mRNA as the original Moderna shot. So people who receive the Moderna vaccine will get only one-quarter as much mRNA as the original dosing schedule, 50 micrograms instead of 200.

The new single-dose Pfizer mRNA injection, by comparison, contains 30 mcg of mRNA, the same amount as the original dose. This means that Pfizer recipients are now being told that they only needed half the amount of mRNA to receive protection.

It is worth noting that these sudden changes by the FDA and Fauci are arriving right on schedule as demand for mRNA injections has plummeted. More Americans than ever before are waking up to the dangers of mRNA, and many are saying no way to any further shots of the stuff.

Every day, only about one in 9,000 Americans is receiving a covid injection. This is compared to one in 40,000 Germans, according to the latest data.

The excuse the government is providing for the sudden change is that most people now have hybrid immunity, which means there does not need to be as much mRNA pumped into peoples bodies moving forward.

Who are these morons? one commenter asked about the one in 9,000 Americans who are still lining up to get shot with mRNA. A quarter of a million Americans every month are STILL willingly taking the jabs?! Three million Americans a year?!

And who on Gods green earth would take a jab NOW, after having avoided them for 2+ years??

The latest news about covid injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

AlexBerenson.substack.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) For years, far-left, open-borders Democrats and their RINO friends have claimed that walls dont work along the U.S. border, but it seems that the Finns dont believe that  and neither does any other country that is serious about national and border security.

Finland, the newest member of NATO, has started constructing a 10ft tall, 124-mile wall topped with barbed wire along its eastern border with Russia. Surprisingly, despite the medias criticism of former President Donald Trumps plan for a wall on the southern US border, there has been little criticism of Finlands anti-Russian barrier, The National Pulse reported.

The decision to establish a hard border between Finland and Russia was taken by the Finnish government in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. Finnish authorities have stated that the country needs to reduce its dependence on Russian border control, according to Jari Tolppanen, a Finnish Border Guard Brigadier General. This move was announced shortly after Finlands full NATO membership was confirmed two weeks ago, the outlet reported further.

According to Finnish border officials, a key purpose of the wall is to prevent illegal immigration from Russia. They aim to reduce the risk of Russia ushering thousands of asylum-seekers  mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Middle East nations to cross the border, as occurred between 2015 and 2016. However, the numbers of illegal crossings along the Finnish-Russian border have been relatively low compared to the situation faced by the United States.

According to Reuters, Finland detected only 30 cases of illegal crossing in 2022, while the Russian authorities reported detecting 800 people trying to cross the border. In comparison, the United States had over 206,000 encounters at the southern border in November 2021 alone, based on lower-end, official figures.

Finland is not the only country that has resorted to building a border wall for security reasons. Poland and the Baltic States have already built international borders to address security concerns. In 2015, during the peak of Europes migrant crisis, the Hungarian government erected hard border fencing to control the influx of migrants, The National Pulse reported.

According to a Department of Homeland Security report in 2018, during then-President Donald Trumps tenure:

Walls Work. When it comes to stopping drugs and illegal aliens from crossing our borders, border walls have proven to be extremely effective. Border security relies on a combination of border infrastructure, technology, personnel and partnerships with law enforcement at the state, local, tribal, and federal level. For example, when we installed a border wall in the Yuma Sector, we have seen border apprehensions decrease by 90 percent. In San Diego, we saw on Sunday that dilapidated, decades-old barriers are not sufficient for todays threat and need to be removed so new  up to 30 foot wall sections can be completed.

Finlands project is expected to be concluded by the end of June 2023, noted The National Pulse.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden no sooner got sworn into office than he ordered the border wall being built by Trump to cease. Then, he signed a stack of executive orders, many of which were aimed at reversing Trumps strict border enforcement and security policies and executive orders.

Though Trump had to fight federal courts and a Republican-controlled Congress to get the wall funded, he finally did and, before he was blocked from office, managed to get nearly 460 miles of fence built.

Border Patrol agents were quick to point out that in sectors where the wall was built, illegal immigration slowed to a trickle. It also allowed them to focus more resources on sectors of the border that remained without a wall so that before the 2020 election was stolen, human- and drug smuggling were at historic lows.

All Biden and the Democrat-controlled Congress needed to do was finish the wall, but instead, Biden and Democratic leaders decided to pander to their partys hard Marxist left. As such, today, there is historically high illegal immigration on the border with Mexico along with a massive influx of fentanyl that is killing tens of thousands of Americans annually.

But after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden and Democrats are now willing to spend a similar amount of money to defend that countrys borders, which is beyond outrageous.

Sources include:

TheNationalPulse.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The military documents recently leaked online have revealed Americas dirty secret: It has been spying on both its allies and enemies.

News commentator and podcaster Scott Goulet believes this could complicate U.S. relations with its allies. While this may not be surprising to officials of allied nations, bringing it out in the open could still damage U.S. relations with key countries.

What secrets have been leaked in the recent worst leak of the decade? These secrets revolve around the war in Ukraine, he said during the April 24 edition the Front Page with Scott Goulet podcast. He noted that the leaks might have changed the course of the war.

Goulet added that the content of the leaked documents was not only limited to intelligence from the U.S and from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It also included secrets from Egypt and China, which have been secretly supporting Russia.

Aside from these, the leaked documents indicated the timing of Russian attacks and the location of specific targets in aid of Ukraine. They also focused on the struggles of Kyivs forces, which served as a grim warning.

According to the documents, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are expected to run out of S-300 missiles and other long-range anti-aircraft missiles by mid-April. By May 23, Ukraine will have fewer air defense systems to protect its frontline troops  threatening the outcome of its ground war with Moscow. If air defense systems are not bolstered at the soonest, Kyiv will be in danger.

The documents prove that the U.S. is also spying on Ukraines top military and political leaders in order to keep tabs on Ukraines combat strategy, Goulet remarked. He added that the leaks could potentially damage Kyiv and give Moscow the opportunity to cut off sources of information. (Related: Leaked Pentagon documents show how US intel networks spy on its own allies.)

Leak could curb intelligence sharing

Goulet mentioned that after reviewing the documents, a senior Western intelligence official said the release of the material was painful and suggested that it could curb intelligence sharing. Meanwhile, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) of the House Intelligence Committee said he expects Biden administration officials to brief lawmakers on the issue when Congress resumes its session.

Goulet also stated that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has moved to identify the source of the leaks, a senior U.S. official said tracing the original source of the leaks can be difficult. The said official noted that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. military and government officials who have security clearance needed to access these documents.

The podcast host also mentioned another leaked document stating that a Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British reconnaissance aircraft last year. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace blamed the incident on a technical fault. According to Goulet, the incident underscored the balance that Western military officials are trying to maintain.

The news commentator also said NATO allies have tried to help Ukraines military and gathered information about the war without getting directly involved in the conflict with Russia. The U.S. and its allies have said they support Ukraine, but they are not directly at war with Russia. In contrast, Russian officials have tried to portray NATO countries as aggressors.

Follow NationalSecurity.news for more news about the U.S. military leaked documents.

Watch Scott Goulet comment on the U.S. militarys leaked documents in the video below.

This video is from the Pool Pharmacy channel on Brighteon.com.

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(Natural News) Former Arizona Attorney General (AG) Mark Brnovich said the indictment of former President Donald Trump is a clear example of an effort to weaponize government bureaucracy.

During an episode of the Sara Carter Podcast, Brnovich expounded that Trumps indictment weaponized Americas justice system  with the effort reaching the tipping point for political prosecutions. Whoever was in power could intimidate and arrest their political opponents, he added.

America is where guilt or innocence is not determined by the evidence, but by whether the people in power consider you a friend or an enemy. Thats what has happened in the last few years, said Brnovich.

Thats one of the reasons why in the last few years, even the last few decades, weve seen this really ramped up, where if you disagree with some on the Left, its not just enough for them to win the argument or win an election, they want to cancel and destroy you. You see it in a cancel culture where you have this theory that if you dont agree with the dominant, far-Left progressive agenda, you will lose your job, lose money or your livelihood.

According to the erstwhile AG for the Grand Canyon State, some Americans believe so strongly in the institutions and the rule of law that they are denying the existence of political prosecution.

If there is not a reasonable likelihood of conviction, you are not supposed to bring [Trumps] case. And I just think objectively, it is a dangerous precedent when we start going after major candidates and literally the former president, Brnovich told Carter. (Related: Right Now with Ann Vandersteel: Trump hit with 34 (politically motivated) felony counts of business fraud  Brighteon.TV.)

The reality is when youre a prosecutor, you can take away peoples livelihood, their life, liberty and property. So, its an awesome responsibility. I told young prosecutors, agents and officers: You dont throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Ethically, as the prosecutor, youre only supposed to bring charges when you have a reasonable likelihood of conviction.

Carter: Americans should be able to say Lady Justice is blind

Given that the federal government has been deeply weaponized and politicized, Brnovich has been advocating decentralization of power and limited federal government.

The former Arizona AG was not alone in this sentiment, however. Even Trump himself called for the temporary defunding of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Republicans in Congress should defund the DOJ and the FBI until they come to their senses, the former president wrote in an April 5 post on his Truth Social account. The Democrats have totally weaponized law enforcement in our country, and are viciously using this abuse of power to interfere with our already under siege elections.

Carter also stressed that Americans should be able to say that Lady Justice is blind and that they live in a nation where they can be represented, regardless of where they stand in the political spectrum.

We should be able to trust that our bureaucracy is being run ethically, and that we are not some kind of backward banana republic. Because the rest of the world is watching us and we are a beacon of light, the podcast host said. But Americas fracturing: People dont trust our DOJ anymore for crying out loud.

Check out BigGovernment.news for more about the weaponization of the governments different branches.

Watch the full episode of the Sara Carter Podcast featuring former Arizona AG Mark Brnovich below.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

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(Jason Hancock/Missouri Independent)

Anti-diversity budget language called a job killer by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce didnt survive the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday, as the panel wrapped up its work on the state spending plan for the coming year.

Over two days of work, the committee added more than $3 billion to the House-approved budget for state operations in the coming fiscal year. The biggest items added Wednesday were $300 million for the Department of Mental Health to build a new psychiatric hospital in Kansas City and $461 million to increase the pay of personal care workers who assist people with developmental disabilities.

The committee also restored $4.5 million for state aid to public libraries, cut in the House because the Missouri Library Association and the ACLU are suing over legislation passed last year intended to block children from accessing sexually explicit material.

The biggest new item overall was $2 billion for widening Interstate 70, added on Tuesday.

The 14 spending bills will be debated in the Senate next week, setting up negotiations with the House to iron out differences before the May 5 deadline for appropriations.

Exact totals were unavailable Wednesday, but the tally will be higher than both the House plan, which spends $45.6 billion on state operations, and the budget proposed by Gov. Mike Parson, which asked for $47.7 billion. The extra money comes from bond debt, increased federal aid and the massive general revenue surplus projected to be at least $5 billion at the end of the current fiscal year.

The anti-diversity, equity and inclusion language, added during House floor debate by Rep. Doug Richey to the 13 spending bills for state operations as well as the supplemental appropriations bill for the current year, created large and small headaches for state government. It had the potential to cause delays or cancellations in state contracts and endangered the Medicaid program.

The uncertainty associated with the language that the House applied to those appropriations bills is unknown,said Sen. Lincoln Hough, chairman of the appropriations committee. And I dont like doing things when we are running a state that I dont know what the consequences are. That does not seem like a responsible thing to do.

None of the 14 members of the committee, dominated by Republicans, objected or tried to add language Richey is pushing as a narrower version that would not impact contracting or state services.

Asked about the Senate vote, Richey, R-Excelsior Springs, said he will continue to push for some version to make it into the final budget.

I appreciate the fact that conversations are ongoing, Richey said.

In a news release issued Tuesday, the Chamber of Commerce listed Richeys amendment among four measures under consideration by lawmakers that it contends are job killers.

Rep. Richeys language bans state government spending on staff, vendors, consultants and programs associated with diversity, equity and inclusion, a statement from the chamber read. If passed, this will bring Missouris government to a grinding halt.

The strong committee vote in favor of budget bills without the language is a signal to the House that the issue is dead in future budget negotiations, Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, said. The 14 bills approved in the committee Wednesday were all passed unanimously or with only a single dissenting vote.

The committee, she said, is astute enough to realize anything of this sort would cost the state billions of dollars.

The additions to the Department of Mental Health budget will be used to replace an aging facility in Kansas City called the Center for Behavioral Medicine. The current hospital, built in 1966, has 100 beds and is in utter disrepair, Hough said. No member of the committee would even want a neighbor they didnt like to be housed there.

The $300 million would build a 200-bed facility. The University of Kansas Health System leases half of the current facility and would be a tenant in the new hospital as well, department Director Valerie Huhn said.

The replacement facility would relieve pressure on other institutions operated by the department, Huhn said in an interview with The Independent. Lack of staff and beds means there are more than 220 people deemed incompetent to stand trial waiting for placement in a state mental facility because there is no room.

Fulton State Hospital has empty beds because of staffing shortages and the department has canceled plans to consolidate sex offender treatment there. A new, larger facility in Kansas City would help, in part because of a more available workforce, Huhn said.

Kansas City is probably the place where we have the best staffing, Huhn said.

A $451 million addition to the budget would boost rates paid to local agencies providing residential support services for people with disabilities. The extra funding would allow those agencies, struggling to find staff like many service providers, to set a base pay of $17 an hour.

The MIssouri House, during budget debate last month, narrowly defeated an amendment that would have added $308 million to the budget to boost the base pay, currently $15 an hour, by 8.7%.

The committee worked swiftly through the budget bills and Hough spent hours with individual members before this weeks meeting discussing the items they wanted to add.

We made investments in things that have been put off for a long time in this state, Hough said.
(Natural News) Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on his troops to level up their military training with a focus on actual combat.

This statement came amid heightened tensions over Taiwan after the communist regime concluded military exercises around the island. The United States and its allies watched the exercises closely as their global strategic and economic interests are on the line.

Xi made the comment during his visit to see Chinese naval troops stationed in the southern province of Guangdong, an area directly facing the South China Sea and Taiwan. Both areas would be on the front line in the event of a hot war between the nations.

The Chinese president had also urged troops to deepen military training in preparation and take the Chinese military modernization to the next level.

Xi added that China must be innovative in its concepts and methods of combat.

The Chinese leader reportedly made the defense of Beijings territorial sovereignty and maritime interests as the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navys core mission, in addition to the protection of overall peripheral stability.

China has not ruled out military options in reunification with Taiwan

Beijing considers the fully democratic island of Taiwan to be an inalienable part of its territory that has been taken over by separatists. It is also accusing the U.S. of meddling in its domestic affairs and encouraging so-called secessionist politicians, including current Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, who has routinely tried to assert her countrys sovereignty and independence without actually claiming that she supports the creation of an independent Republic of Taiwan.

While the Chinese leadership is insisting that it wants a peaceful reunification with Taiwan, it has not ruled out military options. (Related: China will not hesitate to use FORCE to retake Taiwan, warns Xi.)

Beijing warned that Taiwanese independence and cross-strait peace were mutually exclusive while blaming Taipei and some foreign forces for deliberately stoking tensions in the region.

The communist government has also condemned the plan of U.S. forces to use an increasing number of bases in the Philippines, including one close to Taiwan.

The U.S. and the Philippines are currently holding their biggest-ever joint military drills, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has committed to standing with the Philippines against any intimidation or coercion, including in the South China Sea.

China claims sovereignty over nearly the whole South China Sea  a strategic seaway through which trillions of dollars in trade pass yearly  in spite of an international court ruling that the declaration has no legal basis.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have overlying claims in the sea, while the U.S. deploys naval vessels through it to declare the freedom of navigation rights in international waters.

While Blinken commits to defending the Philippines, Washington remains deliberately obscure on whether or not it would defend Taiwan militarily. Nevertheless, it continues to sell arms to Taiwan to help bolster its ability to defend itself.

Washington still adheres to the One-China principle, but maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan.

Follow CommunistChina.news for more news about China.

Watch the video below to know why China is readying its troops for actual combat.

This video is from the Pool Pharmacy channel on Brighteon.com.

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(Natural News) For Susan Romanov, founder of the Shooting for Woman Alliance (SFWA), you are your only responder when things go bad. SFWA is a non-profit organization that aims to educate and motivate women and men in their lives in increasing the odds of prevailing in a self-defense situation and shooting sports.

Romanov, who was held hostage for five and a half hours in her own home back in the 90s and was stalked for two years, recounted her traumatic experience with Jason Schaller during a recent episode of For the Love of Guns. That chapter of her life inspired the creation of SFWA.

According to Romanov, she called 911 but did not get an answer before the assailant broke the landline and held her hostage. Not long after the incident, she was stalked and followed for a couple more years by an unidentified man. Eventually, she was advised to get a gun and train to protect herself.

When your life is at stake, everything starts to change. So, it [having a firearm] was immediate. I guess [it] is the best answer, she said. The gun expert also pointed out how awareness levels can help reduce the odds that people get attacked.

You can keep your situational awareness level up. The difference is you have to want to do so and decide thats the most important thing for you. Because until that happened to me, my awareness level [was too low]. But when you know that you have this threat, then you make it yours. Now its a lifestyle for me. You have to accept the fact that awareness is the key to safety.

But she warned that being able to carry a gun can also lead to having a false sense of security.

While the presence of a gun often makes people with bad intentions leave, Romanov said it is not your go-to thing if you dont know how to use it. So, it is a false sense of security. And my heart is really heavy for people that are just carrying guns, especially with the new lets do the non-constitutional carry permit. They dont really know anything about what it takes to defend yourself with a gun.

Schaller agreed as there are a lot of legal issues with carrying guns, regardless of what state one is in. So, he said, it is important to go to a knowledgeable and credible instructor. The first concealed carry class that I went through, we lucked out that we chose the right instructor right off the bat, Schaller said.

DeSantis approves permit-less carry gun bill

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying his best to make it easier for his constituents to defend themselves. He recently signed into law a bill allowing residents to carry a concealed loaded weapon without a permit, NBC News reported.

Bill sponsors, legislative leaders and gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), were present when DeSantis signed the legislation.

This is a momentous step in the Constitutional Carry movement as now the majority of American states recognize the Constitution protects the right for law-abiding Americans to defend themselves outside their homes without fees or permits, Randy Kozuch, interim executive director of the NRA-ILA, the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association, said in a statement. The carry movement began decades ago and the NRA has been working to get this legislation passed throughout America. Therefore, today is indeed a day to celebrate.

Florida is now the 26th state to pass some form of permit-less carry law. The measure came on the heels of the transgender mass shooting that killed six victims, including three children, at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. (Related: Nashville shooting aftermath: Anti-gun and pro-transgender activists storm state capitol buildings.)

Check out SecondAmendment.news for more stories on the right to carry firearms.

Watch the full episode of For the Love of Guns with Jason Schaller featuring Susan Romanov below.

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Multiple tests have revealed that the mercury content of the dolphin meat sold in Japan's markets is 100 times higher than the government's established safety threshold, making it highly toxic.

After a test revealed a sample contained mercury levels up to 100 times greater than the government's advised safe level, marine conservationists filed a complaint demanding that "toxic" dolphin meat be removed from sale in Japan.

The complaint was made to the police in central Japan by the Australian nonprofit Action for Dolphins (AFD), which had received expert warnings that regular intake of dolphin meat might be harmful to consumers' health.

Mercury Content at 100x the Safety Threshold

According to AFD, recent testing at a lab in Japan showed that one sample purchased there contained up to 97.5 times more mercury than the government's safe limit.

The mercury levels in a second package of Risso's dolphin offal were 80 times above the recommended safe level.

On October 13, 2022, a Japanese-based AFD investigator placed an online order for Risso's dolphin offal via the Yahoo! Japan website.

On October 15 of the same year, two packages were delivered, and they were sent to a Japanese laboratory where they underwent separate testing.

The chief executive of AFD, Hannah Tait, expressed her hope that the police complaint and test results would lead to the removal of dolphin meat from supermarkets, eateries, and online retailers.

Dolphin Meat

Tait expressed her hope that the police complaint and test results would lead to the removal of dolphin meat from supermarkets, eateries, and online retailers, WION reported.

According to Russell Fielding, a Coastal Carolina University assistant professor and expert on cetaceans and mercury levels, the levels of contamination discovered in the meat evaluated by AFD would be anticipated to have adverse health effects if regularly consumed.

Fielding stated that the meat tested exceeded the recommendations and would be anticipated to result in health issues if regularly consumed, with methylmercury concentrations of 1.58 ppm, and mercury concentrations of 39 ppm.

Fielding is not an AFD member.

The health ministry of Japan advises that fish and seafood with levels of total mercury and methylmercury above 0.4 ppm and 0.3 ppm are unsafe for human consumption.

The complaint is the most recent effort by AFD to put an end to the yearly slaughter of dozens and dozens of dolphins in Taiji, which was the subject of the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, according to the International Marine Mammal Project.

Also Read: Hawaii Conservation Refers 33 Snorkelers to Feds For Dolphin Harassment

Testing Dolphin Meat

According to tests done by AFD in 2020 and 2021, dolphin meat contained mercury levels that ranged from 12 to 25 times the legal limit.

Mercury and other contaminants can negatively affect fetal development, neural development, and memory.

They can also increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, hypertension, and arteriosclerosis in adults, according to studies of individuals who frequently consume cetacean products.

1,137 of the town's roughly 3,500 residents provided hair samples for the tests, The Guardian reported.

Related Article: Whale Meat for Sale in Japan: Hunters Justify Serving It in Restos As a Way to Control Mammal Population
Investigations are prompted when a giant panda that was on loan from China passes away in a zoo in Thailand due to an unexplained illness.

After fainting unexpectedly the day before, giant panda Lin Hui, the 21-year-old center of attention at the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand, passed away on Wednesday morning.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that China would send a team of experts to Thailand to conduct a joint investigation into the circumstances surrounding the animal's demise with Thai experts.

Mysterious Illness

According to the Bangkok Post, the zoo reported that Lin Hui first displayed unusual symptoms on Tuesday and received a close examination.

Lin Hui was captured on camera Tuesday at the zoo, lying comatose on the ground with bloodstains on her neck and nose.

The tourist stated in the video that the panda also appeared a little queasy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that although specialists from the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda quickly traveled to the zoo to oversee medical rescue efforts for the panda after learning of her fainting, they were regrettably unable to save her life.

Lin Hui, The Giant Panda from China

In China, Lin Hui was born on September 28, 2001. On October 12, 2003, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador between the two nations and dispatched to the Chiang Mai Zoo.

She was supposed to visit China again this year.

She has brought much joy to the Thai people over the years while being lovingly cared for by Chinese and Thai professionals, and Wang noted that she has actively promoted China-Thailand cooperation in giant panda conservation and intercultural exchange.

According to The Bangkok Post, Lin Hui's wonderful personality made her an instant star attraction.

The two giant pandas from China, Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang have drawn more than 7.4 million visitors to the zoo since October 2003, according to the zoo director.

Lin Ping was born in 2009 as a result of artificial insemination to Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang.

Lin Ping was sent to China in 2013 for a one-year visit with the intention of helping her find a partner, but she has since stayed, Global Times reported.

Also Read: Lynx Count in France Down to 150, Extinct in 30 Years

Giant Panda Species

According to FOX News, in the wild, a giant panda has a life expectancy of only about 15 years, but in captivity, they have reached ages of up to 38.

The giant panda species was saved from extinction through decades of conservation programs in the wild and research in captivity.

As a result, both in the wild and in captivity, there are now more than 1,800 of these animals.

In 2019, Chuang Chuang, a male panda, passed away at the Chiang Mai Zoo at the age of 19 from heart failure.

Some Thai internet users hypothesized that Lin Hui's death was caused in part by the recent spike in air pollution in northern Thailand, which has reached levels deemed hazardous to human health.

However, the zoo staff claimed that was highly improbable given that Lin Hui lived in an enclosed space in a section of the zoo that was thought to have "the cleanest air," FOX News reported.

Related Article: Ravi the Red Panda Escaped Aussie Zoo to Hang Out in a Fig Tree
A megalodon ancestor tooth was reportedly found by fossil hunters Rachel Shill Cook and her step-daughter, Addison Shill, while hiking to hunt for crystals along the Nechako River in British Columbia, Canada, on April 11.

Cook uploaded photos of the rare fossil tooth on social media, receiving multiple contacts from people saying she found a megalodon tooth but rather from its long-extinct ancestor.

Megalodon is one of the largest and most fearsome ocean predators that swam the Earth's oceans millions of years ago.

With its fossil tooth being the only evidence of its existence, scientists estimate that the big tooth shark megalodon (Otodus megalodon) can grow up to around 59 feet (18 meters), even surpassing some of the largest sharks known today.

However, other oceanic predators preceded the megalodon shark even after the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

One such create is none other than the cousin and ancestor of the megalodon: Otodus obliquus, which lived approximately 55 million years ago.

Although shorter than its descendant, the megalodon's predecessor was thought to reach lengths of up to 33 feet (10 meters).

Megalodon Ancestor Tooth

Cook told Newsweek the area was new to them so they were taking their time to look at the ground, describing the fossil resembled a shark's tooth but was confused since it was quite large, around half the size of her palm.

The fossil hunter shared photos of her discovery on Facebook and posted them to The Fossil Forum on April 16.

It was only afterwards when she realized what she discovered was not an ordinary find, due also to its location in the Northern Hemisphere, which deviates from previous findings of other megalodon ancestor tooth.

Also Read: Simulation Reveals the Ancient Megalodon Has Been the World's Fastest Shark Ever

Rare Fossil Tooth

Teeth from O. obliquus are commonly found in Morocco, which left some social media users baffled by the ancient shark tooth discovery this month.

However, recent evidence has shown that the megalodon's ancestor was not only confined in one region of the world.

One of the several discoveries of the megalodon ancestor tooth was from Callan Thrupp on a beach at Noosa Heads in Queensland, Australia, which was searched for identification back in February 2012.

What is Otodus Obliquus?

Megalodon's ancestor is an extinct mackerel shark belonging to the family Lamnidae and reported to have lived between 60 to 37.5 million years ago during Paleocene-Eocene period.

O. obliquus likely preyed on marine mammals, large bony fish, and even other sharks, according to the Australian Museum.

Meanwhile, the UK's Natural History Museum said it is the "oldest definitive ancestor of megalodon" with an evolutionary history dating back to Cretalamna appendiculata 105 million years ago, which makes the lineage of the megalodon to be more than 100 million years old.

However, the presence of megalodon, the world's largest shark that ever lived, was considered short-lived following their extinction 2.6 million years ago.

Nevertheless, new evidence indicates its extinction occurred at least 3.6 million years ago, the British museum added.

Related Article: Great White Shark May Be the Culprit For the Extinction of Megalodon
Heat waves are becoming more frequent, intense, and lethal in India, putting a strain on public health, agriculture, and other socioeconomic and cultural systems.

According to Ramit Debnath of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, U.K., and colleagues' study published in PLOS Climate, heat waves made more likely by climate change may impede India's progress toward its sustainable development goals.

Climate Change May Keep India From Achieving Its Sustainable Development Goals

India has pledged to meet seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including zero poverty, good health and well-being, decent work, and economic growth, as per Phys.org.

However, current climate vulnerability assessments may underestimate the impact of heat waves linked to climate change on SDG progress.

Researchers conducted an analytical evaluation of India's heat index (HI) with its climate vulnerability index (CVI), a composite index using various indicators to account for socioeconomic, livelihood, and biophysical factors, in order to analyze India's climate vulnerability and how climate change may impact SDG progress.

To classify severity levels, they used a publicly available dataset on state-level climate vulnerability indicators from the Indian Government's National Data & Analytics Platform.

The researchers then compared India's progress toward the SDGs over a 20-year period (2001-2021) to extreme weather-related mortality.

The researchers discovered that heat waves harmed SDG progress more than previously estimated, and that current assessment metrics may not adequately capture the nuances of India's vulnerability to climate change impacts.

For example, when estimating HI, the study finds that nearly 90% of the country is in a heat wave danger zone.

According to the CVI, approximately 20% of the country is extremely vulnerable to climate change.

Similar effects were observed in the national capital, where HI estimates show that almost all of Delhi is threatened by severe heat wave impacts, which is not reflected in the state's recent climate change action plan.

However, this study had several limitations, including an incongruent timeframe for CVI data (2019-2020) and heat index data (2022). Future studies should include more recent data.

According to the authors, this study shows that heat waves make more Indian states vulnerable to climate change than the CVI previously estimated.

As heat waves in India and the Indian subcontinent become more frequent and prolonged, climate experts and policymakers must reconsider the metrics used to assess the country's climate vulnerability.

This opens up the possibility of developing a comprehensive vulnerability measure through international cooperation and partnership.

Also Read: Restoring Seagrass Meadows for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals: How UK Experts are Doing It

Achieving SDG's

Climate change, according to Ramit Debnath and colleagues, may prevent India from meeting its long-term sustainable development goals by increasing the frequency, severity, and fatality of heat waves in the country, as per Career India.

Heatwaves have a negative impact on India's agriculture, public health, and other socioeconomic and cultural institutions.

They also jeopardize India's progress in alleviating poverty, improving health and well-being, creating decent jobs, and promoting economic growth.

To address these challenges, India has implemented the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), which provides jobs to unskilled laborers, the National Food Security Act, which provides subsidized food grains, and various schemes to promote renewable energy, water conservation, and sanitation, as per abplive.

However, more efforts are required to adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

India can also play a role in global leadership by sharing best practices and experiences with other countries.

Fulfilling the SDGs is not only a moral obligation for India, but also a chance for its development and security.

Related article: Rapidly Expanding Bottled Water Sector Has a Variety of Effects on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals
In a speech on April 18, 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the United Kingdom wanted to cooperate with Turkey in the construction of future submarines. Let's have an overall look at the submarines in service with the navies of both nations.

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Model of the future mini-submarine STM500 at ADEX 2022, Bakou. (Picture source: Army Recognition)



The Turkish and UK Royal Navies both boast impressive fleets of submarines, which serve as a testament to their commitment to maintaining their maritime capabilities.

Turkish Navy

The Turkish Naval Forces Command operates a fleet of submarines that consists of German-designed Type 209 submarines. The Navy currently has six Type 209/1200 submarines, four Type 209T1/1400, and four Type 209T2/1400. The future Reis class of submarines is still under construction. It will be composed of six submarines.

Royal Navy

The vessels, primarily comprised of the Astute-class and Vanguard-class submarines (but also one Trafalgar-class submarine), serve a range of critical purposes, from intelligence gathering and surveillance to deterrence and power projection.

The Astute-class attack submarines are equipped with advanced weapons systems and cutting-edge technology, while the Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines serve as the backbone of the UK's nuclear deterrent, ensuring a continuous at-sea presence to safeguard the nation's interests.

The Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines, also known as Trident submarines, are the backbone of the UK's nuclear deterrent. They are armed with Trident II D5 ballistic missiles, which have a range of up to 7,500 miles and are capable of carrying multiple warheads. The ballistic missile submarines are also equipped with conventional torpedoes and have a crew of around 135 sailors.

Designed to replace the aging Vanguard-class vessels, the Dreadnought-class submarines are the Royal Navy's latest generation of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Construction of the first submarine began in 2016, and the class is expected to enter service in the early 2030s.
According to information published by Defense Studies on April 20, 2023, the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) has launched the new corvette Bung Karno-369 vessel to replace the presidential ship KRI Barakuda-633, which has been in operation for 27 years.

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Launching ceremony of the corvette Bung Karno. (Picture source: TNI AL)

TNI AL Chief of Staff Admiral Muhammad Ali stated that the 100% locally made vessel was built by PT Karimun Anugrah Sejati in Batam, Riau Islands. The Korvet Bung Karno-369 will serve as a presidential ship to support various protocol activities and diplomatic tasks.

She will replace the KRI Barakuda and support TNI AL in executing Military Operations for War (OMP) as well as Military Operations Other Than War (OMSP).

The vessel is expected to begin operating in mid-June 2023 in Jakarta, coinciding with the Birth of Pancasila Day and the birthday of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.

About KRI Bung Karno

The KRI Bung Karno is a guided-missile corvette/presidential yacht with a displacement of 650 tonnes (640 long tons) and a length of 73 m (239 ft 6 in). It has a beam of 12 m (39 ft 4 in) and is propelled by 2 diesel engines, each with a power of 4,000 kW (5,400 shp), allowing it to reach a speed of 24 knots (44 km/h).

The ship has a complement of 55 personnel and is armed with 1 OTO Marlin 40 turret, 2 20 mm autocannons, and 2 twin SIMBAD surface-to-air missile launchers, each capable of firing 4 missiles.

The KRI Bung Karno is also equipped with aviation facilities, including a flight deck and the capability to carry 1 AS565 Panther helicopter.
The following is a press release by Chee Ricketts from the Art Guild of Greene.

Anyone who wishes a glimpse of authentic scenery in the Old Dominion should first make a visit to The Stanardsville Station (on Main Street next to Maybelles) where an exciting photography exhibit by Patricia Temples is currently on display. The Art Guild of Greene, in collaboration with the Stanardsville United Methodist Church, is honored to offer this exhibition to the community. The show will continue through the end of June. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Twenty-nine framed photographs comprise this exhibition, offering sightings into the hidden and frequently forgotten remnants of rural life in the backwoods and by-ways of this beautiful state. Pats motto, Make It an Adventure, is evident when one views her images. In her travels throughout the state, she has sought out subjects that echo another time and place, displaying a reverence for the land and the people who have inhabited it.

Pat is especially drawn to subjects that demonstrate the changes that often occur over time. Several of her images show structures in different seasons, sometimes spanning years. Occasionally, she will return to a site to photograph a subject and find that it has disappeared, due to the ravages of nature or commercialization. A prime example is her collection of three photographs of a farm on Madison-Hood Road, located on the left as one heads towards US 29. Pat notes that  Ive always considered it the best managed farm Ive ever seen. The fields are groomed and perfect in all seasons. Pat had the foresight to photograph the barn during three seasons to show the changes over time. Today, there is an empty space where the barn once stood.

In two other photographs, Pat has documented a charming caboose as it sat in Rapidan and as it has now been restored and returned to its original home in Nelson County. Her enthusiasm for capturing an historical moment is also evident in the way she has presented an assemblage of photographs of the horses at Montpelier. The six images are encased in an original window that was salvaged from the Montpelier barns that were built in the 1920s using prefabricated Sears building kits.

Of special interest is a unique process that Pat describes as woven photography. In these, she has printed two slightly different photographs of a single subject, subtly changing the saturation and colors in each. She then cuts the photographs into strips and weaves them together, creating exciting optical effects. Her most recent woven photograph is of a tree in Big Meadows, although there are several other examples in the show.

A Virginia native, Pat began her career in education as a teacher, school counselor and social worker. Moving to Greene County in retirement, she began to pursue photography seriously, joining the Charlottesville Camera Club and taking classes to perfect new skills. Her photography achievements include numerous appearances and awards in Virginia Wildlife Magazine Photography Contests, in shows at the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community Juried Art Exhibitions, the Bath County Annual Art Show in Hot Springs, VA, and the Appalachian Mountain Photography Contest in Boone, NC. Her most extensive work was the Voices of the Land project for the Blue Ridge Foothills Conservancy, for which she produced a photo exhibit and a DVD documenting life on a dairy farm in Greene County. Most recently, several of her photographs of Greene County were selected by the Greene County Public Schools to be hung as large murals in new additions to the high school and the middle school.

Committed to the community in which she lives, Pat has used her skills as a photographer in support of many worthwhile projects. She has been responsible for photographing the 100-plus barn quilts that appear throughout the County for the Art Guild of Greene. Recently, she presented programs to both the Greene County Historical Society and the local JABA group on the trees of Greene County.

This remarkable photography exhibition allows the community to share in and be enriched by the vision of Pat Burton Temples. (It is possible to see more of Pats photographs on her website: www.patriciatemplesphotography.com) The Stanardsville Station is generally open Tuesday-Thursday from 10 -3 and The Art Guild of Greene provides volunteers on occasional Fridays and Saturdays. Operated as a community outreach center by the Stanardsville United Methodist Church, The Stanardsville Station offer free internet access and a place for friends to gather over a cup of coffee. All are welcome. Patricia Temples photography exhibition will be on display until the end of June. This show is a must-see!
The Rotary Club of Orange held its annual fundraiser this past Saturday at Rounton Farm in Orange. This year, the event featured live and silent auctions and a barbecue dinner, all in support of the organizations scholarship program for Orange County graduates.

Founded in 1905 in Chicago, Rotary Club International consists of more than 6,000 clubs in 200 countries with 1.4 million Rotarians worldwide. The civic organizations global initiatives include a 35-year campaign to eradicate polio, which has resulted in a 99.9% reduction in polio cases since the club first started vaccinating children in the Philippines in 1979, according to the Rotary Club International website.

The Rotary Club of Orange has existed since 1927 and stewards a wide variety of service projects throughout Orange County. In addition to providing scholarships, the club hosts Rise Against Hunger at Orange County High School to provide 10,000 meals each year for those in need, assembles dental hygiene kits for the Orange County Childrens Toy Box and organizes the annual Orange Christmas Parade and memorial tree lighting.

Completed Orange Rotary projects have included funding the purchase of solar panels to power Orange County Public Schools STEM bus, installing two Little Free Library book exchange boxes at Orange County schools and establishing the Quest Club to provide mentoring support for incoming high school freshmen.

Crystal Hale, current secretary and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Orange, will be stepping into her new role in July, when 40-year Rotarian Cal Ewing retires as president. Hale said she was drawn to the program by the eagerness of club members to make a difference in their community. Serving as Orange County Department of Social Services director by day, Hale explained that civic groups like the Rotary Club often step up to tackle community issues that go beyond what the government can provide.

So, the old saying is It takes a village, right? Hale said. And even in my position with Orange County Social Services, although we have many services and programs, there are gaps. Through Rotary and other organizations in the community, were filling those gaps.

At Saturdays fundraiser, attendees took part in a live  and lively  auction, with Tony Wilson acting as auctioneer. Prizes ranging from dinners to farm tours, airplane rides and even a lawnmower were generously donated by community members, businesses and organizations.

Ellen and Rob Pitera, owners of Rounton Farm, donated use of the barn space for the event, and Barbeque Exchange and Honah Lee Vineyards provided food and beverages. Familiar faces such Orange Mayor Martha Roby and school board Chair Sherrie Page pitched in to serve the hungry crowd.

Hale said that new members are always welcome and can learn more by attending club meetings, held the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 8 a.m. at the Orange Community Meeting Room, located at 234 Warren St. in the town of Orange.
THURSDAY, APRIL 20

Chamber Music Master Class with visiting University of Pecs Faculty: 5 p.m., Cabell Hall Auditorium, (434) 924-3052, free.

Spring Dance Concert: Dance Program of the UVa Department of Drama, 8 p.m., Ruth Caplin Theater, (434) 924-3376, $7, $6 seniors and UVa faculty and staff members, $5 students.

Paramount Presents: Piano Battle  Andreas Kern vs. Paul Cibs: 7:30 p.m., Paramount Theater, (434) 979-1333, $29.75, $24.75, $14.75.

Cabinet with FERD: 8 p.m., doors open at 7:30 p.m., The Southern Cafe and Music Hall, (434) 977-5590, $25, $20 advance.

Charlottesville Jazz Society/WTJU Jazz Concert Series presents pianist Monika Herzig and vocalist Janiece Jaffe: "Both Sides of Joni," 7:30 p.m., Unity of Charlottesville, $30, $25 advance, $20 paid Jazz Society members.

Western Albemarle High School: Benefit dress rehearsal of "Matilda," 7 p.m., WAHS Auditorium, (434) 823-8700, donations accepted for Eric Betthauser Memorial Scholarship.

FRIDAY, APRIL 21

Spring Dance Concert: Dance Program of the UVa Department of Drama, 8 p.m., Ruth Caplin Theater, (434) 924-3376, $7, $6 seniors and UVa faculty and staff members, $5 students.

Friday Afternoon Out with Gina Sobel: 2-5 p.m., DuCard Vineyards in Etlan, (540) 923-4206, no cover, reservations recommended.

Mojo Pie: Salsa Street Grill food truck will be there, 6-8:30 p.m., Glass House Winery, (434) 975-0094, no cover.

Jimmy O: 5-8 p.m., Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery and Tap 29 Brewery in Leon, (800) 800-WINE, no cover.

Will Overman and Buffalo Rose: 8 p.m., doors open at 7:30 p.m., The Southern Cafe and Music Hall, (434) 977-5590, $17, $12 advance, $40 for ticket four-pack.

Fridays After Five: Free Union with Tenishu: 5:30 p.m., Ting Pavilion, (434) 245-4910, free.

Western Albemarle High School: "Matilda," 7 p.m., WAHS Auditorium, (434) 823-8700, $14, $12 advance, $6 seniors and youths, $5 advance.

SATURDAY, APRIL 22

Music in the Orchard: Jim Waive: 2:30-4:30 p.m., Albemarle CiderWorks, (434) 297-2326, no cover, reservations encouraged.

The Virginia Gentlemen: 3:30 p.m., Cabell Hall Auditorium, (434) 924-3376, $10.

Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia: Masterworks 5: "Dazzling Dances," 8 p.m., Cabell Hall Auditorium, (434) 924-3376, $45-$8.

Earth Day and Music in the Mountains with Troy Breslow: Noon-6 p.m., DuCard Vineyards in Etlan, (540) 923-4206, no cover, reservations recommended.

The Pollocks: 2-5 p.m., venue closes at 5 p.m., Glass House Winery, (434) 975-0094, no cover.

John Ford Coley: 7:30 p.m., Louisa Arts Center, (540) 967-2200, $35.

Paramount Presents: 12th annual Grand Marquee Gala: 7 p.m., Paramount Theater, (434) 979-1333, $500 patron-level supporters, $300 individual supporters, $150 "fashionably late" tickets for arrivals after 9 p.m.

Matt Johnson: 1-4 p.m., Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery and Tap 29 Brewery in Leon, (800) 800-WINE, no cover.

Elements of Kindred: 5-8 p.m., Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery and Tap 29 Brewery in Leon, (800) 800-WINE, no cover.

Spring Dance Concert: Dance Program of the UVa Department of Drama, 8 p.m., Ruth Caplin Theater, (434) 924-3376, $7, $6 seniors and UVa faculty and staff members, $5 students.

Dome Room Faculty Concert: Featuring violinist Daniel Sender, oboist Kelly Peral, cellist Adam Carter and violist Ayn Balija of UVa faculty and violist Mate Szucs, violinist Zoltan Banfalvi and cellist Laszlo Polus of Hungary, 1 p.m., Dome Room in University of Virginia Rotunda, (434) 924-3052, free.

Cello Ensemble Recital: Featuring cellists Christopher Fox, Jack Kirkhorn, Lynn Park, Kohl Ratkovich, Hannah Russell, Melody Su and Shuyue Wang, 5 p.m., St. Paul's Memorial Church, (434) 924-3052, free.

Moonchild with Austin Antoine: 8:30 p.m., doors open at 8 p.m., The Southern Cafe and Music Hall, (434) 977-5590, $99 VIP, $30 door, $26.50 advance.

Mt. Joy with flipturn: 8 p.m., Ting Pavilion, (434) 245-4910, sold out.

Western Albemarle High School: "Matilda," 2 and 7 p.m., WAHS Auditorium, (434) 823-8700, $14, $12 advance, $6 seniors and youths, $5 advance.

SUNDAY, APRIL 23

President's Speaker Series for the Arts presents Tina Fey: 3 p.m., Cabell Hall Auditorium, (434) 924-3376, free.

University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble with pianist Damien Groleau and vocalist Tina Hashemi: "Brother from a Sister City!", 8 p.m., Cabell Hall Auditorium, (434) 924-3376, $10, $9 UVa faculty and staff members.

Music in the Mountains with Midlife Crisis Band: 2-5 p.m., DuCard Vineyards in Etlan, (540) 923-4206, no cover, reservations recommended.

Black Sterlings featuring Sharif and Justin Stoner: 2-5 p.m., Glass House Winery, (434) 975-0094, no cover, donations accepted.

Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia: Masterworks 5: "Dazzling Dances," 3:30 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center, (434) 924-3376, $45-$10.

James Tamelcoff: 1-4 p.m., Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery and Tap 29 Brewery in Leon, (800) 800-WINE, no cover.

Western Albemarle High School: "Matilda," 2 p.m., WAHS Auditorium, (434) 823-8700, $14, $12 advance, $6 seniors and youths, $5 advance.

MONDAY, APRIL 24

Monday Night Trivia with Brandon The Trivia Guy: 6-7:30 p.m., Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery and Tap 29 Brewery in Leon, (800) 800-WINE, no cover.

L.Y.A.O. Comedy Open Mic hosted by Chris Alan: 8 p.m., doors open at 7 p.m. and signups begin at 7:30 p.m., The Southern Cafe and Music Hall, (434) 977-5590, free.

TUESDAY, APRIL 25

Jerusalem Quartet in Tuesday Evening Concert Series: 7:30 p.m., Cabell Hall Auditorium at UVa, (434) 924-3376, $39-$12.

Paramount Theater tours: 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Paramount Theater, (434) 979-1333, free.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26

Paramount Presents: Exhibition on Screen: "Vermeer: The Blockbuster Exhibition": 7 p.m., Paramount Theater, (434) 979-1333, $15, $13 seniors, $11 students.


Sheringham Worship evening open to all

An evening of worship will take place this Friday in Sheringham, and all are welcome to come along and take part.

The evening of worship will be led by Clay and Olivia Webb, pictured above. Clay and Olivia are the lead worship directors at Ramp Church Manchester and the Ramp UK in Manchester, where they lead a team of over 30 musicians and worshippers.



Their call to Manchester and Europe is two-fold - to help steward the regional and global movement of God and to serve in the local church. The Ramp exists to awaken a generation, so they can live fully activated in their God-given purpose influencing their world for His kingdom. They, along with the Ramp UK directors and pastors are currently hosting events and conferences where people from all over the United Kingdom and Europe come for an encounter with the presence of God.



Worship will start at 7pm on Friday 21 April at Oddfellows Hall, Lifeboat Plain, Sheringham, NR26 8BG. There is no charge for the evening, but there will be the opportunity to leave a blessing.



The worship evening is part of a Divine Prayer Unit event which will run for the weekend. Read about that event here .

Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in North Norfolk?

If so, e-mail tony.rothe@networknorwich.co.uk with details and, if possible a suitable picture.

Tony Rothe, 20/04/2023
Charlottesville meetings to return to in-person attendance

Charlottesville City Council voted 5-0 to reinstate in-person meetings on Monday evening.

Effective May 1, Charlottesville boards and commissions are directed to return to in-person meetings that are open to the public, according to the council resolution.

Fully virtual meetings will still be permitted with proper public notification, according to state code. However, the City Council, Board of Architectural Review, Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning Commission will all be required to meet in person.

City Manager Michael Rogers will develop a list of public meetings allowed to offer hybrid citizen participation.

Itll be a return to pre-COVID times for the citys government, almost three years after City Council declared a local state of emergency on March 12, 2020, in response to the onset of the pandemic.

Charlottesville announces new head for computer science lab school

Charlottesville City Schools announced Wednesday that Jill Dahl will lead the project for a new computer science lab school.

The lab school will teach computing skills to middle schoolers as a collaboration between the University of Virginia and Charlottesville City Schools, according to a school division announcement. Supported by a planning grant from the Virginia Department of Education, the school will offer a program pilot in the summer of 2024 with a planned opening in fall of that year.

Dahl will spearhead the program as a designated project leader. A former Fluvanna County Public Schools administrator and Charlottesville High School principal, she currently heads Lugo-McGinness Academy, Charlottesvilles alternative learning center for high schoolers.

Im so excited to take on this new role as we work closely with UVA and many other community partners to bring these important computer science skills into the classrooms and lives of our middle schoolers, said Dahl in a statement from the school system. Students and staff will be directly empowered by this lab school.

Several UVa departments will contribute resources and knowledge to the lab school, including the universitys Equity Center, School of Data Science and the Remaking Middle School initiative. Local community organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, Computers 4 Kids and the Piedmont Virginia Community College will also play a role.

Part of what makes this lab school so compelling is the way it weaves together the good work, expertise, and resources of so many community partners, UVa School of Education and Human Development associate professor Jennie Chiu said in a statement.

Albemarle budget town hall today, additional one scheduled

Samuel Miller District Supervisor Jim Andrews of Albemarle Countys Board of Supervisors plans to host a town hall to discuss the countys 2024 fiscal year budget on Thursday.

Members of the public will be able to learn, ask questions and provide feedback about Albemarle Countys proposed budget.

The town hall is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the Fifth Street Albemarle County Office Building in Charlottesville.

Meanwhile, an additional town hall has been added to the schedule before the board plans to approve the budget in May. Supervisor Ned Gallaway will host that meeting in the Northside Library on Tuesday.

-From staff reports
By AFP

SEOUL: The energy required to make chips for electronics, used in everything from smartphones to AI hardware and cars, will skyrocket this decade, Greenpeace said on Thursday.

This requires major firms to commit to seriously cutting emissions, the activist environmental NGO said.

The global semiconductor manufacturing industry is projected to emit 86 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030 -- more than double Portugal's total emissions in 2021 -- Greenpeace said in a new report.

The group flagged high electricity consumption by semiconductor manufacturers as one of the major reasons behind rising emissions from the global electronics industry.

Its report focused on companies with operations in East Asia, home to major global semiconductor manufacturers that include Apple chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest chipmaker.

Electricity grids in East Asia are highly dependent on natural gas and coal-fired power generation, Greenpeace said.

ALSO READ | Chip industry goes all-in on Artificial Intelligence

None of the companies analysed in the report has climate commitments in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, nor to adopt 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, the report said.

"Most electronics industry suppliers studied have set long-term targets for carbon reduction, but their timelines do not reflect the level of ambition that is necessary in the face of catastrophic climate change," it said.

Greenpeace said TSMC's electricity consumption was projected to grow the most among all the semiconductor manufacturers studied -- 267 percent by 2030, when it will consume as much power as roughly a quarter of Taiwan's population.

Samsung Electronics has not made firm 2030 climate commitments for its South Korea operations, Greenpeace said, despite 75 percent of its electricity consumption happening on home soil.

Samsung announced last year a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions across all global operations by 2050.

"We are committed to achieving our goal announced last year and will continue to share our progress with various stakeholders and listen to their feedback," the company said in a statement when contacted for comment about the Greenpeace report.

Emissions from South Korea's semiconductor manufacturing industry are projected to rise due in large part to Samsung's "continued emissions growth", Greenpeace said.

Samsung will use more electricity to make chips in 2030 than all of Singapore did in 2020, the group said.

SEOUL: The energy required to make chips for electronics, used in everything from smartphones to AI hardware and cars, will skyrocket this decade, Greenpeace said on Thursday. This requires major firms to commit to seriously cutting emissions, the activist environmental NGO said. The global semiconductor manufacturing industry is projected to emit 86 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030 -- more than double Portugal's total emissions in 2021 -- Greenpeace said in a new report.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The group flagged high electricity consumption by semiconductor manufacturers as one of the major reasons behind rising emissions from the global electronics industry. Its report focused on companies with operations in East Asia, home to major global semiconductor manufacturers that include Apple chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest chipmaker. Electricity grids in East Asia are highly dependent on natural gas and coal-fired power generation, Greenpeace said. ALSO READ | Chip industry goes all-in on Artificial Intelligence None of the companies analysed in the report has climate commitments in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, nor to adopt 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, the report said. "Most electronics industry suppliers studied have set long-term targets for carbon reduction, but their timelines do not reflect the level of ambition that is necessary in the face of catastrophic climate change," it said. Greenpeace said TSMC's electricity consumption was projected to grow the most among all the semiconductor manufacturers studied -- 267 percent by 2030, when it will consume as much power as roughly a quarter of Taiwan's population. Samsung Electronics has not made firm 2030 climate commitments for its South Korea operations, Greenpeace said, despite 75 percent of its electricity consumption happening on home soil. Samsung announced last year a commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions across all global operations by 2050. "We are committed to achieving our goal announced last year and will continue to share our progress with various stakeholders and listen to their feedback," the company said in a statement when contacted for comment about the Greenpeace report. Emissions from South Korea's semiconductor manufacturing industry are projected to rise due in large part to Samsung's "continued emissions growth", Greenpeace said. Samsung will use more electricity to make chips in 2030 than all of Singapore did in 2020, the group said.
Sharanya Manivannan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI : One of the most well-regarded people in the world, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, came under fire this month for a brief clip in which he was seen kissing a child on the mouth and then asking the child to suck his tongue. The incident took place at a public gathering in Dharamsala in February. A longer video revealed that the childs mother was on stage as well, and that the child had requested the Tibetan political and spiritual leader for a hug before the rest unfolded. To many, the larger context rectified the shock of the original clip that went viral.

The Dalai Lamas office has formally apologised for the incident, as is correct. The leaders famously playful nature was highlighted, and his personal regret was expressed.

However, other defenders of the actions and words caught on camera in February initially faltered by either referencing only the Tibetan greeting of touching foreheads but not the gestures that had caused consternation, or else by claiming that critique would destabilise the movement for Tibetan liberation. Then, less obfuscating and somewhat illuminating responses came to light. A social media post attributed to journalist Tenzin Pema talks about the phrase nge che le jip, which translates to suck my tongue, and the practice of po or lip-kissing  aspects of Tibetan elder-child bonds that do not have sexual connotations.

But even if these customs were widely-known, which they were not, their grafting onto other mores is highly problematic. They pertain to the bodily autonomy of children. Intentionality is trumped by action in such scenarios. The extremely well-travelled Dalai Lama should have known this.

It is healthy for cultures to evolve harmful aspects out of themselves. Im not saying these practices are harmful, although they look that way to my foreign sensibility. Thats for people, especially young people, within the culture to decide. Individually or collectively.

Its true that people of an advanced age sometimes display bad manners because of the deterioration of the mind and the body. The faux pas can even be forgiven on this basis, but a prerequisite of this basis is acknowledgement of the leaders essential fallibility as a human being. His history of important work shouldnt be a blanket exoneration. He regrets the incident, but others keep defending it.

For some, this incident completely tarnishes the leader, and they have a right to that opinion. Personally, Im not in favour of entirely cancelling the Dalai Lama over this. While I found the initial clip despicable I do understand that what happened was a bit different than portrayed.

However, to let the event slide can give rise to impunity for other quarters. When someone with the kind of influence that the Dalai Lama has is categorically excused in this manner, others will continue to be too. Age, affectionate disposition, cultural nuances, body of work and so on will continue to be used to conceal, rationalise or even allow abuse at large. These justifications have always been used against survivors. When it comes to children, we have to be especially careful about what we consider widely acceptable, for it can be used extremely damagingly  in secret.

CHENNAI : One of the most well-regarded people in the world, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, came under fire this month for a brief clip in which he was seen kissing a child on the mouth and then asking the child to suck his tongue. The incident took place at a public gathering in Dharamsala in February. A longer video revealed that the childs mother was on stage as well, and that the child had requested the Tibetan political and spiritual leader for a hug before the rest unfolded. To many, the larger context rectified the shock of the original clip that went viral. The Dalai Lamas office has formally apologised for the incident, as is correct. The leaders famously playful nature was highlighted, and his personal regret was expressed. However, other defenders of the actions and words caught on camera in February initially faltered by either referencing only the Tibetan greeting of touching foreheads but not the gestures that had caused consternation, or else by claiming that critique would destabilise the movement for Tibetan liberation. Then, less obfuscating and somewhat illuminating responses came to light. A social media post attributed to journalist Tenzin Pema talks about the phrase nge che le jip, which translates to suck my tongue, and the practice of po or lip-kissing  aspects of Tibetan elder-child bonds that do not have sexual connotations.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); But even if these customs were widely-known, which they were not, their grafting onto other mores is highly problematic. They pertain to the bodily autonomy of children. Intentionality is trumped by action in such scenarios. The extremely well-travelled Dalai Lama should have known this. It is healthy for cultures to evolve harmful aspects out of themselves. Im not saying these practices are harmful, although they look that way to my foreign sensibility. Thats for people, especially young people, within the culture to decide. Individually or collectively. Its true that people of an advanced age sometimes display bad manners because of the deterioration of the mind and the body. The faux pas can even be forgiven on this basis, but a prerequisite of this basis is acknowledgement of the leaders essential fallibility as a human being. His history of important work shouldnt be a blanket exoneration. He regrets the incident, but others keep defending it. For some, this incident completely tarnishes the leader, and they have a right to that opinion. Personally, Im not in favour of entirely cancelling the Dalai Lama over this. While I found the initial clip despicable I do understand that what happened was a bit different than portrayed. However, to let the event slide can give rise to impunity for other quarters. When someone with the kind of influence that the Dalai Lama has is categorically excused in this manner, others will continue to be too. Age, affectionate disposition, cultural nuances, body of work and so on will continue to be used to conceal, rationalise or even allow abuse at large. These justifications have always been used against survivors. When it comes to children, we have to be especially careful about what we consider widely acceptable, for it can be used extremely damagingly  in secret.
Aishwarya Prabhakaran By

Express News Service

KOCHI: The state government has set up a consultative committee for the constitution of a Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) for Kochi. The sanction order, dated April 5, follows the Kerala High Courts direction to consider the formation of an MPC in accordance with the 74th constitutional amendment, which introduced Article 243 ZE to the Constitution of India.

The article mandates the constitution of an MPC for preparing a draft development plan for every metropolitan city in the country with a population of 10 lakh or more.

According to the order, the committee members are: Dr M Ramachandran, former secretary, Union ministry of urban development; S M Vijayanand, chairman, State Finance Commission (SFC); Vasudevan Suresh, former CMD of Hudco; Ajith Kalliyath, urban chair, Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA); P K Ravindran, retired deputy director of collegiate education department and former president of KSSP; Jiju P Alex, member, decentralised planning, Kerala State Planning Board; M G Rajamanickam, principal director, LSGD; Dr Joy Elamon, director general of KILA (convenor); and, the Ernakulam district collector.

The order was issued a few weeks ago. A meeting of the members will be held soon to discuss and prepare the agenda for an MPC for Kochi, said N S K Umesh, Ernakulam district collector.

The government also decided to constitute a committee to give suggestions on the matter of the formation of the MPC after looking into the various issues raised, including, jurisdiction of MPC, relationship of MPC with the district planning committee, the integration of MPC plans with the district plan, and, implementation of the decisions of MPC).

KOCHI: The state government has set up a consultative committee for the constitution of a Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) for Kochi. The sanction order, dated April 5, follows the Kerala High Courts direction to consider the formation of an MPC in accordance with the 74th constitutional amendment, which introduced Article 243 ZE to the Constitution of India. The article mandates the constitution of an MPC for preparing a draft development plan for every metropolitan city in the country with a population of 10 lakh or more. According to the order, the committee members are: Dr M Ramachandran, former secretary, Union ministry of urban development; S M Vijayanand, chairman, State Finance Commission (SFC); Vasudevan Suresh, former CMD of Hudco; Ajith Kalliyath, urban chair, Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA); P K Ravindran, retired deputy director of collegiate education department and former president of KSSP; Jiju P Alex, member, decentralised planning, Kerala State Planning Board; M G Rajamanickam, principal director, LSGD; Dr Joy Elamon, director general of KILA (convenor); and, the Ernakulam district collector. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The order was issued a few weeks ago. A meeting of the members will be held soon to discuss and prepare the agenda for an MPC for Kochi, said N S K Umesh, Ernakulam district collector. The government also decided to constitute a committee to give suggestions on the matter of the formation of the MPC after looking into the various issues raised, including, jurisdiction of MPC, relationship of MPC with the district planning committee, the integration of MPC plans with the district plan, and, implementation of the decisions of MPC).
Abhilasha Cherukuri By

Express News Service

One of the very few actors to successfully balance multiple industries, Pooja Hegde is cementing her place in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu film industries one film at a time. Having starred alongside some of the biggest stars of Indian cinema like Hrithik Roshan, Mahesh Babu, Vijay, Akshay Kumar, and Allu Arjun, Pooja is set to appear on the big screen with the bhai of them all, Salman Khan in his Eid release, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (KKBKKJ).

KKBKKJ is the latest version of the superhit 2014 Tamil film, Veeram, which has already seen remakes in Telugu (Katamarayudu), and Kannada (Odeya). The South connect is very strong in KKBKKJ, which also stars Venkatesh Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu, and Bhumika Chawla as Telugu-origin characters. Joining CE in an exclusive conversation from Mumbai, Pooja opens up about KKBKKJ, playing a Telugu girl in a Hindi film, and more.

Excerpts

KKBKKJ is your fourth big-ticket Hindi film after Mohenjodaro, Housefull 4, and Cirkus. How has this film been different for you?

Working in Hyderabad over the years, I have become a Telugu girl now, and it was special to essay one such character in KKBKKJ. I play an integral part in the film and am pivotal to every step of the proceedings. My role is loud, playful, fun, and basically bindaas.

Apart from a handful of films like Sanam Teri Kasam and the works of Raj & DK, one has not seen many female Telugu characters in Hindi cinema. Did you find yourself turning into an in-house Telugu expert on sets?

Knowing the language certainly helps, it gave me the confidence to take more ownership of the role. I could add certain lines and words spontaneously in my dialogues. Also, with Venkatesh sir on the sets, I was not the only one from the Telugu industry. Also, my Telugu fluency was a reason to get the role. In fact, after the Mohenjadaro screening, Salman sir told me that we should soon work together. In a way, everything  the director, actor, producer, and storyline  came together for KKBKKJ.

KKBKKJ also marks your second collaboration with director Farhad Samji

When you reunite with a director, there is a different synergy altogether. You know each others working patterns and the shooting process becomes easier. I have been lucky so far that all my producers, directors, and actors have expressed a desire to work with me again. To learn that my work is liked enough by people to ask me to hop in for another project has been the biggest compliment in my career.

I want to be part of a woman-centric film

Talking of frequent collaborators, you are reuniting with Trivikram Srinivas (for the third time) and Mahesh Babu (for the second time) in SSMB 28

It is too early for me to reveal anything about the film now. However, I can guarantee that people will get to see me in a new light, a different avatar of sorts in SSMB 28.

Comedy is considered a challenging genre, and you have dabbled in it in quite a few films...

Making people laugh is the toughest thing to do but also makes for an enjoyable experience. Situational comedy is especially fun since you dont have to go on set thinking and figuring out what to do on that day. You must find out what is funny about the situation and deliver your best. I love funny and lighthearted things. It just keeps your day as an actor more interesting when you know anything can happen.

2022 has been a rough year at the movies for you. How do you come to grips with failure?

I have a glass-half-full approach to whatever happened last year. Beast did well in Tamil. The Arabic Kuthu song gave me a whole lot of love. I have also received appreciation for my performances, which kept me going. My job as an actor is to do my best and ensure that I have given my 100 per cent. There is only so much control I have over the results of the films. I am not the writer or the director, nor do I sit at the edit table. God was kind enough to give me multiple blockbusters. I have had my share of both successes and failures. Also, as actors, we should be allowed to take risks and experiment because only then can we give our audience something new. I have taken things in my stride and moved on.

You have worked as an actor across three industries for a little more than a decade now. How do you reflect back on the career you have had so far? Are there any roles, or uncharted territory you wish to explore next?

All these years, I have looked at my filmography in terms of what I can do with the work that has been offered to me. There is no strategy as such, and I have just followed my heart and my gut feeling. I want to continue being a part of good stories and gravitate towards good content. I do want to be a part of a woman-centric film, and I really wish to see more and more stories of women in cinema. I am working towards that. I do love all kinds of genres, but I am a romantic at heart, and I have a special love for the romance genre. However, I have not done an action film or a childrens film, and it will be great to explore these genres in the future.



One of the very few actors to successfully balance multiple industries, Pooja Hegde is cementing her place in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu film industries one film at a time. Having starred alongside some of the biggest stars of Indian cinema like Hrithik Roshan, Mahesh Babu, Vijay, Akshay Kumar, and Allu Arjun, Pooja is set to appear on the big screen with the bhai of them all, Salman Khan in his Eid release, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (KKBKKJ). KKBKKJ is the latest version of the superhit 2014 Tamil film, Veeram, which has already seen remakes in Telugu (Katamarayudu), and Kannada (Odeya). The South connect is very strong in KKBKKJ, which also stars Venkatesh Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu, and Bhumika Chawla as Telugu-origin characters. Joining CE in an exclusive conversation from Mumbai, Pooja opens up about KKBKKJ, playing a Telugu girl in a Hindi film, and more. ExcerptsKKBKKJ is your fourth big-ticket Hindi film after Mohenjodaro, Housefull 4, and Cirkus. How has this film been different for you? googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Working in Hyderabad over the years, I have become a Telugu girl now, and it was special to essay one such character in KKBKKJ. I play an integral part in the film and am pivotal to every step of the proceedings. My role is loud, playful, fun, and basically bindaas. Apart from a handful of films like Sanam Teri Kasam and the works of Raj & DK, one has not seen many female Telugu characters in Hindi cinema. Did you find yourself turning into an in-house Telugu expert on sets? Knowing the language certainly helps, it gave me the confidence to take more ownership of the role. I could add certain lines and words spontaneously in my dialogues. Also, with Venkatesh sir on the sets, I was not the only one from the Telugu industry. Also, my Telugu fluency was a reason to get the role. In fact, after the Mohenjadaro screening, Salman sir told me that we should soon work together. In a way, everything  the director, actor, producer, and storyline  came together for KKBKKJ. KKBKKJ also marks your second collaboration with director Farhad Samji When you reunite with a director, there is a different synergy altogether. You know each others working patterns and the shooting process becomes easier. I have been lucky so far that all my producers, directors, and actors have expressed a desire to work with me again. To learn that my work is liked enough by people to ask me to hop in for another project has been the biggest compliment in my career. I want to be part of a woman-centric film Talking of frequent collaborators, you are reuniting with Trivikram Srinivas (for the third time) and Mahesh Babu (for the second time) in SSMB 28 It is too early for me to reveal anything about the film now. However, I can guarantee that people will get to see me in a new light, a different avatar of sorts in SSMB 28. Comedy is considered a challenging genre, and you have dabbled in it in quite a few films... Making people laugh is the toughest thing to do but also makes for an enjoyable experience. Situational comedy is especially fun since you dont have to go on set thinking and figuring out what to do on that day. You must find out what is funny about the situation and deliver your best. I love funny and lighthearted things. It just keeps your day as an actor more interesting when you know anything can happen. 2022 has been a rough year at the movies for you. How do you come to grips with failure? I have a glass-half-full approach to whatever happened last year. Beast did well in Tamil. The Arabic Kuthu song gave me a whole lot of love. I have also received appreciation for my performances, which kept me going. My job as an actor is to do my best and ensure that I have given my 100 per cent. There is only so much control I have over the results of the films. I am not the writer or the director, nor do I sit at the edit table. God was kind enough to give me multiple blockbusters. I have had my share of both successes and failures. Also, as actors, we should be allowed to take risks and experiment because only then can we give our audience something new. I have taken things in my stride and moved on. You have worked as an actor across three industries for a little more than a decade now. How do you reflect back on the career you have had so far? Are there any roles, or uncharted territory you wish to explore next? All these years, I have looked at my filmography in terms of what I can do with the work that has been offered to me. There is no strategy as such, and I have just followed my heart and my gut feeling. I want to continue being a part of good stories and gravitate towards good content. I do want to be a part of a woman-centric film, and I really wish to see more and more stories of women in cinema. I am working towards that. I do love all kinds of genres, but I am a romantic at heart, and I have a special love for the romance genre. However, I have not done an action film or a childrens film, and it will be great to explore these genres in the future.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A portion referring to Gujarat riots has been dropped from class 11 Sociology textbook by NCERT, months after it removed the reference to the 2002 communal violence in two class 12 textbooks.

The purged paragraph from the class 11 textbook was not announced in the curriculum rationalisation booklet notified by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) last year.

NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani, however, claimed that the change was approved during the same exercise and it did not find mention in the official notification due to an "oversight".

In the class 11 Sociology textbook titled "Understanding Society", the deleted paragraph talked about how class, religion and ethnicities often lead to segregation of residential areas and it then cites the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 to illustrate how communal violence furthers ghettoisation.

"Where and how people will live in cities is a question that is also filtered through socio-cultural identities. Residential areas in cities all over the world are almost always segregated by class, and often also by race, ethnicity, religion and other such variables. Tensions between such identities both cause these segregation patterns and are also a consequence," the purged paragraph read.

"For example, in India, communal tensions between religious communities, most commonly Hindus and Muslims, results in the conversion of mixed neighbourhoods into single-community ones. This in turn gives a specific spatial pattern to communal violence whenever it erupts, which again furthers the 'ghettoisation' process. This has happened in many cities in India, most recently in Gujarat following the riots of 2002," it added.

READ MORE | Chapter on Mughal history removed to rationalise syllabus after Covid-19, claims NCERT chief

According to Centre's reply tabled in the Parliament earlier, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 were reported missing and 2,500 injured in the Gujarat riots of 2002.

As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, the NCERT, citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, dropped certain portions from the course including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others from its textbooks.

The council had then announced dropping the Gujarat riots reference in class 12 Political Science and Sociology textbook.

In the class 12 political science textbook, two whole pages on the riots in the chapter titled "Politics in India Since Independence" have been deleted.

The first page carried the chronology of events and refered to the National Human Rights Commission's criticism of the Gujarat government for failing to control the violence. "Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to the dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics," the deleted portion read.

The second page carried a collage of three newspaper reports on the riots along with an excerpt of NHRC's observation from its Annual Report of 2001-2002 on the Gujarat government's handling of the riots.

READ MORE | NCERT drops texts on Gandhi, Hindu-Muslim unity, RSS ban from class 12 textbook

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous "Raj dharma" remark in this section was also removed.

In the class 12 sociology textbook, NCERT had dropped a paragraph under the section titled "Communalism, Secularism and the Nation-State" which described how communalism "drives people to kill, rape, and loot members of other communities in order to redeem their pride, to protect their home turf".

Besides the Gujarat riots reference, "Gandhiji's death had magical effect on communal situation in the country", "Gandhi's pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists" and "Organisations like RSS were banned for some time" are among the portions missing from the class 12 political science textbook for the new academic session.

NEW DELHI: A portion referring to Gujarat riots has been dropped from class 11 Sociology textbook by NCERT, months after it removed the reference to the 2002 communal violence in two class 12 textbooks. The purged paragraph from the class 11 textbook was not announced in the curriculum rationalisation booklet notified by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) last year. NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani, however, claimed that the change was approved during the same exercise and it did not find mention in the official notification due to an "oversight".googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In the class 11 Sociology textbook titled "Understanding Society", the deleted paragraph talked about how class, religion and ethnicities often lead to segregation of residential areas and it then cites the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 to illustrate how communal violence furthers ghettoisation. "Where and how people will live in cities is a question that is also filtered through socio-cultural identities. Residential areas in cities all over the world are almost always segregated by class, and often also by race, ethnicity, religion and other such variables. Tensions between such identities both cause these segregation patterns and are also a consequence," the purged paragraph read. "For example, in India, communal tensions between religious communities, most commonly Hindus and Muslims, results in the conversion of mixed neighbourhoods into single-community ones. This in turn gives a specific spatial pattern to communal violence whenever it erupts, which again furthers the 'ghettoisation' process. This has happened in many cities in India, most recently in Gujarat following the riots of 2002," it added. READ MORE | Chapter on Mughal history removed to rationalise syllabus after Covid-19, claims NCERT chief According to Centre's reply tabled in the Parliament earlier, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 were reported missing and 2,500 injured in the Gujarat riots of 2002. As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, the NCERT, citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, dropped certain portions from the course including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others from its textbooks. The council had then announced dropping the Gujarat riots reference in class 12 Political Science and Sociology textbook. In the class 12 political science textbook, two whole pages on the riots in the chapter titled "Politics in India Since Independence" have been deleted. The first page carried the chronology of events and refered to the National Human Rights Commission's criticism of the Gujarat government for failing to control the violence. "Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to the dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics," the deleted portion read. The second page carried a collage of three newspaper reports on the riots along with an excerpt of NHRC's observation from its Annual Report of 2001-2002 on the Gujarat government's handling of the riots. READ MORE | NCERT drops texts on Gandhi, Hindu-Muslim unity, RSS ban from class 12 textbook Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's famous "Raj dharma" remark in this section was also removed. In the class 12 sociology textbook, NCERT had dropped a paragraph under the section titled "Communalism, Secularism and the Nation-State" which described how communalism "drives people to kill, rape, and loot members of other communities in order to redeem their pride, to protect their home turf". Besides the Gujarat riots reference, "Gandhiji's death had magical effect on communal situation in the country", "Gandhi's pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists" and "Organisations like RSS were banned for some time" are among the portions missing from the class 12 political science textbook for the new academic session.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has cried foul over Indias decision to host a G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement, Pakistans ministry of foreign affairs said, "Pakistan expresses its strong indignation over Indias decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May 2023."

The meeting comes as India has taken up the G20 Presidency this year and this will be the first international event to be held in Srinagar since the abrogation of Article 370.

"Indias irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and the international law. Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves," Pakistans foreign affairs ministry statement said.

ALSO READ | Ukraine minister says India a vishwaguru, seeks help to rebuild war-torn country

India has not issued any response to this statement. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has in the past always reaffirmed that Kashmir is an integral part of India and no other country has any right to comment on what happens there.

"With its decision to host G-20 events in IOJK (Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir), India is again exploiting its membership of an important international grouping for advancing its self-serving agenda," the Pakistani statement added.

"For a country that has a grandiose vision about itself and its place in the world, India has repeatedly demonstrated that it is unable to act as a responsible member of the international community," says the press release issued by Pakistan.

Political and diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have been downgraded since the revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir. On various UN platforms, Pakistan tries to rake up the Kashmir issue and India always gives a befitting rebuttal.

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has cried foul over Indias decision to host a G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. In a statement, Pakistans ministry of foreign affairs said, "Pakistan expresses its strong indignation over Indias decision to hold the G-20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar on 22-24 May 2023." The meeting comes as India has taken up the G20 Presidency this year and this will be the first international event to be held in Srinagar since the abrogation of Article 370.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "Indias irresponsible move is the latest in a series of self-serving measures to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir in sheer disregard of the UN Security Council resolutions and in violation of the principles of the UN Charter and the international law. Pakistan vehemently condemns these moves," Pakistans foreign affairs ministry statement said. ALSO READ | Ukraine minister says India a vishwaguru, seeks help to rebuild war-torn country India has not issued any response to this statement. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has in the past always reaffirmed that Kashmir is an integral part of India and no other country has any right to comment on what happens there. "With its decision to host G-20 events in IOJK (Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir), India is again exploiting its membership of an important international grouping for advancing its self-serving agenda," the Pakistani statement added. "For a country that has a grandiose vision about itself and its place in the world, India has repeatedly demonstrated that it is unable to act as a responsible member of the international community," says the press release issued by Pakistan. Political and diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have been downgraded since the revocation of Article 370 in Kashmir. On various UN platforms, Pakistan tries to rake up the Kashmir issue and India always gives a befitting rebuttal.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday attacked the central and Gujarat governments over the remission granted to the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case last year, saying the truth about the basis on which such criminals were released needs to come out.

The Opposition party's assertion came a day after the Supreme Court questioned the Gujarat government over the remission granted to these convicts in the case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots.

The court said the gravity of the offence should have been considered and asked whether there was any application of mind.

The Centre and the Gujarat government also told the court they may file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remission.

Asked about the hearing in the Supreme Court and the top court's observation, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "It was not an ordinary crime or just gangrape, her child was killed. Can you imagine what she would have gone through and the Gujarat government and the central government say these files are privileged? What privilege is there, is it a national security issue? This is a matter of a woman's right. You will have to put forward the truth on what basis you released such hardened criminals and on what basis your people called them 'sanskari'," she said, slamming the government.

Asking for reasons for the premature release of the convicts, a bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna had also questioned the paroles granted to them during their incarceration period.

The Supreme Court bench, hearing the matter on Tuesday had said, "Today it is this lady (Bilkis) but tomorrow it can be anyone. It may be you or me. If you do not show your reasons for grant of remission, then we will draw our own conclusions."

In her remarks at the presser, Shrinate said, "The question asked by the Supreme Court is the correct one. Every woman of the country asks this today that Modi ji and his people save such persons. Where is Smriti Irani and others, they are sitting with tape on their mouth."

The question asked by the Supreme Court shakes the conscience of this country that it was Bilkis Bano yesterday and today it can be someone else, the Congress leader said.

"What is the government trying to hide. There is absolutely nothing about national security here, the truth about how the convicts of Bilkis Bano were released needs to come out because that is the truth every woman in the country including myself wants to know. What was the ground on which they were released?" Shrinate said.

On March 27, terming Bilkis Bano's gangrape and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots as a "horrendous" act, the top court had asked the Gujarat government whether uniform standards, as followed in other cases of murder, were applied while granting remission to the 11 convicts in the case.

It had sought a response from the Centre, the Gujarat government and others on the plea filed by Bano, who has challenged the remission of the sentences.

All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15 last year.

The top court is seized of PILs filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul, former Lucknow University VC Roop Rekha Verma, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convicts.

Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing from the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident.

Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday attacked the central and Gujarat governments over the remission granted to the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case last year, saying the truth about the basis on which such criminals were released needs to come out. The Opposition party's assertion came a day after the Supreme Court questioned the Gujarat government over the remission granted to these convicts in the case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots. The court said the gravity of the offence should have been considered and asked whether there was any application of mind.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Centre and the Gujarat government also told the court they may file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remission. Asked about the hearing in the Supreme Court and the top court's observation, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "It was not an ordinary crime or just gangrape, her child was killed. Can you imagine what she would have gone through and the Gujarat government and the central government say these files are privileged? What privilege is there, is it a national security issue? This is a matter of a woman's right. You will have to put forward the truth on what basis you released such hardened criminals and on what basis your people called them 'sanskari'," she said, slamming the government. Asking for reasons for the premature release of the convicts, a bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna had also questioned the paroles granted to them during their incarceration period. The Supreme Court bench, hearing the matter on Tuesday had said, "Today it is this lady (Bilkis) but tomorrow it can be anyone. It may be you or me. If you do not show your reasons for grant of remission, then we will draw our own conclusions." In her remarks at the presser, Shrinate said, "The question asked by the Supreme Court is the correct one. Every woman of the country asks this today that Modi ji and his people save such persons. Where is Smriti Irani and others, they are sitting with tape on their mouth." The question asked by the Supreme Court shakes the conscience of this country that it was Bilkis Bano yesterday and today it can be someone else, the Congress leader said. "What is the government trying to hide. There is absolutely nothing about national security here, the truth about how the convicts of Bilkis Bano were released needs to come out because that is the truth every woman in the country including myself wants to know. What was the ground on which they were released?" Shrinate said. On March 27, terming Bilkis Bano's gangrape and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots as a "horrendous" act, the top court had asked the Gujarat government whether uniform standards, as followed in other cases of murder, were applied while granting remission to the 11 convicts in the case. It had sought a response from the Centre, the Gujarat government and others on the plea filed by Bano, who has challenged the remission of the sentences. All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15 last year. The top court is seized of PILs filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul, former Lucknow University VC Roop Rekha Verma, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convicts. Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing from the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.
Charlottesville City Council voted 5-0 to reinstate in-person meetings on Monday evening.

Effective May 1, Charlottesville boards and commissions are directed to return to in-person meetings that are open to the public, according to the council resolution.

Fully virtual meetings will still be permitted with proper public notification, according to state code. However, the City Council, Board of Architectural Review, Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning Commission will all be required to meet in person.

City Manager Michael Rogers will develop a list of public meetings allowed to offer hybrid citizen participation.

Itll be a return to pre-COVID times for the citys government, almost three years after City Council declared a local state of emergency on March 12, 2020, in response to the onset of the pandemic.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Indian Army personnel will soon begin learning the Chinese language.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Army and Assams Tezpur University on Wednesday for training the personnel in Chinese. It was signed by the 4 Corps on behalf of the Army and the Registrar of Tezpur University in the presence of Vice Chancellor Prof SN Singh.

The 16-week course will be conducted at the Tezpur University.

ALSO READ | Disengagement, de-escalation in Eastern Ladakh best way forward: Defence Minister Rajnath

Tezpur University, a central varsity established in 1994, is one of the pioneers in the Northeast in teaching foreign languages, including Chinese, with highly-qualified faculty.

This Chinese language course will improve the in-house Mandarin expertise and empower the Army personnel to engage with the Chinese military personnel as and when the situation demands, a defence statement said.

With improved Chinese language skills, the Army personnel will be better empowered to convey their points in a much more cogent manner. It will also help in better exchange of viewpoints and understanding of the Chinese PLAs version of their activities during various interactions such as Commander Level talks, Flag Meetings, Joint Exercises and Border Personnel Meetings etc, the statement further said.

In 2021, Indian Army personnel began studying Tibetan history, culture and language, apparently to counter Chinese influence.

GUWAHATI: Indian Army personnel will soon begin learning the Chinese language. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Army and Assams Tezpur University on Wednesday for training the personnel in Chinese. It was signed by the 4 Corps on behalf of the Army and the Registrar of Tezpur University in the presence of Vice Chancellor Prof SN Singh. The 16-week course will be conducted at the Tezpur University.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); ALSO READ | Disengagement, de-escalation in Eastern Ladakh best way forward: Defence Minister Rajnath Tezpur University, a central varsity established in 1994, is one of the pioneers in the Northeast in teaching foreign languages, including Chinese, with highly-qualified faculty. This Chinese language course will improve the in-house Mandarin expertise and empower the Army personnel to engage with the Chinese military personnel as and when the situation demands, a defence statement said. With improved Chinese language skills, the Army personnel will be better empowered to convey their points in a much more cogent manner. It will also help in better exchange of viewpoints and understanding of the Chinese PLAs version of their activities during various interactions such as Commander Level talks, Flag Meetings, Joint Exercises and Border Personnel Meetings etc, the statement further said. In 2021, Indian Army personnel began studying Tibetan history, culture and language, apparently to counter Chinese influence.
Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: British national Kirandeep Kaur, the wife of fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, was on Thursday not allowed to board a flight to London at the Amritsar International Airport, police said. Kirandeep was questioned by the immigration authorities for three hours and later told to go back in the wake of a Look Out Circular issued against her.

Amritpal has remained elusive for more than a month after the Punjab Police launched a crackdown to arrest him. Kirandeep came to the airport around 11.30 am as her flight was to take off at 1.30 pm. She reportedly told her questioners that she was a British citizen and that there was no case registered against her. She denied that she received questionable foreign funding and that she had any ties to the proscribed Babbar Khalsa.

Kirandeep married Amritpal at his native village Jallupur Khera in Amritsar in February this year. Her name cropped up in connection with the foreign funding to Amritpals Waris Punjab De. SSP Amritsar (Rural) Satinder Singh said she was not detained but stopped from fleeing the country as she is required for investigation and that she was sent back to the village.

Amritpal has been on the run since March 18 following a crackdown against him and his supporters. He has been evading arrest by changing his appearance and the vehicles he has travelled in. His key aide Papalpreet Singh, who has allegedly been in contact with Pakistans ISI, has been arrested.

CHANDIGARH: British national Kirandeep Kaur, the wife of fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, was on Thursday not allowed to board a flight to London at the Amritsar International Airport, police said. Kirandeep was questioned by the immigration authorities for three hours and later told to go back in the wake of a Look Out Circular issued against her. Amritpal has remained elusive for more than a month after the Punjab Police launched a crackdown to arrest him. Kirandeep came to the airport around 11.30 am as her flight was to take off at 1.30 pm. She reportedly told her questioners that she was a British citizen and that there was no case registered against her. She denied that she received questionable foreign funding and that she had any ties to the proscribed Babbar Khalsa. Kirandeep married Amritpal at his native village Jallupur Khera in Amritsar in February this year. Her name cropped up in connection with the foreign funding to Amritpals Waris Punjab De. SSP Amritsar (Rural) Satinder Singh said she was not detained but stopped from fleeing the country as she is required for investigation and that she was sent back to the village.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Amritpal has been on the run since March 18 following a crackdown against him and his supporters. He has been evading arrest by changing his appearance and the vehicles he has travelled in. His key aide Papalpreet Singh, who has allegedly been in contact with Pakistans ISI, has been arrested.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to resolve their 50-year-old border dispute which covered 123 villages and nearly 800 km of the interstate boundary.

The MoU was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal counterpart Pema Khandu in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

We have witnessed a historic moment of the Northeast and India today. The two states have resolved a border dispute that raged since 1972. I congratulate chief ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma, Pema Khandu, (Union minister) Kiren Rijiju and the people of Assam and Arunachal, Shah said.

The two states had formed regional committees which visited the disputed sites, talked to the locals and took them into confidence as they resolved the problem, Shah said.

We have today crossed an important milestone of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modijis dream for a developed, peaceful and dispute-free Northeast, the Union home minister said.

ALSO READ | Nobody can cast evil eye on us or encroach upon our land, says Amit Shah in Arunachal

He highlighted various other agreements signed under the NDA such as the one for the resettlement of displaced Brus, Assam-Meghalaya border MoU and peace agreements signed with militant groups in Tripura and Assams Karbi Anglong and Bodoland Territorial Region. He said after the signing of the peace pacts, over 8,000 rebels abjured arms and joined the mainstream.

There has been a 67% decrease in violent incidents and 60% decrease in the deaths of security personnel. Deaths of civilians (in violence) also dropped by 83%, Shah said.

He said Meghalaya and Tripura were today completely free from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

AFSPA has been lifted from 70% areas of Assam, 15 police station areas in six districts of Manipur and seven districts of Nagaland. In Arunachal, it is enforced only in three districts, he said.

Stating that Modi visited the Northeast more than 50 times since 2014 and gave importance to the regions language, culture and literature, Shah said the PM played a key role in popularising Bihu and the Bihu dance globally.

Describing it as a historic day, the Assam CM said the Union home minister had called him and Khandu to Delhi in September last year and asked them to resolve the border dispute.

The two of us met thrice. Subsequently, the regional committees were constituted by both states and they visited the villages. Today, we have solved almost the entire dispute, Sarma said, adding, I am hopeful that we will also be able to resolve our problem with Mizoram and Nagaland.

Khandu was confident the agreement signed with Assam would develop the relationship between the people of the two states.

GUWAHATI: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to resolve their 50-year-old border dispute which covered 123 villages and nearly 800 km of the interstate boundary. The MoU was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal counterpart Pema Khandu in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. We have witnessed a historic moment of the Northeast and India today. The two states have resolved a border dispute that raged since 1972. I congratulate chief ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma, Pema Khandu, (Union minister) Kiren Rijiju and the people of Assam and Arunachal, Shah said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The two states had formed regional committees which visited the disputed sites, talked to the locals and took them into confidence as they resolved the problem, Shah said. We have today crossed an important milestone of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modijis dream for a developed, peaceful and dispute-free Northeast, the Union home minister said. ALSO READ | Nobody can cast evil eye on us or encroach upon our land, says Amit Shah in Arunachal He highlighted various other agreements signed under the NDA such as the one for the resettlement of displaced Brus, Assam-Meghalaya border MoU and peace agreements signed with militant groups in Tripura and Assams Karbi Anglong and Bodoland Territorial Region. He said after the signing of the peace pacts, over 8,000 rebels abjured arms and joined the mainstream. There has been a 67% decrease in violent incidents and 60% decrease in the deaths of security personnel. Deaths of civilians (in violence) also dropped by 83%, Shah said. He said Meghalaya and Tripura were today completely free from the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). AFSPA has been lifted from 70% areas of Assam, 15 police station areas in six districts of Manipur and seven districts of Nagaland. In Arunachal, it is enforced only in three districts, he said. Stating that Modi visited the Northeast more than 50 times since 2014 and gave importance to the regions language, culture and literature, Shah said the PM played a key role in popularising Bihu and the Bihu dance globally. Describing it as a historic day, the Assam CM said the Union home minister had called him and Khandu to Delhi in September last year and asked them to resolve the border dispute. The two of us met thrice. Subsequently, the regional committees were constituted by both states and they visited the villages. Today, we have solved almost the entire dispute, Sarma said, adding, I am hopeful that we will also be able to resolve our problem with Mizoram and Nagaland. Khandu was confident the agreement signed with Assam would develop the relationship between the people of the two states.
Amit Mukherjee By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday lodged an FIR against the India-based entity of international non-profit organisation Oxfam, following a directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) citing 'non-compliance' and 'violation' under the Foreign Currency Regulation Act (FCRA).

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also carried out searches at the office of Oxfam India in Delhi on Wednesday, officials said.

Oxfam India is the second NGO against whom the home ministry has recommended a CBI probe. On March 20, the ministry recommended a probe against Aman Biradari, an NGO established by human rights activist Harsh Mander.

The MHA directive was issued following inputs gathered by multiple agencies that detected several irregularities, violations, and non-compliance under FCRA 2010 by Oxfam which led to the authorities referring the matter to the CBI for investigation.

The MHA in its letter to the CBI Director had stated: "though Oxfam Indias FCRA registration has ceased, it planned to circumvent FCRA by routing funds through other routes."

It alleged that Oxfam India had routed funds from its foreign affiliates such as Oxfam Australia and Oxfam Great Britain to certain NGOs and exercised control over the project. The agency will be investigating the various alleged violations and their scope between 2013 and 2020.

Oxfam India was registered under the FRCA, 2010, for undertaking social activities, with its registration certificate being valid up to December 31, 2021.

According to sources in the MHA, Oxfam India continued to transfer foreign contributions to various entities even after coming into force of the FCRA, 2020, which prohibited such transfers. The amendment came into force on September 29, 2020, but Oxfam India continued to transfer funds to other NGOs, violating provisions of the FCRA, 2010.

Meanwhile, emails found during an income tax survey by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) revealed that Oxfam India was also planning to circumvent FCRA provisions by routing funds to other FCRA-registered associations or through the for-profit consultancy route.

The survey is also said to have outed it as a "probable instrument of foreign policy of international organisations and entities" that funded Oxfam India liberally over the years.

Sources said Oxfam India routed funds to the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) through its associates/employees in the form of a commission. Oxfam Indias TDS data shows a payment of Rs 12.71 lakh to the CPR in 2019-20 under section 194J.

ALSO READ | FCRA licence of think tank Centre for Policy Research suspended

Oxfam India also received foreign contributions amounting to Rs 1.50 crore (approx) directly into its FC utilization account instead of receiving the contribution via its designated FCRA account.

In a statement earlier this month, Oxfam India said it is fully compliant with Indian laws.

"Oxfam India is fully compliant with Indian laws and has filed all its statutory compliances, including Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) returns, in a timely manner since its inception. Oxfam India has been cooperating with all government agencies since its FCRA registration wasn't renewed in December 2021," the NGO said.

The group has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court against the decision to not renew its FCRA registration, it said.

"In times of growing inequality and greater need for action on poverty eradication, Oxfam India has been and will continue to work in the Public and National interest. Oxfam India believes this is our constitutional duty as an organisation, irrespective of obstacles and hurdles in the path," it had said.

READ MORE:

ED attaches Rs 1.54-crores worth assets in money laundering case against Amnesty India

Surveillance & Clampdown: 'NGOs to be linked to central data hub with unique ID'

Government likely to set up statutory body to govern 'deviations', illegal funds to NGOs

Centre excludes 117 international agencies from FCRA ambit; can contribute funds unhindered

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday lodged an FIR against the India-based entity of international non-profit organisation Oxfam, following a directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) citing 'non-compliance' and 'violation' under the Foreign Currency Regulation Act (FCRA). The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also carried out searches at the office of Oxfam India in Delhi on Wednesday, officials said. Oxfam India is the second NGO against whom the home ministry has recommended a CBI probe. On March 20, the ministry recommended a probe against Aman Biradari, an NGO established by human rights activist Harsh Mander.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The MHA directive was issued following inputs gathered by multiple agencies that detected several irregularities, violations, and non-compliance under FCRA 2010 by Oxfam which led to the authorities referring the matter to the CBI for investigation. The MHA in its letter to the CBI Director had stated: "though Oxfam Indias FCRA registration has ceased, it planned to circumvent FCRA by routing funds through other routes." It alleged that Oxfam India had routed funds from its foreign affiliates such as Oxfam Australia and Oxfam Great Britain to certain NGOs and exercised control over the project. The agency will be investigating the various alleged violations and their scope between 2013 and 2020. Oxfam India was registered under the FRCA, 2010, for undertaking social activities, with its registration certificate being valid up to December 31, 2021. According to sources in the MHA, Oxfam India continued to transfer foreign contributions to various entities even after coming into force of the FCRA, 2020, which prohibited such transfers. The amendment came into force on September 29, 2020, but Oxfam India continued to transfer funds to other NGOs, violating provisions of the FCRA, 2010. Meanwhile, emails found during an income tax survey by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) revealed that Oxfam India was also planning to circumvent FCRA provisions by routing funds to other FCRA-registered associations or through the for-profit consultancy route. The survey is also said to have outed it as a "probable instrument of foreign policy of international organisations and entities" that funded Oxfam India liberally over the years. Sources said Oxfam India routed funds to the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) through its associates/employees in the form of a commission. Oxfam Indias TDS data shows a payment of Rs 12.71 lakh to the CPR in 2019-20 under section 194J. ALSO READ | FCRA licence of think tank Centre for Policy Research suspended Oxfam India also received foreign contributions amounting to Rs 1.50 crore (approx) directly into its FC utilization account instead of receiving the contribution via its designated FCRA account. In a statement earlier this month, Oxfam India said it is fully compliant with Indian laws. "Oxfam India is fully compliant with Indian laws and has filed all its statutory compliances, including Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) returns, in a timely manner since its inception. Oxfam India has been cooperating with all government agencies since its FCRA registration wasn't renewed in December 2021," the NGO said. The group has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court against the decision to not renew its FCRA registration, it said. "In times of growing inequality and greater need for action on poverty eradication, Oxfam India has been and will continue to work in the Public and National interest. Oxfam India believes this is our constitutional duty as an organisation, irrespective of obstacles and hurdles in the path," it had said. READ MORE: ED attaches Rs 1.54-crores worth assets in money laundering case against Amnesty India Surveillance & Clampdown: 'NGOs to be linked to central data hub with unique ID' Government likely to set up statutory body to govern 'deviations', illegal funds to NGOs Centre excludes 117 international agencies from FCRA ambit; can contribute funds unhindered
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Lord Buddhas teachings are the basis for solutions to the greatest challenges confronting the world, including war, economic instability, terrorism and climate change, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The noble teachings of Gautama Buddha have impacted countless people over centuries. In the past nine years, India has continuously spread the values of Lord Buddha. We have worked with full dedication for his teachings to reach every nook and corner of the world," PM Modi said in Delhi on Thursday, addressing the first Global Buddhist Summit. The summit is being attended by Buddhist spiritual leaders from across the world.

The power of crores of followers of Lord Buddha across the world is filled with infinite energy, PM Modi said, adding that the Buddha had provided a solution centuries ago for the war and unrest that the world is currently grappling with.

Meanwhile, 170 delegates from across 30 countries are taking part in this event that is jointly hosted by the culture ministry and the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC). However, China, which houses the largest Buddhist population in the world, has given this event a miss. Taiwan has two delegates attending and other participants are from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The theme of the summit is 'Responses to contemporary challenges: Philosophy to praxis'.

ALSO READ | PM Modi dials British PM Sunak, asks him to act against anti-India elements

It is universally accepted that todays era is the most challenging time of this century. Today two countries are at war for months and the world is going through economic instability. Threats such as terrorism and religious fanaticism are attacking the soul of humanity. A challenge like climate change is looming large over the existence of humanity, PM Modi said.

"There are millions who have faith in the Buddha and believe in the welfare of all living beings and this faith is the biggest strength of the earth," PM Modi said, highlighting that the Buddha had preached about abandoning war, defeat and victory for eternal peace.

The Indian government has worked to take the Buddhas teachings to the people including steps such as the development of the Buddhist circuit in India and Nepal, rejuvenating pilgrimage centres such as Sarnath and Kushinagar, building an India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage at Lumbini with Indias cooperation, he said.

The Buddhas legacy also inspired Indias moves to help other countries affected by calamities such as the recent earthquake in Turkey. This emotion of 1.4 billion Indians is being seen, understood and accepted by the world, he said.

The IBC is helping create new opportunities for like-minded countries to spread Buddhism and peace, and discussions on how to handle current challenges hold a ray of hope for the world. Countries have to abandon narrow thinking and focus on poverty-stricken people and other nations affected by a lack of resources, as this is the only way to establish a better world, Modi said.

The PM visited a photo exhibition and offered flowers to a Buddha statue. He also offered monks robes or chivar dana to 19 eminent monks, including representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Australia and Mexico.

NEW DELHI: Lord Buddhas teachings are the basis for solutions to the greatest challenges confronting the world, including war, economic instability, terrorism and climate change, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The noble teachings of Gautama Buddha have impacted countless people over centuries. In the past nine years, India has continuously spread the values of Lord Buddha. We have worked with full dedication for his teachings to reach every nook and corner of the world," PM Modi said in Delhi on Thursday, addressing the first Global Buddhist Summit. The summit is being attended by Buddhist spiritual leaders from across the world. The power of crores of followers of Lord Buddha across the world is filled with infinite energy, PM Modi said, adding that the Buddha had provided a solution centuries ago for the war and unrest that the world is currently grappling with.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Meanwhile, 170 delegates from across 30 countries are taking part in this event that is jointly hosted by the culture ministry and the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC). However, China, which houses the largest Buddhist population in the world, has given this event a miss. Taiwan has two delegates attending and other participants are from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The theme of the summit is 'Responses to contemporary challenges: Philosophy to praxis'. ALSO READ | PM Modi dials British PM Sunak, asks him to act against anti-India elements It is universally accepted that todays era is the most challenging time of this century. Today two countries are at war for months and the world is going through economic instability. Threats such as terrorism and religious fanaticism are attacking the soul of humanity. A challenge like climate change is looming large over the existence of humanity, PM Modi said. "There are millions who have faith in the Buddha and believe in the welfare of all living beings and this faith is the biggest strength of the earth," PM Modi said, highlighting that the Buddha had preached about abandoning war, defeat and victory for eternal peace. The Indian government has worked to take the Buddhas teachings to the people including steps such as the development of the Buddhist circuit in India and Nepal, rejuvenating pilgrimage centres such as Sarnath and Kushinagar, building an India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage at Lumbini with Indias cooperation, he said. The Buddhas legacy also inspired Indias moves to help other countries affected by calamities such as the recent earthquake in Turkey. This emotion of 1.4 billion Indians is being seen, understood and accepted by the world, he said. The IBC is helping create new opportunities for like-minded countries to spread Buddhism and peace, and discussions on how to handle current challenges hold a ray of hope for the world. Countries have to abandon narrow thinking and focus on poverty-stricken people and other nations affected by a lack of resources, as this is the only way to establish a better world, Modi said. The PM visited a photo exhibition and offered flowers to a Buddha statue. He also offered monks robes or chivar dana to 19 eminent monks, including representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Australia and Mexico.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In what could provide some diplomatic bilateral drama in New Delhi, Pakistans foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit India on May 4 to attend the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Goa.

This will be the second in-person participation by Pakistan in an SCO meeting hosted by India. The recently appointed Charge dAffaires in New Delhi, Salman Sharif, attended an SCO meeting in March. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the Pakistan delegation for the SCO foreign ministers meet (May 4th and 5th) in Goa.

The FMs participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans continued commitment to SCO charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, said Pakistans foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch.

She added that Bhutto is going on the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Hina Rabbani Khar was the last Pakistan foreign minister to visit India in 2011. Bilawals visit comes after a 12- year gap. Meanwhile, there is no confirmation yet on whether Pakistan will take part in the upcoming Defence Ministers meet being held in New Delhi from April 27 to 29.

NEW DELHI: In what could provide some diplomatic bilateral drama in New Delhi, Pakistans foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit India on May 4 to attend the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Goa. This will be the second in-person participation by Pakistan in an SCO meeting hosted by India. The recently appointed Charge dAffaires in New Delhi, Salman Sharif, attended an SCO meeting in March. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the Pakistan delegation for the SCO foreign ministers meet (May 4th and 5th) in Goa. The FMs participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans continued commitment to SCO charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, said Pakistans foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); She added that Bhutto is going on the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Hina Rabbani Khar was the last Pakistan foreign minister to visit India in 2011. Bilawals visit comes after a 12- year gap. Meanwhile, there is no confirmation yet on whether Pakistan will take part in the upcoming Defence Ministers meet being held in New Delhi from April 27 to 29.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

MUMBAI: After the lid was blown off the plans of Ajit Pawar to switch sides with the BJP, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has sought to tighten his grip over the party. He has told his nephew and senior NCP leader Ajit not to break the party and that if he wanted to leave, he could do so or with the help of some NCP MLAs who are under the scanner of Central agencies.

NCP MLA and chief whip Anil Patil met Sharad Pawar at his residence and told him not to succumb to any pressure. Anil Patil was earlier was with the BJP and is now perceived close to Ajit Pawar. Patil was one of the MLA who went with Ajit in an 80-hour government with BJP in 2019.

Pawar also reportedly told him that nothing should be done without his permission even though Ajit Pawar is the leader of the Opposition and de facto boss of the NCP in the assembly. While taking any decision, he should be taken in the loop, said a highly placed source.

The developments came in the wake of reports that Ajit Pawar would switch to BJP and that he had already started mobilizing 40 MLAs. NCP sources said Ajit Pawar expressed his displeasure to their staff over the leak of his secret operation and meeting with Amit Shah in Delhi.

Ajit Pawar and other NCP senior leaders who are facing serious charges before the Central probe agencies want to join the BJP as a party, but NCP chief Sharad Pawar has categorically told them that they can do so as an individual, not as a party, at this juncture, said a senior NCP leader.

Source said the news report and massive coverage to it have spoiled the plan of Ajit Pawar and the BJP.

The BJPs top leadership is also upset over the leak of the operations details. However, this operation has been halted for some uncertain period. It will resume after the Supreme Courts verdict on Maharashtra CM Ekanth Shinde faction MLAs disqualification for anti-party activities. The Karnataka state assembly results are also very significant for developments in Maharashtra, said the source.

Ajit Pawar met his party leaders which include senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Deshmukh to discuss the further persuasion plan to NCP chief Sharad Pawar joining hands with the BJP.

Sources said the NCP leaders who received Central agencies notice and are facing charges are requesting Sharad Pawar to accept Ajits demand for going with the BJP so that the cases against them are not followed up.

I am so old that I want relief at this age. I take daily doses of several medicines for sugar and blood pressure. Its really tough to sit in a Central agencys office for seven-eight hours. We want to spend time with our families, not in jail. We continue to request Pawar, but he is asking us to wait, said a

senior NCP leader who is currently facing an inquiry by a Central agency.

MUMBAI: After the lid was blown off the plans of Ajit Pawar to switch sides with the BJP, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has sought to tighten his grip over the party. He has told his nephew and senior NCP leader Ajit not to break the party and that if he wanted to leave, he could do so or with the help of some NCP MLAs who are under the scanner of Central agencies. NCP MLA and chief whip Anil Patil met Sharad Pawar at his residence and told him not to succumb to any pressure. Anil Patil was earlier was with the BJP and is now perceived close to Ajit Pawar. Patil was one of the MLA who went with Ajit in an 80-hour government with BJP in 2019. Pawar also reportedly told him that nothing should be done without his permission even though Ajit Pawar is the leader of the Opposition and de facto boss of the NCP in the assembly. While taking any decision, he should be taken in the loop, said a highly placed source.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The developments came in the wake of reports that Ajit Pawar would switch to BJP and that he had already started mobilizing 40 MLAs. NCP sources said Ajit Pawar expressed his displeasure to their staff over the leak of his secret operation and meeting with Amit Shah in Delhi. Ajit Pawar and other NCP senior leaders who are facing serious charges before the Central probe agencies want to join the BJP as a party, but NCP chief Sharad Pawar has categorically told them that they can do so as an individual, not as a party, at this juncture, said a senior NCP leader. Source said the news report and massive coverage to it have spoiled the plan of Ajit Pawar and the BJP. The BJPs top leadership is also upset over the leak of the operations details. However, this operation has been halted for some uncertain period. It will resume after the Supreme Courts verdict on Maharashtra CM Ekanth Shinde faction MLAs disqualification for anti-party activities. The Karnataka state assembly results are also very significant for developments in Maharashtra, said the source. Ajit Pawar met his party leaders which include senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare, Dilip Walse Patil and Anil Deshmukh to discuss the further persuasion plan to NCP chief Sharad Pawar joining hands with the BJP. Sources said the NCP leaders who received Central agencies notice and are facing charges are requesting Sharad Pawar to accept Ajits demand for going with the BJP so that the cases against them are not followed up. I am so old that I want relief at this age. I take daily doses of several medicines for sugar and blood pressure. Its really tough to sit in a Central agencys office for seven-eight hours. We want to spend time with our families, not in jail. We continue to request Pawar, but he is asking us to wait, said a senior NCP leader who is currently facing an inquiry by a Central agency.
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have run short of Covid vaccines since March 31, forcing them to request the Centre to chip in. While Punjab needs 35,000 doses, Haryana 50,000, state government sources said.

Talking with this newspaper, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh said in the recent virtual meeting with the Union health minister, the issue was raised. As the company that manufactured the vaccine had stopped its operations, I was told that states should directly buy the vaccine from the company or elsewhere from abroad. But these companies deal with the Union government and not directly with the state government, said Singh.

He said the Union health minister was urged that the Centre should procure the vaccines on behalf of the states and give it to them as states are ready to pay for the vaccine. The in-house production of the vaccine is expected to begin in three months, which is a long period for us, Singh said.

We have written to the Centre and demanded 35,000 doses of the vaccine. There are many youths in the state ready to go abroad for studies and other purposes, but cannot, as one should be vaccinated at

least twice for international travel, said the Punjab health minister.

Meanwhile sources in the Haryana health department said that they have raised a request of 50,000 doses with a vaccine manufacturer. As we have to directly procure the vaccine from the manufacturer, we have submitted our requirements as it might take about two weeks to reach our cold chain, said an officer.

He said as the demand has gone up, the stocks have run out because the vaccine has a short shelf life.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have run short of Covid vaccines since March 31, forcing them to request the Centre to chip in. While Punjab needs 35,000 doses, Haryana 50,000, state government sources said. Talking with this newspaper, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh said in the recent virtual meeting with the Union health minister, the issue was raised. As the company that manufactured the vaccine had stopped its operations, I was told that states should directly buy the vaccine from the company or elsewhere from abroad. But these companies deal with the Union government and not directly with the state government, said Singh. He said the Union health minister was urged that the Centre should procure the vaccines on behalf of the states and give it to them as states are ready to pay for the vaccine. The in-house production of the vaccine is expected to begin in three months, which is a long period for us, Singh said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); We have written to the Centre and demanded 35,000 doses of the vaccine. There are many youths in the state ready to go abroad for studies and other purposes, but cannot, as one should be vaccinated at least twice for international travel, said the Punjab health minister. Meanwhile sources in the Haryana health department said that they have raised a request of 50,000 doses with a vaccine manufacturer. As we have to directly procure the vaccine from the manufacturer, we have submitted our requirements as it might take about two weeks to reach our cold chain, said an officer. He said as the demand has gone up, the stocks have run out because the vaccine has a short shelf life.
Shahid Faridi By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India and Russia have devised a novel solution to the payment problem they faced after the Western sanctions against the latter following the Ukraine invasion. The workaround is to invest the bulk of Russian earnings from India in setting up industries in India to manufacture products that can be exported to the Russian Federation.

Indias imports from Russia increased four times over the last financial year to $46 billion as Russia replaced Iraq as Indias top crude oil supplier last month. India is trying to get Russia to accept payments in rupee. Russia is against it, saying it has no use for such huge sums of Indian currency as its imports from India are only a fraction of what its exports to the country earn.

While talks are on for reviving the rupee-rouble trade, the two countries have quickly moved to implement their new understanding. Sources said Russia plans to spend much of its earnings from India to set up facilities in India that will export hundreds of items manufactured by its fully-owned companies or by joint ventures.

A large delegation of top Indian private defence manufacturers visited Russia last week to explore possibilities of tie-ups, and at least three Russian business delegations visited India over the last three weeks. They included senior Russian ministers and business leaders.

A 190-member business delegation representing 128 Russian companies visited India earlier this month. Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Sergey Katyrin headed this group. The FICCI organised B2B meetings between visiting Russian business people and Indian industrialists.

This was followed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturovs visit. Both sides are exploring cooperation in transport and machine building, chemicals, pharma, metallurgy and materials, digital technologies, energy, finance and trade.

NEW DELHI: India and Russia have devised a novel solution to the payment problem they faced after the Western sanctions against the latter following the Ukraine invasion. The workaround is to invest the bulk of Russian earnings from India in setting up industries in India to manufacture products that can be exported to the Russian Federation. Indias imports from Russia increased four times over the last financial year to $46 billion as Russia replaced Iraq as Indias top crude oil supplier last month. India is trying to get Russia to accept payments in rupee. Russia is against it, saying it has no use for such huge sums of Indian currency as its imports from India are only a fraction of what its exports to the country earn. While talks are on for reviving the rupee-rouble trade, the two countries have quickly moved to implement their new understanding. Sources said Russia plans to spend much of its earnings from India to set up facilities in India that will export hundreds of items manufactured by its fully-owned companies or by joint ventures.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); A large delegation of top Indian private defence manufacturers visited Russia last week to explore possibilities of tie-ups, and at least three Russian business delegations visited India over the last three weeks. They included senior Russian ministers and business leaders. A 190-member business delegation representing 128 Russian companies visited India earlier this month. Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Sergey Katyrin headed this group. The FICCI organised B2B meetings between visiting Russian business people and Indian industrialists. This was followed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturovs visit. Both sides are exploring cooperation in transport and machine building, chemicals, pharma, metallurgy and materials, digital technologies, energy, finance and trade.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The state cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of sexual characteristic over which the person has no control, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, asserting the Centre has no data to back up its claim that the concept of same-sex marriage is "elitist" or "urban."

The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriage.

"It is very simple, the State cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of a characteristic over which the person has no control," a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said on the second day of a day-long hearing on the pleas.

The Centre, in one of its affidavits filed in the apex court, termed the petitions a reflection of an "urban elitist" view for the purpose of social acceptance and said recognition of marriage is essentially a legislative function which the courts should refrain from adjudicating.

Apparently agreeing with the submissions of senior advocate A M Singhi, appearing for one of the petitioners, the bench said, "When you say that this is an innate characteristic then it is also an argument in response to the contention (of the Centre) this is elitist or urban or it has a certain class bias."

"When something is innate, then it cannot have class bias. It may be more urban in its manifestations because the people in urban areas are coming out of the closed closet. Anyway, no data is forthcoming from the government to indicate that this is urban. No data at all," observed the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha.

'Absolute lack of grace'

Singhvi stressed that every averment made by the Centre in the affidavit is without a "single survey, single data."

Another senior advocate, K V Viswanathan, who also represented one of the petitioners, said branding the petitioners as "urban elitist" showed an "absolute lack of grace."

"The Union should have shown some grace," Viswanathan said.

At the start of the day's hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, filed a fresh affidavit urging the bench that all states and Union Territories be made parties to the proceedings as any decision on the issue without obtaining their views will render the present "adversarial exercise" incomplete and truncated.

During the hearing, the bench also deliberated upon the consequences of legalising same-sex marriage including adoption and different marriageable age for male and female.

"Incidentally, even if a couple is in a gay relationship or a lesbian relationship, one of them can still adopt. So the whole argument that this will create a sort of psychological impact on the child is belied by the fact that even today, on the state of the law as it stands, once we have decriminalised homosexuality, it is open to people to live-in together and one of them can adopt. It is just that the child looses the benefit of parenthood so to speak of both the parents," the CJI said.

The apex court dwelt upon section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, which deals with conditions relating to the solemnization of special marriages and mandates that a male and female must be of the age of 21 and 18 years respectively.

ALSO READ | Recognize same-sex marriages to help us lead dignified lives: Petitioners

'LGBTQIA have no representation in Parliament'

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners, said a bill has been proposed to increase the marriageable age of women to 21 years, and the moment 18 years is made 21, the problem will be solved.

The bench observed it could be a "slightly dangerous argument" and recalled a petition had come before the top court where the issue of marriageable age was raised. It said the court had rejected the petition observing if it holds the provision unconstitutional, there will be no minimum age of marriage.

During the arguments, Rohatgi urged the bench to use its "plenary power, prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union as would ensure LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual, and ally) persons lead a "dignified" life-like heterosexuals.

He said, the State should come forward and provide recognition to same-sex marriage. Rohatgi said LGBTQIA have no representation in Parliament and that is why it is the courts they have to come to.

He said courts have always struck down majoritarian views with regard to fundamental rights and, even if one person is impacted, the action has been struck down. Rohatgi referred to the law on widow re-marriage and said society did accept it then, the "law acted with alacrity" and social acceptance followed.

"Here, this court needs to push society to acknowledge same-sex marriage. This court, besides the power under Article 142 (which provides SC the plenary power to pass any order necessary for doing complete justice) of the Constitution, has moral authority and it enjoys public confidence. We rely on the prestige and moral authority of this court to ensure that we get our right," Rohagti said during the arguments which will continue on Thursday.

In its fresh affidavit filed in the apex court, the Centre said it issued a letter on April 18 to all states inviting comments and views on the "seminal issue" raised in the pleas.

"It is, therefore, humbly requested that all states and Union Territories be made a party to the present proceedings and their respective stance be taken on record and in the alternative, allow the Union of India, to finish the consultative process with the states, obtain their views/apprehensions, compile the same and place it on record before this court, and only thereafter adjudicate on the present issue," the affidavit said.

ALSO READ | 'Notion of man, woman not absolute' based on genitals: SC on same-sex marriage

'Should not be treated as lesser mortals'

Opposing the government's fresh affidavit, Rohatgi said the pleas challenged a central law- the Special Marriage Act- and just because the subject is there in the concurrent list of the Constitution, states and UTs need not be issued the notices.

"You do not have to labour on this point," the CJI said.

Rohatgi referred to the judgements, including the decriminalisation of consensual gay sex, and said the court was revisiting something which has already been decided.

"I (petitioner) am equal to heterosexual groups and it cannot be so that their sexual orientation is correct and all others are incorrect. I am saying let there be a positive affirmation...We should not be treated as lesser mortals and there will be full enjoyment of the right to life," he said.

The top court on Tuesday made it clear that it will not go into personal laws governing marriages while deciding the pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages and said the very notion of a man and a woman, as referred to in the Special Marriage Act, is not "an absolute based on genitals."

The judicial outcome on the sensitive issue will have significant ramifications for the country where common people and political parties hold divergent and strong views on the subject.

The apex court had on November 25 last year sought the Centre's response to separate pleas moved by two gay couples seeking enforcement of their right to marry and a direction to the authorities concerned to register their marriages under the Special Marriage Act.

READ MORE:

Need to finish matter in time-bound manner: SC on same-sex marriage hearing

LGBTQ+ community denounces Centre's opposition to same-sex marriage

Activist Akkai seeks apology from BJP member for same-sex marriage remark

Indian gay couple begin legal battle for same-sex marriage

NEW DELHI: The state cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of sexual characteristic over which the person has no control, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, asserting the Centre has no data to back up its claim that the concept of same-sex marriage is "elitist" or "urban." The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriage. "It is very simple, the State cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of a characteristic over which the person has no control," a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said on the second day of a day-long hearing on the pleas.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Centre, in one of its affidavits filed in the apex court, termed the petitions a reflection of an "urban elitist" view for the purpose of social acceptance and said recognition of marriage is essentially a legislative function which the courts should refrain from adjudicating. Apparently agreeing with the submissions of senior advocate A M Singhi, appearing for one of the petitioners, the bench said, "When you say that this is an innate characteristic then it is also an argument in response to the contention (of the Centre) this is elitist or urban or it has a certain class bias." "When something is innate, then it cannot have class bias. It may be more urban in its manifestations because the people in urban areas are coming out of the closed closet. Anyway, no data is forthcoming from the government to indicate that this is urban. No data at all," observed the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha. 'Absolute lack of grace' Singhvi stressed that every averment made by the Centre in the affidavit is without a "single survey, single data." Another senior advocate, K V Viswanathan, who also represented one of the petitioners, said branding the petitioners as "urban elitist" showed an "absolute lack of grace." "The Union should have shown some grace," Viswanathan said. At the start of the day's hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, filed a fresh affidavit urging the bench that all states and Union Territories be made parties to the proceedings as any decision on the issue without obtaining their views will render the present "adversarial exercise" incomplete and truncated. During the hearing, the bench also deliberated upon the consequences of legalising same-sex marriage including adoption and different marriageable age for male and female. "Incidentally, even if a couple is in a gay relationship or a lesbian relationship, one of them can still adopt. So the whole argument that this will create a sort of psychological impact on the child is belied by the fact that even today, on the state of the law as it stands, once we have decriminalised homosexuality, it is open to people to live-in together and one of them can adopt. It is just that the child looses the benefit of parenthood so to speak of both the parents," the CJI said. The apex court dwelt upon section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, which deals with conditions relating to the solemnization of special marriages and mandates that a male and female must be of the age of 21 and 18 years respectively. ALSO READ | Recognize same-sex marriages to help us lead dignified lives: Petitioners 'LGBTQIA have no representation in Parliament' Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners, said a bill has been proposed to increase the marriageable age of women to 21 years, and the moment 18 years is made 21, the problem will be solved. The bench observed it could be a "slightly dangerous argument" and recalled a petition had come before the top court where the issue of marriageable age was raised. It said the court had rejected the petition observing if it holds the provision unconstitutional, there will be no minimum age of marriage. During the arguments, Rohatgi urged the bench to use its "plenary power, prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union as would ensure LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual, and ally) persons lead a "dignified" life-like heterosexuals. He said, the State should come forward and provide recognition to same-sex marriage. Rohatgi said LGBTQIA have no representation in Parliament and that is why it is the courts they have to come to. He said courts have always struck down majoritarian views with regard to fundamental rights and, even if one person is impacted, the action has been struck down. Rohatgi referred to the law on widow re-marriage and said society did accept it then, the "law acted with alacrity" and social acceptance followed. "Here, this court needs to push society to acknowledge same-sex marriage. This court, besides the power under Article 142 (which provides SC the plenary power to pass any order necessary for doing complete justice) of the Constitution, has moral authority and it enjoys public confidence. We rely on the prestige and moral authority of this court to ensure that we get our right," Rohagti said during the arguments which will continue on Thursday. In its fresh affidavit filed in the apex court, the Centre said it issued a letter on April 18 to all states inviting comments and views on the "seminal issue" raised in the pleas. "It is, therefore, humbly requested that all states and Union Territories be made a party to the present proceedings and their respective stance be taken on record and in the alternative, allow the Union of India, to finish the consultative process with the states, obtain their views/apprehensions, compile the same and place it on record before this court, and only thereafter adjudicate on the present issue," the affidavit said. ALSO READ | 'Notion of man, woman not absolute' based on genitals: SC on same-sex marriage 'Should not be treated as lesser mortals' Opposing the government's fresh affidavit, Rohatgi said the pleas challenged a central law- the Special Marriage Act- and just because the subject is there in the concurrent list of the Constitution, states and UTs need not be issued the notices. "You do not have to labour on this point," the CJI said. Rohatgi referred to the judgements, including the decriminalisation of consensual gay sex, and said the court was revisiting something which has already been decided. "I (petitioner) am equal to heterosexual groups and it cannot be so that their sexual orientation is correct and all others are incorrect. I am saying let there be a positive affirmation...We should not be treated as lesser mortals and there will be full enjoyment of the right to life," he said. The top court on Tuesday made it clear that it will not go into personal laws governing marriages while deciding the pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriages and said the very notion of a man and a woman, as referred to in the Special Marriage Act, is not "an absolute based on genitals." The judicial outcome on the sensitive issue will have significant ramifications for the country where common people and political parties hold divergent and strong views on the subject. The apex court had on November 25 last year sought the Centre's response to separate pleas moved by two gay couples seeking enforcement of their right to marry and a direction to the authorities concerned to register their marriages under the Special Marriage Act. READ MORE: Need to finish matter in time-bound manner: SC on same-sex marriage hearing LGBTQ+ community denounces Centre's opposition to same-sex marriage Activist Akkai seeks apology from BJP member for same-sex marriage remark Indian gay couple begin legal battle for same-sex marriage
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney divides her fellow Republicans who refused to impeach former President Donald Trump into two categories: bystanders and enablers.

We have to demand more from our politics, Cheney said on Wednesday at the University of Virginia during a conversation hosted by the schools Center for Politics.

Speculation has been swirling that Cheney may be running for president in the upcoming 2024 elections, which would mean challenging Trump in the GOP primary and facing off with the very man who many say is responsible for her failed congressional reelection bid in 2022.

Cheney lost to Trump-endorsed candidate Harriet Hageman, who secured the Republican primary with 66.3% of the vote. The loss was the second worst for a House incumbent in 60 years, coming behind the defeat of South Carolina Republican Bob Inglis in 2010.

Speaking at UVa on Wednesday, where Cheney is now a professor, the former congresswoman did not say whether shes made any decision about running in the Republican primary. She did, however, draw distinct lines between herself and other Republican leaders.

Cheney told an audience in the Jefferson Ballroom in UVas Alumni Hall that her family was deeply concerned about the rally-turned-riot at the U.S. Capitol well before it metastasized into a full-blown insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

Cheney said her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, told her he was worried for her safety in the days leading up to Jan. 6.

His concerns only intensified after he heard Trump say he wanted to get rid of the Liz Cheneys in the world on the Ellipse in front of the White House that day. It was on the Ellipse that Trump pushed his supporters to stop the count of electoral votes guaranteeing Democrat Joe Biden victory.

There were security concerns before that day, Cheney recalled. The question was, should I go ahead and give my remarks that I was there to give explaining why it was unconstitutional to object to electoral votes? And we both decided that there was simply no choice, that you couldnt be in a situation where threats or the potential of violence unleashed by the president of the United States [could] silence the debate.

Cheney said she still remembers the moment she knew Trump needed to be impeached.

After Capitol security told her to hide behind her literal congressional seat, Cheney said it became clear immediately that the president needed to be removed from office.

Shortly after the insurrection at the Capitol, Cheney recalled hearing Republican officials discourage others in the party from speaking on the attack or deciding that ignoring Trump would make him go away.

There are just an awful lot of Republican leaders, elected officials, who are acting like bystanders, and then there are others who are enablers, Cheney said. But we have to demand more from our politics.

In July 2021, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California appointed Cheney to the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. After her appointment, Cheney was promoted to vice chairwoman of the committee.

Cheney immediately faced consequences for even serving on the panel.

The Wyoming GOP revoked Cheneys membership in the states Republican Party in November 2021.

The following year, Cheney lost her bid for reelection to the Trump-endorsed Hageman.

Losing is never a happy moment, said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics who joined Cheney on stage Wednesday. Although losing for the right cause can be.

Sabato made a note to the audience on Wednesday that despite Cheneys anti-Trump rhetoric she remains a committed conservative.

You have to remember that she is a conservative Republican  she has reminded me of that many times and were happy with that, Sabato said, adding that diversity of opinion between and within parties is part of democracy and a model for students at UVa. We want to have liberals, moderates, conservatives in the student body, and we want people to learn from one another. You cant just have one song, you need a whole choir.

During her talk with Sabato on Wednesday, Cheney only briefly touched on her new book, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning. Her publisher Little, Brown has described the work as a tell-all and a warning about the threat that Trump and his allies pose to America. Oath and Honor is expected to hit shelves on Nov. 14, ahead of what many suspect will be Cheneys announcement on a presidential bid.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday termed "erroneous and unsustainable" a Surat court judgement rejecting Rahul Gandhi's appeal in a defamation case related to his "Modi surname" remark, and said the judge seems "over-shadowed" by the high office of the prime minister.

Congress senior spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said they would move the High Court "very shortly" as the judgement is "fallacious" and contrary to all basic principles of law.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera rejected Gandhi's application for relief against a magisterial court order sentencing him to two years in jail in the defamation case.

"A most unfortunate and unsustainable legal decision of the magistrate has been upheld in an even more unsustainable and erroneous judgement of the Sessions court given today. The conviction has been upheld contrary to all basic elementary principles of law," Singhvi told reporters at a press conference.

"Let me assure you that the judgement will be challenged in accordance with the law in the very near future," he said.

Arguing that the judgement is "wrong" with no legal standing, he said the court has noted that Prime Minister Modi has been defamed along with 13 crore others with the Modi surname, which shows that the judge is "over-shadowed" by the exalted office of the prime minister.

"Clearly, unfortunately, the judgement is influenced by the high office of the prime minister, forgetting that the honourable prime minister is not the complainant," Singhvi said.

Sources said that Singhvi, himself a noted lawyer, is likely to appear before the High Court in Gujarat while challenging the Sessions Court order.

ALSO READ | Rahul defamation case: Amend law to protect MPs, MLAs

"There is a legal error in the judgement. We respect all courts and we have the High Court and Supreme Court. We have several grounds to challenge the judgement. We will move the high court in the very near future," Singhvi said.

"We are confident that superior courts with the constitutional power of judicial review, namely the High Court and the Supreme Court, have the power and will set right the legal errors found in these two judgements. We are clear that the judgement is devoid of valid sustainable legal reasoning," he said.

Singhvi said the one-line remark of Rahul Gandhi in a two-and-a-half page speech "has been from inception distorted completely out of recognition to serve the narrow ends of motivated complainants, that has been hardly interpreted in the sessions court judgement and what little has been said is a complete distortion, legally erroneous."

Gandhi had on April 3 approached the sessions court for an appeal against the lower court's order.

Training his guns on the BJP government, Singhvi said, its "speed and zeal" to act after the magistrate's original order shows "they are motivated by political animosity from the house taking to electricity disconnection to serving notices etc."

Their completely misleading and displaced statements about the OBCs have backfired on them and the entire community and the whole of India now see the BJP as using the OBC community for narrow and cheap political games, he said.

"The voice of Rahul Gandhi is not to be silenced in the manner in which the BJP thinks it can do. The BJP has been in a sense from Mr Modi downwards to the government and the ruling party captured in a fear psychosis," he said, alleging the ruling party has unleashed lakhs of trolls against the former Congress president.

ALSO READ | OPINION: A case for India decriminalising defamation

"They sometimes threaten you with privilege notices, sometimes it is suspension, but they do not know the stuff Rahul Gandhi is made of. They do not know the resilience of the Congress party. His voice will not be silenced because he speaks to the court of people."

"He did not speak anything which is remotely defamatory in this case...he will continue to speak fearlessly in the court of the people. Clearly these pressure tactics from defamation, privilege notices to not (allowing him) to speak in Parliament to suspension etc are intended to silence his strong, fearless voice on issues of misgovernance, on corruption, on Adani-gate etc," the Congress leader said.

After his conviction by the magistrate court on March 23, Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP and he was asked to vacate his official bungalow.

A stay on the conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for his reinstatement as a Member of Parliament.

The lower court had sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

ALSO READ | Victory of people, judiciary, claims BJP on court rejecting Rahul's plea

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday termed "erroneous and unsustainable" a Surat court judgement rejecting Rahul Gandhi's appeal in a defamation case related to his "Modi surname" remark, and said the judge seems "over-shadowed" by the high office of the prime minister. Congress senior spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said they would move the High Court "very shortly" as the judgement is "fallacious" and contrary to all basic principles of law. The court of Additional Sessions Judge R P Mogera rejected Gandhi's application for relief against a magisterial court order sentencing him to two years in jail in the defamation case.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "A most unfortunate and unsustainable legal decision of the magistrate has been upheld in an even more unsustainable and erroneous judgement of the Sessions court given today. The conviction has been upheld contrary to all basic elementary principles of law," Singhvi told reporters at a press conference. "Let me assure you that the judgement will be challenged in accordance with the law in the very near future," he said. Arguing that the judgement is "wrong" with no legal standing, he said the court has noted that Prime Minister Modi has been defamed along with 13 crore others with the Modi surname, which shows that the judge is "over-shadowed" by the exalted office of the prime minister. "Clearly, unfortunately, the judgement is influenced by the high office of the prime minister, forgetting that the honourable prime minister is not the complainant," Singhvi said. Sources said that Singhvi, himself a noted lawyer, is likely to appear before the High Court in Gujarat while challenging the Sessions Court order. ALSO READ | Rahul defamation case: Amend law to protect MPs, MLAs "There is a legal error in the judgement. We respect all courts and we have the High Court and Supreme Court. We have several grounds to challenge the judgement. We will move the high court in the very near future," Singhvi said. "We are confident that superior courts with the constitutional power of judicial review, namely the High Court and the Supreme Court, have the power and will set right the legal errors found in these two judgements. We are clear that the judgement is devoid of valid sustainable legal reasoning," he said. Singhvi said the one-line remark of Rahul Gandhi in a two-and-a-half page speech "has been from inception distorted completely out of recognition to serve the narrow ends of motivated complainants, that has been hardly interpreted in the sessions court judgement and what little has been said is a complete distortion, legally erroneous." Gandhi had on April 3 approached the sessions court for an appeal against the lower court's order. Training his guns on the BJP government, Singhvi said, its "speed and zeal" to act after the magistrate's original order shows "they are motivated by political animosity from the house taking to electricity disconnection to serving notices etc." Their completely misleading and displaced statements about the OBCs have backfired on them and the entire community and the whole of India now see the BJP as using the OBC community for narrow and cheap political games, he said. "The voice of Rahul Gandhi is not to be silenced in the manner in which the BJP thinks it can do. The BJP has been in a sense from Mr Modi downwards to the government and the ruling party captured in a fear psychosis," he said, alleging the ruling party has unleashed lakhs of trolls against the former Congress president. ALSO READ | OPINION: A case for India decriminalising defamation "They sometimes threaten you with privilege notices, sometimes it is suspension, but they do not know the stuff Rahul Gandhi is made of. They do not know the resilience of the Congress party. His voice will not be silenced because he speaks to the court of people." "He did not speak anything which is remotely defamatory in this case...he will continue to speak fearlessly in the court of the people. Clearly these pressure tactics from defamation, privilege notices to not (allowing him) to speak in Parliament to suspension etc are intended to silence his strong, fearless voice on issues of misgovernance, on corruption, on Adani-gate etc," the Congress leader said. After his conviction by the magistrate court on March 23, Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP and he was asked to vacate his official bungalow. A stay on the conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for his reinstatement as a Member of Parliament. The lower court had sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019. ALSO READ | Victory of people, judiciary, claims BJP on court rejecting Rahul's plea
Dilip Singh Kshatriya By

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: In a criminal defamation case involving his "Modi surname" statement, a Surat sessions court denied Rahul Gandhi's request for a stay on his defamation conviction.

Additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera refused to stay the conviction. Rahul Gandhi will now file an appeal in Gujarat's High Court.

Surat Congress leader who is Rahul Bail Granter, Naisdhad Desai told to Media Person This court did not accept our application, its shocking, we will file an appeal in Gujarat high court tomorrow,

"We appealed to the Surat Sessions Court against the punishment we received, we asked for a stay on the two-year conviction, but the court rejected our appeal today, we will take the matter to the High Court," said Surat Congress President Hasmukh Desai.

Previously, the sessions court granted Gandhi bail and postponed his two-year jail sentence, which was imposed by a metropolitan magistrate court on March 23, until the outcome of his appeal seeking a stay of his conviction.

Gandhi was found guilty of making a comment "How come all thieves have Modi as a common surname" during an electoral rally in 2019.

WATCH |

After his conviction, Rahul Gandhi lost his right to serve as a Lok Sabha member, which prompted various opposition parties to criticize the administration. Gandhi claimed that the highest penalty handed down to him was to attract the order of disqualification as an MP in his appeal before the Surat District and Sessions Court against his two-year conviction.

Arguing on behalf of Rahul Gandhi in Surat sessions court on 13th April, lawyer RS Cheema questioned, "Why is the prosecution requesting an apology from my client? What is the point of apologizing? Do they not have any legal arguments? How can they expect my Client to apologize? Is it a prerequisite for filing an appeal?"

ALSO READ | Rahul defamation case: Maharashtra court grants permanent exemption from appearance

Rahul Gandhi's counsel also questioned the complainant's intent, noting that "the complainant went to the High Court to seek a stay of proceedings on the grounds that he wished to submit additional evidence on the record, but he did not. However, due to a change in guard, he stated that there is now adequate proof and withdrew his plea from the HC."

Rahul Gandhi's advocates argued that in a democracy, the opposition is essential. The government is being audited. Making the government answerable. The general population is concerned about the relationship between the government and large economic entities.

When we look at the speeches, we are not looking at a murderer, thief, or other criminals. We're looking at a speech given during an election campaign explaining why the current government should be replaced. In such circumstances, courts must assess all of the facts. The larger public interest must be

considered. Rahuls Lawyer argued in Court.

Cheema further argued, telling the judge that the trial was not "fair." Cheema described the magistrate's decision as "strange" since the trial court judge "made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record."

"The entire case was based on electronic evidence, in which he delivered a speech during elections and a guy sitting 100 kilometres away filed a complaint after seeing it on the news. There was no need for the maximum punishment in this case," Cheema argued on Gandhi's behalf.

ALSO READ | Rahul defamation case: Amend law to protect MPs, MLAs

Meanwhile, the prosecution accused Rahul Gandhi of being arrogant, refusing to apologize, and acting like a child.

Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs counsel Harshit Tolia said, Gandhis conduct deserves no sympathy and his sentence shouldn't be suspended. He isn't saying sorry. Chalo ho gyi galti aisa maan lo. Nhi manna hai inhe (accept that it was a mistake, but he is not ready to accept it). This is his

arrogance he can't say sorry."

"The convict, his party leaders, and his associates are making disparaging remarks about the Court. They have also made various derogatory statements about the Court and its decision," Purnesh Modis Lawyer Tolia said.

Earlier, Purnesh Modi, a Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, filed an objection in court on Tuesday (April 11) in response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's request for a stay of his conviction, according to his counsel.

AHMEDABAD: In a criminal defamation case involving his "Modi surname" statement, a Surat sessions court denied Rahul Gandhi's request for a stay on his defamation conviction. #Surat court rejected #RahulGandhi 's request for a stay of the defamation conviction.@NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/AJqrIFIy1Q  Dilip Singh Kshatriya (@Kshatriyadilip) April 20, 2023 Additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera refused to stay the conviction. Rahul Gandhi will now file an appeal in Gujarat's High Court.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Surat Congress leader who is Rahul Bail Granter, Naisdhad Desai told to Media Person This court did not accept our application, its shocking, we will file an appeal in Gujarat high court tomorrow, "We appealed to the Surat Sessions Court against the punishment we received, we asked for a stay on the two-year conviction, but the court rejected our appeal today, we will take the matter to the High Court," said Surat Congress President Hasmukh Desai. Previously, the sessions court granted Gandhi bail and postponed his two-year jail sentence, which was imposed by a metropolitan magistrate court on March 23, until the outcome of his appeal seeking a stay of his conviction. Gandhi was found guilty of making a comment "How come all thieves have Modi as a common surname" during an electoral rally in 2019. WATCH | After his conviction, Rahul Gandhi lost his right to serve as a Lok Sabha member, which prompted various opposition parties to criticize the administration. Gandhi claimed that the highest penalty handed down to him was to attract the order of disqualification as an MP in his appeal before the Surat District and Sessions Court against his two-year conviction. Arguing on behalf of Rahul Gandhi in Surat sessions court on 13th April, lawyer RS Cheema questioned, "Why is the prosecution requesting an apology from my client? What is the point of apologizing? Do they not have any legal arguments? How can they expect my Client to apologize? Is it a prerequisite for filing an appeal?" ALSO READ | Rahul defamation case: Maharashtra court grants permanent exemption from appearance Rahul Gandhi's counsel also questioned the complainant's intent, noting that "the complainant went to the High Court to seek a stay of proceedings on the grounds that he wished to submit additional evidence on the record, but he did not. However, due to a change in guard, he stated that there is now adequate proof and withdrew his plea from the HC." Rahul Gandhi's advocates argued that in a democracy, the opposition is essential. The government is being audited. Making the government answerable. The general population is concerned about the relationship between the government and large economic entities. When we look at the speeches, we are not looking at a murderer, thief, or other criminals. We're looking at a speech given during an election campaign explaining why the current government should be replaced. In such circumstances, courts must assess all of the facts. The larger public interest must be considered. Rahuls Lawyer argued in Court. Cheema further argued, telling the judge that the trial was not "fair." Cheema described the magistrate's decision as "strange" since the trial court judge "made a hotchpotch of all the evidence on record." "The entire case was based on electronic evidence, in which he delivered a speech during elections and a guy sitting 100 kilometres away filed a complaint after seeing it on the news. There was no need for the maximum punishment in this case," Cheema argued on Gandhi's behalf. ALSO READ | Rahul defamation case: Amend law to protect MPs, MLAs Meanwhile, the prosecution accused Rahul Gandhi of being arrogant, refusing to apologize, and acting like a child. Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs counsel Harshit Tolia said, Gandhis conduct deserves no sympathy and his sentence shouldn't be suspended. He isn't saying sorry. Chalo ho gyi galti aisa maan lo. Nhi manna hai inhe (accept that it was a mistake, but he is not ready to accept it). This is his arrogance he can't say sorry." "The convict, his party leaders, and his associates are making disparaging remarks about the Court. They have also made various derogatory statements about the Court and its decision," Purnesh Modis Lawyer Tolia said. Earlier, Purnesh Modi, a Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, filed an objection in court on Tuesday (April 11) in response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's request for a stay of his conviction, according to his counsel.
Vinay Sahasrabuddhe By

For obvious reasons, Karnataka Assembly elections have become extremely important. Voting is just around 20 days away, and it is pertinent to ensure that voters are empowered to make an enlightened choice. In the pre-2000 era, people used to routinely say that post-acquisition of power, all parties govern in a similar fashion. The performance of most parties in governance used to be almost equally good or equally bad.

But post-2000, the situation changed. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced Good Governance as an important factor to be considered while comparing the performance of competing parties. Later, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, Politics of Performance entered the political lexicon of India.

Way back in 2014, it was thanks to his suggestion that the Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) in Delhi conducted an objective analysis of the performances of political parties governing different states. The performances of state governments ruled by the Left parties, Congress, regional parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party were compared for a period of 20 years between 19912011. This report made some insightful observations: With its strong commitment towards a responsive government, the BJPs model of governance focuses on service delivery through legal mechanisms and application of e-governance. The Madhya Pradesh Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act, e-governance initiatives of BJP-ruled states like Sakala (Karnataka) and Swagat (Gujarat) have been widely recognised and appreciated. In yet another conclusion, the report said All BJP-ruled states have shown remarkable and consistent economic growth. As evident above, BJP-ruled states have been consistently above 8% growth rate for GSDP.

Today, this is relevant even in Karnataka as except for the BJP, no other contesting party has the courage to talk about Politics of Performance. Prudent fiscal management, smart administrative measures to ensure effective last-mile delivery, and ensuring that the most deprived are considered as the most deserving, in keeping with the principles of Antyodaya, are the three critical dimensions of the performance of the BJP government in Karnataka.

Lets examine the fiscal conditions. With a revenue surplus of 402 crore estimated for 202324 compared to a revenue deficit estimate of 14,699 crore in the 202223 budget, Karnataka has now consolidated its position in the league of states with a high revenue surplus. The fiscal deficit of the state is estimated at 2.6 per cent of the GSDP for 202324, which is well within the 3 per cent limit prescribed under the KFR Act. The states performance in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and services has been remarkable thanks to strict governance. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, during his budget speech a few months back, had rightly claimed that for the first time, the capital and revenue expenditure had been 76 per cent till January and that number was not achieved by any government in the past. Notably, Karnataka is second in GST collection and the states growth rate stands at 7.8 per cent as against 6.8 per cent of the Government of India. All this indicates that projects and programmes are not just on paper, but being implemented on the ground.

Similarly, Karnataka has been acting as a great investment magnet due to its administration model. Notably, it was the top recipient state with 38 per cent share of the total FDI equity inflow ($83.57 billion) in FY 202122. During the calendar year 2021, Karnataka bagged an FDI of $18,554.29 million. In comparison, Tamil Nadu received $3,023.33 million, Telangana received $1,584.59 million, Kerala received $310.67 million, and Andhra Pradesh $178.09 million.

On the social development front, too, the state government has performed remarkably well. In the light of an improved fiscal situation and the need to do more for the vulnerable sections, it has gone the extra mile. Take the case of the former Devadasis. The state government has increased their pension from 500 (under the Congress government) to 1,500 per month, thereby helping more than 30,000 former Devadasis. Again, for old age homes, the BJP government has increased maintenance funds from 8 lakh to 15 lakh. Senior citizens in Karnataka also have a reason to be more happy. Here, the old age pension for people above 65 years under the Sandhya Suraksha Scheme has now been enhanced from 600 to 1000. Similarly, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, while the Central government gives 6,000 per head, Karnataka has been providing an additional assistance of 4,000 to each of the beneficiaries.

Karnatakas performance in service delivery, too, merits attention. Karnataka has the second highest number of Jan Aushadi Kendras in the country, with 1,052 stores providing generic medicines at subsidised rates.

In 2010, Karnataka launched the Vajpayee Arogyashree scheme (VAS), a social health insurance scheme focused on increasing access to tertiary care for households below the poverty line. Researchers in public health studies point out that VAS has led to a substantial reduction in mortality driven by increased tertiary care utilisation as well as use of better quality facilities and earlier diagnosis.

Second, it significantly reduced the financial burden of receiving tertiary care. Third, these benefits of social health insurance were achieved at a reasonable cost to society and taxpayers.

The proof of the pudding is in eating. Similarly, it is the effective implementation that marks the success of Good Governance. It must be noted that perhaps BJP is the only party that has an established practice of monitoring the performance of its state governments. PM Narendra Modi and party president J P Nadda sit continuously for several hours assessing and evaluating how development governance is taking shape in BJP-ruled states. It is not for no reason then that when BJP talks about Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, it doesnt sound hollow. Karnataka cant afford to lose the momentum gathered by development. True, BJP needs to win Karnataka but that Karnataka needs BJP is equally true.

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe

President, ICCR and senior BJP leader

(vinays57@gmail.com)

For obvious reasons, Karnataka Assembly elections have become extremely important. Voting is just around 20 days away, and it is pertinent to ensure that voters are empowered to make an enlightened choice. In the pre-2000 era, people used to routinely say that post-acquisition of power, all parties govern in a similar fashion. The performance of most parties in governance used to be almost equally good or equally bad. But post-2000, the situation changed. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced Good Governance as an important factor to be considered while comparing the performance of competing parties. Later, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, Politics of Performance entered the political lexicon of India. Way back in 2014, it was thanks to his suggestion that the Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) in Delhi conducted an objective analysis of the performances of political parties governing different states. The performances of state governments ruled by the Left parties, Congress, regional parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party were compared for a period of 20 years between 19912011. This report made some insightful observations: With its strong commitment towards a responsive government, the BJPs model of governance focuses on service delivery through legal mechanisms and application of e-governance. The Madhya Pradesh Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act, e-governance initiatives of BJP-ruled states like Sakala (Karnataka) and Swagat (Gujarat) have been widely recognised and appreciated. In yet another conclusion, the report said All BJP-ruled states have shown remarkable and consistent economic growth. As evident above, BJP-ruled states have been consistently above 8% growth rate for GSDP.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Today, this is relevant even in Karnataka as except for the BJP, no other contesting party has the courage to talk about Politics of Performance. Prudent fiscal management, smart administrative measures to ensure effective last-mile delivery, and ensuring that the most deprived are considered as the most deserving, in keeping with the principles of Antyodaya, are the three critical dimensions of the performance of the BJP government in Karnataka. Lets examine the fiscal conditions. With a revenue surplus of 402 crore estimated for 202324 compared to a revenue deficit estimate of 14,699 crore in the 202223 budget, Karnataka has now consolidated its position in the league of states with a high revenue surplus. The fiscal deficit of the state is estimated at 2.6 per cent of the GSDP for 202324, which is well within the 3 per cent limit prescribed under the KFR Act. The states performance in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and services has been remarkable thanks to strict governance. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, during his budget speech a few months back, had rightly claimed that for the first time, the capital and revenue expenditure had been 76 per cent till January and that number was not achieved by any government in the past. Notably, Karnataka is second in GST collection and the states growth rate stands at 7.8 per cent as against 6.8 per cent of the Government of India. All this indicates that projects and programmes are not just on paper, but being implemented on the ground. Similarly, Karnataka has been acting as a great investment magnet due to its administration model. Notably, it was the top recipient state with 38 per cent share of the total FDI equity inflow ($83.57 billion) in FY 202122. During the calendar year 2021, Karnataka bagged an FDI of $18,554.29 million. In comparison, Tamil Nadu received $3,023.33 million, Telangana received $1,584.59 million, Kerala received $310.67 million, and Andhra Pradesh $178.09 million. On the social development front, too, the state government has performed remarkably well. In the light of an improved fiscal situation and the need to do more for the vulnerable sections, it has gone the extra mile. Take the case of the former Devadasis. The state government has increased their pension from 500 (under the Congress government) to 1,500 per month, thereby helping more than 30,000 former Devadasis. Again, for old age homes, the BJP government has increased maintenance funds from 8 lakh to 15 lakh. Senior citizens in Karnataka also have a reason to be more happy. Here, the old age pension for people above 65 years under the Sandhya Suraksha Scheme has now been enhanced from 600 to 1000. Similarly, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, while the Central government gives 6,000 per head, Karnataka has been providing an additional assistance of 4,000 to each of the beneficiaries. Karnatakas performance in service delivery, too, merits attention. Karnataka has the second highest number of Jan Aushadi Kendras in the country, with 1,052 stores providing generic medicines at subsidised rates. In 2010, Karnataka launched the Vajpayee Arogyashree scheme (VAS), a social health insurance scheme focused on increasing access to tertiary care for households below the poverty line. Researchers in public health studies point out that VAS has led to a substantial reduction in mortality driven by increased tertiary care utilisation as well as use of better quality facilities and earlier diagnosis. Second, it significantly reduced the financial burden of receiving tertiary care. Third, these benefits of social health insurance were achieved at a reasonable cost to society and taxpayers. The proof of the pudding is in eating. Similarly, it is the effective implementation that marks the success of Good Governance. It must be noted that perhaps BJP is the only party that has an established practice of monitoring the performance of its state governments. PM Narendra Modi and party president J P Nadda sit continuously for several hours assessing and evaluating how development governance is taking shape in BJP-ruled states. It is not for no reason then that when BJP talks about Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, it doesnt sound hollow. Karnataka cant afford to lose the momentum gathered by development. True, BJP needs to win Karnataka but that Karnataka needs BJP is equally true. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe President, ICCR and senior BJP leader (vinays57@gmail.com)
Subir Bhaumik By

With the resurgence of the Khalistan movement in the West and some indication of its revival in Punjab, India has some worries over its Western neighbourhood. But Pakistan is in a vast economic crisis, and separatist/autonomist movements are intensifying in Balochistan. Once backed by the Deep State, the North-West Frontier Province and Islamist radicals have now become Frankensteins.

But if Pakistans woes and some indication that nationalist elements within Afghanistans Taliban are warming up to India is good news on our Western front, Myanmars descent into civil war and a resurgent Islamist coalition in Bangladesh backed by Western powers is bad on the east. With the coming to power of a Communist-Maoist coalition government in Nepal and growing Chinese pressure on Bhutan, all is not well in Indias eastern neighbourhood.

In Myanmar, the Burmese army Tatmadaw is clearly out of depth in handling the insurgencies, and India has failed to take any proactive role in mediation, which it could have done given its links with all major stakeholders in the country. It has reposed its trust in the ASEANs five-point consensus to break the ice, despite apparent failure to secure a breakthrough as the military junta completed two years in power following the February 2021 coup.

Several ASEAN countries either have a long tradition of military rule or are Chinese satellites that will not play outside Beijing-set parameters. Tatmadaw depends for its survival on China, which has bagged 16 mega infrastructure projects after the coup, many of which are uncomfortably close to the Indian border.

Delhi mandarins argue that rattling the Burmese military junta may push the generals further into Chinas embrace. This is why India abstained, with China and Russia, from a recent West-sponsored UN resolution on Myanmar. But the Burmese military is already firmly in Chinas gripso Delhis presumption is grossly misplaced.

It is time India opens dialogue with the exiled National Unity Government (NUG) and other powerful ethnic rebel armies like the Kachin Independence Organisation and the Arakan Army to create options and protect its crucial interests in border regions.

With Myanmar in severe turmoil, one can forget about Indias Look East outreach into Southeast Asia, another declared priority of the Modi government. With daily fighting reported in at least 11 provinces and the Burmese army suffering huge casualties even at the hands of the poorly armed Peoples Defense Forces (an ethnic Burman insurgent group aligned with the NUG), all Indian connectivity projects are destined to be indefinitely delayed if not derailed completely. Even those finished cannot be commissioned.

India can send a Gandhi Peace Mission to Myanmar to engage all important stakeholders, including the army, and sell it as an exit strategy for the beleaguered generals, but South Block has decided on wait-and-watch. An aspiring power is taken seriously when it acts, not when it promotes strategic inaction. If Modi can try playing a role in the Russia-Ukraine peace process, why not in Myanmar?

In Bangladesh, India will soon face a huge dilemma as the country heads for the next parliamentary elections due in January 2024. Sheikh Hasinas Awami League, in power since January 2009, has taken relations with India into a Sonali Adhyay (Golden Phase), but there is uncertainty over the next elections. The Islamist Oppositionled by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islamiwants to oust Hasina and hold the next elections under a caretaker system. This system existed in the country before 2009 but was revoked because the 200608 military-backed caretaker went beyond its mandate to organise a fair poll by trying a Minus Two formulathis sought the elimination of both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia from active politicswith the blessings of the US.

Now Washington is backing the Islamist Opposition and has weaponised the human rights issue in Bangladesh. Its sanctions against seven top security officials have demoralised the forces in their fight against Islamist radicalism.

The Islamist Opposition and their Western sponsors allege that Hasina has won the last two elections through massive electoral fraud and, therefore, a caretaker or national government with leading civil society personalities at the top should conduct the next polls under strong global supervision.

Hasina now faces strong anti-incumbency and ever-growing corruption charges, with some crony capitalists close to her government accused of huge money laundering and bank defaults, defrauding of banks, and kickbacks from mega-infrastructure projects. The Ukraine war has further complicated matters with rising energy and food import bills and an ever-ballooning price line that has upset common people.

India wants Hasina back for good reasons but is unsure how the US-driven regime change plans will play out. Hasina has not heeded Indian advice on many key appointments, and there is a feeling in Delhi that she is turning more to Chinanot only for development assistance but also for political supportto neutralise Western plans. Delhi mandarins feel, not without reason, that a pro-Chinese lobby, mostly traders doing business with China, has emerged in the Awami League, and they are slowly ousting the traditional pro-Indian Bengali middle-class politicians wedded to the 1971 legacy. Indias challenge is to keep Hasina in power but also ensure the polls are globally acceptable and that the Awami League remains under control.

In Nepal, with the Prachanda-Oli government back in power and relations between China and Nepal getting warmer, as is evident in new projects with Chinese financing, the Nepalese angst at Indias support for Madhesis and the repeated economic blockades launched by them has to be undone by some firm policy moves. Bhutan is under pressure from China to open up, and Beijing is bargaining over the border issues, which Delhi needs to watch out for.

Subir Bhaumik

Former BBC journalist and author on South Asian conflicts

(sbhaum@gmail.com)

With the resurgence of the Khalistan movement in the West and some indication of its revival in Punjab, India has some worries over its Western neighbourhood. But Pakistan is in a vast economic crisis, and separatist/autonomist movements are intensifying in Balochistan. Once backed by the Deep State, the North-West Frontier Province and Islamist radicals have now become Frankensteins. But if Pakistans woes and some indication that nationalist elements within Afghanistans Taliban are warming up to India is good news on our Western front, Myanmars descent into civil war and a resurgent Islamist coalition in Bangladesh backed by Western powers is bad on the east. With the coming to power of a Communist-Maoist coalition government in Nepal and growing Chinese pressure on Bhutan, all is not well in Indias eastern neighbourhood. In Myanmar, the Burmese army Tatmadaw is clearly out of depth in handling the insurgencies, and India has failed to take any proactive role in mediation, which it could have done given its links with all major stakeholders in the country. It has reposed its trust in the ASEANs five-point consensus to break the ice, despite apparent failure to secure a breakthrough as the military junta completed two years in power following the February 2021 coup.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Several ASEAN countries either have a long tradition of military rule or are Chinese satellites that will not play outside Beijing-set parameters. Tatmadaw depends for its survival on China, which has bagged 16 mega infrastructure projects after the coup, many of which are uncomfortably close to the Indian border. Delhi mandarins argue that rattling the Burmese military junta may push the generals further into Chinas embrace. This is why India abstained, with China and Russia, from a recent West-sponsored UN resolution on Myanmar. But the Burmese military is already firmly in Chinas gripso Delhis presumption is grossly misplaced. It is time India opens dialogue with the exiled National Unity Government (NUG) and other powerful ethnic rebel armies like the Kachin Independence Organisation and the Arakan Army to create options and protect its crucial interests in border regions. With Myanmar in severe turmoil, one can forget about Indias Look East outreach into Southeast Asia, another declared priority of the Modi government. With daily fighting reported in at least 11 provinces and the Burmese army suffering huge casualties even at the hands of the poorly armed Peoples Defense Forces (an ethnic Burman insurgent group aligned with the NUG), all Indian connectivity projects are destined to be indefinitely delayed if not derailed completely. Even those finished cannot be commissioned. India can send a Gandhi Peace Mission to Myanmar to engage all important stakeholders, including the army, and sell it as an exit strategy for the beleaguered generals, but South Block has decided on wait-and-watch. An aspiring power is taken seriously when it acts, not when it promotes strategic inaction. If Modi can try playing a role in the Russia-Ukraine peace process, why not in Myanmar? In Bangladesh, India will soon face a huge dilemma as the country heads for the next parliamentary elections due in January 2024. Sheikh Hasinas Awami League, in power since January 2009, has taken relations with India into a Sonali Adhyay (Golden Phase), but there is uncertainty over the next elections. The Islamist Oppositionled by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islamiwants to oust Hasina and hold the next elections under a caretaker system. This system existed in the country before 2009 but was revoked because the 200608 military-backed caretaker went beyond its mandate to organise a fair poll by trying a Minus Two formulathis sought the elimination of both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia from active politicswith the blessings of the US. Now Washington is backing the Islamist Opposition and has weaponised the human rights issue in Bangladesh. Its sanctions against seven top security officials have demoralised the forces in their fight against Islamist radicalism. The Islamist Opposition and their Western sponsors allege that Hasina has won the last two elections through massive electoral fraud and, therefore, a caretaker or national government with leading civil society personalities at the top should conduct the next polls under strong global supervision. Hasina now faces strong anti-incumbency and ever-growing corruption charges, with some crony capitalists close to her government accused of huge money laundering and bank defaults, defrauding of banks, and kickbacks from mega-infrastructure projects. The Ukraine war has further complicated matters with rising energy and food import bills and an ever-ballooning price line that has upset common people. India wants Hasina back for good reasons but is unsure how the US-driven regime change plans will play out. Hasina has not heeded Indian advice on many key appointments, and there is a feeling in Delhi that she is turning more to Chinanot only for development assistance but also for political supportto neutralise Western plans. Delhi mandarins feel, not without reason, that a pro-Chinese lobby, mostly traders doing business with China, has emerged in the Awami League, and they are slowly ousting the traditional pro-Indian Bengali middle-class politicians wedded to the 1971 legacy. Indias challenge is to keep Hasina in power but also ensure the polls are globally acceptable and that the Awami League remains under control. In Nepal, with the Prachanda-Oli government back in power and relations between China and Nepal getting warmer, as is evident in new projects with Chinese financing, the Nepalese angst at Indias support for Madhesis and the repeated economic blockades launched by them has to be undone by some firm policy moves. Bhutan is under pressure from China to open up, and Beijing is bargaining over the border issues, which Delhi needs to watch out for. Subir Bhaumik Former BBC journalist and author on South Asian conflicts (sbhaum@gmail.com)
Radhika Ramaseshan By

The karyakarta (worker) is a cogwheel in an intricate machine assembly interlacing the various components in the BJPs humongous orderfrom the elite to the middle and subordinate levels and importantly, the RSS. The BJP and its karyakartas are so interdependent that its difficult to think of one without the other. The karyakarta can only be ignored at the leaderships peril.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee often made short shrift of his party workersthis was a factor that was overlooked, explaining the NDAs shock defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha election. L K Advani extolled them (bar a schmaltzy moment in Karachi in 2005 when he went overboard praising Pakistans founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah and paid a price with his political career), as did Pramod Mahajan and K N Govindacharya, who were key Advani team members. Among other past presidents, for Kushabhau Thakre, a quintessential RSS pracharak, the karyakarta was the zenith of his functioning but he presided over the BJP during the Vajpayee regime and had little leeway in leveraging the workers centrality. Nitin Gadkari was brought in during the bleakest spell the BJP experienced after it was voted out and, on his part, did little to inspire and galvanise the workforce.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the worker regained his primacy because Modi rules without having to look over his shoulder. The division of labour that characterised Vajpayees spells in office undermined his ranking in the organisation that was seen as Advanis domain. No such partitioning of responsibilities exists now. Modi might have left the minutiae of karyakarta management, i.e., the HR department, and electioneering to Home Minister Amit Shah, but never allows his gaze to wander away from both areas. The worker is no longer another humble element in the BJPs architecture which appears and recedes depending on the circumstances. He or she is an ubiquitous entity who even calls the shots when required.

Those with a distant view of the BJP wonder why Modi speaks to the karyakarta at every conceivable opportunity, be it a milestone event, an election warm-up or a victory celebration, apart from the Mann ki Baat addresses. But the monthly monologue is intended as much for the aam janta as for the party workers.

Modis latest speech to party workers was delivered April 6 on the partys 44th Foundation Day against a less-than-optimistic backdrop. The Opposition largely regrouped to demand a JPC probe into the Hindenburg Report on Gautam Adanis stock market manipulation; the second leg of Parliaments budget session was virtually paralysed (despite which the treasury benches pushed through the Finance and Appropriation bills).

Modis was a chalk talk laced with the by-now familiar tropes: the Oppositions badshahi (imperial) mindset which, he alleged, scaled such a level of desperation that They have openly started saying, Modi your grave will be dug, segueing into an attack on him with an insult to the poor, the Dalits, Adivasis and the backward castes, protecting the lotus (the BJPs election symbol), and reinforcing the commitment to liberate India from corruption, nepotism, and law and order challenges.

On March 2, after the BJP and its allies won the polls in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, Modi identified the triumph with himself. His detractors wanted him to die while people wished the opposite, he proclaimed. Do not go Modi was the chorus. However, the emergence and evolution of a personality cult in the BJPwhich critics perceived as anathema to democratic valuesdoes not bother the karyakarta, who increasingly makes no distinction between Modi the PM, Modi the leader, Modi the mascot, and the party. To him, these attributes flow seamlessly into a winning whole.

It was his address on the BJPs Foundation Day in 2022 which clearly encapsulated his expectation from the karyakarta. He said, Look from the global point of view or from the national point of view, the responsibility of BJP, the responsibility of every BJP worker is increasing continuously. Thats why every BJP karyakarta is a representative of the dreams of the country  of the resolve of the country. He embedded the worker in a global canvas.

Could this phenomenon materialise if Modi did not have an organic connect with the workforce? Ajay Singh, media advisor to President Droupadi Murmu, explains how Modi works in his book, The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed the Party.

Till the 90s, the BJPs organisational expansion was seen as the partys outreach among people through its trained cadres. Modi singularly changed the definition of expansion by including infrastructure as a basic necessity for the growth of the party  Looking at the large pool of younger people from urban as well as rural parts of the country, he egged on party leaders to launch a drive to enlist them and assign them a larger purpose in lifeto contribute to nation-building. All young members were regularly called to training sessions aimed at inculcating in them a sense of disciple and purpose. This large pool was drawn from the rural hinterland and consciously inducted young men and women from caste groupings which went generally unrepresented in the BJPs hierarchy as well as those of the other parties that were more targeted in their approach to social representation.

The outcome of the strategising and implementing was that at long last, the BJP raised its own army of soldiers that was largely independent of the RSS but schooled never to lose sight of the Sanghs ideology and worldview. The workforce, hidden from public viewing, is not an adjunct to the government and the governments social media and publicity outlets. The karyakarta exists in his own right.

However, the intent is not to paint a rosy picture of the BJPs organisation. Even under Modi, it failed the party in quite a few elections, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh being examples as well as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The workforce was nearly absent in Bengal, where the BJP is essentially made up of Congress and TMC imports who came in as individual leaders punching above their weight. In Delhi, once a BJP bastion, the party has still not gotten its act together because the workers remain unmotivated.

Radhika Ramaseshan

Columnist and political commentator

(ramaseshan.radhika@gmail.com)

The karyakarta (worker) is a cogwheel in an intricate machine assembly interlacing the various components in the BJPs humongous orderfrom the elite to the middle and subordinate levels and importantly, the RSS. The BJP and its karyakartas are so interdependent that its difficult to think of one without the other. The karyakarta can only be ignored at the leaderships peril. Atal Bihari Vajpayee often made short shrift of his party workersthis was a factor that was overlooked, explaining the NDAs shock defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha election. L K Advani extolled them (bar a schmaltzy moment in Karachi in 2005 when he went overboard praising Pakistans founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah and paid a price with his political career), as did Pramod Mahajan and K N Govindacharya, who were key Advani team members. Among other past presidents, for Kushabhau Thakre, a quintessential RSS pracharak, the karyakarta was the zenith of his functioning but he presided over the BJP during the Vajpayee regime and had little leeway in leveraging the workers centrality. Nitin Gadkari was brought in during the bleakest spell the BJP experienced after it was voted out and, on his part, did little to inspire and galvanise the workforce. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the worker regained his primacy because Modi rules without having to look over his shoulder. The division of labour that characterised Vajpayees spells in office undermined his ranking in the organisation that was seen as Advanis domain. No such partitioning of responsibilities exists now. Modi might have left the minutiae of karyakarta management, i.e., the HR department, and electioneering to Home Minister Amit Shah, but never allows his gaze to wander away from both areas. The worker is no longer another humble element in the BJPs architecture which appears and recedes depending on the circumstances. He or she is an ubiquitous entity who even calls the shots when required.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Those with a distant view of the BJP wonder why Modi speaks to the karyakarta at every conceivable opportunity, be it a milestone event, an election warm-up or a victory celebration, apart from the Mann ki Baat addresses. But the monthly monologue is intended as much for the aam janta as for the party workers. Modis latest speech to party workers was delivered April 6 on the partys 44th Foundation Day against a less-than-optimistic backdrop. The Opposition largely regrouped to demand a JPC probe into the Hindenburg Report on Gautam Adanis stock market manipulation; the second leg of Parliaments budget session was virtually paralysed (despite which the treasury benches pushed through the Finance and Appropriation bills). Modis was a chalk talk laced with the by-now familiar tropes: the Oppositions badshahi (imperial) mindset which, he alleged, scaled such a level of desperation that They have openly started saying, Modi your grave will be dug, segueing into an attack on him with an insult to the poor, the Dalits, Adivasis and the backward castes, protecting the lotus (the BJPs election symbol), and reinforcing the commitment to liberate India from corruption, nepotism, and law and order challenges. On March 2, after the BJP and its allies won the polls in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, Modi identified the triumph with himself. His detractors wanted him to die while people wished the opposite, he proclaimed. Do not go Modi was the chorus. However, the emergence and evolution of a personality cult in the BJPwhich critics perceived as anathema to democratic valuesdoes not bother the karyakarta, who increasingly makes no distinction between Modi the PM, Modi the leader, Modi the mascot, and the party. To him, these attributes flow seamlessly into a winning whole. It was his address on the BJPs Foundation Day in 2022 which clearly encapsulated his expectation from the karyakarta. He said, Look from the global point of view or from the national point of view, the responsibility of BJP, the responsibility of every BJP worker is increasing continuously. Thats why every BJP karyakarta is a representative of the dreams of the country  of the resolve of the country. He embedded the worker in a global canvas. Could this phenomenon materialise if Modi did not have an organic connect with the workforce? Ajay Singh, media advisor to President Droupadi Murmu, explains how Modi works in his book, The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed the Party. Till the 90s, the BJPs organisational expansion was seen as the partys outreach among people through its trained cadres. Modi singularly changed the definition of expansion by including infrastructure as a basic necessity for the growth of the party  Looking at the large pool of younger people from urban as well as rural parts of the country, he egged on party leaders to launch a drive to enlist them and assign them a larger purpose in lifeto contribute to nation-building. All young members were regularly called to training sessions aimed at inculcating in them a sense of disciple and purpose. This large pool was drawn from the rural hinterland and consciously inducted young men and women from caste groupings which went generally unrepresented in the BJPs hierarchy as well as those of the other parties that were more targeted in their approach to social representation. The outcome of the strategising and implementing was that at long last, the BJP raised its own army of soldiers that was largely independent of the RSS but schooled never to lose sight of the Sanghs ideology and worldview. The workforce, hidden from public viewing, is not an adjunct to the government and the governments social media and publicity outlets. The karyakarta exists in his own right. However, the intent is not to paint a rosy picture of the BJPs organisation. Even under Modi, it failed the party in quite a few elections, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh being examples as well as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The workforce was nearly absent in Bengal, where the BJP is essentially made up of Congress and TMC imports who came in as individual leaders punching above their weight. In Delhi, once a BJP bastion, the party has still not gotten its act together because the workers remain unmotivated. Radhika Ramaseshan Columnist and political commentator (ramaseshan.radhika@gmail.com)
Two dairy wars are happening in two southern statesKerala and Karnatakainvolving three dominant milk cooperatives. Nandini, a brand owned by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), is facing a threat from Amul, owned by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, in its home state. The Karnataka-based cooperative is accused of encroaching into the market territory of neighbouring Kerala and violating the principles of federalism by the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), which owns the brand Milma. KCMMF criticised KMF for opening its outlets in Kerala, claiming it violated the dairy sectors cooperative spirit.

The warring state-run milk cooperatives do not disclose that milk is in short supply in the country and is becoming increasingly expensive for the average citizen. Prices have surged over 15% in the past year, prompting India, the worlds largest milk producer, to look at importing some dairy products as milk output has remained more or less stagnant. The total production stood at 221 million tonnes in 202122 and fell to 208 million tonnes last year. While the ongoing dairy wars should be seen in the context of falling production, lets analyse who stands to gain and lose.

The milk trade has two main players: consumers and milk farmers/producers. The entry of additional aggregators and processors will benefit farmers, and competition among processors will enhance the value proposition for consumers by making available quality products at reasonable price levels. Regionalism to ward off competition is not new in the market, but it is better served when supply is abundant. If Nandini had surplus milk in its home state and dumped it at a lower rate in Kerala, it would hurt the latters milk sector. However, Kerala is already a milk-importing state. Moreover, since transporting milk over long distances is not economically feasible, Nandini and Amul will likely focus on selling value-added and premium milk products in other states to improve margins, rather than plain vanilla milk, an essential commodity and very price-sensitive. The entry of Amul, Nandini and even Aavin (from Tamil Nadu) will force Milma to stay competitive and improve its quality and efficiency. Let the market decide who survives and who doesnt. Why should consumers bear the cost of protectionism?

Two dairy wars are happening in two southern statesKerala and Karnatakainvolving three dominant milk cooperatives. Nandini, a brand owned by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), is facing a threat from Amul, owned by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, in its home state. The Karnataka-based cooperative is accused of encroaching into the market territory of neighbouring Kerala and violating the principles of federalism by the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), which owns the brand Milma. KCMMF criticised KMF for opening its outlets in Kerala, claiming it violated the dairy sectors cooperative spirit. The warring state-run milk cooperatives do not disclose that milk is in short supply in the country and is becoming increasingly expensive for the average citizen. Prices have surged over 15% in the past year, prompting India, the worlds largest milk producer, to look at importing some dairy products as milk output has remained more or less stagnant. The total production stood at 221 million tonnes in 202122 and fell to 208 million tonnes last year. While the ongoing dairy wars should be seen in the context of falling production, lets analyse who stands to gain and lose. The milk trade has two main players: consumers and milk farmers/producers. The entry of additional aggregators and processors will benefit farmers, and competition among processors will enhance the value proposition for consumers by making available quality products at reasonable price levels. Regionalism to ward off competition is not new in the market, but it is better served when supply is abundant. If Nandini had surplus milk in its home state and dumped it at a lower rate in Kerala, it would hurt the latters milk sector. However, Kerala is already a milk-importing state. Moreover, since transporting milk over long distances is not economically feasible, Nandini and Amul will likely focus on selling value-added and premium milk products in other states to improve margins, rather than plain vanilla milk, an essential commodity and very price-sensitive. The entry of Amul, Nandini and even Aavin (from Tamil Nadu) will force Milma to stay competitive and improve its quality and efficiency. Let the market decide who survives and who doesnt. Why should consumers bear the cost of protectionism?googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); });
The imperceptible fear that the peoples voice is being blanked out across the country gained some degree of validity in Bengaluru, where activists who took out a silent protest to save the citys iconic Sankey Tank were slapped with criminal cases. Seventy citizens who had turned up for the march in February to protest the felling of around 60 trees to build a flyover, face charges for wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, and obstruction of public way. Police frequently summoned a functionary of the NGO Jhatkaa.org and other citizens for questioning, and allegedly also issued veiled threats to make them give up their activities. Citizens met the police commissioner to protest against such high-handed behaviour, and the case has now been moved to another police station for a fair probe. The project is now on the back burner but will be revived once the Assembly elections are done.

The legal team of the Sankey Tank campaigners who claim they are concerned that the project would jeopardise the environment and biodiversity of Sankey Tank is looking to the Karnataka High Court for relief. They are bolstered by a similar case in which the Bombay High Court recently quashed an FIR against Jhatkaa.org, which was engaged in the Save Aarey protests in Mumbai, again on the felling of trees. The court cited the democratic right of a citizen of this country to put forth his viewpoint, to object, to protest, to persuade.... It said that attempts to book criminal offences amount to invading citizens rights. It should come as a relief to Bengalurus citizen activists, who have termed the police action as an abuse of law.

Increasingly and disturbingly, the common citizen has to turn to the courts to redress grievances on democratic rights, with the authorities quickly cracking down on dissent. This is especially so when the issue is political, as in the crackdown on student activists, the incarceration of journalists, or the bulldozing of dissenters homes. This is certainly not expected in a country which calls itself the biggest democracy and even the mother of democracy. The government, which prides itself on strong action, should adopt moderation in such matters, for the country belongs to everyone. Sadly, such swift suo motu action is not visible regarding hate speeches. The continuous suppression of dissent is bound to lead to self-censorship and, consequently, will imperil democracy.

The imperceptible fear that the peoples voice is being blanked out across the country gained some degree of validity in Bengaluru, where activists who took out a silent protest to save the citys iconic Sankey Tank were slapped with criminal cases. Seventy citizens who had turned up for the march in February to protest the felling of around 60 trees to build a flyover, face charges for wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, and obstruction of public way. Police frequently summoned a functionary of the NGO Jhatkaa.org and other citizens for questioning, and allegedly also issued veiled threats to make them give up their activities. Citizens met the police commissioner to protest against such high-handed behaviour, and the case has now been moved to another police station for a fair probe. The project is now on the back burner but will be revived once the Assembly elections are done. The legal team of the Sankey Tank campaigners who claim they are concerned that the project would jeopardise the environment and biodiversity of Sankey Tank is looking to the Karnataka High Court for relief. They are bolstered by a similar case in which the Bombay High Court recently quashed an FIR against Jhatkaa.org, which was engaged in the Save Aarey protests in Mumbai, again on the felling of trees. The court cited the democratic right of a citizen of this country to put forth his viewpoint, to object, to protest, to persuade.... It said that attempts to book criminal offences amount to invading citizens rights. It should come as a relief to Bengalurus citizen activists, who have termed the police action as an abuse of law. Increasingly and disturbingly, the common citizen has to turn to the courts to redress grievances on democratic rights, with the authorities quickly cracking down on dissent. This is especially so when the issue is political, as in the crackdown on student activists, the incarceration of journalists, or the bulldozing of dissenters homes. This is certainly not expected in a country which calls itself the biggest democracy and even the mother of democracy. The government, which prides itself on strong action, should adopt moderation in such matters, for the country belongs to everyone. Sadly, such swift suo motu action is not visible regarding hate speeches. The continuous suppression of dissent is bound to lead to self-censorship and, consequently, will imperil democracy.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); });
The Ambasamudram custodial torture case involving an IPS officer has shaken the collective psyche in Tamil Nadu and put the government on the spot. Neither the custodial death of an Adivasi man depicted in the critically acclaimed movie Jai Bhim nor the brutal Thoothukudi custodial murder of the father-son duo have ended the continuing horror of custodial violence and torture in TN. What made the Ambasamudram case more disturbing was how the government handled it by announcing probe after probe. After the first victim narrated his horrifying account of the torture, it took over three weeks to register an FIR against the suspended assistant superintendent of police Balveer Singh and other police personnel allegedly involved in the crime. According to the victims, the ASP allegedly broke the teeth of several suspects using pliers and stones with the help of others. A series of probes since then, making victims repeatedly narrate their traumatic experiences, has sparked public outrage. Though an FIR was finally registered, no arrests have been made.

It all began on March 26, when some victims, including two minors, claimed that the cops removed their teeth and crushed the testicles of at least two of them at Ambasamudram police station on March 10. A recorded video they released went viral on social media. In the initial probe, the sub-collector refused to record some victims statements but recorded that of a victim who had turned hostile. However, the victim, who had gone into hiding, blamed his U-turn on the polices arm-twisting. Strangely, the CCTV footage from one of the police stations was found missing.

Addressing the legislative assembly, the chief minister said he had ordered the suspension of Singh on March 29. On April 7, the state government ordered a high-level inquiry by the senior IAS officer P Amudha, which the victims initially boycotted. On April 19, the DGP transferred the custodial torture case to CB-CID. As the ASPs strange penchant for teeth made headlines, the Tamil Nadu IPS Officers Association issued a statement referring to the media coverage of Singhs alleged custodial torture as a media trial. The controversy could have been avoided if the government had dealt with it sternly on day one without leaving room for blame.

The Ambasamudram custodial torture case involving an IPS officer has shaken the collective psyche in Tamil Nadu and put the government on the spot. Neither the custodial death of an Adivasi man depicted in the critically acclaimed movie Jai Bhim nor the brutal Thoothukudi custodial murder of the father-son duo have ended the continuing horror of custodial violence and torture in TN. What made the Ambasamudram case more disturbing was how the government handled it by announcing probe after probe. After the first victim narrated his horrifying account of the torture, it took over three weeks to register an FIR against the suspended assistant superintendent of police Balveer Singh and other police personnel allegedly involved in the crime. According to the victims, the ASP allegedly broke the teeth of several suspects using pliers and stones with the help of others. A series of probes since then, making victims repeatedly narrate their traumatic experiences, has sparked public outrage. Though an FIR was finally registered, no arrests have been made. It all began on March 26, when some victims, including two minors, claimed that the cops removed their teeth and crushed the testicles of at least two of them at Ambasamudram police station on March 10. A recorded video they released went viral on social media. In the initial probe, the sub-collector refused to record some victims statements but recorded that of a victim who had turned hostile. However, the victim, who had gone into hiding, blamed his U-turn on the polices arm-twisting. Strangely, the CCTV footage from one of the police stations was found missing. Addressing the legislative assembly, the chief minister said he had ordered the suspension of Singh on March 29. On April 7, the state government ordered a high-level inquiry by the senior IAS officer P Amudha, which the victims initially boycotted. On April 19, the DGP transferred the custodial torture case to CB-CID. As the ASPs strange penchant for teeth made headlines, the Tamil Nadu IPS Officers Association issued a statement referring to the media coverage of Singhs alleged custodial torture as a media trial. The controversy could have been avoided if the government had dealt with it sternly on day one without leaving room for blame.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); });
Devaraj B Hirehalli By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: In a surprise move, hours before the deadline for filing nomination for the Assembly polls in Karnataka, Congress MP from Bangalore Rural D K Suresh on Thursday entered the fray from the Kanakapura segment, from where his elder brother and state chief D K Shivakumar is the party's candidate.

While Shivakumar filed two sets of papers, Suresh submitted three sets. Revenue Minister R Ashoka is contesting as a BJP candidate from Kanakapura and Padmanabhanagar constituencies.

According to several Congress functionaries, Suresh filed his papers as a "backup plan" in the event of the nomination of Shivakumar getting rejected.

KPCC president DK Shivakumars brother and MP DK Suresh have immovable assets worth Rs 298.47 crore and movable assets estimated at Rs 55.23 crore. He has liabilities of Rs 88.30 crore.

Suresh, later speaking to reporters, said, "I'm a voter from Kanakapura and I should be contesting from there. That is the direction from our party president and AICC leaders. We are hearing about certain conspiracies, so as a precautionary measure I have filed my nomination.".

Questioned as to what kind of conspiracy, he said, "There are chances for anything to happen. BJP people have an eye fixed on D K Shivakumar. They cannot do anything to him by getting public support, as the people of Kanakapura won't support them. What BJP is doing against opposition parties using the wrong means, you have been seeing. So as a precautionary measure, I have filed a nomination."

Pointing out that "every day cases are coming up" against him and his brother in the courts, the MP further said, "Four to five days ago too we got a notice from the Income Tax department from Chennai, asking for personal appearance. We have said we will come after the election, and for now, we will not be able to come as we have election responsibilities.".

Whether it is in the high court or the Supreme Court there are stays on all the cases, he said, adding that "yesterday the stay was extended (in a case), but with power in their hands, what they (BJP) will do at what time we are not sure. By misusing official machinery they have targeted the Opposition party and Shivakumar earlier."

Shivakumar, who filed his nomination on April 17, has won from Kanakapura three times since 2008.

The ruling BJP has fielded a senior minister and its prominent Vokkaliga face R Ashoka from the segment to take on Shivakumar, the Congress's strongman from the community.

"They (BJP) have got someone from Bengaluru (Ashoka) who doesn't have any relationship with our constituency. In the Delhi press conference, they (BJP while announcing ticket) have said they will give 'takkar' (stiff fight) to D K Shivakumar. So we too have understood what all they may do. The people of Kanakapura will give them an answer on April 13 (the day of results). Let them do whatever they want, there is no question of us yielding," Suresh said.

Asked if the conspiracy was to not allow Shivakumar to contest polls, "by rejecting his nomination", Suresh said, "We have certain suspicions... However, all the records (along with the nomination papers) are correct.".

On whether Shivakumar would contest from Kanakapura if everything went as expected, he said, "Let's wait and watch ....I have given my B-form too.".

Suresh is the lone Congress Member of Parliament from Karnataka. This is the second time he is representing the seat.

He had earlier said he was not interested in coming to state politics, when speculations were rife that he may be fielded from Ramanagara against JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

There had also been speculation that as a "retaliatory measure" to BJP fielding a strong candidate against Shivakumar in Kanakapura, Suresh may be fielded from the Padmanabhanagar segment, the other seat from where Ashoka is contesting. Shivakumar too had earlier hinted in this direction.

KPCC chief DK Shivakumar said the strategy behind his younger brother DK Suresh filing his

nomination for the Kanakapura seat will unfold in a couple of days.

(With inputs from PTI)

BENGALURU: In a surprise move, hours before the deadline for filing nomination for the Assembly polls in Karnataka, Congress MP from Bangalore Rural D K Suresh on Thursday entered the fray from the Kanakapura segment, from where his elder brother and state chief D K Shivakumar is the party's candidate. While Shivakumar filed two sets of papers, Suresh submitted three sets. Revenue Minister R Ashoka is contesting as a BJP candidate from Kanakapura and Padmanabhanagar constituencies. According to several Congress functionaries, Suresh filed his papers as a "backup plan" in the event of the nomination of Shivakumar getting rejected.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); KPCC president DK Shivakumars brother and MP DK Suresh have immovable assets worth Rs 298.47 crore and movable assets estimated at Rs 55.23 crore. He has liabilities of Rs 88.30 crore. Suresh, later speaking to reporters, said, "I'm a voter from Kanakapura and I should be contesting from there. That is the direction from our party president and AICC leaders. We are hearing about certain conspiracies, so as a precautionary measure I have filed my nomination.". Questioned as to what kind of conspiracy, he said, "There are chances for anything to happen. BJP people have an eye fixed on D K Shivakumar. They cannot do anything to him by getting public support, as the people of Kanakapura won't support them. What BJP is doing against opposition parties using the wrong means, you have been seeing. So as a precautionary measure, I have filed a nomination." Pointing out that "every day cases are coming up" against him and his brother in the courts, the MP further said, "Four to five days ago too we got a notice from the Income Tax department from Chennai, asking for personal appearance. We have said we will come after the election, and for now, we will not be able to come as we have election responsibilities.". Whether it is in the high court or the Supreme Court there are stays on all the cases, he said, adding that "yesterday the stay was extended (in a case), but with power in their hands, what they (BJP) will do at what time we are not sure. By misusing official machinery they have targeted the Opposition party and Shivakumar earlier." Shivakumar, who filed his nomination on April 17, has won from Kanakapura three times since 2008. The ruling BJP has fielded a senior minister and its prominent Vokkaliga face R Ashoka from the segment to take on Shivakumar, the Congress's strongman from the community. "They (BJP) have got someone from Bengaluru (Ashoka) who doesn't have any relationship with our constituency. In the Delhi press conference, they (BJP while announcing ticket) have said they will give 'takkar' (stiff fight) to D K Shivakumar. So we too have understood what all they may do. The people of Kanakapura will give them an answer on April 13 (the day of results). Let them do whatever they want, there is no question of us yielding," Suresh said. Asked if the conspiracy was to not allow Shivakumar to contest polls, "by rejecting his nomination", Suresh said, "We have certain suspicions... However, all the records (along with the nomination papers) are correct.". On whether Shivakumar would contest from Kanakapura if everything went as expected, he said, "Let's wait and watch ....I have given my B-form too.". Suresh is the lone Congress Member of Parliament from Karnataka. This is the second time he is representing the seat. He had earlier said he was not interested in coming to state politics, when speculations were rife that he may be fielded from Ramanagara against JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy. There had also been speculation that as a "retaliatory measure" to BJP fielding a strong candidate against Shivakumar in Kanakapura, Suresh may be fielded from the Padmanabhanagar segment, the other seat from where Ashoka is contesting. Shivakumar too had earlier hinted in this direction. KPCC chief DK Shivakumar said the strategy behind his younger brother DK Suresh filing his nomination for the Kanakapura seat will unfold in a couple of days. (With inputs from PTI)
Ratan Mani Lal By

Express News Service

Hardened criminals turn to politics for perpetuation and protection. But they often live in the present and do not have a succession plan -- like most politicians do -- and generally their empires are either snatched by a confidant or demolished by the state. Organised crime gangs in Uttar Pradesh have been no exception and that is why new godfathers keep emerging every few years.

In the 1960s, the term 'organised crime' was almost unheard of in UP, with people learning about it from films of that era. While Hindi films talked about agitated port or factory workers in Mumbai taking to violence, Hollywood films talked about the Italian Cosa Nostra and its branches commonly known as the mafia operating in the US and elsewhere. The idea of exploited, aggrieved and persecuted poor workers taking revenge against cruel landlords or factory owners had great appeal. Many police and law experts believe that justifying such revenge violence could have been the trigger behind the rise of criminals in such an environment.

Lucknow residents recall the earliest big name in crime being a railway and construction contractor who had a running feud with rival contractors. Such criminals did not carry the tag of political protection since they were perhaps simply fund-raisers for all parties. In subsequent years, as political power moved from one party to many others, politicians found it convenient to patronise organised criminals for the specific purpose of booth capturing or bulk voting by snatching ballot papers.

ALSO READ | In UP badlands, will Atiq's killing see new breed of criminals who seek fame by targeting bigger fish?

Through the 1970s and 1980s, booth capturing by hired goons used to be a common feature of almost all elections in UP and journalists who worked in those years remember how they, along with employees on election duty and even police personnel, used to run for their lives when booth capturing was unleashed in some districts with impunity. Needless to say, the politicians and parties who won with the help of such tactics obliged the leaders of these goons with political posts.

Political eminence

Another category of criminals that emerged in those years was via the route of trade unions. Such elements infiltrated into genuine trade union activities and served the purpose of either the factory management, police, or rival trade unions. Most of them later became extortionists, and there are many who rose to acquire political eminence in Kanpur, Lucknow and Ghaziabad where most industrial activity was concentrated.

It was the advent of caste-based politics in the late 1980s that opened the doors to many aspiring criminals to cosy up to politicians, offering their services as and when required. Auto-lifting gangs, land-grabbers and extortionists were among them, but those having the gunpower and manpower to forcibly acquire contracts in the railways, irrigation and public works departments were in the top category. Daring shootouts in railway offices in Lucknow and other cities were fairly common in those years and in most cases, no one was convicted.

EDITORIAL | Murder of UP don under protection grave security lapse

The 1990s gave a proper shape and contour to organised crime and the term 'mafia' gained currency. Leaders of most organised crime gangs had by then acquired legitimacy by winning elections, even becoming ministers, and switching parties when required. When questioned, the common refrain of political parties in those times was that the "verdict of the people" (meaning an election victory) was far greater than the "verdict of the law" (prosecution by police, courts etc.) Booth-capturing and kidnapping experts becoming legislators and ministers was fairly common.

In the last two decades, however, fact and fiction about the badlands of UP have taken a larger-than-life dimension thanks to many films and television series. The depiction of corrupt politicians, wayward police officers and avengers-turned gangsters have dominated themes related to UP. Films like Sahar, Bullett Raja, Omkara, Kaminey, Shagird, Ishqiya and TV series such as Mirzapur, Bhaukaal, Sitapur: The City of Gangsters are among the many which led to the forming of a certain image of UP.

While rapid industrialisation in the National Capital Region (NCR) including Noida and Ghaziabad led to the mushrooming of gangs in these districts, the continuing backwardness and poverty were among the reasons for the emergence of criminals from eastern UP. The clout of such gangsters came into play especially during political instability when taking their support was a compulsion for parties.

There had been isolated displays of resistance by Chief Ministers such as Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav. While in 2001, Rajnath Singh dismissed Amar Mani Tripathi when reports came that the latter's house was used to keep a kidnapped man in custody, Akhilesh resisted the entry of DP Yadav to his party in 2012 and that of Mukhtar Ansari in 2016. Unfortunately, these incidents serve only to highlight the political compulsions in a state where elections could not be won without the support of tainted leaders.

Web Scrawl | Read our series of web exclusives here

Stable government

It is true that since 2017, there is a stable government in the state which does not need the support of small parties or legislators who can bring numbers with them to provide stability. In parallel, it is also true that no new gangster has emerged in these six years in any part of the state, even as the campaign against organised crime continues. The present government has also been making efforts to draw industrial investment into the state so that more employment can be generated. Examples of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Gujarat suggest that industrial development may lead to emergence of a different kind of crime related more to pilferage, settlement of workers' issues, supply or transport contracts and so on.

Continuing its offensive against organised crime, the UP Police is reported to have prepared a list of criminals across the state against whom a concerted crackdown is to be launched. The Chief Minister has also been repeating his resolve to rid the state of gangsters. The list includes gangsters involved in illicit liquor, land grabbing in forests, cattle smuggling and illegal mining. Many of them have built a gang comprising members of one particular caste or section of society. Some of them enjoyed political patronage but their patrons are now unlikely to protect them.

Gaining eminence and wealth through criminal means is attractive and helps in making friends in politics. It will take more than sustained campaigns to send a message that crime, ultimately, does not pay.

(Ratan Mani Lal is a senior journalist based in Uttar Pradesh.)

Hardened criminals turn to politics for perpetuation and protection. But they often live in the present and do not have a succession plan -- like most politicians do -- and generally their empires are either snatched by a confidant or demolished by the state. Organised crime gangs in Uttar Pradesh have been no exception and that is why new godfathers keep emerging every few years. In the 1960s, the term 'organised crime' was almost unheard of in UP, with people learning about it from films of that era. While Hindi films talked about agitated port or factory workers in Mumbai taking to violence, Hollywood films talked about the Italian Cosa Nostra and its branches commonly known as the mafia operating in the US and elsewhere. The idea of exploited, aggrieved and persecuted poor workers taking revenge against cruel landlords or factory owners had great appeal. Many police and law experts believe that justifying such revenge violence could have been the trigger behind the rise of criminals in such an environment. Lucknow residents recall the earliest big name in crime being a railway and construction contractor who had a running feud with rival contractors. Such criminals did not carry the tag of political protection since they were perhaps simply fund-raisers for all parties. In subsequent years, as political power moved from one party to many others, politicians found it convenient to patronise organised criminals for the specific purpose of booth capturing or bulk voting by snatching ballot papers.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); ALSO READ | In UP badlands, will Atiq's killing see new breed of criminals who seek fame by targeting bigger fish? Through the 1970s and 1980s, booth capturing by hired goons used to be a common feature of almost all elections in UP and journalists who worked in those years remember how they, along with employees on election duty and even police personnel, used to run for their lives when booth capturing was unleashed in some districts with impunity. Needless to say, the politicians and parties who won with the help of such tactics obliged the leaders of these goons with political posts. Political eminence Another category of criminals that emerged in those years was via the route of trade unions. Such elements infiltrated into genuine trade union activities and served the purpose of either the factory management, police, or rival trade unions. Most of them later became extortionists, and there are many who rose to acquire political eminence in Kanpur, Lucknow and Ghaziabad where most industrial activity was concentrated. It was the advent of caste-based politics in the late 1980s that opened the doors to many aspiring criminals to cosy up to politicians, offering their services as and when required. Auto-lifting gangs, land-grabbers and extortionists were among them, but those having the gunpower and manpower to forcibly acquire contracts in the railways, irrigation and public works departments were in the top category. Daring shootouts in railway offices in Lucknow and other cities were fairly common in those years and in most cases, no one was convicted. EDITORIAL | Murder of UP don under protection grave security lapse The 1990s gave a proper shape and contour to organised crime and the term 'mafia' gained currency. Leaders of most organised crime gangs had by then acquired legitimacy by winning elections, even becoming ministers, and switching parties when required. When questioned, the common refrain of political parties in those times was that the "verdict of the people" (meaning an election victory) was far greater than the "verdict of the law" (prosecution by police, courts etc.) Booth-capturing and kidnapping experts becoming legislators and ministers was fairly common. In the last two decades, however, fact and fiction about the badlands of UP have taken a larger-than-life dimension thanks to many films and television series. The depiction of corrupt politicians, wayward police officers and avengers-turned gangsters have dominated themes related to UP. Films like Sahar, Bullett Raja, Omkara, Kaminey, Shagird, Ishqiya and TV series such as Mirzapur, Bhaukaal, Sitapur: The City of Gangsters are among the many which led to the forming of a certain image of UP. While rapid industrialisation in the National Capital Region (NCR) including Noida and Ghaziabad led to the mushrooming of gangs in these districts, the continuing backwardness and poverty were among the reasons for the emergence of criminals from eastern UP. The clout of such gangsters came into play especially during political instability when taking their support was a compulsion for parties. There had been isolated displays of resistance by Chief Ministers such as Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav. While in 2001, Rajnath Singh dismissed Amar Mani Tripathi when reports came that the latter's house was used to keep a kidnapped man in custody, Akhilesh resisted the entry of DP Yadav to his party in 2012 and that of Mukhtar Ansari in 2016. Unfortunately, these incidents serve only to highlight the political compulsions in a state where elections could not be won without the support of tainted leaders. Web Scrawl | Read our series of web exclusives here Stable government It is true that since 2017, there is a stable government in the state which does not need the support of small parties or legislators who can bring numbers with them to provide stability. In parallel, it is also true that no new gangster has emerged in these six years in any part of the state, even as the campaign against organised crime continues. The present government has also been making efforts to draw industrial investment into the state so that more employment can be generated. Examples of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Gujarat suggest that industrial development may lead to emergence of a different kind of crime related more to pilferage, settlement of workers' issues, supply or transport contracts and so on. Continuing its offensive against organised crime, the UP Police is reported to have prepared a list of criminals across the state against whom a concerted crackdown is to be launched. The Chief Minister has also been repeating his resolve to rid the state of gangsters. The list includes gangsters involved in illicit liquor, land grabbing in forests, cattle smuggling and illegal mining. Many of them have built a gang comprising members of one particular caste or section of society. Some of them enjoyed political patronage but their patrons are now unlikely to protect them. Gaining eminence and wealth through criminal means is attractive and helps in making friends in politics. It will take more than sustained campaigns to send a message that crime, ultimately, does not pay. (Ratan Mani Lal is a senior journalist based in Uttar Pradesh.)
By PTI

WASHINGTON: Two of the 17 Sikhs arrested in California over the weekend from two warring criminal gangs are facing murder charges in several cases in India, while another two are sought in other criminal cases, US officials said, stressing that they have prevented a major mass casualty incident with their actions.

The two Sikhs who are facing murder charges in India are Pavittar Singh and Husandeep Singh, according to a spokesperson of the California Attorney General.

While their nationality has not been disclosed so far, it is believed that they are still Indian citizens and have a pending asylum application.

A major mass casualty was prevented when local and federal law enforcement agencies in a series of raids arrested 17 Sikh men from various cities in northern California, mostly in and around the historic Yuba City, which has a predominant Sikh population, from two rival Sikh criminal syndicates.

The two rival gangs are called 'Minta Group' and the 'AK47 group'. The leader of the first group is Minta. Each of the two gangs has at least 30 members.

To the surprise of even the law enforcement agencies, the group members were found to have several dangerous firearms when they were arrested.

"During the investigation, 41 firearms were seized. Those firearms included AR15s, AK-47s, handguns, and at least one machine gun," Jennifer Dupre, the District Attorney of Sutter County said.

Two of those arrested from San Joaquin County - Dharmvir Singh alias Minta and Jobanjit Singh - were stopped on their way to Manteca, where they were allegedly going to commit a homicide, with pistols, large capacity magazines, and fully automatic weapons on them.

Dupre said law enforcement was able to stop two vehicles before they could arrive at a Sikh parade in Sacramento over the weekend.

"While a shooting did occur at the temple, we were able to stop a mass casualty incident. If those weapons had gotten into the parade, it could have been a blood bath," Dupre said.

California's Attorney General Rob Bonta said during the investigation, they prevented at least two additional shootings from happening.

"Because of this operation future gun violence, future crime, future harm has been prevented," he said.

The multi-agency and multi-county investigation was called 'Operation Broken Sword'.

"During the 2018 Sikh Parade here in Yuba City, there was an attack, a sword attack and the victim was being cut with swords, and he was also being beaten. And one of the swords broke due to the violence of that meeting. So that became the name of this operation, Operation Broken Sword," Dupre said, adding, they also located some narcotics, and also child porn material, from the arrests.

The shooting at a gurdwara in Sacramento last month accelerated the process of investigations.

"Well, the fact that the parade was going to occur ramped up the investigation. Our goal was to try to keep that violence-free. It wasn't completely violence-free, but as I stated, we 100 per cent believe we did prevent a mass casualty incident with our actions and the phenomenal work of law enforcement," she said.

Dupre said that following the arrests of these two criminal syndicates the feedback from the community is 'very positive' and the law enforcement agencies are being applauded for preventing any further mass shootings.

WASHINGTON: Two of the 17 Sikhs arrested in California over the weekend from two warring criminal gangs are facing murder charges in several cases in India, while another two are sought in other criminal cases, US officials said, stressing that they have prevented a major mass casualty incident with their actions. The two Sikhs who are facing murder charges in India are Pavittar Singh and Husandeep Singh, according to a spokesperson of the California Attorney General. While their nationality has not been disclosed so far, it is believed that they are still Indian citizens and have a pending asylum application.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); A major mass casualty was prevented when local and federal law enforcement agencies in a series of raids arrested 17 Sikh men from various cities in northern California, mostly in and around the historic Yuba City, which has a predominant Sikh population, from two rival Sikh criminal syndicates. The two rival gangs are called 'Minta Group' and the 'AK47 group'. The leader of the first group is Minta. Each of the two gangs has at least 30 members. To the surprise of even the law enforcement agencies, the group members were found to have several dangerous firearms when they were arrested. "During the investigation, 41 firearms were seized. Those firearms included AR15s, AK-47s, handguns, and at least one machine gun," Jennifer Dupre, the District Attorney of Sutter County said. Two of those arrested from San Joaquin County - Dharmvir Singh alias Minta and Jobanjit Singh - were stopped on their way to Manteca, where they were allegedly going to commit a homicide, with pistols, large capacity magazines, and fully automatic weapons on them. Dupre said law enforcement was able to stop two vehicles before they could arrive at a Sikh parade in Sacramento over the weekend. "While a shooting did occur at the temple, we were able to stop a mass casualty incident. If those weapons had gotten into the parade, it could have been a blood bath," Dupre said. California's Attorney General Rob Bonta said during the investigation, they prevented at least two additional shootings from happening. "Because of this operation future gun violence, future crime, future harm has been prevented," he said. The multi-agency and multi-county investigation was called 'Operation Broken Sword'. "During the 2018 Sikh Parade here in Yuba City, there was an attack, a sword attack and the victim was being cut with swords, and he was also being beaten. And one of the swords broke due to the violence of that meeting. So that became the name of this operation, Operation Broken Sword," Dupre said, adding, they also located some narcotics, and also child porn material, from the arrests. The shooting at a gurdwara in Sacramento last month accelerated the process of investigations. "Well, the fact that the parade was going to occur ramped up the investigation. Our goal was to try to keep that violence-free. It wasn't completely violence-free, but as I stated, we 100 per cent believe we did prevent a mass casualty incident with our actions and the phenomenal work of law enforcement," she said. Dupre said that following the arrests of these two criminal syndicates the feedback from the community is 'very positive' and the law enforcement agencies are being applauded for preventing any further mass shootings.
By PTI

UNITED NATIONS: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday discussed the worsening situation in Sudan with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and underscored the need for "successful diplomacy" which can lead to an early ceasefire and create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of people.

Jaishankar, who met Guterres at the UN headquarters here, also discussed other issues, including India's presidency of the G20 and the Ukraine conflict, with the UN chief.

"Good to meet UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres in New York today afternoon. Discussed the current developments in Sudan, G20 Presidency and Ukraine," he tweeted.

"Focus understandably was on Sudan. India strongly supports efforts towards an early ceasefire, leading to the creation of safe corridors. Will continue to work closely with UN and other partners in this regard," he said.

Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning on Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean. Before his travel to Latin America, he arrived in New York.

He said while his trip to South America was planned quite a while ago, he "came here to the UN mainly because once the fighting started (in Sudan) on the 14th (of April), you could immediately see that this was very serious and a lot of people were trapped by the situation."

"We knew that the UN itself has a large presence in Sudan. This will be the centre. Because at this moment, what is needed is diplomacy, successful diplomacy because it's only diplomacy which can create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of the people out there," Jaishankar told a small group of journalists here after his meeting with Guterres.

Noting that he had a "very good meeting" with Guterres, Jaishankar said once the fighting in Sudan started out, "I felt that it was very important" that he met the UN Secretary-General Guterres.

"Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also of course discussed the G20 and we also spend some time on the Ukraine conflict. But essentially it was about the Sudan situation," he said.

Jaishankar said that in Sudan, the UN is at "the heart of the efforts" to establish a ceasefire.

"And that is really key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it is not safe for people to really come out," he said.

"The UN is doing its bit talking to everybody. We of course have obviously very strong interest in the matter because so many Indians are there," Jaishankar added.

Around 300 people, including an Indian, have been killed, and more than 3,000 injured in clashes in Sudan, according to the World Health Organisation.

The violence between forces from Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on Saturday.

Jaishankar said New Delhi is in touch with a number of countries and he has spoken to the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"We have been in touch with the Americans, I have also been in touch with my British counterpart," he said.

Earlier this morning, he had a "long conversation" with the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry for being Sudan's neighbour and having a "strong interest and strong understanding."

"So, the focus is really how do you get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result. The desired result is a workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire. And then to take the next step, which is how do you create corridors for movement, what are the options of movement, what are the assembly points," Jaishankar said.

Meanwhile, the team in New Delhi is in "continuous touch" with the Indians in Sudan, advising them, saying we know it's very difficult for everybody, but keep calm, don't take unnecessary risk.

They'll have to wait for this to sort itself out, he said.

"I hope that the efforts, including that led by the Secretary-General, will yield to something very soon. But we will have to wait and see," Jaishankar said.

Earlier today, Guterres had a meeting convened by the African Union on the "dramatic situation" in Sudan, bringing together the United Nations, the League of Arab States, IGAD [The Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and the European Union, as well as representatives from a number of countries that are deeply committed to solving the crisis.

"There was a strong consensus on condemning the ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for a cessation of hostilities. As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies," Guterres told reporters here.

Jaishankar said there have been earlier attempts at a ceasefire that did not hold.

"What he (UN SG) said to me was encouraging in respect of the people who are trapped right now because, as he said that it's more important than ever before that this ceasefire holds. We hope so too."

UNITED NATIONS: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday discussed the worsening situation in Sudan with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and underscored the need for "successful diplomacy" which can lead to an early ceasefire and create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of people. Jaishankar, who met Guterres at the UN headquarters here, also discussed other issues, including India's presidency of the G20 and the Ukraine conflict, with the UN chief. "Good to meet UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres in New York today afternoon. Discussed the current developments in Sudan, G20 Presidency and Ukraine," he tweeted.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "Focus understandably was on Sudan. India strongly supports efforts towards an early ceasefire, leading to the creation of safe corridors. Will continue to work closely with UN and other partners in this regard," he said. Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning on Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean. Before his travel to Latin America, he arrived in New York. He said while his trip to South America was planned quite a while ago, he "came here to the UN mainly because once the fighting started (in Sudan) on the 14th (of April), you could immediately see that this was very serious and a lot of people were trapped by the situation." "We knew that the UN itself has a large presence in Sudan. This will be the centre. Because at this moment, what is needed is diplomacy, successful diplomacy because it's only diplomacy which can create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of the people out there," Jaishankar told a small group of journalists here after his meeting with Guterres. Noting that he had a "very good meeting" with Guterres, Jaishankar said once the fighting in Sudan started out, "I felt that it was very important" that he met the UN Secretary-General Guterres. "Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also of course discussed the G20 and we also spend some time on the Ukraine conflict. But essentially it was about the Sudan situation," he said. Jaishankar said that in Sudan, the UN is at "the heart of the efforts" to establish a ceasefire. "And that is really key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it is not safe for people to really come out," he said. "The UN is doing its bit talking to everybody. We of course have obviously very strong interest in the matter because so many Indians are there," Jaishankar added. Around 300 people, including an Indian, have been killed, and more than 3,000 injured in clashes in Sudan, according to the World Health Organisation. The violence between forces from Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on Saturday. Jaishankar said New Delhi is in touch with a number of countries and he has spoken to the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. "We have been in touch with the Americans, I have also been in touch with my British counterpart," he said. Earlier this morning, he had a "long conversation" with the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry for being Sudan's neighbour and having a "strong interest and strong understanding." "So, the focus is really how do you get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result. The desired result is a workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire. And then to take the next step, which is how do you create corridors for movement, what are the options of movement, what are the assembly points," Jaishankar said. Meanwhile, the team in New Delhi is in "continuous touch" with the Indians in Sudan, advising them, saying we know it's very difficult for everybody, but keep calm, don't take unnecessary risk. They'll have to wait for this to sort itself out, he said. "I hope that the efforts, including that led by the Secretary-General, will yield to something very soon. But we will have to wait and see," Jaishankar said. Earlier today, Guterres had a meeting convened by the African Union on the "dramatic situation" in Sudan, bringing together the United Nations, the League of Arab States, IGAD [The Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and the European Union, as well as representatives from a number of countries that are deeply committed to solving the crisis. "There was a strong consensus on condemning the ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for a cessation of hostilities. As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies," Guterres told reporters here. Jaishankar said there have been earlier attempts at a ceasefire that did not hold. "What he (UN SG) said to me was encouraging in respect of the people who are trapped right now because, as he said that it's more important than ever before that this ceasefire holds. We hope so too."
Study declares Mizoram Indias happiest state where teachers are students best friends

Aizawal (Mizoram), April 19: Mizoram has been declared the happiest state in the country according to a study conducted by Rajesh K Pillania, professor of strategy at the Management Development Institute in Gurugram.

Study declares Mizoram India's 'happiest state' where teachers are students' best friends

According to a report, the state, which is the second in India to achieve 100 per cent literacy, offers students opportunities for growth even in the most difficult of circumstances."Mizoram's happiness index is based on six parameters including family relationships, work-related issues, social issues and philanthropy, religion, COVID-19's effect on happiness, and physical and mental health," the report said."A student of the Government Mizo High School (GMHS) in Aizawl, Mizoram, has had to face many difficulties since his father abandoned his family when he was young. Despite this, he remains optimistic and excels in his studies. He hopes to become a chartered accountant or appear for civil services exams if his first choice does not work out," the report said.Similarly, a student in Class 10 at GMHS, aspires to join the National Defence Academy (NDA). His father works in a milk factory and his mother is a homemaker. Both are hopeful about their prospects because of their school."Our teachers are our best friends, we are not scared or shy of sharing with them anything," one student said. The teachers in Mizoram regularly meet with students and their parents to address any problems they may be facing.Mizoram's social structure also contributes to the happiness of its youth. "It is the upbringing that adds to youth being happy or not, we are a casteless society. Also, parental pressure for studies is less here," said Sister Lalrinmawii Khiangte, a teacher of Eben-ezer Boarding School, a private school in the state.The report further said that every child in the Mizo community, regardless of gender, starts earning early."No task is considered too small and youths typically find employment around the age of 16 or 17. This is encouraged, and there is no discrimination between girls and boys," it said.Mizoram has a high number of broken families, but having many peers in similar situations, working mothers, and financial independence from an early age means children are not left bereft. "When both genders are taught to earn their living, and neither is dependent on the other, why should a couple continue to live together in an unhealthy setting?" asked Khiangte.ANI19 April 2023

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Karnataka polls: BJP youth wing leader Arvind Chauhan resigns from party after denial of ticket

Bengaluru, April 18: Arvind Chauhan, who was BJP Kalaburagi District Yuva Morcha General Secretary and former Zilla Panchayat member, has resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party after he was denied a BJP ticket from Chittapur assembly constituency.

Karnataka polls: BJP youth wing leader Arvind Chauhan resigns from party after denial of ticket

BJP has fielded Manikanta Rathod from the Chittapur constituency while Priyank M. Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the sitting MLA from the Chittapur constituency.BJP on Monday announced its third list of 10 candidates, earlier 1st and 2nd list of candidates was announced. Following the announcement, many party leaders resigned after their names remained missing from the list, including former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi.BJP has dropped Arvind Limbavali from Mahadevapura but has given a ticket to his wife Manula Aravind Limbavali. With the announcement of 10 more candidates, the BJP has so far declared 222 candidates out of 224 seats in the state assembly Arvind ChauhanBJP state general secretary Mahesh Tenginkai has been chosen as the party candidate from Hubli- Dharwad (Central) assembly constituency which was previously held by Shettar, a six-time MLA and a former chief minister of Karnataka.A senior BJP leader said that Mahesh Tenginkai is a dedicated party worker representing the same community as Jagdish Shettar. "The CEC has shown faith in him and is confident that he will come out victorious," a party leader told ANI.ANI19 April 2023

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FM Sitharaman, Russian Deputy PM Manturov discuss strengthening economic cooperation

New Delhi, April 18: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday held a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in New Delhi. The two leaders exchanged views on strengthening economic and financial cooperation in to promote bilateral investment and trade.

FM Sitharaman, Russian Deputy PM Manturov discuss strengthening economic cooperation

The Ministry of Finance in a tweet said, "Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharamanmet Mr. Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, today, at New Delhi."In another tweet, the Ministry of Finance stated, "Both Ministers exchanged views on strengthening economic and financial cooperation in areas of mutual interests to promote bilateral investment and trade."Denis Manturov, who is also Russia's Minister of Industry and Trade on Monday arrived in New Delhi to co-chair the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission.On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the 24th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) in New Delhi.During the meeting, Jaishankar and Manturov discussed cooperation in areas of trade, finance, industry, energy sector, including nuclear power, agriculture, transport, healthcare, education and culture, the Russian Embassy in India said in a tweet.At the 24th Meeting of IGC, Denis Manturov said that the trade turnover between Russia and India has exceeded USD 35 billion. The Russian Embassy in India tweeted, "Relations between #Russia and #India continue progressively developing in all directions. In 2022, despite negative external factors, positive dynamics in #RussiaIndia trade prevailed."In his remarks at the 24th Meeting of IGC, Manturov said, "According to the last year results, the trade turnover between our countries increased by 2.6 times, exceeding 35 bn USD. We have completed ahead of schedule the task set by the leaders of our countries to reach level of bilateral trade of 30 billion USD by 2025."On Monday, S Jaishankar and Denis Manturov met representatives of Russian and Indian businesses in New Delhi. The business forum participants discussed issues to further enhance Russian-Indian practical cooperation, including within the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC).Addressing the gathering, Manturov termed IGC a "unique mechanism" for a comprehensive discussion of topical issues on the Russian-Indian agenda.Manturov said, "The IGC is a unique mechanism for a comprehensive discussion of topical issues on the Russian-Indian agenda with the participation of specialised departments and organizations of the two countries. We are talking not only about trade and economic relations, but also about humanitarian areas of interaction, such as education and culture."On Monday, Manturov and Jaishankar attended the India-Russia Business Dialogue on Monday. Denis Manturov said that Russia is looking forward to intensifying negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India. On his first day of the visit to India, Manturov also held a meeting with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal.Addressing the India-Russia Business Dialogue, Manturov said, "Together with Eurasian Economic Commission, we are looking forward to intensifying negotiations on Free Trade Agreement with India.He said, "Additionally, we are working on signing of Russia-India Bilateral Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments." Manturov said that Russia has taken effective measures, including import preferences and mechanisms that guarantee the protection of investments that will be in demand among Russian and Indian businessmen."ANI19 April 2023

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HONOR announces the upcoming launch of HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023 & HONOR MagicBook X 16 2023 in India

New Delhi, April 18: Global technology brand HONOR today announced the upcoming launch of the HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023 & HONOR MagicBook X 16 2023 in India. The new thin & light HONOR laptop is equipped with an immersive 14-inch & 16-inch HONOR Full HD Display[1], 12th Generation IntelA Corea i5-12450H Processor, and a long-lasting 60Wh[2] battery to deliver unparalleled performance for productivity tasks and more.

HONOR announces the upcoming launch of HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023 & HONOR MagicBook X 16 2023 in India

14-inch HONOR Full HD Display Fitted into a Compact ChassisDesigned with portability in mind, the HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023 is 16.5mm ultra-thin[3] and weighs 1.4kg[4], making it an ideal device to carry on-the-go.Featuring a 14-inch HONOR Full HD Display[5] with ultra-slim 4.5mm bezels on both sides, the HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023 boasts of an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 88 per cent [6] to deliver an immersive viewing experience.Incredible Power, Outstanding Efficiency, All Day LongHONOR MagicBook 2023 Series has a 12th Generation IntelA Corea i5-12450H Processor, powered by 8 Cores and 12 Threads with a Max Speed of 4.4 GHz enabling a 30 per cent higher performance[7] for a fast and fluid performance for just about any task.Packed with a long-lasting 60Wh[8] battery, the HONOR MagicBook X 14 / X 16 2023 delivers up to 12 hours of local 1080P video playback[9] and up to 9 hours of daily work.The HONOR MagicBook X 14 / X 16 2023 models are equipped with 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD storage and a 65W Type-C Multi-Device Charger that supports Fast Charging.HONOR MagicBook X 16 2023For those looking for a larger screen and display, the new HONOR MagicBook X 16 2023 version comes with a stunning 16-inch HONOR Full HD Display[10], a screen-to-body ratio of 89% weighing just 1.75kg.Color and AvailabilityBoth the HONOR MagicBook X 14 / X 16 2023 will be available in two variants of 8GB / 512GB and 16GB / 512GB in stunning Space Gray colors[11].The HONOR MagicBook 2023 Series will be available exclusively on Amazon with a Special Launch Offer Price starting from INR 48990 for a limited period.Additionally, Amazon customers can also avail offers of INR 2500 Instant Bank Discount (HDFC Credit Cards), Up to INR 7000 Exchange Offers, No Cost EMI and Microsoft 365 on HONOR MagicBook 2023 Series laptops."We are thrilled to bring our latest innovation, the HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023 and HONOR MagicBook X 16 2023, to the Indian market. The sleek and lightweight design of the HONOR MagicBook X 14 2023, with its 14-inch HONOR Full HD Display and impressive 88% screen-to-body ratio, is sure to impress anyone seeking a portable and immersive laptop experience. With the powerful 12th Generation IntelA Corea i5-12450H Processor and long-lasting 60Wh battery, users can expect unparalleled performance for productivity tasks and more. Stay tuned for the launch of these exciting new laptops!" CP Khandelwal CEO PSAV GLOBAL - an official partner for HONOR in India.HONOR is a leading global provider of smart devices. It is dedicated to becoming a global iconic technology brand and creating a new intelligent world for everyone through its powerful products and services. With an unwavering focus on R and D, it is committed to developing technology that empowers people around the globe to go beyond, giving them the freedom to achieve and do more. Offering a range of high-quality smartphones, tablets, laptops, and wearables to suit every budget, HONOR's portfolio of innovative, premium, and reliable products enables people to become a better version of themselves.PSAV GLOBAL TECH PRIVATE LIMITED is an official partner for HONOR in India. It has a widespread network of 8,000+ retailers and 100+ distributors that spans both rural and urban areas across India in the top 100+ cities.FB InstagramYTInstagramYT[1] HONOR Full HD Display generally refers to the screen of an HONOR device with narrow bezels and a high screen-to-body ratio.[2] Rated battery capacity.[3] Data from HONOR labs. The thickness here does not include the height of the foot pad.[4] Data from HONOR labs (approximate value).[5] HONOR Full HD Display generally refers to the screen of an HONOR device with narrow bezels and a high screen-to-body ratio.[6] Data from HONOR labs.[7] Data from / Intel (max performance of i5-12450H is 4.4 GHz).[8] Rated battery capacity.[9] Data from HONOR labs by testing with default configurations in Smart Mode under the brightness of 150 nits at room temperature of 25AC, with Windows Update and Internet connection disabled.[10] HONOR Full HD Display generally refers to the screen of an HONOR device with narrow bezels and a high screen-to-body ratio.[11] Color availability may vary by region.This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI19 April 2023

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Despite negative external factors, positive dynamics in Russia-India trade prevailed, says Russian Dy PM Manturov

New Delhi, April 18: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Valentinovich Manturov on Tuesday reiterated that despite negative external factors, positive dynamics in Russia-India trade prevailed as the bilateral trade betwen Moscow and New Delhi reached USD 30 billion, defining the intensity of Russian-Indian cooperation.

Despite negative external factors, positive dynamics in Russia-India trade prevailed, says Russian Dy PM Manturov

He also acknowleded the fact that both India and Russia have completed the task, ahead of schedule, set by the leaders of both the countries to reach the level of bilateral trade of USD 30 billion by 2025.Manturov said, "Relations between Russia and India continue progressively developing in all directions. In 2022, despite negative external factors, positive dynamics in the Russian-Indian trade prevailed."Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar led the Indian delegation. During the meeting, both sides discussed bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, finance, industry, energy sector, including nuclear power, agriculture, transport, healthcare, education and culture.Following the meeting, Manturov and Jaishankar signed the final Protocol of the 24th Meeting of the Russian-Indian Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC).The trade turnover between Russia and India exceeded USD 35 billion, stated the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia."The intensity of Russian-Indian cooperation is reflected in the new dynamics of our bilateral trade despite the difficult external background. According to last year's result, the trade turnover between our countries increased by 2.6 times, exceeding 35 billion USD. We have completed ahead of schedule the task set by the leaders of our countries to reach the level of bilateral trade of USD 30 billion by 2025," said Denis Manturov.The Russian Dy PM further said, "This platform, dialogue allows us to have a comprehensive...on key questions of development. Every year we have more and more directions for our joint work and this is...by the time-tested ties of friendship between Russia and India."India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement that would further deepen bilateral commercial ties that have flourished since the war broke out in Ukraine.Russia's economy has been hit by Western sanctions due to its military operation in Ukraine.Meanwhile, Jaishankar said that he is confident that this particular meeting would help to strengthen further and deepen our economic and trade relationship."I am very glad to welcome you, and your delegation for the 24th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) for trade, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation. Since 1994, we have held 23 such sessions and I am confident that this particular meeting would help to strengthen further and deepen our economic and trade relationship. I recall our meeting last year in Moscow, the virtual meeting that we did last month and I believe that today's meeting will build on those earlier discussions and keep in mind, our special and privileged partnership provides new guidance and direction in the economic and other spheres," he said.ANI19 April 2023

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Congress demands special Assembly session to discuss Navi Mumbai tragedy

Mumbai, April 19: Upping the ante against the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in Maharashtra, the Opposition Congress on Wednesday demanded a special two-day Assembly session to discuss the deaths of 14 persons after the 'Maharashtra Bhushan Award ceremony on April 16.

Congress demands special Assembly session to discuss Navi Mumbai tragedy

In a letter to Governor Ramesh Bais, state Congress President Nana Patole said that the deaths of 14 'Shrisadasyas' after the state-government's function was caused entirely due to the 'unplanned' arrangements by the 'irresponsible' officials."Considering the latest details that have emerged, questions have arisen whether the deaths of 14 innocent people were due to sunstroke or a stampede. This amounts to 'killing' and the state government is now hiding the truth," Patole claimed.He said that around 20 lakh followers had turned up for the 'Maharashtra Bhushan Award 2022' conferred on reformer Dattatreya Narayan Dharmadhikari A revered as Appasaheb A by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai.The event was organised at a cost of around Rs 13 crore but led to the deaths of 14 persons who were made to sit in the scorching sun for hours without a tent or marquee, proper drinking water facilities, etc., which was a "very serious and heart-wrenching matter", Patole said."The more shocking aspect is that along with sunstroke, there is news emanating that there was a stampede in the unplanned gathering. With around 500 people under treatment, the number of fatalities going up further cannot be ruled out," Patole warned.He also accused the state government of pointing fingers at Dharmadhikari and others, and demanded that a case of culpable homicide be registered against all those found guilty.The Congress, which has already demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis or dismissal of the government, will also organise media gatherings all over Maharashtra on April 24, Patole said.Earlier, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) had separately demanded a judicial probe by a retired judge into the tragedy, and special operating procedures (SOPs) for such mega-events, which has been partly conceded after the state government on Wednesday banned all open-air public gatherings between 12 noon and 5 p.m., and enhanced compensation to up to Rs 1 crore for the kin of each deceased person, along with free treatment to the injured.IANS20 April 2023

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Emirates Publishers Association forging new partnerships at London Book Fair

Sharjah [United Arab Emirates], April 19 (ANI/WAM): The Emirates Publishers Association (EPA) is participating in the London International Book Fair being held at Olympia London from April 18-20.

Emirates Publishers Association forging new partnerships at London Book Fair

"We are excited to be participating in the London International Book Fair as it offers a fantastic opportunity for Emirati publishers to present their exceptional works to a worldwide audience. This event perfectly aligns with our mission to promote and cultivate the growth of the Emirati publishing industry on an international level, providing us with an invaluable platform to network, learn, and engage with our peers in the global publishing community. We look forward to sharing our unique perspectives and rich literary culture with the world and forging new partnerships that will help us continue to push the boundaries of the publishing industry," said Rashid Al Kous, executive director of the Emirates Publishers Association.The participating publishers express their enthusiasm towards attending the London Book Fair in collaboration with the EPA. This event represents an incredible opportunity to broaden our horizons, network with fellow professionals, and expand our reach, empowering us to share our vision of a more inclusive and equitable world with an even wider audience.The EPA Collective Stand is a dynamic and captivating space where attendees can immerse themselves in the fascinating world of Emirati publishing, connect with visionary publishers, and discover a wealth of unique literary works. With its vibrant and engaging atmosphere, the stand is providing a unique experience for all who attend, offering valuable insights into the diverse and multifaceted Emirati literary culture. Visitors are encouraged to explore the showcased works and engage with the participating publishing houses, including Kalimat, Sail Publishing, The Dreamwork Collective, Liberty Education, Smart Mind, Ugarit Publishing, Dar Al Fekr Al Jadeed, and Al Muheet Publishing. (ANI/WAM)ANI20 April 2023

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Israel aims to expand Free Trade Agreement with India

Jerusalem, April 18 (ANI/TPS): India has a lot to offer to the world and Israel will propose to expand the Free Trade Agreement, said Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat on Monday during a visit to India.

Israel aims to expand Free Trade Agreement with India

Barkat was speaking at the India Israel Business Forum organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Delhi. He is leading a delegation of Israeli businessmen for a series of meetings with leaders in India's business and government sectors.Barkat said that the FTA between Israel and India will be discussed with Indian ministers later on Monday."The FTA should be in various areas including agrotech and health tech. India's economy is rising to be the third-largest in the world. What I see here is a huge mutual opportunity and we are here to exploit it," Barkat said."Look at the chip industry, Israel is very strong in the chip industry, it has a lot to offer. We should take a serious look at how to co-develop ideas, a lot of joint ventures are here," he said while stressing on the need to push for semiconductors as these chips are found in practically every modern electrical appliance."We are going to be focusing on issues and business clusters that we're really good at that Israel has a competitive advantage, one of which I found that there's interest here, which we call desert technologies to improve quality of life in deserts, managing water, creating water, saving water, creating energy from the sun from the wind in a distributed way and that tailors to deserts food production agrotech creating food from the sea using hydroponics.""The fact that you Indian people are eager to grow and scale up the business and collaborate with the world is another great opportunity. What we need to do now is figure out the best way for our entrepreneurs who work with your entrepreneurs, for our small economy, to leverage your scale in huge economy, the size and scope of it and it's a great match. We compete, we collaborate, we complement each other. We have a lot to offer and you certainly have a lot to offer to Israel," Barkat said.Comparing India and Israel's agricultural sectors, Barkat said that 50 years ago, around 30-40 per cent of Israel's population worked in agriculture. Today, less than 5 per cent of people are focusing on the agriculture sector in Israel. We're doing more agriculture by just using technology in a smart way. In India, once you scale quickly and adopt technology, that number will shrink dramatically in the next 20 years," he said.India is the world's seventh-largest economy and is Israel's second-largest trading partner in Asia, after China. Bilateral trade is around USD 8.5 billion.Israeli exports to India make up around USD 5.2 billion. Primary areas of trade include computer services, chemicals and industrial products, precious stones and metals, and transportation products. Imports from India USD 3.3 billion in products, primarily stones and precious metals, wood products, textiles and paper, chemicals, and chemical products. (ANI/TPS)ANI20 April 2023

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Russian Dy PM Manturov concludes India visit, agrees to work together to unlock potential of economic ties

New Delhi, April 18: Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, concluded his two-day visit to India on April 18.

Russian Dy PM Manturov concludes India visit, agrees to work together to unlock potential of economic ties

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Minister of Trade and Industry, Denis Manturov, the Co-chair of the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC), visited New Delhi from 17- 18 April 2023. He was accompanied by senior representatives from several Russian Ministries.During the visit, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and Manturov Co-Chaired the 24th session of the Inter-governmental Commission which is a mechanism for monitoring the bilateral progress of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. The Sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral trade and economic relationship and agreed to work together to unlock its full potential including through addressing the trade deficit and market access issues.Manturov also held bilateral meetings with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and NSA Ajit Doval.On 17 April 2023, the "India-Russia Business Dialogue" was held with the participation of major businesses from both sides which enabled the Co-Chairs and business leaders to engage and drive the momentum of shared priorities of deeper and wider bilateral commercial cooperation.The visit is in continuation of the regular high-level dialogue between the two Sides. EAM last visited Russia in November 2022.ANI20 April 2023

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Kylie Jenner dating Timothee Chalamet?

Washington, April 18: New couple on its way? If reports are to be believed, Kardashians star Kylie Jenner is dating 'Dune' actor Timothee Chalamet. However, none of them has commented on it.

Kylie Jenner dating Timothee Chalamet?

The buzz of the relationship comes months after news surfaced that Kylie had broken up with Travis Scott, according to E News.The couple is parents to Stormi, 5, and Aire, 14 months. They had been in an 'on and off' relationship since they were first linked in 2017.Though Travis and Kylie stepped out in Miami for an Art Basel party in early December, they have not been spotted together after that, reported E News.However, the hip-hop star sparked rumours of a reconciliation in April when he commented on one of Kylie's Instagram posts "A Beauty."Timothee had a couple of relationships in the past as well. In the past, the Oscar nominee was romantically linked to Lourdes Leon and Eiza Gonzalez. He also dated Lily-Rose Depp--the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis--from 2018 to 2020.Since splitting with the actress, Timothee has been quiet about his love life.ANI20 April 2023

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Foo Fighters releases first album since Taylor Hawkins death

Los Angeles, April 19: Foo Fighters has announced its first album since the sudden death of its drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022, reports 'Variety'. 'But Here We Are' is set to arrive on June 2, with its lead single, 'Rescued', available now.

Foo Fighters releases first album since Taylor Hawkins' death

"A brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters endured over the last year, 'But Here We Are' is a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family," a media release from the Seattle-based rock group said, according to 'Variety'."Courageous, damaged and unflinchingly authentic, 'But Here We Are' opens with newly released lead single 'Rescued', the first of 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between," the release added.The drummer on the new song is not identified and does not sound like Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who has concentrated on singing and rhythm guitar since he formed the band in 1995, but occasionally gets behind the kit, continues 'Variety'. In fact, it sounds like Josh Freese, who has been widely tipped as the band's next drummer, although no announcement has been made and reps for the group did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday morning.The band has scheduled months of tour dates, beginning in New Hampshire (USA) on May 24, and looks likely to spend most of the rest of the year on the road.Hawkins died on March 25, 2022, at the age of 50 before the band was set to perform at a festival in Bogota, Colombia, adds 'Variety'. Hawkins had been the drummer for Foo Fighters since 1997, joining the band after touring with Alanis Morissette.He and Grohl were especially close, with the frontman describing Hawkins in his memoir 'The Storyteller' as "my brother from another mother, my best friend, a man for whom I would take a bullet."IANS20 April 2023

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IIT Council unanimously decides to adopt National Credit Framework

New Delhi, April 19: The IIT Council has decided unanimously to adopt the National Credit Framework (NCrF) and implement it across all IITs, a statement said on Wednesday.

IIT Council unanimously decides to adopt National Credit Framework

The NCrF is a comprehensive credit framework encompassing elementary, school, higher, and vocational education and training, integrating creditisation of learning in various dimensions, that is academics, vocational skills and experiential learning including relevant experience and professional levels acquired.The decision came after a presentation made by UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar at the meeting was held at IIT Bhubaneswar on Tuesday with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan presiding, and Directors of all 23 IITs present."Adoption of the National Credit Framework by the IIT Council is a great decision since this will provide a better equivalence of credits obtained in general (academic) education, technical education, and skill and vocational education. It will encourage the rest of the higher education system to adopt and implement the national credit framework bringing a unified inclusive meta framework across the country," the UGC chief said.He also said that the National Education Policy 2020 envisions making education more holistic and effective and emphasises the integration of general (academic) education and vocational education. A national credit accumulation and transfer system is essential to fulfilling this vision.The IITs themselves took a lead role in conducting region-wise awareness workshops for teachers and administrators from school education and higher education, he added.IANS20 April 2023

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Commonwealth like a family, remains effective and relevant: Secretary General ( Interview)

Washington, April 19: It does not have the megaphone that enables other world bodies broadcast their small and big achievements, such as the UN and its star body the Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union. But the Commonwealth of Nations has not only built up an impressive list of outcomes, it has, away from the limelight, led on key global issues, such as climate change.

Commonwealth like a family, remains effective and relevant: Secretary General ( Interview)

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland says this organisation of 56 member nations remains effective, relevant and engaged. But what sets it apart from the others is that it is like a family, tied by shared "love" and concern for each other.Scotland spoke to IANS on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meetings of the World Bank group.Excerpt from the interviewIANS The Commonwealth of Nations has 56 members and it's home to a quarter of the world's humanity but it is barely heard on issues of significance; Ukraine, for instance, or the present global financial crisis.Scotland Since 2016, the Commonwealth has really been at the forefront of a number of quite pivotal issues. We looked at the issues of debt; we looked at the issues of climate change; we looked at the issues in relation to corruption, looked at the issues in relation to women and domestic violence or the issues in relation to democracy and freedom.On all of these issues, the Commonwealth has been right at the front, particularly in relation to climate. We are here right now (at the Spring Meetings) talking about the reform of the IFIs (International Financial Institutions), the need for us to have a universal vulnerability index because looking at the GNI as the arbiter for what should happen on climate finance is just not working.Of course, the issues in relation to Ukraine are important to the Commonwealth in terms of food insecurity and the rise in the cost of living about which we've been talking a great deal because we identified that these exogenous shocks, which happened in one area, (have) disproportionate deleterious impact on our member states. So I think if what we are saying isn't being covered as extensively as it could or should be, we are trying to change that's why we're having these conversations.IANS Do you think there is a need for the Commonwealth to change to adapt to this new world that is emerging, a multipolar world where you no longer have just the US and the Soviet Union or now Russia; there is China?Scotland If you look at what has happened in the last seven years (since she took over as Secretary General) is that the Commonwealth is growing. It's one of the only organisations which more countries are joining and (to which) more countries that left have come back. (Togo and Gabon, which were never parts of the Commonwealth, became last year its 55th and 56th members). They've been looking at the change that has happened in the Commonwealth, particularly in those countries, which are similar to them, who are in the Commonwealth, but who are doing exponentially better. And these countries are saying why. And why the Commonwealth is becoming so attractive, I understand, is because it's a values driven organisation, not dependent on treaty, concentrating on common interests.The world has become a very unstable and quite worrisome place. People are looking for friends. They're looking at friends with whom they can deal and work not only in sympathy, but also in safety. As the rest of the world becomes more difficult, I think people are attracted to an organisation which is bound on values and is based on equality because in the Commonwealth, it doesn't matter what size you are, how rich you are, how poor you are, you are equal.If you look back at 2018 you remember, on the multilateral arena, nobody could agree on anything. You almost thought at one stage they couldn't even agree on a cold custard tart. And they thought therefore it would be impossible for those areas which were so difficult and so complex globally to be agreed anywhere. If you look at our Commonwealth communique, the Commonwealth came together - we were then 53 countries -- and we agreed on everything. We agreed on a new connectivity agenda. We agreed to create the blue charter (to work together on a fair, inclusive and sustainable approach to ocean protection and economic development), we agreed on what we were going to do on women, on every single issue. And it was extraordinary because here you had countries of all shapes, all sizes, five different regions across six oceans agreeing on everything.We had a meeting of trade ministers and people said look, you know WTO was very difficult. You're never gonna get anyone to agree on and you know how disparate that family is. The whole Commonwealth came together and we agreed - every Trade Minister agreed - on a Trade Ministers' communique. The world looked at us 'how on earth'. And the reason is not only do we respect each other, we listen to each other. But we don't just look at what divides us, we look at what joins us. What we've been able to do in the Commonwealth is to work attention around that consensus.IANS Do you see the Commonwealth as a kind of model for all of the world organisations?Scotland I think the Commonwealth has been, and can continue to be a pathfinder. I'll just give you a few examples. There was the original example in relation to race and apartheid -- it was the Commonwealth who was ahead. But look at (the issue of) climate. In the 1989 Langkawi declaration in Malaysia, the Commonwealth identified that climate posed an existential threat. So three years before the original COP (Conference of Parties, the top decision making body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), the Commonwealth came together and said, if we don't do this, this is what's going to happen.Look at what happened in terms of HIPIC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) -- the highly indebted countries and debt forgiveness. Who came up with that idea? It was the Commonwealth.Look at what then happens in relation to the climate. In 2013, the Commonwealth said what do you believe in, what's the direction? It took them two years, three months, 11 days to come up with a charter, one to 16. If you then look at what the UN did in 2015, one to 16 is one to 16 of our charter and SDG (Sustainable Development Goal number) 17 is partnership, which is in our preamble.(If) you come to our meetings, what you'll see is people care about each other. You know, people don't like this word love (but) they do love each other and if you love someone, it hurts you to see them suffer and you want to do that. So that's what we have.IANS India holds the G20 presidency for 2023. Any expectations?Scotland India, the Commonwealth's largest member and the current G20 chair, has a unique opportunity to leverage its position to advocate for inclusive, transparent and consultative reforms of the international financial institutions among its G20 members. India can also push for inclusive financial policies and advocate for debt relief.IANS20 April 2023

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National Centre for Seismology to study tremors, blast sounds in TN

Chennai, April 19: Experts from the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) will study the tremors and blast-like sounds felt in Natham and Vedasundar areas of Tamil Nadu.

National Centre for Seismology to study tremors, blast sounds in TN

This was announced by state Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, on the floor of the Assembly on Wednesday.The minister was responding to a motion moved by DMK members I.P. Senthilkumar and S. Gandhirajan.Ramachandran said that the state government will take steps to prevent people from any catastrophe."Last year also, these areas witnessed tremors followed by blast-like sounds 15 times. We conducted a study and found that there were no mines located in the area to generate blast-like sounds," the minister said.Ramachandran said that the directors at the Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management and the Centre for Disaster Mitigation Management at the Vellore Institute of Technology had also been asked to form a committee and study the tremors in these areas.IANS20 April 2023

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2nd India-UK financial markets dialogue held; focus on sustainable finance, cryptoassets

New Delhi, April 19: The second India-UK financial markets dialogue took place on Wednesday, where both sides discussed several areas with a view to deepen the financial services relationship -- focusing on sustainable finance, insurance, asset management, capital markets and payments and cryptoassets.

2nd India-UK financial markets dialogue held; focus on sustainable finance, cryptoassets

Richard Knox, director for International Financial Services at UK's treasury and Surbhi Jain, joint secretary in the economic affairs department of the Finance Ministry, co-chaired the meeting.According to a joint statement issued by the British government, both India and the UK discussed existing collaboration between central banks on climate scenario analysis and stress testing, as well as capacity building and spreading awareness on climate risk and sustainable finance.Moreover, it was decided that opportunities to collaborate around sovereign green bonds would be explored.Both sides agreed to engage bilaterally on these areas in the coming months with the government-led sustainable finance forum in June to advance green cooperation followed by the ministerial Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) later in the year.Following the government-to-government discussion, business leaders from the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) were invited to the discussion.Both governments welcomed the appointment of Bill Winters, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, as the new UK Chair of the IUKFP alongside Uday Kotak, managing director and CEO Kotak Mahindra Bank, as India Chair.IANS20 April 2023

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Turkish FM says holding talks with warring sides in Sudan for ceasefire

Ankara, April 20: As the violent unrest continues to rage in Sudan, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that negotiations are on with the two warring parties in a bid to reach an ultimate ceasefire.

Turkish FM says holding talks with warring sides in Sudan for ceasefire

Addressing reporters on Wednesday, the Minister said "We are negotiating with both parties. We are negotiating to stop the conflict. We are on the field with our friends."We are currently meeting with the Vice President. We're also meeting with the commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to stop the war."Cavusoglu further said they expected a ceasefire to be reached on Thursday ahead of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.He also noted that Turkey will evacuate its citizens from Sudan after its airspace opens on Thursday.The fighting that erupted on the morning of April 15 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Kharotum has so far killed about 270 people and injured more than 2,600 others, with gunfire and explosions still heard across the capital city.The violence, which is a result of a bloody tussle for power between Sudan's military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, has also spread to other areas in the country, including in Darfur to the west.As a result of the unrest, thousands of civilians have fled Khartoum and foreign nations are trying to evacuate their citizens, amid a sixth day of fierce fighting.Witnesses reported people leaving the capital in cars and on foot on Wednesday morning, as gunfire and deafening explosions rocked the city.The exodus followed Tuesday's collapsed ceasefire between the warring factions.IANS20 April 2023

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To curb pollution, Delhi Govt to organise conference based on study

New Delhi, April 19: In order to speed up the pace of curbing pollution in Delhi, a review meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Environment Minister Gopal Rai, on the Real-Time Source Apportionment study at Delhi Secretariat.

To curb pollution, Delhi Govt to organise conference based on study

The concerned professors and officers of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the Environment Department and IIT Kanpur attended the meeting.In order to have a thorough discussion of the Real-Time Source Apportionment study data, it was decided during the meeting to organise a 'Save Environment' Round Table Conference on May 15 at the Delhi Secretariat.Representatives from the CAQM, CPCB, Safar, UNEP, IMD, World Bank, CSE, TERI, and states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana will be invited to this conference.Additionally, orders have also been issued to install Mobile Air Quality Monitoring Van in 13 hotspots of Delhi at different times to find out the actual sources of pollution.Giving more details about the review meeting, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, "Real Time Source Apportionment Study was introduced as a part of the Winter Action Plan by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Since its commencement, Delhi's actual sources of pollution are now known at any given moment. Delhi has accomplished this as the nation's first state.""Every hour, the location and cause of pollutants are determined by real-time source apportionment studies. Additionally, a three-day prediction is also being estimated hourly. With the help of technology, the Government is able to tackle pollution in all areas of Delhi and receive reliable information about how it is created by vehicles, industry, biomass burning, dust etc. In this context, today, a review meeting was held with the teams of DPCC, the Environment Department and IIT Kanpur at the Delhi Secretariat, "he added.During the meeting, it was decided that in order to thoroughly review the Real Time Source Appropriation study's report 'Save Environment' Round Table Conference would be held at the Delhi Secretariat on May 15.Representatives from the CAQM, CPCB, Safar, UNEP, IMD, World Bank, CSE, TERI, and states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana will be invited to this conference.All of the representatives will be taken to the supersite after the round table conference, and a joint action plan will be formed based on recommendations from all institutions, states, and study results.Gopal Rai also said, "The real-time apportionment study supersite has started giving information about the exact time and sources of pollution. Moving forward in this series, five molecular markers have also been installed to get information about the main factors in increasing pollution in the hotspots of Delhi.""Presently this network has been established in Delhi's Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Vivek Vihar, Mundka and Anand Vihar. Along with this, orders have been issued to install Mobile Air Quality Monitoring Van at 13 hotspots of Delhi at different times in order to trace the sources of pollution in real-time," he added.The Environment Minister concluded, "The Delhi Government will be able to regulate the sources of pollution based on the study's findings, which will aid in identifying and removing the many causes of Delhi's pollution. Getting the pollution forecast will also help the government make policy decisions."ANI20 April 2023

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Newly opened US consulate in Hyderabad to process around visa 3500 applications per day

Hyderabad, April 19: The US Consulate has newly opened a new campus in Nanakaramguda, which is spread over 12 acres of land. Earlier, the US consulate was housed in Paigah Palace.

Newly opened US consulate in Hyderabad to process around visa 3500 applications per day

The new US Consulate General in Hyderabad has emrged as South Asia's biggest Consulate, with 54 windows as against 16 in Paigah Palace earlier. It will process up to 3,500 visa applications.About 1,100 visa applications were processed in a day when the consulate operated from Paigah Palace.Jennifer Larson, US Consul General Hyderabad, addressed her first press conference after moving into the new facility at Financial District, Nanakramguda, on April 19, 2023. Along with Consul General Rebekah Drame and Chief Consular Officer Audrey Moyer were also present.Addressing her first press conference as the US Consulate General Jennifer Larson said, "The United States maintains embassies in the capital cities of most countries around the world, we recognize that critical developments and significant events are taking place outside of capital cities. So we open consulates in major non-capital cities around the world to provide services to US citizens, process visas, represent the US government, and build relationships with local officials, business leaders, civic leaders, journalists, and other members of the public."She said that this consulate represents the US government in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha."There is so much happening in Hyderabad which is exciting, positive, and dynamic. And that's why we're here because we see the importance this region plays in the US-India relationship," she added."We provide consular services to the tens of thousands of US citizens in the region from passport services to help citizens who need emergency support. We adjudicate visas," she informed in the press conference."The US Mission to India is on track to process more than a million visas this year," she added."Since a large demand for visas comes from students, who wish to study in the United States, in order to help them and their parents make informed decisions, we support education advising through the US-India Educational Foundation and the Education USA Center at the Y-Axis Foundation in Jubilee Hills," the US Consulate added.While noting that commercial ties between the United States and India have grown by leaps and bounds in this region, she said that they believe that more can be done."We have a dedicated officer from the US Foreign Commercial Service who coordinates trade shows, connects US and Indian firms, and works to promote Indian investment in the United States," she informed further.She also mentioned how from ship visits to joint training exercises, Indo-US militaries regularly work together based out of India's Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam.She further mentioned India and US are working together on the development front to promote sustainable economic growth, combat climate change, and expand health services.USAID -- the development arm of the US government -- works with the Union government, the private sector, and civil society to identify, pilot, and scale up cost-effective innovations and best practices to further boost India's development and global leadership.Speaking on USAID, she informed about her visit to Odisha next week for a USAID event.The Consulate will also work with civil society, NGOs, academic institutions, activists, artists, religious leaders, students, and educators through exchange programs that send students and young professionals to the United States and American Corners in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.She said that relationships with the people of both countries would be strengthened through the prestigious Fulbright program, which allows Indian students and scholars to go to the United States and American students and scholars to come to India and through cultural programs such as the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation, through which we've contributed to the conservation of historical monuments in Hyderabad at the Qutb Shahi Tombs and the Paigah Tombs."As President Biden has said, the relationship between the United State and India is one of most consequential in the world, vital to addressing virtually every global challenge that our people face. And the best way to address those challenges is to know each other, understand each other, and invest in our relationship. That's why we're here at the US Consulate General in Hyderabad and that's what we endeavour to do every day," she added.ANI20 April 2023

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Global Buddhist summit brings together people who have worked to popularise ideals of Lord Buddha: PM Modi

New Delhi, April 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Global Buddhist Summit brings together people, who have worked to popularise the ideals of Lord Buddha further.

Global Buddhist summit brings together people who have worked to popularise ideals of Lord Buddha: PM Modi

Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter to say," At 10 am tomorrow, 20th April, will address the Global Buddhist Summit in Delhi. This Summit brings together various people who have worked to popularise the ideals of Lord Buddha further"."Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural session of the Global Buddhist Summit on 20th April 2023 at 10 AM at Hotel Ashok in Delhi," stated a press release.The theme of the event Global Buddhist Summit is 'Responses to Contemporary Challenges Philosophy to Praxis.'"The two-day Summit is being hosted by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with International Buddhist Confederation on 20-21 April. The theme of the Global Buddhist Summit is "Responses to Contemporary Challenges Philosophy to Praxis," the release added.The discussions at summit will revolve around the fundamental values of Lord Buddha's Dhammas."The Summit is an effort towards engaging the global Buddhist Dhamma leadership and scholars on matters of Buddhist and universal concerns, and to come up with policy inputs to address them collectively. The discussion at the Summit will explore how the Buddha Dhamma's fundamental values can provide inspiration and guidance in contemporary settings," an official statement said."The discussions will be held under four themes Buddha Dhamma and Peace; Buddha Dhamma Environmental Crisis, Health and Sustainability; Preservation of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition; Buddha Dhamma Pilgrimage, Living Heritage and Buddha Relics a resilient foundation to India's centuries-old cultural links to countries in South, South-East and East Asia," it added.The summit will witness the participation of eminent scholars, Sangha leaders and Dharma practitioners from all over the world, who will discuss pressing global issues and look for answers in the Buddha Dhamma that are based on universal values, an official statement mentioned.ANI20 April 2023

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UP on its way to become first state to have 100 pc electric vehicles in govt departments

Lucknow, April 19: In a major push to promote sales and usage of electric vehicles (EVs) in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government has set a target and has flung into action to convert vehicles used in all government departments into EVs in a phased manner by 2030.

UP on its way to become first state to have 100 pc electric vehicles in govt departments

For this, instructions have been given that all the government departments can purchase EVs on the basis of nomination even without tender, while the purchase of EVs can be spent more than the maximum limit as per the requirement. By achieving this target before 2030, Uttar Pradesh can become the first state in the country to have 100 per cent EV in government departments, informed the government through a release.Notably, to encourage EV vehicles in the state, the government notified the Uttar Pradesh Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Mobility Policy 2022 on October 14.Under this, the government has provided an exemption from tax and registration fees for three years on the purchase of EVs. At the same time, this exemption will be valid for five years on the purchase of EVs manufactured in the state.In the order issued by Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, all the departments and institutions working under them have been instructed to convert 100 per cent of vehicles into EVs by 2030 as per the EV policy.It has also been said that EV vehicles should be purchased on the basis of nomination without tender and the prevailing upper limit on the purchase of vehicles for official events should be relaxed.According to an official of the Uttar Pradesh Transport Department, since government vehicles were till now procured through tenders on the GeM portal, EV companies are not registered with it. That is why a provision has been made in the policy that EVs can be purchased from government agencies like Rajasthan Electronics Instrument Ltd. (REIL) and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) etc on the basis of nomination without tender.At the same time, since electric vehicles are currently more expensive than petrol-diesel, the government has also given relaxation on the upper maximum expenditure limit on the purchase of vehicles.The Chief Secretary has also instructed all the departments that EVs should also be included in the advance given by the state government for vehicles to the employees working in government departments.Along with this, it has been said that the department should ensure action on this within the stipulated time. This step has also been taken to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles.It may be noted that all state governments make an advance payment to their officers and employees for purchasing motor vehicles, scooters or bikes, which the officer or employee must return within the stipulated time. This advance amount is prescribed separately for buying a car, scooter or bike.To promote EVs in UP, the Yogi government has decided to give up to 100 per cent exemption on road tax and registration fees for three years.This calculation of three years will be done from October 14, 2022If a person buys electric vehicles made in UP, he will get a rebate of up to five years.Discounts are also being given by the Central Government on EVs.The State Government's rebate will be separate from the Central Government's subsidy. Due to the exemption from the central and state government, the prices of two-wheelers are likely to be reduced by Rs 20,000 and the cost of cars by about Rs 1 lakh.As per the government policy in UP, a 15 per cent subsidy will be given on the factory price of the EV.With infrastructure development, incentives and the introduction of new electric vehicle models from the government, EV sales in the country are expected to grow in the remaining period of the current decade. Also, two-wheelers and three-wheelers are likely to dominate this sale.ANI20 April 2023

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Launching its 5th showroom in Banjara Hills, Bontrue becomes one of Hyderabads fastest-growing furniture brands

New Delhi, April 19: Aesthetic and durable furniture ties a space together, whether used residentially or commercially. It often casts the first impression of a house on visitors, doing all the talking for the residents. Some of the best furniture designers around the world believe that these articles are an extension of their owners' personalities.

Launching its 5th showroom in Banjara Hills, Bontrue becomes one of Hyderabad's fastest-growing furniture brands

Considering the whims of home decor connoisseurs, Bontrue launches its 5th luxury and premium furniture showroom in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. A vision of the Managing Directors Mitesh Patel and Rakesh Patel, the brand has created its niche in the residential furniture sector over the fifteen years of its inception. Dedicated to curating handpicked designs that turn people's heads across the globe, Bontrue specializes in premium furniture articles. It prevents its customers from making compromises while designing or renovating their homes so that they become aesthetic extensions of their personalities.A long and arduous journey precedes the launch of Bontrue's 5th showroom. The brand entered the highly competitive market by setting up a single store in RC Puram, where it refined its collection and carved its niche in the sector. Staying in sync with global trends, Bontrue opened its first flagship showroom in Sarath City Capital Mall in 2020, gaining the traction it aimed for. In the years that followed, the brand set up additional showrooms in strategic locations across Hyderabad, including Suncity and Kompally, before targeting Banjara Hills.The brand name Bontrue is derived by combining the words "bon" (meaning "good" in French) and "true" (derived from "truth" to symbolize honesty in the brand). Bontrue intends to stay true to its customer's needs and provide them with furniture articles that match global standards of look, feel, and appeal. The brand's logo is also designed in a minimalist and elegant way, representing a table and a chair forming an anchor.The furniture market in Hyderabad is divided into two distinct categories - expensive Italian brands at the high-end and local traditional manufacturers at the other end. Bontrue's founders were driven by passion and determination to bridge this significant gap by creating a premium furniture brand that is design-focused and customer-centric, offering modern and contemporary furniture designs. Bontrue aims to disrupt the industry by providing consumers with an exceptional collection of beautifully crafted, high-quality furniture.With the launch of its 5th showroom in Banjara Hills Road no. 12, Bontrue intends to continue its legacy and strengthen its reliance on people, ideas, places, projects, and products. The brand aims to maintain an ideal balance between exclusive designs and an honest pricing strategy with its offerings. It strives to standardize pricing in the largely unorganized furniture industry, helping customers make purchases with trust and transparency.Moreover, Bontrue takes complete responsibility for the furniture purchased by its customers under the exclusive Bontrue Protection Service (BPS). This service is dedicated to resolving all customer issues pertaining to the life and maintenance of the items purchased. The professionals at the company schedule periodic visits every six months for two years from the date of purchase without additional costs, ensuring the furniture lives up to the customers' expectations.While Bontrue's offerings are available at five showrooms across Hyderabad, the brand also runs a successful online store. It has also set up an exclusive virtual showroom for online shoppers, allowing them to have a 360-degree virtual walkthrough of the showroom and catch a glimpse of its offerings. To have a look at Bontrue's designs and know more about the company, visit its official website here -This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)ANI20 April 2023

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Ktaka people will bless AAP in Assembly polls: Punjab CM Mann

Bagalkot, April 20: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said that the people of Karnataka are going to bless the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming Assembly elections.

K'taka people will bless AAP in Assembly polls: Punjab CM Mann

He was speaking to reporters after participating in the filing of nomination by Arjun Halagigoudar, AAP candidate for the Terdal constituency."I am on a Karnataka tour for three days. I am seeing greater support for AAP in north Karnataka," he stated."In Punjab state also there was a similar situation. The voters have confidence in AAP, and based on the development work taken up in Delhi made a common man like me as the Chief Minister of Punjab. This trend will replicate in Karnataka as well," he stated."There is no strategy needed to form the government. The AAP is an expert in taking up pro-farmer stands, creation of jobs and honest administration. Based on this trust, the AAP will be chosen," he said."The candidates all over the state have taken up aggressive campaigning and AAP will emerge victorious in its experimentation."The opportunity for the common man and the last man to become the CM is only there in AAP only," he stressed.IANS20 April 2023

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Ktaka polls: BJP strategy is to place report card of double-engine govt before people, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Bengaluru, April 19: On the campaign plan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics & Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday said the government in Karnataka was continuing the economic momentum of the state -- creating jobs, creating investments, creating opportunities.

K'taka polls: BJP strategy is to place report card of double-engine govt before people, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The minister said, "We are going forward and placing our report card in front of the people of Karnataka."The minister said their strategy or campaign plan was very clear.He said, "The last three-and-a-half years which is during the most difficult time in the history of Karnataka, the BJP's double-engine sarkar (government), first under the chief minister of Yediyurappaji, then under the chief minister of (Basavaraj) Bommai ji, has done substantial work for all Kannadigas during Covid, during the floods, ranging from free ration to vaccinations, protecting people, protecting communities, protecting their lives and livelihoods."The minister added the party is seeking a full mandate of five years.Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "As you recall, in 2018, we were the single-largest party. However, the opportunistic alliance of Congress and JDS [Janata Dal (Secular)] snatched that mandate and tried to run the government for about a year and a half before people gave us the mandate to go ahead and govern."He said, "So our strategy is very simple -- to place our report card of the double-engine sarkar."ANI20 April 2023

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Ronit Roy shares cryptic post about being betrayed; Smriti Irani, Rupali Ganguly react

Mumbai, April 19: Popular actor Ronit Roy shared a cryptic post on Instagram hinting at being betrayed by someone. Without taking any specific name, the actor mentioned that someone took advantage of his emotions.

Ronit Roy shares cryptic post about being betrayed; Smriti Irani, Rupali Ganguly react

Ronit wrote in his post, "Bhai...Bro...These words have completely lost their meaning. When someone calls me that I take the words seriously and then they do to me what I wouldn't do to my enemy. It hurts...but chalta hai...It's their falling. Not mine."In the caption, Ronit wrote, "Money, status, all materials lost can be regained. Time, love, respect, relationships once lost can never be. At least not to its fullest glory. Why be #fake when you #needtobereal#respect #yourself #screw #fakelove"Ronit's post tickled fans and colleagues' curiosity in no time. Actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani commented on his post, "kya hua" with an emoji.'Anupama' actor Rupali Ganguly wrote, "I totally feel u .... Take it with a pinch of salt and move on .... Ekla Cholo re !" Actor Anuj Sachdeva wrote, "You are right..These days these words are used for the heck of it. (Bro.. is like HI.. sorry is like Chill.. relax is like f*** it!)Fans also tried to console Ronit. One wrote, "Sad and hard hitting truth!!" Another one wrote, "Sir... Jane do aur maaf kar do...because you need peace@ronitboseroy".Ronit is mostly popular for his role in the family drama 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.' Apart from television, he has been doing films for years. The actor is eyeing his next release 'Bloody Daddy', headlined by Shahid Kapoor.ANI20 April 2023

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Submarine cable activity seems to be far from slowing down in Africa. In fact plans for two more cables, one connecting France and Tunisia and one involving the ECOWAS region, have recently been announced.

French operator Orange has announced a plan to build a subsea cable linking the cities of Bizerte in Tunisia and Marseille in France. The new 1,050 kilometre-long infrastructure will provide an additional route of several fibre pairs with a capacity of 20 terabits each. It is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2025. The project is to be co-financed by the European Commission.

This news is by no means unexpected. In 2013, Orange invested in a cable connecting Tunisia and Europe by signing an investment-sharing agreement with Ooredoo.

Nor is Orange alone in making such plans. In October 2022, Ooredoo Tunisia signed a partnership agreement with PCCW Global to connect to the PEACE submarine cable, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Amilcar Cabral submarine line, originally meant to join only Guinea and Cape Verde, may be extended after Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone joined the project and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The ECOWAS Commission will organize the projects implementation by talking to beneficiary countries, donors, and other interested parties. A Ministerial Steering Committee and a Committee of Experts have been set up.

The Amilcar Cabral submarine cable development project began in October 2018 and its not clear how this MoU will change its development, but a statement from a Sierra Leonean minister suggests that the cable will not only provide a backlink for our existing unique submarine cables, but it will also help increase broadband penetration in member countries and promote regional integration through digital communications and e-commerce facilities, making it easier to create a single digital market in the ECOWAS region.
Anyone who believes in BJPs ideology is welcome: Maharashtra BJP Chief on Ajit Pawar split rumours

Nagpur, April 19: Amid speculations of Ajit Pawar joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said that the NCP leader or any person who wants to join the party would be welcomed.

Anyone who believes in BJP's ideology is welcome: Maharashtra BJP Chief on Ajit Pawar split rumours

"The doors of the party are open for everyone who works for the country and believes in BJP's ideology," Chandrashekhar Bawankule said.However, former Maharashtra deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar on Tuesday dismissed "rumours" about switching over to the BJP and emphasised that he would remain with the NCP."No truth in the rumours spread about me. I am with the NCP and will remain with the party," Ajit Pawar told the media.Bawankule said that PM Modi has resolved to make India number one in the world by 2035, and whoever wants to join this resolution will be welcomed by the BJP.The Maharashtra BJP chief termed the news about Ajit Pawar as imaginary. "No such proposal has come to the BJP. There is no discussion. Ajit Pawar has made no contact with the BJP and the party is also not in touch with him," he said."Yesterday Ajit Pawar himself while talking to the press in Mumbai denied all the news and said that he will remain in NCP only," he added.On Tuesday, Ajit Pawar's uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar tweeted," Ajit Pawar is busy with election-related work. All this talk is only in the media."Ajit Pawar also in a tweet issued a stout denial of the news reports, "There are some media reports saying that I have convened a meeting of the (NCP) MLAs on Tuesday. This is completely false. I wish to clarify that I have not called a meeting of my party MLAs and office bearers."There was a buzz about Ajit Pawar joining the BJP after the NCP leader recently hailed the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while adding he had full faith in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), in a remark seen as a departure from the Opposition line on the subject.ANI20 April 2023

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Anil Kapoor heaps praise on Rani Mukerji for pitch-perfect acting in Mrs Chatterjee v/s Norway, Madhuri Dixit joins them

Mumbai, April 19: Rani Mukerji's magnificent performance in 'Mrs. Chatterjee v/s Norway' is drawing new admirers each day!.

Anil Kapoor heaps praise on Rani Mukerji for 'pitch-perfect' acting in 'Mrs Chatterjee v/s Norway', Madhuri Dixit joins them

After watching a special show, Anil Kapoor took to Instagram on Wednesday to praise his 'Nayak' co-star."Watching #MrsChatterjeeVsNorway last night was a humbling experience...This is easily one of Rani's finest performances, and that's saying something! The story itself is beautiful and poignant, but Rani's performance has made it superlative! I hope Rani sweeps all the awards for this pitch-perfect performance...Such a great job by the entire crew and cast of the film. Kudos!", wrote Anil.Anil posted three pictures, in which the lady of the moment was present. In the first frame, Anil and Rani were joined by the former's wife Sunita Kapoor. Madhuri Dixit joined the duo for a picture-perfect frame in the second frame. The three stars twinned in black while Rani's oversized geek glasses stole the show. In the third frame, Rani took a selfie where she was flanked by Anil and Madhuri.Jim Sarbh, who played an important character in the movie, reacted to Anil's words with a love emoji.Before Anil, Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Gauri Khan, Rekha and many other celebs extended their congratulatory messages to Rani and the entire team.Directed by Ashima Chibber, 'Mrs. Chatterjee VS Norway' talks about the life of an immigrant mother who fights against all odds to win back the custody of her children.Neena Gupta, Jim Sarbh and Bengali actor Anirban Bhattacharya played pivotal roles in the movie.Expressing her happiness about the film's success, Rani told ANI, "It always feels great to see stories of our Indian women being heard globally. I have always tried my best to take the stories of our Indian women to a global platform. I am an Indian woman and I know our powers...so I always ensure that our stories are heard with my work."ANI20 April 2023

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Gautam Adani drops in for tete-a-tete with Sharad Pawar in Mumbai

Mumbai, April 20: Embattled industrialist Gautam Adani drove down to meet Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar at the latter's residence in south Mumbai, here on Thursday morning, party sources said here.

Gautam Adani drops in for tete-a-tete with Sharad Pawar in Mumbai

The duo was closeted in a private meeting for nearly two hours, though what transpired is not known, sparking huge speculation in political and business circles.The meeting came in the wake of Pawar's recent statements opposing a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani Group affairs after the Hindenburg Research's damaging expose.Later, after a furore in the national Opposition, Pawar apparently backtracked, diplomatically saying he would not oppose a JPC if other parties wanted it.In its January expose, Hindenburg Research had alleged massive stock manipulation and accounting frauds indulged in by Adani Group firms which plummeted Adani's global ranking from being the second richest in the world to way below now in barely four months.IANS20 April 2023

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PM Modi wishes good health to Nepalese President Paudel as he undergoes treatment at AIIMS

Kathmandu, April 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished good health to ailing Nepal President Ram Chandra Paudel, who is currently undergoing treatment at AIIMS, New Delhi.

PM Modi wishes good health to Nepalese President Paudel as he undergoes treatment at AIIMS

Issuing a press release, the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi stated on Wednesday that PM Modi extended wishes of good health.Nepal President Paudel, 78, was flown to New Delhi in an air ambulance as no improvement was seen in his health. Paudel was admitted to the VIP Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of AIIMS, Delhi.A release from the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi stated that the Nepalese President was stable and under the observation of doctors.The Nepal President received treatment at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in Kathmandu over four days before being airlifted to Delhi. Paudel, who was admitted on April 5 of this year, was released after four nights.Earlier, on Monday (April 17), the Nepal head of state had undergone a follow-up and was admitted to the hospital the following day after falling short of breath and fainting.During the follow-up, doctors found an infection in his lungs and had been using medicines which are said to have failed to make a significant improvement in his health.On March 13, senior Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Paudel was sworn in as the Nepalease President.Paudel secured 33,802 electoral votes against 15,518 electoral votes garnered by his rival Subash Chandra Nembwang, according to Nepal's Election Commission.Further, according to the Election Commission, 313 members of the federal parliament took part in the voting while 518 members from the provincial assemblies also participated in the electoral process to pick the next president.ANI20 April 2023

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Elephant Safaris should be discouraged to end suffering of captive elephants

New Delhi, April 19: World Animal Protection is concerned to learn the news of the resumption of elephant safaris in Uttarakhand as well as the promotion of elephant rides in West Bengal. In the wake of coronavirus, traditional ideas on human animal relationship have changed, including the interactions of humans with captive wild animals. Elephant rides are going out of fashion the world over and ethical tourist operators are replacing these offerings with more ethical wildlife experiences, like enjoying the spectacle of them in the wild or in well maintained sanctuaries. Modern tourism practices are slowly and surely embracing the principle of 'bring back better,' whereby old practices like elephant rides that have been practiced for ages, are now being challenged on moral and scientific grounds. World Animal Protection has recently published a report named '' outlining the animal welfare principles associated with tourism companies all over the world.

Elephant Safaris should be discouraged to end suffering of captive elephants

World Animal Protection respectfully calls upon state government officials in Uttarakhand as well as central government authorities to rethink the feasibility and desirability of elephant rides and keeping elephants in captivity. Every elephant that is used for rides has gone through the brutal breaking process to make them pliable for human manipulation. Elephants exist in the wild in Uttarakhand and West Bengal and ought to be cherished there, rather than being ridden as curiosities."Elephants are not pets but wild sentient beings. The elephant is India's National Heritage Animal and is also Schedule I (endangered) species under Wildlife Protection Act India, 1972. Yet the way they are treated shows a complete lack of concern for a wild animal that is extremely social and a sentient. We at World Animal Protection believe that wildlife belongs in the wild and deserve a life worth living. We urge the state government of Uttarakhand to reconsider the safaris and explore alternative tourism sustainable options setting an example for all," said Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection.- Read the full report- For more information please do visit -- For further information contact Nidhi Bhardwaj - 9891178350,This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI20 April 2023

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Jaishankar to visit Guyana, Panama, Colombia, Dominican Republic, hold talks with top leadership

New Delhi, April 19: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to embark on an official visit to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic from April 21, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Jaishankar to visit Guyana, Panama, Colombia, Dominican Republic, hold talks with top leadership

The EAM is going to visit the Caribbean nation, Guyana from April 21-23, where he will be calling on the leadership and interacting with several Ministers.He will be co-chairing the Joint Commission Meeting with his counterpart, Hugh Hilton Todd which will entail discussions on the whole gamut of issues between the two countries. EAM's visit to Guyana would also be an opportunity for a meeting of Foreign Ministers in the India-COFCOR (Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR); a group of 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM)) format and hold bilateral meetings with participating Ministers, the official press release of MEA read.Following his visit to Guyana, Jaishankar will go to Panama from April 24-25. He will be calling on top leadership and would be hosted by Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney Mencomo. During this visit, the India-SICA Foreign Ministerial Meeting will also be convened wherein he would meet representatives of the 8-country Central American Integration System (SICA).On April 25-27, the EAM will embark on a Colombia visit where he would be meeting several top representatives of the Government, business and civil society. His Colombia visit would be the first Foreign Ministerial level visit to the country, the External Affairs Ministry said in its release.Furthermore, Jaishankar's visit to the Dominican Republic is the highest-level visit from India since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1999. He will visit the country from April 27-29.EAM's visit takes place after the establishment of our resident Embassy in Santo Domingo in 2022. Apart from calling on the country's political leadership, EAM will be holding discussions with Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez, the press release said.The two leaders would also formally inaugurate the Indian resident mission. EAM is also expected to deliver a talk at the Dominican Republic Foreign Ministry.A business delegation from India, led by CII will be joining EAM at business events are also planned during the course of the visit. These meetings underline the growing interest on both sides for stronger trade ties. EAM will also be meeting members of the Indian community in all four countries.EAM's visit to these four countries; his bilateral engagements as well as interactions with counterparts of important regional groups CARICOM and SICA, adds to the momentum of the India-LAC engagements.It will provide an opportunity to continue high-level contact with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and explore new areas of cooperation in a whole host of areas; particularly in the post-pandemic scenario, the official press release read.ANI20 April 2023

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Its a noble cause: Haryana chief secretary encourages all govt employees to donate blood

Chandigarh, April 19: Haryana Government organised a blood donation camp at Haryana Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday. Inaugurating the event, Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal encouraged all government employees to come forward and donate blood as it was a oble cause.

It's a noble cause: Haryana chief secretary encourages all govt employees to donate blood

"Donating blood is a noble cause. A healthy person should actively participate in charitable work like donating blood. The needy get a new lease of life from the blood donated by the Samaritans," Sanjeev Kaushal said.Sanjeev Kaushal also interacted with the donors and appreciated them for donating blood. Out of the 125 employees who donated blood during the camp, 100 donors have donated blood for the second time, 20 donors over 15 times and 5 donors more than 40 times.Haryana Government organised this camp in collaboration with the Rotary Blood Bank Society and Blood Society Resource Centre, Chandigarh. On this occasion, Special Secretary, Secretariat Establishment, Samwartak Singh Khangwal, Secretary, Rotary Blood Bank Society, Niti Sarin and other officers were also present.ANI20 April 2023

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I cant work out what I need to compete: Rehabilitating Nadal withdraws from Madrid Open

New Delhi, April 20: In what is a fresh blow to Rafael Nadal's French Open preparations, the 22-time Grand Slam champion on Thursday announced his withdrawal from the Madrid Open due to his ongoing injury concerns.

'I can't work out what I need to compete': Rehabilitating Nadal withdraws from Madrid Open

The 36-year-old had also withdrawn from the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters as well as the ongoing Barcelona Open as he is still recovering from a grade 2 injury in the iliopsoas muscle in his left leg and he continues to focus on returning to full fitness."As you know I suffered an important injury in Australia of the psoas muscle. Initially, it had to be a six-to-eight-week recovery period and we are now on fourteen. The reality is that the situation is not what we would have expected," Nadal said in a video he released on social media on Thursday."All medical indications have been followed, but somehow the evolution has not been what they initially told us and we find ourselves in a difficult situation."The weeks are passing and I had the illusion of being able to play in tournaments that are the most important in my career such as Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros and for the moment I have missed Monte Carlo and Barcelona. I will not be able to be in Madrid unfortunately," he said."The injury still hasn't healed and I can't work out what I need to compete. I was training, but now a few days ago we decided to change course a bit, do another treatment and see if things improve to try to get to what comes next."I can't give deadlines because if I knew I would tell you but I don't know. This is how things are now," the Spaniard added.The 14-time Roland Garros winner remains doubtful for the French Open in May, where he is defending champion, as he has been out of action since his Australian Open second-round loss to American Mackenzie McDonald, where he aggravated a hip injury.This year he has played four matches -- two at the United Cup and as many as at the Australian Open and lost three of them. His only win came against Britain's Jack Draper in the first round at Melbourne Park.The Madrid Masters begins on April 27, where Nadal is the most successful player with five titles to his name.IANS20 April 2023

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I am not against same sex marriage: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata, April 20: Amid the ongoing hearing on same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court, Trinamool Congress' national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on Thursday that he is personally not against same-sex marriage.

I am not against same sex marriage: Abhishek Banerjee

"I personally do not have any reservation about same-sex marriage. India is a democratic country. Everyone here has the liberty to choose his or her life partner. This is my personal opinion," the Trinamool Lok Sabha MP said.His comments came a day after West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee had said that understanding the public pulse is an important aspect and a deciding factor in the debate on same-sex marriage in the country."Generally, I love people who love others. But since a case is pending in the Supreme Court relating to this issue, it would not be right on my part to comment on it at this moment. The matter is sensitive. All I can say is that we have to understand the pulse of the people in this matter," Mamata Banerjee had said on Wednesday.She had also said that any detailed comment on this matter can be made only after the court ruling.IANS20 April 2023

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Rajnath Singh speaks to Canadian Defence Minister, discusses bilateral defence relations

New Delhi, April 19: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with Canadian Minister of National Defence Anita Anand on Wednesday. The conversation was warm and cordial, stated a release.

Rajnath Singh speaks to Canadian Defence Minister, discusses bilateral defence relations

Both ministers discussed ways to develop bilateral defence relations, which shall be reflective of their democratic ethos and a shared interest in the peace and security of the Indo-Pacific, the media release said.Anita Anand briefed the Raksha Mantri about Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy and the importance attached to enhancing engagement with India. Singh welcomed increased Canadian naval presence in the Indo-Pacific. Both Ministers discussed potential areas of defence cooperation, from UN peacekeeping training to defence industrial cooperation.The Raksha Mantri highlighted that India is an attractive defence manufacturing destination with competitive land and labour costs and two defence industrial corridors. He invited Canadian defence companies to invest in India and carry out co-production. They would also find value in integrating Indian defence companies into their global supply chains.Both ministers agreed to work on taking the defence relationship to next level and make defence an important pillar of the India-Canada bilateral relationship.Both leaders discussed ways to develop bilateral defence relations, including industrial collaboration. Rajnath Singh also invited Canadian defence companies to invest and manufacture in India."Glad to speak with Canadian Defence Minister Ms Anita Anand. Welcomed Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy. Excellent discussion on ways to develop the bilateral defence relations including industrial collaboration. Invited Canadian defence companies to invest and manufacture in India," Defence Minister Rajnath tweeted on Wednesday.Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand also informed about the discussions with her Indian counterpart. She informed that through Indo-Pacific Strategy, Canada is increasing its presence in the region."Today, I had a productive discussion with the Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh. Through Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy, we are increasing our presence in the region. Thanks to our people-to-people and trade ties, India will continue to be a strong partner for Canada," Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand wrote on Twitter.ANI20 April 2023

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India-Thailand Defence Dialogue to be held in Bangkok on April 20, 21

New Delhi, April 19: India and Thailand will hold the eighth defence dialogue on April 20 and 21 in Bangkok, which would be co-chaired by India's Ministry of Defence Special Secretary Nivedita Shukla Verma with Deputy Permanent Secretary for Defence, Thailand General Nuchit Sribunsong.

India-Thailand Defence Dialogue to be held in Bangkok on April 20, 21

At the invitation of the Government of Thailand, India's Ministry of Defence Special Secretary Nivedita Shukla Verma will pay an official visit to Bangkok between April 20-21, 2023, said a government press release.During the visit, the Special Secretary will co-chair the 8th meeting of the India-Thailand Defence Dialogue with Deputy Permanent Secretary for Defence of the Ministry of Defence, Thailand General Nuchit Sribunsong on April 20, 2023, the PIB release said.During the dialogue, the co-chairs will review the defence cooperation between the two countries and explore new initiatives to further strengthen bilateral engagements.The release further informed that both sides will also exchange views on regional and global issues of shared interest. As part of her visit, the Special Secretary will also call on Permanent Secretary for Defence of the Ministry of Defence, Thailand General Sanitchanog Sangkachantra.India and Thailand share a strategic partnership and defence is a key pillar of this cooperation. The bilateral defence engagements have expanded over a period of time to include wide-ranging contacts between the two countries including Defence Dialogue meetings, military-to-military exchanges, high-level visits, capacity-building and training programmes and bilateral exercises.ANI20 April 2023

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Douglas County State's Attorney Kate Watson will sit in the courtroom in Tuscola where she's pictured in this file photo. Watson was selected by the Illinois Supreme Court to suceed retiring Judge Rick Broch. She will be sworn in May 2.
Huawei is set to supply Teletalk Bangladesh with a suite of solutions aimed at preparing the operator for 5G and boosting rural operations.

The agreement will see Huawei deploy new 4G sites for Teletalk, as well as core and IP network solutions. As noted by CommsUpdate, the vendor is also set to modernise Teletalks charging and billing systems.

Habibur Rahman, managing director of Teletalk, said: We want to diversify our network so that everyone nationwide can access high-speed connectivity; thus, we have taken on the major network upgrade project. We want to offer superior service to our subscribers at affordable costs.

Rahman added that Teletalk expected the project to be completed by mid-2024.
In a vote that came at 11:10 p.m.  four hours and 40 minutes into a marathon meeting  members voted 4-3 to begin the abatement process at Wiley Elementary, which means closing the school in 2023-24. Said Brian Ogolsky, one of the "no" votes: "Were fighting against the public on this."
In a recent study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers performed a cohort study between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, in British Columbia, Canada, to assess the association between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and incident diabetes.

Study: Association of COVID-19 Infection With Incident Diabetes. Image Credit: Design_Cells / Shutterstock

Background

During its acute phase, SARS-CoV-2 infection mainly affects the respiratory system. In the long term, it leads to various acute and chronic sequelae in which other organ systems might get involved. Studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2) infection might be associated with worsening symptoms in individuals with diabetes.

However, it is unknown whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with transient hyperglycemia during active infection or whether these metabolic alterations persist over time, increasing the risk of incident diabetes among infected individuals. Most published studies evaluating the association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and incident diabetes used relatively small samples and fetched limited outcome ascertainment.

About the study

In the present study, researchers used population-based registries and administrative data sets of the British Columbia COVID-19 Cohort, a public health surveillance system, to evaluate the potential association between COVID-19, its severity, and diabetes incidence. This system encompasses data on the outpatient department (OPD) and emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, prescription drugs, chronic health conditions, and other vital statistics of the British Columbia population.

In addition, the team computed the population-attributable fraction (PAF) to estimate the population-level burden of diabetes due to COVID-19 while controlling for potential confounders.

All eligible adult (aged 18 years) participants tested COVID-19-positive during the study duration on a real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. The team created a matched control cohort with people who tested COVID-19-negative based on sociodemographic variables, such as gender, age (3 years), and RT-PCR sample collection date (7 days) at a 1:4 ratio. Other covariates measured in this analysis were preexisting chronic conditions and vaccination status.

Key Takeaways Individuals who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 may have a higher risk of developing diabetes.

The risk of diabetes is higher among people with severe COVID-19 disease, including those admitted to the intensive care unit or hospital.

Public health policies and clinical practice should monitor and manage the risk of diabetes in individuals who have had COVID-19.

Vaccination against COVID-19 may help reduce the risk of severe disease and its potential long-term complications, including diabetes.

The study provides important population-based evidence on the association between COVID-19 infection and diabetes risk.

The primary exposure and outcome of interest were RT-PCRconfirmed COVID-19 and incident diabetes, identified nearly a month after the index date, i.e., the RT-PCR sample collection date, to the earliest identification of any of the study outcome, patient death, or end of the study.

The researchers calculated events of incident diabetes and person-days for each study group, which they used to compute diabetes incidence rates, i.e., number of events/100,000 person-years. They used the Kaplan-Meier method to draw cumulative incidence curves and Cox proportional hazards regression models to compare diabetes risk in all participants due to their exposure status, accounting for matched data.

Results

The final analytic sample of this study comprised 629,935 individuals with a median age of 32 years. Of these, 51.2% were females, and the rest were males. The number of individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 was 125,987, while the remaining 503,948 individuals remained unexposed.

The team followed up with all the study participants for an average of 257 days. They recorded incident diabetes events among 2472 individuals, including 608 (0.5%) exposed individuals and 1,864 (0.4%) unexposed individuals. Among individuals with incident diabetes, 1,393 were females, and 1,079 were males.

In the study cohort, the incidence diabetes rate per 100,000 person-years was markedly higher in the exposed vs. unexposed group (672.2 vs. 508.7 incidents; 95% CI), with an overall adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.17. The authors noted an association between COVID-19 and an elevated risk of incident diabetes. At the population level, it contributed to a 3% to 5% excess burden of diabetes, which might be enough to overburden healthcare systems.

Further, the authors noted a correlation between SARS-CoV-2 exposure and noninsulin-dependent diabetes only in sensitivity analysis classifying diabetes as insulin-dependent and insulin-independent, with HR=1.17. Furthermore, the vaccine status-stratified analysis suggested a correlation between SARS-CoV-2 exposure and incident diabetes in the unvaccinated cohort but not in partially and fully vaccinated cohorts.

Conclusion

This large, population-based cohort study demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a higher risk of incident diabetes overall. Male sex and disease severity further heightened the risk of diabetes in all participants, irrespective of gender. Thus, it highlighted that public health agencies and clinicians must remain aware of the potential long-term COVID-19 sequelae and continuously monitor SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals for new-onset diabetes to provide them with the best and most timely diagnosis and treatment.
Quebec scientists have succeeded in isolating infectious particles of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from air samples collected from hospital rooms of COVID-19 patients and kept frozen for more than a year, a new study shows.

The research was done by a team led by Nathalie Grandvaux, a researcher at the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) and professor at Universite de Montreal, in collaboration with the teams of Caroline Duchaine (Universite Laval) and Yves Longtin (McGill University).

Published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection, the study provides insight into a scientific field that has been little explored since the beginning of the pandemic: airborne transmission of the virus causing COVID-19.

In our study, we show through an experimental model that it is possible to isolate and cultivate infectious viruses from air samples. This is possible even if samples were collected over a year ago then frozen and stored before cell culture." Nathalie Grandvaux, Researcher at the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) and Professor at Universite de Montreal

If public health authorities, including the World Health Organization, were slow to recognize airborne transmission of the virus, it is in part due to limited scientific evidence of the presence of infectious virus particles in aerosols.

"These studies are difficult to conduct," said Nathalie Grandvaux, "because you need to preserve the infectivity of the virus during collection, use the right cell culture techniques and have access to a level 3 containment laboratory, like the laboratory at the CRCHUM."

A unique method

Audray Fortin, a researcher on Nathalie Grandvaux's team and the first author of the study, developed a unique cell culture method to amplify traces of viruses collected by Caroline Duchaine, a Canadian bioaerosol specialist, and her team.

That was another scientific feat, requiring samplers-;a series of collection devices placed inside the rooms of patients with COVID-19-;that were used to maintain the virus infectivity and protect it during storage.

In all, 30 samples were collected during the study from 10 different rooms of patients with COVID-19, then stored frozen in a biobank for 14 months.

Using the aerosol samples from one patient's room, the team of scientists was able to identify the presence of replicating virus particles.

"Thanks to our method, it is yet possible to retrospectively evaluate the presence of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in samples collected during the different waves of the pandemic," said Nathalie Grandvaux. "This data will help us better understand the importance of airborne transmission of the virus and implement adapted preventive strategies."

Better prepared for the next pandemic

The findings can be used to prepare for the next pandemic, be it SARS-CoV-2 or another respiratory virus, she added.

"Our research should increase awareness of airborne infectious viruses. It argues for the importance of targeting airborne transmission in personal and collective protection measures, including by improving indoor air quality."

The collection and culture method can also be adapted to closed environments other than hospitals, such as schools, to test air quality and evaluate the effectiveness of protection measures against airborne transmission of viruses.
Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Brazil have shown for the first time that gestational obesity associated with infection by zika virus influences the placenta's antiviral response, weakening the organ's capacity to attack the pathogen and protect the fetus.

The study was supported by FAPESP. Its results are reported in an article published in the journal Viruses.

According to the authors, the findings underscore the importance of adequate antenatal care.

We normally associate obesity during pregnancy with problems such as gestational diabetes or high birth weight infants, but it should be stressed that the consequences can go beyond these. We proved in this study that the placenta's immune response, or rather the immune response that occurs at the maternal-fetal interface, is highly compromised in these cases." Maria Notomi Sato, professor at USP's medical school and last author of the article

In cases of zika infection in obese pregnant women, she explained, transcription of genes and production of proteins involved in the immune response are both diminished. "Above all, the interferon pathway is impaired. The protein interferon helps inhibit replication of the virus and is an extremely important part of the response to any viral disease," she said.

It should be noted that zika, like dengue and SARS-CoV-2, is able to cross the placental barrier and infect the baby. The group analyzed 30 placenta samples from obese and non-obese pregnant women infected by zika supplied by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), a research institution subordinated to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and 39 from healthy women supplied by Patricia Rondo, a researcher at USP's School of Public Health who is conducting a population study of pregnant women in Araraquara, Sao Paulo state.

The analysis showed that zika can alter the placenta morphologically in obese pregnant women and aggravate insufficiency of the placental type I interferon pathway. As an immune evasion strategy, the virus inhibits activation of intracellular receptors that detect viral RNA and trigger type I interferon production, such as RIG-I, IRF-3 and MAVS.

Interferons are a broad class of cytokines elicited to defend the organism and are essential for mobilizing the immune response to pathogens, activating genes that impair their replication.

Another evasion mechanism used by zika is degradation of the protein STAT2, which mediates interferon signaling. The study showed that these evasion strategies enabled the virus to persist in placenta, facilitating its replication and transmission to the fetus.

"Analysis of the placenta samples showed that in non-infected obese pregnant women there were no alterations in transcriptional expression of antiviral factors or expression of types I and III interferon. In obese pregnant women who contracted zika, we observed a decrease in transcriptional expression of RIG-I and IFIH1 [the precursor gene for the protein MDA-5]. This decrease resulted in a weakened antiviral response," said Anna Claudia Castelo Branco, first author of the article and a PhD candidate in the Department of Immunology at USP's Biomedical Sciences Institute.

Microcephaly

The study did not find a link between gestational obesity and infant microcephaly. "It wasn't possible to show such a link because the study involved a small number of samples," Castelo Branco said. "Previous research had found zika infection in the first or second trimester to be most critical for the occurrence of microcephaly owing to issues relating to the neural development of the fetus. We had a larger number of samples from obese pregnant women who were infected in the third trimester."

Risk factors such as the timing of the infection during pregnancy and whether it was a primary infection, reinfection or chronic infection, as well as membrane rupture and birth type, can influence the incidence of fetal transmission, she added.

Obesity is a state of chronic inflammation that causes multiple metabolic diseases, she went on: "It's as if all the components of obesity  adipocyte hyperplasia, fat accumulation, altered gut microbiota  make the organism constantly inflamed. However, the inflammation is low-grade, so the immune system is always on alert in a succession of false alarms."

Obesity in general (not in the context of pregnancy) has been found to correlate with impaired responses to infections and vaccines, and it is a risk factor for many diseases.

"In the context of pregnancy, few studies have so far found a link between obesity and a higher risk of infections. Our study is the first to prove that the placenta's immune response is weakened in obese women infected by zika," Castelo Branco said.
In a recent study posted in the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers explored the impact of a loss-of-function mutation in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variants on the expression of the spike protein.

Study: Loss-of-function mutation in Omicron variants reduces spike protein expression and attenuates SARS-CoV-2 infection. Image Credit: JuanGaertner/Shutterstock.com

*Important notice: bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Background

Several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) with diverse spike protein mutations have emerged since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began.

The spike (S) protein on virions comprises three subunits, known as a trimer. These subunits are called S1 and S2. Omicron studies have primarily concentrated on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and its effect on infection- or vaccine-induced immunity due to the numerous mutations present in the spike protein.

Mutations near the S1/S2 cleavage site and furin cleavage site (FCS) are known to contribute to the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, but their impact on Omicron has not been extensively researched.

About the study

In the present study, researchers assessed how the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron C-terminus of the S1 subunit (CTS1) mutations impact SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and infection.

A mutant SARS-CoV-2 with N679K, P681H, and H655Y mutations was created in the WA1 backbone (YKH). Spike processing in purified virions from wild-type (WT) and YKH infection was evaluated. The team hypothesized that N679K could affect SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A SARS-CoV-2 mutant with only an N679K mutation in the WA1 backbone was creat to assess this. The study involved infecting three- to four-week-old golden Syrian hamsters with N679K and noting weight loss and disease progression for seven days.

The team determined the cause behind the loss of function seen in the N679K mutant. The effects of N679K on proteolytic spike processing were evaluated, considering its location next to the FCS. Spike processing was examined by blotting purified virions from N679K, WT, and Omicron variant BA.1.

Results

The YKH mutant produced smaller plaques than the WT strain. The YKH mutant displayed no reduction in stock titers or replication kinetics within Vero E6 cells compared to the SARS-CoV-2 WT strain.

The endpoint titers associated with YKH were higher at 48 hours post-infection (hpi) in Calu-3 2B4 cells in comparison to WT, although replication was decreased at 24 hpi. The study indicated that the three mutations might influence the Omicron variant's infection dynamics, potentially providing some benefits.

The YKH spike protein underwent more processing than the WT spike protein, similar to Omicron and Delta. At 24 hpi, the YKH spike had an S1/S2 cleavage ratio to a full-length spike ratio of approximately 2.4:1, while the WT had similar levels of S1/S2 product as full length.

The YKH mutant, which contains the H655Y, N679K, and P681H mutations, led to higher viral endpoint yields within human respiratory cells and played a role in the improved spike processing of Omicron.

The N679K plaque sizes were smaller at two and three days post-infection (dpi) compared to WT, and stock titers were negligibly lower according to the initial characterization. The observed variations in plaque size and stock titers align with previous findings on most Omicron strains.

The N679K mutant showed reduced replication in Calu-3 2B4 and Vero E6 cells at 24 hpi, in contrast to the minimal differences observed in YKH replication kinetics. The study found that N679K viral titer recuperated by 48 hpi; the mutation appears to be a loss-of-function for replication in both cell lines.

N679K-infected hamsters showed less body weight loss in comparison to WT-infected hamsters. The study found that despite significant weight loss, the N679K viral titers detected in the lung samples were similar to the wild type at two and four days dpi.

At two dpi, the N679K mutant virus showed similar viral titers to the wild-type virus in nasal washes. However, at four dpi, the mutant virus exhibited decreased replication compared to the wild-type virus.

The study suggests that the N679K mutation includes a loss-of-function phenotype both in vitro and in vivo. The researchers hypothesize that the effect of the P681H and H655Y mutations may mitigate this loss of function.

N679K exhibited a 66% lower S/N ratio than WT, indicating a greater decline in spike protein relative to the decrease in purified virions. The study found that Omicron's S/N ratio decreased similarly, suggesting that the phenotype remains consistent despite all Omicron mutations. The N679K mutation leads to lower levels of the Omicron spike protein than the WT.

Conclusion

The study findings showed that the Omicron N679K mutation leads to consistent loss of function in subvariants. The N679K mutation reduces the virus's strength both in vitro and in vivo by enhancing spike degradation.

The amplifying effects of other Omicron mutations, such as H655Y and P681H on spike processing and infection may offset the N679K mutation's weakening effect.

The reduced spike protein expression caused by N679K could impact immunity resulting from vaccines and infection. Further research is needed to clarify the significant impact of the Omicron CTS1 mutations on SARS-CoV-2 infection.

*Important notice: bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
The proposed metro rail corridor between Knowledge Park-2 in Greater Noida and the upcoming Noida International Airport at Jewar will have seven stations. A report by Moneycontrol quotes sources close to the development saying that six of the stations will be underground.

The 35.64 km-long metro corridor between Greater Noida and the Jewar airport is part of the 72-km metro route that will link the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi to the Noida International Airport. The metro corridor project will be in two parts. The 35.64 km line from Jewar airport to Knowledge Park-2 will be the first part. The remaining 36.36 km project will connect Knowledge Park-2 to Delhi. The station at Noida International Airport is expected to be underground.

Also Read: New Metro Line in Works to Connect Mumbai And Navi Mumbai Airports

Apart from the airport, the other stations are likely to be in Techzone, International Film City, Knowledge Park-2, industrial sectors 28 and 29 and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) residential sectors 18, 19 and 20, as per the source quoted by Moneycontrol.

The Knowledge Park-2 metro station can be used by commuters as an interchange for the Noida-Greater Noida Aqua line metro.

Officials say that a detailed project report of the metro corridor between Jewar airport and Knowledge Park-2 was submitted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to the YEIDA last year. The report has now been sent for the approval of the Uttar Pradesh government.

The DMRC is also preparing the project report for the Knowledge Park-2 to New Delhi metro line. The report could be submitted to the YEIDA by June this year. The YEIDA will forward the report to the UP government. Work on the metro section can start only after approval from the state government.

The entire metro project is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 13,000 crore. The Noida International Airport is slated to become operational next year. The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority has announced that a 16 km-long expressway will also connect the airport to the Chola station in Bulandshahr. A railway track of the same length is also in the works.

Pre-construction work on the project has already started. The tender process is expected to take place soon.

Read all the Latest Auto News here
BuzzFeed announced Thursday that it was shutting its news division as part of cost-saving cuts, signalling the end of one of the most notable news websites of the internet era.

The company cited challenges including recession in the tech sector and the struggling stock market, with CEO Jonah Peretti admitting he was partly at fault for the closure.

We are reducing our workforce by approximately 15 percent today and beginning the process of closing BuzzFeed News," Peretti wrote in a memo to staff.

BuzzFeed shares plunged more than 20 percent on Wall Street following the news.

Peretti said the company had come to the conclusion that it can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization."

He added that it would now concentrate its news output on its HuffPost website.

Peretti also cited the coronavirus pandemic, less capital, a decelerating digital advertising market and ongoing audience and platform shifts."

Dealing with all of these obstacles at once is part of why weve needed to make the difficult decisions to eliminate more jobs and reduce spending," he said.

Peretti conceded that he could have reacted better to the challenges.

I also want to be clear: I could have managed these changes better as the CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances," he wrote.

Peretti admitted that he had decided to overinvest in BuzzFeed News because I love their work and mission so much."

This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldnt provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media," he wrote.

Peretti added that he regretted that he didnt hold the company to higher standards for profitability.

BuzzFeed, an American digital company created in 2006, first became known for its lists and topical quizzes.

But in late 2011 it founded BuzzFeed News, which won a number of awards and became a symbol of a new wave of internet media companies.

It received plaudits for its investigative work won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for its coverage of the Chinese governments detention of Muslims in Xinjiang.

In November 2020, the platform headquartered in New York bought the Huffington Post news site from Verizon, without disclosing the amount.

Moving forward, we will have a single news brand in HuffPost, which is profitable, with a loyal direct front page audience," Peretti wrote.

He added that the company would offer some jobs at HuffPost and BuzzFeed.com to BuzzFeed News staff members.

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The countrys largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, said on Wednesday, April 20 that the Reserve Bank Of India has approved the appointment of Kaizad Bharucha as Deputy Managing Director & Bhavesh Zaveri as Executive Director of HDFC Bank for a period of three years with effect from April 19. The RBI approval was followed by the recommendation of HDFC Banks Board of Directors on the same matter.

HDFC Bank and HDFC are set to merge by June-July.

Kaizad Bharucha has been a banker for over 35 years and is associated with HDFC Bank since 1995. In his current position as Executive Director, he is responsible for wholesale banking covering areas of corporate banking, PSUs, capital & commodities markets, financial institutions, custody, mutual funds, global capability centre & financial sponsors coverage and banks coverage.

In his earlier position as Executive Director, Bharucha was responsible for corporate banking, emerging corporates group, business banking, healthcare finance, agri lending, tractor financing, commercial vehicle finance, commercial equipment finance, infrastructure finance, department for special operations and inclusive banking initiatives group.

Kaizad Bharucha is also the Designated Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and Internal Ombudsmen Committee. He has rich and extensive experience in risk management, credit management, banking and business management. Prior to joining HDFC Bank, he worked in SBI Commercial and International Bank in various areas including trade finance and corporate banking. He has also represented the bank as a member of the working group on banking related committees.

Zaveri is the group headoperations, cash management & ATM product at HDFC Bank. In his current role, he is responsible for business and operations across corporate, MSME & retail verticals, including for asset, liabilities and transaction services of payments and cash management, trade finance and treasury, and ATM product, the bank said.

Zaveri has an experience of over 36 years and has headed the critical functions of pperations, cash management and technology at the bank. He joined HDFC in 1998 in the operations function and became business head  wholesale banking operations in 2000.

He was appointed as Group Head- Operations in 2009. In his previous role as Group Head- IT, he contributed to the digital transformation of the bank.

Zaveri has also been a member of various committees formed by the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks Association and has served on the board of the clearing corporation of India, HDFC Securities Ltd, HDB Financial Services Ltd & Swift India Pvt Ltd, according to the release.

Before he joined HDFC Bank, Zaveri worked for Oman International Bank and Barclays Bank.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the new taxation regime put in place by the government would be the default one from the financial year 2023-24. Taxpayers who wish to opt for the old tax regime to retain their tax benefits must make a declaration regarding it. But if you fail to opt between the old and new tax regime, then it will impact your tax deducted at source (TDS).

Employees who fail to choose between the new and old tax regime, will have their TDS cut at the new regime rates. A circular by the Central Board of Direct Taxes has made the matter clear. If intimation is not made by the employee, it shall be presumed that the employee continues to be in the default tax regime and has not exercised the option to opt out of the new tax regime. Accordingly, in such a case, the employer shall deduct tax at source, on income under section 192 of the Act, in accordance with the rates provided under sub-section (lA) of section 115BAC of the Act, the notice stated.

The employer will be liable to deduct TDS at new tax regime rates if the decision is not made by the employee. The employer must seek information of their workers intended tax regime and deduct the tax accordingly.

Salaried employees can get a number of benefits under both tax regimes. They need to select the regime which will offer them the maximum amount of tax benefits.

The government has brought in some changes to the new tax regime to make it more attractive to taxpayers. This includes providing a standard deduction of Rs 50,000 in the regime. Earlier, this deduction was only available in the old tax regime.

Taxpayers can also get a deduction against the employers contribution to the central governments pension plan under both regime.

Employees can also get rebate u/s 87A if their taxable income does not go beyond a specific amount in a financial year. Employees who have income till Rs 5 lakh, will get Rs 12,500 as rebate under the old tax regime. Those opting for the new tax regime will get a rebate of Rs 25,000 if their income is up to Rs 7 lakh.

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We all have seen Disney films where a bottle washed up on the shore carries a map or a letter by some sailor to her lover. Even due to natural calamities like tsunamis, and floods, when the water goes back it often takes many priceless elements along with it. And just like that, a nearly 1,000-year-old canoe has been found by a group of 13-year-old boys and was pulled from its watery grave last week in North Carolina, US.

According to reports by The News Reporter, the group of boys stumbled upon the canoe in the summer of 2021 but thought it was an ordinary log. The state officials later examined the canoe at the time and subsequently moved it underneath a dock to protect it until they could fully excavate it.

According to a statement issued by the heritage commission, last week, on April 12, workers finally pulled the canoe, which is approximately 930-year-old from Lake Waccamaw in Columbus County, North Carolina.

Watch the video here:

After the excavation, Waccamaw Siouan Chief Michael Jacobs said that for years they have always been questioned about their history and where they come from and who they are. Now, we have physical history to back it up. We are looking forward to examining it, running some tests on it, really finding out and going back to our elders and getting the history of it to where we can teach the truth to our people and know that we have got concrete evidence to stand on," Chief Jacobs added.

The North Carolina American Indian Heritage Commission and the Waccamaw Sijouan Tribe worked together to pull the canoe from the water. Once they brought the boat to shore last week, it was placed in a chamber, covered in damp towels and wrapped in plastic to preserve it. The canoe will be taken to a lab and treated with chemicals to get it from deteriorating.

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The Hanuman plover bird, a resident of India and Sri Lanka, has been reinstated as a species 86 years after being relegated to a subspecies, a move that researchers hope will focus conservation attention on at-risk habitats. Named after the Hindu god Hanuman, the small whitish bird, the size of a Robin, was merged with the Kentish plover in the 1930s as both species were considered to be the same.

However, the advent of DNA sequencing has allowed scientists to confirm subtle differences between the groups that are enough to split them apart.

The researchers hope that by resurrecting the species, conservation funding will be used to help protect the areas threatened wetlands.

These habitats are highly biodiverse and provide important overwintering sites for migrating birds, they said.

A species consists of a population that cannot interbreed successfully with another species. A subspecies consists of a group within a species that is usually geographically isolated from other subspecies.

While we dont know if the Hanuman plover is threatened at the moment, it lives in an area which has one of the highest human population densities on the planet," said Alex Bond, who co-authored the study and is a principal curator at the Natural History Museum in the UK.

Having a name attached to these birds means it is easier for policymakers and politicians to notice these plovers and take any steps needed to help them," Mr Bond said in a statement.

Plovers are a family of shorebirds that live all over the world, except for the very poles. They feed on invertebrates, but otherwise have a range of different habitats and lifestyles.

To analyse whether the Hanuman plover, with scientific name Charadrius seebohmi, was more than a subspecies, the researchers took measurements and samples from wild birds, as well as specimens held in the worlds museums.

They found that these birds tended to have smaller wings, tails and beaks than the Kentish plover, as well as different plumage.

While the Kentish plover tends to have black legs in both sexes, the Hanuman plover has dark gray legs, while males have a black stripe across their forehead, according to the researchers.

Observations of wild birds also showed that Hanuman plover molt much earlier in the year, and molt different feathers before the breeding season, than their relative, they said.

Even stronger evidence that these birds were two different species was found in their genetics, which suggested they had split apart around 1.2 million years ago.

At the time, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were decreasing, which caused changes in the timing of Ice Ages.

The researchers suggest that this event, known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, might have been responsible for causing the two species to diverge as a result of the environmental impacts it caused, such as sea level changes.

Collectively, the evidence was enough for the team to say that the species should be resurrected, they added.

Over a century ago these birds were considered to be their own species, so its not that these plovers have changed. Instead, its our understanding of what a species is, and how much variation is suitable to differentiate one, that is different." Mr Bond added.

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When you unlock the power of Artificial Intelligence and open yourself to the world of its magic, it is hard to turn away. But sometimes, things take an unexpected turn. Just like it did, in the case of this student who tried to deploy the wondrous ChatGPT for an assignment but actually left a super important clue about their cheating. Teachers: AI is a disaster, how am I going to know who is cheating?! Students, read a tweet that featured a snap of an assignment that the student turned in. Seemed like the student had to write an essay about William Shakespeares Twelfth Night and they put ChatGPT to use for it. Instead of reading through the assignment before submitting it, the student left it as it is and the first few lines of it read, Im sorry, but as an AI language model, I am not able to complete this assignment. However, I can provide you with some guidance on how to approach this essay.

Teachers: "AI is a disaster, how am I going to know who is cheating?!"Students: pic.twitter.com/RXGLt4FYKA  Justine Moore (@venturetwins) April 18, 2023

Social media users were in stitches over how the student had left such an obvious mistake at the top of the essay. Some went on to share how someone they knew got busted for using unfair means. Others remarked how this has been a result of a poor prompt given to the AI tool. Obvious here but AI will only get better over time, teachers wont be able to tell the difference. Either we do away with essays or well have to go back to the days when students wrote their essays in the classroom under supervision without any devices other than pen and paper, read a tweet.

Obvious here but AI will only get better over time, teachers wont be able to tell the difference. Either we do away with essays or well have to go back to the days when students wrote their essays in the classroom under supervision without any devices other than pen and paper. Erol Basturk (@erolnodiff) April 19, 2023

Another user wrote, Wow. This is the case of a very poor prompt. A good prompt will immediately produce results undistinguished from humans results to untrained eye.

Wow. This is the case of a very poor prompt. A good prompt will immediately produce results undistinguished from humans results to untrained eye. Hello Harry Potter, I'm ChatGPT (@martintjandra) April 19, 2023

Lets be honest though: there is a non-zero number of cases where teachers are using ChatGPT to mark homework that students used ChatGPT to create Its like replying feedback to your own tweet, read a tweet.

Let's be honest though: there is a 'non-zero' number of cases where teachers are using ChatGPT to mark homework that students used ChatGPT to createIt's like replying feedback to your own tweet pic.twitter.com/3Fu2drlBAO  Danny (@dannyhayder) April 18, 2023

In a similar incident, a college student in South Carolina, US, was caught using ChatGPT when their assistant philosophy professor asked them to write a 500-word essay on two topics for a take-home test. One of the essays was flagged for being produced by AI and thats when things started going south for the student. The Professor shared that while the style is clean it is still recognizable. He also checked it on the software developed by ChatGPT to determine such cases and found it to be the case with 99.9 per cent similarity. The student failed the class and was turned over to the school principal.

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With tech titan Elon Musk at the helm, Twitter has been proposing a myriad of changes. One of those includes people paying a certain amount of fee for their Blue Tick or the Verification Checkmark. This big change has the potential to affect everyone from influencers to politicians. While the announcement about Twitter verification becoming a paid service was made some time ago, the social media platform is now withdrawing legacy verification badges of accounts that do not pay the subscription fee. Making the announcement, Twitter wrote, Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks.

It also gave links for people to follow and pay in case they want to keep their blue tick.

Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks. To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOXAXOrganizations can sign up for Verified Organizations here: https://t.co/YtPVNYypHU  Twitter Verified (@verified) April 19, 2023

Turns out, people did not seem to be much bothered about possibly losing their Blue Ticks anymore. In fact, several people want Twitter to take it away already as it has turned from a badge of verification to a mark of shame. Several people with verified account have come forward to let Twitter and Elon Musk know just what they feel about this new change. You promised that last month and its still there. Honestly, I hope you do finally remove it (after they made it indistinguishable from the $8 bros) but I aint holding my breath, wrote a Twitter user.

You promised that last month and its still there. Honestly I hope you do finally remove it (after they made it indistinguishable from the $8 bros) but I aint holding my breath. Mike MacFerrin (@IceSheetMike) April 19, 2023

Another tweet read, I gave the best years of my life to being a blue check, and I wouldnt change a d*mn thing. twas an honour to serve.

i gave the best years of my life to being a blue check, and i wouldn't change a d*mn thing. 'twas an honor to serve. jos (@josiahhughes) April 19, 2023

Even Hollywood star Halle Berry had something to say about the situation, sharing a GIF of a woman walking on stage with the caption Me joining you all tomorrow unverified." It seems like the Blue Tick may have lost some of its lustre, with many account holders choosing to shed the status symbol in favour of a more authentic presence on the platform.

Me joining you all tomorrow unverified  https://t.co/ujDlcsV8aL pic.twitter.com/1p6Q0uRuj1 Halle Berry (@halleberry) April 20, 2023

Check other reactions:

Twitter Blue subscribers are in a group chat somewhere discussing which brands theyll impersonate tomorrow Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) April 19, 2023

the boy who cried removal of blue check marks Li Jin (@ljin18) April 19, 2023

The users first heard of this change taking place less than a week after Elon Musk became Twitters new CEO. He had made up his mind about charging $8 per month for the Twitter Blue Tick. To emphasize his stance, Musk stated, To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8." He added, Twitter speaks to the inner masochist in all of us."

Musk reportedly set the first deadline for this change on November 7 for Twitter engineers to implement the new Twitter Blue service. The cost of the service was supposed to vary based on the purchasing power of the country. Yet after numerous new deadlines, the blue tick for legacy account continued.

Read all the Latest Buzz News here
Crime against women is prevalent all over the world. Recently, one such incident, which happened in England, is dominating the headlines. The 53-year-old man named Mohammed Taroos Khan killed his 20-year-old niece last year when she refused to get married to her cousin. The decomposed body of the victim named Somaiya Begum, a biomedical student at Leeds Beckett University, was discovered near a garbage dump with gruesome injuries including an 11 cm deep wound on the chest and multiple other marks. The victims face was unrecognisable, but it was later confirmed that it was indeed her. Before being killed, Somaiya had disclosed to her friend that her uncle was attempting to force her into marriage with his son and her cousin. The horrific discovery has sent shockwaves through the community.

Taroos Khan was apprehended by the police and later found guilty in court for the brutal murder of his niece. After analysing the CCTV footage, the Bradford Crown Court handed down a sentence of 25 years to him, citing clear evidence that Khan had abducted and killed his niece, dumping her body at a nearby garbage site. The court emphasised that the heinous nature of the crime would not be overlooked and justice would be served.

At just 16 years old, Somaiya Begums parents pressured her to marry her cousin, leading to constant harassment when she refused. Fearing for her safety, Somaiya fled to her grandparents home and cut ties with her father and uncle due to their extreme beliefs. They persisted in stalking her, driving around her residence in their car. Tragically, they eventually got their chance and murdered her. The court described Somaiya as a brave and intelligent woman, highlighting the shamefulness of such thinking in society.

Earlier this month, a similar incident occurred where a 14-year-old girl was stabbed to death in Deoghar (Jharkhand) by two men. According to police reports, Rita Kumari Sahu, an employee of an NBFC, was murdered by two individuals who were seeking her hand in marriage. The police believe that the motive behind the crime was the victims refusal to the marriage proposal.

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India is currently battling a scorching heat wave. Amid the soaring temperature, the Odisha government on Thursday announced preponing of summer vacations in school across the date. As per the latest update, summer vacation in Odisha will start on Friday, April 21.

Confirming the development, on Instagram, private secretary to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, V K Pandian wrote, In view of prevailing heatwave conditions, Honourable Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directs to prepone the summer vacation for all schools for classes up to 12th standard (Government, private, and aided) from tomorrow (April 21st). The concerned departments will decide on the date of reopening in due course. Detailed press release soon.

The summer vacations of all the government, private and aided schools in Odisha were earlier scheduled to begin on May 5.

Odisha is currently battling extensive heat with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in most parts of the state. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Bhubaneshwar recorded a maximum daytime temperature of 42.7 degrees Celsius by 6:30 PM on Tuesday, April 18. Baripada and Jharsuguda reported the highest temperature in the state. Nuapada (44.4 degrees), Bolangir (44 degrees), Boudh (43.9 degrees), and Talcher (43.8 degrees) followed in the list. The maximum temperatures in the cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar were 42.5 and 42.2 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Earlier, the Odisha Government had released the notification of the closure of the schools till April 16 due to the heatwave. Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik ensured the residents that there would be a continuous supply of drinking water along with a power supply to meet the high demand during the summer.

The schools reopened on April 17 with the revised timings. However, the government released another notification stating that the schools in the state will operate from 6:30 am to 11 am. The students were also advised to take precautions for extreme weather, including adequate intake of glucose and ORS solution.

Odisha is not the only state to shut schools in view of the rising temperature. The state governments of West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya have also called for the closure of schools due to the extreme weather. States like Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar had revised the school timings.

Read all the Latest Education News here
The results of Uttar Pradesh class 10 and 12 board exams 2023 are expected to be released soon by the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksa Parishad (UPMSP). Although the formal announcement of the date and time has not yet been made, the results are expected to be announced by this week.

UP Board Results 2023 LIVE Updates

Soon after the results are announced, students who took the UP Board class 10 and 12 exams will be able to access their scores on the boards official website, upmsp.edu.in. Results for Classes 10 and 12 are also accessible through upresults.nic.in, in addition to the UPMSPs official website.

Also read| UP Board 10th, 12th Result 2023: Important Websites, Alternative Ways to Check Scorecard

UP Board 10th, 12th Results 2023: Passing Marks

The Uttar Pradesh board exams for class 10 and class 12 commenced on February 16. Class 10 exams concluded on March 3 and Class 12 exams ended on March 4. Getting a minimum score of 33 per cent is necessary for students to pass the UP board exams in 2023. The compartment exams must be taken by those who received failing grades in any of the subjects on the Uttar Pradesh Board exam.

Based on the past performances of the UP Board, it is expected that female students could fare better than male students this year. Over the past five years of UP Board results, female students have consistently outperformed boys.

UP Board Class 10, 12 Results 2023: Steps to Check

Step 1: Go to upmsp.edu.in, the official UPMSP website.

Step 2: On the homepage, look for the UP Board Results 2023 link and select it.

Step 3: On the new window, click the Class 10 or Class 12 link.

Step 4: Fill out the required fields with details like the registration number and press the Submit" button.

Step 5. The UP Board Results 2023 will show up on the screen.

Step 6: Carefully review your results.

Step 7: Download the UP Board Results 2023 result and take a printout of it for future use.

Also read| UP Board 10th, 12th Result 2023: Know Expected Date, Pass Percentage Over The Years

After 30 years, a record has also been created in the UP board for conducting the examination without any hindrances like a paper leak or paper cancellations. Along with the education department, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) also kept an eye on the examination.

The UP board exams attracted more than 58 lakh applicants this year. In addition, 27,69,258 students registered for Class 12 while 31,16,487 students registered for Class 10 examination 2023.

This year, the UPMSP appointed 1,43,933 examiners to evaluate 3,19 crore student board exam answer sheets. Between 1.33 and 1.86 crore answer sheets from Class 12 students and Class 10 candidates were collected. 8,753 locations across the state, including 4,690 unaided colleges, 3,523 private centres, and 540 government centres, hosted the Uttar Pradesh board exams.

Read all the Latest Education News here
BY Vijayendra, the younger son of BS Yediyurappa, filed his nomination from Shikaripura on Wednesday, marking a generational shift in Karnataka politics, particularly in his hometown Shimoga.

The constituency was held by Yediyurappa for 40 years, except 1999-2004. During 2014-18, his elder son BY Raghavendra was Shikaripura MLA when BSY went to New Delhi as an MP from Shimoga. BSY has contested from Shikaripura in every election, nine times since 1983.

Shimoga, one of the political hotspots of Karnataka, is witnessing a generational change across parties and district.

A prosperous Western Ghats district, Shimoga has always been the political nerve centre of Karnataka, producing four chief ministers and dozens of other important figures as well as public movements.

In neighbouring Shimoga City assembly constituency, another party old horse KS Eshwarappa has declared retirement from electoral politics like his one-time benefactor Yediyurappa. Eshwarappa has been Shimoga MLA since 1989. He lost twice (1999 and 2013) but has contested in every assembly election since 1989.

Unlike BSY, Eshwarappa failed to secure a BJP nomination for his son Kantesh from Shimoga City and the party fielded a Lingayat, Channabasappa.

In hilly Sagara, Congress stalwart 90-year-old Kagodu Thimmappa has also retired from electoral politics, paving the way for younger generations. Thimmappa has fought 12 assembly elections since 1962 and was an MLA between 1972 and 2018.

Despite his efforts to secure the partys nomination for his daughter Dr Rajanandini Kagodu, the Congress ticket has gone to his nephew Belur Gopalakrishna who defected from BJP to Congress in 2018.

In Soraba, sons of late S Bangarappa  Kumar and Madhu  are facing each other once again on Congress and BJP tickets.

With the sunset of stalwarts, the assembly elections of 2023 have lost their charm for the people of Shimoga district. The fixtures Kagodu Thimmappa, Yediyurappa and Eshwarappa have walked into the sunset, allowing the next generation to take over.

In Shikaripura, Vijayendras win looks a foregone conclusion because of a weak candidate fielded by the Congress. Despite the local Lingayat leaders opposition, Congress has once again nominated a Kuruba, Goni Malatesh, against him. In 2018, he lost to BSY by over 30,000 votes.

Congress ticket aspirant and Lingayat leader Nagaraja Gouda has attacked the state Congress leadership, alleging a deal between BSY and the party brass in Bengaluru.

Speaking to News18, he said: If the Congress had fielded me, I would have defeated Vijayendra. To ensure no division of Lingayat votes, Congress leadership in Bengaluru has clinched a secret deal with BSY. Thats why they have fielded a Kuruba once again. Gouda is contesting as an Independent candidate with the help of JDS.

In Shimoga City, BJP has fielded Channabasappa, a Hindutva leader among the Lingayats. He had once threatened to chop off the head of Siddaramaiah, triggering a huge controversy. The Congress has fielded a young Lingayat, HC Yogish, hoping to get all Muslim votes and a big chunk of Lingayat votes.

Veteran BJP leader Ayanur Manjunath has quit as an MLC to contest as a BJP rebel on JDS ticket, making it a battle of Lingayats.

In Sagara, BJPs MLA Haratalu Halappa is facing a resurgent Congress in yet another keenly contested election.

Meanwhile, in Thirthahalli, old rivals Kimmane Ratnakar of Congress and home minister Araga Jnanendra of BJP have been fighting once again.

In dying industrial town Bhadravathi, Congress MLA BK Sangamesh is taking on Sharada Appaji Gowda, the widow of his old rival Appaji Gowda of JDS.

Strangely, Shimoga is the birthplace of socialism in Karnataka, farmers movement in India, and a stronghold of Congress and BJP as well as RSS.

RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale hails from Hosabale village in Shimoga district. BJPs powerful general secretary - organisation BL Santhosh was also posted as an RSS full-timer in Shimoga for 14 years. JDS state president CM Ibrahim hails from Bhadravathi.

Whoever might win or lose, Shimoga politics will never be the same without the old warhorses who have said goodbye to elections.

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Karnataka Election 2023 Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign in about 20 places in poll-bound Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Thursday, adding that PM Modis campaign programme is being finalised. There is all possibility of the Prime Minister campaigning in about 20 places. In most (of these) places, he will address rally-meeting and in some, there will be road-shows, Bommai was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. Karnataka to vote on May 10, and the results will be declared on May 13.

Days ahead of the polls, BJP MLC AH Vishwanath announced to join Congress. After former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, Vishwanath is another prominent leader to ship from BJP to Congress ahead of the crucial elections.

Meanwhile, Bommai is all set to visit the border district of Bidar where he will attend two public meetings at Bhalki and Humanabad.

The Congress, in its fifth list, replaced its candidate against Bommai in Shiggaon. A day after fielding Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from Shiggaon in the Haveri district, the party nominated Yasir Ahmed Khan Phatan in his place.

The BJP also released its fourth list, naming candidates for the remaining two constituencies Shivamogga and Manvi. In Shivamogga, it has given the ticket to Channabasappa, while denying chance to sitting BJP MLA KS Eshwarappas family.

With their final list, both BJP and Congress have announced candidates for all the 224 Assembly segments in the state.

The Congress also released the list of its star campaigners, in which two high-profile names created buzz one for making it and the other for being dropped off. While Shettar, who joined the Congress recently after quitting the BJP, figures in the Congress list, the name of Sachin Pilot, who has been making headlines for his not-so-secret feud with Ashok Gehlot, does not figure on the list.

The list of 40-star campaigners also includes party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor. The Congress list of star campaigners also has many stalwarts from Karnataka such as former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar, Jairam Ramesh, M Veerappa Moily, MB Patil, G Parameshwara, KH Muniyappa and BK Hariprasad.

Meanwhile, BJPs star campaigner list also created a buzz as the name of South Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya does not feature on it. Tejasvi is an RSS Swayamsevak and BJPs youth morcha president, known for his strong Hindutva politics, and the omission of his name from the star campaigner list which comprises PM Modi, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Devendra Fadnavis, Smriti Irani and Nirmala Sitharaman came as a surprise to many.

Thursday is the last day for filing nominations and parties have announced tickets for the remaining constituencies.

The Karnataka assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled on May 13. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP from power in the southern state.

Read all the Latest India News here
The quorum required to begin the voting process at a plenary session of the Parliament of Georgia was not met once again, as the parliamentary majority did not register before voting, leaving only 52 deputies registered. As a result, the voting process failed and the initiative to create a temporary investigative commission regarding US sanctioned judges could not be voted on.During the session, the chairman of Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze reiterated his support for the judges and stated that the members of the majority did not intend to undergo registration in order to support the independence of the court."Colleagues, we once again declare our support for the independence of the court and solidarity with Georgian judges. Therefore, even today, the parliamentary majority will not pass the registration," Kobakhidze noted.Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee Anri Okhanashvili had a meeting with Ernst Peter Fischer, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Georgia, where they discussed several topics, including the implementation of the 12-point plan established by the European Union.In a statement after the meeting, Okhanashvili mentioned that they regularly exchange information on specific issues and that the Ambassador expressed both his personal and the Federal Republic of Germany's full support for Georgia's European integration. He added, "Therefore, one of the topics of our discussion was related to the completed points of the 12-point plan, as well as some remaining issues, which are practically at the last stage of implementation."Overall, the meeting was an opportunity for the Chairman and the Ambassador to discuss matters of mutual interest and to further strengthen the relationship between Georgia and the Federal Republic of Germany.
The fight for the Kanakapura assembly seat just got more interesting: the Congress has pitched the DK brothers against Karnataka revenue minister R Ashok. State Congress chief DK Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh are both contesting from the seat in the elections on May 10.

In a surprise move, the Congress decided to field Suresh, who is the Bengaluru rural MP, as an independent candidate from Kanakapura. Commenting on the decision, Ashok called the grand old party confused. The BJP leader said by fielding Suresh, the Congress seems to be confused as to who should contest against him and are afraid of the end result.

Ashok, who is contesting from two seats himself  Padmanabhnagar, which he represents, and Kanakapura  called the nomination of Suresh a safety policy in case brother Shivakumars nomination is declared invalid after scrutiny.

A Congress leader, who is in the know of the developments, said this precautionary measure had been taken as there were several pending cases against Shivakumar. Hence, the Congress leadership felt it was best to have a backup plan, the leader said.

The BJP government can do anything to stop the Congress juggernaut and, so, it is best to be safe rather than sorry, the leader said on condition of anonymity.

But Ashok said Shivakumar had some heavy baggage to deal with. Shivakumar is afraid that he has accumulated hundreds of properties in his name. More the money, more the problems. His baggage is quite heavy and so he is on sticky ground, he said.

The BJP leader further said the winds were in favour of the saffron camp in Kanakapura this time. He claimed that Shivakumars constituents were unhappy with him as he had not done much for them.

But as the BJP and Congress brace for a fierce battle in this assembly seat, which Shivakumar has handsomely won thrice, Ashok quickly slipped into a Bollywood-style remark: Mere paas Modi ji hai, Amit Shah ji hai; DK Shivakumar ji ke paas DK Suresh hai, gaadi hai but mere paas Modi hai and that is going to be the winning factor, the revenue minister said.

I request the people of Kanakapura and ask them  Do they want a Modi and Ashok government in Kanakapura or a Rahul Gandhi and Shivakumar government?, he said.

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The Tamil Film Industry has reached new heights and it was very well-explained by the renowned Tamil actor Karthi Sivakumar while he was speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII ) Dakshin function in Chennai on April 19 and 20. He truly believes that Tamil Cinema has enough potential to make big waves in global cinema. He said that Tamil has been historically and traditionally the centre of art forms like literature, poetry, music, dance, and drama. The cinema, when collaborating with the Tamil industry, gave birth to legendary actors. Whenever cinema touched the shores of Chennai, it immediately attracted the top stars of stage dramas such as P.U. Chinnappa, M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, T.R Mahalingam, S.G Kittappa and his wife KB Sundarambal among others, the actor said.

Mythology and fantasies were the main part of Tamil Cinema in the past. Chandralekha was the first movie to cross the language boundaries as it was shot both in Tamil and Hindi language. And courtesy of this movie, an Indian actress named Vyjayanthimala became a star overnight. Before this, Tamil cinema was all about the adaptations from Sankaradas Swamigals stage plays, he added.

But the power of cinema truly crossed borders in the 50s and 60s, said Karthi while addressing the audience at CII Dakshin Function. M.G Ramachandrans starrer Malaikallan was remade in 1954 in Hindi as Azad. Good movies were always supported in India, as Tamil Cinema released a film name Kuladeivam which was a remake of the Hindi film named Bobby. It helps in transcending the art and culture of Tamil, through the cinema around India.

He explained the contributions of legendary creators such as Kamal Hasan, Mani Ratnam, P.C. Sreeram, Shankar, and A.R Rahman in taking Tamil cinema to a new age. Their strong, bold concepts and visual storytelling led filmmaking in a new direction and made Tamil movies appealing to the global audience, the star said.

He also shed light on the growing participation of foreign artists and companies working with their composers and directors to make the movie more globally appealing. Their presence has enabled dream projects like Ponniyin Selvan and enabled our films to reach a global audience. It has also allowed expanding the commercial market of Tamil cinema. Tamil movies are regularly screened at various International festivals and won awards, said Karthi.

The Oscar and other international awards won by Tamil films and other South Indian languages are proof of the increasing presence of Tollywood around the world. He ended his address by saying that Tamil cinema has always been a vanguard for change, and this industry has the potential to make waves on the global stage.

Read all the Latest Bollywood News and Regional Cinema News here
Sayaji Shinde-starrer Marathi film Ghar Banduk Biryani was released on April 7. Since its release, the film is making a huge noise among the audience. Directed by Hemant Awtade alongside Nagraj Manjule, the film stars Sayaji Shinde, Harshal Gire, and Somnath Awghade in the leading roles. The other cast of the film includes Kishore Kadam, Suraj Panwar, Sayli Patil, Akash Thosar, Tanaji Galgunde, Pravin Dalimbkar, and many more.

Produced by Bhushan Manjule in association with Nagraj Manjule, the story of the film revolves around the witty and thrilling events occurring in the life of someone who is struggling for his rights. With music scored by Vaibhav Deshmukh and AV Prafullachandra, the cinematography of the film is handled by Vikram Amladi.

So far, the film has received mixed reviews from critics as well as from viewers. Now, Marathi actor Kiran Mane has also shared a post expressing his opinions about the movie. In the post, the actor praised the performance of the cast of the film.

Check out the post here

Sharing the post, he wrote, The film is good, not that bad. I enjoyed it to some extent. Anna (Nagraj Manjule) was trolled on social media by both trollers and his henchmen. The main reason to watch the movie was the strong acting of Sayaji Shinde, Saili Patil, and Akash Tosar. Along with this, songs like Aha Hero, and Haan Ki Badeev became special targets. But the movie slows down somewhere after the middle which makes the audience feel uncomfortable".

He further added, I decided to watch the movie a little late because I didnt want to have any prejudice in this commotion. The general audience should not be bored. Yet it also disappoints them and the connoisseurs quite a bit. It is not boring, but it would have been more interesting".

The Marathi film Ghar Banduk Biryani storyline is based on the character of Raju Acharya. He is the real hero of the story. If the makers roped in talented actors who were not well known and confined them to a few scenes, the film would have been much more interesting. There is no doubt that the director Hemant Avatade can come up with something amazing in the future. Best wishes to him," he further stated.

On the career front, Kiran Mane is best known for films like Ravrambha, Swarajya, Apaharan, and Takatak 2. The actor has also been an integral part of TV Series including Mulgi Zali Ho and Majhya Mitrachi Girlfriend. Now, he is all set to star in the upcoming film Ravrambha.

Read all the Latest Bollywood News and Regional Cinema News here
Almost a year after leaving Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Shailesh Lodha has now reportedly filed a complaint against the makers of the popular sitcom. As reported by Hindustan Times, Lodha has sued Asit Kumar Modi and his production house, alleging non-payment of his dues.

Complaint Against TMKOC Maker Asit Kumar Modi?

Reportedly, Shailesh Lodha filed the complaint in the first week of March this year. In his complaint, he alleged non-payment of dues. The news portal claims that Lodha reached out to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and initiated a corporate insolvency resolution under section 9, as Modi could not pay his debts. His case will be heard in the month of May.

However, Shailesh refused to comment on the issue and simply told the news portal, The matter is subjudice and under court, so Ill not comment anything on this.

TMKOC Team Reacts To Shailesh Lodhas Complaint

While Asit Kumar Modi also refrained from commenting on the matter, Sohil Ramani, project head, TMKOC claimed that they never denied or refused Lodha for his payment. He further alleged that Shailesh has not completed his paperwork as of now due to which his payment has not been cleared. Ramani also urged Shailesh to simply follow the regular process.

There isnt much to say that hasnt been said earlier. Shailesh Lodha has been like a family only. When he left we respected that. And on numerous occasions through email and on telephone we have requested him to come to the office to sign all required paperwork and take his remaining numeration. We have never denied or refused to give his payment. In every company when people leave, they have to sign full and final papers before complete payment is released," he said.

We are not pursuing any case, because we did not refuse to give his payment. We have already informed sir (Lodha) to take his dues and sign the required papers, he added.

What Is The Entire Case All About?

Earlier this year, a report by Hindustan Times claimed that Lodhas six-figure amount is yet to be paid by the makers of the popular sitcom. The report also claimed that while Lodha has been waiting patiently for the same, the shows producer Asit Kumar Modi is not paying any heed.

Shailesh Lodha used to play the role of Taarak Mehta in the show. He was a part of the show ever since the beginning. However, he quit in April 2022. It was earlier reported that the actor was not very happy with his contract and felt that his dates were not properly used while shooting for the show. It was also said that Shailesh wanted to explore more opportunities. Lodha was replaced by Sachin Shroff in the show.

Read all the Latest Bollywood News and Regional Cinema News here
Most of us have grown up listening to fairy tales, wondered about vampires, and always wished about being in those bedtime stories. Well, Tooth Pari just might make your dreams come true!

Pratim Das Guptas Tooth Pari has beautifully brought alive a world of vampires and witches, which takes us on an enchanting journey. Especially as a generation who has loved watching Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, this show is a refreshing take on the vampire genre, with a solid storyline that will keep you hooked.

The story starts with Tanya Maniktalas Rumi flirting and preying on a middle-aged man only to make her fellow newbie vampire learn about the usage of her long canines, or we call them Sharpies here. They soon allow us to be a part of their deep conversations about life, love and loss as they step into their arena. Thats when you realise, they arent just vampires, they are a bundle of mischievous creatures, good at heart and rebellious with their minds. That is exactly where the story picks up pace. But as they say, every world has its ups and downs, its literally true here (Youll have to watch the show to get the reference).

The story takes a major twist when this rebellious 20-something hunts for blood and breaks her tooth. And thats when she bumps into the dentist-Doc Roy (Shantanu Maheshwari) whod make you remind of the first time you meet someone, had those butterflies but were too timid to acknowledge them. Doc Roy and Rumis palpable chemistry starts with the jitters, awkward small talks, stolen glances and all things beautiful  exactly how youd define a slow love blooming.

You cant help but root for them as they navigate their way through their feelings for each other. A beautiful vampire falling in love with a shy, faint-hearted, yet lousy dentist may be a long shot, but at the end of the day, they are just two souls, wanting to be around each other, maybe?

The biggest asset of Tooth Pari is undoubtedly its originality, despite being created at a time when supernatural American shows have a good establishment among their audience. Pratim Das Gupta has done an excellent job of creating a world that is both intriguing and authentic.

The production design is top-notch, and Kolkatas iconic landmarks serve as the perfect backdrop for the series with its dark alleyways, the Maidan Metro Station, Nonapukur Tram Depot, the Babughat Bridge and the Howrah phool-ghat amongst many other attractions.

Tanya Maniktala looks extremely convincing as a vampire. She brings so much conviction to making a fictitious creature look real. She walks in, hunts, bites and even falls in love passionately. Shantanu Maheshwari is the cutest dentist youd wanna bump into. Well, he may not fix your tooth, but will surely win your heart with his nerdy smile. He brings in the right sense of charm and sensitivity as Doc Roy.

The other cast members Adil Hussain, Saswata Chatterjee, Tillotama Shome, and Sikandar Kher bring the right authenticity to their parts to keep the narrative going. Every part is well-written, and each character has a huge impact on the series, irrespective of the screen time.

Ghosts and supernatural creatures have always been an integral part of the folklore of Bengal. So, weaving characters and a plot out of Kolkata, makes the story even more convincing.

If you are looking for something light-hearted, and are quite often intrigued by the world of supernatural creatures, Tooth Pari being rooted in its Indian culture, can be a delightful watch for you.

The review is based on the first two episodes of the series.

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A special court in Gujarat on Thursday acquitted all 68 persons, including former state minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani, in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case. A total of 86 accused were named in the case, but 18 of them died in the intervening period.

All accused were facing charges under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Eleven persons were killed in communal violence in the Naroda Gam area of the Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002, during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning a day before in which 58 passengers, mostly Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

The trial started in 2010 and went on for nearly 13 years with six judges successively presiding over the case, special prosecutor Suresh Shah was quoted as saying by PTI.

In September 2017, senior BJP leader (now Union home minister) Amit Shah appeared as a defence witness for Kodnani, who had requested the court to summon him to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at Naroda Gam where the massacre took place.

Among the evidence produced by the prosecution was the video of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan as well as call details of Kodnani, Bajrangi and others during the relevant period.

Kodnani, who was a minister in the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government, was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case where 97 people were massacred. She was later discharged by the Gujarat High Court.

The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SIT and heard by special courts.

(with inputs from PTI)

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Gandhinagar Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC) has ordered Air India Ltd to provide compensation, including cost and interest, to Dr Apurva Shah, a professor of Surgery at B J Medical College in Ahmedabad.

The airline was found guilty of not allowing Dr Shah to travel from Delhi to Ahmedabad with his pet cat. The CDRC has ordered Air India Ltd to pay for the ticket charge, pet fees, and pet carriage charge.

According to the case details, Dr Shah had sought compensation after his pet cat was denied travel from Delhi to Ahmedabad by Air India Ltd. Dr Shahs daughter Tvisha Shah had recently returned from the USA and was travelling from Delhi to Ahmedabad with her pet cat.

Dr Shah had booked a flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad on 23 September, 2022. He alleged that Air India did not state a standard procedure for registering an animal in advance. He went to the Air India office to find out the procedure, but it was noticed that the location was just a Cargo" office. He inquired from the staff and officer at the airport but received no positive response, which left him anguished.

On 23 September 2022, after the check-in process had already been completed, it was informed that since the cat weighed more than 5 Kg, a metal cage was insisted upon. Dr Shahs daughter immediately bought a metal carrier from PetsFly at the Delhi airport for Rs.4,500/- in cash.

The approval of the captain of the flight was awaited, and after a considerable amount of waiting, one of the employees informed that the cat had received approval, and it was finally placed in the metal carrier.

However, the airport authority expressed inability for the cat to travel due to the lack of oxygen, and Dr Shah requested to be accommodated on another flight.

According to his claim, there was no response, and his luggage was lying in the cargo while he was waiting for the cat. He was flatly refused any help to go to Ahmedabad with the pet, and after a struggle of one hour, the cat was handed back to him.

An alternative flight was also denied, and no refund was given to him. He was compelled to hire a vehicle by which he reached Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The bone of contention in the case has arisen from the moment that the cat was not permitted to travel due to the paucity of oxygen. Dr Shah was left without any alternative flight, and the CDRC has ruled in his favor, ordering Air India Ltd to compensate him for the ticket charge, pet fees, and pet carriage charge, as well as the cost and interest.

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There was a buzz in Maharashtra on Tuesday about a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with speculations being raised that 40 MLAs have extended support to the leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha Ajit Pawar and that he would soon join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

However, later in the day, Pawar clarified that he was not leaving NCP, not until his last breath.

While these rumours of cracks in the NCP and Pawar supporting the BJP have been rife for a while now, what is also being spoken about is the role of Ajit Pawar and his company in Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had in 2019 registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) pertaining to illegal allocation of sugar mills and the role of district Co-operative banks in providing loans to them. ED is investigating this money laundering case where charges have been levied under sections 120 (B), 420, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the EDs charge sheet, there have been irregularities in disbursing loans to sugar factories by Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB), which is contrary to the credit management guidelines by NABARD.

The charge sheet also adds that as on date there is an outstanding loan of Rs 487 crore and a total loan of Rs 826 crore against the sugar mills against valuation of only Rs 41.23 crore and Rs 45.77 crore by the MSCB.

What is the actual story?

Jarandeshwar Co-operative Sugar Mill Ltd became operational in the year 1999-2000 during which it obtained loans from MSCB from time to time, when Ajit Pawar was on the banks board of directors.

The account became a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) and a total amount of Rs 78.9 crore remained outstanding. MSCB sold the mill to Guru Commodity Services in 2010 through an auction. A company with the same name, Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd, incorporated in November 2010, which took the mill on lease from Guru Commodity Services, was controlled by a holding company where Ajit Pawar was a former director.

After the auction, an Rs 826 crore loan was availed in the name of the mill from Pune District Central Co-operative Bank (headed by Ajit Pawar) and other banks, but the money was diverted for various other purposes.

Why are these parallels being drawn to Ajit Pawar?

In 2019, when a one-and-half-day coalition was formed between BJP and NCP, wherein Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar became the Deputy Chief Minister, there were media reports that Pawar had gotten a clean chit in the irrigation scam.

The scam dates back to the time when Pawar was the irrigation minister in Maharashtra during the Congress-NCP government. Pawar was alleged to be at the helm of irregularities in projects awarded by his ministry. The allegations included claims that Ajit Pawar awarded projects at inflated prices. Allegedly, it was a Rs 70,000 crore scam and Pawar cleared cost escalations of 32 irrigation projects.

What does NCP have to say on this?

NCP spokesperson, who was contacted by News18.com, said Pawar has never shied away from investigation.

If called by the agency or if the agency wants to question Ajit Pawar or know any details from him, he has always cooperated with the investigation and will always do so in the future as well, said the spokesperson.

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Kirandeep Kaur, wife of pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh, was on Thursday stopped from flying to the United Kingdom. A source said that she is already in touch with police officials and this is not an arrest. Immigration officers have only stopped Kirandeep for questioning, considering her husbands background, the source added.

Recently in an interview with The Week, Kirandeep had claimed she did not know about Amritpal Singhs whereabouts. She, however, defended him and his activities, claiming that it was illegal" the way the police were trying to detain the fugitive.

Amritpals wife also added that she would not leave him at any cost. She said there is no contact with him and she wanted him back home safely.

Twenty-nine-year-old Kirandeep is a UK-based NRI and has reportedly been on the Punjab Police radar as her name has allegedly figured in garnering funds from foreign shores for Amritpals activities and organisation Waris Punjab De.

Kirandeep married Amritpal two months ago, on February 10. Amritsar police had visited his mother Balwinder Kaur and wife last month itself. City (rural) SSP Satinder Singh, however, denied that they were formally questioned, saying the visit to their house by a police team was a routine matter.

According to a report in Times of India, there was also speculation about the NIA sending a team to Amritpals house after a vehicle with a Delhi registration number reached there around 11.30am.

The SSP declined to say whether the woman police officer who led the police team asked Kirandeep and her mother-in-law any questions about Amritpals alleged involvement in subversive activities, including suspected links with Pakistani spy agency ISI, the report stated.

(details to follow)

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Three men, who allegedly helped the shooters of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, have been detained by the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh police. Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists on Saturday night.

The three men are friends of the main accused Lavlesh Tiwari and were detained from the railway station in Uttar Pradeshs Banda by the SIT team probing the case, police said on Thursday.

They worked for a local news website and gave media training" to Tiwari. The three men also helped him buy a camera, the police said.

Police also conducted raids in the search for Atiq Ahmeds wife Shaista Parveen, in Kaushambi on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, five police personnel were suspended on Wednesday for negligence in connection with the killing of mafia-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, a senior officer said here on Wednesday. Shahganj police station in-charge Ashwani Kumar Singh was among those suspended. The remaining are a sub-inspector and three constables.

The senior police officer said the five personnel were suspended after a special investigation team (SIT) charged them with negligence in discharging their duties.

Ahmad and Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night when police personnel were escorting them to a hospital in the Shahganj police station area in Prayagraj for a checkup.

The brothers were in handcuffs when they were killed in full view of camera crews.

The three assailants of Atiq and Ashraf- Mohit alias Sunny (23) of Hamirpur, Lavlesh Tiwari (22) of Banda and Arun Maurya (18) of Kasganj  are presently in Pratapgarh jail.

All three attackers surrendered after shooting more than 20 times at Ahmed and his brother.

Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leaders murder, in February this year.

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At least five Rashtriya Rifles soldiers were burnt alive after a vehicle they were travelling in caught fire in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district on Thursday. Now the Army has confirmed it was a terror attack.

Today, at approximately 1500 hours, one Army vehicle, moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector was fired on by unidentified terrorists, taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists," an official statement said.

VIDEO | Indian Army vehicle catches fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector. More details are awaited. pic.twitter.com/E4gyvthM54 Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 20, 2023

Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for counterterrorist operations in the area have lost their lives, it added.

Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri and is under treatment. Operations are in progress to locate the perpetrators. Further details are being ascertained," it said.

Sources had earlier told News18 that this could be a terror attack.

Top police sources had said that bullet cases had been found on the spot. Some bullets possibly hit the vehicle and there may have been an ambush, they added.

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religious events on roads and has also upped the security as Muslim residents offered Alvida Namaz. While several countries, including Egypt and Kuwait, are celebrating Eid today, India will mark Eid al-Fitr tomorrow. However, the Kerala government has declared a holiday for both days.

Meanwhile, the Hyderabad traffic police issued an advisory for Eid ul Fitr prayers at Mir Alam Eidgah and Hockey Grounds at Masab Tank. Certain diversions were imposed between 8 am and 11.30 am. In Pune, the traffic restrictions will be imposed from 6 am on Saturday and will remain in force till the time Eid Namaz gets over. According to the city traffic control branch, the changes will be enforced mainly for the namaz held at Golibar Maidan and in the Kondhwa area.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday officially declared that the first day of Eid al-Fitr will occur on Friday. With the end of the month-long fasting period of Ramadan, Muslims worldwide are gearing up to celebrate Eid al-Fitr 2023. In India, according to Muslim religious scholars, including India Union Muslim League (IUML) state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on April 22 as the crescent moon, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramzan, was not sighted on Thursday.

The exact date of the festival is determined by the sighting of the moon, and it was expected to commence on Friday, April 21 or Saturday, April 22. After being unable to sight the crescent of Shawwal, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei confirmed April 22, as the first day of Eid al-Fitr. Muslims in numerous countries, including those in the Middle East, West, and the United Kingdom, will be preparing for Chaand Raat festivities as they search for the crescent moon on Thursday evening.

The Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia has urged all Muslims in the country to search for the crescent moon of Shawwal on the evening of April 20, 2023, corresponding to Ramadan 29 of the Islamic year 1444 AH. According to an official statement, individuals who spot the Shawwal crescent with the naked eye or binoculars are requested to report to the nearest court and record their testimony.

Thirteen Arab countries astronomy experts clarified that the crescent moon in Shawwal cannot be seen on April 20 in the Arab and Islamic regions, according to the Khaleej Times. Nonetheless, astronomers are still uncertain about the sighting of the Eid Al Fitr crescent on April 20, with differing opinions on its visibility. The International Astronomy Centre stressed that the precise date of Eid Al Fitr is influenced by a range of factors, including jurisprudential and scientific considerations.

Eid al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of the month of Shawwal, and Muslims all over the world express their gratitude to Allah for granting them good health and endurance during the period of fasting, known as Ramzan or Ramadan.

Eid al-Fitr is a significant event for Muslims worldwide as it marks the conclusion of the holy month of Ramadan, during which they fast. The term Eid al-Fitr translates to the Festival of Breaking the Fast.

During Eid al-Fitr, individuals dress up in new attire, prepare delectable dishes, engage in charitable acts, and visit their loved ones to celebrate the occasion.

History of Eid al-Fitr

According to Islamic tradition, it is widely believed that Prophet Muhammad received the first revelation of the Holy Quran during the month of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr serves as the conclusion of the daily fasting from dawn to dusk throughout the month of Ramadan and marks the beginning of the month of Shawwal. Observing Eid ul Fitr is a way of expressing gratitude to Allah for granting the strength and fortitude to uphold the fasting customs throughout the month of Ramadan.

In Islam, it is widely believed that good deeds are rewarded tenfold, and as such, the 30-day fasting period of Ramadan is seen as a means of attaining prosperity, harmony, and peace for those who fully embrace and dedicate themselves to this sacred practice.

Muslims worldwide observe Eid ul Fitr by performing prayers followed by a sermon shortly after sunrise. The day continues with worshippers donning new attire, exchanging greetings with the phrase Eid Mubarak, and sharing sweets. Children receive gifts and cash from elders, which is known as Eidi.

A sumptuous feast featuring a variety of dishes such as Haleem, Kebabs, Biryani, Nihari, and mouth-watering desserts like Seviyan is an essential part of the celebration.

(With inputs from agencies)

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A special court will pronounce its verdict in the 2002 Naroda Gam communal riot case on Thursday, where 11 persons belonging to belonging to the Muslim community were killed.

Former Gujarat minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi are among the 86 accused who are on trial in the case. Of 86 accused, 18 died in the intervening period.

The court of S K Baxi, special judge for Special Investigation Agency (SIT) cases, is scheduled to pronounce the verdict against 68 accused on April 20.

Eleven persons were killed in communal violence in Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002, during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning a day before in which 58 passengers, mostly Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

The prosecution and defence examined 187 and 57 witnesses, respectively, during the trial that started in 2010 and went on for nearly 13 years with six judges successively presiding over the case, said special prosecutor Suresh Shah.

In September 2017, senior BJP leader (now Union home minister) Amit Shah appeared as a defence witness for Maya Kodnani.

Kodnani had requested the court to summon him to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at Naroda Gam where the massacre took place.

Among the evidence produced by the prosecution is the video of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan as well as call details of Kodnani, Bajrangi and others during the relevant period.

When the trial started, S H Vora was the presiding judge. He was elevated to the Gujarat High Court. His successors, Jyotsna Yagnik, K K Bhatt and P B Desai, retired during the trial.

Special judge M K Dave who came next was transferred, prosecutor Shah said.

The trial (deposition of witnesses) concluded around four years ago. Arguments of the prosecution concluded and the defence was making its arguments when then special judge P B Desai retired. So arguments started afresh before judge Dave and later judge Baxi which delayed the proceedings," he said.

The accused are facing charges under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others. The maximum punishment for these crimes is death.

Kodnani, who was a minister in the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government, was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case where 97 people were massacred. She was later discharged by the Gujarat High Court.

In the present case, she has been charged with criminal conspiracy besides rioting, murder and attempted murder.

The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SIT and heard by special courts.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Nearly 90 percent of India could be severely impacted by abnormal rise in temperatures caused by climate change, shows a new study even as the country reels from scorching heat conditions. Over 48 meteorological stations recorded more than 42 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, with the highest at 44.2 in Odisha.

According to the report, heatwaves  recurrent and more lethal now  will not only adversely hit peoples productivity, health and well-being but critically hamper the countrys progress towards its sustainable development goals to an extent not previously understood or known.

The study, led by researchers from University of Cambridge in UK, analysed Indias latest heat index (HI) along with climate vulnerability index (CVI) using 2022s record-breaking heatwave as a case study. It shows that heatwaves are now likely to put more states at extreme climate risk than previously estimated by the government.

Heat waves are getting more intense in India, putting 80% of the countrys people in danger, which remains unaccounted for in its current climate vulnerability assessment. If this impact is not addressed immediately, India can slow its progress towards sustainable development goals. It is high time that climate experts and policymakers re-evaluate the metrics for assessing the countrys climate vulnerability, the authors said.

India usually assesses its vulnerability to climate change through CVI  an index devised by the department of science and technology (DST). According to this index, around 20 percent of the country is highly vulnerable to climate change but the heat index puts 90 percent of India in the danger zone, the researchers said.

For instance, states like Punjab and Haryana, which have witnessed temperature anomalies of 6 to 7 degrees Celsius, are otherwise classified as low on climate vulnerability but face high risk due to heatwaves.

Delhi at high heatwave risk

The report shows that almost all of Delhi, with its 32 million population, is threatened by severe heatwave impact, which is not reflected in its recent state action plan for climate change.

Our estimation shows that 100% of the city is at danger HI (heat index) levels. This is concerning as the current heat-action plans are designed and implemented as per the Delhi governments vulnerability assessment, which does not include HI estimations, the authors said in the study, which is published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS Climate. This is further worsened by fast-paced urbanisation leading to a heat island effect, they said.

Rethink heat impact at policy level

Despite its severity, India still does not notify it as a disaster on a national scale. Researchers led by Ramit Debnath, an inaugural Cambridge Zero Fellow, stress that their core finding is that these lethal heatwaves are set to weaken Indias progress in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDG).

India has committed to achieving 17 UN SDGs, including no poverty, good health and well-being, and decent work as well as economic growth. But a trend analysis of the past 20 years from 2001 to 2021 on their progress, with the mortality due to extreme weather events, shows that while such events have intensified, the pace of SDG progress has slowed down. In fact, in the last three years, Indias Global SDG rank has slipped due to failure in achieving the targets for 11 out of 17 goals.

The team used the latest government data publicly available on state-level climate vulnerability indicators from National Data and Analytics Platform to classify severity categories. They then compared it with Indias progress in SDG over 20 years (2001-2021) while also taking into account extreme weather-related mortality during the period.

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In 2009, the Delhi High Court, in a landmark verdict, ruled that intercourse between consenting adults of the same sex would no longer be a crime in India. Then Chief Justice AP Shah and Justice S Muralidhar ruled that punishing sexual activity between two consenting adults under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) violates the right to equality, privacy and personal liberty.

Four years later, in 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the Delhi HC judgment. The apex court, however, upheld it in 2018, renewing hopes of the LGBTQ+ community.

The 2009 Delhi HC ruling that had brought much cheer for the LGBTQ+ community in India is now facing its ultimate test. A five-member Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, on April 18 started hearing a bunch of petitions seeking legal recognition for marriage equality. The Centre has opposed this, saying same-sex marriage is an urban elite view for the purpose of social acceptance.

There is no official data on how many homosexual persons there are in India, but according to a 2012 government estimate, the number stood at 2.5 million. Activists, however, claim the number to be as high as 10% of the Indian population.

As per a Pew Research Centre survey, acceptability for homosexuality in India had more than doubled in five years among those surveyed, from 15% in 2014 to 37% in 2019. As societal acceptance grows for homosexuality, is it time for recognition of marriage equality in India? Though there are no easy answers to this difficult question, its worth looking at how it played out in other parts of the world, notably in the US.

In 2001, The Netherlands became the first country to recognise marriage quality. According to the Human Right Campaign Foundation, 34 countries, mostly from the Americas and Europe, have legalised same-sex marriages and Taiwan is the only Asian country to do so. While 23 countries, including Australia and Switzerland, have legalised same-sex marriages through legislation, 10 nations, notably the US, have legalised through court orders.

According to Pew Research, acceptance for homosexuality is the highest in North America and Western Europe.

Amid the raging debate in the Supreme Court as to who should decide this difficult and complex issue, the court or Parliament, it would be interesting to know how the law took shape in other countries, especially the US and the UK.

England and Wales allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry in 2014 after months of debate in British Parliament in 2013 that led to passage of a bill brought by the David Cameron government. However, the law prohibits same-sex marriages within the Church of England.

In a policy shift this February, the Church of England decided to bless homosexual couples, though it would continue its practice of not allowing same-sex marriages in church.

As public opinion changed in the US in accepting same-sex unions, in 2015, the Supreme Court allowed homosexual couples the right to marry nationwide in a historic 5-4 narrow ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case. The ruling did away with same-sex marriage bans in 14 states.

No longer may this liberty be denied, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. Four of the dissenting judges, including Chief Justice John Roberts, felt that the issue of same-sex marriage should be decided not by courts but by the public process.

This court is not a legislature. Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us, Chief Justice Roberts wrote in a dissent note.

The historic decision was hailed by President Barack Obama who had said the ruling affirmed what millions of Americans already believed in their hearts.

Last December, marriage equality became a law in the US, seven years after the countrys top court declared it legal. President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on December 13, 2022, adding another layer of protection in case the Supreme Court struck down its own ruling at a future date.

The new law mandates American states not to deny the validity of marriages based on sex, race or ethnicity. In a statement, President Biden said the House vote reaffirmed a fundamental truth: love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love.

Now that the Centres urban-elitist argument has been rejected by CJI Chandrachud, all eyes are on the Supreme Court on what is next in the journey of the LGBTQ+ rights in India.

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Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who went missing a few days back after falling into a deep crevasse on Nepals Mount Annapurna, has been found alive and is in critical condition by the rescuers, his brother informed.

The 34-year-old climber, a resident of Kishangarh in Rajasthan, went missing on Monday after he fell from around 6,000 metres while descending from Camp III.

Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world.

He is found alive. He has been taken to the hospital in critical condition, but he is still alive," news agency PTI quoted Anurags brother Sudhir as saying.

We will have to shift our focus towards the medical side now," Sudhir added.

Mingma Sherpa from Seven Summit Treks told news agency ANI that Maloo is currently at Manipal Hospital under doctor supervision.

Anurag Maloo went missing during his climb as part of his mission to scale all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals.

Maloo has been awarded REX Karam- Veer Chakra and became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India.

(With PTI inputs)

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In a major jolt to Rahul Gandhi, a sessions court in Gujarats Surat on Thursday dismissed a plea by the Congress leader that could have reinstated him as a Member of Parliament. The Congress has now moved the high court. In case the high court too rejects to stay the Modi surname case order, Gandhis next move would be to approach Supreme Court.

The Gandhi scion had moved an application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark. Had the court pronounced its order in Congress leaders favour, he could have returned to the Lok Sabha and also could have stayed in his official Delhi bungalow  all the privileges that he lost after being disqualified from Parliament.

After the sessions courts order, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law. @DrAMSinghvi will brief the media on Rahul Gandhis appeal at 4pm."

BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, Court order is a tight legal slap on Rahul Gandhis arrogant, irresponsible and insulting behaviour. It is clear that neither court of law nor court of people will tolerate insult of OBC communities in this country."

The court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera had last Thursday reserved its verdict for April 20 on Gandhis application for a stay on conviction pending his appeal against a lower courts order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case. Gandhi had earlier submitted that the trial court treated him harshly after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

The 52-year-old politician was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019 but was disqualified a day after a metropolitan magistrate court in Surat on March 23 sentenced him to two years in jail in a case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Gandhi had on April 3 moved the sessions court against the lower courts order. His lawyers also filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for a stay on conviction till the disposal of the appeal.

While granting Gandhi bail, the court issued notices to complainant Purnesh Modi and the state government on his plea for a stay on conviction. It heard both parties on Thursday last week and reserved the order for April 20.

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Purnesh Modi had filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi over his remarks, How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname? made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

Arguing for Gandhis plea for a stay on conviction, his lawyer told the court that the trial in the case was not fair" and there was no need for maximum punishment in the case.

In his submission, Gandhi said that if the March 23 judgment of the trial court is not suspended and stayed, it will cause irreparable damage to his reputation.

He said the excessive sentence is contrary to the law on the subject and unwarranted in the present case which has overriding political overtones.

Gandhi termed his conviction as erroneous" and patently perverse" and said the trial court treated him harshly after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

The appellant has been treated harshly at the stage of determination of sentence taking into account his position as a Member of Parliament, hence the far-reaching implications would have been in the knowledge of the trial court, he said.

The Congress leader said that he was sentenced in a manner so as to attract the order of disqualification because the trial court was well aware of his status as a Parliamentarian.

A bye-election once held in Lok Sabha constituency of Wayanad due to disqualification cannot be undone if his conviction is not stayed even if the court subsequently acquits him,. Such an election will also cause irreparable loss to the state exchequer, Gandhi said.

Opposing his plea, MLA Modi had told the court that Gandhi is a repeat offender with several criminal defamation proceedings against him going on in different courts across the country.

He said that the way Gandhi came to file his appeal shows extraordinary arrogance and a very dirty display of childish arrogance and an immature act of bringing pressure upon the court. Many Congress leaders had accompanied Gandhi when he went to file his appeal.

He also accused him of making unfair and contemptuous comments against the court through his aides, associates, and leaders of his party and others at his behest following his sentencing.

The accused is in the habit of making such defamatory and irresponsible statements which may either defame others or may hurt the feelings of others, in the name of freedom of speech and political criticism and dissent, he stated in his affidavit.

(With inputs from PTI)

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A government study by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister has said that there is no evidence of the Narendra Modi government catering only to one community or religion from 2015-16 to 2019-21, and has claimed that in some cases, the minority communities have gained more than the majority.

Titled A Secular Democracy in Practice: Objective Assessment of Amenities Programs in India, the study by EAC-PM member and economist Shamika Ravi has examined the gains in electricity, bank accounts, mobiles, and toilets, and cited that data to bust the perception of dwindling democracy in India as alleged by the opposition parties.

No evidence govt catered to one community

By quantifying changes in the provision of amenities across religions, social groups, and geographies based on faith, this paper challenges a popular perception-based narrative that democracy has been declining in India since 2014. In sharp contrast, our results indicate that the government is responsive to the needs of the marginalised section of society irrespective of religion, caste, or place of residence, which is an alternative and more robust indicator of strengthening democracy in India," the study has said.

The study looked at a nationally representative sample of more than 1.2 million households across 2015-16 and 2019-21. We do not find any evidence that the government catered only to one community (Hindu majority) or discriminated across households based on districts where one religious community was dominant. With respect to electricity, bank accounts, mobiles and access to toilets, the gains were widespread across religions and social groups. As a matter of fact, in some instances, minorities have gained more than the majority, the study has mentioned.

It has recommended that the government must do more to uplift the poorest 20% of households across religions and social groups by focusing on amenities like LPG and water on premises. The study criticises opinionmakers who pass judgments on Indias democratic standards. Objectively quantifying the strengthening or weakening of democracy is a challenging task. Such a critical exercise cannot be based on a survey of perceptions of a small non-representative sample of elite opinionmakers. If such an exercise is deemed necessary, it must be based on a representative sample of the underlying population, the study says.

It also says that over the last several years, the Indian PM has often spoken publicly about the policy of saturation as his governments approach of reaching the last mile. This translates to every basic facility to every citizen in every area of the country and thereby reducing the scope for any discrimination and corruption in peoples access to basic amenities, the study by Shamika Ravi says.

We believe that if democratic institutions are strong, then the government will cater to the poorest across different sections of society irrespective of caste, religion and geography based on faith, the EAC-PM study has said.

Key findings

The study says that 53% of the poorest 20% of the households in the country had access to electricity in 2015-16, which increased to 85% in 2019-21. Even though we observe significant gains across all the religious groups, the most considerable improvement in target achievement was for the poorest 20% of the Muslim households at 71%. When we study improvements in access to electricity by social groups, we observe target achievement of more than 60% across all social groups, it has said.

The study also says that 74% among the poorest 20% of the households had bank accounts in 2015-16, which increased to 93% in 2019-21. The target achievement was an impressive 73% overall. Across religions, the biggest gain was for the Muslim community, with a target achievement of approximately 77%. For different social groups, the target achievement was highest among the OBC at 75% and above 70% for the SC and ST, it says.

It also says that in terms of access to mobile phones, 68% of the poorest 20% of the households had a family member who owned a mobile phone in 2015-16, which increased to 79% in 2019-21. For the religious clusters, the highest target achievement was in the Muslim and the Hindu + Muslim clusters at 37% and 33%, respectively, the study says.

The study also says only 12% of the poorest 20% of households had access to a toilet in 2015-16, and this increased to 48% in 2019-21, with a target achievement of 41%. Among the religious groups, the most significant target achievement was for the Sikhs and the Muslims at more than 50%, it says.

For different social groups, in 201516, among the 20% of the poorest households, only 3% of the STs and 7% of SCs, had access to toilets, and this increased to 32% and 41%, respectively, by 201921, the study adds.

The study also looked at access to LPG and said there has been a marginal improvement for the poorest 20% of households since 2015-16. While only 1% of the poorest 20% of the households used LPG as cooking fuel in 201516, it went up to only 8% in 2019-21; the target achievement was approximately 7%. Other than the Sikh community, the target achievement was less than 10% for Hindus, Christians, and Muslims," the report says. It also says that among the religious clusters, the biggest gain in target achievement was for the poorest 20% of the households in the Hindu clusters at 17%, and it was the least at 4% in the Muslim clusters.

Regarding access to water, the study says among the religious groups, the highest target achievement was for the Sikh community, at 32%. In 201516, 63% of the poorest 20% of the households in the Muslim community had access to water on-premises, while for the Hindus, it was 41% in 201516. This increased marginally for both communities by 201921; for Muslims, it increased by 5%, while for Hindus, it increased by 11%, the study says.

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The Allahabad High Court recently called upon the District Magistrate (DM) of Balrampur to file a personal affidavit to explain why compensation had not been paid to a rape victim even after over two years since the crime against her. The court also asked the DM to make an inquiry as to how many such compensation cases were pending in Uttar Pradesh and file a report.

The court was dealing with a plea moved by a victim who had been raped in August 2020. The petitioner had moved the High Court seeking direction to the Chairman of UP Rani Laxmi Bai Mahila Evam Bal Samman Kosh to provide her the deserved compensation under Rani Laxmibai Mahila Samman Nidhi.

Stating that she, belonging to a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family, would not be able to pursue the case and appear before the trial court, which is 50km from her house, without the state governments financial assistance, the victim had filed an application before state authorities which was accepted and forwarded by the District Committee for sanction of the given compensation amount.

Later on, when the victim inquired about the same from the office of UP Rani Laxmi Bai Mahila Evam Bal Samman Kosh, she was told that the compensation money had been sanctioned by the state office, but the victim had not received any compensation yet.

Thereafter, in December 2022, the victim filed a representation for providing compensation before the concerned authorities, which is still pending. The victim then moved the High Court seeking direction for earliest disposal of her representation.

The District Probation Officer, Balrampur informed the High Court that the petitioners claim under the victim compensation scheme had been considered by the District Level Committee and the recommendation of the committee had already been approved by the District Magistrate.

However, the payment could not be transmitted in the account of the petitioner for the reason of the merger of Indian Bank," he asserted.

The court pointed out that no explanation had been provided by the authorities as to why necessary steps had not been taken after January 7, 2021 i.e for a period of more than two years.

The court held that District Probation Officer, Balrampur (UP) was trying to shift the responsibility on the prescribed authority, Rani Lakshmi Bai Women and Child Welfare Scheme Yojana Bhawan, Lucknow to assert that the entire responsibility for payment of compensation to the victims under the scheme in question is that of the prescribed authority.

Moreover, the court highlighted that the old compensation scheme had been modified by the virtue of the decision of the apex court in the case of Nipun Saxena vs Union of India reported in (2019) and a new amended scheme has been applied in the state of UP.

Neither the learned standing counsel nor the officer present in the court is aware of the said change," the court, however, stressed.

While directing the DM, Balrampur to file his personal affidavit, the court posted the matter for further hearing on May 10, 2023.

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As Pakistans External Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is set to visit India next month for the SCO summit, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that it was not appropriate" to focus on a particular country as invitations were sent to all member states.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that it would not be really appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country and that similar invites were received by all SCO members, according to Hindustan Times.

Having a bilateral meeting between the two neighbors, Bagchi said, was a premature" thought. Regarding the request for bilateral meetings, I think it is premature. Lets see the full participation," he said.

Bachi further said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishakar does try to hold as many one-on-one meetings with member states as possible on the sidelines of such summits.

Also Read | Will Not Raise Bilateral Issues With India During SCO Meet: Pak FM Bhutto

This comes as Bilwal, in a first visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister to India in over a decade, is set to visit the country for the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa on May 4-5.

This will be the first visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister to India in over a decade. Earlier in 2011, then Pakistan Foreign Minister and now junior Foreign Minister in Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar had visited New Delhi.

India and Pakistan have seen minimal diplomatic engagement as the ties between the two neighbouring nations got sour in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019.

The last high-level visit from the Pakistani delegation was in December 2016, when the then-Pakistan Prime Ministers Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz visited India to attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar.

Since then, there have been no official visits by Pakistans Foreign Minister to India.

Announcing Bilawals visit, Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that the foreign minister is attending the SCO meet on the invitation of the Current Chair of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Dr S Jaishankar.

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RentoMojo, the Bengaluru-based rental service provider, sent an email to its subscribers stating that the company has detected a security breach that involved unauthorised access to one of its databases.

The company, which has over 1 lakh subscribers, said in the email: It appears that the attackers were able to get unauthorised access to our customer data, including in some cases personally identifiable information by exploiting the cloud misconfiguration through extremely sophisticated attacks, thus breaching one of our databases.

RentoMojo has reported the cyber attack incident to the authorities and initiated an investigation while engaging with cybersecurity as well as legal experts.

After detecting the attack, the company has claimed to have taken a series of measures, including securing the database and network, implementing multi-factor authentication, updating all the passwords and reviewing all the third-party, open-source plugins and integrations.

While the email states that we assure you that this has no impact on any financial information like Credit cards, Debit cards or UPI as we never store them in our database, many RentoMojo subscribers received suspicious emails from ShinyHunters.

This is possibly the same group of hackers that became prominent in 2020. The group claimed to have stolen over one crore user accounts details from the educational platform Unacademy and was possibly responsible for online grocery store BigBaskets data breach which impacted over two crore users.

The email from ShinyHunters (digitalteam@etexgroup.com) reads: Hello we are the ShinyHunters group and recently we exfiltrated the data from RentoMojo.

The email shared details of the accessed KYC document as evidence which, according to some subscribers, are accurate.

The email from the alleged attackers further states: We have also downloaded terabytes of KYC including bank documents, passports, ID cards, drivers license, etc. Nonetheless, it seems that RentoMojo is unwilling to pay a penny and would rather we share your data publicly given the lack of response on their end.

Many RentoMojo users took to social media and shared the screenshots of the email while asking for an explanation on this cybersecurity issue.

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Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the Poonch terror attack that claimed the lives of five Army personnel and critically injured one, top intelligence sources told CNN-News18 on Thursday. The attack took place when terrorists ambushed the Army vehicle taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in Jammu and Kashmir.

All five deceased personnel belonged to the Rashtriya Rifles Unit and were deployed for counter-terrorist operations in the area.

This attack was done by Lashkar. This group is sitting in Rajouri and Poonch jungles for a period of time. They come out, commit the crime and go back to their places. Earlier, they also attacked a house in Rajouri," sources said.

Top intelligence sources have also said that linking the incident to the upcoming G20 summit, which is scheduled to be held in September, is not correct as the terror groups are looking for an opportunity."

Meanwhile, top government sources said that Pakistan is defaming itself before the world" as the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar operates and runs by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from the neighbouring country.

G20 summit is going to happen soon in Kashmir. We will tell the world how Pakistan derailing every peace process. Every act is against humanity and peace of the world. Pakistan will be shared evidence on this soon," the government sources said. Notably, India is hosting a meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group in Srinagar in May while a youth engagement group meeting is scheduled to take place in Leh later this month.

The seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri.

Today, at approximately 1500 hours, one Army vehicle, moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajauri sector was fired on by unidentified terrorists, taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists. Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for counter terrorist operations, in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident. Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajauri and is under treatment," the Northern Command Headquarters said in a statement.

Operations are in progress to trace the perpetrators, the statement said, adding further details are being ascertained.

Army and police personnel have rushed to the spot, which is 90 kilometres from Poonch.

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The terrorist attack in Poonch on Thursday, in which five army jawans were killed, came ahead of the all-important G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir and as Pakistans foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto announced a visit to India in May. Only a few days ago, a top-level review was conducted on the security situation in the Valley ahead of the high-profile conference.

According to a viral social media post, the Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a proxy organisation of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack but official confirmation on its involvement is awaited. More importantly, in this post, the PAFF has threatened to target the upcoming G20 meeting in Srinagar.

Today, at approximately 3 pm, one army vehicle moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector was fired on by unidentified terrorists, taking advantage of heavy rain and low visibility in the area. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades. Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terrorist operations in this area have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident, the army said.

Another seriously injured soldier was immediately evacuated to the army hospital in Rajouri and is undergoing treatment. A search operation for the perpetrators of the attack is in progress.

What is the PAFF?

On social media, a message is circulating about the PAFF claiming responsibility for the attack. In the post, the group has threatened to target the G20 meeting in Srinagar.

According to a notification by the ministry of home affairs in January, the PAFF is a proxy terror outfit of the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) emerged in the year 2019 as a proxy outfit of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a proscribed terrorist organisation listed at serial number 6 of the First Schedule under the UAPA Act, the MHA said in the notification.

The Peoples Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) regularly issues threats to Indian security forces, political leaders, civilians working in Jammu and Kashmir from other states along with other organisations is involved in conspiring proactively, physically and in social media, to undertake violent terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir as well as other major cities in India is indulging in radicalisation, the notification stated.

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Following the sensational murder of don-turned-politician and former MP Atiq Ahmed, the question now is whether the actual extent of his financial empire will ever be ascertained.

The question becomes more prominent with the fact that his most-trusted partner-in-crime, his younger brother and former MLA Ashraf too is no more. Ashraf was also shot dead along with Atiq by three armed assailants on Saturday night in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj district.

Accused in over 100 cases of heinous crimes including kidnapping, attempt to murder, and murders, Atiqs net worth is estimated to be several thousand crores.

The UP government in a recent statement claimed to have already seized properties and assets worth around Rs 1,169 crore belonging to Atiq Ahmed.

This included the demolition of properties worth around Rs 750 crore and the seizure of assets worth Rs 417 crore.

In the last affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India in 2019, when Atiq had contested as an independent candidate from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, he had declared movable and immovable assets worth only Rs 25 crore.

But over the past three years, as the UP authorities vigorously chased him, trying to dismantle his clout, the value of his properties and investments was already more than Rs 1,100 crore.

It was very recently that the Enforcement Directorate began its probe into don Atiqs financial empire. In April itself, raids were conducted at multiple locations of UP, including Atiqs native district of Prayagraj.

Sources in the government say that attachments, seizures, and demolitions so far, accounting for Rs 1,169 crore in assets, could just be the tip of the pan-India and probably also offshore business and investment empire that the former bahubali MP created.

The question is with Atiq and Ashrafs deaths, will the truth ever be conclusively known?

A top cop of UP who had followed the Atiq gang for years feels Shaista Parveen could be the key to the unfinished probe.

The way she allegedly played a key role in the conspiracy of the Umesh Pal murder case suggests she had risen up the ladder within the gang ever since Atiq and Ashraf were mostly behind bars, he said.

Over the past five years at least, she had been a key party to the gangs investments of the ill-gotten wealth, said the official.

A big reason for her still being absconding despite the deaths of her son Asad and husband Atiq could well be the urgency to settle the financial support base of the family, say sources. Her two adult sons, Ali and Umar, are also behind bars, thus leaving only her to manage and settle the financial issues.

Following the deaths of Atiq and Ashraf, probably Shaista alone is the only key person with knowledge of the gangs white support base, say sources.

Those who know how a mafia empire works are aware that the gangs need a strong base of white or publicly respected people who could ultimately launder the ill-gotten black money.

Sources in the government say Atiqs family has business interests in major Indian cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Pune, apart from Prayagraj, Lucknow, and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources also say there is a strong possibility of offshore investments in countries of the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

In the 2019 election affidavit, Atiq described himself as a contractor, builder, property dealer, and an agriculturalist.

However, a much larger base of contractors, builders, businessmen, and probably politicians had been the real handlers of Atiqs ill-gotten wealth, say sources.

With the don being buried now, the real war against organised crime will really be successful if this support base is exposed, they maintain.

And the absconding Shaista Parveen probably remains the last link alive to decoding this secret.

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Hearing the same-sex marriage matter, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud asked on Thursday if the existence of two spouses, who belong to a binary gender is a necessary requirement for marriage.

It requires us to redefine the evolving notion of marriage. Because is the existence of two spouses who belong to a binary gender a necessary requirement for marriage?" CJI Chandrachud said.

Today is the third day of the hearing by a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on petitions seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage in India.

The CJI later said, What happens when there is a heterosexual couple when there is domestic violencewhat kind of impact on childrenso much for being heterosexual..what about father coming back home drunk thrashing up the mother and asking money for alcohol? There is nothing absoluteat the cost of being trolledanswers to what we say in court is in trolls and not in court."

Key Takeaways

 The CJI stated that by decriminalizing homosexuality, the Supreme Court not only recognized relationships between consenting adults of the same gender but also acknowledged that homosexual relationships are not just physical but also emotional, stable relationships. He said, The moment we have said that its no longer an offense under Section 377, therefore we necessarily contemplate that you could have stable marriage-like relationships between two persons who do not treat these as chance encounters but something more than that, which is not just physical relations but something more of a stable emotional relationship, which is an incident of our constitutional interpretation."

 The CJI also said that the court has already reached the intermediate stage, which contemplates that people belonging to the same sex can be in stable marriage-like relationships."

 Additionally, the CJI said that the requirement under the SMA (Special Marriage Act), which requires parties to give notice of their intended marriage," has the potential to disproportionately affect the most vulnerable segments of society, including marginalized communities or minorities.

 Finally, the CJI stated that the bench would hear the matter on a daily basis, similar to the Ayodhya hearing.

From Wednesdays Hearing

The top court on Wednesday emphasised on the need to finish the matter in a time-bound manner, saying there are other cases waiting to be heard. The petitioners want the Special Marriage Act of 1954 to redefine marriage as between spouse" rather than man and woman."

During the yesterdays hearing, the petitioners seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage urged the apex court to use its plenary power, prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union as would ensure LGBTQIA persons lead a dignified" life like heterosexuals.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners, had said the State should come forward and provide recognition to same-sex marriage.

Earlier yesterday, the Centre urged the apex court that all states and Union Territories be made parties to the proceedings, saying any decision on the issue without obtaining their view will render the present adversarial exercise" incomplete and truncated.

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Uttar Pradesh Police has intensified the efforts to nab slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmeds wife Shaista Parveen in the past 48 hours. Police is raiding Shaistas all possible hideouts, including her relatives houses in different localities of Prayagraj and neighbouring Kaushambi districts.

On Wednesday, police conducted raids at many places in Kaushambi, and even used drones to locate the absconding heiress of Atiqs empire.

Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed in the last two days. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding in the foothills of Ganga. The operation lasted for about 2 hours. A drone camera was also used in the operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today," Samar Bahadur, ASP, Kaushambi said.

Several close relatives of Atiq and Shaista are also being questioned about her whereabouts.

There were speculations that Shaista, who is now the empress of Atiqs empire, would surrender in front of the police after her husbands funeral. However, she is still absconding.

ALSO READ: Born to UP Cop, Shaista is Now Most-Wanted: FAQ on Atiq Ahmeds Wife & Her Future Sans Husband, Son

Locating Shaista is becoming difficult for police, as shes in mourning after the death of her husband and no one will be allowed to meet her during this time.

Atiq Ahmad Gang Member Arrested

Meanwhile, An alleged member of the Atiq Ahmad gang, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000, has been arrested, police said. Asad Kalia, a resident of New Chakia, was arrested by the Kareli police on Wednesday, according to an official statement.

Kalia was considered the right hand of Atiqs wife Shaista Praveen, who is wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case and is absconding. A number of criminal cases, including attempt to murder and under the Arms Act are pending against Kalia at the Kareli police station, it said.

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Nikita Mukhyadal works as a security guard at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation but she yearned to go a step further and don the uniform for a longer period of time: this is when she decided to apply for the position of a constable in the state police force.

But when she went to fill out the form, she realised that there was no option to identify as a transgender. Nikita, who was earlier Nitin Mukhyadal, underwent an operation after she realised that she wanted to identify as a woman.

Like Nikita, 73 other members from the transgender community have applied for the mega recruitment drive by the Maharashtra police. Recruitment is for the posts of constables and drivers.

Mumbai Police has accepted 13 applications for both positions, which are undergoing scrutiny. While one person from the community has qualified for a skills test for the position of a driver, those who have applied for the position of constable are yet to get their results, which will be out by the end of the month.

In March, the Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court that it will direct all its departments to include the option of third gender for transgender persons to apply for jobs and at educational institutions. This will also include physical standards for transgenders for the posts of constables and drivers.

But the recruitment for transgender persons is being held on the basis of self-identification, under which those applying for the position have to declare if they identify as trans male or trans female. Following this examination criteria, marking and selection will take place at par with those in the open category.

While Mumbai Police has not yet completed its scrutiny process, results for both rounds have been completed for other forces. Some transgender candidates believe that it was unfair for them to be competing in the open category, as it was bound to weaken their chances of being selected.

According to the NALSA judgement of the Supreme Court, transgender persons were declared as the third gender while the court also affirmed that the fundamental rights granted under the Constitution will be equally applicable to the community.

The court had also held that because transgender persons were treated as socially and economically backward, they will be granted reservation in admissions to educational institutions and jobs.

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Revant Himatsingka, popularly known as @foodpharmer on social media with 135,000 followers on Instagram, received backlash from Mondelez India, the company that owns Bournvita, for his April 1 video where he highlighted the high sugar content of the product. Following a legal notice from the company on April 13, he deleted the video and issued an apology on his Instagram handle, while his Twitter handle has been suspended.

In a now-deleted video, he claimed that Bournvita, a health drink owned by Mondelez India, used ingredients that could lead to diabetes if consumed daily, and that one of the ingredients, a colouring agent, could cause cancer. He criticized the tagline of Bournvita as taiyari jeet ki" (preparation for victory), suggesting it should be taiyari diabetes ki" (preparation for diabetes).

After the video received significant attention with 12 million views on Instagram, Revant issued an apology to Cadbury, the parent company of Bournvita, and mentioned that he had received a legal notice. He took down the video and expressed that he did not plan or intend to infringe any trademark or defame any company, and requested multinational corporations (MNCs) not to pursue legal action, as he did not have the resources or interest to participate in court cases.

In response, Mondelez India released a statement rejecting Revants claims, stating that they were unscientific, and that he had distorted facts and made false and negative inferences. The company defended the safety and quality of Bournvita, and expressed disagreement with the allegations made by the influencer.

When Are Health supplements laden with sugar acceptable for children?

Addressing the recent concerns raised about sugar added in health drinks which when compared revealed that 4teaspoons of health drink supplement contains between 1g to 6.5g of sugar(1.2tsp) in most of the leading brands which are available over the counter. As claimed this is no doubt within the recommended amount of calories ( < 10%) from sugar as per WHO guidelines for a healthy child to ensure that they do not indulge in high intake of simple sugars that increases the risk of obesity and chronic diseases.

The incidences of childhood obesity are on the rise and sugar intake is one of the reasons for weight gain. A child will not stop at this health drink but continue to indulge in sugar beverages, jams, spreads, candies, jellies, cakes, biscuits, ketchups, etc which are also the sources of sugar. One cannot eliminate this completely in a childs diet as they are completely exposed to it, hence portion size is the key rather than eliminating it completely which later increases their craving towards it," says Dr Edwina Raj, Head, Clinical Nutrition Dietetics, Aster CMI Hospital.

The sugar consumption of a child must be well-balanced and not exceed the quantity of the overall daily diet.

It is relatively true that health drinks, which are supplements taken alongside milk or water have calories, proteins, minerals, micro-nutrients, and vitamins and are only given to underweight children or kids who are very selective. If the natural growth of a kid is good, then the supplements are not necessarily required," says Dr Shreya Dubey, Consultant, Neonatology & Paediatrics, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram.

Health supplements do have all the nutrients, but the fact cant be ignored is they come packed with a lot of hidden sugar. If the supplement is consumed in large size portions, there are higher chances of obesity, cardiovascular risk factors, and diabetes. Therefore, children should take these supplements, if only advised by a pediatrician," adds Dr Dubey.

What is the recommended dosage of sugar for kids ?

Children between the age of 2 to 18 years should have less than 6 teaspoons of sugar or 24 gms of sugar. Children less than 2 yrs should not have any added sugar," says Dr Amish Vora, Pediatrician and Neonatal Intensivist, Bhatia Hospital Mumbai.

This is because a lot of children now are obese, have type 2 diabetes," adds Dr Vora. Young adults are having heart disease and heart problems with a lot of chronic and allergic conditions coming to children when they grow up. It is important to restrict them from eating a lot of processed food, carbonated and sugary drinks unless it is being medically prescribed by the doctor. It is best to avoid over the counter products since they contain high sugar content. Most of the carbonated drinks have 10 gms of sugar per 100 ml, and since the consumption would be more than 100 ml, the sugar content increases. Some of the carbonated drinks go up to 15 gms of sugar as well," opines Dr Vora.

How to choose what supplements are the best for your child?

A nutritionist will be able to assess your childs current nutrient intake and will prescribe supplements if necessary based on the deficit of nutrients in daily food intake which will ensure nutritional adequacy and prevents deficiencies or toxicities of such supplements.

Every health drink or supplement varies in composition and consists of both benefits and downside of additives in them. They are also loaded with carbohydrate between 12-17g in 4tsp of supplement which when added to milk is equivalent to one serving of cereal / chapathi consumed for breakfast. Therefore, this needs to be considered while planning a childs daily meal to ensure we do not go overboard in feeding them which will increase the risk of being overweight and prone to lifestyle diseases," opines Dr Raj.

We are no doubt surrounded by multiple products with nutrition labels and lengthy claims but it is equally important for every consumer to understand that no claims should be blindly accepted rather it is imperative to seek healthcare professionals , understand one s health condition and get a nutrition prescription accordingly from a Registered Dietitian.

Dr Raj believes nutritionists should help parents explore other options rather than focusing only on foods to eliminate since parents are already frustrated with childs unhealthy eating habits.

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A rare hybrid Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan falls on April 20, on the day of Vaishakh Amavasya. On this day, the new moon will block the sun causing a Solar Eclipse. During this remarkable event, the Eclipse shifts from Total Solar Eclipse to an Annular Eclipse (ring-shaped). The solar eclipse will start at 07:04 am and will end at 12:29 pm. However, the Solar Eclipse will not be visible in India and as its not sutak (inauspicious) period, all rituals of Vaishakh Amavasya can be carried out as per the Panchang.

The Vaishakh Amavasya Tithi will prevail from 11:23 am, on April 19, till and 09:41 am on April 20, according to the Panchang.

Dr Mrityunjay Tiwari, Head of the Department of Astrology at Shri Kallaji Vedic University of Rajasthan, explained that one can get rid of Pitra Dosh by resorting to several easy remedies on Vaishakh Amavasya Tithi. He also explained the ill-effects of this dosh. Dr Tiwari mentioned that due to the Pitra Dosh, the progress of the entire family is affected. He has also given the remedies on how to get rid of it on Vaishakh Amavasya. He further shared that as the years first solar eclipse is falling on Amavasya, one can do the ritual before or after the solar eclipse has ended. Here are the six easy rituals to remove Pitra Dosh.

After taking a bath, tie a Kush thread in your hand or take Kush and offer it with water to please your ancestors.

After bathing, you can recite Pitra Stotra (hymn of praise) to please the ancestors. In this Stotra, the ancestors are praised, and by doing so, you can be bestowed with the blessings of the ancestors.

On Amavasya, you can also perform Pinda dan or perform Shraddha rituals for the ancestors to please them. The ritual can make them satisfied and will bless their children or descendants for a happy life.

To satisfy your ancestors, you can make their favourite food and offer it to crows, cows, dogs and other birds. According to religious beliefs, your ancestors will be fed through them.

Donate the favourite things of your ancestors to a poor Brahmin. They are pleased by this as well.

According to the astrologer, if the ancestors are happy then, they bless their children or descendants with progress and a happy life. If they are angry, then the Pitra Dosh is present in the form of a curse. During this time, the progress of the family gets impacted.

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There are three kinds of people in the West. The first belongs to a group that doesnt understand India. Then there are people who dont want to understand this country and its people. And the third group, a minuscule one, looks up at India with hope and empathy. Unfortunately, its the first two groups that invariably set the tone for India in the West. This was evident last week in the manner in which the Western media headlined and covered the killing of a dreaded Uttar Pradesh gangster and his brother. Atiq Ahmed: Former Indian MP and brother shot dead live on TV, screamed the BBC headline. Others followed suit.

Yes, Atiq was a former Member of Parliament, but then this lawmaker was actually the sum total of his law-breaker image. Milan Vaishnav begins his 2017 book, When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, with a July 2008 exploit of Atiq Ahmed, who was then lodged in jail, to bail out the then UPA government staring at a no-confidence vote over the India-US civil nuclear deal. Forty-eight hours before the vote and with little fanfare, the government furloughed six of the nations most prominent suspected lawbreakers  collectively facing over 100 cases of kidnapping, murder, extortion, arson and more  so that they could fulfill their constitutional duties as lawmakers.

If one thought that the BBC highlighting Atiqs lawmaker part at the expense of his lawbreaker image was an act of ignorance, then this notion needs urgent revisiting. For, the BBC soon came up with another report, this time by its Women and Social Affairs Editor, which got the headline right by calling him an Indian mafia don-turned-politician but the content of the article was even more skewed than the first one. The report projected Atiq as Robin-Hood and a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde type of character who would help the poor, provide them with school fees, assist them during family weddings, and also give them money during Eid. But this persona, the BBC Editor emphasised, unravelled with mounting accusations of heinous crimes.

Interestingly, while the BBC used the term accusations while listing out Atiqs heinous crimes, thus putting in an air of ambiguity in the matter, no such operative words were used while mentioning his social works.

This BBC style of reporting has become a template for other foreign media houses. Al-Jazeera, for instance, while maintaining a BBC-like tone and tenor on the Prayagraj killings  even the headlines were similar (Ex-MP Atiq Ahmed, brother shot dead on live TV in India)  added communal colours to the entire episode. It reported that the three suspects quickly surrendered to the police after the shooting with at least one of them chanting Jai Shri Ram, or Hail Lord Ram, a slogan that has become a battle cry for Hindu nationalists in their campaign against Muslims. In the following lines, Al-Jazeera again reminded the readers that the two victims were from Indias Muslim minority. And police did not say whether they were investigating a possible sectarian motive in the killings.

Other foreign newspapers  from The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph to The Washington Post  almost took the same twisted line, turning the murder of a dreaded gangster into the dastardly killing of a lawmaker, thus putting a question mark on the democratic credentials of the country. The New York Times, for instance, used the opportunity to project Indias Slide Towards Extrajudicial Violence. Its in a way fascinating to see all these newspapers, from different countries with contrasting worldviews, having a common stand on a killing in faraway Uttar Pradesh.

While the Western media tends to use such incidents to project Indian democracy in a bad light, the fact of the matter is these are isolated cases of law and order violations, just the same way the US is facing the epidemic of gun violence. In just four months of 2023, there have been at least 160 mass shootings across the US, leading to the death of 11,523 people (as of 10 April), which on average means about 115 deaths per day. Do we ever question Americas democratic credentials based on these shootings?

Just as the American democracy remains unscathed and unblemished by the gun culture in the US, the Indian democracy today remains as strong as ever. The Western medias attempt to turn an isolated case of law and order violations into the question of Indias democratic degeneration is as malicious an act as the USCIRF-like institutions invariably clubbing democratic India with communist China, Islamist Pakistan, autocratic North Korea, fundamentalist Saudi Arabia, and terror-infested Syria and Afghanistan. The Wests doublespeak on democracy becomes obvious when one finds all sorts of anti-India forces, from Khalistanis to Islamists, finding refuge in Western capitals!

Vaishnav is spot on when he writes, India has sustained a nearly uninterrupted commitment to democratic governance for nearly seven decades. Given the odds the fledgling democracy faced at the time of Independence, its survival is no minor accomplishment. In terms of longevity, it is one no other developing country can boast, a distinction made even more admirable when Indias low level of per capita income is taken into account. He then makes a distinction between the flourishing Indian democracy and its administrative ineffectiveness. Indias central weakness has been the quality of its state. The mixed capacity of the state to fulfill its most basic functions has meant that the rule of law which exists in practice is at odds with what its Constitution aspires to establish. Democratic accountability has survived largely intact but its form has been disfigured by a high degree of administrative ineffectiveness, he adds.

Its reasonable to say that while the Indian democracy has excelled, the Indian administration needs urgent reform. But before being overly critical of the Indian state, one must look at the giant stride it has taken in the last seven decades. At the time of Independence, India adopted universal suffrage. This was despite the fact that the country had just faced the brunt of Partition, was economically impoverished, and was marred by massive illiteracy, with nine out of 10 Indians not even educated enough to read and write. The US, in contrast, took almost seven decades to let non-propertied White men vote in elections. For the same voting rights, the women had to wait till the end of World War I, and the Native Americans and African-Americans till the 1950s and the 1960s respectively.

Indias tryst with democracy, despite all its glitches, criminalisation of politics, et al, should be celebrated, rather than bemoaned. In his book, India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990), VS Naipaul sums up Indias journey beautifully. While conceding how he misunderstood this country when he first arrived here in the early 1960s, calling it an area of darkness, with no salvation in sight, he writes, What I hadnt understood in 1962, or had taken too much for granted, was the extent to which India had been restored to itself, after its own equivalent of the Dark Ages Two decades later, when Naipaul revisited India, he was much more forgiving and understanding. India was amidst a million mutinies then, but he saw these group excess, sectarian excess, religious excess, regional excess as part of the beginning of a new way for many millions, part of Indias growth, part of its restoration.

The West needs a similar Naipaulian transformation and change of outlook. This wont be good just for India and the West, but also for world democracy, especially when it is well and truly threatened by Chinas hegemonistic designs. The big question, however, is: Will the West, including its media, change? Given the fact that of the three types of people in action in the West, the most powerful and influential seem to be those who dont want to understand India, the path to change wont be that easy. The Atiq Ahmed murder case is a reminder to that.

The author is Opinion Editor, Firstpost and News18. He tweets from @Utpal_Kumar1. Views expressed are personal.

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USAACE

On the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Army Aviation branch, the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence named its headquarters building McNair Hall in honor of the late Maj. Gen. Carl. H. McNair Jr. during a building memorialization ceremony at Fort Novosel April 12.

McNair, the founder of the Aviation branch, served as the commandant of the Aviation School at then-Fort Rucker from 1980-1983.

Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, USAACE and Fort Novosel commander, thanked the McNair family members, former branch leaders, and the community for attending the ceremony.

Over the last 40 years Army aviation has continually adapted and changed to honor the sacred trust with the soldier on the ground, McCurry said. Today we honor a man who embodied the very essence of Army aviations sacred trust by memorializing this headquarters to Maj. Gen. McNair.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam conflict, McCurry said, and he recognized Vietnam veterans in the audience.

These warriors are part of our lineage, our lineage beginning with the history of the aeronauts flying balloons during the Civil War, through Army aviators flying air mobile, attack and medevac missions in Vietnam, prepared Army aviation for its christening as a branch.

After our founding in 1983, we continued to demonstrate our mettle as we supported combined arms teams during operations Urgent Fury, Just Cause, Desert Shield and Storm, and the Global War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. This resolute commitment to the ground soldier is our sacred trust yesterday, today and tomorrow, he said.

After Vietnam, many people were in favor of Army aviation becoming a separate combat arm, but there were also many skeptics.

McNair pushed the branch across the finish line, McCurry said.

McCurry said he personally met McNair at an Army association Christmas ball in Washington, D.C., where McCurry was slated to be the featured speaker. He noticed a gentleman wearing two stars on his impeccably fitting but obviously vintage dress blues.

As I approached I realized who he was. Talk about a feeling of inadequacy. Here I was, brand new one star, and Im here to talk about Army aviation, and the man who founded the branch is sitting at my table, McCurry said.

McCurry said McNair was humble and unassuming.

What will stick with me forever is his kind, gentle and selfless manner. The way he conducted himself with every soldier, family member, and civilian regardless of rank or position, McCurry said.

McCurry said a retired general officer at the same event had vision impairment, and when dinner was served, McNair took the time to carefully cut the officers food into small bites and arranged it on the plate for them to know where the food was.

Never have I seen such a complete demonstration of what it means to be a servant leader, an officer and a gentleman, McCurry said.

McCurry said there was no one more fitting to name the building after than McNair, in light of his remarkable contribution to Army aviation, the Army and the Nation.

A 1955 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, McNair wanted to branch infantry. Thanks to a timely visit from Gen. Hamilton Howze, who told him flying was achievable, he set his sights on the skies.

McNair commissioned in infantry, and attended flight training at home of Army aviation, and airborne school before his first troop assignment in the 82nd Airborne Division, McCurry said.

In his 32 years of service, McNair served as aviation adviser to the 2d Field Army in Tiawan. He served during six campaigns in Vietnam and flew 1,600 hours in combat. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Legion of Merit, multiple Bronze Stars with Valor, and more than 50 Air Medals.

Among his assignments, he served on the faculty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and also as an aviation officer at the Department of the Army where he was pivotal in transforming Army aviation to fight and win the next war, McCurry explained.

After serving as the Aviation Center commander, and as the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, he retired in 1987.

McNair, whose self-declared purpose was to serve and help others, went on to hold leadership roles in the private sector, served on the boards of nonprofit organizations, and served the community in various associations.

In 2004 McNair was inducted in the Aviation Hall of Fame, and in 2011 was named Distinguished Graduate from the U.S. Military Academy, as well as receiving various other honors.
Later this year, the Rajasthan Assembly elections will be held. It is currently the only large state controlled by the Congress party, but regrettably, the grand old party has struggled to maintain peace within the state ever since it won the Assembly elections here in 2019. Senior leader Sachin Pilot, who formerly served as the states deputy chief minister, has now openly announced his rivalry with Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister and a Congress veteran. Despite a firm stance taken by the Congress high command, Pilot engaged in a one-day hunger fast in response to the Gehlot administrations alleged failings to move the corruption proceedings against former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister Vasundhara Raje forward.

Since the rivalry has intensified over the past five years, Pilot has come to the conclusion that his only choice is to defy the Congress high command. When two prominent leaders openly argue with one another, the electorate and the supporters break down, and Sachin Pilot, the Tonk MLA from the desert state, becomes increasingly dissatisfied, which could push the Congress toward a Punjab-like catastrophe. The general public is confused by these clashes. Though there is no doubt about one thing: Congress has not learned from its errors in Punjab. One may say they have learned, which is why they did not change Gehlot as the CM. But given that the party did not attempt to put out the flames between the two, that would be a weak defence. Gehlots non-removal could be motivated more by necessity than by strategy.

The BJP, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, must be recognised and acknowledged for the stability and decisiveness it symbolises. There have been discussions about the Congress party challenging the BJP. The most important question in this situation should be: How can a political party oppose the BJP when its own leaders cant be kept together?

According to members of the Congress, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge wished for Pilot to join the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and take a significant position in national politics. However, the issue is that the high command of the Congress does not comprehend the source of unrest within Pilot. He has established his own support base and has been operating in Rajasthan since 2014. The Gandhi family encouraged him to pursue his ambitions of becoming the states chief minister but, in the end, they essentially betrayed him. It is evident that a Gujjar leader like Sachin Pilot has support on the ground in Rajasthan. However, the Congress is also aware that it can only form the government with Gujjar support and the backing of some groups. Congress believes that Ashok Gehlot is the best person to serve as the unifier needed to create a government in Rajasthan. Gehlot was chosen as the chief minister in the most recent Assembly elections by the Congress high command because he is a steady figurehead who is well-liked by people of all political leanings. The Congress had numerous opportunities to make clear judgements regarding Sachin Pilot but instead, they kept him waiting. Now that he has reached his breaking point, the party is unable to provide a workable answer.

Strong rumours suggest that Sachin Pilot would launch a new political organisation, or join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP, or other parties. However, people close to Pilot are of the opinion that he is neither Ghulam Nabi Azad nor Amarinder Singh. Pilot is a fervent politician and Congressman who wants to fight for his rights within the party. But trying to go too far with such a leaders loyalty is not a wise course of action. There can be no question that the Congress will need both Pilot and Gehlot in order to win this years elections in Rajasthan. While there are differences between the two of them as leaders, the Congress must now choose a single course of action.

Mallikarjun Kharge has been serving as the president of the Congress for more than six months now but he consistently avoids making any firm decisions. Kharge is keeping the status quo with regard to the overhaul of the Congress, which will ultimately be detrimental to the party in every aspect. To put out the fire of intra-Congress infighting in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and other states, Kharge failed to act decisively and constructively. He also declined to participate in an internal election for the Congress Working Committee (CWC). He is increasingly thought to be simply carrying out the Gandhis instructions. But Kharge needs to understand that the partys image is being damaged by these disputes, internal strife, outspoken Opposition, and other related issues. All these occurrences cast doubt on the effectiveness of Congress organisational structure. A party cannot merely be concerned with enhancing Rahul Gandhis reputation while disregarding its overall reputation. In Indias current political climate, this kind of inclination is detrimental to the development and advancement of a political party.

The growing unhappiness with Sachin Pilot is not a separate problem. For a long time, the partys organisational capacity has been diminishing, and this is why Kharge was seen favourably by the Congress supporters who wanted to see the partys structure improve. It is important to understand that the grand old party is not even able to get all of Indias Opposition parties together. The Congress has become extremely haughty, and the Gandhi family is the subject of its entire discourse, which is why this has happened. In order to get the support of the bulk of the Opposition political groups, the party had to make contact with Nitish Kumar, the leader of the Janata Dal-United (JDU) and the chief minister of Bihar.

The Congress party has faced discrimination in many states, including West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and others, and its top leaders have been forced to join new organisations. Currently, the Congress is the primary source of support for Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, and the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), led by Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. After Hemanta Biswa Sarma defected from the Congress to join the BJP, the same narrative was repeated in Assam.

The Congress has undoubtedly seen a lot of partygoers leave, and the grand old party has since moved on. But those were the olden days. It can no longer afford to lose influential figures like Sachin Pilot. State after state has been lost by the party, and prominent officials are quitting every other day. The partys president, Mallikarjun Kharge, will have to alter the status quo of the party since the Congress would require a plan to maintain order in its own house. Congress will require a strong organisation, regional leaders, and strong agendas centred on states and the Centre in order to win. Kharge needs to view Pilots uprising as a summons to modify Congress approach of waiting, until a catastrophe occurs, before taking proactive measures.

The author is a columnist and Doctoral Research Scholar In Media & Politics. He tweets @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

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The new UN report also estimated that the global population will have hit 8.045 billion by mid-2023, by which time almost one in five people on the planet will be Indian. (News18 Creatives)
NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into the deaths of people due to sunstroke during or after the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony in Kharghar.

The demand by Pawar, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, came even as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde appointed a one-member committee of Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Nitin Keer to probe the deaths of 14 persons.

Pawar also said that the state governments apathy was responsible for the deaths, and it should be booked for culpable homicide".

In a letter to Governor Ramesh Bais, Pawar urged him to direct the government to initiate probe by a retired judge.

Initially it was reported that sunstroke caused the death of 14 persons, but some reports later suggested that the deaths occurred due to a stampede during the April 16 event, the Nationalist Congress Party leader said.

Social worker Appasaheb Dharmadhikari was given the states highest award, Maharashtra Bhushan, at the hands of Union minister Amit Shah during the event in Navi Mumbais Kharghar area.

People (who attended the event) had no access to water and food for seven hours. As there was no planning for crowd control, ambulances could not reach the spot on time. Despite the harsh heat conditions, the function was organised in an open place. A company with no prior experience of organising such events was given the work, spending Rs 14 crore," he said.

The toll might be bigger than 14 but the authorities are tight-lipped, Pawar said.

These were not natural deaths but caused by government apathy, therefore the government should be booked for culpable homicide, the Leader of Opposition said.

He also demanded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the kin of the deceased.

The injured should get free treatment and a compensation of Rs five lakh each, Pawar said.

He also demanded that an expert committee be set up to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure such incidents do not happen in the future.

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Kerala is one state where the BJP has not been able to gain electoral benefits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 2 said the BJP-led government will come to power in Kerala just like in the northeastern states and Goa. His words have rejuvenated the BJP workers, and, one can see rigorous activities by the BJP workers on ground, including reaching out to Christians on Easter and inviting them to their homes on Vishu.

The statement of Thalassery Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany that if the central government increased the price of rubber to Rs 300, then they will vote for the BJP as the high-range farmers are suffering.

Why Should BJP Have Support of One Minority Community?

The demographics of Kerala show the state has about 54% Hindus, 26% Muslims and 18% Christians. Hindus have traditionally voted for the Congress-led UDF and CPIM-led LDF. Though the BJP has been able to get some percentage of votes from the Hindus, it is difficult for them to get their complete support. So, it is crucial for the BJP to have the backing of at least one minority community.

Majority of the Christians have electorally supported the Congress but with former CM Oommen Chandy being unwell and inactive, there is a vacuum of leaders who can reach out to the community. The late KM Mani, former finance minister of Kerala, was also a leader with great roots within the Christian community. Mani was in the UDF fold but following his demise in April 2019, the Kerala Congress (M) is led by his son Jose K Mani, which is part of LDF since 2020. The BJP hopes to take advantage of all these aspects.

BJP believes that the statement by the archbishop, cardinal has helped them. People in such positions within the church openly saying that they see all fronts equally has boosted the confidence of the BJP. They believe that earlier the BJP was not even seen as an option but now the scenario is changing. Both the LDF and Congress are discussing the issue, and so is the Kerala society.

BJP has begun their outreach a year ahead of the 2024 general elections. They have in mind five Lok Sabha constituencies  Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Attingal and Mavelikara  which have a sizeable number of Christian population. According to the BJP, the Christian population in these constituencies is 20% to 30% and if they are able to tap into it, it will benefit them electorally. In Thiruvananthapuram, the BJP candidate lost Congresss Shashi Tharoor last two times in a majority of about 15,000 votes.

Johny Nellore who was with the Kerala Congress (Joseph) faction has resigned as the deputy chairman of the party and secretary of UDF and said he will float a new secular national party. Johnny Nellore has also spoken about the farmers, especially rubber farmers, while announcing his resignation. This new party will have people from the Christian community and reports are abuzz that it will be supporting the NDA. The aim is to reach out to the Kerala Congress groups, which are presently with the LDF and the UDF.

Both CPIM and Congress have started the counter measures right from the time the BJP has begun their outreach to the Christian community. Both have claimed the drive the BJP is hypocritical as the party is allegedly attacking Christians and their places of worship in other states. They have also pointed out how the clergy approached the Supreme Court against the minority attacks.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also weighed in on this. The CM had said, Its outside Kerala that the attack on Christians took place. They were not able to choose that line here (Kerala) not because the Sangh Parivar has some special affection for the minorities. But here, if you take a communal stand, and try to create a communal clash, the government will take a strict action."

Opposition leader VD Satheesan had said even as BJP leaders are visiting Christian houses in Kerala, a minister in neighbouring poll-bound Karnataka has said if Christians come to their house they should be beaten up as they are coming for religious conversion.

Has BJP Been Able to Make Inroads into the Community?

They have been able to create a perception that the BJP is not untouchable. They have been able to keep alive the discussions on their outreach.

Shaiju Antony, PRO of Laity Movement, said the outreach is just an election engineering by the BJP. Even as the elections are nearing in Karnataka, they are doing this outreach in Kerala and not in Karnataka because it was a bishop from Karnataka who has approached the court against the atrocities on Christians.

Shaiju Antony said, After all these visits, we have not heard the BJP condemning the atrocities against Christians. All places where Christians are minorities, they are using ghar wapsi as a weapon. There are some takers for this outreach especially some clergy but among the common people they have not been able to make changes. Some could also be supporting because of the cases against them.

There are many in the Christian community even among the clergy who feel a lot of hype is being created around the BJPs outreach drive but hardly any positive responses. Many feel that the real issues are not being discussed.

J Prabhash, political analyst and former HOD, political science, University of Kerala said through clergy, the BJP is aiming at bringing the Kerala Congress factions into their fold. The BJP is looking at it in the long term. If the clergy takes a stand in support of the BJP, it will make the way easier for the Kerala Congress groups to be with the BJP. They have been able to keep the topic alive and also the untouchability factor is no longer there, he said.

The outreach to the Christian community is not an easy task and one that will yield results soon but the BJP is planning meticulously. So far, they have been successful in creating a perception that the BJP is no longer untouchable. But even now the common man in the community is not supportive of the BJP. This is what they are aiming to change and there is a long road ahead.

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Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat on Thursday said he held a political discussion with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna but declined to comment on whether he was sent on a special mission by the party high command.

Sharing a photograph of his Wednesday evening meeting with Kumar on Twitter, Rawat wrote, Shri Nitish Kumar, the strong voice of opposition unity in 2024" However, when asked about the meeting, Rawat said Kumar is an old friend and he had travelled to Patna to appreciate his good works.

He is our old friend. He is doing good work and it is everyones responsibility to salute good work," he said.

Rawat, a former Uttarakhand chief minister, admitted that there were political discussions between the two leaders.

We are no saints. When political people meet, political talk is bound to happen," he added.

However, when asked if the party high command had sent him to Patna on a special mission, Rawat refused to comment.

The two leaders meeting is being seen as a sequel to the recent talks between Kumar and Rahul Gandhi.

People close to Rawat said the meeting was held to strengthen opposition unity in view of preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

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In an embarrassment to the ruling Congress in Rajasthan, party leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday visited the protest site where BJP MP Kirodi Lal Meena is sitting on a dharna with the family of a man who allegedly killed himself recently.

The former deputy chief minister called for visible" justice to the family without delay.

Ramprasad Meena, 38, hanged himself on Monday in a godown over an alleged land dispute.

In a video recorded before his death, he accused Cabinet Minister Mahesh Joshi and a few other people of creating problems for his family in connection with the land dispute and blamed them for his extreme step.

The family had refused to hand over the body to police for post-mortem examination unless the accused are arrested but they agreed for it Thursday at the godown where Ramprasad hanged himself and where his body has been kept.

The postmortem was done in the evening but the family has not yet accepted the body, said Additional District Magistrate (South) Mohammad Abubakr. Efforts are being made to convince them, he added.

The family has also sought a compensation and a government job to a family member.

Kirodi Lal Meena has been a part of the dharna in Chandi ki Taksal in Subhash Chowk for the last three days. He said the Meena community will collect a sum of Rs 50 lakh and will give it to the family members.

Pilot, who is involved in a tussle for power with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the state unit of the Congress, demanded an impartial and time-bound probe in the case after meeting the family members at the dharna site near their home. He also talked to Kirodi Lal Meena during his visit.

During a meeting with officials later, Gehlot said the incident was very sad" and district authorities should act promptly in protecting the poor from harassment of influential people, according to a statement.

A person from the ST community has died by suicide. It is a shock if someones life is lost. It is a very heart-wrenching incident. I talked to his father, brother and son, and they have said several things," Pilot told reporters.

The victims family should get justice. Justice should not be delayed and justice should also be visible, he said.

When pointed out that the family members have said they feel an atmosphere of fear, Pilot said, The family is speaking, so there must be pressure. I do not understand why the delay is happening? There are proofs coming up. If the action is seen, then it will generate confidence in them, he said.

Pilot said there are video statements and other proofs that should be considered during investigation.

This is a very poor family and it is the responsibility of all of us, whoever is the accused, there should be a fair investigation. The family should believe that justice will be done, he said.

In the video statement, Ramprasad Meena alleged he was forced to take the extreme step as Joshi and others caused a lot of trouble to his family.

Later, Kirodi Lal Meena said Ramprasad Meena had gone to meet Joshi after his family did not get help from anywhere. He added that the family members told him the minister insulted and pushed them.

Due to the ministers torture, he became depressed and embraced death," the BJP leader alleged.

Joshi, the local MLA (from Hawa Mahal seat), denied the allegations, saying he did not misbehave with the family when they had come to meet him on April 13.

After Pilot left, Kirodi Lal Meena said it was good that a senior leader of the Congress party met the family members. He said Pilot has spoken to media about things that Ramprasad Meenas family had been saying.

He said the familys main demand was the arrest of the accused.

Meena claimed three of the accused  Rakesh Tank, Dev Awasthi and Lal Devnani  have been taken into custody but no police official confirmed this.

Earlier in the day, Congress MLA Harish Meena, considered close to Pilot, also met the family members.

Pilot held a day-long fast in Jaipur last week alleging inaction by the Gehlot government on complaints of alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje dispensation.

He also skipped two programmes of the party recently in Jaipur.

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The Congress does not see the dismissal of Rahul Gandhis plea for a stay on his conviction in a defamation case by a Surat court as a setback. In fact, sources say it has firmed the former MPs resolve to push the Adani issue even more despite many in the opposition having reservations about making this the core strategy.

But sources in the Congress say, following the Surat court verdict, the partys top leaders met to discuss the road ahead till 2024.

Firstly, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress will use the legal journey to play the victim and sympathy card. They will use this to make the point that anyone who questions the PM has to visit the courts. Press conferences and satyagraha are planned over the next few weeks. And after the May 10 Karnataka elections, the second phase of the Bharat Jodo Yatra will underscore this the issue while Rahul Gandhi will make the point yet again that he is not scared to make this point.

Secondly, on whether the Congress will make the Adani issue the kernel of its election campaign, top Congress sources said no". We will talk more about unemployment and rising prices but will link it to the nepotism and crony capitalism connected to the Adani issue," they added.

Once again, the party will revive its winning slogan from 2004: Congress ka haath aam aadmi ke saath".

But the Congress has also agreed that it will raise the Satyapal Malik revelations as a core issue, while maintaining two things: 1. Pakistan is very much involved. 2. Balakote strikes will not be questioned.

Instead, it will focus on why the jawans were not given aircraft and other facilities.

Sources in the Congress said that they are not too perturbed if the legal journey is long and Rahul does not get relief during the polls, as it would help build up sympathy during the Karnataka elections.

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The Chinese tech giant Xiaomi on Thursday announced a specialised at-home phone support service for senior citizens in India. This initiative aims to provide phone setup services for senior citizens who may face challenges in visiting service centers due to various reasons.

Heres How To Avail Xiaomi Phone Setup Service

- To avail the services, customers have to follow a few simple steps.

- They can choose their desired service by scanning a QR Code and filling in their personal details to proceed.

- Once the personal details are submitted, a Xiaomi service representative will contact the customer to verify the type of service and eligibility by checking their pin code.

- Once done, a Xiaomi service representative will be at their doorstep at the earliest.

- The customers can also raise tokens via a hotline number 1800 103 6286 and on Whatsapp number  8861826286.

According to the company, this benefit is exclusively available to senior citizens who reside within 20 kilometres of their nearest service centre. Other customers may also avail the services but will have to pay a nominal charge of Rs 249 plus taxes.

In the first phase, the service will initially go live in 15 cities that include Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Noida and Pune.

The on-door phone support service will be a game-changer and will set a new benchmark in customer service, Xiaomi India said in a statement.

This service is specifically designed for our senior citizen users who may not be able to visit the Service center for various reasons. By offering a limited period free of cost at-home service, we want to encourage our users to stay better connected with our teams and enable us to deliver a smooth service. We will continue to align our efforts in making our services accessible to a larger network of customers in the coming years," Muralikrishnan B, President at Xiaomi India said.

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After the inauguration of Apple firsts retail store in Mumbai, Tim Cook travelled to Delhi to launch the brands second store. Amidst the busy schedule, Cook visited Delhis Lodhi Art District to explore Indias capital and the place has now been included as one of the most remarkable public spaces he has ever stepped in. He lauded all the artists whose creations have made the venue a powerful epitome that captures the countrys culture and life. Tim Cook was also introduced to a mural artist, who showed him how he uses iPad for his work.

Delhis Lodhi Art District is a remarkable public space. Congratulations to the St+art India Foundation and so many amazing artists for capturing Indian life so powerfully. And thank you to Dattaraj Naik for showing me how you design your murals on iPad, the Apple CEO wrote in a tweet accompanied by multiple stills from his visit. In one photo, Tim Cook can be seen conversing with the artist, the other pictures captivate the great artwork displayed in the Art District.

Take a look at it here:

Delhis Lodhi Art District is a remarkable public space. Congratulations to the St+art India Foundation and so many amazing artists for capturing Indian life so powerfully. And thank you to Dattaraj Naik for showing me how you design your murals on iPad. pic.twitter.com/5JuzlHRvPC Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 19, 2023

Twitter users were quickly impressed by the Apple CEO, Tim Cook knows how to strike the right chords with the Indian audience, commented one user

Tim Cook knows how to strike the right chords with the Indian audience. Shubham Verma (@shruberma) April 19, 2023

Another wrote Cook is Appl-e-fying the Indians with the perfect placement.

Appl-e-fying the Indians with the perfect placement. Satyam (@satyampathak) April 19, 2023

One more joined the bandwagon to express, Tim Cook in full swing to market Apple in India.

Tim on full swing to market Apple in India. Harshit Verma (@harshit1verma) April 19, 2023

The Apple Saket store in Delhi was unveiled by Tim Cook at 10 pm on Thursday, April 20. Just like the Mumbai opening, loyal Apple customers formed a long queue to visit the store on its launch day. What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! Were delighted to welcome our customers to our newest storeApple Saket, tweeted Tim Cook after witnessing the warm reception.

What an incredible reception, Delhi, thank you! Were delighted to welcome our customers to our newest storeApple Saket! pic.twitter.com/5Jmi79ixzl Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 20, 2023

The first retail store is located at the posh Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in the city of dreams.

Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on Indias future  from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, were committed to growing and investing across the country. pic.twitter.com/xRSjc7u5Ip Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 19, 2023

Tim Cook also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on Indias future  from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, were committed to growing and investing across the country. pic.twitter.com/xRSjc7u5Ip Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 19, 2023

Sharing a photo from the meeting, Cook wrote, Thank you Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on Indias future  from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, were committed to growing and investing across the country.

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Pakistans Foreign Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be participating in the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa on May 4-5.

This will be the first visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister to India in over a decade. Earlier in 2011, then Pakistan Foreign Minister and now junior Foreign Minister in Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar had visited New Delhi.

India and Pakistan have seen minimal diplomatic engagement as the ties between the two neighbouring nations got sour in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019.

The last high-level visit from the Pakistani delegation was in December 2016, when the then-Pakistan Prime Ministers Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz visited India to attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar. Since then, there have been no official visits by Pakistans Foreign Minister to India.

Announcing Bilawals visit, Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that the foreign minister is attending the SCO meet on the invitation of the Current Chair of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Dr S Jaishankar.

Our Participation to the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, the spokesperson said.

India-Pakistan bilateral relations are virtually on a standstill, especially after the Pulwama terror attack, where 40 Indian Paramilitary personnel died after as a suicide bomber affiliated with the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) drove an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel.

The terror attack was followed by Balakot strike where Indian Air force targeted and destroyed military camps on the Pakistani side by launching high precision guided missiles. The incidents followed days of high tension where the two nuclear armed neighbours were seemingly on the brink of a war.

It is yet not clear whether the visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister will be having any bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

As a host and Chair of SCO Council of foreign ministers, Jaishankar is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with most of the participating foreign Ministers of SCO member countries in Goa on the sidelines of the SCO meeting.

However, the world will be following closely if the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will engage bilaterally or if it will remain limited to a few exchanges of pleasantries between Jaishankar and Bhutto.

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Following a two-hour delay because one juror failed to show up, the capital murder trial of Coley McCraney got underway Wednesday with opening arguments by the defense and prosecuting attorneys  and only 13 jurors.

McCraney, charged with five counts of capital murder and one charge of rape in connection with the 20-year-old case involving the shooting deaths of two Dothan teens in Ozark, has been in Dale County Jail without bond since his March 17, 2019, arrest and indictment in the shooting deaths of Dothan teens J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, whose bodies were found in the trunk of Beasleys car parked on Herring Avenue in Ozark. The teens were last heard from on the evening of July 31, 1999, when Hawlett called her mother from Ozark to let her know they were on their way home after getting lost on the way to a party.

Some two decades later, McCraney was identified as a suspect after DNA from the crime scene was identified through genetic genealogy testing.

Dont leave your common sense at the door, Dale County Assistant District Attorney Eric Massey told the seven-woman, six-man jury in opening arguments Wednesday morning. The missing male juror had been one of 12 jurors and two alternates selected Tuesday afternoon after almost two full days of voir dire. Let the DNA do the talking. Let the mud do the talking, Massey said about testimony the jury can expect to hear during the trial.

Massey outlined events of the night of the murders for the jury to include the girls ending up in Ozark, lost, after trying to get to a party with friends in Midland City.

Massey said the girls called home from a pay phone at a gas station in Ozark and then asked clerks at the station for directions back to Dothan. Massey said that testimony will reveal that the girls were not muddy at that time. When the girls were found in the trunk of Beasleys car, their jeans were muddied, Massey said. Semen had been found on Beasleys clothing when her body was discovered, he said.

The killer made two huge mistakes, Massey said. One was leaving the car on Herring Avenue, a location about equidistant between the gas station and McCraneys home at the time. One was leaving the semen that was ultimately tied to McCraney through DNA testing, Massey said.

Hawletts mother Carol and stepfather Mike told the court about the last night either had heard from their daughter, who had been working at a part-time job at the JC Penney store in Dothan. Both said she had called home at about 11:30 p.m. telling her parents that she would not be home by her 11 p.m. curfew because they had gotten lost but had gotten directions and were headed back to Dothan.

Hawletts mother said that when she awoke the next morning and discovered that her daughter was not home, she called hospitals while her husband drove to Ozark to see if he could find the vehicle along the route the girls said they were taking.

Two men who had known the girls 20 years ago also testified about the events of the night of July 31, 1999 and separate conversations they had had with the girls before the girls had left to meet friends in Midland City.

Dance School owner Patti Simpson told the court that Beasley had lived with her from the fall of 1998 until her death. Beasley was a dance student, an employee, and a good friend, Simpson said.

Coley McCraney was a player back then, McCraneys defense attorney David Harrison said, adding that McCraney, an over-the-road truck driver at the time, had found Beasley and Hawlett at the gas station the night they said they were lost and talked, socialized, and had sex with Beasley.

Do not assume, do not assume, do not assume, countered Harrison, telling the jury about a person who had been a newspaper carrier in 1999 and who had witnessed a pewter Grand Marquis pull up beside Beasleys vehicle parked on Herring Avenue the night the deaths occurred. That man is expected to testify, Harrison said. That paper boy is going to do what he did 20 years ago and that is deliver the news  and the news is that Coley McCraney is not guilty.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Assistant Attorney General Jimmy Thomas are prosecuting McCraney with assistance from Massey. The attorney generals office took the case at the request of the 33rd Judicial Circuit District Attorney Kirke Adams.

The court adjourned Wednesday afternoon and will reconvene Thursday at 9 a.m.
Around 155,000 federal workers, including 35,000 from Canadas tax agency, went on strike on Wednesday in what their union is calling one of the largest strikes in the countrys history.

The strike will impact most of the government departments, including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada said the strike was called after talks with the government failed to produce an agreement. The workers have been demanding fair wages, better work-life balance, creation of more jobs and more workplace inclusivity.

Picket lines will be set up at more than 250 locations. The strike involving the Canada Revenue Agency comes as tax returns are due.

Chris Aylward, the unions national president, said the bargaining teams would remain at the table throughout the strike.

The Government has done everything it can to reach a deal and avoid disrupting the services that Canadians rely on. Despite some ongoing movement at the bargaining table on key issues by both sides, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has decided to proceed with a nation-wide general strike, the federal governments Treasury Board said in a statement.

Strike To Affect Canada Visa Processing?

The strike is likely to cause disruptions and delays in processing visa applications, appointments or events including citizenship ceremonies and consular citizenship, a report in Livemint said.

The strike will also affect passport services including passport renewals in Canada. It could also result in longer wait times at Canadian ports of entry, including airports and land crossings.

Moreover, most government services are now fully or partially disrupted, including most immigration services provided by IRCC, ESDC, and Passport Canada.

Solution to Problem?

Though several services will remain disrupted, but services including applying online, online accounts and accessing some emergency services will remain operational.

According to CIC News, settlement services from IRCC partner organizations, health care through the Interim Federal Health Program, and visa application centres outside of Canada, offered by non-governmental organizations, will also remain available.

Amid the ongoing strike Canadians have been told to expect delays in the processing of income tax returns, immigration and asylum requests, passport applications and foreign worker permits.

Meanwhile, consular services and new requests for veterans benefits would also be affected. In order to escape any hassle due to the strike, employers and foreign nationals are expected to submit necessary immigration applications early to prepare for potential delays.

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India and the United States are facing the same security challenges from China, a top American commander said here Wednesday, noting that the Biden Administration is not only providing assistance to New Delhi with cold weather gear, as it defends its border on the northern side, but also helping India in its effort to develop its own industrial base.

We value our partnership with India, and weve been increasing it and doing a lot more, over time. They have the same security challenge, primary security challenger that we do, and its real on their northern border. Two skirmishes now in over the past nine or 10 months on that border, as they continue to get pressurised by the PRC for border gains, Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Indo-Pacific National Security Challenges.

Admiral Aquilino was responding to a question from Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna. I would like you to reflect on the importance of the relationship  postcolonialism India and China had a relationship to emerge as the Asian voice. But that relationship now has really soured with a concern that there should not be a hegemon in Asia and that China is treating other countries as junior partners, Khanna said.

It seems to me that this gives us an opportunity to ensure that China doesnt emerge as a hegemon to strengthen the relationship with India, said the Indian American Congressman.

Aquillino said both India and the US have the same security challenges. We also have the desire to operate together, based on the worlds largest democracy. We have common values, and we also have people, the people ties for a number of years. I met with General Chauhan, my counterpart, at the Raisina Dialogue not long ago. Ive been to India five times now in the past two years.

So, the importance of that relationship cant be overstated. We operate together, frequently, with the Quad Nations. Again, the Quad is not a security agreement, its diplomatic and economic, but the Quad Nations come together, often, to operate together in multiple exercises. So, we continue to work to be interoperable and to expand the relationship, he observed.

In response to another question from Congressman Patrick Ryan, the admiral said India is a critical partner and besides conducting joint war exercises in the Malabar, the US is providing assistance to India as it applies to cold weather gear and other capabilities that they might need, as they defend their border on the northern side. But additionally, were expanding our cooperation in the form of production as India tries to work to develop its own industrial base. So, C-130 critical components made in India, helicopter critical frameworks made in India. That is expanding the partnership and moving them towards self-sufficiency and increased partnership with the United States, Aquilino added.

Referring to the recently launched India-US initiative for critical and emerging technology announced by the national security advisors of the two countries, Jedidiah P Royal, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security, said: Were already delivering offers under the context of the ISAT arrangement. This is a real moment of convergence for the United States and India and were looking to take full advantage of it, going forward. Testifying before the committee, Royal said: India faces the same challenger that we face in the region. So what were seeing right now is a moment of strategic convergence in our relationship with the government of India. Theres a lot of momentum in that regard. With respect to your question on from whom do they buy their weapons, we believe that they are through a generational process of looking to diversify off of traditional suppliers.

We want to make sure that the US defence industrial base is in the best position possible to be Indias partner of choice moving forward, he said.

In response to another question, Aquilino said the US is working with our Indian partners both to advance their warfighting capabilities together to ensure that the US is sharing information thats needed.

We do have the same strategic competitor or whatever definition we want to put on it and in my time over in the theatre now for five years straight, it has increased exponentially. Its trending in the right direction. Theyre really good partners, he said.

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An Indian citizen has been arrested in London by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant from the US, as part of a UK-US coordinated action against terrorism financing.

Sundar Nagarajan, 66, was arrested by the Metropolitan Polices National Extradition Unit from an address at Hayes in west London on Tuesday.

After being refused bail, Madurai-born Nagarajan is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in London next week wanted by the US authorities for fraud and money laundering offences. He faces charges of helping to launder money to evade US sanctions and fund Hizbollah, reports said.

His arrest followed action by the Mets Counter Terrorism Command to arrest a 50-year-old man in Wales on suspicion of funding terrorism.

Officers from the Mets Counter Terrorism Command also arrested wealthy art collector and diamond dealer Nazem Ahmad for suspected terrorist financing and money laundering.

Ahmad is suspected of being a funding source for Hizballah, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and US.

Sanctions against Ahmad were also announced this week by the UK government alongside the US government sanctions against Ahmad and a number of his suspected associates, including Nagarajan.

Terrorist groups rely on financial support and funding for their activities and the NTFIU works closely with agencies in the UK and around the world to identify and take action against those people who provide and facilitate this funding, said Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, of the Mets Counter Terrorism Command.

With our international partners, we will never give up on our mission to disrupt terrorist activity, both in the UK and abroad, in order to keep the public safe, he said, adding that the arrests were the result of ongoing work and cooperation with American counterparts as a key milestone in what is a complex investigation into terrorist financing.

The Met Police said that searches at two commercial addresses, both in east London, were carried out by officers this week in connection with the investigation. The NTFIU comprises of specialist financial investigators who investigate suspicious financial activity where they believe it may have links to terrorism.

Its action in the case coincided with the US Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of New York unsealing a nine-count indictment. It is alleged that Nazem Ahmad was involved in real estate development, the international trade of diamonds, and the international acquisition and sale of artwork, and operated these enterprises through a complex web of business entities.

Ahmad, a Lebanese resident and dual Belgian-Lebanese citizen, was sanctioned by the US for being a financier for Hizballah.

Nagarajan is named among his associates who used numerous corporate entities and individuals to disguise Ahmads control and beneficial interest in the companies and in financial transactions, and facilitate the acquisition of multiple pieces of valuable artwork and diamond-grading services for millions of dollars worth of diamonds from US persons, according to the US authorities.

(With inputs from PTI)

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday discussed the worsening situation in Sudan with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and underscored the need for successful diplomacy which can lead to an early ceasefire and create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of people.

Jaishankar, who met Guterres at the UN headquarters here, also discussed other issues, including Indias presidency of the G20 and the Ukraine conflict, with the UN chief.

Good to meet UN Secretary General @antonioguterres in New York today afternoon. Discussed the current developments in Sudan, G20 Presidency and Ukraine, he tweeted.

Focus understandably was on Sudan. India strongly supports efforts towards an early ceasefire, leading to creation of safe corridors. Will continue to work closely with UN and other partners in this regard, he said.

Good to meet UN Secretary General @antonioguterres in New York today afternoon.Discussed the current developments in Sudan, G20 Presidency and Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/6ZRANljEtg  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 20, 2023

Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning on Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean.

Before his travel to Latin America, he arrived in New York.

He said while his trip to South America was planned quite a while ago, he came here to the UN mainly because once the fighting started (in Sudan) on the 14th (of April), you could immediately see that this was very serious and a lot of people were trapped by the situation.

We knew that the UN itself has a large presence in Sudan. This will be the centre. Because at this moment, what is needed is diplomacy, successful diplomacy because its only diplomacy which can create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of the people out there, Jaishankar told a small group of journalists here after his meeting with Guterres.

Noting that he had a very good meeting with Guterres, Jaishankar said once the fighting in Sudan started out, I felt that it was very important that he met the UN Secretary-General Guterres.

Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also of course discussed the G20 and we also spend some time on the Ukraine conflict. But essentially it was about the Sudan situation, he said.

Jaishankar said that in Sudan, the UN is at the heart of the efforts to establish a ceasefire.

And that is really key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it is not safe for people to really come out, he said.

The UN is doing its bit talking to everybody. We of course have obviously very strong interest in the matter because so many Indians are there, Jaishankar added.

Around 300 people, including an Indian, have been killed, and more than 3,000 injured in clashes in Sudan, according to the World Health Organisation. The violence between forces from Sudans army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on Saturday.

Jaishankar said New Delhi is in touch with a number of countries and he has spoken to Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

We have been in touch with the Americans, I have also been in touch with my British counterpart, he said.

Earlier this morning, he had a long conversation with the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry for being Sudans neighbour and having a strong interest and strong understanding.

So, the focus is really how do you get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result. The desired result is a workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire. And then to take the next step, which is how do you create corridors for movement, what are the options of movement, what are the assembly points, Jaishankar said.

Meanwhile, the team in New Delhi is in continuous touch with the Indians in Sudan, advising them, saying we know its very difficult for everybody, but keep calm, dont take unnecessary risk. Theyll have to wait for this to sort itself out, he said.

I hope that the efforts, including that led by the Secretary General will yield to something very soon. But we will have to wait and see, Jaishankar said.

Earlier today, Guterres had a meeting convened by the African Union on the dramatic situation in Sudan, bringing together the United Nations, the League of Arab States, IGAD [The Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and the European Union, as well as representatives from a number of countries that are deeply committed to solving the crisis.

There was a strong consensus on condemning the ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for a cessation of hostilities. As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies, Guterres told reporters here.

Jaishankar said there have been earlier attempts at ceasefire that did not hold. What he (UN SG) said to me was encouraging in respect of the people who are trapped right now becauseas he said that its more important than ever before that this ceasefire holds. We hope so too.

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The Supreme Court in military-ruled Myanmar will hear an appeal by deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi against her convictions for corruption and violating election and state secrets laws, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The 77-year-old Nobel laureate is serving 33 years in prison after convictions in more than a dozen cases that Suu Kyi has called absurd and her allies say were orchestrated by the junta to destroy her political career.

Suu Kyis former ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party won re-election in a landslide in November 2020 but the army arrested her three months later during a coup and annulled the vote, citing unaddressed irregularities.

The source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of matter, said no date had been set by the Supreme Court to hear the appeal of Suu Kyi and co-defendant Win Myint, the ousted former president.

Today the judge accepted the proposals to listen to the appeals on those seven cases, the source said.

The appeal comes as the military struggles to assert control over large parts of Myanmar and intensifies air and ground operations against ethnic minority armies and a pro-democracy resistance movement.

The popular, Oxford-educated Suu Kyi has spent much of her political life detained under military governments and is currently being held in an annex of a prison in the capital Naypyitaw.

She led Myanmar for five years from 2015 during a decade of tentative democracy and tense power-sharing with the military after it ended its 49-year rule in 2011.

The military plans to hold an election at an undisclosed time but last month dissolved the NLD and dozens of other parties after they failed to register. The armys proxy party is expected to dominate the election.

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Robert Kennedy Jr, a noted anti-vaccine advocate whose uncle JFK" was the 35th US president, formally announced his own White House bid on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old outsider intends to compete for the Democratic Partys nomination against incumbent President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce his reelection bid but has repeatedly said he plans to run.

Kennedys father RFK" served as attorney general under Democratic president John F Kennedy and later as a US senator from New York.

The assassinations of both brothers  JFK in 1963 and RFK in 1968 during his own presidential campaign  are viewed as among the most significant events in 20th century US politics.

RFK Jr worked for decades as an environmental lawyer, but has been known since 2005 for promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines, notably linking them to the development of autism.

Ive come here today to announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States," he said at his campaign launch event in Massachusetts, the stronghold of the Kennedy family.

Among the crown assembled in Boston, several supporters wore caps with anti-vaccine messages.

Kennedy vowed to end the deep political division in the United States by telling the truth to the American people."

Despite his highly recognizable name, Kennedys bid is a longshot against incumbent Biden, whose own official launch is expected later in the year, though no date has been announced.

A few others have also announced they will challenge 80-year-old Biden for the Democratic nomination, but no high-profile names have joined the race.

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Two cheerleaders were shot in a Texas parking lot after one mistakenly tried to enter the wrong car, part of a spate of similar incidents this week in the United States.

The gunman fired multiple shots at the young women, seriously wounding one, police reported.

The shooting early Tuesday came days after a Black teenager was shot in Missouri after ringing the wrong doorbell, and a young woman was shot dead in New York state after showing up at an incorrect address.

In Texas, four cheerleaders  reported to be teenagers  were using the grocery store parking lot to carpool to cheer practice. They had returned to pick up their vehicles after midnight.

Heather Roth said she got out of her friends car and went to what she believed was her vehicle and opened the door, before realizing a man was sitting inside. She then returned to her friends car.

I see the guy get out of the passenger door and I roll my window down and I was trying to apologize," she said in a video shared by ABC affiliate KTRK.

He just threw his hands up and then he pulled out a gun, and then he just started shooting at all of us."

A 25-year-old suspect, Pedro Tello Rodriguez, has been arrested and charged with deadly conduct, with the possibility of more charges, said the police department in Elgin, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of state capital Austin.

One cheerleader identified by local media as Payton Washington, sustained serious injuries and was transported to the hospital by helicopter," police said.

A GoFundMe campaign  which had raised nearly $70,000 as of Wednesday morning  said that Payton was shot twice and badly injured. She is stable in the ICU and will have a long road to recovery."

Roth suffered a graze wound and was treated on scene, KTRK said.

The girls made an approximately 360-mile (580-kilometer) round trip three times a week to participate in an elite competitive cheerleading team.

Deadly shootings are a regular occurrence in the United States, a country of around 330 million people and an estimated 400 million guns.

Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot twice after ringing the wrong doorbell in Missouri while trying to pick up his twin brothers.

The suspected shooter, an elderly white man, has surrendered to authorities and on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to assault and armed criminal action, according to US media reports.

And the 20-year-old woman in New York state was shot dead by a homeowner on Saturday night when she showed up with three others at the wrong address when trying to find a friends house.

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Sydney-based fashion-tech start-up, Theodore, has found success by striking a balance between traditional sales etiquette and cutting-edge technologies.

The company managed to generate an outstanding $1.74 million in revenue in their first year of operation. The companys annualized revenue for the last six months is at an impressive $4.5 million.

In a recent interview with Dynamic Business, its founder, Timothy Aquino spoke about how his brand Theodore achieved boundary-less growth opportunities globally by leveraging a sophisticated digital marketing mix.

Timothy attributes this success to two key values  the ability to create genuine connections with people through careful and curious relationships with their customers and the readiness to evolve with the times by harnessing the capacity for innovation in the digital realm.

In the ever-changing digital world, customers and businesses are driven by the latest tech and innovative shopping methods and, ultimately, are rewriting our old ways of doing life. For businesses in the fashion world, the impact of new technology has been astronomical.

Whilst the need to stay one step ahead of modern-day customer desires was undoubtedly one of the key influences behind founding my AI-driven menswear fashion brand Theodore, our belief in the value of traditional marketing techniques has remained in powerful contrast, Timothy said.

Timothy noted that the initial business period taught him about networking and building relationships. It began with the early roots of the brand. Straight out of high school, I dove headfirst into the wild world of fashion, working in styling and suiting for brands across Australia, Singapore and New York.

Whilst this is where I learnt the hands-on skills of styling, the real lesson this work taught me was the power of building relationships.

He added: From the minute a customer walked through the door to browse, through to the fun and creativity of styling and the innate intimacy of fitting sessions, each interaction gave me another opportunity to build trusted relationships with my customers. These early grass root experiences influenced where the brand Theodore is today and the importance we place on in-person experiences for customer satisfaction and growth.

Over more than a decade in the styling and fashion industry, the core mission of our brand was slowly developed. Id always valued finding little moments of curiosity in fashion. Whether it was through learning more about my clients lives or ever-evolving trends and styles, I was driven by the need to do things differently. No matter which brand I was styling for or the talent I was dressing, I quickly discovered that traditional styling techniques have a clear hard ceiling.

Frustration with this process and the need to do something different culminated in a crystal-clear vision to find a better solution for acquiring measurements, sourcing outfits and tailoring the perfect fit  precisely what Theodore does today.

I believe that technology is at the core of our business, said Timothy. Our AI technology Pocket Tailor App is an industry-leading integration that facilitates contactless measurements with the same guaranteed level of accuracy as a traditional in-person experience. It links directly to our online shop, ensuring the user experience is streamlined and simple.

He explained that they use organic social and paid amplification across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, as well as a robust EDM strategy and thorough SEO to create new connections and nurture target customers.

When supported by our sophisticated digital marketing mix, this has given us boundary-less growth opportunities globally. We leverage organic social and paid amplification across Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, a robust EDM strategy, and thorough SEO to both create new connections, particularly with audiences in new geographic regions we may not be able to reach regularly, as well as nurture target customers across the board and keep them up to date with the latest Theodore offerings.

However, despite the importance of digital marketing, Timothy emphasised the crucial role of creating and nurturing genuine in-person connections.

In contrast to this, creating and nurturing genuine in-person connections is the crucial ingredient of traditional marketing in the brands modern recipe mix. Our team of stylists travel all year round across Australia to connect face-to-face with our customers through pop-up experiences  which at the same time provide real-time data and learnings to support continuous advancements to our Pocket Tailor technology.

An important extension of these face-to-face experiences is creator marketing which, with the right focus on working with creators who fit the bill of our target customers, we firmly believe has the same ethos of person-to-person engagement. We focus on finding names who have real connections with their local communities across Australia, which have supported us in campaigns and nurtured the limitless power of word-of-mouth.

The results of this delicate mix of traditional and modern marketing tactics are hard to argue  $7 million in annualised sales revenue. While the fundamentals of a fashion business dont change, the scope of what is achievable does through modern technology. I cant encourage other business owners enough to look backwards and forward for solutions.

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April 19, 2023 | 06:06 pm PT

My son started kindergarten on a fall morning in 2019. To commemorate the day our toddler started school, my wife and I took the time to make a video after we dropped him off at kindergarten.

While we have not even finished editing the video, my wife got a call from our son's teacher informing us that the school was unable to manage our child's "complicated situation." She asked us to pick him up and bring him home.

While driving home, I couldn't help but reflect on the fact that in all my years of work as an educator, I've never rejected a single student. Then why does my kid have to be in this situation? Is it because he doesn't act like the rest of the kids?

My son is three years old and still unable to speak. To treat him, we have tried visiting numerous hospitals. Normally, after a few tests, the doctor typically explains that our child's delayed speech has been caused by something like inadequate nutrition or "uneven brain development."

But still, my wife insists that we visit more pediatric-focused psychiatrists in Ho Chi Minh City. The results have not changed. Most specialists have diagnosed him with "delayed speech" and have advised us on how to care for him and help his speech problem.

Since I was unable to enroll him in a public school, I paid a hefty sum to send him to a private institution. My child took an extra test here that the teacher made just for him. After a few games, she concluded that he must have autism.

My wife and I have been thrown into a tailspin of anxiety and worry after receiving many conflicting diagnoses for our son's condition. In need of some relief, I reached out to a professor of psychology through a mutual U.S.-based colleague. To determine his case, this American professor sent me a questionnaire and asked my child to draw random circles.

My wife and I carefully answered the questions regarding his upbringing, his daily interactions with our family, and his exposure to the outside world. After examining our responses and his drawings, the professor confirmed that he has a special form of mental disorder, a high-level form of autism on the spectrum. If he receives a good autism-specific education, he will likely integrate well into society.

But does Vietnam have a setting like that for education? We are confused and terrified. If I enroll my autistic child in a regular program, his treatment won't be effective. On the other hand, it looks like Vietnam does not have a "proper" education system for autism.

According to an announcement made by the General Statistics Office at the start of 2019, Vietnam was home to approximately one million people with autism. The rate of autism in children was estimated to be 1% of all births.

Autism accounted for 30% of children with disabilities in schools, according to education sector data from 2020. This population of children with autism and other disabilities has access to approximately 20 inclusive education development support centers and 100 public special education institutions nationwide. However, experts have deemed these institutions ineffective for autistic children.

Therefore, unlike the American professor, I lack confidence that my child will "integrate well into society" if I enroll him in these institutions. I hope he can find a safe place to develop rather than just somewhere to pass the time.

Private schools in Hanoi, HCMC and Can Tho that cater to autistic children are not cheap, but they do exist. But my research suggests that these facilities still lack the human, material, and pedagogical resources necessary to meet the unique demands of educating autistic children.

I haven't been able to concentrate on my job because I have to spend time looking for a solution for my child. I've often considered taking time off from work to stay at home to grow and cook our food as Im afraid to take my son to restaurants where people laugh at him.

While caught in this never-ending cycle, I thought of a friend of mine who was married to a Korean man and who, like me, had a special needs child who was receiving treatment and benefiting from a preferential education policy. I learned that they use a one-on-one approach to teaching, which I admire. Tuition costs are covered by the government based on an evaluation of the child's autism spectrum disorder by trained professionals, as required by law.

So I decided to pivot and enroll in a PhD program in South Korea. I hope this will allow me to apply for a work visa as well as better educational opportunities for my son upon my completion of the program.

The United Nations designates April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day every year in an effort to encourage nations to pay more attention to the disorder. In Vietnam, ensuring that no one is left out of the educational system is something that the country has always prioritized. That's why I have faith that public schools catering to autistic students will become a reality in the near future. I intend to then bring him back home so that he may spend his formative years in the company of caring adults, and become an integral part of the group to which he feels a deep sense of attachment.

Starting a new, difficult journey toward getting our children ready for school is a must right now. And the first thing my wife and I need to do is get over our painful obsession with rejection  like that phone call from the kindergarten  and move forward.

*Nguyen Nam Cuong is a lecturer at FPT University. The opinions expressed are his own.
UPDATE

Apr 20, 2023 8:33 AM CDT

A Mississippi sheriff at the center of a lawsuit involving the murder of Emmett Till is pushing back on the complaint, which calls for him to serve a decades-old arrest warrant against the wife of one of the men who abducted and killed the Black 14-year-old in 1955. Per the Washington Post, attorneys for Sheriff Ricky Banks said in April 13 court filings that the suit should be dismissed, citing the decision last summer by a grand jury not to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham. Banks' filing calls the 1955 warrant "moot" and says that the misconduct allegations made in the complaint by Priscilla Sterling, Tills' cousin, involve the previous Leflore County sheriff, not Banks. Banks' motion also notes Sterling didn't suffer any injury herself, and so shouldn't be bringing the suit. The AP notes Banks has been the sheriff since 1980, though he indicated months ago that he doesn't plan to run for reelection this year.

Feb 11, 2023 3:15 PM CST

A relative of Emmett Till is suing to try to make a Mississippi sheriff serve a 1955 arrest warrant on a white woman in the kidnapping that led to the Black teenager's brutal lynching. The torture and killing of Till in the Mississippi Delta became a catalyst for the civil rights movement after his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago and Jet magazine published photos of his mutilated body. Last June, a team doing research at the courthouse in Leflore County, Mississippi, found an unserved 1955 arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant, listed on that document as "Mrs. Roy Bryant." Till's cousin Patricia Sterling of Jackson, Mississippi, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the current Leflore County sheriff, Ricky Banks, the AP reports. The suit seeks to compel Banks to serve the warrant on Carolyn Bryant, who has since remarried and is named Carolyn Bryant Donham.

"We are using the available means at our disposal to try to achieve justice on behalf of the Till family," Sterling's attorney Trent Walker said on Friday. In August 1955, Donham accused Till, who was 14, of making improper advances on her at a grocery store. A cousin of Till who was there has said Till whistled at the woman, an act that flew in the face of Mississippi's racist social codes. Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to the men who later killed him. The arrest warrant against Donham was publicized in 1955, but the sheriff at the time told reporters that he did not want to "bother" the woman since she was raising two young children. Weeks after Till's body was found in a river, her husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother JW Milam were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. Months later, the men confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine.

Now in her late 80s, Donham has lived in North Carolina and Kentucky in recent years. She has not commented publicly on calls for her prosecution. The US Justice Department announced in December 2021 that it had ended its latest investigation into the lynching of Till without bringing charges. After the arrest warrant was found last June, the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said there was no new evidence to try to pursue a criminal case against Donham. In August, a district attorney said a Leflore County grand jury had declined to indict Donham. "But for Carolyn Bryant falsely claiming to her husband that Emmett Till assaulted her Emmett would not have been murdered," Sterling's lawsuit says. "It was Carolyn Bryant's lie that sent Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam into a rage, which resulted in the mutilation of Emmett Till's body into (an) unrecognizable condition."

(Read more Emmett Till stories.)
A feral cat-hunting competition for children has been canceled after it was not received as well as organizers might have hoped. As the BBC explains, in New Zealand, feral cats "are considered a pest and a risk to the country's biosecurity," and an annual hunt is held to thin their ranks in North Canterbury, a rural area. This year, organizers announced a new category for ages 14 and under, but the idea apparently didn't go over well. While kids were warned not to kill anyone's pet cat, a representative for New Zealand's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals argued that kids may struggle to discern whether a cat was "a feral, stray or frightened domesticated cat." Animal welfare organizations also warned that children hunting with air rifles could cause cats to suffer a "prolonged" death, the Guardian reports.

"We should be teaching our tamariki [children] empathy towards animals, not handing them the tools to kill them," a spokesman for the animal welfare charity Safe told local media. Children were to compete to see who could kill the most feral cats between mid-April and June for a prize of about $155. After the event was canceled, the organizers wrote on Facebook, "We are disappointed and apologize for those who were excited to be involved in something that is about protecting our native birds, and other vulnerable species." Some locals agreed, pointing out that those criticizing the event may not understand how much damage wild cats can do to native wildlife, endangered species, and farms. (Read more strange stuff stories.)
Members of the two parties came together Tuesday during a House committee hearing, agreeing to stop the accusations coming from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Democrats objected more than once to things Greene said during a Homeland Security hearing but failed the first time to have her comments struck, the Hill reports. In following Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, Greene's first shot apparently was sparked by a suggestion he made that she and others want to defund the FBI. The Republican called Swalwell's reference rich coming "from someone that had a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy and everyone knows it."

The FBI once warned Swalwell that a woman helping raise money for his 2014 campaign was suspected of being a Chinese spy. He denied any improper relationship with her, and the FBI said there's no reason to think Swalwell shared classified information with her. The Republican chairman, Mark Green, rejected a Democratic move to strike her comments as a personal attack, and Greene refused to withdraw them. Next, she called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was appearing before the panel, a liar while hectoring him about the spread of fentanyl in the US, per USA Today. Again, Greene declined to take back her words, and Rep. Bennie Thompson tried to get the chairman to take the comments down.

This time, Green agreed. "It's pretty clear that the rules state you can't impugn someone's character," the GOP chairman said. "Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee." The ruling blocked Greene from pursuing that line of questioning, which the chairman had seemed to be following himself earlier in the hearing, when he pushed Mayorkas on whether he lied to Congress about whether he has had operational control of the border. "Not only have you lied under oath, you just admitted your own incompetence," Green told the director at the time. Greene was kicked off all committees two years ago, then reinstated by the new speaker in January. (Read more Marjorie Taylor Greene stories.)
The European Parliament passed a resolution yesterday calling on the European Commission and Council to start accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova by end of this year, pending the countrys fulfilment of the nine steps outlined by the Commission before. Maia Sandu, Moldovas President reacted to the news by saying that this confirms once again that Moldova belongs in the great European family.

The EU institutions are requiring Moldova to continue and intensify its justice system reforms, to show a track record of convictions in corruption cases, to eliminate oligarchic influence in political and public life, fight organized crime, reform public administration, include civil society in decision-making and strengthen protection of vulnerable groups. The subsequent Commission reports of February 2023 have shown that there is still a long way to go but that things are moving and going in the right direction.

The European Parliament members and the text of the resolution itself also praised Moldova for its leadership during Russias aggression war in Ukraine in taking refugees and the wonderful way they showed solidarity. It is essential to note that Moldovas economy took a severe hit following the war in Ukraine, as the country was relying on Russia for its energy and for the export of some of its products. It is also vulnerable to cyberattacks, disinformation and destabilization. In response, the European Union, through various financial instruments, has been supporting and disbursing more than 1 billion euro to Moldova to help it build its resilience on all fronts.

Our Member of European Parliament, Cristian Terhes said the following after the resolution passed: The joint resolution regarding the challenges faced by the Republic of Moldova was adopted by a large majority of votes in the European Parliament, which is a clear signal for Moldova that it has support and enjoys great confidence from the MEPs. Everyone is aware that the Republic of Moldova is under threat from Russia, which is why it must be supported to follow its democratic path and the citizens must feel that they are not left alone. We have seen throughout history, unfortunately, and the citizens of the Republic of Moldova have felt it on their own skin, that the model proposed by Russia is nothing but tyranny, poverty, crime, and darkness. The citizens of Moldova deserve to live in a prosperous society, where they can make a future at home, with their families, and this can only be done by making sure Russia take its claws off Moldova.
A student at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, California, was killed Tuesday and three others were injured in a crash that authorities believe was not an accident. Investigators say Austin Allen Eis, 24, appears to have intentionally plowed into a group of students on a sidewalk near his former high school, KTLA reports. Wesley Welling, 15, was fatally injured, and a 14-year-old girl was hospitalized in critical condition. A 16-year-old girl and another 15-year-old boy were treated and released. Earlier Tuesday, Eis allegedly stabbed a Walmart employee in nearby Simi Valley before causing a domestic disturbance at his parents' home, where he allegedly brandished a handgun.

Eis, described by police as a transient who may have been living in his car, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, attempted robbery, burglary, brandishing a firearm, resisting arrest, kidnapping, felony use of tear gas, and assault with a deadly weapon. the AP reports. Kelly Welling says her son died on her birthday, the Ventura County Star reports. She says Wesley was struck when he was at a bus stop with his sister Hannah. "By some miracle, my daughter wasnt standing right next to him because it could have been both of them," she says. "She's OK, but she witnessed it." (Read more California stories.)
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled a sweeping package Wednesday that would raise the nation's debt limit by $1.5 trillion into next year while imposing a long list of Republican priorities. They include new spending caps, work requirements for recipients of government aid, and others that are sure to be nonstarters for the White House, the AP reports. McCarthy announced that House Republicans were introducing their legislation just as President Biden was taking the stage at a union hall in Maryland to warn of a looming fiscal crisis if Congress fails to take action to raise the debt ceiling, now at $31 trillion, to keep paying the nation's bills.

The 320-page "Limit, Save, Grow Act" debuted by House Republicans has almost no chance of becoming law, but McCarthy is using the legislation as a strategic move, a starting point to draw Biden into negotiations that the White House has, so far, been unwilling to have over the debt crisis. "President Biden is skipping town to deliver a speech in Maryland rather than sitting down to address the debt ceiling," McCarthy said in a speech on the House floor. The package was swiftly embraced by leading Republicans as McCarthy has worked intently to unite his majority. A vote in the House is expected next week, in hopes of pressuring Biden to respond. Democrats in the House and Senate are almost certain to be opposed.

In Maryland, Biden attacked the GOP's emerging trade-off plans to raise the nation's debt limit only in exchange for spending cuts and other policy concessions, declaring that Republican lawmakers are threatening a historic default on US obligations "unless I agree to all these wacko notions they have." Standing in a steel garage and workshop, per the AP, Biden pointedly noted the contrast between the two approaches, telling members of International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 77, that while, "I'm here in the union hall with you, Speaker McCarthy just got finished speaking to Wall Street two days ago." He added: "Folks, that's the MAGA economic agenda: spending cuts for working- and middle-class folks ... with tax cuts for those at the top of the pile." (Read more debt ceiling stories.)
A Russian-born woman in New York has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for trying to kill her doppelganger friend with poisoned cheesecake. Viktoria Nasyrova laced the cheesecake with a powerful sedative before offering it to her eyelash stylist, 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk, who resembled her, in August 2016. When Tsvyk fell unconscious, Nasyrova spread pills around her body to make it appear as though she committed suicide, then stole Tsvyk's passport and work authorization card in an identity theft scheme, per the BBC. Tsvyk survived, however, and the murder plot unraveled. Nasyrova was convicted of attempted murder, assault, and unlawful imprisonment in February.

Before sentencing was handed down Wednesday, Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder called 47-year-old Nasyrovawho is also accused of murdering a neighbor in her native Russia"an extremely dangerous woman" who concocted a "diabolical" scheme. Nasyrova responded by yelling "F--- you" toward the judge, the New York Post reports. In an impact statement Wednesday, Tsvyk said she was traumatized by the ordeal, which left her unable to sleep, terrified to go to work, distrustful of people, and fearful that Nasyrova would come back and finish what she started," per the Post.

"For her, it was an easy thing to try and take the life of another person," Tsvyk said. "It was easy thing to gain the trust of another person and then take everything from that person." Nasyrova is accused of killing and burning the body of a neighbor in Russia in 2014 before fleeing to the US. Interpol issued a Red Notice for Nasyrova's arrest in 2016. She's also been accused of drugging and robbing men. Her sentence is just four years shy of the maximum she could have received, which defense attorney Jose Nieves described as "excessive." He plans to file an appeal, according to the Post. He said his client suffered untreated mental illness and hopes to reunite with a young son with a "debilitating" disease "before this illness ends his life." (Read more attempted murder stories.)
Family members of the children and teachers massacred at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year gasped and cried Tuesday when a state lawmaker disclosed a grim detail. State Rep. Joe Moody said the 18-year-old gunman used his victims' blood to write a message on a fourth-grade classroom whiteboard, NBC reports. "The attacker scooped up the blood of his victims and smeared it into a disgusting message there," Moody said. "What he wrote in innocent blood right next to that 'lovebirds' banner was the phrase 'LOL.' Laughing out loud." Moody, speaking at a hearing on a bill to raise the age to buy a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21, said the detail had not been publicly shared before, reports BuzzFeed.

"His message to us wasn't anger or hatred. It was something flippant," the Democratic lawmaker said of the Robb Elementary School shooter, who killed 19 children and two teachers. "He celebrated that he could do what he did. That's his critique of us, because we let this happen." The state House committee hearing lasted until 3am and adjourned without a vote. Some parents waited more than 12 hours to testify, the AP reports. "Did you think we would go home? asked Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter, Lexi, was killed in the shooting. She asked lawmakers: "Did you look at images of children running for their lives, and think, What if we had enacted stricter gun laws?"

Javier Cazare, whose daughter, Jacklyn, was killed, said, "My daughter tried to buy Super Glue at Walmart the other day and was flagged as being under 18  Whats wrong with this picture?" The bill was introduced by Democratic state Rep. Tracy King, who represents Uvalde. He said he would probably have voted against it in earlier years, but the shooting on May 24 last year "changed everything," NBC reports.

Opponents of the bill also testified, including Stephen Willeford, who used his own rifle to confront the gunman in the 2017 Sutherland Springs mass shooting. "If you think he couldnt have found a gun other ways or waited until he was 21 to do his murder spree, you are wrong," he said of the Uvalde gunman, who bought the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting six days after his 18th birthday. (Read more Uvalde mass shooting stories.)
Police in Hawaii have vowed to step up illegal gambling enforcement after one of the most serious shootings in state history called attention to the dangers that come with cockfighting, which has deep roots in the islands and remains popular despite being illegal. The shooting early Saturday in a rural community more than 30 miles from downtown Honolulu killed a man and woman and wounded three others. The Honolulu medical examiners office on Wednesday identified the man as Gary Rabellizsa, 34, and the woman as Cathy Rabellizsa, 59, the AP reports. Two suspects, including a 16-year-old boy, turned themselves in Tuesday, Honolulu police said.

Jacob Borge, 23, was charged Wednesday with first- and second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and firearms charges, police said. Bail was set at $2 million. Petitions were filed against the juvenile for the same charges, police said. The shooting started with an argument at the end of a cockfight, police say. Despite being illegal in Hawaii since 1884, the fights between roosters with blades affixed to their legs have remained a part of life in the islands. Authorities say investigating cockfights is difficult in part because they are highly organized events on private property and their illegal nature and the large amount of money wagered means they often have links to organized crime.

The clandestine fights happen all over Hawaii, usually on large, remote properties shrouded by brush and accessible only by dirt roads, like in Waianae, where the weekend shooting took place. "Neighbors are also reluctant to get involved for fear of retaliation," Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan said in a statement. Some in Hawaii worry that violence linked to cockfighting will grow more volatile in a state that previously had largely escaped the scourge of gun violence seen elsewhere in the US. (Federal courts have rejected challenges to former President Trump's 2018 ban on cockfighting in US territories.)
/

Despite Settlement, Nightmare May Not Be Over for Fox

'Time' suggests Fox Corporation's board could face 'serious claims of negligence'
AP photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the year on Thursday for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack. The Ukrainian photographers March 9, 2022, image of the fatally wounded woman, her left hand on her bloodied lower left abdomen, drove home the horror of Russias brutal onslaught in the eastern port city early in the war. The 32-year-old woman, Iryna Kalinina, died of her injuries a half-hour after giving birth to the lifeless body of her baby named Miron. For me, it is a moment that all the time I want to forget, but I cannot. The story will always stay with me, Maloletka tells the AP.

Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most defining images of the Russia-Ukraine war amid incredibly challenging circumstances. Without his unflinching courage, little would be known of one of Russias most brutal attacks, said AP Senior VP and Executive Editor Julie Pace. AP Director of Photography J. David Ake added: Its not often that a single image becomes seared into the worlds collective memory. Maloletka and AP video journalist Mystyslav Chernov, who also is Ukrainian, arrived in Mariupol just as Russias Feb. 24, 2022, invasion sparked Europes biggest conflict since World War II. They stayed for more than two weeks, chronicling the Russian military pounding the city and hitting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. The pair were the only international journalists left in the city when they finally managed a risky escape.

Maloletka said he and Chernov believed it was important to remain in Mariupol, despite the danger, "to collect the peoples voices and collect their emotions and to show them all around the world. A series of photos by Maloletka from besieged Mariupol also won the European regional World Press Photo Stories award that was announced in March. Maloletkas images from Mariupol also have been honored with awards including the Knight International Journalism Award, the Visa dor News Award, and the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie. "I think it is really important that specifically a Ukrainian won the contest showing the atrocities against civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine," he said. "It is important that all the pictures we were doing in Mariupol became evidence of a war crime against Ukrainians."

Other global winners:

Mads Nissen of Denmark won Photo Story of the Year for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures, titled The Price of Peace in Afghanistan."

Anush Babajanyan of Armenia won the Long-Term Project award for Battered Waters for VII Photo and National Geographic Society.

Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award for Here, The Doors Dont Know Me.

The four winners were selected from more than 60,000 entries submitted by 3,752 entrants.

(Read more photography stories.)
A giant panda on long-term loan from China died in a zoo in northern Thailand on Wednesday, six months before she was due to return home, officials from the Chiang Mai Zoo said. The cause of Lin Huis death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday morning, reports the AP, and her nose was seen bleeding when she laid down after a meal, said Wutthichai Muangmun, the zoo director. She was rushed into the care of a joint Thai-Chinese veterinarian team but her condition deteriorated and she died early Wednesday morning, he said.

Tewarat Vejmanat, a veterinarian who spoke at a news conference broadcast live on the zoos Facebook page, said the panda, who had a health check every day, was already at an advanced age at 21, though there had been no sign of illness or any difference in her behavior before she became sick. The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38. A Chinese Foreign Ministry rep said Chinese authorities would soon set up a team of experts to carry out a joint investigation into the cause of death.

How and when the cause of death would be revealed will be entirely up to China, Wutthichai Muangmun said. Under an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese governments panda conservation project, an autopsy cannot be performed until a Chinese expert is present. Some Thai internet users speculated that air pollution in northern Thailand, which in recent weeks has spiked to levels considered dangerous to human health, contributed to Lin Huis death. The zoo staff, however, said that was unlikely, as Lin Hui lived in a closed space in an area of the zoo considered to have the cleanest air. (Read more giant pandas stories.)
Since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, the people of Kyiv have become all too familiar with things falling from the skybut a flash that lit up the skies over the Ukrainian capital Wednesday night was unlike anything they had seen before. Officials initially believed it was a defunct NASA satellite that was due to fall to Earth, but NASA told AFP and the BBC that the RHESSI solar observation satellite was still in orbit at the time of the flash. Ukraine's air force said it did not believe it was a Russian attack, noting that the bright glow was also seen over Belarus to the north. Reuters reports that the flash led to speculation online that a meteorite or even aliens were involved. (Read more Kyiv stories.)
Unmarried couples in Michigan are a step closer to being able to legally live together as lewdly and lasciviously as they want to. The state Senate voted 29-9 Wednesday to repeal a law that makes it a misdemeanor for an unmarried man to live with an unmarried woman, the Detroit News reports. The bill would strike a provision against "lewdly and lasciviously associating and cohabitating together," though it would retain a provision banning any individual from "engaging in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior," reports WWJ. The law hasn't been enforced for a long time, but under federal law, a person can't claim somebody as a dependent on their taxes if their relationship violates state law.

All 20 Democrats in the chamber voted to repeal the law, which dates from 1931, but nine of the 18 Republicans voted to keep it. The opponents included Sen. Ed McBroom, who argued that repeal "is not a promotion of the common good." He said cohabitation has been shown to "decrease the resilience and permanence of marriage and to decrease the potential that marriage happens at all." Marriage, he argued "has been consistently shown to be the gold standard by which a stable society is maintained." The bill is now headed for the state House. If the cohabitation law is repealed, it will leave Mississippi as the only state with a similar law still in place. (Read more cohabitation stories.)
April marks the one-year anniversary since the announcement of a truce in Yemen. Prior to the truce, the conflict pitted Iran-backed Houthi rebels against Yemens internationally recognized government supported by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The truce, brokered by the United Nations, resulted in the longest period of calm since 2014.

Prior to the truce, over seven years of violence ruined Yemens economy and engendered one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises. Today, more than 21.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Some 6 million Yemenis have been displaced and hundreds of thousands of people are experiencing various degrees of food insecurity, with some facing starvation.

The truce ended much of the violence and paved the way for a future settlement of the conflict but did not stop the fighting completely. Nonetheless, the relative calm has reportedly led to a 60 percent decrease in civilian casualties. Whats more, it allowed for the opening of the airport in Sanaa to commercial flights. At the same time, steps to facilitate fuel imports improved access to clean water, electricity, healthcare, and a variety of services. The pause in fighting also allowed humanitarian groups to reach more people in need of aid.

The UN-led truce and U.S.-facilitated diplomacy have largely stopped the fighting, saving thousands of civilian lives; nevertheless, the United States recognizes that the truce was only the first step toward a comprehensive, Yemeni-Yemeni political process and a durable resolution to the conflict, said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.

The truce is an important milestone, said President Joe Biden in a written statement. Maintaining this truce and strengthening progress toward peace has been a main focus of my administrations engagement with our partners in the Middle East. That focus will continue intensively as we seek to build on this extraordinary progress and support all efforts towards a comprehensive resolution to this terrible conflict, he said.

The United States remains fully committed to our partners in the region, and to supporting Saudi Arabia and the UAE from Iranian enabled attacks. The fact that cross border attacks from Yemen have ceased in the last year, as well as airstrikes inside Yemen, is yet another positive outcome of the truce, said President Biden. I look forward to continuing to work with all our partners in the region to permanently end the war in Yemen.
After last week's flurry of headlines about the Pentagon intelligence leak and the arrest of Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, the news flow has tapered offfor senators too, it seems. NBC News and the Hill report that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle left a Wednesday afternoon classified briefing on the leak wringing their hands over the lack of new information and clarity on what went wrong and when. Standout comments after the briefing led by National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, and others:

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham: "It's just a s--- show. I didn't get a very good explanation of how this could happen. I'm just as confused now as I was before the briefing."

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson: "I would, by and large, typify it as bureaucratic gobbledygook."

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal: I "left with more questions than answers. I remain deeply unhappy and unsatisfied with the structure and procedures of access. My impression coming out of that meeting is too many people have too much access to too much information without safeguards or guardrails."

GOP Sen. Marco Rubio: "Part of it is they don't know the answers, which is even worse," he said, expressing that he was left uncertain of the "full extent" of the leaks and why it wasn't noticed sooner.



The Hill notes that House lawmakers received a briefing of their own in the evening, and their takeaway mirrored that expressed by the senators who'd been briefed. Meanwhile, Teixeira, 21, appeared in federal court in Boston briefly on Wednesday. The AP reports a judge canceled a scheduled detention hearing after the defense requested and was granted more time to prepare. The New York Times notes prosecutors didn't object, as the delay will also give them more time to ready themselves "for the more consequential stepan indictment before a grand jury." (Read more Jack Teixeira stories.)
A speeding car took flight Sunday and ended up on the second-story roof of a home in Northern California. The story "would seem unbelievable if not for the photo evidence backing it up," per SFGate. Photos shared by authorities show the vehicle resting on the roof of a carport, its front end crushed against the exterior wall of a room featuring a large window, through which first responders were able to access the vehicle. Homeowner Bob Arant, who was away from home with his wife at the time of the crash, believes the SUV flew about 75 feet before landing on his roof.

First responders had to stabilize the vehicle using ropes before rescuing the driver and sole occupant, who was airlifted to a hospital with major injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol. The woman was driving "extremely fast" on a road with a posted speed limit of 10mph, the CHP said, per KCRA. The outlet notes "a sign informing drivers of the speed limit was in front of the home" in Cape Horn, about an hour's drive from the Lake Tahoe area. Authorities are still determining how the vehicle made its way onto the roof of the home, "which is on the same level as a hill next to it," per CBS News. The investigation will determine whether alcohol or drugs were involved in the crash.

The vehicle has since been removed from the structure, revealing a large hole through which parts of a craft room and stairwell are visible, per KCRA. Arant and his wife are staying in an RV on their property due to the damage. According to a GoFundMe page, the couple's home insurance company informed them "they didn't have coverage for an automobile landing in their home." It adds that "the driver's insurance will be responsible but it is unlikely that their coverage will be enough to cover" the cost of repairs, estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars. (Read more car crash stories.)
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been ordered to pay $5 million to somebody who proved him wrong in the "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge." Lindell, one of the most fervent supporters of Donald Trump's election conspiracy theories, issued the challenge at a "cyber symposium" he held in 2021, saying he had data proving China interfered with the electionand would pay $5 million to anybody who could prove it wasn't from the 2020 election, Rolling Stone reports. Computer forensics expert Robert Zeidman took part in the challenge, applied to claim the prize, then filed for arbitration when Lindell's company refused to pay up. The contest's rules stated the disputes would be resolved by "final and binding arbitration."

The arbitration panel said Zeidman "performed under the contract" he signed to take part in the challenge, CNN reports. He proved that the data Lindell provided "unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data," the panel said, and failure to pay the $5 million prize "was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover." Zeidman's lawyers told the panel that the files Lindell provided at the symposium contained "no recognizable data in any known data format." The panel said it was "not asked to decide whether China interfered in the 2020 election" or whether Lindell possessed the proof he claimed to have. "The focus of the decision is on the 11 files provided to Mr. Zeidman in the context of the Contest rules," the panel wrote.

Zeidmana 63-year-old Trump voter from Nevada who describes himself as a "moderate conservative"tells the Post he is "really happy" with the decision. "The truth is finally out there," he says. Lindell was ordered to send Zeidman the $5 million within 30 days, though he doesn't seem inclined to pay up. "They made a terribly wrong decision! This will be going to court!" he said in a text message to the Post. But his lawyers might be busy: Lindell is being sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting Systems, which settled its defamation case against Fox this week for $787.5 million. (Read more Mike Lindell stories.)
UPDATE

Apr 22, 2023 5:30 AM CDT

In what the AP is calling "a stunning turnaround," prosecutors on Friday formally dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge that Alec Baldwin had been facing in the death of the Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. That was the only remaining criminal charge against Baldwin in state District Court in Santa Fe, but the film's weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed still faces an involuntary manslaughter charge. Prosecutors have implied the investigation will continue, and said in a statement that the "decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled."

Apr 20, 2023 3:30 PM CDT

Special prosecutors in New Mexico plan to ask that the involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin, over a fatal shooting on a movie set in 2021, be dismissed. Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, who were recently named to their positions, then plan to launch their own investigation, Deadline reports. They want the two counts dropped without prejudice, allowing them to revive the counts later. The Santa Fe district attorney's office did not comment immediately Thursday on the decision.

But Baldwin's attorneys welcomed it, adding that "we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident." Baldwin pleaded not guilty, as did Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the original armorer on the set of Rust, in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. It wasn't clear Thursday whether the same charge against Gutierrez-Reed would remain, per CNBC. The case was scheduled to go to trial in May, while filming was scheduled to resume this week in Montana. (Read more Alec Baldwin stories.)
NMKRV College for Women is making a concerted effort to reduce girl student dropouts by counseling them & their families to continue their education & financially & morally support them

dropouts by counselling them and their families to continue their education and financially and morally support them. Dr. Snehalata believes that the introduction of new courses and subjects which are based on the employment and skill opportunities for female students order to motivate and encourage them to pursue higher education. She adds, We have also introduced a four year integrated B.A.+B.Ed and B.Sc.+B.Ed. Students who aspire to become teachers join this course. We believe in experiential and participatory methods of learning. These types of learning assist the students in critical thinking, solving problems, and also help in decision making".All UG students enrolled in physics, chemistry, mathematics, botany, zoology, microbiology, biotechnology, computer science, and psychology must participate in their labs, conduct experiments, and complete small research projects as part of their experiential learning. The school engages students in case-based and cooperative or community-based learning in subjects such as humanities, languages, history, sociology, economics, and tourism, for example, through Unnat Bharath Abhiyan, in which NMKRV College for Women has adopted five villages near Bannerghatta Road.Field trips, industry internships, and project based training are arranged for M.Com, M.Sc. Chemistry, Data Science, Maths, Psychology, Biotechnology, and MA Journalism & Mass Communication Post Graduation courses.Participatory learning involves students actively participating in the learning process through group discussions, role plays, debates, storytelling, and case studies.By providing holistic education to female students, NMKRV College For Women, led by Dr. Snehalata, aims to 'Educate, Enrich, and Empower' the girl child in the society. Women's education is critical for individual and societal development. Equal educational opportunities for women and girls contribute to gender equality, higher living standards, and economic growth. Governments and societies are collaborating to address the barriers to women's access to education and ensure that all girls can learn and reach their full potential. A few NMKRV College For Women students' parents works as day labourers, drivers, labour contractors, and more. Some of the girls are the first generation to enter Degree Colleges, and their numbers are growing by the day and year.Dr. Snehalata credits the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) leading to an increased demand for skill-based education at NMKRV College For Women. As a result, NMKRV College For Women has several Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with skill training partners and industries such as Merck-Life Science, Miles Education, Canon, IT for Change, and others provide customized technical, skill-based training. This training enables students to find work in industries/ companies such as Capgemini, Wells Fargo, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Biocon, EY, Qspiders, and others that pay more than five lakhs per year. The NMKRV College for Women, the R.V. College of Engineering, and the DAPM Dental College have collaborated to train undergraduates and postgraduates in Merck-specific experiments and projects.
Laman Ismayilova

Cinema Forum on "Azerbaijani Cinema - 125: reality, challenges and objectives" has started at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

The event is jointly organized by the Culture Ministry and the Heydar Aliyev Center in partnership with The Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, Azernews reports.

The forum has brought together cultural and art figures from Azerbaijan and other countries and turned into a platform for discussing the modern challenges in cinema.

The Azerbaijan Culture Minister Adil Karimli welcomed the forum participants.

"We hope that the Cinema Forum will be remembered with interesting discussions. The forum sheds light on the development of the national cinema. The main purpose of our gathering here today is to discuss the main challenges and the perspectives of Azerbaijani film industry. I would like to note that more forums related to other cultural fields are expected to take place in the country this year within the celebration of the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev. Moreover, the Development of Cultural Strategy will be put forward as well," said Adil Karimli.

Adil Karimli recalled that Azerbaijani cinema started to take its first steps in 1898, and left a great legacy after passing through 125 years of rich and turbulent path.

Founded in 1923, Azerbaijan Film Studio created a broad basis for the systematic development of national cinematography.

For decades, numerous screen works produced by local cinematographers contributed to the formation of the worldview of the Azerbaijani people.

The minister stressed the role of National Leader Heydar Aliyev in the development of the Azerbaijani cinema and all art fields.

The formation of the normative and legal basis of the national cinematography started in 1993 under his leadership and the State Film Fund was established on December 22 of the same year.

A historical step such as the establishment of Azerbaijan Cinema Day is the result of the Great Leader's invaluable services in this field. For many years, Soviet cinema day was celebrated as the national cinema day in Azerbaijan.

The history of Azerbaijani cinema is calculated from 1916. However, Great Leader Heydar Aliyev put an end to this injustice against the national cinema history.

By the order of Azerbaijan's national leader Heydar Aliyev in 2000, August 2 was declared as a day for the Azerbaijani cinema.

The State Program for the Development of Azerbaijani Cinema for 2008-2018, Decree of March 1, 2019 "On Some Measures Related to the Development of Azerbaijani Cinematography" shows a great attention paid by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the development of the Azerbaijani cinema art.

In recent years, the participation and awarding of films produced by Azerbaijan in the world's most prestigious international film festivals, as well as the increase in the amount of investment in film production, indicate the qualitative new development of the national cinematography.

In addition, the concept of developing film art is reflected in the Action Plan of the "Socio-economic Development Strategy of the Azerbaijani Republic for 2022-2026", approved by the presidential decree dated July 22, 2022.

All these steps taken by the country's leadership in the future will improve the implementation of state policy in the field of cinematography, modernize the local production and broadcasting infrastructure, ensure international competitiveness and participation in many international joint projects, film production, as well as the internationalization of Azerbaijani cinematography experience by joining international platforms.

It will be of great importance in terms of its recognition at the level, as well as in terms of providing a new economic activity and stimulation in this area.

In this regard, it is worth noting that, as a result of the care shown by the First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, Azerbaijani cinema has been promoted at numerous international festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival.

The Culture Minister Adil Karimli emphasized that the establishment of the Film Agency laid the foundation for a new stage in the development of Azerbaijani film art.

The Culture Ministry in partnership with other relevant institutions, has completed all the necessary works required for the Film Agency to start operating.

Azerbaijan Film Agency will provide an opportunity for Azerbaijani cinema to participate in many new international joint projects like Evroimage online platform.

The Agency is expected to bring new experiences to the national cinematography and increase the economic activity of the audiovisual field.

In his speech, Adil Karimli noted that Azerbaijani cinematography is entering a recovery phase in terms of creativity, which will give impetus to the renewed interest in the national cinema inside and outside the country.

The main goal of the forum is to preserve the rich legacy of Azerbaijani cinema history, clarify the main issues in the cinema field and discuss together the steps that can be taken in the direction of the formation of codcompetitive cinema.

The Culture Minister underlined that there is a great need to make radical changes in order to face new challenges, to promote the private sector as well as to reduce the dependence on the state.

"We are sure that you have already established your activities very successfully as part of these changes and challenges. There is a need to accelerate and improve this process simply by coming together as a single team," he concluded.

The two-day forum continued with panel discussions.
A multifaceted innovative educator, Dr. Deepa is revolutionizing the nation's educational system via constant learning & an inventive spirit

maintained her incorrigible optimism. She enhanced her knowledge by becoming a psychologist and counsellor and human resource professional also. In 2019 the UNESCO initiative of the Open Education for Better World (OE4BW) mentoring program opened a vast new expanse of knowledge in the field of Open Education Resources (OER), which she along with her team of teachers explained to many other colleagues in her college as well as teaching staff of other neighbouring Colleges and Schools. Dr. Deepa has also been part of the Open Education Policy Forum, Poland in 2019 wherein she advocated the formation of policy for the use of OERs. Dr. Deepa considers all students belonging to one class, knowledge seekers. She is very enthusiastic about speaking about the president and members of the Trust (Vishnu Waman Thakur Charitable Trust, Virar). She appreciates the limitless academic freedom that she receives (as well as every teacher) continuously. Teaching cannot be a profession but should become a way of life, Dr. Deepa exhorts everyone.In line with Dr. Deepa's beliefs, VIVA College strives to provide education to everyone without regard to caste, creed class or community.She therefore truly appreciates her work and responsibilities at VIVA College. Initially, I started at the college as a lecturer. I was then given the opportunity to become the department's head. In 2020, I was promoted as vice principal after taking into account the productive work I have been doing for the organization and my contributions towards education, shares Dr.Deepa Verma, Vice-Principal.The Vishnu Waman Thakur Charitable Trust operates several other colleges, which offer undergraduate and Post Graduate degrees. The college also offers training in traditional subjects including the arts, sciences, and commerce as well as Self-finance courses.Dr. Deepa wants to make a positive impact on the institution by fostering a friendly environment. To do this, she proposes offering students exposure by giving them access to numerous platforms where they can advance their knowledge for their holistic growth. Dr. Deepa asserts that holistic development can be accomplished by ensuring that a knowledge friendly environment concerning all the domains is formed, rather than focusing solely on the knowledge or personality domains.
When it comes to choosing the top casinos, you shouldn't depend on just any source of data.

Instead, it is always advisable to seek the advice of specialists to identify the most dependable and trustworthy sites for your gaming requirements. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources available online, like   or Kajino casino, a platform that can provide you with exhaustive reviews from experienced professionals who have already tried out various casinos and can, thus, provide valuable feedback regarding their performance.

Moreover, to make it easier for you, here are the top 3 online casinos you can explore:

Mystino Casino

Mystino is a magnificent online casino that embraces all players, veterans and newcomers. It debuted in 2020 and has since supplied the Japanese market with numerous games from prominent developers, including Yggdrasil Gaming, NetEnt, Microgaming, Play'n GO and others.

Over 900 slots span many topics, including fantasy, sci-fi, historical eras, nature, and many more. Reactoonz, Rise of Olympus, StarBurst, Gonzo's Quest, Sweet Bonanza and other popular games are enormous hits worldwide.

There is also a wide selection of Japanese-themed slots that will appeal to local players, including Magic Maid Cage, Moon Princess, Lucky Neko, Koi Princess and Tokyo Sweeties, among many more.

Casino.me

Casino.me is an online casino focused on the Japanese market that went active in 2020. This casino, which is only available in Japanese, offers a large selection of games from over 110 licensed providers. Aside from a wide range of slots and table games, numerous live games are designed explicitly for Japanese gamers. Gamers can also test out the Mahjong Logic title, which allows them to place wagers on conventional Mahjong. Casino.me also has a sportsbook where you can place bets on various sporting events, including big esports competitions.

Casino.me's gaming catalog contains over 3,000 casino games. There is a lobby for traditional casino games and another for live dealer games, where you can discover the latest live dealer games. A quick link on the main page will also take you to Mahjong Logic, a premium mahjong game that may be played for money.

Winning Kings

LuckyNiki founded Winning Kings Casino in 2020. It is a virtual casino that caters to Japanese gamers by providing diverse games. The casino is available in Thai and Japanese, with several deposit and withdrawal methods. Winning Kings players are members of the King Club, a loyalty program that provides plenty of incentives and goods to make gambling at the casino even more enjoyable.

Winning Kings has a large selection of live dealer games in which players may compete against actual dealers while watching high-definition feeds straight from the casino. There are typical casino staples like Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, and several other game shows.
Connecticut residents got a glimpse of summer weather last week as temperatures climbed to a record high in parts of the state. For some, that meant it was time to open or install their pool.

According to its most recent State Building Code, Connecticut requires that in-ground and above-ground pools, spas and hot tubs contain water over 24 inches deep and have fewer than 5,000 gallons. For those considering installing a pool for cooling off in the summer, here are some basics you need to know.

Do you need a permit for a pool in CT?

The state of Connecticut requires pool owners to obtain a permit if they want to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a pool or spa, according to the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code. Residents with prefabricated swimming pools, on the other hand, do not need a permit and can continue to use it in its original design. They also do not need a permit to replaster or resurface an existing pool.

Applicants should fill out the form provided by the town and send it to the code official. The application involves paying permit fees and including construction documents that have drawings of the boundaries of the property, any structure on the property and the pool's location. These documents must also detail information about the pool alarm, pool ladder and pool barriers.

Once the application and construction documents are approved, the code official would then inspect the site and conduct tests. If the site complies with Connecticuts code, the permit holder would receive a notice of approval.

Do I need a fence around my pool in CT?

Owners of in-ground and above-ground pools, or spas are required to construct a fence. The enclosure must be greater than four feet high and its openings must be smaller than a four-inch sphere.

The gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground must be less than two inches. The space between horizontal pieces should be less than 45 inches and spacing between vertical or diagonal members should be less than 1.75 inches. The fencing cant have any protrusions and must be a solid barrier, meaning a stone wall doesnt qualify as a fence. Pools must also have an access gate with self-latching devices and pool alarms.

However, a pool with a powered automatic cover that complies with ASTM F1346 standards does not need a fence. Connecticut adopted these new regulations from the 2021 International Swimming Pool Spa Code on Oct. 1, 2022, along with many other standards.

What are the regulations for pool decks?

Pool decks must be slip resistant and the open gap between decks and the adjoining walkaways should be less than 0.75 inches. For wood decks, the gaps between the deck boards should be consistent with approved engineering methods for the type of wood used, according to the 2021 International Swimming Pool Spa Code.

Step risers for decks of residential pools and spas shouldnt be taller than 7.5 inches and the tread distance from front to back should be greater than 10 inches.

Sothebys International Realty / Contributed photo

How close to the property can I build my pool in CT?

To file a permit application, it is essential that owners know their property line, which they can find on a property plat. The rules around distance from the property line apply to both pool equipment and the structure, and the regulations vary by town.

For example, in Norwalk, the pool wall should be greater than six feet from the rear or side property line or more than 10 feet from the street property line. In Bristol, a swimming pool must be aligned with the back of the house and located more than five feet away from the property line. Waterbury requires that residents install their pools at least ten feet away from the house.

Am I allowed to put the pool in my front yard?

Many towns in Connecticut require that residents place swimming pools in their backyards, as required by the Basic Building Code of the State of Connecticut.

In West Hartford, for example, swimming pools, pumps, filters and pool-water disinfection equipment installations should be located more than 10 feet away from any side or rear property line or building line.

What are some regulations for above-ground pools?

Above and in-ground pools share pretty much the same barrier, property and permit requirements. Pools must have a means of entry and exit and must have a ladder or ladder/staircase combo, according to the 2021 International Swimming Pool Spa Code. Ladders must have a physical barrier to prevent children from swimming through the riser openings and behind the ladder, and it must have two handrails.

Owners of above-ground also need to install safety signs such as no diving signs that are provided by the pool manufacturer and should place them in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Owners also should place their cantilevered decks less than one inch higher than the top of the pool wall and non-cantilevered decks should be placed at the same height as the pool wall.
The State Corporation Commission (SCC) approved the 2022 Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) development plan for Dominion Energy Virginia for new solar, onshore wind, and energy storage resources. The company is required to submit an annual plan to the SCC to comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA).

For the limited purpose of filing its third annual RPS plan, the SCC found that Dominion's plan is reasonable and prudent.

The SCC approved:

Seven utility-scale solar generating facilities, totaling approximately 474 megawatts (MW) of capacity;

A stand-alone energy storage resource, totaling approximately 15.7 MW;

The costs for the above projects and related interconnection facilities;

The costs of two distributed solar projects (including interconnection facilities), representing four distributed solar facilities totaling approximately 6 MW; and

13 Purchase Power Agreements for solar and energy storage resources, totaling approximately 270 MW of solar and 49 MW of storage.

The SCC also approved a revenue requirement of $89.154 million for the recovery of certain VCEA-related resources for the rate year of May 2023 through April 2024.

In its final order, the Commission stated, " as discussed in prior RPS orders - [the SCC] is guided in these matters by the statutes and the record. The Commission has continued to exercise its delegated discretion in a manner that faithfully implements the VCEA's carbon-reduction requirements, while best protecting consumers who expect and deserve reliable and affordable service."

Contact: Andy Farmer, 804-371-9141

Case Number PUR-2022-00124 - Application of Dominion Energy Virginia for approval of its 2022 RPS Plan



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NEW FAIRFIELD  Despite overwhelming public support for the spending plans, the Board of Finance slashed more than $2 million from the proposed 2023-24 municipal budgets last week.

During the boards heavily attended, more than five-hour-long meeting, a motion was made to cut nearly $1.8 million from the proposed $40.7 million school operating budget and $300,000 from the proposed $12.8 million town operating budget.

To the disapproval of many who have urged the finance board to approve the budgets with minimal to no cuts, the motion passed 4-2, with members Kim Hanson, Thora Perkins, Mark Beninson and Claudia Willard voting in favor and Cheryl Reedy and board chair Wes Marsh voting in opposition.

Cutting nearly $1.8 million from the school operating budget is huge, Marsh said, and a $300,000 reduction in the Board of Selectmens operating budget will have a significant impact as well.

People are going to lose jobs, he said during the April 12 virtual meeting, which over 200 people attended. I just think those are tremendous cuts.

The Board of Education and Board of Selectmen were to attend a special Board of Finance meeting on April 26 to present how they will handle the cuts.

First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said the $300,000 cut to the Board of Selectmen budget will have a significant impact.

They will have to come out of our operating budget and they will be fairly severe, she said Monday of the cuts. We dont have a lot of extra in our operating budget, so this will affect services that our residents enjoy.

Del Monaco said the Board of Selectmen will discuss the $300,000 cut during a special meeting Thursday.

I dont want to get out ahead of the Board of Selectmen on specifics, but as I have said publicly, were going to have to look again at regionalizing our dispatch center and were going to have to look at operations in our library and our senior center, she said.

Though he couldnt be reached for comment Monday on the impact of the nearly $1.8 million cut, Superintendent Kenneth Craw has said a major cut would deny children the education they deserve and be tantamount to educational malpractice.

For every $500,000 we have to cut from the schools budget, we will have to cut six certified and two non-certified positions, he said earlier this month. Cuts to teaching positions would lead to larger class sizes, reduced course and program offerings and co-curricular offerings, he said.

The New Fairfield Board of Finances efforts to minimize the towns tax increase came despite pleas from residents to approve the budgets without cuts.

At the last Board of Finance meeting, we had over 300 people on the call and many of them (said) they want to see minimal or no cuts to the Board of Ed and Board of Selectmens budgets, resident Don Kellogg said. What I dont understand is with this overwhelming outcry  how you can just ignore it.

An alternate plan

Before the vote, finance board member Reedy proposed a plan designed to not only lower the projected tax increase from 13.2 percent to 6.9 percent, but to also mitigate the budget increase without creating new holes for next year. But others on the finance board said it was not conservative enough.

Reedys plan called for cutting $585,000 from the Board of Education and $175,000 from the Board of Selectmen, using $970,000 in excess revenue from the current fiscal year to offset next years increase in the medical fund and to start rebuilding the towns medical reserve fund, adding $250,000 to estimated non-tax revenue and using $1.5 million in bond premium in 2023-24  as well as $1.54 million in 2024-25  to smooth out the tax increase.

Reedy said her plan may not be what residents had called for, but she said it would help the town avoid future budget holes and also be fair to all New Fairfield residents  some of whom cant afford a 13.2 percent tax increase.

Im sure people will be unhappy with parts of this (plan), but I feel like we have a job to do and we havent done it yet, and its time for us to do our job and put this out to the public, she said. We can deal with this. We just need to make the decision that were going to do it.

Reedys plan looked at the upcoming fiscal year as well as the years ahead.

We need to look at this over more than just one year. If you look at what we did last year, we created holes that we have to fill this year, she said, adding that she regrets not making past tax increases larger.

If tax increases had reflected taxpayers approval of funding for the construction of two schools, an additional school resources officer and infrastructure maintenance, Reedy said the town might have avoided the need to fill holes.

We on the Board of Finance have failed (to) let the tax increase reflect the fullness of what taxpayers are telling us that they want, she said. If you want these things, you have to be willing to pay for them.

Despite appreciating its forward-looking approach, others on the finance board werent fully on board with Reedys proposal and called for further reductions.

The public expressed frustration with the board members responses to Reedys proposal.

Im floored, really and truly, resident Amber Fidel said. Cheryl came up with some really solid solutions and was nearly railroaded.

Kellogg said Reedys plan might not have aligned with residents' calls for minimal to no cuts, but it was reasonable and it was rational  and you guys just took a machete to it.

The Board of Finance will have to do its final budget markup April 26, in order to get the 2023-24 budget out to voters, Marsh said. New Fairfields code of ordinances requires the annual town budget meeting to take place no later than the first Wednesday in May.
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The family of Tyre Nichols filed a lawsuit Wednesday, blaming the city of Memphis, officials and the involved police officers  including former Connecticut resident Desmond Mills Jr.  for his death.

The federal lawsuit, filed by lawyers for Nichols' mother RowVaughn Wells, states the officers brutally beat Tyre within an inch of his life, without any legal justification. Nichols died three days after the Jan. 7 traffic stop.

Its my turn to make sure that my sons death does not go in vain, Wells said at a news conference Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. This has nothing to do with the monetary value of the lawsuit, but everything to do with accountability. Those five police officers murdered my son. They beat him to death and they need to be held accountable.

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said they are seeking a jury trial and $550 million, the Associated Press reported.

The five officers  Mills, Emmitt Martin III, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean  were fired from the police department and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death. They have pleaded not guilty.

The officers were part of the police departments SCORPION, or Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods Unit, which the lawsuit alleges brought terror to Memphis neighborhoods. The unit was formed in November 2021 and was disbanded shortly after Nichols' death.

Mills, a graduate of Bloomfield High School, hit Nichols three times with a baton while the 29-year-old was on the ground, according to a Memphis Police Department Internal Affairs investigation that led to his termination. He was accused of using excessive force, personal conduct, neglect of duty and compliance with body-worn camera regulations.

You used excessive and unnecessary force to apprehend a non-violent suspect following a traffic stop where the person sustained critical injuries and later expired, the investigation concluded. Your on-duty conduct was unbecoming and you neglected your duty to render aid and provide viable details to the emergency medical personnel.

According to the report, the former Connecticut resident admitted he used pepper spray twice on Nichols, claiming it was necessary because other officers were unable to handcuff the man.

The investigation concluded that Mills didnt provide Nichols' mother with an accurate account of her sons encounter with police or his condition, the documents showed. He also made unprofessional comments, laughing and bragging about his involvement" in the incident, the report said.

A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, was also named in the lawsuit. He was terminated after firing a stun gun at Nichols during the traffic stop, but has not been charged in the man's death.

The lawsuit also states that five of the six SCORPION officers who beat Nichols to death had a record of misconduct. For Mills, the lawsuit cited an incident from March 2019 when he failed to file a "'response to resistance' form after using physical force to take a woman to the ground to be handcuffed, the lawsuit stated.

Nonetheless, he was selected to be a part of the SCORPION Unit, according to the lawsuit.

In addition to the six officers, the lawsuit names the city of Memphis, Police Chief Cerelyn Davis, an additional officer who retired before he could be fired and three Memphis Fire Department employees who were fired after officials said they failed to render aid to Nichols, the AP reported.

The reasons Nichols was stopped the night of the beating have "never been substantiated," the lawsuit states.

Nichols was driving home on the evening of Jan. 7 after taking photos of the sunset and skateboarding at Shelby Farms Park in Memphis. Three officers  Martin, Haley and Hemphill  initiated a traffic stop, claiming Nichols was driving recklessly. They pulled their squad cars up to Nichols' vehicle while he was stopped at a red light and boxed him in, the AP reported.

After Martin and Haley deactivated their body-worn cameras, they ran to Nichols' car and pulled him out without explanation, documents show.

The officers then pinned Nichols to the ground and pepper-sprayed him, documents show. Nichols managed to run away and Hemphill fired his stun gun, documents show.

Mills, Bean and Smith then captured Nichols a few minutes later. The three officers, joined by Haley and Martin, "brutally punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed him and beat him with a baton for seven minutes straight, all while he was physically restrained feet from his home, according to the lawsuit.

Nichols was left "unrecognizable," the lawsuit said, handcuffed as he struggled to stay upright, propped against an unmarked police vehicle and was ignored by officers for nearly half an hour, documents show.

When Nichols arrived at the hospital that night, he had "no pulse" and "suffered cardiac arrest," the lawsuit said. For the next three days, he "fought for his life," intubated and undergoing dialysis as "his kidneys were critically damaged due to the beating," the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit also noted that Nichols' brain was "so swollen from the repeated blows to his head that it was no longer able to function properly."

On Jan. 10, 2023, "Tyre died swollen, bloody, and hooked up to devices that ultimately could not save his life," the lawsuit said.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  A federal watchdog is investigating whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration under chief Anne Milgram improperly awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to hire her past associates, people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press.

Among the spending under scrutiny by the Justice Departments Office of Inspector General is $4.7 million for strategic planning and communication and other contracts that were used to hire people Milgram knew from her days as New Jerseys attorney general and as a New York University law professor  at costs far exceeding pay for government officials.

At least a dozen people have been hired under such contracts, including some in Milgrams inner circle handling intelligence, data analytics, community outreach and public relations  work often requiring security clearances and traditionally done by DEAs own 9,000-person workforce.

Also under scrutiny is $1.4 million to a Washington law firm for a recent review of the DEAs scandal-plagued foreign operations that was widely criticized for giving short shrift to agent misconduct and how to prevent it. That review was co-authored by Boyd Johnson, former right-hand man to one of Milgrams closest friends, Preet Bharara, when he was U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. Bharara himself landed at the firm, WilmerHale, even as the review was being conducted.

Some of these deals look very swampy, said Scott Amey, general counsel of the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, noting that federal contracting is not intended to bypass the government hiring process and should be conducted with no preferential treatment and avoiding even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Contractors are also prohibited from performing inherently governmental functions such as directing federal employees.

Contracts should never be awarded based on who you know, Amey said.

WIDENING INQUIRY

Details of the widening inquiry, which began several months ago in response to employee complaints, came from several people interviewed by the Inspector Generals office who discussed the ongoing probe and provided contracting documents on the condition of anonymity. If misconduct is found, the Inspector General can recommend anything from administrative sanctions to criminal prosecution.

The probe comes as the DEA is struggling with repeated revelations of agent misconduct that have rocked the federal narcotics agency and a fentanyl crisis claiming more than 100,000 overdose deaths a year that Milgram has called the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced.

The DEA declined to make Milgram available for an interview or to discuss the investigation and specific contracts, instead releasing a statement.

DEA has acted with urgency to set a new vision, target the global criminal networks responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths, raise public awareness about how just one pill can kill, and promote and recruit hundreds of highly talented people, it said. These changes have been made through an extensive and multi-part process, and we are committed to ensuring that DEA is working relentlessly to protect the national security, safety, and health of the American people.

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department spokesman who has known Milgram for 15 years, said the investigation may stem from employees who arent happy with such organizational change and are seeking ways to push back or undermine it, even if the underlying allegations arent true.

But thats what inspectors general are for, he said, to call balls and strikes.

MANDATE TO CLEAN HOUSE

With a tough New Jersey bravado and data-driven Moneyball approach to the war on drugs, the 52-year-old Milgram came to the DEA nearly two years ago with a mandate to clean house.

But the Biden appointee quickly ruffled feathers by pushing out several career DEA officials she viewed as part of a cliquish culture that allowed misconduct to flourish. Instead, she favored the counsel of newly installed attorneys and data crunchers who work with her in an isolated part of the 12th floor of DEA headquarters known as the bubble.

Milgram has also made a point to show zero tolerance for sexual misconduct and racism in the ranks, warning agents they may now be fired for certain first offenses  a departure from previous administrations.

One of her first actions was ordering an external review of the DEAs sprawling foreign operations, which spans 69 countries. It came in the wake of the high-profile arrest of Jose Irizarry, a disgraced agent now serving a 12-year federal prison sentence after confessing to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels and skimming millions from asset seizures and informants to fund an international joyride of fine dining, parties and prostitutes.

STUNNINGLY VAGUE

But those selected to carry out the review raised eyebrows. One, John Jack Lawn, is a DEA legend but the 87-year-olds insights date from his tenure leading the agency in the 1980s. After leaving government, Lawn headed the Century Council, a beverage industry group, which funded research into campus alcohol abuse that was conducted by Milgrams mother, a Rutgers University expert in the field.

Lawns co-author, Boyd Johnson, worked as a prosecutor on international drug cases before becoming a partner at WilmerHale. Both Johnson and Milgram have close ties to Bharara, who after being fired as U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump joined the NYU faculty alongside Milgram and together hosted the legal issues podcast Cafe Insider. Last year  as the foreign operations review was being conducted  Bharara joined WilmerHale. And this year, DEA hired away from the firm Milgram's former NYU research assistant to become her deputy chief of staff.

Competitive bidding rules for the review were sidestepped by the DEAs argument of unusual and compelling urgency, saying the threat of illicit foreign drugs to the health and safety of the American public has never been greater.

But instead of the projected six months to get the review out, it took nearly three times that long.

Its a complete waste of taxpayers money, said Matthew Donahue, who led DEAs foreign operations until he butted heads with Milgram and was transferred to Colombia, a demotion that prompted him to retire.

Donahue said he and several other DEA overseas veterans were never interviewed as part of the review, which scarcely mentioned Irizarry or other scandals, and borrowed heavily from publicly available audits and DEA operating manuals.

Its something that couldve been written in three days, he said.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a longtime voice against government waste and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ripped WilmerHales review as stunningly vague and recently sent Johnson a letter requesting a range of records, background on his relationship with Milgram and asking whether she or anyone else at DEA requested edits of the report.

Though DEA originally billed this report as a comprehensive review of DEAs foreign operations strategy, the report glosses over or ignores serious shortcomings at the agency and spends much of its 49 pages quoting from publicly available documents that one could have pulled off a web site, Grassley wrote in the letter last week.

Neither Lawn, Johnson, Bharara nor WilmerHale responded to requests for comment.

NEW JERSEY TIES

Another no-bid contract under scrutiny went to Jose Cordero, a longtime New York City police official whose ties to Milgram go back to 2007 when as attorney general she named him New Jerseys first statewide director of gangs, guns and violent crime.

Together they overhauled the police department in Camden  then under state control due to soaring crime and corruption  by crunching crime stats and intelligence data in real time to deploy resources as needed. The approach won national praise as the homicide rate in what was then the countrys most dangerous city was slashed by nearly half.

We have a lot of culture to change, Milgram said in a 2014 TED talk on applying statistics to crime fighting. "But the great news about all of it is that we know it works.

Less than three weeks after taking the top job at DEA, Milgram awarded Cordero what has become a nearly $400,000 contract to conduct data analysis of crime stats.

But Donahue said Corderos expertise in urban policing has less value to the DEA, which processes a flood of intelligence from foreign and domestic wiretaps, as well as informants, to dismantle cross-border criminal networks.

Cordero didnt respond to requests for comment.

THE CLEARING

Several of the hires in question joined DEA through The Clearing, a Washington-based federal contractor that provides outsourced administrative services to the DEA and other federal agencies.

The Clearings $4.7 million in billings to the DEA for strategic planning and communication consulting services over the past two years have accounted for 30% of its federal contracts during that period, records show.

Among those from The Clearing under scrutiny is Lena Hackett, a former Democratic congressional staffer and founder of Community Solutions, an Indianapolis consulting firm focused on public health and criminal justice. Milgram described her as her main partner in a policing reform project she established in Indianapolis while teaching at NYU.

Internal records show Hackett regularly briefs field offices, prepares policy statements and memos for Milgram and meets with families affected by the fentanyl crisis. For her services, the DEA budgeted $257 an hour  more than triple the hourly rate earned by the agencys top civil servants, including the head of community outreach.

Another brought in through The Clearing is Julia Pacetti, a New York City publicist who has led media campaigns for prominent public figures and authors.

According to documents, Pacettis firm JMP/Verdant collected $11,500 a month plus expenses to write news releases, handle interview requests and arrange news conferences work some DEA employees viewed as redundant given the agencys existing staff of public relations employees.

Several recent DEA news releases  including those announcing fentanyl busts as part of the agencys One Pill Can Kill enforcement surge  came not from the DEAs official email account but from Julia Pacetti-Verdant.

Neither The Clearing, Hackett nor Pacetti responded to requests for comment.

This looks terrible to taxpayers, said Don Fox, former acting director and general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics. The appearance is awful. ___ AP Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report from New York.

___

Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  A top administrator with Washington's health insurance exchange apologized to House members on Wednesday for the data breach that resulted in the disclosure of personal information for thousands of users, including members of Congress.

The leak was the result of human error, Mila Kofman, executive director of the District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority, told a joint session of two House Oversight subcommittees.

She said a server was incorrectly configured in mid-2018 when they installed the internal communications program Slack. That faulty configuration allowed an unauthorized individual to access the server and steal two reports containing personal information of 56,415 current and past customers including members of Congress, their families, and staff.

Some of that information was later offered up for sale in an online forum. The issue first came to public attention when members of the House of Representatives and the Senate were informed that they and their staffers may have been affected.

Kofman repeatedly apologized for the mistake, but she praised her agency's reaction once the breach was discovered in early March. She said outside experts and the FBI Cyber Security Task Force were brought in to quickly identify and shut down the security flaw. And those potentially impacted by the leak were immediately offered identity theft and credit monitoring protection, she said.

We will not fail in our response, Kofman told the committee.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. praised the agency's reaction, telling Kofman, "from a crisis standpoint, the response was excellent.

However, Mace took exception to what she called an unacceptable lack of detail on who exactly was responsible and whether that employee or contractor had been punished or fired.

We want to know who is responsible and we want to know how those responsible are being held accountable, she said.

Mace also criticized a report by the cyber-security firm Mandient, which helped identify the security flaw  saying it was thin on crucial details. Mace called the report pretty lame and uninformed.

Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., wondered if the seven-page report was some sort of early draft, calling it "wildly underwhelming if thats the final report.

And Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., a former IT professional, said Kofman's entire testimony shed very little light on when exactly the data theft took place or who exactly was responsible.

I have become more confused sitting here today as to what happened. I thought this would be clarifying, he said.

The hearing comes in the larger context of a sweeping effort by the Republican-held House of Representatives to increase their oversight on the government of the District of Columbia. Congress has already overturned a rewrite of the D.C. criminal code  which passed the Senate with significant Democratic support.

The House on Wednesday also passed a resolution to overturn a police reform law passed by the D.C. Council last year, although that move has murkier prospects in the Senate and President Joe Biden has already said he would veto it, if necessary.
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NEW YORK (AP)  A federal judge will let House Republicans question a former Manhattan prosecutor about the criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump, ruling Wednesday that there is no legal basis to block the Judiciary Committee's subpoena.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil rejected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's request for a temporary restraining order, finding that committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, had a valid legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.

It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection, Vyskocil wrote in a 25-page opinion. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.

Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, ruled two hours after a hearing in which she peppered lawyers on both sides with questions, asking them to parse thorny issues of sovereignty, separation of powers and Congressional oversight arising from the historic indictment.

Acknowledging the political dogfights surrounding the case, the judge said in her ruling that she does not endorse either sides agenda. She encouraged both sides to speak and reach a mutually agreeable compromise on how Pomerantz's deposition will proceed. Jordan is seeking to question him Thursday morning in Washington.

Todays decision shows that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomerantz, and we look forward to his deposition before the Judiciary Committee, Jordans spokesperson, Russell Dye, said in a statement.

Bragg's office appealed the decision to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan and was seeking a stay to halt enforcement of the subpoena.

Pomerantz once oversaw the yearslong Trump investigation but left the job after clashing with Bragg over the direction of the case. He recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows.

Bragg, a Democrat, sued Jordan and the Judiciary Committee last week seeking to block the subpoena. His lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that seeking Pomerantzs testimony was part of a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack Bragg and that Congress was invading a state to investigate a local prosecutor when it had no authority to do so.

Boutrous said House Republicans interest in Bragg amounted to Congress jumping in and haranguing the D.A. while the prosecution is ongoing.

The Judiciary Committee started scrutinizing Braggs investigation of the former president in the weeks that preceded his indictment. Jordan sent letters seeking interviews with Bragg and documents before subpoenaing Pomerantz. In her ruling, Vyskocil said she would handle any legal fights that may arise from other subpoenas in the committees investigation of Bragg.

A committee lawyer, Matthew Berry, countered that Congress has legitimate legislative reasons for wanting to question Pomerantz and examine Bragg's prosecution of Trump, citing the office's use of $5,000 in federal funds to pay for Trump-related investigations.

Congress is also considering legislation, offered by Republicans in the wake of Trump's indictment, to change how criminal cases against former presidents unfold, Berry said. One bill would prohibit prosecutors from using federal funds to investigate presidents, and another would require any criminal cases involving a former president be resolved in federal court instead of at the state level.

House Republicans, Berry said, want to protect the sovereignty and autonomy of the presidency, envisioning a scenario where the commander in chief could feel obligated to make certain decisions to avoid having local prosecutors in politically unfavorable jurisdictions charge them with crimes after they leave office.

For those reasons, Berry argued, Congress is immune from judicial intervention, citing the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Vyskocil presided over the hearing in a Manhattan courtroom that offered sweeping, high-level views that of the New York City skyline that Trump helped shape as a real estate developer, the courthouse where he was arraigned April 3, and the federal building where Jordan continued his war on Bragg by convening a hearing Monday on the prosecutors handing of violent crime.

Pomerantz declined comment as he walked out of the hearing holding a stack of papers with his book, People vs. Donald Trump, on top. His lawyer, Ted Wells, said he would accompany Pomerantz if he is made to testify. Neither Pomerantz nor his lawyers spoke during the hearing. But in a court filing, he aligned himself with Bragg's position and maintained he should not be questioned by the committee.

Berry, the committee lawyer, argued that Pomerantz has already shared lots of information with the public about his work on the Trump investigation and the Judiciary Committee has the right to question him about it, too.

I dont think this is either rational or reasonable behavior that somehow the House Judiciary Committee committee ranks below 60 Minutes,'" Berry argued.

Pomerantz can refuse to answer certain questions, citing legal privilege and ethical obligations, and Jordan would rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis, Berry said, but he shouldn't be exempt from showing up. If Jordan overrules Pomerantz and he still refuses to answer, he could then face a criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but that wouldn't happen immediately, Berry said.

Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment last week.

__

On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak and Larry Neumeister at twitter.com/lneumeister and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Chances are shrinking fast for a key gun-control proposal to make it through the Tennessee Legislature in the wake of a deadly school shooting, as GOP lawmakers push back against the Republican governors proposal to keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others.

Tennessee has become a flashpoint in the nations heated debate over gun rights. Two young Black Democratic lawmakers were expelled from the state House for a protest over gun control. Theyve since been reinstated.

Pressure to pass gun safety measures has also come from students, parents, politicians and others after last month's shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, which killed three children and three adults.

Tennesseans are asking us to set aside politics and personal pride, Gov. Bill Lee said in a video Wednesday.

GOP House Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison recommended that the governor consider calling a special session at a later time to take up the issue, saying he doesn't see the political will to pass it in the next couple of days.

Facing scrutiny over the expulsions and public demands for gun control, Republican lawmakers are hurrying to wrap up the legislative session this week. The GOP has supermajorities in both chambers.

In the final days of the session, Lee has mounted a campaign for temporary mental health orders of protection.

Law enforcement would first determine if a person is a threat, then a hearing with the person in question would be held, and a judge would rule whether they should indeed have their weapons taken away temporarily. If so, the person would have to surrender their guns, ammunition and any handgun carry license to a third party within 48 hours, for up to 180 days.

A person facing a order of protection petition would be offered a court-appointed attorney, and anyone determined to have filed a frivolous report could face a felony perjury charge. There would also be a mental health evaluation.

Lee said top lawmakers gave input on the proposal and he argued it isn't a red flag law. He called that term a toxic political label meant to draw lines in the sand so nothing gets done.

In a cool reception, House Republicans didnt appear to make a distinction on terminology.

Any red flag law is a non-starter, the House GOP caucus tweeted Wednesday. Our caucus is focused on finding solutions that prevent dangerous individuals from harming the public and preserve the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

Republican Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who runs the Senate, has said the governors proposal strikes the right balance. Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton was noncommittal, saying he wants to find the best path forward to protect Tennessee children.

Lee's plan still hasn't been put onto a bill. As Senate Democrats called for a vote on Lee's proposal, Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville on Thursday tried to force a floor vote on a similar plan. Republicans rejected it on procedural grounds.

During that debate, Katy Dieckhaus, whose daughter Evelyn Dieckhaus died in The Covenant School, watched from the gallery with a photo of her daughter in her lap.

After the shooting, lawmakers and Lee have passed proposals that largely focus on school security. A new budget passed Thursday includes $204.7 million proposed by Lee for enhanced school safety and student behavioral health measures, including a school resource officer in every public school and grants for private school security.

Lawmakers also passed a bill to further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits, despite pleas not to consider it in light of the shooting.

Public pressure for stricter gun laws has continued to grow.

Bill Frist, the former Republican U.S. Senate majority leader from Tennessee, was among the authors of a newspaper column calling for so-called extreme risk protection orders and other changes. Frist is a heart and lung transplant surgeon.

"The vast majority of Americans support sensible gun laws. The vast majority of Tennesseans do too, the column states.

Gun lobby groups have quickly cried foul.

The Tennessee Firearms Association said Lee's proposal shows callous disregard of the United States Supreme Court and the Constitution.

The National Rifle Association's legislative arm said Tennessee law already allows for detention of dangerous individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.

Lee has said involuntary commitment would restrict all kinds of constitutional rights, including the Second Amendment.

Police say the shooter at The Covenant School was under a doctors care for an undisclosed emotional disorder. However, authorities havent publicly stated a link between that care and the shooting. Police say the shooter was not on their radar before the attack.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Three Tennessee lawmakers who faced expulsion votes after participating in protests over last month's school shooting in Nashville will visit the White House to meet with President Joe Biden on Monday.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the visit on Wednesday. She said Biden was proud and appreciative to see the three state representatives calling for stronger gun restrictions, particularly a ban on so-called assault weapons.

The president spoke with the lawmakers to thank them for speaking out and for standing their ground, and being very clear about what's needed to protect their communities, Jean-Pierre said.

The expulsion votes added a level of political drama and controversy to the violence at The Covenant School, where three children and three adults were killed.

Two of the lawmakers  Rep. Justin Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones, both Black  were expelled by the Republican-controlled legislature. The third, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, was not.

Pearson and Jones have since been reinstated by local officials, returning them to their positions on an interim basis.

The state has set Aug. 3 as the special election date for the seats filled by Jones and Pearson, preceded by a June 15 primary election. Both lawmakers have said they intend to run.

Julia Bruck, the Tennessee secretary of state office's spokesperson, said local officials believe the Nashville special election will cost about $120,000 to administer, while the Memphis one will cost between $375,000 and $500,000.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Nashville earlier this month to support the Tennessee Three" and their calls for greater gun control.

Lets not fall for the false choice  either youre in favor of the Second Amendment or you want reasonable gun safety laws, Harris said. We can and should do both.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
New Yorks 2023 turkey season kicks off this weekend with the junior hunt, April 22-23. Regular spring turkey season runs from May 1 - May 31.

Junior hunters must hold a license and a turkey permit, and must be accompanied by a licensed adult. The mentor can assist with calling and whatnot, but they cant carry a firearm, bow or crossbow, or kill or attempt to kill a wild turkey during the youth hunt.

The youth turkey hunt is an ideal opportunity to encourage the next generation of turkey hunters, said Trent McCall, who owns Four Leaf Custom Calls and volunteers as a mentor in his hometown of Truxton.

McCall gave us six tips for a successful junior hunt:

Anna Aldrich bagged this gobbler in Truxton during the 2022 youth hunt.

1. Dont pressure the kid to bag a bird

Regular turkey season is an entire month. The junior hunt is only two days, rain or shine. So being successful means just being out there, spending time together, and making memories, McCall said. Bagging a bird is a bonus.

2. Jakes are A-OK

Any turkey hunter knows its a feat just to get a bird in front of you. So dont pressure kids to pass up a jake for a long beard that might never show up. At least theyll have something to improve on next year. Taking his own advice, every junior hunter who enters the contest McCall sponsors each year is eligible to win prizes. The idea is to build the hunting community, McCall said, and that means not excluding kids who dont get a bird.

3. Let kids call

Practice, but know ahead of time kids arent going to be the best callers. Use a box call, or a slate, but avoid diaphragms. Let them play with it, McCall said. You never know, birds answer to all kinds of stuff.

4. Use a ground blind

Kids are going to fidget and make noise when theyre not falling asleep. You cant just strap them down to a tree, McCall said. Set up a ground blind with a wide field of view. That allows kids to move around and be in a position to shoot without scaring off birds.

5. Electronics

It can be a long time between birds and some kids have the attention span of a squirrel. Let them fiddle with their cell phone if they need tobut on silent mode, of course. I know people that bring books with them while theyre turkey hunting, McCall said.

6. Let kids make the schedule

Many turkey hunters are in the woods from before dawn to around noon. Thats a long stretch for a kid. If they get restless, take them to a diner for breakfast and go back into the woods. They show up at a diner with camo on, everybody thats a hunter is going to come over to give advice, McCall said. And theyre in the fraternity at that point.

It all boils down to giving your junior hunter a good experience, whatever that looks like, McCall said. You dont want them ending the day having been told to sit still for six hours in the rain, never seeing a bird.

If you dont go, you dont know, McCall said. You dont want to put a bad taste in their mouth. Allow them to enjoy the day.

New shot shell regulation

A new Department of Environmental Conservation regulation sets the minimum shot size as No. 9 for turkey. Previously, shot sizes smaller than No. 8 were prohibited because they werent powerful enough to humanely harvest a turkey. But modern shot shells use heavier metals and perform better than traditional turkey loads.

Hunter Wade, 13, killed his first turkey in Fort Ann during the 2022 youth hunt. This superb bird weighed 21 pounds, had a 9.5-inch beard, and 1-inch spurs.

DEC Youth Turkey Hunting Weekend regulations:

All youth hunters must be accompanied by an adult.

Hunters 12 to 15 years of age must hold a hunting license and a turkey permit.

Youth 12 or 13 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or person over 21 years of age, with written permission from their parent or legal guardian.

Youth 14 or 15 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or person over 18 years of age, with written permission from their parent or legal guardian.

Adult must have a current hunting license and turkey permit.

Adult may assist the youth hunter (including calling), but may not carry a firearm, bow or crossbow, or kill or attempt to kill a wild turkey during the youth hunt. Crossbows may not be used by licensees who are under 14 years of age.

Bag limit is one bearded bird. This bird becomes part of the youths regular spring season bag limit of two bearded birds. A second bird may be taken only in Upstate New York, north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary, beginning May 1.

All other wild turkey hunting regulations remain in effect.

Visit DECs website for more information about turkey hunting.

Send us your turkey pics!

Wed love to see your bird: big beards, little beards, it doesnt matter. Just send us your turkey pics. Dont forget to provide the name of anyone shown in the photo, their hometowns, along with the birds weight, length of beard and/or spurs (if possible), and where they bagged it. Give us a few colorful details about the hunt.



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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.comand NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.
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After nearly six years in Bethel, Jeff Taibe and Steph Sweeney have relocated Taproot to South Norwalk. The newest iteration of the restaurant is at 63 North Main St., taking over the space most recently occupied by Bruxelles Brasserie.

Taproot officially opened in its new location April 14, Taibe said. He said he had been looking to grow the business, and was seeking a larger space in southern Fairfield County.

"We've always had a broader audience in southern Fairfield," he said. "It was an opportunity to grow into a space that we've always wanted, and you've got to kind of jump on those opportunities sometimes."

Taibe said he loves the North Main Street space, which had also previously housed Barcelona Wine Bar before it moved to Norwalk's Waypointe development. The transition from Bruxelles to Taproot was "really quick," he said, as Bruxelles closed April 9 and Taproot debuted five days later.

The menu at Taproot Sono follows the same philosophy as the original, Taibe said, with constantly-changing options featuring local and sustainable ingredients. Taibe is a passionate fan of Southeast Asian flavors, which he incorporated into Taproot's menu throughout its tenure in Bethel and continues in the new space with dishes like hay-smoked hamachi with strawberry boshi ponzu and lamb saddle with green curry. But he doesn't want to put a particular label on the cuisine.

"The way I cook, there is no title. It's whatever I feel at the moment, and it could be anything from chicken wings to a 10-course tasting menu," he said. "It's whatever's available and what the ingredients inspire me to do, so it's kind of cooking from the heart."

Taproot's current menu offers snacks and small plates like pimento cheese with Benton's ham jam, Wave Hill sourdough bread, salmon "laab" with chili lime dressing, roasted Copps Island oysters and dry-aged steak tartare. Larger plates include a burger with dry-aged beef and smoked onion jam, rainbow trout, roast chicken with Seacoast mushrooms, a lamb patty melt on Wave Hill rye bread and steak frites with miso/red wine bordelaise.

"I also love the great flavors of Europe, and the great flavors of America and Southern cuisine and smoke, and so there's really no limits to what we can do or what we want to do," Taibe said. "Globally inspired, locally sourced is kind of our catchphrase."

Taibe said he's not yet sure what will happen to the Bethel space. "We've talked about coming up with a new concept, more of a fast-casual, simple straightforward concept...we talked about revisiting the Southeast Asian [food] but a little more streamlined," he said. "Honestly, our whole focus over the last two and a half months has been trying to get [Norwalk] up and going."

Taproot is now open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, offering brunch Saturday and Sunday. Taibe said he envisions lunch three days a week in the future, along with happy hour and late-night happy hour.
ALLETE has been named as an Honor Roll company with Special Distinction in the 2022 Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership, produced by St. Catherine University's School of Business. The annual research study examines the representation of women on boards of directors and as executive officers in the state's largest publicly held companies. It is the fourth consecutive year ALLETE has received the honor.

ALLETE is among only six of 78 companies that achieved gender parity on their board of directors, among their executive officer positions, or both, in 2022, according to the report. Five of 10 directors serving on the ALLETE board are women and three of the six ALLETE executive officers are women.

The six Special Distinction companies are among the 23 companies named to the Honor Roll for having representation of women on the board of directors at 29% or better, and representation of women in executive officer roles as 23% or better.

Bethany Owen, ALLETE chair, president and CEO, said the company is honored to be recognized with the Special Distinction status. She noted that women have served in senior leadership positions and on ALLETE's board of directors for decades.

"I'm proud of our company's strong track record of diversity in all forms, be it gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, as well as experience," Owen said. "But this isn't about numbers or percentages it's about creating and strengthening an equitable and inclusive culture where individuals are valued for their whole selves. And that, in turn, enables people, organizations and businesses, and our communities to thrive in truly sustainable ways. We know we have more work to do, but we also know we are stronger when more voices are included in the decision-making process at all levels."

ALLETE and other Honor Roll companies were recognized April 18 at an event at the Saint Paul RiverCentre hosted by Twin Cities Business. Jennifer Cady, director of regulatory affairs at Minnesota Power, accepted the award on behalf of ALLETE.

In addition to the recognition in the St. Catherine University census, Moody's Investors Service has identified ALLETE as having the most gender diverse board among 45 utility companies it examined for a report on board gender diversity at publicly traded North American utilities.

ALLETE, Inc. is an energy company headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. In addition to its electric utilities, Minnesota Power and Superior Water, Light and Power of Wisconsin, ALLETE owns ALLETE Clean Energy, based in Duluth; BNI Energy in Bismarck, North Dakota; and New Energy Equity, headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland; and has an 8% equity interest in the American Transmission Co. More information about ALLETE is available at www.allete.com. ALE-CORP

The statements contained in this release and statements that ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He said his 2-year-old daughter has transformed his family and puts a smile on everyone's face no matter where she goes.

"She's changed everyone's lives, including my son's," the girl's father said, declining to provide his name due to the circumstances of her birth. "He's 22 and just loves her to death. Everyone in the family treats her as their daughter. She's part of the family."

The little girl is among 52 newborns who were saved since 2001 by Connecticut's safe haven law that allows parents in distress to leave their newborns at an emergency department without providing their identity and with no criminal repercussions as long as the child is under 30 days old and has not been abused, according to state officials.

Even though the law is 23 years old, the state Department of Children and Families staged an event at St. Francis Hospital Thursday as part of Child Abuse Prevention Month to raise awareness for a new generation of potential parents who may not realize they can safely leave a newborn if they feel they can't raise the child on their own.

"What I always say is that if two people, tell two people, we can get the word out," said former Republican state Rep. Pam Sawyer, who authored the law in 2000 after a chilling death of a baby named by the faith community "David Paul" in Meriden in 1988.

Sawyer, who is now the first selectman in Bolton, continues to champion awareness for the law years after she retired from the legislature. She was on hand with DCF Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes and St. Francis Nurse Manager of the Emergency Department Ivan Sarmiento to discuss the law Thursday morning.

Newborn boy David Paul was found frozen to death in January 1988 in Meriden. Local police still hold an annual ceremony marking the boy's life. The newborn's death had a profound impact on Sawyer, who was a young mother at the time, she said. Years later in 1999, she read in a newspaper that Texas had passed a safe haven law allowing desperate parents to leave their newborns at a safe place without criminal repercussions.

"I thought, I am a legislator, I can do something about this," she said.

The resulting law allows people to show up at any emergency department in the state to voluntarily give up custody of their newborn who is less than 30 days old without criminal charges as long as the child has not been neglected or abused. A nurse will meet with the parent, in most cases, the mother, in a private spot to take the child's medical history, according to the law.

The parent is asked their name and address but they are not required to provide any information, according to the law. The parent will then receive a packet of information on their legal rights and a bracelet that matches their baby's, Sawyer said. If the parent has a change of heart or second thoughts, they can contact DCF and indicate they have the matching bracelet.

An emergency department physician will examine the baby, Sarmiento said, and then the child will be turned over to DCF within 24 hours for adoption placement. All of the ED and triage nurses at St. Francis are trained in the protocol, said Sarmiento, whose hospital has seen six safe haven newborns  the most of any emergency department in the state.

Sawyer was able to get the law passed in 2000, but realized after four infant abandonments from the time the law went into effect until 2004 that most people didn't know that newborns could be brought to emergency departments.

"We forgot to tell anyone about it," she said.

But that was rectified when then Gov. M. Jodi Rell agreed to do a public service announcement in 2005 and Sawyer was able to get legislation passed requiring schools to discuss the safe haven law.

DCF has families who are trained and waiting for safe haven adoptions like the man who adopted the girl two years ago.

"She's been with us since she was three days old," the man said. "We can't imagine life without her."

Anyone with questions about the safe haven law or a baby who has been voluntarily left at an emergency department can call the DCF Careline at 800-842-2288. Help is also available at Infoline at 211.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  An IRS special agent is seeking whistleblower protection to disclose information about what the agent alleges is mishandling of an investigation into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent to members of Congress.

Mark Lytle, the attorney for the IRS whistleblower, wrote to lawmakers Wednesday that his client has information about a failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition" of a criminal investigation related to the younger Biden's taxes and whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase.

Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle, Lytle said in a letter, obtained by The Associated Press, that was sent to the chairmen and ranking members of several House and Senate committees.

The letter states that the supervisory special agent previously disclosed the information they are seeking to share with Congress internally with the IRS and a watchdog for the Justice Department. Lytle added that his client is able to contradict sworn testimony to lawmakers by a senior political appointee." That appointee is not named.

The special agent also wants to disclose examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected," the lawyer added.

The president respects the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing Thursday. The Justice Department declined to comment. Hunter Biden's legal team had no immediate comment. A request for comment from the IRS was not immediately returned.

Hunter Bidens taxes and foreign business work have been under federal investigation by a federal grand jury in Delaware since at least 2018. So far no charges have been filed. Additionally, his membership on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and his efforts to strike deals in China have long raised questions by Republicans about whether he traded on his fathers public service.

Joe Biden has said he has never spoken to his son about foreign business. There are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a congressional hearing last month that he wont interfere with the department's investigation.

He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has left the matter in the hands of U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the top federal prosecutor in Delaware, who would be empowered to expand his investigation outside the state if needed.

He has been advised he is not to be denied anything he needs, Garland said. I have not heard anything from that office to suggest that they are not able to do everything the U.S. Attorney wants to do.

The whistleblower letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as House Republicans have opened their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden's business dealings, including examining foreign payments and other aspects of his finances.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, recently reviewed financial transactions by members of the Biden family that were flagged for attention. Those financial reports are routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the government, and are not evidence on their own of misconduct.

But Comer, who has been leading the various probes into Hunter Biden, said the whistleblower letter is further evidence of the importance of congressional inquiry into the president and his family.

Its deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations," Comer said in a statement Thursday.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  An arbitration panel has ordered MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell to pay $5 million to a software engineer for breach of contract in a dispute over data that Lindell claims proves that China interfered in the U.S. 2020 elections and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden.

But Lindell told The Associated Press on Thursday that he has no intention of paying and that he expects the dispute to land in court.

Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the 2020 presidential election, launched his Prove Mike Wrong Challenge," as part of the Cyber Symposium he staged in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in August 2021, to further his theories. Lindell offered through one of his companies a $5 million reward for anyone who could prove that packet captures and other data he released there were not valid data from the November 2020 election.

Robert Zeidman entered the challenge with a 15-page report that concluded the data from Lindell did not contain packet data of any kind and do not contain any information related to the November 2020 election. A panel of contest judges that included a Lindell attorney declined to declare Zeidman a winner. So Zeidman filed for arbitration under the contest rules.

After conducting an evidentiary hearing in Minneapolis in January, the three arbitrators on Wednesday ordered Lindell to pay Zeidman $5 million.

He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data," the arbitrators wrote. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prize was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover.

The arbitrators ordered Lindell to pay up within 30 days.

They clearly saw this as I did  that the data we were given at the symposium was not at all what Mr. Lindell said it was, Zeidman said in a statement Thursday. 'The truth is finally out there.

Zeidman attorney Brian Glasser said the arbitrators' ruling marked another important moment in the ongoing proof that the 2020 election was legal and valid, and that Lindells claims about the validity of his data had been "definitively disproved.

Lindell disputed that and said he intends to release additional data in the coming weeks or months that will prove his claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 elections and validate what he put out earlier.

"It's going to end up in court, Lindell said. I'm not going to pay anything. ... He didn't prove anything.

Lindell is already the subject of a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems in the District of Columbia that says Lindell falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election. He's also the target of a separate defamation lawsuit in Minnesota by a different voting machine company, Smartmatic.

Lindell said it's strange that the arbitrators ruled a day after Dominion settled its defamation lawsuit against Fox News for nearly $800 million. and suggested it's all an effort to get him to end his crusade against electronic voting machines.

I'll spend everything I have to save the country I love, Lindell said.

___

This story was first published on April 20, 2023. It was updated on April 21, 2023 to correct the location of Lindells 2021 cyber symposium. It was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, not South Falls.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.

The United States announced new sanctions Wednesday against three Nicaraguan judges who stripped 222 exiled opponents of their nationality.

Ortega told Lavrov that his government isn't concerned.

We already have hundreds of officials under sanctions ... this doesnt cause them any concern or fear anymore, Ortega said.

Lavrov responded that sanctioned people in Russia take it as a recognition of their effectiveness in defending Russian interests. Lavrovs remarks were translated from Russian to Spanish by a government-provided translator.

Russian officials and oligarchs were hit by sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov repeated Russia's warnings about Western expansionism and said he expected Nicaragua to be a strong pillar in the world that is being formed, adding multipolarism is a process that cannot be stopped.

In recent years, Ortega's government has essentially arrested all domestic political opponents as well as priests and a bishop.

On Feb. 9, Ortega's government released 222 opposition figures from prison and deported them, saying their Nicaraguan citizenship would be revoked and their property confiscated. Rights groups say that is an example of banishment, a violation of international norms.

Lavrov began his tour of Latin America on Monday with a stop in Brazil, where the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking to simultaneously develop ties with China, Europe and the U.S. while keeping an open door to Russia. During a visit to Dubai, Lula said that Russia and Ukraine share responsibility for the war.

Lavrov met Tuesday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and was expected to visit Cuba on Thursday.
In celebration of Earth Week, AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) and United Illuminating (UI) today (April 19) joined Habitat for Humanity Coastal Fairfield County (Habitat-CFC) to highlight the organizations' longstanding partnership and commitment to supporting energy efficiency and affordable housing in Connecticut. As part of the visit, AVANGRID CEO Pedro Azagra and UI President and CEO Frank Reynolds joined Habitat-CFC Chief Operating Officer Kevin Moore to tour two highly energy efficient homes in Bridgeport, currently under construction, that UI is supporting through a $5,000 tax credit as part of the Neighborhood Assistance Act program.

"AVANGRID is a proud member of the communities we serve, and is committed to working with valued partners like Habitat for Humanity to ensure that our neighbors have access to quality, affordable housing as well as the environmental and economic benefits of energy efficiency," said AVANGRID CEO Pedro Azagra. "As we celebrate Earth Week, it is critical that we address the environmental burdens our Environmental Justice communities face, and expanding access to high-quality, energy efficient, and affordable housing in communities like Bridgeport will help us build a healthier, more equitable future."

Since 2016, UI has provided more than $56,000 in tax credits to Habitat-CFC, building on the efforts of the Avangrid Foundation, which has given more than $841,000 in support of Habitat for Humanity's national organization. Together, UI and the Avangrid Foundation have provided more than $215,000 in support to Habitat-CFC, supporting the construction and energy efficiency improvements of dozens of Connecticut homes.

"We are incredibly grateful for AVANGRID and their continued generous financial support through a combination of corporate grants, employee giving, and the Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program," said Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County Chief Operating Officer Kevin Moore. "AVANGRID employees have also rolled up their sleeves to volunteer their time and talent to help us build countless homes throughout Coastal Fairfield County. In addition, the rebate dollars provided by United Illuminating has made it possible for us to build over 100 affordable homes to ENERGY STAR standards which helps our Habitat homeowners save money on their monthly utility bills, improve home comfort, and benefit our environment. Avangrid has proven to be one of our most supportive corporate neighbors and, through our continued partnership, we look forward to building many more energy efficient, affordable homes in our community."

In 2022, AVANGRID employees participated in 31 volunteer build days nationally, totaling 1,153 hours of volunteer time. Through the Foundation's Energized for Good employee volunteer program, employee participation also resulted in more than $17,000 in additional donations from the Foundation.

Earlier this week, AVANGRID released its 2022 Sustainability Report, titled "Investing in a Clean Energy Future for All," which details that the company met or exceeded 85% of its 2022 Environmental, Social, Governance and Financial Stewardship (ESG+F) goals. The report also indicated AVANGRID is on track to meet its ambitious long-term ESG+F goals by demonstrating clear progress and actions underway to support their achievement. This includes AVANGRID's industry-leading 2030 carbon neutrality targets for scopes 1 and 2 and its commitment to reach 16.9 GW emissions-free installed capacity by 2030.

About AVANGRID: AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $41 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, AVANGRID owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, AVANGRID owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. AVANGRID employs more than 7,500 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as one of the JUST 100 companies - a ranking of America's best corporate citizens. In 2023, AVANGRID ranked first within the utility sector for its commitment to the environment. The company supports the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World's Most Ethical Companies in 2023 for the fifth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. AVANGRID is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.

About UI: The United Illuminating Company (UI) is a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. Established in 1899, UI operates approximately 3,600 miles of electric distribution lines and 138 miles of transmission lines. It serves approximately 341,000 customers in the greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas of Connecticut. UI received the Edison Electric Institute's Emergency Response Award in 2019 and 2021. For more information, visit www.uinet.com.
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DANBURY  Police are searching for the thieves who stole two catalytic converters, valued at over $7,000 total, from a community food rescue truck late last month, preventing it from delivering food to people in need.

The truck is used to deliver donated food items to nonprofit charities and food pantries across the area.

Six pallets filled with produce weighing hundreds of pounds and containing thousands of dollars of produce were scheduled to go that day to Camellas Cupboard in New Milford.

"We rely on the six pallets from the truck to provide us with fresh, healthy produce we distribute to the 350 families/600 children we serve monthly," said Angela Chastain, executive director and founder of Camella's Cupboard, a nonprofit organization that provides food to residents facing food insecurity.

"Due to the catalytic converter theft and not receiving the produce, we had to purchase items for our families that week," she said.

But due to the rising cost of food, Camella's was able to purchase only about a quarter of the food items they would have received from the truck delivery, Chastain said.

"So, while all our families did receive fresh healthy items, they only received a small portion of what they normally do," she said. "Its really a sad statement when thieves target a truck that was clearly labeled to its purpose of providing food to those neediest in our community."

Theft from truck

On March 30, Danbury police said they responded to 78 Triangle St. just before 7 a.m. on a report of a catalytic converters theft.

"Upon arrival, an employee with Community Action Agency of Western Connecticut stated that when he went to start his work truck (which was parked in front of the agency), he noticed the exhaust was loud," the police report said.

When the employee checked the truck, he discovered that the two catalytic converters were missing from its exhaust system, the police report said.

Although there is a surveillance camera on scene, it didn't capture the theft, according to the police report.

Catalytic converter thefts have been on the rise in Danbury, the state and across the country, increasing 1,215 percent nationwide since 2019 due to the soaring value of precious metals inside the pollution-scrubbing devices, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

From March 1, 2022, to March 30, 2023, there were about 300 catalytic converter thefts and attempted thefts in Danbury, said Erin Henry, the city of Danbury public safety relations specialist.

Costs of theft

The cost to replace the two catalytic converters is over $7,000, said Ridgefield resident Andrew Okrongly, a longtime volunteer with Community Food Rescue, which transports food from donors to nonprofit organizations.

The nonprofit agency also faced the additional cost of over $1,000 to rent a refrigerated truck to continue making deliveries after the catalytic converter thefts, Okrongly said.

"CFR's mission is to rescue food, support local agencies and work to alleviate senior hunger in the Danbury area. It is part of the Community Action Agency of Western Connecticut, which provides social services to low-income families," he said.

"The loss to the agencies that received food that day was heartbreaking," Okrongly said.

Community Food Rescue serves 11 agencies throughout Danbury, New Milford and Bethel.

"We rescue food seven days a week at numerous supermarkets and club stores," said Linda Hutchings, the food sourcing manager at Community Food Rescue, which is on Triangle Street in Danbury.

"Thanks to Penske (Truck Leasing) ... I was only 'out of business' for that day. They were able to get me a rental for Friday pickups," Hutchings said.

Additionally, she said Allegiance Trucks in Bethel found catalytic converters to get the regular truck up and running within one week.

"They jumped through hoops for me. Good news was also that we had theft insurance, so some of the funds will be recouped," Hutchings said.

The Danbury Police Department is investigating the March 30 catalytic converter thefts. Anyone with information is asked to contact the department at 203-797-4611. To send an anonymous text tip, text keyword DANBURYPD and the message/tip to 847411 (Tip411). Anonymous web tips can also be submitted through the online web tip form at www.tip411.com/tips/new?alert_group_id=22782.
HARTFORD  Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday warned that the legislature's proposed two-year $50.9-billion budget is out of balance and contains unacceptable maneuvers including a shift of $400 million in expenditures to dodge the state's spending cap.

But during a free-wheeling, half-hour news conference with reporters in his State Capitol office, Lamont indicated that there is room for discussion and potential compromise as his budget staff and General Assembly leaders will meet to negotiate the final spending package that will take effect on July 1. In particular, Lamont said he hoped to secure more funding for non-profit social service agencies.

Lamont said he prefers his plan to cut income taxes for middle-income families by about $50 a month, compared to the $30-per-month approved Wednesday night by the legislative Finance Committee. Sitting next to the governor was Jeffrey Beckham, who as secretary of the Office of Policy and Management is the governor's budget chief, who said that despite state law that requires a balanced budget, the tax package is $40 million short in the budget year that starts July 1, and more than $200 million in the second year.

"Every day, I have to set priorities," Lamont said, sitting behind his desk. "You can't do everything."

The governor, however, was generally conciliatory and complimentary of both the finance panel and the Appropriations Committee, which approved a spending package on Tuesday at a time when the state is enjoying multi-billion-dollar surpluses and still has hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief.

"I think the good news is, compare the conversations we're having now, compared to where we were just two years ago," Lamont said. "Compare them to 2017. Compare them to most of the budget discussions we've had this century. It was always 'how much more do we have to cut? How much taxes do we have to raise?' That was the chronic fiscal crisis that was dragging down the state."

Lamont noted that since taking office in 2019, municipal aid has increased 59 percent, while UConn's funding went up 40 percent. He credited economic growth for the ability to make the investments. "It has only begun to turn around," he said, stressing the theme of his February budget proposal. "Our budget was all about growth and opportunity."

The governor praised the Appropriations Committee for adhering to the spending "guardrails" adopted in the 2017 bipartisan budget during the final year of Gov. Dannel Malloy's administration and recently extended by votes in the House and Senate. He said that while the committee approved hundreds of millions more in spending above his proposal "there's a lot to work with there."

Beckham noted the gap between the Appropriations budget and the Finance funding package. "They've not aligned themselves and that's a challenge for us," he said of the $400 million legislators want to take off-budget, about $300 million of which would be for municipal aid, plus $100 million in a diversion of sales tax revenue.

"Look, you sit down and negotiate these things," Lamont said. "I put forward a budget that increased investments in all these key social areas and also gave you a tax cut of about 20 percent for people earning up to $100,000. I think that sends a big message around the country that this state is getting its fiscal house in order. This extra $50 a month is going to save you and your family an awful lot of heartache. But if the legislature says 'hey that's too much, I don't want to give the middle class that much of a tax cut, I want to do something else,' I'll discuss it."

Lamont and Beckham said that the state's revenue picture will become clearer over the next couple of weeks, particularly on May 1. "I think the good news is they're talking about tax cuts," Lamont said, noting the tax reductions approved by the Finance Committee. "Obviously, I prefer a tax cut that's broad-based, really helps the middle class."

Beckham anticipates that capital gains taxes - investment income - will be coming in at a rate 17 percent lower, after several years of higher-than-expected filings. He doubts that the calculations for the spending cap will change.

Lamont is optimistic of a negotiated deal with lawmakers, but warned of the proposals to move some spending off the budget. "I think that is exactly contrary to everything the guard rails were all about," Lamont said. "When you start moving some (municipal) aid off budget, when you start siphoning off revenues, all of a sudden your budget is out of whack and you've violated your own spending caps. If you don't want spending caps, vote them out, but don't play games. None of these gimmicks." He warned that the result would be less money to invest in paying down the state's pension debt.

"There have been challenges before. We've said no and we're going to say no again," Lamont said. "Look, we've increased the Earned Income Tax Credit by almost double in the last four years, based upon our current proposal, and I think that will mean folks here in Hartford or elsewhere are getting a refund or not paying any income tax."

Asked about a Finance Committee bill that would create income tax-free census tracts in the state's bigger, troubled cities including Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury and paying the difference through long-term bonding, Lamont snapped: "Look, you do not borrow to pay for operating expenses. You do not borrow money to pay for tax cuts."

Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, praised Lamont's stance.

I applaud the governor for continuing to push for an honest, balanced and gimmick-free budget," Kelly said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "He is absolutely correct to highlight the fact that our responsible fiscal guardrails  which were unanimously renewed just two months ago  have served our state well and must be respected. I also applaud Gov. Lamont for continuing to push for a broad-based and robust tax cut for middle class families."
A 15-year-old student has been arrested and charged with assault following a stabbing at a St. Catharines public school Thursday morning.

Niagara Regional Police said officers responded to a report of an assault at St. Catharines Collegiate, located at 34 Catherine St., at 10:54 a.m.

Officers found a 15-year-old male student suffering from an apparent stab wound. Police said staff members treated the victim before Niagara Emergency Medical Services arrived.

Paramedics assessed the victims injuries at the scene before transporting him to an out-of-town trauma centre.

Police said the victim has since been released from hospital and is recovering at home.

In a media release, police said an investigation found the male victim had been stabbed with a knife by another student from St. Catharines Collegiate. Police said the knife has been recovered.

The suspect, who remained at the school with staff members, was arrested by police.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act prohibits NRP from releasing identifying information related to the suspect but said he is a 15-year-old male from Thorold.

He has been charged with assault with a weapon.

The suspect remains in police custody and is scheduled to attend a bail hearing Friday via video link to the Robert S.K. Welch Courthouse in St. Catharines.

District School Board of Niagara communications officer Kim Sweeney confirmed the incident had occurred Thursday morning at the boards St. Catharines school.

In an email she said, We are concerned about this incident and we will be putting measures in place to ensure our school remains a safe place for all students and staff.

Police said the criminal investigative branch has taken over the investigation. Detectives are asking any staff members, students or anyone who witnessed the incident and not yet provided a statement to do so by calling 905-688-4111, option 3, ext. 1009358.

This was the second time in two weeks police were called to Collegiate.

On April 14, Sweeney said the principal called police after a rumour circulated involving a student with a knife. She said any report of a weapon is an automatic call but the rumour proved unfounded.

Police said officers responded to a disturbance but found neither student had sustained any injuries and both were determined to be close friends and have since apologized to one another and reconciled their difference.

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About 100 workers at Community Living Port Colborne-Wainfleet have been on strike for nearly three weeks, but dialogue between administration and the union representing staff reopened on Thursday.

Talks broke down March 29 when bargaining for a new two-year collective agreement. The prior deal expired a year ago.

Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2276 staff at the agency, which provides support for people with intellectual disabilities in 10 Port Colborne homes, hit picket lines April 1.

The main issue is staff never know when theyre going home, CUPE Local 2276 vice-president Cassie Bisson recently said, and that workers are often stuck at work for several additional hours due to a staffing shortage and no relief being available.

Bisson has said the staffing concern is the only issue, and wages are not a bone of contention.

Talks resumed for the first time since late March on Thursday at 10 a.m.

In the early afternoon Thursday, Bisson was unable to provide an update on how the discussion was going, but referred to the sitdown as exploratory talks.

Parties were still at the table as of 4:30 p.m. Thursday working towards a deal, said Bisson.

A conciliator in the middle of the dispute ordered both sides back to the bargaining table, said Bisson.

The primary issue in negotiations is staff claims they are unable to leave at the end of their shift when someone who is supposed to relieve them doesnt show up.

Management refuses to fill the void and help, said Bisson at a rally in Port Colborne on April 5.

But she did say recently that management from various levels, as well as people who work in finance and IT, have been covering shifts at the organizations homes, as well as staff from other units.

In a news release, CUPE Local 2276 said 60 grievances were filed in 2022, an increase from about the usual average of 15 per year.

There are three other community living organizations in Niagara: Fort Erie, St. Catharines and Welland-Pelham.

The issues in Port Colborne-Wainfleet dont exist in other units which have language in their collective agreements about it being mandatory for someone to relieve a staffer who is stuck at the end of a shift, said CUPE Local 2276 president Liz Reed earlier this month.

Joanna Mataya, chief executive officer of the agency, could not be reached Thursday.

She said in early April that the unions last-minute demands are the crux of the disagreement  that managers backfill for employees who dont show up for work, despite the fact that managers already work full time and are on call five nights per week and have weekend on-call responsibilities.

She said having managers fill gaps is simply not feasible.

The union has not made any indication that they are willing to resolve this strike unless we agree to these last-minute demands. Sadly, that means the strike will likely continue, said Mataya in early April.

Before striking, staff were working under the expired agreement and were able to do so until a new one is ratified, said Bisson on April 5.

Kris Dube is a reporter for the Welland Tribune. Reach him via email: kris.dube@niagaradailies.com

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A Mississauga familys vacation has turned into a nightmare as they find themselves trapped in Sudan after violence erupted Saturday between rival factions in the countrys military government.

They say they fear for their lives and are pleading for help from the Canadian government as they wake up every day to the sound of gunshots and missile explosions.

The family says they feel theyve been abandoned by the Canadian embassy as they were told, as of Wednesday, that there are no plans to evacuate Canadians stuck in the country.

Nagwa El Mamoun arrived in Khartoum with her daughter and husband on March 2 to visit family after a weeks vacation in Dubai. They were planning on flying back on March 28, but extended their trip to April 25 so they could spend the holy month of Ramadan there.

On Saturday, they woke up at 7 a.m. to the sound of gunfire. There was no warning about the conflict, which is now dragging into its fifth day; the family has been ordered to shelter in place inside their apartment.

They put snipers on the roof and they are shooting civilians so we cannot go out, El Mamoun said as she choked back tears in a video call, adding that shes running out of needed medication.

The clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces over key government sites have left at least 296 people dead and more than 3,000 people injured. The conflict rages on days before the arrival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan and which El Mamoun was hoping to celebrate with family.

The Mississauga mother, who works as an immigration consultant, said the family had a flight to Canada booked from Dubai on April 25, but its been cancelled due to civil unrest, they were told by the Emirates airline.

Their fate is uncertain now in the midst of violence that has destabilized the city and shut down the airport.

El Mamoun has high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes and said shes running low on medication; she only brought enough to last until their flight home on April 25.

She said shes been reaching out to the Canadian embassy every morning and theyve offered no assistance.

Even if they cant evacuate us outside of the country, we can understand that because the airports are all destroyed. At least they can take us to a secure place (in Khartoum)  even this, there is not any attempt to do that, she said. Were so disappointed by our government.

The family has already lost a 27-year-old relative, Alaa Fawzy Elmardi, who was a doctor, in the conflict on April 15.

She was in her home, with her mother, and they were affected. And I think thats the scariest part  were trying to take shelter, but these things can still enter your home, said Dalia Abbadi, El Mamouns daughter.

In a video chat, Abbadi showed three bullets that landed on their balcony.

My biggest ask is just for some sort of action, to reassure us, just a plan to help folks who are currently stuck to get out safely, she said. I dont wanna die here.

The family entered Sudan on visas. El Mamoun and her husband grew up in Sudan, but gave up their Sudanese citizenship when they became Canadian citizens. They immigrated to Canada in 1996.

I showed up to the country when I was seven years old, so really Canada is home, Abbadi said. So to reach out every day and receive a standard email template response, its very disheartening.

And its making us, specifically my parents, feel quite hopeless.

The family visits Sudan every year but has never been caught in a situation like this before.

The situation in Khartoum is chaotic; Abbadi said a family member that was injured tried to go to the hospital and ran into a road block manned by armed forces who instructed her to turn around.

Another family member that lives five minutes away found a missile shell in her front yard. Its difficult to tell members of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the rival Rapid Support Forces apart and there are also plain clothed combatants.

The family is located about 10 minutes from the airport, where several key government buildings are located and where much of the fighting is occurring. But its now spreading into residential neighbourhoods as combatants seek shelter, Abbadi said.

Civilians are caught in the crossfire.

Because its Ramadan, theyre trying to go get bread to break their fast, Abbadi said. And those are the people that are getting hit and unfortunately killed.

In a statement, Global Affairs Canada said theyre advising all Canadians to avoid travelling to Sudan.

Canadians who are in Sudan are advised to shelter in place, stay away from windows, ensure that they have essential supplies, monitor local media and follow the advice of local authorities.

The embassy in Sudan has been closed but consular services are available by phone and telephone, they said.

Global Affairs Canada did not comment on any plans to evacuate Canadians from Sudan in the coming days or weeks.

They added there are 1,535 Canadians in Sudan registered with the Registration of Canadians Abroad Service, but thats only an estimate of how many Canadians are there as registration is voluntary.

Abbadi said shes frustrated because it feels like Canada reacted more swiftly to assist Canadians trapped abroad in other global conflicts.

As citizens I thought, in a situation like this, maybe they cant evacuate us but at least come up with a plan to reassure us, Abbadi said. Its unfortunate but to be honest, we feel like were on our own.

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Humans have more in common with roundworms than youd expect. After getting high on cannabis, new research shows the ancient organisms also experience the munchies  a craving for tasty food associated with marijuana use.

The paper, published on 4/20 in peer-reviewed journal Current Biology, discovered a type of nematode named C. elegans craved high-quality, nutritious foods when stoned  even when it took more energy to acquire than lower-quality snacks.

The very fact that we got something essentially identical to the munchies in a tiny, tiny little worm, I thought was really quite remarkable and surprising, said lead author Shawn Lockery, a neuroscientist at the University of Oregon, in an interview with the Star.

This both helps us understand our place in the animal universe, but it also has biomedical implications for research into hunger, obesity, depression and more, he continued.

Worms get the munchies too

Lockerys team stumbled on the finding more or less on a whim, he said, inspired by Oregon legalizing marijuana back in 2015.

The researchers were studying decision-making in the millimetre-long animals, partly because nematodes have one of the smallest brains known to science, when someone wondered: What would happen if you soak the worms in (cannabis chemicals) before you test them?

Lo and behold, we found that their (food) preferences are amplified, and in a particular way, Lockery said.

The intoxicated worms were placed in a T-shaped contraption; one path led to a plentiful supply of low-nutrition food, the other to high-nutrition food spread over a larger area thats energetically expensive to eat.

Not only did the stoned worms develop a bigger appetite, they also spent more time eating than their sober peers. And while sober worms went for the easily accessible, less-nutritious foods, intoxicated C. elegans chose to spend more energy attaining their favourite snacks.

Video of worms in a T-maze. Favored/superior food is at the end of the left arm. Non-favored/inferior food is at the end of the right arm. The video shows 15 min of real-time behavior in 5 sec, so time is sped-up by a factor of 180. Most worms are immediately drawn to superior food, but some try the inferior before settling on the superior food.

The findings suggest the munchies response evolved over 500 million years ago, when C. elegans diverged from humans on the evolutionary tree. While the behaviour has been documented in mammals such as non-human primates and rodents, Lockery said his findings suggest its likely present in a great number of other animals, too.

The behaviour likely stuck around for a good reason.

Why weed gives us the munchies

Researchers believe the munchies are a natural survival response in animals that are starving, Lockery said.

For example, theres evidence that food-deprived mice had higher concentrations of endocannabinoids in their brain, he said, That builds the theory that the origin of the munchies mechanism is a fast latency, a quick response to imminent death by starvation.

Endocannabinoids are naturally occurring chemical messengers in the brain and throughout the body believed to regulate key functions including sleep, memory, anxiety, eating and more. Cannabis works by releasing chemicals that bind to the same receptors, triggering some of the same responses.

That endocannabinoid starvation response may be responsible for those cravings of pizza, doughnuts and other sugar-laden, high-calorie foods some get when high  when an animal is starving, it must prioritize the really good stuff at the expense of the not so good stuff, Lockery explained.

What this means is that the common ancestor at the point where the genetic lines of nematodes and humans diverged, had this response to starvation. We and other animals have just kept copying this system for 500 million years, Lockery said.

Stoned worms have big implications for medical research

C. elegans are one of the favourite animals for researchers to experiment on  aside from being easy to care for, having fast reproduction and a short life cycle, the worms share a great deal of genetic similarities with humans.

Forty to 60 per cent of human disease-related genes have a similar gene in C. elegans, Lockery explained. Therefore, by studying the genetic basis of diseases in worms, scientists gain insight into how those same diseases operate in humans.

Our study now adds a new layer to that  we have shown that cannabinoid signalling is functional in worms and at a high enough level to cause changes in decision-making, he continued.

This is a big deal because cannabinoids are thought to have tremendous therapeutic potential, Lockery said  the problem is the system is difficult to study, since it has so many interactions throughout the body.

By studying cannabinoid signalling in this simple worm, we should be able to more deeply understand the subtleties of cannabinoid signalling, especially how it may differ from one tissue to another, he said.

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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP)  President Rodrigo Chaves promised Wednesday to put more police in the streets and demanded changes in Costa Ricas laws to confront record-setting numbers of homicides that have shaken daily life in a country long known for peaceful stability.

Choosing to make his speech in the plaza in front of the countrys Congress, Chaves said too many violent criminals are allowed to walk free and called for more flexibility to extradite Costa Ricans to countries where they are wanted for drug trafficking crimes.

Costa Rica recorded 657 homicides last year, the majority blamed on violence related to drug trafficking. The country has moved on from just being a passthrough for drugs moving from South America to the United States. It has become an important hub for drugs being shipped to the U.S. and Europe and there is also a growing domestic drug market.

I want people to be able to walk peacefully in the street, that kids go to the park safely, that children go to school without fear that at any moment they could be caught in the middle of a shootout, Chaves said.

The president complained that only 1 out of every 22 people arrested for violent crimes ends up in jail. He said judges too often let suspects out on bail even if they have a prior record. He also wants the ability to prosecute minors as adults in cases of drug gang killings.

Chaves also wants to tighten control over gun purchases and improve the governments capacity to tap suspects communications in order to dismantle organized crime groups.

He said he will bolster policing by restructuring the national police force to put more officers in the streets and by hiring 700 more officers.

Previously, Colombian and Mexican drug cartels moved their drugs through Costa Rica, but experts say that in recent years homegrown Costa Rican gangs have gotten into the business as well, fueling more violence with their territorial disputes.

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Transgrid and its construction partner SecureEnergy are building the 700km NSW section of the $1.8 billion EnergyConnect project from Wagga Wagga to the South Australian border, with a connection to Red Cliffs in Victoria.

The night sky at Buronga was lit up overnight as subcontractors Nathan Contractors and Mawsons Concrete & Quarries poured 850 cubic metres of concrete during a complex 11-hour operation.

The team effort saw 15 concrete trucks loaded at Mawsons' plants at Buronga and Mildura, with about 50 workers involved in the pour for the foundations for two synchronous condensers which will sit at the heart of the new 16ha Buronga substation.

Transgrid Project Director Stephen Troughton said: "We are getting on with the job of building the critical EnergyConnect interconnector which will integrate renewables into the grid and allow energy sharing between NSW, Victoria and South Australia for the first time.

"The Buronga substation will be one of the largest and most sophisticated in the Southern Hemisphere and act as the main hub for the connection between the three states.

"The EnergyConnect project is providing a major boost to businesses and jobs in communities along the 700km project alignment with more than $18 million spent on local suppliers to date including Mawsons Concrete & Quarries and the Garraway Group at Mildura."

Mawsons Western Operations Manager Concrete Gary Harvey said the amount of concrete involved was the equivalent of 120 truckloads.

"It is a real feather in our cap to be involved in such a big project as EnergyConnect and it is a very proud moment for us," he said.

"We had to supply concrete at a certain temperature which was under 23 degrees, and with the number of trucks involved, it was always going to be a night pour."

Based in NSW & Queensland, Nathan Contractors measured the amount of concrete required and managed the pour for SecureEnergy, supplying 16 concreters, some of whom were local.

Nathan Contractors Site Supervisor Matt Jobson said it was a time-consuming deep pour that went well.

"We are very proud to be involved in such a great project as this one."

An additional 850 cubic metres of concrete is scheduled to be poured next week to complete the foundations for the synchronous condensers.

The two 120 MVA synchronous condensers are used for system stability and circuit strength to the grid, playing a key role in moving Australia to cleaner renewable energy.

Mawsons is also supplying concrete for the footings to support towers currently being erected at Buronga, providing a further boost to the local business.

The Buronga substation on Arumpo Road will comprise complex equipment including the two synchronous condensers, five phase shifting transformers, three power transformers and four shunt reactors.

This month crews at the Buronga substation have also carried out foundation works for the transformers that accompany the synchronous condensers, and the first of the five phase shifting transformers.

The first phase shifting transformer will shortly arrive in Australia from South Korea. The specialised type of transformer controls the flow of active power on transmission networks.

The Buronga site also comprises an accommodation camp for 340 workers and a laydown to store equipment and materials.

For more information on EnergyConnect visit: https://www.transgrid.com.au/projects-innovation/energyconnect

TIME-LAPSE VISION AVAILABLE

Transgrid media contact:

Mark Nolan 0429 047 136
HAVANA (AP)  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned U.S. sanctions on Cuba on Thursday as he visited the island and met with top leaders, including newly re-elected President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Lavrov was on the last leg of a Latin American tour that has taken him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The Russian foreign minister met with Diaz-Canel and semi-retired but still influential leader Raul Castro, according to photographs published by the Communist Party newspaper Granma, although no further details were offered on the content of the meetings.

During his visit to the island nation, which for decades was a staunch Moscow ally, Lavrov condemned the American economic sanctions on Cuba, and blasted the U.S. for seeking to impose its will on the world, according to a dispatch on the state media outlet Cubadebate.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov met with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez and took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial in Havana for Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

Rodriguez, for his part, rejected what he called the expansionist aspirations of NATO and the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Cuba has had an extensive relationship with Moscow since the 1960s, when it joined the bloc of socialist countries led by the then Soviet Union, receiving many vital imports  fertilizers, industrial equipment, spare parts and, above all, oil  in exchange for sugar.

Russia, along with Venezuela, is one of Cubas few suppliers of oil, sending an undetermined amount to the island, which is undergoing a severe energy crisis.

Also, two weeks ago, Cuban banks started to accept payments with MIR cards, a payment system in Russia that allows Russian tourists to make cash withdrawals and convert rubles to Cuban pesos.

MIR cards are accepted in other partner countries of Russia, including Turkey and Vietnam, and are operated by the state-owned Russian National Card Payment System.

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MEXICO CITY (AP)  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a swipe Thursday at leaders who have adopted postures of neutrality regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling them populists.

Zelenskyys comments, in a video link before a committee of Mexican legislators, were an apparent reference to leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian leader has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine, has appeared to ascribe blame to both sides and has proposed a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.

Mexico, under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has voted to condemn the invasion, although it has declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

There are some leaders who have not visited Ukraine once and who have not seen what the brutal Russian aggression brought, and why it is important to defend lives, Zelenskyy said, adding but simply seeking to achieve some sort of populism they say things like Ukraine is supposedly not ready to go for peace.

Zelenskyy also slammed different companies and big multinational firms that want to make millions by trading with Russia, adding unfortunately, the world is full of hypocrisy.

Earlier this month, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations  Russia and Ukraine  had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop stimulating the continued fighting and start discussing peace.

Lula has also suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, something the spokesperson for Ukraines foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.

The Ukranian president got an expected standing ovation from the legislators of the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group, most of whom belong to opposition parties.

In 2022, Lopez Obrador decried NATO policy of supporting Ukraine, claiming it was equivalent to saying Ill supply the weapons, and you supply the dead. It is immoral.

How easy it is to say, Here, Ill send you this much money for weapons, Lopez Obrador said. Couldnt the war in Ukraine have been avoided? Of course it could.

Lopez Obrador did not say how, other than Russia not invading. In 2022, a half-dozen legislators from Lopez Obradors Morena party helped create a congressional Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee.

The Morena party said we respect the freedom of thought of our members after a youth group apparently affiliated with the party sent an open letter to the Russian ambassador supporting the invasion.

Russia has been making a sort of diplomatic push in Latin America this week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Wednesday with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and the two commiserated about U.S. sanctions.

Lavrov on Thursday met with recently reelected Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the last leg of a Latin American tour that took him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Yellow daffodils are everywhere in Warsaw this week, a symbol of remembrance for the 1943 uprising by Jews in the citys ghetto against Nazi German occupiers.

There are the real daffodils that residents and visitors to the Polish capital place on memorials to honor Holocaust victims, and little paper daffodils worn on lapels.

The presidents of Germany, Israel and Poland wore them Wednesday when they led official commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the uprising, on the site of the former ghetto.

Even members of the European Parliament wore them in Strasbourg, France, as lawmakers paid tribute to the Jewish victims.

Someone seeing the six-petaled flower badges for the first time might confuse them with the yellow Star of David that the Nazis forced Jews to wear in Germany and some occupied countries, as a prelude to deporting them to ghettos and death camps.

But those displaying them in Warsaw associate them with memory, respect and a communal coming together by people of all backgrounds to honor the Jewish victims of the ghetto and Holocaust victims more broadly. That idea is captured by the slogan of the official daffodil campaign, which is remembering together.

The campaign was initiated by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in 2013 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

That year volunteers handed out 50,000 paper daffodil pins in the city.

The museum, which is located on the site of the former ghetto in Warsaw, printed 450,000  the number of Jews who were imprisoned in the ghetto at the peak of its overcrowding, in the spring of 1941. For the first time, volunteers handed them out in five other Polish cities in addition to Warsaw.

A POLIN museum employee, Ewa Budek, came up with the idea, and the paper flowers were designed by Helena Czernek, a Polish Jewish designer with the MI POLIN studio who was 26 at the time. They can be opened up in what Czernek described Thursday as a symbolic opening of remembrance of a traumatic history and a symbol of spring.

They are by now a tradition. TV presenters wear them each April 19, the anniversary of the uprising. And this year Polish airline LOT said its crews wore them.

The daffodils have helped spread knowledge about the Jewish revolt in a city where the Warsaw Uprising, a 1944 revolt by the entire city against the Germans, is better known and commemorated more widely.

For me it is amazing that I could use my skills to be part of this development, Czernek, who usually designs mezuzahs and other Judaica, told The Associated Press.

She said she did not chose her design specifically to evoke a yellow Star of David, though she recognizes the resemblance. The association is not as direct as some might assume because Jews in Warsaw were forced by the Nazis to wear white armbands with blue stars on them, and not yellow badges like in Germany.

The daffodils are linked to Marek Edelman, a commander of the uprising who died in 2009 who every year on the anniversary of the uprising placed yellow flowers, mostly daffodils but sometimes tulips, in memory of his lost comrades and others who were murdered.

The Warsaw ghetto was razed to the ground by the Nazis and new buildings were put up in its place after the war.

Anna Witkiewicz, a 47-year-old local resident, stood alone in contemplation before the memorial on Thursday, still wearing the daffodil she put on the day before as she and her friends commemorated the victims.

She said it was a symbol that made her feel a sense of belonging with the large numbers of Jews who once inhabited the area and others mourning the tragic loss, adding: Its impossible not to wear this flower this day.

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GANGES, France (AP)  Hundreds of people opposed to the new law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 demonstrated Thursday in a small town in southern France during a visit by President Emmanuel Macron, while scattered protests were staged elsewhere.

Macrons trip to Ganges comes amid a concerted new effort by him and his government to move on from the furor caused by the pension reform.

Demonstrators sang what has become the anthem of the retirement protests: We are here, we are here, even if Macron doesnt want (us to be here), we are here.

The French president met with teachers and students at a middle school, where he promoted his education policies. At his arrival, the site was hit by a power cut, which the local branch of the hard-left CGT union said was a protest action.

Dozens of police were deployed in the small town to prevent protesters from getting close to the school. They briefly used tear gas to disperse people who tried to storm the barriers.

Raising the retirement age ignited a months-long firestorm of protest. Opponents were further infuriated after Macrons government in March chose to use a special constitutional power to pass the reform without a vote in parliament.

Later Thursday, Macron made a surprise stop in another small town in southern France, Perols, where he walked in the streets to meet with some residents in a relaxed atmosphere, shaking hands and doing selfies.

To a woman who told him she disagreed with the way he forced the pension changes through parliament, calling it undemocratic, he said, smiling: Im not going to resign.

You dont care what people want, the woman answered.

On Wednesday, Macron went to eastern France, where he mingled among a crowd for the first time since he enacted the law last week. Many seized the occasion to voice their anger.

The CGT union has called for scattered protest actions across the country.

Macron has argued that raising the retirement age is needed to keep the French pension system afloat amid an aging population. Unions and other opponents say wealthy taxpayers or companies should pitch in more instead, and see the reform as an erosion of Frances social safety net.

In Paris, hundreds of people Thursday held a peaceful demonstration at the Gare de Lyon train station.

They later headed to the business district of La Defense, west of the capital, where they briefly stormed the building of European stock exchange Euronext, brandishing flares.

We want to show that the mobilization continues, Fabien Villedieu, head of Sud Rail union, told the Associated Press. Theres no way were going to let this reform pass.

The action at Euronext aims at showing where the money is, Villedieu said. France has never been so rich, never have the multinationals in France been so rich. The problem is the distribution of wealth.

Earlier Thursday, some protesters in the northern city of Lille walked along the railway line, blocking all train traffic for about one hour. They then left peacefully.

Several unions joined a strike at the national railway company SNCF, slightly disrupting train traffic Thursday. Some regional lines and Paris suburban trains were affected, while high-speed trains were running almost as normal, the SNCF said.

___

Corbet reported from Paris. Oleg Cetinic and Nicolas Garriga in Paris contributed.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Kansas Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teenagers, but the Republican lawmakers who pushed them appeared to have the votes to override most of her actions.

Gov. Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on overnight school trips.

Her actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who have made rolling back transgender rights a priority.

The measures on bathrooms, jails and overnight school trips passed earlier this month with the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto, and on April 5, lawmakers overrode Kelly's March veto of a separate ban on female transgender athletes in girls and womens sports. However, two days later, the measure on gender-affirming care fell 12 House votes short of a supermajority.

Kelly said in statement on the four vetoes that measures stripping away rights would hurt the states ability to attract businesses. The vetoes also were in keeping with her promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people.

Companies have made it clear that they are not interested in doing business with states that discriminate against workers and their families, Kelly said in her statement. Im focused on the economy. Anyone care to join me?

At least 14 states with GOP-led legislatures have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors, including North Dakota as of Wednesday. At least seven have bathroom laws, mostly focusing on schools, and at least 21 have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes.

The Kansas bathroom bill would have applied not only to bathrooms and locker rooms outside schools but rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and state prisons, as well as the county jails covered by a separate vetoed bill. Because it also sought to define sex as either male or female, at birth, transgender people wouldnt have been able to change the gender marker on their drivers licenses, though a 2019 federal court decree still would have allowed them to change their birth certificates.

Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights see the measure as legally erasing transgender people and denying recognition to non-binary, gender-fluid or gender non-conforming people.

I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet, Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent transgender rights rally outside the Statehouse. We are in a fight for our lives, literally.

GOP conservatives argue that many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that peoples gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; dont want cisgender women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries.

By any reasonable standard, governing from the middle of the road should include ensuring vulnerable children do not become victims of woke culture run amok, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement deriding Kellys veto of the ban on gender-affirming care.

That Kansas measure would have required the states medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later.

Supporters said the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy. But the measure also applied to causing acts that affirm the childs perception of the childs sex if it differs from their gender assigned at birth.

Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.

Its one thing to have a family member thats unaffirming of who you are as a person, said Derrick Jordan, a licensed therapist who works with trans youth and directs the Gender and Family Project at New Yorks Ackerman Institute for training child and family therapists. Its a whole other thing to have a system tell you youre not fully human or you dont have the same rights as other folks.

Kellys office said the Kansas bathroom bill would have complicated the administration of multiple state programs  including programs assisting women farmers and hunters. Also, it said, some of those programs would have violated federal anti-discrimination laws, and the state could have lost federal dollars.

The measure borrows language from a proposal from several anti-trans groups. It says the important governmental objectives of protecting health safety and privacy justify separate public facilities for men and women and the measure would have applied where biology, safety or privacy prompt sex-separation. It defines male and female based on a persons reproductive anatomy at birth.

While supporters of the legislation avoid calling it a bathroom bill, they have said repeatedly that it would have prevented transgender women from sharing bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities with cisgender women.

Masterson portrayed Kellys veto as not being able to define a woman. Thats a widespread anti-trans talking point at odds with doctors who say that reproductive anatomy at birth doesnt always align with strict definitions of sex and that binary views of sexual identity can miss biological nuances.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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Why now?

Thats the question swirling around Premier Doug Fords controversial decision  in the middle of a Toronto mayoral byelection  to move the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place.

Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said the plan has been in the works for years because Ontarians want the underutilized waterfront park, which opened on reclaimed land in 1971, to be revamped.

But some Progressive Conservative insiders admit mayoral candidate Ana Bailao forced the government to rush its planned announcement when, two weeks ago, she proposed moving the interactive science museum from Don Mills to the lake shore.

This was always the plan  to have the Science Centre there with Therme and Live Nation, insisted a Progressive Conservative official, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations.

Others dispute that account, saying the Tories April 8 unveiling date changed to Tuesday due to the recent death of the premiers mother-in-law.

We dont make an announcement of this magnitude based on a mayoral candidate election pledge, another senior Tory official said.

Therme and Live Nation are references to the private water recreation and wellness spa on the West Island of Ontario Place and the rebuilt 20,000-seat Budweiser Stage concert venue.

As part of that scheme, the province would spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a five-level, 2,100-spot underground parking garage that Queens Park maintains will eventually pay for itself.

Pressed on why the Tories are finally acting, Surma emphasized the government has had a vision out there in the public since 2019 about redeveloping Ontario Place and making sure its a wonderful spot for families.

In a brief interview Thursday, the minister noted Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty shuttered Ontario Place 11 years ago in a cost-cutting measure.

The doors have been closed basically since 2012. Barely anyone can enjoy the site. And we have to keep in mind  this is really important and Ive been trying my best to emphasize it  the (artificial) island gets flooded, said Surma.

Its eroding, parts of it, and money needs to be put into it  and that is my priority right now: to get the site servicing work underway, she said.

We need to fix the underground infrastructure, the utilities, the gas, so we can have lights, we can have running water, we can fix the flooding issues, the shoreline enhancements, all of that is critical. We want to prepare the site for our tenants.

Surma stressed the Progressive Conservatives have been very clear about the science-related programming that would be moved from the Science Centre in Don Mills to Ontario Place.

We have kept the public apprised, she said.

Not so, charged NDP Leader Marit Stiles.

Stiles said it is telling that Fords Tories have not yet revealed the business case for demolishing the Science Centre, which opened in 1969 and was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama.

It does seem like a sort of slapdash plan, the New Democratic chief told reporters.

We know the government has a terrible track record of making big decisions behind closed doors that dont seem to benefit regular people and only benefit a few of their  developer buddies or wealthy friends, she said.

A lot of Ontarians are skeptical about where this scheme came from.

Relocating the Science Centre, Stiles added, is really designed to be a distraction from the fact that this government is subsidizing a private Austrian corporation (thats) building a luxury elite spa  on Ontarios public land.

While Bailao proposed the museum move earlier this month  freeing up the Don Mills site for 5,000 new homes, 1,500 of them affordable  she said the Moriyama-designed brutalist structure should be repurposed as a community hub.

In a December draft proposal, the government said the province is working with the Ontario Science Centre to explore opportunities to have science-related tourism programming at Ontario Place, including at the iconic Cinesphere geodesic dome.

While that pitch did not broach moving the entire Science Centre, it suggested a new building on the mainland could be constructed.

Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has demanded that the Adamawa State gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, should be investigated by the police.





Falana claimed that Binanis acceptance speech confirmed that she was party to the illegal declaration, which he described as a charade.





The legal expert made the statement on Thursday while fielding questions on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily program.





Recall that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Barrister Hudu Yunusa, shocked the nation with what many had described as a coup when he usurped the power of the Returning Officer to declare Binani, winner of the State guber election.





However, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, swiftly denounced the purported declaration of Binani as the winner of the Adamawa election by the REC.





The Commission said the action of the REC amounts to usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer, insisting it is null, void and of no effect.





Meanwhile, Falana said she has to be brought in by the police and investigated.





He said, With respect to the acceptance speech, the acceptance speech already confirmed that she was party to the charade. She has to be brought in by the police and investigated. How did you prepare a speech if you did not know that you were going to be declared the winner because, at that stage, the coalition had not been concluded?





The last point is the role of NTA, the NTA televised the acceptance speech. I expect the NBC to move in speedily and sanction the NTA because, at that time, collation was still ongoing.
Jeffrey Guterman, a retired American mental health counsellor, has filed a request to the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, FBI, asking it to release its file on Nigerias President-elect Bola Tinubu.

The information Guterman is asking the FBI to release is related to Tinubus $460,000 forfeiture on a drug trafficking case he had in the United States of America in 1993.

Taking to his verified Twitter handle on Thursday, the health counsellor disclosed that he had filed an expedited request because of Tinubus reported drug trafficking.

According to him, Tinubus reported drug trafficking case is a threat to the public.

He wrote: I just sent a request to the @FBI to release their file on Bola Tinubu based on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
Ahmadu Fintiri, governor of Adamawa, says a hot breakfast has been served to his opposition in the just concluded governorship election in the state.

Breakfast, a slang in Nigerian pop culture, loosely means heartbreak.

On Tuesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Fintiri re-elected for a second term as Adamawa governor.

Fintiri, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 430,861 votes to defeat Aisha Binani Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 398,788 votes.

Commenting on the election in a tweet on Wednesday, the Adamawa governor said the events of the past few weeks will make a good movie script.

He added that the peoples mandate has been reclaimed while promising the states residents a greater Adamawa.

I think the recent happenings in Adamawa will make a good movie script! Las Las breakfast was served very hot and the peoples mandate reclaimed. A Greater Adamawa is Possible! the tweet reads.

I think the recent happenings in Adamawa will make a good movie script! Las Las 'breakfast' was served very hot and the people's mandate reclaimed.



A Greater Adamawa is Possible! pic.twitter.com/YGVyOtBDVp  Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (@GovernorAUF) April 19, 2023





THE CONTROVERSIAL SERIES OF EVENTS

INEC had declared the March 18 governorship election in the state inconclusive and fixed the supplementary election for April 15.

Amid the supplementary election, controversy ensued at the collation centre when Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state, declared Binani as the winner of the election.

The REC made the declaration when results from all the LGAs were yet to be collated.

Mele Lamido, the returning officer for the election, was not present when Yunusa-Ari made the announcement.

According to the Electoral Act 2020, only Lamido is empowered to declare a winner in the election.

The action of the REC sparked outrage as INEC suspended the collation exercise and asked Yunusa-Ari to stay away from office.

The electoral umpire resumed collation on Tuesday and presented Fintiri with the certificate of return on Wednesday.

INEC has asked Usman Baba, the inspector-general of police (IGP), to probe the activities of the Adamawa REC.
Akin Osuntokun, director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, says the judiciary is responsible for the instability in the party.

On April 5, a federal capital territory (FCT) high court issued an order restraining Julius Abure from parading himself as the national chairman of the party.

Ruling on an ex parte application, Hamza Muazu, the presiding judge, also restrained Farouk Ibrahim, national secretary; Clement Ojukwu, national organising secretary; and Oluchi Opara, treasurer; from acting as national officers of the party.

Subsequently, Lamidi Apapa, the deputy national chairman, took over the affairs of the party, citing the courts judgement.

On April 18, Yunusa Tanko, the LP presidential campaign spokesperson, announced the suspension of Apapa for anti-party activities.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Thursday, Osuntokun said the judge who gave the restraining order made a wrong decision.

He said his actions are the reasons why the LP is in turmoil.

There is nothing going on there other than the crisis of the judiciary. It is a judge that made a judgement that is now responsible for creating a crisis in the Labour Party, he said.

There was a judge here who in his discretion said that Abure  who has been chairman for the primaries of the presidential and governorship candidates  should no longer parade himself as the chairman.

He could have made a more logical position of what was brought before him. We have now come to see that judges in Nigeria rely more on technicalities, evasive tactics, and scapegoatism to take very crucial positions.

It is the judge who gave this judgement that is causing this crisis right now. Judges have options, he could have said to let him remain in office, while the court proceeding goes on. There is nothing that says you must now tell him to step aside.

He had the options but decided to go for the one that will introduce crisis to the party. Those who brought the case are mischiefs, they are looking for an opening to introduce their mischiefs.

I dont know what purpose it serves the interest of justice or the stability of the party or the politics of Nigeria for you to say that the man should now step down. The only beneficiaries of that judgement are those who brought the case.
Voltalia (Euronext Paris, ISIN code: FR0011995588), an international player in renewable energy, announces, today (April 19) that it is filing an appeal against a judicial preliminary decision to suspend permits of the Canudos wind farms.

The Canudos project, located in the State of Bahia, is composed of two wind farms with a total capacity of 99.4 megawatts.

A federal judge of Feira de Santana/BA Court made a preliminary decision to suspend the wind farms' permits on the basis that the State of Bahia's environmental agency implemented a procedure not applicable to a project located in a region populated with lear macaws, a Brazilan parrot. A new additional environmental study is requested, in addition to the initial studies which were performed during the environmental permitting procedure.

Voltalia reaffirms that it has obtained all the legally required authorizations for the construction and operation of the Canudos project and that it is in full compliance with the environmental permitting procedure held by the competent State's environmental agency. Therefore Voltalia intends to appeal against the preliminary decision.

Voltalia's core mission, as a producer of renewable electricity, is to fight climate change and, by extension, to protect biodiversity. Voltalia also supports local development projects, in constant dialogue with communities. This commitment is a driving force for all of Voltalia's projects.

Voltalia reaffirms its openness to dialogue to clarify any doubts that may arise from authorities, communities, environmentalists and other stakeholders.

Voltalia has put in place a range of initiatives in the State of Bahia

Voltalia has been carrying out in-depth studies to assess potential impacts of its activities on the local flora and fauna, if any. All studies revealed a low presence of lear macaws in the Canudos project vincinity.

Despite of very low risks, Voltalia has developed the Conservation Program for the Lear Macaws and the Repopulation Program of Licurizeiro, based on the National Action Plan for the Conservation of Caatinga Birds (PAN), following ICMBio/CEMAVE guidelines.

Voltalia's action plan include:

Monitoring of lear macaws' population in the region, which has increased steadily since 2019;

Recovery of licuri trees areas, which were damaged in the region for decades. Licuri trees are the main food source of lear macaws;

Creation of a nesting area protected against the risk of wildlife trafficking;

Continuous monitoring by video surveillance of all wind turbines with an automatic protocol, triggering sounds and stoping turbines, to avoid potential impacts if and when the birds approach;

Painting of the wind turbines' blades in order to improve visibility for the birds.



Voltalia reaffirms its commitment to dialogue with local communities and its desire to continue to invest in favour of the environment

Voltalia has already invested around two million Brazilian reais and plans to invest an additional ten million Brazilian reais over the next few years in various local programs, including:

Lear macaw habitat protection and extension;

Environmental education plan for local communities;

Economic development projects and sustainable use of local resources.

In addition, Voltalia is working with biologists for the creation of a preservation unit for the lear macaw (RPPN - Reserva Particular do Patrimonio Natural), as the region does not currently receive any funding to protect the specie, outside from Voltalia's initiatives.

About Voltalia (www.voltalia.com)

Voltalia is an international player in the renewable energy sector. The Group produces and sells electricity generated from wind, solar, hydraulic, biomass and storage facilities that it owns and operates. Voltalia has generating capacity in operation and under construction of more than 2.6 GW and a portfolio of projects under development representing total capacity of 14.2 GW.

Voltalia is also a service provider and supports its investor clients in renewable energy projects during all phases, from design to operation and maintenance.

As a pioneer in the corporate market, Voltalia provides a global offer to private companies, ranging from the supply of green electricity and energy efficiency services to the local production of their own electricity.

With more than 1,550 employees in 20 countries on 3 continents, Voltalia has capacity to act globally for its customers.

Voltalia is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, compartment B (FR0011995588 - VLTSA) and is part of the SBF 120, Enternext Tech 40 and CAC Mid & Small indices. The Group is also included in the Gaia-Index, an index for socially responsible midcaps

Voltalia

Loan Duong, Head of Communications & IR

l.duong@voltalia.com

Investor Relations : invest@voltalia.com

Actifin

Press Contact: Jennifer Jullia

jjullia@actifin.fr

T. +33 (0)1 56 88 11 19
A faction of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo has described the emergence of Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu as the bodys Secretary-General as unconstitutional and illegal.

The Ohanaeze Elders Council, led by Prince Richard Ozobu, said the laid down process by the organizations constitution was not followed in Iwuanyawus emergence.

Recall that a delegation of the Imo Elders Council led by its Chairman, Cletus Ilomuanya, presented Iwuanyanwu to Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, on Wednesday.

Iwuanyanwus appointment followed the death of the former Ohanaezes Secretary-General, George Obiozor.

However, the Ozobu-led elders council wondered why the elder statesman would subject himself to such illegality when he was part of those that amended Ohanaezes Constitution in 2004.

The position of the elders was disclosed on Thursday morning by the Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Okechukwu Isiguzoro.

According to the elders: Iwuanyawus appointment as Ohanaeze president is unconstitutional, the processes of assumption of any office in Ohanaeze as enshrined in our constitution as amended in 2004 says in the sudden death of any officer, there must be a bar election approved by the and Imeobi and ratified by the general assembly.

Iwuanyawu was the chairman of strategy and planning of Ohanaeze in 2004; hence we are wondering why a man who was part of amending the constitution would fall victim.

After due consultation with the leaders counsel led by Prince Richard Ozobu that the premise on assumption of office is clearly written in article 11, 12, and 13 of Ohanaeze Constitution, and anything that falls short of the stipulation should be disregarded by the general public.

The Bishop committee led by Bishop Chukwuma and Opoto of Methodist Church in Umuahia is the only way out in Ohanaezes issues. The amended recommendations of the bishops and recommendations of Igbo clerics must be followed to resolve the quagmire in Ohanaeze.

What we are saying is whatever was done not in accordance with Ohanaezes constitution of articles 11, 12, and 13 is a sham and can never stand the test of time. Whatever Iwuanyanwu did was illegal and not pending on any Ndigbo.

Ndigbo will not recognize any assumption of office that violates articles 11, 12, and 13 of Ohanaezes constitution.

Any assumption of office not approved by Ime-obi is thanks and void; its unconstitutional and illegal.

Any decision not approved and testified by the general assembly is not recognized by Ohanaezes Constitution.

Where death occurs, the constitution states clearly that a replacement must come through bar election. Looking at this, the elders of Ohanaeze are surprised that how is it that a man who was the Chairman of Ohanaezes Strategy and Planning in 2004 when the constitution was amended would allow himself to be used to advance illegality and be declared the occupier of a position he is not.

The elders of Ohanaeze does not recognize or assumption of office that came through the back door, who did not meet the requirement of the constitution, who was not approved by Ime-obi, and ratified by the general assembly.
The federal government has suspended Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the resident electoral commissioner in Adamawa state.

Willie Bassey, director of information in the office of the secretary to the government of the federation, said in a statement on Thursday, that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the immediate suspension of Yunusa-Ari pending the completion of an investigation by Usman Baba Alkali, the inspector general of police on the conduct/actions of the REC during the supplementary election in Adamawa.

According to the statement, Buhari also directed that the REC be prosecuted if found culpable after the investigation.

Also, the President has directed investigation by the Inspector General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services, and the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, of the role of their officers in aiding and abetting the conduct/actions of Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari and if found culpable, appropriate disciplinary actions, to be meted out to them, the statement reads.

In a letter on Monday, INEC asked Yunusa-Ari, to stay away from its office in the state and directed the administrative secretary to take full charge of affairs in Adamawa with immediate effect.

The commission had also said it would write the inspector-general of police, to investigate and prosecute Yunusa-Ari.

BACKGROUND

The Adamawa governorship supplementary election was conducted on Saturday following the declaration of the March 18 poll as inconclusive over alleged irregularities.

The collation of election results was suspended till Sunday after results from 10 LGAs were announced.

But Yunusa-Ari had declared Aisha Binani Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election when results from all the LGAs were yet to be collated.

The announcement of the results triggered protests in Adamawa with members of the PDP in the state staging a demonstration, marching through the streets of Yola, the states capital.

INEC discontinued the exercise and described the RECs action as null and void.

The electoral body said the declaration of a winner is the responsibility of the returning officer and invited the REC, the returning officer, and all those involved in the collation process to its headquarters in Abuja.

On Tuesday, INEC resumed the collation process and declared Ahmadu Fintiri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the governorship election.
The Federal Government has said it is consulting in response to a request by Nigerian students in Sudan for evacuation from the country.





It was reported that the country is currently witnessing hostility between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces.





This was contained in a statement signed by Gabriel Odu for the Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, on Thursday.





Odu said NiDCOM was in consultation with the National Emergency Management Agency, which is in charge of emergency evacuations, and also with the Nigerian mission in Sudan and other relevant agencies.





He said the Chairman/CEO, NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, urged all Nigerian students in Sudan as well as Nigerians living in Sudan to be security conscious and calm.
Saida Mouh, the mother of PSG defender Achraf Hakimi, has finally reacted to the news of her son transferring all his assets to her.

Recall that news broke on social media last week that Hakimi dribbled his ex-wife, Hiba Abouk, in their divorce process by putting all his fortune in his mothers name to deny the mother of his two kids a juicy divorce settlement.

Reacting to the news, Mrs Saida Mouh suggested that there was nothing wrong even if the news of her son transferring all his properties to her was true.

According to her, 24-year-old Hakimi wouldnt be able to get rid of his 36-year-old wife if he didnt take drastic steps.

If he has taken any action to protect himself, Im unaware of it, Morocco World News quoted Hakimis mother as saying.

Whats the problem if the news is true? If my son does not do this, he will not be able to get rid of that woman [Hiba Abouk].
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kogi State, Dino Melaye has said his counterpart from the All Progressives Congress, APC, Usman Ododo lacks the quality to rule the state.

Melaye said Ododo has never contested an election in his life, not even a class monitor.

He noted that PDP would always present a better candidate than the APC.

The former Kogi West Senator spoke on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme on Tuesday.

According to Melaye: PDP is as old as the Fourth Republic in this country, parties like APC are operating for less than a decade, so the PDP will always present a better candidate.

For example, [the] APC candidate is a civil servant who just left office about one month ago as the Auditor General of the local government. Whats his pedigree? Whats his experience? Hes never contested any election in his life not even being a class monitor.

You cant compare him with me; I have been a presidential aide, a member of the House of Representatives, [and] won election into the Senate twice. I have the political and intellectual experience to govern.




Two aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have pleaded with an Abuja High Court to void and cancel the partys Kogi governorship primary election, which was held on April 11.





Mr Realwan Akpanachi and Yahaya Seidu-Nuhu, in an originating summons filed by their Counsel, Mr Promise Ogbodu, sued six of the contestants as 1st  6th defendants, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 7th and 8th defendants respectively, for what they called a violation of the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.





The six contestants are Abdulkareem Jamiu (Chief of Staff), Jibril Momoh (Account-General), Yakubu Okala (Auditor-General), Asiwaju Idris (Finance Commissioner), Salami Ozigi (Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs) and Ahmed Usman-Ododo (Auditor-General for Local Government Areas).





They specifically prayed the court to disqualify the 1st  6th defendants.





They claimed that the six defendants were still political appointees/public servants at the time they contested the governorship primary election of April 11.





They asked the court to determine whether the 1st  6th defendants, being political appointees/public officers currently in the service of the Kogi Government, can validly participate in the convention or congress of the APC for the purpose of vying for the nomination as the governorship candidate for the Nov, 11 governorship election.





Whether having regard to S 84 (12) of the Electoral Act (2022), the 7th Respondent (APC) can validly nominate any of the 1st to 6th Respondents as her Candidate for the Kogi State Governorship Election in the face of their failure as political appointees/public servants, to resign from service of the Kogi State Government at the time of the primary election, they asked.





They also prayed the court to make a declaration that being political appointees/public officers currently in the service of the Kogi Government, the 1st to 6th respondents, cannot validly vie for the APCs nomination as its Governorship Candidate, for the Kogi Election Governorship scheduled for November 11.





A declaration that the 7th Respondent cannot validly nominate any of the 1st to 6th Respondents as her Candidate for the Kogi State Governorship Election in the face of their failure as political appointees/public servants, to resign from service of the Kogi Government at the time of the primary election.





An Order disqualifying any of the 1st to 6th Respondents from seeking for the nomination of, and being nominated by the 7th Respondent as its Governorship Candidate for the Kogi Governorship Election, scheduled for November 11,  they further prayed.





The court, however, has reportedly directed that a notice of hearing be immediately served on all the respondents to appear before it on April 27 for the hearing of the originating summons of the plaintiffs.





NAN reports that Usman-Ododo had emerged winner of the Kogi APC governorship primary election after the other five respondents, including the Deputy Governor, Chief Edward Onoja, and one other, stepped down for him.





According to Mr Patrick Obahiagha, Secretary of the Kogi APC Primary Election seven-Member Committee, Usman-Ododo scored 78, 704 votes to beat six other contestants.





Obahiagha, who announced the result of the governorship primary on Saturday morning in Lokoja, said Momodu got 1, 506 votes, Yahaya-Ashemogu, 1, 159, and Abubakar-Audu, 763 votes.





He added that Stephen Ocheni garnered 552 votes, Sanusi Ohiere, 424, and Smart Adeyemi, 311 votes.





Obahiagha said that out of the 93, 729 voters, 83, 419 who were accredited voted for candidates of their choice.




The Labour Party governorship candidate in the recently concluded gubernatorial election in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has accused some traditional rulers in the state of reducing themselves to ballot snatchers.





The LP candidate stated this in a tweet on Thursday while reacting to a video clip of residents running away from Oro masquerades.





Recall that prior to the conduct of the March 18 elections, reports emerged that some traditional rulers fixed the Oro festival on election day to scare strangers from participating in the poll.





The traditional rulers, however, debunked the report saying Oro was only meant to take place at night.





But in his tweet, Rhodes-Vivour claimed that politics made some traditional rulers fix the festival in the daytime, stressing that they have been reduced to ballot snatchers.





He wrote: I have respect for our traditional institutions and our culture. It is politics and politicians that have denigrated our traditional institutions.





It is politics that would make kings do ORO during the DAY! It is politics that would reduce a baale to a ballot snatcher #ourlagos.




The Adamawa State High Court has sentenced a man, Festus Stephen, to death by hanging for killing his friend, Mohammed Sani, over a N30,000 debt.





The court established that Festus killed Mohammed Sani, better known as Jega, during an argument over the N30,000 that Jega was owing him.





According to the prosecution, Festus, who is of Sabon Pegi bye-pass in Yola town, Yola South LGA, caused the death of Jega on the 19th October 2018, at Sabon Pegi by hitting him several times.





The detail of the story has it that it started after Festus gave Jega a loan of N30,000, but Jega could not pay it back at the agreed time.





While they were in the room on that fateful day, Festus demanded his money, but Jega told him he would pay it back the following week.





The exchange of words, however, degenerated to the point when both, said to be under the influence of codeine and Indian hemp, began to look for weapons for a fight.





Jega attempted to pick a knife under the bed to stab Festus, but Festus was quicker in fetching a cutlass, with which he hit Jega twice in the head. He fell down in his pool of blood and died.





Festus then picked up a packet of cigarettes, locked the door and fled to Mubi, in northern Adamawa, where he allegedly committed another murder and is currently standing another trial for alleged culpable homicide before a different judge.





On the murder of Jega, Justice Bulila Ikharo of the High Court in Yola, sentenced the defendant after being tried and found guilty of the offence of culpable homicide punishable with death under Section 192 (2) of the penal code law.





It is very clear that the defendant had the intention of killing the deceased. He used a cutlass and stabbed the deceased twice in the head, a very vital part of the body. As if that was not enough, he locked him up in the room in his pool of blood and left.





On the whole, I hereby find and hold that the prosecution has proved its case against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, and I convict the defendant as charged, the judge held.




Lai Mohammed, minister of information, has accused Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), of failing to correct Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running mate, over his controversial comments.

On March 22, Datti said Nigeria has no president-elect despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.

The LP vice-presidential candidate said Tinubu would be leading an unconstitutional government if sworn into office, adding that the APC candidate has not met requirements of the law.

Speaking with state house correspondents on Wednesday, Lai said nobody has the right to call for insurrection in the country.

I said Obi has every right to seek redress in court like Labour Party but nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the president-elect is sworn-in, that would be the end of democracy, Lai said.

And that was precisely what Obis running mate said on live television and I have not heard Obi rein him in or correct him; so, if your running mate says something; of course, he was saying on behalf of the party and on behalf of the candidate.

That is why I said that was treason; for anybody to say that if a duly elected president in Nigeria is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy is treason. For anybody to say if you swear in a duly elected president, you are swearing the military, it is treason.

So, I dont see anything controversy in that.

2023 POLLS WERE THE MOST TRANSPARENT 

He said President Muhammadu Buhari did not confer any advantage on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the presidential election.

The minister said he clarified the issue during a recent official trip to the US, noting that he told his audience that Buhari prevented the use of security agencies to rig elections.

He added that the last election was largely the least violent in the history of Nigeria.

I went to the US to balance the skewed report about the just concluded elections; and everywhere I went, I said very unambiguously that the last general elections in Nigeria are the most transparent, he said.

It was the freest and the most authentic Nigeria had ever held, and that is despite the effort of the opposition to delegitimise the election.

And I put forward my position there that the two reasons the election was the best was one.

That the introduction of technology especially, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System(BVAS), made it pretty difficult for anybody to do the usual things before like over-voting, stuffing of ballot boxes and the likes because once it takes your biometrics; you cannot vote twice.

The first instance was that the president did not confer any advantage on his ruling party; and that as far as he was concerned, he would rather lose the election than win at all cost; and the result showed it.
ELKO  An open house to provide the public with details about floodplain maps is planned for 5:30 p.m. April 19 in the Elko County Board of Commissioners Room at 540 Court St.

Join us to learn about the updated FEMA Floodplain Maps, states a flyer for the event, which is being hosted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Elko County, the City of Elko, the City of Carlin, the Nevada Division of Water Resources and the City of Wells.

The flyer posted on the Elko County website also states that our goal is to create flood resilient communities in Nevada that encourage protection of life, property, water quality, environmental values and the preservation of natural floodplain functions.

In addition to the open house, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking public comment through May 7 on the plan completed under the Nevada Silver Jackets Program. The email address is: NVsilverjackets@usace.army.mil.




A couple, Andrew and Margaret Jonah, has been rescued by the operatives of the Osun State Police Command.





The couple, according to the spokesperson of the police command, Yemisi Opalola, were rescued from the kidnappers den inside a forest in Osun.





The were reportedly abducted by the kidnappers while going to church for vigil.





According to Opalola, The kidnappers engaged police operatives in a gun duel during the rescue operation.





One of the kidnapers died during the faceoff and we recovered a gun from the kidnapers.





She warned residents to be mindful of their movement by avoiding lonely areas at night so as not to fall prey.





Giving their own account of their experience, the couple said they spent days in captivity without food or water before policemen led by SP. Moses Lohor, the Commander, Anti-Kidnapping Squad, rescued them from the kidnapers.





The kidnappers threatened to kill us and use our remains for ritual unless our relatives pay ransom.





The firing power of the policemen overwhelmed the kidnapers. They abandoned me and my husband and ran away to avoid arrest.





As we were hearing gunshots, the kidnappers abandoned us and ran away. Then, we heard people calling my husbands name. My husband answered them when we realised that they were the policemen that came to rescue us.





We are grateful to men of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State Police Command for rescuing us, Margaret said.





Recall that a couple travelling on a motorcycle along Iragbiji/Kelebe road to attend a vigil in their church in Osogbo on Friday night were abducted by unknown gunmen who barricaded the road.





Opalola who had confirmed the abduction stated that the police had swung into action with the intention of rescuing the victims.
The Benue State Government has reacted to the clarifications made by the presidency on President Buharis effort in the security situation in the State.

A comment on the security situation in the state blames the poor intervention by president Buhari on Governor Ortoms stiff opposition to intervention.

But a statement issued and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nathaniel Ikyur, on Thursday in reaction to the presidencys comment, says with the latest position of the presidency, it has become glaring that killing in the state by suspected Fulani militias has the full endorsement of the Buhari government.

It further said that its common knowledge that as the Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings.

It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue state in particular, it said.

Read full statement below

Shehu Garbas infantile statement on the security situation in Benue State has once again confirmed our position that the killings; mass murder in Benue by the Fulani militia has the full endorsement of the Buhari government. It also goes to confirm that the Presidential spokesman does not only speak for Buhari but for some terrorist Fulani groups too.

Indeed, the Presidential spokesmans futile attempts to twist events and history in Benue State is unfortunate and reprehensible. It shows how much he and others in that league have misled the government and Nigerian people in the last inglorious eight years.

It is common knowledge that as the Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings. It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue state in particular.

It is on record that Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly pleaded with the Buhari government to intervene in the incessant invasion of Benue State by Fulani militias. The President sadly chooses to endorse the invasion and merely asks our people to learn to accommodate their neighbours who derive pleasure in killing and dispossesing them of their ancestral lands.

What the Buhari administration has done to our people through the Fulani militants as confirmed by Shehu Garba is to spit on the graves of our compatriots mowed down needlessly by Fulani militia. We shall not forget these atrocities.

Besides unleashing Fulani killers on our people, the Buhari government denied Benue State any meaningful project in the last eight years, including the repair of federal government roads in the state which are now death traps. We have tried in vain to find out the offense of Benue people, but we found none, except that our people are responsible, law abiding citizens.

For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Samuel Ortom was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 to defend the interest of the people of Benue and never to be a lackey in the hands of expansionists using every means to perpetrate evil against the Benue citizens.

By Garba Shehus latest statement, the presidency has clearly demonstrated that Governor Ortom is right when he consistently accused the APC-led federal government of complicity in the killings orchestrated against Benue people by the Fulani herdsmen as represented by Miyetti Allah Kautal, Fulani Nationality Movement, FUNAM and other Fulani socio cultural groups.

If the Presidency can find it convenient to lay the blame of the massive killings that the Fulani have continued to perpetrate in Benue on Governor Ortom, what can it say of the massacre and kidnappings in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto and President Buharis home state of Katsina among other states where the killing of innocent citizens has continued unchallenged?

The Presidency has shown in this recent public statement that they have placed cows above human lives and made the animals to urinate on the graves of those they massacred in Benue and elsewhere across the country. If not, they wouldnt have gone to town to mock the slain in their graves.

It is an insult on Benue people including those killed and butchered children, the maimed, raped and abused women and the over two million people living under squalid conditions in Nigerias largest Internally Displaced Camps in the state.

The Presidencys statement is a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims.

Let Garba Shehu and occupants of the current Presidential Villa be informed that the ongoing pogrom in Benue State is a designed plot by the Fulani against the Benue people to disposses them of their lands and these atrocities are well documented. The perpetrators are also well known to local and international authorities. By this recent posturing, everyone is now aware that the perpetrators have the backing and sympathy of the Federal Government.

The Presidencys attempt to mock Governor Ortom over the loss of his senatorial seat and the PDP in the Governorship has furthermore strengthened our belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC.

But let the Presidential spokesman remember that Governor Ortom is extremely grateful to the people of the State for always giving him the opportunity to serve them. As he has often quoted Psalm 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. The Governor stands for justice, equity and fairness and no amount of blackmail and impunity as orchestrated by the Buhari administration can make him to change his advocacy against injustice and oppression.

In fact, before the elections, Governor Ortom had publicly stated that he was ready to sacrifice his senatorial ambition for the sake of the survival of democracy where the likes of Garba Shehu and their collaborators would rather want it truncated. It is public knowledge that the 2023 elections were heavily rigged using some security operatives, money, federal might and electronic means. Governor Ortoms decision not to challenge the result of the Benue North West Senatorial election in court again points to the fact that he is not a selfish and desperate politician.

Benue people are well aware that Governor Ortom has been a target of the Buhari presidency since 2017 when he boldly signed a law banning open grazing of livestock in the state. The Governor has been subjected to many coordinated media attacks, probes, freezing of state accounts and other punitive measures to frustrate and cripple his administration. While other states were given infrastructural loans, Benue under Governor Ortom was denied access to the funds. The same thing happened when the Benue State Government met all requirements to secure N42 billion to clear the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuity.

In a nutshell, the presidencys statement is the height of recklessness and gross insensitivity against the people of Benue. It is on record that Governor Ortom has given full cooperation to all layers of security agencies working in the state to help curtail the menace of the Fulani killing squad displacing various communities in the state and other internal security skirmishes.

Between 2015 and this year, Governor Ortom has constantly held security meetings and gathered intelligence to support security agencies operating in the state. He has however consistently pointed out that the security agencies are grossly underfunded and deserve to be better equipped and motivated to tackle insecurity in the country.

It is therefore laughable when Shehu ignorantly tries to whip up an unfounded lie against the Governor.

Governor Ortom is performing his duty as Governor of Benue State and will continue to do so until May 29, 2023 when he leaves office. We expect the outgoing President to also do what he was voted to do for Nigerians.

Lastly, we are tempted to conclude that President Buhari was not aware of Garba Shehus statement, because if the President were aware, he would not have permitted his media aide to release a statement that rather indicts him as Commander-in-Chief of Nigerias Armed Forces for abdicating his constitutional duty of providing security to Benue State and other parts of the country, admitting failure and opting to blame a state Governor.




Ashraf Sanusi, son of the deposed Emir of Kano, Mohammad Sanusi II, has berated the Nigerian Police over the arrest of Cynthia Chioma Anthony for allegedly defrauding a German citizen of $220,000 after promising to marry him.





Recall that operatives of the Police Special Fraud Units (PSFU) recently arrested Anthony for allegedly obtaining $220,00 by false pretence from the German.





Reacting via his Instastory, Sanusi wrote: Technically, she didnt do anything illegal, right? Since he sent her money willingly not as payment for good or service, shes not meant to be arrested. What she did is bad, but not illegal.





Insisting there is not always a law for immorality, he added: Again, what she did is very wrong, but they [police] are not legally allowed to arrest her because she promised to marry someone and didnt do it. And they are not allowed to reverse the money as it was given willingly even though the person was expecting something else.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, has congratulated Bola Tinubu, Nigerias president-elect.

Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to win the presidential election while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had the second-highest figure with 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) was next with 6,101,533 votes.

In a statement signed by Tunde Rahman on Thursday, Zelensky was quoted as saying Ukraine is determined to further strengthen cooperation with Nigeria at the bilateral level.

Despite extremely difficult testing times, caused by the full-scale armed aggression of Russia against our State, Ukraine is determined to further strengthen cooperation with Nigeria at the bilateral level and within the framework of international organizations, the Ukraine president said.

We are grateful for your countrys support of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization Principles of the UN Charter underlying a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.

I count on the active participation of Nigeria in its practical implementation.

We see the further provision of global food security, of which Ukraine was and remains a reliable guarantor at the global level, as an important direction of cooperation.

The fulfilment of this task will be facilitated by the successful implementation of the Ukrainian initiative Grain from Ukraine, which is designed to significantly increase the supply of grain to African countries in order to prevent famine.

Taking this opportunity, I invite you to pay an official visit to Ukraine at a time convenient for you. I am confident that your visit will strengthen the dialogue between our countries and contribute to the further consolidation of joint efforts of the international community aimed at solving the urgent challenges of today, in particular the crisis situation caused by Russia regarding the guarantee of world food security.




By RUDOLF OKONKWO

There is a joke in the United States that every citizen of the country has an FBI file. That might have been the dream of the first FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, but he could not accomplish it.

For now, the typical people with FBI files are activists, troublemakers, and those involved in illegal activities. So, people who deal in financial fraud, murder, drug trade, etc., are guaranteed a robust FBI file. Once the U.S. Justice Department has an adversary encounter with you, the FBI opens a file for you. That means Nigerias president-elect, Bola Tinubu, has a rich FBI file.

We know that anybody in America can file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FBI, and the bureau will copy and send the persons files. It is the law. The FBI can redact some of the papers for security reasons, but the files will arrive in your mailbox in weeks.

If you want to obtain the FBI file of someone else, all you need is to get the person to fill out the FOIA form authorizing the release of their FBI file to you. So, if Bola Tinubu signs this FOIA form, the FBI can release his file to any Nigerian in the United States.

Why is this important? I will explain.

In 2016, media across the globe obtained leaked documents from UKs most secretive intelligence agency called Government Communications Headquarters, GCHQ. The information came from the National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden, via The Intercept. The documents showed that GCQH was spying on African leaders, top people in business, and other highly connected and influential people. The GCHQ was taping their phones, reading their emails, and monitoring their activities to find their vulnerability.

African leaders like Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his strategic advisers; Nigerias President Umaru YarAdua and his private secretary; Ghanas President John Kufuor; Sierra Leones leader Ernest Koroma; and the presidential palace in Luanda, Angola, were all targeted. Also on the radar of GCHQ were Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu, Kenyan businessman Chris Kirubi, and many others. The intelligence agency collects information used for what NSA describes as necessary for targeting and exploitation. It means that if they discover wrongdoing by these African leaders or their associates, they will exploit it to achieve their countrys goal.

The history of the world is littered with cases of countries with incriminating information about leaders of other countries blackmailing them into doing their bidding. People who have studied African post-colonial history say it is the primary reason for our undoing. The more damaging information they have about a leader, the easier it is for them to get what they want from that leader.

When African leaders vote against their self-interest at the UN, check very well someone has been arm-twisted. When a trade deal detrimental to the well-being of Africans is signed and heralded, check very well someone was scared of doing the right thing and have his or her dirty linen let out for the world to see.

Therefore, these intelligence agencies of the world love compromised African leaders at the helm of affairs. They make their jobs easier. The fear of a leak of the content of the top pages of their files will make them sign away the destiny of their unborn generation.

This brings us back to the content of Bola Tinubus FBI files.

When David Hundeyin revealed that Bola Tinubu has a Guinean passport, it surprised many Nigerians. Nigerians immediately started disputing whether it was against the law for a president of Nigeria to have dual citizenship. Some argue that Bola Tinubu committed perjury when he lied on INEC form EC9 that he was not a citizen of another country. And yet others surrender to fate, grumbling that there was no way to hold the president-elect to account for lying. The latter group concluded that Bola Tinubu would not return to Nigeria to be questioned and tried before his swearing-in on May 29. And the moment he is sworn in, he would be encased in an impenetrable immunity envelope.

But for the top world intelligence agencies with this information about Bola Tinubus Guinean citizenship, it was a sad day to see one of their arsenals for possible targeting and exploiting Bola Tinubu exposed. But they have more where that one came from. And we can guess some of them.

For example, the US Department of State has a record of the day Bola Tinubu first applied for a visa at the U.S. embassy in Lagos in the 1970s. They have the exact name he used and the date of birth. In the forms Bola Tinubu filled out at the US embassy that day they have the list of schools he claimed he attended and his certificates. On arriving in America, the FBI has in their files the places Bola Tinubu lived, the school he attended, and a copy of his first drivers license.

They know when he got into Chicago State University, what name he used, and what happened to the female Bola Tinubu, who was admitted to the same university when our president-elect claims he was admitted. Unlike Bola Tinubus primary and secondary school classmates in Nigeria who disappeared, those who knew Bola Tinubu in Chicago did not disappear from the FBI.

The FBI knew of the day Bola Tinubus two youngest daughters, Habibat Oyindamola Tinubu and Zainab Abisola Tinubu, bought houses in New York at ages 25 and 22, with no known jobs or businesses. One was a deluxe condo at 55 Berry Street, Brooklyn, New York, NY 11249. Oyindamola paid $2,150,000 in cash for this one in 2014. The other was a deluxe apartment at 255 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013. Zainab Abisola Tinubu paid $2,400,000 in cash for this one. Their financial transactions that Nigerian media would spend months and months searching for, the FBI has them at their fingertips.

While Nigerian reporters are scratching their heads with each small revelation about Bola Tinubus past, the FBI is already adding new information to their trove. For instance, it may take the Nigerian media another ten years to know where Bola Tinubu is now. But the FBI knows what he is doing wherever he is. If Bola Tinubu secretly undergoes a stem cell transplant, the doctor may be an FBI agent.

If he is plotting to cover up another scandal on the horizon, the people working with him in France or UK may be FBI or GCQH informants. Bola Tinubu may have fled Nigeria to avoid the DSS tapping his phone calls. But in France or wherever he is, the FBI, GCQH, and the French DGSE are on hand to ensure they get all the information. At this point, considering how frequently he has been travelling abroad and receiving medical treatments, these intelligence agencies must have mapped out Bola Tinubus blood type and his DNA and maybe bottled and sequenced the genotype of his fart.

What is in Bola Tinubus FBI file is very important to Nigerians. Foreign intelligence agencies will never release such, for these are their aces in diplomacy, economic and security interests. The contents of these files are the scissors their countries will use to grab our presidents balls. For those who know but do not care and those who care but do not know, in Bola Tinubus files may be infractions that will determine whether Bola Tinubu will make or mar Nigeria.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Congratulations to those wondering what is in my FBI file  you just read one of them.

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo teaches Post-Colonial African History at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is also the host of Dr. Damages Show. His books include This American Life Sef and Children of a Retired God, among others.
A 31-year-old man was arrested after stealing $37,000 from a senior citizen in New Jersey in what Gloucester Township police described as a tech support scam.

Akul Tewary, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was charged with theft and impersonation/identity theft, Gloucester Township police said Wednesday night.

Tewary portrayed himself as an employee of Microsoft Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Treasury Department and security specialist from PNC bank, authorities said.
Gov. Phil Murphys administration has awarded contracts to two healthcare consulting firms to temporarily provide consulting and management services at the three state-run nursing homes serving veterans in New Jersey, for as much as $5 million, the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday.

Murphy ordered the department to seeks bids from an outside vendors in November after the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cut off federal funding for new admissions at the Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park and state inspectors found major shortcomings in care and deficiencies in pandemic infection control they said put residents in immediate jeopardy.

Admissions resumed in February after the department had improved its infection control strategies and made key personnel changes.

Interim Quality Partners, LLC will provide management and consulting services at the Menlo Park nursing home, as well as consulting services at Vineland; Care Plus Bergen, LLC will provide on-site consultant services to the veterans home in Paramus, according to a notice posted on the state website.

Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, the Adjutant General of New Jersey and commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, announced the successful bidders during a hearing before the state Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday at the Statehouse in Trenton.

Neither Hou nor her office provided detail on how much each the bidders will be paid. Hou told the committee the entire tab would not exceed $5 million, adding, That doesnt mean we will need all of that.

The temporary teams will not displace anyone on staff at Menlo, and will assist in recruiting permanent leadership, Hou said.

In December, Hou replaced the facilitys CEO and hired a nurse practitioner as director of nursing. The department also signed contracts to with four specialists  two infection control consultants, one nursing consultant and one administrative consultant.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

The state veterans homes had among the highest death rates in the country from the pandemic, claiming the lives of more than 200 residents and staff, according to the state, although one attorney who represents dozens of families who sued the state suggests the number of fatalities may actually be more than 240.

The state has paid out nearly $69 million to settle lawsuits filed by the families of 190 deceased veterans homes residents from Menlo Park and Paramus. The lawsuits accused the state of negligence in allowing the coronavirus to run rampant inside the facilities, but the cases were settled without the state admitting to any wrongdoing.

A federal investigation into the deaths at Menlo Park and Paramus is still ongoing, as are two separate state investigations, Hou confirmed at the budget hearing. She declined to comment further.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

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Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.
Emmy Award-winning actor Sheryl Lee Ralph is among the speakers who will address graduates at three Rutgers University commencement ceremonies taking place over three days next month, officials announced Thursday.

Ralph, a Rutgers graduate and longtime star of stage and screen who plays kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard in Abbott Elementary, will address the 257th commencement of Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences on Sunday, May 14.

The university also announced jazz musician Terrance Blanchard will speak at Rutgers-Newarks commencement and former Camden Mayor Dana Redd will speak at Rutgers-Camdens ceremony.

The Rutgers Board of Governors approved the speakers Thursday, five days after the university announced an end to a week-long strike by faculty and other employees that halted classes and drew national attention.

I am beyond excited to welcome our inspirational, extremely talented and accomplished commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients to celebrate our 2023 graduating students, Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway said. Our students have shown fortitude, flexibility and dedication on their uncharted path to academic success, and we are ecstatic to be putting the final touches on uplifting and spectacular commencement festivities in their honor.

Ralph was part of the first Rutgers class to include women and was only 19 when she graduated in 1975. It will be her second graduation speech at her alma mater, and it comes months after she won her first Emmy, for best supporting actor in a comedy series on Abbott Elementary.

As we celebrate the birthday of Paul Robeson, great actor, great artist, outstanding athlete, outstanding student, Im so happy to represent his legacy as one of the first women, especially one of the first Black women, to graduate from Rutgers College. Legacy matters, Ralph said.

The Rutgers Board of Governors also approved an honorary doctor of humane letters degree for Mark Angelson, chair of the Institute of International Education and former chair of the board of governors. The board also approved an honorary doctor of science degree for Katalin Kariko, a neurosurgery professor and former senior vice president of BioNTech, to be awarded at the ceremony.

Rutgers-Camden will hold its commencement May 15 at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion. Redd, Camdens former mayor and a 1996 graduate of the Rutgers School of BusinessCamden, will address graduates and receive an honorary doctor of letters. Redd was mayor from 2010 to 2018 and is currently the CEO of Camden Community Partnership.

Rutgers-Newark will hold its commencement May 16 at the Prudential Center in Newark. Blanchard, a famed jazz musician, composer and educator, will address graduates and receive any honorary doctor of arts degree. He has won seven Grammy awards and been nominated for two Oscars.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
McDonalds is making some tweaks to ingredients found in its Big Macs and cheeseburgers.

The four changes include the addition of caramelized onions, softer buns, melted cheese instead of cheese at room temperature and more Big Mac sauce for its Big Macs, according to the company.

We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever, Chad Schafer, senior director of culinary innovation at McDonalds USA, said in the release.

The updated burgers will be introduced nationwide starting in 2024. They are already available in select west coast cities, including Portland, Los Angeles and Seattle.

The decision to change up its burgers comes as the company recently re-branded its crispy chicken sandwiches to the McCrispy last month.

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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
A federal watchdog is investigating whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration under chief Anne Milgram improperly awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to hire her past associates, people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press.

Among the contract spending under scrutiny by the Justice Departments Office of Inspector General is $4.7 million for strategic planning and communication that was used in part to hire people Milgram knew from her days as New Jerseys attorney general and as a New York University law professor  at costs far exceeding pay for government officials.
ELKO  Both drivers were killed when an SUV and a pickup collided head-on 48 miles north of Tonopah.

Troopers with the Nevada State Police were called to the scene on State Route 376 in Nye County around 7 p.m. April 12.

Preliminary investigation determined that a Hyundai Tucson SUV was traveling south and a Ram 2500 pick-up truck was traveling north when, for unknown reasons, the driver of the Hyundai crossed over the center line directly into the path of the Ram.

The left front of the Hyundai struck the left front of the Ram and came to rest blocking the southbound travel lane.

Pronounced dead on the scene were the driver of the Hyundai, Joei Jackson, 48, of Auburn, Washington and the driver of the Ram, Travis Odell, 43, of Round Mountain.

The Hyundai had a passenger who was transported from the scene with suspected serious injuries.

The crash is being investigated by the Nevada Highway Patrol Northern Command East Multi-Disciplinary Investigation and Reconstruction Team. If you were a witness to this incident, or have any information regarding the crash, please contact Sergeant Mitch Payne of the NHP Elko Office at 775-753- 1111.
With a looming budget crisis hitting NJ Transit that could snowball into a $957 million shortfall by fiscal year 2027, officials announced plans to look at cutting costs and raising revenues, including possible fare increases.

Officials said all options are on the table in an NJ Transit realignment plan detailed Wednesday. The plan involves a corporate realignment, possible fare increases and service changes to reduce costs, state Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said during a Wednesday evening Board of Directors meeting.
Sayrevilles mayor said she does not plan to run for re-election for concerns of her safety after a borough councilwoman was shot and killed earlier this year.

Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick said at an April 10 council meeting that she is absolutely concerned for the safety of herself and her family. Eunice Dwumfour, who served Sayreville as councilwoman, was killed outside her home in February. The case remains unsolved and no arrests have been made.
The Cape May County Park and Zoo is permanently closing its World of Birds Aviary exhibit on May 1 and sending its birds to other zoos around the country, officials announced this week.

The 77 birds in the aviary are traveling to new homes as close as Bergen County and as far away as California, zoo veterinarian Alex Ernst told NJ Advance Media.

Officials announced last month that the exhibit would be shutting down, but they had not set a closure date.

I have birds going to the Bronx, I have birds going to Philadelphia, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Bergen County Zoo, Waco, Texas, said Ernst, listing off 13 zoos that will receive the birds.

The birds will travel by ground transport to local and regional zoos, he said. Commercial airlines, including Delta and American Airlines, will be used to ship the birds headed cross country, including those being relocated to zoos in San Diego and Texas.

Transporting animals on planes requires a special booking process and travel crates, but they fly on the same planes as humans, Ernst said.

Some zoos are taking birds they need for breeding or to add to their exhibits.

The superb starling in the World of Birds Aviary at the Cape May County Zoo in Cape May Court House. (Lori M. Nichols | For NJ.com)SJN

Every zoo is taking birds that fit their needs, Ernst said. Everybody is working collectively to get what they need.

Located in Middle Township, the 52-acre Cape May County Park and Zoo has been ranked among the best in the nation. As of 2021, there were more than 550 animals in the park.

The zoo does not charge admission, but accepts donations.

Before the birds in the aviary are shipped out or transported, theyll undergo routine medical testing to ensure theyre healthy and safe enough to travel, zoo officials said.

The May 1 closing date is the last day the aviary will be at full capacity, so people who want a last look should visit before then, Ernst said.

Zoo officials previously announced the end of the aviary on Facebook, citing external maintenance as the reason for the closure.

As one of the oldest attractions at the Zoo, 25 years of tropical conditions has taken its toll on the building, and necessary maintenance and repairs have become unsustainable, the post read.

But, not all of the zoos birds are leaving, Ernst said. The ones outside the aviary  including the parrots, eagle, toucans and peacocks  are remaining at the zoo.

The Cape May County zoos bird exhibit was closed temporarily last year as a precaution due to bird flu concerns.

Other local zoos have also faced difficulties in recent years. In 2022, three of Middlesex Countys park zoos were scheduled to close, although the avian flu disrupted officials plans to remove animals from the zoo in Johnson Park in Piscataway.

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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
Paul Mulshine (A nationwide abortion ban? That dog wont hunt.) writes that Donald Trump, perhaps driven by polls favoring pro-choice opinions, seems to be backing away from the absolutist position on abortion that is exemplified by the lawsuit to ban an abortion drug nationwide by those the columnist calls anti-abortion absolutists.

However, it was by Trumps consequential U.S. Supreme Court appointments that the nation-dividing Roe vs Wade decision was overturned, in deference to state democratic dominium.

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Now individuals, through their elected representatives, must vote their conscience on the issue. Forgetting the polls and the way people may currently sway, many will need to summon their moral bearings, hear the arguments and think and decide responsibly on the abortion question for the first time. Into this intellectual ferment strides Mulshine, short-shrifting the central debate by tagging certain pro-lifers as absolutists.

My question for Mulshine is: At what stage in the reproductive process is the pre-born one not absolutely something?

The final tolling of Roe is the school bell for Americans to become better equipped on the sanctity and science of pre-born human life. I wonder if Paul Mulshine is among those who need to pack their notebooks.

Theodore F. Weltner Jr., Green Brook

Dont give pay raises to prisoners

I read that our wonderful governor, Phil Murphy, has included money in this his proposed 2023-2024 budget to give incarcerated people who work prison jobs a modest wage increase.

Wheres the cost of living allowance for retired state employees? I worked 35 years for the state and my pension benefit has remained the same since 2010. Thats 13 years without a raise.

I know the convicts dont make much money having to work for the prison system in Delaware. (In New Jersey, it averages $3 a day.) Thats not why the majority of these criminals work. They work for good time, which reduces their sentences.

Also, how much does it cost New Jersey taxpayers to keep them in prison for a year?

Enough is enough, New Jersey. Wake up and get rid of these tax-and-spend liberals from Murphy on down.

Give raises to people who deserve them, not criminals.

J.R. Adubato, Hamilton, Mercer County

Deal with mass shooting epidemic as a crisis

There is no doubt we have a national crisis: an epidemic of mass shootings.

We have outrage from individual citizens, but our national response seems to be at a stalemate.

The op-ed by University of Maryland psychology professor Arie Kruglanski, Why do mass shooters kill? (published in the April 16 Star-Ledger) gives excellent insight and thought as to what motivates a shooter. There is no simple explanation, but the writer does identify pieces of the puzzle that could be used in public policy.

To summarize, Kruglanski believes that easy access to guns in tandem with poor mental health, especially regarding self worth, are driving forces. We can address these issues by decreasing access to guns while increasing access to mental health services as part of our regular health care.

I recently traveled to Australia and New Zealand and was repeatedly asked why we dont take action regarding our mass shootings. I had no reassuring answer to give. These countries have gun restrictions and mental health services that have almost eliminated these awful events. It is time for our national government to step up and make the prevention of mass shootings a top priority before more lives are lost.

Ellen Rogers, Skillman

Wrong target in climate change editorial

An April 17 Star-Ledger editorial headlined, N.J. must get moving. This climate action cant wait, references a U.N. study about the existential necessity of reducing greenhouse gases 50% by 2030, and rings alarm bells.

I agree, but then the editorial states that the U.S. empire is the second-largest polluter in the world. That is incorrect if measured by a per capita standard. This finds the carbon footprint of the United States to be much higher than that of China or the European Union.

In addition, the Pentagon is the single greatest polluter among institutions, with several hundred military bases and a near trillion-dollar annual budget that mainly benefits the military-industrial complex.

Fix those global warming injustices before scolding New Jersey citizens about buying electric vehicles.

Joe Melillo, Lawrence

One royal office rehab

I just read the story about the new furnishings in Gov. Phil Murphys refurbished Statehouse offices costing $486,000.

Obviously, they did not shop at Walmart or Target. Must be good to be the king.

E. Mark DZurilla, Titusville

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Thanks to the recent spate of hot weather, tourist season is getting an early start in Cape May County. Meanwhile hurricane season begins June 1.

So you might think that the state would be doing something to remedy the severe erosion problem in North Wildwood  or at least get out of the way so the locals can.
Its almost inconceivable to imagine a creation thats a cross between the notorious Fyre Festival that was slated for the Bahamas and the debacle over Taylor Swift tickets that fans tried to order via the Ticketmaster monopoly  but what such a fantastic beast might look like could be on view at the Jersey Shore.

Dozens of dissatisfied ticket purchasers are chatting up NJ Advance Medias troubleshooting reporters and consumer agencies about the Bamboozle Festival, slated for Bader Field in Atlantic City on May 5, 6 and 7, just about three weeks from now.

Lets dispense with the jokes about anyone parting with their dollars to attend a music fest with Bamboozle in its name getting what they should have expected. Put aside, too, the idea that the hucksters who used to show up on the Boardwalk now work a couple of miles away from it. As anyone who has attended a concert in recent years can attest, this involves sums far greater than people forked over for flimsy miracle vegetable slicers that fell apart when they got them home.

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Unlike Fyre, with its failure to launch, Bamboozle has a history in New Jersey, having last appeared successfully in Asbury Park in 2012.

However, as with Fyre, people who bought Bamboozle tickets months ago are reporting disappointment with the current list of performers, which they say is missing some of the big names initially promised. According to the Bamboozle website, its still an extensive list over three days, just not the acts some diehard fans were hoping to see.

Unlike Taylor Swifts Eras tour, in which expensive tickets were seemingly snapped up by bots and greedy resellers, Bamboozle tickets are not monumentally hard to come by. About 6,000 have been been sold, but that compares with about 20,000 who showed up on an average day in 2012. But, like the customers tell NJ Advance Media that negotiating the ticket process has been difficult. There was a no-refund policy, but promoter John DEsposito says hes offering them to those who really want them. Many of the dissatisfied say they booked tickets early, as long ago as last Black Friday, because they were led to believe by the website and social media posts that the prices would go up as the event drew closer. Instead, customers say, discount codes and $100-discounts are now being offered.

Right now, its up to DEsposito get his act together, since he apparently couldnt get his acts together. Missing from the roster are modern rock faves such as Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, and some claim the mix is not as varied as previous festivals and seems to have veered more heavily to hip hop performers.

No one is insinuating at that the present time that DEspositos intentions are not honorable, or that the festival is a scam. But if he doesnt get the customer service right, and doesnt deliver a festival that meets reasonable expectations, cable TV and streaming outlets will start doing what went wrong documentaries about him  just as they did about Fyre guru Billy McFarland.

A smooth-as-possible festival is also important for Atlantic City, since the resort is starting to make a positive name for itself as a great place for big outdoor concerts and multi-day programs. While Bader Field wont be available much longer because of planned development, the beach has proven to be a good venue for well-organized mass events. In addition to the annual air show, the first part of the three-city North2Shore festival, featuring comics as well as music, is slated for Atlantic City from June 4-11, with later events in Asbury Park and Newark.

From the state Division of Consumer Affairs, to city and county government, to booster agencies  to promoters themselves  all have a stake in maintaining ACs organized fun image. They should do what they need to keep it weird (as they say in Austin), to keep it safe, and to keep the customers satisfied, even the non-gambling ones.

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Talk about divine justice: Senate President Nick Scutari, prime sponsor of the horrific new law that defanged the states chief election watchdog, is now in hot water himself over suspect campaign payments going back many years.

But thanks to Scutaris law, the election watchdog cant get him. Because the new law gives blanket amnesty to any violations that occurred more than two years ago, and most of Scutaris shady behavior took place before that time.

The legislature has now created an empty law that will prevent the public from being able to unravel why legislators are giving themselves money from their campaigns, says Bruce Afrin, who represents the former head of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, Jeff Brindle. That means theres no ability to keep members of the Legislature honest.

Afrin filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to overturn key provisions of the new law, including the two-year statute of limitations, along with a provision giving the governor unchecked powers to appoint friendly ELEC commissioners.

The payments in question were substantial, a total of $270,000 paid by Scutaris campaign accounts to Scutari personally, listed as reimbursements for money he claims he spent on campaign purposes. We are supposed to trust him about that because the records dont show any details -- like who Scutari paid and exactly for what. The campaign paid a close political ally, Edward Oatman, another $320,000 in reimbursements, again without detail.

Call me a cynic, but were relying on the honor system? For politicians in New Jersey who are paying big sums of money to themselves?

These facts on Scutaris spending were spelled out in a scorching report this week from Ashley Balcerzak at the Bergen Record, who dug through 15 years of his ELEC reports.

There is no proof that Scutari committed any crime, and he denies wrongdoing. But why would a state senator lay out such big sums of his own money, and then reimburse himself, rather than pay these expenses directly from his campaign account? Why would his sidekick, Oatman, lay out $320,000 of his own money? Neither of them returned my phone calls to answer that question.

Again, attorney Afrin: We can see a pattern from 2015 to 2022 in which Sen. Scutari and his staff are getting large reimbursements without accounting, and all of that is beyond the reach of the law because of this statute of limitations.

The law, signed earlier this month with no fanfare, is one of those Trenton abominations that starts with a decent idea, and is then larded with so many bad amendments it becomes a Frankenstein. The good idea was to shift the balance of power away from outside groups that spend money on campaigns by requiring them to reveal their big donors, while raising the outdated limits on direct contributions to campaigns, which must be disclosed. Thats why they called it the Elections Transparency Act.

But it turned into a monster as Democratic leaders used their unchecked powers in Trenton to work their own agendas. Gov. Murphy was intent on firing Brindle, who had the obnoxious habit of pointing out that dark-money groups like one supporting the governor were an invitation to corruption. Speaker Craig Coughlin liked the provision that eliminated fines against a political action committee he controls, which had incurred those fines for violations committed under his predecessors.

Scutari, sources say, was insistent on the two-year statute of limitations, a timeline that is plainly ridiculous, and cancels roughly 80 percent of the cases ELEC was working on when the bill was signed. It means the sketchy entries on Scutaris reports will never face ELEC scrutiny.

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You can see why all three commissioners at ELEC resigned in protest over this law. Why should they waste their time overseeing a fake watchdog? No doubt thats why this law offers new commissioners a salary, for the first time. For $30,000, plus expenses, theyll find someone to fill those empty chairs as a part-time gig.

Its a shame, said one of the resigning commissioners, Stephen Holden. Were the last of the generation of public interested serving citizens that were commissioners for free over the last 50 years.

The governor, confronted on this during WNYCs call-in show, conceded that the bill was imperfect. But he signed it anyway and declined to use a conditional veto to fix it, or even to spell out what he thought was wrong. Thats leadership, Murphy-style.

Scutari says hell fix his ELEC reports if any additional information needs to be added. As if theres any question about that.

Lets hope he starts with the roughly $5,000 check his campaign wrote to his personal account to cover a visit to Rome for a NJ Bar conference in 2014.

We dont know whether that money was spent on food and wine, or travel, or foot massages. But it must have been quite a trip.

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Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or (973) 986-6951. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

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By Scott Mortman

Based on the justices recent comments in a pending lawsuit against Google, the U.S. Supreme Court seems unlikely to limit the liability protections afforded social media platforms for publishing and sharing false or harmful user content. As disinformation on social media and across the internet escalates, the failure to hold the purveyors of such content accountable comes at a significant cost to society. Without a change in the status quo, we will lose the ongoing war against online disinformation.

For the last four years, I have advised a technology company focused on detecting and reporting on fake users and inauthentic content that pollute our daily online conversations and searches. What I have observed should frighten anyone.

Orchestrated online campaigns to promote false narratives and incite violence continue to multiply dramatically. With the benefit of AI-enabled algorithms, social media platforms now require fewer users (real or fake) intent on spreading disinformation to reach a broader audience and negatively influence online conversations.

And as we have seen during the recent pandemic and election cycles, adverse virtual behavior has real-world repercussions.

Absent judicial constraints on online publication, Congress must act. The current protections from lawsuits granted to social media platforms are embedded in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 was enacted in 1996  at the dawn of the internet and prior to the ubiquitous use of social media and online search sites today. Present risks of harm caused by online conduct far outweigh our existing statutory capability to hold these platforms accountable.

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We should question why social media sites today maintain near-blanket immunity for targeting users and recommending posts, photos, videos and other content. In the not-so-distant past, those who published and profited from a mass media platform, such as newspapers, had a legal obligation to review and verify content for accuracy. That editorial decisions determining the content we now view online are performed by algorithms and not people should not relieve the platforms of potential liability.

On the contrary, social media platforms design their algorithms to optimize online engagement and maximize profits through advertising. Advertisers wary of placement beside false information or hate speech should not be the primary arbiters of user content.

Although the platforms claim they regularly remove harmful or demonstrably false content, outside studies and insider disclosures demonstrate such efforts are lax, inconsistent and often in reaction to negative publicity. These efforts likely will weaken further as the platforms have reduced their workforce, including those entrusted with monitoring user safety.

Even in the currently divided Congress, bipartisan support exists to amend Section 230 and reduce the unique immunity from liability afforded to social media platforms. Yet, to date, the platforms have succeeded in thwarting needed reform.

As Googles general counsel recently asserted, Section 230 protections are needed for the internet to flourish in its infancy [and] become a major part of the broader US economy. While that may have been true 25 years ago, search engines and social media sites seem unlikely candidates for special legal protections in todays internet-driven economy.

The technology companies behind these platforms also claim that chipping away at their Section 230 legal shield would force them to self-censor, potentially violating users First Amendment rights and reducing the usefulness of their sites. While such risks may exist in the short term, those who design algorithms and engineer software can and will find the solutions needed to address these issues and improve the ability to reduce online disinformation and remove harmful content.

Regardless of Congressional action, social media sites and online search engines will have to modify their business practices to account for the Digital Services Act that was approved by the European Parliament last year. Under the DSA, online platforms will be compelled to comply with stricter regulations barring disinformation and hate speech, provide users the option of opting out of algorithms that track online behavior and make editorial recommendations, and face steep fines for failing to comply with these new rules.

Whither Europe goest, America, too, should go. Until then, the struggle at home to combat escalating online disinformation and hate speech likely remains a losing battle.

Scott Mortman is a technology lawyer and business advisor to Cyabra, a company that detects and reports on online authenticity and disinformation. He lives in Monmouth County.

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Miguel Ramirez is the reason opposing teams look forward to a trip to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees.

The 44-year-old chef from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is raved about by visiting teams for his speciality in a variety of cuisines.

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Heres what people have to say about Ramirezs cooking, per Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times:

Angels infielder Luis Rengifo: They just have a lot. They have Dominican food, like rice and beans, concon [the crust of crispy rice formed at the bottom of the pot.] The guy who makes it is amazing.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora: The rice and beans and the steak, its amazing. Whatever I want, Latino-wise, theyll fix it. And the coffees good too.

Angels infielder Gio Urshela: Good shakes, good coffee, really good everything,

According to Valenzuela, Ramirez got into the cooking industry in 2007 as a line chef at restaurants and hotels before working at Mariano Riveras steakhouse, Mos New York Grill. Ramirez has been a clubhouse chef at Yankee Stadium since 2011.

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The best part of my job is that I really get to do what I enjoy, he said to Valenzuela I like to cook a lot.  I come in early, and until I go home Im fascinated. Its like a hobby for me ... The people from here are all very professional, they all come here to do their job. And I love working here.

MORE MLB:

- Yankees prospect, once touted as 5-tool player, suspended 80 games for steroid use

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- Dodgers fans  still ticked at Max Scherzer  celebrate Mets aces ejection

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NEW YORK  The Yankees are taking a flier on a slugger who appears well past his best days.

Out of a job after a failed spring training bid, lefty-swinging outfielder Kole Calhoun signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees on Thursday.

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Calhoun, 35, will play rookie-level preseason games in Tampa with the Florida Coast League Yankees for a few days, then go to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Calhoun averaged 21 homers from 2014-20 playing for the Los Angeles Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks, but is coming off two down seasons in a row. He hit .235 with 5 homers and 17 RBI in 2021 with Arizona, then .196 with 12 homers and 49 RBI in 125 games last season with the Texas Rangers.

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A free agent last winter, Calhoun didnt sign with anyone until landing a minor-league deal with the Mariners with spring training already underway.

Signed on Feb. 24, Calhoun hit .286 with two RBI in 13 spring training games with the Mariners, but he opted out on March 26 after being told by that he wouldnt make their Opening Day roster.

His best season was in 2019 with the Angels when he batted .223 with 33 homers and 74 RBI in 152 games. The next year, he also put up good numbers in the 60-game season, hitting .226 with 16 homers, 40 RBI and a career-best .864 OPS in 54 games with Arizona, his first of two seasons with the club.

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According to the Voice of Vietnam, the southern city is emerging as Asias next big millionaire hotspot represented by rapidly expanding sectors such as financial services, textiles, technology, electronics, telecoms, chemicals, and tourism, according to the report.

The 10 wealthiest cities in the world are ranked in terms of their number of resident millionaires. All figures are from over the past decade starting from 2012 and ending in 2022.

Millionaires or high-net-worth individuals refer to individuals with investable wealth of US$1 million or more.

Cities located in the United States and China dominate the top 10 wealthiest cities in the world, while only one European city, London, makes it onto the list.

Topping the list is New York City which is home to 340,000 millionaires, 724 centi-millionaires, and 58 billionaires. It is the financial centre of the US and the wealthiest city in the world.

Tokyo in Japan ranks second, which is home to 290,300 resident millionaires, 250 centi-millionaires, and 14 billionaires.

Third position goes to the Bay Area, which includes the City of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, which is home to 285,000 millionaires, as well as 629 centi-millionaires, and a high number of billionaires at 63.

In 2000, London was the top city in the world for millionaires, but it has slipped down the list over the past 20 years, it is now placed in fourth position.

Apart from Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore is the only other Southeast Asian representative to make the list as it is currently home to 240,100 millionaires, 329 centi-millionaires, and 27 billionaires, thereby ranking fifth in the top 10.

Vietnam, Australia promote trade, tourism exchange

A Vietnam-Australia trade and tourism promotion conference was held by Vietnam Airlines, Thien Minh Group and Vinpearl JSC in Sydney on April 19, drawing a large number of Australian businesses and travel firms from different Australian localities, reported VOV.

Vietnamese Consul General in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland Nguyen Dang Thang addresses the event (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the event, Vietnamese Consul General in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland Nguyen Dang Thang said that right after Vietnam and Australia reopened their doors one year ago, the number of tourists travelling the two countries has continuously increased.

Statistics from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam showed that Vietnam welcomed 3.66 million foreign visitors in 2022 and 3 million in the first quarter of this year, of whom 85% arrived by air.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Vietnam is among the top 10 favourite destinations for Australian tourists.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines is operating direct air routes to the majority of the other nine destinations like the UK, India, the US, and Indonesia, he noted.

Vietnam, Australia promote trade, tourism exchange hinh anh 2UNESCO-recognised

Ha Long Bay (Photo: VNA)

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency, Nguyen Huu Tung, chief representative of Vietnam Airlines in Australia, said that the airlines is operating 16 flights between Vietnam and Australia each week. Particularly, the Hanoi-Melbourne route will be officially launched from June 15 with two flights per week, making it easier for Australian visitors to explore northern tourist destinations of Vietnam and transit to other countries such as Germany, France, the UK, the Republic of Korea, and Japan.

Participants at the event agreed that Vietnam has great tourism potential and is a good choice for Australian tourists.

Many Australian travel firms said that Australian tourists are increasingly interested in Vietnam and tend to choose the Southeast Asian country for their future vacations.

Yvonne Chapple from Flight Centre said that the firm has received many requests from its customers for Vietnamese tourism information, especially destinations in the north.

Chapple held that although Thailand and Bali (Indonesia) have received the largest bookings, Vietnam has still been among the top five most popular Asia destinations chosen by Australian visitors.

Vietnam seeks to retain FDI firms if global minimum tax is in effect

According to the Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam is looking for solutions to retain foreign investment firms, especially giants such as Samsung, Apple, and Foxconn, in the event that the global minimum tax is applied in the country.

A major challenge

Large multinational firms will be impacted if the global minimum tax rate of 15% is in efffect in Vietnam. (illustrative image).

The global minimum tax initiated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has become a hot topic globally as it impacts large corporations investment strategy, as well as the Governments investment attraction policy. A tax rate of 15% will be applicable to large firms with an annual turnover of EUR750 million. This tax policy is scheduled to take effect in most EU states, along with Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong (China), and Australia, among others in 2024. However, it is yet to be effective in Vietnam.

Currently, Vietnam boasts about 335 projects with registered investment capital of over US$100 million each operating in the fields of processing and manufacturing in economic and industrial zones. Most of them are invested by high-tech firms, such as Samsung, Intel, LG, Bosch, Sharp, Panasonic, Foxconn, and Pegatron, with all of these likely to be subject to the global minimum tax if it is applied in Vietnam.

With an average income tax rate of around 12.3%, even as low as 2.75 to 5.95%, the country is using tax incentives as a solution to attract foreign investment. If the Government does not introduce timely response solutions, then benefits from the corporate income tax incentives that foreign firms enjoy in the nation will no longer exist, thereby affecting its attractiveness, as well as the competitive advantage of the local market in attracting FDI.

At a workshop held on April 18 in Hanoi, Choi Joo Ho, general director of Samsung Vietnam, said that the implementation of the global minimum tax will make Vietnamese tax exemption and reduction policies no longer effective for FDI enterprises, as well as having negative effects on the local investment environment.

The difficulty is even greater for corporations that are setting up production bases in countries that seek to attract investment through corporate income tax incentives, he warned.

Major suggestions

Experts give opinions at a conference Global minimum tax: International experiences, potential effects and implications for Vietnam held in Hanoi on April 18. (Photo: tapchitaichinh.vn)

With a total investment of US$20 billion, Samsung Vietnam represented by six manufacturing legal entities and a research and development centre produces half of smart phones globally. It is expected that Samsung and other large foreign firms will be officially affected by the global minimum tax policy starting from 2024.

Choi therefore suggested that the Vietnamese Government develop new forms of support, like the preferential monetary support mechanism that is widely applied in other countries such as the US, Germany, and India in a bid to compensate FDI businesses impacted by the application of the global minimum tax.

He also suggested that the Government introduce a qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT) mechanism that calculates the excess profits of constituent entities located in the jurisdiction in a way that is equivalent to the GloBE Rules to protect its tax base.

Hong Sun, president of the Korea Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (KOCHAM), proposed that Vietnam legislate this tax in a bid to reduce the impact on companies that have invested in the country, whilst simultaneously creating peace of mind for large investors who are intending to do business in the Vietnamese market.

Sharing this perspective, Robert King, head of Ernst & Young Indochina in Vietnam, pointed out that in the event the tax mechanism is not adopted, the country will not only lose the tax difference, but also its competitive advantage will also be affected.

As an investment recipient, Vietnam must achieve two important goals of proactively gaining the right to tax, and creating a favourable investment environment to ensure effective competition in terms of attracting foreign investment, he stressed.

According to Dang Ngoc Minh, deputy director general of the General Department of Taxation, relevant Vietnamese agencies are closely monitoring countries movements and will therefore report to the Government.

He suggested that the Government first raise the minimum tax rate to 15% for businesses and then promulgate regulations relating to tax deduction at source in Vietnam. He also stressed the need to amend tax incentives as a way of protecting domestic revenue, promulgate a minimum tax rate of 15%, and introduce tax incentives in support of investment and labour training costs, as well as green growth and environmental protection./.
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According to the publication, the sprawling resort on southern Vietnam's palm-fringed Phu Quoc island represents Regents opening gambit in an ambitious cross-Asia plan. Its all suites and villas, and all that space comes with extraordinarily luxe touches.

The 126 villas feature private pools, generous living rooms with terraces or decks, and kitchens stocked with everything from craft sodas to artisanal Vietnamese chocolate.

The newspaper outlines that even the 176 suites boast spacious balconies and, in some cases, plunge pools.

Most notably, the kids club is fully equipped with a mini cinema and jungle gym, which provides adults ample time to sip rose at the beachfront Ocean Club or to slurp excellent pho noodles at Rice Kitchen. The room rates hover at around VND10 million per night.

The list of the top 100 best new hotels has been compiled by editors and travel experts of the US magazine, aiming to help tourists get more suggestions for their upcoming trip.

The judging panel spent the entirety of last year visiting 37 countries across six continents, except for Antarctica, to observe newly-established hotels and make an honest assessment about their operations, facilities, and services.

This year, the top 100 are divided into seven categories, looking at them through the lens of affordable luxury, best new wellness getaways, and inviting beach vacations, among other designations.

VinFast to join Montreal Electric Vehicle Show 2023

Automaker VinFast, a subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, on April 19 announced that it will attend the Montreal Electric Vehicle Show 2023 (MEVS 2023) for the first time with two key models - the VF 8 and the VF 9, reported Vietnam News Agency.

Illustrative image. (Photo: VinFast)

MEVS is an exclusive exhibition for electric vehicles to be held at Montreal Olympic Stadium from April 21-23, with more than 50 EV models on display from more than 20 car brands.

As a pure electric vehicle brand, VinFast is proud to participate in the largest electric vehicle show in Canada, said Nguyen Thi Van Anh, CEO of VinFast North America, adding that they are excited to offer Quebec customers an opportunity to test drive a VF 8.

The VF 8 is VinFast's current mainstream offering in the international market. The VF 8 Eco is listed at 57,500 CAD (42,900 USD) while the VF 8 Plus has a starting price of 63,490 CAD.

The VF 9 is a full-size SUV and the largest model in VinFast's electric vehicle lineup. With a wheelbase of up to 3,150 mm, the VF 9 boasts a refined and sophisticated structure allowing ample interior space, optimal for full-size 7-seater or 6-seater configurations.

Both of the models are equipped with a wide range of advanced technologies including the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and Smart Services.

As scheduled, the VF 8 will be delivered to Canadian customers from June while the VF 9 will be available in the Canadian market from the third quarter of this year.

Sa Pa to host biggest rose festival in northwestern region

The biggest rose festival in the northwestern region is scheduled to take place from April 27 to May 30 at Vietnams largest rose valley in Sa Pa town, a major tourist destination in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, reported the Voice of Vietnam.

The rose valley boasts an area of up to 50,000 square metres and consists of more than 300,000 roses crossbred from over 150 varieties in Sa Pa, Vietnam and around the world.

Notably, the festival will feature a rose parade consisting of 34 flower carts fully decorated with roses grown in the tourist area and controlled by a cast made up 750 craftsmen, craftswomen, as well as local people from Sa Pa town and Tam Duong district dressed in traditional costumes of ethnic groups.

The parade will run from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. between April 27 and 29 and will travel along the streets of the town centre. The floats, actors, and actresses participating in the procession will stop at five points during their journey, enabling visitors to snap pictures and watch the artists performing beside the floats.

Most notably, a flower procession to Buddha at the peak of Fansipan, the highest mountain in Indochina, will take place at the opening ceremony of the festival on April 27.

Furthermore, fashion shows and art performances will get underway between 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., as well as 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., from April 27 to May 7. Artists will perform Xoe Thai dancing which is an intangible cultural heritage of humanity recognised by UNESCO.

The traditional wedding ceremony of the Red Dao ethnic minority group will be re-enacted during the festival.

The festival is expected to attract more and more tourists to Sa Pa town, as it coincides with the five-day break to mark National Reunification Day on April 30 and International Labour Day on May 1.

Over 17 million USD expected to be mobilised during Humanitarian Month

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) is striving to mobilise 400 billion VND (17 million USD) for humanitarian activities during the Humanitarian Month 2023 starting from May 1, reported Vietnam News Agency.

Press conference providing information about Humanitarian Month 2023 (Photo: VNA)

President of the VRC Central Committee Bui Thi Hoa said that the annual event aims to call on the community to join hands in humanitarian activities, thus popularising the kindness, and meaningful actions, towards building a community of solidarity and compassion.

The peak period of the programme will take place from May 8 (World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day) to May 19 (the birthday of President Ho Chi Minh  Founder and first Honourary President of the VRC), Hoa said.

Activities held during the month will also aim at changing public awareness of the humanitarian work.

A national-scale ceremony to launch the Humanitarian Month 2023 will be organised on April 23 at the Can Tho University in the Mekong Delta city of the same name, and broadcast live on channel VTV8 of the Vietnam Television.

The Humanitarian Month has been held annually by the VRC since 2018. Through the five editions, the VRC has to date mobilised a total of 2.05 trillion VND, and provided support for more than 4.3 million poor people and those living in difficult circumstances.

VAS Group exports first shipment of steel to US

VAS Group has recently exported its first shipment of steel to the United States through the Port of Houston, one of the largest seaports in the world.

VAS Group exports its first shipment of steel to the United States.

The successful shipment helps to elevate the Vietnamese steel brand to the international market, especially to some of the world's leading stringent markets.

It also secures VAS Group's foothold in the US market and serves to open up bright prospects ahead for further export opportunities moving forward.

The group plans to export the second batch of commercial steel the port of Los Angeles, the US logistics centre, later this year.

VAS steel products have been welcomed by the US importers thanks to their outstanding quality of "green and clean steel" that are manufactured through the circular economy model, according to the group.

Most notably, VAS steel products have already made a presence in a number of markets such as the Republic of Korea, China, Taiwan (China), Japan, and Guatemala.

The group has been consistent with the sustainable development strategy over the years by making use of a modern induction furnace system and advanced waste treatment lines that fully meet European standards. It is also a pioneering firm in deploying a green steel production model./.
The New Orleans City Council on April 20 renamed a Bayou St. John park after legendary bluesman Walter "Wolfman" Washington, who passed away in December at the age of 79.

During his time in the city, Washington became a mainstay not only in the music world but the community at large. In January, his widow, Michelle Bushey Washington, initially proposed renaming the park  which is currently named after the white terrorist Alcee Fortier, who participated in the so-called "Battle of Liberty Place" racist uprising in 1874  and the idea quickly picked up the support of local groups and Council Budget Chairman Joe Giarrusso.

Prior to the councils unanimous vote to rename the park, Giarusso praised Washington and his wife, noting the decision was an obvious one.

Members, I think this speaks for itself, Giarrusso said.  I want to say thanks first of all to everyone who supported this thing.

I cant tell you how much I appreciate Councilman Giarrussos help with this, Bushey Washington said. It means so much to us, and I believe he (Walter) is here with that incredible grin of his. If you know his music, you know what he means to the city of New Orleans.

The park's dedication ceremony is scheduled for May 13, while Walter "Wolfman" Washington Day will take place on May 4 at the Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Correction: This article originally stated the dedication would take place April 30. However, it is now taking place May 13. It has also been updated to reflect Alcee Fortier's involvement in the so-called "Battle of Liberty Place" by a gang of racists.
The New Orleans City Council Thursday voted to bar Mayor LaToya Cantrell and future mayors from using a city-owned French Quarter apartment as a residence but agreed to allow mayors to continue to have parties and other events in the space.

Under an ordinance passed on an unanimous vote, Cantrell will now have to move out of the historic Pontalba building. Cantrell has lived in the apartment for much of the last year without paying rent, the first mayor to do so. In the past, the space has been used to entertain dignitaries and other official out-of-town guests, as well as for holiday parties and other events.

The city recently said fair-market rent on the apartment would cost $36,000 a year.

The original proposal by Council President JP Morrell would have put the apartment up for rent, although the mayor would have had right of first refusal. Although the Inspector General and others have argued the apartment should be rented, the council ultimately agreed to a modified amendment by Council Member Oliver Thomas which prohibits overnight stays or residential occupancy but keeps the unit under the control of the mayor and city.

Although Morrell voted for the amendment ordinance, he warned the new language was ripe for abuse and that while I appreciate it's better than what we have ... we can do better than this.
Total Petrochemical USA, foreground, sits just inside the city limits of St. Gabriel and Carville La., in Iberville Parish, photographed Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019. According to the company fact sheet, it's the largest polystyrene facility in the world. The state's hydrogen initiative seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from petrochemical plants. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, right, gives a hug to Rep. Christopher Turner, R-Ruston, left, before members of the House and Senate were seated in a joint session for La. Gov. John Bel Edwards' address to kick off the 2023 regular legislative session, Monday, April 10, 2023 at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge, La.
Animation of a massive star collapsing under its own weight and forming a black hole. The black hole drives jets of particles through the star, emitting gamma rays as they stream through space. Astronomers and LSU researcher Eric Burns believe that the gamma-ray dubbed the Brightest Of All Time, or BOAT, could be the result of a star collapsing and forming a black hole.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has received US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Erika Olson.

They exchanged views on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and negotiations on a peace treaty.

The head of state noted that the signing of a peace treaty with Armenia following the 44-day Patriotic War was Azerbaijan`s initiative, and in this regard, the country proposed five principles that would form the basis of the peace treaty.

Erika Olson emphasized that the US supports the regional peace agenda and immediate signing of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this regard, the role of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was specially mentioned.

During the conversation, they discussed regional issues, bilateral political relations between Azerbaijan and the United States, including cooperation in energy, renewable energy and other areas.
Aler Grubbs, USAID Vietnam Mission Director, addresses the launching ceremony. (Photo: USAID)

Conceived by VCCI and supported by USAID and Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam, the Green Index evaluates and ranks provinces environmental policy from the perspective of businesses with the goal of promoting better business practices and an eco-friendly business environment that attracts green investment. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris first announced USAIDs support for developing a Green Index to rally the private sector to climate action during her 2021 trip to Vietnam.

The Green Index was launched at an event today in Hanoi held annually to recognize the top-ranked provinces under the Provincial Competitiveness Index, which has contributed to significant improvements in Vietnams business enabling environment since its inception in 2005. USAID Vietnam Mission Director Aler Grubbs joined VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong to present awards to the 10 top-ranked provinces in 2022 under the Provincial Competitiveness Index, and, for the first time, the top three top-ranked provinces under the inaugural Green Index.

For nearly two decades, VCCIs successful Provincial Competitiveness Index has prompted feedback and effective action around critical business climate issues, said Aler Grubbs, USAID Vietnam Mission Director. The new Provincial Green Index builds on this prior success, and it signals a greater recognition among the private sector that environmental considerations are equally important for business success and long term economic growth.

The Green Index will be published as part of the annual Provincial Competitiveness Index, supported by USAID since its inception in 2005. The Provincial Competitiveness Index has become an important tool for encouraging reforms at both the national and provincial levels on economic governance. The Green Index furthers Vietnams progress toward sustainable economic development and bolsters efforts to meet Vietnams COP26 commitments./.
Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Head of the committees Commission for Information and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia speaking at the conference (Photo: CPV)

The event was attended by Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Head of the committees Commission for Information and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia, and leaders from a number of ministries that are joining the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) delegation visiting Italy; leaders of the Italian Communist Party, Communist Refoundation Party of Italy, the Democratic Party of Italy, Italys Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Italy-Vietnam Friendship Association, Vietnamese Honorary Consuls in Turin and Nopoli, Vietnamese and Italian experts and scholars and many Italian friends.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia highlighted the significance of the conference in maintaining and promoting heritage left by President Ho Chi Minh, especially in fostering the relations between Vietnam and other countries, including Italy, as the two sides are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties and the 10 years of strategic partnership.

He thanked the Italian side for supporting activities to honour the Vietnamese leader in different localities of Italy.

At the conference, General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party Mauro Alboresi affirmed that President Ho Chi Minh was a great national leader, and Vietnam is a symbol of struggle against colonialism and imperialism, for independence, freedom, determination and self-reliance determination of all nations.

Delegates at the conference (Photo: CPV)

He said that the Italian Communist Party always pays great attention to and follow the developments of Vietnam, and supports the CPVs socio-economic development and foreign policy.

General Secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy Maurizio Acerbo recalled the sentiments of the left-wing forces of Italy towards Vietnamese people and nation, affirming that President Ho Chi Minh is remembered as one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history, and a symbol of the struggle against colonialism, showing the world the highest values of socialism.

According to Honorary Consul and Director of the Centre for Vietnam Studies in Turin Sandra Scagliotti, the time President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked in Italy was a treasure that needed to be further studied and documented.

Concluding the conference, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung affirmed that the presentations at the conference have very important meanings, contributing to supplementing and consolidating many precious documents and images of President Ho Chi Minh, thereby, expressing the love of the country and Italian people for President Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam. At the same time, he affirmed that in the coming time, he will continue to connect scholars and researchers to organize more seminars on President Ho Chi Minh./.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two heads of state decided to upgrade the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership."

Xi called President Bongo "an old friend" of the Chinese people. Bongo is the first African head of state visiting China after Xi was reelected as the Chinese president. It fully demonstrates the importance and high level of China-Gabon relations, said Xi.

In recent years, under the leadership of President Bongo, Gabon has been exploring a development path tailored to its national conditions and pursuing national stability and economic diversification. Significant achievements have been made in national development, Xi said.

Xi commended that Gabon has also been promoting the regional integration process and mediating hotspot issues in Africa.

Gabon has held a successful One Forest Summit and taken over as the president of the Economic Community of Central African States not long ago, Xi said, noting that Gabon's influence in the region and beyond has grown markedly.

As a sincere friend of Gabon, China wishes the country still greater progress in all its endeavors and early realization of its strategic goal toward an Emerging Gabon, said the Chinese president.

President Xi noted the 50th anniversary of China-Gabon diplomatic relations to be celebrated next year. Over the last half-century, thanks to the commitment and guidance of generations of leaders on both sides, the China-Gabon friendship has stayed rock-firm as ever, Xi said.

In a world undergoing profound changes, China and Gabon have supported each other in advancing their shared interests and upholding international fairness and justice. The strong and sustained growth of the bilateral ties serves the long-term interests of both countries and has an exemplary role to play in building a community with a shared future for humanity, said Xi.

He said that China is willing to work with Gabon to strengthen experience-sharing on state governance, deepen strategic mutual trust, and firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns.

China firmly supports Gabon in pursuing a development path suited to its national realities and is willing to synergize strategies with Gabon and promote cooperation in infrastructure construction, forestry, fishery, the digital economy, and industrial park construction, Xi said.

He called on the two sides to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and strengthen cooperation in tourism, rural revitalization, poverty reduction, and agricultural development.

Xi also urged joint efforts in strategic cooperation in multilateral platforms, such as the United Nations, to safeguard global peace and development, international equity and justice, and the common interests of developing countries.

Regarding China-Africa cooperation, Xi said that China is willing to provide new opportunities to African countries through its own development and turn China-Africa practical cooperation into an example for South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa.

Bongo said Gabon firmly adheres to the one-China policy and supports important concepts proposed by President Xi, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Bongo said he appreciates China's valuable assistance in promoting Gabon's economic diversification and industrialization. He said that the two sides could further strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism.

Gabon looks forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China next year, consolidating and deepening friendly cooperation, and promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, said Bongo.

He added that Gabon is willing to enhance strategic coordination with China at multilateral level and push for better development and more achievements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and Africa-China relations.

After the talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents in fields such as investment, agriculture, housing and urban construction, and climate change.

A joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the People's Republic of China and the Gabonese Republic was published.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba and his wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba before the talks between Xi and Bongo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Editor: WJH
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More than 60 companies will be honored for safety and performance at the upcoming Construction Awards Banquet in Hobart.

The Construction Advancement Foundation, a Portage-based construction industry trade association that represents more than 500 contractors, and the Northwest Indiana Business RoundTable, a nonprofit that seeks to improve worksite safety with seminars, drug testing and other initiatives, will celebrate the local construction industry's achievements and safety records over the past year on May 11 at Avalon Manor in Hobart.

The Construction Awards Banquet will give awards to a number of companies, contractors and projects. Past honors have gone to some of the largest construction projects in Northwest Indiana, including new hospitals, blast furnace relines at the steel mills and the $4.2 billion BP Whiting Refinery modernization.

Awards are conferred every year for excellence in safety standards, innovation and development. Pushing the idea that "excellence is never an accident," the intent is to recognize Region construction companies for exceeding national safety averages and accident prevention, which helps ensure projects stay affordable.

Without the achievements of the hardworking men and women that the NWIBRT/CAF banquet recognizes, Northwest Indiana would not be the thriving community that it is," said Rick Foor, chair of the NWIBRT safety committee.

Both tickets and sponsorships are available. To register, visit nwibrt.org.
Northwest Health made a donation to the Valparaiso Parks Foundation to honor its medical staff on National Doctors' Day.

The health care system with hospitals in Valparaiso, LaPorte and Knox contributed to the new skatepark in Valparaiso.

We really wanted to find a special way to honor our physicians this year. They do so much for our community and mean a tremendous amount to the organization, said Northwest Health CEO Ashley Dickinson.

They health care systems staff voted to support the Valparaiso Parks Foundation.

Every year, for National Doctors Day, we like to show gratitude to our medical staff, Dickinson said. And this year we are delighted to make this donation in their honor to benefit the Valparaiso community and its youth long into the future.

The money went to the 15,000-square-foot Valparaiso Skatepark on the corner of Calumet Avenue and McCord Road. It has street features, a mini ramp, bowl and seating for spectators.

The Valpo Parks fit so nicely with the mission of our organization. Were very focused on health and wellness not only for our patients, but for our staff and the entire community. Its so important to have healthy park systems throughout our communities to help drive that healthy mission, said Dickinson.

Valpo Parks Executive Director John Seibert said the project was of a scope that it needed community support. Northwest Health's generosity is appreciated, especially since it couldn't have come at a better time, he said.

This annual celebration is usually a special recognition for the doctors and their service to the community, but this year they used that spotlight to partner with us, and were very privileged to be a part of that, said Seibert.
One of the first things U.S. Rep. Sean Casten said at the town hall meeting in Orland Park was how much he values town hall meetings.

Casten spent an hour at the Orland Park Library March 16, most of the time taking questions from the audience of more than 150.

Im a huge, huge fan of town halls. I think they are the best because it helps me do my job well, he told the crowd at his first gathering in Orland Park. Its a chance to talk and have a two-way dialogue. Its also a chance to share some of the interesting and complicated things in Washington.

As long as you all keep showing up, Ill keep doing them.

Casten beat Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau in the redrawn 6th District in November, and he estimates that 73% of the district is new to him.

The district used to be heavy in the Western suburbs, and LaGrange, Wheaton, Downers Grove and Glen Ellyn remain under his watch. But it has added Orland Park, a part of Tinley Park, many south suburbs and parts of Chicago.

He has met with several mayors now in his district, but at the time of the town hall, he had not met with Pekau.

Casten said he found meeting the new mayors fascinating.

The district that I still represent a part of  the old 6th District, if you will  was predominantly commuter suburbs that commuted to Chicago, he told reporters after the town hall meeting. It was places where people lived but not really where people worked. Barrington, Hinsdale, Wheaton, Downers Grove, Glen Ellyn.  The South Side has more places where people work. Yes, people live there as well, but a lot of these communities have both.

Topics that came up at the meeting included environmental issues, Social Security issues, immigration and the recent banking problems.

At the time of the town hall, three major banks had collapsed.

Casten told the crowd they should be concerned but not to panic as depositors are 100% protected.

He said some of the collapses were cause by one bank being heavily invested in crypto currency while others were involved in the tech market and New York Law firms.

Some got caught in what he calls an Its a Wonderful Life scenario. In that classic movie, George Bailey owns the Building and Loan with much of its deposits tied up in building and improving homes of Bedford Falls residents.

I go back to George Bailey who said 'Its in your house and your house and your house,  Casten said. The money of recent failed banks was in this bond and that bond and that bond. Thats what sort of triggered this.

Casten added that regional banks are still a safe bet.

If your money is in a small, regional bank right now, you have access to more attractive security than you can get than if you are at a big bank , Casten said. Im sure the markets will continue to be jittery because everybody is trying to figure out what's going on.

"There is a lot of nervousness about other banks being similarly exposed. So, I expect you will see markets bouncing around a little bit.

But overall he is optimistic with federal safeguards.

At least from where I sit, I think the Fed did the right thing to isolate this out, Casten said. We have required bigger banks to go through stress-testing that they have to go through and a lot of big banks complain about it but it makes sure its capital can sustain shots like this.
Orland Parks Emergency Services and Disaster Agency is being honored all April for its work and service over the years.

Mayor Keith Pekau read a proclamation at the April 3 Committee of the Whole meeting that named April 2023 ESDA Appreciation Month in the village.

This has been a long time coming, Pekau said before reading the proclamation. ESDA has been around a long time. These folks are almost always volunteers. We give them something for special events but everything else, they volunteer and they have been volunteering for decades.

The proclamation came three days after a night of thunderstorm and tornado warnings throughout the Chicago area.

They spent about six hours watching for tornados, Pekau said of the ESDA volunteers. It was on their own time to help keep our community safe.

Its high time that we acknowledge them. We acknowledge our police officers and everything else and sometimes we forget about some of our staff.

It is believed that the ESDA has been serving Orland Park since the mid-1970s.

Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison was on hand to praise the ESDA members.

The ESDA exists to prevent, minimize, repair and alleviate injury or damage resulting from disasters, enemy attack, sabotage or other hostile actions or from natural or manmade disasters, Morrison said.

He said the volunteers in Orland Park do their jobs well.

In times of emergency, ESDA volunteers serve. When trained volunteers are critical to a community, ESDA volunteers serve. When the Orland Park Police Department needs support, ESDA volunteers serve. When trained spotters are needed in the event of severe weather, ESDA volunteers serve.

The key word here is service.

Trustees Michael Milani and Sean Kampas are members of Orlands ESDA.

Milani said he joined the group in 2019. The next year was the start of the pandemic, and he said the group logged 2,440 hours of work in 2020. Milani said thats roughly a years worth of work for a police officer that allows the officer to serve in other ways because of the volunteers work.

Im proud to be a part of ESDA, he said. ESDA flies under the radar and residents may not realize all of the things that we do. It is composed of volunteers who wish to give back to their community to maintain the safety and security of Orland Park.

Orland Park Police Chief Eric Rossi appreciates the groups efforts.

They do incredible work for our community, Rossi said. It plays an essential role in keeping our community safe, and I cannot express how grateful we are for their tireless efforts.

They work hand-in-hand with our police department and other emergency responders to ensure that we are prepared for any situation that arises. Their work does not go unnoticed.

Rich Miller is the director of the ESDA. Not only did his group get kudos from the Orland Park board, but he and the police departments dog, Leo, also received the Rich Kozik Memorial Award at the 100 Club of Illinois Valor Awards ceremonies April 5 at the Four Seasons in Chicago.

According to the 100 Club website, the awards are presented annually to police officers, firefighters and paramedics who, but their actions, performed above and beyond the call of duty and in the highest traditions of their respective departments.
Orland Park Police Chief Eric Rossi described it as being in college and a police academy at the same time with a smattering of Marine-style training.

Except the participants were older and many had families, as well.

Rossi spent 10 week this year participating in the 285th running of the FBI National Academy.

He graduated March 16 in a ceremony at the National Academy in Quantico, Va.

According to Orland Park officials, fewer than 1% of public safety professionals have the opportunity to attend the program. Rossi said he applied years ago, long before he was named chief in in May.

Its an academy for approximately 250 local law enforcements throughout the USA and 27 from overseas, he said. Sometimes it takes people 15 years to be accepted. Sometimes they are not accepted.

Rossi made it, but the program wasn't easy.

There was a lot of leadership training and physical fitness training, Rossi said. At the end, we did a 6.1-mile obstacle course on the Marine base. You first go through obstacles and then at the end, its a 3-mile run. Its intense.

He said its the first time he had gone through anything like that and the only serious running he had ever done was in the weeks leading up to the program.

According to the village, the National Academy offers 10 weeks of advanced communication, leadership and fitness training. Participants must have proven records as professionals within their agencies to attend.

On average, these chosen officers have 21 years of law enforcement experience and usually return to their agencies to serve in executive-level positions.

The class included members of law-enforcement agencies from all over the world, four military organizations and five federal civilian organizations.

This was a great opportunity for Chief Rossi to broaden his already exemplary skills, said Mayor Pekau at the March 20 village board meeting. This is a tremendous benefit to the Village of Orland Park as well as the men and women of the Orland Park Police Department.

Rossi thanked Pekau and Village Manager George Koczwara for allowing him to take the time away from the village to participate. Deputy Chief Brian West ran the department in Rossis absence.

Except for one weekend visit, Rossi was away from his family for the 10 weeks, and he was glad to be home for his wife and children and for the community.

It was nice to come back to Orland, he said. I love the town and I love my job and I love the people. I wanted to come back. It was a long time away.

But he said it was worthwhile.

I would do it again, he said. It was great training and a phenomenal experience. I met phenomenal people from great law enforcement factions  not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.

He said the connections he made were valuable.

Its like a new family because we were so close together for 10 weeks, Rossi said. We were living with another individual and sharing a bathroom with four other people  the camaraderie and the connections that you made  it probably was the biggest takeaway.

Rossi has been a member of the Orland Park Police Department for more than 19 years, serving as a patrol officer, bicycle patrol officer, field training officer, investigator, patrol sergeant, lieutenant in administration, investigations commander, deputy chief and now as chief of police.
The festival formerly known as Orland Days is back.

But its going to be called Summerfest.

Since the pandemic helped wipe out Orland Days for a few years, the hosting Lions Club passed the torch to the Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce, which is taking the ball and running with it.

Summerfest makes its debut June 15-18 at 142nd Street and LaGrange Road in the Crescent Park area. It will feature live music, carnival rides, tent bingo, local food, a car show, a community expo and more.

There is a lot going on, and its pretty exciting, said Renee Crews, chamber executive director. After a few years of lying low, there is just so much enthusiasm around this because everyone is ready to get out.

An ambitious project such as this usually takes a year of planning, but the chamber got going in January.

You have to strike when the opportunity is there, Crews said. There are going to be kinks and stuff. But we know a lot of people who have been involved with Orland Days, and were really hoping the learn from what they had gone through.

Well be depending a lot on our volunteers. Our board has been amazing. Its been a group effort.

Crews said the chamber thought it was important to bring the festival back.

Its passing the torch, so it doesnt go away permanently, she said. Its something people can look forward to again. Thats what we want to establish this year and then keep going with it.

The spirit of Orland Days and many of its events will be featured along with some additions.

Orland Days prided itself on offering a Thursday afternoon opportunity for special needs patrons to go on the rides free and that will continue in what is called a Special Needs Sensory Session.

That evening will be Kids Night with a DJ Outta Control dance party, a Lions Club trailer for auditory and vision screenings and trucks for kids to touch.

Orland Parks Market in the Park will be held in Crescent Park on the opening day.

Friday fare includes country music night featuring Alika Arlynn, Andrew Scott Denlinger and Tennessee Whiskey.

An outdoor business expo kicks off and will run through Saturday.

Saturday will feature the House of Music Rockathon throughout the day while Ramzi and the Penny Loafers (featuring chamber President Ramzi Hassan) and Mike and Joe will perform at night.

The chambers Arts and Drafts event, typically a fall, will be held Saturday.

Sunday features the Molly Rose Quartet, Johnny Lyons and the Pride and Just the 80's.

There will also be a vintage car show Sunday. Organizers hope a Ferrari Club will make an appearance along with cars from the Route 66 Club. An antique Polish ambulance may also be a part of the show.

The dealers on 159th Street were looking at doing a mini Orland Auto Show, Crews said. Were hoping to get the dealers involved so they can show off their newer cars with the classic cars.

Orland Days was started in 1969 by the chamber, and it has been hosted at various locations since. The Lions Club took it over from 1975-2019.

Last year, it was held at the 153rd Street Metra Station area. Crews said its possible that future Summerfest events will be held at Centennial Park West when that facilitys $12.7 million improvement project is complete.
Its a good thing Marty Strubin changed his mind.

Over the years, Strubin owned two Old English Sheepdogs and when the second pooch died six years ago, the retired builder and building manager had enough with canines.

After the second one passed, we said no more dogs,  he said. It just breaks your heart to lose one. They are like your kid, and you are broken-hearted. You cant take the pain.

The Palos Park resident held onto that philosophy for all of about 21 days.

Then, we said we needed a dog, he said.

It wasn't easy.

But after calling places in Germany, Canada and all over the United States, a breeder on the North Side of Chicago sold Strubin his third sheepdog, Buddy.

And Buddy has been a blessing to a lot of people.

When Strubin discovered that Buddy loved people so much, he had the dog trained to be a comfort dog for Palos Hospital, where he was one of 40 dogs serving the Palos Heights facility.

One pandemic and new management later, Buddy is back.

Now part of Northwestern Medicine, Palos Hospital brought back the dog therapy program with Buddy is the first dog to return after being retrained by Alliance of Therapy Dogs. He's been on the job since January.

More dogs are on the way, but for now, Buddy is flying solo.

Donna Nadelhoffer, volunteer services manager at the hospital, is glad to see the big and fluffy dog back in Palos Heights.

I cant even explain the joy it brings to the patients, and you can see the spark in their eyes that he brings, she said. It gives them a warm feeling of happiness. Its so nice and its extremely, extremely rewarding.

Orland Park native and Manhattan resident Michael Peery recenly met Buddy when he was at the hospital.

Hes a good dog, he said. Seeing that dog made my day. He made my week. He is a gentle teddy bear.

That dog, Buddy, actually came in and sat the same way my dog sits when Im home. Im missing a leg and he sat right where my leg would be and backed up to me so I could scratch his heck and my dog does the same thing. It was cool.

Strubin says Buddy has two mindsets.

At home, hes a dog, he said. But when hes at the hospital, he knows that hes working.

Buddy has also visited special-needs students and retirement homes in Orland Park. But his main job is the hospital, and he does it well.

There was a guy who wouldnt take a shot, Strubin said. And when he saw Buddy, he said OK, Ill take the shot. 

Strubin said its not just patients who feel Buddy's love.

Its also the hospital staff, he said. Its the doctors and the nurses and workers  they all love him. They all feel better when we bring Buddy in. They are so happy to see him. It takes them away from what they are doing.

In a few months, Strubin hopes to help more comfort dogs be ready for duty to help Buddy.

My goal is in June to become a tester and evaluator for Alliance, he said. Then, I can hold classes and get some more therapy dogs at Northwestern.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. had good news Thursday for fellow marijuana smokers in the city when the comment was made during his Left of Center podcast that a lot of people wind up arrested after lighting up, like himself, to celebrate 420 Day.

"It's like Christmas for the stoners, why would cops do that," the Democrat said after sharing an on-air smoke with guest and fellow attorney John Cantrell.

"Hammond cops don't do that. Let's just be honest," he said of the marijuana arrests. "They're not looking for it. They're not looking for it."

Hammond police did not immediately respond for comment on the mayor's claim of some level of immunity from state law, which remains firmly opposed to any form of marijuana use, despite the legalization in neighboring Illinois and Michigan.

Cantrell, who wore sunglasses and a Cheech & Chong T-shirt during the broadcast from his property in Michigan, admitted that marijuana arrests in Indiana are good for his business as a criminal defense attorney, but he still issued a warning:

"You still might get arrested in any city in Indiana."

Indiana House Democrats issued a press statement Thursday that their attempt in the Senate to legalize cannabis was shot down this month.

"Let's be blunt: House Republicans are holding Hoosiers back when it comes to legalized cannabis," said Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis. "Indiana is surrounded by states reaping the benefits of legalized cannabis."

She said Hoosiers are being denied the medicinal benefits of the drug and suffering the results of unfairly applied laws prohibiting its use.

"Despite similar rates of usage, African Americans in Indiana are nearly four times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession," Summers said.

Attorney Kevin Smith, who co-hosts the podcast and appeared Thursday to be refraining from active celebration of the high holiday, wore a "McDermott for Senate" T-shirt and said legalization of marijuana was among McDermott's campaign issues because of the many benefits of having uniform laws.

"Just remember, always do this in a state where it's legal," he said. "That's why we're in Michigan right now."

"That is not Wolf Lake," Smith said pointing to Lake Michigan just outside the window behind the group.

Cannabis retail store to open just across state line in New Buffalo A new cannabis retail store is opening just across the state line in New Buffalo, Michigan.

Two large canning jars of marijuana and other marijuana products were displayed on the table in front of the trio, which McDermott said were props provided by Michigan-based Glacier Cannabis. Its president, Andrew Sereno, was interviewed at the end of the show.

"I don't want you to think we have a problem," joked McDermott, who is married to Lake Circuit Judge Marissa McDermott.

Among the items displayed were edible marijuana products, which the group warned could quickly end a good time if done in excess.

"It's something you have to be very careful with," McDermott said. "Edibles are very strong. It would be hard to smoke yourself to death. But you can eat an edible and you will have to go to the emergency room."

The group went on to promote the benefits of the known dosage levels of legal marijuana products as compared to the guesswork involved in illegal versions.

"The point is, Tom is trying to make this more mainstream," Cantrell said. "And if you're trying to get people to do it and you're trying to encourage usage, you want to educate people."

Yet residents of Lake County hardly need prompting, according to Cantrell, who said he believes marijuana usage has doubled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smith further credited the access to legal marijuana in Illinois and Michigan.

"This is a way-bigger issue than people realize," Cantrell said. "Because so many more people think it's crazy that it is not legal."

Gallery: Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational pot Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Illinois sees first legal sales of recreational marijuana Gallery
Several priority items for Northwest Indiana counties and communities, or Region lawmakers, were among the 79 new state laws to which Gov. Eric Holcomb inked his approval Thursday.

Altogether, the Republican chief executive so far has signed every one of the 93 proposed statutes he's been presented by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Another 100 or so measures likely soon are headed to Holcomb for his approval as the Legislature next week is expected to finish debating its remaining legislation and then adjourn for the year on or before April 29.

Here are the latest Region-related statutes to earn the governor's signature. Unless otherwise noted, each new law takes effect July 1.

Illiana Expressway  Senate Enrolled Act 44, championed by state Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, deletes all references in state law to the never-constructed Illiana Expressway, a public-private toll road that would have connected Interstate 65 in south Lake County to Interstate 55 near Joliet, Illinois, in an effort to relieve through-truck congestion on the Borman Expressway.

Niemeyer explained that removing the Illiana authorizing language will end uncertainty over the Illiana that he said has depressed property values and slowed development in south Lake County, since potential enterprises have been reluctant to invest while waiting to see if the expressway would be built.

Lake County government  Senate Enrolled Act 154 directs the county's purchasing and data processing agencies remain under the control of the board of commissioners effective immediately, notwithstanding recent court rulings authorizing the county council to take charge of the departments.

Niemeyer, a former county council member, said it doesn't make sense from a good-government standpoint to have the council both in charge of appropriating county funds and spending the money. He said contracting and purchasing are powers more appropriately exercised by the commissioners, who serve as the county's executive.

Tax sales  Senate Enrolled Acts 156 and 157 seek to improve the tax sale process in Lake County by prohibiting individuals who are barred from bidding on tax sale properties from being assigned a tax sale certificate by another successful bidder (156), and by giving the county new options for disposing of land parcels with unpaid property taxes that continually churn through tax sales (157).

Children's hospitals  House Enrolled Act 1313 immediately ensures Northwest Indiana families covered by Medicaid continue to have access to children's hospitals in neighboring states by maintaining Indiana's increased payment rates for services at out-of-state children's hospitals first authorized in 2021.

Annexation  House Enrolled Act 1418 authorizes a yet to be constructed residential subdivision located south of Aberdeen, in Porter County, to also employ, effective immediately, the voluntary annexation process created last year for the Aberdeen neighborhood to choose to be annexed by Valparaiso, despite being located well outside current city limits.

PFAS notice  House Enrolled Act 1341, spearheaded by state Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point, mandates all firefighting gear purchased in Indiana beginning July 1, 2024, include a permanently affixed label indicating whether it contains PFAS, potentially cancer-causing substances, also known as "forever chemicals," used in firefighting equipment because they're heat- and moisture-resistant.

Insurance fund  Senate Enrolled Act 353 establishes a process for permanently closing the funds operated by the largely inactive Indiana Political Subdivision Risk Management Commission, and returning the $5 million remaining in the commission's accounts to entities including the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and the city of Portage.

Housing commissioners  Senate Enrolled Act 15 permits a commissioner of a local housing authority to be paid up to $100 per meeting, instead of a maximum of $25, as part of an effort, led by state Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, to entice more individuals to serve as local housing commissioners.

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
8:45 p.m. Update: The storms continue to weaken as they push to the south and east this evening. While small hail and gusty winds will continue across southern Newton and Jasper County until about 9:45 p.m., no additional damaging wind or hail is anticipated Wednesday night.

More showers and storms are in the forecast for Thursday, particularly in the evening hours, as a cold front arrives in the Region. Severe storms will once again be possible. Look for an update on this in our Thursday morning forecast.

8:20 p.m. Update: The storm that prompted the severe thunderstorm warning has weakened some, but continues to be strong. The severe thunderstorm warning has been cancelled, but up to nickel size hail and wind gusts up to 40 mph are still expected in northern Newton and Jasper counties and southern Porter County.

Rain is exiting northern Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties and the severe threat has come to end in these locations.

7:45 p.m. Update: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for southern Lake County and northern Newton County in Northwest Indiana until 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. In addition to heavy rain and lightning, wind gusts up to 50 mph and up to quarter size hail are expected.

Additional showers and storms are on-going across northern Lake County, Porter County, and LaPorte County, but are not severe at this time. Region residents are encouraged to remain indoors until this cluster of storms passes.

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Metinvest Digital, the IT expertise center of the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding Metinvest, has implemented SAP in Metinvest-Shipping, the logistics division of the Metinvest group.

According to the company's press release on Thursday, Metinvest now has one of the largest and most complex SAP landscapes not only in Ukraine, but also in Central and Eastern Europe.

It is specified that SAP was introduced to organize the most convenient platform that integrates the business processes of Metinvest-Shipping with the assets using its services into a single SAP landscape. The goal of the project is to create an end-to-end chain of automation and control of logistics services in the group. Today, some 16 Metinvest enterprises keep records in SAP.

Metinvest Digital has certain corporate templates that could be adapted and quickly implemented in Metinvest-Shipping. However, this company is different from Metinvest's enterprises that produce metal or ore. Specialists have developed a unique solution for the group's logistics asset, according to the press release.

In addition, it is explained that Metinvest-Shipping is a company with a wide range of services. It serves railway and road transport, provides sea and river agent services, brokerage and inspection services. The company's business model provides for the provision of services both in its own and leased fleet, as well as the purchase of logistics services in the market on behalf of clients.

An additional challenge was the integration of the accompanying tender platform for the purchase of auto services and the proposal of a solution for integrating the data of the information dispatch service software complex, which is used by Metinvest's production assets.

The press service said it was impossible to apply either template or ready-made solutions to such services. It took the developers much longer to learn similar design processes for solutions in the industry, since initially a project of this level of complexity did not exist on the market.

Of the entire project, about half of the solutions were corporate, and the rest were either thoroughly adapted to the needs and features of Metinvest-Shipping, or completely developed from scratch.

The key challenge for specialists was the unique development of a system that should take into account a wide range of services and a developed business model, which will allow you to manage your own and rented vehicles for logistics services, ensure the sale and purchase of Metinvest-Shipping services in Ukraine and abroad, as well as provide services to their departments.

Before the war, about a hundred performers worked on the project, two thirds of which were employees of Metinvest Digital, and the rest were hired employees. Since the beginning of the war, the company has severed all relations with Russian and Belarusian contractors. Metinvest Digital also refused the services of Ukrainian contractors and redistributed resources among its employees in order to optimize the financial burden. These resources were much less than required, but the company's specialists managed to adopt all the work of the contractors, completely reschedule the work on the project and complete all the work with internal expertise.

The work of the Metinvest Digital and Metinvest-Shipping project participants at the development and integration testing stages was complicated by active hostilities in the cities of presence, blackouts and the Internet.

As a result, the Metinvest Digital developers have created an up-to-date and fully harmonized data accounting for Metinvest-Shipping in terms of corporate reporting. The project provided the basis for many vectors of its development  integration with service consumers, as well as financial services of buyers of foreign assets.

Over time, the company plans to refine the solution. First, to automate the process of purchasing services from Metinvest-Shipping by any enterprises of the Metinvest group. Secondly, to create an automated workplace of a forwarder so that he can work both in Ukrainian and foreign ports.

"Unfortunately, the war has changed the logistics chains of Metinvest-Shipping. But since Metinvest Digital developed the solution from scratch, it already knows how it can be integrated into the material accounting of foreign enterprises. Under the conditions of the war, Metinvest Digital took on additional training and support in order to be able to support the customer. The company's specialists took part in the development of new business processes and the coordination with other assets of the new system and terms of cooperation with Metinvest-Shipping," according to the press release.

Metinvest Digital is a Ukrainian IT company specializing in the digital transformation of large businesses and implementing projects in Ukraine, Europe and North America.
Dec. 30: This article was updated to include a 61st launch that occurred after it was published.

HAWTHORNE, Calif.  Clouds billowed from the Falcon 9 rocket, visible on the large screen looming above us. The vehicle was across the country at a NASA launch site in Florida, and engineers there were talking to engineers here, at SpaceX mission control. Stage 1 LOX load is complete, a controller said, audible to people wearing headsets at 24 different consoles. It was T-minus 2 minutes and counting before liftoff on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and the rocket was fueled with liquid oxygen propellant. The missions operators were ready to send four astronauts to the International Space Station.

Journalists typically are not allowed in the room where SpaceX guides its rockets to space and back to Earth. The company has been operating such missions with increasing frequency; in 2022, SpaceX has launched its Falcon 9 rockets 61 times, and sometimes multiple rockets the same day or on consecutive days. It is a cadence that is among the engineering feats that have transformed an industry and made SpaceX a central player in American spaceflight. And, the company was attempting something it had never done: launching three missions in less than 31 hours.

As it worked toward this goal, SpaceX allowed me to be in mission control for a couple of days in October to observe a sequence of launches, landings, dockings and deployments.

The rocket company and its 10,000 employees soared to new heights week after week in 2022, presenting what appeared to be a parallel universe governed by precision as chaos roiled the other ventures of Elon Musk, its founder and chief executive.
Maryam Jillani remembers the fervor around Eid al-Fitr celebrations ushered in by the end of Ramadan (also known as Ramzan), the month of fasting and spiritual contemplation for Muslims. Endless meals included biryanis and kofta, lamb in its various iterations, milky-syrupy desserts, all laid out on embroidered tablecloths, among the good china and silverware, in drawing rooms across the Muslim world.

Ms. Jillani, the founder of the Pakistan Eats blog, said trying to recreate the bigness of Eid and its feasts is exhausting. After years of feeling similarly fatigued, and a couple of years of not hosting at all, I now throw more relaxed Eid parties.

I used to feel that guests had to know the best of me: aloo gosht made with goat sourced from the best halal butcher, 8-hour haleem cooked with homemade stock that had taken even longer. One year, when milk for kheer was slowly reducing over the stovetop, it boiled over just as the blender I was using to make nimbu pani erupted. My husband, in pajamas readying for bed, asked, Who is this for?

Im having fun, OK! I yelled back. But it got me thinking.

I was reminded of the smaller, easier parties I hosted as pandemic lockdown loosened, and how my friends and I approached these meals with a renewed, almost sacred sense of joy. Meeting and sharing a meal was enough of a reason to celebrate, no matter the scale.
Mr. Adams, who has said it could cost the city as much as $4 billion to feed and house the migrants over the next few years, urged the president to provide the city with funding, and to allow the arriving migrants work authorizations.

This is one of the largest humanitarian crises that this city has ever experienced. It will impact every service in the city, Mr. Adams said. Why isnt every elected official in Washington, D.C., asking the national government, why are you doing this to New York?

The mayors remarks were curiously timed: He is scheduled to meet with federal officials in Washington on Thursday to discuss the migrant issue.

Mr. Adams said the looming expiration of Title 42, a public-health rule that allowed the Trump and Biden administrations to expel migrants and prevent them from seeking asylum at the border, is expected to increase the flow of migrants to the city.

Officials say that more than 55,000 people seeking asylum have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. Close to 35,000 are being housed by the city and are receiving services.
The fatal collapse of a parking garage in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday came less than nine months before New York Citys first deadline for such structures to be inspected for hazardous conditions.

Until last year, the citys parking garages had been exempt from the requirements for periodic inspections that apply to most other buildings. Structural engineers have only recently begun filing reports with the citys Buildings Department on the conditions they find at free-standing garages like the one at 57 Ann Street, which collapsed, killing one person and injuring five others.

As cranes began dismantling the damaged structure on Wednesday, answers as to what caused it to fail were not immediately forthcoming  though the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, opened an investigation into the collapse, a spokeswoman said.

The body of the person killed in the collapse remained in the rubble for much of Wednesday as demolition crews worked on the damaged building. City officials declined to release the persons name.
Todd Haimes, who rescued New Yorks Roundabout Theater Company from bankruptcy and built it into one of the largest nonprofit theaters in America, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 66.

A spokesman, Matt Polk, said his death, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was caused by complications of osteosarcoma. Mr. Haimes had lived with the cancer since 2002, when he was diagnosed with sarcoma of the jaw.

As the artistic director and chief executive at Roundabout, Mr. Haimes had an extraordinarily long and effective tenure. He led the nonprofit company for four decades, turning it into a major player on Broadway, where it now runs three of the 41 theaters.

Roundabout has focused on classics and revivals but has also been a supporter of new work. Under Mr. Haimess leadership, it excelled on both fronts, winning 11 Tony Awards for plays and musicals it produced and nurturing the careers of contemporary American writers, including Stephen Karam, Joshua Harmon and Selina Fillinger.
A Michigan man who tried to intimidate Black Lives Matter supporters by leaving nooses and threatening notes around his community and making racist phone calls in the summer of 2020 has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison and a year of supervised release, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.

The man, Kenneth D. Pilon, 62, pleaded guilty in December to two misdemeanor counts of willfully intimidating and attempting to intimidate citizens from engaging in lawful speech and protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, according to federal prosecutors.

On June 14, Mr. Pilon, a retired optometrist, made nine phone calls to Starbucks stores in Michigan in which he told the employees who answered to make racist slurs toward their colleagues who wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts, prosecutors said. He also told one employee that he planned to lynch a Black person, they added. Two days earlier, Starbucks had announced that it would send Black Lives Matter T-shirts to its stores after it had initially banned workers from wearing apparel with the phrase because it could amplify divisiveness.

The following month, Mr. Pilon also left five nooses across Saginaw, Mich.  four of them in parking lots, and one in a 7-Eleven store  together with handwritten notes that read: An accessory to be worn with your BLM t-shirt. Happy protesting! the Justice Department said.
WASHINGTON  House Republicans, intent on pressing ahead with their top campaign promises on immigration, turned a hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas into an impeachment-focused interrogation and advanced restrictive border security legislation on Wednesday, despite significant G.O.P. opposition that could kill both initiatives on the House floor.

You have not secured our borders  and Mr. Secretary, I believe you have done so intentionally, Representative Mark E. Green, Republican of Tennessee and the Homeland Security Committees chairman, told Mr. Mayorkas during a hearing before his panel. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee lobbed similar accusations at Democrats to justify a series of new border policies that would further restrict migrants ability to seek asylum.

Democrats have denounced the Republicans parallel efforts to oust Mr. Mayorkas and pass legislation to clamp down on illegal border crossings as political theater, particularly since there is no viable avenue for either to gain traction in the Democrat-led Senate.

But the more immediate obstacle facing House G.O.P. leaders lies within their own ranks: There are not enough Republican members yet on board with either impeachment proceedings against Mr. Mayorkas or the border security legislation to avoid potentially embarrassing defeats on the House floor.
We used to brief on a regular basis, Mr. Sopko said of his prior engagements with the State Department, U.S.A.I.D. and the Pentagon, as he lamented a lack of access of records on what he said was over $8 billion in U.S. aid that had been provided to Afghanistan since the evacuation. Since this administration came in, its been radio silence.

The Biden administration pushed back on the allegations, effectively accusing the inspector general of misrepresenting the extent to which the administration has accommodated his requests and presuming a broader mandate than he was afforded under the law.

Since SIGARs inception, U.S.A.I.D. has consistently provided SIGAR responses to hundreds of questions, as well as thousands of pages of responsive documents, analyses, and spreadsheets describing dozens of programs that were part of the U.S. governments reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, said Jessica Jennings, a spokeswoman for U.S.A.I.D. We are frequently and regularly working with SIGAR on their requests.

A State Department spokesman said that U.S. reconstruction activities in Afghanistan  the centerpiece of Mr. Sopkos jurisdiction  ceased after the Taliban took over the government in August 2021.

The hearing had been billed as a venue to scrutinize the Biden administrations actions during the withdrawal, a focus that the panels top Democrat, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, criticized as absurdly narrow.
In Missouri, Mr. Lester, who lived alone, told the police after the shooting that he fired his gun because he saw someone on his front step apparently trying to enter and was scared to death of being physically harmed. Zachary Thompson, the Clay County prosecutor, said that there was a racial component to the shooting but did not elaborate. Mr. Lester is white; Ralph, who was released from the hospital and is now recovering at home, is Black.

In New York, a lawyer for Mr. Monahan, Kurt Mausert, disputed the authorities account of the shooting on Saturday night, saying that several vehicles were speeding up Mr. Monahans driveway, with engines revving and lights shining, which certainly caused some level of alarm to an elderly gentleman who had an elderly wife.

As the two men made court appearances in Missouri and New York, basic outlines of their histories were emerging from neighbors and relatives.

Neighbors said that Mr. Monahan, a self-employed builder and longtime resident whose home sits on about 40 mostly wooded acres, had a reputation as a sometimes surly character who loved dirt bikes and largely kept to himself.
A patchy cease-fire between Sudans two rival generals held in parts of the capital on Wednesday night, as desperate residents looked for ways to escape the city after five days trapped by the chaotic fighting inside basements, bedrooms and other makeshift shelters.

Evacuation from the capital, Khartoum, has proved intensely dangerous since the conflict erupted over the weekend. On Tuesday, a similar cease-fire to allow civilians to evacuate or obtain desperately needed supplies immediately fell apart.

Here is the latest:
The Government of Ukraine will soon make a decision on Ukraine's application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Deputy Economy Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka told Interfax-Ukraine.

On the sidelines of the U.S.-Ukraine Partnership Forum, organized by the American Chambers of Commerce of the two countries last week in Washington, he said that after this appeal, a response decision to start these negotiations could be made in the summer.

According to Kachka, the modernized bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada, agreed during the visit of the Ukrainian government delegation on April 11, 2023 will greatly help in the upcoming work.

The trade representative said it took the UK two and a half years to join the CPTPP, but Ukraine expects to get there faster thanks to a worked out agreement with Canada.

He said some 19 new sections have been added to the updated FTA with Canada, in particular, on digital trade, investment protection, and services.

In general, commenting on the government's work towards updating existing agreements in order to increase market access, Kachka pointed to the agreement with Moldova ratified last week, which introduced the possibility of issuing movement certificates EUR.1.

"Plus, we have the ratification of the agreement with North Macedonia next in line. All the committees have passed, we will ratify next week. There is a spread of market access plus EUR.1," the trade representative said.

According to him, additional consultations are also underway on the ratification of the agreement with Turkey and negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE.

"It is obvious that we will also talk with the European Union about making this unilateral zeroing (of duties) bilateral, permanent. But this is now a very sensitive issue, because we see what is happening at the borders," Kachka said.

He also said another area of work is the extension of the agreements concluded last year for a year on the removal of barriers to Ukrainian products. According to him, this issue has already been resolved with the UK: a trade committee was held in London and it was announced that the agreement would continue to work.

"With the EU, the exit decision, I hope, nothing will interfere," the trade representative of Ukraine said, pointing out that the current crisis on the border with agricultural products is no longer caused by rational, but by emotional and political arguments.

According to him, there are good prospects for such an extension in the case of Canada and the United States (in the United States it applies only to steel), the relevant negotiations were held the other day.

There are currently 11 countries in the Pacific region that are members of the CPTPP, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Brunei.
A patchy cease-fire between Sudans two rival generals held in parts of the capital on Wednesday night, as desperate residents looked for ways to escape the city after five days trapped by the chaotic fighting with dwindling stocks of water and food.

Evacuation from the capital, Khartoum, has proved intensely dangerous since conflict erupted over the weekend between Sudans military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces. But after days hunkered inside their homes, often as battle rages in the streets outside, more Sudanese and foreign nationals have sought to flee the city of five million people.

Nearly 300 people have been killed and over 3,000 wounded since fighting erupted on Saturday, the World Health Organization said. Many residents of Khartoums outlying neighborhoods, where there is less fighting, have already fled the city by foot, bus and car, following roads along the Nile that lead north toward Egypt or Port Sudan, or to safer areas in the south.

Conditions have deteriorated with dizzying speed in Sudan, even by the standards of modern warfare. Khartoum was already a fragile city before fighting erupted on Saturday, with frequent power outages and soaring food prices. Now it is in the grip of two well-armed, battle-hardened forces, led by generals who had been planning for conflict for months, despite talks that Western mediators hoped would let Sudan transition to a civilian government.
New Mexico prosecutors are dropping the involuntary manslaughter charges that were filed against Alec Baldwin for the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the film Rust, the governments latest setback as it pursued a high-profile case that has been closely watched by the movie industry and the country.

It was a dramatic reversal in the case against Mr. Baldwin, just months after the prosecutors who originally handled the case had filed charges against him, including one that carried five years in prison. Since then they downgraded that charge, which stemmed from a law that was not in effect at the time of the shooting; the special prosecutor leading the case stepped down after her appointment was challenged on legal grounds; and the district attorney in charge of the case, Mary Carmack-Altwies, stepped back and appointed two new special prosecutors to lead it.

The decision to drop the charges against Mr. Baldwin came after the new prosecutors reviewed new evidence that showed that the gun he was practicing with had been modified before it was delivered to the set, according to an official close to the investigation who was granted anonymity to discuss the case. That undercut the prosecutions original argument that the gun could not have fired unless Mr. Baldwin had pulled the trigger, the official said.

It is possible that prosecutors could decide to file new charges against Mr. Baldwin.

New facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis in the case against Alec Baldwin, Kari Morrissey, one of the new special prosecutors, said in a statement. Therefore, we cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form. This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled.
Loren Cameron was in his early 30s when he went to buy his first suit, walking nervously into unfamiliar territory, a haberdashery for short men. Size was a delicate subject for him. He was 5-foot-3 and wanted so much to be bigger, equating masculinity with heft  which is why he was also a dedicated body builder.

The salesman sized him up as a regular working-class Joe, as Mr. Cameron put it, and set out to teach him the rituals of fine dressing. He fitted Mr. Cameron into a double-breasted Italian-made suit, taught him the difference between a half and a full Windsor tie knot, and showed him four variations on folding a pocket square.

He even offered dating advice: Never give a woman a rose on a first date. Offer carnations instead.

Mr. Cameron took a self-portrait in that snappy suit, handsome, bearded and brandishing a bunch of carnations, creating one of many tender and lovely photographs of transgender men like himself that he collected in Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits, published in 1996.

I felt at least two inches taller when I walked out of there, Mr. Cameron wrote of his suit-shopping adventure, and it wasnt because of the elevator shoes.
The New York Philharmonic, saying it hoped to use culture to help ease political tensions, announced plans on Thursday for a summer tour in Asia, including stops in Hong Kong and Taiwan and a visit to mainland China by a small group of musicians.

The tour will be the Philharmonics first visit to Asia since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when many countries in the region shut their borders. It comes amid rising tensions between the United States and China and concerns about the possibility of a crisis over Taiwan.

Gary Ginstling, the Philharmonics incoming president and chief executive, said the orchestra hoped to show that music could help strengthen ties between the United States and Asian countries.
In a new novella, Death of an Author, the writer, Aidan Marchine, describes a subpar plate of nachos this way:

The cheese was congealed and the chips soggy, damp and smeared with a greasy film like some kind of lake scum. Gus forced himself to take a bite, but the flavor was rancid, a sickly sweet imitation of cheese. He washed it down with a swig of beer, but even that tasted ugly, like it had been sitting in the sun for too long.

The writing is vivid, but theres nothing particularly unusual about it. Aidan Marchine, however, is an unusual author  at least for now  because Aidan Marchine is a set of computer systems. Kind of.

The journalist and author Stephen Marche wrote Death of an Author using three artificial intelligence programs. Or three artificial intelligence programs wrote it with extensive plotting and prompting from Stephen Marche. It depends on how you look at it.

I am the creator of this work, 100 percent, Marche said, but, on the other hand, I didnt create the words.
Helen Barolini, a novelist, essayist and poet who explored the challenges of assimilation, as well as the hard-won victories of feminist emancipation experienced by Italian American women, died on March 29 at her home in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. She was 97.

Her death was confirmed by her daughter Teodolinda Barolini.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., whose grandparents immigrated from southern Italy in the late 19th century, Ms. Barolini brought their journey, and those of many others, to life in Umbertina, her celebrated 1979 historical novel tracing four generations of women in a single Italian American family as they come to terms with their origins and identity in a new land, and with an ever-changing social landscape.

It is the Madonna of Italian American literature in that it shows the transition from the Italian immigrant to American citizen like no other book of its genre, Fred Gardaphe, then the director of Italian American studies at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island and now a professor at the City University of New York, was quoted as saying in an article in The New York Times in 1999, when the book was reissued.
China spurns the U.S.

In recent weeks, Xi Jinping, Chinas top leader, has glad-handed the leaders of nations like Brazil, France and Saudi Arabia  but has given the cold shoulder to the U.S.

China has rebuffed attempts by the Biden administration to restart high-level talks and lower tensions over Taiwan. Xis government has intensified a campaign of ridicule and criticism of the U.S. and Western democracy.

The efforts to shore up ties with American allies while publicly discrediting the U.S. reflect Beijings hardening position as relations sink to their lowest point in decades. Some analysts say that Xi sees engagement between China and the U.S. as fruitless, at least for now. The developments are adding urgency to concerns that the two powers are on a collision course over Taiwan and other geopolitical flash points.

Context: Beijing has been frustrated with the U.S. over its support for Taiwan, joint military drills with the Philippines, restrictions on semiconductor exports and deepening security ties with countries such as Japan and South Korea. China is trying to tread a fine line between snubbing the U.S. diplomatically and trying to persuade investors that it is open for business again after years of stringent Covid measures.
In a move that brings to a close a pioneering era of online journalism, BuzzFeed is shutting down its namesake news division. After beginning as a quirky digital upstart and rising to a Pulitzer Prize-winning operation, it ultimately fell prey to the punishing economics of digital publishing that has laid low many of its peers.

Its a sobering end for a publication once seen as a serious challenger to legacy media outlets that had been slow to adapt to the internet. It was also the final chapter of a venture capital-fueled digital period that left an indelible mark on how journalism is produced and consumed.

When BuzzFeed News was founded in 2011, in the run-up to the next years presidential election, it explored stories both slight and serious through listicles and click-bait-style headlines designed to go viral on social media. That mirrored the practice of its parent company, an internet laboratory of sorts that Jonah Peretti started in 2006.

The news operation soon drew attention for its ambitious, sharp reporting, however, and went on to open overseas bureaus and invest in investigative journalism. A number of alumni work for the more established news organizations it sought to disrupt, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, and those newsrooms have embraced many of the practices that BuzzFeed pioneered in search of readers online.
Between staging glossy runway shows and dressing stars for the red carpet, Gucci is a company accustomed to the glare of the spotlight. This week, however, that attention might have felt less comfortable after its Italian offices were raided by European Union antitrust officials.

The unannounced inspection was the latest in a series of regulatory actions, as antitrust officials ratchet up scrutiny of the fashion industry over possible anticompetitive practices.

In March, the European Commission, the blocs executive arm, carried out investigations into several beauty and fragrance companies linked to the supply of fragrance ingredients.

Last year, some fashion houses were raided in connection with sustainability targets developed by the industry, including changes in sales periods and discounting strategies that regulators later deemed potential violations of competition law.
Other business groups have cited what they say is Ms. Sus support for a California law setting up a council to issue health and safety regulations for fast-food restaurants and create an industry-specific minimum wage.

She has supported policies that directly attack our model, said Matthew Haller, president of the International Franchise Association, alluding to the fast-food measure. A ballot measure next year will allow voters to decide whether to nullify the law. It is unclear from a video the groups point to that she has specifically supported the law.

And Republicans and a variety of business groups have highlighted accusations that California issued billions in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims while she was the states labor secretary in 2020. At the hearing, Mr. Cassidy recounted a report of a rapper securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent funds in California and boasting about it on a video.

Ms. Su has conceded that a large number of claims were improper. Mr. Sanders pointed out that the overpayments reflected features of a federal program that the state merely administered, and that other states paid out a far higher percentage of fraudulent claims.

In recent weeks, a coalition of business groups has erected billboards and run ads critical of Ms. Su in the home states of potentially decisive senators, such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Jon Tester of Montana, all of whom have so far refrained from backing her nomination.

The effort is reminiscent of a business-backed campaign against David Weil, whom Mr. Biden tapped to head the Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division in 2021, and who had led the agency during the Obama administration. That nomination died on the Senate floor last year after Mr. Manchin, Ms. Sinema and a third Democratic senator, Mark Kelly of Arizona, declined to support him. (Ms. Sinema has since become an independent.)

Mr. Weil and his backers lamented the muted response from progressive groups on his behalf. This time, labor unions and other supporters are making a more determined push. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, Liz Shuler, announced on Wednesday that a coalition of unions would make a six-figure buy of ads backing Ms. Su in states like Arizona and West Virginia and would urge local union members to contact their senators.
DTEK Energy CEO: Ukrainian energy companies should be able to work on European electricity market to restore their facilities

The situation in the Ukrainian energy market does not allow generating companies to cover their expenses for the repair and replacement of equipment damaged and destroyed by the war, so it is necessary to increase the possibility of their interaction with the European market as soon as possible, DTEK Energy CEO Ildar Saleev has said.

"Only for the direct restoration of equipment that was destroyed by shelling, our company needs over UAH 6 billion. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian market does not provide such finance. There were hopes that this would be partially possible through exports, and partially through paying off debts to the company," Saleev said at the online forum titled "One Year of Synchronization  Challenges and Achievements for Electricity Trade between Ukraine and its EU Neighbors" organized by the Energy Club on Thursday.

He also said NPC Ukrenergo, in particular, owed UAH 2.5 billion to DTEK Energy on the balancing market, and expressed hope for the expansion of interstate relations in order to commercially exchange electricity with European countries and thus increase the solvency of Ukrenergo in case of receipt of funds from the sale.

"If the funds that Ukrenergo receives for the cross section are used to pay off debts, then this is an additional impact on improving the financial situation within the company, and then in all types of generation to which it has debts," Saleev said, adding that to repair the destroyed equipment is needed as soon as possible to come more prepared for the next autumn-winter period.

The DTEK Energy CEO also said in general 2022 was unprofitable for the company, but refrained from disclosing the indicators, referring to the work of auditors on the annual report, which is ongoing.

"The final figures will be in the coming weeks. Our generation has big losses due to the market and military situation, losses and destruction of individual capacities," Saleev said, answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine.

He drew attention to the need for energy market synchronization between Ukraine and Europe amid technical synchronization, which took place on March 16, 2022.

"Today, we have taken steps related to technical synchronization, but there is a lot of work to synchronize the market one. Certainly, we hope for the convergence of the Ukrainian and foreign markets for further liberalization regarding price restrictions and market rules," the DTEK Energy CEO said.

In addition, he considers it necessary to improve the mechanism for holding auctions for the distribution of sections, which "today in some places limits the possibilities for their use."

According to Saleev, work with European countries is a financial opportunity to improve the situation for all types of generation that 'survived a rather harsh winter."
The $500 million would be delivered over five years and make the United States one of the largest donors to the Amazon Fund, a conservation program. Mr. Biden called forests key to our future and said if we lose this natural resource, we cant get it back easily.

But the pledge would require approval from Congress, where Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to international climate assistance and have made it difficult for President Biden to deliver on his promises to help poorer nations cope with climate change.

On Thursday, Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, noted that the chief of the U.S. Forest Service recently testified that there is insufficient funding to manage forests in America.

Why are they now sending half a billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to Brazil for theirs? Mr. Barrasso asked. The higher priority would be to take care of our own resources first, or better yet, save taxpayers the pain of ever watching President Biden splash American treasure around the globe to chase his environmental agenda.

Brazils president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been working with the Biden administration on several issues, including climate change, despite Mr. Lulas criticism of U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
During her 25 years as one of Bostons most acclaimed chefs and one of the most renowned restaurateurs in the country, Barbara Lynch has told and retold her origin story: how she rose above her poor and violent childhood in South Boston, and fought sexism as a line cook to reach the top of her profession.

So on March 15, when she gathered two dozen employees of Menton, the most prestigious of her seven establishments, for a meeting after dinner service, they were hoping for support and inspiration.

All were exhausted and grief-stricken. Two months earlier, their head chef, Rye Crofter, had died of a fentanyl overdose. That morning, theyd learned that a young line cook who Mr. Crofter had mentored had died in the same way.

Talk to me, Ms. Lynch told her staff. Tell me whats going on. Be honest.

But instead of support, Ms. Lynch  who several employees said had been drinking beforehand in the restaurants private dining room  delivered outrage and self-pity, in an expletive-laced confrontation that one employee recorded and shared with The New York Times. When Tim Dearing, who had taken over as the restaurants lead chef, challenged her by pointing out that she hadnt visited the kitchen after Mr. Crofter died, she fired him on the spot. When he responded that he would drag her  damage her reputation  Ms. Lynch threatened to push his head through a window.
When the chef Asma Khan was growing up in Kolkata, India, she learned that there was very little mustard oil couldnt do. Dry skin? Weak joints? A common cold? A dab of the oil could cure them all.

But she loves cooking with it most: drizzling it into begun pora, a rich and smoky mashed eggplant, or toasting garam masala in it before adding rice and goat to make tehari.

You feel it coming through your nose, said Ms. Khan, the owner of the Indian restaurant Darjeeling Express in London. There is a part of it which is really pungent. There is a sweeter side. It is all coming from the mustard oil. It is like a living oil.
A 32-year-old psychologist in Britain developed blood clots and died 10 days after he took his first dose of AstraZenecas Covid vaccine, a report released by a London coroner on Wednesday found, in a highly rare case of a fatal reaction to the vaccine.

The inquest, which was requested by Charlotte Wright, the widow of Dr. Stephen Wright, found that he died on Jan. 26, 2021, as a result of unintended consequences of vaccination. Ms. Wright is suing AstraZeneca.

According to the report, Dr. Wright, of Kent, England, had a stroke and bleeding in the brain, as well as vaccine-induced thrombosis, or blood clots, and thrombocytopenia, a condition that occurs when the platelet level in the blood is abnormally low.

Since 2021, researchers have cited rare cases in which people have developed the blood-clotting syndrome known as TTS after receiving the Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca Covid vaccines, which are similar. The cases typically occur within weeks of vaccination.
A state can also list the drug. On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, where the Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington is ground zero for tranq dope, announced that his administration was doing so.

A spokesman for the governor, Manuel Bonder, said Mr. Shapiro had decided to move ahead with the designation rather than wait for any future possibilities in D.C.

Xylazine was approved by the F.D.A. for veterinary procedures in 1972. Since then, it has been used for procedures on sheep, deer, elk and even cats and dogs, as well as on horses and cattle. Earlier trials in humans had been shut down because the drug led to respiratory depression, so manufacturers never sought approval for human use. Until now, there has been insufficient incentive to research its impact on people. Its causal relationship to the flesh wounds that can result from its use is not understood. And unlike the protocols for opioids, those for reversing tranq dope withdrawal or managing rehabilitation have not been standardized.

Last month, a bipartisan bill introduced in both chambers of Congress by members from rural states  including Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, California, Florida, Texas and Colorado  offered a compromise. Rather than listing xylazine as a controlled substance, the bill proposes that a person who employs it for illicit purposes  sales or distribution for human use  would face the same penalties as if it were listed as a Schedule III drug, including fines up to $500,000 and a first-offense sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Controlled substances are classified according to medical need and potential for abuse and addiction. Schedule III includes buprenorphine, the medication used to treat opioid use disorder. By comparison, Schedule I includes heroin and L.S.D. Schedule II includes oxycodone and fentanyl, which can be prescribed for pain.
Ryder Fortson filmed it when she was 13, so she was going through some of the same things as her character. Casting an adolescent meant I was in a race against puberty, Fremon Craig noted. (Puberty won. There was some CGI, and a scene in which Margaret tries on a bra actually features a boy standing in.)

It was a vulnerable position to be in, Ryder Fortson, now 15, said. But acting her way through the awkwardness while also experiencing it made me accept it a little bit more, she said. The daughter of two actors and the sibling of another, she moved with her entire family from Los Angeles to the shoot in North Carolina.

Abby is an old soul, and shes highly intelligent, McAdams said. I mean, she was reading War and Peace on set.

For the adult actors, revisiting adolescence alongside Margaret brought them back to the unease and confusion of that time. I remember walking across in front of the Episcopal Church and having someone explain penetrative sex, Bates, who is 74, said. I just could not picture it; I couldnt understand the physics involved.

I wish I had had better instruction, and better self-esteem that comes with that, she said.

Every conversation I had with the women included a commiseration on the inadequacies of the feminine products aisle and on how much fear and humiliation there is around female sexuality. My mother had me at 40, Bates said. She was embarrassed because it meant she was having sex at that age.

This film resonated on a very, very deep level with me, she added, on much larger issues, having to do with censoring oneself and not following the norm. The bottom line is, its extraordinary that this little girl is wise enough to think for herself.
In Hollywood these days, radical chic is back in fashion. A number of sexy thrillers that dramatize the history of radical politics or pose provocative hypotheticals about the future of activism have emerged. For my money, none match the incendiary power of Dry Ground Burning, a feminist gangster movie from Brazil that spits oil in the face of that countrys political establishment.

Directed by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queiros, Dry Ground Burning is a film about insurrection set in the central Brazilian region of Sol Nascente. Chitara (Joana Darc Furtado) is the leader of an all-female crew that steals oil from underground pipelines, and as the kingpin, she strikes deals with gasoline vendors who sell the product at a discounted price. Chitaras half sister, Lea (Lea Alves da Silva), an androgynous charmer with a mane of black hair, joins the posse after an eight-year stint in prison, and her arrival inspires several nostalgic conversations that temper the action with hangout-movie vibes. The two siblings nonchalantly discuss their playboy father and Leas 12-year-old son, conceived with an ex-con who was murdered.

Meanwhile, their compatriot, Andreia (Andreia Vieira), launches a campaign against the pro-cop candidate running for office. Hers is the Prison People Party, which represents those with criminal records, the working class, and Indigenous and Black people  in other words, those who fared the worst under the policies of Jair Bolsonaros far-right government, which was in power when the film was in production.
Guy Ritchies The Covenant, the saga of a U.S. sergeant (Jake Gyllenhaal) honor-bound to his Afghan interpreter (Dar Salim), starts like most other movies about the ultimately unsuccessful 20-year effort to suppress the Taliban. Theres aerial footage of parched mountains, sudden explosions of violence and an outdated wail of classic rock exposing a younger generations as-yet-unrealized ambition to make war pictures able to stand alongside those that sprang from Vietnam. Sincerity is an unusual tone for its director, Guy Ritchie, who specializes in laddish shoot-em-ups. Here, Ritchie is not just earnest  hes morally outraged about the broken promises made to thousands of Afghans who believed theyd earned Special Immigrant Visas only to be abandoned to fend for themselves. For all its cliches, this furious and discomfiting film tugs on your conscience for days, making a powerful case to turn the American publics attention back to a conflict it would rather forget.

John Kinley (Gyllenhaal) is on his fourth tour when his squad partners with Ahmed (Salim), a former heroin trafficker, to scour the countryside for bomb manufacturers. During this aint-war-hell opening stretch, Ritchie and his co-writers Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies attune the audience to the use of language, particularly how most soldiers refer to Ahmed as the interpreter, as if hes a tool, not a person. In the field, John is terse and authoritative; Ahmed, intuitive and polite. I believe you, but they need to believe you, he advises one local. Back under the goofily dramatic flickering lights of Bagram Air Base, Ahmed presses John on the distinction between translate and interpret with the acumen  and enunciation  of a Cincinnati lawyer. (Salim, raised in Denmark, doesnt slather on an accent.)
There are few living childrens authors who have connected as deeply to their readers as Judy Blume. Thats the argument of Judy Blume Forever, a new documentary from Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok that pays unwavering tribute to Blume and her imprint on young adult literature. The film, streaming on Amazon Prime Video starting Friday, features the 85-year-old writer narrating the major milestones of her life and career, cut together with interviews of famous Blume acolytes such as the writer and director Lena Dunham, the comedian Samantha Bee, the writer Jacqueline Woodson and Anna Konkle, the co-creator of PEN15.

Since the publication of her breakthrough novel Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret, in 1970, while she was a young housewife in suburban New Jersey, Blume has maintained a fiercely devoted audience that has found enlightenment and understanding through her preteen and teenage characters. Its not uncommon to hear fans of Blumes work say that reading her books felt as though she was speaking directly to them through the pages. This is thanks, in no small part, to her frank discussion of mature themes that, at the time she was writing, were considered unusual for what we now call Y.A. novels: adolescent sexuality, religion, disability, bullying, and  in many of her books  the unfair expectations of purity and obedience that parents and society place on children.
When a woman falls in love in the sensitive French slice of life Other Peoples Children, you may fall, too. The director Rebecca Zlotowski (An Easy Girl) makes it easy to swoon with her seductive Parisian scenes, as the camera sweeps over the citys shimmering lights and narrows in on the equally radiant smile of the heroine, Rachel (Virginie Efira). Everything looks so effortless and attractive, including the graceful way that Rachel moves through rooms, how she slides into a Metro car just before the doors close and how she opens herself to new love without hesitation. The enchantments of her life can make it seem like a fairy tale.

From the get-go, though, Zlotowski makes it clear that Rachel isnt waiting for a man either to complete her or deliver her into a happily ever after. And as soon as you meet Rachel, you know she has a full life, with nurturing relationships and gratifying work as a high school teacher. Her father and younger sister are loving and supportive, her colleagues pleasant. She also has time for other pursuits, including guitar lessons, which is how she meets Ali (Roschdy Zem), a car designer. Zlotowski is a fast worker, and by the time the opening credits are over, Rachel and Ali are already side by side in this subtle, surprisingly deeply felt drama.

Things between Rachel and Ali progress rapidly in brief, viscerally lived-in scenes humming with cheerful energy. The two are immediately so comfortable with each other that when Rachel asks to meet Alis young daughter, Leila (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves), he warmly agrees. Just 4, Leila is a charming pixie and, after some friction, she and Rachel take to each other. Ali shares parenting with his ex, Alice (Chiara Mastroianni)  the two are on good terms  but Rachel steps into the role of a caretaker, as well. She picks Leila up from her judo classes, shepherds her around and settles into an intimacy that looks a lot like love.

Other Peoples Children is romantic  tender, sexy, very French  but even as Rachels relationship with Ali deepens, growing more committed and consequently richer and trickier, you never lose sight of the sweep of her life. Zlotowski mixes scenes of the lovers in with interludes of Rachel alone and with other people, as if to remind you of the characters horizons: Shes alive to love but also to the world. She gets stoned, goes to parties, works diligently; at school, she flirts with a colleague and supports a troubled student. She also hangs out with her sister (Yamee Couture) and together they attend shul with their father (Michel Zlotowski) and visit the grave of their mother, who died when they were children.
Mathernova to be appointed new EU Ambassador to Ukraine

Current Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Katarina Mathernova is to become the new EU Ambassador in Kyiv.

"Great honour to be appointed to represent the EU in Ukraine as the next EU Ambassador," Mathernova wrote.

According to information in her twitter, Mathernova, a native of Slovakia, will be the ambassador from September of this year.

"Thank you! For me, this is a great reward and a huge challenge at the same time. I look forward to working together," she tweeted.

At the moment, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine is Estonian Mati Maasikas, who headed the office in September 2019.
In the lurid 1973 dystopian thriller Soylent Green, Edward G. Robinson movingly played a man who embraced euthanasia, dying in a special chamber while being soothed by classical music. That story was set in 2022. Plan 75, the quietly bold debut feature of Chie Hayakawa, is on the same page, envisioning a more or less present-day version of Japan that hawks euthanasia services to the aged.

As macabre as that sounds, the conceit channels actual anxieties in Japan about providing for a growing population of seniors. The sober drama centers on a 78-year-old woman, Michi (Chieko Baisho), who still has her independence, her health and a karaoke-loving friend circle.
Youve heard of Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, the actor Brian Cox announces at the start of Quasi, but you havent heard this version. And maybe you shouldnt  unless, that is, youre in a certain state of mind at a certain time of night. In Quasi, the latest film from the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, the disfigured peasant from the famed Victor Hugo novel is working in medieval torture chambers when hes suddenly thrust into a web of murderous royal intrigue.

After the queen of France (Adrianne Palicki) takes a liking to Quasi, he finds himself at a dinner with the obnoxious king (Jay Chandrasekhar), who asks him to assassinate the pope (Paul Soter), a longtime rival. During the attempt, though, the pope asks Quasi to kill the king, leaving the hunchback in a bind.
Congressional Republicans who have sought to scrutinize the investigation that led to criminal charges against Donald J. Trump were thwarted on Wednesday by an appeals court that temporarily blocked them from questioning a former prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorneys office.

The prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, worked on the district attorneys investigation into Donald J. Trump for about a year before resigning in 2022, and published a book about his experience. The office brought felony charges against Mr. Trump last month.

Shortly after the charges were unsealed, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, subpoenaed Mr. Pomerantz, signaling that he intended to investigate the inquiry into Mr. Trump, his political ally.

The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, sued Mr. Jordan in an attempt to stop the interview of Mr. Pomerantz, but a federal judge in Manhattan, Mary Kay Vyskocil, declined to stop the closed-door questioning, which had been scheduled for Thursday. She said that Republicans on the committee had a constitutional right to question Mr. Pomerantz.
Florida Republicans on Wednesday expanded a state law that prohibits classroom instruction on L.G.B.T.Q. subjects through third grade. Now the Dont Say Gay law will also apply to students in grades four to 12.

Though the law might appear to be just about allowing parents a say in their childrens education  now up to high school graduation  its breadth and vagueness have a chilling effect on what students and teachers think they can say about sexual orientation and gender identity. Just as dangerously, scientific research has linked the gag orders implicit message of exclusion, shame and unworthiness to tangible health harms for L.G.B.T.Q. youth.

The original law, in effect since July 2022, was championed as a way to ensure that very young children wouldnt be exposed to supposedly age-inappropriate topics. But the laws expansion to all grades casts doubt on whether that was ever the goal.

I spent decades studying another notorious anti-L.G.B.T.Q. gag rule: the Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy that banned military members from saying they were gay. Its lessons are instructive. As with Dont Say Gay laws, proponents of Dont Ask, Dont Tell promised to protect the rights, privacy and dignity of people on all sides of the fraught debate around sexuality. The policy was sold as a way to prevent the culture wars from infecting a key institution of American society. Yet in reality, it did the opposite, heightening division, undermining trust, hampering morale and driving capable people away.
That is not what the settlement reflects. The settlement reflects Foxs abandonment of even the most minimal journalistic standards.

Foxs news story about the settlement was perhaps even worse. The headline stated that Fox News Media, Dominion Voting Systems reach agreement over defamation lawsuit, but it didnt state the amount of the settlement and instead mainly focused on the judges compliments of Foxs legal team. No, really:

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who was overseeing the defamation lawsuit, praised both parties for their handling of the case. I have been on the bench since 2010.  I think this is the best lawyering Ive had, ever, Davis said, adding, I would be proud to be your judge in the future.

No mention, of course, that less than a week before, the same judge rebuked Foxs lawyers, said he was concerned about misrepresentations to the court and lamented, What do I do with attorneys that arent straightforward with me? And then the Fox story ends with this howler of a paragraph:

Then-President Donald Trump and his allies fiercely challenged Joe Bidens victory in the weeks following the election. Some of them, including members of his legal team, made false and unsubstantiated claims against Dominion Voting Systems and are the subject of separate defamation lawsuits.

Note the deflection of responsibility. It was Trumps legal team that made false and unsubstantiated claims. Thats unquestionably true, but those same lawyers were enthusiastically put on the air by Fox for the purpose of spreading their false and unsubstantiated claims. And as the courts summary judgment ruling made clear, Fox employees also made what they knew to be false and unsubstantiated claims.

The end result is that Fox has paid an immense price for its lies, but it recognizes that its true vulnerability isnt in its bank account but in its audience. It can absorb huge financial losses so long as those losses are fleeting. It cannot prosper if it loses its audience. Shielding its audience from the truth is easily worth almost $800 million to a company that made $1.2 billion in net income last year and is sitting on $4 billion in cash reserves.

In the meantime, many of the viewers who keep the company so very profitable wont know anything meaningful about the Dominion settlement or Foxs lies  because Fox wont tell them. I can think of any number of friends, relatives and neighbors who regularly consume conservative media and know nothing about the case. They know nothing about Foxs falsehoods. Their ignorance is of incalculable worth to Fox.

While this newsletter is admittedly rather bleak even in the face of Foxs decisive court defeat, the story is far from over. Smartmatics $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox is pending in New York State court in Manhattan, and the larger right-wing media world is facing a series of reckonings in cases across the country. My friends at Protect Democracy have filed cases against Project Veritas, Gateway Pundit, Rudy Giuliani, Dinesh DSouza and several additional defendants related to some of the most grotesque lies in the entire Stop the Steal effort.
The Supreme Court has no power. It has no way of enforcing its decisions. Andrew Jackson may not have actually said John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it, but the point is valid.

The authority of the Supreme Court rests on the willingness of other branches of government and the citizens to accept and abide by its decisions. The courts power derives from its authority.

Whatever authority the Supreme Court has depends on its reputation for impartiality and integrity. What the current justices seem not to realize is that by their blatantly partisan decisions and corruption, they are on the verge of losing what little authority the court still has, and thus, also, its power.

William Archer Brown

Gaithersburg, Md.

To the Editor:

I harbor no ill will toward justices who deserve to travel in luxury. But if the justification for accepting these lavish gifts is that their income to afford these trips would be much higher if not for their sacrifice in public service, I have an easy solution: Retire from the court earlier, earn the money you are capable of earning, and enjoy your golden years. Earlier retirement would be one small step toward fixing a broken court.

Noah Lichtman

New York

To the Editor:

The recent disclosure that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted expensive travel without disclosing it, and the reports that several other current and former justices have done so too, has led to demands that justices, like other federal government officials, be required to disclose more than de minimis gifts.
Students try to learn by doing the mental equivalent of push-ups on their knees.

For example, student surveys show that rereading notes or textbooks is the most common way students prepare for a test. Rereading is easy because the mind can skitter along the surface of the material without closely considering its meaning, but thats exactly why its a poor way to learn. If you want to learn the meaning  as most tests require you to  then you must think about meaning when you study.

Yet, insidiously, rereading feels effective.

Rereading a textbook makes the content feel familiar. But judging that content is familiar and knowing what it means  being able to describe it, being able to use that knowledge when you think  are supported by different processes in the brain. Because they are separate, familiarity can increase even if knowledge of the meaning doesnt increase. Thats whats happened when a person looks very familiar but you cant identify her.

And so, as students reread their textbooks, the increasing familiarity makes them think they are learning. But because they are not thinking about the meaning of what they read, they arent improving the knowledge that actually builds understanding.

Psychologists have developed much better ways to study, some of them counterintuitive. For example, if youve only partially learned some material, trying to remember it is a better way to solidify that fragile learning than studying more.

In one experiment demonstrating this effect, students read educational passages of about 260 words (for example, about sea otters) under one of three conditions. Some students repeatedly read and studied the text for four consecutive study periods, each lasting five minutes. A second group read and studied the text for three periods and in the fourth, which lasted 10 minutes, wrote as many ideas from the passage as they could remember. A third group studied for one period and tried to remember the material during the other three.
It long seemed as though African elephants were the champions of the all-nighter. They can get by on about two hours of sleep. Other mammals need much more, like koalas (20 hours) or you (at least seven plus at least one strong cup of coffee).

But the largest living mammals on land have some competition at sea. Northern elephant seals are also able to sustain themselves on about two hours sleep, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The study found that Northern elephant seals sleep far less at sea than they do on land, and the zs they do catch at sea are caught hundreds of feet below the oceans surface. The studys authors believe that sleeping in the deep allows the seals to power-nap without being eaten by prowling predators.

Northern elephant seals, which are found along the West Coast, are champion divers that can descend to depths of 2,500 feet and stay under for about two hours. They are not as big as elephants, but males can weigh as much as a car and stretch 13 feet long. To maintain their blubbery bulk, Northern elephant seals must spend around seven months at sea each year, gorging on fish and squid.

During these epic voyages, the seals are vulnerable to predation by great white sharks and killer whales. Some marine mammals, such as dolphins and fur seals, can rest half of their brain at a time. This type of slumber, known as unihemispheric sleep, enables some mammals at sea to snooze with one eye open, literally, which prevents predators from catching them off guard. However, elephant seals sleep like us, shutting down their brains completely.
As big as Starship is, it was originally going to be bigger.

In 2016, Elon Musk was dropping hints of a giant new spacecraft that would take people  lots of them  to Mars. He called it the Mars Colonial Transporter.

By the time he unveiled the design at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, the name had changed to a blander one: Interplanetary Transport System. It was gargantuan.

The booster, 40 feet in diameter and 254 feet tall, would be powered by 42 Raptor engines. The spaceship part was even wider, nearly 56 feet, as part of its design for gliding through atmospheres during re-entry.

Mr. Musk highlighted high-tech carbon composite fibers that would be used for much of the structure.
It doesnt take a degree in aerospace engineering to know that, ideally, rockets arent supposed to blow up.

So to those who arent engineers, the explosion of SpaceXs Starship rocket on Thursday might have looked like a disaster  not the kind of result that should have prompted celebration from the SpaceX founder Elon Musk and his employees, who cheered what they considered a major success.

Casual space watchers were further amused by the company describing the result of the mission on Twitter with cosmic levels of euphemism. SpaceX called it a rapid unscheduled disassembly  or, put another way, an explosion.

But SpaceX wasnt necessarily expecting the rocket  the most powerful and one of the most complex to ever fly  to actually emerge unscathed. Though it fell short of its most ambitious goal of gathering enough speed to reach orbit and then re-enter the atmosphere, it did claim other successes by flying for four minutes and getting well clear of the launchpad.
Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Sahiba Gafarova has visited the exhibition "Pearls of Polish heritage in Azerbaijan" organized in the Polish Sejm.

Addressing the event, Speaker of the Seimas Elzbieta Vitek said that such events contribute to the development of the Azerbaijani-Polish ties and serve to bring the two nations closer together. She emphasised that such events also allow the promotion of the cultural values of the two peoples, Azernews reports.

In her speech, Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that Azerbaijan, where East and West meet, is the homeland of many cultures.

She pointed out that great civilizations have existed in Azerbaijan, and multiculturalism and tolerance have become an integral part of the life of every Azerbaijani, regardless of nationality.

Emphasizing the 200-year-old Polish heritage in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Sahiba Gafarova noted that Poles have historically distinguished themselves in Azerbaijan as architects, lawyers, engineers, teachers, soldiers, entrepreneurs and statesmen.

She emphasised that the Poles participated in the activities of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first secular, parliamentary democratic state in the Muslim East and the Turkic world.

They were represented in almost all government structures. Stanislav Vonsovich, the representative of the Polish National Council, was one of the deputies representing national minorities in the Azerbaijani Parliament at that time.

The Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker specially also stressed the role of Polish architects who left a great legacy in the creation of the unique beauty of Baku at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.

Note that the exhibition displays the masterpieces of those famous Polish architects.
Denmark and the Netherlands will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, they will be ready for delivery in early 2024, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen and Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.

According to the Danish public broadcaster DR, Rasmussen stressed that Ukraine needs all possible support.

"This is a big help from the Danish side within a joint project with the Netherlands, where we are transferring 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine," the minister said.

The tanks are expected to be ready for delivery in early 2024, Poulsen said.

He noted that these are not Danish tanks, but tanks "which are purchased in cooperation with the Netherlands." Rasmussen called it "a very significant contribution".

According to Poulsen, at least 80 Leopard 1 tanks will arrive in Ukraine by the end of 2023.

Denmark previously announced that it would donate up to 100 Leopard 1 tanks.
Infanticide is becoming so widespread that eastern hellbenders  the largest salamander in North America, measuring two feet long and weighing up to five pounds  may be on the cusp of eating their future generations into extinction.

If you have rates of cannibalism this high, then that alone is enough to explain many of the population declines weve seen across the species range, said Bill Hopkins, an ecologist at Virginia Tech who led the research. The findings will appear in a forthcoming issue of The American Naturalist.

Eastern hellbenders once thrived across 15 states, from Mississippi and Missouri in the South and Midwest to New York and Pennsylvania in the Northeast. Their numbers have dwindled over the past 50 years, however, and researchers have struggled to explain why.

Habitat loss, disease, poaching and climate change all probably contribute to some extent. But according to Dr. Hopkinss research, the driving factor might be baby-eating in response to deforestation.

The practice of eating ones own offspring, known as filial cannibalism, is common among species that, like the eastern hellbender, have evolved a parenting system in which fathers provide the bulk of early care.
At first, Ronnie Cole thought the bright light in the sky over southern Alaska was an airplane.

Mr. Cole, a tour guide with Alaska Photo Treks, was setting up a portrait with two of his clients in the early hours of Saturday when he noticed there was something weird about the light.

It started to create a spiral pattern, it was really small at first, he said. Then, it moved out of the clouds and the spiral was still there, and it was just getting bigger in the sky. Thats when I realized that it was something else.

The blue spiral made its way across the skys green and red hue of the northern lights for about three minutes before disappearing over the tree line near Trapper Creek, about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage.

Ive spend about 1,000-plus hours out watching the night sky every winter, Mr. Cole said. I see a lot of weird things in the sky, but that was definitely the most unusual.
For nearly four years, the Tiffany & Company flagship store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 57th Street was shrouded in scaffolding while it underwent a full-bore renovation. In the days before the reopening, set for April 28, a Tiffany executive vice president, Alexandre Arnault, and the companys chief executive, Anthony Ledru, monitored final preparations as they whispered to each other in French.

Display cases glittered with Tiffany pieces  heart tag bracelets, Elsa Peretti Bone cuffs and Paloma Picasso necklaces. Digital screens encircling the room showed an animation of a diamond-encrusted bird fluttering across the New York City skyline.

We asked ourselves lots of questions going into this, Mr. Ledru, 50, said. Are we going to change the feel? Do we respect tradition? We decided to do both.

He gestured toward the digitized bird, noting that it was based on a design by the noted Tiffany jewelry artist Jean Schlumberger.
Graciela Iturbide: I became Mayas mentor through a government grant in the 1990s and, not long after, she traveled with me to France and Hungary as an assistant. We have a similar way of thinking, politically and spiritually, and we live in similar worlds, but our temperaments are very different. Maya has often looked for the toughest thing she can find  the femicides in Juarez; her wonderful projects with sex workers  though she has also photographed healers and shamans. I prefer to shoot in calmer situations. When I get surprised by something, thats when I pull the trigger.

I dont feel Im her teacher, although I suppose she learned about photography from our long conversations and from looking at images together, and we have a shared way of working. I go to live with the people I photograph for a month or two [in order to] establish relationships. It makes the work less intrusive. While Maya was working on Plaza de la Soledad (2006), her book about prostitutes in Mexico City, she took me to meet those women. Shed developed such close relationships with them, too.
Hiam Abbass: I see you both as a continuation of my path, in a way. But I didnt plan it. As a mother, I just wanted you to do what you wanted to do.

Lina Soualem: Mouna, you always knew you would be an actress. I felt that because both our parents [their father is the French Algerian actor Zinedine Soualem] acted, I would never be as good as them, so I started working in journalism first. I think I had to go through that to find my voice.

Mouna Soualem: I love your discipline and commitment [as a filmmaker], Lina. You dont let go when you want something. Its different being an actor, when so much is out of your control and sometimes you must let go or youll go crazy.
Lawmakers have delivered a slew of Mr. DeSantis legislative priorities in their annual session, which is scheduled to end in two weeks. The measures have given the governor high-profile social issues to stump on as he tries to court Republican donors and voters with a message that his aggressive approach to running Florida would work well nationally. Last week, Mr. DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban, one of the most restrictive in the nation.

Among the bills now headed to his desk is one that would allow the death penalty to be imposed on defendants who are convicted of sexual battery against children.

Nearly all of the 27 states that allow the death penalty require unanimous sentencing votes by juries. The new Florida threshold will be lower than the 10-to-2 majority required in Alabama. Indiana and Missouri allow judges to decide the sentence when jurors are divided.

At least 30 inmates who were sentenced to death in Florida have since been exonerated, more than in any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit research organization that opposes capital punishment. More than 300 inmates remain on Floridas death row.

It should be hard to send someone to the death penalty, said Randolph Bracy, a former Democratic state senator from Orlando, who sponsored legislation in 2017 to require a unanimous jury vote to impose a death sentence. Florida has the highest rate of wrongful convictions, I think, in the country, he added. We needed that threshold to make sure that we were doing the right thing.
Many Florida residents woke up to a screeching alarm around 4:45 a.m. on Thursday, after an early morning test of the emergency alert system blared from their cellphones.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which coordinates and manages alert systems for emergencies such as hurricanes and other disasters, apologized for the notifications in a statement.

The division understands that unexpected 4:45 a.m. wake-up calls are frustrating and would like to apologize for the early morning text, Alecia Collins, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an email.
WASHINGTON  President Biden plans to nominate Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli, an oncologist who has run the National Cancer Institute for the past six months  and a cancer patient herself  to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health, an administration official said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Dr. Bertagnolli would be only the second woman to serve as the medical research agencys director on a permanent basis since its origins in the late 1800s. She is the first female director of the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

The White House is expected to announced her selection in the coming days, the administration official said. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment, saying a decision on the new director was not yet final. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on her emergence as Mr. Bidens pick.

Dr. Bertagnolli became the director of the National Cancer Institute, or N.C.I., in October. Two months later, she announced that she had received a diagnosis of early breast cancer and would begin treatment at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where she had worked as a surgical oncologist before joining the federal government. She said her prognosis was good.
President Biden is nearing a final decision to formally enter the 2024 presidential race as early as Tuesday, with a video to announce his run already in production, according to four people with knowledge of the plans.

Mr. Biden, who said last week while in Ireland that he would enter the race relatively soon, will spend the weekend at Camp David, and he is expected to be joined by family members and some advisers. He has not yet given final approval to the announcement plan, according to one person with knowledge of the discussions.

The New York Times reported on Monday that the Biden operation was discussing the possibility of a low-key video announcement next week on Tuesday, which marks the fourth anniversary of his entry into the 2020 race. One of Mr. Bidens favorite poems, which he has often quoted, is about making history and hope rhyme.

On Thursday, The Washington Post first reported that plans for an announcement next week were being finalized with Tuesday as a target.
Dont ask Chris Christie what lane there is for him in the Republican primary. Dont ask how someone polling at 1 percent, who is sharply critical of Donald J. Trump, could possibly win the 2024 nomination when the party base has no tolerance for attacks on the former president.

I think theres this fiction about lanes, Mr. Christie said on Thursday in New Hampshire, his second exploratory visit in a month. There is one lane, OK? There are not multiple lanes. At the front of that lane right now is Donald Trump. If you want to win the Republican nomination for president, you have to beat Donald Trump and get to the front of that lane.

Mr. Christie, the former two-term governor of New Jersey and unsuccessful 2016 presidential candidate, was visiting the Republicans first primary state as part of a trial period that he said would culminate by mid-May in a decision about a 2024 run.

He spoke to a small group of reporters who came to observe him in a discussion with a dozen people at a residential treatment program for drug-addicted pregnant women. Addiction is an issue Mr. Christie has long been passionate about, and he visited the same program, Hope on Haven Hill, eight years ago while running for president. I thought before Covid that this is the public health crisis of our generation, and Im even more convinced now the Covid has passed that it is, he told the group.
Pivnich task force on shelling of Chernihiv region: at about 11.00 three residents wounded, one of them died, new shelling, casualties by 12.00

As a result of enemy shelling of Halahanivka in Chernihiv region at 11.00, three local residents were wounded, a woman who received shrapnel wounds to her head died in a hospital, the Pivnich task force reports.

"From 11.00 to 11.15, four 'arrivals' were recorded, probably from a 120 mm mortar, along the settlement of Halahanivka. As a result of shelling, three local residents were injured. One of them received shrapnel wounds to the head. The woman died in a hospital," the Pivnich task force said on the Telegram channel on Thursday.

As specified, there was no information about damage to civilian infrastructure.

"As of 12.00, Russian troops fired mortars at the border area of Chernihiv region twice more. There are wounded and dead," the report says.

According to the Pivnich task force, from 10.40 to 11.00, two "arrivals" were recorded, probably from a 120 mm mortar, in the area of the settlement of Hremiachka. "There was no information about losses among the local population or damage to civilian infrastructure," the report said.
As Justice Department officials weigh whether to indict Hunter Biden, the investigator overseeing the Internal Revenue Services portion of the case has come forward with allegations of political favoritism in the inquiry that stand to add to the already fraught circumstances facing the department.

Congressional leaders learned of the investigators allegations on Wednesday when a lawyer sent them a letter asking for whistle-blower protections for his client. The letter stated that the unnamed client, identified as an I.R.S. criminal supervisory special agent who has been overseeing an ongoing and sensitive case, had knowledge of an array of misconduct including political meddling, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.

While the letter from the lawyer, Mark D. Lytle, did not name Hunter Biden, Senate and House Republicans put out statements specifying that it was referring to him. The disclosure fed claims by congressional Republicans that a Justice Department run by the presidents political appointees could not be trusted to make a decision about his son based on the facts and law.

The letter said the client had information that would contradict sworn testimony to Congress from a senior political appointee, an apparent reference to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who has offered assurances that the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David C. Weiss, who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, would be free to run the investigation.
Last month, as demonstrations across Israel convulsed politics in the Jewish state, Jewish Democrats in the House who have made up the bulwark of Israels support on their side of the aisle met privately with the countrys ambassador.

Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, a self-described progressive, was particularly blunt. In meetings with liberal groups on and off Capitol Hill, where support for Israel has grown more tenuous by the month, he had always fallen back on what he called the shared democratic values of Israel and the United States, Mr. Cicilline told the ambassador, Michael Herzog.

But the new far-right government in Jerusalem, with its efforts to undermine Israels independent judiciary and its inclusion of extremist politicians, was making even that plea much, much more difficult, Mr. Cicilline recounted in an interview.

In the ensuing weeks, the strains between Israel and the Democratic Party, and particularly an American Jewish community that remains predominantly liberal, have only grown worse.
That prompted an investigation that was meant to culminate during the day on Monday with his surrender to the F.B.I., according to federal prosecutors in Texas. But that same evening, one of Mr. Pelhams relatives called the sheriffs office in Hunt County, Texas, and alerted deputies that Mr. Pelham was brandishing a gun.

When the deputies arrived to check on Mr. Pelham around 8:30 p.m., his daughter fled the house and shortly after, gunfire erupted inside, prosecutors said. About an hour later, Mr. Pelham walked out onto his porch and fired several shots at the deputies. Even though the deputies ordered him to put down his weapon, prosecutors said, Mr. Pelham went back inside the house, only to return at shortly after 10:45 p.m., opening fire again.

None of the deputies was hit.

The authorities arrested Mr. Pelham on Tuesday, and a search of the house later revealed a 9-millimeter pistol, four boxes of ammunition and several bullet holes in the walls, prosecutors said. He could face up to 15 years in prison on the felony gun charge on top of any penalties he may receive for the misdemeanors counts connected to the Capitol attack.

Mr. Pelham is not the first person who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try to go after law enforcement officers or charged with trying to do so.

In December, Edward Kelley, a Tennessee man who was already facing charges of assaulting a police officer during the riot, was charged with plotting to assassinate several of the federal agents who had investigated him and to attack the F.B.I.s field office in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Justice Departments third-highest-ranking official, Vanita Gupta, informed local judges and juvenile courts on Thursday that imposing fines and fees without accounting for a persons financial status violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Doing so may erode trust between local governments and their constituents, increase recidivism, undermine rehabilitation and successful re-entry, and generate little or no net revenue, Ms. Gupta, the associate attorney general, wrote in a letter.

To Americans able to pay their debt to government agencies, such penalties, which can range from a few dollars to hundreds, are a minor nuisance. To the poor and to new immigrants, it can lead to catastrophe, including escalating debt, being subjected to changes in immigration status, and loss of ones employment, drivers license, voting rights, or home, among others, Ms. Gupta added.

The original impetus for the change was the 2014 shooting of a Black teenager, Michael Brown, by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. A Justice Department investigation did not result in federal charges against the officer involved. But a subsequent investigation by the department into systemic discrimination found that a quarter of the citys municipal budget was derived from fines and fees leveled disproportionately against Black residents.

The policy Ms. Gupta outlined was first enacted during the Obama administration, when she led the Justice Departments civil rights division. It was revoked under Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017, but a handful of states, including several controlled by Republicans, have taken steps to reduce the practice.
A defendant in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy case lashed out at prosecutors from the witness stand on Thursday, attacking them for conducting what he described as a corrupt trial marred by fake charges.

The outburst by the defendant, Dominic Pezzola, came during testimony that was meant to humanize him for the jury but seemed instead to expose his combative nature. In a tense back-and-forth with a prosecutor, Mr. Pezzola  who was among the first rioters to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021  also sought to play down the violence of that day, saying that the crowd that forced its way into the building was not an invading force, but merely trespassing protesters.

The angry testimony emerged as the trial  now in its fourth month in Federal District Court in Washington  was finally winding down. Each of the defendants rested as the day came to an end on Thursday. Closing arguments could begin as early as Friday.

A former Marine and a veteran boxer, Mr. Pezzola first took the witness stand on Tuesday, telling the jury that he wanted to testify  always a risky gamble  to take responsibility for my actions on Jan. 6.
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba  The U.S. military repatriated a prisoner to Algeria on Thursday who had been held at Guantanamo without charge for more than two decades, as the Biden administration continues its efforts to reduce the detainee population at the Navy base.

The prisoner, Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, 52, was among about 20 suspected low-level fighters who were swept up by Pakistani security services in a 2002 raid in Faisalabad on dwellings believed to be Al Qaeda safe houses. The suspected fighters were ultimately taken to Guantanamo Bay.

His release leaves only one prisoner captured in the raid still at the Pentagon prison in Cuba. The others have been transferred or repatriated.

Lawyers who have tried to speak with Mr. Bakush described him as reclusive. He boycotted hearings where his suitability for release was reviewed and mostly stayed in his cell at Camp 6, the prison building where cooperative captives are held and allowed to eat, pray and watch television together.
If a Republican enters the Oval Office in 2025, whether its Donald J. Trump or someone else, there is a good chance that president will turn to the same electronic database to staff the White House and federal agencies.

Think of it as a right-wing LinkedIn. This so-called Project 2025  part of a $22 million presidential transition operation at a scale never attempted before in conservative politics  is being led by the Heritage Foundation, a group that has been staffing Republican administrations since the Reagan era.

Heritage usually compiles its own personnel lists, and spends far less doing so. But for this election, after conservatives and Mr. Trump himself decried what they viewed as terrible staffing decisions made during his administration, more than 50 conservative groups have temporarily set aside rivalries to team up with Heritage on the project, set to start Friday.

They have already identified several thousand potential recruits and have set a goal of having up to 20,000 potential administration officials in their database by the end of 2024, according to Kevin Roberts, the president of Heritage. Heritage has contracted the technology company Oracle to build a secure personnel database, Dr. Roberts said.
Ron DeSantis knows the statistics by heart.

He ticks them off as he contrasts his sweeping re-election as Florida governor with Republican losses nationwide last fall: a flip of traditionally very blue Miami-Dade County; the narrowness of his 2018 victory versus his landslide in 2022; the remarkable Republican voter registration gains in the state on his watch.

There is no substitute for victory, Mr. DeSantis said last week during his first trip to New Hampshire in his still-undeclared presidential bid. He denounced the culture of losing that he said had engulfed Republicans in recent years, swiping at Donald J. Trump in all but name.

If the election of 2024 is a referendum on Joe Biden and his failed policies  and we provide a fresh vision for American renewal  Republicans will win the White House, the House and the U.S. Senate, he told the crowd. So we cannot get distracted, and we cannot afford to lose, because freedom is hanging in the balance.

Electability has emerged as one of the early pressure points in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he expects a package of security guarantees to be adopted at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

"We need something more than the current format of relations. We want to understand when Ukraine will be in NATO. We want security guarantees along the way. At the same time, we are not preparing an alternative to membership and do not consider it as a compromise," he said in Kyiv on Thursday after a meeting with Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine.

"We will be in the Alliance. A package of guarantees along this path is what we would like to approve in Vilnius. For our part, we will prepare everything exactly," Zelenskyy said.

According to him, "we are expecting steps from NATO. Steps forward and very concrete. We would like to understand for ourselves, for our society, that Ukraine will be in NATO."

Stoltenberg invited Zelenskyy to take part in the NATO summit. "I am grateful for the invitation to visit Vilnius, but it is important that Ukraine receive an appropriate invitation. It is impossible to imagine the security of the Euro-Atlantic space without Ukraine," the President said.

For his part, Stoltenberg expects that in Vilnius, members of the Alliance will reaffirm their support for Ukraine, which will be provided for as long as necessary. He said that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. We will make it possible, he said.

I expect NATO allies to agree to further strengthen the NATO package for Ukraine with even more support, the Secretary General said.

Stoltenberg acknowledged that the issue of membership, guarantees - this would be an important element of the agenda at the meeting, NATO is preparing for this. According to him, the main focus of NATO members is to ensure the advantage of Ukraine, so that Ukraine is guaranteed to continue to exist as a sovereign democratic state in Europe. The support we provide makes future NATO membership possible, he said.
WASHINGTON  Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was invited on Thursday to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month to discuss ethics rules applying to the Supreme Court after disclosures of unreported luxury travel and real estate deals between Justice Clarence Thomas and a wealthy Republican donor.

Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and the chairman of the committee, sent a letter to the chief justice, asking him to consider testifying before the panel on May 2 regarding potential changes to the rules. Mr. Durbin noted that the last time the chief justice publicly addressed ethics rules was in a 2011 year-end report.

Since then there has been a steady stream of revelations regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and, indeed, of public servants generally, the letter said. These problems were already apparent back in 2011, and the courts decade-long failure to address them has contributed to a crisis of public confidence. The status quo is no longer tenable.

Mr. Durbin said he would ensure that the questioning by the panel was limited to ethics issues and did not veer into other activities of the court. He also said the chief justice could designate another justice to appear.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a prominent anti-abortion political group, threatened on Thursday to campaign against Donald J. Trump unless he endorsed a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a bold challenge that exposed the rift between the former president and some of his onetime allies.

The groups statement was a line in the sand for all conservative 2024 hopefuls. We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America.

Mr. Trump has been unwilling to wade into abortion battles after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year and ended federal protections, thanks largely to a majority of conservative justices he helped muscle through as president. Last year, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced legislation for a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks, an idea that split Republicans.

Democrats campaigned on abortion rights in the 2022 midterms, and Republicans had another disappointing cycle. Mr. Trump blamed anti-abortion activists for Republican losses, saying they could have fought much harder. Others have attributed the partys disappointing showing to Mr. Trumps insistence on making election fraud a top issue for candidates.
When Anna Paulina Lunas father was killed in a car crash in January 2022, she received notes from two prominent Florida Republicans.

One was from former President Donald J. Trump, a condolence letter that he signed, Donald.

The second letter came not from Gov. Ron DeSantis, but from his wife, Casey.

The letters meant something to Ms. Luna, who was endorsed by both Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis in the House race she won last year. But in the end, she backed Mr. Trump for president in 2024.

Trumps operation is personal, Ms. Luna said in an interview on Capitol Hill, hours before flying to Mar-a-Lago for a dinner with Mr. Trump and the Florida congressional lawmakers who have endorsed him. You take the time to actually get to know the people youre going to be working with and that does make a difference.
Fighting in Sudan intensified on Thursday morning as a bombardment by warplanes in the center of the capital, Khartoum, amounted to one of the most fearsome assaults yet in the violent days-long clashes.

With two generals vying for power over the country, residents in Khartoum said that the fighting had destroyed hospitals, airfields and homes, and left civilians caught in the crossfire.

Despite repeated international calls for a cease-fire, proposed pauses in the fighting have not held. A shaky truce that allowed some residents to flee from parts of Khartoum on Wednesday night has since collapsed.

The clashes, between the Sudanese Army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, have upended a promise by the factions leaders for the northeastern African country to transition to a civilian-led democracy. And concerns are mounting that the chaos could draw nearby nations  including Egypt, which has troops in Sudan; Chad; Ethiopia; and Libya  into the conflict.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany  The Pentagon is moving more troops to the African nation of Djibouti to prepare for a possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy staff in Sudan, where fierce fighting between two warring generals has led to the swift deterioration of conditions in the capital, according to two officials.

Senior U.S. officials acknowledged that it would not be easy to get embassy staff out, let alone the estimated 19,000 American citizens who are believed to be in the country. The international airport in the capital, Khartoum, has been the target of heavy shelling, leaving destroyed planes littering the tarmac. Sudans air space is also closed.

Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesman, said on Thursday that because of the fighting at the Khartoum airport, it is currently not safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of U.S. citizens.

The United States has a base in Djibouti, and it is preparing to deploy more troops there. The American move comes as fighting in Sudan intensified on Thursday, with a bombardment by warplanes in the center of Khartoum amounting to one of the most fearsome assaults yet in the days-long series of clashes.
In a spartan safehouse with flimsy curtains and no furniture northwest of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, people from neighboring Uganda clung to the few valuables they could snatch while fleeing harsh new legislation targeting them back home.

A gay man clutched the white rosary that he took to church every Sunday. A transgender woman brought her favorite shimmering blue dress. A lesbian couple clenched the one smartphone that held photos from happier days, going on dates and dancing in clubs.

They began leaving after Ugandas Parliament passed a sweeping anti-gay bill in late March that threatens punishment as severe as death for some perceived offenses, and calls for life in prison for anyone engaging in same-sex relations.

The government and the people of Uganda are against our existence, said Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, a 24-year-old who fled with a single backpack days after a hostile crowd, including children, cornered him as he bought groceries near a gay shelter in the capital, Kampala.
Italys Senate on Thursday passed the first comprehensive immigration package by the hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which would curb integration efforts, create new government-controlled migrant centers to house those waiting on asylum applications and more detention facilities, as well as establish harsher punishment for people smugglers.

Under the new policies, migrants will have to stay in the centers until their asylum applications are processed, which can take up to two years in Italy. While they wait, they will not be able to seek independent lodging and will have a hard time beginning any organic form of integration into communities. Italy is also planning information campaigns in the migrants countries of origin to dissuade them from leaving, in exchange for extra visa quotas.

Ms. Meloni leads a coalition whose main parties have strong anti-immigrant agendas. The coalition watered down one of the most contested parts of the package, which would have canceled a program of two-year humanitarian permits for migrants who do not meet the tight criteria of international protection. The move came after criticism of a top adviser to Ms. Meloni who spoke of ethnic substitution, as well as pressure from the opposition that raised doubts on compliance with international laws.

Representatives with the center-left Democratic Party have called the measures punitive, but they are likely to also pass the lower house, where the governing coalition has a large majority, and become law.
In Britain, food prices were up 19 percent last month from the previous year. In Spain, farmers are worried that a lack of rainfall will irreversibly damage wheat and barley production. And in West and Central Africa, record numbers of people are facing potentially dire food shortages.

Nonetheless, a handful of European nations including Poland and Hungary have blocked the entry of farm products from Ukraine  one of the worlds biggest grain exporters  arguing that the flood of cheap imports is ruining local farmers. Now, to quell the rising discord, the European Union is considering a temporary ban on grain imports to five nations.

The combination of spiraling prices for consumers in one part of the world and plummeting incomes for farmers in another illustrates the maddening complexities of the global food market.

Long before Russias invasion of Ukraine last year, climate change, violent conflicts, supply-chain bottlenecks related to the pandemic and burdensome debts were contributing to food shortages and hunger around the world. But the war in Ukraine threatened to seriously worsen the crisis by reducing the countrys grain exports and driving up food and fertilizer prices.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to help with the supply of long-range weapons, aviation and artillery.

"I asked the Secretary General to help overcome the restraint of some of our partners in the supply of long-range weapons, modern aviation, artillery, armored vehicles. Slowing down the necessary decisions is time that is being lost for the world and this is the life of our soldiers who have not yet received the necessary defense tools," he said in Kyiv on Thursday after a meeting with the Secretary General of the Alliance.

The Head of State considers important the upcoming meeting in the Ramstein format on Friday. "Some things need to be pushed so that the necessary weapons come faster than even planned. We will discuss the weapons that Ukraine expects, the training of our pilots, long-range weapons," Zelenskyy said.

Stoltenberg is waiting for the announcement of specific assistance to Ukraine. "This will be in addition to the assistance that is already being provided," he said.

The NATO Secretary General recalled that the alliance's allies have provided more than EUR 155 billion in support since February 2022, including EUR 65 billion in the form of military assistance. "This allowed your troops to push back the enemy from Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv," he said.

At the same time, he emphasized the need to establish the work of the already provided weapons. "We need all weapons systems to work as they should. There is a need for ammunition, spare parts, repairs. There will be a discussion on the proper operation of existing platforms," Stoltenberg said.
Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, said on Thursday that Ukraines rightful place was in the Atlantic alliance as he visited Kyiv for the first time since Russias invasion nearly 14 months ago.

Mr. Stoltenbergs visit was not previously announced, a practice that, because of security concerns, is common for top international officials making trips to Ukraine. His trip was seen as a show of support for Ukraine as the countrys military prepares for an anticipated counteroffensive against Russia.

I am here today with a simple message: NATO stands with Ukraine, Mr. Stoltenberg said at a joint news conference with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, after the pair had held talks. Mr. Stoltenberg said the issue of Ukraines NATO membership would be high on the agenda at a NATO summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, in July.

Let me be clear: Ukraines rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraines rightful place is in NATO, and over time, our support will help you make this possible, said Mr. Stoltenberg, who was pictured paying his respects to fallen soldiers at the Wall of Remembrance, a memorial in Kyiv, on Thursday.
When the Ukrainian social media influencer Anna Tsukur started building her business as a fitness guru several years ago, she made choices to maximize her appeal  focus on women, shoot in inspiring locations like Bali and, above all, speak in Russian.

That was then.

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, she decided that as an influencer, her first task should be to try to influence people about the war, appealing to her Russian followers to protest their countrys actions.

The result: a stream of insults from Russians insisting Ukraine was at fault.

Then she decided to ignore her own business model. She switched languages to teach in Ukrainian despite knowing that she would lose followers not just in Russia, but also in the countries that once made up the Soviet Union and where many people still speak Russian.

I felt from my heart, she said, that it was the right thing to do to show that I support my people, Ukraine.
At least 78 people died in a stampede in Yemen while gathering to receive charitable donations from local merchants ahead of a major Islamic holiday, a sign of how desperate many Yemenis have become after eight years of a civil war that has deepened poverty and hunger in the Arab worlds poorest country.

The tragedy unfolded on Wednesday night in the capital, Sana, which is controlled by the Houthis, an Iran-linked tribal militia that swept through northern Yemen in 2014 and displaced the internationally recognized government.

The Houthis health ministry said on Thursday that an additional 77 people were injured in the stampede, with 13 of them in critical condition. A Houthi interior ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdulkhaleq al-Ajri, said it was a tragic and painful accident during the unorganized distribution of money by some merchants, according to a statement published by Houthi media. It added that two of the merchants were arrested.
The Artists Mind What it feels like for female artists to wrestle with ambition, ego, ambivalence and inheritance.

How does an artist keep making art? First, by turning to herself for inspiration. Being an artist can be an isolating pursuit, usually done with an audience in mind but with no guarantee of that audience materializing. It demands the ability to spend a lot of time in ones own head, even when collaborating with others, to entertain doubts  which can foster creativity, too  without inviting them to stay. That isolation has, historically, been especially true for women artists, some of the most celebrated of whom have seen writer or painter or filmmaker treated as a secondary part of their identity.

What bolsters many of these artists is other artists: their support, and their lives example. Progress is lost, progress is made  personally, artistically, politically  but that connection remains. For this issue, we asked legendary female artists to tell us about a younger woman whose work excites them and gives them hope. Some of these women had never met in person before they were photographed together but had admired each other from afar. A few are mothers and daughters, sharing their own form of artistic communion. We also asked several writers to reflect on states of mind that are both intrinsic to an artist and imposed upon her by the culture.

What became clear throughout is that inheritance is more of an exchange: An older artist has much to impart, but she also learns new things, including about her own art, from those who follow her. Thats the most exciting thing about artistic legacies; theyre far more fluid than one might think. The artist will sometimes feel lonely. But she is never alone.

Inheritance By Emily Lordi

Alexandra Bell, Commissioned Painting: Two Paintings by Alexandra Bell, 2022, To accompany these essays, T commissioned this original work, Inheritance (2023), by the Los Angeles-based artist Jesse Mockrin. I was drawn to the subject of Mary Magdalene, who inherited the identity of a former prostitute largely from something a pope said hundreds of years after her death, when he conflated her with other women, including a different Mary, she says. In centuries of European painting, she is depicted as a sinful woman, a false story acquired through millenniums of misinformation, spread mostly by men. Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York  Jesse Mockrin 2023. Photo by Marten Elder

Since women have long been expected to nurture male artists (as muses, wives and mothers), but not to succeed them, artistic inheritance can seem like an exclusionary system in which creative capital is transmitted from men to men. Still, there are advantages to being cut out of the patrimony. When no one expects you to write the next great American novel, or to direct the next great Japanese film, you are free  indeed, impelled  to create something else. As the Black poet Lucille Clifton, who published her first collection in 1969, wrote in her 1993 poem Wont You Celebrate With Me:

... i had no model.

born in babylon

both nonwhite and woman

what did i see to be except myself?

i made it up ...

Clifton did, in truth, have female precedents  she could look to Emily Dickinson for her crystalline form; to Gwendolyn Brooks for her Modernist experimentation. She could even seek guidance from her own mother, a magic woman, in Cliftons telling, who was affected by epilepsy and died at age 44, when Clifton was 22, but whose messages her daughter continued to access, first through a Ouija board, then by channeling her voice in writing. But Cliftons self-mythologizing poem expresses a deeper truth about womens need to draw inspiration from their own lives as much as from pre-existing art, especially when their available models simplify or exclude their experiences.

The Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros, 68, was driven to become a writer before there were stories of Mexican American immigrant life for her to read, never mind emulate. There were the Latin American Boom authors of the 1960s and 70s (mostly men), and the poets Cisneros studied at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop (mostly white). She ultimately needed to follow Toni Morrisons now-famous dictum and write the novel she wished to read. In 1984, she published The House on Mango Street, a series of prose-poem vignettes about Mexican American life in Chicago, its unorthodox form befitting its then-radical content. Womens use of autobiographical source material has produced its own bind: the misconception that their work is social reportage or self-expression, not art. Some women have tried to dodge this (for example, the Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, by hiding her identity altogether). Others have aestheticized autobiography itself by framing the women in their families, or their broader cultures, as unacknowledged artists  whether because of their craft work, as seen in pottery or weaving, or their love of language. Paying homage to these influences allows women to make a subtle feminist gesture on the level of form, rather than an explicit feminist statement. But for the current generation of women artists, who have come of age with models who more closely resemble them, identity seems more like a source of community than a trap. To write from personal experience in 2023 might mean depicting a bilingual Chicana childhood in Chicago; but it will also mean engaging with Cisneros as a predecessor, and perhaps even privileging an audience thats already familiar with her work. The benefit is undeniable, says the poet and scholar Alexis Pauline Gumbs about the legacy of her Black women forebears, including Morrison and Clifton. Gumbs, 40, who leads workshops on Black feminists like Audre Lorde and has published poetry collections inspired by theorists such as Hortense Spillers (Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity, 2016), sees herself as a beneficiary of the intergenerational network of honest Black talk and compassionate mothering  including creative instruction  that Clifton describes in her 1985 essay We Are the Grapevine. Clifton died at 73 in 2010, 51 years to the day after her mother. Yet sometimes, when Gumbs is writing, she can feel the elder poet  who, she says, was so specific about How does this look on the page?  telling her, You dont need that, or that or that. Gumbs deletes the words, having learned from Cliftons example not only how to write but how to listen. Women artists, born into a Babylon of exclusion and possibility, reveal that creative inheritance is as promiscuous as legal inheritance is strict. We inherit a work of art, including the artfulness of someone elses way of being, when it transforms us. I never met Morrison or Clifton, yet I have carried their words and ideas around in my head for some 20 years thanks to the teachers who introduced them to me. My professors were worldly, wry, stylish and kind, and I imagined that, by embracing their favorite writers, I might become like them. The best I could do, it turned out, was share what they had shared through my own writing and teaching. But thats as it should be. Education, like any creative inheritance, is a gift bestowed indiscriminately and claimed most fully by those who pass it down the vine. Read More

Ambition By Yiyun Li

Alexandra Bell, Commissioned Painting: Two Paintings by Alexandra Bell, 2022, Mockrin also contributed three new paintings that will debut in a September solo exhibition at New Yorks James Cohan gallery. The show is about historical representations of women with mirrors, usually by male painters, she says. I aim to question whose vanity and gratification was really being displayed. Above, Mockrins Reputed Fair (2023). Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York  Jesse Mockrin 2023. Photo by Marten Elder

One of my most favorite pieces of literary correspondence is a 1973 letter from Rebecca West to the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, responding to a front-page review of a book about her work, an article that also functioned as an overview of her career. One must feel some discomfort in the fact that an appreciation of so considerable a talent as Dame Rebeccas should start, inevitably, with the problems arising from her sex, claims the reviews author, who goes on to give this verdict on an early West novel: that it is, essentially, merely a womans novel. Another example of womans novels given in the same paragraph? Mrs. Dalloway.

West, 81 then but as feisty as ever, wrote a letter protesting being treated as a witch. (The letter deserves to be read and reread in its entirety.) My favorite line: I am too good for the world of modern literature, and the way I come off so badly is that I know that I am not good enough for my world. A delightful and defiant statement, which I often use as a parameter when I write: Am I good enough, not for the critics or the readers but for myself?

I once explained to an interviewer that there were two kinds of ambition: public ambition and private ambition. The former is the desire to be successful according to the worldly terms  sales, awards, prestige. (Very few writers, one supposes, are immune to this desire.) And then there is the private ambition, which neither asks nor receives confirmation from the world. This is the desire to be able to say, after scrutinizing a page of ones own work, This is as good as it gets; its good enough to be read by Tolstoy or Chekhov or Rebecca West. It turns out I made a mistake putting ambition and private together. Ambitions etymology, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, comes partly from the Latin ambition-, ambitio, soliciting of votes, canvassing, striving after popularity, desire for advancement, ostentation, pomp; ambit-, past participial stem of ambire, to go round or about. Sharing this etymology are two other words: ambient and ambience. So ambition has little to do with the intrinsic values of an artists work. An artist, if ambitious, must canvas like a politician: striving, soliciting and winning popularity; seeking (and demanding, appropriately in the case of West) external acknowledgment and approval. Some artists are good at cultivating art, others at cultivating ambition, and those who are ambidextrous deserve all our respect. I make a distinction between art and ambition without any slight intended to anyone. We no longer live in the age of Montaigne, when one could stay in a tower and write for oneself. Some years ago, a celebrated author from Britain admonished me that one must not stop touring, giving Iris Murdochs career as a cautionary tale: Murdochs sales, according to this writer, slumped after she stopped touring. And these days, ambitions demand goes beyond physical presence. An author with whom I sat at a recent signing emphasized, when she learned that I do not use social media for marketing and publicity, the importance of maintaining a constant presence on social media, which, if we think about it, is a perfect setting for the symbiotic relationship between ambience and ambition: There is no solitary ambience, just as there is no solitary ambition. Art is insatiably demanding, and so is ambition. Theyre not partners in a comfortable and easy relationship: Sometimes they work together, but more often they compete against  even undermine  each other. Much can be said about the artist caught as the third point of this fraught triangle, but perhaps nothing surprising. Stories of success are like stories of happy families, all alike, though most artists, one supposes, live in less happy stories. Im aware that when I borrow Wests line for my writing, Ive edited her words. West did not say good enough for myself but good enough for my world. I wish I could ask her who else would be found in her world  certainly, the Times Literary Supplement was not. A few years ago, a friend gave me a notebook as a present, and on the front page was a collage, a plush theater kept mostly empty but for a handful of audience members, including Chekhov, Turgenev, Elizabeth Bowen, Marianne Moore, Stefan Zweig, William Trevor, John McGahern and a few others. So that, I can say, is truly my ambition  not just good enough for myself but good enough for those in my theater. Read More

Ambivalence By Ruth Ozeki

Alexandra Bell, Commissioned Painting: Two Paintings by Alexandra Bell, 2022, Mockrins Herself Unseen (2023). Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York  Jesse Mockrin 2023. Photo by Marten Elder

Ambivalence: a forked-tongued, two-headed demon who has dogged me since I first dared dream of becoming a writer. When I was a little half-Japanese kid and wanted to write a great American novel, ambivalence whispered in my ear that Asian girls didnt write big books and that I should stick to haiku. When I tried to write haiku, ambivalence reminded me that I wanted to write novels. When I tried to write a novel, ambivalence had strong opinions about what I should  and should not  write about. Now, four novels and many decades later, ambivalence still haunts me. Every time I think about starting a new book, the two heads of my old nemesis rouse themselves, rub their faces and flick their tongues. Great, lets go! one mouth exclaims, while the other groans, Oh, please, not this again!

The word ambivalence comes from a German neologism, ambivalenz, coined by Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist and a contemporary of Freuds. It combines the prefix ambi-, meaning both, and the root valentia, meaning strength, and denotes the ability to see the strength in the opposing sides of an issue. This etymology makes ambivalence seem positively empowering, but is it? Bleuler also coined the word schizophrenia, which means a splitting of the mind. Ambivalence, too, is a bifurcation, a splitting of feelings or beliefs, and many writers, particularly women writers, feel pulled in different directions. Ambivalence offers women many hats to wear in addition to that of writer: wage earner, wife, mother, daughter, caretaker, accountant, housekeeper, cook. ... The list goes on. Women generally score lower than men on tests designed to measure self-confidence, particularly in early adulthood, and with so many conflicting roles to play, is it any wonder? If we second-guess ourselves, perhaps its because our female ambivalence has grown into a stronger monster.

And here I have to make a somewhat ambivalent case in defense of my demon, by acknowledging her demonic qualities. Ambivalence is not only an enemy  she could never be just one thing  but often acts as an ally and an inspiration. Every book Ive written has grown from the seeds of uncertainty that ambivalence has sowed. By positing the opposite, the red to my green, or the blue to my orange, she opens up the vast prismatic spectrum in between. This is my demons genius, to force me to recognize and consider the rich and subtle array of ideas, feelings, beliefs, reactions and choices that are possible in any situation. Of course, this can be confusing, too. Ambivalence has a contrarians eye for possibilities. When I say black, she says white. When I say this, she suggests that ... and how about these, and all those others? Confronted with so many alternatives, its easy to succumb to self-doubt and inertia but, when I get stuck, rather than sitting back smugly and taking a break, my ambivalence goads me back into action. All this to-ing and fro-ing makes ambivalence a somewhat old-fashioned and inefficient monster, not well suited to life in a fast-moving world where beliefs must be expressed in certainties, and thoughts compressed into 280 Unicode glyphs. Where opinions must be monovalent, and minds must be made up. Where flip-flopping is seen as an executive weakness, and uncertainty spells political death. Conversely, ambivalence offers us the opportunity to weigh choices, consider alternatives, ponder possibilities and even change our minds. This mulling slows us down, but is that necessarily a bad thing? When it comes to writing fiction, slow is often good  or at least better  and so I try to practice patience. But patience, for writers, poses yet another challenge. Theres an oft-quoted saying that writers dont want to write; we want to have written. When I start a novel, I want to know what it is going to be, but writing requires the ability to tolerate not knowing, often for years at a time. The Romantic poet John Keats called this negative capability, which he defined as the capacity of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts. And this is the discomfiting gray area that my ambivalence likes best. Its the shrouded, unsettling place from which literature emerges, the in-between space of generative tension, where the most nuanced fictional characters live, and where their stories are born. I dont have to love this state of tension or hate it. I dont have to love or hate my ambivalence, either  to do so would be to squander her power. I just have to tolerate her uncertainties, mysteries and doubts long enough to transfer them to the page. Read More

Ego By Ayana Mathis

Alexandra Bell, Commissioned Painting: Two Paintings by Alexandra Bell, 2022, Mockrins Exhibition (2023). Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York  Jesse Mockrin 2023. Photo by Marten Elder

When asked on a 2019 radio program about her status as someone ahead of her time, the artist Carrie Mae Weems told the interviewer: I say this ... not out of ego but out of real clarity of understanding  the work is larger than me. Not that Im just interested in my own celebrity or my own fame but, rather, Im deeply interested in the field, in expanding the field and what the field can be. Weems is a titan in that field, known for her outspokenness and brilliance; nonetheless, she understands herself as part of a larger whole from which she benefits and to which she contributes.

In contrast, I recently came across an article about the photographer Arne Svenson, whose series The Neighbors, first shown in 2013, caused a stir because the images were taken, and exhibited, without the knowledge or consent of his subjects (one family sued him). A lot of artists, and I think its a gift, Svenson has said, are completely oblivious to the consequences of their actions. I was struck by each artists orientation toward their work  and its relationship to others. It isnt a comparison of male and female egos that interests me but how the female artist navigates expectations about her ego, her sense of herself as an artist and how that might affect the face she presents to the world.
A bold inmate managed to nonchalantly walk out of the Southwest Washington jail on Monday by impersonating another man who was due for release that day.

Brian Francisco Roman was in jail on a drug possession charge, but when he woke up Monday morning and heard a guard calling the name of a cellmate due for release that day, he saw an opportunity to regain his freedom. Since he and his sleeping cellmate looked similar, he decided impersonating him was worth a shot, and his bet paid off. Not only was Roman escorted out of the cell, but he was given his unnamed cellmates things, including his clothes, keys, and wallet, before being released. Guards only realized what had happened when the man due to be released woke up and started asking when he was going home.

Photo: Grant Durr/Unsplash

During the release process, Roman received property belonging to the other inmate and signed paperwork by forging that inmates name, the Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office announced in a statement. Among the property turned over to Roman was the victim inmates clothing, keys, and wallet, which contained identification and a debit card.

Photos of Brian Francisco Roman were shared with the public on the sheriffs offices Facebook page. the post mentioned that jail staff claimed both Roman and the inmate he impersonated have similar physiques. However, it is not clear if the impersonated man is suspected of aiding his cellmates escape.

An arrest warrant was issued for Roman, and by Wednesday he had been recaptured, although the Cowlitz County didnt provide any details on where and when exactly he was found. The 26-year-old man is now facing several additional charges, including second-degree escape, first-degree criminal impersonation, forgery, and both second and third-degree theft.

In the past, we featured several other ingenious prison escape attempts, including a man who tried to leave the prison by impersonating his teenage daughter, and a Peruvian inmate who managed to temporarily regain his freedom by leaving his visiting twin brother in his place.
Students at Oaklands Community College, Edenderry are currently fundraising in support of Hooves4Hospice.

In addition to fundraising they are availing of the opportunities it provides to raise awareness of the need there is for a Regional Hospice in the Midlands and the benefits to young people of engaging in physical exercise.

The project recently organised a sponsored walk/run at Mount Lucas wind farm. On the day three large busloads of students, from transition and 5th year classes, made the journey from Edenderry to Mount Lucas and took part in the fundraiser. Some ran and others walked the course.

All who took part demonstrated remarkable levels of fitness and admirable interest in getting back to resume their school work. The proceeds from the event along with the proceeds from other fundraising events will be donated to the Hooves4Hospice project.

Addressing the students who took part in the Mount Lucas event, project chairperson, Pat Lalor, praised the students initiative and their commitment to undertaking the work involved.

He mentioned that a very satisfying feature of the Hooves4Hospice project is the great support it is receiving from young people many of whom are fundraising and even rearing animals for the project.  The support of your generation, he said, is inspiring.
A former local resident who died while trying to save another man has been hailed a hero.

James Nicholl Jnr, who had lived in Portarlington, is understood to have jumped into the River Liffey in Dublin in an attempt to save a man who was drowning on Friday, April 8.

Tragically, both he and the man who he was trying to save died during the incident.

A former member of the Defence Forces, Mr Nicholl was laid to rest in St Conleths Cemetery in Newbridge following funeral mass in St Brigids Church in The Curragh on Monday, April 17.

Independent TD and former member of the Defence Forces Army Ranger Wing, Cathal Berry praised the actions of Mr Nicholl. He described his death as a terrible tragedy and offered his deepest sympathy to the family.

He answered with courage at the very end and that is what he should be remembered for, said Deputy Berry.

The Defence Forces confirmed Mr Nicholl, who was in his 40s, had served in The Curragh between 2000 and 2002.

James deserves to be hailed a Hero for diving into the freezing cold river to save a random man's life that was drowning last Friday night in the Liffey in Dublin, he didn't hesitate to dive in and try help the poor soul in the water, he jumped straight in and in doing so he lost his life trying to save another humans life, Dublin based homeless charity A Lending Hand posted on their Facebook page alongside a picture of James.

He dived straight into the Liffey to save him, the current was too strong and the water was too cold, he got to the fella and tried to pull him up a few times and unfortunately the last attempt failed and poor Jimmy and this poor soul got dragged under the water and both of them died, the charity said.

Gardai said enquiries are ongoing following the incident and files are being prepared for the coroner.

At approximately 1:30am on Saturday 8th April 2023, Gardai received a report that one male had entered the water at Grattan Bridge followed by another male who was attempting to assist, they stated.

Despite an extensive search conducted by Gardai and Dublin Fire Brigade, the males could not be located, they said.

The bodies of two males (aged in their 20s and 40s) were recovered by Gardai from the River Liffey on the morning of Saturday 8th April 2023, Gardai said.

Mr Nicholl, of The Glen, Kilnacourt Wood, Portarlington and late of Brownstown, The Curragh, Co Kildare is survived by his parents Noreen and Jimmy, siblings Carol, Deborah, Darren and Margaret, brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, his partner Donna, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, extended family, relatives and friends.
AN Offaly business was named as 2023 winners of the Small Category at the Irish Business Design Challenge last week.

The Factory is a second-generation family run business specialising in the supply of sustainable printing and print products using recycled and sustainable paper, plant-based inks and plastics-free packaging and the reuse of rainwater in its production processes. The Factory has care for the environment and sustainability at the heart of its ethos and the products and services it supplies. It is expanding its services to graphic design and web development.

The winners of Design & Crafts Council Irelands Irish Business Design Challenge 2023 (IBDC) were announced at an awards ceremony in Tangent, Trinity College Dublin by Neale Richmond TD, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Employment Affairs and Retail Business; and at the Department of Social Protection. The three category winners, micro, small and medium, each receive a prize of 15,000. Three runners-up prizes of 2,000 each were also awarded, and two entries were highly commendedby judges.

107 businesses entered this years Challenge, 44 of whom were shortlisted and invited to the awards ceremony. The Irish Business Design Challenge is focused on raising awareness of the importance of incorporating design and sustainability into business strategy, and the benefits it brings to those businesses and the wider Irish economy and society.

Now in its third year, the Irish Business Design Challenge from Design & Crafts Council Ireland supports companies applying design thinking to future-proof their business and support customer needs. This years challenge focused on companies that have used design thinking in their business by making them more sustainable and efficient.

Senator Pippa Hackett, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity, said I send my heartiest congratulations to The Factory team on winning their category in the Irish Business Design Challenge 2023. With a total of 107 entries, this is no small feat, but it is no surprise that their enterprise outshone the competition. I encourage all small businesses with an interest in sustainability to check out The Factorys new Eco School courses. They are sharing their experience with other businesses to help them on their journey  and there couldnt be a nicer setting or more encouraging bunch of people to learn from. I hope this award, and financial boost, provides extra encouragement to them to keep progressing along the sustainability path and communicate the many benefits as they go.

The awards were presented by Neale Richmond TD, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Speaking at the awards, Minister Richmond said; Programmes such as the Irish Business Design Challenge shine a light on the innate creativity and innovation of Irish MSMEs. The last few years have taught businesses to be flexible and adapt quickly, which has been proven through this years Irish Business Design Challenge winners. I would like to take this opportunity to thank DCCI for their commitment to championing Irish design and the entrants for proving that smaller businesses can do big things when given the platform.

Suzy OKeefe, Head of Digital & Communications at Design & Crafts Council Ireland said: Each of these companies highlighted a deep understanding of how design thinking can be used to increase a businesss efficiency and the impact this can have on an economic and environmental level. It is incredible to see the ingenuity and innovation behind some of Irelands MSMEs and it makes us very hopeful for the future of both Irish businesses and Irish design.

Tom Watts, Head of Design at Design & Crafts Council Ireland said: It is an honour to be able to recognise these companies for the amazing work they have done to transform their businesses into such models of sustainable and circular design. The outcome of this challenge is that six companies have been funded in furthering their commitment to these principles, raising the bar and creating a new benchmark. Support like this will encourage these companies to consider themselves as thought leaders and design thinkers, and that is a great thing to be a part of.

The awards presented were designed by previous Irish Business Design Challenge winners, Notions Creative, with sustainable and circular principles in mind. The awards were created from waste materials which they already had in their workshop - an effective reuse of by-products from manufacturing which were otherwise destined for landfill.

As a testament to the positive impact that the Irish Business Design Challenge is having in driving the design and sustainability agenda across the business community in Ireland, all 44 shortlisted entrants have also been invited to apply to participate in the Circuleire Accelerator Programme.

Commenting, IBDC judge and Circular Lead at the National College of Art and Design, Gwen Cunningham said: Business as usual, is not an option anymore. This years Irish Business Design Challenge celebrates SME's that have recognised this reality, and are demonstrating what it means to do things differently. How do we serve and satisfy peoples needs and wants - such as nutrition, mobility, housing, and basic goods - within planetary boundaries? This is the greatest design challenge of our time.

It's been really heartening to see the calibre of circular design innovation. This year's IBDC winners and runners-up demonstrate how circular business makes common sense - allowing us to decouple economic growth from material use, improve competitiveness and resilience, accelerate innovation and create jobs - all whilst fighting the climate and biodiversity crises.

The Irish Business Design Challenge was open to micro, small and medium Irish businesses offering a prize fund of over 50,000. The judging panel, comprising of Elaine Butler, Circular Design Institute; Gwen Cunningham, Circular Lead, National College of Art and Design; Jamie Maguire, owner and founder of Notions Creative, along with Edwin Jebb, Creative Director at Notions Creative; and Sophie Reynolds, Circular Economy Policy and Innovation Lead, Irish Manufacturing Research, evaluated each entry based on the criteria of sustainability through design in an effort to future proof the business. Previous winners of the IBDC Challenge include GRA Chocolates, Bo Steel, Aqueduct, Notions Creative and Benson Clothing.

For further information on the Irish Business Design Challenge, visit www.dcci.ie/ibdc-2023.
Some 18 million cubic meters of natural gas worth more than UAH 144 million owned by sanctioned former Member of Parliament of Ukraine Vadim Novinsky were seized, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said.

"According to the SBU materials, arrest was imposed on 18 million cubic meters of gas that the companies owner by pro-Russian oligarch Vadum Novinsky stored in the storage facilities of JSC Ukrtransgas and tried to alienate in favor of third parties to bypass the sanctions introduced by the NSDC [National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine]," the Ukrainian special service said on the Telegram channel on Thursday.

According to the SBU, the total cost of the seized amount of blue fuel is more than UAH 144 million.

"With the aim of bypassing the NSDC sanctions, Novinsky re-registered his own gas extraction companies for several affiliated individuals who are directly related to Russia. To make this deal, he involved private notaries and state registrars resubordinate to him," the SBU said.

The criminal scheme was uncovered and blocked by the SBU.

A criminal case was opened under Article 111-2 (assistance to the aggressor state).

The investigation was conducted the SBU under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office.
SpaceXs Starship  the biggest and most powerful space rocket ever developed  has exploded minutes after blasting off.

The launch, which took place from SpaceXs Starbase in the US state of Texas, came after a stuck valve forced a launch attempt on Monday to be aborted.

While Thursdays launch saw the rocket leave the launch pad and ascend into the sky, the first and second stages of the launch vehicle failed to separate, ending the mission with a bang.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

The Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket  collectively referred to as Starship  both appeared to flip in the air a number of times before disappearing in a fireball over the ocean about four minutes after lift-off.

SpaceX tweeted: As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.

It added that lessons learned from the mission will help improve Starships reliability.

Super Heavy is the first stage of the launch system, is fully reusable and is designed to re-enter Earths atmosphere to land back at the launch site.

However, the test flight on Thursday would have seen it make a water landing.

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary  SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

Elon Musks SpaceX says Starship will be able to carry up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights.

It will also enable the delivery of satellites and the development of a moon base, and point-to-point transport on Earth  allowing travel to anywhere in the world in one hour or less.

The stainless steel Starship is 120 metres tall, has 33 engines and 16.7 million pounds of thrust.

There were no people or satellites on board the test flight.

Nasa has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and would-be space tourists can book lunar fly-bys.

Before launch, SpaceX tweeted: With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship.

The European Space Agencys director-general Josef Aschbacher congratulated SpaceX on the mission, hailing it an impressive step.

He tweeted: There is room for all of us to learn from test launches. I look forward to the next steps.
A Tullamore woman has been shortlisted for National Lactation Consultant of the year 2023.

Patricia Marteinsson (nee McGirl) originally from Charleville Road, started her training in St Vincent's hospital in Dublin 43 years ago, before going to work in the Coombe Women's hospital.

She followed this up with agency work for a while before taking up a position in Beaumont hospital and then the Royal in Donnybrook.

Cupid struck 36 years ago when she met her husband Marteinn in Majorca.''Our eyes met across a crowded room'' said Patricia. Marteinn is Icelandic and together they moved to Iceland where Patricia said all the mother's breast fed their children.

In 2002 the couple returned home for Patricia's mother, who has since passed away.

She is now working for the HSE and doing private consultancy not just in Offaly but to anyone who rings her.

Patricia provides an in-home consultancy breastfeeding support service to women in the Laois Offaly region, seeing 200 women in person in its first year and with over 1,000 contacts by telephone. ''Out stats are above the national average at 48% compared to the national average of 30%,'' she said.

Patricia works with local organisations like Cuidiu, La Leche League Ireland and Friends of Breast Feeding. She also brings crisis counselling skills ( Red Cross) post natal health education and knowledge of child development to her role. Patricia qualified as an International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiner in 2002

''The past year with the HSE has been very transformational,'' said Patricia. ''The ladies nominated me and I am humbled and honoured that they would share their stories which very often are quite traumatic,'' she said.

The winners will be announced at an event next Saturday with President Higgin's wife Sabina presenting the awards.

''Whether I achieve it or not, the big winners are the breastfeeding women of this country,'' said Patricia.
Fact Check: Is this man criticising CM Yogi for the killing of Atiq Ahmed

Fact Check: Clip of BJP poll van being vandalised is not from Karnataka

Fact Check: Did Rahul visit Amul store and promoted its products?

Fact Check

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

There is a milk war in Karnataka ahead of the assembly polls which will be held on May 10. The results would be out on May 13.

The controversy was triggered after the opposition launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP after the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation announced its plan to introduce Amul milk and curd in Bengaluru through commerce platforms. The opposition and pro-Kannada groups have alleged that the entry of Amul into the state would have a devastating impact on the Karnataka Milk Federation's brand Nandini.

The issue was not spared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who recently visited a Nandini Milk parlour in Bengaluru on April 16. He bought a Nandini ice cream. He also shared an image of him eating the ice cream and captioned it, 'Karnataka's pride-Nandini is the best.'

Fact Check: Is Rahul on door-to-door campaign in poll-bound Karnataka?

Now an image of Rahul Gandhi with cartons of Amul Gold milk has gone viral. Many shared the image and trained their guns against the Congress leader for promoting Amul milk.

"In Karnataka @RahulGandhi speaks against Amul, in Delhi goes to Amul dairy. People should understand that Congress loves nobody, all they want to do is make Indians fight with each other," Andhra Pradesh BJP state general secretary Vishnu Vardhan Reddy said in a tweet.

In the picture, Rahul Gandhi can be seen standing at a stall holding a slice of watermelon. A pink syrup with ice cubes can be seen in a saucepot, while in the background there is a signboard thaScreenshot 2023-04-20 at 9.46.56 AM.pngt reads, "Mohabbat ka Sharbat."

Using keywords, we came across several news items which had carried the viral photograph. The reports said that Rahul Gandhi had visited Delhi's Bengali Market and Chandni Chowk on April 18 to treat himself to the popular street food in these areas. A report read, 'Rahul Gandhi visits old Delhi, Bengali market; enjoys sharbat, golgappas.'

Fact Check: Are Indians burning down 5G towers?

The image was also shared by news agency ANI and Congress on Twitter.

Hence it becomes clear that the image in question is not at an Amul stall, but at the Bengali market in Delhi.

Fact Check Claim Rahul Gandhi visited an Amul stall to promote its products, while in Karnataka he backed Nandini Conclusion The photo is from Rahul Gandhis recent visit to a Bengali market in Delhi Rating False Raise your request for FACT CHECKING. Mail us at [email protected]
New report soon: US short seller Hindenburg Research calls it another big one

'His logic can be understood': Tharoor on Pawar's views on JPC over Adani row

Adani tried utmost to get to me, but: Mahua Moitra's sharp rebuke as he met Sharad Pawar

India

oi-PTI

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has alleged that industrialist Gautam Adani tried to 'get to me' and some other people through his "wheeler dealers" and criticised NCP leader Sharad Pawar for meeting the Gujarat-based businessman.

No politician should engage with Adani till government takes on charges levelled against him, she said.

Without taking Pawar's name, Moitra said she hoped the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar puts the country first and not his old relationships.

''Adani tried utmost to get to me & few others through his friends/ wheeler dealers. He couldn't even find the door, let alone get past it. I have nothing to discuss on 1:1 basis with Adani. I firmly believe till govt takes action no politician should engage with this man,'' she said in a tweet.

Gautam Adani meets Sharad Pawar in Mumbai amidst demand for JPC probe

Moitra, who has been one of the the harshest critics of the Adani group, also tweaked a Hindi idiom to sharpen her attack -- ''Adani hamaam mein to saare hi nange hai'', which roughly means everyone being in the same boat as far as Adani is concerned.

''I have no fear in taking on Great Marathas. Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships. And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest,'' she said.

Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday morning at the politician's residence, Silver Oak, in South Mumbai.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, April 20, 2023, 22:47 [IST]
Two teachers identified as masterminds of Class 10 paper leak: Assam DGP

Assam Assembly passes resolution against BBC; oppn wants screening of docu inside House

Assam govt spent Rs 1 crore meant for tiger conservation in Kaziranga to host Ram Nath Kovind: RTI

YC leader kicked out for accusing national chief of sexual harassment

Assam, Arunachal sign pact to resolve decades old border disputes

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The Assam and the Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed an agreement in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, news agency ANI reported.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed the agreement.

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1-km-long border.

The two states have been in discussions to resolve the border dispute with Sarma and Khandu signing the Namsai Declaration on July 15 last year wherein they had pledged to find a solution soon.

Officials said the two states decided to resolve the dispute in 123 villages.

Shah termed the border agreement as a ''historic'' event and said it ended decades long disputes.

Sarma said the deal is a ''big and successful'' moment.

If you torture Sikh, you will be held accountable: Pro-Khalistan leader threatens Assam CM Sarma

Khandu described the deal as ''historic''. Regional committees dealing with specific areas were formed last year, comprising ministers, local MLAs, and officials from both sides to take the discussion forward.

Arunachal Pradesh, which was made a union territory in 1972, has been maintaining that several forested tracts in the plains traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities and these were ''unilaterally'' transferred to Assam earlier.

After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed, which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh.

Assam contested this and the matter was in the Supreme Court for a long time.

(with PTI inputs)

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Thursday, April 20, 2023, 18:35 [IST]
Can Shettar achieve what other bigwig rebels could not in the past?

India

oi-Prakash KL

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has filed his nominations from his traditional constituency of Hubli-Dharwad-Central for the forthcoming Assembly elections. This is the seventh time that he is contesting from this seat, but the only difference this time is he is in the race as a Congress candidate, not from BJP.

As BJP denied him ticket, Shettar rebelled against the party and joined Congress, the party which he had been criticising all his life this far. He will now be taking on the BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai.

Tales of rebel CMs of Karnataka

Karnataka has a long history of political heavyweights quitting their original party and joining the rival parties or floating their own. Starting with Veerendra Patil, one of the tallest Lingayat leaders in the State, he began his career with Congress, became the Chief Minister (1968-71), but he later joined Janata Party and took on Indira Gandhi in the historic Chikkamagaluru by-poll, only to lose by 70,000 votes.

However, he returned to Congress and became the Union Labour and Petroleum Minister after winning the Bagalkot parliamentary seat. In 1989, the party made him the CM again after Congress registered landslide victory under his leadership.

The BJPs caste matrix in Karnataka

He was, however, sacked by Rajiv Gandhi unceremoniously after communcal riots rocked Karnataka. Thereafter, he never recovered politically due to crippling health issues. Political analysts say that this alienated the Lingayat community from the Congress.

Urs, the longest serving CM

In case of Devaraj Urs, he was made Chief Minister twice by Congress but he quit the party following differences with Indira Gandhi and joined a breakaway group Congress (S). He continued to be the CM as he could muster a majority in the House with many from the Opposition joining him and became the longest serving CM of Karnataka.

However, his party Congress (S) lost in 1980 elections and many prominent leaders deserted him. He, however, made up with Indira Gandhi and joined her Congress (I). He died a few years later.

Bangarappa's roller-coaster ride

Sarekoppa Bangarappa, who replaced Veerendra Patil after Rajiv Gandhi sacked him, started his career as a socialist, joined Congess and became a minister in the Urs government. After serving in different ministries, he quit the party and floated his own Karnataka Kranti Ranga (KKR).

KKR was an ally of Janata Party in 1983 and he was hot favourite to become the CM after the State witnessed a non-Congress government for the first time. However, the post went to Ramakrishna Hegde. Gradually, Bangarappa shifted his loyalty back to Congress and he finally merged KKR with the grand old party. He was made the Leader of the Opposition in 1985.

After Veerendra Patil government came back to power, he was made Agriculture Minister and Bangarappa replaced Veerendra Patil in 1990. However, he was removed from his post in 1992 following the Cauvery riots.

Karnataka Elections: Survey shows women should consult men before voting

Later, he floated the Karnataka Congress Party, which cut into Congress votes across the State in the 1994 elections and bagged 10 seats. He then switched to parties such as Samajwadi Party, BJP and JDS as his popularity declined. He even returned to Congress for a brief period.

Last but not the least, B.S. Yediyurappa ended his decades-old alliance with the BJP in 2012 and floated Karnataka Janata Paksha. His party won six seats in its maiden Assembly election. Although it did not win much seats, his party secured about 10 per cent vote share and brought down BJP's count to only 40 seats. In a matter of two years, however, he merged the party with BJP.

Breaking ranks doesn't work

It is interesting to note that out of the five names, three belong to Lingayat community. These political stalwarts' careers indicate that floating a new party in Karnataka and coming to power is not a cakewalk. Their strength increases manifold when they are with their own parties.

Unlike Devaraj Urs or Veerendra Patil, Jagadish Shettar does not have pan-Karnataka influence and his popularity is more or less restricted to in and around his region, say political pundits. With BSY still with the BJP, the saffron party continues to have the backing of Lingayats. So, it has to be seen whether Shettar will be able to achieve what the other bigwig rebels could not in the past in Karnataka.
Kyiv City Council has terminated the land lease agreement with the Embassy of the Russian Federation, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

"Today, Kyiv City Council terminated the land lease agreement with the embassy of the aggressor country  Russia. It also appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding the return of the property of the 'diplomatic institution' of Russian barbarians to the property of the Ukrainian state," Klitschko said in the Telegram channel.
Cheetah Oban that strayed out of Kuno rescued from forest area in Shivpuri, brought back

Cheetahs from Namibia, South Africa get new names, here is what they are called

India

oi-Deepika S

The Namibian and South African Cheetahs that were released in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park were renamed following a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the people to come up with suggestions.

The 12 South African cheetahs have been named as Daksha, Nirva, Vayu, Agni, Gamini, Tejas, Veera, Suraj, Dheera, Uday, Prabhas, Pavak.

Namibian Cheetah Oban has been rechristened to Pavan while Asha has been changed to Aasha. Cheetah Savannah is now Nabha, while Siyaya is now Jwala. Elton's name has been changed to Gaurav, Freddy is now called Shaurya, and Tiblisi's name has been changed to Dhatri.

Cheetahs named!



On 25th September 2022, PM Shri @narendramodi ji during his #MannKiBaat address asked people to suggest names for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa.



A competition was thus organised.



Happy to share the names of our cheetahs and the winners. pic.twitter.com/KEcO4ujvFH  Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) April 20, 2023

PM Modi in his Mann Ki Baat on 25th September 2022 had urged the citizens to come with suggestions for cheetahs reintroduced from Namibia and South Africa, with an intention to popularise and to sensitise the general public about Project Cheetah.

In this regard, a competition was organized on Government of India platform mygov.in from 26th September to 31st October 2022. In response, a total of 11,565 entries were received suggesting new names for reintroduced cheetahs.

"The names were selected after scrutinisation by a selection committee and based on the significance and relevance of the suggested names for their conservation and cultural value the following new names have been selected for cheetahs for Namibian and South African cheetah," a statement from ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

Project Cheetah aims to bring back independent India's only extinct large mammal - the cheetah. As part of the project, 50 cheetahs will be introduced in various National Parks over five years.

As per the Action Plan, India hopes to get 10-12 cheetahs annually from African countries for the next five years at least.

Cheetah happens to be the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from India, mainly due to over-hunting and habitat loss.

Kuno National Park is now home to 23 Cheetahs. Of these, eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia, while 12 more were translocated from South Africa. One of the Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, died while another female, Siyaya, delivered four cubs.

Kuno also offers the prospect of housing four big cats of India -tiger, lion, leopard and cheetah and allowing them to coexist as in the past.
Eid 2023 date & time of moon sighting in Kerala, Kashmir and other states; when is Eid

Eid-Ul-Fitr 2023 to be celebrated on April 22 in India

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

The crescent moon for the Islamic month of Shawwal was sighted in Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening, therefore clerics announced that the festival of Eid-Ul-Fitr 2023 will be celebrated on Friday (April 21), and will last for four days.

Generally, the Islamic community in India celebrates the festival a day later than in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, Eid ul-Fitr will be celebrated on Saturday (April 22) in India.

However, Muslims in Kerala will celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr on Saturday (April 22). The Kerala government has also declared April 22 as a government holiday for Eid, although according to the calendar, the holiday for Eid was on Friday, April 21.

Eid-Ul-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims around the globe to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramzan. Ramzan is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, according to Islamic belief.

Crescent moon sighted in Saudi Arabia; India to celebrate Eid-Ul-Fitr on April 22

Eid ul-Fitr marks the culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan. On this day, Muslims flock to mosques and eidgahs across the country to offer special prayers, exchange greetings and take part in feasts with family and friends.

The festival is celebrated by sharing a delightful dish Seviyan (Vermicelli). All these variants can be used in the dish called Sheerkurma, which is also made on Eid and distributed among friends and relatives.
Gautam Adani meets Sharad Pawar in Mumbai amidst demand for JPC probe

India

oi-PTI

Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar at the latter's residence here on Thursday amid the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

The meeting, held at Pawar's residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai this morning, lasted for nearly two hours, sources said.

Earlier this month, Pawar had come out in support of the Adani group and criticised the narrative around the US short seller Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate.

Taking a position at variance from senior ally Congress, Pawar had said he favoured a Supreme Court committee to probe allegations against the Adani group since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have a majority in the JPC based on numerical strength in Parliament and this would lead to doubts on such a probe.

The NCP supremo had later said although his outfit does not agree with the demand of anti-BJP parties for a JPC probe into allegations against the Adani group, it will not go against their stand for the sake of Opposition unity.

Sharad Pawar attends iftar party with nephew Ajit amid rift rumour

The Supreme Court had last month ordered the setting up of a six-member committee headed by a former apex court judge to look into various regulatory aspects for stock markets, including the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.

The Hindenburg Research has made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
Man who posed as PMO official booked for house grab bid in Gujarat

Gujarat riots: All accused, including Maya Kodnani, acquitted in Naroda Patiya massacre case

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

A special court on Thursday acquitted all the 69 accused in the Naroda Gam communal riot case of 2002, in which eleven members of the Muslim community were killed.

Former Gujarat minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maya Kodnani, and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi are among the accused facing charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting, and arson. Eighteen of the accused died in the intervening period.

The trial began in 2010 and has continued for almost 13 years, with six different judges presiding over the case.

Eleven people of the minority community were killed in Naroda Gam area in Ahmedabad city in the 2002 riots, during a shutdown call given to protest the Godhra train carnage a day before in which 58 passengers, mostly Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

Plea to stay conviction rejected, what next for Rahul Gandhi

A total of 82 people are facing trial in the case. Kodnani, is one of the accused in the case, was the state's women and child development minister in former chief minister Narendra Modi's government.

Home Minister Amit Shah had appeared as a defence witness for Kodnani in 2017.

Kodnani had requested the court to summon him to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at Naroda Gam where the massacre took place.

Kodnani and Bajrangi were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012. The Gujarat high court upheld Bajrangi's conviction but acquitted Kodnani. The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SIT and heard by special courts.

(with PTI inputs)
In Kerala train fire case, inter-state links under scanner of NIA

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The brief for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would be to probe the inter-state links into the Kerala train fire case.

The agency which is now in charge of the probe would look into the extensive conspiracy and also the possibility of whether the case is inter-state linked, sources tell OneIndia.

It has been learnt that the prime accused, Shahrukh Saifi, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi was purposely sent to Kerala to undertake the incident, in which three persons lost their lives, while nine were injured. Evidence gathered shows that he had not acted alone. He had a set of handlers who had instructed him to go to Kerala and carry out the attack, the source cited above also said.

Kerala train arson: Did a radical Kerala group aid prime accused Saifi

The probe has also found that Saifi was highly radicalised and the speeches of radical Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik had been retrieved from his phone. While at first it was unclear what the motive may have been, the investigations now show that a team of handlers had realised that he was highly radicalised and could be used for an attack of this nature.

However it is now becoming clear that Saifi was not only tasked with the Kerala train attack, but his brief was to carry out a series of such incidents, across the country.

With the NIA taking over the probe, the agency will probe the inter-state links. The agency has the powers unlike the Kerala police to probe a case in many states. It is without doubt that Saifi was tasked by elements outside Kerala to carry out this attack. His links to a local radical group is also under the scanner another official confirmed.

On April 2, Saifi sprinkled petrol and set co-passengers of a train compartment on fire after the Alappuzha-Kannur Inter-City Express train left Kozhikode station at 9.30 pm. Due to the commotion, some passengers jumped out of the train as a result of which they lost their lives. The dead included a child.

Kerala train fire accused Sharukh Saifi may not be a lone wolf: Sources

Saifi was apprehended on April 5 in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district by the Anti-Terror Squad, with the help of inputs from the Kerala police and Central Intelligence agencies. He was later on taken to Kerala for investigation.
India, Thailand discuss linking UPI with Prompt Pay Service

India

oi-Deepika S

India and Thailand on Thursday reviewed the progress of the ongoing efforts on connecting Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of India with Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency.

PromptPay is a Thailand based payment method that allows customers to make a payment using their preferred app from participating banks.

The discussion was held during the 13th meeting of the India-Thailand Joint Trade Committee.

The meeting was co-chaired by Director General of Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, Auramon Supthaweethum and Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India Indu C. Nair. This was the first physical meeting of the JTC after it was revived in 2020, after 17 years.

"Thailand is India's important trading partner in ASEAN with total trade of USD 16.89 Billion in 2022-23. Thailand accounts for 13.6% of India's total trade with ASEAN. Thailand is an important destination for India's gems and jewellery, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components and agricultural products especially marine products," a statement from the commerce ministry said on Thursday.

"Reviewing the status of bilateral trade and each partner's modest share in other's global imports, the chairs emphasised the need for identifying new potential products and priority sectors for expanding the bilateral trade. Both sides also discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve the same through regular and sustained bilateral discussions. India raised the restriction faced in its export of marine, poultry and meat products," it added.

Both sides identified a range of potential commodities and sectors for strengthened partnership such as value added marine products, smartphones, Electric vehicles, food processing and pharmaceuticals.

The countries also agreed that there is huge scope in collaboration in the Service Sector and agreed to explore establishing mutual recognition/cooperation arrangements in Nursing, Accounting, Audio Visual and Medical Tourism.
Why has Nepal become a safe haven for terrorists and criminals

Climber Anurag Maloo, who went missing in Nepal, found alive

India

oi-Deepika S

Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who went missing on Monday after falling into a deep crevasse on Nepal's Mount Annapurna, has been found alive after almost 72 hours of rigorous search and rescue operations. Maloo remains in critical condition.

''He is found alive. He has been taken to the hospital in critical condition, but he is still alive,'' Sudhir, his brother was quoted saying by news agency PTI. ''We will have to shift our focus towards the medical side now,'' he added.

The 34-year-old Anurag Maloo went missing on Monday after he fell from around 6,000 metres while descending from Camp III. Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world.

34-year-old Indian climber goes missing at Nepal's Mt Annapurna

He has been airlifted to Kathmandu and admitted to Medicity Hospital at Bhaisepati area of Lalitpur district, Thaneshwor Guragain, information officer at Seven Summit Treks told PTI.

Maloo is on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals.

He has been awarded REX Karam- Veer Chakra and became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India.

Anurag, who is an IIT Delhi graduate, is on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals, reported PTI.

Earlier, another renowned Indian climber Baljeet Kaur who had gone missing above Camp IV on Nepal's Mt Annapurna on Monday, was later found alive on the same day.
Modi surname remark: Surat court rejects Rahul plea to stay conviction

India

oi-Deepika S

A Surat sessions court on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark. This would mean that Gandhi would continue to stand disqualified from Lok Sabha.

The court of additional sessions judge RP Mogera rejected Gandhi's application filed for a relief pending his appeal against a lower court's order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case.

Soon after the verdict, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party will continue to avail all options still available under the law.

We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law. @DrAMSinghvi will brief the media on Rahul Gandhi's appeal at 4pm.  Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 20, 2023

On April 3, Gandhi filed his appeal before the sessions court against the magistrate's verdict. He was subsequently granted bail till the disposal of his plea.

Gandhi, in his appeal filed in the sessions court against the conviction and two-year jail term handed last month, submitted he was treated harshly by the trial court which was overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP, and maintained there is no such thing as a definite Modi samaj or community on record.

The former Congress president said, "It appears reasonable to argue that the applicant was really sentenced in a manner so as to attract the order of disqualification (as an MP)."

Fact Check: Is Rahul on door-to-door campaign in poll-bound Karnataka?

Rahul was convicted over his remarks, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

BJP, RSS attacking democracy, spreading hatred: Rahul in Bidar

Gandhi (52), elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, was convicted in the criminal defamation case on March 23 by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma and sentenced to two years in jail. The magistrate's court had granted him bail for 30 days to appeal the verdict. A day later, he was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

with PTI inputs
50 years of Project Tiger: PM Modi to release new data on Tiger count in India

Now, India is home to 75% of world tigers

Now you can spot two white tigers in Delhi zoo: Watch

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Two white tiger subs were released at the Zoological Park in Delhi for viewing by Union Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav.

They were born in August last year, following a gap of seven years. News agency ANI shared a video of the two cubs playing with each other.

#WATCH | Union Minister Bhupender Yadav releases Cubs in the arena of white tiger enclosure at Zoological Park in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/9tCnCuiWG9  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

The two were released into the arena on Thursday. The zoo however remains shut on Friday. Delhi Zoo director Akanksha Mahajan told the Indian Express that, considering the crowd at the Zoo over the weekend, the father of the two cubs Vijay will released into the arena for viewing .

Mahajan also said that the cubs will be released again starting Monday. Their reactions will be monitored before they are eventually released for viewing over the weekends, Mahajan said.

On August 24 2022, three white tiger cubs were born to the white tigress Sita marking the first successful breeding of white tigers at the Delhi Zoo.

India's tiger population rises to 3,167, PM Modi calls it 'matter of pride'

"We welcome our new guests. Three white tiger cubs born in Delhi zoo," the National Zoological Park, New Delhi wrote while sharing images of the tigers.

One of the cubs had however died after falling ill in December. PTI while quoting an official said that the cub died due to to genetic problems associated with inbreedings.

Chandra Prakash Goyal, Director General of Forest told the media that the two cubs were living in the Zoological park, Mathura Road, Delhi.

"Today Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav released them in a big enclosure," Goyal said. He also said that the Central Zoo Authority monitors the cub's movement. It is being looked after as per world standards, he also said.

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Story first published: Thursday, April 20, 2023, 13:09 [IST]
Don't want "war of words": US on Zardari's derogatory remarks against PM Modi

Pak again begs for money from donors at Geneva

Not a bilateral one: Pak FM Bhutto on attending SCO meet in India

Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto to visit India in May

India

oi-Deepika S

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the delegation that will attend the the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa on May 4 and 5. Bhutto's visit to India will be the first visit by any Pakistani leader after Nawaz Sharif in 2014.

"Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here.

Ending weeks-long speculation, Mumtaz said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO meet.

"Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said.

In May 2014, then-Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

In December 2015, the then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan and days later, Modi made a brief visit to the neighbouring country.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan, while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India in August 2019 announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

with PTI inputs
Moldova has started the process of withdrawing from some CIS agreements, the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and relevant state bodies have analyzed the agreements signed as part of the CIS. We came to the conclusion that it is unreasonable for our country to be a party to some treaties. As a result, the authorities have started the process of withdrawing from these treaties," the agency said in a commentary punished on Thursday in response to a statement by CIS General Secretary Sergei Lebedev.

In particular, he said Moldova was not making any practical steps to leave the commonwealth or withdraw from documents signed within the CIS.

The Foreign Ministry said in this connection that the country's accession to the EU is an absolute priority for the Moldovan authorities.

Moldova's position in the CIS began to change after Maia Sandu won the presidential election in 2020. She has never attended CIS summits, and the authorities declared European integration the main goal of the country during her presidency. Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said the Foreign Ministry would analyze all agreements signed by Moldova within the CIS and would initiate the procedure for withdrawing from some agreements.

The Moldovan government approved a bill this week on withdrawing from the agreement on international legal guarantees for the work of the TV and radio company Mir. In April 2022, Chisinau stopped making contributing to the financing of the TV channel - some $200,000. The 2023 budget does not provide funding for Mir, and its broadcasts have been banned in Moldova.
Amritpal Singhs wife stopped while trying to flee to London

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The wife of radical Sikh leader, Amritpal Singh has been detained by the Punjab police.

Kirandeep Kaur, who is the wife of Amritpal Singh, the head of the radical group Waris Punjab De has been detained from the Shri Guru Dass International Airport in Amritsar, when she was trying to board a flight to London, the police said.

Kirandeep is a citizen of the United Kingdom and holds a passport of that country. There is however no case filed against her in India.

The police said that Kirandeep was supposed to travel to Birmingham on an Air India flight scheduled for 2.30 pm. At 12.20 pm she reported to the immigration counter. However, there is a Look out Circular against here and hence the immigration did not permit her to travel and detained here, airport officials said.

Moreover there is no concrete evidence or an FIR being registered with the Punjab police or the Central Agencies regarding Kirandeep being an active member of the proscribed Babbar Khalsa International, while she was staying in the UK.

Lawyer among 3 arrested in Punjab for helping Amritpal flee police

She has been detained as a precautionary measure by the police and this is under the same provision which the family members and acquaintances of the absconding accused are being questioned, a police source told OneIndia.

Kaur had been questioned at the Jallupur Kheda village in connection with the alleged foreign funding and activities relating to Amritpal Singh.

The police had last month launched a crackdown against Amritpal Singh and the members of his outfit. He however has managed to successfully dodge the police since the chase began in Jalandhar on March 18. Since the chase, several of his associates have been arrested.

Amritpal Singh shot to fame after he quit his job as a lorry driver in Dubai and came to India. Since then he has styled himself on the lines of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and has been seeking a separate Khalistan nation. Following the attack on the Ajnala police station by his followers, seeking the release of his aide, the radar on him has been high. Since the attack the police have with the help of several agencies launched a manhunt for him.

There have also been reports that Amritpal may have tried and fled to Nepal. However videos of him that surfaced in the wake of these report suggest that he is very much in the country and has no plans of fleeing the nation.
Plea to stay conviction rejected, what next for Rahul Gandhi

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A court in Surat has rejected the application filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 defamation case relating to his 'Modi surname' remark.

The court offered no relief to the Congress leader, who had sought a pause on his conviction in the case. This would mean that Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as Member of Parliament from the Wayanad constituency would remain in place.

As a result of the conviction, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Member of Parliament.

As a result of the Surat trial court order, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as MP. The Lok Sabha Secretariat in a notification had said that the disqualification was effective from March 23, the date of the conviction. "Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat... Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala, stands disqualified from the membership of the Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction ie 23 March 2023," the secretariat said in its order.

A a result of today's order, the Congress leader would continue to be barred from contesting the elections for eight years. He can however no appeal against this order before a higher court.

As per the law, Rahul Gandhi also vacated his official bungalow.

Modi surname remark: Surat Court rejects Rahul Gandhi's plea to stay conviction

This was Rahul Gandhi's fourth term as MP and his first from Wayanad in Kerala. He had won his first three terms from Amethi, but in 2019 he lost from this seat to Union Minster, Smriti Irani. He however posted a big victory in Wayanad, which was his second seat in 2019.

Rahul Gandhi's next option would be to move the High Court. According to the Lok Prahari vs Election Commission Of India verdict, "once the conviction has been stayed during the pendency of an appeal, the disqualification which operates as a consequence of the conviction cannot take or remain in effect."

However in another case, when Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party had challenged the EC's decision to notify the elections following his disqualification, the latter argued that even Khan is granted a stay, he would not be able to continue as a member of the House. He could at best contest the by-polls, it was argued. This argument of the EC however remains unaddressed.

In the Wayanad case, the EC is yet to announce a date. In case by-elections are held and another person wins, then even if Rahul Gandhi gets a stay on his conviction the person elected in the by-poll cannot be unseated.
SC orders release of UP Secys taken into custody in contempt case

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Supreme Court has stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court which had taken into custody, Special Secretary (Finance) and Secretary (Finance) of the Uttar Pradesh government over the non-compliance of directions to provide domestic help and other facilities to retired judges.

The court directed the immediate release of the officers.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha passed the order following an urgent mentioning of the matter on behalf of the UP government. The government represented by additional solicitor general K M Nataraj had termed the High Court as peculiar in nature. The SC Bench also stayed the bailable warrant issued by the High Court to the Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) of the UP government in the contempt matter.

'Gravity of offence...': SC questions parole to Bilkis Bano case convicts

"The Court directed to frame rules regarding some facilities for retired judges. The rules have to go to the Governor. There was some technical objection. Meanwhile the Court summoned the Finance Secretaries and directed to take them into custody and asked the Chief Secretary also to be present issuing bailable warrant against him", the ASG told the Bench.

The Bench in its order said, "taken on board. Till the next date of listing, there shall be a stay of the orders of the Division Bench of the High Court of Allahabad dated 04 April 2023 and 19 April 2023. The officers of the Government of Uttar Pradesh who have been taken in custody shall be released forthwith. The Registrar General of this court shalll communicate this order, both telephonically and through email, to the Registrar General of High Court of Allahabad for immediate compliance."

Backgrounder:

The Allahabad High Court had taken the officials into custody in a contempt petition which was filed by the Association of Retired Supreme Court and High Court judges. The court noted that the officers were in contempt of the directions of a Division Bench of the High Court. They were asked to be present before the court for framing of charges.

Same-sex marriage case in SC: Petitioners quote from ancient Indian texts

The order as passed by the HC essentially on the ground that the officers were found to be involved in delaying the facilities such as providing domestic help to the former Chief Justice and former judges of the Allahabad High Court on one pretext or another.

"The approach of the officers of the Finance Department is writ large, that the proposal submitted by the High Court, would not be complied and in their over zealous approach and adamant attitude are opposing compliance of the writ court order without any valid basis," the Allahabad HC had said.
'They kept guns on our heads, looted us': Evacuated Indians recount ordeal

Situation tense; focusing on safety of Indians: MEA on Sudan crisis

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

As fighting between two rival forces rages in Sudan, India on Thursday said the ground situation in that country continues to be very tense and that the Embassy in Khartoum is open, functioning and rendering all services with officials working from separate locations.

Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi said India is keeping a close watch on developments in Sudan.

"We are in readiness of taking multiple options. There are contingency plans. We are in close touch with our teams on the ground. But it will all depend on how long there is a pause in the fighting or a ceasefire; where it is happening, what is available in terms of locations where we can safely take people away," he said.

He said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet the UN Secretary-General in New York on the situation in Sudan.

Sudan unrest: Indians told to stay indoors amid Army-paramilitary clash

The safety and security of the Indians is our key focus, Bagchi said.

When asked whether India is looking at evacuating the Indians in Sudan, he said some plans are being worked out but it will depend on the ground situation.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group for the last seven days that has reportedly left around 200 people dead.

(with PTI inputs)

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Story first published: Thursday, April 20, 2023, 23:46 [IST]
The BJPs caste matrix in Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Caste plays a major factor in Karnataka, a state that has predominantly been ruled by either powerful Lingayats or Vokkaligas.

For the BJP winning Karnataka is extremely important as it is the only southern state that it has had power. However, the saffron party also had in mind that this is a state which does not usually vote a party back to power. Furthermore, the party has been the single largest party (2004,2008, 2018), but has always not managed to hit the 113 or majority mark.

If one analysis the BJP's performance in the state, it has been largely dependant on the 17 per cent Lingayat population. This time around the party has decided to give equal focus to the Vokkaliga votes who form 14 per cent of the electorate. When the campaign began Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that if the party has to win big it should do well in the Old-Mysuru Region, which is dominated by the BJP. The BJP's strike rate has been impressive in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but when it comes to the assembly polls, the scenario has been otherwise.

Star campaigners for BJP, Congress: Here is the complete list

The BJP has in fact over the past two years stepped up efforts to better its base among the Vokkaliga community. The setting of the Veerashaiva Lingayat Development Authorityand the Vokkaliga Development Board are signs that the party is going all out to woo both communities. Moreover recently the party also ended the 4 per cent reservation for the Muslims and divided it equally among the Lingayats and Vokkaligas.

The carving out of the 2C and 2D categories for both these communities was also seen as an attempt to placate both and make them part of the larger Hindu family.

The inauguration o the 108-foot tall statues of Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru and a Vokkaliga is also another attempt that was made to woo the community. Following this Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai also inaugurated a statue of Akkamahadevi in Shikaripur, the she-sheer who holds a prominent position in Lingayat Shaiva literature in the state.

Surya not on BJP star campaigner list, Cong dubs him 'Naftari Chintu'

The fact that there is no representation for the Vokkaligas in the BJP's list of candidates also shows that the party wants to leave nothing to chance. There are 41 Vokkaligas who have been fielded in the Old-Mysuru Region, while in Kittur Karnataka, 33 Lingayats have been fielded.

While the BJP is going all guns blazing to fix the caste matrix in the state, it has still been hit by rebellion. It is closely watching the developments following the exit of its senior leader, Jagadish Shettar, who belongs to the Lingayat community. While the rebellion storm is pretty high at the moment, the BJP hopes that as the days goes by, it can tide over the same.

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Story first published: Thursday, April 20, 2023, 12:51 [IST]
3 arrested for training Atiq Ahmed's killers to pose as media persons

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Uttar Pradesh police have arrested three men who allegedly trained Atiq Ahmed's killer to poe as reporters.

Atiq Ahmed, a dreaded gangsgter was killed along with his brother Ahraf last week, by three persons posing as reporters. The duo were killed when they were brought for a medical checkup in Prayagraj.

The killers are said to have trailed the arrested gangsters as journalists for an entire day before they shot them in front of television cameras and scores of policemen on Saturday.

The three men who have been arrested are said to have worked for a local news media website. They were detained in UP's Banda for allegedly training the killers to pose as reporters, the police said.

Atiq murder: SO among 5 cops suspended after SIT begins probe

The probe has learnt that the killers had received a crash report in reporting. They then posed as reporters and went about the killing of Atiq and his brother.

It has also been learnt that the killers had tried to eliminate the duo a day earlier. They had planned the killing when the duo were taken to court a day earlier, but had to drop their plans owing to heavy security. The shooters have been identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lavlesh Tiwari. They used Zigana pistols produced by a Turkish firm to eliminate the duo.
Solar eclipse: 5 myths associated with it busted by scientists

New Delhi

oi-Deepika S

A rare celestial event known as the 'Ningaloo Eclipse' is underway in several parts of the world as the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned together. The astronomical event began at 7 am and and is expected to last for five hours. As we get eclipse ready, NASA busts seven myths associated with solar eclipse.

MYTH: Total solar eclipses produce harmful rays that can cause blindness

According to NASA, during a total solar eclipse when the disk of the moon fully covers the sun, the brilliant corona emits only electromagnetic radiation, though sometimes with a greenish hue. Scientists, who studied this radiation believe that it could cross 150 million kilometers of space ,penetrate our dense atmosphere, and cause blindness.

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MYTH: If you are pregnant you should not watch an eclipse because it can harm your baby.

"It is believed that harmful radiations are emitted during a total solar eclipse. Although the electromagnetic radiation from the corona, seen as light, is perfectly safe, there is another form of radiation that travels to Earth from the sun. This is an entirely harmless effect and would not harm you, or if you are pregnant, the developing fetus," the US space agency explained.

MYTH: Eclipses will poison any food that is prepared during the event

"Related to the false idea of harmful solar rays is that during a total solar eclipse, some kind of radiation is produced that will harm your food. If someone is accidentally food-poisoned with potato salad during an eclipse, some might argue that the event was related to the eclipse itself even though hundreds of other people at the same location were not at all affected," NASA said.

MYTH: Eclipses are harbingers of something very bad about to happen.

"A classic case of what psychologists call Confirmation Bias is that we tend to remember all the occasions when two things happened together, but forget all of the other times when they did not. This gives us a biased view of causes and effects that we remember easily, because the human brain is predisposed to looking for, and remembering, patterns that can be used as survival rules-of-thumb," according to NASA.

MYTH: Solar Eclipses foretell major life changes and events about to happen

"This is a common interpretation found in astrological forecasts, which are themselves based upon coincidences and non-scientific beliefs in how celestial events control human behavior. A common qualification is that if the eclipse doesn't foretell a change in your life it may foretell a change in that of your friends. This is a logically-flawed used of confirmation bias in which you prove a cause-and-effect relationship by ignoring failures and only consider successful forecasts. There is nothing other than human psychology that connects eclipses with future events in your life," NASA explains.
Madhya Pradesh seeks relocation of African Cheetahs from Kuno: Here's why

New Delhi

oi-Deepika S

The Madhya Pradesh government shot a letter to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to find a new habitat for some of the cheetahs brought to Kuno National Park from Africa amid concern over space.

Kuno National Park is now home to 23 Cheetahs. Of these, eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia, while 12 more were translocated from South Africa. One of the Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, died while another female, Siyaya, delivered four cubs.

The Kuno National Park which has a core area of 748 sq km, and its surrounding 487 sq km buffer zone can accommodate only nine to 10 cheetahs as the big cat's territory is spread over 300 to 800 square km.

Two cheetahs, Asha and Oban are sneaking out frequently exploring a large part of the buffer area. The Kuno forest officials have deployed two teams of 18 officials around the clock to monitor cheetahs in the wild.

"For monitoring 17 cheetahs in the wild, we have at least 126 forest officials equipped with drones, vehicles, and wireless sets. Having so many people inside the park for tracking would disturb the natural habitat. So, we have requested the NTCA to find a new home for the Cheetahs," an official told Hindustan Times.

According to the Cheetah Action Plan the Gandhi Sagar-Bhainsrorgarh wildlife Sanctuaries complex in MP and Rajasthan, Nauradehi Sanctuary in MP, and Shahgarh Bulge and Mukundara in Rajasthan are found suitable for Cheetah habitat.

Out of these, the Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur is likely to be the second home for the Cheetahs.

Cheetah Oban ventures into Tiger territory

Meanwhile, the male cheetah Oban wandered into the Madhav National Park in the Shivpuri district where two tigers were released recently as part of a reintroduction project.

This is the second time so far this month that five-year-old Oban, one of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia last year, has sneaked out of Kuno park.

Amid the fears of a conflict between the two big cats, officials said "There are tigers in the (Madhav) national park, but this will not create any problems, as all animals can protect themselves considering the danger".

Cheetah, once roamed freely in Indian territories were last seen in 1947. As per records, India's last three cheetahs were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests of Koriya District, Chhattisgarh State.
Fresh CCTV footage has been released showing the leadup to the fatal shooting of Mahmoud "Brownie" Ahmad in Sydney.
Rudds appointment marks the first time a former Australian prime minister has taken the post of US ambassador, in a move likely to boost Canberras standing.
The government of Estonia has approved a decision on Thursday to send a batch of large-caliber artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

"A new batch of assistance from Estonia includes 155mm ammunition. In addition, Estonia will provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with night vision devices and ammunition for small arms," the Defense Ministry of Estonia said.

"Estonia's initiative to send 1 million shells to Ukraine has been approved by the EU with unprecedented speed, and now Ukraine needs prompt practical decisions from European allies," Defense Minister of Estonia Hanno Pevkur said.

He also announced a meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov at a meeting within the Ramstain format to discuss how else Estonia can support Ukraine.

Currently, air defense systems and ammunition are the most pressing needs of Ukraine, the minister said.

To solve this problem, Estonia proposed the EU member states at the February summit to purchase together at least 1 million 155mm ammunitions.

On March 20, at a joint meeting of the EU defense and foreign ministers, it was decided to supply 1 million artillery ammunition, including 155mm ammunition, to Ukraine within twelve months, until March 20, 2024.

This decision was also approved by the heads of states and governments at the EU Summit on March 24.
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The European Commission announced on Thursday that Ukraine has joined the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union.

"Today, Ukraine becomes a Participating State of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism  the European solidarity framework that helps countries overwhelmed by a disaster," the European Union said on the communique.

According to the document, Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic signed on Thursday in Kyiv on behalf of the European Union an agreement on granting Ukraine full membership in the Civil Protection Mechanism.

Since February 2022, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been sending emergency assistance to Ukraine from all over the European Union. As part of this assistance, more than 88,000 tonnes of rescue equipment, food and medicines were delivered.

"Now, by being a full member, Ukraine will also be able to dispatch aid via the Mechanism at a time another country finds itself in a crisis," the officials said in Brussels.

Ukraine has officially become the 36th member of the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism, European Commissioner Lenarcic and EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said.

As Maasikas said on Twitter, from the Ukrainian side, the agreement was signed by Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko.

"The Mechanism has provided thousands of tons of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since 2022, now Ukraine will have a seat at the table as well," Maasikas said.

Lenarcic, who signed the document on behalf of the EU, welcomed Ukraine with accession.

"I congratulate Ukraine on its accession to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism! The EU civil protection now forms a team of 36 countries, working towards one common goal  to help people in need wherever they are. Because we are stronger together," he said on Twitter.
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BGaming joins forces with Geogrator to Bring State-of-the-Art iGaming Solutions to Georgia

Published April 20, 2023 by OCR Editor

BGaming, a leading provider of iGaming solutions, has teamed up with Geogrator, a prominent technology company, to bring cutting-edge iGaming solutions to the Georgian market. This strategic partnership aims to deliver innovative and high-quality gaming experiences to players in Georgia, leveraging BGaming's expertise in game development and Geogrator's technological prowess.

Malta, 14th April 2023: BGaming, the rapidly growing provider of online casino games, has revealed a strategic partnership with Geogrator, a compliant aggregator in Georgia. Through this collaboration, BGaming's diverse portfolio of games will be made available to Georgian online casinos via Geogrator's platform, expanding BGaming's presence in the Georgian market.

Leveraging Geogrator's white-label solutions, BGaming aims to meet the growing demand for high-quality gaming experiences by offering engaging slots and other gambling games with innovative features and immersive audiovisual effects.

In addition, this partnership will enable Geogrator's clients to provide their players with the latest and most exciting gaming offerings from BGaming, further enhancing the overall gaming experience in Georgia.

Olga Levshina, Head of Sales at BGaming, said:

We're thrilled to announce our new partnership with Geogrator, which marks expanding our presence in Georgia. Together, we'll be able to further our reach and offer our exciting games to even more players around the globe.

Nika Mikaberidze, Key Account Manager at Geogrator, said:

We are very excited to announce the partnership between Geogrator and BGaming. BGaming exceeds expectations daily, so we are ready for new challenges and an exciting future with them. Today BGaming offers a wide variety of interesting and entertaining games that will conquer the Georgian market quickly.

In recent news, BGaming has announced a strategic addition to its C-suite with the appointment of Ulf Norder as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). With nearly two decades of experience in the iGaming industry, Norder brings valuable expertise to BGaming's leadership team. Moreover, BGaming has also revealed plans to expand its presence across Eurasia, including venturing into the Asian market. This strategic move demonstrates BGaming's commitment to growth and its vision to establish a strong foothold in key markets, further positioning itself as a leading player in the iGaming industry.

About ESA Gaming

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Melbourne: In the wake of a surge in fraudulent applications from South Asia seeking to work not study in this country, at least five Australian universities have placed bans or restrictions on students from some Indian states, according to a media report.

Australia is on track for its biggest-ever annual intake of Indian students, topping 2019's high watermark of 75,000.

But the current surge has prompted concerns from lawmakers and the education sector about the integrity of Australia's immigration system and the long-term impact on the nation's lucrative international education market, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The volume of students arriving has come back a lot stronger than anyone was expecting, said Jon Chew from global education firm 'Navitas'.

We knew there would be a lot of pent-up demand, but there has also been a surge in non-genuine students, Chew was quoted as saying.

With many applications deemed by universities not to meet Australian visa requirements that they are a genuine temporary entrant coming solely for education, universities are putting restrictions in place to pre-empt their risk rating being downgraded, the report said.

An investigation by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers has obtained emails from within Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, the University of Wollongong, Torrens University, and agents working for Southern Cross University that show the crackdown on applications from Indian students.

Those universities that have restricted access to some Indian states are concerned Home Affairs will reduce their ability to fast-track student visas because of the number of applicants who are actually seeking to work not study in Australia.

Perth's Edith Cowan University in February placed an outright ban on applicants from the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, then in March, Victoria University increased restrictions on student applications from eight Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

These restrictions came just days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited India, in part to celebrate Australia's education links and announce a new agreement with Australia's universities and colleges that would, he said, herald the most comprehensive and ambitious arrangement agreed to by India with any country.

Crucially, the agreement included a mutual recognition of qualifications between Australia and India, which will make travelling to either country for university study easier.

The University of Wollongong in March also ratcheted up conditions on its genuine temporary entrant test on students from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nigeria and other countries deemed a risk (of students not being a genuine temporary entrant) by the Department of Home Affairs.

A spokeswoman for Adelaide's Torrens University said it too was now looking carefully at each area where our applications come from after the university told The Times Higher Education in March that it was considering only very strong applications from Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab, the report added.

(With inputs from PTI)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the participants of the International Summit of Cities and Regions to develop security infrastructure.

I invite all of you to already build direct relations with our Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and, accordingly, with the help of the Congress, with Ukrainian communities in order to start joint actions as soon as possible and jointly build a new system of protection of our common way of life. Open, democratic, free life based on very simple things, on cooperation, he said, speaking at the summit in Kyiv on Thursday.

According to him, "the Ukrainian victory should bring new security standards, new opportunities to build and defend together. Having carried out the decentralization reform, we ensured respect for each community, gave tools for the implementation of each community."

The Russian system, Zelenskyy said, is trying to make it common to mock people, to devalue life. "The Ukrainian system, like the normal European system, is absolutely the opposite. Our strength lies in people, communities, and the ability to act for a common goal. Including decentralized," he said.

"If we consider this war as a confrontation of ideas, together with the victory of our state, we will also note the victory of the idea that people are important. All our communities, every town, every village. Instead of the ruins that Russia brings us, we will restore a European, free life," the president said.
ADEN: Witnesses and Houthi media have reported that a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa led to the death of at least 78 people as hundreds gathered in a school to receive aid. Several people were injured, including 13 who were in critical condition, according to Al Masirah TV, a television news outlet run by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which cited the director of health in Sanaa.

The stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior's spokesperson said in a statement. Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive the donations, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, according to two witnesses involved in the rescue effort who spoke to Reuters.

Yemen has been embroiled in an eight-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people. Photo: Reuters

A video posted by Houthi television on the Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting, and reaching out to be pulled to safety. Security staff fought to push people back and control the crowd. Another video after the stampede showed scores of discarded shoes, a crutch, and clothing on the steps of the building, and forensic investigators in protective white suits sorting through personal belongings.

The two merchants responsible for organizing the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway, the interior ministry said. Yemen has been embroiled in an eight-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people, wrecked the economy, and pushed millions into hunger. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014. The conflict has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said the stampede was the result of the Yemeni people suffering "the worst global humanitarian crisis" after eight years of fighting. "We hold the countries of aggression responsible for what happened and for the bitter reality that the Yemeni people live in because of the aggression and blockade," he said on Twitter.

Riyadh and Tehran agreed in March to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016, and prisoner exchanges this month between the two sides have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict. The top negotiator of Yemen's Houthi movement said recent peace talks with Saudi Arabia had made progress, and further discussions would be held to iron out remaining differences.

(With inputs from Reuters)


Docs leak suspect Jack Teixeira makes 1st court appearance The 21-year-old Air National Guardsman has been charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense secrets.

(Image by YouTube, Channel: ABC News) Details DMCA





By Bob Gaydos

I suspect I am not alone in wondering how, in the name of Jack Ryan, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman trying to impress an online gamer chat group called Thug Shaker Central, got his hands on hundreds of pages of top-secret intelligence briefings on the war in Ukraine, U.S. spying on Russia and lots of other countries (friend and foe) and posted it online, thereby presenting a potential whopper of an international crisis and a not-so-small for-real embarrassment for the Pentagon.

I also wonder how, in the names of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a young man who was part of the military, intelligence and computer communities, could not (if the allegations against him are true) appreciate the potential risk in human lives of exposing such information to the worldwide web. How could he not process the difference between real-life warfare and video gaming?

And finally, I wonder how, in the name of basic common sense, could a young man apparently unable or uninterested in making such vital national security distinctions be granted access to so much "secret" information?

More, as they say, will be revealed, but we already know enough to be concerned.

So far, there are apparently two threads of "explanation" coming from Pentagon and intelligence services:

Yes, the information leaked was important for military and intelligence-gathering reasons, but their dissemination is survivable. Ukrainian officials are even said to be glad for the leak, because it exposes their true need for more military support. Young people in the military are given all sorts of important responsibilities and are expected to abide by the rules. In fact, they are essential to the storing and processing of all sorts of important intelligence material.

This is all sorts of troubling. President Biden has ordered a review of the process of granting clearance to classified material. The Pentagon says it will do so. But what exactly will it do?

Reassessing the actual classifying of documents would be a good place to start. How many secrets do we actually need? The people who collect them are likely to always think they need more. Maybe some outside eyes are needed.

Then there's the issue of who gets to actually look at the secrets. Is it crucial for a 21-year-old living on Cape Cod and serving in the National Guard to have what appears to be easy access to classified reports on the war in Ukraine and USA spying on Russia? Was there anything in his background to suggest an inability to comprehend that casual dissemination of the material he was privy to was a serious crime?

The airman, Jack Teixeira, apparently knew what he did was against the law, the FBI says, because he was searching the topic of "leaks" on the web the day before he was arrested.

In response to the online leaks, the Defense Department is reviewing its processes to protect classified information, reducing the number of people who have access, and reminding the force that "the responsibility to safeguard classified information is a lifetime requirement for each individual granted a security clearance." So said Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks in a memo issued following Teixeira's arrest.

That's all well and good and necessary. But the Defense Department also admits that it has long been concerned about the proliferation and popularity of video war games with many of its younger members and cites its inability to monitor such games for any illegal activity. That's the purview of the FBI. It's probably safe to assume that some agents will be working on their video-gaming skills in the near future.

Meanwhile, Airman Teixeira, apparently well-schooled in the victories and defeats of virtual reality, is about to get a crash course in real-life consequences. Wonder if he'll notice the difference.

rjgaydos@gmail.com

Bob Gaydos is writer-in/residence at zestoforange.com.
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Today's remarkable tax-time look at what TomDispatch regular Rebecca Gordon calls "the non-profit industrial complex" reminded me of just how lucky I've been running this website all these years. As a start, I've had you, the readers of TomDispatch, who have so generously donated to this site to keep it going independently of much else. And reading through Gordon's piece, my own luck once again came to mind. Let me just quote here from part of a fund-raising letter I wrote in December 2022:

"Once upon a time, only a few years after I started TomDispatch, I met a man named Patrick Lannan. I was invited to Santa Fe where the Lannan Foundation was located because Eduardo Galeano, a wonderful Uruguayan author I'd worked with in the 1980s (when I was an editor at Pantheon Books) "" I had published his classic Memory of Fire trilogy "" had been invited to give a talk there. Until then, I'd never met him, so when the Lannan Foundation invited me, despite the long trip from New York, it was something of a thrill. And in the process, I also met Patrick. "To make a long story short, he took a liking to TomDispatch and, at some point so many years ago, promised to support me in my work for the rest of his life. Patrick was, I have to say, truly a man of his word. I got grant payments every year from his foundation that covered my own salary and so I never had to take a cent of the money you readers contributed to TD. That went instead to the authors writing for the site and the wonderful crew who have worked with me all these years. Unfortunately, as happens to all of us sooner or later, Patrick died in July at 83. Now, his foundation is winding down and, partway into next year, TD will stop receiving those payments."

And that's where this old guy is today. But think about it as you read Gordon's piece. In all these years, the crucial foundation I dealt with never once tried to reshape or redirect TomDispatch in any way. Gordon reminds me of what a lucky guy I was, foundationally speaking. Now, check her piece out and, if the mood strikes you, visit the TD donation page and do your damnedest! Tom

A Deal With the Devil

Non-Profit Status and Political Action

By Rebecca Gordon

We've just passed through tax time again. (Unless, like me, you live in one of several states ravaged by recent extreme weather events brought on by climate change. In that case, you can wait until October.) It's also that moment when the War Resisters League "" slogan: "If you work for peace, stop paying for war" "" publishes its invaluable annual "Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes" pie chart and publicizes a series of Tax Day events nationwide.

For many of the rest of us, it's time to pat ourselves on the back for the charitable donations we made to tax-deductible organizations in 2022. Time to pat ourselves on the back for being clever and generous enough to "do well by doing good," right? Time, perhaps, to wonder why, even when we give to organizations seeking radical change, the IRS still rewards us with a tax deduction. Do the feds really support organized opposition to, for example, the military-industrial complex? Or is there more to the story of what my students sometimes refer to as the "nonprofit-industrial complex"?

What's That Tax Deduction Really Worth?

For many decades, people who give away money have been schooled to seek a tax deduction in return. We're encouraged to be suspicious of organizations that don't qualify under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Tax Code, which offers a bonus for our generosity. We're told that the federal government will bless any organization that's really doing something useful with the magic wand of that coveted tax-deductible status.

Can't charitable donations save us thousands of tax dollars? Doesn't that make insisting on such a tax deduction the grown-up thing to do?

Not, as it turns out, for most people. This belief that charitable write-offs also pay off is based on a misunderstanding about how such tax deductions work. Suppose you give a qualifying charity $100. That will reduce your tax bill by the same amount, right? Alas, no. That $100-dollar gift will reduce the amount of your income that you pay taxes on by half the amount of your gift, or $50. This means that if you, like most working folks, pay federal taxes at an effective rate of less than 15%, the amount you save on taxes by giving $100 is less than 15% of $50, or a whopping $7.50 "" the price of a couple of fancy coffee drinks.

But giving to get a tax deduction is even less financially advantageous than that. Suppose you're part of a married couple that earned $120,000 in 2022. Lucky you. If you were taxed for every penny of that amount, your federal income tax bill would be $17,634, an effective tax rate of 14.7%. (Look here to see how it works.)

What if you decide to tithe, donating 10% of that $120,000, or $12,000, to qualifying charities. Such giving would reduce your taxable income by $6,000, bringing it down to $114,000. Your federal income tax bill would then come down to $16,314, saving you about $1,320. Not bad, eh?

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"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August, 2018)



Rupert Murdoch - Nuff said.

(Image by DonkeyHotey) Details DMCA



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As it happens (in part because I have been on this Earth for such a long time), I have seen every James Bond film, in a movie theater, and for many of them, again on television re-runs. One of my most favorites is the 1997 film, "Tomorrow Never Dies," starring Pierce Brosnan and Michelle Yeoh. (Yes, that Michelle Yeoh, who just won as Oscar for Best Actress.) As for Pierce Brosnan, while my favorite overall Bond was [The Saint's] Roger Moore, who always played the role with a twinkle in his eye, Pierce Brosnan was the only one of the succession of other fine actors who played the role, who one could picture as a Royal Navy Commander [and after all, the character in the series was known as Commander Bond] standing on the bridge of a Royal Navy Frigate, in his Burberry London duffle coat, the frigate on convoy duty in the North Atlantic on a cold February morning in 1943.

"Tomorrow Never Dies" is one of the most directly political films of the series, for it concerns a plot by a major media magnet (mainly newspapers back in the 90s when it was made) to trick China and the United Kingdom in going to war with each other so that he could (somehow) get an exclusive to the coverage of the war, and thus expand his media empire. The villain, one Eliot Carver, is played brilliantly by Johnathan Pryce (one of the great character actors of our era). His totally evil character (getting tons of people killed and much property destroyed so that he could sell more papers) appeared to be roughly based on Rupert Murdoch. Indeed, at the time, there was much mention in various media about that happenstance.

The plot can be briefly summarized, with the help of Wikipedia, as follows.

Bond is sent by his supervisor "M" at MI6 (British Military Intelligence) to investigate an Asian terrorist arms bazaar. Through a convoluted series of events (aren't they always convoluted in Bond films? --- indeed half the fun), he discovers this plot of Carver's. In the course of the back-and-forths (and there are always back-and-forths) Carver manages to sink a Royal Navy frigate (there they are again). Interestingly enough, it turns out that Carver had released news article of the event hours before MI6 became aware of it. There is much too-ing and fro-ing with "encoders," beautiful women (in addition to Wai Lin, Michelle Yeoh's character), communication to the Chinese government of the Carver plot, more too-ing and fro-ing, culminating in Bond and Wai Lin getting onto Carver's ship (a stealth one as the plot would have it), killing Carver and disposing of his ship, and then of course sharing a moment (or two) of romance at the end.

So why did I deal with this piece of cinematic history, back then? Well of course it's the real-life, really horrifying, parallels that are played out right now, before our very eyes (except that Murdoch is very much alive and I surely don't wish him dead --- "Succession" be damned). Murdoch and his media empire has filled a very real and very important (if evil) role in the history-as-it-is-developed of the United States and the role of the Republican Party (or what I call the "Republo-fascist Party") in determining what that history shall be, from their support of Trump leading up the 2016 election to their role in promoting the post 2020-election "Big Lie," even while, as discovery in the Dominion case has shown, they didn't believe a word of it. (If somebody wrote this stuff, nobody would believe it. Murdoch is nothing if not imaginative.) And so, for now anyway, they have met their comeuppance with the "Dominion Law Suit" and its Settlement.

OK. So, what happened (in summary, from The Times).

"Fox News Settles Defamation Suit for $787.5 Million, Dominion Says. Fox News reached a last-minute settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which accused Fox News of pushing conspiracies that harmed the company. 'The truth matters. Lies have consequences,' a lawyer for Dominion Voting Systems said during a news conference announcing the Settlement. Indeed, Fox News abruptly agreed on Tuesday to pay $787.5 million to resolve the suit over the network's promotion of misinformation about the 2020 election, averting a lengthy and embarrassing trial just as a packed courtroom was seated in anticipation of hearing opening statements."

But what will this really mean for Fox, aside from the money, which, as of now, they seem to be able to manage. (There are other suits coming, e.g., for a firm named "Smartmatic," and there may be other legal actions, e.g., from unhappy Board-members. What will happen then of course remains to be seen.) However (and this is hardly an original thought), from the perspective of the pubic interest, is Fox really going to stop lying, or at least mis-representing the truth (and there is a difference)? Well, as numerous commentators have noted, judging by the statement released immediately after the Settlement announcement, it appears as if things might not change that much.

Here's the statement Fox released immediately after the Settlement announcement: "We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects Fox's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues."

Wow! How carefully crafted is that? Fox didn't say that their claims about Dominion were false. They simply recognized that the Court said that. With all of the reams of evidence released about their commitment to lying about the results of 2020 election, while knowing too that what they were saying was false, they reference their "continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards" (defined how, one might wonder?) Talk about chutzpa . All they said was that "certain claims" it made about Dominion were false. (Ain't the passive just a wonderful tense?)

"[From The Times .] The trial would have been a spectacle. Mr. Murdoch, whose family controls the Fox media empire, was slated to be one of Dominion's first witnesses this week. Star anchors including Sean Hannity, Mr. Carlson and Ms. Bartiromo were likely to be called at other points." (Indeed, just like Bond's Carver, Murdoch would have been even more exposed than he and they already have been.) "The settlement spare[d] Fox a trial that would have gone on for weeks and put many of the company's most prominent figures --- from the media mogul Rupert Murdoch to hosts like Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo --- on the stand. The case and the expected trial were significant because they raised the prospect for an elusive judgment in the post-Trump era: very few allies of the former president's have been held legally accountable for their roles in spreading the falsehoods that undermined confidence in the country's democratic process and cast Mr. Biden's victory as illegitimate. Polls show that large numbers of Republicans still believe the 2020 election was tainted."

OK. So, catch that last sentence. The Fox lies-based-propaganda has been very effective. Fox is already doing the best it can to maintain that fiction with its viewers, at least as of April 18, when the settlement was announced and, on the 19th, as well. Shortly before 5 p.m., the Fox News website had no mention of the settlement. On the news channel, the host Neil Cavuto was discussing a parking garage collapse in Lower Manhattan and how scammers are using artificial intelligence. For that evening, although I didn't listen to every word, I heard nothing spoken about the Settlement on Watter's show (through a substitute), or Carlson's or Hannity's. As far as Murdoch's newspapers were concerned, on the day after, though the matter was covered in The Wall Street Journal , it was not in The New York Post .

Further from the NYT: "Under the terms of the settlement, Fox News will not have to apologize or admit to spreading false claims on network programming, according to a person familiar with the details of the agreement.

"Just before Tuesday's settlement, Martin Garbus, a veteran First Amendment lawyer who has been involved in dozens of libel suits, said that he was taken aback that the case had even gotten so close to trial. 'I am astonished it had not settled,' Mr. Garbus wrote in an email.

After the announcement in the courthouse, Mr. Garbus said he could see how the outcome made sense: 'With the settlement, everybody wins. Fox goes its way. Dominion gets cash.' "

Really, Mr. Garbus, "everybody wins!?!" I don't think so. I have heard a good deal of post hoc analysis from my side of the political spectrum, and none of it is positive. For a fine summary of it, let's turn to the ex-Republican Charlie Sykes, on The Bulwark .

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No Apologies for Fox's Costly Lies

Winning the battle. But still losing the war.

CHARLIE SYKES: Morning Shots. at The Bulwark (4/19/23)

Click Here

"[As the Dominion lawyer said:] 'The truth matters. Lies have consequences. Over two years ago, a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officials across America into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories causing grievous harm to Dominion and the country.'

"Maybe. But I can't shake the feeling that even though Dominion has won the battle, the rest of us continue to lose the war. 'The settlement represents justice for Dominion,' tweeted David French, 'but by no means does it cleanse Fox of its corruption. Liars must be fired. Viewers must be informed. The company must apologize.' But none of that happened. There was no apology, no admission, and no on air-retraction or correction. No has been fired. On the network last night [April 18], the settlement was barely acknowledged.

"There will be no ultimate reckoning, no ruling that they behaved with actual malice, no punitive damages. Fox avoided six weeks of bad headlines and potential new bombshells. There will be no parade of Fox executives and hosts to the witness stand. No testimony from Rupert. No boozy appearances by Judge Janine. Fox just paid more than three-quarters of billion dollars so we wouldn't have to see the sweaty cross examination of Sean Hannity.

"Afterward, Dominion's president and lawyers said that Fox had 'admitted to telling lies about Dominion.' No. They didn't. That's a comforting spin on the settlement, but Fox quite carefully admitted nothing; they simply acknowledged the existence of the judge's rulings that certain claims were false. Fox didn't say it lied . . . . It just said that the judge's rulings were there.

"Let's be clear: As a business matter, the settlement is completely defensible. The lawyers for Dominion are not tribunes of democracy; they were serving the interest of their clients. Which they did spectacularly well. As legal analyst Harry Litman wrote yesterday afternoon:

'The money of course serves no public purpose. An apology would have been meaningful as part of national accounting for the Big Lie. That was a very big opportunity here, which now goes away. Not Dominion's fault--it's the adversary system for you-- but a shame.'

"In other words, this is great for Dominion. But the rest of us will have to wait for the accountability that has proved so elusive. There's no reason to think that this will cost Fox much of its audience; or that it will change have much effect on the network's behavior. Tens of millions of Americans still believe the election lies; and the Liar in Chief is, once again, going to become a fixture in prime time [emphasis added]."

And there is no James Bond who can come flying in, to sort out the whole mess.

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Two further notes, from myself.

First, from the "dealing with the liars in terms of being able to stop the lying," it did nothing. However, from the perspective of the free press, that it got settled at this juncture is very important. If the case had gone to trial, Fox almost certainly would have lost. And then there would have been appeals that eventually would have made their way to the Supreme Court. Where that paragon of judicial virtue Clarence Thomas would have made a very determined assault on the "actual malice" standard which has played such an important role in protecting the freedom of the press. So at least this time around, we don't have to worry about that one.

Second, for their future propaganda efforts, Murdoch and staff will get some very careful wordsmiths to put just enough qualifiers into their their talkers' false statements, to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again, like "it has been brought to our attention that . . ." and "while we have not yet been able to independently confirm the following, reliable sources have told us that . . ."

And finally, see the carefully thought-through Advice-for-Fox from the Washington Post's Alexandra Petri: "Opinion After the Dominion suit, things here at Fox will be different!" by Alexandra Petri, Washington Post, April 20, 2023 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/20/fox-news-dominion-settlement-memo-satire/?)

In sum, she says: "1. [Fox needs] more Credulous Anchors; 2. No More Emails or Texts!; 3. Nots [that is, use the word frequently and randomly]; and 4. Money [as in 'Critically, we need to make more money']. In sum, by implementing these simple policies, we [says Ms. Petri] can ensure that Fox continues successfully impersonating a news network for decades to come --- or until the end of the republic, whichever comes first!"

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Portions of this column were published in an earlier one, "How a James Bond Movie Foresaw Murdoch's Fox News Role as the Trump Promoter," Click Here

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Facebook earned more than $110 billion last year by selling advertisements targeted at its users, powered by the data Facebook collected from them.

Now, Facebook users have the chance to collect something back.

A federal judge has tentatively approved an agreement between Facebooks parent company, Meta, and lawyers for U.S. Facebook users to settle multiple class-action lawsuits brought in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018. Meta denies the allegations that it shared users data with third parties without permission, but it has nevertheless agreed to pay $725 million into a fund to settle the cases.

Final approval of the settlement isnt expected for several months, but the preliminary decision opened the door for U.S. Facebook users to file claims  in essence, putting themselves in line for whatever money is paid. How much you collect will depend on three factors: how big the attorney fees and expenses are, how many of the estimated 240 million U.S. Facebook users file claims, and how many years you spent on Facebook.

The proposed settlement would give 25% of the fund to the plaintiffs attorneys for legal fees, plus an unspecified amount for legal expenses. That will leave something less than $544 million to be split among those who file claims.

So maybe dont tell your friends about this?

Heres what you need to know about the proposed settlement, how to file a claim, and what your options are if you dont want to be part of the class covered by the agreement.

What are the lawsuits about?

Facebook has been accused many times over the years of hoovering up personal information, then deploying it in ways that users hadnt known about or consented to. The spate of lawsuits covered by the settlement claimed that the network shared or otherwise made personal information accessible without permission to third parties, including app developers, business partners, advertisers and data brokers, then failed to monitor what was done with it.

The most notorious of these third parties was a personality quiz app that collected information from about 270,000 people who downloaded the app and, unbeknownst to them, their Facebook friends as well, including an estimated 71 million Americans. The app developer sold the data to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that used the insights to try to sway voters on its clients behalf.

After the scandal came to light, the Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion for violating a 2012 order to protect users privacy. But that money went to the U.S. Treasury, not to the millions of users whose privacy was violated.

The class-action lawsuit, by contrast, aims to compensate Facebook users.

The Notice of Proposed Settlement lays out the steps youll need to take if you want to claim a piece of the settlement or hold out for something else. Here are the key points:

Who can file claims?

Anyone who was in the United States and had an account on the social network between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022.

How do you file?

By filling out a form online or downloading the claim form and then mailing it to Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, c/o Settlement Administrator, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

What information do you have to provide?

Just your Facebook user name, or the phone number or email address associated with your account, along with your contact information and your choice of payment (prepaid MasterCard, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, check). If you are no longer a Facebook user, youll need to provide the month and year you joined and the month and year you quit.

What if you had more than one Facebook account?

You can submit only one claim. The settlement administrator suggests filing a claim for the account you held the longest.

Is there a penalty for a false claim?

Yes. By signing and submitting the form, you are swearing under penalty of perjury that the information in your claim is true.

Whats the deadline for submitting a claim?

Online claims must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on Aug. 25, 2023. If youre mailing your form, it must be postmarked by that date.

What if you dont want to be part of the class?

Youll have to opt out by July 26; otherwise, any claim you might have against Meta for issues covered by the settlement will be extinguished. You can opt out only for yourself, and can do so online or by mail, following these instructions.

What if you object to the proposed settlement?

If you are part of the class covered by the lawsuit, you can submit a claim and still argue that the settlement is inappropriate for some reason  for example, because the settlement amount is too low or the attorney fees are too large. The catch is, you cant ask the court to change the terms; it can only approve or reject the settlement as proposed. Objections must be filed in writing, either by mail or in person at one of the offices of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, following these instructions.

When will you be paid?

The court is scheduled to hold a final approval hearing Sept. 7. Payments cant begin until the settlement agreement is approved and attorney fees and expenses are determined.

How much will you receive?

This depends on how much money is left in the $725 million pot after fees and expenses are paid. The agreement also proposes to pay $15,000 to each of the plaintiffs who represented the class; the eight named in the settlement would reduce the pot by $120,000. To divvy up the rest of the money, the settlement administrator will assign claimants one point for each month they had an activated Facebook account during the period covered by the lawsuit. The administrator will add up the points, calculate how much is to be paid per point, then award claimants according to the number of points they accumulated.

-- Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times

2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Nine days after an Oregon State Police trooper shot and killed a carjacking suspect on Interstate 5 outside Salem, a Marion County grand jury unanimously concluded the deadly force was justified.

Evidence presented to the grand jury included testimony from 12 witnesses, autopsy results and video and photographs from the scene. The Salem Police Department led the investigation, which closed two miles of the interstate for 10 hours on April 10, the day of the shooting.

Just before 9 a.m. that day, Trooper Andrew Tuttle pulled over while driving northbound on I-5 after spotting a stalled semi-trailer truck. Thats when he saw its driver being held up at gunpoint, he told investigators.

Tuttle, a U.S. Navy veteran, has worked for Oregon State Police since 2016.

The troopers body-worn camera and his patrol cars dashboard camera captured the encounter in its entirety.

As he pulled up to the semi-trailer, Tuttle saw a man  later identified as 31-year-old Felipe Amezcua Manzo  in the road with a gun in his hand, he said. Manzo was trying to force open the passenger door of the truck, and he appeared to point the gun at the truck driver and also at the driver of a nearby SUV who had pulled over, Tuttle said.

When Manzo noticed Tuttle, he started to run east toward a CarMax lot adjacent to I-5.

Tuttle turned on his patrol-car lights and sirens and pulled out his gun as he stepped from the car, according to his account of the incident.

An evidence marker is placed next to the suspect's gun found at the scene of the deadly shooting along I-5. (Marion County District Attorney's Office)

Manzo ran to the highways grass shoulder and down into a ditch, the video from Tuttles body-worn camera shows. The trooper yelled at the suspect to get on the ground at least six times, the video shows, but the man ignored the commands and kept moving away from the officer.

Tuttle followed the suspect into the ditch. Thats when Manzo turned around, aimed the gun at the Oregon State Police trooper and started firing. Tuttle returned fire.

In the video from the body-worn camera, several shots can be heard.

The trooper felt something hit his left arm, he later told investigators, and he started back up the incline to the side of I-5, trying to gain cover from the gunfire.

As Tuttle retreated, he continued to return fire, unloading the remaining rounds in his guns chamber.

When Tuttle ran back to his patrol car for cover and to reload his gun, he saw Manzo aiming at him and fire again. This time, he noticed a blue light or laser coming from Manzos gun. It momentarily blinded him, Tuttle said. He yelled again, three times, Get on the ground!

Tuttle fired back but Manzo kept moving toward him, he said.

The trooper reloaded a third time from behind his patrol car and fired at the suspect at least 10 more times.

Manzo fell to the grass, Tuttle said. The body camera footage doesnt show this.

Tuttle called dispatch for the first time since the shootout began, said shots fired and that the suspect was down.

More officers arrived on the scene less than a minute later, the video shows. An Oregon State Police trooper checked Tuttle for any wounds. Tuttle had an abrasion on his left arm that didnt require medical attention. Its unclear if he was grazed by a bullet or hurt when he fell in the ditch as he retreated from Manzo, according to the Marion County District Attorneys office, which sent out a news release about the grand-jury findings Wednesday evening.

Manzo was shot in the chest, back and head, according to the report. Officers on the scene tried to provide medical aid, but he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy later confirmed Manzo died from six gunshot wounds.

At the scene, a gun with a laser sight and blue light were found next to Manzos body, police said. Police also found a vehicle associated with Manzo at the scene.

The investigation revealed that, in total, Tuttle fired 47 shots and Manzo fired 13 during the exchange, police said.

Before the shootout with Tuttle, video from a camera affixed to the semi-truck recorded Manzo pointing his gun at several cars on the interstate.

Manzo had at least six previous felony convictions in Oregon and California dating to 2010, including for second-degree robbery, third and fourth-degree assault and driving under the influence of intoxicants.

The grand jury wasnt informed of his criminal record, the Marion County District Attorneys office said.

The grand jury determined Tuttles use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself and others after Manzo had committed or attempted to commit a violent felony. After Manzo didnt comply with the troopers commands, no additional alternatives, such as verbal de-escalation, were possible in the circumstance, the jury concluded.

Since 2019, Oregon State Police troopers have fatally shot seven people.

 Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadens
Cheryl Wakerhauser was out on her regular morning run Monday when a dog suddenly sprung from a fenced-off vacant lot along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and pushed her to the ground.

The brown pit bull viciously bit into her legs, right arm and back, leaving her with more than 35 puncture wounds.

All I saw was his face and his teeth, said Wakerhauser, 47, owner of the now-closed Pix Patisserie who still operates the adjacent Pix-O-Matic vending machines filled with pastries.

The next day, after spending five hours in a hospital emergency department, she posted a photo on social media of her bloodied arm riddled with deep, jagged wounds and lambasted the city for not keeping people safe.

Wakerhausers attack was the latest in a series of unprovoked assaults that have prompted others to raise the same questions. One man died and another was brutally beaten at a downtown bus stop last year. A man punched a visitor from California and his young daughter last July along the eastside waterfront. And a 3-year-old was shoved onto MAX tracks by a stranger last December.

Shes angry and frustrated that the parking lot and graffiti-covered office building on Hawthorne Boulevard have attracted trespassers, including one who allowed a dog to run around off leash that day.

The man with the dog, identified by police as Theron D. Bates, also failed to come to Wakerhausers aid as she lay on the sidewalk, she said.

Officers arrived to find Bates running away, police said. When they stopped and arrested him, Bates swallowed what they suspected was fentanyl and was treated at the scene for a suspected overdose, police said. He was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant.

Im not blaming people having a rough time out there, but theres people not following the rules, Wakerhauser told The Oregonian/OregonLive. The houseless and the housed, we are all living in this world together. We all need safety. We all need peace of mind.

Im not saying I have the answers. Im a pastry chef. But this is serious. We cant just keep sweeping this under the rug.

Bates was watching the dog for a friend, authorities said.

The dogs owner, 37-year-old Jessie Miller, told police he was homeless and living on the street, though he wasnt there at the time of the attack but arrived soon afterward. He said he had given his pit bull Bubbie to a friend to babysit, according to county officials and records.

Bates was at the lot at 4511 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. when the dog got past the fence and attacked Wakerhauser.

Bates approached Wakerhauser on the sidewalk only after a motorist slowed and honked to get someones attention, she said.

She was screaming for help when he walked up, told her that the dog wasnt his, put the dog on a leash and ran off, she said.

Police turned the dog over to the Multnomah County Animal Services, which planned to quarantine it at the Troutdale shelter for 10 days to determine if it had rabies. But the owners mother, Marie Miller, convinced the county that she could provide a secure place for the dog to quarantine at her home in Camas.

Animal Services turned the pit bull over to Marie Miller on Tuesday. But by Wednesday, her son had retrieved the dog from her home while she was at work and her son and the dog havent been found, said Julie Sullivan-Springhetti, a county spokesperson.

The county is working to find them, she said by email.

Animal Services leaders are in the process of rewriting their policies to prohibit people from quarantining dogs themselves when their animals have been accused of severe bites, Sullivan-Springhetti said.

Under county code, dogs must be restrained in public by a leash or tether that is less than 8 feet long and under the physical control of a capable person. Allowing a dog to be at-large is an infraction that carries a fine of up to $150 for a first offense. Even if someone else is watching the dog, the owner is generally held responsible.

Wakerhauser said she was unaware that the county had lost control of the dog who mauled her.

Doesnt surprise me at all, unfortunately, she said.

A pit bull allowed to run around this fenced-in, vacant lot at 4511 Southeast Hawthorne Blvd. without a leash got past the fence and sprinted after and mauled Cheryl Wakerhauser as she jogged by Mon. morning, April 17, 2023.Maxine Bernstein | Staff

JUST IN SHOCK

The attack occurred about 9:15 a.m. Monday as Wakerhauser was running east on the north sidewalk of Hawthorne Boulevard, heading back home. She usually runs six days a week.

Dressed in black tights, a long-sleeved black jacket, gloves and a stocking cap, she said she ran past the lot and felt a blow from behind and fell.

She didnt realize what was happening until she felt a dogs teeth clutching her ankle, then one leg, then her other leg.

Help me! Help me! Help me! she said she started screaming. I couldnt see anybody. Cars would drive by, and I tried waving at them.

One woman slowed, turned around and stopped nearby, honking her horn. As the horn was blaring, a man came up from behind her with a leash, grabbed the dog and walked off, she said.

I was just in shock at first, having a mini panic attack, she recalled.

The woman in the car who honked came to her side once the dog was gone and tried to calm her down, help her to breathe.

Wakerhauser said she couldnt stand up. Once paramedics arrived, she could sense they were struck by the severity of her wounds as they cut away her clothes. She said she was afraid to look.

Portland police responded quickly.

Officer Deanna Wesson-Mitchell said she saw a man walking away with the dog about three blocks away on Southeast 45th Avenue and Main Street. He told her he wasnt the owner, was watching the dog for a friend and was going to get the owner.

Wesson-Mitchell convinced him to put the dog in the back of her patrol car. Bates then tried to run away, according to police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen.

Other officers cut Bates off. He then swallowed what police believe was fentanyl and showed immediate signs he was suffering from a drug overdose, Allen said.

Officers administered naloxone and took him to the hospital by ambulance, before taking him to jail on an unrelated probation violation warrant out of Polk County.

Bates, 37, was released from jail Tuesday. One court record from September 2019 shows he has a Grand Ronde address, while a Washington County court record from October 2019 described him as homeless.

One of the more than 35 puncture wounds Cheryl Wakerhauser suffered in the dog attack.Dave Killen / The Oregonian

POSTCARD TO THE CITY

Wakerhauser was taken to Providence Portland Medical Center for treatment.

She received only a couple of stitches, she said, because doctors wanted most of the wounds to drain before stitching them up.

Her legs and her right arm remain bandaged, and shes on antibiotics. She walks slowly due to discomfort in her legs.

Wakerhauser said she considers herself a private person but was so disturbed by what occurred that she felt the need to say something.

She described her attack on Instagram and Facebook and railed against the city for not doing enough to keep its residents safe and address an out of control homeless problem.

She asked why so many buildings are allowed to stand vacant for years in the city, attracting camping, trash and vandalism.

This is not just about eyesore camps and trash. More importantly it is about public safety, mental health, piece (sic) of mind and quality of life for all of us  the housed and unhoused, she wrote. Over and over again, the city government has promised change  But when are we going to see any real change?

She attached the gruesome photo of her mauled arm in one of her posts, saying she was sending it as a postcard to the city or a souvenir (a remembrance in French) that you have a job to do.

When the photo was blurred on Instagram, she posted a photo of Mayor Ted Wheeler, with his Instagram tag, urging others to send him their own souvenirs depicting how other recent events in the city negatively affected their lives, businesses or communities.

Several people who responded to her posts expressed outrage and sympathy. Some agreed the dog attack was reprehensible but took umbrage that Wakerhauser was upset at the homeless population for this one dog attack.

Area residents and storekeepers said people have been trespassing on the vacant, graffiti-covered property that stretches a full block along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, between 45 and 46th avenues.Maxine Bernstein | Staff

BUILDING OWNER TO FORTIFY THE PROPERTY

Winn Wright, who lives next to the vacant building on Hawthorne, said he heard about the dog assault.

He said the building and lot and another vacant lot across the street attract homeless people, graffiti, vandalism, car break-ins and fires.

Its awful. Its really gotten bad, said Wright, who has lived there for four years.

All tenants left the office building in mid-February and the fence went up that week to prevent people from entering, said Chelsea Rooklyn, a spokesperson for owner, Killian Pacific.

The owner is working to fortify the property to turn away trespassers, she said. The company wants to demolish the structure and is working with the city to expedite steps to get a permit to do so, she said.

Wakerhauser said shes tired of the city pledging to clean the city up.

In my mind, its just a lot of talk, a lot of promises. A lot of plans. Show me something, she said.

Wakerhauser is semi-retired. Last summer she closed Pix Patisserie and bar known for its desserts and Champagne selection, but has continued to run the Pix French pastry kitchen on East Burnside Street, which stocks the 24-hour Pix-O-Matic dessert vending machines outside and takes special orders.

She wont be able to run for a while, but is thankful she doesnt need to go to work while she heals.

It was very, very very scary, she said. Im just very grateful it was not worse and that Im still alive.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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The Good Food Awards, a specialty foods show highlighting tasty products made with environmental and social responsibility in mind, will relocate its awards ceremony from San Francisco to Portland for the first time this year.

On its face, the move feels like a match made in slow-food heaven. Portland has dozens of shops small and large focused on specialty foods. Restaurants here take the farm-to-table approach pioneered by Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters  the ceremonys longtime Honorary Host  as a founding principle. And local chefs have long argued  and even fought  for Portlands supremacy over San Francisco when it comes to food.

But now, after more than a decade in San Francisco, Good Food Awards Executive Director Sarah Weiner says the show is moving to Portland for reasons both practical and personal.

On the one hand, Oregons travel organizations  Travel Oregon, Travel Portland  and commodities commissions  the Oregon Dairy and Nutrition Council, the Blackberry and Raspberry Commission, etc.  did something Californias never did: Provide financial support for the awards show and its attendees. Ditto for Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Depending on how things go this year, the move could be permanent.

On the other, Weiner moved to Portland herself five years ago, after falling for the citys laid-back vibe. Several members of the Good Food team live here as well.

(The Good Food Foundation, a nonprofit that works with specialty food and drink makers across the nation, will keep its headquarters in San Francisco for now.)

Last year, the foundation threw a smaller event, the Good Food Mercantile, for the first time in Portland, attracting 14 sponsors, more than double the number gathered for similar events in New York or San Francisco.

We felt embraced by the city, Weiner said.

Despite some typical late-April rain, a welcome dinner for Mercantile sponsors at Southeast Portland restaurant Bar Casa Vale last year sealed the deal for Weiner and the Good Food team.

We had so many sponsors, we thought, lets do a welcome dinner for everyone, putting an Oregon spin on a traditional Spanish green onion festival, Weiner said. They grilled them (calcots, a spring allium beloved in the Catalan region of Spain) out on this big grill, wrapped them in newspaper, and everyone was getting their hands dirty dipping them in romesco sauce. It was just this convivial moment, community coming together in celebration of the harvest.

Oregon typically ranks second behind California in terms of the annual number of entrants for the awards show, Weiner says. In addition to paying an application fee, companies are asked to prove they are an upstanding member of the good food community, committed to equity and inclusion in all levels of their business, among other standards focused on responsible and sustainable practices. This years event drew more than 2,000 entries in categories including beer, cheese, chocolate, honey and pickles.

Local winners from last years ceremony include sambal from Sibeiho, chorizo from Olympia Provisions and a habanero hot sauce from Hot Mama Salsa. This years finalists include smoked geoduck from chef Sara Haumans Tiny Fish Co., yakisoba noodles and sauce from Umi Organics and horseradish vodka from Kachka.

[Related: Here are Oregons 2023 finalists for the Good Food Awards]

Good Food Award winners mark their products with a small blue sticker, a sign of quality that can draw the notice of social media influencers and specialty food stores alike. In the Olympia Provisions cookbook, co-owner Elias Cairo credits early Good Food Awards wins with propelling his budding Portland charcuterie company onto the shelves of San Franciscos influential Bi-Rite Market, Dean & Deluca stores and more.

Cairo, the events master of ceremonies, will be joined by keynote speaker and restaurant sustainability advocate Anthony Myint. Waters, the Chez Panisse owner, has an Earth Day luncheon with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and is unsure if she can attend.

The Good Food Awards will celebrate winners and their families for the first time in Portland at 6 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Revolution Hall, 1300 S.E. Stark St. More than 700 people are expected. An industry-only Mercantile event will follow Saturday at the Portland Night Market building, 100 S.E. Alder St.

 Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com

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United States President Joseph R. Biden spoke with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to discuss the issue of Taiwan, support for Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia, according to the White House.

"President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission. [] They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. President Biden and President von der Leyen also reiterated the commitment of the United States and the European Union to ensure that Ukraine has the economic and security assistance it needs and to continuing to work closely together to impose costs on the Kremlin for Russia's aggression," it said.

The two leaders discussed President von der Leyen's recent trip to Beijing and their shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order, human rights, and fair trade practices.

The leaders also discussed ongoing joint efforts to accelerate the transition to clean energy economies.
Seven years after Los Angeles, five years after Seattle and three years after San Francisco, Portland will get its first Shake Shack location next week after years of pandemic-caused delays.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler plans to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the restaurant at 10:20 a.m. Monday, April 24. The first 100 guests will receive a free custom hat made in partnership with Portland Gear. Shake Shack plans to contribute $1 from each sandwich sold on opening day to Portland anti-hunger nonprofit Urban Gleaners.

Word first broke that Shake Shack had eyes on a former vitamin shop across from Powells City of Books in April 2020. Eventually, the New York-based company pivoted west, opening its first Oregon location at Beavertons Cedar Hills Crossing mall in 2021. The new downtown Portland location, 1016 W. Burnside St., will be Shake Shacks local flagship.

As previously reported, the downtown restaurant has an exterior patio area with uncovered and covered seating, bike parking and a fixed ping-pong table. According to a press release, the company intended to design a welcoming and inviting space for Shake Shacks Portland neighbors.

Earlier this month, Shake Shack kicked things off with a burger pop-up at Northeast Portland Korean restaurant Han Oak, The Oregonians 2017 Restaurant of the Year. On Wednesday, KGW reported Shake Shack was already sporting a boarded up window five days before the grand opening.

Were thrilled to finally be opening our doors to our flagship location in the heart of Portland, Shake Shack Chief Development Officer Andrew McCaughan wrote in the release. This Shack has an awesome dining room and beautiful patio. We look forward to being a welcoming space for our Portland community and getting to know our neighbors better in the coming years.

[Related: Shake Shack confirms opening date for first Portland location]

In addition to Shake Shacks burgers, fried-chicken sandwiches and crinkle-cut fries, the Portland location will feature seasonal beverages, beers from Breakside, Ecliptic and Occidental breweries and canned cocktails from Straightaway Cocktails. Pre-pandemic Shake Shack openings usually launched with special menu items incorporating ingredients from local food businesses. Nothing along those lines is planned for the Portland location, though the Shake Shack team is open to future collaborations and seasonal items in the future, a representative said.

Shake Shack, which first opened in New York City by restaurateur Danny Meyer in 2004, built its reputation on classic American burgers, hot dogs, crinkle-cut fries and frozen custard. The restaurant now boasts more than 500 locations in 30 states as well as Dubai, Hong Kong, Instanbul, London, Mexico City, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and more.

A signature burger, crinkle-cut fries and a shake from Shake Shack in Beaverton.Michael Russell | The Oregonian

So what can customers expect when Portlands first Shake Shack finally opens?

Long lines, of course. But if youve never been to a Shake Shack before, it could be useful to calibrate your expectations.

Lets use the Beaverton location as an exmample. Over multiple visits to Oregons first Shake Shack last year, we found a chain restaurant emphasizing ingredient quality and execution. As we wrote in our guide to central Beavertons best restaurants, its almost unfair to compare Shake Shack to In-N-Out or other, more affordable fast-food restaurants.

From last years review:

Shake Shack, a publicly traded company with locations from Alabama to Abu Dhabi, might resemble fast food. But without combo meals, a simple dinner including a Shack Burger, crinkle-cut fries and a milkshake will put you back more than $15 before tip. (A comparable meal at In-N-Out costs less than $8.) In other words, between its outdoor dining area strung with patio lights and food with a greater emphasis on ingredient quality and execution, Shake Shack almost belongs in a separate category.

Portlands flagship Shake Shack plans to open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (and until 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday) starting after a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday April 24; 1016 W. Burnside St., 619-900-2008, shakeshack.com

Read more:

Shake Shack is coming to Portland (2020 story)

Shake Shack is already working on a Beaverton location

Shake Shack is holding a burger-packed preview at Han Oak

The ultimate guide to Central Beavertons 30 best restaurants (including Shake Shack)

When is Shake Shack opening in Portland?

Shake Shack confirms opening date for first Portland location

 Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com

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The Coast Guard has suspended its search for three missing American sailors just more than two weeks after they disappeared during a sailing expedition from Mexico to San Diego.

Married couple Kerry and Frank OBrien, along with their friend William Gross, left Mazatlan on Mexicos Pacific Coast on April 4 aboard Ocean Bound, a 44-foot fiberglass boat. They intended to stop in Cabo San Lucas a few days later on April 6 to gather more provisions, but they never arrived.

The Coast Guard launched an exhaustive search shortly thereafter to no avail.

The trio of sailors, with a combined 90 years experience, have not been seen or heard from since their departure earlier this month.

Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans whereabouts or what might have happened, Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregory Higgins said in a statement. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of William Gross, Kerry OBrien and Frank OBrien.

The Coast Guard said both Mexican forces and U.S. assets spent a total of 281 hours searching about 200,000 square nautical miles  an area larger than California  before calling off the search. The Canadian Coast Guard also lent their assistance.

Officials used the tragedy to emphasize the importance of providing loved ones with a float plan or itinerary, which in this case allowed the U.S Coast Guard to be notified when the missing sailors did not check in with family. The agency also urged sailors to carry a registered 406MHZ electronic position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) for automatic notification in emergencies.

Ellen Argall, Kerry OBriens mother, said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday morning that the news was disappointing, but she appreciates the phenomenal work SEMAR and the Coast Guard poured into the search effort.

They were in daily contact with us, she said. They had a conference call with the members of the family yesterday. We are deeply grateful to them and hold great respect for those brave men and women that were on the search.

The extensive search for their loved ones, described as experienced sailors, has been weighing heavily on the family, she said.

Weve all been in agony waiting for news, she said.

But she said that they have received an overwhelming outpouring of love she could have never imagined.

On Facebook, Argall shared the recent update on the search.

It is with deep regret that the U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy have stopped all further searching, she said. At this point, it is virtually next to impossible that our three beloved sailors will be found alive. I still have a glimmer of hope and will keep praying.

Kerry grew up in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, with her brother Mark, graduating from Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville in 1989.

Argall and her husband, Roy, had spent 45 to 50 years in Pittsburgh before they moved to Murrysville. Roy Argall owned a property management company for condos in Pittsburgh for 25 years. She worked as a registered nurse and attended nursing school at the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing.

Kerry was an avid swimmer year round, participating in the Meadowink Swim Club during the summer, and another team during the winter.

Shes loved the water since she was born, Ellen Argall said. She was an adventuresome spirit.

It was no surprise then that Kerry OBrien took to sailing and had since gained 20 years of experience. She and her husband had volunteered for the US Coast Guard when they lived in San Diego. Their shared love of sailing was something the couple connected on, Argall said.

The pair had vacationed in Mazatlan before and had previously sailed there from San Diego. It was an oasis away from the cold of Girdwood, Alaska, where the couple reside and work for a resort.

The recent April trip was the first time the couple was going to make the more challenging trip back up to California.

They had sailed down, but they had never sailed back up before, she said. Its much harder because of the currents and the winds than it was going down. The winds go south, and theyre trying to go north, so its much more difficult.

She said Kerry OBrien was excited for the trip. Argall had contact with her daughter right before the group pulled out of Mazatlan on April 4, the same day the cell phone pings appeared off the coast of Mazatlan as calls to marinas in Cabo San Lucas. This would be the last known communication from the three sailors. There has been no radio contact to or from their boat.

Im incredibly close to her, she said. There wasnt a day that went by that we werent in touch, multiple times a day even, even if it was just a quick text.

April 4 was the last day she heard from her daughter.

Argall is still clinging onto hope of reuniting with her kind, generous and caring daughter again.

I havent lost all hope, she said. I guess thats a mothers prerogative.

And she said sailors in the area are still out searching for the group.

There are still people in the boating industry that are looking for them, she said.

A statement from Gross family via social media said the sailors are experienced, with Gross described as an extremely talented coastal cruiser with 50 years of experience. The OBriens hold Captain licenses with the U.S. Coast Guard.

The statement described Ocean Bound, the missing boat, as a sturdy older vessel. While the boat may be lacking newer technology, the families remain confident in the groups sailing expertise.

There is also an argument for these sailors whove been reading star charts and coastal navigation for most of their lives, the statement said. Technology can fail simply due to one wire or a power outage. Their collective knowledge and experience will not fail.

The boat departed Mazatlan Mexico on the morning of April 3, heading across the Sea of Cortez. The group planned to make a short stop in Cabo San Lucas and then sail up the coast of Baja to San Diego. The U.S. Coast Guard received a report when the three failed to check in by the weekend.

In a recent post, Gross children expressed their deepest gratitude for the authoritys efforts in the search and their hope of finding their loved ones safe. They said a Canadian Navy has a ship in the area and could not provide any other updates at this time.

We have received hundreds of messages, tips and offers of help, the statement read. The outpouring of love and support is beyond anything we imagined. Our hope is for our dad, Kerry and Frank to be sailing into port soon, tired and sore, but safe.

--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and New York Daily News contributed.
A man who escaped Monday from a Southwest Washington jail by impersonating a cellmate due to be released was found in the Scappoose area Wednesday, the Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office said.

Brian Romans escape happened after a corrections officer at the county jail in Longview went to fetch one of Romans cellmates, who was being released Monday. All three people, including 26-year-old Roman, were asleep in the cell when the officer approached.

When the officer called for the man, Roman answered instead, the sheriffs office said. Jail staff said the two men looked alike.

Roman, who was in jail on a charge of possessing drugs with the intent to distribute, followed the officer out of the cell and signed paperwork in the other mans name. He also accepted the other mans belongings, including his keys, ID and debit card. Then he walked out of the jail.

No one noticed the error until the man who was supposed to be released asked when he would get out.

The sheriffs office released no details about how they found Roman. He was taken into custody around 3 p.m., they said.

 Beth Slovic; bslovic@oregonian.com; 503-221-8551

Austin De Dios of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed.

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The driver of a pickup truck who plunged into Henry Hagg Lake and died on Wednesday has been identified as 71-year-old Janine Vuylsteke of Forest Grove, according to the Washington County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies and rescue workers descended on the lake Wednesday afternoon after at least one witness spotted the truck roll into the water.
Gov. Tina Kotek and legislative Democrats clashed Wednesday over spending, amplifying their first major conflict since she took office in January.

At a press conference marking her 100th day in office, Kotek doubled down on calls for the Legislature to divert hundreds of millions of dollars intended for the states savings account to instead pay for affordable housing, literacy programs and behavioral health.

But legislative budget writers, who are planning a tight budget with reductions to state agency funding and only about $325 million in discretionary funding for Democratic priorities including housing, homelessness, health care, literacy programs and public defense services, remain skeptical. In a separate news conference, Sen. Elizabeth Steiner, a Portland Democrat and co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, stressed the importance of keeping strong reserves to prepare for a pending recession.

At the State Library in Salem, Kotek said shell continue to push legislators to forgo adding more money to the states reserve funds, which now total more than $2 billion. Diverting money from the states rainy day fund in the current and upcoming two-year budget cycle would free up about $600 million, which Kotek said should be used for housing, literacy and behavioral health.

A status quo budget, or worse, a cut budget, is completely unacceptable for the two years ahead of us, Kotek said.

Shes specifically calling for at least $300 million in new spending on homelessness, in addition to the $200 million lawmakers approved earlier this year. Koteks also seeking $120 million for literacy programs  which she described as the minimum the state should spend as fewer than 30% of Oregon fourth graders demonstrate proficiency in reading on standardized tests.

And shes seeking about $80 million in additional funding for the states behavioral health program, including money to recruit and retain behavioral health providers.

Kotek is also calling on legislators to use $1 billion in state bonding capacity  more than half the amount the state Treasury says the state can offer in bonds during the next two years  to build more affordable housing. Lawmakers on the Joint Transportation Committee want to commit $1 billion in bonds over the next eight years to replacing the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River.

Kotek doesnt plan to touch the states kicker tax rebate, paid out in the form of tax credits when revenues collected exceed official projections. Nearly $4 billion is expected to be returned to taxpayers when they file taxes next year, with a median credit of $790 and credits as high as $42,000 for the top 1% of earners who make more than $566,000 annually.

LEGISLATORS SKEPTICAL

Steiner, talking to reporters with Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, later Wednesday, said the state needs fiscally conservative budgets.

I have great faith in the U.S. economy, and we are long overdue from a historical perspective for an economic downturn, she said.

State economists last year predicted that a mild recession would start this summer. They moved away from forecasting a recession during their February briefing, but still urged caution in the face of an uncertain economic climate. The ultimate budget for the next two years will be based on the May economic forecast, with a report and legislative briefing scheduled for May 17.

Steiner recalled how the Beaverton School District in her legislative district had as many as 45 students in some classrooms during her first year in office in 2012 because it had spent its reserves. She said she never wanted to see something similar happen in the state, especially not under her watch as co-chair of the budget committee.

She said there could be an argument in favor of spending some money now to save money in the long term  something Steiner, a physician, compared to preventive care to stave off worse health conditions down the line  but said the state needs to be thoughtful.

Its a legitimate conversation, she said. Im not saying no, and Im not saying Im eager to do it.

Wagner said he pushed back on Koteks suggestions to divert money from rainy day funds in a conversation earlier this week. Its too early to talk about dipping into reserves, he said.

Rather than presuming that were going to look at particular funds to be able to fund essential public services, lets figure out how much money we have, he said.

House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, reiterated during a meeting with reporters last week that hes open to diverting some money from the states reserve funds. House Majority Leader Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, told the Capital Chronicle in a Wednesday interview that conservative budgeting is important, and the May forecast will determine how much can be spent.

Regardless of what happens in the May forecast or the decisions around reserves, were committed to investing in those big priorities around housing and homelessness and behavioral health and education, Fahey said. The magnitude of those investments are dependent on what the May revenue forecast tells us.

-- Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle

The Oregon Capital Chronicle, founded in 2021, is a nonprofit news organization that focuses on Oregon state government, politics and policy.
Oregon could soon legally extend access to physician-assisted suicide to people who dont live in the state.

House Bill 2279 would lift the 25-year-old Death with Dignity Acts requirement that physicians prescribe life-ending medications only to Oregon residents. If passed, Oregon would likely become the second state to do so, after Vermont, which is close to passing a similar bill.

While the proposal has elicited vocal opposition from people claiming it would turn Oregon into a destination for people seeking to end their lives, in practice, the state hasnt been enforcing the residency requirement for over a year.

Thats because Oregon settled a lawsuit on March 28 of last year, filed by an Oregon Health & Science University physician who claimed the residency restriction violated his patients constitutional rights. In its settlement, the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Medical Board promised to no longer enforce the requirement and to ask the Legislature to codify the change into law.

HB 2279 passed the House on a mostly party-line 35-21 vote last month and received a hearing in a Senate committee earlier this week. The bill would remove all references to residency requirements from the Death with Dignity Act.

Since the state stopped enforcing the residency requirement, at least three people who didnt live in Oregon have been prescribed and successfully used end-of-life medications, according to state data. The total number could be higher, however, because the Oregon Health Authority doesnt normally get death certificates for people who die in other states, unless they are Oregon residents.

In total, 2,454 people have died after ingesting end-of-life medications under the states law since it was passed in 1997, according to state data from January. Oregon was the first state to permit physician-assisted suicide.

Advocates for the law say they dont anticipate a significant influx of out-of-state residents seeking end-of-life medications in Oregon if the residency requirement is dropped because of the many hurdles people must jump before getting a prescription, including making two oral requests, 15 days apart, to their physician. That process would likely be overly burdensome for someone struck with a terminal disease living in another state, advocates for the law say.

That person would have to be here for an extended period of time to go through the process, Geoff Sugerman, a strategist for the advocacy group Death with Dignity National Center, said in a phone interview.

Opponents have pushed back, warning lawmakers that expanding access to medically assisted suicide would have unintended consequences, including making Oregon a destination for death tourism. They said Oregons executive branch failed in its duty to defend Oregon law by settling the 2021 lawsuit and that lawmakers arent legally obligated to pass the bill.

Removing the residency requirements sets up Oregon to be a lethal drug tourism state and opens up a Pandoras box for substandard patient evaluation and care, increased pressure on patients to ingest lethal drugs quickly, insurance fraud and unclear legal problems, said Sharon Quick, a doctor and the president of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation.

The issue could be moot, however, given constitutional requirements that Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, said prohibit states from restricting medical care to in-state residents. The 2021 lawsuit had argued that Oregons residency requirement violated a clause in the U.S. Constitution that says that all privileges and immunities given to citizens of one state must be extended to those in other states.

The state settled this case because our lawyers believed we didnt have a defense, Nosse said at a hearing on the bill in March. If the Legislature does not pass this bill, the state will probably be sued again, based on the same claim in the first lawsuit that got us here to this place.

 Fedor Zarkhin
A fire Wednesday night destroyed an abandoned North Portland building that once housed The Farmers Barn Tavern.

Portland Fire & Rescue arrived at the North Denver Avenue property at about 7:30 p.m. Flames had already engulfed the building, pouring out from boarded-up windows and pushing through cracks in the cinderblock walls, the fire bureau said. Firefighters attacked the blaze from above, and crews eventually were able to enter the building to search it.

Portland Fire & Rescue had electricity to the area shut off for about 90 minutes because flames grew so large at one point that the power lines were being impinged upon, the fire bureau said.

The building was on the fire bureaus unsafe list  firefighters had doused eight fires there in the past 12 months. Police also responded to the property numerous times during that period for various threats, disturbances and welfare checks.

The city repeatedly instructed the building owner to clean up debris and remove the electrical meter, as well as to board-up the property to keep your building secured from the houseless activity.

The tavern closed in 2018.

A building that once housed The Farmers Barn Tavern in north Portland, seen here on Thurs., April 20, 2023, was destroyed by a fire the previous night. The building had been abandoned for months, and several previous fires there had been extinguished. The Farmers Barn Tavern closed in 2018.Dave Killen / The Oregonian

Residents of the neighborhood showed up at a January city council meeting to plead for more help addressing the issues at the property.

Abandoned buildings increasingly have become problem spots in Portland, attracting drug dealing and homeless encampments. Earlier this month, the former Elks Lodge building in Northeast Portland went up in flames. Like with The Farmers Barn Tavern building, police and firefighters had been called to the Elks Lodge property many times between its 2015 closing and its fiery destruction a couple weeks ago.

No injuries from Wednesdays fire in North Portland have been reported at this time. Investigators are on the scene to determine the fires cause.

A building that once housed The Farmers Barn Tavern in north Portland, seen here on Thurs., April 20, 2023, was destroyed by a fire the previous night. The building had been abandoned for months, and several previous fires there had been extinguished. The Farmers Barn Tavern closed in 2018.Dave Killen / The Oregonian

Reporter Shane Dixon Kavanaugh contributed to this report.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive; dperry@oregonian.com
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he was deeply impressed by what he saw in Bucha, liberated from the Russian occupation.

Earlier today, I visited Bucha. I was deeply moved by what I saw there: Evidence of horrific atrocities perpetrated against the Ukrainian people. And the perpetrators must be brought to justice, Stoltenberg said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

In turn, mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, published a photo and said that in gratitude he presented the NATO Secretary General with a commemorative coin with Bucha symbols made of Russian bullets.

It symbolizes the invincibility of Ukrainians before the aggressor and the willingness to defend our land, Fedoruk wrote on the Telegram channel.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Todd Haimes, who led the Roundabout Theatre Company from an off-off-Broadway company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy into a major theatrical force with works on five stages  including three Broadway theaters  and dozens of Tony Awards, has died. He was 66.

Haimes, the artistic director and CEO of the nonprofit Roundabout, died in New York City on Wednesday due to complications from cancer, according to Matt Polk, his longtime friend and spokesperson.

Rest in peace, Mr. Haimes, actor Mark Ruffalo, who starred in a Roundabout revival of The Price on Broadway in 2017, wrote on Twitter. You were a wonderful and kind soul. Thank you for the chance to work at the Roundabout with you. You will be missed on Broadway, the theater world, and the world at large.

Broadway shows under Haimes' 39-year tenure include The Real Thing with Ewan McGregor, A Soldier's Play" with David Alan Grier and On the Twentieth Century with Kristin Chenoweth. Other triumphs include The Humans," the 2011 revival of Anything Goes with Sutton Foster and Nine with Jane Krakowski.

Roundabout had a long, successful history with Cabaret, reviving it in 1998 with the Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall-directed version starring Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson and then reviving it again with Cumming and Sienna Miller in 2014.

During Haimess tenure, Roundabout shows won 34 Tony Awards, 58 Drama Desk Awards, 73 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 21 Lucille Lortel Awards and 14 Obie Awards.

Tributes on Twitter came from such theater royalty as Chenoweth, Jason Alexander and Audra McDonald. Cynthia Nixon posted a photo of her and Haimes with the caption: Todd paired the worlds sweetest demeanor with a killer sense of what to produce and how to produce it. Im awed by all you built for us but cant imagine Broadway without you here as part of it.

Haimes was a Yale MBA who was appointed Roundabout executive director in 1983 to a company that had been in Chapter 11 since 1977 and was evicted from its space on 23rd Street. By 1991, Haimes had Roundabout operating its own venue at its first Broadway home at the now-closed Criterion Center at Broadway and 45th Street.

The company's early successes include Anna Christie starring Liam Neeson and Richardson, and a revival of She Loves Me, both in 1993. He instituted the Early Curtain series in 1993, which saw 7 p.m. openings to attract the after-work crowd.

Roundabout grew to encompass the American Airlines Theatre, the Studio 54 theater, the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and the off-Broadway Laura Pels Theatre and another black box in the basement of the Pels.

His leadership included outreach and education programs and also provided a home to emerging playwrights as part of the Roundabout Underground program. Alumni include Stephen Karam, Lindsey Ferrentino, Steven Levenson, Joshua Harmon and Ming Peiffer.

He changed my life, and the lives of countless others in New York theater. We all mourn his loss, wrote Warren Leight, whose play Side Man made it to Broadway in 1998 thanks to Haimes.

He is survived by his wife, Jeanne-Marie Haimes; a daughter, Hilary Haimes; a son, Andrew Haimes; two stepdaughters and three grandsons and a granddaughter.

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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MANISTEE  A Manistee woman was sentenced this week to time in prison after a Manistee man died from an overdose in 2020.

Brittany Andre McClarty, 38, of Manistee, appeared in front of Judge David Thompson in Manistee Countys 19th Circuit Court on Thursday.

McClarty was sentenced to one to 20 years at the Michigan Department of Corrections with credit for 226 days served.

She was also ordered to pay a crime victim assessment of $130, $68 in state costs and a $60 DNA testing fee.

Plea agreement

McCartys plea agreement stipulated that she plead guilty to one count of delivery of a controlled substance less than 50 grams in exchange for the dismissal of one count of delivery of a controlled substance causing death. The first charge carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

The dismissed charge carries a penalty of up to life or any number of years in prison.

McClarty is a co-defendant in the case with Derek Rosen, 31, of Bear Lake, and she gave testimony against Rosen per a plea agreement.

Rosen is facing a charge that alleges he delivered fentanyl to a person, causing their death. This carries a possible penalty of up to life in prison or any term of years.

His second charge alleges that he delivered less than 50 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl. The charge carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

Rosen pleaded not guilty to both charges on April 6.

Impacts

Robert Hayes, assistant attorney general, read a crime victim statement prior to McClarty's sentencing on Thursday. Hayes read on behalf of Patricia Endsley, the mother of Jacob Endsley, the Manistee man who died in this case.

In her letter, she said she was empty after his death, but tried to hide her loss from others.

She also noted how her sons death impacted McClarty, who was also a relative.

Brittany has two wonderful children that need her  now as Brittany is reaching 40, she needs to start supporting herself and her children, the letter states in part.

Her letter continued to say that McClartys probation, time served, attendance of narcotics support group meetings and her testimony against Rosen were both helpful to McClarty and appropriate.

She said that hopefully, something good comes forth from her son's death.

I will continue to fight to make people aware that an addict is not always a homeless faceless person, they are loved and missed every day, the letter said in part.

When given a chance to speak ahead of sentencing, McClarty said that she was very, very remorseful.

Her attorney, Patrick Dougherty noted that she has a long history of drug problems and trying to maintain sobriety and that she felt that sobriety is fragile.

Thompson told McClarty that her agreement to testify against Rosen, her reactions to the crime victim impact statement demonstrates to me that youre taking this seriously.

Your emotion today demonstrates to me today that youre listening to Mr. Hayes read the crime victims impact statement that you understand this isnt simply about you, Thompson said.

Thompson also mentioned that McClartys lack of a previous criminal record, her work history, her challenges and church community support were also considered in her sentence.

Thompson and Endsleys mother both made reference to McClartys former professional work in clinical counseling and substance abuse counseling.

He said she has an education, training and experiences that allow her to do her very best to help people from avoiding whats happened to Jacob.
State Rep. Noah Arbit (D  West Bloomfield) introduced House Bill 4389 on April 12 to address mental health issues in Michigan.

HB 4389 would amend Michigan's school code to grant public school students five absences for behavioral health reasons. The students would not need to provide a medical note issued by a mental health professional for their mental health absence to be excused.

It also stated that a student "must be given the opportunity to make up any school work that he or she missed during an absence."

Additionally, schools may also refer students to support personnel, like a school psychologist or counselor, after two such absences.

If Michigan passed HB 4389, it would become the 13th state to recognize mental health days for students, according to reporting by CNBC.

HB 4389 awaits a hearing in the House Committee on Education.

Arbit was appointed vice chair of the Michigan House of Representatives Behavioral Health Subcommittee in January.

"I ran for office to confront Michigans mental health crisis, and I intend to do everything in my power to honor that promise," Arbit said in a statement when he was appointed.
The Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee voted 10-9 to approve $175 million in taxpayer funding for the Gotion North America battery component facility to be built in Green Charter Township in Mecosta County on April 20.

Green Charter Township Supervisor Jim Chapman said he is ready to welcome over 2,000 good paying jobs to the area through the development of this project.

Chapman said that the Green Charter Township looks forward to breaking ground on the largest single business investment in Mecosta County history, with the new Gotion battery plant bringing at least 2,300 good-paying jobs to the area after the Michigan Legislature gave final approval for the project today. He said the company's $2.36 billion investment is the largest investment ever in the Big Rapids area and will create over $11.5 billion in new personal income as a result.

Today, we take another monumental step forward on our journey to bring thousands of good paying jobs to the Big Rapids area, Chapman said. Not only are we excited about the 2,300 good-paying jobs that will be created, but this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will make a substantial positive impact for our residents and small businesses for decades to come. Our restaurants will have more diners, our grocery stores will have more shoppers, our local businesses will have more customers, our families will have more good paying jobs, and our schools will have better funding. This is truly an historic day for the Big Rapids area.

Mecosta County Commission Chairperson Jerrilynn Strong spoke before the Senate Appropriations Committee prior to the vote, reiterating that the board of commissioners unanimously affirm their support of the Gotion project.

You have heard from a small, but vocal group of opponents  all of whom think they speak for our county. They do not, Strong said. I have talked to people throughout Mecosta County and asked them if they have any objections to the Gotion plant, and I have not had one negative comment made to me.

Strong went on to say that the project is a great opportunity for the people of Mecosta County and the surrounding area.

It will create 2,350 good jobs, better wages and benefits that will give families a chance for a better living in general, not only now, but for generations, Strong said. This will also lead to 5,000 plus additional jobs statewide in the supply chain and service professions. Additionally, the project will lead to significant opportunities for participation in cutting edge technology for our local schools, our intermediate school district and Ferris State University, which is in Big Rapids.

The project will be critical to future economy of our region and our state, she continued. Our community needs the economic growth  our children, our grandchildren and beyond, will benefit from this project.

Gotion North America vice president Chuck Thelen said previously if the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to release the funding, the project will be full speed ahead.

We are excited to see this. A once-in-a-century opportunity for the Big Rapids area moving forward, said Randy Thelen, president and CEO, The Right Place, Inc. The Gotion facility will bring thousands of good-paying jobs to the community and propel the region into the forefront of EV manufacturing. We look forward to working collaboratively with state and local leaders as this incredible opportunity becomes a reality.

State Senator Roger Hauck (R-Isabella County) said in a news release following the vote, over the past few months he has tried to support the proposed project in Big Rapids because of the promise to bring over 2,000 good-paying jobs to the community. He knows how transformative a project of this magnitude can be for a community and the opportunities it brings for area families, but he has begun to have reservations.

What Ive seen over the past few months has been an outright community relations disaster by this company that leaves legitimate questions on their ability to gain the trust and support of our state and local community, Hauck said. This is not the way that partnerships should work, and its hard for me to support a project when there is a fundamental lack of trust between the company and the community  especially when our tax dollars are at stake.

State Rep. Tom Kunse said initially he was all for the project because of the prospect of new jobs being created; however, as more concerns from the residents were brought forward, his support has declined.

I did contact Jim Chapman and tell him I can no longer support it because there are just too many questions, he said. We need more information before we can move forward.

He added  with the Senate Appropriations Committee voting in favor of the funding  that if all the other issues can be satisfied, he will support it.

Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) explained why, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, she voted in favor of the funding for Gotion.

Political games and politics should never get in the way of peoples jobs. Our office was inundated with messages from local residents asking us to approve this transfer," McDonald Rivet said. "Responsible people at local, state and federal levels have done their due diligence. There are facts and there are fabrications. Misinformation and baseless claims might serve the politicians spreading them, but they dont serve people looking for better. They dont offer opportunities or solutions to people who really need them. What Michigan needs most are family-sustaining jobs. Its my responsibility to do everything I can to make that happen.
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles will take part in a meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine at the Ramstein Air Force Base on Friday and announce a new package of military assistance, the press service of the Spanish Defense Ministry reports.

"During tomorrow's meeting, Minister Robles will confirm the continuity of support from Spain, repeat the measures of humanitarian and medical assistance that the Ministry of Defense continues to offer, and announce the dispatch in the near future of new material donations intended to meet the priority needs voiced by Minister Oleksiy Reznikov during his visit to Madrid on April 12," a message posted on the website on Thursday says.

It is noted that the new supplies are aimed at strengthening the mobility, booking and protection of the AFU ground forces, as well as air defense, protection and projection of marine and amphibious forces.

"The latter is considered key to providing a green sea route that allows Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea, which is necessary to support the UN World Food Program and help the countries of Africa and Asia most affected by hunger," the report says.

It is also noted that the important humanitarian, logistical and material support provided by Spain is added to the work on training Ukrainian servicemen.

The training is conducted at the Toledo Training and Coordination Center, the number of soldiers trained in the Spanish Armed Forces is currently about 1,200 people.

"It is expected that this year there will be at least 2,000 of them. In addition to increasing the number of trained personnel, it is necessary to highlight the constant expansion of specialized areas of training," the press service emphasizes.
N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP)  At least 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled into neighboring Chad amid fighting in their own country, authorities said.

A contingent of soldiers crossed into Chad earlier this week and have been disarmed said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chads defense minister at a press conference in the capital, N'Djamena, on Wednesday.

As fighting rages in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and Sudans Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, concerns of a regional spillover are increasing. After the fighting erupted on Saturday, as both sides vie for power, Chad closed its 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) border with Sudan.

The RSF is a powerful armed force and this military superiority likely explains why Sudanese troops are fleeing into Chad, say conflict analysts.

By detaining these fleeing troops, (Chads president) is seeking to avoid the perception that he is allowing the Sudanese army to operate from Chad against the RSF. Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral and help broker a cease-fire in Sudan. (However), Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war, said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

NDjamena is likely to oppose (Dagalo) due to fears that RSF dominance in Darfur could empower Chadian Arabs to unseat the (presidents) regime. Many within (Dagalo's) Rizeigat tribe live across the border in Chad, he said.

Sudans fighting has caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, said the United Nations. New arrivals are entering a situation marked by soaring humanitarian needs and chronic underfunding, it added.

The country was already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. It's surrounded by conflict-riddled nations and is hosting some 600,000 refugees from Sudan, Niger, Cameroon and Central African Republic, one of the biggest burdens in Africa, according to the U.N.

___

Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Authorities in southern Greece say one migrant has died and 47 others have been rescued after a sailboat crashed into rocks and partially sank in a remote coastal area of the Greek mainland.

The coast guard said the migrants  15 men, 16 women and 16 minors  were located Thursday near the southern tip of the Peloponnese region, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Athens, after managing to reach a beach and call for help.
Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - The Beninese government will compensate persons affected by the implementation of the Benin Sustainable and Secure Access to Electricity Project, the Council of Ministers said here Thursday
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - The 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2026, as decided in a vote by the Boards of Governors of the two institutions
New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues efforts towards ensuring an end to the hostilities in Sudan, his Spokesperson said on Wednesday, amid reports of a new ceasefire between warring military factions and refugees fleeing the country across the border into Chad
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. In the XXI century trade remains a key aspect of cooperation between people, and today, it serves as a backbone of modern society, in addition to ensuring peace among nations.

From the perspective of international trade, one of the most well-known and discussed routes is the International North-South Transport Corridor, usually referred to as North-South Corridor, which stretches from Russia, through Azerbaijan and Iran to India. It is a system of rail, road, and maritime transportation that aims to streamline trade between the start and endpoints of the route.

While the idea existed for quite some time, the importance of the proposed route increased during the past year, particularly due to geopolitical tensions. As Russia and Iran are both heavily sanctioned, it is in their interest to facilitate trade in various fields to overcome the adverse effects of Western sanctions. Additional benefits of the route include significant improvements in domestic infrastructure and economic growth. Furthermore, the route has several transit options to choose from.

One option is the route via Azerbaijan, labeled as the 'Western route'. Another possibility is to utilize Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan as transit countries. There are two routes available to choose from, however, they both come together at one point in Turkmenistan. This route is sometimes described as the 'Eastern route'. Finally, the third option is a maritime route via the Caspian Sea, with a start point in various Iranian ports and ending in the Russian ports of Astrakhan or Makhachkala. This option is described as the 'Trans-Caspian route'.

Also, there is a proposed route that will link Iran and Russia via Armenia and Georgia, which will be briefly discussed below.

With such a diverse set of possibilities that the North-South corridor offers, it is intuitive to assume that these routes are all equally feasible. There is a catch, though. Not all North-South corridors are created equal, and most have significant flaws, which make them niche routes.

The Eastern route

The Eastern route goes through one of the two possible border crossings on the border between Iran and Turkmenistan - Ak-Yayla or Saraghs. The goods will then proceed via the railroad to Kazakhstan, with Russia being the final destination. The Eastern route through Saraghs is considerably longer, as it goes to the north-eastern point of the border between the states.

The shortest option can be utilized by moving cargo through the Ak-Yayla border. While this is considered a shorter route, its length, nevertheless, exceeds 2,500 kilometers. Consequently, this would directly correlate with increasing costs and time in transit.

This makes the Eastern branch of the North-South corridor less appealing, considering that the prime objective of the route is to decrease costs and reduce delivery times. While the length of the route makes it the longest option compared to Western and Trans-Caspian directions, this is not the only drawback.

Another challenge is that transited goods have to comply with the regulations of additional countries, i.e. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. This would mean an increase in transit fees, additional legal paperwork, as well as the necessity to comply with extra regulations.

Consequently, every expense that transit companies will face during the journey will have to be compensated by the end customer. The problem here is that businesses may lose their competitive advantage, as their competitors will have an opportunity to offer similar goods cheaper, should they choose a more effective transit route.

Perhaps, the volume of goods transited via the Turkmenistan directions is the best indicator of the attractiveness of the Eastern branch of the transport corridor. From 1 January through 28 March 2023, 64,500 tons of cargo were transited through the Ak-Yayla and Saraghs checkpoints. While the thirtyfold increase is impressive, it is important to keep in mind that overall volume of transited goods remains small.

All this doesn't mean that the Eastern route is pointless. It should not be seen as an all-encompassing transit opportunity, which will enable businesses to move their goods from India to Europe. The Eastern route has some niche implementation opportunities, particularly if parts of the goods are intended for Kazakh or Turkmen markets.

The Trans-Caspian route

As noted earlier, the Trans-Caspian route will link Iran and Russia by means of maritime transport, bypassing any other transit country. The length varies between 1,100-1,200 kilometers, depending on the departure port.

While this sounds good, there is an issue associated with this approach to transit. Cargo ships are considerably slower. For example, the fastest cargo ship, Algol-class vehicle cargo ships, is capable of traveling at 33 knots, which is the equivalent of 61 kilometers per hour. Due to their unavailability to Iran and Russia, the ships that will be utilized for servicing the Trans-Caspian branch of the North-South Corridor will realistically be able to travel at around 2025 knots (37-46.3 kilometers per hour).

Additionally, higher speed leads to higher fuel consumption, which limits profitability and leaves a significant carbon footprint. Cargo ships consume between 20 and 400 tons of fuel per day, depending on size, speed, and distance, which would endanger the fragile ecosystem of the Caspian Sea.

Overall, 74,200 tons of cargo were transited via the Trans-Caspian branch of the North-South Corridor from 1 January through 28 March 2023. This is a threefold growth, in year-over-year terms, compared to 2022.

One final issue, necessary to highlight in this context, is the significant need for investments, should Iran and Russia decide to make this route the key artery. Ports will have to be modernized significantly, in addition to procuring or building the number of ships necessary to ensure the seamless transit of goods.

These factors decrease the attractiveness of the Trans-Caspian direction of the trade corridor. Once again, niche use is possible, however, the perspectives of the Trans-Caspian direction to become the main transit artery are dubious due to the inherent shortcomings.

Proposed Iran-Armenia railroad link

This is the part where analysis becomes pure speculation. The agreement between Iran and Armenia on the construction of a railroad was reached a long time ago. Regardless, the project was not implemented due to two major reasons: its predicted unfeasibility and the subsequent lack of financing.

In theory, the route will start in Iran, then proceed through the territory of Armenia, further to Georgia, and Russia. While in Georgia, it would be possible to transit goods via the Black Sea to Europe.

The key problem here is, once again, that this project exists only on paper. Another challenge is the number of borders that the goods need to cross, which will inflate the costs and increase the duration of transit.

The future of this branch of the North-South route remains questionable, considering that attracting investments and developing the necessary infrastructure will be a time-consuming process. Also, attracting investors will become a challenge as the project constitutes a high-risk investment in exchange for unclear rewards, from a business perspective. As nothing concrete exists, this direction cannot be considered seriously for the time being.

The Western route

The Western route stretches from Iran via Azerbaijan with an endpoint in Russia. This North-South Corridor route is, perhaps, the most well-known and widely developed direction. The figures speak for themselves, as the volume of goods transited by the Western branch amounted to 2.15 million tons from 1 January through 28 March 2023, a stunning 84.37 percent growth compared to 1.16 million tons transited in 2022.

What makes this direction more attractive? First, there is only one transit country, Azerbaijan, which reduces the time in transit. Additionally, Azerbaijan is actively working on becoming a key transport hub in the region, thanks to the available infrastructure and advantageous geographical positioning.

This brings us to another important element, which made the Western direction a more attractive option, is the fact that Azerbaijan is the place where the North-South Corridor meets the Trans-Caspian International Trade Route, also known as the Middle Corridor. As both corridors meet here, businesses and governments looking to transport their goods, receive a higher level of flexibility. In other words, a transit starting its journey in the framework of the North-South Corridor may be diverted to the Middle Corridor, should it become necessary. Trans-Caspian and Eastern directions of the North-South route are unable to offer this level of fluidity, which is certainly, another reason that makes the Western branch more attractive.

The third reason is the rather short distance that goods have to spend in transit. The length of this branch roughly equals 1,450 kilometers. Although, it is more, compared to the Trans-Caspian transit direction, the comparatively higher speed of cargo trains compensates for the difference in the distance.

The only obstacle remaining to the completion of the route is the construction of the 164-kilometer-long Rasht-Astara railway line. Earlier, Deputy Director of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company of Iran, Abbas Khatibi said that the agreement between Iran and Russia on the construction of the railway is expected to be signed before 21 May 2023.

Once the construction is finalized, the Western route of the North-South Corridor will be completed and fully functional.

Summing things up

The increasing cargo turnover indicates that the North-South Corridor is the real deal, and the opportunities that it offers to the countries involved in the project are major ones. The differences in the various routes, or directions of the corridor, however, are too major for businesses to disregard. As it was demonstrated, the Western route, passing through Azerbaijan, is the most popular direction for transit. If we look at the cargo turnover of the Western branch of the North-South Corridor, it becomes clear that it is the most popular route.

It is true that other routes are also becoming much more in demand, however, their niche application deprives them of the competitive advantage that the Western route possesses.

By comparatively analyzing the four directions, we can see that the Western route is currently the clear winner by a significant margin. Several factors, such as the approximate distance, lack of a need for significant investments, efficiency, and the large cargo turnover make this route the undisputed king of the North-South transport architecture.
Photo: (Photo : Chumsak Kanoknan /Getty Images)

The global rice market is experiencing a severe shortage as the production in China and Pakistan is affected due to several reasons.

This shortage is a matter of concern as rice is the primary staple food for more than half of the world's population, and the shortage may lead to a crisis in food security. The situation has arisen due to a combination of factors, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, extreme weather conditions, and export restrictions by India.

Causes of Global Rice Shortage

According to CNBC, the global rice shortage results from several factors, such as natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, and export restrictions by countries.

Last year, China faced extreme weather conditions, including drought, which affected a significant portion of the country's harvest. The floods in Pakistan caused total crop losses in vast swathes of the country. These factors have severely impacted rice production in these countries.

Moreover, the Russia-Ukraine war has strained the supplies, further contributing to the shortage. Russia is one of the major rice exporters to countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Due to the war, Russia has reduced its exports, leading to a rice shortage in these countries.

As reported by Money Control, India's decision to ban the export of broken rice in September last year is also one of the factors that have driven up global prices. India is the world's largest rice exporter, and the export ban has caused a disruption in the global rice market.

Impact on Food Security

Over 50% of the global population relies on rice as a main food source. According to USA Today, the countries that consume the most rice are South America, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, countries like Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, China, Burma, and Brazil consumed most of the rice from 2019-2022 and will definitely be affected by the global rice shortage.

The rice shortage can potentially lead to a food security crisis. The poor and vulnerable sections of society will be the most affected by the shortage.

The shortage of rice has led to an increase in prices. In countries where rice is a staple food, people may have to reduce their consumption due to the high prices. Moreover, the shortage may lead to hoarding and black marketing, further exacerbating the situation.

Read Also: Stimulus Check Update 2023: Will You Benefit from the Latest Round of Payments?

Measures to Address the Crisis

To address the crisis, it is necessary to take immediate measures. The governments of the affected countries should take steps to increase rice production. They can provide subsidies to farmers to encourage them to grow rice. Moreover, research should be conducted to develop rice varieties that can withstand extreme weather conditions.

Countries that are heavily dependent on rice imports should explore alternative sources of food. For instance, they can increase the production of other grains like wheat and maize. Moreover, they can import rice from countries that have surplus production.

Furthermore, the global rice shortage is a matter of concern as it has the potential to lead to a crisis in food security. The poor and vulnerable sections of society will be the most affected by the shortage. To address the crisis, it is necessary to take immediate measures to increase rice production and explore alternative food sources.

If steps are not taken, the shortage may lead to a severe crisis in the future.

Related Article: Pediatric Cases of Strep Throat on the Rise, Poses Danger Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)

The House of Representatives just passed a Washington bill that gives the government full approval on transgender minors' medical intervention and even abortion, regardless of whether parents would consent to it.

A Washington State bill just stripped parents of their rights to their transgender children to intervene in their gender-affirming transition procedures when Governor Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5599 Wednesday.

The said bill is an act to support youth and young adults who are "seeking protected health care services." It will allow the state the legal right to "hide runaway children from their parents" if the latter will not permit them to do any gender transition or abortion procedure. Much more, there is no need for any allegation of abuse in the household.

The bill does state that the "host homes" or "shelters" should notify parents about their runaway minors' location and whereabouts. Yet, it is not obligatory if there is a "compelling reason" not to do so. Compelling reasons refer to instances when parents or caregivers might subject the minor to neglect or abuse once notified, which The Heritage Foundation pointed out as the law's "real poison."

Washington as 'Sanctuary State' for Runaway Teens

It was further stated that Section Two of the bill described that another compelling reason not to inform parents of location or seek parental consent is when the minor desires to have "protected health care services."

"The definitions of 'protected health care services' are cross-referenced from another Senate bill, SB 5489 (titled the "Shield Law"), and include all 'gender-affirming treatments'-whether medical, surgical, social, behavioral-and all 'reproductive health care services'-including abortion, contraception, and/or 'assisted reproduction' (in vitro fertilization)," the news outlet reported.

Instead of contacting parents, the host home or shelter can contact the Washington State government instead, Fox News reported.

SB 5599, together with SB 5489, open the door for teens ages 13 to 17 to stay at shelters for an indefinite time while they seek their "protected health care services" without the knowledge and consent of their parents.

The newly signed bill also introduced Washington as a "sanctuary state" not only for its runaway teenagers but also for children from other states where gender-affirming medical interventions and reproductive health care services are unavailable.

An allocation of up to $7.5 million from Washington taxpayers' money will be provided to the Office of Homeless Youth Prevention and Protection so that the office can offer grants to institutions to handle the bill of the minors' gender transition and abortion procedures.

Read More: Fascist Bill Allows Court to Take Away Transgender Kids From Their Parents; Puts Florida Republicans Under Fire

Public Clearly Opposes Bill

State senator Marko Liias, a Democrat, authored the bill, stating that it is a "necessary protection" for the youth who are running away from their "unsupportive" home environments and seeking "safe shelter."

"We know that young people experiencing homelessness are exposed to dangerous and harmful outcomes ... This legislation ensures that our trans youth have safe options and access to secure, stable shelter when they may not be welcome at home," Liias declared after the approval of the bill. All Democrats voted yes, while all Republicans gave the bill a big no.

The House of Foundation boldly called Senate Bill 5599 "a breathtaking evisceration of parental rights," and the public seems to agree. The news outlet stressed that the majority of the public is "overwhelmingly against" the bill.

Eighty percent of the online commentary on the new law showed to be on the opposing side. Back in February, during the Senate Human Services Committee hearing, over 4,700 public comments were received, and 98 percent of them were in opposition.

Related Article: Colorado Becomes Safe Haven For Abortion, Gender-Affirming Care Despite Restrictive Access in Neighboring States
Vinci Airports will launch a 14-hectare solar power plant at Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport in France, which will cover 5,800 parking spaces at the airport.

With a capacity of 20MWp, the plant is projected to produce 24GWh of green electricity annually, equivalent to the consumption of 9,000 people. Its production will be injected into the grid to supply the neighboring communities, avoiding the emission of nearly 1,600 tons of CO 2 per year.

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The project has been validated by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition as the winner of the latest call for tenders issued by the French Energy Regulation Commission. This enables the launch of the construction work in the autumn of 2023, for commissioning in the summer of 2024. The project has been awarded to a consortium comprising Neoen and SunMind (Vinci Concessions photovoltaic subsidiary), which will design, finance, build and operate the plant until 2047.

Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of Vinci Concessions and president of Vinci Airports, said, Airports are places of opportunity for photovoltaic production, which is why Vinci Airports has been committed to developing solar power plants for several years now. This allows us to decarbonize our own consumption, but also to contribute to the energy transition of the territories, by injecting the electricity we produce into the network, as we will soon do in Lyon.

For more key sustainability updates from the passenger terminal industry, click here.
That copy of Windows on your PC was paid for by someonegenerally the vendor who sold you the computer. In my case, I paid for it myself as a DIY builder.

So why does Microsoft nag me to use its product the way it thinks I ought?

It started in ads in Windows 10 about operating system features and other Microsoft products, which partially cooled off. (Thankfully.) But were about to hit a new peak in Windows 11, where alerts will spread beyond the notification center. Now those kinds of ads are headed for the start menu, too. Not only that, but theyre set to badger people with local accounts, highlighting reasons to sign in with a Microsoft account.

Yall. Respectfully, no.

First off, who ever won anyone over by annoying them? Ive spent years of my life as a Californian ignoring Prop 65 warnings. (Okay, thats a lieI am the kind of person who still notes which products have them, but they are excessive.) More to the point, Microsoft cant have forgotten how much we all hated Clippy. Twenty years is a long time, but not that long for a corporation of its size. If users havent adopted your suggestions, it means theyre not interested. Pushing us only causes dislike for the recommended products and services.

If you re old enough to rent a car, youll remember this annoyance from days gone by. Microsoft

Second, as a local account user who has watched the ground crumble around her, I dont appreciate being badgered about a conscious life decision. One that is incredibly deliberate, given how difficult it is to set up a local account in Windows 11. I didnt accidentally click the wrong button and end up with one.

When I pay for a product or service, I expect to be able to use all of its features without issue. At the start, Ill take recommendations on hidden features, as well as potential dangers of the settings Ive chosen. Thats reasonable and helpful. Ill also tolerate another round of reminders early on. But for this situation, where its pretty obvious that only experienced (and determined) users would still pursue a local account option, Microsofts pop-ups feel like a iron fist move, with only a thin velvet glove guiding me toward the companys preferred outcomenot mine. You know who rules with a heavy hand? Apple. You know what products I dont use as daily drivers? Apples.

Third, I may not own a product with a software license, but I still gave someone money and I dont expect to be low-key harassed in exchange. When Windows 10 first launched its ads, I thought they were fair. Irritating, but fair. Microsoft made upgrades freesomething theyd never done beforeso I understood why theyd remind people about Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 is a good paid service (as these things go), but shoving it into peoples faces isnt going to attract people. Microsoft

But Microsoft doesnt seem to understand that at the very least, it needs to make distinctions between types of users. Paid license for Windows 10 or 11? No nags. Twisted myself into a pretzel in order to keep a local account? No nags. Upgrade from Windows 7 or 8? Fine, hit me with your attempts to separate me from my money (or get access to more data about me and my habits).

Ive already written about how working in Windows 11 depresses me. I think its a shame that Microsoft keeps implementing further ways to discourage positive associations with its latest operating system. Im pretty sure many hardworking teams contributing to Windows just want to put the best possible product forward. But as any teenager can tell you, repeated reminders to do something or try something dont work. Adults really arent that different. We just have more moneyand basic expectations when we spend it.

(P.S.  Linux users, I am not interested in your favorite and probably esoteric distro that would never behave this way.)
At a Glance Expert's Rating Pros Unlimited simultaneous device connections

Works well with Netflix

Built-in extras such as ad tracker and malware blocking

Low price on long-term plans Cons Indicators for ping or server load are not readily available

Based in the Netherlands and subject to government data sharing requests Our Verdict Surfshark has firmly established itself in the world of VPNs, offering good speeds, unlimited connections, a clean and easy-to-use Windows app, and a wide server spread. It also offers some convenient extra privacy features. All of this is included in an affordable package, making Surfshark a great value VPN option for most people.

Surfshark in brief:

P2P allowed: Yes

Simultaneous device connections: Unlimited

Business location: The Netherlands

Number of servers: 3,200+

Number of country locations: 100

Cost: $12.95 per month, or $59.76 for a two year subscription

Surfshark has, in the last few years, catapulted from basic VPN company to one-stop shop for all things personal online-security. The company now offers a top-tier VPN product that continues to improve on itself with each new iteration. And since its merger with NordVPN under the parent company Cyberspace, Surfshark has pushed into developing cutting-edge personal security features via its Nexus technology. This all sounds great, but are all of these features really worth it in a VPN service? We took Surfshark for a spin to find out.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best VPNs to learn about competing products.

Surfshark VPN features and services

When you initially open Surfshark you notice that the interface is clean and simple. On the left rail you have options for VPN, Alert, Antivirus, and Settings. In the middle there is a list of all server locations listed alphabetically by country and on the right there is a button to connect to the chosen server. Its nothing fancy, but the minimalist, straightforward interface was easy and intuitive to both navigate and use.

Surfshark prides itself on the number of servers it provides, which is well over 3,200 across 100 different country locations. There are admittedly a lot of countries that only have one server to connect to, but more popular locations such as the U.S., Canada, and Australia offer multiple server locations spread throughout. In addition to all of these server options, Surfshark allows unlimited simultaneous device connections. This is a big draw since most other VPN providers limit subscribers to five or six simultaneous connections.

The Surfshark app is clean and easy to navigate. Sam Singleton

On the main screen, above the available servers, youre able to choose between three options: Locations, StaticIP, and MultiHop. Locations is a list of all of the available country servers you can connect to. StaticIP allows you to connect to shared servers with IP addresses that never change. MultiHop allows you to further obfuscate your actual location by routing your traffic through more than one external server. While many VPN services now offer multi-hop connections, Surfshark stands out by allowing the user to not only choose a predetermined route, but also create their own multi-hop route. This is a nifty feature that gives power users and those concerned with privacy more autonomy in securing and optimizing their connections.

A Surfshark VPN subscription also includes access to the companys antivirus software. Surfshark

Surfshark also provides an ad, tracker, and malware blocker called CleanWebthough its not turned on by default. It also offers a split-tunneling feature, which it calls Whitelister, that allows you the option to route apps and websites through the VPN or keep one or the other connected separately. This is a good option for those who wish to keep their web browsing secure via a VPN while keeping online games outside the VPN connection in order to minimize potential latency issues.

Additionally, Surfshark provides a kill-switch function that will automatically disable your internet connection should your VPN connection drop for whatever reason. There is also a feature called NoBorders, enabled by default, which is its own version of obfuscated servers. NoBorders allows users in countries that generally restrict VPN connections to maintain access to Surfshark.

Overall, its a well-designed app thats easy to navigate, with a good feature set and plenty of useful tools. The only issue we could find with the service in general was the fact that when browsing connections, theres no easy way to find ping times or server-load indicators. We ultimately found this information in the options menu under Speed Test, but this information would be convenient to have listed under each server location.

While many VPN services now offer multi-hop connections, Surfshark stands out by allowing the user to not only choose a predetermined route, but also create their own multi-hop route.

You are able to see each servers load and ping by running the Speed Test in the Surfshark client. Sam Singleton

Surfshark is also working hard to bring new and innovative ideas to the VPN scene. Its set to roll out its exclusive Nexus VPN network throughout 2023. Nexus is a single network made up of Surfshark VPN servers. There are huge potential security and privacy boosts from this technology. It will allow for rotating IP addresses without disconnecting your active VPN connection, further obfuscating your browsing activity. Nexus will also use a Dynamic MultiHop feature to connect you to the fastest available entry server and exit at any desired location, presumably optimizing connection speeds across the board. As of this writing, only the IP rotator feature is available, with the complete feature set due later this year.

How does Surfshark VPN perform?

During our testing we rated connection speeds across Surfsharks servers in five different countries around the world and then compared them to our baseline internet speed. Surfshark server speeds were solid, if not particularly outstanding. They averaged just over 61 percent of the base download speed and a slightly more impressive 72 percent of the base upload speed. That isnt the best weve seen, but depending on your own home internet, it should be enough to stream HD video without any issues.

For those looking to use the service to bypass location restrictions on streaming websites, our testing showed that Surfshark was overwhelmingly successful. Across every server we tested and for all major streaming services the VPN was able to unblock everything. This included services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney Plus. That result puts Surfshark among our very best VPNs for streaming Netflix right along with NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

Surfshark VPN security and privacy

Surfshark states that it does not collect any of your online activity, including browsing history, session information, bandwidth used, connection time stamps, network traffic, or IP addresses. This no-logs policy claim was verified by the company Deloitte during an independent audit of Surfshark at the end of 2022. These are exactly the steps users should expect from a top VPN company and it goes a long way towards backing up Surfsharks privacy claims.

The service also keeps privacy in mind during setup. When signing up for a Surfshark subscription you only need to supply an email address. Furthermore, the company accepts payments via credit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, and various cryptocurrencies.

One thing of note is that Surfshark has moved its headquarters from the British Virgin Islands to the Netherlands in recent years. This shouldnt be too much of a concern as the Netherlands data retention laws are generally privacy-friendly. However, the Netherlands is still subject to Nine Eyes jurisdiction, which means that the government can force Surfshark to share certain information about customers.

Surfshark offers a good variety of protocols including OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2. Sam Singleton

In regards to security, Surfshark uses standard AES 256-bit encryption. It also offers options for several VPN protocols including OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2depending on your operating system.

Is Surfshark VPN worth it?

Surfshark offers unlimited device connections, good speeds, compatibility with major streaming services, and an impressive number of country connections. The Windows app is well designed and easy enough to understand. It also has some nice extras such as ad, tracker, and malware blocking as well as split-tunneling and multi-hop.

With all of these great features, Surfshark is a solid all-around VPN service. If you opt for the two-year contract youre also getting all of this for a bargain price. And with the future addition of its Nexus network, Surfshark stands to potentially overtake its main competitors in the market. Overall, whether its getting around region blocks or just enjoying a more private and secure browsing experience, Surfshark remains one of our favorites.

Editors note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.
The government has been called out for fixing a holiday for Eid-ul-Fitr (Salah) celebrations even though the date for the Muslim festivity is not known.



According to broadcaster Umaru Sanda, the date for the upcoming Salah is expected to be confirmed on Thursday evening, depending on when the new crescent will be sighted.



In a series of tweets shared on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Sanda, who was reacting to the governments announcement of Monday, April 24, as a holiday because the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration will be on Saturday, April 22, said that the celebration could either fall on Friday, April 21, or Saturday.



No Muslim is certain when the Eid-ul-Fitr will be! But Ghana's Minister for The Interior has already stated that it'll be on Saturday. I don't blame him. By law, he's supposed to announce a Holiday, days ahead which he does after consultations.



Muslims know that the Eid could be on Friday or Saturday, depending on whether or not we sight the new crescent on Thursday evening.



Muslims deserve two days holiday for Eid because from the foregoing, if Eid falls on Friday, which is possible, Muslim workers can't celebrate because it's not a holiday! he wrote.



Earlier, the government, through a statement issued by the Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, announced Monday, April 24, 2023, as a statutory public holiday to mark the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.



According to the statement, the Eid celebration falls on Saturday, April 22, 2023. As a result, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, by an Executive Instrument (EI), has declared Monday, April 24, as a public holiday to be observed throughout the country.



"However, in view of the fact that 22nd April 2023, falls on a Saturday, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, has by Executive Instrument (E.I), in accordance to Section 2 of the Public Holidays and Commemorative Days Act, (Act 601) declares Monday, 24th April, 2023 as an additional Public Holiday, the statement said.



It further added that the holiday as announced should be observed as such throughout the country.







Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is demanding an immediate retraction and unqualified apology from the first deputy speaker of parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, for what the association describes as unsavoury comments against its members.



GUTA, in a statement, said Mr Osei-Owusu, in an interview on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, accused them of disloyalty and exploitation of Ghanaians.



According to GUTA, the lawmaker implied traders are thieves who are ripping off Ghanaians and should be blamed for the hike in prices and not the taxes introduced by the government.





GUTA, reacting to the accusations in a statement, said it is a union of patriotic and honest members of the Ghanaian business community and as equal stakeholders in the economy, it has every right to voice its concerns on all national issues especially when it comes to the national economy.



The statement noted that most members of the trading community are more intelligent, educated, knowledgeable and resourceful than the lawmaker, but for the privilege he has, he should have known better and be mindful of his utterances and speak with decorum in order not to subject himself to public ridicule and insults.



GUTA further indicated that Mr Osei-Owusus assertion that traders are the cause of the high prices of goods in markets is not only infantile but also diabolical.



The traders are challenging the First Deputy Speaker to produce the list of all taxes imposed by government at the port and beyond including all fees and charges as well as charges for utilities (electricity and water), fuel taxes as well, for all Ghanaians to known who is exploiting the consumer.





Source: class fm









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey has assured that the newly commissioned Kwabenya police barracks will be keenly monitored to serve their purpose and also well maintained.



He told NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie' that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) George Dampare has promised to ensure that the magnificent edifice will not rot.



He [IGP] has assured us that there will be strict maintenance, he told host Kwesi Aboagye.



The government commissioned 322 newly-built one- and two-bedroom self-contained flats, out of 514 to be occupied by the police in Accra.



The event, which was graced by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, includes units fitted with modern facilities, and will serve as comfortable homes, afford a conducive working environment for police officers and their families.



The project is in line with the governments plan to build modern barracks for the security services, to accommodate their increasing numbers.



When completed, the project is expected to produce 504 housing units, a clinic, a school block, a police maintenance unit, a police barracks, a police station, a fuel depot and a garage.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu in the North East Region, Dr. Abed Bandim, has questioned what the hinderance is as far as the declaration of the countrys clear stance on the LGBTQ+ subject by Ghana's president is.



He described the inability of the president to take a blunt stance on this as a cause for worry.



The MP further stated that while at this, if the government sits by and allows the activities of the LGBTQ+ community to thrive, it could plunge the country into chaos.



Speaking to GhanaWeb on the current Private Members bill before parliament, Dr. Bandim said, LGBTQ+ activities are an abomination to God, Ghana and Africa at large. Traditionally and morally, the Ghanaian society abhor anything that has to do with unnatural carnal knowledge.



Uganda, for instance, has criminalized LGBTQ+ acts, so what is the Akufo Addos government scared of? Ghanaians cannot accept any act that supports the practice of having unnatural carnal knowledge among some members of the public, all in the name of human rights activism, he added.



Dr. Abed Bandim also called on Christians, irrespective of their interdenominational beliefs, to be steadfast in fighting against any actions by the government to promote LGBTQ+ activities in the country.



He further assured Ghanaians that the National Democratic Congress MPs are on hand to vote in support of the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, titled the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill."



I and the good people of Bunkpurugu constituency support my colleagues in parliament in the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill before parliament.



"I am calling on all Christians to unite and kick against the promotion of LGBQT+ activities by the government and I want to assure the good people of Ghana that we the minority of parliament will vote in support of the passage of the bill, Dr. Bandim added.



The MP also recalled how the late President John Evans Atta-Mills and his successor, John Dramani Mahama, both stated their strong condemnations of the activities of the LGBTQ+ community in the country.



He added that they even went further to assure that there will be no legislation to give backing to the practice in the country, which is what is also expected of the sitting president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



The objective of the Private Members Bill, popularly known as the Anti-Gay Bill, is to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family value; proscribe (forbid) LGBTQ and related activities, provide for the protection of and support for children and persons who are victims of LGBTQ+.











Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Discussion of the project on gender equality will begin next month, Petr Sich, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Baku, told Trend.

"Since this issue affects a rather extensive area, next month the Council of Europe, along with the EU and the Azerbaijani authorities, will hold discussions on the tasks our program will be able to solve within this topic," Sich said.

Underlining that further details will be known in a few weeks, Sich said that the council, together with the EU and Azerbaijani partners, will carry out a number of projects in the country regarding four areas. These projects will be aimed at supporting the judicial system, combating economic crimes, and promoting gender equality.

Moreover, about 2.5 million euros have been allocated for the implementation of the four country projects within the framework of the third phase of the Partnership for Good Governance (PGGIII) program in Azerbaijan.

The Partnership for Good Governance is a joint initiative of the EU and the Council of Europe in the Eastern Partnership region.
The Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has revealed that crude condensation of about $2.5m allocated to the Tema Oil Refinery is reportedly missing.



The minister, widely known as NAPO, is reported by the Graphic on April 20, 2023, to have said that the fund was part of a business opportunity for the refinery to produce premix fuel from condensates from Ghana Gas.



I gave TOR a new business opportunity in the premix fuel market that all the condensate from Ghana Gas should be used for making premix fuel. The last time I heard, over $2.5 million dollars worth of condensate had gone missing from TOR, he said.



His revelation comes days after workers of the refinery commenced a series of demonstration demanding for the revamping of the refinery.



Background:



The National Chairman of the General Transport Petroleum Chemical Workers Union of TUC, Bernard Owusu, disclosed that, as workers of the insolvent Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), they are opened for private partnerships to revamp the refinery.



He was speaking on Peace FMs Kokrokoo in reaction to the series of demonstration being held by the workers of TOR over governments inability to get the refinery running.



To get their wishes granted, the chairman stated that the government will just have to get the policies structure and they will be willing to have private people come in.



He assured the public that the government is doing everything possible to revive the refinery following an appeal by workers. However, workers are calling for the dismissal of the Managing Director, Jerry K. Hinson, over allegations made against him.



The General Transport Petroleum Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) has announced their intention to picket at the Jubilee House, Ministry of Energy, and other strategic locations.



In response, Mr. Hinson in a letter warned workers that any illegal strike action or picketing will be dealt with according to the law, citing clauses 168-171 of the Labour Act.



Kindly be aware of the illegality of any such actions under clauses 168- 1 71 of the Labour Act and the consequences thereunder for participants/staff involved.



Please be aware of section 171 in particular which emphasises the term picketing which is only lawful in furtherance of a lawful strike/industrial action, he said.



Kindly be advised finally that participation of staff in any illegal action or picketing or indeed any act that purports to disrupt the activities of the Company or possibly undermine the authority of the Shareholder will be subjected to the prescribed ramifications under the relevant laws.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Minority Leader and former Deputy Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, has indicated his intention to call nine (9) witnesses in the ongoing trial in which he and two others have been accused of causing financial loss to the state.



Some of the witnesses, according to his lawyer include the Chief Director at the Ministry of Finance and the Controller and Accountant General.



In all, the three accused persons will be calling 20 witnesses as counsel for Sylvester Anemana indicated they will be calling six (6) witnesses while counsel for Richard Jakpa also indicated that they will be calling five (5) witnesses.



An Accra High Court on March 30, 2023, ordered Dr. Forson and two others to open their defence in a trial in which they are accused of purchasing defective vehicles as ambulances for the Ministry of Health.



The court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, in a ruling held that the three had a case to answer in the charges of causing financial loss and others levelled against them by the Office of the Attorney General in a deal that saw the state spending 2.37 million on the defective ambulances.



She held that both the prosecution and the defence teams admit in one way or the other that the ambulances that were imported were defective, so If you have spent money on a vehicle that cannot be used, then there is a case to be answered.



Dr. Ato Forson, Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief Director at the Ministry of Health, as well as private businessman, Richard Jakpa, are standing trial for wilfully causing financial loss of 2.37 million to the state, through a contract to purchase 200 ambulances for the Ministry of Health, among other charges.



The trial was scheduled for case management yesterday but Dr. Abdul Basit Aziz Bamba, counsel for Dr. Forson told the court he had filed two applications, one seeking leave to file witness statements and the other asking the prosecution to disclose certain documents.



He is asking for five separate documents, include warrant of payment detailing the person who authorised the Bank of Ghana to establish the Letters of Credit.



He sought leave to file the witness statements out of time because according to him, some of their witnesses are out of the country and he has not been able to have conference with them.



Justice Asare-Botwe gave the prosecution up to April 21, 2023, to file the disclosures demanded by Dr. Forson.



The defence lawyers were given up to May 4, 2023, to file their witness statements as well as exhibits. The case was adjourned to May 9 for case management.



Meanwhile, Justice Asare-Botwe has expressed her intention to conclude the case by August 31, 2023, when the court goes on legal break.



She said a new judge who will be replacing her at the High Court would be taking over in a few days so she intends to conclude all her pending cases so she could attend to her duties at the Court of Appeal.



After learning that the accused intend to call 20 witnesses, she said she would talk to her superior so a court would be dedicated for the hearing of the case.















Source: Daily Guide









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A woman claims her 'cheating' ex boyfriend literally broke her heart - after she was hospitalized with broken heart syndrome when she discovered he had another girlfriend.



Leslie-Anne Smith, from Leavenworth, Kansas, had suspected her boyfriend of cheating for months before they broke up, and claims she even found other women's underwear at his house.



The 31-year-old was already struggling with the loss of her uncle the month before, who was a father figure to her, when she made the devastating discovery that he was seeing another woman.



Read Full Story .... dailymail >>> :

















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A teenager was shot outside of a Philadelphia rec center on Wednesday, according to media reports.

The incident occurred around 4 p.m. at the Dendy Recreation Center, located at Ninth and Jefferson streets.

Police said the 15-year-old boy was sitting on a bench when he was shot in the back. He was taken to a hospital where he is in stable condition.
A man in Pennsylvania has been named the 2023 National School Psychologist of the Year.

Dr. Jason Pedersen, who is based out of the Derry Township School District, was so honored for his work in leading a variety of efforts to prioritize students mental health and social-emotional learning.
LEBANON, Ohio  A southwest Ohio woman was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison after she was accused of ordering her dogs to attack a 6-year-old girl last year.

Cassie Thierauf, 39, was found guilty by Judge Timothy Tepe after Thierauf pleaded no contest to a charge of child endangering on March 8, according to Warren County Common Pleas Court records. A charge of felonious assault was dismissed.

The incident occurred on Aug. 25 at a home in Lebanon, reports say. Thierauf reportedly was outside in the backyard of a duplex taking drugs with another woman.

A woman who lives on the other side of the duplex began filming Thierauf and the other woman, sparking an argument. The woman who was filming went inside to call police.

Prosecutors accuse Thierauf of then ordering her dog, a pit bull/boxer mix, to attack her neighbors two daughters and another child who were playing in the front yard. One of the daughters, who was 6 years old at the time of the attack, reportedly suffered severe injuries that have required several surgeries.

WXIX Channel 19 reports that Thierauf denied ordering her dogs to attack the children, but the judge said he didnt believe her explanation.

Thieraufs dogs will be taken from her because they are considered contraband and will be euthanized, WXIX reports.

More:

Cumberland County man linked to 4 overdose deaths takes plea deal

Missing central Pa. sisters found after 3 years; mom arrested: police
The missing sailboat crew that includes a Pennsylvania native could have encountered bad weather off the coast of Mexico that created 20-foot waves, according to a U.S. Coast Guard official.

Commander Gregory Higgins told ABC News that the Ocean Bound, a 44-foot fiberglass boat that has not been heard from since leaving Mazatlan, Mexico, on April 4 bound for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and then San Diego, might have seen waves even higher than that in the stormy weather.

Kerry OBrien, a Westmoreland County native, her husband, Frank, and friend Bill Gross, all experienced sailors, were scheduled to arrive in Cabo San Lucas on April 6, but there is no evidence that they did.

The Coast Guard and Mexican Navy are now searching for the sailboat, while the Coast Guard has asked ships to be on the lookout for the Ocean Bound and plotted where a life raft might have traveled if deployed.

Higgins said that the weather got worse on April 6 and that swells and 30-knot winds, or 44 miles per hour, in the Pacific Ocean could have generated big waves.

Also, Higgins told ABC News that search efforts and communications were hampered because the sailboat does not have a GPS tracking system and the cellular service around the Baja Peninsula is poor.

In a Facebook post on April 14, Mark Argall, Kerry OBriens brother, shared a statement from the families that said that cell phone pings from April 4 show they were off the coast of Mazatlan calling marinas in Cabo San Lucas.

However, the families said that the calls were short and likely unsuccessful. This is the last known contact of Kerry, Frank and Bill, the statement said.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, the OBriens live in Girdwood, Alaska, about 40 miles south of Anchorage.
By Justin Vellucci, The Tribune-Review, Greensburg (TNS)

Macaiah Thaxton, a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, supports rights for transgender people but also understands why Pitt did not stop conservative guest speaker Michael Knowles from debating about the topic during a protest-provoking event on campus.

Do I think that Michael Knowles is someone who I would like to have a platform on this campus? No, said Thaxton, 20, of Oakland, while sitting outside of the William Pitt Student Union on Wednesday.

I dont think trans rights are up for debate. I dont believe anyones right to exist should be debated, Thaxton said. I understand how hurtful it can be when an institution were all part of doesnt outright disagree with or denounce this type of hate speech.

But (Pitt) is a public institution trying to maintain neutrality.

Several students and First Amendment experts Wednesday backed Pitts decision not to cancel the controversial Tuesday night event.

They noted the university was improving in how it notified students when protesters set off an incendiary device, which turned out to be a smoke bomb and fireworks. A body dummy with a photo of Knowles face was also set on fire in the street.

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), which sponsored the event, Should transgenderism be regulated by law?, said Wednesday it was trying to organize a civil debate on the important topic of transgenderism and law.

Pitt College Republicans, the group that hosted the event, did not return a request for comment.

Radical activists threw smoke bombs at students making their way into the event venue, said John A. Burtka IV, ISIs president and CEO. Security for the event, both for Pitt police and private security, cost over $20,000, and the protection provided was inadequate to ensure a peaceful environment for the exercise of free speech.

Burtka also criticized the Pitt staff.

Now that Pitt has abandoned its historic commitment to the pursuit of truth and virtue, as their motto states, and kowtowed to rioting anarchists, he said, why would any reasonable parent consider spending $24,962 to send their child into harms way, all while being indoctrinated in the most radical views about what it means to be human and an American?

Pitt did not see it that way.

As a public institution, the University of Pittsburgh upholds the principles of protected speech, even when that speech marginalizes some members of our community, said university spokesperson Jared Stonesifer. At the same time, the university is also deeply invested in cultivating an environment that fosters mutual respect, concern for others, diversity and inclusion.

The University of Pittsburgh (Gene J. Puskar/AP, file)

The protest

Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Transphobia has got to go! more than 200 protesters chanted Tuesday night, many waving trans rights flags or holding signs with slogans such as No hate in Appalachia and Trans rights are human rights.

Police  dozens of officers from the University of Pittsburgh, the City of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University  stood shoulder-to-shoulder and often stone-faced behind barricades as the protest unfolded.

The protest ran for more than six hours before police ordered them to go home. Knowles, who poked fun at the protests during the event, left around 9 p.m.

No injuries were reported and there was no damage to Pitt buildings, some of which went into lockdown during the protest.

Pitt and City of Pittsburgh police worked to ensure the safety of both attendees and demonstrators, Stonesifer said.

Three officers were evaluated by medics but were not transported to a hospital, he said. Officers temporarily detained a number of individuals as part of their investigation into the incendiary device used this evening.

No arrests were made in connection with the protest, according to University of Pittsburgh police and Pittsburgh police. Both declined further comment.

The law

Pitt could not cancel the event because it is a public, state-related university  and the First Amendment applies to government agencies, according to Jon Pushinsky, an adjunct law professor at Pitt and attorney.

There are some students that will always push the limits, which doesnt make it impermissible, Pushinsky said.

Three types of speech  libel, obscenity and fighting words  are not protected by the Bill of Rights, Pushinsky said. Fighting words, something that invokes a violent response, have not received much attention in courts in recent decades.

The speech has to advocate imminent, lawless action and is likely to achieve that result in order to not be protected under the First Amendment, he added. I consider it repugnant speech, whether its against trans people, Jewish people, people of color  but that doesnt mean its not protected ... The First Amendment is designed to protect the speech we dont like.

Others lamented that the protesters were trying to squelch free speech.

It is appalling to me that rabid members of the trans movement are attempting to prevent free speech and opposing opinions at my beloved alma mater, said Phyllis Kanarkowski, who graduated from Pitt in 1970 and lives in New Jersey. A university  of all places  should be the arena for various opinions, perspectives and spirited (not violent) debate and expression.

During the Vietnam War and the civil rights movements, folks on campus expressed their stands one way or the other, she added. We tolerated and were respectful of someone who had a different side to support.

More: Bar patrons get into altercation over Bud Light partnership with transgender activist: report
Surgical instruments are used during an organ transplant surgery at a hospital in Washington on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. The president of the Canadian Medical Association says the new health funding deal struck between provinces and the federal government represents the biggest nominal injection of cash into Canada's health system, but that won't enough to fix what's broken. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Molly Riley
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are actively developing economic cooperation, Trend reports via the tweet of Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov.

The minister said that a meeting was held with the Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov, at which the investment potential of the countries was discussed.

"During the meeting with Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov, we highlighted the active development of the economic cooperation between our countries in recent years, as well as touched upon the promotion of investments and joint projects," he said.

On February 23-24, 2023, the first Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum was held in Tashkent, as part of which Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan signed an intergovernmental agreement on the establishment of a $500 million Joint Investment Fund.
In a pair of closed-door meetings with members of the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he is prepared to introduce a statewide sales tax as part of a long-term budget plan for the state.

In his first term, the governor said he would not approve new taxes without a statewide vote  he didnt include that caveat Tuesday.

Legislators said the governor also did not immediately dismiss an income tax as he has in the past, but a spokesman for the governor denied that the governor would support one.

He said that everything is open for discussion, said House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage. And I can say that he did not mention the need for a statewide referendum. And that indicates, to me, willingness to potentially sign or allow to go into law those pieces of legislation without a referendum.

Dunleavys communications office declined an interview request seeking to confirm legislators accounts of the meetings, and the office did not answer a detailed list of questions.

Jeff Turner, the governors deputy communications director, said by text that the governor did not talk about an advisory vote. And Turner said by email that Governor Dunleavy will not support an income tax bill.

Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, has already proposed a 2% statewide sales tax as part of a long-term state fiscal plan, and Dunleavy said Tuesday that he intends to introduce a similar idea.

Neither Turner or legislators provided details.

He did indicate that he would be filing some bills of his own. And the bill that he is going to be filing will be a sales tax bill, said Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla.

I believe he did indicate he would be introducing a sales tax proposal, Schrage said.

Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, said that from what he was able to glean, it was the South Dakota-style sales tax with exemptions  lets say on WIC stuff and food  but it also applied to services. So its kind of a strange tax.

WIC refers to a federally funded program that provides free or discounted food to women, infants and children.

Many states exempt at least some services from sales taxes.

Stapp said he had not seen the text of the governors proposal, and his impressions could not be independently confirmed.

Legislators who attended Tuesdays meetings  one with the House and the other with the Senate  differed on small elements of the governors talk but agreed on the broad details:

Anything around taxes has to be encapsulated into a fiscal plan, said Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage. Thats kind of how I took it with the governor: If we feel like we need to pick up one of these tax measures, that he would be open to it.

The spending plan approved by the Alaska House this week contains a deficit of almost $600 million, according to figures from the Legislative Finance Division that are based on the states current revenue forecast and an estimated figure for the states as-yet-unwritten capital budget, which pays for construction and renovation projects.

The final deficit could be as much as $200 million higher once all spending proposals are included, senators suggested in a news conference Tuesday.

The House plan calls for covering the deficit with savings from the states Constitutional Budget Reserve, but a significant number of lawmakers are opposed to that idea and have called for new taxes to address the situation.

Theyve introduced a variety of proposals, including a statewide sales tax, an income tax, and increases to oil taxes.

Those proposals have been resisted by lawmakers who say that new taxes must be accompanied by a new state spending cap and a firm new distribution formula for the Permanent Fund dividend, all items identified by a bipartisan, bicameral working group in 2021.

During this years legislative session, the governor has not publicly joined those fiscal debates, but he has repeatedly spoken to legislators in closed-door meetings.

In the latest meeting, the governor said he is preparing to go public with his ideas.

Asked whether its accurate to consider a tax bill as a big lift, Tilton said it is, but the really heavy lift in my mind has come with an entire plan.

Requiring a tax to be part of a broader package that includes other bills will add complexity and difficulty. Its been 54 years since a state that didnt have a sales tax added one.

Legislators who attended the governors meetings said passing a package is theoretically possible but practically improbable, given that only four weeks remain in this years regular legislative session.

Coulombe said the reluctance of the House minority to accept a new spending cap is a significant obstacle.

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said he believes the resistance of some House majority members to a tax bill will be an obstacle.

The governors influence could be decisive in the House, Stevens said.

Im just hoping that he, in the end, will provide the leadership we need from a governor, Stevens said.

Coulombe said its also up to the Legislature.

We cant just stay in our corners. Ive seen the majority struggle with the sales tax and the minority struggle with the spending cap, but its not gonna happen separately, she said. So were gonna have to figure it out.

The AlaskaBeacon.com is a donor-funded independent news organization in Alaska.
Alaska Airlines' famed Salmon-Thirty-Salmon took to the skies for one final flight on Monday. The airline announced earlier this year that the plane's exterior design would be retired and its last flight with it would be on April 17. The plane, which carried 30 Alaska Airlines employees to mark the occasion, flew along the "Milk Run," starting in Seattle and traveling through Southeast Alaska before finishing its final journey in Anchorage.

Early Monday morning, passengers in Seattle sat awaiting their flight to Ketchikan where their plane, a Boeing 737 with an enormous salmon painted on the side, would make its final run as Alaska's most well-known flight. The iconic Salmon Thirty Salmon was ready to board passengers for the final flight of its 18-year tenure serving as Alaska's famous flying fish.

Kaitlyn Lynch, a software engineer for Alaska Airlines showed up at the gate wearing a sweatshirt featuring a large salmon on it. The image was created by her and is similar to the design on the plane, which is known as a livery.

"I know many people who say this is their favorite livery," she said. "I know it's mine. I think it brings a lot of joy to people to see a giant fish plane in the sky."

Salmon Thirty Salmon, frequently known as Flight 65, is a cultural staple in Alaska. With a striking image of a 127-foot Alaskan King Salmon decorating the body of the Boeing 737, the plane is hard to miss. It was painted with support from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute in conjunction with Alaska Airlines and was meant to promote the state's seafood industry far and wide. The plane got its name following a 1987 incident that resulted in a salmon hitting an airplane after being dropped by a passing eagle.

But salmon enthusiasts will no longer see the plane grace the skies after April 17. Salmon Thirty Salmon made its final flight on Monday, an occasion that the airline commemorated with a celebration at each stop.

The reason? It's getting repainted.

The plane's current design is over 10 years old. Liveries are typically made to last five to seven years, according to Tim Thompson, director of public relations and community marketing for Alaska Airlines. And because of this, he said that the plane is in need of a refresh.

The next image that the airline decides to use may reflect a shift in how the world views Alaska, and Thompson was excited about the possibilities.

"It will still honor our culture and our history," he said.

To commemorate this new milestone for Flight 65, Alaska Airlines held a kickoff ceremony Monday morning before takeoff for its last flight complete with balloons and a DJ playing music for an amused and confused audience.

Cathy Bolling, a caregiver from Prince of Wales Island, was one of the confused. "We don't even know what's going on with this flight. We're just going home," she said.

Once informed of the reason for the early-morning festivities, a smile broke over her face. Bolling said she was very familiar with its typical flight path, known as the milk run, and the plane's famous flying fish.

Other passengers, like Kris Norosz, knew about the plane's last flight and were eager to board.

"It's exciting," she said.

Alaska Airlines played up that excitement for some of the passengers that morning, hosting a quick game of trivia and even holding an impromptu 7 a.m. dance circle to the tune of "Cha Cha Slide." Those who participated were awarded a free flight voucher for one round-trip ticket to any Alaska Airlines destination of their choosing.

But those who did not participate were in for a surprise, too. When passengers boarded the plane at each stop, they were given free round-trip vouchers and a small collection of goodies including a pin, a hat and a T-shirt. Alaska Airlines worked with Trident Seafoods for the event, and much of the free "swag" was courtesy of Trident in celebration of their 50-year business anniversary. The plane's salmon design was created to promote companies like Trident to sell their seafood on a broader scale.

Norosz, who serves on the Alaska Airlines Community Advisory Board, said that she's seen the plane help expand the seafood industry's influence in and outside of Alaska.

"Seafood in Alaska is a very, very old industry that employs a lot of people, and I think that Alaskans have a lot of pride about salmon," she said. "It was a great promotional feature for the Alaska seafood industry."

Over the years, the plane has amassed fans, some of whom have come to associate Alaska with the salmon that is painted on it. And those fans are loyal to the salmon design - there was even a petition started to halt the repainting of the aircraft.

Thompson said the plane's art was the first of its kind and that its individuality helped spark interest in Alaska's seafood industry.

"It's one of those aircraft that people notice wherever they are," said Thompson.

Flight 65 has been in service with its famous salmon design since 2005. An updated design was unveiled in 2012, and this most recent version, named Salmon Thirty Salmon II, has flown over many skies since. The new design for the plane has been finalized but not released to the public yet.

During its time sporting a giant salmon, the plane was primarily used as part of Alaska's "milk run," which travels from Seattle to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau and Anchorage with supplies and passengers. But it has made many more flights across Alaska and beyond to show off its flashy fish design.

Monday's flight followed the traditional trajectory of the milk run with four stops before landing in Anchorage around 4 p.m. The stops were not to distribute milk but to pick up and drop off passengers in Southeast Alaska.

Today, Alaska Airlines has a milk run fleet that consists of a few different types of planes including cargo-only planes and passenger planes. Many Alaskans across Southeast rely on air travel to receive supplies and to leave and return to their communities due to the lack of connection to the road system in the region.

And Salmon Thirty Salmon plays a large role in that - and not only in delivering people and supplies where they need to go.

Terri Cook, a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines for over two decades, said the plane is a symbol of the airline and the people who fly on it.

"It represents Alaska Airlines to the T, especially our true Alaskans that fly on this all the time. They love this plane," she said.

And that love was evident at the Juneau stop of the flight, where the waiting passengers clapped loudly for the plane's last run, and even louder for the free ticket vouchers.
First version published at 14:06

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Public discussions titled "Tourism business: current situation and prospects" have been held in Baku April 20, Trend reports.

The public discussions have been held with the support of Azerbaijan's Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA), the State Tourism Agency, the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations, the Public Council under SMBDA, and the "Association of Travel Agencies of Azerbaijan" Public Union.

During the event, the development of the tourism sector in the post-pandemic period and the expectations of entrepreneurs were discussed, and proposals from business entities were heard.

The public discussions were attended by representatives of the relevant state agencies and business associations, as well as entrepreneurs engaged in the field of tourism.

Chairman of the Public Council under the SMBDA, Farhad Garashev, noted that the organization of public discussions on priority topics with the participation of SMEs operating in various fields remains in the spotlight. The purpose of the event, held during the revival of the tourism sector, is to study the state of this area, hear the expectations of entrepreneurs, and hold discussions on this matter.

In addition, the Chairman of the SMBDA, Orkhan Mammadov, said that the tourism field was one of the most affected during the pandemic, but, as in other areas, there is a revival in the tourism sector today. It was noted that the Agency supports the creation and development of businesses in the tourism field with the help of various methods and services and implements joint projects with the State Tourism Agency and other partners in this direction.

It was also mentioned that the Agency constantly arranges meetings with entrepreneurs engaged in the field of tourism, and conducts surveys among them. The results of these meetings and surveys revealed that the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs working in the tourism sector are related to lack of access to financial resources, a lack of personnel, etc. In addressing these issues, it is important to simplify the lending procedure and introduce alternative financing mechanisms, as well as educate entrepreneurs in order to train personnel.

Chairman of the State Agency for Tourism Fuad Naghiyev said that the tourism policy of the agency uses an economic approach, the purpose of which is to increase the share of the tourism sector in the gross domestic product. The activities of the agency are based on five main areas: strategic management in tourism, tourism regulation, improvement of tourism infrastructure, enhancing marketing and communications, as well as creation and development of tourism products.

Naghiyev also noted that work is underway to create tourist and recreational zones and improve the regulatory framework in order to further improve the investment environment for entrepreneurs.

In turn, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Azerbaijan Travel Agencies (ATAA) Goydaniz Gahramanov spoke about the activities of the association, achievements in the tourism sector during the post-pandemic period, cooperation with member companies of the organization for the development of the sector.

At the event, entrepreneur proposals on the sector development were heard, and their questions were answered by representatives of relevant government bodies.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov held a meeting with the Uzbek delegation headed by Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan Laziz Kudratov, the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan told Trend.

At the meeting, the parties noted the active economic cooperation between the countries over the past years and discussed investment opportunities and potential projects. It was mentioned that the visits of the heads of state and the high-level meetings brought the strategic partnership to a qualitatively new level and contributed to the sustainable development of mutually beneficial cooperation.

In addition, it was noted that the first Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan Interregional Forum held in Tashkent in February this year opened new horizons for expanding cooperation, while agreements reached last August during the meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are showing positive results.

Furthermore, the possibilities of deepening cooperation in the field of mutual investments were also discussed. In this regard, work on creating an Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Investment Fund is underway.

Also, at the meeting, the minister of investment, industry, and trade of Uzbekistan said that the trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are developing steadily, and the establishment of ties between the regions of the two countries will further strengthen the mutually beneficial partnership.

Along with the investment cooperation, the parties also discussed strengthening partnerships in the fields of industry, energy, agriculture, small and medium-sized businesses, trade, transport, transit, and other areas.
Charges & Fines Dismissed for Players in Texas Poker Raid; $205K Still Seized & Staff Await Fate

April 20, 2023 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

Last October, the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club in Watauga, Texas  which is situated between Fort Worth and Dallas  was raided by police during Day 2 of one of their bigger tournaments. Dozens of staff members were arrested, approximately $150K-$200K in equipment, $205,000 in cash was seized, and 49 players were fined $360 each.

Three of those players took a plea deal in December, but since then, the other players have been awaiting their day in court. However, before they got it, they received the good news that their charges and fines were dismissed.

One of the players, Daryl Gresham, shared an image of the official dismissal, which read:

On this 18th day of April 2023, Daryl J. Gresham is the defendant in the above styled and numbered cause, having been charged with the offense of Gambling  Cards, Dice, Balls, is hereby dismissed for the following reason: Motion to Dismissed by D.A.  Interest of Justice.

PokerNews confirmed that other players were receiving similar dismissals. Unfortunately for the three players who accepted the plea deal late last year, their cases stand.

Arrests Made as Texas Poker Club Raided in Middle of $100K Tournament; Players Fined

Players Still Upset

While it was good news for Gresham, he also shared his discontent with the situation.

First part of the injustice has now been dropped for all 46 of 49 who wanted their/our day in court, Gresham wrote. Now lets go get our 205k the TCSO robbed from us at gunpoint, cameras cut, etc Each and every one of the 19 raiders that day knew why they were there and what was at stake and knew they were doing wrong! Some thought that they were being set up and year you were right by your own dept and DA This isnt over til you return our money and justice is served!!!! Im still disgusted at the authorities that this was ok in your offices!!!! Remember to serve and protect, not to rob the people at gunpoint!

Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club

Steve Nichols also posted an update on Facebook:

A little bittersweet as I really wanted to take it to trial but its vindicating to see the Tarrant County District Attorneys office cower in the face of folks willing to stand up to them. Well count this one as a win for the good guys.

"I think the DAs office did not like that myself and the other attorneys present that day all walked in and demanded jury trials.

He continued: I dont have any additional information about the criminal cases against the employees  Lets hope Tarrant County makes the right decision there as well. I know we arent getting our money back (which is the most unfortunate part of this whole thing) but hopefully, this pushes the needle forward with lawmakers to make a stand and finally fully legalize poker in the state of Texas so that no other establishments or patrons fall victim to overzealous prosecution.

A lawyer associated with the case wrote: I think solidarity won out over here. I think the DAs office did not like that myself and the other attorneys present that day all walked in and demanded jury trials.

Texas Poker Room Refuses to Pay Out $100K Bad Beat Jackpot Over Technicality

How It All Went Down

The Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club opened in January 2022 and even hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended Watauga Mayor Arthur L. Miner. The room was even a stop on PokerNews Texas Road Trip back in March.

The original Tarrant County warrant stated that authorities were authorized to seize currency, gambling proceeds, financial instruments, and other items of value  relating to obtaining, transferring, secreting or spending large sums of money from engaging in specified unlawful activities.

As well as Tickets, papers, bank bags, receipts, money, gift certificates, coupons, credit card receipts showing documentation of entries, add-on plays, dealer/staff appreciation, administrative fees, payoffs, and checks cashed by player.

The warrant, which was signed by Judge George Gallagher, also indicated that authorities were looking for non-poker-related gambling apparatuses such as dice, roulette wheels, video gambling devices, etc. in violation of Texas Penal Code, Chapter 47.

Today the Watauga Poker Club just outside Dallas, Texas was raided. Heres a look at the search warrant that was ex https://t.co/ge7uU4ArSB  Chad Holloway (@ChadAHolloway)

The raid occurred during Day 2 of the venues Fall Classic Poker $420 buy-in, $100K GTD Main Event. That tournament featured a $20 optional dealer add-on, offered six starting flights, and had planned to live-stream the final table.

The tournament attracted 369 entries, who generated a $132,840 prize pool. Day 2 saw 53 players return to action with Randi Lister (942,000), Ethan Wilson (676,000), and Johnny Marlow (626,000) as the big stacks. The raid apparently took place in Level 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) with 49 players remaining.

PokerNews will continue to monitor the situation as Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club staff await their fate in the case.

What Are the Best Poker Rooms in Texas?

Sharelines There's been good news for players fined in last October's Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club raid.
The 888poker festival has made its way to the heart of the United Kingdom and is being held at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, England. The 1,100 Main Event kicks off today with Day 1a at 12:00 pm noon, the first of three starting flights taking place.

Many of the 888poker ambassadors will be taking part in the festival including the likes of Ian Simpson, Vivian Saliba, and Josh Manley. They will be joined by many of the local British poker community along with many satellite winners. Another name to keep an eye on is Adam Gilbert who won a massive VIP package from 888poker. Gilbert won the opportunity for himself and two friends to enter the Main Event, including travel and accommodations, all from just $5.

The action will be getting underway shortly with each starting stack given 30,000 chips with the blinds beginning 100/100 and a 100 big blind ante. The levels will be 45 minutes in length throughout Day 1 with a total of 12 levels being played. There will be a 20-minute break after every three levels and a 40-minute dinner break after level six.

An unlimited number of reentries will be permitted in this event which could make for a lot of action in the early going. Late registration will remain open until the start of Day 2 which will take place on Saturday, April 22nd at 12:00 pm. Day 1b will be at the same time tomorrow with Day 1c being a turbo flight in the evening. The 888poker festival also has the 2,200 High Roller taking place which has attracted many notable names and will wrap up later today.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to bring you all of the live updates throughout the Main Event en route to crowning a champion in just a few day's time.
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took to the House floor not to unveil the details of his debt ceiling bill but to plead with Biden and Schumer to negotiate with him.

Video of McCarthy pleading for negotiations:

Kevin McCarthy is on the House floor begging for President Biden to notice him pic.twitter.com/ijJ21vNatq  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2023

McCarthy said, The American people have elected a divided government, and our government is to find compromise. Thats why the House, the Senate, and the White House should be negotiating a responsible debt limit increase right now. You know, if you gave your child a credit card, and they kept maxing it out to the limit, you wouldnt just keep blindly raising the limit.

McCarthy, who is playing politics with the debt limit, accused Biden and Schumer of playing politics:

McCarthy: President Biden and Senator Schumer have no right to play politics with the debt calling. pic.twitter.com/meTClhGsfB  Acyn (@Acyn) April 19, 2023

Democrats dont want any politics in the debt limit increase, which is why they are refusing to negotiate any spending cuts until after McCarthy passes a clean debt limit hike.

President Biden responded to McCarthy on Wednesday by pointing out that is the Speaker who has put the country on the verge of default, and that McCarthys plan would hurt working people while helping the rich.

Kevin McCarthy has gotten himself into a bind. If he passes a clean debt limit increase, the odds that Republicans will seek to remove him as Speaker. If he doesnt pass a clean debt limit increase, Rep. McCarthy will be blamed for a potential default.

Democrats dont have to negotiate with Kevin McCarthy. The Speaker could end this situation today NY passing a clean debt limit increase. The pressure is on House Republicans, and judging by McCarthys comments, they are getting desperate.
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Sen. Marco Rubio complained that they cant figure out how to fix the gas shortage in South Florida, but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Rubio out because he works for the government and could be doing something.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted in response to Rubio:

Like there is no way the Senator doesnt have the Governors phone number. Try calling him! Find out what the problems are! Call the admin! Give people specific updates!  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 20, 2023

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Marco Rubio doesnt just work for the government. Sen. Rubio is the highest-ranking federal official representing the state of Florida. Rubio is Floridas senior US senator.

The gas shortage in South Florida is something that he should be working on. It is his responsibility to do something. Rubio could pick up the phone, call Gov. Ron DeSantis, wherever he may be, and offer to be the federal go-between to help get aid and relief to the people of South Florida.

One of the favorite tricks that elected Republicans like to play is to blame someone else and act powerless in a crisis. DeSantis has direct responsibility for the problems in South Florida, but Rubio isnt some bystander who can only look on and wish someone would do something.

For Rubio to pretend that he is not a part of the government is disingenuous and insulting.

It is also a load of BS, and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez called him out on it.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee has invited Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to testify at a hearing about the courts ethics issues on May 2.

The Senate Judiciary Committee tweeted:

BREAKING: @SenatorDurbin officially invites Chief Justice Roberts to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 2.



This follows an unacceptable stream of revelations of Justices falling short of ethical standards expected by the American people.  Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) April 20, 2023

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The Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Chief Justice John Roberts and warned him that he had to clean up the SCOTUS ethics problems, a.k.a. Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett, or the Senate would get involved.

Nothing has happened at the Supreme Court, so the hearing is a first step toward the Senate taking action.

Given what Clarence Thomas has been up to, the Supreme Court urgently needs ethics rules and an independent panel to conduct oversight. Passing ethics rules for SCOTUS, but allowing the current group of apparently corrupt conservative justices to police themselves is a terrible idea.

Getting a Supreme Court ethics bill through the Senate could be an impossible challenge, but something must be attempted, and a series of hearing on the ethics problems will serve to bring attention and increase pressure on Roberts to act.

The hearing isnt going to solve the problem, but it is a start. Chief Justice Roberts will certainly decline to testify, and if he refuses to show up and answer questions, it will make the need for ethics reform at the Supreme Court even more urgent.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov visited the Sagadat Nurmagambetov Military Institute of the Land Forces in Almaty, Trend reports citing the press service of Ministry.

First, wreath was laid at the statue of the First Minister of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Army General Sagadat Nurmagambetov in the territory of the Institute and his memory was honored.

The Minister of Defense was presented a briefing on the history of the establishment of the military institute and the main directions of its activities.

After getting acquainted with the institute, a photo was taken.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High 72F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 53F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Could Aiken be the setting for A.G. Mocks next novel with its natural beauty and the woods?

"We do now live in the woods which is nice," Mock said. "It's nice to open our backdoor, see the stars at night with no lights, hear the sound of the woods and of course that helps inspire more."

Only being in Aiken for a few months, the national and international author, Mock made Aiken his home. After moving to Aiken for his wife's job as a nurse, he looking forward to growing his writing career in the area.

"I can pretty much work anywhere," he said.

In addition to being a published author, Mock has lived in England, worked at a newspaper and owned two magazines in Florida.

During his short publishing career of three years, he has published two books "The Little Woods" and "Disciple." He expects to publish a third book, "Shadow Watchers" in late summer 2023. The books are part of the New Apocrypha series.

His books are published through his own imprint company called Epoch Thrillers.

"Epoch Thrillers was created to purely to publish A.G. Mock novels," he said.

His books have been listed on Amazon's best-seller lists in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Mock is also a two-time American Fiction Award winner in 2022 for Best Occult Horror Novel and Best Supernatural Novel.

Mock, who is originally from western Pennsylvania, studied abroad in England during his junior year in college and enjoyed it so much he stayed. He we able to transfer his credits and completed his degree in literature and psychology.

After he graduated he went to work the advertising department of a newspaper.

My success in advertising made it impossible for me to move into that newspaper's editorial department, he said. While I always wanted to be a writer and I was disappointed that I couldnt be on the journalist side of things, God and the universe had other plans.

Mock knew writing was always knocking at his door.

I always wanted to be a writer or a rock drummer in my writing, he said.

Before the turn of the millennium, Mock moved back to America and settled in Florida where he started a monthly magazine in Tampa which he had for six years. Around 2010, he started another magazine in Clearwater Beach, Florida, which he still manages today.

When COVID-19 pandemic hit, Mock was unable to publish his magazine, and decided to return to writing and finished "The Little Woods."

It was really the opportunity for me to go back and explore this book I had started writing, he said. "I started rewriting from scratch and in a matter of months, I had a finished product."

Mock said he has several books in the works and is keeping the details under wraps.

He said Hitchcock Woods could be the setting for one of his books.

Hitchcock Woods is going to inspire a story with an occult overtone, but will be more thriller, he said.

He is scheduled to be a guest at the South Carolina Horror Convention in Columbia and plans to attend book signings across the country.

So far, Mock is humbled by all the success and is looking to see where his career will take him.

I can write what I want read, and its satisfying to know people are excited to read it as much as you are, Mock said.

Mock's books are available online at Amazon and can be purchased at the Aiken Center for The Arts.
Community discussions and making Narcan available to people are some solutions local agencies are trying in an effort to address the increase in drug overdoses in Aiken County.

During a mental health and substance abuse symposium at Cedar Creek Church, Aiken-Barnwell Mental Health Center, Aiken Center, community and law enforcement agencies expressed concern with the increase of overdose deaths .

We are very much trying to stay on top of new and synthetic drugs that are out there in our county, said Margaret Key, executive director for the Aiken Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Services.

In 2022, there were 90 accidental overdose deaths in Aiken County with 80 percent from fentanyl. There were 63 in 2021 and 74 in 2020.

Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables said there have already been 24 overdoses this year .

Last year was the highest number that my office has recorded, and so far we are trending to have just as many or more (this year),"Ables said.

Ables said most of the deaths have been due to fentanyl and Xylazine mix.

Xylazine is a horse tranquilizer and is used as a sedative, Key said.

Key said Xyalzine is being added to the drug because it gives someone a different type of high.

Were continuously trying to step up our game in terms of serving a higher volume in the number of people and the quality care, treatment and curricula, she said.

Ables said the depressant drug benzodiazepine is a new concern in overdoses and the first overdose death from that drug was reported Tuesday.

We see the majority of the cases are relating back to fentanyl, (but) it seems like a lot of cases with benzodiazepine are starting to increase, he said.

Ables said Narcan can not be used to treat benzodiazepine and Xylazine overdoses.

Key said there have been concerns about the rise in overdoses and how to treat the mixture of certain drugs, and noted the best option is to call 911.

Emma Kennedy, the director of the division of injury and substance abuse prevention for S.C. DHEC said the cases they are seeing went from fentanyl to a mix of fentanyl and Xylzaine.

She said when fentanyl and Xylazine are mixed, Narcan will only work to treat the opioid.

Its something we have to think about or be aware of in the drug supply so we can be prepared, she said.

She said the two types of fentanyl are pharmaceutical and illicitly manufactured , both are synthetic opioids. The first is used to treat pain, while the second is made illicitly.

Its like a heroin-like effect and its really powerful, cheap and addictive, Kennedy said.

She said other drugs like cocaine and meth are being mixed with fentanyl, which has led to an increase in death. One trend she is seeing those between the ages of 25 to 44 overdosing.

All users need to have Naloxone and Narcan on hand because  you will never know whats going to be in any drugs, she said.

Kennedy said in December 2022, DHEC began to distribute overdose safety kits to health departments in South Carolina. The kits include Naloxone, fentanyl test strips and educational materials.

Kennedy also said DHEC is using overdose data from the state to help with prevention efforts and is working with Governors Opioid Emergency Response Team from the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drugs and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Its really a team effort to get this work done, she said.

Locally, the Aiken Center offers walk-in assessments with counselors, free Narcan, and peer support specialists .

Key said there are also plans to have Xylazine test strips and Narcan training with various volunteer firefighters and smaller law enforcement agencies.

Key said treating substance abuse is a team effort and it's possible to fix the problem.

"We have the components in place here to turn this around," Key said.
COLUMBIA  A Statehouse proposal to stop Folly Beach and other barrier islands from limiting short-term rentals was thrown out on a technicality, but not before a testy exchange between two Charleston County Republicans.

State Sen. Sandy Senn doesn't represent barrier islands in Charleston County, but she proposed a budget clause that would block the county's beach towns from enforcing such rental restrictions.

Her amendment initially won quick approval on a voice vote, triggering protests from Sen. Chip Campsen, who does represent the barrier islands in Charleston County, including Folly.

He took exception to a fellow Republican proposing rules he objected to geared to his turf.

"I represent every single municipality that this applies to, and theyre in my district," Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, said April 19 in addressing Senn. This is my district. Its not your district."

Towns shouldnt be punished for trying to preserve their residents quality of life," he added.

Under the proposal's wording, Folly Beach, Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island could each have faced a loss of state funding if their governments enforced certain short-term rental restrictions.

Senn admitted Folly Beach was at the top of her thinking. That's where voters in February narrowly approved a local referendum limiting the number of short-term rentals, capping the number at 800.

"Certainly Folly Beach, which was my target, quite frankly," Senn said, adding the cap will likely result in prices skyrocketing for the homes that can still be rented.

Beach towns that regularly seek state money for sand renourishment and other projects shouldn't then limit people's ability to enjoy the beach, she said, noting she lived on Folly Beach for 24 years.

"I recognize that summer swell can be a nuisance, but I chose to live out there," she said. "I do think it's just beach snobbery. I understand that you may not want all these people around, but you moved there."

Senn's effort to include the measure in the state budget was rejected April 19 on the technical question of whether it was germane, meaning it was directly related to the state spending bill.

"I thought it was germane because I tied it to money," said Senn.

In addition to Folly Beach's rental limit, Sullivan's Island has long banned short-term rentals. The Isle of Palms has been debating its regulations.

Senn said the restrictions punish property owners and any South Carolina resident who wants to visit the beach.

Her proposed amendment to the state budget would have stripped local governments in Charleston County with certain populations  between 1,800 and 4,400 residents  of their shares of state aid if they were to "enact or enforce an ordinance that prohibits short-term rentals."

That would have applied only to short-term rentals longer than three days, and only to properties that are taxed at higher rates than primary residences, as are vacation homes and rental properties.

Senn said those property owners didn't have a voice in Folly Beach's February referendum because they don't live there. But they may have bought the property relying on rental income to make a mortgage payment.

As for Campsen's complaint that she doesn't represent Folly, Senn said, "It impacts all state beach goers."

Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin noted Senn had previously owned property in the city. Senn said she no longer owns her Folly Beach properties, selling the last of her three in November 2021.

"No, not anymore, thats why I didnt feel bad bringing this up," Senn said, adding that potential rental income was the first thing buyers asked her about.

Goodwin said Senn's proposal was a slap at local governments.

Im opposed to it, and the biggest reason is youre stepping on home rule all over," he said. "If you allow this to happen, whats next?"

Senn said the issue of regulating short-term rentals will certainly come back in the Legislature. She said some senators voted against her proposal because it only applied to Campsen's district.

A broader proposal to prohibit all local governments from regulating short-term rentals stalled in the House of Representatives earlier this year.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct an earlier statement from Mayor Tim Goodwin that Sandy Senn has an active city rental license. She does not; it expired in 2021.
COLUMBIA  Legislation intended to renew South Carolina's ability to execute death row inmates by lethal injection is steps away from becoming law, potentially leading to the state's first executions since 2011.

The S.C. House of Representatives voted 75-21 on April 19, mostly along party lines, to expand the state's so-called "shield law" by guaranteeing secrecy to potential suppliers of the lethal cocktail of drugs needed for executions.

Two Democrats voted for the bill and one Republican voted against. Twenty-one legislators were present but didn't vote.

The amended measure returns to the Senate, which approved the bill 39-5 in February. If senators agree with the House tweaks, the bill will head to Gov. Henry McMaster, who's publicly called on legislators to pass it.

Democratic opponents framed the argument as denying the public's right to know where the drugs came from, how much they cost and whether the process was handled correctly. They appealed to Republicans' usual calls for transparency.

"Its not about whether you believe in the death penalty or dont," said Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Smoaks, adding he recognizes it is the law. "This deep-red state of South Carolina, instead of being the beacon of how state government should run in this country as it relates to transparency, were going to vote on something that ensures there can never be a 100 percent accurate audit of the Department of Corrections."

"Stand on what you say," added Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Hopkins, among those who ultimately didn't vote. "Stand on freedom and transparency. Let's do what's right."

State law already protects the identities of employees carrying out executions. The bill would extend the secrecy shield to those making, compounding and/or selling the drugs.

Rep. Will Wheeler, D-Bishopville, said the secrecy means if there's a botched execution, and the drugs end up putting the inmate into a coma or let him linger in excruciating pain instead of killing him, there's no way for the family or the state to sue because no one could determine who sold them.

The state must ensure that "if were administering the death penalty, were doing it correctly," he said. "Would we do that in any other facet of our lives other than when we want to kill somebody, and we dont care? What disturbs me about it is were taking away the ability of own agency to make sure its operating correctly."

House Judiciary Chairman Weston Newton countered the reason for the bill is simple: It allows the state to carry out sentences that were handed down decades ago.

"Lets be clear when we talk about transparency and what this does," said the Bluffton Republican. "What we know is that the Department of Corrections has been unable to carry out lawfully imposed sentences. The families of the victims cannot get closure."

The assumption is that promising companies and pharmacists a buffer from public opposition to the death penalty, as 14 other states have done, will help the state's prison agency once again secure drugs that expired a decade ago.

Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has stressed to legislators that the secrecy shield is no guarantee the drugs can be obtained. But he's repeatedly said he can't buy them without it.

Court documents indicate he may have success, which would potentially nullify a challenge to the state's existing options of death by firing squad or electrocution.

In January, the state Supreme Court put on hold any decision on whether those options are unconstitutionally cruel until a circuit judge determines if Corrections tried hard enough to secure lethal injection drugs. Last month, justices put that evaluation on hold pending the outcome of the legislation.

Corrections "has been consistently and diligently searching for lethal injection drugs for the past decade, including from other states, manufacturers, and compounding pharmacies. Until the last month or so, most of these efforts never proceeded beyond an initial conversation and rejection, and the few efforts that did quickly fizzled," the state's attorneys wrote in its request for a temporary hold.

"Prospects of obtaining lethal injection drugs changed" after the Senate passed the shield law, the motion continued, arguing that making Corrections provide details on recent requests would have a "chilling effect on potential suppliers."

The state's inability to replace the drugs since 2013 is what caused the Legislature two years ago to pass a law that reverted to electrocution as the default method and added the option of death by firing squad. The law kept lethal injection as an option if the drugs become available again.

If the bill does not become law before the regular session ends May 11, or if it does but the state still can't buy the drugs, then the challenge can proceed without affecting the outcome of inmates' latest appeal to stop their executions, state attorneys wrote in their conclusion.

But if a shield law passes and the state can get the drugs, "then death row inmates executions could proceed by their preferred method (and they cannot claim prejudice from having their duly imposed sentences finally carried out via their preferred method of execution)," they wrote.

Chief Justice Don Beatty agreed March 16 in an order that halted the case until May 11 or whenever either side asks for the hold to be lifted.
An upstart airline is adding new nonstop service from three South Carolina airports by early summer to the Delaware city that President Joe Biden calls home.

Avelo Airlines will launch flights from Charleston and Myrtle Beach to Wilmington on June 23, and from Greenville-Spartanburg the previous day.

The new flights from the Lowcountry and Grand Strand will be available on Monday and Friday. Avelo will add Saturday service in Myrtle Beach starting July 1. The Upstate flight will operate on Thursday and Sunday.

"Getting to the four-state Delaware Valley region is now easier than ever," Avelo CEO Andrew Levy said in a written statement.

Wilmington is Delaware's largest city and has been Biden's primary residence for years. It is in the northeastern part of the state, bordered by Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Its biggest hometown employers include DuPont, which has a manufacturing plant in Berkeley County, and a legal system that handles some of the world's biggest corporate bankruptcies.

Nearby cities include Baltimore and Philadelphia, both about a one-hour drive away.

Introductory one-way fares will be $39 from Charleston and Myrtle Beach, while the offer is $29 from Greenville-Spartanburg International. Tickets must be booked by May 1 for travel through Sept. 6 to get the deal.

The nonstop flights are believed to the first between the Palmetto State and the First State.

"We look forward to welcoming visitors from this four-state region and increasing ways for Charleston-area and Delaware Valley residents to more affordably and easily connect with friends, family and vacation opportunities," said Explore Charleston CEO Helen Hill, who also is chairwoman of the Charleston County Aviation Authority.

Myrtle Beach airports director Judi Olmstead said the Avelo expansion "will undoubtedly be a great addition to our growing list of destinations and further enhance our commitment to providing convenient and affordable travel options for our passengers."

Avelo started serving the Lowcountry and Grand Strand last May with nonstop flights to New Haven, Conn. It will launch twice-weekly flights between Greenville-Spartanburg and Orlando, Fla., and New Haven on June 7 and June 22, respectively.

Greenville-Spartanburg CEO Dave Edwards pointed to the new route as a testament to the airline's investment in the Upstate as a travel destination.

"Avelos decision to further expand at GSP opens new opportunities for travelers to visit our area and explore all our region has to offer," he said.
Qabil Ashirov

Armenian media outlets claim that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lately takes heed of his own safety. The head of Armenian state can no longer hide his concern and he is clearly afraid of something, but no one knows what exactly it is.

Besides that media outlets draw attention that Pashinyan came to the last parliamentary session accompanied by a large number of security guards accompanied by police officers. It is said that the bodyguards of the Prime Minister followed the deputies of the Armenian Parliament and the entrance to the hall where the session was held was secured by armed guards in civilian clothes along with the employees of the Armenian State Security Service.

In addition, it should be noted that this step of Nikol Pashinyan coincides with the date when he noted that he was very close to signing the peace agreement with Azerbaijan and recognizing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. These words of Nikol Pashinyan were not welcomed in Armenian society. Some politicians accused him of treason.

In a comment on the issue of what Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan could be wary of, expert Farhad Mammadov pointed out that the conspiracy case of assassination is possible, because terrorism is a common practice for Armenian society to achieve political goals for centuries.

Especially since the 60s of the 19th century, Armenian political parties have been engaged in terrorism in across the world. Throughout the history of statehood, the speaker and the prime minister have been killed in the parliament in Armenia in the last 30 years. I mean, this tradition still exists. Therefore, Pashinyan's phobia about personal security is understandable, Farhad Mammadov noted.

However, the pundit did not rule out Pashinyan's maneuver of taking advantage of this Armenian tradition; by pretending that he could share the destiny of former PM Vazgen Sargsyan and National Assembly Speaker Karen Demirchyan who was assassinated by an armed Armenian terror organization in the Parliament in 1999, Nikol Pashinyan can simply evade signing the peace agreement or bargain.

Given that Pashinyan is a manipulator, the strengthening of these personal security measures can be explained in two ways. First up, really this is such danger and he is afraid that someone may want to eliminate him. Secondly, he wants to demonstrate to the US and the West, the main mediators, by creating fear, that he may not sign the peace agreement for this very reason. I mean, as though Armenian society is against the agreement and there may be terrorism against him. Such approaches have been demonstrated by the previous Armenian leaders, as well. They put forward such a narrative that the political leader who recognizes Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory will be killed by Armenians and there will be no future for this. Armenians used such narratives in these processes, the Mammadov said.

The expert also has not ruled out foreign influences. He opined that there could be a peace agreement on the horizon, but the foreign influence within the Armenian society will be activated to hinder the peace process.

Pashinyan has already been pushed to the wall by the issue of the peace agreement, and the country that is pushing him to the wall is Azerbaijan. It is already known that a peace agreement formed on the basis of the principles proposed by Azerbaijan has been under negotiation for almost a year. It can make progress here mainly through the mediation of the United States. In such a case, the forces against it in the Armenian society, mainly the foreign forces or Russian-oriented forces, become active when the issues related to the signing of this agreement become relevant. It can be predicted that campaigns against Pashinyan will be launched in the Russian media in the coming days and pro-Russian political forces in Armenia will become active. This indicates that the process has already reached the threshold of the next signing, the Farhad Mmmadov added.
First version published at 10:45

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. A visit to Azerbaijans Shusha city by a delegation led by the head of the US-Azerbaijan Cultural Foundation Nurit Grainger has begun, Trend's Karabakh Bureau reports.

The delegation visited the place where the busts of famous Azerbaijani cultural figures Bulbul, Khurshidbanu Natavan, and Uzeyir Hajibayli, vandalized by Armenia during the occupation of Shusha, are located in the city.

The members of the delegation also visited other historical sites of the city of Shusha, where they were told about the history of the city.

According to the bureau, the delegation visited the Khudafarin Bridges on April 19. The trip to the delegation is organized with the support of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Work with Diaspora.

The main goal of organizing this trip is to convey information about the history and culture of Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani realities to the international community, including the public representatives of Israel and the US.
COLUMBIA  A Columbia gun manufacturer will not receive tax incentives to expand after Richland County Council shot down the company's proposal with a tied vote April 18.

Council members and local residents raised concerns over using tax dollars to encourage a gun manufacturer to expand amid frequent national mass shootings.

"I have no problem if that company wants to sell guns  that's fine," Councilwoman Yvonne McBride said. "But do not use taxpayer dollars."

Councilwoman Alison Terracio said she is "horrified regularly" by mass shootings, such as the April 7 shooting on Isle of Palms that injured five people, as well as the more frequent shootings that injure smaller numbers of people.

"Putting more dollars in the hands of these gun manufacturers is not something that I will be able to support now or ever," Terracio said.

Virginia-based company FN America, which makes a variety of guns and ammunition, would have invested $16.5 million and created 100 jobs in expanding beyond its current location on Clemson Road in northeast Columbia. The county was offering a 60 percent tax break for 12 years.

"You cannot give this company that's sending (guns) into my neighborhood, monies," said Regina Williams, president of the Booker Washington Heights neighborhood association, adding that she thought the council should put that money toward community organizations.

The council narrowly approved a tax break for the company in 2018 for a $26 million investment in its Columbia plant, which has been operating since 1979.

The council had previously moved the incentive package forward despite concerns raised during its first reading March 7.

This is a longtime manufacturer in northeast Columbia that has done a lot for our U.S. military, Councilman Don Weaver said at the time. I think out of respect for everyone in the service and veterans, we need to approve this.

The council approved two other development deals April 18: an $85 million student housing project and a $66 million housing development.

Click here for more news from Columbia, S.C.
DORCHESTER  A big cemetery on a rural tract about a mile north of this small town once fell into disuse and disrepair, though it was never forgotten. When Georgiana Coafou returned home from Philadelphia in 1996, she set to work.

Determined to restore and preserve the old burial grounds, Coafou determined cooperation was the best way forward.

She formed the Dorchester Cemetery Association and persuaded members of five area churches to join the new organization and, vitally, pay modest dues, according to her son, Tim Lewis, who serves as the groups vice president.

Today, the 25-acre site is cleaned up and back in business. Members of a sixth church recently were added to the association. And a new historic marker will be unveiled at the Dorchester Cemetery, 145 Infinity Road, at 11 a.m. April 22.

Coafou, now 97, will be there to celebrate the success of her vision.

The marker, just like the cleanup, is a result of collaboration, and its an emblem of the longevity of this active African American cemetery, founded in 1876. Many Black burial grounds have been lost to time, neglect and development. Many others are at risk. Some are hidden in the overgrowth, forgotten.

Some of the properties secured many years ago for use as graveyards have no surviving deeds; they are part of whats called heirs property, handed down through the generations  and now threatened by real estate speculators as well as descendants who have moved away or show no interest in preserving these sites.

State law requires builders and developers to report found graves, which can trigger an archaeological and historical investigation and, ultimately, a preservation effort. But gravesites sometimes are simply paved over and built upon.

The historic designation of the Dorchester Cemetery is a consequence of nearly 150 years of community use, recent efforts to gain recognition, and perhaps a dose of good fortune.

Six trustees of a local Methodist Episcopal congregation secured the property. At first, the congregation worshipped under a brush arbor, then they erected a sanctuary nearby, which they named Morris Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church.

The arbor became a communal cemetery for African Americans. Among the area churches with members buried here are Morris Chapel United Methodist, Jerusalem United Methodist, St. Daniel United Methodist, Elem Missionary Baptist, Surprise Missionary Baptist, and Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal, the marker states.

In 1954, the site was registered with the state as the colored cemetery, which area churches continued to use.

Today, about a third of the acreage contains graves; theres plenty of room for future generations, Lewis said.

My family, from the early 1900s, were all buried there, he said.

The association is structured very much like the Black burial societies of yore: Members pay dues, which are used for the upkeep of the grounds and the purchase of necessary items and equipment, and they volunteer their services. A board or executive committee represents the membership, assuming management responsibilities.

So when the association determined it wanted to apply for a historic marker, it raised the necessary funds from members of the affiliated churches (nearly $3,000) and, with help from the Dorchester County Historical Association, submitted the documentation to the S.C. Department of Archives and History.

In May 2022, Coafou received a letter notifying her of the departments approval. Lewis said they encountered no problems.

The association has not taken a formal inventory of the cemetery, but a thick volume titled Memorial Stone Cemetery Inscriptions of Upper Dorchester notes there are likely more than 300 graves there.

One of the charges of the association, as we grow, is to begin the process of further identifying more, Lewis said.

Another is to develop a landscape design and upgrade the cemeterys aesthetics, he said. Thats why he reached out to Grant Gilmore, professor of historic preservation at the College of Charleston. Gilmore has been active in the Charleston area identifying and securing Black burial grounds. He said hes ready to provide assistance in Dorchester, and to keep track of what happens there.

Lewis said the association hopes to transform Dorchester Cemetery into a manicured site that receives perpetual care. It could feature fountains, places of meditation and prayer, well-maintained footpaths and greenery.

The association will share the forthcoming design with church members to seek their input and approval.
MAULDIN  Terracotta roofs and stone siding are becoming more visible from Interstate 385 near the Bridges Road exit, piquing the curiosity of drivers zipping past.

The combined residential, office and retail development built in an Italian style includes a pedestrian bridge spanning the interstate to connect visitors to a future expansion of the Greenville County's multi-use recreation path, the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

Similar to other projects coming to life in a post-pandemic era, supply chain issues and other delays have plagued construction. Still, the project is nearing completion of its first phase. Twenty percent of its 190 apartments are spoken for, and retail tenants are beginning to prepare their stores.

BridgeWay Station is the brainchild of local developer Phil Hughes and his family business, Hughes Investments. Time spent living in Italy inspired him to bring a similar architectural style to Greenville County.

The Hughes family unveiled the project in April 2021. By October 2022, the project hit a landmark moment when, using a tilt-up construction method, walls were erected on the site. Since June 2021, retail tenants, including several notable local restaurant owners, have signed onto the project along with institutional tenants like GREEN Charter Upstate High School.

Sounds of construction are still very much present at the site, but Hughes vision of a new town center is closer in reality. The intended Italian and Greenville County influences are beginning to show.

"We tried to do a real authentic job of putting the pieces together, he said.

An open-air pavilion at the edge of what will soon be the center plaza echoes the Wyche Pavilion downtown on The Peace Center campus. Beyond that, the pavilions design mimics the former train depot that once stood at West Washington Street in downtown Greenville with a pointed steeple protruding from its top.

"We have numerous things here that we were inspired by," Hughes said. "Greenville's history is part of it. Italy is part of it."

Some buildings reflect the structures of San Miniato, Italy, while others were influenced by Greenville's old City Hall before it was demolished. A column, towering above a small wooden bridge that connects residents to their pool, reflects a clock tower in Assisi, Italy. BridgeWay Station's version is still waiting for its own clock.

The forthcoming plaza, inspired by St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, will have a small stage, a fountain, an obelisk art piece and places where visitors can gather.

Backing up to the modern-style Spectrum building on the outer edge of the plaza, the developers recreated Michelangelos drawing of the facade of San Lorenzo church in Florence, with plans for a large video screen in the center. To the left will be a replica of the Furman bell tower. The developers are still figuring out how to hang their own bell.

While there are some direct architectural influences, the Italian inspirations can also be found on a smaller scale like an Italian manhole and family crest both adorn to the back of the apartment building. On the side of one building is a mural of Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man.

"We have bought so many odds and ends from Italy and shipped them over," Hughes said. "We're using them in different places."

The six-story apartment complex has welcomed some residents already. On the second floor, a small wooden bridge connects the apartment building to a roof-top pool for residents only along with a public restaurant and bar.

That wooden bridge comes second to the crown jewel pedestrian bridge that stretches over I-385. It will connect to an eventual expansion of the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

Hughes said the bridge should be open in less than two months, but, opening means you've got to be able to go somewhere.

"I have a very high degree of confidence that they're working on it and it will happen," Hughes said of the trail extension.

To the right of the bridge is a grassy 6-acre plot on the property still sits empty with the chance to be a future multi-use stadium where the Greenville Triumph would play. The once-rejected proposal could soon come before Greenville County Council again.

"I'm so supportive I'm giving more and better land," Hughes said. "We started off with less-visible from the highway land, and we've upped the location, we've upped the size. It's good for Greenville."

Hughes said it is difficult to accurately predict when overall construction at BridgeWay will be completed. Previously stated dates have come and gone without a finished project due in part to supply chain issues.

The sunset of phase one is on the horizon, but BridgeWay Station is intended to be a multi-phase project. How many additional phases will there be?

That's a great question without a good answer," Hughes said.

We respond to the market."
GREER  A month after joining the Greenville-Spartanburg airport, a budget airline will soon offer another nonstop flight to its lineup.

Avelo Airlines  which became the seventh airline at Upstate airport in March  announced on April 20 it will add nonstop flights between Delaware's Wilmington Airport and Greenville-Spartanburg airport starting in June. The airline, which operates a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, is the first at the airport to offer service to Delaware.

A similar twice-a-week route schedule to "The First State" through Avelo was also announced at Charleston International.

This is the third route Avelo will offer at GSP with two initial routes announced in March to New Haven, Conn., and Orlando, Fla.

The airline will fly its first flights to Wilmington Airport and Tweed-New Haven Airport starting on June 2. Those routes will be available on Thursdays and Sundays. The twice-weekly flights to Orlando will launch on June 7.

The Upstate region is routinely recognized as a top travel destination, airport President and CEO Dave Edwards said in a statement. Avelos decision to further expand at GSP opens new opportunities for travelers to visit our area and explore all our region has to offer.

Introductory one-way tickets between the Upstate and the Delaware Valley region start at $29 with fares for all three routes on sale now at AveloAir.com.
PICKENS COUNTY  The managing partner of an Easley-based law firm has pleaded guilty to conspiracy for her role in a nationwide fraud scheme that duped veterans and retirees out of more than $31 million.

Candy Kern, 55, of Anderson diverted nearly $1.5 million through her law firm for more than eight years by illegally assigning veterans benefits, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for South Carolina.

Approximately $14 million in veterans benefits flowed through bank accounts controlled by Kerns law firm, the Upstate Law Group, from 2012 to 2021.

Kern faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Post and Courier previously reported on the scheme in 2019 when legal filings began to expose the fraud's extent.

One Iraq War veteran lost nearly $75,000 after Kern and the law firm pursued him through court filings, the veteran said in an interview with The Post and Courier in 2019.

The U.S. Attorneys Office said Kern, through her firm, was the banker, legal counsel and debt collector for a cash flow operation. That venture offered mostly lower-income veterans an up-front payment in exchange for the veterans monthly pension and disability payments for a time.

The operation would then entice retirees to invest in the veterans contracts with the false promise that the repayments by veterans would result in a return for the retirees, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

The contracts were void because it is illegal to assign a pension under federal law.

Eventually the operation collapsed because many veterans werent able to repay their supposed obligations. Kern pursued legal action against veterans who didnt pay back their money, which led to many default judgments because of their absence.
GREENVILLE COUNTY  A former Travelers Rest police officer was arrested after an investigation into an allegation he committed sexual battery on someone at a high school while on duty, investigators announced.

Gerard James Hildebrandt, 42, was arrested April 20 and charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and misconduct in office, according to a State Law Enforcement Division news release.

According to SLED warrants, in July 2022 Hildebrandt took a person to an isolated location at Travelers Rest High School and assaulted the victim.

He was acting in his official capacity as a police officer at the time, the warrants said.

As of the evening of April 20, Hildebrandt remained in custody at the Greenville County Detention Center.

The case will be prosecuted by the 13th Circuit Solicitors Office, SLED said.
BEAUFORT  Lunch business was brisk at Plums Restaurant, a Beaufort institution that has served food and drinks from its waterfront location for nearly four decades. A cruise ship moored to the dock just yards away ensured that every table inside and out would be filled.

As locals and tourists mingled at the bar inside April 20, a growing roar captured everyone's attention, which is unusual in a town used to daily air traffic from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort just a few miles up the road.

This sound was different, though, bigger and more intense.

Within seconds the reason was clear. "Blue Angels!" someone outside shouted.

Without the benefit of even seeing the tight formation of bright blue F/A-18 Super Hornets streaking down the Beaufort River and over the Woods Memorial Bridge, the crowd inside erupted into cheers.

For the first time in four years, it's air show weekend in Beaufort.

The MCAS Beaufort Air Show is held every two years, but the 2021 show was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Around town, people appear ready for the show's return.

Scheduled for April 22 and 23, the air show will feature aerobatics demonstrations, precision parachutists, flight simulators, helicopter rides, static displays and more.

But there's no doubt that the Navy Blue Angels will be the show's main attraction.

Flying in from their base in Pensacola, Florida, six of the team's seven jets made a low pass over the field before landing around 10 a.m. Taxiing onto the flight line, they were welcomed by ground crews, who worked to secure the jets.

"We want to showcase what gets done in the fleet, but to do that in an air show, we have do that a little bit lower and a little bit closer together," said Lt. Cmdr. Griffin Stangel, who flies the opposing solo position on the team.

Stangel has been a pilot with the Blue Angels since the fall of 2021 and has one more year before he returns to a carrier squadron. He's also known by his call sign, Push Pop. He earned it, he said, for winning an ice cream-eating contest. Something about the way he smirked telling the story suggests there's more than he was will to let on.

With only seven jet pilots, the Blue Angels is an exclusive club.

"It takes a unique person and work ethic to be part of this team," Stangel said. "It's got to be somebody self-motivated, very driven."

Practice is an essential part of the pilot's routine. During the air show season, which includes 32 shows for the demonstration team, Stangel estimated that the team practices three hours for every hour of public performance. Added to that are 10 weeks of practice that take place in the offseason from January through March.

The team will continue to fine-tune their flight demonstration right through their last show in November, he added.

The seventh pilot on the team arrived a day early. On April 19, Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman was tasked with working out some final details in preparation for the arrival of the rest of the team.

Zimmerman also gave rides in a two-seat version of the Super Hornet to two local influencers: Bradley Tarrance, principal at the Robert International Academy, and Laura Marshall, a counselor at May River High School in Bluffton who was named High School Counselor of the Year for the Beaufort County School District in February.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," Marshall said before the flight. "It's an honor."

Opening ceremony is at 11:30 a.m. April 22-23, and the Blue Angels start their performance at 3 p.m. each day. General admission is free.
Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 73F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
MYRTLE BEACH  Starting next week, South Carolina's top tourist destination will take steps to address its damaged sand dunes and protect its oceanfront properties ahead of this year's hurricane season.

Myrtle Beach will start replacing sand fencing along its seven miles of beaches to help rebuild its sand dunes which were damaged by Hurricane Ian last fall.

Sand dunes provide a buffer between the ocean and the city's oceanfront properties and help prevent flooding during storms.

The replaced sand fencing is meant as a placeholder while the city waits for the full renourishment project, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to start next year, officials said.

The federal agency could not be reached for comment.

Right now, theres nothing protecting the hotels and homes along the beach, said City Beach Coordinator Anthony Kraemer, regarding the necessity of the project. If we just got a King Tide, not even a hurricane, right now, the streets would probably be flooded.

The city's project is not expected to affect beachgoers. It will start on the south end of the city, and weather could impact how long it takes to finish.

The projected cost of the city's project was not immediately available. Kraemer and City Manager Jonathan Simons Jr. said they expect the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the city at least 75 percent of that cost.

Earlier this spring, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded the Grand Strand $56 million for a full beach renourishment to repair the damaged dunes along all 27 miles of coastline. The federal government is completely paying for the renourishment project, city officials said.

Although the project was initially slated to start later this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has pushed it back to next year, prompting city officials to take this action ahead of the hurricane season, officials said.

With the full renourishment, Myrtle Beach will receive 650,000 cubic yards of sand  equal to 65,000 dump trucks  to repair its dunes. The citys last beach renourishment took place in 2018, according to officials.

In total, the Palmetto State coastline will receive $97 million in federal funds to replenish the states beaches after they were damaged in Hurricane Ian, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. The application of Israeli technological innovations on Azerbaijan's liberated territories may be very useful, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to Israel, Mukhtar Mammadov, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

"As you know, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has set tasks for the implementation of 'smart city' and 'smart village' concepts on the liberated territories, and the work in this direction is already underway. Today, Israel is one of the world's leading countries in the field of high technology. The country has enormous experience in the implementation of technological innovations in a range of startups and other fields. The application of Israel's experience in this area to the liberated territories would be very useful," he said.

The ambassador also noted Israel's great experience in agriculture. He said that about 60 percent of Israel's territory is desert, and despite very limited arable land, Israel produces and exports agricultural products.

"Israel had difficulties in the field of irrigation, but today, as a result of the use of advanced technologies in the field of desalination of seawater, it can provide neighboring countries with drinking water. Negotiations are currently underway regarding the implementation of projects in this area. We could study the experience of Israel in the fields of agriculture, high technology, and the application of "smart management" models. During the Azerbaijan-Israel business forum, it was noted that Israeli companies are very interested in working in Azerbaijan," the ambassador said.

According to Mammadov, yesterday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also noted that Azerbaijani companies are invited to Israel.

"The embassy will carefully study the Israeli market and identify opportunities for our companies to work in this country, investment opportunities, and prospects for joint production, as well as take steps to attract Azerbaijani companies to these areas," said the ambassador.

The ambassador also talked about the prospects to organize a business forum in Israel in the coming years with the participation of Azerbaijani companies as a continuation of the one which was held in Baku. He said that during such a forum, Azerbaijani companies would be able to get acquainted with the Israeli market.

Furthermore, Mukhtar Mammadov touched on the energy field.

"Azerbaijan is one of the leading countries in the region in the field of energy. In recent years, the development of the energy sector in Israel has become relevant as gas reserves have been discovered and work is underway in this direction. Azerbaijani companies may take advantage of such activities," he said.

He added that since the 1990s, Azerbaijan has provided more than 30 percent of Israel's oil needs. "At the same time, important projects in the field of alternative energy are being implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev," he said.

"Last year, Azerbaijan and the European Commission signed a memorandum of understanding in the field of energy. According to the memorandum signed with Georgia, Romania, and Hungary, electricity will be exported from Azerbaijan to Eastern Europe in a few years. Thus, Azerbaijan is diversifying its energy portfolio," said the ambassador.

He went on to add that several important projects in the field of alternative energy are also being implemented in Israel, and negotiations are underway for cooperation in this area.

"We will explore opportunities for mutual exchange of experience and joint investments [with Israel]," the ambassador said.

Moreover, Mukhtar Mammadov also talked about the priority areas of the embassy's activities.

"Earlier this month, Azerbaijan celebrated the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel. During this period, the two countries developed very successful cooperation in several areas, and mutual visits were constantly carried out," he said.

The ambassador also said that the practical results in several areas are already observable.

"The reality is that diplomatic relations may last only 31 years, but relations between peoples last for centuries. A large Jewish community has been living in Azerbaijan for centuries. In addition to the well-known Krasnaya Sloboda [Red Town, a village in Azerbaijan's Quba with a mostly Jewish population], our citizens of Jewish nationality live in other regions of Azerbaijan. This factor is a base for the relations between the two peoples," the ambassador added.

Mukhtar Mammadov said historical mutual understanding and respect for each other are integral parts of the multicultural lifestyle in Azerbaijan. Bilateral relations are being built and developed on this solid foundation.

"Last November, a decision was made to open the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the State of Israel. On March 29-30, a delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, visited Israel, and the official opening of the embassy took place as part of the visit. This event was positively assessed by Israel, its citizens, and the Jews of the world," said the ambassador.

The ambassador added that Azerbaijan has never considered the opening of an embassy to be the ultimate goal.

"This only represents a qualitatively new level of our relations. The opening of the embassy and its activities can become a tool for further deepening our relations and identifying new opportunities. Currently, our countries have established cooperation in such areas as agriculture, high technology, education, and tourism," the ambassador said.

Mukhtar Mammadov also stressed the fruitful results of the visit of Foreign Minister of Israel Eli Cohen to Azerbaijan.

"A large delegation headed by Eli Cohen was on a visit to Azerbaijan. During the visit, the third meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission was held. Under the leadership of Cohen, the largest delegation from Israel in the history of bilateral relations visited Azerbaijan," he said.

"Along with the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Azerbaijan was visited by representatives of 10 state institutions of Israel, as well as the heads of about 20 companies. During the visit, more than 100 business meetings and meetings with representatives of more than 30 government agencies were held. Moreover, there were very optimistic forecasts for the future; useful discussions were held in several areas, and an agreement was reached on deepening cooperation," the ambassador added.

The ambassador said that as part of these meetings, several cooperation agreements were signed in the field of education, ecology, innovation, and investment attraction.

"This further increased the number of goals set. The embassy will strengthen contacts and ensure coordination between the relevant institutions of the two countries in order to facilitate the implementation of the agreements reached. At the same time, the activity of the embassy will be very useful in terms of a deeper study of new opportunities for cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan and the establishment of appropriate contacts," he said.

As for the projects and programs to be implemented by the diplomatic mission, the ambassador noted that it is too early to talk about specific events since the embassy started working less than two months ago.

"We are currently holding meetings in Israel with representatives of state institutions, business organizations, educational institutions, and the media. At all our meetings, it is emphasized that Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Israel, and interest is expressed in deepening cooperation in all spheres," said the ambassador.

"Certainly, a number of issues were discussed during yesterday's meetings. Firstly, there is great potential in the field of tourism. Azerbaijan is a very attractive tourist destination for Israeli citizens. There are 8 flights a week between Tel Aviv and Baku, and those are almost full. Tourists from Israel visit Azerbaijan on holidays, during the summer and winter months. Azerbaijan is very well known in Israel, and we think there is great potential in this area," Mukhtar Mammadov noted.

In addition, he noted that the embassy will continue the work in order to increase the tourist flow. He said that the tourist representation of Azerbaijan has been operating in Israel for almost two years.

"During this period, a lot of work has been done to make Azerbaijan a popular destination for Israelis. The embassy will continue this work jointly with the representative office," he said.

Furthermore, the ambassador also said that cooperation in the field of trade is one of the priority directions.

"At yesterday's business forum held with the participation of Azerbaijani and Israeli companies, a number of discussions were held in this direction, and goals were set. Currently, the trade turnover between the countries is about $200 million, and we believe that there is an opportunity to further increase this figure. Mutual visits and business forums are going to be very useful for Israeli companies' integration in the Azerbaijani market, and for Azerbaijani companies in the Israeli market. Also, they are useful in terms of identifying areas of mutual interest and conducting ongoing and practical work to implement them," the ambassador said.

According to him, the personnel of the embassy is not yet fully formed.

The diplomatic mission has just opened, and some administrative work needs to be done to ensure the arrival of all personnel. It is necessary to resolve issues related to the building and other logistical issues. We hope that in the coming months, all logistical issues will be resolved, and the whole team will be formed and ready to start working on the implementation of the set goals, Mukhtar Mammadov said, adding that currently, the consulate is not operating, as it is necessary to complete the relevant procedures.

"There is a large diaspora in the country, consisting of about 80,000 Jewish people who moved from Azerbaijan to Israel. Many of them also retained Azerbaijani citizenship. They will be provided with consular services. Additionally, visa services will be provided to Israeli citizens. Currently, Israeli citizens do not face any difficulties in obtaining a visa, they can use the e-visa service, and at the same time they can apply for a visa on the spot at the airport and get a visa in a short time," Mammadov said.
MONCKS CORNER  The Berkeley County school board has passed possibly the largest retention incentive in at least a decade and "perhaps ever," officials said, where all district employees will receive at least $5,000.

The original proposal was to give each school district employee a $2,500 incentive, and each special education teacher and assistant an additional $2,000 on top of the incentive. Board member Michael Ramsey proposed a higher amount: $5,000 for all employees and an additional $2,500 for special education teachers and assistants.

The retention incentives come amidst one of the worst teacher shortages in the state in recent years. Since the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement started tracking it in 2001, teacher vacancies in South Carolina hit a record high in November. According to a CERRA report, almost 1,500 teaching positions in the state were vacant.

As of February, CERRA reported the vacancies decreased by roughly 200, to around 1,300.

As of March 21, BCSD has 2,441 certified teachers  those who provide direct student support in the school setting  but 220 certified teacher openings.

Board Vicechair Sally Wofford reassured employees this incentive would not be the only approach to recruit and retain employees.

I do prefer raises over incentives, and I think that we should do significant raises as well, but this money is in this year, and we have to expend the money this year, Wofford said. We want to expend it on employees.

The current minimum pay for teachers in BCSD is $42,627, which is slightly above the state minimum of $40,000.

Board Chair Mac McQuillin credited board members Ramsey, Wofford, Joe Baker and Kathy Littleton for going to Superintendent Anthony Dixon prior to the board meeting, asking to consider an increase in the incentives.

I know it was originally $2,500 and I appreciate yall doubling down and literally doubling the money amount, McQuillin said. Were putting our money where our mouth is.

Kat Low, the president of the Berkeley County Education Association, said the incentives were a step in the right direction for teachers. But, the incentives aren't enough; Low said teachers are still looking at neighboring districts that are moving toward giving teachers raises.

"I know a lot of people are really sitting down and doing the calculations this year, as to whether or not it makes sense to stick around," Low said. "I've never seen this many teachers really get down into the numbers of how many more years (they should stick around) or if they do the years here in Berkeley, or if they do it in Charleston, or they just decide that it's time to go full-time with the second job that they were working. I've just really never seen so many people have a plan B that looks like it could be ready to go."

Low said she anticipates BCSD will lean toward giving teachers pay raises as well, to remain competitive with neighboring school districts.

She added that the additional $2,500 for special education teachers and assistants is well-deserved.

"Anybody who's working in a school right now is well aware of the overwhelming amount of work that our special Ed teachers and assistants have dealt with, because we are especially short in that category," Low said. "It's a lot of work doing special Ed, and it is really hard to retain those teachers. ... I don't think I bumped into anybody that said anything other than, 'That makes sense.'"

The board is expected to discuss potential raises for employees as well, based on funding received from the state Legislature. The next budget workshop will be in May.

McQuillin added that the board is also looking into non-monetary incentives for employees, like discounted housing or gym memberships.

(Were looking for) anything that we can do to increase the quality of life for our teachers so that theyre attracted to come work in Berkeley County, he said.

Everyone employed at the district through May 20 this year is eligible for the incentive. The money will be provided to the employees on May 30, according to Dixon.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Mixed clouds and sun this morning. Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 74F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 58F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication.
LAKE CITY  ArtFields is back in Lake City this year, offering northeastern South Carolina residents the chance to enjoy a plethora of art and Lake City businesses a chance to cash in on the extra attention.

The annual festival celebrating southern artists, in its 11th year, returned April 19 and will run until April 29.

Were really celebrating all of the artistic talent there is in the south, said Roberta Burns, director of ArtFields Presents.

ArtFields is an artists collaborative based in Lake City, in southern Florence County. While the organization coordinates a range of activities, the festival and competition  featuring food, music, artist talks, a documentary screening and much more  is the highlight of the year.

The main event is the more than 600 different pieces of art submitted by southern artists, both students and adults, that are spread across downtown Lake City.

Attendees may peruse the art in local businesses and, if they wish, vote on their favorite pieces. The two top vote-getters will receive $12,500 each.

Its really a cool way to put your art critic hat on and decide what you like and dont like, Burns said.

The major awards, $50,000 for first place and $25,000 for second place, are handed out by a panel of experts in the art field. The panel also awards five artists merit awards, which each come with $2,000.

In addition to being an economic boost for Lake City  Burns said businesses have told her ArtFields is better than Christmas for them  its also a celebration of southern art and how small towns can embrace artists.

The town of almost 6,000 people bands together to put on the event each year, with local businesses, ArtFields staff and hundreds of volunteers collaborating. That synergy of purpose lends the event a special feeling, Burns said.

Youve really got to see it to believe it. You get to Lake City and theres just the ArtFields magic in the air, she said.

The art can be seen each day during the festival 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 21-22 and 24-29, and 1 to 6 p.m. April 23.
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / AI Tool Guru, the newly established AI tool directory, has launched a new and innovative feature called "AI Find AI" to transform how users search for AI tools. With this new feature, users can easily find the relevant AI tools and information about AI by using a dedicated AI search on the website.As the popularity of generative AI continues to surge, dozens or even hundreds of new AI tools are launched every day, making it challenging to keep track of all of them. Keeping the new emergence in mind, the company has developed AI Tool Guru's AI Find AI feature provides an innovative solution to help users identify the most relevant AI tools for their needs.Not only does the AI Find AI tool allow users to search for AI tools, but it also provides information about the tools and their features. Users can search for the best tools for copywriting or the top five tools to generate a video, and the AI search tool will provide the most relevant answers.With over 1400 AI tools listed on the website, AI Tool Guru strives to become a go-to resource for generative AI. In addition to the AI tool directory, the website also provides education, lists of key people in the industry, news, and events.Furthermore, the company is excited to launch AI Find AI, which will modernize how users search for AI tools. AIToolGuru's basic goal is to make it easy for users to find the most relevant AI tools for their needs. With AI Find AI, the company is looking forward to the potential change it brings.The launch of AI Find AI sets a new standard for AI tool search, making it easy for users to access the most up-to-date AI tools. With this new feature, AI Tool Guru has established itself as the emerging resource for generative AI.AI Tool Guru's commitment to innovation and providing the best resources for the AI community is reflected in the launch of AI Find AI. The company continues to strive to provide value to its users, and this latest addition is a testament to that commitment.About the Company - AI Tool Guru AIToolGuru.com is a comprehensive platform that facilitates with an extensive selection of AI tools, resources, and information to help users stay up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in the AI industry.For more information, potential users can visit the website at https://aitoolguru.com/ Media ContactOrganization: AIToolGuruContact Person: David BrownWebsite: https://aitoolguru.com/ Email: contact@ aitoolguru.com City: San FranciscoState: CaliforniaCountry: United StatesSOURCE: AIToolGuru
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 20:10:51

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HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Arsenal Digital Holdings, Inc. (OTC PINK:ADHI) announces new appointments to its executive team and board of advisors to strengthen its corporate governance and management. Joining the board of advisors are Brian Halle, a seasoned leader with extensive banking and finance experience, and Dr. Jagannadh Satyavolu, a highly accomplished chemical engineer specializing in biogas and biofuels. Randall Eddington, founder and CEO of Blackrock Midstream, will assume the role of COO at Arsenal.Brian Halle, the first appointee to Arsenal's advisory board, brings over three decades of experience in delivering substantial asset opportunities while managing risk and maintaining a high level of compliance and financial reporting. As a visionary adept at identifying market opportunities and outpacing competitors, he has served as CEO of Pacific Enterprise Bank and held roles at US Bank, Bank of America, Union Bank, and Sanwa Bank. His ability to create high-yield, low-risk, and scalable strategies has led to remarkable accomplishments, including managing a top-tier commercial lending group at US Bank and implementing innovative processes to improve the quality of acquired portfolios. Brian's extensive experience in middle market commercial banking and corporate banking, coupled with his educational background in business, finance, and law, make him an invaluable asset to Arsenal Digital Holdings as an advisor.Dr. Jagannadh Satyavolu adds technical expertise to Arsenal's advisory board, with over 35 years of experience in commercial business leadership roles, operations, capital project management, and academia. He has a strong background in developing new products and processes in various sectors, such as energy, food, chemicals, and paper, and specializes in waste-to-value creation. Dr. Satyavolu has over 15 US and international patents for concept-to-commercialization projects, and he excels in handling confidentiality agreements, IP management, patents, and regulatory issues. As an effective team builder and cross-functional partner, he has secured funding for numerous projects and spearheaded collaborations with private industry, universities, research labs, and government agencies. Currently, Dr. Satyavolu is the founder and CEO of BioProducts LLC, a company specializing in creating value-added products from sustainable biomass. His extensive experience and expertise make him a valuable add to Arsenal's expanding advisory board.To bolster day-to-day management following its recent acquisition and expansion, Arsenal appoints Randall Eddington as Chief Operating Officer. Randall, a University of Oklahoma business graduate with specializations in Economics and GIS, has a strong background in the natural gas and liquids infrastructure industry. As the Founder of Blackrock Midstream, he successfully built niche markets for mid-sized midstream companies, leading to nearly nine-digit revenue in just a few short years. Assuming the role of COO at Arsenal, Randall's balanced decision-making, industry knowledge, and ability to drive efficiency in logistics will contribute significantly to the company's growth.In March of this year, Arsenal acquired Blackrock Midstream, an energy logistics and marketing company with a sizable customer base and over $90 million in revenue for 2022. Arsenal plans to leverage Blackrock's revenue streams, customer base, and development opportunities as its foundational asset, marking the first step in its ENERGY - RENEWABLE TECH - POWER strategy for a comprehensive energy transition solution.Arsenal Digital Holdings is dedicated to advancing the transition to a sustainable energy future by developing and deploying cutting-edge renewable technologies.For more information about Arsenal Digital Holdings, please visit arsenalholdings.io . Twitter @Arsenal_ADHIAbout ArsenalArsenal Digital Holdings is a company that specializes in sustainable technology to support the energy transition. Its main office is located in Houston, Texas, and it also has key offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Arsenal focuses on coupling traditional energy resources with renewable energy technology. The company's strategy involves acquiring underutilized infrastructure assets and implementing power monetization strategies to benefit its stakeholders. Arsenal is dedicated to promoting the transition towards a sustainable energy future by creating and implementing innovative renewable technologies.Contact Information:Arsenal Digital Holdings Inc.Ryan Messer512-839-8169ir@ arsenholdings.io SOURCE: Arsenal Digital Holdings Inc.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, received Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan Serzhan Abdykarimov in connection with the end of his diplomatic term in the country, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan told Trend.

During the meeting, the sides noted high level of effective cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in bilateral and multilateral formats in economic, trade, investment, transport, transit, humanitarian, cultural, tourism, and other spheres and prospects for their development.

Noting that the relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are based on common ethnic, cultural, and historical roots, Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stressed the dynamic development of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan relations built on this solid foundation.

The minister thanked Abdykarimov for his contribution to the relations between the two countries during his work and wished him success in his future activities.

The ambassador, in turn, expressed his gratitude for the support provided to him during his diplomatic activity. Noting the high level of development of relations between the countries, the ambassador expressed confidence that in the future successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will continue both on a bilateral basis and as part of multilateral platforms.

During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.

On April 18, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree relieving Serzhan Abdykarimov of his duties as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan. Following another decree, Alim Bayel was appointed new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 01:00:19

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MALAGA, SPAIN / ACCESSWIRE / April 19, 2023 / SPT continues to develop technological innovations for the mining industry while expanding worldwide. At the end of April, it will unveil its ground-breaking gyroscopic tool for downhole navigation at the Expomin 2023 trade show in Chile.Stockholm Precision Tools (SPT), a global pioneer in the design and manufacture of downhole navigation systems, is expanding its global presence by capitalizing on the Chilean market and its dominant position in the mining of copper.In accordance with the company's new vision and values, SPT seeks to develop new business and establish itself as a dependable provider of high-precision and high-quality surveying instruments offering innovative solutions. One of the company's goals is to form partnerships with nations that invest actively in the development of sustainable economies and prioritize environmental and social governance.The investment that SPT, a major player in the mining industry, will make in Chile is evidence that these reforms are being implemented within the company.Orlando Ramirez, CEO of SPT, said: "Our arrival into Chile is a huge bet for our firm." Chile is one of the main nations focused on the exploitation of copper mines, and our most recent developments offer significant benefits to drilling and resource companies engaged in this activity.The company desires to broaden its presence in Chile in order to provide the Chilean mining industry with the most precise instruments for conducting directional survey operations with the highest degree of data precision and reliability.The aim of SPT is to get as near to the customer as possible. In light of this, it will employ the same strategy it employed in Peru. It will open a new office in Santiago, Chile, where the country operations manager, the sales manager, the technical team, and all other required personnel will labor to provide the best customer service possible.Expomin 2023 presentation of SPT's innovationsThroughout the year, SPT exhibits and sells its newest products at a number of international expositions. In reality, SPT will be present at Expomin 2023 between April 24 and April 27 at exhibit number 2-B24.The SPT Polestar Aligner, the GyroScoutTM in conjunction with the Gyro PushRodder, and the GyroLogicTM Evo will be presented at Expomin by Stockholm Precision Tools. These tools can be employed for mining Chilean copper mines using block caving, sublevel caving, and other mining operations such as exploration campaigns.The SPT Polestar Aligner is the most recent rig aligner that seeks true north. According to SPT engineers, Polestar Aligner allows multiple platforms to be aligned for eight hours without losing true north. It is a portable solution that generates highly accurate data in both surface and underground operations and is usable in all latitudes, including the most extreme.For gyro borehole investigations in blast holes, the GyroScoutTM in conjunction with the Gyro PushRodder is the optimal solution. Despite incorporating a pressure barrel, it weights only 2,4 kg. It is a blasting instrument that is recommended for block caving, sublevel caving, and other techniques used in the copper mining industry. This instrument is distinguished by its portability and portability.As for the Gyro PushRodder, it is a GyroScoutTM accessory that enables wireless depth measurement by squeezing the tool. Alvaro Gonzalez, Service Engineer at SPT, explains, "We have developed the ideal solution for GyroScout deployment, the "Gyro PushRodder," which allows the versatile tool to be deployed easily and quickly even in positive wells." At Expomin, the new GyroLogicTM Evo will also be introduced. SPT intends to improve the operability of gyroscopes with this new solution because it is a more versatile, powerful, and transportable instrument. This instrument is assembled with fewer manufacturing components, and as a result, its potential for failure and manufacturing time are significantly reduced.SPT has a longstanding commitment to technological development and innovation and invests a substantial portion of its global revenue in the research and development of new technologies.Some of these technological innovations include SPT SmartCloud, the cloud-based mining geodata management system that works as an ideal complement to the detailed QA/QC reporting function that characterizes SPT's tools.These reports allow you to audit data quality from the field and make instant decisions. SPT tools export reports in the most commonly used formats in mining such as csv, xlsx, pdf, las, dxf, among others, which facilitates the import of geodata into geographic information system applications such as Arcgis, Mapinfo, Autocad and Qgis among others.With SmartCloud, teams can efficiently store, share and analyze geodata. In addition, users can access data from anywhere in the world, facilitating real-time global collaboration. This means that detailed quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) reports can be quickly reviewed by the appropriate parties, and decisions can be made with the assurance that the chain of custody of the data is protected.Stockholm Precision Tools's emerging horizonThe Swedish company introduced its new corporate identity in March to reflect the significant changes it is implementing and to emphasize environmental, social, and governance concerns.Several elements of the refreshed brand identity represent SPT's new perception: verticality, precision, and the firmness, coherence, goals, and environmentalism with which SPT operates every day.The deliberate global expansion of Stockholm Precision Tools demonstrates the company's dedication to providing the global mining industry with cutting-edge precision tools and superior service. By concentrating its future expansion efforts on Chile as a key location for its Latin American operations, the company is well positioned to develop its presence in the Latin American market and promote the significance of high-precision directional survey geodata in the Chilean mining scenario. Stockholm Precision Tools' commitment to quality and customer satisfaction ensures that its innovative products will continue to advance and support sustainable mining operations worldwide.Address and contact information:Eric EstradaGlobal sales and marketing managerStockholm Precision Toolsmedia@ sptab.com SOURCE: Stockholm Precision Tools AB
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 16:01:32

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BYU-Idaho to drive better-informed decisions and enhanced digital community with Pathify.DENVER / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Pathify - the only centralized user experience hub for higher ed - proudly welcomes Brigham Young University-Idaho to the growing community of global customers dedicated to improving the student technology experience.Pathify logoBYU-Idaho, which is part of the worldwide Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will use Pathify to help centralize critical communication about registration deadlines, financial aid, and other administrative updates with a dynamic dashboard for students to find personalized and timely information quickly.In relation to the partnership, BYU-Idaho prepared the following statement:"Pathify will reduce students' need to log in to multiple systems to get important updates, and will also include individualized portals for faculty, employees, and other audiences with dynamic widgets and customizable layouts.BYU-Idaho will also benefit from several outbound channels incorporated in Pathify's Engagement Hub, including mobile push notifications, feed posts, announcements, alerts, tasks, and nudges from SMS and email." Additionally, Pathify will develop a new parent portal to give permission-based insights from students to their parents to help increase student success and retention. Parents will share best practices with each other and receive important messages from the university.Pathify fills the massive user experience void at the center of the higher education digital ecosystem, delivering a personalized user experience unifying technology, content, communications and people. Offering highly personalized experiences for users at every point in their journey, the Engagement Hub encourages system-agnostic integrations, collaborative social groups, personalized tasks, and multi-channel communication with full web/mobile parity."We're so excited to be working with BYU-Idaho after their detailed and instructive evaluation of our solution," said Matt Hammond, Chief Revenue Officer at Pathify. "Their deployment will be one of the most comprehensive to date and was an exciting capstone on another year of stellar growth in 2022. We look forward to continuing the outstanding relationship with their leadership team, and can't wait to see the great work they do with the platform." BYU-Idaho joins the Pathify customer community with recent customers such as Howard Payne University, Aquinas College, and BYU-Idaho's sibling institution - Brigham Young University-Hawaii.About Brigham Young University - IdahoBrigham Young University-Idaho provides a unique educational experience with the objective of preparing students for lifelong learning, employment, and roles as disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities. To this end, BYU-Idaho strives to foster a healthy academic, cultural, and social environment on its campus in Rexburg as well as with its expansive online student community.Learn more at byui.edu About PathifyObsessed with making great technology while developing incredible long-term customer relationships, Pathify remains hyper-focused on creating stellar experiences across the entire student lifecycle - from prospect to alumni. Delivering cloud-based, integration-friendly software designed to drive engagement, Pathify pushes personalized information, content, and resources to the right people, at the right time - on any device. Led by former higher ed executives, entrepreneurs, and technology leaders, the team at Pathify focuses every day on the values Impact, Wit, Contrast, Technique and Care.Learn more at pathify.com Contact InformationChase WilliamsCEO & Co-founderchase@ pathify.com +61 403 571 564Megan KratzmanHead of Marketing(602) 400-4443SOURCE: Pathify
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ARUNDEL QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / China Dasheng Biotechnology Co. (OTC PINK:CDBT) as disclosed, holds transport assets and operations in their normal course of business.In late February of 2022, account managers in the transport operations at the Acacia Ridge, Queensland facility had numerous red flags pop up and a quick "helicopter snapshot" of the accounts was enacted. It was quickly identified that accounts and operations manager Cameron James Smith was engaging in illegal activity.In late December of 2021, Cameron James Smith contacted via email, phone and other methods, large and medium clients of Roadbees Transport Pty Ltd and told them that the bank accounts of Roadbees Transport Pty Ltd were "hacked and compromised". Cameron James Smith then proceeded to instruct the clients to make payments into his personal accounts.Clients of Roadbees Transport Pty Ltd, such as Ulrich Aluminum, had no reason to question the instructions and made payment to Cameron James Smiths personal accounts via electronic funds transfer. Cameron James Smith deleted all his company emails and other company records, resigned his positions, and has not returned any of the funds deposited into his personal accounts.Upon identification of the actions of Cameron James Smith, management met with clients and brought the impropriety to a swift end in line with standard corporate governance. The details were tabled before the Queensland Police for further action and review. The Queensland Police created a report under QP - 0125A which is now an ongoing investigation. Recently, Queensland Police have accessed Cameron James Smith's bank accounts and have confirmed the allegations of impropriety have standing."The Transport Industry is a fast-paced high turnover sector and the accounting systems that we implemented in Roadbees Transport Pty Ltd were able to "red flag" Cameron James Smiths conduct and embezzlement to fund his Five Star Racing Partnerships in the horse racing industry within a 17-day period of misconduct." stated Sonny Nugent, CEO of Roadbees Transport Pty Ltd./S/ Micheal NugentCEO of CDBT# # #CDBT. Cycclone Magnetic Engine Developments, Inc.On September 30, 2022, CDBT and Cycclone Magnetic Engine Developments Limited entered into an Operating Agreement for The Amended Share Exchange Agreement giving effective control of Cycclone Magnetic Engine Developments Limited and the wholly owned subsidiaries.Cycclone Magnetic Engine Developments Limited is engaged in the development and commercialization of new geometric configuration low carbon emission engines and other clean technology solutions with a view to create technologies that improve efficiency and reduce levels of greenhouse emissions. Cycclone has shareholding, assets and interests in transport operations in Australia. Cycclone Magnetic Engine Developments Limited operations are based in Australia.Micheal Nugentmnugent@ nugent.com.au +61438158688Safe Harbor StatementStatements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general business conditions, managing growth, and political and other business risks.SOURCE: China Dasheng Biotechnology Co.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 17:45:29

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Two-day event starting June 8 at Pasadena Convention Center will be North America's first dedicated Web3 Gaming ExpoPASADENA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / DCENTRAL is headed to Los Angeles to join the first-ever 3XP Web3 Gaming Expo powered by Game7. Featuring some of the biggest and brightest names in Web3 gaming for an unforgettable two-day event, the expo aims to highlight and help build the community around blockchain games.DCENTRAL has partnered with 3XP and Game7 to further support, strengthen and bring the expo to life, and will be specifically hosting one of three massive stages where the event unfolds. DCENTRAL is a highly recognized name in the Web3 conference space, best known for hosting legendary Web3 community-focused industry events like DCENTRAL Miami, DCENTRAL Austin, and the upcoming DCENTRAL Tokyo."Web3 gaming has grown up, and we consider events like the 3XP Web3 Gaming Expo essential to the continued evolution of the space," says DCENTRAL cofounder Justin Wu. "Bringing so many great thinkers and doers together creates a magnifying effect that elevates the entire Web3 community and advances our shared goal of providing the community of Web3 gamers with unique and innovative experiences not available anywhere else." Headlining 3XP will be a who's-who of Web3 game developers, thought leaders, and leading brands, including Game7, Avalanche, Polygon Labs, Brave, XBorg, Community Gaming, Coinbase, Magic Eden, YGG, Limit Break, MoonPay, Sequence, Midnight Society, Jungle, Decrypt, VentureBeat, The Bornless, Gridiron, Genopets, Planet Mojo, Phantom, SuperLayer, Nouns Esports, STEPN, Sparkadia, BR1, Undead Blocks, EV.io , Shrapnel, Parallel, Skyweaver, DeFi Kingdom, Gala Games, Crypto Unicorns and more.Attendees can expect game announcements from the industry's top game developers that feature content-rich cinematics and gameplay on a full production stage streamed live to Twitch.tv . Immersive booths will show off upcoming game demos and products and give attendees hands-on experience with the latest in Web3 gaming. The industry's top thought leaders and personalities will share insights into the future of the Web3 gaming space via a series of panels and presentations. Live esports events inside the Esports Arena will feature the top competitors of Web3 gaming, and dedicated networking spaces have been created for investors and B2B discussions."We are thrilled to be joining forces with such an experienced team to supercharge 3XP, the premier event for Web3 Gaming," says 3XP cofounder Chris Gonsalves. "Together with DCENTRAL, we will help accelerate the growth of the web3 gaming industry by bringing together innovation and industry pioneers." 3XP is powered by Game7, a Web3 gaming DAO which aims to increase the adoption of blockchain-enabled game economies. DCENTRAL, together with Game7 are working to establish 3XP as a foundational platform and event that updates and educates mainstream gamers on blockchain-enabled gaming. The expo's approach includes the "3 Ps": Permissionless Extensibility, Practical Application, and Provably Fun.3XP Gaming Expo will be held June 8 and 9 at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, Calif. 91101. Two-day tickets start at $299.About DCENTRALDCENTRAL Global Inc. is the world's largest community-based multi-chain crypto and Web3 events facilitator, focusing on DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, Metaverses and DAOs. It's best known for gathering large numbers of Web3 fans, industry leaders, artists, creators, operators, builders and investors several times a year at its popular self-named conferences. DCENTRAL prioritizes education, inclusion and future-focused collaboration, networking and programming, aiming to empower participants to reshape and reimagine crypto culture for the better.Visit Dcentralcon.com to learn more.Follow on Twitter @DcentralconFor more information, please contact esther@ dcentral.co About 3XP Web3 Gaming Expo3XP's mission is to accelerate the growth and success of the Web3 gaming industry by bringing together innovative content and industry pioneers. In its quest to educate and entertain, 3XP will feature live esports tournaments, immersive gameplay booths, and networking opportunities for studios, investors, and gamers.Visit 3 XP.gg to learn more.Follow on Twitter @3XPggFor more information, please contact info@3 xp.gg SOURCE: DCENTRAL
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 16:47:36

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Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates ambitious entrepreneurs who are building bolder futuresDALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan of HighLevel were named Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Southwest Award finalists. Now in its 37th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for transformative entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who are building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all.Robin Alex, Shaun Clark, and Varun Vairavan were selected by an independent panel of judges. Entrepreneurs were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.Regional award winners will be announced on June 24, during a special celebration. The winners will then be considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2024.The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 11,000 entrepreneurs throughout the U.S. since its inception in 1986, and it has grown to recognize business leaders across 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.SponsorsFounded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, N.A.; SAP America; and the Kauffman Foundation. In the Southwest, sponsors also include Platinum sponsors Colliers International, Donnelly Financial Solutions and Haynes and Boone LLP, Gold sponsor Roach Howard Smith & Barton, and Silver sponsors D CEO and The Slate.About Entrepreneur Of The YearTo learn more about the Entrepreneur Of The Year program, as well as the methodology for selecting finalists, visit ey.com/us/eoy About HighLevelHighLevel's goal is to create a sustainable, powerful, "all things marketing" operating system that provides limitless opportunities for our customers! As HighLevel continues to evolve, we, unlike many other marketing platforms out there, encourage our customers to rebrand our platform as their own. HighLevel has also become a community of shared empowerment, of people owning and inventing their own futures, who are inspired and motivated by each other's success, who continually push the boundaries of what's possible, who refuse to let failures halt their progress, and who are there for each other to help navigate the losses and celebrate the wins.Contact Information:Savannah Lipinskisavannah@ gohighlevel.com SOURCE: HighLevel
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 18:40:34

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Falcon Gold Corp. (FG:TSX-V)(3FA:GR)(FGLDF:OTCQB); ("Falcon" or the "Company")., is pleased to report the acquisition of 76 claims (approximately 33 sq. km.) in the Nickel North area of Quebec (see Figure 1). This area has been in the news recently with the announced option agreement between 1844 Resources and Nickel North Exploration. 1844 Resources has the option to acquire from Nickel North, 100% interest in the Hawk Ridge Property by paying $6M in cash and issuing 10M shares over the term of the five (5) year option agreement. ( https://nnexploration.com/news/nickel-north-enters-into-option-agreement-with-1844-resources-to-sell-a-100-interest-in-the-high-grade-hawk-ridge-nickel-copper/Highlights) During 2022 Nickel North updated the Mineral Resource Estimate at the Hawk Ridge Property ( https://nnexploration.com/news/nickel-north-retains-consultants-to-update-mineral-4730/) . Highlights of these reports are an inferred mineral resource for all four deposits in the project area using a $35/t cut-off was 29.44 Mt grading 0.20% Ni, 0.52% Cu, 0.012% Co, 0.19 g/t Pd, 0.04 g/t Pt and 0.021 g/t Au, corresponding to 0.56% NiEq.Portions of the Falcon Property are located 4 km along strike from the Falco 7 historical resource and 2 km along strike form the Hopes Advance historical resource. Highlights of this new property include:A historical drill hole located on the Falcon property and about 4 km west of the Falco 7 historical resource intersected 10.4m of 0.51% Copper and 0.16% Nickel.The Falcon Gold Property contains numerous electromagnetic anomalies that have not been investigated by previous drilling.Figure 1: Falcon Gold claims (yellow) in relation to the Hawk Ridge property of Nickel North Exploration, recently optioned by 1844 Resources. Karim Rayani, CEO of Falcon, noted, "Falcon is continuing its pursuit to diversify and go after critical element projects, with large tonnage potential. The Hope Advance is an area I have been keen on for some time for its high-grade nickel and battery elements. Further infrastructure is being planned with a conceptual deep seaport to the area which would bring excitement and large investment into the camp. The recent option agreement by Nickel North confirms our belief that Nickel, and associated PGE's will remain a valuable commodity in the coming years. As we enter a new greening phase, onshoring and reshoring of manufacturing will mean North American metal assets will become more valuable than ever, and we love operating in the mining and exploration friendly province of Quebec." Transaction Terms:Falcon has signed a definitive option to acquire 100% of the Hope Advance project. The Company will pay one time cash payment of $17,500 within 15 days of signing, issue 200,000 shares and 200,000 warrants in the company. Each warrant is exercisable at a price of 0.20 cents for a 2-year term. The project is subject to a 1 % NSR (Net Smelter Royalty) which Falcon can purchase for $400,000 CDN. for Falcon's total 100% interest in the project.The Company also wishes to clarify the terms of its acquisition of the Area 51 Project previously announced on March 30, 2023. The Company entered into a definitive agreement dated January 12, 2023, to acquire 14 claims known as the Area 51 Project located in the Inca Del Oro mining district, Atacama Region, northern Chile. In consideration for the property, the Company will pay USD $10,000 cash as well as issue 200,000 common shares and 200,000 warrants of Falcon. Each warrant is exercisable into one common share for a period of two years at a price of $0.19 per share, based on a weighted average price (WAP) - 125% premium to the market share price based on the date of signing the definitive agreement. The property is subject to a 1% NSR, Falcon reserves the right to purchase a 100% control and interest in the project for a payment for a one-time payment of USD $1,200,000.Qualified PersonYves Caron, M.Sc., P.Geo. (OGQ #0548), an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company. The QP has not completed sufficient work to verify the historical exploration reported information. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the Property but may not be representative of expected results.About Falcon Gold Corp.Falcon is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on generating, acquiring, and exploring opportunities in the Americas. Falcon's flagship project, the Central Canada Gold Mine, is approximately 20km southeast of Agnico Eagle's Hammond Reef Gold Deposit which has currently estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold (123.5 million tonnes grading 0.84 g/t gold) mineral reserves, and 2.3 million ounces of measured and indicated mineral resources (133.4 million tonnes grading 0.54 g/t gold). The Hammond Reef gold property lies on the Hammond shear zone, which is a northeast-trending splay off the Quetico Fault Zone ("QFZ") and may be the control for the gold deposit. The Central Gold property lies on a similar major northeast-trending splay of the QFZ.The Company holds multiple additional projects: The Esperanza Gold/Silver/Copper mineral concessions located in La Rioja Province, Argentina; The Viernes Gold/Silver/Copper project in Antofagasta Chile; The Springpole West Property in the world-renowned Red Lake mining camp; a 49% interest in the Burton Gold property with Iamgold near Sudbury Ontario; in B.C., the Spitfire-Sunny Boy, Gaspard Gold claims; the Great Burnt, Gander North/South, Valentine Gold South, Victoria West, and Golden Brook acquisitions adjacent to First Mining, Matador, Benton-Sokoman's JV, and Marvel Discovery in Central Newfoundland; and most recently Battery Metals projects in Ontario and Quebec, The Timmins West and Outarde Property.CONTACT INFORMATION:Falcon Gold Corp."Karim Rayani"Karim RayaniChief Executive Officer, DirectorTelephone: (604) 716-0551Email: k@ r7.capital Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements in this release are forward-looking statements which reflect the expectations of management. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, among other things: completion of the Spin-Out. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 14:05:06

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Forward Water Technologies Corp. (TSXV:FWTC) (the "Company" or "FWTC") announces that Mr. Grant Thornley, Vice-President of Engineering Solutions Sales will be present at Expomin in Santiago, Chile from April 24th to April 27th , 2023 and that it has issued a total of 347,692 common shares in the capital of the Company in settlement of compensation to AGORA Internet Relations Corp. ("AGORA") for certain advertising services provided by AGORA to the Company over the last three months.ExpominExpomin is one of the largest mining trade shows in the world, held every two years in Santiago, Chile and is expected to bring together more than 1,300 exhibitors from over 35 countries, showcasing the latest technologies, equipment, and services for the mining industry. Mr. Thornley comments "It is clear that the mining industry is highly motivated in continuing to improve their water recovery and reuse practices by the number of meeting requests we have received prior to the conference". FWTC is looking forward to meeting Codelco, BHP Minera Escondida and Collahuasi who are all key players in the industry at the conference among others. Mr. Thornley will also be speaking on Canadian Capabilities in Lithium as a selected panelist on Wednesday April 26th at 11am being held at the Canada Pavilion.The event is organized by the Chilean Mining Suppliers Association (APRIMIN) and is supported by the Chilean Ministry of Mining. Expomin attracts a diverse range of visitors, including mining professionals, executives, investors, government officials, and researchers, providing an ideal platform for networking, learning, and business opportunities.AGORAThe Company has received significant exposure through millions of content brand insertions on the AGORACOM network and extensive search engine marketing over the last six months. In addition, exclusive sponsorships of invaluable digital properties such as AGORACOM TV, the AGORACOM home page and the AGORACOM Twitter account have served to significantly raise the brand awareness of the Company among small cap investors.President and CEO, Mr. Honeyman comments, "Over the last three months, AGORA has demonstrated itself to be a highly valuable partner. We are pleased to have their continued services as we strive to further strengthen our presence in the clean technology sector".As disclosed in the Company's February 7th, 2023 press release the Company entered into an agreement with AGORA for the provision of marketing services for a period of one year. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement with AGORA, the Company agreed to pay a total fee of $100,000 + HST. The fee is payable, through the issuance of common shares of the Company and the 347,692 common shares being issued are being issued at a deemed price equal to the closing price of the shares at the following date:$20,000 + HST Shares for Services at end of the third month April 1st , 2023 ($22,600.00 / $0.065 (Closing Price April 3rd/23)The shares are subject to a hold period that will expire on August 4th, 2023.About ExpominExpomin is a must-attend event for anyone involved in the mining industry, providing a unique opportunity to explore the latest technologies and products, network with peers and industry experts, and gain valuable insights into the future of the mining industry. The trade show covers a wide range or topics related to the mining industry, including exploration, extraction, processing, and transportation of minerals, environmental management, safety and innovation. The event also includes a series of technical seminars, workshops, and conferences featuring leading expert in the field, discussing the latest trends and challenges facing the mining industry. For more information, please visit https://www.expomin.cl/en/ About AGORACOMAGORACOM is the pioneer of online marketing, broadcasting, conferences and investor relations services to North American small and mid-cap public companies, with more than 300 companies served. AGORACOM is the home of more than 7.7 million investors that visited 55.2 million times and read over 600 million pages of information over the last 10 years. The average visit of 8min 43sec is more than double that of global financial sites, which can be attributed to the implementation and enforcement of the strongest moderation rules in the industry.About Forward Water Technologies Corp.Forward Water Technologies Corp. is a publicly traded Canadian company dedicated to saving the earth's water supply using its patented Forward Osmosis technology. The Company was founded by GreenCentre Canada, a leading technology innovation centre supported by the government of Canada. The Company's technology allows for the reduction of challenging waste streams simultaneously returning fresh water for re-use or surface release. The Company's mandate is to focus on the large-scale implementation of its technology in multiple sectors, including industrial wastewater, oil and gas, mining, agriculture and ultimately municipal water supply and re-use market sectors. In addition, the Company has initiated early-stage R&D for the treatment of food and beverage process streams.For more information, please visit www.forwardwater.com Contact InformationFor more information or interview requests, please contact:C. Howie Honeyman - Chief Executive Officer416-451-8155Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws including statements regarding expansion and uptake of the Company's technology and the ability for the Company to achieve its growth strategy and business plan. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, the ability to scale the technology and the adoption of the technology by potential customers.Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking stat
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TEMPE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY), the company that helps entrepreneurs thrive, today announced CEO Aman Bhutani signed the CEO Action for Diversity & InclusionTM pledge, joining a coalition of more than 2,400 CEOs across the U.S. who have committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. The news comes as the company releases both its 2022 Sustainability Report and 2022 Diversity and Pay Parity Annual Report.GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani and employee resource group members gather for Aman to sign the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The reports highlight the strides the company made on its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments, including diversity representation, strategies, activities, progress, metrics and performance for 2022.CEO Action for Diversity & InclusionTMGoDaddy strives to create deep, lasting change and further its progress in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) by joining forces both internally and externally. That's why in 2023, GoDaddy signed the CEO Action for Diversity & InclusionTM pledge, making it clear to GoDaddy's employees, customers and investors how it holds itself accountable. The collective of over 2,400 signatories have already shared more than 1,900 best known actions, exchanged tangible learning opportunities and created collaborative conversations."As a global company, GoDaddy has the opportunity and the responsibility to play a role in accelerating diversity, equity and inclusion practices," said GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani. "I am happy to sign the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge as it aligns closely with GoDaddy's mission to build a culture that deeply values diversity and prioritizes the importance of furthering inclusive opportunities for all." 2022 Sustainability ReportGoDaddy values continuous improvement in the priority sustainability issues that drive its sustainability strategy. In 2022, GoDaddy drove progress on its sustainability pillars - customers, employees and operations - including:Reducing GoDaddy's scope 1 and 2 emissions by 35% from a 2019 baseline.Providing more than 9,700 learning engagements for entrepreneurs around the world through Empower by GoDaddy.Achieving 86% employee participation in GoDaddy Voice, GoDaddy's annual employee engagement survey.GoDaddy's mission is to empower entrepreneurs everywhere, making opportunity more inclusive for all. At GoDaddy, this means constantly seeking ways to further positive and widespread change that best serves the greater community. For example, in 2022 GoDaddy's Venture Forward initiative launched the Microbusiness Data Hub to provide unprecedented access to free data on more than 20 million microbusinesses. GoDaddy also issued a position statement on climate change, highlighting the urgent need for climate action."GoDaddy is committed to transparent communication about our sustainability progress, and we are proud of our efforts in 2022 to advance ESG best practices," said GoDaddy Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Michele Lau. "We hope that the programs and initiatives we implement will aid global efforts to preserve our environment and empower communities." 2022 Diversity and Pay Parity Annual ReportAs a company that publishes its representation and pay parity results yearly, GoDaddy affirms that it continues to achieve pay parity for women and underrepresented communities across its business. GoDaddy leaders understand the importance of transparency and sharing of both its successes and defined areas for improvement. By being open about where the company is today, GoDaddy invites accountability for its DEIB initiatives in the future. In 2022, GoDaddy:Achieved gender (global) pay parity for the eighth consecutive year.Hired Kristy Lilas as the company's dedicated vice president of diversity, inclusion and belonging."We value all of our employees and customers, and work to empower each of them to succeed," said GoDaddy Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Kristy Lilas. "This can only be done by prioritizing a culture of belonging and creating equitable programs, policies and practices that sustain real change. We are proud of the progress we have made so far and are eager to continue investing deeply in our internal and external communities." To read GoDaddy's 2022 Sustainability Report, visit: https://www.godaddy.com/godaddy-for-good/sustainability To read GoDaddy's 2022 Diversity and Pay Parity Annual Report, visit: https://careers.godaddy.com/diversity Originally published on GoDaddy.com About GoDaddyGoDaddy helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers, sell their products and services, and accept payments online and in-person. GoDaddy's easy-to-use tools help microbusiness owners manage everything in one place and its expert guides are available to provide assistance 24/7. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com About CEO Action for Diversity & InclusionCEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Bringing together over 2,400 CEOs of America's leading organizations, the commitment outlines actions that participating companies pledge to take to cultivate a workplace where diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected, employees feel comfortable and encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion, and where best known-and unsuccessful-actions can be shared across organizations. Learn more at CEOAction.com and connect with us on Twitter: @CEOAction.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from GoDaddy on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: GoDaddyWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/godaddy Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: GoDaddy
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SHARJAH, UAE / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Gulftainer Co. Ltd., a leading privately owned, independent port management and Integrated logistics company, announced the arrival of a new container service at its Sharjah Container Terminal servicing Berbera in Somalia.Fig: Gulftainer introduces New Container Service at Sharjah TerminalGulftainer is committed to supporting the growth of trade and commerce in the region through its support of the SHASOM service launched by Port Shipping. This service will facilitate smooth connectivity and enable businesses in Somalia and the UAE to gain access to worldwide markets."It is our pleasure to welcome Port Shipping at our Sharjah Container Terminal. This new addition will enable Somali importers to conveniently access Sharjah's significant industrial and commodity sectors. The increasing number of direct services to and from Sharjah is a growing trend due to its strategic location. Sharjah provides a seamless adaptable, and cost-effective advantage, as well as faster transit times to and from critical markets," stated Andrew Hoad, Chief Commercial Official at Gulftainer Co. Ltd.The maiden voyage of the SHASOM service began on April 17th, departing from Sharjah and arriving at Berbera port after a transit time of only six days. The service rotation will be Sharjah, Berbera, Garacad, Mogadishu and Sharjah and is expected to operate with a frequency of two sailings per month, offering customers a reliable and efficient option to transport their goods.According to Port Shipping, their goal has always been to offer a service from Sharjah to Somalia. They have observed growth in the UAE/Somalia market, particularly from Sharjah, and have received strong support for their first three sailings. Port Shipping recognises the strategic location of Sharjah in relation to key exporters and has responded to their demand by providing a fast, direct service."We recognise the significant role played by African markets and are committed to assisting Port Shipping in achieving great success with their new service to Somalia. Our platform offers a user-friendly, flexible online experience that caters to the needs of all importers and exporters," stated Mr. Yaqoub H. Abdulla, Head of Administration & Director, Marketing & Promotions at Sharjah Port Authority.About Gulftainer:Gulftainer is an internationally recognised and established port management and operating company based out of the Emirate of Sharjah. Since its inception in 1976, the company has taken great strides in expanding its footprint into major global economies, delivering on its role as a worldwide trade enabler backed by unwavering client trust and support. For more information, please contact Gulftainer on +971 6512 8888.About Port ShippingPort Shipping, an award-winning company founded in 2012 that specialises in global logistics solutions, has recently introduced direct services. To learn more, please reach out to Port Shipping at +971 4344 7867.Media Contact:GulftainerSharjah, UAESOURCE: Gulftainer
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 14:01:34

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JACKSON CENTER, PA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Halberd Corporation's (OTC PINK:HALB) President & CEO, William A. Hartman, its Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Mitchell S. Felder, and Youngstown State University (YSU) Professor/lead researcher, Dr. Wm. Gregg Sturrus were interviewed on "The Street Reports" to discuss the company's latest research discoveries and progress on eradicating CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) provided antibiotic resistant bacteria and deadly fungi.Listen here: https://thestreetreports.com/halbs-ceo-cto-and-ysus-dr-sturrus-discuss-cdc-research-discoveries-etc-on-the-street-reports-podcasts-listen-now/ Dr. W. Gregg Sturrus, Chair of the Physics, Astronomy, Geology, and Earth Sciences Department at YSU, is spearheading the laser eradication work, and spoke about the actual lab work and progress in the control of laboratory variables resulting in the successful eradication of various strains of very toxic, antibiotic resistant, bacteria and deadly Candida auris fungi supplied by the CDC.Dr. Mitchell S. Felder, Chief Technology Officer of Halberd Corporation and inventor of the patented and patent-pending extracorporeal technologies employed by Halberd, provided information on the theoretical basis for the methodology - to physically remove the pathophysiologic basis of the disease without antibiotics. Halberd's experience reveals that no bacteria or pathogen tested to date has develop a resistance to the laser eradication methodology. By employing the laser eradication process extracorporeally, outside the body, it is designed to safely and effectively eliminate disease-causing pathogens without the dangerous side-effects associated with injected or ingested medications.Dr. Felder also provided information on the recent start of pre-clinical testing at Mississippi State University of Halberd's patent-pending nasal spray intended to block the negative effects of head trauma. The objective is to be able to administer the nasal spray within two hours after head trauma to avoid or minimize long-term brain damage.William A. Hartman, Chairman, President & CEO, indicated he is most excited about the prospects of developing a product from a proof-of-concept state to a fully functioning therapeutic solution to some of what are considered today's "incurable" diseases and otherwise irreversible consequences of head trauma.To get the latest news on Halberd's exciting developments, including our ongoing disease eradication accomplishments, subscribe by submitting this form.For more information please contact:William A. Hartmanw.hartman@ halberdcorporation.com; support@ halberdcorporation.com Twitter:@HalberdCThe Street ReportsThe Street Reports discovering companies from "Wall Street 2 Bay Street" specializes in bringing relevant information on micro-cap, small-cap, and generally undervalued companies to the attention readers/listeners which maybe potential investors.About Youngstown State UniversityYoungstown State University is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio, and is composed of 5 undergraduate colleges. The University has over 150 undergraduate degree programs and 50 graduate degree programs serving over 12,000 students in studies up to the doctoral level. Beyond its current student body, the university has more than 125,000 alumni across the country and around the world.About Halberd Corporation.Halberd Corporation (OTC PINK:HALB), is a publicly traded company on the OTC Market, and is in full compliance with OTC Market reporting requirements. It holds the exclusive worldwide rights to several patent- and PCT-pending extracorporeal treatments for COVID-19 and other medical maladies: Halberd also holds the exclusive rights to the underlying granted U.S. Patent 9,216,386 and U.S. Patent 8,758,287.Safe Harbor NoticeCertain statements contained herein are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). The Companies caution that statements, and assumptions made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates made by management. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. The Companies undertake no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release.SOURCE: Halberd Corporation
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Azerbaijani science, history, and culture-oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have sent a protest letter against the "Caucasus Heritage Watch: 2nd special report" prepared with the support of Cornell and Purdue universities and the Ford Foundation, Trend reports.

The letter stressed that the report covered up the crimes committed against Azerbaijan's material and cultural heritage during the 30-year occupation of Karabakh by Armenia.

Besides, the letter emphasized that two of the specialists in the preparation of the report were recognized as Armenians by nationality, and the others as pro-Armenian and that the participation of these persons in the preparation of such a distorted report was not surprising.

The letter addressed to representatives of the mentioned universities and foundation also provided detailed information about Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani territories and its consequences.

If representatives of the universities and foundation want to conduct research in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, help can be provided to create appropriate conditions for them, added the letter.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 13:45:05

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Hanover, Germany, Apr 20, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Inaugural opening ceremonies for Hannover Messe 2023 took place on Monday night (16/4) local time in Hannover. Indonesia was once again given the golden opportunity to take on the role of an official partner country during this year's event. Previously, during the Covid-19 epidemic, Indonesia had become a partner country in Hannover Messe 2021: Digital Edition. The opening ceremony of the largest industrial exhibition event was held on Sunday, April 16, 2023, at 18:00 local time.Joko Widodo, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, and Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, were present for the opening ceremony of Hannover Messe 2023, which was held at the Hannover Congress Centrum in Hannover. The inauguration by the two leaders of both countries marked the start of the annual exhibition, which has been running for more than 74 years.At Hannover Messe 2023, Indonesia presented the theme "Making Indonesia 4.0." The President stated that the theme is extremely relevant for Indonesia, which is undergoing economic transformation through innovation and technology. "Indonesia is currently implementing two big strategies, namely downstream industry and green economy," said President Joko Widodo.Moreover, the abundance of natural resources, the enormous demographic and market benefits, and a robust economy are factors that support the downstream industry policy. Therefore, Indonesia aims to lead the electric vehicle (EV) market with these encouraging factors. "Indonesia is very open to foreign investment and collaborative efforts to develop Indonesia's downstream industries. Moreover, 21 commodities are predicted to achieve an investment value of USD 545.3 billion by 2040, according to the downstream industry roadmap," the President added.Indonesia has a strong commitment to preserving environmental sustainability in the green economy. Furthermore, in 2023, it is targeted that up to 23% of energy will come from new and renewable sources (EBT), and all coal-burning plants will be shut down by 2025. Indonesia must, however, ensure that the energy transition can provide the population with a reasonable price. "Of course, this effort will require financial support; it will cost at least USD 1 trillion until 2060. Therefore, to develop a green economy, Indonesia invites German investors. Again, Indonesia is very open to partnerships and investments," said the President.As stated by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, the Chancellor of Germany said that Indonesia will soon become a member of the "cooperative climate club" due to its goal of completely decarbonizing the electrical sector by 2025. "Additionally, Germany will encourage investments totaling EUR 10 billion in Indonesia from the G7 countries. I invite all of you, German companies, to take this opportunity to ensure that this goal's spirit is appreciated," said Chancellor Olaf Scholz.Following the event, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the Federal Minister of Education and Research, presented the Hermes Award winner during the series of opening ceremony events, which were organized by Deutsche Messe AG (DMAG). All companies registered as exhibitors at the Hannover Messe 2023 events are eligible to participate in the Hermes prize event, which is the worldwide technological prize presented by Hannover Messe. The winner of the Hermes Award at the Hannover Messe 2023 is Bosch Rexroth, which is considered to meet the requirements for technological innovation, industrial benefit, environment, and society.The Hannover Fairground will host the Hannover Messe 2023 during the next five days, ending on April 21, 2023. In this event, Indonesia collaborated with 157 co-exhibitors from industrial firms, including industrial startups, associations, industrial estates, Special Economic Zones, and educational institutions, as well as the National Capital of the Archipelago (IKN).Partner Country 2023 - IndonesiaAs Partner Country to Hannover Messe 2023, Indonesia presents more than 150 exhibiting organizations that range from large industrial companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and startups to industrial estates, industrial associations and government ministries and institutions. Indonesia invites you to discover its potential - join the Partner Country's infinite journey at Hannover Messe. Visit https://indonesiahannovermesse.id The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin)Public Relations Bureau, JakartaE: humaskemenperin@ gmail.com
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) investors who suffered substantial losses submit your losses now.Class Period: July 15, 2019- Feb. 22, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: June 12, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/MPW Contact An Attorney Now: MPW@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPW) Securities Fraud Class Action:According to the complaint, Defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that Medical Properties: (1) masked the distressed state of its tenants through sale-leaseback arrangements that were essentially round-robin transactions in that they allowed debt-saddled tenants to meet their obligations in the short term; (2) fraudulently transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in what amounted to a bailout of financially distressed tenants; and (3) concealed its fraudulent transfers with fake construction projects with purportedly high capital expenses, despite the fact that the company entered into "triple-net leases" that obligated its tenants to pay a significant portion of expenses.Investors began to learn the truth on Jan. 26, 2023, when Viceroy Research published a scathing report accusing Medical Properties of "engaging in billions of dollars of uncommercial transactions with its tenants and their management teams in order to mask a pervasive revenue round-robin scheme and/or theft." Then, on Feb. 2, 2023, Viceroy sent and published its letter to Medical Properties' auditor highlighting Viceroy's concerns about severely distressed tenants and round-tripped revenues, uncollectible accrued revenues and impaired asset values.Finally, on Feb. 23, 2023, the company announced Q4 and full-year 2022 financial results that included a whopping $171 million impairment charge relating to four properties leased to Prospect and a write-off of $112 million on unbilled Prospect rent.These revelations drove the price of Medical Properties shares sharply lower."We're focused on investors' losses and proving Medical Properties cooked its books," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in Medical Properties and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman.Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Medical Properties should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email MPW@ hbsslaw.com About Hagens BermanHagens Berman is a global plaintiffs' rights complex litigation law firm focusing on corporate accountability through class-action law. The firm is home to a robust securities litigation practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com . Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.Contact:Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895SOURCE: Hagens Berman
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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / CNH Industrial brand New Holland Agriculture continues to inspire and inform others about the brand's commitment to sustainability and innovation in agriculture.Recently, New Holland and Bennamann were guests at "Farm of the Future: Net Zero in Practice." It was a first-of-its-kind event, dedicated to farmers, hosted by The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) and held at Harper Adams University in the UK - one of the country's most prestigious agriculture universities.The event promoted RASE's 2022 "Farm of the Future" report, which explores and seeks to understand the farm-level changes needed to meet the challenge of Net Zero by 2040.Mark Howell, Alternative Energies Global Product Manager, New Holland Agriculture, spoke to participants at the event. He explained the technologies developed at New Holland's tractor plant in Basildon, UK, which is a Center of Excellence for Alternative Fuels.New Holland displayed the multi-award winning T6.180 Methane Power tractor, with its recently updated Dynamic Command transmission. It is still the only methane fuelled tractor on the market. And participants had the opportunity to take it for a test drive.New Holland and Bennamann also contributed practical insight on carbon reduction in farms, highlighting the real solutions and products already available on the market.Mark Howell said: "Having completed my Engineering Degree at Harper Adam's I'm personally pleased to be back here and to have the opportunity to share how New Holland is contributing to the objective of a carbon neutral future in agriculture. It's an honour to bring the T6.180 Methane Power tractor and represent the teams who have worked on this product, which we believe is a real game-changer in the sector. Thank you to the Royal Agricultural Society of England and to Harper Adams University for this special invitation." New Holland at Harper Adams University for "Farm of the Future: Net Zero in Practice"View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from CNH Industrial on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: CNH IndustrialWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cnh-industrial Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: CNH Industrial
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CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Nexera Energy Inc. (TSXV:NGY) (the "Corporation", the "Company" or "Nexera") today reported that the Corporation has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement. Pursuant to this closing, an aggregate $1,000,000 of convertible unsecured debentures (the "Debentures") of the Corporation (the "Offering") were issued (of which $300,000 of Debentures were acquired by a director of the Corporation). In addition to the Debentures, an aggregate 0.70% of royalty interests ("Royalty Interests") of the Corporation were also issued (0.01% Royalty Interest (details below) for every $10,000 subscribed for under the Offering by non-insiders).The details of the Debentures are as follows: (i) the Debentures will mature on the date that is three (3) years from the date of issuance (if not otherwise converted or prepaid) (the "Maturity Date"); (ii) the Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum, accrued quarterly and paid annually in arrears; (iii) upon maturity or redemption of each Debenture, the Corporation will pay any outstanding principal and any accrued and unpaid interest in cash; (iv) each Debenture may be redeemed early by the Corporation, at its option; (v) the Debentures shall be convertible (only the principal amount and not the interest) at the option of the subscriber (and subject to a forced conversion in certain circumstances) into units of the Corporation ("Units") at a conversion rate of $0.05 per Unit in the first year and $0.10 per Unit thereafter and prior to the Maturity Date or redemption by the Corporation. Each Unit consists of one Common Share of the Corporation and one half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant") of the Corporation. Each whole Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one additional Common Share at a price of $0.10 per Common Share on or prior to the Maturity Date; and (vi) the Debentures shall be subject to a forced conversion (only the principal amount and not the interest) whereby if, after four months and one day following the date the Debentures are issued, the volume weighted average price of the Common Shares of the Corporation on the principal market on which such shares trade is equal to or exceeds CDN$0.20 for 20 consecutive trading days, the Debentures shall automatically be converted into Units at a conversion rate of $0.05 per Unit in the first year and $0.10 per Unit thereafter. The Debentures are redeemable at the option of the Corporation, in whole or in part, at any time prior to the Maturity Date for cash (and any redemption for shares would be subject to further approval of the TSX Venture Exchange).The details of the Royalty Interests are as follows: (i) every holder (except if the subscriber was an insider whereby no Royalty Interest was awarded) received a royalty (0.01% royalty for every CAD$10,000 subscribed for hereunder) on the Corporation's annual gross production revenue from the first six (6) re-entry wells drilled on the Austin Chalk formation assets (located in Stockdale, Texas) to still be acquired by the Corporation with the funds from the Offering (the "Project"); and (ii) the Corporation shall deliver to the holder within 150 days after the end of each fiscal year, a copy of the internally prepared calculation of the annual gross production revenue (as actually received and collected) from the Project, along with the applicable royalty payment.The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to: (i) acquire certain re-entry well assets (in the Austin Chalk formation) in Stockdale, Texas. Further details on these assets will be press released by the Corporation at the time of acquisition (if and when acquired).All of the securities issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a four-month hold period. The Debentures, the Royalty Interests and the Warrants will not be listed on any stock exchange. Completion of this Offering remains subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.For further information, please contact:Nexera Energy Inc.Shelby D. Beattie, President(403) 262-6000info@ nexeraenergy.com Investor Cubed Inc.Neil Simon, CEO647-258-3310nsimon@ investor3.ca About Nexera Energy Inc.Nexera Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: NGY) is an energy company with oil producing properties in Southwest Texas. Nexera is owner and operator of the Lavernia, Wooden Horse and Stockdale Horizon Projects. The Company also owns 100% of Production Resources Inc., a South Texas oil company.Forward Looking StatementsExcept for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein relating to the timing of the filing of financial statements constitutes forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.SOURCE: Nexera Energy Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 20:10:40

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MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Security Token Advisors (STA) is announcing the official launch of its new research portal and community platform called the "STA Success Network." As a leading consulting firm for tokenization, the recent rise in adoption has led the company to adopt a new approach to serve the growing industry. With the STA Success Network, members have access to a weekly intelligence email, analyst calls with the research team, a member portal filled with a comprehensive resource library and community posting/ messaging tools, and the ability to contribute to STM.co , among other publications.Since helping its first client in 2017, Security Token Advisors has facilitated the tokenization of numerous assets and securities types across multiple geographies. Supporting over 40 clients in the last 5 years, the team has developed a massive repository of information including multi-industry case studies, tokenization guides, and tailored educational resources to support issuers. Meeting with dozens of partners across the industry, the team has an established track record in the industry, including having support from leading experts in the field. Herwig Konings, CEO and Founder, believes the launch comes at a critical time for the industry and says "With tokenization entering an era where financial institutions across the globe are embracing the technology, we believe it's time to bring together the leading players and issuers to learn from each other and establish best practices while taking advantage of key network effects that will accelerate adoption. Instead of supporting clients directly with premium consulting services as we have done exclusively, the STA Success Network will aggregate all of this intelligence in one place, accessible at any time. Powered by online software and weekly curated events, anyone exploring tokenization can find everything they need to start their journey and stay plugged into the evolving $80 billion industry." Since launching early access a few weeks ago, the STA team has been circulating weekly insights, hosting analyst calls, connecting members with synergistic opportunities, and tailoring the resource library to meet demand. Peter Gaffney, Head of Research, sees the Success Network as an optimal outsourced research group for investment banks, capital advisory firms, private equity shops, equity research groups, and asset managers in general. "It seems the general consensus is that tokenization will sweep the capital markets. We all see the headlines. And, we're currently at an inflection point where many of these banks and advisory firms are gearing up to provide services to their big clients in the private markets who will want the faucet turned on as soon as they're ready to jump in. The Success Network acts as that research and intel one-stop-shop connecting the dots for these banks, broker-dealers, and capital market players from both a retail and an institutional perspective. So far we're pleased with the feedback and response, already seeing members from some of the biggest household names in finance join." With over 100 members, the STA Success Network already features members ranging from financial professionals to technology experts and active tokenization pioneers. A list of some featured members includes the following:Law Firms - Sosnow & Associates, Winston & Strawn, and Zuber LawlerBrokerage Firms - Dalmore Group, EquityShift, Oasis Pro Markets, Rialto Markets, Securitize Markets, and tZEROTechnology Providers - Coinbase, Blockstation, DigiShares, LombardWorks, Securitize, Securrency, Tokeny and tZEROBlockchain Protocols - Accumulate, Avalanche, and ProvenanceToken Issuers - Fairchild Acquisition, recently SEC approved Reg A+ issuer Freeport, and XY LabsCoinbase's Head of Asset Allocators & Tokenization, Anthony Bassili, embraced the idea and has already invited several colleagues to participate. He says "The programming STA has is fantastic, offering plenty of opportunities to jump into specific topics to discuss with industry leaders and the STA team directly. By bringing the industry together in the STA network, we are seeing more collaboration and activity across companies. It's great to see STA leading the market today in tokenization education, thought leadership and content." The STA Success Network will continue to feature new benefits such as access to a Real Estate tokenization course, exclusive paid research complementary to members, VIP tickets to events by Security Token Market, discounts to industry resources, and more value-adds for industry participants. Further expansion of the resource library, media syndication partnerships, and collaborations with academia will also be a focus.About Security Token Advisors, LLCSince 2017, Security Token Advisors has been the original consulting firm dedicated to security tokens exclusively, assisting asset owners ranging from business owners and family offices with large real estate portfolios to governments and sovereign funds in executing a successful securitization leveraging blockchain technology. These engagements consist of leading an asset owner through the process of tokenizing an asset, beginning with token structuring and working with applicable vendors, including legal support, broker-dealer engagements, and investor relations strategies. STA's experienced team has worked through many tokenized securities issuances and has worked with a wide variety of asset classes and jurisdictions, featuring a vetted vendor network of over 40 service providers.Media ContactOrganization: Security Token AdvisorsContact Person: Jackson BlauWebsite: https://securitytokenadvisors.com Email: jackson@ securitytokenadvisors.com City: MiamiState: FloridaCountry: United StatesSOURCE: Security Token Advisors
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 12:00:36

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TACOMA, WA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Greenlink International, Inc. (OTC PINK:WSHE) (Greenlink), a leading provider of premium CBD products, is proud to announce the launch of its Suncliff CBD-infused pillow collection in partnership with Purecare, the leader in wellness-focused sleep essentials. This innovative collection features five luxury pillows that incorporate microencapsulated CBD into the fabric, along with a complementary lavender CBD bedding mist to create a soothing sleep environment."We are thrilled to introduce our CBD-infused pillow collection in partnership with Purecare," said Jake George, CEO of Greenlink. "This project has been a culmination of years of research and development, centered around expanding Purecare's manufacturing capabilities and creating innovative ways to bring the benefits of CBD to consumers. We are proud to be in partnership with a brand like Purecare that has set the bar for expectations in the pillow market." The CBD-infused pillows are designed with microencapsulated CBD, which are incredibly small capsules that can easily pass through the fabric pores. This allows the CBD to be embedded into the fabric, enabling a gradual release of CBD over time in response to body heat and pressure during sleep. The pillows are also paired with Suncliff's premium lavender CBD bedding mist, which contains beneficial terpenes to create a soothing sleep environment and enhance the overall sleep experience.As part of the launch, Suncliff is offering a special web promotion of 10% off the CBD pillow collection for a limited time. Customers can visit Suncliff.com to take advantage of this offer and also take a short quiz to help identify which pillow is likely to offer the best comfort based on their individual needs."Our CBD-infused pillow collection is a game-changer for sleep enthusiasts seeking natural solutions for a restful night's sleep," added Jake George. "Not only can customers enjoy the benefits of CBD through our innovative pillows, but they can also enhance their sleep routine with our lavender CBD bedding mist. It's a truly unique and holistic approach to incorporating CBD into daily life." In addition to Suncliff.com , the CBD pillow collection will also be available at select retail locations nationwide starting in May 2023. Specialty retailers are gearing up with excitement to offer the CBD-infused pillows in their stores, as well as the standalone CBD bedding mist, providing customers with an entirely new way to incorporate CBD into their daily lives.For more information on the CBD-infused pillow collection and to take advantage of the special web promotion, please visit Suncliff.com About UsGreenLink, a Colorado corporation based in Washington State, is a publicly quoted OTC Markets issuer under the ticker symbol " WSHE." The Company is a diversified holding company with operating segments in investment, equipment, technology, brands, textiles, and real estate that are leased or licensed to legally compliant CBD and cannabis entities.GreenLink's subsidiary and partner companies possess key competitive strengths and/or leading market positions. Greenlink is committed to becoming a global leader in the hemp and legal cannabis markets. GreenLink will continue to leverage decades of experience in the hemp and cannabis industry to expand existing operations and develop partnerships across a wide range of industries.Forward Looking StatementCertain statements that we make may constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include information concerning future strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated savings, financial results (including expenses, earnings, liquidity, cash flow and capital expenditures), industry or market conditions, demand for and pricing of our products, acquisitions and divestitures, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory developments or general economic conditions. In addition, words such as believes, expects, anticipates, intends, plans, estimates, projects, forecasts, and future or conditional verbs such as will, may, could, should, and would, as well as any other statement that necessarily depends on future events, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, and they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although we make such statements based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We caution investors not to rely unduly on any forward-looking statements and urge you to carefully consider the risks described in our filings with OTC Markets Group and the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including our most recent Annual Report and subsequent Flings, which are available on Otcmarkets.com . We expressly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statement in the event it later turns out to be inaccurate, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.CONTACT:Greenlink International, Inc.Tacoma, WashingtonStakeholders@ greenlinkholdings.com SOURCE: Greenlink International, Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 21:05:31

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SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / The law firm of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit seeking to represent purchasers or acquirers of Teleperformance SE (OTC:TLPFY) American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between July 29, 2020 and November 9, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Captioned City of Warren General Employees' Retirement System v. Teleperformance SE, No. 23-cv-0181 (D. Idaho), the Teleperformance class action lawsuit charges Teleperformance and certain of its top executives with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.If you suffered substantial losses and wish to serve as lead plaintiff, please provide your information here:You can also contact attorney J.C. Sanchez of Robbins Geller by calling 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at jsanchez@ rgrdlaw.com . Lead plaintiff motions for the Teleperformance class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than June 20, 2023.CASE ALLEGATIONS: Teleperformance is a provider of outsourced omnichannel customer experience management services and related digital services. Teleperformance's services include content moderation for social media platforms, such as TikTok.As the Teleperformance class action lawsuit alleges, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Teleperformance's growth in Core Services and Digital Integrated Business Services, which included content moderation services, had been achieved, in part, by requiring its content moderators to engage in inappropriate, traumatic, abusive, and potentially criminal activities; (ii) certain Teleperformance social content moderators had been trained with materials which included illicit images of child sexual exploitation; (iii) contraband images had been included in Teleperformance Daily Required Reading reports for its content moderation staff; (iv) Teleperformance had failed to safeguard child sexual abuse material and had potentially violated strict rules governing the handling of such materials, including rules relating to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; (v) Teleperformance had failed to provide adequate training or emotional and psychological support to content moderators exposed to egregious materials, including those exposed to extreme graphic violence and sexual images; (vi) Teleperformance had imposed unreasonable time and performance targets that compounded the occupational trauma suffered by its content moderators; and (vii) Teleperformance had failed to implement or maintain the working conditions represented to investors, including by subjecting Teleperformance's content moderation workers to widespread occupational trauma without psychological support, and with paltry pay, punitive salary deductions, extensive surveillance, and aggressive union-busting tactics.On August 4, 2022, Forbes published an article entitled "TikTok Moderators Are Being Trained Using Graphic Images Of Child Sexual Abuse," revealing that Teleperformance had subjected its workers to unconscionable working conditions, including being "shown uncensored, sexually explicit images of children." On this news, the price of Teleperformance ADRs fell by nearly 5%.Then, on November 9, 2022, Time reported that "Colombia's Ministry of Labor has launched an investigation into TikTok subcontractor Teleperformance, relating to alleged union-busting, traumatic working conditions and low pay." On this news, the price of Teleperformance ADRs declined nearly 19%, further damaging investors.The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud. You can view a copy of the complaint by clicking here.THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS: The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased or acquired Teleperformance ADRs during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff of the Teleperformance class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Teleperformance class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Teleperformance class action lawsuit. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Teleperformance class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.ABOUT ROBBINS GELLER: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world's leading complex class action firms representing plaintiffs in securities fraud cases. The Firm is ranked #1 on the most recent ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report for recovering more than $1.75 billion for investors in 2022 - the third year in a row Robbins Geller tops the list. And in those three years alone, Robbins Geller recovered nearly $5.3 billion for investors, more than double the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs' firm. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the largest plaintiffs' firms in the world and the Firm's attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history, including the largest securities class action recovery ever - $7.2 billion - in In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. Please visit the following page for more information:Attorney advertising.Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices.Contact:Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101J.C. Sanchez, 800-449-4900jsanchez@ rgrdlaw.com SOURCE: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 08:05:51

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HighlightsChannel Sampling of New Trenches Planned to Assist in Drill TargetingNext Phase of Drilling Set to CommenceCrushing Complete for Bulk SampleInitial Duplicate Sampling of Bulk Crush Material Returning Consistent Gold Values15 samples range between 1.11 and 2.18 g/t Au, averaging 1.64 g/t AuCALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Tocvan Ventures Corp. (the "Company") (CSE:TOC)(OTCQB:TCVNF)(FSE:TV3), is pleased to provide an update on operational plans for 2023 at both Pilar and El Picacho gold-silver projects in Sonora, Mexico. At Pilar, with the bulk sample process ongoing, results from the test will be provided as available. Initial sampling of crush reject or duplicate material from the first two-days of crushing blended material has returned consistent gold values. Samples were submitted to local certified lab, LTM. In total, 15 samples were collected averaging 1.64 g/t Au (see Table 1 for full results). An additional 101 samples have been submitted to ALS for full Fire Assay and ICP analysis to evaluate gold and silver; results are pending. Trenching at Pilar for the excavation of the bulk sample has opened up new ground and uncovered old workings along key high-grade structures. The Company plans to conduct systematic channel sampling across each of these new areas to guide drill targeting and provide important geochemical information of the surface mineralization which will be used in future resource estimation.Pilar is permitted for 83 drill pads, totaling a minimum of 10,000-meters of drilling across the property to continue to evaluate expansion potential of the known area of mineralization. Over half of the Pilar property has yet to be systematically drilled with follow-up on several new parallel zones to the Main Zone required. The Company will also look to identify new water sources for future use, past drilling has intersected temporary artesian wells that could provide a local source of water. In addition, key environmental information will be compiled for upcoming permit application for mine development. At El Picacho, initial reconnaissance drilling at the Jabali target is planned along with step-out drilling at the new discovery area at the San Ramon target. El Picacho is currently permitted for 14,000-meters of drilling and 2,000-meters of trenching."Results from the bulk sample material being crushed are showing very consistent gold grades above the regional average of mines in the area" stated Brodie Sutherland, CEO. "With the bulk sample progressing we are now planning for the next phase of exploration and drilling at both Pilar and El Picacho. New surface exposure at Pilar from trenching will provide key information of surface mineralization and with systematic channel sampling can be tied into future resource estimates. This will assist in future drill targeting at Pilar as we look to expand the known footprint of mineralization even further. Across both of our projects we are currently permitted for over 24,000-meters of drilling, which we will look to utilize as we move both projects forward with imminent drilling." About the Bulk SampleOver 1,400 tonnes of oxide-gold material have been extracted from select areas exposed at surface across the project area, focusing on the Main Zone and 4-T Trends where preliminary column leach studies have returned promising head-grade and recovery results. Bulk Sample material will be prepared for processing by heap-leach method at a private mining operation less than 25 kilometers to the west of Pilar. Information from the sample will aim to provide a more detailed account of expected head-grade and recovery percentage of gold along with providing key information to optimize future production facilities. The information provided from the sample will be used for planning in coordination for permitting of full-scale mine and process facilities on-site at Pilar.Crush Reject Sampling ResultsA total of 15 were collected during the first two-days of crushing for the bulk sample. Results are showing very consistent grades averaging 1.64 g/t Au with a range between 1.11 and 2.18 g/t Au. Samples were collected from the conveyor belt over select intervals of time. Bulk Sample material was blended from different trench areas. An additional 101 samples have been collected over the past week and submitted to ALS for Fire Assay and ICP analysis. Results are pending.Sample IDAu g/t3326512.17Duplicate1.803326531.793326541.893326571.713326581.833326591.833326602.183326621.423326631.253326641.363326651.533326661.193326671.113326681.163326691.99Table 1. Summary of Results from Reject Duplicate Samples from On-site Crushing of Bulk Sample Material. Samples were collected during the first two-days of crushing.Photo 1. Crusher circuit processing Pilar Bulk Sample Material.Photo 2 & 3. Above, Heap Leach Pile. Below, Site visit by LTM personnel.Diagnostic Leach Study SummaryFull results from the Diagnostic Leach Study are available on the Company's website and in the March 29th news release. A summary is provided below.Sample IDLocationHead Screen AssayGravity Concentrate AssayTotal Recoverable by Gravity and Agitated Cyanide LeachAu (g/t)Ag (g/t)Au (g/t)Ag (g/t)Au (%)Ag (%)494741Main Zone (Surface)6.22376.22379578494743Main Zone (Surface)8.268117.011529897494745Main Zone (Surface)2.735.68297904947474-T (Surface)20.474290.35689885494749Main Zone (Drill Core)24.9231.1539973Table 2. Summary of Results from the Precious Metals Diagnostic Leach Study completed by LTM.Annual General MeetingThe Company is please to announce its Annual General Meeting will be held on May 15, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. MST. The Company encourages all shareholders to attend.Stock OptionsThe Company announces it has approved the grant of 400,000 incentive stock options to directors, and consultants of the Company. The options vest quarterly over a one-year period following the grant date, are exercisable at a price of $0.72, and expire on April 20, 2028.About the Pilar PropertyThe Pilar Gold-Silver property has recently returned some of the regions best drill results. Coupled with encouraging gold and silver recovery results from metallurgical test work, Pilar is primed to be a potential near-term producer. Pilar is in
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 22:45:09

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REEDVILLE, VA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Ocean Harvesters, the largest participant in Virginia's historic menhaden fishery, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Commonwealth of Virginia and other menhaden fishing companies that will put new limits on menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. This MOU will limit potential sources of conflict between the fishery and other users of the Bay and is part of the fishery's efforts to continue to be responsible stewards of our shared marine resources.Ocean Harvesters has an exclusive, long-term supply agreement with Omega Protein of Reedville, Virginia, which has operated continuously in the area since 1878."The new memorandum of understanding successfully addresses concerns that have been raised about how the menhaden fishery can best coexist with other user groups in the Bay," said Monty Deihl, CEO of Ocean Harvesters. "This MOU further illustrates that the menhaden fishery will work with the Bay community to alleviate concerns and to remain operating responsibly and sustainably here in Virginia." The MOU outlines areas within the Bay where the fishery may only harvest in waters more than one mile from shore. These areas were identified as concentrated regions for tourists and other user groups around the Bay. Specifically, the areas are offshore from the populated areas of Virginia's lower Eastern Shore, and Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach.Additionally, in response to feedback on how the fishery can best avoid conflicts with recreational fishing, the MOU will place new limits on the times and places where the menhaden fishery will operate. The MOU states that between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the fishery will not harvest menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay on weekends, nor on the Memorial or Labor Day holidays, nor on the days surrounding July 4th - the most popular time for summer tourism and recreational fishing.The MOU further restricts the fishery from operating within a half mile of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel year-round. This will help the fishery avoid recreational boat traffic and any other potential issues and conflicts that might arise near the Bridge.From left: Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Travis Voyles, Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) Commissioner Jamie Green, Ocean Harvesters CEO Monty Deihl The MOU continues the fishery's longstanding mission of being responsible stewards of the Chesapeake Bay. It is another precaution for a fishery that has been a model for sustainable management. Several of the most knowledgeable and respected fisheries scientists and fisheries management experts in Virginia spoke on the state of the menhaden stock at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission's (VMRC) December 2022 meeting. (Video of the meeting is available here. Comments begin at the 0:30, 1:04, and 4:32 marks.)A respected professor and VMRC biologist noted that "the coastwide stock is extremely healthy, by all accounts. If this were the result for any other resource on the East Coast or West Coast or in the world, we'd be celebrating." The senior fisheries management experts at VMRC concurred. One noted that menhaden has "much more conservative management than we often use for other species in the name of guarding the ecosystem." And another stated "it's a situation where we have a healthy stock. It's not overfished," adding "we have fisheries in our state here that are overfished and overfishing is occurring and we're spending all our time dealing with menhaden."About Omega ProteinOmega Protein Corporation is a century old nutritional product company that develops, produces, and delivers healthy products derived from menhaden, a fish found abundantly off the U.S. Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Omega Protein Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary and division of Cooke Inc., a family-owned company based in New Brunswick, Canada.Through its subsidiaries, Omega Protein owns three menhaden manufacturing facilities in the United States. Omega Protein also has a long-term supply contract with Ocean Harvesters, which owns 30 fishing vessels which harvest menhaden. All fishing vessels owned and operated by Ocean Harvesters, an independent company, were formerly owned by Omega Protein. Any references to commercial fishing of menhaden relate to Ocean Harvesters, not Omega Protein or Cooke Inc.PRESS CONTACT:Ben LandrySOURCE: Omega Protein
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-20 17:08:39

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Zift Solutions is thrilled to welcome Cosmo Mariano to the team as the new Chief Customer Officer.CARY, NC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Zift Solutions, a leading provider of Partner Relationship Management (PRM) and Through-Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA) software, has announced a groundbreaking new role that unifies Zift's customer-facing teams by combining Professional Services, Customer Success, and Customer Support as the company expands its user community. Cosmo Mariano has joined the company in the new role of Chief Customer Officer.Throughout his career, Mariano has held key positions in various industries, including serving as a management consultant for Caledon Consulting and as Customer Experience Design and Insight Director at the Royal Bank of Canada. As the founder and CEO of GetLift Agency, he established one of North America's leading B2B and channel management agencies. Most recently, he was the Vice President of Services for Uberflip Software. He has more than two decades of experience scaling and transforming technology companies for customer success in mainstream markets."We are thrilled to welcome Cosmo Mariano to the Zift Solutions team," said Gordon Rapkin, Chief Executive Officer. "His background in customer experience design and strategy will bring a fresh perspective to our customer journey and value delivery. Cosmo's role, and the unity of a Customer Operations Team, is just one piece of our continuous commitment to serving ZiftONE customers." "I could not be more excited to be joining Zift," Cosmo Mariano added. "As Chief Customer Officer, I look forward to applying my wide range of knowledge and experience to the ZiftONE user base as we continue to prioritize customer delight." Mariano's initiatives have consistently delivered impressive results, increasing value for customers, employees, and stakeholders by focusing on outcomes. His leadership skills have led to accelerated transformation and exceptional project success rates. A lifelong learner, Mariano continually enhances his skills through various professional programs, like the Stanford Corporate Innovation Program, Product-Led Growth, and IDEO business design.###About Zift SolutionsFounded in 2006, Zift Solutions is the only Partner Relationship Management (PRM) and Through-Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA) tool built as one to work as one. The company's ZiftONE platform manages the flow from onboarding to enablement, lead generation to marketing, all the way through sales. Backed by the most experienced team in the industry and fueled by the recent $70M capital investment by Investcorp, Zift has been named the only leader in both Channel Marketing Automation and Partner Relationship Management by Forrester Research and a market leader in Partner Management Software and Through-Channel Marketing Software by G2. For more information, visit www.ziftsolutions.com Contact InformationKelsey WorshamSenior Content Marketing and Communications Managerkelseyworsham@ ziftsolutions.com 8657732118SOURCE: Zift Solutions
The Baku Higher Oil School of SOCAR (BHOS) has hosted a poetry contest in English dedicated to the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. The competition was held among the students of BHOS English Language and Humanities Centre (Foundation).

The event was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Fergus Auld, and Azerbaijan Country Director of British Council, Nargiz Hajiyeva.

BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov opened the competition with a keynote speech. He highlighted the importance of holding such events for the development of cultural ties between the two countries.

Students of Baku Higher Oil School actively participate in cultural and social projects. They are participating in this competition with great enthusiasm, as well. The poetry contest dedicated to Robert Burns has been organized within the framework of long-term cooperation between Baku Higher Oil School and the British Heriot-Watt University. Robert Burns is a hero of the Scottish people, national pride, and a folk poet. His birthday is celebrated as a national holiday in Scotland. He devoted his 37-year life to collecting information about Scottish folklore, history and national traditions. We also constantly teach our students to master national values, protect them and pass them on to future generations, the rector said.

In his speech, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Great Britain to Azerbaijan Fergus Auld highly praised the organization of a poetry contest in English at Baku Higher Oil School.

As a Scot, I feel a sense of pride and joy that a competition dedicated to the national poet of Scotland is being held in the best higher educational institution of Azerbaijan. I have had a great day. Thank you for such a high-level event. We discussed with Mr. Elmar Gasimov the possibility of organizing a poetry contest dedicated to the brilliant Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi at Heriot-Watt University. Scotland and Azerbaijan are similar in terms of inheriting historical roots and cultural traditions, the ambassador said.

When Fergus Auld finished his speech, he was presented with a plaque Guest of Honor of Baku Higher Oil School.

16 students of the Preparatory Course took part in the poetry contest dedicated to the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. The audience applauded the performances of the students. The students were awarded in various nominations. According to the results of the jury's evaluation, Aisha Bakhshiyeva took the first place in the contest. The second and third places were taken by Aysel Rahimli and Zeynab Adzhalova, respectively.
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The hope of having a woman elected a state governor in Nigeria was, again, dashed as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Dahiru, was defeated in Adamawa State.

Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, was unable to secure 90 per cent of the votes cast in the supplementary election, which she needed to overtake Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At the conclusion of the election, Mr Fintiri polled 430,788 votes to Mrs Dahirus 398,788 votes.

The first phase of the election was held on 18 March but declared inconclusive leading to the supplementary election.

After the 18 March election, Mrs Dahiru trailed the incumbent governor with 31,249 votes. The supplementary election, which took place in 69 polling units where elections were cancelled, had 42,785 registered voters while the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) collected in those polling units were 36,935.

It, therefore, meant that to overcome the deficit and win the election, Mrs Dahiru required an almost 100 per cent turnout and about 90 per cent of the votes cast in the supplementary election

That did not happen.

The turnout was about 50 per cent and Mr Fintiri secured a majority of the votes, according to the electoral commission, INEC.

At the end of the supplementary election, the incumbent won 9,337 votes while Mrs Dahiru polled 6,513 votes.

Popularly called Binani, Mrs Dahiru symbolised a ray of hope for women in politics, especially following the outcome of the 25 February Presidential and National Assembly elections which saw womens representation in the Nigerian parliament take a nosedive  the lowest since 2003, PREMIUM TIMES reported.

Illegal Declaration

Before Mr Fintiri was finally declared the winner, an official had illegally declared Mrs Dahiru the winner of the election.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa, Hudu Ari, had, on Sunday announced the APC candidate as the winner of the election while the collation of the results of the supplementary election conducted on Saturday was still in progress.

The candidate went on to read an acceptance speech amidst the pandemonium created by the announcement.

When INEC declared the announcement null and void, suspending the collation of the results, Binani on Monday approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop INEC from voiding her illegal declaration as Adamawa governor-elect.

The court on Tuesday adjourned hearing on the suit until 26 April.

Another opportunity lost

Though disappointing, Binanis loss is not surprising, gender advocate Adenike Aloba said.

Women failed in the February 25 outing and a win now would be a surprise.

Of the 92 women who contested for the Senate in the February elections, only three won, while out of the 286 who contested for seats in the House of Representatives, only 15 have been declared winners.

Her win, for Mrs Aloba, would have been a bright spot in a dark period for women in Nigerian politics and for Nigeria and its aspirations for development, especially as it concerns SDG 5.

Of course not naive to think this is the beginning of a sure-to-come groundswell of womens representation in Nigerias politics but like the distant twinkling of the lighthouse spells hope for a sailor in the middle of a turbulent storm, her win would have been a beacon of hope, she added.

Like Mrs Aloba, Bukky Shonibare noted that a Binani win would have been a history-making turning point for womens political representation in the country.

A far departure from the trend of female representation in political elective positions where we have had fewer women, particularly in a political party that is one of the top two, she said.

Although Nigerias North is widely seen as a conservative region that limits womens rights including political participation, facts negate such stereotypes. In Adamawa State, women have been repeatedly elected to the National Assembly. Folashade Bent, Binta Garba, and Ms Dahiru have been federal lawmakers and the current deputy governor of Northwestern Kaduna State is Hadiza Balarabe a woman.

In the case of Ms Garba, she was first elected to the House of Representatives from Kaduna State before she switched constituency to Adamawa, a rare feat. She was later elected to represent Adamawa North in the Senate.

Mrs Aloba described Ms Garba as a star twinkling from the North; a region often vilified for patriarchal norms, could now be providing leadership in the area of gender representation is another reason to hope.

She wished the people of Adamawa gave Nigeria the opportunity to again test its readiness for female leadership.

A Binani win would have shed some light on the dark, dark horizon of diversity, equity and inclusion in Nigerias politics and governance, Mrs Aloba added.

Binani faced strong pushback from conservative sections in Adamawa on account of her gender. Some Islamic clerics in the state reportedly warned their followers not to vote for a woman to lead them.

She however had a few on her side who argued that Adamawa State was a secular state and as such a woman could run for public office in the state.

Adamawa is one of the many states in Nigeria with very low female participation in its parliament. There is only one woman in the states parliament. For the 2023 election, only 13 women were among the 242 state assembly candidates.

Ms Shonibare said Binanis loss is a major setback for womens representation in Nigerias political sphere.

Binanis win would not only have emboldened women to dare as Binani has done, but it would also be a new status attained for women while boosting the confidence of young girls in the region who daily choose between being educated and staying alive, she added.

Binanis win, for Ms Shonibare, would have been comparable to that of Kamala Harris in the US which could have shown that Nigeria may be on its way to having more women brave the odds to vie for top elective political positions.

Her win was particularly crucial considering that Adamawa State is in northeast Nigeria  a region that has endured over 13 years of onslaught by the Boko Haram terrorist group with a core approach of preventing girl-child education and limiting women, she said.

Possibility of Election Petition

Binani is no stranger to election-related court cases and is expected to contest the outcome of the election with a case already adjourned for 26 April.

She had earlier in an interview on Channels Television, asked INEC to review the results of the governorship election in some local governments where she disagreed with the number of votes scored by the PDP candidate.

She accused the governor and the PDP of using violence to manipulate the election, alleging that INEC ad-hoc staff were not present in some polling centres.

Like Binani, Like Mama Taraba

While Binani is the latest woman to come close to being elected governor, others have made similar efforts, with the closest being Aisha Alhassan (also of APC) of Taraba State in 2015.

Just like in Adamawa, the Taraba election was initially declared inconclusive. A supplementary election was held in affected areas. The PDP candidate, Darius Ishaku, was declared the winner of the supplementary election and overall winner of the governorship election. However, Ms Alhassan, popularly called Mama Taraba, challenged the result at the election tribunal.

The tribunal nullified Mr Ishakus election and named Ms Alhassan as the winner and the duly elected governor.

When the matter eventually got to the Supreme Court, it ruled in Mr Ishakus favour and dismissed the ruling of the tribunal.

The outcome did not diminish Ms Alhassans popularity in the state and across the country. She was named minister by President Buhari but she eventually defected to the PDP. She supported Mr Ishakus re-election in 2019 before she passed away in 2021.

Binani and Politics

It is not clear if President-elect Bola Tinubu will name Binani a minister when he is eventually sworn in and names his cabinet.

However, this election is not expected to be the end of the political journey for Binani, a journey that started over a decade ago.

Mrs Dahiru was first elected as a federal representative, serving two terms from 2011 to 2019, before she was elected as a senator in 2019. Her performance as a representative was well-regarded to the extent that a coalition of civil society groups and professional associations endorsed her senatorial bid.

To secure the governorship ticket for the 2023 election, Mrs Dahiru defeated former governor Jibrilla Bindow and former presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu. Although an initial legal challenge by primary opponents saw her disqualified from the race, she won subsequent legal battles and was cleared by the judiciary to contest the election.

She will now hope that the judiciary can reclaim, for her, a mandate she says was stolen.

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The Kaduna State commissioner for internal security and home affairs, Samuel Aruwan, has said about 1,052 people were killed, 4,227 abducted and 648 were injured in 2022.

Mr Aruwan said this Wednesday during the presentation of a report on the state of insecurity in the state for 2022.

The report, titled The Security Situation in Kaduna State from 1 January to 31 December, 2022, covered security issues ranging from banditry and terrorism, kidnapping, rape perpetrated by armed bandits, cattle rustling, communal and inter- ethnic clashes, violent attacks, and reprisal attacks.

The statistics presented are generated from daily reports of security agencies  the Military (the Army, Navy and Air Force), Police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KADVS)  community leaders (ward heads, village heads, district heads, chiefdoms, and emirates) and credible human intelligence networks.

The figures presented here by the Kaduna State Government therefore constitute the most authoritative source of periodic security data on banditry, terrorism, and other incidents in the State, Mr Aruwan said.

The Statistics

Out of the 1,052 people killed, Mr Aruwan said 947 were men, 82 were women while 23 were minors.

Of those killed, 641 were from the central part of the state while 349 were from the Southern part of the state. The report stated that 62 people were killed in the Northern part of the state. with the Northern part of the state.

Out of the total 4,227 people kidnapped, 2,606 were men and 1,395 were women while the remaining 226 were minors.

The Kaduna central zone still led in the number of abductees with 3,112 while Kaduna southern zone has 925 cases of abduction with the northern part of the state having 190.

Mr Aruwan said in the year under review, 648 people were injured during the attacks while 11,714 animals were rustled.

The state also witnessed 25 cases of rape while 215 farms were reportedly destroyed.

The commissioner said the state government has achieved major feats in fighting insecurity which led to the killing of 628 terrorists in 2022.

He said some of the bandits leaders killed included Dogo Mai Kasuwa, Kachalla Gudau, Rigimamme and Alh Shanono among others.

Kaduna State, in the north west side of the country, has been witnessing series of terrorists activities as well communal and religious clashes for years.

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The governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has replied the presidency on the security situation in the state, insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari endorsed the intractable killings of persons there.

He also accused the president of starving the state of funds and manipulating the recent elections in the state to favour his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Ortom, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stated this in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, on Thursday, in Makurdi, the state capital.

The presidency in a statement on Wednesday by Garba Shehu, the presidents media aide, absolved Mr Buhari from the killings in Benue State, saying Mr Ortom had politicised the issue.

Mr Shehu said, Perhaps if the disgraced governor had been more concerned with doing his job than politicising the tragedies so frequently taking place under his watch, the situation in Benue might be very different, like in any of its neighbours  Taraba, Nasarawa, the FCT  which all enjoy peace.

The presidential aide was reacting to separate editorials by two national dailies, Daily Trust and ThisDay, blaming the security situation in Benue State on the inactiveness of the federal government.

Mr Shehu itemised measures taken by Mr Buhari to address wanton killings in the state.

There have been relentless mass killings of mostly rural dwellers by armed herders since 2016 in the north-central state, leading to displacement of over two million people, according to the state government.

The killings have pitted Mr Ortom against the Buharii administration.

Mr Shehu also mocked Mr Ortom for losing his senatorial bid to represent the Benue North-west district, adding that the Benue electorate rejected the outgoing governor and the PDP governorship candidate, Titus Uba, he (Ortom) supported.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Hyacinth Alia, won the election.

Herdsmen killings in Benue has Buharis endorsement

But Mr Ikyur, who described Mr Shehus statement as infantile, blamed the intractable massacres in Benue on Mr Buharis endorsement of the violent activities of herdsmen whom he said are of the Fulani ethnic extraction as the president.

Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings.

It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue State in particular, the statement said, accusing the president of abdicating his statutory duty of security lives and properties, he said.

The governors media aide said the presidencys statement on Wednesday amounted to spitting on the graves of our compatriots mowed down needlessly by Fulani militia, adding that the Benue shall not forget these atrocities.

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He accused the central government of complicity in the killings orchestrated against Benue people by the Fulani herdsmen as represented by Miyetti Allah Kautal, Fulani Nationality Movement, FUNAM and other Fulani socio cultural groups.

Arguing further, the governors spokesperson wondered why Mr Buhari would blame Mr Ortom for the killings in Benue, but look away from the massacres and kidnappings in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto and Katsina the presidents home state.

Starving of funds

On public infrastructure, the governors aide accused the federal government of starving Benue of funds to execute contracts.

The Governor has been subjected to many coordinated media attacks, probes, freezing of state accounts and other punitive measures to frustrate and cripple his administration.

While other states were given infrastructural loans, Benue under Governor Ortom was denied access to the funds. The same thing happened when the Benue State Government met all requirements to secure N42 billion to clear the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuity, the statement said.

Manipulating 2023 elections

Speaking on Mr Ortom and the PDPs loss at the recent polls, Mr Ikyur alleged that the federal government deployed the armed forces and money to manipulate the elections.

The Presidencys attempt to mock Governor Ortom over the loss of his senatorial seat and the PDP in the Governorship has furthermore strengthened our belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC, he said.

Read Mr Ortoms full statement

RE: PRESIDENT BUHARIS BENUE RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. LET THE PEOPLE OF BENUE SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES TOO

Shehu Garbas infantile statement on the security situation in Benue State has once again confirmed our position that the killings; mass murder in Benue by the Fulani militia has the full endorsement of the Buhari government. It also goes to confirm that the Presidential spokesman does not only speak for Buhari but for some terrorist Fulani groups too.

Indeed, the Presidential spokesmans futile attempts to twist events and history in Benue State is unfortunate and reprehensible. It shows how much he and others in that league have misled the government and Nigerian people in the last inglorious eight years.

It is common knowledge that as the Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has empowered and emboldened the Fulani pastoralists in their expansionist agenda including killings. It is equally a known fact that President Buhari has failed woefully in securing Nigeria, and Benue state in particular.

It is on record that Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly pleaded with the Buhari government to intervene in the incessant invasion of Benue State by Fulani militias. The President sadly chooses to endorse the invasion and merely asks our people to learn to accommodate their neighbours who derive pleasure in killing and dispossesing them of their ancestral lands.

What the Buhari administration has done to our people through the Fulani militants as confirmed by Shehu Garba is to spit on the graves of our compatriots mowed down needlessly by Fulani militia. We shall not forget these atrocities.

Besides unleashing Fulani killers on our people, the Buhari government denied Benue State any meaningful project in the last eight years, including the repair of federal government roads in the state which are now death traps. We have tried in vain to find out the offense of Benue people, but we found none, except that our people are responsible, law abiding citizens.

For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Samuel Ortom was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 to defend the interest of the people of Benue and never to be a lackey in the hands of expansionists using every means to perpetrate evil against the Benue citizens.

By Garba Shehus latest statement, the presidency has clearly demonstrated that Governor Ortom is right when he consistently accused the APC-led federal government of complicity in the killings orchestrated against Benue people by the Fulani herdsmen as represented by Miyetti Allah Kautal, Fulani Nationality Movement, FUNAM and other Fulani socio cultural groups.

If the Presidency can find it convenient to lay the blame of the massive killings that the Fulani have continued to perpetrate in Benue on Governor Ortom, what can it say of the massacre and kidnappings in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto and President Buharis home state of Katsina among other states where the killing of innocent citizens has continued unchallenged?

The Presidency has shown in this recent public statement that they have placed cows above human lives and made the animals to urinate on the graves of those they massacred in Benue and elsewhere across the country. If not, they wouldnt have gone to town to mock the slain in their graves.

It is an insult on Benue people including those killed and butchered children, the maimed, raped and abused women and the over two million people living under squalid conditions in Nigerias largest Internally Displaced Camps in the state.

The Presidencys statement is a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims.

Let Garba Shehu and occupants of the current Presidential Villa be informed that the ongoing pogrom in Benue State is a designed plot by the Fulani against the Benue people to disposses them of their lands and these atrocities are well documented. The perpetrators are also well known to local and international authorities. By this recent posturing, everyone is now aware that the perpetrators have the backing and sympathy of the Federal Government.

The Presidencys attempt to mock Governor Ortom over the loss of his senatorial seat and the PDP in the Governorship has furthermore strengthened our belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC.

But let the Presidential spokesman remember that Governor Ortom is extremely grateful to the people of the State for always giving him the opportunity to serve them. As he has often quoted Psalm 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. The Governor stands for justice, equity and fairness and no amount of blackmail and impunity as orchestrated by the Buhari administration can make him to change his advocacy against injustice and oppression.

In fact, before the elections, Governor Ortom had publicly stated that he was ready to sacrifice his senatorial ambition for the sake of the survival of democracy where the likes of Garba Shehu and their collaborators would rather want it truncated. It is public knowledge that the 2023 elections were heavily rigged using some security operatives, money, federal might and electronic means. Governor Ortoms decision not to challenge the result of the Benue North West Senatorial election in court again points to the fact that he is not a selfish and desperate politician.

Benue people are well aware that Governor Ortom has been a target of the Buhari presidency since 2017 when he boldly signed a law banning open grazing of livestock in the state. The Governor has been subjected to many coordinated media attacks, probes, freezing of state accounts and other punitive measures to frustrate and cripple his administration. While other states were given infrastructural loans, Benue under Governor Ortom was denied access to the funds. The same thing happened when the Benue State Government met all requirements to secure N42 billion to clear the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuity.

In a nutshell, the presidencys statement is the height of recklessness and gross insensitivity against the people of Benue. It is on record that Governor Ortom has given full cooperation to all layers of security agencies working in the state to help curtail the menace of the Fulani killing squad displacing various communities in the state and other internal security skirmishes.

Between 2015 and this year, Governor Ortom has constantly held security meetings and gathered intelligence to support security agencies operating in the state. He has however consistently pointed out that the security agencies are grossly underfunded and deserve to be better equipped and motivated to tackle insecurity in the country.

It is therefore laughable when Shehu ignorantly tries to whip up an unfounded lie against the Governor.

Governor Ortom is performing his duty as Governor of Benue State and will continue to do so until May 29, 2023 when he leaves office. We expect the outgoing President to also do what he was voted to do for Nigerians.

Lastly, we are tempted to conclude that President Buhari was not aware of Garba Shehus statement, because if the President were aware, he would not have permitted his media aide to release a statement that rather indicts him as Commander-in-Chief of Nigerias Armed Forces for abdicating his constitutional duty of providing security to Benue State and other parts of the country, admitting failure and opting to blame a state Governor.

Nathaniel Ikyur

Chief Press Secretary,

April 20th, 2023

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The Defence Headquarters says troops of the armed forces have in the last two weeks rescued 468 kidnapped victims and eliminated 54 terrorists in various operations across the North-east, North-central and North-west regions.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Musa Danmadami, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the bi-weekly news conference on the operations of the armed forces.

Mr Danmadami, a major general, said the troops also apprehended no fewer than 122 terrorists, bandits, their collaborators and other criminals across the zones within the period.

He added that 30 of the rescued victims who were injured have been hospitalised while the remaining were reunited with their families.

In the North-east, Mr Danmadami said troops of Operation Hadin Kai conducted operational activities at identified Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorist camps and enclaves at high grounds, villages and forests within the zone.

He said the troops neutralised 24 terrorists, arrested 40 logistics suppliers including one female, four terrorists informants, and rescued 206 civilians.

According to him, a total of 501 Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists and their families comprising 60 male adults, 176 female adults and 266 children surrendered to troops at different locations within the theatre of operation.

Troops also recovered 14 AK47 rifles, two AK49 rifles, one AK56 rifle, one GPMG, one RPG tube, one PK MG and two RPG bombs.

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Also recovered were 732 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 77 rounds of 7.62mm special, 19 rounds of 7.62mm by 29mm special and 16 rounds of 7.62mm ball metal links ammo.

Also, 1,000 rounds of 7.62mm NATO (belted), 243 round of 7.62mm x 54mm special ammo, 89 rounds of 5.56mm by 45mm special, 16 AK47 magazines, seven dane guns and the sum of N103,505 only, as well as other sundry items, were recovered.

All recovered items, arrested Boko Haram/lSWAP terrorists, terrorists logistics suppliers, were handed over to the relevant authority for further action.

While the surrendered Boko Haram/Islamic State of West Africa Province terrorists and members of their families were profiled for further action.

The rescued civilians were given medical attention before being handed over to relevant authorities for further action, he said.

In North-central, the defence spokesperson said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stoke apprehended 44 suspected criminals and rescued 252 civilians during the period.

He said the troops also recovered a cache of arms, 18 mobile phones, 38 railway sleepers amongst other sundry items.

In the North-west, Danmadami said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 30 terrorists, arrested 33 others and rescued 10 kidnapped civilians.

He said that the troops recovered 13 AK47 rifles, 16 AK47 magazines, 1,531 rounds of 7.62mm special, 886 rounds of 7.62mm NATO (belted) ammo, 139 rounds of 7.62mm special (tracer) ammo, and 30 rounds of empty cases of 7.62mm special.

Other items recovered include 87 Detonators, 33 rolls of detonator cables, 11 safety fuses, 43 main explosive chargers, 25 motorcycles, 21 mobile phones, boafeng radios, 887 rustled cattle, seven trucks and the sum of N230,900.

All recovered items, apprehended suspects and rescued civilians have been handed over to the appropriate authority for further action, he said.

(NAN)

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The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, will hold a virtual meeting on Thursday with the AU Chairperson, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, the Executive Secretary of the East African bloc, IGAD, and other leaders on the crisis in Sudan.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told journalists at the UN headquarters on Wednesday that Mr Guterres would hold the meeting together with other relevant organisations, to discuss ways the international community could help end the violence and restore order inside Sudan.

Mr Dujarric said the UN chief spoke earlier in the day to President William Ruto of Kenya and with the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki.

Obviously, he will continue to be fully engaged, making phone calls, trying to secure a 24-hour ceasefire, which will enable a much-needed reprieve to all affected civilians in Khartoum, he said.

The UN Special Representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, also continued engagement with parties on the ground, key Sudanese leaders and Member States, in trying to secure an immediate de-escalation in the fighting.

The crisis between the Sudanese armed forces and formerly allied Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries emerged as the country appeared to be returning to the path towards democratic transition. The sides are at odds over the process of restoring civilian rule.

The deadly clashes erupted on Saturday. An initial 24-hour ceasefire, announced for 6 p.m., local time, on Tuesday, collapsed within minutes of the deadline.

The parties committed to a new 24-hour truce on Wednesday, also beginning at 6 pm local time, but some international media reported that shelling had continued.

The UN, AU and IGAD  known as the Trilateral Mechanism  issued a statement appealing to the sides to create necessary conditions during this period for the civilians to seek safe shelter, food and medical care.

Mr Dujarric said the continued heavy fighting is having devastating consequences for civilians, as well as UN staff and other members of the international community.

We reiterate to the parties to the conflict that they must respect international law, he said.

They are obliged to protect civilians and ensure the safety and security of all United Nations and associated personnel as well as their premises, our assets, and trapped civilians must be able to receive assistance, access essential supplies and evacuated to safer zones as needed.

As the crisis deepens, humanitarians warn that people are running out of food, fuel and other vital supplies, and many urgently need medical care.

We desperately need a humanitarian pause so that wounded and sick civilians can reach hospitals, Mr Dujarric said, adding people in Khartoum have been unable to safely leave their homes to buy food and other essential items for days.

He reported that the humanitarian response remains severely hampered, calling for an end to attacks against aid workers and looting of humanitarian facilities.

Humanitarians must be able to safely carry out their work. Aid agencies must be able to safely move staff and replenish critical supplies, he stressed.

The UN is also worried that Sudans healthcare system could completely collapse as hospitals need additional staff and supplies, including blood.

The violence and attacks have forced 16 hospitals across the country to close, nine of them in Khartoum alone, Dujarric said, citing the World Health Organisation (WHO). Another 16 hospitals, including in Darfur states, could close soon due to staff fatigue and lack of supplies.

It goes without saying that we condemn all attacks on health personnel, on facilities and ambulances  which is putting more lives at risk, he said. These are flagrant violations of international law, and they must stop.

As fighting rages on in Sudan, humanitarian agencies are also monitoring the arrivals of new Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Chad, a representative of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

UNHCRs Laura Lo Castro tweeted about a joint mission conducted with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and Chads national commission in charge of refugees, to observe the influx of new Sudanese refugees in the east, assess urgent needs and agree on [a] response plan.

She said there were an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 new refugees in the first three sites visited.

READ ALSO: Nigerian students in Sudan seek evacuation

Any new arrivals will be entering a situation marked by soaring humanitarian needs and chronic underfunding.

Last week, before the military power struggle erupted in Sudan, WEF warned that hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally-displaced people in Chad could face hunger because there was no funding for food assistance beyond this coming May.

(NAN)

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A professor of law at the University of Lagos, Yemi Oke, says there is no Nigerian law that bars an elective officeholder from having dual citizenship.

There has been an intense debate on social media platforms over Bola Tinubu, Nigerias president-elects alleged citizenship of the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.

It was triggered after a snapshot of the biodata page of a Guinean passport bearing Mr Tinubus picture and information surfaced on the Internet.

The discourse around it stresses Mr Tinubus alleged ineligibility to contest for or hold the office of Nigerias presidency owing to his alleged Guinean citizenship. It also spotlights the fact that he failed to disclose his alleged dual citizenship to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Mr Tinubu and his campaign council have yet to comment to either confirm or deny the allegations.

However, Mr Oke, weighing in on the issue, said the Nigerian constitution allows dual citizenship.

Referencing Section 28 of the constitution, the legal luminary, said Dual citizenship is allowable where one qualifies as a Nigerian by birth.

It is my considered opinion that a Nigerian by BIRTH can retain, and maintain dual citizenship for purposes of seeking any elective office(s) in Nigeria till date, the academic argued.

But, he clarified that the only instance in which forfeiture of citizenship is allowed under the Constitution is by holders of citizenship by registration and citizenship by naturalisation.

In a veiled reference to Bukola Saraki, former Kwara State governor and Nigerian Senate President, Mr Oke recalled that Mr Saraki was accused of having dual citizenship, in a desperate bid to scuttle his Senate presidency ambition.

The issue of dual citizenship had initially occurred when a Kwara-born politician was to become President of the Senate of Nigeria and was accused of dual citizenship of Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

He noted that the issue has re-emerged concerning Mr Tinubu.

It is my candid opinion that it is an ill-conceived distraction that will fizzle out, he said.

INEC disobeying court judgement on Diaspora voting

Speaking further about the Nigerian election, Mr Oke said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is in contempt of a court order authorising Nigerians abroad to vote in elections.

Mr Oke who said he was one of the 20 plaintiffs in the suit instituted against INEC in 2007, noted that INEC is yet to comply with the judgement that directed it (INEC) to allow Nigerians in the diaspora to vote in elections in their country of origin, Nigeria.

Criticising Nigerians for being forgetful in recognising their legal rights, the academic said it was high time the electoral umpire took steps to ensure maximum compliance with the judgement (of the Federal High Court) given in favour of Nigerians in Diaspora to exercise their franchise in Nigerias general elections.

The suit was prosecuted by Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights activist.

Mr Oke said the verdict in the case which was delivered on 18 December 2008 has never been appealed against either by INEC or the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

Urging Nigerians abroad to enforce their judicial victory to vote, Mr Oke said There may not be any future elections in Nigeria without voting rights of Nigerians in Diaspora.

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The Abia State University in Uturu Abia State has appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, as a visiting professor.

Mr Ozekhome announced in a statement on Wednesday that he would, by the appointment, serve at the Faculty of Law, with effect from the 2022/2023 academic session.

His appointment, according to him, was contained in a letter dated 5 April, and signed by the Vice Chancellor of the university, O.M. Ogbulu, a professor.

Read Mike Ozekhomes statement in full below:

MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN BAGS ANOTHER VISITING PROFESSORSHIP FROM THE ABIA STATE UNIVERSITY, UTURU,ABIA STATE

For renowned constitutional lawyer and leading human rights activist, the citadel of learning has again come out in full force to tap from his deep scholarship, research, mentorship and knowledge of the law, as famous Abia State University, Uturu ( ABSU ), Abia State, has appointed him a VISITING PROFESSOR OF LAW in its Faculty of Law, with effect from the 2022/2023 academic session.

In the letter sighted by this media,dated April 5, 2023, and signed by the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof O.M. Ogbulu, the University wrote interalia,as follows:

This is in recognition of your outstanding contributions to national human rights advocacies, constitutional law and enviable professional standing in the Legal profession.

It is our hope that your association with the Faculty of Law, Abia State University, will support its academic endeavours and provide the highest source of wise counsel in that discipline, given your pedigree and contacts.

The University in the letter also undertook to provide accommodation and feeding to Professor Ozekhome while on campus; and accord him honorarium and travel expenses to and from the University. ABSU however wrote that the position does not however include entitlement to promotion, gratuity or pension. It would be recalled that the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) had earlier in the year appointed Professor Ozekhome, SAN, as a Visiting Professor of Law in the College of Law.

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A United Kingdom tribunal has held that a Nigerian be fined the sum of 26,835 (over N15 million) after being charged in relation to 61,800 cigarettes found in his bag without appropriate disclosure to relevant revenue authorities. The cigarettes were seized at Heathrow Airport, London, in February 2020.

Details of the judgement are contained in an appeal filed by the Nigerian, Oladipupo Fagbewesa, against the civil evasion penalty issued on 21 June 2021.

In court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the tribunal judge, Abigail Mcgregor, held that Mr Fagbewesa owned the cigarettes that were seized from his bags and subsequently upheld the penalty.

According to the court document dated 12 April, the Notice of Appeal was submitted to the tribunal just over a month late and was received on 23 September 2021. An explanation for the lateness was given in the Notice of Appeal, the document said.

The reasons for the lateness include, among others, the fact that the conclusion letter, dated 14 July 2021, was not received by Mr Fagbewesa until 14 August 2021 because he had been away in Nigeria caring for his sick mother for a 3-week period from 25 July 2021. Similarly, the document said Mr Fagbewesa works at night and therefore has limited time in the day to seek legal advice; he found affordable legal advice on 27 August 2021; English is not his first language and he had trouble understanding the procedure.

Based on the reasons given and the absence of objection from the HM Revenue and Customs, a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes, the court decided to admit the appeal late.

But after hearing arguments from the parties, the tribunal ruled that the seized cigarettes belonged to Mr Fagbewesa and upheld the 26,835 penalty against him.

Backstory

Details of the case as contained in the tribunal judgement said that Mr Fagbewesa was scheduled to return from Lagos, Nigeria, to Heathrow Airport, UK on 11 February 2020 but the flight was delayed due to bad weather. He finally arrived at Heathrow on 14 February 2020 but his bags had not arrived at the same time.

On 15 February 2020, Mr Fagbewesas bags arrived at Heathrow and were checked by the Border Force. However, empty bags were returned to Mr Fagbewesa at home on 16 February 2020 and on 12 May 2021, HMRC wrote to Mr Fagbewesa seeking information in relation to the seized goods, and noting that they had reason to believe that he had engaged in conduct involving dishonesty.

On 26 May 2021, the HMRC wrote to the appellant, Mr Fagbewesa, again stating that he may be exposed to a penalty in the sum of 28,248. On 21 June 2021, the HMRC finally issued a Notice of Assessment to the appellant in the sum of 26,835 pursuant to s 25(1) Finance Act 2003 and s 8(1) Finance Act 1994. The calculation included a 5 per cent reduction for cooperation.

Scope of Appeal

While there had been a number of legal arguments put forward prior to the hearing, the document showed that the parties had, by the time of the hearing, agreed that the core question to decide was whether Mr Fagbewesa was the owner of the cigarettes that were seized.

For the purposes of the appeal, Joshua Carey, counsel to the HMRC, submitted that the revenue outfit accepted that if the court found that the cigarettes did not belong to Mr Fagbewesa, the penalty would fall away. On the other side, for the purposes of the appeal, Macpherson Mickel, counsel to Mr Fagbewesa, conceded that if the tribunal finds that Mr Fagbewesa was the owner of the cigarettes, then the dishonesty automatically follows.

Therefore, our findings of fact on the ownership of the cigarettes are determinative of the appeal, the judge said.

The court document also showed that Section 8 of the Finance Act 1994 (FA 1994) provides for a penalty for the evasion of excise duty. Subsection (a) on penalty stated that where (a) any person engages in any conduct for the purpose of evading any duty of excise, and (b) his conduct involves dishonesty (whether or not such as to give rise to any criminal liability), that person shall be liable to a penalty of an amount equal to the amount of duty evaded or, as the case may be, sought to be evaded.

With regards to customs duty or import VAT civil evasion penalties, section 25 of Finance Act 2003 (FA 2003) provides that where (a) a person engages in any conduct for the purpose of evading any relevant tax or duty, and (b) his conduct involves dishonesty (whether or not such as to give rise to any criminal liability), that person is liable to a penalty of an amount equal to the amount of the tax or duty evaded or, as the case may be, sought to be evaded.

Defence

In his argument, Mr Mickel, lawyer to the Nigerian, argued that the bags were outside of Mr Fagbewesas control from 11 February 2020 when they were checked in at Lagos airport until they were returned to him on 15 February 2020. He added that Mr Fagbewesa did not put any cigarettes in the bags and they were not in there when he checked in his bags at Lagos airport.

He argued further that while his evidence may not be 100 per cent reliable given the effluxion of time (approximately 3 years), he is a credible witness and is very clear that he did not know about the cigarettes. He added that speculation as to how the cigarettes got into the bags is not relevant to the question, and HMRC did not meet the balance of probabilities burden of showing that Mr Fagbewesa owned the cigarettes.

Meanwhile, in his letter of appeal to HMRC dated 2 February 2021, Mr Fagbewesa had stated: I phoned BA customer service and I explained to them the situation of what has happened to my bags. I was told the matter will be investigated and will be resolved. It was after few weeks UK went into national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I have attached with this letter, emails evidence I received from British airways airline regarding this matter.

But Joshua Carey, counsel to the HMRC, argued that the story of not owning the cigarettes has been dreamt up in order to avoid the penalty because the only potential way in which Mr Fagbewesas position can be true requires a conspiracy that is implausible in the extreme, namely that persons unknown obtained access to the bags after check-in and they, or another accomplice, expected to be able to obtain access to the bags again before Mr Fagbewesa picked up the bags at Heathrow, all on the fly-side, that is within the secure parts of both airports.

He argued further that Mr Fagbewesas evidence is not credible.

Discussions

The judge said that the court heard evidence from Mr Curtis, a border control officer, regarding the discovery and seizure of the cigarettes. In addition, it heard evidence from one Mr Crozier, HMRC officer, regarding the timeline in the run-up to raising the assessment and his decision-making process for doing so.

We found both of these witnesses to be honest, credible and reliable, the judge said.

We also heard evidence from Mr Fagbewesa. We did not find his evidence credible or reliable. There were many inconsistencies in his evidence, both internally within the evidence given at the hearing and externally when compared with evidence provided previously in witness statements and in documentary correspondence with HMRC.

We find that when Mr Fagbewesa realised that his bags were not available to collect on 14 February 2020, he approached staff for British Airways (the carrier for his flight) who advised him that he needed to fill out a BOR 1422, being the Border Force form called Clearance of Missing or Delayed Baggage  Non EU arrivals. We find that Mr Fagbewesa filled out that form, identifying his 4 black bags. He signed the form immediately under the declaration that reads: I declare that I have read Bringing goods into the UK from outside the EU poster and the warning and that the answers to the questions and the particulars I have given on this form are true and complete. He also provided his address and telephone number and dated the form. The form did not disclose any cigarettes.

The court found that on the morning of 15 February 2020, Mr Curtis inspected 4 black holdalls that were unaccompanied. He was handed the BOR 1422 by the member of British Airways staff who had alerted him to the bags and he matched the bags to the details on the BOR 1422. The luggage tags on the bags included Mr Fagbewesas name and the flight number, the judge said.

Having felt the bags, the judge said, Mr Curtis considered that they contained boxes and decided to investigate further. He opened the bags, using the jiggler that Border Force officers carry for the purposes of opening locks on bags  a kind of skeleton key.

In the skeleton argument for the Appellant, Mr Macpherson Mickel had suggested that the use of a key meant that the keys must have been attached the luggage, the judge said.

The written witness statement of Mr Fagbewesa did not mention padlocks or keys at all.

The judge added that in evidence given orally at the hearing, Mr Fagbewesa stated that his holdalls were not locked at all and that any padlocks on them were added after he had checked them in Lagos. He also stated that he had told his solicitor at the beginning that the bags were not locked.

Verdict

Speaking on the question of how the cigarettes would have got into the bag if Mr Fagbewesa did not put them there, Mr Carey argued that the alternatives were implausible in the extreme, requiring several people acting in concert within the airline industry in both Lagos and Heathrow in order to have had access to the bags after Mr Fagebwesa had checked them in and before he picked them up at Heathrow. Mr Macpherson argued that the luggage had been outside of Mr Fagbewesas control for several days and it was possible that someone else had interfered with the luggage in that time

While Messrs Curtis and Fagbewesa answered questions about the processes behind the scenes when luggage arrived at Heathrow and the checking process at Lagos airport, the judge said that neither of them was giving evidence of actual events that they witnessed, but rather their view of their general experience and understanding.

We find that third party responsibility for the cigarettes is very unlikely, but possible, the judge said.

As we have noted, we found Mr Fagbewesas oral evidence to be inconsistent. A period of just shy of three years had elapsed between the flight into the UK and the hearing of the appeal and therefore an element of lost memory is to be expected. However, the inconsistency extended to questions asked with only minutes in between during his oral evidence. He was evasive when being asked questions that would lead to him having to give inconsistent answers and he gave as little information in response to questions as he could.

Put simply, we did not believe that he did not own the cigarettes. We find, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Fagbewesa owned the cigarettes that were seized from his bags. As noted above, having found ownership, dishonesty and liability for the penalty follows automatically.

We also find that a reduction of 5% for the amount of co-operation given, being only sending back the signed letter, was a reasonable reduction. Therefore, the penalty stands.

The judge added that any party dissatisfied with this decision has a right to apply for permission to appeal against it pursuant to Rule 39 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009.

The application must, however, be received by the Tribunal not later than 56 days after the decision is sent to that party.

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Nigerias electoral commission, INEC, has denied allegations that its officials deployed for election duty in Adamawa State visited the state government house and received a list of returning officers from a candidate participating in the elections.

The denial was contained in a statement by the commissions spokesperson, Festus Okoye, who accused an unnamed candidate in the election of making the allegations.

According to him, the unnamed candidate accused the INEC officials deployed for election duties of visiting the government house and meeting with one of the candidates in the election who gave them a list of collation and returning officers deployed for the election.

The candidate, he said, also alleged that the commission targeted Adamawa in its deployment of national commissioners and other officials with the sole purpose of influencing that outcome of the election.

To set the record straight, no such visit or meeting took place let alone the compilation of any purported list of collation and returning officers, Mr Okoye stated in the statement. Such a meeting would have been contrary to the oath of neutrality that we all swore to.

He clarified that the appointment of Returning Officer for the election was done prior to the presidential election as the same State Collation Officer for the Presidential Election (SCOPE) served as the Returning Officer for the governorship election.

He added that the deployment of national commissioners and other staff from the headquarters during supplementary or off-cycle elections were a standard practice of the commission when considered necessary.

He said: In the case of Adamawa State where supplementary governorship election was held in 69 polling units, two National Commissioners were deployed while for Kebbi State involving 142 polling units, three National Commissioners were deployed. Similarly, one National Commissioner each was deployed to Sokoto, Zamfara, Imo, Rivers, Ekiti and Ogun States.

The supplementary governorship election in Adamawa was embroiled in controversy when the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Ari, illegally and prematurely declared Aishatu Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election when collation of results had yet to be concluded.

INEC has barred Mr Ari from its offices and wrote the Inspector General of Police to investigate and prosecute him.

The commission also continued with the collation of results where the incumbent, Ahmadu Fintiri, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) emerged winner of the election. He has been presented with a certificate of return.

Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has postponed the hearing of the suit filed by Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, seeking the validation of her illegal declaration as winner of the 18 March and 15 April elections.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Some 29 residents of Azerbaijani Talish village liberated from Armenian occupation are employed, and 9 are involved in the self-employment program, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Azerbaijan told Trend.

Azerbaijan's State Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population at the first stage held meetings with 20 families resettled in the village. As a result of the meetings, the issue of their employment was studied.

Along with Small and Medium Business Development Agency of Azerbaijan, business training programs were organized for the rural residents who joined the self-employment program. In the coming days, they will be provided with equipment to create small farms.

The requirements for vacancies in the village have also been studied. Moreover, work is underway to cooperate with employers under the program financing employees' wages. Part of the salaries of residents who will be involved in this program will be paid by the mentioned agency.
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The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said over 700 kilometres of roads spreading across 11 states in the country would soon be completed.

Mr Fashola disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday in Abuja.

The meeting was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Mr Fashola said over N1.5 trillion would be spent on the projects by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).

According to him, the states where the roads are sited include Edo, Delta, Kano, Kaduna, Borno and Adamawa.

The Council gave approval for the construction and rehabilitation of 11 roads totalling 737.242 kilometres in the sum of N1, 535, 154, 247, 234.48 under phase II of the NNPC tax credit scheme.

Recall that in January this year, the council approved a memo for the NNPC to invest N1.9 trillion on our roads. That amount was then about 44 roads that had been awarded and the balance of those roads that had to go through procurement between then and now are the 11 that have now been approved by the council,  Mr Fashola said.

N15bn to upgrade NSITF infrastructure

Also speaking, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said the council approved the second phase of the electronic Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, which will enable concessionaires to upgrade the infrastructure at the sum of N15 billion.

The minister also said the council approved the amendment of outdated labour laws to meet globally accepted standards prescribed by the International Labour Organisation.

This memo is for the electronic NSITF. Nigeria now operates the old Workmen Compensation Act, now Employee Compensation Act 2010.

Therefore, we are trying to align the contributions of NSITF to make it fraud-free. People should be able to easily make workers contributions, even from the comfort of their offices, and generate certificates.

You know that the ECA makes it mandatory for all employers to insure through a token contribution of per cent of emolument of their workers to the fund called social trust fund of the NSITF. And that is the fund with which if you have an accident or disease condition or debt or disability in the course of work, you can make claim, like an insurance claim.

So, we now want to refine it, because there are cases of enforcement officers going to companies to tell the company well, you have 1000 workers, but you can pay for only 100.

That is shortcutting the organization. There are losses of revenue from that. So, this e-NSITF has a phase one and the phase two. The phase two is what the council approved today, they had earlier approved phase one which is minimal infrastructure and cloud activity, the minister said.

N3.4bn for Customs

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said FEC also approved the sum of N3.4 billion for the procurement of a surveillance aircraft for the use of the Nigerian Customs Service.

The Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning presented a couple of memos for which approvals were obtained. The first one was for the award of contract for the procurement of a Cessna Caravan aircraft by the Nigerian Customs in the sum of N3,447,442,710 inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT with a delivery period of 12 months, he said.

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The National Association of Nigerian Students in Sudan (NANSS) has appealed to the federal government for the evacuation of its members.

We hereby write soliciting and yearning for the Nigerian Governments intercession to rescue and send for an immediate evacuation of the Nigerian students that are stuck in the centre of the ongoing war, the group said in a letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES. The letter was not addressed to any particular government official.

This newspaper reported how fighting erupted in Khartoum on Saturday between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over control of the troubled country.

The students said they have, since the fighting in Sudan erupted on Saturday, been stranded in fear with no access to basic needs equipment and have been facing dangerous threats.

We strongly hope that our call for rescue to our dear nation Nigeria will be responded to with immediate effect, the students appealed.

Sudan is home to a relatively large population of Nigerians, especially students. PREMIUM TIMES could not confirm the exact number of Nigerian students in Sudan at the time of this report. However, many state governments in Northern Nigeria sponsor hundreds of students for university education in Sudan.

Germany had also planned to evacuate its nationals from Sudan but did not follow through because of the security situation in the country, according to the German news agency, DPA.

Japan has also said it has begun the necessary preparations for evacuations of its citizens including embassy staff from Sudan, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said.

The fighting which has entered its fifth day has led to the death of over 270 people, the WHO said.

With 39 of the 59 hospitals and clinics in Khartoum left incapable of serving patients according to the Sudanese Medical Committee, the death toll is expected to be far higher with many wounded unable to reach hospitals.

Aljazeera reported the group as saying in a statement that some hospitals had been bombed, others attacked and looted. The committee called for urgent intervention to protect medical staff and patients.

Despite several agreements to a ceasefire, parties have continued to fight and vandalise public facilities including residences as seen in footage shown by Aljazeera.

The Arab League joined world leaders to urge the fighting groups to silence their guns.

I urge the Sudanese parties in the name of Islam, Arab values, and humanity to announce a ceasefire during the Eid holiday in order to enable civilians to respond to urgent humanitarian cases, Aljazeera quoted Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the leagues secretary general, as saying in a video message.

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The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) says it has begun investigation into the controversies that earlier trailed the supplementary governorship election in Adamawa State.

The embattled Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in the state, Hudu Ari, on Sunday illegally declared candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Aishatu Dahiru popularly called Binani, as winner of the election while collation of results was still ongoing.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, immediately ordered suspension of the collation of results and summoned the REC to the commissions office in Abuja.

In a video that went viral, Mr Ari perpetrated the illegal declaration under the protection of the commandant of the state NSCDC, commissioner of police and commander of the DSS.

The collation of results however resumed on Tuesday evening after several outcries from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and election observers.

The State Returning Officer, Mohammed Mele, later declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP winner of the poll after he scored the total vote of 430,861 to defeat the APC candidate who polled a total vote of 398,788.

Commandant General of the NSCDC, Ahmed Audi, in a statement on Wednesday, said the Adamawa commandant of NSCDC will face the management team to give details of his role in the illegal declaration of Mrs Dahiru.

Mr Audi ordered the embattled Adamawa commander of NSCDC to immediately hand over the command to his deputy in order to ensure smooth investigation.

He assured that the commander would be prosecuted if found guilty of criminal acts.

I have summoned the State Commandant to the National Headquarters to face the management team and explain himself in clear terms, he said.

We are known for our integrity, neutrality and non-partisanship in election matters, that is why we will not take the case of Adamawa lightly, he added.

I have ordered him to hand over the Command to his immediate deputy because his role in the rerun election is currently being investigated and if he is found culpable, then he will have himself to blame.

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The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not confer any advantage on his ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) during the 25 February presidential election.

Mr Mohammed briefed State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister made clarifications of his comments during a recent official trip to the U.S.

I went to the U.S. to balance the skewed report about the just concluded elections; and everywhere I went, I said very unambiguously that the last general elections in Nigeria are the most transparent.

It was the freest and the most authentic Nigeria had ever held; and that is despite the effort of the opposition to delegitimise the election.

And I put forward my position there that the two reasons the election was the best was one.

That the introduction of technology especially, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System(BVAS), made it pretty difficult for anybody to do the usual things before like over-voting, stuffing of ballot boxes and the likes because once it takes your biometrics; you cannot vote twice, he said.

He said, more so, the president promised that he would provide a level playing ground which he did.

The first instance was that the president did not confer any advantage on his ruling party; and that is why as far as he was concerned, he would rather lose the election than win at all cost; and the result showed it.

Mr Mohammed said that the president lost in his own state, Kastina, in the presidential election.

He said that it had never happened in Nigeria beforefor a sitting president to lose election in his own state.

The minister said he told his audience in the U.S. that the president prevented the use of security agencies to rig elections.

He said that the last election was largely the least violent in the history of Nigeria.

Mr Mohammed affirmed that what he said about Mr Peter Obi, the Labour party presidential candidate was very clear.

I said Obi has every right to seek redress in court like Labour party but nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the president-elect is sworn-in, that would be the end of democracy.

And that was precisely what Obis running mate said on live television and I have not heard Obi rein him in or correct him; so, if your running mate says something; of course, he was saying on behalf of the party and on behalf of the candidate.

That is why I said that was treason; for anybody to say that if a duly elected president in Nigeria is sworn in, that will be the end of democracy is treason; for anybody to say if you swear in a duly elected president, you are swearing the military, it is treason.

So, I dont see anything controversial in that, he said

(NAN)

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Two members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have pleaded with a High Court in Abuja to disqualify the partys governorship candidate in Kogi State, Ahmed Usman-Ododo, and other public office holders who participated in the 11 April primary election without resigning from their positions.

Mr Usman-Ododo, the Auditor-General for Local Government Areas in the state, backed by the state governor, Yahaya Bello, won the primary election, after other major contenders in the race for the partys ticket withdrew for him.

Realwan Akpanachi and Yahaya Seidu-Nuhu, in an originating Summons filed by their counsel, Promise Ogbodu, sued six of the contestants as 1st  6th defendants.

The 1st  6th defendants include Mr Usman-Ododo, and others who withdrew from the race for him.

They are Abdulkareem Jamiu (Chief of Staff), Jibril Momoh (Account-General), Yakubu Okala (Auditor-General), Asiwaju Idris (Finance Commissioner), Salami Ozigi (Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs) and Mr Usman-Ododo (Auditor-General for Local Government Areas).

Other defendants are the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the 7th and the 8th defendants respectively.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court had directed that a notice of hearing be served on all the respondents for them to appear on April 27 for the hearing.

The plaintiffs are alleging violation of the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria in the primary election.

They claimed that the first six defendants were still political appointees/public servants at the time they contested the governorship primary election of 11 April.

They asked the court to determine whether the 1st  6th defendants being political appointees/public officers currently in the service of the Kogi Government, can validly participate in the convention or congress of the APC for the purpose of vying for the nomination as governorship candidate for the Nov, 11 Governorship election.

Whether having regard to Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act (2022) the 7th Respondent (APC) can validly nominate any of the 1st to 6th Respondents as her Candidate for the Kogi State Governorship Election in the face of their failure as political appointees/public servants, to resign from service of the state government at the time of the primary election,  the asked.

They also prayed the court to make a declaration, that being political appointees/public officers currently in the service of the Kogi Government, the 1st to 6th respondents, cannot validly vie for the APCs nomination as its Governorship Candidate, for the Kogi Election Governorship scheduled for Nov. 11.

A declaration that the 7th Respondent cannot validly nominate any of the 1st to 6th Respondents as her Candidate for the Kogi State Governorship Election in the face of their failure as political appointees/public servants, to resign from service of the Kogi Government at the time of the primary election.

An Order, disqualifying any of the 1st to 6th Respondents from seeking for the nomination of, and being nominated by the 7th Respondent as its Governorship Candidate for the Kogi Governorship Election, scheduled for Nov. 11,  they further prayed.

NAN reports that Mr Usman-Ododo had emerged winner of the Kogi APC governorship primary election after the other five respondents including the Deputy Governor, Edward Onoja, and one other stepped down for him.

According to Patrick Obahiagbon, Secretary of the Kogi APC Primary Election Committee, which comprised seven members, Mr Usman-Ododo scored 78, 704 votes to beat six other contestants.

Mr Obahiagbon, who announced the result of the governorship primary on Saturday morning in Lokoja, said Momodu got 1, 506 votes, Yahaya-Ashemogu, 1, 159, and Abubakar-Audu, 763 votes.

He added that Stephen Ocheni garnered 552 votes, Sanusi Ohiere, 424, and Smart Adeyemi 311 votes.

Mr Obahiagbon said that out of the 93, 729 voters, 83, 419 who were accredited, voted for candidates of their choice.

(NAN)

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Edo State Government has warned residents of the state against the sale and use of Norvasc 5mg tablets, following a red flag raised by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) which claimed the drug contains wires.

The warning is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Benin by the Edo Commissioner for Health, Obehi Akoria.

Norvasc is used for treatment of high blood pressure.

The statement from Ms Akoria said, NAFDAC has issued a warning that the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration had ordered the recall of two batches of six million Norvasc 5 mg tablets.

The drugs were produced by U.S-based drug developer, Viatris Inc.

This information makes the two batches of Norvasc 5 mg tablets substandard.

All persons, pharmaceutical outlets and health facilities who may have any of these batches of Norvasc 5 mg tablets in stock should immediately dispose of them using the appropriate channels, the commissioner stated.

She urged Edo residents to be vigilant and to consult with their doctors to discuss suitable alternatives.

(NAN)

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The Federal High Court on Thursday granted bail to Chude Nnamdi, a social media influencer, after his arraignment on a charge of cyberstalking a business mogul, Emeka Offor.

The judge, Gladys Olotu, granted him bail in the sum of N10 million.

She also ordered Mr Nnamdi to produce one surety, who must be a level 14 civil servant or a resident of the FCT with verified landed property, as part of the bail conditions.

The judge also directed that the surety must deposed to an affidavit of means

This came after Mr Nnamdi was arraigned on a cyberstalking charge. He denied the charge.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Inspector-General of Police charged Mr Nnamdi as the only defendant in the case marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/130/2023.

In the amended charge dated and filed on 17 April, the police alleged that Mr Nnamdi, on 13 March knowingly and intentionally sent a message through a tweet from his Twitter handle Chude by means of computer system and network.

That you know to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to the person of Dr. Emeka Offor and thereby commit cyberstalking punishable under Section 24 (1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) ACT, 2015.

Mr Offor, whom the defendant allegedly cyberstalked, wields a lot of influence within business and political circles.

Hearing

Earlier when the matter was called for arraignment, the prosecuting counsel, Victor Okoye, informed that he had an amended charge.

Mr Okoye, therefore, made an oral application to substitute the initial charge filed in March with the new charge. But Gabriel Chikwado-Eze, who appeared for Mr Ndamdi, opposed the request.

Mr Chikwado-Eze argued that Mr Okoye could not arraign Nnamdi on the fresh charge, having not been served with it earlier.

He added that since the existing charge had not been served on them, Mr Okoye could not validly amend it.

Mr Okoye disagreed with Chikwado-Eze on the ground that Nnamdi had never been arraigned before.

But the judge, Ms Olotu, granted the application by directing Mr Nnamdi to be arraigned on the fresh charge. The defendant pled not guilty, and the prosecutor applied that he be remanded in prison pending the conclusion of the trail.

But Chikwado-Eze objected to the application on the grounds that the offence, which he was charge with, was a bailable offence under the law.

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He also argued that Mr Nnamdi had been on administrative bail for over a month and had not flouted the bail.conditions.

The lawyer urged the court to grant him bail.

The judge granted the request and adjourned the matter until 17 May.

Arrest

NAN reports that Mr Nnamdi was arrested in Anambra and transported to Abuja by officers attached to the police cybercrime unit.

The police later said the matter was linked to a tweet by Mr Nnamdi that allegedly cast Mr Offor, a billionaire businessman, in an odious light.

In the tweet, the defendant claimed that Mr Offor had been engaged by the president-elect to beg Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, to accept the result of the 25 February election.

The tweet read: So @officialBAT called Emeka Offor to beg Peter Obi to accept the rigged result.

If he is sure the people voted for APC and he won the election, why is he running around pleading with everyone to help beg Peter Obi to accept the result?(NAN)

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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has asked Nigerias president-elect, Bola Tinubu to visit his war-ravaged country after inauguration.

Mr Zelenskys invitation was contained in a congratulatory statement he personally signed.

Mr Tinubu, who won the 25 February presidential election, is expected to be sworn in on 29 May.

Taking this opportunity, I invite you to pay an official visit to Ukraine at a time convenient for you.

I am confident that your visit will strengthen the dialogue between our countries and contribute to further consolidation of joint efforts of the international community aimed at solving the urgent challenges of today, in particular the crisis situation caused by Russia regarding the guarantee of world food security, Mr Zelensky said.

The comedian turned politician, expressed optimism that Nigeria would continue to back the resolution of the UN on Russia, adding that Ukraine would continue to support Africa in the area of food security.

Ukraine has been at war since the invasion of the country by Russia in February 2022. The war has affected food and energy supply chains across the world.

READ ALSO:

Despite extremely difficult testing times, caused by the full-scale armed aggression of Russia against our state, Ukraine is determined to further strengthen cooperation with Nigeria at the bilateral level and within the framework of international organisations.

We are grateful for your countrys support of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization Principles of the UN Charter underlying a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.

I count on the active participation of Nigeria in its practical implementation. We see the further provision of global food security, of which Ukraine was and remains a reliable guarantor at the global level, as an important direction of cooperation.

The fulfilment of this task will be facilitated by the successful implementation of the Ukrainian initiative Grain from Ukraine, which is designed to significantly increase the supply of grain to African countries in order to prevent famine, the letter read.

Mr Zelensky has joined other world leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu of Isreal, Recep Erdogan of Turkey, Emmanuel Macron of France who have congratulated Nigerias president-elect.

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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has narrated how a prejudiced landlord some decades ago discriminated against him for being an Ijebu man, a Yoruba sub-group in South-west Nigeria.

Mr Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the landlord, who he encountered in 1989, had a policy of not renting his house to Igbos, Ijebus and lawyers. The policy, he said, affected him as a lawyer and an Ijebu man.

The vice president narrated this story on Monday at the Maiden Edition of the Policy Making & Good Governance Lecture Series of NIPSS.

The lecture was titled Creating A Homeland for All: Nation-Building in a Diverse Democracy.

Mr Osinbajo used the story to address the ethnic profiling that characterised the 2023 general elections, where there were reported cases of harassment and intimidation of voters based on their tribes and ethnicity.

In 1989, I was about to get married and I was searching for a good house to rent. I met my landlord who happened to be an elderly lawyer who obviously did more real estate than legal practice.

He let me know that there were three categories of people he would not rent property in his care to  Igbos, Ijebus and lawyers. I was disqualified on two accounts. He then said to me, pointing behind him at a few shrivelled-up books on a small bookshelf, that he had the arsenal to destroy any tenant in court if I gave him any trouble. He later, to his embarrassment, discovered that I was a Law teacher and adviser to the then Attorney General of the Federation and of course, that I am also Ijebu.

I have shared this story to illustrate a point that I think is hugely important, which is that prejudice and bias are natural aspects of human nature, he said.

Mr Osinbajo, who contested the 2022 presidential primary of the APC but lost to Bola Tinubu, said high competition during elections increases the level of division in the country.

Elections by their very nature, tend to be divisive affairs. Partisan democratic competition compels us to align ourselves with the camps that most reflect our ideals and aspirations. In a diverse society such as ours, democratic competition is intensified by the sociocultural cleavages that exist in society. This is true of any heterogeneous society or democracy.

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In an election cycle in which the major contenders come from different ethnic-regional classes or zones, there was always a sense that the competition was going to be particularly intense. But at the same time, it would not be accurate to reduce the election to an ethnic census, he said.

Mr Osinbajo also spoke on the division along religious lines and urged all candidates to sheathe their swords.

Religion was quite clearly made an issue, and in some parts of the country, political biases are introduced even between denominations of the same religion.

In some cases, ethnic profiling took place at polling booths. A popular female food blogger and YouTuber called Sisi Yemi, a Yoruba woman, took to her verified Twitter handle to say My husband and I were not allowed to vote, they said we look like Igbo people. I cant believe this!

Almost without fail in every election cycle, politicians have forcefully, either overtly or covertly, sought to persuade voters that voting for their particular party or candidate is the will of God and that voting for the opposing party was a violation of that divine will. Repeatedly, we hear of prophets who support political parties one way or the other, he said.

This is a matter of great concern because long after an election is over, and long after the leading contenders have sheathed their swords, the rhetoric, the words and the means used to compete can have adverse long-term effects on society, he said.

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The Nigerian government has suspended the Executive Secretary of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), Benjamin Abakpa, a professor of Mathematics Education, over allegations bordering on corruption.

Mr Abakpa, who was reportedly suspended on Wednesday, was asked to hand over to the most senior director in the Federal Ministry of Education (FME).

The new development was confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday by the Commissions spokeswoman, Fatima Bappare.

She said the suspension order was sanctioned by the authorities at the education ministry.

Yes, he was suspended. He has handed over to the most senior director in the commission, she said in a telephone interview.

However, efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to reach Mr Abakpa proved abortive as his telephone number could not be located as of the time of filing this report.

Suspension order

Appointed in April 2021, Mr Abakpa is the pioneer executive secretary of the Commission.

This newspaper however gathered that the governing board of the Commission had earlier accused the embattled official of administrative ineptitude, financial misappropriation and lack of synergy which the board claimed led to the constitution of an administrative fact-finding committee to investigate the allegations.

However, following what an insider described as the failure of Mr Abakpa to satisfactorily defend the allegations, he was recommended for suspension by the board.

READ ALSO:

Sources confirmed that the letter of suspension was signed by the education ministrys Permanent Secretary, Andrew Adejoh.

The matter was said to have been referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for further investigations.

About NSSEC

The National Secondary Education Commission (NSEC) Law was enacted in 2004 (LFN, 2004 Cap 73). However, after the merger of junior secondary school to basic education, the bill was amended to become the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC).

Part of NSSECs mandate is the regulation of Senior Secondary Education in Nigeria, managing the National Senior Secondary Education Funds, and advising the Federal Government on the management of senior secondary education.

Embattled Mr Abakpa

Mr Abakpa was appointed the pioneer executive secretary of the commission by President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2021.

Prior to his appointment, he was a lecturer at the University of Agriculture, Makurdi.

Mr Abakpa holds a Bachelors and Masters of Education (B.Ed and M.Ed) in Mathematics from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and a Doctorate degree (PhD) in Mathematics from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi. He became a professor of Mathematics Education in 2018.

He was born on 3rd November 1957 and hails from Orokam Local Government Area of Benue State.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. A person, suspected of recently destructing tombstones at a Baku cemetery, has been detained, Trend reports referring to a joint statement of Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office and Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A criminal case was initiated in the Investigation Department of the Sabunchu Police Department under Article 245 (desecration of graves) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the fact of the destruction of tombstones at a cemetery in Baku's Balakhani municipality of Sabunchu district. The investigation is currently underway.

As a result of the measures taken by the staff of the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Seymur Dakhilov, who carried out repair work at the cemetery, is suspected of damaging tombstones and memorial plaques on the night of April 16-17, because he was not paid for the work done.

"The preliminary investigation is underway, and the criminal case is under the control of the Prosecutor General's Office and the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," the statement said.
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Sepat Energy said Thursday that the Nigerian government, through the Nigerian Immigration Service, has called off the legal action launched against the oil driller, some of its directors and officers.

The Notice of Withdrawal/Discontinuance of the action dated 6 April 2023, was issued by the Director Legal Services of the Nigeria Immigration Service and stated in part that the Claimant hereby discontinues all the proceedings in this charge against the above-named Defendants, said Seplat Energy in a statement on Thursday seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

The action puts to rest a knotty labour dispute between Seplat Energy and a couple of its staff, which was blown out of proportion to involve the immigration service and spawned at least two different lawsuits.

A group of the companys workers, through their lawyers, wrote Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola, bringing some allegations against Roger Brown, the chief executive.

These accusations include racism, favouring foreign workers, and discriminating against Nigerian employees. Testimony was received from several witnesses, which supported the allegations, the letter said.

Five of them  Moses Igbrude, Ajani Abidoye, Sarat Kudaisi, Robert Ibekwe and Kenneth Nnabike  last month secured an interim order from a Federal High Court based in Lagos prohibiting the CEO from running the firm.

READ ALSO: Seplat Energy reacts to lawsuit as Nigerian Government alleges breach of immigration law

Part of the prayers granted disallowed Chairman Basil Omiyi and all independent non-executive directors from overseeing the company in an illegal, unfairly, prejudicial and oppressive manner pending the hearing and determination of the petitioners motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

Seplat Energy announced on 10 March that its chief executive officer, Samson Ezugworie, had taken Mr Browns place and would serve in an acting capacity.

A fortnight ago, the court repealed the order barring the managing director from administrative duties, fixing 16 May for hearing.

The Company continues to engage with the Ministry of Interior to bring closure to the false allegations presented to the Ministry as a result of which the residency status of its Chief Executive Officer was withdrawn, Seplat Energy said.

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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the suspension of Hudu Ari, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner who declared Aisha Dahiru winner of the Adamawa governorship election.

Mr Aris illegal declaration caused confusion in the polity until the INEC headquarters declared the announcement null and void.

INEC has since declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri the winner of the election.

The INEC headquarters also recommended the suspension and investigation of Mr Ari.

In a statement on Thursday, Willie Bassey, the director of information at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said Mr Buhari also directed the immediate investigation and prosecution, if found liable, of Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari, by the Inspector General of Police.

Read the full statement below.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERATION

PRESS & PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

April 20, 2023

PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION

OF BARR. HUDU YUNUSA ARI, REC, ADAMAWA STATE

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate suspension from office of Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), of Adamawa State pending the completion of investigation by the Inspector General of Police on the conduct/actions of the REC during the Supplementary election in Adamawa State.

The President has directed the immediate investigation and prosecution, if found liable, of Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari, by the Inspector General of Police.

Also, the President has directed investigation by the Inspector General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services, and the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, of the role of their officers in aiding and abetting the conduct/actions of Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari and if found culpable, appropriate disciplinary actions, to be meted out to them.

-Signed-

Willie Bassey

Director, Information

For: Secretary to the Government of the Federation

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The presidency has listed steps taken by President Muhammadu Buhari to address the security situation in Benue State, saying the presidents performance in the state speaks for itself.

Garba Shehu, the media aide to the president, in a statement on Wednesday, said it is wrong to blame the security situation in Benue State on Mr Buhari, stating that the president had taken personal steps to address the problem.

Mr Shehu was reacting to separate editorials by the Daily Trust and ThisDay newspapers on the recent upsurge of killings in the state.

The security situation in Benue State, North-central Nigerian, deteriorated in the recent past with the killings of several persons by armed persons in several parts of the state.

Over 100 people were killed by armed men in separate attacks earlier this month in the state.

While over 80 persons were killed in Umogidi community of Entekpa-Adoka in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state, 34 others were also reportedly killed in Mgaban village in Guma Local Government Area.

Mr Buhari condemned the killings.

The two newspapers blamed the federal government for the deteriorating security situation in the state.

And that, we must note, is a gross failing of President Buhari himself. It is true that Ortom has not made it easy for the federal government to help in Benue, but that should not matter because the President is not just Protector-in-Chief of all Nigerians wherever they live, according to our constitution, he is also the father of all, according to our traditions. Both roles are no trifling matter, and it should be possible for the President to use the resources available to his office to find a way to work with, or around, the local government and communities to intervene and bring about enduring peace in Benue.

President Buhari has not much left in office, but he could still do so much to avert a civil war of sorts in Benue, the Daily Trust editorial titled Benue is burning: Where is the President? partly read.

Steps were taken by the president

But Mr Shehu said Mr Buhari held meetings with Mr Ortom and other community leaders during which he assured them of the federal governments commitment to protecting farmers and communities.

He also said the president established and funded joint security operations and deployed special security forces to flash-points in the state. Those deployed include the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Services and other security agencies.

Mr Shehu also said the president promptly provided humanitarian support to victims via the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

The presidential aide said if Mr Ortom had not politicised the tragedies, the situation in Benue would have been different.

Perhaps if disgraced Governor Ortom had been more concerned with doing his job than politicising the tragedies so frequently taking place under his watch, the situation in Benue might be very different, like in any of its neighbours  Taraba, Nasarawa, the FCT  which all enjoy peace, Mr Shehu said.

Read the full statement below:

PRESIDENT BUHARIS BENUE RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. LET THE PEOPLE OF BENUE SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES TOO

In a series of apparently syndicated editorials, this countrys newspapers  the Daily Trust and ThisDay  have attempted to lay the blame of the dire security situation in Benue State entirely at the feet of the outgoing president.

As for the man who has actually presided over Benue State for the past eight years, its outgoing governor Samuel Ortom, the editors of those publications, in their near identical articles, elected to give him a free pass.

Fortunately, the people of Benue State know the truth. After all, it is they who have suffered under Ortoms leadership  if one can call it such. It is they who have experienced first-hand the mass killings, the torture, the litany of atrocities as Benues security situation plummeted ever further.

It is they who buried their loved ones while watching their careless, irresponsible and incompetent governor politicise on those freshly dug graves.

And it is they who turned to the last privilege they had left: their democratic privilege, to resoundingly kick out Ortom and his so-called Peoples Democratic Party in favour of a new governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Iornem Alia from Buharis party, the APC.

But since the Daily Trust and ThisDay may not be as well informed as their Benue compatriots, this blatant rewriting of history must be addressed. For their education, we humbly submit a list  far from exhaustive  of the steps taken personally by President Buhari to address the deteriorating situation in Benue.

These were, in many cases, roundly ignored  if not outright obstructed  by former Governor Ortom:

i. A number of in-person meetings with the Governor of Benue State and other community leaders, assuring them of the Federal Governments commitment to protecting farmers and communities.

ii. The establishment and funding of Joint Security Operations, code-named Operation Whirl Stroke (OWS).

To date, the OWS Team remains in place. A number of OWS security agents have given their lives protecting the people of Benue. Many were endangered further by Ortoms fake news and disinformation campaigns, and his unwillingness to engage with the project.

iii. The deployment of special security forces to flash-points in the State including the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Services and other security agencies.

iv. The deployment of an array of NAF fighter aircraft, Mi-35 helicopter gunships as well as Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance platforms.

v. The Deployment of ten (10) Units of the Police Mobile Force, Ten (10) Units of Police Special Forces (Tactical Operation Units) and Aerial Surveillance Teams (Police Helicopters).

vi. The Acquisition and deployment of modern military armaments.

vii. The provision of timely and actionable intelligence to Ortom (which were routinely ignored).

viii. The prompt provision of humanitarian support to victims via the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Despite these efforts, we know that the new Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has his work cut out. In his own words, he is inheriting a State that is in the Intensive Care Unit.

Perhaps if disgraced Governor Ortom had been more concerned with doing his job than politisicing the tragedies so frequently taking place under his watch, the situation in Benue might be very different, like in any of its neighbours  Taraba, Nasarawa, the FCT  which all enjoy peace.

Instead, Ortom stubbornly refused to engage with the detailed, holistic approach clearly spelt out by the Federal Government. He arrogantly chose his own, destructive path.

He blamed the Fulani for every problem that arose. He ignored numerous intelligence reports passed to him for action. He rejected police findings into investigations that didnt meet his egotistical worldview. He politicized every life lost on his watch.

So, thank God the people of Benue rejected him so roundly at elections. His contract was not renewed. He failed a Senate election. Even the person he endorsed for Governorship was rejected.

They know better than anyone else the true reasons for the situation in Benue. If anyone is looking for someone to blame, just ask the people of Benue.

Garba Shehu is the Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. A person, suspected of recently destructing tombstones at a Baku cemetery, has been detained, Trend reports referring to a joint statement of Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office and Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A criminal case was initiated in the Investigation Department of the Sabunchu Police Department under Article 245 (desecration of graves) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the fact of the destruction of tombstones at a cemetery in Baku's Balakhani municipality of Sabunchu district. The investigation is currently underway.

As a result of the measures taken by the staff of the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Seymur Dakhilov, who carried out repair work at the cemetery, is suspected of damaging tombstones and memorial plaques on the night of April 16-17, because he was not paid for the work done.

"The preliminary investigation is underway, and the criminal case is under the control of the Prosecutor General's Office and the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," the statement said.
ABERDEEN, Scotland , April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OEG Offshore (OEG) is delighted to announce the acquisition of Pelagian Ltd (Pelagian), a leading provider of consultancy, engineering and installation management services to the submarine cable and offshore renewable energy industries.

Pelagian Ltd is an established UK-based company with over 20 years of experience in the subsea cable industry. Their worldwide expertise in the provision of subsea cable construction services makes them a valuable asset for OEG Offshore.

Pictured: Peter Fisk, Managing Director of Pelagian Ltd.

With this acquisition, OEG will be better equipped to support the cable sector across different end markets including telecommunications and interconnectors as well as offshore wind.

Commenting on the acquisition, OEG Offshore CEO, John Heiton, said, "We are excited to welcome another expert business to the OEG family. Their experience in the subsea cable industry will be invaluable to us as we continue to expand our services in the offshore renewables sector. This acquisition is a strategic move for us, and we look forward to working with Pelagian to provide our clients with innovative and reliable subsea cable solutions."

The deal comes after OEG's recent partnership announcement with Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., marking a new chapter for OEG and signals the group's commitment to expanding its business and global reach.

Peter Fisk, Managing Director of Pelagian said, "Pelagian possesses one of the most experienced cable consulting teams in the world and we can provide the glue across many components of the OEG Group, enabling a more cohesive offering to their various industries. As we hit our 20th anniversary as a respected service supplier we look forward to exciting growth as part of the OEG team."

Pelagian support the full cable construction process from initial feasibility studies to route engineering, risk mitigation, permit acquisition and stakeholder liaison, cable route survey, cable installation project management, system testing and acceptance to through-life operations and maintenance.

Wiltshirebased Pelagian, which employs 13 people and manages a global pool of contractors, will retain its distinct name, and Peter Fisk will continue to be its Managing Director.

Issued by OEG Offshore. For further information contact Lorraine Mitchell lorraine.mitchell@oegoffshore.com

Notes to Editors

About Pelagian: Pelagian has shaped the world's global connections in subsea telecommunications and power for over 20 years by providing comprehensive consultancy, advice and risk-based solutions to the global submarine cable sector.

https://pelagian.co.uk/

About OEG Offshore: OEG Offshore is a leading provider of a range of support services to the offshore energy industry across marine , topside, and subsea services as well as equipment supply. Headquartered in Aberdeenshire, UK, OEG Offshore's team of more than 1,000 personnel, operate in every major offshore energy province from more than 65 main bases around the world.

https://www.oegoffshore.com

SOURCE OEG Offshore
MADRID, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After OMODA brand officially announced launched in ShangHai Auto Show, now deliver the first batch models to Europe this month. With the acceleration of market globalization, OMODA is expected to be launched in Spain in the third quarter of this year.

From market research to the birth of the brand, from developing its first product to the delivery to global users, these remarkable achievements have demonstrated the maturity of OMODA in the one year since its launch. Through its hard-core quality and futuristic brand concept, combined with the beauty of motion, immersive driving experience, intelligent technology, and surging power, OMODA embraces a new generation of global users with the ingenious quality of global five-star safety.

Not only in South America, OMODA is also launched in Mexico and aims at North America. Meanwhile, it also entered the Israeli market to become a leading emerging brand in developed countries. Currently, OMODA is actively preparing its launch in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, whose markets with strict access standards will provide a springboard for OMODA's launch in the EU.

With the accelerated expansion of the global market, a new round of global brand action for OMODA is under preparation, not only for one model, but for a life philosophy and attitude, bearing the personality expression of young users, and freely crossing different identities in the parallel universe.

OMODA will also build a user ecosystem based on young users' personalities of being loyal to themselves with assertiveness and attitudes, their trendy and independent lifestyles, and their passion for travel and adventure, online interaction, and social gathering. In this ecosystem, OMODA will commit to user co-creation and service, focus on user operations through multi-dimensional interactions such as O-Trip, O-LAB, O-Club, and O-Sport, and communicate and cultivate OMODA's brand culture.

In the past year, OMODA has won recognition and praise from a new generation worldwide, which has facilitated it to overcome difficulties in the international market. In terms of product, OMODA will fully cater to the market development trend and launch diversified products such as ICE and EV, thus bringing new intelligent travel experiences to European users. With the new vehicles arriving in Spain, OMODA's launch in Europe in the third quarter of this year is strongly guaranteed.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2057833/image_5011064_21430898.jpg

SOURCE OMODA
A vibrant, wide-ranging exhibition celebrating the variety within Japanese graphic arts.

The show is curated by artists Hiro Sugiyama and Takahashi Kintaro, the team behind the Tokyo exhibition WAVE, held annually since 2018.

and Takahashi Kintaro, the team behind the exhibition held annually since 2018. Presenting the work of more than 60 contemporary Japanese artists, the London edition includes five emerging artists whose work appears for the first time in this touring exhibition.

edition includes five emerging artists whose work appears for the first time in this touring exhibition. WAVE is the amalgamation of a diversity of voices representing a variety of styles and artistic backgrounds. Artists range in age from their early twenties to their late eighties.

is the amalgamation of a diversity of voices representing a variety of styles and artistic backgrounds. Artists range in age from their early twenties to their late eighties. Press preview: Wednesday 5 July (09:00-12:00). Book your place by emailing press.office@japanhouselondon.uk

Exhibition runs 6 July to 22 October 2023 .

. Press images together with a full list of the exhibiting artists are available here.

LONDON, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Discover the vibrancy and variety of Japanese graphic arts at WAVE: Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts. Curated by artists Hiro Sugiyama and Takahashi Kintaro, the exhibition presents the work of 60 of Japan's most significant graphic artists today, introducing many of them to the UK for the first time. An anthology of styles and stories, bridging the worlds of fine art, commercial illustration and counterculture, WAVE offers UK audiences a rare opportunity to fully experience the diversity of expression within Japanese graphic arts.

Shonen Tiger 01 by Tanaami Keiichi (PRNewsfoto/Japan House London)

The exhibition at Japan House London is inspired by WAVE, an annual exhibition that started in 2018 in Tokyo. Also curated by Hiro Sugiyama and Takahashi Kintaro, the WAVE exhibition in Tokyo showcases 100 of Japan's leading illustrators, graphic and contemporary artists. Of the 60 artists featured in the Japan House London iteration, five emerging artists are being presented as part of the WAVE touring exhibition for the first time: Utsunomiya Nao, Kakuda Mayu, Kato Takaaki, Nakajima Yuta and Yano Keiji.

Presenting an eclectic assembly of artists

WAVE: Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts presents the work of artists who have emerged during multiple waves in the history of Japanese print culture since the late 20th century  their ages ranging from early twenties to late eighties. Tanaami Keiichi (b.1936) is known for his colourful images inspired by war, dreams and pop culture and has been active since the 1960s. The bold, humorous work of Yumura Teruhiko (b.1942) is associated with indie manga magazine GARO, first popular in the 1970s and '80s. Works by younger artists include the photorealist stylings of Yukishita Mayu (b.1995), and the hyperrealist art of Tomozawa Kotao (b.1999).

Art beyond category

Many works in the exhibition have qualities representative of popular genres of Japanese graphic art such as pop art, photorealism and heta-uma  the combination of two Japanese words meaning 'bad, unskilled' and 'good'  where something that appears bad, is actually, on closer inspection, good. However, WAVE moves beyond categories, instead responding to multiple positions and perspectives, in cheerful defiance of arbitrary distinctions. The work of actor-cum-artist Asano Tadanobu (of Marvel Studios fame) appears alongside that of tupera tupera, a husband-and-wife team who have illustrated some of Japan's most popular children's books.

WAVE invites guests to delight in the chaos, colour and creativity of Japanese graphic arts and print culture. This exhibition is a rare opportunity for UK audiences to experience the variety of Japanese illustration and graphic arts, through the works of leading artists from diverse disciplines and generations.

Simon Wright, Director of Programming at Japan House London, commented:

"This exhibition of new works explores the perhaps surprising variety and anarchy of the world of illustration and graphic art in Japan. Of particular interest is the underground concept of heta-uma literally 'bad-good'  whose first proponents in the 1970s and 1980s challenged contemporary notions of what was 'ugly' or 'beautiful', the definition of art itself and the hierarchy of the art world."

Co-curator Takahashi Kintaro commented:

"The present and the future of the creative essence of Japanese media art, unbound by genre or generation - welcome to the WAVE exhibition."

Co-curator Hiro Sugiyama commented:

"The most significant movement in the world of Japanese illustration from the 1970s to the 1980s was that of heta-uma. What is 'heta-uma'? It was one concept proposed by one illustrator. The concept has influenced many creators. It has also had a tremendous impact on Japanese graphic art today. We hope that through the WAVE exhibition you will be able to enjoy a look at the true state of Japanese graphic arts."

Notes to Editors

Japan House London is a cultural destination offering guests the opportunity to experience the best and latest from Japan. Located on London's Kensington High Street, the experience is an authentic encounter with Japan, engaging and surprising even the most knowledgeable guests. Presenting the very best of Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation, and technology, it deepens the visitor's appreciation of all that Japan has to offer. Part of a global initiative, there are two other Japan Houses, one in Los Angeles and the other in Sao Paulo.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2058457/Shonen_Tiger_01.jpg

SOURCE Japan House London
RIP Medical Debt Collaborates with Ryan "Jume" Jumonville to Spread Love

DESTIN, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- RIP Medical Debt and Ryan "Jume" Jumonville, announced a new agreement today that will eliminate $100,000,000 of patient medical debt for Floridians. Beginning in May, the lucky Sunshine State residents benefiting from this gift will be receiving letters notifying them that some or all of their medical bills are now "paid in full".

This medical debt was abolished as a charitable act; eliminating any potential tax consequences for recipients. Medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. "It's so difficult for families to overcome health problems, only to face financial hardships from the related medical bills," says Jumonville. This gift was inspired by a very personal experience. "I recently lost my niece Claire. She battled Cystic Fibrosis her entire life and spent much of that time in hospitals. I'm making this gift in her honor as no one could spread love quite like her," Jumonville shared.

RIP Medical Debt is a not-for-profit, national charity that raises funds from donors and uses those funds to acquire and abolish medical debt. Since inception in 2014 nearly $8.5 billion of medical debt has been abolished, helping more than 5.5m people. Medical debt often results from unplanned, unexpected illnesses and accidents. About one-third of U.S. adults have difficulty covering unexpected health care bills.

RIP Medical Debt is committed to relieving people of the burden of medical debt to enhance their economic opportunities and to enable them to live healthier lives. RIP's criteria for debt relief are those individuals who are four times or below the federal poverty level or those with medical debt that is 5% or more of their gross annual income. Medical debt relief cannot be requested and is source-based.

About Philanthropist Ryan "Jume" Jumonville

Jumonville has a passion for philanthropy. He is primarily focused on children's healthcare and was the fastest to reach the Million Miracle Club for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. He has also provided scholarships for children of fallen U.S. military servicemen, donated more than a million meals to food banks, funded water wells in third world countries, donated to homes for single mothers, and most recently built an agriculture college in Africa to teach sustainable farming. He is also responsible for saving U.S. residents more than two billion dollars through various prescription assistance programs that he developed, funded, and/or managed.

About RIP Medical Debt

Since being founded in 2014 by two former debt collectors, RIP Medical Debt has acquired  and abolished  more than $8.5 billion of burdensome medical debt, helping over 5.5 million families by addressing a major social determinant of health: the financial hardship that results from unpayable medical debts. RIP partners with individuals, faith-based organizations, foundations, and corporations. RIP also partners with hospitals and health systems, physicians and other organizations to acquire medical debt for abolishment. RIP rose to national prominence on an episode of HBO's "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver in which RIP facilitated the abolishment of $15M in medical debt. Because debt is purchased in bundled portfolios for a fraction of its face value, one donated dollar can abolish, on average, $100 of medical debt. To learn more, visit www.ripmedicaldebt.org.

SOURCE United Networks of America
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment responded today to the State Department's May Visa Bulletin, indicating a catastrophic green card freeze for international nurses. This statutory throttling of international healthcare talent comes as hospitals struggle to staff bedsides in the pandemic's wake.

The freeze means that only those nurses with green card petitions filed earlier than June 2022 may proceed with their green card interviews. All other international nurses' green card petitions are halted.

High demand for employment-based immigration has forced US State Dept. to throttle green cards for international nurses Tweet this

"One in six registered nurses practicing medicine today in the United States is an immigrant. American hospitals, particularly those serving rural populations, would have collapsed long ago without the contributions of international nurses," remarked AAIHR President Patty Jeffrey, R.N.

"As covid burnout and historic Baby Boomer retirements continue to squeeze hospital staffing, the international talent pipeline is more important than ever. However, because international nurses compete for a limited number of employment-based visas within a large applicant pool that includes IT workers, they're now barred from entering the US because of rising demand by other workers," Jeffrey added. "Visa retrogression amounts to a catastrophic interruption of the stable flow of healthcare talent to the bedside, and it will be felt acutely by ordinary patients, from pregnant mothers to dialysis patients."

With the release of the May Bulletin, thousands of qualified international nurses are now barred from entering the US. Notably, all nurses in the now-stagnant queue have passed US nursing licensure and English fluency exams and hold clean overseas medical records.

The immigration quota has not changed since 1990. To manage this program, the State Department publishes a monthly report of the available number of immigrant visas, including the employment-based category. The latest Bulletin reported that the priority dates for several visa categories, including the EB-3 subcategory, are retrogressed due to rising demand.

The processing queue is expected to grow. Legal experts anticipate that today's 10-month timeline will increase dramatically, likely meaning nurses who petition this summer will not be able to enter the US until 2025 at the earliest.

Last Congress, a group of bipartisan US senators introduced the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, which would have recaptured and reallocated thousands of previously issued but unused immigrant visas for nurses. Under the plan, all clinicians must pass licensure and English language exams, have a spotless overseas record, and have graduated from an equivalent international medical program.

That bill was supported by dozens of prominent healthcare organizations, including the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the National Rural Health Association. The HWRA would not create any new visas but recapture old ones that have mothballed under bureaucratic inefficiency, thereby solving the State Department's visa retrogression.

Media contact:

[email protected]

ABOUT AAIHR

The American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment is the preeminent advocate for the ethical international recruiting industry. Our members are integral to the delivery of quality health care across the United States. Learn more at aaihr.org.

SOURCE American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment
New Standard Senior Living Completes The Third, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Community To Serve Seniors with Medicaid Coverage

RED BANK, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New Standard Senior Living (NSSL), a New Jersey-based assisted living provider that specializes in Medicaid facilities, has just completed the construction of its third, affordable, assisted living community to serve South Jersey's seniors.

New Standard Senior Living at Hammonton is one of three affordable, assisted living projects developed by New Standard Senior Living. This brand-new, state-of-the-art secure community offers 174 private studio apartment-style rooms with a private bath and kitchenette and is located at 308 S. White Horse Pike, Hammonton, N.J., 08037.

The Hammonton community is now open to the public for tours and is accepting applications while the New Jersey Department of Health completes the licensing process  a final step before seniors are able to call this community, home.

The New Standard Senior Living communities are the first of its kind in the state of New Jersey. They were purposely designated to provide seniors who are not in need of skilled nursing facilities and who cannot afford market-rate assisted living rates with options to live independently while receiving day-to-day care, support and services needed. All three communities are equipped with around-the-clock team members, pharmacy and on-call medical professionals including Podiatrist, Optometrist, Audiologist, Dentist and in-house nursing staff. Additionally, each community is pet-friendly and fully ADA accessible to accommodate residents with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive disabilities.

Seniors and families can obtain more information about Hammonton's affordable, assisted living community by calling 609-541-7718 or by visiting newstandardsl.com/affordable-assisted-living/assisted-living-hammonton.

About New Standard Senior Living

With corporate offices in Red Bank, N.J., New Standard Senior Living (NSSL) is the first provider in the state purposely created to deliver dedicated, affordable, assisted living solutions, including direct Medicaid admissions, for New Jersey seniors. For more information, visit newstandardsl.com.

Contact:

Michele McLaughlin, Director of External Case Management

Phone: 609-330-6878

Efax: 856-558-9357

SOURCE New Standard Senior Living
Alibaba.com highlights an 88% increase in buyers seeking sustainable products over the past year

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alibaba.com, one of the world's largest B2B e-commerce marketplaces, a business unit of Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), released top insights on sustainable product demand from buyers worldwide from 2022 to 2023. As a leading hub for e-commerce buyers looking to purchase cost-effective, eco-friendly products, Alibaba.com is using this data to help SMB and suppliers alike recognize the global need and increasing demand for sustainable product offerings.

Global Growth in Demand Spans Product Sectors

According to Alibaba.com data, the top product categories for YoY growth globally are:

Personal care & house cleaning (+56.9% YoY)

Beauty (47.6% YoY)

Household kitchen items (45.4% YoY)

Mother & baby products (41.6% YoY)

Household appliances (34.9% YoY)

A key indicator of growth for sustainable product demand includes a large uptick in keyword searches relating to sustainability on Alibaba.com's request for quotation (RFQ) feature, which allows buyers to share their requirements for product design and manufacturing and receive pricing details from desired suppliers. Alibaba.com saw an 88% global increase in keywords such as "sustainable," "eco-friendly," "biodegradable," "zero-waste," "renewable," "organic" and "reusable" over the past year.

The top five countries purchasing sustainable products on Alibaba.com are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany.

"Earth Day provides a unique opportunity for us to reflect on the growth of both awareness and sourcing of more sustainable products," said Rah Mahtani, U.S. Chief Marketing Officer for Alibaba.com. "We have been extremely encouraged to see such a significant increase in both search and purchase of eco-friendly products. Sustainable buying from the end consumer has a ripple effect in the broader global supply chain and we encourage our buyers to make product decisions that best fit the needs of their customers. In this case, it's a bigger focus on sustainable products. We're pleased that Alibaba.com has become a reliable, central location for buyers to find more than six million sustainable sourcing and products worldwide."

United States Sees Rise in Demand for Beauty, Mother & Baby Products

Alibaba.com's data also shows where consumer sustainability trends are headed in the United States, with the top three best-selling products being:

Sustainable shampoo bars (+73% YoY)

Organic face serum (+62% YoY)

Eco-friendly toys/fabrics (+42% YoY)

For more information regarding Alibaba.com or to schedule a press interview, please visit Alibaba.com or contact [email protected]

Global Sustainability Standards

This report includes YoY data, spanning from March 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. In accordance with global and regional sustainability standards, Alibaba.com used sustainability framework from the following recognized organizations to categorize products as sustainable:

Global : Global Recycle Standard, Recycled Claim Standard (RCS), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100

: Global Recycle Standard, Recycled Claim Standard (RCS), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 United States : Energy star, BPI, Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

: Energy star, BPI, Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) European Union : Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), Energy related Products directive (ErP), DIN-Gepruft, OK Biobased, OK Compost, OK Home Compost

About Alibaba.com

The first business unit of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com, is the leading B2B e-commerce platform for global B2B trading. We provide one-stop B2B trading solutions that cover the entire value chain of cross-border trade, including sourcing, payments, logistics, and fulfillment. With more than 200,000 suppliers of different types, including manufacturers and exporters worldwide, Alibaba.com hosts over 200 million products to more than 40 million active global business buyers in over 40 categories.

In today's complex and ever-changing business environment, Alibaba.com strives to empower global small to mid-sized enterprises to achieve digital transformation and seize global business opportunities.

SOURCE Alibaba.com
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. About 1.7 million hectares were sown with grain crops in Azerbaijan last year, the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan told Trend.

According the the ministry, the sown areas of grain crops increased by 32.77 percent in the preceding than in 2021.

Approximately 657,900 hectares were sown with wheat last year, which is 9.3 percent more than in 2021. At the same time, barley were sown on 399,700, while rye were sown on 200 hectares.

Furthermore, in 2021, around 1 million hectares of areas were sown with grains, of which 602,100 hectares were wheat, 413,600 hectares - barley and 200 hectares - rye.
Collaboration helps reduce corporate carbon footprint by empowering employees to take sustainable actions

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allant Group LLC, a data-driven journey orchestration solution provider, and a VntCap Technologies LLC company, in an effort to help reduce our corporate carbon footprint, is pleased to announce its collaboration with Evertreen.com.

Evertreen's technological advancements contribute to the wellbeing of our planet by sponsoring tree-planting across the world. They offer the only platform that allows users to plant real trees online and transparently track them via satellite. This allows sponsors to directly see the impact of the efforts they are funding. Evertreen's tree planting efforts drive global reforestation efforts, raise awareness about the importance of ecosystem restoration, and support several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of its corporate initiative to promote environmental sustainability, Allant is kicking off its Social Responsibility Program with its partnership with Evertreen and a commitment of funding the planting of 1,000 trees worldwide in 2023. This initiative will offset Co2 pollution, work towards alleviating poverty, improve water quality, and enrich the air we breathe.

"This partnership with a trailblazer like Evertreen represents a significant step forward by recognizing our social responsibilities in our sustainability journey," said Michael D. Fisher, CEO at Allant Group. "We are proud to do our part to raise awareness, engage our internal community, and promote a positive impact on the environment for our people, planet, and business."

Evertreen oversees the planting of trees directly by local farmers, which not only promotes environmental benefits, but also promotes social and economic benefits by offering stable employment for regional communities involved in the projects.

We encourage everyone to join us in our efforts to create a sustainable future for all. For more information on Evertreen, go to: www.evertreen.com and follow on LinkedIn , Instagram , and Facebook .

About Allant Group

Allant Group is a data-driven audience orchestration engine that powers the solutions behind successful customer journeys. We give organizations a competitive advantage by leveraging data, analytics, customer experience management, martech integration, and strategic consulting services to deliver individualized and nurturing lifecycle experiences that create a stronger relationship between brand and customer. Allant is a privately held company headquartered in the Chicago area. For more information, visit https://www.allantgroup.com/.

About VntCap Technologies, LLC

VntCap Technologies, LLC provides its subsidiary companies with a unique blend of viewpoints and experiences that deliver comprehensive guidance and oversight to its leadership teams. Unlike other investment firms that seek quicker financial returns from their investments, VntCap actively operates the companies within its investment portfolio for longer periods of time to achieve maximum valuation. Founded by a group of entrepreneurs from a cross-section of industries, the varied background of its members is what continues to create value in subsidiary companies such as Allant Group. For more information about VntCap Technologies, LLC visit http://www.vntcaptech.com/.

Contact: Linda Vetter

[email protected]

1-800-367-7311

SOURCE Allant Group
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Land Title Association (ALTA), the national trade association of the land title insurance industry, applaud Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Mark Warner (D-VA) for reintroducing to the Senate the bipartisan Securing and Enabling Commerce Using Remote and Electronic (SECURE) Notarization Act, which would permit immediate nationwide use of remote online notary (RON) with minimum standards and provide certainty for the interstate recognition of RON.

The bill would enable use of RON technology by notaries public in interstate commerce and allow signers located outside of the United States, such as active-duty military personnel, as well as the elderly and homebuyers with disabilities to securely notarize documents. Earlier this year, the SECURE Notarization Act passed the House of Representatives by voice vote.

"We applaud Sens. Cramer and Warner for continuing to recognize the benefits of providing RON access to all Americans, no matter where they are located," said ALTA CEO Diane Tomb. "The bipartisan SECURE Notarization Act provides a safe and secure alternative to execute real estate and mortgage transactions. Current requirements for a signer to physically be in the presence of a notary now are impractical and sometimes impossible, such as for those serving overseas in the military or the elderly who can't get to a physical closing. By passing the SECURE Notarization Act, we can take a much-needed step into the future by modernizing the notarization process with a secure system that has proven to meet consumer needs and expectations."

About ALTA

The American Land Title Association, founded in 1907, is the national trade association representing the land title insurance industry, which employs more than 120,000 people working in every county in the United States. More than two-thirds of ALTA's 6,500 member companies are considered small businesses.

Contact: Megan Hernandez

Direct Office Line: 202-261-0315

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE American Land Title Association
Award Recognizes Top Finance Executives for their Exceptional Contribution to the Economic Growth of the Region's Technology Community

HERNDON, Va., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FranConnect, the global leader of franchise and multi-location management solutions for driving success in sales, operations, and marketing, is proud to announce its Chief Financial Officer, Andy Volkmann, has been recognized as a finalist for the 27th annual Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) Emerging Growth CFO of the Year Award. This prestigious award recognizes top finance leaders for their extraordinary achievements and excellence in advancing the economic development of the region's technology community.

Andy Volkmann, CFO of FranConnect

The panel of independent judges include former CFO award winners, who selected Volkmann for exceeding the traditional expectations of a CFO. Selection criteria include company transformation, new technology implementation and innovation, and community service contributions.

"Congratulations Andy Volkmann for being named a finalist for Emerging Growth CFO of the Year. His financial stewardship and commitment to building innovative, financially-secure businesses contributes to making our region one of the largest and most influential tech hubs in the nation," said Jennifer Taylor, President, and CEO of NVTC.

Volkmann has been recognized for his outstanding achievements in overseeing the financial operations of FranConnect since joining the company in 2020. Through his strategic financial planning and vision, Andy has been instrumental in helping guide the company through continuous stages of growth and completing two acquisitions in 2022  FranchiseBlast and World Manager.

"I am honored to be named a finalist for this prestigious award," said Andy Volkmann. "This recognition reflects the hard work and dedication of the entire FranConnect team, as well as the dynamic and forward-thinking culture of our company. To be the CFO of a company that is constantly driving innovation, speed and scale for brands in the franchise and multi-location industry has been truly remarkable."

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, June 5, 2023, at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia.

"Our region continues to be a hotbed of innovation that supports technology companies throughout the growth curve continuum  including early and mid-stage technology companies to mature market leaders," said Shiv Varma, KPMG partner, and chair of this year's CFO Awards program. "CFOs and finance executives play a pivotal role in making our technology ecosystem as successful and vibrant as it is today."

About the Northern Virginia Technology Council

NVTC is the trade association representing the Northern Virginia technology community. As one of the nation's largest technology councils, NVTC serves companies from all sectors of the industry, from small businesses and start-ups to Fortune 100 technology companies, government contractors, as well as service providers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. More than 450 members look to the organization as a resource for networking and educational opportunities, peer-to-peer communities, policy advocacy, industry promotion, fostering of strategic relationships, and branding of the region as a major global technology center. Learn more at www.nvtc.org.

About FranConnect

FranConnect is the leading franchise management and multi-location management software provider. For 20 years, the FranConnect platform has served as the sales, operations, and marketing backbone for over 1500 brands worldwide. Nine of the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest-Growing franchise businesses as well as half of the franchise brands listed in the "Smartest Growing Brands" list rely on FranConnect to drive growth, improve profitability, and streamline operational performance. FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global offices in Australia, India, Colombia, and Canada. For more information on FranConnect, visit www.franconnect.com.

CONTACT: Marie Holstrom, [email protected]

SOURCE FranConnect
Company to hold R&D webcast today at 4:00 pm ET to review ongoing clinical programs in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease

Updated Webcast link and information is provided below

BERWYN, Penn., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Annovis Bio, Inc. (NYSE: ANVS) ("Annovis" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage drug platform company addressing neurodegenerative diseases is providing an updated link for the Company's R&D Webcast scheduled for today at 4:00 pm ET.

Updated Webcast details:

Date: April 20, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT

Webcast Link: https://lifescipartners.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N5T1vv09T3CPSkiWlFKIsw

About Buntanetap

Buntanetap (previously known as ANVS401 or Posiphen) is an oral translational inhibitor of neurotoxic aggregating proteins (TINAPs), which mode of action leads to a lower level of neurotoxic proteins and consequently less toxicity in the brain. In a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in AD and PD patients, buntanetap was shown to be well-tolerated and its pharmacokinetics were found to be in line with levels measured earlier in humans, meeting both the primary and secondary endpoints. Additionally, exploratory endpoints were also met, as treatment with buntanetap resulted in statistically significant improvement in motor function in PD patients and cognition in AD patients. Presently buntanetap is being studied in a Phase 3 study in early PD patients and in a Phase 2/3 study in mild to moderate AD patients.

About Annovis Bio, Inc.

Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Annovis Bio, Inc. (Annovis) is a clinical-stage, drug platform company addressing neurodegeneration, such AD, PD, and other chronic neurodegenerative diseases. We believe that we are the only company developing a drug for AD and PD that is designed to inhibit more than one neurotoxic protein, and has a mechanism of action designed to restore axonal and synaptic activity. By improving brain function, our goal is to treat memory loss and dementia associated with AD as well as body and brain function associated with PD. Annovis conducted two Phase 1/2 studies: one in AD patients and one in both AD and PD patients. In the AD/PD study buntanetap showed improvements in cognition in AD as well as body and function in PD patients.

For more information on Annovis Bio, please visit the Company's website www.annovisbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. The Company advises caution in reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company's plans related to clinical trials. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by forward-looking statements, including regarding patient enrollment, the effectiveness of Buntanetap and the timing, effectiveness, and anticipated results of the Company's clinical trials evaluating the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Buntanetap. See also additional risk factors set forth in the Company's periodic filings with the SEC, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties listed in the section entitled "Risk Factors," in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this filing. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Media Contact:

Nic Johnson

Russo Partners, LLC

(303) 482-6405

[email protected]

Investors Contacts:

Chris Calabrese

+1 (917) 680-5608

[email protected]

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

Kevin Gardner

+1 (617) 283-2856

[email protected]

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

SOURCE Annovis Bio
NEW YORK, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The artificial intelligence (AI) chips market size is estimated to grow by USD 210,506.47 million during 2022-2027. Moreover, the growth momentum will progress at a CAGR of 61.51% during the forecast period. The ASICs segment will account for a significant share of market growth during the forecast period. ASICs provide an instruction set and libraries that enable ICs to operate on locally stored data and serve as an accelerator for numerous parallel algorithms. They are faster than GPUs and FPGAs but cannot be reconfigured. The use of ASICs in cloud-based data centers is driving the growth of this segment. To understand more about the artificial intelligence (AI) chips market and its key insights, request a sample report.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Artificial Intelligence Chips Market 2023-2027

The growth of the global market will be driven by factors such as the increasing adoption of AI chips in data centers. Data centers have thousands of servers, which are operated with the help of a CPU chip. However, additional processors are required to complement CPUs with the rise in demand for AI. It is important to increase the efficiency of data centers and lower power usage to raise uptime and decrease operating expenses. Therefore, data center providers use AI for various purposes, including security, server optimization, energy efficiency, and infrastructure management. Chip manufacturers use AI chips that are specifically made for data center applications. For instance, in 2021, NVIDIA launched its BlueField-3 DPU, which is specifically designed for AI. Moreover, the incorporation of AI chips by numerous smartphone vendors is contributing to the significant growth of the global market for AI chips.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chips market insights -

Vendors : 15+, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Alphabet Inc., Baidu Inc., Broadcom Inc., Cerebras Systems Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Graphcore Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., MediaTek Inc., Microchip Technology Inc., NVIDIA Corp., NXP Semiconductors NV, Qualcomm Inc., SambaNova Systems Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SenseTime Group Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Tesla Inc., among others

: 15+, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Alphabet Inc., Baidu Inc., Broadcom Inc., Cerebras Systems Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Graphcore Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., MediaTek Inc., Microchip Technology Inc., NVIDIA Corp., NXP Semiconductors NV, Qualcomm Inc., SambaNova Systems Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SenseTime Group Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Tesla 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

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 Segments: Product (ASICs, GPUs, CPUs, and FPGAs), end-user (media and advertising, BFSI, IT and telecommunication, automotive, and others), and geography ( North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa )

For highlights on the artificial intelligence (AI) chips market, download a sample!

Artificial intelligence (AI) chips market - Vendor insights

The competitive scenario of the global AI chips market is dynamic, with low M&A activity and high investments. For instance, in March 2021, Baidu raised funding of USD 2 billion for its AI semiconductor business. Vendors such as Baidu Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Intel Corp. are focusing on developing AI chips, which is expected to increase competition during the forecast period. Technavio report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including -

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. - The company offers AI chips, namely AMD Instinct.

The company offers AI chips, namely AMD Instinct. Alphabet Inc. - The company offers AI chips, namely Tensor Processing Units.

The company offers AI chips, namely Tensor Processing Units. Broadcom Inc. - The company offers AI chips such as Tomahawk 4 and Trident 4.

The company offers AI chips such as Tomahawk 4 and Trident 4. Graphcore Ltd. - The company offers AI chips under its brand Colossus.

The company offers AI chips under its brand Colossus. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. - The company offers AI chips such as HUAWEI Ascend 310 and HUAWEI Ascend 910.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chips market  Market dynamics

Major trends 

Increasing investments in AI startups

Convergence of AI and IoT

Advances in the quantum computing market

AI technology is still in its nascent stage. However, the adoption of AI is expanding at a rapid rate across industries. Numerous businesses, including startups, are entering the AI chips market to take advantage of the rising demand for AI technology. Moreover, major chip manufacturers and venture capitalists have been investing significantly in numerous startups to create AI platforms and chipsets. For example, in 2021, Innostar Semiconductor raised USD 100 million funding in a pre-series A round of funding. Such factors will support the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Key challenges

Complexities in understanding data

Dearth of technically skilled workers for AI chips development

Challenges pertaining to ethical issues

AI technologies need to process data and arrive at the proper understanding to make decisions. Numerous AI systems should analyze large amounts of data that has to be processed continuously. As a result, AI technologies face issues in solving complex problems, which poses a significant challenge to the market. Highly efficient AI chips and systems need to be created to overcome the complexities related to understanding data. Thus, the market will continue to observe limited growth. These factors will hinder the AI chips market growth during the forecast period.

Drivers & challenges have an impact on market dynamics and businesses. Find such key

insights from the sample PDF report!

The artificial intelligence (AI) chips 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.

Why buy?

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Analyzes competitor's offerings

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What are the key data covered in this artificial intelligence (AI) chips market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) chips market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the artificial intelligence (AI) chips market and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) chips market across North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) chips market vendors

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Related Reports:

The size of the artificial intelligence (AI) market in the BFSI sector is expected to increase by USD 32.97 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 36.68%. The enhanced operational efficiency with ai is notably driving the artificial intelligence (AI) market growth in the BFSI sector, although factors such as the need for high data quality may impede the market growth.

The artificial intelligence in marketing market size is expected to increase by USD 31.72 billion from 2021 to 2026, at an accelerating CAGR of 26.84%. The rise in adoption of cloud-based applications and services is notably driving the artificial intelligence in marketing market growth, although factors such as lack of skilled professionals may impede the market growth.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chips Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 61.51% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 210,506.47 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 48.54 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 37% Key countries US, China, Taiwan, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading vendors, market positioning of vendors, competitive strategies, and industry risks Key companies profiled Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Alphabet Inc., Baidu Inc., Broadcom Inc., Cerebras Systems Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Graphcore Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., MediaTek Inc., Microchip Technology Inc., NVIDIA Corp., NXP Semiconductors NV, Qualcomm Inc., SambaNova Systems Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SenseTime Group Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., and Tesla 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 for Technavio Information Technology market reports

Table of contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global artificial intelligence (AI) chips market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global artificial intelligence (AI) chips market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  End-user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 ASICs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on ASICs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on ASICs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on ASICs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on ASICs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 GPUs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on GPUs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on GPUs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on GPUs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on GPUs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 CPUs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on CPUs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on CPUs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on CPUs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on CPUs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 FPGAs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on FPGAs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on FPGAs - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on FPGAs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on FPGAs - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 50: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by End-user

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 52: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 54: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

7.3 Media and advertising - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 56: Chart on Media and advertising - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Media and advertising - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 58: Chart on Media and advertising - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Media and advertising - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 BFSI - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 60: Chart on BFSI - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on BFSI - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 62: Chart on BFSI - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on BFSI - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 IT and telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 64: Chart on IT and telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on IT and telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Chart on IT and telecommunication - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on IT and telecommunication - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Automotive and others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 68: Chart on Automotive and others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Automotive and others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 70: Chart on Automotive and others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on Automotive and others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.7 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 72: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on Market opportunity by End-user ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 74: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 75: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 76: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 77: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 78: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 79: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: 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 83: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 85: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 87: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 89: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 95: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 97: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 99: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 100: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 101: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 102: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 103: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 107: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 108: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 109: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 110: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 111: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 112: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 113: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 114: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Taiwan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 115: Chart on Taiwan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 116: Data Table on Taiwan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 117: Chart on Taiwan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 118: Data Table on Taiwan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 119: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)



Exhibit 120: Data Tables on Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 121: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 122: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 123: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 124: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 125: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 126: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Exhibit 127: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 130: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. - Segment focus

12.4 Alphabet Inc.

Exhibit 132: Alphabet Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 133: Alphabet Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 134: Alphabet Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 135: Alphabet Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 136: Alphabet Inc. - Segment focus

12.5 Broadcom Inc.

Exhibit 137: Broadcom Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 138: Broadcom Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 139: Broadcom Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 140: Broadcom Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 141: Broadcom Inc. - Segment focus

12.6 Cerebras Systems Inc.

Exhibit 142: Cerebras Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 143: Cerebras Systems Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 144: Cerebras Systems Inc. - Key offerings

12.7 Graphcore Ltd.

Exhibit 145: Graphcore Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 146: Graphcore Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 147: Graphcore Ltd. - Key offerings

12.8 Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 148: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 149: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 150: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 151: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 152: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.9 Intel Corp.

Exhibit 153: Intel Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 154: Intel Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 155: Intel Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 156: Intel Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 157: Intel Corp. - Segment focus

12.10 International Business Machines Corp.

Exhibit 158: International Business Machines Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 159: International Business Machines Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 160: International Business Machines Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 161: International Business Machines Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 162: International Business Machines Corp. - Segment focus

12.11 MediaTek Inc.

Exhibit 163: MediaTek Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 164: MediaTek Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 165: MediaTek Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 166: MediaTek Inc. - Key offerings

12.12 NVIDIA Corp.

Exhibit 167: NVIDIA Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 168: NVIDIA Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 169: NVIDIA Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 170: NVIDIA Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 171: NVIDIA Corp. - Segment focus

12.13 NXP Semiconductors NV

Exhibit 172: NXP Semiconductors NV - Overview



Exhibit 173: NXP Semiconductors NV - Product / Service



Exhibit 174: NXP Semiconductors NV - Key news



Exhibit 175: NXP Semiconductors NV - Key offerings

12.14 Qualcomm Inc.

Exhibit 176: Qualcomm Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 177: Qualcomm Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 178: Qualcomm Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 179: Qualcomm Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 180: Qualcomm Inc. - Segment focus

12.15 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 181: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 182: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 183: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 184: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 185: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.16 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 186: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 187: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 188: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.17 Tesla Inc.

Exhibit 189: Tesla Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 190: Tesla Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 191: Tesla Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 192: Tesla Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 193: Tesla Inc. - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 194: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 195: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 196: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 197: Research methodology



Exhibit 198: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 199: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 200: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Automotive Composites Market by Fiber Type (Glass, Carbon), Resin Type (Thermoset, Thermoplastic), Manufacturing Process (Compression Molding, Injection Molding, Rtm), Application, Vehicle Type, Region - Global Forecast to 2028", is projected to grow from USD 7.2 billion in 2022 to USD 14.3 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 12.1% during the forecast period. A significant growth observed in the market is because of the government initiatives for the reduction of carbon emission and shift towards electric vehicles. The demand for lightweight material due to increase in the demand for fuel efficient and electric vehicles are expected to drive the growth of the automotive composites market.

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Glass fiber segment is projected to dominate the global automotive composite market during the forecast period.

Glass fiber composites comprise a major share in terms of both value and volume. Glass fiber based automotive composites are primarily used in interior, and exterior applications. Properties like ease of processing and lightweight of this category along with cost effectiveness have contributed to its intensive usage in automotive industry. Government regulations such as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in the U.S. carbon emission targets in U.S. have put pressure on OEMs to incorporate lightweight materials to reduce the overall vehicle weight, which has led to increased use of GFRP in the automotive industry.

Battery enclosures application to grow at a highest CAGR in forecasted period.

With the growth in the sale and production of electric vehicles the demand of battery enclosures is expected to witness the highest CAGR. There is a reduction of about 40% in the weight of the battery enclosure which is made of composites if compared to aluminum.

The exterior applications have the largest market share in the global automotive composites in terms of value. The exterior parts include bumper, fender, door panels, front end module, and hood, among others. Due to the properties like high stiffness, lightweight, and high strength to weight to ratio, the demand of composites in the automotive industry is booming.

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Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest market for automotive composites during the forecast period

Asia Pacific is the largest and the fastest growing market for automotive composites. The country is a hub of some major automakers. China is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world. Demand for automotive composites is increasing with the growing need for fuel-efficient, lightweight, and eco-friendly vehicles. The automakers are focused on producing lightweight car bodies due to emission norms imposed by the governments. The market in this region has in-house presence of well-established raw material suppliers, composite product & components manufacturers, and OEMs in itself consuming these composite solutions in automotive applications.

Market Players :

Major market players in automotive composites market are Toray Industries Inc. (Japan), SGL Carbon (Germany), Teijin Limited (Japan), Mitsubishi Chemical Holding Corporation (Japan), Hexcel Corporation (US), Owens Corning (US), Solvay SA (Belgium), Gurit (Switzerland), UFP Technologies Ltd. (US), Huntsman Corporation (US), and Hexion (US).

Browse Adjacent Market: Fibers and Composites Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Composites Market - Global Forecast to 2027

Transportation Composites Market - Global Forecast to 2025

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DALLAS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the overwhelming success of Axxess' first-ever AGILE conference held this week, the company has already announced its 2024 conference will be held April 21-24 in Dallas.

More than 40 partners supported AGILE (Axxess Growth, Innovation and Leadership Experience) with sponsorships of the three-day event, which attracted several hundred industry leaders, including C-suite executives, operational and financial managers, industry investors, strategic advisors and clinicians on the frontlines.

"The AGILE conference is designed to be all about growth, innovation and leadership as we look to reimagine what is possible for our industry and work to ensure that the future of healthcare is in the home," said John Olajide, founder and CEO of Axxess, the leader in technology supporting care at home providers. "I have heard so many great comments from people on the value they got out of the conference, but I promise you next year's will be even bigger and better."

The three-day gathering began with a day-long Leadership Forum attended by industry leaders who participated in high-level conversations about business operations, advocacy and insights on the state of mergers and acquisitions with key leaders in care at home, finance and public policy.

The AGILE conference formally began with a keynote address from Dallas Mavericks president and CEO Cynt Marshall, who spoke on the importance of leading by promoting a culture of inclusivity.

"I believe in order to be effective as a leader, I only need to do three things extremely well: Listen to the people, learn from the people and love the people," she told the audience.

Those comments were echoed in a later panel discussion on regulatory compliance featuring Sara Castillo, RN, Chief Quality Officer for AccentCare.

"The one thing that stands out as extremely important in the entire realm of this is leadership  finding great leaders out there and developing your leaders," Castillo said.

Other conference speakers included Dan Weberg, Principal at Simovative Solutions and a member of the faculty of the Ohio State University School of Nursing, who spoke on using innovation to navigate healthcare's paradigm shift, and panels of industry experts speaking on achieving success in today's regulatory environment and leveraging technology for growth in the care at home industry.

"The future of healthcare is in the home," Weberg said. "It's not in a tower in an ICU somewhere in a hospital. People don't want to be there. That's an industrial revolution model of healthcare. We need to move into the network complex model, and that's home care."

Dave Baker, Chief Information Officer for CNS Cares, urged attendees to lean in to the technology that can help them optimize their business while still providing quality care.

"There [are] tools to gather information about your patient base, and that information is going to give you power  power to make correct, more educated decisions, be more agile, be more responsive in your business and in patient care," Baker said.

Along with keynote speakers, panels and industry-specific education sessions offering continuing education credits, AGILE also included an Innovation Showcase. This showcase featured the latest developments and what is available to improve operations from Axxess partners, and a Virtual Dementia Tour, which enabled participants to experience what those living with dementia go through each day.

About Axxess

Axxess is the leading technology innovator for healthcare at home, focused on solving the most complex industry challenges. Trusted by more than 9,000 organizations that serve more than 3 million patients worldwide, Axxess offers a complete suite of easy-to-use software solutions that empower home health, home care, hospice, and palliative providers to make healthcare in the home human again. The company's collaborative culture focused on innovation and excellence is recognized nationally as a "Best Place to Work."

SOURCE Axxess
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Belvac, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV), and a leading global supplier in the two-piece metal packaging industry for over 60 years, today announced the latest development in can necking technology, the Servo Belvac Necker.

"The Servo Belvac Necker marks a new generation of energy-efficient machinery for the two-piece aluminum packaging industry. With the growing industry demand for sustainable technology, the Servo Belvac Necker has been engineered to maximize the profitability of can plant operations," said Eric Hodge, Director of Global Sales Operations at Belvac.

The Servo Belvac Necker can continuously operate up to 3600 cans per minute while utilizing advanced servo motor control, allowing for every turret to independently rotate. The Servo Belvac Necker uses up to 15% less electrical consumption compared to the standard motor and gearbox configuration on a traditional necker. The independent rotation is ideal for quickly resolving can jam situations, facilitating faster resetting and synchronization, which in turn increases efficiency.

"Belvac has invested significantly in value engineering the machine, which addresses our customers' need for more sustainable technology. We look forward to showcasing the machine to the industry at METPACK," said David Mammolenti, President of Belvac.

The 2023 METPACK Conference, which is the world's leading trade fair for metal packaging, will be held at Messe Essen in Essen, Germany, from May 2-6. For more information about Belvac, please visit belvac.com.

About Belvac:

Belvac was founded in 1962 (as Belgium Tool & Die Company) in Lynchburg, Virginia, by Al Stroobants. Belvac has been a part of Dover Corporation since 1993. For over Sixty years, Belvac has turned innovative ideas into world-class machinery, serving the two-piece metal packaging industry. Learn more at belvac.com.

About Dover:

Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of over $8 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy & Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate & Sustainability Technologies. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 65 years, our team of over 25,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com.

Belvac Contact:

Lauren McClaskey

(434) 832-7390

[email protected]

Dover Media Contact:

Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications

(630) 743-5039

[email protected]

Dover Investor Contact:

Jack Dickens, Senior Director, Investor Relations

(630) 743-2566

[email protected]

SOURCE Dover
TORONTO and CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - BMO today announced the appointment of Darrel Hackett as U.S. Chief Executive Officer of BMO Financial Group, President & CEO of BMO Harris Bank N.A., and CEO of BMO's U.S. holding company, BMO Financial Corp. (BFC). Mr. Hackett will report to Chief Executive Officer Darryl White, join the bank's Executive Committee, and will chair the U.S. Management Committee. His appointment is effective June 1, 2023.

Darrel Hackett (CNW Group/BMO Financial Group) David Casper (CNW Group/BMO Financial Group)

Joining BMO in 2004, among several leadership roles at BMO and in the community, Mr. Hackett has served BMO's clients as the leader of the bank's U.S. Business Banking group, as Head of the bank's North American Integrated Channels team, and most recently as President of BMO Wealth Management  U.S., leading a team of wealth management professionals across the country.

"As our U.S. CEO, Darrel's track record of dedication to our clients' success, extensive community leadership, and commitment to making progress for the elimination of barriers to inclusion will be key to the continued success of BMO U.S.," said Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group. "Darrel is a purpose-driven, high performing and client focused leader and I am excited to work with him in this new role as Team BMO continues to break new ground in the U.S. market."

Mr. Hackett's appointment follows the retirement announcement of Dave Casper, U.S. CEO, BMO Financial Group. Joining BMO with the bank's acquisition of Harris Bank in 1984, Mr. Casper led BMO's U.S. commercial banking business since 2010, BMO's North American commercial banking business since 2015, and has served as U.S. CEO since 2018.

"Dave's leadership has been instrumental to BMO's growth, particularly in the United States, as we've supported the growth ambitions of our clients and contributed to a thriving economy throughout the communities we serve," continued Mr. White. "Dave's commitment to the home of BMO's U.S. headquarters, the City of Chicago, is legendary. Under Dave's leadership of BMO's commercial banking businesses, BMO has progressed to become a top 5 commercial lender in North America, and Dave played a key role in our recent acquisition of Bank of the West."

Following Mr. Casper's retirement, the Board of Directors of BFC has appointed Mr. Casper to serve as Chair of the Board. In Summer 2023, Mr. Casper will succeed John Rau who has served with distinction as Chair of the Board since 2017 and as a member of the Board since 2008.

"We are grateful for the extraordinary guidance and leadership John has provided throughout his distinguished tenure on the board. He is an important part of our U.S. bank's strong governance model and I look forward to Dave bringing his many years of experience to the role of Chair," said Mr. White.

"It is an honor to serve as a member and as Chair of the BFC Board of Directors," said John Rau, Chair of the Board of Directors of BFC. "The opportunity to work with, and alongside, such dedicated professionals on the board and among management is a true privilege. Dave's skill set and leadership will be a great fit for the Chair," concluded Mr. Rau.

Biographical notes for Mr. Hackett are available here: Darrel Hackett.

About BMO Financial Group

BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.15 trillion as of January 31, 2023. Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a diverse team of highly engaged employees providing a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services to 12 million customers across Canada, the United States, and in select markets globally. Driven by a single purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future and more inclusive society.

Internet: www.bmo.com Twitter: @BMOMedia

SOURCE BMO Financial Group
TORONTO and CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- BMO today announced the appointment of Darrel Hackett as U.S. Chief Executive Officer of BMO Financial Group, President & CEO of BMO Harris Bank N.A., and CEO of BMO's U.S. holding company, BMO Financial Corp. (BFC). Mr. Hackett will report to Chief Executive Officer Darryl White, join the bank's Executive Committee, and will chair the U.S. Management Committee. His appointment is effective June 1, 2023.

Darrel Hackett David Casper

Joining BMO in 2004, among several leadership roles at BMO and in the community, Mr. Hackett has served BMO's clients as the leader of the bank's U.S. Business Banking group, as Head of the bank's North American Integrated Channels team, and most recently as President of BMO Wealth Management  U.S., leading a team of wealth management professionals across the country.

"As our U.S. CEO, Darrel's track record of dedication to our clients' success, extensive community leadership, and commitment to making progress for the elimination of barriers to inclusion will be key to the continued success of BMO U.S.," said Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group. "Darrel is a purpose-driven, high performing and client focused leader and I am excited to work with him in this new role as Team BMO continues to break new ground in the U.S. market."

Mr. Hackett's appointment follows the retirement announcement of Dave Casper, U.S. CEO, BMO Financial Group. Joining BMO with the bank's acquisition of Harris Bank in 1984, Mr. Casper led BMO's U.S. commercial banking business since 2010, BMO's North American commercial banking business since 2015, and has served as U.S. CEO since 2018.

"Dave's leadership has been instrumental to BMO's growth, particularly in the United States, as we've supported the growth ambitions of our clients and contributed to a thriving economy throughout the communities we serve," continued Mr. White. "Dave's commitment to the home of BMO's U.S. headquarters, the City of Chicago, is legendary. Under Dave's leadership of BMO's commercial banking businesses, BMO has progressed to become a top 5 commercial lender in North America, and Dave played a key role in our recent acquisition of Bank of the West."

Following Mr. Casper's retirement, the Board of Directors of BFC has appointed Mr. Casper to serve as Chair of the Board. In Summer 2023, Mr. Casper will succeed John Rau who has served with distinction as Chair of the Board since 2017 and as a member of the Board since 2008.

"We are grateful for the extraordinary guidance and leadership John has provided throughout his distinguished tenure on the board. He is an important part of our U.S. bank's strong governance model and I look forward to Dave bringing his many years of experience to the role of Chair," said Mr. White.

"It is an honor to serve as a member and as Chair of the BFC Board of Directors," said John Rau, Chair of the Board of Directors of BFC. "The opportunity to work with, and alongside, such dedicated professionals on the board and among management is a true privilege. Dave's skill set and leadership will be a great fit for the Chair," concluded Mr. Rau.

Biographical notes for Mr. Hackett are available here: Darrel Hackett.

About BMO Financial Group

BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.15 trillion as of January 31, 2023. Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a diverse team of highly engaged employees providing a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services to 12 million customers across Canada, the United States, and in select markets globally. Driven by a single purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future and more inclusive society.

Internet: www.bmo.com Twitter: @BMOMedia

For News Media Inquiries: John Fenton, Head of Media Relations, Toronto, [email protected], (416) 867-3996

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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2059577/BMO_Financial_Group_BMO_Announces_Executive_Appointment.jpg

SOURCE BMO Financial Group - Appointments; BMO US - Appointments
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Public discussions titled "Tourism business: current situation and prospects" have been held in Baku April 20, Trend reports.

The public discussions have been held with the support of Azerbaijan's Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA), the State Tourism Agency, the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations, the Public Council under SMBDA, and the "Association of Travel Agencies of Azerbaijan" Public Union.

During the event, the development of the tourism sector in the post-pandemic period and the expectations of entrepreneurs were discussed, and proposals from business entities were heard.

The public discussions were attended by representatives of the relevant state agencies and business associations, as well as entrepreneurs engaged in the field of tourism.

Chairman of the Public Council under the SMBDA, Farhad Garashev, noted that the organization of public discussions on priority topics with the participation of SMEs operating in various fields remains in the spotlight. The purpose of the event, held during the revival of the tourism sector, is to study the state of this area, hear the expectations of entrepreneurs, and hold discussions on this matter.

In addition, the Chairman of the SMBDA, Orkhan Mammadov, said that the tourism field was one of the most affected during the pandemic, but, as in other areas, there is a revival in the tourism sector today. It was noted that the Agency supports the creation and development of businesses in the tourism field with the help of various methods and services and implements joint projects with the State Tourism Agency and other partners in this direction.

It was also mentioned that the Agency constantly arranges meetings with entrepreneurs engaged in the field of tourism, and conducts surveys among them. The results of these meetings and surveys revealed that the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs working in the tourism sector are related to lack of access to financial resources, a lack of personnel, etc. In addressing these issues, it is important to simplify the lending procedure and introduce alternative financing mechanisms, as well as educate entrepreneurs in order to train personnel.

Chairman of the State Agency for Tourism Fuad Naghiyev said that the tourism policy of the agency uses an economic approach, the purpose of which is to increase the share of the tourism sector in the gross domestic product. The activities of the agency are based on five main areas: strategic management in tourism, tourism regulation, improvement of tourism infrastructure, enhancing marketing and communications, as well as creation and development of tourism products.

Naghiyev also noted that work is underway to create tourist and recreational zones and improve the regulatory framework in order to further improve the investment environment for entrepreneurs.

In turn, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Azerbaijan Travel Agencies (ATAA) Goydaniz Gahramanov spoke about the activities of the association, achievements in the tourism sector during the post-pandemic period, cooperation with member companies of the organization for the development of the sector.

At the event, entrepreneur proposals on the sector development were heard, and their questions were answered by representatives of relevant government bodies.
Strategic capital will support conversion of Braya's refinery operations in Come By Chance,

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and accelerate renewable fuels production

COME BY CHANCE, NL, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Braya Renewable Fuels ("Braya"), a Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada-based producer of low-emission renewable fuels, today announced a USD $300 million preferred equity investment from Energy Capital Partners ("ECP"), a leading energy transition focused investor in the electricity, clean energy, renewable and sustainable infrastructure sectors.

The investment from ECP completes the financing for the conversion of Braya's Come-By-Chance refinery to renewable fuel operations, which processes and refines renewable feedstocks for renewable fuel production, and builds on Braya's recent agreement with ABO Wind for the joint development of green hydrogen production at the facility. The proposed multi-phased ABO Wind project will provide hydrogen for Braya's needs as well as green ammonia for global export.

Combined, these fuels  renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen, and ammonia  will provide alternatives to fossil fuels and reduce the emissions associated with hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy transport, aviation and heavy industry.

Once operational, the project will initially supply 18,000 barrels per day of low carbon renewable fuel with expansion plans to increase capacity and enhance production of sustainable aviation fuel.

ECP joins Braya's current owners, Cresta Fund Management ("Cresta") and North Atlantic Refining Corp. ("NARC"), which is managed by Silverpeak. Dallas-based Cresta has been Braya's majority owner and controlling investor since 2021. NARC/Silverpeak, in addition to owning a minority stake in Braya, also owns and controls NARL Marketing, ensuring the continued supply of fuel to Newfoundland and Labrador as well as surrounding areas.

"We are excited to join forces with ECP to drive innovation, scale production, and create long-term value for our investors and stakeholders," said Frank Almaraz, CEO of Braya. "This investment is a testament to the Braya team  in particular those on-the-ground in Newfoundland and Labrador  who have been working over the last 18 months to convert the Braya refinery to renewable fuel operations. This is an exciting time for Braya as it moves closer to completing the first phase of its multi-stage growth plans and commencing the production and sale of renewable fuel later this year."

"We welcome ECP, a seasoned investor in the energy transition sector, to the Braya team," said Cresta's Managing Partner, Chris Rozzell. "This investment is a major step in positioning Braya to become one of the largest independently owned renewable fuel producers in the world."

"We are pleased to partner with Braya and its existing owners and expand our exposure to renewable fuel infrastructure," said Rahman D'Argenio, a partner at ECP and a member of its Investment Committee. "Our investment in Braya is not only a reflection of our commitment to funding infrastructure crucial to the energy transition, but also of our conviction in the Company's strong management team, unique location and experienced operations staff. We look forward to supporting Braya as they capitalize on the significant long-term growth opportunities in the renewable fuels sector that will be required to decarbonize heavy transport, industry and aviation."

Lazard acted as Braya's financial advisor in the transaction, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, McInnes Cooper and Sidley Austin LLP represented Braya. Latham & Watkins and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP represented ECP.

About Braya Renewable Fuels

Braya Renewable Fuels owns and operates the Come By Chance Refinery, located in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is converting it to renewable fuel operations. The refinery has been renamed Braya Renewable Fuels after the provincial braya flower and is strategically located to deliver fuels to a variety of end markets. The refinery plans to produce renewable fuel and sustainable aviation fuel to help decarbonize the heavy road transport and aviation sectors. For more information, please visit https://brayafuels.com.

About Cresta Fund Management

Cresta is a Dallas-based investment manager with over $1.4 billion of assets under management specializing in middle market sustainable infrastructure. Founded in 2016, Cresta's team has decades of combined development, engineering, commercial, trading, legal and financial experience in the energy infrastructure industry. Cresta has been invested in Braya since 2021. For more information please visit https://www.crestafunds.com.



About Energy Capital Partners

Energy Capital Partners (ECP), founded in 2005, is a leading investor across energy transition, electrification and decarbonization infrastructure assets, including power generation, renewables and storage solutions, environmental infrastructure and efficiency & reliability assets facilitating the energy transition. The ECP team, comprised of 68 people with 550 years of collective industry experience, deep expertise and extensive relationships, has consummated more than 60 transactions over the last 10 years, representing more than $45 billion of enterprise value. For more information, visit www.ecpgp.com.

About Silverpeak

Silverpeak is an alternative investment management firm focused on creating long-term value for its partners in the real estate and energy sectors. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York, Silverpeak has acquired more than USD $21 billion of gross asset value across industries, sectors, and geographies. Further information is available at www.silverpeak.com.

SOURCE Braya Renewable Fuels
Industry veteran Dr. Peter Adamson , PhD appointed as Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Gabriela Burian , MD appointed to the Board of Directors

COPENHAGEN, Denmark , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Breye Therapeutics ApS (Breye), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel oral therapies for retinal vascular diseases within ophthalmology, today announces the appointment of Peter Adamson as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Gabriela Burian as a new member of its Board of Directors.

Dr. Adamson has over 20 years of experience in ophthalmology drug development. He has previously held senior leadership positions at various biopharmaceutical companies including Vice President and Head of Ophthalmology Research at GlaxoSmithKline, where he generated multiple clinical candidates and acted as Lead Biologist on a number of discovery programmes. He previously also worked at ProQR and recently Tenpoint Therapeutics, where he was involved in building pipelines and securing successful financing.

Gabriela Burian is a physician-scientist with over 25 years of experience in clinical research and drug development in ophthalmology. She has held various global leadership positions at leading biopharmaceutical companies including Roche and Novartis.

Breye is developing novel, oral ophthalmology drugs to address the needs of millions of patients suffering with deteriorating vision due to Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) or Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), for which there are no broadly available treatments in early or moderate disease. It is focused on advancing into clinic its lead compound to phase 1b.

Ulrik Mouritzen, CEO of Breye Therapeutics, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Peter as CSO. His extensive experience in ophthalmology drug development will be invaluable as we advance our lead compound through clinical development. Gabriela's appointment to the Board brings significant industry and development experience which will be instrumental as we build a pipeline of novel oral therapies for retinal vascular diseases within ophthalmology."

Peter Adamson, CSO of Breye Therapeutics, commented: "I am pleased to join the team at Breye Therapeutics and to drive the development of our pipeline of innovative oral therapies for retinal vascular diseases and bring much needed treatments to patients."

Gabriela Burian, newly appointed Board Member of Breye Therapeutics, said: "I am honoured to join the Board of Directors and to support the management team in its goal to develop first-in-class oral drugs for treating Diabetic Retinopathy and Age-Related Macular Degeneration and broaden the access to therapeutic options in this patient population."

About Breye Therapeutics

Breye is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, oral ophthalmology drugs to address the needs of millions of patients suffering with deteriorating vision due to Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) or Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), for which there are no treatments in early or moderate disease. Danegaptide is an oral investigational compound that targets diabetic retinopathy, a serious complication of a rapidly growing global disease. Severe diabetic retinopathy requires intravitreal injections directly into the eye, which are unpopular with patients, resulting in a significant drop out rate of about 50% after 1 year and only 40% of patients obtain an optimal response. Originally developed for cardiac indications, clinical studies have shown danegaptide to be a safe drug, stabilising cell-cell coupling and protecting against vascular leakage and capillary breakdown. Danegaptide is orally administered and less burdensome than injections, as well as potentially more effective and commercially competitive. With its recognised safety profile, danegaptide has potential for a short and well accepted clinical regulatory pathway. Breye is also developing an oral P2X7R inhibitor for AMD which seeks to reduce nerve damage and inflammation.

Breye raised a seed round from Novo Holdings and Sound BioVentures and received financial support from the BioInnovation Institute, the Danish Growth Foundation (Vkstfonden) and the Danish Innovation Foundation (Innovationsfonden).

For more information, please visit: https://breye.com

SOURCE Breye Therapeutics
CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Broken Shed Vodka , New Zealand's award-winning, premium vodka and the fastest growing vodka brand in the U.S. for two consecutive years, has officially been named a "2023 Rising Star" in the Growth Brand category of this year's Beverage Dynamics Awards. Beverage Dynamics is the largest and most respected national magazine dedicated to the needs of the off-premise beverage alcohol retailer.

"We are thrilled to be recognized with the 2023 Rising Star Award by Beverage Dynamics," said Jean-Marie Heins, chief marketing officer of Broken Shed Vodka. "Our team has worked tirelessly to create a high-quality product and build a strong brand that resonates with consumers. This award is a clear indicator of how many people are craving sustainable ingredients and naturally delicious flavors for their cocktails, as well as a testament to our commitment to excellence."

"Beverage Dynamics is proud to recognize Broken Shed Vodka as a 2023 Rising Star Award recipient," said Kyle Swartz, editor of Beverage Dynamics. "The brand's commitment to quality, innovation and sustainability has propelled it to the forefront of the spirits industry, and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for Broken Shed Vodka."

To be eligible to win the Rising Star Award, the spirit brand must be less than five years old and have exhibited growth in each year of the brand's lifetime, reaching at least 20,000 9-liter cases in 2022. All awards are based on sales the prior calendar year.

Broken Shed Vodka experienced tremendous growth over the past two years, expanding distribution to 29 U.S. markets and earning numerous accolades and awards for both its quality and taste. With the planned addition of distribution to New York and South Carolina markets later this year, Broken Shed will be available in the top five vodka markets in the U.S. by the end of the year. Broken Shed Vodka's success in the U.S. last year is thanks in a large part to its hard-working sales and distribution team, as well as on-premise and off-premise displays, seasonal promotions, social media and our integrated advertising campaign.

To learn more about what makes Broken Shed Vodka New Zealand's premium vodka and where it's sold across the U.S., visit BrokenShed.com .

To download Broken Shed Vodka images and logo, courtesy of Broken Shed Vodka, click here .

About BROKEN SHED VODKA

Broken Shed Vodka  2023 is based in Wanaka, New Zealand. Distilled, crafted and bottled in New Zealand ever since its inception in 2009, its vodka draws upon the country's pristine natural aquifers and spring waters, made without any hint of gluten, additives, sugars or GMOs. Since entering the U.S. market in June 2012, Broken Shed Vodka has won a legion of loyal fans, and an impressive collection of awards. Broken Shed Vodka started in a 'broken' down old shed on Lake Wanaka where the formula was originally crafted and produced.

Broken Shed Vodka, 40% ABV, Distilled from Whey, imported to the USA by Broken Shed Imports, Manhasset, NY. Broken Shed Vodka is produced by Broken Shed Limited, Wanaka, New Zealand. Broken Shed Limited is a private limited company based in Wanaka, New Zealand and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yes Whey LLC. Yes Whey LLC is a Limited Liability Company based in Glenview, Illinois. Drink Responsibly.

Media Contact:

Marla Cichowski

[email protected]

SOURCE Broken Shed Vodka
Community Foundation of Broward leads effort to fund support for community to recover from historic flash flooding

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Broward Cares  a collaboration between three of Broward's largest and most trusted charitable organizations  is providing an initial $340,000 in critical support to help our community recover from historic flash flooding.

During times of crisis, the Community Foundation of Broward, Jewish Federation of Broward County and United Way of Broward County activate Broward Cares to deliver strategic, coordinated help where it's needed most.

In response to the lingering effects from last week's flooding, the partnering organizations will mutually collect and pool donations. Working together they will make sure every dollar contributed supports recovery from the flooding. Already, Broward Cares has raised $340,000.00 to support the recovery efforts of local nonprofits hard at work to help people in our community affected by the storm. A special thank you to Florida Power & Light Co., The Jim Moran Foundation, BBX Capital Foundation and WSVN-Channel 7 for contributing to this ongoing fundraising effort to help people in our community recover from the flooding.

"We are devastated for our neighbors whose lives have been disrupted  and for some, forever changed  by the historic rainfall that flooded so much of our community," said Community Foundation of Broward President/CEO Jennifer O'Flannery Anderson, Ph.D. "Through the Broward Cares collaboration, we are teaming up with our partners to lift up nonprofits on the front lines of recovery and to help people get the emergency support they need."

In the aftermath of the storm, Broward Cares reached out to local nonprofits with a survey to gauge how they were affected by the storm and to identify ways to help the people they serve. We learned that:

Emergency housing, replacing lost medication and help with transportation are among the top needs for residents affected by the recent flooding.

75 percent of the nonprofits surveyed expect to face costs from the flooding that won't be covered by insurance.

50 percent of the nonprofits had to cut back on providing community services due to staff or facilities affected by the flooding.

50 percent of the nonprofits expect the residents they serve will require long-term help with food, shelter, transportation and other needs because of the effects of the flooding.

Broward Cares' grant application opportunities will be forthcoming for nonprofits involved in storm recovery. Visit the Broward Cares website to learn more about ongoing recovery efforts.

Here's How You Can Support Broward Cares

About Community Foundation of Broward:

Founded in 1984, Community Foundation of Broward (CFB) helps families, individuals, and corporations create personalized charitable Funds that deliver game-changing philanthropic impact. 489 charitable Funds represent more than $269 million in assets, distributing $145 million in grants over the past 37 years. CFB provides bold leadership on community solutions and fosters philanthropy that connects people who care with causes that matter  which empowers visionaries, innovators and doers to create the change they want to see in the community  and BE BOLD. www.cfbroward.org.

Jewish Federation of Broward County

The purpose of the Jewish Federation of Broward County (JFBC) is to "enrich Jewish lives everywhere." JFBC's mission is to "inspire philanthropy to invest in Jewish life in Broward County, Israel and around the world by connecting people and igniting passion." JFBC fosters vibrancy in Jewish identify, living and learning through collaboration, innovation, sustainability and welcoming different expressions of Jewish life. JFBC is proud to support the programs that embrace those with special needs, foster Jewish identity, support Israel and overseas Jewish communities and care for the elderly and those who are most vulnerable. www.jewishbroward.org

United Way of Broward County

United Way of Broward County is a volunteer driven, community-based, non-profit organization servicing Broward County for 80 years. United Way of Broward County fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in our community. United Way of Broward County is the catalyst for change and convener of partnerships that unite the hearts, minds and resources within the Broward community. For more information, visit www.UnitedWayBroward.org.

Media Contact:

Kirk Englehardt

Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Community Foundation of Broward

[email protected]

(M) 786-562-4282 (O) 954-761-9503 x105

SOURCE Community Foundation of Broward
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of the joy of reading and in support of intellectual freedom, Broward County Library (BCL) has created Book Sanctuaries in each of its branches. Book Sanctuaries are designated areas where endangered stories will be protected and made accessible for exploration or check out.

All BCL locations will maintain a year-round Book Sanctuary, joining the over 2,000 Book Sanctuaries that already exist across the United States.

"The right to think, speak and learn freely are foundational values in our democracy and in our libraries." Tweet this Broward County Library Logo (PRNewsfoto/Broward County Libraries)

"As Director of Broward County Library, a vital part of my mission is to ensure that the freedom to read is not compromised," said Allison Grubbs. "The right to think, speak and learn freely are foundational values in our democracy and in our libraries."

The launch of these special zones is a component of BCL's participation in National Library Week, April 23-29, 2023. Accompanying the zones, limited edition "I Read Banned Books" library cards are available at all branches, along with free "I Read Banned Books" buttons, proclaiming a passion for the freedom to read, collect, protect and lend endangered books.

BCL will host special Book Sanctuary events at libraries throughout the year featuring banned and challenged material. BCL also features a virtual Book Sanctuary on the landing page of the library catalog to introduce and offer users access to books that have been challenged or banned in our state. Customers can also access Book Sanctuary titles online with ease by using the free Palace Project mobile app.

Broward County Library, as a longtime member of the American Library Association and the Urban Libraries Council, vigorously supports access to library materials. Establishing Book Sanctuaries locally is one of the many ways they support the right to read.

About Broward County Libraries

Broward County Libraries Division, named 2020 and 2015 Library of the Year by the Florida Library Association, was founded in 1974 and is one of the largest and busiest library systems in Florida. Broward County Libraries Division's 37 locations provide convenient access to a full range of innovative and cost-effective services that satisfy the changing needs of the people of Broward County for information, education and recreation. Visit our website, Broward.org/Library, or follow Libraries on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Broward County Libraries
WAUKESHA, Wis., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Capri Communities, a Wisconsin-based senior living provider, has teamed up with Smarter, a personalized tech advisory service for older adults, to improve technology skills and confidence among residents and staff. The program will launch at Village Pointe Commons, Grafton, WI, on May 1, with Advisors from Smarter providing on-site technology training classes, on-demand tech support, and various experiential events designed to increase community engagement. Virtual support will also be available to the community.

Capri Communities and Smarter team up to enhance resident tech skills at Village Pointe Commons. Tweet this Capri VPC logo

Older adults can live happier, healthier, and safer lives with the help of technology - but many face challenges using it effectively. Smarter is committed to helping older adults overcome these hurdles by providing personalized guidance to demystify technology and maximize its potential. Capri Communities recognizes this need and has partnered with Smarter to extend this support to its residents and staff. The collaboration aims to equip older adults with the tools they need to thrive.

"At Smarter, we believe that technology should serve, not frustrate. Our personalized tech services are designed to meet the unique needs of older adults, providing on-demand support that's patient and kind, helping our members navigate technology with ease," said Vida Roozen, COO of Smarter. "Our mission is to enhance the lives of older adults through technology, and we are thrilled to partner with a forward-thinking community like Capri, with an impressive track record of being at the forefront of innovation, consistently exploring new ideas for the benefit of their residents and staff. We are proud to work with a company that shares our vision."

Training sessions will be customized based on the needs of the community, ranging from general device troubleshooting to help with passwords, health monitoring devices, QR codes, digital payments, and more.

Capri's partnership with Smarter is yet another step forward in its pursuit to provide the community with the resources it needs to succeed. "Our residents and staff rely on technology more than ever before, and we're committed to providing them with the best possible resources. Smarter will bridge the learning gap and empower our residents to use their technology to its fullest," said Cindy Robinson, VP of Sales from Capri.

With older adults owning on average six tech devices (AARP Tech Trends Report 2023), senior living providers are realizing the need for dedicated resources to help support technology use. Not only do tech concierge services make these communities more attractive to existing and prospective residents and their families, but it also relieves an already overworked and understaffed caregiver workforce from the added burden of performing tech support duties.

The personalized tech program will be the first of its kind for Capri. Crystal Fiano, Executive Director of Village Pointe Commons remarked, "Technology is an essential amenity that we need to continue to provide and support its use. We are looking forward to the results of this partnership."

About Smarter | TheSmarterService.com

Smarter is a membership service specializing in providing personalized tech assistance to older adults and their families. Members receive on-demand support from Smarter Advisors who assist with everyday tech issues and develop customized plans for getting the most out of technology. Smarter Enterprise Solutions cater to retirement living communities, providing tailored services to assist residents and staff with their unique technology needs. With Smarter, older adults, families, caregivers, and retirement communities can navigate a rapidly evolving technological landscape with ease. Smarter's mission is to help its members gain confidence, independence, and improve their quality of life with technology. To learn more visit www.TheSmarterService.com or contact Vida Roozen at [email protected]

About Capri Communities | capricommunities.com

The mission of Capri Senior Communities is to enrich the lives of residents through service and commitment to family and community. Founded in 1992, Capri operates more than 18 campuses in southern Wisconsin and serves over 2,200 residents daily. Each one of our independent living, assisted living, and memory care communities are designed to provide for the unique needs and desires of today's seniors. In June 2022, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel announced that Capri was the winner of the BEST Senior Living Company and BEST Assisted Living Company in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Vida Roozen: COO | Smarter LLC

Phone: 805-765-8348

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Smarter, LLC
Proceeds raised will be used to fund future acquisitions, and fuel business development of innovative pipeline assets

SINGAPORE, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CBC Group ("CBC"), Asia's largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm headquartered in Singapore, and Hasten Biopharmaceutic Company Limited ("Hasten"), today jointly announced the completion of a US$315 million fundraising round for Hasten. Hasten is an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company backed by CBC, Hefei Industry Investment Group, and Feidong County of Hefei City.

The fundraising round was co-led by CBC and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company, with participation from other institutional investors. Proceeds will be used to fund future acquisitions and business development of innovative pipeline assets.

Fu Wei, Chief Executive Officer of CBC, said, "Hasten is a well-established Chinese biopharma company with tremendous growth potential. The firm reported 47% growth in sales from Q2 to Q4 in 2022, which is testament to CBC's unique and effective investor-operator strategy. We are confident that the attractive entry valuation, coupled with strong operational and growth momentum, will create long-term sustainable value for CBC and our fellow shareholders."

"We look forward to deepening our relationship with Hasten and tapping the synergies between Hasten and our other portfolio companies to further strengthen our robust and world-class healthcare ecosystem", he added.

Mohamed Albadr, Head of Mubadala's China office, added, "We are excited to partner with CBC and Hasten to build a leading biopharma platform focused on providing high quality, reputable and accessible healthcare products to critical care patients in China."

Summer Xia, Chief Executive Officer of Hasten, commented, "The proceeds raised will catalyse our growth and expansion plans to become China's leading healthcare company in chronic and age-related diseases, and acute and severe diseases, and realise our vision of providing patients with advanced treatments to improve their life quality. Through organic growth and future acquisitions, we aim to continue creating significant commercial synergies with our existing portfolios and bring more valuable healthcare solutions to the majority of patients, as well as create a health management ecosystem in China."

This latest round of fundraising follows Hasten's acquisition of the Chinese-mainland exclusive rights for five cardiovascular and metabolism drugs from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in March 2022. Meanwhile, Hasten has been building a robust innovative late-stage business development pipeline, creating synergies with its current commercial platform to further support the company's growth.

About CBC Group

Headquartered in Singapore, CBC Group is Asia's largest healthcare-dedicated asset management firm, with an AUM of over US$7 billion. CBC Group is focused on platform-building, buyout, private credit, venture, and real estate, across the healthcare space, including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical technology, and healthcare services. We are committed to creating lasting value by integrating global innovations and talents. Partnering with the world's top entrepreneurs and scientists, our unique "investor-operator" approach has empowered leading healthcare companies to widen access to affordable medical care, catalyse innovations, and improve efficiency in fulfilling unmet medical needs worldwide.

For more information on CBC Group, please visit www.cbridgecap.com.

Connect with us on LinkedIn (CBC Group).

About Mubadala Investment Company

Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign investor managing a global portfolio, aimed at generating sustainable financial returns for the Government of Abu Dhabi. Mubadala's $284 billion portfolio spans six continents with interests in multiple sectors and asset classes. The company leverages its deep sectoral expertise and long-standing partnerships to drive sustainable growth and profit, while supporting the continued diversification and global integration of the economy of the United Arab Emirates.

For more information about Mubadala Investment Company, please visit: www.mubadala.com

About Hasten Biopharmaceutic Co., Ltd.

Hasten Biopharmaceutic Company Limited ("Hasten") is an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company. Adhering to our core values of integrity, agility, innovation, and accountability, we are committed to providing high-quality healthcare solutions to serve our key stakeholders, creating an ecosystem to provide better care for patients with chronic diseases, and ultimately achieve the goal of becoming a healthcare industry leader.

For more information on Hasten, please visit www.hastenpharma.com.

Connect with us on LinkedIn (Hasten).

SOURCE CBC Group
New partnership incorporates latest perfusion technology into neurological CT and MR imaging

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Eureka Clinical AI platform from ConcertAI's TeraRecon provides clinicians with the state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies to deliver next-level CT and MR imaging through Cercare Perfusion, a fully-automated, simple-to-use, patient-specific perfusion software.

Brain perfusion scans measure blood flow in the brain and are used to provide critically needed information on the extent of tissue damage, for instance, due to acute ischemic stroke.1 Quickly mapping brain perfusion deficits is pivotal to minimize tissue damage in acute stroke management, and Cercare further enriches the workflow with layers of AI to produce volumetric measures, which directly impact clinical decision-making.2

"We are thrilled to join forces with another revolutionary technology company like Cercare," said Dan McSweeney, President of TeraRecon. "This partnership illustrates our continued commitment to work with leading, like-minded, innovative companies to enable quick access to important patient data and ultimately improve clinical impact."

"TeraRecon and Cercare Medical share the commitment to support clinical decision-making to enable the best possible patient care," said Kim Beuschau Mouridsen, CEO of Cercare Medical. "We are pleased to enter into this global partnership to increase access to the latest perfusion technology, which is designed to easily integrate into existing workflows and provide healthcare professionals with deep, fast, and reliable patient insights."

Cercare provides unique maps illustrating oxygen availability, in addition to blood flow and volume. This allows for a more detailed assessment of tissue pathology and therefore optimized patient management for a variety of use cases, including oncology, Alzheimer's disease, and neoplasia.

Eureka Clinical AI is the leading AI SaaS imaging interpretation and clinical decision augmentation solution from ConcertAI's TeraRecon. As the industry's most broadly deployed platform, it is unique in that it is open to third-party AI algorithms, allowing consolidated management of all AI interpretation solutions with seamless PACS integrations. Multi-specialty care teams can see results and receive mobile alerts to confirm AI findings, ensuring optimal and timely patient interventions, management, and coordinated care delivery.

Learn more about the Eureka Clinical AI platform capabilities and algorithms that span across neurology, radiology, cardiology, oncology, and more: https://www.terarecon.com/artificial-intelligence.

1 Dynamics of cerebral perfusion and oxygenation parameters following endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke. BMJ Journals. https://jnis.bmj.com/content/14/1/neurintsurg-2020-017163

2 The Role of the Cerebral Capillaries in Acute Ischemic Stroke: The Extended Penumbra Model. Sage Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1038/jcbfm.2013.18

About ConcertAI: ConcertAI is the leader in Real-World Evidence (RWE) and AI technology solutions for life sciences and health care. Our mission is to accelerate insights and outcomes for patients through leading real-world data, AI technologies, and scientific expertise in partnership with the leading biomedical innovators, health care providers, and medical societies. For more information, visit us at www.concertai.com

About TeraRecon: Serving ~1,900 clinical sites globally, TeraRecon, a ConcertAI company, is a Best in KLAS solution provider for AI-empowered radiology, oncology, cardiology, neurology, and vascular surgery. Awarded the KLAS Category Leader for Advanced Visualization, TeraRecon solutions are independent of any one manufacturer's imaging equipment or PACS system, allowing a single, unified, and simplified clinical workflow that can improve efficiencies and deliver actionable physician-guided insights. For more information, visit us at www.terarecon.com

About Cercare Medical: Founded as a spin-out from Aarhus University, Denmark in 2013, by leading experts in perfusion imaging and AI, Cercare Medical delivers the potential of perfusion imaging with a fully-automated and multi-vendor compatible software solution for CT and MRI Perfusion imaging post-processing. Our focus, based on the mechanism of a disease, the apprehension and detection of primary and collateral symptoms of microvascular conditions, allows clinicians to develop a final interpretation for both diagnosis support and patient follow-up. For more information, visit https://cercare-medical.com

CONTACT: Chris Gale at [email protected]

SOURCE ConcertAI
BEIJING, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As next year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Gabon, the two heads of state have decided to elevate the two countries' relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Following a flurry of diplomatic activities by Asian, European and Latin American leaders in Beijing, Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba's four-day visit to China was hailed by Chinese President Xi Jinping as a demonstration of the importance and high level of China-Gabon relations.

China-Gabon friendship has stayed rock-firm as ever.

President Ali Bongo is the first African head of state hosted by President Xi Jinping after Xi's election as Chinese president in March, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The friendship between China and Gabon has stayed rock-firm since the establishment of diplomatic relations 49 years ago. In December 2016, the two countries upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive cooperative partnership.

The two countries have been firmly supporting each other over issues related to their core interests and working closely on international affairs.

President Ali Bongo has voiced Gabon's adherence to the one-China principle on different occasions.

China has been Gabon's largest trade partner for nine consecutive years. In 2022, bilateral trade reached $4.55 billion, a year-on-year increase of 50.8 percent.

During the meeting, the two presidents vowed to beef up cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and cooperation in other fields including digital economy, infrastructure, agriculture and tourism, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges. After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents in investment, agriculture, urban construction and some other areas.

China-Africa cooperation in the new era

China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Shared past experiences and similar aims and goals have brought China and Africa closer together.

At the FOCAC Beijing Summit held in September 2018, the two sides decided to build an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future and lead China-Africa relations and cooperation into a new era.

China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years by 2021, and the trade volume between China and Africa reached a record high of $254.29 billion in 2021, up 35.3 percent year-on-year, according to the latest data from China's Ministry of Commerce.

In November 2021, the Chinese government issued a white paper to document the successes of all-round China-Africa cooperation and offer a perspective on future cooperation between the two sides. China and Africa have stood together in success and adversity, setting an example for building a global community with a shared future.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the principles of China's Africa policy, which features sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. During Wednesday's meeting with Ali Bongo, Xi said China and Africa need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation more than ever before as the world is intertwined with challenges and crises.

He urged both sides to adhere to the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, and said that China firmly supports Africa's unique and independent development path, and is willing to provide new opportunities for Africa based on China's own new development, so as to make China-Africa cooperation a model of South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-04-19/China-Gabon-lift-relations-to-comprehensive-strategic-cooperative-partnership-1j8xbJYVR6w/index.html

SOURCE CGTN
Emma Chamberlain's Gen-Z coffee brand launches new coffee format exclusively at Walmart

LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chamberlain Coffee, the leading coffee lifestyle brand and brainchild of Emma Chamberlain , announced today the launch of their new line of Ready To Drink (RTD) plant-based cold brew lattes. The highly anticipated release brings fans the same high-quality product they've come to expect in a new convenient format. Through an exclusive collaboration with Walmart, fans will be able to shop the RTD lattes on shelves nationwide.

Chamberlain Coffee Brings A New Wave Of Innovation With Ready To Drink Latte Launch

As a nod to the playful nature of the brand, Chamberlain Coffee's flavor line-up includes Mocha Latte, Cinnamon Bun Latte, Vanilla Latte and a traditional Cold Brew Latte. Each of the four flavors are naturally sweetened with date syrup, containing only 1g of sugar, and dairy-free, made with almond milk & coconut cream. Housed in colorful and decorative cans that pull inspiration from the brand's signature characters to allow fans to find a flavor and a can to match every mood.

"I don't believe convenience should sacrifice quality. I developed these canned lattes for people who want to enjoy a delicious, high-quality latte, even on the busiest of days. This launch, inspired by my daily cold brew recipe, is especially exciting for me because it's a product I have been dreaming of making since we started the brand," said Chamberlain Coffee Founder, Creative Director and Investor Emma Chamberlain. "We're inspired by all of the ways you can enjoy coffee, and are eager to continue exploring innovative coffee products."

Chamberlain Coffee has become a force within the coffee industry since its inception in 2020. With the constant production of new, fan-requested products (from unique coffee flavors to expansion into the tea category), the brand is proving their ability to listen and tap into audience needs.

"Making Chamberlain Coffee accessible to customers whenever, wherever they are is always the goal and this new product is helping us do just that," said Chamberlain Coffee CEO Christopher Gallant. "We're thrilled to have Walmart as our exclusive retail partner for launch and look forward to this new, delicious product being available to customers, conveniently nationwide."

Consumers can find Chamberlain Coffee's RTD beverages launching exclusively at Walmart in the ready to drink coffee section. For more information on Chamberlain Coffee, and to stay up to date on the latest product launches, follow on Instagram at @ chamberlaincoffee .

ABOUT CHAMBERLAIN COFFEE

Founded by YouTube phenomenon Emma Chamberlain, Chamberlain Coffee provides high-quality, delicious beverages, so you can feel good about the coffee you're sipping on. Available in Ready To Drink, single-serve bags, instant sticks, ground and whole bean options, Chamberlain Coffee is symbolized by different characters to encapsulate the different coffee drinker in all of us. The brand also has various other delicious offerings, including their 5x sold-out Matcha, Cocoa Grizzly Hot Chocolate, and Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. Supporting coffee-farming communities in Latin America, Chamberlain Coffee works with Food4Farmers to ensure long-term food security for coffee-farming families.

SOURCE Chamberlain Coffee
Abu Dhabi's real estate sector has registered solid growth for the first three months with its sales transaction value growing three-fold to hit AED11.602 billion ($3.2 billion) from AED3.633 billion last year, according to industry expert Property Finder.

Additionally, Abu Dhabis off-plan market maintained a positive momentum recording 1,345 off-plan sales transactions in Q1 2023 as compared to 713 transactions in Q1 2022, representing 66.4% of the total transactions compared to 51.6% of the total transactions in Q1 2022, stated Property Finder in its latest Market Watch Report for Q1 2023.

The property sector stands at the brink of transformation supported by the growth of stronger PropTech ecosystems, hence recording notable jumps in sales with high-value transactions, higher returns and evolving consumer choices, it stated.

Property Finder has in its findings recorded key transaction trends and insights for Abu Dhabi and Dubais rapidly evolving real estate sector.

A major trend witnessed by the industry experts is the rise of greener choices among potential investors and residents looking for new homes with Masdar City emerging as one of the most searched areas in Abu Dhabi.

The average price for one, two and three-bedroom apartments in Masdar City in Q1 stood at AED745,000, AED 1.1 million and AED 1.8 million respectively.

The total sales transaction value for Abu Dhabi in Q1 2023 witnessed an exceptional record by reaching AED 11.602 billion compared to AED 3.633 billion in Q1 2022, it stated.

Furthermore, Property Finders proprietary data revealed that Al Reem Island, Yas Island, Al Raha Beach and Saadiyat Island were among other preferred choices for those who wished to own an apartment for investment or residence purposes in Q1 2023.

A notable increase was also marked in the average asking price for apartments during Q1 2023 by 7% compared to Q1 2022. The upward trend was predominantly driven by studios, two and four-bedroom apartments.

On the other hand, Yas Island, Saadiyat Island, Al Reef, Al Reem Island and Khalifa City were top picks for affordable luxury villas and townhouses among home buyers. The average asking price for villas increased by seven percent compared to Q1 2022, due to a surge in demand for two and three-bedroom villas.

On Dubai's real estate scene, Property Finder said a continued transformation in national agendas and foreign policies continued to keep Dubai at the top of its game within the real estate sector.

Marked by sustained growth, the citys top-performing areas for owned villas in Q1 2023 included Dubai Hills Estate, Palm Jumeirah, Arabian Ranches, Damac Hills and Mohamed Bin Rashed City, it stated.

Property Finder said Q1 witnessed a remarkable record for a quarter over the last decade. The registered sales reached 30,952 transactions compared to 20,352 transactions in Q1, recording a sharp increase of 52% YoY to be the highest performance for a quarter ever, driven by the outstanding performance of the off-plan transactions.

Off-plan sales in Dubai witnessed a new record by reaching 15,948 transactions in Q1 2023 compared to 8,467 in Q1 2022, it added.

Based on Property Finders data, the average asking price for apartments in Q1 2023 surged by 25% compared to Q1 2022. A significant increase was also found for villas, with 16% compared to Q1 2022.

In the rental sector, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Village Circle, Business Bay and Jumeirah Lake Towers remained preferred choices for apartments in Q1 2023.

Rents in Dubai for apartments were found to have increased significantly in Q1 2023, compared to Q1 2022. On average, rent prices increased by 18 percent, although a heightened ROI simultaneously met key areas for different kinds of apartments.

Across the two emirates, consumer preferences were found to be rapidly evolving with bigger spaces being opted for more frequently, starting from two-three bedrooms and going up to four-five bedroom apartments and villas, said a top official.

Price increases were equally met with a surplus in values and ROI, paving the way for a healthier property ecosystem and bigger contributions to the nations overall GDP, remarked Scott Bond, UAE Country Manager at Property Finder.

"2022 ended on a good note with a heightened flow of foreign investment, and Q1 2023 ensured a sustained momentum - keeping up the trend. For those who are actively home searching, UAEs real estate sector has much more to offer now than ever, with significant returns and wider options across some of the citys top areas and future-ready communities," he stated.

"As home search enablers, we look forward to more meaningful gains in the coming months, supported by a simultaneous growth in PropTech innovation to get people living the life they deserve," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Governor of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Taleh Kazimov has signed a decree on the "Rules of operations with virtual assets in the Republic of Azerbaijan", Trend reports.

The rules were approved by the CBA board following articles 4.2.3 and 22.0.17 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On combating the legalization of property obtained by criminal means and financing of terrorism" and the Law "On Central Bank of Republic of Azerbaijan", respectively.

"Rules for transactions with virtual assets in the Republic of Azerbaijan", approved by part one of the above decree, will come into force after the adoption of legal acts regulating the activities of virtual asset service providers in Azerbaijan.

Moreover, the legal department of the CBA was instructed to ensure the transfer of this decision to the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan within three days for inclusion in the state register of legal acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
GUANGZHOU, China, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- China's pursuit of high-quality development will produce notable positive spillover effects for the global economy, facilitating trade and contributing to global decarbonization efforts, according to participants at an ongoing international forum in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

The conference, Understanding China -- Greater Bay Area Dialogue, themed "Chinese modernization and new opportunities for the world" and scheduled from April 18 to 20, has attracted celebrated figures from the global political, academic and economic communities, from both home and abroad.

Fred Hu, chairman of Primavera Capital Group, said that China's high-quality development is of great significance to promoting production and foreign trade, and ensuring the security of the global supply chain.

"China's economic strength has improved significantly over 40 years of rapid growth, and now it has assumed an increasingly bigger role in the world economy," Hu said.

He cited the fact that China's gross domestic product accounted for 18.5 percent of the global total in 2021, much higher than the 7.7 percent registered in 2001.

Gordon Brown, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, also acknowledged China's contribution to the global economy, saying that the country's rapid growth is something that any Western finance minister "can only dream of".

Along with its economic takeoff, China has now become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, cementing its position as the largest country in global trade in goods, Hu noted.

The country's rise within the global trade system is supported not only by its big population, vast territory and large economic scale, but also its enabling business environment and institutional arrangements made in the form of trade agreements, Hu said.

Singapore's Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong echoed Hu's words, predicting that ASEAN will seize the opportunities arising from China's continued growth by upgrading the ASEAN-China free-trade agreement.

A substantive upgrade to the agreement will pave the way for deeper regional economic integration and a stronger rules-based multilateral trading system, Goh said.

Looking forward, Hu said he believes that China's continuous efforts in expanding opening-up will boost the confidence of overseas businesses and forge more stable and sustainable trade and investment ties.

Another important part of China's high-quality development is green development, which Hu believes means achieving zero carbon emission goals as soon as possible and acting as a bellwether in addressing climate change.

Laurence Tubiana, chief executive officer of the European Climate Foundation, said that China is now a global champion of clean energy.

The country's pursuit of the dual carbon goals, its pace of deployment of renewable energy and the development of electrical vehicles are all very promising signs, Tubiana added.

"The world needs China to make decarbonization affordable, and that's what China has done in the past for a good number of clean energies," said Tubiana.

China should complete the energy transition at an early date, further consolidate its position as a global leader in climate change response and promote the sustainable development of the world, according to Hu.

To that end, China should leverage green technology, scale up support for decarbonization and green finance, and increase the share of renewables in the energy mix, Hu said.

SOURCE Understanding China - GBA Dialogue
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb has appointed Annmarie Camp North America Business Development Leader. Currently, she serves as Head of Personal Risk Services for Chubb in Europe. In her new role, which is part of the company's North America Field Operations, Camp will be responsible for providing oversight to the business development team that represents and sells the full range of Chubb commercial lines products and services in the region.

Annmarie Camp, North America Business Development Leader, part of Chubb's North America Field Operations.

Camp will report to Rob Poliseno, Chief Operating Officer, North America Field Operations. She will relocate from London to the metro New York area.

"Over her tenure at Chubb, Annmarie has achieved success leading our growing personal lines business in the U.K. and Europe, as well as managing high-performing sales and distribution teams for businesses and regions in the U.S.," said Christopher Maleno, Senior Vice President, Chubb Group and Division President, North America Field Operations. "We are fortunate to have an executive of Annmarie's caliber join our North America Field Operations team."

"During Annmarie's 14-year career at Chubb, she has developed an enviable track record of leadership in motivating and empowering high performing teams within personal lines businesses in the U.S. and abroad," said Poliseno. "I am excited to see her leverage her product and service expertise in accelerating agency leads and sales, along with our continued investment in agency management and cultivating local relationships with our leading distribution partners."

Camp has over two decades of insurance industry experience. In her recent position as Head of Personal Risk Services for Chubb in Europe, she had responsibility for the performance of the company's high net worth personal lines business in the U.K. and Continental Europe. Since joining Chubb in 2009, she has held a variety of national and regional roles with a focus on sales and distribution. Prior to joining Chubb, she held marketing and sales roles at AIG Private Client Group and Progressive Insurance. Camp holds a BA degree in International Relations/Spanish from Tulane University and a Masters degree in Urban & Regional Planning, Economic Development and Housing, from University of New Orleans, College of Urban and Regional Affairs.

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 34,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com .

SOURCE Chubb INA Holdings
BOISE, Idaho, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CWAN), ("Clearwater Analytics" or the "Company"), a leading provider of SaaS-based investment management, accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, will release financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 after the U.S. financial markets close on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

In conjunction with this announcement, Clearwater Analytics will host a conference call on May 4, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET through a live webcast available on the Company's investor relations website. Participants must visit investors.clearwateranalytics.com in advance to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Company's investor relations website, in addition to a press release related to the financial results, related financial tables, and the call transcript.

About Clearwater Analytics

Clearwater Analytics (NYSE: CWAN), a global, industry-leading SaaS solution, automates the entire investment lifecycle. With a single instance, multi-tenant architecture, Clearwater offers award-winning investment portfolio planning, performance reporting, data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, compliance, risk, and order management. Each day, leading insurers, asset managers, corporations, and governments use Clearwater's trusted data to drive efficient, scalable investing on more than $6.4 trillion in assets spanning traditional and alternative asset types. Additional information about Clearwater can be found at clearwateranalytics.com.

SOURCE Clearwater Analytics, LLC
FRANKLIN, Tenn., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (NYSE: CHCT) today announced that on Tuesday evening, May 2, 2023, after the market closes, it will report results for the first quarter of 2023.

On May 3, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time, Community Healthcare Trust will hold a conference call to discuss earnings results, quarterly activities, general operations of the Company and industry trends. Simultaneously, a webcast of the conference call will be available to interested parties via an Internet link at www.chct.reit under the Investor Relations section. A webcast replay will be available following the call at the same Internet site address.

Conference Call Details

Domestic Dial-In Number: 1-888-347-1332

International Dial-In Number: 1-412-902-4278

Canada Toll Free: 1-855-669-9657

Replay Conference Call Details

Domestic Dial-In Number: 1-877-344-7529

International Dial-In Number: 1-412-317-0088

Canada Toll Free: 1-855-669-9658

Conference ID: 6335079

Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated is a real estate investment trust that focuses on owning income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services in our target sub-markets throughout the United States. The Company had investments of approximately $946.2 million in 174 real estate properties (including a portion of one property accounted for as a sales-type lease) as of December 31, 2022, located in 34 states, totaling approximately 3.8 million square feet.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to the historical information contained within, the matters discussed in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "may", "will," "should", "seeks", "approximately", "intends", "plans", "estimates", "anticipates" or other similar words or expressions, including the negative thereof. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and can include future expectations, future plans and strategies, financial and operating projections or other forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Because forward-looking statements relate to future events, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the control of Community Healthcare Trust Incorporated (the "Company"). Thus, the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements. Some factors that might cause such a difference include the following: general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of the Company's common stock, changes in the Company's business strategy, availability, terms and deployment of capital, the Company's ability to refinance existing indebtedness at or prior to maturity on favorable terms, or at all, changes in the real estate industry in general, interest rates or the general economy, adverse developments related to the healthcare industry, changes in governmental regulations, the degree and nature of the Company's competition, the ability to consummate acquisitions under contract, catastrophic or extreme weather and other natural events and the physical effects of climate change, the occurrence of cyber incidents, effects on global and national markets as well as businesses resulting from increased inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain disruptions, labor conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the other factors described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company intends these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the time of this press release and undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

CONTACT: David H. Dupuy, 615-771-3052

SOURCE Community Healthcare Trust, Inc.
PARIS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- During the 2023 MPLS SD & AI Net World Congress, Huawei's technology summit themed "Continuous Innovation in IP Domain, Boost New Growth" was successfully held at the Paris Exhibition Center in Paris. This summit discussed the target network architecture, protocol evolution, and automation technologies in the hope of helping carriers build converged IP networks to improve efficiency and introduced digital managed network solutions and architecture, which are intended to help carriers transform from ISPs to MSPs and drive new growth of B2B services.

Zuo Meng, Vice President of Huawei's Data Communications Product Line

According to the industry development trend, Omdia senior analyst Sameer Malik pointed out that with the large-scale deployment of 5G and gigabit home broadband around the world and the acceleration of industry digital transformation, carriers' IP transport networks need to not only increase bandwidth, but also provide intelligent connections to transport multiple services with differentiated SLA assurance. This, together with network advantages, will allow carriers to expand B2B services.

In terms of the network architecture, Gu Rui, Vice President of Huawei Data Communication Product Line, elaborated on the future-oriented IP target network architecture. He explained that this architecture features ultra-broadband, full service transport, high automation, one-stop services, and green design. Technologies such as Wi-Fi 7, 800GE, and orthogonal architecture help build ultra-broadband infrastructure networks to meet requirements for ultimate user experience. An all-in-one hardware platform and network slicing meet the requirements of converged transport and provide differentiated SLA assurance. High automation is enabled based on SRv6 and network digital map. It provides one-stop services for B2B customers based on carriers' IP private lines with digital managed network. In addition, energy-saving and emission-reduction innovations at the equipment, network, and operational levels help build green IP networks and guarantee sustainable network development.

In terms of protocol evolution, Huawei's Chief IP Protocol Expert Robin Li said SRv6 is one of the best protocols for IP network evolution. SRv6 standards and technologies are becoming increasingly mature. More than 160 networks have been deployed with SRv6 globally, and deployments are ramping up. Carsten Rossenhovel, co-founder and CTO of the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC), introduced the results of the SRv6 multi-vendor interoperability test in 2023. A total of eight mainstream vendors participated in the test, including Huawei. SRv6 test cases cover all scenarios, including basic routing protocols, SRv6 Policy, header compression, reliability, and OAM. In the past six years, more and more vendors have participated in SRv6 interoperability tests, and application scenarios have been fully verified.

In terms of automation, IETF Internet Architecture Board member Wu Qin said that the era of autonomous networks (ANs) has come. AN technologies are developing toward network programmability and openness, service definition-implementation decoupling, network digitalization, intelligent management, and other key directions. Telemetry-based network digital map provides network visualization from dimensions such as infrastructure, networks, slices, routes, services, and applications. It also enables configuration intent simulation verification and traffic optimization. This helps carriers better manage physical networks with digital capabilities.

For carriers' B2B services, Wen Huizhi, Chief Solution Architect of Huawei Data Communication Production Line, shed light on the architecture design and solutions for digital managed network services. Carriers need to design in five domains, including physical networks, user networks, O&M, security, and services, and provide NaaS capabilities to meet differentiated assurance, cross-domain collaboration, all-scenario protection, and tenant-level O&M requirements.

Finally, Zuo Meng, Vice President of Huawei's Data Communications Product Line, said Huawei is ready to work with carriers and industry partners to promote the evolution of target IP networks, build better converged ultra-broadband IP networks, explore new scenarios, services, and business models, and accelerate industry digital transformation, thereby helping customers achieve business success and drive new growth.

SOURCE Huawei
IRVING, Texas, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR), has been recognized by Morningstar Sustainalytics as an ESG Industry Top Rated company in 2023. As of March 2023, Darling Ingredients received an ESG Risk Rating of 20.6, placing the company in the top 4th percentile in the Food Products industry and top 2nd percentile in the Packaged Foods subindustry, as assessed by Sustainalytics.

Morningstar Sustainalytics' ESG Risk Ratings measure a company's exposure to industry-specific material ESG risks and how well a company is managing those risks. This multi-dimensional way of measuring ESG risk combines the concepts of management and exposure to arrive at an assessment of ESG risk (i.e. A total unmanaged ESG risk score or the ESG Risk Rating) that is comparable across all industries. Sustainalytics' ESG Risk Ratings provide a quantitative measure of unmanaged ESG risk and distinguish between five levels of risk: negligible, low, medium, high and severe.

"As a company, we take our ESG responsibilities very seriously, and we are pleased that our efforts are being recognized," said Randall C. Stuewe, Chairman and CEO of Darling Ingredients. "Our value proposition is simple, we eliminate waste from the meat industry and upcycle those products to their highest value. Sustainability is at the core of our business and we are committed to continuously improving our ESG performance  not just to meet the expectations of our stakeholders, but because we believe it is the right thing to do."

Darling Ingredients repurposes edible by-products and food waste into sustainable products, and it is a leading producer of renewable energy. It is the largest publicly traded company that takes the 50 percent of the animal that does not make it to the dinner plate and turns it into valuable ingredients. Darling Ingredients creates food ingredients that are used to make gelatin capsules for pills, thickeners for foods and collagen peptides for health and nutrition. The company sells ingredients to companies that make feed for pets and livestock like swine, cattle, poultry and fish. And if it cannot be fed to a human or an animal, Darling Ingredients takes those materials and makes green energy.

"We are thrilled to be recognized as an ESG Industry Top Rated company in 2023 by Sustainalytics," said Suann Guthrie, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Sustainability & Communications. "Where others often see waste, we see opportunity  for both our shareholders and the planet. This rating is a testament to our commitment to sustainability, responsible business practices and strong governance."

Darling Ingredients' commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues starts at the top with its board of directors and senior leadership and is embedded throughout the organization. The company has committed to setting science-based targets, in line with its long-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions from its operations by 2050. Details on Darling Ingredients' ESG commitments are outlined at darlingii.com/sustainability

About Darling Ingredients

Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR) is the largest publicly traded company turning edible by-products and food waste into sustainable products and a leading producer of renewable energy. Recognized as a sustainability leader, the company operates more than 260 facilities in over 15 countries and repurposes approximately 15% of the world's meat industry waste streams into value-added products, such as green energy, renewable diesel, collagen, fertilizer, animal proteins and meals and pet food ingredients. To learn more, visit darlingii.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

Morningstar Sustainalytics Legal Disclaimer

Copyright 2023 Morningstar Sustainalytics. All rights reserved. This release contains information developed by Sustainalytics (www.sustainalytics.com). Such information and data are proprietary of Sustainalytics and/or its third-party suppliers (Third Party Data) and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not constitute an endorsement of any product or project, nor an investment advice and are not warranted to be complete, timely, accurate or suitable for a particular purpose. Their use is subject to conditions available at https://www.sustainalytics.com/legal-disclaimers

Darling Ingredients Contacts

Investors: Suann Guthrie

Senior VP, Investor Relations, Sustainability & Communications

(469) 214-8202; [email protected]



Media: Jillian Fleming

Director, Global Communications

(972) 541-7115; [email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/647660/Darling_Ingredients_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Darling Ingredients Inc.
GRONINGEN, Netherlands, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Test Data Management solutions provider DATPROF announced today the opening of a new office in the United States. Plans to develop operations in Miami, Florida were initiated by the arrival of many new customers on the east coast. The new office will allow DATPROF to better meet the needs of their American clients.

Maarten Urbach and Bert Nienhuis, Managing Directors at DATPROF

DATPROF's new US office marks a significant milestone in the company's efforts to enhance customer service and expand its global reach, according to Maarten Urbach, Managing Director. "We're excited to take this next step in our journey," Urbach explains. "By establishing a presence in the USA, we're better equipped to serve our customers overseas and further our ambitious goals."

The Test Data Management market is a dynamic and growing industry. According to Bert Nienhuis, Managing Director, this is due to the increasing emphasis on data protection regulations and the growing complexity of test data delivery. "In today's data-rich production environments, it can be challenging for organizations to manage and deliver high-quality test data," Nienhuis explains. "Our aim is to continue to innovate and expand our offerings to help customers worldwide simplify their test data management processes."

In addition to the official opening of the US office this year, Bert Nienhuis and Maarten Urbach will travel to Orlando to attend STAREAST, one of the premier software testing conferences in North America, on May 4 and 5.

About DATPROF

DATPROF was founded in 2009 and exclusively focuses upon the provision of test data management solutions. With a broad range of clients in both the public and private sector, DATPROF has an extensive track record in delivering a comprehensive software suite consisting of sensitive data discovery and remediation as well as delivering referentially intact subsets for use in the test, development and QA processes. DATPROF is independent and uses its global partner network to bring these solutions to its customers around the world. DATPROF simplifies getting the right test data in the right place at the right time.

More information: www.datprof.com

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2056940/Managing_Directors_DATPROF.jpg

SOURCE DATPROF
The event features notable experts in the fields of medicine, nutrition, and education

SPARTANBURG, S.C., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a national effort to raise awareness and offer expert insights, Denny's is kicking off a series of summits focused on how companies and individuals can better manage and improve their mental health and wellness.

The first summit is taking place on Saturday, April 22, from 8:30 a.m.  1:00 p.m. EST, at the HPAC Theater at USC-Upstate, 170 Gramling Drive, Spartanburg, S.C. The summit will be free to the public and attendees can participate in-person or virtually.

"Denny's has always been committed to feeding people's bodies, minds, and souls, and this summit series perfectly aligns with our holistic approach to wellness," said Kelli Valade, CEO of Denny's. "The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the topics of mental health and personal well-being front and center. Now is the time to think about how we can bring our whole selves to all facets of our lives, including the workplace."

The summit keynote speaker is Dr. Daniel E. Dawes, Senior Vice President for Global Health and Executive Director of the Institute of Global Health Equity at Meharry Medical College. Dawes will discuss the importance of addressing mental health equity and the path forward to achieving a healthier society. Other nationally recognized panelists include:

Dr. Shaneeta Johnson , a surgeon, clinician, educator, and researcher at Morehouse School of Medicine and Senior Fellow in Global Health Equity at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute

, a surgeon, clinician, educator, and researcher at and Senior Fellow in Global Health Equity at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute Dr. Monique May , a board-certified and licensed family physician best known as the "Physician in the Kitchen"

, a board-certified and licensed family physician best known as the "Physician in the Kitchen" Dr. Bennie L. Harris , Chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate

, Chancellor of the Upstate Sharon Lykins , Denny's Vice President of Product Innovation

"Mental health and wellness significantly impact the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities across the Upstate region and beyond," said USC Upstate Chancellor, Bennie L. Harris, Ph.D. "We are thrilled to join forces with a global leader like Denny's to address one of the most critical public health issues of our time."

Nationally acclaimed journalist Roland S. Martin will moderate two panels, "Mindful Eating," which will address the connection between food and wellness, and "Wellness at the Workplace," which focuses on mental health at work.

A second mental health summit will be offered from 8:30 a.m.  1:00 p.m. local time on October 10, 2023, at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.

About Denny's Corp

Denny's is a Spartanburg, S.C. based family dining restaurant celebrating its 70th anniversary year and founding purpose: We love to feed people. That purpose has led us to become a restaurant brand that guests worldwide rely on for delicious value and craveable contemporary meals across breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night. Every day, we welcome guests to dine whenever and however they prefer, whether it's at our brick-and-mortar locations, via Denny's on Demand  the first delivery platform in the family dining segment, or at The Meltdown and The Burger Den, our two virtual restaurants. Our longstanding commitment to supporting our local communities is brought to life with our Mobile Relief Diner that delivers hot meals to our neighbors during times of disaster.

Denny's is one of the largest franchised full-service restaurant brands in the world, based on number of restaurants. As of March 1, 2023, Denny's had 1,602 franchised, licensed and company restaurants, which includes 157 restaurants in Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

To learn more about Denny's, please visit our brand website at www.dennys.com or the brand's social channels via Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , TikTok , LinkedIn or YouTube .

SOURCE Denny's
New DHL Survey Reveals 95% of SMEs Say Sustainability is Important to Their Business

DHL Strengthens Sustainability Offerings with Launch of GoGreen Plus for U.S. SMEs

PLANTATION, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DHL Express, the world's leading provider of international express shipping services, today announces the expansion of its sustainable business services available to U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with GoGreen Plus.

GoGreen Plus is a new service that enables customers to reduce ('inset') the carbon emissions associated with their shipments through the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This service is a first for global express carriers, with the initial launch taking place this past February in the United Kingdom. Now, customers based in the U.S.and any countryhave the option to select GoGreen Plus when choosing their shipping preferences within MyDHL+, the company's online shipping and tracking platform.



The service is designed to be fully flexible, and can be selected for individual shipments. Shippers also have the option to tailor the CO2e reduction they want to achieve and the amount of SAF they use.

This service expansion follows the company's recent survey of nearly 2,500 SMEs, including DHL customers, which gained insights into how businesses prioritize sustainability. Of all respondents, 95% said sustainability is important to their business, with almost half (48%) believing it's extremely important. However, when asked about the biggest challenge to achieving sustainable goals, 42% said the overall investment is the main obstacle, and 11% said they had no clue where to start.

"Consumers have an increasing interest in environmentally friendly products and services, and businesses can cultivate brand loyalty by making an effective commitment to environmental sustainability," says Greg Hewitt, CEO of DHL Express U.S. "We take pride in assisting our customers as they build more sustainable supply chains, and in offering guidance to SMEs that may lack the necessary means to take that first sustainability leap on their own."

The new GoGreen Plus service is made possible following DHL's recent collaborations with BP and Neste to supply SAF to DHL Express hubs around the world. The renewable part of the innovative fuel is produced from waste oils. Such SAF from wastes and residues can provide greenhouse gas emission reductions of up to 80 percent over its life cycle compared to the conventional jet fuel it replaces.

The GoGreen Plus service is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group's sustainability goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. It contributes to the interim target of using 30 percent SAF for all air transport by 2030. In line with its Sustainability Roadmap, Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to offer a green alternative for all products and services across all divisions.

Click here for more information on the DHL 2023 SME Sustainability Survey.

Click here to learn more about the GoGreen Plus service.

Click here to take advantage of GoGreen Plus service.

Media Contact:

DHL Express U.S. Communications

Robert Mintz

Phone: +1 (425) 984-4249

E-mail: [email protected]

Follow us on:

The Web: www.dhl-usa.com/express

Twitter: www.twitter.com/DHLUS

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dhlus

Facebook: www.facebook.com/DHLUSA

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/DHLExpress

YouTube: www.youtube.com

DHL  The logistics company for the world

DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 395,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global sustainable trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, engineering, manufacturing & energy, auto-mobility and retail, DHL is decisively positioned as "The logistics company for the world".

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 94 billion euros in 2022. With sustainable business practices and a commitment to society and the environment, the Group makes a positive contribution to the world. Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to achieve net-zero emissions logistics by 2050.

SOURCE DHL
The accelerator program supports early stage BIPOC and women founders working at the intersection of social impact and the decentralized web.

HOUSTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DivInc, the premier startup accelerator for people of color and women entrepreneurs, is proud to announce the launch of its Fall 2023 DWeb for Social Impact Accelerator made possible through the support of Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW).

DivInc's Fall 2023 DWeb for Social Impact Accelerator supports social enterprise startups led by BIPOC and women founders developing global solutions that leverage DWeb and Web3 technologies; blockchains, crypto-assets, artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, and meta-verses to increase access and equity across any industry.

The program also serves as a platform to amplify underrepresented voices in social impact and decentralized web.

"Through the DWeb for Social Impact Accelerator we are marrying activism with the decentralized web in a way that builds these startups and puts them at the forefront of solving society's toughest challenges," says Preston James, CEO at DivInc. "We want to see our creative tech economy founders playing a major role in building and benefitting from DWeb and Web3 for the greater good. This partnership with FFDW is a huge leap forward in that pursuit."

DivInc's collaboration with FFDW will be a key component to the long-term success of this accelerator program and its founders. The two organizations share a common vision for creating a community that encourages everyone to participate in the tech ecosystem and Decentralized Web specifically.

"A core part of FFDW's mission is education about the decentralized web," said Marta Belcher, president and chair of Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. "FFDW is absolutely thrilled to bring more diverse voices into the Web3 ecosystem."

Throughout the accelerator, FFDW will work with the DivInc team on programming and thought leadership initiatives that will assist the founders in achieving their goals and successfully implementing their tools and resources for the greater good. They will also work one-on-one with the cohort founders to provide support for exploration of decentralized tools and technology to address specific barriers to growth that each company is facing.

Up to 10 companies will be accepted to the 12-week program which will run from September through November 2023 at The Ion in Midtown Houston. Upon completion of the program, each participating company will receive $10,000 in non-dilutive seed funding.

The Fall 2023 DWeb for Social Impact Accelerator supported by FFDW is also supported by Houston Premier Partners, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Verizon, The Ion, and Mercury.

To learn more and apply visit www.divinc.org/apply .

About DivInc:

DivInc is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to generate social and economic equity through entrepreneurship by equipping underrepresented founders with access to the curriculum, capital, and community they need to build investable companies. Founded in Austin in 2016, DivInc has supported 96 companies and over 130 founders over its lifetime. Learn more at www.divinc.org .

About Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web

Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, whose mission is to preserve humanity's most important information. FFDW focuses on charitable activities, including building and supporting the decentralized web community, funding research and development, and educating the public about the decentralized web.

Learn more at https://ffdweb.org/

Media Contact:

Cherise Luter

Marketing Director

DivInc

[email protected]

Sofia Coon

Communications Lead

Filecoin Foundation & Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web

[email protected]

SOURCE DivInc
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. The present global trends and globalization are measured by the development of human capital, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan State Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Jamaladdin Guliyev said during the Global HR Summit in Baku, Trend reports.

According to Guliyev, after gaining independence, Azerbaijan took practical steps to develop human capital.

"The oil revenue management strategy was adopted in the first years of our independence in order to develop human resources, he said. In the coming 4th and 5th industrial revolutions, its necessary to coordinate the development of human capital and labor market participants. This will determine the further development of the country.

Previously global trends and globalization were measured by the size of GDP, the official added.

The summit is being held by Azerbaijan HR Institute with the participation of over 700 attendees (the most renowned HR leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, government officials, and others from 50 countries).
YPSILANTI, Mich., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eastern Michigan University's Board of Regents today (April 20) gave approval to the University to finalize an innovative utilities and infrastructure partnership that will deliver significant and lasting enhancements to the overall campus experience for students, faculty and staff. The partnership will generate a multi-million-dollar influx of outside funds to the University to:

Further support Eastern's strong sustainability efforts and energy conservation measures, while making the University even more "green";

Provide immediate and long-term solutions to deferred maintenance of older buildings and modernize the aging utility infrastructure; and,

Create a continuous income stream to support academic programs and strategic enrollment and retention initiatives, while including a distinctive opportunity for students, faculty and staff to develop projects to support enrollment and retention objectives.

"The higher education environment is as challenged as it has ever been in my 14 years as a university president," said Eastern Michigan University President James Smith. "Institutions must become nimbler and more creative than ever to identify new sources of revenue to invest in student and employee success.

"This innovative initiative will deliver significant and sustainable enhancements to the overall campus experience for students, faculty and staff. The University will immediately begin working to implement the full scope of projects under this partnership, with some of the enhancements taking place within a matter of months. Others will roll out over time in the months and years ahead and will benefit the University for decades in the future."

Similar partnerships have been formed at universities across the country, such as Ohio State University, University of Iowa, Georgetown University, University of Idaho, Louisiana State University.

How it works

Eastern Michigan University has entered into a 50-year partnership with Eagle Energy Partners, a consortium consisting of CenTrio Energy , Noresco , and Burns & McDonnell , all of which bring deep energy-sector expertise to modernize utility systems and improve sustainability efforts.

Eastern and Eagle Energy Partners have identified a series of projects that will result in reductions in energy use and in operating costs, while enhancing the redundancy and reliability of the University's electrical grid and its capacity.

Under the agreement, Eastern will receive approximately $115 million (final amount to be determined on financial close later this summer) to address the following needs:

Reduce existing University debt by $25 million , which will generate approximately $1 million in annual debt service savings.

, which will generate approximately in annual debt service savings. Provide $90 million for the University to establish the Strategic Initiatives Fund, which is projected to generate $5 million annually in investment returns.

Other key elements of the partnership:

Eagle Energy Partners will invest $20 -25 million of its own funds in immediate infrastructure improvements, which will generate approximately $900,000 annually in utility and operations savings for the University.

-25 million of its own funds in immediate infrastructure improvements, which will generate approximately annually in utility and operations savings for the University. Eagle Energy Partners will invest $26 million of its own funds (pending final agreements) in energy conservation projects, which will generate $1 -1.5 million in annual utility and operations savings for the University.

of its own funds (pending final agreements) in energy conservation projects, which will generate -1.5 million in annual utility and operations savings for the University. Eastern will pay Eagle Energy Partners $5.3 million annually to manage, operate, maintain and improve the University's utility infrastructure.

Taking into account the investment returns, debt savings, utility and operational savings, and the University's payment to the partner, the overall annual net benefit to the University will be $2.7 - 3.2 million.

Eagle Energy Partners was selected for the project by Gilbane , EMU's master developer. Gilbane is the construction and development firm leading the University's new $200 million residential housing transformation, " Welcome Home 2025 ."

Strategic Initiatives Fund

The $2.7-3.2 million in annual net benefit to the University generated by the partnership will be used to support faculty and academic programs; student persistence and retention; and, enrollment and student recruitment efforts.

A portion of the $2.7-3.2 million will be dedicated to a campus-wide effort to seek proposals from departments and offices to fund initiatives that are designed to help accomplish goals outlined in the University's Strategic Plan and/or increase student enrollment.

The University's Budget Council offered suggestions for how such a proposal process could be designed and implemented. Once the process is further developed, which is expected to be finalized this fall, details will be communicated to campus.

Impact of energy efficiency and conservation measures

Under the partnership, Eastern will realize an estimated 217,000+ MMBtu reduction (MMBtu is an abbreviation for one million British thermal units). This projection is based on the approximate 35% reduction in natural gas and electrical consumption under the plan for the entire campus. This reduction is equivalent to the following:

Greenhouse gas emissions from 2,500+ gasoline-powered vehicles for one year

CO2 emissions from 1,340,000+ gallons of gasoline consumed

CO2 emissions from 2,300+ homes' electricity use for one year

EMU expects to see, over time, an improvement to its STARS Rating (Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System). EMU was awarded a Bronze rating in 2022, placing the University in the top 5% of colleges in the U.S. for sustainability efforts. Projections indicate that under the partnership there is a potential to improve the rating from Bronze to Gold, nearly doubling EMU's score.

Under the partnership, certain infrastructure improvements will begin immediately. For additional details and a list of benefits for students, please visit the University's utilities and sustainability partnership website.

The University's facilities team will continue to support the campus utility infrastructure and buildings as it currently does due to its deep understanding of the system. The six EMU employees who work in the Energy Center will have the opportunity to remain employed by EMU working in the Energy Center or begin working for the partner  the choice rests with each employee.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 14,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and its graduate school. National publications regularly recognize EMU for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. Visit the University's rankings and points of pride websites to learn more. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website. To stay up to date on University news, activities and announcements, visit EMU Today.

SOURCE Eastern Michigan University
Brings the total raised for charitable partnerships to $4.1 Million since 2020

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EG America, a leading convenience, coffee, fuel, and food service retailer, today announced it has raised $627,000 in its most recent fundraising campaign for the American Red Cross. During the month of March, guests were able to donate $1, $5 or an amount of their choosing at checkout with all proceeds going to support the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross.

(Left to right: Bill Andrews, Division Fundraising Vice President, American Red Cross; Anne McKeough, Chief Development Officer, American Red Cross; Nick Unkovic, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, EG America; Caroline Taitelbaum, President, EG America; Holly Grant, Massachusetts Regional Executive, American Red Cross; Michael Wojcik, Senior Director of Development, American Red Cross) American Red Cross logo

The American Red Cross fundraiser brings the total money raised for partner organizations to $4.1 million since 2020. Over the past three years, EG America stores including Cumberland Farms, Certified Oil, Fastrac, Kwik Shop, Loaf N' Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Sprint, Tom Thumb and Turkey Hill provided guests an opportunity to donate to select partner organizations.

Since 2020, EG America has raised:

$1,000,000 for the American Cancer Society, for life-saving programs, research and services that help patients and families impacted by cancer.

for the American Cancer Society, for life-saving programs, research and services that help patients and families impacted by cancer. $563,000 for the United Way, whose efforts work to advance youth development and provide educational resources in partnership with local nonprofits.

for the United Way, whose efforts work to advance youth development and provide educational resources in partnership with local nonprofits. $1,986,000 for Disabled American Veterans. DAV connects injured and ill veterans to the full range of benefits available to them, including employment opportunities, transportation to medical appointments and assistance during times of disaster.

for Disabled American Veterans. DAV connects injured and ill veterans to the full range of benefits available to them, including employment opportunities, transportation to medical appointments and assistance during times of disaster. $627,000 for the American Red Cross, supporting the urgent needs of its humanitarian mission to alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies.

"We are tremendously grateful to EG America. Not only did EG invite customers to support our lifesaving work, all ten EG brands recognized our amazing volunteers coast-to-coast during March is Red Cross Month. Trained Red Cross volunteers are a lifeline to people in need everywhere and every day in America," said Anne McKeough, Chief Development Officer of the American Red Cross.

"We're honored to partner with organizations that are making a considerable impact on the communities we serve," said Caroline Taitelbaum, president of EG America. "Reaching $4.1 million in charitable giving dollars since 2020 is a significant milestone for us as we strive to make meaningful contributions to the wonderful organizations with which we partner. This would not be possible without the generosity of our guests, who we cannot thank enough for supporting these causes alongside us."

About EG Group

Founded in 2001 by the Issa family, United Kingdom-based EG Group is a leading convenience retailer which has established partnerships with global brands. The business has an established pedigree of delivering world-class Grocery & Merchandise, Foodservice and Fuel offer.

EG Group currently employs in excess of 50,000 colleagues working in more than 6,300 sites across USA, UK & Ireland, Continental Europe and Australia.

Zuber Issa CBE and Mohsin Issa CBE, founders and co-CEOs, EG Group, were honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2020 for their contribution to business and charity. They were also jointly named the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the UK.

Further information at www.eg.group

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

Contact:

Emma Braun

617-337-9521

[email protected]

SOURCE EG Group
Panelists from Ulta Beauty, Cleveland Avenue, Arc Worldwide and Jack Morton Shared Insights and Strategies for Promoting Inclusivity, Representation, and Equity

CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, The Desire Company , a pioneering product education company that matches brands with industry experts, hosted a compelling panel event titled Diversity in Influencer Marketing: Unleashing the Power of Representation.

The event brought together a panel on the pressing issue of lack of diversity in the content creator ecosystem. They addressed how racial pay gaps, tone-deaf messaging, and biases among brands have created a disparity of opportunity for BIPOC creators.

"Imagine a $5 trillion dollar market opportunity who's needs have gone largely unmet. Right now brands are hiring people who are making decisions and writing briefs that exclude the BIPOC market. Forget underrepresented. We're not underrepresented. We're excluded," said Bonnie Smith, SVP, Group Account Director & Head of Vivi, Jack Morton/Vivi.

The event served as a platform for meaningful conversations to drive positive change.

"Diversity and inclusion is not just a moment in time, it's not just a trend, it's a movement," said Renee Reid, Senior Brand Manager, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Ulta Beauty. "Companies need to realize that consumers use their dollars to vote for products and services and typically they want to support people that look like them."

Explaining why this is important to The Desire Company, Co-Founder and CEO, Eric Sheinkop expressed his disappointment at the rate at which representation of BIPOC experts decreased in his own company. "Initially, our audit showed 70% of our Pro Community was BIPOC. One year later, that number was 30%," said Sheinkop. "We recruit Pros to meet brand requests and so without the demand for BIPOC Pros, as our community got bigger, it got less diverse. Our goal is for our community to be 60% BIPOC but it's only going to make a real impact if brands demand it."

Echoing this sentiment, Jason Mercer, Principal at Venture Capital Fund Cleveland Avenue agreed, "Talent is spread out equally, access to opportunities is not."

During the event, The Desire Company announced four diversity commitments to drive positive change.

Increase representation of BIPOC members in the Pro Community to 60% Guarantee fair access to opportunities for BIPOC professionals. Promote equitable compensation for BIPOC professionals. Use The Desire Company platforms and reach to amplify the voices of BIPOC professionals.

"It's a beautiful thing to see movement in a more positive direction," said Sheinkop. "What's clear is that there are incredibly intelligent people who are not just talking about inclusivity but are agents for change, making a difference. And will continue to make a difference. And influence more people to make a difference."

The panelists included:

Renee Reid , Senior Brand Manager, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Ulta Beauty

, Senior Brand Manager, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Ulta Beauty Nneka C Ude, VP, Strategy Arc Worldwide

Bonnie Smith , SVP, Group Account Director & Head of Vivi, Jack Morton /Vivi

, SVP, Group Account Director & Head of Vivi, /Vivi Jason Mercer , Principal, Cleveland Avenue

, Principal, Gideon Akande , TDC Expert & CEO, Get Fit with Giddy

"Meaningful change comes from meaningful collaboration. We invite brands and retailers to tap into our community of diverse experts to build valuable and impactful partnerships," said Eric Sheinkop, Co-Founder and CEO of The Desire Company.

About The Desire Company:

The Desire Company matches brands with industry experts to create conversion-driving product education content. Our mission is to empower shoppers to make more educated, confident purchase decisions by providing reliable, expert-driven product recommendations, how-tos, and classes.

For media inquiries: [email protected]

SOURCE The Desire Company
7th Annual North American Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Conference is on April 27

HOUSTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Industry and academic leaders will discuss the increasing political, climatic, and criminal risks to the North American energy supply during the University of Houston Law Center's 7th Annual North American Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Conference on Thursday, April 27.

Delivering the conference keynote will be Kristen Eichensehr, who serves as the Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law Center at the University of Virginia Law School.

"In the last year we have seen massive changes in energy use and distribution related to geo-political and supply chain disruptions, as well as increasing climate ferocity and cyber-attacks. This conference looks at these topics together and in perspective. It is an important issue being addressed by a very talented group of speakers," said Victor B. Flatt, Professor of Law, UH Energy Fellow and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center.

Under the conference theme of energy security, panelists will discuss geo-political risks, climate impacts on electricity, privacy and cyber-security risks and supply chain disruptions.

The more than 20 speakers and panelists presenting are:

Susan Bickley , Partner, Blank Rome

, Partner, Blank Rome Victor B. Flatt , Professor of Law, UH Energy Fellow, and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center

, Professor of Law, UH Energy Fellow, and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, Law Center Gina Warren , Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center

, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, Law Center Julian Cardenas , Research Assistant Professor and Center for U.S. and Mexican Law Director, University of Houston Law Center

, Research Assistant Professor and Center for U.S. and Mexican Law Director, Law Center Anthony Rapa , Partner, Blank Rome

, Partner, Blank Rome Kristen Van de Biezenbos , Associate Professor, University of Calgary Faculty

, Associate Professor, Faculty Miranda Leppla , Environmental Law Clinic Director, Case Western Reserve University School of Law

, Environmental Law Clinic Director, School of Law Tracy Hester , Instructional Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center

, Instructional Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, Law Center Hannah Wiseman , Professor of Law and Distinguished UHLC Visitor, PennState Law School

, Professor of Law and Distinguished UHLC Visitor, PennState Law School Pablo Pinto , Professor and Director, UH Hobby School of Public Affairs

, Professor and Director, UH Hobby School of Public Affairs Nikolas Guggenberger , Assistant Professor, University of Houston Law Center

, Assistant Professor, Law Center Tiffany Li , Assistant Professor, University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law

, Assistant Professor, Franklin Pierce School of Law Alan Rozenshtein , Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Law School

, Associate Professor, Law School Andrew Wills , Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor, DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response

, Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor, DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response Alex Nisenbaum , Partner, Blank Rome

, Partner, Blank Rome Leonard M. Baynes , Dean and Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center

, Dean and Professor of Law, Law Center Gregory Brown , General Counsel, Evolution Well Services

, General Counsel, Evolution Well Services David Cooke , General Counsel, Arm Energy Holdings

, General Counsel, Arm Energy Holdings Andrew Costa , General Counsel, Atlantic Methanol

, General Counsel, Atlantic Methanol Deonne Cunningham Nauls , General Counsel, GlidePath Power Solutions, LLC

, General Counsel, GlidePath Power Solutions, LLC Paula M. Narcisse , General Counsel, Worldwide Oilfield Machine

, General Counsel, Worldwide Oilfield Machine Linda D. Primrose , General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Legal Department, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.)

, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Legal Department, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Bo Shi , General Counsel, Crescent Energy

, General Counsel, Crescent Energy Elizabeth Trujillo , Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas, University of Houston Law Center

, Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas, Law Center Keith LeTourneau , Partner, Blank Rome

The event is co-sponsored by the Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Center (EENR), The UH Law Center's Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas, UH Energy, The UH Hobby School of Public Policy, The Gutierrez Energy Management Institute (GEMI) at the UH Bauer College of Business, Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Blank Rome LLP and the University of Calgary Faculty of Law.

The conference will be in-person on Thursday, April 27 from 8:45 a.m.  5:15 p.m. Central at the University of Houston Law Center, 4170 Martin Luther King Blvd. Attendees may also join virtually. Participating attorneys will receive 6.5 hours of Texas continuing legal education credit.

Click here to register.

Click here for more event information.

University of Houston Law Center media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Law Center Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-2184, [email protected]; Bonnie Buffaloe, Communications Manager, 713-743-9137, [email protected].

About the University of Houston Law Center

The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, top-tier law school located in the nation's 4th largest city. UHLC's Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Part-time programs rank in the U.S. News Top 10. It awards Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, through its academic branch, the College of Law. The Law Center is more than just a law school. It is a powerful hub of intellectual activity with more than 15 centers and institutes which fuel its educational mission and national reputation. UHLC is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 47,000 students.

SOURCE University of Houston Law Center
- DXC and Cegeka to transform the healthcare experience of millions of Belgian citizens as part of European Commission initiative

BRUSSELS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) has been contracted by the Flemish Government to help digitalize healthcare in Belgium. As part of the four-year deal worth around $3 Million USD, DXC will work with local business partner Cegeka to build a patient-centric platform which will enable greater connectivity between patients, local healthcare agencies and medical professionals.

Flemish Government offices in Brussels, Belgium (credit DXC)

Responsible for the personal wellbeing of citizens in Belgium, the Flemish Care and Health Agency, part of the Flemish Government, is working to put patients in control of their own personalized care plans.

Comprising a website and mobile app, the new digital health platform will improve patient experiences by empowering them to select care options, treatments and appointments in line with their preferences. The platform will provide an accurate, real-time view of the patient and their care plan, enabling seamless and secure collaboration between patients, healthcare providers, and medical professionals, making communication easier, faster and more accessible.

The new service is expected to launch at the end of 2023, with a pilot for patients suffering from long-term or life-limiting illnesses.

The European Commission, the EU's politically independent executive arm, has provided funding for the initiative as part of its efforts to improve citizen health and help EU countries develop innovative and sustainable healthcare systems.

"We are focused on the modernization of our public services and are glad to continue that work in collaboration with DXC Technology and Cegeka," said Joris Moonens, spokesperson for the Flemish Care and Health Agency. "We are striving to accelerate our IT transformation to develop innovative projects that will improve, simplify, and accelerate our services for citizens."

"We are delighted to have been awarded this contract and are proud to continue our role as a trusted partner to the Flemish Government," said Benjamin Revcoleschi, Managing Director of DXC Technology Benelux and France. "We are helping the Flemish healthcare system use the power of data and platform-centric business models to deliver better public services for millions of citizens."

DXC Technology

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global enterprises manage their mission-critical systems and operations by modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private, and hybrid clouds. The world's largest public sector enterprises and organizations rely on DXC to implement services that drive new levels of performance, competitiveness and customer experience in their IT facilities. Learn more about how we deliver excellence to our customers and colleagues on DXC.com.

About Cegeka

Cegeka is an ambitious and leading European IT solutions provider. In line with our motto 'In close cooperation' we strive to provide the best possible customer service and support our more than 2,500 customers in their digitization journey. Cegeka offers end-to-end solutions in the fields of Data, Applications and Infrastructure, which are strongly interconnected. Cegeka has over 5,500 employees with locations in the Benelux, Germany, Austria, Romania, Moldova, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden, and a consolidated turnover of 744 million euros (in 2021).

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2058556/DXC_Technology_Company_Flemish_Government_to_Digitalize_Healthca.jpg

SOURCE DXC Technology Company
Germany's governing cabinet has decided to require all newly installed heating units, as of next year, to be at least 65 percent renewably powered. Government assistance to homeowners will be provided.

BERLIN, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The proposed legislation, which now goes to Germany's parliament for ratification, is a revision of the country's existing Buildings Energy Act (GEG). The 65-percent rule applies only to newly installed, not to currently working units or ones taken in for repair. So-called H2-ready heating systems, which can be completely converted to use sustainably produced green hydrogen, will also qualify. The rules would take effect on January 1, 2024.

Domestic heating accounts for some 70 percent of private energy use in Germany. The proposed rules changes do not require any specific form of heating as long as it's renewable.

"With this legislative revision, we are starting a major modernization offensive and making up ground lost over many years," said German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck in a statement. "The heating transition must begin now with new heating units."

Meanwhile the government also promises financial assistance under the existing Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings (BEG) program to people who convert to sustainable forms of heating. Under the upcoming rules, those replacing fossil-fuel-burning heating systems with sustainably powered ones can claim 30 percent of their costs. >Additionally, 20 percent is available to people who swap older for more modern, efficient systems.

"With the revision of the BEG," Habeck added, "we are extending a helping hand to our citizens where it's necessary."

"The provision of heating in Germany will be changing immensely in Germany in the years to come  there's no getting around that," says Germany Trade & Invest heating expert Benedicte Winter. "The combination of new rules governing sustainable heating systems and state subsidies to help people make the transition means that this is an excellent time for new international players to enter the German market."

Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) is the economic promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. GTAI supports German companies setting up in foreign markets, promotes Germany as a business location and assists foreign companies setting up shop in Germany.

Contact:

Jefferson Chase

Senior Manager, Communications

Germany Trade & Invest

Friedrichstrae 60

10117 Berlin

+49 30200099170

[email protected]

SOURCE Germany Trade & Invest
DUBLIN, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Galectin Inhibitors Market Trends & Clinical Trials Insight 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Report Highlights:

Global Galectin Inhibitors Clinical Pipeline By Company, Indication & Phase

Insight On All 16 Galectin Inhibitors In Clinical Pipeline

Clinical Study Initiation & Completion Timeline By Key Drugs

Global Galectin Inhibitors Market Dynamics

Insight On Top 10 Companies Involved In the Development Of Galectin Inhibitors Drugs

Galectin Inhibitors Market Future Opportunity Outlook

Some of the most recent proteins to be exploited as therapeutic targets in various indications are those that regulate and participate in signaling pathways.

A related class of proteins known as the galectin family is implicated in numerous disorders that account for the majority of the world's sick population. The member of the galectin family that has drawn the most attention and developed into the best understood is galectin-3. Galectins have been targeted as potential therapeutic targets because of their functions in a variety of diseases, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, and liver ailments.

Many medications that target galectins have been created so far, including OTX008 and LLS30, however, only a select few have been successful in reaching clinical trials. Even then, numerous applicants had their trials halted or withdrawn for a variety of reasons. These kinds of factors significantly hurt the pharmaceutical sector.

Nevertheless, a few new businesses have emerged with a primary focus on creating medications and treatments that target the various galectins; some of these have already started clinical trials. Biotechnology companies with the support of specialists with years of experience and knowledge about the functioning and pathology of galectins in various disorders predominate the market for these medications.

Around 15 therapeutic candidates have been created for various indications and are in various stages of development and clinical review, demonstrating that the functions of galectins are not only limited to a small number of disorders. The most well-known and likely to succeed of the candidates created to date is GR-MD-O2, the lead candidate of Galectin Therapeutics. GR-MD-O2 was granted fast-track status by the US FDA in 2013 for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with hepatic fibrosis, also known as a fatty liver disease with advanced fibrosis, which supports this conclusion.

Galectin-3 inhibitor GR-MD-O2, also known as belapectin, is being tested for both cancer and non-cancer indications, while non-cancer indications studies were initiated sooner. In order to determine the effectiveness and safety of GR-MD-O2 in treating cirrhosis brought on by non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), patients with esophageal varices are participating in a phase 2/3 randomized multinational trial. Further, the investigational new drug medication application for the evaluation of GR-MD-O2 in patients with advanced or metastatic head and neck cancer in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor received FDA clearance in the third quarter of 2022. In response, Galectin began a phase 1 dose-escalation research to examine the outcomes of GR-MD-O2 and pembrolizumab in patients with advanced melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and head and neck squamous cell cancer.

However, ProLectin M, a galectin-3 inhibitor, is the candidate that has advanced the furthest in clinical studies for the treatment of COVID-19 patients at various stages of infection.

For treating COVID-19 patients with early and severe infection, the medication has been developed in different formulations are a chewable tablet and an intravenous infusion. Its developer Bioxytran is conducting preclinical research or has submitted the IND application for the medicine to be assessed in viral infections such as COVID-19, influenza, monkeypox, and Ebola, as well as in pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic disorders.

Other companies also strive to create viable candidates for blocking galectins to treat various ailments. Some companies, like MandalMed, developed candidates with unique modes of action. MandalMed's candidate MM-003 was a human protein inhibitor of galectin-3 developed to stop and treat harmful remodeling during myocardial infarction. Preclinical investigations on the candidate were conducted until the project was abandoned by the company. Yet, this raises hope for the introduction of additional innovative modalities with greater efficacies in the upcoming years.

Galectin inhibitors are still in their infancy on the market, but some companies are working to develop them by accelerating research and development efforts to take advantage of the untapped potential of galectins as a medical treatment. The involvement of galectins in a variety of pathways gives hope for the possibility of one inhibitor being used for more than one disease, which might help the company grow its patient base. As companies performing preclinical and clinical investigations release their findings, the market is predicted to grow in the coming years.

Key Topics Covered:





1. Introduction to Galectin Inhibitors

1.1 Overview

1.2 Discovery of Galectins & Their Inhibitors

2. Role of Galectin Inhibitors & Mechanism of Action by Indication

2.1 Cancer

2.2 Viral Infection

2.3 Liver Diseases

2.4 Neurodegenerative Disease

2.5 Cardiovascular Diseases

3. Global Galectin Inhibitors Clinical Trials Landscape

3.1 By Company

3.2 By Country

3.3 By Indication

3.4 By Phase

3.5 By Patient Segment

4. Global Galectin Inhibitors Clinical Pipeline By Company, Indication & Phase

4.1 Research

4.2 Preclinical

4.3 Phase-I/II

4.4 Phase-II

4.5 Phase-II/III

5. Global Galectin Inhibitors Market Dynamics

5.1 Favorable Factors & Opportunities

5.2 Challenges & Restraints

6. Global Galectin Inhibitors Market Opportunity Outlook

7. Competitive Landscape

A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

BioXyTran

G3 Pharmaceuticals

Galectin Therapeutics

Galecto

GlycoMimetics

HiFiBiO

PureTech Health

TrueBinding

University Medical Center Groningen

University Of Michigan Medical School

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/im0o1m

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Next generation Diagnostics, Outlook 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The study examines next-generation diagnostics market trends and growth projections to 2028 across different geographical regions, innovative in vitro diagnostics technologies and applications, major vendors to watch, and growth opportunities in the post-pandemic future.

As COVID-19 transitions to the endemic phase, automation solutions and smart, connected laboratories will catalyze recovery in the next-generation diagnostics industry. The COVID-19 pandemic left a lot of installed capacity in laboratories and healthcare centers.

To take advantage of this situation, it is necessary for industry players to focus on structural solutions that enhance healthcare delivery for sustainable growth.

That is why automation and robotization solutions for tasks and processes are important. Besides digital solutions that allow physicians to remotely monitor and connect with patients, they should also facilitate real-time digital responses.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Strategic Imperatives

Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow?

The Strategic Imperative

The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on the Next-generation Diagnostics Industry

Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine

2 Growth Environment

Market Segmentation

Growth Environment

3 Macroeconomic Factors

Top 5 Global Economic Highlights of 2022

Top 5 Global Economic Highlights of 2023

Global GDP Growth Expectations

Recessionary/Slowdown Expectations for Major Economies

Global GDP Growth Snapshot

Advanced Economy Predictions for 2023

Emerging Market Economy Predictions for 2023

2023 Regional Risks and Policy Direction

Supply Chain Disruptions - Impact Analysis

Economic Uncertainties - Impact Analysis

4 Revenue Trends - 2023

Next-generation Diagnostics Market Workflow

Revenue Forecast by Segment

Impact and Applications of Innovative Technologies in IVD

Competitive Environment

Revenue Share

Revenue Share Analysis

Competitor Matrix

5 Mergers and Acquisitions

Notable Mergers and Acquisitions in 2022

M&A - Historical Analytics

6 Top 6 Predictions - 2023

Prediction 1: Staff Shortages to Push Double-digit Laboratory Automation Growth Rate in 2023

Prediction 2: 25% of the Total Growth in Syndromic Panel Testing to Come from the Infectious Disease Segment

Prediction 3: Digital Pathology Set for Transformation Supported by Better Evidence-generation Possibilities Due to Regulatory Changes

Prediction 4: Clinical Lab Services are Expected to Undergo Continuous Consolidation Activities in the US and EU Markets

Prediction 5: Oncology Testing to Regain Traction After Being Subdued for 2 Years Owing to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Prediction 6: Lab Budgets to Remain Flat; Lab Managers may Look to Delay Capex on New Instruments/Equipment Due to Cost Pressures

Segment Outlook - 2023

2023 Market Snapshot

7 Clinical Chemistry and Immunoassays - 2023

Clinical Chemistry and Immunoassays Market Snapshot

Clinical Chemistry and Immunoassays Market - Companies to Watch

8 Molecular Diagnostics - 2023

Molecular Diagnostics Market Snapshot

Molecular Diagnostics Market - Companies to Watch

9 Point-of-care Testing - 2023

POCT Market Snapshot

POCT Market - Companies to Watch

Revenue Forecast by Region

Percent Revenue Forecast by Region

Revenue Forecast Analysis by Region - Next-generation Diagnostics Market

10 Growth Opportunity Universe

Growth Opportunity 1: Liquid Biopsy for Precision Oncology

Growth Opportunity 2: Integration of AI in Molecular Diagnostics

Growth Opportunity 3: Connected and Smart Labs

Growth Opportunity 4: Decentralized POCT for Infectious Diseases

Growth Opportunity 5: Genomics in the Middle East and Africa

11 Conclusions

Conclusions and Future Outlook

Future of Diagnostics

12 Next Steps

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6wfjhs

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Investment Will Support Growth of Independent Pet Health and Wellness Brand

SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gryphon Investors ("Gryphon"), a leading middle-market private equity firm, today announced that it has acquired Vetnique Labs ("Vetnique" or the "Company"). In partnership with founder and CEO James Bascharon DVM, who will remain in his current role and maintain a significant stake in the business, Gryphon will invest in expanding the Company's product and geographic reach while supporting its mission of developing and delivering clinically proven and highly efficacious products that help pets thrive. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Naperville, IL, Vetnique develops a range of specialty pet products including supplements and topical solutions for digestive health, allergy and dermatological support, ear care, active lifestyle, and calming support. For more than a decade, Dr. Bascharon and the Vetnique team have helped pets lead healthier and happier lives through unique, veterinary-formulated products. With nine separate sub-brands, Vetnique is sold domestically and abroad through a variety of channels, including direct to consumer, through pet specialty retail outlets, and through veterinary distributors. The Company is best known for its iconic Glandex supplement and has developed a full range of nose-to-tail solutions featuring clinically proven ingredients.

Gryphon Operating Partner Mike Ferry said, "Vetnique occupies a unique position in the $2 billion pet supplement market as a company with innovative products benefitting from compelling tailwinds. As we continue to see increased use of supplements with companion animals, we believe that Vetnique will stand out as offering differentiated solutions that provide real and lasting benefits for pets."

Eddie Douglas, Principal in Gryphon's Consumer Group, noted, "We look forward to partnering with James and his outstanding team at Vetnique, and can't wait to get to work. After many years of evaluating the overall pet space, we are excited to support Vetnique's efforts to build the premier pet health and wellness platform. We are impressed with the business to date and are honored to welcome such a unique brand into the Gryphon family."

Dr. Bascharon commented, "We are delighted to join the team at Gryphon as we enter our next phase of growth. Gryphon is an ideal partner given the firm's experience in pet and consumer health and its track record of working with professionally recommended brands. We believe this investment will allow us to accelerate the incredible momentum we have built over the last few years."

Matt Farron, Partner and Head of Gryphon's Consumer Group, added, "Vetnique is a perfect fit for Gryphon and leverages our proactive focus of investing behind differentiated brands in pet health. We are proud to be working with such an innovator in a thriving sector and to be supporting the team as they build for the future."

As part of the transaction, Mr. Ferry, Mr. Farron, and Mr. Douglas will join the Company's Board of Directors. The transaction marks Gryphon's first investment in the pet products space and second investment in the broader pet health and wellness ecosystem, following its 2019 investment in veterinary support organization Heartland Veterinary Partners.

William Blair & Company, LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Gryphon. Raymond James served as financial advisor to Vetnique. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal advisor to Gryphon.

About Vetnique Labs

Vetnique Labs is a leading pet health and wellness platform on a mission to help pets thrive. Since its founding in 2012 by James Bascharon DVM, the Company, best known for its iconic Glandex supplement, has evolved into one of the fastest growing omni-channel pet brands in the United States. Vetnique's product portfolio now consists of a holistic 'nose-to-tail' range of unique, multi-modal pet health products that are vet-formulated and recommended by vets worldwide. Learn more about Vetnique Labs at vetniquelabs.com.

About Gryphon Investors

Gryphon Investors is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing companies in partnership with management. As of December 31, 2022, the firm has over $8.9 billion of assets under management. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with founders, owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon's capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise. For more information, please visit www.gryphoninvestors.com.

Contact:

Lambert

Caroline Luz

203-570-6462

[email protected]

or

Jennifer Hurson

845-507-0571

[email protected]

SOURCE Gryphon Investors
GUANGZHOU, China, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The opening ceremony of "Understanding China - GBA Dialogue" was held on April 19 with the theme of "Chinese Modernization and New Opportunities for the World", aiming to help the world gain a better understanding of China and to provide a leg-up to the high-quality development of the Guangdong province and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a whole.

"Achieving self-reliance in science and technology is the key to Chinese modernization."

As the host city of the Dialogue and the central city of the GBA, Guangzhou is an important pillar in promoting self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology innovation in the GBA and across China.

Through the in-depth implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy in recent years, Guangzhou has witnessed major changes in the overall landscape of its scientific and technological strength, climbing the global innovation ladder as the tenth in the Nature Index 2022 Science Cities and with the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong" science and technology cluster ranking second for three consecutive years in the Global Innovation Index; the city has also rendered major breakthroughs in strategic technologies with the listing and operation of national strategic science and technology platforms such as the Guangzhou Laboratory and the GBA National Technology Innovation Center. Guangzhou is flexing its muscles in front of the world with its robust innovation capacity and booming industrial vitality.

At the same time, Guangzhou is fully leveraging the supporting and leading role of technological innovation in the high-quality development of mega cities, to strengthen the cultivation of enterprise innovation entities, and to continuously strengthen and expand the technology enterprise matrix. Among the 145 domestic listed companies in the city, 108 are high-tech enterprises, accounting for 75%. A level-based technology enterprise cultivation system has been initially formed with high-tech enterprises as the major stakeholder and technology-based SMEs as the backup force.

At present, Guangzhou has pressed the acceleration button on a series of independent landmark and leading scientific and technological projects, building a strong momentum for achieving high-quality development. As the permanent site of the GBA Science Forum, the city is home to China's first full industrial chain commercial aerospace industrialization base, the cold spring ecosystem, the national engineering research center for natural gas hydrate exploration and development, hyper-sonic wind tunnels, and the extreme marine environmental research facility with its preliminary work underway.

"Chinese modernization should not follow the path that leads to the real economy being sidelined and must accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system underlined by it."

For many global guests who have participated in this year's event, the 420-square-meter "Baiyun Heart", an ultra high-definition large screen on the highway from Baiyun Airport to downtown Guangzhou, has become a new window for them to observe the development of the city. This screen is not only an embodiment of Guangzhou's technological advantages in this industry, but is also a strong testimony to Guangzhou's adherence to the principle of "manufacturing as the fulcrum" and its focus on developing the real economy.

The focus of high-quality development lies in the manufacturing industry. Despite complex situations and severe challenges in recent years, Guangzhou has always regarded the manufacturing industry as the core driving force for economic development.

"China's reform and opening-up policy will remain unchanged over the long term and will never close its door to the world."

With a series of events in this year's Dialogue such as round-tables for business leaders, special session on new opportunities of Chinese modernization and high-quality development in the GBA, business tours and immersive experience of the Chinese culture for foreign enterprise executives, Guangzhou has devoted all its efforts to building a remarkable platform for the world to "understand China", serving as an important window for the world to observe China and to showcase our achievements in reform and opening up.

Guangdong is the vanguard, pioneer and experimental area of reform and opening up, and plays an important and prominent role in the overall process of Chinese modernization. Taking the lead in opening- up, Guangzhou has been granted important status as a national central city and a core hub for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In the tide of reform and opening-up in the new era, Guangzhou is continuing to actively promote the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Nansha district of Guangzhou to deepen the comprehensive cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao facing the world.

From the Canton Fair to the Understanding China - GBA Dialogue, Guangzhou is actively accelerating the construction of an international exchange center through a series of international activities and conferences.

SOURCE Understanding China - GBA Dialogue
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 The organization's growing portfolio of health solutions companies works to erode health disparities and advance member and community health 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation ("GuideWell"), the policyholder-owned, not-for-profit parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on advancing health care, today published its 2022 Impact Report.

2022 GuideWell Impact Report Highlights

The report captures GuideWell's organizational efforts to provide solutions that contribute to improving "whole person health." It details the company's integrated approach to ensuring its health plan members and the communities it serves receive proper medical care by tackling issues ranging from physical and mental health to addressing food security and housing affordability. It also describes GuideWell's inclusive business practices and how its companies are strengthening their talent pipelines and increasing supplier diversity. Finally, the report includes steps GuideWell has taken to adopt sustainable, environmentally conscious practices.

In 2022, GuideWell acquired Triple-S Management, a leading health care services company in Puerto Rico that serves nearly one-third of the island's population. The GuideWell enterprise also includes Florida Blue, the leading health insurance company in Florida, and a diverse portfolio of care delivery organizations such as PopHealthCare, a leader and provider of comprehensive at-home care, and health solutions companies including Lucet, an innovator in behavioral health care. As part of its ongoing efforts to deliver culturally connected care, the organization strengthened its partnership with Sanitas Medical Centers by adding Spanish bilingual medical clinics across Florida. There are now 44 Sanitas medical clinics serving Florida Blue customers across the state. Each organization across its portfolio contributes to GuideWell's mission to help people and communities achieve better health. GuideWell now has more than 18,000 employees serving 46 million people across 45 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

"We are hyper aware of the challenges that persist across the health care system and remain committed to using our scale and reach to make a difference for our members and stakeholders," wrote Pat Geraghty, President and CEO of GuideWell and Florida Blue, in his annual letter introducing the report. "Putting quality health care within reach is fundamental to the well-being of every individual, family, and community."

Building on the inaugural 2021 report, this year's edition emphasizes a collaborative approach to community impact. A broad network of partners and organizations support GuideWell's progress on three key drivers of health: health equity, food security, and mental well-being.

Community efforts highlighted in the report include:

Supplied 72.1 million meals to more than 900,000 Floridians experiencing food insecurity.

Awarded $12.7 million through the Florida Blue Foundation to support community-based programs that directly improve access to and quality of mental well-being services.

through the Florida Blue Foundation to support community-based programs that directly improve access to and quality of mental well-being services. Donated $3.2 million in relief funds following Hurricane Ian and Fiona, to more than 22 community organizations throughout Florida and Puerto Rico .

in relief funds following Hurricane Ian and Fiona, to more than 22 community organizations throughout Florida and . Provided $18.5 million of a $25 million commitment through GuideWell's Equity Alliance to address racial injustice and health inequities.

of a commitment through GuideWell's Equity Alliance to address racial injustice and health inequities. Granted $1.2 million through the Triple-S Foundation to support nonprofit organizations in Puerto Rico that support initiatives that address social isolation.

through the Triple-S Foundation to support nonprofit organizations in that support initiatives that address social isolation. Contributed 60,000 GuideWell volunteer hours, equating to a dollar value of more than $1.7 million in employee work time.

The GuideWell Board of Directors is responsible for providing oversight and direction for GuideWell's business and community impact strategies, setting specific metrics in consultation with external subject matter experts, and ensuring accountability across the organization.

For more information and to view the full report, visit GuideWell.com/news/impact-report .

About GuideWell

GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation (GuideWell) is a not-for-profit mutual holding company and the parent to a family of forward-thinking companies focused on transforming health care. The GuideWell organization includes Florida Blue, the leading health insurance company in Florida; Triple-S Management, a leading health care services company in Puerto Rico, GuideWell Health, a portfolio of clinical delivery organizations; GuideWell Venture Group, a portfolio of companies, including PopHealthCare, focused on providing a personal approach to health care and offering a fully integrated approach to care delivery; GuideWell Source, a provider of administrative services to state and federal health care programs; and WebTPA, a market leading administrator of self-funded employer health plans. In total, GuideWell and its affiliated companies serve more than 46 million people in 45 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, visit www.GuideWell.com.

SOURCE GuideWell
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading digital media company, Guiding Tech Media , has announced the acquisition of Alphr.com , a consumer technology focussed website known for its informative and helpful content. The acquisition also includes a portfolio of web properties including TechJunkie.com, PlayerAssist.com and others. Guiding Tech Media has a history of acquiring successful technology brands, including GuidingTech.com, KDnuggets.com, and MachineLearningMastery.com, among others. This latest acquisition is a testament to the company's continued commitment to expanding its reach in the tech market.

"We are thrilled to welcome Alphr and its portfolio of websites to the Guiding Tech Media family," said Dan Brian, CEO of Guiding Tech Media. "We believe that Alphr's reputation for quality content and its focus on the consumer technology market aligns perfectly with our mission to provide readers with the most helpful and comprehensive information in the consumer tech industry."

Evan Gower, CEO of the former parent company of Alphr.com, also commented on the acquisition: "We are proud to have built Alphr and its portfolio of websites into valuable resources for tech enthusiasts, and we are confident that Guiding Tech Media will continue to build on this success."

Nick La Maina, COO of Guiding Tech Media, added: "We see tremendous potential in the combination of our expertise in digital media with Alphr's large audience and exceptional editorial team. This acquisition marks a significant step forward for Guiding Tech Media as we forge ahead in expanding our presence in the tech industry."

Guiding Tech Media plans to leverage its experience in content development and online publishing to further enhance the reach and impact of Alphr and its associated websites.

About Alphr.com

Alphr.com is a consumer technology-focused website known for its informative and helpful content. With a team of expert writers and editors, Alphr.com provides readers with the latest how-tos and reviews on gadgets, software, and emerging technologies. The site and its associated web properties, including TechJunkie.com and PlayerAssist.com, reach over 10 million people per month.

About Guiding Tech Media

Guiding Tech Media (formerly Padre Media) is a leading digital media publisher focused on helping people with technology. With its team of hands-on tech experts and unique know-how, Guiding Tech Media tackles topics ranging from everyday smartphones to creating algorithms and makes technology easy and fun for everyday users and professionals alike. With over 20 million monthly users, the company operates a growing portfolio of premiere online brands including Alphr, Guiding Tech, AppleToolBox, Technipages, TechJunkie, PlayerAssist, KDnuggets and Machine Learning Mastery.

SOURCE Guiding Tech Media
DALLAS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- San Francisco-based real estate investment firm Hamilton Zanze is pleased to announce the sale of 4000 Hulen Apartments in Fort Worth, Texas. The firm purchased the property in 2017 and the sale closed on April 18, 2023. The sale of 4000 Hulen Apartments represents the firms fourth disposition of 2023.

During their ownership, Hamilton Zanze completed numerous exterior and landscaping improvements, upgraded community amenities and renovated units with new backsplashes, appliances, and hardware to improve leasing efforts and increase rental rates. San Francisco-based real estate investment firm Hamilton Zanze is pleased to announce the sale of 4000 Hulen Apartments in Fort Worth, Texas.

"The Dallas/Fort Worth metro continues to thrive with strong population growth," said Anthony Ly, director of dispositions at Hamilton Zanze. "We were able to purchase 4000 Hulen below replacement cost and increase the property's value through strong property management. We are glad to have executed on the sale and deliver a positive outcome to our investors."

During their ownership, Hamilton Zanze completed numerous exterior and landscaping improvements, upgraded community amenities and renovated units with new backsplashes, appliances, and hardware to improve leasing efforts and increase rental rates.

4000 Hulen Apartments was built in 2015 and is located at 4000 Hulen Street in Fort Worth. The mid-rise property comprises 240 units which average 886 square feet. The community has a pool, fitness center, coffee bar, billiards table, and a dog park.

4000 Hulen Apartments is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, just a 12-minute drive away from Downtown Fort Worth. 4000 Hulen is in close proximity to several major Dallas/Fort Worth employers, such as Texas Christian University (TCU), Plaza Medical Center, and Cook Children's Medical Center. Both TCU and private-sector employment opportunities remain a draw for young adults in the market and 4000 Hulen's submarket.

ABOUT HAMILTON ZANZE

Hamilton Zanze (HZ) is a private, San Francisco-based real estate investment company that owns and operates apartment communities. Since its founding in 2001, Hamilton Zanze has acquired over $6.3 billion in multifamily assets primarily in the Western, Southwestern, and Eastern U.S. The company currently owns and operates 132 properties (22,035 units) across 30 markets. For additional information, visit www.hamiltonzanze.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Nicole Marshall, Curated Communications

(504) 644-7335

[email protected]

SOURCE Hamilton Zanze
Premium, Sustainable Children's Apparel Brand Continues Expanding Female Executive Team

PORTLAND, Ore., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading premium, sustainable children's apparel brand, Hanna Andersson, announced that Davida Lindsay-Bell has joined the company as Head of People & Inclusion. Lindsay-Bell brings over 20 years of People Strategy experience to lead the organization as it continues building a culture that supports the brand's mission for years to come.

Davida Lindsay-Bell

Reporting to CEO Aimee Lapic, Lindsay-Bell will focus on culture development, internal communications, DEI strategy, organizational effectiveness, talent management, and more. She will develop the strategy around People and Culture that allows the brand to attract, develop and retain a high-performing and results-oriented team.

"Having a deep affinity for adventure, family, and fun, there is tremendous promise in creating joy through playful sustainability and the art of expression, which is why I'm thrilled to be joining Hanna Andersson," said Lindsay-Bell. "Hanna is at a unique inflection point and I look forward to working closely with the entire organization to help the brand further lean into its mission to champion childhood."

Most recently serving as the Chief People & Inclusion Officer for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Lindsay-Bell led its Board and employees to jointly create a five-year DEI strategic plan. This effort increased employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction by establishing a positive work environment focused on values activation, inclusive behaviors, and placing people at the center.

"Davida thrives on solving challenging problems, understanding organizational priorities, formulating strategies, and translating vision into actionable, value-added goals with humanity at its core," said Aimee Lapic, CEO of Hanna Andersson. "Her commitment to sustainable, purpose-driven brands paired with her expertise in creating an efficient, engaged organization make her an ideal addition to Hanna Andersson's leadership team."

Hanna Andersson offers sleep, apparel, swim, and accessories for babies and kids. The brand also offers family matching PJs and cohesive seasonal looks for the whole family (pets included), and Mommy & Me collections for all ages. Learn more about Hanna Andersson at https://www.hannaandersson.com/.

About Hanna Andersson

Hanna Andersson was founded in 1983 and is a leading digital-first premium, sustainable children's apparel and lifestyle brand committed to outfitting the adventure of childhood. Hanna is known for its iconic, globally recognized products with happy designs, Hanna-me-down quality, and construction details built for comfort and play. The company's products are designed for children ages newborn to 12 years, with a complementary assortment of family apparel. Known as the original maker of Family Matching Pajamas, Hanna has built a cult following and is a favorite amongst celebrities including Gabrielle Union, Kristen Bell, Taylor Swift, and Thomas Rhett. (www.hannaandersson.com)

Media Contact

Michelle Ruth

[email protected]

SOURCE Hanna Andersson
Positive reimbursement decision in Spain expands market access to include the five largest European markets

expands market access to include the five largest European markets Enrollment in phase 2 study of imlifidase in Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) completed

HNSA-5487: Phase 1 clinical study started in healthy volunteers

LUND, Sweden, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hansa Biopharma, the pioneer in immunomodulatory enzyme technology for rare IgG mediated diseases, today announced its business update and interim report for January to March 2023.

Highlights for the first quarter of 2023

Total Q1 revenue of SEK 24.2m including SEK 14.3m in product sales and SEK 9.9m in revenue recognition mainly under the agreement with Sarepta.

including in product sales and in revenue recognition mainly under the agreement with Sarepta. Received positive reimbursement decision in Spain , completing market access in the five largest European markets. Market access has now been secured in 12 European countries. Market Access procedures are ongoing in additional eight countries including Portugal , Belgium , and Switzerland .

, completing market access in the five largest European markets. Market access has now been secured in 12 European countries. Market Access procedures are ongoing in additional eight countries including , , and . Expanded commercialization partnership with Medison Pharma for Idefirix  for kidney transplantation to cover the Baltics.

for kidney transplantation to cover the Baltics. Announced completion of enrollment in phase 2 study of imlifidase in Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).

Initiated clinical trial of HNSA-5487 with dosing in the first healthy volunteers.

Appointed Matthew Shaulis as Chief Commercial Officer and U.S. President of Hansa Biopharma.

Clinical pipeline update

U.S. ConfIdeS: As of April 20, 2023 , 62, out of a target of 64 patients, have been enrolled in our pivotal U.S. open label, randomized controlled trial of imlifidase in kidney transplantation. Hansa continues to see strong interest among clinics and will continue enrollment to accelerate randomization. We expect to add further centers up to a total of 20.

, 62, out of a target of 64 patients, have been enrolled in our pivotal U.S. open label, randomized controlled trial of imlifidase in kidney transplantation. Hansa continues to see strong interest among clinics and will continue enrollment to accelerate randomization. We expect to add further centers up to a total of 20. On March 31, 2023 , Hansa announced completion of enrollment in the phase 2 study of imlifidase in GBS. The first high level data read-out is expected in the second half of 2023.

, Hansa announced completion of enrollment in the phase 2 study of imlifidase in GBS. The first high level data read-out is expected in the second half of 2023. Anti-GBM: Hansa's pivotal phase 3 study in anti-GBM disease has been initiated with the first sites being activated at end of 2022 and several more sites to be activated before summer 2023. The study will target 50 patients with anti-GBM disease across the U.S., U.K. and EU, as previously communicated.

HNSA-5487, the second-generation lead molecule, is progressing. A new clinical phase 1 trial has started with dosing of the first healthy volunteers.

Financial summary

SEKm, unless otherwise stated - unaudited Q1 2023 Q1 2022 12M 2022 Revenue 24.2 30.3 154.5 SG&A expenses (103.3) (80.4) (337.9) R&D expenses (92.8) (70.9) (346.2) Loss from operation (182.3) (135.0) (588.6) Loss for the period (205.4) (138.4) (611.1) Net cash used in operations (207.0) (130.5) (502.7) Cash and short-term investments 1,286.8 753.7 1,496.2 Shareholders' equity 414.7 636.0 602.9 EPS before and after dilution (SEK) (3.92) (3.11) (13.60) Number of outstanding shares 52,443,962 44,473,452 52,443,962 Weighted avg. number of shares before and after dilution 52,443,962 44,473,452 44,923,998 Number of employees at the end of the period 159 141 150

Sren Tulstrup, President and CEO of Hansa Biopharma, comments

"Hansa's commercial efforts for Idefirix in Europe continue to progress as planned. During the first quarter of 2023, we were pleased to announce a positive reimbursement decision in Spain, where more than 3,000 kidney transplantations are performed annually with approximately 90 percent of transplanted organs coming from deceased donors and where one in five on the kidney waitlist are classified as highly sensitized.

With Spain secured, Idefirix now has market access in the five largest markets in Europe, representing approximately 15,000 kidney transplants per year. This is great news for the thousands of people who are in urgent need of more personalized and innovative desensitization options like Idefirix which can enable incompatible kidney transplantation.

Our goal in kidney transplantation is to change the approach to desensitization and organ allocation by integrating Idefirix into clinical practice as a new standard-of-care (SOC) for highly sensitized patients. With this novel therapy, we are changing the transplantation ecosystem and advancing a treatment regime from one that has been solely focused on compatibility, to one that is more patient-centric - accommodating transplants for incompatible patients, who previously had no other choice than to wait and hope.

On the development side, we continue to drive progress across our pipeline. At the end of March, we announced the completion of enrollment in our phase 2 study of imlifidase in Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS is an acute autoimmune attack on the peripheral nervous system, which affects approximately one to two patients per 100,000 people, annually. The first high-level data read-out is expected in the second half of 2023, while the outcome of the comparative efficacy analysis to an externally matched cohort from the International GBS Outcome Study (IGOS) database is expected to be shared in 2024.

Patient enrollment in the U.S. continues to progress in our pivotal ConfIdeS trial in kidney transplantation. As of April 20, 2023, a total of 62 out of a targeted 64 patients were enrolled. Hansa continues to see strong interest among clinics and will continue enrollment to accelerate randomization and add additional centers up to a total of 20. This will help build valuable, real-world clinical experience in desensitization of highly sensitized patients among key transplantation centers and specialists in preparation for a planned launch in the market.

Lastly, I am pleased to announce we have dosed the first healthy volunteers with HNSA-5487, our lead molecule from our second-generation IgG antibody cleaving enzyme program. Moving HNSA-5487 into the clinic is a major accomplishment of our R&D team and an important milestone for the Company. HNSA-5487 represents an opportunity to substantially expand the potential indications in rare immunologic diseases that can be targeted, including indications where patients may benefit from more than one dose of an IgG-modulating enzyme.

On the organizational side, we are very excited to welcome Matthew Shaulis as the new Chief Commercial Officer and U.S. President. Matthew joins Hansa from Pfizer, where he held several senior executive roles including President, Inflammation and Immunology for the International Developed Markets; President, North America Oncology; and, most recently, Senior Vice President responsible for the company's global commercial and medical go-to-market model transformation. With over 20 years of international experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Matthew will further strengthen our commercial and in-market leadership team and create a U.S.-focused organization that will help deliver our goal of bringing imlifidase to patients and clinicians in the U.S.

We continue to make solid strides in delivering on our mission of developing innovative, life-saving and life-altering immunomodulating therapies by leveraging our unique IgG-cleaving enzyme technology platform for people with rare diseases who have limited to no treatment options available."

Upcoming milestones and news flow

H1 2023 Anti-GBM Phase 3: First patient enrolled

H1 2023 U.S. Kidney transplantation (ConfIdeS): Complete enrollment

2023 Sarepta DMD pre-treatment: Commence clinical study

H2 2023 Long-term follow-up study in kidney transplantation: 5-year data readout

H2 2023 AMR Phase 2: Full data readout

H2 2023 GBS Phase 2: First data readout

H2 2023 U.S. Kidney transplantation (ConfIdeS): Complete randomization

2024 GBS Phase 2: Outcome of the comparative efficacy analysis to IGOS data

2024 U.S. Kidney transplantation (ConfIdeS): BLA submission

Updated financial calendar 2023

April 20, 2023 Interim Report for January-March 2023

June 14, 2023 2023 Annual General Meeting

July 20, 2023 Half-year Report for January-June 2023

October 18, 2023 Interim Report for January-September 2023

Conference call details

Hansa Biopharma will host a telephone conference today Thursday April 20, 2023, 14:00 CET / 8:00am EST.

The presentation will be held in English and be hosted by Hansa Biopharma's CEO, Sren Tulstrup, and CFO, Donato Spota. Slides used in the presentation will be live on the company website during the call under "Events & Presentation" and will also be made available online after the call.

To participate in the telephone conference, please use the dial-in details provided below:

Sweden: +46 10 884 80 16

United Kingdom: +44 20 3936 2999

United States: +1 646 664 1960

Participant access code: 574936

The webcast will be available on https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/178799671

The interim report and latest investor presentation can be downloaded from our web:

Interim report January to March 2023 https://www.hansabiopharma.com/investors/financial-reports/

Investor road show presentation Q1, 2023 https://www.hansabiopharma.com/investors/presentations/

This is information that Hansa Biopharma AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the Securities Markets Act.

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:

Klaus Sindahl, VP Head of Investor Relations

M: +46 (0) 709298 269

E: [email protected]

Stephanie Kenney, VP Global Corporate Affairs

M: +1 (484) 319 2802

E: [email protected]

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/1219/3754181/1995075.pdf 20230420 HNSA - Q1 2023 Quarterly Report ENG FINAL

SOURCE Hansa Biopharma AB
Bob Dylan Reveals Plan for Pleasureville

CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Heaven's Door Spirits, the celebrated whiskey brand founded by Bob Dylan, announced today its plans to open a new distillery in Pleasureville, Kentucky. Located on over 160 acres of rolling hills astride Six Mile Creek, the picturesque property was once owned by Squire Boone, the brother of legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone.

Quietly under development since 2017, the distillery has been producing small batches of exceptional bourbon on its custom Vendome still since 2018. The Heaven's Door Distillery features two separate stillhouses, each in its own towering western horse barn, a Visitor's Center with tasting rooms and lounges overlooking the valley and Six Mile Creek, an eighteenth-century grist mill, two eighteenth-century cabins and a Moravian barn, all of which have been painstakingly restored. Heaven's Door Distillery plans to open its doors to the public in September 2023.

"This is a momentous occasion for Heaven's Door," said Marc Bushala, co-founder and CEO of Heaven's Door Spirits. "We selected this location for its remarkable natural beauty and unique ecosystem that has enabled us to make exceptional bourbon and create an unrivaled visitor experience," added Bushala. "We are committed to the art of craft whiskey and honor the legacy of the many pioneers who have helped make Kentucky bourbon what it is today. We are thrilled to have Heaven's Door be part of this storied tradition."

John Logan Brent, Executive Judge for Henry County, remarked, "There is no better place on Earth for the Heaven's Door Distillery than Pleasureville, Kentucky. The entire project was thoughtfully designed, respecting the terrain and supporting the local community. It has been a pleasure to watch this vision unfold over the past five years."

Ken Pierce, an industry veteran, was brought on as Master Distiller to lead the project from design through distillation. Ken began his illustrious career with Barton Brands Distillery, initially working as Senior Chemist to Director of Distillation and eventually becoming Master Distiller. Ken was instrumental in the development of 1792 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and its limited release expressions.

"I was honored to be chosen as Master Distiller for the Pleasureville project," said Pierce, "The Heaven's Door Distillery has been an incredible project, from inception to production of our first barrels. For me, this is a living legacy of my 40 years in the industry and my passion for making great whiskey."

Heaven's Door is proud to lead the way in sustainable distilling, utilizing two underground aquifers to access pristine limestone water for its distilling as well as geothermal heating and cooling of the buildings. Through its dedication to sustainable practices, the distillery cultivates its own heirloom grains and recycles protein-rich mash from the fermentation process as feed for cattle on surrounding farms.

The project will help drive economic growth and opportunities in the county by creating more than 50 jobs and bringing tourism to the area. The distillery also plans to work with local farmers to source ingredients for its spirits, further strengthening its ties to the community.

Heaven's Door Brand Experience on Urban Bourbon Trail

In addition to its Pleasureville distillery, Heaven's Door has announced it will open a unique brand experience in a former church in Downtown Louisville. The brand experience will house a small live music venue, a private event space and a restaurant and bar featuring one of the largest selections of American whiskeys in the country.

The Heaven's Door brand center includes plans to construct a new 15,000 square foot immersive art experience adjacent to the church which will feature a collection of Bob Dylan's critically acclaimed paintings and metalworks, as well as curated exhibitions of other artists.

The Company had previously announced that it intended to open a showcase distillery and brand center in a 160-year-old church in Nashville, Tennessee, which it acquired in 2016. "With our distillery opening in Pleasureville, KY, having our brand experience in Louisville made more sense," said Bushala. "We will use the Nashville property as the seat of The Heaven's Door Foundation, the Company's philanthropic arm which supports charities for the arts."

ABOUT HEAVEN'S DOOR SPIRITS:

Heaven's Door Spirits was founded in 2015 by Bob Dylan in collaboration with Spirits Investment Partnership ("SIP"). Heaven's Door has won countless awards for its uncompromising quality and evolving collection of craft whiskey, including the #1 Consumer Choice Award at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and was cited as the "Best Bourbons of the Century...So Far" by the Robb Report. As Bob Dylan's first and only consumer brand partnership in his 50-year career, Heaven's Door is a true reflection of his visionary artistry and unconventional spirit. To learn more about our whiskey, visit www.heavensdoor.com.

ABOUT BOB DYLAN:

Bob Dylan is one of the most renowned and influential artists of our time, selling more than 125 million records over the span of his 60-year career. In addition to his music, Dylan's talents as an author and visual artist have also garnered widespread popularity and critical acclaim. His memoir, Chronicles Vol. 1, spent 19 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List in 2004, and in 2016, he was awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature for his profound contributions to the American song tradition. Dylan's visual art, which includes drawings, paintings, and metal sculptures, has been exhibited in numerous museums worldwide, including the prestigious Halcyon Gallery in London.

ABOUT SPIRITS INVESTMENT PARTNERS:

Spirits Investment Partners ("SIP") is a boutique alcohol beverage company with deep expertise in creating high-end spirits, package design, branding, sales, and marketing, www.spiritsinvestors.com.

SOURCE Heaven's Door Spirits, LLC
NYSIR activated the HELIXintel platform for 4,100 public schools, with 1 billion square feet of space.

BUFFALO, N.Y., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HELIXintel, a Buffalo-based software company, has teamed up with specialty insurer HSB to provide insurance technology solutions for its customers, including the New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal (NYSIR) and its more than 4,100 K-12 public schools.

HELIXintel specializes in property and equipment management through its online maintenance platform, providing tools to streamline equipment and building management.

"The HELIXintel digital platform provides tremendous value for NYSIR's member school facilities!" Tweet this

HSB, part of Munich Re, offers equipment breakdown insurance, other specialty coverages, inspections, engineering, IoT sensor programs, and additional technology services to clients.

"Through our partnership with HSB, customers like NYSIR can lower operating costs and better manage risk," said Christa Dahlem, Chief Revenue Officer at HELIXintel. "We are proud to bring this valued service to our customers and look forward to continued success with HSB."

NYSIR, established in 1989, is the premier insurance and risk management provider for public schools in New York State. It recently collaborated with HELIXintel to deliver the HELIXintel platform for its members to mitigate equipment downtime, connect with vendors, and generate reports on available incentives and rebates that lower the cost of service, parts, and equipment.

"The HELIXintel digital platform provides tremendous value for NYSIR's member school facilities, which total more than 1 billion square feet of space," said J. Brett Carruthers, NYSIR Senior Vice President and Director of Risk Management.

"NYSIR is excited to offer our members resources to manage their property and predict and prevent equipment risk," he said. "This will help our continued mission to provide a comprehensive and cost-effective insurance program for public schools in New York State."

Eastchester Union Free School District (UFSD) is among the schools benefiting from HELIXintel's platform. Within a week of using the platform, the school expedited repairs after a boiler failure using pre-populated property and equipment information. HELIXintel also identified more than $240,000 in incentives using this data to reduce future costs.

Learn more about the HELIXintel platform here.

Media Contact:

Tia Dabney

[email protected]

SOURCE HELIXintel
NORTHBROOK, Ill., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Northbrook based Hilco Global announced today that it made a $50,000 donation to SUNRISE DAY CAMP-CHICAGO (jccchicago.org/sunrise), a new day camp for kids with cancer which will open this June in Lake Zurich, Illinois. Sunrise Day Camp-Chicago will provide a full-summer day camp experience specifically designed for children with a cancer diagnosis and their siblings, ages 3 1/2-16, and is being offered completely free of charge .

Hilco Global Asset Smarter (PRNewsfoto/Hilco Global)

Sunrise Day Camp-Chicago is a philanthropic collaboration between JCC Chicago and the Hecktman Family Foundation. Jeffrey B. Hecktman is the Founder and CEO of the international financial services company, Hilco Global, which is headquartered in Northbrook IL.

Mr. Hecktman, his wife, and daughters were inspired and impressed by the Sunrise Day Camp model, and they felt strongly that kids in the Chicago-Metropolitan area deserved this same type of summer camp experience. Late last summer, the Hecktman Family Foundation announced plans to underwrite the first three years of the Sunrise Chicago camp operations and has been collaborating extensively with JCC Chicago to open on the grounds of their Lake Zurich location. Mr. Hecktman has attracted other family offices and Hilco Global clients and it's national lending partners/banks, all who have made donations to launch the camp this summer.

Mr. Hecktman said, "By providing children and their siblings who have been affected by a cancer diagnosis with a full summer camp experience, we are giving them something to look forward to and restoring some normalcy to their lives." The Sunrise Day Camp mission is focused on restoring the simple pleasures of childhood for children facing a cancer diagnosis, balancing months of loneliness and isolation with summers filled with sunshine, laughter, and friends.

Mr. Hecktman added, "Because Sunrise is a day camp, children can continue their medical treatment during the summer while participating in camp when they are physically able. Unlike most oncology sleep-away camps that offer short programs each summer, Sunrise Day Camp is a full, eight-week summer program that welcomes children as often as they can attend."

Addie Goodman, President & CEO of JCC Chicago, said, "We are excited to bring Sunrise Day Camp to Chicago and thankful to Jeff Hecktman, the Hecktman Family and to Hilco Global, who are passionate about community service and giving back to people in need. JCC Chicago is committed to the care and keeping of children and families, and we are so grateful to have such incredible partners to assist these children who have already lost so much."

JCC Chicago is well-known for excellence in day and overnight camping and is committed to inclusion and Sunrise Day Camp-Chicago is a natural addition to the programs and essential services provided by JCC Chicago. Ms. Goodman said, "It is an honor to join the Sunrise family and provide a beautiful summer to these childrencamp is, indeed, one of childhood's most normative and formative experiences."

Gary Epstein, Executive Vice President  Chief Marketing Officer at Hilco Global said: "One of Hilco's core values is giving back to local communities in need across the globe. Sunrise Day Camp was a perfect fit with our Hilco Helps philanthropic mission (see www.hilcohelps.com) and the entire senior management team at Hilco Global was eager to deliver financial support and volunteers for such a unique and special program. The Hilco Helps team worked closely with JCC Chicago to understand their needs for this inaugural summer and how Hilco could assist. Ultimately, Hilco decided to underwrite the cost of feeding all campers and staff for the entire summer and will be launching the meals and snacks program called 'Hilco Helpings'."

Epstein added, "Providing this Hilco Global donation and employee volunteers recognizes the extraordinary financial demands that pediatric cancer has on the families impacted, and we wanted to really help as the camp opens up this year. With the location of the first Sunrise Day Camp-Chicago right here in the Northwest suburbs, we've had an outpouring of interest from employees to volunteer in order to make sure these kids have a fantastic summer camp experience."

For more information about Sunrise Day Camp Chicago visit sunrisedaycamp-chicago.org.

Hilco Global (www.hilcoglobal.com) is a privately held diversified financial services company and the world's preeminent authority on maximizing the value of assets for both healthy and distressed companies. Hilco Global financial services leverage a unique blend of deep restructuring and advisory experience with capital solutions and principal investing. Hilco Global delivers customized solutions to undervalued, high potential companies to resolve complex and stressed situations and enhance long-term enterprise value. Hilco Global operates as a holding company comprised of over twenty specialized business units that work to help companies understand the value of their assets and as needed monetize the value. Hilco Global has almost 4 decades of a successful track record of acting as an advisor, agent, investor and/or principal in any transaction. The Company is based in Northbrook, Illinois and has 800 professionals operating on five continents.

JCC (Jewish Community Centers) Chicago, founded in 1903 and rooted in Jewish values, offers a life-affirming journey fostering a connected, inclusive community from birth through senior years. With a focus on growing good kids and building connections, it is JCC Chicago's mission to strengthen the Jewish community, from generation to generation. Today, JCC Chicago serves a diverse population of more than 65,000 community members who learn, grow, and thrive through early childhood education, day and overnight camping, teen, adult and family offerings, health and wellness, and special events and happenings year-round. For more information on JCC Chicago programming and commitment to community visit, www.jccchicago.org.

Sunrise Association's mission is to bring back the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their siblings worldwide, through the creation of Day Camps, Year-Round Programs, and In-Hospital Recreational Activities, all offered free of charge. All Sunrise Association programs are offered on a non-sectarian basis to any family in need.

SOURCE Hilco Global
NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Botanic Pretti5, an award-winning TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) infused clean beauty brand, is breaking down barriers and celebrating diversity with its unique blend of Eastern and Western skincare principles. The brand, which is based in Hong Kong and provides high quality skin care products made in Japan, is now available at Sephora Hong Kong and loyalty eShop of premium airline Cathay Pacific and will be soon arriving to the United States.

Inspired by the wisdom from the East and West, the high performance TCM infused clean beauty brand Botanic Pretti5 is now expanding to North America

Introduced as Fusion Beauty, the brand is on a mission to bring the best of all worlds together, fusing proven benefits that nature, science and culture have to offer, and thereby demonstrating high efficiency in nourishing and rejuvenating all types of skin.

"We believe that beauty will evolve with our hybrid lifestyle exploring completely new territories of diversity and inclusiveness." - says Dorothy Chau, the founder and CEO of Botanic Pretti5. Botanic Pretti5's initial product line includes a range of cleanser, facial oil, serums, moisturizer and night mask, each formulated with TCM-infused, clean and adaptogenic ingredients to address specific skin concerns such as ageing, dullness and dehydration. Some of the key TCM botanicals include Snow Mushroom and Japanese Goldflower root extracts are valuable antioxidants and known for their revitalizing properties."

"We are cultivating sustainable product development by merging the latest technologies with ancient traditions." - explains Chau. All of Botanic Pretti5's products are cruelty-free, vegan, and free from harmful chemicals and synthetic fragrances. The brand is committed to using only the cleanest, most clinical and high performance ingredients. All products have been highly praised by customers for their ability to deliver real, visible results without irritating sensitive skin.

"Our products are designed to bring the best of Eastern and Western skincare together and to help our customers feel confident, radiant and beautiful." said Chau. "We're thrilled to see that our message is resonating with people in Hong Kong and we can't wait to share it with even more customers in the United States."

To shop Botanic Pretti5, please visit the global page : www.pretti5.com

About Botanic Pretti5

Botanic Pretti5 is a skin-focused clean beauty brand from Hong Kong and made in Japan. Inspired by the multicultural fusion between the East and the West, their mission is to develop broad-spectrum and high-performing solutions to treat all types of stressed and sensitive skin. The products merge the latest technologies with ancient wisdom, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, Oriental Adaptogens and Western Science. After taking the Asian market by storm, and becoming one of the best-seller brands online and in Sephora and Cathay Pacific experience store, Botanic Pretti5 is now expanding to North America.

Social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/botanicpretti5

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/botanicpretti5/

For social media features please include a selection of the following hashtags:

#BotanicPretti5 #Pretti5 #Pretti5FusionBeauty #Pretti5Traditions #EastMeetsWest #TCM, #CleanBeauty

SOURCE Botanic Pretti5
"Dr. Banerjee will be a critical part of Hyzon's leadership team as we continue working toward our mission of producing zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial vehicles," said Hyzon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Parker Meeks. "His experience includes a rare combination of driving global engineering in powertrain development and implementing world-class manufacturing and operating processes across markets. Bappa brings the industry background and leadership expertise to take Hyzon fuel cell electric trucks to production and commercialization with strong global safety and quality standards, and excellent regional execution."

A seasoned expert in the heavy mobility and manufacturing industries, Dr. Banerjee has more than two decades of experience leading operations, engineering, and commercial functions for global companies including GE Transportation, a Wabtec Company ("GE Transportation"), and Caterpillar. Throughout his career, Dr. Banerjee has held full profit and loss responsibilities at multi-billion dollar top-line businesses, and demonstrated a proven track record of growing sales across international markets while reducing costs through the implementation of Lean Manufacturing processes.

"I have long been convinced of hydrogen's critical role in decarbonizing transport, and Hyzon Motors is uniquely positioned at the intersection of technology and transportation, working toward a clean energy future," said Dr. Banerjee. "The opportunity to tangibly impact our lives by reducing carbon and noise emissions for our communities excites me tremendously. I look forward to joining the talented team at Hyzon and applying my industry and operational experience to help accelerate the production of zero-emission hydrogen vehicles."

Most recently, Dr. Banerjee served as Vice President, Mining Equipment at GE Transportation where he led the new technology development, design, production, and sale of electric drive propulsion systems for mining equipment, including aftermarket. This included developing battery and fuel cell electric solutions, purpose-built to meet the needs of the challenging, harsh mining environment. In this role, Dr. Banerjee oversaw the sales, marketing, and supply chain localization for global growth.

Prior to his role at GE Transportation, Dr. Banerjee held progressing roles at Caterpillar in the Resource Industries Division, where he served as Worldwide Product Head of Off-Highway Trucks & Wheel Tractor Scrapers, and Facility Head for Caterpillar Remanufacturing China & Japan. Dr. Banerjee was a crucial leader in establishing a long-term strategic plan for Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services (Shanghai), developing local leadership, establishing a succession pipeline, and growing the business.

Dr. Banerjee has a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Binghamton University, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. He also earned his MBA from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Dr. Banerjee has taught as a Visiting Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and Bradley University, holds two U.S. patents and wrote a textbook in mechanics.

This appointment follows the appointments Hyzon has made in recent months of CEO Parker Meeks, interim Chief Financial Officer Jiajia Wu, President of International Operations John Edgley, and President of North America Pat Griffin.

About Hyzon

Hyzon is a global supplier of fuel cell electric mobility, with US operations in the Rochester, Chicago and Detroit areas, and international operations in the Netherlands, Australia, and China. Hyzon is an energy transition accelerator and technology innovator, providing solutions in the transport sector with a focus on commercial vehicles and hydrogen supply infrastructure. Utilizing its proven and proprietary hydrogen fuel cell technology, Hyzon's mission is to supply zero-emission heavy duty trucks to customers in North America, Europe and around the world to mitigate emissions from diesel transportation - one of the single largest sources of carbon emissions globally. The Company is contributing to the adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles through its demonstrated technology advantage, fuel cell system performance, and innovation. Visit www.hyzonmotors.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "aims", "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Hyzon disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. Hyzon cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Hyzon, including risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Hyzon's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 14, 2023, and other documents filed by Hyzon from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Hyzon gives no assurances that Hyzon will achieve its expectations.

SOURCE Hyzon Motors Inc.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Azersky, a remote Earth observation satellite owned by the Open Joint Stock Company Azercosmos (Azercosmos OJSC), has completed its mission, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan told Trend.

The ministry said that the remote Earth observation satellite completed its mission one year ahead of its estimated exploitation.

"The exchange of information with the Azersky satellite has stopped. Although Azercosmos OJSC and the satellite manufacturer took measures to restore communication, it was not possible to establish communication with the satellite," the ministry said.

The Azersky satellite was handed over to Azerbaijan in line with an agreement inked Dec. 2, 2014 at the BakuTel exhibition by AzerCosmos and Airbus Defence and Space.
NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The industrial barcode scanner market size is set to grow by USD 2,076.98 million from 2023 to 2027, and register a CAGR of 9.47%, according to Technavio's latest market research report. With a focus on identifying dominant industry influencers, Technavio's reports present a detailed study by the way of synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Get a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast along with research methodology. Read our Sample Report

The report also covers the following areas:

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Industrial Barcode Scanner Market 2023-2027

Factors such as evolution of Industry 4.0, rise in adoption of wearable barcode scanners in the manufacturing industry, and increased deployment of mobile workforce will offer immense growth opportunities. To leverage the current opportunities, market vendors must strengthen their foothold in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. The industrial barcode scanner market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period.

Industrial Barcode Scanner Market 2023-2027: Segmentation

The industrial barcode scanner market is segmented by:

Application

Manufacturing



Transportation And Logistics



Retail



Food And Beverages



Others

Product

Mobile Computers



Handheld Scanners



Ring Scanners

Geography

North America



APAC



Europe



South America



Middle East And Africa

The market share growth by the manufacturing segment will be significant for the market growth during the forecast period. Barcode scanners are used to track quality control information and by scanning the barcodes of defective products, manufacturers can identify problems early and take corrective action. Barcode scanners play an important role in the production process in the manufacturing sector. By scanning barcodes on raw materials and finished goods, manufacturers can track inventory levels, component locations, and production progress, it helps ensure that the correct components are used at every stage of the manufacturing process. This technology is known to increase efficiency and reduces waste. Such factors will increase segment growth during the forecast period.

Industrial Barcode Scanner Market 2023-2027: Vendor Analysis and Scope

Some of the major vendors of the industrial barcode scanner market include Advantech Co. Ltd., Bluebird Inc., CipherLab Co. Ltd., Cognex Corp., Datalogic Spa, DENSO Corp., EUROTECH Spa, Generalscan, Honeywell International Inc., Mexxen Technology Inc., Newland Digital Technology Co. Ltd., OMRON Corp., Opticon Sensors Europe BV, Portable Technology Solutions LLC, RIOTEC Co. Ltd., SATO Holdings Corp., Unipro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Unitech Computer Co. Ltd., ZEBEX INDUSTRIES INC., and Zebra Technologies Corp. To help businesses improve their market position, Technavio's report provides a detailed analysis of around 15+ vendors operating in the market.

Vendor Offerings

Advantech Co. Ltd. - The company offers general duty bar code scanner which is designed to read high density 1D barcodes and thus used for applications related to retail, pharmaceutical and post office.

The company offers general duty bar code scanner which is designed to read high density 1D barcodes and thus used for applications related to retail, pharmaceutical and post office. Bluebird Inc. - The company offers BI500 rugged mobile bar code scanner that can be seamlessly paired with any Android, apple iOS and Windows smartphone, thus designed to scan 1D and 2D objects.

The company offers BI500 rugged mobile bar code scanner that can be seamlessly paired with any Android, apple iOS and Windows smartphone, thus designed to scan 1D and 2D objects. Cognex Corp. - The company offers data man 8700 series bar code readers which is designed to accommodate 1D and 2D label-based barcodes as well as direct part marked codes for the widest variety of surfaces and marking methods.

Market trends such as use of wearables with the same functionalities as traditional barcode scanners is likely to emerge as one of the primary drivers of the market. However, factors such as high purchasing cost of industrial barcode scanners may threaten the growth of the market.

Industrial Barcode Scanner Market 2023-2027: Market Dynamics

Key Drivers

A major driver for the industrial barcode scanner market is the evolution of industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution in the manufacturing industry, where the connected ecosystem using the IoT will be instrumental in helping manufacturers and consumers provide improved communication and monitoring systems and increased automation, along with self-diagnosis and new levels of analysis, for a productive future. Moreover, Industry 4.0 is the current transformation of industries characterized by features such as data exchange, automation, cloud, cyber-physical systems, robots, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and (semi-)autonomous technologies. Hence, the barcode scanner market is expected to see accelerating demand due to the emergence of Industry 4.0 during the forecast period.

Major Trends

An emerging trend in the industrial barcode scanner market is the use of wearables with the same functionalities as traditional barcode scanners. Manufacturers increasingly deploy advanced devices to reduce human error and increase efficiency. For instance, data glasses have additional features such as the barcode and QR code scanning functionality. The Vuzix M100 smart glasses can scan QR codes and barcodes. But, the distance between the camera and the barcode poses a challenge. Thus, through camera-based scanning devices, such as smart glasses, it becomes a challenge to ensure that the barcodes are in the line of sight of the device so that they can be decoded by the onboard computer vision algorithm. Hence, such factors will increase the market growth during the forecast period.

Key Challenges

A major challenge hindering the industrial barcode scanner market is the high cost of industrial barcode scanners. The market for industrial barcode scanners is in a growth stage. The stage is characterized by increasing sales and decreasing the cost per customer. But due to the high cost of barcode scanners, they are not widely adopted in all industries. It will be a while before these devices reach consumer-friendly prices and become widely used across the industry. General-purpose barcode scanners usually cost less than industrial barcode scanners: for instance, Honeywell Voyager XP 1470g offered by Honeywell costs approximately USD 200 compared with an industrial barcode scanner that costs over USD 600. Hence, such high costs impede the market growth during the forecast period.

Drivers, upcoming trends, and various challenges have an impact on market dynamics, that can further impact businesses. Find more insights in the sample report!

Industrial Barcode Scanner Market 2023-2027: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2027

Detailed information on factors that will assist industrial barcode scanner market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the industrial barcode scanner market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the industrial barcode scanner market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of industrial barcode scanner market vendors

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Industrial Barcode Scanner Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.47% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 2,076.98 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023(%) 8.87 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 27% Key countries US, Canada, China, Japan, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Advantech Co. Ltd., Bluebird Inc., CipherLab Co. Ltd., Cognex Corp., Datalogic Spa, DENSO Corp., EUROTECH Spa, Generalscan, Honeywell International Inc., Mexxen Technology Inc., Newland Digital Technology Co. Ltd., OMRON Corp., Opticon Sensors Europe BV, Portable Technology Solutions LLC, RIOTEC Co. Ltd., SATO Holdings Corp., Unipro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Unitech Computer Co. Ltd., ZEBEX INDUSTRIES INC., and Zebra Technologies Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table Of Contents :

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global industrial barcode scanner market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global industrial barcode scanner market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Application Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Application Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Application

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Application

6.3 Manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Manufacturing - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Manufacturing - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Transportation and logistics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Transportation and logistics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Transportation and logistics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Transportation and logistics - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Transportation and logistics - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Retail - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Retail - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Retail - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Retail - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Retail - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Food and beverages - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Food and beverages - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Food and beverages - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Food and beverages - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Food and beverages - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 50: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.8 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 54: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Product

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 56: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 58: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Comparison by Product

7.3 Mobile computers - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 60: Chart on Mobile computers - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Mobile computers - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 62: Chart on Mobile computers - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Mobile computers - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Handheld scanners - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 64: Chart on Handheld scanners - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on Handheld scanners - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Chart on Handheld scanners - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on Handheld scanners - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Ring scanners - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 68: Chart on Ring scanners - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Ring scanners - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 70: Chart on Ring scanners - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on Ring scanners - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 72: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 74: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 75: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 76: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 77: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 78: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 79: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 83: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 85: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 87: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 95: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 97: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 99: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 100: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 101: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 102: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 103: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 107: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 108: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 109: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 110: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 111: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 112: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 113: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 114: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 115: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 116: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 117: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 118: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 119: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)



Exhibit 120: Data Tables on Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 121: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 122: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 123: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 124: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 125: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 126: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Advantech Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 127: Advantech Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Advantech Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Advantech Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 130: Advantech Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.4 Bluebird Inc.

Exhibit 131: Bluebird Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 132: Bluebird Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 133: Bluebird Inc. - Key offerings

12.5 CipherLab Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 134: CipherLab Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 135: CipherLab Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 136: CipherLab Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.6 Cognex Corp.

Exhibit 137: Cognex Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 138: Cognex Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 139: Cognex Corp. - Key offerings

12.7 Datalogic Spa

Exhibit 140: Datalogic Spa - Overview



Exhibit 141: Datalogic Spa - Business segments



Exhibit 142: Datalogic Spa - Key news



Exhibit 143: Datalogic Spa - Key offerings



Exhibit 144: Datalogic Spa - Segment focus

12.8 DENSO Corp.

Exhibit 145: DENSO Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 146: DENSO Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 147: DENSO Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 148: DENSO Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 149: DENSO Corp. - Segment focus

12.9 EUROTECH Spa

Exhibit 150: EUROTECH Spa - Overview



Exhibit 151: EUROTECH Spa - Business segments



Exhibit 152: EUROTECH Spa - Key offerings



Exhibit 153: EUROTECH Spa - Segment focus

12.10 Generalscan

Exhibit 154: Generalscan - Overview



Exhibit 155: Generalscan - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: Generalscan - Key offerings

12.11 Honeywell International Inc.

Exhibit 157: Honeywell International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 158: Honeywell International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 159: Honeywell International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 160: Honeywell International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 161: Honeywell International Inc. - Segment focus

12.12 OMRON Corp.

Exhibit 162: OMRON Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 163: OMRON Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 164: OMRON Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 165: OMRON Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 166: OMRON Corp. - Segment focus

12.13 Opticon Sensors Europe BV

Exhibit 167: Opticon Sensors Europe BV - Overview



Exhibit 168: Opticon Sensors Europe BV - Product / Service



Exhibit 169: Opticon Sensors Europe BV - Key offerings

12.14 SATO Holdings Corp.

Exhibit 170: SATO Holdings Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 171: SATO Holdings Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 172: SATO Holdings Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 173: SATO Holdings Corp. - Segment focus

12.15 Unipro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 174: Unipro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 175: Unipro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 176: Unipro Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.16 Unitech Computer Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 177: Unitech Computer Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 178: Unitech Computer Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 179: Unitech Computer Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.17 Zebra Technologies Corp.

Exhibit 180: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 181: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 182: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 183: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 184: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 185: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 186: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 187: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 188: Research methodology



Exhibit 189: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 190: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 191: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Infoblox releases report findings on "Decoy Dog" and collaborates across the industry to help raise awareness and problem solve

Command-and-control (C2) domain over DNS went undiscovered for a year as part of a s ingle toolkit

Threat spotlights dangers of malware traffic on networks and importance of a DNS security strategy

Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense protects customers from these suspicious C2 domains

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Infoblox Inc. the company that delivers a simplified, cloud- enabled networking and security platform for improved performance and protection, today published a threat report blog on a remote access trojan (RAT) toolkit with DNS command and control (C2). The toolkit created an anomalous DNS signature observed in enterprise networks in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia across technology, healthcare, energy, financial and other sectors. Some of these communications go to a controller in Russia.

Infoblox Uncovers DNS Malware Toolkit & Urges Companies to Block Malicious Domains

Coined "Decoy Dog," Infoblox's Threat Intelligence Group was the first to discover this toolkit and is collaborating with other security vendors, as well as customers, to disrupt this activity, identify the attack vector, and secure global networks. The critical insight is that DNS anomalies measured over time not only surfaced the RAT, but ultimately tied together seemingly independent C2 communications. A technical analysis of Infoblox's findings is here .

"Decoy Dog is a stark reminder of the importance of having a strong, protective DNS strategy," said Renee Burton, Senior Director of Threat Intelligence for Infoblox. "Infoblox is focused on detecting threats in DNS, disrupting attacks before they start, and allowing customers to focus on their own business."

As a specialized DNS-based security vendor, Infoblox tracks adversary infrastructure and can see suspicious activity early in the threat lifecycle, where there is "intent to compromise'' and before the actual attack starts. As a normal course of business, any indicators that are deemed suspicious are included in Infoblox's Suspicious domain feeds, direct to customers, to help them preemptively protect themselves against new and emerging threats.

Threat Discovery, Anatomy & Mitigation:

Infoblox discovered activity from the remote access trojan (RAT) Pupy active in multiple enterprise networks in early April 2023 . This C2 communication went undiscovered since April 2022 .





. This C2 communication went undiscovered since . The RAT was detected from anomalous DNS activity on limited networks and in network devices such as firewalls; not user devices such as laptops or mobile devices.





The RAT creates a footprint in DNS that is extremely hard to detect in isolation but, when analyzed in a global cloud-based protective DNS system like Infoblox's BloxOne  Threat Defense, demonstrates strong outlier behavior. Further it allowed Infoblox to tie the disparate domains together.





Threat Defense, demonstrates strong outlier behavior. Further it allowed Infoblox to tie the disparate domains together. C2 communications are made over DNS and are based on an open-source RAT called Pupy. While this is an open-source project, it has been consistently associated with nation-state actors.





Organizations with protective DNS can mitigate their risk. BloxOne Threat Defense customers are protected from these suspicious domains.





In this case, Russian C2 domains were already included in the Suspicious domains feeds in BloxOne Threat Defense (Advanced) back in the fall of 2022. In addition to the Suspicious Domains feed, these domains have now been added to Infoblox's anti-malware feed.





Infoblox continues to urge organizations to block the following domains:

claudfront.net



allowlisted.net



atlas-upd.com



ads-tm-glb.click



cbox4.ignorelist.com



hsdps.cc

"While we automatically detect thousands of suspicious domains every day at the DNS level  and with this level of correlation, it's rare to discover these activities all originating from the same toolkit leveraging DNS for command-and-control," added Burton.

The Infoblox team is working around the clock to understand the DNS activity. Complex problems like this one highlight the need for an industry-wide intelligence-in-depth strategy where everyone contributes to understanding the entire scope of a threat.

For the full threat summary titled "Dog Hunt: Finding Decoy Dog Toolkit via Anomalous DNS Traffic" click here .

About Infoblox's Threat Intelligence Group:

The Threat Intelligence Group at Infoblox is dedicated to creating high fidelity "block-and-forget" domain name service (DNS) intelligence data for use in BloxOne Threat Defense. Core to Infoblox's protection strategy is the identification of suspicious domains. Infoblox's Threat Intelligence Group uses a patented machine learning algorithm to minimize the risk of enterprise outages while enabling maximum coverage of threats. Infoblox identifies suspicious domains through several custom-built algorithms and DNS based threat hunting.

The organization focuses on DNS and infrastructure actors. The team can identify suspicious behavior before its impact is known by the adjacent areas of the industry (endpoint, netflow vendors), and can track persistent actors to block their DNS infrastructure before it becomes a problem for our customers. Threat actors often register domains well in advance of using them for attacks, typically 14-120 days in advance, but we have seen domains held dormant for upwards of two years - like this case in point.

About Infoblox

Infoblox unites networking and security to deliver unmatched performance and protection. Trusted by Fortune 100 companies and emerging innovators, we provide real-time visibility and control over who and what connects to your network, so your organization runs faster and stops threats earlier. Visit infoblox.com , or follow-us on LinkedIn or Twitter .

Media Contacts

Ashley Kusowski

Head of Corporate Communications

Hannah Mautz

Account Supervisor

[email protected]

SOURCE Infoblox Inc.
Lead program, IG-002 targeting ABCA4 retinopathies, demonstrates durable 12-month expression of human ABCA4 protein using a single subretinal dose of DNA payload



CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Intergalactic Therapeutics, a company focused on transforming medicine through non-viral gene therapy, announced today that Gayathri Ramaswamy, Ph.D., Vice President, Drug Discovery and Disease Biology, will present at the Annual Retinal Cell and Gene Therapy Innovation Summit on April 21, 2023 at the Marriott New Orleans Warehouse Arts District in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Gayathri Ramaswamy, Ph.D., Vice President, Drug Discovery and Disease Biology, Intergalactic Therapeutics

"We are excited to share encouraging preclinical data from our lead program, IG-002 targeting ABCA4-associated retinopathies. Data to be presented demonstrate for the first time that a non-viral gene therapy is able to achieve long-term, persistent protein expression with a single administration," said Theresa G.H. Heah, M.D., M.B.A., Chief Executive Officer of Intergalactic Therapeutics. "We believe that our C3DNA platform holds the potential to make non-viral gene therapies a reality, and with these data in hand, we are working to rapidly advance IG-002 through IND-enabling studies and into the clinic."

Presentation details are as follows:

Presentation Title: A novel, non-viral approach to delivering full length ABCA4 to photoreceptors

Date and Time: Friday, April 21, 2023 at 10:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. CT

Presenter: Gayathri Ramaswamy, Ph.D., Vice President, Drug Discovery and Disease Biology at Intergalactic Therapeutics

Dr. Ramaswamy will share preclinical results from Intergalactic's lead program IG-002 addressing all forms of ABCA4-related retinopathies. The data demonstrate for the first time that a single subretinal administration of a DNA payload encoding the human ABCA4 gene resulted in durable (12-month) expression of human ABCA4 protein in adult porcine retinas. The expression levels achieved suggest potential therapeutic benefit in individuals living with ABCA4-related retinopathies.

In the study, full-length ABCA4 DNA was packaged into Intergalactic's proprietary C3DNA (covalently closed and circular DNA) cargo platform, and was delivered using COMET, Intergalactic's proprietary electro-transfer based system for targeted delivery of C3DNA.

About Intergalactic Therapeutics

Intergalactic Therapeutics, an Apple Tree Partners (ATP) company, is transforming medicine through non-viral gene therapy. Its proprietary integrated platform comprises three core pillars: versatile C3DNA technology (covalently closed and circular DNA); groundbreaking precise and tunable approaches to local therapeutic delivery using the COMET electro-transfer system; and a rapid, scalable, and cost-effective manufacturing process to make gene therapy safer and more accessible. With a diversified portfolio of potential new treatments for eye diseases and beyond, Intergalactic is dedicated to helping patients around the world by bringing non-viral gene therapies into reality. For more information, visit www.intergalactictx.com.

SOURCE Intergalactic Therapeutics
The expo brings together 6000+ attendees, 300+ franchise brands and 70+ educational seminars for networking, education, business development, and fun!

GLEN ROCK, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Get ready for the ultimate franchise event of the year! MFV Expositions and Comexposium , the nation's leader in connecting the franchising world with motivated entrepreneurs for over 30 years, is inviting current and aspiring business owners from around the world to attend the world's largest franchising event - the International Franchise Expo ("IFE") taking place in New York City at the Javits Center on June 1-3, 2023. Anyone can register via the registration form .

The International Franchise Expo, in exclusive partnership with the International Franchise Association ("IFA") and supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce as one of a limited number of expos in the world to participate in the International Buyer Program, is the world's leading franchise show where potential franchisees can connect with large, medium-sized and emerging franchise brands to get everything you need to launch a franchise in one place.

The expo showcases a wide range of franchise brands - providing exclusive insight into rising trends and growth plans for the future of franchising, making it the ultimate epicenter for current and aspiring entrepreneurs interested in pursuing their next business endeavor. IFE brings together attendees from 120+ countries, 300+ franchise brands and 70+ educational seminars for networking, education, business development, and fun!

The must-attend event is designed to build relationships with the franchise community and other like-minded entrepreneurs. With franchise opportunities starting at investment levels as low as $10,000, IFE aims to help entrepreneurs explore opportunities and connect with franchisors. Attendees will have the chance to meet face-to-face with many of the top franchisors from every industry and learn about financing options and connect with lenders who specialize in franchise funding.

"With the franchising industry expected to add approximately 254,000 jobs and grow financially to 860.1 billion in 2023, the International Franchise Expo brings unparalleled opportunities to learn, grow as an entrepreneur and open a business for yourself, but not by yourself," said Martin Joksimovic, president of MFV Expositions. "Hosting the world's largest franchising expo in New York City, a vibrant hub filled with an entrepreneurial spirit, is truly a privilege and an honor we don't take lightly. We look forward to welcoming attendees from around the globe to IFE and providing them with the resources and knowledge they need to succeed in franchising."

For entrepreneurs and business owners interested in franchising, IFE provides the opportunity to attend over 70+ educational seminars and learn about the latest trends and innovations in the industry. Attendees can build their own unique conference experience by selecting from a variety of seminars to attend from the three-day event's agenda here .

In addition to hosting IFE, MFV Expositions recently closed another annual Franchise Expo West, the largest franchising expo in the Western U.S., on April 1, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. The event was attended by over 2,000+ entrepreneurs, investors and franchisors, over 100 exhibitors.

"Franchise Expo West has always been a valuable event for entrepreneurs and franchisors, and this year was no exception," said Dana Stein, Business Development Manager of MFV Expositions. "The energy and enthusiasm we saw from attendees and exhibitors alike were truly inspiring, and we're thrilled to have played a role in connecting entrepreneurs with franchise opportunities that can help them achieve their business ownership goals."

Next year's Franchise Expo West will be held in Los Angeles, California, at the Los Angeles Convention Center from April 12-13, 2024.

To learn more about the International Franchise Expo in New York City, visit franchiseexpo.com/ife/ .

To learn more about MFV, visit franchiseexpo.com .

To learn more about Comexposium, visit comexposium.com .

About MFV:

MFV is the world's largest producer of franchise expos, known for its highly successful franchise events produced throughout the U.S. and around the world. The company offers face-to-face opportunities for prospective franchisees to meet franchisors looking to grow their brand. Each expo features franchise concepts representing nearly every industry and investment level, along with a robust conference program for attendees and franchisors.

About Comexposium:

Comexposium is one of the world's leading event organizers. Globally, it hosts more than 135 B2B and B2B2C events across many different sectors, including agriculture, construction, fashion, food, health, leisure, real estate, retail, security and tourism. With events in over 30 countries, Comexposium welcomes more than 3.5 million visitors and 48,000 exhibitors annually. Headquartered in France, Comexposium's employees and sales network operate in 20 countries.

SOURCE MFV Expositions
GORDONVILLE, Pa., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- There is excitement in the air with the announcement of Happy Farmer, a new company that aims to make poultry farming accessible, efficient, and enjoyable for homesteaders and farmers alike. Founded by Daniel Kauffman, a teacher in Belize, and Chris Stoltzfus, the owner and founder of E-Impact Marketing, Happy Farmer combines their love for sustainable farming, community outreach, and innovative technology.

The 5x10 Mobile Coop. Our most popular size! It's designed to be used for meat or layers of any type of birds.

Happy Farmer offers an extensive range of premium quality aluminum commercial chicken coops that can also be used for ducks, turkeys or ducks as well as a line of chicken tractors for backyard chicken enthusiasts. Their mobile coops are available on their website, https://www.happyfarmer.store/, and are meticulously crafted to cater to the unique needs of both small and large-scale poultry farmers. With durability, functionality, and the welfare of the birds in mind, Happy Farmer provides a healthy solution for a thriving poultry business.

The mobile coops for sale on the website are designed for easy assembly, cleaning, and maintenance. They feature top-quality materials to ensure longevity, predator protection, and optimal ventilation for healthy and happy birds. The aluminum mobile coop line is easy to move to give chickens fresh pasture every day. Happy Farmer's coops also come in various sizes and configurations, allowing farmers to choose the ideal solution for their specific requirements.

At Happy Farmer, the mission goes beyond providing exceptional coops. They are excited to enable a community of homesteaders and farmers to raise healthy poultry and produce nutrient rich eggs. The founders, Daniel and Chris, bring their unique perspectives to the company, from Daniel's hands-on experience in Belize to Chris's marketing expertise and background on a dairy farm. Together, they are building a brand that truly reflects the values of the homesteading and farming communities.

Visit their website at https://www.happyfarmer.store/ to explore their range of chicken coops and join their community of passionate poultry farmers. Happy Farmer is more than just a company; it's a movement towards a sustainable, profitable, and fulfilling way of life. Let Happy Farmer help achieve poultry farming dreams today!

For more information or inquiries, please contact:

Happy Farmer

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.happyfarmer.store/

Contact Us:

Daniel Kauffman

717-224-6827

[email protected]

SOURCE Happy Farmer
CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Arizton's latest research report, the Italy data center market will grow at a CAGR of 3.29% from 2022-2028.

To Know More, Download the Free Sample Report: https://www.arizton.com/request-sample/3784

Italy Data Center Market

BROWSE IN-DEPTH TOC OF THE ITALY DATA CENTER MARKET

12 - Tables

20 - Figures

117  Pages

Italy is a prominent and emerging data center market in Western Europe. There is a high demand for cloud services from Italian enterprises. In December 2021, the country's Government allocated around $950 million to develop a national cloud to migrate its workloads carrying sensitive data to the cloud, which will be completed by the end of 2025. Investments in Italy data centers will be driven by submarine cable deployment, cloud migration, 5G deployment, and other digitalization initiatives. The advent of new entrants will provide significant data center investments during the forecast period.

Italy Data Center Market Report Scope

Report Attributes Details Market Size (Investment) USD 3.65 Billion (2028) Market Size (Area) 370 thousand Sq. Ft (2028) Market Size (Power Capacity) 80 Mw (2028) CAGR Investment (2022-2028) 3.29 % Colocation Market Size (Revenue) USD 840 Million (2028) Historic Year 2021-2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2028



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Milan is a prominent data center hub in Italy and hosts the country's maximum number of facilities, constituting over 26% of the existing data center area. A strong base of hyperscale operators and colocation data center providers leads Milan.

The increasing demand for cloud services from huge industries has made it a hub for cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Google. In June 2022, Google partnered with TIM, an Italian telco, and opened a cloud region in Milan. Further, the Italy data center market has a presence of local and global colocation and telecom operators such as Aruba, Equinix, Irideos, Telecom Italia, and SUPERNAP Italia, among others. The growing digitalization and introduction of new submarine cables expand the country's data center footprint. There are 24 submarine cables and nine upcoming ones, increasing the country's digital connectivity.

Why Should You Buy This Research?

Market size available in the investment, area, power capacity, and Italy colocation market revenue.

colocation market revenue. An assessment of the data center investment in Italy by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators.

by colocation, hyperscale, and enterprise operators. Investments in the area (square feet) and power capacity (MW) across states in the country.

A detailed study of the existing Italy data center market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about industry size during the forecast period.

data center market landscape, an in-depth industry analysis, and insightful predictions about industry size during the forecast period. Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party data center facilities in Italy

Facilities Covered (Existing):84



Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 07



Coverage: 16+ Locations



Existing vs. Upcoming (Area)



Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity)

Data center colocation market in Italy

Market Revenue & Forecast (2022-2028)



Retail Colocation Pricing

The Italy market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast.

market investments are classified into IT, power, cooling, and general construction services with sizing and forecast. A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry.

Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry.

A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspects of the industry.

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ARIZTON'S EXPERTISE IN THE DATA CENTER INDUSTRY

Exhaustive syndicated reports, databases, country-wise market analysis, & customized consulting projects are published by our exuberant and well-experienced analysts who possess exemplary skills in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research. Subscribe to our complete portfolios to access premium research reports at competitive prices. Partner with Arizton for your next strategic business decision and gain a competitive advantage with real-time, data-driven research.

The report includes the investment in the following areas:

IT Infrastructure

Servers



Storage Systems



Network Infrastructure

Electrical Infrastructure

UPS Systems



Generators



Transfer Switches & Switchgears



PDUs



Other Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems



Rack Cabinets



Other Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

CRAC & CRAH Units



Chiller Units



Cooling Towers, Condensers & Dry Coolers



Economizers & Evaporative Coolers



Other Cooling Units

General Construction

Core & Shell Development



Installation & Commissioning Services



Engineering & Building Design



Fire Detection & Suppression Systems



Physical Security



Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

Tier Standard

Tier I & Tier II



Tier III



Tier IV

Geography

Milan



Other Cities

Major Vendors

IT Infrastructure Providers

Atos

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Huawei Technologies

IBM

Lenovo

NetApp

Nutanix

Oracle

Pure Storage

Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors

AECOM

Ariatta

Eiffage

EDITEL

DBA PRO

Future-tech

ISG

In-Site

NORMA Engineering

Starching

Support Infrastructure Providers

ABB

Alfa Laval

Caterpillar

Climaventa Climate Technologies

Cummins

Emicon

Legrand

HiRef

Honeywell International

Piller Power Systems

Munters

Mitsubishi Electric

Pramac

Rittal

Schneider Electric

Siemens

Socomec

STULZ

Trane

Vertiv

Data Center Investors

Amazon Web Services

Aruba

Equinix

Microsoft

Telecom Italia

IRIDEOS

SUPERNAP Italia

New Entrants

Geoveda

Compass Datacenters

Google

STACK Infrastructure

Vantage Data Centers

Check Some of the Top Selling Research Reports:

France Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027: The France data center market to reach USD 4.20 billion by 2027. The market has witnessed the adoption of smart grid technology. For instance, the French Government installed a smart grid project in Corsica, Guadeloupe, and La Reunion, France, in 2016. Cloud service providers such as OVHcloud, AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle have a strong presence in France and are expanding further with the construction of new facilities. For instance, in June 2022, Oracle announced its new cloud region opening in Paris, whereas it opened the first region in Marseille in November 2021.

Netherlands Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027: The Netherlands data center market to reach USD 4.71 billion by 2027. The digitalization across the Netherlands, driven by COVID-19, deployment of 5G services, the impact of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, and improved connectivity with other European countries, such as the UK, Belgium, Ireland, and others, makes the Netherlands data center market an attractive industry to investors.

Germany Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunity 2022-2027: The Germany data center market to reach $7.33 billion by 2027. The Government of Germany is making a continuous effort to improve the country's digital economy. By 2025, the German government wants to invest $3.09 billion in AI research and development. Cloud operators and colocation operators highly dominate the industry. Also, the Germany data center market is witnessing the entry of a new investor, Yondr, who plans to build a facility in the country.

United Kingdom Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 20222027:

Table of Content

Chapter 1: Existing & Upcoming Third-Party Data Centers in the Italy

 Historical Market Scenario

 80+ Unique Data Center Properties

 Data Center IT Load Capacity

 Data Center White Floor Area

 Existing Vs Upcoming Data Center Capacity by Cities

 Cities Covered

o Milan

o Other Cities

 List of Upcoming Data Center Facilities

Chapter 2: Investment Opportunities in Italy

 Microeconomic and Macroeconomic factors of the Italy Market

 Investment Opportunities in the Italy

 Investment by Area

 Investment by Power Capacity

Chapter 3: Data Center Colocation Market in Italy

 Colocation Services Market in the Italy

 Retail vs Wholesale Data Center Colocation

 Colocation Pricing (Quarter Rack, Half Rack, Full Rack) & Add-ons

Chapter 4: Market Dynamics

 Market Drivers

 Market Trends

 Market Restraints

Chapter 5: Market Segmentation

 IT Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

 Electrical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

 Mechanical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

 General Construction Services: Market Size & Forecast

Chapter 6: Tier Standard Investment

 Tier I & II

 Tier III

 Tier IV

Chapter 7: Geography

 Milan

 Other Cities

Chapter 8: Key Market Participants

 IT Infrastructure Providers

 Construction Contractors

 Support Infrastructure Providers

 Data Center Investors

 New Entrants

Chapter 9: Appendix

 Market Derivation

 Quantitative Summary

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Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovative and quality-driven firm that offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients worldwide. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services.

We offer comprehensive market research reports on consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals, materials, I.T. and media, logistics, and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts.

Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports.

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SOURCE Arizton Advisory & Intelligence
Howry, Breen & Herman secures justice for man paralyzed in catastrophic incident

AUSTIN, Texas, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a two-week trial, a Dallas jury has awarded $44 million in damages to victim James Stacey Taylor of Graham, Texas, after finding that actions by Oncor, the state's largest electric delivery power company, caused the tragic 2015 incident that left Mr. Taylor a quadriplegic.

Winning attorney Sean Breen of Austin-based Howry, Breen & Herman, LLP, said that Mr. Taylor was severely shocked, burned, and paralyzed after Oncor wrongly told him it was his responsibility to trim or remove trees near an Oncor high voltage power line. The jury found that Oncor's negligence resulted in Mr. Taylor's devastating injuries.

"The verdict in this case sends a clear message to Oncor and other large power companies that putting profits over safety is repugnant and will not be tolerated in Texas," said Mr. Breen. "The members of this heroic jury made a difference for Stacey and all of us  they made it clear that these companies do not and should not have a get-out-of-jail free card when they hurt people. Oncor needs to hear this and change."

The case dates to 2015, when Oncor ran a power line across Mr. Taylor's property to his neighbor's house. Dying trees near the line were dropping branches and creating a dangerous situation. Mr. Taylor reported it to Oncor multiple times, asking the company to move the line and cut down the trees, but with no action. Instead, in an effort to save money, Oncor told Mr. Taylor it was his responsibility to protect the line and trim or remove the trees, though doing so put him in a position where he was violating Texas law. Acting to try and protect others from the dangerous conditions, Mr. Taylor was severely shocked, burned, and paralyzed and will require care for the rest of his life.

The jury found that Oncor's conduct took advantage of Mr. Taylor's lack of knowledge and rejected Oncor's defense he violated the statute, finding Mr. Taylor was not familiar with the law. The jury also heard evidence that Oncor knew of other consumers and trimmers who had rented equipment like Mr. Taylor and had been shocked while trimming overgrown trees around Oncor lines.

In addition to Mr. Breen, Mr. Taylor was represented by Chris Lavorato of Howry Breen & Herman, LLP; Brian Lauten of Brian Lauten, P.C. in Dallas; and Robert Swafford of Strike for Cause Jury Consulting.

The case is Taylor v. Oncor Electric Delivery Co. Inc., Case No. DC-16-01615 in Dallas County.

About Howry, Breen & Herman, LLP

Founded in 1995, Howry, Breen & Herman, LLP is a firm of trial attorneys who have fought for and won numerous record-setting and Hall of Fame jury verdicts and settlements for victims across the country. Learn more about the firm at www.howrybreen.com

Media Contact:

Mark Annick

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Howry Breen & Herman LLP
World-class franchisor expands its growing portfolio with its first investment of 2023

RICHMOND, Va., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Empower Brands , multi-brand franchisor of premium commercial and residential services, announced today that Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows will be joining its growing portfolio of brands. This marks Empower Brands' first additions to its portfolio since rebranding late last year. The addition of these industry leading brands brings Empower to nine total brands under its umbrella and will add 115 franchisees to its ever-growing network.

"Since uniting our organizations under the Empower umbrella, we've set out on a mission to expand our portfolio with industry leading brands to better provide for our customers and franchise owners. As successful emerging franchise brands with cultures akin to Empower Brands, Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows make the perfect addition to our growing family of brands," said Scott Zide, CEO of Empower Brands. "With a focus on championing the success of our franchisees, Empower Brands will help position Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows for continued rapid growth and strengthen the training and support provided to the franchisees."

Founded in 2020 by Scott Marr, Koala Insulation is a nationally established franchise based in Melbourne, Florida that provides high-quality insulation services. Since its launch, the brand has expanded to over 100 franchisees serving 400 territories nationwide and received major recognitions and accolades, including Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 and 2023 Fastest Growing Franchise lists. Marr's second franchise business, Wallaby Windows, was launched in early 2022 as an emerging brand specializing in replacement windows and door. After establishing a strong proof of concept in its home market, Wallaby Windows recently announced plans to expand nationwide through franchising, plans that Empower Brands is perfectly suited to help support.

"Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows have already experienced exceptional growth, and the support and resources under Empower Brands will allow us to expand even further," said Scott Marr, founder and CEO of Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows. "Empower Brands has a proven track record for not only growing brands but fostering a franchisee-first culture. By joining forces with Empower Brands, I'm confident we can accelerate our growth even more and strengthen the training and support we provide our franchise owners. I'm excited to continue the growth and know that our brands will continue to thrive with the support of Empower behind us."

The two brands join JAN-PRO , Intelligent Office , FRSTeam , Archadeck Outdoor Living , Outdoor Lighting Perspectives , Conserva Irrigation and Superior Fence & Rail as part of Empower's growing portfolio. Following the company's rebrand last year which united the world-class organizations formerly known as Lynx Franchising and Outdoor Living Brands to form Empower Brands, Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows mark Empower's first investment and moves the business towards its goal of 12 or more brands by the close of 2023.

To learn more about franchising with Empower Brands, visit EmpowerFranchising.com .

About Empower Brands

Empower Brands was founded in 2022 as a product of the integration of Lynx Franchising and Outdoor Living Brands. Empower encompasses seven industry-leading brands across commercial and residential services: JAN-PRO, Intelligent Office, FRSTeam, Archadeck Outdoor Living, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP), Conserva Irrigation and Superior Fence & Rail. Empower is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest quality products and services in the commercial and home services industries while simultaneously delivering its franchise owners committed personal support, tools and empowerment to pursue their own success. Empower Brands is a portfolio company of MidOcean Partners, a leading private equity firm with an excellent track record investing in successful, growth-focused franchise businesses. For more about Empower Brands, visit the company's website at EmpowerFranchising.com .

SOURCE Empower Brands
SHENZHEN, China, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kynix Semiconductor Limited, a professional independent distributor of electronic components, recently announced that it would attend PCIM Europe. The exhibition will be held at Nuremberg Exhibition Center in Germany from Tuesday, May 9th to Thursday, May 11th, 2023. Kynix will show its strength in the sales channels, after-sales service, quality-inspection ability, brand marketing, etc. in the exhibition, at HALL 7 BOOTH 650.

Kynix will attend the PCIM Europe 2023 from May 9 to 11, and the booth location is HALL 7 BOOTH 650.

PCIM Europe 2023 is the leading exhibition for power electronics and its applications, and also the largest power semiconductor exhibition in the world. Since its inception, the show has provided a professional communication platform for a wide range of professionals from the field of power electronics and their drive skills. The exhibits range from sensor components to development software, power quality, power supplies and more.

Enterprises participating in this exhibition come from all over the world. Kynix is honored to be one of the participating brands. Kynix is a professional independent distributor of electronic components, with broad and smooth supply channels and a strong inventory of electronic components. Based on guaranteed quality and firm professionalism, Kynix's achievements are increasingly recognized by the industry. After years of development, Kynix has become an important force in the electronic power market.

Kynix adheres to the business philosophy of quality first, honesty and trustworthiness, and strives to become a leader in the electronic power industry. Since its establishment in 2008, Kynix has won great praise from global electronics manufacturers in terms of providing high-quality components and supply chain management services. Based on the good reputation passed down by word of mouth, Kynix has cooperated with a wider range of customers and has established good cooperative relationships with more and more suppliers. In the future, Kynix will also work with more partners to promote the prosperity and development of the industry.

Attending PCIM Europe will not only prove Kynix's highly competitive development advantages, but also further enrich Kynix's overseas service network, and help Kynix establish and develop cooperation opportunities with more peers.

Here Kynix sincerely invites all new and old customers who are interested in deep cooperation with electronic component distributors to come to the exhibition. Kynix will be waiting for you at HALL 7 BOOTH 650. Kynix will show you its corporate culture and win together with more partners.

SOURCE Kynix
Antitrust cases have declined largely across the board over the last four years; food production companies dominated as the most active defendants; courts enforced a high standard at the pleadings stage

MENLO PARK, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today releases its annual Antitrust Litigation Report. The report examines trends in antitrust litigation in federal district courts and appellate courts. Focusing on the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, it surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on DOJ/FTC enforcement contested cases, MDL Master cases, and federal appellate cases.

Lex Machina 2023 Antitrust Litigation Report Highlights

"Our report revealed several exciting insights about the changing landscape of antitrust litigation," said Ron Porter, Lex Machina's antitrust legal data expert and editor of the report. "Our data and analytics not only showed us that antitrust cases have continued to decline year-over-year for the past four years, our filters revealed that this case filing trend was mirrored in several key subsets of cases. The analytics also highlighted that unlike previous years, food production companies featured prominently as the most active defendants. Moreover, our case resolution and findings analytics indicated that courts continued to expect plaintiffs and defendants to meet a high bar at the pleadings stage."

Highlights from the report include:

In 2022, 371 antitrust cases were filed, the lowest number of cases filed in any year over the past decade.

The highest number of antitrust cases was filed in the Northern District of California , while Judge Howell from the District Court for the District of Columbia was the most active judge for antitrust cases.

, while Judge Howell from the District Court for the was the most active judge for antitrust cases. A large bulk of the most active plaintiffs were pharmaceutical companies, while food production companies dominated the most active defendants.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan represented plaintiffs in the highest number of antitrust cases filed in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022.

& Sullivan represented plaintiffs in the highest number of antitrust cases filed in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represented defendants in the highest number of antitrust cases filed in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022.

For antitrust cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2018 to 2022 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 34% were ultimately reversed.

Lex Machina's reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report can help readers decide who to pursue as clients, whether to file a particular motion, or when to settle (and for how much). This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in court.

Register here for a copy of the report: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2023AntitrustReport_LP.html

Antitrust Litigation Report Webcast

Lex Machina is hosting a webcast to discuss the report on April 20, 2023 at noon ET/9am PT with Anna Rathbun (Partner at Latham & Watkins), Ron Porter (Lex Machina's Legal Data Expert in Antitrust Litigation), and Aria Nejad (Lex Machina's in-house counsel). Register for the event or view a recording: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2023AntitrustReportWebcast_LP.html

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LexisNexis Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis and Nexis services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,300 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina

Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 20 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to predict the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.

Lex Machina was named one of "Legal Tech's Most Promising Solution Providers" (CIO Review Awards 2022), "Greater Bay Area Top Workplaces 2022" (The San Francisco Chronicle Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022), "Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021" (CIO Review, 2021), "2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer" (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the "Media Excellence" Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.

SOURCE Lex Machina
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. The Kazakh-Austrian business forum was held on April 20, 2023, during which investors from Austria became interested in investment agricultural projects of Kazakhstan, Trend reports with reference to the press service of Kazakhstans "Baiterek" National Managing Holding.

According to the information, the forum, which was held in the Austrian city of Graz, was dedicated to the investment opportunities of Kazakhstan and the strengthening of bilateral economic ties between the two countries.

During the forum, Nurbolat Aidapkelov, the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of "Baiterek" National Managing Holding, made a report on financial measures to support agriculture in Kazakhstan.

In his speech, Aidapkelov noted that Baiterek Holding, being a key financial operator of the Government of Kazakhstan, provides support to priority sectors of the economy, including in the agro-industrial complex.

He noted that at the moment the agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan is one of the most attractive sectors for investment, including for Austrian investors, and also added that the key factors influencing the attractiveness of the agro-industrial sector of Kazakhstan for investment are rich land resources, favorable geographical location with the possibility of Austrian agricultural producers entering fast-growing markets of China, the EAEU and the Persian Gulf countries.

Meanwhile, Austria is among the leading trade partners of Kazakhstan and ranks 9th among the EU countries in terms of bilateral trade. Kazakhstan is the second largest trading partner for Austria among the CIS countries.
Lower salaried and frontline jobs tend to earn more with tenure, according to a new Syndio analysis

SEATTLE, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Two years into the Great Resignation, companies have chased wage growth and exacerbated pay gaps by paying new hires more than tenured employees, according to new research from Syndio, the world's leading workplace equity analytics platform. In 83 percent of high-paying job groups, defined as those with an average salary of $125,000 or more, tenured employees tend to not make more than new employees. In fact, 30 percent of the time, they actually make less.

However, loyalty does pay for three-quarters of job groups paying $75,000 or less (77 percent). Based on Syndio's analysis, jobs at the lower end of the pay spectrum  like retail, manufacturing and other frontline jobs  continue to pay more for tenure compared to new workers. It is the opposite for corporate support roles, such as HR, Finance, Marketing, Analytics, and IT. In 55 percent of these job groups, new hire pay is very similar to pay for tenured employees. In one position we analyzed for a mid-level professional job group, we found the lowest pay went to people who were 2-4 years into the position  they make 4.4 percent less than their peers.

Employers are tightening budgets while the labor market remains hot, which is creating a challenging environment to attract and retain employees. The addition of pay transparency laws sweeping the country - which require employers to post pay ranges on job descriptions - means employees will be more likely to recognize any pay disparities that result from the combination of a competitive labor market and tighter budgets. This "perfect storm" of factors could create headaches for employers as workers realize newly hired peers are earning more than them.

"An organization may want homegrown talent, they may value the fresh perspective that external hires bring, and they may want a mix. All of these approaches are valid. But the reality is that we're in the pay transparency era and salary ranges are out in the open. Companies have to be prepared to publicly explain why there may be pay gaps between tenured and new employees," said Chris Martin, Research Economist at Syndio. "Remember, with pay, perception is reality: how employees feel about their compensation impacts their satisfaction with their employer and their desire to stay."

Syndio looked at gender-based pay equity analyses conducted over the past year from 48 organizations, representing 786,000 employees across 1,716 distinct job groups. Pay equity analyses include neutral, job-related controls that can explain differences in pay  like location, management responsibilities, and tenure. In the analysis, job groups are composed of similar roles, meaning those requiring similar skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. The focus of this research was to look at the pure impact of company tenure for employees who are otherwise similar, and whether staying at a current employer can provide more or less earnings than leaving, assuming the employee lands the same role either way.

View the complete analysis and methodology on Syndio's blog .

About Syndio

Syndio provides technology and expert guidance that helps companies measure, achieve, and sustain all facets of workplace equity. More than 260 companies, including 30% of Fortune's Most Admired Companies, rely on Syndio's platform to close pay and opportunity gaps, mitigate legal risk, and turn DE&I goals into tangible results. Together, we are showing the world how to build resilient, open workplaces by ensuring every employee is valued for who they are and what they contribute to their company's success.

Media Relations Contact:

Lauren Riefflin

425.829.0516

[email protected]

SOURCE Syndio
Award for the Balloon Endo-Luminal Lumen Occluding (BELLO) Device Presented to Dr. Maselli at the ESGE Days 2023 Congress

Lumendi Congratulates Dr. Maselli on the Award for BELLO, Which is Based on the Design of DiLumen EIP

MAIDENHEAD, United Kingdom, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UK-based medical device innovator Lumendi Ltd., today announced that the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) has awarded company consultant and key opinion leader, Dr. Roberta Maselli, Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology at Humanitas University in Milan, Italy, the 'Best New Device" award for the Balloon Endo-Luminal Lumen Occluding (BELLO) Device. The prestigious award was presented to Dr. Maselli earlier today, at the Society's ESGE Days 2023 congress, currently being held in Dublin, Ireland through April 22, 2023, and virtually.

The BELLO is a new, modified device designed to facilitate technically demanding endoscopic submucosal dissection procedures of the lower gastrointestinal tract, especially of rectal lesions. The device consists of a flexible guide rod and a manually inflatable balloon, based on the unique balloon design of Lumendi's DiLumen EZ Glide, and is anticipated for use with any standard and small-diameter endoscopes. When the balloon is inflated, it is able to prevent inflow of fecal material into the dissection zone and will maintain the insufflated gas during the procedure.

"The BELLO is an important innovation and upon approval, would allow safer, more efficient submucosal dissection procedures in the rectum. We extend our congratulations to Dr. Maselli, and our team members who have been working with her on development of this device," stated Dr. Peter Johann, Chief Executive Officer of Lumendi, Ltd.

"I am honored by this recognition from the ESGE, and I look forward to working with Lumendi to develop the BELLO device towards regulatory approval. In addition to its potential use in lower gastrointestinal procedures, in the future, the BELLO device may also be applied to upper GI (esophageal and gastric) endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and advanced resections, and I am hopeful that clinical trials can be conducted in order to pursue such use. With its numerous potential benefits, including improved safety, accuracy, and patient comfort, it has the ability to revolutionize the way early gastrointestinal neoplasia are treated," stated Dr. Maselli.

About Lumendi, Ltd.

Lumendi, Ltd. a privately held, innovative medical device company based in Maidenhead, UK. Lumendi focuses on developing, marketing and distributing surgical tools and devices that provide safe, cost-effective solutions for minimally invasive gastrointestinal interventions.

Follow us on

YouTube Lumendi YouTube

Twitter Lumendi USA

Contact

Paula Schwartz

Managing Director

Rx Communications Group, LLC

917-633-7790

[email protected]

SOURCE Lumendi Ltd.
Winning projects will explore new potential treatment approaches to prevent lupus from developing or prevent or slow disease progression.

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) today announced the newest Lupus Mechanisms and Targets Award grant recipients. The winning four projects collectively test potential treatment approaches to prevent lupus from developing or reducing lupus disease activity. Lupus has a broad range of causes and symptoms, and these multiple approaches are important for designing customized therapies that can provide better outcomes for a wide range of patients.

The LRA LMTA grants offer up to $600,000 over three years for research focusing on investigating molecular pathways or targets leading to the development of new or improved therapies for patients with cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

"These four new LMTA awards support innovative lupus researchers whose work is poised to deliver much needed new information for the lupus field. We are proud to be able to offer this financial support, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for lupus patients," said Teodora Staeva, Ph.D., vice president and chief scientific officer of LRA.

Lupus Mechanisms and Targets Award Winners

Jennifer Anolik , M.D., Ph.D.; University of Rochester Medical Center

Dr. Anolik will investigate if sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors  a class of drugs approved to treat type 2 diabetes and associated kidney disease  can improve outcomes in lupus nephritis, which is inflammation in the kidneys caused by lupus that affects 40 to 70 percent of lupus patients. Current treatment approaches target inflammation with little impact on fibrosis and injury. Dr. Anolik will study mice with lupus nephritis to see if SGLT2 inhibitors reduce kidney hypoxia, inflammatory CD8 T cells, and kidney injury. She will also begin to investigate the effects of treatment with SGLT2i on clinical outcomes and pathogenic CD8 T cells in the blood and urine of patients with lupus nephritis.





Dr. Anolik will investigate if sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors  a class of drugs approved to treat type 2 diabetes and associated kidney disease  can improve outcomes in lupus nephritis, which is inflammation in the kidneys caused by lupus that affects 40 to 70 percent of lupus patients. Current treatment approaches target inflammation with little impact on fibrosis and injury. Dr. Anolik will study mice with lupus nephritis to see if SGLT2 inhibitors reduce kidney hypoxia, inflammatory CD8 T cells, and kidney injury. She will also begin to investigate the effects of treatment with SGLT2i on clinical outcomes and pathogenic CD8 T cells in the blood and urine of patients with lupus nephritis. Betsy Barnes , Ph.D.; The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has heritable components that can be passed on to children through gene variants. Variants in the interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) gene, which controls the production of type I interferons, can be inherited, and they increase the risk of developing SLE. Dr. Barnes has recently identified a new regulator of IRF5 function STK25  that turns on IRF5 in SLE immune cells. Using this award, Dr. Barnes will compare STK25 activity in healthy people with and without IRF5 gene variants and in SLE patients. She will also aim to determine how STK25 activates IRF5 in response to SLE triggers and investigate if loss of the STK25 gene protects against lupus in lupus-prone mice, which will aid future clinical trials focused on targeting STK25 and/or IRF5 as new therapeutics.





Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has heritable components that can be passed on to children through gene variants. Variants in the interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) gene, which controls the production of type I interferons, can be inherited, and they increase the risk of developing SLE. Dr. Barnes has recently identified a new regulator of IRF5 function STK25  that turns on IRF5 in SLE immune cells. Using this award, Dr. Barnes will compare STK25 activity in healthy people with and without IRF5 gene variants and in SLE patients. She will also aim to determine how STK25 activates IRF5 in response to SLE triggers and investigate if loss of the STK25 gene protects against lupus in lupus-prone mice, which will aid future clinical trials focused on targeting STK25 and/or IRF5 as new therapeutics. Michelle Kahlenberg , M.D., Ph.D.; University of Michigan

Dr. Kahlenberg recently found that abnormal activity of Hippo proteins turns on the overproduction of immune system molecules (interferons) in lupus patients' blood and skin. Dr. Kahlenberg will use this award to study whether turning off these Hippo proteins will decrease the amount of type I interferons, one of the hallmarks of cutaneous lupus and SLE. Her investigation will determine if Hippo proteins could serve as new therapeutic targets. Dr. Kahlenberg's work builds on decades of pioneering studies on type I interferons funded by the LRA.





Dr. Kahlenberg recently found that abnormal activity of Hippo proteins turns on the overproduction of immune system molecules (interferons) in lupus patients' blood and skin. Dr. Kahlenberg will use this award to study whether turning off these Hippo proteins will decrease the amount of type I interferons, one of the hallmarks of cutaneous lupus and SLE. Her investigation will determine if Hippo proteins could serve as new therapeutic targets. Dr. Kahlenberg's work builds on decades of pioneering studies on type I interferons funded by the LRA. Jillian Richmond, Ph.D.; University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

T cells are immune cells that can cause lupus flares in the skin. Dr. Richmond found that skin T cells in both people and mice have a protein on their cell surface called CXCR6. The T cell CXCR6 interacts with a protein called CXCL16 on skin cells, similar to how a lock and key fit together. Dr. Richmond will use this award to determine if the CXCL16-CXCR6 interaction is important in keeping the harmful T cells in the skin of patients with cutaneous lupus. She will also investigate if targeting these two molecules will provide a lasting treatment response in pet dogs with skin lupus through a veterinary clinical trial. This project could provide new information about the molecules on the surface of lupus-causing immune cells that could be targeted to prevent or slow lupus disease progression.

About Lupus

Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. More than 90 percent of people with lupus are women; lupus most often strikes during the childbearing years of 15-45. Black/African Americans, Hispanic/Latino, Asians, and Native Americans are two to three times at greater risk than Caucasians. In lupus, the immune system, which is designed to protect against infection, creates antibodies that can attack any part of the body including the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, blood, skin, and joints.

About the Lupus Research Alliance

The Lupus Research Alliance is the largest non-governmental, non-profit funder of lupus research worldwide. The organization aims to transform treatment by funding the most innovative lupus research, fostering diverse scientific talent, and driving discovery toward better diagnostics, improved treatments and ultimately a cure for lupus. Because the Lupus Research Alliance's Board of Directors funds all administrative and fundraising costs, 100% of all donations goes to support lupus research programs.

SOURCE Lupus Research Alliance
Revenues of $4.8 billion (-8% as reported, -2% constant currency (CC))

(-8% as reported, -2% constant currency (CC)) Gross profit margin of 18.2%, up 80 basis points year over year reflecting continued strong pricing discipline and increased outplacement activity in Right Management

Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions revenues experienced modest organic CC declines in the quarter driven by the environment in the U.S. and Europe

Free Cash Flow of $111 million ; Repurchased $30 million of common stock

; Repurchased of common stock Strong Balance Sheet positions us well in an uncertain environment

MILWAUKEE, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) today reported net earnings of $1.51 per diluted share for the three months ended March 31, 2023 compared to $1.68 per diluted share in the prior year period. Net earnings in the quarter were $77.8 million compared to $91.6 million a year earlier. Revenues for the first quarter were $4.8 billion, an 8% decrease from the prior year period.

The current year quarter included restructuring costs which reduced earnings per share by $0.10 in the first quarter. Excluding these costs, earnings per share was $1.61 per diluted share in the quarter representing a decrease of 7% in constant currency.1

Financial results in the quarter were also impacted by the stronger U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies compared to the prior year period, resulting in a 14 cent negative impact to earnings per share in the quarter compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, revenues decreased 2% compared to the prior year period.

Days Sales Outstanding improved by 0.5 days year over year reflecting continued focus on collections and working capital efficiency.

Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman & CEO, said, "Our first quarter results reflect a challenging operating environment in the U.S. and Europe. Despite a softening demand environment for our brands, labor markets remained strong during the first quarter. Employers are intent on holding on to the staff they have and are hiring new talent more selectively at a measured pace. We continue to adjust our cost base in the parts of our business where demand has decreased. Our steadfast commitment to our Diversification, Digitization and Innovation initiatives positions us for improved growth when economic conditions strengthen.

We anticipate diluted earnings per share in the second quarter will be between $1.58 and $1.68, which includes an estimated unfavorable currency impact of 3 cents."

In conjunction with its first quarter earnings release, ManpowerGroup will host a conference call live online on April 20, 2023 at 7:30 a.m. central time (8:30 a.m. eastern time). Prepared remarks for the conference call, webcast details, presentation and recordings are included within the Investor Relations section of manpowergroup.com.

Supplemental financial information referenced in the conference call can be found at http://investor.manpowergroup.com/ .

____________________________ 1 The prior year period included acquisition integration costs from our U.S. Experis acquisition and the net loss related to the sale of our Russia business which reduced earnings per share by $0.20 which are also excluded when determining the year over year trend.

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizations transform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing, and managing the talent that enables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year, providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands  Manpower, Experis, and Talent Solutions  creates substantially more value for candidates and clients across more than 70 countries and territories and has done so for 75 years. We are recognized consistently for our diversity  as a best place to work for Women, Inclusion, Equality, and Disability, and in 2023 ManpowerGroup was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the 14th time  all confirming our position as the brand of choice for in-demand talent. For more information, visit www.manpowergroup.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements, including statements regarding economic uncertainty, financial outlook, labor demand, geopolitical risk and uncertainty, the Company's strategic initiatives and technology investments, and the future performance of our brands and businesses, including in certain regions and countries, that are forward-looking in nature and, accordingly, are subject to risks and uncertainties regarding the Company's expected future results. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those described or contemplated in the forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These factors include those found in the Company's reports filed with the SEC, including the information under the heading "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, which information is incorporated herein by reference.

The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. We reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide useful information for investors. We include a reconciliation of these measures, where appropriate, to GAAP on the Investor Relations section of our website at manpowergroup.com.

ManpowerGroup Results of Operations (In millions, except per share data)











Three Months Ended March 31





% Variance





Amount Constant

2023 2022 Reported Currency

(Unaudited) Revenues from services (a) $ 4,752.3 $ 5,143.3 -7.6 % -2.2 %









Cost of services 3,889.2 4,246.2 -8.4 % -2.9 %









Gross profit 863.1 897.1 -3.8 % 1.3 %









Selling and administrative expenses 745.2 758.4 -1.7 % 2.9 %









Operating profit 117.9 138.7 -15.0 % -7.4 %









Interest and other expenses, net 7.5 2.7 180.4 %











Earnings before income taxes 110.4 136.0 -18.8 % -11.5 %









Provision for income taxes 32.6 44.4 -26.5 %











Net earnings $ 77.8 $ 91.6 -15.1 % -7.4 %









Net earnings per share - basic $ 1.53 $1.71 -10.6 %











Net earnings per share - diluted $ 1.51 $1.68 -10.4 % -2.3 %









Weighted average shares - basic 50.9 53.6 -5.0 %











Weighted average shares - diluted 51.6 54.4 -5.2 %





















(a) Revenues from services include fees received from our franchise offices of $3.9 million and $3.6 million

for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. These fees are primarily based on

revenues generated by the franchise offices, which were $250.2 million and $265.2 million for the three

months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

ManpowerGroup Operating Unit Results (In millions)







Three Months Ended March 31





% Variance





Amount Constant

2023 2022 Reported Currency

(Unaudited) Revenues from Services:







Americas:







United States (a) $ 770.0 $ 889.4 -13.4 % -13.4 % Other Americas 360.2 361.8 -0.4 % 11.8 %

1,130.2 1,251.2 -9.7 % -6.1 % Southern Europe:







France 1,169.3 1,192.4 -1.9 % 2.5 % Italy 422.2 445.0 -5.1 % -0.8 % Other Southern Europe 476.4 556.5 -14.4 % -10.3 %

2,067.9 2,193.9 -5.7 % -1.4 %









Northern Europe 967.6 1,094.5 -11.6 % -3.9 % APME 605.9 618.2 -2.0 % 7.3 %

4,771.6 5,157.8



Intercompany Eliminations (19.3) (14.5)





$ 4,752.3 $ 5,143.3 -7.6 % -2.2 %









Operating Unit Profit:







Americas:







United States $ 31.1 $ 58.3 -46.7 % -46.7 % Other Americas 17.5 14.5 21.0 % 37.2 %

48.6 72.8 -33.2 % -30.0 % Southern Europe:







France 44.9 49.6 -9.4 % -5.7 % Italy 30.7 29.0 5.9 % 10.6 % Other Southern Europe 14.3 16.6 -14.3 % -9.1 %

89.9 95.2 -5.6 % -1.3 %









Northern Europe 5.0 3.3 53.6 % 107.7 % APME 21.1 19.0 11.5 % 23.9 %

164.6 190.3



Corporate expenses (37.9) (42.0)



Intangible asset amortization expense (8.8) (9.6)



Operating profit 117.9 138.7 -15.0 % -7.4 % Interest and other expenses, net (b) (7.5) (2.7)



Earnings before income taxes $ 110.4 $ 136.0























(a) In the United States, revenues from services include fees received from our franchise offices of $3.2 million and $2.9 million

for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. These fees are primarily based on revenues generated

by the franchise offices, which were $99.3 million and $110.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022,

respectively.









(b) The components of interest and other expenses, net were:







2023 2022



Interest expense $ 18.7 $ 10.4



Interest income (8.1) (2.8)



Foreign exchange loss, net 3.1 1.8



Miscellaneous income, net (6.2) (6.7)





$ 7.5 $ 2.7















ManpowerGroup Consolidated Balance Sheets (In millions)









Mar. 31,

Dec. 31,

2023

2022

(Unaudited) ASSETS





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents $ 706.7

$ 639.0 Accounts receivable, net 4,773.2

5,137.4 Prepaid expenses and other assets 178.0

158.0 Total current assets 5,657.9

5,934.4







Other assets:





Goodwill 1,631.7

1,628.1 Intangible assets, net 541.4

549.5 Operating lease right-of-use asset 381.8

365.7 Other assets 566.4

540.5 Total other assets 3,121.3

3,083.8







Property and equipment:





Land, buildings, leasehold improvements and equipment 595.1

584.9 Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization 484.7

472.7 Net property and equipment 110.4

112.2 Total assets $ 8,889.6

$ 9,130.4







LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY





Current liabilities:





Accounts payable $ 2,662.4

$ 2,831.4 Employee compensation payable 200.0

271.7 Accrued liabilities 576.7

572.6 Accrued payroll taxes and insurance 694.8

746.7 Value added taxes payable 429.1

462.7 Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt 16.6

26.6 Total current liabilities 4,579.6

4,911.7







Other liabilities:





Long-term debt 972.4

959.9 Long-term operating lease liability 282.6

266.6 Other long-term liabilities 545.6

534.1 Total other liabilities 1,800.6

1,760.6







Shareholders' equity:





ManpowerGroup shareholders' equity





Common stock 1.2

1.2 Capital in excess of par value 3,490.6

3,484.2 Retained earnings 3,946.3

3,868.5 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (451.6)

(458.7) Treasury stock, at cost (4,488.1)

(4,447.9) Total ManpowerGroup shareholders' equity 2,498.4

2,447.3 Noncontrolling interests 11.0

10.8 Total shareholders' equity 2,509.4

2,458.1 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 8,889.6

$ 9,130.4

ManpowerGroup Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (In millions)









Three Months Ended

March 31,

2023

2022

(Unaudited) Cash Flows from Operating Activities:





Net earnings $ 77.8

$ 91.6 Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to net cash provided by operating activities:





Depreciation and amortization 21.0

21.3 Loss on sale of a subsidiary -

8.0 Deferred income taxes 18.2

2.4 Provision for doubtful accounts 0.1

2.8 Share-based compensation 5.1

10.6 Changes in operating assets and liabilities:





Accounts receivable 398.0

(96.9) Other assets (37.3)

(17.1) Other liabilities (358.3)

47.9 Cash provided by operating activities 124.6

70.6







Cash Flows from Investing Activities:





Capital expenditures (13.2)

(19.4) Proceeds from the sales of subsidiaries and property and equipment -

0.8 Cash used in investing activities (13.2)

(18.6)







Cash Flows from Financing Activities:





Net change in short-term borrowings (10.7)

(3.7) Repayments of revolving debt facility -

(25.0) Proceeds from long-term debt 0.2

0.7 Repayments of long-term debt (0.2)

- Proceeds from share-based awards 1.7

0.3 Other share-based award transactions (9.8)

(8.2) Repurchases of common stock (30.0)

(59.9) Cash used in financing activities (48.8)

(95.8)







Effect of exchange rate changes on cash 5.1

(26.7) Change in cash and cash equivalents 67.7

(70.5)







Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 639.0

847.8 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 706.7

$ 777.3

SOURCE ManpowerGroup
C$ unless otherwise stated TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife has released an updated template for its statistical information package (SIP), which will be used in connection with the reporting of Manulife's first quarter of 2023 financial results on May 10, 2023. The SIP has been updated primarily to reflect the adoption of IFRS 17 "insurance contracts" and IFRS 9 "financial instruments" effective January 1, 2023. An accompanying summary of changes to the SIP has also been made available to further assist users in understanding the updated presentation.

The SIP template and accompanying summary of changes are available in the IFRS 17 section of Manulife's investor relations website: manulife.com/en/investors/results-and-reports.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2022, we had more than 40,000 employees, over 116,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 34 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com .

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Epirus, a high-growth technology company developing power management solutions and directed energy systems, announced today the appointment of Mara Motherway to the company's executive leadership team as Chief Growth Officer. Reporting to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ken Bedingfield, Mara will lead all aspects of growth for the company's portfolio, including business development, corporate campaigns, marketing, communications, and government relations.

Mara Motherway, Chief Growth Officer

"Mara's unique blend of industry and military experience and decades-long track record of strategic foresight and driving results is the perfect addition to Epirus as we embark on our next phase of growth," said Ken Bedingfield, Epirus CEO. "Mara is a highly effective business leader who has deep expertise building powerful teams to shape the delivery of innovative technology solutions for national security customers."

Mara joins Epirus from Peraton, where she served as Senior Vice President of Government and Customer Relations. In this role, she created and led Peraton's public policy and government affairs function. Prior to Peraton, Mara served as Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton where she founded their government and customer relations organization, served as the business development executive for defense and military intelligence and business executive supporting U.S. government classified missions with full responsibility for strategy development and execution, program performance, and growth objectives. Prior to joining Booz Allen, Mara served as Director, Special Projects of BAE Systems' Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) business, developing and leading the company's ISR electronic systems investment strategy.

Before joining industry, Mara served as a U.S. naval officer for over two decades. Her diverse military experience spans combat operations in the Middle East, acquisition oversight for U.S. government satellite and special communications, and legislative affairs director for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

"I am thrilled to join Ken and the team at Epirus. America's lifeblood is innovation  our society benefits and our nation is more secure when government stakeholders have the opportunity to adopt cutting-edge commercial technology," said Motherway. "Epirus brings this breakthrough technology to market at record pace. I look forward to driving value and advancing mission success of the company."

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the National Defense University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Orion Talent, the Stimson Center, the International Spy Museum, and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). She is also a member of the Atlantic Council Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption.

ABOUT EPIRUS:

Epirus is a high-growth technology company developing solid-state, software-defined directed energy systems that enable unprecedented counter-electronics effects and power management solutions to optimize power efficiency in defense and commercial applications. With a constant emphasis on innovation, we are redefining the future of power to bring tomorrow's capabilities to life, today. And that's just the beginning. Visit our website to learn more about our innovative approach and cutting-edge product lines. For more information on Epirus' solutions or to request an interview with subject matter experts, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE Epirus
LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental and land use law firm The Sohagi Law Group announced today that Managing Partner Margaret Sohagi has been selected as an honoree in a Los Angeles Business Journal's list of the city's most influential women attorneys. The "Women of Influence: Attorneys" list recognizes women lawyers that have exceptional legal skill and achievement as well as exemplary leadership in the community.

Sohagi's practice for the last 30 years has focused on assisting cities, counties, and other public agencies navigate the legal complexities of land use, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), climate change and housing supply). Sohagi "provides constructive, practical legal advice, working directly with lead agency counsel, staff, appointed elected officials," says the publication. "When necessary, she zealously defends lead agencies' land use approvals and environmental determinations in judicial proceedings, and frequently heads mediation teams in settlement discussions."

As a longstanding CEQA instructor for California's Continuing Judicial Studies Program, Sohagi has the unique opportunity to instruct Superior Court judges, appellate justices and court attorneys. "Her land use and environmental law expertise, and ability to keep public agencies informed about the latest legal developments and trends, is also demonstrated through her frequent planning and legal conference presentations, extensive UCLA and USC teaching experience," the feature says.

Sohagi currently serves as the Chair of the Santa Monica College Foundation Board. In 2021, Sohagi was recognized as a nominee for the Los Angeles Times' "Inspirational Women Award" and by the Los Angeles Business Journal for the "Community Impact Advocate Award."

About The Sohagi Law Group

The Sohagi Law Group handles complex transactional and litigation matters for public agencies, including cities, counties, townships, state agencies, special districts, commissions and authorities. Its attorneys draw upon their extensive expertise in all areas of environmental and land use law to advise clients navigate existing laws and regulations and keep them up to date on emerging environmental issues such as climate change and greenhouse gas regulation.

SOURCE The Sohagi Law Group
BETHESDA, Md., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) announces that Melanie J. Wells, MPH, CAE, the College's current Chief Operations Officer, has been selected by the ACMG Board of Directors to become its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), following a thorough national search. Ms. Wells is the first African American and first woman to lead the organization, which was founded in 1991 and represents medical genetics professionals, including clinical geneticists, laboratory geneticists, genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals. Ms. Wells will succeed ACMG's Interim CEO, Robert G. Best, PhD, FACMG.

Melanie J. Wells, MPH, CAE is the new Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), and the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine

Susan Klugman, MD, FACMG, FACOG said, "It is an exciting time for the College as the practices of clinical and laboratory genetics are both at critical junctures. Collaboration with nongenetics professionals will become increasingly important in the years to come. Ms. Wells is well positioned to lead our talented and hardworking staff to achieve our goals in the areas of education, research and advocacy as genetics will have a much broader presence in all healthcare. I have worked with Ms. Wells since my initial years on the ACMG board and have always appreciated her organizational and interpersonal skills. She has also been the staff liaison to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and has been involved in many of its initiatives. Her years of experience as an association professional, and her knowledge of the inner workings of the College combined with her commitment make her an outstanding choice for this role."

Ms. Wells takes the helm at a pivotal time in the field of medical genetics. "Associations are operating during unprecedented times, as we integrate lessons learned during the pandemic and develop new business strategies to meet member and partner needs," said Ms. Wells. "As our lives have evolved, similarly ACMG and ACMGF must continue to demonstrate the value of the work we do in innovative ways. I am honored to continue my service to the College and look forward to collaborating with our board of directors, volunteers, and our dedicated staff to position the College and Foundation for transformational change that expands our reach, establishes pathways for equitable access to genetics and genomics services and resources, while solidifying our future service to the greater medical community."

Ms. Wells received a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management with a concentration in Healthcare Organizations and Management from the University of South Florida, College of Public Health. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a designated Certified Association Executive by the American Society of Association Executives.

Ms. Wells joined the ACMG and the ACMG Foundation in 2016 as Director of Administration and has been the Chief Operations Officer since 2020. In this role, she worked closely with the Chief Executive Officer to fulfill the College's mission by overseeing budgets, staff, human resources, information technology and operations. Ms. Wells also worked closely with the Board of Directors for both ACMG and the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine on strategic planning and implementing board initiatives.

Previously she was Chief Operating Officer for the Society for Public Health Education, and Executive Director of Capital City Area Health Education Center in Washington, DC.

"Since its inception the ACMG has had a scientist and Fellow as its leader," said chair of the CEO Search Committee and immediate past president of the ACMG, Marc S. Williams, MD, FACMG. "At the initiation of this search, the Board endorsed expanding the criteria to include association professionals, reflecting that the College has grown so much in its 30+ years of existence, that leadership by a professional trained in the management of complex organizations could offer opportunities for transformation. Based on her training and experience with the College and other associations, Ms. Wells impressed the search committee with several innovative ideas involving membership, educational offerings, and financial management that separated her from the other candidates. The Board is looking forward to working with Ms. Wells to realize these ideas to strengthen the College now and in the future."

About the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine

Founded in 1991, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) is a prominent authority in the field of medical genetics and genomics and the only nationally recognized medical professional organization solely dedicated to improving health through the practice of medical genetics and genomics. The only medical specialty society in the US that represents the full spectrum of medical genetics disciplines in a single organization, the ACMG provides education, resources and a voice for more than 2,600 clinical and laboratory geneticists, genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals. ACMG's mission is to improve health through the clinical and laboratory practice of medical genetics as well as through advocacy, education and clinical research, and to guide the safe and effective integration of genetics and genomics into all of medicine and healthcare, resulting in improved personal and public health. Genetics in Medicine and the new Genetics in Medicine Open, a gold open access journal, are the official ACMG journals. ACMG's website, www.acmg.net, offers resources including policy statements, practice guidelines, and educational programs. The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine works to advance ACMG educational and public health programs through charitable gifts from corporations, foundations and individuals.

Media Contact: Kathy Moran, MBA

[email protected]

SOURCE American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
Panel presentations highlighted healthcare roles, departments and educational requirements

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare recently presented to high school students at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis highlighting the many diverse employment opportunities within the healthcare field.

"By presenting to smaller groups, the students are more engaged and ask more questions," said Dexter McKinney, director of talent planning strategies for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. "These students are looking for opportunities where they can grow their interests and excel in a job they love. Anyone in healthcare knows those opportunities are endless, especially if you want to make a difference in the lives of others."

A cross-section of departments and roles were represented during the presentation, including supply operations, community engagement, pharmacy, laboratory and cardiovascular services.

"When our students think of a hospital, they usually see a nurse or doctor," said Erica Stewart, a program director for the Boys and Girls Club. "We appreciate Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare for opening our students' minds about all the many meaningful careers that support a large healthcare system."

Several students participating in the Boys and Girls Club after-school program are learning skills that will set them apart when they begin applying for jobs.

"I'm interested in the behind-the-scenes of a hospital, especially how supplies and materials are distributed," said high school senior Cedrick Daniels. "Through the Boys and Girls Club skills training programs, I'm learning how to operate a forklift, which I know will be valuable experience for a position with the logistics team."

For employment opportunities with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, visit MethodistHealth.org/careers. To learn about Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare's career advancement opportunities for current employees, visit MethodistHealth.org/MAAP.

About Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has been caring for patients and families regardless of their ability to pay for more than 100 years. Guided by roots in the United Methodist Church and founded in 1918 to help meet the growing need for quality healthcare in the greater Memphis area, MLH has grown from one hospital into a comprehensive healthcare system with 13,000 Associates supporting six hospitals, including nationally ranked Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient facilities, hospice residence and physician and specialty practices serving communities across the Mid-South. From transplants and advanced heart procedures to expert neurology services and compassionate cancer care, MLH offers clinical expertise with a focus on improving every life we touch.

SOURCE Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
The award continues to acknowledge the female chefs paving the way for future industry leaders

One of the most important figures in Mexican gastronomy, and chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City , Elena Reygadas is awarded this year's accolade, voted for by a global panel of experts

, is awarded this year's accolade, voted for by a global panel of experts Named Latin America's Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas is a passionate advocate of Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production

Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas is a passionate advocate of Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production The chef has recently launched a scholarship programme in Mexico for young women studying gastronomy to encourage the female leaders of the future

LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the first of this year's pre-announced awards, The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 today reveals that Elena Reygadas, chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City, has been named as The World's Best Female Chef 2023. Since being recognised as Latin America's Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas has become one of the most important figures within Mexican gastronomy.

Elena Reygadas, chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City, is the recipient of The Worlds Best Female Chef Award 2023 from The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants (PRNewsfoto/50 Best)

A passionate advocate for Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production, she has recently launched a female-focused scholarship programme in Mexico with the aim to promote greater gender parity in kitchens. With the goal of championing equal opportunities and strengthening the leadership of Mexican women in the gastronomic world, the 'Beca Elena Reygadas' scholarship is open to Mexican students who have been accepted into a culinary school.

Hailing from a large family, Reygadas learnt to cook as a child and later went on to study English Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. However, she never stopped cooking  Reygadas worked in restaurants throughout her studies and continued cooking at home; several years of dedicated practice led her to become a chef after finishing university. Studying in New York led to four years in London under the tutelage of Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli, before returning to Mexico City to open Rosetta, today celebrated as one of the best in the city.

Rosetta opened in a beautiful mansion house in Mexico City's Roma district in 2010, serving an elegant menu that focuses on revamping traditional Mexican dishes. With a daily changing offering thanks to its focus on seasonal, local ingredients sourced from small producers, it placed at No.60 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 list and No.37 in Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2022.

From her speciality of exquisite hand-made pastas which helped Reygadas make her name  such as the hoja santa tortelinni  to favourites like the pistachio pipian and romeritos taco, and the fresh corn tamal serviced with warm smoked cream, her inspired dishes seek to elevate and celebrate indigenous ingredients.

As well as an adjacent Rosetta bakery, which provides bread to many of Mexico City's leading restaurants, Reygadas also runs casual Mexican restaurant Lardo and bistro Cafe Nin, both in the capital. Her first cookbook was published in 2019, with a focus not just on recipes and the philosophy behind them, but on Mexican ingredients, in particular the environment and traditions that shape them.

William Drew, Director of Content for The World's 50 Best Restaurants, says: "It's an honour to bestow The World's Best Female Chef award this year on Elena Reygadas, a chef who is paving the way for future generations of female leaders in Mexico and beyond. With her advocacy of traditional dishes and indigenous biodiversity, Reygadas is promoting the future of Mexican gastronomy and we're proud to support her mission with this prestigious award."

Reygadas says: "I'm very grateful and honoured to have been awarded by people I admire so much. Cooking is a communal practice. And so, for me, this award belongs to my entire team, as well as to all the women in the kitchen who have preserved our culinary legacy for generations."

The World's Best Female Chef 2023 award is the first of several awards to be revealed ahead of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 awards ceremony in Valencia, which will be held at Les Arts opera house, part of the city's modernist City of Arts and Sciences complex, on the evening of Tuesday 20th June. This year's programme will include a series of key events which have become the cornerstone of 50 Best Restaurants celebrations: thought-leadership forum #50BestTalks; the 50 Best Signature Sessions series of collaborative dining events open to the public; a Chefs' Feast showcasing the finest produce and cooking from the Spanish region, all culminating in the awards ceremony and countdown itself.

The world's most renowned chefs will also impart their knowledge to local culinary students through a 50 Best educational event, as 50 Best continues its mission to amplify diverse voices and positive messages, foster progressive discussion and cross-border collaboration, and encourage greater gastronomic discovery and exploration.

For media centre access, please visit:

https://mediacentre.theworlds50best.com

50 Best Social Media

About The World's 50 Best Restaurants

Since 2002, The World's 50 Best Restaurants has reflected the diversity of the world's culinary landscape. The annual list of the world's most prestigious restaurants provides a snapshot of some of the best destinations for unique culinary experiences, in addition to being a barometer for and a pioneer of global gastronomic trends. The 50 Best family also includes Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants, The World's 50 Best Hotels, The World's 50 Best Bars, Asia's 50 Best Bars, North America's 50 Best Bars, 50 Best Discovery and the #50BestTalks series, all of which are owned and run by William Reed. 50 Best aims to bring together communities across the hospitality sector to foster collaboration, inclusivity, diversity and discovery and help drive positive change.

About the host destination: Visit Valencia

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain with more than 800,000 inhabitants. Bathed by the waters of the Mediterranean, it is clean and green, thanks to multiple urban parks, and boasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year. Its rich Mediterranean cuisine is based on local produce from the orchard that surround the city and nourish its markets, bars and restaurants. In addition, Valencia is the birthplace of the most international Spanish dish: paella. It is a perfect city to enjoy at any time of the year thanks to all its Unesco Heritage attractions such as: the Lonja de la Seda, the Tribunal de las Aguas or the Fallas. Valencia is at the forefront of sustainable projects that have earned it several international awards such as European Smart City 2022, as well as European Green Capital 2024.

About the main sponsor: S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna

S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the main partners of The World's 50 Best Restaurants and 50 Best for Recovery. S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the leading natural mineral waters in the fine dining world. Together they interpret Italian style worldwide as a synthesis of excellence, pleasure and well-being.





Our partners:

Visit Valencia  Official Host Destination Partner

 Official Host Destination Partner S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna  Main Partner & Official Water Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Restaurant

 Main Partner & Official Water Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Restaurant Estrella Damm  Official Beer Partner; sponsor of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award

 Official Beer Partner; sponsor of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award American Express Resy  Official Credit Card & Booking Platform Partner (Resy); sponsor of the American Express One To Watch Award

Gin Mare  Official Gin Partner; sponsor of the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award

Flor de Cana  Official Rum Partner; sponsor of the Flor de Cana Sustainable Restaurant Award

Sosa  Official Ingredients Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Pastry Chef Award

Beronia  Official Wine Partner; sponsor of the Beronia World's Best Sommelier Award

Aspire Lifestyles  Official Concierge Partner

Dassai Sake  Official Sake Partner

Tequila Ocho  Official Tequila Partner

 Official Tequila Partner illycaffe  Official Coffee Partner

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.  Official Whiskey of the World Partner

Techlam  Official Premium Worktop Partner

Cinco Jotas  Official Iberico Ham Partner

Nude Glassware  Official Glassware Partner

Jaen Seleccion  Official Olive Oil Partner

Villa Massa  Official Limoncello and Amaretto Partner; sponsor of Villa Massa Highest Climber Award

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2048498/World_50Best_Restaurants_2023_Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2048202/50_Best_Female_chef.jpg





SOURCE 50 Best
NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) market size is estimated to grow by USD 8.48 billion from 2022 to 2027, growing at a CAGR of 14.36%. North America is estimated to account for 43% of the global market growth during the forecast period. There is an increasing demand for hybrid vehicles in the region because the government focuses on shifting to eco-friendly military HEV and EVs. Moreover, in order to increase awareness and availability of hybrid vehicles military HEV manufacturers are ramping up dealerships. Get a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast along with research methodology - View Sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Electric Vehicle (EV) Market 2023-2027

Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market - Vendor Landscape

The military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) market is fragmented; the vendors are competing with competitors and are trying to get a greater market share. The market is growing, and chances of new entrants cannot be overlooked. The major vendors have well-established economies of scale and market presence and generally rely on positioning, technological advances, and the price of the products.

Company Profiles

The military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) market report includes information on the product launches, sustainability, and prospects of leading vendors including AeroVironment Inc., Alke s.r.l., BAE Systems Plc, Elbit Systems Ltd., Ford Motor Co., General Atomics, General Dynamics Corp., General Motors Co., Honeywell International Inc., L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Logos Technologies LLC, Milrem AS, Nikola Corp., Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Oshkosh Corp., QinetiQ Ltd., Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., The Boeing Co., and Zero Motorcycles Inc.

Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market - Market Dynamics

Major Drivers & Challenges- The market is driven by factors such as the push toward the adoption of green (eco-friendly) vehicles., stringent regulations on emissions and fuel efficiency, and the increasing sales of HEVs. However, high total cost of ownership of HEVs is hindering market growth.

A key driver in the military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) that is expected to fuel the market growth is the push toward the adoption of green (eco-friendly) vehicles. Some of the important solutions to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to acceptable levels include the development and introduction of green cars and vehicles. HEVs and EVs run on only electricity, hybrid power, and other energy sources such as solar, wind, and biofuels. The government incentives and tax credits attract automobile manufacturers to invest in military HEV and EV production expansion in their region. Additionally, it is also believed that the green vehicle push will drive the military HEV and EV market to higher growth, covering large shares of the global military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) market during the forecast period.

A major challenge for the growth of the market is the high cost of ownership of HEVs. Military HEVs have a higher total cost of ownership than conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles due to their use of advanced electronic components and design considerations, as well as the additional high-capacity batteries used in military HEVs. The cost depends on mileage provided, hours of use, fuel cost, and government subsidies. For instance, one of the best-selling economic hybrid vehicles, the Nissan Leaf, has a 24 kWh battery that costs USD 12,000; in this amount, a plush sedan model of an ICE car can be availed. Hence, such factors will hinder market growth during the forecast period.

Key Trends- High-density, high-power, and small-size li-ion batteries are some of the opportunities for the market players to grow. On the other hand, the cost-to-weight ratio high for hybrid vehicles than for ice vehicles is a huge challenge in front of the industry.

To facilitate electric drive functions when the engine is off, current hybrid systems include heavily built battery packs. It can supply the energy needed for acceleration, recharging is done by regenerative braking, and it doesn't deplete much. But this electric propulsion function is required only for a small portion of the time when the engine works in the inefficient range, which is while starting and sudden acceleration of the vehicle. Hence, the heavy battery pack gives no additional benefits. Moreover, the heavy battery packs take more time to recharge and unlike EVs, HEVs must be recharged through the engine and regenerative braking. Thus, the efficiency of an HEV depends on the time rate at which energy can be taken out or pushed back into the battery pack and not on the electric drive mode, which can be achieved with small-size and high-density battery packs.

In addition to the forecast, the report also highlights the key opportunities by analyzing drivers, trends, and challenges for the market - View Sample Report

Competitive Analysis

The report includes competitive analysis, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their industry position score and market performance score. The competitive scenario categorizes companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, among others.

Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market - Market Segmentation

This report extensively covers market segmentation by product (manned military HEV and EV and unmanned military HEV and EV), type (AC charging and DC charging), and geography (North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The market share growth by the manned military HEV and EV segment will be significant during the forecast period. Manned HEVs and EVs are suitable for large-scale operations. They have a low risk of technical failure. These are the primary factors for the adoption of manned HEVs and EVs over unmanned military HEVs and EVs. Hence, increasing favorability due to the many advantages of manned HEVs and EVs is expected to drive the growth of the manned HEVs and EVs segment in the global HEVs and EVs market during the forecast period.

To get insights on the impact of segments on the market growth, Request a Sample Report!

Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2027

Detailed information on factors that will assist Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market vendors

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Related Reports:

The global hybrid electric vehicle market Size is estimated to grow by 17,098.51 thousand units between 2022 and 2027 accelerating at a CAGR of 30.88%. This market research report extensively covers market segmentation by propulsion (full HEVs, mild HEVs, and PHEVs), vehicle type (passenger cars and commercial vehicles), and geography (APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa). Stringent emission norms have been introduced by governments worldwide to combat global warming and reduce GHG emissions.

The global EV traction motor market size is estimated to grow by USD 6,960.3 million and the EV traction motor market size forecast is set to increase CAGR of 16.73% between 2022 and 2027. This market research report extensively covers market segmentation by Application (railways, electric vehicles, and others) and Geography (APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). The advantages of EV traction motor will drive market growth.

Military Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) And Electric Vehicle (EV) Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 14.36% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 8.48 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 13.98 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 43% Key countries US, China, India, UK, and Russia Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled AeroVironment Inc., Alke s.r.l., BAE Systems Plc, Elbit Systems Ltd., Ford Motor Co., General Atomics, General Dynamics Corp., General Motors Co., Honeywell International Inc., L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Logos Technologies LLC, Milrem AS, Nikola Corp., Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Oshkosh Corp., QinetiQ Ltd., Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., The Boeing Co., and Zero Motorcycles Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table Of Contents :

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



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 military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global military hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and electric vehicle (EV) market 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.3 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Type 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 Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 Manned military HEV and EV - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Manned military HEV and EV - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Manned military HEV and EV - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Manned military HEV and EV - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Manned military HEV and EV - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Unmanned military HEV and EV - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Unmanned military HEV and EV - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Unmanned military HEV and EV - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Unmanned military HEV and EV - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Unmanned military HEV and EV - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Product ($ billion)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market opportunity by Product ($ billion)

7 Market Segmentation by Type

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 44: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 46: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Comparison by Type

7.3 AC charging - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 48: Chart on AC charging - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on AC charging - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 50: Chart on AC charging - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on AC charging - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 DC charging - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 52: Chart on DC charging - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on DC charging - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 54: Chart on DC charging - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on DC charging - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 56: Market opportunity by Type ($ billion)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Market opportunity by Type ($ billion)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 58: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 59: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 61: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 63: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 64: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 65: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 66: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 67: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 69: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 73: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 75: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 77: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 79: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 81: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 83: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 87: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 93: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 95: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 96: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 97: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 98: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Russia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 99: Chart on Russia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Russia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 101: Chart on Russia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on Russia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 103: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion)



Exhibit 104: Data Tables on 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 105: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 106: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 107: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 108: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 109: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 110: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 AeroVironment Inc.

Exhibit 111: AeroVironment Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 112: AeroVironment Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: AeroVironment Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 114: AeroVironment Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: AeroVironment Inc. - Segment focus

12.4 Alke s.r.l.

Exhibit 116: Alke s.r.l. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Alke s.r.l. - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Alke s.r.l. - Key offerings

12.5 BAE Systems Plc

Exhibit 119: BAE Systems Plc - Overview



Exhibit 120: BAE Systems Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 121: BAE Systems Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: BAE Systems Plc - Segment focus

12.6 Elbit Systems Ltd.

Exhibit 123: Elbit Systems Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 124: Elbit Systems Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 125: Elbit Systems Ltd. - Key offerings

12.7 Ford Motor Co.

Exhibit 126: Ford Motor Co. - Overview



Exhibit 127: Ford Motor Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 128: Ford Motor Co. - Key news



Exhibit 129: Ford Motor Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 130: Ford Motor Co. - Segment focus

12.8 General Atomics

Exhibit 131: General Atomics - Overview



Exhibit 132: General Atomics - Product / Service



Exhibit 133: General Atomics - Key offerings

12.9 General Dynamics Corp.

Exhibit 134: General Dynamics Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 135: General Dynamics Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 136: General Dynamics Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 137: General Dynamics Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 138: General Dynamics Corp. - Segment focus

12.10 General Motors Co.

Exhibit 139: General Motors Co. - Overview



Exhibit 140: General Motors Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 141: General Motors Co. - Key news



Exhibit 142: General Motors Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 143: General Motors Co. - Segment focus

12.11 L3Harris Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 144: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 145: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 146: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 147: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 148: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Segment focus

12.12 Lockheed Martin Corp.

Exhibit 149: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 150: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 151: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 152: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 153: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Segment focus

12.13 Milrem AS

Exhibit 154: Milrem AS - Overview



Exhibit 155: Milrem AS - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: Milrem AS - Key offerings

12.14 Nikola Corp.

Exhibit 157: Nikola Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 158: Nikola Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 159: Nikola Corp. - Key offerings

12.15 Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.

Exhibit 160: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 161: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 162: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 163: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 164: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. - Segment focus

12.16 Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd.

Exhibit 165: Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 166: Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 167: Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 168: Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. - Segment focus

12.17 The Boeing Co.

Exhibit 169: The Boeing Co. - Overview



Exhibit 170: The Boeing Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 171: The Boeing Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 172: The Boeing Co. - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 173: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 174: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 175: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 176: Research methodology



Exhibit 177: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 178: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 179: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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SOURCE Technavio
VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Mind Cure Health Inc. (CSE: MCUR) (OTCQB: MCURF) (FRA: 6MH) ("MINDCURE" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2023. All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

A copy of the Company's financial statements for the three and nine months ended February 28, 2023 and the related management's discussion and analysis are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

As previously announced on November 18, 2022, the Company signed a binding Letter of Intent with LNG Energy Group Inc. ("LNG Energy"), a private company focused on the acquisition of natural gas production and exploration assets in Latin America, pursuant to which the Company will become the holder of all of the issued and outstanding securities in the capital of LNG Energy (the "Transaction"). It is intended that the Transaction will constitute a reverse take-over of the Company by the shareholders of LNG Energy.

The proposed Transaction is subject to the terms of a definitive agreement, approval by the Company's shareholders and the Canadian Securities Exchange.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Philip Tapley, CEO

Forward-Looking Information

Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions made by management of MINDCURE, including, without limitation: no unanticipated expenses or costs will arise; the lack of necessity of further developmental expenditures related to the Company's business plan with respect to the execution of strategic alternatives for the Company; the ability to preserve the value of the Company's assets, including its public company status with Canadian securities regulators; and the ultimate availability of any strategic alternatives for the Company.

Forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information the Company's current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information inherently entails known and unknown risks and uncertainties about the future and actual results and involves significant risks and uncertainties and should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information presented, there may be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements as no forward-looking information can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Mind Cure Health Inc.
Demonstrate industry's first fully integrated Tool at DATE 3D Design Workshop

ROME, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Anna Fontanelli, Monozukuri S.p.A. CEO and Founder, demonstrated MZ-GENIO, the first integrated IC/Packaging EDA tool, during the "Advanced 3D architecture and design methodology" session at DATE on Wednesday in Antwerp Belgium.

As part of MZ Technologys 3D Integration workshop at DATE Wednesday, CEO and Founder, Anna Fontanelli demonstrated how GENIOs physical and electrical constraints drive systems optimization.

During her session, Ms. Fontanelli showed how the MZ- GENIO holistic design environment spans the complete 3D design ecosystem. In doing so, its co-design platform enables a revolutionary approach to integrating with physical implementation tools in both IC and Package design spaces, as well as performing signal, power integrity and thermal analysis for physical-aware and simulation-aware system interconnect optimization.

She also demonstrated GENIO's novel approach to creating never-before-seen levels of IC system integration that shortens the design cycle by two orders of magnitude, drives faster time-to-manufacturing, improves yields, and streamlines the entire IC eco-system to enable function-intensive IC-designs that will be the backbone for the most advanced next-generation integrated circuits.

"Shrinking transistors below a 1-nanometer node gets closer to the technology's limit. To further scale IC-functionality means moving "off chip" to vertical IC integration. This, Ms. Fontanelli explains, is the most practical way  perhaps the only way  to increase design complexity, reduce time-to-market and lower per unit costs. Certainly, it's more economically viable than extreme miniaturization," she claims.

During her demonstration, Ms. Fontanelli offered the work that MZ Technologies is doing on Europe Horizon's NibleAI Research Initiative as proof of GENIO's capabilities.

For this project, the3D EDA tool supports technology-aware 3D physical architecture exploration across layers, a chiplet based floor planning approach enabling the use of multiple IP libraries to quickly explore different combinations of components and system configurations to find the most efficient component stack, and discover interconnection solution with the smallest footprint. Key is the fact that the tool remains agnostic to the different nature of the components and other tools used implementation and simulation, she explained.

GENIO features system architecture exploration, what-if analysis, 3D interconnect management, I/O planning and optimization, integrated within all existing EDA implementation platforms. It's optimization algorithms tame the computational complexity of 3D designs. It supports all system architectures (2D, 2.5D, 3D configurations), all assembly styles (wire-bonding, flip-chip, and mixed) and all design flows (die-driven, package-driven, a mixture of top-down & bottom-up).

About Monozukuri

Monozukuri's mission is to conquer 2.5D & 3D design challenges for next generation electronic products by delivering innovative, ground-breaking EDA software solutions and methodologies. The technology redefines the co-design of heterogeneous microelectronic systems by providing an improved level of automation in three-dimensional interconnect optimization.

SOURCE Monozukuri Technologies
DUBLIN, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market Research Report by Product (Hand-Held, PC-Based), Type (Equipment, Software) - United States Forecast 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market is projected to grow with a significant CAGR in the forecast period. Economic development and substantial infrastructure development have constituted regional revenue generation.

Further, the patterns associated with domestic production, import and export, and consumption have helped market participants to analyze and capitalize on potential opportunities. Besides, the qualitative and quantitative parameters provided in the report with detailed analysis highlights the driving and restraining factors of the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Rising Burden of Motorcycle Accidents

Increasing Focus on Enhance Safety Features of Motorcycles

Restraints

Design and Construction Complexities

Opportunities

Technological Advances in Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Systems

Challenges

Operational Limitations Associated With Diagnostic Scan Tools

Market Statistics:



The report provides market sizing and forecasts across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF; multiple currency support helps organization leaders to make better decisions. In this report, the years 2018 and 2021 are considered as historical years, 2022 as the base year, 2023 as the estimated year, and years from 2024 to 2030 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

Based on Product, the market is studied across Hand-Held and PC-Based.

Based on Type, the market is studied across Equipment and Software.

Based on State, the market is studied across California , Florida , Illinois , New York , Ohio , Pennsylvania , and Texas .

FPNV Positioning Matrix:



The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes vendors in the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market. based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) and placed into four quadrants (F: Forefront, P: Pathfinder, N: Niche, and V: Vital). The United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market FPNV Positioning Matrix representation/visualization further aids businesses in better decision-making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:



The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market, providing the idea of revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. This provides insights on vendors performance in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. The United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market Share Analysis offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. The outcome reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:



The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various strategies for business growth adopted by the vendors. The news in this section covers valuable insights at various stages while keeping up with the business and engaging stakeholders in the economic debate. The United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market Competitive Scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected helps vendors understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitor's strengths and weaknesses, providing insights to enhance products and services.



The report answers questions such as:



1. What is the market size and forecast of the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the United States Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market?



Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Overview



5. Market Insights



6. Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market, by Product



7. Motorcycle Diagnostic Scan Tools Market, by Type



Companies Mentioned

ANSED Diagnostic Solutions LLC

Autel Intelligent Technology Company

Continental AG

Denso Corporation

Duonix GmbH

Eautotools

HealTech Electronics Ltd.

HELLA GmbH and Co. KG

iCarsoft Technology Inc.

Robert Bosch GmbH

Siemens AG

Snap On Incorporated

Sundiro Honda Motorcycle Co., Ltd.

TEXA S.p.A.

Vamag Srl

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/m8vw8

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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Research and Markets

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SOURCE Research and Markets
New mortgage brokerage franchise in Hayward, California provides homebuyers and refinancers competitive rates and access to local professionals that understand the market

HAYWARD, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Motto Mortgage, the first-and-only national mortgage brokerage franchise in the United States focused on transparency and compliance, has a new office in Hayward, California. Motto Mortgage Golden Standard is now open and serving all markets throughout the Golden State and Texas.

Motto Mortgage Golden Standard will hold a grand opening celebration on Monday, May 1 from 6  8 p.m. at its office located at 781 W. Tennyson Rd in Hayward. All in the community are invited to attend and join in on the celebrations, hosted in partnership with RE/MAX Synergy Group. Guests will enjoy music and refreshments, tour the new office space, and meet and mingle with the team.

Motto Mortgage Golden Standard is a customer-first, full-service mortgage brokerage established by Shadi Alkhudari. Shadi has 16 years of experience in the real estate and finance industry. He's committed to providing exceptional service and expertise to his clients, whether they are a first-time homebuyer or a seasoned investor.

"We are thrilled to be open for business in Hayward and we are looking forward to personally introducing ourselves to the community at our grand opening event. Motto Mortgage Golden Standard offers an advantageous alternative to the traditional mortgage bankers currently operating in Hayward," said Shadi Alkhudari. "We provide the scope, scale and support of a large retail lender, while offering the flexibility, autonomy and exceptional service of a local mortgage broker that knows how to navigate the intricacies of the home buying process in your market."

Shadi will also serve as the mortgage loan originator for the office. He and his team of experienced mortgage professionals are dedicated to helping customers navigate the complexities of the mortgage process and find the best solution for each customer's needs. "We believe that owning a home is not just a financial investment, but also a personal and emotional one. It is a place where memories are made, families are raised, and dreams are realized. We are honored to be a part of your home buying journey and look forward to helping you achieve your homeownership goals," said Alkhudari.

Loan originators in the Motto Mortgage network have access to competitive loans from various wholesale lenders and work hard to give homebuyers choices  because no loan is one-size-fits-all. A digital mortgage experience is available for borrowers who would prefer to conduct business remotely.

Each Motto Mortgage franchise is independently owned, operated and licensed. For more information about the grand opening celebration or to speak with a loan originator, please contact Motto Mortgage Golden Standard at 510-868-0000.

About Motto Mortgage Golden Standard:

Motto Mortgage Golden Standard (NMLS #2394985) is a locally owned and operated full-service mortgage brokerage serving all of California and Texas, located at 781 W. Tennyson Rd, Hayward, CA 94544. To learn more, please visit www.MottoMortgageGoldenStandard.com or call 510-868-0000.

Shadi Alkhudari: NMLS #2394985

SOURCE Motto Mortgage
Learn how state regulators, employers and safety professionals are responding to increased legalization

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabis can have a major impact on safety, and legalization of the drug is creating new challenges for employers across the country. A 2021 survey conducted by the National Safety Council revealed one-third of employees have witnessed cannabis use during work hours, highlighting the need for policies that put worker safety, health and wellbeing first. The survey also found:

More than half of employers that eliminated THC testing reported an increase in incidents or workplace performance concerns.

Most employers believe employees would feel comfortable telling their supervisor if they were too impaired to work, while less than half of employees reported they would feel comfortable doing so.

Less than half of organizations have a written policy to address cannabis use.

"Cannabis can significantly impair judgment, motor coordination and reaction time," said Katie Mueller, a senior program manager at NSC focusing on cannabis safety. "Whether workers are operating heavy machinery, working at heights or just heading home after a shift, these effects can put entire workforces and the larger public at risk, and as legalization spreads across the country, NSC urges employers, state regulators, policymakers, business leaders and individuals to put safety first. Making informed, evidence-based decisions is critical to safety for all."

To bring further attention to this growing issue, NSC is taking action to keep people informed with the release of a consumer safety report, an interactive web tool and a series of webinars open to the public. After 13 months of research into state cannabis testing regulations, findings are now available in the report, State Cannabis Testing Programs: Current Obstacles and Needed Reforms for Consumer Safety and Health. In addition, the newly launched web tool, the first resource of its kind, provides an interactive, user-friendly look at high-level cannabis legalization, regulation and testing requirements by state. Lastly, NSC is hosting a series of free webinars available to all those interested in learning about cannabis safety:

Latest Cannabis Research and New Web Tool

Tuesday, April 25 at 1 p.m. ET

Overview of this new cannabis research and first-of-its-kind web tool. Register now to hear the full research findings and get NSC recommendations for prioritizing safety around cannabis legalization and regulation. Register.



Cannabis Legalization & Regulation: Lessons Learned from State Regulators

Wednesday, May 3 at 12 p.m. ET

Join NSC, the Cannabis Regulators Association, and regulators from Nevada , Maryland and Missouri as they share what they have learned about cannabis regulation in their states. Register.



How Can You Have Safe Cannabis without Standards and GMPs?

Wednesday, May 31 at 1 p.m. ET

Join NSC and David Vaillencourt , CEO & Founder of The GMP Collective, to learn more about cannabis guidelines and good manufacturing practices to ensure worker and consumer safety. Register.



2023 Update on Drug Testing & Workplace Safety

Friday, June 2 at 1 p.m. ET

Join NSC and attorney Adele Abrams for a discussion on workplace safety and drug testing recommendations specific to cannabis. Register.

To learn more about cannabis and the complications it brings to the workplace and beyond, please visit nsc.org/cannabis. To learn more about NSC training for supervisors, please visit nsc.org/ImpairmentTraining.

SOURCE National Safety Council
VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Nevada King Gold Corp. (TSX-V: NKG) (OTCQX: NKGFF) ("Nevada King" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from nine vertical reverse circulation ("RC") holes recently completed at its Atlanta Gold Mine Project located 264km northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the prolific Battle Mountain Trend.

Selected Highlights:

Figure 1. Location map for holes reported in this news release along drill section22-08N relative to the perimeter of the historical Atlanta Pit and footprint of the Gustavson 2020 NI 43-101 resource. Shallow drillholes on the mine dumps have been removed from the plot for clarity. (CNW Group/Nevada King Gold Corp.) Figure 2. Cross section 22-09N looking north across the southern portion of the Atlanta Mine Fault Zone. Higher grade mineralization is concentrated within narrow fault blocks formed between the East Atlanta and Nevada King Faults. (CNW Group/Nevada King Gold Corp.)

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes AT22HG-18 257.6 291.2 33.5 2.35 363.0 Bottomed in Mineralization Includes 259.1 269.8 10.7 5.27 1084.1

AT22NS-50 89.9 108.2 18.3 3.68 27.1

Includes 93.0 99.1 6.1 7.09 33.1

AT22NS-47 64.0 89.9 25.9 2.04 27.8

AT22NS-49 62.5 88.4 25.9 3.73 46.1

Includes 67.1 74.7 7.6 6.33 28.8



Table 1: Highlight holes released today along Section 22-10N. Mineralization occurs along sub-horizontal horizons generally dipping gently westward; true mineralized thickness in vertical holes is estimated to be between 85% and 95% of reported drill intercept length.

Selected highlight intervals released today all average >2.0 g/t gold and contain significant silver intervals, including 1,084 g/t Ag over 10.7m in hole AT22HG-18.

Today's holes on Section 22-10N were drilled across the 150m -wide high-grade feeder zone comprising the Atlanta Mine Fault Zone (" AMFZ "), which lies between the East Atlanta and West Atlanta Faults (see Figure 1). These vertical holes continue to advance northward the high-grade gold mineralization concentrated along a series of sub-parallel, fault-bounded graben blocks previously identified and reported to the south in Sections 22-5N through 22-9N.

-wide high-grade feeder zone comprising the Atlanta Mine Fault Zone (" "), which lies between the and West Atlanta Faults (see Figure 1). These vertical holes continue to advance northward the high-grade gold mineralization concentrated along a series of sub-parallel, fault-bounded graben blocks previously identified and reported to the south in Sections 22-5N through 22-9N. Shown in Figure 2, the high-grade silver intercept in AT22HG-18 occurs along the western side of the West Atlanta Fault on the eastern edge of a 150m -wide mineralized zone now identified as the West Atlanta Graben Target. This down-dropped block hosts thick mineralization within the volcanic section above the contact with the basal Eureka Quartzite unit. AT22HG-18 intercepted 1,084 g/t Ag over 10.7m within 33.5m of 2.35 g/t Au and 363.0 g/t Ag and bottomed in mineralization at 291.2m depth where it was lost in a strongly fractured zone.

-wide mineralized zone now identified as the West Atlanta Graben Target. This down-dropped block hosts thick mineralization within the volcanic section above the contact with the basal Eureka Quartzite unit. at depth where it was lost in a strongly fractured zone. Compared to nearby historical holes, the Company's vertical holes returned higher gold grades. For example, angle hole AR-2 returned 22.9m @ 1.72 g/t Au, while Nevada King's AT23NS-50 returned 18.3m @ 3.68 g/t Au. Further east, angle RC hole KR97-4 reported 29m grading 0.81 g/t Au, while AT22NS-89 returned 41.2m @ 0.94 g/t Au and AT22NS-90 returned 39.7m @ 0.82 g/t Au, (Table 3).

Cal Herron, Exploration Manager of Nevada King, comments, "As our fence-drilling progresses northward along the AMFZ we see the same pattern of structural offsets and styles of mineralization repeated from previous fences. To date, the lateral continuity in both gold grade and thickness is fairly uniform all along the southern third portion (approx. 160 metres) of the AMFZ. Unexpectedly and astonishly, this section also host a thick and very high-grade silver intercept, returning over 1000 g/t Ag over 10.7m within a 33.5m zone averaging over 360 g/t Ag in hole AT22HG -18. There are no historical drill intercepts of this tenor anywhere near this part of the property. AT22HG-18 drilled into the eastern margin of the West Graben Target very close to the West Atlanta Fault, which may account for the high silver grade. The only other hole drilled into the West Graben along this section line was Goldfield's AR-1, but this hole just got into mineralized volcanics before it was lost and did not go deep enough to penetrate the higher-grade silica breccia horizon. Further west of AR-1 there are no historical holes that went deep enough to tap into mineralization, so Nevada King has ample room in which to expand the high-grade mineralization hit in AT22HG-18 westward into essentially untested territory. It is hits like this that have added a westward-directed vector to the Company's overall exploration strategy at Atlanta. Drill-defining mineralization hosted along the AMFZ is certainly important, particularly with respect to raising the overall gold/silver grade, but the large West Graben area holds promise for significantly adding tonnage and ounces."

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes AT22HG-18 257.6 291.2 33.5 2.35 363.0 Bottomed in mineralization includes 259.1 269.8 10.7 5.27 1,084.1

AT22NS-89 172.3 213.4 41.2 0.94 67.8 Bottomed in mineralization AT22NS-90 182.9 222.6 39.7 0.82 52.3

AT23NS-48 91.5 112.8 21.3 1.26 35.1

AT22NS-50 89.9 108.2 18.3 3.68 27.1

includes 93.0 99.1 6.1 7.09 33.1

AT22NS-47 64.0 89.9 25.9 2.04 27.8

AT22NS-49 62.5 88.4 25.9 3.73 46.1

Including 67.1 74.7 7.6 6.33 28.8

AT22NS-43 0.0 27.4 27.4 1.97 25.1 Bottomed in mineralization AT22NS-43A 3.0 30.5 27.4 1.01 21.2 Offset of 43

Table 2. All holes reported today along Section22 10N. Mineralization occurs along sub-horizontal horizons generally dipping gently westward; true mineralized thickness in vertical holes is estimated to be between 85% and 95% of reported drill intercept length.





Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes AT21-60 0 6.1 6.1 0.19 10.6

AT21-65 3.0 51.8 48.8 2.32 32.9

AR-1 283.5 303.4 19.9 0.41 16.2 Bottomed in mineralization AR-2^ 182.9 205.8 22.9 1.72 47.0

KR97-4^ 221.0 250 29.0 0.81 66.1 Bottomed in mineralization 90-2 135.7 173.8 38.1 0.99 90.4



Table 3. Previously reported and historic holes used in Section 22-10N. AT21 series hole was drilled by Nevada King in 2021. KR97 series hole was drilled by Kinross in 1997. AR series holes were drilled by Goldfields in 1990. "90" series hole drilled by Bobcat in 1990. Mineralization occurs along sub-horizontal horizons generally dipping gently westward; true mineralized thickness in vertical holes is estimated to be between 85% and 95% of reported drill intercept length.

^Denotes angle hole.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Calvin R. Herron, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101").

About Nevada King Gold Corp.

Nevada King is the third largest mineral claim holder in the State of Nevada, behind Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick/Newmont) and Kinross Gold. Starting in 2016 the Company has staked large project areas hosting significant historical exploration work along the Battle Mountain trend located close to current or former producing gold mines. These project areas were initially targeted based on their potential for hosting multi-million-ounce gold deposits and were subsequently staked following a detailed geological evaluation. District-scale projects in Nevada King's portfolio include (1) the 100% owned Atlanta Mine, located 100km southeast of Ely, (2) the Lewis and Horse Mountain-Mill Creek projects, both located between Nevada Gold Mines' large Phoenix and Pipeline mines, and (3) the Iron Point project, located 35km east of Winnemucca, Nevada.

The Company is well funded with cash of approximately $7.25 million as of April 2023.

The Atlanta Mine is a historical gold-silver producer with a NI 43-101 compliant pit-constrained resource of 460,000 oz Au in the measured and indicated category (11.0M tonnes at 1.3 g/t) plus an inferred resource of 142,000 oz Au (5.3M tonnes at 0.83 g/t). See the NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources titled "Atlanta Property, Lincoln County, NV" with an effective date of October 6, 2020, and a report date of December 22, 2020, as prepared by Gustavson Associates and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

NI 43-101 Mineral Resources at the Atlanta Mine

Resource Category Tonnes (000's) Au Grade (ppm) Contained Au

Oz Ag Grade (ppm) Contained Ag

Oz Measured 4,130 1.51 200,000 14.0 1,860,000 Indicated 6,910 1.17 260,000 10.6 2,360,000 Measured + Indicated 11,000 1.30 460,000 11.9 4,220,000 Inferred 5,310 0.83 142,000 7.3 1,240,000

Please see the Company's website at www.nevadaking.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operations and activities of Nevada King, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things, the Company's exploration plans and the Company's ability to potentially expand mineral resources and the impact thereon. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Nevada King, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation, the ability to complete proposed exploration work given the global COVID-19 pandemic, the results of exploration, continued availability of capital, and changes in general economic, market and business conditions. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these items. Nevada King does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Nevada King Gold Corp.
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a study conducted at the NewYork-Presbyterian Emergency residency program, a dedicated Quality Improvement and Patient Safety curriculum demonstrated measurable results in resident knowledge, attitude, and practice, according to a report published in the Physician Leadership Journal.

In the study, which began in 2013, emergency medicine residents participated in two yearly conferences titled "Quality and Patient Safety Theme Days" lasting four hours each, during which a mock root-cause analysis (RCA) was performed within the program. To supplement these conferences and provide residents with a more robust and comprehensive educational experience, a broadened QI curriculum was created and implemented.

Eighteen students participated in a survey, which measured attitude toward QI processes and their comfort level applying them, prior to and after completing the curriculum. The students on average scored 13 percent higher following the curriculum.

"No national standard curriculum exists when it comes to training emergency medicine residents," say the study's authors, Daniel Golden, MD, MA; Danielle Haussner, MD; Mary-Kate Gorlick, MD; Amos J. Shemesh, MD; Shivani Chopra, MD; Brady Rippon, MS; Thomas L. Bennett, MD; Rahul Sharma, MD, MBA, CPE; Manish Garg, MD, CPE; Brenna M. Farmer, MD, MBA, MS; and Matt McCarty, MD.

In this study, "a novel residency-focused QI curriculum was implemented to help emergency medicine residents develop foundational skills in QI and to translate these skills into practical projects that span multiple disciplines. The curriculum was effective, is readily adaptable to the resident physician and medical student levels and supports the national trend toward implementing education in QI earlier in physician training."

About the American Association for Physician Leadership

The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) is focused on the personal transformation of all physicians, and through them the organizations they serve. With the goal of improving patient outcomes, workforce wellness, and a refinement of all healthcare delivery, AAPL has remained the only association solely focused on providing professional development, leadership education, and management training exclusively for physicians. Since its founding in 1975, AAPL has educated 250,000+ physicians across 40 countriesincluding CEOs, chief medical officers, and physicians at all levels of healthcare. www.physicianleaders.org

SOURCE AAPL
The ALITHIOS open-label extension study showed continuous treatment with Kesimpta  (ofatumumab) for up to five years in relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) patients was associated with reduced risk of disability progression versus those who switched later from teriflunomide to Kesimpta 1





Outcomes related to both disability progression and brain volume change up to five years favored earlier initiation of Kesimpta in people living with RMS 1





A separate ALITHIOS analysis showed consistent safety profile of Kesimpta treatment for up to five years in people with RMS and in those switched from teriflunomide 2





Treatment with Kesimpta continued to be well tolerated with no new safety signals identified over the treatment period2

EAST HANOVER, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Novartis today announced new long-term data from the ALITHIOS open-label extension study showing that up to five years, patients treated earlier and continuously with Kesimpta (ofatumumab) had fewer disability worsening events and low brain volume change versus those who started on teriflunomide and were later switched to Kesimpta1. A separate analysis showed that treatment with Kesimpta for up to five years was well-tolerated, with no new or increased safety risks identified2. These data will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting held in Boston and virtually on April 22-27, 2023.

"With continuous Kesimpta treatment, key indicators of disability progression and brain volume change showed that most patients remained free from disease progression up to five years," said principal investigator Jeffrey A. Cohen, MD, of the Neurological Institute at Cleveland Clinic. "Outcomes favored earlier, compared with later, initiation of treatment with Kesimpta. Along with the five-year safety analysis, these data support this treatment as a well-tolerated, efficacious treatment option for people living with relapsing multiple sclerosis."

In people with RMS who continued in the ALITHIOS study for up to five years, earlier treatment with Kesimpta was associated with fewer confirmed disability worsening (CDW) events, including progression independent of relapse activity and relapse associated worsening, versus those who switched later from teriflunomide1. More than 80% of patients remained free of six-month CDW over the same five period1.

Additionally, brain volume change remained low (less than 1.5% loss) with Kesimpta treatment over five years, and overall, patients initially randomized to Kesimpta had lower levels of brain volume loss at year five than those initially randomized to teriflunomide1. Annual rate of brain volume change (ABVC) in the core Phase III trials for continuous Kesimpta was -0.34%/year and in the switch group, -0.42%/year (P=0.115). In the extension, ABVC in the Kesimpta group was -0.27%/year and in the switch group, -0.28%/year (P=0.666)1.

"These longer-term data continue to reinforce the favorable safety profile of Kesimpta, as well as its ability to slow disease progression, supporting its earlier use in people with relapsing multiple sclerosis," said Victor Bulto, President, Innovative Medicines US, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. "Novartis remains committed to the multiple sclerosis community in our continued study of Kesimpta and to supporting those living with MS and their families throughout their journey."

The separate analysis of the ALITHIOS extension data showed consistent safety results of Kesimpta for people with RMS following up to five years of treatment2. The overall rates of adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs were consistent with the core Phase III trials2,3. The most common AEs were infections (COVID-19 [30.3%], nasopharyngitis [19%], upper respiratory tract infection [12.8%] and urinary tract infection [12.7%])2. Most COVID-19 cases were mild to moderate in severity (93.9%) and non-serious (92.3%), and 98.6% of patients treated with Kesimpta recovered, recovered with sequalae, or were recovering from COVID-192. Most (90.3%) infections resolved without discontinuing Kesimpta treatment2.

The overall rate of serious infections also remained stable with no increased risk over five years (106 patients, or 5.38%, experienced serious infection in the core Phase III plus extension trials)2. Mean serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels remained stable up to five years of treatment and the majority of patients (98%) had lgG levels above the lower limit of normal (LLN)2. Mean serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels decreased over time but remained above the LLN for the majority of patients (69.4%)2. There was no association between reduction in Ig levels and risk of serious infections2. Treatment interruption/discontinuation was reported in three (0.2%)/four (0.2%) patients due to low lgG; and 202 (10.3%)/71 (3.6%) patients due to low lgM2. There were six fatal cases due to serious infections (five were COVID-19-related and one was due to pneumonia and septic shock)2.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system characterized by myelin destruction and axonal damage in the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord4 MS, which affects around 2 million people worldwide5, can be characterized into four main types: clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), relapsing-remitting (RRMS), secondary progressive (SPMS) and primary progressive (PPMS)6. The various forms of MS can be distinguished based on whether a patient experiences relapses (clearly defined acute inflammatory attacks of worsening neurological function), and/or whether they experience progression of neurologic damage and disability from the onset of the disease4.

About Kesimpta (ofatumumab)

Kesimpta is a targeted, precisely dosed and delivered B-cell therapy that provides the flexibility of self-administration for adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS). It is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb) self-administered by a once-monthly injection, delivered subcutaneously7,8. Initial doses of Kesimpta are at Weeks 0, 1 and 2, with the first injection performed under the guidance of a healthcare professional. As shown in preclinical studies, Kesimpta is thought to work by binding to a distinct epitope on the CD20 molecule inducing potent B-cell lysis and depletion9. The selective mechanism of action and subcutaneous administration of Kesimpta allows precise delivery to the lymph nodes, where B-cell depletion in MS is needed, and preclinical studies have shown that it may preserve the B-cells in the spleen10. Data from the ALITHIOS open-label extension study for up to 5 years and the ASCLEPIOS I/II core studies show Kesimpta's efficacy and favorable safety and tolerability profile in RMS participants1,2 Ofatumumab was originally developed by Genmab and licensed to GlaxoSmithKline. Novartis obtained rights for ofatumumab from GlaxoSmithKline in all indications, including RMS, in December 201511. Ofatumumab has been approved for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis in over 80 countries worldwide with more than 40,000 patients treated.

Novartis in Neuroscience

At Novartis Neuroscience, we have been tackling neurological conditions for >80 years, launching transformative treatments which have made meaningful differences to millions of people worldwide now and in the future. We continue to collaborate on industry-leading treatments in multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology, neurodegeneration, psychiatry and neuromuscular/rare diseases. We know that through innovation, partnerships and community engagement early on, we can understand and treat some of the most burdensome neurological conditions to help patients maintain their quality of life longer and make a positive impact on society.

To ensure patients everywhere can benefit from these life-changing therapies, we work closely with key stakeholders across the world to ensure rapid access and sustainable accessibility to our medicines, with the aim of providing the best treatment choices for each person's unique journey.

KESIMPTA

INDICATION

KESIMPTA is indicated for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), to include clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting disease, and active secondary progressive disease, in adults.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Contraindication: KESIMPTA is contraindicated in patients with active hepatitis B virus infection.

Warnings and Precautions

Infections: An increased risk of infections has been observed with other anti-CD20 B-cell depleting therapies. KESIMPTA has the potential for an increased risk of infections including serious bacterial, fungal, and new or reactivated viral infections; some have been fatal in patients treated with other anti-CD20 antibodies. The overall rate of infections and serious infections in KESIMPTA-treated patients was similar to teriflunomide-treated patients (51.6% vs 52.7%, and 2.5% vs 1.8%, respectively). The most common infections reported by KESIMPTA-treated patients in relapsing MS (RMS) trials included upper respiratory tract infection (39%) and urinary tract infection (10%). Delay KESIMPTA administration in patients with an active infection until resolved.

Consider the potential increased immunosuppressive effects when initiating KESIMPTA after an immunosuppressive therapy or initiating an immunosuppressive therapy after KESIMPTA.

Hepatitis B Virus: Reactivation: No reports of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation in patients with MS treated with KESIMPTA. However, HBV reactivation, in some cases resulting in fulminant hepatitis, hepatic failure, and death, has occurred in patients treated with ofatumumab at higher intravenous doses for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) than the recommended dose in MS and in patients treated with other anti-CD20 antibodies.

Infection: KESIMPTA is contraindicated in patients with active hepatitis B disease. Fatal infections caused by HBV in patients who have not been previously infected have occurred in patients treated with ofatumumab at higher intravenous doses for CLL than the recommended dose in MS. Perform HBV screening in all patients before initiation of KESIMPTA. Patients who are negative for HBsAg and positive for HB core antibody [HBcAb+] or are carriers of HBV [HBsAg+], should consult liver disease experts before starting and during KESIMPTA treatment.

Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: No cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) have been reported for KESIMPTA in RMS clinical studies; however, PML resulting in death has occurred in patients being treated with ofatumumab at higher intravenous doses for CLL than the recommended dose in MS. In addition, JC virus infection resulting in PML has also been observed in patients treated with other anti-CD20 antibodies and other MS therapies. If PML is suspected, withhold KESIMPTA and perform an appropriate diagnostic evaluation. If PML is confirmed, KESIMPTA should be discontinued.

Vaccinations: Administer all immunizations according to immunization guidelines: for live or live-attenuated vaccines at least 4 weeks and, whenever possible at least 2 weeks prior to starting KESIMPTA for inactivated vaccines. The safety of immunization with live or live-attenuated vaccines following KESIMPTA therapy has not been studied. Vaccination with live or live-attenuated vaccines is not recommended during treatment and after discontinuation until B-cell repletion.

Vaccination of Infants Born to Mothers Treated with KESIMPTA During Pregnancy. For infants whose mother was treated with KESIMPTA during pregnancy, assess B-cell counts prior to administration of live or live-attenuated vaccines. If the B-cell count has not recovered in the infant, do not administer the vaccine as having depleted B-cells may pose an increased risk in these infants.

Injection-Related Reactions: Injection-related reactions with systemic symptoms occurred most commonly within 24 hours of the first injection, but were also observed with later injections. There were no life-threatening injection reactions in RMS clinical studies.

The first injection of KESIMPTA should be performed under the guidance of an appropriately trained health care professional. If injection-related reactions occur, symptomatic treatment is recommended.

Reduction in Immunoglobulins: As expected with any B-cell depleting therapy, decreased immunoglobulin levels were observed. Monitor the levels of quantitative serum immunoglobulins during treatment, especially in patients with opportunistic or recurrent infections and after discontinuation of therapy until B-cell repletion. Consider discontinuing KESIMPTA therapy if a patient with low immunoglobulins develops a serious opportunistic infection or recurrent infections, or if prolonged hypogammaglobulinemia requires treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins.

Fetal Risk: Based on animal data, KESIMPTA can cause fetal harm due to B-cell lymphopenia and reduce antibody response in offspring exposed to KESIMPTA in utero. Transient peripheral B-cell depletion and lymphocytopenia have been reported in infants born to mothers exposed to other anti-CD20 B-cell depleting antibodies during pregnancy. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception while receiving KESIMPTA and for at least 6 months after the last dose.

Most common adverse reactions (>10%) are upper respiratory tract infection, headache, injection-related reactions, and local injection-site reactions.

Please see full Prescribing Information , including Medication Guide.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "may," "could," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures and requirements for increased pricing transparency; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19; safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation  an affiliate of Novartis  is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people's lives. We deliver high-value medicines that alleviate society's greatest disease burdens through technology leadership in R&D and novel access approaches. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world's top companies investing in research and development. Novartis employs nearly 14,500 people in the United States. For more information, please visit https://www.novartis.us

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References

Cohen JA, Hauser SL, Zielman R, et al. Effect of Longer-term Ofatumumab Treatment on Disability Worsening and Brain Volume Change. Oral presentation at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2023; April 22-27, 2023 ; Boston, MA. Cohen JA, Hauser SL, Cross AH, et al. Five-Year Safety of Ofatumumab in People Living With Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. Poster presentation at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2023; April 22-27, 2023 ; Boston, MA. Hauser SL, Bar-Or A, Cohen JA, et al. Ofatumumab versus Teriflunomide in Multiple Sclerosis. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(6):546-557. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1917246 Guthrie EW. Multiple sclerosis: A primer and update. Adv Studies Pharm. 2007;4(11):313-317. Multiple Sclerosis International Federation. Atlas of MS 2013-Mapping Multiple Sclerosis Around the World. Accessed August 12 , 2020. http://www.msif.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Atlas-of-MS.pdf National MS Society. Types of MS. Accessed January 18, 2023 . https://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS/Types-of-MS Kesimpta Prescribing Information. East Hanover, NJ : Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp; August 2020 . Bar-Or A, Fox E, Goodyear A, et al. Onset of B-cell depletion with subcutaneous administration of ofatumumab in relapsing multiple sclerosis: results from the APLIOS bioequivalence study. Poster presentation at: ACTRIMS; February 2020 ; West Palm Beach, FL. Smith P, Kakarieka A, Wallstroem E. Ofatumumab is a fully human anti-CD20 antibody achieving potent B-cell depletion through binding a distinct epitope. Poster presentation at: ECTRIMS; September 2016 ; London, UK . Smith P, Huck C, Wegert V, et al. Low-dose, subcutaneous anti-CD20 therapy effectively depletes B-cells and ameliorates CNS autoimmunity. Poster presentation at: ECTRIMS; September 2016 ; London, UK . Genmab Press Release: Genmab announces completion of agreement to transfer remaining ofatumumab rights. December 21, 2015 . Accessed January 18 , 2023. https://ir.genmab.com/static-files/9d491b72-bb0b-4e46-a792-dee6c29aaf7d

###





Novartis Media Relations

E-mail: [email protected]





North America

Julie Masow +1 862 579 8456 Marlena Abdinoor +1 617 335 9525



Novartis Investor Relations

E-mail:

[email protected]





North America

Sloan Simpson +1 862 778 5052





SOURCE Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
MIAMI, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oceania Cruises , the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line, is delighted to partner with multi-award-winning whisky brand Chapter 7 on the creation of an exclusive 20-year-old small-batch cask of whisky to celebrate the launch of its stunning new ship, Vista, and the brand's 20th anniversary.

Just 304 bottles of the whisky will be drawn and will be available for purchase by guests sailing on board Vista during her inaugural season this summer.

Credit: Oceania Cruises

This exciting partnership comes as part of a long-term collaboration with Oceania Cruises and cruise retail market leader Harding+.

"We are excited about the immersive approach that Harding+ and Chapter 7 are bringing to the launch of Vista and the continuing celebrations of our 20th anniversary," said Frank A. Del Rio, President of Oceania Cruises. "The importance of guest understanding is at the heart of this partnership, and innovative, emotional approaches in telling our brand stories, which engage all the senses, are at the heart of Oceania Cruises."

Sebastian Harding, Director of Operations at Chapter 7 Whisky, added, "We are honored to bring our 20-year aged special cask to such a special occasion for Oceania Cruises. We believe a cask is like a character in a novel, where the best ones tug at the heartstrings and don't let go. We believe our 304 specially curated bottles can play just that role of character for Vista's guests, as they discover something special that perfectly complements their cruise experience."

The 1,200-guest ship caters to inquisitive travelers, food and wine connoisseurs and affluent individuals, and Harding+'s quaternity model of working balances the cruise ship profile with guest needs, brand fit and insights, as well as Harding+ retail knowledge.

Paul Cunningham, Director of Buying from Harding+, explained: "We always strive to make every cruise better and the storytelling behind the uniqueness of this one-off approach is sure to grab the attention of discerning guests in both the content and the channels we are using to bring things to life. We know Oceania Cruises guests are curious travelers and this premium approach fits the Vista story and style."

To celebrate the production of this one-off cask, Harding+ has produced a special film that tells the story of luxury, rarity and the creative passion behind the whisky-making process. The film brings to life the cask selection process and the journey that flows from that through to the bottling, the nosing and the palate test.

The Harding+ Chapter 7 film can be viewed here.

About Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises is the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line. The line's seven small, luxurious ships carry a maximum of 1,238 guests and feature the finest cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries that span the globe. Expertly curated travel experiences aboard the designer-inspired, small ships call on more than 600 marquee and boutique ports in more than 100 countries on seven continents on voyages that range from seven to more than 200 days. The brand has a second 1,200-guest newbuild, Allura, on order for delivery in 2025. Oceania Cruises is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH). To learn more, visit www.nclhltd.com

About Harding+

Harding+ is the number 1 global cruise retailer by size, working as partners with 19 different cruise line operators across the globe, and with 115 cruise ships in operation or under contract.

We create memorable shopping experiences with a 'Quaternity' Partnership approach between our business, our cruise line partners, brand partners, and customers.

The business has central hubs in Bristol, Miami, and Sydney, employing over 900 staff on board ships, and 250 landside.

The 300+ shops Harding+ operates cover 17000 m2, and deliver over 4.4m transactions per year.

SOURCE Oceania Cruises
The four $25,000 investments are part of OnPoint's Green Horizons initiative, which empowers members, employees and the community to help build a more sustainable future

PORTLAND, Ore., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Earth Day 2023, OnPoint Community Credit Union has donated $100,000 to four nonprofit organizations that protect the Pacific Northwest's environment, natural resources and wildlife. This year's beneficiaries are The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, Ecotrust, Oregon Environment Council and SOLVE Oregon. The donation is part of OnPoint's Green Horizons effort, an initiative launched in April 2021 to empower members and employees to care for the planet. The initiative provides members with discounts on green vehicles and solar panels, partners with local environmental nonprofits, and offers employees telecommuting programs, volunteer opportunities and environmental education.

OnPoint's Green Horizons initiative provides members with discounts on green vehicles and solar panels, partners with local environmental nonprofits, and offers employees telecommuting programs, volunteer opportunities and environmental education.

"Addressing the effects of climate change starts at a local level to make a lasting impact," said Rob Stuart, President and CEO, OnPoint Community Credit Union. "We created the Green Horizons initiative to make going green more accessible, and to support the organizations fighting every day to protect our most vital natural resources. We are proud to support these efforts and to continue making greener choices more accessible to the community."

Supporting Oregon's conservation with local nonprofit support

OnPoint will donate $25,000 to each of this year's four nonprofit recipients: The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, Ecotrust, Oregon Environment Council and SOLVE Oregon. The Nature Conservancy in Oregon (TNC) brings people together to solve the most significant conservation challenges of our time. OnPoint has supported TNC since 2017, donating more than $316,800 to help fund projects, including forest restoration, ensuring vibrant and resilient coastal communities and sustainable fisheries, and protecting existing soil and underground carbon in Eastern Oregon. In 2021 in particular, OnPoint pledged up to $250 to TNC for every approved electric or hybrid vehicle loan with OnPoint. The campaign resulted in 1,474 approved green auto loans and a $226,750 donation to TNC.

"We are proud to be a recipient of OnPoint's Green Horizons for the third year in a row," said Derek Johnson, State Director, The Nature Conservancy in Oregon. "Oregonians are already experiencing the effects of climate change today, and OnPoint's latest donation will allow us to continue our urgent work to protect our natural resources to build resilience for the future."

Ecotrust has partnered with communities across our region for more than 30 years to inspire fresh thinking at the intersection of equity, economy and the environment. The organization is dedicated to restoring our lands and waters, promoting climate-resilient communities, and building broadly-shared intergenerational wealth. With OnPoint's donation, Ecotrust will advance a more equitable and restorative regional food economy through its innovative food systems programming and spaces. As part of the partnership, Ecotrust will promote and resource local food producers and entrepreneurs, while connecting and fostering key relationships with institutional food buyers who are committed to sourcing regional products.

"Collaborating with community leaders and organizations like OnPoint is how we build an equitable and prosperous future for all," said Christopher Rachal, Community and Funding Partnerships Manager at Ecotrust. "We are moved by the generosity and supportive partnership and look forward to continuing our collective work to advance climate resilience across our region."

Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) brings the community together to find environmental solutions that enable everyone to participate in making Oregon a better place to live. Founded in 1968 by concerned Oregonians across the state, OEC is a membership-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. OEC partners with businesses, local communities and elected officials to create protective public policy. Oregon Environmental Council aims to protect public access to Oregon's coast, reduce millions of tons of climate pollution, rid children's products of toxins and safeguard drinking water.

"Our goal is to ensure every Oregonian has access to healthy air, water and climate. Community partners like OnPoint make our work possible," said Jana Gastellum, Executive Director, Oregon Environmental Council. "We are thankful for this donation which will allow us to advance smart solutions, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, solar panels and safer consumer products that help more Oregonians live healthier lives."

SOLVE Oregon brings diverse communities together to improve the health and safety of Oregon's neighborhoods and natural areas, including the coast, rivers, parks and forests. For the past three years, OnPoint has supported SOLVE Oregon with $34,977 in donations and by sending dozens of employee volunteers to participate in SOLVE clean-up events. These events organize individuals and communities across Oregon to help remove litter from city streets and marine debris from beaches that can endanger wildlife and negatively impact water quality.

"OnPoint's donation and employee volunteer support has helped us grow our event capacity to keep more neighborhoods safe and healthy," Kris Carico, Chief Executive Officer, SOLVE Oregon. "We look forward to building our partnership with OnPoint to expand our reach and clean up more neighborhoods and natural areas throughout Oregon."

Increasing accessibility with auto and home special rate discounts

To make going green more accessible, OnPoint's Green Horizons offers special rate discounts for members. OnPoint's Green Auto Discount offers 0.25%1 Annual Percentage Rate (APR) off auto loan rates for new or used electric or hybrid vehicles financed through OnPoint. People in the market for an electric or hybrid vehicle can also find additional incentives through Oregon, Washington and federal programs.

OnPoint's Green Horizons also makes it more affordable for homeowners to produce their own solar electricity. When homeowners apply for an EquityFlex Line of Credit for home improvements, they can fix a portion of their line of credit for the purchase of solar panels and receive a 0.25%2 discount off the EquityFlex Fixed Portion APR. Homeowners can find even more savings by looking at incentives and rebate programs in Oregon and Washington.

For more information about OnPoint's investment in building a greener future, such as telecommuting programs, employee volunteer opportunities, and other donations to environmentally-focused organizations, please visit OnPointcu.com/green-horizons.

ABOUT ONPOINT COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION

OnPoint Community Credit Union is the largest credit union in Oregon, serving over 516,000 members and with assets of $8.9 billion. Founded in 1932, OnPoint Community Credit Union's membership is available to anyone who lives or works in one of 28 Oregon counties (Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Morrow, Multnomah, Polk, Sherman, Tillamook, Wasco, Washington, Wheeler, and Yamhill) and two Washington counties (Skamania and Clark) and their immediate family members. More information is available at www.onpointcu.com or 503-228-7077 or 800-527-3932.

1. APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Vehicles meeting OnPoint's Green Auto Discount standards receive a 0.25% discount off stated APR (Annual Percentage Rate). All OnPoint loans are subject to credit terms and approval. Discount does not apply to existing OnPoint auto loans.

2. Receive a 0.25% discount off stated EquityFlex Fixed Portion APR when proceeds are used to purchase solar panels. Review of purchase order or invoice required to qualify. Discount applies to invoice/purchase order amount, not to exceed $12,000. All OnPoint loans are subject to credit terms and approval.

SOURCE OnPoint Community Credit Union
NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio has been monitoring the organic laundry detergents market, and it is expected to grow by USD 3,986.4 million from 2022 to 2027. As per the latest report, the market will progress at a CAGR of 9.9% during the forecast period. This report aid business leaders with an up-to-date analysis that includes the study of the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers that are likely to influence the market growth, and the overall market environment. An emerging trend in the organic laundry detergents market is the emerging new packaging designs. The packaging of detergents is transforming from rigid formats such as bottles, cans, and jars to flexible ones. For instance, businesses use flexible, upright pouches with a tap to dispense their anti-odor laundry detergent. Detergent manufacturers are focusing on making the transition to environmentally friendly packaging, creating packaging from recycled plastic and making it completely recyclable. For example, a leading manufacturer, Dropps, is putting an emphasis on environmentally friendly packaging. Thus, such initiatives are estimated to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period. Download the Latest Sample Report!

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Organic Laundry Detergents Market 2023-2027

Organic Laundry Detergents Market 2023-2027: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our organic laundry detergents market report covers the following areas:

Organic Laundry Detergents Market 2023-2027: Market Dynamics

Major Drivers

A major driver for the organic laundry detergent market is the increasing generation of industrial waste.

There is a steady increase in the quantity of waste produced by various industrial processes. Without immediate action, the World Bank Group estimates that by 2050, global industrial waste will have increased by 70% from its current level.

As industrial waste generation rises continuously throughout the world, the demand for organic laundry detergents is rising. This is because of the fact that industrial waste has been recognized as a renewable feedstock and a source of raw materials for the production of organic laundry detergents.

Moreover, eco-friendly substrates such as agro-industrial waste, crop residues, and waste from the food and oil processing industries are also used to make organic laundry detergents.

Hence, during the forecast period, the production of organic laundry detergents will increase due to the high rate of industrial waste generation.

Key Challenges

A major challenge hindering market growth is the high cost of organic laundry detergents compared to synthetic laundry detergents.

Organic detergents are more expensive than their synthetic counterparts, as they cost more to produce, store, and maintain than synthetic laundry detergents.

Oleochemicals and industrial waste products are used to make organic laundry detergents. However, the cost and complexity of extraction further drive up the price of the finished goods.

Owing to the perishable nature of the product, appropriate storage conditions must be met during various stages, including production, processing, distribution, and storage.

As a result, producers are constantly searching for strategies to cut costs and gain a competitive edge in the market, which will significantly increase the cost of manufacturing organic laundry detergents.

Organic Laundry Detergents Market 2023-2027: Segmentation

Distribution Channel

Offline



Online

Product

Powdered Detergents



Liquid Detergents



Pods Detergents

Geography

North America



Europe



APAC



South America



Middle East And Africa

The market share growth by the offline segment will be significant during the forecast period. Powdered and liquid organic laundry detergents are frequently sold through the offline distribution channel. This includes retail establishments such as supermarkets, specialty shops, and department stores. These goods come in a variety of brands, sizes, and packaging. Specialty stores carry a wide range of brands. The availability of trained personnel who are able to provide accurate information on a variety of products is a significant factor that is anticipated to boost preference for this distribution channel. Hence, all such factors will boost the growth of the offline segment.

Different segments influence the market growth differently, to learn more, request a

sample report!

Organic Laundry Detergents Market 2023-2027: Vendor Analysis

The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the organic laundry detergents market, including AspenClean, CC Holdings Inc., Dropps, Earth Friendly Products, Eco Me, EcoRoots, Ecozone Ltd., Eleeo Brands LLC, Greenology Products Inc., MaddieBrit Products LLC, Nellies, People Against Dirty Holdings Ltd., Rockin Green, S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., Sodasan Wasch und Reinigungsmittel GmbH, Sonett GmbH, Tandis Naturals, The Procter and Gamble Co., Unilever PLC, and Werner and Mertz GmbH. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the organic laundry detergents market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile, and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

Vendor Offerings

AspenClean - The company offers organic laundry detergents such as AspenClean Natural Laundry Detergent Unscented.

The company offers organic laundry detergents such as AspenClean Natural Laundry Detergent Unscented. CC Holdings Inc. - The company offers organic laundry detergents such as Biokleen Natural Laundry Detergent.

The company offers organic laundry detergents such as Biokleen Natural Laundry Detergent. Earth Friendly Products - The company offers organic laundry detergents under the brand, ECOS.

Organic Laundry Detergents Market 2023-2027: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2027

Detailed information on factors that will assist organic laundry detergents market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the organic laundry detergents market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the organic laundry detergents market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of organic laundry detergents market vendors

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Related Reports:

The global liquid detergent market size is expected to increase by USD 11.43 billion from 2020 to 2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 4.96%. The report extensively covers market segmentations by-products (liquid laundry detergent and liquid dishwashing detergent), distribution channels (offline and online), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, MEA). The new product launches are notably driving the global liquid detergent market growth.

The laundry folding machine market is projected to grow by USD 2.39 billion with a CAGR of 8.51% during the forecast period 2021 to 2026. The report extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (apparel manufacturers, industrial launderers, hotels, hospitals, and others), type (automatic, semi-automatic, and manual folding machine), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). The social factors driving the adoption of laundry folding machines are notably driving the laundry folding machine market growth.

Organic Laundry Detergents Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.9% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 3,986.4 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022- 2023 (%) 9.08 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 38% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled AspenClean, CC Holdings Inc., Dropps, Earth Friendly Products, Eco Me, EcoRoots, Ecozone Ltd., Eleeo Brands LLC, Greenology Products Inc., MaddieBrit Products LLC, Nellies, People Against Dirty Holdings Ltd., Rockin Green, S.C. Johnson and Son Inc., Sodasan Wasch und Reinigungsmittel GmbH, Sonett GmbH, Tandis Naturals, The Procter and Gamble Co., Unilever PLC, and Werner and Mertz GmbH Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Browse for Technavio's Consumer Staples 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 Distribution Channel



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global organic laundry detergents market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global organic laundry detergents market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Distribution Channel Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Distribution Channel Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

6.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Product

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 44: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 46: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Comparison by Product

7.3 Powdered detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 48: Chart on Powdered detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Powdered detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 50: Chart on Powdered detergents - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Powdered detergents - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Liquid detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 52: Chart on Liquid detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Liquid detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 54: Chart on Liquid detergents - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Liquid detergents - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Pods detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 56: Chart on Pods detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Pods detergents - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 58: Chart on Pods detergents - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Pods detergents - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 60: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 62: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 63: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 65: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 67: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 69: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 70: 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 71: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 73: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 75: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 76: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 77: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 78: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 79: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 83: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 85: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 89: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 95: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 97: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 99: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 100: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 101: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 102: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 103: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 107: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)



Exhibit 108: Data Tables on Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 109: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 110: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 111: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 112: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 113: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 114: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 AspenClean

Exhibit 115: AspenClean - Overview



Exhibit 116: AspenClean - Product / Service



Exhibit 117: AspenClean - Key offerings

12.4 CC Holdings Inc.

Exhibit 118: CC Holdings Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 119: CC Holdings Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 120: CC Holdings Inc. - Key offerings

12.5 Earth Friendly Products

Exhibit 121: Earth Friendly Products - Overview



Exhibit 122: Earth Friendly Products - Product / Service



Exhibit 123: Earth Friendly Products - Key offerings

12.6 Eco Me

Exhibit 124: Eco Me - Overview



Exhibit 125: Eco Me - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: Eco Me - Key offerings

12.7 EcoRoots

Exhibit 127: EcoRoots - Overview



Exhibit 128: EcoRoots - Product / Service



Exhibit 129: EcoRoots - Key offerings

12.8 Ecozone Ltd.

Exhibit 130: Ecozone Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 131: Ecozone Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 132: Ecozone Ltd. - Key offerings

12.9 Eleeo Brands LLC

Exhibit 133: Eleeo Brands LLC - Overview



Exhibit 134: Eleeo Brands LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 135: Eleeo Brands LLC - Key offerings

12.10 Greenology Products Inc.

Exhibit 136: Greenology Products Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 137: Greenology Products Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 138: Greenology Products Inc. - Key offerings

12.11 MaddieBrit Products LLC

Exhibit 139: MaddieBrit Products LLC - Overview



Exhibit 140: MaddieBrit Products LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 141: MaddieBrit Products LLC - Key offerings

12.12 Rockin Green

Exhibit 142: Rockin Green - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 143: Rockin Green - Product / Service

- Product / Service

Exhibit 144: Rockin Green - Key offerings

12.13 S.C. Johnson and Son Inc.

Exhibit 145: S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 146: S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 147: S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. - Key offerings

12.14 Sonett GmbH

Exhibit 148: Sonett GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 149: Sonett GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 150: Sonett GmbH - Key offerings

12.15 Tandis Naturals

Exhibit 151: Tandis Naturals - Overview



Exhibit 152: Tandis Naturals - Product / Service



Exhibit 153: Tandis Naturals - Key offerings

12.16 The Procter and Gamble Co.

Exhibit 154: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Overview



Exhibit 155: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 156: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Key news



Exhibit 157: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 158: The Procter and Gamble Co. - Segment focus

12.17 Unilever PLC

Exhibit 159: Unilever PLC - Overview



Exhibit 160: Unilever PLC - Business segments



Exhibit 161: Unilever PLC - Key news



Exhibit 162: Unilever PLC - Key offerings



Exhibit 163: Unilever PLC - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 164: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 165: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 166: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 167: Research methodology



Exhibit 168: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 169: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 170: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
PITTSBURGH, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PANTHERx Rare, a leader in rare disease product patient access and support services in the United States, is pleased to announce the launch of CUVRIOR to treat stable Wilson Disease in adults who are de-coppered and able to take penicillamine.

"We are pleased to add CUVRIOR to the list of PANTHERx medications. The PANTHERx team works hard to make a positive difference in the lives of our patients who are dealing with devastating and debilitating diseases and CUVRIOR is yet another way we can make an impact," said Rob Snyder, president of PANTHERx Rare.

Wilson Disease is a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the ATP7B gene, resulting in the accumulation of copper throughout the body. Copper deposits in the body lead to a wide array of symptoms including, but not limited to tremors, anxiety, jaundice due to liver injury, and Kayser-Fleischer rings (brown rings in the corneas of the eyes). Untreated, Wilson Disease can be fatal. Serious complications include problems with the liver, kidneys, neurological (e.g., tremors, clumsy gait, speech difficulties), psychological (e.g., depression, psychosis) and blood problems (anemia, jaundice).

CUVRIOR is an innovative oral formulation of the active ingredient trientine created by Orphalan to treat adult patients with stable Wilson Disease who have already been de-coppered. CUVRIOR works by chelating copper in the body to decrease copper absorption and increase urinary copper excretion. In clinical trials, CUVRIOR was found to be well tolerated and non-inferior to penicillamine in reducing non-ceruloplasmin copper (NCC) levels in Wilson Disease patients.

About PANTHERx Rare

PANTHERx Rare is one of the largest and fastest growing rare pharmacies in the United States. PANTHERx transforms lives by delivering medicine breakthroughs, clinical excellence, and access solutions to people living with rare and devastating conditions. Although the overall incidence of rare diseases is as common as diabetes, less than 7% of the 7,000 known rare and devastating disorders have an FDA-approved therapy. Changes in federal policy and advances in science have led to a surge in FDA orphan drug approvals, providing tremendous hope to the rare disease community.

PANTHERx was recently awarded Specialty Pharmacy of the Year by the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) and earned the inaugural Accredited Distinction in Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC). PANTHERx is now a five-time winner of the prestigious MMIT Patient Choice Award, including the 2022 honor. PANTHERx is headquartered in Pittsburgh, licensed in all 50 states, and holds accreditations from URAC, NABP, and ACHC.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Do not use CUVRIOR if you are allergic to trientine or to any of the ingredients in CUVRIOR.

Your Wilson's Disease symptoms could get worse when you start treatment. This could happen because too much copper is removed from the body in a short period of time. Your doctor may need to reduce your dose or stop CUVRIOR treatment.

Copper deficiency may develop following treatment with CUVRIOR. Your doctor will do tests to monitor your urine and blood for copper.

Iron deficiency may develop while taking CUVRIOR. If this happens, your doctor may tell you to take iron supplements for a limited time.

Allergic reactions, such as a rash can occur. If a rash or other allergic reaction occurs, stop taking CUVRIOR and get emergency medical help.

The most common side effects are pain in the abdomen, change in bowel habits, rash, hair loss (alopecia), and mood swings.

Take CUVRIOR at least 1 hour apart from any other oral medicine. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you're taking, including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Avoid taking supplements when taking CUVRIOR. Taking CUVRIOR with mineral supplements (e.g., iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium) can reduce the effectiveness of CUVRIOR. If iron supplementation is necessary, take CUVRIOR at least 2 hours before or 2 hours after taking iron; for other mineral supplements (e.g., zinc, calcium, magnesium), take CUVRIOR at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after. Do not start or stop any medicines while taking CUVRIOR without talking to your doctor.

These are not all the possible side effects of CUVRIOR. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs. Contact Orphalan at 1-800-961-8320 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/ medwatch.

Please see full Prescribing Information.

03/2023 US-ORPH-CUVR-023* - Orphalan reviewed and approved this material exclusively regarding CUVRIOR, Wilson disease and Orphalan related information and claims.

SOURCE PANTHERx Rare Pharmacy
PeopleScout identified as a global leader for the fifth time in a row, recognized for innovation in service and technology

CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PeopleScout has been recognized as a Leader, the highest rating, in every category of NelsonHall's global 2023 NEAT Vendor Evaluation for RPO and Total Talent. The categories include Innovation in Service and Innovation in Technology/Tools as well as an Overall rating.

Jeanine Crane-Thompson, Principal HR Research Analyst at NelsonHall, said: "PeopleScout's broad range of RPO and talent solutions, underpinned by its deep consulting expertise and technology innovation, were instrumental in its placement as a Leader in this year's NEAT, consolidating its position as a key RPO & Total Talent player."

NEAT is NelsonHall's vendor evaluation and assessment tool, offering companies around the world a comprehensive assessment of vendors' offerings and capabilities. The NEAT for RPO allows strategic sourcing managers to assess the capability of vendors across a range of criteria and business situations to identify the best performing vendors overall, and with specific capability in technology/tools innovation and services innovation.

"As our clients' strategic advisorswhether it be in developing a compelling and authentic employer brand, creating a seamless candidate experience or implementing the right recruitment tech stackwe have an unwavering commitment to supporting their unique workforce needs," said Rick Betori, PeopleScout President. "This recognition from NelsonHall is evidence of that commitment, and the breadth and sophistication of the services we provide."

Highlights from NelsonHall's evaluation of PeopleScout on the 2023 NEAT Vendor Evaluation include the company's:

Broad range of existing and new RPO and talent solutions, including those offered across the TrueBlue family of brands, providing more comprehensive solutions and business synergy opportunities

Deep expertise in Talent Advisory services, notably employer branding, assessment, recruitment marketing and consulting for the future of work

An established proprietary technology platform, Affinix, and demonstrated innovation within the next-generation platform including:

Advanced use of automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning



The "Ask Affinix" feature within Affinix analytics



Roadmap of technology and tools to augment Affinix

Continued focus on service delivery excellence

A Leader designation on the NEAT vendor evaluation is based on a combination of analyst assessments and feedback from the RPO vendor's clients. Interviews with clients focus on measuring the vendor's ability to deliver immediate benefit as well as evaluating the vendor's suitability to meet future requirements.

Learn more about PeopleScout's 2023 NelsonHall NEAT Vendor Evaluation by downloading the full report .

About NelsonHall

NelsonHall is the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organizations understand the 'art of the possible' in digital operations transformation. With analysts in the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, and India, NelsonHall provides buy-side organizations with detailed, critical information on markets and vendors (including NEAT assessments) that helps them make fast and highly informed sourcing decisions. And for vendors, NelsonHall provides deep knowledge of market dynamics and user requirements to help them hone their go-to-market strategies. NelsonHall's research is based on rigorous, all-original research, and is widely respected for the quality, depth, and insight of its analysis.

About PeopleScout

PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company, is a leading RPO provider managing talent solutions that span the global economy, with end-to-end MSP and talent advisory capabilities supporting total workforce needs. PeopleScout boasts 96% client retention managing the most complex programs in the industry. The company's thousands of forward-looking talent professionals provide clients with the edge in the people business by consistently delivering now while anticipating what's next. Affinix, PeopleScout's proprietary talent acquisition platform, empowers faster engagement with the best talent through an AI-driven, consumer-like candidate experience and optimizes the talent process through data and actionable insights. Leveraging the power of data gleaned from engaging millions of candidates and contingent associates every year, PeopleScout has served clients in more than 70 countries with headquarters in Chicago, Sydney and London and global delivery centers in Toronto, Montreal, Bristol, Krakow, Gurgaon and Bangalore. For more information, please visit www.peoplescout.com.

Press Contact

Taylor Winchell

Senior Manager, External Communications

[email protected]

1-253-680-8291

SOURCE PeopleScout
SHANGHAI, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The renowned French skincare brand, Pier Auge, held its first brand ceremony in China. Diane de COMTE, Chairman of Pier Auge, and Charles Dupont, CEO of the brand, travelled from Paris, France to Changsha to present the 62-year story of Pier Auge from 1961 to 2023.

Charles Dupont, the CEO of Pier Auge, Introducing The Brand At The Ceremony

The brand ceremony was held in Changsha as it is a representative city of the new tier 1 and tier 2 cities in China, which are on the rise and constitute an important consumer market in China. Different from Tier 1 cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, which have an urban population of only 80 million, the new Tier 1 cities and Tier 2 cities have an urban population of over 500 million, and are closer to the largest urban population in China. Also, as a new Internet Poplour city with a large number of emerging consumer groups who are looking for fashion, health, leisure and quality, this city shows the brand with a better representation of the life of the largest urban population in China.

Founded in 1961 in Monaco by senior pharmacist Pierre Jules Auge, Pier Auge is a brand that represents a story of "Born for love" and the event was held to capture and celebrate this sentiment. By using a combination of VCR and drama scenes to illustrate Pier Auge's story, the brand beautifully portrayed its origin as a gift of love from a senior pharmacist to his wife with sensitive skin, to its growth in becoming an influence on many generations of French women.

The brand ceremony was divided into four chapters, each highlighting a specific era in French history and the brand's corresponding products. Through the 62-year history of the brand, the audience was vividly shown the classics products, hero products and new products of the brand. The first chapter showcased the brand's founding couple's encounter and love through a Waltz Masquerade Ball. The second chapter, set in the French 1960s and 1970s, presented five versions of the Ental cream, the sensitive skin pioneer. The third chapter featured the Snow Melt Mask, a customized SPA skincare product popular in France in the 1980s and 1990s. The fourth chapter, which was set from 2000 to 2020, highlighted the brand's implementation of inheritance, innovation and science in French skincare.

In opening their latest chapter, the CEO of Pier Auge, Charles Dupont announced the brand's global plan for the next three years. Since partnering with S'Young International, Pier Auge has achieved significant success in the Chinese market. The partnership with S'Young International enabled Pier Auge to capture key growth points based on its brand heritage, helping the brand identify its customer groups and create hero products. S'Young's market know-how provided all-around support for Pier Auge to drive the brand's popularity among Chinese customers. Now, the brand's flagship product, Douce Aura, secured the first spot on the add-to-cart list of Tmall Global imported applied mask cream.

The success of this Brand Ceremony also marked a new milestone for Pier Auge as it continues to expand its global impact and ensuring its future growth.

SOURCE S'Young International
In total, Polaris has donated more than $3.1 million to ATV, off-road and snowmobiling organizations across the U.S. and Canada through its T.R.A.I.L.S. Program

MINNEAPOLIS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Polaris Inc. (NYSE: PII), announced a donation of more than $135,000 to off-road (ORV), utility-terrain (UTV), all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and snowmobile organizations across the United States as a part of its ongoing T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant Program. As the global leader in powersports, Polaris is committed to promoting responsible riding practices and advancing stewardship initiatives that help protect and care for the outdoors. Awarded twice annually, the T.R.A.I.L.S. Grants Program furthers that commitment by supporting the efforts of nonprofit organizations in the development, improvement, and expansion of trails, and helps to educate riders on safe and responsible riding practices.

Polaris donates over $135,000 to off-road and snowmobile organizations as a part of its T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant program. Tweet this Polaris T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant Logo

"The outdoors is foundational to experiencing our products, whether that's at work or at play. Our T.R.A.I.L.S. Grants Program allows us to support and help further the on-the-ground efforts of the local riding clubs as they work to help maintain and create enjoyable and safe riding experiences for all," said Steve Menneto, president of Polaris, Off Road. "These nonprofit organizations are comprised of volunteers who love to ride and serve as passionate stewards of the off-roading community, we are proud to recognize and aid in their ongoing dedication to the environment and responsible riding."

The 14 organizations that were awarded a Spring 2023 T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant received awards ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. The Spring 2023 T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant recipients are:

All American Heroes Foundation ( Roy, Wash. )

) Coalmont OHV Park Inc. ( Coalmont, Tenn. )

) Elkhart County 4-H ATV Club ( Goshen, Ind. )

4-H ATV Club ( ) Elliot Lake ATV Club ( Elliot Lake, ON , Can.)

, Can.) Friends of the Flathead Snowmobile Association ( Bigfork, Mont. )

) High Fives Nonprofit Foundation ( Truckee, Calif. )

) Maryland Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance Inc. ( Keedysville, Md. )

) Mollyrockett Sportsman's Club ( West Paris, Maine )

) Nevada Offroad Association ( Carson City, Nev. )

) Penticton Sno-Trackers Snowmobile Club ( Penticton, BC , Can.)

, Can.) Pictou County Trails Association ( Pictou, NS , Can.)

, Can.) Pulaski-Boylston Snowmobile Club Inc. ( Pulaski, N.Y. )

) Washington Department of Natural Resources Olympic Region Recreation ( Forks, Wash. )

) Western Trails Conservancy LTD ( Clayton, Idaho )

"We are the largest county in Washington State for outdoor recreational users  Cle Elum is a small community of 3,000 residents that explodes to more than 30,000 recreational users on the weekends," said Jason Homes, principle of Upper County Recreation Association and Spring 2022 T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant recipient. "The grant we received from Polaris along with support from The Nature Conservancy enabled us to complete critical maintenance on the Patrick Mine Road/Trail, which connects Ronald, Wash., to the Cle Elum Ridge Trail system. The grant-funded maintenance on the trail will also allow for groomer access to help preserve the trail well into the future."

Since its inception in 2006, the program has supported 360 ATV, off-road and snowmobiling organizations across the U.S. and Canada with more than $3.1 million in grants. The T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant Program focuses on two main objectives: promoting safe and responsible riding and supporting trail preservation and access. Organizations may use funds from the grant to increase and maintain land access through trail development, maintenance projects, safety and education initiatives and other projects.

For more information on the T.R.A.I.L.S. Grant Program and to apply for a grant, follow this link to the Polaris website: https://www.polaris.com/en-us/trails-application/.

About Polaris

As the global leader in powersports, Polaris Inc. (NYSE: PII) pioneers product breakthroughs and enriching experiences and services that have invited people to discover the joy of being outdoors since our founding in 1954. Polaris' high-quality product line-up includes the Polaris RANGER, RZR and Polaris GENERAL side-by-side off-road vehicles; Sportsman all-terrain off-road vehicles; military and commercial off-road vehicles; snowmobiles; Indian Motorcycle mid-size and heavyweight motorcycles; Slingshot moto-roadsters; Aixam quadricycles; Goupil electric vehicles; and pontoon and deck boats, including industry-leading Bennington pontoons. Polaris enhances the riding experience with a robust portfolio of parts, garments, and accessories. Proudly headquartered in Minnesota, Polaris serves more than 100 countries across the globe. www.polaris.com

SOURCE Polaris Inc.
Pairing of Top 100 Firms Equals 4,000+ Accounting Professionals

NEW YORK and BATON ROUGE, La., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global business advisory firm EisnerAmper announced that the directors and colleagues of Louisiana-based accounting, assurance, tax, consulting and technology firm Postlethwaite & Netterville ("P&N") will be joining EisnerAmper in a transaction anticipated to close by the summer of 2023.

Founded in 1949, P&N has more than 575 team members across the U.S. and nine offices in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. The pairing of these Top 100 accounting firms will bring together two well-established organizations that are fully aligned in their core values, quality client service and integrity.

This combination will have positive impacts for both firms by expanding EisnerAmper's reach into the Gulf Coast region and providing a platform for P&N's continued growth on a larger geographic scale. P&N clients will benefit from new and innovative services and the support of a global business advisory firm.

"We're extremely proud to be joining EisnerAmper and to build upon the existing success of both firms. This is an unprecedented opportunity to provide our clients with even more innovative and competitive services and for P&N team members to benefit from additional resources and new opportunities for professional growth," said Dan Gardiner, P&N's Managing Director and CEO. "By joining with EisnerAmper, P&N will continue to serve our clients across the Gulf South and U.S. with the added support, resources and partnership of a Top 20 firm with a global presence."

"P&N's long-standing reputation for excellence in the Gulf Coast and beyond precedes itself. With this one strategic move, we're adding more than 575 top-talent professionals and further extending deep industry experience in all aspects of our assurance, tax, advisory and outsourcing practice areasno small accomplishment," said Christopher Loiacono, EisnerAmper's Vice Chair of Services. "We greatly look forward to our historic combination with P&N and the vast opportunities it will afford our clients and staff for years to come."

About EisnerAmper

EisnerAmper, one of the largest business consulting firms in the world, is comprised of EisnerAmper LLP, a licensed independent CPA firm that provides client attest services; and Eisner Advisory Group LLC, an alternative practice structure that provides business advisory and non-attest services in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, standards, and codes of conduct. Clients are in all business sectors and leverage a complete menu of service offerings. Our combined entities have more than 320 partners and 3,300 employees. For more information, please visit eisneramper.com, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About P&N

Postlethwaite & Netterville, APAC ("P&N") helps businesses and individuals across the country shape clearer paths forward. Backed by 74-plus years of experience, we are one of the largest CPA and consulting firms in the Gulf Coast region and the only Top 100 U.S. firm based in Louisiana. With more than 575 professionals providing assurance, tax, consulting and technology services, we have one purpose: creating clear, simplified pathways for clients' success. Learn more at pncpa.com .

SOURCE EisnerAmper
Commercial Marijuana Industry Causing Sharp Increases in THC-related Addiction and Medical Emergencies, Exploding Illicit Markets, a Drugged Driving Epidemic, and Dangerous Health Outcomes for Young People

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the nation reels from an overdose and addiction crisis, a new report released today shows that commercialized marijuana products are making the situation much worse. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), the nation's leading organization dedicated to advancing a health-first approach to marijuana policy, unveiled its 2023 Impact Report alongside globally-recognized addiction medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky in Washington today, detailing the negative health, public safety, social justice, and fiscal consequences of the commercial marijuana industry.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)

"Many people have bought the marijuana industry's line that their products weren't addictive or dangerous and could actually help communities of color. Now, the data is in to prove it was a lie," said Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of SAM and a former drug policy advisor to Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton. "We've pulled together medical, scientific, and government data from every state that has legalized to give people the clearest picture possible of this industry's impact. What we're seeing is shocking."

"Like Big Tobacco before it, the marijuana industry has made wild claims to spin a dangerous product into something good. The report's data clearly demonstrates that the commercialization of marijuana is having adverse effects on physical and mental health, public safety, young people, and communities of color," continued Sabet.

"The mental-health consequences of using high-potency THC cannot be over-stated," said Dr. Drew Pinsky, a Board-Certified Physician and Addiction Medicine Specialist. "For young people with developing brains, THC use can be addictive and permanently alter the brain. This report is in line with what I have been seeing clinically."

The 2023 Impact Report shows, through analysis of a range of data, that the most common claims of the commercial THC industry have been deceptive. The chart below details some of the industry claims debunked by the report:

INDUSTRY CLAIM REALITY Marijuana is Not Addictive 1 in 3 annual users have a marijuana use disorder. Legalization is associated with a 25 percent increase in cannabis use disorder among 1217-year-olds. 12th graders who admitted to vaping marijuana in the last year nearly doubled. More than 16 million people had a marijuana use disorder in 2021. Legalization of Pot is Social Justice Only 4 percent of THC product producers are people of color. The industry is saturating communities of color with pot shops, heavily concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods. A majority of localities in "legal" states have opted out of marijuana sales. THC Use is Safe THC use reduces IQ and significantly predicts psychosis, depression, suicidality, and motor impairment. 1 in 4 road deaths in Colorado involved marijuana. There were more than 800,000 marijuana-related hospitalizations in 2021. Legalization will Eliminate the Illicit Market The illicit market is exploding in every pot-legal state. Over 70 percent of marijuana sold in state-legal dispensaries in California was produced and grown illegally. Illicit marijuana seized by around Oregon increased 253x since 2018.

"All of the data in this new report are gravely concerning, but it is the results of the industry's multi-year, relentless campaign to target our kids that we should all be talking about," said former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Chairman and co-founder of SAM. "The sharp post-pandemic rise in negative mental health outcomes, especially among young Americans, should mean we are doing everything we can to give every American access to better mental health care. Instead, we have allowed the marijuana industry to target those who are most vulnerable in this mental health crisis: young people. We're seeing huge increases in accidental poisonings, skyrocketing rates of addiction, and more drugged driving crashes. We can thank the industry's new concoctions, including THC-laced elixirs, candies, sodas for that. It's time we put public health in front of profits."

Every major medical association has opposed commercializing marijuana because of the significant health and mental health impacts of today's high potency THC products, including edibles, waxes, vape oils and drinks. "The data highlighted in the SAM impact report is in line with concerning trends practitioners have witnessed for years" said Dr. Gary Kirkilas, a Phoenix, AZ pediatrician who provides care for the homeless. "With legalization, we've sent a false message to our young people that marijuana is safe. The data shows the opposite: marijuana use is dangerous, and it negatively impacts the developing brain. The tobacco industry has taken over the marijuana industry and they're using the same old tactics to target the next generation, including modifying marijuana so it is more potent and more addictive."

"The legalization of marijuana fails to advance social and racial equity," said Teresa Haley, President of the NAACP-Illinois. "When the marijuana industry moved into my home state of Illinois, they promised opportunity and equity, but it was a lie. Drug use and addiction continue to plague Black and Brown communities and allowing the dealer around the corner to set up an LLC and sell 'legally' does not solve this problem. Legalization does not address the root cause of issues of systemic injustice and racism. Instead, legalization only exacerbates these problems by normalizing drug use and its negative consequences."

A complete copy of SAM's 2023 Impact Report can be found here.

ABOUT SMART APPROACHES TO MARIJUANA

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is an alliance of organizations and individuals dedicated to a health-first approach to marijuana policy. Our commonsense to marijuana policy is based on reputable science and sound principles of public health and safety.

Media Contact: Bob Driscoll, [email protected], 716-307-7406.

SOURCE Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)
-The certification marks another stride forward in EV solid-state battery commercialization, as ProLogium becomes the first ceramic SSB maker world-wide to have its processes validated by stringent automotive industry standards.

- The certified processes and quality management systems will be instrumental for product quality assurance as ProLogium proceeds with its plans to scale up globally.

TAIPEI, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 12, 2023, ProLogium, a leading next-generation solid-state battery (SSB) manufacturer, announced that it has been certified the ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 quality management system (QMS) by SGS. This means its comprehensive R&D, manufacturing and quality management systems have now been validated as meeting the high standards of automotive OEMs.

This is the first time ever a solid-state lithium ceramic battery maker has been awarded IATF 16949, a demonstration that oxide SSBs are no longer lab concepts, but standard products that can be mass produced with scalable manufacturing processes. At the awarding ceremony, Stephen Pao, Knowledge Deputy General Manager of SGS Taiwan Ltd., presented the certificate to James Chou, ProLogium's representative and Vice President of the Overseas Manufacturing Center.

Automotive quality standards are crucial as defects in the supply chain may have an impact on the automobile user's experience and safety. The International Automotive Task Force (IATF) introduced the IATF16949, a universal standard that meets global quality requirements, including those of ISO 9001, German and U.S automotive industry associations, as well as major top-tier automakers. As such, the IATF16949 ensures that all parts suppliers comply with a unified standard that fulfills commitment to customers. The quality system has now become a prerequisite for suppliers looking to participate in the global automotive supply chain.

Solid-state batteries are recognized as a promising next-generation battery technology because of their outstanding electrical and safety performance. However, despite considerable investment, the high threshold of commercialization still poses a challenge for their popularization. According to SGS, only companies with actual sales records and more than one year of production experience are eligible to apply for IATF 16949 certificate, making it extremely rare for next-generation battery companies to become certified.

"As ProLogium's gigafactory is close to start of production and its global capacity expansion plan will be launched, obtaining IATF 16949 certificate offers validation and encouragement for our team. It attests to ProLogium's capability to meet the rigorous quality and reliability requirements for top international carmakers and our readiness for global mass production," said James Chou, Vice President of ProLogium's Overseas Manufacturing Center. "A quality system is necessary for an innovative technology to be commercially viable; we will continue to tap into the PDCA cycle to prevent defect, control variance, improve quality and yield and reduce costs. With an optimized system, ProLogium's solid-state batteries will support automakers in fulfilling their commitment to consumers and developing safe, efficient, sustainable and affordable next-generation EVs."

Starting out with consumer electronics, wearable, and industrial applications, ProLogium has now sold over one million solid-state battery cells. Since launching its first pilot line in 2013, its manufacturing capabilities have been market-validated for over 9 years, achieving 99.9% yield for single-layer cells and 94% for multi-layer cells - a rare accomplishment for a next-gen battery startup to achieve in terms of automated and standardized manufacturing processes. ProLogium is also the first solid-state lithium ceramic battery manufacturer to be certified for ISO 14001 environmental management system, ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system, ISO 9001 quality management system, and IATF 16949.

"IATF 16949 is essential for international automakers to achieve a 'zero defect' manufacturing process. From design, development, manufacturing to shipping, the system ensures consistent, high quality for automotive parts suppliers. Perfection isn't easy, and during the certification process, we witnessed ProLogium's dedication and investment in quality and systems," said Stephen Pao, Knowledge Deputy General Manager of SGS Taiwan Ltd. "Congratulations to ProLogium on obtaining the certification. We hope that ProLogium can continue to leverage PDCA, a core tool of the IATF 16949, to continuously optimize processes and contribute to sustainable development for the electric vehicle industry."

About ProLogium

Founded in 2006, ProLogium is an energy innovation firm focused on the R&D and manufacturing of next-generation battery solutions for EV, consumer, and industrial applications. ProLogium is currently the only solid-state battery maker in the world to have demonstrated mass production readiness and capabilities. Its proprietary technologies cover more than 600 (applied and awarded) patents globally. ProLogium's automated pilot production line has supplied nearly 8,000 solid-state battery sample cells to international automotive OEMs for testing and module development. ProLogium's first gigafactory will go online in the first half of 2023 and begin to scale up production in the second half of 2023, which will help accelerate the company's capacity expansions in major markets worldwide.

SOURCE ProLogium
MINNEAPOLIS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Minnesota-based precast concrete licensing company, Recon, together with UK-based EV Blocks Ltd. announce the first shipment of precast EV charging foundation forms to a newly-established network of producers.

In just a few short months we have been able to establish agreements with producers in over 20 major markets throughout the US EV Blocks precast foundations are currently sold across the UK with demand driven by a patent-pending design including a universal adaptor plate and side openings for conduit installation, ideal for nearly all Level 2 charger installations.

The partnership between the two companies was first announced in August of 2022, and combines the innovation of the established UK charger foundation with Recon's expertise in bringing precast products to market. This announcement was met with overwhelming interest by concrete producers and electrical contractors who saw the product at the National Electrical Contractors Association exhibition in Austin, TX.

"In just a few short months we have been able to establish agreements with producers in over 20 major markets throughout the US." says Recon's President Mike Klotthor "We are incredibly excited about the group that is coming together. These are experienced companies that have a history of producing quality products. Our producers are looking forward to helping fulfill the need for fast and reliable solutions to support the accelerating EV charging infrastructure buildout."

Forms left the docks at the Coon Rapids, MN headquarters the week of April 17th, bound for their coast-to-coast destinations. Suppliers will receive training to ensure all procedures and quality standards are met. More information about the producer network can be found here .

Trevor Palmer, Director of EV Blocks, states, "Having producers accessible for EV installation contractors at a local level across the US is really important for us. There are a number of key design aspects that have made our product truly scalable, which will in turn enable installers to move swiftly from one project to the next. This expert network is poised to support the growth of the EV charging station infrastructure nationwide."

EV Blocks precast foundations are currently sold across the UK with demand driven by a patent-pending design including a universal adaptor plate and side openings for conduit installation, ideal for nearly all Level 2 charger installations. Its precast nature eliminates the time it takes to pour and cure concrete foundations on-site. The blocks are produced ahead of time in approved facilities and come ready to install, saving days of labor and raw material order lead time.

About Recon

Formed in 2000, Recon now supports more than 60 licensed producers with their unique and innovative product lines as well as precast product marketing services. Over the years, millions of their products have been installed around the world. Recon is proud to be a leader in the precast concrete product space, supporting a growing network of producers. Learn more about their other products at reconwalls.com | lightpolebase.com | reconproductmarketing.com .

About EV Blocks

Based in the UK, EV Blocks produces an EV charging foundation made from precast concrete, coupled with a universal adaptor plate. EV Blocks was created to meet the increasing demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as the switch to electric mobility becomes mainstream. Learn more at www.evblocks.com .

Contact: Erin Kelly

Tel.: 612.474.0089

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.evblocks.com/us

SOURCE Recon Wall Systems
Zendure Spreads a Powerful Message on the Importance of Clean Energy and Power Independent

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zendure , one of the fastest-growing clean energy tech start-ups, asks global citizens to embrace solar energy this Earth Day. Instead of gas-powered generators that give off harmful emissions, and are banned in some states, Zendure offers more eco-friendly options. Popular solar generators, SuperBase V and SuperBase Pro, harness the power of the sun to deliver clean energy to users on and off grid  a simple way to make a big impact.

(PRNewsfoto/Zendure USA Inc.)

"We're calling on all citizens, businesses and communities alike to do their part to support the green economy," said Bryan Liu, CEO & Founder of Zendure. "We want people to know that they don't have to go net zero overnight. By making small changes, like switching from fossil fuels to solar power, we can make a huge impact."

To help people start their journey to cleaner energy, Zendure is offering steep discounts on their solar power generators  starting at 20% off  during their "Power Makes a Difference" campaign from April 20 to April 26.

SuperBase V is the first and only modular, plug-and-play solar energy storage system with semi-solid state batteries to power your home, RV, EV and beyond. It can charge up to 3,000W using solar power alone and can be easily integrated into your existing solar system. The more portable SuperBase Pro can handle solar arrays of any size up to 1,800W. In addition to powering everyday life, these solar power solutions can provide emergency back-up power as well as off-grid power to promote energy independence.

"As a brand dedicated to providing people with the resources they need to improve energy efficiency and reduce their environmental impact, we're proud to be doing our part to elicit future change. We appreciate the consumers who have adopted a cleaner lifestyle already and encourage others to join us in the movement," added Liu.

For more information on Zendure and its line of clean energy storage systems, please visit www.Zendure.com .

ABOUT ZENDURE

Founded in 2017, Zendure is one of the fastest-growing EnergyTech start-ups located in the technology hubs of Silicon Valley, USA, and the Greater Bay Area, China, Japan, and Germany. Our successes include SuperBase M, SuperBase Pro, and the first Plug & Play Home Energy Storage System - SuperBase V, along with our line of Satellite Batteries, Smart Home Panels, Smart Plugs, EV Chargers, and Remote Energy Management App. Our revolutionary Balcony Energy Storage System SolarFlow turns sunlight into a safe, reliable, and resilient source of energy to power our daily life. Since 2013, Zendure's industry-leading IoT home energy storage solutions have helped improve the lives of people around the world at home, at work, and at play.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Sarah Bellinger, [email protected]

Chris Chiu, [email protected]

SOURCE Zendure USA Inc.
Robo & Kala takes home 2023 Red Dot Awards for revolutionary design, perfectly balancing productivity and portability

DUBLIN, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Robo & Kala, a cutting edge global technology brand and revolutionary pioneer in the computer and laptop industry, released its latest 2-in-1 laptop on December 15th 2022 and is now available for purchase through its official online store at https://shop.robo-kala.com. It has been widely recognized for a revolutionary design with ultimate productivity and recently has been awarded the 2023 Product Design Red Dot Award, adding credibility to its quality and design.

Robo & Kala 2-in-1 laptop is a state-of-the-art mobile computing device with industry-leading design, offering unparalleled portability, exceptional battery life of up to 20 hours, excellent performance, high-end configuration, versatility, user experience, and affordability, making it a perfect combination of portability and productivity.

It adopts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 processor, the world's first 5-nanometer ARM-based Windows PC platform, and boasts a thickness of only 7.3mm and a weight of just 690g. Featuring an ultra-clear upscale AMOLED touch screen, a magnetic dual-mode keyboard with Bluetooth + Pogo pin connectivity, and a 4096 level pressure sensitive stylus, this product is an avant-garde and intelligent mobile computing device that is perfect for consumers worldwide.

Through its Kickstarter campaign, Robo & Kala 2-in-1 laptop has received widespread recognition and support from backers in over 30 countries and regions. Backers have praised the device for its exquisite design, fast performance, extra-long battery life, delicate display screen, and smooth stylus. These positive reviews have bolstered the team's confidence in their product, reaffirming their commitment to delivering first-class portable mobile computing devices to more consumers worldwide. With over 2 billion Windows users globally, Robo & Kala 2-in-1 laptop is poised to be a top choice for consumers seeking an exceptional computing experience.

About Robo & Kala

Robo & Kala, a cutting edge global technology brand and revolutionary pioneer in the computer and laptop industry, founded in December 2020. The brand name represents the integration of human and machine in the Internet of Everything era, breaking from tradition to pursue continuous innovation.

Robo & Kala is committed to providing consumers with innovative high-tech products and an exceptional brand experience. Through a deep understanding of customer needs, the brand developed new products and solutions with the latest technologies and concepts to create value for customers. Robo & Kala focuses on developing a series of consumer-oriented products that are based on the ARM architecture energy-efficient computer system, 5G communication technology, and integrate computing power of CLOUD and AI. For more information, visit https://www.robo-kala.com/

Media Contact

[email protected]

SOURCE Robo & Kala
CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of National Dogecoin Day, Bitcoin ATM operator RockItCoin is partnering with the Shiba Inu Rescue Association (SIRA) to raise awareness for rescue animals and donate as part of its RockItCoin Gives initiative.

"Dogecoin Day is the perfect day for a crypto company like RockItCoin to show its generosity to animals in need," said Michael Dalesandro, CEO of RockItCoin. "And for the first time, customers have the opportunity to join RockItCoin in giving as part of their everyday Bitcoin purchases and be rewarded for it."

In partnership with SIRA, RockItCoin is running a special promo code, "SIRA420" for customers to use at RockItCoin ATM kiosks. If a customer makes a Bitcoin purchase of $200-$399, they will get $5 in extra Bitcoin and RockItCoin will donate $5 to SIRA. Customers that make a Bitcoin purchase of $400 or more will receive $20 in extra Bitcoin and RockItCoin will donate $20 to SIRA. Those who purchase $10,000 or more of Bitcoin will receive an exclusive t-shirt from RockItCoin in addition to $20 in extra Bitcoin and a $20 donation to SIRA.

Kristi Wiegraffe, Volunteer Coordinator at SIRA, said "As the Shiba Inu Rescue Association's intake volume has increased exponentially over the past several years, so has our need for funds and supplies! We are a 100 percent volunteer run organization and all donations go directly to the dogs in need! We are extraordinarily grateful to RockItCoin for their support of our mission to save Shibas in need!"

Shiba Inu Rescue Association (SIRA) is a volunteer organization dedicated to saving abandoned, neglected, and abused Shiba Inu, Shiba mixes, and other primitive breeds from commercial breeders, shelters and owners. Those interested in SIRA can visit their website: https://savingshibas.com/

About RockItCoin:

Founded in 2015 by Michael Dalesandro, RockItCoin is a crypto blockchain company based in Chicago, IL. RockItCoin has a nationwide network of crypto ATMs with nearly 2,000 locations in 45 States and Puerto Rico, providing consumers with the safest and fastest way to buy or sell Bitcoin. For more information, please visit https://www.rockitcoin.com and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Media contact:

Jarryd Baynes

[email protected]

SOURCE RockitCoin
Implementation of Samyang Holdings' drug delivery technology for the development of mRNA-based cancer therapeutics

SEOUL, South Korea, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Samyang Holdings and LG Chem have announced their recent execution of strategic partnership agreement on Thursday, April 20th, for development of novel mRNA-based cancer therapeutics that utilizes Samyang's proprietary drug delivery technology.

Lee Young-Joon, CEO of Samyang Holdings (pictured in the left), and Son Ji-Woong, head of LG Chems Life Sciences company (pictured in the right) celebrated the signing of the licensing agreement for NanoReady at LG Science Park, Seoul on April 11th.

Under the terms of the agreement, Samyang Holdings grants non-exclusive rights to "NanoReady" technology and is responsible for supplying its key components to LG Chem, and LG Chem will be implementing "NanoReady" technology to develop innovative mRNA-based cancer therapeutics with maximal therapeutic effects. In return, LG Chem is required to pay upfront and a series of milestone payments upon completion of each developmental objective as in the terms agreed by both parties.

mRNA harnesses genetic information that directs the synthesis of specific proteins. Protective drug delivery systems that safely carry the mRNA to the target cell and mediate effective protein expression are crucial in developing mRNA therapeutics.

"NanoReady" is one of Samyang Holdings' proprietary drug delivery technologies, characterized by its high adaptability to different mRNA molecules. Provided as a pre-made drug delivery formulation, it is expected to significantly reduce development time and time-to-patient, making an impact in the application of personalized therapeutics by streamlining the rigorous mixing process when being compounded with mRNA therapeutic molecules developed by LG Chem.

"LG Chem has exceptional R&D expertise in innovative drug development and a number of promising new drug pipelines," said Young-Joon Lee., CEO, Samyang Holdings Biopharm Division, "Taking this recent deal as a driving force, we will continue to strengthen our partnership with LG Chem. By leveraging the capabilities of the two companies, we hope to accelerate the development of innovative cancer therapy to significantly improve the lives of suffering cancer patients."

Ji-Woong Son, head of LG Chem's Life Sciences company said, "We hope to maximize success through active collaboration between the two companies, with the aim to provide innovative mRNA-based cancer therapeutics to patients worldwide."

About Samyang Holdings Biopharm Division:

The research at Samyang Holdings Biopharm Division ("Samyang") has a strong focus on developing highly effective and safe drug delivery systems (DDS) based on biodegradable polymers and its proprietary formulation technology. In addition to "NanoReady," the company is also accelerating the development of a variety of new mRNA delivery solutions to meet the demands of a broad range of medicines, such as prophylactic vaccines and rare disease therapeutics. Samyang plans to continue investing resources to overcome the challenges imposed upon the existing mRNA delivery technologies by leveraging its unique and proprietary tissue selective delivery technology.

Samyang Holdings Biopharm Group Website

https://www.samyangbiopharm.com/en/index

SOURCE Samyang Holdings
Calling all San Franciscans to surrender the excess pot(s) and pans that are cluttering our cupboards, and taking up precious space... all while refusing to chip in on rent.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- San Francisco cookware company Proclamation Goods is celebrating 4/20 in a whole new way: in honor of the time-honored stoner holiday, they're granting all locals pot amnestybut not the kind you're thinking of. They want your old pots and pans, not your stash!

San Francisco cookware company Proclamation Goods offers a high-ly sustainable spin on 4/20

Instead of smoking it up, smoke out your old, scratched cookware and trade it in "4 20%" off on any purchase in-store. Plus, they've partnered with LiquiDonate to make sure your quality used pieces will go to nonprofit organizations across the state, so you can feel good about getting rid of your old pots and pans and getting an upgrade at the same time.

And if you thought this was just a ploy to get you to buy more stuff, think again. Proclamation Goods is all about breaking the cycle of planned obsolescence and reducing waste by offering high-quality, long-lasting cookware that's made in the USA.

Per Proclamation Goods' CEO, Chris Burrage: "We want to build a culture that changes the way people cook and live in their homes, mostly by getting rid of cheap, disposable cookware. Who knew I'd have to become a pot dealer to make it happen?"

So, if you're looking to make this 4/20 a truly sustainable celebration, pass the dutchie and pass on your old cookware for more durable essentials that will last a lifetime. Who knows, you might even get a contact high from all the eco-friendliness in the airjust in time for Earth Day.

WHERE: The Proclamation Goods Shop @ 717 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA

WHEN: April 20th to April 22nd, 1-6pm

(Yup, that's Pot Day through Earth Day!)

About Proclamation Goods

Proclamation Goods designs high-quality, American-made home essentials that empower low-waste lifestyles. Our flagship stainless steel cookware line is for anyone who believes that if it's worth making, it's worth making it last. Durability is a given. Rooted in San Francisco's Mission District, we support local organizations fighting for more ethical, equitable food systems and climate action. Proclamation is a proud member of 1% for the Planet.

Press Contact:

Cassandra Landry

(415) 944-9696

http://proclamationgoods.com

SOURCE Proclamation Goods
LUTZ, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sara Dodds is the new president of BayCare's St. Joseph's Hospital-North in Lutz, Fla. The appointment was effective April 16. Dodds, the hospital's operations director, has been serving as interim president since Jan. 2, the latest in a long line of steps she's made in building a career at BayCare. St. Joseph's Hospital-North is one of 16 BayCare not-for-profit hospitals in the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions.

The appointment was announced by Kimberly Guy, BayCare co-chief operating officer.

Sara Dodds

"It is exciting to have an opportunity to promote such an amazing internal talent who has just grown through increased responsibility and demonstrated strength as a leader," Guy said. "She has done a wonderful job as interim these past three months, including being instrumental in opening our new Behavioral Health unit. She is one of BayCare's own."

She succeeds Tom Garthwaite, president of BayCare's Winter Haven Hospital and Winter Haven Women's Hospital. St. Joseph's Hospital-North will begin a search for a new operations director.

She's been in a leadership position at St. Joseph's Hospital-North since 2016 when she led clinical decision support. In 2017, she became operations director overseeing areas that include quality of patient care and finance. She has a reputation for working closely with all departments, a particularly important trait as she led the hospital's $76-million expansion completed in 2020, which doubled the hospital's beds to more than 200 and increased services.

More recently, she's had a leading role in the addition of a 24-bed inpatient psychiatric unit at St. Joseph's Hospital-North. The St. Joseph's Hospital-North Unit for Psychiatry and Medical Services (UPM) simultaneously treats patients for both medical and psychiatric diagnoses and opened this month.

Dodds has been with BayCare since 2004 when she started at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa as a patient care technician while attending nursing school. She became an RN at St. Joseph's Hospital in 2005 and an original team member at St. Joseph's Hospital-North when it opened in 2010. At St. Joseph's Hospital-North, she's been a charge nurse (a nurse supervising a unit) and nurse manager before her director and interim president positions. She has a master of science degree in nursing leadership.

"I have had the pleasure of working with this incredible team and medical staff since the day St. Joseph's Hospital-North opened its doors," Dodds said. "I am looking forward to continuing to serve St. Joseph's Hospital-North and this community in my new role as we grow better together. I feel that I know every inch of this hospital from my long time here and that will greatly assist me in my new position."

Dodds is a 2021 graduate of the Leadership Tampa program of the Tampa Bay Chamber and a board member of The Florida Orchestra and FiCare Credit Union. Dodds, a Lutz resident, is also a member of the Philanthropic Women of St. Joseph's Hospitals.

In 2021, she was named to Tampa Bay Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list honoring 40 young professionals in the local area under the age of 40.

About St. Joseph's Hospital-North

St. Joseph's Hospital-North opened in February 2010 to bring high-quality health care services to North Tampa in an environment designed to help patients heal. St. Joseph's Hospital-North features all private patient suites and offers emergency care, surgical services, GI endoscopy, imaging, intensive care, obstetrics, cardiac catheterization, interventional radiology and more in a peaceful, relaxing and family-centered environment. Located just north of Tampa in Lutz, the all-digital, state-of-the-art facility is specially designed to make patients and visitors as comfortable as possible during their hospital experience.

SOURCE St. Joseph's Hospital-North
NEW YORK, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Transocean Ltd. ("Transocean" or the "Company") (NYSE: RIG). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether Transocean and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On April 19, 2023, Transocean issued a revised Q1 fleet status report to correct an error in its incremental backlog to $546 million from $645 million stated previously.

On this news, Transocean's stock price fell $0.29 per share, or 4.38%, to close at $6.33 per share on April 19, 2023.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Purcell & Lefkowitz LLP, a class action law firm dedicated to representing shareholders nationwide, is investigating a potential breach of fiduciary duty claim involving the board of directors of Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE: JWN).

If you are a shareholder of Nordstrom, Inc. and are interested in obtaining additional information regarding this investigation, free of charge, please visit us at: https://pjlfirm.com/nordstrom-inc/

You may also contact Robert H. Lefkowitz, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 212-725-1000. One of our attorneys will personally speak with you about the case at no cost or obligation.

Purcell & Lefkowitz LLP is a law firm exclusively committed to representing shareholders nationwide who are victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and other types of corporate misconduct. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit https://pjlfirm.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

SOURCE Purcell & Lefkowitz LLP
SMITHFIELD, Va., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Smithfield Foods, Inc. was recently honored with awards for its environmental and safety achievements in the North American Meat Institute's 2022 environmental awards and worker safety recognition programs. Smithfield also earned an honorable mention in NAMI's 2022 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) awards for promoting and implementing a comprehensive DEI strategy to ensure a more inclusive workforce.

"Protecting the environment, including decreasing our carbon footprint, implementing water conservation strategies and reducing packaging, have been Smithfield priorities for decades, and are part of our commitment to producing good food the right way," said Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods. "We're honored to be recognized for our achievements in environmental sustainability and our work to create a diverse and inclusive culture that respects every employee."

Smithfield Foods, Inc. honored for its 2022 environmental and safety achievements by the North American Meat Institute. Tweet this

Five Smithfield facilities were recognized with NAMI's environmental achievement award, which recognizes companies that go beyond environmental compliance by designing and implementing innovative facility upgrades or environmental programs. Smithfield's Sioux Falls, South Dakota, facility was recognized for reducing emissions, while its Milan, Missouri, and Carroll, Iowa, facilities were recognized for water conservation efforts. The company's facilities in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kinston, North Carolina, earned awards for packaging and/or food waste reduction programs.

A total of 48 of Smithfield's U.S. facilities earned environmental recognition awards, which acknowledge commitment to continuous environmental improvement through the development and implementation of Environmental Management Systems (EMS). Forty of Smithfield's facilities were recognized with Tier IV awards, the highest recognition in this category.

Additionally, 29 Smithfield locations earned NAMI's worker safety recognition awards, which recognize facilities that have achieved a high level of safety performance as part of a continuing effort to reduce occupational injury and illness. Twenty-two of Smithfield's facilities earned the top award of honor in this category.

Smithfield earned an honorable mention in the DEI category for its industry-leading programs to attract and retain minority and underrepresented employees and customers. The company was recognized for funding education programs that provide access to quality education and bridge divides in underrepresented communities; adding more historically Black colleges and universities to its higher education scholarship program; increasing production facility spend with minority-owned businesses; and developing its minority farmer program to increase the number of its hog suppliers from diverse backgrounds.

More information about Smithfield's sustainability strategies and DEI programs is available at https://www.smithfieldfoods.com/Sustainability.

About Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a U.S. food company that employs nearly 60,000 people in seven countries and partners with thousands of American farmers. As one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies, we are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly." to feed a growing world population. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in our U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30% across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs in all 50 U.S. states. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich, Gwaltney and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.
New executive hires in Finance, Human Resources, and Marketing join at key moment on Staffbase's growth journey, creating the foundation to take the Company to the next level

Staffbase recently honored with accolades by ClearBox Consulting, Gartner  , and G2

New customer wins include WH Smith PLC, Raiffeisenbank Ems-Vechte eG, and Stiebel Eltron

CHEMNITZ, Germany and LONDON and NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Staffbase, a leading provider of employee communications platforms, announced today its impressive growth throughout 2022, driven by a strong demand for internal communications tools, new customer growth and a commitment to innovation and customer success. The company also announced the expansion of its executive team with three C-Suite level new hires.

"It's great to see how far Staffbase has come on our journey to helping companies around the world improve communication and engagement with their employees," said Dr. Martin Bohringer, CEO of Staffbase. "When employees are engaged and informed, their motivation, productivity and loyalty to their employer all increase. We're proud to offer enterprise companies the employee communication tools they need to succeed in reaching their employees no matter where they are and thrilled to celebrate our best-ever quarter for ARR Bookings."

Reaching over 15 million employees for over 2,500 global customers, Staffbase's momentum within the employee communications platform category has included significant growth in new customers as well as expanded partnerships with leading organizations, such as Telekom MMS, Simply Communicate, and Davis & Company. New customer wins included WH Smith PLC, Raiffeisenbank Ems-Vechte eG, and Stiebel Eltron.

Representing the company's growth and progress, Staffbase also announced today three executive new hires. The company has appointed Bijal Patel as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Neil Morrison as Chief People Officer (CPO), and David Burnand as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), as the Company seeks to help more companies improve employee communication and engagement on a global level.

"We're thrilled to welcome Bijal, Neil, and David to our team," continued Bohringer. "With the need for impactful communications never clearer, and a world full of potential with Staffbase achieving unicorn status last year, their deep industry experience, leadership skills, and passion for employee communication and engagement will help us continue to innovate and deliver the greatest customer value in 2023 and beyond."

Patel brings more than 24 years of financial leadership with public and privately backed companies in the technology sector. Morrison, who has more than 15 years of experience in human resources and talent management, will lead Staffbase's efforts to ensure talent and culture become strategic drivers for its growth agenda. Finally, Burnand, who has over 25 years of experience developing successful tech marketing teams and SaaS brand building, will drive Staffbase's global marketing and communications efforts.

With the appointment of Patel, Morrison, and Burnand, Staffbase further strengthens its executive team and is well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory.

Staffbase was recently recognized by several industry experts for its exceptional customer service and fresh approach to employee communications, particularly on internal communication channels such as employee apps, corporate intranets, and emails. Staffbase received ClearBox Consulting's 2023 Choice award for Intranet and Employee Experience platforms along with the honor of being the only vendor to receive outstanding recognitions in five categories. Based on customer reviews, Staffbase has received a 4.5 Gartner Peer Insights rating and the Company has received the top ranking every quarter for two years in a row on G2's Grid for Best Employee Communications Software.

About Staffbase

Staffbase is a high-growth, deeply experienced provider of employee communications platforms for enterprise companies. The mobile compatibility of the company's platform allows employers in manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, automotive, retail, and energy & utilities, to securely reach their employees everywhere with reduced complexity. Staffbase solutions give employees greater access to the corporate information that's relevant to them, along with tools for the modern digital workplace, including existing intranets. Staffbase provides branded solutions for more than 2,500 leading companies worldwide who are transforming their employee communications, including Adidas, Audi, Paulaner, Spark Power, UC Health, US LBM, and Vestas. Please visit staffbase.com for more information.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1295021/Staffbase_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Staffbase Inc.
NOVI, Mich., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stoneridge, Inc. (NYSE: SRI) will webcast its first-quarter 2023 earnings conference call live on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. ET with president and chief executive officer, Jim Zizelman, and chief financial officer, Matt Horvath.

The webcast can be accessed on the Webcasts & Presentations page of the Investors section of the Company's website, www.stoneridge.com.

Stoneridge, Inc., headquartered in Novi, Michigan, is a global designer and manufacturer of highly engineered electrical and electronic systems, components and modules for the automotive, commercial, off-highway and agricultural vehicle markets. Additional information about Stoneridge can be found at www.stoneridge.com.

SOURCE Stoneridge, Inc.
~ The integration of mindzie and Skan will provide companies new insights into how to improve operations throughout their organizations ~

DALLAS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- mindzie, inc. ("mindzie"), provider of Process Mining and Business Process Optimization software, and Skan.ai ("Skan"), a provider of Process Intelligence and Task Mining, today announced a new partnership to bring together their industry-leading technologies providing businesses a new level of Process Intelligence.

The combination of industry-leading Process Mining and Process Intelligence provides enterprises with unmatched transparency into business workflows to understand the bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and other challenges negatively affecting their operations. Integrating the two technologies provides insights into business processes at both the system level as well as the user level in one seamless process flow, allowing companies to take action and drive tangible cost and operational savings for the business.

As part of this new partnership, the companies will also engage in joint go-to-market efforts to further evangelize the benefits of the integrated platforms.

"We are very excited about this new partnership with Skan," said James Henderson, mindzie's Chief Executive Officer. "The combination of Skan's AI-driven Process Intelligence and mindzie's industry-leading low-code Process Mining platform provides executives the complete picture of how their organizations actually work and where the opportunities exist to drive real operational and working capital improvements."

"We are thrilled to partner with mindzie to provide expanded capabilities for customers. Bringing together our industry-leading technologies provides new possibilities. It allows us to augment our observation driven user-centric process view with system-centric process view, bringing a new dimension to our process intelligence data model," said Manish Garg, Skan's Co-founder and CPO.

To learn more please visit https://mindzie.com/ and https://www.skan.ai

About Skan

Skan helps organizations improve operations across the enterprise through the power of AI-driven computer vision. Skan's continuously observes work as it happens and captures the true nuance of business processes. Our secure and privacy-first platform is quick to install, requires zero integration, and has zero disruptions and operates at scale. Skan is a global organization headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with employee centers across the globe.

About mindzie

mindzie is a North American based leader in process mining and business process improvement. Its low-code process mining platform, the mindzie studio, enables businesses and users of all levels to gain valuable insights into ways to improve their operations. With out-of-the-box system connectors, analysis templates, root cause identification, and Predictive AI; mindzie enables businesses to quickly go from interest to insight. To learn more about mindzie, visit www.mindzie.com.

SOURCE Skan
SUPERIOR, Wis. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Superior Choice Credit Union announces the opening of a new branch in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The newly built 8,000 square foot stand-alone building will be ready to service members on April 24th. The building will serve as a hub for SCCU that not only assists members but will have the ability to house back-office staff and departments such as training, community, and commercial. The building will include a state-of-the-art conference room, available for member use at no cost, which will also moonlight as a venue for the credit union to host complimentary public financial literacy sessions. This branch marks number 13 for Superior Choice Credit Union, as they continue to expand throughout the northwest Wisconsin and Minnesota regions.

"We are excited to be a part of the Rice Lake Community and have already felt the warmest welcome by Mayor Fonfara, the Chamber of Commerce, and many others. We look forward to participating in events, sponsoring local organizations, and learning what is important to Rice Lake," shared Tim Foster, SCCU President and CEO, adding "we are proud of this building and look forward to filling it with SCCU members and community members for many years to come."

The Rice Lake Branch hours are Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5:30PM and Saturday 9AM-noon.

SCCU is committed to being community focused. For donation requests or to partner, visit: https://superiorchoice.com/about/community/

About Superior Choice Credit Union

Superior Choice Credit Union has been locally owned and operated by its members since 1932, with thirteen branches across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. SCCU provides a full suite of financial services from checking and savings to lending and credit card reward programs. Visit www.superiorchoice.com for more information.

SOURCE Superior Choice Credit Union
The four-day festival will transport visitors to Iceland through a dozen free events inspired by, and in celebration of, the best of Icelandic culture.

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Taste of Iceland 2023 , organized by Inspired by Iceland , arrives in New York, N.Y., Wednesday, May 10 - Saturday, May 13. The four-day cultural festival celebrates the land of fire and ice with more than a dozen events at venues across the city that showcase the best of Icelandic culture, including food and beverage, music, literature, film, art, wellness, and more.

Taste of Iceland celebrates and shares the traditions and culture of Iceland with the people of North America. In partnership with local businesses and Taste of Iceland's official partners, featured events will be hosted at Coarse NYC , Bogart House , Pianos , Scandinavia House , The Tippler , Regal Union Square , and The Singing Fish Circus pop-up venue in Brooklyn .

Most events are free and open to the public, event tickets are required, and guests are encouraged to arrive promptly to guarantee entry. Tickets are available on the Taste of Iceland website . Reservations are required for the prix-fixe Icelandic dinner at Coarse.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Daily May 10-13

Icelandic Menu at Coarse NYC: May 10-12 starting at 7 PM , Coarse NYC's Head Chef Vincent Chirico , in collaboration with Blue Lagoon Iceland Head Chef Arnar Pall Sigrunarson, will prepare a pop-up menu inspired by Icelandic flavors and ingredients such as seafood, lamb, and skyr. Reservations are available on the Taste of Iceland Website .

starting at , Head Chef , in collaboration with Head Chef Arnar Pall Sigrunarson, will prepare a pop-up menu inspired by Icelandic flavors and ingredients such as seafood, lamb, and skyr. Reservations are available on the . Wheel of Prizes Presented by Icelandair: May 11-13 at various events, participants will have the opportunity to win various prizes, including a trip for two to Iceland ! Click here for more information.

at various events, participants will have the opportunity to win various prizes, including a trip for two to ! for more information. May 11 , 7 PM at Pianos, before Reykjavik Presents: Iceland Airwaves off Venue

, at Pianos, before Reykjavik Presents: Iceland Airwaves off Venue

May 12 , 5 PM at The Tippler, before Icelandic Cocktail Class with Reyka Vodka

, at The Tippler, before Icelandic Cocktail Class with Reyka Vodka Singing Fish Circus Art and Literature Festival : May 12-13 , in Brooklyn , experience a festival of music, books, art, performances, and poetry, bringing a taste of Reykjavik's vibrant art scene to Brooklyn . Click here for more information. Highlights include:

: , in , experience a festival of music, books, art, performances, and poetry, bringing a taste of Reykjavik's vibrant art scene to . for more information. Highlights include: Opening reception on Friday at 5 PM , followed by a live concert.

, followed by a live concert.

The exhibition is open to the public on May 13 from 1 PM to 10:30 PM , showcasing artwork from established and emerging Icelandic artists as part of an art chest exhibition that will embark on a two-year world tour. Icelandic musicians will play live sessions during the day.

from , showcasing artwork from established and emerging Icelandic artists as part of an art chest exhibition that will embark on a two-year world tour. Icelandic musicians will play live sessions during the day.

Starting at 7:30 PM Saturday , Icelandic publishing house Tungli forlag will host a " Moon Night ," featuring a limited run of new books from Icelandic authors, songs, and poetry  all lit by the pale light of the moon.

Thursday, May 11

Secrets of the Sprakkar with Eliza Reid , First Lady of Iceland : Join Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland and co-founder of the Iceland Writers Retreat, as she discusses her critically acclaimed book, Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World . Free event tickets also include a copy of her book. 7 PM at Scandinavia House . Click here for more information.

: Join Eliza Reid, the First Lady of and co-founder of the Iceland Writers Retreat, as she discusses her critically acclaimed book, . Free event tickets also include a copy of her book. at . for more information. Reykjavik Presents: Iceland Airwaves Off Venue: The City of Reykjavik, in collaboration with Iceland Airwaves, will host a free concert of Icelandic music. First up is rising pop star Gulaug Soley Hoskuldsdottir, who goes by the stage name of gugusar. Writing and composing all of her songs in her home studio, she has released two albums before turning 19 and was recognized as "Performer of the Year" at The Icelandic Music Awards 2022. Performing second is GROA, who burst onto the global punk scene in 2018 by embracing their unruly, youthful freedom. The trio comprises sisters Hrabba (drums and vocals) and Karo (lead vocals, guitar, and synth) and their childhood friend Fria (bass and vocals). DJ Hermigervill, a longtime heavyweight of the Icelandic music scene, hosts the evening. 7 PM at Pianos . Click here for more information.

Friday, May 12

Icelandic Cocktail Class with Reyka Vodka: Join a free Icelandic cocktail class where Reyka Vodka's brand ambassador and mixologist, Jeffrey Naples , will shake up some tasty Iceland -inspired cocktails and teach attendees how to make these drinks at home. 5 PM at The Tippler , a classic cocktail bar beneath Chelsea Market . Click here for more information.

Join a free Icelandic cocktail class where Reyka Vodka's brand ambassador and mixologist, , will shake up some tasty -inspired cocktails and teach attendees how to make these drinks at home. at , a classic cocktail bar beneath . for more information. Singing Fish Circus Art and Literature Festival, Opening Reception and Concert: Experimental performance venue Mengi and Publishing house Tunglid join the Icelandic Art Center to present a two-day festival of music, books, art, performances, and poetry, bringing a taste of Reykjavik's vibrant art scene to Brooklyn .

Join them for an opening reception of the exhibition OUTSIDE LOOKING IN INSIDE LOOKING OUT starting at 5 PM and the Singing Fish Circus concert starting at 7:30 PM in Brooklyn . Click here for more information.

Beautiful Beings Film Screening and Director Q&A: Enjoy a free screening of Beautiful Beings, Iceland's official submission to the 2023 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, followed by a Q&A with director Gumundur Arnar Gumundsson and moderated by Joe Neumaier . 7 PM at Regal Union Square . Click here for more information.

Saturday, May 13

Elemental Sound Bath with Blue Lagoon Iceland and Icelandic Provisions Breakfast Bar: Join Icelandic energy healer Josa Goodlife for an hour of inner peace and healing meditation. Sound Bath attendees will receive a complimentary Blue Lagoon Iceland yoga mat, an Icelandic Provisions beanie, an Icelandair blanket, Icelandic Glacial water, and a Blue Lagoon Iceland Skincare gift. After the Sound Bath, guests are invited to an Icelandic Provisions Breakfast Bar. 11 AM at Bogart House in Brooklyn . Click here for more information.

Join Icelandic energy healer Josa Goodlife for an hour of inner peace and healing meditation. Sound Bath attendees will receive a complimentary Blue Lagoon Iceland yoga mat, an Icelandic Provisions beanie, an Icelandair blanket, Icelandic Glacial water, and a Blue Lagoon Iceland Skincare gift. After the Sound Bath, guests are invited to an Icelandic Provisions Breakfast Bar. at in . for more information. Icelandic Literature Event: Join writers Asta Fanney Sigurardottir and Ragnar Helgi Olafsson for a presentation on their forthcoming books, Hyena called Yesterday and My Father's Library . Ragnar will also discuss the aesthetic principles and business model that guide his publishing house, Tungli forlag, which will publish both books. 2 PM at Scandinavia House . Click here for more information.

Join writers Asta Fanney Sigurardottir and Ragnar Helgi Olafsson for a presentation on their forthcoming books, and . Ragnar will also discuss the aesthetic principles and business model that guide his publishing house, Tungli forlag, which will publish both books. at . for more information. Artist Talk: Hildigunnur Birgisdottir in Conversation with Dan Byers : Join visual artist Hildigunnur Birgisdottir, selected to represent Iceland at the 2024 edition of the Venice Biennale in Italy , the world's biggest art festival, for a conversation with contemporary art curator Dan Byers . 3:30 PM at Scandinavia House . Click here for more information.

Taste of Iceland is an annual festival that celebrates Iceland's vibrant culture. The festival is organized by Inspired by Iceland , which promotes Iceland and Icelandic products. It is presented in partnership, and with support, from Icelandair , Visit Reykjavik , Icelandic Trademark Holding , Business Iceland , Reyka Vodka , Blue Lagoon Iceland , 66North , Icelandic Provisions , Icelandic Lamb , Icelandic Glacial, Landsvirkjun , and Isavia Keflavik International Airport . Additional Taste of Iceland events will be held in Chicago, IL (September 7-10) and Seattle, WA (October 4-7).

For more information about Inspired by Iceland and Taste of Iceland, visit www.inspiredbyiceland.com .

To learn more about Business Iceland, visit www.businessiceland.is .

For media inquiries or to attend Taste of Iceland events, contact [email protected].

CONTACT: Robin Crawford

703.966.7616 | [email protected]

SOURCE Taste of Iceland
Workers Secure First Contract, End Two Week Strike

PROVIDENCE, R.I., April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have secured their very first contract following a two week-long strike and 10 months of negotiations. Workers unanimously voted to ratify the contract.

The new six-year contract includes wage increases averaging 33 percent, with a 22 percent increase to take effect July 2023, wage retroactivity to October 2022, strong benefits, longevity bonuses, and more.

"After months of negotiations and multiple strikes, we are relieved to finally have a strong contract," said Regina Santos, RISD custodian and Local 251 member. "We are very grateful to our Teamster leaders, RISD students, community members, and everyone who stood in solidarity with us on the picket line and helped us get a fair contract."

"Strikes work  and this victory makes that abundantly clear," said Matt Taibi, Local 251 Secretary-Treasurer and Eastern Region International Vice President. "RISD workers stood side-by-side in unity and demanded higher pay and better benefits, despite pushback from RISD leadership. We are grateful to these workers for their commitment in holding the line and fighting for the contract they deserve."

RISD Teamsters authorized a one-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike in late March after Local 251 filed ULP charges against RISD for failing to pay a general wage increase and changing starting rates for workers without providing them with notice or an opportunity to bargain. When RISD continued to refuse to bargain with workers, they headed to the picket line indefinitely on April 3.

Teamsters Local 251 represents over 6,300 workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. For more information, go to teamsterslocal251.org/.

Contact:

Matt Taibi, (401) 434-0454

[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 251
Redesigned website elevates the power of storytelling with a sleek new design that takes visitors on a journey from incarceration to reentry.

PHOENIX, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Televerde Foundation , a non-profit organization that provides personal and professional development opportunities to currently and formerly incarcerated women so they can attain meaningful and rewarding careers upon release, today announced the launch of the company's redesigned, future-ready website. The modern design is a combination of different elements that work together to create an inviting, simple, easy-to-navigate, and aesthetically pleasing digital experience: https://www.televerdefoundation.org/ .

"Our goal was to create a digital learning experience that is easy to navigate and provides visitors with a simple way to discover more about our mission and why we all need to care about and support reentry programs that provide a better path forward for justice-involved women," said Michelle Cirocco, executive director, Televerde Foundation. "Our redesigned website takes visitors on a journey, from incarceration to reintegration, to emphasize the challenges women face and the support they need to rebuild their lives, reclaim their independence, and become contributing citizens. There are more stories about real women woven throughout the website that truly touch people's hearts, strengthen the necessity of the work we do, and hopefully, inspire people to act."

Persevere is a nonprofit partner that provides coding classes for justice-impacted individuals and places them in tech jobs as they are released. Recently Televerde Foundation entered a partnership with Persevere to provide program graduates in Arizona and Indiana with a full suite of services provided through the Televerde Foundation PATHS Program, a comprehensive 28-week reentry program that enables women to prepare for all aspects of life after incarceration. "We are deeply honored to partner with the Televerde Foundation in our shared mission to empower justice-impacted individuals through wrap-around services, education, and employment, said Alisa Malone, president, Persevere. "By providing participants with opportunities to transform their lives, we not only help them succeed but also foster a more equitable society. The Persevere and Televerde Foundation PATHS Program partnership is a model of how collaboration can pave the way for second chances and brighter futures."

Banyan Labs , a software development company that employs 100%, justice-impacted individuals, was instrumental in helping us recreate a website with the visitor in mind. Under the guidance of industry experts, the redesign work was performed by graduates of the Persevere program. "Watching people learn a skill that can change their life in so many ways is so uplifting. Our graduates desire to learn, and their willingness to listen is remarkable, as is their perseverance in overcoming their personal life challenges." said Erik Jacky, director operations, Banyan Labs. "A project like this gives them purpose as well as a way to give back to the community who has supported them through their journey."

To enter the Televerde Foundation website, visit: https://www.televerdefoundation.org/ .

About Televerde Foundation

Televerde Foundation's mission is to provide women impacted by incarceration with the personal and professional development programs necessary to successfully join and advance in the global workforce. We seek to enable women to break the cycle of poverty and recidivism by becoming financially independent, positive role models for their children and families, thereby changing the lives of future generations, and building stronger communities. Since 2020, Televerde Foundation has provided services to more than 550 incarcerated women in Arizona and Indiana. During that time, over 200 women have returned to the community with 0 percent recidivism and 98 percent gaining full-time employment within 28 days of release. Learn more: https://www.televerdefoundation.org/ .

About Persevere

Founded in 2012, Persevere is a nonprofit organization that is committed to ending mass incarceration, reducing recidivism, and empowering justice-involved men and women to succeed as productive members of society. Persevere provides a comprehensive program that includes coding education during incarceration as well as career readiness, mentoring, essential life-skills training, residential transitional living, and job placement in the technology sector after release. Learn more: https://www.perseverenow.org/about/ .

About Banyan Labs

Banyan Labs is a software development company that employs 100%, justice-impacted individuals. With a social impact mission, Banyan Labs provides businesses with innovative information technology solutions and opportunities to make lasting, positive social change. Created out of the desire to place Persevere graduates into jobs through an on-the-job training program, their work is proven, professional, and affordable. Learn more: https://banyanlabs.io/ .

Media Contact

Sienna Walenciak

[email protected]

908-377-9968

SOURCE Televerde Foundation
The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health announces a hybrid CME conference to educate providers in the latest research and advancements in integrative medicine.

PHILADELPHIA, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health and its Department of Integrative Medicine & Nutritional Sciences at Thomas Jefferson University, located in Philadelphia, PA, announces registration has opened for the fourth annual Advances in Mind-Body Medicine conference. The Institute will host the upcoming live hybrid conference on June 16-17, 2023; the event will be held on Jefferson's Center City Philadelphia campus for in-person attendees, with virtual attendance options also available.

The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health announces "Advances In Mind-Body Medicine," a hybrid CME conference to educate providers in the latest research and advancements in integrative medicine.

The Advances in Mind-Body Medicine conference will feature expert keynote speakers focused on topics such as brain health, stress and immune health, biophilic medicine, hypnosis for pain management, and advanced mind-body strategies for specialized populations. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in an expert panel led by Pat Croce, mindfulness expert, physical therapist, entrepreneur, and former president of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Chair of the Department of Integrative Medicine and founder of the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health, Dr. Daniel Monti , states, "We are thrilled to host the Advances in Mind-Body Medicine conference and once again bring together some of the brightest minds in integrative medicine. This exclusive event provides a unique opportunity for attendees to engage with experts in the field and achieve a more comprehensive understanding of holistic medical care which includes body, mind, and spirit, including cutting edge brain research."

The Advances in Mind-Body Medicine conference is designed for licensed healthcare professionals and full-time students in healthcare disciplines with the intention of broadening skills to advance care and help providers meet the demand for both treating illness and improving wellness. Continuing education credits will be available.

The conference will take place on Friday, June 16th and Saturday, June 17th, 2023, from 8:15am to 5:00pm. Participants may attend the conference live on-campus or virtually; ticket holders will be emailed additional details as they become available. To register for the conference, please use this link or email [email protected] for more information.

About Marcus Institute of Integrative Health: The Marcus Institute of Integrative Health is part of the historic Department of Integrative Medicine & Nutritional Sciences at Thomas Jefferson University's Sidney Kimmel Medical College. This is the first department of Integrative Medicine at a US medical school, and it offers a wide range of academic programs, research trials, and clinical programs of excellence at its two locations, in Philadelphia and Villanova. The Philadelphia office is located at 925 Chestnut Street, Suite 120, Philadelphia, PA 19107, and the Villanova office is located at 789 East Lancaster Avenue, Suite 110, Villanova, PA 19085. Learn more about the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at www.jeffersonhealth.org/clinical-specialties/integrative-medicine .

Media Contact: Dr. Daniel Monti, (215) 955-4410

SOURCE Marcus Institute of Integrative Health
Medical Associations Also Receive Funding to Catalyze Systems-Change in Physician Practices

BOSTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Physicians Foundation launched Let's Take 5 to Address Drivers of Health, a new campaign to support physicians in addressing their patients' drivers of health (DOH), such as food security and transportation access. The Physicians Foundation also announced the selection of five medical associations for a new grant program to support physicians to integrate DOH screening into their practices and build the capacity to improve patients' lives. These efforts expand on the Foundation's established leadership of recognizing and acting on the challenges of DOH for patients and physicians.

The Physicians Foundation's 2022 Survey of America's Physicians brought to light the barriers that physicians face in addressing patients' DOH. In fact, eight in 10 physicians believe that the U.S. cannot improve health outcomes or reduce health care costs without addressing DOH. However, while nine in 10 physicians want to address drivers of health, six in 10 feel they have little to no time nor the ability to do so effectively. Moreover, eight in 10 physicians believe that addressing patients' DOH contributes to physician burnout rates. In response to these findings and to help make measured change, The Physicians Foundation developed Let's Take 5 and the DOH grant program for medical associations.

"As physicians, we are well aware of the significant burden that drivers of health have on our patients' health, and the toll it takes on us when we are unable to adequately address them," said Gary Price, M.D., president of The Physicians Foundation. "It is absolutely critical that physicians are given the support and resources they need to address these challenges. The Physicians Foundation is committed to providing solutions and strategies for physicians to not only have the ability to address their patients' needs, but also be empowered to do so."

Let's Take 5 supports physicians by providing actionable steps to start conversations around DOH with patients and integrate evidence-based approaches in clinical care settings, so patients' overall health and wellbeing are less dependent on the five key types of DOH, including food security, housing stability, transportation access, utilities access and interpersonal safety. As part of this effort, The Physicians Foundation developed the following two campaign resources:

Let's Take 5 Conversation Starter : A guide for physicians to prepare their teams to have empathetic and empowering conversations with patients about DOH. Understanding and addressing patients' DOH is an ongoing and often complex process, and this resource offers advice for physicians and their teams to start this essential conversation.



A guide for physicians to prepare their teams to have empathetic and empowering conversations with patients about DOH. Understanding and addressing patients' DOH is an ongoing and often complex process, and this resource offers advice for physicians and their teams to start this essential conversation. Let's Take 5 Steps Implementation Guide: A resource with five key steps to help physicians and their teams integrate DOH patient screenings through clinically validated workflow approaches. By screening for DOH, patients can be connected with the appropriate community or health service to reduce the impact of DOH on their health and wellbeing. Furthermore, by implementing the right strategies and structures, physicians and their teams can more effectively support their patients.

In addition to the resources provided through the Let's Take 5 campaign, The Physicians Foundation is also supporting on-the-ground initiatives to address DOH through its new grant program for medical associations. The Physicians Foundation launched the program with the goal of enhancing the capacity for medical associations to help physicians with DOH screening and resource connection and to empower physicians to integrate DOH into their practices.

The recipients of this grant, including the Arizona Medical Association, Center for a Healthy Maryland, Foundation of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, Indiana Medical Foundation and Maine Medical Education Trust, are developing resources and programs for physicians to integrate DOH screening into their practices, including:

Arizona Medical Association is launching a Center for Excellence to include resources and programs based on a state-wide needs assessment to educate and support physicians in implementing best practices of addressing DOH in routine patient care approaches.

is launching a Center for Excellence to include resources and programs based on a state-wide needs assessment to educate and support physicians in implementing best practices of addressing DOH in routine patient care approaches. Center for a Healthy Maryland is developing the Awareness and Referral to Resources to Improve Outcomes (ARRIO) Project to train physicians to integrate DOH screenings and resource navigation into their practices to bridge existing gaps.

is developing the Awareness and Referral to Resources to Improve Outcomes (ARRIO) Project to train physicians to integrate DOH screenings and resource navigation into their practices to bridge existing gaps. Foundation of the Pennsylvania Medical Society is aiming to engage physician practices through its project, Incorporating Social Drivers of Health into Chronic Disease Management, to support the incorporation of DOH screenings and tools into chronic disease management.

is aiming to engage physician practices through its project, Incorporating Social Drivers of Health into Chronic Disease Management, to support the incorporation of DOH screenings and tools into chronic disease management. Indiana Medical Foundation is creating a comprehensive website to serve as an all-encompassing resource for addressing DOH and partnering with practices to integrate or enhance frameworks to address DOH and connect patients with resources.

is creating a comprehensive website to serve as an all-encompassing resource for addressing DOH and partnering with practices to integrate or enhance frameworks to address DOH and connect patients with resources. Maine Medical Education Trust is working with five medical practices that do not currently screen for DOH to provide them with the assistance they need to implement DOH screenings and assure that patients are connected with the right resources.

"These five medical associations are leading the way to ensure that physicians and their teams have the tools they need to improve patients' lives," Price said. "Through the development of new resources and programs, we are working to make tailored patient care easier and more effective. Together, we will continue to be a catalyst for change so that our patients' health and wellbeing are no longer dependent on the five key types of drivers of health."

Explore the Let's Take 5 resources at physiciansfoundation.org/letstake5

About The Physicians Foundation

The Physicians Foundation is a nonprofit seeking to advance the work of practicing physicians and help them facilitate the delivery of high-quality health care to patients. As the U.S. health care system continues to evolve, The Physicians Foundation is steadfast in strengthening the physician-patient relationship, supporting medical practices' sustainability and helping physicians navigate the changing health care system. The Physicians Foundation pursues its mission through research, education and innovative grant making that improves physician wellbeing, strengthens physician leadership, addresses drivers of health and lifts physician perspectives. For more information, visit www.physiciansfoundation.org.

SOURCE The Physicians Foundation
The discussion will focus on the future of work and how K-12 education can prepare our youth, and will include senior advisor for the Biden Administration, Hamse Warfa

MINNEAPOLIS, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 4, World Savvy , a national K-12 educational nonprofit partnering with schools to create inclusive and future-ready learning environments, will host a panel discussion on the future of work and how K-12 schools can prepare our youth. Panelists will include columnist and best-selling author Thomas Friedman, senior advisor for the Biden Administration and former deputy commissioner of workforce for Minnesota Hamse Warfa, and CEO and co-founder of World Savvy Dana Mortenson.

Megatrends, including globalization and rapid technological progress, are transforming the nature of work. How jobs will be carried out and who carries them out are shifting, creating an increase in demand for competencies like critical thinking and problem-solving. During " Future of Work, Future of Schools: A Critical Conversation with World Savvy ," the panelists will address questions including "What will be the future of work?" and "What can K-12 education do to best prepare youth for this future?"

"I am happy to be joined by these distinguished panel members to discuss workforce trends and their impact on education," said Dana Mortenson, CEO and co-founder of World Savvy. "Globalization and technological advances are changing how we work and who performs what jobs, making skills like critical thinking and problem-solving absolutely essential. Leaders in K-12 education recognize that a focus on developing competencies over rote memorization is key in preparing graduates to thrive in rapid change. I am excited about the opportunity to bring these ideas and issues together in one place as we reimagine ways to better prepare our students to be future-ready."

Middle school students from Ella Baker Global Studies and Humanities Magnet School in Minneapolis Public Schools will also be attending the event. The students are expected to ask the panelists one to two questions during the live event. Ella Baker Global Studies and Humanities Magnet School has engaged in a multi-year partnership with World Savvy to embed global competence into the learning environment and create a more future-ready school community.

The event will be held from 121:30 pm CDT, at the Machine Shop, located on 300 2nd Street Southeast in Minneapolis. The panel will be moderated by Dr. William Gaudelli, the Dean of the College of Education and Vice Provost for Innovation in Education at Lehigh University. With a career spanning 35 years as a classroom teacher, researcher, professor, and administrator, Dr. Gaudelli is a prominent international scholar with research areas focusing on global citizenship education and teacher education. He has published more than 85 scholarly pieces and four books, the most recent entitled Pedagogy of the Global Event.

Tickets to attend the panel have already sold out. Media members who would like to attend should contact Lisette Gushiniere to reserve their spot.

A recording of the discussion will be available following the event. For more information, visit WorldSavvy.org/future-ready-schools .

About World Savvy

World Savvy is a national K-12 education nonprofit partnering holistically with schools to reimagine education and create more inclusive, student-centered, and future-ready learning communities. We do this by partnering with schools to embed global competence into the strategic vision, school environment, and teaching and learning practices. Since 2002, the organization has reached over 810,000 students and 6,900 educators across 45 U.S. states. By 2035, World Savvy's goal is to engage 10,000 K-12 schools across the U.S., reaching an estimated 5 million students. Learn more at WorldSavvy.org .

Media Contact:

Lisette Gushiniere

Strategist, PRP Group

[email protected]

SOURCE World Savvy
Consumers Can Be Among the First to Taste the New Innovation at an Exclusive One-Day Only Pop-Up

PARSIPPANY, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mint and strawberry fans alike can for the first time ever immerse themselves in the flavorful fun taste of the newest addition to the Tic Tac  portfolio, Strawberry & Cream, a delightful mix of refreshing and sweet-creamy strawberry flavors, at an exclusive one-day only pop-up event.

The Tic Tac Experience, taking place in Chelsea Market in New York City on Friday, April 28, will give fans an opportunity to enter the world of Tic Tac through a 360-degree multi-sensory experience. At each turn attendees will encounter delicious surprises that bring the iconic mint brand and Strawberry & Cream flavor to life through branded hands-on activities including a DIY label station, mix and match sample wall, interactive games, and insta-worthy photo opportunities as they take their taste buds on an adventure.

"Our fruit flavors continue to be fan favorites, so we are thrilled to launch Strawberry & Cream through our inaugural Tic Tac Experience," said Endri Shtylla, Marketing Director, Tic Tac at Ferrero USA, Inc. "Tic Tac has had a successful year holding a top spot in the mint category and we're proud to continue to deliver innovation to our fans and have them interact with the brand in a refreshing and exciting new way with this branded pop-up experience."

The Tic Tac Experience will be open for consumers free of charge on Friday, April 28th from 11AM  7PM/ET at Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10011).

Tic Tac Strawberry & Cream is rolling out on shelves nationwide and is available for purchase in a 1oz single pack for $1.59 and a 3.4oz bottle pack for $3.79 in stores and online.

For more information on Tic Tac, please visit www.tictac.com. Stay up to date on all things Strawberry & Cream by following @TicTacUSA on social.

ABOUT TIC TAC MINTS

The Tic Tac brand was launched in the U.S. in 1969 by the Italian confectionery manufacturer Ferrero and has been a leading mint brand for over 50 years.

ABOUT FERRERO

The Ferrero Group brings joy to people around the world with beloved treats including Kinder, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tac. Ferrero Group is one of the world's largest sweet-packaged food companies, with over 35 iconic brands sold in more than 170 countries. More than 35,000 "Ferrerians" are committed to helping people celebrate life's special moments with high-quality products. Commitment to the planet and communities in which we operate are at the heart of Ferrero Group's family culture. Our programs and partnerships ensure our work is environmentally sustainable and beneficial to local communities. Ferrero entered the North American market in 1969 and has grown to more than 5,100 employees in 15 plants and warehouses, and eight offices in North America across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It has expanded its presence and portfolio with the addition of iconic brands such as Butterfinger, CRUNCH, Keebler, Famous Amos, Mother's Cookies, and other distinctive cookie and chocolate brands. Follow @FerreroNACorp on Twitter and Instagram. www.ferreronorthamerica.com.

CONTACT: Rebecca Block, [email protected]

SOURCE Ferrero North America
Cannabis Seed Producer Royal Queen Seeds and Cannabis Now Media Launch Times Square Event to Celebrate the Annual "4/20 Holiday"

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Queen Seeds , a European leader in the cannabis genetic space - providing growers and consumers the opportunity to grow and harvest their own high-grade cannabis, is revolutionizing the US market with their F1 Hybrid Seeds. F1 hybrid cannabis seeds produce a stable, uniform crop every time. To celebrate this breakthrough, Royal Queen Seeds has joined forces with one of America's leading cannabis-related media companies, Cannabis Now Media , for the FIRST EVER 4/20 IS LEGAL countdown in New York's legendary Times Square at The One Times Square Billboard.

Royal Queen Seeds Times Square Royal Queen Seeds Times Square

The official Royal Queen Seeds Times Square Celebration begins at 3:30 pm with a countdown leading up to 4:20 pm. Royal Queen Seeds is honored to be able to bring the finest in horticulture and genetics to New York and states across the country.

"We have so much to celebrate, and there is no better place for a countdown than Times Square," says Shai Ramsahai, CEO of Royal Queen Seeds. "This 4/20, we are excited to celebrate how growers, both in their industrial crops and now their own homes have the freedom to grow in the United States."

"Joining with Royal Queen Seeds in New York's Times Square is a historic moment to demonstrate that cannabis has expanded globally and it's perfect to celebrate this at the heartbeat of the world, Times Square," says Eugenio Garcia, CEO of Cannabis Now Media.

Royal Queen Seeds, highly respected across Europe and around the globe, is now selling its range of high-quality products in all US states. With a focus on sustainable growing methods, Royal Queen Seeds goal is to deliver the best genetics and support every type of grower.

ABOUT ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS:

Based on a long time knowledge and passion for cannabis, Royal Queen Seeds created its seed bank in 2007. Since, the company has become a global genetics sensation operating in more than 28 European countries offering 100+ quality strains. Royal Queen Seeds operates online and from physical stores in the Netherlands, Spain and Thailand, with headquarters in Barcelona. In 2023, Royal Queen Seeds started operating in the United States and launched the first true F1 Hybrid Cannabis seeds in the homegrown market.

MEDIA CONTACT:

[email protected]

SOURCE Royal Queen Seeds
BEIJING, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- March 11, 2023, TOJOY, China's largest business acceleration platform announced plans for its new Oxygen-negetiveBar Hotel business during the China Hotel Green Development Forum.

TOJOY CEO Ge Jun's keynote on speech outlined TOJOY's approach to unifying enterprises and talent on health issues to spur new business in China's booming hospitality and health sectors.

TOJOY CEO Ge Jun announces the Oxygen Bar Hotel business.

The health and comfort of guests in hotels across China is an increasing priority for many hospitality businesses. According to Chinese Academy of Engineering medical and engineering expert Yu Mengsun, "Turning hotels into a healthy living environment that make use of air purification" can improve air quality in confined spaces and provide better sleep and recovery for guests.

TOJOY's Oxygen-negetive Bar Hotel business will primarily integrate air purification technology known as Boss Health Hotel Oxygen-negetive Bar into existing hotels. Hotel clients can work with TOJOY partners to integrate and maintain negative ion generators to existing hotel rooms without additional investment to remodel rooms or air circulation systems. TOJOY says the resulting air conditions in rooms with the technology installed will be near forest-level. Hotels may find the service useful for aiding in room sterilization, disease prevention, better sleep for guests, and overall guest health.

Boss Health Hotel Oxygen-negetive Bar president Zhang He said that the service is operating in more than 63,000 rooms nationwide. This is the second phase of the technology service's nationwide rollout, bringing a higher tech, lower investment model to entrepreneurs across the country.

According to Zhang, more than one thousand four- and five-star hotels have signed contracts with Boss Health Hotel Oxygen Bar, including well-known brands such as Jianguo Hotel, Narada, Marriott, Arcadia, and Wanda.

During the forum, Robam Health Technology Group also established a "China Hotel Association Oxygen Bar Hotel Special Working Group" under the guidance of China Hotel Association.

SOURCE TOJOY SHARED HOLDING GROUP
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tropical Forest Products announced today that it is partnering with Four Corners Building Supply, as an official distributor of Tropical's Black Label brand of premium Ipe, Cumaru, Garapa and other tropical hardwoods graded to the highest standards. Headquartered in North Charleston, SC, Four Corners serves the Low Country as a leading distributor of premium building materials.

Applications range from decking, cladding, and ceilings to timber sizes and architectural Millwork and each board must be Premium Architectural Grade or superior to earn the Black Label title.

"The high standards of our Black Label architectural grade lumber meet the quality and service needs of Four Corners' customers," said Brian Lotz, Technical Director for Tropical Forest Products. "This is a tremendous opportunity for expansion in South Carolina's high-demand wood market."

"I have been buying tropical hardwood decking for over 30 years in the Charleston area," said Larry Broadway, Four Corners Purchasing Manager. "The quality, consistency and breadth of product offerings are by far the best I have seen in the market. When paired with Tropical Forest Products' Legal Lumber Due Care environmental compliance program, we know that our customers are assured of the best possible hardwood decking outcome and the most ethically sourced hardwood decking, accessories and cladding products on the market at competitive prices."

Black Label exceeds Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Unifloresta standards for Ipe, Cumaru, Jatoba, Garapa, BulletWood and Tigerwood, all 100% legally sourced from South America. They will also offer thermally modified Kebony and ThermoWood with Novawood technology.

Black Label focuses on the dealer, contractor, architect and homeowner with its website at https://blacklabelwood.com. Learn more about Four Corners Building Suppy at www.buildfcbs.com.

About Four Corners Building Supply

Based in North Charleston, SC. Four Corners Building Supply is a full-service lumber yard with an expansive product inventory. They provide a wide array of exterior and interior building supplies throughout the greater Charleston area.

About Tropical Forest Products

Tropical Forest Products, a leading hardwood distributor that operates throughout the United States and Canada, was founded with the belief that acquiring lumber of superior quality should be easy and ethical. Tropical strives to meet every client's need with quality lumber and deliver products on time, maintain commitment to clients and maintain the best prices in the market.

SOURCE Tropical Forest Products
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tulsi Gabbard is joining the Sekulow Broadcast team as Senior Military and Political Analyst. Starting today, the former member of Congress and presidential candidate will make weekly appearances on Sekulow.

Sekulow provides cutting edge analysis of today's political and legal landscape with elected officials and respected thought leaders. The show airs live each weekday at Noon Eastern on over 1,000 stations plus SiriusXM, with live video stream on Facebook , YouTube , Rumble and ACLJ.org .

"I'm looking forward to joining the Sekulow team every week and sharing my perspective as we take on the critical issues facing the American people today," said Tulsi Gabbard. "Sekulow's focus on truth, freedom and the Constitution is essential during these challenging times."

Sekulow is hosted by renowned constitutional attorney ACLJ Chief Counsel, Jay Sekulow, and ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow. Jordan also co-hosts Salem Media's Sekulow Brothers podcast with his brother Logan Sekulow, ACLJ's Director of Media and an award-winning filmmaker, producer, podcaster, and radio host.

"Tulsi Gabbard is one of our nation's most respected voices, from the halls of Congress to Fox News and beyond," says Jordan Sekulow. "Tulsi brings tremendous value to our audience, and we're thrilled to offer her perspective alongside other members of the Sekulow Broadcast team including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, among others."

Tulsi Gabbard served as the representative for Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District from 2013-2021. In February 2019, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, the first female combat veteran to run for U.S. president. She left the Democratic party in 2022 and currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, as a Fox News contributor, and hosts the podcast, The Tulsi Gabbard Show.

Media Contact:

Brian Mayes

Nashville Publicity Group

615-771-2040

[email protected]

SOURCE American Center for Law and Justice
Episode Available Beginning Today, April 20

DENVER, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ursa Major, America's leading privately funded company that focuses solely on rocket propulsion, is proud to share that founder and CEO Joe Laurienti was featured on the popular podcast "How I Build This" with Guy Raz. The episode covers topics including:

Founder and CEO Joe Laurienti

How the United States government has been relying on rocket engines that are made in Russia for the past several decades.

government has been relying on rocket engines that are made in for the past several decades. Joe's passion and aptitude for building and "tinkering" with electronics and machines since childhood.

How Ursa Major can help the government and private space companies address their rocket engine supply problems, in part by using 3D printing.

What it's like to walk through the aerospace industry's infamous "Valley of Death."

The episode is available broadly beginning today on NPR One , Apple Podcasts , Wondery , Audible , and on public radio stations across the country.

Connect with Ursa Major on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

About Ursa Major

Ursa Major is America's leading privately funded company focusing solely on rocket propulsion, bringing high-performance, staged combustion engines to market for space launch and hypersonic applications. Ursa Major customers, ranging from "New Space" startups to enterprise-level aerospace leaders and the U.S. government, get to flight faster, more reliably, and cost-effectively. The company employs the most sought-after engineers from top space programs and universities. Headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, Ursa Major was named one of the best places to work by Built in Colorado three years in a row. For more information, visit www.ursamajor.com. For downloadable images and videos, visit https://www.ursamajor.com/media/downloadable-assets.

SOURCE Ursa Major
KATY, Texas, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) announced today that it will release its first quarter 2023 financial results after the New York Stock Exchange closes on Thursday, April 27, 2023.

Conference Call

This release will be followed by a conference call for investors on Friday, April 28, 2023, at 7:30 a.m. Central Time to discuss the results. Hosting the call will be Bryan Shinn, Chief Executive Officer, and Don Merril, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Investors are invited to listen to a live webcast of the conference call by visiting the "Investors- Events & Presentations" section of the Company's website at www.ussilica.com . The webcast will be archived for one year. The call can also be accessed live over the telephone by dialing (877) 869-3847 or for international callers, (201) 689-8261. A replay will be available shortly after the call and can be accessed by dialing (877) 660-6853 or for international callers, (201) 612-7415. The conference ID for the replay is 13738042. The replay will be available through May 28, 2023.

About U.S. Silica

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. is a global performance materials company and is a member of the Russell 2000. The Company is a leading producer of commercial silica used in the oil and gas industry and in a wide range of industrial applications. Over its 123-year history, U.S. Silica has developed core competencies in mining, processing, logistics and materials science that enable it to produce and cost-effectively deliver over 600 diversified products to customers across our end markets. U.S. Silica's wholly-owned subsidiaries include EP Minerals and SandBox Logistics. EP Minerals is an industry leader in the production of products derived from diatomaceous earth, perlite, engineered clays, and non-activated clays. SandBox Logistics is a state-of-the-art leader in proppant storage, handling and well-site delivery, dedicated to making proppant logistics cleaner, safer and more efficient. The Company has 27 operating mines and processing facilities and two additional exploration stage properties across the United States and is headquartered in Katy, Texas.

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.

Investor Contact:

Patricia Gil

Vice President, Investor Relations & Sustainability

(281) 505-6011

[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.
Toll Funds Sought to Speed Congestion Relief, Baylands Restoration Projects

SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Transportation Commission (CTC) will host a public hearing Monday evening, April 24, in Vallejo as part of its review of a proposal to institute tolls on a portion of State Route 37 between Mare Island in Solano County and Sears Point in Sonoma County. The hearing will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Library at 505 Santa Clara Street, adjacent to Vallejo City Hall.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)'s Bay Area Infrastructure Financing Authority (BAIFA) affiliate in late March applied to the CTC for authorization to operate a toll facility on the critical and frequently congested 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 between Mare Island and the junction with State Route 121 at Sears Point. The tolling proposal calls for converting the shoulders of Highway 37 to new traffic lanes, which would be tolled electronically; and for converting the existing single lane in each direction to carpool lanes, which would be toll-free for qualifying vehicles. Toll collection would not begin until the new lanes open for traffic; and both a low-income toll discount program and bus service between Vallejo and Marin County are in place. The current project timeline anticipates construction starting in 2025, with completion slated for 2027.

MTC and partner transportation agencies see tolling as a practical solution that can not only help speed project completion  which will include replacing the existing bridge over Tolay Creek near Sears Point with a much longer bridge that will promote restoration of the San Pablo Baylands by allowing more water to flow into and out of the creek channel as well as enhancements to stop deterioration of what's known as Strip Marsh East near Mare Island  but also can serve as a match to secure other regional, state and federal dollars needed for the complete transformation of the entire Highway 37 corridor between Interstate 80 in Vallejo and U.S. 101 in Novato.

Caltrans recently identified an elevated four-lane causeway along the existing Highway 37 alignment  with a bicycle and pedestrian path and accommodations for an eventual extension of the SMART commuter rail service  as the preferred long-term solution for improving mobility, adapting to rising waters and restoring historic baylands.

The April 24 hearing will be live-streamed. Members of the public may participate in or watch the hearing online at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89975318179. The public also may join by phone at (669) 900-6833. The Webinar ID number is 899 7531 8179. Scheduled presenters include CTC Chair Lee Ann Eager and Interim Executive Director Tanisha Taylor; MTC and BAIFA Executive Director Andrew Fremier; Caltrans District 4 Director Dina El-Tawansy; and MTC State Route 37 corridor program manager Jeanette Weisman.

The CTC can provide assistive services including translation and interpretation in multiple languages, real-time captioning, transcription, large print, digital audio and/or video recordings, as well as meeting materials in an accessible format for the visually impaired. To obtain services or copies in one of these alternate formats or languages, members of the public are advised to contact the Commission at (916) 654-4245 or [email protected]. Other questions about this hearing may be directed to Paul Golaszewski, Deputy Director for Legislation and Finance, at [email protected] or (916) 654-7179. The CTC reminds participants that improper comments and disorderly conduct are not permitted. In the event that the meeting conducted by the Commission is willfully interrupted or disrupted by a person or by a group so as to render the orderly conduct of the meeting infeasible, the Chair may order the removal of those individuals who are willfully disrupting the meeting.

MTC is the regional transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. BAIFA oversees the financing, planning and operation of MTC Express Lanes and related transportation projects.

SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission
The occasion marks the first business school in the U.S. to be named after a Latina, reflecting VU's commitment to expanding educational opportunities as a leading Hispanic-Serving Institution

COSTA MESA, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As an Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and leader in broadening impact and expanding opportunities for first-generation students, Vanguard University (VU) announces the naming of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management, adding the latest phase to its recent academic restructuring into multiple Schools and a College of the Arts and Sciences. The Arvielos have partnered with Vanguard's vision in sponsoring the largest academic donation in the university's 103-year history.

First business school in the U.S. to be named after a Latina at Vanguard University Tweet this Vanguard University President Michael Beals, Ph.D. greets Patty and Rick Arvielo at a surprise unveiling of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management.

A surprise unveiling of the new school's name took place on the Costa Mesa campus in the Waugh Student Center at 10 a.m. on April 19 to an unsuspecting Patty Arvielo and nearly 800 cheering students, faculty, staff and supportersa "take your breath away" moment for both the Arvielos and the Vanguard community.

"I've never been so surprised in my life," said Patty Arvielo, teary-eyed after the reveal. "For someone who didn't think she was smartor fit the profile of what smart means in Americamy story is important and I share it to empower you. Because that's what this country offers and that is why our grandparents and parents came to this great country, to offer us the opportunities to succeed! I'm so blessed to be here with my husband, my kids, my friends and coworkers. I love this with all my heart. And now, I have more familiaso thank you."

"At this moment of growth for Vanguard University, we are grateful for the support and partnership of the Arvielos," said VU President Michael J. Beals, Ph.D. "We are honored to align our business programs under Patty Arvielo's name because of who she isa phenomenal business leader and role model for Hispanic, female and all students whose life story and work demonstrate what is possible. We recognize the impact that Patty Arvielo's namesake and support will have on generations of students as Vanguard prepares them for a life of Christ-centered leadership and service."

At the surprise announcement, third-year VU business student Kaitlyn Velazquez also shared what the Arvielo's recognition personally means to her. "As a Latina pursuing a career in business, it is so inspiring to be able to feel represented by someone who has made a name for herself in the pathway [of business that] I have always dreamed of. Knowing how much my parents sacrificed in order to best set me up for success, and seeing everything that Mrs. Arvielo has accomplished, gives me even more hope for my future in this field."

Building on Vanguard's Legacy

The establishment of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management comes as the business program celebrates its 50th anniversary. With degree programs in accounting, business administration, management and marketing, business has remained the highest enrolled academic program at VU for the past few decades. The new Patty Arvielo School of Business will officially launch in the 2024-2025 academic year and will serve undergraduate and graduate residential, distance and non-traditional students in business, communication, organizational psychology and people operations.

Immediate steps for the launch of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management include the appointment of a transitional dean, recruitment of anchor faculty, and a national search for the founding dean by Fall 2024. The transformational gift from the Arvielos will build upon VU's legacy over the past five decades of preparing students to become leaders in business by combining Christian faith, in-depth knowledge and character development with a strong liberal arts foundation. The gift will allow VU to build upon its success to establish a missionally-aligned, market-focused, compelling, innovative and impactful school in the heart of Orange County that will develop tens of thousands of competent, character-rich business leaders prepared to make a positive impact in a complex and rapidly changing world. The gift will help fund endowed faculty chairs, endowed student scholarships, new faculty, market analyses and the launch of graduate programs, online course development, career preparation programming and the launch of a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2025.

First Business School in the U.S. to be Named After a Latina

The establishment of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management marks a significant milestone for Hispanic women nationally, as it is the first school of business in the United States to be named after a Latina. As the daughter of a proud Mexican immigrant mother, Patty Arvielo is a self-made, award-winning entrepreneur. She began her career at age 16, learning the mortgage industry from the ground up before co-founding New American Funding in Tustin, California in 2003 and growing it into one of the largest independent mortgage lenders in the country and the largest Latina-owned private mortgage company in the nation, with a servicing portfolio of over 241,000 loans for $63.9 billion. The company's Latino Focus and New American Dream initiatives were launched by Patty Arvielo with the goal being to enhance the quality of the lending experience for Latino and Black homebuyers.

Vanguard's History as an Hispanic-Serving Institution and Recent Academic Restructure

VU was designated by the U.S. Department of Education as an HSI in 2015then only the second four-year institution in Orange County to receive this designation. Today, 47 percent of VU undergraduate students are Hispanic, 68 percent are students of color, and 35 percent are first-generation college students. Vanguard has received several Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program grant awards from the U.S. Department of Education$2.6 million in 2015, $3.8 million in 2017 and $2.75 in 2020intended to expand educational opportunities, academic offerings and programming for Hispanic and all students.

Earlier this year, VU announced a transition in its academic structure and leadership, establishing multiple Schools and a College. The Patty Arvielo School of Business will house the accounting, business administration and marketing programs, and will launch officially in Fall 2024. The College of the Arts and Sciences will house the core of Vanguard's academic offerings, including the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, STEM and allied health programs; the School of Theology and Ministry will offer undergraduate, non-traditional and graduate programs in theology and ministry; and the School of Education will offer programs including liberal studies, early childhood education, the teaching credential program and graduate education.

To learn more about Vanguard University, visit www.vanguard.edu.

About Vanguard University

Founded in 1920, Vanguard University in Costa Mesa is a private, Christian, comprehensive university of liberal arts, sciences and professional studies that encompasses more than 2,200 students from every region in the country, over 33,000 alumni worldwide, 100 full-time faculty, over 30 undergraduate programs and six graduate degree programs. A hallmark of a Vanguard education is collaborative scholarship in the arts and sciences, which foster the intellectual development, moral maturity and spiritual vitality of its students for the public good. Rooted in a strong academic tradition and commitment to student success, Vanguard University is recognized by the U.S. News & World Report 2023 rankings as a first-tier regional university in the West, a Top Performer on Social Mobility, a Best College in the West for Veterans, a Best Value School and a Best Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program. Vanguard University represents a diverse student population, with 68 percent students of color, 47 percent Hispanic and nearly half of students the first in their family to attend college. Further information about Vanguard University is available at vanguard.edu.

About New American Funding

New American Funding is an independent mortgage lender with a servicing portfolio of 244,700+ loans for approximately $64.5 billion and more than 165 nationwide locations. In 2022, New American Funding was ranked #1 by J.D. Power in Customer Satisfaction among Mortgage Servicers. The company was also named #43 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2023. The company offers state-of-the-art career training and provides its branch Loan Officers with innovative technologies to streamline the mortgage process.

Media Contact:

Kristin Scheithauer

(714) 336-0920

[email protected]

SOURCE Vanguard University
BRENTWOOD, Tenn., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vantage Surgical Solutions, a leading facilitator of specialty surgical operations to rural hospitals and ASCs, today announced the appointment of Andrew Deane to the newly created position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Deane brings with him over 13 years of experience in the healthcare sector, with a particular focus on serving rural communities. In his new role, he will provide financial leadership and guidance to Vantage, overseeing its financial operations and contributing to the organization's growth and expansion.

"We are thrilled to welcome Andrew to the Vantage team," said Bradley Hill, CEO of Vantage Surgical Solutions. "With his deep understanding of both finance and the challenges facing rural hospitals and ASCs, Andrew will play a critical role in helping us grow and expand our service offerings and will be instrumental in fueling our acquisition strategies. We are confident that his expertise and leadership will significantly contribute to our ongoing success."

Deane joins Vantage from his previous role as Chief Financial Officer at First Care Clinics, where he was responsible for financial operations and played a key role in the organization's acquisition by Fast Pace Health. Prior to that, he held senior finance positions at BreatheAmerica and IASIS Healthcare.

"I am excited to be joining Vantage at such a crucial time in its growth trajectory," said Deane. "I am particularly drawn to the impact that Vantage is making on access to care in rural markets, and I look forward to working with the leadership team to drive financial excellence and create value for our customers, our team, and our shareholders."

Deane holds a Masters of Accountancy and a BBA from the University of Tennessee. He and his family reside in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be splitting his time between Vantage's Brentwood, Tennessee and Effingham, Illinois headquarters.

About Vantage Surgical Solutions

Vantage has been equipping facilities for specialty surgical services since 1991, with customers in 23 states. The company currently delivers state-of-the-art cataract surgery equipment, IOLs, instrumentation, disposables, expert staff, and supplies, that enable hospitals, surgery centers, and physicians to provide local communities with the highest quality cataract surgery experience. Vantage is focused on client success which has resulted in a customer retention rate of 99.8%. Its focus is expanding the business to offer reliable, expert surgical solutions that reduce the cost and improve access for rural healthcare.

For more information about Vantage Surgical Solutions, visit www.vantage.healthcare.

CONTACT: Sean O'Donnell, Chief Growth Officer

[email protected]

SOURCE Vantage Surgical Solutions
Batelco, part of the Beyon Group, will provide a new channel for recharging Go cards, enabling its Prepaid and Lucky customers to top-up their cards via SMS text message.

By launching this service, new and existing Batelco and Lucky customers will be able to recharge their Go cards by using the balance available in their Prepaid accounts.

New customers may visit any Batelco or Lucky branch to sign up and get a Go card with two free trips. The recharge process is simple, customers only need to send an SMS with the required amount for the Bus fee along with their Go card number to 88188.

Agreement

For this Batelco has signed a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications and Bahrain Public Transport Company, operator of Bahrain public buses, at Batelco's headquarters in Hamala.

The agreement was signed by Eng Hussain Ali Yaqoob, Assistant Undersecretary for Land Transportation, Aseel Matar, General Manager of Consumer at Batelco, and Robert Conway, General Manager of Bahrain Public Transport Company.

Matar said: Batelco is keen to deliver more value for its Prepaid customers by adding new convenient services. We are proud to be the first and the only telecom company in Bahrain to offer this new channel to top up the Go card.

We always aim to provide our customers with services and solutions that will make their lives easier, and with this exclusive service we are enabling them to use their Prepaid lines not only for communication purposes, but to also conduct other transactions, she added.-- TradeArabia News Service
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. The plan for the manufacturing of products and services in the construction and industrial sector of Turkmenistan was exceeded by 9.2 percent from January through March 2023, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen media.

This was announced by the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Baymyrat Annamamedov at a government meeting held on April 15.

According to him, during the reporting period, the Ministry of Construction and Architecture of Turkmenistan exceeded the work plan by 11.5 percent, and the Ashgabat city municipality exceeded the work and services provided by 13.1 percent compared to the first quarter of last year.

Furthermore, Annamamedov noted that the Ministry of Industry and Construction Production of Turkmenistan exceeded the plan for the production and implementation of works by 20.7 percent during the reporting period, and the State Agency for Roads Construction Management by 12.5 percent.

At the meeting, the results of the government's work in the economic sphere for 3 months of 2023 were summed up, draft documents were considered and priority tasks of the socio-economic development of the country were discussed.
LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vision Films Inc. ("Vision") announces the US and Canadian Transactional VOD and DVD release of the new documentary, King Charles III: The New Monarchy, on May 2, 2023 only days ahead of the new sovereign's coronation. Co-written and produced by Tara Pirnia and Larissa Garcia-Baab, and directed by Pirnia, the film highlights new interviews from insiders and journalists as it tracks the new king-to-be's pre-ordained destiny from his earliest days. From his childhood, unprecedented education, and military service, to his famous, and infamous, love life and father- and grandfather hood, emphasis is firmly placed on his predilection for the role, patience in waiting and preparing for it, and the determination to put his own unique stamp on the monarchy.

King Charles III: The New Monarchy movie poster

Synopsis : Prince Charles was always destined to wear the crown. From the royal childhood in Buckingham Palace to his naval career and life as the Prince of Wales, he's had his successes and hardships. From a young prince to now the king, he's been a constant in the British royal family, hoping one day not only to wear the crown, but to usher the British royals into a new modern era as King Charles III.

Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0iM6fs3mrQ

Featuring interviews with Royal Commentator Victoria Arbiter, Vanity Fair Royal Editor Katie Nicholl, British journalist, television and radio commentator Dickie Arbiter, US journalist, author, and radio-television personality Patt Morrison, and bodyguard for Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, Ken Wharfe.

Lise Romanoff, CEO/Managing Director of Vision Films shares, "This is an in-depth and complete look at the various facets of King Charles' life many may not know as he takes the throne."

Producer Larissa Garcia-Baab says, "Our goal with this documentary is to shed light on the life, loves, and many pursuits of the new king."

Director Tara Pirnia further comments, "Yes, we wanted to bring him out of the shadow of his mother and illustrate his lifelong dedication to making this a modern monarchy that will last through the ages."

King Charles III: The New Monarchy will be available on all major streaming and cable platforms in the US and Canada on May 2, 2023 followed by DVD at major online retailers in June. For more information, please visit imdb.com/KingCharlesIII:TheNewMonarchy

About Vision Films

Vision Films is a leading independent sales and VOD aggregator specializing in the licensing, marketing, and distribution of over 800 feature films, documentaries, series from some of the most prolific independent film producers in the world. Led by Lise Romanoff, Managing Director/CEO Worldwide Distribution, Vision Films releases 2-4 films a month across Theatrical, VOD, DVD, and television platforms. visionfilms.net

Media Contact:

Andrea McKinnon

818-415-9442

[email protected]

SOURCE Vision Films, Inc.
ARLINGTON, Va., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IDS International and MKS2, via our Weaponize, LLC Joint Venture (JV), was awarded a seat on the nine-year, $960 million U.S. Air Force contract to assist the Department of Defense and its partner nation agencies in combating various security threats across the globe. Weaponize will support the Counter-Narcotics and Global Threats (CN>) Operations, Logistics and Training Support program IDIQ to provide training support to meet national security objectives. Specifically, this program will improve the capability of the United States and partner nation agencies' endeavors to detect, deter, disrupt, degrade and defeat national security threats, including those posed by illegal drugs, trafficking, piracy, transnational organized crime, threat finance networks.

As a Small Business, Team Weaponize, LLC will support the NAICS 611430 Training Support Services requirements upon award of competitive task orders.

This award was only made possible because of the hard work and dedication of our IDS programs and employees. IDS's ability to support this proposal submission with the stellar past performance and demonstration of IDS's collective capabilities made this a key win for IDS's future growth.

About IDS International Government Services

IDS International brings multidisciplinary expertise and innovative culture to the national security challenges of the 21st century. IDS is a team of leading experts and field practitioners experienced in conflict, development and stabilization, the cyber domain, and human factors that influence operating environments. Our success is built upon expertise, strong customer relationships, and a passion for creating and delivering quality solutions.

About MKS2

MKS2, LLC is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business headquartered in Austin, Texas. MKS2 uses technology as a catalyst to provide information security, enterprise application development, and instructional design and training support to Federal government agencies.

About Weaponize

Weaponize, LLC is an SBA-approved professional services consultancy joint venture (JV) between MKS2, LLC and IDS International Government Solutions, LLC. Formed in 2019, Weaponize specializes in delivering technology-driven training and event management solutions to the Federal government. Our training solutions are customized to fit each customer's needs and can easily be scaled for large groups distributed across multiple ranks and duty stations. Weaponize is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

Contact:

Farra Lanzer

[email protected]

970-541-3284

SOURCE IDS International Government Services
The new facility is a result of increasing customer requests for a presence in Mexico.

ORWELL, Ohio, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Welded Tubes is excited to announce the opening of a new 55,000 square foot facility in Monterrey Mexico. The new facility will begin operations in early 2024 with a focus on small-diameter, tight tolerance tubing for the automotive industry, a specialty of the Ohio based manufacturer.

"Our customers are increasing their presence in Mexico and have asked us to continue to support their expansion efforts and their commitment to the OEM's." Says Joe Frandanisa, president of Welded Tubes Inc. "We are listening to our customer's needs, and our expansion in Monterey will allow us to grow and strengthen our relationships with them."

Monterrey, Mexico is an exciting growth opportunity to take the precision and quality of Welded Tubes international and provide top notch customer service. The facility is breaking ground on the large Steel Warehouse campus in Monterrey. Steel Warehouse is the sister company of Lock Joint Tube (LJT) - the parent company of Welded Tubes. This expansion will strengthen the supply chain of Welded Tubes and their customers.

Kevin Marks, President Lock Joint Tube is looking forward to the new facility becoming operational. "With the support of Steel Warehouse Mexico, we are expanding into Mexico with a ton of confidence. I anticipate more exciting news in Mexico in the years to come." Says Kevin.

LJT is proud to support this expansion which will take their combined company presence to six locations and be the first international presence for the tubers. The new facility has plans to expand to include LJT's capability range after its first several years in operation.

Lock Joint Tube (LJT), a mechanical grade tubing manufacturer based in South Bend, IN with locations in Ohio, Texas and Tennessee. LJT acquired Welded Tubes of Orwell, OH in 2020. Welded Tubes is an IATF certified leading supplier of small diameter tubing.

Background Information on Companies Mentioned:

About Welded Tube

Welded Tubes was incorporated and opened in 1958, in Orwell, Ohio. Welded Tubes is a producer of high-volume, small-diameter, tight-tolerance tubing for the Automotive, Appliance, Lighting and Truck sectors. To learn more visit: https://www.weldedtubes.com/

About Lock Joint Tube

Lock Joint Tube manufactures mechanical and structural grade steel tubing. Selecting hot rolled, cold rolled, aluminized, and galvanized steel, Lock Joint Tube services fabricators and distributors, as well as original equipment manufacturers with different sized and shaped steel tubing used in such diverse industries as solar, automotive, office furniture, health care, exercise, and display fixtures.

LJT is part of Lerman Enterprises who have a strong presence in the manufacturing sector with companies such as Steel Warehouse, Chesterfield Steel, and Siegal Steel. To learn more visit https://www.ljtube.com/

About Steel Warehouse

Steel Warehouse is a family-owned premier steel processor & service center with distribution, shipping, and processing capabilities providing slit coil, sheet, plate, and cold-rolling.

We specialize in surface, dimension, grade, and flatness across 12 locations worldwide. We have built a strong reputation for integrity and customer service over 70 years in business. Steel Warehouse is the sister company of Lock Joint Tube.

https://www.steelwarehouse.com/

SOURCE Welded Tubes Inc.; Lock Joint Tube
Mblock's experience in node validation, NFT business and providing digital assets information to be utilized

To contribute to the security of the WEMIX3.0 mega-ecosystem and create synergy in NFT business

SEOUL, South Korea, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WEMIX today welcomed Mblock, a blockchain-based service provider, as the newest member and WONDER 15 of the 40 WONDERS, the WEMIX3.0 mainnet's NCPs.

WEMIX3.0 welcomes Mblock as a Node Council Partner WONDER 15

Since its establishment in 2022, Mblock has been operating validation nodes, and providing investors of digital assets with information and guides. It also specializes in IP-based NFT business, and its ecosystem expansion efforts include co-hosting the 'NFT Digital Art Fair'. Mblock will contribute to the security of the WEMIX3.0 mega-ecosystem with its unique validator experience and blockchain technologies. Expertise and infrastructure of both parties will be fully utilized in maximizing the synergetic effects in the NFT business.

"WEMIX3.0 is a pioneering blockchain project that integrates progressive goals and technologies," said Jungwook Kim, CEO of Mblock. "We are delighted to be a NCP and join the Web3 journey led by WEMIX."

More information on WEMIX3.0 WONDERS, and NCP can be found at the official website. https://40wonders.wemix.com .

- ends -

About Wemade and WEMIX

A renowned industry leader in game development with over 20 years of experience, Korea-based Wemade is leading a once-in-a-generation shift as the gaming industry pivots to blockchain technology. Through subsidiary WEMIX, Wemade aims to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology by building an experience-based, platform-driven, and service-oriented mega-ecosystem that offers a wide spectrum of intuitive, convenient, and easy-to-use Web3 services for everyone.

SOURCE Wemade Co., Ltd
WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Journalists working throughout the United States face innumerable risks to their well-being while performing their essential work, and the disturbing trend is only growing.

Join us at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, May 5 , for a discussion about concerns for journalists working in the U.S., an extension of important activities being organized to recognize World Press Freedom Day.

This virtual program, produced by the National Press Club's Press Freedom Team and the NPC Journalism Institute, will feature firsthand accounts from journalists who have been arrested or mistreated for simply doing their jobs. Registration is free and open .

Participants will gain:

Knowledge of recent cases of press freedom violations within the U.S.

Insight into the personal and professional impacts of facing hostility from law enforcement or sources

An understanding of their legal rights when faced with threats

Advice on preparing for work in the field

Panelists include:

Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit , two journalists with the citizen journalism publication Asheville Blade who were arrested on trespassing charges while documenting a sweep of a homeless camp in 2021. Body cam footage was just released indicating they were targets. Their trial is scheduled for April 19.

Dion Rabouin , a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained while doing a routine person-on-the-street interview outside of a bank in Phoenix. The mayor eventually personally apologized for Rabouin's mistreatment.

Seth Stern , director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation , which oversees the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker .

Steve Reilly , a Washington, D.C.-based investigative reporter for The Messenger , will moderate the discussion. Reilly is a member of the National Press Club and serves on its Press Freedom Team.

About the Institute

The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest.

Press contact: Beth Francesco, executive director, [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club Journalism Institute
NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global wood packaging market size is estimated to grow by USD 21.6 billion from 2022 to 2027, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.44% during the forecast period. Moreover, the growth momentum will accelerate. APAC will account for 44% of the market growth during the forecast period. For more insights on the historic (2017 to 2021) and forecast market size (2023 to 2027) - Request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Wood Packaging Market 2023-2027

Wood packaging market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on product (pallets and cases and boxes), application (food and beverages storage, transportation, industrial, shipping, and others), and geography (APAC, Middle East and Africa, South America, North America, and Europe).

The pallets segment will account for a significant share of market growth during the forecast period. The growth of this segment is attributed to factors such as the growth of the global construction industry. The load capacity of wooden pallets is higher than that of its substitutes, such as plastic pallets. Therefore, end-users in the construction industry can transport high quantities of goods at once with the help of forklift trucks. The rise in industrial production is also expected to fuel the demand for wood packaging globally. The growth of the construction industry will drive the demand for wooden pallets to transport goods such as cement and other construction chemicals. These factors will drive the growth of the segment during the forecast period.

Geography Overview

The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global wood packaging market.

APAC is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. China and India are the key revenue-generating contributors to the market in APAC. The food and beverage industry is a major end-user of wood packaging. The rise in demand for wood packaging in the food and beverage industry is driving the growth of the market in the region. In addition, retail sales are expected to increase in the future, especially in India and Japan , with government support for foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail businesses. Therefore, the growth of the retail industry in APAC is also expected to increase the demand for wood packaging products.

Insights on the various market segments, including country- and region-wise historic

data (2017 to 2021) and forecast market size (2023 to 2027) - Download a sample report

Wood packaging market  Market dynamics

Key factor driving market growth

The cost benefits associated with wood packaging are driving market growth.

are driving market growth. Distribution centers, production units, and manufacturing units are focusing on lowering the cost of shipment during the export and import of goods.

Wood packaging, such as pallets and wooden boxes, is cost-effective when compared to substitute products.

Floor spacing and space utilization account for a significant percentage of the shipment cost of goods.

Proper space utilization can reduce the cost by around 54%.

Wooden pallet manufacturers are also introducing stackable pallets to help reduce floor space.

These factors drive market growth during the forecast period.

Leading trends influencing the market

The growing innovation in wooden pallets is a leading trend in the market.

is a leading trend in the market. Vendors are introducing innovative products to hold their market position. They are launching small pallets for display-ready packaging at retail shops that are used for the safe transportation of products.

In an automated supply chain, automated material handling equipment is used.

Smaller pallets help avoid sagging and provide better interfacing with automated material handling equipment.

Such innovations are expected to increase the demand for wood packaging during the forecast period.

Major challenges hindering the market growth

Fluctuating raw material prices will challenge market growth during the forecast period.

will challenge market growth during the forecast period. Some of the commonly used materials for manufacturing wood packaging include softwood, hardwood, plywood, and composite blocks.

Variations in raw material prices negatively impact the profit margins of manufacturers.

This is because low raw material prices affect the price of the end products.

Therefore, high raw material prices will affect the liquidity of manufacturers, as they will increase the operation cost.

These factors will impede market growth during the forecast period.

To get key insights on market drivers, trends, & challenges for the historic period (2017

to 2021), and forecast period (2023 to 2027) - Request a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this wood packaging market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the wood packaging market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the wood packaging market and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the wood packaging market across APAC, Middle East and Africa , South America , North America , and Europe

and , , , and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of wood packaging market vendors

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Related Reports:

The wood pellets market size is expected to increase by USD 4.13 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.55%. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (residential and commercial) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America).

The size of the wood manufacturing market in Turkey is expected to increase by USD 1.06 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 3.97%. Furthermore, this report extensively covers segmentation by product type (sawn wood, paper and paperboard, fiberboard, particle board, and others) and end-user (construction, furniture, and others).

Wood Packaging Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.44% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 21.6 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 4.46 Regional analysis APAC, Middle East and Africa, South America, North America, and Europe Performing market contribution APAC at 44% Key countries Iran, India, China, Japan, and Brazil Competitive landscape Leading vendors, market positioning of vendors, competitive strategies, and industry risks Key companies profiled Arrington Lumber and Pallet Co., Brambles Ltd., C&K Box Co. Inc., Coxco Inc., FALKENHAHN AG, Greif Inc., InterAgra SC, Kamps Pallets Inc., Millwood Inc., Mondi plc, Nefab AB, Ongna Wood Products, Pacific Pallet Ltd., Palcon LLC, Rowlinson Group Ltd., Shur-way Group Inc., Stora Enso Oyj, Totre Industries, UFP Industries Inc., and United Pallet Services 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 for Technavio materials market reports

Table of contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



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 wood packaging market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global wood packaging market 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.3 Application Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Application 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 Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 Pallets - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Pallets - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Pallets - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Pallets - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Pallets - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Cases and boxes - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Cases and boxes - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Cases and boxes - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Cases and boxes - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Cases and boxes - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Product ($ billion)

7 Market Segmentation by Application

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 43: Chart on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 44: Data Table on Application - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 45: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 46: Data Table on Comparison by Application

7.3 Food and beverages storage - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 47: Chart on Food and beverages storage - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Food and beverages storage - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 49: Chart on Food and beverages storage - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Food and beverages storage - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Transportation - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on Transportation - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Transportation - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Transportation - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Transportation - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Industrial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Industrial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Industrial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Industrial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Industrial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Shipping - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 59: Chart on Shipping - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Shipping - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 61: Chart on Shipping - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Shipping - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 63: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 65: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.8 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 67: Market opportunity by Application ($ billion)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 68: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 69: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 71: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 72: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 73: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 74: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 75: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 76: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 79: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 83: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 87: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 91: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 95: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 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 (%)

9.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 103: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Iran - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 105: Chart on Iran - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on Iran - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 107: Chart on Iran - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 108: Data Table on Iran - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Brazil - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 109: Chart on Brazil - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 110: Data Table on Brazil - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 111: Chart on Brazil - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 112: Data Table on Brazil - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 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 Brambles Ltd.

Exhibit 120: Brambles Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 121: Brambles Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 122: Brambles Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: Brambles Ltd. - Segment focus

12.4 C and K Box Co. Inc.

Exhibit 124: C and K Box Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 125: C and K Box Co. Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: C and K Box Co. Inc. - Key offerings

12.5 Coxco Inc.

Exhibit 127: Coxco Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Coxco Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 129: Coxco Inc. - Key offerings

12.6 FALKENHAHN AG

Exhibit 130: FALKENHAHN AG - Overview



Exhibit 131: FALKENHAHN AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 132: FALKENHAHN AG - Key offerings

12.7 Greif Inc.

Exhibit 133: Greif Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 134: Greif Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 135: Greif Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 136: Greif Inc. - Segment focus

12.8 InterAgra SC

Exhibit 137: InterAgra SC - Overview



Exhibit 138: InterAgra SC - Product / Service



Exhibit 139: InterAgra SC - Key offerings

12.9 Kamps Pallets Inc.

Exhibit 140: Kamps Pallets Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 141: Kamps Pallets Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 142: Kamps Pallets Inc. - Key offerings

12.10 Millwood Inc.

Exhibit 143: Millwood Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 144: Millwood Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 145: Millwood Inc. - Key offerings

12.11 Mondi plc

Exhibit 146: Mondi plc - Overview



Exhibit 147: Mondi plc - Business segments



Exhibit 148: Mondi plc - Key news



Exhibit 149: Mondi plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Mondi plc - Segment focus

12.12 Nefab AB

Exhibit 151: Nefab AB - Overview



Exhibit 152: Nefab AB - Product / Service



Exhibit 153: Nefab AB - Key news



Exhibit 154: Nefab AB - Key offerings

12.13 Pacific Pallet Ltd.

Exhibit 155: Pacific Pallet Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 156: Pacific Pallet Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 157: Pacific Pallet Ltd. - Key offerings

12.14 Palcon LLC

Exhibit 158: Palcon LLC - Overview



Exhibit 159: Palcon LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 160: Palcon LLC - Key offerings

12.15 Rowlinson Group Ltd.

Exhibit 161: Rowlinson Group Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 162: Rowlinson Group Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 163: Rowlinson Group Ltd. - Key offerings

12.16 Shur-way Group Inc.

Exhibit 164: Shur-way Group Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 165: Shur-way Group Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 166: Shur-way Group Inc. - Key offerings

12.17 UFP Industries Inc.

Exhibit 167: UFP Industries Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 168: UFP Industries Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 169: UFP Industries Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 170: UFP Industries Inc. - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 171: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 172: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 173: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 174: Research methodology



Exhibit 175: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 176: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 177: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
ASU+GSV Summit 2023 was held successfully in San Diego, USA, providing a platform for global education professionals to share forward-looking insights and foster international collaboration. The event brought together thousands of academic and industry experts and business leaders from around the world, who participated in forums, exhibitions, roadshows, immersive experiences, and more.

WuKong Education, a leading international K-12 online education brand, was invited to participate in recognition of its remarkable growth and industry influence in recent years.

SAN DIEGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- April 17th - 19th, the ASU+GSV Summit was held in San Diego, USA. The event brought together 7,100 in-person attendees, including business leaders such as Bill Gates and K-12 leaders from the education industry, as well as outstanding education technology companies such as Chegg, WuKong Education, and BYJU's.

WuKong Education's founder Vicky Wang, co-founder Nicky Shang, and Head of Marketing of North America Rebecca Deng represented the company, sharing insights on product development and business growth strategies with EdTech leaders from around the world.

With over 300,000 users in 118 countries and regions worldwide, WuKong Education has gained widespread attention for its remarkable growth and industry influence. The company's Teaching and Research Team consists of experienced teachers from top universities such as Harvard, Oxford, and Columbia. Aligned with ASU+GSV's theme of "Brave New World: Imagining a new era in which all people have equal access to the future," WuKong Education prides itself in being a leading solutions provider on increasing the access of high-quality Chinese and math courses through its innovative platform and network of 3,000+ certified teachers.

During the summit, WuKong Education showcased its unique curriculum, which incorporates the leading Inquiry-Based Learning method that encourages students to learn through exploration in the classroom. Founder Vicky Wang explained, "From the design of the teaching syllabus and teacher training program to the interactive activities in the live class session, the essence of Inquiry-Based Learning is reflected through carefully crafted classroom design. Students' passion for learning is truly ignited, making children the masters of their own learning journey."

As a leader in the online education industry, WuKong Education is dedicated to driving education innovation and bridging the gap of equal access to mathematical and language learning for K-12 children worldwide. WuKong Education's participation at ASU+GSV Summit 2023 highlights the company's continued commitment in promoting education equity and excellence. Its vision of providing quality education for all students continues to fuel its growth and success in the industry.

SOURCE WuKong Education
Represents Key Step in Path to Entering the Public Markets

CAMPBELL, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zircon Corporation today announced it has entered into a merger agreement with Harmony Energy Technologies Corp. ("Harmony"). The combined company will do business under the name Zircon and will be centered on leveraging Zircon's sensor-based, ASIC processor technology and patent portfolio, to accelerate growth by expanding its electronic hand-tool product line, entering new markets globally and launching a data, IP and technology licensing business.

Harmony is a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting company. Zircon expects its merger with Harmony will allow it to accelerate the process of accessing the U.S. capital markets as a publicly traded company.

With a 46-year history, Zircon is centered on building on its leadership in designing and developing innovative hand tools and maintaining a dominant market share.

The Company's multi-faceted strategy spans new product development, entry into adjacent markets, global expansion and data, IP and technology licensing. Leveraging its technology and manufacturing resources, Zircon believes it is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing need for advanced construction tools across multiple industries including commercial building, government infrastructure, and building information modeling.

"Backed by our talented team, proprietary technology and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, we believe we have ample opportunity to expand our business and deliver profitable growth," commented John Stauss, Chief Executive Officer of Zircon. "Through this merger and a subsequent public listing, we strengthen our ability to execute on our growth plan and move forward with new technological solutions to a wider range of global markets."

The merger closed on April 14, 2023.

Pickwick Capital Partners LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Zircon. Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP acted as legal counsel to Zircon. Anthony L.G., PLLC acted as legal counsel to Harmony.

About Zircon

Zircon Corporation, manufacturer of the original StudSensor stud finder, is a Silicon Valley-based company established and operating in Northern California since 1977. Dedicated to delivering innovative, affordable, and easy-to-use technology to the world's toolboxes, Zircon patented technology drives the design, manufacture, and marketing of high-tech electronic hand tools, saving do-it-yourselfers and professional tradesmen time and money. Zircon StudSensor stud finders, MultiScanner wall scanners, MetalliScanner metal detectors, and electronic scanning, water detection, and leveling tools can be found worldwide throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information, visit https://www.zircon.com.

SOURCE Zircon Corporation
SHANGHAI, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China ("ZTO" or the "Company"), today provided an update on the status of the previously announced independent investigation. As previously disclosed, shortly after the publication of a report issued by the short-seller firm Grizzly Research LLC ("Grizzly Research") on March 2, 2023 (the "Initial Short Seller Report"), the audit committee of the Company's board of directors (the "Audit Committee") decided to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations made in the Initial Short Seller Report (the "Independent Investigation"). The Independent Investigation was conducted by the Audit Committee with the assistance of independent professional advisors, including an international law firm and forensic accounting experts from a major accounting firm that is not the Company's auditor. The Independent Investigation also covered the allegations made in the additional short seller report published by Grizzly Research on March 17, 2023 (the "Additional Short Seller Report"). The Independent Investigation is now substantially complete. Based on findings of the Independent Investigation, the Audit Committee has concluded that the allegations in the Initial Short Seller Report and Additional Short Seller Report are not substantiated.

About ZTO

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and SEHK: 2057) ("ZTO" or the "Company") is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. ZTO may also make forward-looking statements in the Company's periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its interim and annual reports to shareholders, in announcements, circulars or other publications made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange"), in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology, such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "confidence," "estimates," "likely to" and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the development of the e-commerce industry in China, its significant reliance on the Alibaba ecosystem, risks associated with its network partners and their employees and personnel, intense competition which could adversely affect the Company's results of operations and market share, any service disruption of the Company's sorting hubs or the outlets operated by its network partners or its technology system. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in ZTO's annual report on Form 20-Fs and other filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date hereof, and ZTO assumes no obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.

Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +86 21 5980 4508

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
SHANGHAI, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO and HKEX: 2057), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China ("ZTO" or the "Company"), today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 20, 2023. The annual report can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://zto.investorroom.com as well as the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.

The Company will provide a hard copy of its annual report containing the audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders upon request. Requests should be directed to the Company's IR Department at [email protected].

The Company has also today published its annual report for Hong Kong purposes pursuant to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("HKEX"), which can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://zto.investorroom.com as well as the HKEX's website at http://www.hkexnews.hk.

About ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.

ZTO is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China.

ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain.

For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.

Investor Relations

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +86 21 5980 4508

SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Turkmenistan Airlines has increased the number of flights from Dubai (UAE) to Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) since April 17, 2023, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen media.

According to the information, flights from Dubai to Ashgabat were increased from 2 to 3 times a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Furthermore, the frequency of flights from Dubai to Ashgabat in May will increase to four flights per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday).

The airline FlyDubai, headquartered in Dubai (UAE), has created a route network of more than 100 destinations, with flights operated by 68 aircraft.

Meanwhile, FlyDubai resumed regular flights from Dubai to Ashgabat back in January 2023.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has inaugurated his country's embassy in Turkmenistan, Trend reports via his Twitter publication.

The Minister noted that the opening ceremony of the new building of the Israeli Embassy in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, was attended by the ambassadors of foreign states of Bahrain, the US, Azerbaijan, Romania, Ukraine, as well as the Jewish community.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Minister announced that at the beginning of March this year that Israel was opening a permanent mission in Turkmenistan.

He also added that the relations between the two countries are of strategic nature, and this step will further strengthen these relations and lead to the expansion of cooperation.
Lucknow, April 20 : No religious events will be allowed to take place on roads, obstructing traffic during the upcoming festivals of Eid, Akshay Tritya and Parshuram Jayanti in Uttar Pradesh.

All district officials in the state have been directed to ensure that religious programmes should be held indoors, and no person should be allowed to block roads.

Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad and Special Director General of Police (SDGP) Prashant Kumar have issued directives in this regard to all field officers such as ADGs, Inspector Generals (IG), Deputy IGs, district police chiefs, Divisional Commissioners and District Magistrates (DMs) during a virtual review meeting, said an official note.

Prasad has asked that all officers in the field should ensure that religious programmes take place at their designated places only.

"Under no circumstances should any religious event be held by obstructing the road and traffic. In the past, we have been able to do this through proper communication and coordination. This year, too, we have to make a similar effort," he remarked further.

The officials have been asked to remain alert against fake news or information shared on social media that might hurt people's sentiments, and not allow any religious procession for which prior permission was not taken.

"The safety of citizens is our primary responsibility. Eid-ul-Fitr, Akshaya Tritiya and Parshuram Jayanti may be celebrated on the same day on April 22. In view of the present environment, the police will have to be extra careful," said Prasad.

Special DGP Prashant Kumar suggested frequent police patrolling to strengthen law and order in the state. "We should keep an eye on suspicious activities. Videography of every important event must be done," he said and added that notorious elements would be dealt with strictly.

Director General of Police R.K. Vishwakarma also reviewed the preparations for the upcoming festivals by zonal, range and district officers.
Kiev, April 20 : The Ukrainian capital has kicked off flooding rescue exercises amid a significant rise of waters in the Dnipro River, the Kiev City State Administration reported.

The exercises envisage actions of emergency response to flooding in Kiev if the Dnipro water level reaches 800 centimeters above zero level, causing flooding in six districts of the city, Xinhua news agency reported.

The exercises consist of seven emergency actions, including rescue operations to remove flood victims from a drifting vessel, providing medical aid to victims, and conducting work on pumping out water from a flooded facility, among other measures.

A total of 120 rescue personnel and utility workers are participating in the exercises.

This year, the water levels in the Dnipro exceeded last year's levels by between 50 centimeters and one meter, affecting public and private infrastructure in the areas located near the river.

The city authorities expect the flooding will reach its peak levels in Kiev on April 22.

This year's spring flooding affected nine regions in northern, central and western Ukraine.

About 1,715 households and 21,950 hectares of agricultural lands across Ukraine were hit by flooding, which also disrupted transport links to 32 cities and villages, the State Emergency Service reported Wednesday.
United Nations, April 20 : While India's population at 1.4 billion has surpassed that of China's, the "latest big news" is that the population growth is below the replacement fertility rate in India and it has a "window of opportunity", according to Rachel Snow, the lead demographer of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

The continued trajectory for India is that while the young population entering the reproductive phase will boost overall fertility, "given the fertility pattern already evident, we can start to anticipate the decline, the plateauing and decline", she said on Wednesday.

The replacement fertility rate is the average number of children a woman must have to keep the population steady and it is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

The replacement fertility rate for India is 2, with wide variations within the country -- between 1.6 for Punjab and West Bengal, and 3 for Bihar among the large states, according to Indian government data.

"You've got this big bulge of young people entering both reproductive years which means fertility will keep growing, but (also) entering the age of life for working," she said, giving India a "window of opportunity".

The question for India is that with this "window of opportunity", will it be "able to mobilise the necessary investments in education and job creation, in gender equality, so that there will be an opportunity for that large population to indeed yield a dividend for the economy", she said.

Snow gave the example of the Asian Tigers -- mainly Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore -- that had a tremendous spurt in economic growth, which also led to better living standards.

"In the 70s and 80s, the Asian Tigers had an extraordinary economic growth because there was major investment in the health, education, the well being of that cohort of young people who then were able to boost the economy." The challenges for India, she said, are "there's so many people that are in the informal labour market. Again, educational standards are highly uneven -- if you go north to south, south to north in India, we see tremendous diversity within such a large country".

Snow was briefing reporters about the UNFPA's annual report, which is titled, "8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case for Rights and Choices".

She said that the population issue should not be seen solely in terms of numbers and goals, but the as to how women are able to freely make their own reproductive choices.

She said that 44 per cent of partnered women and girls do not have the right to make decisions on having children or not.

About 257 million women do not have access to safe, reliable contraception, she added.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Seoul, April 20 : South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will pay a state visit to the US from April 24-29 to hold a summit with his American counterpart Joe Biden and mark the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance, an official said here on Thursday.

The summit will be held at the White House on April 26 following an official welcoming ceremony, Yonhap News Agency quoted Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo as saying to reporters.

In the evening, Yoon and First Lady Kim Keon-hee will attend a state dinner.

On April 27, he will deliver an address before a joint session of Congress before having lunch with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris.

He will then move to an undisclosed location to receive a briefing from US military leaders.

Later that day, Yoon will travel to Boston and hold discussions on April 28 with digital and bio scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He will also deliver an address at Harvard University the same day.
Surat, April 20 : The sessions court in Surat on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking suspension of his conviction in the defamation case that led to his disqualification from Parliament.

The court had convicted Gandhi on March 23 for his remarks made during an election rally in Kolar in April 2019, where he had said that "all people with the Modi surname are thieves".

The court sentenced him to two years in prison and he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha the next day.

Rahul Gandhi's lawyers had filed two applications, one for bail till the disposal of his appeal and another for suspension of his conviction until the appeal is decided.

Senior advocate R.S. Cheema, appearing for the Congress leader, argued that only an aggrieved person could file a defamation complaint as per the law, while also pointing out that the speech was not defamatory until it was taken out of context.

The case was filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, who had claimed that Rahul Gandhi's statement had defamed all the people with the Modi surname.

The court had found Rahul Gandhi guilty under IPC Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation).

He had claimed that the trial court treated him harshly because of his status as an MP.

Cheema also questioned the Surat court's jurisdiction, pointing out that the speech was made in Kolar.

The court rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea, which means that he cannot be reinstated as an MP.

It also imposed the maximum punishment permissible under the law, and Rahul Gandhi's punishment could not have been even a day less to allow him to retain his seat as an MP.
New Delhi, April 20 : A notorious robber, who used to offer lift and then rob people of their money, was arrested from Delhi's East Azad Nagar area, a police official said on Thursday.

Identified as Gautam Diwakar (40), a resident of Shahdara area, the accused was also declared proclaimed offender in two cases and was absconding to evade his arrest.

Diwakar was also found previously involved in five criminal cases registered across the city.

According to police, on January 6, when the complainant was waiting for a bus at GPO bus stop, Kashmere Gate, Diwakar along with his accomplice Pankaj and Sajan offered a ride to him.

"They assured him to drop at Badarpur in their Wagon-R car. The complainant accepted the ride and when they covered a certain distance, all the three accused robbed him of Rs 75,000," said Ravindra Singh Yadav, the Special Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch).

During investigation, police received information about Diwakar, presently residing somewhere in East Azad Nagar in Shahdara area.

"A trap was laid and Diwakar was apprehended. He is a drug addict and works as a labourer to load/unload paper sheets in Shahdara. He came in contact with bad elements and started committing crime to earn easy money and fulfill his desires," said the Special CP.
Kathmandu, April 20 : Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who went missing after falling into a deep crevasse on Mt. Annapurna, was been rescued alive, an official confirmed on Thursday.

A team of rescuers found the 34-year-old in the crevasse below Camp III of the world's 10th highest peak, Thaneshwor Guragain of Seven Summit Treks, told IANS.

But Maloo's health is critical and is currently undergoing treatment at Manipal Hospital in Pokhara, Guragain added.

His brother Sudhir posted a video on social media after meeting Anurag.

Anurag was reported missing on Monday after he fell into the crevasse from 5,800m while descending from Camp II.

A team of six Sherpa climbers led by Chhang Dawa conducted a ground search and found him in some 300m deep crevasse on Wednesday and he was airlifted to Pokhara.

Anurag's family and friends had also written a letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, asking him to intervene for the climber's safe return.

They asked for sending a joint rescue team of armies for search in the ground.

Earlier, another renowned Indian climber Baljeet Kaur had also gone missing in the same mountain but was traced by a rescue team.
Lucknow, April 20 : The three assailants, who shot dead gangster Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, were trained to behave like real journalists before they joined a group of media persons at the hospital where the brothers were shot dead.

Three men, who helped the main accused in the murder of gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother, in pretending to be a reporter have been detained by the Special Investigation Team, the police said on Thursday.

Three men, who work for a local news website, showed the ropes of reporting to Tiwari and helped him buy a camera, the police said.

They have been detained from the railway station in Banda by the Special Investigation Team probing the case.

The killers, Lovelesh Tiwari, Arun Maurya and Sunny Singh, had trailed the arrested gangster as journalists for an entire day before shooting him in front of television cameras and dozens of policemen on April 15, said the police.

Meanwhile, search for Shaista Parveen continued on Thursday also. "Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding. The operation lasted for about two hours. A drone camera was also used in the operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today," senior police officer Samar Bahadur said.

Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader's murder, in February this year.
Thiruvananthapuram, April 20 : Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Thursday expressed serious concerns over a 'secret' farewell party organised by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and a few select State Cabinet Ministers for the retiring Chief Justice of Kerala High Court, S. Manikumar.

Satheesan said such a practice was unheard of in the state.

"The event was held at a plush star hotel, the other day.

"Not long ago when there was an adverse verdict against Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin case, all saw how the then retiring Chief Justice was given a mock send-off by the feeder organisations of the CPI(M). Taking that into account, Vijayan's present send-off shows that he has respect for the judiciary which is a welcome thing. But, Vijayan has to explain why and what was the reason for this kind of a secret send-off," said Satheesan.

Manikumar is set to retire from service on April 23.
New Delhi, April 20: A week before Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year, a lawyer in Dhaka served notice before the Bangladesh High Court asking it to impose a ban on a significant part of the day's celebrations.

Syed Badrul Ahsan New Delhi, April 20: A week before Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year, a lawyer in Dhaka served notice before the Bangladesh High Court asking it to impose a ban on a significant part of the day's celebrations.

The Mangal Shobhajatra, said the lawyer, was no part of Bengali tradition. The Mangal Shobhajatra, by the way, is a celebratory procession which in recent times has been brought out by students of the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University to observe the advent of Baishakh. It is joined by thousands of other students as well as citizens and cheered by people across the country.

When it became evident that efforts were underway by right-wing elements to have a ban imposed on the Mangal Shobhajatra, a public outcry on social media and outside created a situation where the government stepped in with clear support for the celebrations. In more ways than one, the argument by the right-wing fringe that the Mangal Shobajatra lacked a Bengali character, that it was part of Hindu culture and, therefore, it was at variance with Islam brought Bangladesh's secular classes together in a powerful display of unity. The country breathed a sigh of relief.

And yet there remains the big question of the extent to which Bangladesh's secular polity is in an embattled state today. Fifty-two years ago, when the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding father, decreed secularism as one of the four core principles of state policy, principles which were to be enshrined in the nation's constitution adopted in December 1972, Bangladesh formally set out on a course of political liberalism. That the country was a Bengali state, that religion would take a backseat to politics was the underpinning of the republic.

Alas, that modern approach to politics was not to last. With the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975, Bangladesh passed into a dark era which in effect was a throwback to the politics governing Pakistan for 24 years until the Bengali War of Liberation in 1971. The seizure of power by Khondokar Moshtaque Ahmed and his cabal of majors and colonels was the first ugly hint of Bangladesh being pushed back into the past. The nationalist slogan of Joi Bangla was replaced by Bangladesh Zindabad in clear imitation of the old Pakistan Zindabad.

The rise of General Ziaur Rahman in November 1975 and of General Hussein Muhammad Ershad in March 1982 to power through illegitimate military means added to a further erosion of secular politics in the country. Zia through his dictatorial fiat knifed secularism and socialism out of the constitution. He did more, by doing away with the Bengali nature of the state and imposing on the country a so-called Bangladeshi nationalism to the detriment of Bengali nationalism.

The Zia regime facilitated the re-entry into politics of the pro-Pakistan politicians of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League, those who had openly collaborated with the Pakistan occupation army in the genocide of their fellow Bengalis in 1971, thus adding to the sinister encroachment by regressive politics on the secular nature of the country. In the years of the Ershad military regime, secular politics was dealt a further blow when Islam was imposed on the country as the religion of the state.

General Ershad went on record with his public declaration that his regime would go ahead with turning Bangladesh into an Islamic republic. Of course, Bangladesh has remained outside the purview of Islamic statehood, but in so many other ways every effort was made to have the Bangladesh state mutate into a communal dispensation. The government of Begum Khaleda Zia carried the Islamic element forward in the early 1990s and early 2000s.

So has Bangladesh returned to its secular moorings under the government of Sheikh Hasina? Not really, for the Awami League has been unable, despite the 14 years it has been in power since January 2009, to roll back the communalistic nature of the state. The government of course emphasises Bengali nationalism and on significant occasions underscores the secular nature of the republic.

In formal terms, however, and despite its overwhelming command of parliament, the government has not been able to reverse the dark traditions set in motion in the period between 1975 and 1996 and again between 2001 and 2006. Friday, the weekly holiday introduced by the Ershad regime to burnish its false Islamic credentials, has remained, with no thought to a return to Sunday being the beginning of the week. The government is clearly wary of the reaction from the religious right should it make a move for Sunday to be restored as a holiday in line with global convention.

The case for a return to secular politics is today one which calls for serious deliberation on the part of policy makers in the government. With assaults being made on textbooks by communal forces, with liberal voices being trolled on social media, with ages-old aspects of Bengali heritage being derided as part of the Hindu faith, with a section of clerics strident in their demand for majoritarian faith to replace the non-communal ethos of the country, it becomes hugely important that secular forces reignite the flame which has historically governed the spirit of Bengali nationhood.

The government needs to act to reassert the old values. With the terrible record of religious minorities coming under assault-read here Hindus, Buddhists and Ahmadiyas-from well-organised Wahhabi fringes of the majoritarian faith, it is time to go for tough action against the elements which have thrived on promoting communal discord in the country. There can be no gainsaying that extremist Islamist political groups along with other right-wing elements-such as the Hefazat-e-Islam and Khatme Nabuwat, among others-have had quite a field day in Bangladesh through promoting religious intolerance. Ignoring them or appeasing them will have grave consequences.

But for secularism to be reinvented in Bangladesh, it is of critical importance that such liberal political formations as the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Workers' Party and the various factions of the old Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal reach out to the country with the old message of secularism being the foundation of the republic. These parties have over the decades fallen behind in the matter of gaining public support for their policies. Some are at risk of slipping into a state of atrophy.

In a larger sense, the values which propelled Bangladesh into a war for freedom in 1971 can be properly and firmly restored through a thorough amendment to the constitution, for the constitution has been mauled beyond recognition through the years. A return to the constitution as it was framed in 1972 together with secure guarantees of rights for all ethnic groups in Bangladesh will be necessary components of a reinvention of Bengali nationalism, based as it was on the concept of Bangladesh being home to all its citizens irrespective of caste, community, faith or creed.

With the people of Bangladesh observing the anniversary of the emergence of the country's very first government, formed by the Awami League leadership in April 1971, it should be for the generation of Awami League politicians governing the country today to call forth the will to return to the nationalistic spirit embodied by that wartime administration. Anything less will spell uncertainty about the future.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Montevideo, April 20 : Uruguay received 1,219,198 foreign visitors in the first quarter of 2023, 11.6 per cent up from the same period in 2019, said Tourism Minister Tabare Viera.

"This figure makes us very happy. We see a confirmed recovery process," said the Minister.

Due to the pandemic-related travel restrictions, Uruguay saw a downturn of tourist arrivals from 2019 to 2022, Xinhua news agency reported citing official data.

Compared with the same period in 2019, the country's tourism revenues dropped 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, from $776 million to $741 million.

In 2019, Uruguay received 3.2 million tourists, contributing about 8 per cent to the gross domestic product.
Bengaluru, April 20 : Leading smartphone and smart TV brand Xiaomi India on Thursday introduced a specialised at-home phone support services for its senior citizen users in the country.

As part of this initiative, Xiaomi will provide phone setup services for senior citizens.

To avail the services, customers have to follow a few simple steps. They can choose their desired service by scanning a QR Code and filling in their personal details to proceed.

Once the personal details are submitted, a Xiaomi service representative will contact the customer to verify the type of service and eligibility by checking their pin code.

Once done, a Xiaomi service representative will be at their doorstep at the earliest. The customers can also raise tokens via a hotline number 1800-103-6286 and on Whatsapp number -- 8861826286.

"At Xiaomi India, we strive to provide our customers with innovative and customised solutions to meet their evolving needs. This service is specifically designed for our senior citizen users who may not be able to visit the service centre for various reasons," said Muralikrishnan B, President at Xiaomi India.

"By offering a limited period free of cost at-home service, we want to encourage our users to stay better connected with our teams and enable us to deliver a smooth service. We will continue to align our efforts in making our services accessible to a larger network of customers in the coming years," Muralikrishnan added.

This benefit is exclusively available to senior citizens who reside within 20 kms of their nearest service centre. The free service for senior citizens is for 30 days as an introductory offer.

Other customers may also avail the services but will have to pay a nominal charge of Rs 249 plus taxes.

In the first phase, the service will initially go live in 15 cities that include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Noida, Pune.

"We are confident that the on-door phone support service will be a game-changer and will set a new benchmark in customer service," said the company.
Guwahati, April 20 : A five-member National Security Agency (NSA) team has met nine associates of fugitive Sikh radical preacher Amritpal Singh at Dibrugarh Central jail, where they have been lodged since last month.

Also, family members of an inmate, Daljit Singh Khalsi, a cadre of Amritpal's Waris Punjab De (WPD) outfit, have also come to Dibrugarh central jail.

However, they were not accompanied by the NSA team, according to police sources.

A source close to the Dibrugarh central jail authority said that Khalsi's wife is also in the jail to meet him.

The NSA team was headed by retired justice Shabihul Hasnain, Suveer Sheokand, Divanshu Jain, Rakesh Agarwal, the IGP of Punjab, and Rupinder Kaur Bhatti, the SP of Punjab Police.

As per jail sources, they went to the Dibrugarh Central Jail on Wednesday evening and were in the jail compound for a few hours.

Meanwhile, Assam police have not issued any statement, either on the visit of the NSA team or the family members of Khalsi.
Bhopal, April 20 : Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district - the land of white tigers -- is prepping up to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is scheduled to address a mega rally in the poll-bound state on April 24.

Security arrangements are in place with heavy deployment of police personnel. Besides, a 'no fly' zone alert has been issued in the surrounding of helipad located in outer circle of the city.

Dilapidated roads of the city connecting to SAF ground where the Prime Minister is scheduled to address the gathering on the occasion of 'Panchayati Raj Day' (April 24) are being repaired.

Rewa District Collector Pratibha Pal, who has taken charge recently, is reviewing the preparations.

During his visit, Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of 'Jal Jeevan Mission' project worth Rs 7.573 crore. The project is aimed to provide potable water to Rewa, Sidhi and Satna district. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is also expected to provide homes to 4.11 lakh beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-rural).

He is scheduled to inaugurate the re-development works of Indore and Gwalior railway stations and flag off three new passenger trains -- Rewa-Itwari via Chhindwara passenger train, Chhindwara-Nainpur passenger train and Nainpur-Chhindwara train, according to the state government.

It would be Prime Minister Modi's second visit to the state within a period of one month. Last time, he had arrived in Bhopal in April and flagged of Vande Bharat train for Bhopal to New Delhi routes.

Reviewing the preparations ahead of arival of the Prime Minister, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "It would be a historic day for the state. He asked people to join the programme virtually."
Chandigarh, April 20 : Fugitive Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh's Britain-origin wife Kirandeep Kaur was detained on Thursday at the Amritsar airport while she was trying to board a flight to London, officials said.

A senior police official told IANS she was not allowed to enter the Shri Guru Ram Dass International Airport by the immigration department as she arrived for the Amritsar-London Air India flight.

She's currently residing in Jallupur Khera, the native village of Amritpal Singh in Amritsar district.

She has been questioned several times by police for her role in supporting the organisation that was formed by the late actor-activist, Deep Sidhu.

Amritpal Singh, against whom the National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked and a non-bailable warrant issued, is on the run despite the massive manhunt launched to nab him since March 18.

The self-styled preacher, who returned from Dubai last year, tied the knot in a simple ceremony in February.

Since then, she has been staying in Punjab.

Papalpreet Singh, the main associate of Amritpal Singh, was arrested in Amritsar on April 10 under the NSA and that six other cases have also been registered against him.

Papalpreet Singh is a Khalistani activist who called himself a journalist before ending up as a media advisor to the radical preacher.

A resident of Amritsar, he was earlier arrested for his alleged links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in 2015.
Islamabad, April 20 : The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday announced that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) slated to be held in India next month.

Confirming the development to mediapersons at a news briefing, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch said: "Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5 in Goa," Dawn news reported.

She said Bilawal will be attending the meeting at the invitation of the current chairman of SCO CFM, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

"Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said.

"Pakistan continues to participate in SCO meetings in keeping with our longstanding commitment to SCO." The FO spokesperson also highlighted that Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman had represented the country in the fourth SCO meeting of heads of ministries on environmental protection.

"The meeting was held in online format in New Delhi April 18." in January, India had invited Pakistan's Foreign Minister to the SCO meeting in May, reports Dawn news.

Bilawal will be the first Foreign Minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years.

The last Foreign Minister to visit India was Hina Rabbani Khar in July 2011.
Prayagraj : , April 20 (IANS) The three-member judicial commission set up to probe the murders of Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf on April 15, on Thursday reached the Colvin hospital where the incident had taken place.

The judicial commission headed by retired judge A.K. Tripathi and members -- retired IPS Subesh Kumar Singh and retired judge Brijesh Kumar Soni -- inspected the site of the incident.

The entire area was cordoned off.

Members of the judicial commission questioned the police officials about the number of cops present at the site when the murder took place.

A map of the crime scene was also prepared.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), earlier on Thursday, had also reached the Colvin hospital where gangster Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were gunned down.

The SIT reached there, apparently for crime scene recreation but since the judicial commission was also scheduled to arrive, the crime scene recreation was put off, according to sources.

A team of forensic experts also came with the SIT.

Meanwhile, the assailants -- Lovelesh Tiwari, Sunny and Arun Maurya -- remain firm on their stand that they carried out the killings only to make a name for themselves in the underworld.

The biggest task before investigating agencies now is to find out the handlers of the three assailants who are all in their twenties and belong to humble backgrounds.

The assailants have not yet said who provided them with the firearms -- the Zigana pistols that cost about Rs seven lakh.
Kochi, April 20 : Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Thursday announced the execution of a definitive agreement to acquire Brahmins, a traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand in Kerala.

This fresh move comes after its recent acquisition of Nirapara as Wipro is looking at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment.

To expand and further consolidate its spices, breakfast and Ready to Cook category, Wipro has taken the route towards adding Brahmins, a home grown legacy brand in Kerala, into its growing Food Business.

Established in 1987, Brahmins is one of the most preferred brands in its home market (Kerala), with ethnic breakfast premix powders, spice mixes, straight powders (spices), wheat products such as -- pickles, dessert mixes, and others. The premium flagship products are Sambar Powder, and Puttu Podi which enjoy market leadership position.

Anil Chugh, president, Foods Business, Wipro Consumer Care said this is an exciting time for us at Wipro, as we witness the unprecedented expansion of our Foods Business. Spices and RTC are big categories that are poised to grow significantly.

"Adding Brahmins under the Wipro fold will further bolster our position in blended spices and ethnic breakfast (Puttu-podi, Appams and other Rice products) categories in Kerala and other markets such as the GCC countries, the UK, the US & Australia," said Chugh.

Sreenath Vishnu, MD, Brahmins said they are confident that "with Wipro's distribution strength, network, and marketing expertise we will significantly expand our geographical presence and scale Brahmins to newer heights".
New Delhi, April 20 : With the arrest of three men, the Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have busted an Indore-based 'Tala Chabi' Sikligar interstate gang active in the national capital.

The accused have been identified as Joginder Singh (29) from Indore, Madhya Pradesh and Kartar Singh (25) from Maharashtra's Parbhani district. They would frequently travel from Madhya Pradesh to Delhi, and stay in budget hotels near the Old and New Delhi Railway stations before burglarizing homes throughout the city.

The police also arrested Abhinay Soni (41), from Barwani in Madhya Pradesh, who was the receiver of the stolen gold jewellery.

According to police, on February 18, an FIR was registered on the basis of complaint wherein it was alleged that the jewellery and Rs two lakh cash was stolen from the complainant's house while he was in Haryana attending a marriage function.

During the investigation, the police team pursued the culprits using CCTV footage. The footage revealed that the accused changed vehicles twice, stealing them from narrow lanes, and employed a confusing tactic of wandering through different lanes to avoid being traced.

The gang ultimately abandoned the stolen vehicle and used multiple modes of public transport before walking back to their hotel.

"The team mapped out the entry and exit routes of the incident and the accused. Over 500 CCTV footage recordings were analyzed within a 15 km radius. With the help of CCTV footage, the team traced the burglars to a place of stay in Old Delhi, which was over 15 km away from the site of the incident," said Rohit Meena, the Deputy Commissioner of Poli ce (Shahdara).

Thereafter with help of human and technical intelligence, Joginder and Kartar were identified and apprehended.

On interrogation, Joginder revealed that he operates an Indore-based 'Tala Chabi Sikligar' gang and commits inter-state burglaries.

"While disclosing the modus operandi, Joginder told police that they came from MP to Delhi and stayed in budget hotels near Old and New Delhi Railway station. During daytime they roamed in the streets of various colonies in Delhi as key makers and when anyone called them for lock repair, they committed theft in the said house," said the DCP.

"Moreover, they also see whether any house is locked and take a note of the houses which have been locked for two to three days and then commit multiple night burglaries in such houses. To commit these burglaries, they used to steal bikes and then use them in the commission of crime before leaving Delhi," said the official.

Further on the instance of the accused, police also nabbed Abhinay, who was the receiver of the stolen jewellery. "So, for approx. 100gm of gold, equipment to repair, duplicate keys have been recovered," said the official.

"The accused are wanted in case of burglary of other states as well and the identity which they shared in hotels were on addresses which were not used by them. Further investigation is underway to check their involvement in other cases and other receivers of stolen property," the official added.
Mumbai, April 20 : Mithun Chakraborty's son Namashi Chakraborty and Sajid Qureshi's daughter Amrin Qureshi are all set to make their debut with the romantic comedy, 'Bad Boy'. The movie is directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

Namashi shared his experience working with the veteran director.

He said: "My experience working with Rajkumar ji was exemplary, he is an actor's dream. Everything good that you find in my performance, the full credit goes to him."

Namashi added that after working with him, he got to learn a lot.

"He is so clear in his head about what he wants, it made it very easy for us to do our job and also gave me a lot of assurance about this journey," added the actor.

The starcast also includes Johny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Darshan Jariwala, Saswata Chatterjee and Rajesh Sharma in pivotal roles. The story of 'Bad Boy' revolves around two youngsters who fall in love and are ready to go against all odds to be with each other.

'Bad Boy' is produced by Anjum Qureshi and Sajid Qureshi under the banner, Inbox Pictures and is scheduled to release theatrically on April 28.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Phnom Penh, April 20 : An Irrawaddy dolphin calf has been found dead after being entangled in illegal gillnets in Cambodia, marking the second death of the critically endangered species this year, the Fisheries Administration said in a statement on Thursday.

The 87-cm-long male calf, which weighed 10 kg, was about four days old, the statement said, adding that it was spotted on Wednesday in the Mekong River in Kratie province, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The joint research team of Fisheries Administration and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) assessed that the cause of the death was gillnets since there were tears on its skin, tail and both pelvic fins," the statement said.

On March 19, a 2.38-meter-long male dolphin, weighing 160 kg and about 20 years old, was found dead in the Mekong River in Stung Treng province.

WWF-Cambodia country director Seng Teak said the illegal fishing activities and the use of illegal fishing gear in dolphin conservation areas remain a challenge although law enforcement has been remarkably stepped up in the last few months.

"A complete ban on all illegal fishing activities including gill-nets, long-line hooks and electrofishing in the dolphin areas would help safeguard this critically endangered species from extinction," he told Xinhua.

The Irrawaddy dolphins have been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species since 2004.

The Fisheries Administration said there are about 90 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Cambodian portion of the Mekong River in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.

The government in February issued a sub-decree on the creation of the dolphin conservation and protection zones covering a 120-km-long stretch of the Mekong River in the two provinces.
New Delhi, April 20 : Two people have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old boy, who was recently released from a juvenile correction home, a Delhi Police official said on Thursday.

The accused have been identified as Sahil (20) and Yamin (18).

On Wednesday around 10.28 a.m., Shastri Park police station received a call regarding a body on second Pushta near pillar No. 92 -93, about 25 metres from the road, on Delhi Saharanpur Expressway following which a police team rushed to the spot, the official said.

However, when the police reached the spot, they found the teenager lying there with stab marks on his chest and between neck and head on the left side. He was rushed to JPC Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

"His mobile phone was also found missing from the spot," said the official.

Investigation revealed that the deceased had a history of conflict with the law and had spent four months in a government observation home before being released on March 5, 2023.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast), Joy Tirkey said that the teenager had been involved in a theft case in Noida.

"In light of this information, the police focused on the period before and after his release from the observation home. It was discovered that the deceased had been living on the third floor of a rented accommodation building and had been close to a girl who resided on the ground floor," said the DCP.

However, upon inquiry, it was found that the girl and her brother were missing. "Further investigation revealed that the girl's brother, Sahil, had been against their relationship and had frequent conflicts with the deceased. Additionally, while the deceased was in the observation home, the girl had developed a relationship with Yamin in the same locality who was also found to be missing since the incident," said the DCP.

The police then analysed the call details record of Yamin, where it was found that he had made a call to the deceased on the night of the incident.

"The police team laid a trap and managed to apprehend Sahil and Yamin near Gate No. 2, Jama Masjid," said the official.

During sustained interrogation, both broke down and admitted to have killed the teenager.

"After being released from the correctional home, the teenager discovered that the girl he had been close to has lost interest in him and had become involved with Yamin. The teenager became furious and began to threaten both Yamin and the girl. Sahil, the girl's brother, also disapproved of the teenager's behaviour," said the official.

Over several days, Yamin and Sahil planned to kill the teenager.

"On April 18, at approximately 9:46 p.m., Yamin called the teenager and suggested that they should go for a walk. Sahil joined them, and they walked down the 2nd Pushta Road towards Khadar under the pretext of taking a break. The teenager unsuspectingly followed them and walked between them. In the darkness, they attacked the teenager. Sahil held him down while Yamin stabbed him deeply in his neck, head, and chest," said the official.

"Both accused persons will be produced in Court today and will be brought on police remand. They have disclosed that they had thrown the knife near Jafrabad. The weapon of offence is to be recovered," said the official.

"The girl is absconding. She needs to be examined in this case. Mobile phone of the deceased is to be recovered," said the official.
New Delhi, April 20 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday discussed with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, the ongoing situation in violence-hit Sudan.

"Discussed the concerning situation in Sudan just now with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Deeply value his assessments and insights, as also his very helpful attitude. Agreed to remain in close touch," Jaishankar tweeted soon after his discussion with Shoukry.

The minister's talks with his Egyptian counterpart over Sudan are part of a series of telephonic conversations he has had with foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia in the past 24 hours.

On Wednesday, Jaishankar had discussed the situation in violence-hit Sudan with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

India is closely watching the situation in Sudan, especially in view of its concerns over the Indians residing in the African country.

Image Source: IANS News

On his telephonic conversation with UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jaishankar said they had exchanged views on the situation in Sudan.

"Thank HH @ABZayed, Foreign Minister of UAE, for the exchange of views on the situation in Sudan. Our continuing contacts are helpful," the external affairs minister had tweeted on April 19.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group since April 15, which has reportedly left around 100 people dead.

Referring to his talks with Saudi Arabian foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan, Jaishankar had said that both sides will remain in close touch.

"Appreciated his assessment of the Sudan situation. Will remain in close touch," Jaishankar had tweeted after talking to Farhan.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Gurugram, April 20 : A joint team of Haryana Chief Minister's Flying Squad and Health Department on Thursday raided a hospital which was functioning illegally in Gurugram's Bajghera village.

The hospital 'Anand' was being run by four persons, and has 13 beds, an operation theatre, general ward, a private room, a lab, medicines and an emergency room.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Inderjeet Yadav said, the CM Flying Squad received a tip-off that a private hospital was being run illegally in the village. The squad, along with the officials of the Health Department, conducted the raid.

"At the hospital, Rambir, a resident of Bhind in Madhya Pradesh; Vikas Bhardwaj, a resident of Uttar Pradesh; Nandkishor, a resident of Delhi, and Mantu Kumar Pandey a resident of Jharkhand were found treating patients. When demanded, they could not produce any legal documents related to the registration and permission to run the hospital, lab, operation theatre and medical store," said the DSP.

Power theft was also found during the raid by the discom department team on the illegal hospital.

"Necessary action will be taken against the illegal hospital by the Electricity Department," he said.

Following the CM Flying Squad's complaint, an FIR has been registered at the Bajghera police station.
New Delhi, April 20 : Australia's University of Wollongong (UOW) said on Thursday that it has not placed any ban or restriction on applications from Indian students, nor on students from any specific Indian states or regions.

It was reported that UOW was one of the five universities that had placed ban or restriction on students from some Indian states in response to a surge in fraudulent applications seeking to work, and not study, in the country.

The UOW said in a statement that it "does not have any restrictions on student applications from India other than the standard entry criteria we apply to all international students and the requirements of the Australian Department of Home Affairs".

Instead of introducing restrictions, UOW said it has streamlined its application process for all international students, including Indian students, to speed up the turnaround time on their applications.

An investigation by the Australian media said that these universities are making it tough to enrol students from states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, as they suspect their prime purpose is to take up jobs rather than study.

Australian newspapers reported that UOW has been putting students from the Indian subcontinent and some other countries like Lebanon, Nigeria, etc. through a "genuine temporary entrant" test.

"Like all Australian universities, UOW has rigorous entry criteria for all students. All Australian universities are required to guard against fraudulent applications," the university statement said, adding that UOW works hard to ensure that the "admissions process is fair and just and accessible to all students".

The University said that it monitors trends in enrolment fraud, regularly reviews processes, and works closely with the Department of Home Affairs to ensure international student applications are genuine.

Australia is reportedly set to enrol the highest number of Indian students ever, surpassing the previous high of 75,000 in 2019.

This has raised questions from lawmakers and the education community about "the integrity of Australia's immigration system and the long-term effects on the country's valuable international education market", according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Our overall visa refusal rate over the past 12 months is low, with only a tiny amount relating to refusal based on fraud (the lowest of the possible Department of Home Affairs reporting bands)," UOW said.

UOW has research and education collaborations with close to 30 Indian universities, and it attracts significant number of Indian students to both their Wollongong Campus and the University of Wollongong in Dubai.

As of 2023, more than 2,500 Indian students are enrolled at UOW in Australia, with business, engineering and information sciences the most popular degrees.

Last year, UOW had launched the Vice-Chancellor's Leadership Scholarship-India, which provides recipients with generous financial assistance, leadership training, dedicated academic support, community networking, and global mobility opportunities.

The other universities mentioned by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald report included Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, Torrens University, and agents working for Southern Cross University.

According to The Herald, the Edith Cowan University in Perth "placed an outright ban" on applicants from Punjab and Haryana in February, and in March, "Victoria University increased restrictions on student applications from eight Indian states", including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Mumbai, April 20 : 'Secret Superstar' actor Raj Arjun, who has worked across Hindi, Telugu and Tamil industries, is set to make his debut in Malayalam industry through his upcoming film 'Khajuraho Dreams'. Helmed by Manoj Vasudev and produced by Abdurahiman S.P., the film is going to hit the theatres in May this year.

The actor will be essaying the role of a responsible village head, who fights for the rights of people. Spilling beans about his role, Raj told IANS: "He is a family oriented man who loves his family a lot. Later on, what all he does for his sister in the movie is something you need to watch out for. It's a brother-sister relationship shown in the film through my character and at the same time how much he loves his village and its people. He is an idealistic and lovable character who always protects his family and villagers." Sharing about what prompted him to take up the story, he said: "The very first reason to say yes was it's a Malayalam film and I wanted to work in the Malayalam industry since I was already working in Tamil and Telugu films. I wanted to explore Malayalam cinema as I know what content and stories they come up with and working here will only enhance and increase my area of performance. So the moment I was offered this story I took it up." Describing his working experience in Malayalam industry through this film he said, "It was really fantastic and a great experience. I've seen lots of Malayalam films and I'm always fascinated by their cinematography, storytelling and performances. So it was a pleasure for me to get into Malayalam cinema through this film. All my co-actors Arjun Ashokan, Sharafudheen, Sreenath Bhasi, Aditi Ravi, and Dhruvan are professionals from the Malayalam industry so we were very comfortable with each other and had a very pleasant vibe for each other." Having worked in different industries and diverse roles and genres, Raj Arjun recalls his best performances. He stated: "Yes, I feel each and every role is different and close to me but some characters don't go away and always remain with you close to my heart. My 5 closest roles which I thoroughly enjoy and cherish when I think about them is Farooq from Secret Superstar, R.M Vererappan from Thalaivi, Sai Baba from Sabka Sai and next you will see me in Yudhra and a telugu periodic historical film which are my favorite."
New Delhi, April 20 : In what is a fresh blow to Rafael Nadal's French Open preparations, the 22-time Grand Slam champion on Thursday announced his withdrawal from the Madrid Open due to his ongoing injury concerns.

The 36-year-old had also withdrawn from the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters as well as the ongoing Barcelona Open as he is still recovering from a grade 2 injury in the iliopsoas muscle in his left leg and he continues to focus on returning to full fitness.

"As you know I suffered an important injury in Australia of the psoas muscle. Initially, it had to be a six-to-eight-week recovery period and we are now on fourteen. The reality is that the situation is not what we would have expected," Nadal said in a video he released on social media on Thursday.

"All medical indications have been followed, but somehow the evolution has not been what they initially told us and we find ourselves in a difficult situation.

"The weeks are passing and I had the illusion of being able to play in tournaments that are the most important in my career such as Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros and for the moment I have missed Monte Carlo and Barcelona. I will not be able to be in Madrid unfortunately," he said.

"The injury still hasn't healed and I can't work out what I need to compete. I was training, but now a few days ago we decided to change course a bit, do another treatment and see if things improve to try to get to what comes next.

"I can't give deadlines because if I knew I would tell you but I don't know. This is how things are now," the Spaniard added.

The 14-time Roland Garros winner remains doubtful for the French Open in May, where he is defending champion, as he has been out of action since his Australian Open second-round loss to American Mackenzie McDonald, where he aggravated a hip injury.

This year he has played four matches -- two at the United Cup and as many as at the Australian Open and lost three of them. His only win came against Britain's Jack Draper in the first round at Melbourne Park.

The Madrid Masters begins on April 27, where Nadal is the most successful player with five titles to his name.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Seoul, April 20 : Hyundai Motor said on Thursday it will develop a moon-exploration mobility "Rover" as it seeks to morph into a future mobility solutions provider.

In July last year, Hyundai Motor signed a memorandum of understanding with the country's six aviation research institutes, including the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, for the project, the company said in a statement.

Hyundai and the institutes are aiming to collect minerals, make an environmental analysis, and carry out other scientific projects when the Rover succeeds in landing on the moon's south pole, it said.

"The creation of the lunar exploration mobility development model not only reflects this goal, but also shows our ambition to achieve tangible results in the face of significant challenges. With the rover's development, we are moving beyond land, sea and air mobility to expand into space mobility," said Yong Wha Kim, EVP and Head of R&D Planning & Coordination Center of Hyundai Motor and Kia.

On Thursday, the South Korean carmaker unveiled the concept image of the Rover, which will weigh up to 70 kilograms, reports Yonhap news agency.

The maker of Sonata sedans and Santa Fe SUVs expects to complete the Rover's development model in the second half of next year.

It aims to introduce Rover's final version in 2027.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. The visit of Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO secretary general, to Armenia, which is a member of Russias six-nation CSTO military alliance, and moreover, the chair of the organization, calls for some answers, Saul Anuzis, a Lithuanian-American, former advisor to the Lithuanian independence movement Sajudis and a former member of the Republican National Committee in the US, said in an article at Euronews, Trend reports.

"Rasmussen didnt mention this in any of the interviews, tweets, and media articles he generated, something he should have done even when his transactional relationship with Russias military ally is listed in the EUs lobbyist register," he said.

Being paid by the Armenian Government, Rasmussen, blamed Azerbaijan for allegedly "blocking" the Lachin-Khankendi road, and, thus, "causing a humanitarian catastrophe". Moreover, after Rasmussen concluded his visit, he published an article on how exactly Azerbaijan is "threatening" Armenia, and claimed that the EU "must prevent another war in the South Caucasus".

"But in the last two years, everything has changed, and Azerbaijan regained its territorial integrity, and it is only a matter of time before this matter is settled once and for all, and in favor of international law. Peace and economic cooperation with neighboring Azerbaijan is, ultimately, the only viable route to a better life for the poor and undeniably long-suffering citizens of Armenia," Saul Anuzis said in his article.

As the author concluded, the surprising reality is that, whether Armenia likes it or not, the country has to come to realize that the only true ally it can gain in the region is Azerbaijan.
New Delhi, April 20 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Thursday that it carried out searches at eight locations, including the premises Agrani Homes Pvt Ltd, its CMD Alok Kumar Singh, and others in a case of cheating prospective homebuyers.

The searches were carried out in Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow and Delhi.

The ED had initiated investigation against Agrani Homes Pvt. Ltd., its CMD Alok Kumar and others on the basis of eight FIRs registered against Kumar and his relatives at different police stations in Patna.

"More than 73 complaints were received against Agrani Homes Pvt Ltd, its CMD Alok Kumar Singh and others by the ED wherein it was mentioned that the company cheated prospective homebuyers of a sum of Rs 9.73 crore," the ED said.

Investigation has revealed that Agrani group of companies and its director cheated prospective homebuyers and illegally diverted their deposits for acquiring properties in their own names or in the names of other companies.

During the searches, incriminating documents such as sale deeds of properties purchased by Alok Kumar in his name and in the name of his company were found and seized. A total of 119 bank accounts, four insurance policies and two luxury vehicles in the name of Agrani Homes Pvt Ltd and its directors have also been seized.

Other incriminating physical and digital materials found during the searches have also been seized for further examination.
Kolkata, April 20 : West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday dared Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to file a legal suit against him for claiming that she had sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intervention for restoration of national party status to Trinamool Congress.

Once a legal suit is filed against him, he will be able to appeal to the court to make Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) a party in the suit so that the call details of the two landlines at the chief ministers' office from March 4, 2023 to April 12, 2023 can be revealed, he said.

"I have already received a legal notice from Trinamool Congress on this count. I want them or rather challenge the chief minister to file a legal suit against me. In that case, I will be able to contest that and appeal to the court to make TRAI a party in the matter so that the call details of her official landline numbers are revealed. There is a restriction for any individual to get such details and hence right now I am not able to get the same through RTI and circulate among media persons. So, I challenge them to file a legal suit against me," the leader of the opposition told media persons this afternoon.

On April 18, while addressing a public rally at Singur in Hooghly district, Adhikari claimed that immediately after the Election of Commission of India (ECI) withdrew the national party status of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee rang up Amit Shah with a plea to retain Trinamool's national party status until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"She had appealed to Amit Shah to retain Trinamool's national party status till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, the Home Minister clearly told her that the commission's decision cannot be reversed by him since ECI is an autonomous body," Adhikari said on April 18.

On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee told media persons she is even ready to resign as the chief minister if the claims of her calling the Union home minister is proved.

"I heard that on Tuesday one upstart individual claimed at a public meeting that I had called up their supreme leader Amit Shah four times after the EC withdrew Trinamool Congress's national party status. If they can prove this I will resign as the Chief Minister. But if they cannot prove these allegations, will they rub their noses on the ground?" she said on Wednesday.
New Delhi, April 20 : A Chinese tourism advertisement portraying a medieval Buddhist fantasy, shot in the prayer hall of Xinjiang's second-largest mosque, has alarmed the Uyghur diaspora, which is calling it a desecration, a media report said.

They say it is particularly incensing during Ramadan, a time when mosques should host prayer and evening fast-breaking, RFA reported.

The promotional video, put out by a local propaganda office, features a bare-armed Uyghur woman as a dancer from 'Women's Kingdom', a fictional polity whose queen sought to marry the Chinese protagonist of the classic Ming Dynasty novel 'Journey to the West', RFA reported.

She twirls in the otherwise empty Kuchar Grand Mosque.

The video, which circulated on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, emerged amid a tourism campaign to draw Han Chinese to the far-western region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uyghur and other Turkic people now that Covid-19 travel restrictions have been lifted.

There were 35.2 million individual visits to Xinjiang between January and March this year, resulting in 2.5 billion yuan in tourism revenue, an increase of 36 per cent over the same period last year, according to state media.

But Uyghurs say such videos are both offensive and part of a wider attempt to diminish or erase their religion and culture, RFA reported.

The video was shared on Facebook by Uyghur activist and reeducation camp survivor Zumret Dawut. It has since been taken down from Douyin.

"The message [of the video] to the Uyghurs is that we can suppress and even destroy you by assaulting and breaking your dignity through humiliation - we can do anything we want to do," said Ilshat Hassan, Deputy Executive Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress, RFA reported.

The transformation of the Uyghur region's most prominent religious sites into tourist attractions, demolition of other mosques and shrines, criminalisation of public expressions of Islamic piety, and pervasive surveillance have left Uyghurs with nowhere to observe Ramadan but home, RFA reported.
New Delhi, April 20 : An advocate has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court challenging the recent decision of the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) making Aadhar and Voter Identity Card bearing address of Delhi-NCR mandatory for enrolment with it.

Calling the BCD's decision arbitrary and discriminatory, the petition by advocate Rajani Kumari, who is a Delhi University alumna and resident of Bihar, challenges its notice issued on April 13, stating that lawyers proposing to get enrolled with the BCD will have to produce their Aadhaar and Voter ID cards showing Delhi or the NCR as their place of residence.

After hearing the matter in brief, Justice Prathiba M. Singh asked the petitioner to make the Bar Council of India (BCI) a party to the plea and listed it for further consideration on May 2.

The BCD has stated in its notice that it is mandatory for the fresh law graduates seeking to enrol in the national capital to attach their Aadhaar and Voter ID card copies bearing an address in Delhi/NCR and lack of which will lead to no enrolment.

According to Rajani Kumari, the council's decision would act like a barrier for law graduates coming from different parts of the country and looking to practise law in the capital for better prospects.

"The requirement of Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card with the address of Delhi or NCR discriminates against those law graduates who do not have an address in Delhi or NCR. This creates an arbitrary classification between law graduates based on their residential address, which is a violation of Article 14," the plea contended.

It stated that the blanket restriction on enrolment with BCD lacks intelligible differentia as to how a law graduate belonging to Agra having and graduated from National Law School, Bengaluru is unequally placed with one domiciled in Meerut.

"The impugned notification is completely silent about the objective it seeks to achieve from the classification stipulated therein," the plea stated.
Mumbai, April 20 : The Maharashtra government on Thursday announced a one-member panel to investigate the facts resulting in the tragedy that took place after the 'Maharashtra Bhushan' award 2022 ceremony in Navi Mumbai on April 16.

The panel, headed by Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue, will submit his report in the matter within a month.

It will also make recommendations to the state government regarding precautions to be taken in future in organising similar mega-functions, as the Navi Mumbai event in Kharghar had attracted over 20 lakh people.

The development comes four days after the disaster that left at least 14 persons dead due to sunstroke and allegations of a purported stampede, though the state has not confirmed the latter aspect.

The tragedy had kicked up a massive political row with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, appointment of a judicial commission headed by a retired judge and enhancing the compensation to Rs 1 crore for each victim.

--IANS qn/vd

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New Delhi, April 20 : The more technology is getting advanced, the more cyber crooks are finding innovative ways to cheat people.

A woman in Delhi on March 18 received a call inquiring about a PG accommodation. Little did she know that the caller had something else in mind.

The caller introduced himself as an army personnel and said that he needs PG accommodation for his daughter. He also offered money in advance to book the accommodation for a period of four months - Rs 14,000 per month totalling Rs 56,000.

Unaware of the caller's intentions, the woman without any hesitation clicked on a link that was sent by the caller through a message to receive the said amount.

The moment she clicked on the link, she received a message that her account has been debited with Rs 56000, instead of getting credited. She immediately dialled the same number and the caller apologised and said that he might have mistakenly sent her a wrong link.

The caller again asked her to click on another link and she again met the same fate. Rs 56,000 more were debited from her account. She tried contacting the same number but it was switched off.

She then approached the police who registered her complaint and began probing the matter.

After technical analysis, the police were able to identify the bank account (in which the cheated amount was received) holder as Gagan, a resident of Faridabad in Haryana.

"A raid was conducted and Gagan was apprehended," said a senior police official.

On interrogation, Gagan named the handler of the account called Haider, a resident of Mewat, Haryana, and on whose inducement he had opened four bank accounts in different banks and got some money in return. The registered mobile number in all these accounts originally belonged to Gagan but the SIM was handed over to Haider.

Haider too was apprehended and he revealed that he was doing all this on the directions of his handler Mushtaq and others in Nai village of Mewat in Haryana.

"Haider affirmed that he was handling all the withdrawals of the cheated money and handing over the withdrawn cash to other accused after deducting his commission," said the official.

In total, three people -- Haider Ali (31), Gagan (20) and Mushtaq (34) -- were arrested and a gang of cyber crooks was busted.
Bengaluru, April 20 : The BJP on Thursday played the Hindutva card in poll-bound Karnataka, accusing the Congress of being "friends" with people who slaughtered a cow in public.

Talking to reporters here, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Shobha Karandlaje, claimed that former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and state Congress President D.K. Shivakumar took up the Bharat Jodo Yatra with persons who killed a cow on road.

"In the Mangaluru cooker blast case probe, Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah had claimed that the accused is like their brother. On whose side they are? The leadership of Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah protect the accused who indulge in activities against the country," she alleged.

Karandlaje said: "ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast and put up a post on the internet. But the Congress is protecting the accused." With Karandlaje raking up such issues, high-voltage campaigns by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other firebrand leaders in the state are likely in the coming days.

The anti-cattle slaughter law enacted in Karnataka in 2021 bans transport, sale, trade and slaughter of cattle.
New Delhi, April 20 : Amid intensified fighting in Khartoum, the Indian government on Thursday advised Indian citizens in Sudan to avoid going to the Embassy, as it lies in a war zone.

For the past week or so, fighting has been raging in the Sudanese capital between the army and paramilitary forces, leading to the death of around 300 people, including an Indian citizen.

The embassy is open and working, but there is no staff living there as the building is located near the airport, where intense fighting between Sudan's army and the paramilitary, known as Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is going on, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters.

"We are counselling and telling Indian citizens how to stay safe. It's an evolving situation. The embassy is functioning, but we have told people not to go in person there as that zone is seeing a lot of fighting. People don't live there, nobody is inside embassy the building," Bagchi said, adding those who work at the embassy live in homes at the city.

He added that the government has some idea about the number of Indians presently there in the war-torn nation, however details like their actual numbers and locations cannot be revealed owing to security reasons.

"We are keeping a close watch on the situation," Bagchi said.

He also said Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has proceeded on his tour of North and South America and will give an update on the Sudan situation at a later date.
Bhopal, April 20 : Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Thursday launched a scathing attack against Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, questioning his silence over the major issues facing Madhya Pradesh.

The two-time former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh asked whether Scindia will dare to hit the streets over the unfulfilled promises of the BJP, like he did when he was in the Congress.

Singh also claimed that Scindia himself had distributed certificates of farm loans in his home district Gwalior.

"You (Scindia) left the Congress saying the promises made before the 2018 Assembly elections were not fulfilled. You had then warned to hit the streets for the people of Madhya Pradesh. I am asking you today, have farmers' loans been waved? Are the issues related to unemployment and recruitment of school teachers resolved? Lakhs of posts are vacant while the backlogs have also not been filled. Will you dare to hit the streets against the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh," Singh asked while addressing a press conference in Shajapur on Thursday.

Singh also claimed that the Kamal Nath-led Congress government had begun the process of waving farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh, which the party had promised in its election manifesto.

"The process of waving farm loans was started and in the first round, loans up to Rs 50,000 were waved and certificates were also distributed. However, a group of 'bikau' MLAs shifted to the BJP and ousted the Congress from power within 15 months of forming the government," he said.

Singh also said that the MLAs who had faith in Kamal Nath and the Congress did not betray, but those who are called 'Raja', 'Maharaja' left the party.

"I have learnt that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made over 2,000 promises so far as the elections get near. What happened to the promises he made in the last 18 years? Will Scindia dare to hit the streets over these unfulfilled promises now," Singh asked.
Jammu, April 20 : Five Indian Army soldiers were charred to death on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district after the vehicle in which they were travelling caught fire, a Defence spokesperson said.

"At around 3 p.m., one vehicle of the Indian Army, while moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in Poonch district, caught fire. Further details are being ascertained," Lt. Col. Devender Anand said in a statement.

The cause of the fire that resulted in the death of the army soldiers is still not known.
Armenia has long been misleading the international community by using carefully crafted rhetoric to appeal to Western sensibilities. The influential and vocal Armenian diaspora has woven a heart-wrenching narrative of an evil Muslim Azerbaijan threatening a poor, innocent, and democratic Christian Armenia. But behind this facade lies a dark truth: Armenia has perpetrated numerous crimes against Azerbaijan.

For decades, Armenia has been involved in the illegal occupation of internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh and its seven surrounding districts. The occupation has resulted in the ethnic cleansing of almost one million Azerbaijanis from their homes both in Armenia and in Azerbaijan. Armenia has been responsible for countless atrocities, including the Khojaly genocide, which took the lives of 613 innocent people, including women, children, and the elderly. Armenian forces have razed entire cities, destroyed cultural heritage sites, and desecrated cemeteries.

Moreover, Armenia has been exploiting Azerbaijan's natural resources illegally, cutting down entire forests and poisoning the waters, and turning Azerbaijan into one of the most landmine-contaminated places on earth. Azerbaijani captives have been tortured, and our citizens hunted down and attacked abroad. During the 44-day war in 2020, Armenia bombed Azerbaijani cities far from the battlefield, such as Ganja, Barda, Tartar, and Mingachevir, using ballistic rockets and causing more innocent casualties.

In recent months, Armenians have been loudly protesting a nonexistent "blockade" on the Lachin road. This distraction is an attempt to shift the international community's focus away from the peaceful ecological protests that have been taking place for over four months. They falsely claim that ethnic Armenians in Karabakh are being starved, while in reality, a significant number of vehicles pass the Lachin road daily, transporting civilians and delivering humanitarian supplies from Armenia to Karabakh. These supplies include not only essentials like food and medicine but also luxury items such as the latest iPhone models, clothing, and makeup.

The truth can be easily verified through social media, where posts from people residing in Khankendi showcase the stark contrast between the Armenian rhetoric and the reality on the ground. The real issues at stake that Armenians want to distract the international community form are the illegal exploitation and export of Azerbaijani natural resources, the destruction of the environment, and the criminal use of the Lachin road to smuggle landmines, weapons, and Iranian agents into Azerbaijani territory.

Armenia's go-to tactic is to falsely and hypocritically accuse Azerbaijan of intending to commit ethnic cleansing and genocide against Armenians. This accusation arises each time the Azerbaijani government, based on international law, calls on Armenians to either respect Azerbaijani laws and obtain legal status or find another place to reside illegally. Azerbaijan's stance is generous, given that Azerbaijanis had no such options during the first Karabakh war and were forced from their homes.

Armenia also frequently plays the "democracy" card to divert attention from its close alliance with Russia and Iran. A recent New York Times article revealed how Armenia assists Russia in bypassing sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. The same article reported that Armenia imported significant quantities of chips and processors from the United States and the European Union in 2022, which were then exported to Russia. These electronic devices are critical for the development of weapons, including Russian cruise missiles that have struck Ukraine.

Furthermore, Conflict Armament Research, an independent group examining Russian weaponry, discovered the first known example of Russia producing weapons with chips manufactured after the invasion began. These chips, made by a U.S. company, were found in Lancet drones recovered from several sites in Ukraine in February and March.

Armenia's true face is that of a manipulator of facts, a manufacturer of endless lies, and a fabricator of baseless accusations, all aimed at deceiving the international community into believing that they are the epitome of "democracy." In reality, Armenia maintains close ties with Russia and Iran and is an occupier guilty of a long list of heinous crimes.

The silence of the international community on Armenia's actions is, in large part, due to the effectiveness of the Armenian rhetoric in tugging at the heartstrings of the West. Many people are unwilling to do proper research on the matter, easily falling for the stories Armenians sell them.

The New York Times article exposing Armenia's role in helping Russia bypass sanctions is just one example of the true nature of Armenia's so-called democracy. It is high time for the international community to call out Armenia on its lies and become more familiar with the region before supporting the aggressor. It is essential to stop treating the case of Karabakh as "different" from illegal occupations such as South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Pridnestrovia, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk when, by international law, they are identical cases.

In order for peace to be established in the region, the international community must confront Armenia's manipulative tactics and stop falling for their tailored and targeted rhetoric. Only then can we work towards a future where the truth prevails, and justice is served for the countless victims of Armenia's actions against Azerbaijan.

Adnan Huseyn, political expert
Thiruvananthapuram, April 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his two-day visit to Kerala starting April 24, would also meet Bishops apart from taking part in other programmes, state unit BJP president K. Surendran said on Thursday. The announcement has come amid several reports suggesting the Kerala BJP is trying to "get close" with churches.

"The details will be released soon as the Prime Minister's Office is working out the schedule. Once things are finalised, I will give an update about it," said Surendran.

In fact, top central BJP leaders, including Union Ministers, have already arrived in Kerala, and interacted with the Church heads.

On Easter Sunday (April 9), there was a flurry of activity when ministers and leaders called upon priests and laity.

Both the CPI-M-led ruling Left Front and the Congress-led UDF have termed these developments as activities undertaken with an eye on next year's Lok Sabha elections.

They also warned the Christian community to not fall prey to "these moves of the BJP".

On this, Surendran said: "The Christian community has dismissed all the false campaign that is currently going on." Meanwhile, INC's Kerala unit president K. Sudhakaran said the Congress party, in the coming weeks, "will come out with a list of attacks that the Sangh Parivar groups have unleashed on Churches across the country and will lead a campaign on it".
Chandigarh, April 20 : Punjab Police on Thursday solved a case of 'human sacrifice involving a middle-aged woman with the arrest of two persons, who attempted to kill the woman as part of sorcery to get wealthy.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the arrested persons, identified as Kuldeep Singh and Jasvir Singh, are both residents of Fatehgarh Sahib.

Balvir Kaur (50) was found injured in the fields near a canal in Ferozepur village on Wednesday morning. She is presently undergoing treatment at PGIMER in Chandigarh.

Bhullar said the accused were circus performers and used to perform cycle shows in villages. They met the victim through her son Dharampreet, who became friends with them eight months ago.

Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Ravjot Kaur Grewal said that both the accused, who aspired to become rich, came in contact with a 'tantrik' (sorcerer), who asked them to perform 'human sacrifice' of a woman.

Grewal said the accused on Tuesday called Balvir Kaur on the pretext of taking her to the 'tantrik' for paying obeisance, but instead took her to an isolated place in Ferozepur village where they attacked her using a sickle, resulting in grave injuries on her neck and other body parts.

"After receiving information from the villagers, the police launched a probe which led to the arrest of both the accused," Grewal said.
New Delhi, April 20 : A school teacher in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi was arrested for stalking, demanding nude pictures, and sexual favours from a Delhi woman, a Delh Police official said on Thursday.

The accused has been identified as Sujit Kumar, 27, a teacher of mathematics.

According to police, a complaint from a woman, who works in a prominent hospital in Delhi, was received at Cyber North police station alleging that some unknown person on Instagram made an obscene and vulgar comment on her Instagram picture.

"She ignored it and blocked that account. Again after a few days, messages were sent to her on Instagram from an unknown ID stating that he had evidences of some extremely personal secrets about her and then demanded her nudes and sexual intimacy," the victim's complaint said.

"He threatened and told her that he would involve her parents in this. After a few days, she received a letter at the doorstep of her house with extremely vulgar comments," the complaint added.

"A case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and during investigation, it was revealed that alleged Instagram IDs were created and used in Varanasi," Deputy Commissioner of Police, North, Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

The accused was apprehended in Delhi on Wednesday.

On interrogation, it was revealed that the accused, in 2019, had been residing in Delhi's Burari for preparations of competitive exams.

"In one social gathering, the accused met the victim through one of his friends. Thereafter one day, he found a medical report of the victim, which was extremely personal, at his friend's residence.

"He tried to woo the girl but failed and hence he threatened her to seek sexual favours otherwise a personal report would be sent to her parents," the DCP added.
New Delhi, April 20 : Ross McInnes, Group Chairman of French multinational company SAFRAN, that designs, develops and manufactures aircraft as well as rocket engines, had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the PMO said on Thursday.

According to official sources, during the meeting on Wednesday, McInnes discussed partnerships in defence and space sectors with Modi.

"Yesterday, Mr. Ross McInnes, the Group Chairman of SAFRAN called on the PM Narendra Modi. Fast growing Indian aviation market provides immense scope for companies working in this sector. They also discussed technological partnership with Safran in defence and space," the PMO's tweeted about the meeting.

SAFRAN also specialises in various aerospace and defence-related equipments and their components.
Dimapur : , April 20 (IANS) A Joint Task Force, comprising officials of district administration and police officers would be constituted soon for implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system, and identify the non-indigenous settlers as well as those who entered Dimapur after November 21,1979, an official said on Thursday.

A district administration official said "non-local people and non-Nagas who settled in Dimpur or entered the state's commercial hub after November 21, 1979 will have to possess ILP".

"If the non-indigenous settlers have no ILP, they will have to compulsorily obtain the document from the competent authority or from the Deputy Commissioner's office within 30 days," the official said.

Dimapur Deputy Commissioner Sachin Jaiswal has recently held a meeting with all the key stakeholders and discussed issues related to the ILP.

The Deputy Commissioner held the meeting following the media reports of a large number of "illegal immigrants" living in Dimapur.

The Deputy Commissioner has told the district officials and police officers to inform non-indigenous persons living in Dimapur district since November 21, 1979 that they should possess ILP and a person passing through Dimapur to other states as a passenger must have a valid ticket and other documents.

An official said on violation of the DC's order, penal action would be initiated against the non-indigenous people as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

Various organisations and NGOs are agitating in several northeastern states for proper implementation of the ILP system.

The North East Students' Organisation, an apex body of eight student bodies, has been demanding the implementation of the ILP system in the entire northeastern region to safeguard the interests of the indigenous people.

The ILP had been in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.

The main aim of the ILP system is to check the settlement of other Indian nationals in these states to protect the native population. Protection is also extended to the indigenous people with regard to land, jobs and other facilities.

The ILP under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen to visit the ILP enforced state and areas for a limited period and with a specific purpose.
New Delhi, April 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a telephonic conversation with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen, during which both the leaders reviewed the progress of India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership.

They expressed satisfaction at the high-level exchanges and growing cooperation, official sources said.

Modi congratulated Frederiksen on her appointment as the Prime Minister of Denmark for a second term.

He briefed her on India's ongoing presidency of the G20 and its key priorities, official sources added. Frederiksen appreciated India's G20 initiatives and conveyed Denmark's full support to it.

The leaders also agreed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India-Denmark relations next year in 2024.
Ahmedabad, April 20 : A special court in Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all 69 accused, including former BJP legislator Maya Kodnani, ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel, in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case.

The case pertains to the killing of 11 members of a minority community during communal riots in Gujarat. The verdict was delivered by special judge Shubhada Baxi.

This case is among the nine major riots in Gujarat that ensued after the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra on February 27, 2002.

Despite the Supreme Court's monitoring of designated courts for speedy trials of the 2002 Gujarat riot cases, it took several years to reach a verdict in the Naroda Gam case.

The trial was conducted by five judges over the years, with several past orders recording the prosecution's delays and the dilatory tactics employed by the defence.

The trial concluded on April 5, after hearing nearly 182 prosecution witnesses.

Of the 86 accused, 17 were abated during the trial, leaving 69 accused to stand the trial, all of whom are currently out on bail.

The accused faced multiple charges under the Indian Penal Code, including murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, dacoity, promoting communal disharmony, mischief by fire, causing disappearance of evidence, abetment, deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings, voluntarily causing hurt, and other charges under the Arms Act.

Kodnani and Bajrangi were convicted in the Naroda Patiya case in 2012, the worst massacre of the Gujarat riots, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, the Gujarat High Court acquitted Kodnani in 2018 while upholding Bajrangi's conviction.

The Naroda Gam massacre took place on February 28, 2002, when mobs set Muslim homes on fire in the Muslim Maholla, Kumbhar Vas, in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam area, resulting in the death of 11 Muslims.

An FIR was filed at the Naroda police station.

The Justice Nanavati Commission report, which investigated the Gujarat riots, highlighted the testimony of witnesses regarding the lack of police assistance provided to the Muslim community, leaving them at the mercy of the rioters.

However, several police officials testified that they were unable to reach Naroda Gam as they were occupied with the more severe situation at Naroda Patiya.

The verdict has been met with mixed reactions, with the relatives of the accused outside the court rejoicing with chants of "Jai Shree Ram" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai."
My priority is to stand by poor, says Naidu on 73rd birthday. Image Source: IANS News

My priority is to stand by poor, says Naidu on 73rd birthday. Image Source: IANS News

My priority is to stand by poor, says Naidu on 73rd birthday. Image Source: IANS News

My priority is to stand by poor, says Naidu on 73rd birthday. Image Source: IANS News

Amaravati, April 20 : On his 73rd birthday, TDP President and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that his top priority is to stand by the poor.

In an interaction with women at Markapur on the occasion of his birthday, he claimed that he always thinks about people and never worked for himself.

"I always think about the future of the people," Naidu said, adding that it is only because of his Vision-2020, Hyderabad city stood on the 65th position in the world having the richest persons.

"Should only Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, be the crorepati and the poor should not become crorepatis," Naidu said, asking whether the people trust his aim of creating assets and distribute it equally.

"My main goal is to see to it that whenever Telugus are there in the world, they should stand in top position," he said adding that his other intention is along with the people in the state, the Telugus living in other states too should become crorepatis.

The TDP supremo called upon the people to join hands with him to realise these goals.

Observing that women are in no way behind men, Naidu said that he started DWACRA scheme only to ensure that women become rich like men. Even in IT field, women are progressing well like their men counterparts, he stated.

He made it clear that the time has come for all the Telugu people living across the globe to pay back to their motherland.

Pointing out that when he talked about cell phones people laughed at him, he said that now there is no single person who is not using mobile phones. "Am I asking for something which is not possible," asked Naidu, who released an ideology document at the programme.

Leaders from various political parties wished Naidu on his birthday. Governor S. Abdul Nazeer conveyed his greetings. "I extend my heartiest felicitations and warm greetings to Sri N. Chandrababu Naidu ji, Leader of the Opposition of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, on his Birthday. May God Almighty bless you with good health, happiness and long life in the service of the people," he tweeted.

MP Vijayasai Reddy of ruling YSR Congress Party took to Twitter to wish the former Chief Minister on his birthday. He wished the TDP chief many more happy birthdays with perfect health and long life.

Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan also greeted Naidu on birthday and expressed his best wishes for his good health and long life.
Chandigarh, April 20 : Fugitive Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh's Britain-origin wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped on Thursday at the Amritsar airport and not allowed by immigration officials to board a flight to Birmingham, officials said.

After questioning, Kaur has been sent to her home in Jallupur Khera in Amritsar district and asked her not to leave the country without informing the police.

"We have prevented her from leaving the country. She was neither detained nor arrested. She was stopped because she is needed for questioning related to the case," said Senior Superintendent of Police (Amritsar Rural) Satinder Singh told the media.

Officials told IANS that Kaur has a visa for a limited period in India that is about to expire.

She has been questioned several times earlier also by police for her role in supporting the organisation that was formed by the late actor-activist, Deep Sidhu.

Amritpal Singh, against whom the National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked and a non-bailable warrant issued, is on the run despite the massive manhunt launched to nab him since March 18.

The self-styled preacher, who returned from Dubai last year, tied the knot in a simple ceremony in February.

Since then, she has been staying in Punjab.

Papalpreet Singh, the main associate of Amritpal Singh, was arrested in Amritsar on April 10 under the NSA and that six other cases have also been registered against him.

Papalpreet Singh is a Khalistani activist who called himself a journalist before ending up as a media advisor to the radical preacher.

A resident of Amritsar, he was earlier arrested for his alleged links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence in 2015.
Mohali, April 20 : Despite a bruised rib, Faf du Plessis hit 84 off 56 balls on a pitch which wasn't easy for stroke play at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium while Mohammed Siraj shined in both powerplay and death overs to pick his career-best 4/21 in the league, propelling Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 24-run win over Punjab Kings and their first victory outside home in the ongoing IPL 2023, here on Thursday.

After being 137/0 in 16 overs, Bangalore could get only 37 runs and lost four wickets in their last four overs, as Punjab staged a strong comeback with their bowlers using cutters and not bowling much fuller deliveries to keep the visitors to 174/4.

But Bangalore had the advantage of having the powerplay in their favour in both innings -- 59/0 with the bat and reducing Punjab to 43/4. Siraj was well-supported by Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell and Harshal Patel chipping in with wickets. With some superb fielding coming into play, Bangalore managed to bowl out Punjab for 150 in 18.2 overs.

Siraj's superb show began by trapping Atharva Taide lbw on his second ball after the review showed the ball crashing into leg-stump. Hasaranga struck on the first ball of the third over by castling Matthew Short with a googly.

Lethal Siraj returned in the fourth over to trap Liam Livingstone lbw, which was given 'not out' by the on-field umpire. After a long chat with Siraj and Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli went for a review, which paid off as replays showed ball hitting top of leg-stump, giving the pacer his seventh power-play wicket of IPL 2023.

Siraj's powerful direct hit from mid-off then caught Harpreet Bhatia short of his crease at the striker's end as Punjab continued to slide. Prabhsimran Singh put some pressure on Bangalore by launching Hasaranga for a brace of sixes over long-on fence.

But Bangalore continued to pick wickets as Sam Curran was run-out by a direct hit from Hasaranga while going for a quick single and two overs later, Prabhsimran's blitzkrieg ended when Parnell uprooted his off-stump, followed by Hasaranga having Shahrukh Khan stumped easily.

Jitesh Sharma began to show aggression by slamming Hasaranga for a six down the ground, followed by carving impact player Vyshak Vijaykumar over extra cover for four and then hit another six down the ground.

Jitesh got a life on 38 when Kohli dropped his catch at long-on off Harshal on the last ball of the 17th over. Siraj struck in the next over by castling Harpreet Brar and Nathan Ellis in a span of four balls, before Jitesh sliced to backward point in Harshal Patel's over, giving Bangalore their third win of IPL 2023.

Earlier, du Plessis hit five fours and as many sixes in his sparkling knock while stand-in captain Virat Kohli made a 47-ball 59, but suffered a slowdown in the middle overs as Bangalore didn't get the desired finishing kick to finish below 180.

Bangalore were off to a flier as Kohli hit three fours on short balls from Brar and Arshdeep Singh. Du Plessis then tore into Brar, the left-arm spinner, by smashing sixes down the ground and over deep mid-wicket fence.

Kohli then pulled Nathan Ellis for four while du Plessis sliced him through backward point and then swivelled against Curran over mid-wicket to collect a brace of boundaries as Bangalore ended power-play unscathed.

Post power-play, Punjab's bowlers tried to keep du Plessis quiet by attacking stumps constantly. But du Plessis varied between being still and backing away to hit boundaries and reach his fifty in 31 balls.

On the other hand, Kohli slowed down, but got his fifty in 40 balls with his trademark cover drive through long-off for four and followed it up with a lofted drive over wide long-off for six off Ellis.

Punjab finally had a breakthrough in the start of the 17th over when Kohli shuffled across to paddle sweep against Brar, but the toe-end edge of the bat was caught by Jitesh, who dropped du Plessis catch in the previous over, superbly diving to his left.

On the very next ball, Glenn Maxwell went for a big slog, but sliced to point, departing for a golden duck. Du Plessis continued to get runs by smacking a brace of sixes, before holing out to long-off.

Karthik and Mahipal Lomror hit a four each off Arshdeep in the 19th over, before the former holed out to deep square leg. By then, Bangalore reached a total which was eventually sufficient to defend against Punjab.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 174/4 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 84, Virat Kohli 59; Harpreet Brar 3/31, Arshdeep Singh 1/34) beat Punjab Kings 150 in 18.2 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 46, Jitesh Sharma 41; Mohammed Siraj 4/21, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/39) by 24 runs

Latest updates on IPL 2023
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. EU is looking at the issue of sanctioned goods flow from Armenia to Russia, Peter Stano, EU Spokesperson, told Trend.

The EU imposed set of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia for its illegal aggression of Ukraine, violation of the UN Charter and for committing atrocities amounting to war crimes. The EU has called on all countries to align with these sanctions, adopt similar national measures or at least not to allow any circumvention of these sanctions. In a previous sanctions package the EU introduced a possibility to impose sanctions also on persons or entities allowing the circumvention of sanctions.

We are closely monitoring trade flows of sanctioned goods from the EU to third countries and from third countries to Russia. In the context of Armenia, we have indeed observed some anomalous trade flows. We are looking at the issue and we are in dialogue with the Armenian authorities, he said.

New York Times has revealed that Armenia is among the countries that help Russia bypass Western sanctions.

Reportedly, a surge has been recorded in chips and other electronic components re-export from Armenia to Russia. Eight particular types of those chips, crucial for the production of weapons, are delivered in Russia.

"One document marked with the seal of the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security said that in 2022, Armenia imported 515 percent more chips and processors from the US and 212 percent more from the EU than in 2021. Armenia then exported 97 percent of those same products to Russia, the document said," reads the article.

Earlier, the US Departments of Commerce, the Treasury, and of Justice have issued a trilateral note on the specifications of the signs of attempts to circumvent sanctions against Russia.

According to the document, one of the most common tactics is the use of third-party intermediaries or transshipment points to avoid restrictions. It was revealed that Armenia is used to illegally redirect goods to Russia or Belarus, thus, bypassing West sanctions.
Bhopal, April 20 : A 55-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a running train in Madhya Pradesh's Satna. After the incident, the bed-ridden daughter of the deceased held the governance system responsible for her father's death.

His family told IANS that the deceased Pramod Gupta was distressed by a financial crisis for the last several years, especially after one of his daughter's Anushka and son met with an accident. Gupta had a small business in Satna, however, he spent all his money on the treatment of his daughter, whose backbone got fractured and she is still bed-ridden.

He had also sold all his property to pay the hospital bills -- however, his daughter could not stand on her feet. After spending all his money, Gupta ran from pillar to post to get an 'Ayushmaan Card', but the government officials did not pay heed to him, Anushka said.

The situation continued to worsen and Gupta could not pay the school fees of his three children. For the last few months, Gupta was finding it hard to even arrange food for his children.

Anushka (21) had secured 78 per cent marks in the Class 10 exams a couple of years back despite being bed-ridden. That time she was facilitated by the district administration for her courage and for securing good marks in the exam. She was also assured of financial help.

"My father ran from pillar to post for an Ayushmaan Card because he had no money left for my treatment and to feed my siblings. But, every time, he returned empty handed. My father would have not ended his life, had the officials paid heed to his grievances," Anushka said.

A senior police official talking to IANS said Gupta, who was living with his family in Transport Nagar in Satna, had left the house early on Tuesday. "The family waited for him till late evening but he did not return. Following which, they informed the police. On the basis of a missing report, a search operation was launched and his body was found crushed by a train. The statements of his family members are being recorded and further investigation is underway," the police official added.
New Delhi, April 20 : The Supreme Court on Thursday said that no member of the Bar can go on strike or abstain from court work and asked all the high courts to constitute a grievance redressal committee headed by the Chief Justice and other stakeholders to avoid lawyers' frequent strikes.

A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said: "We once again reiterate that no member of the Bar can go on strike and/or abstain himself from court working. Time and again, this court has emphasised and criticised the advocates going on strike and abstaining them from work." The bench said that if the member of the Bar has any genuine grievance or the difficulty being faced because of the procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters and/or any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehave of any member of the lower judiciary, they can very well make a representation. It said it is appropriate that their genuine grievances are considered by some forum so that such strikes can be avoided and members of the Bar who might have genuine grievances like above may ventilate their grievances.

"Therefore, we request all the High Courts to constitute Grievance Redressal Committee in their respective High Courts which may be headed by the Chief Justice and such a grievance redressal committee be consisting of two other senior Judges, one each from service and one from the Bar to be nominated by the Chief Justice as well as the Advocate General, Chairman of the Bar Council of the State and President of the High Court Bar Association," it said.

The bench said the high court may also consider to constitute the similar grievance redressal committee at the district court level.

"It is observed that the Grievance Redressal Committee may consider the genuine grievance related to the difference of opinion or dissatisfaction because of procedural changes in filing/listing of the matters of the respective High Courts or any District Courts in their respective states and any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehave of any member of the lower judiciary, provided such grievance must be genuine and not to keep the pressure on any judicial officer," it said.

The top court delivered the judgment on an application filed by the Bar Council of India (BCI). Senior advocate and BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra contended that the council has suggested various measures for controlling the strike/abstention and has suggested the mechanism of redressal of the grievances of advocates/Bar associations at all levels.

He submitted that the BCI is of the firm view and opinion that the illegal and unreasonable strikes and boycott are always bad and the Bar councils can never approve or encourage such practices.

"It is submitted that however, in a meeting of Chairmen/Office Bearers of all the State Bar Councils held, the Bar Council of India and all the representatives of the lawyers were of the unanimous opinion that there should be a grievance redressal mechanism available to Advocates at all levels from the Talukas/Muffasils/District Courts, High Courts where the members of the Bar could vent their grievances," noted the top court.
Jaipur, April 20 : Former Deputy CM of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot on Thursday reached the house of Ram Prasad Meena who committed suicide on the morning of April 17 and demanded action against those who have been named in the FIR.

The FIR has been filed against state minister Mahesh Joshi, Munji Tank, Deva Awasthi, Lalchand Devnani, Devendra Sharma of Girdhari Ji Mandir, Lalit Sharma and others in an abetment to suicide case as Ram Prasad held these people responsible for his death in his last video. For the last 4 days, Ram Prasad's body has been lying in the room where he committed suicide.

Pilot reached Meena's house around 5 p.m. and met the family members. While consoling the family, he said, We are standing with you in this tough time.

Pilot stated "The poor family should get justice. They informed me about the injustice meted out to them. After listening to their words, I feel that a lot of injustice has been done. Action should also be taken against those people who have been mentioned in the video and elsewhere for abetting the suicide. There should not be any kind of pressure on the police which should act impartially." Former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal and other leaders were present along with Pilot.

A letter has been sent to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on behalf of Ram Prasad Meena's family which demands justice to the family and compensation for the atrocities committed against them.

State minister Mahesh Joshi has been named as accused in the FIR. The family has demanded his arrest along with the other accused.

They have also demanded a government job for one member of the victim's family and the demolition of the illegal construction (Sheraton Hotel) located near the house of the victim's family within 24 hours.

The family members also agreed to get the postmortem done in the evening. For the last four days, the body of Ram Prasad Meena has been kept in a fridge at the suicide scene.
Jammu, April 20 : Five army soldiers were killed while one soldier was injured in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Thursday when the vehicle they were travelling in caught fire due to likely use of grenades by the terrorists, the army said.

"Today, at around 3 p.m., an army vehicle was fired on by unidentified terrorists, taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area," the army said.

The army said the vehicle caught fire due to likely use of grenades by terrorists.

"Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident," the army said.

"Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to an Army Hospital and is under treatment." The army said operations are in progress to locate the perpetrators.
Mumbai, April 20 : 'The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company', a book written by historian William Dalrymple, is set to be adapted for the screen.

The book, which tells the story of how one of the world's most biggest empires, the Mughal empire, disintegrated and came to be replaced by the British East India Company, will be turned into a series.

The book won accolades as President Barack Obama's top 10 recommended books and was also the recipient of the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize.

Acclaimed screenwriter Jeremy Brock has been entrusted with the task of adapting the book for the screen. Brock is a BAFTA winning writer, director and producer, best known for his work in 'Her Majesty Mrs Brown', 'The Last King of Scotland', 'Driving Lessons', and 'How I Live Now'.

With a career spanning over two decades, Brock is a member of both the American and British Academies.

The production will be done by global independent studio WIIP and India's Roy Kapur Films. Executive producers on the project include Paul Lee, Siddharth Roy Kapur and Naz Haider. Dalrymple will serve as a creative consultant.

Talking about the project, Siddharth Roy Kapur said, "We are delighted to announce that we have brought on board the acclaimed BAFTA award winning screenwriter Jeremy Brock to adapt William Dalrymple's global bestseller 'The Anarchy' into a premium series.

"Jeremy's expertise in crafting intricate character-driven narratives that are deeply rooted in history and setting them against a huge canvas makes him the perfect collaborator for this project. We look forward to creating a globally-relevant series that will appeal to audiences across geographies, languages and cultures." 'The Anarchy' will be mounted as an international co-production to be produced across the US, the UK and India.
Mumbai, April 20 : Soon after the state government announced a one-man probe panel, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut claimed that at least 50-75 people died in the Navi Mumbai post-'Maharashtra Bhushan' Award 2022 event, here on Thursday.

Speaking to the media, Raut said that he has interacted with his party workers from Navi Mumbai and Raigad towns who have informed that the actual death toll is much higher than the official figures released by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's government.

Accusing the government of hiding the real extent of the tragedy, the Sena (UBT) leader said that considering the people in the surrounding villages, the figure is much higher, "between 50-75, but the ruling Shiv Sena's members have allegedly gone to the victims' homes to suppress their voices.

"This tyrannical government has lost the right to continue in power and it must immediately resign," Raut demanded.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi's Nationalist Congress Party' Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Ajit Pawar, Sena (UBT)'s Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve, state Congress President Nana Patole and other top leaders have launched a sustained attack on the government for the past five days.

Among other things, they clamored for the resignation of Shinde, appointing a judicial probe by a retired judge, a 2-day Special Legislature Session, dismissal of the government by Governor Ramesh Bais, spelling out SoPs for such mega-events in future, enhancing the compensation to Rs 1 crore for each victim, etc.

Signalling a climbdown, the government on Wednesday ordered a ban on all such open-air events between 12-5 p.m. daily this summer, and appointed a one-man probe panel headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) who will submit his report on the disaster within a month.

It will also make recommendations to the state government regarding precautions to be taken in future in organising similar mega-functions, like the 'Maharashtra Bhushan Award' 2022 event in Kharghar last Sunday.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had conferred the prestigious 'Maharashtra Bhushan Award' 2022 on reformer Dattatreya Narayan Dharmadhikari - revered as 'Appasaheb' - at the Corporate Park grounds when his estimated 20 lakh followers sat patiently for nearly five hours in the blazing temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius.
Chennai, April 20 : The Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Cases registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, has ordered that blood samples of eleven persons be collected in connection with the probe into mixing of human faeces in an overhead water tank providing drinking water to a Dalit colony in Vengaivayal village.

The special court had issued the order on Tuesday after a requisition was filed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch CID of Tiruchi Range, who is investigating the case.

The court directed that an assistant professor from the Government Medical College and Hospital, Pudukottai, collect the blood samples on FTA cards or chemically-treated filter paper.

The 11 persons, whose DNA is to be analysed, include three women, and are residents of Vengaivayal, Eraiyur and Keezhamuthukadu villages. The samples will be compared to the faecal matter that had been collected from the overhead water tank by the CB-CID.

Sources in the CB-CID said a date would now be finalised for collecting the blood samples by the assistant professor. The DNA tests of the 11 persons are likely to be conducted in Chennai, they confided.

First reported in December 2023, the Vengaivayal incident was initially probed by the district police. However, in January this year, the Tamil Nadu DGP transferred the case to the CB-CID.
Patna, April 20 : A mukhiya (village head) in Bihar's Bhojpur district brutally assaulted a house assistant on the charge of demanding Rs 20,000 as bribe from a person.

The incident occurred on April 19 when Mukhiya Vijay Shankar Dubey of Hari Gaon Panchayat in Jagdishpur block intercepted the house assistant Ajay Kumar Prasad and abused him. He also beat him with a baton in the market of Hari Gaon village. A large number of villagers assembled there filmed the incident.

Dubey, who is said to be a strongman in the village, kicked and beat him with a baton and used abusive language to humiliate him. He alleged that Prasad demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a person for the sanctioning of funds.

Following the incident, Prasad filed a complaint against Dubey in the Block Development Office. They later reached a compromise in the presence of the BDO.
Ashwini Vaishnaw shows Tim Cook how rail travel is going through a transformation Image Source: IANS News

Ashwini Vaishnaw shows Tim Cook how rail travel is going through a transformation Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, April 20 : Union IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday shared a video, shot on a 'Make in India' iPhone, where he is seen explaining to Apple CEO Tim Cook how the country is transforming the way people travel.

The minister showed Cook the image of a bridge, which is taller than Eiffel Tower, that connects to Kashmir.

"This bridge is about 30 metres taller compared to the Eiffel Tower. By December, we will be running the train over the bridge," Vaishnaw told Cook.

"We recently commissioned the railway track over it and we will be running a Vande Bharat train on it by December," he added.

Cook earlier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and discussed how to boost local manufacturing and iPhone exports, along with even tripling investments in the country.
Hyderabad, April 20 : Rich tributes were paid to tribals who were killed in police firing while fighting for their rights 42 years ago at Indravelli in Telangana's Adilabad district.

Aboriginal tribals or Adivasis and leaders of different political parties paid homage to martyrs at the martyrs' column in Indravelli on Thursday.

It was on this day in 1981 that 13 tribals were killed in a police firing when they had gathered at Indravelli for a protest on a call given by Andhra Pradesh Raithu Coolie Sangham to fight for their land rights.

The police had opened fire when a constable was allegedly killed by an angry mob.

According to official records, 13 tribals, all Raj Gonds belonging to surrounding villages of the Indravelli mandal centre, were killed in the firing. However, rights groups had put the death toll at 60.

Till a few years ago, the tribals were not allowed to hold meetings in Indravelli to pay homage to the martyrs.

Adivasis, members of Indravelli Amaraveerula Ashaya Sadhana Samithi and the Tudum Debba, a tribal rights organization, offered floral tributes in a traditional manner on Thursday.

Adilabad Member of Parliament Soyam Bapu Rao, Mulugu MLA Seethakka and YSR Telangana Party leader Y.S. Sharmila paid tributes at the martyrs' column.

Seethakka tweeted that Indravelli Adivasi heroes are immortal. She called Indravelli a place of inspiration. "Many lost their lives to get our land, & freedom back still we are fighting for our lands & freedom, we remember the fighters & I pray for their souls to get peace," she wrote.

Sharmila said she paid tributes to the martyrs of Indravelli who laid down their lives fighting for land rights and against the exploitative system.

She said it was another Jallianwala Bagh.

"We will continue to fight for tribal rights with the spirit of martyrs," she said.
The Sudanese army on Thursday said 177 Egyptian Air Force troops were airlifted back to Egypt, a few days after being held in the northern town of Merowe by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Trend reports citing Al Arabiya.

The Sudanese army in a statement said the Egyptians had been evacuated from Dongola, north of the country.
Imphal, April 20 : Amidst continuing resentment among section of BJP MLAs against Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, P. Brojen Singh on Thursday became the third ruling party legislator has quit his government post, resigning as Chairman of the Manipur Development Society.

In his resignation letter to the Chief Minister, he said that he has stepped down on "epersonal grounds".

Brojen Singh represents the Wangjing Tentha Assembly constituency in Thoubal district.

Earlier, BJP MLAs Thokchom Radheysham and Karam Shyam quit as Chief Minister's advisor and the Chairman of the Manipur State Tourism Development Corporation on April 17 and April 13 respectively. Both had served as ministers in the first Biren Singh led government (2017-2022).

All the three MLAs claimed that they were not given due responsibility, funds and authority to function in their posts.

In a video clip, Shyam said: "A leader should be committed and sincere instead of threatening the followers. If such threats occurred frequently then an eruption of a revolt among the followers is a must... Manipur is becoming a corruption-free state but, in corruption, only the giver and the takers will know." Political and informed sources said that some more discontented BJP MLAs are likely to quit their respective government posts and are now lobbying with the central party leadership seeking their intervention in the affairs of Manipur.

The aggrieved legislators include a few Kuki MLAs, who are reportedly unhappy with an eviction drive targeting the community.

"Chief Minister N. Biren Singh is likely to go to New Delhi in a day or two for a possible reconciliation with the disgruntled BJP legislators with the intervention of the central leaders," said a party leader, refusing to be named.

The Chief Minister is yet to respond to the political developments.

Winning 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly, the BJP government retained power for a second consecutive term in the last year polls. Various other parties are supporting the BJP government too.
New Delhi, April 20 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against six persons in the Coimbatore car bomb blast case that took place near a temple in October 2022.

The charge sheet has been filed against six accused -- Mohammed Asarutheen, Mohammed Thalha, Firos, Mohammed Riyas, Navas and Afsar Khan -- under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, Explosive Substances Act, and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The car driven by Jamesha Mubeen had blown up in front of the temple in October last year, killing Mubeen in the impact.

Investigation had revealed that Mubeen was inspired by ISIS ideology to carry out the attack.

The case was initially registered in November last year at Ukkadam police station before the probe was handed over to the NIA.

A pen drive recovered from Mohammed Asarutheen contained video recordings of Mubeen, in which he had identified himself as a member of Daulat-e-Islamia (or Islamic State). He had spoken extensively on his intention to commit a suicide attack against the 'kafirs' (non-believers) and to become a martyr.

Mubeen was inspired by the sermons of Zahran Hashim, a radical Islamic cleric based out of Sri Lanka, who masterminded the Easter bomb attacks in Colombo 2019 that killed around 260 people. Mubeen wanted to orchestrate a similar kind of attack in India.

Handwritten notes were recovered from Mubeen's residence wherein criticism of the existing democratic system, which are not in tandem with Islamic laws, was mentioned. There was also a mention of the probable targets, which included government offices, courts, public gathering places like parks, railway stations, and a few local temples.

Mubeen was aided and assisted by his associates Mohammed Asarutheen, Mohammed Thalha, Firos, Mohammed Riyas, Navas and Afsar Khan in arranging the logistics. Thalha had arranged the Maruti 800 car which was used in the explosion. Firos, Riyas and Navas had loaded the explosives, gas cylinders etc. in the car. Asarutheen and Afsar, both cousins of Mubeen, had procured, weighed, mixed and packed the chemical constituents used to manufacture the IED used in the blast.
Panaji, April 20 : The Congress in Goa on Thursday demanded a 'White Paper' from the BJP government regarding the water crisis as many parts of the coastal state are not receiving regular supply of potable water.

"We also demand that you come up with a detailed plan of action as to how many hours the people of Goa living in their houses will get water supply," a memorandum submitted to the government stated.

Congress members gheraoed PWD officials in Panaji for failing to provide potable water to people across the state.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Patkar, while criticising the BJP government, said that it has failed all the time and can't handle any situation.

"During Covid time, the BJP government killed people by failing to provide oxygen. Today the situation is such that people are suffering due to scarcity of water, but the government is doing nothing to solve this issue," he said.

"Officers are saying that there is a shortfall of water. Tillari dam was constructed for irrigation purposes, but today that water is supplied to Mopa airport from this dam. There is no planning for the supply of water, even there is no check on water meters. The government is looting poor people by issuing exorbitant bills," Patkar said.

Congress Media Department Chairman Amarnath Panjikar, said that the scarcity of water faced in many villages and cities of Goa has exposed the inefficiency and dearth of willpower in the BJP government.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in August last year, congratulated the Goa government for becoming the first state to become 'Har Ghar Jal' certified. This means that every house of Goa was connected with piped water. But what is the use of such a connection which is defunct?" Panjikar questioned.

He said that the government should not give excuses for their failures, and instead work to build the infrastructure.

He said that people are facing hardship in every town and village, with some villages facing the brunt by getting a trickle of water for about 30 minutes.

Panjikar threatened to intensify the agitation to demand regular water supply.
New Delhi, April 20 : Three students stabbed a minor boy while he was trying to save his friend and neighbour in Delhi's Kalkaji area. The injured boy is undergoing treatment at the Safdarjung Hospital.

A senior police officer said that on Wednesday, the police received information that a boy has been admitted to the Hamdard Hospital with stab wounds. On reaching the hospital, the police learnt that a group of three boys, all minors, had stabbed the boy on the chest. The boy was later shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital.

According to the injured boy's 14-year-old neighbour, who is a student of Class 8 at a government school in Kalkaji, few days back he got into an argument with a student from another section of the same school while playing.

"At around 2 p.m. on Wednesday when he was returning from school, the boy with whom he had an argument attacked him along with two other boys. When his neighbour and friend tried to intervene to save him, the trio started beating him up instead. One of the attackers then took out a knife and stabbed the victim in the chest before all three of them fled from the spot. A motorcyclist passing by took the injured boy to the hospital," the officer said.

"The police apprehended a 15-year-old boy on Thursday in connection with the case. A search is on to nab the remaining accused, who are residents of Govindpuri," the officer said.
New Delhi/Guwahati, April 20 : Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed an agreement to settle the long-pending disputes along their over 800 km border.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed the agreement in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

After signing the deal, Shah said that they all have witnessed a historic moment in the northeast to resolve the border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, pending for decades.

He said that the report of the Local Commission on this dispute kept circling around for decades, but now been accepted by both the states and Thursday's agreement would prove to be a milestone in the direction of realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free northeast.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, the Union Home Secretary and senior officials from the Centre and both the states were also present on the occasion.

Shah said that since 2018, the Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has signed several accords including for Reang refugee settlement in Tripura, and several to end violence in the northeast.

He said that as a result of these peace agreements, so far more than 8,000 armed militants have shunned violence and joined the mainstream. Compared to 2014, there has been a 67 per cent reduction in incidents of violence, 60 per cent reduction in the number of deaths of security forces and 83 per cent reduction in the number of civilian deaths in the northeast, which is a big achievement of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister.

The Modi government has withdrawn AFSPA from many places in the northeast, he added.

Around 70 per cent police stations in Assam, 15 police stations in 6 districts in Manipur, all but 3 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, 7 districts in Nagaland, and entire Tripura and Meghalaya are now free from Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Shah said that due to the efforts of the Modi government, all-round development is visible in the entire northeast today and this entire region is on the path of progress.

Thursday's agreement between the two states would end the dispute relating to 123 villages along the border, keeping in view the historical perspective, demographic profile, administrative convenience, proximity to the border, and the aspirations of the residents. Under the agreement, both the state governments have agreed that this agreement would be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither state would make any new claim related to these areas or villages in future.

After the agreement, a detailed survey would be carried out by the Survey of India in presence of representatives of both state governments to determine their boundary.
New Delhi, April 20 : The new headquarters of the Indian Army 'Thal Sena Bhawan' which is being constructed in Delhi Cantonment on an area of 39 acres is likely to be ready by 2025, a source in the know of things said on Thursday.

According to the Defence Ministry, the Thal Sena Bhawan has been conceptualised as a multi-storey green building, and it has adopted the Green Rating for Integrated Housing Assessment criteria.

In the new army headquarters, an area of 7.5 lakh sq metre would be developed for various office complexes and parking spaces.

The construction work that began in January this year is expected to be completed in the next 27 months at a cost of around Rs 760 crore.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation for the construction of this new building in Delhi Cantonment in February 2020.

The building will have offices and residential complex for security personnel along with basic amenities.

The new building will accommodate more than 1,700 military and civilian officers and 1,300 sub-staff.

Currently, the Army Headquarters is spread over several pockets -- South Block, Sena Bhawan, R.K. Puram, Shankar Vihar and other places.

A huge Ashok Chakra will be seen in the building once it is ready.

The new building would also have a basement parking for 300 vehicles and open parking for 2,500 vehicles.

The project is likely to be ready before June 2025.

The complex will have four entrances, and it will be an earthquake-resistant building.

The prime attraction of the six-storey building will be the Dharma Chakra at its top.

This building will be constructed in such a manner that it can be noticed from quite a distance.

Modern offices have been planned for this building for top ranking officers like Lt. General, Major General, Brigadier, Colonel, Lt. Colonel, Major, among others.

The new army headquarters will also house a gymnasium and a central library.

There will also be a separate building for a residential complex.
United Nations, April 21 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has plunged into a round of diplomacy to help resolve the Sudan crisis and protect Indians there, meeting Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and consulting several foreign ministers as international efforts ramped up on the eve of Ramadan.

"We, of course, have obviously a very strong interest in the matter because there are so many Indians there," he said on Thursday after his meeting with Guterres.

Jaishankar, who was on his way to a series of visits to Guyana, Panama, Columbia and the Dominican Republic, made an unscheduled stopover in New York to meet Guterres because "you could immediately see that this (Sudan situation) was very serious and a lot of (our) people were trapped by the situation".

"The UN is at the heart of the efforts to establish a ceasefire. And that is really the key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it is not safe for people to come out," he told reporters.

Before meeting Jaishankar, Guterres appealed to the religious sentiments of the warring sides for an Eid al-Fitr ceasefire for three days to pave the way for a permanent ceasefire.

Although two previous ceasefire efforts had failed, this time "there is a strong reason - all parties to the conflict are Muslim. We are living in a very important moment in the Muslim calendar. I think this is the right moment for a ceasefire to hold", he told reporters.

Fighting broke out on April 14 between the military controlled by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, who is also the country's head, and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

After a coup in 2021, they had been in a power-sharing arrangement that collapsed over differences on integrating the two forces.

There are about 4,000 Indian citizens in Sudan, and according to the Indian embassy in Khartoum of them, about 1,500 are longtime residents.

An Indian ex-serviceman. Albert Augustine, who was working in Sudan, was killed by a stray bullet.

Jaishankar assured Indians trapped in Sudan that the government was making all-out efforts to get them to safety.

"Our team in Delhi is in continuous touch with Indian citizens in Sudan, advising them saying, you know, 'It's very difficult for everybody, but keep calm, don't take unnecessary risk'," he said.

"I hope that the efforts, including that led by S-G (Guterres), will lead to something very soon, but we will have to wait and see", he added.

Jaishankar said that he had spoken about the Sudan situation with foreign ministers Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates and Sameh Shoukr of Egypt, and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, as well as US diplomats.

He said that the focus of the diplomatic efforts first is to get a "workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire".

The next step would be to create corridors for movement and assembly points for Indian citizens to be evacuated, he said.

Guterres called the situation "completely outrageous" and said that the "fighting in urban areas is particularly dangerous for civilians, including children, who have repeatedly been forced to shelter in schools and evacuate from hospitals under fire".

He said that humanitarian operations have become impossible because of attacks on and looting of properties of relief organisations.

He warned, "Targeting humanitarian workers and assets must end. I remind all parties of their obligations under international law, including ensuring the safety and security of humanitarian aid workers".

Guterres's Deputy Spokesperson Farzan Haq said that more than 330 people have been killed in the fighting and 3,200 people have been injured according to World Health Organisation.

He added that according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), at least nine children have reportedly been killed and more than 50 children injured.

The RSF is a paramilitary organisation that is made up primarily of a militia known as Janjaweed that fought on behalf of the Sudan government against rebels in the Darfur region.

Burhan and Dagalo collaborated in ousting the reviled dictator Omar al-Bashir, who is now a fugitive from a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for atrocities in the Darfur region in 2019 and carried out a coup against Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in 2021.

The current civil war is a setback to moves to restore democracy that received a boost when the two signed a framework agreement in December with civil groups to transition to civilian rule.

Battered by decades of military coups and civil wars, Sudan's economy and society have been extremely fragile requiring international assistance to stave off starvation and the latest conflict has made the situation worse.

Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths said that 15.8 million people were in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
POND IoT Launches 5G On 3 Networks "..We are thrilled to be one of the first to offer our customers 5G connectivity on all three providers, on a single SIM card."

POND IoT is excited to announce that its the first US carrier to offer 5G access to all three major operators (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) on a single SIM card.

The introduction of 5G technology represents a significant milestone for the IoT industry, and POND is thrilled to be at the forefront of this exciting development. With the companys 5G-enabled SMART SIM, customers can now enjoy faster download and upload speeds, lower latency, and increased capacity, all while using the same SIM card across multiple carriers.

By offering this technology, POND IoT enables customers to connect to a wider network without needing multiple SIM cards or contracts. This simplifies the process of managing IoT connectivity and reduces costs.

"As a company that is committed to innovation, we are thrilled to be one of the first to offer our customers 5G connectivity on all three providers, on a single SIM card," said Igor Kamenetsky, CRO at POND IoT. "With this new development, our customers can now experience the benefits of 5G technology across multiple carriers, making it easier than ever to connect and communicate with their devices."

With this new offering, POND IoT continues to deliver on its promise of providing the most advanced IoT connectivity solutions for businesses and wholesale.

For more information on PONDs 5G-enabled SMART SIM, you can contact the company here.

About POND: POND mobile, the parent company of POND IoT, was founded in 2011. With offices worldwide and subscribers in over 150 countries, the US-based MVNO was the worlds first global mobile operator. In 2018, POND mobile launched its B2B division, which was renamed POND IoT in 2023, to address the challenges of rigid wireless plans, poor customer support, and unpredictable policies. Headquartered in New Jersey, the company offers revolutionary IoT solutions for domestic and international customers. This includes real-time GPS tracking and monitoring, multi-network cellular services for voice & data across 800+ networks worldwide, custom solutions as well as solutions for enterprise and wholesale, and more. Visit https://www.pondiot.com/ for more information.
We are excited to welcome AquaLines customers to the Quench family, said Ryan Hartley, Vice President of Corporate Development for Quench. This acquisition enhances our presence and capabilities in one of the most important markets in the United States.

Quench, a leading provider of filtered water solutions for businesses and dealer partners across North America, announced today that it has acquired AquaLine Pure Water Services of Boston, MA. Founded in 1997, AquaLine is a long-standing dealer of Waterlogic-branded water coolers and ice machines in the Boston Metro area.

We are excited to welcome AquaLines customers to the Quench family, said Ryan Hartley, Vice President of Corporate Development for Quench. This acquisition enhances our presence and capabilities in one of the most important markets in the United States.

This is a great day for our customers, said Jeff Long, Founder and President of AquaLine. Quench is the standout leader in the industry, offering world-class customer service and an unmatched product line. Given the outstanding level of support we received as a dealer, Im confident that our customers are in great hands.

The acquisition of AquaLine demonstrates Quenchs ongoing commitment to provide lucrative exit opportunities for dealers in the point-of-use water filtration industry.

More on Quenchs acquisition process can be found at https://quenchwater.com/acquisitions/ or by contacting our acquisition team directly at acquisitions@quenchonline.com

About Quench

Quench USA, Inc. offers bottle-free filtered drinking water solutions for healthy and environmentally conscious consumers outside the home, through direct sales and independent dealers across North America. Our bottle-free water coolers, ice machines, sparkling water dispensers and coffee brewers purify a users existing water supply to provide reliable and convenient filtered water across a broad mix of businesses, such as government, education, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and other industries, including more than half of the Fortune 500. Headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, Quench has sales and service operations across North America to serve our 120,000+ customers, and a network of more than 300 independent dealers selling products under the brand names Pure Water Technology, and Wellsys, and Waterlogic. Quench is a Culligan Company. For more information, please visit https://quenchwater.com.

About Culligan

Founded in 1936 by Emmett Culligan, Culligan is a world leader in delivering water solutions that will improve the lives of its customers. The company offers some of the most technologically advanced, state-of-the-art water filtration and treatment products. Culligan's products include water softeners, drinking water systems, whole-house systems and solutions for businesses. Culligan's network of franchise dealers is the largest in the world, with over 900 dealers in 90 countries. For more information visit: http://www.culligan.com.
WPPI offered attendees 68 interactive photo walks to hone their photographic skills. "The energy is back at WPPI. The aisles were packed, the classrooms were standing room only and the special events and networking parties were incredibly well attended."

Not since 2019 has the WPPI conference and trade show for wedding and portrait photographers experienced more attendees, exhibitors, interactive classes, and most importantly  energy  than it enjoyed in 2023. Held at The Mirage in Las Vegas, the five-day conference and event featured more than 30,000 square feet of exhibit space filled with household brands including Canon, Nikon, and Fuji. The conference hosted 68 interactive photo walks, 63 seminars resulting in 94 hours of education, and numerous Photo Bays for a truly interactive experience for attendees. Special events and networking parties helped add to the undeniable energy and enthusiasm felt throughout the conference.

The energy is back at WPPI. The aisles were packed, the classrooms were standing room only and the special events and networking parties were incredibly well attended," exclaimed George Varanakis, Strategic Advisor to Emeralds Photo Group, which includes WPPI, Portrait Masters, and The Portrait System Powered by Sue Bryce. We had eight weeks to turn this around and we couldnt be happier on how WPPI 2023 turned out. Weve already started planning for 2024, he added.

The trade show floor at WPPI was filled with industry manufacturers demonstrating the latest in camera and lens technology, as well as innovative lighting and studio gear, and a wide range of accessories for the wedding and portrait photographer. Many exhibitors also hosted in-booth seminars, hands-on demos, and other interactive activities including a wide range of photos bays where attendees could photograph live models in a variety of studio settings using the latest imaging technology. The expo also included the WPPI Lounge and Stage where numerous podcasts featured interviews with exhibitors and photographers. The aisles remained full throughout the event, and exhibitors were treated to an active trade show floor reminiscent of pre-pandemic times.

Throughout the entire five-day conference, attendees had an opportunity to participate in 68 photo walks, which were sponsored by exhibitors including Fuji, Canon, and StellaPro, and led by some of the photo industrys leading photographers and educators. In addition to the photo walks, 63 seminar classes and five new Photo Mastery classes provided nearly 100 hours of education on a variety of topics including lighting, posing, and the business of photography, among other topics.

Networking events are a critical lifeline to members of the photographic community and WPPI coordinated several events throughout the conference beginning with the conferences opening night party sponsored by Fujifilm. Nikon sponsored the WPPI Shootout, which gave attendees an opportunity to watch four photographers go head-to-head to see who could create the best photographs in a few minutes using the same model, lights, and props. And the closing night party celebrated the conferences 1980s theme with giveaways, more interactive photo-ops, and lots of smiles and laughter. Just like it used to be.

About Emerald

Emeralds talented and experienced team grows our customers businesses 365 days a year through connections, content, and commerce. We expand connections that drive new business opportunities, product discovery, and relationships with over 140 annual events, matchmaking, and lead-gen services. We create content to ensure that our customers are on the cutting edge of their industries and are continually developing their skills. And we power commerce through efficient year-round buying and selling. We do all this by seamlessly integrating in-person and digital platforms and channels. Emerald is immersed in the industries we serve and committed to supporting the communities in which we operate. As true partners, we create experiences that inspire, amaze, and deliver breakthrough results. For more information, please visit http//http://www.emeraldx.com/

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In a landmark achievement, the first shipment of independently-certified low-carbon ammonia from Saudi Arabia has arrived in Japan for use as fuel in power generation. It represents another milestone in the development of this lower-carbon energy solution.

The shipment is the result of a successful multiparty collaboration across the low-carbon ammonia value chain. The ammonia was produced by Sabic Agri-Nutrients (Sabic AN) with feedstock from Aramco, and sold by Aramco Trading Company to the Fuji Oil Company (FOC).

The low-carbon ammonia that reached Japan is part of broader efforts by Aramco and Sabic AN to establish a global supply network for this lower-carbon fuel. Aramco and Sabic AN aim to supply low-carbon ammonia to other players to meet their early demand needs.

Technical support

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) was tasked with shipping the liquid to Japan, then the low-carbon ammonia was transported to the Sodegaura Refinery for use in co-fired power generation, with technical support provided by Japan Oil Engineering Co (JOE).

The ammonia is categorised as low-carbon because CO2 from the associated manufacturing process was captured and utilised in downstream applications.

Japans Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has announced plans to increasingly harness ammonia as a fuel for power generation and for ship propulsion, as part of the countrys 2050 decarbonisation goals.

Another milestone

Olivier Thorel, Aramco Senior Vice President of Chemicals, said: This is another milestone that highlights the possibilities for low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia made from Aramco feedstock, with the potential to play a role in a lower-carbon future.

Not only is low-carbon ammonia a means to transport lower-carbon hydrogen, it is an important energy source in its own right that can help decarbonise key sectors  including power generation for both utilities and industries. By dispatching this accredited low-carbon ammonia to Japan, we are helping chart a course for the development of this vital commodity.

Abdulrahman Shamsaddin, Sabic AN CEO, said: Our aim is to capitalise on this important milestone to grow and expand our positive contribution toward carbon neutrality. Sabic Agri-Nutrients made a public commitment not only to become carbon neutral by 2050 but also to collaborate with customers to help them achieve their net-zero emission targets.

Customers in the energy, fertiliser and chemical sectors are looking for suppliers of lower-carbon hydrogen and ammonia. And we can meet their demand by leveraging our long-standing strengths across the value chain.

Next-generation fuel

Shigeto Yamamoto, FOC Representative Director, President, said: As Japan aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, low-carbon ammonia is expected to be a next-generation fuel that can contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.

In order to reduce CO2 emissions from our own operations, we have been working on co-firing ammonia, which is a by-product of the petroleum refining process, in the boiler at our Sodegaura Refinery, and we plan to burn low-carbon ammonia imported this time with the cooperation of our partners in the same boiler. We will continue these efforts to contribute to the construction of the ammonia supply chain.

Mohammed Al-Mulhim, Aramco Trading Company CEO, said: This landmark achievement is an example of excellent collaboration across businesses within Aramco, Sabic, Aramco Trading and our Japanese partners, and indeed a major boost for our sustainability efforts.

Toshiaki Tanaka, MOL Representative Director, Executive Vice President Executive Officer, said: Ammonia is expected to be in great demand as a next-generation, clean energy source. Japan aims to achieve a carbon-neutral society by 2050, and we are very pleased to transport independently-certified low-carbon ammonia from Saudi Arabia to Japan.

Track record

We are aiming for a track record of safe, reliable services across multiple transportation modes, in accordance with our customers needs. By combining accumulated knowledge and proactively participating in a broad range of value chains, we hope to contribute to the decarbonisation of society.

In 2020, Aramco collaborated with Sabic to dispatch the worlds first shipment of low-carbon ammonia to Japan in a demonstration project. Then, in 2022, Aramco and Sabic AN received the worlds first independent accreditation for low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia products. By the end of that year, the two companies had delivered the worlds first accredited low-carbon ammonia shipment to South Korea. The latest shipment to Japan brings this lower-carbon energy solution one step closer to the mainstream.-- TradeArabia News Service
President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol will pay a state visit to the United States from April 24-29 to hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and mark the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance, a presidential official said Thursday, Trend reports citing Yonhap.

The summit will be held at the White House on April 26 following an official welcoming ceremony, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters.

In the evening, Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee will attend a state dinner.

On April 27, Yoon will deliver an address before a joint session of Congress before having lunch with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris. He will then move to an undisclosed location to receive a briefing from U.S. military leaders.

Later that day, Yoon will travel to Boston and hold discussions on April 28 with digital and bio scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will also deliver an address at Harvard University the same day.

Yoon will depart for Seoul on April 29.
We are both deeply entrenched in teaching and value student success, so we couldnt go forward with our teaching if any student has a solvable issue that hinders their ability to achieve their full potential, said Amelia Fox, assistant clinical professor of plant and soil sciences.

Distinguishing red and green traffic lights. Determining the correct orientation of a drone from color cues and markings. Discerning color-coded topography lines on maps. These are just some ways colorblindness affects more than 350 million individuals globally, including an estimated 1,200 of the nearly 28,000 Mississippi State University students, faculty and staff who are Color Vision Deficient (CVD) across every discipline.

Mississippi State faculty members in the plant and soil sciences and geosciences departments have partnered with EnChroma, makers of specially engineered glasses that can alleviate CVD obstacles, to improve learning and support for colorblind students.

EnChroma, based in Berkeley, California, will provide the glassesfor indoor and outdoor usefor all colorblind MSU students and staff to borrow from the Department of Geosciences. Amelia Fox, assistant clinical professor of plant and soil sciences, arranged for the purchase of the glasses via EnChromas Color Accessibility Program.

Fox searched for assistance from various departmental faculty members. Ultimately, she found Renee Clary, a professor in geosciences, who had a mutual desire to address colorblindness in the classroom and a shared passion for optimizing learning for colorblind students.

We are both deeply entrenched in teaching and value student success, so we couldnt go forward with our teaching if any student has a solvable issue that hinders their ability to achieve their full potential, Fox said. Together they gathered support to make EnChroma glasses for colorblindness available for loan to CVD students and staff on campus.

While the glasses do not restore ones color vision to normal, they do enable red-green colorblind students in any discipline to see an expanded range of color more clearly and better discern color differences. Within the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, the glasses will help colorblind students orient drones properly and sense the correct flight sequences and wire aircraft to fly. Within the Department of Geosciences, the glasses will help students differentiate topography lines on maps, landscape coloration and volcanic rock colors.Both Fox and Clary have had prior experience with colorblind students and individuals throughout their lives. Clary said by closely working with a graduate student who was colorblind, she was able to see the benefits of the accommodating devices firsthand.

When Dr. Fox reached out to me, I knew it was an important area we needed to address, Clary said. We need to accommodate our colorblind students so we can optimize their learning. The EnChroma glasses support the two types of color blindness: protan and deutan. Protan colorblind individuals do not perceive enough red color, while deutan colorblindness is the result of not perceiving enough green. To see images depicting how color blind students and faculty at MSU see colorful scenes on campus and in schoolwork click here.

Fox said she is confident that the glasses will provide a better academic experience for colorblind students. As teachers, we can fill in the gaps of our students through empathy and simple tools, such as these glasses, Fox said. A saying goes if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. But you need many tools in your toolbox if youre going to teach different students.

For more information on the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, visit http://www.pss.msstate.edu.

For more on the Department of Geosciences, within the College of Arts and Sciences, visit http://www.geosciences.msstate.edu.

For more on EnChroma, the effects of color blindness, its glasses or the Color Accessibility Program, visit http://www.enchroma.com or email accessibility@enchroma.com.

MSU is Mississippis leading university, available online at http://www.msstate.edu.
Appealing to Bookstores: How Authors Can Get Their Book onto Store Shelves Understanding the perspectives of bookstores is a question we hear frequently, and I'm confident authors will find this discussion enlightening and helpful," said Sandy Poirier Smith, CEO of Smith Publicity. "We are looking forward to another impactful webinar.

Top-ranked book marketing company Smith Publicity is set to host the next webinar in its 2023 quarterly series on April 26 at 2 pm EST. The session is titled "Appealing to Bookstores: How Authors Can Get Their Book onto Store Shelves, Plan a Successful Store-Hosted Event, and More."

The free webinar, open to all, will feature an informative and eye-opening discussion among expert guests Lynn Rosen, indie bookstore founder and current Manager at Barnes & Noble, and Kristine Peyre-Ferry, Director of Distribution at Greenleaf Book Group. Smith Publicity Publicist & Marketing Associate Olivia McCoy will lead the session.

Topics to be covered will include:



How bookstores determine which books they will stock;

How authors can get their books onto store shelves;

Best practices for planning a successful store-hosted author event, and much more.

Attendees will walk away with a behind-the-scenes look into the world of bookstores and a clear sense of how things operate from both the bookstore and the distribution sides. They will learn best practices and tips for working with bookstores.

Register Now to Attend Online on April 26 at 2 pm EST

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dquRZcgeTQC57rovmchf3Q

Appealing to Bookstores: How Authors Can Get Their Book onto Store Shelves, Plan a Successful Store-Hosted Event and More

Smith Publicity Webinars Answer Authors' Most Frequently Asked Questions

"Understanding the perspectives of bookstores is a question we hear frequently, and I'm confident authors will find this discussion enlightening and helpful," said Sandy Poirier Smith, CEO of Smith Publicity. "We are looking forward to another impactful webinar."

Depending on the topic, a veteran Smith Publicity book marketing professional leads each webinar, joined by other Smith PR experts or book industry partners.

The sessions are also recorded for future viewing and support Smith Publicity's commitment to making book publicity knowledge more widely available online to authors, publishers, and others connected to the field.

About Smith Publicity

Smith Publicity is the most prolific book marketing firm in the publishing industry today. It has worked with and promoted more than 4,000 authors and books since 1997. The Smith team of publicists creates campaigns for authors ranging from first-time self-published writers to New York Times bestsellers. The company's continuing success in various genres is a tribute to its uniqueness and ability to boldly and ingeniously innovate. More information about Smith Publicity, its webinars, staff, and book marketing services is available at https://www.smithpublicity.com
Mark Riley Naples Florida Luxury Real Estate Broker and Leader in Luxury Real Estate Rileys distinction stands on 43 years of experience in luxury real estate, including career sales of over $1.4 billion.

Luxury real estate is a prominent yet highly competitive market both in terms of buying and selling. Clientele Luxurys annual Hot 20 Luxury Agents List acknowledges agents and professionals who have reached the top of their respective regions markets. For 2023, Mark P. Riley, the owner and broker of Lux International Properties, made the roundup and fortified his status as someone to watch in Floridas luxury real estate market. Recently he had a record sale of 7 Million in the Residences at Mercato located in Naples.

Rileys distinction stands on 43 years of experience in luxury real estate, including career sales of over $1.4 billion. Riley prides his success on dedication and a versatile skill set, including negotiating deals, attention to detail, impeccable customer service, expansive market knowledge, and repositioning skills.

His prowess extends beyond the Naples area to deals in Dubai, Stockholm, London, Cannes, and Mougins, France. He enhances this perspective with his interest in yachting, which, beyond enjoyment, allows him to explore coastal real estate from another angle. In 2022, Clientele Luxury magazine reached out to Riley for his professional insights into the Naples, Florida, luxury real estate market. He described the community situated on the Gulf of Mexico as a fusion of European charm and paradise with lower state income taxes and ideal for both investments and for those interested in working from home. His outlook reflects Naples recent transformation from a vacation market of second or third homes into a residential community attracting families.

Outside of real estate, Riley believes in giving back to his community. He and Lux International Properties engage in multiple philanthropic ventures, including supporting Habitat for Humanity, St. Matthews House, Youth Haven and the Make a Wish Foundation, among other organizations.

About Clientele Luxury

Clientele Luxury magazine made its debut in Fall 2013, highlighting travel destinations, style, and ultra- luxury properties and real estate agents from across the United States. For the past decade, Editor-in-Chief Erin Green and Senior Editor Irene Test have captured their audience with noteworthy content geared toward the affluent, and many of the original featured agents continue to partner with the now- established magazine to access and gain visibility among a high net-worth target audience. At the same time, the magazines spreads present the homes through detailed imagery and pair them with engaging content geared toward buyers considering ultra-luxury properties. Along with the Global magazine, Clientele Luxury publishes its Top 10 Homes in the USA edition seasonally, geared toward $200,000,000 or higher net worth individuals, and the biannual BESPOKE, focusing on luxury properties and travel destinations. Considering the full luxury experience of travel and exploration, the magazine continues to carve out a niche by showcasing interior designers, creative individuals, and some of the worlds most sought-after travel destinations.

@clienteleluxury
Karolina's prosthetic leg from Shriners Children's Boston She is truly a hero for everything she has been through.

A 7-year-old girl, who lost both her legs during an artillery strike in Ukraine, has gained the ability to walk again after receiving prosthetic legs and undergoing extensive rehabilitation at Shriners Childrens Boston.

Karolina came to Shriners Childrens Boston in February. During her first weeks, the rehabilitation team in Boston focused on building Karolinas strength and balance before being fitted for prosthetic legs. The prosthetics and orthotics team from Shriners Childrens New England in Springfield, Massachusetts, fabricated and made weekly adjustments to the prostheses to ensure Karolinas comfort and function. Through daily physical therapy sessions, Karolina quickly mastered the use of her prosthetic legs. By late March, she was ready to go home.

Karolinas perseverance and positive attitude were an inspiration to her care team.

Karolina picked up the use of her prosthetics possible faster than any other child I have worked with, said Hilary Smith-Chong, physical therapist at Shriners Childrens Boston.

Working with Karolina has been incredibly rewarding, said Brock McConkey, manager of the pediatric orthotics and prosthetics department at Shriners Childrens New England. She is truly a hero for everything she has been through.

Since the war began, 11 Ukrainian children have received treatment in the Shriners Childrens health care system  five at Shriners Childrens Boston. Karolinas care was coordinated between Shriners Childrens and Ukraine House, the foundation established by Ukrainian President and First Lady Zelensky. Relationships with additional humanitarian and government agencies were also integral to helping Karolina and other Ukrainian patients at Shriners Childrens Boston, including the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine, and the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York, along with assistance from the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security.

Ukraines medical infrastructure is understandably challenged at this time, said Kenneth G. Kenny Craven, Imperial Potentate (president) of Shriners International and chairman of the board of directors for Shriners Childrens. As our health care system continues to expand its global care network, our partnerships with organizations all over the world are growing. This helps increase access to our specialized care so our clinicians can help treat more children like Karolina.

Shriners Childrens is changing lives every day through innovative pediatric specialty care, world-class research and outstanding medical education. Our multiple locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico provide advanced care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate. All care is provided regardless of the families ability to pay. Shriners Childrens has treated more than 1.5 million children from more than 180 countries over the last 100 years.

For more information on the care provided by Shriners Childrens, go to shrinerschildrens.org

View and download video: https://shriners.vids.io/videos/ea9fd8b41f14edc563/karolina-2023-story-v4
Nine attorneys from global law firm Greenberg Traurigs Tokyo office were recognized in the 14th edition of The Best Lawyers in Japan and second edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan.

Inclusion in these guides is based on peer reviews of the attorneys professional abilities provided by colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area, according to the Best Lawyers website. The Best Lawyers in Japan recognizes attorneys who have been in private practice for 10 or more years, while Ones to Watch highlights attorneys who are earlier in their careers.

Below is the full list of Greenberg Traurig attorneys recognized in the 14th edition of The Best Lawyers in Japan:

Mori Inada



Real Estate Law

Joseph Kim



Project Finance and Development Practice

Yuji Ogiwara



Labor and Employment Law

Litigation

Koichiro Ohashi



Banking and Finance Law

Insolvency and Reorganization Law

Private Equity

Private Funds and Venture Capital Law

Capital Markets Law

Investment and Investment Funds

Joel H. Rothstein



Real Estate Law

The following Greenberg Traurig attorneys were recognized in the second edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Japan:

Sayaka Ishimoto



Intellectual Property Law (Non-Patent)

Ippei Suzuki



Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law

Mitsuru Tadatsu



Intellectual Property Law (Non-Patent)

Keijiro Yodozawa



Project Finance and Development Practice

About Greenberg Traurigs Asia Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Asia Practice regularly represents companies throughout China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan in their business dealings in the United States and abroad. The firm also advises U.S. and European companies engaging in transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Attorneys provide strategic advice and legal services in connection with mergers and acquisitions, financings and securitization activities, intellectual property, trade and governmental strategies, international dispute resolution, infrastructure and project finance, export controls, and business immigration issues. The practice brings together attorneys based in the firms Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo offices along with numerous multilingual attorneys from across Greenberg Traurigs global organization with experience handling client matters in Asia.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2650 attorneys in 45 locations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The firm is a 2022 BTI Highly Recommended Law Firm for superior client service and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law Global 100 and NLJ 250. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab. The firm is recognized for powering its U.S. offices with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program and is a member of the U.S. EPAs Green Power Partnership Program. The firm is known for its philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
It is vital that evidence-based lifestyle interventions always remain at the center of any comprehensive treatment plan, not only to treat people who are overweight or obese but also to treat many other preventable chronic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has published an official position statement for the treatment of overweight and obesity, affirming the role of compassionate, evidence-based lifestyle interventions as the foundation of comprehensive treatment, with or without surgeries or medications as adjunctive therapies.

The statement says that the patients best interests call for treatment to address the six lifestyle pillars as defined by ACLM: regular physical activity, whole-food, plant-predominant nutrition, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connection, and avoidance of risky substances. However, the statement acknowledges each individuals lived environment and genetic predisposition, as many people live in a home or societal environment that promotes and exacerbates weight gain.

While adequately dosed lifestyle interventions may unilaterally achieve success, obesity is a complex, multifactorial disease wherein patients may require approaches beyond lifestyle alone, the statement says. However, lifestyle interventions are too often not adequately dosed for success. Lifestyle medicine clinicians are trained to prescribe a therapeutic dose of all six pillars. Evidence supports the efficacy of these interventions in addressing the underlying causes of disease, including gut dysbiosis, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and chronic inflammation.

Furthermore, a comprehensive lifestyle medicine approach prevents and treats many co-morbidities associated with overweight and obesity, including, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and arthritis, and a lifestyle medicine approach can also reduce the risk of many types of cancer, the statement said. Three in four adults are overweight or have obesity, according to the CDC.

The more tools clinicians have available to treat patients who have overweight or obesity, the better," said Beth Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, ACLM President and Clinical Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. As ACLMs position statement makes clear, it is vital that evidence-based lifestyle interventions always remain at the center of any comprehensive treatment plan, not only to treat people who are overweight or obese but also to treat many other preventable chronic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. We here at ACLM stand ready to partner with organizations working to alleviate the burden of chronic conditions, and we have a plethora of resources to share.

ACLM has resources available to help clinicians and patients in treatment of adult and pediatric overweight and obesity.

ACLM provides pre-professional, graduate, residency and CME/CE educational programs and curricula for physicians and other health professionals, certification in lifestyle medicine, plus lifestyle medicine practice support to members. ACLM is a content provider to AMA Ed Hub, the American Medical Associations (AMA) comprehensive online learning platform that supports the learning, licensure and certification needs of physicians and other health professionals. Read ACLMs full position statement for the treatment of overweight and obesity here.

ABOUT ACLM

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine is the nations medical professional society advancing lifestyle medicine as the foundation for a redesigned, value-based and equitable healthcare delivery system, leading to whole person health. ACLM educates, equips, empowers and supports its members through quality, evidence-based education, certification and research to identify and eradicate the root cause of chronic disease, with a clinical outcome goal of health restoration as opposed to disease management. http://www.lifestylemedicine.org
The Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowships in China Studies provide critical support for the next generation of scholars who are deepening our understanding of Chinas diverse cultural and political past and present.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce the 2023 Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowships in China Studies, recognizing 15 exceptional pre-tenure scholars at institutions in the US, Canada, and Europe. The Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies is made possible by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The 2023 Early Career Fellowships support emerging scholars whose research centers on Chinas societies, histories, cultures, environment, art, and global impact. This years awards total $525,000, including 10 long-term fellowships, which allow recent PhDs to take leave from university responsibilities for research and writing, and five flexible fellowships, which enable emerging scholars with heavy teaching and service responsibilities to carry out and advance their projects.

Learn more about the 2023 Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellows in China Studies and their projects.

The Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowships in China Studies provide critical support for the next generation of scholars who are deepening our understanding of Chinas diverse cultural and political past and present, said ACLS President Joy Connolly. Through our fruitful partnership with the Luce Foundation, ACLS is proud to help foster a community of interdisciplinary scholars who are making vital contributions to China studies. The new fellows exciting research explores topics such as the environmental history of modern China from the perspective of coastal communities, the relationship between artistic eccentricity and disability art in eighteenth century Yangzhou, and the impact of China's long-standing medical programs in South Sudan. At a time when tense relations between China and the United States dominate the headlines, we believe that scholarship, which helps bring people together by freely sharing knowledge, is more important than ever.

The 2023 fellows will be invited to join a diverse group of scholars, fellows, and practitioners at a summer retreat in New York to share their research and discuss the future of the program and the field.

In 2021, ACLS embarked on a three-year bridging initiative with the Luce Foundation to reassess and reconfigure the Program in China Studies. As part of this initiative, ACLS published the China Studies in America report and continues to convene scholars at all ranks, higher education leaders, journalists, and others to re-imagine and transform the program to meet the needs of China studies in the 21st century.

Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 79 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member organizations, ACLS utilizes its $155+ million endowment and $37 million annual operating budget to expand the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship. In all aspects of our work, ACLS is committed to principles and practices in support of racial and social justice.

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering international understanding. Established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., the Luce Foundation advances its mission through grantmaking and leadership programs in the fields of Asia, higher education, religion and theology, art, and public policy.
The Aragon Research Globe for Transformation Platform as a Service (tPaaS), 2023 The tPaaS market goes well beyond iPaaS and EiPaaS by enabling organizations to integrate their business strategy, models and emerging technologies needed to support digital business transformation. - VP of Research, Betsy Burton.

On Thursday, April 20, 2023, Aragon Research released the annual Aragon Research Globe for Transformation Platform as a Service (tPaaS), 2023.

Aragon Researchs latest report examines the following 12 major technology providers in the tPaaS market:

Adaptris, Boomi, CData, Celigo, IBM, Informatica, Microsoft, MuleSoft, SnapLogic, Oracle, Workato, and TIBCO.

Business transformation is a critical business issue for many organizations as they work toward rebuilding and reimagining their business in the new normal. Business transformation requires an equal investment in business and technology tools and services. The challenge for businesses is finding partners that can help them transform their business and support the services they need to create business transformation solutions. Thats where Transformation Platform as a Service (tPaaS) vendors come in.

The tPaaS market consists of the set of providers of cloud services that specifically enable customers to reimagine and transform their business by providing business modeling and process modeling capabilities, critical digital business services, and integration services to new and emerging technologies.

The Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) and Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service (EiPaaS) markets have made a huge impact on how businesses support an integrated and technology architecture, but they are not enough. says Aragons VP of Research, Betsy Burton. The tPaaS market goes well beyond iPaaS and EiPaaS by enabling organizations to integrate their business strategy, models and emerging technologies needed to support digital business transformation.

Aragon Research is predicting that this new market  the tPaaS market  will continue to emerge quickly due to customer demand and a desire by iPaaS providers to grow their market. Notably, Aragon Research is the first analyst company to identify, define, and categorize this market.

The Aragon Research Globe for Transformation Platform as a Service (tPaaS), 2023 serves to help decision-makers differentiate the many vendors that offer enterprises the tools for pursuing business outcomes while dynamically adjusting goals as work is completed.

About Aragon Research

Aragon Research delivers high-impact visual research, consulting, and advisory services to provide enterprises the insight they need to make better technology and strategy decisions. Aragon Research serves business and IT leaders and has a proven team of veteran analysts. For more information, visit https://www.aragonresearch.com/.
Recognizing and Celebrating Innovation that Advances Life Sciences Research This year, our panel of peer judges was particularly impressed with data commons efforts, augmented design experiments, and proven efforts to streamline and optimize the research progress.

Bio-IT World today announced the 2023 Innovative Practices Awards winners. Six projects were honored; companies involved in the winning entries included AbbVie, Inc. Information Research; Bayer G4A; Carenostics; City of Hope; Generate Biomedicines; Hackensack Meridian Health; Higher Steaks; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; SciBite; and Synthace. The awards ceremony will be held during the opening plenary program on Tuesday, May 16, at the 2023 Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston.

Since 2003, Bio-IT World has hosted an elite awards program with the goal of highlighting outstanding examples of how technology innovations and strategic initiatives can be applied to advance life sciences research. This years winning projects represent excellence in innovation in the categories of Informatics, Personalized & Translational Medicine, Knowledge Management, Research, Laboratory Technology, and Clinical Diagnostics.

Each year, the Innovative Practices Awards call out the highest levels of collaboration and creativity, said Allison Proffitt, Bio-IT World Editorial Director. This year, our panel of peer judges was particularly impressed with data commons efforts, augmented design experiments, and proven efforts to streamline and optimize the research progress.

2023 Bio-IT World Innovative Practices Awards Winners

Here are the six winning groups and their projects, as described in their own words.

AbbVie

Project: AbbVie R&D Convergence Hub (ARCH)

The AbbVie R&D Convergence Hub (ARCH), is driving convergence in AbbVie R&D as a central knowledge platform that brings together harmonized, normalized, and curated data from over 170 internal and external sources. Giving scientists across R&D access to this integrated knowledge platform provides them unparalleled access and potential to extract insights and generate hypotheses in novel and powerful ways. Helping AbbVies community of researchers to access this knowledge faster, easier, and in automated ways is leading towards a goal to double the productivity of AbbVie R&D. Ultimately, the ARCH and the applications and utilities developed from it are already helping AbbVie to deliver innovative medicines and solutions to patients.

City of Hope nominated by SciBite Limited

Project: POSEIDON - Precision Oncology Software Environment Interoperable Data Ontologies Network

Precision Oncology Software Environment Interoperable Data Ontologies Network (POSEIDON) is an enterprise-wide data platform developed by The City of Hope Research Informatics and the Center for Precision Medicine to support their precision medicine program. Built on the DNAnexus technology stack with custom features and functionality created by City of Hope Research Informatics, POSEIDON unifies patient data and comprehensive germline and somatic genomic profiling for every patient, supporting data from more than 670,000 patients. Within the POSEIDON platform, SciBite supports data armonization; with data standards being managed with CENtree, SciBites award winning ontology management platform and normalization being provided by SciBites named entity recognition engine, TERMite. POSEIDON enables de-identified and harmonized clinical and multi-omic data to be analysed and visualised by researchers, supporting cohort discovery and exploration as well as preliminary feasibility testing to derive patient specific insights from real world data (RWD) and real-word evidence (RWE). POSEIDON supports clinico-genomic research at City of Hope, driving the development of more effective therapeutics and improving outcomes.

Generate Biomedicines

Project: Intrinsically Digital, Audaciously Ambitious: Building a data platform to support ML-driven drug discovery

Generate Biomedicines goal of leveraging machine-learning powered generative biology to discover and develop new drugs faster and cheaper is supported by an integrated and cohesive R&D data platform. This platform creates a common source of truth for the research organization with robust and nimble data modeling capabilities, flexible integrations with third-party software, and a core suite of powerful tools designed to streamline research and maximize the value of experimental results. FAIR to its core, this integrated data platform leverages industry best practices and lessons-learned from a talented team of informatics engineers to form the critical foundation of a unique company with equal parts bio and tech.

The Hackensack Meridian Health & Carenostics CKD Collaboration, nominated by Bayer G4A

Project: AI for earlier clinical intervention in chronic kidney disease

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a leading cause of mortality, affecting >800M people worldwide. Early detection and intervention have been shown to slow disease progression, saving lives and reducing costs. Unfortunately, ~85% of CKD cases are estimated to be undiagnosed. To tackle this, Carenostics has developed machine learning (ML) models that have retrospectively identified 50% of the undiagnosed CKD population at 3x the specificity of current testing practices. Carenostics is deploying these models into clinical practice at Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH), an 18-hospital health system with >6M patient records. The solution identifies undiagnosed & untreated CKD patients using existing EHR data, addresses health inequities through bias-adjusted ML, and activates clinicians with an intuitive, EHR-integrated interface. In the next 12 months, Carenostics projects to help HMH diagnose 50,000 previously undiagnosed CKD patients and will expand its platform to help HMH identify and proactively treat patients with other chronic diseases.

Higher Steaks nominated by Synthace

Project: DOE-led media optimization for porcine stem cell lines

HigherSteaks is a lab-grown meat company on a mission to reduce traditional meat consumption by having a 5% share of the global pork market by 2030. HigherSteaks is ushering in a new era of sustainable food production through lab-grown meat and is doing so through design of experiments (DOE) to accelerate media optimization, and by running factor screens based on different cell lines of porcine stem cells. Synthace, a life sciences SaaS platform, and HigherSteaks core experimental solution, allows them to use DOE and fractional factorialsscreening 22 factors, as well as interaction profiles, in only 320 experimental runs. Synthace saved HigherSteaks 6-9 months of work and delivered an optimized media for pig stem cells 15x cheaper compared to commercial media. This experiment proves the concept, and demonstrates the viability, of DOE methodologies for the cultured meat sector, without additional lab investment.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Project: Regeneron Optimization of Instruments (ROI)

Regeneron's Research and Preclinical Development organization invests millions of dollars each year to acquire and operate specialized lab instruments that support scientists in the discovery of potential new medicines. To optimize the usage of these instruments across finite lab space, a project was undertaken to measure instrument utilization. We sought to answer questions like: Are there opportunities to better utilize existing instruments? and Could we plan and budget more effectively if we better understood existing instrument usage? Additionally, this data enables new opportunities to optimize instrument maintenance and other lab processes to increase the likelihood Regeneron is achieving the most value from its investments. Regeneron is now measuring utilization across 600 of the most expensive and/or lab space constrained instruments and using this data to make informed decisions to change processes or defer capital purchases that optimize utilization of a given instrument.

Beyond the Innovative Practices Awards, the conference & expo is packed full with 12 unique tracks, 2 symposia, workshops, a Hackathon, Best of Show Awards, exhibit hall of 150+ leading technology service providers, and networking receptions and activities. Visit https://www.bio-itworldexpo.com for more information and to register.

About Bio-IT World Conference & Expo

For over 20 years, the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo has been the worlds premier event showcasing technologies and analytic approaches that solve problems, accelerate science, and drive the future of precision medicine. Bio-IT World unites a community of leading life sciences, pharmaceutical, clinical, healthcare, informatics and technology experts in the field of biomedical research, drug discovery & development, and healthcare from around the world.

About Cambridge Healthtech Institute

Cambridge Healthtech Institute  Your Life Science Network

Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic organizations. CHIs portfolio of products includes Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Barnett Educational Services, Cambridge Meeting Planners and Healthtech Publishing, which includes publications such as Bio-IT World, Clinical Informatics News, and Diagnostics World, as well as numerous e-newsletters. Founded in 1992, Cambridge Healthtech Institute strives to develop quality information sources that provide valuable new insights and competing points of view while offering balanced coverage of the latest developments. Basic research related to commercial implications is covered, with a heavy emphasis placed on end-user insights into new products and technology as well as coverage on the strategy behind the business. The executive team has a combined 170+ years of experience and drives the CHI portfolio to deliver cutting-edge information and the most up-to-date research.
The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, being built by Rosatom in southern Turkey can withstand magnitude 9.0 earthquake, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said in an interview for TRT Wednesday, Trend reports citing TASS.

"We are approaching completion of construction of the Akkuyu NPP. On April 27, the first nuclear fuel will be delivered [to the power plant.] The project was designed to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake. But, if you look at a seismological map, youll see that there are no [earth crust] fault lines nearby," he underscored.

Donmez also speculated that negotiations on construction of the second nuclear power plant may be completed this year. The media reported earlier that Ankara discusses such option with Moscow.
The atmospheric changes that bring on severe storms produce events that are geographically large with irregular shapes, said Tom Larsen, senior director of Insurance Solutions at CoreLogic.

CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, released its 2023 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report, which analyzes the risk of severe convective storms in the United States, including straight-line winds, tornadoes, hail and severe thunderstorms.

As evidenced by the March 31 severe storms responsible for more than 500 reports of tornadoes and hail from Texas to Ohio, data shows severe convective storm season peaks from March through June. These events are among the most frequent and damaging natural hazards in the country, causing the biggest weather-related property damage nationwide. As a result, it is also the most important time for insurance providers to assess their risk and implement measures to safeguard policyholders against future perils.

CoreLogics risk models estimate severe convective storms account for an average annual loss of more than $17 billion among the insured, with hail damage accounting for more than $11 billion of those losses. In 2022, 11 severe convective storm events caused losses that equaled more than $1 billion.

The atmospheric changes that bring on severe storms produce events that are geographically large with irregular shapes, said Tom Larsen, senior director of Insurance Solutions at CoreLogic. Accurate risk assessment to inform preparation is critical for insurance companies and communities alike as severe weather events increase in severity and frequency with climate change.

Metro Area and State Implications

Using its real-time Weather Verification technology and monitoring, CoreLogic examined the top 5 states that sustained the greatest amount of damage within the U.S. in 2022:



Extreme winds in excess of 80 mph associated with severe convective storm activity affected more than half a million homes in 2022 with Texas, South Carolina, California, South Dakota and Indiana among the top five.

In 2022, more than a million homes in the U.S. were damaged by hailstorms, with Texas, Minnesota, Arkansas, Nebraska and Iowa being the hardest-hit states.

Almost 8,000 homes across the U.S. were affected by tornado damage in 2022, with approximately 233 homes immediately impacted by the wind spiral of the tornado, with the remaining homes damaged from peripheral effects, primarily flying debris. Texas, Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Mississippi were the five states that sustained the most damage.

Note  the total number and map above includes extreme winds associated with hurricane activity. In Florida alone, 728,485 homes were impacted by winds greater than 80 mph, mostly attributed to Hurricane Ian.

To establish storm resilient communities and for insurers to improve response time and quickly repair damage from these events, CoreLogic has developed a series of artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning (ML) based digital tools and forensic information. These tools monitor storm activity and implement the best possible catastrophe response procedures for hazard-prone areas. Property insurers can evaluate areas with higher severe convective storm risk by using CoreLogic's Weather Verification Services.

To learn more, visit: https://www.corelogic.com/insurance/hazard-risk-solutions/.

Methodology

This analysis begins with knowing where the properties in the U.S. are and the details of their construction. CoreLogics SpatialRecord databases cover more than 99.99% of all properties in the United States. Granular data at the property level enables better decision-making at the county, state and national level. Used in millions of insurance, real estate and banking transactions in the U.S., this data is the common currency in risk assessment for insurance and real estate.

This analysis is enabled by the WeatherVerification technology within CoreLogics Reactor platform. Running nightly, advanced algorithms are run on weather radar and other data feeds to develop precise maps representing the peak intensity of each peril (i.e., hail stones, tornado winds, straight-line winds). These maps are geo-referenced to CoreLogic property data to develop a daily register of damaged homes. Aggregated over the 365 days in 2022 produces the cumulative number of homes damaged within the U.S.

CoreLogic risk scores are developed from a long-term history of granular Weather Verification risk quantification combined with meteorological conforming smoothing to account for regions with insufficient observation history. For individual properties, they represent the most comprehensive method to asses the risk of damage from severe storm effects.

To estimate the value of property exposure to single-family residences, CoreLogic uses its RCV methodology which estimates the cost to rebuild in the event of a total loss and is not to be confused with property market value or new construction cost estimation. Reconstruction cost estimates more accurately reflect the actual cost of damage or destruction repair of residential buildings that would occur from the incidence of destructive hail, extreme winds or the wind-borne debris in severe convective storm events because they include the cost of materials, equipment and labor needed to rebuild. These estimates also factor in geographical differences in pricing of labor and materials (actual land values are not included in the estimate). The values in the report based on 100% (or "total") destruction of the residential structure. Depending on the level of damage the repair costs may not produce a repair cost of 100% to the residence.

Source: CoreLogic

The data provided is for use only by the primary recipient or the primary recipient's publication or broadcast. This data may not be re-sold, republished or licensed to any other source, including publications and sources owned by the primary recipient's parent company without prior written permission from CoreLogic. Any CoreLogic data used for publication or broadcast, in whole or in part, must be sourced as coming from CoreLogic, a data and analytics company. For use with broadcast or web content, the citation must directly accompany first reference of the data. If the data is illustrated with maps, charts, graphs or other visual elements, the CoreLogic logo must be included on screen or website. For questions, analysis or interpretation of the data contact Robin Wachner at newsmedia@corelogic.com. Data provided may not be modified without the prior written permission of CoreLogic. Do not use the data in any unlawful manner. This data is compiled from public records, contributory databases and proprietary analytics, and its accuracy is dependent upon these sources.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.corelogic.com.

CORELOGIC and the CoreLogic logo are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.
Cybereason, the XDR company, today named entrepreneur and cybersecurity pioneer Zohar Alon as President of Cybereason Israel to oversee Product and R&D. He joins Cybereason with more than 25 years of industry experience and will be responsible for driving product strategy for the companys defense platform, which includes industry-leading XDR, EDR and EPP solutions.

Alon joins Cybereason to support the companys global growth and advance its innovation. The company recently secured $100 million in funding with SoftBank Corp. and announced its placement by Gartner, Inc. as a Leader in the 2022 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. Coupled with the companys historic success in the 2022 MITRE ATT&CK evaluations, the company is trusted throughout the world to end modern cyber attacks.

Alon is a cyber security pioneer, serial entrepreneur and investor. As one of the early employees at Check Point, Zohar created Provider-1, the first security management solution for MSSPs. Zohar was also a founder of Dome9 Security, which defined and led the Cloud Security Posture Management category before it was acquired by Check Point in 2018. Zohar additionally provides his guidance and expertise as a board member for several cyber security companies including FireFly, Blindspot Security, Adaptive Shield, Tamnoon and Holistic Cyber.

Joining Cybereason during this pivotal time is what excites me about the challenge ahead. The recent Gartner and MITRE recognition illustrates the many clear reasons why the company is trusted throughout the world to end cyberattacks. I look forward to leading Cybereasons next stage of product innovation. The companys proprietary MalOp (malicious operation) detection engine moves security teams from the alert-centric wasteland to the operation-centric efficiency demanded to end todays modern security threats, said Alon.

About Cybereason

Cybereason is the XDR company, partnering with Defenders to end attacks at the endpoint, in the cloud, and across the entire enterprise ecosystem. Only the AI-driven Cybereason Defense Platform provides predictive prevention, detection, and response that is undefeated against modern ransomware and advanced attack techniques. The Cybereason MalOp instantly delivers context-rich attack intelligence across every affected device, user, and system with unparalleled speed and accuracy. Cybereason turns threat data into actionable decisions at the speed of business. Cybereason is a privately held international company headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 40 countries.

Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words believe, may, will, potentially, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend, could, plan, expect, and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following: (i) whether or not the conditions to closing upon some or all of the Financing occur and/or if the Financing occurs at all (in whole or in part), (ii) whether or not regulatory approvals are obtained and/or events conditioned on the receipt of regulatory approvals occur at all, (iii) the potential for growth in the market for cloud-based security solutions (domestically and internationally) and future cybersecurity spending; (iv) our business plan and our ability to effectively manage our growth; (v) anticipated trends, growth rates and challenges in our business and in the markets in which we operate; and (vi) the ability of the Company to manage costs and find efficiencies and the sufficiency of our cash to meet our cash needs.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties. It is not possible for the Company to predict all risks, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. In addition, statements that we believe and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this press release, which may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These and all other forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and should not be relied upon.

Media Contact:

Bill Keeler

Senior Director, Global Public Relations Cybereason

bill.keeler@cybereason.com

(929) 259-3261


Crowley's Jeff Andreini, vice president of Wind Services (center left) is joined by Nancy Olson, president and CEO, Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce (center right), for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The establishment of our new office is just the start of our mutual actions to successfully invest in the region, workforce and sustainable wind energy in California. As we grow together, we are committed to achieving mutual success with the communities and people of the region.

Crowley has opened its first Wind Services office on the U.S. West Coast in Eureka, California, with a community event and ribbon-cutting that included a diverse array of regional leaders on Wednesday. The new office advances the partnership with the community to develop a terminal to serve as the West Coasts first hub for offshore wind energy installation at the Port of Humboldt Bay.

We are excited to advance our collaboration with the community to help create and support renewable, clean energy from offshore wind, said Jeff Andreini, vice president, Crowley Wind Services. The establishment of our new office is just the start of our mutual actions to successfully invest in the region, workforce and sustainable wind energy in California. As we grow together, we are committed to achieving mutual success with the communities and people of the region.

Crowley, a global logistics, maritime and energy solutions company, reached an agreement with the Port of Humboldt Bay to exclusively negotiate to build and operate the terminal. The company office is at the Carson Building in the historic Old Town of Eureka.

I'm pleased to welcome Crowley to our business community! I'm glad they've chosen to open a local office and look forward to engaging about our port's development and our shared economic future, said Humboldt County Supervisor Natalie Arroyo for District 4.

"We are excited about the opportunities Crowley brings to the table -- living-wage jobs, opportunities for local businesses to engage with them, and economic development for our community overall, said Nancy Olson, president and CEO, Greater Eureka Chamber of Commerce. In our early interactions with them, we've already found them very engaged and truly committed to being a vital asset to the Humboldt region. It is with true enthusiasm that we welcome them to town!"

Services at the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal will support tenants in the manufacturing, installation and operation of offshore wind floating platforms, the use of large heavy cargo vessels and provide crewing and marshalling services in the Pacific waters.

Port development can be a significant driver of job creation and economic prosperity for Humboldt County. Enhancing our port will create a range of employment opportunities, i.e., from construction jobs (during the building phase) to long-term employment for port operations, maintenance and logistics, said Scott Adair, director of economic development, Humboldt County. In addition, a modern port will help our community to attract port related industries and projects which will further stimulate our local economy. This is why we welcome Crowley as an important partner in Humboldt Countys strategy for developing workforce and economic opportunity, which is centered around port activity.

With federal and California setting goals to generate renewable energy from offshore wind, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management successfully awarded leases in December for five lease areas covering 373,268 total acres off the coast central and northern California. The Crowley-Humboldt terminal would support the personnel and services necessary to supply turbines and equipment as well as maintain the installations once operational. The leased areas have the potential to produce over 4.6 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power over 1.5 million homes.

The partnership that Port of Humboldt Bay has with Crowley will facilitate the first commercial scale fully assembled floating offshore wind platforms off California and position Humboldt Bay as the primary offshore wind port on the west coast, said Larry Oetker, executive director of the Port of Humboldt Bay.

Committed to reach net-zero emission and leading sustainability in its industries, Crowley is also developing and planning wind services terminals in Louisiana and Massachusetts. The companys CREST Wind joint venture with Danish company ESVAGT is building a service operations vessel (SOV) for Coastal Virginias major wind energy project in addition to Crowley providing feedering vessel services and other supply chain solutions.

About Crowley

Crowley is a privately held, U.S.-owned and -operated maritime, energy and logistics solutions company serving commercial and government sectors with $3.4 billion in annual revenues, over 170 vessels mostly in the Jones Act fleet and approximately 7,000 employees around the world  employing more U.S. mariners than any other company. The Crowley enterprise has invested more than $3.2 billion in maritime transport, which is the backbone of global trade and the global economy. As a global ship owner-operator and services provider with more than 130 years of innovation and a commitment to sustainability, the company serves customers in 36 nations and island territories through five business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions, Crowley Wind Services and Crowley Fuels. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at http://www.crowley.com.


Francois Lassalle and ukasz Walewski We know that our success as an agency is directly tied to the success of our clients. Our agency remains focused on the innovation and strategic growth necessary to meet the needs of our clients worldwide and provide them with the support and resources to remain leaders in their markets."

Furia Rubel Communications, Inc., an award-winning, integrated marketing and public relations agency, is pleased to announce the expansion of its global footprint with the addition of two international affiliates based in Western and Eastern Europe; Francois Lassalle based in France and ukasz Walewski based in Poland.

For more than 20 years, Furia Rubel has served legal industry clients internationally. The addition of international talent demonstrates the agencys commitment to building a diverse team of seasoned professionals with deep experience in the legal industry that reflects the clients the agency serves.

We know that our success as an agency is directly tied to the success of our clients, said Jennifer Simpson Carr, the agencys vice president of strategic development who supports the agency and clients in establishing their competitive advantage. Our agency remains focused on the innovation and strategic growth necessary to meet the needs of our clients worldwide and provide them with the support and resources to remain leaders in their markets."

Based in France, Lassalle is an international business leader who has served in various senior positions in the legal industry, including at Dentons, the largest multinational law firm in the world, Linklaters, a member of the "Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms, and the British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre (BVI IAC).

Lassalle is a results-driven, strategic leader with more than 20 years of experience developing and leading organizations, teams, ventures and business transitions in the legal, financial and nonprofit sectors. He possesses the ability to shape and implement strategies, and to establish key internal and external alliances.

I am thrilled to join forces with Furia Rubel and to be part of such a dynamic team of professionals, said Lassalle. With the integration of international talent, Furia Rubel is positioned to expand its growth and success. I look forward to bringing my experience and expertise to the team and contributing to the agencys continued excellence in serving clients around the world.

Based in Poland, Walewski is a former international journalist with more than 14 years of experience at ZDF German tv, Polish National Radio Channel III, Radio ZET, TVN24, and Radio Cadena SER (Spain).

Walewski is a public and media relations professional, lecturer, publicist, and trainer on communication and business etiquette with a focus on the legal industry. He is also the author of six books on diplomacy and an online series on communications etiquette.

"In today's fast-paced world of media and business, where content is the king, the opportunity for transatlantic cooperation gives a significant advantage to those who know how to use it wisely, said Walewski. I feel extremely honored to be part of Furia Rubel, which joins forces in a global way and gives such opportunities to its clients. Good business and media relations, as is well known, are based on people. We add trust, knowledge, experience and commitment to it."

Over the past year, Furia Rubel has invested in new infrastructure, technology, cyber care platforms, and talent. The international affiliates will support the agency in maintaining a high-quality of service and diversity of perspectives for its clients.

Furia Rubel Marketing and Public Relations is a corporate communications and crisis management agency serving clients internationally. The certified woman-owned agency provides strategic planning, +marketing, public relations, crisis management, business development, content marketing, and social media services to a wide array of professional service clients. Furia Rubel represents law firms and legaltech organizations, financial, banking and accounting companies, governments and municipalities, and behavioral health and elder care organizations. For more information, visit http://www.furiarubel.com.
Dr. Robert Califf, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, addresses attendees from the main stage at Rx Summit. (Pierce Harman for HMP Global)

As xylazine and fentanyl-related overdose deaths continue to surge nationwide, more than 3,000 stakeholders from federal to family working to address this crisis gathered for HMP Globals 2023 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit, the largest annual meeting focused on prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Rx Summit was held April 10  13 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The educational program addressed a rapidly changing addiction and enforcement landscape, with expert-led sessions that incorporated evolving data and emerging threats with the most up-to-date information possible.

During Rx Summit:



Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), announced that the Biden-Harris administration officially designated fentanyl adulterated or associated with xylazine as an emerging threat to the United States. It is the first time this designation authority was used since it passed Congress in 2018.

By declaring xylazine combined with fentanyl as an emerging threat, we are being proactive in our approach to save lives and creating new tools for public health and public safety officials and communities across the nation, Gupta said.



A bipartisan congressional panel discussed federal policy and legislation that could help save lives. Panelists included U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Dean of the House and Rx Summit founder, and U.S. Reps. Earl L. Buddy Carter and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, David Trone of Maryland, and Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania. Panelists discussed securing the southern border, expanding access to live-saving naloxone, treatment for substance use disorder, and criminal justice reform.

Sam Rivera, Executive Director of OnPoint NYC and a speaker at Rx Summit, was named to TIME magazines 100 Most Influential People of 2023. The announcement came on April 13, the morning that Rivera spoke in a plenary session from the main stage at Rx Summit. Riveras work to help those with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) includes judgement-free support and connections to care, helping prevent death and hasten recovery.

HMP Education, a subsidiary of HMP Global, announced training opportunities aligned with new requirements for Drug Enforcement Administration registration. Earlier this year, President Biden signed into law the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act, requiring professionals who are renewing their DEA registration as of June 27, 2023, to have completed at least eight hours of opioid or other substance use disorder training. Accredited training for this requirement is available through Rx Summit and, later this spring, HMP Education is launching an online platform making this training accessible virtually.

The Ad Council worked with Rx Summit to raise awareness of the deadly consequences of fentanyl misuse. Through two powerful national campaigns, Drop the F*Bomb and The Real Deal on Fentanyl, the Ad Council is educating parents and youth on the dangers of misusing this synthetic opioid.

The Congressman Hal Rogers Beacon of Hope Award was presented to April Rovero, Founder and Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse (NCAPDA). Rovero leads all aspects of the organization and is active on numerous coalitions committed to addressing drug misuse. This award is awarded annually at Rx Summit to a changemaker working to address the addiction crisis and inspiring others to do the same.

With the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of over-the-counter Narcan, a rapid opioid reversal medication, Rx Summit featured sessions on naloxone (the active ingredient in Narcan) and making this life-saving drug more widely accessible. The Exhibit Hall also featured naloxone vending machines and other rapid response products and services, including automated healthcare kiosks, and mobile clinics.

Rx Summit is the largest national collaboration of professionals from local, state, and federal agencies, business, academia, treatment providers, and allied communities impacted by prescription drug misuse and illicit drug use. It is the leading event for decision-makers and allied professionals working to address this public health emergency.

Rx Summit has a strong focus on bringing people together across disciplines and across communities to network and develop strategies for prevention, treatment, and recovery, said Doug Edwards, Senior Vice President, HMP Education. The critical work being done at Rx Summit will ripple out into communities throughout the nation. As overdose deaths continue at alarming rates, it is vital to raise awareness of this issue and develop solutions that save lives.

The 2023 educational agenda included a diverse array of session topics along nine learning tracks: Clinical, Prevention  Overdose, Prevention  Primary, Public Safety, Advocacy, Treatment & Recovery, Technology, Trending Topics, and Illicit Drugs.

Rx Summit was a great opportunity to meet people and network, said Guanhui Chen, a post-graduate year 1 pharmacy resident and a presenter at Rx Summit. This is the biggest conference I have ever attended, and our session on xylazine was very well received. People approached us afterward and asked questions for 45 minutes.  It was an honor to be here.

Joanna Risby, managed care pharmacy resident with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said she had the opportunity to talk to people from multiple states about the role of pharmacies in the drug misuse and overdose crisis.

We are working to expand access into rural communities and end stigmas in Tennessee, she said. I had a lot of conversations about what other states are doing and how they are getting people on board with recovery. It was great to share ideas and hear different perspectives.

Participants and attendees included counselors, social workers, therapists, psychologists, and interventionists; physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists; advocates, families, and people in recovery; law enforcement and other first responders; and public health and prevention professionals.

For more information, visit rx-summit.com.

ABOUT HMP GLOBAL

HMP Global is the force behind Healthcare Made Practical  and is an omnichannel leader in healthcare content, events, and education, with a mission to improve patient care. The company produces accredited medical education events  in person and online via its proprietary VRTX virtual platform  and clinically relevant, evidence-based content for the global healthcare community across a range of therapeutic areas. Its brands include the HMP Global Learning Network, healthcare's most comprehensive source for news and information; Psych Congress, the largest independent mental health meeting in the U.S.; the Evolution of Psychotherapy, the worlds largest independent educational event for mental health professionals; the Leipzig Interventional Course (LINC), the leading, global gathering for interdisciplinary cardiovascular specialists; EMS World Expo, North America's largest EMT and paramedic event; and the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), the largest wound care meeting in the world. For more information, visit hmpglobal.com.
Mercy nurses gather in celebration of recognition in Baltimore magazine's 2023 "TOP NURSES" edition. Mercy nurses are noted for their expertise, leadership, and compassionate care. They continue to shine, and are extremely deserving of this recognition, said Dr. David Maine, President and CEO, Mercy Health Services.

Eleven Mercy Medical Center nurses have been recognized as among the best of the best in the region by Baltimore magazines 9th annual Excellence in Nursing Awards survey, May 2023 issue.

The survey attracted hundreds of nominations covering 28 different specialties over a 9-month period. Nominations were reviewed by a panel of nurse advisors who helped determine the winners. From Mercy, the following nurses were recognized:

Taqua Boston Soden, RN, CNOR, Clinical Nurse III, Bunting OR

Roshell Cabatingan, MSN, RN-BC, Informatics Nurse Specialist

Sara Carter, RN, Emergency Services

Ekua Dadson, BSN, RN, Bunting 16 - Orthopedics

Nina Dinglas, MSN, RN, CAPA, Clinical Nurse III, McAuley Surgery Center

David Greer, BSN, RN, CNOR, Team Lead, Clinical Nurse III, Crane OR

Kelly Hemphill-Jordan, MSN, RN, Clinical Nurse III, Bunting 14 Specialty Surgery

Jennifer Jasion, BSN, RN, CMSRN, Clinical Nurse III, Bunting 16 Orthopedics

M. Tracey Penaloza, MSN, RN, CNOR, Director of Perioperative Services

Erica Richardson, BSN, RN, Bunting 16 Orthopedics

Jennifer Surette, BSN, RN, Angiography

The magazine solicited nominations from peers, supervisors, and patients of registered nurses, both in and out of hospitals, who represent the finest in their field.

Mercy nurses are noted for their expertise, leadership, and compassionate care. They continue to shine, and are extremely deserving of this recognition, said Dr. David Maine, President and CEO, Mercy Health Services.

Mercy RNs are committed to staying at the forefront of nursing excellence to provide the best care possible for patients. Mercy nurses enhance their clinical practice skills via such programs as the Clinical Advancement Program and OR Nurse Residency Program. Mercy has nearly 250 nurses nationally certified in specialty care areas such as critical care, oncology, orthopedics, OR and inpatient obstetrics.

Mercys achievement in nursing is further evidenced by earning the coveted Magnet recognition. Magnet designation is a national standard for nursing excellence awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and one of the most prestigious nursing awards in the United States.

Mercy first earned Magnet recognition in 2011 and achieved re-designation most recently in 2021.

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) named Mercy a gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence recipient for its Critical Care Unit. The Beacon Award for Excellence is a significant milestone on the path to exceptional patient care and healthy work environments, recognizing unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACNs six Healthy Work Environment Standards.

Founded in 1874 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Medical Center is a university-affiliated hospital with a national reputation for womens health care. For more information about Mercy, visit http://www.mdmercy.com and MDMercyMedia on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.

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PHOTO CAPTION: (Front row, from left) Roshell Cabatingan, MSN, RN-BC; Nina Dinglas, MSN, RN, CAPA, Clinical Nurse III; Ekua Dadson, BSN, RN; Sara Carter, RN; Stacey Brull, DNP, RN, NE-BC, CNO & Vice President of Patient Care Services; Susan Finlayson, DNP, RN, NE-BC, Senior Vice President of Operations; (Middle row, from left) Erica Richardson, BSN, RN; Jennifer Surette, BSN, RN; Taqua Boston-Soden, RN, CNOR, Clinical Nurse III; Kelly Hemphill-Jordan, MSN, RN, Clinical Nurse III; (Back row, from left) Jennifer Jasion, BSN, RN, CMSRN, Clinical Nurse III; M. Tracey Penaloza, MSN, RN, CNOR (Not pictured: David Greer, BSN, RN, CNOR, Team Lead, Clinical Nurse III).
Mirek Wieczorek Named Senior Vice President, Head of Reinsurance for ICW Group Insurance Companies "Mireks leadership, industry knowledge, and expertise have been a key factor in the success of ICW Re, said Kevin Prior, ICW Group CEO. In a short period, he has built a high-performing line of business and cemented ICW Group as a professional provider of capacity in the reinsurance space.

ICW Group Insurance Companies, a leading group of property and casualty carriers, has promoted Mirek Wieczorek to Senior Vice President, Head of Reinsurance, charged with leading the growth strategy for ICW Re.

As a part of ICW Groups vision to become a top-tier, multi-line carrier, Wieczorek joined ICW Group nearly four years ago to help build the Assumed Reinsurance business for the company and establish ICW Group in the reinsurance marketplace. Since joining the team, Wieczorek has been instrumental in leading its exceptional and rapid growth. Assumed Reinsurance now represents a significant segment of ICW Groups total portfolio.

"Mireks leadership, industry knowledge, and expertise have been a key factor in the success of ICW Re, said Kevin Prior, ICW Group CEO. In a short period of time, he has built a high-performing line of business and established a phenomenal team of experts to drive its growth and cement ICW Group as a professional provider of capacity in the reinsurance space. Im excited to see where he takes us next.

Wieczorek has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the reinsurance industry. Before joining ICW Group, he was executive vice president and head of underwriting at Tokio Millennium Res (TMR) operations in the US. Before that, he held various senior underwriting positions in Bermuda and the US.

"Its thrilling to be a part of the multi-line growth of ICW Group and the successful development of ICW Re, said Wieczorek. Weve taken what was essentially a start-up and have now solidified ICW Group as a marquee Assumed Reinsurance provider. Theres an assertive growth strategy in place to expand creative solutions for our trading partners and take our diverse reinsurance product offerings even further, and Im pleased to be at the helm during this exciting time.

ICW Groups Assumed Reinsurance line provides reinsurance to property & casualty companies across all segments and lines of business. To learn more, visit ICW Groups Assumed Reinsurance product page on its website.

About ICW Group

Based in San Diego, ICW Group Insurance Companies is the largest privately held insurance company domiciled in California. Quoting more than $3 billion annually, ICW Group represents a group of Workers Compensation, Assumed Reinsurance, Catastrophe, General Liability and Commercial Property insurance carriers, including Insurance Company of the West and Explorer Insurance Company. ICW Group is recognized nationally as an industry leader in helping policyholders achieve fewer and less costly claims while elevating the trusted agents who advise them. More information is available at http://www.icwgroup.com, http://www.twitter.com/ICWGroup, http://www.linkedin.com/companies/icw-group and http://www.facebook.com/ICWGroup.
Publishers must be fairly compensated for the tremendous value their content contributes to the development of generative AI technology. Its a simple exchange of value.

Today the News/Media Alliance released new AI Principles that provide overarching guidance for generative artificial intelligence (GAI) systems use of journalistic and creative content. The Principles cover issues with respect to GAI developers use of members content related to intellectual property, transparency, accountability, fairness, safety, and design and apply to all content, including text, images, audiovisual and all other formats.

The News/Media Alliance represents over 2,000 print and digital news and magazine media companies, from small, local outlets to national and international publications read around the world. Every day, these publishers invest in producing high-quality creative content that is engaging, informative, trustworthy, accurate and reliable. They not only make significant economic contributions in this content, but they also play a crucial role in educating and informing our communities, ensuring a strong democracy and economy.

The Principles emphasize that emerging technologies such as AI must continue to respect publishers intellectual property (IP), brands, reader relationships, and investments made in creating quality journalistic and creative content, stated News/Media Alliance Executive Vice President and General Counsel Danielle Coffey. Publishers must be fairly compensated for the tremendous value their content contributes to the development of generative AI technology. Its a simple exchange of value.

The News/Media Alliances Principles stipulate that GAI developers and deployers must negotiate with publishers for the right to use their content in any of the following manners:



Training: Including publishers content in datasets and using it for GAI system training and testing.

Surfacing: The serving of publishers content in response to user inputs, possibly including a cover note generated by the GAI system of what is contained in the surfaced content.

Synthesizing: Summaries, explanations, analyses etc. of source content in response to a query.

Among other things, the AI Principles outline the need for GAI developers to obtain explicit permission for use of publishers intellectual property, and publishers should have the right to negotiate for fair compensation for use of their IP by these developers.

The Alliance has been advocating for the passage of the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), which would allow publishers to negotiate collectively with the Big Tech platforms for fair compensation for use of their content, including use for AI purposes. 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. The bill, which nearly passed into law in 2022, was reintroduced in the Senate in March 2023 and has strong bipartisan support.

Coffey added, The tech platforms clearly cannot be trusted to self-regulate and instead, are increasing their anticompetitive behavior to the detriment of local journalism. We must ensure that value is rightfully returned to the creators of quality journalism, which in turn will be reinvested in providing the content that our country wants, needs and depends on to stay informed.

The AI Principles can be found on the Alliance website here.

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The News/Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing more than 2,000 news and magazine media organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and globally. Alliance members include print and digital publishers of original journalism. Headquartered just outside Washington, D.C., the association focuses on ensuring the future of journalism through communication, research, advocacy, and innovation. Information about the News/Media Alliance can be found at http://www.newsmediaalliance.org.
Once Paul found a perfect buyer, he was invaluable in structuring the deal to maximize my return. As a bonus, I got to know a truly nice guy.

Performance Brokerage Services, North Americas highest volume dealership brokerage firm, is pleased to announce the sale of Caron Chevrolet in Marshall, Michigan from Tim Caron to Ryan DeNooyer.

Caron Chevrolet was founded in 1945 as Tidey Motor Sales. The dealership has been owned and operated by the Caron family for three generations and has upheld a first-class reputation for friendly, honest service in the Marshall, Michigan community.

Following the sale, Tim Caron, President of Caron Chevrolet commented, Hiring Performance Brokerage Services was by far the best decision I could have made when it was time to sell. I worked with Paul Kechnie who was very assertive when it came to finding a buyer. Once Paul found a perfect buyer, he was invaluable in structuring the deal to maximize my return. As a bonus, I got to know a truly nice guy. I recommend Paul and Performance Brokerage without hesitation.

Over the last 5 years, Performance Brokerage Services has advised on the sale of over 300 dealerships, making it the highest volume dealership brokerage firm in North America. In 2022, the company consummated 92 transactions, marking a record-breaking year. Paul Kechnie, exclusive advisor for this transaction and Texas & Midwest Senior Partner for Performance Brokerage Services commented, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to assist Tim Caron and Ryan DeNooyer. Both of their families have deep roots in the automotive industry, and it was an honor to be a part of this chapter. Tim Caron was gracious and easy to work with, and I wish him a wonderful retirement. Many thanks to Ryan DeNooyer as well, who made this transaction smooth and speedy. I have no doubt that Ryan will continue to serve the Marshall community with the same trustworthiness and pride as Tim.

The DeNooyer family started out in the automotive industry in 1943, and currently owns and operates four dealerships in Michigan and one dealership in New York as DeNooyer Auto Group. Ryan DeNooyer, Business Manager at DeNooyer Automotive Group, joined the family business in 2008.

DeNooyer stated, Paul Kechnie of Performance Brokerage Services was instrumental in putting this deal together for us! We met a few years back and detailed our strategy for growth and the areas we wanted to be in moving forward. Paul listened and worked hard to put the pieces in place for both parties. We are grateful to Paul and the seller, Tim Caron, for allowing our group this opportunity to continue the great legacy they have built. The DeNooyer Automotive family is over 80 years old and now in its 4th generation of ownership. We look forward to growing and supporting our employee and customer family while being good stewards of the communities we serve.

The dealership will remain at its current location at 1201 West Michigan Avenue in Marshall, Michigan and will be renamed DeNooyer Chevrolet.

This transaction was exclusively facilitated by Performance Brokerage Services.

About Performance Brokerage Services

Performance Brokerage Services, Inc. is North Americas highest volume dealership brokerage firm, specializing in buy-sell activity for automotive, RV, commercial truck, powersports, and equipment dealerships.

With over 25 years of experience, 700 dealerships sold, and a 90% closing rate, the companys reputation is unmatched and governed by the utmost ethical conduct and integrity.

The company offers a unique approach by providing complimentary estimates of value with no upfront fees or retainer, no reimbursement of costs, and paid a success fee only after the transaction closes.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, and supported by 9 regional offices in Utah, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, Alberta and Ontario, clients benefit from national exposure with local representation.

As trusted and respected experts in the field, the company utilizes an extensive network of industry related attorneys, accountants, hundreds of registered buyers, and longstanding relationships with various vehicle manufacturers.

For more information about the services offered by Performance Brokerage Services, visit https://performancebrokerageservices.com.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 20. A person opened fire at the representative office of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) in the Chukurova district in Turkiye's southern Adana province, Trend reports via the Turkish media.

The preliminary information said the shooter used a hunting rifle, reportedly firing 12 shots. He managed to damage the building, which was already empty due to it being severely affected by the strong February 2023 earthquake.

The incident occurred at around 16:00 (GMT+3).

According to the Turkish media, a 24-year-old man was detained by the police as a suspect. He is currently being interrogated.

Mehmet Ay, Chairman of the district branch of the party, as well as Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag both condemned the incident.
The three scholarship winners with Setton Farms COO Mia Cohen We are inspired by the work that these students have done, said Harmony Magnet principal Jeff Brown. Without the partnership of Setton Farms, this would not have been possible. We are truly grateful for their generous support in advancing our Creating Opportunities and Changing Lives mission.

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc., the nations second-largest pistachio grower and processor, is proud to announce the recipients of their first annual Earth Day scholarship contest. This initiative was created as part of the Setton familys ongoing commitment to helping students reach their educational goals, and to spread awareness about the importance of sustainability. For more information, visit http://settonfarms.com.

As leaders in the effort to reduce waste, reuse resources, and recharge the land, Setton partnered with Harmony Magnet Academy in Porterville, California to award $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000 Earth Day scholarships to three exemplary high school seniors. Students were asked to create a project focused on sustainability in Californias Central Valley and were given Setton Farms pistachios to use as part of their entry. They submitted paintings, sculptures, and animations with a video or essay showing how their work best demonstrates the importance of sustainability.

The 2023 recipients whose outstanding work earned them Settons first, second, and third place scholarships are John Cemo, Kasandra Baez, and Kayla Gutierrez. Additionally, nine other students received an honorable mention award of $250.

We are inspired by the work that these students have done, said Harmony Magnet principal Jeff Brown. Without the partnership of Setton Farms, this would not have been possible. We are truly grateful for their generous support in advancing our Creating Opportunities and Changing Lives mission.

Submissions were judged on originality, creativity, and how well they incorporated the topic of sustainability into their project. The judging panel was comprised of Setton executives, pistachio growers, and a representative from the school. Winners were honored at an awards luncheon at the school on Wednesday, April 19.

We are so inspired by and grateful for the members of our amazing community, said Setton Farms COO Mia Cohen. In return, our goal is to support students in their pursuit of a college education, and our hope is that this scholarship contest will bring sustainability awareness to the future leaders of our community.

Setton launched its Education Program in 2016 and has awarded over 22 scholarships to employees, local community members and students worth over $120,000. For more information on available programs and Settons ongoing mission, please contact Candace Moody at (559) 535-6050.

Click here for high-resolution photos.

About Setton Farms:

Setton Farms, the second largest pistachio grower-processor in the United States, is a family-owned and operated brand located in the heart of Central Valley, California since 1986. Highly regarded as Americas Best Tasting Pistachios, and widely recognized for its superior quality and tradition of excellence, Setton Farms grows, harvests, processes and manufactures pistachios using renewable energy, eco-friendly practices, and proprietary techniques. Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. offers an established line of premium in-shell and kernel pistachio products that are Non-GMO Project Verified, Certified Gluten-Free, Organic and Kosher, while a select variety features the AHA Heart-Check mark. Setton provides pistachios to more than 60 foreign markets worldwide and distributes to wholesalers and retailers throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://settonfarms.com.

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The year 2023 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Montecucco DO appellation from Tuscany. The Consorzio di Tutela Vini Montecucco celebrated this important milestone at the 55th edition of Vinitaly unveiling its new logo and with a special historical tasting with some older Montecucco vintages from the year 2000.

The wines from Montecucco boast a millenary tradition. Located in the heart of Maremma, on the slopes of Monte Amiata, an ancient extinct volcano, the area offers ideal conditions for viticulture, allowing for the establishment of the promising Montecucco DO 25 years ago. It all began in the late nineties, when a small group of dynamic, pioneering winemakers decided to show to the world that, in a small patch of Tuscan land, disputed between the municipalities of Arcidosso, Campagnatico, Castel del Piano, Cinigiano, Civitella Paganico, Roccalbegna and Seggiano in the province of Grosseto, there was a unique and distinguishable Sangiovese, with its own personality, completely different from that of its neighboring cousins. The proximity to the great DOs of Tuscany did not intimidate the producers, who, on the contrary, strengthened the territorial identity of this smaller reality.

Thus, in 1998 a buzzing Montecucco DO was born. Established with an organic vocation since its origin, today the Montecucco wine consortium counts 68 members, about 1.2 million bottles, 500 hectares of vineyards, and 80% organic certified production. It is a story marked by growth, successes and obstacles; nevertheless it has allowed the small Tuscan denomination to position itself in the international scene. In a global market that is becoming increasingly competitive with wine consistently reaching higher quality levels, Montecucco sees 60% of its annual total bottles exported. The main destinations are North America, Northern Europe, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, but there is a significant presence also in Asian countries, starting with Japan.

Above all, Montecucco is a denomination that has been able to revendicate and preserve its own interpretation of Sangiovese showcasing its own uniqueness.

This is the real winning card of Montecucco, says Giovan Battista Basile, President of the Consortium. The capacity of these Sangiovese wines to completely and authentically reflect the territory. Authenticity that is further enhanced by the producers sensitivity to environmental issues. We deal with an intact territory, which I have had the opportunity to experience firsthand since the end of the 90s: we are not talking only about vineyards, but also about the originality of the territory, respect for biodiversity and agronomic practices in harmony with the environment."

The anniversary was celebrated at the last edition of Vinitaly, which was also the perfect occasion for the DO Montecucco to unveil its new consortium logo, born from a restyling project developed in collaboration with the European Design Institute IED Firenze.

In May 2022, 13 students were called to renew the logo of the Consortium, projecting the centuries-old tradition of viticulture and agriculture into a future perspective of the world and wine communication. The students took inspiration from the value the Consortium brings to the local community, its strong link with the territory and the human footprint left in the region since the time of the Etruscans. The designs were then examined by the Consortium, which proclaimed Damini Rathore, an international student from India, as the winner. The logo she designed evokes the topography of the Montecucco region - the seven lines represent the seven municipalities - combining it with an elegant but contemporary character that demonstrates the Consortium's desire to look into the future while remaining faithful to the roots and principles that brought it to the international scene. "We are really satisfied with the new logo and surprised by the infinite creative ideas that all the students have provided us over the past few months," commented Patrizia Chiari, Owner of Tenuta L'Impostino and Key Advisor of the initiative within the BoD of the Montecucco Consortium. It is extraordinary how Damini has managed to give a fresh and modern image to a centuries-old tradition like ours: with her work she has been able to enclose the history of Montecucco in a sophisticated visual identity that is at the same time contemporary.

The celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Montecucco DO continued at Vinitaly with an historical tasting of old Montecucco vintages. The masterclass was conducted by Italian Wine Expert and Storyteller Filippo Bartolotta, and highlighted the mesmerizing evolution of Amiata reds and whites from the year 2000 up to the latest vintages.

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About the Montecucco Consortium (Consorzio Tutela Vini Montecucco):

Founded in 2000 and representing 68 wine producers, the Montecucco Consortium is committed to the stewardship, protection and promotion of the Montecucco wine denomination. The consortium ensures high quality through a set of formal production guidelines for the entire winemaking process, from cultivation to bottling, including a strict traceability system that allows consumers to know the origin of each wine purchased. The consortiums ability to provide day in and day out support to local growers, assist in brand promotion and focus on the quality of the end product have earned the organization the trust of numerous leading estates and attracted some of Italys most renowned producers. For more information visit consorziomontecucco.it.
The Water 2050 Governance Think Tank Report is the fourth in a series of five think tank reports associated with the initiative. Water 2050 seeks to envision the future of water and chart a course for long-term sustainability.

A diverse group of influential thinkers from within and outside the water community today released nine recommended actions for the future of water governance as part of the American Water Works Associations (AWWA) ongoing Water 2050 initiative.

The Water 2050 Governance Think Tank Report is the fourth in a series of five think tank reports associated with the initiative. Water 2050 seeks to envision the future of water and chart a course for long-term sustainability.

The 27 participants in the Water 2050 Governance Think Tank, which took place Feb. 27-Mar. 1, 2023, at the Reservoir Center for Water Solutions in Washington, D.C., included highly respected voices from the water and wastewater utility community, regulatory agencies, international development agencies, manufacturing and consulting firms, advocates, academics, and CEOs. The group engaged in a series of facilitated discussions and developed recommended actions that can be grouped into four broad categories:



Implement a One Water governance approach

Optimize utility governance and business models

Develop governance that promotes innovation and sustainability

Advance collaboration to drive (governance) innovation

The fifth and final think tank, focusing on social/demographics, is scheduled for late April in Birmingham, Alabama. High-level recommendations are reported after each think tank and are a key component in the broader Water 2050 effort. Outcomes will be presented at AWWAs 2023 Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE23) in Toronto June 11-14 to support the water community in realizing the Water 2050 vision.

To engage in AWWAs Water 2050 initiative or to learn more, visit the Water 2050 webpage. To access the Water 2050 Governance Think Tank report, visit this webpage.

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Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the worlds most vital resource. With approximately 50,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.
"As a company committed to transparency and safety in our products, we're excited to bring our customers a new platform to learn about the latest regulations, trends, and technologies in the food and supplement industries," said Stephen Bruce, CEO of Trustwell.

Trustwell, a leading provider of regulatory compliance and traceability SaaS solutions for the food and supplements industries, is excited to announce the launch of its new podcast series, Transparency Talk with Trustwell. The series will provide listeners with valuable insights and industry knowledge from experts across the food and supplement industries, covering topics ranging from regulatory compliance to sustainable operations and food traceability.

The first episode, "Understanding FSMA 204 and its Implications for Food Safety," features Katy Jones, CMO of Trustwell, and Julie McGill, VP of Supply Chain Strategy at Trustwell, as they discuss the FDA's Food Traceability Rule and explore the new FDA record-keeping requirements. With a focus on the implications for food safety, they provide an introduction to FSMA 204 and mandate more rigorous and comprehensive traceability systems for items on the Food Traceability List.

"As a company committed to transparency and safety in our products, we're excited to bring our customers a new platform to learn about the latest regulations, trends, and technologies in the food and supplement industries," said Stephen Bruce, CEO of Trustwell. "Transparency Talk with Trustwell is a great way for our customers to stay informed and educated on the industry, and we're thrilled to have Katy and Julie lead our first episode."

The podcast will feature bite-sized episodes, designed to provide busy listeners with informative and engaging content that can be consumed on-the-go. Each episode will feature a different guest, from regulatory experts to thought leaders, all sharing their insights and experience to benefit listeners.

Listeners can tune into Transparency Talk with Trustwell on Buzzsprout Spotify, or Amazon Podcasts. The Podcast will be available on additional Podcast channels soon.

Trustwell is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest quality products and resources, and the Transparency Talk with Trustwell podcast is a new way to further that commitment.

To listen to the first episode, visit Trustwells Buzzsprout feed.

About Trustwell

Trustwell is on a mission to change the food industry. Combining FoodLogiQs supply chain management software with Genesis nutritional analysis and label development solution, the Trustwell platform creates the food industrys only software platform connecting product development and regulatory-compliant labeling into supplier compliance, enhanced traceability, and automated recall management. From food and supplement manufacturers to retail grocers and restaurant chains, food companies around the world use Trustwell software as their trusted source for compliance and quality solutions in the food industry. For more information, visit http://www.trustwell.com.
United Real Estate announces Steve Wagner - EVP of Training, Education and Development We are now positioned to go beyond the transaction and commission moment to help our agents improve their overall financial, physical and mental health.

United Real Estate (United) announced today the appointment of Steve Wagner to Executive Vice President  Agent Training, Education and Development (T.E.D.). Under his leadership and by leveraging his decades-long commitment to improving agent outcomes, United expects to become the standard-bearer for modern, technology-enabled T.E.D.

Wagner is uniquely qualified for the position. He launched a successful real estate school and innovative, proprietary agent training programs, which now support over 4,400 agents in the company he co-founded, Virtual Properties Realty  United, now the largest residential brokerage in Greater Atlanta and the State of Georgia. Wagner will continue as Chief Executive Officer of VPR - United, which joined Uniteds national network in 2020.

As part of its enhancement to United University and its recently launched learning management technology platform, the company will introduce a new multi-phase agent development system that builds competitive skills and increases agents production levels at each phase of their careers. The proprietary content is unavailable elsewhere, and the curriculum was and is being developed internally, harnessing Uniteds considerable knowledge base and subject matter experts. The company has recently incorporated agent-to-agent collaborative learning across all markets nationally in support of its overall T.E.D. commitment.

Its exciting to be part of the national United training, education and development team and initiative. We have a tremendous opportunity to improve tens of thousands of affiliated agents careers and lives. We have built a modern training, education and development system for not only agent productivity but also agent motivation. We will give agents everything they need to succeed and keep them engaged so they stay in the business. We are now positioned to go beyond the transaction and commission moment to help our agents improve their overall financial, physical and mental health. We are deeply committed to doing just that, stated Wagner.

All agent and broker training will be deployed globally through United Universitys learning management system within the companys proprietary technology platform, Bullseye Cloud. The Bullseye Agent Productivity Platform is a single hub for accessing education, marketing, productivity tools and all agent resources  on-demand from any device. These new offerings significantly strengthen Uniteds brokers and agents ability to outperform the adjusted market.

Steve is the perfect fit for this position because of his growth mindset and passion. Since co-founding his company, he has been at the forefront of agent training and innovation and has achieved tremendous growth. We are in a favorable position to make forward-looking investments to the benefit of our affiliated agents and brokers. This is a pivotal time when those who make smart investments will have disproportionate success versus those that do not, commented Dan Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of United Real Estate Group.

Although the contracting market has stymied much of the real estate industry, United continues to invest heavily in technology and support services to enhance its agents and brokers competitive advantage. The companys profitability, driven by the efficiencies of its business model, has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars recaptured for strategic investments and higher commission payouts to agents. Unlike competitors, United has not been forced to curtail investments during the downturn due to poor financial performance.

Steves proactive approach to addressing training from the whole-agent perspective, instead of reacting only to what is needed now in the marketplace, aligns with our companys strategic roadmap. We are building programs and services to help agents mature and advance their careers, preparing them for all market cycles, added Rick Haase, President of United Real Estate.

United is now the nations sixth-largest real estate brokerage operation by transaction count  up from No. 139 three years ago. It is one of only three companies ranked in the top ten with growth in transactions and sales volume in 2022, according to verified data in the Power Broker Report.

To learn more about United Real Estate, brokerage succession planning, brokerage valuation and sale or franchising opportunities, visit GrowWithUnited.com or call 888-960-0606. Agents interested in learning about career opportunities with United Real Estate can visit JoinUnitedRealEstate.com or call 888-960-0606.

About United Real Estate

United Real Estate (United)  a division of United Real Estate Group  was founded with the purpose of offering solutions to real estate brokers and agents in the rapidly changing real estate brokerage industry. United provides the latest training, marketing and technology tools to agents and brokers under a flat-fee, transaction-based agent commission model. By leveraging the companys proprietary cloud-based Bullseye Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, United delivers a more profitable outcome for agents and brokers. United Real Estate operates in 33 states with 148 offices and 18,500 agents. The company produced over 77,900 transactions and $27.9 billion in sales volume in 2022.

About United Real Estate Group

United Real Estate Group (UREG) operates United Real Estate and United Country Real Estate, addressing the unique market needs of suburban, major metropolitan urban and rural markets. Utilizing the cloud-based Bullseye Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, UREG offers the latest training, marketing and technology tools producing a significant competitive advantage. The platform realizes a decade-long investment in virtual agent and brokerage technology services and is powered by a 2.6 million listings data warehouse generating over 3 million monthly visitors and 30,000 leads per year. Together, the United Real Estate Group supports more than 630 offices and over 21,000 real estate and auction professionals across four continents. United Real Estate Group produced over $34.4 billion in 2022. Through its in-house advertising agency, UREG offers differentiating marketing support and collateral for specialized lifestyle property websites as well as access to a 650,000+ opt-in buyer database. For more information about United Real Estate or United Country Real Estate, please visit UnitedRealEstate.com or UnitedCountry.com.
US President Biden will host Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the White House on May 12, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Wednesday, Trend reports citing The Hill.

The meeting will be focused on strengthening the relationship with Spain, support for Ukraine, and climate change, among other topics.

They will meet to deepen the historic ties between the united states and Spain, Jean-Pierre said.

The two leaders will review our efforts as NATO allies and close partners to strengthen our bilateral defense relationship, transatlantic security, and economic prosperity, she added.

The leaders also will reiterate their unwavering support for Ukraine and discuss ways to impose costs on Moscow.

Spain will assume the rotating position of the presidency of the Council of the European Union in July, which will last until December. As the country prepares for that, Biden and Sanchez will discuss climate change and expanding cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sanchez, a Socialist leader, faces a general election in December. The visit comes as Spain has experienced an ongoing drought, which has sparked political debates and territorial tensions in the country.
Authorities of the U.S. state of Alabama said Wednesday that three people have been arrested in connection with a birthday party mass shooting the past weekend, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) tweeted that the individuals, including two teenagers, were taken into custody and all charged with four counts of reckless murder.

Gunfire erupted Saturday night at a dance studio on Broadnax Street in Dadeville, Alabama, where friends and family were celebrating the birthday of a 16-year-old girl.

Four people died in the shooting and more than two dozen others were wounded. Four victims reportedly remained hospitalized and in critical condition as of Wednesday.

"Violent crime has NO place in Alabama and what happened in Dadeville was horrific," Governor Kay Ivey tweeted on Wednesday.

"The work is not done, and we will fully support ALEA as they work to ensure we hold ALL responsible for this tragedy accountable," Ivey wrote.
In a move that the publisher says will not only improve the reading experience but contribute to its sustainability efforts, HarperCollins has announced the creation of HC Arc, a new font designed exclusively for the publisher by design company 2K/Denmark. According to HC, the font has a dynamic sense of motion designed to improve readability while also reducing the amount of paper used per title by up to 20%.

HC will begin using the font in July on select non-English titles published by the companys European and South American businesses. At a later date, a spokesperson said, HC will explore the possibility of using HC Arc more broadly. The typeface has a darker texture, higher x-height, and low contrast aesthetic than a typical font, the company said.

We are very excited about the introduction of HC Arc, says Chantal Restivo-Alessi, CEO of HC's international foreign language business and chief digital officer. Translations in Europe can be extremely lengthy. This new font is a creative way to publish shorter books while accommodating the longer text, all while ensuring the readers experience is actually improved. It is elegant and dynamic, and we look forward to bringing it to market this year.
A new PEN America report documents how state legislation across the country is driving an alarming spike in book bans in schools.

The report, Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools, expands on two previous PEN America reports tracking the intensifying wave of book bans and laws aimed at limiting access to school and library books. Since July 2021, when PEN America began tracking public school book bans, the organization recorded more than 4,000 bans books through December 2022, including 1,477 individual book bans affecting 874 unique titles during the first half of the 2022-23 school yeara 28% increase over the previous six months.

Another new trend highlighted in the report: the mischaracterization of books as pornographic or indecent. The reports notes that alarmist rhetoric from right wing activists and politicians about porn in schools has been a significant factor driving book bans and legislative action.

The heavy-handed tactics of state legislators are mandating book bans, plain and simple, said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, in a release announcing the new report. Some politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have tried to dismiss the rise in book bans as a hoax. But their constituents and supporters are not fooled. The numbers dont lie, and they reveal a relentless crusade to constrict childrens freedom to read.

Among the reports other major findings:

Texas and Florida continue to lead the country in book bansseven districts in Texas were responsible for 438 instances of individual book bans, and 13 districts in Florida were responsible for 357 bans.

Of the 1,477 books banned this school year, 31% are about race, racism, or include characters of color, while 26% have LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

An emerging feature during this school year has been what PEN calls wholesale bans where teachers and librarians, feeling pressured by new state laws, empty entire classroom collections.

PEN defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.

PEN officials say these efforts to chill speech are part of a nationwide political effort to foment anxiety and anger and to suppress free expression in public education.

This book ban movement erupted precisely as many schools had begun to diversify the literature they make available to young people, commented Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN and a lead author of the report. Now, those books are being ripped away from students who need access to diverse ideas, information, characters, and stories. They should not be deprived of the opportunity to see themselves reflected in literature and to learn from different perspectives.

The report comes on the eve of National Library Week, April 23-29, with the American Library Association set to release its annual Top 10 Banned Books.

Last month, ALA also reported a shocking surge in book bans, announcing that it had tracked a stunning 1,269 "demands to censor library books and resources" in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago, and nearly double the record-shattering 729 challenges recorded in 2021. Once again, the vast majority of works challenged were written by or about members of the LGBTQ community and people of color; 58% of reported challenges targeted works in schools and 41% targeted materials in public libraries.
The London Book Fair is now upon us, Bologna (29,000 visitors) is in the rear-view mirror, and at last the global book fair calendar is underway. London typically attracts 25,000 visitors, and Frankfurt 300,000 in a good year. In trade circles, they are among the most important in the world, but elsewhere, there is a thriving book fair calendar where millions of book lovers head to book fairs worldwide, spending millions of dollars on books, often barely noticed by western publishing interests.

South Asia

In India the 2022 Hyderabad International Book Fair ran December 23 through January 1 of this year, attracting one million visitors. No holidays hiatus there! The full 2023 Indian book fair calendar kicked off with the Assam Book Fair, which pulled in 600,000 visitors in January, who spent the equivalent of $613,000 on books. Small beer compared to the Chennai Book Fair, where 1.5 million visitors spent $1.8 million on books.

January also saw the Bangladesh Book Fair (in India) attract 450,000 visitors. Then there was the Kerala Literary Festival in India, where 275,000 is a typical turnout; the Jaipur Literary Festival (400,000); or the Vijayawada Book Festival (500,000 turned out this past February, spending $485,000 on books). January-February saw the Kolkata International Book Fair draw a crowd of 2.5 million who spent $3 million on books, while the New Delhi World Book Fair this year returned to form with two million visitors.

This was all dwarfed by the six million that attended the Ekushey Boi Mela in neighboring Bangladesh, which ran the entire month of February. Sadly, only $4.4 million was spent on books, way down on the pre-Covid $10 million.

Staying in South Asia, Pakistan has already seen this years Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad Literary Festivals, with the big international book fairs like Karachi (600,000 visitors) still to come. Further south in Sri Lanka, the Colombo International Book Fair last year drew a crowd of 500,000. And still in South Asia, Irans Tehran International Book Fair regularly draws footfall of two million.

Arab world

In the Arab markets, Saudi Arabia regularly sees 500,000 visitors at the Jeddah Book Fair and one million at the Riyadh International Book Fair. One million is also the usual figure (although not this year) at the Muscat International Book Fair in Oman. Iraqs Baghdad International Book Fair is also in the million club. In Algeria, the last Algiers International Book Fair was on poor form, only managing 1.3 millionbarely half of what weve come to expect from Algiers. Smaller fairs like Qatars Doha International Book Fair would, pre-pandemic, draw a crowd of 320,000 and sell a quarter million books. At Moroccos Casablanca Book Fair (now held in Rabatdont ask), 500,000 was the norm.

Still in MENA, and the UAEs Abu Dhabi International Book Fair typically sees 300,000 visitors. The same for the Sharjah Childrens Reading Festival, while the Sharjah International Book Fair itself pulls in more than two million visitors. All overshadowed by Egypts Cairo International Book Fair, which reported 3.6 million visitors this year.

Latin America

Little room here to mention Argentinas Buenos Aires IBF (1.2 million), or Colombias FIL Bogota (600,000), Mexicos FILIJ (500,000), or FIL Guadalajara (800,000). Or the 50,000 that attend Guatemala, or the 100,000 at Panama, or the 643,000 at Caracas, the 565,000 at Lima, the 565,000 visitors at La Paz, or the 650,000 that attend Sao Paulo.

Only brief space to mention Bookfest Malaysias 700,000 visitors, or Seouls 300,000, Taipeis 500,000, Bucharests 100,000, Lisbons 500,000, or Madrids 2022 record 3 million.

In this snapshot alone, thats 42 million people attending global book fairs beyond the usual suspects. A more comprehensive list might easily top 50 million.

Mark Williams is the editor-in-chief of the New Publishing Standard. He lives in The Gambia.
At a special reception on April 19, legendary children's publisher Klaus Flugge was honored with the London Book Fair's Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual who has made a truly significant mark in the sphere of global publishing." The award was presented to Flugge by his longtime friend Ian Hudson, managing director of Bloomsbury Press.

"Klaus has an amazing eye for illustration and a wonderful nose for a great story, which has brought together throughout his career to publish useful books that have sold the world over," Hudson said in his remarks before presenting the award to Flugge. "I know I speak for many in this audience when I say you are a great friend to so many of us, and we've learned so much from you. Your books have enriched young lives and ignited a lifelong love of reading in so many. This lifetime achievement award is so richly deserved."

Flugge founded Andersen Press in the U.K. in fall 1976, named after Hans Christian Andersen, going on to publish acclaimed author-illustrators including Sir Quentin Blake, Michael Foreman, Satoshi Kitamura, David McKee, Chris Riddell, Tony Ross, and Max Velthuijs.

In 1999, he was the first publisher to receive the Eleanor Farjeon Award for his outstanding contribution to childrens books, and in 2010 he became the first publisher to be awarded Honorary Membership of the Youth Libraries Group. In 2013 Flugge was made an honorary citizen of the city of Bologna in recognition of his commitment to childrens books abroad.

Flugge celebrated the 40th anniversary of Andersen Press in 2016 by establishing the Klaus Flugge Award, which is given annually to the most promising and exciting newcomer to childrens picture book illustration.

In brief remarks, Flugge said he was "honored and stunned" to receive the award. "And I say thank you to all these people I've known over these years."
The American Library Association this week announced a "national day of action" in defense of libraries and the freedom to read, designating April 24, the Monday of this year's National Library Week, as Right to Read Day.

ALA calls on readers everywhere to show our commitment to the First Amendment by doing something concrete to preserve it," ALA president Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, said in a release. The fight against censorship is too big for one person or library or organization to take on alone. And we dont have to. Thats why ALA created Unite Against Book Bans: to be a collective voice in defending the right to read.

ALA officials offered ways to participate on Right to Read Day:

Borrow a library book at risk of being banned.

Write a letter to the editor or to an elected leader.

Attend a meeting of local officials or library or school board.

Stage a public event or peaceful protest in support of libraries.

Report censorship.

Join Unite Against Book Bans.

April 24 will also mark the first anniversary of the ALA-organized Unite Against Book Bans coalition, ALA's public-facing advocacy initiative to empower readers to fight against censorship.

Unite Against Book Bans will host an online panel entitled "Protecting Free Expression and the Right to Read," on April 24 at 7 p.m. EDT. The discussion will feature ALA president Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, NCAC executive director Christopher Finan, and the directors of the new documentary Judy Blume Forever, Leah Wolchok and Davina Pardo. The event is free but registration is required.

The Monday of National Library Week also includes the release of ALAs annual State of Americas Libraries report, which includes a list of the top 10 banned books of 2022. National Library Week runs from April 23-29.
Patents, commercialization and startups are pathways for a public land-grant university to contribute to industry and society. (Purdue University aerial, Purdue University/Shayan Bawaney)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Building on world-renowned strength in innovation by its faculty, staff, students and alumni, the Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University have formed Purdue Innovates, a comprehensive system to streamline access and strengthen support to both (a) technology commercialization resources, such as intellectual property licensing and protection, and (b) startup support resources, including programs and funds to launch, scale and invest in Purdue-connected startups in one cohesive structure.

In recent years, Purdue has consistently ranked among the world leaders in bringing innovation to the marketplace. As one of the nations most innovative universities and the only university ranked among the world top 50 most innovative companies or nonprofits, Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap. From world-class research that is foundational to drugs that receive FDA approval to Purdue-connected startups changing the world, Boilermakers think big and push the boundaries of innovation. That excellence at scale is why Purdue is ranked 6th in the world for the number of issued U.S. utility patents and the only university from the state of Indiana to be ranked among the top 50 patent-receivers, and has produced some of the most visible startups from the Midwest. Purdue innovates.

Purdue Innovates streamlines and strengthens the ecosystem for Boilermaker innovators in two ways, said Purdue President Mung Chiang. One is the generation and licensing of intellectual properties such as patents, where we have continued to be among the nations best. The other is the creation of startup companies by our students, faculty and alumni, where we are rolling out new strategies and new funds, broadening outreach to alumni across the country, and simplifying an impactful support system for Boilermaker entrepreneurs. Purdue Innovates will elevate excellence at scale for both inventors and entrepreneurs.

With multiple colleges ranked among top 5 in the U.S. and the No. 1 undergrad STEM enrollment among Americas leading research universities, Purdue has long been the home for legendary inventors like Dr. Leslie Geddes and serial entrepreneurs like Dr. Philip Low.

We wanted to create an ecosystem that embraced all Boilermakers by supporting both Purdue-owned intellectual property and startups that have their own intellectual property but have some other connection to Purdue, such as an alum, said Brooke Beier, senior vice president of Purdue Innovates. Solidifying the university core while engaging and leveraging the Boilermaker network is key to enhancing Purdues ability to become the preeminent university in commercialization and startup success.

The Purdue Innovates network houses:

Office of Technology Commercialization, where Purdue innovators disclose new ideas for evaluation for intellectual property protection and commercialization via licensing to industry and startups.

Incubator, which consists of resources to 1) assist early-stage, Purdue-connected startups via programming and funding opportunities; and 2) de-risk Purdue innovations to increase the technology readiness level for licensing opportunities to industry and startups.

Startup Foundry, which helps with funding, programs and services focused on getting investible Purdue-connected startups ready to raise first-round funding. The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship is now part of the Startup Foundry.

Purdue Ventures, which makes early-stage investments in Purdue-connected startups and gives guidance on raising capital to get startups late-stage funding and positioning them for an IPO or acquisition.

The strength of Purdues existing commercialization and entrepreneurship efforts will continue and collaborate with the above units. These include: I-Corps, where Purdue is the Midwest hubs co-lead Entrepreneurship certificate and courses Digital Innovation in Agriculture Systems Lab (DIAL) John Martinson Entrepreneurial Center (JMEC) Student organizations such as Anvil

Key partnership programs like Silicon Valley Boilermaker Innovation Group (SVBig), High Alpha with DIAL, and others remain an integral part of the Purdue Innovates startup ecosystem, where they help advance and fund high-value startups.

By establishing this front door to the commercialization and startup creation ecosystem, it takes the guesswork away from entrepreneurs and innovators as to where to go for assistance, Beier said.

Purdue Innovates has developed a strategic plan that emphasizes the importance of collaboration, proactive investment in promising research and targeted outreach to key stakeholders through new initiatives and events at the university. Some examples include:

Purdue University proactively reaches out to faculty members who have research with startup potential. To bridge the gap between research and commercialization, new funds will be created in the coming months. This will encourage the development of new ideas and facilitate the translation of research into real-world solutions. As one example, the John Martinson Entrepreneurial Center (JMEC) will partner with Purdue Innovates Purdue Ventures to manage the JMEC investment fund.

John Martinson Entrepreneurial Center To support Purdue alumni entrepreneurs, the Inaugural Entrepreneurial Alumni Reunion is added to the fall 2023 calendar. This entrepreneurship-themed event will take place in November, providing a platform for networking, collaboration and talent resources for startups, industry, alumni, investors, students and faculty. By building a community of Purdue entrepreneurs, Purdue Innovates is fostering future Boilermaker successes that will solve the worlds greatest challenges. Learn more about the event here: org/entrepreneurial-alumni-reunion

Inaugural Entrepreneurial Alumni Reunion is org/entrepreneurial-alumni-reunion Purdue Innovates will be promoted and communicated through new-student orientations and events like Boiler Gold Rush and new faculty orientation.

The success of Purdue Innovates is reliant on several key metrics.

The impact on intellectual property generation and impact can be assessed through metrics like invention disclosures, licensed technologies, filed patents, issued patents and license income.

For startup creation, metrics include the amount of private capital raised by startups formed by Purdue alumni, students and faculty, the number of successful Series A round companies, and the number of Purdue students hired by early-stage startups as interns or full-time employees.

A unified entrance for each part of Purdue Innovates:

Intellectual Property Commercialization: Translating ideas into impact begins in the Office of Technology Commercialization, where Purdue innovators can file technology disclosures. Contact Disclose@prf.org to get started.

Disclose@prf.org Startup Creation: Whether validating and de-risking an idea in the Incubator, finding early-stage support in the Startup Foundry or securing investments through the Ventures team, Purdue Innovates is the entrepreneurial front door for faculty, students, alumni and investors. Contact Startups@purdue.edu to begin that journey.



Commercialization  IP Generation and licensing



Purdue University innovations can be found in all 50 U.S. states and in over 100 countries around the world. Millions of people benefit from the cutting-edge research that takes place at Purdue. The Office of Technology Commercialization is the conduit for Purdue research to create new markets, solve real-world problems and drive new revenue streams for current and future Purdue innovations.

Hundreds of Purdue innovations are licensed and optioned every year, and OTC has a streamlined process for licensing so a company can get a new product into market quickly. The team offers different types of licensing agreements where thousands of Purdue innovations are available  ranging from the worlds whitest paint and digital forestry to smart concrete and cancer therapies, to name a few.



Licensees of Purdue IP include companies large and small. For example, GeniPhys raised a $6 million Series A round, and the company was founded by Sherry Harbin, a Purdue professor who holds a joint appointment in the College of Engineering and College of Veterinary Medicine. GeniPhyss polymerizable collagen innovation addresses unmet needs across a variety of potential markets after it worked with the Office of Technology Commercialization to license the intellectual property.

Startup creation  entrepreneurship mentorship and investment



In 2013 the Purdue Foundry was launched by Purdue Research Foundation to amplify the impact of the intellectual property being developed at Purdue. It served as a hub for practical entrepreneurial support that helped Purdue entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses, taking their innovations out of the laboratory and academia and into the global market. Since the inception of Purdue Foundry, PRF has helped launch more than 350 companies, which raised more than $877 million.

Purdue was also ranked third nationally in startup creation by IPWatchdog Institute in 2020. Such resources led to many successes for Purdue-connected startups. For instance, Socio, a social media application developed by a group of Purdue University undergraduate students, including Joe Watkins, earned the founders a Forbes 30 Under 30 award in 2020. In July 2021, Cisco acquired Socio, now known as Webex Events.

We are proud of our past accomplishments but strive to raise the bar a level higher, Beier said. We want to continue seeing Purdue technologies make an impact on the world via our commercialization and licensing partners, as well as our Purdue-connected startups receiving Series A investment and beyond, and our students getting exposure to startup internship and employment opportunities during their time on campus. Purdue Innovates is the culmination of all these past successes, and we will continue to build on them.

What theyre saying at Purdue Innovates:

Brooke Beier, senior vice president of Purdue Innovates: We want the Purdue community to see the real-world success stories of commercialization and entrepreneurship coming out of Purdue Innovates and be inspired to take on the process themselves.

We will be here to assist in that journey, whether they choose to embark on it as a Purdue student, faculty member or later in their career as an alum. Boilermakers are some of the most loyal and entrepreneurial-minded alumni, and Purdue Innovates welcomes the opportunity to engage and discuss how it can assist with the mission to make Purdue the most preeminent university for technology commercialization and startup creation.

Abhijit Karve, director of business development and licensing in the Office of Technology Commercialization: The partnership between the various units of Purdue Innovates will be paramount to the success of getting Purdue technologies to market whether via industry or startups.

Justin Renfrow, new director of Incubator: Im eager to bring my experience in product development and my enthusiasm for assisting early-stage technologies and startups to the Purdue Innovates team. The Incubator will play a key role at the top of the funnel for advancing technology readiness levels, startup creation and de-risking, and engagement with student startups.

Tyler Mantel, new director of Startup Foundry: We foster an environment of support for founders while cultivating meaningful and productive connections with investors and dedicated alumni mentors. By uniting Purdue founders, funders and friends, we fuel the flight of innovation."

Eric Steager, new director of Purdue Ventures: Purdue Innovates has a clear and identified pathway from idea, through early scaling, to what I do in terms of early-stage investment. So it allows these companies to be better formed. Their pain points are articulated. They're just in a better position for investment.

To learn more about Purdue Innovates, where Boilermaker innovations and startups are forged, go to purdue.edu/innovates and explore your next giant leap.



About Purdue Research Foundation

Purdue Research Foundation supports Purdue Universitys land-grant mission by helping the university improve the world through its technologies and graduates. Established in 1930, PRF is a private, nonprofit foundation that helps patent and commercialize Purdue technologies and builds places to encourage innovation, invention, investment, commercialization and entrepreneurship.

Writer/Media contact: Alicia South-Hurt, absouth-hurt@prf.org

Sources:

Brooke Beier, senior vice president of Purdue Innovates, BLBeier@prf.org

Justin Renfrow, director of Incubator, jdrenfrow@prf.org

Tyler Mantel, director of Startup Foundry, tmmantel@prf.org

Eric Steager, director of Purdue Ventures, elsteager@prf.org
Egypt urged an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, stressing its support for its southern neighbour, read a statement by Egypt's Permanent Representative to the UN Osama Abdel-Khalek at the Security Council's open debate session on Sudan on Tuesday.
North Korea has ramped up the frequency and intensity of its missile launches and other provocations over the last year, continuing its nuclear weaponbuildup while threatening attacks against South Korea and the United States.

Leader Kim Jong-un now claims that he plans to put 180 tactical nuclear weapons on just one of his new types of short-range ballistic missiles. He has also announced plans for an exponential increase in his nuclear weapons, suggesting that his target is likely more in the 300 to 500 range, well beyond what experts had once anticipated.

This campaign has also seen the increasing diversification of the DPRK's arsenal to include a wide array of missiles and other weapons, ranging from a new liquid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and long-range cruise missiles to a newly introduced underwater nuclear drone.

All of this raises the question of why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is making such excessive investments in his nuclear and weapons programs and dramatically showing off his country's military capabilities, even though the United States and South Korea have no intention of invading as the DPRK claims.

And while it's impossible to divine Kim's exact motivations, available evidence suggests he is a paranoid ruler who cares less for his country than for his own life and power, as he faces not only his sworn enemy the United States, but his own population suffering under pandemic hardships.

Overhyped Threats

North Korea relies on a false narrative that its weapons development is simply a response to South Korean and U.S. military exercises, which it says are preparations for invasion of North Korea. But it's clear that this claim is nonsensical.

For one, South Korea has reduced ( PDF ) the size of its army from 560,000 active-duty personnel to 365,000, versus a North Korean army of 1.1 million. Even with advanced ground force weapons, a South Korean army of that size is not ready to invade and secure the North.

And while South Korean army reserve personnel are numerous, almost all train no more than three days per year, which does not produce the kind of cohesive units required for offensive or stabilization operations.

Just the numbers make it very clear that U.S.-ROK military training is defensive in character, as they regularly announce. Share on Twitter

Just the numbers make it very clear that U.S.-ROK military training is defensive in character, as they regularly announce.

This is not to say that the South Korean military has been negligent. Some 20 years ago, Seoul's defense ministry recognized that it faced a demographic problem in sustaining its manpower and put together a manpower versus technology trade-off program referred to as Defense Reform Plan 2020.

Much of that technology has gone into South Korean fighter aircraft, which are intended to offset reductions in manpower.

This has not gone unnoticed in North Korea, with Kim announcing that he wants tactical nuclear weapons in part to neutralize the small number of South Korean airfields where advanced combat aircraft are located.

If North Korea really has the ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons required to effectively attack South Korean airfields, ROK ground force defense could be imperiled and offensive operations into the DPRK would be unthinkable.

Real Motives

Kim tells the North Korean public that they must sacrifice in order to defend their country ( PDF ). And of course successfully building more and more military systems is one way he diverts the attention of his people from his other failures.

The DPRK leader is unable to feed his people adequately, provide them needed electrical power, and meet their health and lifestyle needs. And there are unconfirmed reports of pushback from his people for spending money on ballistic missiles rather than the food needed for those who are starving.

But Kim's real worry appears to be something else. We cannot know for sure, but it's likely his own survival and continued control of North Korea is his primary objective.

Kim is reportedly paranoid and likely worried because he has watched the United States use drone aircraft to eliminate threatening foreign leaders, including recently to take out an Islamic State leader. He likely worries that he may be next.

The basing of Reaper drones in Japan in late 2022 did not catch much attention in Western media, but Kim likely noticed since it could facilitate a threat against him. And the recent U.S. propensity to fly B-52s over the peninsula, which can carry air-launched cruise missiles, is likely also a concern to Kim.

So Kim appears to be doing everything he can to convince South Korea and the United States that decapitation strikes are not possible without severe consequences.

Last September, North Korea passed a new law that calls for North Korea to automatically launch defensive or even preemptive nuclear attacks if the regime's survival is threatened. Since then, the North has demonstrated a wide range of nuclear weapon delivery and basing capabilities, apparently trying to suggest that its threats are more serious than Seoul and Washington might have thought.

Adequate Solutions?

Given Kim Jong-un's motives, a key question is to what degree the capabilities that North Korea has demonstrated are real. And while we can't know for sure, some recent demonstrations appear suspicious.

Given Kim Jong-un's motives, a key question is to what degree the capabilities that North Korea has demonstrated are real. Share on Twitter

For example, Kim recently took senior North Korean leaders into a room containing what state media claimed were 10 tactical nuclear weapons, a potentially significant increase in the North's nuclear weapon force.

Still, it seems most likely that those were not nuclear weapons but rather mock-ups: Would Kim and senior leaders really go into a room with enough highly powerful explosives and nuclear material to decimate the group had there been an accident or sabotage?

Questions also surround North Korea's new underwater nuclear drone. State media reported the weapon can destroy a naval strike group, except that the drone's speed was only about 8 knots, hardly enough to even keep up with most naval battle groups.

Meanwhile, the reason why the DPRK has yet to conduct a seventh nuclear test or full-range test of the Hwasong-17 ICBM is also unclear. It's possible that these weapons are not yet fully ready for such tests, or that the United States has privately signaled to Kim that there will be dire consequences for him personally if such tests proceed.

It could also be that Kim is saving these tests to demonstrate his power and divert attention inside North Korea at some time when internal instability reaches a more serious level.

But because the United States and South Korea are not backing down from their enhanced military exercise schedule, Kim will likely feel more internal pressure to do something to maintain his appearance of success and power.

Given Kim's apparent propensity to manage his internal challenges by vilifying the United States and carrying out provocations, any increase in such activity in the coming weeks and months may actually reflect his concern about growing instability inside North Korea.

Bruce W. Bennett is a senior international/defense researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

This commentary originally appeared on NK News on April 19, 2023. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Denver plans to spend $20 million in the first six months of this year to provide housing to migrants. Officials say this works out to between $800 and $1,000 per week per person.

In January the state of Illinois turned down Chicagos request for more funds, saying it had already spent close to $120 million on its asylum seeker emergency response  or roughly $33,000 per migrant.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has asked for more than $500 million in federal aid, while pegging the citys spending at between $2 billion and $3 billion.

Other data points of the opaque costs of Biden-era illegal immigration include Massachusetts estimate that it will need $28 million to launch a program to provide drivers licenses to undocumented residents. The state is seeking a share of the omnibus spending bill passed by Democrats in December 2022 when they controlled both houses of Congress, which included $800 million for cities grappling with the influx.

These numbers are incomplete in part because it is hard to separate the added cost of recent migrants from costs for the millions of undocumented immigrants who were in the country before the recent surge. Illegal migrants cost taxpayers over $150 billion a year, according to this estimate  up 30% since 2017.

A March study by the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that, after accounting for taxes paid by undocumented migrants, they cost taxpayers over $150 billion per year  a 30% increase since 2017.

Yet FAIR acknowledges the problem of fixing costs has become more difficult, given the record-breaking numbers of illegal crossers in the past two and a half years and efforts by some government agencies to mask their spending.

We often had to grapple with a paucity of easily accessible official data, the report notes. Many state and federal entities do not publish detailed data that they collect, making it difficult to reliably separate illegal aliens from citizens of lawful immigrants. We have also encountered cases where the current administration has revoked or restricted documents published by previous administrations in order to reduce the visibility of data which shines a negative light on their immigration policy agenda.

Those totals also involve far more than simple food and board. To arrive at its staggering sum, FAIR includes estimates of the costs in education, health care and law enforcement.

The irony is not only are these sanctuary jurisdictions turning to Washington with their hands out, but that they still refuse to join with governors like Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis in demanding that the federal government take decisive steps to stanch the influx of new migrants, FAIR spokesman Ira Mehlman told RealClearInvestigations, referring to the Republican chief executives of Texas and Florida, respectively. The obvious hypocrisy of declaring yourself a sanctuary jurisdiction while complaining about the costs and burdens associated with it are undeniable.

Groups that favor more relaxed border security measures, such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the American Immigration Council, did not respond to RCIs request for comment; the liberal Brookings Institution declined to comment.

An impact hard to estimate: serving soup at a makeshift immigrant shelter in Denver in January. Cities housing many migrants have a hard time estimating costs. New York Mayor Adams has asked for more than $500 million in federal aid, while pegging the citys spending one time at $2 billion and another time at $3 billion. Those are the sorts of bills New York has racked up putting what they call asylum seekers or migrants in hotels.

And Adams, whose requests sometimes include the claim we are all in this together, wants to spend even more. This month, he floated the idea of paying college tuition for illegal immigrants if they attend New York state schools outside the city.

Without reservations: in January, migrants in New York being asked to leave their temporary hotel digs. Using Adams own number of some 40,000 illegal immigrants that New York City has foot the bills for, it means taxpayers are spending roughly $150,000 per person to host new arrivals. In March, City Hall scaled back its count of the number of its immigrants to 12,700, which meant the taxpayers were spending nearly $5 million a day to take care of them, according to a New York Post analysis.

The Office of the New York City Public Advocate, which helps immigrants navigate the benefits available to them, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Adams declined to address questions about spending, pointing instead to various links the city maintains for immigrants and noting the city has expanded a New York County Supreme Court decision in 1981 regarding shelter for homeless people to cover immigrants.

Whatever the current official number of illegal immigrants New York is dealing with it is but a fraction of those that have poured into various Texas communities along the border.

Officials at El Pasos City Hall, one of the ground zeroes in the illegal immigration crush, did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on its spending. But Gov. Abbott said his Operation Lone Star, launched in March 2021, has allocated more than $4 billion to do the federal governments job and secure the border, Abbotts spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said.

Many migrants like these who crossed into Texas soon found themselves on buses elsewhere. It was Abbott who began busing illegal immigrants to some of the sanctuary cities that declare themselves so welcoming, such as New York, Denver and Chicago.

Texas began busing migrants to sanctuary cities last April to provide relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities, Mahaleris said. Mayors Adams, [Muriel] Bowser and [Lori] Lightfoot were all too happy to tout their sanctuary city statuses until Texas bused over 16,900 migrants, collectively, to their self-declared sanctuary. Instead of complaining about dealing with a fraction of the border crisis Texas communities see every day, these hypocrites should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border  something the president continues failing to do.

Lightfoot, departing as mayor of Chicago after her defeat in February, first turned to Illinois for millions to help the Windy City cope with its several thousand illegal immigrants Texas provided. In January, however, the state turned her down, saying it had already spent close to $120 million on its asylum seeker emergency response.

That response came last September when Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an emergency disaster proclamation. His proclamation and the words of other state leaders presented a schizophrenic picture in which they portray Illinois as a welcoming beacon of hope and complain they werent given official advance warning.

Most of the money Illinois spent  more than $61.5 million, or roughly $31,000 per immigrant  went to contracts with organizations or staff who provided on site case management and other services at multiple locations.

Illinois dropped another $8 million on interim housing, nearly $4 million on health screenings for asylum seekers, and more than $29 million on hotel, transportation and housing costs, according to their breakdown.

Nowhere did Pritzker or Lightfoot question the wisdom of the Biden administration s border policies, and there was no indication they understood the burdens that had been put on border cities and states. Instead, the unmistakable message was that if illegal immigrants were going to be sent where the welcoming beacon shone, other people should pay for it.

They can say all that is for free, but now theyre finding out they cant have a welfare society and an open border, said Lora Ries, the director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Denver held a budget transparency and equity meeting earlier this month at which Chief Financial Officer Margaret Danuser said the city will have spent between $17 million and $20 million on housing and other services for between 5,000 and 6,000 illegal immigrants between Dec. 2022 and this June. The city hoped to get federal taxpayers to reimburse it for $2.8 million, and a Colorado state fund for another $3.5 million.

Those figures show Denver spent about the same as Chicago at roughly $33,000 per immigrant, costs that are still far below New York Citys.
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Read Entire Auction Before Bidding Read Entire Auction Before Bidding. Read TERMS and CONDITIONS. Read Before Bid! This is a CASH SALE! Not for Payments! No Minimum! No Reserve! High Bid Wins This Auction! Delinquent Tax Sale 0.36 AC close to Indian River, MELBOURNE, Florida (see pics & county info for details) 0.36 ac Street View nearby Close to John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Cape Canaveral, a lot of parks and nice sandy beaches! Space Center Cape Canaveral. Cocoa Beach Great Beaches!!...

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The Egyptian Armed Forces said on Wednesday they are coordinating with the various Sudanese parties to ensure the safe return of all the Egyptian army personnel from Sudan.

This comes in light of recent media reports about the return of the Egyptian Armed Forces personnel, who were engaged in a joint training with the Sudanese forces in accordance with the protocol signed between the two states, said the Egyptian Armed Forces Spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez in a statement.

The Egyptian Armed Forces stress that they are fully coordinating with the various competent authorities in the sisterly state of Sudan to secure the safe return of all the Armed Forces personnel to homeland, the Spokesman said.

A subsequent detailed statement will be issued, Abdel-Hafez added.

The Egyptian forces had been stuck at the Marawi airport since Saturday amid the ongoing clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces.

Earlier on Wednesday, the RSF said the Egyptian soldiers  who the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman has previously said were in Sudan for training purposes  have been relocated from Marawi airport to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

The RSF reassured at the time the Egyptian government and the families of the soldiers that they are safe and sound and receiving the necessary care.

The world has been calling for the halt of violence in Sudan amid clashed between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka Hemedti, who commands the paramilitary RSF.

Since then, around 300 people have been killed in Sudan, 3,000 have been injured, and thousands of Sudanese have fled Khartoum, where the clashes started.

The fighting between the army and paramilitaries raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed.

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Hilton Grand Vacations Club McAlpin-Ocean PlazaMiami Beach, Florida All images in this listing are general images of the resort and do not necessarily reflect the actual resort or units. Please perform your own due diligence OVERVIEW1430 OCEAN DR, MIAMI BEACH, FL 33139Miami's South Beach defines urban sophistication, with its al fresco cafes, art deco architecture, mosaic of culture and world-class attitude. With a premier Ocean Drive address in the heart of South Beach, Hilton Grand Vacation...

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GLOW and Nurse Jackie actress Betty Gilpin says she shares the mistrust of technology expressed by the Catholic nun she portrays in the new sci-fi drama, Mrs. Davis.

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Set to premiere Thursday on Peacock, the series follows Gilpin's character, Simone, as she confronts the titular god-like artificial intelligence that wants to take over the world. To defeat it, Simone must find the long-lost, oft-sought Holy Grail.

"I feel mixed about technology. I'm addicted to all the dumb parts of it in a way that I find embarrassing. I'm scrolling on the toilet just like everyone else and then snatching the phone away from my 2 1/2-year-old daughter like it's poison," Gilpin told UPI in a recent Zoom interview with reporters.

The actress said she hopes the show -- an entertaining, frequently funny adventure that also explores concepts such as power, free will and the meaning of life -- will spark conversations among its viewers.

"Something that my character grapples with is her connection to her faith. She is sort of saying, 'What are we gambling with when we're relying so much on having all of the answers in our pocket? Do we stop asking the big questions? Do we stop having access to a portal to the intangible?'" the actress said.

"I, Betty, am not a person of faith, but I do wonder if I am addicted to this screen in my hand, does my brain lose the ability to wander on its own or to be creative or existential or connect with people if I am so disconnected, glued to an algorithm tailored to me and my own personal echo chamber?" she added. "It's terrifying."

It's natural to zero in on issues like this as people are still recovering from the loss of life and freedom they experienced during the recent coronavirus pandemic, Gilpin believes.

"We were lonely and the news was depressing, and clinging to our screens as a sort of salve for all of the pain was a real thing for all of us," she said.

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"I think about the Internet and church as two things that were institutional responses to probably an initially very pure need for connection and wondering."

The actress credits series creators Tara Hernandez (The Big Bang Theory) and Damon Lindelof (Lost) for setting up a colorful, detailed world in which she and co-stars Jake McDorman, Andy McQueen and Margot Martindale could play.

"The layers were really there in the writing," Gilpin said.

"It's such a rare gift to have the richest back story just served to you [with] all the flashbacks. I was provided with every answer to any question I could have about her," she added. "Really, my homework was done for me. I just had to say the words out loud."

Feeling comfortable with her collaborators, she said, greatly impacted her performance, too, because it made her feel safe and take artistic risks.

"I would show up on set and just be super-nervous or scared or not want to step on toes," she recalled about working on past projects in which she wasn't so at ease.

"As a result, I think I played it a little safe in terms of creative swings and, on this one, I was like, 'The world almost ended. Let's swing for the goddamn fences.' And everyone else around me was swinging for the fences, so it made it pretty easy."

The sunglasses and updated nun's habit Simone typically wears make her look like an angelic badass, particularly when she is driving a motorcycle with sidekick Wiley (McDorman) clinging onto the back.

"I love the Katharine Hepburn pants of the habit. I loved the wimple. I loved it all," Gilpin said.

"It just felt like my superhero suit. There was comfort in knowing what I'd be wearing every single day and then, in the flashbacks, it was this exciting thing where I got to wear jeans and it felt like a ball gown," she said with a laugh. "It was pretty hot in the wool habit, but I loved it."

The actress also said she is also proud of the striking visual she is presenting to women and young girls.

"I'm allowing my daughter 15 minutes of screen time in the mornings. I'm showing her modern-day cartoons and it makes me realize how toxic and dated some of the cartoons that I watched were, that were all patriarchal -- prince comes to get the princess and rescues her," Gilpin said.

"Now it's all empowered princesses. So, yeah, I love that Wiley is on the back of the horse. It's awesome."
Universal Pictures released the second trailer for Fast X on Wednesday. The film opens May 19.

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The trailer begins with a Vatican City action sequence. Jason Momoa 's new villain character unleashes a spherical bomb that Dominic Toretto ( Vin Diesel ) knocks off its path to its target.

As the first trailer established, Momoa is playing a character connected to the safe heist from 2011's Fast Five. He returns for revenge against Toretto and his family, both biological and those bonded by their love of auto racing.

The trailer also resolves a big tease from 2021's F9. A post-credits tag showed Han (Sung Kang) knocking on the door of Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham).

Shaw was revealed to have killed Han in 2013's Furious 6. Shaw was the main villain of Furious 7 before being redeemed and co-starring in the spinoff Hobbs & Shaw.

F9 revealed Han faked his death and the Fast X trailer suggests he hashes out his differences with Shaw. Another action sequence shows Letty ( Michelle Rodriguez ) fighting series villain Cipher (Charleze Theron).

The trailer concludes with Dom driving out of the way of two semi trucks crashing head-on atop a bridge. Dom outruns the flames that follow his car down a dam from the explosion.
Zach Shallcross / Instagram

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/19/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Zach Shallcross and Kaity Biggar have given fans a relationship update now that the show is over and they're dating in the real world.Zach and Kaity got engaged on 's Season 27 finale , which aired in March on ABC.Zach, who was living in California while filming 's 27th season, officially moved back to Austin, TX, on April 6, and he said he and Kaity have "been busy, pretty much ever since."But the tech executive and Kaity are not officially living together yet. Their separate leases end in the summer, when they plan to move in together, and they hope to wed in 2025 "I think in California, there are just so many people from the franchise. It's also what people see as Hollywood or where the influencers live. Kaity and I, we wanted to get back to normal," Zach explained to the couple's local Austin Monthly magazine."We wanted to do our jobs and get back into that normalcy as much as we can. You can just go to L.A. and then try to pursue that, which is totally fine. But for us, we love Austin. We love everything that's going on here, and I think a lot of other people recognize that too."Kaity plans to get back into her nursing contract by the end of April, and she said she's "looking forward" to resuming her passion."I love the hospital I work at and the people are incredible. Like Zach said, we're not really trying to be in the limelight; we're just honestly trying to be normal," Kaity said.Although they don't live in the same apartment or house just yet, Zach confirmed they "still have a lot of time together.""And we love to end our nights with bingeing any type of show or movie we can get our hands on," Zach shared."I'm a big scary-movie guy, and she's a great sport. Whatever movie that I see and I'm like, 'Oh, that looks good,' she's like, 'Anything you want babe, let's watch it.' She's just so sweet about it."Zach also pointed out how Kaity has "a sweet tooth.""She keeps bringing up Jeni's Ice Creams, which I've never had before, and I swear every night she's looking up the hours to make sure we might be able to sneak it in," Zach noted.And Kaity gushed about how she appreciates how "organized" Zach is as well as his sense of humor."I love his impersonations that he does. He hates when I bring this up, but he [impersonates] his uncle. His uncle [ Patrick Warburton ] is the voice of Kronk [from The Emperor's New Groove], so sometimes just to get a little laugh, I'll have him do it," Kaity told the magazine.Zach said they've been going to some good restaurants, such as Matt's El Rancho, and also attended a recent Spurs game together.Kaity and Zach were featured on the "Kiss Cam" at the Spurs game, and they shared how fans often approach them when they're out in public."There are definitely people that come up and say hi, they'll just congratulate us, which is really nice. Everybody's really lovely and sweet and very respectful for the most part," Kaity explained.And Zach added, "It depends where we go. And Kaity can agree on this: It'll be at the most random times. It'll be maybe on South Congress, or we'll just be having dinner together, and one person comes by, and then that kind of gets everyone's attention."Zach and Kaity boasted about how they're enjoying "beautiful" Austin with all of its great food and live music, making for "a great environment" for them to date and continue getting to know each other.As far as what they're looking forward to doing in Austin, Kaity said paddleboarding and getting outside in the nice warm weather."I love being outdoors, and I think Austin has a great scene for that as well. Everything about Austin is just amazing. I thought I was going to be here for 36 months and then I'd be off to another state because as a travel nurse, that's what we do. But nope, I'm not going anywhere," Kaity confirmed."Everything Kaity said," Zach chimed in. "But a lot more barbecue. I missed that when I was out in California doing the show stuff."Although Zach's family lives in California, Zach moved to Austin for a job opportunity and had been living there for nearly four years before filming .For Kaity's part, she moved to Texas in April 2022 and then settled down in Austin in August.While was airing, Kaity was staying in Canada with her family -- until she headed back to Austin. Zach, meanwhile, was in Anaheim, CA, where his family resides.Kaity and Zach also enjoyed long weekends together, known as "Happy Couple" visits, post-filming, with a couple of them being in Austin. They also watched some of episodes together.Interested in more news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
The birth this week of an endangered seal at Hawaiis most popular tourism hubs highlights the tension between protecting the islands fragile ecosystems and maintaining access to the pristine white-sand beaches that attract millions of visitors each year
On Sunday, at approximately 12:40 a.m., the Athens-Clarke County Police Department responded to a shooting that occurred at Coleridge Court, according to an ACCPD press release.

A 29-year-old female was shot and received non-life-threatening injuries. EMS transported the woman to a local hospital, the report said.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday that the coordinated efforts with the UAE allowed for the successful transfer of the remaining group of Egyptian troops who were in Sudan with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to the Embassy of Egypt in Khartoum.

The two brotherly countries [Egypt and the UAE] expressed their appreciation to the International Red Cross for its efforts in supporting the process of ensuring the safety of Egyptian soldiers, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday morning.

This step comes as part of the two countries' efforts to restore calm through continuous communication with the Sudanese sides to ensure restraint, de-escalation and a return to the political track, added the statement.

Egypt and the UAE are committed to continuing their efforts to stop the fighting and protect civilians, the statement added.

The two countries also stress the importance of intensifying efforts to return to the political and dialogue framework to resolve all disagreements to achieve political stability and security in Sudan, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Egyptian Armed Forces issued a statement detailing the efforts it has undertaken to secure the return of Egyptian troops to the homeland, who were on a training mission with the Sudanese army at the time of the outbreak of fighting in the country.

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The Athens-Clarke County Library and Athens Community Council on Aging will present an informational session on Medicare on April 27 at 11 a.m.

The session can be useful for those confused about Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans or those that are not sure where to get factual information, according to an ACC Library release.
Two unions representing Air India pilots have asked members not to accept the revised compensation and employment offer, calling the companys proposals unfair labour practices.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters

They said any coercion on pilots to sign the offer would lead to industrial unrest.

The Tata group airline announced on Monday a new salary structure for pilots and cabin crew.

It said the flying allowance for pilots has been doubled to 40 hours.

A service reward for pilots, based on years in service, has been introduced.

Allowances have been enhanced and a travel policy is being proposed.

Pilots unions, in an online meeting held on Tuesday, expressed their disappointment with the revisions.

The meeting was attended by 1,000 pilots working with all four Tata group airlines.

While the unions objected to various clauses of the new offer, their main grouse is about promoting captains with more than four years' experience into management.

Unions see the salary proposals as a move to weaken them.

Where is the company requirement all of a sudden to forcibly promote almost all permanent workmen of the union to the so-called senior commander management cadre?

"It is clear from this that there is a concerted effort to gut the unions and isolate pilots into individual boxes where they can be exploited and victimized at will by the HR department.

"This amounts to unfair labour practices, said the Indian Commercial Pilots Association and the Indian Pilots Guild in a joint letter on Wednesday.

Air India, in a statement, defended its new salary structure.

The new compensation structure for pilots and cabin crew is our endeavour to bring in parity among different groups, encourage productivity and boost emoluments drawn by them.

"The managerial and supervisory role played by the experienced pilots is also being recognised in the form of designating them as Senior Commander as also offering them a special monthly allowance.

"The contracts reflecting these enhancements were individually sent to the pilots and cabin crew for necessary paperwork.

"A large number of pilots and cabin crew have already accepted the new contracts, and the salary improvements and advancement opportunities they enable.

"The airline will continue to engage with the remainder of its staff through this process as currently there is no recognised union in Air India.
'If they are taking marquee locations and, say, are paying 50 per cent higher rent, those locations will see a spurt in rates as well.'

IMAGE: Apple CEO Tim Cook poses for a selfie with a customer at the opening of India's second Apple retail store at Saket in New Delhi, Thursday, April 20, 2023. Photograph: PTI Photo

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, India got its first fully-owned Apple store in Mumbai. Two days later, a second Apple store opened, this time in Delhi.

The big openings have caused a good amount of excitement, and real estate experts say the brand's cult following is bound to up the value of the addresses it has chosen to house itself in.

The 22,000-sq ft Mumbai store at the Reliance Jio World Drive mall in Bandra Kurla Complex opened on April 18 at 11 am; the one at the Select Citywalk mall in Delhi threw its doors open at 10 am on April 20.

A "big, positive step" is how Samir Jasuja, founder and CEO of real estate data and analytics firm PropEquity, describes the arrival of these fully-owned Apple stores.

"The retail market has started to pick up once again and is doing pretty well. It is expected that Apple will open more stores going forward," he says.

"Since they pay higher rentals than regular retail occupiers, that too at marquee locations, it will excite more foreign retail owners to come in and open stores."

Jasuja is of the view that this will have a corresponding effect on property rates that are defined by rentals.

"If they are taking marquee locations and, say, are paying 50 per cent higher rent, those locations will see a spurt in rates as well, though not so much because even the brand will take expansion slowly."

For Indian consumers, it will be more than an opportunity to buy straight from the company.

It will also be about getting advice and product support, as well as help from Apple's 'Creative Pros' -- members of the store team who lead 'Today at Apple' sessions and promote the creative potential of Apple's products and services.

There are also likely to be opportunities to attend conferences and community events.

Apple, after all, has been building its stores as 'Town Squares', spaces where people can come, meet, engage and spend time rather than just buy an iPhone or an iPad.

IMAGE: The Apple store at Saket in New Delhi. Photograph: PTI Photo

The last launch of an Apple store was in March 2023 in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea. What added to the buzz was that the store's 150-strong retail team collectively spoke over a dozen languages.

Back to realty check. The presence of an international brand's store, which is much in demand, also has a direct impact on the location.

"The premiumness of the location goes up. It is a marker of the location being the best. The image of the (chosen) malls will also rise in the eyes of customers," says Jasuja.

Vivek Rathi, director research, Knight Frank India, says the development signifies the aspirations of the Indian consumer.

"Many real estate projects now reflect the sentiment of such an aspirational consumer, and the supply side too gives the confidence of creating such landmarks."

Store launches of international brands are known to draw crowds.

In 2012, when coffee chain Starbucks opened its first outlet in India in Mumbai, it was greeted with mile-long queues of people waiting to grab a cuppa. The queues were as long when the chain came to Connaught Place in Delhi.

Likewise, when Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo launched its store at Ambience Mall in New Delhi in 2019.

Shreya Mago, a 25-year-old Delhi resident, says she waited in line for two hours to get her hands on trousers that she'd been obsessing over since she'd seen them on her cousin.

The arrival of H&M and Ikea has caused a similar frenzy.

That said, Samit Sinha, founder, Alchemist Brand Consulting, feels the buzz isn't what it used to be in the 1990s.

"As someone born in the '60s, we hadn't even heard of most foreign brands, let alone seen them. These were really exotic and unreachable for us," he says.

"It was only after 1991 that things changed almost overnight and people felt they were really part of a global village. I think that kind of excitement of looking at foreign brands cannot be captured."

While it is great news for Apple aficionados and no doubt there will be huge queues outside the stores this time round as well, Sinha says "it will be more about loyal consumers of what has now become a cult brand".

The rise of e-commerce, too, has aided the availability of foreign products in the country, so the excitement isn't what it was when people were deprived of them, he says.

As an example, he brings up American ice-cream brand Haagen-Dazs, which launched its flagship store in Delhi in 2009.

"We knew of a lot of these brands and we'd think that when Haagen-Dazs comes to India, that will really change things. But nothing really happened. It was not a big deal."

Apple and ice-cream, though, are two different things. The launches this week might establish that.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
Wipro is in the news, again.

The information technology (IT) services company has mandated freshers, who had opted for a lower salary package of Rs 3.5 lakh per annum, instead of Rs 6.5 lakh per annum, clear a new training module titled Project Readiness Program (PRP) and score at least 60 per cent or stand terminated.

Photograph: PTI Phoo

Wipro is not the only company to have implemented such a programme.

IT services company LTIMindtree had introduced a similar training programme with the possibility of elimination if not successfully cleared.

In February, Wipro had asked fresh-faced graduates to join at a lower salary than they were eligible for.

It had mandated they opt for a salary of Rs 3.5 lakh, from the Rs 6.5 lakh promised earlier, as projects in the higher salary package were not available any longer.

These graduates were asked to clear an assessment programme titled Velocity before being signed on in March.

They are now being asked to undergo training again, said Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES)  an IT sector employee union working extensively for the welfare, rights, justice, and empowerment of IT, business process outsourcing, and knowledge process outsourcing professionals in India.

Calling Wipros actions unethical, unfair, and unjust, NITES President Harpreet Singh Saluja said, In March 2022, before starting the unpaid Velocity training, the companys human resource department assured employees that if they completed the module, they would not have to undergo training again.

"After joining on March 30 this year, Wipro asked its employees to take another test.

In an email response, a spokesperson for Wipro said, At Wipro, we place immense value on seeing our talent grow and succeed.

"The PRP is part of our routine onboarding process and designed to ensure that our next-generation (next-gen) associates are assigned to the right client projects and have the most up-to-date skillset to make an immediate impact.

The company did not respond to a query on why freshers who cleared the assessment were being tested again.

This sudden change in Wipros policy has left many of its new employees in a quandary.

"The company is playing with employee future.

"They have invested a year and a half at Wipro.

"The companys threatening approach that talks about termination is causing them immense stress and anxiety, said Saluja.

However, some of the senior executives of the company Business Standard spoke to confirmed that skilling and reskilling have been integral to Wipro.

At every level, irrespective of the department, the employee has to clear regular assessment and skilling programmes.

"This has been happening for years now, said an executive.

According to the training instruction mail, PRP is a programme offered by Wipros Talent Transformation to all campus and off-campus hires referred to as Next-Gen Associates (NGAs). The broad objective of PRP is to equip NGAs with the requisite knowledge and skills that will enable them to start working on customer projects.

In January this year, the company laid off 425 new candidates as they fared poorly in these assessments.

Testing times
Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Thursday announced the acquisition of Brahmins - a Kerala-based traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand - and it has also drawn up plans to launch its snacks brand targeting the southern market.

The company will focus on the southern market and is in the process of launching its own brand in the fast-growing ready-to-eat and snacks segment, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and managing director Vineet Agrawal told PTI.

He further said Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting would take the acquisition route for expanding in the spices segment.

The company, part of Azim Premji-led Wipro Enterprises, forayed into the foods segment in December last year with the acquisition of the Nirapara brand.

It is seeking to tap opportunities for growth in South India in the food space.

"As of now, we would look at South India and the reason is, unlike North and West India, there is no organised player in South India in terms of snacks like Haldiram and Bikaji.

"That's why we are looking at snacks in South India.

"Here the competition is from the unorganised and small-scale players and if we can give a value-added answer and a good product, people will switch here," Agrawal said.

The company has shortlisted some names for the upcoming snacking brand and is currently under the process of registration, Agrawal added.

However, he did not share the amount Wipro is investing and said it is working on the taste of the products as different South Indian states have their own different palate and different way of cooking.

It would introduce 4-5 products at the time of the launch of the brand.

"We are in the process of launching our own brand as far as snack is concerned.

"We are setting R&D facility in Bengaluru," Agrawal said, adding, "If it is required for each state of South, we would have to differentiate the products."

All three brands - Nirapara, Brahmins and the new one (yet to be launched) -- would operate independently, he added.

"As far as spices are concerned, we will go through the acquisition route and for ready-to-eat snacks, we would do it organically," he added.

For distribution, Wipro will use the existing channels.

"We are at Kirana outlets, where we sell our soaps... It's the same distribution and stockist. We are not entering into the cold chain," he added.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting's acquisition of Brahmins, known for its spices and ready-to-cook food, is its 14th so far after the Nirapara brand.

With these two acquisitions, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting "is looking at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment" and consolidating its spices, breakfast and ready-to-cook category, a joint statement said.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition.

The acquisition "will be a mutually beneficial partnership that will accelerate the expansion of the Brahmins' portfolio on one hand and embolden Wipro's foundation into the food business," it said.

Adding Brahmins under the Wipro fold will further bolster its position in blended spices and ethnic breakfast (Puttu-podi, Appams and other Rice products) categories in Kerala and other markets, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the UK, the US and Australia, it noted.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting earlier this month announced that it has crossed the milestone of Rs 10,000 crore in overall sales in FY23, helped by significant growth across its geographies, brands and categories.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, which started in 1945 as a vanaspati brand, with its factory in Amalner, Maharashtra, now has a presence in 60 countries.

The company, which operates in FMCG and lighting products, has 18 factories with more than 10,000 employees and 51 per cent of its revenue comes from international businesses.
Food delivery firm Zomato Ltd said on Wednesday most stores of its grocery unit Blinkit had resumed operations after being shut following protests by delivery partners.

Photograph: Kind courtesy, Blinkit

Over the last few days we have made changes in the delivery partner payout structure with respect to the Blinkit business to address the needs of delivery partners, improve customer experience and reduce cancellation/ order rejection frauds by few delivery partners in the system.

"Such changes are done from time to time, as needed, said the company in a letter to the BSE.

We had to shut down some stores for a few days to ensure safety of our employees at stores and the delivery partners.

"Most of these stores have now resumed operations, said the letter.

Zomato said that the protests had no impact on its operations or financial performance (meaningfully less than 1 per cent revenue impact).

Hence we believe that this event does not warrant any disclosure under regulation 30 of the SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015, said the letter.

Blinkit recently shut down some stores in Gurugram, Haryana, after delivery workers went on a strike.

A company notification, which was seen by 'Business Standard', on its delivery partner app said the stores are being shut because partners hadnt worked for the past 3-4 days.

An estimated 2,500 Blinkit delivery executives have been on strike in Gurugram since April 12, after the company slashed fixed pay-outs per delivery for them, under recent changes in the delivery incentive structure.

Under the new structure, workers will receive Rs 15 for each delivery within a one-km radius, against the Rs 25 rate before.

Furthermore, for any distance travelled over 1 km, workers would be compensated based on the additional distance between the range of Rs 10 to Rs 14 per km.

The company has confirmed that Noida and Gurugram were affected by the strikes.

Unlike food delivery where delivery workers deliver orders from restaurants, quick commerce operates using the dark store model.

These are large retail facilities that resemble a conventional supermarket but are not open to the public and they are operated by quick commerce firms.

The firms rival Swiggy Instamart had, in September last year, seen similar protests from its delivery workers in Chennai over a revised payment structure which cut delivery incentives and reduced fuel allowances.

According to a report by ICICI Securities on Monday, Zomato has already lost 1 per cent in revenue from Blinkit in the first quarter of FY24.

We estimate Blinkit was operating ~370 dark stores pan India as of Q3FY23.

"This implies that about 25 per cent of the dark stores are currently not operational.

"Given that at least 3-4 days sales have been lost, this implies a one per cent loss in revenue from Blinkit and around 0.15 per cent of consolidated revenue for Q1FY24, already, said the ICICI Securities report.
Ajit Balakrishnan decodes the post-ChatGPT angst.

Here are some samples of media headlines across the world and across all media types: 'ChatGPT: The 10 Jobs Most at Risk of Being Replaced by AI'; 'Which jobs are in danger due to ChatGPT?'; and 'ChatGPT could make these jobs obsolete'.

Such headlines are then followed with details about the type of jobs that are threatened, which level of jobs are threatened, which industries are threatened, and so on.

I must confess that all this makes me feel that I have been transported back in time to the world of Manchester in the 1840s, when the textile-spinning and -weaving machine made its appearance. I listen anxiously if I can hear words like... 'labour is not only the fundamental source of all wealth, next to nature, which supplies it with the material that it converts into wealth, it is, in fact, the prime basic condition for all human existence'.

Those, as you may know, dear reader, were the words of Friedrich Engels, a wealthy German youngster whose father had sent him to Manchester to run one of the family's weaving mills. And of course, as you will know, Engels quickly gave up on that and partnered with an acquaintance, Karl Marx, to create the Marxist view of the world.

What are some of the theories being propounded on what types of jobs and how many will be destroyed?

In the United States and Europe, approximately two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and up to a quarter of all work could be done by AI completely, say economists from Goldman Sachs.

The Business Insider Web site quotes the McKinsey Institute as saying that tech jobs such as those of software developers, web developers, computer programmers, coders, and data scientists are the most likely to be most affected.

Next in line for replacement, they say, are content-creation jobs such as journalism, advertising copywriting, and legal assistants.

When you look at all these angst-ridden forecasts, you can see one thing that they all agree on: ChatGPT and its cousins' ability to generate human-like text is the core strength that worries people.

In other words, what a wide range of observers from classical believers in capitalism like management consultants and investment banks are saying is more or less the words that Engels and his pal Marx said in the mid-1840s.

In the dream that I was in, listening to Engels say those words, I pictured myself whispering to him, 'But Mr Engels, with all due respect to you, can you not see that cloth is being woven so cheaply that even the poorest peasants in India can now afford to wear a cotton dhoti and kurta and not go semi-naked as he and his family have been doing for generations?'

Would he have said, 'But, Mr Balakrishnan, what matters most to me is that hand weavers and spinners are becoming unemployed... that matters more than Indian peasants being able to afford good cotton clothing.'

Since I have to wait a while for the technology breakthrough which would have allowed me to go back in time and be in the Manchester of the 1840s, let me at least address the ChatGPT anxiety that is running amok among our thinkers today, using a few examples from the past.

Let's take stenography: When I started working in 1970s Bombay, a fourth of all employees in prominent service industries of that time -- ad agencies, publishing companies, and banks -- were stenographers, both male and female. Then the personal computer and Microsoft Word, and its equivalents appeared.

Within a period of less than six years, stenographers faded out. The PC and Word Processing software would help you write not only office letters but even ad copy and news articles and other such documents. And we bid bye-bye to stenographers as a human species.

Next was the turn of accountants/bookkeepers: In the late 1970s such folk made up a tenth of the people in banks and businesses. Then came accounting software, which eliminated more than half of them. A million bank workers went on strike in 1980, protesting that 'computers are a capitalist evil that would rob people of their jobs'.

But contrary to all of the above, notice how our constant and dearest companion (no, not your wife/husband, nor your cat/dog), the mobile phone, has worked its way through the human system. It's made every one of us a photographer (no one is mourning the end of cameras and photographers), also made every one of us a financial whiz (online payments, transfers...).

Then, familiar reassuring presences such as a bank branch (and managers and clerks in them) are disappearing from the Indian landscape. And who needs record/cassette players and TV sets? All we do is pull out our little mobile phone and tap a few things there to watch the movie we want or hear the song which suits our mood of that minute.

And I haven't noticed any angst-ridden editorials mourning the end of photographers or bankers and others affected by the rise of our little pal, our mobile phone.

Is it possible that AI/ChatGPT will do something similar for us that the mobile phone has? Make each one of us a creative composer of words? And be the tool that moves the world to a place where being creative with words will become as easy for each one of us just as the mobile phone did for us with pictures and spoken words and music?

Ajit Balakrishnan (ajitb@rediffmail.com), founder and CEO, Rediff.com, is an Internet entrepreneur.
'We cannot accept Ajir Pawar if he comes to join us as a member of the NCP.'

'NCP is not welcome to us.'

IMAGE: Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar at an iftar party in Mumbai on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Photograph: ANI

Shiv Sena MLA from Aurangabad and party spokesperson, Sanjay Shirsat, who first spoke about welcoming Ajit Pawar to join the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra now claims that Pawar is welcome to join the government only if he quits the Nationalist Congress Party and joins as an individual apart from accepting the ideology followed by the BJP and Shiv Sena.

Shirsat, who had written an open letter to then Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022, after he joined the Eknath Shinde-led rebellion, also clarified that even if Ajit Pawar joins the government, the BJP will have to sacrifice its ministerial portfolios and not the Shiv Sena, now led by Chief minister Eknath Shinde.

"Our stand is clear -- he is welcome if he joins at an individual level, accepts Balasaheb's and the BJP's ideology; also, (even if he joins) our ministerial strength will not change. The BJP will have to give (Ajit Pawar's group ministries) from their pool of ministers," Shirsat tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com over the phone.

There are reports of Ajit Pawar joining the BJP-Shiv Sena government...

He will not join the government soon. The process is on, though. Whenever that happens, the Shiv Sena will welcome it. But we would welcome Ajit Pawar only if he quits the NCP and then joins the government.

If he comes and joins the government as an NCP MLA, then it will not be acceptable to us.

If we were to join hands with the NCP again, then why did we rebel (against Uddhav Thackeray) in the first place?

Our opposition was to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and so we rebelled (against Uddhav Thackeray).

We will always remain opposed to Sharad Pawar's NCP.

IMAGE: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thacekray with NCP President Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat.

Why do you distrust Sharad Pawar so much?

He has been consistently changing his views about which party to join hands with for the sake of power. You cannot trust when he will ditch you for someone else.

He quit the Congress in 1999 under the excuse that Sonia Gandhi was a foreigner and he didn't accept a foreigner as his leader. But the same Pawar joined hands with the Congress to capture power in Maharashtra.

He joined hands with the Shiv Sena, whom he considered his enemy number one, in 2019 because he wanted to enjoy the perks of power.

Then he gave covert support to (Ajit Pawar) to join hands with the BJP (the government led by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in 2019 fell within 72 hours).

Why do you think he does all this? Because he just can't stay away from power. And now that the EC (Election Commission) has withdrawn the status of national party from the NCP, he more than ever needs power to sustain his political ambitions.

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, left, with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Photograph: ANI Photo

You claimed that the Shiv Sena will quit the BJP government if BJP joins hands with Ajit Pawar and becomes part of the state government?

Yes. We will welcome Ajit Pawar with open arms. But we cannot accept if he comes to join us as a member of the NCP. NCP is not welcome to us.

If Ajit Pawar accepts the ideology (of Hindutva) espoused by the BJP and Shiv Sena he is welcome anytime. Let him say he does so and we will welcome him with open arms.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde is yet to speak out his mind on the issue of reports of Ajit Pawar joining the BJP-Shiv Sena government. Did he have meeting with Shiv Sena MLAs about what will be your party's role if this happens?

No, we did not have any meeting yet but our position is clear. Our stand is clear that he is welcome if he joins at an individual level, accepts Balasaheb's and BJP's ideology; also, (even if he joins) our ministerial strength will not change. The BJP will have to make give (Ajit Pawar's group ministries) from their pool of ministers.
'Was the entire place properly sanitised by the police before he was brought out of the prison for this medical check-up?'

'Once he filed a plea in the Supreme Court stating there was a threat to his life, the UP police should have maintained stricter vigilance.'

IMAGE: One of the three killers fires at Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed who were being taken for a medical checkup in Prayagraj on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Photograph: PTI Photo

Senior Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Parikh, who had represented the People's Union for Civil Liberties, which had sought directions from the apex court for a CBI-monitored inquiry into alleged police encounters in Uttar Pradesh, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com, "I think this is a case where the Supreme Court should take suo moto cognisance and look into the way in which extrajudicial killings are taking place in Uttar Pradesh."

How do you look at the murders of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf when they were being escorted by policemen for medical examination?

The murder of Atiq and his brother, who were under police protection, raises very serious issues of lawlessness and complicity (of the police) because in the circumstances, when one is surrounded by policemen it is not possible (that three shooters go on a shooting spree and wantonly kill people without any counter attack by the police); he (Atiq) had moved an application before the Supreme Court that he apprehended some kind of encounter and the Supreme Court gave the direction that the state will take care of it.

These (murders of Atiq and Ashraf) look very suspicious and must be fairly investigated by an independent investigative agency to probe if there was a conspiracy (to kill Atiq Ahmed in the presence of police), if the state (government) was involved in this thing (murder) or not involved. These are very serious questions which ultimately bring the entire rule of law into question.

The idea that criminals need to be eliminated without following the Constitutional, judicial procedures seriously undermines the judicial process. This should not be acceptable in a democracy like India.

Could Atiq Ahmed have been saved from being murdered?

That is what needs to be investigated by an independent agency which should look into issues like: Was it so necessary to take them for medical examination at night and whether the media should have been allowed to speak to them or be present in the vicinity? Questions like: Did the media already know that the police were bringing Atiq Ahmed and his brother to this particular hospital?

Was the entire place properly sanitised by the police before he was brought out of the prison for this medical check-up?

Once he filed a plea in the Supreme Court stating there was a threat to his life, the UP police should have maintained stricter vigilance.

But all these facets of his murder will come to light only if an independent agency undertakes a fair probe.

I think this is a case where the Supreme Court should take suo moto cognisance and look into the way in which extrajudicial killings are taking place in Uttar Pradesh.

Unfortunately, many times sketchy petitions get filed in the Supreme Court and they immediately get rejected by the Supreme Court.

I would like to make one comment though: People ultimately want justice. These criminals indulge in killing people wantonly and the public at large, certainly fear such gangsters.

Now these acts of criminals, the political support they enjoy, as well murders of such criminals should be investigated properly and cases expedited in fast-track courts.

People think that this is not being done because of the delay in the dispensation of justice. We need to evolve a judicial process, an investigation mechanism that will expedite such criminal cases.

Such trials should be time-bound, there should be rock-solid protection of witnesses; whoever commits any crime should be swiftly brought to face the law and exemplary punishment should be given in such cases.

Is it normal practice for the police to take an accused for medical checkup at night?

Such questions will definitely be asked and the investigators will also look into these suspicions.

We also need to know why this medical checkup was so urgent; whether the accused complained of some suffering or ailment because they looked quite healthy when they were being taken for the medical examination.

There are many such doubts which only a thorough and fair investigation can bring to light.

It must also be investigated why the media were given so proximate access to these two while they were being taken to the hospital once they stepped out of the police jeep.

Usually, such easy access is not allowed to high-profile criminals, especially those who had apprehensions they could get eliminated while being moved from one place to another and for which they had filed a plea in the Supreme Court.

Could a case be filed against the UP government, police?

By the virtue of 2014 Supreme Court guidelines a case ought to be registered (against the policemen protecting the Ahmed brothers). It has to be registered against the police (who were escorting them to the hospital).

Whether the state (government) is involved (in Atiq Ahmed's murder) is a question of judicial inquiry.

In this situation, those (policemen) who were near Atiq and the contingent of police force, which was deputed for his protection, a case must be registered against them. But they (the UP police) will register a case only against the three shooters.

Atiq's relatives will have to file a police complaint against these cops so that the case can be investigated.

The Yogi Adityanath government immediately set up a judicial inquiry into the murder. Have such judicial inquiries been effective in the past? Do they help in bringing out the truth?

In Vishal Dubey's encounter case, a judicial inquiry was appointed; the Supreme Court looked into it and found that the encounter was genuine.

I do not understand this kind of clean chits being given because a process has to be followed and an investigation has to take place.

In defence, they can say that they did kill somebody in exercise of their right to defence.

How can any judicial committee give clean chit to them? Judicial inquiry is not the answer; the answer is a fair and thorough investigation by an independent agency.

An investigation involves filing a chargesheet and recording of evidence.

IMAGE: The encounter site in Jhansi where the police claim Asad Ahmed and his accomplce Ghulam died in an encounter. Photograph: ANI on Twitter

Did the UP police follow the Supreme Court's guidelines on extra-judicial killings during the encounter of Asad Ahmed and Ghulam?

All encounters as per the law come within the category of murder because there is nothing mentioned in the IPC (the Indian Penal Code about encounter killings), the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code), or any other criminal law categorising encounters as a separate category and empowering the police or any other person to commit an encounter of anybody; there's nothing like a fake encounter or a genuine encounter.

When we say genuine encounter, it means there is a provision in the CrPC, Section 46 (which can be interpreted as such), which states that if some alleged criminal you want to apprehend is running and he's accused of the offense of killing somebody, and if such person is killed in self-defence (then it can be interpreted as a genuine encounter).

So, when somebody attacks you then you are entitled to defend yourself by exercising your right to self defence (and in the process the person may get killed).

But then these exceptions can be approved only during the defense (trial in a court). In any other case, suppose there is a murder committed by a private person (not a police encounter), then naturally, the law takes its own course and it is investigated. And then thereafter, evidence is recorded and the court pronounces the judgment.

When these encounters started increasing, the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) came out with certain guidelines and finally directions were given in 2014 in a judgment by the Supreme Court.

Now suppose, in these cases if the police lodges an FIR saying that the other side (the criminals on the run) tried to attack and then (Section) 307 is invoked (against those killed in a police encounter): The offence of attempt to commit murder.

Now, in the counter attack by the police, most of the time the criminals they are allegedly chasing gets killed, which the police calls encounters. Most of the times such cases are closed by saying that there is an FIR and the FIR is closed.

So in order to come out of this problem, the (Supreme) Court said in 2014 that when a person is killed in extraordinary circumstances there has to be an investigation by an independent agency and all the provisions (of the IPC and CrPC) should be followed and then the law will take its own course.

Now in UP encounters, we find that these directions given by the Supreme Court may have been violated. Unfortunately, the judicial commissions (appointed to probe such police encounters) accept the final reports (submitted by investigators) and close the cases, which is against the rule of law.

I believe that in a case where the police is involved), it is required as per the law that such encounters are investigated as per 2014 guidelines of the Supreme Court.
A pre-poll alliance among like-minded parties has become essential to save the country and democracy, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai has said while asserting that the next generation will be put in grave danger if the opposition does not unite now.

IMAGE: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai addresses a press conference, at the AAP party office, in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo

He told PTI in an interview that parties that are still thinking of 'being the leader' of a possible united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have not understood the gravity of the situation at all.

The senior AAP leader's comments come amid the Congress' efforts to bring several like-minded parties together on a common platform in their fight against the BJP.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also telephoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 15, a day after the CBI summoned the AAP national convenor in connection with the excise policy case, and stressed the need for opposition parties to unite against the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Asked if the AAP will join hands with the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Rai said it has become essential for opposition parties to unite to save the country and democracy.

Efforts are being made to cripple the parliamentary system and to install a system sans opposition, Rai alleged and described it as a direct attack on India's constitution and an indirect attempt to install autocracy in the country.

Efforts are being made to capture all institutions, be it the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, Election Commission and even the judiciary which is not normal. If these institutions lose their independence, India will lose all that it has gained in the last 75 years, he said.

"The Congress, AAP, Samajwadi Party, and the Left are small entities considering the scale of the present situation. The 2024 polls cannot be compared to conventional elections. These are entirely different circumstances... It (pre-poll alliance with like-minded parties) has become essential for the country. I think if we together do not resolve the problem now, it will put the next generation in grave danger," Rai said.

Amid efforts towards opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met with his Delhi counterpart Kejriwal in the national capital last week. Kumar was accompanied by his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Asked if the Congress should lead a united front of opposition parties, Rai said it's not about being the leader, it's about saving the country and democracy.

"The Congress also knows this is a different situation altogether. Those still thinking about being the leader have not understood the situation at all," he added.

About his party's plans after being elevated to national party status, Rai said the AAP will continue working to strengthen its organisational structure across the country.

"We are strengthening our organisational structure in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam. We are focusing on these states (ruled by the BJP and Congress) after becoming a national party," he said.

Rai also said that the 'bogus' corruption charges levelled against Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain will not have any bearing on the party's performance in Delhi in the general elections.

In the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the AAP did not do well in the areas under Sisodia and Jain's assembly constituencies.

"The BJP fought the entire election based on the bogus allegations of corruption in the excise policy. Yet, we dethroned them, ending their 15-year rule. It should also be noted that we got fewer seats, 49, in the last MCD elections when there were no such allegations. So, it depends on how you see it," Rai said.

He expressed confidence that the upcoming election of the mayor and deputy mayor of the MCD, scheduled for April 26, will proceed smoothly without any of the disruptions and controversies that characterized the previous mayoral polls.

"The aldermen, who are nominated members, were at the centre of the controversy surrounding the elections last time. The BJP wanted to give them voting rights. The Supreme Court ruled against it. The elections were conducted and the AAP won. I don't think there should be any controversy this time," the party leader said.

Under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, a new mayor and deputy mayor must be elected at the beginning of each financial year in April.

The BJP has fielded Shikha Rai and Soni Pandey for the upcoming election, despite not having adequate numbers in the House.

The AAP has re-nominated incumbent mayor Shelly Oberoi and deputy mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal for the positions.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has issued a decree pardoning a number of prisoners in honour of Eid Al-Fitr and Sinai Liberation Day, which fall respectively on this weekend and 25 April.

The decree was issued in the official gazette dated Sunday. The number of pardoned prisoners has not been declared yet, though the Ministry of Interior is expected to announce it next week following their release.

Those pardoned will not pose a threat to national security and may be subject to police supervision for five years, according to the decree.

The Egyptian constitution allows the president to issue pardons for prisoners who have received final court rulings. Presidential pardons are typically issued several times a year in conjunction with national and religious holidays.

In related news, the public prosecution recently ordered the release of 41 pretrial detainees.

Hundreds of pretrial detainees have been released in successive batches since the spring of 2022 following the reactivation of the Presidential Pardon Committee ahead of the national dialogue which is set to begin in May.

The committee, first established in 2016, reviews cases for political prisoners and recommends their release based on requests from entities such as the National Council for Human Rights and Parliament's Human Rights Committee, or through its website.

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Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar at the latter's residence here on Thursday amid the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.

The meeting, held at Pawar's residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai this morning, lasted for nearly two hours, sources said.

Earlier this month, Pawar had come out in support of the Adani group and criticised the narrative around the US short seller Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate.

Taking a position at variance from senior ally Congress, Pawar had said he favoured a Supreme Court committee to probe allegations against the Adani group since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party would have a majority in the JPC based on numerical strength in Parliament and this would lead to doubts on such a probe.

The NCP supremo had later said although his outfit does not agree with the demand of anti-BJP parties for a JPC probe into allegations against the Adani group, it will not go against their stand for the sake of Opposition unity.

The Supreme Court had last month ordered the setting up of a six-member committee headed by a former apex court judge to look into various regulatory aspects for stock markets, including the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.

The Hindenburg Research has made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
Fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh's wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at the Sri Guru Ram Dass International Airport in Amritsar by immigration officials while she was trying to board a flight to London, sources said on Thursday.

IMAGE: Amritpal Singh's wife Kirandeep Kaur . Photograph: PTI

She was learnt to have been questioned by the immigration authorities, they said.

Singh married Kaur, a UK-based NRI, in February this year.

Punjab Police officials refused to answer questions posed by media persons at the airport.

More than a month after a police crackdown against Singh and his aides, the radical preacher continues to remain elusive even as a manhunt to nab him is underway.

Police on March 18 had launched the crackdown against Singh and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab De.'

He and his associates were booked under 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.

On February 10, Singh got married to Kaur in a simple ceremony at Jallupur Khera, his native village in Amritsar.

The 'Anand Karaj' (marriage as per Sikh rituals) was held with a limited gathering of family members from both sides at a gurudwara in Baba Bakala in Amritsar.

Singh had said that a marriage ceremony should be simple and urged people not to indulge in show-off by splurging money on grand weddings.

The preacher said his marriage was an example of reverse migration and announced that he and his wife would live in Punjab.
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday recreated the crime scene outside the hospital in Prayagraj where gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead by three men on live television.

IMAGE: SIT and the forensic team recreate the crime scene, where three assailants shot dead gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15, in Prayagraj on Thursday. Photograph: ANI Photo

Members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the forensic team visited the area outside Colvin Hospital to understand the sequence of events leading to the killing of Ahmad and his brother on the night of April 15.

The policemen who were escorting Ahmad and Ashraf during the shootout were also called to the spot.

The three shooters were not brought to the crime scene.

A heavy police deployment was made as the officials recreated the sequence of events beginning from Ahmad and Ashraf getting down from the police jeep until the firing by the three men who posed as mediapersons.

ADG Bhanu Bhaskar, Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma and Joint Commissioner of Police Akash Kulhari were present when the scene was being recreated.

Police said recreating the crime scene is likely to provide clues in the investigation and on the basis of them the accused can be interrogated.

Ahmad and Ashraf were being taken to the hospital for a medical examination when the three men crashed through the police cordon and opened fire on the brothers.

The assailants -- Lovelesh Tiwari, Mohit and Arun Kumar Maurya -- were immediately overpowered without much resistance.

They have been charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and under the Arms Act. A court has sent them to police remand until April 23.
A US court in California has dismissed a status conference motion moved by imprisoned Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, who is sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, stating that it anticipates a ruling on his extradition to India within 30 days.

Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of US district court in the Central District of Los Angeles had held the last hearing on this issue in June 2021 and the last set of papers was filed in July 2021. The court is yet to give a verdict on the US government's request to extradite Rana to India.

In a motion moved through his lawyer last month Tahawwur Rana, asked for a status conference -- a court-ordered meeting between the prosecution and defence to discuss the case details and a plea bargain.

The last pleading in the case was filed on July 21, 2021. Given the passage of time and Rana's continued incarceration, it appears appropriate for the Court and counsel to discuss the current status of the matter, his lawyer said.

Rana's counsel suggested that the status conference be held on April 25. However, the court in an order on April 17, dismissed the motion.

"To the extent the Motion requests that the Court update the parties as to the status of this matter, it is granted. The parties are advised that the ourt anticipates issuing a ruling in this matter within thirty (30) days.

"To the extent the motion requests that the court hold a status conference, it is denied because it is the court's current view that such a proceeding is unnecessary and will not assist the Court in its resolution of this matter, the court order said.

However, in the event there are new/additional developments that the parties believe should be brought to the court's attention before it rules, counsels are directed to confer and are granted leave to file a joint status report regarding the same within seven (7) days, it said.

During court hearings, federal prosecutors argued that Rana was aware that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley was involved with Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT), and that by assisting Headley and affording him cover for his activities, he was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates.

Rana knew of Headley's meetings, what was discussed, and the planning of the attacks, including some of the targets.

The US government asserted that Rana was part of the conspiracy and there is probable cause that he committed the substantive crime of commission of a terrorist act.

Rana's attorney on the other hand opposed the extradition.

In the 2008 Mumbai attack, perpetrated by the LeT members, 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.

The federal prosecutors said that because members of the conspiracy committed acts resulting in death with the intention of causing death, or at minimum committed those acts knowing its imminent dangers, there is sufficient evidence that the elements for murder would be satisfied.

"Under Indian law, other members of the conspiracy also would be liable for murder, even if they were not physically present," the court said, adding that it was foreseeable that the attacks will result in several deaths.

Rana knew that Headley was working with terrorists and that LeT and other co-conspirators were planning attacks in Mumbai. He also was aware of the location of some of the potential targets, such as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and its second floor, because he and Headley had discussed those locations.

"Thus, Rana understood that by helping Headley and allowing him to use his immigration office in Mumbai as a cover, LeT and the other terrorists would be able to carry out their attacks. Further, because Headley had a co-conspirator meet Rana in Dubai, UAE, and warn him of the upcoming attacks, Rana was in no doubt of what was going to happen," according to the federal prosecutors.
Opposition unity in the form of an alliance of all major opposition parties cannot be forged at the national level, the Communist Party of India-Marxist has said, adding that it can be gained only by adopting a joint stand on important political issues.

IMAGE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, state Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Janata Dal-United national president Lalan Singh meet at Kharge's residence in New Delhi, April 12, 2023. Photograph: Ayush Sharma/ANI Photo

The latest editorial of party mouthpiece, People's Democracy, has said that zeroing in on one who could be the face of the opposition at the national level is a "fruitless pursuit".

The party also said that to advocate that the strongest opposition party in a state, whether it be a regional party or a national party, should be allowed to set the terms for an understanding with other parties to ensure a one-to-one contest against the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are far from ground realities and do not take into account the complexities and the diverse character of the opposition parties.

"First of all, it should be clear that opposition unity in the form of an alliance or front of all the major opposition parties cannot be forged at the national level. This erroneous idea stems from a narrow electoral outlook which sees the success of the electoral battle against the BJP as being dependent on ensuring a one-to-one fight in all constituencies. This is plain wishful thinking.

"Opposition unity has to be primarily fostered by adopting a joint stand on major national and important political issues," the editorial said.

It also pointed out that making the prime minister accountable for the phenomenal rise of Adani and answerable to the revelations made by former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik about the Pulwama attack are such issues which can unite the opposition.

"If the opposition can put forth its alternative stand on all important policy issues and in defence of democracy, secularism and federalism -- that will be a substantive step in projecting a united alternative.

"This should be supplemented by calls for joint campaigns and protests on people's issues and the constant assaults on people's livelihoods. Such calls can be observed by as many parties jointly through joint platforms and actions. In states where this is not possible, concerned parties may observe the calls separately through parallel actions.

"This is the realistic way to go about matters since some of the parties which may be able to give a call jointly at the national level cannot implement it jointly in some of the states," the party said in the editorial.

The CPI-M also said it is these steps suggested above which would create the atmosphere for working out electoral tactics at the state level to maximise the pooling of anti-BJP votes.

"That is why it is important that the present efforts at gathering all the opposition parties must move with a clear direction -- of uniting on major national issues with a clear-cut alternative, fostering united actions wherever possible and mobilising to fight the BJP in the states by ensuring the maximum pooling of the anti-BJP votes," it said.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu on Thursday said the Election Commission had "accepted" the elevation of Edappadi K Palaniswami as its general secretary, on a day when the Madras high court resumed the hearing into his rival camp's pleas over the leadership of the party and other issues.

IMAGE: Edappadi K Palaniswami gives free gold rings to the infants in an event organized by the AIADMK trade union to celebrate his selection as the AIADMK general secretary, in Chennai, April 5, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Party spokesperson RM Babu Murugavel tweeted a communication from the EC to Palaniswami and said it had "accepted" the amendments to the AIADMK bylaws, the general secretary election and the appointment of new office-bearers.

In the EC communication Murugavel shared on his Twitter page, it told Palaniswami that "the amended rules and regulations of the party and the change of office bearer communicated vide your letters under reference have been taken on record subject to any further court order/direction."

The EC's April 20, 2023 dated letter came on a day when a division bench of the Madras high court was hearing a plea by deposed leader O Panneerselvam against his explusion from the party last year and the elevation of Palaniswami.

Palaniswami, a former chief minister, was elected general secretary on March 28, soon after the Madras high court rejected all petitions filed by the deposed Panneerselvam and his aides against the resolutions of the July 11, 2022 party general council and the conduct of the general secretary election.
As fighting between two rival forces rages in Sudan, India on Thursday said the situation in that country is "very tense" and it is focusing on ensuring the safety and well-being of the Indian community, including working on contingency plans and possible evacuation.

IMAGE: People gather at the station to flee from Khartoum during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan on April 19, 2023. Photograph: El-Tayeb Siddig/Reuters

New Delhi is keeping a close watch on the developments in Sudan besides being in touch with relevant countries, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing and added that any evacuation plan will depend on the ground situation.

"We are in readiness of taking multiple options. There are contingency plans. We are in close touch with our teams on the ground. But it will all depend on how long there is a pause in the fighting or a ceasefire; where it is happening, what is available in terms of locations where we can safely take people away," he said.

He was responding to a question on whether India is looking to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.

Bagchi also said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on the situation in Sudan.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group for the last seven days that has reportedly left around 200 people dead.

Jaishankar has already spoken to his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on the ground situation in violence-hit Sudan with a focus on ensuring the safety of the Indians.

In a tweet, Jaishankar said he discussed with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry the "concerning" situation in Sudan and deeply valued his "assessments and insights, as also his very helpful attitude."

Asked about reports suggesting attacks on the Indian embassy in Khartoum, Bagchi said it is located just opposite the airport in the city and that zone has seen a lot of fighting.

"There has been some shelling as well. I would not be able to specifically comment on whether it has happened specifically outside the embassy but yes there are reports that in that zone where there are many embassies, attacks are going on," he said.

On possible evacuation, Bagchi said they will depend on the ground situation.

"If the situation on the ground improves, if there is a pause in the fighting or there is a ceasefire, we will certainly take advantage of that primarily to first get the people to safer areas, provide food and water," he said.

"For the moment, it is a very tense situation where there is not too much of a respite from fighting although the intensity has been going up and down," he said.

To another query, Bagchi said the embassy is fully functional and staffers are operating from their residences as fighting has been going on in the zone where the mission is located. He said nobody resides in the embassy complex.

"We are keeping a very close watch on the evolving situation there. Our mission in Khartoum has been in contact with the Indian community there through multiple channels -- informal, formal," Bagchi said.

Asked about the number of Indians staying in Sudan, he refused to divulge the details citing security implications though he noted that the government has a sense of the strength of the community.

According to official data earlier, the number of Indians in Sudan is around 4,000 including 1200 who settled down in that country decades ago.

The MEA spokesperson said the Indian embassy is engaged with the countries in the region as well as other nations that have a key role to play, particularly the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

"We are also in touch with various UN bodies that are present there. The UN has a significant presence on the ground. The external affairs minister is presently in New York and he is likely to meet the UN Secretary-General to discuss developments in Sudan," he added.

Bagchi said the situation on the ground is "very tense" which renders any movement very risky.

"So currently our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of the individuals wherever they are located

"We are monitoring the situation and are in touch with the people. Let me emphasise that we understand the difficulties people are facing," he said.

"The situation on the ground is changing, it is quite fluid. Incidents are happening at various locations and we are advising the community members who are reaching out," he added.

Bagchi said the Indian mission and the MEA are trying to reach out to every Indian in Sudan. He also appealed to all Indians there to get in touch with the mission.

"We are trying to locate every Indian, trying to build a database, trying to counsel them," he said.

The MEA spokesperson said the power supply and internet connectivity in that country have been patchy.

On Monday, the Indian embassy in Sudan issued a fresh advisory urging Indians not to venture out of their residences and stay calm.

The embassy, on Sunday, said an Indian national died in Khartoum after sustaining bullet injuries.

Sudan's military captured power in a coup in October 2021 and it has been running the country through a sovereign council since then.

There has been a dispute between the Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a proposed timeline for handing over power to a civilian government.

The fighting erupted between the forces loyal to two rival generals as both are aiming to wrest control over the country.

On the death of an Indian, Bagchi said the mortal remains of the deceased had been moved from his apartment complex into a mortuary in a hospital.
The US is providing assistance to its critical partner India to enhance capabilities that it might need to defend its border with China and also develop its own defence industrial base, a top American commander has said, stressing that New Delhi and Washington face the same security challenge from Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region.

IMAGE: Indian and US Army troops during the 18th edition of the India-US joint military exercise 'Yudh Abhyas', at Auli, Uttarakhand. Photograph: ANI Photo

"We value our partnership with India, and we've been increasing it and doing a lot more, over time. They have the same security challenge, primary security challenger that we do, and it's real on their northern border," Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Indo-Pacific National Security Challenges.

"Two skirmishes now in over the past nine or 10 months on that border, as they continue to get pressurised by the PRC (People's Republic of China) for border gains," Admiral Aquilino said.

He was responding to a question from Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna.

"I would like you to reflect on the importance of the relationship -- postcolonialism India and China had a relationship to emerge as the Asian voice. But that relationship now has really soured with a concern that there should not be a hegemon in Asia and that China is treating other countries as junior partners," Khanna said.

"It seems to me that this gives us an opportunity to ensure that China doesn't emerge as a hegemon to strengthen the relationship with India," said the Indian American Congressman.

Aquillino said both India and the US have the same security challenges.

"We also have the desire to operate together, based on the world's largest democracy. We have common values, and we also have people-to-people ties for a number of years. I met with General (Anil) Chauhan, my counterpart, at the Raisina Dialogue not long ago. I've been to India five times now in the past two years.

"So, the importance of that relationship can't be overstated. We operate together, frequently, with the Quad nations. Again, the Quad is not a security agreement, it's diplomatic and economic, but the Quad nations come together, often, to operate together in multiple exercises. So, we continue to work to be interoperable and to expand the relationship," he observed.

In November 2017, India, Japan, the US, and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.

Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement of troops from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory.

China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

In response to another question from Congressman Patrick Ryan, the admiral said India is a critical partner and besides conducting joint war exercises in the Malabar, the US is providing assistance to India 'as it applies to cold weather gear and other capabilities that they might need, as they defend their border on the northern side'.

"But additionally, we're expanding our cooperation in the form of production as India tries to work to develop its own industrial base. So, C-130 critical components are made in India, helicopter and critical frameworks made in India. That is expanding the partnership and moving them towards self-sufficiency and increased partnership with the United States," Aquilino added.

Referring to the recently launched India-US initiative for critical and emerging technology announced by the national security advisors of the two countries, Jedidiah P Royal, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security, said: "We're already delivering offers under the context of the ISAT arrangement. This is a real moment of convergence for the United States and India and we're looking to take full advantage of it, going forward."

Testifying before the committee, Royal said: "India faces the same challenges that we face in the region. So what we're seeing right now is a moment of strategic convergence in our relationship with the government of India. There's a lot of momentum in that regard. With respect to your question on from whom do they buy their weapons, we believe that they are through a generational process of looking to diversify off of traditional suppliers."

"We want to make sure that the US defence industrial base is in the best position possible to be India's partner of choice moving forward," he said.

In response to another question, Aquilino said the US is working with our Indian partners both to advance their warfighting capabilities together to ensure that the US is sharing information that's needed.

"We do have the same strategic competitor or whatever definition we want to put on it and in my time over in the theatre now for five years straight, it has increased exponentially. It's trending in the right direction. They're really good partners," he said.
The Jammu and Kashmir high court has quashed a series of detention orders under the Public Safety Act including that of journalist Fahad Shah on ground that the "detaining authority did not apply its mind".

Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: ANI Photo

In one of the cases pertaining to the detention of Srinagar resident Peerzada Mohammed Waseem, the court came down heavily on the district administration for stating in the dossier that the accused had indulged in rioting and stone pelting in 2020 whereas he was in jail since 2017.

How can a detenu already in jail and facing trial participate in rioting and stone pelting during that intervening period, the judge asked.

This "clearly proves that the detaining authority has passed the order without application of mind", Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal said in his order.

"I have gone through minutely the grounds of detention and perusal whereas reveals that the detaining authority has shown its wavering mind by stating that the activities of the detenu are prejudicial to the security of the State and in the same breath had said that the activities of the detenu are prejudicial to the maintenance of public order (sic)," Justice Nargal said, adding the authorities had used disturbance of the public order as well as maintenance of security on grounds of detention with a "wavering mind and uncertainty without any basis".

The judge cited a 1980 order of the Supreme Court in which the top court stated that expressions "law and order", "public order" and "security of the State" are distinct concepts, though not always separate.

Every breach of peace may amount to disturbance of law and order but does not amount to disturbance of public order and every public disorder may not prejudicially affect the "security of the State", the order quoted the 1980 judgement of Supreme court.

Quashing another PSA order of Amir Ali Bhat, the judge said, "It can safely be concluded...that the failure on the part of the detaining authority to supply the material relied upon at the time of passing the detention order against the detenu renders the detention order illegal and unsustainable in the eye of law."

The court said the detaining authority used the grounds of detention with a "wavering mind and uncertainty and accordingly, the impugned order gets vitiated and is held illegal".

Besides this, the contradictory statements of the detaining authority clearly proves "beyond any shadow of doubt" that the authority has not applied its mind before arriving at subjective satisfaction to detain Bhat in accordance with the law laid down by the Supreme Court.

In the case of Peerzada Shah Fahad alias Fahad Shah, the judge said that on careful analysis of the record, it is evident that the dossier has not been provided to the detenu and added "the non-supplying of the dossier is one of the main lacunae in the detention of the detenu" and it vitiates the detention order and cannot sustain the test of law and is liable to be quashed.

Perusal of the detention record further reveals that the person who executed the document has not sworn in affidavit on that behalf and as such, the procedural requirement as envisaged under law has not been followed by the respondents, the judge said while quashing the order.

The court also cancelled the PSA order of Naseer Ahmad Dar on similar grounds.

The judge, while passing these five orders separately on April 17, asked the authorities to release them forthwith in case they were not required in any other case.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday discussed the worsening situation in Sudan with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and underscored the need for successful diplomacy which can lead to an early ceasefire and create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of people.

IMAGE: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar meets UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in New York, April 20, 2023. Photograph: ANI on Twitter

Jaishankar, who met Guterres at the UN headquarters, also discussed other issues, including India's presidency of the G20 and the Ukraine conflict, with the UN chief.

'Good to meet UN Secretary General @antonioguterres in New York today afternoon. Discussed the current developments in Sudan, G20 Presidency and Ukraine,' he tweeted.

'Focus understandably was on Sudan. India strongly supports efforts towards an early ceasefire, leading to creation of safe corridors. Will continue to work closely with UN and other partners in this regard,' he said.

Jaishankar is headed on a nine-day trip to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic beginning on Friday, his first visit as the external affairs minister to these Latin American countries and the Caribbean.

Before his travel to Latin America, he arrived in New York.

He said while his trip to South America was planned quite a while ago, he 'came here to the UN mainly because once the fighting started (in Sudan) on the 14th (of April), you could immediately see that this was very serious and a lot of people were trapped by the situation.'

"We knew that the UN itself has a large presence in Sudan. This will be the centre. Because at this moment, what is needed is diplomacy, successful diplomacy because it's only diplomacy which can create the ground situation for the safety and welfare of the people out there," Jaishankar told a small group of journalists here after his meeting with Guterres.

Noting that he had a very good meeting with Guterres, Jaishankar said once the fighting in Sudan started out, I felt that it was very important that he met the UN Secretary-General Guterres.

"Most of our meeting was on the Sudan situation. We also of course discussed the G20 and we also spend some time on the Ukraine conflict. But essentially it was about the Sudan situation," he said.

Jaishankar said that in Sudan, the UN is at the heart of the efforts to establish a ceasefire.

"And that is really key because at the moment, unless there is a ceasefire and unless there are corridors, it is not safe for people to really come out," he said.

"The UN is doing its bit talking to everybody. We of course have obviously very strong interest in the matter because so many Indians are there," Jaishankar added.

Around 300 people, including an Indian, have been killed, and more than 3,000 injured in clashes in Sudan, according to the World Health Organisation.

The violence between forces from Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on Saturday.

Jaishankar said New Delhi is in touch with a number of countries and he has spoken to Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Farhan and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"We have been in touch with the Americans, I have also been in touch with my British counterpart," he said.

Earlier on Friday morning, he had a long conversation with the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry 'for being Sudan's neighbour and having a strong interest and strong understanding'.

"So, the focus is really how do you get the diplomatic processes to yield the desired result. The desired result is a workable, on-the-ground observed ceasefire. And then to take the next step, which is how do you create corridors for movement, what are the options of movement, what are the assembly points," Jaishankar said.

Meanwhile, the team in New Delhi 'is in continuous touch with the Indians in Sudan, advising them, saying we know it's very difficult for everybody, but keep calm, don't take unnecessary risk. They'll have to wait for this to sort itself out', he said.

"I hope that the efforts, including that led by the Secretary General will yield to something very soon. But we will have to wait and see," Jaishankar said.

Earlier on Friday, Guterres had a meeting convened by the African Union on 'the dramatic situation' in Sudan, bringing together the United Nations, the League of Arab States, IGAD [The Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and the European Union, as well as representatives from a number of countries that are deeply committed to solving the crisis.

There was a strong consensus on condemning the ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for a cessation of hostilities. As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days, marking the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies, Guterres told reporters.

Jaishankar said there have been earlier attempts at ceasefire that did not hold.

"What he (UN SG) said to me was encouraging in respect of the people who are trapped right now because as he said that it's more important than ever before that this ceasefire holds. We hope so too."
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the worlds leading hotel companies, has signed a management agreement with Nepal based Shangri-La Hotel & Resort Group to develop four new hotels in the country.



The new hotels include InterContinental Kathmandu Lazimpat, Hotel Indigo Pokhara Gharipatan, InterContinental Resort Pokhara Begnas Lake, and InterContinental Resort Chitwan, Meghauli. The signing will see IHG add close to 500 rooms to its portfolio in Nepal, and debut two of its global brands, InterContinental and Hotel Indigo in the market.



With this signing, IHG has strengthened its footprint across the South-West Asia region, specifically in luxury & lifestyle segment. Currently under construction, the new hotels are scheduled to open in the next 1-4 years in the most sought-after leisure destinations of Nepal - Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan.



Sudeep Jain, Managing Director, South West Asia, IHG Hotels & Resorts said: We are delighted to introduce two of our leading brands from the luxury and lifestyle portfolio, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Indigo, to Nepal. The signing of four new hotels in partnership with the esteemed and well- known Shangri-La Hotel & Resort Group of Nepal is testament to the trust and love for our brands from our owners as well as guests, and we are proud to grow our footprint in the South-West Asia region to bring our offering to new markets. The strategic location of all four hotels in different key tourism destinations of Nepal provide us with a great opportunity to offer world-class hospitality and cater to the demands of our guests.



InterContinental and Hotel Indigo have seen phenomenal success across key markets in the wider EMEAA region and we are pleased to have these brands at the forefront of Nepals flourishing hospitality industry. We are confident that our brands will provide world-class hospitality experiences to guests, and also that we will be the preferred choice for our owners who are looking to build their portfolio in the luxury and lifestyle category.



Prasidha B. Panday, Chairman, Shangri-La Hotel & Resort Group, added: We are pleased to partner with IHG Hotels & Resorts for the debut of the two renowned brands, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Indigo, in Nepal. We are confident that our partnership with IHG to open four new hotels will help us offer world-class hospitality to guests, at a time when travel to Nepal has increased exponentially. All new hotels will be located in top tourism hubs, and we expect to benefit from the strength and scale of IHGs global systems, technology and a strong loyalty programme.



InterContinental Kathmandu Lazimpat

Located in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital and its largest metropolis, the new InterContinental Kathmandu Lazimpat will be redeveloped on the same site as Shangri-la Kathmandu hotel, which is one of the iconic hotels of Nepal. Located in a high-profile area, the hotel will be in close proximity to various embassies. The hotel will also have easy access to the city centre, and a 15-minute drive from Tribhuvan International Airport. Featuring 225 luxurious rooms, the hotel will offer an all-day dining as well as a specialty restaurant, a lobby lounge, a bar, and multiple meeting spaces including a ballroom. The hotel will also feature a retail store, multiple health and wellness facilities, club lounge, business centre, indoor and outdoor recreation areas, and a swimming pool for guests to unwind.



Located on the main Lazimpat Road, where several embassies are also established, the area is one of the busiest and most significant in the capital. The hotel will cater to the growing demand of both leisure and corporate guests.



Hotel Indigo Pokhara

Hotel Indigo properties provide a gateway to discover some of the worlds most inspiring neighbourhoods and locations. Just as no two neighbourhoods are alike, no two Hotel Indigo properties are the same, taking inspiration from the area around each hotel to inform all aspects of the guest experience, from the boutique design to locally inspired restaurants.



Strategically located in Pokharas Gharipatan area, a key commercial and residential hub, Hotel Indigo Pokhara will serve the growing demand from business and leisure guests in the city. The 100-keys hotel will feature facilities such as a retail store, health club, spa, club lounge, business centre, indoor and outdoor recreation areas, and swimming pool. To cater to MICE demands, the hotel will be equipped with two meeting rooms, a ballroom and a boardroom. For guests to unwind, there will be a Neighbourhood cafe, specialty restaurant, a lobby lounge and a bar.



InterContinental Pokhara Begnas Lake

Conveniently located along the banks of Begnas Lake in Pokhara, InterContinental Pokhara Begnas Lake will feature 80 rooms, an all-day dining a lobby lounge, and a bar amongst other dining options. InterContinental Pokhara Begnas Lake will also feature a retail store, a health club, a spa, a club lounge, a business centre, indoor and outdoor recreation areas and a swimming pool. The hotel will be easily accessible from national highway, Pokhara Airport which is at a 20 minute driving distance. The hotel will welcome guest segments across small groups, solo travellers, couples and corporate travellers.



InterContinental Resort Chitwan

InterContinental Resort Chitwan is strategically located in the popular tourist destination of Mehgauli Village. The resort will feature 80 rooms and facilities such as all-day dining and a specialty restaurant, a lobby lounge, bars, a health club, a spa, business centre, indoor and outdoor recreation areas, swimming pool, as well as multiple spaces to host meetings and celebrate occasions. In close-proximity to the dense forest and green plains of Chitwan National Park, InterContinental Resort Chitan will cater to leisure guests, and is conveniently an hour away from Bharatpur city center and the airport.



All four hotel guests will benefit from IHGs best-in-class loyalty program, IHG One Rewards, which is centred around its guests  giving them richer benefits, all powered by leading technology and a new mobile app.



IHG currently has 47 hotels operating across five brands in SWA, including Six Senses, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Resort and Holiday Inn Express, and has a strong pipeline of 53 hotels due to open in the next 2-3 years.  TradeArabia News Service
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) declared on Wednesday that the Egyptian soldiers  who were in Sudan for training purposes  have been relocated from Marawi airport to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

On its official Twitter account, the RSF reassured the Egyptian government and the families of the soldiers  who had been stuck at the Marawi airport since Saturday amid the ongoing clashes  that they are safe and sound and receiving the necessary care.

They [the soldiers] will be handed over when the appropriate opportunity arises, and according to the conditions the country is going through, the RSF said.

The Egyptian government has yet to comment on the relocation.

In the early hours of Tuesday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reiterated that the presence of Egyptian forces in Sudan is solely for training purposes and not to support any particular party, affirming that intensive communications are taking place to ensure their safety.

The Marawi airport, which includes a military base, is located in the Sudanese Northern States Marawi region  350 kilometres north of the capital, Khartoum.

On Saturday, the Egyptian Armed Forces said in a statement that it "is coordinating with the concerned parties in Sudan to ensure securing the Egyptian troops who were conducting joint training with their Sudanese counterparts."

The Egyptian Armed Forces statement was issued shortly after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo, released a video on its official Twitter account showing several personnel wearing Egyptian military fatigues who were purportedly apprehended at Marawi airbase in northern Sudan.

Late on Saturday, Hemedti, apologised for the released videos in remarks to Sky News Arabia, stressing that he was willing to cooperate to return them to Egypt.

On Monday, Adviser to the RSF head Ahmed Abdeen also apologized for any "individual behaviour" towards the soldiers, in remarks to Al-Jazeera.

Violence in Sudan erupted early on Saturday between the forces of two generals who seized power in 2021: Army Chief Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo, who commands the paramilitary RSF.

Thousands of Sudanese have fled Khartoum, according to AFP on Wednesday, as fighting between the army and paramilitaries raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed. Around 200 civilians are estimated to have been killed in the fighting so far.

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In a surprise move, hours before the deadline for filing nomination for the assembly polls in Karnataka, Congress MP from Bangalore Rural DK Suresh on Thursday entered the fray from Kanakapura segment, where his elder brother and state chief DK Shivakumar is the party's candidate.

IMAGE: DK Suresh (fourth from right), MP from Bengaluru and brother of Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar, files his nomination papers for the Karnataka assembly elections, at Kanakapura, in Ramanagara, Karnataka, April 20, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

According to several Congress functionaries, Suresh filed his papers as a "backup plan" in the event of the nomination of Shivakumar getting rejected.

While Suresh called it a "precautionary measure", Shivakumar said it's part of Congress' own calculations, as he alleged a certain conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking to reporters Suresh said, "I'm a voter from Kanakapura, and I should be contesting from there. That is the direction from our party president and AICC (All India Congress Committee) leaders. We are hearing about certain conspiracies, so as a precautionary measure I have filed my nomination."

Questioned as to what kind of conspiracy, he said, "There are chances for anything to happen. BJP people have an eye fixed on DK Shivakumar. They cannot do anything to him by getting public support as people of Kanakapura won't support them. What BJP is doing against opposition parties using wrong means you have been seeing. So as a precautionary measure, I have filed a nomination."

Pointing out that "every day cases are coming up" against him and his brother in the courts, the MP said, "Four to five days ago too we got a notice from the Income Tax department from Chennai, asking for personal appearance. We have said we will come after the election, and for now we will not be able to come as we have election responsibilities."

Whether it was in the high court or the Supreme Court there were stays on all the cases, he said, adding that "yesterday the stay was extended (in a case), but with power in their hands, what they (BJP) will do at what time, we are not sure. By misusing official machinery, they have targeted the Opposition party and Shivakumar earlier."

Shivakumar, who filed his nomination on April 17, has won from Kanakapura three times since 2008.

Shivakumar said, "Why shouldn't Suresh file (nomination)? We too have our calculations. BJP's conspiracy...5,000 people have downloaded my assets list (from affidavit). There is nothing in it, it's a different matter. We have our own calculation, we are not ready to reveal our secrets. You will get to know day after tomorrow. We too know how to do politics."

Stating that he had contested in 10 elections, including eight assembly and one parliament, and is well aware of polls and nomination procedures, the KPCC chief said, "I know what they tried to do last time. We have our own calculations....what does Ashoka have to do with Kanakapura?"

The ruling BJP has fielded its prominent Vokkaliga face senior minister R Ashoka from Kanakapura to take on Shivakumar, the Congress' strongman from the community.

Suresh said, "They (BJP) have got someone from Bengaluru (Ashoka) who doesn't have any relationship with our constituency. In the Delhi press conference they (BJP while announcing ticket) have said they will give 'takkar' (stiff fight) to D K Shivakumar. So we too have understood what all they may do. People of Kanakapura will give them an answer on April 13 (the day of results). Let them do whatever they want, there is no question of us yielding."

Asked if the conspiracy was to not allow Shivakumar to contest polls, "by rejecting his nomination", he said, "We have certain suspicions... However, all the records (along with the nomination papers) are correct."

On whether Shivakumar would contest from Kanakapura if everything went as expected, he said, "Let's wait and watch... I have given my B-form too."

Suresh is the lone Congress Member of Parliament from Karnataka. This is the second time he is representing the seat.

He had earlier said that he was not interested in coming to state politics, when speculations were rife that he may be fielded from Ramanagara against Janata Dal-Secular leader and former CM HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

There had also been speculation that as a "retaliatory measure" to BJP fielding a strong candidate against Shivakumar in Kanakapura, Suresh may be fielded from the Padmanabhanagar segment, the other seat from where Ashoka is contesting. Shivakumar too had earlier hinted at this.
Despite being sighted in several CCTV footage and photos with changed appearances at many places, including Patiala, Kurukshetra and Delhi, the radical preacher continued to hoodwink the police.

IMAGE: Amritpal Singh speaks to the media after his supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar, February 23, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Radical preacher Amritpal Singh has managed to remain elusive even a month after the Punjab police launched a crackdown following the storming of the Ajnala police station by his supporters to secure the release of an arrested associate.

His wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at the Amritsar airport by immigration officials on Thursday while she was trying to board a flight to London. Amritpal tied the knot with UK-based Kaur in February this year.

The crackdown against Amritpal began on March 18 and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab De.'

He however, escaped the police dragnet twice -- first on March 18 in Jalandhar district by switching vehicles and then again on March 28 in Hoshiarpur when he returned to Punjab along with his key associate Papalpreet Singh.

Papalpreet, who is considered to be Amritpal's mentor and who has allegedly been in contact with Pakistan's ISI, has been arrested.

Several cases have been lodged against the Khalistan sympathizer and his associates for allegedly spreading disharmony, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and obstructing the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.

Despite being sighted in several CCTV footage and photos with changed appearances at many places, including Patiala, Kurukshetra and Delhi, the radical preacher continued to hoodwink the police.

While on the run, two videos and one audio clip of Amritpal surfaced on social media. In one of his two videos, which surfaced on March 30, Amritpal asserted that he was not a fugitive and would soon appear.

The pro-Khalistan preacher had claimed that he was not like those who would flee the country.

There were rumours that Amritpal might surrender on Baisakhi at Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda, but that did not happen.

Tight security arrangements during the Baisakhi festival at Talwandi Sabo, however, earned the wrath of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh who accused the Punjab government of trying to create panic. Police claimed that security was deployed for the convenience and safety of devotees.

The Jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, had even asked the fugitive preacher to surrender before the police and cooperate with the investigation. The appeal, however, fell on deaf ears.

Police continued to search his probable hideouts, the latest being in Haryana's Sirsa a few days ago. Earlier, searches were also conducted in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Recently, Punjab Police pasted posters of Amritpal at railway stations in Batala and Amritsar, announcing that an appropriate reward will be given to anyone who provides credible information about his whereabouts.

On April 15, police managed to nab Amritpal's close aide Joga Singh from Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib. According to them, Joga Singh was in direct contact with Amritpal and had even arranged a shelter and vehicles for him in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit.

It was Joga Singh who brought Amritpal and his aide Papalpreet back to Punjab on March 28.

Nine of Amritpal's aides -- Daljit Singh Kalsi, Papalpreet Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Varinder Singh Johal, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Harjit Singh, Bhagwant Singh, Basant Singh and Gurinderpal Singh Aujla -- have been lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam and charged under the stringent National Security Act.

Ahead of the Baisakhi festival, Punjab police chief Gaurav Yadav had said that those wanted by the law should submit to the process of law.

Amid reports that Amritpal might have taken shelter at a religious place, the top police officer had said that religious places should not be misused.

The 29-year-old Amritpal Singh was last year anointed the head of 'Waris Punjab De', the organisation founded by actor and activist Deep Sidhu in February last year.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month, Pakistan's Foreign Office announced on Thursday, a development that could provide an opportunity to break the ice between the two neighbours.

IMAGE: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced the decision at a weekly media briefing in Islamabad.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in person amidst major differences between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot.

Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

It would be the highest-level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

Then Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India in 2011. In May 2014, then-Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

In December 2015, then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan and days later, Modi made a brief visit to the neighbouring country.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered release of two secretaries of the Uttar Pradesh finance department, who were taken into custody on the orders of the Allahabad high court in a contempt case.

IMAGE: A view of the Supreme Court. Photograph: ANI Photo

The matter was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, which took it up on board.

Additional solicitor general KM Nataraj, appearing for the state, told the bench that an "unprecedented order" has been passed by the high court by which the finance secretary and special secretary (finance) have been taken into custody in a contempt matter in a case related to facilities for retired high court judges.

Nataraj said the high court has also issued bailable warrants to the chief secretary of the state in the matter.

"Issue notice, returnable on April 28, 2023. Till the next date of listing, there shall be a stay of the operation of the orders of the division bench of the high court of judicature at Allahabad dated April 4, 2023 and April 19, 2023. The officers of the government of Uttar Pradesh, who have been taken into custody, shall be released forthwith," the bench said in its order.

It said registrar (judicial) of the apex court shall communicate the order both telephonically and on e-mail to the registrar general of the high court for immediate compliance.

Later in the day, the Allahabad high court ordered that the two officials be released.

Hearing a petition filed by the Association Of Retired Supreme Court and HC Judges and another, the bench of Justice Suneet Kumar and Justice Rajendra Kumar observed, "It is informed that the orders dated April 04, 2023 and April 19, 2023, passed by this court have been stayed, till the next date of listing, by Supreme Court vide order dated April 20, 2023."

The high court said, "Further, officers of the Uttar Pradesh government who have been taken into custody shall be released forthwith."

In its April 19 order, the high court had observed that having regard to the averments made in the affidavit and the conduct of the officers "suppressing material facts and misleading the court, prima facie, have committed criminal contempt of the court."

It had said the officers present in the court -- Shahid Manzar Abbas Rizvi, secretary (finance) UP and Sarayu Prasad Mishra, special secretary (finance) -- were taken into custody and they shall be produced before the court on April 20 at 11 am for framing of charge.

"Issue bailable warrants to chief secretary, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, and Dr Prashant Trivedi, additional chief secretary (finance) UP, Lucknow, through the chief judicial magistrate concerned, to ensure their presence before this court on April 20, 2023," the high court had said, adding the officers shall show cause as to why charge may not be framed against them.

In its April 4 order, the high court had noted that pursuant to the March 23 order, secretary finance, special secretary, finance and principal secretary (law) of the Uttar Pradesh government, were present along with the record.

It had said the court was constraint to summon the officers as the matter pertaining to providing domestic help and other facilities to the former chief justices and former judges of the high court was kept pending on one pretext or the other.

"On repeated request made by the additional advocate general, that the matter is pending consideration at the highest level, as many as, five adjournments over several months was granted. However, the authorities did not take decision," the high court had noted in its April 4 order.

"In view thereof, it is relevant to take note that the finance department was unnecessarily objecting to the proposal without suggesting that the proposed rules/guidelines forwarded by the high court could be given effect to by issuing a fresh/amended government order in purported exercise of powers under Article 162 of the Constitution as was done by the government earlier," it had said.

The high court had directed that the rules/guidelines, as proposed by it, shall be forthwith notified by amending or incorporating the government order of July 3, 2018.

It had also directed that the finance department would accord approval within a week thereafter.
More than two decades after 11 Muslim community members were killed in the post-Godhra riots in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam, a special court in Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all the 67 accused in the case, including former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

IMAGE: Former Gujarat minister and BJP MLA Maya Kodnani (second from right) leaves the session court after being acquitted in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case, in Ahmedabad, April 20, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The timeline of Naroda Gam riot case.

February 28, 2002: Eleven persons from Muslim community killed in violence in Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad during the bandh call given by right-wing organisations a day after the Godhra train burning incident.

May 2009: Gujarat high court designates SH Vora as judge for the Naroda Gam case trial.

May 2009: The Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team files a charge sheet against Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former state minister Maya Kodnani, VHP leader Jaideep Patel, Babu Bajrangi and others.

May 2009: Charges framed against them under IPC Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 395 and 397 (looting) and 143 to 147 (rioting). As per the charge sheet, Kodnani and Patel led the mob.

July 2009: Special court begins proceedings with the SIT submitting its ninth charge sheet.

July 2010: Total number of accused in the case reaches 86 with SIT filing charge sheet against three more persons.

August 2012: A special court convicts 32 persons including Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi in Naroda Patiya case, another post-Godhra riot incident in which more than 90 persons were killed.

November 2012: Judge SH Vora elevated as additional judge of Gujarat high court. Jyotsna Yagnik takes over as presiding judge of Naroda Gam trial.

August 2017: The Supreme Court asks the special court to conclude the trial in four months.

September 18, 2017: Amit Shah, then BJP president, appears before the court as a defence witness after Kodnani seeks to examine him to prove her alibi.

Shah tells the court he saw Kodnani in the Gujarat Assembly around 8:30 am and at Sola civil hospital around 11:15 am on the day violence took place.

October 2017: Special judge PB Desai visits the scene of offence in Naroda Gam.

December 2017: Judge Desai retires.

April 20, 2018: Kodnani acquitted in Naroda Patiya massacre case by Gujarat High Court. The HC upholds the conviction of 12 persons including Bajrangi.

August 2018: SIT tells the special court that Kodnani was present at the crime spot for around 10 minutes and left after instigating the mob.

August 2018: SIT tells the special court that Amit Shah's statement defending Kodnani not believable.

August 2018: The court watches CD of sting operation carried out by former Tehelka journalist Ashish Khetan, featuring some accused of 2002 riots cases.

April 20, 2023: Special court acquits all 67 accused in Naroda Gam case including Kodnani and Bajrangi.
IMAGE: Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India. Photograph: ANI Photo

With only 146 sites conducting vaccinations in India and a few hundred vaccine shots administered every day, Pune-based Serum Institute of India has now re-started production of its Covid vaccine Covishield.

It currently has an inventory of 6 million doses of Covovax.

Only 441 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

Speaking to Business Standard, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla said, "We have restarted production of Covishield after stopping it about more than a year back."

"We will make two-three batches and stockpile 5-6 million doses of Covishield to supply to hospitals if anyone wants it. I understand some people are comfortable getting a Covishield shot as their third dose," Poonawalla added.

Moreover, Serum Institute's Covovax (the Novavax Covid vaccine which it supplied to the US) has received the regulator's nod as a heterologous booster (or mix-and-match booster shot).

"We already have six million doses of Covovax that are ready for dispatch. We have also done specific studies based on human blood samples for neutralising antibody titres against Omicron and especially the XBB variant of Omicron in India," Poonawalla said.

"This vaccine works against these new variants, and the elderly should take precautionary shots," he added.

These doses have a six-to-nine month shelf life at present.

IMAGE: Covovax is now available for children in India. Photograph: Adar Poonawalla/Twitter/ANI Photo

Poonawalla, however, added that there was negligible demand from private hospitals for vaccines.

"In the last few months, there have hardly been any orders from private hospitals. We keep hearing about vaccine shortages at various sites. It's a bit odd, as unless people are willing to come forward and pay for their booster doses, the hospitals would not scale up procurement," he said.

Globally, too, the demand for boosters has slumped in the US and European Union, he added.

Serum Institute has commitments to supply around 5-10 million doses of Covovax later this year to the EU.

Poonawalla said Covovax (which is now available as a precaution shot on CoWIN) is priced at Rs 225 and hospitals charge anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 150 to administer it.

"The government has already done its job of covering people with two doses and also a third dose for a significant portion of the population. We do not expect the government to buy any more vaccines," he said.

Serum Institute has already initiated talks with private hospitals, he said.

"We are asking private hospitals to place small orders to begin with," he added.

India has already administered 2.2 billion vaccine doses -- 952 million second dose and 228 million precaution doses.

If every eligible person goes for a booster shot (children below 18 are not eligible), then there is still room for a few million doses of booster shots.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
'We are running out of food and water. There's no electricity either.'

IMAGE: People gather to get bread during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, April 18, 2023. Photograph: El-Tayeb Siddig/Reuters

"I cannot reveal my location. I can only say that I am in Khartoum and there are two dozen Indians in my area who are caught in this civil war," says an Indian on the phone, sounding helpless.

Amidst the ongoing WhatsApp call, one could hear the sound of firing and bombardment in the background.

"We are running out of food and water. There's no electricity either. Only WhatsApp calls are working as both the warring parties want to keep the Internet services working. Both want to establish themselves as the rightful rulers of Sudan," adds the Indian, who does not wish to be named in this report.

He soon hung up to save on the phone's battery that he is charging from electric generators.

Electric generators, the only source of power for these 24 Indians living in an undisclosed area in Khartoum, will work only till the time their diesel stock lasts.

For the last four days these Indians have been using electric generators for one hour daily -- only to charge their phones. They are not using it to power their tubelights, fans or ACs.

In Sudan, 185 people have died in the last four days in fighting between the two factions of the armed forces loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country's de facto ruler, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RCF).

The RCF is a collection of militias, loyal to warlord General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

"Forget us. Even the Indian embassy officials are trapped. No flight services are working and the chances of peace seem bleak," says another Indian in Sudan.

"I cannot reveal my name as I don't know what will happen to us if we are tracked down. Two days ago, an Indian named Albert died in the gunfight. Please help me, I am scared. I don't want to die in Sudan," he says.

"We are running short of water and food. We don't know how long this situation will last," the caller says, making an urgent appeal for help.

Albert Augestine, a former Indian Army soldier working with the Dal group in Khartoum, was hit by a stray bullet and succumbed to injuries.

The Indian embassy in Sudan, which is on Twitter as @IndiainSudan, has tweeted an advisory to Indians stating, 'We have come across many instances of looting. All Indian nationals are advised please not to venture out. Please ration your supplies. The situation may continue for a few more days. Please try to take help from your neighbours. Please stay at home and remain safe.'

Though the Indian government is trying to coordinate with the governments of the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to evacuate its citizens, there is little hope as the warring factions are not announcing a ceasefire.

The only country that is preparing to evacuate its citizens from Sudan is Japan, which has deployed a self-defence forces aircraft for the evacuation.

Even the US has not outlined an evacuation action plan for its citizens in Sudan.

"I hope a ceasefire is announced soon and we are evacuated. The water pipelines are not working in our area. I don't know how long the water in our storage tank will last," says the first caller.

"Every drop of water is precious for us now."
'The minute I tell couples to use condoms or suggest permanent birth control, they ignore it or just change the topic.'

India has surpassed China to become the world's most populous nation with 1.4286 billion people, shows the latest United Nations data, even as UN projections estimate that the country's population is expected to grow for the next three decades after which it will begin declining.

Bihar, one of India's least developed states, had the highest fertility rate of 2.98.

State health officials estimate in Bihar's Kishanganj district, the fertility rate is 4.8 or 4.9.

Successive state governments have been aware of the population growth problem, particularly in Kishanganj, and have mounted programmes to curb it.

Besides the free distribution of condoms and birth control pills, the state pays Rs 3,000 to women who get sterilised and Rs 4,000 to men, and 500 rupees per surgery to the health workers who perform them.

Yet the results have been poor.

India's fertility rate fell to 2.0 in 2019-2021, but Bihar has the highest fertility rate with some families expecting women to have at least five children, preferably sons.

"I talk to women while they are experiencing labour pain and nudge them to undergo sterilisation immediately after delivery," said Parvati Rajak, a medical officer in one of Kishanganj's seven government health centres. "But the final choice is always made by the family."

"The state government's focus is to ensure that policy interventions percolate to the ground, its mechanisms such as free sterilisation, temporary birth control instruments are used actively," said Sanjay Kumar Pansari, director in the Bihar government's directorate of economics and statistics.

IMAGE: Zamerun Nisha, 33, lies down after giving birth while a doctor holds and cleans her newborn baby at the labour ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision in Kishanganj district. All photographs: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

IMAGE: A nurse takes care of a newborn baby after the birth at a hospital in Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: A nurse holds the feet of a newborn baby after it was delivered at the labour ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision of Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: Zamerun Nisha looks on as a doctor checks the heartbeat of her child with an ultrasound machine at the labour ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision of Kishanganj district.

Just minutes after giving birth to her fifth child, Zamerun, who is married to mason Mohammad Wasim, 40, said she would try to secure permission from her husband to undergo sterilisation before leaving for home, who later agreed to the procedure.

"My body cannot take this pressure of having babies anymore," she told Reuters. "I have been lucky to survive each time."

IMAGE: Doctors perform sterilisation surgery on a woman at the operation theatre of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision of Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: A baby is seen at the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: Women wait outside the operation theatre of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision of Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: Patients wait outside a primary health care centre in Belwa village, Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: Chandani Devi, 36, rests as her mother Ranjana Devi holds her newborn daughter at a hospital in Kishanganj district.

"For the fourth time I have had a girl...now I will wait for a few years before I try to have a boy," said Chandani Devi, 36, as she tried to fight back tears in a hospital ward after her delivery.

IMAGE: Women speak to health workers at a sterilisation camp set-up in a primary health care centre in Belwa village, Kishanganj district.

IMAGE: Block Community Mobiliser Pratima Kumari, 38, poses for a picture on her way back to the community health centre in Bahadurganj.

Kumari, a government health worker, offers condoms and birth control pills for free in the Kishanganj district and talks to the couples about birth control and the benefits of having just two children in Kishanganj, which has the highest fertility rate of any district in India, soon to be the world's most populous nation.

"The minute I tell couples to use condoms or suggest permanent birth control, they ignore it or just change the topic," Kumari told Reuters.

IMAGE: Pratima Kumari, Masera Khatun, 37, who is pregnant with her sixth child, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) facilitator Shilly Kumari, 34, and Aliyara Khatun, 35, who is also an ASHA worker, talk about family planning and the different contraceptive methods available, outside Masera's house in Duadangi village, Bahadurganj subdivision.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed in a phone call on Thursday joint the efforts to calm the situation in Sudan and return to dialogue.

"The call discussed the intensive efforts to stop the escalation and return to dialogue and the political process," according to a statement by the Spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency Ahmed Fahmy.

"Egypt and the UAE support the brotherly Sudanese people in their efforts to achieve their aspirations towards enhancing security, stability and development in the country," the statement read.

The two leaders also exchanged greetings on the occasion of the blessed Eid Al-Fitr - praying that both countries and their brotherly peoples would continue to prosper and enjoy stability; and that peace and security would prevail in Arab, Islamic and the whole world.

Earlier on Thursday, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that coordinated efforts with the UAE secured the arrival of 27 soldiers who were in Sudan in a training mission at the time of the outbreak of fighting in the country to the Embassy of Egypt in Khartoum.

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A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers this afternoon. High 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

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BRATTLEBORO  Town officials denounced hateful, racist communications they received specifically targeting the police chief.

We were shocked and disappointed to see people question the effectiveness of recruitment in our Police Department based on a leaders gender and race, Town Manager John Potter and Select Board Chairman Ian Goodnow said in a letter to the editor submitted Wednesday night. Not only have these statements been disrespectful, unkind, and defamatory, but they are also ignorant and untrue. We feel extremely sorry for people who are so disconnected from the civil society that we strive for in Brattleboro, that they must express themselves in such a hateful manner.

Letter: Town officials denounce 'hateful, racist' comments targeting police chief To the editor: One of the best things we have found about serving in Brattleboro Town govern

When Norma Hardy was hired by the town in July 2021, headlines announced she was Vermonts first Black female police chief. An email sent April 10 to town staff, Select Board members, the police department and Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce came with the subject, Political Correctness Gone Mad.

In response to the letter by Potter and Goodnow, she said she appreciates the support of town leadership. In the letter, Potter and Goodnow touted Hardys own leadership.

One of the best things we have found about serving in Brattleboro town government has been our experience working with Police Chief Norma Hardy, they wrote. Rarely does one see such an admirable combination of leadership, innovation, strategic thinking, and interpersonal skill as you do with Chief Hardy  the very traits for which she was hired. This is further evidenced by the respect and esteem that members of the Brattleboro Police Department have shown us they hold for this excellent leader.

Potter and Goodnow called the criticism of Hardy in the communications destructive and appalling. They said they cant allow it to go unaddressed.

We are left feeling disgusted and ashamed that a fellow community member has been targeted, they wrote. It is impossible for us to understand the stresses and strains that our chief faces leading the police department let alone while also receiving hateful, racist comments.

Potter and Goodnow said they would like the community to welcome and support all people who bring different perspectives, backgrounds and experiences, with open minds and open hearts.

With diversity our town will only be stronger, and Brattleboro must do better, they wrote. Please join us in supporting Chief Hardy and the Brattleboro Police Department, and applauding the fine work she is doing in our town.

At the beginning of the board meeting Tuesday, Goodnow read a statement denouncing hate speech, racism and malicious gossip. He said town staff who decided to work in this inclusive community deserve to be treated with dignity.
Egypt expressed its sincere condolences to Yemen following the stampede that took place in the capital city of Sanaa on Wednesday, leaving many dead and injured, announced spokesperson for Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abu-Zeid on Thursday.

The spokesperson conveyed sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery for the injured.

Late on Wednesday, a crowd stampeded at an event for distributing financial aid on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. The stampede happened after the crowd got into a mad panic caused by both gunfire and an arc flash. It resulted in killing at least 78 people and injuring many others.

Egypt stressed its full solidarity with the brotherly government and people of Yemen during this difficult time, Abu-Zeid concluded.

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Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry agreed in a phone call on Thursday with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to India's request that Egypt contribute to the protection of Indian nationals in Sudan amidst the ongoing fighting there, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Ahmed Abu-Zeid, said that during the call, Shoukry reviewed Egypt's efforts to mediate between the conflicting parties. He also informed Jaishankar of Egypt's diplomatic efforts to contact various regional and international parties to resolve the conflict in Sudan peacefully.

Shoukry emphasised the need to integrate efforts and urged the parties to the conflict in Sudan to achieve a sustainable ceasefire to protect the lives and properties of the Sudanese people, said the spokesman.

For his part, the Indian Minister praised Egypt's mediation efforts to stop the fighting in Sudan. Furthermore, he expressed his country's concern about the consequences of the ongoing military confrontations and their impact on civilians, including Sudanese citizens and foreign nationals.

Jaishankar also expressed India's desire that Egypt coordinates with India and contribute to protecting Indian nationals in Sudan, a suggestion that Shoukry welcomed.

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PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  A jury that heard complicated testimony about construction schedules and constitutional rights delivered a victory Thursday for a $1 billion transmission project, concluding developers had a constitutional right to proceed despite being rebuked by state voters in a referendum.

Jurors ruled 9-0 in favor of developers when asked to decide whether enough work was completed in good faith before the referendum for developers to have a vested right to complete the project.

Based on the outcome, a state judge is expected to issue a judgment that the referendum can't be applied to the project.

That decision could be appealed to the state Supreme Judicial Court for the final say.

At stake is a project touted as a bold effort to combat climate change by supplying up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid  enough electricity for about 1 million homes.

Supporters say electricity supplied by the 145-mile (233-kilometer) power transmission line would lower energy costs in all of New England as well as reduce carbon pollution. Critics contended that the benefits were overblown and that it wouldve destroyed woodlands along a new, 53-mile (85-kilometer) section carved through the woods to reach the Canadian border.

Despite winning all regulatory approvals, the project  to be fully funded by Massachusetts ratepayers  was met with pushback each step of the way. Ultimately, state voters voted against it in a referendum and work was halted.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, which opposes the power line, said in a statement on Thursday that it was disappointed in the outcome and remains sharply focused on achieving a just and equitable clean energy future that works for all Mainers.

Were pursuing home-grown clean energy sources, like utility-scale solar, offshore wind, and the King Pine wind project in Aroostook County that will deliver new and verifiable reductions in pollution rather than a shell game that shifts existing energy for maximum corporate profit, the council said.

The Supreme Judicial Court breathed new life into the project last summer, concluding the retroactive nature of the referendum would violate the developers constitutional rights if substantial construction had been completed in good faith.

Justice Michael A. Duddy could have made the fact-finding determination himself. But he took the unusual step of ordering a jury trial, putting the fate of the trial in the hands of nine regular folks.

Central Maine Powers parent company and Hydro Quebec teamed up on New England Clean Energy Connect and construction started in January 2021, about 10 months before the referendum in which 59% of voters rejected the project.

Scott Mahoney, senior vice president and general counsel at Avangrid, CMP's parent company, said Thursday that the jurys conclusion affirms the prior rulings of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that the project may proceed.

Opponents contended the developers acted in bad faith, speeding up the construction schedule to try to thwart the will of the people in the referendum. Developers said they were keeping to a schedule set years earlier.

The matter is one of two lawsuits to go before the Supreme Judicial Court.

The other lawsuit challenged leases for a 1-mile portion of the proposed power line that crossed state land. The high court ultimately ruled there was nothing improper with the lease.

The operator of the regional power grid expressed support for the project Thursday.

We are pleased that this project can continue to move forward. The New England states ambitious climate goals will require building significant amounts of new infrastructure in a region where building infrastructure has been difficult, said Anne C. George, chief spokesperson for ISO New England.

___

Follow David Sharp on Twitter @David_Sharp_AP
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Friendly Hands Food Bank Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Friendly Hands Food Bank Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Friendly Hands Food Bank Show More Show Less 5 of 5









TORRINGTON  The first of the Friendly Hands Food Bank's life skills classes was held at Gengras Subaru in Torrington, where the students learned some basic automotive knowledge.

The life skills course, with six sessions, began on April 3 and continues until May. Students and their parents have also attended a cooking class and an etiquette class, which was taught by food bank executive director Karen Thomas.
U.S. Marshals Service/Contributed

HARTFORD  A fugitive suspected of trying to kill his girlfriend was apprehended in New York City Monday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Dakwan Nelson, 19, will be charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, first-degree assault, carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm and first-degree reckless endangerment once he is extradited back to Connecticut, said Supervisor Deputy Matthew Duffy, public information officer for the U.S. Marshals Connecticut Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Dar al-Iftaa, Egypt's main authority for issuing religious edicts, announced that Friday 21 April will mark the first day of the Arabic month of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar year 1444, which signifies the beginning of the religious holiday Eid Al-Fitr.

Eid Al-Fitr is a significant religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

This festive break spans three days and is one of two major religious holidays in Islam, the other being Eid Al-Adha, which is observed on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic Hijri calendar.

On the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr and Sinai Liberation Day, the Egyptian government has declared a paid holiday for employees from 20 to 25 April.

The first day of Eid, marked on the first day of Shawwal, according to the Islamic Hijri calendar, is based on lunar calculations. Months vary between 29 and 30 days, depending on crescent sightings.

Traditionally, a sighting of the crescent with the naked eye after sunset in any place in the country on Saturday, the 29th day of Ramadan, would indicate the end of the holy month and the start of Eid the day after.

However, many Muslim-majority countries, including Egypt, have relied on astronomical calculations to determine the start of Islamic lunar months in recent years while still observing crescent sightings as an honoured tradition.

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Exercise INIOCHOS-23, a multinational air exercise hosted by the Hellenic Air Force of Greece, will see the participation of Indian Air Force (IAF). The exercise will take place at the Andravida Air Base in Greece from April 24 to May 4, 2023. The Indian Air Force will take part with two C-17 and four Sukhoi Su-30 MKI aircraft.

The exercise's goal is to improve air force participation's global coordination, synergy, and interoperability. The exercise will be conducted using a variety of air and surface weapons in a realistic combat situation. Additionally, it will allow the participating contingents to communicate professionally, allowing them to learn from one another's best practices.

About Exercise INIOCHOS-23

It is a multinational air exercise hosted by the air force of Greece at the Andravida Air base. This exercise will involve realistic combat scenarios involving many assets of both the air forces.

Both countries will fly each others aircraft and will share skills as well as combat techniques which would be beneficial for both countries. The Greek led exercise also involves participation from NATO countries. Apart from the hosts Greece, the air forces of USA, France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia will also take part in Exercise INIOCHOS-23.

The Saudi air force will display its American made Boeing F-15 Eagle fighter jets, the Greeks will bring their F-16s and this will give the IAF opportunity to practice and get to know in depth about American made fighter jets which are also a part of the India's arch rivals, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

This will not only be a learning for the IAF but also for the NATO air forces. They will get a chance to test their fighters against India's Russian made Sukhoi-Su 30 MKI fighters. The F-16 used by the Greek Air Force is slightly advanced and better than aircraft used by the PAF (Pakistan Air Force).

About the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI aircraft

It is a twin-engine, twin-seat fighter aircraft of the IAF. It is one of the most advanced aircraft with the IAF, it is also capable of carrying and dropping nuclear attacks on the designated target. Its top speed is 2,120 km/hr and has a range of 3000 km. It weighs 18,400 kgs and uses Saturn AL-31 engine.

It is manufactured by HAL and Sukhoi. India signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture and acquire these jets. It is a heavy, all weather long range fighter aircraft capable of working and operating in any conditions around the world. It is the backbone of the IAF and has aircraft like Rafale supporting it in any combat operations.
Hours after Pakistan announced that its foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will attend a key meeting of the SCO in Goa next month, India on Thursday said it would not be appropriate to focus on participation by any one country.

Arindam Bagchi, the Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), did not give a direct reply when asked whether the Pakistan side has requested for a bilateral meeting between Bhutto-Zardari and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.

The foreign ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will take place in Goa on May 4 and 5.

Bagchi said as chair of the SCO, India has invited all member states of the grouping and some invitee countries for the foreign ministerial meeting.

"We look forward to a successful meeting. It will not be appropriate to focus on participation by any one particular country," he said when asked about Pakistan's announcement.

Earlier, Pakistan said Bhutto-Zardari will head the country's delegation at the SCO meet in Goa.

"Regarding the request for bilateral meetings, I think it is premature. Let's see the full participation. Usually, the external affairs minister does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings," Bagchi said.

"You saw that on the occasion of the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting. But till such time they are locked in, I do not think it will be correct for me to comment on that," he said.

The Pakistan foreign minister's visit to India will be the first such trip from Islamabad since 2011.

The then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar had visited India that year.

Khar is currently serving as the minister of state for foreign affairs.

In May 2014, then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

In December 2015, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan, and days later Modi made a brief visit to that country.

The invitation to the Pakistan foreign minister was sent in January, days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to hold bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.

In an interview with UAE-based Al Arabiya news channel, Sharif said that Pakistan has learnt its lesson after three wars with India and now it wants to live in peace with India, if "we are able to resolve our genuine problems".

However, the Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office later said negotiations are not possible without India revoking its 2019 actions on Kashmir. India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India in August 2019 announced withdrawing special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state into two union territories.
Serbia has sought to remain neutral in terms of the military even after being pressured by Sweden's demand to sanction Russia, reported TASS news agency. According to the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, Sweden has been demanding sanctions on Russia, however, Serbia remains militarily neutral. The statement by the Serbian president comes during the joint press conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. "Billstrom insisted that Serbia impose sanctions against Russia and repeated this several times, demanding that our foreign policy be aligned with that of the countries which are either EU members or on the path to becoming members," said Vucic

Serbia's take on Russia-Ukraine War

While talking about the current situation of the ongoing war between Russia-Ukraine, Vucic said, "He pointed out that after 200 years of military neutrality, Sweden has now decided to join the military bloc." While thanking the Swedish foreign minister for his frankness, he said, "I explained that I understand Swedens position, but ours should be understood as well. It was the military bloc that attacked us without the approval of the UN Security Council in 1999, so our emotions are a bit different." The president confirmed that Serbia would continue to strive to be "militarily neutral and not join that bloc", which attacked us against the wishes of the UN in an effort to violate our countrys territorial integrity, reported TASS news agency. Vucic reminded that the attack resulted in heavy casualties among civilians, military, and police in his country.

The president has acknowledged Sweden's "messages", whether the sanctions against Russia or how Belgrade should behave toward Pristina. Further, the Serbian president reminded that his country has been an "independent and sovereign state" which makes decisions while keeping note of the views of its partners. After Russia invaded Ukraine with its special military, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Belgrade supported Ukraines territorial integrity, but would not impose sanctions on Russia. He made this statement after the meeting of the UN security council. Further, he shared that Serbia has suspended any joint military exercises with all foreign partners. However, the country would continue to provide humanitarian aid to Kiyv.
Pakistans Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is all set to attend the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meet scheduled to take in Goa, sources have confirmed.

In January 2023, with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) chairmanship with India, it formally sent invitations to all members including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers' meeting which will be held in Goa on May 4 and 5. The invitation includes invites to the new Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto.

In March, Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan government said that they have not yet decided upon the visit of its Foreign Minister Bhutto to India to Pak Officials had earlier said that the administration has not taken any final decision on attending the meeting in person.

The announcement was made in a weekly press briefing for the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Spokesperson for the ministry said, Foreign Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Foreign Ministers Council being held on May 4-5 in Goa, India.

The Foreign Minister is attending the SCO FM meeting at the invitation of the current chair of the SCO FM council, Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs for the Republic of India.
Parts of Bangladesh have been experiencing strong heat waves for 15 days straight as of Wednesday 19 April, and there are slim chances of rain breaking the harsh stretch, according to a local newspaper. The country witnessed its highest temperature for almost 60 years in the past week. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has advised people to stay prepared to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr in a hot and humid environment, particularly in the western region of the country, reported New Age.

South Asia Heatwave

According to BMD, there is a possibility of scattered rain, light to moderate in pockets of northern, central, and southern Bangladesh today, which could help to bring the temperature down. "Overall, the atmosphere will remain hot and humid," Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs meteorologist Bazlur Rashid told New Age. Further, he added, "Increasing humidity, with an increased flow of southerly wind and clouds from the Bay of Bengal, may keep the feeling of heat intense despite a slight drop in temperature in places visited by rain."

Due to the heatwave, the country has also been facing an acute shortage of electricity and would continue to face load shedding across Bangladesh. BMDs 24-hour weather bulletin issued at 6:00 pm informed that a severe heat wave was sweeping over Rajshahi, Pabna, Chuadanga, Jashore, and Kushtia.

South Asia has been witnessing heatwaves and countries including China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh have witnessed record-breaking - scorching temperatures. On Tuesday, China has seen the temperature as high as 42.4C in Yuanyang, in the southeast  only 0.3C from the country-wide record for April, reported CNN citing Herrera. The temperature in these countries has been topping 40C for many days, reported CNN.

Thailand has topped 45C for the first time in its history, as per the Herrera report citing the Thai Meteorological Department. The northwest city of Tak witnessed 45.4C on the weekend (Saturday). However, some parts of the countries have been in the upper 30s to low 40s since late March. The Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has also shared his concerns over the dangerously high temperatures in various parts of Thailand, reported CNN.
In Brief

On April 16, the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius sailed through the Taiwan Strait, sparking an outcry from mainland China and the Peoples Liberation Army.

The U.S. military, however, said the move was consistent with international law, and that the Milius had asserted navigational rights and freedoms in order to uphold the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs has in the past stated that international law does not employ the term international waters, and that China opposes the use of such terms to manipulate issues related to Taiwan while threatening China's sovereignty and security.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) found Chinas statements to be misleading. The United Nations has applicable agreements that clearly define international waters and under which international ships and planes are allowed to freely pass through parts of the Taiwan Strait that lie outside a 24-nautical mile zone from any coastline.

The USS Milius passing through the Taiwan Strait. (Photo from U.S. 7th Fleet website)

In Depth

The U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet issued a statement after the USS Milius passed through the Taiwan Strait, saying that the ship had asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law, and noting that the area the Milus passed through lies outside the territorial waters of any coastal state.



Chinas military spokesman Sr. Col. Shi Yi criticized the United States for openly publicizing the USS Milius' actions, stating: The PLA's Eastern Theater has organized troops to closely monitor the course of the U.S. ship and that its forces wer on constant high alert to defend Chinas sovereignty, national security and regional peace.

MFA spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on April 17 that the U.S. decision to send the Milius through the strait was a show of force that threatened Chinas security and undermined regional stability.

Wang responded to similar American claims regarding freedom of navigation and overflight on the high seas at a press conference in June 2022 by emphasizing that all of the Taiwan Strait was under Chinas jurisdiction.

Wang said at the time that according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Chinese laws, the waters of the Taiwan Strait, extending from both shores toward the middle of the strait, are divided into several zones including internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, and the Exclusive Economic Zone. China has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait

There is no legal basis of international waters in the international law of the sea. It is a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait international waters in order to find a pretext for manipulating issues related to Taiwan and threatening Chinas sovereignty and security.

Is there an agreed upon definition of international waters?

Yes. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is an international agreement on maritime law, which stipulates that every countrys territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from their respective coasts. In these waters, a country enjoys full jurisdiction.

A further 12 nautical miles beyond that is considered a contiguous zone, where they reserve the right to prevent and punish infringement of domestic laws.

Both zones are open to ships simply seeking to pass through on their way to other destinations, claiming so-called innocent passage, and both are closed to any vessel which threatens the security and interests of the respective nation.

Beyond the 24 contiguous nautical miles, UNESCO allows for a country to claim an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of up to 200 nautical miles (370 kms) from its coastline. Within the EEZ, a country has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources.

Song Chengen, a Taiwanese international scholar of law, notes that the phrase international waters carries a precise legal meaning in disputes concerning navigation rights and territorial jurisdiction, referring to all waters not designated as territorial. Because countries cannot limit freedom of navigation or overflight within the EEZ, this zone is therefore international waters.

Diagram of Mainland China and Taiwans territorial waters in the Taiwan Strait. (Produced by AFCL.)

Is part of the strait considered international waters under UNCLOS?

Yes. The Taiwan Strait is about 220 nautical miles (410 km) at its widest and 70 nautical miles (130 km) at its narrowest points. Even accounting for Chinas and Taiwans separate claims of territorial waters and contiguous zones, a wide strip of water still lies outside each claimants allotted space. Therefore, terming this strip freely navigable international waters stands in line with the U.N. convention.

Under UNCLOS, could China block international ships from passing through the strip of international water in the strait?

No, it could not.

Article 58 of UNCLOS explicitly permits other countries to enjoy the right of free navigation and overflight within the EEZ. Song Chengen notes that while a country enjoys economic privileges in an EEZ within its jurisdiction, the country cannot interfere with the free passage of ships through the zone itself.

Lin Ting-hui, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Institute of International Law, said that Chinas claim need not solely rely on an interpretation of the U.N. convention.

Do the United States and Taiwan adhere to definitions of international water similar to UNCLOS?

Yes. While never endorsing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, U.S. law defines territorial waters and contiguous waters in a manner consistent with the UN Convention.

The U.S. Navy and Marines abide by the domestically issued Handbook for American Commanders Movement on the Seas, first issued in 1900 and last revised in 2022. Similar to the UN Convention, the latest revision of the Handbook maintains that all waters outside 24 nautical miles of a countrys coastline are freely navigable international waters. The report then specifically mentions the Soya, Osumi, Miyako and Taiwan straits as open to international traffic.

In June 2022, while responding to media inquiries about the Taiwan Straits exact legal status, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, The Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, meaning that the Taiwan Strait is an area where high-seas freedoms, including freedom of navigation and overflight, are guaranteed under international law.

Taiwan also shares a similar definition of international waters, with its National Academy for Educational Research  the countrys official source for technical terminology  defining international waters as any waters which abide by the principle of open seas, for example: contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones or open seas. The term is widely used ranging across such fields as shipbuilding, geography, machinery and maritime shipping.

Crew on the USS Milius passing through the Taiwan Strait. (Photo from U.S. 7th Fleet website)

Conclusion

AFCL found that regardless of whether one views the Mainland and Taiwan as independent political entities or as a single sovereign state, international maritime law dictates that the strait is wide enough to be used freely by all international vessels and aircrafts.

Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) is a new branch of RFA established to counter disinformation in todays complex media environment. Our journalists publish both daily and special reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers understanding of public issues.
People try to escape from windows during a fire at the Changfeng Hospital, in Beijing, China April 18, 2023.

Chinese police are holding senior hospital executives in criminal detention in connection with a fatal blaze at a Beijing hospital that left 29 people dead amid public anger over footage of people escaping the burning building using bed sheets.

The tragedy has put the country's abysmal public safety record once more under the spotlight.

Video clips posted during Tuesday's fire showed people lowering themselves down the walls of the building using bed sheets tied together as ropes, with black smoke billowing out from different parts of the white-tiled low-rise building, while others appeared to have reached relative safety on a nearby roof.

One clip sent to RFA Cantonese captured the panic-stricken shouts and screams of people still in the building, as smoke spewed out from around broken and burned-out windows.

Police are currently holding the president of Beijing Changfeng Hospital, Wang Xiaoling, several members of the hospital's senior management team as well as two construction contractors blamed for starting the blaze, state news agency Xinhua reported.

"The above-mentioned persons have been criminally detained by police in accordance with the law, and the case is under further investigation," it quoted Beijing municipal police department's chief detective Sun Haitao as saying.

"The police will work with relevant departments to further an in-depth investigation, gather evidence [at the scene] and crack down according to the law," Sun said.

In 2010, authorities in Shanghai detained eight people after a fatal fire in an apartment block in Jing'an district was blamed on sparks caused by "unlicensed welders" hired by a state-owned construction company.

Citywide investigation promised

Yin Li, Communist Party secretary for the Beijing municipal government, made a public apology for the blaze and promised a citywide investigation into "hidden dangers" in public facilities.

The fire, which affected mostly elderly and highly vulnerable patients, had "caused huge loss of life and damage to property," Yin told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

An investigator inspects the damage at the Changfeng Hospital in Beijing on April 19, 2023, after a fire broke out a day earlier. (Greg Baker/AFP)





A report on the apology posted to the Beijing News official Weibo account garnered more than 1,000 comments, but "selected comments" mode was turned on, suggesting that many more had been filtered out from public view.

The Beijing Fire Brigade told a news conference that that fire was started by "sparks generated during the internal renovation and construction of the hospital's inpatient department, which ignited the volatile organic compounds in the flammable paint on the site," but said its investigation is still ongoing.

A Beijing resident who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals, said many were shocked by the scale of the tragedy.

"The hospital was full of elderly people, patients in hospital," Wang said, adding that she believes "many people" are likely responsible for the blaze. "There were probably hidden dangers in this hospital -- some of which were likely accidental, and others inevitable."

A Beijing resident who gave the surname Yang said officials were likely more concerned with gaining the approval of their superiors rather than answering to the general public.

"If the information isn't made public, there will be injustice in the way this is handled from start to finish," he said.

Delay in reporting?

Some reports said state media had remained silent on the blaze for hours after it began.

"All the big reports about the incident only were released eight hours after the fire started, suggesting that local authorities wanted to make sure the fire was under control and that there was enough information on the incident - and how to communicate it to family members and the general audience - before further news was released and went viral on social media," Manya Koetse, founder of the social media monitoring site What's on Weibo.

A brief survey by Radio Free Asia found that state-backed media outlet China News Agency was the first to publish a report on the fire at around 9.00 p.m. on Wednesday, some eight hours after the fire started, although a number of posts were made to social media earlier in the day.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper carried a similar report, titled "Online Short Videos Crazily Deleted; Official Announcement Made Eight Hours After Incident." Government censors had "continuously" removed videos and photos of the blaze from social media platforms, it said.

"It wasn't until about eight hours after the incident that the government issued a press release of more than 100 words on the incident," the paper said.

"Meanwhile, videos, screenshots, and photos of people climbing from hospital beds to flee the scene were continuously deleted from Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms," the report said.

Suppressing keyword searches

One comment seen by Radio Free Asia on Weibo said "Weibo is over, and the flow of breaking news is totally restricted," while another said: "Their suppression of trending keywords and information is world-class."

Another complained: "The media have all become copier machines for [official] press releases."

An article taking issue with officials' handling of the fire and its aftermath had been widely censored from social media by Wednesday, according to What's On Weibo, but was still visible on the Hong Kong-owned website iFeng.

Residents gather outside the barricaded building following a fire breaking out at a hospital in Beijing, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (Andy Wong/AP)





"At noon on April 19, Beijing held a briefing on the accidental fire at Changfeng Hospital that started at noon on April 18 but wasn't made known to the public and the families of the victims until the evening of April 18," said the blog post, which was still available on the iFeng.com news site.

"Fire is the most difficult accident to cover up," the post said. "The flames are soaring, the smoke is billowing, and the calls for help are horrific. It is enough to detonate public opinion."

Nevertheless, "mysterious forces" had intervened to ensure the incident was kept quiet for a full eight hours, the post said.

"What is even more incomprehensible and emotionally unacceptable is that the family members of these hospitalized patients in Changfeng Hospital didn't learn about the fire until they saw the news in a pop-up window," it said.

"Some departments and certain people completely lost the most basic human empathy when they decided to suppress the news of the accident," the post said.

Of those who have died so far, 26 were patients at the hospital, one was a family member, while two were healthcare workers. Most of the patient victims were elderly, with an average age of 71.2 years, officials said.

It said the local Fengtai district fire department had been called at 12:57 p.m. on Tuesday, and that the blaze was out by 1:33 p.m., with rescue work continuing till 3:30 p.m.

Some victims died after being transferred to other hospitals, while several doctors and nurses also sustained burns during the fire, the Global Times reported.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Island officials say Li Yanhe is 'safe," but decline to give details, citing the wishes of his family

A Taiwanese publisher who published many books banned in China is believed detained in Shanghai, according to a leading Chinese literary figure, sparking comparisons with the cross-border detentions and kidnappings of five Hong Kong booksellers in 2015.

Li Yanhe, known by his pen-name Fucha, or Fuchsia, was detained after traveling to visit relatives in China, writer Bei Ling told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.

"I heard it through literary circles in Shanghai," Bei said. "We know that he has been detained, but not where he is."

Bei said Li had come to mainland China to visit relatives and tend to the graves of his ancestors, a reference to the grave-sweeping festival of Qing Ming on April 5.

Bei initially reported Li's detention via Facebook, but later took the post down at the request of Li's relatives. He said an earlier attempt to secure his release during the recent visit of former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou hadn't been successful.

He called on the Taiwanese government, as well as high-profile figures in the media and publishing world to speak out on Li's behalf.

Many people are likening Lis disappearance to the cross-border detention and kidnapping of five Hong Kong publishers from the Causeway Bay Bookstore in 2015, including Lam Wing-kei, who later sought refuge in Taiwan from an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.

Safe and well

The Taiwanese government agency charged with managing relations with Beijing said Li was "safe and well," but declined to comment further.

Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Jan Jyh-horng said the government is paying attention to developments in the case, and offering "care and assistance" to his family members, the island's Central News Agency reported from a regular news briefing.

"We have to respect the family's wishes, so we are unable to offer further explanations at this time," Jan told reporters. "That's all I can tell you."

Taiwan's semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation said it would always "give priority to the personal safety of the parties concerned, and respect the wishes of the family members."

"We will continue to pay attention to the development of the case and provide necessary assistance," said the foundation, which has previously functioned as an unofficial go-between in closed-door negotiations with Beijing.

Li, who is ethnically Manchu, founded the Eight Banners imprint under Taiwan's Book Republic publishing group in 2009, using it to publish non-fiction works on China's overseas infiltration and influence operations, the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, and other work critical of Beijing.

The Taiwan-based Hong Kong news site Photon News said recent titles offering independent views of Tibetan and Mongolian history could also have sparked Beijing's ire, a view shared by Book Republic's founder and president Kuo Chung-hsing.

"I can only guess that it has something to do with the fact that the views in the books he published were different from the official Chinese view of history," Kuo told Radio Free Asia. "Maybe he is now being investigated [for that]."

Incommunicado

Kuo said Li had gone incommunicado three or four days after arriving in Shanghai in mid-March, where he had intended to tend to family graves and visit his sick mother.

"[Li] Yanhe is still a Chinese national, so the officials here [in Taiwan] may not be able to do anything," he said.

"There is a danger, and your security can't be guaranteed," Causeway Bay bookseller Lam Wing-kei says. "[Chinas] national security law applies anywhere in the world, and the entire universe." Credit: RFA file photo

Former Causeway Bay bookseller Lam Wing-kei agreed.

"The way they see it, if you were born in mainland China, you are from there," he said. "Back when the Causeway Bay people were detained, they treated two of my colleagues who were born in mainland China a bit differently from myself and Lee Bo, who were born in Hong Kong."

"The difference was that they didn't allow [them] to return to Hong Kong, whereas they did allow me and Lee Bo to go back to Hong Kong," Lam said.

Lam said the incident should remind publishers in Taiwan to reconsider planned visits to China.

"There is a danger, and your security can't be guaranteed," he warned. "Their national security law applies anywhere in the world, and the entire universe."

Eight Banners Press declined to comment when contacted by Radio Free Asia on Thursday, saying they hadn't managed to verify the news of Li's detention independently.

Unprecedented bad news

Germany-based writer Liao Yiwu said via his Facebook account that if Bei Ling's account is accurate, then "it is unprecedented bad news for Taiwan's cultural sector."

"It is as bad as another 'kidnapping case in Causeway Bay," he wrote in a reference to the detention of the five Hong Kong booksellers. "Taiwan's political, cultural and journalistic circles, regardless of their political stance, should not remain shamefully silent. Otherwise, the whole free world will look down on them," Liao wrote.

Protestors hold up missing person notices of (L-R) Mighty Current book publisher Lui Bo and colleagues Cheung Jiping, Gui Minhai, Lee Bo and Lam Wing-kei as they walk toward China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong on Jan. 3, 2016. Credit: AFP

Li was born in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning to a Manchu family, and joined the Chinese Communist Party after graduating from university, before rising to become vice president of the Shanghai Literature & Art Publishing House.

He married a Taiwanese woman in 1996, and settled in Taiwan in 2009. His last Facebook post was made on March 12.

In another recent case, Chinese authorities arrested Chen Zhiming, the editor of a Hong Kong-based political magazine who went missing in September 2022, on suspicion of running an illegal business, Radio Free Asia reported in January.

The former editor at the People's Daily Press who moved to Hong Kong to set up the Exclusive Characters political magazine specializing in in-depth interviews with influential people, stopped updating his social media accounts from around Sept. 21, 2022.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.






The prisoner knocked out a guard with a hammer, then stole his handgun before fleeing.

The prisoner who escaped in Chongjin, North Korea, [shown] had served in the military as a sniper, a source has told RFA.

A North Korean prisoner escaped from a detention center after hitting a guard on the head with a hammer, then shot four police officers with a stolen handgun as he hid nearby in a warehouse and an apartment building, residents told Radio Free Asia.

The incident, which ended with the prisoner killing himself, is an unusual account of a mass shooting crime in North Korea, and a rare glimpse into the countrys system of detention centers.

The prisoner had been helping the guard while they worked on an electricity repair project, according to a resident of Chongjin City in North Hamgyong province. After striking the guard with the hammer, the prisoner then stole his handgun and ran from the detention center.

Because last months incident took place on a Sunday, most guards were resting in their bedrooms, the source said. The guard who had been hit  the only one on duty that day  eventually regained consciousness and reported the escape, the resident said.

Immediately, the entire social security department and neighboring military units were mobilized for the operation to arrest the escaped prisoner, she said.

The prisoner had been a military sniper at the Supreme Guard Command, a resident of North Hamgyongs Orang County who was also familiar with the story, told RFA.

His older brother made a statement criticizing the system and was sent to a prison camp. The younger brother  the prisoner  was forcibly discharged from the military due to guilt-by-association, the second source said.

The younger brother became a vagrant, sometimes working unofficial jobs, and eventually committed a crime while he was unemployed. He was ordered sent to a labor camp, but was temporarily sent to the detention center while he underwent a preliminary investigation, the Orang County resident said.

Search operation

After escaping, he hid in the warehouse of an inn next to the social security department, the Chongjin City resident said.

Still wearing his prison uniform, he waited for nightfall. But when two social security agents tried to search the warehouse, he shot them, the Chongjin City resident said. He then fled to the basement of an apartment building, where he shot two more social security agents. He then fatally shot himself.

Travel and vehicle traffic were completely restricted for local residents during the search operation, the Chongjin City resident said.

Residents have different opinions about the incident, the Orang County resident said. Most residents think he deserves to be punished given the nature of the crime.

But acquaintances who know the family situation of the prisoner said that this would not have happened if he had not been forcibly discharged from the military.. The younger brother had nothing to do with the crime committed by the older brother.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
No one was injured as most residents had either been killed or were in hiding.

Myanmars junta on Thursday again bombed a village in northern Sagaing region where jet fighters had attacked only a week earlier, killing some 200 residents, according to sources.

Sagaing has been a hotspot of resistance to junta rule. The April 11 air raid on the opening ceremony of a public administration building in Kanbalu townships Pa Zi Gyi village was one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Myanmar since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup and drew condemnation from across the globe.

On Thursday, despite the blowback from the international community, the junta carried out another airstrike on Pa Zi Gyi.

Initial reports said no one was injured in the latest bombing, as most of the villages residents were either killed or still in hiding from last weeks attack. But sources told RFA Burmese that many of the remaining buildings were damaged.

Aircraft made three passes over Pa Zi Gyi, beginning at around 2:30 p.m., said a resident of Pa Zi Gyi, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

They dropped bombs and also fired at the village, but no villagers were hurt, he said. We had evacuated them all by then. They just fired at an empty village.

As many as 5,000 people from Pa Zi Gyi and seven nearby villages were forced to flee their homes amid the latest attack, sources said.

Six bombs

Ko Myo, a resident of Kanbalu township, said the fighter jet dropped six bombs on the village on Thursday.

The explosion was quite strong, he said. Smoke is rising into the sky from the village. I think the houses are burning now.

Ko Myo confirmed that no one was hurt in the attack as the villagers had already fled to safety.

This attack looks like one of the juntas area-clearing operations, he said, adding that troops arrived at the village at around noon on Wednesday, but only entered it Thursday afternoon.

Their jet fighter flew over twice and an Mi-35 helicopter flew over once for scouting while they were entering the village. I think it was to check if there was any resistance in the village to protect their soldiers.

Kyo Myo said that the military column that entered the village was Shwebo Training Unit-13, which had come up from the city of Mandalay, around 195 kilometers (120 miles) to the south. RFA has not been able to independently verify the claim.

Precision attack

Attempts by RFA to reach Aye Hlaing, the junta spokesman for Sagaing region, regarding the situation in Pa Zi Gyi village went unanswered Thursday.

However, the military confirmed in a statement last week that it had carried out a precision attack on Pa Zi Gyi on April 11 because members of the PDF had gathered there and committed terrorist acts. It vowed to continue to clear resistance forces from the area.

Junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun told the military-controlled broadcast channel MRTV that those killed in the April 11 strike were members of the PDF, not civilians, and that the large number of casualties was the result of a rebel weapons cache exploding during the operation.

But rescue workers have disputed that account. They say the attack on the site was deliberate and thorough, beginning with a jet fighter bombing run and followed by an Mi-35 helicopter strafing the area, much like the strike on Thursday.

Desperate for water, food

Since last weeks attack, more than 600 residents of Pa Zi Gyi who have been sheltering under tarps in the nearby jungle are in desperate need of food and drinking water, said a villager who declined to be named for fear of reprisal.

Its difficult for them to even cook rice [when they have it] as they have to fetch water from streams some distance away, the villager said. If they are sick, there is nothing to help them  They cant sleep well, as they have to be vigilant. They have to stay ready to run, as they dont know when the junta will attack them.

Among the displaced are the elderly, sick, children and pregnant women, he said.

A child sleeps on a mat in the jungle in Sagaing's Kanbalu township in Myanmar, Tuesday, April 18, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist Nay Zin Latt, a representative of Kanbalu township for the deposed National League for Democracy, told RFA that the refugees are constantly anxious and scared.

Since they were attacked by planes, they tremble and hide every time they hear the sound of the airplanes, he said. Its a very terrible situation they are in. But its worse for the children, the elderly and those with poor health, as the current weather is very harsh, even for a healthy person.

Members of the Kanbalu anti-junta Peoples Defense Force paramilitary said that the situation in and around Pa Zi Gyi is very tense. They said the military is focusing on assuming control of the area on the ground and in the air.

Thats why they are carrying out area clearing operations here  I think they came to scare our people, said one official with the Kanbalu PDF. They came in strong with two [troop] columns.

The official noted that the junta has increasingly relied on airstrikes as the conflict in Sagaing rages on.

But you cant win the entire war just by controlling the air, he added.

Thursdays attack came as more than 1,000 villagers from northern Shan states Nawnghkio township were forced to flee fighting between the military and the Mandalay PDF.

The two sides have been engaged in clashes for much of the past two weeks and those who fled on Thursday brought to 4,000 the number of people displaced from the township since the latest fighting began.

According to a statement issued Wednesday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 1.8 million people have fled their homes due to armed conflict in Myanmar. In October, the United Nations announced that at least 500,000 people have fled fighting in Sagaing since the coup.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Residents of villages in Khin-U township, Sagaing region, flee fighting between junta troops and local Peoples Defense Forces on April 19, 2023.

UPDATED at 11:13 a.m. EDT on 04-20-2023

More than 20,000 locals abandoned their villages in Sagaing regions Khin-U township as Myanmars military intensified its offensive against local Peoples Defense Forces.

The offensive comes just a week after the junta carried out an air strike on a village in Sagaing's Kanbalu township during the opening ceremony of a public administration building, killing an estimated 200 of the tract's 300 inhabitants. The region has been a hotspot of resistance to junta rule and the center of some of the worst fighting since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

A column of around 100 troops staged a dawn raid on Myin Daung village on Wednesday, killing five defense force members, according to a PDF official who declined to be named. The defense force responded by detonating mines and exchanging gunfire with junta forces.

A resident of nearby Aung Thar said that after the battle, the junta column shelled other villages in Khin-U township, destroying a monastery and burning down three houses in his village.

He added that five men who were farming outside the village were taken by troops to act as human shields when they left Aung Thar village.

CAPTION: The corner of a house damaged by gunfire in Aung Thar village on April 19, 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist





A resident of Myin Daung, who also requested anonymity, said thousands of residents of nearby villages fled their homes

There are more than 10 villages to the south of Myin Daung with a population of about 18,000 people, the local said.

Along with the people leaving villages to the north there will be more than 20,000 people fleeing.

A Peoples Defense Force member who also declined to give his name told RFA that 21 villages are now empty.

RFA called Sagaing region junta spokesperson Aye Hlaing but no one answered.

In October, the United Nations announced that at least 500,000 people have fled conflict in Sagaing since the coup.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Updated to include details of recent air strike in Sagaing, as well as U.N. estimates on the number of people displaced in the region since the coup.
The Pacific country is forging closer security ties to countries in the AUKUS nuclear subs pact.

Papua New Guineas Minister of Foreign Affairs Justin Tkatchenko (R) and U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hold copies of a defense memorandum of understanding at a signing ceremony in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on April 19, 2023.

Papua New Guinea and the United Kingdom signed a defense agreement that the Pacific island countrys foreign minister said had been gathering dust for many years, part of a renewed Western focus on the region after Chinas inroads.

The status of forces agreement  a pact generally used by countries to establish the rules under which foreign military personnel operate in a country  was signed in Port Moresby on Wednesday by the foreign ministers of both nations. Neither country immediately released the text of the document.

Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said the agreement is broad in nature and the United Kingdoms military is already training with the Pacific countrys defense forces.

It is about strengthening and enhancing our relationship when it comes to defense in our country, he said. UK and PNG working together for the security of the region. This will allow us to have an easier relationship when dealing with defense related matters, training and many other things.

Papua New Guinea signed a broad security and defense agreement with Australia earlier this year and is negotiating a defense cooperation agreement with the United States. With the UK, the United States and Australia are the parties to the AUKUS agreement to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines by next decade, which is widely understood to be aimed at containing China.

Over several decades, China has become a significant source of trade, infrastructure and aid for economically lagging Pacific island countries as it seeks to diplomatically isolate Taiwan and gain allies in international organizations.

Last year, Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands, alarming the United States and its allies such as Australia.

Pacific island nations also hope to gain from renewed U.S. interest in the region. However, they increasingly face a balancing act as Washington and Beijing vie for influence. Some Pacific leaders have said they dont want to be swept up in superpower competition or to be forced to take sides in the China-U.S. rivalry.

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who is also visiting the Solomon Islands on his Pacific trip, said the agreement with Papua New Guinea reflects mutual security interests.

The security of friends is our security, he said.

The world is increasingly a small place and the risk to that security can come from anyone or a number of different factors and many things we have not even thought about yet.

China is a top export market for Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific island country, and Beijings foreign minister earlier this month expressed concern about the Pacific countrys security agreement with Australia.

Tkatchenko said the agreement was not directly in response to China and is a response to multiple security challenges in the region from climate change to biosecurity and defense.

I just want to make very clear that PNG stands fast with its traditional partners in the region: Australia, New Zealand, USA and Indonesia. They are traditional partners when it comes to security for our region, he said.

When it comes to China they are our traditional trading partners, the biggest that PNG has and we must respect that and continue to work with that.

Papua New Guinea also signed a status of forces agreement with France in November last year. Tkatchenko on Wednesday said he expects four visits in the next 12 months from French warships.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.
14 Vietnamese migrants lost their lives trying to get to Taiwan on a boat from China

A Chinese fishing boat sails across the Taiwan strait off the coast of Pingtan Island, Fujian province, China, April 9, 2023. Fourteen Vietnamese migrant workers recently bought a used fishing boat in Fujian for an ill-fated attempt to cross the strait.

The 14 Vietnamese migrant workers illegally crossed the border into China, then traveled to Fujian province. There they bought a used fishing boat and embarked on the final leg of their journey: the 160-kilometer (99-mile) voyage across the Taiwan Strait.

But the boat never made it. Around mid-March, Taiwanese officials said they had only found 10 bodies washed up in different locations on the island's west coast.

After a month-long investigation, Taiwanese police determined that after launching from Fujian, their boat had capsized at sea, and the nine men and five women, between the ages of 30 and 42, had all died trying to enter Taiwan so they could earn an income several times higher than what was possible in their homeland.

Many Vietnamese go to Taiwan in search of a better life these days, but if they cannot do it legally, they might take the sea route, said Lee Yangchi, director of the International Criminal Division for Taiwans National Police Department.

The police investigation revealed that all of the migrants had previously worked in Taiwan illegally and had been deported for violating labor laws. The law prohibits reentry for several years after being deported.

Nine people in this group had previously crossed the border into Taiwan to work illegally, while the remaining five had come to Taiwan to work legally but then began working underground, Lee said. So they were all deported  before trying to enter the country again.

Working illegally

According to data released by Taiwans National Immigration Service, as of 2019, Vietnamese accounted for 45% of the total number of illegal workers there.

"To tell you the truth, it's all for making a living," said a Vietnamese working illegally in Taiwan, identified by his initials PNT. The 33-year old from Ha Tinh province in northern Vietnam has been working in Taiwan for eight years, seven of which were illegal.

PNT said he paid U.S.$6,400 to a brokerage company in Vietnam to give him a job in a Taiwan tire factory, but he left the job after finding out his income was lower than expected.

The fees workers pay to brokers can range from U.S.$3,000 to $7,000, and people are willing to pay.

The average salary in rural Vietnam amounts to a mere U.S.$150 per month according to data from Vietnams Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Prospective migrants have to save up years to afford the brokerage fees, or they will go into debt, and carry the burden of paying it off from the moment they arrive in a foreign land.

"The broker said that if you go to Taiwan and work overtime, you can earn more than 20 million dong [$850] a month, but in reality, there are not enough jobs like that," said PNT.

Farmers pick tea leaves in Tan Cuong village in Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen province. Poverty drives many rural workers in Vietnam to leave the country for better-paying jobs. Credit: Reuters file photo

According to VD Tung, an employee at a Taiwanese labor brokerage company, the problem is insufficient workload for those hoping to work overtime. Workers find that they can only earn the base salary, he said.

Taiwans minimum wage is NT$26,400 per month, which is about 20 million dong (U.S.$850), but this has only been in effect since January.

Workers must also pay various fees out of their paycheck, including insurance, brokerage services, and other costs that may arise.

According to Tung, illegal work has a much higher income.

If you compare the income between legal and illegal work, the legal income never catches up with the illegal income, he said.

A better life

PNT boasted that with the money he has been able to earn in Taiwan, he built a house for his parents in the countryside and provided education expenses for his five younger siblings.

But working illegally can be a huge risk. Three days after breaching a work contact, the migrant worker will be declared absconded, and the workers identity will be provided to the authorities.

If caught working illegally, they will be deported to Vietnam, and banned from returning to Taiwan for six to eight years.

But deportation is not the only fear that illegal workers face. Losing health insurance is another serious problem, especially in the case of illness or work-related accidents.

Because of the lack of proper documentation and the loss of protection from brokers, the workers are exposed to the risk of exploitation and abuse by their employers.

Without proper documentation, illegal workers cannot sign regular employment contracts, so they can only do jobs that pay by the day or by piece, instead of receiving a monthly salary. . And often the work can be harder.

According to 2019 data released by Taiwans National Immigration Service, Vietnamese nationals accounted for 45% of the illegal workers in the country. In this photo, Taiwan immigration officers escort two detained Vietnamese women (2nd L and behind) who had left their tour groups after arriving on tourist visas in 2018. Credit: AFP

Although he did not disclose his specific workplace, PNT said he is currently working in the high mountains in Taiwan, mostly harvesting vegetables on farms. He said that he has to work 12 hours a day on average.

Asked why he accepted such difficult work, he said, "One must accept a miserable family so that the child can be happy, rather than making the whole family happy.

After nearly a decade working in a foreign land to support his family, PNT said his wish is to be able to continue working in Taiwan more. Two years from now, his passport will expire. Then he will return to his hometown to build his own future, he said.

The migrant worker population in Taiwan is quite diverse, but most are from Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.

VD Tung said that the rate of Vietnamese people leaving their legal jobs to work illegally is highest among all nationalities of migrant workers in Taiwan.

Pay to work

The defection rate of Vietnamese workers is the highest, surpassing that of other countries, because the cost for Vietnamese workers to go to Taiwan is the highest.

According to Tung, workers from other Southeast Asian countries only have to pay $1,000 or $2,000 to come to Taiwan to work, while Vietnamese have to pay $4,000 to $5,000 or even higher.

The fruits of their labor line the pockets of brokerage firms in Vietnam, but once the workers set foot on the airplane, the Vietnamese brokerage firms responsibility immediately ends.

Vietnamese workers in Taiwan told RFA in previous reports that when there was a dispute with their employer, they could not go to any brokerage company for help.

Additionally, Taiwan's law on protecting the rights of migrant workers is still considered incomplete.

Specifically, migrant workers working in areas such as domestic help and care for the elderly are not covered by the Labor Standards Act, leading to unsafe working conditions, and even abuse.

The Taiwanese government has not yet allowed agricultural employers to hire foreign workers, resulting in a situation where the demand for labor is high but there are few Taiwan citizens looking for farm labor jobs. Employers are therefore forced to hire illegally.

Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
The sidewalks outside bakeries in the Afghan capital are packed with desperate mothers and children hoping for a bite to eat. The Taliban has banned women and girls from many jobs, secondary schools, and universities since returning to power in August 2021, worsening the country's economic crisis, according to United Nations studies.
Denmark and the Netherlands announced Thursday that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least 14 refurbished German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks, to be supplied from early 2024.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen called it a significant donation which came on top of a contribution by Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, announced in February, to supply at least 100 older Leopard 1 A5 tanks.

In a joint statement, the Danish and Dutch defense ministers said the estimated cost of 165 million euros "to jointly acquire, refurbish and donate" will be equally divided between the two NATO members.

In this way, we will jointly take part in the Leopard 2 coalition, supported by many partners and allies," they said.

In January, Germany agreed to send 14 newer Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its militarys current stocks.

Acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stressed that the tanks were not Danish but are bought in collaboration with the Netherlands.

Denmark currently has Leopard 2 A7 tanks which are a different and newer model than the one we are donating now, Lund Poulsen added.

In a separate statement, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that having the Leopard 2 A4 main battle tank at its disposal will give Ukraine superiority on the battlefield, due to the tanks major fire power, high level of protection and speed.

Over the last few weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have already demonstrated that they are able to master the skills needed to operate the tank in a short amount of time, she added.

On Twitter, Ukraines Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba wrote that We are deeply grateful for this contribution.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his first conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine was "long and meaningful" as Russia increased the pressure on the defenders of Bakhmut -- the site of the most intense battle for the eastern Donetsk region.

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.

"Had a long meaningful telephone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. "I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine's ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations."

Zelenskiy did not provide other details about the call, but his spokesman, Serhiy Nykyforov, said on Facebook that the two had an almost hourlong telephone conversation.

China's state broadcaster CCTV said that Xi told Zelenskiy that "talks and negotiation" were the "only way out" of the war. China says it is neutral in the conflict and Xi has refrained from condemning the invasion.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby welcomed the call but said it was too soon to tell whether it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

"If there's going to be a negotiated peace, it's got to be when President Zelenskiy is ready for it," Kirby said, adding that the United States would welcome any effort to arrive at peace as long as it could be sustainable.

Kirby said the United States did not have advance knowledge of the call.

"These are two sovereign leaders and we're glad to see that they did talk," Kirby said.

Beijing has floated a peace proposal -- a 12-point paper calling for a de-escalation and eventual cease-fire in Ukraine -- dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies as echoing Russian talking points.

Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye last week sparked widespread condemnation by suggesting countries that emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union "don't have effective status under international law because there is not an international agreement confirming their status as sovereign nations."

Russia has used such sentiment as one of the reasons it justifies its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union, launched in February 2022.

China's Foreign Ministry later backtracked on Lu's comments, affirming that it has always recognized the sovereign status of countries that were at some point part of the Soviet Union.

On the battlefield, Moscow has been stepping up its offensive actions on the Bakhmut-Avdiyivka-Maryinka front line in the east, where Ukrainian defenders are facing increasing pressure from Russian shelling, air strikes, mortar fire, and infantry assaults, Kyiv said on April 26.

"Russia is concentrating its main efforts on conducting offensive operations on Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, where Ukrainian forces repelled 39 Russian attacks over the last 24 hours," the General Staff said in its daily report.



"Fierce battles continue in Bakhmut and Maryinka," the military said.

Russian troops launched three missile strikes, 13 air strikes, and 49 rocket salvoes at Ukrainian positions and civilian infrastructure, it added.



Repeated Russian assaults have also been repelled in the village of Klishchiyivka, some 10 kilometers south of Bakhmut, the Donetsk region city that has been the epicenter of a monthslong, grinding battle.



In the southern Zaporizhzhya region, where Europe's largest nuclear power plant is located, an air-raid alert was declared overnight.



RFE/RL correspondents reported numerous explosions that were likely caused by attacking Iranian-made Shahed drones.



Yuriy Malashko, the head of Zaporizhzhya military administration, urged inhabitants to take cover but did not elaborate on the nature of the blasts. "Stay in safe places until the air alert is over," he said.



Russian forces, who control the local nuclear power plant, regularly shell the parts of Zaporizhzhya region still under Ukrainian control.



On April 25, a Russian missile strike on a museum in the eastern city of Kupyansk killed at least two people and injured 10, an attack that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as "barbaric."



Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, told RFE/RL that the April 25 strike on the Kupyansk city center involved S-300 type missiles, one of which hit the Museum of Local History.



"The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, adding, "We must and will respond!"

Separately, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Moscow began using its new T-14 Armata battle tanks in the war, firing on Ukrainian positions but not yet participating "in direct assault."



The tank has an unmanned turret that a crew controls remotely from "an isolated armored capsule located in the front of the hull," the report said.



But, according to British military intelligence, Russian forces have complained about the poor condition of the first of the tanks to arrive.



"Eleven years in development, the program has been dogged with delays, reduction in planned fleet size, and reports of manufacturing problems," the British intelligence report said.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
On April 19, imprisoned Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny testified by video link in the case of Lilia Chanysheva, the former head of Navalny's office in Bashkortostan, who is being tried in the regional capital, Ufa, for allegedly "creating and leading an extremist organization."

For a few moments before the hearing opened, Chanysheva and Navalny were able to speak directly. When Chanysheva asked how Navalny was holding up after numerous stints in solitary confinement and other harassment he has said amounts to torture, Navalny brushed her off.



"Don't think about me," Navalny said. "Think about the beautiful Russia of the future that we will achieve. Thanks to you and people like you, we will do this. You are a rock. I never doubted you, not for one second. I am so happy I know you."



"You have inspired a huge number of people, particularly women," Navalny continued. "Everything will be OK."

Despite such assurances, Chanysheva is realistic about her closed-door trial and the prison term of up to 18 years that could lie ahead of her.



"Since in Russia about 99.9 percent of cases end in conviction, I don't expect mine to be any exception," she said in an interview from jail with RFE/RL's Idel.Realities. "I hope I will be released before the term they give me ends and that all those who are guilty of my illegal imprisonment will be held responsible under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation."



RFE/RL was able to send written questions to Chanysheva and receive her responses through her lawyers.



'So The Public Wouldn't See'



Chanysheva, 41, was arrested in Ufa on November 10, 2021. She was transferred to a pretrial detention jail in Moscow, where she was held for 453 days while the case against her was being assembled. Her case was originally investigated together with those of Navalny and his top colleagues, including Leonid Volkov, Ivan Zhdanov, and Lyubov Sobol. Later, Chanysheva was sent back to Ufa to be tried separately. In June 2021, President Vladimir Putin's government shut down Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation and his network of regional offices after designating them "extremist organizations."



Chanysheva denies the accusations against her.

In December 2021, the banned human rights organization Memorial added her to its list of political prisoners in Russia.



In her comments to RFE/RL, Chanysheva described the case against her as "not only political, but actually absurd." Her trial is being held behind closed doors on the recommendation of the regional branch of the National Anti-Antiterrorism Committee, which told the court the trial would be covered "negatively" on the Internet, with calls for public demonstrations intended to intimidate the court and witnesses.



"I believe they closed the trial so the media and the public wouldn't see the absurdity of the accusations or the absence of any evidence," she said.



At a court session on March 22, one witness said in court that investigators had pressured her to testify against Chanysheva and tried to recruit her as an informant, Chanysheva's lawyer, Sergei Makarenko, said.



The witness, whose identity RFE/RL chose not to disclose, said she was "ashamed" to testify.

"I am just horrified that I was even summoned to the trial," the witness told RFE/RL. "I thought that I would manage to avoid that disgrace. I consider it torture of my conscience. I know her as a decent person, and certainly I said at the trial that I consider the charges against her to be without grounds."



Some of the witnesses against her, Chanysheva said, were former Navalny staffers from other regions of Russia whom she did not know previously.



"I think they were told that if they don't admit to extremism in the activity of the offices, then they would get the same treatment as me: first held in custody and then given a long prison term," she said. "I don't believe these people were testifying sincerely."



Flowers Through The Bars



Chanysheva said she is being held alone in a cell without hot water but with a television constantly showing the state channels. She must sit in a cage during her meetings with her lawyers, she said. But she tries to look on the bright side.



"The exercise yard is almost completely open to the sky, so you can see sky and sun," she said. "You can get some sun or walk in the fresh snow in the winter. In Moscow, there was a coverso that all year you walked around in shade, often with artificial light."

"In the meeting rooms, the windows aren't painted over," she added, "and in the corridors of the women's wing you can see Ufa through the windows. In Moscow, the windows were way up by the ceiling, and you couldn't see anything."



On March 23, Chanysheva was allowed a one-hour visit from her husband, Almaz Gatin.



"One year, four months, and 10 days after Putin and his ilk separated me from my loved ones," she wrote on Telegram the same day, "we spoke by telephone through glass and bars. In Moscow, visits last two or three hours, but in Ufa, it is strictly just one. But I am happy! I was able to talk to a strong, wise, and loving man, my husband, for an hour. Love one another and treasure every hour that you are together."



Since then, she has been allowed to see her brother and parents as well. Her parents, she said, came together and had to share one telephone receiver.



"My husband and brother brought flowers," she recalled. "Although they were not allowed to give them to me, it was nice to see them."



'I Believe In People'



Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Chanysheva said, has ushered in "an era of hatred, not only toward Ukrainians but toward one's own people."

"It is an era of the destruction of our country for the sake of the personal ambitions of a few powerful people in government," she said. "And I think it will continue at least until the war in Ukraine is ended."



The war, she added, causes her "shame, pain, anger, and sadness."



"I think we have an even more difficult future ahead of us than we had before all these events," she said. "I also think the guilty will be held legally accountable. Russia is not North Korea, and the Soviet Union is not coming back. The world has changed, and a new generation is coming up in our country. They can't keep everyone afraid forever."



"No matter what," she added, "I believe in people. Even more now than a year ago."

Adapted by RFE/RL's Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what I've been following during the past week and what I'm watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out holding a referendum on key national issues, a demand made by antiestablishment protesters, activists, and opposition figures.

"Where in the world is this done? Is it possible to hold a referendum for various issues of the country?" Khamenei, who has the final say on all important matters of the state, said during a meeting with students on April 18.

According to Iran's constitution, a referendum can be held on "extremely important economic, political, social, and cultural matters." A vote can only be called with the approval of two-thirds of parliament.

Why It Matters: Khamenei's rejection of a referendum appears to be in response to a call by former President Hassan Rohani, a relative moderate, who recently suggested that holding a popular vote on domestic, economic, and foreign policy matters could resolve the unrest in the country.

Iran was gripped by months of antiestablishment protests that erupted in September, the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic in decades. Many protesters demanded greater social and political freedom and the end of clerical rule.

In recent months, some opposition figures and civil society groups have called for a referendum on protesters' demands. They include opposition figure Mir Hossein Musavi and Iran's top Sunni cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid. Others have called for the drafting of a new constitution that could pave the way for a new political system.

What's Next: Khamenei's dismissal of a referendum, although not surprising, has been criticized by some Iranians.

Some accused the Iranian leader of double standards, saying he has previously called for a referendum to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Others noted that the current clerical system was established after a referendum was held soon after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

In his comments, Khamenei had also questioned whether voters had the "capacity" to make informed choices on important state matters if a referendum were to be held.

"If we don't have the capacity to analyze and take part in a referendum, then why do we have the capacity when it comes to noncompetitive elections?" the Islamic Association of University Teachers said in a statement.

Paris-based analyst Reza Alijani told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Khamenei has monopolized power and has "issues even with regime insiders." "He opposed a referendum, which Rohani called for based on the constitution, unlike Musavi and others who have demanded a referendum that goes beyond the constitution," Alijani said.

Stories You Might Have Missed

A U.S.-trained professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Tehran said he was fired after he came out in support of nationwide protests against the clerical establishment. Many Iranian university professors have faced expulsion for their support of the demonstrations, while others have already been pushed from their jobs.

Iranian former crown prince Reza Pahlavi's recent visit to Israel, Tehran's arch foe, courted controversy. Some Iranians criticized Pahlavi for being silent on the plight of Palestinians. Others questioned why he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a time when tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting his controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary.

What We're Watching

Hamed Esmaeilion has announced he is leaving an alliance of exiled Iranian opposition figures and celebrities.

The Alliance for Democracy and Freedom in Iran was formed in February and includes Pahlavi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, rights activist Masih Alinejad, actress Nazanin Boniadi, and Abdullah Mohtadi, the leader of a Kurdish political party.

In March, the alliance issued a charter for a transition to a new, secular democratic system that would be followed by free elections. The group has called for international efforts to isolate Iran's clerical establishment.

Esmailion, who was the spokesman of a Canada-based association that represented the families of the victims of a passenger flight that was shot down in Iran in 2020, said he quit because of "anti-democratic" attempts by "pressure groups" to impose their views on the alliance.

Why It Matters: Esmailion's withdrawal suggests Iran's exiled opposition has been unable to end infighting and bridge their differences. Further withdrawals could lead to the collapse of the alliance.

Prominent Tehran-based analyst Sadegh Zibalakam said the exiled opposition "only agrees on opposing the Islamic republic." "Outside of their opposition to the clerical establishment, they don't have much of a [policy],' he said on Twitter.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.



Until next time,



Golnaz Esfandiari



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
Italy said Thursday it was seeking to freeze the assets of a Russian arrested in Milan at Washington's request who disappeared while under house arrest only to re-emerge in Russia.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio was called to parliament to explain what happened with Artyom Uss, the son of a Siberian governor, Alexander Uss, who was detained in Italy on a US warrant in October.

He went missing from his residence near Milan at the end of March, despite wearing an electronic tracking bracelet, the day after a judge ordered his extradition to the United States.

Washington accuses Uss of taking part in illegal schemes to export US military technology to Russia.

In evidence to MPs, Nordio did not explain how he escaped, saying only that an investigation was underway.

But he said Italy was "checking whether it was possible to insert Mr. Uss in the list of Russian citizens whose assets it is possible to freeze".

"Let's see we can at least attack him on his assets," he added.

The minister also said he had initiated disciplinary proceedings before the Court of Cassation against the magistrates of the Milan appeal court who authorised his transfer from detention to house arrest.

US authorities had warned of the risk that Uss, a well-connected individual with significant financial resources, might flee.

On April 4, Uss announced he was back in Russia, giving no details of how he left.

Uss was one of five Russians arrested on Washington's request in October for "unlawful schemes to export powerful" US military technology to Russia.

The US Justice Department said some of these had been "discovered on the battlefields of Ukraine".

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The wife of a French-Afghan journalist held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan says she's deeply concerned for his physical and mental well-being. Aleksandra Mostovaja told Zhakfar Ahmadi from RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that she had spoken to her husband Mortaza Behboudi only once since his detention in January. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have asked the Taliban government to immediately release Behboudi.
One man died and 47 people were rescued after a boat carrying migrants sank off southern Greece, the coast guard said Thursday.

A rescue operation was launched early Thursday and the coast guard found "a dead man, aged 45, and 47 surviving migrants" off the Peloponnese peninsula, an official told AFP.

She said four children and three women were taken to hospital in Sparta, the main city in Laconia.

Thousands of would-be migrants seek to reach the European Union via Greece, making a perilous crossing over the Mediterranean, often in flimsy, overcrowded boats.

The migrants' boat had hit a rock, the coast guard said, without specifying how many people were on the boat or their nationalities.

Coastguards were searching the coast and sea round Laconia on Thursday for other potential survivors.

On Saturday, five migrants and a Greek man were killed in a road accident in northern Greece, near the land border with Turkey. The migrants' nationality was not made public.

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The US military said Thursday that it had released an Algerian held at the Guantanamo prison for two decades, leaving 30 men still held extrajudicially at the US navy base in Cuba.

The Pentagon said Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush was transferred to Algeria after an official decision on his release was made earlier this year.

Detaining Bakush, 52, was deemed "no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States," the Pentagon said in a statement.

Bakush was apprehended in 2002 in Faislalabad, Pakistan as the US swept up hundreds of suspected Al-Qaeda operatives and fighters in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States by the group.

Although never seen as more than a low-level Al-Qaeda fighter not directly connected to the 9/11 plot, he was nevertheless held since then at the prison on the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Like fellow prisoners, he was deemed an enemy combatant without recourse to the US justice system.

With Bakush's release, 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo, down from a peak of nearly 800.

Of them 16 are eligible for transfer and the Pentagon and State Department are seeking countries to accept them.

Another three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board assessment, while nine are facing charges under military commissions and two have been convicted in such commissions.

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THE MUM of a girl who suffered meningitis and septicaemia at just a few days old has gone to the High Court to sue the hospital she accuses of mistreating her daughter.

The mother, who is from Swinton, has issued the claim against Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of her daughter, who was born at Rotherham Hospital in April 2018 and is said to need round-the-clock care.

Claim papers which have just been made publicly available at the court in London state that doctors failed to examine and treat the little girl.

They allege that delays in diagnosing and treating her when she was just three days old, resulted in her suffering from meningitis and septicaemia.

The five-year-old girl will need round the clock care for the rest of her life, say the papers, which add that she is fed by a tube, has cerebral palsy with profound cognitive and physical problems, very limited communication and sight problems.

Court documents say the former patient will never be able to work, will never be able to manage her own affairs, and is at high risk of needing orthopaedic surgery in future.

Unlimited damages of more than 200,000 are being sought in respect of the little girls condition, which is said to be of maximum severity.

Three days after she was born, according to the court papers, the girl became unwell, with fitting, and grey, mottled legs, and a health visitor who called that day said she should be taken to hospital, but did not arrange an emergency admission.

When she was taken to Rotherham Hospital, she was not assessed by a doctor for more than four hours, by which time her condition had deteriorated, it is claimed.

The babys brain is said to have been starved of oxygen after she developed septicaemia and meningitis, leading to cerebral palsy.

Her mother accuses the trust of negligent mismanagement of her condition, and relies on a letter from the trusts solicitors dated January 26, 2021, which says her daughter should have been urgently taken to hospital by ambulance after the health visitors visit.

After the baby reached hospital, there were further failures to provide clinical assessment, investigation and treatment within an appropriate time.

The letter from the trust admits she should have been seen and assessed on arrival, admitted to a ward for monitoring and investigations, and given intravenous antibiotics within an hour of her arrival.

Her mother says that without negligence, her daughter would have been treated successfully, and she would not have suffered any brain injury, nor developed cerebral palsy.

Helen Dobson, chief nurse at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: As a trust, we believe in the importance of being open and transparent about the care given to patients.

However, we are unable to comment on an ongoing case.
Raja Warring, Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary and District President Rajinder Berry

We are grateful to the entire Christian community who have always supported us: Raja Warring

JALANDHAR: Congress Punjab President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring held a meeting with the Christian community at Jalandhar Congress Bhawan. In the meeting, the candidate of Jalandhar by-election Prof. Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary and District President Rajinder Berry were also present.

Addressing the meeting, President Raja Warring said, "We are grateful to the entire Christian community who have always supported the Congress party selflessly. The Christian community has made a huge contribution to where we are today."

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He said that while being in the government, there must have been many shortcomings, for which as the president h apologize, be it a party or a government, people of every sect, religion, caste, community have equal contribution, so their Solving problems is party's priority. Therefore, Congress will form a committee to solve the problems mentioned by the Christian community.

He said, "Every person in the Congress party will be given due respect and the Congress party is like a family, where everyone follows advice, so whether it is a Christian community or anyone, everyone should be taken together and their issues resolved. It is our responsibility to find a solution and the Congress party will never back down from its responsibility."




Supreme Court

Idea only reflects the thinking of some urban class: Central Govt

NEW-DELHI: On Wednesday (April 19), the hearing continued for the second consecutive day on the issue of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court. While hearing arguments for the legalization of same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court said same-sex relationships are not just an urban elite concept. CJI DY Chandrachud said that more people are coming forward to reveal their sexual identity in cities, but that does not mean that it can be called an urban concept.

DY Chandrachud said that the government does not have any data to show that the demand for same-sex marriage is limited to the urban class only. The state cannot discriminate against an individual on the basis of a characteristic over which the individual has no control. Opposing the same-sex marriage petition, the central government has said that it only reflects the thinking of some urban class.

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The petitioners, requesting the legalization of same-sex marriages, urged the Supreme Court to use all its power, dignity and moral authority to persuade society to accept such unions, so that people from the LGBTQIA community can also marry. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one of the petitioners of Respectable Life, told a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud that the state should come forward and recognize same-sex marriage

The bench also comprises Justice SK Kaul, Justice SR Bhatt, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha. Referring to the law related to widow remarriage, Rohatgi said that the society did not accept it then. But the law took immediate action and eventually got social approval. Along with this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared on behalf of the Centre, filed a new petition and appealed that all states and Union Territories be made parties in the hearing of petitions requesting legal recognition of same-sex marriages. .

Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court made it clear that it will not consider private law related to marriages while ruling on petitions seeking legalization of same-sex marriages. The court said that the concept of one man and one woman as mentioned in the Special Marriage Act is not absolute on the basis of gender. The hearing and decision on the petitions will have a significant impact on the country, as the general public and political parties will debate the issue. They have different opinions. Notably, LGBTQIA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex and Asexual.

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Dr. Navjot Kaur

Throwing things down the drain could mean a lot to others: Dr. Navjot Kaur

MOHALI: Former Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife Dr. Navjot Kaur who is suffering from cancer for a long time has donated her hair to another cancer victim.

Dr. Navjot Kaur

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Taking to Twitter, Dr. Navjot Kaur wrote, "Throwing things down the drain could mean a lot to others. Just enquired about the cost of natural hair wig for myself which I will require after 2nd chemotherapy;around 50,000 to 70,000 rs. So I chose to donate my hair for a cancer patient because more donations mean cheaper wigs."

Dr. Navjot Kaur
For Representation Purpose Only

Disabled People do not need to visit the railway station and stand in line

LUDHIANA: After announcing the reservation of seats for mentally and physically ill people, the Railway Department has provided more facilities for them. According to the department, now disabled people will be able to create unique ID online by visiting the website of Indian Railways. They do not need to visit the railway station and stand in line.

According to departmental information, unique ID cards will now be issued online only. As per the department, after clicking on the website and entering your name, e-mail, mobile number, you have to create your ID and login again. After this they will see the user manual available on the website, after filling the instructions accordingly, they will be able to apply for the unique ID. This information will reach the commissary department of the Divisional Railway Manager. Commercial department will verify the medical certificate submitted by them from the concerned hospital and after completion of the whole process, unique ID will be generated by DRM office. After this, the applicant will be able to download it after logging into the public portal.

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According to the information, during this process, from applying for RD card to its generation, all the information will be available on the portal. It is worth mentioning here that earlier, on behalf of the disabled, one had to go to the station superintendent or CPS office and fill the form and after verification by the local authority, a unique identity card was issued from the DRM office. This process used to take a lot of time. The new system will save time as well as provide convenience.




Russias Roscongress Foundation, a major organizer of nationwide and international conventions, recently discussed expansion of mutual tourism inflows with a delegation of Oman's Chamber of Commerce and Industry.



Alexander Stuglev, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Roscongress Foundation, met with Omans delegation in Moscow.



In his welcoming speech, Alexander Stuglev said: Establishing direct contact between Russian and Omani companies is of great importance for strengthening mutual trust, finding common ground and building strategic cooperation. As early as the end of April, under the umbrella of SPIEF, a delegation from the Roscongress Foundation will visit Oman. I am confident that this platform will bring together industries, enabling both countries' business communities to reach a new level of agreement.



During the meeting, the parties discussed possible formats of cooperation. In particular, they discussed the expansion of mutual tourism between Russia and Oman and the signing of an agreement between the Roscongress Foundation and Omans Chamber of Commerce and Industry during the upcoming St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2023.



Humanitarian cooperation was another topic of discussion. The cultures of Russia and Oman are rich and unique, and everything should be done to preserve them for future generations.



Cultural and humanitarian ties between our countries have been developing well lately. I would like to point out that Hans-Joachim Frey, the main founder of the Art Bridge Foundation and a partner of the Roscongress Foundation, held the first Dresden Opera Ball in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai last November. I suggest thinking about holding a similar event in Oman, said Alexander Stuglev.



The relationship between Russia and Oman is strategic. Trade between the countries is growing, and we hope that forums will be great platforms to accelerate growth, said Siham Ahmed Yousuf Al Harthi, board member of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and chief executive officer and founder of Siham Development and Investment.



The St Petersburg International Economic Forum will take place on June 1417. As is tradition, the opening day of SPIEF will host an SME Forum, the Drug Security Forum, and events within the Arctic agenda.  TradeArabia News Service
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Thursday opened the country's permanent embassy in Turkmenistan and said the move will strengthen Israel's position in Central Asia.

Cohen, in the first visit by an Israeli top diplomat since 1994, met with Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Ties with Turkmenistan have great importance for security and diplomacy, and the visit will strengthen Israels place in the region, Cohen said on Twitter.

Opening the permanent diplomatic mission in the capital Ashgabat, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the Iranian border, gives Israel its third embassy in former Soviet Central Asia, after Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Turkmenistan, which holds vast natural gas reserves, maintains a firmly neutral foreign policy. It has remained largely isolated under autocratic rulers since independence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

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Indian shares opened on a positive note Thursday despite mixed global cues.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex was up 245 points, or 0.4 percent, at 59,813 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was up 55 points, or 0.3 percent, at 17,673.

Adani Ports rose over 1 percent ahead of a board meet to consider partial buyback of debt securities.

Power Grid Corp, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints and Titan Company all traded up around 1 percent.

ICICI Securities slumped 4 percent on reporting a 23 percent fall in Q4 profit.

Tata Communications edged down slightly after its quarterly consolidated net profit declined 11 percent.

Tata Motors gained 0.7 percent. Its British unit Jaguar Land Rover plans to invest 15 billion pounds ($18.65 billion) over the next five years to expand its electric-vehicle offerings.

JSW Steel was slightly higher after denying reports it plans to supply special steel products to Russia.

Bank of Maharashtra was moving lower on fund raising reports.

AU Small Finance Bank was up modestly on news it has received permission from RBI to act as an authorised dealer to deal in foreign exchange.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
U.K. stocks were moving lower on Thursday as lower commodity prices on worries about slowing global growth weighed on the mining and energy sectors.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 14 points, or 0.2 percent, at 7,884 after settling 0.1 percent lower on Wednesday.

Anglo American fell 2.5 percent, Antofagasta lost more than 4 percent, BP Plc gave up about 1 percent and Shell was down 0.6 percent.

Engineering company Babcock International fell over 2 percent after announcing it might have to provide for a one-off provision of between 50 million and 100 million pounds ($62.2 million-$124.4 million) in fiscal 2023 results.

Iron ore firm Ferrexpo gained 2 percent after Ukraine's supreme court ruled in its favor in a case seeking to invalidate a share purchase deal.

Centamin gave up 1.4 percent after first-quarter gold production slipped sequentially.

Auto and aircrafts parts supplied Senior climbed 1.2 percent after posting 16 percent annual revenue growth.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
European stocks fell on Thursday as investors digested mixed corporate earnings from top U.S. companies and fretted about the economic outlook.

Germany's producer price index climbed 7.5 percent year-over-year in March, much slower than the 15.8 percent rise in February, preliminary data from Destatis showed earlier in the day.

Survey results out of France showed the country's manufacturing confidence index dropped to 101.0 in April from 104 in the previous month. The expected score was 103.

The euro zone posted a trade surplus in February for the first time since September 2021 as exports grew on year at a faster pace than imports.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped 0.4 percent to 466.50 after closing 0.1 percent lower on Wednesday.

The German DAX slipped 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 index slipped 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.1 percent.

Mining and energy stocks were among the worst hit as commodity prices declined on global growth worries.

Anglo American fell 2.5 percent, Antofagasta lost more than 4 percent, BP Plc gave up about 1 percent and Shell was down 0.6 percent.

Babcock International fell over 2 percent after the engineering company announced it might have to provide for a one-off provision of between 50 million and 100 million pounds ($62.2 million-$124.4 million) in fiscal 2023 results.

Iron ore firm Ferrexpo gained 2 percent after Ukraine's supreme court ruled in its favor in a case seeking to invalidate a share purchase deal.

Centamin gave up 1.4 percent after first-quarter gold production slipped sequentially.

Auto and aircrafts parts supplied Senior climbed 1.2 percent after posting 16 percent annual revenue growth.

Finnish company Nokia Oyj plummeted 6 percent after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

Sweden's AB Volvo rose nearly 2 percent after the truck maker lifted its outlook for key heavy-duty truck in Europe and North America this year.

Renault SA plunged 7.7 percent after the French carmaker said it is reviewing its pricing policies for electric cars worldwide.

Channel tunnel operator Getlink SE rallied 2.6 percent after its first-quarter revenue jumped 126 percent year-on-year.

Energy group Rexel gained more than 1 percent after reporting higher Q1 sales and confirming its FY23 view.

Sartorius Stedim Biotech shares were down more than 7 percent after the Franco-German lab equipment maker reported a decline in Q1 2023 profit and revenue.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
On Thursday, the White House will host the virtual leader-level meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.

This is the fourth time since taking office that President Joe Biden is convening the meeting to galvanize efforts needed to tackle the climate crisis and keep a 1.5C limit on warming within reach.

At today's meeting, the President will highlight new steps the United States is taking to meet its ambitious 1.5C-aligned goal of reducing emissions 50-52 percent in 2030. The President will also announce significant new steps the United States is taking to support developing countries in taking stronger climate action - including providing $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund and requesting $500 million for the Amazon Fund and related activities.

Biden will invite other countries to join the United States and others in fully leveraging the multilateral development banks to better address global challenges, like climate change, the White House said.

The President will be joined by other leaders in new efforts aimed at accelerating progress in four key areas necessary for keeping a 1.5C limit on warming within reach, specifically, Decarbonizing energy, Ending deforestation of the Amazon and other critical forests, Tackling potent, non-CO2 climate pollutants and Advancing carbon management.

To help frame the MEF discussion, leaders will be briefed by Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), on a new report to the MEF highlighting why action in these areas between now and 2030 is critical to preserve credible pathways to limit warming to 1.5 C by 2100.

In addition to partnering on new joint efforts, leaders are expected to announce other new steps their countries are taking to fulfill their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. The President will encourage those countries whose 2030 Paris targets are not yet aligned with keeping 1.5 C within reach to strengthen their targets by COP 28 this November in Dubai.

MEF economies account for around 80 percent of global GDP and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The most recent findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change underscore more urgently than ever that the window for decisive action to avert the gravest consequences of climate change is quickly narrowing.

Today, the President will announce that he will request $500 million over five years for the Amazon Fund and related activities in the context of Brazil's renewed commitment to end deforestation by 2030. The President also will call on other leaders to pledge support to the Amazon Fund.

The U.S. Development Finance Corporation is also announcing today that it is working on a $50 million debt investment in BTG Pactual's Restoration Strategy, which would help mobilize $1 billion to support the restoration of nearly 300,000 hectares of degraded lands in Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The U.S Department of Defense has announced additional security assistance worth $325 million for Ukraine.

This includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, artillery rounds, and anti-armor capabilities essential to strengthening Ukraine's fight against Russia on the battlefield.

The capabilities in this package include additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS); 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; AT-4 anti-armor weapon systems; Anti-tank mines; Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing; Over 9 million rounds of small arms ammunition; Four logistics support vehicles; Precision aerial munitions; Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair; Port and harbor security equipment; and Spare parts and other field equipment.

Ukraine has received more hardware from other Western allies, including French armored vehicles, and another IRIS-T weapon system from Germany - a highly effective system for combating cruise missiles.

Additionally, Friday's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany is expected to make new announcements on concrete military support to Ukraine.

This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived in Kyiv for his first visit since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The NATO chief said at a news conference that the topic of Ukraine's membership in the military alliance and security guarantees will be "high on the agenda" at the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania.

"Ukraine's future is in NATO. All allies agree on that," Stoltenberg told reporters.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted at an accelerated rate in the month of April, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Thursday.

The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current activity slumped to a negative 31.3 in April from a negative 23.2 in March, with a negative reading indicating a contraction. Economists had expected the index rise to a negative 19.2.

With the unexpected decrease, the Philly Fed Index dropped to its lowest level since hitting a negative 43.2 in May 2020.

While 59 percent of firms reported no change in activity, 35 percent of firms reported decreases in activity compared to 3 percent that reported increases.

The new orders index climbed to a negative 22.7 in April from a negative 28.2 in March, although the negative reading still indicates a contraction.

Meanwhile, the report showed a notable slowdown in the pace of contraction in shipments, as the shipments index jumped to a negative 7.3 in April from a negative 25.4 in March.

The number of employees index also improved to a negative 0.2 in April from a negative 10.3 in March, suggesting steady employment overall.

The report also said the prices paid index tumbled to 8.2 in April from 23.5 in March, while the prices received index slid to a negative 3.3 in April from a positive 7.9 in March.

Looking ahead, the Philly Fed said future indicators suggest firms' expectations for growth over the next six months remain subdued.

The diffusion index for future general activity climbed to a negative 1.5 in April from a negative 8.0 in March.

On Monday, the New York Fed released a separate report showing New York manufacturing activity increased for the first time in five months in April.

The New York Fed said its general conditions index spiked to a positive 10.8 in April from a negative 24.6 in March, with a positive reading indicating growth. Economists had expected the index to increase to a negative 18.0.

The index for future business conditions edged up to 6.6 in April from 2.9 in March, suggesting firms do not expect activity to improve much over the next six months.

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The Egyptian Armed Forces announced on Thursday undertaking evacuation of Egyptian troops who were in a training with the Sudanese army from the country.

A statement, which was released by the official spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces this morning, explained that this has taken place amid the ongoing events in Sudan and as part of the efforts of the Egyptian Armed Forces in close cooperation with all security agencies in Egypt and Sudan to secure the return of the Egyptian troops that were participating in joint training with the Sudanese army.

On Wednesday 19 April, all necessary coordination was undertaken with the Sudanese authorities to land three transport planes from the Egyptian Armed Forces in an airbase in Sudan to carry out the mission of evacuating the Egyptian troops in a completely safe way and that was followed by the the takeoff of the three planes in three successive flights which carried the majority of the members of the Egyptian force to an Egyptian military base in Cairo, the statement continued.

On this morning of Thursday 20 April and in coordination with concerned Sudanese parties and friendly and brotherly countries as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the secure arrival of all remaining Egyptian to the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt was accomplished in preparation for evacuating them from Sudan upon stabilisation of the situation and availability of adequate security conditions back to the homeland.

The statement concluded that the Egyptian Armed Forces confirms that all Egyptian troops who returned to the homeland or those who are at the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum are well and in good health.

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Drug crimes linked to the Japanese yakuza, Chinese triads and Russian mafia have surged in Korea over the last four years as international syndicates establish Korea as a distribution base.

According to the National Intelligence Service, international drug syndicates are smuggling narcotics into Korea or using the country as a laundering point to hide their source.

During one raid in July last year, customs officials in Busan discovered 403 kg of methamphetamines hidden in aircraft components.

The number of drug offenders who are caught here has remained at around 10,000 a year since 2015, but the number of foreigners among them surged from 932 in 2017 to 2,339 last year.

An increasing amount of smaller hauls for local consumption is being smuggled into Korea by international parcel. In May, 19,968 amphetamine pills were found in a Buddha statue that was mailed from Thailand.

In March last year, 979 grams of ketamine was found in a pack of hair tonic, while 4 kg of methamphetamines were discovered in bath powder.

Most narcotics give off a strong odor that can be detected by sniffer dogs, but smugglers attempted to mask it by hiding them in these scented products.

Shipments seem to be on the rise. Police seized some 1,295 kg of narcotics in Korea last year, up more than four times from 2020 and eight times from 2017. Their market value totaled a record W450 billion last year (US$1=W1,394).

Due to the explosion of cross-border parcel deliveries based on dark web transactions, more and more people in Korea have access to drugs. The increased demand has led to methamphetamines being sold at much higher prices in Korea than in their place of origin mostly in Southeast Asia.

Rising profit margins here have apparently galvanized international crime syndicates to expand their distribution channels in Korea, the NIS said.
Pearl Harbor Survivor Ray Chavez photographed at a ceremony in August 2017 at the Veterans Museum at Balboa Park. Chavez was the oldest- known surviving veteran of the Pearl Harbor attack. He died Nov. 21 at the age of 106.

Ray Chavez, the nations oldest surviving veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Wednesday at the age of 106.

Kathleen Chavez, who had been her fathers live-in caregiver for more than 20 years, said he passed away peacefully in his sleep between 3 and 6 a.m. Wednesday. His health had declined in recent months and he was on hospice care when he passed.

A memorial Mass for Chavez will be held at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 13 at St. Michaels Catholic Church at 15546 Pomerado Road in Poway. A burial will full military honors will follow at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.

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Kathleen also said that she will be flying to Oahu in her fathers honor for the 77th annual Pearl Harbor memorial on Dec. 7 as a guest of the Spirit of Liberty Foundation. Chairman Richard Rovsek is planning a wreath-floating service in Rays honor.

Chavez surged into national prominence three years ago when fellow Pearl Harbor veterans recognized him as the oldest survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack that ushered the U.S. into World War II.

At its peak, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association had 58,000 members. Today, there are fewer than 200, according to Stu Hedley, 97, who heads the associations now-10-member San Diego chapter.

Ray Chavez was a very active member for years and I admired the man, said Hedley, 97, a retired Navy chief petty officer who served on the USS West Virginia at the time of the attack.

Because of his senior position among Pearl Harbor vets, Chavez was a frequent guest at commemorative events around the country, including a visit to the White House last Memorial Day weekend.

The soft-spoken Chavez often said he was overwhelmed by the media attention but he was proud to represent his country.

Ray was the epitome of the greatest generation, said Richard Rovsek, a trustee of the nonprofit Spirit of Liberty Foundation in Rancho Santa Fe, which underwrote many of Chavezs trips over the past six years. He was always proud to be an American and proud of the military.

Chavez was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diegos Old Town and Logan Heights communities, where his large family ran a wholesale flower business.

In his early 20s, he married and had a daughter. In 1938, at the age of 27, he joined the Navy and was assigned to the minesweeper USS Condor at Pearl Harbor.

At 3:45 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941, Seaman 1st Class Chavezs crew was sweeping the east entrance to the harbor when they spotted the periscope of a Japanese midget submarine. After depth charges were dropped to sink the sub in 1,500 feet of water, the rest of the morning passed uneventfully.

He told the Union-Tribune that he was asleep at home in nearby Ewa Beach when the Japanese bombing raid began at 8:10 a.m.

My wife ran in and said, Were being attacked and I said, Whos going to attack us? Nobody. She said that the whole harbor was on fire and when I got outside I saw that everything was black from all the burning oil.

He spent the next nine days on continuous duty in and around Pearl Harbor and said the scenes he witnessed left deep emotional scars.

Photos taken of Ray Chavez during his years in the U.S. Navy from 1938 to 1945. The Poway Navy veteran was the nations oldest surviving Pearl Harbor veteran until his death Nov. 21, 2018, at the age of 106. (Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Over the next four years, he rose to the rank of chief, serving on transport ships that delivered tanks and Marines to shore in eight Pacific battles. Although he wasnt injured during the war, he retired from the Navy in 1945 with psychological wounds from the carnage he witnessed.

He said that after a couple of the battles he saw, he started to shake, Kathleen said. First it was his hands, then it was his arms. By the time the war was over, his whole body shook.

During his exit physical from the Navy, a doctor wanted Chavez to spend some time recovering in a mental health clinic, but he feared it would impact future job opportunities. He declined the offer and moved back to San Diego, where he got a job at a nursery. After two years working outdoors in the fresh air, he got better, Kathleen said.

In the 1950s, he and his wife, Margaret, suffered an unimaginable blow when their daughter, son-in-law and 18-month-old granddaughter were killed in a car accident.

To mend their broken hearts, they adopted 5-year-old Kathleen from a San Diego orphanage in 1957. She, too, served in the Navy, from 1974 to 1991 and was recognized as the Navys first woman jet engine mechanic. She had lived with her father since her mothers death in the mid-1980s.

Chavez, an avid reader and traveler, spent 30 years as a groundskeeper at UC San Diego. Then he ran his own landscaping and grounds-keeping business in the Poway area until he finally retired at age 96.

Poway Mayor Steve Vaus described Chavez as a beloved hometown figure.

Poway knew Ray not only as the oldest Pearl Harbor survivor but one of the last of the greatest generation, Vaus said. And though he was a humble hero, he was still idolized and fawned over more than anybody else ever in Poway.

When he was 101, Chavez fell and broke his arm and his health and weight declined. Kathleen signed him up with personal trainer Sean Thompson, who she said extended her fathers life by several years by getting him back in shape.

Kathleen said her father never spoke about his Pearl Harbor experiences until 1991, when he was invited to attend the 50th anniversary memorial in Hawaii.

It was such a moving experience for him, that he and Kathleen went back to the Pearl Harbor events more than a dozen times.

We went last year and if he was still alive, we were going back again next month, Kathleen said. I think he enjoyed the experience but he never saw himself as any different from the other men he served with. Hed always say, Im no hero. I just did my job.

Chavez was the child of Mexican immigrants and Kathleen said her father experienced some racism and discrimination as a high school student and in the Navy. But he remained a patriotic citizen.

From the age of 21, he voted in every election, mostly for Democratic candidates. He told Rovsek that the only Republican he ever voted for was Dwight D. Eisenhower, an Army veteran.

Chavezs political leanings caused a minor kerfuffle last May when he was invited to meet President Trump at the White House, Kathleen said. The night before his Oval Office visit, Chavez was interviewed at his hotel by a CNN reporter and said on video aired nationally about Trump: I didnt vote for that guy.

Nonetheless, Chavez charmed the president the following morning and Trump later praised him during a public Memorial Day service.

The crowd just stood up and erupted, said Rovsek, who escorted the Chavezes to Washington, D.C. A White House source told Rovsek on Wednesday that President Trump is planning to honor Chavezs memory in the coming days.

On Dec. 7, Hedley will host the local Pearl Harbor Survivors Associations annual memorial service aboard the USS Midway Museum. Chavez, and five other local members who passed this year, will be honored with a two-bell ceremony.

Kathleen said she wont be able to attend the local Pearl Harbor memorial service because she will be flying to Oahu, as a guest of the Spirit of Liberty Foundation, to attend the 77th Pearl Harbor anniversary memorial in her fathers honor. Rovsek is arranging a wreath-floating ceremony for Chavez in Pearl Harbor.

Rovsek described Chavez as a man of few words, but he did say Chavez was troubled by the state of politics in the U.S. today.

He said to me, cant we just keep America together? Why are we so divisive. In my life time, Ive never seen the divisiveness I see today. It made him sad, Rovsek said.

Kathleen Chavez said the public is invited to attend her fathers memorial mass at St. Michaels parish. In lieu of flowers, she suggests donations be made to VFW Post 7907 by calling (858) 257-3412 or visit vfw7907.com/.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
The hilltop off of Mountain Meadow Road in North Escondido looks like countless other deserted orchards in North County, with ramshackle structures in withered avocado groves.

Members of The Escondido Creek Conservancy, however, see a sanctuary from urban sprawl, a clear route for wildlife passage and a future science education center. Theyve secured $6.8 million to purchase 693 acres east of Interstate 15 known as the Mountain Gate Property. Its a key piece of the conservancys plan to assemble large areas of protected open space through the Escondido Creek watershed.

One of the reasons why were interested in this is the large landscape, said Ann Van Leer, executive director of the conservancy. From a wildlife perspective, we know its very important to have big areas where big animals can roam. We know we have mountain lions here. We have found their footprints. You can see if youre a bobcat you can get through here pretty easily. But were trying to secure it so that 50 to 100 years from now a bobcat can still get through.

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On ridges off of Mountain Meadow Road, between I-15 and North Broadway, the land includes a mix of chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitat, with coast live oaks and rare Engelmann oaks. Amid that are slivers of riparian wetland where willows and sycamores cling to seasonal streams. The granite boulders dotting the site have their own micro-climates, and attract resident lizards, Van Leer said.

The site is one of two the conservancy is eyeing for conservation in the near future. The other is the 282-acre John Henry Ranch, near Lake Wohlford. Other recent additions to its patchwork of conservation land include El Cielo in Elfin Forest near Escondido, and Bottle Peak, east of Escondido.

Formed in 1991, the conservancy is a nonprofit land trust that has worked to preserve undeveloped land in the area, with the goal of restoring and preserving open space in the watershed, from Lake Wohlford to San Elijo Lagoon. The nonprofit often joins local partners to make the purchases; this time, it teamed up with the county of San Diego and the U.S. Navy to buy the parcel.

For the county, the purchase would provide open space required for its Multiple Species Conservation Program, a regional plan to conserve habitat for sensitive plants and animals, according to a county staff report. The county has already bought nearly 21,000 acres of open space in South County, and is seeking properties in East and North County now, said Jessica Geiszler, marketing and public outreach manager for County Parks and Recreation.

The goal is to create the largest urban and suburban preserve in the county, creating corridors for more than 85 native plant and animal species, Geiszler said. With that comes the goal of trying to promote safe development in less sensitive habitats.

When the sale is finalized, the county will evaluate the habitat and wildlife, as well as existing trails and roads, to decide which areas may be open to public access.

We want to always find a way to get people to use and appreciate parks, she said. But we certainly want to make sure were not interrupting anything thats happening in the natural world out there.

The Navy, in turn, would get environmental mitigation credits to offset habitat damage caused by training maneuvers on Camp Pendleton. Its role in the purchase falls under the Department of Defenses Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, which alleviates restrictions on training operations at the base, by securing conservation easements elsewhere, according to a statement from Carl Redding, communications director for the Marine base.

There are 19 endangered species on Camp Pendleton, Redding stated. We manage them while providing the training areas needed to prepare Marines to accomplish their mission. The REPI program, and the support of organizations like the Escondido Creek Conservatory, make it possible to be good stewards of the environment while accomplishing our mission to prepare Marines to deploy.

The Navys contribution toward the purchase is $3.675 million, the countys is $2.899 million, and the conservancy will pay $225,675. The nonprofit has raised $196,642 through 457 separate donations, ranging from $3 from an individual to $54,070 from Friends of Daley Ranch, and continues to raise funds for the purchase, Van Leer said.

Although its kicking in the smallest amount, the conservancy is coordinating the acquisition through a complex land transaction that will deed the land first to the nonprofit and then to the county, with conditions attached to prevent development. The conservancy will also manage the property, and retain ownership of 23 acres of the most degraded land.

Here, atop the ridgeline, rows of dessicated avocado trees surround several agricultural structures where workers used to plant, pick and pack the produce. Many trees are limbed down to the trunks, but a few still produce stunted fruit, even without irrigation. In the remnants of an apparent packing shed, a cracked slab of concrete lies under part of a corrugated steel roof. Its next to a nearly drained agricultural pond, filled a few inches deep with murky water.

This is where the conservancy hopes to establish an environmental education center, but theres a lot of work ahead, Van Leer acknowledged. The organization is just starting to evaluate the site to find out whats there, and what needs to be done. The structures must be repaired or removed, along with any underground fuel tanks. The parched avocado trees pose a fire hazard, so theyll have to clear those out.

Once the site is clean and safe, the conservancy aims to open it to local middle and high school students for research projects. For instance, Van Leer said, classes could do soil testing, investigate reptile communities around boulders, or draw transects to study native plant growth.

Its about as degraded as it could be, she said. So you get to see it reborn over time.

The San Diego Board of Supervisors tentatively approved the purchase, and will finalize that vote on Sept. 12. Conservancy officials hope to close escrow on the property by the end of September.

This is more complicated than anything the conservancy has done, Van Leer said. But when a big property is available for conservation, you buy. It comes with its own baggage, and well have to sort through it. But it could be pretty darn cool.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
Authorities in Beijing say 29 people were killed in a hospital fire in the Chinese capital Tuesday.

The fire broke out in the east wing of the Beijing Changfeng Hospital, which is located in the Chinese capital's western Fengtai district. Li Zongrong, the deputy head of the Fengtai district, told reporters Wednesday the victims include 26 patients, two hospital staffers and a family member.

Officials say a total of 39 people were injured in the fire, including three in critical condition.
The U.S. State Department has established a special task force to deal with the crisis in Sudan, a spokesperson confirmed to VOA on Wednesday.

The spokesperson said the State Department has established a Sudan Military Conflict Task Force to oversee the Department's planning, management and logistics related to events in Sudan.

The spokesperson told VOA: "The United States condemns in the strongest terms violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The ongoing fighting between the SAF and RSF threatens the security and safety of Sudanese civilians and undermines efforts to restore Sudan's democratic transition."

Fighting in Khartoum broke out Saturday between members of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and has since spread further into the country, reportedly leaving hundreds of people dead and injured.

The leaders of the rival groups -- SAF head General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF chief General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, popularly known as Hemedti -- joined forces to mount a 2021 coup that returned the country to military rule. The two men have since turned on each other, amid squabbles over power-sharing in the new government. State Department officials told VOA late Tuesday they are unaware of the death or injury of any U.S. citizens in Sudan at this time.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum's security alert of April 18 stated that because of the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and the closure of the airport, there are no plans for the U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens. It said travel alerts and Sudan's Travel Advisory will be updated as the situation evolves.
North Korea has built its first-ever military spy satellite and is set to launch it "as planned," state media said Wednesday. The official [North] Korean Central News Agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the National Aerospace Development Administration on Tuesday, where he ordered officials to speed up preparations for the launch of "military spy satellite No. 1."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (2nd from right) talks to officials at the National Aerospace Development Administration on Tuesday while his daughter sits behind him, in this photo from the Rodong Sinmun the following day.

It quoted Kim as stressing the need to launch several satellites to bolster intelligence-gathering capability. This could give the North a more accurate grasp of the locations of major targets in South Korea such as Patriot anti-missile batteries as well as U.S. strategic weapons deployed in and around the Korean Peninsula. It remains to be seen how well the satellite performs. Last December, the North released satellite pictures of Seoul and Incheon after testing a "reconnaissance satellite," but the resolution was low and the images crude.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) visits the National Aerospace Development Administration with his daughter on Tuesday, in this photo from the Rodong Sinmun the following day.

Recent images released by state media show a hexagon-shaped prototype carrying four solar panels. "The satellite will likely weigh 200 to 300 kg," said Chang Young-keun at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. "Solar panels will likely be installed on the upper side and optical cameras on the lower side." To send the satellite into orbit, the North could use a solid-propellant rocket which was used to launch a new intercontinental ballistic missile on April 13.
A team of UCR electrical engineers and material scientists demonstrated a research breakthrough that may result in wide-ranging advancements in electrical, optical, and computer technologies.

The Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering research group, led by distinguished professor Alexander Balandin, has shown in the laboratory the unique and practical function of newly created materials, which they called quantum composites.

These composites consist of small crystals of called "charge density wave quantum materials" incorporated within a polymer (large molecules with repeating structures) matrix. Upon heating or light exposure, charge density wave material undergoes a phase transition that leads to an unusual electrical response of the composites.

Compared to other materials that reveal quantum phenomena, the quantum composites created by Balandin's group exhibited functionality at a much wider range of temperatures and had a greatly increased ability to store electricity, giving them an excellent potential for utility.

The University of California, Riverside, researchers describe the unique properties in a paper titled "Quantum Composites with Charge-Density-Wave Fillers" published in the journal Advanced Materials. The lead authors of the paper are Zahra Barani and Tekwam Geremew, UCR graduate students with the college's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who synthesized and tested the composites. Another UCR graduate student Maedeh Taheri is a co-author who helped with electrical measurements. Balandin and Fariborz Kargar, an assistant adjunct professor and project scientist, are the corresponding authors.\

The term quantum refers to materials and devices where electrons behave more like waves than particles. The wave nature of electrons can give materials unusual properties that are used in a new generation of computer, electronic and optic technologies.

Materials that reveal quantum phenomena are sought for building quantum computers that go beyond the limitations of most computing that is now based on chips that use binary bits for computations. Such materials are also sought for super-sensitive sensors used for various electronic and optic applications.

But the materials with quantum phenomena have major drawbacks, Balandin said.

"The problem with these materials is that the quantum phenomena are fragile and typically observed only at extremely low temperatures," he said. "The defects and impurities destroy the electron wave function."

Remarkably, the charge density wave material in the quantum composites created by Balandin's lab exhibited functionality as high as 50 C above room temperature. This transition temperature is close to the temperature of the operation of computers and other electronic gadgets, which heat up when they operate. This temperature tolerance opens a possibility for a wide range of applications of quantum composites in electronics and energy storage.

The researchers also found that quantum composites have an unusually high dielectric constant - a metric that characterizes the material's ability to store electricity. The dielectric constant of the electrically insulating composites increased by more than two orders of magnitude, which allows for smaller and more powerful capacitors used for energy storage.

"Energy storage capacitors can be found in battery-powered applications," Balandin said. "Capacitors can be used to deliver peak power and provide energy for computer memory during an unexpected shut-off. Capacitors can charge and discharge faster compared to batteries. In order to broaden the use of capacitors for energy storage, one needs to increase the energy per volume. Our quantum composite material may help to achieve this goal."

Another possible application for quantum composites is reflective coating. The change in the dielectric constant induced by heating, light exposure, or application of an electrical field can be used to change the light reflection from the glasses and windows coated with such composites.

"We hope that our ability to preserve the quantum condensate phases in the charge-density-wave materials even inside disordered composites and even above room temperature can become a game changer for many applications. It is a conceptually different approach for tuning the properties of composites that we use in everyday life," Balandin added.

The team at UCR collaborated with Megan Stokey, Matthew Hilfiker, and Mathias Schubert, of the University of Nebraska, who conducted some of the optical measurements, and Nicholas Sesing and Tina Salguero of the University of Georgia, who synthesized an ingredient material used in the composite preparation at UCR.
A new HIV vaccine from Scripps Research has shown a significantly improved ability to neutralize the virus in preclinical tests, and it will soon be studied in healthy people who volunteer to participate in clinical trials.

The new and unique vaccine design, described in a paper in Nature Communications on April 9, 2023, uses tiny protein "nanoparticles" to display multiple copies of HIV's surface protein Env, thus presenting itself to the immune system much as real HIV particles would without causing HIV infection. The key innovation that explains its effects has to do with flexible sugar molecules called glycans, which normally cover Env on the real virus but are shortened in the new design. After achieving promising preclinical results, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has agreed to sponsor a future clinical trial.

"With this design we appear to have solved a big piece of the HIV vaccine puzzle," says the paper's senior author Jiang Zhu, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research.

The co-first authors of the study were postdoctoral associates Yi-Nan Zhang, PhD and Aleksandar Antanasijevic, PhD; scientific collaborator Jennifer Paynter, PhD; and postdoctoral associate Joel Allen, PhD, from the laboratory of vaccinologist Max Crispin, DPhil, professor at the University of Southampton.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 38.4 million people worldwide are currently living with HIV, and 1.5 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2021 alone. Apart from very rare cases involving bone marrow transplants, there is no cure for the infection, which must be held in check indefinitely with antiviral drugs to keep it from progressing to the deadly immune deficiency condition known as AIDS.

One of the defense strategies the virus uses is to shield its most exposed structure, Env, with glycans. Glycans are simple, chain-like molecules that are made by human cells to carry out various essential functions. Env contains sites where glycans will automatically fasten, so that when it is inside a human host, it ends up largely covered by them.

Glycans are difficult for antibodies to grip, and anything coated in them appears less like a foreign invader to the immune system. At the same time, Env proteins typically leave some of their less critical, more mutable parts uncovered by glycans, harmlessly diverting much of the antibody response.

While the best way to present glycans on the Env proteins used in vaccines is still a subject of lively debate among researchers, Zhu and his team took their vaccine design in a unique direction: not by removing glycans or adding them to no-glycan regions as some designs do, but instead simply by shortening their lengths. They reasoned that this would reduce the decoy power of no-glycan regions by reducing their contrast with glycan-dense regions -- while simultaneously making vulnerable sites on the virus more accessible to antibodies. They also suspected that the desirable antibodies that can use glycans to hit Env would still be able to grip the trimmed glycans.

They designed experiments to test their predictions. Animal studies showed better antibody binding to key vulnerable sites on Env, and less binding to decoy sites. Moreover, in vaccinated animal models, the trimmed-glycan version of the vaccine induced strikingly stronger virus-neutralizing antibody responses compared to the non-trimmed-glycan version.

"In one test in mice, for example, seven out of eight immunized animal models generated robust neutralizing antibody responses, compared to only one of eight for the non-glycan-trimmed version," Zhu says. "The difference with the glycan trimming was rather striking."

The journey also extends beyond the lab and into the product development front. "As the exclusive licensee of this advanced vaccine platform technology, Uvax Bio is completing the GMP production of two vaccine candidates, namely, the wild-type Uvax-1197 and trimmed-glycan Uvax-1107," added Ji Li, CEO of Uvax Bio.

In advance of the NIAID-supported clinical trial, Zhu and colleagues will do further experiments to confirm the specific antibodies, Env binding sites, glycan interactions and other vaccine components that are most important to test in this new vaccine candidate. A clinical trial may start as early as 2024.

"Single-component multilayered self-assembling protein nanoparticles presenting glycan-trimmed uncleaved prefusion optimized envelope trimers as HIV-1 vaccine candidates" was co-authored by Yi-Nan Zhang, Jennifer Paynter, Aleksandar Antanasijevic, Mor Eldad, Yi-Zong Lee, Jeffrey Copps, Linling He, Ian Wilson, Andrew Ward, and Jiang Zhu, of Scripps Research; Joel Allen, Maddy Newby, and Max Crispin of the University of Southampton; and Deborah Chavez, Pat Frost, Anna Goodroe, John Dutton, Robert Lanford and Christopher Chen of the Southwest National Primate Research Center.

Support for the research was provided by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) (INV-008352/OPP1153692, INV-034657, INV-008352/OPP1153692), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the Scripps Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD 1UM1 AI144462); the National Institutes of Health (P01 AI124337, R01 AI129698, R01 AI140844), the Southwest National Primate Research Center (P51 OD011133 and U42OD010442), Tulane National Primate Research Center (P51 OD011104), and UVAX BIO, LLC.
Imagine the view from the western coastline of southern Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) over twenty thousand years ago: in the distance you would see at least fifteen large islands -- the largest 300 square kilometres in area -- swarming with hundreds of millions of marine birds and penguin colonies.

Now imagine sea levels rising up to a hundred metres between fifteen to seven thousand years ago, gradually covering these large islands until only small hill tops and outcrops remained above water. Over the past 22,000 years this resulted in a tenfold reduction in suitable nesting habitat for African penguins, sending their population numbers into steep decline.

This is the paleo-historical picture of the geographical range of African penguins, created by scientists in the evolutionary genomics research group in the Department of Botany and Zoology and the School for Climate Studies at Stellenbosch University (SU). With this effort, they hope to provide new insight into the current vulnerability of the last remaining penguin species in Africa.

The study, titled "A natural terminal Pleistocene decline of African penguin populations enhances their anthropogenic extinction risk" was published in the African Journal of Marine Science on 20 April 2023.

Dr Heath Beckett, first author of the article and postdoctoral fellow at SU's School for Climate Studies, says this paleo-historical image of multiple millions stands in stark contrast to the current reality of a post-1900 collapse of the African penguin population.

In 1910, Dassen Island (an island off the West Coast, about three square kilometres in area) was teeming with an estimated 1.45 million penguins. However, by 2011 South Africa's entire African penguin population collapsed to 21,000 breeding pairs, and by 2019 they further declined to only 13 600. Approximately 97% of the current population in South Africa is supported by only seven breeding colonies.

In May 2005 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature classified the African penguin as endangered.

Paleo-historical estimates of penguin population sizes

So how did the southern and western coastlines of southern Africa look like during the last Ice Age? And what can it tell us about penguin population numbers?

As penguins prefer to breed on islands to escape mainland predators, the researchers used topographic maps of the ocean floor off the coast of southern Africa to identify potential historical islands lying at ten to 130 metres below current sea levels.

For islands to qualify as suitable for penguins they needed to offer protection from land-based predators and had to be surrounded by suitable foraging grounds for sardine and anchovy within a 20 kilometre radius.

Assuming that sea levels were much lower during the last Ice Age, they identified 15 large islands off the West Coast, the largest a 300 km2 island lying 130 metres below the sea surface. Then taking into account rising sea levels over the past 15,000 to 7,000 years, they identified 220 islands which would have provided suitable nesting conditions for penguins, of which 216 are less than one km2 in area, while some are as small as 30 m2, barely more than a rock.

Today the five largest islands off the West Coast of Southern Africa are Robben Island (~5 km2), Dassen Island (~3 km2), Possession Island (~ 1.8 km2) and Seal Island and Penguin Island (both below 1 km2). Possession, Seal and Penguin Island are all off the coast of Namibia.

Based on the earliest available population density estimates, they then calculated penguin population estimates based on available island area, assuming that penguins usually nest at most 500 metres from the shore.

Following this approach, they estimate that between 6.4 million and 18.8 million individuals could have occupied the southern Cape waters during the Last Glacial Maximum. Due to rising sea levels, however, 15,000 to seven thousand years ago, the habitat for the African penguins to nest on, went into a steep decline.

According to Dr Beckett, the main objective of the study is to show that there have been major changes in habitat availability over the last 22,000 years: "This could have had a massive effect on penguin populations. These populations are now experiencing additional human pressures on top of this in the form of climate change, habitat destruction and competition for food," he explains.

Implications for conservation management

While this finding raises grave concerns, the researchers argue that it also highlights the potential for a reserve of resilience in African penguins that may be leveraged for its conservation and management in an uncertain future.

Dr Beckett explains: "Changing sea levels would have necessitated the need for multiple relocations of breeding colonies of African penguins on time-scales of centuries, if not even shorter time-scales, and intense competition for breeding space as island habitat became greatly reduced in size. This historical flexibility of response provides some leeway for conservation managers to make available suitable breeding space, even in mainland sites, as long as appropriate nesting sites are made available."

According to Prof. Guy Midgley, interim director of SU's School for Climate Studies and a co-author, this millennial-scale set of selection pressures would have favoured strong colonisation ability in the species: "It's a total survivor and given half a chance, they will hang on. Island hopping saved it in the past, they know how to do this," he emphasised.

But even given the chance of relocation, how much more will it take to persist given the rise of modern human pressures? When competing against the commercial fishing industry and humanity in general for the same food source, penguins -- and other marine life -- may not stand a chance.

Therefore, "for any relocation measures to be successful," they warn, "sufficient access to marine food resources remain a vital element of a coordinated response to prevent extinction of the species."
President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday South Korea will bolster its "surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence analysis capability" and develop "ultra-high-performance, high-power weapons" to fend off the threat from North Korea.

In an interview with Reuters ahead of his trip to the U.S., Yoon said, "If a nuclear war breaks out between South and North Korea, this is probably not just a problem between the two sides, but the entire Northeast Asia would probably turn to ashes. That has to be stopped."

South Korea has relied on the U.S. nuclear umbrella so far to deal with the North Korean threat, but now intends to radically strengthen its own military capabilities.

"In terms of responding to a powerful nuclear attack, I think stronger measures than what NATO has should be prepared" for South Korea.

That hints at discussions with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington next week about the possibility of South Korea sharing control of American nuclear weapons that would be deployed here.
President Yoon Suk-yeol will give a speech at Harvard University during his state visit to the U.S. next week and look around NASA, the presidential office here said Wednesday.

At Harvard, Yoon will meet with Joseph Nye, a political scientist and leading light of neoliberal ideology, and selected students. This is the first time a Korean president will give a speech at the prestigious U.S. university.

At NASA, Yoon will be shown round the Goddard Space Flight Center, where he will discuss with Korean-American scientists how to cooperate with an aerospace agency Korea plans to establish.

Yoon will be accompanied by about 120 business leaders and attend several business events. The presidential office said the visit "will bring achievements not only in military security but also in economic cooperation with the U.S."

Yoon and first lady Kim keon-hee will start their itinerary by visiting the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington on April 25 before meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden the following day.

Yoon will also address the U.S. Congress on April 27.
French luxury brand Louis Vuitton will turn Jamsu Bridge over the Han River in Seoul into a catwalk for a pre-fall fashion show on April 29.

Louis Vuitton hopes the event will bring foreign visitors and locals together. It will be livestreamed on LED billboards across the city and around the world via the company's social media sites.
COVID infections remain above 10,000 in the Seoul metropolitan area alone while minor respiratory infections also surged.

Korea reported 14,094 cases as of Thursday morning, a similar level to early February. But the fatality rate has now fallen to 0.06 percent, the lowest in 30 weeks. Doctors said repeat infections and the high rate of vaccination have produced effective antibodies among patients, which results in a milder course of the disease.

But Jung Ji-won at Asan Medical Center said, "We need to remain cautious because infections among senior citizens are increasing."

Meanwhile adenovirus, which causes respiratory tract infections, is spreading quickly among children and teens. The virus is highly infections and can be spread by sneezing or even touching an infected baby's diaper and water in swimming pools.

Patients typically suffer from cold or flu-like symptoms, but some develop conjunctivitis or blood in their urine, while severe cases can develop into pneumonia. No special treatment is required, and most people recover after resting for two to five days.

Seasonal flu cases are also rising. Although they usually peak in winter, the reopening of schools last month seems to have tripled infections compared to previous years as masks no longer need to be worn. Doctors recommend Tamiflu for severe cases.

Respiratory illnesses have spiked since mask requirements were lifted, and after years of wearing masks, overall immunity levels against flu and common cold have weakened. Doctors recommend wearing masks and washing hands frequently, drinking plenty of water and refraining from excessive physical activities.
Render images of Bogota's future metro system. Alcaldia de Bogota

From the perennially delayed construction of Bogota's first metro line, to an oil company that has suspended operations after attacks by locals at its site in Caqueta, Chinese investment in Colombia seems to be everywhere. And the figures bear this out: between 2021 and 2022, it trebled. However, be it from an economic, political or geostrategic perspective, the Colombian government of Gustavo Petro is unprepared for a deepening of ties with China, the globes growing superpower. Thats the verdict of the risk consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis, in a new report on local perceptions about Chinese investment in the country.

This is not simply about the current trade imbalance between the two countries, or the lack of a clear, coherent, and sustained foreign policy approach from Colombia, says the report, which was published on Wednesday. It also relates to the way in which institutions with a control and oversight role will be challenged by issues arising from Chinese infrastructure companies, as has already been the case both in Latin America and elsewhere around the world.

Colombia Risk Analysis report looks at 90 completed, ongoing, failed, pending and potential Chinese projects in Colombia. Among the most ambitious is the first metro line in Bogota, a contract awarded to China Harbour Engineering Company and Xian Rail Transit Group. Its a project that President Petro is eager to build underground, despite its approved plans featuring a solely overground design. Other major undertakings include the RegioTram, a light rail connecting Bogota and several regional towns, awarded to the Civil Engineering Construction Corporation; and the Buritica gold mine, which Zijin Mining purchased from the Canadian firm Continental in 2020. China is also interested in investing in Colombias upcoming 5G tender, and in a number of future rail and road projects.

However, political, security and contracting risks are growing for companies in the South American nation, Colombia Risk Analysis says  a state of affairs that affects direct foreign investment in the country. Rising uncertainty in Colombia, the report forecasts, will influence Chinese companies perception of the country, particularly when three of Chinas chief projects there  in Bogota, Buritica and Caqueta  are facing growing challenges. The latter project belongs to the Chinese oil firm Emerald Energy, which at present is only active in one of its five operating areas following a violent invasion by protesters from local communities on 2 March.

According to Colombia Risk Analysis, the situation is compounded by a lack of knowledge or understanding about China and its business practices among Colombias civil servants, its entrepreneurial community and the general public. There is a positive perception of China [in Colombia], says Cesar Caballero of Cifras y Conceptos, a research company that surveyed Colombians perceptions of China as part of the Colombia Risk Analysis report. However, there is a low level of knowledge about the country and there is some noise about the quality [of its products], as well as the issues of human rights and workers rights.

As in the rest of Latin America, Chinas influence in Colombia has grown in size and scope over the past decade. In the region, 21 countries have signed up to the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese government-funded scheme that began in 2013 and seeks to invest in infrastructure including railways, roads and ports. Although Colombia is not part of the BRI, its largest infrastructure projects in transportation and mining in recent times have been awarded to companies from China.

Recent Colombian presidents have deepened the countrys ties with the Asian giant. Juan Manuel Santos, who governed from 2010 to 2018, deployed intense diplomatic efforts in Asia, and began to negotiate a free trade agreement with China in 2015, although it was never concluded. His successor, Ivan Duque, who was in power from 2018 to 2022, also showed interest in strengthening links, and visited China at the end of his first year in office to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations and attract Chinese investment in Colombia. However, he later introduced protectionist measures that affected Chinese products.

Petro, for his part, has so far maintained friendly relations with the country, naming Sergio Cabrera, a filmmaker with strong ties to the Peoples Republic, as Colombias ambassador to China. Petro has shown a determination to put forward proposals for large infrastructure projects that can connect rural areas of Colombia, many of which are likely to depend on direct foreign investment, Colombia Risk Analysis notes. According to the consultancy, Chinese infrastructure projects could promote greater development and well-being, particularly in periphery regions  as long as Colombia has strong financial oversight and compliance mechanisms.

Chinas engagement in Colombia will likely focus on its commercial and economic agenda in the near future, Colombia Risk Analysis says. However, Chinas political relationship with the Gustavo Petro administration will likely grow, not only as a result of the advances made under the presidencies of Juan Manuel Santos and Ivan Duque, but also thanks to President Petros inclination to diversify Colombias trade and investment partners.

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Staff wave from inside the Center for Better Health and Wellness.

Dr. Lynn Todman.

Nicki Britten.

Dr. Willie Lawrence.

The future home of the Center for Better Health and Wellness.

The future site of the expanded Center for Better Health and Wellness.

Plans for the future home of the Center for Better Health and Wellness.
Chef Jimmy Hill

Co-Director Mark Kurlyandchik

Inside Lakeland Correctional Facility, a culinary training institute gives inmates skills for inside and outside of the kitchen.

Lakeland Correctional Facility culinary institute participants learn the ins and outs of fine dining, everything from sourcing fresh ingredients to plating.

The documentary's co-director Brian Kaufman.
The new WMU Graduate Certificate in Tribal Leadership was announced at an April

Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi

Jamie Stuck, Tribal Council Chairperson for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, speaks at the program announcement.

The new WMU Graduate Certificate in Tribal Leadership was a collaboration between Southwest Michigan Native American Tribes at the university.

Ben Brenner, a member of the Gun Lake Tribal Council, says he could have benefitted from the learning opportunities offered through the Tribal Governance certificate program.

Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi

The new WMU Graduate Certificate in Tribal Leadership was announced at an April

The new WMU Graduate Certificate in Tribal Leadership was a collaboration between Southwest Michigan Native American Tribes at the university.
As chance would have it, the shutdown of the Germanys remaining nuclear reactors coincided exactly with the opening of a new one in Finland, the second in over 15 years in the European Union (EU). Both countries are highly vulnerable to the vagaries of Russian energy sources, but represent two opposing European visions of the always controversial nuclear energy.

The timing could not have been more incongruous. Almost 12 years after Angela Merkels administration decided to abandon nuclear power following the Fukushima (Japan) disaster, three plants were disconnected from the grid and mothballed: Isar 2 (Bavaria); Neckarwestheim 2 (Baden-Wurttemberg); and Emsland (Lower Saxony). A few hours later, in the early hours of the morning, the largest reactor in Europe was inaugurated 1,000 miles to the north. After almost 15 years of construction and many cost overruns, the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant started producing 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, about one seventh of Finlands total electricity demand.

The start-up of the Finnish reactor was a rocky road: it was first scheduled to be completed in 2009 and cost $12 billion, three times more than the original estimate. With Finnish conservatives holding a firm grip on power, more nuclear power projects are expected. Petteri Orpo, the front-runner in the prime minister race, often says in campaign speeches that nuclear power should be the cornerstone of Finnish energy policy.

The brutal energy shock aggravated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has recently rekindled the debate about the role of nuclear power in Europe. Germany delayed the closure of its reactors by four months amid the energy crisis, and several political parties (including Merkels center-right CDU party) have reversed their original positions. The International Energy Agency (the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments energy arm) has emerged as a leading advocate for nuclear reactors in a context increasingly dominated by renewable energy. A report by the International Energy Agency last summer noted the growing momentum for nuclear energy in many countries given rising fuel prices and growing concerns about stable energy supplies.

If Germany is closing reactors, its because of ideological factors, not economic or climate change issues. There is more fear of a nuclear accident and waste than of global warming, said Alejandro Zurita, former head of international nuclear research cooperation at Euratom. It seems irrational to close plants that have operated safely for decades and help curb CO emissions.

Although wind and photovoltaic energy are gaining traction in Germany, Europes biggest economy and most populous country, fossil fuels will have to fill some of the gap left by the nuclear plant shutdowns (6% of Germanys electricity in 2022). Highly polluting coal plants still produce a third of the countrys electricity but will have to close by 2038.

In contrast, Finland justified the Olkiluoto plant decision in the early 2000s with two arguments that remain valid today  energy independence and compliance with emission limits. Fossil fuel plants have to be replaced by accelerating renewable energy development without giving up nuclear power generation, said Zurita.

Consultant and environmentalist Mycle Schneider, author of one of the most comprehensive annual report on the global state of nuclear power, doesnt see it that way. What we see in Germany is a measured but speedier version of a European trend: the decline of the nuclear industry, he told EL PAIS in an e-mail. Its a progressive closure  the renewal rate is insufficient for nuclear energy to survive.

Schneider, a German expert based in Paris, says in the last 30 years EU countries have connected 16 new reactors, closed 47 and started construction on only two: Flamanville 3 (in France) and Olkiluoto 3. Since the construction of these facilities began, the cost of solar [photovoltaic] energy has plunged by 90% and wind power by 70%. Its simply impossible for a nuclear plant to compete with those low costs, he said. Over the same period, the EU has added 157 GW of solar energy capacity, wind has added 175 GW, and nuclear has accounted for a 24 GW loss in capacity.

Paris and Berlin dominate the debate

Apart from the diverging paths of Berlin and Helsinki, the nuclear energy debate is still dominated by the two major continental powers: Germany, which has the unwavering support of Spain and Austria, and France, supported by several Eastern European countries.

Broad swaths of German society vehemently oppose nuclear energy, unlike French society and its government. France depends highly on nuclear energy, even during 2022 when a plague of technical issues caused shutdowns of many power plants. 60% of Frances electricity is nuclear, perhaps because prior to its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva  a global power in nuclear plant construction  was majority-owned by the French state. Areva was the lead engineering firm for Olkiluoto 3. However, the future of nuclear energy will not be driven by France, Germany or the EU, says Zurita, but by China, India, South Korea and the other emerging countries that are growing so rapidly.

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California authorities have started an investigation into a prominent East Bay hospital system in response to a Chronicle report detailing four childrens potentially preventable deaths at John Muir Healths medical center in Walnut Creek.

Anthony Cava, a spokesperson for the Department of Health Care Services, or DHCS, said the state agency met with county medical leaders last week to discuss their concerns about the hospitals pediatric intensive care unit, or PICU.

DHCS takes the matter very seriously and intends to conduct a program review of John Muir, Cava said in an email. DHCS will continue to engage the counties in planning for that program review and will incorporate county assistance as appropriate.

Additionally, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services contacted the California Department of Public Health, the agency it delegates to investigate complaints involving patient care.

A health department spokesperson confirmed Friday that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had been in touch about concerns at John Muir Health, but said the public health agency could not comment on any potential or ongoing investigations.

Bronte Wittpenn, Staff photographer / The Chronicle

These actions came hours after the Chronicle reported that local, state and federal officials had requested that California investigate John Muirs PICU, citing grave concerns about the deaths documented in the Dec. 1 Chronicle report.

The newspaper investigation examined patient care at the eight-bed PICU in the years after John Muirs 2015 partnership with Stanford Medicine Childrens Health to open the unit for critically ill children. Leaders of both hospital systems said at the time that the alliance would allow John Muir to provide top-notch care to East Bay children with acute and complex conditions.

In 2017, John Muir received approval from DHCS to care for youth who are part of California Childrens Services, or CCS, a publicly funded health program akin to Medicare for pediatric patients with serious chronic medical conditions. A large percentage of these children are also enrolled in Medi-Cal, the California arm of the federal Medicaid program.

The much-sought-after certification requires PICUs to adhere to strict quality standards pertaining to staffing, training and protocols. In turn, CCS approval allows hospitals to see more patients and receive additional compensation for their care. The program also mandates reviews of approved units no less than every three years.

The application to be part of CCS lists conditions that hospitals must meet prior to submitting the PICU application, according to new documents obtained by The Chronicle through a California Public Records Act request. The first condition listed  in bold  is that there shall be a minimum of 350 admissions to the PICU per year.

Jenny Kwon / The Chronicle

But The Chronicles investigation found that John Muirs PICU, from 2016 through 2021, never once met this minimum annual patient volume that the state mandates to maintain proficiency. Cava previously told The Chronicle that the admissions threshold is one of several factors considered when approving units.

More than a dozen medical experts who reviewed the four childrens medical records on behalf of The Chronicle and with consent from their families said their deaths appeared to be preventable and seemed to speak to John Muirs inexperience treating extremely sick children, an issue further reflected in the PICUs persistently low patient volumes.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, whose district includes Walnut Creek and the homes of two of the four children, said in an interview that he had encouraged CMS to look into the issues raised in the Chronicle investigation.

Were going to hold people accountable, DeSaulnier said. The goal here is safety and whether it should be operating.

Were very concerned, the congressman added. Two of our constituents lost their lives.

State Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, whose district includes John Muirs Walnut Creek facility, also called for a state probe into the hospitals PICU.

To ensure the safety of our kids and our community we must see a full investigation of whether this system failed these children and whether it is safe for it to continue serving the community, Bauer-Kahan said in a statement.

In a message to other county and state health leaders on Dec. 6, a former top state medical official raised questions about DHCSs oversight of John Muirs PICU, according to emails obtained through a separate public records request. Dr. Robert Dimand, the former chief medical officer of CCS, called the situation clearly beyond comprehension.

States abdication of maintaining standards, certification, quality oversight, said Dimand, who now consults for Kern Countys CCS program, in his email to a dozen health managers, including state officials tasked with providing PICU oversight. Just so sad.

Representatives with DHCS did not immediately respond Friday to questions about their oversight of John Muirs pediatric intensive care unit and when it was last reviewed.

Reached for comment about these officials concerns, John Muir spokesperson Ben Drew said in a statement Thursday that the hospital welcomes a review and proactively sent a communication to DHCS asking for a review to be conducted.

With very low PICU bed capacity across the state, it is important that parents have an objective assessment of the quality of care provided in the Walnut Creek Medical Center PICU, Drew said. An independent review will enable parents to make crucial medical decisions for their children.

Emails obtained by The Chronicle through its public records request show that John Muir asked for the state review Thursday around noon  one day after The Chronicle informed the hospital that officials were calling for an investigation and sought comment for this article, and six minutes before Drew sent the statement to reporters.

In the statement, Drew also said that the PICU met the 350-patient benchmark for the first time this year, treating 365 children to date in 2022. He said the unit has had to turn down pediatric transfer requests from other hospitals in the region due to a lack of space.

We believe that the PICU and pediatric beds we provide, supported by expert physicians, nurses and staff, are important to the community, he said.

Elizabeth Valente, a spokesperson for Stanford Medicine Childrens Health, said in an email that Stanford would cooperate fully with any investigations, but could not comment on them.

Stanford Medicine Childrens Health cares deeply about our patients and families, and we grieve when any child  especially one in our care  does not survive, Valente said in the statement.

One day after the Chronicle investigation ran in the newspaper, county medical officials raised alarms in a series of emails obtained by reporters.

Bronte Wittpenn, photographer / The Chronicle

On Dec. 5, Dr. Louis Girling Jr., one of two CCS medical directors for Alameda County, sent a message to a dozen state and county health officials with the subject line, Quality concerns in CCS PICU.

We have recently learned about tragic outcomes in the CCS-approved PICU at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, Girling wrote, attaching The Chronicles article to his email. Perhaps you are already aware of this serious issue, but if not, I feel professionally compelled to bring the problem to your attention. It seems to me that a review by the PICU TAC and/or a CCS site visit is urgently warranted.

The CCS PICU Technical Advisory Committee, or PICU TAC, includes the chief medical officer of the state CCS program and pediatric intensivists from around California who volunteer technical advice to the state and assist in facility reviews, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle.

Dr. Joanna Chin, the medical director of Contra Costa County CCS, responded to Girlings email minutes later, seconding the call for an investigation.

I agree completely with Dr. Girlings grave concerns, and concur that further review is urgently needed, Chin wrote. I myself have had some concerns about the John Muir Medical Center PICU, though surely nothing as serious or tragic as the cases highlighted in the article.

The following morning, Dr. Diana Obrinsky, the other CCS medical director for Alameda County, wrote to the group, Dr. Girling and Dr. Chin have expressed my deep concern quite well. I join them in asking for an expedited review of the John Muir PICU, and perhaps a more comprehensive review of the entire hospital.

In response, Dimand, the former chief medical officer of CCS, questioned whether DHCS had performed any onsite reviews of John Muirs PICU, noting that in the past CCS has suspended approval and participated in corrective action plans for PICUs that have not met the program standards.

Apparently no longer a function of DHCS/CCS.?? (sic) Dimand wrote. CCS Rules and oversight as (sic) functioned for decades vaporizing quickly. Site visits, adherence to quality monitoring, rapidly vaporizing.

Cortney Maslyn, chief of the Integrated Systems of Care Division within DHCS, responded to these messages by offering to set up a time to meet with county officials.

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We are committed to upholding the standards of the CCS program to ensure high quality care, Maslyn wrote on Dec. 7. DHCS will be taking timely action to address this issue.

County medical officials declined to comment on their emails, referring questions to DHCS. Cava, the agency spokesperson, said that state officials met with county staff members on Dec. 9 to discuss the information included in the article and next steps.

Although the John Muir Health system is one of the largest in Northern California, and a key provider of adult trauma care in the East Bay, its critical care unit for children has struggled with low patient volumes.

While John Muirs PICU failed to see 350 patients from 2016 to 2021, three nearby childrens hospitals saw between 870 and 2,100 children in their units every year, according to state reports.

The cases of the four children who died involved complex conditions  diabetes complications, breathing problems, severe infections and other medical issues requiring extensive surgeries  that John Muir and Stanford leaders said the new PICU could handle.

In the deaths of two patients  Katrina Daly, 13, and Caitlyn Gonzales, 16  medical records show that doctors struggled to correctly place a breathing tube, a fundamental skill for doctors working in a PICU.

Isaiah Lofton died in May 2019 after the 16-year-old developed a deadly condition related to a surgical site infection that John Muir doctors waited a week to clean out. Later that year, 2-year-old Ailee Jong died on the operating table after John Muir moved forward with her complicated liver surgery despite warnings from staff members that the unit wasnt prepared to perform its first-ever pediatric liver resection.

They dont have the numbers, so my hope would be that the funding would be pulled, Katrinas mother, Vikki Plumlee, told The Chronicle in an interview this week. They werent ready to be what they thought they were. They werent ready to care for the types of children they thought they were entitled to take care of.

In a lawsuit filed in April, Ailees parents alleged that the hospital misled them into thinking that it could provide Stanford-level care, prioritizing potential business growth over patient safety.

The Chronicle initially wrote about Ailees death and her parents lawsuit in an April report. In response to the article, the Medical Board of California, the states oversight agency for doctors, said it had opened an investigation into the case, which remains active.

Kristina Lawson, president of the Medical Board of California, served as mayor of Walnut Creek in 2014 when John Muir first announced its new PICU. Lawson recalled her initial excitement to The Chronicle, saying that all three of her children had been born at the hospital. But upon reading about the four deaths, she said, she wanted to see further investigations by her agency and others.

My heart is broken for the families who have lost their children, and the circumstances of those tragic deaths must be reviewed by the appropriate state and federal government agencies, Lawson said. The Medical Board of California will conduct a thorough review and take appropriate action to ensure patients are protected and have access to safe, quality health care. I urge other government agencies with jurisdiction over this matter to do the same.

For Isaiahs mother, Michelle Brantley, the concerns with oversight and transparency hit particularly close to home. Her son died at John Muir after the family was referred through the CCS program to the hospital for a complicated spinal fusion surgery. Brantley said she was happy to hear calls for a state probe.

CCS sold me on John Muir, Brantley said in an interview this week. We dont take our kids to the hospital thinking about, Do they have enough patients? We are already assuming that the doctors, the medical professionals, know what they are doing.

Cynthia Dizikes and Matthias Gafni are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cdizikes@sfchronicle.com, matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cdizikes, @mgafni
In a signal toward normalcy for Laguna Honda, San Franciscos troubled public nursing home will immediately resume discharging patients who no longer need skilled care.

The discharges  beginning with about 40 people  should not be confused with the forced patient transfers that federal regulators required last summer as they tried to shut down the facility that houses 530 mostly low-income and fragile residents. Twelve of the 41 people transferred to other nursing homes subsequently died, raising concerns that the moves contributed to their deaths. Regulators paused the transfers in July as a result.

Also paused at that time were discharges of people no longer needing skilled care. Voluntary departures never stopped.

Now, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center will resume discharging people who no longer need specialized care -- although it is unclear which side initiated the change.

A statement provided to The Chronicle Thursday from Laguna Honda said, "We have now been directed by federal regulators to resume discharges." At the same time, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told The Chronicle: "We understand the facility is pursuing some (discharges) for residents who, based on individualized assessment, do not need skilled nursing-level care, which Laguna Honda is allowed to do. 

The Chronicle has requested clarification. But either way, the move comes ahead of Laguna Hondas May 13 deadline to prove it should be reinstated into the federal Medicare program and avoid closure next fall.

A Laguna Honda spokesperson on Thursday described discharges as normal, and said the facility typically releases about 190 people a year.

It has always been the practice of Laguna Honda to discharge residents who no longer require the skilled nursing facility care  and transition them to the community or to lower levels of care, the spokesperson said.

Laguna Hondas troubles began last year, after state inspectors declared the facility to be in a state of substandard care. On April 14, 2022, federal regulators revoked Laguna Hondas eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, which was a likely death blow because two-thirds of its funding  about $200 million a year  comes from those payments.

Set to lose the funding last fall, the nursing home was ordered to prepare for closure last summer and move out all residents. A legal settlement granted a reprieve, giving Laguna Honda until mid-May to show it should be allowed to rejoin Medicare or lose those payments for good on Nov. 13.

Staff are working tirelessly to make improvements and prepare for recertification, interim CEO Roland Pickens said in a Monday email to residents announcing the resumption of discharges. And while we are not yet at the finish line, it is getting close, and we are very optimistic.

If Laguna Honda fails to progress by next month, regulators could resume forced transfers by May 19.

Last summer, Laguna Honda discharged 16 people alongside those transferred to other facilities. Three of the 16 went to homeless shelters.

Now, patient advocates say they are worried that people might be discharged with nowhere to go.

These people are going to be homeless. I think that is a huge, huge problem, said former City Attorney Louise Renne, who in the 2000s persuaded city officials to use a half-billion-dollar settlement she won from the tobacco industry to build the airy, new Laguna Honda alongside the crumbling facility.

A recent plan to build 250 apartments for seniors, a mix of independent and assisted living units, at Laguna Honda has been halted because of the closure threat.

Dr. Teresa Palmer, a patient advocate and former Laguna Honda physician, also questions whether all discharged people will go to safe, local and appropriate places.

I sincerely hope that (city) management is aware of the high risk to a bad discharge this time around and will not repeat the high death rate, Palmer said.

Laguna Honda officials said they are working with housing and supportive services officials to best support residents as they are discharged to lower levels of care.
UPDATE: Details emerge of earlier battery claim against Nima Momeni; woman cites mood swings

Nima Momeni, the man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee in downtown San Francisco, was cited on suspicion of battering a woman at his Emeryville loft last summer, records show.

Bob Lee killing: Timeline breaks down moments before slaying that shook S.F.

Emeryville police cited and released Momeni on Aug. 1, alleging misdemeanor battery, after a woman reported she was attacked by him and needed help at his loft on the 4000 block of Harlan Street, according to the records, which The Chronicle obtained through a public records request.

A spokesperson for the Alameda County District Attorneys Office, Angela Ruggiero, said prosecutors declined to charge Momeni after police presented the case days later, declining to cite the reason.

Emeryville police officials did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday. The records reviewed by The Chronicle did not identify the woman who reported the alleged violence.

Paula Canny, the attorney representing Momeni in the Bob Lee stabbing, called the battery case a nonissue, noting that her client was not charged.

San Francisco prosecutors allege Momeni, a 38-year-old tech entrepreneur, stabbed Lee three times with a kitchen knife about 2:30 a.m. April 4 on a San Francisco street near the west end of the Bay Bridge after Momeni confronted Lee about his relationship with the suspects sister. The nature of that relationship has not been disclosed.

The stabbing, allegedly captured by a surveillance camera, roiled the city as tech leaders and residents initially viewed Lees violent death as a manifestation of disorder and decay in the citys downtown, only to find out he was allegedly killed by an acquaintance.

Canny, without elaborating, has said the case has a much greater backstory than what prosecutors have disclosed. She told NBC Bay Area that Lees death was a tragedy and a horrible situation, but that the evidence she has seen does not support a murder charge.

Momeni has been jailed without bail, and is scheduled to appear in San Francisco Superior Court on April 25.

After Momenis arrest April 13 at his Emeryville loft on suspicion of Lees murder, some neighbors said they had had only positive interactions with him. Before being charged with murder, he had a nonviolent criminal record, with past arrests on suspicion of drunken driving, driving on a suspended license and selling an illegal switchblade knife.

According to the newly disclosed incident report from Emeryville, the unidentified woman called police for help at 3:11 p.m. on Aug. 1, saying she had been attacked.

She told police Momeni grabbed her arm & pulled it, pushed her physically, dispatch records show. Seven minutes later, the first Emeryville officer arrived at Momenis building and waited for other officers to respond. They met the woman on a stairwell, and soon Momeni arrived too, according to the records.

Officers indicated they cited and released Momeni on suspicion of battery almost an hour after the call came in. Officers reported that they waited with the victim, who was arranging for transportation with her belongings, and they eventually gave her a ride.

During the past four years, records show, police have been summoned to Momenis residence on three other occasions, including to assist in his arrest in Lees killing.

On Oct. 18, Momeni called Emeryville police to report the vandalism of his white BMW, the same car San Francisco investigators allege he used to drive Lee before exiting the vehicle and stabbing him. Momeni told police in the fall that he knew who vandalized his vehicle, records show. Its unclear how that case was resolved.

In June 2019, someone from Momenis flat called Emeryville police to report possible identity theft, records show. Its unclear if the caller was Momeni. The reporting party told police he had received suspicious credit card denials in the mail.

Editors note: This story was updated with a comment from defense attorney Paula Canny.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission has censured the vice chair of the Municipal Transportation Agencys board for illegal lobbying.

In 2020, Gwyneth Borden, a longtime commissioner, illegally contacted members of the citys Planning Commission and a city supervisor as a paid consultant for an Inner Sunset restaurant, according to the Ethics Commission.

Under city law, commissioners arent allowed to be paid to communicate with city staff or other commissioners for lobbying purposes. City law also requires anyone to register as a lobbyist if theyre paid to contact city officials five or more times in one month.

Borden said she was paid $12,500 in December 2019 to act as a consultant for Fiorella, an Italian restaurant in the Inner Sunset that sought to get the citys approval to serve patrons on a second-floor outdoor deck.

The restaurant that previously occupied the space at 1240 Ninth Ave., Park Chow, served customers on the outdoor patio without the citys permission. Fiorella contracted with Bordens hospitality consultancy to guide the restaurant through the citys complex permitting process to reach compliance, she said.

I was wrong. I regret it. It was an honest mistake, Borden said, adding, it never occurred to me that I was lobbying under the definition of city contacts.

Borden signed a proposed stipulation accepting the Ethics Commissions censure, which called for a $9,000 fine. However, the three-member commission voted unanimously Friday to reject the proposed fine and directed staff to propose a higher penalty  up to a maximum of $37,500.

I would want to see a higher penalty  the maximum  because she should have known that she should have registered as a lobbyist, Commissioner Yvonne Lee said.

Mission Local first reported Bordens illegal lobbying.

According to the Ethics Commission, Borden made 32 contacts with city staff, planning commissioners and Supervisor Dean Preston leading up to a May 2020 Planning Commission meeting that had Fiorellas request for a conditional use authorization on the consent agenda.

Those contacts included emails to all seven planning commissioners two days before the Planning Commission meeting.

In those emails  as well as a separate email to a Preston aide  Borden identifies Fiorella as her client and does not reference being on the SFMTA board. Borden detailed to commissioners the restaurants history, referenced local media coverage, and wrote, I just wanted to check in to answer any questions or concerns.

Borden served on the Planning Commission from 2008 to 2014 and has been a member of the SFMTA board since 2014. She chaired the transportation board at the height of the pandemic as the agency faced unprecedented declines in revenue and Muni ridership. Borden was previously executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which represents restaurant owners.

Borden believes the anonymous complaint that prompted the commissions investigation was filed in retaliation for her unpaid advocacy of a 2020 state Senate bill that aimed to put a moratorium on commercial evictions.

Though she acknowledged she acted against city law, Borden stressed that she neither tried to backchannel with officials to get the restaurants authorization approved, nor did she believe her communication with officials constituted lobbying.

I did everything in plain sight, Borden said. My name is literally on the Planning Commission packet as the project sponsor. I was not hiding.
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A car went airborne and crashed into the second story of a home in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California this week, according to fire authorities.

Cal Fire and Placer County fire crews responded Sunday to a report of a vehicle that crashed into the upper story of a house on Robbers Ravine Road near Interstate 80 in Placer County, Cal Fire said in a Facebook post.

According to KOVR, the car hit a tree and flew into the home, which video shows is on a slope below the road level.

Cal Fire

Photos posted by Cal Fire show the car appeared to have landed on the homes carport and into the section of the second floor. Crews said they stabilized the carport and rescued the driver of the vehicle using a rope system.

The woman driving the car was taken to a hospital with major injuries, the California Highway Patrol told KCRA.

The CHP said the driver was traveling extremely fast when she crashed into the home, according to KCRA. Officers are investigating whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash, the station reported.

A GoFundMe set up for the homeowners says the home will need substantial repairs that are likely to cost in the hundreds of thousands.

Bob Arant, the homeowner, told KCRA that he and his wife werent home when the crash occurred. He said his home insurance will not cover the damage caused by the crash and hopes the drivers insurance will pay for the repairs.
One of the most efficient carbon sinks in the world is in Contra Costa County  and it promises a way to help California meet ambitious climate goals.

Dutch Slough, a restored wetland in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta near the town of Oakley, stores carbon at such a high rate that it is in the top 1% of thousands of locations studied worldwide, from pine forests to arctic tundra, according to UC Berkeley scientists who have worked at the site since last year.

Its important because finding ways for soil, trees and plants to sequester more carbon is one of the most cost-effective strategies to combat global warming after reducing emissions, scientists say. And tidal wetlands like Dutch Slough are known to be excellent carbon sinks, meaning they absorb more carbon than they emit.

The 1,200-acre restoration project, which is in the process of being returned to wetlands after decades of farming, is the largest of its kind in California and will have cost $63 million to build when complete. The information gleaned at the site will help guide what other types of restoration projects California takes on in its quest to reach carbon neutrality by 2045.

After collecting a years worth of data, Dennis Baldocchi, a UC Berkeley professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and his team have found something astonishing: offsetting the amount of carbon dioxide 1,000 gasoline cars produce a year. The rate the ecosystem absorbs carbon rivals that of forests, which are susceptible to fire and disease and dont store it as long.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

These are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, said Baldocchi at Dutch Slough last week, speaking to a group of fifth-graders from nearby Knightsen Elementary School who will likely end up benefiting more from any climate strategies used here than the adults will.

The other goals of the restoration, which involved digging out new tidal channels and replanting native plants, are to bring back habitat for river otters, salmon and birds and to provide a natural buffer from flooding due to sea level rise and major storms, which are expected to increase with climate change. Now, acres of tule and cattails cover what used to be grazing land.

You guys hear about redwoods and how big they are and how much carbon they may store in their big trunks? he said. These things are as good, if not better.

Coastal wetlands and mangroves store three to five times more carbon than the equivalent area of tropical forest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The peat soil that forms in wetlands is particularly good at it; the peat swamp forest of the Congo Basin, for example, stores 29 billion tons of carbon, more than the Amazon, according to the United Nations.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Baldocchi has studied wetlands in the delta for decades and grew up across the street from Dutch Slough on a farm that has since been converted to suburban housing; he showed off the T-shirt he was wearing from a local 4-H Club. He is also one of the founders of Fluxnet, a global network of research projects like the one at Dutch Slough that study what he describes as the net ecosystem CO2 exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere.

Soil, plants and bodies of water both absorb and release greenhouse gases, and scientists like Baldocchi use sophisticated instruments to study the ebb and flow of these gases, water and energy.

Most of the 67 students holding clipboards for their science projects that day were more interested in spotting otter poop, and later, the otters themselves, than learning about esoteric aspects of the carbon cycle. But they followed along as Baldocchi dug up peat soil for them to touch and explained how the devices at his teams research station at Dutch Slough work.

What we are trying to do is measure the breathing of the biosphere, and were doing that by being able to measure the carbon dioxide coming in through the plants, through photosynthesis, and the carbon dioxide thats lost to the atmosphere, through plant and soil respiration, he said.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Parts of the delta that are tidal like Dutch Slough, where salty water comes in and out, do a good job storing carbon long-term because the tide helps break down dead material, which forms into peat and allows the new growth to come back.

Whats really cool about these wetlands, and why theyre so productive, is because when theyre flooded, oxygen doesnt get into the soil and so the microbes that would normally eat the sugars and carbon in soils like that are sleepy, Baldocchi said.

In nontidal or freshwater areas, its harder for new plants to grow through the dead material. But there is limited space in the delta to restore tidal wetlands, Baldocchi said.

Margaret Torn, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab who works with Baldocchi on Ameriflux, a network similar to Fluxnet, said that part of the reason this site is a high performer is because of all the work put into restoring it. These delta systems need management to keep going as they are, she said. And they need protection.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

To reach carbon neutrality, California has to first reduce or stop fossil fuel emissions and then remove 150 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air per year, according to Adina Paytan, research professor at the UC Santa Cruz Institute of Marine Sciences. She leads a project to study wetlands role in carbon sequestration. Its paid for by a $3.6 million grant from the UC National Laboratory Fees Research Program, which Baldocchis project is part of.

We need to work on multiple ways to achieve this commitment, and wetlands play one part of it. Theyre good because they provide other benefits, she said.

The greatest excitement of the day came when a student spotted a dead raccoon in part of the slough, its striped tail visible under the surface of the water. But retired teacher Lois Laza knew how to bring the childrens attention back to the subject.

What is this part of? she asked, pausing a moment for an answer. The carbon cycle!
A classic San Francisco spot for dim sum is making a comeback.

City View Restaurant reopened Wednesday, April 19, at 33 Walter U. Lum Place in Chinatown, right across the street from Portsmouth Square. Inside the new 5,000-square-foot location, City View will continue to offer its long-running menu of dim sum classics like shrimp dumplings, turnip cake and pork siu mai.

Tablehopper first reported the opening.

The new space, as shown in an Instagram post, boasts a contrasting look compared to its old dining rooms white walls and wide windows. Gray walls and tile surround the dining room, with walnut-tone tables and lime green booths and banquettes. Black metal lamps hanging over tables and small plants on shelves add to a modern feel.

City View first opened at 662 Commercial St. but closed the doors at its longtime home on March 27, per a message on its website. In January, SFGATE reported the restaurants landlord, the Chinatown Community Development Center, sued the restaurant, seeking eviction. At the time, City View already had plans to move to its new home, per city planning documents. (SFGATE and The San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently.)

Jason Henry/Special To The Chronicle

City View had considered a move at least once before. In 2019, The Chronicle reported the restaurant had plans, which never materialized, to move into the basement of a building at 838 Grant Ave. in Chinatown, the top floor of which once housed the landmark Empress of China, and is now Empress by Boon.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

The Chronicle reached out to City View for comment on the opening but did not hear back in time for publication.

City View Restaurant. 33 Walter U. Lum Place, San Francisco. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday. cityviewdimsum.com
The European Commission has moved swiftly to defuse the simmering Ukrainian grain crisis, which threatens the unity of unwavering support for Kyiv among the EUs eastern nations ahead of an anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces in the occupied territories. Five of Ukraines neighbors  Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania  have implemented bans or are considering restrictions on the entry of duty-free grain and other agricultural products from Kyiv into the EU despite the blocs common trade policy, arguing that farmers and associated sectors in their own countries are bearing the brunt of the measure, which was implemented by Brussels to circumvent Russian naval supremacy in the Black Sea by lifting tariffs and other trade duties on Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat. Those five countries have now scored a point in the ongoing dispute after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen approved a compensation package of 100 million to their farmers.

Brussels is also considering introducing extraordinary measures until June 30 to ensure that four of the products arriving from Ukraine  wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds  do not remain in the five countries, but transit through them to the rest of the EU and other parts of the world. However, this proposal requires the agreement of Kyiv as otherwise it could violate several trade agreements, EU sources warned.

In a letter sent to the heads of state and government of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, who had demanded more help from the EC after a series of protests in recent weeks, Von der Leyen acknowledged the unintended consequences of an increase in flows of Ukrainian products to these member states after tariffs were lifted. But she warned: Unilateral measures can only play into the hands of the adversaries of Ukraine and should not erode our unwavering support for Ukraine.

More information EU grain crisis opens cracks in unconditional support for Ukraine in eastern Europe

European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis held a meeting Wednesday with representatives of the five nations to seek a solution to the impasse, but no agreements were reached. Poland, which has acted as a de facto leader of the EUs eastern region since the Russian invasion, led calls to add more products to the list of those only permitted entry to the five member states for purposes of onward transit, according to sources in Brussels.

Sofia and Bucharest, which have both maintained softer stances on the issue, also announced Wednesday that they were joining the product ban initiated by Warsaw and Budapest to prevent Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs from remaining on their territories. Poland had originally imposed a complete ban on Ukrainian products, but on Tuesday reached an agreement with Kyiv to allow transit through the country. Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea said that containers entering the country would be sealed and that controls would be intensified to ensure that they complete their transit.

In a measure approved in June 2022, Ukrainian grain and other products have been entering the EU free of duties and tariffs both to support Kyivs economy and help reduce the global food crisis stemming from the Russian invasion and subsequent blockade of Ukraines ports, preventing exports from one of the worlds breadbaskets. However, the five eastern EU nations claim that grain, dairy and other products are flooding their markets and warehouses, rather than being moved on to other countries, contributing to a drop in prices. Over the past year, Ukraine has exported around 63 million tons of goods to the EU, half of which was grain.

There is, additionally, an element of market speculation by traders, diplomatic sources note. Brussels has also promised an investigation into logistical problems in another area of the proposed plan to mitigate the grain crisis. The sealing of containers can be imposed almost immediately, but member states must approve Brussels proposal to direct 100 million from the blocs agricultural reserve fund to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Poland, which has been one of Ukraines key allies since the start of the war, has pointed out that logistical problems and bottlenecks make it difficult to get what arrives from Kyiv out again. Its farmers have been taking to the streets for several weeks in protests mirrored in the other four affected nations, who had issued a joint letter to Von der Leyen demanding more economic aid, logistical solutions and the reinstatement of tariffs on Ukrainian goods. Poland and Slovakia, moreover, are scheduled to hold elections in the autumn, placing the grain crisis at the forefront of political campaigning. Furthermore, negotiations are currently underway to extend the lifting of tariffs and duties to cover all Ukrainian products, which was also a factor in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia imposing bans in imports from Kyiv.

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A major Bay Area hospital now under investigation in the deaths of four children overstated its patient counts six years ago to win state certification for its fledgling pediatric intensive care unit and performed complex surgeries on newborns despite being barred from doing so, state records show.

The California Department of Health Care Services, known as DHCS, is charged with ensuring high-quality medical care across the state. But it certified John Muir Healths pediatric intensive care unit, or PICU, to participate in the states program to treat medically fragile children after ignoring evidence that the Walnut Creek facility hadnt met the required minimum patient volume of 350 a year, documents show.

Fifth & Mission podcast: Scant California Oversight Preceded Child Patient Deaths

The coveted 2017 certification for the California Childrens Services program, or CCS, allowed John Muirs PICU to boost profits and admit some of the states sickest patients. But in the years that followed, reporters found, the state maintained scant oversight over the unit and more than two dozen other state-certified PICUs, overlooking subpar patient caseloads.

Instituted decades ago, the states minimum admissions requirement is meant to ensure that PICU doctors and nurses are treating enough children to maintain lifesaving skills and provide top-notch care.

New documents reviewed by The Chronicle show that when John Muir first made its bid for certification in 2017, it gave a presentation to DHCS officials claiming that its PICU had admitted 352 children the previous year  just enough to vault it over the threshold for certification. But around the same time, John Muir also submitted an official report of its figures, stating that it had admitted 282 patients in 2016.

Last October, John Muir told The Chronicle that its PICU admitted about 280 patients in 2016. However, last month, when reporters asked John Muir officials why they had in the 2017 presentation shared a significantly larger number with the state, a spokesperson said for the first time that the 352 figure was accurate. John Muir, he said, had mistakenly undercounted the units patient volumes when filing the critical, official data that the state uses to evaluate its approved PICUs.

Hospital officials declined to share supporting documents with The Chronicle, or to meet with reporters to review the data. DHCS said its records indicate John Muirs PICU had 282 admissions in 2016 and that the agency considers that to be the correct count.

This past December, a Chronicle report detailed four childrens potentially preventable deaths at John Muir after the community hospital partnered with Stanford Medicine Childrens Health to open the PICU in 2015. Top medical experts told reporters that the deaths appeared to reflect John Muirs low patient volumes and inexperience treating exceptionally ill children.

Vikki Plumlee, whose 13-year-old daughter died in the John Muir PICU in 2016 after doctors failed in multiple intubation attempts, said that California had betrayed the families who rely on its oversight.

The state failed us, Plumlee said in a recent interview. It is really important for the state to keep track of these things because peoples lives are at stake. The future of my family has been devastated.

The John Muir spokesperson, Ben Drew, said in a statement that there were never any attempts to mislead CCS or any other regulatory agency. He said that hospital officials excluded dozens of patients who came to the unit for cancer-related inpatient procedures in the official 2016 admissions count, but had since received verbal guidance that they should have been included. Drew declined to elaborate on those cases.

He said that when the state flagged John Muirs unauthorized neonatal surgeries during the 2017 on-site visit, we stopped doing the surgeries they identified immediately.

There were no adverse events or otherwise negative outcomes with any of these procedures, Drew said. While the operations in question were more complex than the state allowed John Muir to perform, he said these surgeries were not considered high-risk procedures.

In a statement, DHCS spokesperson Anthony Cava said that admission volumes are not the sole criteria for approval, as there are other factors that are indicators of quality of care.

When approving John Muirs PICU in 2017, Cava said the state considered the clinical assessment, compliance with various CCS PICU standards, and the need to increase access to PICU services in the Bay Area.

Cava said the state takes its supervision of the CCS program seriously and disagrees with characterizations implying that DHCS had little to no oversight over John Muir Healths PICU or other CCS-approved PICUs.

In response to The Chronicles investigation last year, the state announced that it would review 13 PICUs that had recently fallen below the annual admission threshold, starting with John Muir. Cava said the reassessment of the unit, which included an on-site visit in February, is expected to be completed this month.

The Medical Board of California, which has the authority to discipline doctors, also announced in December that it was investigating the four John Muir pediatric deaths, and has since contacted the families of two of the children.

The December Chronicle investigation found that John Muir partnered with Stanford  one of the most prestigious national names in pediatric medicine  with an expectation that its new PICU would treat thousands of children each year. But the unit struggled to draw patients and top doctors, even as John Muir and Stanford used the state approval to market the unit to local families, reporters found.

Stanford Medicine Childrens Health spokesperson Elizabeth Valente declined to comment for this story, but said that Stanford would fully cooperate with any potential or active investigations.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle 2022

To better understand why John Muir was allowed to treat some of the states sickest children despite official patient admission counts that fell below the states certification criteria, The Chronicle examined hundreds of pages of documents related to John Muirs PICU approval process, including site review reports, medical consultant notes and emails and letters from 2014 to 2022 between state and county health officials and John Muir and Stanford medical leaders. Reporters also interviewed more than a dozen medical professionals familiar with the CCS program.

They found that, at the 2017 site review of the PICU, DHCS inspectors appeared to accept the higher numbers presented by John Muir even as they unearthed other troubling information that should have thrown the certification into further question, according to medical experts familiar with the CCS program.

This included the discovery that John Muir doctors were performing the unapproved surgeries on babies in the hospitals neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, as well as details apparently related to the death of Plumlees daughter, Katrina Daly.

Additionally, The Chronicle found that, from 2015 through 2021, the states CCS program administrators neglected to reassess 10 of the 13 PICUs across the state that dropped below 350 patients per year. Three of these hospitals, including John Muir, never met the threshold during this time, according to the states annual PICU quality reports.

It is concerning and very troubling  not only that these deaths occurred, but also that this facility was essentially operating out of compliance, said Dr. Bela Matyas, director of Solano Countys public health department, which oversees the local CCS program that has referred young patients to John Muir. We rely on the state to maintain an active list of patient referral sites and there has to be regular state oversight to make sure these facilities are meeting the criteria and maintaining their quality.

As of December, state health officials had failed to perform reviews that they are required to complete every three years for all 30 of Californias certified PICUs, according to DHCS statements to The Chronicle.

State health officials blamed the overdue PICU evaluations across the state on the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted access to hospitals. They said they have continued to monitor the PICU data and discuss any concerns with their advisory committee.

At John Muir, however, emails and other records reviewed by The Chronicle show that the hospital has continued to push against, and in some cases break, rules set by the state programs regulators.

Despite the state warnings in 2017, The Chronicle found that John Muir continued to perform certain banned neonatal operations as recently as last fall, emails show.

Drew said that John Muir doctors stopped performing those additional neonatal procedures immediately in September 2022 after learning the hospital was relying on outdated state guidelines from 1988.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle 2022

John Muir also moved forward with a high-risk spinal surgery on 15-year-old Isaiah Lofton, who came to the hospital in 2018 through the Solano County CCS program, despite state guidance in 2017 that the hospital should refer any orthopedic surgeries that require a higher level of care and complexity to more equipped centers like Stanford or UCSF.

Isaiah, who had severe cerebral palsy and an extreme spinal curvature of about 105 degrees, died in 2019 after doctors waited a week to clean out a deep infection that had developed in his surgical site.

Asked about John Muirs decision to perform Isaiahs surgery, Drew said that the decision as to where to perform a surgical procedure is a medical decision made by the surgeon, family, PICU medical director, and nurse manager. If the surgeon and the family feel a procedure is better performed at a different facility, it will be done at that facility.



Isaiahs mother, Michelle Brantley, said she was never told about the states advice on orthopedic surgeries. She said the CCS program should be more transparent with families about the level of care they can expect at hospitals.

I would hate for any other family to have to go through nearly as much pain as I am going through, she said.

The Department of Health Care Services describes itself as the backbone of Californias health care safety net.

The agencys oldest public health program is California Childrens Services, a publicly funded program akin to Medicaid for roughly 200,000 mostly low-income children in California with serious chronic or life-threatening medical conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

In addition to paying for care, the state program partners with county public health departments, which help enroll eligible children, provide case management services and refer them to qualified medical providers and hospitals that have received CCS certification to care for them.

The much-sought-after approvals require hospitals to adhere to strict quality standards, including minimum patient volume guidelines for PICUs and neonatal surgery programs for critically ill infants. Although hospitals can open PICUs without CCS certification, the approval allows them to treat more patients in the units and receive additional compensation for that care.

CCS gives a little bit of a (reimbursement) boost over Medi-Cal, so you can understand why a hospital might want to tap into that money, said Jennifer Rienks, a UCSF researcher who recently authored an extensive overview of the CCS program. But the CCS standards end up benefiting all children who might seek care in these facilities.

Rienks February report, as well as emails between CCS officials and interviews with several medical professionals familiar with the program, show that the program has faced a multitude of challenges over the years, including budget cuts, staffing shortages, leadership turnover and the COVID-19 pandemic, which diverted medical personnel and led to decreased hospital access for inspectors. These issues, The Chronicle found, have led to less thorough site reviews of units, or no reviews at all.

For instance, the childrens services program has a PICU Technical Advisory Committee, or TAC, which includes pediatric intensivists from hospitals around California. The committee has historically produced detailed quality reports and made certification approval or denial recommendations to DHCS based on their findings from site reviews, said Dr. James Marcin, a pediatric intensive care specialist at UC Davis and longtime member of the PICU TAC.

But in the last 10 years, Marcin said, the TAC has not been included in many of the reviews.

These reviews are not being discussed with the TAC like they used to be, said Marcin. We used to discuss every site visit.

Dr. Chester Randle Jr., who worked for DHCS as a medical consultant from roughly 2006 to 2017 and was involved in the approval of John Muirs PICU, said that by the time he left the agency, worker shortages had created a backlog of applications for the CCS program. It was getting to be pretty gnarly in terms of staffing, he said.

Dr. Roy Schutzengel, who was medical director of the DHCS division that includes CCS from January 2019 through May 2021, called the program invaluable  to the health of children in California. But Schutzengel said in an interview that the state has also long struggled to hire doctors and other medical professionals, including into oversight jobs.

They dont pay well and they arent high-profile jobs, Schutzengel said. So it tends to be people who are either very committed to public service  or are late in their career and sort of wanting to slow down a bit.

It was getting to be pretty gnarly in terms of staffing.  Dr. Chester Randle Jr., who worked for DHCS as a medical consultant from roughly 2006 to 2017 and was involved in the approval of John Muirs PICU

In his statement to The Chronicle, Cava said that it did not appear that the PICU TAC was involved in the 2017 approval process for the John Muir PICU.

In 2018, Cava said, the agency moved to a new model for conducting CCS reviews. The state now contracts with universities to provide expertise and continues to engage external experts.

Five medical professionals familiar with the CCS program told The Chronicle that the requirement that PICUs have at least 350 patient admissions each year has been a fairly steadfast rule, with limited exceptions intended for PICUs that provide critical access to children in rural or underserved areas and that are otherwise meeting the standards.

Patient volume is an indirect indicator of quality, Schutzengel said. Generally they are pretty strict about that criteria because the reason for those criteria is that having more experience caring for individuals who are that severely ill increases the skill set of those involved.

Even before John Muirs PICU debuted in 2015, John Muir Health executives knew that low patient volumes might hold up the approval process, emails reviewed by The Chronicle show.

In a March 26, 2014, email, Beth Lannon, the executive director of Childrens Specialty Services at John Muir Health, sent Dr. Gwendolyn Hamilton, then the CCS co-medical director for Contra Costa County, a question: Since the PICU at John Muir will be a new unit, will we have to wait until we have 350 admissions before we can apply for CCS certification?

The response was unequivocal.

John Muir's PICU will need to wait until they have 350 admissions before applying, a member of the states facility review team replied to Lannon in an April 14 email that also included Hamilton and state health officials.

Chronicle photo illustration

The following day, Hamilton emailed state officials asking if John Muirs PICU could receive provisional approval as it worked its way to the volume standard.

In a recent interview, Hamilton, who is now retired, said her thinking at the time had been that it would be a tremendous boon for the children of Contra Costa County to have that kind of resource.

That was the goal, to see if we could accomplish that for our community, Hamilton said.

But two hours after Hamilton sent her email, Dr. Robert Dimand, then the states CCS chief medical officer, reinforced in another email to the county and state health officials that the 350-patient admission requirement had existed for decades and that every PICU had to achieve the benchmark before approval.

Is there something completely unique to this situation?? Dimand asked in the April 15 email. Otherwise the same rules would apply to all.

Fifteen minutes later, Dimand sent a second email to the health officials raising concerns about John Muir. It increasingly appears that a meeting with them is necessary, as these questions appear to indicate either a lack of understanding or interest in following the standards, he wrote.

A year later, in April 2015, John Muir and Stanford opened the eight-bed PICU, promoting it as the first unit of its kind in Contra Costa County and suggesting that it would draw thousands of sick children every year.

By the end of 2015, Lannon sent an email to the state expressing optimism that the unit would reach the states 350 admission mark the following year.

But on Dec. 13, 2016, when John Muir applied for CCS certification, it indicated that the PICU had just 238 patient admissions through that point in the year and 209 admissions in 2015, records reviewed by The Chronicle show.

Samantha Laurey/Special to The Chronicle Samantha Laurey/Special to The Chronicle Left: James and Vikki Plumlees daughter, Katrina, died in the John Muir PICU in 2016 after doctors took multiple tries to intubate her. Right: Vikki Plumlee places a picture of Katrina at her former school in Concord. Photos by Samantha Laurey/Special to The Chronicle 2022 Top: James and Vikki Plumlees daughter, Katrina, died in the John Muir PICU in 2016 after doctors took multiple tries to intubate her. Above: Vikki Plumlee places a picture of Katrina at her former school in Concord. Photos by Samantha Laurey/Special to The Chronicle 2022

The hospital also reported to the state that it had two children die in the PICU in that time period.

John Muirs PICU data and the childrens death certificates show that the first death was an 11-year-old girl admitted for a severe infection in June 2015; the second was Katrina Daly in 2016. While the 11-year-old had a high risk of dying based on the severity of her condition on admission, Katrina had a low probability of death, records reviewed by The Chronicle indicate.

Yet the records dont appear to detail additional information about the quality of care Katrina received. That documentation has typically been included in unit reviews, according to records reviewed by The Chronicle and medical professionals familiar with the CCS program.

It strikes me that there were two wrongs here, said Dr. Matthew Scanlon, a pediatric critical care specialist at Childrens Wisconsin in Milwaukee who reviewed Katrinas medical record on behalf of The Chronicle. Katrina dying when she arguably could have been saved, and the state not ensuring that safe care was being provided there.

Following the December 2016 application, a DHCS team, including three nurse consultants and Randle, conducted an initial desk review of the documents John Muir had submitted to the state by filling out a checklist and noting whether John Muir had met or not met certain standards.

On the checklist form, which The Chronicle obtained through a California Public Records Act request, many of the boxes were blank: The state reviewers repeatedly did not mark whether certain standards were met or not met, and they often did not leave additional comments.

Medical professionals familiar with CCS who reviewed the checklist on behalf of The Chronicle said the document appeared to reflect a lack of comprehensiveness by the state.

Notably, the reviewers recorded the sub-350 yearly admission numbers that John Muir had entered on its application. But there were two separate boxes for documenting whether the standard had, or had not, been met. They were left empty.

Cava, the state spokesperson, said that DHCS has since created a more thorough CCS approval protocol process for its staff, including ensuring that the PICU checklists are fully completed.

Its unclear how John Muirs application moved to the next step  an April 2017 site review  after reporting just 238 admissions in 2016.

Dimand, who had repeatedly warned that John Muir would need to reach a caseload of 350 before applying, retired from the state effective April 1, 2017. He now works as a consultant for Kern Countys CCS program and declined to comment.

At the two-day site review on April 18 and 19, Randle was tasked with determining whether the PICU had met state standards, including the volume requirement, Randle said in a recent interview with The Chronicle.

That number was important because the assumption is that the more cases you see the better equipped a unit is to take care of critically ill children, said Randle, adding that he didnt recall whether low volumes were an issue for John Muir.

Told that John Muir had submitted 238 on its application, Randle said the state normally wouldnt allow a PICU with such low numbers to progress through the process. He said he could not recall how John Muir managed to move forward.

There are different ways to count PICU admissions that can lead to variations in recorded volumes, medical experts told The Chronicle. However, the state uses a standardized approach for assessing yearly patient volumes in the annual PICU quality reports that are submitted to DHCS by Virtual Pediatric Systems, or VPS, a national pediatric critical care database.

VPS applies a set of criteria in order to ensure consistent reporting from all PICUs throughout the country, Cava said in his statement, noting that to be counted in the data, patients must have a PICU admission order; require a greater level of care than that provided on the general pediatric floor; and be housed physically in the PICU.

Exclusions from this definition include patients who never have PICU admission orders and come to the PICU temporarily for a procedure or intervention, he said.

During the two-day site visit at John Muir in 2017, the team that included Randle and the DHCS nurse consultants reviewed patient medical records, toured the hospitals facilities and interviewed hospital leaders and staff, documents reviewed by The Chronicle show.

John Muir also presented a PowerPoint pitch for the Walnut Creek pediatrics program that included specifics about the PICU and neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, according to the documents.

The documents detailed successes and challenges the hospital experienced from 2015 through early 2017, including medication errors involving children in the PICU, the need for better coordination within the Pediatric Rapid Response Teams, and bloodstream infections acquired by babies in the NICU.

Chronicle photo illustration Chronicle photo illustration Left: Officials with the California Department of Health Care Services recorded 238 patient admissions at John Muirs PICU in 2016, the same number the hospital reported to the state as part of its December 2016 application for certification. Right: In a PowerPoint presentation during a 2017 site review of the PICU, John Muir officials claimed their admissions for 2016 were 352, just above the minimum 350-patient caseload required to treat medically fragile children in the California Childrens Services program. Top: Officials with the California Department of Health Care Services recorded 238 patient admissions at John Muirs PICU in 2016, the same number the hospital reported to the state as part of its December 2016 application for certification. Above: In a PowerPoint presentation during a 2017 site review of the PICU, John Muir officials claimed their admissions for 2016 were 352, just above the minimum 350-patient caseload required to treat medically fragile children in the California Childrens Services program.

Additionally, the PowerPoint contained a curious number: John Muir and Stanford officials claimed in the presentation that, according to their VPS data, the PICU had admitted 352 patients from January through November 2016, eclipsing the minimum patient volume threshold.

The cover page of the PowerPoint says it was created on Dec. 7, 2016  just six days before John Muir would submit its application to DHCS, stating that its PICU had 238 admissions through that point in the year.

In keeping with that lower figure, John Muir would ultimately report that its PICU had 282 admissions in 2016, according to the states official PICU quality reports from VPS. Drew separately confirmed this figure to The Chronicle in October 2022.

Yet when state reviewers visited John Muir in April 2017, John Muir presented the 352 figure as its VPS total for the first 11 months of 2016.

In his statement to The Chronicle last month, Drew said the higher number included patients who were admitted for inpatient hematology/oncology procedures. Additionally, he said that VPS officials had told John Muir in 2018 that the hospital should have counted these patients in their reports.

John Muir officials refused to provide supporting documentation that these patients met the admission criteria at the time. They also declined to explain why they hadnt reported an admission number consistent with the 282 figure to state inspectors during the on-site review if they considered that to be the correct VPS tally at the time.

In a statement, VPS CEO Dr. Randall Wetzel said, We only know about admissions reported to us by our members. He declined to answer specific questions, citing contractual reasons and covenants with our users.

Medical experts who spoke with The Chronicle said that patients coming to the PICU for minor inpatient procedures are generally more stable, even if they have serious illnesses like cancer, than typical PICU patients, who often have acute problems like respiratory failure.

Randle also separately recorded in his notes from the April 2017 site visit that John Muirs PICU had admitted 379 patients in 2016.

Beneath that figure, he noted that there were about 70 short term (not PICU) admissions for procedures typically associated with hematology and oncology patients.

It is unclear from his notes whether the 379 figure includes these patients. In a phone interview, Randle said the figure would have come from John Muir officials and that he did not recall discussing discrepancies in patient volumes.

Drew, the John Muir spokesperson, said hospital leaders have no way of knowing why Dr. Randle had 379 patients written in his notes.

Cava said it was unclear which admissions number DHCS considered when evaluating John Muirs PICU based on passage of time, limited records, and change in personnel.

But he said that, per state records, DHCS considers 282 to be John Muirs official PICU admissions count for 2016.

It wasnt just low patient volumes. Records show that the states review of John Muir turned up other potential problems related to the units readiness to treat severely ill children.

In his notes under PICU Activity, Randle wrote that 50 patients were intubated, but did not specify during what period of time.

From 2016 through 2021, John Muir told state regulators that its PICU had managed an average of 22 intubated patients a year, the third-lowest of any of the state-approved PICUs in California, according to a Chronicle analysis of the annual PICU quality reports that are submitted to the state. The numbers were further supported by a Chronicle analysis of inpatient data that hospitals submit to the state.

Two of the childrens deaths examined in The Chronicles December investigation involved doctors failing to correctly perform intubations in the PICU. Katrina Daly, who was admitted for a condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, died from a brain injury due to lack of oxygen after multiple failed attempts to intubate the 13-year-old.

During the April 2017 site visit, Randles notes indicate that he and his team reviewed eight childrens charts. While the patients are not identified by name in Randles notes, one case matches Katrinas: a 13-year-old patient with DKA who suffered a massive brain injury.

Experts who reviewed Katrinas case for The Chronicle agreed that John Muirs pediatric intensivist likely misplaced the breathing tube and that the girl may have survived if seen at a facility with more experience treating critically ill children.

It strikes me that there were two wrongs here. Katrina dying when she arguably could have been saved, and the state not ensuring that safe care was being provided there.  Dr. Matthew Scanlon, a pediatric critical care specialist at Childrens Wisconsin in Milwaukee who reviewed Katrina Dalys medical record on behalf of The Chronicle

Randles notes do not mention the outcome  in Katrinas case, death  nor do they cite any concerns over the care provided. In a recent interview, Randle said he could not remember the cases he reviewed during the 2017 visit or whether he discussed any concerns about intubations in the unit with John Muir leaders.

At the end of his three pages of notes, Randle did hint at possible problems involving patients with breathing difficulties, documenting that he had discussed the value of clarifying the diagnosis of respiratory distress and respiratory failure.

The site visit ended with the team flagging several relatively minor deficiencies in John Muirs PICU, including the need to provide updated policies and procedures related to bioethical reviews and consent for treatment. The Corrective Action Plan, which was reviewed by The Chronicle, does not mention patient volumes or Katrinas death.

After John Muir addressed the states corrective action plan, Dr. Seleda Williams, then a DHCS public health medical officer, gave the unit full approval in June 2017, per Randles recommendation.

Asked why he recommended approval for the unit, despite the contradictory volumes, Randle told The Chronicle the PICU had qualified staff and was very well organized and the unit was well designed.

Williams, who no longer works for the state, declined to comment.

In the years that followed, John Muirs PICU remained below 350 patients a year, according to the VPS PICU quality reports. John Muir surpassed the 350-benchmark for the first time in 2022 amid a national surge in child respiratory illnesses.

State regulators did not investigate John Muir or two other hospitals with PICUs that never reached the minimum threshold from 2015 through 2021  Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles County.

Spokespeople for Cottage and Northridge did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment. In his statement, Cava said that DHCS received records from the hospitals last month and will be conducting site visits at Cottage and Northridge this year.

One month after Williams approved John Muirs PICU in 2017, she responded to questions about whether CCS would cover larger pediatric surgical hospitalizations at John Muir, according to emails reviewed by The Chronicle.

San Francisco CCS officials had a case involving a child who was going to have an extensive spinal surgery performed by Dr. James Policy, a Stanford-affiliated pediatric orthopedic surgeon practicing at John Muir.

Williams informed the San Francisco CCS officials that John Muir should not be embarking on complex procedures. But there was a loophole.

John Muir can have pediatric surgeries done at their facility, however, John Muir should refer any orthopedic surgeries that require a higher level of care and complexity to an approved CCS Tertiary Hospital, Williams wrote in a July 12, 2017, email to a San Francisco CCS official and state health officials. Williams said the exact type of surgical procedures to transfer out would be left up to John Muir doctors.

A year later, in September 2018, Policy performed an extremely complex spinal surgery on Isaiah Lofton, the 15-year-old with cerebral palsy. Isaiah died the next year after developing a surgical site infection and sepsis, a condition in which the bodys immune system attacks its organs.

Policy did not respond to requests seeking comment.

State health officials declined to comment on Isaiahs case.

Chronicle photo illustration

Although state investigators appeared to ignore John Muirs low PICU volumes during the units 2017 site review, they did voice another concern.

In an April 19, 2017, email reviewed by The Chronicle, state health officials told a John Muir doctor that a question has arisen regarding whether neonatal surgery is being conducted for patients in your NICU.

They reminded Dr. Nick Mickas, then an NICU medical director, that John Muir was not certified by the state to perform such surgeries.

While NICUs can perform hernia operations on stable babies and other minor procedures specified in state regulations, they need state certification to perform more complex neonatal surgeries.

CCS Standards apply to all patients in a CCS-approved facility and not only to patients whose care is paid for by CCS, said the email from the state to John Muir. Please let us know immediately whether neonatal surgery is indeed being performed.

The inquiry kicked off a series of communications between the state and John Muir in which Mickas acknowledged John Muir had been performing various gastrointestinal surgeries on newborns and was unaware that it needed approval from the state.

The state ordered John Muir doctors to stop  in an email that also touched on patient volumes. The hospital complied.

While John Muir could consider applying for approval, according to the states email, the hospitals annual case volume of about eight, which also included simple operations, was well below the approval threshold for NICUs  about 30 complex surgeries a year, at the time.

As far as I can recall that was the only incident in which that occurred, and the only hospital in which we had that type of interaction.  Dr. Roy Schutzengel, former medical director of the DHCS division that includes CCS, on unauthorized neonatal surgeries performed at John Muir Health

Nevertheless, in 2018, John Muir applied for the certification despite its low volumes.

Stanfords director of surgical quality at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford lobbied for its ratification, emailing the state to underscore that John Muir already had the patient demand to meet the volume requirements, estimating that it could hit 30 to 40 neonatal surgical cases a year if approved.

This is only expected to grow, wrote Dr. Stephen Shew on Jan. 11, 2019, citing John Muirs joint venture with Stanford, local demand and patient preference.

Unlike with the PICU, Stanford and John Muir didnt sail through this time.

Schutzengel, the DHCS medical director, denied the application in a June 2020 letter due to a paucity of cases that would fail to ensure that frontline NICU staff would be getting enough experience to provide care that was in the best interests of the babies we serve.

In an interview, Schutzengel said he recalled being very involved in having conversations about unusual issues with neonatal surgeries at John Muir, adding that it was the first time he had encountered a hospital failing to abide by the neonatal surgery rules.

"As far as I can recall that was the only incident in which that occurred, and the only hospital in which we had that type of interaction," Schutzengel said.

Yet records reviewed by The Chronicle show that as recently as September 2022, John Muir once again was admonished by the state for performing another kind of banned surgery on newborns.

This procedure requires a doctor to place a feeding tube, known as a gastrostomy tube or G-tube, directly into a babys stomach. Although NICUs without neonatal surgery approval were allowed to perform such operations under the 1988 rules, that changed with a 2020 update to the regulations.

In a Nov. 8, 2022, email to John Muirs chief medical officer, Dr. Russell Rodriguez, a member of the facility review team emphasized that the G-tube surgeries were not among the procedures that may be performed given that the state had denied the hospitals application for neonatal surgery certification.

Current CCS NICU Standards, including neonatal surgery standards, apply uniformly to all NICUs for their respective level of care, the facility review team member wrote.

Drew said in his statement that John Muir immediately stopped performing the G-tube operations.

Schutzengel told The Chronicle it was distressing that a hospital or surgical unit would not follow state standards. He said repercussions could include the NICU losing its certification, depending on the circumstances.

That seems like a reasonable next step if they arent continuing to follow the rules, said Schutzengel, who retired from the state agency in 2021.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle 2020

State rules specify that hospitals can lose CCS certification for failure to abide by the laws, regulations, standards, and procedures governing the CCS program.

In his statement, Cava said a 2022 agency review of performance indicators revealed that John Muir was performing G-tube surgeries on babies. He said state officials told doctors there to cease that practice. The last procedure was done on Sept. 15.

DHCS will continue to follow this situation closely and will request data as warranted to ensure continued compliance, Cava said.

Matyas of Solano County said that John Muirs record points to a hospital that is pushing beyond what it is permitted to do repeatedly. State officials, he said, should now take a hard look at whether the hospital should retain its CCS certifications.

I would expect the state to do something, he said. It questions the credibility of the program at the state level if they dont maintain a trustworthy network.
Regarding Fox settles Dominion suit for $787.5 million (Nation & World, April 19): This quote made me laugh: We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.

The pillars of democracy are our faith in the election process and the peaceful transfer of power. The flagrant attempt to chip away at our faith in the process should not be met with a slap on the wrist. This settlement required no apology and no acknowledgment of the harm that was done. Nor has there been any expressed effort to put things right.

Therefore, it is laughable to expect that we can move forward from these issues while the Fox audience still does not understand that they were misinformed and misled.

Janet Lefkowitz, Danville

Remember Columbine

The sheer volume of mass murders and school shootings in America has made it difficult to keep up with the carnage. As we reel from one horrific massacre, were jolted by news of another.

Many of us remember the impact of Columbine. Thursday marks the 24th anniversary of the Columbine horror. Back then, school shootings were rare. Not anymore.

Every day millions of American parents send their kids off to school, hoping theyll make it through the day safely. Every day millions of Americans wonder whose kids will be next to be torn apart by an AR-15.

Every day our children practice active shooter drills and wonder if the unthinkable will happen at their school.

Gun advocates believe their freedom is being compromised if they cant own an assault weapon.

How about the freedom of children to attend school without getting blown to smithereens? How about the freedom of parents to send their kids off to school without worrying whether theyll come home alive?

Its pathetic. Its inhumane. Its a national disgrace. And its long past time to make gun violence a national priority and to vote out the cowards who wont do anything to protect our children.

Gary Cavalli, Danville

Long live gas power

Regarding Court strikes down Berkeleys first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction (Politics, SFChronicle.com, April 17): Berkeley and the California Restaurant Association miss a key issue: Electrical power will never be as reliable as piped natural gas until we underground the electrical lines.

Now that cold, windy weather is mostly gone, Bay Area people forget that many thousands of households were without electric power while lines were down. Meanwhile, we all had gas.

I do not favor banning gas appliances and gas heating until our state leaders address the tremendous cost of undergrounding our electrical lines. Otherwise, forget having reliable power.

Jim Kautz, Tiburon

Be animal inclusive

Regarding S.F. has an official animal. Long may the wild parrots fly! (Bay Area, SFChronicle.com, April 3): San Francisco is a city known for its diversity. So why have just one official city animal?

The wild parrots, the sea lions, Claude the alligator and the crabs all made the finals of The Chronicles contest with a lot of support.

The parrots and Claude are, like many San Franciscans, from somewhere else, while the sea lions and crabs are Bay Area natives.

The parrots are rainbow colored like the many buildings and flags in the Castro. Claude is quiet and, as an albino, is different from others of his own species. The sea lions are loud and playful and have made Pier 39 their home. Crabs never give up as they claw their way to the top. Doesnt it take all kinds to make San Francisco the city we love?

Therefore, to honor the diversity and acceptance of San Francisco, we should have a diverse group of official animals that we accept to represent the city.

Sammy Silver, 13, and Sophie Silver, 10, San Francisco
A critical backcountry bridge along the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail has been badly damaged and will almost certainly mean long-distance hikers will have to reroute their trips around one of the most picturesque stretches of the High Sierra this summer.

The approximately 100-foot-long steel footbridge crosses the South Fork San Joaquin River in a remote alpine area of Kings Canyon National Park at about 8,500 feet in elevation that is currently bogged down in deep snow.

Last week, word began circulating on hiker social media groups that the bridge had been mangled by what some trail experts suspect was an avalanche or a collapse from heavy snow. Then on Thursday, the Pacific Crest Trail Association posted a photo of the broken bridge  an image captured by a helicopter flyover  as a caution to hikers.

Its definitely a big deal, said Scott Wilkinson, content development director at the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Its highly unlikely the bridge will be repaired this year. Its very possible this could be an obstacle for hikers for the rest of the summer.

The association manages long-distance hiking permits on the 2,600-mile Pacific Crest Trail on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service. The John Muir Trail overlaps with the PCT for about 180 miles through the mountains between Yosemite Valley and Mount Whitney.

Without a bridge, hikers may be tempted to try crossing the river on foot  one of the most dangerous elements of High Sierra hiking. Hikers have drowned attempting to ford streams swelled with spring meltwater. The hazard is top of mind for thru-hikers planning to venture into the mountains following winters historic snowfall.

Hikers arent active in High Sierra yet because of the deep snow, but the first crop of northbound PCT thru-hikers will begin arriving in the area in about a month.

There are few bridges in the High Sierra of such size and importance to hikers, according to Ned Tibbits, a wilderness school instructor and avid John Muir Trail user. The outage is essentially a broken wire in an electrical circuit of trail that will force thru-hikers to either tempt fate in a stream crossing or avoid the area altogether with a reroute that could take three days, he said.

Theres not going to be an easy way around this. Its going to take some forethought, said Inga Aksamit, who manages several John Muir Trail social media groups where hikers gather to discuss trail conditions. You cant just go a quarter-mile down and find a log to cross.

With advanced notice, a reroute  perhaps over Bishop Pass  shouldnt be a huge inconvenience for hikers. However, it would cause them to miss Evolution Valley, widely considered a highlight of the trails.

With its soaring granite towers and shimmering alpine lakes, its like the Sierras amped up to 11 there, Wilkinson said.

Trail advocates said they were waiting for official word on the bridges status and future plans from the National Park Service or U.S. Forest Service.
Bronte Wittpenn, photographer / The Chronicle

The Bay Area hospital system John Muir Health was certified by the state to treat the most medically fragile children, despite not having the required number of patient admissions, according to records obtained by The Chronicle.

On this episode of the Fifth & Mission podcast, investigative reporter Cynthia Dizikes joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss the latest chapter of the Chronicles investigation into the deaths of four children at John Muir's Walnut Creek hospital.
The city of Antioch, shaken by disclosures that its police officers exchanged racist and homophobic messages about its residents for years, now faces a damage suit from four people who say they were abused by police and a fifth who says his father was unarmed when an officer shot him to death. Antioch police are accused in the lawsuit of abusing residents through a culture of intolerance aided by city officials deliberate indifference.

The culture of intolerance in the Antioch Police Department is rooted in the deliberate indifference of high ranking city officials, who have routinely acquiesced in the misconduct, attorney John Burris said in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

A report by the Contra Costa County District Attorneys Office found that as many as 45 police officers, half of the citys police force, shared text messages between 2019 and 2022 referring to Black people as gorillas, monkeys and water buffaloes, and using other slurs such as n, pussies and faggots.

One message an officer sent to a private citizen contained an image that had been doctored to show a Black man sitting on the neck of George Floyd, the Black man killed in 2020 by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe, who is Black, has said he was disgusted by the messages and called for an internal audit of the Police Department. The district attorneys report said one police officer promised a prime rib dinner to anyone who would shoot Thorpe with a rubber bullet.

Two Bay Area members of Congress, Reps. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Antioch, and John Garamendi, D-Fairfield, asked Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday to investigate what the texts have shown to be a systemic culture of racism, intolerance and cruelty at the Antioch Police Department.

The population of the city in northeastern Contra Costa County has been increasing while growing more racially diverse; the 2020 census found that 36.5% of Antioch residents were white, compared with 65% in 2000, while Latinos and Blacks made up 35% and 20% of the population respectively, compared with 22% and less than 10% in 2000.

One plaintiff in the lawsuit, Trent Allen, was arrested on a charge of attempted murder in March 2021 and said the arresting officer, Eric Rombough, beat him and kicked him in the head. The suit said Rombough sent text messages calling Allen a faggot and n, and boasting that he gave Allen 6 muzzle thumps and tried to kick (Allens) head over the fence. Allen, who was treated at a hospital for his injuries, remains in custody but has not yet gone to trial.

Joshua Butler said he was arrested in February 2022 for allegedly discharging a firearm, though police never found a weapon. Since then, the suit said, officers have conducted nearly 10 traffic stops on Butler, each time verbally accosting him with racist obscenities but not arresting him. He is fighting the charge in court.

Another plaintiff, Adam Carpenter, said he was also subjected to nearly 10 traffic stops in 10 months before officers arrested him in November 2020, maliciously and without provocation, for allegedly possessing a firearm, a charge that was later dropped. Carpenter did not allege any racist slurs were used against him but said Antioch police during that time were exchanging numerous insulting messages about Black people.

Plaintiff Shagoofa Khan is a 22-year-old activist who has organized protests against the Police Department. She said officer Josh Evans sent vulgar racist and sexist text messages about her to other officers in September 2020. Four months later, the suit said, she was arrested and accused of arson by police for burning a Blue Lives Matter flag at a protest.

The fifth plaintiff, Diego Savala, is the son of Guadalupe Savala, 57, who was shot to death by Rombough and another officer, Scott Duggar, in December 2021. Police said Guadalupe Savala, wearing military clothing and body armor, fired at least 30 rifle shots from his house and then set the house on fire before officers shot him. But the suit said Savala later put the gun down and was climbing out through a window, unarmed, when officers shot him 19 times.

Although the suit involves incidents from 2020 to 2022, Antioch residents have complained of abuses by those officers from as long as 10 years ago, Burris said Thursday.

These people have suffered for many years at the hands of the same officers, he said. Im hopeful we will be able to rid them of racist cops and start a new process of bringing legitimate constitutional policing to the city.

The suit accuses Antioch and its police chiefs of condoning and tacitly encouraging the abuse of police authority. Besides the city, the defendants include six officers and three police chiefs: Tammany Brooks, in office from 2017 through October 2021; Tony Morefield, interim chief through May 2022; and Steve Ford, who has held the position since then.

Ford has publicly apologized to the community, and promised in a statement last week to hold accountable the officers expressing racist or bigoted beliefs, biased insensitivity, and those boasting about harming members of the community.

Ford and other Antioch officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit.
A survey published by the government of San Francisco shows that respondents from one downtown area are the most unhappy with city services.

Across 16 metrics collected by the city, survey respondents from the Financial District and South Beach gave city services an average of a 3.2 rating on a 1-5 scale. The citywide average was 3.5.

The data comes from the City Survey, the governments biennial survey that assesses San Francisco residents satisfaction with services ranging from street cleanliness to feelings of safety. This years survey, conducted by the Controllers Office, included over 2,500 respondents and was the first since 2019. The 2021 survey was skipped due to the pandemic.

Whereas downtown-area respondents were the most discontent, residents of the Lone Mountain neighborhood, north of the Panhandle, reported being happiest, giving city services an average rating of 3.8.

Financial District and South Beach respondents were especially dissatisfied with the citys response to the pandemic. The city received a citywide 3.8 rating, but downtown residents rated the citys response a 3.2  the highest disparity between overall and downtown responses.

Besides being unhappy with the citys COVID-19 response, Financial District and South Beach residents were particularly critical about neighborhood safety. When asked about feeling safe walking around their neighborhood, downtown residents gave their area particularly low marks for both daytime and nighttime.

Downtown residents were also notably concerned with neighborhood cleanliness. Street and sidewalk cleanliness downtown was the lowest-rated metric among Financial District and South Beach respondents, receiving a mere 2.4 rating on the grading scale, compared with 2.8 across the city.

According to Robbie Silver, the executive director of Downtown SF Partnership, a nonprofit that provides cleaning and safety services downtown, an effort across multiple industries is needed to rebuild downtown. He thinks the survey data may be helpful.

We hope community feedback from this survey will help local leaders and stakeholders prioritize resident concerns to further improve and reimagine downtown, Silver said.

While downtown-area survey respondents gave low ratings for safety in their neighborhood, survey data shows downtown-area respondents have a relatively higher trust in S.F. police officers compared to the rest of the city. That was the only metric where respondents gave a higher score than citywide.
A federal grand jury has indicted four men in connection with various schemes that defrauded millions of dollars in rebates from San Francisco-based home furnishings company Williams Sonoma Inc., according to authorities.

Eric Marsiglia, 49, of Olive Branch, Miss.; Augusto Alizo, 51, of Weston, Fla.; Kourosh Mirmehdi, 63, of Irvine (Orange County); and Michael Podhurst, 63, of Union, N.J., were charged with various conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges on April 11 in multiple U.S. district courts, including the Northern District of Mississippi, the Northern District of California and the Southern District of Florida, federal prosecutors announced.

According to the indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday, Marsiglia was allegedly involved in two separate schemes during his time as the vice president of engineering, projects, planning, facilities and real estate for Williams Sonoma in which he conspired to divert rebates from commercial real estate brokers to accounts that he controlled, and also received kickbacks from directing business to Podhursts forklift company.

Todays arrests target a years-long fraud centered on defendant Marsiglia, who abused the trust placed in him by a prominent San Francisco public company, said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey. The indictment alleges how each defendant, in separate ways, sought to capitalize on Marsiglias valued position within the company  but all with the singular goal of lining their own pockets with millions of dollars at the expense of his employer.

In his position, the indictment alleges, Marsiglia was responsible for locating potential commercial real estate properties for Williams Sonoma and would work with landlords and commercial real estate brokers on terms of leases. In those contracts he orchestrated, Marsiglia required third parties to pay millions of dollars in brokerage fee rebates to WSI.

Marsiglia allegedly created a shell company and worked with Mirmehdi and Alizo  who both held a position with a third-party logistics company assisting Williams Sonoma in locating properties  to divert the rebate funds to those accounts he held, according to authorities.

Specifically, prosecutors said, Marsiglia created, owned and operated the shell company named REM Group LLC. Either Marsiglia or Mirmehdi would then allegedly convey to real estate brokers that REM Group was connected with Williams Sonoma while convincing the brokers to pay rebates to them.

The trio allegedly diverted approximately $5.9 million in broker commission rebates owed to Williams Sonoma, authorities said.

The indictment also alleges that in 2018, Marsiglia made an agreement with Podhurst to arrange for kickback payments to himself and the REM Group in exchange for directing contracts for business in Williams Sonoma warehouses to companies linked to Podhurst.

Podhurst initially was a salesperson for a New Jersey forklift and supply-chain company before founding a storage and material-handling company that Marsiglia also hired for contracts, authorities added. In total, Williams Sonoma awarded over $48 million in contracts to companies connected with Podhurst for work at warehouses across the country.

Additionally, the indictment alleges that Marsiglia received more that $20 million from the REM Group.

Both Marsiglia and Alizo were arrested Tuesday and appeared in the U.S. district courts for both the Northern District of Mississippi and the Southern District of Florida, respectively, prosecutors said. Mirmehdi and Podhurst have yet to appear for their first court hearing.

An initial appearance for the four men in San Francisco federal court has not been scheduled yet, according to authorities.

If convicted, the men face the possibility of a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the wire fraud charges as well as a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 for the money laundering charges, according to prosecutors.
Research shows that most people know bad things happen all the time, they just doubt the bad things will happen to them. What researchers call optimism bias may help us deal with fears about an uncertain future, but can also make it hard to deal with the reality in front of us.

And a new study by the Pew Research Center on how more than 11,000 Americans think artificial intelligence will change the workplace appears to bear out that deeply human perspective.

The study comes as so-called generative AI is poised to disrupt a range of industries, and as the use of computer algorithms in recruiting and hiring has become commonplace.

The top line: Almost two-thirds, about 62% of people surveyed, said the use of AI in the workplace to do everything from making hiring and firing decisions to monitoring employee performance will have a major impact on workers, generally, during the next 20 years.

But only 28% said they thought the technology would have a significant impact on them personally, although 38% said they were just not sure how the use of the technology in the workplace might affect them.

From facial recognition technology to research and education, AI in a range of forms is already changing how people live and work.

The technology has been used to sift through job applicants for years now, becoming prevalent enough that a bill is moving through the California Legislature looking to regulate exactly how those decisions get made.

That seems to be in line with the strong public opinion reflected in the Pew survey, which found that 71% of people surveyed opposed using AI to make final hiring decisions, while 41% said they didnt want the technology used to even review job applications.

That lines up with prior Pew research showing that a majority of Americans are uncomfortable with allowing computers to make decisions on consequential issues.

About two-thirds of people said they would not even apply for a job that uses AI to help make hiring decisions. That could make legislation like the California bill, which would require companies to disclose when they use those types of technology in hiring, more consequential.

Despite widespread public discomfort with the technology in the workplace, a plurality of those who responded to the Pew survey said they would be OK with using artificial intelligence more broadly to evaluate how people are doing at their jobs, including how retail workers interact with customers and monitoring employee attendance.

Some of the public distrust toward AI and automation at work may have to do with the central trade-off of the technology. AI can overcome some of the limitations of human bias. It can also lock in that bias, in some instances.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

What is clear is that issues and controversies arising from the use of the technology are on the rise, increasing by 26 times compared with a decade ago, according to tracking data from the AI, Algorithmic and Automation Incidents and Controversies database.

Whether the technology tamps down or amplifies the bias of its creators can depend on the circumstances and is the subject of academic study.

But how different kinds of people feel about it was clear from the results of the survey.

It found that 20% of Black adult Americans who felt racial bias is a problem in hiring thought the increasing use of AI would make it worse, compared with only about a tenth of Hispanic, Asian or white adults.
Warm weather is on tap for the Bay Area starting Thursday. A high-pressure system is forecast to tap into an air mass stemming from the deserts of Mexico that will rapidly raise temperatures across California. Bay Area residents will experience their fair share of the statewide warming trend, but it will take some time for the desert air to expand into the coast, bays and delta.

Still, some microclimates will warm up on Thursday afternoon, reaching temperatures in the 70s.

The steady warm-up

If the atmosphere were a stovetop and Northern California were a pot of water, then Thursdays high pressure is set to a medium setting. And like setting water to boil, its going to take some time for all of Northern California to heat up. Thats why Thursdays highest daytime temperatures are only looking to reach the lower to mid-70s  not the 80s that are forecast for Friday and the weekend.

But theres another catch.

Most of the warming on Thursday is slated to occur in the North Bay and East Bay valleys away from the delta and San Francisco Bay. This means that while temperatures reach the lower to mid-70s in cities like Santa Rosa and Walnut Creek, Residents in San Francisco and along the bays might not feel the warming trend yet.

Part of that delay is because theres also another force at play: the sea breeze.

Baron/Lynx

The cool winds off the Pacific Ocean are looking to return to the region Thursday, peaking along the shoreline and most of the Peninsula, bays and delta. This boundary between cool, moist Pacific air and warm, dry desert air will likely set up right along landmarks like the Caldecott Tunnel in the East Bay, resulting in sharp temperature differences between cities like San Francisco and Dublin  by as much as 15 degrees. But while this natural boundary of air, often called the marine layer, will keep most of the urban core on the cooler side on Thursday, it will move toward the coast by Friday and into this weekend, triggering higher temperatures for the larger Bay Area.

At least for today, the wider Bay Area will be spared from most of the warm-up the rest of the Northern California region is set to experience.

Thursday breakdown

San Francisco: A warming trend is looking to crank up Thursday, with daytime temperatures set to reach the 60s citywide. This warm-up will be offset by a light breeze off the coast and San Francisco Bay, meaning residents in the Sunset and Richmond districts, the Presidio, Embarcadero and Hunters Point can expect daytime temperatures to stay in the lower 60s this afternoon. Warmer weather is on tap for residents in downtown, SoMa and the Mission where calmer winds will allow the ground to warm to the mid-60s by 2 p.m.

The warm air will linger overnight, with nighttime lows near the 50-degree mark forecast for residents by the water and mid-40s elsewhere.

Peninsula and Pacific Coast: Aside from some wisps of cirrus clouds, look for mostly sunny skies across the Peninsula Thursday. Warm, dry air will gradually build into Redwood City, Foster City and Atherton this afternoon, where daytime highs are expected to reach the upper 60s. Residents north of Millbrae and along Highway 1 between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay will stay on the cooler side  closer to the low to mid-60s  thanks to a light breeze off the coast and San Francisco Bay.

The warming air mass overhead will help keep nighttime lows from falling to the mid-40s, with upper 40s slated for the hillsides and lower 50s by the water.

North Bay: Clouds will steadily fizzle away over the course of the day as warm, dry air settles over the Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Napa valleys. Daytime temperatures are looking to rise by 3 to 5 degrees, reaching the mid to upper 60s across most of the valleys. This warmth will spread downwind of the Mayacamas Mountains, eventually spilling into the Solano County side of the delta. This means temperatures in Vacaville, Fairfield and Vallejo are likely to surpass the 70-degree mark, reaching the lower 70s as you head closer to Sacramento.

A breeze off the Pacific Ocean will eventually curl into the Marin County shoreline, where daytime temperatures are looking to only reach the lower 60s. This includes Point Reyes on the Pacific side and towns like Tiburon, Sausalito, San Rafael and Novato on the bayside. Warmer air is on tap for residents around Mount Tam, where mid-60s are likely after 2 p.m.

Temperatures across the region will steadily fall to the lower 50s by the water and mid-40s farther inland, with lower 40s possible in the highlands of Sonoma and Napa counties.

East Bay: Stray clouds will glide over the Oakland and Berkeley hills today as warm weather envelops most of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.A breeze is then looking to spill into towns along the bay and delta region after 2 p.m., shaving off some of the temperatures on tap for the afternoon. This means residents in Richmond, Albany, Oakland, Hayward and most of the I-880 and I-80 corridors can expect daytime highs in the mid-60s, with upper 60s possible closer to the Caldecott Tunnel and by the University of California, Berkeley.

Residents farther inland, particularly in the San Ramon and Livermore valleys, can expect warmer weather, with daytime highs likely to reach the 70-degree mark in Walnut Creek, Dublin and Pleasanton.Some of the warm air will linger overnight, meaning nighttime lows by the water are likely to only fall to the lower 50s, while mid to upper 40s are possible for residents farther inland.

South Bay and Santa Cruz: Cool winds off the Pacific Ocean are forecast to curl into the Monterey Bay over the course of the day, keeping daytime temperatures in Aptos, Capitola, Soquel and Watsonville close to the lower 60s. Since these winds arent expected to spread inland, temperatures will steadily rise as you head away from the coastline this afternoon. Look for daytime temperatures in the mid-60s in the Santa Cruz Mountains and along the 101 corridor between Gilroy and Morgan Hill. Even warmer temperatures are on tap for the Santa Clara Valley, where residents in San Jose, the Cupertino Hills, Los Gatos and the eastern foothills can look for daytime highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s by 3 p.m.

Temperatures will gradually fall tonight, though some of the warmth from a high-pressure system overhead is likely to keep nighttime lows closer to the lower 50s by the water and mid to upper 40s inland.

Reach Gerry Diaz: gerry.diaz@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @geravitywave
Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, has spent more than 20 years studying human attention. She practically invented the discipline: before the internet, no one had worried about concentration. Now she brings together her research in her new book, Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity.

The book is full of interesting details, but Mark highlights some major conclusions. For example, even though big tech companies monetize our lack of attention, the digital era has no turning back. We shouldnt feel bad if we use our phones to relax our minds with TikTok or a game, because those breaks can help us concentrate again. And we have to be careful about what we do with our attention, because were just at the beginning of a new era.

Though theres no need to despair about lacking attention, we should know that staying concentrated for a while is indispensable: the balance between productivity and well-being should be the objective. On a video call with EL PAIS, Mark, also a researcher at Microsoft Research, explains some of the principles behind her book.

Question. Is it our fault that we get distracted?

Answer. Its not just our fault. There are other influences that we cant ignore. We should not feel terribly guilty if were not able to pay attention, because we should understand theres many other forces that appeal to our attention.

Q. Have we always had so many interruptions?

A. We dont know because nobodys ever really studied it. I cant say what life was like before, even though I lived before the internet. But before people would have been distracted by other things, like phone calls or other people. There always were distractions.

Q. But it feels pretty different now.

A. Theres so many forces that compel us to sit in front of our computers and phones. Once were there, were in front of the worlds largest candy stores. You have a thought that comes in your mind, and within milliseconds, you can look it up. We become accustomed to that. We know we can do this, so its been reinforced. I have this urge, I want to know whats happening in Israel, and I can look that up.

Q. The internet was designed to be like our minds.

A. The internet was designed for distraction, not intentionally, but it was designed to mimic our minds and thats why its so distracting.

Q. Is there any turning back?

A. The ship has sailed. We live in a technological world. There is no way we can cut ourselves off.

Q. And those unstoppable notifications are part of that world.

A. Im totally against monetizing our attention and the idea that our digital traces that we leave on the web are used against us.

Q. But notifications are imposed on us.

A. If that were the only thing or even the main thing, it would mean that humans have no free will, that we are complete pawns in a pinball machine, just being swung around from one algorithm to another ad to another ad. I dont think thats how humans work. We certainly can be attracted to ads, but we also have agency and free will, so that with some effort we can avoid them or we can turn them off

Q. But sometimes we look at notifications automatically.

A. Right, thats not our free will thats at play. Thats our unconscious part of us thats taking over. But if we were to step back and become aware of what were doing, we can bring them to our conscious awareness. Then we can do something and then we can exert free will.

Q. People fear that terrible consequences will come from that unconscious mind.

A. Ive been part of the internet since it was developed, and Ive seen the whole progression of the internet. Ive heard people expressing fears about the internet from the very beginning, so Im not worried. I am optimistic, because I see that people always make course corrections. People were worried about the printing press, they were worried about television, they were extremely worried when the internet first started and now people are worried about chat GPT.

Q. Your idea that we have a limited supply of attention is interesting.

A. We have a limited tank time. Thats the metaphor I use. Different things can drain it, like shifting our attention while multitasking, and even periods of sustained focus can drain us. I was searching on the internet because I had to give a talk about this, and I wanted to talk about this point. I found all these narratives out there that said, we can teach you how to focus for 10 hours. We can teach you how to do non-stop focus. Heres a book that teaches you how to focus the entire day. Its not humanly possible. Theres some neuroscience research that just came out that shows that theres a physical basis why we cant focus for extended periods. Theres a neurotransmitter called glutamate, and it builds up in our brains and sends us a signal that says, youre exhausted. We dont always listen to that signal, but people have real genuine cognitive fatigue. Thats measurable through FMRI. So we cant focus for ten hours, or even five hours. We dont have the capacity to do that.

Q. And are Candy Crush and games like that a way to refill that tank?

R. Its a way to replenish, because it makes people happy, it calms them. So its okay, but be strategic. If youre a person that can end up playing it for hours, then arrange it so that youre playing it for five minutes or 10 minutes. Set a time. I talk about using a hook. Arrange your environment in such a way that youre not going to get stuck in a rabbit hole,

Q. How can you control that?

A. Its about developing a new habit. For example, I have this anagram game that I love, but I only play it when Im waiting for the tea to boil. Its very short. But its a good deadline for me, and its a habit that I developed. People can come up with their own.

Q. But we shouldnt be hard on ourselves if we use those interruptions to relax.

A. A person can be much more relaxed about what they do, but nevertheless, if you are a person who has a tendency to get stuck in a rabbit hole, and if you feel guilty afterwards, then I would say you have to limit yourself. Ive spoken to so many people who say they feel terrible. They feel guilty. If youre that kind of person, then you dont want to allow yourself unlimited time on social media. You do want to set boundaries and set a timer.

Q. What do we know about boredom?

A. It leads to a negative mood. People are not happy when theyre bored. I would say avoid boredom. Is yoga boredom? No, probably not because people are interested in yoga. Is meditation boredom? No, I would say its not, because your mind is doing something when youre meditating. I probe myself to try to be aware of what Im doing, and then I stop if its not bringing me value or its not interesting.

Q. Your research has found that we spend 40 seconds on each screen before changing.

A. Thats the average amount of time that a person spends on any screen before switching screens, and thats measured through computers. The median of the observations that we did was 40 seconds, which means that half of all of our observations were less than 40 seconds. A lot of times people are switching really fast.

Q. Its interesting that its the same for all ages.

R. We havent found differences in ages, although I have to say we havent measured very old people. Most of the people weve measured are people in the knowledge workplace, between 25 and maybe 55.

Q. What about people who dont work on computers?

A. We did not look at professions who move around a lot, like doctors. For someone who works in retail, I think their attention span would be shorter.

because theyre primarily using their mobile phone and then waiting on customers.

Q. And this is just the beginning.

A. The digital age is young, from a historical perspective. The internet didnt come into widespread use until the mid-1990s, and that was primarily the West. So in other parts of the world, it didnt come into popularity until much later. Its only been about 25 years that weve actually had the World Wide Web. I often do this exercise: what will it be like in 50 years? I think it will be very different. I think its going to be much more integrated into our environment. There was a computer scientist named Mark Weiser who talked about a vision called ubiquitous computing. Were starting to see it. Phones are the first step for ubiquitous computing, but imagine that its integrated into the walls of your house. Youre in a shopping mall, and you can just simply walk up to and ask a question. There might be screens everywhere, or there may not even be screens. Of course, AI is a whole new frontier. Were in the Wild West. In the Wild West, people didnt really follow laws, and in a sense, we also dont have regulations. We dont really understand how to integrate computers into our lives in a way so that were not exhausted. We havent figured out how to design computers so that people can use them and not be stressed.
Politics

spotlight

How Nancy Pelosi's 2024 decision could impact SF politics

Craig Lee/The Examiner If former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi seeks another term, its unlikely any formidable Democrat would dare to oppose her.

Hypothetically, San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is eyeing a jump to state politics.

Hypothetically.

Should the line of political dominoes fall just the right way in 2024, starting with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and continuing down through San Franciscos Board of Supervisors, Mandelman told The Examiner he is likely to seek a seat in the state legislature in 2024.

I think the best way to run for a job that is higher up the political ladder is to do a good job in the job youre in, said Mandelman, who represents the Castro and Noe Valley neighborhoods. I work really hard every day as a supervisor and hope people in San Francisco see that, inside my district and outside my district.

Just as Senator Dianne Feinsteins impending retirement is shaking up California politics, Nancy Pelosis decision whether or not to seek a 19th full term in the U.S. House of Representatives could have broad implications for both Mandelman and San Franciscans.

Despite stepping down from her position in Democratic leadership after winning an easy race for an 18th term last year, Pelosi remains in the House and has not publicly hinted at what her future holds.

If Pelosi seeks another term, no formidable Democrat will likely dare to oppose her, and no Republican stands much of a chance in a deep-blue district.

But if the 83-year-old Pelosi opts for retirement, state Sen. Scott Wiener has already said hell seek to replace her. If Wiener opts to vie for a seat in Congress rather than a third four-year term representing San Francisco in the State Senate, the field would open to replace him.

Matt Haney, a former San Francisco supervisor who won a first term in the Assembly last year, is rumored as a candidate to replace Wiener should he move on to Washington.

If Haneys eyes are set on the Senate, Mandelman could jump in the race for Haneys seat in the Assembly. The 17th Assembly District encompasses most of San Franciscos east side, including Mandelmans current supervisorial district.

Haney denied jockeying for Wieners seat, telling The Examiner he is prioritizing passage of the nearly 30 bills hes introduced to build housing, get people who are addicted or mentally ill into treatment, and solve serious problems facing our city.

My focus is on passing those bills and delivering for our city, Haney said. My plan is to run for reelection to the Assembly to continue that work. Scott Wiener is our State Senator, and that seat is not open.

Of course, it could be open.

But even if Haney stays put, Mandelman might jump a rung in the political ladder and run for the State Senate. Its a larger district than the 17th Assembly District, encompassing all of San Francisco and a part of San Mateo County.

Wiener appears all-in if Pelosi bows out. His campaign representative confirmed that the defining factor determining his political future is Pelosis decision.

Mandelman has represented his supervisorial district since 2018. If hes successful in attaining state office, his successor would be appointed by the mayor to finish out Mandelmans term overseeing District 8, which ends in 2026.

Thats a lot of ifs, woulds, and coulds  even by San Francisco political standards.

But it remains a real possibility and demonstrates the weight Pelosis decision would have not just on a national level, but a local one.

Mandelman, a moderate on San Franciscos political spectrum, made clear he wont try to unseat Wiener or Haney. But should either seat be open, he believes hed be a solid candidate and, as a gay man, provide important and continued representation for the LGBTQ community at the state level.

I think that I have been a good supervisor and I certainly have learned a lot on the job, Mandelman said. The issues that have been of greatest concern to me and been greatest concern to my constituents are in many ways California issues  mental health, homelessness, housing, (and) transportation.

Mandelman has pushed California to allow for increased use of conservatorship to address pervasive mental health issues playing out on San Franciscos streets.

Last year, Mandelman secured passage of a bill that allows up to four units of housing to be built on any residential lot in San Francisco.

Hes also focused on addressing homelessness by calling on The City to dramatically expand its temporary shelter. He authored A Place for All, a piece of legislation that tasked The City with building a three-year plan to end unsheltered homelessness and has called for Mayor London Breed to fund 2,000 new shelter beds in the upcoming budget.
NEW YORK (AP)  A self-exiled Chinese businessman charged in a $1 billion fraud case will remain behind bars after a federal judge rejected a proposed $25 million bail package Thursday, saying there was clear and convincing evidence he would remain an economic threat and a flight risk if he were freed.

Judge Analisa Torres said in a written order that she didn't trust that Guo Wengui would obey court orders if released, even with strict bail conditions including GPS monitoring and a 24-hour guard. She noted that he faces a maximum sentence of over 100 years in prison if convicted.

She said Guo has continued to promote fraudulent investment opportunities even after funds were seized from his businesses last year.

Guo, 54, was arrested last month on charges including wire and securities fraud. Prosecutors said he fleeced thousands of investors in too-good-to-be-true offerings that promised outsize profits for investors in his media company, GTV Media Group Inc., his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance, GCLUBS and the Himalaya Exchange.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Since September the U.S. government has seized approximately $634 million from 21 bank accounts associated with Guo, who is referred to in court documents by the name Ho Wan Kwok.

Guo has claimed he has only $10,000 in noncash assets, though prosecutors say he has control of a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari, two $36,000 mattresses and a $37 million luxury yacht.

It was on Guos yacht that Steve Bannon, the former chief White House strategist under ex-President Donald Trump, was arrested in a criminal fraud case several years ago. Trump pardoned Bannon just before he left office in 2021.

Judge Torres noted in her order Thursday that Guo was accused of using proceeds from a five-year fraud scheme from 2018 through this March to buy extravagant goods and assets for himself and his family.

Torres said Guo accumulated a large online following in 2017 with claims against the Chinese Communist Party before founding a nonprofit a year later that drew even more followers. She cited evidence that he subsequently advertised fraudulent investment activities to his followers.

Guo was once thought to be among the richest people in China before he left that country in 2014 during a crackdown on corruption that ensnared individuals close to him, including a top intelligence official. Chinese authorities have accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other offenses.

Guo has said those allegations are false and intended to punish him for publicly outing corruption in China and criticizing leading figures in the Communist Party.

Lawyers for Guo did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment.
SLATER, Iowa (AP)  Nick Hellands central Iowa farm looks much like every other nearby farm on this chilly March day, with corn stubble stretching from a gravel road up over a low hill to the northern horizon.

But look closely, and you can see patches of muddy ground where a few months ago crews buried low-tech systems called bioreactors and streamside buffers that filter fertilizer-borne nitrates from water as it drains from Hellands field into nearby Big Creek and eventually the Des Moines River.

The underground devices work. The question is whether one Iowa county's promising new approach to an old problem can be expanded enough to finally address nitrate pollution that, for years, has endangered drinking water, made more than half the state's waterways unfit for fish or humans, and fueled a giant dead zone nearly 1,000 miles away in the Gulf of Mexico.

Polk County is doing it by making it painless for farmers  handling all the logistics and arrangements for the systems  and throwing in payments of $1,000 per site. Installations have exploded in the past two years, to 104, after only a handful were installed the eight years before that.

They paid me and they paid the cost of all the installation, Helland said. Thats sort of a no-brainer to me that with very little lift, very little time, I can have this installed on my farm and it will ensure better water quality for everyone else downstream.

The big challenge now is encouraging counties to launch and fund similar efforts to reduce runoff from Iowas 10 million acres of tile-drained farmland and combat the states multi-billion dollar problem with nitrogen pollution.

Nitrogen-based fertilizers and manure can lead to excessive nitrates in groundwater that can be toxic to livestock and humans. High levels have plagued waterways in Iowa and throughout the Midwest for decades from chemical fertilizers and animal manure sprayed on fields. Modern tractors let farmers assess their soil and apply only as much fertilizer as needed, but its still common to overspray.

Its easy to see why. Yields of corn  the king crop in these parts, and planted on about 90 million acres nationwide  are at least doubled by fertilizer, and farmers want to be sure their crops have enough nutrients. Adding to the problem are the quick drainage systems that lie beneath so many fields  known as tiles, but actually plastic pipes  that whoosh excess water away and into streams.

Numerous studies have found the low-tech systems remove half the nitrate or more from runoff before it reaches waterways. In bioreactors, the water passes through a buried mound of wood chips that break down much of the nitrate. In the buffers, it moves through a grassy area parallel to a stream.

Too much nitrate and phosphorous in rivers and streams makes great food for algae and other plant growth that cuts oxygen in the water and blocks sunlight. Combined with industrial farming practices that have altered waterways by straightening streams and removing wetlands, that's bad news for fish that need clear water and slower currents.

It hurts humans, too. Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome where an infant's blood doesn't have enough oxygen. More than half of Iowa's rivers, streams and lakes are too polluted to properly support aquatic life or fishing and swimming, according to the state.

Iowa is among the largest contributors of nitrate runoff that flows to the Gulf, leading to the so-called dead zone by depleting oxygen necessary for marine life across several thousand square miles.

Pressure to reduce the dead zone led Iowas agriculture and natural resources departments to join in 2008 with Iowa State University for a strategy to address the problem. The effort has focused on voluntary actions; Iowa's legislature has consistently rejected proposals to require farmers to reduce runoff.

Fifteen years into the program, Iowa hasn't significantly reduced nitrogen runoff, according to a 2019 estimate. The problem in some ways has worsened as strong commodity prices encouraged farmers to plant corn and soybeans on more land. Meanwhile, Iowas giant hog industry has grown to about 24 million pigs  roughly triple the number in any other state  which means more manure gets spread over farmland.

In Polk County, exasperation with nitrate pollution came to a head in 2015, when the agency that provides drinking water to 600,000 people in the Des Moines area went to court over the millions of dollars it was being forced to spend to filter unsafe levels from drinking water taken from the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. A judge ultimately dismissed the lawsuit against three northwest Iowa counties, ruling the issue was one for the Legislature to address.

Without hope of state mandates, local officials in Polk County sought to work cooperatively with agricultural groups. Part of that was studying why so few farmers were installing bioreactors and streamside buffers. They found an inefficient system for installation that made it expensive and bothersome for farmers, who had to arrange contractors and then seek reimbursement.

Polk County's solution: Handle all the arrangements to make it easy for farmers, and group projects together for economies of scale. Even with the $1,000 inducement to get farmers to sign on, they found the new process was about 15% cheaper  less than $10,000 for a typical saturated buffer, and up to $15,000 for a bioreactor.

Our success came from realizing we had been doing it wrong for like six years, said John Swanson, Polk County's water resources supervisor.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig, who has strongly opposed requiring farmers to filter runoff, has embraced Polk County's effort and encouraged it elsewhere. In March, he promoted bioreactors and buffers at an event in Story County, north of Des Moines, where conservation officials have adopted the new program.

Were making it easy for a landowner to say yes, and then we bring the resources," Naig said. "These are essentially 100% paid for. Either way, the work has to get done, and to have willing landowners and willing producers get involved, that will work much better.

But clean water advocates note that Iowa needs thousands of the systems added each year, not hundreds, and question whether voluntary efforts can reach even a small percentage of the state's farms  let alone those in other states.

Theres a lot of people who are doing really good work, said Alicia Vasto, the water program director at the Iowa Environmental Council. The fact of the matter is that its just not at the pace and scale thats necessary to fix the problem."

The projected cost of scaling up is staggering. To significantly reduce nitrogen and phosphate runoff, a 2017 analysis found that upfront costs could be as high as $4 billion. That would include more than 100,000 bioreactors to deal with runoff on two-thirds of tile-drained farmland, as well as other solutions, like cover crops.

Swanson, the Polk County official, is now working with state officials to build more wetlands, which cost more and require more land but can filter much more runoff than the bioreactors and buffers. Helland wants such a wetland on his property and wants farmers to do more, but he thinks efforts should remain voluntary. Each farm is different, he said, and if governments try to require action, it could cause more problems and ultimately not be effective.

Jerry Hill, who has farmed for 52 years, attended the Story County meeting with other farmers and is leaning toward installing a bioreactor along a creek that borders his property. He liked the idea of filtering the water at little cost to his bottom line.

"We're going to have to do a better job of keeping things clean," Hill said. From what I've heard, what they have going now is as good as it gets.

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Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

Retired engineers Kelly and Derek Barkey assumed they would be approved when they applied for a $50,000 home equity line of credit two years ago to fix up their new house.

The Barkeys, now 56 and 59, had just sold their longtime home in Southern California and paid cash for a house worth about $850,000 near St. Louis, Missouri. They had retirement accounts worth $3 million, $500,000 in a taxable brokerage account and excellent credit scores.

They were surprised when a national bank turned them down. They tried a local credit union, which also rejected them.

We haven't been turned down for credit since about 1987, says Kelly Barkey, remembering when the couple applied for a rewards credit card while she was still a college student.

Home loans can be harder to get in retirement

The federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits lenders from discriminating against applicants based on age, but that doesnt mean getting a home loan in retirement will be easy even for those with good credit, little debt and plenty of savings, financial planners say.

The issue is often proving that you have enough steady income to repay the loan, says Lori Trawinski, director of finance and employment for AARP Public Policy Institute.

Working people can use W-2 forms and pay stubs to prove they have sufficient income. Lenders can verify incomes through IRS transcripts, by calling an employer or using massive paycheck databases such as The Work Number. Lenders typically want to see two years worth of steady income, but working borrowers arent required to prove that their incomes will continue at the same rate.

The rules are more complicated for retirees, Trawinski says. In addition to proving they have enough income to pay the loan, retired people often must prove that the money will continue for at least three years, she says.

How mortgage lenders view retirement income

The Barkeys say they draw about $35,000 a year from their taxable brokerage account, and Derek Barkey earns another $35,000 by consulting  more than enough to support the payments on a $50,000 home equity line. Yet they were told their applications had been rejected because of inadequate income. Trawinski suspects the Barkeys ran afoul of automated underwriting software that didnt account for their income properly.

Mortgage lenders typically divide retiree income into two categories: income with a potential expiration date and income without. Pension payments and Social Security retirement benefits based on an applicants work record dont have an expiration date because the income continues for life. By contrast, retirement and investment accounts often are viewed as having an expiration date because the accounts can be depleted over time, so borrowers must prove the income will continue for a minimum of three years.

Lenders can use an asset depletion calculation to determine how much income an account can generate. Typically the calculations consider only 70% of the account balance since the underlying investments can lose value. Lenders may divide the result by the number of expected payments, such as 360 in the case of a 30-year loan.

Retirement accounts usually wont be included in these calculations unless the balances can be accessed without restriction. Since the Barkeys were under 59 1/2  the earliest age their retirement accounts could be tapped without penalty  lenders typically would ignore the $3 million in those accounts.

How to get a home loan approved in retirement

Certified financial planner Kayla Johnson of Wilmington, North Carolina, says helping clients in retirement get mortgages and HELOCs often takes a lot of financial gymnastics. She recommends people apply for home loans while theyre still working, if possible.

It's simplest to secure any loan you may need before retirement, Johnson says.

People who need home loans and are already retired should consider talking to a loan officer about their situations before submitting an application and risking damage to their credit scores, financial planners say. Such a conversation can help potential applicants get a better feel for how the lender will view their application and how many hurdles lie ahead. Not all lenders are equally skilled at dealing with retired clients, so you may need to talk to more than one lender to find the right fit.

And if youre turned down, dont consider that the last word.

After being rejected by the credit union, Kelly Barkey contacted its president by Facebook Messenger to ask why. She says soon afterward, they got a call from the loan department manager admitting the credit union had overlooked some things.

And within a day, we had our HELOC, Kelly Barkey says.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

Liz Weston, CFP writes for NerdWallet. Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lizweston.

The article Retiring? If You Need a Home Loan, Get One First originally appeared on NerdWallet.
Solvang, a small city in California that proudly claims to be The Danish Capital of America, has come under fire from Denmark itself for some perceived intolerant behavior.

After an alleged hate crime involving the burning of LGBTQ flags, and a recent council decision to not hang banners during this years Pride, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagan Sophie Haestorp Andersen penned a public letter to Solvang city leaders last week.

I was surprised to read about the opposition from some of your councilmembers to ideas put forward by your LGBTI+ community for Solvang to embrace Santa Ynez Valley Pride publicly and visibly, Andersen wrote. I was also shocked to read of the burning of Pride flags shortly after Pride events last summer.

Two Santa Barbara County residents were recently charged with a hate crime by the county district attorney for allegedly stealing and burning two Pride flags last year, in a video that circulated on social media.

In March, Solvang councilmembers rejected a proposal made by a local LGBTQ resource center to hang rainbow banners and paint crosswalks in the town in celebration of Pride month later this year, the Santa Barbara Independent reported.

Ole Jensen/Getty Images

Solvangs decision to reject the Pride decorations came after a heated council meeting in March. The application was voted down by three of the citys councilmembers on grounds that it was overly political. One councilmember, Robert Clarke, grew angry at the suggestion that Solvang lacked tolerance, according to the outlet.

When people want to disparage anything about this damn town, I take offense to it, Clarke reportedly said before rejecting the application.  This is the friendliest goddamn town Ive ever been in. People here are welcoming; theyre warm; they embrace everybody.

In public comment, one Solvang resident pushed back on that claim, stating that he had been called a homophobic slur more times in the last two years than I can count, David Silva said. Its uncomfortable to be told that homophobia doesnt exist in this area.

The city of about 6,000 residents on the Central Coast has Danish roots dating back more than a century. The Hansel and Gretel architecture on its main drag, lined with Danish bakeries, flags and gift shops, draws over a million tourists every year. Every September, the town celebrates Danish Days, a three-day festival of parades, folk dancing and Viking axe throwing.

Your citys status as the Danish capital of America is something that you rightly cherish, Anderson wrote in the letter addressed to Mayor Mark Infanti, before extolling the progressive position Denmark has historically taken toward LGTBQ issues.

This opposition to Pride does not reflect the genuine warmth and acceptance of Pride that can be seen across Denmark, the mayor wrote. In the spirit of friendship between our cities, I urge you to give Santa Ynez Valley Pride and your local LGBTI+ community the full support or your City Council.

Infanti did not respond to an SFGATE request for comment for this story, though he told a local TV outlet he had responded to the Danish dignitary directly.

City of Solvang

Outside of being the focus of a European mayors ire, the city has been undergoing somewhat of an identity crisis of late. Last year, SFGATE reported on the cultural clash in town between the traditional old guard rejecting progress and those attempting to make the city a more modern, welcoming destination.

The town isnt helping in any way to change. All they seem to care about is their bakeries. We call it the Danish Mafia and its true, the owner of a Solvang Tiki bar told SFGATE. A small group of people made decisions for everyone  theres a lot of corruption going on.

Copenhagen Pride, Denmarks leading LGBTQ advocacy group, said this week that it would replace every flag burned at last years Pride with two more and send them to Solvang.

I was stunned to hear about the opposition to Santa Ynez Valley Pride and smaller Pride events in Solvang, Lars Henriksen, political chairperson of the organization, said in a statement.

Its a sad indictment of where things are heading when we need to offer assistance to friends in countries such as the USA, where the development seems to be headed in the wrong direction, he added.

SFGATE contributing editor Andrew Pridgen contributed to this report.
A mystery is bubbling up on the banks of San Ysidro Creek, which runs through the exclusive Central Coast enclave of Montecito: Did Oprah build a giant wall next to one of her Montecito homes?

During this years historic storms, Montecito and other towns in the area saw evacuation orders due to flood dangers. Montecito is popular with celebrities, and residents of the area include Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

A wall was built alongside a property associated with Oprah, allegedly to protect media mogul and Montecito resident Winfreys estate from flooding, Santa Barbara news outlet Noozhawk reported on April 5. Neighbors are reportedly concerned about whether the walls existence could adversely affect other properties or the creek itself.



A search of Santa Barbara County's database for planning and development did not turn up any permits filed this year for work on the 300 block of Santa Rosa Lane.

APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images

However, John Zorovich, a deputy director at the Santa Barbara County Planning & Development Department, told SFGATE Tuesday a complaint about some creek walls adjacent or on to Oprahs property was filed with the county.



We are doing our investigation now, so I dont have any determination as to whether a permit or not will be needed, he said. I really cant comment more on that because its an ongoing investigation.

Noozhawk also reported Carpinteria-based Jimenez Nursery submitted an application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the structure using Winfreys Montecito address on Santa Rosa Lane, in the exclusive Ennisbrook neighborhood, adding, It is unclear whether Winfrey has any knowledge of the wall or authorized the work.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

Crystal Huerta, a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, received the like-for-like rebuild request, the Noozhawk story said.

When contacted by SFGATE Monday, Huerta said there was no permit that was issued for the wall project.



Robert DeDeaux, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, elaborated. He told SFGATE via email that his regulatory division has neither approved nor denied any permitting requests regarding the private property referenced in Santa Barbara County.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

DeDeaux referenced Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which exempts certain activities from permit requirements.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

When requested, a list of permit exemptions were and have been provided to Santa Barbara County residents and businesses, DeDeaux wrote. The USACE regulatory division in Santa Barbara County has not reviewed any construction on private property referenced at this time as permission from the land owner is required.

He explained in his email that permitting work on the San Ysidro Creek boulder wall is not in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers purview: The USACE regulatory division is not authorized to go onto private property without prior approval.

SFGATE also contacted Jimenez Nursery. While a spokesperson was reached, they declined to go on the record about the San Ysidro Creek wall project.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

To thicken the plot, it appears the property bordering the new boulder wall was recently sold.

On March 13, the sale of a house at 377 Santa Rosa Lane took place, Siteline Santa Barbara reported. Off-market sale of a four-bedroom house on 5.6 acres in the Hedgerow, the item said. The seller was an LLC associated with Oprah Winfreys family office, which bought the property in 2005.

Jason Kirk/Getty Images

The site listed the sale price as $14.23 million. A Zillow search confirmed the property sold for that amount March 10, 2023.

While significant, the Santa Rosa Lane homes sale is not the most high-profile Winfrey real estate transaction over the past 12 months. That title belongs to the moguls September 2022 sale of a Mediterranean-style home on an acre lot to Jennifer Aniston for $14.8 million. Winfrey also purchased 870 acres of land in Maui for $6.6 million, bringing her land holdings on the Hawaiian island to almost 1,000 acres.

Winfrey still owns several other pedigreed Montecito properties, including a 3,517-square-foot Spanish revival home, which she reportedly purchased from Jeff Bridges in 2021, along with her main residence, a sprawling mansion and grounds known as Promised Land.

Oprah Winfrey/AP

The peak of this winters storms in Montecito came on the five-year anniversary of the 2018 debris flow that killed 23 Montecito residents.

During the 2018 storms, Winfrey posted a video showing the destruction on one of her properties, saying, So, there used to be a fence right here. Thats my neighbors house, devastated.

Because of the increased risk of flooding and fire, Montecito is one of the hardest places to insure property in the United States, despite its moneyed residents.
Most people know that taking a trip to Disneyland requires a bit of planning ahead. There are dining reservations to make, parade and show times to research and character meet-and-greets to map out  not to mention the decision of whether or not to opt for Disney Genie Plus to ostensibly remove some of that planning fatigue (at a cost, of course). But one of the decisions Disneyland guests are faced with from the moment they decide to buy passes is whether or not Disneyland Park Hopper tickets are worth it.

If you're on the fence about whether to purchase the add-on pass for your next trip to Disneyland, keep reading for everything to know.

What is a Disneyland Park Hopper ticket?

Simply put, a Disneyland Park Hopper ticket allows guests to "hop" between both parks on the same day, allowing them to spend the morning in one park, for instance, then switch to the other park for the remainder of their day. Without adding a Park Hopper pass at Disneyland, guests have access to only one of Disneyland Resort's two parks on a single day: Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park.

When it comes to Disneyland tickets, a Park Hopper pass isn't mandatory, but it can ease the flow of a guest's day. On a recent visit to Disneyland, blogger Sabrina Servance opted for a two-day Disneyland Park Hopper ticket because, as she said, "it was my first time and I wanted to experience everything I could."

For Servance, who lives in Florida and visits Walt Disney World often, Park Hopper tickets were well worth it for her first visit to the California Disney parks. "I loved that the parks are right across from each other," Severance told SFGATE, in comparison to Disney World, where you have to use transportation to get from park to park. "It made it easy to go back and forth ... you get to see all aspects of the park. Especially if you go from park open to park close."

How much is a Disneyland Park Hopper ticket?

While single-day tickets to Disneyland start around $100, the price per ticket changes seasonally and if you increase the number of days you plan to be there (typically, the more days you spend in the parks, the cheaper tickets are per day). The same is true of the Park Hopper add-on, which costs around $65 to add to a one-day ticket, but around $60 per day for multiple days. Selecting a one-day Park Hopper, however, then spending a full day in both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park during a three-day visit, can be a way to save money on a Disneyland vacation and still do everything you want.

That's exactly what Tennessee resident Rebecca Nolan did during her family's Disneyland vacation  and felt the one-day add-on was worth the cost. "We actually did three days at the park and the first two were spent at either park and then the third day we hopped back and forth to do all our favorites," Nolan said. "The Park Hopper at Disneyland is also amazing because the parks usually close at different times, so we could go to an 8 p.m. show at one park and then, when it closed, we could just walk over to the other park and catch the fireworks or one last ride on our favorite attraction."

When Kara Johnson, a mom of three from Arkansas, visited the resort recently she, at the suggestion of her travel agent, opted to add Park Hopper to all five days of her vacation. While Johnson said she doesn't park-hop at Walt Disney World because the parks are spread out and it's exhausting for her kids, she has no regrets about her choice to hop daily between Disneyland's two parks.

"The parks are just steps apart from one another so we hopped back and forth between the two parks all five days we were there," Johnson said. "It was so easy. I would absolutely recommend Park Hopper for Disneyland ... being able to park-hop [there] makes more sense because you're more able to go with the flow."

Jeff Gritchen, /Orange County Register via Getty Images

How does a Park Hopper ticket work at Disneyland?

The addition of the theme park reservation system at Disneyland (a crowd-control measure implemented during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic) has led to a change in how soon those with a Park Hopper pass are free to move between resorts. With a Park Hopper pass, guests still must make a reservation for the park where they will start their day. Starting at 11 a.m., guests can begin moving freely between the two parks, but they must stay at the park where they made reservations until that time. If guests have not entered either park by 11 a.m., they can then enter either park, regardless of their initial reservation.

"I didn't pay attention when I bought the tickets to not being able to move around all day," said Lauri Walker, the blogger behind Mama Needs a Nap, about her experience with Disneyland Park Hopper tickets. "You have to stay in one park until midday. That limits you a bit."

It's also important to note that park-hopping is subject to each park's capacity, closures, hours and other restrictions. In the event that one of the parks is at capacity or unable to be visited for another reason, guests will receive a notification in the Disneyland app. This app is a must for making your day at the resort as efficient as possible, so be sure to have it downloaded and ready well before you get there.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Is a Disneyland Park Hopper ticket worth it?

Most of the visitors we spoke to agreed that a Disneyland Park Hopper is worth it, but it's definitely more of a bonus and not a necessity for those looking to save money on their Disney vacation. FatherWithTwins blogger Robert Knop is a father of two from California who lives close to Disneyland and visits frequently with his family. For Knop, whose kids were 8 the last time they visited, hopping between the two parks wasn't worth it.

"At Disney California Adventure, my kids really liked the "Up"-themed Wilderness Explorers area, Redwood Creek, where they could run around on bridges, climb things, and get badges for doing certain activities, and the Soarin' Around the World ride," he said. "But other than that, the rest of California Adventure was a bit of a bust. I think one park per visit is the way to go."

For Walker, who lives in Washington and has visited Disneyland five times, Park Hopper is well worth the cost. She said she recently sprung for the ticket add-on for a trip with her husband, four children and in-laws. "I wanted the freedom for us and the kids to move around if we wanted to see something different throughout the day," said Walker. "Because the kids are older and can take off on their own, they can go on more of the thrill rides that some of us  me  might not enjoy."

This story was edited by Hearst Newspapers Managing Editor Kristina Moy; you can contact her at kristina.moy@hearst.com.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Before pulling back from the brink of a trial, Fox News and Dominion Voting systems faced a stern deadline  not from an impatient judge or jury, but from a man on a Danube River cruise with his wife half a world away.

A mediator hired late Sunday pushed the two sides toward a $787 million settlement that brought a stunning end to the most-watched media libel case in decades, one that sought to put a price on lies told about the 2020 presidential election on conservative America's most popular news outlet.

It's a deadline that I always impose because I know that once a jury is empaneled and opening statements are made, then one or other of the parties will dig into their positions, Jerry Roscoe, of the Washington-based JAMS mediation service, said Wednesday. It makes negotiations much more difficult.

As the haggling went on, over the phone and in back rooms of a Delaware courthouse, lawyers, journalists and spectators waited as a scheduled 1:30 p.m. start of the trial came and went Tuesday.

Finally, two minutes before 4 p.m., Superior Court Judge Eric Davis emerged with an almost matter-of-fact announcement, given the stakes.

The parties have resolved their case, he said.

It was a settlement months in the making, since the Colorado-based voting technology firm sued Fox for $1.6 billion, alleging its business was harmed and employees threatened when it was baselessly accused of rigging its voting machines against former President Donald Trump in 2020.

In the two months prior to the scheduled start of the trial, a mountain of evidence  some damning, some merely embarrassing  showed many Fox executives and on-air talent didn't believe allegations aired mostly on shows hosted by Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro. At the time, they feared angering Trump fans in the audience with the truth.

Davis had ordered the two sides to try to mediate their differences last December, but it was a non-starter for Dominion. The company didn't want the case to end without all of the evidence it had gathered made public. That happened through February and March, with document dumps that essentially outlined the case Dominion would have presented at trial.

That was something we had committed to from the beginning, Dominion CEO John Poulos said Wednesday on ABC's Good Morning America. We had complete support with our partners, and it's something that we owed to our customers.

Fox had argued that it was airing newsworthy allegations made by Trump aides, and that Dominion's case was an attack on press freedom.

Libel is tough to prove  a jury must find journalists knowingly published false information or with a reckless disregard for the truth. Yet Fox's path to victory narrowed, both through the evidence presented and rulings by Davis, who said that the allegations against Dominion were unquestionably false, and that newsworthiness was no defense against defamation.

Attorneys for both sides, Justin Nelson for Dominion and Dan Webb for Fox, quietly began to seek a deal before trial. With the two sides far apart, they reached out to mediator Roscoe, then cruising between Budapest and Bucharest with his wife. He agreed to take the case on, using much of Monday to read through the evidence.

My job is to create options and to give them choices, Roscoe said.

He spoke on the phone constantly from the boat, mostly with lawyers other than Nelson and Webb Tuesday, as they were preparing for opening statements, and principals like Poulos, ensconced in a conference room at the courthouse.

Davis gave the two sides Monday off to talk. On Tuesday morning, a jury was selected that included five Black men, four white women, two Black women and one white man. It was a majority Black jury deciding the financial fate of a network whose audience is 94% white and 1% Black, according to the Nielsen company.

Jury selection can be a key moment in pushing two sides toward a last-minute settlement, said Lee Levine, a veteran First Amendment attorney.

There's a strong possibility that Fox had decided to wait and see what kind of jury it drew and to see if they had a couple of people on the jury they had good feelings about being holdouts, Levine said.

Fox privately resisted the idea that jury selection was key to a deal, saying instead that there were complicated negotiations that had to play out.

Meanwhile, after a lunch break, people returned to a courtroom cluttered with boxes filled with evidence. Webb spoke on a cellphone and approached Nelson to quietly talk more than once. At one point, Webb was seen walking out of the courtroom with a wide smile on his face.

Levine was walking on a beach in North Carolina with his wife, wearing ear buds to catch the audio feed of opening statements. When court hadn't resumed by 2:30 p.m., his instincts told him that a settlement was near.

When did Roscoe have that feeling?

When it came together and not a moment before, the mediator said. The parties had different analyses of the law and the facts and were vigorous advocates for their positions all along the negotiations.

The agreement was reached before 3 p.m. in Delaware, or 10 p.m. on Roscoe's boat.

The negotiations were primarily financial. Fox had issued a public statement Monday saying that Dominion had reduced its estimate of damages by $600 million. Dominion disputed that, but the eventual deal was closer to what Fox said was the adjusted figure.

Some Fox critics were angry about the deal, wanting instead to see a trial with Fox figures forced to testify in public, or at least Fox personalities compelled to apologize to Dominion on the air.

Instead, Fox issued a statement that said it acknowledged Davis' findings that certain claims about Dominion were false. This settlement reflects Fox's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards, Fox said.

Levine sees it this way: At the end of the day I think a reasonable reading of what happened was there was a line that Fox wouldn't cross or couldn't cross because of their business model.

They couldn't have their anchors go on the air and tell (viewers) they lied to them, he said.

I don't think a forced apology is worth a nickel, said Stephen Shackelford, Dominion's co-lead counsel. He said that following a legal threat in December 2020 by another technology firm, Smartmatic, Fox aired an interview with an election expert debunking fraud claims, and it had little effect on Fox's audience or how Fox operated.

Smartmatic has a pending lawsuit against Fox that is similar to Dominion's.

You can't change their culture and approach from the outside, Shackelford said. They have to do it themselves.

Asked for comment, Fox said the company has expanded its newsgathering capabilities both domestically and abroad, and has added other resources to enhance coverage.

We're confident of the editorial systems we have in place, Fox said.

In making the deal, Poulos said he had to take into account employees and customers who had suffered from harassment following the false claims. He noted that Fox had acknowledged the court's rulings that the allegations were false.

Given the challenges he faced trying to bring Fox and Dominion together with their disputes over the facts and legal theory, Roscoe said it's one of the most meaningful cases he's worked on in his career. His wife may insist upon another vacation, though.

She was probably on the Internet looking for another husband, he joked.
City View Restaurant has reopened at a new San Francisco outpost.

The decades-old dim sum restaurant has settled into the ground floor of 33 Walter U. Lum Place after closing its former outpost at 662 Commercial St. late last month, according to its business website. The move comes months after City View Restaurants former landlord, Chinatown Community Development Center, filed a lawsuit against the business.

In January, SFGATE reported that City View Restaurant's lease ended in October 2022 but remained on-site for the next several months. Chinatown Community Development Center subsequently filed an unlawful detainer lawsuit on Jan. 12 when City View Restaurant remained on-site after it was denied an extended lease.

Days after SFGATE published the story, Chinatown Community Development Center told SFGATE that it couldnt extend City View Restaurants contract due to structural improvements and safety updates required on the building.

Despite repeated and protracted attempts, we were unable to reach an agreement with City View to give contractors access to their ground floor space to start and complete those upgrades, Chinatown Community Development Center said in a statement. Therefore, we planned to start the upgrades after the end of City Views lease.

In a separate lawsuit, the Cantonese restaurant stated that it continued to pay rent after October 2022 and alleged that Chinatown Community Development Center accepted its payments. Chinatown Community Development Center denied the allegation and told SFGATE that it had never cashed the checks and instead returned them to the business.

What Now San Francisco first reported that City View Restaurant had its eyes set on 33 Walter U. Lum Place before the lawsuits took place. San Francisco Planning records show that the restaurant filed a planning application in 2021 to debut at the same building that once housed the historic Empress of China restaurant.
For decades, neurologists have hit a seemingly impenetrable wall: the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This complex network of blood vessels and immune cells protects the most important organ in the body, the brain. The barrier only opens to let in oxygen and a few other nutrients, and cannot be breached by most pathogens, a feature that is key to the brains survival. But there is a downside to this: virtually all drugs designed to cure brain diseases, including cancer, fail to reach their destination.

Today, a study led by Spanish doctors shows how part of the blood-brain barrier can be opened up to allow the delivery of drugs that, in theory, could treat Parkinsons and other neurological diseases such as Alzheimers and Huntingtons disease.

This work has shown that the blood-brain barrier can be opened for a few precious hours to deliver the desired drugs to the brain. To achieve this, the researchers have used a very new technology: low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU).

This non-invasive treatment is performed on a machine similar to an MRI. The subject wears a helmet that emits inaudible soundwaves that manage to reach very specific areas of the brain, as the machine is guided by real-time brain images. Prior to this, lipid-shelled microbubbles are administered, and these are activated inside the blood vessel when they come into contact with the soundwaves, opening a crack a few millimeters wide in the BBB  which is big enough for the desired drug to slip through.

Researchers tested this technique on monkeys, and found that they can open the brain barrier for about 24 hours and introduce deactivated adenoviruses, which are commonly used for gene therapy, in which gene treatments are delivered directly to the target area. No apparent side effects were reported. The study, which was published in Science Advances, also reported that this same technology was also able to temporarily deactivate the BBB of three Parkinsons patients, in the exact part of their brain that was being targeted.

Non-invasive technique

Our ultimate goal is to treat neurological diseases, such as Parkinsons, early and non-invasively, says Jose Obeso, a neurologist at the Abarca Campal Integral Neuroscience Center in Madrid, and lead author of the study.

One in four people will suffer from a neurological or mental illness in their lifetime. But of the more than 7,000 known drugs, only 5% are able to reach the brain. Parkinsons disease  which was first described by the British doctor James Parkinson in 1817  causes tremors, muscle stiffness and impaired coordination. It is caused by the degeneration of nerve cells in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra. Although there are treatments for the symptoms of the disease, Parkinsons  which affects seven million people worldwide and is the fastest growing neurological disease  has no cure.

Until now, experimental gene therapies had to be delivered to Parkinsons patients directly into the brain, which involved piercing the skull with needles to bypass the blood-brain barrier. The new LIFU technique opens up the possibility of delivering gene therapy without surgery or serious side effects.

Researchers have already begun a new round of tests with monkeys, this time administering the GDNF gene, which produces a protein that protects neurons and their dendritic branches. If all goes well, we could start testing on patients in the summer of 2024, says Obeso.

Ultrasound-based therapies have been revolutionary in the treatment of Parkinsons tremors. A similar technique, using high-intensity  not low-intensity  ultrasound, was able to target specific areas of the brain, reducing involuntary tremors by up to 80%. The treatment is performed while the patient is awake.

The million-dollar machine

The low-intensity technology used by Obesos team has been developed by the Israeli company Insightec, and requires a machine that costs around 1 million ($910,000). There are very few in the world, as the machines are still experimental. The company is funding clinical trials in Canada, Italy and South Korea. These trials have reported initial success in opening the blood-brain barrier in patients with Alzheimers and glioblastoma, the deadliest brain cancer. According to Obeso, in addition to Parkinsons, the technique could also be used to treat rare diseases in children, such as the genetic disorder Gaucher disease, which is caused by a problem with the GBA gene.

Obeso acknowledges that there are still many questions to be answered, principally whether the treatment will be able to reach the affected area of the brain and reverse the course of a disease. This application could be effective in the early stages of Parkinsons or Alzheimers, since once the neuronal death has spread throughout the brain, it appears impossible to reverse it. The challenge now is to be able to diagnose these ailments years or decades before the first symptoms appear. And there is one more hurdle to overcome: around half the population could have antibodies to similar kinds of adenoviruses as the ones used in gene therapy, meaning their body may reject the treatment.

Chemist Meritxell Teixido, president of the biotech company Gate2Brain  who did not take part in the study  says the findings are very important for the field. This is very good news because it gives us one more tool to try to deliver drugs to the brain. The fact that it has been successful in primates, which have brains that are much more similar to ours than mice, is very promising, says Teixido, whose company is also developing therapeutics that can cross the BBB. He is working on developing small proteins  inspired by insect venom  that can cross this biological barrier and deliver drugs that target brain tumors in children. The third known way to reach the brain, specifically its lower area, is to enter the molecules through the nose until they reach the olfactory bulbs. That is why some drugs are snorted, explains Teixido.

Alvaro Sanchez Ferro, coordinator of movement disorders of the Spanish Society of Neurology, is also interested in the new technique as it is non-invasive. But he warns that it is still in the initial stages of development. Now we have to show that it has clinical benefits in patients. It may take 10 or 15 years, but its worth trying, he says.

Diego Santos, a neurologist at the University Hospital in A Coruna, Spain, believes that the studys results are of great interest. Being able to penetrate the central nervous system may one day allow larger amounts of a drug to be delivered to the brain, he explains. Whats more, its a procedure that seems safe and reversible. Its exciting.

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When Nicks Crispy Tacos announced that it was opening a new outpost in the Marina-Cow Hollow neighborhood, it wasnt the news Tacko owners expected to hear.

Months after its closure in December, Nicks Crispy Tacos announced that it anticipates opening inside Rockwell, a lounge at 3200 Fillmore St. But Tacko owners are baffled by the move given a past legal battle between Nicks Crispy Tacos owner Howard Schindler and Tacko founder Nick Fasanella. More importantly, the forthcoming restaurant will be within walking distance of Tacko, which is at 3115 Fillmore St.

Opening blocks away is going to make it very confusing, Chris Cheeseman, a managing partner at Tacko, told SFGATE. Were trying to get some context for why [Schindler] chose that location. Its not like SF is lacking restaurant spaces.

Part of his concern is tied to a popular menu upgrade called Nicks Way that is widely credited to Fasanella. The Nicks Way, which is found at both Nicks Crispy Tacos and Tacko, enhances tacos with a lightly fried tortilla, jack cheese and a generous slab of guacamole.

Josh Israels

The identical menu item is rooted in Fasanellas former ties to Schindler. Nicks Way tacos first appeared at Nicks Crispy Tacos shortly after the restaurant opened in 2002. It quickly took off and remains a San Francisco cult favorite. But tensions between Fasanella and Schindler would soon boil to the surface, and by 2005, the pair were embroiled in a legal fight over the partnership.

According to 2005 court filings with the San Francisco Superior Court, Fasanella sued Schindler over the validity of their partnership and alleged that Schindler misappropriated  joint venture assets, including the trade name Nicks Crispy Tacos. Fasanella ultimately lost the case and hasnt been part of Nicks Crispy Tacos since, but his taco concept and name live on.

It was established, it was as simple as that, said Schindler, referring to the grounds on which he kept his former business partner's name at Nicks Crispy Tacos.

N A./Yelp Francesca P. on Yelp "Nick's Way" tacos are available at both Nick's Crispy Tacos (L) and Tacko (R). (Photo: N A. on Yelp/ Francesca P. on Yelp) "Nick's Way" tacos are available at both Nick's Crispy Tacos (L) and Tacko (R). (Photo: N A. on Yelp/ Francesca P. on Yelp)

Later, Fasanella worked on other projects before eventually opening Tacko in 2011 with co-owner Doug Marschke. Cheeseman, who became a managing partner that same year, said that it was important to Fasanella to keep the Nicks Way concept alive and well at Tacko. SFGATE reached out to Fasanella, but he was not available for comment.

A lot of people dont know that Nick left a long time ago, Marschke said. People dont know theres not a Nick behind Nicks Crispy Tacos anymore.

Given the past animosity between Fasanella and Schindler, Marschke and Cheeseman wonder if the upcoming Nicks Crispy Tacos location is meant to be provocative. They have tried to reach Schindler through the owner of Rockwell but said they have yet to hear back.

The fact that [Nicks Crispy Tacos] didnt have the professional courtesy to reach out to me or Chris was strange considering the circumstances, Marschke said. It just makes it awkward. Why there?

Schindler had a different take. He told SFGATE that he has no ill feelings toward any of the business owners at Tacko and that the move to Rockwell made financial sense. He added that debuting inside the lounge will be a similar business model to what he had at Rouge nightclub.

Our goal would've been to be right on Polk Street, but we didn't find an opportunity there, Schindler told SFGATE. We decided we got to get open. Our customers keep calling us, and the people that worked for me wanted to come back.

Nicks Crispy Tacos still has no official opening date, but Schindler hopes to open within the next few weeks. Schindler is not concerned that locals will get the two businesses mixed up since he believes the two restaurants offer different menu options and distinctive atmospheres.

Josh Israels

Still, Marschke and Cheeseman hope they can eventually speak with Schindler and work together to ensure customers are clear about the two restaurants.

There has to be a conversation, Marschke said. We have to decide how were going to deal with the confusion. Restaurants arent just a place to eat. They are an extension of the community, which means that businesses have to agree to work together too. We want everyone to be successful at the end of the day.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tommy Norris is hardly a kid in crisis.

His is a story of redemption and the haven he found tucked inside a Charlotte church.

Tommy says he went from abusing alcohol, marijuana, mushrooms and LSD to now, two and a half years later, choosing which college he wants to attend: the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Winthrop University, the University of Michigan or Michigan State.

Even though I wasnt doing the hardest of drugs, the drugs that people die from the fastest, I knew it wouldve gotten to that point, said Tommy, an 18-year-old senior on track to graduate high school June 9. And it started to get to that point.

Instead, Tommy ended up at Emerald School of Excellence, a private, nonprofit high school designed for teens in recovery. The school sits within a Methodist church on Central Avenue and is a sanctuary for 30 teens recovering from substance abuse, co-occurring disorders, depression, eating disorders or other issues.

More than half of Emerald Schools students will graduate in June, and students like Tommy want to see it grow because he says, there are other kids out there who need help.

I walked in, after being labeled an alcoholic at 15, and was like Wow, these kids are the same age as me, Tommy said. Theyre having fun, but theyre sober and now its in a school environment.

Desperation in his voice

Tommy was 11 when he had his first drink. He was 12 when he started smoking marijuana. Both, he says, helped him fit in a friend group. By the time he started attending Fort Mill High School, he was abusing both.

When he first started, we saw some behavior changes, mom Bridget Norris told The Charlotte Observer. He was acting out. We were getting calls from school. We busted him a couple of times using alcohol and weed. But we thought it was just a phase.

Tommy was 15 when he hit rock bottom. He was home and consuming mushrooms when he had what he calls an episode. He threw a TV, was chewing on his knuckles and, when his dad came into his room to see what was going on, Tommy says he didnt recognize him. He got scared and hit his dad.

The paramedics were called and Tommy was taken to the hospital. Driving home the next morning, his dad told him: You know, you cant do this anymore.

That was the first time I agreed, Tommy said.

His mom still gets emotional about it.

Youre finally realizing that this is out of control, she said. To hear the desperation in his voice. And him wanting the help and asking for it and him being really scared.

A couple days later, Tommy was in a treatment center. He attended school at the same time.

I was living two different lives, Tommy said. Im going to a treatment place and have all of these sober friends. And then Id go to public high school and be reminded of my past life. Willpower can only get you so far. But when its constantly pressed on you every day in an environment like school and youre stressed out, its not going to last.

Bridget Norris had dreams for Tommy. He was, after all, a top student. Then, the familys priorities changed.

We knew that we needed to keep him alive, she said. We knew that we had to get him sober first. Academics came second.

Emerald Schools mission

Mary Ferreri, a veteran educator, opened the Emerald School in 2019 because she wanted to help students in recovery throughout the Carolinas. Her school was the first to open in the state and is the only one of its kind in Mecklenburg County.

The school serves grades 9-12 and receives funding from grants, private donations, fundraisers and student tuition, which is $1,500 a month year round. Ferreri says they try to provide partial or full scholarships to families who qualify and have not had to turn any family away due to financial need.

Ferreri, who battled the eating disorder anorexia in high school, says she wouldnt have made it at a regular public high school if she didnt have a modified senior year  with half of her classes in a traditional public school and half with a teacher in a one-on-one setting.

Emerald School takes the basics of a school day and tailors them to fit each student.

The only way you can really do that is sit and talk with them and be with them, Ferreri said. We start the day with a meeting where they can be honest, share something thats hard, and get support right away.

Emerald School has four teachers for core classes, two administrators, two full-time recovery staff members and one part-time, recovering staff member. The school contracts with people who teach electives such as guitar, yoga and others.

Tommy has all the credits he needs to graduate with a normal public high school diploma. He also gets drug tested and, if at any point he needs to step out of academics and focus more on his recovery, that time is available.

Ferreri says the main goal of her school is to hold the students accountable and to teach them that theres nothing more powerful than peer support.

I didnt get sober to just be lazy and take up space, Tommy said. I have to be a good, functioning member of society. Its my job to pay back the unconditional support that has been given to me.

Three years sober

Tommy, nearly three years sober, is still trying to figure out what he wants to major in after high school. Hes mulling working with people who are recovering, particularly psychology and therapy.

Tommy mentors many of his classmates. Hes also trying to talk with his sister, who is 11.

Shes the same age I was when I started, Tommy said. Its important to educate her. She knows what I do, where I go to school. She knows all about it. Recovery is everywhere. It follows you.

Ferreri says its important to know that Emerald School is not its students only support.

We expect them to attend meetings and have outside support, Ferreri said. When (kids) can share a little bit about their journey, thats when people are moved.

2023 The Charlotte Observer. Visit at charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
CHICAGO -- Shreya Nallamothu was scrolling through TikTok the summer before her freshman year of high school when she started to notice how much content featured children performing in professionally produced family videos, or vlogs.

At first, I didnt think much of it, Nallamothu, now 15, told the Tribune. But as the content kept populating her YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook pages, she began to research the laws concerning children in the vlogging industry and learned that there is often a lot of exploitation that can happen in situations like this and there is no legislation in place to protect them.

Nallamothu became a catalyst behind Illinois legislation that would set a rate for how much someone under 16 is compensated when they appear in at least 30% of a channels vlogs  defined in the legislation as monetized video content.

The bill, which was passed unanimously by the Senate and is now before the House, would require that a minimum of half a videos earnings, prorated based on the amount of time the person under 16 appears, be set aside in an account that is accessible only to the child when they turn 18. So, if a video made $100 and a minor was in half of the video, then that minor would be paid at least $25 for their work. If there are multiple children in the program, they would share the money evenly.

Its important for us to set the ground rules for how this should be done, Sen. David Koehler, a Peoria Democrat who is sponsoring the legislation. Its perfectly fine if parents want to do this and its done in a very wholesome and respectable way. If the children are used simply as a cash cow to enrich them then I think that begins to strain this.

The influencing industry is massive, with some estimates showing it brings in over $15 billion annually. Two of the top 10 highest-earning YouTubers were children under 18, according to a January 2022 report in Forbes. One personality that is frequently on Forbes top earners list is Ryan Kaji, star of the Ryans Toys channel, which started when his parents began filming him at 3 years old and, according to Forbes, in 2021 had more than 33 million subscribers and earned more than $25 million.

As Nallamothu started to dig into the issue of child video compensation, she asked her favorite teacher at University High School in Bloomington if she could do an independent study on the topic and began the process of creating a cogent policy memo to pitch to lawmakers.

The first probably couple of months was just research, Morgan Schmidt, the history teacher who oversaw Nallamothus independent study, said. And then it started to take shape of OK, I found certain things, more specific research, and then by December she was already reaching out to assemblymen in Illinois ... seeking out people to take on this bill.

Nallamothu, who worked with a group called Quit Clicking Kids to craft potential legislation, said she reached out to over a dozen state senators before Koehler, whose district includes her home, decided to look into her research and then drafted a bill.

Protection of children in these circumstances is usually viewed through two lenses: compensation for hours worked and protection of the childs control over videos they are in once they become of age. While the first is relatively straightforward to legislate, the second can be more difficult.

Washington state is trying to pass a bill that would accomplish both objectives. But the legislation is stalled, meaning that if the Illinois legislation makes it to Gov. J.B. Pritzkers desk it would be the first of its kind in the nation to enforce this level of compensation for child vloggers, Koehler said.

An Illinois woman who says she experienced trauma having events of her childhood vlogged by adults  including her first period, illnesses and the aftermath of a car crash  testified in support of the Washington bill in February.

Because the digital footprint I had no control over exists, when you Google my name, simply just my first name, childhood photos of me in bikinis will pop up, the woman, who used an alias, told state legislators. Im terrified to have those weaponized against me again.

The Washington bill would have allowed people who were part of vlogs as children to remove that content when they turned 18. Nallamothu wanted a similar clause in the Illinois bill, but said it ended up being taken out with the first amendment just due to the feasibility.

Koehler said that while he hopes to revisit this part of the bill, employees at Meta (formerly Facebook) met with him and expressed the fair point that scrubbing vlogging content from the internet is impossible at times.

Jenny LeFlore, a full-time content creator in Chicago who provides online parenting recommendations, is supportive of the bill but sees flaws in some aspects of it.

She takes issue with the bills definition of vlog as content shared on an online platform in exchange for compensation and vlogger anyone who produces compensated video content, language she finds overly broad.

But LeFlores main problem is a requirement that channel owners closely document the time stamps for which their children are present on a vlog to ensure the children are allotted their proper payment.

I think that is setting up people to fail because I think that is hard to really quantify, she said.

Jennifer Lane, who is a fashion, beauty and motherhood content creator with over 150,000 followers on Instagram, has similar concerns as she tries to figure out how to share earnings with her daughter.

I do a lot of content on my own and then some of my content is with her, Lane said. So just kind of keeping track of what shes in, how much shes in of that video or of that post or the content, and just kind of keeping track of everything.

Koehler said that he feels the time stamp requirements are necessary and fair.

Its not that tough anymore to be able to timestamp something, but you have to have some kind of way of measuring this if its going to be effective at all, Koehler said.

LeFlore said that her son receives an industry standard $85 an hour for sponsored content where his appearance is requested. She puts the money in a protected trust fund.

LeFlore said she supports how the bill would require her son to be paid a portion of the total earnings rather than his own rate, even though it will shift the industry in Illinois significantly. The biggest adjustment would be in the negotiation rooms with advertisers, she said.

Its going to change the business side, obviously taxes. But its also going to change the conversation between creator and brand because creators are going start demanding more money if brands want kids to be a part of any of the videos, she said.

Child and family vlogging is rife with controversy. Questions around the ethics of both promoting content toward kid viewers as well as documenting minors that at times cannot legally consent are part and parcel of the industry.

Many popular channels have also been publicly shamed. One family vlogger had to respond to criticism when they filmed the process of adopting and raising a young boy but then placed the child back up for adoption a few years later.

Nallamothu, who testified in front of the Senate Labor Committee said this bill is less about preventing bad actors and more about putting up standards for the industry.

One of my worries with this is that people will take it as They are my kid, you honestly think I am endangering them? she said. But this is more of like a protective measure.

Concerns that the entire social media industry is underregulated are especially acute where children are involved.

I realized that there are lots of calls to action, but there is no legislation in place that would protect this in any of the 50 states, Nallamothu said. So at this point, Im kind of like, OK, we have to start somewhere in one state, we have to put something in the books because this is such an unregulated field.

___

2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Two weeks after the wealthy Bay Area enclave of Atherton had a state-mandated housing plan rejected by California officials, its city council reconvened Wednesday night to plot the next steps  as well as hear from residents who are demanding that their leaders revolt against the state and stop complying with the process altogether.

At the end of January, Atherton, the wealthiest ZIP code in the United States, submitted its housing element to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The housing element process occurs every eight years and requires localities to submit detailed plans for building a state-determined number of new housing units. The number of required units varies from locality to locality and from cycle to cycle. This year, however, the state has been much more ambitious in its asks, and Atherton's leaders are not happy about it.

We are under tremendous pressure from the state of California to, as they say, do our share to address the severe housing shortage by building 348 units, Council Member Elizabeth Lewis said during the Wednesday meeting. Our last cycle, eight years ago, they assigned 91 units.

Atherton's housing element process has garnered considerable outside interest thanks to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, who, citing privacy concerns, formally opposed one of his town's proposed development sites and was subsequently branded a NIMBY (an abbreviation for those who harbor not in my backyard sentiments toward new housing).

The plan Atherton submitted to the state in January  which was drafted following a dramatic meeting that involved repeated references to Curry, a pile-on of one specific property owner and one person crying  was rejected by HCD earlier this month in a 12-page letter that demanded several revisions. Atherton's plan did account for 348 units, but HCD asked for additional fact-finding and analysis of the sites the town identified for development, as well as for other areas in the town that could support new housing, to better gauge whether the plan was adequate.

Critically, one of the types of units mentioned by HCD is multifamily housing. The letter states, The element must analyze and demonstrate realistic opportunities for multifamily [units].

The focus of the Wednesday meeting was a set of criteria proposed by the town that local leaders would use to identify locations for potential  emphasis on potential  sites for multifamily housing. Lewis led the discussion, opening her remarks with an extended history lesson she hoped would help assuage resident fears over identifying new spaces for multifamily housing. She drew a parallel to the 1920s, when former San Francisco Mayor Thomas Selby first subdivided his 400-acre Atherton estate, and other landowners followed suit.

At that time, everyone was saying, Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, she said. Lewis concluded the history lesson by stating that while the subdivisions 100 years ago changed the towns character, Atherton, currently comprising single-family homes with a 1-acre minimum lot requirement, was able to persist then and will do so again today despite the new state housing requirements.

We need to convince them of the specialness of Atherton and hopefully reduce their expectations of us, she said of state officials.

Lewis presented her fellow council members with eight criteria and proposed that if a property meets six of the eight criteria, it is eligible to be listed in the housing element as a possible site for multifamily housing. Council Member Rick DeGolia made his thoughts on the exercise known immediately.

Who in the world wants to encourage Atherton to have clusters of multifamily housing? He asked. There are other cities to move to.

DeGolia asked for  and received  several changes to the criteria that would reduce the number of eligible locations. One rule, which would make a property eligible if it's within  mile of a multi-modal transit route along one of the Towns major or minor arterials, was changed so that the property must be within a quarter-mile of only a major, and not minor, arterial. Another stipulation that the property is adjacent to or across from existing or planned commercial or retail development was changed to strike the word planned, with DeGolia insisting, Get rid of planned, anything can be planned.

Near the end of the meeting, Vice Mayor Diana Hawkins-Manuelian said the point of evaluating each of the criteria was to cut down the number of places on the list. Even with it being extremely obvious that the council was tightening the criteria to possibly lower Atherton's housing burden  perhaps so much so that the state will object once again when the town resubmits its plan  several residents who spoke at the meeting's public comment were incensed.

We dont trust you anymore, said a resident named Jeff. We really dont. You betrayed our trust by presenting this.

A woman named Pam said she felt very, very targeted by this, as she would fall in criteria to rezone [her] home. The council then tried to assure her that she would not need to rezone her lot unless she wanted to.

Then came the calls for Atherton to go nuclear by halting work on revisions altogether and challenging the housing requirements in court.

I am not an expert in housing, but I dont think the state or the nation has a right to do this to the individuals in a community, said a commenter named Walter. For my part, Im willing to back you up if you litigate this with the state.

Walter went on to pitch a class-action lawsuit, to be filed along with other wealthy localities such as Saratoga and Los Gatos. I know we have the most expensive real estate in the country, but were not the only ones who dont want new development to come in, he said.

The most impassioned pleas for resistance came from a resident named Mike.

This is ridiculous, he said. If you are not comfortable fighting for us, you should step down and put people on the council who will.

Mike concluded his remarks by saying, This is an illegal push by the state that will eventually be overturned; you need to fight it, before suggesting that DeGolia agrees with him. DeGolia retorted, I dont agree with your comments, Mike.

DeGolia did say in his concluding remarks that the state is out of control on this issue. Still, he said that HCD's reply to Atherton did not actually reject any of the proposed developments for new housing outright and was mostly asking for the town for more analysis. He said it's imperative that Atherton submit an analysis the state deems satisfactory, as that would increase the likelihood the town doesn't need to build more than it already begrudgingly agreed to in its January plan.

Mayor Bill Widmer, who proclaimed in that January meeting, Nobody wants to do any of this, reiterated that when it comes to dealing with state officials, Atherton cant just kick sand in their face.

Were more tired than you are looking into this, and as youve read  people are talking about the builders remedy, he said. Under California law, a locality that falls out of compliance with state housing requirements becomes subject to the "builder's remedy," which allows housing developers to bypass local zoning laws as long as their project meets certain affordability requirements. Widmer stressed that Atherton residents should view the builders remedy as the ultimate evil.

You need to recognize that, the longer we delay on making progress  theres an increased opportunity for something like that to happen, he said.

No vote was taken on the criteria for multifamily housing, and after hearing from residents, Hawkins-Manuelian said that the council plans to make a map of how many locations meet the criteria, which it will then present to the community.

The next regularly scheduled city council meeting is set for May 17, and it's a safe bet that more of HCD's revisions to Atherton's housing element will be discussed. Widmer said that instead of "raising lawyers to fight everything, residents should instead raise funds for Menlo College, which the town was relying on for 60 of the 348 housing units. The school is not actively fundraising for the housing effort, Widmer said. Atherton's plan is also heavily reliant on accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and HCD said Atherton's ADU plans need to be "reconciled with HCD records and that projections should be rescaled based on recent trends, without specifying what those trends are.

But if Wednesday's meeting was any indication, any further discussion of multifamily housing is, in the words of a resident named Lori, "a nonstarter."

Anything that in any way encourages or allows multifamily housing, youve got a community that is 100% against that, she said. There is not one person in this entire town Ive come across in support of that.

She added, Were going through all of these gymnastics for things that people will lay down to prevent.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 6:50 p.m., April 20 to clarify Menlo College's involvement in Atherton's housing element process.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  A U.S. businessman and a Belarus national have been arrested in Florida and charged with violating U.S. sanctions in a scheme that involved purchasing over $150 million in steelmaking materials from an exiled Ukrainian oligarch accused of funding Russian-backed separatist groups in eastern Ukraine.

John Unsalan, 41, of Orlando, was arrested last Friday, and Belarus national Sergey Karpushkin, 46, on Tuesday, according to court records.

The arrest of John Can Unsalan should serve as a warning to those who seek to do business with sanctioned individuals or entities that endanger the security of the United States and our allies, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The Justice Department is relentlessly pursuing those who seek to evade sanctions imposed against the Russian regime and whose crimes enable the regime to continue its unjust, illegal war in Ukraine," Garland said.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, eight years after annexing Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The two nations have been at war for more than a year, with Ukraine receiving aid from the U.S. and other NATO countries.

According to an indictment, Unsalan, acting through his company, Metalhouse LLC, transferred over $150 million to Sergey Kurchenko and his companies between July 2018 and October 2021. In return, Unsalan received metal products used in steelmaking and attempted to collect from Kurchenko millions of dollars of funds for undelivered products. Prosecutors say Karpushkin helped facilitate those transactions.

According to court documents, Kurchenko was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2015 for his role in misappropriating Ukrainian state assets or economically significant entities.

The two sanctioned companies  Kompaniya Gaz-Alyans, OOO, based in the Russian Federation, and ZAO Vneshtorgservis, based in the unrecognized territory of South Ossetia  were designated by the Treasury Department in 2018 as acting on behalf of and providing material support to the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic in the separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine.

Kurchenko left Ukraine in 2014, around the time former President Viktor Yanukovych was impeached and removed from office. Prosecutors in Ukraine issued a warrant for Kurchenko's arrest shortly after he left the country and accused him of failing to pay $130 million in taxes and stealing $180 million from bank investors.

Unsalan is charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; 10 counts of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering and 10 counts of international money laundering. The indictment charges Karpushkin with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions. Each count comes with a possible 20-year prison sentence.

An email seeking comment was sent to attorneys for Unsalan. Online court records didn't list an attorney for Karpushkin.
NEW HAVEN  Officials from central Mexico's state of Tlaxcala are joining local officials and residents for five days of cultural and educational activities to celebrate the friendship and ties between New Haven and Tlaxcala, including the second annual Day of Friendship opening ceremony Wednesday night.

Last April, on the first New Haven-Tlaxcala Day of Friendship, New Haven opened a temporary Mexican consulate at the Free Public Library on Elm Street, welcoming Tlaxcala Gov. Lorena Cuellar Cisneros to celebrate the ties between the two communities.

Greater New Haven is home to an estimated 7,000 people who trace their roots to Tlaxcala, according to Casa Tlaxcala, an office of the State of Tlaxcala government in New York City. The most recent Mexican census estimates that there are about 211,000 people from Tlaxcala living in the United States.

The City of New Haven is grateful for our relationship and bond with the State of Tlaxcala as we celebrate the strong familial, cultural and economic ties between our people and our governments, said Mayor Justin Elicker in a release.

Individuals and families from Tlaxcala who now call New Haven home strengthen and enrich our city, and we are grateful for their many contributions to our community, Elicker said.

It is with great joy that we celebrate today the long-standing friendship and appreciation between the people of New Haven and the people of Tlaxcala, Cisneros said in the release. Our two communities share an important part of their history, culture and our present and future is intertwined. We look forward to continuing our collaborations."

This year's opening ceremony at City Hall was to include a traditional indigenous Tlaxcalan dance ritual, a ribbon-cutting for a Tlaxcalan carpet made in the small city of Huamantla in eastern Tlaxcala and remarks by officials from both places.

A series of arts, cultural, and educational events were slated between Wednesday and Sunday to commemorate the cultural and economic contributions of the Tlaxcalan community in New Haven. All events are free and open to the public.

Remaining New Haven-Tlaxcala Day of Friendship schedule of events includes:
LOS ANGELES  A Ventura County man was arrested early Wednesday and accused of plowing a car into a group of teenagers near a high school, killing one, hours after stabbing a Walmart employee in Simi Valley, officials said.

The investigation, including evidence at the scene and witness statements, led authorities to conclude the Tuesday afternoon crash near Westlake High School was intentional, Ventura County Sheriffs Capt. William Hutton said.

Austin Eis, 24, was booked at the Ventura County main jail around 5 a.m. on seven felony counts, including attempted robbery, resisting an executive officer, attempted murder, murder, burglary and two counts of exhibiting a firearm in a threatening manner, Hutton said.

Bail is currently set at $5 million. No court date is set, Hutton said.

Eis is a former Westlake High student with no known criminal history, said Deputy Wendell Campbell, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Sheriffs Office. It was not immediately clear whether he knew the teenagers, Campbell said, and no motive for the stabbing or the vehicle attack was disclosed.

It was not clear when Eis attended Westlake High.

On Wednesday morning, flowers and candles were placed at a memorial for 15-year-old Wesley Welling, a freshman at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, who was killed Tuesday after what officials say was an intentional car ramming into a group of teens gathered near a bus stop.

Eis is accused of crashing his Toyota Camry into the teenagers just before 2:40 p.m. Tuesday on Lakeview Canyon Road in Thousand Oaks, not far from the school campus.

The vehicle struck four children: two boys, both 15, and two girls, ages 14 and 16, sheriffs officials said.

One of the boys, Wesley Welling, died at a local hospital, officials said. Wesley was waiting for a bus home when he and the other students were struck, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.

The three other injured students were taken to the hospital. Two have since been released, and the extent of the thirds injuries is not known, Campbell said Wednesday morning.

Eis was detained at the scene, then taken to a hospital, officials said.

A white sedan was left lying on its roof in the roadway, which was expected to be closed for several hours.

The crash came sometime after the suspect was allegedly involved in a stabbing in Simi Valley and a domestic incident in Camarillo, according to police.

On Tuesday afternoon, Simi Valley police were called to a Walmart on Cochran Street after a customer allegedly stabbed an employee inside the store and fled the scene in a white Toyota Camry, city police said.

The employee was taken to a hospital in unknown condition.

The suspect then traveled to Camarillo and was involved in an argument with family members that did not result in injuries before driving to Thousand Oaks, sheriffs officials said.

I was walking with friends and I think I was turned around at that moment and then the next moment, I think I hear like, very loud, higher screeching, Erik Bergh, a Westlake High School student who witnessed the crash, told KABC-TV Channel 7. It sounds like a cars on the sidewalk and then I hear people screaming and running and then I turn around and I just see this big car barreling towards me and theres debris flying everywhere.

During this time of unimaginable loss, our thoughts and prayers remain with these students, their families, friends, and the entire Warrior community, Conejo Valley Unified School District Supt. Mark McLaughlin said in a statement to parents.

We, as a tightknit school community and district, appreciate your support and continued care for one another at this time, and always, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said mental health counselors will be on campuses districtwide Wednesday for students, staff and families.

Ventura County sheriffs officials said the motive for the stabbing at the Walmart is unclear.

The incident involved a customer stabbing an employee within the store. The suspect fled the scene before officers arrived. Witnesses provided information about the suspects vehicle, which was described as a white Toyota Camry, missing the front bumper. Witnesses also provided the license plate number of the suspect vehicle, officials said in a statement. The victim of the stabbing, who suffered at least one stab wound, was transported to a local trauma center for treatment.
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LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP)  Atop a 100-foot barge tied up at the Port of Los Angeles, engineers have built a kind of floating laboratory to answer a simple question: Is there a way to cleanse seawater of carbon dioxide and then return it to the ocean so it can suck more of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere to slow global warming?

Called the lungs of the planet, the ocean, whose plants and currents take in carbon dioxide, has already helped the Earth tremendously by absorbing 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution and capturing 90 percent of the excess heat from those emissions. Acting as a giant carbon sink, it has been a crucial buffer in protecting people from even worse effects of early climate change.

Seawater can store 150 times more carbon dioxide per unit volume than air, roughly. But absorbing the greenhouse gas has come at a cost, causing oceans to become more acidic, destroying coral reefs and harming marine species, including impeding shellfish from building their skeletons.

The technology, dubbed SeaChange, developed by the University of California Los Angeles engineering faculty, is meant to seize on the ocean's natural abilities, said Gaurav Sant, director of UCLAs Institute for Carbon Management.

The process sends an electrical charge through seawater flowing through tanks on the barge. That then sets off a series of chemical reactions that trap the greenhouse gas into a solid mineral that includes calcium carbonate  the same thing seashells are made of. The seawater is then returned to the ocean and can pull more carbon dioxide out of the air. The calcium carbonate settles to the sea floor.

Plans are now underway to scale up the idea with another demonstration site starting this month in Singapore. Data collected there and at the Port of Los Angeles will help in the design of larger test plants. Those facilities are expected to be running by 2025 and be able to remove thousands of tons of CO2 per year. If they are successful, the plan is to build commercial facilities to remove millions of tons of carbon annually, Sant said.

But even if the project is able to remove millions of tons, that is still thousands of times less than what will be needed to meaningfully address climate change.

Im not saying this wont work, but the ultimate thing is how much CO2 will it actually draw down on a scale of decades? said Margaret Leinen, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Sant doesnt disagree. Scientists estimate at least 10 billion metric tons of carbon will need to be removed from the air annually beginning in 2050, and the pace will need to continue over the next century.

That really is the fundamental metric that youve got to keep in mind, he said.

Thats why the success of any of the technologies will rely on how fast you can build them out, he added.

According to the UCLA team, at least 1,800 industrial-scale facilities would be needed to capture 10 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year, but fewer could still make a dent.

The project is among a host of ideas being explored by scientists who warn that cutting emissions will not be enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) and avert catastrophic changes to ecosystems.

Much of the attention until recently has been on land-based initiatives such as planting trees or building factories to capture carbon from emitters, but they have limitations including costs and how much land they would cover. So scientists have increasingly turned to help from the ocean, which covers 70 percent of the Earths surface.

Among the ideas researchers are looking at is fertilizing the surface of the ocean to cause a proliferation of tiny carbon-absorbing phytoplankton. Another would sprinkle beaches with minerals that could be slowly swept in with the tides or deposited on coast beds to increase seawaters alkalinity so it can pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

None of the projects have been tested on a global scale, and there is concern about tampering with the ocean.

Aleck Wang, a marine carbon chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said with the number of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal research projects booming, there will likely not be one single solution.

I think we need all of the methods, at least somewhat, so that we can really get to the target, which is the removal of a huge amount of carbon, he said.

Researchers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering built the demonstration system in two years. One thing that distinguishes the process is that it produces hydrogen. To remove a metric ton of carbon dioxide, about 220 metric tons of water needs to flow through the system. That produces 35 kilograms of hydrogen, Sant said.

Sant founded the Los Angeles-based startup Equatic to scale up the project. It would generate revenue from selling the hydrogen, as well as carbon credits that companies, like those in the airline industry, can claim to balance out their pollution, he said. The aim is to remove the carbon at a cost well below $100 a metric ton. The hydrogen would be produced at less than $1 per kilogram, which would be substantially less than the current cost of cleanly-produced hydrogen.

The project has received tens of millions of dollars from supporters including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Andres Clarens, an engineering professor at the University of Virginia who researches carbon dioxide removal, said it is a plus that the process produces hydrogen, but hes concerned that it would require a lot of energy to make a difference.

He also asks: What does it mean for people that use the water already for fishing and for you know, other forms of production? What does it mean for those ecosystems?

Sant has said a filtration system bars marine life from being sucked in with the seawater. He called the energy required minimal. The system uses about two megawatt hours of energy per ton of carbon dioxide removed but its co-product, hydrogen, produces one megawatt hour of energy. Hydrogen could be used to help power the systems or be sold to be used as a green fuel for industries, Sant said.

The approach is based on the idea that you want to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide accumulations, Sant said.

With any of these efforts, the risks must be weighed carefully to ensure the efforts to limit climate change are truly effective and do not cause greater harm to the planet in the process, scientists say.

Clarens of the University of Virginia said the sea may be where such solutions can be found.

The ocean is an important sort of untapped place and thats why Im very curious to see if they can get this to work," he said.

- This story was first published on April 20, 2023. It was updated on April 21, 2023 to correct the the name of the UCLA Institute for Carbon Management, originally published as the UCLA Institute of Carbon Management.

___

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.
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP)  A former Connecticut landlord must pay $400,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging he violated the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing and victimizing his female tenants for at least five years, including evicting or threatening to evict those who objected to or refused his sexual advances.

In an agreement reached by the U.S. Justice Department's Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative and announced Thursday, $350,000 of the funds will be deposited in a settlement account to benefit tenants harassed by landlord Richard Bruno. The remaining $50,000 is a federal civil penalty.
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Beginning this Earth Day, a new campaign in Connecticut will reward commuters who take "green trips" with the opportunity to win up to $500.

CT Rides, a service of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, is launching its "Drive Less CT Climate Challenge" campaign, encouraging commuters to utilize more eco-friendly methods of getting around such as using public transportation, carpooling and telecommuting/working from home. The campaign's goal is to reduce single-rider commuting, or in other words, traveling alone in a car.

Participants can download the CT Rides app and record green trips to begin earning rewards from April 22 - May 31. Eligible green modes of commuting include taking a train, bus, carpool, vanpool, bike, walking or working from home.

The climate challenge is open to all CT Rides members who record eligible trips on its app. The trips are not limited to work-related trips except for those that are recording as working from home.

The more trips commuters record, the larger the prize they are eligible. For 10 or more green tips, commuters are entered in the drawing for $100. 25 or more green trips enters commuters in the $250 drawing and 35 or more green trips means that commuters have the chance to win $500.

Through the initiative, CT Rides hopes to eliminate 20,000 car trips, 275,000 pounds of emissions and reduce 300,000 car miles  equivalent to 95 car trips from Maine to Southern California. The challenge's website has a progress board that tracks the collective impact of green trips taken during this time period.

Businesses and organizations can also get involved by encouraging employees to reduce their emissions by driving less. Interested companies can fill out a form on the CT Rides website to get assistance on creating a company-wide challenge.

In comparison to the rest of the country, Connecticut has the No. 10 highest rate of public transportation commuters per-capita, with 188 people using public transportation to get to work per 10,000 residents according to U.S. Census estimates from 2021.

At the same time, the Nutmeg has one of the higher rates of commuters who travel alone by car, truck or van, at 3,667 single-rider commuters per 10,000 residents. For reference, New York state has the lowest rate of commuters who drive alone at 2,402 people per 10,000 residents.

New York also has the highest rate of public transportation commuters at 1,152 people per 10,000 residents, likely due to the presence of New York City's robust public transportation system.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a 2015 report that incentives like this challenge may encourage the use of public transportation, specifically in the form of free or discounted bus, rail or public transportation passes. Additionally, it suggests that employer-provided subsidies or reimbursements have been shown to increase the use of local transit.

CT Transit busses throughout the state were recently free from April 2022 - 2023 as a result of COVID relief funding. On April 1, the fares returned. Currently, local governments in Stamford, New Haven and Hartford are calling for the implementation of a fare-free bus system to expand ridership and transit accessibility in the communities.

Editors note: This story was updated to reflect correct data.


Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration Anne Milgram looks on during a news conference at the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters April 14, 2023 in Washington, DC.

A federal watchdog is investigating whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration under chief Anne Milgram improperly awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to hire her past associates, people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press.

Among the contract spending under scrutiny by the Justice Departments Office of Inspector General is $4.7 million for strategic planning and communication to hire people Milgram knew from her days as New Jerseys attorney general and as a New York University law professor  at costs far exceeding pay for government officials.

At least a dozen people have been hired under such contracts, including some in Milgrams inner circle handling intelligence, data analytics, community outreach and public relations  work often requiring security clearances and traditionally done by DEAs own 9,000-person workforce.

Also under scrutiny is $1.4 million to a Washington law firm for a recent review of the DEAs scandal-plagued foreign operations that was widely criticized for giving short shrift to agent misconduct and how to prevent it. That review was co-authored by Boyd Johnson, former right-hand man to one of Milgrams closest friends, Preet Bharara, when he was U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. Bharara himself landed at the firm, WilmerHale, even as the review was being conducted.

Some of these deals look very swampy, said Scott Amey, general counsel of the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, noting that federal contracting is not intended to bypass the government hiring process and should be conducted with no preferential treatment and avoiding even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Contractors are also prohibited from performing inherently governmental functions such as directing federal employees.

Contracts should never be awarded based on who you know, Amey said.

Widening inquiry

Details of the widening inquiry, which began several months ago in response to employee complaints, came from several people interviewed by the Inspector Generals office who discussed the ongoing probe and provided contracting documents on the condition of anonymity. If misconduct is found, the Inspector General can recommend anything from administrative sanctions to criminal prosecution.

The probe comes as the DEA is struggling with repeated revelations of agent misconduct that have rocked the federal narcotics agency and a fentanyl crisis claiming more than 100,000 overdose deaths a year that Milgram has called the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced.

The DEA declined to make Milgram available for an interview or to discuss the investigation and specific contracts, instead releasing a statement.

DEA has acted with urgency to set a new vision, target the global criminal networks responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths, raise public awareness about how just one pill can kill, and promote and recruit hundreds of highly talented people, it said. These changes have been made through an extensive and multi-part process, and we are committed to ensuring that DEA is working relentlessly to protect the national security, safety, and health of the American people.

Anthony Coley, a former Justice Department spokesman who has known Milgram for 15 years, said the investigation may stem from employees who arent happy with such organizational change and are seeking ways to push back or undermine it, even if the underlying allegations arent true.

But thats what inspectors general are for, he said, to call balls and strikes.

Mandate to clean house

With a tough New Jersey bravado and data-driven Moneyball approach to the war on drugs, the 52-year-old Milgram came to the DEA nearly two years ago with a mandate to clean house.

But the Biden appointee quickly ruffled feathers by pushing out several career DEA officials she viewed as part of a cliquish culture that allowed misconduct to flourish. Instead, she favored the counsel of newly installed attorneys and data crunchers who work with her in an isolated part of the 12th floor of DEA headquarters known as the bubble.

Milgram has also made a point to show zero tolerance for sexual misconduct and racism in the ranks, warning agents they may now be fired for certain first offenses  a departure from previous administrations.

One of her first actions was ordering an external review of the DEAs sprawling foreign operations, which spans 69 countries. It came in the wake of the high-profile arrest of Jose Irizarry, a disgraced agent now serving a 12-year federal prison sentence after confessing to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels and skimming millions from asset seizures and informants to fund an international joyride of fine dining, parties and prostitutes.

Stuningly vague

But those selected to carry out the review raised eyebrows. One, John Jack Lawn, is a DEA legend but the 87-year-olds insights date from his tenure leading the agency in the 1980s. After leaving government, Lawn headed the Century Council, a beverage industry group, which funded research into campus alcohol abuse that was conducted by Milgrams mother, a Rutgers University expert in the field.

Lawns co-author, Boyd Johnson, worked as a prosecutor on international drug cases before becoming a partner at WilmerHale. Both Johnson and Milgram have close ties to Bharara, who after being fired as U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump joined the NYU faculty alongside Milgram and together hosted the legal issues podcast Cafe Insider. Last year  as the foreign operations review was being conducted  Bharara joined WilmerHale. And this year, DEA hired away from the firm Milgrams former NYU research assistant to become her deputy chief of staff.

Competitive bidding rules for the review were sidestepped by the DEAs argument of unusual and compelling urgency, saying the threat of illicit foreign drugs to the health and safety of the American public has never been greater.

But instead of the projected six months to get the review out, it took nearly three times that long.

Its a complete waste of taxpayers money, said Matthew Donahue, who led DEAs foreign operations until he butted heads with Milgram and was transferred to Colombia, a demotion that prompted him to retire.

Donahue said he and several other DEA overseas veterans were never interviewed as part of the review, which scarcely mentioned Irizarry or other scandals, and borrowed heavily from publicly available audits and DEA operating manuals.

Its something that couldve been written in three days, he said.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a longtime voice against government waste and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ripped WilmerHales review as stunningly vague and recently sent Johnson a letter requesting a range of records, background on his relationship with Milgram and asking whether she or anyone else at DEA requested edits of the report.

Though DEA originally billed this report as a comprehensive review of DEAs foreign operations strategy, the report glosses over or ignores serious shortcomings at the agency and spends much of its 49 pages quoting from publicly available documents that one could have pulled off a web site, Grassley wrote in the letter last week.

Neither Lawn, Johnson, Bharara nor WilmerHale responded to requests for comment.

New Jersey ties

Another no-bid contract under scrutiny went to Jose Cordero, a longtime New York City police official whose ties to Milgram go back to 2007 when as attorney general she named him New Jerseys first statewide director of gangs, guns and violent crime.

Together they overhauled the police department in Camden  then under state control due to soaring crime and corruption  by crunching crime stats and intelligence data in real time to deploy resources as needed. The approach won national praise as the homicide rate in what was then the countrys most dangerous city was slashed by nearly half.

We have a lot of culture to change, Milgram said in a 2014 TED talk on applying statistics to crime fighting. But the great news about all of it is that we know it works.

Less than three weeks after taking the top job at DEA, Milgram awarded Cordero what has become a nearly $400,000 contract to conduct data analysis of crime stats.

But Donahue said Corderos expertise in urban policing has less value to the DEA, which processes a flood of intelligence from foreign and domestic wiretaps, as well as informants, to dismantle cross-border criminal networks.

Cordero didnt respond to requests for comment.

The Clearing

Several of the hires in question joined DEA through The Clearing, a Washington-based federal contractor that provides outsourced administrative services to the DEA and other federal agencies.

The Clearings $4.7 million in billings to the DEA for strategic planning and communication consulting services over the past two years have accounted for 30% of its federal contracts during that period, records show.

Among those from The Clearing under scrutiny is Lena Hackett, a former Democratic congressional staffer and founder of Community Solutions, an Indianapolis consulting firm focused on public health and criminal justice. Milgram described her as her main partner in a policing reform project she established in Indianapolis while teaching at NYU.

Internal records show Hackett regularly briefs field offices, prepares policy statements and memos for Milgram and meets with families affected by the fentanyl crisis. For her services, the DEA budgeted $257 an hour  more than triple the hourly rate earned by the agencys top civil servants, including the head of community outreach.

Another brought in through The Clearing is Julia Pacetti, a New York City publicist who has led media campaigns for prominent public figures and authors.

According to documents, Pacettis firm JMP/Verdant collected $11,500 a month plus expenses to write news releases, handle interview requests and arrange news conferences  work some DEA employees viewed as redundant given the agencys existing staff of public relations employees.

Several recent DEA news releases  including those announcing fentanyl busts as part of the agencys One Pill Can Kill enforcement surge  came not from the DEAs official email account but from Julia Pacetti-Verdant.

Neither The Clearing, Hackett nor Pacetti responded to requests for comment.

This looks terrible to taxpayers, said Don Fox, former acting director and general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics. The appearance is awful.

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Jana Turner had always enjoyed a sense of control over her life. She never married or had children. Her career in commercial real estate remained her top priority, culminating in a rise to becoming a partner in her company.

She also took control of her health. Because her parents and all four grandparents had died of heart disease, she stayed lean, ate a healthy diet and remained active. For decades, she regularly golfed, biked, hiked and lifted weights. She'd also been taking medication to control her cholesterol.

In May 2020, Turner  then 65  began experiencing chest pain while walking around her neighborhood. She sat on the curb for 15 minutes trying to catch her breath. She wondered if she was having a heart attack.

Turner's primary care doctor said an electrocardiogram showed no signs of trouble. He prescribed her medication for a digestive issue. Weeks later, the symptoms persisted. So she saw a gastroenterologist. A small ulcer was discovered. More symptoms led her to see a different gastroenterologist. He prescribed nitroglycerin and urged her to see a cardiologist.

The cardiologist ordered a nuclear stress test. The next morning, he broke the news: She had at least one blockage in her heart arteries.

Further tests to get a closer look inside her heart uncovered she had a greater than 99% blockage in her main coronary artery and significant blockage in another. She would need open-heart surgery for a double bypass.

"With a 99% blockage, you have no wiggle room," said Dr. Anne-Marie Feyrer-Melk, a preventive cardiologist who now treats Turner. "When those type of plaques get hot and rupture, you're just a heartbeat away from a heart attack."

Turner wanted a second opinion. She sobbed when her then-cardiologist told her there was no time for that. Adding to her worries, the hospital had implemented protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, so she wouldn't be able to have visitors. "I had nobody to advocate for me or to help make decisions," she said.

The surgery went well. Six days later, Turner went home. She opted to conduct her own cardiac rehab program, walking up and down stairs and taking long walks around her neighborhood.

"My recovery was easy-breezy," she said.

According to Feyrer-Melk, Turner's lifelong exercise regimen helped her to recover so quickly. "Physically fit people are used to deep breathing and cleaning their lungs out with every breath and with exercise, so they tend to recover from surgery much easier," she said. "If she hadn't been working out in a gym for 45 years, she probably would have had either a heart attack or bypass surgery decades earlier."

About a year later, Turner moved from California to Scottsdale, Arizona. She made an appointment with a local cardiologist. Once again, she failed a stress test. Her bypass had failed, blocking the flow of blood.

In bypass surgery, a vein is taken from another part of the body and grafted onto arteries that feed the heart. In most cases, the vein will adapt to its new location. However, in up to 40% of cases, the vein can thicken and obstruct blood flow.

"That was the first time I felt like I was going to die," she said. "I couldn't get my arms around this." Her cardiologist was more optimistic. This blockage was less severe. Also, it didn't require another invasive bypass operation; it could be cleared with a stent placed during a non-invasive procedure.

Back to full health, Turner looks back to the origin of her problems and feels angry that it took so long to get a correct diagnosis, especially given her family history. She wants others to learn from her experience. "Don't ignore your symptoms," she said. "If you suspect something is wrong with your heart, it's important to push to see a cardiologist. It could save your life."

The ordeal also scraped away Turner's sense of control over her life. She's struggled with anxiety. She feels more nervous than she did in the past. She worries about the occasional flutter in her chest.

She also finds herself more emotional. She recently became misty-eyed when telling a group of friends how much she appreciated them. And tears flowed when her boyfriend, Robert, left Scottsdale to return to Canada, where he lives for part of the year. The tears were uncharacteristic  as is the use of the term "boyfriend," something she avoided even when in other relationships; the use of the term now amuses her friends.

Eager to reduce her stress, she has lessened her workload. She also splurged on a new home, trading a modest condo for a spacious house with mountain views in every direction. "I call it my big girl house, and I'm crazy about it," she said. "This experience has given me the freedom to live for today."

Stories From the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. Permission is granted, at no cost and without need for further request, for individuals, media outlets, and non-commercial education and awareness efforts to link to, quote, excerpt from or reprint these stories in any medium as long as no text is altered and proper attribution is made to American Heart Association News.

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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Stephen J. Silvia, American University School of International Service

(THE CONVERSATION) Ballot counting is underway in a runoff election to decide who will lead the powerful United Auto Workers union as its president. But the historic election is already transforming the unions leadership in ways that could bring an end to decades of declining blue-collar compensation in this key sector of the economy.

This was the first direct leadership election in the UAWs 88-year history, following a series of corruption scandals that sent two former presidents to prison. With most of the other leadership races already determined, its clear that the unions leadership will be closely divided between the old guard and the challengers.

This transformation of how the UAW is governed sets up what is widely expected to be a more adversarial relationship between the union and the Big Three domestic car producers. Regardless of who wins the presidency, a more combative stance with automakers is likely to result in more strikes, higher car prices and also greater competitive pressure on domestic companies to outsource or challenge unionization at new plants opening to make electric vehicles and their components.

I have written about trade unions in the United States and Europe for over three decades. My latest book is The UAWs Southern Gamble: Organizing Workers at Foreign-owned Vehicle Plants. The direct elections, while making the UAW better reflect the interests of workers, will challenge companies at the same time the Biden administration is trying to revive manufacturing and boost union influence. The results could reverberate through the nations fragile economy.

How a scandal gave workers more power

The UAW held a first round of direct elections for the unions president and leadership board in late 2022, with ballots mailed to working members and retirees.

This new election format is a product of a 2021 consent decree between the UAW and the Justice Department to settle a sprawling corruption scandal in which several top union officials were convicted of taking bribes from the auto companies and spending millions of dollars of union funds intended for worker training on luxuries for themselves, including trips and a Ferrari.

During the campaign, the incumbents, led by current UAW president Ray Curry, have depicted their slate as a safer and more experienced set of hands, which would be particularly valuable in troubled economic times. The challengers, led by Shawn Fain, have accused incumbents of conceding too readily to management, tolerating a culture of patronage and scandal and failing to practice democracy. Curry was never implicated in the scandal.

For decades, UAW leaders were chosen through an indirect process common to many unions. Delegates to the UAW convention chose top officers, and regional conventions picked regional directors.

This system was raucous in the unions early days. Ferocious struggles among communist, socialist and voluntarist factions at UAW conventions rocked the union in the 1930s and 1940s until the socialists under the leadership of Walter Reuther prevailed. Reuther consolidated power through an internal group, which eventually became known as the Reuther Administrative Caucus, or RAC, and came to dominate UAW conventions. Joining and adhering to the positions of the RAC was a prerequisite to advancement within the union.

Critics compared the RAC to a one-party state. Union dissidents accused the RACs leaders of being too quick to crush dissent and to make concessions to the auto companies. Ultimately, the dominance of the RAC left the UAW vulnerable to scandal, which is why the consent decree mandated a referendum to decide whether to have direct elections of top union officers. Union members voted in favor.

Two sides quickly formed in the lead-up to direct elections for the UAWs top governing body, the International Executive Board: the Curry Solidarity Team, which was the informal successor to the Reuther Administrative Caucus, and challengers who called themselves UAW Members United. The challengers blame the incumbent leadership for a much-hated two-tier wage structure that compensates new hires at a lower rate and say the incumbents havent done enough to secure jobs in the transition to electric vehicles. The incumbents say the challengers are armchair critics without answers to tough problems.

The UAW Members United group exceeded expectations in the December 2022 elections, winning five of the 14 International Executive Board seats, including two of three vice-president posts and the secretary-treasurer, the second-highest position in the union. The Curry Solidarity Team won six seats, an independent won a seat, and the runoff will decide the winner of the presidency and one district head.

Expect internal conflict

Bringing together an International Executive Board that is evenly divided between the two slates will be a challenge regardless of who wins the presidency.

Direct elections will make it far more difficult for the UAW leadership to agree to difficult trade-offs between decent compensation and job security on the one hand and preserving the competitiveness of the domestic auto producers on the other, because dissatisfied members can now challenge leaders through direct elections.

Being elected to a top position in the UAW is now much more like running for Congress. Candidates need to appeal to base voters and take positions that can feed polarization. Top union officers will have less room to deviate from campaign promises because direct elections make it far easier to challenge them.

Having a sharply divided leadership board could also make union policies less coherent and lead to internal paralysis, which would be disastrous for not only the union but also for companies with union contracts. Union members vote to ratify all contracts, and a dispute could make ratification less likely. It would also be harder for a union with a leadership riven with strife to organize new workplaces.

Both camps within the UAW recognize the grave risks of internal division and have been careful so far to remain civil. It is an open question, however, whether mutual accommodation is durable given the intense views of many rank-and-file members.

What will the election mean for negotiations?

The first major test of the new UAW will be this falls collective bargaining negotiations with the Big Three: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which includes Chrysler.

Both factions agree on opening demands: the restoration of cost-of-living adjustments to the new contract and the elimination of the two-tier wage system. It is too soon to tell whether they will turn on each other in the heat of negotiations.

One thing is certain, however: The UAWs experiment with more direct democracy will shake both the auto industry and the economy, as it permits a much less mediated expression of worker concerns  replete with contradictions and disagreements  to come to the fore. As newly elected UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock put it, the companies should prepare for a new, more aggressive UAW.

This article was updated March 1, 2023, with the runoff vote count beginning.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/historic-uaw-election-is-bringing-profound-union-leadership-changes-and-chances-of-more-strikes-and-higher-car-prices-200335.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  A Texas man who agreed to surrender on charges for taking part in the U.S. Capitol riot fired a gun toward sheriff's deputies who went to his house later that day in response to a welfare call, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Nathan Donald Pelham, 40, allegedly fired the shots from his rural home on April 12, the same day he was told he was charged with four misdemeanors for allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 attack. Officers heard bullets whiz past them and hit objects nearby, according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. The deputies left without making an arrest, according to court records.

The Justice Department said no law enforcement officers were injured. An attorney for Pelham, who was arrested Tuesday, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The episode is an outlier in the more than 1,000 federal arrests that have been made in the Jan. 6 riot. Practically all of the arrests have been made without incident, including those of members of far-right extremist groups facing serious felony charges such as seditious conspiracy.

Investigators say Pelham entered the Capitol wearing goggles and a hat with the logo of the Proud Boys extremist group, but later denied affiliation with them. He allegedly stayed inside the Capitol for about seven minutes. About two months later, Pelham was stopped while attempting to enter Canada and told Border Patrol agents that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, court records show.

Prosecutors say Pelham had agreed to surrender on the Capitol riot charges when he was contacted last week by an FBI agent. Later that day though, a deputy from the Hunt County Sheriff's Office was sent to the house in response to a welfare call made by a relative. A child was sent out of the house and deputies began to hear gun shots, according to court records.

Pelham lives about 50 miles (81 kilometers) northeast of Dallas.

Pelham was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, prosecutors said.

In the case of another Jan. 6 defendant, a Tennessee man charged with assaulting an officer in the riot was later accused of conspiring with another person on a failed attempt to kill dozens of federal agents involved in the investigation.

Authorities have alleged Edward Kelley discussed plans with another man to kill law enforcement personnel who had worked in his criminal investigation, and made a list of targets.

____

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  A man who was reportedly acting erratically and pointing a gun at passersby was fatally shot by police in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the shooting that happened about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The man killed was 43-year-old Reginald E. Byers Jr.
GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP)  A South African teenage farm worker who suffocated to death after falling into a grain storage bin would still be alive had a Mississippi soybean farm followed federal workplace safety standards, inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined.

Bare Bones Farms, located in the Mississippi Delta town of Greenwood, violated federal law by failing to ensure workers wore full-body harnesses connected to a lifeline before four of them were engulfed by soybeans inside a storage bin in an October 2022 incident, the labor department said Wednesday. A 19-year-old South African farmworker, whose body wasn't recovered for five hours, suffocated.
HARTFORD  A fugitive suspected of trying to kill his girlfriend was apprehended in New York City Monday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Dakwan Nelson, 19, will be charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, first-degree assault, carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm and first-degree reckless endangerment once he is extradited back to Connecticut, said Supervisor Deputy Matthew Duffy, public information officer for the U.S. Marshals Connecticut Violent Fugitive Task Force.
The New Canaan Food Revolution returns on May 20 with all ticket proceeds this year going to The Sunshine Kids, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children with cancer

The event, which is sponsored by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties and produced by Rock Paper Scissors Custom Events, will be held between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. at 98 Park St., New Canaan.

Tickets are limited to 150 places and available to purchase in advance at $10 per person. For information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-canaan-food-revolution-tickets-524692317847.

Originally created as a "food trail" to encourage kids to sample small bites of unfamiliar foods and feel confident trying different foods, the event now involves 14 food sample tables that attract and entertain families and friends of all ages. Participants this year include Chef Prasad, Greenology, Fjord, Plum Plums, Gates and Barvida, Mama Hus Sushi Bake, Grace Farms Food, Forever Sweet Bakery, and Walter Stewarts Market.

At the check-in at Rock Paper Scissors, participants will receive a wristband and a passport map to follow a food trail on foot, with participants earning a stamp for everything they taste, from Marmite to kale shakes to pork vindaloo.

Those who turn in the completed passport will be entered in a live prize drawing. Each participant will receive a Bravery Certificate.

Kristen and I were delighted to see so many participants last year after the COVID break," said co-organizer Rachel Lampen of Rock Paper Scissors. "We think it simply works because its outdoors, (and) easy to navigate with a strong community feel. Its a lovely way to spend the morning.

Summer Theatre to hold anniversary gala

Summer Theatre of New Canaan is holding its 20th anniversary gala at 6 p.m. May 13 at the Country Club of New Canaan, 95 Country Club Road.

The event will begin with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7:15 p.m., the honorees presentation at 8 p.m. and performances beginning at 8:15 p.m., featuring scenes and music from this season's offering, Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," slated for opening night July 15.

Honorees are state and Broadway celebrities George and Carol Bauer, community philanthropists of the arts, education and health; David Friedman,

author, song writer, Broadway and movie composer and music director; Broadway lighting designer Paul Gallo; and emerging artist Chris Lopes, an alumnae from the DramaRamas program for children with special needs whose resume includes theater, TV and movies.

This year's gala committee includes Jodie Azzopardi, Angelica Cantlon, Allison Gray, Kimberly Jodka, Melody Libonati, Kathryn McManus, Cathy Mishkin, Olena Sharavarnyk, Ellen Sission and Laura Turner.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit stonc.org, call 203-966-4634 or email info@stonc.org.

Treetops Chamber Music concert on tap

A performance by the Treetops Chamber Ulysses Quartet with Oakar Espina-Ruiz on clarinet will take place at the Carriage Barn, 681 South Ave., at 4 p.m. April 30.

Founded in 2006, Treetops Chamber Music Society is a nonprofit organization that presents acclaimed artists who perform chamber music from the classical repertoire and contemporary masterworks.

For information and tickets, visit https://www.treetopscms.org/concerts-and-events.

Women, girls in Afghanistan: a talk

Women with extensive knowledge of the uniquely challenging landscape for women and girls living in Afghanistan will discuss "Women and Girls in Afghanistan: Listen, Learn, Act" at 7 p.m. April 25 in the Jim & Dede Bartlett Auditorium at the New Canaan Library, 151 Main St.

The program is designed to give attendees an opportunity to learn firsthand of the reality of life in Afghanistan, and how local residents can support initiatives that are designed to uplift the women in the center of the conflict.

The presenters are Nadia Hashimi, Alexis Brooks, Shekaiba Bennett and Sodaba Wakili.

Hashimi is an international best selling author and co-founder of the Afghan-American Foundation. Brooks is a counsel in Murtha Cullina LLPs Business and Finance Department, providing corporate legal services to Connecticut businesses. She provided pro bono legal services through Pangea Legal Services and Project Anar to submit 14 applications for humanitarian parole to the USCIS on behalf of a family trying to escape Afghanistan in the Fall of 2021. Bennett is co-chair of the UN Committee of New Canaan and a New Canaan Police Commissioner. Wakili is executive director of Social Change for Afghan Women Organization based in Afghanistan.

Moderator will be Sheri West, founder and CEO at LiveGirl.

New Canaan Great Strides walk set for May 7

The Connecticut Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host New Canaan Great Strides to raise funds and awareness for cystic fibrosis, a progressive, genetic, multi-organ disease that affects approximately 300 people in the state.

The event is set for May 7 at New Canaan High School. Registration begins at 9 a.m.; the walk begins at 10 a.m.

In 2021, the Foundation funded more than $253 million in research and care for people with the disease. Money raised at New Canaan Great Strides and hundreds of events nationwide support the CF Foundation's mission to cure cystic fibrosis and to provide all people with CF the opportunity to lead long, fulfilling lives by funding research and drug development, partnering with the CF community and advancing high-quality, specialized care.

For more information and to register for the walk, visit on.cff.org/greatstrides or call the Connecticut Chapter at 860-632-7300.

Democrats host town forum

New Canaan Democrats is hosting a town forum featuring a panel of current elected and appointed officials available to answer questions on affordable housing, cell towers, town finances and more.

The forum, which is designed for registered Democrats, unaffiliated voters and Republicans considering switching parties, is set for 7 to 9 p.m. April 20 in the main meeting room at New Canaan Town Hall, 77 Main St.

For more information, email newcanaandems@gmail.com or contact Christina Fagerstal, chair, New Canaan DTC.












BuzzFeed News, a pioneering digital news site that won a Pulitzer Prize and stirred controversy by publishing the Steele dossier, said Thursday it will close after 12 years.

The news was broken to dismayed employees in an email from the site's co-founder and chief executive, Jonah Peretti, who wrote the company couldn't maintain a stand-alone news organization and cited "more challenges than I can count," including the pandemic, declining advertising and "a tech recession."

He also blamed himself, writing that he was "slow to accept" the challenges in building a site around free digital journalism. "I could have managed these changes better as the CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances," Peretti wrote.

Parent company BuzzFeed Inc. plans to lay off roughly 180 employees - representing 15 percent of the company's total workforce of about 1,200 - and begin shuttering BuzzFeed News, which was started in late 2011 as an adjunct to BuzzFeed.com, a website that specializes in creating more frivolous content such as viral "listicles" about celebrities and popular culture.

"I am deeply sorry," the site's editor in chief, Karolina Waclawiak, wrote to employees in a note she subsequently shared on Twitter. "You deserve better. There is no reason this company couldn't have built a business around BuzzFeed News far earlier." Waclawiak told The Washington Post she would be staying with the company to manage the transition and other projects.

The company plans to preserve old BuzzFeed News articles on BuzzFeed.com, which will continue to operate along with its sister publication, HuffPost.

"I'm heartsick about it," said BuzzFeed News's former editor in chief Ben Smith, who is now editor in chief of Semafor and author of a forthcoming book about the history of this era in digital media. "I do think it marks the end of the marriage between news and social media."

BuzzFeed - a pioneer of viral content and pop-culture listicles at the time - started its news division in 2011 with grand ambitions to package hard-hitting journalism for the digital age. It poached Smith from Politico to serve as the first editor in chief, with plans to create "the definitive social news organization."

BuzzFeed News employed reporters with impressive credentials to follow through on that vision, and its journalists were soon landing scoops, such as Republican Mitt Romney locking down Sen. John McCain's endorsement in the 2012 presidential race.

BuzzFeed carved a lane for itself in political journalism, with a research team unearthing politicians' misbehavior and its reporters getting poached by more established media companies such as CNN and the New York Times.

It also notched other journalistic triumphs. BuzzFeed News won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for a series on the mass detention of Uyghurs Muslims by China. An investigation into R. Kelly's sexual misconduct by longtime music journalist Jim DeRogatis was part of a series of events that culminated in the singer's conviction. And reporter Krystie Lee Yandoli exposed the "toxic work culture" at Ellen DeGeneres's talk show; DeGeneres ultimately decided to end the program.

Not all of its scoops were roundly praised. Shortly after the 2016 presidential election, BuzzFeed published a leaked copy of the Steele dossier, as it is called, a collection of largely unverified reports that claimed the Russian government had compromising information about Donald Trump. Almost none of the information was subsequently proved, and today the dossier's publication is widely viewed as an example of irresponsible journalism.

Like many other start-ups, BuzzFeed News struggled to build a profitable business model around digital journalism. BuzzFeed opted to keep most of its content free as competitors erected paywalls, while also rolling out a paid-membership program.

When the company went public in 2021, it anticipated the move would bring in more investment with a deal valuing BuzzFeed at $1.5 billion.

A year later, the company was worth about a third of that.

BuzzFeed had gone through several rounds of buyouts and layoffs before its end was announced Thursday. In early 2019, about 15 percent of its staff was laid off - 219 employees including 43 journalists. A year after winning a Pulitzer, BuzzFeed offered buyouts to 36 people within its news division, shedding staff in coverage areas such as investigative reporting and politics.

Another digital media outfit, Insider, also announced large cuts Thursday, notifying employees that the company was cutting 10 percent of its 950-person workforce. "Our industry has been under significant pressure for more than a year," two top executives, Barbara Peng and Henry Blodget, wrote in a memo. "Unfortunately, to keep our company healthy and competitive, we need to reduce the size of our team. We have tried hard to avoid taking this step, and we are sorry about the impact it will have on many of you."

- - -

The Washington Post's Jeremy Barr contributed to this report.
A man confessed to killing four people, including his parents, and then firing on motorists on a busy interstate highway, just days after being released from prison, police said Wednesday. Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, called the shootings of four people at a home in Bowdoin and then three more people on Interstate 295 to the south in Yarmouth an attack on the soul of our state that shook neighbors, law enforcement and the state at large.

Its a shock to everybody, he told reporters in Augusta. You want to naturally say, That cant be happening here in Maine. But the reality is these senseless acts can and do happen everywhere.

The gunman, Joseph Eaton, 34, had been released April 14 from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he was picked up by his mother after completing a sentence for aggravated assault, police said. That crime was serious enough to prevent him from possessing a gun in Maine. Over the past decade he has been charged with more than a half-dozen crimes.

The shootings began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims in Bowdoin were identified Wednesday as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said.

After Joseph Eaton fled the home, a chaotic scene developed on a highway over 20 miles (32 kilometers) away in Yarmouth, where shots were fired at moving vehicles, police said. Joseph Eaton later told police he was firing on cars because he thought he was being followed by law enforcement. Several vehicles were hit by gunfire but the three people injured were a family all in the same car: Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey remained in critical condition, police said Wednesday.

The seven people shot Tuesday were the latest victims of mass shootings in the U.S., whose targets included a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee; a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Sweet Sixteen party in a small city in Alabama.

This is an active investigation with a lot of moving parts, Shannon Moss, state police spokesperson, said Wednesday.

The day before the shootings, an anguished man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted a roughly two-minute live video on Facebook criticizing people who he said are Christian and dont give people a second chance. What good does it do to hate somebody? he said, choking back tears on the video. You know, it destroys you.

On the day he was released from prison, the man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted on Facebook that he was feeling thankful. Its finally over. There are so many people I cant wait to see.

Moss confirmed that state police were aware of the video, and that its part of their investigation. Joseph Eaton, who was living in Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder but was not immediately charged in the highway shootings, she said. He was jailed while awaiting a court appearance. It was unclear if he had an attorney to speak on his behalf, a jail official said Wednesday.

Police declined to release more information about the investigation into the shootings, which they described as ongoing. They declined to speculate on a possible motive or the weapon that was used. The origins and ownership of the firearms used remain unclear.

Police declined to comment on Eatons living arrangements after leaving prison beyond saying his parents were helping him with accommodations. Police also did not comment on whether drugs or mental illness played a role in the killings.

Meanwhile, in Bowdoin, Denise Pride, 58, a neighbor, said one of the victims was famous for delivering baked goods to neighbors on holidays. They were very kind people, Pride said. The neighbors were texting, shocked that it happened, and to them.

A relative of the family shot on the highway, Ian Halsey of Bowdoinham, said that two of his cousins were shot and that his uncle suffered shrapnel injuries. None of the family knew the shooter, he said.

They were just passersby in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said of his family. Its horrible what happened.

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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Wendy Whitman Cobb, Air University

(THE CONVERSATION) On April 20, 2023, a new SpaceX rocket called Starship exploded over the Gulf of Mexico three minutes into its first flight ever. SpaceX is calling the test launch a success, despite the fiery end result. As a space policy expert, I agree that the rapid unscheduled disassembly  the term SpaceX uses when its rockets explode  was a very successful failure.

The most powerful rocket ever built

This launch was the first fully integrated test of SpaceXs new Starship. Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed and is designed to be fully reusable. It is made of two different stages, or sections. The first stage, called Super Heavy, is a collection of 33 individual engines and provides more than twice the thrust of a Saturn V, the rocket that sent astronauts to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s.

The first stage is designed to get the rocket to about 40 miles (65 kilometers) above Earth. Once Super Heavys job is done, it is supposed to separate from the rest of the craft and land safely back on the surface to be used again. At that point the second stage, called the Starship spacecraft, is supposed to ignite its own engines to carry the payload  whether people, satellites or anything else  into orbit.

An explosive first flight

While parts of Starship have been tested previously, the launch on April 20, 2023, was the first fully integrated test with the Starship spacecraft stacked on top of the Super Heavy rocket. If it had been successful, once the first stage was spent, it would have separated from the upper stage and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Starship would then have continued on, eventually crashing 155 miles (250 kilometers) off of Hawaii.

During the SpaceX livestream, the team stated that the primary goal of this mission was to get the rocket off the launch pad. It accomplished that goal and more. Starship flew for more than three minutes, passing through what engineers call max Q  the moment at which a rocket experiences the most physical stress from acceleration and air resistance.

According to SpaceX, a few things went wrong with the launch. First, multiple engines went out sometime before the point at which the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket were supposed to separate from each other. The two stages were also unable to separate at the predetermined moment, and with the two stages stuck together, the rocket began to tumble end over end. It is still unclear what specifically caused this failure.

Starship is almost 400 feet (120 meters) tall and weighs 11 million pounds (4.9 million kilograms). An out-of-control rocket full of highly flammable fuel is a very dangerous object, so to prevent any harm, SpaceX engineers triggered the self-destruct mechanism and blew up the entire rocket over the Gulf of Mexico.

All modern rockets have mechanisms built into them that allow engineers to safely destroy the rocket in flight if need be. SpaceX itself has blown up many of its own rockets during testing.

Success or failure?

Getting to space is hard, and it is not at all unusual for new rockets to experience problems. In the past two years, both South Korea and Japan have attempted to launch new rockets that also failed to reach orbit. Commercial companies such as Virgin Orbit and Relativity Space have also lost rockets recently. None of these were crewed missions, and in most of these failed launches, flight engineers purposefully destroyed the rockets after problems arose.

SpaceXs approach to testing is different from that of other groups. Its company philosophy is to fail fast, find problems and fix them with the next rocket. This is different from the more traditional approach taken by organizations such as NASA that spend far more time identifying and planning for possible problems before attempting a launch.

The traditional approach tends to be slow. The development of NASAs Space Launch System  the rocket that will take astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program  took more than 10 years before its first launch this past November. SpaceXs method has allowed the company to move much faster but can be costlier because of the time and resources it takes to build new rockets.

SpaceX engineers will look to identify the specific cause of the problem so that they can fix it for the next test launch. With this approach, launches like this first Starship test are successful failures that will help SpaceX reach its eventual goal of sending astronauts to Mars.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/spacex-launches-most-powerful-rocket-in-history-in-explosive-debut-like-many-first-liftoffs-starships-test-was-a-successful-failure-204248.
NASHVILLE - A top Republican legal strategist told a roomful of GOP donors over the weekend that conservatives must band together to limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters, according to a copy of her presentation reviewed by The Washington Post.

Cleta Mitchell, a longtime GOP lawyer and fundraiser who worked closely with former president Donald Trump to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, gave the presentation at a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Nashville on Saturday.

The presentation - which had more than 50 slides and was labeled "A Level Playing Field for 2024" - offered a window into a strategy that seems designed to reduce voter access and turnout among certain groups, including students and those who vote by mail, both of which tend to skew Democratic.

Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment, and it is unclear whether she delivered the presentation exactly as it was prepared on her PowerPoint slides. But in addition to the presentation, The Post listened to audio of portions of the presentation obtained by liberal journalist Lauren Windsor in which Mitchell discussed limiting campus and early voting.

"What are these college campus locations?" she asked, according to the audio. "What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed."

The GOP has not formally endorsed Mitchell's plan but has worked closely with her since Trump left office. The presentation made clear that at least some key figures within the party remain intent on tightening rules for voting and elections. The persistence of the message as the 2024 vote approaches comes despite the fact that candidates who emphasized Trump's stolen election narrative were repudiated in many key statewide races in the 2022 midterms.

After the presentation, Mitchell was seen at the Four Seasons hotel bar, meeting with donors and Republican strategists.

"As the RNC continues to strengthen our Election Integrity program, we are thankful for leaders like Cleta Mitchell who do important work for the Republican ecosystem. Our guests in Nashville were grateful for her to travel to the event and share her efforts," said Keith Schipper, an RNC spokesman.

Mitchell told her RNC audience that her organization, the Election Integrity Network, "is NOT about winning campaigns," according to the text of the presentation. But the slides gave little other rationale for why campus or mail voting should be curtailed. At another point in the presentation, she said the nation's electoral systems must be saved "for any candidate other than a leftist to have a chance to WIN in 2024."

"The Left has manipulated the electoral systems to favor one side . . . theirs," she wrote in the presentation. "Our constitutional republic's survival is at stake."

Republicans have claimed that lax ID requirements - such as allowing college identification or mail voting where no ID is required - open the door for voter fraud. But they have produced no evidence of widespread fraud - and experts say that's because it doesn't happen.

At one point in the presentation, Mitchell said she is optimistic that the Virginia Senate will flip to Republican control this year, allowing for the elimination of early voting in the state, according to the audio reviewed by The Post.

"Forty-five days!" she said in a reference to Virginia's early voting period. "Do you know how hard it is to have observers be able to watch for that long a period?"

Some advisers to other elected officials were frustrated the RNC allowed her to speak at a major event, given her role on behalf of Trump after the election and her repeated false claims about voter fraud. But they did not want to criticize her publicly. RNC officials noted that other speakers who were critical of Trump were also given prime billing at the event.

In Trump's private comments to donors at the event, he said that he eventually wants to end all mail and early voting, according to audio obtained by The Post. But until that happens, he said, Republicans had to get better at it.

Mitchell advised Trump and was on the call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 when Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn the result.

"All we have to do, Cleta, is find 11,000-plus votes," Trump said on the call, which is now under investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of a broader inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 result in Georgia.

Mitchell has long been a prominent Republican lawyer who has worked for a range of causes, candidates and committees, including the National Rifle Association, former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Mitchell was a partner in the firm Foley and Lardner but resigned a day after the Raffensperger call, following a statement from the firm criticizing her participation in the call and her involvement with Trump.

After her resignation, Mitchell defended her involvement with Trump's efforts in a letter to family and friends. "Those who deny the existence of voter and election fraud are not in touch with facts and reality," she wrote.

Mitchell soon founded the Election Integrity Network and has recruited volunteers and held regular calls with officials across the country in a bid to "develop and share research and information, develop policy proposals and create legal strategies," according to the group's website.

Campus voting has been a contentious issue for years, with Republicans in states including New Hampshire, Idaho and Texas seeking to curtail the use of college identification cards to vote. Supporters of these measures have said they want to prevent out-of-state students from voting in their states and also prevent the use of identification that does not include a home address.

In her presentation in Nashville, Mitchell focused on campus voting in five states - Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin - all of which are home to enormous public universities with large in-state student populations.

Mitchell also targeted the preregistration of students, an apparent reference to the practice in some states of allowing 17-year-olds to register ahead of their 18th birthdays so they can vote as soon as they are eligible.

Marc Elias, a Democratic election lawyer who has sued Republicans over their efforts to tighten student and youth voting laws, said Mitchell's efforts appear aimed at making it harder for young people, who tend to vote Democratic, to cast their ballots.

"Imagine if in every place in this presentation where she references campuses, she talked about African Americans," Elias said. "Or every place she says students, she instead talked about Latinos. There is a subtle but real bigotry that goes on when people target young voters because of their age."

Elias is leading a suit in Idaho seeking to block a new law that removes student IDs from the list of permissible identification for voting. Idaho, which has a large in-state student population, saw one of the largest increases of student-aged voter registration between 2018 and 2022 of any state, according to research from Tufts University.

"The point is they don't want their Idaho students voting in their state," Elias said.

The chief sponsor of the Idaho bill, Rep. Tina Lambert (R), said on the floor of the statehouse in February that its purpose was to prevent the use of IDs that are issued without rigorous verification processes. She said the bill is not intended to block students from voting.

In her presentation, Mitchell also called for the ouster of two Republican elected officials in Maricopa County, Ariz., who defended President Biden's victory there in the face of Trump's false claims that the election was rigged - County Recorder Stephen Richer and County Supervisor Bill Gates.

Richer said any effort to try to eliminate campus voting locations would fail because Maricopa polling places are chosen based on data science. He said such an effort wouldn't have much effect in Arizona anyway, since the vast majority of voters cast ballots early and by mail.

He also decried the "audacity" of Mitchell targeting two Republican officials at a meeting of the RNC and said it would backfire.

"What do they think will happen in Maricopa County if they run an election denier in the primary against me?" Richer asked. "How do they think that person will do in the general? They'll get their butts kicked, just like Mark Finchem" - the 2022 Republican nominee for secretary of state - "got his butt kicked."

Much of Mitchell's report appeared to be based on years-old Republican talking points, including the need to fight back against moves Democrats made as long as a decade ago to oppose voter ID laws.

But she also exhorted Republicans to help her build - and fund - on-the-ground organizations in 10 states. In particular, she called for "oversight" in Fulton County, home of Atlanta, where Republicans have long criticized election management. And she called for combating the power of the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada, an election turnout juggernaut for Democrats in the Las Vegas area.

The presentation featured a map claiming to highlight the eight states that will decide the 2024 presidential election. But the list included Alaska - a state that has not chosen a Democrat for president since 1964 - and Virginia, which hasn't chosen a Republican for president since 2004. And it omitted two states that have been razor-thin battlegrounds in recent elections: Pennsylvania and Michigan.

- - -

Michael Kranish contributed to this report.
Sirens wailed, church bells rang and the presidents of Germany, Israel and Poland bowed their heads Wednesday before a memorial to Jewish insurgents who fought a mismatched, desperate battle against Nazi German forces in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.



Celebrations of the uprising's 80th anniversary honored the hundreds of young Jews who took up arms in the Polish capital in 1943, choosing to fight and die at a time and place not dictated by the Nazis. Most were killed, and none of those who survived the fighting are still alive.

"I stand before you today and ask for forgiveness," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the site of the former ghetto. "The appalling crimes that Germans committed here fill me with deep shame. But at the same time, it fills me with gratitude and humility that I can take part in this commemoration as the first German head of state ever."

The leaders were joined by Holocaust survivors and their descendants, amid a poignant sense that the responsibility for carrying on the memory of the Holocaust is passing from the witnesses to younger generations.

A 96-year-old Polish Holocaust survivor, Marian Turski, told those gathered that German forces did the unimaginable in annihilating Jews, but that the "subsoil" of anti-Semitism existing for centuries made it possible for the Germans to kill so many. He warned against indifference in the face of rising hatred and violence in today's world.

"Can I be indifferent, can I remain silent, when today the Russian army is attacking our neighbor and seizing its land?" he said.

Steinmeier said the lessons of his country's aggression offer a message amid the war.

"You in Poland, you in Israel, you know from your history that freedom and independence must be fought for and defended," Steinmeier said. "But we Germans have also learned the lessons of our history. 'Never again' means that there must be no criminal war of aggression like Russia's against Ukraine in Europe."

Jewish and Christian clerics recited prayers and a torch burned from a part of the memorial resembling a Jewish menorah.

A large group held private unofficial observances at other sites across the former ghetto, placing yellow daffodils or wearing small paper daffodils that in recent years have become a symbol of remembering the uprising.

For some, it was a boycott of the right-wing government for its policy of portraying the predominant response to the Holocaust as one in which Poles saved Jews. That approach has been a source of tensions with Israel, where many accuse the Polish government of ignoring modern scholarship, which paints a complex picture that also includes many cases of Polish betrayal of Jews.

The Germans invaded Poland in 1939 and the next year set up the ghetto, the largest of many in occupied Poland.

Poland was home to Europe's largest prewar Jewish population on the eve of the Holocaust, some 3.5 million Jews, most of whom were murdered. The Polish state preserves sites like the ghetto and the Auschwitz death camp, while also honoring the massive losses inflicted on the entire nation. Some 6 million Polish citizens were killed during the war, about 3 million of them Jews and the others mostly Christian Poles.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog mentioned in his remarks the "disagreements and pain" that still exist between the Jewish and Polish people over their clashing historical narratives and voiced hope their friendship would advance.

"The heroism of the resistance and the rebels and the imperative to remember that terrible chapter of history, when the Jewish people faced complete annihilation, and destruction rained down upon Poland and many other countries, offer a platform for important dialogue between Poland and Israel," Herzog said.

Poland and German have faced tensions of their own, including over Polish demands for reparations for World War II. During Steinmeier's visit, the Polish culture minister presented him with a report on Polish war losses. Poland has been demanding $1.3 trillion. Germany has rejected that idea, saying it paid reparations already after the war.

The Warsaw ghetto initially held some 380,000 Jews who were cramped into tight living spaces, and at its peak housed about half a million people. Disease and starvation were rampant, and bodies often appeared on the streets.

The Jewish resistance movement in the ghetto grew after 265,000 men, women and children were rounded up in the summer of 1942 and killed at the Treblinka death camp. As word of the Nazi genocide spread, those who remained behind no longer believed German promises they would be sent to labor camps.

A small group of rebels began to spread calls for resistance, carrying out isolated acts of sabotage and attacks. Some Jews began defying German orders to report for deportation.

The uprising began when the Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Passover holiday. Three days later, the Nazis set the ghetto ablaze, turning it into a fiery death trap, but the Jewish fighters kept up their struggle for nearly a month before they were vanquished.

Avi Valevski, a professor of psychiatry from Israel whose father, Ryszard Walewski, a doctor who led a group of some 150 warriors in the revolt, visited Warsaw with his wife, describing it as "more than an emotional moment."

Valevski, 72, was young when his father became ill and died in 1971. Today he pores through the documentation his father left behind and is trying to get one of his stories translated into English and published.

Some descendants of survivors feel an inexorable pull back to the land of their parents.

"I'm a New Yorker but there is something that keeps drawing me back here," said Barbara Jolson Blumenthal, whose parents survived the Warsaw Ghetto after a Pole helped them to escape and hide, while many other members of their families were murdered.

"And although such horrible things happened here, I remember my parents saying that they loved it here, that it was so wonderful here, and I walk the streets and I wonder if this is where my family was and where they walked," Blumenthal said.

___

Michal Dyjuk contributed reporting.
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NEW YORK (AP)  A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked House Republicans from questioning a former Manhattan prosecutor about the criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump, the latest twist in a legal battle between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office and the House Judiciary Committee.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay late Wednesday, hours after a lower court judge ruled there was no legal basis to block the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, had sought to question him Thursday.

In issuing the stay, Judge Beth Robinson noted that her order reflects no judgment regarding the merits" of the case. A three-judge panel will ultimately weigh whether to uphold or overturn the lower-courts decision. Robinson, a Biden appointee, set an aggressive briefing schedule, ordering Bragg's office to file court papers detailing its appeal by Friday and for the Judiciary Committee to submit its response by Saturday.

Bragg's office appealed to the 2nd Circuit hours after U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil rejected his request for a temporary restraining order, ruling Wednesday that Jordan had a valid legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena.

It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection, Vyskocil wrote in a 25-page opinion. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.

Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, ruled after peppering lawyers on both sides with questions, asking them to parse thorny issues of sovereignty, separation of powers and Congressional oversight arising from Trump's historic indictment.

Acknowledging the political dogfights surrounding the case, the judge said in her ruling that she does not endorse either sides agenda. She encouraged both sides to speak and reach a mutually agreeable compromise on how Pomerantz's deposition would proceed.

Jordans spokesperson, Russell Dye, lauded Vyskocils ruling, saying it showed that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomerantz.

Bragg's office appealed, first asking Vyskocil to issue a stay  which she rejected  before finding success with the appeals court.

Pomerantz once oversaw the yearslong Trump investigation but left the job after clashing with Bragg over the direction of the case. He recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows.

Bragg, a Democrat, sued Jordan and the Judiciary Committee last week seeking to block the subpoena. His lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that seeking Pomerantzs testimony was part of a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack Bragg and that Congress was invading a state to investigate a local prosecutor when it had no authority to do so.

Boutrous said House Republicans interest in Bragg amounted to Congress jumping in and haranguing the D.A. while the prosecution is ongoing.

The Judiciary Committee started scrutinizing Braggs investigation of the former president in the weeks that preceded his indictment. Jordan sent letters seeking interviews with Bragg and documents before subpoenaing Pomerantz. In her ruling, Vyskocil said she would handle any legal fights that may arise from other subpoenas in the committees investigation of Bragg.

A committee lawyer, Matthew Berry, countered that Congress has legitimate legislative reasons for wanting to question Pomerantz and examine Bragg's prosecution of Trump, citing the office's use of $5,000 in federal funds to pay for Trump-related investigations.

Congress is also considering legislation, offered by Republicans in the wake of Trump's indictment, to change how criminal cases against former presidents unfold, Berry said. One bill would prohibit prosecutors from using federal funds to investigate presidents, and another would require any criminal cases involving a former president be resolved in federal court instead of at the state level.

House Republicans, Berry said, want to protect the sovereignty and autonomy of the presidency, envisioning a scenario where the commander in chief could feel obligated to make certain decisions to avoid having local prosecutors in politically unfavorable jurisdictions charge them with crimes after they leave office.

For those reasons, Berry argued, Congress is immune from judicial intervention, citing the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Vyskocil presided over the hearing in a Manhattan courtroom that offered sweeping, high-level views of the New York City skyline that Trump helped shape as a real estate developer, the courthouse where he was arraigned April 3, and the federal building where Jordan continued his war on Bragg by convening a hearing Monday on the prosecutors handing of violent crime.

Pomerantz declined comment as he walked out of the hearing holding a stack of papers with his book, People vs. Donald Trump, on top. Neither Pomerantz nor his lawyers spoke during the hearing. But in a court filing, he aligned himself with Bragg's position and maintained he should not be questioned by the committee.

Berry, the committee lawyer, argued that Pomerantz has already shared lots of information with the public about his work on the Trump investigation and the Judiciary Committee has the right to question him about it, too.

I dont think this is either rational or reasonable behavior that somehow the House Judiciary Committee ranks below 60 Minutes,'" Berry argued.

Pomerantz could refuse to answer certain questions, citing legal privilege and ethical obligations, and Jordan would rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis, Berry said, but he shouldn't be exempt from showing up. If Jordan were to overrule Pomerantz and he still refused to answer, he could then face a criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but that wouldn't happen immediately, Berry said.

Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

__

On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak and Larry Neumeister at twitter.com/lneumeister and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Connecticut has paused granting prison commutations in the wake of an uproar over a drastic rise in the number of inmates having their sentences reduced, the governor announced Thursday.

Conservative lawmakers and victims rights advocates had called for the suspension of commutations and a review of the state's Board of Pardons and Paroles policies after it was revealed that 71 commutations were granted in 2022. Just three were approved between 2017 and 2021.
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BRUSSELS (AP)  European Union lawmakers on Thursday approved a series of proposals aimed at ending the yearslong standoff over how best to manage migration, a conundrum that has provoked one of the blocs biggest political crises.

The proposals  passed in a series of votes by a roughly two-thirds majority  include an emergency plan that would oblige the 27 EU nations to help one of their number should that countrys reception capacities be overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of people hoping to enter.

The measures make up the European Parliaments position for negotiations with the EU member countries and set a clock ticking. The member countries now have a year to finally reform their creaking asylum system before Europe-wide elections are held in May 2024.

Should they fail to do so, the project might have to be abandoned or completely overhauled as it's taken up by the next European Commission  the EU's executive branch  and the new members of parliament.

If we miss this chance to make it right, I dont think we will have another, Spanish Socialist lawmaker Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, who guided the plan through the assembly, said before the vote. The kind of a message would be: Hey, listen, its not going to happen. Not this time. Ever.

Europes divisions over migration were exposed in 2015 when well over 1 million people, mostly Syrians fleeing war, sought refuge. Reception facilities in the Greek islands and Italy became overcrowded.

As migrants moved north in the tens of thousands, some countries  Austria, Hungary and Slovenia among them  erected fences and barriers. Many people hoped to find sanctuary or better lives in places like Germany and Sweden.

Under existing rules, the country that people first land in must take responsibility for them. Greece, Italy and tiny Malta say that is unfair. Theyve demanded support and solidarity from their EU partners. But several countries refuse to accept the imposition of obligatory quotas of migrants.

The lawmakers now propose that any EU country hit by the sudden and mass arrival of people should activate a crisis mechanism. The commission would share out responsibility for the migrants using a pre-agreed solidarity pool based on annual support plans submitted by each member state.

Any migrant relocations would be based on these peoples meaningful links to a country they might be sent to, such as family ties, cultural similarities, or where they might have previously studied. Lawmakers hope this will discourage them from searching for a better place to stay.

The long-festering dispute has led to the collapse of the system. Unable to agree, the EU has tried to outsource its migrant challenge, making legally and morally questionable deals with countries like Turkey or Libya, which many people transit through on their way to Europe.

Earlier this month, a U.N.-commissioned investigator accused the EU of aiding and abetting human rights abuses and other crimes against migrants with its support to the authorities in strife-torn Libya.

Momentum is also gathering to use EU funds to build walls and fences, something the commission has always insisted isn't in line with the blocs values. Common funds are already being used for watchtowers, surveillance cameras and border security databases.

In this European Union today, we have countries that lived behind an Iron Curtain, and I would be ashamed if the answer of migration means to build new walls, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said on the eve of the vote in Strasbourg, France.

For me, the European Union was to take away walls and not to buy new walls, he said.

The vote comes amid a sharp rise in migrant arrivals, although the entries are tiny compared to the number of refugees being handled in poorer countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

On April 11, Italys right-wing government declared a six-month national state of emergency to help it cope with a surge in people arriving on the countrys southern shores. Italy used a state of emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic to mandate many measures by decree, temporarily bypassing the usually long parliamentary process.

Since the start of this year, about 31,000 migrants, either rescued by Italian military boats or charity ships or arriving without assistance, have disembarked, according to the interior ministry. Thats nearly four times the roughly 8,000 for the same period in each of the two previous years.

Thursdays votes at the EU parliament only became necessary after the political group that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melonis party belongs to, supported by a bloc of independent lawmakers, forced the polls.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday ending a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing, a response to a verdict that spared the life of a school shooter who killed 17 people.

DeSantis, a Republican, signed the bill in a private ceremony with families of victims of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland.

The new law, which went into effect as soon as the governor signed it, allows capital punishment in Florida with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution. 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.

Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence, DeSantis said in a statement. Im proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida.

The governor pushed for the legislation after a divided 9-3 jury spared Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz from execution in a verdict last year that outraged victims' families. Cruz instead received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

A few months ago, we endured another tragic failure of the justice system. Todays change in Florida law will hopefully save other families from the injustices we have suffered, said Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina was killed in the shooting.

The legislation easily passed in the Republican-dominated statehouse. Some Democratic critics had argued the state should not make it easier to send people to death row in reaction to the Cruz case.

DeSantis, an expected presidential candidate, had included the legislation as part of a larger criminal justice package he described as a counter to the soft on crime policies in Democrat-led states, a move aimed at conservative voters who typically decide Republican primary contests.

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.

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.

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 had remained untouched, though there was no overwhelming desire to change state law before the Cruz case.
Jovanny Hernandez/AP

MILWAUKEE (AP)  The former chair of the Wisconsin Parole Commission, who until this week was also an alderman in Racine, has been charged with a felony, accused of using his capacity as a public official for private interests.

John Tate II was charged Tuesday with one count of private interest in a public contract while working in a public capacity in Racine County, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
This combination of the photos shows former President Donald Trump, left, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, right.

Ron DeSantis has yet to enter the 2024 presidential race, but former President Donald Trump is aiming to drum up support in the Florida governors backyard, securing endorsements already from more than one-third of the Republicans in the states congressional delegation.

Republicans hold 20 of Floridas 28 U.S. House districts, and eight of those lawmakers have announced their support for Trump. They include Rep. Byron Donalds, who introduced DeSantis at his reelection party last year. Earlier this month, Donalds called Trump the only leader at this time in our nations history who can seize the moment and deliver what we need.

Rep. John Rutherford backed Trump on Tuesday shortly after leaving a Washington meeting with DeSantis. Others going with Trump are Reps. Vern Buchanan, Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Cory Mills and Greg Steube,

In all, Trump has won the backing of more than 40 House Republicans across the country. His team, led by former White House political director Brian Jack, contacted some of those lawmakers, while others reached out to him.

Endorsements rarely have a dramatic impact on whom voters ultimately support, especially this early in a presidential primary. But they do signal which candidates are gaining support within a party. Thats important as Trump tries to assert himself as the undisputed leader of the GOP in seeking the 2024 nomination.

Trumps endorsements are notable because they suggest his criminal indictment in New York this month did little to erode his support among elected Republicans. If anything, the charges may have enhanced his standing within the party.

I think after the indictment, a lot of people were willing to be very vocal with their endorsement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.

DeSantis backers note that the governor hasnt formally launched his effort, making it harder for him to get official endorsements. He has expanded his travel outside of Florida, making his first appearances Wednesday in South Carolina, where support for any GOP nominee is critical, and where a few state lawmakers have said they will back him if he runs for the White House.

So far, DeSantis has three congressional endorsements, including one from Florida, first-term Rep. Laurel Lee, who served as DeSantis secretary of state for more than three years. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas was the first House member to sign on.

Rep. Thomas Massie, who has endorsed DeSantis, acknowledged Trumps growing endorsement advantage but emphasized that the Florida governor hasnt yet entered the 2024 race.

Ron DeSantis hasnt asked anybody for an endorsement, Massie, R-Ky., said in an interview Wednesday. He cant ask anybody for an endorsement because he is not a candidate for president.

The real question, Massie said, is why Trump has yet to lock up more endorsements, given that the former president is essentially an incumbent.

Im not concerned that Donald Trump is getting endorsements and getting a lot of them, Massie said. He should have all of Congress. Why doesnt he have the whole Republican Congress?

DeSantis slow start in building out a national coalition underscores his long-standing disdain for investing in relationships with other Republican leaders. Fellow GOP governors and party officials regularly grumble about his tendency to ignore their public gatherings, fundraisers and conference calls.

In his recent book, DeSantis, who served nearly three terms in the House, referred to Congress as grotesque.

As a practice, DeSantis typically does not attend meetings of the Republican Governors Association. During the height of the pandemic, he did not participate in regularly nightly conference calls of Republican governors, according to Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H.

All the Republican governors, for the most part, are pretty tight. Were buddies, Sununu said in a recent interview. He didnt get on the phone calls. He didnt. He doesnt come to our events. If he comes to a governors event, he shows up, makes a speech and leaves. Thats just him and his style. At first, we were all taken aback by it, but thats just him.

DeSantis unwillingness to engage with colleagues stands in stark contrast with successful candidates at the national level in the past.

Former President George W. Bushs lengthy Christmas card list is cemented in political lore. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regularly sent handwritten notes to mark birthdays or graduations to local activists in New Hampshire and Iowa. Trump, before and after his 2016 election, was almost always on the phone with party officials, donors or business leaders.

Massie, who served with DeSantis in Congress for six years, said he hosted a private reception with him on Monday night, in part, to dispel this notion that he is not personable.

Massie noted that DeSantis spent less than 10 minutes of the two-hour event delivering a speech. The rest of the time, he said, DeSantis spoke one on one with other members of Congress.

He surprised me with the degree to which he understood peoples districts, Massie said. He is a student of politics.

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Hungary will add honey and certain meat products to a list of food items it has temporarily banned from being imported from Ukraine in an effort to relieve market pressures on Hungarian farmers, a government minister said Thursday.

Along with honey and meat, Hungary's government has banned the import of 25 Ukrainian products including grains, oil seeds, flour, and cooking oil until June 30, minister Gergely Gulyas told a news conference. The government will also require shipments of those products coming from third countries to be monitored as they enter Hungary to make sure they arent coming from Ukraine, he said.

The import ban announced on Saturday came in response to what the government says is a glut of Ukrainian agricultural products on the Hungarian market which has made it impossible for Hungarian farmers to remain competitive.

Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria have taken similar steps in the last week, arguing that their agricultural sectors had been hurt after the European Union lifted duties on Ukrainian grain to ease exports when Russias war choked off shipments through traditional routes.

Weve seen in the last weeks and months that it has ruined the Hungarian agricultural market, Gulyas said. We are glad to help Ukraine, but we must see clearly that solidarity cannot ruin Hungarian farmers, the Hungarian economy and especially Hungarian agriculture."

The EU on Wednesday signaled that it was willing to address the concerns of farmers in countries neighboring Ukraine. Proposals by the European Commission include an initial support package of 56.3 million euros for the most affected farmers in the front-line countries with the possibility of a second package of 100 million euros.

Gulyas on Thursday said that despite the import ban, transit of Ukrainian products across Hungary would be permitted, but that such shipments would be tracked electronically and with patrols as they move across Hungarian territory.

A government spokesperson also announced Thursday that the government will require grocery chains to enact discounts on various food products in an effort to curb Hungary's 47% yearly increase on food prices, the highest in the EU.

Food products will be divided into 20 categories, and each store will be required to offer at least one product from each category at a 10% discount from that product's lowest price in the last 30 days. The policy will affect the largest food sellers, and won't apply to smaller stores, spokesperson Alexandra Szentkiralyi told a news conference.

It is not the goal for food chains to achieve the highest profits and income in their history in these times, Szentkiralyi said. There is no room for profiteering in these difficult times.

The policy will take effect no later than July 1, she said.
TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida denounced a pipe bomb attack at a campaign event he attended last weekend and pledged to review security procedures to ensure safety for dignitaries visiting the country for the Group of Seven summit he will host in May.

No matter what the reason is, the use of violence to shut down free speech should never be tolerated, Kishida told selected media from G-7 countries on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office, as he stressed that the attack occurred during a nationwide local election campaign.

"The election, which is the foundation of democracy, should not succumb to violence. We must carry out the election until the end, he said, explaining why he has continued to deliver speeches since the attack on Saturday.

A man hurled a pipe bomb at Kishida at the fishing port of Saikazaki in the western prefecture of Wakayana just before he was to make a campaign speech for a local candidate from his governing party. The moment the explosive fell near him, he was pushed away by special police and evacuated unhurt before the bomb exploded.

The alleged attacker, Ryuji Kimura, 24, was wrestled to the ground and arrested on the spot.

The attack, which targeted the prime minister less than a year after former leader Shinzo Abe's assassination, raised questions about whether any lessons had been learned from Abe's case, especially as Japan navigates key events like the ongoing elections and G-7 meetings.

As we prepare to welcome many guests from around the world for the G-7 summit and other events, I feel it is very important to once again review our security measures so that our guests can visit Japan with a sense of safety, Kishida said.

During the May 19-21 summit in his electoral constituency of Hiroshima  the target of the world's first atomic attack  Kishida plans to appeal for nuclear disarmament, while pledging support for the rules-based international order and vowing to play a greater role as the only Asian member of the G-7 to bridge Western economies with the so-called Global South nations. He will also demand that Russia stop the war on Ukraine immediately.

I feel our path toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons has become an increasingly difficult one, said Kishida, who has made the goal his career aim. But that makes our cause more important than ever, and we must keep raising the flag of the ideal to achieve a nuclear-free world and reverse the ongoing trend. To do so is a responsibility Japan bears to human society as the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks."

He said Russia's war on Ukraine has raised fears the same could happen in Asia, and he said calls for a rules-based international order, along with the rejection of one-sided change to the status quo, could be widely accepted.

It is extremely important for the G-7 to reaffirm the basic position, and it could help the international community to unite in case a situation like this happens in places other than Russia and Europe, he said.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan. With its strict gun control laws, the country has only a handful of gun-related crimes annually, most of them gang related. But in recent years Japanese police have worried about lone offender attacks with homemade guns and explosives.

Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun at a campaign event on July 8 last year, just two days before the upper house election. The police have since tightened their protective measures following a subsequent investigation that found holes in Abes security.

Kishida said Saturday's explosion also raised questions over the appropriate distance between candidates or political figures and the voters at campaign venues.

It is difficult to balance ... but I think it is time for us to think of the distance between politicians and voters that is appropriate for democracy in Japan, Kishida said.

Compared with U.S. elections, audiences at political gatherings in Japan  where handshakes and mingling with voters are often considered more important than policy debate  are allowed to be quite close to candidates. At the campaign event with Kishida, the front-row audience was within touching distance and there were no bulletproof shields or other physical barriers between them.

Additional safety measures, including bag checks and the use of metal detectors, were introduced at some campaign venues after the attack on Saturday.
MILWAUKEE (AP)  A white lawyer was convicted for spitting on a Black high school student during a 2020 anti-racism march in a Milwaukee suburb.

A jury reached the verdict Wednesday in the trial of Stephanie Rapkin, 67, of Shorewood, Wisconsin, finding her guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Rapkin faces sentencing for the misdemeanor charge later this week and is charged separately with a felony assault on a police officer who arrested her at her home the day after the spitting incident.

In June of 2020, Rapkin showed up at the protest in Shorewood and parked her car in the street, blocking the anti-racism march that was one of thousands held around the U.S. in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.

When protesters approached her to urge her to move her car, video shows Rapkin spitting on Eric Lucas, then a 17-year-old junior at Shorewood High School. Lucas had helped organize and lead the march.

According to the criminal complaint, Rapkin told an investigating officer she was a cancer survivor and felt threatened because she was surrounded by protesters who were not wearing coronavirus protective masks.

Video shows Rapkin did not wear a mask.

In court on Tuesday, Rapkin said that she spit toward Lucas, but not on him, according to WDJT-TV.

Defense attorney Anthony Cotton told reporters following the trial that Rapkin is remorseful and that her career has been ruined.

She definitely has regret over what happened," Cotton said.

Rapkin faces up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 when shes sentenced on May 23.

Rapkin had been charged with disorderly conduct as a hate crime, but a judge dismissed the enhancement of that charge.

She's still charged with assaulting a police officer, according to court documents, and is scheduled for a trial in August.

Shorewood police went to Rapkins home the day after the protest following her encounter with the protesters. She resisted arrest and kneed one officer in the groin, the criminal complaint said.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A Michigan Senate committee gave final legislative approval to allocate $175 million in state funds to a factory planned by Chinese manufacturer Gotion in northern Michigan that proponents say will create thousands of jobs and be a boon for the local economy.

The funds were approved in a narrow vote Thursday by the Senate Appropriations committee after multiple Democratic lawmakers sided with Republicans following concerns over Gotion's foreign ties and the plant's potential environmental impacts.

The $2.4 billion Gotion project, which is planned on a large site in Mecosta County's Big Rapids, would create 2,350 jobs with average wages of $29.42 per hour, according to the companys proposal. A 30-year Renaissance Zone was approved by the state last year and will save the company an additional estimated $540 million. The factory will produce cathodes and anodes, two components that are key to electric vehicle batteries.

In a statement following the committee's approval, Jim Chapman, supervisor of Green Charter Township located near Big Rapids, said the Gotion plant will be the largest single business investment in Mecosta County history," and is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, for the community.

While Gotion Inc. is located in California, its parent company  Gotion High-tech  is based in China, which critics have said could present a national security threat. The pushback comes at a time when U.S. lawmakers are considering a ban of TikTok due to its Chinese connections and concerns over data security.

Before the committees vote, community members also spoke out regarding potential environmental impacts of the massive plant. One speaker, who said he owns an organic farm near where the plant would be built, expressed concerns over spillage destroying his crops.

Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, whose district includes Mecosta County, said in a statement Thursday that the appropriation committee's approval was a historic mistake."

Despite what any current politician might say, there is no communist plot within Gotion to make Big Rapids a center to spread communism, Chuck Thelen, the companys vice president for North American operations, said earlier this month at a Green Charter Township meeting.

Thelen told the Senate committee Thursday that Gotion had also undergone a voluntary review by the Department of Treasurys Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to clear up any concerns. The committee determined that our proposed transaction was not subject to further review and we may proceed with the proposed transaction, Thelen said.

Democratic state Sen. Sarah Anthony, who chairs the appropriations committee, released a statement following the vote that it was committee members' responsibility to separate fact from fiction and policy from politics, and that Gotions voluntary actions had addressed any concerns.

The funds approved Thursday are part of the state's effort to attract large economic projects to Michigan. In February, the Michigan Strategic Fund approved a large tax incentive package to bring a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant to the state, planned by Ford.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Former President Donald Trump has emerged largely unscathed politically from his New York indictment. But a new poll suggests that investigations in Georgia and Washington could prove more problematic.

Only 4 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump acted illegally in New York, where he has been charged in connection with hush money payments made to women who alleged sexual encounters, according to the new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. More  about half  believe he broke the law in Georgia, where he is under investigation for interfering in the 2020 election vote count.

The poll finds about half feel similarly about his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, which are both under investigation by the Justice Department.

The findings suggest potential future charges in those cases against Trump may resonate more deeply with the American public than his alleged cover-up of payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels and other women at the height of the 2016 campaign  charges that nearly 6 in 10 adults believe were politically motivated. While the case drew intense media coverage and made Trump the first former president in U.S. history to be charged criminally, legal experts have long argued that the other investigations pose far more serious potential risk.

The Georgia case, in particular, concerns even some longtime Trump supporters.

I just feel like he kind of got himself involved in something that he shouldnt have. I dont know if it's necessarily illegal, but just let the votes be the votes," said Stephanie Trinidad, a Republican who lives in Dracut, Massachusetts, and voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.

The poll offers further evidence that Trump has faced limited political fallout from the indictment, which instead proved a massive fundraising boon. His campaign has raised more than $15 million since news of the indictment broke  much from new donors  and he has rolled out a list of new endorsements.

While the poll finds only 30% of Americans, including 55% of Republicans, say they want Trump to run for president again in 2024, those numbers have changed little since an AP-NORC poll conducted in January. Trump's favorability has also held constant: 34% of U.S. adults overall and 68% of Republicans say they have a favorable opinion of him, similar to three months ago.

Still, Trump, who remains the undisputed front-runner for the Republican nomination, would face substantial headwinds if he wins the Republican nomination. About half of Americans  53%  say they will definitely not support him in the general election if he emerges as the GOP nominee, according to the poll.

When it comes to the New York case, the poll found 41% say Trump did something illegal. Thirty-three percent say they believe he did something unethical but not illegal. Only a small minority  14%  say he did nothing wrong.

A majority of Americans  57%  say Trumps indictment in the case was justified, the poll shows, but just as many say they believe the charges were politically motivated.

They include Gino Lentine, a loyal Trump supporter from Akron, Ohio, who said he doesn't give two hoots about the case.

If youre going to lock up every guy in the world  and every girl  who cheated on their spouse and paid them off, youre going to have to lock up the whole country," said Lentine, 57.

In my book, hes innocent  well, maybe guilty, but who cares?" he said. "Who cares if he spent $100,000? Nobody cares. It's costing me $100,000 to put gas in my car. Come on."

The poll's New York findings represents a rosier picture for Trump than in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating whether Trump and his allies illegally meddled in Georgias 2020 presidential election. The foreperson of a special grand jury convened to hear evidence in the case said the panel recommended that Willis indict over a dozen people, including possibly Trump, who was recorded asking state election officials to find 11,780 votes to help him win. It is now up to Willis to decide whether to pursue charges.

But already in the Georgia case, the poll finds 53% say they think Trump broke the law. Twelve percent say he did something they consider unethical but not illegal, while 17% said he did nothing wrong.

Trinidad, 36, said she sees the flurry of investigations Trump faces as a politically motivated distraction aimed at keeping him from winning the White House again. But when it comes to the Georgia case, she said, I just feel it is a little bit different."

"Once you start getting into our voting system and counts, then I start to get a little wary because thats literally our right as an American citizen. So once you start to fiddle with that, it sort of becomes a little bit more of an issue for me, personally," she said, adding that she hasn't thought much yet about whom she plans to support in 2024.

In the federal cases, about half of Americans  47%  believe Trump acted illegally in his handling of classified documents, while 49% say he broke the law in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. About 2 in 10 say they think he did something unethical but not illegal in those cases, and close to that many say they think he did nothing wrong.

The poll makes clear that Americans' views of the investigations are deeply partisan. In the Georgia case, 86% of Democrats but just 22% of Republicans say they think Trump did something illegal. In the New York case, 68% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans say they think he broke the law.

Meanwhile, 9 in 10 Democrats but only a quarter of Republicans say they think the indictment in the New York case was justified. Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans  but only about a third of Democrats  say they think the charges were politically motivated.

That includes Nicole Sawyer, a registered independent from Middletown, Pennsylvania, who typically backs Democrats and praises President Joe Biden. While she believes Trump has done a lot of immoral things that are worth investigating, she also sees the probes as driven by politics.

I think people are sort of just throwing stuff at him, anything they can," said Sawyer, 45, who views the investigations as a distraction from more important issues, like Social Security and health care. Those issues, she said, are "kind of being overshadowed with all this drama with Trump."

Still, Sawyer said that if Trump is found guilty, he doesnt deserve to be our president."

I think that kids should be able to look up to the president of America and not have a whole bunch of drama overshadowing the real things that need to be taken care of," she said.

___

Colvin reported from New York.

___

The poll of 1,230 adults was conducted April 13-17 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP)  Washington state has officially abolished the death penalty.

Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5087 on Friday, which removes state laws that Washingtons Supreme Court determined are invalid or unconstitutional. The states high court struck down the death penalty in 2018, but the law remained on the books.

Its official. The death penalty is no longer in state law, Inslee said on Twitter after the signing. He also thanked legislators and other leaders who were part of the decade-long effort to end the practice, including Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

In 2014, Inslee issued a moratorium on the death penalty. In 2018, Washington's Supreme Court unanimously struck down the death penalty, calling it arbitrary and racially biased.

A statistical analysis by University of Washington sociologists, cited by the judges, showed that juries were about four times more likely to sentence Black defendants to death.

To the extent that race distinguishes the cases, it is clearly impermissible and unconstitutional, Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote in the lead opinion.

The courts opinion also converted the sentences for the states eight people on death row to life in prison without release.

The last execution by the state was in 2010 at the prison in Walla Walla. Cal Brown was executed by lethal injection for a 1991 murder. A total of 78 people, all men, were put to death in Washington between 1904 and 2010.

Twenty-seven states, including Idaho, still have the death penalty, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. Oregon has a moratorium in place to halt the practice.

Last month, Idaho's Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad, making Idaho the latest state to turn to older methods of capital punishment amid a nationwide shortage of lethal-injection drugs.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House says the math in House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's plan to trim the federal deficit is "unforgiving - estimating a deep 22% cut to non-defense spending that would leave children poorer, veterans sicker, families hungrier and housing more expensive.

There is no escaping the pain to working families and our economic future, White House budget director Shalanda Young concludes in a draft of an analysis obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

President Joe Biden and GOP lawmakers are engaged in a tense showdown over federal finances, Republican House Speaker McCarthy insisting on spending cuts as a condition to raise the government's legal borrowing authority while Democrat Biden wants to keep budget talks separate from the critical debt limit action.

McCarthy has criticized Biden for avoiding sit-down talks. On Wednesday the speaker unveiled a plan that he said would trim more than $4 trillion from deficits over the next decade, largely by freezing discretionary spending at 2022 levels and increasing them by just 1% a year thereafter. In his State of the Union address in January, Biden indicated he would engage in some form of talks  once the Republicans laid out a budget proposal.

GOP lawmakers are betting that the public supports their vision of a smaller government, while the White House's strategy is premised on the resulting cuts being unpopular once the consequences are understood.

Budget Director Young's analysis is an effort to explain those possible consequences, though McCarthy anticipated the criticism by telling a Wall Street audience on Monday: Dont believe anyone who says our plans hurt Americans' social safety net. We are a very generous nation. And when people fall on tough times, we'll help them.

Young argues in her analysis that McCarthy's budget caps mask the full extent of the likely cuts, and that they would compound over time in ways that she said would harm millions of U.S. households. The White House's own budget proposal offers nearly $3 trillion in deficit savings, mainly through higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

The legislation Congressional Republicans have drafted is designed to avoid leveling with the American people about how these cuts would impact their lives, Young writes in the draft. This bill is vague by design  but that doesnt obscure the fact that it will force devastating cuts that will hurt millions of people, damage our economy and undermine our national security.

By not spelling out specific cuts, Republicans are able to potentially minimize a backlash to their plan. McCarthy's proposal would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion into March 2024 in exchange for a long list of Republican priorities.

In addition to the 1% limit to future spending increases, the GOP plan would gut Bidens signature climate change funds, cancel up to $20,000 per person in student loan forgiveness and impose long-sought work requirements on recipients of government aid, among other provisions.

The president and Congress need to reach some sort of agreement on raising the $31 trillion debt cap this summer, when the extraordinary steps taken by the Treasury Department would be exhausted and the government could default on its payments.

Given that Republicans have indicated that they will protect defense spending, Young estimates that domestic programs would be cut by 22% under the GOP plan. Social Security and Medicare  programs expected to drive up the national debt long term  are shielded from any reductions.

At that reduced level of funding, there would be 30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits and 81,000 jobs lost across the Veterans Health Administration, according to the analysis.

The cuts would be borne by 25 million students in schools that teach poorer children, 7.5 million students with disabilities, and could lead to the loss of 108,000 teacher and classroom aide jobs. There would be 200,000 fewer children enrolled in Head Start and 180,000 who would lose access to child care.

Roughly 1.7 million women, infants, and children would lose vital nutrition assistance through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program. More than a million seniors would lose access to food programs such as Meals on Wheels.

There would be 630,000 poorer families who would lose their access to housing vouchers. And just months after a Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio led to GOP criticism of the Biden administration, there would be 7,000 fewer rail safety inspections, the analysis contends.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that the U.S. and China "can and need to find a way to live together in spite of their strained relations, which have worsened in recent months.

In a speech at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, Yellen called for cooperation on the urgent global challenges of our day between the countries for the sake of maintaining global stability, while supporting economic restrictions on China to advance U.S national security interests.

She called out Chinas business and human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet while striking a conciliatory tone about how there is "a future in which both countries share in and drive global economic progress.

We seek a healthy economic relationship with China: one that fosters growth and innovation in both countries, Yellen said.

Relations between the two countries have become increasingly strained after the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon in U.S. air space and since the Communist nation has grown its ties with Russia despite its continued invasion into Ukraine.

A growing China that plays by international rules is good for the United States and the world," Yellen said. Both countries can benefit from healthy competition in the economic sphere. But healthy economic competition  where both sides benefit  is only sustainable if that competition is fair."

Yellen's speech comes as tensions between the U.S. and China are at a fever pitch. The discovery of a surveillance balloon outfitted with high-tech equipment designed to gather sensitive information, making a pass over a sensitive U.S. military site, has drawn lawmakers' scrutiny.

And Chinas support of Russia as it continues to wage its war in Ukraine is causing concern among Western leaders. Though China has maintained that it is neutral in the conflict, stating that it wont sell weapons to either side in the war, it recently held joint military drills with Russia.

Chinas no limits partnership and support for Russia is a worrisome indication that it is not serious about ending the war, she said. It is essential that China and other countries do not provide Russia with material support or assistance with sanctions evasion.

Yellen, in her speech, said U.S. national security is of paramount importance in the relationship with the Peoples Republic of China. She said the U.S. is " considering a program to restrict certain U.S. outbound investments in specific sensitive technologies with significant national security implications.

The U.S. last year moved to block exports of advanced computer chips to China, an action meant to quell China's ability to create advanced military systems including weapons of mass destruction, Commerce Department officials said last October.

Military exercises in Taiwan are also ratcheting up fears that China could invade the island. Earlier this month, China conducted large-scale combat exercises around Taiwan that simulated sealing off the island in response to the Taiwanese presidents trip to the U.S. this month.

We will secure our national security interests and those of our allies and partners, and we will protect human rights Yellen said in her speech. We will clearly communicate to the PRC our concerns about its behavior.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai also struck a relatively conciliatory tone in Tokyo this week, in response to a reporters question about whether Washington is trying to decouple the American economy from Chinas.

Tai, who is on her fourth visit to Japan after being appointed the top U.S. trade envoy, said all members of President Joe Bidens Democratic administration have been very clear that it is not the intention to decouple Chinas economy.

U.S. trade sanctions against China are narrowly targeted, she said. Given its huge size and importance, unraveling the ties with China that keep the world economy running is not a goal or achievable, Tai said in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.

Yellen met with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, in Zurich in January, which was the highest-ranking contact between the two countries since their respective presidents agreed last November during their first in-person meeting to look for areas of potential cooperation. On Thursday, Yellen said she wants to visit China at the appropriate time.

It is important that we make progress on global issues regardless of our other disagreements, Yellen said. "Thats what the world needs from its two largest economies.

___

Associated Press reporters Mari Yamaguchi and Haruka Nuga in Tokyo contributed to this report.
The screen at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans honors Tyre Nichols before an NBA basketball game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Washington Wizards, in January 2023.

The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday, blaming them for his death and accusing officials of allowing a special units aggressive tactics to go unchecked despite warning signs.

The lawsuit accuses Memphis Police Director Cerelyn CJ Davis of starting a crime-suppression unit called Scorpion to target repeat violent offenders in high-crime areas. The lawsuit claims the Scorpion unit used extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence and disproportionately focused on and targeted young Black men, adding that this is why Nichols was targeted. It says that the department permitted this aggressive approach to develop and ignored complaints by other residents targeted by the unit before Nichols death.

The suit, filed by lawyers for Tyre Nichols mother, RowVaughn Wells, seeks a jury trial and financial damages. The five officers charged with beating Nichols were members of the unit, police have said. The unit was disbanded after the Nichols beating.

The city of Memphis declined comment on the lawsuit.

Nichols died three days after the brutal beating in January. It was the latest in a string of violent encounters between police and Black people that have spurred protests and renewed public discussion about police brutality.

In most cases, the officers have been white, but all five officers accused in Nichols death are Black. The officers have been charged with second-degree murder.

The lawsuit names as defendants the city of Memphis, Police Director Davis, the five officers who have been fired and charged, another officer who has been fired but not charged, and an additional officer who retired before he could be fired. It also names three Memphis Fire Department employees who were fired after officials said they failed to render aid to Nichols as he was on the ground, struggling with his injuries.

Officers stopped Nichols while he was driving his car for reasons that have never been substantiated, the lawsuit said.

Nichols said What did I do? during the encounter and ran away from officers after he was pulled out of his car to attempt to save his life and defend himself, the lawsuit said.

While still able to speak, Tyre screamed out for his mother  shouting Mom! Mom! into the neighborhood in hopes that she or someone nearby would come to his aid as he was being brutalized and pummeled to death, it said.

Just feet from his home, Nichols was beaten so badly that he was left unrecognizable, the lawsuit states, comparing his case to that of Emmett Till some 70 years prior and the officers to a modern-day lynch mob. Unlike Till, this lynching was carried out by those adorned in department sweatshirts and vests and their actions were sanctioned  expressly and implicitly  by the City of Memphis, it said.

The five officers own body cameras recorded them beating Nichols and then ignoring him for nearly half an hour as the handcuffed and badly injured 29-year-old struggled to stay upright, propped sitting against an unmarked police car.

After the beating, Memphis police on the scene smiled, laughed, and talked with their fellow officers as Nichols sat on the ground, the lawsuit said.

Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith are charged with second-degree murder in Nichols death. They have pleaded not guilty.

Martin, Haley, and now-fired officer Preston Hemphill claimed Nichols was driving recklessly before they stopped him as he was heading home from a park the evening of Jan. 7.

They forced Nichols from his car, pinned him to the ground and pepper-sprayed him while threatening to break his arm and fire a stun gun at him. When Nichols managed to run away, Hemphill did fire his stun gun, according to police records.

Nichols was captured a few minutes later by Mills, Bean and Smith. Joined by Haley and Martin, the five officers punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed Nichols and beat him with a baton, according to police records. Memphis Police Director Davis has said she has seen no evidence justifying the traffic stop or the officers response. The suit says that the city of Memphis hired Davis as police chief knowing that she had played a prominent role with the Atlanta Police Departments RED DOG unit: a police unit that was eventually disbanded due to numerous allegations of violations of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, including  but not limited to  illegal searches and seizures and excessive force, according to the lawsuit. The suit accuses Davis of forming an identical unit at the Memphis Police Department that predictably implemented the same unconstitutional mandates, policies, and customs The lawsuit calls SCORPION an officially authorized gang of inexperienced, untrained, hyper-aggressive police officers turned loose on the Memphis community without any oversight.

Members of the SCORPION unit engaged in a practice of jumping out to ambush Memphis citizens and aggressively harass them and search them in public, the lawsuit claims. It accuses Davis and other police supervisors of encouraging officers to engage in illegal searches and seizures.

The lawsuit accuses the Memphis Police Department of lowering standards for who could become an officer and making it easier to graduate from the police academy by allowing recruits to retake exams several times at the time the officers involved in Nichols beating were brought on. In addition to being less qualified, new recruits were not properly trained in a number of areas, including probable cause, traffic stops, the Fourth Amendment, and use of force, according to the lawsuit.

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BAMAKO, Mali (AP)  Ayouba Ag Nadroun was at the market in central Mali in March when Islamic extremists attacked his village, killing dozens of people and stealing about $10,000 worth of his cows and camels.

We lost everything, the 62-year-old told The Associated Press by phone from the Menaka region in the West African nation.

Cattle raiding by Islamic extremists is soaring at unprecedented levels in Mali, with jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stealing millions of dollars' worth of cattle to buy weapons and vehicles to fund their insurgency across the war-torn West African country and region below the Sahara Desert, known as the Sahel.

As jihadis gain control of more territory, looting is increasing and fueling conflict among already impoverished communities fighting to keep their families fed and alive, according to a recent report by The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Mali has been battling to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency for more than a decade.

Despite a victory in 2013, when France sent troops in to help its former colony to drive al-Qaida-linked militants from northern areas of the country, violence has not only continued, but spread. Attacks have spilled into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, where extremists are exploiting peoples grievances against the state to recruit fighters and control land.

While cattle rustling has been at the heart of Malis war economy for years, the recent surge by Islamic extremists is worrying, according to the global network's report.

In the central Mopti region, one of the hardest hit by more recent violence, some 130,000 cattle were stolen in 2021, about the same amount taken between 2018 and 2020 combined, said the report by the global initiative known as GI-TOC. While the groups have several funding streams, including drug trafficking, hostage taking and gold mining, analysts say livestock raiding is one of the most preferred because of the consistent cash flow, especially in Mali, which is the second biggest cattle exporter in the region after Nigeria. Jihadis loot livestock and then rely on a network to sell it and use the money to buy weapons and vehicles.

Unlike other criminal markets (such as cocaine or kidnappings), cattle rustling has proven to be a resilient and stable source of income for armed groups, because Mali is a key regional producer and exporter of cattle, said Flore Berger, Sahel analyst at GI-TOC. Its likely that cattle rustling continues to provide sources of revenue because countries in the region will continue to buy from Mali, she said.

Villagers say jihadis are strategic about their theft, staking out watering holes where they know the cattle will come to drink.

They set up shop next to the wells for several days and every time the thirsty animals come to get water the terrorists take them, said Mahamad Ag Moustapha, the mayor of Inekar commune in the Menaka region. Last April, the father of nine lost more than $84,000 worth of cattle when jihadists attacked his town. He now lives in a displacement site in Menaka.

There are no animals within a 186-mile (300-kilometer) radius of the town of Menaka. ... The terrorists are trying to weaken the population economically, so the population does not fund a resistance, he said.

While it is hard to determine how much money jihadis are making from stealing livestock, analysts estimate they are taking cattle worth tens of millions of dollars a year.

Net profits made from stolen livestock from one district in the Mopti region  under jihadi influence  was approximately $730,000 in one year, said the report. In neighboring Burkina Faso, where violence has been raging since 2016, jihadis can earn nearly $50,000 a month from cattle raiding in regions such as the Sahel, North and Center-North, where they operate.

We are aware that the money generated by the sale of stolen cattle is used to finance activities of the terrorists," Col. Abdoulaye Dembele, spokesman for the Malian army, told AP.

It is difficult to secure the cattle of Mali from terrorists, the country is vast, and our first concern is to secure the people," he said.

However, in recent months, we have recovered several hundred head of cattle in Mopti, in the center, and also in the Menaka region. In both cases, we have handed the cattle over to the local authorities who will take charge of finding their owners and returning the animals to them. As long as the stolen cattle are within a radius of our military camps, we can intervene, but if it is far from the military camps it becomes difficult, he added.

Yet despite the increase in cattle theft, conflict experts say it doesnt compare to the highly profitable business of hostage taking.

Weve heard unconfirmed reports that ransoming hostages is (jihadis') most lucrative revenue stream, generating approximately 30% of its income, said William Linder, a retired CIA officer and head of 14 North Strategies, an Africa-focused risk advisory. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

French journalist, Olivier Dubois was kidnapped by jihadis from northern Mali in April 2021. He was released last month, however, the conditions of his release, including whether it involved a ransom, have not been disclosed.

Still, the surge in cattle raiding unsettles some residents in the Sahel region more because it cuts into their ability to survive.

Two years ago, villagers in the Gourma region said they noticed a spike in jihadis selling thousands of stolen cattle in villages at a third of the price, making it hard for traders to compete. The jihadis sell cattle in the thousands, generally to beef traders who take it across the border to neighboring Burkina Faso or Niger, said a 34-year-old tea seller at a market in Gossi town who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

By controlling the cross-border livestock markets, jihadis are strengthening their legitimacy in the territory they take and diminishing control by the state, said Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence company.

The consistent flow of income enables them to acquire arms, recruit new members, extend their power, and undermine state authority, he said. To cut revenue, governments in the Sahel region need to establish authority, tighten border controls, regulate cattle markets and gain the trust of local communities, he said.

___

Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  A Guatemalan judge on Thursday ordered the arrest of three lawyers defending jailed journalist Jose Ruben Zamora.

The announcement by prosecutors was the latest in a case that has drawn concerns about press freedom in Guatemala.

Zamora is the director of El Periodico, a newspaper that has published critical articles about alleged corruption under President Alejandro Giammattei.

The award-winning editor was arrested nine months ago on charges of blackmail and money laundering.

Prosecutors said the judge issued arrest warrants for Zamora's defense attorneys, including lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa, an opposition activist. Foppa said he was arrested while traveling to the court to turn himself in.

The lawyers are accused of participating in the alleged money laundering by negotiating a sales contract for an artwork to cover up money given to Zamora.

Press freedom groups have said the prosecution of Zamora is politically motivated. His defense has maintained he received a $38,000 donation to keep the paper afloat and asked a friend to deposit it in a bank because the donor did not want to be identified.

In February, a judge ordered an investigation of nine journalists from El Periodico to determine whether they were maliciously pursuing prosecutors, judges and other members of Guatemalas justice system, thereby opening themselves up to criminal charges.

Top prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso has argued that El Periodico published critical stories about complaints, disciplinary processes and decisions by justice officials, including herself. She has said the people who ordered such stories  and the sources of their financing  must be investigated.
JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesian security forces recovered the bodies of four government soldiers who were killed in a separatist attack while searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in Indonesias restive Papua region, officials said Thursday.

The four elite army troops were killed on Saturday after attackers from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, ambushed 36 government soldiers in Nduga district in the mountainous Papua Highlands province.

Security forces found the bodies on Wednesday, including that of a soldier who fell into a 15-meter-deep (49-foot) ravine, and evacuated them to a hospital in Timika, a mining city in neighboring Central Papua province, said Papua military spokesperson Col. Herman Taryaman.

The troops were ambushed by the rebels while searching for Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a New Zealand pilot who was abducted by the rebels in February, Taryaman said. The rebels shot a soldier who fell into the ravine, and launched a second attack while troops were trying to get the body out, he added.

Taryaman said security forces are searching for a fifth soldier who is still missing, but bad weather conditions and steep forested terrain have impeded their search and evacuation operation.

Security forces retrieved the bodies of the four soldiers a day after Indonesias military chief on Tuesday dismissed the separatist group's claim that it had killed more than a dozen government soldiers in the attack.

Adm. Yudo Margono confirmed only one fatality and said four other soldiers were missing. The rest returned to their post, he said. Five soldiers were wounded and in stable condition and evacuated to a hospital in Timika.

Rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom said in a statement on Monday that his groups fighters were holding the remains of 12 soldiers, including nine who he said were arrested and executed. The rebels offered no proof to back up their statement.

Sambom said earlier the rebels carried out the attack in retaliation for Indonesias massive military operation in Papua and the killings of two rebels in a shootout with security forces last month.

Margono rejected the rebel claims as fake news and said the military operations in Papua were launched with a view to keep casualties at a minimum. However, he said that authorities will increase pressure on the rebels around several separatist strongholds, including in Nduga.

The rebels in February stormed a single-engine plane shortly after it landed on a small runway in Paro and abducted its pilot. The plane initially was scheduled to pick up 15 construction workers from other Indonesian islands after the rebels threatened to kill them.

Authorities will continue to prioritize a peaceful approach for the release of Mehrtens, Margono said.

The kidnapping of the pilot was the second that independence fighters have committed since 1996, when the rebels abducted 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission in Mapenduma. Two Indonesians in that group were killed by their abductors, but the remaining hostages were eventually freed within five months.

The pilot kidnapping reflects the deteriorating security situation in Indonesias easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the region, which was divided into five provinces last year to boost development in Indonesias poorest region.

Saturdays fighting is the latest in a series of violent incidents in recent years in Papua where conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common.

Rebels attacks have spiked considerably in recent years, as the government extended infrastructure and the controversial Trans-Papua Highway, a road being built into the heart of highland Papua that has inflamed resistance. Many indigenous Papuans believe the moves are a threat to their identity and traditional way of life, prompting attacks by separatist groups that have been followed by further Indonesian military deployments.

The military activities in Papua have raised concern among rights groups who say the security approach that had been implemented by Jakarta for decades has proven unable to resolve violence in the region.

Amnesty International Indonesia called for prioritizing dialogue with the separatists to prevent potential human rights violations and a larger humanitarian crisis. Data collected by the rights group showed at least 179 civilians, 35 Indonesian troops and nine police along with 23 independence fighters were killed in clashes between rebels and security forces between 2018 and 2022.

____

Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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BEIRUT (AP)  Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen.

In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals.

The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon  something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on. Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

This year again, the holiday comes amid fighting and devastation, particularly in the Middle East.

In Sudan, the holiday was eclipsed by raging battles between the army and its rival paramilitary force, despite two attempted cease-fires. The fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands.

In Yemen, the Arab world's most impoverished nation, a stampede late Wednesday at a charitable event in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa killed at least 78 people and injured 77.

Religious authorities in both Sudan and Yemen said they will mark the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.

In Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population worldwide, the second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah  with over 60 million members  said that according to its astronomical calculations, the holiday of Eid al-Fitr starts on Friday. However, the countrys religious affairs minister had announced on Thursday that the start of the holiday would fall on Saturday.

In some places, tensions and fighting had calmed. Long-time Mideast rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed last month to restore diplomatic ties after China-brokered negotiations  an ongoing reconciliation that has deescalated proxy wars in the region.

Saudi officials and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen recently began talks in Sanaa and during the last days of Ramadan exchanged hundreds of prisoners captured in Yemen's civil war, which erupted in 2014.

Riyadh also sent its top diplomat to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a significant step towards ending his political isolation and potentially returning the war-torn country to the Arab League.

However, Tehran and Riyadh disagreed on the start of he holiday  for Saudis, Eid al-Fitr would begin Friday while officials in Iran said it starts on Saturday.

The start of the holiday is traditionally based on sightings of the new moon, which vary according to geographic location, while some countries rely on astronomical calculations rather than physical sightings to determine the start of Eid al-Fitr.

United Arab Emirates and Qatar, followed Saudi Arabia and announced the holiday would begin for them on Friday, while their Gulf Arab neighbor, Oman, declared that the moon had not been sighted and the holiday would begin on Saturday.

Iraq's Sunni authorities announced the holiday would begin Friday, while the country's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, set a Saturday start date. The governments of Lebanon and Syria, both in the throes of crippling economic crises, said Friday would mark the beginning of the dayslong holiday.

Indonesia's Security Minister Mohammad Mahfud called on Muslims to be respectful of each other's celebrations, and asked Muhammadiyah members to have their holiday feasts at home  in consideration of the Muslims who would still be fasting on Friday.

The country's roads and highways were gridlocked as millions crammed into trains, ferries, busses and on motorcycles, as they left cities to return to their villages to celebrate with family. The government estimated that more than 123 million travelers were expected to crisscross the vast archipelago that spans 17,000 islands, with about 18 million departing from Jakartas greater metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, clerics of Pakistan's state-backed moon sighting committee announced at a news conference in Islamabad that Eid al-Fitr would be celebrated on Saturday in Pakistan as there were no sightings of the moon there.

Egypt and Jordan said that for them, Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday. In divided Libya, the religious authorities based in the capital of Tripoli, said it would start on Saturday. In the country's east, run by a rival administration, authorities marked Friday as the start.

In Afghanistan, the head of the Taliban-appointed judiciary, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, also said the holiday would start on Friday.

___

Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Munir Ahmad and Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that one of Libya's rival administrations in the country's capital said the holiday would start on Saturday, the other said Friday.
LONDON (AP)  Police shot and killed a runaway bull that charged through an English village as children were being dropped off at school.

Paul Dalton was taking his grandchildren to class Wednesday morning in Haslington, northwestern England, when he said he heard a commotion behind them and turned to see a bull charging up the road.
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HAVANA (AP)  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned U.S. sanctions on Cuba on Thursday as he visited the island and met with top leaders, including newly re-elected President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Lavrov was on the last leg of a Latin American tour that has taken him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The Russian foreign minister met with Diaz-Canel and semi-retired but still influential leader Raul Castro, according to photographs published by the Communist Party newspaper Granma, although no further details were offered on the content of the meetings.

During his visit to the island nation, which for decades was a staunch Moscow ally, Lavrov condemned the American economic sanctions on Cuba, and blasted the U.S. for seeking to impose its will on the world, according to a dispatch on the state media outlet Cubadebate.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov met with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez and took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial in Havana for Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

Rodriguez, for his part, rejected what he called the expansionist aspirations of NATO and the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Cuba has had an extensive relationship with Moscow since the 1960s, when it joined the bloc of socialist countries led by the then Soviet Union, receiving many vital imports  fertilizers, industrial equipment, spare parts and, above all, oil  in exchange for sugar.

Russia, along with Venezuela, is one of Cubas few suppliers of oil, sending an undetermined amount to the island, which is undergoing a severe energy crisis.

Also, two weeks ago, Cuban banks started to accept payments with MIR cards, a payment system in Russia that allows Russian tourists to make cash withdrawals and convert rubles to Cuban pesos.

MIR cards are accepted in other partner countries of Russia, including Turkey and Vietnam, and are operated by the state-owned Russian National Card Payment System.
Foxs lawyers left through a side door of the court building and squeezed past reporters as best they could. The lawyers representing Dominion  the voting machine company that sued Fox News for defamation over its lies about the 2020 presidential election  came out smiling and welcomed the cameras at the front door on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware. Although the defamation lawsuit has been settled, there is a very clear winner and loser: Fox will pay $787.5 million to Dominion for repeatedly airing false allegations that the companys machines had switched votes to Democrat Joe Biden. The lawsuit has been Dominions best business ever. But Fox News isnt the only loser: Donald Trump and his election lies, upon which the former president has based his strategy and discourse, also lost.

In the United States, when a president runs for re-election and loses, the politician and the country move on. But Trump did not want to be cast as the fallen leader, and decided to change the script, repeatedly insisting  without any proof  that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged. It was part of an effort to hold on to his influence over Republican voters. Fox News aired these bogus allegations. Just like Trump, it wanted to keep its audience.

While the settlement is a blow to the conservative news network, it protects Fox from suffering even greater losses. To begin with, Dominion was suing Fox for $1.6 billion. In a summary judgment, the judge said it was CRYSTAL clear that fraud allegations against the company were false. What Dominion had to prove was whether the network spread the lies knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth. The pretrial investigation uncovered mountains of evidence that suggested this was the case, including private messages in which Foxs star presenters expressed skepticism over the fraud claims. The settlement means that Fox will avoid a six-week trial in which it would have faced repeated examples of its deceit. It also means that star presenters and even Fox founder Rupert Murdoch will not have to take the stand and address the embarrassing revelations of their duplicity.

More information The inscrutable Melania Trump

In a statement released on Tuesday, Fox made it clear that it intends to move on from the matter. We acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. [...] We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues, it said. This settlement reflects FOXs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards, it added  a message that drew a smirk from CNN anchor Jack Tapper. Sorry, this is going to be difficult to say with a straight face, he said, while reporting the news on TV.

Fox reported on the settlement only briefly on Tuesday, and avoided discussing the matter on Wednesday. Its star presenters  the same ones who helped spread the election lies  completely ignored the issue on their shows. But turning the page will not be so easy for Fox.

The voting machine company Smartmatic is also suing the conservative network for $2.7 billion for defamation for airing false allegations of voter fraud. The appellate division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York issued a ruling that found merit in the case, meaning it may go to trial in Delaware. Given that Fox has agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to avoid not only a trial, but also a public spectacle, it would make sense for the network to also try to reach an out-of-court settlement with Smartmatic. But the network is under fire from many directions: it is also being sued by a recently fired producer, while company shareholders are also preparing a lawsuit. Dominion, meanwhile, has sued other channels and individuals who accused the company of rigging the election, such as Fox rival Newsmax and businessman and Trump ally Mike Lindell.

Smartmatics lawsuit is not only directed against Fox: it also names its star presenters and Trumps former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Dominion is a company thats owned by another company called Smartmatic through an intermediary company named Indra, Giuliani told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs in an interview on November 12  a statement that is cited in the lawsuit. Spanish company Indra is also considering legal action: it is neither an intermediary nor has it participated in a U.S. election, which was made clear soon after Giulianis comments.

Trump, for his part, has been careful not to mention any company when making his voter fraud allegations, and is not facing any defamation lawsuits. But he is accused of trying to interfere in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The truth matters and integrity counts, Georgias secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, told CNN, after the settlement was announced. It took a couple of years, 2.5 years, to be vindicated, said Raffensperger, explaining how he stood up to Trump when he demanded that he find 11,780 votes to win the state.

According to Raffensperger, the voter fraud allegations have affected more than just Dominion. It about our social fabric. It really ripped apart America, and it really ripped apart my Republican Party. Im really distressed about that. But perhaps now we can begin that process of rebuilding based on a foundation of truth, based on a foundation of integrity, so we can move forward. Without expressly mentioning Trump, he implicitly referred to him in the interview: I believe that most people are good, but a lot of people have been misled. I think when they figure out that they have been misled and who they have been misled by, theyre going to hold them accountable.

The Georgia secretary of state, who managed to get re-elected despite Trumps opposition, also had a message for his party colleagues: Its time for politicians to wake up, have a strong backbone and talk to people. Get out there and dont be afraid [...] If you dont have the courage to get out there and share the facts, youre just taking up space. But fear of Trump continues to dominate the Republican Party. Raffensperger is one of the few Republicans who have criticized Trumps election lies. Other senior party figures have preferred to remain silent.

The secretary of state of New Mexico, Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver, agreed that the Fox-Dominion settlement helps counter the damage done by Trumps election lies. Elections have consequences... and so do election lies. The harm done by election lies/denialism since 2020 is immeasurable, but this settlement against Fox News provides accountability & sends a strong message were happy to see, she tweeted.

At every rally and public appearance, Trump has repeated the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. In a way, it is the cornerstone of his political project, serving to vindicate himself and attack the legitimacy of President Biden. And while its difficult to draw conclusions from Trumps silence, it is noteworthy that he paused his frenetic activity on his social network Truth Social after the settlement was announced and has, so far, avoided mentioning the case. Its hard to imagine that Trump will change his story, even if the tale has been definitively weakened by the Dominion-Fox settlement. The winner of the settlement was not in Wilmington on Tuesday, but he has a house there and a train station is named after him: Joe Biden.

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BAMAKO, Mali (AP)  A senior Malian official and three other people have been killed in an ambush in an area of the country's southwest, the government said Thursday. The attack occurred in an area where Islamic extremists are active.

The president's chief of staff, Oumar Traore, was killed while traveling near the area of Nara in the Kayes region, the presidency's financial and administrative director Lt-Col Cheick Mamadou Cherif Tounkara said in a statement.
One hundred and eight years ago, the world witnessed one of the most shameful examples of inhumanity ever seen.

In the shadow of World War I, the Ottoman government embarked on a program to eliminate an entire ancient culture and population. In full view of the entire world, more than 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire perished through starvation, forced deportation and outright murder. The circumstances of the killings involved horrific and repeated instances of bestiality and depravity. Men women and children were stripped of their property, their dignity and ultimately their lives. Theodore Roosevelt referred to the atrocities as the greatest crime of the war. The brutalities were witnessed and reported by high ranking U.S. officials.

The world watched but did not intervene as the genocide, a word which did not yet exist, unfolded. Years later, in 1944, a young scholar named Raphael Lemkin coined the word and cited the Armenian atrocities as a primary example.

Humanitarian relief support was generous, the U.S. Near East Relief effort being a shining example. But acknowledgment of what had happened was slow to come. Despite a large and highly respected core of genocide scholars who amassed endless incontrovertible evidence of inhumane actions and eyewitnesses from numerous countries, the Ottoman Empire and the succeeding Republic of Turkey denied it. The killings were characterized in ludicrously fantasy filled descriptions. Even the United States was paralyzed in its fear of offending a valuable NATO ally and declined using the G word to describe the crimes. That changed in 2019 and 2021 when the Congress and then President Biden bravely acknowledged the events as genocide. Armenian Americans and Armenians throughout the diaspora were elated, Finally, the long awaited acknowledgment and official recognition of the genocide by the United States.

What would be next? Would it be an apology from Turkey? Even the unthinkable return of long ago seized land and other property?

Unfortunately, the euphoria was to be short lived. Genocide no longer appears to be a past historical event, but is looming once again over Armenians in the present. This time, it is in the mountainous region of Artsakh buffering Armenia and a long-time enemy and Turkish satellite, Azerbaijan.

Artsakh, also referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh, has an overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian population and is steeped in Armenian tradition and history. It was ceded to Azerbaijan in the Stalin era in 1921 but emerged as an independent self-proclaimed state after years of conflict. In the recent past, following a referendum with exceptionally high voter turnout, Artsakh declared independence. Azerbaijan contests this.

The past several decades have witnessed continued fighting between the forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan with on again off again cease fires. Most recently, Azerbaijans war efforts were orchestrated by Turkey with highly effective weaponry and drones. (Turkey boasts one nation two states about its relationship with Azerbaijan.) Incursions into Artsakh produced brutality, continued desecration of centuries-old Armenian religious and cultural treasures, and highly inflammatory racist and genocidal language. After the latest war, Russian peacekeepers entered the area to curtail hostilities, but have not been successful.

In December, 2022, Azeri citizens posing as environmental activists imposed a noose-like blockade of the Lachin Corridor, thus severing Artsakhs ties with the Republic of Armenia, its only viable supply of food, fuel, medicine and other life sustaining materials. Except for some relief provided by the International Red Cross and peacekeepers, Artsakh became isolated.

Whatever might be said about the pros and cons of competing claims from Artsakh and Azerbaijan about rights to the region, the blockade which threatens the very existence of 120,000 men, women and children in Artsakh violates terms of an existing trilateral agreement as well as basic principles of humanity and international law.

The blockade has been widely condemned internationally. Specifically, the International Court of Justice ordered unimpeded movement along the corridor both ways. Pope Francis has expressed his concerns about the serious humanitarian situation in the corridor and urged peaceful solutions. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged reopening the corridor to avoid risks of a humanitarian crisis. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged a peaceful settlement to resolve a worsening situation. The European Union urged a monitoring mission to the area. And on and on. But the blockade continues.

Yet, despite the dire circumstances in the area, the mainstream U.S. press remains eerily silent about reporting on the situation. Perhaps it is considered a mere territorial dispute between two long-time enemies. Perhaps there is so much else going on in the world that the potential loss of a mere 120,000 lives is not considered newsworthy. Perhaps it is just too much to wade through.

But make no mistake, the cauldron is boiling and near spilling over into the world community. Many countries have a major potential stake in the conflict and the area: The United States, Turkey, Russia, Iran and many others. Several opportunities for meaningful Interventions exist, but time is running out. Just one example: U.S. removal of the current waivers of the Freedom Support Act, resulting of suspension of major military aid to Azerbaijan, would have a powerful impact. Dozens of members of Congress have already advanced a resolution calling for this remedy

But while the world watches and ponders, 120,000 lives are at stake. The natural consequences of the blockade are clear.

Without immediate intermediation, it would appear that the Armenian genocide is destined to continue.

Harry N. Mazadoorian, of Kensington, Conn., has had a career as attorney and mediator. He is the son of Genocide survivors; three of his grandparents perished in the 1915 genocide.
NEW FAIRFIELD  A man is facing larceny and impersonation charges after police said he stole over $300 worth of merchandise from a local grocery store.

George Craig, 37, of Torrington, was arrested and charged with criminal impersonation and sixth-degree larceny Wednesday afternoon after an investigation into a reported larceny at Stop & Shop on Route 39.

New Fairfield police said they responded to the grocery store at about 4:25 p.m. and were told that a white man in a hoodie left without paying for six cases of Red Bull, two cases of Monster energy drink and a large bag of cat food before leaving in a gray Ford Fusion with North Carolina plates.

The car was located about 15 minutes later traveling east on Interstate 84 near Exit 9 with two occupants inside, according to police. The passenger  later identified as Craig  matched the description of the suspect from the grocery store incident, police said.

The stolen merchandise was inside the vehicle, and neither occupant was able to provide a receipt for the items, New Fairfield police said. Also, Craig initially provided a false name before he was identified by his Connecticut ID card, police said.

There were also four active rearrest warrants for Craig on charges of failure to appear at state Superior Court in Torrington, according to police. Court records show the failures to appear were for sixth-degree larceny cases stemming from incidents in 2020.

Craig was taken into custody, charged with criminal impersonation and sixth-degree larceny, police said. He was held on $3,000 bond before his arraignment at state Superior Court in Danbury on Thursday.
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Kinney County in south central Texas...

Western Uvalde County in south central Texas...

* Until 445 PM CDT.

* At 356 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Anacacho, or

9 miles southeast of Brackettville, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Uvalde, Anacacho, Laguna, Cline and Turkey Mountain.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWESTERN DELTA AND

SOUTHEASTERN FANNIN COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of

the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 900 PM CDT for

north central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 415 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN LAMAR COUNTY...

At 357 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Roxton, or 10

miles southwest of Paris, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Paris, Roxton, Biardstown, Howland, Atlas, Brookston, Glory and

Broadway Junction.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of western Williamson

and northwestern Travis Counties through 445 PM CDT...

At 359 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over

Leander, or near Cedar Park, moving north at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and penny size hail.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Cedar Park, Georgetown, Serenada, Anderson Mill, Leander, Lago Vista,

Liberty Hill, Florence, Georgetown Dam, Sun City, Mahomet, Andice,

Jonestown and Seward Junction.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 3080 9764 3045 9782 3050 9802 3078 9797

3086 9789

TIME...MOT...LOC 2059Z 196DEG 17KT 3055 9790

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.75 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

Southern Hunt County in north central Texas...

Northwestern Van Zandt County in north central Texas...

Southwestern Hopkins County in north central Texas...

Rains County in north central Texas...

* Until 500 PM CDT.

* At 400 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Quinlan, or

12 miles southwest of Greenville, moving east at 25 mph.

West Tawakoni, Quinlan, Caddo Mills, Emory, East Tawakoni, Point,

Hawk Cove, Greenville Club Lake, Lake Tawakoni, Lake Tawakoni State

Park, Lake Fork Reservoir, Lone Oak, Union Valley, Alsa, Cash,

Flats and Hermits Cove.

This includes Interstate 30 between mile markers 81 and 88.

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX

403 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northern Medina,

Bandera, southeastern Kerr, northeastern Uvalde and southwestern

Kendall Counties through 445 PM CDT...

At 403 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 8

miles southeast of Utopia, or 11 miles southwest of Tarpley, moving

east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Medina, Kerrville, Boerne, Bandera, Tarpley, Lakehills, Camp Verde,

Bandera Falls, Pipe Creek, Center Point, Kronkosky State Natural

Area, Utopia, Hill Country State Natural Area and Lake Medina Shores.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

LAT...LON 2974 9872 2973 9872 2972 9874 2972 9878

2969 9881 2966 9881 2945 9946 2958 9959

3006 9905

TIME...MOT...LOC 2103Z 248DEG 32KT 2954 9941

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR EAST CENTRAL HAMILTON COUNTY

IS CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of

the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 900 PM CDT for

central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 430 PM CDT

FOR WEST CENTRAL MCLENNAN...NORTHEASTERN CORYELL AND SOUTHEASTERN

BOSQUE COUNTIES...

At 402 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located between South

Mountain and Oglesby, moving east at 15 mph. This storm has a

history of producing 2 inch hail in Gatesville.

HAZARD...Two inch hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect damage

to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles.

Gatesville, McGregor, Valley Mills, Crawford, Fort Gates, Oglesby,

South Mountain, Osage, Hurst Springs, Coryell City, Mosheim and

Turnersville.

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Central San Saba County in west central Texas...

* Until 445 PM CDT.

* At 404 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Us-190 Near

The San Saba-Lampasas County Line, or near San Saba, moving

northeast at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly rural areas of

central San Saba County, including the following locations...

Harkeyville.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

Western Williamson County in south central Texas...

North central Travis County in south central Texas...

East central Burnet County in south central Texas...

* Until 500 PM CDT.

* At 405 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Leander, or

near Cedar Park, moving north at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Public. Quarter inch hail was reported 3 miles southwest

of Leander at 401 PM.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Liberty Hill, Florence, Mahomet,

Andice, Briggs, Sun City, Georgetown Dam, Jonestown and Seward

Junction.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Fannin County in north central Texas...

* Until 315 PM CDT.

* At 207 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Lake Bonham,

or near Bonham, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Bonham, Leonard, Honey Grove, Ector, Dodd City, Ravenna, Bonham

State Park, Lake Bonham, Randolph, Crockett Lake, Coffee Mill Lake,

Boyd, Ladonia, Bailey, Windom, Telephone, Cotton Center, Duplex,

Bug Tussle and Gober.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northern Kaufman County in north central Texas...

Southeastern Dallas County in north central Texas...

* Until 400 PM CDT.

* At 303 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Balch

Springs, moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Dallas, Mesquite, Balch Springs, Terrell, Seagoville, Forney,

Hutchins, Sunnyvale, Crandall, Talty, New Terrell City Lake, Elmo,

Post Oak Bend City, Oak Ridge, Heartland, Lawrence and Lake Ray

Hubbard.

This includes the following highways...

Interstate 20 between mile markers 475 and 506.

Interstate 30 between mile markers 54 and 58.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northeastern Hill County in central Texas...

Southwestern Ellis County in north central Texas...

* Until 430 PM CDT.

* At 327 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Itasca, or

10 miles west of Forreston, moving east at 15 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Ennis, Italy, Itasca, Maypearl, Bardwell, Bardwell Lake, Milford,

Forreston, Reagor Springs, Five Points, Howard and Avalon.

This includes the following highways...

Interstate 35W between mile markers 7 and 12.

Interstate 35E between mile markers 377 and 395.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 PM CDT

FOR CENTRAL SAN SABA COUNTY...

At 330 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over San Saba,

moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected.

This severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly rural areas of

central San Saba County, including the following locations...

Harkeyville.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
It is a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman? None of the three, apparently. The U.S. government is analyzing over 650 possible cases of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs, in Pentagon jargon), more commonly known to the public as UFOs. The Pentagons All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), created last year and headed by Sean Kirkpatrick, has however dampened any hopes of any of the UAPs studied being physics-defying or of extraterrestrial origin. Appearing before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday, Kirkpatrick did acknowledge that instances of UAPs have increased: As of this week, we are tracking over a total of 650 cases, the AARO director confirmed. Of those over 650, weve prioritized about half of them to be of anomalous interesting value.

A declassified intelligence report issued by the U.S. earlier this year stated that it had cataloged 144 reports over the course of 17 years, to March 2021. From then until August 2022  just 17 months  247 subsequent event reports were recorded, in addition to 119 previous sightings that were not included in previous reports. However, these increases can be attributed to increased interest among U.S. government agencies in securing the countrys airspace and a desire to debunk the myths that surround sightings.

During the hearing, Kirkpatrick revealed that 52% of the UAPs studied by AARO were round or spherical in shape and those being tracked by his department were typically one to four meters in size, white, silver, metallic or translucent in hue and generally flying at altitudes of 10,000 to 30,000 feet with apparent velocities from stationary to Mach 2.

Kirkpatricks office is primarily tasked with helping the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence services identify technologies that other countries may be employing. An example would be the suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over U.S. airspace earlier this year. In a small number of cases, some of the detected objects could be explained by the technical advances of other rival powers, the AARO director said. In those cases, the incident is referred to intelligence services for analysis.

Part of the subcommittee hearing was held in public, with the rest behind closed doors due to its classified content. During the public part of the presentation, Kirkpatrick showed two declassified videos. In one, a UAP appears to emit a jet of propulsion. But closer examination by AARO investigators determined that it was simply the heat signature emitted by the engines of an airliner passing through the area at the time.

The other video, recorded last year in the Middle East, remains more of a mystery. AARO experts have been unable to determine what the object is based on the information provided by the recording, which shows a spherical object passing through the camera screen of an MQ-9 drone. However, it is unclear how the UAP could possibly have been moving. It is going to be virtually impossible to fully identify that, just based off of that video, Kirkpatrick said.

Addressing the possibility of alien technology being behind any of the analyzed UAPs, Kirkpatrick stated: In our research, AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology or objects that defy the known laws of physics, Kirkpatrick said, adding that the majority of sightings reported to his department can be identified as balloons, drones, debris, atmospheric phenomena or other perfectly explainable things.

The January report issued by the United States Department of Defense indicated that, of the 366 new incidents reviewed to that date, more than half had unremarkable characteristics. Among those episodes, the Pentagon listed 163 incidents attributed to balloons or balloon-like entities. A month later, F-22 fighters shot a Chinese balloon down over U.S. waters a Chinese balloon after it had crossed the U.S. mainland, which Washington stated was being used for purposes of espionage.

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WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX

537 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHERN KAUFMAN AND WESTERN VAN ZANDT COUNTIES...

At 537 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Wills Point,

moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Two inch hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Trained weather spotters.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect wind

damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Kaufman, Wills Point, Mabank, Kemp, Grays Prairie, Purtis Creek State

Park, New Terrell City Lake, Lake Tawakoni, Myrtle Springs, Elmo,

Scurry, Oak Grove, Oak Ridge, Rand, Whitton, Ola, Becker, Alsa,

Phalba and Roddy.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 615 PM CDT

FOR CENTRAL GILLESPIE COUNTY...

At 536 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Fredericksburg,

moving northeast at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Public. The public reported ping pong ball size hail near

Fredericksburg at 533 PM CDT.

Fredericksburg.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Coryell County in central Texas...

Northwestern Milam County in central Texas...

Bell County in central Texas...

* Until 615 PM CDT.

* At 535 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from Copperas Cove to Belton to Seaton, moving southeast

at 10 mph. At 530 PM CDT, ping pong ball size hail was reported

with this storm at Fort Hood.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles.

* Locations impacted include...

Killeen, Temple, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Belton, Fort Hood,

Nolanville, Morgan's Point Resort, Bartlett, Salado, Little

River-Academy, Troy, Rogers, Holland, Kempner, Buckholts, Belton

Lake, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Sparks and Union Grove.

This includes Interstate 35 between mile markers 278 and 311.

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

Southwestern Medina County in south central Texas...

Southeastern Uvalde County in south central Texas...

Northeastern Zavala County in south central Texas...

Northwestern Frio County in south central Texas...

* Until 645 PM CDT.

* At 538 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 7 miles south of

Knippa, or 10 miles east of Uvalde, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Two inch hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Expect

wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

Frio Town and Knippa.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHEASTERN HOPKINS...

NORTHEASTERN DELTA AND SOUTHEASTERN LAMAR COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits, and has exited the warned area. Therefore, the warning has

been cancelled. However heavy rain is still possible with this

thunderstorm.

...THE TORNADO WARNING FOR WEST CENTRAL FALLS COUNTY WILL EXPIRE AT

545 PM CDT...

The tornado threat has diminished and the Tornado Warning will be

allowed to expire. However, large hail and damaging winds remain

likely and a Severe Thunderstorm Warning remains in effect for the

area.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Robertson County in central Texas...

Northeastern Milam County in central Texas...

Southern Limestone County in central Texas...

Falls County in central Texas...

* Until 715 PM CDT.

* At 611 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from Marlin to Cameron, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect

damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles.

* Locations impacted include...

Marlin, Cameron, Hearne, Groesbeck, Franklin, Rosebud, Calvert,

Bremond, Lott, Lake Limestone, Twin Oak Reservoir, Camp Creek Lake,

Fort Parker State Park, Thornton, Wilson, Kosse, Crossroads, Silver

City, Jones Prairie and Ben Arnold.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

Heavy rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to flash

flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ANDERSON BELL BOSQUE

BOWIE BRAZOS BURLESON

CAMP CASS CHEROKEE

CORYELL DELTA ELLIS

FALLS FANNIN FRANKLIN

FREESTONE GREGG HAMILTON

HARRISON HENDERSON HILL

HOPKINS HOUSTON HUNT

KAUFMAN LAMAR LAMPASAS

LEON LIMESTONE MCLENNAN

MADISON MARION MILAM

MILLS MORRIS NACOGDOCHES

NAVARRO PANOLA RAINS

RED RIVER ROBERTSON ROCKWALL

RUSK SHELBY SMITH

TITUS UPSHUR VAN ZANDT

WOOD

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWESTERN FRIO COUNTY IS

CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of

the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 645 PM CDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN MEDINA AND SOUTHEASTERN UVALDE COUNTIES...

At 613 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 10 miles south of

Sabinal, or 19 miles northeast of Batesville, moving east at 15 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

This severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly rural areas of

southwestern Medina and southeastern Uvalde Counties.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR CENTRAL HILL...SOUTHWESTERN

ELLIS AND WEST CENTRAL NAVARRO COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits. Therefore the warning has been cancelled.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 900 PM CDT for

central and north central Texas.

The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a

Southeastern Llano County in south central Texas...

Southwestern Burnet County in south central Texas...

* Until 700 PM CDT.

* At 614 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Kingsland,

moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

Burnet, Marble Falls, Kingsland, Buchanan Dam, Gainesville, Granite

Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Meadowlakes, Highland Haven, Inks Lake State

Park, Longhorn Cavern State Park, Cottonwood Shores and Sunrise

Beach Village.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWESTERN CASS...NORTHERN

MORRIS...NORTHEASTERN TITUS AND SOUTHEASTERN RED RIVER COUNTIES IS

The storms which prompted the warning have moved out of the area.

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

southwestern Arkansas...southeastern Oklahoma...and northeastern

Texas.

FOR SOUTHWESTERN LITTLE RIVER...SOUTHEASTERN MCCURTAIN AND BOWIE

COUNTIES...

At 614 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from 13 miles northwest of New Boston to near De Kalb to

near Dalby Springs, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...70 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect considerable

tree damage. Wind damage is also likely to mobile homes,

roofs, and outbuildings.

Locations impacted include...

New Boston, Hooks, De Kalb, Maud, Dalby Springs, Wallace, Almont,

Arden, Spring Hill, Beaverdams, Red Bank and Goodlake.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO DALLAS / FT. WORTH Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Fort Worth TX

619 PM CDT Thu Apr 20 2023

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern Hopkins

County through 645 PM CDT...

At 618 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 10

miles southwest of Hagansport, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Nelta, Flora and Weaver.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 900 PM CDT for

north central Texas.

LAT...LON 3317 9546 3335 9549 3337 9540 3337 9537

3336 9533 3337 9531 3317 9531

TIME...MOT...LOC 2318Z 262DEG 20KT 3327 9540

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southwestern Robertson County in central Texas...

Milam County in central Texas...

Southern Bell County in central Texas...

* Until 715 PM CDT.

* At 618 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line

extending from near Jarrell to Buckholts, moving southeast at 20

mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Rockdale, Cameron, Hearne, Bartlett, Salado, Thorndale, Rogers,

Holland, Buckholts, Alcoa Lake, Sparks, Milano, Yarrelton, Hoyte,

Leedale, Edgeworth, Elevation, Hanover, Cedar Valley and Sharp.

This includes Interstate 35 between mile markers 278 and 284.

For your protection get inside a sturdy structure and stay away from

windows.

Heavy rainfall is occurring with these storms, and may lead to flash

flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHWESTERN MEDINA AND

SOUTHEASTERN UVALDE COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The storm which prompted the warning has weakened below severe

limits, and no longer poses an immediate threat to life or property.

Therefore, the warning has been cancelled. However heavy rain is

still possible with this thunderstorm.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1000 PM CDT for

south central Texas.

The National Weather Service in Shreveport has issued a

Central Smith County in northeastern Texas...

* At 620 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Tyler, moving

northeast at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

Tyler, Whitehouse, Bullard, Lake Palestine, Noonday, New Chapel

Hill and Winona.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Callahan County in west central Texas...

South central Jones County in west central Texas...

Northern Taylor County in west central Texas...

* Until 830 PM CDT.

* At 807 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Tye, with

another severe storm 2 miles northwest of View. The storms

were moving northeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Hawley around 825 PM CDT.

Abilene and Hamby around 830 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Impact,

Hodges, Kirby Lake and Stith.

This includes Interstate 20 between Mile Markers 268 and 297.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Wednesday, April 19, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Callahan County in west central Texas...

South central Shackelford County in west central Texas...

Northeastern Taylor County in west central Texas...

* Until 1000 PM CDT.

* At 901 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Kirby Lake,

or over Potosi, moving east at 25 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Law enforcement.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Eula around 920 PM CDT.

Clyde around 925 PM CDT.

Baird around 945 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Admiral,

Us-283 Near The Callahan-Shackelford County Line and Kirby Lake.

This includes Interstate 20 between Mile Markers 286 and 311.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Remain alert for a possible tornado! Tornadoes can develop quickly

from severe thunderstorms. If you spot a tornado go at once into the

basement or small central room in a sturdy structure.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

To report severe weather, contact your nearest law enforcement

agency. They will send your report to the National Weather Service

office in San Angelo.

Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground

lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately.

Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can

hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING...

* WHAT...Dangerous rip currents.

* WHERE...Matagorda Islands, Brazoria Islands, Galveston Island

and Bolivar Peninsula.

* WHEN...Through Thursday evening.

* IMPACTS...Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away

from shore into deeper water.

Swim near a lifeguard. If caught in a rip current, relax and

float. Don't swim against the current. If able, swim in a

direction following the shoreline. If unable to escape, face the

shore and call or wave for help.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
WFO SAN ANGELO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 20, 2023

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in San Angelo has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Central San Saba County in west central Texas...

* Until 400 PM CDT.

* At 311 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Harkeyville,

or near Algerita, moving northeast at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Half dollar size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Damage to vehicles is expected.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

San Saba around 330 PM CDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include

Harkeyville.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

TX

. TEXAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

ANDERSON BELL BOSQUE

BOWIE BRAZOS BURLESON

CAMP CASS CHEROKEE

CORYELL DELTA ELLIS

FALLS FANNIN FRANKLIN

FREESTONE GREGG HAMILTON

HARRISON HENDERSON HILL

HOPKINS HOUSTON HUNT

KAUFMAN LAMAR LAMPASAS

LEON LIMESTONE MCLENNAN

MADISON MARION MILAM

MILLS MORRIS NACOGDOCHES

NAVARRO PANOLA RAINS

RED RIVER ROBERTSON ROCKWALL

RUSK SHELBY SMITH

TITUS UPSHUR VAN ZANDT

WOOD

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 615 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive

rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...Southern Fannin Co.

* WHEN...Until 615 PM CDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

Water over roadways.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This

will likely cause urban and small stream flooding. Low lying

and/or poor drainage areas will experience minor flooding in

the advisory area. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain have

fallen.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Bonham, Leonard, Honey Grove, Whitewright, Trenton, Dodd

City, Bonham State Park, Randolph, Ladonia, Bailey, Pecan

Gap, Windom, Gober, Cotton Center, Bug Tussle, Ely, Dial and

Nobility.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

_____

Copyright 2023 AccuWeather
Australia's Link Group has agreed to pay out up to 235m to investors caught up in the collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund, it was confirmed on Thursday.

The Financial Conduct Authority said the payout would cover losses for over 300,000 investors in the WEIF, which was managed by Link Groups UK business, Link Fund Solutions, and collapsed in 2019.

The sum agreed is less than the total losses of 298m, but the regulator urged investors to consider the offer, which would see them recover around 77p in the pound.

Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: "The FCAs investigation raised serious concerns about LFSs management of the liquidity of the WEIF. LFSs actions appear to have caused significant losses for those investors who remained in the fund when it was suspended.

"We believe the proposed scheme offers investors the best chance to obtain a better outcome that might be achieved by any other means, and it is in the investors interest they be given the chance to consider it."

The payment is dependent on the successful sale of Link Fund Solutions to Waystone Group. The Irish firm has conditionally agreed to buy LFS, excluding its Luxembourg and Swiss entities as well as the Woodford-related liabilities, for between 110m and 140m.

Vivek Bhatia, Link Group chief executive, said: "The sale of LFS significantly completes our simplification strategy, including a conditional settlement with the FCA.

"This outcomes creates greater clarity for our shareholders, providing a pathway to final resolution of the Woodford matters and further enabling the organisation to focus on the future growth of our core businesses."

A former star stock picker, Neil Woodford restricted withdrawals from the 2.9bn WEIF after values started to plunge, leaving investors unable to access their money. It was finally closed in October 2019, and the fund was widely criticised for holding illiquid assets that made it harder to meet redemption calls following months of underperformance.

Ryan Hughes, head of investment partnerships at AJ Bell, said: "Poor liquidity management meant investors were left with disproportionately high exposure to illiquid assets, which ultimate brought down the fund. The scale of this illiquidity can be seen today with some assets remaining unsold nearly four years later.

"It would be a surprise if investors didnt approve the deal, given how long this sorry saga has dragged on for. The scale of the financial redress is evident, given that it effectively wipes out the UK Fund Solutions business."
Meta workers are bracing for thousands of additional layoffs as the embattled social media firm continues to cut costs. A new round of layoffs began on Wednesday, according to a report from CNBC that was confirmed by Meta. The company will cull 4,000 jobs immediately as part of a larger plan to cut 10,000 jobs announced earlier this year, focusing largely on technical roles.  Guardian

Security staff at Heathrow airport are to strike on eight days next month in a dispute over pay. The action by members of the Unite union will take place on 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 25, 26 and 27 May, and follow strikes over Easter.  Guardian

Rupert Murdochs bill for settling defamation lawsuits against Fox News is likely to eclipse the 1bn paid out in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. Fox reached a dramatic 11th-hour settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday over accusations that the news network knowingly broadcast false claims that Dominions technology was used to rig the 2020 election of Joe Biden.  Telegraph

A shareholder revolt to remove Helge Lund as chairman of BP was gathering momentum last night, with five of Britains biggest pensions schemes planning to vote against his re-election in protest at the companys watering down of green commitments. The Universities Superannuation Scheme followed the National Employment Savings Trust in announcing plans to vote against Lund. Brunel Pension Partnership, a group of nine council schemes, also said it would vote to oust him. Two other council pension umbrella groups, LGPS Central and Border to Coast, are said to be joining them.  The Times

A leading American consultancy has offered new recruits from business schools thousands of dollars to hold off joining and kill time by becoming a yoga instructor or by heading out on safari. Bain has given sizeable financial incentives to recruits with postgraduate business degrees to push back their start dates until next April, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that McKinsey had also delayed new starts.  The Times
Investment platform operator AJ Bell said on Thursday that inflows had decreased in the three months ended 31 March despite seeing customer numbers grow during the period.

AJ Bell said gross inflows in the quarter came to 2.5bn, down from 2.7bn a year earlier, while net inflows dropped from 1.6bn to 1.2bn.

Customer numbers, on the other hand, increased by 20,643 in the quarter to close at 455,008, up 13% in the last year and 5% in the quarter. Total advised customers came to 153,400, up 12% in the last year and 3% in the quarter, while total direct-to-consumer customers of 301,608 were up 13% in the last year and 6% in the quarter.

The FTSE 250-listed group also noted that assets under management had increased to 3.9bn, up 70% over the last year.

Chief executive Michael Summersgill said: "I am pleased to report another quarter of robust trading performance which once again demonstrates the strength of our dual-channel business model."

Ventilation products maker Volution said it has bought I-Vent in Slovenia and completed the acquisition of Ventilairsec SA in France.

Both acquisitions will be earnings enhancing and will report as part of Volution Group's Continental Europe sector. The deals are being funded from existing cash resources and the group borrowing facilities.

I-Vent was bought for an initial 25.2m, with further potential 15m based on stretching growth targets for results for the three years up to and including 2025.

Volution paid an initial 10m, for Ventilairsec with up to 5m more based on delivery of strong earnings growth for the year ending December 31, 2023.

Vistry, Vesuvius and Vivendum were among the stocks trading ex-dividend.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 14:42 | All, Japan, World

The government on Thursday ordered the Air Self-Defense Force to dispatch aircraft to Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Sudan, where military clashes are intensifying.

The ASDF planes are expected to leave for Djibouti this weekend, from where they will fly to Sudan to evacuate the around 60 Japanese people living in the northeast African country, a government source said.

Japan's Self-Defense Forces set up a base in Djibouti in 2011 as part of an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia.

It remains unclear when the planes will head to Sudan. The government is still determining what kind of aircraft and how many will be sent, according to a Japanese government official.

Fighting between Sudan's armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has escalated, including at the airport in the country's capital Khartoum, making it difficult for people to evacuate.

The conflict has left more than 270 people dead and over 2,600 others injured, the World Health Organization said.

Related coverage:

Japan to send SDF to rescue nationals in Sudan: gov't

Japan enacts law to allow SDF to engage in foreigner-only rescues

Japan orders SDF pullout, vows continued efforts for Afghanistan evacuation
KYODO NEWS - Apr 21, 2023 - 19:00 | All, Japan, World

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday sent a ritual offering to the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, triggering a backlash from China and South Korea, which view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi offered prayers at the Shinto shrine on the first day of the two-day spring festival. Takaichi, known for her hawkish views on security policy, has visited Yasukuni on various occasions, including its seasonal festivals.

Past visits to the shrine by previous prime ministers, such as the assassinated Shinzo Abe, and other lawmakers have drawn sharp criticism from China and South Korea, where memories of Japanese militarism before and during the war run deep.

Kishida sent the "masakaki" offering, but the premier, who heads a dovish faction within the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is likely to eschew an in-person visit as he did previously.

Yasukuni shrine honors the country's more than 2.4 million war dead, but Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals in a post-World War II international tribunal are also enshrined there.

Later in the day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing "firmly opposes Japan's negative move" regarding the Yasukuni shrine and has lodged "solemn representations" with Tokyo.

China urges Japan to "face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, completely cut itself off from militarism and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community," Wang said at a press briefing in Beijing.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Friday that Kishida's ritual offering and the visits by Japanese lawmakers to Yasukuni have caused "deep disappointment and regret."

Among high-ranking lawmakers, health minister Katsunobu Kato and Hidehisa Otsuji, president of the House of Councillors, also sent ritual offerings to the shrine on Friday.

At a regular press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno declined to comment on Kishida's ritual offering to Yasukuni.

Matsuno, the top government spokesman, said Kishida made the offering "as a private person" rather than a public figure, although the masakaki was sent under his name as prime minister.

After visiting Yasukuni, Takaichi told reporters she offered her condolences to those who lost their lives "for a national policy."

Earlier Friday, a cross-party group of around 90 lawmakers, including senior vice ministers and parliamentary vice ministers, also visited the shrine, as it regularly does.

Japan invaded a vast swath of China before the end of World War II and ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

In December 2013, Abe paid a visit to the shrine, angering Beijing and Seoul, while the United States, Japan's key security ally, said it was "disappointed" by Abe's actions and the move "exacerbates tensions with Japan's neighbors."

In an apparent attempt to avoid confrontation, recent prime ministers have sent offerings to the shrine for biannual festivals during the spring and fall, as well as for the anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have frayed further since a senior employee of Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc. was detained by China in March on suspicion of engaging in espionage.

Kishida, who is scheduled to chair a Group of Seven summit next month in Hiroshima, has expressed his willingness to build "constructive" ties with China, but he has also voiced concern about Beijing's growing military assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan-South Korea relations, meanwhile, have improved, as Kishida agreed last month to work together with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to resolve a dispute over wartime labor compensation.

In 1978, Yasukuni added 14 Class-A war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo, who was executed by hanging for crimes against peace, to the enshrined deities, stirring controversy at home and abroad.

The seasonal festivals usually run for three days but have been shortened to two days as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Related coverage:

Japan PM Kishida sends ritual offering to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Japanese minister visits war-linked Yasukuni shrine before festival
The second India-UK financial markets dialogue took place on Wednesday, where both sides discussed several areas with a view to deepen the financial services relationship -- focusing on sustainable finance, insurance, asset management, capital markets and payments and cryptoassets. Richard Knox, director for International Financial Services at UK's treasury and Surbhi Jain, joint secretary in the economic affairs department of the Finance Ministry, co-chaired the meeting.

According to a joint statement issued by the British government, both India and the UK discussed existing collaboration between central banks on climate scenario analysis and stress testing, as well as capacity building and spreading awareness on climate risk and sustainable finance.

Moreover, it was decided that opportunities to collaborate around sovereign green bonds would be explored. Both sides agreed to engage bilaterally on these areas in the coming months with the government-led sustainable finance forum in June to advance green cooperation followed by the ministerial Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) later in the year.

Following the government-to-government discussion, business leaders from the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) were invited to the discussion. Both governments welcomed the appointment of Bill Winters, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, as the new UK Chair of the IUKFP alongside Uday Kotak, managing director and CEO Kotak Mahindra Bank, as India Chair.
Enterprise application software provider SAP announced 'GROW with SAP', a new offering to help mid-size customers in India adopt Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that enables speed, predictability, and continuous innovation.

The 'GROW with SAP' offering brings together SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, with accelerated adoption services, a global community of experts and free learning resources, helping customers go live in few weeks.

The company said during its 'SAP Now' event here that as India accelerates its journey to become the world's third largest economy, midsize companies are a critical enabler of the country's digital transformation that serves everyone by generating employment and contributing to the GDP.

"Our early investments in digital public infrastructure and our ease of doing business policies have empowered our startup and innovation ecosystem, catalysing India's Techade goals," said Rajeev Chandrashekar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, while addressing India Inc.

"In the coming years, you will also see India as an important player in the electronics and semiconductor GVCs as well as realise our sustainability vision in the years to come," the minister added. 'GROW with SAP' also includes 'SAP Business Technology Platform', so customers can define their own processes in a cloud-native way using SAP Build.

"Cloud technology is revolutionizing ERP. Midsized companies today are looking for a reliable technology platform that'll help them scale," said Kulmeet Bawa, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent.

With 80 per cent of SAP's customers in India coming from midsize organisations, we have a long history of understanding their requirements.

"GROW with SAP is our commitment to deliver an offering tailored for this market segment, empowering them with agility and predictability, to help drive business results," Bawa added.

According to IDC research, many midsize businesses find themselves growing rapidly and need their technology to grow with their business as they encounter the same issues related to global complexity as larger enterprise businesses.
Apple CEO Tim Cook met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and stressed that he is committed to growing and investing across the country, as they discussed tech-driven transformations happening in the country. Cook, who is in India to launch the company's flagship retail stores in Mumbai and Delhi, thanked PM Modi for the warm welcome he received.

"Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on India's future - from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment," Cook said in a tweet, posting a picture with PM Modi.

"We are committed to growing and investing across the country," Cook added. PM Modi replied: "An absolute delight to meet you, @tim_cook! Glad to exchange views on diverse topics and highlight the tech-powered transformations taking place in India".

Apple is ramping up its manufacturing in India, along with growing its retail presence. Apple began manufacturing iPhone in India in 2017, and since then, the company has worked with suppliers to assemble new iPhone models and produce a growing number of components.

Amid the local manufacturing push and an upcoming widespread retail store strategy, Apple shipped $7.5 billion worth iPhones and iPads in India in FY22-23, according to CMR data.

In FY23, Apple shipped more than 7 million iPhones and half a million iPads in the country, registering a 28 per cent growth for iPhone shipments, according to initial estimates provided by market intelligence firm CMR.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Packed with rats, the Great Kills train station has wreaked its infestation into the surrounding businesses over the past few months. According to local proprietors, the critters creep into dumpsters, chew through plastic  plus theyre just gross, say neighbors along the tracks.

Fast little critters: multiple rats scurry in front of the Great Kills Train Station just after dusk on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon

Larry Burkert from Talk of the Town spent over $500 to thoroughly vermin-proof his structure at 24 Giffords Lane. For months hes complained about the rodents to various city officials, the South Shore Business Improvement District (BID), and told the Advance/SILive.com he called 311 multiple times. Still, the problem persists. He believes the blight comes from a combination of construction in the neighborhood, rail work, and a long-vacant Farrell Lumber building on Amboy Road.

A vacant Farrell Lumber building in Great Kills town also is suspect in contributing to a rodent problem in the surrounding area. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

According to the Rat Information Portal by the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), a streak of pink on a map indicates rat activity on recent agency inspections. The colored patch indicates a swath of land along the railroad that stretches from Colon Avenue to Giffords Lane behind buildings on Brower Court.

A map with a pink streak indicating rat activity in Great Kills. (Rat Information Portal by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

On visits to the Great Kills train station, the Advance/SILive observed copious trash and food remains around the platform. Along the MTA-owned craggy walls were dozens of rat traps amidst an equal number of burrow holes. Just after dusk on April 13, hand-sized rodents squeezed from an aperture in the concrete on the MTAs property along Brower Court. Passengers awaiting a train on both sides of the platform said they frequently saw the creatures in the brush and along the rails but not on platforms.

Rat activity was observed on four occasions by two Advance/SILive.com reporters on the platform before and just after dusk, before midnight and at midday.

A rat runs along the SIRTOA train platform at Great Kills. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon

Rats have become comfortable around human beings but will avoid them when they can, Post Exterminating Company president Mark Loffredo explained. They will nest where there is a food source. They are omnivores, so they will eat anything. Normally they nest below debris, construction material and soft soil. They need food, a place to breed, eat and nest. When conditions are conducive, they will become prolific breeders.

He added that any cracks in stone walls or hard-packed clay can be penetrated by a rat. Loffredo said they cant chew through rock but they can eat through sheetrock, drywall and wood.

A burrow hole with rat traps nearby on Thursday, April 13, 2023. The creatures flit in and out of the hole to forage for food. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

HOW OFFICIALS ARE HELPING

A representative from Councilman Joe Borellis office said they are aware of the matter and have addressed it with the MTA.

Users of the rail station toss garbage around the train platform which gives food to the vermin living under the tracks. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon

A South Shore BID representative said their response to complaints was to document it with 311 since it was train-related.

One of dozens of burrows open, a tunnel to rats' nests around the Great Kills train stop on MTA property. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon

As a resident of Great Kills, Ive seen first-hand the issue with rats in and around the Great Kills train station, State Sen. Andrew J. Lanza shared. It has impacted numerous small businesses, which led me to contact the MTA in recent months. MTA committed to me that they would be baiting and cleaning the station area. Unfortunately, the problem has persisted, so I will be revisiting this with the MTA and Department of Health.

MTA spokesperson Meghan Keegan conveyed in a statement, The vicinity of Great Kills station is routinely cleaned and baited by Staten Island Railway maintenance crews and New York City Transit contractors respectively. The MTA has suggested to food businesses in the immediate area they also bait and monitor their dumpsters and garbage bags, which remains the best way to reduce the rat population.

Garbage in a concrete gulley at the Great Kills train stop observed for least two days. The area is maintained by the MTA and its contractors. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

RECENT INSPECTIONS

A DOHMH representative pointed to recent inspections along Amboy Road and Giffords Lane. On March 8, a department visit resulted from a 311 call about 4342 Amboy Rd., the address of Avocado Sushi. The violation was designated as an FSCS, or food safety issue, and turned up a Failed Garbage report. A representative from the restaurant did not return a request for comment on the situation.

A rat rummages through a garbage can in front of the Great Kills Train Station. This was recorded on Tuesday evening, April 18, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon

In early March, rodents were reported to the DOHMH at Mercado Ariana at 30 Giffords Ln. A subsequent visit to the Mexican grocery store on March 16 by the DOHMH said the business passed its inspection.

Based on a report from NYC 311 Open Data for the 10308 ZIP code, there were three rat sighting complaints filed between March 1 and April 12, including the aforementioned 30 Giffords Ln. Others happened at residences on Wilson Avenue and Tanglewood Drive. The ones on Giffords and Wilson were indicated as closed by the DOHMH.

Signs warn litter bugs but some rail users disrespect the posting, as evidenced by garbage strewn in the area. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon

Business owners were reluctant to speak to the Advance/SILive.com on the matter. However, one proprietor who spoke on condition on anonymity said he and other tenants along Brower Court have seen fewer rats in the past few weeks. He credits the improvement to Burkert and his fellow neighbors efforts to secure trash and step up exterminating. He himself poured concrete in the yard to seal up holes and doubled the size of his dumpsters. The measures have paid off.

Garbage lingers near a rat trap under the train platform on the Tottenville-bound side on April 12. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

If everybody pitches in and does their part we can keep the rats out, he said. If everyone puts covers on their dumpsters, if they dont put garbage out in bags on the curb, we wont have a problem.

The proprietor also made a plea to train passengers.

I would appreciate it if the people taking the train there wouldnt throw their bagels, their drinks and garbage on the ground. If we all as a community respect our railroad, respect our people who take care of our tracks, we wouldnt have this kind of problem.

Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com.

The train may rumble away about every 20 minutes but a rat problem persists at the Great Kills train station despite the MTA's efforts to manage the infestation. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

>>> More than 100 eateries closed on Staten Island in 3 years. Why are they failing?

>>> Staten Island restaurants land on The Times Best 100 list

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  New York City public school students, parents and teachers have until Thursday to submit feedback about their school via the NYC School Survey.

Every year, the city launches the annual survey, a critical tool for empowering families to be a part of their childs education. Families, teachers and staff in grades 3-K through 12, and students in grades 6-12 are invited to take the survey  giving school leaders a better understanding of what members of their school community think about their school.

According to the city, information collected by the survey is designed to support a dialogue among all members of the school community.

The submission period ends Thursday, April 20.

Heres how to apply.

The parent and student surveys are available both on paper and online at NYCSchoolSurvey.org in various languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Urdu.

If your child is in grades K-12, you will need your childs nine-digit student identification number, or OSIS, to begin filling out your survey online. You can find the OSIS on your students report card, school ID card, or on the youths NYC Schools Account. Once on the survey page, you must enter f, followed by your childs OSIS to access the survey  the f must be lowercase.

If your child is in 3-K or pre-K, contact your childs school or program to receive your survey access code.

Families can also access the survey by logging into their NYC Schools Account (NYCSA).

Results from the survey are included in each sites School Quality Snapshot and School Quality Guide. The snapshot is designed to give families a picture of the quality of each school available, and the guide provides more detailed information and data.

School Zone: A new newsletter with the updates you need as our schools try to get back to normal. Enter your email address here and hit "subscribe" to receive this weekly newsletter:



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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Saturday Night Live will be going on a two-week break, but already has its next host-musical guest combo lined up  and fans of the show will be pretty thrilled with whats on tap.

Former SNL cast member Pete Davidson is set to host Saturday Night Live on May 6. The born-and-raised Staten Islander was on SNL for eight years  he joined in 2014 at the ripe age of 20  before tapping out at the end of last season. He was best known for his Weekend Update appearances alongside fellow Staten Islander Colin Jost, and his reoccurring character, Chad.

Davidson will be joined by musical guest Lil Uzi Vert.

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The timing of Davidsons hosting gig makes sense: The actors new Peacock show, Bupkis, is set to premiere on May 4. The semi-autobiographical show was spotted filming across Staten Island and other parts of New York City in 2022. In October, production took over Marina Cafe in Great Kills, and in November, Davidson and a filming crew were spotted at Laceys Bridge Tavern in Elm Park.

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.

Abbott Elementary actress Quinta Brunson made her SNL debut on April 1. Joining the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner was rapper Lil Yachty. On April 8, SNL legend Molly Shannon returned to her old stomping grounds alongside musical guest The Jonas Brothers. On April 15, final show of April, actress Ana De Armas made her hosting debut, while Karol G took on musical guest duties.

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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Editors Note: The author of this article is a Curtis High School student who participates in the Advance/SILive.com journalism e-mentorship program. The student did the writing and research for this piece. The Curtis-Advance/SILive.com partnership is designed to help young people explore the world of journalism, photography and social media.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Ramadan is a time for reflection, special prayer, fasting and charitable deeds  and its nearly over.

It began on March 23, starting in the month of the Islamic calendar when the crescent moon rises. Generally, Muslims avoid pork, alcohol and gelatin, the latter which typically contains pig product.

As the holy month comes to a close, heres what to know about Ramadan.

People walk near Taksim mosque as the sun sets during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Lights read in Turkish: "Let's be together forever". (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)AP

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is a time when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days, as its one of the five pillars of Islam. Pillars also include the declaration of devotion to God, five daily prayers, giving to charity and a pilgrimage to Mecca.

In addition to praying the customary five times per day, mosques hold additional evening and night prayer sessions, lectures, readings of the Koran and break-fast meals.

As the sun rises over Staten Island in Great Kills during Ramadan, a fast begins. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

What is fasting?

Fasting is a time when a person forfeits eating and drinking for a period of time. For Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during the holy month.

Who fasts?

Fasting during Ramadan is mandatory for all healthy adult Muslims. However, there are some exceptions, including: children who have not reached puberty; senior citizens; those who are physically or mentally incapable of fasting; pregnant women; breastfeeding mothers, and travelers.

To help with a fast, avoid salty foods and eat water-filled veggies. (Staten Island Advance/ Victoria Priola)

What are some tips for fasting?

Since fasting occurs from sunrise to sunset, the biggest meal is generally after sunset. Drinking tea before breaking a fast can prepare your body for high food consumption. Some other suggestions include eating fruit with high water content, like watermelon, cucumbers, or lemon  and avoiding salty foods that would lead you to drink more water.

Get a good nights rest and minimize movement while fasting during Ramadan.

If you want to exercise, try to do so before you break your fast, or before the start of the next fast. This allows you to eat and drink after an exercise, and replenish and hydrate your body.

The Staten island Ferry heads to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in lower Manhattan at sunset. (Staten Island Advance/Steve Zaffarano)

When does Ramadan end?

Ramadan ends on Saturday, April 22.

After Ramadan, Muslims celebrate a three-day holiday called Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking fasts.

Turkish coffee is served at Za-Ra in Dongan Hills. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri) Staff-ShotStaff-Shot

Where can I eat to celebrate the end of Ramadan?

According to Ayat Masoud of Ayat Restaurant in Dongan Hills, Theres no particular food thats made culturally or religiously at the end. But theres a popular dessert that people only make during Ramadan. Katayef, customarily the last day to make that is the last day of Ramadan. On the day of Eid al-Fitr (the Festival of Breaking the Fast,) youre eating a cookie called Kaak Mamoul, a semolina cookie with either date paste or nuts and coated with powered sugar.

She added that during Ramadan, one misses having a cup of coffee in the daylight with a sweet item, such as Kaak Mamoul.

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In todays world, young victims of bullying have very few places to escape. The destructive behavior can take place anywhere, from physical spaces to cyber spaces. So what can be done to educate young people and parents about the potentially devastating results of intentionally cruel behavior? The Advance/SILive.com spoke to Staten Island experts, educators and families of victims about this critical topic. This story is the first in a series that explores bullying and its impact, guides both parents and students, and highlights the need for change.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, self-harm, and even death, are all potential side effects of bullying, according to experts, and any child could become a victim of the destructive behavior at one point or another.

For years, bullying was a rite of passage for kids going to school. The phrase sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me was a common mantra used by parents and teachers. But in the most recent decade, especially with the rise of social media, the negative impact of words on youth seems to have escalated.

Bullying is something that can occur anywhere, including at school, while traveling to and from school, on the playground, in the neighborhood and among friends. Kids cant escape bullying once they get home, as social media, phone applications, texting and more are all readily available, resulting in whats known as cyberbullying.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained that bullying can impact kids in a harmful way, resulting in physical injury, social and emotional distress, self-harm and death. It can also increase the risk of depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, lower academic achievement and dropping out of school.

RELATED STORY: They broke my kid: Grieving Staten Island mom takes her own life after daughters suicide linked to bullying

It can have a serious impact on kids and can affect them both during and outside of school, said Jeremy Rubenstein, founder and creative director of Box Out Bullying, an organization that gives presentations to youth on bullying. It causes a sense of anxiety and feelings that cause them to feel scared. It may even lead to some sense of depression. They may struggle with low self-esteem.

Box Out Bullying is an organization that holds presentations at schools across the country to teach students about the dangers of bullying. (Courtesy/Box Out Bullying)

YOUTH AT RISK

About one in five high school students reported in 2021 that they were bullied on school property, according to the CDC. More than one in six high school students reported being bulled electronically.

And some youth are at a higher risk of being bullied, including those with disabilities, and youth who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, according to experts. The CDC found that nearly 40% of high school students who are in the LGBTQ+ community experienced bullying, compared to 22% of their heterosexual counterparts.

In New York City, 42% of public school students reported bullying in school some or most of the time, according to 2022 NYC School Survey results. And 51% of students in Staten Islands District 31 said that students harass, bully, or intimidate others at their school some or most of the time, according to data from the 2019-2020 academic year, the most recent available.

It can have a serious impact on kids and can affect them both during and outside of school, said Jeremy Rubenstein, founder and creative director of Box Out Bullying. (Courtesy/Box Out Bullying)

With more than half of Staten Island public school students reporting bullying in school, its something that everyone should be aware of  as its a serious issue that shouldnt be dismissed by adults, due to its short-term and long-term impacts on a child, according to Dr. Brian McMahon, chair of pediatrics at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC).

Bullied children also have a higher risk of abusing substances, according to McMahon.

It is a problem  not only at the moment when a child has been bullied  but that can carry on, that can have negative effects on that child later on in life, said McMahon.

Asking about bullying is not something on a standard questionnaire for pediatricians, McMahon said, though he added it would be helpful.

This is something that, yes, we need to pay attention to as much as we pay attention to an ear infection or a cough or pneumonia, as bullying should be on our radar screen, he explained.

WHAT EXACTLY IS BULLYING?

And to understand the risk of bullying, its integral to first understand what exactly it is, and the different forms it can take. According to Rubenstein, there are some instances that arent defined as bullying. Moments when a child calls another child a bad name, or if a child excludes another from an activity, its an unkind action  but its not considered bullying.

Its very important that we give a very clear definition, and thats something that as an expert, weve kind of specialized in, so that a kindergartener, as well as an eighth-grader, can understand, said Rubenstein. So in defining bullying, its I would say, it has to consist of three things, and the least so it has to be something that is intentional. Something that is repeated, and Ill put a little asterisk there  or has a very strong likelihood of being repeated. And then, thirdly, and this is the most important element, its an imbalance of power, which means its just not a positive relationship.

In 2014, the CDC released the first federal definition of bullying, which includes three core elements. Those are unwanted aggressive behavior, observed power imbalance and repetition or high likelihood of repetition of bullying behaviors.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stated there are three types of bullying  physical, verbal and social/relational.

Physical bullying involves hitting, kicking, pushing, choking and punching.

Verbal bullying involves threatening, taunting, teasing and hate speech, which can include text messages or posts on social media.

Social/relational bullying involves starting rumors about another person. It can also involve excluding victims from activities.

Cyberbullying can happen at any time, day or night, and is visible to more people than traditional bullying.

Rubenstein said that some common examples of bullying hes heard on Staten Island from educators and parents are name-calling, teasing, spreading rumors, exclusion. Physical harm is not as common in the borough, he said.

Its important for us to recognize that bullying can have a significant impact on the well-being, as well as the mental health, of those impacted, said Rubenstein.

RISK OF CYBERBULLYING

Michael Reilly, who presents student and parent workshops, professional development and keynote speaking on digital citizenship, explained that the rise of the internet and social media has developed bullying in a new way  cyberbullying.

Reilly, who provides the workshops on his own time separate from his work as an assemblyman, explained that applications and digital platforms have expanded so exponentially and rapidly that parents, adults, and even the law, cant keep up. He explained that during his presentations, he explains to students that the internet is like Halloween  its easy for people to pretend to be someone else, and to also hide behind a mask.

The ever-changing landscape has opened up opportunities that we never thought would be possible, he said. And with that becomes increased anonymity. So people feel emboldened to say things that they would never say to someones face. The inability to track where its coming from has now turned it into a more vicious platform. Regardless of what social media platform it is, people become more vicious.

Assemblyman Michael Reilly gives digital citizenship workshops at schools across New York City and the Tristate area in his free time. (Courtesy/Mike Reilly)

Key advice hes given to schools is communication  to build a rapport with students and have open and unfettered access to communicate. Schools and parents should have an open dialogue with kids, to lay out the policies and expectations, and model that behavior themselves.

Its also important to offer assistance and guidance and resources to help those who are struggling.

The ultimate goal is to make sure that we offer support to all our students, so that they can really thrive in the future, Reilly said. And by having that good digital citizenship, they have empathy. They have a moral compass of getting along with people and treating people with respect.

SPEAKING UP

In the Archdiocese of New York, Catholic schools follow Safe Environment curriculum to address each grade level with instruction and materials that are age-appropriate, user-friendly, and fully consistent with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, according to its website. This includes information on bullying, such as action plans and scenarios. Bullying prevention programming is also offered to school staff.

In New York City schools, Respect for All is the system-wide response to bullying and harassment  a commitment that the city Department of Education (DOE) said is intended to keep schools safe, supportive and free from discrimination.

Despite this initiative, bullying will likely always exist in and out of school buildings. Recent data also shows that kids who are part of a minority group  including those who have a disability, are overweight, are part of an LGBTQ+ group, or a certain race or religion  are more likely to be bullied than other students.

Twenty-seven percent of students in New York City said kids were bullied for their race, ethnicity, or religion, 29% said kids were bullied for their gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, while 31% said kids were bullied for other differences, like a disability or weight. When it comes to bullying online, 36% said it happened some or most of the time, according to the survey results.

On Staten Island, those numbers are similar to the citywide results. Thirty-five percent said students are bullied for race, religion, ethnicity, and more at school, while 30% said students bully because of gender or sexual orientation. And 39% said that students are bullied because of other differences, like disability or weight.

When it comes to bullying online, 40% of Staten Island students said it happens some or most of the time.

Some ways parents can inquire about bullying is by asking their child about their school day, if anyone is getting bullied, if anyone is misusing social media, or if there are hateful messages being sent by texting or emailing, or via any other methods of communication. Kids should be told by a parent or guardian to report bullying of others and themselves. That can include a conversation between a child and a parent or guardian, or reporting bullying at school to a teacher or guidance counselor.

When a parent knows that theres bullying going on, by all means, the parents should alert the school officials, said McMahon. And then if your child is the one bullying, explain why bullying is bad.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The brave and humble members of the FDNY Firefighting and EMS divisions were honored Wednesday afternoon for amazing acts of heroics while serving the people of Staten Island at the FDNY & EMS Valor Awards ceremony at Rossvilles Old Bermuda Inn.

Firefighters, battalion chiefs, lieutenants, paramedics and EMS members from Staten Islands 19 firehouses were present to witness honors being bestowed upon fellow colleagues.

Top Staten Island officials, including Borough President Vito Fossella, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens, shared words about what the members of the FDNY mean to them. FDNY Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh could not make the ceremony due to an illness, although she did send her congratulations to the honorees.

Five awards in total were issued to the firefighters and EMS personnel who exhibited exemplary behavior while faced with adversity in the line of duty. The ceremony was presented by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and the Advance/SILive.com.

Linda Baran, president and CEO of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, said it was an important moment for the Chamber of Commerce to recognize and show appreciation for all that the FDNY does across the borough.

This is the first year that the Fire Department has been honored by the Chamber of Commerce since 2017.

Fossella delivered an impassioned speech on the love that Staten Islanders have for the Fire Department and the amazing amounts of bravery shown each day.

Borough President Vito Fossella and Linda Baron, president and CEO of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, take part in Wednesday's awards ceremony and luncheon celebrating the best of Staten Island's FDNY & EMS teams. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

We are a great city, a great community, in large part because of the people who decided to put the uniform on and save others, said Fossella. We all know too well on Staten Island how weve lost so many, but we dont forget and we try to honor them by events like today.

McMahon said it is not the longevity that we honor, it is the quality of service to our city and community that he is thankful for.

An awards ceremony and luncheon celebrated the best of Staten Island's FDNY & EMS teams on April 19, 2023. Here, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon addresses those gathered. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Thank you to all of the honorees and recipients of the awards today, said McMahon. Thank you for the partnership that the DAs office and the Police Department share with you every day.

Hodgens stepped in for Commissioner Kavanagh to give a speech thanking members of the FDNY for their service. Hodgens started out his speech by confirming that the FDNY, the greatest fire department in the world, is alive and well.

I think that it is worthwhile that we have some spectacular acts of bravery by our members being acknowledged, said the chief. We teach them to be a good citizen and a good neighbor on the job, but off the job we expect that they carry themselves in a professional manner.

FDNY Chief John Hodgens was the guest speaker at the FDNY and EMS Valor Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on April 19, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Here are 2023s honorees:

FDNY VALOR AWARDS

BRAVERY AWARD

Firefighter David Maglathin, of Rescue 5, shown with his family, received the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Bravery Award on April 19, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Firefighter David Maglathlin, of Rescue 5, was given the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Bravery Award for his response to a house fire on Staten Island. He was able to get past the fire into an area where a person was trapped, rescue them a save their life.

HEROISM AWARD

The Heroism Award went to Firefighter Thomas J. Christensen, of Ladder 80, on April 19, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

Firefighter Thomas J. Christensen, of Ladder 80, was given the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Heroism Award for saving an injured person from a burning residential home. Christensens courageous and diligent actions demonstrated an unrelenting dedication to protecting life and property.

On February 22, 2022, Ladder 80 responded to a fire at 58 Innis St. with a person trapped on the second floor of the private dwelling.

Armed with the dispatch information, firefighters immediately ascended the stairs to the second floor. In the apartment, they found a blacked-out smoke condition and a fire in a railroad-style bedroom.

The rear door to the room was locked and blocked by heavy furniture. Christensen, acting alone, removed the heavy furniture, forced open the locked door, and dragged the victim to the stairs, where he was then helped by a fellow firefighter.

UNIT OF THE YEAR AWARD

Engine 155 receives the Exceptional Valor Award at Wednesday's award ceremony and luncheon celebrating the best of Staten Island's FDNY & EMS teams. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

The Unit of the Year Award was presented to Engine 155s Lt. Scott W. Ettinger and firefighters Matthew Bacchi, Vincent Crispino, Nicholas Mulligan, and Kevin Raney.

On the evening of Sept. 18, 2022, Engine 155 responded to 208 Bement Ave. Upon arrival, firefighters saw the fire venting out of every window of the private dwelling. It was a chaotic scene, however, the firefighters were able to work together to quench the blaze on both floors of the home.

EMS VALOR AWARDS

On Sept. 15, 2022, FDNY EMS Unit 23s Michael Grova, Jessica Mancino, Brian McIntyre, and Carmen Rosas responded to a call that no EMS worker wants to go to  an incident involving one of their own.

FDNY EMT Ashley Diaz, of FDNY station 43, was off duty and entering her private vehicle when she was violently struck by another vehicle.

Within minutes, emergency personnel was at the scene. While in a critically injured state, Diaz was able to successfully direct an NYPD officer to properly administer a tourniquet on herself. When EMTs and paramedics arrived on the scene, they took over Diazs care, making several critical decisions, including administering Diaz a second tourniquet, which saved her life.

It is because of their impeccable training and swift interventions that Diaz has recovered from her numerous injuries, is able to walk again and continues to raise her son.

EMS Awardees for Extraordinary Care and Clinical Excellence pose with Ashley Diaz on April 19, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

EXTRAORDINARY CARE AWARD

Grova and Mancino were given the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Extraordinary Care Award for their heroics to save Diazs life.

CLINICAL EXCELLENCE AWARD

McIntyre and Rosas were given the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce Clinical Excellence for their courageous actions to save Diazs life.

EMS Awardees for Extraordinary Care and Clinical Excellence sre shown at the award ceremony and luncheon celebrating the best of Staten Island's FDNY & EMS teams on April 19, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)



More Staten Island News:

>> Man, 37, sentenced in bizarre break-in on Staten Island near Tottenville train stop

>> Fatal shooting of dad of reputed Staten Island Gorilla Stone Mafia leader was gang struggle: Sources

>> Pete Davidsons alleged stalker deemed unfit for trial

>> Already serving 150 years for murder of Staten Island grandma, hes convicted in attack on 2nd woman

>> Staten Island man involved in car stop that led to ghost gun seizure gets prison

>> Staten Island woman, 35, indicted on charges in Great Kills crash that killed bicyclist

>> Staten Island man, 43, admits role in $1.9M baby formula scheme, feds say

>> Prison sentence for Staten Island financial advisor who targeted senior citizens
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 18:15 | Feature, All, Japan

The mayor of a western Japanese city, who witnessed the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, criticized on Thursday the lack of security that culminated in the weekend attack against Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, noting how lessons from the July 2022 shooting had not been learned.

Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa said it is hard to believe that precautionary measures were seriously lacking before Kishida was about to make a stump speech on Saturday in the city of Wakayama where a man threw an explosive device at the prime minister.

Kishida was uninjured and his attacker was arrested at the scene.

"It's unthinkable to allow an unspecified number of people into the venue without any bag checks, and to let them near an incumbent prime minister," Nakagawa said.

Nakagawa was standing close to Abe when he was fatally shot last July during a stump speech in the city of Nara last July ahead of the upper house elections.

"There may have been an assumption that (an attack) is unlikely to happen, or that restricting activities were unrealistic," he added. "But it's a matter that could significantly affect the fate of the country."

Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party told its prefectural branches that stump speeches should be made from the roof of campaign vehicles and that measures should be taken to prevent possible attacks.

The Nara mayor said such countermeasures should have been implemented immediately after Abe's assassination.

The attack on Kishida was made as cities across Japan prepare to hold elections for mayors and assembly members on April 23.

Related coverage:

Japan PM attack suspect may have held grudge over electoral system

Suspect in Japan PM explosives attack carried devices onboard trains

Japan PM denounces explosive attack just before stump speech
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Republicans in the House of Representatives made some noise this week about their distaste for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and one long-time critic, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn), was sure to weigh in.

As she has since he took office, Malliotakis criticized Bragg for crime in Manhattan following the House Judiciary Committees Monday hearing in lower Manhattan about crime in the city.

Throughout the hearing, the committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), paraded a series of crime victims, families of crime victims, and local officials who criticized the nations largest city as crime-ridden.

This is a hearing Ive been waiting for, because since Ive gotten to Congress I have been very vocal about crime in New York City, Malliotakis said. The Democrats would have never had this type of hearing while they were in power.

Malliotakis said Bragg spurred her legislation, called the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, and would have created public reporting requirements on their prosecutions for district attorneys as a way to hold them accountable.

The Staten Island congresswoman and her conservative colleagues have tried to paint a grim picture of the five boroughs. Their opponents say that despite the recent uptick, crime rates remain far lower than they used to be.

According to the citys Compstat system, the numbers for most crime categories are down citywide compared to last year, and older NYPD data shows much higher rates of crime 30 years ago.

Murder, for example, has dropped almost 80% from 1993, and car thefts are almost down 90%, according to data from the NYPD. A Daily News analysis also found murder rates 73% higher in Jordans Ohio compared to Manhattan.

Democrats have also said the field hearing held Monday was less about Braggs general work and more about his prosecution of former President Donald Trump related to alleged hush money payments.

Braggs office charged the former president April 4 with 34 counts related to allegedly falsified business records prosecutors say were made to cover up Trumps wrongdoings.

Malliotakis described the idea that the field hearing was meant to distract from Trumps trial as nonsense. She also said she hadnt had an opportunity to examine those stats when asked about the five boroughs having some of the lowest crime rates of any city in the nation.

Ahead of Mondays committee field hearing, a Bragg spokesperson issued a statement pointing out that most major crimes, including murder, rape and robbery, are down in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time period last year, and said the uptick in crime  seen most acutely during the worst days of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic  began before Bragg even took office in 2021.

Ending violence, stopping crime and supporting victims and their families are the most sacred duties of the Manhattan D.A.s Office, the spokesperson said. For outside politicians to now appear in New York City on the taxpayer dime for a political stunt is a slap in the face to the dedicated NYPD officers, prosecutors, and other public servants who work tirelessly every day with facts and data to keep our home safe.

The Staten Island congresswoman did have some kind words for Braggs local counterpart. She described District Attorney Michael McMahon as definitely the best prosecutor in the city.

For his part, McMahon, whos up for re-election this year without a clear Republican challenger, took the comment in stride.

I appreciate Congresswoman Malliotakis words of support for the work that we, in partnership with the men and women of the NYPD, do every day to keep the people of Staten Island safe through precision prosecution to hold lawbreakers accountable, innovative community crime prevention efforts, and when appropriate, offers of help to those suffering from mental health and addiction issues, he said.

MORE POLITICAL NEWS

Rep. Malliotakis traded bank stocks amid U.S. bank failure

N.Y. governor, attorney general want another shot at congressional district lines

Has anything been done to prevent voter fraud in New York?

Hochul doubles down on NYs commitment to abortion access in light of federal ruling

Staten Island Republicans still support Trump despite indictment
Trains rumbled into Newarks Penn Station at rush hour Tuesday evening, stopped at the platforms for tracks Nos. 3 and 4 and delivered Rangers and Devils fans to the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The straphangers wore sweaters with Lemieux and Leetch, Gilbert and Brodeur stitched across their backs, carried White Claw tallboys in brown-paper bags past New Jersey Transit Police Officers in bullet-proof vests and commenced competing chants. Downstairs, by the shoe shiner, Devils fans waiting in line at the mens room booed Rangers fans in blue.

Stirring up old feelings, man, said Ryan Snyder, a 37-year-old Devils fan. Youve got some vets playing against the youth here.
Thank you to author Lou Raguse for sending a free digital review copy of Vanished in Vermillion so that I could read it and tell you all about it!

Vanished in Vermillion tells the tragic true story of two 17-year-old girls from the Vermillion area who headed to a party on a Saturday night in 1971, but never arrived there, or anywhere else. For decades, their story remained one of South Dakota's most baffling cold cases.

It's gripping, devastating, and you won't want to put it down. 50 years later, their fate is finally known, and their families--and some of the families of those suspected or accused of foul play in the case--can finally find peace. Here's what you should know about Vanished in Vermillion:





Who wrote Vanished in Vermillion?

photo of author Lou Raguse, used with his permission

Lou Raguse is an Emmy-award-winning journalist from Minnesota who has covered high-profile cases throughout his career, including extensive work on the Jayme Closs case. His many years of experience writing for the media are evident inas it's a compelling and clear read.





Vanished in Vermillion

Vanished in Vermillion tells the true story of Sherri and Pam. Both high school students, they went out to drive and go to a party on a gravel road on a Saturday night in 1971. They were following a truck of boys, only to take a wrong turn and never be seen again. After limited evidence that went nowhere, the case went cold. It's been revived several times when potential leads arose, only to fall short. This new look at the case by Raguse is the most comprehensive treatment of the story to date.

cover art used with permission from Lou Raguse





If you love true crime novels, this is definitely a book you won't want to miss.

For those interested, here's what ultimately happened (highlight the next sentence, which is written in white to avoid accidental spoilers:) the girls appear to have died in a car crash, and the car was discovered in 2013 when a drought led to low water levels and the car was finally visible again.

(End of spoiler.)

Raguse dives deep into the backgrounds of the girls and takes readers along for the ride the night of the party, and the decades of investigations that followed. My mom would've been just a few years younger than Sherri and Pam and it was interesting for me as I read this to think more about what her high school years in the Midwest might have been like, and how easily this could have happened to her instead of to these girls.

Raguse also does a good job of humanizing those falsely accused along the way, and it's an interesting look at how the criminal justice system, the media, and the American public handle cold cases and the desire for closure when people go missing.

Where to buy Vanished in Vermillion

Vanished in Vermillion is available from all the major online booksellers including (affiliate link) Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It's also available locally at Outside of a Dog booksellers in Vermillion and other brick and mortar stores in our area.

You can also buy copies of Vanished in Vermillion and meet Raguse at one of his in-person events. Some of his scheduled appearances that aren't too far from us here in Siouxland are:

Saturday, April 8th, 2023 from 1 to 3pm at Muddy Mo's in Yankton, SD

Saturday May 6th, 2023 from 1 to 4pm at Barnes & Noble at the Southern Hills Mall in Sioux City, IA

Sunday May 7th, 2023 at Barnes & Noble in Sioux Falls, SD





Keep an eye out for other Siouxland appearances by Raguse in the future, but I'll try to watch for them too and update with their info.





If you're a true crime fan, this is definitely a book you need to read.
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That sound you can hear is the groan of disappointment from non-Murdoch newsrooms that Fox News settled its lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems out of court. The sound that preceded it was of a million popcorn makers firing as those same newsrooms prepared to consume a festival of schadenfreude.

With the judge having already declared that various Fox News presenters told lies on air, and with evidence that the knowledge of their falsity went all the way to the top, this was the most anticipated kind of theatre. Would these people be made to squirm on the stand? Even Rupert himself? Would there be some lacerating judgment Murdochs critics would be able to learn by heart and then quote for the next aeon? Would Fox News finally get it comeuppance?

Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch. Would Fox News have finally got its comeuppance if the trial had gone ahead? Credit: Artwork

Well, yes to the comeuppance, I suppose. North of a billion (Australian) dollars is an excruciating amount of money to pay out, and there might be more on the way. A similar technology company, Smartmatic, is also in the process of suing Fox, and is seeking a much bigger pay day than Dominion was. But everything else will simply have to live in the theatre of the mind. None of us can know what might have come out during the trial, and perhaps most of all, no one will have the spectacle of seeing some of the worlds highest profile media giants subject to a visceral cross-examination.

And thats because, for all the public interest  and even public importance  that attaches to this case, it was only really ever a private dispute between private companies seeking to protect their private interests. Its over now because both those companies apparently thought those interests were not served by an extensive, expensive, and unpredictable trial.
Its the stuff of dreams: a bunch of friends form a band, raise enough money at their gigs to fly to Texas, end up wowing all the right people at the worlds biggest music showcase, and get signed to a massive international label.

Melbourne-based Floodlights played four shows at the South By Southwest festival in Austin last month, impressing industry representatives with songs from new album Painting Of My Time.

The album, released locally today, will now be distributed overseas by Virgin Music UK, which signed the band after a show in Texas. The same label also has Australian bands King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and DMAs on its roster of artists.

Floodlights (from left) are Sarah Hellyer, Joe Draffen, Louis Parsons, Ashlee Kehoe, and Archie Shannon. Credit: Simon Schluter

DMAs new album How Many Dreams? took out third spot on the UK album charts last week.
An education academic has taken aim at schools that stream students on their academic ability, saying it creates ghettos of poorly behaved children confined to one classroom.

The comments were made during a Senate inquiry investigating increasing disruption in classrooms across the country after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked Australian classrooms among the most disorderly in the world.

The OECD has ranked Australias classrooms as among the most disruptive in the world. Credit: Fairfax Media

Queensland University of Technology professor Linda Graham told the inquiry on Thursday that the practice of segregating academically struggling children in high school was not helping behaviour.

So academic streaming, grouping by class and so on, we know that is not good for students learning, she said.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 22:31 | All, Japan, World

A 19-year-old Vietnamese technical trainee was arrested Thursday after the body of a baby boy was discovered in an empty lot in western Japan, local police said.

The woman, who submitted to voluntary questioning, lived near where the body was found in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, and is suspected of abandoning it between around December and Tuesday. According to an autopsy, the baby had been dead between one and four months.

She has admitted to abandoning the body.

The 52-year-old president of the company where the woman works said, "I didn't notice any signs of pregnancy because she was in winter outfit or work attire."

The woman came to Japan in October and has been staying in the company's dormitory. Six other Vietnamese women work for the company.

A local resident called the police after discovering the body of the baby lying naked and face down at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. There were no external wounds on the body, according to the police.

The arrest comes after another Vietnamese trainee was acquitted by the Supreme Court last month for abandoning her stillborn twins.

Japan introduced the technical internship program in 1993, aiming to transfer knowledge and skills to developing countries. But the scheme has been criticized as providing cover for companies to import cheap labor from across Asia and allowing to create a hotbed for human rights abuses.

There have also been cases in which trainees have been forced to return to their home countries after giving birth, even though Japan prohibits the mistreatment of workers by law, including firing them on the grounds that they are pregnant or have delivered a child.

Related coverage:

Japan top court acquits Vietnam trainee of abandoning stillborn twins
It doesnt seem real to me - I was brought up here, Malisa said. Sometimes I feel like Im not Asian enough ... but Im not really Australian.

Her mother, Mrs Khan Saymontry, has told her the stories of her birth off the coast of Malaysia while the family was stranded aboard a leaking tanker for four months. The news finally reached the world and the UN delivered the 250 Indo-Chinese refugees to freedom.

It doesnt seem real to me. Malisa Saymontry, centre with her mother Khan at the Discoveries exhibition on April 20, 1993. Credit: Patrick Cummins

It is difficult for Malisa Saymontry, a 16-year-old high school student living in Cabramatta, to identify with the suffering and hardship that her family endured to bring her to Australia in 1977.

Malisa is one of a group of high school students living in Sydneys west who have contributed to an exhibition in a Cabramatta shopping centre designed to teach Indo-Chinese young people about their origins.

Mrs Saymontry, then 29, escaped with her husband and two-year-old daughter from Laos into Thailand, where they were smuggled aboard a rusting tanker bound for Australia along with Vietnamese, Cambodian and other Laotian refugees.

The 150 adults and 100 children on board were told the journey would take 15 days. The 1,500-tonne Leapdal made it only as far as Singapore, where it drifted off the coast for months, taking in water but forbidden to land by Malaysian or Singaporean authorities.

One month into the ordeal, Mrs Saymontry gave birth to Malisa. She received extra water from Malaysian fishermen to feed the baby with powdered milk until members of the Chinese business community in Singapore arranged for regular deliveries of food and water for the refugees.

There were very bad conditions. The [drinking] water was all rusty. We had to sleep on deck and at night it was very wet, Mrs Saymontry said.
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 Welcome back to Yours.Sincerely, our Friday dive into the letters and comments on what you decided was the topic of the week. Readers have taken their keyboards to tell us how they feel about the Liberal Partys decision to back the No vote in the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum. Illustration: Matt Golding Standing on shaky ground? When Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price claimed Indigenous children had been placed in the care of abusers, letter writers and online comments questioned the pairs true intentions: duncan After a decade in government suddenly this becomes a new issue, and just when the Coalition are looking for a gotcha to make it look like they care about Indigenous people while opposing a Voice for them. Its gutter politics. JNM When you embark on a determined attempt to destroy the Voice, by prosecuting your case on the basis of mere hearsay, you are left vulnerable to having the ground beneath you collapse. Which is where Dutton and Price are now standing  on very shaky ground.

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Loading Max Power Surely these allegations support the case for the Voice: to get the opinions of those affected by these issues they want to address. David Rush, Lawson Lets assume for a moment that things are as bad as claimed. The Commonwealth could go in with all guns blazing like it did in the intervention. That worked well in the past! Which is what the Voice is about  listening to Indigenous people rather than acting unilaterally. This situation is exactly why we need a Voice. Greg Thompson, Bega After a decade of Coalition rule, some Coalition members are now saying their policies in Alice Springs were unsuccessful because the local Indigenous people dont have a voice. And there is no hint of irony. Corin Bass, Turramurra Why wait until now before tackling the serious problems of Indigenous children? Does the Coalition have more faith in the Labor Party and Anthony Albanese to do the job than theyve had in themselves? Bill Atkinson, Corlette Price wants to put the lives and the responsibility of children into the federal arena. Please inform me why they think that Canberra is the right place for this important role to be managed but is not the right place for the Voice. Simon Holliday, Taree Since 1788, most Australians have been blind to the human rights of the First Nations peoples. Peter Dutton knows voters comfortable indifference to their Voice will be reinforced by his moral slurs.

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Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Will those who need the Voice most be silenced? Warren Mundine describes himself as an Australian, a member of the Bundjalung First Nation of Australia, from his fathers side, and the Gumbaynggirr and Yuin First Nations of Australia from his mothers side. He explained to Herald readers why he opposes the Voice to parliament, and readers responded by the hundreds: Farouche Merismus The Voice lumps all Aboriginal peoples together, despite there being many nations with hundreds of different languages, and assumes they all have the same opinions. It is a condescending insult to all Aboriginal people. Avalon1 Good on you, Warren. The very people who need a Voice will be silenced! I hope the Voice fails. We need to rethink the Voice completely and come up with something much better. How dare we white people think we know best what Indigenous people need in a voice. Madridman Mundine is playing with words to add to the confusion that his mate Dutton has created. You are one voice Mundine, but many have spoken and the Voice is the outcome of what they have decided. I will be voting Yes on the Voice. Alfredo Bustos-Ramirez, Mosman If Mundine really thinks the words First Nations do not include his ancestral nations, he should urgently contact any member of the Voice commission for an explanation.

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Gregory Sale, Saratoga This change to the Constitution is not going to address past grievances, but it is a way forward to bring us all together as Australians. Ron Sinclair, Windradyne Far from being a tool to undermine Indigenous people, the Voice will be empowering, accountable, and transparent, enabling all Aboriginal voices to be heard. <p> Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding Is Dutton playing the long game with the Voice? The Liberal Party is in a strange and damaging spiral and Peter Dutton has seen no dividend from his decision to fight hard on the Indigenous Voice, wrote the Heralds chief political correspondent David Crowe. Online comments and letters had conflicting views: badge Dutton is doing the right thing. Sometimes you have to stand up for whats right, even if its unpopular. As it happens, time will tell if it is unpopular. In any case, he should stick to his guns. If people who prefer racism to equality are turned off, then so be it. Helen Please, Peter, dont change course, but drag your party of right-wing zealots down with you into the ground.

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Loading Michael G Dutton is not serious about the referendum. If he was, he would have asked more popular Liberals to take the lead for the No case, not himself and Senator Price. Duttons sanctimonious hairsplitting and Prices constant bombast are not exactly music to most peoples ears. Concerned mother of one The Liberal Party is becoming less and less relevant under Dutton. He certainly is casting himself in the Tony Abbott style of opposition leader, adding nothing and opposing everything. Greg Phillipson, Aranda (ACT) It might be the salesman that is the problem for the Coalition. However, no matter how he tries, Dutton cannot sell a product that the majority of Australians do not want to buy. NotHappyDan The Voice will be closer than many think and may not get up, which will give Dutton his first win. He will then come out and say that his first act as PM will be to give Indigenous Australians recognition in the Constitution with a legislated (but not included in the Constitution) regional Voice to parliament. He is playing a long game. Matt Golding Credit:.

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Lawyers for former US military pilot Daniel Duggan have written to the US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy and her Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd urging for the extradition of the father-of-six to be withdrawn.

Duggan, 54, an Australian citizen, has been in custody since October accused of training Chinese military pilots in South Africa in 2012 without seeking permission from the US Department of Justice  an allegation he denies.

Former pilot Daniel Duggan was arrested last year.

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security confirmed in March a formal inquiry would be held into the circumstances of Duggans case, including the legality of his apprehension. Much of the probe cannot be discussed due to national security.

High-profile barrister Bret Walker, SC, has been briefed to appear for Duggan and will seek for the proceedings against him to be stayed pending the inquirys outcome. Duggan is also expected to apply for bail.
So-called NIMBY and YIMBY residents and politicians have clashed at a tense public meeting over proposed new apartments in the inner west, amid an escalating battle about Sydneys housing supply shortage.

Inner West Council wants to rezone several blocks near the Taverners Hill light rail station to allow for the construction of 438 new dwellings, as part of a broader up-zoning in the area to rejuvenate Parramatta Road and meet the councils housing targets.

A 2016 rendering of what Tebbutt St could look like under a renewal project for Parramatta Road. Credit: NSW Government

Tensions flared at a community forum on Wednesday night when Leichhardt resident Kieren Ash, who also managed Labor candidate Philippa Scott's campaign for the state seat of Balmain, spoke in favour of the proposal, describing it as modest and density done well.

Were talking about three storeys, or four storeys or six storeys, well-located next to two light rail stations, the beautiful Greenway, shops, schools, Lewisham, buses on Parramatta Road, he said. If we cant do three storeys here, where can we do it?
A 24-year-old woman has been charged with stealing from an elderly, visually impaired man at a shopping centre in Sydneys west.

About 1.30pm on Sunday, the 72-year-old man withdrew money from an ATM in Mount Druitt and, while he was waiting for staff to assist him, a woman allegedly offered to help him.

Police released photos of the woman who has been charged. Credit: NSW Police

After the 72-year-old accepted the womans help, she allegedly withdrew a larger amount than he requested and ran away with the cash.

Following a public appeal, a 24-year-old woman attended Mount Druitt police station and was arrested about 2pm on Friday.
A council on Melbournes eastern outskirts will close its public gallery after what it described as an increasing pattern of abuse and intimidation from attendees at meetings this year.

The Yarra Ranges Council has had to deploy security guards since January after a series of rowdy meetings where people in the public gallery bombarded councillors with questions typically associated with conspiracy theories.

Yarra Ranges mayor Jim Child. Credit: Eddie Jim

In a statement, the council confirmed residents wanting to submit questions or petitions would now have to do so online, with the public gallery closed until further notice. However, meetings will continue to be streamed online.

It said the council was disappointed it had to take the decision in response to recurring abusive behaviour.
First published in The Age, September 20, 1969.

Who killed the Red Baron? Maybe he did  with a .303

Baron Manfred von Richthofen (centre), the Commander of Jasta 11, surrounded by his fellow pilots. Credit: Imperial War Museum, Q42284

It wasnt really a lovely war for trooper William S. Howell, 2521 Corps Troops, C Squad, 13th Light Horse. The possibility that he destroyed the Red Baron doesnt make him feel any better.

Mr. Howell, 71, and very retired in Melbourne, doesnt understand what all the fuss over Baron von Richthofen is about.
An army reservist who fled from what he feared to be a carjacking, but was actually an attempted police road stop, is planning to sue Victoria Police after two officers allegedly falsified charges against him.

The police officers involved are now under investigation by the Professional Standards Command after CCTV and other evidence emerged challenging their accounts of the incident near Longwarry on June 28, 2020.

Tony*, who asked for his real name to be withheld, says hes been shattered by the police case against him. Credit: Eddie Jim

Tony*, who asked for his real name to be withheld to protect his privacy, was travelling along the Princes Highway between Drouin and Longwarry when he said he noticed headlights approaching from behind, about 3.30am.

As he pulled over near a service station, where he intended to buy cigarettes, two senior constables out on patrol in a marked divisional van pulled up alongside his right rear taillight.
Two police officers have been suspended with pay and properties have been raided after allegations surfaced the pair perverted the course of justice when attempting to prosecute an army reservist who fled a police road stop he believed was a late-night carjacking.

The man known as Tony, who asked for his real name to be withheld to protect his privacy, intends to sue Victoria Police for alleged malicious prosecution after he was charged with endangering one of the officers safety during an incident at a regional service station in 2020.

Top-right corner: A CCTV image shows police pulling in alongside the Mercedes at the entrance to the service station.

The police officers involved are now under investigation by the Professional Standards Command after CCTV footage and other evidence challenged their accounts of the trios interaction at a Longwarry service station on June 28, 2020.

This included allegations by the police that one of the officers opened the door of the white 1998 B-Class Mercedes Tony was driving, before reaching inside and attempting to grab his keys when the Drouin man drove away.
The problems of the Reserve Bank, and the economic pain facing millions of Australians, is not all the fault of Phil Lowe.

The bank governor has been attacked from the left, right and centre for more than a year. Its gone far beyond interest rate settings.

Critics have blamed RBA governor Philip Lowe for everything from financial pain to their football teams latest loss. The review of the bank shows its more than a one-man problem. Credit: James Brickwood

If you lost two bob down the back of the couch, Lowe was to blame. He was the reason the TV was on the blink, he caused your team to lose at the weekend and that strange limp afflicting your dog probably had something to do with the quietly spoken central banker.

The review of the Reserve Bank, released two years after this masthead first raised the issues around the institution and its policy settings pre-COVID, shows Lowe is not the interest rate demon of tabloid TV or print.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 20:36 | All, Japan, World

A Tokyo court on Thursday ordered the Japanese government to pay 220,000 yen ($1,600) in damages to a Kurdish man who alleged he was assaulted when staff at a detention center where he was being held in 2019 forcibly restrained him.

The Tokyo District Court ruled some actions of the staff at the immigration center in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, were illegal, including when someone forcibly pushed their thumb under his chin and when his arms were pulled up while handcuffed behind his back.

"They were illegal, as such actions exceeded what was deemed reasonably necessary," Presiding Judge Kenji Shinoda said. But the court ruled isolating the 44-year-old, known only as Deniz, was lawful due to his agitated state.

According to the complaint, Deniz, who declined to give his surname for fear of retaliation against his family in Turkey, was sent to the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center in February 2017 after his application for refugee status was rejected by the state.

In January 2019, he made a request for psychotropic medication that was denied by staff, and he responded by shouting due to the stress he felt he was under, the complaint said.

In seeking damages of 11 million yen, Deniz, now on provisional release, said he was restrained and assaulted by several staffers. He was put into solitary confinement for several days for kicking an employee in the stomach but claimed the measure was illegal because he did not assault anyone.

The state argued that the step was legal, as he failed to follow an order.

In the lawsuit, the state submitted to the court footage of the moment Deniz was restrained by staff. It showed five or six staffers yelling as they held him down, handcuffing him behind his back as he cried out in pain.

"The immigration center does not treat detainees as people," said Deniz through a translator at a press conference in Tokyo after the ruling was handed down.

Takeshi Ohashi, a lawyer representing him, called the verdict a "severe condemnation" of the immigration center.

He added they will consider indicting the staff members whose actions the court deemed assaultive and cruel.

Deniz said besides the actions described in the complaint, he was subjected to improper acts, such as personnel pulling his arms up high or forcibly holding his head down, "as many as 20 times."

"To me, that is torture," he said.

The Immigration Services Agency said it will "take appropriate measures" after examining the ruling.

In recent years, there have been cases of foreign detainees sustaining injuries while being restrained at immigration facilities in Japan.

Their treatment garnered attention after the death of a Sri Lankan woman, Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, in 2021 while detained at an immigration center in central Japan.

Her family is seeking damages from the government over her death, alleging she was illegally detained and died due to a lack of necessary medical care.

Related coverage:

Japan grants refugee status to gay woman facing persecution in Uganda

Japan unveils guidelines on refugee status recognition for 1st time

Video of Sri Lankan woman who died in Japan detention to be shown in court
The scandal-plagued state insurer icare has made an urgent plea to be allowed to make 330,000 employers pay an eye-watering premium increase of 22 per cent, equivalent to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Workers compensation premiums must rise sharply if the Nominal Insurer is to break even and remain financially viable, confidential icare briefing notes warn.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, who led the opposition charge against icare, now has the troubled scheme under his watch. Credit: Kate Geraghty

For more than 330,000 employers, a 22 per cent increase in the next financial year, followed by staged rises to 2029 would amount to more than $719 million, underscoring the precarious financial position of an organisation Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has previously called a basket case.

The revelations put Mookhey and the new Labor government in a difficult position amid growing pressure to introduce unpalatable premium increases at a time when businesses are under pressure from rising interest rates, inflation and wages.
A NSW minister has broken ranks to urge her Labor government colleagues to join the nationwide movement toward pill testing at music festivals, while also suggesting controversial policing tactics such as strip searches and drug-detection dogs should be part of the promised drug summit.

Youth and Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson told an international conference in Melbourne on Sunday that NSW was lagging other states on the issue of drug reform, and called on her colleagues on both sides of parliament to support a trial of the policy.

Senior Labor cabinet ministers Jo Haylen (left) and Rose Jackson are both long-time advocates for drug reform. Credit: James Brickwood

This reform is supported by medical experts, the industry and perhaps most importantly, the families of the young people who have tragically died because our current drug laws are not working, she said.

Jacksons intervention comes despite Premier Chris Minns outward caution on drug law reform, and represents the potential for an early schism inside the new government.
My tongue cant wrangle the jumble of consonants needed to pronounce the name of my favourite Polish city. In my mind, Wroclaw will always be Rock-law, although the Poles pronounce it Vrot-swav. We cant even write it properly in English. The L should have a stroke through it, like the sign for British pounds. The Germans have given up, and call the city Breslau.

Wroclaws bamboozling name gives it a public-relations problem. Polands capital has its Anglicised form, Warsaw. The nations two other recognised cities Gdansk and Krakow are pronounced almost as theyre written. Easy to talk about, in short. Easy to book your budget flight to Krakow, which half of Europe does for their weekend break. Harder to travel to Wroclaw, because nobody understands where you want to go.

Wroclaws low profile defies explanation. Credit: iStock

Not that I have that problem, since Im on a tour of Poland with Collette, and dont have to worry about travels tedious practicalities. Just as well were here for a couple of nights, because Wroclaw is Polands most enjoyable destination.

This citys low profile defies explanation. Wroclaw has a long history, was European Capital of Culture in 2016, and has an old town dense with Gothic architecture. Yet the city also features striking contemporary architecture, buzzes with commercial energy and has a rebellious, avant-garde attitude.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Sint Maarten- The House of Parliament will sit in a Central Committee meeting on April 20, 2023.

The Central Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 10.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:

Approval of composition delegation and provisions for Members of Parliament to participate in IPKO and Tripartite in the Hague, the Netherlands from May 31 - June 5, 2023

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

All persons visiting the House of Parliament must adhere to the house rules.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on TV 15, Soualiga Headlines, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.sx, and www.youtube.com/c/SintMaartenParliament
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Ad Hoc Committee Electoral Reform of Parliament will meet on Thursday, April 20, 2023.



The Committee meeting is scheduled for 14.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. Mr. Julio Romney will be in attendance.

The agenda point is:

Presentation on governmental structures, electoral systems, and their constitutionality (IS/559/2022-2023 dated March 10, 2023)

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. All persons visiting the House of Parliament must adhere to the house rules.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.



The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on TV 15, Soualiga Headlines, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, www.pearlfmradio.sx and www.youtube.com/c/SintMaartenParliament
SABA:--- A meeting between the Public Entity Saba and the management of RBC Royal Bank N.V. (RBC) on Friday, April 14, 2023, to discuss banking matters on Saba has resulted in some concrete agreements that will benefit Saba residents.

Saba pensioners who receive their pension in their RBC bank account will no longer see a deduction of the transfer fee from their monthly pension payment. To avoid the fee, RBC will be processing these transactions manually going forward. As this manual process requires more time, effective May 2023, pension payments will be credited to the respective accounts 2  3 days later than usual.

In addition, RBC committed to making the necessary adjustments to Instant Payment Systems (IPSM) in coordination with the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) effective June 30, 2023, to allow local transfers between RBC Saba accounts and accounts held at banks in the Caribbean Netherlands islands, Curacao and St. Maarten.

The banks management further pledged  in coordination with, and with the assistance of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB)  to bring more coins to Saba, in an effort to help alleviate the shortage.

RBC management took the opportunity to explain the dynamics of being the only local bank operating in Saba and reinforce the banks commitment to the Saba clients and the wider community. RBC and the Public Entity Saba confirmed their ongoing collaboration to make banking on Saba more efficient and transparent, and to find solutions for the issues customers have been experiencing.

RBC is keen on supporting the local economy in Saba and welcomes its residents. At the same time, the bank continues to focus on providing the best client experience and making things easier and more convenient. Citizens and residents of Saba can open a personal account within one week, by visiting the banks branch and providing two forms of valid photo identification and a document for verification of ones home address, for example, a recent utility bill.

Present at the meeting with the Public Entity Saba on April 14 on behalf of RBC were Pierrot Hurtado, Country Manager of RBC Curacao and Bonaire and Area Vice-President of Personal Banking Dutch Caribbean, and Cheryl Pantophlet-Valies, Country Manager for RBC Saba and St. Maarten.

Commissioner Bruce Zagers has been pleading for better service levels for the people and the businesses of Saba in the Taskforce, a joint effort from the Public Entity Saba and the Dutch Government. He emphasized that progress on the availability of banking services is essential to the people and businesses of Saba.
Rajant Named 2023 aBest Places To Work In Kentuckya And aTop Workplacesa In Philadelphia For Third Consecutive Year

Rajant Named 2023 aBest Places To Work In Kentuckya And aTop Workplacesa In Philadelphia For Third Consecutive Year

Morehead, KY and Malvern, PA Locations Recognized in Small-Sized Employer Category

Malvern, PA a April 20, 2023: Rajant Corporation, the pioneer of Kinetic MeshA wireless networks, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with manufacturing and development operations in Morehead, Kentucky, is now a three-time consecutive award-winning employer. The distinctions of being The Philadelphia Inquirera?s aTop Workplaces of 2023a and aBest Places to Work in Kentuckya were announced last month. The selection process is based on anonymous employee answers to survey questions centering on company policies, procedures, and culture.

Greater Philadelphia entities earning the distinction in this 14th annual program are categorized by staff size. According to Energage, the company administering the survey, aOnly 171 employers in the Delaware Valley will be recognized for this achievement by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Employee survey feedback speaks volumes about the terrific workplace culture.a An alphabetic listing of award-winning organizations appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirera?s March 26th issue, and a special section of the publication will be out in August with more specifics.

This marked the 19th year for aBest Places to Work in Kentuckya. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Kentucky Society for Human Resource Management (KYSHRM), and ClearPath Mutual Insurance Company announced the 100 companies in alphabetical order on March 15th. The winner rankings will be announced at an awards dinner Thursday, June 8, 2023, at the Central Bank Center in Lexington (KY). The Kentucky Chamber of Commercea?s March statement indicated that athe competition is a multi-year initiative designed to motivate companies in the Commonwealth (of KY) to focus, measure, and move their workplace environments toward excellence. Numerous studies show a strong correlation between profitability and creating a good place to work.a

aRajant is, first and foremost, a team. Our success and global growth are proof of the excellent work put forth in every area of our organization,a shares Rajant CEO and Co-founder Robert Schena. In traveling the world over the last two months visiting channel partners and customers, the quality of Rajanta?s people enhances our brand beyond the product. It extends excellence to the 24/7 service each of them put forth. Thank you to The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce for the recognition.a
ANGA COM 2023: Sachsenkabel presents cabling solutions for telecommunications, data centers and buildings

LWL-Sachsenkabel GmbH will be presenting fiber optic solutions for the telecommunications, data center and building sector at ANGA COM 2023 (May 23-25 in Cologne, Hall 8, Booth D80). At the booth of its US parent company Amphenol Corporation, the provider of integrated fiber optic solutions will present its range of services in the field of customized and standardized cabling solutions a from cable infrastructure for high-speed data transmission in large data centers to regional and nationwide broadband networks and FTTH connections in offices or private homes. Particular attention is placed on synergies resulting from solution-oriented cooperation with the parent company and sister companies.

Another highlight of the joint trade show appearance is the C2E high-density system. It is used to increase the packing density in core networks and data centers and offers space for up to 144 fibers on 1 U using LC connectors. The system is characterized by its modular design and has individually extendable plug-in units with integrated patch cable routing. In addition, a network distributor in the form of a wall box will be on display. The box is equipped with typical components such as a twin compact splice module from Sachsenkabel. Visitors to the booth will also be able to find out about higher-fiber cables and assembled cables with ferrule connectors. Among other things, versions with IP protective housings will be on display.

Visitors can also discover the patented product and process solution F2XA, which is especially suitable for retrofitting of fiber optic building connections of one family houses. Thanks to the one-sided assembled cable it is unnecessary to splice at the Building Entry Point (BEP). A loop connector also makes it possible for the mandatory OTDR measurement for outward and return links to be performed bidirectionally only at the point of presence (POP), instead of additionally from the APL as is usually the case. In total F2XA enable significant savings of time and resources. At the booth visitors find a selection of BEP and a Optical Network Termination (ONT) which are equipped by F2XA.

On Thursday, May 25, Lars Schumann (Head of Sales, LWL-Sachsenkabel GmbH) will be part of the panel aEffizienter Netzausbau und Betrieb von FTTH und HFC-Netzena (10-11:15 a.m.). The panel will be held in German.

By the way: Amphenol and its subsidiaries invite the visitors of the fair to a champagne reception on Wednesday, May 24. It will provide ample opportunity for informal and personal exchange.

Find out more about ANGA COM, get access to free tickets and the opportunity to a date with our booth staff here: https://sachsenkabel.de/en/2023/04/11/anga-com-2023/

Die 1991 gegrAndete LWL-Sachsenkabel GmbH mit Sitz in Gornsdorf/Erzgebirge ist ein Unternehmen der Amphenol Corporation und zAhlt zu den fAhrenden deutschen Herstellern von LWL-Verkabelungssystemen. Schwerpunkte der GeschAftstAtigkeit sind GlasfaserlAsungen fAr Telekommunikation, Breitbandausbau, Rechenzentrum, Industrie und Broadcast sowie Spezialfasern fAr anspruchsvolle lasertechnische und spektroskopische Anwendungen. Sachsenkabel steht fAr qualitativ hochwertige und technologisch zukunftsweisende LAsungen und hat sich unter anderem zu einem der grAAten Spezialisten fAr Glasfaserkonfektionierung in Deutschland entwickelt. Die hohe KapazitAt an Steckerkonfektionen pro Tag ermAglicht dabei eine flexible und schnelle Realisierung kundenspezifischer StAckzahlen. Fest eingebunden in die Wirtschaftsregion Chemnitz, beschAftigt das Unternehmen heute mehr als 170 hochqualifizierte Mitarbeiter und beliefert Kunden im In- und Ausland.
By Matthew Carland, KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 21:11 | Arts, Feature, All

A concert was held Wednesday to honor a Japanese diplomat who saved Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany during World War II, featuring a cellist with a personal connection to the events.

Japanese American cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and the New York City Opera Orchestra played a symphony composed by Lera Auerbach, an artist whose grandparents survived persecution in Nazi Germany, at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Chiune Sugihara, also known as "Japan's Schindler" after Oskar Schindler, the German who provided Jews with a safe haven, disregarded the orders of his superiors and issued visas in 1940 to help Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution as the acting consul in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Cooper first conceived the idea in 2018 to spread the story of Sugihara with an orchestral work after finding out her father-in-law was a recipient of a visa issued by Sugihara.

"Without him, I wouldn't have my husband or my children or my wonderful life," Cooper said in an interview with Kyodo News.

Despite knowing her father-in-law could speak Japanese and Chinese and that he lived in both countries, she did not know who Sugihara was until her husband, Leonard Rosen, received a Righteous Among the Nations coin showing that Sugihara has been recognized by Israel as a person who saved Jews.

"I had to do something to help with the story abroad because although perhaps in Japan the story is fairly well known now, I think around most of the world, it's not."

Her father-in-law, Irving Rosen, and his brother Henry traveled from Kaunas to Moscow, then rode the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, where they sailed to Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.

They lived briefly in Kobe before being transferred to Shanghai. They eventually settled in New York after failing to get a visa for Israel.

The orchestra performed Symphony No. 6 "Vessels of Light" in November in Kaunas and last month in Prague. The piece was commissioned by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and the American Society for Yad Vashem.

"I have great admiration for a man like this who risked his life to save thousands of Jews," said David Halpern, a 73-year-old real estate agent from New Jersey.

"His name should be spread out more because you have so many bad people in the world. It's nice to have someone who is so good to counteract all this darkness," Halpern said.

Nobuki Sugihara, the diplomat's 74-year-old son, said, "I am thankful that this concert has been held."

The orchestra had earlier planned to perform in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which lie on the route used by Jewish refugees to flee the Nazis, but the concerts were canceled because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Sugihara ramped up the approval of transit visas for Jewish refugees who needed to flee from Europe via Japan. The number of people saved by Sugihara likely amounted to a few thousand, according to recent research, though previous estimates had long put the figure at around 6,000.

Related coverage:

Jerusalem square dedicated to WWII Japan diplomat who saved Jews from Nazis

Lithuania confab marks 80th anniv. of visas saving Jews from Nazis

Document shows role of another Japan envoy in helping Jews flee Nazis
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 20:18 | All, World, Japan, G7

Ukraine has registered 77,000 war crimes by Russia since it invaded in February 2022, the country's top prosecutor has said, calling for Japan to use its position as this year's chair of the Group of Seven summit to make "substantial steps" toward making Russia accountable.

Speaking in a recent interview with Kyodo News, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin said his aim is to "deliver justice" to Ukrainians and build a system for seizing Russian assets to compensate those who have lost their possessions or property in the conflict.

In addition to killing, torture and other violent acts, many of the crimes recorded involve the damage or destruction of private property, including from missile attacks, Kostin said.

With Japan currently holding the G-7 presidency, Kostin called for greater urgency from the country to understand and commit to its "great role" by taking "substantial actions and steps" toward creating a foundation for the "accountability of Russia" for years to come.

To preserve and analyze evidence of war crimes, Kostin said proof of the atrocities will be centralized in the European Union-established Core International Crimes Evidence Database, which makes evidence accessible to multiple countries' investigative authorities.

At the same time, Ukraine is part of a joint-investigative team with members from six other European countries, including the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The International Criminal Court is also participating in the group.

Kostin said the United States' signing of an agreement of understanding with the investigative group demonstrates that Ukraine is seeing "raising support" from the United States, despite American authorities typically exhibiting "quite a bit of resistance" to cooperating with the ICC.

In relation to war crimes, the ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the forcible deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine during the war.

Kostin called it a "historic decision," made possible in just five months due to the "100 percent" cooperation of the prosecutor's office, Ukrainian law enforcement authorities and ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan.

Despite Ukraine's close work with the ICC, however, Kostin maintained that its role is "explicitly complementary." Ultimately, he said, prosecutors from his own country's courts will "play a primary role in making Russian war criminals accountable for crimes committed on Ukrainian soil."

Citing the lack of justice for people from the former state of Yugoslavia who were victims of "very dramatic cases" of sexual violence, Kostin also stressed that one of his personal priorities is avoiding the "many mistakes" that have been made in the past in Europe when dealing with war crimes.

To do so, a special division for conflict-related sexual violence has been set up in the war crimes department. The section, he said, pursues an investigative strategy that is "victim and survivor-centered," working with civil and government groups to offer support, including psychological help and relocation to safe spaces.
The next solar eclipse will be an annular or "ring of fire" solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023 and will be visible across North America, Central America and most of South America.

The point of greatest eclipse  where viewers could see a ring of fire lasting 5 minutes, 17 seconds  will occur off the coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

For more information on how and where to see the "ring of fire" solar eclipse, check out our annular solar eclipse 2023 guide.

Related: Lunar eclipses 2023: When, where & how to see them

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is positioned between Earth and the sun and casts a shadow over Earth. They can only occur during the phase of the new moon and make for an interesting skywatching target.

Types of solar eclipse

There are four types of solar eclipses depending on how the sun , moon and Earth are aligned at the time of the event. A solar eclipse always occurs about two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse.

Total solar eclipse: The sun is fully obscured by the moon. Partial solar eclipse: The moon doesn't fully block the sun so only a portion of the sun is obscured. Here the moon appears to take a "bite" out of the sun. Annular solar eclipse: The moon is centered in front of the sun but doesn't cover the entirety of the surface (as seen in a total solar eclipse). A "ring of fire" shines around the moon. Hybrid solar eclipse: The rarest solar eclipse is a combination of a total and annular eclipse (sometimes known as an A-T eclipse) and is produced when the moon's shadow moves across Earth. These begin as one type of eclipse and transition to another.

According to the educational website SpaceEdge Academy (opens in new tab), 28% of solar eclipses are total, 35% are partial, 32% are annular and only 5% are hybrid.

April 20, 2023: Hybrid solar eclipse

The hybrid eclipse will be visible across parts of SE Asia and Australia. (Image credit: NASA)

(opens in new tab)

A rare hybrid eclipse occurred on April 19/20, 2023 at 9:36 p.m. EDT on April 19 (0136 GMT on April 20) and was visible to observers across SE Asia and Australia. A hybrid eclipse will either look like an annular solar eclipse or a total solar eclipse depending on where the observer is located.

This combination is caused by the curvature of the Earth causing some parts of the eclipse path to move into the moon's umbra  the darkest part of the shadow  resulting in a total solar eclipse, while other areas remain outside the umbra's reach, resulting in an annular solar eclipse, according to timeanddate (opens in new tab).

During the hybrid solar eclipse, an annular "ring of fire" eclipse was visible for just a few seconds in the Indian and Pacific oceans and isn't visible anywhere on land. A total eclipse was only visible in three locations on land, Exmouth, Western Australia, Timor Leste and West Papua.

If you want to see the path of the eclipse, along with the eclipse timings for each location, check out this eclipse map by Xavier Jubier (opens in new tab).

Remember, NEVER look at the sun without adequate protection. Our how to observe the sun safely guide tells you everything you need to know about safe solar observations. The guide also informs you on what solar targets you can look out for and the equipment needed to do so.

October 14, 2023: Annular solar eclipse

The annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central and South America. (Image credit: NASA)

(opens in new tab)

An annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central and South America on October 14, 2023.

To be able to see all the phases of the annular eclipse including the infamous "ring of fire" you must be located somewhere along the path of annularity.

The annular eclipse will begin in the U.S. and travel from the coast of Oregon to the Texas Gulf coast, passing over Nevada, Utah, New Mexico as well as some parts of California, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona, according to NASA (opens in new tab). It will then continue on to Central America, passing over Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Panama. South America will also experience the annular eclipse as it passes over Colombia before ending off the coast of Natal, Brazil.

To see the exact path of annularity check out this interactive map (opens in new tab) created by Xavier Jubier.

An annular eclipse occurs when the moon appears between the sun and Earth at its farthest point from the Earth  known as apogee. As the moon is farther away it appears smaller and does not completely cover the sun, it doesn't produce a total eclipse. Instead, a thin sun band is visible around the moon, creating the infamous "ring of fire" effect in the sky.

For observers located close to, but not in the direct path of annularity, a partial eclipse will be visible. From Alaska to Argentina, skywatchers will see the moon partly obstruct the sun's disk.

If you want to see where the partial and annular eclipse will be visible and if you will be able to see it, timeanddate (opens in new tab) have an interactive eclipse map detailing the visibility of the eclipse as well as the specific eclipse times for a given location.

Remember, NEVER look at the sun without adequate protection. Our how to observe the sun safely guide tells you everything you need to know about safe solar observations. The guide also informs you on what solar targets you can look out for and the equipment needed to do so.

Solar eclipse FAQs answered by an expert

We asked Jamie Carter, Editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab) and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024 (opens in new tab)(opens in new tab)some frequently asked questions about solar eclipses.

Related: A total solar eclipse and a 'ring of fire' make 2023 special for eclipse-chasers

Jamie Carter Science journalist, author and solar eclipse expert Jamie Carter is the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com (opens in new tab) and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024 (opens in new tab).

Are solar eclipses dangerous? Partial solar eclipses are dangerous to look at and require solar eclipse glasses. Binoculars, telescopes and cameras need to have solar filters. However, if its a total solar eclipse, during the brief period of totality  when all of the Sun is blocked and it gets dark  it's perfectly safe to remove eye protection. In fact, you must remove eye protection during totality to see the sun's corona! Nothing is sadder than seeing someone wear eclipse glasses during totality, though either side of totality is a partial solar eclipse, during which extreme care must be taken. There's no need to panic about this because it's very easy to tell when it's safe; you will know when totality is imminent, and when it gets dark it's safe to remove eclipse glasses.

What's the best way to see a solar eclipse? The best way to see a solar eclipse is to wait for a total solar eclipse and travel to a location within the narrow path of totality that has the greatest chance of a clear sky. Totality is a spine-tingling, indescribable feeling that must be experienced at least once, but it can take significant effort, organization and funds to do.

Are solar eclipses rare? Solar eclipses are not rare. In fact, they happen between two and five times each year. However, most are partial solar eclipses, which very few make any effort to see. Total solar eclipses  in which all of the sun is blocked by the Moon  happen only once per year and occur in geographically very narrow corridors called a path of totality. These are the events eclipse-chasers travel to experience. In some years they total solar eclipses don't occur at all, so on average they happen every 18 months or so. On average, a total solar eclipse occurs on any one location on Earth every 375 years  southern Illinois experienced totality on August 21, 2017 and will again on April 8, 2024 (opens in new tab).

Future solar eclipses

The next time Earth will witness a total solar eclipse is April 8, 2024, and has been dubbed "The Great North American Eclipse" as it will be visible throughout North and Central America. It will start in Mexico, cross into Texas then head northeast into the Ohio River Valley, upstate New York, Quebec, Canada and New England, finally exiting the continent through the Canadian Maritimes.

The maximum duration of totality will last as long as 4 minutes and 26 seconds (over southwest Texas). That's 135 seconds longer than the US average and 40 percent longer than the maximum duration of the 2017 eclipse .

The "Great North American Eclipse" isn't the only solar eclipse to look forward to, here is a list of upcoming solar eclipses according to NASA (opens in new tab).

Swipe to scroll horizontally Future solar eclipses Year Date Type of solar eclipse Visible locations 2023 April 20 Hybrid SE Asia, E. Indies, Australia, Philippines. New Zealand. Hybrid: Indonesia, Australia, Papua New Guinea 2023 Oct. 14 Annular N America, C. America, S. America 2024 April 8 Total N. America and C. America 2024 Oct. 02 Annular Pacific, S. America 2025 Mar. 29 Partial NW Africa, Europe, N Russia 2025 Sept. 21 Partial S. Pacific, New Zealand, Antarctica 2026 Feb. 17 Annular S. Argentina, Chile, S. Africa, Antarctica 2026 Aug. 12 Total N. America, W. Africa, Europe

How to view the sun safely

NEVER look at the sun with binoculars, a telescope or your unaided eye without special protection. Astrophotographers and astronomers use special filters to safely observe the sun during solar eclipses or other sun phenomena. Here's our guide on how to observe the sun safely.

To safely observe the sun or watch an eclipse, you need special protective eyewear or eclipse glasses. Basic sunglasses, even those with UV protection, will not sufficiently protect your eyes. If you're planning to document the eclipse with any photo equipment, there are special solar filters you can add to make sure the remaining ring of sunlight doesn't take a toll on your vision.

The safest way to observe an eclipse is indirectly by using a pinhole camera that you can make easily at home.

If you must document one of these events, a simple, wide-angle snap should capture the moment, even if you're using your smartphone camera.

Editor's Note: If you snap an amazing solar eclipse photo and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com (opens in new tab).

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab).

Additional resources

Want to look further ahead? You can find a concise summary of solar eclipses through to 2030 on NASA's eclipse website (opens in new tab). Read more about solar and lunar eclipses on Eclipse Wise (opens in new tab)  a website dedicated to predictions of eclipses. Learn about eclipses on other planets with this short article from Cornell University's astronomy department (opens in new tab).

Bibliography

April 20 hybrid eclipse. Timeanddate. Retrieved October 27 from https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2023-april-20

October 14 annular eclipse. Timeanddate. Retrieved October 27 from https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2023-october-14

October 14 annular eclipse. NASA. Retrieved October 27 from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses/2023/oct-14-annular/overview/

Fred Espenak. Solar eclipses 2021-2030. NASA. Retrieved October 27 from https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEdecade/SEdecade2021.html

Konstantin Bikos. What is a hybrid solar eclipse? Timeanddate. Retrieved October 27 from https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/hybrid-solar-eclipse.html
EU 'Green Deal' in difficulty despite climate law votes



Stockholm, April 20 (AFP) Apr 20, 2023



EU lawmakers this week adopted new laws boosting Europe's climate change fight, but a parallel drive to protect biodiversity in bills to be finalised before European Parliament elections next year looks to be on shakier ground.

Negotiations between the European Commission, EU member states and the European Parliament on the issue have run into difficulty over the details.

Scandinavian countries are worried about their important forestry sector, while other member states believe the scope of the text proposed by the commission goes too far.

Still others are concerned about the impact on farmers, or how to reconcile the text with EU policies on agriculture and energy.

EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius admitted on Tuesday, at a meeting of EU environment ministers in Sweden, that "we have a very busy time again in front of us" and "time is really limited".

The deadline to complete the legislative work is before European Parliament elections due before the middle of next year, after which a new legislature and new European Commission will have to be formed.

The commission's proposed package of texts aims to restore degraded or polluted biosystems such as forests and marine zones.

It also sets a target of drastically reducing the use of pesticides in crops, improved animal welfare, and limits on polluting emissions including by livestock producers, which some member states worry will lead to a decline in their agricultural output.

Some of the texts being examined relate to changes to packaging, air quality and waste water.



- 'Extremely challenging' timeframe -



Adam Guibourge-Czetwertynski, a Polish junior climate minister, said that, given the varying centres of concern in the EU on a text on a proposed "nature restoration" law, there was need "to make this proposition realistic in practice".

Austria's environment minister, Leonore Gewessler, underlined the "extremely challenging" timeframe and urged giving enough space for the negotiations to result in "a coherent policy mix".

During a late March parliamentary debate on the nature restoration text, one left-leaning Spanish MEP, Cesar Luena, said: "Things are not looking very good."

"The green consensus that was there at the beginning of our term has gradually been eroded. It's fading away," he said, pointing to remonstrations from farming and fishing lobbies.

Pacal Canfin, the chair of the parliament's environment committee, said there was progress on the energy, industry and transport aspects of the proposed texts. "But for agriculture and fishing, no path has been found," he added.

Some related topics -- such as propositions on genetically modified crops and soil protection -- are not even part of the talks and will be presented by the commission in June.

Presentation of a tricky text on a tighter framework for the use of chemical substances which had been expected early last year has now been pushed back to late 2023.

While haggling continues over the biodiversity texts, the EU can at least bask in the glow of having the parliament on Tuesday adopting laws on expanding the bloc's carbon trading market and introducing a carbon border tax on imports.

Those measures bolster Europe's bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions as it moves towards the goal of a net carbon-neutral future.

The 27 EU countries are collectively the third-biggest global emitter of carbon dioxide.

The biggest by far is China, which is greatly expanding its fleet of coal-fired power plants despite a vow to have carbon emissions peak by 2030 then reduced to net zero by 2060.

Then comes the United States, historically the biggest carbon-gas emitter, which has a long-term strategy of reaching net zero by 2050.
EU parliament approves world's most sweeping cryptocurrency rules



Strasbourg, France, April 20 (AFP) Apr 20, 2023



The European Parliament approved the world's first comprehensive rules to regulate the "Wild West" world of cryptocurrencies on Thursday, hoping to protect investors against abuse and manipulation.

EU member states have already backed the legislation covering cryptoassets, which include cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum and other tradable tokens whose value is secured using blockchain technology, such as NFTs.

The rules, now approved by a large majority of European lawmakers, hope to whip into shape an industry that has been beset by scandals and failures.

One of the most recent cryptocurrency exchange failures came in November when the FTX platform and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt, dissolving a virtual trading business that at one point had a market value of $32 billion.

The EU commissioner for financial services, Mairead McGuinness, said during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday that the rules would have regulated FTX's activities and perhaps prevented its collapse at great cost to some investors.

Under the regulation known as Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), cryptoasset service providers (CASPs) must protect customers' digital wallets and will be liable if they lose investors' cryptoassets.

"We believe that had FTX, for example, been captured under EU jurisdiction, many of its practices would not have been permissible under MiCA," McGuinness said in Strasbourg.

Large providers will also have to disclose their energy consumption as part of the EU's efforts to reduce cryptocurrencies' high carbon footprint.

A second regulation on fund transfers will lead to greater oversight of cryptoassets trades, bringing it more closely into line with practices in traditional finance.

The EU says this will make it harder for criminals to use cryptocurrencies for illegal activity such as money laundering.

The regulations "mark the end of the Wild West era for the unregulated world of cryptoassets", Ernest Urtasun, one of the EU lawmakers spearheading the legislation through parliament, said during the debate.

"For over a decade, the lack of regulation has resulted in massive losses to many first-time investors and provided a safe haven for fraudsters and international criminal networks," he added.

The illegal use of cryptocurrencies reached a record high of $20.1 billion last year, up from $18 billion in 2021, according to blockchain data company Chainalysis.



- Creating 'safer environment' -



Some had, however, criticised the draft legislation for not going far enough.

"In line with the principle of proportionality, significant CASPs should be subject to both stricter requirements and enhanced supervision: neither of the two is catered for by MiCA," Elizabeth McCaul, European Central Bank supervisory board member, wrote in a blog post this month.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said the clearer regulatory framework should lead to greater adoption by businesses and "partially" reduce volatility in the market.

There have been claims that the regulation would block innovation but McGuinness dismissed the suggestion.

"What we believe is that having a regulatory framework allows the industry to evolve in a more cohesive and safer environment," she said.

She added that she hoped the rules would become a model for other countries.

The United States is also cracking down on the crypto industry as calls grow for greater regulatory oversight across the Atlantic.

A top US markets regulator charged Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, and its founder Changpeng Zhao last month for multiple violations.

The EU rules will progressively come into force from July 2024 after the bloc's member states formally nod them into law.

Brussels is also preparing to introduce proposals for a digital euro later this year.

pau-raz/kjm
KYODO NEWS - Apr 21, 2023 - 23:00 | All, World, Japan

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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Ex-chairman of suit retailer convicted for Tokyo Olympics bribery

TOKYO - A Japanese court on Friday sentenced the former chairman of business suit retailer Aoki Holdings Inc. to a suspended prison term for bribing a Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive in connection with the games in 2021.

The Tokyo District Court gave Hironori Aoki, 84, a prison term of two-and-a-half years, suspended for four years, for paying 28 million yen ($209,000) to Haruyuki Takahashi, 79, who exerted influence over the committee's marketing division.

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SDF plane leaves for Djibouti to evacuate nationals in Sudan

TOKYO - A Self-Defense Forces aircraft left for Djibouti on Friday to prepare to evacuate Japanese nationals from Sudan, where military clashes are intensifying.

The C-130 transport airplane departed from Komaki Air Base in the central prefecture of Aichi to stand by in Djibouti to extricate 63 Japanese citizens in Sudan, most of whom are in the capital Khartoum.

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Japan vows to develop drones to boost maritime security against China

TOKYO - Japan pledged to promote the development of unmanned underwater drones to strengthen maritime security against China's increasing military assertiveness in a revised draft of Tokyo's five-year ocean policy, government officials said Friday.

In the new version of the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, which will serve as a guideline for Japan's ocean policy, the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that China's rise has rapidly changed the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Japan asks EU to lift restrictions put on exports after 2011 disaster

MIYAZAKI, Japan - Farm minister Tetsuro Nomura on Friday asked his European Union counterpart to lift restrictions put on some of its agricultural exports following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

Nomura asked EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to swiftly remove restrictions on products such as seafood and wild mushrooms from northeastern Fukushima Prefecture during their talks in the southwestern city of Miyazaki ahead of a two-day meeting of agriculture chiefs from the Group of Seven nations.

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Japan PM Kishida sends ritual offering to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

TOKYO - Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday sent a ritual offering to the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, triggering a backlash from China and South Korea, which view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi offered prayers at the Shinto shrine on the first day of the two-day spring festival. Takaichi, known for her hawkish views on security policy, has visited Yasukuni on various occasions, including its seasonal festivals.

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Toyota focuses on emission cuts rather than on EV sales: new pres.

NAGOYA - The new president of Toyota Motor Corp. said the company is focusing on cutting carbon dioxide emissions rather than boosting sales of electric vehicles, sticking to its green technology strategy of offering multiple options.

Koji Sato said the world's biggest automaker by volume is committed to the goal of reducing average CO2 emissions from vehicles sold globally by 33 percent by 2030 and by more than 50 percent by 2035 when compared with 2019 levels. The automaker aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

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Biden urged to show U.S. leadership on nuclear issues at G-7 summit

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden was urged earlier this week by a group of more than 20 arms control advocates to show leadership in pushing for a world without nuclear weapons at next month's summit of the Group of Seven advanced economies in Japan.

The group, including former senior U.S. officials, sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday saying that the three-day summit in Hiroshima from May 19 will be a "historic opportunity" for him to "pledge concrete steps to prevent a new arms race, guard against nuclear weapons use, and advance nuclear disarmament."

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FEATURE: "Horizontal recycling" tackling waste and giving plastics 2nd life

TOKYO - A process known in Japan as "horizontal recycling" is gaining a foothold, with the practice able to contribute to a more sustainable society while addressing the nation's plastic addiction.

Horizontal recycling refers to recovering and processing used products into raw materials to be used to reproduce the original item.

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Video: Baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki becomes brand ambassador
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 23:00 | All, World, Japan

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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ChatGPT can be tricked to write malware if acting in developer mode

TOKYO - Users are able to trick ChatGPT into writing code for malicious software applications by entering a prompt that makes the artificial intelligence chatbot respond as if it were in developer mode, Japanese cybersecurity experts said Thursday.

The discovery has highlighted the ease with which safeguards put in place by developers to prevent criminal and unethical use of the tool can be circumvented.

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Japan to send SDF planes to Djibouti to evacuate nationals from Sudan

TOKYO - The government on Thursday ordered the Air Self-Defense Force to dispatch aircraft to Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Sudan, where military clashes are intensifying.

The ASDF planes are expected to leave for Djibouti this weekend, from where they will fly to Sudan to evacuate the around 60 Japanese people living in the northeast African country, a government source said.

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Japan posts record 21.73 tril. yen trade deficit for FY 2022

TOKYO - Japan's trade deficit roughly quadrupled to a record 21.73 trillion yen ($160 billion) in fiscal 2022 ended March, as increased energy costs and a weaker yen led imports to grow far more than exports, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Imports jumped 32.2 percent from a year earlier to 120.95 trillion yen, while exports increased 15.5 percent to 99.23 trillion yen. Japan remained in the red for a second straight year, with both figures the highest since comparable data became available in fiscal 1979.

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BOJ retains assessments of 7 of 9 regional economies

TOKYO - The Bank of Japan on Thursday maintained its assessments of seven of the country's nine regional economies, as consumption remained resilient despite surging commodity prices, and a revival of inbound tourism also provided support.

In a potentially worrying sign for the export-reliant economy, the BOJ was more cautious about the manufacturing sector for most regions in the latest Sakura report than three months earlier. Monetary tightening in major economies and banking woes have raised uncertainty over the strength of global economic growth.

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S. Korea's Yoon to make state visit to U.S. next week

SEOUL - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will make a state visit to the United States next week to hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the two countries' alliance, the presidential office said on Thursday.

Yoon's six-day visit will start Monday, and the summit and a state dinner are slated for Wednesday, Kim Tae Hyo, South Korea's principal deputy national security adviser, told reporters.

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Yokosuka becomes 1st local gov't in Japan to begin ChatGPT trial use

YOKOSUKA, Japan - The city of Yokosuka south of Tokyo on Thursday became the first local government in Japan to start trial use of artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT across all of its offices, hoping to improve efficiency.

Officials in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture say confidential data will be excluded and that entered data will not be used for training ChatGPT.

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Japanese mayor raps lack of PM Kishida security in wake of Abe killing

NARA, Japan - The mayor of a western Japanese city, who witnessed the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, criticized on Thursday the lack of security that culminated in the weekend attack against Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, noting how lessons from the July 2022 shooting had not been learned.

Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa said it is hard to believe that precautionary measures were seriously lacking before Kishida was about to make a stump speech on Saturday in the city of Wakayama where a man threw an explosive device at the prime minister.

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IPEF negotiations could deliver results by yearend: USTR Tai

TOKYO - U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade negotiations could deliver results by the end of the year to set economic rules and standards in the fast-growing region.

The U.S.-led initiative comprising 14 nations is widely viewed as a counterweight to China's growing clout in the Indo-Pacific region, which accounts for about 40 percent of the global economy.

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TSMC 1st qtr net profit growth sharply slows amid soft global demand

TAIPEI - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted Thursday a 2.1 percent growth in its net profit in the first quarter of 2023 from a year earlier, sharply slowing from a 78.0 percent jump in the previous three-month period due to weakening global demand for chips.

The world's largest contract chipmaker reported net profit of NT$206.99 billion ($6.77 billion), down 30 percent from the October-December period of 2022.

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Video: Event related to Japanese animation film "Suzume" in Tokyo
BRANFORD  A Minnesota-based company is working with a Connecticut developer to create a sprawling biotech and life sciences park in Branford on a 120-acre site off the Exit 56 interchange, town and company officials announced Thursday.

Plans for HealthTech Park include more than 500,000 square feet of laboratory space, research and development facilities for life sciences companies and some high-tech manufacturing related to the health care sector, according to Perry Maresca, Branford's economic and business development manager. The sprawling healthcare campus, which would be sandwiched between Route 1 and Interstate 95, could also include a medical facility.

Plans for the project were jointly announced by town officials and developers Minnesota-based Ryan Companies and Henrich Partners LLC of Stamford. The project is being developed on land that includes the former Bittersweet Farm and is owned by Hamden-based Belfonti Companies LLC and A. Secondino & Son of Branford.

"What were looking to develop on this site is extremely unique," said Connor Lewis, vice president of real estate development for Ryan. "HealthTech Park will shine as a beacon for the Town of Branford and Connecticut, as well as across the country as a leading example of a health care and life sciences-centric development."

Lewis said, "There is a significant focus on embracing the natural elements of the property preserving the trees, streams, views  to create a place where businesses can thrive within islands of nature." He said there is no timeline for when the project might start, partly because the company hasn't submitted any plans to town zoning officials.

Lewis said the project's first two phases involve developing buildings of between 100,000 and 150,000 square feet, depending on the needs of tenants the company is negotiating with. As currently envisioned, both buildings would be three or four stories tall, he said.

Town officials "have been in the loop" regarding the company's interest in the property for about a year, Lewis said.

"We're looking for anchor tenants for each of the buildings," he said. "Our focus is on the health care, life sciences, medical device and pharmaceutical sectors. We know the need in the life science market is extremely high; I think I could lease one building out right now if we went hard at it."

Lewis said the site is attractive in part because of the pool of highly educated health sciences workers in the area.

"It just blows me away how much of a hub it is for brilliant people," he said. "At the same time, it's got the advantage of being between New York and Boston. You're not bogged down because you're not building in a metropolis, where construction costs are so much higher."

Jamie Cosgrove, Branford's first selectman, said the town "has enjoyed the notoriety and reputation of being a go-to town for science, research and technology since the 1980s."

As life sciences continues to gain notable traction, Branford will continue to build on its reputation with HealthTech Park," Cosgrove said.

It's still too early to say how much impact the project will have in terms of tax revenue, he said.

"But an investment of this size will have a significant tax benefit," Cosgrove said.

The last time Branford sought to develop part of the land adjacent to the Exit 56 interchange of Interstate 95, the focus was on bringing a Costco warehouse club to a nearby piece of property. But the contentious debate over the property ended in 2017 when Costco abandoned its plans to develop the property.

Maresca said the details of this project, from concerns about environmental impact to keeping traffic from the facility from having to go onto Route onme, are being assembled in such a way "that it's the kind of thing that everybody will be able to get behind

Branford is one of the communities that has benefited from the New Haven areas emergence as a biotech hub over the past three decades because of its proximity to the Elm City and the fact the town has hosted biotech companies for much of that time.

But adequate lab space for biotech startups and mature companies long has been a challenge that the New Haven area has struggled to address over the years.

Paul Pescatello, senior counsel and executive director of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association's Bioscience Growth Council, said Thursday's announcement is the latest example of how "life sciences R&D and biotech have really hit their stride in Connecticut."

"With all the start-ups and expansion in a variety of geographic hubs, especially in Branford, there comes a need for more office and, most critically, lab space," Pescatello said. "To the extent HealthTech Park provides that infrastructure, it will help Connecticut retain biopharmas in our state and not see them migrate to competitor states  states like Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey with higher costs but more available lab space.

Ginny Kozlowski, chief executive officer of REX Development / Economic Development Corp. of New Haven, said it's not surprising that more details aren't available about the project.

"These things take time, but this kind of commitment shows that there is confidence in the market," Kozlowski said.

She said the location, with frontage on Interstate 95, will serve as a billboard of sorts for Connecticut's tech sector.

"We went down to Raleigh-Durham last year, and everywhere you go, there's a biotech building with a different company's name on it," she said of the region of North Carolina known as the Research Triangle, one of the nation's best known technology centers. "This location is so important because the more we see the names of these (biotech and life sciences) companies, the more it will remind people what's going on in our economy."
STAMFORD  Two new city government jobs outlined in Mayor Caroline Simmons' proposed operating budget were meant to provide oversight to the city's growing affordable housing programs.

With one round of cuts complete, the line item has already been trimmed in half.

The Board of Finance voted 4-2 Monday night to cut a proposed "housing coordinator" job from the budget. The job, proposed for an annual salary of $101,889, was a community-facing role dedicated to helping tenants in Stamford's Below Market Rate program resolve issues with private landlords. The other proposed job  a more policy-focused position called the "housing planning manager," making $121,980  was left untouched, for now.

Over the past 20 years or so, Stamfords BMR program has mandated private developers create more than 1,100 apartments with a permanently reduced rent. Right now, the program is overseen by half a person, as Land Use Bureau Chief Ralph Blessing put it at a March 28 Board of Finance budget meeting.

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The proposal was part of an effort to reorganize the Land Use Bureau to better manage the citys growing affordable housing programs, Blessing said.

Currently, the BMR program is managed by the citys Housing & Community Development Office. In addition to overseeing the program, the office manages community development grants and oversees the citys affordable housing trust fund  money acquired from select zoning and building-related transactions that the city can award to new affordable housing developments.

Finance Board Chair Richard Freeman and board member Geoff Alswanger opposed the cut.

"I'm told that the city is being inundated with housing-related calls and this lower-funded position is really for a social worker to work with the public on any myriad of housing issues  lack of maintenance by the landlord, lease renewal problems, trouble finding housing," Freeman said. "I think it'll be money well spent."

Vice Chair Mary Lou Rinaldi recommended the cut and voted for it, alongside members Laura Burwick, Dennis Mahoney and J.R. McMullen. She suggested that the city add one new position and then see if things improve.

"I'm not saying that I'm against fixing the housing situation, but I'm not convinced that adding positions right away solves the problem," Rinaldi said.

Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media

In a written statement, Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons said the cut was "extremely disappointing."

"I believe this position was critical to addressing current community needs and housing issues, as well as implementing the policies outlined in the Stamford Housing Affordability Plan," Simmons said.

No housing department

The housing planning manager would work behind the scenes, implementing the citys affordable housing plan released last year, Blessing said.

Unlike other major Connecticut cities, Stamford does not have a city government office dedicated to housing issues. Originally, officials had described the positions as the foundations of a future housing department.

Cities administer a variety of programs that address issues left unresolved by the private market. A housing department is one way officials can tackle many of those responsibilities, from affordable housing development and administering the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program to rehabilitating existing housing stock, enforcing the local housing code and more.

Officials can also delegate responsibilities to third-party organizations  in Stamford, many of those responsibilities are handled by nonprofit Charter Oak Communities.

While Stamford does not have a dedicated housing department, by comparison, the Hartford Housing Division has eight full-time employees managing a bevy of state and federal programs. New Havens Livable City Initiative boasts 48 workers, balancing code enforcement, administering housing programs and more. Bridgeport similarly has a Housing and Community Development Department; the department does not oversee affordable housing or code compliance, but rather facilitates affordability through grants.

But there are several key differences between Stamford and the other cities, local officials note: by Connecticut standards, Stamford has a strong housing market.

A lot of housing actually gets built, Blessing said. But it also means that housing is expensive.

Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media

Additionally, Stamford has significantly less "assisted housing"  federally subsidized units, which carry more paperwork  compared with the state's three other most populous cities. The ones that they do are managed by the housing authority, Charter Oak Communities. As of last year, according to state data, Stamford had 7,863 assisted units. Meanwhile, Hartford had 21,122, New Haven had 18,343 and Bridgeport had 12,100 assisted units.

The BMR program requirement shifts some of the onus on affordable housing from the government to private developers. But the program does not have a continuous obligation for developers to maintain the units they build and respond to BMR program problems experienced by tenants, Blessing told the Board of Finance.

An oversight function

Ultimately, Blessing said, one full-time housing professional would still be more than the Land Use Bureau has right now.

This is not supposed to become a big department. The goal is really to have the oversight function of the BMR program, Blessing said.

For example, Blessing said one goal of the Land Use Bureau has been to establish a centralized waiting list through which people can apply to all BMR units and pay a single application fee. Right now, prospective tenants must fill out applications for individual developers and pay for each new submission.

"But we didn't have even have the resources to start seriously thinking about that and coming up with a way to figure out what that would mean if we had a centralized waitlist," Blessing said. "I hope that with a full position, we can at least work on how we can fix problems and not just identify the problems. That will then also help us to ask for more staff if necessary."

The Board of Representatives will vote on cuts May 9.
The Connecticut Department of Environment and Energy (DEEP) reported that a male black bear was euthanized this past Tuesday in Salisbury.

According to the spokesperson, the 400-pound black bear was euthanized on April 18 by DEEP Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police Officers after multiple reports of home entries in the Salisbury/Falls Village area in the days prior. The bear had been routinely tagged as yearling, meaning a bear between one and two years old, in a den with its mother in Avon.

The agency said that on Saturday, April 15, DEEP was notified of a home entry in Falls Village. In response, traps were set near the home two days later on April 17. That same day, DEEP was notified of another home entry at a different home in neighboring Salisbury. A DEEP Wildlife Division Staff member went to the Salisbury home to set up a trap. The agencys spokesperson said that the staff member waited for the Salisbury home owner to return in order to consult with them about the trap. Upon returning home, the owner realized the black bear was once again inside of the house.

At this point, EnCon Officers responded to the scene and euthanized the bear. The agency's spokesperson said the euthanasia was in accordance with DEEP bear response guidelines, as "bears that have persistent, serious, negative behavior, such as killing protected livestock or entering buildings, may have to be euthanized."

This event comes as bear-human interactions are on the rise in Connecticut. DEEP's State of the Bears reported that home entries by bears in 2022 doubled from 2021. In 2023 alone, bears have been spotted crossing highways with their cubs in Avon, stealing Easter candy in Windsor and breaking into pig pens in New Milford, to name a few sightings. According to its wildlife sighting database, DEEP has counted just under 1,200 bear sightings in 2023.

Another black bear was euthanized last October after it attacked a 10-year-old boy in Morris.

For bear sightings, DEEP asks residents to visit DEEP's website or email DEEP.Wildlife@CT.gov. If you report a bear sighting, include information on whether the bear has ear tags, including the tag number or color.
STAMFORD  A judge will decide within 10 days whether the courtroom should be closed to the public for a hearing to determine if a letter written by the attorney representing Michelle Troconis in the Jennifer Dulos case is confidential under attorney-client privilege.

If the letter, which was inside a box with a sweatshirt possibly connected with the 2019 death and disappearance of the New Canaan mother of five is determined to be evidence in the case, attorney Jon Schoenhorn could be disqualified from representing Troconis.

Judge Kevin Randolph said during a hearing Thursday he would issue a written ruling in the next 10 days about whether the courtroom will be closed for the evidentiary hearing.

Assistant States Attorney Sean McGuinness and Schoenhorn agreed the courtroom should be closed to the public for the hearing and any documents related to attorney-client privilege should be sealed.

McGuinness said the hearing would involve privileged communications that are not appropriate for the public sphere. He claimed it was, therefore, in the defenses interest to close the courtroom during the hearing and seal related documents.

Schoenhorn agreed, saying he believed an open courtroom during such a hearing might interfere with the defendants right to a fair trial.

Despite the agreement between the two sides, Randolph said he would not make a decision from the bench on Thursday.

Even though there is agreement as to closing the courtroom, this court is still bound to determine if that closure outweighs any public interest in the case, Randolph said.

Schoenhorn turned the sweatshirt over to prosecutors in 2021 through a third party, attorney Tara Knight, who is now a Superior Court judge.

A letter that was with the sweatshirt will be the subject of a second hearing to determine if the note falls under attorney-client privilege and if Schoenhorn waived that privacy by asking Knight to turn the clothing over to prosecutors.

In addition to a closed courtroom, the attorneys also want any "privileged materials that will be filed" in connection with the hearing to also be sealed.

The outcome of the hearing on the letter could impact whether a judge would disqualify Schoenhorn from representing Troconis, according to the motion filed by prosecutors on Feb. 9.

In her motion to remove him from the case, Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Michelle Manning said Schoenhorn has refused to tell prosecutors where he got the sweatshirt, but has claimed he may use it in the defense of his client since it contained a hair with the DNA of Pawel Gumienny, a former employee of Fotis Dulos, who faced murder and other charges in his estranged wife's death and disappearance when he died by suicide in 2020.

Schoenhorn has also filed a motion seeking the removal of the entire Stamford State's Attorney's Office from the case.

Schoenhorn contends the sweatshirt could indicate Gumienny was also involved in the crime, court documents said. But in his response to Manning's request to have him disqualified, Schoenhorn said there is no reason for him to testify where he got the sweatshirt.

Gumienny has not been charged with a crime. He has acknowledged that Fotis Dulos was using his truck on the day of the homicide and told investigators he believed his boss may have been trying to frame him for the crime.

Police believe Fotis Dulos used Gumienny's Toyota Tacoma pickup truck to drive to New Canaan on the morning of May 24, 2019, and then biked to his estranged wife's home where he attacked her when she returned from dropping off their five children at school, arrest warrants stated.

On the night of the disappearance, police said Troconis was seen on surveillance video in Fotis Dulos pickup truck as he made a series of stops in Hartford. Police said Fotis Dulos was dumping trash bags in bins along Albany Avenue. Police said they later recovered some of the bags, which contained Jennifer Dulos blood and clothing.

Troconis and Kent Mawhinney, a former attorney and friend of Fotis Dulos, have each pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. Troconis has also pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges,
The family of a Connecticut woman reported missing more than a week ago while hiking a mountainous region of Japan says she was last seen checking out of a guesthouse the morning of her disappearance.

Patricia Wu-Murad, a Storrs resident, was reported missing the evening of April 10 after she failed to show up at the next guesthouse where she was scheduled to stay, her daughter Murphy Murad wrote in an update on the GoFundMe page the family started.

Wu-Murad was hiking south along the Kumano Kodo trail, following the Kohechi route, Murphy Murad wrote on the fundraising page. The millennium-old trek is a pilgrimage route that crosses the rugged and forested Kii peninsula. The route is said to have once carried retired emperors on their pilgrimage and was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004.

Murad said her mother checked out of a guesthouse around 7 a.m. and was described as wearing a pink coat, gray undershirt and orange fanny pack. She had reserved a stay at a guesthouse about 11 miles farther along the trail, a hike that should have taken her between seven and nine hours to complete.

But she never showed up at the next guesthouse. Around 8:15 p.m. that evening, Murad said the host of the guesthouse reported her mother missing to the police.

Wu-Murad's family said local police looked for 72 hours, but were unable to locate her and called off the search.

But Murphy Murad said police have since restarted their search after the family, members of the U.S. Consulate and a friend met with local authorities and filed an official missing persons report on Tuesday.

The family also provided police with a DNA sample, a shoe to help a tracking dog pick up any scent trail, as well as the last known photo taken of Wu-Murad. Murphy Murad wrote that her father also gave permission for the CIA to access his Google Maps data, which her mother had been using.

Police told the family they had searched for Wu-Murad from April 11 to April 13, using dozens of people, a helicopter and a drone at various points, but stopped after they were unable to turn up any new information.

Police alerted the U.S. Embassy and State Department officials said they're also aware of the situation.

"The Department of State has no higher priority than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad," a spokesperson said. "We stand ready to provide appropriate assistance to U.S. citizens in need and to their families. When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts, and we share information with families however we can. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment."

Wu-Murad's family said they launched the GoFundMe because they need to hire a private search party to find her.

Murphy Murad said the private search-and-rescue team was sent out Sunday morning, but was unsuccessful in locating her mother.

"The past 48 hours they have searched areas where individuals are more likely to get lost, fall from heights, or get swept up by the nearby river," she wrote. "At this point, the private search and rescue team believe, 'that a very irregular situation occurred on April 10.'"

Wu-Murad was supposed to travel to Osaka late last week to meet with friends at a temple, her daughter said. The family friends went there and showed her mother's photo, but "came out empty handed," she said.

Murad said the last known text message that went through to her mother was one she sent on April 9 around 8:45 a.m. Japan time. The first message that apparently did not go through went out around 2:53 a.m. on April 12.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2023 - 17:04 | Others

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade negotiations could deliver results by the end of the year to set economic rules and standards in the fast-growing region.

The U.S.-led initiative comprising 14 nations is widely viewed as a counterweight to China's growing clout in the Indo-Pacific region, which accounts for about 40 percent of the global economy.

Tai told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo that negotiations, which started last year, are moving at a very quick pace.

"I'm very optimistic that you will see results soon and maybe even over the course of this year," Tai said.

The negotiations of the IPEF center around four policy pillars -- fair trade, supply chain resilience, clean energy with decarbonization and infrastructure, as well as proper taxation and anti-corruption.

Tai has not ruled out the possibility of announcing an agreement on some areas ahead of the others as the pace of negotiations differs among the various fields.

The third round of IPEF negotiations are slated for next month in Singapore.

During her two-day trip to Japan, Tai held talks with Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, affirming close cooperation in the months ahead, as Japan hosts the Group of Seven nations' summit in Hiroshima in May and the United States hosts a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum economies in San Francisco in November.

After former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew his country from what was then known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal in 2017, Biden launched the IPEF during his visit to Japan last May in a bid to strengthen economic ties with key economies in the Indo-Pacific.

The IPEF currently groups Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. Canada is also seeking to join the framework.

Related coverage:

Japan, U.S. affirm stronger ties in Indo-Pacific trade negotiations
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LIBERTY, Mo. (AP)  The 84-year old man who shot Ralph Yarl when the Black teenager went to his door by mistake pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a case that has shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America.

Andrew Lester walked into the courtroom with a cane and spoke quietly during Wednesdays hearing, his first public appearance since last weeks shooting. Authorities say he shot Yarl, a 16-year-old honor student, first in the head, then in the arm after Yarl came to his door because he had confused the address with the home where he was supposed to pick up his younger brothers.

The case is among three in recent days involving young people who were shot after mistakenly showing up in the wrong places. A 20-year-old woman was killed in upstate New York when the car she was in pulled into the wrong driveway. In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly got into a car thinking it was hers.

Yarl was shot at point-blank range in the head but miraculously survived the bullet. Only about 10% to 15% of people who are shot in the head survive, said Dr. Christopher Kang, the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Some civil rights leaders and Yarl's family attorney, Lee Merritt, have urged the Department of Justice to investigate the shooting and for prosecutors to charge Lester with a hate crime, with Merritt noting that Yarl "was armed only with his Black skin."

Justice Department officials have not responded to calls seeking comment.

Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson said first-degree assault is a higher-level crime, allowing a sentence of up to life in prison, which is more than a hate-crime charge would carry.

Lester remains free after posting $20,000  10% of his $200,000 bond  and agreeing to relinquish any weapons and have no contact with Yarl or his family. He also agreed to have his cellphone monitored.

Yarls relatives were not at Wednesday's hearing because they are emotionally exhausted, Merritt said. Lesters attorney, Steve Salmon, did not come out of the courthouse to speak with reporters.

Merritt said Yarl is completely humbled by the outpouring of support.

He says, 'I dont know why everyones making a big deal out of me," Merritt said. You know, its its just me, right? Its not like the president was shot.

But Eliana Brannlund said it has been rough not having her friend and fellow band member around at Staley High School.

He always brought a lot of positivity and smiles to our band class as well as our rehearsals outside of school, Brannlund said in an interview with The Associated Press. I hope people are able to hear about who Ralph is as a person and understand that he is loving, kind and sweet.

Yarl was shot at about 10 p.m. last Thursday after his mother asked him to pick up his twin brothers at a home on 115th Terrace, Police Chief Stacey Graves has said.

Yarl, who is all-state band member as well as a top student, mistakenly went to 115th Street  a block away from where he meant to be. When he rang the bell, Lester came to the door and used a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson 1888 revolver to shoot the teenager.

Lester told police he lives alone and was scared to death when he saw Yarl on the porch because he thought someone was trying to break in, police said in court documents.

No words were exchanged before the shooting, but afterward, as Yarl got up to run, he heard Lester yell, Dont come around here, the statement said.

Yarl ran to multiple homes asking for help before finding someone who would call the police, according to court documents.

Legal experts expect Lester to claim self-defense and cite Missouri's Stand Your Ground law. The state is one of about 30 with statues that say people dont have to retreat when threatened but instead can respond with physical force.

But Merritt said the law applies only if someones on your property and theyre looking to do you harm .... We dont have any evidence of that. The Castle Doctrine does not apply to this case.

The shooting outraged many in Kansas City and across the country. President Joe Biden spoke with Yarl on Monday, and on Tuesday invited him to the White House.

No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, Biden tweeted. Weve got to keep up the fight against gun violence.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who had remained silent on the shooting until Wednesday, accused Biden of politicizing it.

"I dont want some 16-year-old kid to be getting shot because he went to the wrong house  we just dont want those kinds of things to happen. Its a tragedy, Parson told the Kansas City Star. When the president of the United States is trying to make a political statement over a very serious tragedy, it is very unfortunate.

Thompson, the prosecutor, said Monday that there was a racial component to the shooting but did not elaborate. Merritt said the Yarl family met privately with Thompson. The prosecutor said he was echoing the words from law enforcement that obviously theres a racial dynamic at play in this case, said Merritt, who called the answer shallow.

Lesters next court date is June 1.

From this point forward, the state will be pushing to move this case forward as swiftly as legally permitted, Thompson said in a statement after Wednesday's hearing.

But Merritt said Yarl's family is frustrated that Lester is out on bond and that the next court hearing is not until June.

We want this process to go as quickly as possible, Merritt said. And we know that if a defendant is out on bond, they may feel free to push the date down a little further as opposed to if he was in custody.

___

Salter reported from OFallon, Missouri. Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The case against a Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies across two presidencies wound down with closing arguments Thursday that capped off a trial that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Prakazrel Pras Michel is accused of funneling money from a now-fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obamas 2012 reelection campaign, then trying to squelch a Justice Department investigation and influence an extradition case on behalf of China under the Trump administration.

He willingly broke the law to line his pockets and generate access and influence at the highest reaches of government, prosecutor Sean Mulryne said. He wanted money. Lots of it. And he got it.

The defense argued the Grammy-winning rapper from the 1990s hip-hop group the Fugees simply got bad advice as he reinvented himself in the world of politics.

Mr. Michel is a proud American (and) entrepreneur, said defense attorney David Kenner. Mr. Michel was simply being himself  a connector. He saw an opportunity to make easy money for himself, and theres nothing wrong with that.

The case is expected to go to a jury on Monday.

When first met Low Taek Jho in 2006, the businessman usually known as Jho Low was dropping huge sums of money and hobnobbing with the likes of Paris Hilton. He helped finance Hollywood films, including The Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio testified Low had appeared to him as a legitimate businessman and had mentioned wanting to donate to Obamas campaign.

Michel also testified in his own defense. He said Low wanted a picture with Obama in 2012 and was willing to pay millions of dollars to get it. Michel agreed to help and used some of the money he got to pay for friends to attend fundraising events. No one had ever told him that was illegal, he said.

Prosecutors said he was donating the money on Low's behalf, and later tried to lean on the straw donors with texts from burner phones to keep them from talking to prosecutors.

After the election of Donald Trump, prosecutors say Michel again took millions to halt an investigation into allegations Low masterminded a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions from the Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB. Low is now an international fugitive and has maintained his innocence.

Prosecutors said Michel also tried to convince the U.S. to extradite back to China a government critic suspected of crimes there. (backslash)

This case is about foreign influence, its about foreign money, and its about greed, Mulryne said.

The defense also pointed to testimony from Sessions, who was Trump's top law enforcement officer until he resigned in 2018. He said hed been aware the Chinese government wanted the extradition but didnt know Michel. The rappers ultimately futile efforts to arrange a meeting on the topic didnt seem improper, said Sessions

What happened in 2017 was not willful and it was not deliberate, Kenner said.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country's defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

Germanys federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers Wednesday in Berlin.

Germany has also delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year, Baerbock said.

Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, five months before Russia's full-scale invasion and seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. He described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible.

Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word, Reznikov wrote.

Experts have cautioned that the systems effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war, even though it will add to Ukraines arsenal against its bigger enemy.

The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, its not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

In other developments Wednesday, China denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields. China has insisted that it will not help arm Russia, one of its key allies.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that Beijing maintains strict control over the export of drones in keeping with international standards preventing them from being used for nonpeaceful purposes.

China, which has repeatedly criticized the U.S. and other countries support for Ukraine as adding fuel to the fire of the war, has an objective and fair stance and seeks peace, the statement said.

Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he recently visited Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraines southern Kherson and easternmost Luhansk provinces.

The purpose of the trip was to meet with the military, whom I did not want to distract for a long time and a long distance from the deployment of the units they command, he said.

Kyiv officials have reported daily civilian, but not military, casualties from Russian bombardment.

At least four civilians were killed and 27 others were wounded Tuesday and overnight, Ukraines defense ministry reported.

A 50-year-old man and 44-year-old woman were killed in a Russian airstrike on a border town in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in televised remarks.

Russian forces launched 12 rocket, artillery, mortar, tank and drone attacks on Ukraines southern Kherson region, killing one civilian at a market in the center of Kherson, the regions namesake capital, and a nearby school, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said.

A woman was killed and another was wounded in northern Ukraine after Russian forces shelled the border village of Richki from multiple rocket launchers, the local military administration said.

Russian forces also fired exploding drones at Ukraines southern Odesa region.

___ Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.

___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Palestinian chef Amir al-Dali prepares Chinese dishes at a restaurant in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on April 9, 2023. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

RAMALLAH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese dishes have become a popular iftar meal choice for Palestinians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Amir al-Dali's restaurant, famous for its Chinese cuisine in the West Bank city of Ramallah, is crowded with customers every day during Ramadan, when Muslims would spread their tables with delicacies to break their long hours of fasting after sunset.

However, traditional Palestinian dishes are usually rich in oil, fats, and sugars, and could be detrimental to health when consumed after long hours of fasting, the 28-year-old chef told Xinhua.

"That's how Chinese food became a trend in our community as it is an excellent alternative to our fatty dishes," he added.

TikTok also contributed to the popularity of Chinese food among Palestinians, as many Chinese chefs cook their dishes out in nature and explain their health benefits, Dali said.

In Dali's restaurant, Kung Pao chicken, wonton soup, spring rolls, noodles, fish, and shrimp are among the most popular Chinese dishes, according to the chef.

Maamoun al-Saied, a client of the restaurant, told Xinhua that he found the Chinese food very nutritional and balanced and provides everything your body and metabolism need.

"Some Chinese dishes are very suitable to the Palestinian tastebud, especially those characterized by spicy taste. In addition, Chinese cuisine is healthier and helps us maintain a healthy weight," the 52-year-old man said. 

Palestinian chef Amir al-Dali prepares Chinese dishes at a restaurant in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on April 9, 2023. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)
T he scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry has passed fresh information to the police regarding a report of a serious criminal offence.

The CBI, one of the countrys most influential business organisations, said it is liaising closely with the authorities and has urged anyone with further information to come forward.

It comes weeks after the lobbying group launched its own investigation into a raft of allegations of misconduct by senior figures.

It is understood the latest allegation relates to a new incident.

Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police

On Thursday, a CBI spokesman said: Late yesterday afternoon the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence.

We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters.

Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police.

Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that more than a dozen women had approached the publication saying they had been victims of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the lobbying group.

One woman alleged to the newspaper that she had been raped during a staff party in 2019 and was later told by a manager to get counselling rather than pursue the issue further.

The woman said she had not reported the event to the police and the CBI told the newspaper it had no record of the incident.

Separately, former CBI director-general Tony Danker was sacked last week after being accused of making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the organisation.

On Wednesday, he said his reputation has been totally destroyed by the allegation and claimed he has been made a fall guy for a wider crisis.

Mr Danker told the BBC his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims, including the rape which allegedly happened before he joined the CBI.

After initial allegations, the business group also suspended three other employees and hired a law firm to carry out an internal investigation.

On Thursday, the CBI spokesman added: We are anticipating findings from Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently.

The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.
H omeware and furnishing retailer Dunelm has reported a 6% increase in sales as shoppers cashed in on late winter discounts.

The company told shareholders on Thursday that revenues grew to 423 million for the quarter to April 1, compared with 399 million over the same period last year.

Bosses said the strong performance was buoyed by a successful winter sale and positive demand for new spring and summer lines.

The Leicestershire-based group, which runs 179 stores across the UK, said the new outlets it opened this year have performed ahead of expectations.

The group added that its digital investments have seen strong returns, with online sales increasing to make up 36% of sales.

We are seeing strong momentum in the business as customers continue to appreciate the quality and value across the Dunelm range, despite a challenging trading backdrop

Dunelm held firm on its profit expectations for the current financial year.

Chief executive Nick Wilkinson said: We are seeing strong momentum in the business as customers continue to appreciate the quality and value across the Dunelm range, despite a challenging trading backdrop.

This was apparent through our successful winter sale and the positive launch of our new ranges for spring and summer as customers look forward to longer days and outdoor living.

As we continue to seize the many opportunities we see, we are investing for the long term and making good progress against our plans, which include the ongoing development and extension of our product ranges, building our customer data platform and optimising our marketing channels.

These plans give us good confidence for ongoing success.

Shares were 0.9% lower at 1,127p on Thursday afternoon.
T he UKs finance watchdog has begun an investigation into beleaguered tech firm WANdisco amid concerns over fraud.

The investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority follows an internal probe into suspected fraud at the company which found over $115 million in missing bookings.

WANdisco said it has been notified by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of its commencement of an investigation into the Company.

The Board is co-operating with the FCA in this endeavour, in addition to continuing to support the completion of the independent investigation already being undertaken, the firm said.

In a shock announcement to the stock exchange last month, WANdisco tore up its guidance for 2022 and said an investigation was under way to identify its true financial position.

What it called significant, sophisticated and potentially fraudulent irregularities related to revenue booked by one senior sales employee. They amounted to a potential material misstatement of the companys financial position and uncertainty regarding its overall financial position and significant going concern issues, the statement said.

Just weeks ago, the Sheffield-based tech firm, which also has a base in California, said it was eyeing a listing in the US after it surpassed a $1 billion market cap. But its fortunes quickly turned following the discovery of missing sales bookings, forcing its CEO and CFO to abruptly quit and the firms shares to be suspended from the London Stock Exchange.

CEO David Richards said: I am sad to be leaving WANdisco after 18 extremely enjoyable years. I remain a passionate supporter and significant shareholder of the company.

WANdisco said the CEO and CFOs departure did not relate to its internal investigation.

The company brought in Ken Lever, who until recently was chair of waste management business Biffa, to become the firms interim chair as well as run its fraud investigation alongside non-exec director Peter Lees and audit committee chair Karl Monaghan.

South Yorkshire police and police from San Francisco, the home of the companys US base, told the Standard they had not had any reports from WANdisco relating to fraud. WANdisco and the London Stock Exchange declined to comment on whether police were involved in the investigation. The Serious Fraud Office said it could neither confirm nor deny whether it was investigating the incident.
I nvestors in fallen stock-picker Neil Woodfords failed Equity Income Fund have been offered a compensation package worth up to 235 million almost four years after its collapse.

The proposed redress for more than 300,000 investors in the former Citystars LF Woodford Equity Income Fund was revealed late last night by City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It will be paid by fund administrator Link Fund Solutions, with support from its Australian parent Link Group.

However, the deal is conditional on the completion of a sale of Link Groups fund solution business to Waystone Group and will also require court approval.

The FCA said the fund administrator made critical mistakes and errors and as a result the fund failed to have a reasonable and appropriate liquidity profile from September 2018.

The failure of the Woodford fund, suspended amid a political and public furore in 2019, trapped 300,000 investors and triggered the FCA investigation and three London investor lawsuits. Woodford was criticised for holding a large number of illiquid assets.

The FCA said investors who still held investments in the fund when it was suspended were treated unfairly because this left them with a disproportionate share of the remaining assets which were more illiquid.

The proposed compensation is less than the estimated total losses of 298 million but would represent a recovery of around 77p in the pound.

Ryan Hughes, head of investment partnerships at broker AJ Bell, said: Some 1,417 days have passed since the suspension of the Woodford Equity Income fund and todays announcement from the FCA regarding financial redress due to the failings of the fund administrator, Link Fund Solutions, will come as significant relief for the thousands of investors who have been very patiently waiting for some form of compensation.

As detailed in September 2022, the FCA found serious failings in the oversight and operation of the fund by Link and the investigation has concluded that this resulted in serious detriment for those investors who remained in the fund from September 2018.

Essentially, poor liquidity management meant investors in the fund were left with disproportionately high exposure to illiquid assets which ultimately brought down the fund as it could no longer repay investors who wanted to sell their holdings.

The scale of this illiquidity can still be seen today with some assets remaining unsold nearly four years later.

In a separate announcement the FCA has begun an investigation into beleaguered tech firm WANdisco.

It follows an internal probe into suspected fraud at the company which found more than $115 million in missing bookings. WANdisco said: The board is co-operating with the FCA in this, in addition to continuing to support the completion of the independent investigation already being undertaken.
W hen an inquiry by the prime ministers ethics advisor into the tax affairs of Nadhim Zahawi found that the then-Conservative Party Chair had committed a serious breach of the ministerial code, he was dismissed within minutes.

When a previous standards chief, Sir Alex Allan, concluded that then-home secretary Priti Patel had breached the ministerial code over bullying, she was backed by Boris Johnson and it was Sir Alex who resigned  in protest. (For further reading, check out what the Institute for Governments Dr Catherine Haddon wrote at the time).

In other words, the ministerial code is less a government bible and more akin to monopoly  in that everyone picks and chooses their own rules.

The inquiry into allegations of bullying against justice secretary and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab is with Rishi Sunak, but there is no word yet as to its contents or what will happen next. At the time of writing, all we know is the prime minister is carefully considering his next steps and that Number 10 has pledged to swiftly publish the report.

Sunak is understandably loath to lose Raab. The justice secretary is both a loyal supporter and someone who agrees with the prime minister on policy  or is at least prepared to enthusiastically defend government policy on the airwaves. Furthermore, Raabs departure would necessitate at least a mini-reshuffle only weeks before what are expected to be bad local elections for the Tories, after which a wider reshuffle may be expected.

If past statements are anything to go by, in February Sunak said that when Im presented with conclusive independent findings that someone in my government has not acted with the integrity or standards that I would expect of them, I wont hesitate to take swift and decisive action.

Of course, when Gavin Williamson resigned last year over accusations of bullying (it has been alleged that the former minister had told a senior civil servant to slit your throat) Sunaks said he accepted the decision with great sadness while thanking Williamson for his personal support and loyalty.

Neither result  losing Raab or keeping him in the face of a critical inquiry  is ideal for the prime minister. It eats into his reputation among the electorate for ending the chaos sparked by his predecessors. It further damages relations between the civil service and ministers. It is ultimately a distraction from whatever else Sunak wants to talk about.

But given upcoming local elections, the Kings coronation and with food prices rising at their fastest rate since 1977, it is not obvious that the public will notice much either way.

In make your own analogy news, elsewhere in the paper Elon Musks SpaceX Starship  the largest and most powerful space rocket ever developed  has exploded minutes after blasting off. However, the reusable space vehicle was deemed a success as it cleared the tower.

In the comment pages, Robert Fox predicts Ukraine is planning a summer offensive to put Russians to the sword. Nancy Durrant warns the Drake deepfake has exposed a music industry unprepared for AI. Euan McColm says Scottish politics is now a freeze frame of a car-crash. While Meghann Murdoch fears that between labour shortages, soaring material costs and high demand, its back to DIY.

And finally, David Ellis has been blind tasting four celebrity tequilas, and lived to write up the experience in a SEO-friendly 500 words.

This article appears in our newsletter, West End Final  delivered 4pm daily  bringing you the very best of the paper, from culture and comment to features and sport. Sign up here.
I TS the waiting they cant stand. After the SNPs former chief executive and its treasurer were arrested by police investigating allegations of fraud, dread has descended on the party.

Senior figures now accept as inevitable that ex-leader Nicola Sturgeon will, at some point, be invited to assist officers with their enquiries. Her office has said she will help detectives if asked. Just a few weeks ago, Sturgeon was considered the SNPs greatest asset. Now she could be its biggest liability.

When the Scottish Parliament reconvened on Tuesday after the Easter recess, Sturgeon was nowhere to be seen. The nationalists official version of events  and bless them for trying  was that shed always planned to stay away while new First Minister Humza Yousaf established himself.

The arrest of the partys treasurer Colin Beattie  two weeks after Sturgeons husband Peter Murrell, until recently the SNPs chief executive  collided head-on with Yousafs attempt to launch a programme for government. Beattie has now stood down. Instead of facing questions about his plans, Yousaf was reduced to giving a running commentary about the ongoing police investigation.

Yousafs attempts to manage the scandal engulfing his party have been like a man fighting a fire armed only with a bag of kindling and a can of lighter fluid.

In just a couple of minutes on Tuesday, Yousaf gave us Of course Im surprised when one of my colleagues is arrested, Ill have to speak to Colin  hes still in the police station, and, in response to a question about whether the SNP was acting in a criminal way, I dont believe it is.

Yousaf continues to resist calls from opponents to suspend Murrell and Beattie from the party over their involvement in the police investigation into what happened to more than 600,000 raised for a referendum campaign that never took place. Party sources point out that, were he to do so, hed have to do the same to Sturgeon if police invite her to make a statement.

Nobody at Holyrood is paying much attention to Yousaf right now. Rather, Scottish politics is in a state of paralysis while its participants wait to hear whether representatives of Police Scotland have got round to interviewing Nicola Sturgeon.
Review at a glance









I ts outrageous that in certain UK schools the 1970 book behind this coming-of-age comedy was banned, right up to the late Eighties. Author Judy Blumes story is about Margaret Simon, a pre-teen who cant wait to get her first period and has doubts (though is ever hopeful) about organised religion.

All these years later, we get to watch a lovely little film that, despite being faithful to Blooms book, is unlikely to cause any kind of stink. Weve come a long way, baby. Lets hope those Dark Ages never return.

Kelly Fremon Craigs follow up to The Edge of Seventeen is definitely aimed at those who devoured the book while transitioning to their adolescent selves. Mothers and daughters. Grannies and grand-daughters. Cinemas will be packed with people who know the bitter-sweet dialogue off by heart.

Abby Ryder Fortson is perfect as Margaret. Plausibly vulnerable, ebullient and (occasionally) stricken, she doesnt pull one cutesy or slick move. Kathy Bates is just as huggable as Margarets naughty, Jewish, NYC-based granny, Sylvia, who is ever so slightly (by which I mean totally), clingy and has a conniption when Margaret and her parents move to New Jersey.

Bates gets all the drollest lines, which, naturally, she performs with gusto. During a sleepover at Sylvias apartment, Sylvia informs Margaret that, if she hears any snoring or farting, Its not me. Youre dreaming!

As Margarets parents, Barbara and Herb, Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie shine whenever the issue of religion crops up. The quirky and artistic Barbara was raised in the Midwest by Christian fundamentalists, who disowned her when she married Herb.

Dana Hawley/Lionsgate

The couple have no interest in faith, but want to keep the peace, and things get genuinely fraught when Barbaras parents show up and, in a change from the book, Sylvia gatecrashes the party (all too alert to the anti-Semitism in the air, Sylvia refuses to play nicely). Young cinema goers arent normally exposed to these kind of culture wars. Its pretty raw stuff and McAdams and Safdie handle it beautifully.

Elsewhere, the very fact that Blume has been such an influential figure causes problems. The 85 year old writer paved the way for TV series like Gilmore Girls, Never Have I Ever and even Euphoria (flat-chested Lexi Howard is such a modern-day Margaret).

Id argue the wrangles between Margaret and her perky, mendacious neighbour, Nancy (Elle Graham, especially fantastic in a toilet scene), inspired Mean Girls, too. But the fact is, were now used to non-Cinderella-ish protagonists with down-to-earth mums and bitchy-but-human pals. At times, whats happening on screen feels way too familiar.

And while its great to to see colour-blind casting  in another change from the book, Margarets friend Janie, school-mate Freddy and teacher Mr Benedict (Amari Alexis Price, JeCobi Swain and Echo Kellum), are all black  that decision cant help but affect the films portrait of 1970s America. With the best of intentions, Craig is making the East Coast suburbs look more idyllic and inclusive than they really were.

That said, how can you resist a narrative that takes such care with the retro production details? An ostentatiously groovy sliding door, made out of some kind of laminated wood, adds to the hilarity of the sequence in which Margaret recieves her first kiss, while every inch of the sterile, no-nonsense temple where Margaret hopes to experience a religious epiphany screams, Margaret, youre on your own.

This is, by default, a period drama. To put it another way, its a drama about the joy of getting your period, that doubles as a trip down memory lane. Its cosy, but not too cosy. Seize the chance to meet Margaret, a magnificently impatient heroine in a movie that will thoroughly reward you for going with the flow.

In cinemas from May 19

106mins, cert PG
J ude Law says he was faced with the challenge of portraying a believable killer in a kids movie as he stepped into the role of Captain Hook.

The award-winning actor said he had threaded back story into his character to show the fearsome pirate as a human and explain his wrong choices.

Law stars in Disneys upcoming movie Peter Pan and Wendy, alongside Yara Shahidi and newcomers Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson.

The film is a live-action reimagining of the classic Disney animated film.

Speaking at its rainy London premiere on Thursday, Law told the PA news agency he had to make the character believably scary.

In the book Hook only makes a very brief appearance, he said.

Hes described in, like only two chapters, but two sentences really stuck to me. One was that he killed his own crew with ease, and the other was that he was the only pirate that Long John Silver fears.

So I just thought, Okay, Ive got to make this guy believably scary and believably a killer  in a kids movie.

He continued: Luckily, (director) David (Lowery) gave me an opportunity to thread in his back story that explained some of the damage that had been done, the scarring inside and out.

And I hope that both allowed me to play someone scary but also explained (him) maybe as a human and wrong choices he had made.

The films young stars encouraged other aspiring actors to never give up on your dreams as they spoke of their excitement in landing their parts.

One lesson I learned, a piece of advice I give to anyone who wants to get into acting is just give it a go, Molony told PA.

I never thought Id get the part of Peter Pan, but I did.

Anderson added: Never give up on your dreams. Its tough, its really tough but if you stick with it and believe in yourself, you really can achieve anything.

Dont be scared to look stupid, was the best piece of advice I was ever given.

Peter Pan and Wendy is set for release on Disney+ on April 28.
E urovision Song Contest presenter Julia Sanina will be dressed head to toe in designs from her home country of Ukraine as she takes to the stage at this years final.

The frontwoman of rock band The Hardkiss promised to bring Ukrainian fashion to the contest, which is being hosted by Liverpool on behalf of the country as the Russian invasion continues.

She said: My outfits will be all made in Ukraine. All from Ukrainian designers, from shoes to jewellery to dresses, suits. I would love to bring some Ukrainian fashion into it.

Her co-presenters, actress Hannah Waddingham and Britains Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon, joked they might be playing it down when picking their outfits for the event, normally known for sequins and sparkle.

Dixon said: Could you imagine if we rocked up in a white vest and jeans?

I think its an opportunity to have some fun.

All of us love our fashion, love our clothes, so were going to have fun with it.

The three women met for the first time on Wednesday, at a press launch for the contest, but said there is already a chemistry between them.

Sanina said: Were so different  different energies, different moods, different chemistry  but all together I think it will work great.

Dixon added: I feel so lucky that we get to host as a group of girls together, it feels really empowering.

Waddingham, who stars in Ted Lasso, said she hopes the contest will be a joyful hiatus to what is going on in the world.

She said: Its a moment for everyone to just have, one, the biggest party, two, display their phenomenal talents, and, it sounds like a cliche, but to bring love and tactility and all of those things back to the foreground.

Dixon said: Everybodys included, everybodys invited, everybody can be a part of it, and thats really rare so we should celebrate it.

Sanina said she is feeling the nerves more than her co-hosts as the only Ukrainian presenter on stage for the evening.

Everybodys watching Eurovision from year to year in Ukraine and everybody will watch it, definitely, no matter what, she said.

Its so important for people just for a couple of hours to forget about the reality that we have nowadays and to feel that joy and to feel that happiness with everybody in the world, to come together, to feel that support of the world.

There's a lot of Ukraine in this Eurovision

Theres a lot of Ukraine in this Eurovision  lots of Ukrainian performers, lots of Ukrainian songs and lots of cultural things in Eurovision that Ukrainians will love, definitely.

For us its very important to feel that support and love.

Waddingham praised UK entry Mae Muller, saying: She is so charismatic, aside from having a stonking voice.

Every time I see her perform Im just like This girl is not mucking around, shes here to be noticed and acknowledged.

But the women said that, as hosts, they will remain impartial.

Dixon added: We are the mothers to all of the acts  no, were the sisters!

Waddingham said hosting the contest in Liverpool is a little bit like coming home, and revealed she once appeared in Merseyside soap Brookside.

She said: People in Liverpool are front-footed, they care, theyre passionate. No messing about.

Maybe thats where I get my front foot from my mums from the Isle of Man and I have family in Liverpool so I feel like Ive, a little bit, come home.

Dixon added: Theres so much going on, so many events, so lots of people that havent got the opportunity to come to the show, theres so many things for them to do here. From what Ive seen, Liverpool has just embraced it.

We cant wait. Its just going to be like nothing weve ever experienced before.
I t can be easy to feel disillusioned and powerless as a young person today. (Im 23.) A casual swipe through social media, and the barrage of damning statistics, petition pages and lukewarm infographics that awaits leaves me overwhelmed and riddled with fear for what my future  and woe betide that of any offspring I could eventually have  holds. In my lifetime, CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels have increased catastrophically. Even if we, by some miraculous feat, do manage to curtail global emissions by 2050, temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise throughout this century. But, as the planet hurtles towards doom, we have two choices: sit back and worry or get up and do something.

Many already are. Youll doubtless be familiar with Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion (XR), The Climate Coalition and their stunts. Those and others have blockaded Oxford Circus in a pink party boat (Extinction Rebellion), poured milk on Harrods floor (Animal Rebellion) and brought the M25 to a standstill (Just Stop Oil). Last weekend, demonstrators from Animal Rising delayed the start of the Grand National when they breached the tracks. Their argument has long been that such havoc breeds headlines, which in turn raises awareness. But when, for example, those actions prevent pensioners from getting to urgent hospital appointments, it can prove hard to keep the public on side. Last year, activists from Just Stop Oil hurled tins of tomato soup at Van Goghs Sunflowers. A move that  to say the least  divided opinion.

But is a change in tack afoot for activism? This year, XR released a global statement announcing we quit, and a move towards peaceful protesting, citizens assemblies, and forming and building alliances. When XR first came on to the scene few would have anticipated such a pivotal move away from disruptive campaigns, but this weekend they will gather outside the Houses of Parliament  along with 200 more organisations including Greenpeace, Cafod and Friends of the Earth  for The Big One, a four-day, non-violent demonstration against the Governments negligence towards the ongoing too impossible to ignore environmental, economic and social crisis.

People understand the power in knitting our causes and our struggles together

Clare Farrell, co-founder of XR, recognises that her movement is by no means perfect. But she hopes that it can spark a fairer democracy and compassionate approach to politics. After all, XRs concern is not why to fight  fighting for the future is a given  it is how to fight in order to achieve the best outcome for our planet. People are welcomed into a space where they understand the power in knitting our causes and our struggles together, understanding the connections between each other and how we can work together, she says.

Farrell seems aware that there is a bit of an image problem. Critics of XR argue that its actions are counterproductive, that in the disruption it isolates people from the cause. There is also, says Farrell, a misunderstanding that XR campaigners are middle-class grannies or crusties that are really dangerous. Yet amid all the woke-warrior stereotypes percolating in the media, XR is determined to go against the grain in order to spark systemic change. Surely an annoying conversation or delayed commute is preferable to the alternative, right?

And we are living in an age of renewed vigour in taking to the streets. Over the past year, there have been multiple public demonstrations, with industrial action reaching a scale not seen since the 1970s. The success of many notable uprisings in history lies in the art of being unpopular, which collectively leads to revolution, or as Farrell puts it, making an already shit situation slightly less shit. Take the suffragettes, whose direct, radical action gained women the right to vote, or Martin Luther King Jrs disobedience, which was critical in the progress of the civil rights movement. Surely, decades later, nobody would challenge the means to achieve their ends.

Climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group cross the Millennium bridge in central London / AFP via Getty Images

If they can get this across, and get people on their side, climate activism groups could alter the trajectory of history. In years to come (if we are graced with the good fortune to witness it) we might be grateful for their civil disobedience. The public needs more help to understand what they can achieve in troubled times, says Farrell. People should be pulling together in the name of demanding a politics that actually tackles the problems that we face rather than what we see taking place in Westminster, which is a piss-take.

Construction leads to change. In order to construct something you have to destroy what was there before

Orsola de Castro, co-founder of Fashion Revolution, the global movement of networkers fighting to end human and environmental exploitation in the global fashion industry, mirrors her sentiment. Construction leads to change, says De Castro. In order to construct something you have to destroy what was there before. She adds that social media armchair activism has been effective in waking people up and advises not to lose sight of the collective effort it takes to change the world. But how much do online initiatives amount to meaningful activism?

Teenagers lip-syncing speeches on TikTok and reposting stories is undoubtedly less radical than in-person protesting, however, De Castro believes the benefits of social media shouldnt be overlooked because of their subtlety. You can think of anything thats happening on social media as not valid because it is performative, but activism is about communication; not always going down on to the streets complaining to achieve something, but starting again and doing something more.

As long as people feel disenfranchised there will always be social resistance, whatever form that may take. Unfortunately, a big game changer is always fear, says De Castro. [The impact of] personal activism is zero compared to actual political intervention. She adds: Lets hope that there continues to be opposition, whether you want to call it activism or not, or opposition to the status quo.

As the consequences of climate change worsen with each passing year, there is much work to be done. Farrell suggests we must first restore and repair rifts across social divides, working together to try to save and protect life on a collective level in order to herald a fairer future. We are going to live in a world thats destabilised. We really need to pull together to be able to survive, and theres a lot of difficulty and challenge in that because we live in a fractured world, says Farrell. For XR, every day is Earth Day. Thats the thing.
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday extended congratulations to faculty, students, and alumni of Yunnan University as the university marks its 100th anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to the university.

In his letter, Xi hailed Yunnan University's contribution in nurturing a large number of talent, promoting ethnic unity and progress, and facilitating regional economic growth and social development in the past century.

Xi expressed the expectation that the university can improve its educational performance on all fronts, help forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, and make new and greater contributions to building a country with great strength in education.

Yunnan University, which opened in 1923, is one of the earliest comprehensive universities established in China's western border areas. With over 300,000 alumni in different fields, the university has played an active role in promoting ethnic unity and progress, as well as prosperity and stability in China's border areas. 
H ousebuilding numbers plummeted in London in the second half of last year as work began on fewer than 5,000 homes  less than half the number of starts in the prior six months, according to analysis carried out for Homes & Property.

Private developers began work on just 4,640 residential units in the capital in the six months to the end of 2022, down from 10,950 in the previous six months, and 7,030 in the second half of the prior year, according to a study by alternative-funding provider Wayhome.

While the first and second quarters of last year saw year-on-year increases in private housing starts in London, the third and fourth showed stark drops.

Private housing starts Year-on-year change Q1 2022 3,900 +16% Q2 2022 7,050 +130% Q3 2022 1,970 -51% Q4 2022 2,670 -10%

Source: Wayhome analysis of official data

The drop in new home building followed the announcement of the end of the Help to Buy scheme in May last year. The Government-backed scheme offered equity loans to buyers of new builds costing up to 600,000 in London.

It closed to new entrants in October 2022, with purchases needing to complete by March this year and building work finish by January 31, 2023 after the date was extended by a month.

Help to Buy was credited with supporting the housebuilding industry by supporting people to buy new build homes. More than 40,000 homes in the capital had been bought using the scheme by the end of September last year, Wayhome found.

Chief executive Nigel Purves said the imminent closure of the scheme contributed to a sharp decline in new-build starts over the final quarter of last year.

He added that housing construction spiked in the capital in the first half of last year as developers increased the number of homes started in the run up to the October deadline in order to fill the hopper and take advantage of the final wave of buyer demand driven by Help to Buy.

Builders can only build if buyers can buy

The end of the scheme has coincided with tough market conditions with labour shortages, soaring materials costs and a slowdown in the housing market.

Figures collected by construction insight specialists Glenigan show that just 84 private housing projects started in London in the six months to the end of March 2023. This was down by more than a third from the previous six months, and by more than half from the same period a year earlier.

Glenigan economics director Allan Wilen said: The removal of Help to Buy has coincided with tougher housing market conditions, with mortgage rates rising sharply since last October.

New build properties have particularly appealed to first-time buyers in part due to Help to Buy, and first time buyers have accounted for a high proportion of new house sales over the last few years.

The sharp drop in new project starts in part reflects the impact of the schemes demise, which will also exacerbate the struggle for many to get onto the property ladder.

Marcus Dixon, director of UK residential research at property specialists JLL, said first-time buyers not only had less help with equity following the closure of Help to Buy, but faced higher mortgage rates than six months ago.

The end of Help to Buy will have a greater impact on outer London boroughs, with the higher prices in some inner-London boroughs meaning fewer homes were eligible when the schemes was active, he added.

A spokesman for the Home Builders Federation said: Builders can only build if buyers can buy. We know that people want to buy but their ambitions are being thwarted by reduced mortgage availability since the disastrous mini-Budget, and now the withdrawal of the Help to Buy scheme that has been crucial to the new homes market since 2012.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: The Mayor has made huge progress in building the homes Londoners need, with an average of 10,000 more homes a year completed than under the previous mayoralty. Sadiq has also built record-breaking numbers of affordable homes and more new council homes have been started in London than at any time since the 1970s.

Ministers must respond to the housing crisis with the urgency it deserves and provide the funding and investment necessary to build the volume and quality of AFFORDABLE homes our capital needs.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: We remain committed to delivering 300,000 new homes per year and we are investing 11.5 billion to build the affordable, quality homes this country needs.

Our latest data shows overall annual housing supply was up 10 per cent in 2021/2022 compared to the previous year  the third highest rate for the last 30 years.
T he scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI) group says it has passed fresh information to the police regarding a report of a serious criminal offence.

It comes after police last week launched an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the powerful trade body.

A CBI spokesperson said on Thursday: Late yesterday afternoon, the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence.

We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters.

Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police.

We are anticipating findings from [business law firm] Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently.

The recently sacked boss of the Confederation of British Industry, Tony Danker / PA Archive

The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.

Last week, CBI boss Tony Danker was sacked and three other employees suspended after a series of sexual misconduct claims rocked the trade body, which represents around 190,000 organisations across the UK.

City of London Police, which covers Londons Square Mile, confirmed their probe into the allegations on April 12.

Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Waight said: The City of London Police takes all acts of sexual misconduct and violence against women and girls extremely seriously.

We approached the CBI following media reports and our investigations are at a very early stage.

It would not be appropriate to comment any further at this time.

The police probe came after the Guardian revealed it had been approached by more than a dozen women who claimed to be victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior members of the CBI, who were not Mr Danker.

One woman said she was raped at a staff party.

Mr Danker was in February accused of allegedly making unwanted contact with a woman who works for the CBI.

She is understood to have considered the contact to be sexual harassment.

The CBIs board said Mr Dankers conduct fell short of what was expected of him and said there had been serious failings in how it acted as an organisation. But the ex-boss said that he was shocked by the decision to fire him, and claimed that allegations against him had been distorted.

Mr Danker said the misconduct allegations had left his reputation totally destroyed.

In an interview with the BBC, the former CBI boss acknowledged he had made some staff feel very uncomfortable and he apologised for that, but insisted he had never used sexually suggestive language with people at the company.

You know, there was an incident somebody raised a complaint about unwanted contact, which was verbal contact, he added. There was never any physical contact. Ive never had any physical contact. Ive never used any sexual language. Ive never propositioned anybody.

City of London Police has been approached by the Standard for a comment.
W omen are invited to join female police officers on a Walk and Talk initiative in areas of the Square Mile where they might fear violence.

City of London Police Commissioner Angela McLaren launched the scheme on Thursday, a busy day for commuters, visitors and night revellers.

Figures show numbers of people alighting at Liverpool Street Station is higher than before the start of the pandemic.

Over-18s can stroll with female police to discuss what makes them feel vulnerable or can be done to alleviate concerns.

Commissioner McLaren said: Preventing acts of violence against women and girls is one of our top priorities and we want you to know that we are doing all we can to make you feel safe.

We know that the City of London is a safe place, but we also understand that there have to be conversations about concerns women have, and what we can do to improve trust in the police.

Commissioner Angela McLaren / City of London Police

James Thomson, chair of the City of London Police Authority Board, added: This is a great opportunity for the force to build on public confidence and listen to the views of women in the City.

It is part of our focus on tackling violence against women and girls to ensure that the Square Mile remains the safest business district in the world and also feels safe.

As well as being the major business district in London with some 500,000 workers and 8,000 residents, the City of London is a major visitor destination with a vibrant night-time economy rivalling the West End.

Even though crime levels are amongst the lowest in the country, we are not complacent.

We want to make sure women and girls are safe in the Square Mile, whether at home, online or on the street.

Visitors and City workers will be able to point out streets they dont feel safe walking down at night, poor lighting or ask for security cameras to be installed.

Bishopsgate Police Stations front office is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a safety measure. It will also be a haven for anyone who is in danger or feels vulnerable, especially at night.

For more information visit: https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/police-forces/city-of-london-police/areas/campaigns/walk-and-talk
A mother caused her three-year-old son to die from malnutrition and dehydration by putting him on a religious fast with her during the Covid-19 pandemic, a jury has heard.

Olabisi Abubakar, 41, from Cardiff, is on trial charged with manslaughter and child cruelty relating to the death of her son Taiwo Abubakar.

Cardiff Crown Court heard police were called to Abubakars home in the city on June 29 2020 after a friend raised concerns for her welfare.

The prosecution case is that Ms Abubakar consciously and deliberately neglected Taiwo by failing to provide him with food and water, causing him to join her in fasting as a religious act

Mark Heywood KC, prosecuting, told the jury: When the police forced entry into the flat, they found a tragic and distressing scene.

Olabisi Abubakar was lying on a sofa bed. She was noticeably thin, malnourished and dehydrated.

Lying beside her was Taiwo. He was severely emaciated and cold to the touch. It was clear that Taiwo had been dead for some time.

Mr Heywood said Abubakar was taken to hospital, where she was treated for her physical condition but it became apparent that she was also mentally unwell.

She is currently detained in hospital for ongoing treatment and has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the jury heard.

The evidence suggests that in 2020, fearful of the coronavirus pandemic and under personal pressure, she caused Taiwo to fast both of food and water along with her

Mr Heywood told the jury: The prosecution case is that Ms Abubakar consciously and deliberately neglected Taiwo by failing to provide him with food and water, causing him to join her in fasting as a religious act.

Ms Abubakar is a deeply religious Pentecostal Christian, for whom fasting is a tenet of her faith.

Her religion makes it clear that fasting is an act of devotion, and children  too young to understand this  should not fast.

The evidence suggests that in 2020, fearful of the coronavirus pandemic and under personal pressure, she caused Taiwo to fast both of food and water along with her.

The court heard Abubakar was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where she married and had four children with her husband before moving alone to London in 2011.

She formed a connection with the Christ Apostolic Canaanland Church in Charlton, south London, though never became a full member.

Abubakar, an asylum seeker, initially lived in London but was moved to Cardiff after giving birth to Taiwo in April 2017.

There were no concerns for Abubakar or Taiwo between 2017 and 2019.

Mr Heywood said Abubakar was known to fast as part of her faith and had attempted to dry fast  consuming no food or liquid  for immigration issues and an operation Taiwo underwent.

People who knew Abubakar through churches in Cardiff before the coronavirus pandemic believed she was a devoted mother and thought well of her, he told the jury.

Abubakar was very concerned by the dangers of Covid-19 and stayed indoors, asking friend Chike Obi to bring her shopping to her flat, Mr Heywood said.

In early June 2020, Mr Obi saw Taiwo for the first time since the lockdown had started  when the child had been fat and healthy  and noticed he was unhappy and very thin, Mr Heywood said.

Mr Obi became concerned after not hearing from Abubakar and went to her flat on June 29, phoning 999 when he could not gain entry.

Taiwo was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination found he weighed just 9.8kg, with no evidence to suggest his death was caused by anything other than malnutrition and dehydration, the prosecution said.

Mr Heywood said it was not disputed that Abubakar had neglected Taiwo but the issue in the case was her state of mind at the time.

Two psychiatrists are due to give evidence that during the time leading up to his death, she was suffering delusions brought on by paranoid schizophrenia, he told the jury.

Prosecutors say she remained capable of forming the intent that is a component of the offence of cruelty to a child.

Jurors will have to decide whether Abubakar may have been insane at the time of the alleged offending, which would make her not guilty of the charges against her by reason of insanity.

In police interviews, Abubakar told officers she did not remember anything from falling asleep on June 27 to 29 when the police attended her flat.

She described this wakening as coming back to life  she believed she had been in heaven because she could see relatives that had died and heard angels singing, Mr Heywood said.

She had said she did not want to die, and angels brought her back to life.

Abubakar told police she mostly fasted during Easter but insisted Taiwo did not fast because he was young, telling officers he was healthy and eating well.

Officers found a notebook in which Abubakar appeared to describe fasting with Taiwo, with one entry reading: Thank you, Jesus Christ, for this three days fasting for the coronal 19 (sic), for the nation.

Me and my child thank you Jesus Christ that I and my child can be chosen for this fasting for the nation.

She later told police that Taiwo had never fasted and she did not understand why she had written that.

Abubakar has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and two counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.
V ictims, witnesses and defendants are waiting years for justice as Londons courts are weighed down by a quarter of the national criminal case backlog, new figures reveal.

The number of cases waiting to be heard has nearly doubled across England and Wales in the past four years, thanks to funding cutbacks, the pandemic and a feud between barristers and government over legal aid rates. In London, fresh data shows the capitals crown courts are dealing with more than a quarter of the 60,898 backlog, compared with a 20 per cent share four years ago.

The average time between a crime happening and justice being served is now over a year  for the first time in a decade. Trials are being farmed out to courts in Winchester and Swansea in a bid to combat Londons backlog, while three Nightingale courts remain open to take on extra cases.

However, Kirsty Brimelow KC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, hit out at the devastating waste of money when trials cannot happen due to a lack of lawyers. It is devastating to complainants, victims, witnesses, and defendants, she said.

The impact on those caught up in the criminal justice system in London is clear to see on a daily basis, as judges make routine apologies for delays of a year or more, while barristers tell victims and defendants to prepare themselves for a long wait.

Snaresbrook crown court is a symbol of decline in criminal justice, where lawyers, judges, and staff work hard just to stop the crisis spinning out of control in a building that is crumbling.

The court has a backlog of 3,817 cases  more than all of Greater Manchester and almost twice the size of the backlog in Wales. This month, a woman was considering pulling out of a domestic abuse case against her ex-boyfriend, having first complained of being assaulted in October 2021. A trial cannot be held until December next year.

Along the corridor, jurors were picking over texts sent five years earlier in an alleged 20,000 money laundering plot which has only just come to trial.

The pattern of delay is now familiar. A 25-year-old east London man with learning difficulties is accused of the sexual abuse of a young girl, with allegations dating back to 2014.

Speed is of the essence so that memories do not fade even further, in a case that has been under investigation since early 2021. But when the clerk calls Snaresbrooks list office, a trial slot cannot be found until February 2024.

Its inhumane to put victims through this, says Londons victims commissioner Claire Waxman, urging the Government to provide long-term funding to help get to grips with the out-of-control backlogs.

According to the MoJs latest statistics, 29 per cent of criminal cases nationally have been live for more than a year  a new high  including 5,568 cases that have been open for over two years.

For rape cases in London, there is an average delay of 425 days between charge and a case concluding in the crown court, compared with 230 days in 2014. Nationally, there are now more than 2,000 rape cases waiting to be heard  a new record.

Snaresbrook is also emblematic of the physical decay of the justice system. Inside the Grade II listed Gothic former orphanage, which was built in the 1840s, paint peels off the walls, ceiling tiles are loose and broken lavatory appliances are taped off.

Swear words have been carved into court benches and never been repaired, while staff write out by hand the list of barristers  saddled with a computer system that has not worked for months.

Outside, scaffolding obscures the walls as workmen carry out the latest repairs on the roof, with the din of drilling disrupting proceedings, including the plea hearing of a 21-year-old Londoner accused of a stranger rape.

The alleged attack happened in April 2022 and barristers agree the case will be ready for trial by this summer, but hope quickly turns to disappointment when a July 15 trial date is offered. This year? asked the judge. No, thats next year, Im afraid, replies the clerk.

HM Courts and Tribunal Service has opened a series of Nightingale courts. It has also removed limits on sitting days and invested hundreds of millions of pounds. But in a system depleted by years of cutbacks, only a modest target of cutting the national backlog to 53,000 by 2025 can be set.

Figures show nearly 1,000 crown court trials in London had to be abandoned at the height of last years legal aid feud between barristers and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab. But data also reveals 184 trials in London  and 531 nationally  could not happen in 2022 because there was no available prosecutor or judge, highlighting a problem not related to the strike.

The Ministry of Justice said: We are taking action to restore the swift access to justice victims deserve  including lifting the cap on the number of days courts can sit and opening six Nightingale crown courtrooms across London.
A serving Met Police officer is due in court after being charged with outraging public decency on Hampstead Heath.

DC Dariusz Alexander, 48, was off-duty when the incident allegedly took place at the popular north London beauty spot.

Alexander, who is attached to the Met Operations Command, was charged via postal charge requisition and was due to appear at Thames Magistrates Court on Thursday.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: The Mets Directorate of Professional Standards is aware and the officer has been suspended from duty.

The Met has also made a referral to police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
T he head of the Police Federation of England and Wales has said the Met is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

Chairman Steve Hartshorn pitted himself against Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley and the forces rank-and-file branch by accepting the finding of Baroness Louise Caseys bombshell review into Sarah Everards killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick last month.

In an interview marking the 30th anniversary of teenager Stephen Lawrences murder, Mr Hartshorn added he expected a backlash for his seismic comments, which he stressed were his personal view.

Ken Marsh, chair of the Mets Police Federation, described Mr Hartshorns comments as very unhelpful, adding he stood by Sir Marks assessment which he said were backed up academic studies.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark said he accepted Baroness Caseys diagnosis of racism, misogyny and homophobia in the force but would not use term institutional because it has become politicised and means different things to different people.

Former Met firearms officer Mr Hartshorn was elected last year to represent 130,000 officers across the country.

He said becoming the first leader of a major British policing body to publicly air his opinion is an act of leadership.

Asked if he accepted Caseys key findings about discrimination being institutional in the Met, Mr Hartshorn told the Guardian: For me, I personally do accept the findings in the report.

I represent lots of those people that have come forward to speak. Some of my colleagues will probably not like the fact that Im accepting there are institutional failings and biases within such a massive organisation.

Steve Hartshorn / Met Federation

But then many will, and go well, whats the harm in accepting it if we understand that its not labelling every officer as institutionally racist, sexist, homophobic, corrupt?

He added: You just say that these poor practices and certain behaviours must change so we can understand peoples negative lived experiences to get better and improve on that. And that in turn, should give confidence that policing is part of the community and hopefully start to reassure the public we are listening.

The Macpherson report into 18-year-old Stephens racist murder in Eltham, south east London on April 22, 1993 labelled the force institutionally racist. The original police investigation was hindered from the start amid allegations of racism and corruption.

On Wednesday his mother Doreen Lawrence said that the Metropolitan Police has failed to change in the 30 years since his murder.

She claimed officers can be as brutal as they want without being held to account and black people are never seen as individuals that should have justice.
P olice have launched a manhunt after a young girl was sexually assaulted in a south London shopping centre.

Detectives released an image of a man they want to trace after a 12-year-old girl was approached inside a shop in a Sutton shopping centre at around 4.15pm on Saturday February 25.

An appeal states a stranger went on to touch her inappropriately a number of times.

A Met spokesman said: The matter was reported to police and the victim continues to be supported by specialist officers.

The suspect is described by police as being of average build, in his late 20s to early 30s, wearing a flat cap, black coat and grey tracksuit trousers.

He also appeared to have a brown beard and moustache, police said.

Anyone who recognises the man in the image should call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting reference CAD 1707/27Feb. To remain 100% anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A construction worker is set to spend less than a year in prison for killing a millionaire banking executive in Londons West End during a row over a mobile phone.

Steven Allan, 34, was consumed by a mistaken belief that his friends phone had been stolen when he attacked 52-year-old Paul Mason in West Street, Soho.

Mr Mason, a highly respected banking executive who worked for the Qatar National Bank, was on his way home after dining with a friend at The Ivy, the Old Bailey heard, when he was set upon by the complete stranger.

In a series of events described by the judge as truly extraordinary and a horror story, Mr Masons phone lit up while walking past Allan at the exact moment he was attempting to call his friend.

In an incident that lasted just 12 seconds, Allan  in the midst of a panic attack - struck the banker several times in an unsuccessful bid to get hold of the phone, ultimately knocking him on to the pavement where he was rendered unconscious.

Mr Mason suffered brain injuries and died in hospital around six months after the attack, on December 15, 2020.

Allan, a site manager at a construction project on the edge of Hyde Park, admitted manslaughter and was tried and acquitted over a charge of murder.

Met Police

Judge Michael Topolski KC sentenced Allan to three-years-and-nine-months in prison for the killing, and said afterwards: Im well aware the sentence Ive just passed will seem like nothing to (Mr Masons) family.

Allan will serve half his sentence behind bars before being released on parole, and can count a year and two months as already served due to being on a curfew while awaiting his trial and retrial on the murder charge. He was sent to prison today but will be set free again within a year.

Judge Topolski concluded Allan was reckless in his use of violence but had not intended to cause serious harm.

The circumstances that to the defendant causing the death of a perfectly respectable and wholly innocent stranger who happened to be passing by are as extraordinary as they are tragic, he said.

During the course of cross-examination in your trial, you expressed that all the thought that evening amounted to unsupported nonsense.

You said you had taken leave of your senses and behaved out of character because you genuinely believed you had an anxiety and panic attack that evening.

You will have to live with the knowledge for the rest of your life that you were responsible for taking that mans life. The mystery that underlines the behaviour is why you went from a heightened state of anxiety to a man of violence in a matter of seconds.

In a powerful victim impact statement, Mr Masons sister Rachel Mason revealed that their brother Simon had died from an overdose just three months after Mr Mason succumbed to his injuries.

Youve broken my family for evermore. Im overwhelmed with feelings of shock, disbelief and hatred towards you. How dare you take Pauls life?, she said.

I just cant comprehend someone doing this to another human being especially someone I loved so much.

Ms Mason said they had to watch their brother on FaceTime as lay in a coma due to Covid restrictions, calling him a remarkable, kind, decent, gentle soul who was so successful in every aspect of his life, highly regarded in his international banking career, loved dearly by his family.

Holding up his mobile phone in court and looking directly at Allan, she said: This is Pauls phone. You killed him for this.

I hope you feel sick in the pit of your stomach every day for the rest of your life as you live with being a, in my mind, murderer.

Allan, from Hook in Hampshire, had been drinking with a friend after work but told the court he rarely went to the West End and did not like the area.

His friend wanted to go to another venue but Allan was reluctant so stayed outside, standing at the end of West Street where he would ultimately encounter Mr Mason by chance.

As Allan grew increasingly nervous about his friends welfare in the venue, plagued by thoughts that he would be robbed, he got out his phone to call him.

But he mistakenly came to the conclusion that his call  unanswered by his friend  had gone to the handset Mr Mason was carrying as he walked to catch a taxi home.

The phone lit up as they crossed paths, and Allan was caught on camera storming over to Mr Mason demanding to see if it was his friends handset.

Mr Mason, described as kind and gentle, attempted to turn away from the confrontation but was pursued by Allan.

Shocked passersby saw Allan delivered a series of blows as Mr Mason resisted, with a final punch sending him falling on to the pavement, striking his head hard as he collapsed.

Three passing nurses were hailed for their bravery as they rushed to help Mr Mason, administering care before an air ambulance landed in the middle of Soho to take him to hospital.

Allan stayed at the scene for less than a minute, leaving after being admonished by the nurses for touching Mr Masons head in an attempt to help him.

He handed himself in the following day after seeing CCTV images of himself being circulated by the Met Police.

Allan denied murder and was acquitted at a retrial.
H eadteachers could go on strike after their union said they will ballot members on industrial action.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it will hold a formal ballot for national strike action in England for the first time in its history "over the school funding crisis, the erosion of teacher and leader pay and conditions, and consequent staff shortages which are undermining the education system".

The union's executive committee of senior elected members met on Wednesday afternoon and unanimously decided to move to a formal ballot on strike action. The union represents more than 23,000 leaders of primary, secondary and post-16 education from across the UK.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said: "ASCL has never before formally balloted at a national level and this is clearly a very significant step. The fact that we have reached this point reflects the desperate situation regarding inadequate funding, long-term pay erosion, teacher shortages, and the intransigence of a government which we can only conclude does not value the education workforce or recognise the severe pressures facing the sector.

"We have made every effort to resolve this matter through negotiations prior to reaching this point.

Unfortunately, the government's offer has failed to sufficiently address pay and conditions, and, critically, did not provide enough funding for even the meagre proposal it put forward. Following the rejection of the offer by all education unions involved - ASCL, NAHT, NEU and NASUWT - the government has made no effort to reopen negotiations and has said only that the issue of pay will now revert to the School Teachers' Review Body.

"The conclusion of the executive committee is that the government has left us with no option other than to conduct a formal ballot for national strike action.

"This action is taken as a last resort and with a heavy heart, but we cannot accept the continued damage to education caused by government neglect and complacency."

The ballot will be held during the summer term at a date to be decided and if members opt to strike the union said action would be expected to take place during the autumn term of the next school year.

Schools are already facing disruption due to strike action by teachers in a separate dispute over pay. Teachers who are part of The National Education Union (NEU) in England are next due to walk out on Thursday, April 27 and Tuesday, May 2.
UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's population is running out of food, fuel and other vital supplies, and the health care system is in danger of collapse, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.

"We desperately need a humanitarian pause so that wounded and sick civilians can reach hospitals," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "People in the capital Khartoum have been unable to safely leave their homes to buy food and other essentials for days now."

OCHA reported on a severely hampered relief-response system and called for a halt to attacks against aid workers and looting of humanitarian facilities. It said that humanitarian actors must be able to carry out their work safely, and aid agencies must be able to move staff and replenish critical supplies safely.

"We are worried that Sudan's health care system could completely collapse," the UN humanitarians said. "Hospitals need additional staff, supplies, and blood."

The World Health Organization listed 16 hospitals across Sudan forced to shut down due to attacks. Nine of them are in the capital of Khartoum, and a further 16 hospitals, including in Darfur states, could close soon due to staff fatigue and lack of supplies.

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces broke out on Saturday, forcing civilians to seek shelter from the hostilities. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured.

"We condemn all attacks on health personnel, facilities and ambulances -- which are putting more lives at risk," said OCHA. "They are flagrant violations of international law, and they must stop now." 
M edical cannabis is an industry of the future with the potential of creating thousands of jobs in rural areas if properly supported by the Government, a Tory former cabinet minister has said.

David Mundell urged ministers to have a much more coordinated and focused approach when it comes to supporting the medical cannabis sector, which he described as huge and growing.

In an interview with the PA news agency, the Tory MP said he is not advocating for legalisation of recreational use, but simply wants to highlight the opportunities that flow from the growing and manufacturing of medical cannabis-related products.

Cannabis in the UK is illegal for recreational use and is classified as a Class B drug, whereas medical use of cannabis, when prescribed by a registered specialist doctor, was legalised in November 2018.

However, according to the NHS, very few people are likely to get a prescription for medical cannabis.

Currently, it is likely to be prescribed only for children and adults with rare, severe forms of epilepsy, adults with vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy and people with muscle stiffness and spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, but it would be considered only when other treatments were not suitable or had not helped.

Speaking ahead of leading a Westminster Hall debate on the issue on Thursday, Mr Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) said: I have the development of a large medical cannabis facility in my constituency.

It is called Hilltop Leaf and I wanted to highlight the fact that this is a huge industry, a growing industry, an industry of the future because medical cannabis isnt just legal here in the UK. Its legal in many parts of the world and its a great opportunity for the UK to be at the forefront of this industry.

But unfortunately, we just make it very difficult.

Urging ministers to change their approach, the former Scotland secretary said: What I am looking for is for the Government to have a much more coordinated and focused approach to supporting this industry as an industry of the future with the potential to create thousands of jobs, particularly in rural areas.

But also, we have to get through the logjam in relation to prescriptions.

Mr Mundell pointed to the very few NHS prescriptions, adding: Its not something that you would necessarily get a prescription from your GP. Its like a cancer drug, you would go to see a specialist and then they would prescribe it and then your GP would give you repeat prescriptions.

The Tory MP insisted there has to be a lot more work with GPs to give GPs confidence themselves to prescribe it in certain circumstances, adding: We have cancer centres of excellence, where we have consultants with expertise in the use of cancer drugs. We essentially have to have consultants who are experts in the use of medical cannabis.

So there are structural issues in the health service that need to be overcome.

Pressed further on the economic benefits that would flow from better supporting the sector, Mr Mundell reiterated the main one would be the creation of thousands of jobs, particularly in rural areas where there is not the equivalent level of professional jobs.

We have cancer centres of excellence, where we have consultants with expertise in the use of cancer drugs. We essentially have to have consultants who are experts in the use of medical cannabis

When asked whether he would want the UK to follow Germanys example and legalise the drug, Mr Mundell said: I am not advocating for legalisation of recreational use.

And I actually think one of the problems for the industry is people still associating it with recreational cannabis.

There are conflicting views on that, whereas there is a sort of universal support as far as I can see in relation to medical use.

This is about the opportunities that flow from growing and manufacturing medical cannabis related-products.
A n independent organisation must be brought in to broker a deal between junior doctors and the Government for the sake of patients and the NHS, medical leaders have warned.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges called on Health Secretary Steve Barclay and the British Medical Association (BMA) to rapidly engage with a conciliation service to break the deadlock.

NHS data showed nearly 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures in England had to be rescheduled when more than 47,000 junior doctors staged a 96-hour walkout last week over pay. The BMA has warned that further strikes will take place this year without a "credible" pay offer.

In a statement, the Academy said it was concerned that an agreement had still not been struck between the two sides.

All colleges are keenly aware of the concerns and frustration of doctors throughout the NHS and the intense workload pressures they, along with other NHS professionals, are facing as a result of workforce shortages and as a legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic, it read.

These are issues which do need to be addressed as a matter of urgency and junior doctors have the support of the Academy and their own colleges in doing this.

We urge both parties to engage swiftly and to enter negotiations with a commitment to work constructively and to offer flexibility.

The Academy represents some of Britains most senior doctors and helped to mediate negotiations between junior doctors and the Government during their last dispute in 2016.

Junior Doctors Strike | April 2023 1 / 28 Junior Doctors Strike | April 2023 PA PA AFP via Getty Images PA REUTERS PA PA PA PA PA AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images PA Wire PA Wire PA Wire PA PA PA

The BMA last week suggested using conciliation service Acas to broker talks, but Mr Barclay has insisted that he will not negotiate with the union until it drops its 35 per cent pay demand.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) will strike for 48 hours from April 30 in a separate dispute after narrowly rejecting a pay offer.

Ambulance workers from Unite announced on Wednesday they would walk out alongside nurses and teachers on May 2.

But Unison, which represents London paramedics, has accepted the deal and other unions including GMB will reveal ballot results in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, a medical leader warned that conditions in the health service were really tough and that the NHS was heading for a worse winter than the last.

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: What has happened in February and March is setting a trajectory that were heading for a worse winter when we come up towards the end of this year. If you look at the length of stay that were seeing in emergency departments, its much worse than it was at an equivalent time last year.

He said the vast majority of this is caused by a deeper underlying problem".

"Weve had seven days of junior doctors strikes, but these problems have been building up for at least the last five years.
T he NHS has launched legal action to block the second day of an upcoming nurses strike.

NHS Employers has written to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warning that plans for a 48-hour strike are unlawful as they fall outside the unions six-month mandate, the Guardian reported.

Tens of thousands of nurses will walk out across England from 8pm on April 30 after rejecting a pay offer.

The union secured a six-month mandate for industrial action last November 2  but the NHS reportedly claims this does not extend to May 2.

Lawyers representing the RCN are said to have told the NHS they would forcefully resist any attempt to seek a high court injunction to block the strike.

The RCN will seek a fresh mandate for industrial action for June to December, with General Secretary Pat Cullen warning that strikes could continue until Christmas.

Daniel Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: The RCN ballot for industrial action ended at midday on 2nd November 2022 and allows the union six months to undertake any action approved by that ballot.

NHS Employers has written to the RCN stating our view  on behalf of Trusts in England, and with clear legal advice  that the RCNs mandate for industrial action ends at midnight on Monday 1st May.

We have therefore asked the RCN to amend its guidance to its members regarding any action planned for Tuesday 2nd May 2023. We are in ongoing exchanges with the RCN on this matter.

The Standard has contacted the RCN for comment.

Separately, the NHS Confederation on Thursday urged the RCN to reconsider staffing critical services during the upcoming strike.

Derogations are areas of care where unions agree to provide staffing during industrial action, such as mental health services, cancer or A&E.

In December, the RCN agreed to some derogations but has said there will not be any this time as it escalates its industrial action.

In a statement, the NHS Confederation said mental health leaders are very concerned that a lack of derogations would run the risk of a severe and sustained impact on services.

The NHS Confederation said the RCNs current stance could mean people become a risk to themselves, including by self-harming or in extreme cases taking their own lives, as well as to others.

Responding, an RCN spokesman said: Nursing staff dont want to go on strike.

We have given the NHS and Government two weeks to plan for this and its the responsibility of the employer to maintain safe staffing levels.

Separately, medical leaders on Thursday said that an independent organisation must be brought in to broker a deal between junior doctors and the Government for the sake of patients and the NHS.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges called on Health Secretary Steve Barclay and the British Medical Association (BMA) to rapidly engage with a conciliation service to break the deadlock.

NHS data showed nearly 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures in England had to be rescheduled when more than 47,000 junior doctors staged a 96-hour walkout last week over pay. The BMA has warned that further strikes will take place this year without a "credible" pay offer.

The BMA last week suggested using conciliation service Acas to broker talks, but Mr Barclay has insisted that he will not negotiate with the union until it drops its 35 per cent pay demand.
M edical chiefs have called for a third party to broker talks between junior doctors and the Government.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges urged both parties to rapidly engage with an independent organisation to work out how the deadlock can be broken for the sake of patients and the wider NHS.

It comes as health chiefs fear the prospect of unions including the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) co-ordinating strikes or holding them in sequence, which would have a massive impact on the NHS.

Ambulance workers from Unite announced on Wednesday they would walk out alongside nurses and teachers on May 2.

An RCN nurse strike is already scheduled from April 30 to May 2 following a ballot which rejected a 5% pay deal.

To this end both parties need to rapidly engage with an independent organisation to work out how the deadlock can be broken for the sake of patients and the wider NHS

Last week, the BMA asked the Government to enter talks facilitated by the conciliation service Acas to end the bitter dispute over pay.

Downing Street said there will be no talks unless junior doctors abandon their starting position of a 35% pay rise and call off the strikes.

Nearly 200,000 hospital appointments and procedures in England had to be rescheduled when tens of thousands of junior doctors staged a 96-hour strike in a dispute over pay between April 11 and 15.

NHS England data showed 20,470 inpatient procedures had to be rescheduled, along with 175,755 outpatient appointments  making a total of 196,225.

An average of 26,145 staff per day were absent from work as a result of the industrial action.

In a statement on Wednesday night, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said it was concerned a solution had not yet been reached and worried about the anticipated impact on NHS services and patients.

All colleges are keenly aware of the concerns and frustration of doctors throughout the NHS and the intense workload pressures they, along with other NHS professionals, are facing as a result of workforce shortages and as a legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic, the medical chiefs said.

These are issues which do need to be addressed as a matter of urgency and junior doctors have the support of the Academy and their own colleges in doing this.

We urge both parties to engage swiftly and to enter negotiations with a commitment to work constructively and to offer flexibility.

To this end both parties need to rapidly engage with an independent organisation to work out how the deadlock can be broken for the sake of patients and the wider NHS.

It comes after the NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said the strikes were having a colossal impact on planned care in the NHS.

Each of the 195,000 appointments postponed has an impact on the lives of individuals and their families and creates further pressure on services and on a tired workforce  and this is likely to be an underestimate of the impact as some areas provisionally avoided scheduling appointments for these strike days, he said.

Our staff now have an immense amount of work to catch up on hundreds of thousands of appointments, all while continuing to make progress on tackling the backlog of people who have been waiting the longest for treatment. We have now seen nearly half a million appointments rescheduled over the last five months, and with each strike, it becomes harder.

While our staff are doing all they possibly can to manage the disruption, it is becoming increasingly difficult and the impact on patients and staff will unfortunately continue to worsen.

On Wednesday, Sir Simon Stevens, former head of the NHS, writing in The Spectator, said its clear the health departments industrial relations strategy isnt going to plan.

He suggested dis-satisfaction among junior doctors also has deeper causes than just pay and include staffing levels and worker burnout.

Regarding all health strikes, he said: Could the current lose-lose standoff have been avoided? By last autumn it was obvious that inflation was far higher than assumed by the independent NHS review bodies, so their original recommendations wouldnt stick.

At that point they could have been asked, exceptionally, to make an improved 18-month pay recommendation. That might have drawn the sting while preserving their legitimacy.

Had it been coupled with the Governments long-awaited NHS workforce plan to expand and reform training, frontline staff might have seen light at the end of tunnel.

Now if further strikes drag on, at the very least waiting lists will worsen. The nuclear option of withdrawing cover for emergency services and urgent cancer care would be unconscionable.

Elsewhere, on Thursday, Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that problems have been building up for at least the last five years.

Calling for an increase in capacity, he said the NHS requires more money, with funding needing to be deployed in a much more planned way.
L eading childrens health experts have sounded the alarm over dwindling uptake in routine vaccines for youngsters after new calculations show that tens of millions have missed out on life-saving jabs over the last few years.

Unicef has calculated that some some 67 million children around the world did not receive routine jabs between 2019 and 2021, which can protect against potentially deadly illnesses.

The international childrens body said overall support for vaccines remains relatively strong but several factors suggest the threat of vaccine hesitancy may be growing.

We cannot allow confidence in routine immunisations to become another victim of the pandemic otherwise the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases

These factors include uncertainty about the response to the pandemic, growing access to misleading information, declining trust in expertise, and political polarisation, according to a new Unicef report.

Catherine Russell, Unicefs executive director, said: At the height of the pandemic, scientists rapidly developed vaccines that saved countless lives. But despite this historic achievement, fear and disinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the virus itself.

We cannot allow confidence in routine immunisations to become another victim of the pandemic otherwise the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases.

Unicef said there is an urgent need to catch up on children who missed their jabs to prevent deadly disease outbreaks.

The latest annual figures for England show that vaccine coverage in 2021/22 decreased compared with 2020/21.

As a result, health officials issued a stark warning about the serious health risks from children missing out on their routine jabs.

Young children in the UK are offered a number of vaccines as part of their routine childhood jabs.

These protect against a number of serious illnesses including measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio, and some forms of meningitis.

The UK Health Security Agency said last year that vaccination rates have fallen over several years and also faced additional disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile Unicef UK has urged the Government to work with the countries which have fallen furthest behind with routine childhood jabs.

Liam Sollis, deputy director of advocacy for Unicef UK, said: Its devastating that 67 million children have missed out on vaccinations in three years.

Health systems and services that keep children alive are cracking under the pressure of multiple global crises, while confidence in these systems is faltering too.

Immunisation rates at such low levels will mean decades of progress for children being undone.

Unicef UK is calling for the UK Government to work with the worst affected countries to develop resilient health systems and fund immunisation services. Prioritising catch-up schemes and vaccinating missed children is the best way to demonstrate the UKs commitment to ending preventable deaths.
T rains running to and from Liverpool Street were among those majorly disrupted on Thursday afternoon due to a signal failure at Tottenham Hale.

Trains running through Tottenham Hale were being cancelled and delayed, Greater Anglia warned on its website, with the issue expected to last until around 5pm.

Services affected include trains running from London Liverpool Street, to Cambridge and Stansted Aiport.

Cristina Torrente, who was heading to Stansted Airport from Liverpool Street said: Whats happening with the 13:25 train for Liv street to Stansted airport?

We are not moving and we have no updates!

As of 2.42pm, Network Rail said all lines had now reopened following the signal failure but warned there will be further cancellations, delays or revised timetables.

Due to the dsruption, Greater Anglia rail said tickets can now be used for Great Northern services between Kings Cross and Cambridge and between Moorgate and Hertford North.

Network Rail has been approached for further information.
A worker is believed to have died after becoming trapped on the top floor of an office building in central London.

Paramedics, police and firefighters raced to 10 Fleet Place after a man became trapped on the ninth floor at around 10.20am on Thursday.

One office worker told The Standard: No-one knew what was going on, our bosses didnt tell us.

There were loads of fire engines, police the works. There have been maintenance guys on all the floors of the building today.

Its so sad to lose your life at work. No-one gets paid enough for that.

A source said the worker is believed to have been trapped in machinery but ruled out an elevator.

City of London Police forensics were last on the scene after road closures were removed.

Barney Davis

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said they responded to a report of a man trapped on the ninth floor.

Crews worked to rescue the man but he sadly died at the scene, he added.

Fire engines, including a fire rescue unit, from Dowgate, Islington and Soho fire stations attended the scene alongside partners from the City of London Police and London Ambulance Service.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson, added: We sent numerous resources to the scene, including two ambulance crews, an incident response officer, a clinical team manager and members of our hazardous area response team (HART). We also dispatched Londons Air Ambulance.

Sadly, despite the best efforts of our crews, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chief Inspector Tom Fisher, from the City of London Police, said: Officers were called at 10:07am to an industrial incident in Fleet Place to assist the London Ambulance Service, Londons Air Ambulance and London Fire Brigade. Sadly, one person died at the scene.

The company whose floor the man died on declined to comment.
L ily Allen says she has mostly given up music for acting as she struggles with criticism in todays political climate.

I still write songs with some sort of frequency, but the elephant in the room is that the political climate is really difficult at the moment for creative output, Allen, right, told Australian media. She added that she feels stifled writing songs and posting on social media, particularly now that she is sober and doesnt have alcohol to help feel less exposed.

Allen, who has often shared her Left-wing views, says she is a lightning rod for criticism from the other side. She apologised after her 2013 video Hard out Here was accused of being racist for its use of black female dancers.

Allen is now starring in the Sky Atlantic show Dreamland. On the stage acting, I feel like I get to explore the same subject matters, but I dont have to take responsibility for them she said.

Theatres bring in bodycams to stop abuse

SOME theatres are fitting staff with cameras in an effort to tame bad audience behaviour. Trafalgar Theatres, whose 14 venues across the UK include the one on Whitehall, told The Stage that bodycams would help lower the temperature. Police were called to a show in Manchester this month when some in the crowd agressively refused to stop singing along. Will cameras bring down the curtain on abuse?

Suella considers phone-in self-defence

Home Secretary Suella Braverman (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA Wire

Suella Braverman says she nearly called into a recent radio phone-in debate over whether she is racist. I thought about calling in as Margaret from Fareham, she says in The Spectator. She was criticised for comments on the ethnicity of grooming gangs. The generally combative Home Secretary added: A core part of my job is ensuring... I dont consistently displease a majority. Dont bank on her trying a gentler tack, though.

Is death better than Dollis Hill?

David Baddiel risked the wrath of north-west London promoting his book The God Desire last night. Speaking in an Intelligence Squared event at Notting Hills Tabernacle, he and host Richard Ayoade wondered whether an afterlife was always better than nothing at all. Baddiel said thoughtfully: I was living in Dollis Hill in 1973 ... it wasnt unlike death. Cue angry letters...

Ronnie remembers the rocking Sixties

Londoners Diary 20th April 23 1 / 8 Londoners Diary 20th April 23 Ronnie Wood Celebrates His Art Collection & Limited Edition Apparel At RS No.9 Carnaby Sally Wood (L) and Ronnie Wood attend an intimate celebration of Ronnie Wood's art collection and limited edition apparel at RS No. 9 Carnaby on April 19, 2023 in London, England. Pic credit: Dave Benett Dave Benett/Getty Images Focus Features And Universal Pictures Present Special Screening Of "Polite Society" In London Malala Yousafzai and Asser Malik attend the special screening of "Polite Society" presented by Focus Features and Universal Pictures at The Curzon Mayfair on April 19, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Universal Pictures) Getty Images for Universal Pictu La Mer Heritage Dinner Gugu Mbatha-Raw attends the La Mer heritage dinner at Frameless, Marble Arch Place on April 19, 2023 in London, England. Dave Benett La Mer Heritage Dinner Cush Jumbo attends the La Mer heritage dinner at Frameless, Marble Arch Place on April 19, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for La Mer) Dave Benett Launch of New Plymouth Gin "Ocean Edition" Bottle with Luke Evans Luke Evans attends the launch of the new Plymouth Gin "Ocean Edition" bottle, created in partnership with ocean charity The Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT), at London Shell Co. on April 19, 2023 in London, England. Pic Credit: Dave Benett Dave Benett Bombay Sapphire and Baz Luhrmann Launch "Saw This, Made This" Installation Baz Luhrmann and Ai-Da Robot attend the launch of the Bombay Sapphire "Saw This, Made This" installation created in collaboration with Baz Luhrmann at the Design Museum London on April 19, 2023 in London, England. The installation will be open to the public from 21st to 24th April 2023. Pic Credit: Dave Benett Dave Benett

Guitar man Ronnie Wood showed a set of his art works at the Rolling Stones shop in Carnaby Street yesterday, telling us that the area used to be rocking... in the Sixties. Celebrating a new edition of Guitarscapes prints at the RS No. 9 Carnaby store, Wood joked that lockdown made me do a lot more work: there was nothing else to do.

In Marble Arch, Cush Jumbo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw attended a dinner for brand La Mer at restaurant Frameless, while activist Malala and her husband Asser watched new film Polite Society at The Curzon Mayfair.

And elsewhere, actor Luke Evans celebrated the launch of a new Plymouth Gin Ocean Edition bottle, created with the Ocean Conservation Trust at London Shell Co, while director Baz Luhrmann chatted with Ai-Da Robot at the launch of a new Design Museum show, in association with Bombay Sapphire gin.
R ishi Sunak will not make a decision today on Dominic Raabs future as he considers his response to an independent report into allegations of bullying against the Deputy Prime Minister, it is being reported.

The review was requested by Mr Raab in November following formal complaints about his behaviour by government officials, and lawyer Adam Tolley was appointed by Mr Sunak to lead an independent investigation.

The Prime Minister received the report from the independent investigator on Thursday morning and was said to be considering those findings. Mr Raab has denied all the allegations made against him.

A Downing Street spokesperson said that Mr Sunak wished to publish his response as soon as possible, but did not say if that would be on Thursday. However Sky Newss Sam Coates reported late on Thursday afternoon that a decision on Mr Raabs future in government would not be made today.
A peer has been found to have broken the Code of Conduct after failing to properly declare her role in a not-for-profit company.

Baroness Caroline Cox has agreed to apologise to the House of Lords following an investigation by the Standards Commissioner.

The peer had claimed her failure to register her directorship of Equal and Free Limited was inadvertent, citing her massive commitment to humanitarian aid and advocacy combined with little administrative support in her duties.

May I begin by acknowledging with profound apologies my failure to register and declare my Directorship of Equal and Free Ltd and the research support I have received from the company

But the commissioner found these reasons to be insufficient, concluding: Considering Baroness Coxs otherwise diligent approach to registering and declaring her interests during the period in question, I do not consider the reasons she provided for not registering and declaring her interests in Equal and Free Ltd to be sufficient.

The findings add: I considered that remedial action was an appropriate outcome regarding Baroness Coxs breaches of the Code.

Because of the significant period during which these breaches occurred, I proposed that a personal statement of apology to the House would be appropriate in this case. Baroness Cox agreed to make such a personal statement to the House.

The investigation came after the commissioners office received a complaint from Liron Woodcock-Velleman, who at the time worked for the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate.

Hope Not Hate alleged that the Equal and Free company headed by Baroness Cox had links to a group of US evangelical philanthropists.

Equal and Free describes itself on its website as UK-based network of academics, parliamentarians, lawyers and womens groups who champion the rights of British Muslim women who do not (yet) have the protection of legal marriage.

In a letter to the commissioner, Baroness Cox offered her profound apologies and said she never personally received funds from Equal and Free Ltd.

But she acknowledged that she had benefited from the support of part-time researchers employed by the company.

She said: May I begin by acknowledging with profound apologies my failure to register and declare my Directorship of Equal and Free Ltd and the research support I have received from the company. As soon as I became aware of this, I took steps to rectify it by telephoning the office of the Registrar of Lords Interests.

The letter added: I can only offer an explanation of my failure with reference to the massive commitment to my humanitarian aid and advocacy work with the small charitable organisation I founded Our work involves frequent travel to spend time with our partners in war zones in Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Abyei, Nagorno Karabakh and Myanmar.

Baroness Cox originally sat as a Conservative and is now a crossbench peer.

Attempts have been made to approach Baroness Cox and Equal and Free Ltd for comment.
TEHRAN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A top Iranian military commander said on Thursday the country's navy has warned a nuclear-powered U.S. submarine to surface while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Army's Navy Commander Shahram Irani made the remarks in an interview with state-owned IRIB TV's News Network, without elaborating on the date of the event.

Iran's Fateh (Conqueror) submarine detected the the American submarine Florida, through a set of maneuvers, and forced it to surface while the latter was approaching the Strait of Hormuz in "complete silence," he added.

Iran warned the U.S. submarine as it had entered the Iranian territorial waters "to some extent," Irani said, adding the U.S. submarine, accompanied by an escort ship, then corrected its course and continued its journey.

The Americans should explain why did their submarine violate Iran's maritime borders and international maritime laws in an important strait, Irani said, calling on the U.S. to observe all international regulations from now on.

He said Iran will pursue the case through international bodies and organizations, warning that such an "illegitimate and dangerous" presence by the United States poses a challenge to everyone.

The U.S. Navy said last week the nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine Florida was operating in the Middle East to support the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet. 
C limate campaigners staged a protest in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament as well as in the foyer despite new restrictions to deter such action.

Two protesters from This Is Rigged stood on top of a wooden beam in a waiting area in the public area of Holyrood on Thursday, just before First Ministers Questions began.

The activity caused disruption and a large police and security presence in the main foyer, where school groups and others visitors arrive at the Parliament.

First Ministers Questions was also briefly disrupted by protesters from the same group.

One protester said: We have to stand up and demand action now.

Were here today because we have a really simple question.

All we want is for the Scottish Parliament to oppose new oil and gas projects like they did with Stop Cambo.

All we need is a statement.

They are not providing a fully-funded just transition for Scotlands oil workers.

They talk about it and talk about it but there is no concrete action.

We need action and we need action now.

The demonstration came after the Scottish Parliament brought in new security measures, requiring visitors to store electronic equipment in lockers.

Everyone wishing to attend to watch the weekly First Ministers Questions clash between the party leaders also has to book a ticket in advance, giving their name and address, with Holyrood bosses insisting ticket requests will not be processed without this information.

For groups of people attending together, the names and addresses of all members will have to be given, instead of the previous system whereby only the details of the lead person making the booking was required.

Everyone collecting a ticket will have to show identification, with mobile phones and other electronic devices having to be stored in a secure locker and not taken into the gallery.

On Wednesday, This is Rigged insisted the measures would not stop the disruption, as they urged First Minister Humza Yousaf to listen to the people on the issue of climate change.

A Scottish Parliament spokesperson confirmed six individuals were denied access to the chamber on Thursday as there were grounds to believe they would disrupt proceedings.

The spokesperson added: All of the individuals who protested in the Mail Hall will be issued with six-month bans as we do not allow protests anywhere inside the building.

One further individual, who briefly disrupted FMQs, will also receive a six-month ban from all of our public galleries.

The Parliament will continue to implement these new measures to protect the integrity of chamber business, and will keep under review whether further steps are necessary.

While we very much regret the inconvenience these measures have on the many people who come to watch FMQs peacefully, we cannot allow the democratic process to be disrupted by a small number of individuals.

These protests have served only to disrupt MSPs from holding the First Minister and government to account.

Police Scotland confirmed no arrests were made and protesters left of their own accord.
T he minister charged with implementing Scotlands deposit return scheme (DRS) has hit out at the Scottish Secretary as she announced that small containers and products with low sales would be exempt from the initiative.

The start of the DRS scheme was delayed from August to March earlier this week by First Minister Humza Yousaf, with Lorna Slater providing more detail on Thursday.

Under the Scottish Government initiative, a 20p deposit will be added to the price of drinks in cans and bottles which will be repaid to the consumer when they are returned to a retailer.

The scheme had previously caused concern among businesses, which Ms Slater said was primarily due to the UK Government not providing an exclusion to the Internal Market Act (IMA) and comments from Scottish Secretary Alister Jack.

The primary cause of this has been the uncertainty created by the continued failure by the UK Government to issue an IMA exclusion, she told MSPs.

Together with public briefings against the scheme from the Secretary of State for Scotland, the effect has been corrosive, undermining confidence, stalling progress, halting private investment.

Some businesses have said that they will simply not join the scheme because of the UK Governments position, and there has been extensive feedback from industry that they are not willing to proceed with investments until they have clarity.

There has been some argument around the request for the exemption to the IMA, with the UK Government claiming no such request has been made while the Scottish Government asserts it had been asked for by former deputy first minister John Swinney.

Ms Slater said on Thursday she would write again to the UK Government with the request, believing the exemption would be given.

A spokesman for the UK Government said: Ministers only received the formal request for a UKIM Act exclusion for the Scottish Governments deposit return scheme on March 6 2023.

The Scottish Government has since been reviewing and has now paused the scheme, so it has not been possible for us to fully assess the impacts of the exclusion request on cross-UK trade, businesses and consumers.

We will continue to engage with the Scottish Government to understand the outcomes of their review and will work together to realise our shared ambition to improve the environment while meeting the needs of consumers and businesses across the UK.

The scheme, Ms Slater said, will also be overhauled, with containers under 100ml now exempt  effectively removing all miniature bottles of alcohol  as well as a further exemption for producers who sell less than 5,000 units per year.

Larger producers who have smaller product lines which also sell less than that threshold, the minister said, would not be required to put a deposit on the product.

She said 44% of small producers would be exempt from the scheme because of the changes.

The minister went on to say the Government has an unwavering commitment to the scheme, adding: I call on members across this chamber who share these values to put an end to their increasingly desperate attempts to undermine Scotlands deposit return scheme.

SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, who has been a frequent critic of the DRS, predicted the scheme would be delayed further, and urged the Government to align the Scottish initiative with similar plans expected to come from the UK Government.

Responding, Ms Slater said: I often forget Fergus Ewing is not a member of the Conservative Party.

Scottish Conservative environment spokesman Maurice Golden said Ms Slater had made such an almighty mess of this scheme that she has now had to effectively re-write it.

Labour environment spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said Ms Slater is out of touch and should not be left in charge of the scheme.
U kraine is facing an unprecedented volume of Russian-linked cyber attacks more than a year since the country was invaded, experts have said.

But a new independent report by the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative (ECCRI) also warns that while Kyiv has shown remarkable resilience in the face of Russian cyber threats, the response could create some concerning precedents.

The nearly 40-page study, commissioned by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and published to coincide with the CyberUK conference in Belfast, comes amid concerns that the threat posed by Russian-aligned cyber groups extends beyond Ukraine, with the UK and allies also targets.

The study praises the incredible resilience and determination shown by Ukraine in its cyberspace defences, pointing in particular to the success of the countrys so-called IT Army  a volunteer network of hackers that has been engaged in cyberwarfare with Russia since the conflict began.

But it raises concerns about a blurring of the line between combatants and civilians, asking what will happen to members of the IT Army once the war ends and warning that it has skirted the boundaries of several important cyber norms.

The IT Army has met with a lot of success in large part because they have figured out a way to gamify the response to the conflict.

In its recruiting efforts, the IT Army has romanticised the role of volunteers. The IT Army leadership has also provided clear, step-by-step outlines of how to target and achieve effects, the report says.

It notes that in the past, countries have had to deal with civilians leaving and joining terrorist organisations, becoming radicalised, and then returning to their native countries.

The authors say: Many governments have developed systems to deal with this potential threat. With cyber operations, however, an actor can conduct attacks at a distance.

Drawing an individual into the IT Army of Ukraine is much simpler than the radicalisation processes weve seen in the past, and there is no good existing legal framework for dealing with this issue.

Elsewhere in the report, which is based on a workshop earlier this year, the authors found that it was becoming increasing difficult in the context of war to distinguish between cyber criminal groups and political activists.

Some groups claim to pursue hacktivism but seem to be more interested in financial gain than in making political statements. Other criminal groups have even fractured over political differences, the report found.

Participants also noted that the goals of several criminal groups seem to have shifted from denying access to information for financial gain, to stealing that information for state intelligence purposes. These groups have pivoted toward infiltration and information gathering as their primary goal.

Pointing to the growing danger posed by ransomware, the authors say that governments facing sanctions  like Vladimir Putins Moscow regime  will often have an incentive to give criminal actors expanded room to manoeuvre.

Participants at the Belfast-based conference are set to discuss on Thursday the issues of cyber security and the Ukrainian conflict.

Paul Chichester, director of operations at the National Cyber Security Centre, said: We are very grateful to ECCRI for this important and valuable analysis of the cyber dimensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to date.

The report offers a range of helpful insights, not least around what Ukraine has taught us about the power of resilient systems in the face of sustained cyber attacks.

As we look to the future during our CyberUK conference, this is a timely contribution to the debate on what we can learn from the conflict, as well as the limits to our current understanding.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said that the Government would assess the findings from the report and learn the lessons it offers.

Putins illegal war isnt just being fought on the ground. Ukraines protectors are also defending their country against unprecedented cyber attacks on a digital battlefield.

This report has shone an important spotlight on a different kind of hostility which the Ukrainians have responded to with exceptional resilience and determination.
U lster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said he believes powersharing will be back up and running in Northern Ireland by the autumn.

The DUP is using a veto contained within the powersharing structures to prevent the operation of devolution in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements the party contends has weakened Northern Irelands place within the UK.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a direct appeal to unionists blocking the institutions in a speech at Queens University Belfast on Wednesday.

Mr Sunak insists the new Windsor Framework deal he recently struck with the EU had addressed the DUP concerns over sovereignty and trade.

But the DUP remains unconvinced by the new settlement and is urging the Government to provide more assurances.

On Thursday, Downing Street said that conversations will continue about restoring powersharing.

No10 ruled out fundamentally altering the Windsor Framework, but said in terms of how the agreement and the Stormont brake is implemented it did want input from the DUP and other parties.

Mr Beattie is optimistic about the DUP returning to powersharing.

Speaking on The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Beattie, who says he has a really good relationship with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said: Im in no doubt the Executive will get up and running.

Its not a case of if, its a case of when.

He said he talks often to Sir Jeffrey, but that his comments did not amount to him providing an inside track on DUP thinking.

Its my analysis of where we are, because theres nothing else we can do. We have to get Stormont up and running again.

We have to grasp those opportunities. We have to start doing legislation to help the people of Northern Ireland, all the people of Northern Ireland, and I think we will do.

Its a case of: when is that going to happen? Now were in the middle of an election, so nothings going to happen now or afterwards in the marching season.

But I would imagine in the autumn that we will definitely have an executive running again.

Asked whether he was saying he believes the DUP will be back in Stormont by autumn 2023, Mr Beattie said: Thats my analysis looking at things as they stand.

So Im giving you an analysis. Now people will disagree with that. The DUP may even disagree with that and I have no issue with that.

Ive just given you what my belief is from the analysis that I have made.

During his speech at the conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Sunak said restoring powersharing in Northern Ireland is the right thing to do for the future of the Union.

Addressing unionist political representatives, Mr Sunak said: I urge you to work with us to get Stormont up and running again.

Thats the right thing to do in its own terms. Im convinced its also the right thing to do for our union.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson responded later saying the damaged foundations of devolved government must have unionist as well as nationalist support for sustainable devolved government.

We seek to re-establish the Northern Ireland Assembly by finishing the job of fully restoring Northern Irelands place in the United Kingdom, he said in a statement.

We stand ready to work with the Prime Minister and his Government to ensure that stable devolution is delivered through sustainable and balanced outcomes that have solid foundations based on the support of unionists as well as nationalists.

We must get the foundations right. Short-term fixes will lead to short-term devolution and will do a disservice to those trying to make the institutions work.

We are in the business of finishing the job and ensuring that NIs position within the Union is not continually undermined.

Northern Ireland will only ever move forward if we all move forward together.
M ore than 1,300 homeless people died across the UK last year, according to research by a social justice group.

The Museum of Homelessness said the figure of 1,313 in 2022 was up by 85% since its work began four years ago.

The group has been running the Dying Homeless Project since 2019 and said it uses information from coroners enquiries, media coverage, family testimony and freedom of information requests to verify details of each case.

With a heavy heart we expect to report more of the same in 2024, but with our colleagues we will continue to do what we can to save lives

It said the aim is to honour and remember people who would so often be forgotten.

According to its research, the group said deaths in England rose 22% on 2021 to 875 in 2022, and by 27% in Wales to 76.

The number of deaths in Northern Ireland fell by more than a third to 205 but remains almost double the level seen in 2020.

Scotland recorded a 15% decrease on 2021, with 157 fatalities in 2022.

Researchers said the true numbers are likely to be higher as some local authorities have not contributed to the project over the last two years.

They added that the vast majority of the deaths in 2022 took place after the person was placed in some form of homelessness accommodation rather than when rough sleeping.

Museum of Homelessness director Matt Turtle called for far stronger policy and investment in order to deal with the appalling loss of life.

He added: With a heavy heart we expect to report more of the same in 2024, but with our colleagues we will continue to do what we can to save lives.

The Government needs to move past piecemeal measures to address both the immediate crisis and the lack of social housing that causes it

Separately, the project has for the first time obtained figures suggesting the number of deaths that occurred in exempt accommodation  a type of supported housing for residents with specific needs that is exempt from local caps on housing benefit.

Of the 12 local authorities who responded to the Museum of Homelessness request for information, Manchester reported 109 deaths in exempt accommodation across 98 properties.

This compared to 21 deaths among the rest of the homeless population in Manchester, researchers said.

The total deaths in exempt accommodation across 12 local authorities in England was 151. The others were Hull (7), Mansfield (5), Mid Devon (1), Middlesbrough (6), Rotherham (4), Sandwell (1), Sunderland (1), Sutton (2), West Northamptonshire (4), Durham (1), Kensington and Chelsea (10).

Mr Turtle said: The fact that so many people continue to die in unregulated, taxpayer-funded accommodation run by rogue landlords is a disgrace.

The upcoming Supported Housing (regulatory oversight) Bill will provide an urgently needed framework to regulate the rogues but its clear local authorities wont have the resources they need to implement it.

The Government needs to move past piecemeal measures to address both the immediate crisis and the lack of social housing that causes it.

In October a damning report from the cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee warned that the exempt housing system in England is a complete mess that lets down vulnerable residents and rips off taxpayers.

It said vulnerable people in need of support are being exploited while providers make excessive profits by capitalising on loopholes.

The Museum of Homelessness and frontline groups including the Simon Community, Streets Kitchen and The Outside Project are hosting a vigil outside Downing Street on Thursday evening and are encouraging people to light a candle at home and post a picture online with the hashtag #MakeThemCount.

The next release by the Office for National Statistics of homeless deaths registered in England and Wales in 2022 is due in November.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said its plan to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping includes 186 million to help those with drug and alcohol addiction access recovery services and up to 53m for suitable and stable accommodation.

They added: Councils have a duty to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable and we are providing them with 654m over two years to help prevent homelessness.
A rare solar eclipse plunged Western Australia into a minute of total darkness on Thursday, and thousands of people flocked to a remote town to watch it.

The sky over Exmouth in Western Australia fell dark at about 11.29am AWST when the moon completely blocked the sun for a minute, and temperatures dropped suddenly by 5C.

The remote tourist town with fewer than 3,000 residents was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crosses remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.

A partial eclipse lasted for a few hours, before the rare total eclipse where the moon cast a 40km-wide shadow over the area.

In Indonesias capital, hundreds flocked to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse, which was obscured by clouds.

The total solar eclipse was part of a rare hybrid eclipse, which occurs only a few times in each century.

Sadly, however, in the UK most of us wont be alive to witness the next full solar eclipse at home, as it wont happen for another 69 years.

What is a total eclipse?

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon and sun overlap.

The moon is able to cover the suns disc because although the sun is about 400 times bigger than the moon, it is also about 400 times further away, so they appear the same size in our sky.

If you are in exactly the right alignment on the surface of the Earth at the right time, you will see the two overlap exactly. This creates a zone that scientists call totality  the line where the moon completely blocks the sun, plunging those in its path into darkness.

The path for total blackness in the US on Tuesday is about 70 miles wide, and stretches from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina.

Solar eclipse sweeps across United States 1 / 12 Solar eclipse sweeps across United States A jet plane flies by the total solar eclipse in Guernsey, Wyoming REUTERS This composite image (made from seven frames) shows the International Space Station, with a crew of six onboard, as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse, near Banner, Wyoming NASA/Joel Kowsky Passengers watch the start of the solar eclipse while flying over the United States on board a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 PA The sun creeps out from behind the moon in this stunning photograph AP Julian Ledger, of Los Angeles, photographs the eclipse AP Members of the media watch the solar eclipse at the White House in Washington REUTERS This photo shows solar flare as the sun emerges from a total eclipse AP A plane flies by the solar eclipse REUTERS The moon starts its path across the sun as viewed on the campus of Southern Illinois University EPA Journalists watching the solar eclipse from the White House in Washington. REUTERS The moon is seen passing in front of the sun during a solar eclipse from Ross Lake. REUTERS The sun's corona is visible as the moon passes in front of the sun during a total solar eclipse. AFP/Getty Images

Why are they so rare?

According to website Time and Date, solar eclipses can only happen around new moon because of the alignment of Earth, the moon and the sun during that period. But this does not mean that eclipses of the sun happen every time there is a new moon.

Both celestial bodies also have to be near a lunar node, which happens around six months apart, and lasts, on average, about 34.5 days.

The lunar nodes are two points where the plane of the moon's orbital path around Earth meets Earth's orbital plane around the sun. This is called the ecliptic. The orbital paths meet on rare occasions because the plane of the moon's path around Earth is inclined at an angle of approximately 5 to the ecliptic. Because of all of these elements, it takes approximately 375 years for a total solar eclipse to occur again in the exact same location.

Most humans have the chance to see one of these events once during their lives. However, if a person was willing to travel to other countries, it is possible to see a total solar eclipse more than once.

The 'Snow Moon' visible across the globe 1 / 7 The 'Snow Moon' visible across the globe A view of the Moon during a penumbral lunar eclipse as birds fly in the sky over the island of Petatan, Mexico EPA A full "snow moon" was also seen rising through electric poles near Virbalis, Lithuania. REUTERS The moon appears through the clouds behind the tail of Air Force one after President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida AP An Airbus passenger jet on final approach to Orlando International Airport transits past a full 'snow' moon during the penumbral eclipse AFP/Getty Images The first penumbral eclipse of moon of 2017 is seen in Lahore, Pakistan AP The first penumbral eclipse of the moon of 2017 is seen in Lahore, Pakistan AP An Airbus passenger jet on final approach to Orlando International Airport transits past a full 'snow' moon during the penumbral eclipse AFP/Getty Images

When is the next full eclipse in the UK?

There have only been eight total solar eclipses in the last 500 years visible from the UK.

The last total eclipse in the UK was in August 1999.

However, you will be waiting a while to see the next one: it isnt expected until 23 September 2090.
S trikes at Heathrow are set to disrupt travel around King Charles IIIs coronation in May.

People travelling to London for the coronation on May 6 have been warned that they will face inevitable disruption and delays as security officers prepare to walk out.

However, Heathrow Airport insistd that services will run smoothly during the fresh wave of strikes.

The strikes at Heathrow are scheduled for May 4-6, 9-10 and 25-27. The Kings coronation will take place on May 6 and a bank holiday to celebrate the event will take place on May 8.

What should I do if my flight is delayed?

Airlines ought to give you food and drink during the most severe delays / PA Wire

According to the Citizens Advice website, if your flight is delayed for long enough, your airline has to give you:

food and drink;

access to phone calls and emails;

accommodation if youre delayed overnight - and journeys between the airport and the hotel.

How long the delay has to be depends on the distance of the flight and the countries it is flying between. You can check the flight distance on the WebFlyer website.

The airline might give you vouchers to get these things at the airport. Ask someone who works for the airline if youre not offered any help.

If they dont give you help at the airport, keep receipts for expenses and try to claim from the airline later. Airlines only pay for reasonable expenses - you are unlikely to get money back for alcohol, expensive meals or luxury hotels.

Am I entitled to compensation if my flight is delayed?

Passengers at Pisa airport whose Easyjet flight was cancelled / Neil Rylance

If your flight is delayed by more than three hours and it is the airlines fault, youre entitled to compensation from the airline.

Youre unlikely to get compensation if the delay was caused by something outside of the airlines control, like bad weather or a security risk.

Youre entitled to a set amount of compensation depending on both:

the distance of your flight - check your flight distance on the WebFlyer website

the length of the delay  how late you are getting to your destination

What should I do if my flight is cancelled?

If your flight is cancelled you have the right to a full refund or an alternative flight / PA Wire

In the event that your flight is cancelled, the compensation that youre due is different. Here are your options.

You have the legal right to either:

a full refund - including other flights from the airline that you wont use in the same booking such as onward or return flights

a replacement flight to get you to your destination

if youre part-way through a journey and you dont want a replacement flight, you also have a right to a flight back to the airport you originally departed from.

Ask for a refund or replacement at the airport if you can. If not, you can claim from the airline later.

You also have a legal right to:

help with costs  if the cancellation delays you two or more hours

compensation - if youd be delayed two or more hours by the replacement flight offered and you were given less than two weeks notice

If my flight is cancelled can I get compensation?

People whose flights are cancelled should be able to get compensation / PA Archive

If your flight is cancelled, you are entitled to compensation legally if the cancellation is the airlines responsibility.

You also qualify if:

the replacement flight delays your arrival by two or more hours;

your flight was cancelled less than 14 days before departure.

The amount of compensation youre entitled to depends on:

when the flight was cancelled;

the distance of the flight  check the flight distance on the Web Flyer website;

the departure and arrival times of the rescheduled flight.

For your full rights, visit the Citizens Advice Website.
A new phone line has opened as part of an investigation into former BBC Radio 1xtra DJ Tim Westwood over allegations of sexual offences.

Anyone wishing to come forward about Westwoods sexual conduct, and the BBCs knowledge of it, can share their experiences anonymously and in confidence.

The telephone line will be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for four weeks on 08000 121 838. Alternatively people can email here.

Last year, a joint investigation by the Guardian and BBC News published allegations about a range of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour made by several women against Westwood, who worked at the BBC.

The 65-year-old has been interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan police in relation to five sexual offence allegations dating back more than 40 years.

He was first interviewed in March in relation to allegations of historical sexual offences, which were alleged to have happened in London between 1982 and 2016.

He was then questioned again last week under caution over the same alleged incidents.

A total of 18 women have detailed their stories to BBC News. Some women said they encountered Mr Westwood when they were under 18. One said that she was only 14 when Mr Westwood first had sex with her.

Tim Westwood has denied all allegations.

Heres everything we know about him.

Who is Tim Westwood?

Westwood grew up around East Anglia, the son of Bill Westwood, who later became the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, and attended a private school in Norwich, then a state secondary.

He started his career as a DJ in London and moved into radio and then television.

What was Tim Westwoods role at the BBC?

Westwood started his radio career at Kiss FM, which he co-owned, and then moved on to mainstream radio station Capital FM from 1987.

He then moved to the BBC after a presenter shake-up in 1994 and was the first person to host a rap show on the station. He stayed at the BBC for nearly 20 years and became known as a leading hiphop DJ who fraternised with leading names in the business.

When was Tim Westwood shot?

In 1999, Westwood was shot by gunmen on a motorbike who pulled up alongside his Range Rover in Kennington, south London.

Previously speaking about the shooting in an interview, he said: A bullet went through the back of my seat an inch from my spine.

Another bullet went through my arm and missed the nerves, which would have left me paralysed.

The guy in the back seat had his kneecap blown off. Am I not blessed? Thank God Im alive and everyone survived.

How old is Tim Westwood?

This has been a point of contention for a while and he has often been accused of lying about his age to make himself seem younger.

In 2000, at the age of 43, Westwood insisted to a Guardian journalist that he was just 27 years old.

When was Tim Westwood on Pimp My Ride?

Westwood fronted the UK version of MTVs Pimp My Ride, the car makeover show, from 2005 to 2007. The show featured weird and wacky customised cars, with flashy colourful paint and the latest in gadgets.
T he Prince of Wales took an unsuspecting customers restaurant booking on the phone as he and the Princess of Wales visited an Indian street food restaurant in Birmingham.

William answered the unexpected phone call and took a booking for two while he and Kate were being served a range of Indian dishes at Indian Streatery in Bennetts Hill on Thursday.

After negotiating over the time of the booking and giving the customer directions, William said: He knows where you are now, I probably sent him somewhere else in Birmingham so I apologise.

At 2.15pm, the customer Vinay Aggarwal and his wife Ankita Gulati, a husband and wife visiting from London, arrived at the restaurant ahead of their train home at 3pm.

Mr Aggarwal, a software engineer, said he had no idea that William took the call.

He said: Its pretty amazing and a surprise. I didnt know at that moment, but its a very nice surprise.

Obviously (I will be telling everyone), its not something that happens often.

I didnt recognise his voice at all, this is the first time I was listening to him on the phone, so I genuinely thought someone was taking the booking for me.

Asked about the unexpected phone call, restaurant owner Meena Sharma said: All of us around him were really surprised he actually picked up the phone and actually said this is the Indian Streatery, and there was a genuine person on the other end wanting to make a booking.

But I think he probably could have a role as a front of house manager, we could probably employ him to take phone calls in future as he did a really good job.

During the visit, which comes as part of a wider tour of the country ahead of the Kings coronation, Will and Kate said they love curries and secretly try lots of curry houses around the country.

In the first of two stops in Birmingham, Kate said food is so nostalgic and said she loves spice.

Meanwhile, William said he preferred milder food, adding: Im a masala man.

When asked whether their children enjoy Indian food, Kate replied: Absolutely, they love it.

After being introduced to Mrs Sharma and her husband, Rakesh, William and Kate met front of house staff before heading into the kitchen to prepare rotis, a traditional flatbread.

They took part in a cooking competition, which was judged by the restaurants head chef and co-owner, Meena Sharma.

He also asked staff for their top tips on preparing rice as it was always soggy when he made it, with Mrs Sharma, who opened the restaurant in 2017 and runs an all-female kitchen, telling staff not to give away the eaterys recipes.

The couple were served portions of traditional Indian street food including pani puri, black dahl, methi chicken and balpuri chaat.

The Prince and Princess of Wales also both tried their hand at darts during their visit to Birminghams Jewellery Quarter  with one fellow competitor praising Kate for her very solid throwing action.

During a visit to The Rectory bar on Thursday, William and Kate chatted for more than half an hour with local business owners and workers from the citys creative industries sector, before taking to separate oches in the cellar bar.

The royals also both chatted with Birmingham-born TV presenter Alison Hammond during the visit to the pubs 180 Club, which has four interactive darts booths.

Hundreds of well-wishers greeted William and Kate when they arrived at the bar, overlooking the 18th century St Pauls Square, and remained there for a lengthy walk-about as they left.
LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering the findings of an independent report into allegations of bullying against Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Sunak's spokesperson said here on Thursday.

The review was requested by Raab last November following formal complaints about his bullying behavior when dealing with civil servants. Sunak appointed senior employment lawyer Adam Tolley to lead an independent investigation.

"The prime minister is carefully considering the findings of the report," the spokesperson told reporters, without disclosing when it would be published.

Raab, who also serves as the UK's secretary of state for justice, said he was confident that he had "behaved professionally at all times" and that he would resign if the bullying allegations against him are upheld.

After assuming the post of prime minister last October, Sunak vowed to lead a government of "integrity, professionalism, and accountability" as the chaotic period under his two predecessors -- the scandal-hit Boris Johnson and the short-lived tenure of Liz Truss amid economic turbulence -- damaged the reputation of the ruling Conservative Party and cast a cloud over its prospects in the next general elections.

The drama centering around Raab's behavior followed the resignation of Gavin Williamson, a member of Sunak's cabinet, in November over bullying claims and Sunak's sacking of Tory Party Chair Nadhim Zahawi for a "serious breach" of ministerial code amid a multimillion-dollar tax dispute.

Sunak himself is also facing an investigation by a parliamentary watchdog over whether he properly declared his wife's shares in a childcare agency that would benefit from policy changes in his administration's budget. 
T he case against Alec Baldwin following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has been formally dismissed by New Mexico prosecutors.

The Hollywood actor faced two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting, which occurred on the set of the Rust movie in October 2021.

A statement from prosecutors, shared with the PA news agency, said they were unable to proceed with the case due to time constraints and on evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form.

We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr Baldwin to conduct further investigation, the statement read.

This decision does not absolve Mr Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled. Our follow-up investigation will remain active and on-going.

The statement added that charges against Rusts armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed remained unchanged.

A statement from Baldwins attorneys said: We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.

Halyna Hutchins / VIA REUTERS

Baldwin had pleaded not guilty to both charges.

The announcement comes less than two weeks before a preliminary hearing in the case, where it was to be determined whether there was enough evidence to take it to trial.

Baldwin and the films weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were both charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting.

The actor, 65, was pointing a pistol at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun when off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said the gun went off accidentally and that he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled.

The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence had already been dismissed, and the first special prosecutor in the case resigned.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the charge against Gutierrez-Reed would also be dropped.

The charges against Baldwin had marked a stunning fall for an A-list actor whose 40-year career included the early blockbuster The Hunt for Red October and a starring role in the sitcom 30 Rock, as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorseses The Departed and a film adaptation of David Mamets Glengary Glen Ross.

In recent years, he was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

Rust safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest in March to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months of probation.

Earlier on Thursday it was reported that production on the Rust movie was resuming in the US state of Montana, 18 months after the fatal shooting.

Filming will resume at Montanas Yellowstone Film Ranch set, according to Melina Spadone, a lawyer for Rust Movie Productions.

The legal representative also stressed that all use of working weapons or ammunition is, and always has been, prohibited on set.

In a statement, Spadone said: The production will continue to utilise union crew members and will bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition.

In October, Baldwin settled a lawsuit with the cinematographers husband, Matt Hutchins, under which filming would restart with the same actors and director, Joel Souza, who was wounded in the 2021 shooting.

Under the settlement, Hutchins became an executive producer on the movie. Mr Souza has said he will return to directing Rust production to honor the legacy of Halyna Hutchins.

After a scathing safety review by regulators in New Mexico that detailed ignored complaints and misfires before Hutchins death in October of 2021, the production company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine (80,375).
R ussia is likely to have suffered heavy losses in the south of Ukraine, British defence chiefs have said.

This week, Vladimir Putin visited the south of Ukraine which is currently occupied by Russian forces.

While there, the Russian president visited the so-called Dnipr Group Of Forces (DGF) which has been created to defend the southern sector of the occupied zone.

At the start of the war, however, Russian forces were organised into groups aligned to military districts such as the Western and Central Groups of Forces, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its latest update.

Commenting on the existence of a new military force, the MoD suggested it may have evolved, probably due to heavy losses.

DGFs mission is likely to defend the southern sector of the occupied zone, and especially the south-western flank which is currently marked by the Dnipro river.

Amid the high number of casualties within the Russian military, the Kremlin has launched a video campaign to lure more professional soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

The advert challenges those interested to show they are a real man and swap what it casts as hum-drum civilian life for the battlefield.

It is thought that the Kremlin is looking to bolster its force by up to 400,000 new recruits to aid the stagnating invasion.

Russias recruitment drive comes ahead of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive in the coming weeks.

The West has supplied Ukraine with battle tanks, including British Challenger IIs and German-built Leopards, as well as long-range artillery, in order to aid a fresh assault on Russian forces.

Ahead of the expected Ukrainian attack, fighting has centred on the eastern town of Bakhmut.

Both sides have suffered heavy losses in and around the city, although Russia has only made marginal gains in the area.

On Thursday, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg paid his first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago.

While there the Nato chief travelled to Kyivs St Michaels Square where he paid tribute to Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed in the war.
A Russian-born woman has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for trying to kill her American lookalike with poisoned cheesecake and then stealing her identity.

Viktoria Nasyrova was found guilty of attempted murder by a jury in New York in February.

The 47-year-old was described as a ruthless and calculating con artist who was trying to murder her way to personal profit and gain, by Queens district attorney, Melinda Katz.

Nasyrova visited the home of her then 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk in August 2016 bearing the gift of a cheesecake.

The pair had a resemblance at the time - both Russian speakers with dark hair and other physical traits.

The women shared a slice each before Ms Tsvyk had a second and began to feel sick before passing out.

The next day, a friend discovered the victim unconscious. Pills were scattered around her to make it look like she had tried to kill herself, prosecutors said.

When the victim returned home after treatment in hospital, she discovered her passport and employment authorization card were missing, along with jewelry and other valuables.

Law enforcement agents tested the cheesecake and found that it was laced with phenazepam, a highly potent sedative, according to the DAs office.

Nasyrova, who lives in Brooklyn, was also convicted of assault, unlawful imprisonment and theft.
N asa has denied that a flash which appeared over Kyiv during the night was a falling satellite following a wave of speculation.

In videos shared across social media, a ball of light can be seen cascading towards the ground over the Ukrainian capital shortly before 10pm local time (9pm UK time) on Wednesday.

As the orb of light moves downwards it flashes three times before disappearing.

The head of Kyivs military administration, Serhiy Popko, said on Telegram that an air raid alert was activated but was not in operation following the incident.

He then claimed that this phenomenon was the result of a Nasa space satellite falling to Earth.

The space agency announced earlier this week that an old decommissioned satellite would re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday.

Nasa later denied the Ukrainian claims and said the satellite was still in orbit at the time of the flash.

A spokesperson said at the time: That re-entry has not yet occurred. No other Nasa satellite re-entered the atmosphere earlier today.

The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) was used to observe solar flares.

The satellite was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018.
P atriot surface-to-air missiles have arrived in Ukraine and will give the country a shield against Russias devastating airstrikes, its defence minister has said.

The American-made weapons will provide Kyiv with long-sought new protection against Vladimir Putins army, which has targeted cities and the Ukraine power grid from the air.

Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure, defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said.

The US agreed last year to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and Ukrainian power stations.

The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counter-offensive.

Mr Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands for the latest military supplies.

But he did not specify how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived. It came as Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg today paid his first visit to Kyiv since Russias invasion began last February.

In a show of support for Ukraine he paid his respects to Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed fighting and reviewed damaged Russian military equipment displayed in Kyiv.

Mr Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the year-long war and has been instrumental in garnering and co-ordinating support by Natos 31 members for the embattled nation as it seeks to hold on to its territory. Earlier this week the Kremlin said Putin visited Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraines southern Kherson region, and had attended a meeting to hear reports from military commanders.

Mr Putin also reportedly visited Ukraines Luhansk region. Russia claims to have annexed both regions.

Meanwhile, a mysterious flash of light that lit up the skies over Kyiv sparked alarm but the Ukrainian air force, which aims to bring down missiles and drones fired by Russia, later said a satellite plunging from orbit or a meteorite could be responsible.
A t least 78 people were killed in a crush in Yemens capital Sanaa as hundreds gathered in a school to receive aid on Wednesday night.

Dozens more were reportedly left injured, including 13 who were in a critical condition.

Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive donations of around 7 each from a charity funded by local businessmen, witnesses said. Wealthy people and businessmen often hand out cash and food, especially to the poor, during Ramadan.

A screengrab from an Al-Masirah TV video footage taken on April 19 via AFPTV / AL-MASIRAH TV/AFP via Getty Imag

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said it was the result of the Yemeni people suffering the worst global humanitarian crisis after eight years of fighting.

We hold the countries of aggression responsible for what happened and for the bitter reality that the Yemeni people live in because of the aggression and blockade, he said on Twitter.

Eyewitnesses claimed the crowd had been spooked by gunfire and an electrical explosion.

Armed Houthis fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently striking an electrical wire and causing it to explode, according to two witnesses, Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen. That sparked a panic, and people, including many women and children, began stampeding, they said.

Sandals and other belongings left strewn across the floor in the aftermath of the tragedy / AP

Video posted on social media showed dozens of bodies, some motionless, and others screaming as people tried to help.

Separate footage of the aftermath released by Houthi officials showed bloodstains, shoes and victims clothing scattered on the ground.

Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Interior Ministry, blamed the crush on the random distribution of funds without coordination with local authorities.

The interior ministry said the two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was underway.

As well as the 78 people killed, at least 73 others were injured and taken to the al-Thowra Hospital in Sanaa, according to hospital deputy director Hamdan Bagheri.

The rebels quickly sealed off a school where the event was being held and barred people, including journalists, from approaching.

An image from a video shows the scene of the deadly crush / AP

Wednesdays tragedy was Yemens deadliest in years that was not related to the countrys eight-year civil war, and came ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan later this week.

Yemens capital has been under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthis since they descended from their northern stronghold in 2014 and removed the internationally recognised government. That prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 to try to restore the government.

The conflict has turned, in recent years, into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, killing more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians and creating one of the worlds worst humanitarian disasters.

More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the countrys population, need help and protection, according to the UN.

In February, the UN said it had raised only $1.2 billion out of a target of $4.3 billion at a conference aimed at generating funds to ease the humanitarian crisis.
S ushi master Endo Kazutoshi is the latest chef to join one of Londons most hotly anticipated openings, The OWO.

Endo, whose father and grandfather were sushi masters before him, was born in Yokohama and specialises in the Edomae style, a technique particular to Tokyo. His expertise has made his Michelin-starred flagship restaurant, Endo at The Rotunda, one of Londons most exclusive dining rooms. It is housed in the former BBC TV Centre in White City.

At The OWO, set to launch this summer, Endo will lead a Japanese-influenced rooftop restaurant alongside a sake bar on the ground floor.

We are delighted to be joining The OWO, Kazutoshi said. Our new restaurant and sake bar will be an ode to the traditions of Japanese cooking with my personal touch. We look forward to sharing a piece of history with our guests.

He added: Japanese cooking is rooted in my culture and as a third-generation sushi master, I hope to bring these techniques and traditions I have learnt along the way. I want to combine these with the all-important elements of a Sake bar, mixing my tradition with the inspiring setting of this building rooted in British history.

The opening is the latest project from the Creative Restaurant Group, of which Endo is chef patron, and which was co-founded by the restaurateur Misha Zelman, the man behind the likes of Burger & Lobster and Goodman steakhouse in Mayfair.

Their latest project will see a 60-cover rooftop dining room, chefs table, and outside terrace on the roof of the once tobacco-stained, now plushly renovated Old War Office in Whitehall.

The Grade II-listed landmark is where Winston Churchill deliberated plans to defeat Nazi Germany, and where Ian Fleming was inspired to write James Bond. There will be a private dining room in one of the buildings historic turrets.

The OWO: Endo will deliver expertly crafted Japanese food on the roof / Raffles London at The OWO

Madani Sow, the CEO of development management company WDS, added: We are truly honoured to be partnering with one of Londons most distinguished Japanese chefs.

An announcement said guests here will enjoy panoramic views across St Jamess Park, The Mall, and onto Buckingham Palace, while the sake bar below can be accessed directly from Whitehall Place.

Ahead of its launch, the space has already been tipped to be a prime location for Champagne-fuelled parties and lavish dining, with nine restaurants  including Kazutoshis  and three bars planned.

The destination recently announced the London debuts of the acclaimed French restaurant Cafe Laperouse, and the Italian restaurant Paper Moon. Chef Mauro Colagreco , who leads the three Michelin-star Mirazur in Provence, is likewise opening three dining concepts.

The OWO will also host Raffles, where there will be 120 rooms, 85 Raffles-branded residencies, and a spa and health club.

Endo Kazutoshi at the OWO will open in the summer at 57 Whitehall, SW1A 2BX. For more information, visit theowo.london
H eather Mills couldnt escape the ghost of ex-husband Sir Paul McCartneys late wife Linda, according to a new documentary.

The Trials of Heather Mills, which airs at 9pm on Channel 5 this evening, features the former models confidante Pamela Cockerill, who opens up about the early days of Mills six-year marriage to the former Beatle.

The couple  who had a 25-year age gap  met in May 1999 at the Pride of Britain Awards in London, just over a year after Sir Pauls first wife Linda died of breast cancer.

McCartney was married to Linda for 29 years and they shared three children together. He also adopted Lindas daughter from a previous marriage.

Following their 2002 wedding, Mills moved into his home in Rye, East Sussex, which McCartney had bought with Linda in 1973.

Paul McCartney pictured with his first wife Linda / Getty Images

During the 90-minute TV special, Cockerill  who wrote Mills 1996 biography Out On A Limb  explains how Mills struggled living in the shadow of inescapable presence Linda.

She said: I think Heather found it quite hard to live in the same house that, only a couple of years before, Linda had been living in.

And the house hadnt been changed that much. [Linda] was an inescapable presence because obviously, she was a big part of Pauls life.

She further claimed that McCartney had included tributes of his love for his first wife into the design of some of the rooms.

She continued: There were little plaques saying I love Linda over the doorways and photos of her around.

Heather Mills and Sir Paul McCartney eventually divorced in 2006 / Kate Green/Getty Images

It must have been very hard to deal with.

Author Howard Sounes, who wrote the biography Fab: An Intimate Life Of Paul McCartney, agreed that Mills faced a number of challenges.

He said: Im sure it must have been very difficult for Heather to move into the life of a man who had been famously happily married for years.

They had children together and Im sure he was still in love with Linda. He probably hadnt got over it.

He kept Lindas ring on until the day before he married Heather.

McCartney and Mills welcomed daughter Beatrice in 2002. They divorced in 2006.
P rince William has lent his support to Lorraine Kellys No Butts bowel cancer campaign and says the late Dame Deborah James would be so proud that she is carrying on her legacy.

The initiative, which was first spearheaded by James and Kelly in 2021, strives to raise awareness of bowel cancer and the symptoms of the disease in support of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.

The Scottish TV presenter, 63, announced on Monday that it would be returning for a third year with this years campaign celebrating the life of James, who died last year at the age of 40 from bowel cancer.

The Prince of Wales, 40, who previously championed the cause alongside James, recorded a new video which was shown on ITVs Lorraine on Thursday and urged viewers to take note of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

Speaking in the clip, William said: Hi Lorraine, I just want to say a big thank you to you and your team for all youre doing to raise awareness around bowel cancer through your No Butts campaign.

As you know I got to meet Dame Deborah, so I know how important this was to her. 46,000 people each year get diagnosed with bowel cancer and yet many of us dont know the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, particularly in us men.

Prince William pictured with Deborah James and her family as the royal presented her with her Damehood / Deborah James

So if youre watching this, please take a second to listen and learn about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, it could save your life.

The royal later shared the video on Twitter along with a caption which read: Lorraine, Dame Deborah James would be so proud of what you and the team are doing to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Keep up the great work, followed by the hashtag #No Butts.
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Health experts have called for developing vaccines to tackle diseases primarily affecting seniors and devising innovative methods to expand vaccine acceptance among the age group with China's swelling elderly population, China Daily reported Thursday.

As society rapidly ages and people born during the baby boom of the 1960s get older, China is and will be under great pressure to provide adequate social, medical and rehabilitation services for them, Feng Zijian, former deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and vice-president of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

"The growing elderly population will be confronted with a greater risk of infections. We are in need of more vaccines to reduce infections during old age," he said.

People aged 60 and above accounted for 19.8 percent of the country's population last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It is estimated that only 15 years will pass before the proportion reaches 30 percent.

A number of existing vaccine products are effective and important tools to protect the health of the elderly, such as doses against COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and herpes zoster, according to the newspaper.

"In the future, vaccines to tackle pneumonia are also expected to hit the market," said Feng, calling for more efforts to research vaccines that can protect the elderly against antimicrobial-resistant bacterial pathogens and opportunistic infections.

International drugmakers have begun gearing up for creating more vaccines for adults and the elderly since a couple of years ago, Zhang Yuntao, chief scientist at China National Biotech Group, was quoted as saying.

Globally, the market share of adult vaccines rose from 35.6 percent in 2017 to over 50 percent in 2021. In China, the market share of adult vaccines rose from 32 percent in 2018 to 56 percent in 2021, according to Zhang.

Besides advancing vaccine development, Feng also suggested improving vaccination services for the elderly, including rolling out targeted advocacy campaigns.

For years, China has been focusing on ramping up vaccination services targeting babies and children. "The next step is to improve the accessibility and convenience of elderly vaccination services to meet the demands of seniors," he was quoted as saying. 
Good or bad, Niagara Falls finds itself on plenty of lists lately.

Last month, the price comparison website Comparethemarket.com analyzed web traffic for a list of sights people dream of visiting, placing Niagara Falls fourth behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Eiffel Tower in France and Times Square in New York.

Shortly after, the Falls ranked seventh on a list of the worlds worst tourist traps compiled by vacation rental company Casago.

Now comes a list of Canadas most Instagrammable tourist destinations, compiled by casino comparison website CasinoBonusCA.com. The site analyzed the number of Instagram posts containing relevant hashtags for the Top 50 hot spots, with Niagara Falls coming in second.

The Falls tallied 6,328,608 instagram posts, according to the site. Somewhat surprisingly, they were a distant second to the number one destination  Old Montreal, with 22,398,024 posts.

Niagara Falls Tourism president Janice Thomson finds the huge gap curious.

That is a big, big difference, she said. Im going to explore that.

(But) its good to see were so far ahead of other big names across the country. When I read the list, it was interesting to think you could actually visualize every one of them, based on the number of visuals that you do see.

Filling out the Top 10 was the Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort (3,526,920 posts), Old Quebec (2,565,213 posts), the CN Tower (1,769,780 posts), Granville island in Vancouver (819,990 posts), Stanley Park in Vancouver (789,493 posts), Mount Edith Cavell Trail in Alberta (621,494 posts), St. Lawrence Market in Toronto (148,592 posts) and the Icefields Parkway in Alberta (140,754 posts).

Thomson said such lists can be an effective marketing tool with summer approaching.

Anything that mentions Niagara Falls in a positive way is obviously very helpful to us, she says. Recently weve received a lot of recognition, a lot of awards, so these things are reflective of general public participation and public input into the name Niagara Falls. Theyre important to us, for sure.

Even the recent list ripping the city as a tourist trap had a positive effect, she added.

That one, for me, seemed to stir up a lot of local pride in Niagara Falls. People saying, Wait a minute  theres so much in Niagara Falls that is free to enjoy. All the nature, all the things (that) you can just come and spend a day here any way you want.

People reacted as if it was a harsh statement, which it is. But were proud. Well overcome that.

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The sordid crimes of a serial killer husband who courted, married and then murdered vulnerable young women in the early 1900s is the subject of the new production by Niagara Falls Firehall Theatre.

The award-winning play, written by Beth Graham, Charlie Thomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic, is based on the true story of Edwardian opportunist George Joseph Smith whose "career" involved marrying women, taking out life insurance policies on them and then subsequently drowning them in the bathtub.

In the play, three ghostly brides  Margaret, Alice and Bessie  surface from their bathtubs to recount their murderous husband and recount how they met their demise.

Jerome Black, director of Firehalls latest production, said its difficult to try to pigeonhole "The Drowning Girls" into a single genre, given its macabre roots matched with wit and humour.

Thats part of what attracted us to the play, he said. It deals with dark subjects, but it does so with a real sense of playfulness and the unexpected.

It has a lot of humour, though I wouldnt say its a comedy, exactly, said Black. It deals with tragic events, but its far from being a tragedy. And although the play is based on true-life events from over a hundred years ago it is definitely relevant today.

For lead actresses Heidi Nickel as Bessie, Daisy Hollohan as Alice, and Claire Freel as Margret, the play is a challenging one to say the least, said Black.

As the girls tell their side of things, stepping in and out of each others stories, they take on many roles, he said. The three performers together play upwards of 20 characters by the end. Its a great challenge and a lot of fun to explore as a director and as performers, said Black.

Its a story about murder and manipulation, but the playwrights have done this amazing job of giving each of these women a voice and a sense of playful energy that keeps surprising the audience, he said.

They may be victims, but here they are being empowered to tell their story the way they want.

The Ottawa Citizen called the play a fascinating and insightful look at how societys oppression of women in that era contributed to the murders of the three women. Its grim but playful, the paper said.

The Calgary Herald called the play a creepy thriller.

Smith was ultimately hanged for the three murders, but the Herald said its likely he had other victims that went unreported.

Black said after starting the 2022-23 season with a romantic comedy followed by a classic period piece of Oscar Wilde, the unconventional "The Drowning Girls" will get people talking

Were bringing something unique and perhaps surprising to our stage, he said. Were doing things with this show that weve never attempted at the Firehall before.

"The Drowning Girls" is the last production of the year for Firehall Theatre, a 100-per cent volunteer troupe celebrating its 60th year.

The shows will take place at the groups theatre on Walnut Street from April 28 to May 14.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for students and people aged 60 and over, and are available at https://firehalltheatre.com/.

The shows run Fridays at 8 p.m. on April 28, May 5 and May 12, and Saturdays at 8 p.m. on April 29, May 6 and May 13. There will also be shows on Sundays at 2 p.m. on April 30, May 7 and May 14.

For more information email boxoffice@firehalltheatre.com or leave a message at 905-356-4953.

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Two of Niagaras members of provincial parliament are advocating for more support for the regions food programs.

As reported in Niagara this Week, Niagara Nutrition Partners have been forced to pause 16 programs, and reduce nine other programs to offering only one food group.

There has also been increased need, with Niagara Nutrition Partners going from serving 17,000 to 24,000 students in one year, as they operate in over 200 schools across the region.

St. Catharines Jennie Stevens and Niagara Falls Wayne Gates both used question period on April 19 to bring up the situation, and comment on how long its been since these programs received a funding increase.

According to Jessica Stephenson, program manager for the Niagara Nutrition Partners, funding from the province hasnt increased since 2014.

We are facing a $400,000 shortfall, said Stevens. We all know food prices are going up. Affordability is down. But this is not an excuse to let children go hungry.

When it was his turn to speak, Gates called out the government for allowing children in Niagara to go hungry under their watch.

(Niagara Nutrition Partners) face a significant funding gap from the province as food prices soar, he said. Students can't learn and thrive when hungry  It's shameful that this government would allow such a reality for children in the province.

In response, the provinces Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Michael Parsa said the programs throughout the province receive annual funding of $27.9 million.

We've said from the beginning we will make sure that student and youth, who deserve all the supports, get it in every way, shape and form, he said. I can assure the member that not a single children or youth will ever be forgotten under this government.

RELATED STORIES Niagara Nutrition Partners forced to pause 16 programs amid increased need, inflation

The goal of Niagara Nutrition Partners, Stephenson said, is to provide fresh, preferably local, high-quality foods, and offer two to three food groups to each student  a fruit/vegetable, grain, and a dairy product.

This is what the students deserve, but significant cost comes with that, she said.

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Jean Lussier and Red Hill after Lussier's trip over the Horseshoe Falls on July 4, 1928.



Jean Lussier was not the first daredevil to go over the Horseshoe Falls. He was, however, the first to go over the Falls in a rubber ball instead of a traditional wooden or steel barrel. He was also the third person to make the trip and survive to tell the tale.

Jean Lussier was born and raised in Quebec before moving to the United States. He visited Niagara Falls often and dreamed of conquering the falls in a contraption of his own making. And 95 years ago, at the age of 36, that is exactly what he did.

He constructed his rubber ball using a double steel band framework that was covered with a combination of rubber and cotton tire-like material. Inside, it was lined with 32 interconnected inner tubes that would be filled with oxygen for the journey. A 150-pound weight acted as a ballast that brought the total weight of the bright orange sphere to 760 pounds.

Although he knew that his upcoming stunt was illegal, Lussier announced his proposed trip over the Falls weeks beforehand. Because of this, approximately 150,000 people gathered to witness the momentous event. After spending two hours eluding the police patrolling the area, Lussier and his team were able to launch the sphere into the water about five miles above the cataracts on the afternoon of July 4, 1928.

It took about five minutes for the sphere to reach the brink of the Horseshoe Falls before it plummeted over the edge. The crowd went silent as the ball disappeared behind the falling water for the next 65 seconds. The inflated ball was soon freed by the rivers currents and was carried out into open water, much to the relief of the anxious bystanders.

The first rescue boat on the scene was helmed by famed riverman William Red Hill, who was also a longtime friend of Lussiers. Joining Hill in the boat was Winnie Stokes, the Niagara Falls Review reporter on hand to cover the story. The rubber ball was towed back to shore and Lussier was greeted with cheers from the enthusiastic crowd. The only injury that Lussier suffered was a small cut on his forehead. Many onlookers asked him what it felt like to go over the Falls.

I kept bracing for a sharp jar, but it never came, he recalled. It was like making a ski jump in slow motion.

For several months following his stunt, Lussier profited by selling pieces of the tubes that comprised the inner lining of his ball. These authentic souvenirs were sold for 50 cents apiece. Some sources say that when he eventually ran out, he began selling pieces of rubber that he purchased from a nearby tire store!

For years after, Lussier displayed his ball at various tourist points before eventually selling it to the Niagara Falls Museum. In 1953, at the age of 59, Lussier announced that he was prepared to make a second trip, this time over the American Falls. Fortunately, he did not proceed, citing his advanced age. No one had ever attempted this feat before due to the extreme danger posed by the jutting rocks at the base of the American Falls.

On June 14, 1971, just shy of the 43rd anniversary of his historic plunge over the Falls, Jean Lussier died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 79. He is buried in Lewiston, N.Y.

Cathy Roy is the Local History Librarian at the Niagara Falls Public Library. She may be reached at croy@nflibrary.ca.

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Niagara police were called to St. Catharines Collegiate high school for a stabbing incident which resulted in a 15-year-old student being taken to the hospital.

Niagara Regional Police were called to the midtown St. Catharines secondary school just before 11 a.m. on April 20 for an assault investigation.

Upon arrival, officers located the victim, a 15-year-old male student at the school, who was suffering from an apparent stab wound. The victim received medical attention by staff members at the school prior to the arrival of Niagara Emergency Medical Services (NEMS) paramedics, who responded and assessed the victims injuries before transporting him to an out-of-town trauma centre.

The victim has since been released from hospital and continues to recover from his injuries at home.

The investigation determined the victim was stabbed with a knife by another student at the school, police said. Police arrested the suspect, who remained on the premises with school staff members, and recovered the knife.

The suspect, a 15-year-old male from Thorold, has been charged with assault with a weapon.

A letter has been sent home to parents to acknowledge the situation had occurred, that students are safe, and that police responded and are investigating.

Detectives with the Criminal Investigative Branch are continuing the investigation. Any staff members, students or otherwise who witnessed the incident, and have not already provided a statement, are encouraged to contact the lead detectives by dialing 905-688-4111, option 3, ext. 1009358.

Information can also be submitted anonymously using Crime Stoppers of Niagara. To leave a tip, contact Crime Stoppers via telephone at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at crimestoppersniagara.ca. Crime Stoppers guarantees anonymity and tips which lead to an arrest may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

This is the second known violent incident report at the school in the last week in which police were involved.

Police were also called to the school on April 14 in response to a disturbance involving alleged physical contact between a pair of students.

Kim Sweeney, senior manager of communications and public relations for the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN), said the principal called the police to investigate a rumour about a student having a knife. She noted that a report of any weapon at a DSBN school results in an automatic call to police.

According to police, no weapon was found.

Police also say neither student was injured, and that it was later learned the two were close friends who have since apologized to one another and have reconciled their differences.

Sweeney said the DSBN has policies, procedures, and several community partnerships in place to keep all schools safe. However, understanding Thursdays incident is troubling, they are taking additional steps.

An immediate measure we are taking is increasing supervision and staff presence at lunchtime, outside the schoolboth on school property as well as nearby parks and other places students gather - and in the hallways throughout the day during class hours as well, she said.

Starting next week, she said, they will involve students in discussions about safety measures and strategies they would like to see put in place at our school.

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Niagara Falls city council has directed staff to report back on recommendations submitted by a Niagara resident advocating more support for people dealing with mental health, addiction and homelessness.

I know weve been contacted by Steven Soos. I feel bad actually just receiving and filing (for information, his letter to council, as was recommended by staff), said Coun. Victor Pietrangelo during Tuesday nights meeting.

I think there probably is something we can pass. The resolution that he sent us is very, very, very lengthy, so perhaps we can just send that one to staff and have staff come back with something thats a little bit more condensed that we could support.

Soos was successful in pushing Niagara Region and 11 of the peninsulas 12 municipalities, including Niagara Falls, to declare a state of emergency surrounding mental health, addiction and homelessness.

He had been lobbying municipal councils on the declaration since 2019 while sharing his own experience with addiction and mental health.

He credits the support of Wayne Campbell, a Niagara Falls city councillor who lost his daughter to suicide, for helping him along his tour of municipal council chambers. And now he also credits Niagara Falls regional Coun. Joyce Morocco, who Soos recently submitted 100 recommendations to, as Morocco co-chairs the Regions public health and social services committee, on how they can transform the mental health, homelessness and addictions systems locally.

In Tuesdays agenda for Niagara Falls city council was a lengthy resolution Soos said would assist people living rough throughout the community, push for more affordable-housing options and support Niagaras Indigenous population, who are disproportionately affected by homelessness, mental health and addiction.

The resolution outlines about 30 actions Niagara Falls can advocate or pursue.

In an interview, Soos said he wants to work with other Niagara municipalities to come up with similar concepts that are geared specifically to the unique needs of those communities.

In addition to municipalities in Niagara, Soos said hes also pushing for similar state of emergencies to be declared in all other communities across Ontario.

Coun. Lori Lococo said Soos letter was very detailed and I would love to support it, adding the citys homeless committee, which the second-term councillor is on, should be part of the process as staff go through the recommendations.

Morocco described Soos as very passionate and she fully supports him.

Soos said hes like a kid in a candy store that Niagara Falls city council is considering his recommendations.

Im so excited.

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A prohibited driver who fled the scene after striking a 78-year-old pedestrian in Niagara Falls will return to court this summer to learn his fate.

James Carrier, 66, appeared in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Thursday and pleaded guilty to several charges including driving with an excessive blood alcohol level and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

On Jan. 6, 2022, at approximately 6:25 p.m., court was told, the elderly victim was walking on Drummond Road near Stamford Collegiate High School when he was struck by a car.

After striking the man, the vehicle veered off the roadway and collided with a tree.

Court was told Carrier exited his vehicle and walked to his residence which was located nearby.

The Crown said the victim sustained a large laceration to his leg which was severely bleeding.

He was transported by paramedics to Greater Niagara General Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Not long after the incident, Niagara Regional Police located the driver, who was bleeding from his head, in the backyard of his home. He was arrested without incident.

Court was told the defendant, who was a prohibited driver, was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

Carrier also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of assault which occurred in Niagara Falls in August 2021.

In that case, court heard, the man called 911 after he began experiencing chest pains.

Paramedics arrived at his home and a verbal argument erupted. The defendant threw a plastic bottle at one of the paramedics, striking him in head.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

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Over 100,000 federal workers who are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) went on strike Wednesday morning, in a push for higher wages, greater job security and the ability to work remotely.

Pickets were staged outside the Pen Centre in St. Catharines, where the federal passport office is located. The strike is disrupting the delivery of public services, such as passport applications and income tax returns, as well as supply chain issues.

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CALGARY - A U.S. activist investor that has been pushing Parkland Fuel Corp. to consider selling or spinning off its Burnaby, B.C. refinery said Thursday it will withhold support from all of Parkland Fuel Corp.s incumbent directors at the companys upcoming annual meeting.

New York-based Engine Capital LP, which owns about a two per cent stake in Parkland, said the Calgary-based fuel supplier and marketer has failed to address the concerns it raised in March. In a letter to the board at that time, Engine criticized the company for underperformance and urged it to consider getting rid of non-core assets to become a pure-play fuel marketer and retailer.

In a followup letter on Thursday, Engine said it met with Parklands CFO, but was frustrated that it has not been offered a meeting with the companys board as it requested.

Engine has engaged with more than 50 boards of directors over the last decade, and we have never encountered a situation where one has been so unresponsive, Engine managing partner Arnaud Ajdler and partner Brad Favreau wrote in the letter.

The response from an engaged and competent board of directors should be to engage with a major shareholder, not to hide behind its CFO.

Engine said it is also frustrated that Parkland has once again nominated 24-year tenured chair Jim Pantelidis to the board, despite adopting a 10-year term limit for directors.

This policy should apply to all directors, including the companys chairman, especially considering that he has been on the board for almost a quarter of a century, Ajdler and Favreau said.

We therefore urge the board not to renominate Mr. Pantelidis at the 2024 annual meeting.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Parkland said it has engaged frequently with Engine over the last several months but continues to have confidence in its board of directors and strategy.

We appreciate the many expressions of support we have received from our shareholders, including our largest shareholder, both for all our directors and for our overall strategy to build long-term shareholder value, Parkland said Thursday.

In March, Parkland said it had entered into an agreement with its largest shareholder, Simpson Oil Ltd., which will provide it the right to designate up to two nominees for election to Parklands board.

Simpson Oil owns more than 19 per cent of Parkland stock. Engine said Thursday it will vote for the two board nominees appointed by Simpson.

Engine has also been critical of Parklands approach to executive compensation. The activist investor noted that CEO Bob Espeys total direct compensation increased 23 per cent in 2022 to $5.3 million.

Mr. Espeys compensation has consistently increased over the last few years as the business has grown through M&A and has become more complex  the very issues that are hurting shareholders, Engine said.

Parkland is set to hold its annual general meeting on May 4.

Parkland purchased its Burnaby refinery  which refines 55,000 barrels per day of crude and synthetic oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuels and more  from Chevron Canada for $1.5 billion in 2017.

On the retail side, Parkland is one of the fastest-growing independent fuel suppliers and marketers in North America, with a network of retail service stations across Canada, the northern U.S. and the Caribbean.

Its On the Run convenience store brand is expected to have more than 1,000 locations by 2024.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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BuzzFeed, the iconic American company that ushered in a new era for digital media, is shuttering its news division and cutting roughly 15 per cent of its total workforce, in what its founder and CEO Jonah Peretti described as deeply painful decisions after several challenging years for the organization.

In an email to staff, obtained by the Toronto Star, Peretti said the company is beginning the process of closing BuzzFeed News. In addition, the company will reduce its 1,200-member workforce by 15 per cent, or roughly 180 employees, and is also proposing head count reductions in some international markets.

I regret that I didnt hold the company to higher standards for profitability, to give us the buffer needed to manage through economic and industry downturns and avoid painful days like today, Peretti wrote in the memo. Our mission, our impact on culture, and our audience is what matters most, but we need a stronger business to protect and sustain this important work.

BuzzFeed News currently employs more than 100 journalists globally, including in Toronto, according to its website. A spokesperson for the company said BuzzFeeds international office in Canada will see a small impact, but did not say how many Canadian employees will be impacted by the cuts.

Peretti did note that some BuzzFeed News employees may be offered roles at HuffPost. A source within the company who wasnt authorized to speak on record added that the company will now concentrate its efforts on HuffPost, the organizations only profitable news organization.

BuzzFeed, founded in 2006, has faced significant challenges over the past year. In its fourth quarter results for 2022, released last month, the company reported a net loss of $106.2 million. Overall revenue for that period was at $134.6 million, down eight per cent year-over-year.

Theres no denying that 2022 was a tough year for digital media. The challenges we faced in Q4 are also impacting us in Q1 2023, and it is clear we have more work to do to realize the full potential of our combined brand portfolio, said Peretti in a statement when the financial results were first announced.

When it was established in 2012, BuzzFeed News revitalized the BuzzFeed brand, at the time almost exclusively known for its clickbait headlines. The news division, which averages more than 50 million unique monthly readers, became known for its hard-hitting investigative reporting and won its first Pulitzer Prize in 2021.

In addition to the cuts, Peretti also confirmed that the organizations chief revenue officer, Edgar Hernandez, and chief operating officer, Christian Baesler, are both leaving the company. Marcela Martin, president of BuzzFeed, will oversee all revenue functions effective immediately.

The latest announcement Thursday come just months after the company previously said it was cutting 12 per cent of its workforce in December to rein in costs.

In 2020, the company reportedly slashed salaries by as much as 25 per cent to weather the pandemic, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the announcement. The following year, the company also closed HuffPosts operations in Canada, laying 23 jobs in the process.

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BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with a delegation led by Enkhbaatar Nyamaa, member of the party board and the secretary of the Mongolian People's Party, in Beijing on Thursday.

The two sides exchanged views on implementing the key consensus between the two heads of state, improving experience sharing on party and state governance, and promoting the sound and steady development of China-Mongolia relations. 
TORONTO - Shareholders looking for an update on TD Bank Groups US$13.4 billion takeover of First Horizon Corp. were left with few answers at the banks annual meeting Thursday.

Facing numerous questions about the deal after U.S. banking turmoil has pushed down the value of Tennessee-based First Horizon, chief executive Bharat Masrani stuck to a statement that they are in negotiations about a potential extension of the deal past the May 27 deadline.

Its the same message he gave in a March earnings call when the bank disclosed that they dont expect to secure regulatory approval of the deal by the deadline, without providing details on what might be causing the delay.

Since then, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have put pressure on the U.S. banking sector and led to calls from some for TD to walk away from the deal that it first announced in February, 2022.

Pressed by shareholders, Masrani said he sees the benefits of the merger, but notably absent in his comments was his March statement that the bank was fully committed to the transaction.

Outside of the deal, the meeting saw several shareholder proposals go to a vote related to climate change as well as on executive pay ratios and the financialization of housing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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A violent earthquake, a desperate decision, a harrowing journey and bad timing all combined to create an impossible situation for a young Turkish family who fled their homeland, hoping to start over in Canada, using a border crossing at Roxham Road.

Forty-one-year-old Naim Dolen, his wife Elif, 41, and their three daughters  one-year-old Irmak, four-year-old Melis and eight-year-old Asya  once enjoyed a comfortable life in Turkey. But when two major earthquakes hit their hometown Elbistan, Kahramanmaras, on Feb. 6, they became homeless and scrambled to find food and supplies.

Our entire lives were destroyed in a single night. We lost everything. Everyone we knew lost everything, said Naim Dolen, speaking to the Star in Turkish.

The first aid to Elbistan came three days after the earthquake. We slept in other peoples cars, and makeshift tents to survive the nights, in -20 degrees. We couldnt find formula or diapers for days. The shops were plundered.

The family said they faced discrimination because they are Kurdish Alevis, an ethno-religious minority group, residing mostly in southeast Turkey, and said the Turkish government prioritized aid in villages supporting the ruling party, a charge that has been cited in several media reports.

We were left desperate, begging for bread and water for days. It dawned on me that the countrys conditions would not change and we would always be victims. I saw no other way but to seek asylum elsewhere.

Canada seemed like the most viable option for the Dolen family. Their relatives gathered $20,000 to help the family start over, potentially in Montreal, where Naims cousins have lived for the past 15 years, and where they also have friends who promised to support them.

They praised the education system and the freedoms in Canada. A few of them are business owners. They said I have skills to offer, said Naim who has worked in road building and construction for 20 years.

But the ill-advised method the Dolens chose, out of sheer hopelessness, Naim said, led the family down a dark path.

Naim made contact with a human smuggler who promised to take the family to Roxham Road, an irregular border crossing between New York state and Quebec that has been used by many migrants to gain access to Canada.

He didnt know anything about this man, he said, he just called a number someone gave him and followed the instructions of the voice on the other end.

I had acquaintances who took refuge in Canada with this mans help without any trouble. He asked me on the phone to send $5,000 for the plane tickets and hotel reservations. I agreed and the process started.

The smuggler told me where to go to pick up the tickets at the Istanbul Airport. Someone will give it to you, he said. It all happened in seconds, someone handed me the tickets and left. If I saw the same person now, I would not recognize them.

The family left Istanbul on the evening of March 24. Meanwhile a major immigration policy change was in the works in Canada, one that would have drastic implications for the Dolens, and would be in place before their feet touched the ground again.

After a 16-hour flight from Istanbul they landed in Cancun, Mexico. A man picked them up at the airport and drove them to a hotel. The family stayed in Cancun for three days before flying to their next location; Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

A man working with the Mexican leg of the human smuggling network  who Naim could barely communicate with through Google translate  picked them up at the airport. All of their moves were controlled by the smuggler. They just followed the directions, even when it seemed shady, such as when they had to pay $200 to airport police.

Following the smugglers instructions, they dined at a restaurant a few kilometres from the airport, where a taxi driver picked them up again and drove them to the U.S. border.

It did not take long. The driver told us to open the door and run as soon as he stopped. Dont take anything, leave your belongings behind he said. We only took the essentials like baby formula and diapers in a small backpack, Naim said.

Walking in the advised direction, with two kids who thought the family was on an adventure, the Dolens approached a river that they were instructed to wade through.

We were terrified of getting caught by the Mexican police. My wife held the baby tightly. My oldest daughter panicked and jumped into the water without waiting for me. It was frightening, Naim said.

The family was able to cross the river in Mexico and make it to El Paso, Texas. But, it was there and then, they realized for the first time how gravely vulnerable they were.

Even in those moments, I knew we couldnt stop.

At least 37 migrants have died of injuries, drowning, dehydration and vehicle fatalities crossing into El Paso and southern New Mexico since October 2021, according to the El Paso Times.

At this point, the family did not know what would happen next, according to Naim. Once they crossed the river, they called the smuggler.

He said; OK, youre done, youre in America, and that was it. We walked a little more and then saw the police approaching.

The border police in El Paso drove the family to what they believe was a migration processing centre.

We were so tired, we didnt sleep for days. They confiscated our belongings at this office, including the laces of the childrens shoes. They put us into a room with nothing but a toilet and mats on the floor. I warmed up the children with my jacket.

On March 31, Naims youngest daughter Irmak, marked her first birthday, in a room packed with 30 to 40 strangers, at the migration processing centre in El Paso.

The family was released from the camp a couple of days later. Following the smugglers directions, they stayed at a hotel in El Paso for three days. They stocked up on essentials before the final leg of their journey. They boarded a plane and, after transferring at Dallas and Charlotte, they arrived in New York a day later. Roxham Road was a seven-hour taxi ride away.

On April 4, roughly two weeks after they left Istanbul, they finally reached the U.S.-Canada border. The $20,000 deal with the smuggler covered everything up to that point, but what was next was unknown.

The taxi driver rushed back as soon as we got off. We saw the Canadian border police approach. He took the taxis photo and escorted us inside. The conditions were tough there. We could not get food until the morning. We pushed chairs together to make a bed for the kids.

Then the waiting began.

Canada and the U.S. recognize each other as safe countries to seek refuge, and the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) dictates that migrants must make their refugee claim in the country where they first arrived.

Previously, migrants crossing at Roxham Road and other unofficial border crossings were not turned back to the U.S. under STCA and nearly 40,000 people entered Canada at Roxham Road in Quebec last year.

But following an agreement between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden during Bidens March visit to Canada, the agreement was expanded to include the entire 9,000-kilometre land border between the U.S. and Canada and not just official points of entry.

The STCA also includes an exception for those who have family members in Canada, so asylum seekers who can demonstrate family ties to Canada are able to enter the country, though there are guidelines on who is considered a family member.

The definition of family members is somewhat randomly constructed, according to Efrat Arbel, Associate Professor of Law at the University of British Columbia.

Spouses, aunts, and uncles are recognized but other family members, namely cousins, are not, so this is yet another level of arbitrariness.

Some experts say that the border closure puts refugees at risk of seeking other, dangerous routes for entry and that the United States is not a reliable partner, given its record of arbitrary detention and ill treatment of asylum-seekers.

One of the problems with the closure (of irregular border crossings) is that it applies in a blanket manner, disregarding the individuals circumstances, whether theyre fleeing persecution or other forms of displacement, according to Arbel.

Before the border closures, if someone came at Roxham Road or other irregular entry points, there was the possibility for some to enter Canada and have their asylum needs assessed, before being turned away, said Maureen Silcoff, refugee and immigration lawyer and former president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.

Recognizing that was really crucial in terms of Canadas humanitarian role. Canada went the other way, the pendulum swung so far over that the doors closed from coast to coast.

Back at the processing centre at Roxham Road, the Dolen family was out of options.

A man who introduced himself as Agent Salter looked at our file. He said on the third day, that our asylum application had been denied, and that wed be deported. Because cousins were not qualifying family members, Naim said.

The Dolen family was unable to enter Canada through Roxham Road, which shut down as unofficial border crossing March 25 as part of the STCA, a week and a half before they arrived and they were also not eligible to seek asylum based on the exception of having family members.

The agent told us to sign the papers or wed be in trouble. My wife got really worried. Soon after they took us to the Canadian-U.S. border and handed us over to the police, Naim said.

Due to privacy laws, we cannot comment on a specific case, Nancy Caron, an IRCC spokesperson, told the Star in an email.

Caron clarified that the definition of family member under the STCA is part of the original STCA which came into effect in 2004, and did not change with the recent amendments to the agreement with the U.S.

The Government of Canada is deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of the people in Turkey and Syria affected by these earthquakes. We are also firmly committed to upholding a fair refugee protection system, while protecting the safety of Canadians and keeping our border secure.

At the time of this interview, the Dolen family was back in the U.S., staying at a hotel in Plattsburgh, New York on the U.S.-Canada border.

They have been given an order of release at the border by the Department of Homeland Security which allows them to stay in the U.S. until May 2, and requires them to report their status to a duty officer at the New York Field office.

We want to come to Canada. We went through all this trouble to get there. We dont know anyone in the U.S.

The saga of this one family speaks to the implicit but unspoken stories of hundreds of Turkish citizens who have trod the same path, according to Irep Cakir, editor-in-chief of Turkish Voice of Canada, a news channel on YouTube for Turkish-speaking Canadians.

Two major earthquakes in the Kahramanmaras district of Turkey on Feb. 6, killed more than 40,000 people, and hit at a critical time, according to Cakir, as the country was already in the midst of an economic and political crisis, leaving the nation in crippling uncertainty before the presidential elections in May.

The traumatic experience pushed many beyond their breaking point. I have spoken to many who put their savings and trust into a Canadian dream sold by smugglers and cartels. 

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser introduced new measures in March, making it easier for Turkish nationals in Canada to obtain open work permits for up to three years, and for those with a visitor visa to obtain a student or a work visa easier. However, the new measures do not include exceptions for Turkish asylum-seekers who enter the country irregularly.

I dont care where I live at this age, said Naim, there is no future for my children in Turkey and there may be one in Canada. We are at fault here too, but we are desperate.

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A First Nation in southern Ontario says five federally run schools in its community are closed as a result of a strike by federal public service workers.

Six Nations of the Grand River says more than 1,100 students are affected.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada bargaining groups involved in the strike include 155,000 federal public servants, but about 46,000 are essential workers who are not part of the strike action.

Six Nations of the Grand River says teaching staff at the five affected schools are funded by and operate under Indigenous Services Canada.

Indigenous Services Canada says all federally operated schools in First Nations communities in Ontario will be closed during the labour disruption.

Zarah Malik, an Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson, says it is working to ensure that any ongoing labour disruption has minimal impact on students.

ISC officials are working with First Nation leadership and families to ensure students are provided with opportunities, including through homework packages, to continue their learning during the labour disruption, she said Thursday in an email.

PSAC is asking for a 13.5 per cent raise over the next three years while the federal government has offered a nine per cent raise over that time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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An uptick in technology use by young people during the pandemic has resulted in increased online bullying among that age group, according to emerging data out of the U.K. by a Canadian researcher.

The root cause? A lack of eye contact, facial expressions, human touch and even voice intonations, said Kaitlynn Mendes, an associate professor in sociology at Western University.

These are really important cues that are missing from online interactions, said Mendes, And this makes empathizing hard. But it means that harassment and abusive comments actually become much easier.

Mendes and her team held focus groups and surveyed or interviewed 800 youths aged 13 to 18, as well as parents and teachers, in the U.K. The research was conducted from January to May of 2021, as the country came out of lockdown. Mendes will start similar research in Canada next month.

One of the things we found is that teachers really noted that as young people were coming back into school, the way that young people were communicating with each other during lockdowns had changed, and they found that their empathy had really decreased, said Mendes.

Young people told us about things like increases in their experiences of sexual harassment, misogyny, racism, homophobia and even various forms of fraud like catfishing and other practices like body shaming, said Mendes, who is a Canada research chair in inequality and gender.

The research, which will be published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, was revealed during a panel of experts convened by the Ontario Medical Association on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing effects of the pandemic on mental health.

Wait times for mental health services in the province have not only continued, theyve gotten worse, said panelist Dr. Lisa Lefebvre, a community addiction medicine physician at TrueNorth Medical in Toronto. Lefebvre is also the associate medical director of the OMAs physician health program.

More need for those services arose during the pandemic, when alcohol abuse increased significantly and there was an ongoing increase in opioid use, said Lefebvre.

The backlog of care, as well as food insecurity and the rising cost of housing, have created even more stress for many people.

We refer to this concept of recovery capital in the addiction world, which is all the different positive things in your life that contributed to you being well and functional, said Lefebvre. And when we have additional stressors, it reduces our ability to respond to them.

Now, instead of three or six months, patients are waiting from nine months to two years to access community mental health services, depending on where they live, she said.

The result of the backlog is that patients end up in emergency, which is not the appropriate place for patients with long-term trauma, she said.

Its also an environment where health professionals are feeling a great deal of stress.

An OMA survey of its members in 2022 found that 93 per cent of physicians agreed that doctors are feeling burnt out and 66 per cent of respondents strongly agreed with that statement. Women, midcareer physicians and general practitioners were most strongly impacted.

There are solutions, however, said Dr. Rose Zacharias, who is president of the OMA and an emergency room physician.

One is for the province to invest in team-based community care, where patients cannot not only access family doctors but psychotherapists, social workers, addiction specialists, or have a real ready network of community supports for that individual patient that is seeking care, said Zacharias.

The other is to move more medical records online to reduce the administrative burden of paperwork on doctors, who spend an average of ten and a half hours a week filling out forms and handling other administrative tasks, she said.

And although digital technology will help doctors, it needs to be studied when it comes to kids, said Mendes.

She said a lot of parents had strict rules about the hours their children were allowed online or on social media before the pandemic, rules that eroded during COVID.

I think that it's not going to get better any time soon, especially as younger children are using digital technologies and before we really know kind of the full implications of this, said Mendes. So it's something that I anticipate where we're going to see more harms.

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REGINA - Opposition NDP legislature member Betty Nippi-Albright says she isnt surprised the Saskatchewan Party government defeated her bill that aimed to bolster relations with Indigenous people.

Nippi-Albright said Thursday the bill would have made for a more robust consulting process with Indigenous groups when the province sells Crown land and changes policies that affect the environment.

This government has a track record of not listening to Indigenous people in this province, she said. So, Im not at all surprised.

Nippi-Albright introduced her legislation last fall after some First Nations raised concerns about the government not adequately consulting them when selling parcels of Crown land.

First Nations leaders have said they have used such lands for traditional purposes, such as fishing, hunting and gathering.

Government Relations Minister Don McMorris said Saskatchewan Party members voted against the legislation because it included language that he believes would have given Indigenous groups a veto on proposed projects and made it difficult for the government to operate.

The bill makes reference to free, prior and informed consent through sections of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which McMorris said is quite a significant statement.

It virtually becomes a veto vote on any project moving forward, so theres definitely some concerns around that, he said.

Consultation would have to be done on any sort of movement on government and First Nations would have the ability to agree or not agree. So, it really would handcuff and be very, very difficult for any government to operate under that type of legislation.

Nippi-Abright said the bill makes no mention of vetoes, adding she believes McMorris is reading more into that bill than whats there.

She said the current process is deeply flawed where consultations arent done extensively with communities.

This would have given the nations that opportunity to truly be partners in the decisions that are going to impact them, she said.

It would give an opportunity for nations to protect their treaty rights for those that come behind, for our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren and those not yet born.

McMorris said the province has been extensively consulting with Indigenous and industry groups about making changes to current practices, which havent been updated in 12 years.

He said the government is to introduce changes in the next two weeks, adding it will touch on timelines and more respect in the consultation.

They would all like to see it tweaked and moved around a little bit, and we certainly have no problem doing that, McMorris said. Thats why we did the engagement and are putting together these items, and then with the solutions moving forward.

However, Nippi-Albright said she believes the new policy wont have any meaningful change.

She said the government could see more lawsuits from First Nations because of the lack of consultation.

If we are ever going to achieve reconciliation in this province, we have to sit down and start respecting the treaty rights holders, she said. Those are the people that we need to consult.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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HAWKESBURY, Ont. - Ontario Provincial Police say they are investigating a suspected double homicide in a township bordering Quebec.

They say provincial police in Quebec were investigating a serious assault late Wednesday and notified OPP about a potential crime scene in Ontario.

The force says OPP officers went to a home in East Hawkesbury and found two people dead.

The investigation is in its early stages, but police say a person arrested for the assault in Quebec is believed to be connected to the deaths in Ontario.

Police have not released the names of those who died.

They say there is a heavy police presence in the Chute-a-Blondeau area of East Hawkesbury but there is no threat to public safety.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  The Danish Maritime Authority said Thursday that it was lifting a ban on sailing in the area of the Baltic Sea where gas leaked after the explosions that incapacitated the Nord Stream pipelines last year.

However, the agency said it was maintaining the restriction in areas where anchoring, fishing and work on the seabed are discouraged within a distance of 1 nautical mile from the leak positions due to underwater obstacles.

Shortly after the leaks, the agency issued a navigation warning and established a prohibited area to ensure ships did not sail nearby.

A total of four gas leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines that run from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, on Sept. 26 and 27 respectively.

The leaks were deemed an act of sabotage. Earlier this month, Swedish prosecutors said a state actor was the most likely culprit. However, they cautioned that the identity of the perpetrator was still unclear.

In March 2023, a German media investigation quoted unnamed officials as saying that five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack. The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.

Two of the leaks were in the Swedish economic zone, northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, and two in the Danish economic zone, southeast of Bornholm. All were outside national waters.

Both Swedish and Danish seismic measurements showed that explosions took place a few hours before the leaks were discovered.

Authorities and investigators in Denmark, Sweden and other countries early on suspected the explosions were deliberate attacks and consider them sabotage. The pipelines were not operational at the time, due to disputes between Russia and the European Union amid the war in Ukraine.

The United States and some of its allies have long criticized the pipelines, warning that they posed a risk to Europes energy security by increasing the continents dependence on Russian gas.

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LONDON (AP)  U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday reviewed the findings of a long-awaited investigation into allegations his top deputy bullied government employees, but didnt make a decision on his fate.

An independent employment lawyer issued the report after investigating eight formal complaints that Justice Secretary Dominic Raab had been abusive toward staff during a previous stint in that office and while serving as foreign secretary and Brexit secretary.

Raab, who is also deputy prime minister, has denied claims he was overly demanding and belittled and demeaned his staff. He said he behaved professionally at all times, but would resign if the bullying complaints were upheld.

Sunaks spokesperson, Max Blain, said the prime minister received the report Thursday morning and was considering the findings to determine if Raab had violated the ministerial code and whether any action  up to dismissal  should be taken.

The code of conduct requires ministers to treat people with respect and have proper and appropriate relationships with colleagues, civil servants and staff. It says harassment, discrimination and bullying will not be tolerated.

Although Blain said the decision would be made as swiftly as possible, Sunak had not reached a decision by the end of the day Thursday.

Until then, he said, Sunak still has full confidence in Raab.

Raab, 49, was first elected to Parliament in 2010 and unsuccessfully sought to become the Conservative party leader in 2019 before throwing his support behind Boris Johnson. Appointed deputy prime minister under Johnson, he briefly took charge of the government when Johnson was hospitalized with COVID-19 in April 2020.

The report is the latest ethics headache for Sunak, who vowed to restore order and integrity to government after three years of instability under predecessors Johnson  brought down in summer 2022 after multiple scandals  and Liz Truss, who quit in October after six weeks in office when her tax-cutting economic plans sparked mayhem on the financial markets.

But he has struggled to shake off opposition allegations that the Conservative government remains mired in scandal and sleaze.

Wendy Chamberlain, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker, repeated that criticism as she accused Sunak of dither and delay.

It feels like almost every week there is an issue with sleaze and scandal where Rishi Sunak is either implicated ... himself or too weak to get to grips with it, Chamberlain said. People are crying out for a government that will just get on with tackling the issues that matter, (and is) not focused on saving their own skin.

Sunak also faces an investigation announced this week by a parliamentary watchdog over whether he properly disclosed his wifes interest in a company that stands to benefit from a massive boost to free child care in his administrations budget.

A member of his Cabinet, Gavin Williamson, quit in November over bullying claims. In January, Sunak fired Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi for failing to come clean about a multimillion-dollar tax dispute.

A separate inquiry is underway into claims Johnson secured a loan with the help of a Conservative donor, Richard Sharp, who was later appointed chairman of the BBC.

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OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has no means of evacuating citizens from Sudan, where violence has drastically escalated between the countrys army and its rival paramilitary force.

The airport right now is inaccessible; the streets are unsafe. So the situation is extremely dire, Joly said in an interview Thursday.

It is not possible for the moment to do any evacuation. So what were saying to Canadians is please shelter in place.

The streets of the capital of Khartoum were generally calm a week ago, but a skirmish over a planned transition to democratic rule deteriorated last Saturday into raging battles between the two groups.

The Global Affairs Department knows of roughly 1,500 Canadians registered as being in Sudan, and Joly is urging anyone in that country who hasnt submitted their details to the government to do so.

It is important that we can have access to whom is present in the country, Joly said.

Joly saidall of Canadas diplomats and hired local staff have been accounted for, and are trying to offer services while working remotely.

It is a difficult situation in which we are operating, but we are there, she said, adding that Canadas embassy sits in an area that is currently under active combat.

Sudans military ruled out negotiations with Sudans paramilitary force on Thursday, raising the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudans population to the breaking point.

Many attempted to flee Khartoum during a brief ceasefire, the second this week that gave way to more fighting.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began Saturday, the UNs World Health Organization said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

The U.S. and other countries anticipate the violence to escalate, and are preparing to evacuate their citizens in Sudan. Thats despite warring groups preventing the flow of people out of Khartoum, and fighting at numerous airports.

The American military is moving assets to a base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti for a possible evacuation of diplomats, Biden administration officials said. Japan plans to send military planes to Djibouti, and the Netherlands has dispatched its own to Jordan.

Joly would not say what contingencies Canada is considering.

Were assessing the situation constantly (and) working with countries, partners and allies, as were all in the same situation, she said.

Joly said she discussed the situation Tuesday with other G7 foreign ministers in Japan. She plans to soon speak with her counterparts in the African Union as well as nearby countries such as Egypt and Djibouti about both protecting citizens and de-escalation.

Khartoum residents are running out of food and water. Alarm has grown that the countrys medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies.

Canadas travel advisory warns that Sudans telecommunication networks could break down without notice.

The security situation is highly volatile. There are reports of looting of private homes. There are also reports of attacks and sexual assaults, including rape. Foreigners and staff of international organizations have been targeted, reads a Thursday update.

Bob Rae, Canadas ambassador to the United Nations, said the sudden deterioration in Sudan is an object lesson for all of us about the issues that produce insecurity and conflict.

No one should be either shocked or indifferent. And it means countries such as Canada have to be more prepared, Rae wrote on Twitter.

Joly said a rise in global conflicts means Ottawa needs to beef up its foreign service, to provide Canadians with consular assistance and try finding peace.

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program logged 54 state-based conflicts in 2021, the most since 1946 and slightly more than those recorded in the early 1990s.

Theres a rise of instability, and thats why we need to continue to invest in our diplomacy to be there across the world, Joly said.

We need to make sure that were there in order to prevent conflict. And also when conflict happens, to de-escalate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

 With files from The Associated Press

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OTTAWAPierre Poilievres Conservatives are the reason the interim ethics commissioner quit, Liberal House Leader Mark Holland said Thursday as the government remained on the defensive over its ethical track record.

Martine Richards appointment to the post drew criticism late last month after it was revealed shes the sister-in-law of Liberal cabinet minister Dominic Leblanc.

Still, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the choice, noting she joined the office under the previous Conservative government, was second-in-command and there are procedures in place to guard from conflicts.

But the Opposition Conservatives insisted putting a family member in the position tainted the work of the office, which has found Trudeau and several cabinet ministers in violation of ethics laws several times since 2015.

On Tuesday, the Conservatives had successfully passed a motion to study the issue at the ethics committee and have Richard as well as Leblanc appear.

Then on Wednesday, her office announced she was stepping down, effective immediately.

They gave no explanation and said they would not be answering further questions.

During question period Thursday, as the Conservatives needled the Liberals with questions over not just that but Trudeaus controversial winter trip to Jamaica, Holland lay the blame for the fact the job is now vacant at their feet.

What happens when they attack people and they engage in these partisan attacks is, yes, those people do leave, he said.

Ethics office cant make decisions

Richards office noted that without a commissioner in place, there are decisions in the office that simply cannot be taken, though they did not elaborate.

In the meantime, all they can do is give guidance on how to follow the rules.

One piece of guidance they gave recently was to Trudeau regarding a trip his family was taking to Jamaica over the Christmas holiday.

This week, it emerged that trip was to an exclusive luxury villa resort owned by long-time family friends of the Trudeaus, who are also donors to a foundation set up in his fathers memory.

The Conservatives argue that amounts to people paying for access to the prime minister, and Trudeau has been under pressure to pay back the cost of the rooms  which rent for upwards of $9,000 a night during peak season.

So far, he has kept saying he was with family friends, and had ensured ahead of time that would be in keeping with ethics rules. There are no prohibitions on accepting gifts from friends, provided the friends paid for it themselves.

So, who will the prime minister ask advice from the next time he wants to vacation with rich friends? Conservative MP Luc Berthold asked in French during question period, noting the now-vacant job.

In response, Innovation Minister Francois-Phillippe Champagne said the Tories focus is misplaced.

The Conservative party is completely stuck on issues that actually, Canadians dont care about.

The Liberals have committed to filling the post as soon as possible.

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Yang Zhuoqing, 27, who is studying at the Minzu University of China, makes coffee at Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2023. (Xinhua)

KUNMING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- When sipping coffee at a modern cafe in the city, one does not associate the tantalizing aromas with rural coffee farms.

However, the Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in southwest China's Yunnan Province offers young people across the country a rare opportunity to learn about coffee farming and production, and to explore rural life.

In a volunteer program offered by the farm in Dakaihe Village in Pu'er City, coffee lovers can have a new experience in the coffee fields or right in front of the coffee tables.

Coffee farming volunteer programs like this combine coffee tours with volunteer work, and they have become a new way for young people to learn about rural life in Yunnan.

"Although the volunteer experience is short, it is full of charming coffee aromas," said Yang Zhuoqing, 27, who is studying at the Minzu University of China. Yang learned about the program while doing field research in Pu'er and has since joined. "It is not only from 'seed to cup,' but also from 'cup to brain.'"

Pu'er City, famous for its ancient Tea Horse Road, wild ancient tea trees and Pu'er tea, has become the coffee-growing region with the largest planting area and highest output in China in recent years.

In 2022, the coffee planting area in the city totaled 45,267 hectares, with a coffee yield totaling 55,700 tonnes and comprehensive output value of around 5.05 billion yuan (about 730 million U.S. dollars).

"Many coffee farms now recruit volunteers to participate in the whole 'seed to cup' coffee production process, through which volunteers can learn about and participate in rural development through coffee," said Yang Hongjian, who was born in the 1990s and is the founder of the Yeyatang Valley coffee farm.

Yang is a former teacher whose father and grandfather were among the first large-scale coffee farmers in the region.

As a third-generation coffee grower, he returned to the village in 2020 to build a coffee farm. He also established the volunteer platform One Cup of Yunnan with his partner Wang Guoliyi.

"We integrate coffee farms or processing plants in need of volunteers, and we post on social media to recruit participants, who can choose their favorite places to volunteer," Wang said.

Volunteer tasks include welcoming guests and making hand-brewed coffee. In return, they learn professional coffee processing techniques such as coffee picking, roasting and brewing on the farms, according to Wang.

With the help of the One Cup of Yunnan platform, Yeyatang Valley coffee farm has attracted over 300 volunteers from across the country.

"Most of the applicants are young people, mainly born in the 90s and after 2000," Wang said.

In different seasons, the volunteers can participate in different kinds of work related to the cultivation of coffee. From mid-October to March, volunteers work the fields like farmers, loading ripe red coffee beans into sacks and transporting them to the processing plant.

The volunteer project will help promote the integration of the coffee and tourism industries, bringing more people to these coffee-producing areas and promoting coffee from Pu'er, said Zhou Xiao, deputy director of the culture and tourism bureau of Simao District in Pu'er. 

This photo taken on March 27, 2023 shows blooming coffee flowers at Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

A bee rests on coffee flowers at Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Coffee farming volunteer Lin Wenzhe collects coffee flowers at Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

Coffee farming volunteer Lin Wenzhe makes coffee for tourists at Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

A farmer harvests coffee beans at Yeyatang Valley coffee farm in Pu'er City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Nov. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)
Everyone has an opinion on Ontario Place.

Little wonder. Talk is cheap, trash-talking is dirt cheap.

But to govern is to choose. After a dozen years of indecision by three premiers, lets acknowledge that this week one of them finally made a move on the moribund waterfront site:

Our rapidly aging Ontario Science Centre will be reincarnated and relocated to the long-dead Ontario Place.

Put the two faded glories together and the revived sum will surely be greater than the repurposed parts  about which more below. Unless you cling to the fiction that all was always well, and all we need do is revive past glories to secure the future.

Say what you will about Doug Ford  our seat-of-the-pants populist who governs by the gut  hes not always wrong. Put another way, if the wrong-headed premier does the right thing  not merely the right-wing thing  does that mean his critics must automatically oppose it?

Naturally. Reflexively.

Count me out. Call it consistency, for Ive been arguing in columns since 2019 that relocation is by far the best remedy to bring these two fading glories back to life.

So it wont surprise you that Ill give Ford credit for seeing the light, even if took him four years to read in. Or that he was beaten to the punch by Torontos savvy former deputy mayor, Ana Bailao, who made a similar call two weeks ago, adding momentum to her mayoral campaign.

I dont hear the critics piling on against Bailaos thoughtful proposal with the same dismissiveness. But get ready for a drumbeat of critiques against Fords similar (yet different) idea.

Youll read that Fords Tories are guilty of overdoing density by planning more affordable housing to replace the sprawling Science Centre in sprawling Don Mills. Given Fords congenital density deficit as the king of sprawl, this contorted criticism is my personal favourite.

Thats politics. Damned if you do, damned if you dont, so why bother doing a damn thing?

Thats precisely why Ontario Place languished for so long. Neglected and shuttered, forsaken and forgotten.

At this late date, if you rebuild it, they will not come back. Which is why we need to get it right the second time round.

Give thanks that Fords Tories have ruled out rolling the dice on a windowless waterfront casino (considered by the previous Liberal government). Thank the Lord that Ford has ditched his fantasy of a Ferris wheel by the water, dreamed up in his days at city hall. No longer are we looking at more condos to block our view of the water  a temptation for all politicians always.

All these bad ideas have been banished. But the biggest competition still comes from the default concept of parkland in perpetuity  the path of least resistance for a do-nothing road map to revitalize Ontario Place.

Nothing against parks, Im just opposed to more of the same that amounts to nothing more in a city already swimming in waterfront parkland, some of it near Ontario Place. Another unspoiled park wont be a bankable attraction for visitors or a destination for Torontonians.

Youll be told the Tories arent properly consulting Torontonians  as if the previous consultations dont count and must be replicated until critics get the results they want. Youll hear that this is a back of the envelope plan pulled out of a hat.

In fact, as I disclosed four years ago, Gail Lord  who heads a Toronto-based consulting firm that advises on museums and cultural centres around the world  has twice researched the issue of revitalizing Ontario Place. Both times she landed on a relocated Science Centre as a natural fit.

A 2009 government report on the provinces untapped tourism potential, assisted by Lord Cultural Resources, suggested the waterfront needs to cluster attractions that scale them up to a critical mass, notably the Science Centre  a proven success in attracting a range of local visitors. The firm conducted a more recent study for the province that makes the case for relocation.

You will hear heartfelt appeals to retain the original structure  an example of the aptly-named Brutalist style  despite decades of deferred maintenance headaches. Critics also insist the entire structure must be maintained at all cost because local residents use a small section as a community centre  a prescription for inaction.

To his credit, Ford finally got the memo  he forgot the Ferris wheel, cashiered the casino, and embraced the cluster theory of major science attractions. But the critics still wont take yes for an answer.

To be sure, this is still a work in progress. There is sensible pressure to rethink and rescale an oversized and over-ambitious spa to make it a better fit.

But the new look Ontario Place, revealed in the governments drawings this week, is undeniably impressive. The accent on accessibility and public walkways makes the waterfront welcoming for locals and a talker for tourists.

I get the temptation to indulge nostalgia and nurse inertia. But after all this time, we can cling to the old or get with the times.

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A 15-tonne-plus shipment of aluminum scrap from Poland was denied entry to Romania and returned to the sender after the border authorities found that the driver did not have the required legal documents, the Arad Border Police informs on Thursday.

The truck driven by a Polish citizen rolled in for clearance at the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point.

"According to the bill of lading, the driver was transporting aluminum waste from a Polish trading company to a company in Romania. Due to certain suspicions about the legality of the shipment, the border police sought authorized support from the representatives of the Arad County Commissariat within the National Environmental Guard. The checks revealed that the long haul truck was loaded with 15,180 kg of aluminums scrap, for which the driver failed to produce the documentation required by law for such imports," the cited source states. AGERPRES
On Wednesday, 85,700 people entered Romania through the border points, including 7,935 Ukrainian citizens, the General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPF) informs, in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday.

Around 189,700 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, with more than 50,300 transport means, went through the control formalities, both on the inbound and the outbound of the border points throughout the country.

As of February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict period), 4,022,208 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.

In the crossing points and the "green border", the police found 49 illegal deeds (22 crimes and 27 misdemeanors) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, and the contravention fines applied amount to over 32,700 RON. Also, goods were seized for confiscation in the amount of approximately 1,173,000 RON.

On Wednesday, 27 foreign citizens who did not meet the conditions provided for by law were not allowed to enter the country, while 13 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave for various legal reasons.
Antibiotice SA and the European Investment Bank signed a consultancy agreement regarding the strategic development of the company's industrial platform.

"Yesterday, April 19, in Luxembourg, high-level representatives of the European Investment Bank and the company Antibiotice SA signed a consulting services agreement whereby EIB experts, together with external consultants, will collaborate with Antibiotice SA experts to identify options of growth and development of the Antibiotice company domestically and internationally," a press release states.

The agreement includes, among other things, the evaluation of the possibilities of expanding and diversifying the company's drug portfolio, as well as the identification of trends in terms of partnerships both with companies in the value chain of the European pharmaceutical industry and with technological platforms with complementary capabilities to those of Antibiotics SA, to identify potential development opportunities.

At the same time, the agreement also includes the recommendation of the best practices for the organization and expansion of the industrial processes of the company Antibiotice SA.

Thus, in the perspective of the 2030s, Antibiotice aims to consolidate a balanced and sustainable product portfolio by attracting 100 new products, both through license acquisitions and through its own research.

Antibiotice Iasi has been for over 67 years the most important producer of generic medicines with Romanian capital, which supports the national health system with over 150 products, being also the largest exporter of the Romanian pharmaceutical industry.AGERPRES
The Brukenthal Exclusive temporary exhibition, in which the painting The Man With the Blue Hat by Jan van Eyck and four other masterpieces by Titian, Veronese and Hans Memling are exhibited, was opened on Wednesday night at the Dacia-Romania Palace of Bucharest.

The event was attended by the Culture minister Lucian Romascanu, the presidential adviser Sergiu Nistor, the manager of the Brukenthal National Museum Alexandru Chituta, the AGERPRES National News Agency managing director Claudia Nicolae, museum managers from Bucharest, ambassadors.

Ioana Ciocan, Art Safari CEO and commissioner of Romania at the Venice Biennale, stated that through this exhibition, made in partnership with the Brukenthal Museum, she wants to show that there are also extremely important works in Romania, namely, works from the Italian Renaissance. Ioana Ciocan specified that bringing the works from the Brukenthal Museum to Bucharest meant a sustained effort.

"When I say sustained effort, I refer to the difficulties we have in transporting art from one place to another, to the insurance difficulties, because here we are talking about 75 million euros, and all these things would not have been possible if, in the tenth year of its existence, for the eleventh edition, Mr. Lucian Romascanu had not given a ministerial order by which Art Safari would be declared a strategic programme for Romania. (...) If for Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Stockholm, Lisbon, Beijing, all these exhibitions are normal, you know that here it is a little more difficult to be normal. What Art Safari is trying to do, and now with the help of the Brukenthal Museum, is to put Romania, to put our country next to the other capitals of Europe," stated the CEO of Art Safari.

"For Sibiu, this exhibition means a lot, because it is the first exhibition of the Brukenthal Museum in Bucharest with these masterpieces also in Romania, and for Bucharest it is a show, it is an exclusivity that we, the Sibiu-based, and the Brukenthal National Museum together with Art Safari and with the help of the Ministry of Culture we are doing in Bucharest for the Bucharest public, for the Bucharest specialists, for the Bucharest students, for tourists who come to Bucharest, not to come all the way to Sibiu and for ten days to come to Art Safari and see a top ten exhibition," the manager of the Brukenthal National Museum Alexandru Chituta declared for AGERPRES.

During the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the manager of the Brukenthal Museum presented the minister Lucian Romascanu and the presidential adviser Sergiu Nistor with a portrait of Baron Brukenthal made by the artist Sofia Frankl, and the CEO of Art Safari, Ioana Ciocan, a diploma of excellence.

Lucian Romascanu said that everything that is done at the Ministry of Culture is done "with the humility due to art and culture".

"We have a lot of theater festivals that we finance, we have cinema, we have opera, the great George Enescu Festival is coming, we didn't have plastic art. And suddenly, starting last year, the credit goes exclusively to the Art Safari team for what they did in the 9-10 years until then, we started to finance plastic art," said the minister, stating that this year two art fairs will also be financed.

The minister added that the exhibited works, "five absolutely unique and sensational paintings", represent "a superb example of public-private partnership", the Brukenthal Museum belonging to the Ministry of Culture, and Art Safari being a private project, the two together achieving "extremely beautiful things for those who love art".

The Brukenthal Exclusive temporary exhibition can be visited at the Dacia-Romania Palace between April 20-30.

Five of the most important masterpieces of universal art will be admired for a short time at Art Safari, in the heart of Bucharest: "The man with the blue hat" - Jan van Eyck (approx. 1390-1441), "Ecce Homo - Tiziano Vecellio / Titian (1488/90-1576), "Head of a Child" - Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and "Portrait of a Man Reading" and "Portrait of a Woman Praying" - Hans Memling (1430/33- 1494).

The work The Man With the Blue Hat/Omul cu tichie albastra is the only one created by the Flemish artist in Romania and one of the 20 works attributed to him worldwide. The work, painted around 1430, was purchased in the 18th century by baron Samuel von Brukenthal.
The Minister of Justice, Catalin Predoiu, met, on Thursday, with Ozgur Kivanc Altanal, the ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Bucharest, in which context they discussed the fight against terrorism and human trafficking.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Justice sent to AGERPRES, the Romanian minister of justice appreciated the good collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Bucharest and, in general, with the authorities in Turkey, based on the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The two sides reaffirmed their openness to the consolidation of bilateral cooperation in the application of existing international legal instruments, according to the cited source, which adds that during the discussions the conviction was expressed that the intensification of cooperation on a legal level will result in the promotion of the interests of the two states, told Agerpres.

"The very important topic of combating terrorism and human trafficking was also addressed, both sides underlining the joint efforts made in this regard", the release informs.
Defence Minister Angel Tilvar on Thursday welcomed US ambassador in Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec to discuss prospects for the Romania-US bilateral co-operation, including contribution to the joint efforts to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security within NATO.

According to a Defence Ministry (MApN) press release, Tilvar emphasised the strategic importance of the Black Sea to Euro-Atlantic security amidst the Russian Federation's war of aggression in Ukraine and the need to support vulnerable partners, such as Moldova and Georgia.

Tilvar also welcomed the efforts undertaken by the US Administration and the Congress of the United States of America for the development of an American strategy for the Black Sea. He also voiced appreciation for the US commitment to the security of the region by increasing its military presence in Romania and by supporting the NATO decisions to strengthen the defence and deterrence posture on the entire eastern flank of NATO, told Agerpres.
Fondul Proprietatea has sold the minority stakes in Enel-owned companies in Romania to the Public Power Corporation S.A., the largest Greek power producer and electricity supply company, for 650 million lei, FP said in a press release sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Thursday.

"Franklin Templeton International Services SRL, in its capacity as manager of alternative investment funds and sole administrator ("AIFM/ Fund Manager") of the Property Fund S.A. ("the Fund"), wishes to inform shareholders that the Fund, as seller, and the Greek company Public Power Corporation S.A. ("PPC"), as buyer, have concluded on April 19, 2023, a sale contract for the sale of the Fund's entire holdings in the share capital of E-Distributie Muntenia SA, Enel Energie Muntenia SA, E-Distributie Dobrogea SA, E-Distributie Banat SA and Enel Energie SA ("Sale Contract"), for a price of RON 650,000,000," the cited press release states.

Fondul Proprietatea owns 12% of E-Distributie Muntenia, 12% of Enel Energie Muntenia SA, 24.1% of E-Distributie Dobrogea SA, 24.1% of E-Distributie Banat SA and 12% of Enel Energie SA.

The Sale Agreement was concluded following the conclusion by Enel S.p.A. and PPC of a contract for the sale of all the stakes held by the Enel Group in Romania, the source said. The effective date of the sale is conditional, among other things, on the completion of the transaction between Enel and PPC.

Italian utility group Enel announced on 9 March that it would sell its Romanian operations to Greek group Public Power Corp (PPC) for 1.26 billion euros, as part of a plan to reduce debt and focus on green energy.AGERPRES
The Government on Thursday approved the nomenclature of university study programmes for the academic year 2023 - 2024, adding five new specialisations to meet the demand of the labour market, according to governmental spokesman Dan Carbunaru.

"At the initiation of the Ministry of Education, a government decision was passed approving the nomenclature of areas and specialisation in university study programmes and the organisation of higher education establishments for the academic year 2023 - 2024. Five new specialisations or university study programmes will be established which lead to the acquisition of skills required by the labour market. The branch of Applied Sciences, with the specialisation Applied Forensic Sciences is set up for bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies as part of the fundamental area of Mathematics and Natural Sciences," Carbunaru said after a government meeting.

The other new university specialisations are Metal Materials Science Engineering, Operational Intelligence, Food Chemistry, and Structural Mechanics Calculus, told Agerpres.

According to Carbunaru, there are 53 public higher education establishments in Romania that provide 2,175 specialisations or programmes.
The Government approved, on Thursday, the draft law on the ratification of the Agreement with the Government of Palestine regarding Cooperation in the Prevention and Combating of Organized Crime, Terrorism and other Crimes, signed on July 19, 2022, in Bucharest, the areas of cooperation being the fight against the trafficking of drugs, people, weapons, ammunition and explosives, corruption, money laundering, illegal migration, computer crime.

According to a press release of the Executive, this normative act creates the bilateral legal framework for cooperation between Romania and Palestine in terms of prevention and combating of organized crime, terrorism and other crimes.

"The main areas of cooperation include the fight against drug, people, arms, ammunition and explosives trafficking, corruption, money laundering and illegal migration, as well as computer crime," the same source states.

In these fields, the Government of Romania and the Government of Palestine will exchange information and experience, specialists and assistance, documentation, national norms and laws, publications and results of scientific research, told Agerpres.

Also, the two parties will transmit operational information that can help prevent, identify and investigate organized crime activities, as well as other serious crimes, the Government also shows.
SHENYANG, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Shenyang Customs in northeast China's Liaoning Province said they have seized 362 endangered wildlife products from parcels shipped from overseas.

The confiscated items include four tridacna products weighing 130 grams, 94 hawksbill turtle products weighing 945 grams, 225 red coral products weighing 593.2 grams, and 39 ivory products weighing 118 grams.

Ivory, certain types of red coral, hawksbill turtle and tridacna are all classified as endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, according to the customs officials. 
The spokesperson for the Government, Dan Carbunaru, conveyed, on Thursday, that the care that the Government has shown towards the situation of refugees from Ukraine has not undergone any change and that the mechanisms for the implementation of support for citizens Ukrainians and Romanians, civil society, the financial conditions will be established next week, before May 1, also mentioning that the situation of outstanding payments will be clarified soon.

"The solution chosen by the Government was to come up with a new normative framework through this emergency ordinance, and it is a normative framework that comes to consolidate the way in which Romania understood to support the refugees from Ukraine. There are approximately four million people who came, passed through our country, over 110,000 chose to stay. So, considering that many of them are also children or single people or who need support in one form or another, it was not only salutary, but also necessary that the support that Romania has offered since the first day, and when I say Romania I am not only referring to what the Government of Romania has done or what a county or local authority has done, but also to the way in which civil society, ordinary Romanians have opened their literally the doors and have practically become a symbol of the international solidarity that millions of Ukrainians currently benefit from. And all these things need some form of support," explained Carbunaru, when asked, after the Government meeting, regarding with the fact that the Emergency Ordinance on this topic adopted last week does not include all the details to be applied.

He specified that the Government will come, probably next week, with a decision in support of the application of this emergency ordinance regarding the support of Ukrainian refugees, told Agerpres.

Asked about the four-month delay in the settlement by the Government of the Ukrainians' accommodation, Carbunaru said: "The commitment of the Bucharest Executive is intact in relation to the need to offer support both to Ukrainian citizens and to civil society, to Romanian citizens who have understood to show this solidarity by hosting or offering various forms of support to Ukrainian citizens. (...) The fact that there are certain delays in making payments until the end also confirms the extent of the support that, until the end, the Romanians, if we now refer to the public money managed by the Government is also offered through this means to the Ukrainian refugees," Carbunaru explained.
On Thursday, the government approved the decision by which agricultural producers in the grain sector will benefit from emergency support in the total amount of 20 million euros.

Government's spokesman Dan Carbunaru informs that agricultural producers affected by the increase in grain imports from Ukraine will be able to benefit from a grant. The money represents the 10 million euros from the European Union, an amount doubled by the Ministry of Agriculture. Payments will be made by September 30, and the unit value of the grant will be established by the Payments and Intervention Agency for Agriculture (APIA), told Agerpres.

"Thus, the 20,100,000 euros will be granted to the agricultural producers in the grain sector for the expenses involved in storing their own wheat production from last year's harvest in their own or third-party storage facilities," said Carbunaru.

Asked if the Government will prepare a normative act to temporarily suspend the import of grains, as requested by the Social-Democratic Party (PSD), Carbunaru replied that the Executive is conducting a dialogue with the representatives of the European Commission, but he also mentioned that Romania "chose to observe the European norms, which generates an advantageous position" for negotiation. At the same time, Carbunaru referred to the letter sent to the President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, by several EU member states, in which the problem faced by the farmers of these countries, as a result of grain imports from Ukraine, was pointed out.

Carbunaru reminded that Romanian farmers benefit from almost 3 billion euros annually from EU funds, either through direct payments or through investments. At the same time, he specified that the functioning of the common market and the application of association agreements generate rules for all member states. The spokesperson of the Government emphasized that "there is no disagreement" at the level of the Executive on the subject of imports.

Carbunaru also specified that last year approximately 60% of Ukrainian grain exports went through Romania. Our country produced nine million tons of grain. Of these, in a year, on average, four million tons are used for the domestic market, and another four are exported.
The Minister of Economy, Florin Spataru, on Thursday stated, in Bistrita, that most state companies subordinated to the Ministry of Economy are profitable, also with an increased degree of profitability, as a result of the government earmarking the necessary budgets and investments.

"Those from the Save Romania Union (USR) called me to the 'Government's Question Time' to explain the losses in the state companies. I will explain to them the fact that, during my term in office, most companies under the subordination of the Ministry of Economy are profitable and also have an increased degree of profitability, because we took care of these companies and we did not leave them without budgets, we did not leave them without investments and we continued to invest," Spataru told a press conference held at the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Bistrita-Nasaud.

The Minister mentioned that the procedures for the selection of the boards of directors and management teams have been started, with the aim of ensuring a competitive and efficient management of the state companies, told Agerpres.

"We will have to have a competitive, efficient management, that is why at the Ministry of Transport and at the Ministry of Economy we have started the procedures for the selection of boards of directors and managerial teams in accordance with the procedures and good practice of corporate governance and we will certainly do it in such a way that these companies become, become profitable again. These are the measures we are taking," explained Florin Spataru.
The 19th edition of the Night of the Museums, the 2023 edition, will take place simultaneously in museums in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, on May 13, including exhibitions, cultural interventions and artistic experiments, screenings, presentations, performances, workshops, street and indoor animations, concerts or interactive tours.

"This year, for the first time, museums from the Republic of Moldova joined the project, for a joint edition with Romania of the Night of Museums. Thus, the museums across the Prut will benefit from promotion alongside those from Romania, on the common platform noaptaamuzeelor.org," said the organizers.

"At the moment, there are 49 points of attractions in Bucharest - 28 museums and 21 cultural entities and creative studios. Also, there are 130 museums and memorial houses nationwide registered with the programme, as well as 21 other organizations from 65 localities, up to now. All will be found on the common platform Republic of Moldova - Romania, noapetamuzeelor.org, which will be updated soon," said Dragos Neamu, coordinator of the Department of International Relations and Cultural Projects of the National Network of Museums in Romania, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday.

The special guest of this edition is the War Childhood Museum, the famous museum in Sarajevo dedicated to the memory of children who went through the experience of war, told Agerpres.

"These fragile histories are exposed to the public through objects, video testimonies and fragments of oral history, brought together in the only museum in the world dedicated to childhood affected by war. For the exhibition in Bucharest, which will be inaugurated at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant on May 12, the curators included stories and objects of children from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Yemen, Iraq, and Ukrainian refugee children in Romania. The War Childhood Museum is one of the most appreciated museums of the new wave, a real phenomenon that is shown to the public, for one month, in Bucharest, through the exhibition 'LISTEN!/ASCULTA!,' which should not be missed," the press release states.

The Night of Museums is organized by the National Network of Museums in Romania (RNMR) and has become, in the last almost two decades, one of the strongest cultural brands, a real social phenomenon, with an audience of one million people throughout the country.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca discussed on Thursday, at the Victoria Palace, with the representatives of the Plug Power company about the opportunities offered by Romania for the development of green hydrogen production capacities, in the context of the commitments assumed at the European level regarding the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of carbon and strengthening the economy, under conditions of environmental protection and using green technologies.

"Romania's energy potential offers a broad development perspective for companies that want to invest in one of the most dynamic economies in Central and Eastern Europe. The development of local production capacities contributes to the Government's vision to capitalize on resources by producing of high added value. The Strategic Partnership with the United States of America offers our country the opportunity to strengthen itself economically, safely. The Government encourages American investors to implement solid business plans, benefiting from the high level of training of specialists from our country, who activate in the area of research and development, having the ability to manage and design cutting-edge technologies", said Prime Minister Ciuca, according to a release sent by the Government.

The president of the Plug Power company, Andy Marsh, conveyed his interest in the opportunity to carry out large-scale investment projects in Romania in the coming period, told Agerpres.

The American company, which is one of the largest companies in the world active in the field of green hydrogen production, has developed significant investments in Europe in recent years, having more than 4,000 employees globally, the cited source states.

The chair of the Committee for Industry in the European Parliament, MEP Cristian Busoi, also participated in the meeting.
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest will organize, from April 20 to 22, the 12th edition of the educational fair in the field of engineering - POLIFest, informs UPB in a press release sent to AGERPRES.

"The largest educational fair in the field of engineering, organized in the UPB Campus, will connect the community of future engineers with the most visionary companies in Romania. The labour market is constantly shifting, so collaboration between academia and business is of vital importance. The key to increasing productivity is communication between all those involved in the process. The biggest educational fair, POLIFest, will gather tens of thousands of participants - pupils, students, teachers, parents, but also business representatives - under the dome of the Rectorate," says UPB.

The UPB Campus will become a showcase for the latest technologies and a meeting place for future engineers and industry leaders.

During the three-day event, participants will have access to scientific conferences, workshops, exhibitions of equipment and new technologies, presentations of educational offerings and job opportunities, as well as a series of related events.

Previous editions of POLIFest brought together over 100 companies and entrepreneurs and over 10,000 students, students and teachers.
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) requests the government to devise in a fast-track procedure a regulatory act providing for the temporary suspension of grain imports from Ukraine.

"To this effect, the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, which manages Romania's trade policy, must work together with the Ministry of Agriculture in order to draft the regulatory act that should be adopted in case the issue isn't settled in a timely manner at the level of the European Commission. The PSD emphasizes that this measure could have been discussed during Wednesday's meeting of the EU trade ministers with the EC Vice-President in charge of trade, and which was also attended by the agriculture ministers, had Mr. Entrepreneurship Minister Cadariu not shunned his responsibility in the field of foreign trade and not showed up at the meeting," the PSD said in a release on Thursday.

The PSD considers that a joint solution across the European Union is needed to solve the problems caused by Ukrainian exports.

"However, if this joint position doesn't take shape within a reasonable interval, Romania's situation will become particularly serious given that the other states in the region have already taken unilateral measures to ban imports from Ukraine. Therefore, the government of Romania will be compelled to resort to suspending imports until the European Commission provides an adequate response to this problem. At the same time, PSD emphasizes that, of all the EU states, the weightiest support for Ukraine in terms of grain exports came from Romania. More than half of these exports, specifically over 14 million tons, crossed the territory of our country, and Romania must maintain this important support by ensuring the transit lanes for Ukrainian grains to third countries," the Social Democrats also said. AGERPRES
The people from Ukraine who remained in Tulcea county moved to the dorms of some high schools, after the Romanian Government decided a week ago to modify the way of granting support for them.

Based on the programme adopted last year, each person in Ukraine receives 50 lei per day for accommodation and 20 lei per day for food, but this month the Government decided to provide support for the family for four months, the details of this support will be be approved by a subsequent decision, told Agerpres.

Vladimir Butnic is from Tatarbunar, Ukraine, and came to Romania a year ago with his wife and their five-year-old daughter. Due to the fact that he does not know the Romanian language well, he could not get a job, so at the moment he is a volunteer at the kitchen set up in the Romanian-Ukrainian customs in the city of Isaccea.

"Until now, I lived on the programme ['50/20']. The programme closed, we moved to the Agricultural High School and we no longer receive. If I get a job, we will receive support. I had the possibility of being employed, but I don't speak Romanian well," Vladimir Butnic told AGERPRES.

He also said that during this period he attends the Romanian language courses for Ukrainians organized in Tulcea by the Agency for Development, Reconstruction and Aid.

For her part, Georgeta Bielaly declared that the termination of the "50/20" program will be a problem for many people from Ukraine who have remained in Romania in the last year.

"The program that will be aimed at people who know the language and who can get a job. Out of 100 Ukrainians, 80 will go to the new programme. You don't know the language, you can't work. Most of them came with children. If they have up to 6 years old, you have to take them to kindergarten, and you can't leave them there if you don't have one thing. There are families who don't know the language, they have sick children or adults and they don't know what they will do. Medicines are very expensive here," said Georgeta Bielaly.

In her opinion, the provision of aid for a period of four months only provides the Ukrainians with a provisional status.

According to the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU) Delta, almost 80 people from Ukraine receive direct support from the institution for accommodation and meals at the moment.

The Government adopted, on April 12, an emergency ordinance that ensures "a sustainable framework" for supporting Ukrainians who came to our country because of the war, the spokesman for the Executive, Dan Carbunaru, said.

He stated that the amounts that will be granted in this context will be determined by a subsequent Government decision.

According to Carbunaru, the Emergency Ordinance adopted on Wednesday "establishes the possibility of granting a monthly lump sum, for a single period of a maximum of four consecutive months, starting on May 1, 2023, to cover food and accommodation expenses on Romanian territory for families and the single people who benefit from the European decision in the field".

According to Carbunaru, this is how integration is stimulated. Approximately 110,000 Ukrainians remained in Romania, of whom 5,007 have jobs in our country, the government representative also mentioned.
Two groups of migrants, a total of 18 people from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, were stopped by border guards with Arad Border Police before illegally crossing the border into the Schengen Area through a field.

According to the information sent by the Arad Border Police on Thursday, the migrants were caught during surveillance of the state border as they were walking towards the Hungarian border.

"The police proceeded to move to the location of the persons and intercept them. As they did not justify their presence in the area, they were taken to the sector headquarters for checks. Following the investigation, it was established that they are 18 citizens from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, aged between 20 and 48 years old, having legally entered our country," says the Arad Border Police.

The foreign nationals are being investigated for attempted fraudulent crossing of the state border.AGERPRES
Celebrate the charm of the Chinese language with over 60 international students from Thailand, Laos, Afghanistan, and more! Gathered in Taiyuan, Shanxi, they engage in various activities, such as Chinese poetry, singing, and speeches, immersing themselves in the captivating world of Chinese culture.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Swordfish with potatoes, tomatoes and capers

Start to finish: 35 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Four 6-ounce swordfish steaks, patted dry

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more to serve

1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced

4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced

 to  teaspoon red pepper flakes

8 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into -inch pieces

14 -ounce can diced tomatoes

3 tablespoons drained capers

2 teaspoons lemon juice

 cup lightly packed fresh basil, chopped

Directions

Season the fish with salt and pepper. In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the fish, and cook, undisturbed, until well browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a thin metal spatula, transfer the steaks to a plate, turning them browned side up.

In the same skillet over medium-low, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic, pepper flakes and  teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the potatoes, then add the tomatoes with juices and 2 tablespoons water. Bring to a boil over medium-high, then cover, reduce to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally and maintaining a simmer, until a skewer inserted into the potatoes meets no resistance, 10 to 14 minutes.

Stir in the capers and lemon juice, then nestle the steaks in the sauce and pour in any accumulated juices. Cover, reduce to low, and cook until the fish is opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the basil and drizzled with additional oil.
The Missouri Supreme Court has set an August execution date for Johnny A. Johnson, who kidnapped and beat to death a 6-year-old girl in Valley Park in 2002.

Johnson, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Aug. 1 at the Bonne Terre prison. The death warrant is good for a 24-hour period, starting at 6 p.m. that day.

Missouri plans to execute Michael Andrew Tisius in June for killing two jailers in Randolph County, Missouri, in 2000. If that execution goes off as planned, Johnson would be the fourth inmate executed in Missouri this year  the most in a single year in Missouri since 2015, when six men were executed.

Johnson was convicted in St. Louis County of bludgeoning to death 6-year-old Cassandra Casey Williamson on July 26, 2002.

Johnson, a drifter and ex-convict, was 24 when he killed Casey. Johnson had been invited to spend the night on the couch of a home on Benton Street in Valley Park, where Caseys father was staying.

Johnson lured Casey from the house, down the street, and into a labyrinth of tunnels, old ovens and underground rooms of an abandoned glass factory.

Johnson killed Casey with bricks and a heavy rock after she started screaming and kicking and crawling away from Johnson when he tried to sexually assault her, he later told police in a series of confessions. He washed himself off in the Meramec River and returned to the house on Benton to retrieve a pack of cigarettes.

Johnson had stopped taking medication for schizophrenia and was acting strangely in the weeks and days before he killed Casey, according to trial testimony presented by his defense. Dr. John Rabun said Johnson suffered from mental illnesses from the time he was 13 and suicidal. The initial diagnosis was depression. Later, he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a disease similar to schizophrenia.

During the trial his defense attorney, Beverly Biemdiek, asked the jury to convict him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, claiming the mental illness prevented Johnson from cool deliberation.

The then-prosecuting attorney, Robert P. McCulloch, told jurors: We are here for one reason and one reason only. We are here for what Johnny Johnson did. Dont let them guilt you into doing something. It was Johnny Johnson who bricked this little girl to death.

The Missouri Supreme Court issued the execution warrant Wednesday. Missouri has executed two other inmates this year: Amber McLaughlin on Jan. 3, and Leonard Taylor on Feb. 7. Tisius execution is scheduled for June 6.

The 54 people Missouri has executed since 2000
ST. CHARLES COUNTY  Joseph McCulloch, the brother of former St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, was appointed Wednesday as the new prosecutor in neighboring St. Charles County.

If confirmed Monday by the County Council, Joseph McCulloch will succeed Tim Lohmar, who resigned recently. McCulloch served on the council himself from 2005 to 2008.

County Executive Steve Ehlmann, who made the appointment, said in a statement that McCulloch is an experienced trial attorney with a broad range of experience from traffic offenses to homicide.

His conservative, law-and-order background makes him the ideal candidate for Prosecuting Attorney, he said.

McCulloch, 66, a retired St. Louis police officer, was just reelected April 4 to the part-time position of St. Charles municipal judge. He was among 11 people who applied to succeed Lohmar.

Lohmars resignation March 30 was unusual because it came less than five months after he was reelected to another four-year term.

He said in a news release that he could no longer give the office the energy and attention it requires and still have time for his family and his health and well-being.

Lohmar, who held the post since 2012, gave no indication in his statement that his decision was related to controversy over his arrest last summer on suspicion of DWI after he was stopped by police in Lake Ozark, Missouri. No charges have been filed in the case.

Under the county charter, the new appointed prosecutor must share the same political affiliation as Lohmar, a Republican.

When McCulloch was on the council, he was elected as a Democrat. But he has since changed his affiliation to a Republican, he has said.

McCulloch earned his law degree at St. Louis University while he was a police officer. He worked as an assistant St. Charles County prosecutor from 2000 to 2002.

He then had his own law practice, specializing in criminal defense, personal injury and family law. He also was legal counsel for several police organizations and represented police officers in internal investigations.

Under the charter, McCulloch would serve by appointment until the end of 2024. He would have to win election in November of next year to serve the final two years of Lohmar's term.
JEFFERSON CITY  State legislators in the Missouri House and Senate are pushing legislation that would pay restitution to people who have been exonerated after being incarcerated for crimes they did not commit.

Currently, the only way someone freed from prison in Missouri can be compensated by the state is via exoneration using DNA evidence. Both bills would change that, though the Senate bill outlines a higher threshold for determining who could receive payment from the state.

Lamar Johnsons exoneration, release from prison prompts legislation for state restitution The last time Lamar Johnson was a free man, he was 20 years old. After a Circuit Court judge overturned his murder conviction on Tuesday, he left prison for the first time in nearly three decades.

The inability to provide for yourself can cause unnecessary stress and frustration for someone that has already been wronged by the system, testified Kenneth Nixon during the public hearing on the bill Monday. He was one of about two dozen organizations and individuals who submitted testimony.

Nixon was exonerated from a murder conviction after serving 16 years in prison in Michigan, and is now the president of the Organization of Exonerees. Compensation provides the type of freedom that every exoneree deserves after experiencing an injustice the size of the prison system.

The House bill, sponsored by State Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, would provide up to $65,000 annually from the State Legal Expense Fund to those released. Both bills would also add reparations such as counseling, tuition waivers and housing assistance for exonerees.

The House bills only challenger thus far is the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, which advocates for all prosecutors in the state. MAPA has supported criminal justice reforms, including the state law that created a legal avenue to freedom for Lamar Johnson, who was freed in February after 28 years in prison.

But MAPAs Executive Director Darrell Moore argues that Bosleys bill is loosely written, and, under it, a person applying for compensation may not have been found innocent, a designation prisoners petitioning the court to overturn their convictions have struggled to reach.

Moore suggested Bosley mirror her legislation after the Senate version, which he helped craft. The Senates most recent version is a combination of related legislation sponsored by state Sens. Steve Roberts and Brian Williams, and provides the same amount of restitution as in Bosleys bill.

If theyve not the same I dont see if passing, Moore said.

Other efforts from both the House and Senate in previous years have been stalled, while more than 30 states have passed legislation to compensate the wrongfully convicted  a move many such as Bosley believes is more fitting than those released having to relying on donations, since the state was the one who convicted them in the first place, she said.

In an interview, Bosley cited an example of a Missouri man, Kevin Strickland, freed after more than 40 years in prison, who Bosley says would not qualify for compensation under the Senate version because a judge declared there was clear and convincing evidence to undermine his 1978 triple murder conviction, and dismissed his charges instead of deeming him innocent.

That language unfairly strips a number of wrongfully convicted people of their rights, said Bosley.

Both bills in the Missouri House and Senate have opportunities to amend until the General Assembly adjourns May 12.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis man and two others pulled up to a chicken joint in August 2019 hoping to buy a pound of marijuana. Moments later, it went from a small business opportunity to a deadly shooting that would put at least two men in prison for decades.

The dealer, Earl Payne, who turns 25 on Friday, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for the death of 22-year-old Charles Lagrone III, of Hazelwood.

His co-defendant, 25-year-old Teraz Bateman, was sentenced last year to life in prison. The case for the alleged trigger man, 18-year-old Cortez McCullough, is ongoing.

The incident began around 1:30 p.m. August 19, 2019, when Payne agreed to meet up with another man to sell him a pound of marijuana for $2,300 in the parking lot of St. Louis Fish and Chicken on Goodfellow Boulevard, just north of Interstate 70.

The prospective purchaser brought along a woman and her relative, Lagrone, who insisted on carrying a gun for protection, prosecutors said.

Lagrone sat in the middle of the back seat while Payne got in beside him and handed the driver a little bit of the marijuana for him to inspect. Payne then got back out of the car and walked back to his vehicle, prosecutors said.

When he returned, Bateman was with him. They flanked Lagrone in the back seat.

Suddenly, prosecutors said, McCullough got out of the other vehicle with an AR-15-style rifle and pointed the barrel into the car. Lagrone reached for the gun to move it out of the way, but McCullough opened fire, killing Lagrone.

Payne, Bateman and McCullough fled the scene with the $2,300 and Lagrones gun, prosecutors said. They charged all three with murdering Lagrone while committing robbery.

On Tuesday, Paynes trial began in St. Louis court. Prosecutor Nicholas Lake argued he should be convicted of all counts in an unfortunate case that resulted in someones death.

The key question at the end of all of this will be whether, in fact, this was a robbery, he said.

Lake argued there would be no doubt it was.

Paynes attorney, Alexa Hillery, said it wasnt as clear-cut.

She argued Payne had a deal to sell a pound of marijuana to the man driving the car, but the terms repeatedly changed. At first, he wanted to buy a pound. Then, he said he wanted a half-pound for $1,300. Finally, he offered $230 for a Ziploc bag full of weed: 10 times less than the initial amount.

Eventually, Hillery argued, McCullough went rogue and started shooting. Payne had no intention of hurting anyone.

He just wants to make the sale, she said.

On the second day of trial, after several witnesses testified, Payne decided to take a deal from prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, stealing, two counts of armed criminal action and a separate witness tampering charge in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.

McCulloughs case is set for a hearing in June.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Police chases in St. Louis County are up 300% through the end of March compared with the same period last year, according to department data.

Almost three-quarters of those chases began in North County, where the majority of the countys violent crime occurs, said St. Louis County police Capt. Brian Schellman, commander of the departments bureau of research and analysis.

He said a new shift schedule implemented late last year puts more officers on duty during peak hours for high-crime areas, which puts more officers in a position to initiate vehicle chases.

That increase, just looking where the violent crime is and where weve saturated more officers in the North County area, has led to us just luckily being in the area more often to initiate these (pursuits), Schellman told the Post-Dispatch.

Police chases are a contentious public safety issue in both the city and the county, as at least 10 people have been killed during pursuits in the last year and a half. Several of those were bystanders, prompting activists to condemn pursuits and call for policy change.

The local NAACP chapter called in a federal mediator last year to facilitate discussions between the organization and city and county police departments, hoping to set parameters for when police chases are warranted. Police spokespeople and St. Louis NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt recently told the Post-Dispatch they are close to reaching an agreement.

St. Louis County police policy, similar to other local departments, allows for chases when police believe a felony has been committed or a person poses a threat to themselves or the community.

Obviously, any time you pursue a car, there are high risks involved for not only the citizens but for the police, as well as the suspects, he said. And we take all of those things into account. The officers need to do that. They know the policy. Theyre bound by the policy.

In all, St. Louis County police chased 28 people this year through the end of March. During that same time in 2022, they chased just seven, and in 2021 they chased 16. In all of 2019, police chased 31 people.

Five people were injured during county police pursuits during the first three months of this year, Schellman said.

One person was killed in what onlookers called a police pursuit earlier this year that began in the county and ended just inside city limits. Police maintained the officer did not chase the car. Another person was killed earlier this month after a police chase that began in north St. Louis County and ended in the city.

Schellman said police in north St. Louis County began working 12-hour shifts from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. this past Christmas in an effort to staff more officers during peak hours, which he said was about 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Schellman also noted that the 28 pursuits were a small percentage of the nearly 1,000 times motorists did not stop for police in the first three months of the year.

Of those pursuits about 10 ended in officers terminating the chase before a crash or arrest, Schellman said.

When a chase begins, an officers supervisor is immediately notified, and the supervisor monitors the situation for the duration. They sometimes make a call to stop the chase.

One chase this year ended with the suspect giving up and surrendering to police.

Thats very rare, Schellman said.
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China is planning to take more actions to invigorate domestic demand in rural areas, as it has broad development room and plays a significant role in stabilizing economic growth, an official told a press conference on Thursday.

Consumption in rural areas has great potential, said Zeng Yande, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, adding that the per capita consumption expenditure of rural residents stood at 16,600 yuan (about 2,406.3 U.S. dollars) in 2022, accounting for only two-thirds of the national average.

To expand consumption, efforts should be made to create jobs and improve the income of rural residents, said Zeng, noting that measures will be taken to develop rural industries with distinctive characteristics.

Urban-rural economic circulation should also be smoothed to increase consumption of durable goods such as furniture and home appliances, as well as expand service consumption in rural areas, he said.

Zeng went on to add that around 15 trillion yuan of investment demand in the agricultural sector and rural areas will be released in the next five to 10 years.

Governmental and social investment should be coordinated so that more funds can be channeled into high-standard farmland, warehousing and cold chain logistics, modern facility agriculture, and improving the rural living environment, he said. 
HILLSBORO  Parents and students protested outside Good Shepherd Catholic School on Thursday, saying they were blindsided by the recent decision to close the school.

We were never given any indication that the school was in any kind of financial trouble, said Alicia Donathan, a parent of five. Were not happy with the lack of communication with parents.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis announced a week ago that the school would not reopen in the fall, citing financial strain. A second financial review this week confirmed the decision, according to a letter sent Thursday to parents from the Rev. Ryan Weber, pastor at Good Shepherd.

When it comes down to it, we find ourselves in a situation in which the parish could be viable and survive, or in which the school could be. When faced with that reality, the parish must be preserved, Weber wrote.

There are 74 students in kindergarten through eighth grade this year, up by 3% over the past five years but the lowest enrollment of any Catholic grade school in Jefferson County. About half the seats are filled in the school, which had an operating deficit of nearly $233,000 last year.

Weber recommended the schools closure to Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski after determining that the schools budget was not sustainable. The 30-student preschool is operated separately and will remain open, along with the parish school of religion for public school students.

Im sad its going to close. I love all the staff, theyre like family, and all the kids, Im going to miss them, said second grader Lexi Kirkpatrick, 8. Ill have to find new friends all over again. It just hurts my feelings.

Supporters say they have gathered pledges of $200,000 in support of the school since the closure announcement. Parents packed the school board meeting on Tuesday, with concerns about the parishs accounting. They said they raised $85,000 at the schools annual auction in September, with plans already underway for the event in the fall.

Parents at the protest Thursday said they understood the school had at least one more year before any decisions were made.

The school hosted an open house on Jan. 30 and its website still says Now Enrolling for 2023-2024. Tuition for 2023-2024 tuition is listed as $5,082 for one child and up to $7,725 for three or more children. The tuition rates will be honored at area Catholic schools, according to an archdiocese spokeswoman. The closest schools are Our Lady in Festus, 11 miles away, and St. Joseph in Imperial, 17 miles away.

The St. Louis Archdiocese, under its All Things New restructuring plan coming next month, is looking to create 70 to 90 groups of parishes out of the 178 total, that will share one pastor. According to preliminary models, Good Shepherd parish is likely to share a pastor with Our Lady and Sacred Heart in Crystal City.

The models indicate that the four Catholic grade schools in the Jefferson County planning area will be reduced to two from among Good Shepherd, Our Lady, St. Joseph and Holy Child in Arnold.

An announcement of grade school closures under All Things New was to come earlier this year. But last fall, archdiocesan leaders delayed the closures to the 2024-2025 school year. A November letter to educators said that school closures could still happen organically as the downsizing process evolves.

In January, the archdiocese announced that St. Mark school in south St. Louis County will also close at the end of the school year.

Students and staff at both schools will receive assistance in transferring to other Catholic schools, the archdiocese said.

Donathan said she will have to find new schools for her children who are now in first, third, fifth and sixth grades.

Its very late in the year to be doing that, she said. Its very, very disappointing and frustrating.
Missouri is one of just eight states that treats crack and powder cocaine differently at sentencing, despite the fact that theyre chemically identical drugs. The drastic, draconian difference in penalties is a miscarriage of justice thats lingered for decades, affecting families across the state.

Its a remnant of the failed war on drugs.

In Missouri, someone who sells just a single ounce (about the weight of two empty soda cans) of crack cocaine receives the same sentence as someone selling more than a pound (18.75 ounces) of powder cocaine.

Put another way, the disparity is like one person having 21 M&Ms and another person having 395 and the law considering the amounts the same. Even a child can see how deeply unfair that disparity is.

This disparity is one of the largest in the entire country, and its time to end it once and for all. The two drugs are the same, with the same effects, and taken in nearly identical amounts when people use them.

There is, quite simply, no scientific justification for treating crack and powder cocaine differently.

All the reasons given back in the 1980s during the height of the war on drugs have been proven false. That time was a hailstorm of misinformation, fear and hyperbolic reporting about crack. They are simply different forms of the same drug and there are no inherent differences in the risks they present.

In similar fashion, theres now much talk about the epidemic of overdose deaths in our state and country  a nationwide tragedy that has impacted far too many families. But the biggest driver of overdose deaths in recent years has been opioids, including fentanyl.

Overdose deaths resulting from just cocaine (meaning, absent any opioid) made up just 5.5% of overdose deaths in 2019, while opioid involvement accounted for an overwhelming 70.6% of overdose deaths. The opioid overdose crisis requires a bold response but maintaining an unrelated inequality in sentencing for a drug that is not the primary driver of the epidemic is neither appropriate nor necessary to solve that problem.

Furthermore, public safety is not harmed by equalizing crack and powder sentencing. Eliminating sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine has not led to increases in drug use or crime for the states that removed their disparities. In fact, the six states that have eliminated disparities since 2005 all saw subsequent decreases in drug crimes.

The disparity is deeply unfair and racially discriminatory in its impact. Blacks comprise 80% of all people sentenced for crack cocaine offenses, an overwhelming majority of those impacted by the injustice.

When Black communities across America say the criminal justice system is racist, the crack-powder disparity is perhaps the most glaring example of what they mean. When we know a law is treating people of color differently for no good reason, fairness demands that we must fix it.

Communities are safer when people trust and respect the criminal justice system. For too long, the crack-powder disparity has eroded this trust, which is why many members of law enforcement including the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys support getting rid of the disparity.

Equalizing crack and powder sentencing removes an ugly stain from our criminal laws and communicates that we care about correcting the mistakes of the past and increasing public trust in the justice system.

The National District Attorneys Association reports that trust in the criminal justice system grew in jurisdictions that eliminated the disparity, and that there was no increase in local crime.

This is a simple, commonsense change that everyone can get behind. The Missouri House of Representatives has already unanimously passed legislation to eliminate the disparity, marking a broad bipartisan acknowledgment of the need to fix this long-standing blemish in the criminal code.

When something has overwhelming support like this in this day and age, we need to come together and get it done. We call on the Senate and the governor to push across the finish line this session, and right this historical wrong. It is long past time to end the disparity.

Maria Goellner is the Deputy Policy Director for Famm. Jeremy Cady is the Americans for Prosperity Missouri State Director.
We live in a moment when everyone seems compelled to talk about national trends and systemic problems. There are plenty of reasons for this.

Politicians in Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike, think Washington should call the shots. Presidents and presidential aspirants feel the need to talk about our vast country in homogenous and monolithic terms  or cut in half between the red and blue parts. State and local officials  sometimes with good reason  like to blame their problems and failures on national trends beyond their control, at least partly to pass the buck but also to get more bucks passed from Washington to them. Particularly as local news dries up, the national press corps is biased toward framing stories in national terms. Social media has made the whole country seem like one endlessly bickering small town.

And sometimes, national trends and systemic problems are exactly that  national and systemic.

Still, the truth remains that even in those cases, most national problems nonetheless manifest themselves locally and therefore lend themselves to local solutions.

Consider crime.

Anyone who had been to New York City recently will have seen drugstores turned into fortresses against shoplifters, with toothpaste and deodorant under lock and key. The Big Apple is hardly alone  similar problems plague many cities where shoplifting has caused stores to harden against crime and, some, to simply shut down entirely. So, yes, its a national trend.

But the way to fix the national trend is with local responses.

In New York City last year, just 327 people accounted for nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests. As a group, they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times, according to Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell. Moreover, only 18 department stores and seven chain pharmacies accounted for a fifth of all complaints.

These numbers may not be perfectly reflective of reality. Many businesses dont even bother complaining anymore, and the police dont always bother investigating smaller incidents. And one can reasonably assume that the 327 shoplifters got away with shoplifting more often than they were caught doing it.

But generally speaking, these numbers confirm what has been known by criminologists and sociologists for decades  a very small number of people commit a very large number of crimes.

Marvin Wolfgangs seminal study, Crime in a Birth Cohort of 10,000 young Philadelphia men born in 1945, found that about 6% of juvenile boys accounted for nearly half of all juvenile crime. A follow-up study found that 7% committed 61% of crimes. Similar findings have been found in studies across Europe. And this dynamic holds not just for juvenile or petty offenses. One Swedish study found that 1% of the population was responsible for 63% of violent crime convictions.

Crime isnt just demographically concentrated, its also geographically concentrated. Theres even something called, the law of crime concentration, which holds that roughly 5% of locations in a city account for half the crime. This is not just a matter of neighborhoods, note criminologist John McDonald and former prosecutor Thomas Hogan, between 3% and 5% of specific addresses on city blocks generate 50% or more of reported crimes.

Also, while the nature of crime doesnt change much, the types of criminals do. Most shoplifters arent juveniles. Some of the spike in big city shoplifting is committed by homeless and drug addicted people, many with mental illness, or, increasingly organized criminal shoplifting gangs that have learned how to resell goods online.

The public debate is all too often about possible abstract causes of crime  systemic racism, moral decay, too little gun control (or too much!) or some other grand political theory. But when this happens, every discrete crime gets crammed into a preexisting narrative that leaves little room for important distinctions.

For instance, most mass shootings are gang-related in very concentrated and at least somewhat predictable areas rather than shootings at schools. Both are terrible problems, but theyre not the same problem. The recent murder of San Francisco tech entrepreneur and former St. Louisan Bob Lee was initially pigeonholed into a familiar San Francisco is soft on crime narrative. I think San Francisco is doing a poor job fighting crime, but Lee was stabbed by someone he knew, not by a random mugger.

Crime is a public policy problem. It is arguably humanitys oldest public policy problem because the best you can do is minimize it. Ideological disagreements over how to fight crime are unavoidable. But those disagreements can only be productive when the ideologues look at the actual problems we have, not the problems they want to argue about.
Theres an old cliche in Americas gun debate that is so anathema to common sense  Guns dont kill, people kill  that politically serious defenders of gun culture seldom even invoke it anymore. Like thoughts and prayers, it has become a dark and self-defeating punchline. Yet former President Donald Trump and his former vice president, Mike Pence, both went there last week, while speaking separately to the National Rifle Associations annual gathering in Indiana.

We dont need gun control, we need crime control, Pence declared, offering a clever rhetorical construct that neatly ignores the undeniable relationship between crime and guns. Trump opined: This is not a gun problem, this is a mental health problem, this is a social problem, this is a cultural problem, this is a spiritual problem, a laundry list that more closely resembles his own psychological maladies.

The undeniable fact they keep avoiding is this: Yes, its the guns.

Consider these recent incidents:

 Kaylin Gillis, 20, was shot and killed in upstate New York Saturday by a man sitting on his porch after the driver of the car in which Gillis was a passenger accidentally turned into the wrong driveway while trying to find a friends house.

 Two teenage cheerleaders in Texas were shot Tuesday when one mistakenly opened a car door in a parking lot, thinking it was their car.

 Four people were killed and more than two-dozen wounded after shooting broke out at a teenagers birthday party in Alabama.

 An 11-year-old boy was shot in the chest in East St. Louis after gunfire erupted during a dispute between two women over clothing. His condition was unclear.

 Ralph Yarl, 16, was shot in the head by a Kansas City resident whose door Yarl mistakenly approached while trying to pick up his siblings. Yarl survived.

In each of case, conflicts that might have ended with flying fists instead ended with flying bullets. This is the reality of a nation with far more civilian guns per capita than any other, during an era when red states like Missouri are loosening gun restrictions with ideological abandon.

Mass shootings wouldnt have anything like the body count they do if the attackers had less access to such lethal weapons. In fact, on the same day that a gunman attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, a man armed with a knife attacked a school in China. The American death toll: 26. The Chinese death toll: zero.

Suicide accounts for most American gun deaths. Think about that: People who try to end their lives with pills or by jumping off bridges have a chance of survival; gun suicides mostly dont. Roughly 500 Americans die annually from gun accidents. Knives dont go off accidentally.

So, yes, guns kill. But only to the extent that Americas gun-addled politicians  and the voters who keep electing them  allow them to.
It had been a long hike for little legs.

We were in Glacier National Park and had hiked one of the parks famous hikes to a glacial lake  nearly five miles. My son, Matt, was eight; his sister, Reggie, six, and our baby, Melanie, a toddler. She complained after so long in a backpack on her dads back that her legs were broken.

Still the kids were proud of their accomplishment and so were we, admiring the scenery. As a result of its topography and the heavy amounts of snow that fall during the winter, Glacier National Park is home to 762 lakes and many of the trails in the park lead to or end at the lake.

Then, inexplicably, Matt pushed Reggie into the ice cold water. She was furious. We didnt know what to say. The only response was for Matt to have a timeout right there at the edge of the lake in one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

National Park Week, April 22 through April 30, is a nine-day celebration of everything "parks." Entrance fees will be waived on April 22, 2023, to kick off the celebration and to encourage everyone to enjoy their national parks in person. National Park Service parks, programs, and partners will host events and activities all week. Follow National Park Week on social media and join the fun all week using #NationalParkWeek.

This year the theme is Your Park Story and the National Park Service is inviting you to share a special memory or experience you have had in one of the nations more than 400 national parks. Follow on social media using #YourParkStory and share your own using #MyParkStory  like this one that my family still tells nearly three decades later.

I like to think all of our national parks trips  from camping in Acadia National Park in Maine to hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and braking for bears and moose in Grand Teton (where we had a karma moment with a famous grizzly and her cubs during the pandemic). Yellowstone NP encouraged my kids as adults to love the outdoors and to be good stewards of the environment. My Kids Guides to Acadia National Park and Great Smoky Mountain National Park can help you navigate.

It's important to remember that there are dozens of urban national parks, including the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Statue of Liberty National Monument in NYC, Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri, Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia (including Independence Hall where both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and signed and where the Liberty Bell is displayed) and Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco (a great place for selfies with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background!)

The Junior Ranger program is a great way to explore national parks. You can learn about nature sounds, night skies, or even the Transcontinental Railroad. Kids can become junior rangers whenever they visit, but Saturday, April 29 has been designated Junior Ranger Day. Use the NPS Kids Portal to plan a park experience, learn about free 4th Grader access, and access interactive and printable activities.

Remember whenever you visit, there are also free or discounted passes available for senior citizens, current members of the military, and disabled citizens, as well as the families of fourth-graders. Learn more about the variety of passes offered by the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass series. Check in advance to see if reservations are required to enter. Popular Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, for example, requires a timed entry permit from May 25 through Oct. 22 while Arches National Park in Utah has a timed entry system for visits from April 1 through Oct. 31. Haleakala National Park in Maui requires car reservations for those entering in time to see the sunrise. (Check www.recreation.gov)

There will be special activities at parks across the country during National Parks Week. Junior Ranger Day and all of National Parks Week. Parks across the country will host volunteer events on Earth Day, April 22. Check the calendar below for events at national parks or volunteer.gov for more volunteer opportunities for Earth Day and any time of year.

(The annual $80 America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass allows unlimited entrance to more than 2,000 federal recreation areas, including all national parks that normally charge an entrance fee.)

National Parks are great places to teach the kids to be good environmental stewards. Never feed the animals. Dont take anything, not even a rock, from park lands. Give people room to pass on trails and stick to marked paths. Throw away your trash in trash cans or carry it out with you.

Whenever you visit a national park or historic site with kids, remember it is about the journey, not the destination. Take a virtual tour first to see what special activities might be on the schedule. Stop at the visitors center to ask for age-appropriate hikes for your kids and junior ranger booklets. Of course, you want to see the most famous attractions  Old Faithful in Yellowstone; the Redwoods in Yosemite. But national parks are big. The Rangers can give you suggestions of less crowded locales too where you can have a meaningful experience,

You may not reach the mountain summit or the waterfall. The bike ride may not be as long as you would have liked. But what counts is exploring with the kids. Carry a magnifying glass in your backpack (for the kids to get even a closer view of nature).

Make sure youve got a first-aid kit. (I learned that lesson the hard way in Joshua Tree when one of my kids fell into some cactus.)

Rain jackets and extra layers (garbage bags in a pinch) are a good idea too along with plenty of snacks and water. (Too many people get dehydrated in the Grand Canyon, for example.)

Most importantly, remember special snacks when it seems (to the kids, anyway) that the hike will never end. Peanut or regular M&Ms, anyone?
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Arsenal Digital Holdings, Inc. (OTC PINK:ADHI) announces new appointments to its executive team and board of advisors to strengthen its corporate governance and management. Joining the board of advisors are Brian Halle, a seasoned leader with extensive banking and finance experience, and Dr. Jagannadh Satyavolu, a highly accomplished chemical engineer specializing in biogas and biofuels. Randall Eddington, founder and CEO of Blackrock Midstream, will assume the role of COO at Arsenal.

Brian Halle, the first appointee to Arsenal's advisory board, brings over three decades of experience in delivering substantial asset opportunities while managing risk and maintaining a high level of compliance and financial reporting. As a visionary adept at identifying market opportunities and outpacing competitors, he has served as CEO of Pacific Enterprise Bank and held roles at US Bank, Bank of America, Union Bank, and Sanwa Bank. His ability to create high-yield, low-risk, and scalable strategies has led to remarkable accomplishments, including managing a top-tier commercial lending group at US Bank and implementing innovative processes to improve the quality of acquired portfolios. Brian's extensive experience in middle market commercial banking and corporate banking, coupled with his educational background in business, finance, and law, make him an invaluable asset to Arsenal Digital Holdings as an advisor.

Dr. Jagannadh Satyavolu adds technical expertise to Arsenal's advisory board, with over 35 years of experience in commercial business leadership roles, operations, capital project management, and academia. He has a strong background in developing new products and processes in various sectors, such as energy, food, chemicals, and paper, and specializes in waste-to-value creation. Dr. Satyavolu has over 15 US and international patents for concept-to-commercialization projects, and he excels in handling confidentiality agreements, IP management, patents, and regulatory issues. As an effective team builder and cross-functional partner, he has secured funding for numerous projects and spearheaded collaborations with private industry, universities, research labs, and government agencies. Currently, Dr. Satyavolu is the founder and CEO of BioProducts LLC, a company specializing in creating value-added products from sustainable biomass. His extensive experience and expertise make him a valuable add to Arsenal's expanding advisory board.

To bolster day-to-day management following its recent acquisition and expansion, Arsenal appoints Randall Eddington as Chief Operating Officer. Randall, a University of Oklahoma business graduate with specializations in Economics and GIS, has a strong background in the natural gas and liquids infrastructure industry. As the Founder of Blackrock Midstream, he successfully built niche markets for mid-sized midstream companies, leading to nearly nine-digit revenue in just a few short years. Assuming the role of COO at Arsenal, Randall's balanced decision-making, industry knowledge, and ability to drive efficiency in logistics will contribute significantly to the company's growth.

In March of this year, Arsenal acquired Blackrock Midstream, an energy logistics and marketing company with a sizable customer base and over $90 million in revenue for 2022. Arsenal plans to leverage Blackrock's revenue streams, customer base, and development opportunities as its foundational asset, marking the first step in its ENERGY - RENEWABLE TECH - POWER strategy for a comprehensive energy transition solution.

Arsenal Digital Holdings is dedicated to advancing the transition to a sustainable energy future by developing and deploying cutting-edge renewable technologies.

For more information about Arsenal Digital Holdings, please visit arsenalholdings.io. Twitter @Arsenal_ADHI

About Arsenal

Arsenal Digital Holdings is a company that specializes in sustainable technology to support the energy transition. Its main office is located in Houston, Texas, and it also has key offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Arsenal focuses on coupling traditional energy resources with renewable energy technology. The company's strategy involves acquiring underutilized infrastructure assets and implementing power monetization strategies to benefit its stakeholders. Arsenal is dedicated to promoting the transition towards a sustainable energy future by creating and implementing innovative renewable technologies.

Contact Information:

Arsenal Digital Holdings Inc.

Ryan Messer

512-839-8169

[email protected]

arsenalholdings.io

SOURCE: Arsenal Digital Holdings Inc.

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BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Central Puerto S.A ("Central Puerto" or the "Company") (NYSE: CEPU) one of the largest private sector power generation companies in Argentina, will issue a press release announcing its First Quarter results on May 15, 2023. Mr. Fernando Bonnet, Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Enrique Terraneo, Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call to discuss the Company's financial results on May 15, 2023, at 11:00 AM ET.

To access the conference call, please dial:

Toll Free: 888-506-0062

International: 973-528-0011

Participant Access Code: 503773

Webcast URL: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2629/48240

The Company will also host a live audio webcast of the conference call on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.centralpuerto.com. Please allow extra time prior to the call to visit the website and download any streaming media software that might be required to listen to the webcast. The call will be available for replay on the Company website under the Investor Relations section.

For further information please contact:

Enrique Terraneo

+54 11 4317-5000

Av. Tomas Alva Edison 2701

Drsena E - Puerto de Buenos Aires

(C1104BAB) Ciudad de Buenos Aires

Republica Argentina

SOURCE: Central Puerto S.A.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Walmart:

Guided by our purpose to help people save money and live better, Walmart aims to operate in a more regenerative way - making a net positive difference for people and the planet in all we do, including sourcing products for our customers. Our teams are hard at work with suppliers, NGOs, policymakers and others to address issues related to climate change, nature, waste and people working in global product supply chains.

As we celebrate Earth Week, here are just a few examples of how we are working with our partners on more sustainable product, packaging and waste reduction innovations:

Built for Better

We launched Built for Better as an online shopping destination, making it easy for customers to identify and shop for products that are built better for them, communities and the planet. Earlier this year, we added our Clean Beauty shop to it, offering customers an easy and accessible way to find beauty products made without ingredients they may not want.

Cleancult

We welcomed Cleancult into more than 3,000 Walmart stores nationwide earlier this year. Aiming to eliminate single-use plastic waste from the home cleaning category, Cleancult uses innovative carton technology to power their paper-based refillable hand soaps, dish soaps, all-purpose cleaners and laundry detergent.

OLAY, now in recycled jars

Walmart has collaborated with OLAY North America to offer the latest innovation in more sustainable skincare packaging solutions: 100% recycled jars for their Vitamin C + Peptide 24 Face Moisturizer and Retinol24 + Peptide Night Face Moisturizer. These jars offer the same great benefits to customers while reducing virgin plastic use. Made with recycled waste from sources including Walmart facilities, OLAY's limited-run jars are expected to save up to 10,000 pounds of plastic waste from entering landfills.

More U.S. states eliminate single-use bags and bag opt out rolls out nationally

We're expanding our efforts to reduce single-use bags to four more states in line with local regulatory changes: As of this week, Walmart stores in Delaware, Oregon, Washington D.C. and Washington state will not offer single-use bags at the frontend or pickup. By eliminating single-use bags in a total of 10 states in the U.S. as well as Walmart Canada and Mexico, we anticipate avoiding the use of almost 2 billion single-use plastic and paper bags every year. And by the end of this year, we aim to allow most Walmart customers to opt out of bags for their pickup orders nationwide.

Walmart Restored

Through Walmart Restored, we're offering customers access to thousands of professionally inspected, tested and cleaned restored items from a curated list of top sellers and suppliers. The program, available online and in select stores, offers top-quality products at a fraction of the typical cost and allows customers to extend the life of a product.

Walmart+ InHome x Loop

We teamed up with circular reuse platform Loop and a number of brands to launch Walmart+ InHome x Loop, a pilot program that aims to provide a convenient way to eliminate single-use packaging and reduce plastic from many everyday purchases. Walmart+ InHome customers in Northwest Arkansas can now place online orders to receive delivery of some of their favorite brands in reusable and returnable packaging.

Through expanding sustainable choices, helping reduce waste and introducing new circular business models, we're continuing to advance sustainability across Walmart. Our hope? To make the sustainable choice the everyday and affordable choice for our customers.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Walmart on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Walmart

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/walmart

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: Walmart

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Falcon Gold Corp. (FG:TSX-V)(3FA:GR)(FGLDF:OTCQB); ("Falcon" or the "Company")., is pleased to report the acquisition of 76 claims (approximately 33 sq. km.) in the Nickel North area of Quebec (see Figure 1). This area has been in the news recently with the announced option agreement between 1844 Resources and Nickel North Exploration. 1844 Resources has the option to acquire from Nickel North, 100% interest in the Hawk Ridge Property by paying $6M in cash and issuing 10M shares over the term of the five (5) year option agreement. (https://nnexploration.com/news/nickel-north-enters-into-option-agreement-with-1844-resources-to-sell-a-100-interest-in-the-high-grade-hawk-ridge-nickel-copper/Highlights)

During 2022 Nickel North updated the Mineral Resource Estimate at the Hawk Ridge Property (https://nnexploration.com/news/nickel-north-retains-consultants-to-update-mineral-4730/). Highlights of these reports are an inferred mineral resource for all four deposits in the project area using a $35/t cut-off was 29.44 Mt grading 0.20% Ni, 0.52% Cu, 0.012% Co, 0.19 g/t Pd, 0.04 g/t Pt and 0.021 g/t Au, corresponding to 0.56% NiEq.

Portions of the Falcon Property are located 4 km along strike from the Falco 7 historical resource and 2 km along strike form the Hopes Advance historical resource. Highlights of this new property include:

A historical drill hole located on the Falcon property and about 4 km west of the Falco 7 historical resource intersected 10.4m of 0.51% Copper and 0.16% Nickel.

The Falcon Gold Property contains numerous electromagnetic anomalies that have not been investigated by previous drilling.

Figure 1: Falcon Gold claims (yellow) in relation to the Hawk Ridge property of Nickel North Exploration, recently optioned by 1844 Resources.

Karim Rayani, CEO of Falcon, noted, "Falcon is continuing its pursuit to diversify and go after critical element projects, with large tonnage potential. The Hope Advance is an area I have been keen on for some time for its high-grade nickel and battery elements. Further infrastructure is being planned with a conceptual deep seaport to the area which would bring excitement and large investment into the camp. The recent option agreement by Nickel North confirms our belief that Nickel, and associated PGE's will remain a valuable commodity in the coming years. As we enter a new greening phase, onshoring and reshoring of manufacturing will mean North American metal assets will become more valuable than ever, and we love operating in the mining and exploration friendly province of Quebec."

Transaction Terms:

Falcon has signed a definitive option to acquire 100% of the Hope Advance project. The Company will pay one time cash payment of $17,500 within 15 days of signing, issue 200,000 shares and 200,000 warrants in the company. Each warrant is exercisable at a price of 0.20 cents for a 2-year term. The project is subject to a 1 % NSR (Net Smelter Royalty) which Falcon can purchase for $400,000 CDN. for Falcon's total 100% interest in the project.

The Company also wishes to clarify the terms of its acquisition of the Area 51 Project previously announced on March 30, 2023. The Company entered into a definitive agreement dated January 12, 2023, to acquire 14 claims known as the Area 51 Project located in the Inca Del Oro mining district, Atacama Region, northern Chile. In consideration for the property, the Company will pay USD $10,000 cash as well as issue 200,000 common shares and 200,000 warrants of Falcon. Each warrant is exercisable into one common share for a period of two years at a price of $0.19 per share, based on a weighted average price (WAP) - 125% premium to the market share price based on the date of signing the definitive agreement. The property is subject to a 1% NSR, Falcon reserves the right to purchase a 100% control and interest in the project for a payment for a one-time payment of USD $1,200,000.

Qualified Person

Yves Caron, M.Sc., P.Geo. (OGQ #0548), an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company. The QP has not completed sufficient work to verify the historical exploration reported information. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the Property but may not be representative of expected results.

About Falcon Gold Corp.

Falcon is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on generating, acquiring, and exploring opportunities in the Americas. Falcon's flagship project, the Central Canada Gold Mine, is approximately 20km southeast of Agnico Eagle's Hammond Reef Gold Deposit which has currently estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold (123.5 million tonnes grading 0.84 g/t gold) mineral reserves, and 2.3 million ounces of measured and indicated mineral resources (133.4 million tonnes grading 0.54 g/t gold). The Hammond Reef gold property lies on the Hammond shear zone, which is a northeast-trending splay off the Quetico Fault Zone ("QFZ") and may be the control for the gold deposit. The Central Gold property lies on a similar major northeast-trending splay of the QFZ.

The Company holds multiple additional projects: The Esperanza Gold/Silver/Copper mineral concessions located in La Rioja Province, Argentina; The Viernes Gold/Silver/Copper project in Antofagasta Chile; The Springpole West Property in the world-renowned Red Lake mining camp; a 49% interest in the Burton Gold property with Iamgold near Sudbury Ontario; in B.C., the Spitfire-Sunny Boy, Gaspard Gold claims; the Great Burnt, Gander North/South, Valentine Gold South, Victoria West, and Golden Brook acquisitions adjacent to First Mining, Matador, Benton-Sokoman's JV, and Marvel Discovery in Central Newfoundland; and most recently Battery Metals projects in Ontario and Quebec, The Timmins West and Outarde Property.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Falcon Gold Corp. "Karim Rayani" Karim Rayani

Chief Executive Officer, Director

Telephone: (604) 716-0551

Email: [email protected]

Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements which reflect the expectations of management. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, among other things: completion of the Spin-Out. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. There is no assurance any of the conditions for closing will be met. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions, and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Falcon Gold Corp

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / International Paper Company

International Paper plays a significant role in responding to the global climate challenge, and our commitment to improve our climate impact is considerable in its potential.

We have a track record of reducing our Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions at our operations. Now, with our Vision 2030 goal, we are also engaging across our value chain to track, report on and, ultimately, reduce our Scope 3 emissions.

Addressing Scope 1 and 2 GHG Emissions

For more than a decade, we have reported the carbon impact of our operations and our initiatives to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions. We reduced our GHG emissions by approximately 20% between 2010 and 2020, while cutting our use of coal and fuel oil in half. We know we have much more work to do.

Today, approximately 70% of the energy we use in our mills is derived from carbon-neutral biomass residuals, with the remainder from purchased energy, including natural gas, electricity and steam from utilities, and smaller amounts of coal, fuel oil and other fuels.

We are committed to making the capital investments necessary to substantially reduce Scope 1 GHG emissions in our facilities over the next decade. We are evaluating and pursuing investments in energy efficiency and fuel-switching for lower-carbon power generation in our operations. Additionally, our manufacturing technology experts continue to identify operational efficiency opportunities at facilities across our business and regions. These initiatives often result in both cost savings and GHG emission reductions by optimizing processes, upgrading equipment and advancing energy conservation measures.

We also recognize the opportunities we have to reduce our Scope 2 GHG emissions through participation in renewable power development. We are exploring mechanisms such as virtual power purchase agreements, which support renewable energy suppliers and the "greening" of the electricity grid.

We currently do not use carbon offsets in our GHG emissions reduction strategy. We are engaging with a number of strategic partners to advance our understanding of GHG emissions accounting via natural climate solutions, including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's upcoming Land Sector and Removals Guidance and SBTi's Forest, Land and Agriculture project, to help us advance this strategy in the coming years. We also continue to explore opportunities for forestland owners to employ practices that improve forest management for carbon sequestration.

As a partner in the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Climate Challenge, International Paper is one of more than 80 organizations across the US economy collaborating to drive real-world action toward a low-carbon future. As we pursue our ambitious GHG targets, we will count on DOE and participating industrial companies for technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning opportunities and a platform to demonstrate our commitment to being part of the solution to climate change.

We track and report on our global GHG emissions through our participation in CDP, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Mandatory Reporting Rule, the European Union Emissions Trading System and various state, regional and national reporting programs.

Addressing Scope 3 GHG Emissions

Scope 3 GHG emissions include the GHG impacts generated within our upstream and downstream value chain, but outside of our direct operations. These include, for example, the carbon footprint of input materials like wood fiber and chemicals, GHG emissions related to our distribution networks, and from the further processing, reuse and final disposal of our products.

Measuring and reporting our Scope 3 GHG emissions is relatively new for International Paper. We are collaborating with our suppliers and customers to understand their GHG emissions footprint and decarbonization plans in order to develop strategic reduction pathways. In 2021, we developed a supply chain GHG emissions calculator tailored to our industry, in partnership with the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), to establish a detailed Scope 3 GHG emissions baseline and to track progress over time. In parallel, we began gathering supplier-specific GHG emissions and climate strategy data by participating in CDP's Supply Chain program, which we intend to expand to more suppliers in coming years. Our Scope 3 work is closely linked to our goal for Renewable Solutions, which is focused on how we design and how our customers use and dispose of our products.

Setting Science-based Targets

Our GHG emissions reduction target was derived using a methodology approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a global collaboration of nongovernmental organizations and experts that has defined best practices and a scientifically informed methodology for emissions reductions. Our GHG emissions target is in line with the Paris Climate Agreement goal to limit global temperature rise to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels.

Approximately 70% of mill energy derived from carbon-neutral biomass residuals

We have seen little net change in our combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from 2019 to 2021. This is largely due to increased mill production over this period, along with other factors driven by COVID-19 disruptions, mill operations, weather events and energy supplies. Our slight increase in Scope 1 emissions was largely offset by lower sales of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) at certain mills, resulting in lower Scope 2 emissions.

Consistent with the GHG Protocol, our reported Scope 1 GHG emissions and associated targets do not include biogenic GHG emissions, which were approximately 24.7 million metric tons in 2021.

Includes all fuel and energy sources at all manufacturing facilities.

Residual Biomass is leftover material originally purchased as wood fiber, such as tree limbs and bark, and black liquor generated during the production process that is beneficially reused as a carbon-neutral energy source.

About International Paper

International Paper (NYSE: IP) is a leading global supplier of renewable fiber-based products. We produce corrugated packaging products that protect and promote goods, and enable worldwide commerce, and pulp for diapers, tissue and other personal care products that promote health and wellness. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., we employ approximately 38,000 colleagues globally. We serve customers worldwide, with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, North Africa and Europe. Net sales for 2021 were $19.4 billion. See how we're building a better future for people, the planet, and our company at internationalpaper.com/Vision-2030.

Read more

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from International Paper Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: International Paper Company

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/international-paper-company

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: International Paper Company

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From building roads and bridges to launching innovative businesses in Gabon's special economic zone, Chinese enterprises and investors are praised for helping boost and diversify the local economy.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
JEFFERSONVILLE, IN / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / PharmaCord LLC, a leading provider of patient services and other commercialization solutions to life science companies, announced today the expansion of its operations to a new facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Additional PharmaCord Facility

The new facility will provide additional capacity to support the continued growth in patient support programs PharmaCord administers on behalf of its life science clients. The company has been on a robust growth trajectory over the last several years, as demonstrated by this fifth facility expansion in less than five years.

"PharmaCord is setting the industry standard as an integrated end-to-end provider of comprehensive commercialization services that cover all stages of the product life cycle. Our commitment to delivering long-term value for our clients, patients and partners is unwavering," said Nitin Sahney, founder and CEO of PharmaCord. "Our expansion reflects the value we bring to our partners and the tremendous growth inherent within the commercialization services space."

News of this expansion comes as the latest milestone in PharmaCord's exceptional growth journey, having recently surpassed 1,000 employees, which is ahead of schedule from its previous projection to achieve this milestone by year-end 2023.

PharmaCord's new facility will seat a wide range of team members, including Benefit Specialists, Case Managers, Registered Nurses, Social Work Case Managers, Data Scientists, Software Developers, Support Services and Operational Management roles. Visit pharmacord.com and follow PharmaCord on social media to learn more about upcoming career fairs and job opportunities.

About PharmaCord

As a patient services provider, PharmaCord works on behalf of top drug manufacturers to simplify the patient prescription journey. Through a combination of its proprietary PharmaCord Lynk" technology suite, exceptionally talented team members and its non-commercial pharmacy PharmaCord Scripts ", PharmaCord helps patients have a better experience accessing and adhering to their critical medications. To learn more about how PharmaCord improves commercial outcomes for life sciences companies, visit pharmacord.com.

Contact Information

Paige Hobbs

Marketing Manager

[email protected]

5028053525

SOURCE: PharmaCord

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Bruce Bragagnolo, Executive Chairman and Director of Regency Silver Corp. (TSXV:RSMX)(OTCQB: RSMXF) discusses the unique potential of the Dios Padre Project and its exploration and development plans for 2023.

Jim Gordon

Hi, I'm Jim Gordon, and you're watching Market One Minute. Joining us is Bruce Bragagnolo. He's the Executive Chairman and Director at Regency Silver Corporation. Welcome, Bruce.

Bruce Bragagnolo

Thanks, Jim.

Jim Gordon

You're quite welcome, sir. Tell us about Regency Silver and your experience working in Mexico.

Bruce Bragagnolo

Regency Silver is a recently formed company. We've listed on the TSX Venture Exchange about a year ago in May of 2022, and we've been drilling at our flagship Dios Padre property in Northern Sonora, Mexico since last summer. We've been very successful in our drill program, we hit a very good initial drill hole in Hole 22-01 and now we're following up on it with ongoing drilling.

I also co-founded Timmins Gold and Silver Max Resources which were both very successful companies in Mexico. So, my experience in Mexico has been very good. The infrastructure is excellent, the people are very knowledgeable about mining, and it's a great country to work in.

As a result of my ongoing experience in Mexico, we've developed a very good team. Mike Tucker is our head geologist and a director, and he's done a fantastic job with developing the model for the Dios Padre project and planning our induced polarization program and our drill program. As well, we have an excellent team on the ground and we're very happy with the way things are going on site.

Jim Gordon

And what type of system do you think you're drilling into at the Dios Padre project?

Bruce Bragagnolo

Well, whatever type of system it is, it's a big one. Despite my lengthy experience in Mexico,

I have not seen a project quite like this. It's very unique. What sets this apart is the size of the structure for one, and the second is the high-grade of gold and copper that we found in Hole 22-01 from last summer.

What initially attracted us to the Dios Padre project was an existing historical silver mine that had big structures inside of it. There are 60-foot workings inside the old silver mine. We have not gone back into the old silver mine, but it clearly showed us that there was potential for some big structures at Dios Padre.

Our drill program from last year showed us that there's a 10-story building of mineralization in hole number one. And the recent visual results show us that there's more than a 10-story building of mineralization, we just don't know how much until we release our assay results in the middle of April.

Jim Gordon

So, Bruce, what are your future plans for the property? And what is your overall strategy for the company moving forward?

Bruce Bragagnolo

Well, immediately, we plan to release the results of our IP program by the middle of April, and the assay results from the first three holes of our 2023 program should be available at about the same time. That's our short-term plan. Then, based on the results of the drilling and the IP, we plan to bring on some more rigs, subject, of course, to financing.

So, we plan to be drilling at Dios Padre for a while, at least over the course of the next year, and then develop a resource for the property. And as an added bonus, we plan to take some of the properties that we've come across in our exploration phase and spin those out into new companies so that our shareholders get added value.

Jim Gordon

Thanks For joining us, Bruce.

Bruce Bragagnolo

Thank you, Jim. It's going to be a very exciting year for the company.

Jim Gordon

Pleasure.

ABOUT REGENCY SILVER CORP.:

Regency Silver Corp. (TSXV: RSMX | OTCQB: RSMXF) is a Canadian resource company exploring for high-grade silver in Mexico. Regency's flagship project is the high-grade Dios Padre Silver Project in Sonora, Mexico.

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE: Regency Silver Corp.

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Recent studies have shown that social media usage among Australian consumers has skyrocketed, as more individuals turn to social media for brand research.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Social media usage in Australia is on the rise, with users aged 16 to 64 now spending an average of two hours and four minutes each day on social media, according to a recent report. Zib Digital, the leading digital marketing agency Sydney-wide, says this increase in social media usage reflects its changing use cases, with 61.5% of users aged 16 to 64 now seeing social media as a key source of information, up 5.9% on last year.

Zib Digital

Zib Digital

The report shows that nearly one-third of internet users conduct brand and product research on their social media feeds and one-quarter have discovered new products and services via social ads. Social media accounted for 31.5% of total ad spend in Australia last year. Facebook and Facebook Messenger remain in the lead but are closely followed by Instagram and TikTok, which has seen a significant 26.5% increase in usage.

According to Zib Digital, this shift in consumer behaviour has significant implications for businesses looking to stay competitive in today's digital landscape. As consumers increasingly turn to social media for brand research, it's more important than ever for businesses to have a strong online presence and engage with customers on social media platforms.

TikTok was the second most downloaded mobile app in Australia in 2022 and is also one of the mobile apps driving the highest in-app consumer spend. Zib Digital explains social media should be a key strategic focus for marketers as consumers are spending more time on social platforms to discover and research new brands and products.

As a leading digital marketing and SEO agency, Sydney businesses can rely on Zib Digital for help in optimising their social media presence and reaching customers through digital channels. Zib offers a range of digital marketing services, including search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing, paid advertising and email marketing. Their team of experienced digital marketing professionals is dedicated to helping businesses achieve their marketing goals and stay ahead of the competition.

By partnering with the leaders in digital marketing and SEO Sydney-wide, businesses can take advantage of the latest digital marketing techniques and strategies to reach their target audience and grow their brand.

For more information, visit Zib Digital online.

About Zib Digital

As a leading digital marketing agency, Zib Digital has helped grow businesses in a wide variety of industries, both in Australia and internationally, through clever online marketing.

Contact Information

Zib Digital

Manager

(03) 8685 9290

SOURCE: Zib Digital

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB: PGEZF) (the "Company", "Stillwater" or "SWCM") is pleased to announce that Wolfgang Maier, Ph.D., a recognized world expert geologist in magmatic mineral deposits, has joined the Company as Senior Geological Advisor.

Figure 1 - Stillwater Critical Minerals personnel at Stillwater West in August 2022 (L-R): Dr. Wolfgang Maier, Senior Geological Advisor, Dr. Danie Grobler, Vice-President Exploration, and Greg Johnson, Chairman of the Board

Dr. Maier has more than 25 years of global experience in mafic-ultramafic igneous systems and the formation of magmatic ore deposits, including deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements ("PGE"), and chromium. He has authored and co-authored 144 publications which have received 5,175 citations to date and has been a contributing author or editor of several books, monographs, and geological maps. Dr. Maier studied geology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany and at Rhodes University, South Africa, including doctoral studies on the Bushveld Complex in 1992. He taught igneous petrology and economic geology at the Universities of Pretoria (South Africa), University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (Canada), UWA (Australia), and Oulu (Finland) before joining Cardiff University in 2013 where he is currently a professor with the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. In addition to his work studying the formation of magmatic ore deposits including PGE, Ni-Cu, Cr, and V-Ti-Fe deposits, Dr. Maier is also interested in increasing the sustainability of both exploration and mining.

Dr. Wolfgang Maier commented, "I am very impressed with the potential of the Stillwater project and excited to contribute to the exceptional team assembled by Stillwater Critical Minerals. During my site visit in 2022, I was impressed by the relatively underexplored nature of the lower Stillwater complex, which is surprising as the Stillwater Igneous Complex hosts the highest-grade platinum group element reef system in the world and the lower Stillwater complex shows similar exceptional PGE tenor within the more broadly mineralized nickel, copper, cobalt and chromium enriched lower magmatic stratigraphy. I look forward to further collaboration as SWCM focuses on expansion of their current resources and follows up on its exciting high-grade discovery holes in 2023. The potential for continued discovery of these important battery metals along with significant PGEs at Stillwater is outstanding."

Dr. Danie Grobler, Stillwater Critical Minerals' Vice-President of Exploration, stated, "We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Maier to the technical team at Stillwater in follow-up to his extended tour of the project last year. During his career, Dr Maier has worked on and published papers about most of the economically important layered mafic-ultramafic intrusives globally. Dr Maier's extensive scientific understanding of these important critical metal deposits complements our experienced exploration team as we prioritize high-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group element mineralized zones within the lower part of the Stillwater layered magmatic stratigraphy. We are currently finalizing our exploration plans for 2023 which will focus on continued expansion drilling at the resource areas. Particular focus is planned for targets adjacent to high-grade discovery intersects such as CM2021-05 at Chrome Mountain which intersected 13.2 meters of high-grade nickel sulphide grading 2.31% Ni, 0.35% Cu, 0.115% Co and 1.51 g/t PGEs+Au within 400.8 meters of continuous mineralization, and CZ2021-01 at Iron Mountain, which intersected 4.6 meters grading 0.96% Ni, 0.49% Cu, 0.073% Co and 0.87 g/t PGEs+Au within 367.6 meters of continuous mineralization."

About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSX.V: PGE | OTCQB: PGEZF) is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the recent addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper, and chromium, and the on-going production of platinum group and other metals by neighboring Sibanye-Stillwater. An expanded NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January 2023, delineates a compelling suite of critical minerals contained within five Platreef-style nickel and copper sulphide deposits at Stillwater West, which host a total of 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt, and 3.8 million ounces of palladium, platinum, rhodium, and gold, and remains open for expansion along trend and at depth.

Stillwater Critical Minerals also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Treasury Metals' development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinums Wellgreen deposit in Canadas Yukon Territory.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director - Stillwater Critical Minerals

Email: [email protected] Phone: (604) 357 4790

Web: http://criticalminerals.com Toll Free: (888) 432 0075

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

2021 drill core samples were analyzed by ACT Labs in Vancouver, B.C. Sample preparation: crush (
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / American Airlines

Originally published by Sustainability SmartPod

If you've flown on American Airlines recently, there's a chance your plane was fueled by a small amount of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Jill Blickstein, Vice President of Sustainability at American Airlines, joins the show (18:27) to talk about the latest advancements in SAF, fleet upgrades the airline has made to enhance its sustainablility and an AI-enabled system called 'Smart Gating' that conserves fuel and saves time for travelers. American Airlines is undertaking numerous initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint. As Jill explains, many of those efforts come in places passengers might not notice, but certainly lead to more sustainable air travel.

Highlights from Jill Blickstein

Update on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) - (20:10)

American Airlines' goals for SAF usage - (23:56)

Using SAF to attract business travelers - (26:36)

Creating a SAF certificate for all travelers - (30:22)

The potential for zero-emission hydrogen-electric aircraft - (30:47)

Partnering with the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Catalyst - (33:24)

Other sustainability initiatives at American Airlines - (35:10)

'Smart Gating' - (39:47)

Powering operations with renewable energy - (42:20)

Validation from the Science-Based Targets initiative - (43:02)

Other Show Segments

Sustainable or Suspicious - (1:54)

E-liability

Top Headlines from SmartBrief on Sustainability - (6:53)

Sustainable precast concrete products made with locally sourced recycled materials

Comcast boosts its energy efficiency

Electrifying roads to cure electric vehicle 'range anxiety'

Here and There - (13:04)

3 ways to make data centers more sustainable

Sign up for the SmartBrief on Sustainability newsletter

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from American Airlines on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: American Airlines

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/american-airlines

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: American Airlines

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New office, lab space will advance milestones, increase staff by 50 percent

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Allonnia, a startup biotechnology company dedicated to solving the worlds toughest waste challenges, today celebrated the expansion of its footprint in the Seaport District with a celebratory ribbon cutting and grand opening. The event took place at the companys new offices and lab space located at 6 Tide Street.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005945/en/

Allonnia leadership and board members are joined by business and civic leaders during the ribbon cutting ceremony at Allonnia's new headquarters on Thursday, April 20, 2023. (Photo: Business Wire)

The new location increases the companys footprint four-fold, and is expected to increase its natures detectives, which are part of the technical team, by more than 50 percent at the end of the year.

Weve experienced tremendous success since Allonnia was founded just over two years ago, said Nicole Richards, CEO, Allonnia. And with our success comes the opportunity to grow, not just our team but our physical space where our natures detectives sift through billions of clues to find a solution within nature. We are excited to be among the companies located within the thriving Seaport District as we create an ecosystem of people working to make the world a better place.

The new office, which is being leased by PureTech Health, is LEED-Certified Silver providing conference rooms, collaborative spaces for colleagues to engage in ideas and brainstorming, private offices and a dedicated employee space with kitchen and large eating area. Notably missing from the space will be document printers, and single-use plastic beverages and dinnerware, all aligned with Allonnias commitment to minimizing waste while also maintaining a sustainable environment.

Allonnia is backed by Ginkgo Bioworks, and the new location places Allonnia just steps away from Ginkgo Bioworks location at the historic Innovation Design Building in Boston.

In 2023, Allonnia was certified as a Great Place to Work, which recognizes employers who create outstanding employee experiences.

About Allonnia

Founded in 2020, Allonnia is a bio-ingenuity company dedicated to extracting value where others see waste. We believe elegant solutions to the worlds biggest problems will be found in the worlds smallest organisms. Were pioneering novel approaches and imaginative combinations in biotechnology and engineering to solve waste challenges in nature, using nature. To learn more visit allonnia.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005945/en/

Katie Mann, [email protected], 989-430-3204

Source: Allonnia
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Performance Assessment (assessment) of PA-2 (Excellent) of Castel Underwriting Agencies Limited (Castel) (United Kingdom) and its subsidiary, Castel Underwriting Europe B.V. (CUE) (Netherlands). The outlook of the assessment is stable.

The assessment reflects Castels excellent underwriting capabilities, excellent governance and internal controls, excellent financial condition, excellent organisational talent and excellent depth and breadth of relationships.

Castel, through its model of investing in early-stage managing general agents (MGAs) and underwriting teams (collectively underwriting cells) on its club-style MGA platform, has access to expert and experienced underwriters. Underwriting capabilities further benefit from Castels in-house underwriting staff. Since launching in 2014, Castel has demonstrated its ability to grow its underwriting cells whilst providing profitable business to its capacity providers. A partially offsetting factor to the component is the limited track record of some of Castels programmes.

Castels governance and internal controls benefit from its scale, relative to many other delegated underwriting authority enterprises (DUAEs) in the market. The company has an appropriate committee structure, including a board of directors featuring independent and non-executive directors, supported by a number of other committees. The company undergoes external reviews and performs internal reviews regularly, covering underwriting and compliance. Whilst relatively commonplace in the U.K., Castels limited integration of systems with (re)insurance partners is considered a partially offsetting factor to the governance and internal controls component.

Castels financial position is supported by its consistently profitable operations since inception. Overall earnings benefit from the broad range of programmes underwritten by the company, reducing dependence on any single one. The acquisitive nature of Castels business model is expected to lead to variable financial resource requirements over time; however, AM Best expects this to be well-managed by the company to avoid undue strain on Castels financial condition. Castels ownership by Arch Capital Group Ltd. is considered a positive to the companys financial condition and provides a potential avenue for additional financial resources.

Castels senior management team is experienced and has a proven track record in the industry. The companys board of directors brings further experience and oversight. The organisational structure is well-defined with a clear path of reporting duties.

Castel offers a range of programmes in its core markets in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as internationally. The company has relationships with a high number of well-rated capacity providers. A significant portion of Castels processed premium is placed with capacity providers that have supported Castel for at least four years.

As a wholly owned subsidiary, CUEs operations exhibit a number of commonalities with Castel. CUE is regarded as strategically and financially important as the groups European platform, providing access to business in the European Economic Area. CUE is integrated with Castel and has common underwriting practices, with generally consistent underwriting performance expected.

This press release relates to Performance Assessments that have been published on AM Bests website. For all information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the Performance Assessments referenced in this release, please see AM Bests website. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Performance Assessments, please view Guide to Bests Performance Assessments for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005692/en/

Marving Lopez

Financial Analyst

+44 207 397 4389

[email protected]

Myles Gould

Director, Analytics

+44 207 397 0304

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Associate Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aqara, a leading provider of smart home products, expands its wide-ranged smart sensor portfolio with the introduction of the Presence Sensor FP2, a revolutionary sensor for precise human presence detection. Equipped with the millimeter wave (mmWave) radar technology, the FP2 solves many pain points of the traditional passive infrared (PIR) presence sensors and enables a more tailored and rich smart home experience. The new sensor is now available on the Companys Amazon brand stores in both North America (US, Canada) and Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) as well as selective Aqara retailers worldwide1.

Accurate human presence detection provides essential information for tailored smart home automations such as home security monitoring and energy management systems (e.g., automated lights, HVAC, home appliances control). The mmWave-based FP2 Presence Sensor takes a leap forward from the PIR motion sensors as the former detects a persons presence with even the slightest movement such as the act of breathing. Gone are the frustrating experiences of having your smart lights turn off unintentionally because you were sitting still reading a book or working at the desk.

Moreover, the FP2 sensor raises the precision of human detection to the next level with its capability to monitor multiple zones and multiple targets simultaneously. The FP2 allows the user to define up to 30 zones within a room (up to 40 sq m/430 sq ft). For example, the living room and dining area can be configured as separate zones with individualized automations. This sensor tracks up to 5 persons at the same time2, making it possible to control different zones based on the real-time location of each family member. For instance, to dim the dining area lights and switch the TV on when the kids leave the dining table and move to the sofa, meanwhile to keep the kitchen light on when someone is washing the dishes.

The powerful capabilities of the FP2 sensor can also be used within the third-party smart home platforms including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Home Assistant3 and more. Once the zones are set up in the Aqara Home app, the zone configuration can be synced to these platforms as multiple motion/occupancy sensors, allowing users to trigger zone-based automation with a wide variety of third-party smart home devices. Support of the new smart home standard, Matter, is also planned for the FP2, and will be added to the device via a subsequent OTA update4.

Aside from its precise presence detection and multi-zone automations, FP2 also has fall detection built-in5, which is particularly essential for senior citizens who are more vulnerable to fall injuries. Families and caregivers can be alerted by both local siren and remote alerts if the FP2 sensor detects a fall, which allows them to seek immediate assistance if necessary. The FP2 sensor can detect a fall at the home in a convenient way without the need to wear additional devices on the body. At the same time, unlike a typical security camera, the Sensor provides meaningful alerts and data without intruding on a persons personal privacy.

Thanks to its powerful hardware, the FP2 sensor will be able to support much more cutting-edge features in the future such as posture detection, which not only recognizes falls but also other postures including standing, sitting, and lying. Sleep monitoring and respiratory rate detection capabilities could also be achieved via the FP2 in the future. These advanced features will be added to the FP2 sensor via future OTA updates4.

For more details of the Presence Sensor FP2, please visit our website.

Product availability may vary among different retail channels, and could be updated all the time. Its recommended to check with the regional retailer(s) for real-time availability. The best result can be achieved in the case of tracking not more than 3 persons. The FP2 sensor can be added to Home Assistant using HomeKit Controller integration. Some features of the FP2 sensor such as Matter support, posture detection and sleep monitor are not available by the time of launch. The Presence Sensor FP2 is not a medical device, and can only be used for notification purposes. Ceiling-mounted installation is required for fall detection, and the monitoring area will decrease when the FP2 is ceiling-mounted. In fall detection mode, many functionalities of the FP2 become unavailable, including zone positioning and multi-person detection.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005024/en/

For Media Inquiry:

[email protected]

Source: Aqara
ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AVALONBAY COMMUNITIES, INC. (NYSE: AVB) and Gables Residential announced today that they have entered into a third-party servicing agreement for AvalonBays centralized service center to provide comprehensive back-office, financial administrative support services to Gables Residential. Under this agreement, AvalonBays Customer Care Center will service the entire Gables Residential portfolio of over 25,000 apartment homes, located in ten states and the District of Columbia, with a complement of functions that include customer service and account inquiry support, billing, delinquency notification, legal and eviction support and payment and security deposit processing.

AvalonBay opened its Customer Care Center, located in Virginia Beach, VA, in 2007 as a separate business unit from residential operations - one of the first centralized service centers in the multi-family industry - to provide enhanced customer service to its residents more effectively and at a lower operating cost. We are excited to extend our capabilities at our Customer Care Center to support the Gables portfolio, leveraging the investments we have made in our centralized infrastructure, as well as creating a new revenue source for AvalonBay. Over the last 15 years, our Customer Care Center has demonstrated its ability to create efficiencies and deliver excellent customer service that can now benefit others and create more value for AvalonBay, said Benjamin Schall, CEO of AvalonBay.

Over the last several years, Gables Residential has focused on efforts to centralize administrative functions across its portfolio to maximize efficiencies, enhance value for its investors, and provide excellent service to its customers. The new centralized service opportunity with AvalonBays Customer Care Center furthers Gables strategy in which our business model reflects greater customer service demands and those of a changing industry. Gables believes that the AvalonBay Customer Care Center understands and will maintain the level of service we expect to provide to our customers, shared Sue Ansel, Gables Residential, CEO.

While the AvalonBay Customer Care Center will provide support services to the Gables Residential portfolio, each portfolio, and all business and operational decisions related to each portfolio, will continue to be managed separately.

About AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

As of December 31, 2022, the Company owned or held a direct or indirect ownership interest in 294 apartment communities containing 88,475 apartment homes in 12 states and the District of Columbia, of which 18 communities were under development and one community was under redevelopment. The Company is an equity REIT in the business of developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing apartment communities in leading metropolitan areas in New England, the New York/New Jersey Metro area, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, and Northern and Southern California, as well as in the Company's expansion markets of Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, Southeast Florida, Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Denver, Colorado. More information may be found on the Companys website at http://www.avalonbay.com.

About Gables Residential

Gables Residential is an award-winning, vertically integrated, real estate company and privately held REIT specializing in the development, construction, ownership, acquisition, financing, and management of multifamily and mixed-use communities. Gables Residential owns, develops, and manages communities in high-growth U.S. markets such as Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Seattle, South Florida, Southern California and metropolitan Washington, D.C. Gables also provides third party management services in the Baltimore, Frederick, Tampa, Phoenix, Seattle, Central and North Florida markets.

Gables manages over 25,000 apartment homes and has received national recognition for excellence in development, construction, management, sales, marketing, training, and benefits. These achievements reflect the impact of Gables experienced and dedicated team members, its superior knowledge of the markets served, and its expertise in development and management. For additional information about the company and its real estate portfolio and services, visit http://www.gables.com.

Copyright  2023 AvalonBay Communities, Inc. All Rights Reserved

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005211/en/

Jason Reilley

Vice President

Investor Relations

AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

703-317-4681



Gigi Giannoni

Senior Vice President

Marketing and Customer Experience

Gables Residential

404-923-5569

Source: AvalonBay Communities, Inc.
New Series of Releases Features a Blend of Rye Whiskey Designed for its Unique Finishing Cask

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Barrell Craft Spirits (BCS), the original independent blender of unique aged, cask strength whiskey since 2013, will add Rye to its already expansive Private Release offerings, as it continues to lead the industry in micro-blending unique expressions for whiskey enthusiasts. For this special series, BCS selected Rye whiskeys from Indiana and Canada and then blended them into unique recipes with variations on a theme. Beginning this month with 10 initial selections, each release will feature a blend of Rye whiskey designed for its unique finishing cask.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005380/en/

Barrell Craft Spirits (BCS), the original independent blender of unique aged, cask strength whiskey since 2013, will add Rye to its already expansive Private Release offerings, as it continues to lead the industry in micro-blending unique expressions for whiskey enthusiasts. For this special series, BCS selected Rye whiskeys from Indiana and Canada and then blended them into unique recipes with variations on a theme. Beginning this month with 10 initial selections, each release will feature a blend of Rye whiskey designed for its unique finishing cask. (Photo: Business Wire)

The BCS Private Release Rye Series includes:

Rye Whiskey finished in an Armagnac Cask

Rye Whiskey finished in a Bourbon Whiskey Barrel

Rye Whiskey finished in an XO Cognac Cask

Rye Whiskey finished in an Oloroso Sherry Barrel

Rye Whiskey finished in a Madeira Barrel

Rye Whiskey finished in a Ruby Port Barrel

Rye Whiskey finished in a Barbados Rum Cask

Rye Whiskey finished in a Sauternes Barrel

Rye Whiskey finished in a Tokaji Barrel

Rye Whiskey finished in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry Barrel

Known best for blending award-winning, unique aged spirits at cask strength, BCS Private Release Series showcases the teams blending expertise while maintaining a single barrel-like scale controlled entirely by hand and by palate. Private Release barrels also offer retailers, bourbon clubs and whiskey aficionados something truly unique.

Weve expanded our successful Private Release program to include rye whiskeys featuring unique finishing barrels and casks from around America and the world, said BCS Founder Joe Beatrice. For more than 10 years, weve led the industry in micro-blending and have proudly pioneered many of these finishes being utilized by other producers today.

Each offering in the Private Release Series is produced as a limited release, has a distinct flavor profile, and contains between 150-180 total 750ml bottles, with an SRP of $109.99.

Click the link below for more information:

https://www.barrellbourbon.com/privaterelease

For more information, follow Barrell Craft Spirits on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram or visit barrellbourbon.com.

Barrell Craft Spirits

Louisville-based Barrell Craft Spirits is the original, pre-eminent independent blender of unique, aged, cask strength whiskey and rum. Recognized for our blending expertise since 2013, we skillfully design, produce, and launch leading, unique products that surprise and delight whiskey aficionados and novices alike.

Barrell Craft Spirits, Barrell, Barrell Bourbon and Barrell Rye are registered trademarks owned by Barrell Craft Spirits LLC.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005380/en/

Aaron Brost | Ro-Bro Marketing & PR

312.576.5315 | [email protected]

Source: Barrell Craft Spirits
ANKARA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States is seeking to impose its hegemony on global affairs and the "whole world hates America" for its activities, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has said.

Soylu, the most vocal member of the Turkish government when it comes to criticizing Washington, made the remarks during a meeting with young people on Tuesday in Istanbul, noting that the United States is losing its global credibility.

Europe has turned into America's "pawn" in Africa, Soylu was cited by Turkish daily Aydinlik as saying.

"Do not overthink Europe, there is no such thing as Europe. Europe is just a train in a convoy made by the Americans, and it's not something to be exaggerated," Soylu said.

The world has no lost love for the United States and the West, because of their efforts to impose their culture and values on others, he added.

Relations between Turkiye and the United States have been strained over several issues in recent years.

In 2020, the United States sanctioned Turkiye in response to Ankara's purchase of the Russian-made S-400 defense system.

Turkiye's decision to hold up Sweden's NATO bid is a more recent source of dispute between the two NATO allies.

In early April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "our doors are now closed" to U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake, after the latter met with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party, who runs as presidential candidate for an alliance of opposition parties.

Given that Turkiye's presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled on May 14, "we need to teach America a lesson in these elections," Erdogan was quoted by the state-run Anadolu agency as saying.

In early February when Washington and eight European countries issued travel warnings over possible terror attacks in Turkiye, Soylu blasted Flake for portraying his country as an unstable state, telling Flake to "take his dirty hands off of Turkiye."

Soylu is an ardent critic of the United States. In the past, he blamed Washington for the 2016 military coup attempt, while the latter denied that claim. 
By Providing Access to Dental Care in 120 Communities Across 13 States and D.C., the Dental Support Organization (DSO) Helps Ensure That No Child is Left Behind When It Comes to Achieving Good Oral Health

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Benevis, a leading DSO for practices focused on dental care and orthodontics, stands with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) to observe National Minority Health Month. April is dedicated to highlighting the need to improve the health of racial and ethnic minorities and American Indian/Alaska Native communities and reduce health disparities. Poor oral health is a primary marker of social inequality, and Benevis is proud to be a leader in addressing the social, economic, and environmental barriers that inhibit dental care.

The theme for National Minority Health Month 2023 is Better Health Through Better Understanding. Benevis has a 20-year history of understanding the needs of underserved patient populations by providing high-quality care to approximately five million children and adults in disadvantaged communities. The DSO recognizes that not all Americans have equal access to dental care and orthodontics. That is why Benevis has made its mission to improve access and affordability to essential dental healthcare and create dental homes for diverse patient populations with or without various forms of insurance, including Medicaid.

"This April, lets remember that oral health is healthcare too, explained Tara McCarthy, VP of Marketing and Community Relations at Benevis. "Healthcare providers across the health ecosystem should continue to educate their patients on the importance of preventive dental care and provide appropriate referrals for those who may not have access to care. With continued effort, we can help close the dental health disparity gap and ensure that all children have access to quality oral healthcare."

The State of Oral Health in the U.S.

Startling, but true, a childs race or ethnicity can significantly impact their oral health. Studies have found that minority children are more likely to suffer from tooth decay and other oral health issues than White children. Minorities are also less likely to receive routine dental care or preventive treatments such as fluoride varnish, sealants, and dental sealers. Minority children, including Mexican-American, non-Hispanic Black, American Indian, and Alaskan Native children, are also more likely to experience disparities in the quality of dental care they receive compared to White children.

Benevis will deliver on its mission to expand access to compassionate, high-quality oral care and will provide free dental treatment to uninsured families during Sharing Smiles Day on Sunday, May 21, 2023. Dentists and hygienists in 28 locally branded Benevis dental practices across 11 states will conduct dental exams, limited emergency care, extractions, and restorative care, with cleanings offered on a limited basis. It is recommended that patients make an appointment.

Benevis also encourages other dentists and DSOs to expand their reach and to help close the divide in quality oral care for minority populations. Diversifying the existing workforce of dental professionals to better support the demographics of underserved communities could also help to improve oral healthcare in disadvantaged populations. To get started, Benevis has provided the following educational resources:

To join the Benevis team or inquire about partnering with the DSO, please click here.

About Benevis

Benevis is a leading dental support organization (DSO) for practices focused on delivering life-changing dental care and orthodontics. Through comprehensive dental practice support services that expand access to dentistry, Benevis has a 20-year history of providing the highest quality care to approximately 5 million children and adults in underserved communities. Its support services are employed in more than 100 locally branded dental offices that have delivered treatment during 1.2 million visits each year. Benevis also advocates for programs and legislation that ensure all families have access to the oral healthcare they need and deserve. For more information, visit Benevis.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005178/en/

Media

Kay Blazar

SVM PR for Benevis

[email protected]

401-490-9700

Source: Benevis
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The UAE-India Business Council, the UAE-Israel Business Council, and the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to promote the I2U2 Initiative and garner private sector support for this new economic partnership among India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005049/en/

President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, Danny Sebright, Indian Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States, H.E. Sripriya Ranganathan, Israeli Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States, Mr. Eliav Benjamin, U.A.E. Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Yousef Al Otaiba, and Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the U.S. Department of State, Under Secretary Jose Fernandez. (Photo: Business Wire)

The governments of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States formed the I2U2 group in July 2022 with the goal to tackle some of the greatest challenges confronting our world by harnessing the emerging and prosperous economies of the four member countries. In a Joint Statement, leaders of the four countries expressed the intention of the group to put particular focus on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security. I2U2 recently held its inaugural Business Forum in Abu Dhabi on February 22nd which brought government officials and private sector representatives from the four member countries to discuss tangible and sustainable cooperation opportunities. During this forum, India also officially joined the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate initiative (AIM for Climate).

This MOU is an agreement among the councils to broadly work together within the framework of the I2U2 Business Coalition. The MOU aims to deepen technological and private sector collaboration in the region and address transnational challenges while bringing together private sector stakeholders to promote greater business opportunities within the six key sectors of focus for the initiative.

Specifically, the parties agreed to:

Convene a series of events in India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States with key government officials to draw attention to the I2U2 initiative and bring greater awareness to its potential for the business community in each of the four countries.

Convene a series of virtual working group meetings of key businesses in those sectors that are of particular focus for the I2U2 initiative: food security, energy, water, space, transport, health, and technology.

Publish a series of studies and white papers by leading American, Emirati, Indian, and Israeli think tanks, scholars, and thought leaders about the potential for I2U2.

Create a series of video interviews about the I2U2 initiative that can be jointly shared on their platforms.

The MOU was announced in Washington, D.C. on April 19th at an event with Under Secretary of State Jose Fernandez, the U.S. government champion for I2U2, and in the presence of the Indian Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States, Her Excellency Sripriya Ranganathan, the Israeli Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States, Mr. Eliav Benjamin, and the U.A.E. Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba.

Faizal Kottikollan, Chairman of the UAE-India Business Council, spoke of the potential for quadrilateral cooperation between India, Israel, the U.A.E, and the U.S., saying, The I2U2 grouping, which is, as the Hon. Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said, a good model for practical cooperation in the face of increasing global uncertainties, has witnessed steady progress in a few areas of mutual cooperation. We at the UAE India Business Council (UIBC UC) are committed to rally our members support behind this mini-lateral through today's MoU signing, with the goal of achieving the groupings and the three member organizations shared economic interests.

Dorian Barak, President of the UAE-Israel Business Council, said of the new I2U2 Business Coalition, Were delighted to be part of this important and far-reaching initiative, which will connect the business community to promote stronger cooperation between the governments of the USA, U.A.E., India, and Israel. Commerce is the strongest foundation for successful I2U2 engagement, which is emerging as an important pillar of regional economic integration.

Danny Sebright, President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, said of this initiative, We could not be more pleased to have the endorsement of Under Secretary Fernandez as well as the governments of India, Israel, and the U.A.E. for this important new initiative. It is a unique partnership of key stakeholders which will undoubtedly bring value to the business community and to our collective membership in all four countries.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005049/en/

For more information, please contact Wissam Rose at [email protected].

Source: U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE: FIX), a leading provider of mechanical and electrical contracting services including heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, piping and controls, announces that it has scheduled its quarterly conference call and webcast for Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. Central Time to discuss first quarter 2023 financial results. The results will be released after the market closes on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.

The conference call will be broadcast live in listen-only mode on the Companys website at https://investors.comfortsystemsusa.com/. The call and the slide presentation to accompany the remarks can be accessed under the Investors tab after first quarter 2023 results are released. Participants who want to join the call and ask a question may register at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI9b57002f12ed44b78143f9dedccc3592 to receive the dial-in information and a unique PIN to seamlessly access the call. Otherwise, please access the listen-only webcast link.

On the next business day following the call, a replay of the entire call will be available on the Companys website.

Comfort Systems USA is a premier provider of business solutions addressing workplace comfort, with 173 locations in 132 cities around the nation. For more information, visit the Companys website at www.comfortsystemsusa.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005998/en/

Julie Shaeff, Chief Accounting Officer

[email protected]; 713-830-9687

Source: Comfort Systems USA, Inc.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP), a leading global provider of essential minerals, will release its fiscal 2023 second-quarter results Tuesday, May 9, 2023, after the markets close. The companys president and CEO, Kevin Crutchfield, and CFO, Lorin Crenshaw, will discuss these results on a conference call on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Access to the conference call will be available via webcast at investors.compassminerals.com or by dialing 1-888-550-5768. Callers must provide the conference ID number 3632674. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, callers may dial 1-646-960-0469. An audio replay of the conference call will be available on the companys website.

About Compass Minerals

Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) is a leading global provider of essential minerals focused on safely delivering where and when it matters to help solve natures challenges for customers and communities. The companys salt products help keep roadways safe during winter weather and are used in numerous other consumer, industrial, chemical and agricultural applications. Its plant nutrition products help improve the quality and yield of crops, while supporting sustainable agriculture. Additionally, the company is pursuing development of a sustainable lithium brine resource to support the North American battery market and is a minority owner of Fortress North America, a next-generation fire retardant company. Compass Minerals operates 12 production and packaging facilities with nearly 2,000 employees throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Visit compassminerals.com for more information about the company and its products.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420006016/en/

Investor Contact

Brent Collins

Vice President, Investor Relations

+1.913.344.9111

[email protected]

Media Contact

Rick Axthelm

Chief Public Affairs and Sustainability Officer

+1.913.344.9198

[email protected]

Source: Compass Minerals
WESTBOROUGH, Mass. & DUBLIN, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005121/en/

The updated release reads:

QUANTUM HEALTH JOINS WITH HPI AND EMPLOYERS HEALTH NETWORK TO OFFER NEW HEALTHCARE NAVIGATION AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE NETWORKS PLATFORM TO SELF-INSURED EMPLOYERS

Quantum Health, the leading consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company, announced today it will join with Health Plans, Inc. (HPI), a leading third-party administrator, to leverage their Employer Health Network (EHN) to deliver a new healthcare navigation platform for self-insured employers nationwide. These different delivery and navigation solutions will provide alternatives to the high cost of traditional managed care networks and will help drive better member experiences and clinical outcomes.

As part of this new collaboration, Quantum Health will combine its navigation and care coordination platform with HPIs third-party administration capabilities and leading regional health plan networks to provide members better access to high-value providers and proactively intervene earlier in the healthcare process. The goal of this industry-unique partnership is to ensure that members receive the most appropriate, cost-effective care and an unparalleled experience throughout their healthcare journey.

The healthcare-related challenges facing employers and their employees today continue to expand, and they require a flexible member navigation and care coordination experience platform that brings all the administrative, technological, digital health and human support components together in one simple and effective experience that drives better engagement and outcomes, said Zane Burke, CEO of Quantum Health. We are excited to join with HPI and EHN to bring new healthcare options and overall better member experiences to employers and members nationwide.

A 2022 McKinsey Employer Health Benefits Survey found that over 40% of employers now believe introducing new advocacy and care coordination tools will help employees more easily navigate the healthcare system, engage in preventive physical and mental care, and manage chronic conditions. Quantum Health simplifies the healthcare experience for over 2.7 million members and over 500 employer clients through better navigation and care coordination, bringing together point solution partners, providers, payers and members in an integrated digital platform.

As a third-party administrator, HPI partners with health plans, brokers and employers to provide innovative self-funding strategies and customized plans tailored to each clients needs and population. Their solutions give employers greater cost transparency and control, while elevating the member experience.

Through this unique industry collaboration and new marketing offering, we are bringing employers a single source for health plan administration that results in better member engagement, tighter health data integration and high-touch programs. We are establishing a single-entry point member experience that combines concierge-level digital and human-centric member navigation, network steerage, coordinated billing, and plan administration, all while focusing on how we can do more to bring employers a top-tier self-funded health plan, said Deb Hodges, CEO and president of HPI.

About HPI

HPI redefines what is possible with self-funded health plans. As a leading national third-party administrator, they partner with health plan brokers and employers to provide innovative self-funding strategies and customized plans tailored to each clients needs and population. HPIs solutions give employers greater cost transparency and control, while elevating the member experience. It is their flexible approach, entrepreneurial spirit, and commitment to quality, technology, and service that enable them to deliver premium value to their customers.

For more information, visit www.hpiTPA.com

About Quantum Health

Quantum Health is the industry-leading consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company that delivers an unparalleled consumer experience to its members, as well as validated claims savings and high satisfaction rates for its self-insured employer clients. Quantum Healths proprietary Real-Time Intercept model identifies opportunities for early intervention in a members healthcare journey, resulting in better engagement, outcomes and cost efficiencies.

The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Dublin, Ohio. Since its inception, Quantum Health has earned numerous awards and honors, including being named among the Fastest-Growing Private Companies by Inc. 5000, and a Great Place to Work by FORTUNE Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. Quantum Health has consistently been named one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies by the Women Presidents Organization, and Columbus Business First has consecutively honored Quantum Health as a Best Place to Work.

To learn more about the company, visit Quantum-Health.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005121/en/

John Hallock

Quantum Health, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

(614) 846-4318, x16731

Source: Quantum Health
Follows the Boards Decision to Re-Nominate 24-Year Tenured Chairman Jim Pantelidis Despite the Boards Adoption of a 10-Year Term Limit and the Establishment of a Compensation Framework Misaligned with Shareholders' Interests

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Engine Capital LP, which owns approximately 2.0% of Parkland Corporations (TSX: PKI) (Parkland or the Company) outstanding shares, today announced that it has sent the below letter to members of the Companys Board of Directors.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005432/en/

April 20, 2023

Parkland Corporation

240 4th Avenue SW Suite 1800

Calgary, AB T2P 4H4

Attention: Board of Directors

Dear Members of the Board of Directors (the Board):

As you know, Engine Capital LP (together with its affiliates, Engine or we) is a meaningful shareholder of Parkland Corporation (TSX: PKI) (Parkland or the Company), with an ownership position of approximately 2.0% of the Companys outstanding shares.

Nearly a month ago, we issued a letter detailing our concerns regarding the chronic underperformance of the Company, evidenced by Parklands total shareholder returns (TSR) trailing relevant benchmarks and peers over every relevant time horizon (see Appendix A). We believe that this underperformance is directly related to Parklands current complexity and conglomerate structure, which makes it a poor public company in its current structure. In our letter, we shared our ideas to enhance long-term shareholder value, which include: (a.) simplifying the business by selling or spinning off non-core assets or selling the entire Company, (b.) refreshing the Board by adding directors with convenience merchandising and capital allocation experience and (c.) improving the Companys compensation framework to better align managements incentives with shareholders interests. Our letter concluded with a request to meet with members of the Board as soon as possible to discuss these recommendations.

Having not heard any response, we followed up on our request to meet with the Board but were instead offered a meeting with Parklands CFO, Marcel Teunissen, on March 30, 2023. During that discussion, we reiterated our desire to meet the Board as soon as practically possible to engage in a constructive dialogue. As of today, we still have yet to hear back about a meeting with Parklands directors. Engine has engaged with more than 50 boards of directors over the last decade, and we have never encountered a situation where one has been so unresponsive. The response from an engaged and competent board of directors should be to engage with a major shareholder, not to hide behind its CFO.

This lack of responsiveness and sense of urgency is in stark contrast with shareholders desire for change and frustration, evidenced by the nearly 10% increase in Parklands share price following the release of our letter on March 22, 2023. The fact that the mere possibility of a change in strategy suggested by a significant shareholder could cause this type of positive price movement speaks volumes to shareholders frustration with the status quo and desire for change.

PARKLANDS DECISION TO RE-NOMINATE ITS OVER-TENURED CHAIRMAN AND COMPENSATION PRACTICES ONLY REINFORCE THE NEED FOR CHANGE

We were also disappointed to see that Chairman Jim Pantelidis, who has served on the Board for 24 years, would not step down at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the Annual Meeting). Instead, Parklands information circular indicates that Mr. Pantelidis intends to serve for another three years, until the 2026 Annual Meeting, which will bring his Board service to a grand total of 27 years.

This is even more shocking considering that Parkland has just adopted a tenure policy that limits a directors tenure to 10 years.1 This policy should apply to all directors, including the Companys Chairman, especially considering that he has been on the Board for almost a quarter of a century. Clearly an orderly transition and appropriate succession planning can take place much faster. The fact that the Board is suggesting Mr. Pantelidis needs to remain as Chairman for another three years in order to effectuate a smooth transition is another example of the Boards complete lack of urgency. We therefore urge the Board not to re-nominate Mr. Pantelidis at the 2024 Annual Meeting.

We also continue to be concerned by Parklands compensation practices beyond those previously raised in our March 22nd letter. The recently published management information circular discusses the Boards decision to use an absolute ROIC measure as part of managements long-term incentive, which we believe makes sense. Unfortunately, the targets set by the Board (see table below) are completely inadequate and are lower than the Companys cost of capital, which we estimate to be well above 8.5% (where management would receive 200% of its target compensation). We are concerned that the Board would reward management at these poor levels of ROIC and set 7% as the ROIC target.

We also note that in 2022 CEO Robert Espeys target total direct compensation went up to $5.3 million from $4.3 million in 2021, an increase of approximately 23%. Mr. Espeys compensation has consistently increased over the last few years as the business has grown through M&A and has become more complex  the very issues that are hurting shareholders. For reference, Mr. Espeys 2018 total direct compensation was $3.2 million, and Parklands stock closed at $35.34 on December 31, 2018 ($30.47 dividend adjusted price). Therefore, since 2018, Mr. Espeys compensation has increased by 66% while the stock is down. It is no wonder Parklands management likes the size and the complexity of the business.

The following chart highlights Parklands stock performance compared to Mr. Espeys total direct compensation.

Again, we want to reiterate our request to meet with members of the Parkland Board as soon as possible to discuss the changes that we believe are necessary to improve the Company for the benefit of all shareholders. While it is our desire to work constructively with Parklands Board on behalf of all shareholders to unlock value, we must make abundantly clear our dissatisfaction with the status quo, which is why we intend to WITHHOLD support on ALL the incumbent directors standing for re-election at the Companys Annual Meeting. As a matter of clarification, Engine intends to vote FOR the two new nominees appointed by Simpson Oil Limited.

We intend to monitor developments at Parkland closely and will not hesitate to take any actions that we believe are necessary to protect the best interests of all shareholders and stakeholders.

Sincerely,

Arnaud Ajdler Brad Favreau Managing Partner Partner

Appendix A: Parklands total shareholder returns (TSR) compared to relevant benchmarks and peers over every relevant time horizon.2

About Engine Capital

Engine Capital LP is a value-oriented special situations fund that invests both actively and passively in companies undergoing change.

1 Effective 2023, Parklands Board has adopted a 10-year term limit for its Board, excluding executive Board members. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board Chair may stand for re-election outside of the 10-year limit in order to ensure that appropriate succession is in place and to ensure an orderly transition. Parklands 2023 Information Circular.

2 Total shareholders returns calculated as of the close of March 17, 2023. Convenience retailer peers consist of ATD, CASY and MUSA. Refinery peers consist of MPC, PSX, VLO, DINO, DK, PBF, CVI, PARR and CLMT. We did not include a 10-year TSR for the refinery peer group since Parkland only acquired the Burnaby refinery in 2017.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005432/en/

For Investors:

Engine Capital LP

Arnaud Ajdler, 212-321-0048

[email protected]

www.enginecap.com

For Media:

Longacre Square Partners

Charlotte Kiaie / Aaron Rabinovich, 646-386-0091

[email protected] / [email protected]

Source: Engine Capital LP
Growth and expansion are on the horizon for WES Brands, the parent company of Flecha Azul Tequila, appointing new Head of Sales amidst rapid growth

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Flecha Azul Tequila, one of the only new world tequila brands with authentic Mexican roots, announces today a global expansion into the founders home country of Mexico.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005825/en/

Flecha Azul Tequila co-founders Aron Marquez (left) and Abraham Ancer (right). (Photo: Business Wire)

We are so excited and humbled to bring Flecha Azul Tequila to consumers in Mexico, the place where it all began, said Aron Marquez, co-founder of Flecha Azul Tequila. When my partner Abraham and I began this journey, our goal was to capture the heritage and true taste of Mexican tequila and bring it to the world. For us, sharing an additive-free option that tastes authentic - the way it should - has always been most important. The opportunity to expand globally within just a few years on the market is a milestone moment for us.

Crafted from 100% Blue Weber Agave, the single estate, additive free tequila is now available in all five expressions  Blanco, Anejo, Reposado, Cristalino, Extra Anejo  in Acapulco, Cabo, Mazatlan, Penasco, Riviera Maya and Vallarta.

WES Brands, the parent company of Flecha Azul Tequila, has also appointed Chris Seithel as Senior Vice President of Sales in tandem with the expansion. An industry veteran of over 25 years in both wine and spirits, Seithel joins us after most recently leading sales for a premium mezcal. He brings a unique background aimed at building brand equity through focusing on the most important facets of a company  people, product and performance.

Im thrilled to be joining a company that is rapidly growing and expanding across the globe thanks to brands like Flecha Azul Tequila, said Chris Seithel. We are outpacing sales just a few months into the year, and look forward to continuing to do so across the United States and Mexico.

ABOUT FLECHA AZUL TEQUILA

Co-founded in 2019 by Aron Marquez and Abraham Ancer, who wanted to create an authentic, additive-free tequila like the ones they'd enjoyed back home. Mark Wahlberg joined the team in 2022 to help bring the craft product worldwide. Flecha Azul is crafted at Orendain Distillery (Nom 1110), following the same traditional methods they've followed since 1884. Currently available in the United States, Flecha Azuls current offerings include Blanco $44.99, Reposado $54.99, Anejo $64.99, Cristalino $99.00 and Extra Anejo $339.99 For more information, please visit https://flechaazultequila.com/ or follow us at @flechaazultequila.

ABOUT WES BRANDS

Founded in 2021, WES Brands develops, markets, and sells innovative brands in the beverage alcohol category. The entrepreneurial and employee-owned company pairs high-potential brands in expanding categories with brand partners to drive awareness. The portfolio currently includes Flecha Azul Tequila and BSB Flavored Whiskey with new innovations to come. Do you think you have what it takes to join the team? Learn more at www.WESBrandsLLC.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005825/en/

WES Brands: Zoe Rice, [email protected]

KLG PR: Paulina Chronis, [email protected]

Source: Flecha Azul Tequila
Revenues up 5% to 1.5 million in 2022

Implementation of financing line with Winance strengthens 12 months financial visibility

Experienced leadership in place to deliver strategic objectives

BAGNEUX, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News;:

Genomic Vision (FR0011799907  GV,  the Company) (Paris: GV), a Euronext-listed biotechnology company that develops products and services for the highly accurate characterization of DNA sequences, today reported its annual financial results for the year ended December 31, 20221.

2022 annual results

(in  thousands  IFRS) 2022 2021 Sales 1026 994 Other revenue 455 419 Total revenue from activity 1 481 1 413 Current operating expenses -7 537 -6 274 Current operating loss -6 056 -4 860 Other operating expenses/income -66 -34 Operating loss -6 122 -4 865 Cost of financial debt and other financial expenses/income -668 -66 Net loss -6 790 -4 998

Total revenue from business activity was 1.481 million in the year ended December 31, 2022, a 5% increase compared with the year ended December 31, 2021, and consisted of:

Sales of products and services totaling 1,026 thousand in 2022, a 3% increase compared to 2021. During the course of the period, the Company not only enhanced its offerings but also made significant improvements in logistics and customer relationship management, which contributed to the increased revenue.

Other revenue of 455 thousand during the period relates to a Research Tax Credit. The increase in revenue reflects the Company's increased focus on R&D throughout the year.

Operating expenses increased by 20% in line with the Companys focus on delivering high-quality genomic solutions to improve quality control and bioproduction standards. In addition to the cost of sales, cost primarily relate to:

3 million in R&D spending, up 16%, reflecting the Company's commitment to high-value projects, such as the FiberSmart software suite, launched in March 2023, telomere applications, gene editing and bioproduction applications. Furthermore, since 2022, the Company has been collaborating with Cambridge Consultants for the development of an innovative microfluidic platform, aiming to develop a fully integrated and automated workflow, from sample DNA preparation to AI-driven image analysis.

0.7 million in Sales & Marketing expenditure, down 36% compared to December 31, 2021 that relates directly to the team reorganization in this department;

3 million in General & Administrative expenses, up 49% compared to December 31, 2021 and explained by the following: 0.7 million cost provision linked to the departure of the former Governance Committee of the Company 0.3 million strategic study 0.2 million engineering costs with Cambridge Consultants relating to development of the Companys next generation technology platform



The operating loss and net loss at December 31, 2022 increased to -6.1 million and -6.8 million, respectively, up 25% and 36% compared to the previous year. This rise in losses is mainly due to the execution of a strategic shift that necessitated a change in governance and significant investment in the Companys next generation technology platform.

The Companys total headcount was 36 people at December 31, 2022, consistent with the previous closing.

Financial structure

As of December 31, 2022, Genomic Vision had cash and cash equivalents of 0.76 million versus 0.5 million on September 30, 2022. The cash use of the Company is related to the day-to-day activities and the gradual implementation of its strategic plan.

Considering the updated projections for sales growth, investments in R&D, sales, marketing, general expenses, along with the associated working capital estimates and the contract established with Winance, Genomic Vision possesses the necessary resources to sustain its business development efforts throughout the upcoming 12 months.

As disclosed in the press release dated May 20, 2022, the Company signed a contract with Winance to set-up a financing line by issuing convertible bonds (the OC) into ordinary shares to each of which will be attached a share subscription warrant (the BSA and together with the shares to which they are attached the ABSA and with the OC the OCABSA), for a maximum total amount of 28.8 million (30 million nominal value). The extraordinary shareholders meeting of the Company held on May 23, 2022 approved the implementation of this financing line.

The Company can potentially use, as of December 31, 2022, up to 26.88 million (28 million nominal value) out of its financing program. The main terms of this program structured in 15 tranches of OCABSA are described in the prospectus approved by the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) on May 20, 2022 under no. 22-170, consisting of the universal registration document filed on April 14, 2022 under number D.22-0293, the amendment to the universal registration document filed on May 20, 2022 under number D.22-0293-A01, a transaction note and a summary, available at the Company's registered office (80/84 Rue des Meuniers, 92220 Bagneux), on the Company's website (www.genomicvision.com) and on that of the AMF (www.amf-france.org).

The investment and growth financing requirements are based on the following key strategic priorities:

Acceleration in the launch of high value-add applications into the bioproduction markets and cell & gene therapy markets

Improvement in the performances and design of new products, notably in bioinformatics to enhance the Company sales offering

Rapid strengthening of the sales teams, by recruiting talented new staff

Governance

The Supervisory Board is composed of:

Mrs. Florence Allouche, independent President of the Supervisory Board

Mr. Eric Edery, independent vice-president of the Supervisory Board

Mr. Mohammad Afshar, independent member of the Supervisory Board

The Executive Board is composed of:

Mr. Aaron Bensimon, President of the Executive Board and VP Sciences and Technologies

Mr. Lionel Seltz, member of the Executive Board and CFO

Mrs. Emilie Chataignier, member of the Executive Board

As a reminder, the Company's governance committees underwent significant changes after the General Assembly held on July 11, 2022, and the subsequent Supervisory Board meeting on July 21 2022.

During the shareholders' General Meeting, the decision was made to revoke the mandates of Mrs. Elisabeth Ourliac, Mrs. Tammou Abikhzer, and Mr. Stephane Verdood as members of the Company's Supervisory Board, effectively ending Mrs. Elisabeth Ourliac's and Mr. Stephane Verdood's tenure as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board. Shareholders' also voted to revoke Mrs. Dominique Remy-Renou's mandate as a member of the Executive Board.

Following these decisions at the General Meeting, the Company's shareholders approved the appointment of Mrs. Florence Allouche, Mr. Mohammad Afshar, and Mr. Eric Edery as independent members of the Supervisory Board for a six-year term, as stipulated in the Company's articles of association.

Subsequently, the newly formed Supervisory Board unanimously appointed the Executive Board members as presented above on July 21, 2022.

***

Upcoming financial publication

URD, Universal Registration Document, on Thursday April 27th, 2023

Revenue for the first quarter of 2022, on Thursday May 4th, 2023

***

ABOUT GENOMIC VISION

GENOMIC VISION is a biotechnology company developing products and services dedicated to the structural and functional analysis of genome modifications as well as to the quality and safety control of these modifications, in particular in genome editing technologies and biomanufacturing processes. Genomic Vision proprietary products and services, based on DNA combing technology and artificial intelligence, provide robust quantitative measurements needed for high confidence characterization of DNA alteration in the genome. These products and services are also used for monitoring DNA replication in cells to improve anti-cancerous drugs development. Genomic Vision, based near Paris in Bagneux, is a public company listed in compartment C of Euronexts regulated market in Paris (Euronext: GV  ISIN: FR0011799907).

Member of the CAC Mid & Small and CAC All-Tradable indices

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

Genomic Vision has set up a financing line in the form of convertible notes with warrants (OCABSA) with Winance, which does not intend to remain a shareholder of the company, after receiving the shares resulting from the conversion or exercise of the securities.

The shares resulting from the conversion or exercise of the aforementioned securities will, in general, be sold on the market very quickly, which is likely to create strong downward pressure on the share price as well as a strong dilution.

Shareholders could therefore suffer a loss of their invested capital due to a significant decrease in the value of the company's shares. The company has carried out several dilutive financing operations, and investors are advised to be very careful before making a decision to invest in the company's securities.

This press release contains implicitly or explicitly certain forward-looking statements concerning Genomic Vision and its business. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Genomic Vision considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be verified, which statements are subject to numerous risks, including the risks set forth in the Risk Factors section of the universal registration document filed with the AMF on April 14, 2022 under reference number R.22-0293, as updated by the amendment filed with the AMF on May 20, 2022, under number D.22-0293-A01, available on the web site of Genomic Vision (www.genomicvision.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Genomic Vision operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Genomic Vision or not currently considered material by Genomic Vision. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Genomic Vision to be materially different from such forward-looking statements.

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute and should not be construed as an offer or an invitation to sell or subscribe, or the solicitation of any order or invitation to purchase or subscribe for Genomic Vision shares in any country. The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be a breach of applicable laws. The persons in possession of this press release must inquire about any local restrictions and comply with these restrictions.

1 Financial statements were audited and approved by the Supervisory Board on April 19, 2022. URD, Universal Registration Document, provided in due time

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005802/en/

Genomic Vision

Aaron Bensimon

President of the Executive Board

Tel.: +33 1 49 08 07 51

[email protected]

Ulysse Communication

Media Relations

Bruno Arabian

Tel.: +33 1 42 68 29 70

[email protected]

Consilium Strategic Communications

International Investor Relations

& Strategic Communications

Tel.: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700

[email protected]

NewCap

France Investor Relations

& Strategic Communications

Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 94

[email protected]

Source: Genomic Vision
EMA oral presentation held on April 19 with KOLs; decision to withdraw application and engage with EMA to quickly agree on a path forward

Validation campaign manufacturing restart confirmed in May 2023, with results expected in Q3 2023; training and preparatory work progressing as planned

Current cash runway to June 2023; advanced discussions on financing and strategic options including M&A ongoing

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today reported its cash position as of March 31, 2023, and provided a business update.

Regulatory Pathway of LUMEVOQ

In March 2023, as planned, GenSight submitted responses to the D180 questions from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) of the EMA, in charge of assessing LUMEVOQ, had remaining objections that were discussed in an oral presentation held yesterday, April 19. GenSight regulatory and clinical executives presented to members of the CAT and were supported by renowned LHON expert and Principal Investigator of REFLECT, Patrick Yu-Wai-Man, MD, PhD (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) and distinguished blindness and vision restoration expert and co-founder of GenSight Biologics, Jose-Alain Sahel, MD (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United-States).

Based on interactions with the EMA CAT indicating that the data provided thus far would not be sufficient to support a positive opinion of the marketing authorization of LUMEVOQ by EMA, and as announced earlier today, GenSight decided to withdraw its application ahead of a final opinion by the CAT. This decision enables the Company to discuss the best possible path forward for LUMEVOQ with the EMA in the coming weeks, aiming at submitting a new application addressing remaining objections as soon as possible, in Europe and other countries. The Company is exploring options including generating new clinical data.

GenSight management team hosted a live webcast earlier today that is available for replay, in English with a French translation, using this link: https://bit.ly/3LcxrMD

In parallel, GenSight continues to interact with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to secure a regulatory pathway in the United States and the design of a possible additional Phase III clinical trial.

Manufacturing of LUMEVOQ

Due to the occurrence of an operational issue at the Companys manufacturing partner in the US, the production of a GMP batch of LUMEVOQ was terminated in March 2023. The precise root cause was confirmed in April and presented during a dedicated webcast. To prevent the reoccurrence of such an operational issue and secure a successful outcome, GenSight agreed with its manufacturing partner to jointly involve their engineering team and GenSights own experts (including a person-in-plant at all times) real time in the conduct of the upcoming validation campaign.

GenSight expects to initiate the validation campaign in May 2023, with results expected in Q3 2023, as previously stated. The three PPQ batches could be released for human use by the end of the year.

Cash position as of March 31, 2023

GenSight Biologics cash and cash equivalents totalled 8.5 million as of March 31, 2023, compared to 10.6 million as of December 31, 2022.

The operating cash burn in the first quarter of 2023 mainly reflected the final pharmaceutical development steps for LUMEVOQ (lenadogene nolparvovec) to support the Marketing Authorisation Application under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). These were mainly preparatory activities to ensure manufacturing readiness to commercialize under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and notably the production of engineering and validation batches. In addition, the Company continued to follow patients over the long term in the REFLECT Phase III clinical trial of LUMEVOQ in the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. GenSight Biologics also continued to build up its commercial infrastructure and prepare for a possible launch of LUMEVOQ in Europe.

In addition, the Company continued the PIONEER Phase I/II trial of GS030 in the treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

In February 2023, the Company received the 8.0 million Tranche A of the 35 million loan with the European Investment Bank (EIB). As of March 31, 2023, the Company has sufficient net working capital to meet its financial obligations until June 2023.

The Company is currently reviewing the impact of the current situation on the existing financing and is taking additional measures aimed at significantly reducing its operating cash burn in 2023, while actively discussing financing and strategic options including M&A opportunities.

Number of outstanding shares

As of March 31, 2023, GenSight Biologics number of outstanding shares was 46,335,591 ordinary shares.

2023 Annual General Meeting

GenSight Biologics is postponing its Annual General Meeting initially scheduled on May 16, 2023. A new date will be provided soon.

About GenSight Biologics

GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics, to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics lead product candidate, LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), is an investigational compound and has not been registered in any country at this stage, developed for the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease affecting primarily teens and young adults that leads to irreversible blindness. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005883/en/

GenSight Biologics

Corporate Communications Director

Clothilde Caillet

[email protected]



LifeSci Advisors

Investor Relations

Guillaume van Renterghem

[email protected]

+41 (0)76 735 01 31



RooneyPartners

Media Relations

Jeanene Timberlake

[email protected]

+1 646-770-8858



Orpheon Finance

Retail Investors

James Palmer

[email protected]

+33 (0)7 60 92 77 74

Source: GenSight Biologics
MUSCATINE, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI) will host its quarterly conference call for investors to discuss first quarter fiscal 2023 results on:

Monday, May 8, 2023

11:00 a.m. Eastern

10:00 a.m. Central

9:00 a.m. Mountain

8:00 a.m. Pacific

To listen to the call, please dial:

1-855-761-5600 (Toll-free)

Conference ID: 7175411

Assistance is available throughout the teleconference meeting. Press *0 to request Operator Assistance.

A live webcast of the call will be available on HNI Corporations website at https://investors.hnicorp.com/events-and-presentations. A replay of the webcast and call will be made available from Monday, May 8, 2023, 1:00 p.m. (Central) through Monday, May 15, 2023, 10:59 p.m. (Central). To replay the webcast, go to the link above. To replay the call, dial 1-800-770-2030  Conference ID: 7175411.

HNI Corporation plans to release its first quarter 2023 results on Monday, May 8, 2023 before the market opens. Results will be posted on HNI Corporations website at https://investors.hnicorp.com/news.

If you have any questions, please contact HNI Corporations Investor Relations Department at [email protected].

About HNI Corporation

HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI) is a manufacturer of workplace furnishings and residential building products, operating under two segments. The Workplace Furnishings segment is a leading global designer and provider of commercial furnishings, going to market under multiple unique brands. The Residential Building Products segment is the nation's leading manufacturer and marketer of hearth products, which include a full array of gas, electric, wood, and pellet-burning fireplaces, inserts, stoves, facings, and accessories. More information can be found on the Corporation's website at www.hnicorp.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005644/en/

Marshall H. Bridges, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (563) 272-7400

Matthew S. McCall, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development (563) 275-8898

Source: HNI Corporation
ABU DHABI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- As China plays a key role in global energy transformation and sustainable development, China's participation and support are crucial in achieving the goals set by the Paris Agreement to address climate change, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has said.

Francesco La Camera, IRENA's director-general, made the remarks at the agency's headquarters in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), during an interview with Xinhua before making a trip to China later this week.

La Camera said he hoped his visit would further strengthen the IRENA's ties with China, and seek more opportunities for cooperation in renewable energy investment, technology, research, and other areas.

Lauding China's efforts to develop renewable energy in recent years, La Camera said that China is a robust advocate of renewable energy which plays a significant role in boosting the global renewable energy capacity.

China accounted for about 48 percent of the increase in global total renewable capacity in 2022, according to the IRENA's Renewable Capacity Statistics 2023. Two-thirds of the new hydropower capacity, 45 percent of the new solar capacity, half of the new wind capacity, and 57 percent of the new bioenergy capacity in 2022 were installed in China.

From 2013 to 2020, China attracted 23 percent to 39 percent of the total investment in the global renewable energy sector each year, and the strong investment supported its development of renewable energy, La Camera noted.

Talking about China's carbon neutrality target, the IRENA chief believed that the decarbonization of the energy system driven by renewable energy would help China achieve its goal. But China needs to continue improving energy efficiency, reform the power grid, and increase the electrification of end users.

La Camera also invited Chinese leading companies in steel, chemicals, cement, and mining sectors to join the Alliance for Industry Decarbonization initiated and promoted by the IRENA, sharing new business opportunities brought by green industrialization and best practices for reducing industrial emissions.

At the end of this year, the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is scheduled to be held in the UAE. La Camera noted that the first Global Stocktake (GST) at COP28 is crucial when the world will take a comprehensive assessment of its progress on the Paris Agreement.

He urged the parties to take urgent actions in the next five years, to put the global energy transformation back on track.

"To achieve the target of limiting the global temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, 1,000 gigawatts of renewable electricity need to be generated every year," said La Camera.

He revealed that the IRENA is working closely with the Chinese National Energy Administration to accelerate the global application of renewable energy, which will help achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gas and address global climate change as soon as possible.

Many members of the IRENA have also benefited from China's rich experience in the fields of renewable energy, power transportation, green hydrogen, grid and flexible energy infrastructure manufacturing, as well as engineering and construction, La Camera said.

The IRENA, with 168 members, is a leading global intergovernmental organization to promote energy transformation based on renewable energy, which serves as the principal platform for international cooperation in this regard. 
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- JBG SMITH, (NYSE: JBGS), a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market, today released its annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, highlighting the accomplishments achieved across its operating portfolio in 2022.

Notable achievements and metrics in the report include:

Environmental

Maintained carbon neutrality across the operating portfolio for Scope 1 and 2 emissions

5-Star rated and top performing GRESB Sector Leader in Diversified Office/Residential for its operating portfolio and Development Pipeline

Recognized as an ENERGYSTAR Certification National recipient

Social

Provided more than $65 million in financing to preserve approximately 2,565 units through the Washington Housing Initiative (WHI) Impact Pool

Awarded Best ESG Investment Fund: Real Estate by ESG Investing

Recognized in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

Governance

Established cross-functional ESG Committee to advise the Board on ESG oversight and climate change risk management

Maintained the gender balance composition of JBG SMITHs Board of Trustees to include four women, one of whom identifies as African American

Updated organizational mission and core values

Continued to align JBG SMITHs ESG reporting to the Sustainable Accounting Standard Board (SASB) and the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures (TCFD)

An orderly transition to a low-carbon future must be grounded in transparency, communication of progress, and challenge triage, said Kimberly Pexton, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at JBG SMITH. In order to remain competitive and on track to reach our 2030 goals, we are staying ahead of emerging technologies and considering how we will leverage them to enhance our efforts and achieve carbon emission reductions at-scale, all while continuing to use the ample technology available to us today.

In addition to JBG SMITHs strides in sustainability, the company continues to prioritize social value by investing in workforce housing through the WHI Impact Pool, leasing retail spaces with strategic intent, and protecting and expanding green spaces.

JBG SMITH's Board of Trustees remains focused on enhancing shareholder value, including aligning ESG priorities with long-term business plans. As such, ESG strategy, climate change risks, and performance data are woven throughout the companys public disclosure documents and investor communications. This year's report continues to incorporate key performance indicators with the frameworks that support JBG SMITHs impact on climate change  United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG's), and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In addition, the companys Annual Report on Form 10-K included important financial and non-financial disclosures as recommended by SASB and TCFD. JBG SMITH's ESG Report provides specific data as defined by these organizations, including critical performance information regarding the impacts of climate change on its business.

About JBG SMITH

JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in, and develops mixed-use properties in high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Approximately two-thirds of JBG SMITH's holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, which is anchored by four key demand drivers: Amazon's new headquarters, which is being developed by JBG SMITH; Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus; the submarkets proximity to the Pentagon; and JBG SMITHs deployment of next-generation public and private 5G digital infrastructure. JBG SMITH's dynamic portfolio currently comprises 15.3 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily, and retail assets at share, 98% of which are metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 9.7 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. JBG SMITHs capital allocation strategy is to shift the majority of its portfolio to multifamily and concentrate its office assets in National Landing. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit www.jbgsmith.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They represent our intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Consequently, the future results of JBG SMITH Properties (JBG SMITH or the Company) may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. You can find many of these statements by looking for words such as approximate, believes, expects, anticipates, intends, plans, would, may, or similar expressions in this press release. We also note the following forward-looking statements: our intention and plans to maintain carbon neutrality annually and any future investments. Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of these and our other forward-looking statements, entitlements, and plans are beyond our ability to control or predict. These factors include, among others: adverse economic conditions in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, the timing of and costs associated with development and property improvements, financing commitments, and general competitive factors. For further discussion of factors that could materially affect the outcome of our forward-looking statements and other risks and uncertainties, see Risk Factors and the Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and other periodic reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For these statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to our forward-looking statements after the date hereof.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005984/en/

Investor Relations

Barbat Rodgers

JBG SMITH

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

(240) 333-3805

[email protected]

Media

Bud Perrone

Rubenstein

Managing Director

(212) 843-8068

[email protected]

Samantha Schmieder

JBG SMITH

Corporate Communications Manager

(240) 333-7706

[email protected]

Source: JBG SMITH
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KBRA releases a recap of the Information Management Networks (IMN) Annual Investors Conference on CLOs and Leveraged Loans, held on April 17-18 in New York City.

The conferences various panel sessions focused on broadly syndicated loans (BSL), middle market (MM) CLOs, leveraged loans, direct lending, and private credit.

The recent turmoil in the U.S. regional banking sector and the collapse of Credit Suisse unsettled the markets and tested the resolve of governments to stabilize global financial systems. Consequently, there is broad expectation for an increase in leveraged loan defaults, which is now forecast in the 3%-4% range by year-end 2023. Conference participants stressed the resilience of the CLO structure and the ability to persist under the most challenging market conditions.

Click here to view the report.

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About KBRA

KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered in the U.S., the EU, and the UK, and is designated to provide structured finance ratings in Canada. KBRAs ratings can be used by investors for regulatory capital purposes in multiple jurisdictions.

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Akiko Kato, Director, Structured Credit

+1 (646) 731-1341

[email protected]

Sean Malone, CFA, Managing Director, Structured Credit

+1 (646) 731-2436

[email protected]

Eric Hudson, Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Structured Credit Ratings

+1 (646) 731-3320

[email protected]

Eric Thompson, Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Structured Finance Ratings

+1 (646) 731-3320

[email protected]

Business Development Contact

Jason Lilien, Managing Director

+1 (646) 731-2442

[email protected]

Source: KBRA
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ladder Capital Corp (NYSE: LADR) (we, Ladder, or the Company) will release its first quarter 2023 results on April 27, 2023 after the close of markets that day. The Company will host a conference call and webcast for investors at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time that day to discuss the financial results.

The conference call can be accessed by dialing (844) 826-3035 domestic or (412) 317-5195 international. Individuals who dial in will be asked to identify themselves and their affiliations. For those unable to participate, an audio replay will be available from 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, April 27, 2023 through midnight Thursday, May 11, 2023. To access the replay, please call (844) 512-2921 domestic or (412) 317-6671 international, access code 10177420. The conference call will also be webcast through a link on Ladder Capital Corps Investor Relations website at ir.laddercapital.com/event. A web-based archive of the conference call will be available at the above website.

About Ladder

Ladder is an internally-managed commercial real estate investment trust with $6.0 billion of assets as of December 31, 2022. Our investment objective is to preserve and protect shareholder capital while producing attractive risk-adjusted returns. As one of the nations leading commercial real estate capital providers, we specialize in underwriting commercial real estate and offering flexible capital solutions within a sophisticated platform.

Ladder originates and invests in a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate and real estate-related assets, focusing on senior secured assets. Our investment activities include: (i) our primary business of originating senior first mortgage fixed and floating rate loans collateralized by commercial real estate with flexible loan structures; (ii) owning and operating commercial real estate, including net leased commercial properties; and (iii) investing in investment grade securities secured by first mortgage loans on commercial real estate.

Founded in 2008, Ladder is run by a highly experienced management team with extensive expertise in all aspects of the commercial real estate industry, including origination, credit, underwriting, structuring, capital markets and asset management. Members of Ladders management and board of directors are highly aligned with the Companys investors, owning over 10% of the Companys equity. Ladder is headquartered in New York City with regional offices in Miami, Florida and Santa Monica, California.

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Investor

Ladder Capital Corp Investor Relations

(917) 369-3207

[email protected]

Source: Ladder Capital Corp
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) will release its first quarter 2023 financial results after the market close on Thursday, May 4, 2023. A conference call is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the same day.

Participants should plan to access the call 15 minutes prior to the start time to ensure a smooth connection. Details are as follows:

Dial in Number Passcode Time/Date Conference call 888-820-9413 (Tollfree) +1 786-460-7169 (Local) 8001995 4:30 p.m. Eastern, May 4, 2023

The live conference call and related presentation materials will also be available at http://investor.ncr.com/. The conference call will be archived and available at the same site shortly after the conference call is complete.

For any difficulties accessing the conference call, please contact Adrienne Holland from NCR at 678-516-2228.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leader in transforming, connecting and running technology platforms for self-directed banking, stores and restaurants. NCR is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with 35,000 employees globally. NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Web site: www.ncr.com

Twitter: @NCRCorporation

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ncrcorp

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ncr-corporation

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ncrcorporation

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Investor Contact

Michael Nelson

NCR Corporation

678-808-6995

[email protected]

Media Contact

Scott Sykes

NCR Corporation

[email protected]

Source: NCR Corporation
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wing Resources VII, LLC (Wing VII) announced it has raised $100 million in new equity commitments from NGP Royalty Partners II, L.P., which is the most recent NGP private equity fund focused exclusively on the acquisition of mineral and royalty interests.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005277/en/

Wing VII is a Permian Basin focused mineral and royalty acquisition company, and is led by President and CEO Nick Varel, Chief Operating Officer Josh Strange, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Elskes, Senior Vice President of Engineering Joseph Rogers, Senior Vice President of Land Ryan Sablotny and Vice President of Geoscience Ulysses Trey Hargrove, III Ph.D.

We are excited to continue our partnership with NGP to build a premier mineral and royalty acquisition platform focused on delivering superior risk-adjusted returns to its stakeholders. The Wing VII team believes our mineral and royalty expertise, along with strong equity backing and industry relationships, will enable us to continue creating value in todays dynamic market environment. The financial commitment and investment experience of NGP, coupled with over 100 years of combined experience of Wing VIIs management team, will allow us to continue our acquisition strategy, said Varel.

NGP is excited and thankful to continue our seventh partnership with the Wing team, said Peter Ray, Principal at NGP. Nick and the Wing team have built an incredible mineral and royalty franchise with demonstrated results for investors. We believe Wings highly talented team coupled with its market vision will continue to position the company for long-term success.

About Wing Resources

Wing Resources is a Permian Basin focused mineral and royalty acquisition company. Since its founding in 2016, Wing has established a reputation for reliability, expertise, and professionalism, becoming the trusted company for those seeking to sell their mineral and royalty interests in the Midland Basin and Delaware Basin of West Texas and Southern New Mexico.

Wings long-term investment strategy allows it to offer large lump-sum payments upfront, regardless of how much income the properties are generating today. Wing is a unique mineral buyer with a long-term investment horizon which allows it to offer mineral owners the best possible price for their assets. Wing Resources is funded by NGP, a leading private equity firm that has set the global standard for energy-focused private investment. Through its unique combination of committed institutional financing and deep industry knowledge, Wing has the capability to offer sellers the best possible deal.

For more information visit www.wingoilandgas.com.

About NGP

NGP is a premier private equity firm that believes energy is essential to progress. Founded in 1988, NGP is moving energy forward by investing in innovation and empowering energy entrepreneurs in natural resources and energy transition. With $20 billion of cumulative equity commitments, we back portfolio companies focused on responsibly solving and securing the energy needs of today and leading the way to a cleaner, more reliable, more affordable energy future.

For more information, visit www.ngpenergy.com.

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Wing Resources

2100 McKinney Ave, Suite 1540

Dallas, Texas 75201

(214) 389-1060

[email protected]

Source: Wing Resources
GUARDIAN-Lung Registry data presented at the 43rd ISHLT Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions demonstrates statistically significant reduction in 1-year hospital readmission rates (p=0.018) for lung transplant recipients when utilizing the Paragonix LUNGguard Donor Lung Preservation System when compared to traditional ice storage of lungs1

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paragonix Technologies, Inc., the leading organ transplant company, presented impactful clinical data on the use of its Advanced Organ Preservation system, LUNGguard, in a study presented at this years ISHLT Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions. The study compares conventional ice-cold storage to the Paragonix LUNGguard system, using real-world multi-center data collected from the GUARDIAN-Lung Registry. The analysis illustrates that advanced lung preservation technology favorably influences post-transplant outcomes, including a 24% reduction in 1-year readmission rates (p=0.018). 1 One-year readmission rates can be an indication of potential costly post-transplant complications, making the results of the study an important development for lung transplant centers.

The GUARDIAN-Lung data was collected from April 2019 to January 2023, consisting of 239 total patients (129 LUNGguard and 110 ice storage) from five (5) transplant centers across the United States. The results of the study show trends that indicate that transplant recipients who had their donor lungs stored in a Paragonix LUNGguard device experienced reductions in a variety of post-transplant complications, including numerical reductions in median ICU Length of Stay (4.8 days LUNGguard and 5.7 ice storage, p=0.10), and a reduction in Primary Graft Dysfunction (PGD Grade 3) at 72 hours (16.4% LUNGguard and 10.9% ice storage, p=0.25).1

The data presented in this study suggest that patients who received lungs transported by a Paragonix LUNGguard may experience more favorable post-transplant outcomes as compared to the traditional method of storing the lungs over ice, said Dr. John Haney, US Principal Investigator of the GUARDIAN-Lung study and Surgical Director of the lung transplant program at Duke University. These results remain limited by the cohort size, but they are just the beginning of our efforts to study the effects of advanced lung preservation and optimize cold storage. We will continue to study the potential impact of Paragonix lung preservation technology in an effort to provide the most advanced care to end-stage lung failure patients on the transplant wait list.

Our goal at Paragonix is to not only improve transplant patient outcomes, but improve the transplant experience, said Dr. Lisa Anderson, CEO and President of Paragonix Technologies. The results of this study demonstrate the significant impact that advanced hypothermic preservation may have on transplant recipients. Now, over 25% of U.S. Lung Transplant Centers, as well as multiple centers across Europe, trust LUNGguard to safeguard donor organs en route to their waitlist patients. We will continue to innovate to ensure we provide the most clinically impactful technology to our surgeon community and their patients.

The Paragonix LUNGguard system is an FDA-cleared and CE-marked medical device intended to be used to transport, store, and monitor donor lungs when in transit from donor to recipient. The device uses proprietary cooling technology to monitor and regulate the temperature of the donor organ. The GUARDIAN-Lung Registry analyzes the impact of donor organ temperature on patient outcomes. For more information, visit: https://paragonixtechnologies.com.

About Paragonix Technologies

Paragonix Technologies is a leading developer, manufacturer, and service provider in the organ transplant industry, establishing a novel approach to preservation that represents a significant improvement over the traditional standard of care.

Paragonix Advanced Organ Preservation devices combine clinically-proven, stable cooling techniques with digital tracking and monitoring technologies to provide clinicians complete control and oversight throughout the donor organ journey. The clinical impact of Paragonix preservation technology is reinforced by the GUARDIAN clinical registries, the largest database of organ preservation data in the world that analyzes post-transplant outcomes in transplant recipients. For more information, visit www.paragonix.com.

Disclaimer

Comparison of Paragonix LUNGguard to Ice Storage, Paragonix data on file. GUARDIAN is a registered clinical study (NCT04930289) funded and administered by Paragonix Technologies. At the time of this analysis, GUARDIAN contained data from 3 sites on 239 patients (110 ice transports and 129 Paragonix LUNGguard transports). The data from the registry is descriptive, not statistically powered, and not pre-specified. The information should be interpreted accordingly.

Follow us on Twitter: @ParagonixSherpa

Connect with us on LinkedIn: Paragonix Technologies

Like Us on Facebook: Paragonix SherpaPak

References

1. Haney, et al. ISHLT 2023 Presentation

2. Filip, et al. ISHLT 2023 Presentation

3. Data on File, SRTR (www.srtr.org)

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Media:

Adam Lafreniere, Sr. Director, Marketing

[email protected]

L-428 Rev. 0

Source: Paragonix Technologies, Inc.
Company highlights progress and introduces new ESG goals

RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Performance Food Group Company (PFG) (NYSE: PFGC) recently released its 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report. The annual report highlights the companys progress towards its ESG goals that focus on areas important to the business and its stakeholders.

Highlights of PFGs 2022 ESG report include progress made on the companys ESG goals previously shared in the 2021 ESG report:

Its exciting to see that we furthered our progress and commitment towards achieving the ESG goals we initially shared in 2021, said Craig Hoskins, PFG President & Chief Operating Officer. We understand that our continued success as an industry leader depends on being good stewards of the environment and supporting our communities. Our ESG strategies and positive results are a significant step toward creating meaningful change and will help guide us as we make a tangible difference in the communities where we live and work.

For more details on PFGs ESG efforts and progress made toward its 2030 goals, please view the 2022 ESG Report, which is posted on the companys website under the Corporate Responsibility section of www.pfgc.com.

About Performance Food Group Company

Performance Food Group is an industry leader and one of the largest food and foodservice distribution companies in North America with more than 150 locations. Founded and headquartered in Richmond, Va., PFG, and our family of companies, market and deliver quality food and related products to 300,000+ locations including independent and chain restaurants; businesses, schools and healthcare facilities; vending and office coffee service distributors; and big box retailers, theaters and convenience stores. PFGs success as a Fortune 200 company is achieved through our more than 35,000 dedicated associates committed to building strong relationships with the valued customers, suppliers and communities we serve. To learn more about PFG, please visit www.pfgc.com.

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Investors:

Bill Marshall

VP, Investor Relations

(804) 287-8108

[email protected]

Media:

Scott Golden

Director, Communications & Engagement

(804) 484-7873

[email protected]

Source: Performance Food Group Company
PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PPG (NYSE: PPG) today held its annual meeting of shareholders where Tim Knavish, PPG president and chief executive officer, highlighted the companys performance in 2022.

We achieved record full-year net sales of approximately $17.7 billion, up 5% compared with 2021, led by an 8% increase in organic sales driven by higher selling prices, Knavish said. We exited the year with a strong balance sheet that will provide continued financial flexibility as we execute our growth strategy.

The success of our teams work throughout the year has enabled us to continue to reward our shareholders, Knavish added. In 2022, we raised our annual dividend for the 51st consecutive year and achieved our 123rd year of uninterrupted annual dividends, which places PPG in a select group of companies that have achieved these significant milestones.

Knavish also highlighted several key environmental, social and governance (ESG) actions and achievements in 2022, including:

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 13%, lowering total energy use by 8%, and decreasing waste disposal intensity by 16% from the 2017 baseline;

Submitting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets to the Science-Based Target initiative for validation; and

Investing $16.2 million globally to support nonprofits, including more than $9 million to advance education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

PPG will publish its latest all-digital ESG report in May.

Looking ahead, Knavish said: As the economic environment improves, we anticipate having increased opportunities to create additional value for our shareholders, customers and employees. Im confident that our team will deliver by focusing on cash generation, margin management and earnings growth.

At the meeting, shareholders re-elected directors Stephen F. Angel, chairman of the board of Linde plc; Hugh Grant, retired chairman of the board and CEO of Monsanto Company; Melanie L. Healey, former group president North America of the Procter & Gamble Company; and Guillermo Novo, chairman and CEO or Ashland Inc., in addition to Knavish.

Shareholders also approved the compensation of the named executive officers and chose one year as the frequency of future advisory votes on executive compensation. They also ratified PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the companys independent registered public accounting firm for 2023. Shareholders voted against a proposal to adopt a policy requiring an independent board chair.

To learn more about PPGs progress in 2022, visit annualreport.ppg.com/

PPG: WE PROTECT AND BEAUTIFY THE WORLD

At PPG (NYSE: PPG), we work every day to develop and deliver the paints, coatings and specialty materials that our customers have trusted for 140 years. Through dedication and creativity, we solve our customers biggest challenges, collaborating closely to find the right path forward. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, we operate and innovate in more than 70 countries and reported net sales of $17.7 billion in 2022. We serve customers in construction, consumer products, industrial and transportation markets and aftermarkets. To learn more, visit www.ppg.com.

The PPG Logo and We protect and beautify the world are registered trademarks of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.

CATEGORY Corporate

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Media Contact:

Mark Silvey

Corporate Communications

+1 412 434 3046

[email protected]

www.ppg.com

Investor Contact:

John Bruno

Investor Relations

+1 412 434 3466

[email protected]

investor.ppg.com

Source: PPG
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRO), the CFOs best-kept secret for profitable growth, today announced that it will host an Analyst Day at its annual user conference, Outperform 2023.

The Analyst Day event will be hosted in-person at the Hyatt Regency in Denver, CO on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 from 1:30 p.m. MT to 3:30 p.m. MT. The Analyst Day event will feature a panel of PROS customers, an executive management team presentation and live Q&A.

Investors and financial analysts may register to attend the Analyst Day event in-person on the Outperform website. PROS is also offering a discounted Outperform conference registration rate of $395 for anyone in the investor community who wishes to attend conference sessions and events apart from the Analyst Day event.

PROS Outperform 2023 is one of the preeminent AI conferences in the world. Starting on May 22, 2023, the 2023 conference kicks off three days of immersive sessions, in-depth thought leadership and strategies to drive AI-powered profitable growth in todays unpredictable markets.

To attend the live Analyst Day event virtually, please pre-register here. Following the event, an archived webcast replay will be available on the companys website for those unable to attend.

About PROS

PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRO) is your companys best-kept secret for profitable growth. Viewed as a market-leader by both Gartner and IDC for its CPQ and price optimization capabilities, PROS advanced AI delivers results to the worlds top brands, including Cargill, Etihad, Honeywell, HP, Lenovo, Lufthansa, Siemens and more. With more than 30 million AI models, PROS award-winning AI is the driving force in processing more than 2 trillion transactions per year. PROS customers report up to 96% efficiency gain, up to 5% margin improvement and up to 20% revenue lift, according to a recent ROI study. To learn more, visit www.pros.com.

Forward-looking Statements

During the course of this event, PROS will make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company, including statements about the functionality and benefits of AI-powered solutions to organizations generally as well as the functionality and benefits of PROS software products. The forward-looking statements made at this event are based upon PROS historical experience with AI-powered solutions and its current expectations of the benefits of AI-powered solutions for organizations that implement and utilize such software. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described herein include the addressability of an organizations AI-powered solution needs, the risks associated with PROS developing and enhancing products with the functionality necessary to deliver the stated results and the risks associated with the complex implementation and maintenance of AI-powered solutions such as PROS software products. Additional information relating to the uncertainty affecting the PROS business is contained in PROS filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements represent PROS expectations as of the date of this press release. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change, and PROS disclaims any obligations to update or alter these forward-looking statements in the future whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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PROS Investor Relations

Belinda Overdeput

713-335-5879

[email protected]

Source: PROS Holdings, Inc.
Company raising and sponsoring Cooper, a future service dog, as part of the Puppy with a Purpose program

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) announced today that is has joined the Puppy with a Purpose program, in collaboration with Americas VetDogs, to help a puppy become a future service dog for a veteran or first responder with a disability.

We are proud to participate in the Puppy with a Purpose program, as part of our commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of people in the disabilities community and their caregivers, said Kevin Silva, executive vice president and chief human resources officer. This is part of Voyas strong belief in giving back to our communities.

John Albanese, vice president of corporate security and investigations at Voya Financial and a Marine Corps veteran, will spend approximately the next 12 months raising the Voya puppy to prepare him for the next steps of his training. Cooper will learn additional tasks that are helpful to a person with a disability. Voya is covering costs associated with the raising of the puppy as he begins his journey to become a future service dog.

As a veteran myself, I knew this was a unique chance to make a difference in someones life, said Albanese. Voya encourages employees to give back to causes we care about and offers the support to do so  thats what makes Voya a different kind of company.

Americas VetDogs and its sister organization, The Guide Dog Foundation, specialize in placing highly skilled service and guide dogs to individuals with physical injuries, PTSD, hearing and vision loss, and seizures. All services are provided at no cost. Sully, President George H. W. Bushs former service dog, who is currently working as part of Walter Reed National Military Medical Centers Facility Dog Program, was raised, trained and placed by Americas VetDogs. Cooper joins other high-profile service dogs, including the Washington Capitals Biscuit, Atlanta Uniteds King, WBALs Tucker, Houston Texans Kirby, New York Islanders Monte and the New York Mets Shea.

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), is a leading health, wealth and investment company with 7,200 employees who are focused on achieving Voyas aspirational vision: Clearing your path to financial confidence and a more fulfilling life. Through products, solutions and technologies, Voya helps its 14.7 million individual, workplace and institutional clients become well planned, well invested and well protected. Benefitfocus, a newly joined Voya company, extends the reach of Voyas workplace benefits and savings offerings by providing benefits administration capabilities to 16.5 million individual subscription employees across employer and health plan clients. Certified as a Great Place to Work by the Great Place to Work Institute, Voya is purpose-driven and equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible. Voya has earned recognition as: one of the Worlds Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute; a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index; and a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion on the Disability Equality Index. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @Voya.

About Americas VetDogs

Since 2003, Americas VetDogs (www.VetDogs.org) has trained and placed guide and service dogs to provide independence, enhanced mobility, and companionship to veterans with disabilities from all eras. In 2015, VetDogs opened its programs to first responders, including fire, police, and emergency medical personnel. America's VetDogs is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded by the Guide Dog Foundation and serves clients from across the United States. VetDogs relies on contributions from generous individuals, corporations, service clubs, and foundations to fund its mission to help those who have served our country live with dignity and independence. It costs over $50,000 to breed, raise, train, and place one assistance dog, but Americas VetDogs provides its services completely free of charge to the individual. Americas VetDogs has been accredited by both the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International.

VOYA-CR

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Media:

Mary Beth Conklin

Voya Financial

Phone: (423) 596-1449

[email protected]

Isabela Jacobsen

Voya Financial

Cell: 860-5101921

[email protected]

Source: Voya Financial, Inc.
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland registered steady growth in the first three months of the year, indicating the world's second-largest economy remained a popular destination for global investors.

The FDI inflow, in actual use, expanded 4.9 percent year on year to 408.45 billion yuan (about 59.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March period, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

More than 10,000 new foreign-invested companies were established in this period, a 25.5-percent increase year on year.

In terms of sector-wise figures, FDI in the high-tech industries increased by 18 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the ministry.

Specifically, the electronic and telecom equipment manufacturing sector saw FDI surge by 55.7 percent.

FDI in services related to research and development (R&D) and design expanded by 24.6 percent, while that in pharmaceutics rose by 20.2 percent.

There has been continued improvement in terms of the quality and structure of FDI in China, said ministry spokesperson Shu Jueting. She attributed the improvement to the establishment of foreign-funded R&D centers, the efforts to attract investment in manufacturing, and the country's new industry catalog to encourage foreign investment.

During the January-March period, investment from France and Germany surged by 635.5 percent and 60.8 percent year on year, respectively. FDI from the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the Republic of Korea also recorded stellar growth.

FDI from countries along the Belt and Road saw a 27.8-percent increase during these months, according to the ministry.

China has rolled out multiple measures to open up wider to the world. One of the fresh moves came on Wednesday, as the country vowed to appropriately shorten the negative list for foreign investment.

To this end, efforts have been made to evaluate the effect of the list over the past few years and learn about the demands of foreign-invested enterprises, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Earlier this month, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said that China welcomes more multinational companies to tap into the Chinese market, expand their investment and grow along with China's economic development. 
WEIFANG, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Crowds of people from all over the world gathered in Weifang city  located in East China's Shandong province  to gaze up into the heavens one bright April day.

High above them, hundreds of kites were hurtling through the sky as the 40th Weifang International Kite Festival took flight on April 15.

The city of Weifang boasts a rich history of kite-making and is widely known as the world's kite capital.

It's played host to the kite festival from its inception in 1984 and since then, the kite industry in Weifang has grown at a rapid pace, playing an increasingly important role in both the city's commercial and cultural development.

By the end of 2022, there were more than 600 kite enterprises in Weifang, with over 80,000 people engaged in the sector. The annual sales generated by kite making have exceeded 2 billion yuan ($291 million), with various types of kite products exported to more than 50 countries and regions worldwide  including Europe, the US and Southeast Asia.

In fact, Weifang's kite industry holds a dominant position in the Chinese market, with a more than 80 percent market share and a more than 85 percent market share of the international market.

Wangjiazhuangzi village, the largest kite processing export base in Weifang, has become a hub for the kite industry, boasting a complete supply chain.

The village has not only promoted the development of upstream and downstream companies such as those producing kite bones and kite strings, but has also driven the growth of related industries such as bamboo weaving and printing.

Currently, Wangjiazhuangzi has over 20 bamboo-weaving enterprises, more than 10 processing enterprises for kite bamboo and wood and three kite paper-printing enterprises.

This has led to a powerful boost in the local economy, with e-commerce platforms further enhancing the sale of kite products. More than half the kites produced in the village are sold on e-commerce platforms, with daily sales reaching a staggering 200,000 units at most.

In order to continue promoting the kite industry, plans are underway to build a kite culture creative industry park that integrates research and development, e-commerce incubations, live-streaming sales, logistics and rural tourism.

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Weifang Municipal Publicity Department

Anita Liu

[email protected]

Source: Weifang Municipal Publicity Department
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today the White House announced that the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is working to assess potential financing of $50 million to help mobilize $1 billion for the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Groups (TIG) Latin American reforestation strategy. The announcement was made by President Biden during the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change, when he outlined a number of actions to rapidly scale forest protection and restoration to help address climate change.

TIG is a U.S. subsidiary of BTG Pactual, a publicly traded investment bank headquartered in Brazil with a market capitalization of approximately US$ 20 billion. TIG's reforestation strategy aims to protect and restore nearly 300,000 hectares (approximately 700,000 acres) of natural forests in deforested landscapes in Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile; plant hundreds of millions of trees in sustainably managed, independently certified commercial forests; improve biodiversity; and support inclusive and equitable community development. The strategy aims to generate an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon sequestration over 15 years.

Gerrity Lansing, Head of TIG said, "We are thrilled that DFC sees the value of TIG's restoration and reforestation strategy, where we are seeking to deliver benefits for climate, rural development and biodiversity. We applaud the governments of Brazil and the United States for their leadership at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change, and their recognition of the critical importance of large-scale climate solutions like forest protection, restoration and sustainable management, in addressing the climate crisis.

Global environmental non-profit Conservation International is serving as Impact Advisor for the strategy to help TIG achieve additional positive environmental, climate, and social impacts.

Mauricio Bianco, Vice President of Conservation International Brazil, said, Protecting nature -- and at the same time, having positive socioeconomic impacts -- are critical for a climate safe future. Initiatives like this one help chart a new path to a sustainable economy that does just that, all while providing a host of additional benefits to local communities and biodiversity. We are very pleased to collaborate with TIG to help the strategy deliver its mission for positive impact.

TIG has already invested in nearly 24,000 hectares (approximately 60,000 acres) of previously deforested land in Brazil  an area 35% larger than the District of Columbia  for conservation, restoration, and sustainable management under this strategy.

Mark Wishnie, TIGs Chief Sustainability Officer, said, DFC support would expand opportunities to protect important biodiversity values in restored natural forests, while also supporting sustainably managed working forests. Through investments made under this strategy, we intend to demonstrate the contribution the forest sector can make to sustainable, climate-smart economic growth. We are excited to work with both our public and private sector partners to deliver real impact and innovation.

In 2021, TIG was a founding member of the Forest Investor Club, launched by John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, at COP26 in Glasgow, UK. The initiative is a network of public and private financial institutions committed to accelerating the pace, increasing the scale, and expanding the scope of investments in restoration, conservation, sustainable forestry and green infrastructure.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005986/en/

Rodrigo Bandeira

Head of Relationship Management and Product Development

[email protected]

Source: BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group
Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX) today announced that on April 12, 2023, it signed a term loan facility with Danish Ship Finance A/S for up to US$100 million with maturity date in April 2028. Yesterday, it concluded the drawdown of US$100 million, secured by nine vessels. The proceeds from the loan facility refinanced other loan facilities with an aggregate outstanding amount of approximately US$87 million, namely two existing loan facilities with BNP Paribas of approximately US$75.2 million (maturity dates in July 2023 and in May 2024) and another loan facility with DNB Bank ASA of approximately US$11.8 million (maturity date in March 2024) related to the same nine vessels. The remaining proceeds may be used to pay transaction costs and expenses incurred in connection with the loan agreement and/or general corporate purposes.

Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet currently consists of 42 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 10 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 6 Kamsarmax, 7 Panamax and 10 Ultramax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet, is approximately 4.7 million dwt with a weighted average age of 10.0 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release.

About the Company

Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on short to medium-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including impacts of the pandemic and of businesses and governments responses to the pandemic on our operations, personnel, and on the demand for seaborne transportation of bulk products; the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, including risks associated with the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and related sanctions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Corporate Contact:

Ioannis Zafirakis

Director, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer and Secretary

Telephone: + 30-210-9470-100

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.dianashippinginc.com

Twitter: @Dianaship



Investor and Media Relations:

Edward Nebb

Comm-Counsellors, LLC

Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350

Email: [email protected]

Source: Diana Shipping Inc. c/o Diana Shipping Services S.A.
American automaker, Ford (NYSE: F) announced Thursday that the company will be launching its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck in Norway as it hopes to tap into high demand for electric vehicles globally.

In response to "overwhelming public demand" from Norwegian consumers, the F-150 Lightning will reach the country in 2024 as a special Lariat Launch Edition model. Customers in Norway, the worlds most progressive market for EV adoption, are the first outside of the US and Canada able to apply to purchase a strictly limited number of special F150 Lightning models.

In my 25 years at Ford, Ive never seen anything like the passion and demand Im seeing from drivers right now to get behind the wheel of our F-150 Lightning. Ive had customers literally banging on my door and pleading for us to bring the electric pickup to Norway, said Per Gunnar Berg, managing director, Ford Norway. F-150 Lightning is the perfect match for many customers in Norway  uniquely capable of quenching our thirst for adventure while embracing our passion for protecting the environment.

Ford last month also unveiled the new all-electric Explorer medium crossover for customers in Europe, one of ten electric vehicles the company is introducing by 2024 including the Mustang Mach-E, for which customers in Norway account for 22 per cent of European sales.

Ford is pushing the boundaries of electric vehicles like only we can, said Martin Sander, general manager, Ford Model e, Europe. Rugged and capable like the F-Series models that have topped the sales charts for decades, but injected with technologies of the future, F-150 Lightning is the smartest F-150 weve ever made and the perfect demonstration of how going all-in on electric is helping our vehicles become more Ford than ever before.

Shares of F are down 4.66% in early trading on Thursday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA announced today a 4.5million investment in a nationwide electric charging infrastructure, which will provide charging points for electric delivery vehicles across the country to enable more emissions-free deliveries.

The EV infrastructure forms part of IKEAs ongoing transformation to become even more affordable, accessible, and sustainable as it aims to reach 100% zero emission deliveries to customers by 2025.

The investment marks one of the biggest EV charging infrastructure projects for last mile fleets in the UK and will see IKEA install 196 chargers, 53 of which will be rapid. The chargers will be located at IKEA stores across the country, as well as the new Dartford customer distribution centre due to open in spring 2023.

This move is essential to the furniture retailers goal to continue expanding the electric vehicle fleets being used to deliver to customers homes.

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at IKEA, and we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the planet while supporting our customers to live more sustainable lives at home. Said Jakob Bertilsson, Country Customer Fulfilment Manager at IKEA UK & Ireland.

Investing in this infrastructure of nationwide charging points is a fundamental step in our ambition to reach 100% zero emissions customer deliveries from all IKEA stores and distribution centers by 2025, as well as supporting our ambition to become a climate positive business by 2030.

Transport Decarbonisation Minister Jesse Norman said It is great to see IKEA investing heavily in EV chargepoints and decarbonising its vehicle fleet.

This investment is the latest example of businesses and government working together to decarbonise all aspects of road transport, improve air quality and create healthier, buzzing communities."

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
XPO (NYSE: XPO), a leading provider of less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation, today announced that Dave Bates is joining the company as chief operating officer, North American LTL, effective April 21, 2023.

Mario Harik, chief executive officer of XPO, said, Dave is a high-impact executive with a strong track record of driving excellence in all aspects of LTL operations. Were delighted that hell be leading our operations in creating ongoing value for our customers and investors.

Bates joins XPO from 27 years with Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., where he was responsible for all day-to-day operations in North America for the last 12 years as senior vice president, operations. He started his career with roles at Carolina Freight Carriers and Roadway Express.
By Hyunjoo Jin and Akash Sriram

(Reuters) - Elon Musk is counting on full-self driving and other new technologies and vehicles at Tesla Inc to provide the "wow factor" that will continue to drive the electric carmaker's value far beyond its automotive rivals.

Some analysts and investors worry that Tesla's industry-leading market valuation is threatened by factors including price cuts that have undermined its margins, delays in rolling out new models and revisions to its full self-driving (FSD) software.

"Tesla faces an increasingly uphill battle to secure its competitive position, which makes its current valuation look even more unrealistic," said David Trainer, CEO of investment research firm New Constructs. "The Tesla bull case has centered around the company's growth goals, which it is failing to meet."

Tesla's stock, which dropped 9.75% to $162.99 on Thursday, is valued at about 43 times expected earnings, down from astronomical levels above 200 times in 2021, according to Refinitiv data. Even after that drop, the company's valuation remains several times higher than the multiples of legacy carmakers, with Ford Motor Co trading at about 8 times expected earnings and General Motors Co trading at under 6.

Graphic: Tesla's forward PE remains far below previous levels - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zgpobzwkyvd/Pasted%20image%201682006757952.png

Tesla on Wednesday doubled down on the price war it started at the end of last year, as Musk said the company would prioritize sales growth ahead of profit. In the first quarter, Tesla posted its lowest quarterly gross profit margin in two years.

"The market wants to see that Tesla management has a tangible plan to boost automotive gross margins and companywide operating profit margins over the coming quarters and in the next year or so," said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein. "I also think the market wants to see a growth plan that does not involve continuous price cuts."

Musk brushed aside those fears on Wednesday, saying the company this year would likely achieve full self driving and that would be a big profit generator. Musk has missed his previous targets to achieve self-driving capability, dating back years.

Tesla now sells the FSD software, which does not make the vehicle autonomous, for $15,000. That is almost a third of the roughly $47,000 current starting price of the base Model Y in the United States.

"We're the only ones making cars that technically, we could sell for zero profit for now and then yield actually tremendous economics in the future through autonomy," he told analysts on a conference call on Wednesday. "I'm not sure how many people will appreciate the profundity of what I've just said, but it is extremely significant."

GOLD STANDARD

Skeptics remain over how soon Tesla will launch FSD.

"This is a bit like the boy who cried wolf, except in our story the wolf would be a good thing that never seems to come," said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who closely follows the development of advanced vehicle technologies.

"It's not clear to me how that timetable in any way is consistent with the evidence we have seen," he added, describing the current version of FSD as "highly imperfect."

Other key products expected from Tesla include the Cybertruck pickup later this year, as well as a lower-cost car that is expected in late 2024 or early 2025. Longer-term, Tesla believes robots could be a bigger profit generator than EVs.

Star stock picker Cathie Wood's Ark Invest on Thursday predicted Tesla's shares would reach $2,000 by 2027, driven up over 1,100% from current levels by Musk's plan to launch a fleet of robotaxis. Tesla is the Ark Innovation ETF's top holding, and the investment firm's previous Tesla predictions have raised eyebrows among many investors.

Evangelos Simoudis, a technology adviser, author and investor, believes Tesla may have an even bigger opportunity in energy generation and storage with its solar panels and Powerwall battery systems.

Not only is Tesla viewed as the gold standard in the auto sector, but many see it as more of a tech stock. Canaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas compared Tesla favorably to such tech stocks as Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc.

If you look at the growth rates for Tesla versus those companies, Tesla is growing its revenue significantly more than their EBITDA, and so we feel like it's incredibly compelling relative to those companies because you're paying not only a lower PE but also you get better growth, said Gianarikas.

Ultimately, some industry observers feel investors are betting more on the man than the models.

"You're not investing in Tesla. You're investing in Elon Musk," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer of Bokeh Capital Partners.

For true believers in Musk and Tesla, their faith will remain intact even if FSD is not launched this year, said Will Rhind, CEO of GraniteShares, an asset manager in New York that offers exchange-traded funds (ETFs) allowing investors to bet either long or short on Tesla stock.

"Potentially it never happens that the retail investor gives up the ghost," he said.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru, Paul Lienert and Ben Klayman in Detroit and Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Decatur, Alabama, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Daikin Americas Japanese celebration returns for the 26th year next month bringing with it a night of family-friendly fun and an incredible cultural experience for the city of Decatur. The Daikin Festival offers festivalgoers of all ages an opportunity to experience Japanese culture through live music, games, exhibits and Asian-inspired food. The free event is set for Friday, May 5, 2023, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Point Mallard Park in Decatur.

This year the Daikin Festival will highlight favorite happenings from previous years plus new activities. Guests without a Happi coat will be about to receive one at the festival for free while supplies last. Everyone who already owns a Happi Coat is encouraged to wear his or hers to the festival and participate in the festival in traditional Japanese style.

A favorite year after year is the performance by the Daikin Taiko Drum Team. There will be an exciting musical performance by the Natchez Trace Band and traditional Japanese folk music, in which everyone is encouraged to participate.

Along with traditional festival food such as chicken fingers, barbeque sandwiches, pizza, ice cream and soft drinks, festivalgoers are treated to Cajun jambalaya and Japanese Yakisoba, a stir-fried mix of noodles, cabbage, carrots and beef. A new Japanese sweet treat that will be featured at this year's festival is Daifukumochi. All food and drinks are free of charge.

There will be a kids zone with inflatables, face painting and fun games with prizes. There will be door prizes given away throughout the evening, with an exciting grand prize given away at 8:45 p.m. To register for the door prizes guests will scan a QR code with their phone, enter their name and phone number and submit. QR codes will be placed throughout the festival area. Winners must be present to receive prizes. The festivities conclude with a fireworks display by PYRO SHOWS at the end of the evening.

Festivalgoers also have the opportunity to learn more about Daikin America from various displays and exhibits. Other displays include information on the Daikin Homestay Program, a program where area students and teachers travel to Japan for a ten-day stay in the homes of Daikin employees.

For safety and security purposes, no bags, backpacks, large purses, wagons or strollers, or drones will be allowed at the event.

For more information on the Daikin Festival, contact Sabian Russel at 256.306.5000.

About Daikin America, Inc.

Daikin America is a leading global supplier of PTFE Molding and Fine Powders and Dispersions. Daikin also specializes in FEP, PFA, ETFE, PCTFE, EFEP, Fluoroelastomers and Unidyne oil and water repellents. Daikin also is home of one of the largest solar power installations in Alabama. Daikin is committed to good corporate citizenship, providing new employment opportunities at its various sites. For more information, visit www.daikin-america.com.

About Decatur Morgan County Tourism

Decatur Morgan County Tourism is a not-for-profit organization promoting tourism and economic growth in Morgan County. Travel-related expenditures for Morgan County in 2020 exceeded $239 million and state lodging taxes collected reached nearly $1.2 million. The tourism and travel industry within Decatur and Morgan County provided 2,557 direct and indirect jobs for local residents and total travel-related earnings exceeded $62 million. For information on special events and attractions in Decatur and Morgan County, call 800.524.6181 or 256.350.2028; or visit http://www.visitdecatural.org.

Danielle Gibson Decatur Morgan County Tourism 256-350-2028 [email protected]

Source: Decatur Morgan County Tourism
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (the Company or Algernon) (CSE: AGN) (FRANKFURT: AGW0) (OTCQB: AGNPF), a clinical stage pharmaceutical development company, is reminding its shareholders of the details of its previously announced rights offering as well as the cut off date and time for the exercise of those rights.

On March 21, 2023, Algernon announced it was undertaking a rights offering to raise gross proceeds of approximately $2,416,747 (the Rights Offering). The Company has offered 9,666,988 rights (the Rights) to holders (the Shareholders) of its Class A common shares (the Shares) as of the close of business on the record date of March 29, 2023 (the Record Date) on the basis of one (1) Right for each one (1) Share held. Each one (1) Right will entitle the holder to subscribe for one unit (a Unit) at the subscription price of $0.25 per Unit.

The Rights are trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the CSE) under the symbol AGN.RT and will trade until 9:00 a.m. (Pacific time) on or about April 27, 2023. The Rights will expire at 2:00 p.m. (the Expiry Time) on April 27, 2023 (the Expiry Date), after which time unexercised Rights will be void and of no value.

It is important to note that many intermediaries may have different cut off times prior to the Expiry Date and Expiry Time. As such, the Company recommends that all eligible shareholders who own their Shares through an intermediary contact their broker or financial advisor about the Rights Offering to ensure that they can participate by the intermediarys cut off time for subscriptions.

If any Shareholder has not received the Notice and the Rights DRS advice/subscription or if you have questions about the Rights Offering, please contact:

Mr. James KinleyCFOAlgernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.[email protected]

Additional Information

Each Unit will consist of one Share and one Share purchase warrant (a Warrant), with each Warrant being exercisable for one Share at the exercise price of $0.52 for a period of 18 months after the date of issue of the Warrants, subject to acceleration to a date that is not less than 30 days following delivery of an acceleration notice to the holders of the Warrants if the volume weighted average price of the Shares for each of the ten consecutive trading days on the CSE exceeds $1.04. Pricing of the Rights Offering is mandated by applicable Canadian securities law and the policies of the CSE which require the Company to offer existing Shareholders a significant discount to purchase new securities in order to provide a meaningful incentive to Shareholders to participate in the Rights Offering. Upon completion of the Rights Offering and assuming all Rights are exercised, the Company will have 19,333,976 Shares outstanding, of which the Shares issued under the Rights Offering represent 50%, assuming no Warrants issued pursuant to the Rights Offering are exercised.

Shareholders who fully exercise their Rights under the basic subscription privilege will be entitled to subscribe for additional Units, if available, as a result of unexercised Rights prior to the Expiry Time on the Expiry Date, subject to certain limitations as set out in the Companys Rights Offering circular dated March 21, 2023 (the Circular), filed on SEDAR under Algernons profile at www.sedar.com, along with the Notice of Rights Offering on form 45-106F14 (the Notice). The Notice and the Rights DRS advice/subscription were mailed to Shareholders in the Eligible Jurisdictions as of the Record Date on or about April 5, 2023. The Company expects to close the Rights Offering on or before May 3, 2023.

The Rights were offered to Shareholders resident in all provinces and territories of Canada (the Eligible Jurisdictions).

Registered Shareholders in the Eligible Jurisdictions who wish to exercise their Rights must forward the completed subscription form, together with the applicable funds, to the rights agent, TSX Trust Company (the Rights Agent), on or before the Expiry Time on the Expiry Date. Shareholders who own their Shares through an intermediary, such as a bank, trust company, securities dealer, or broker, will receive materials and instructions from their intermediary.

Subject to the detailed provisions of the Circular, Rights certificates or DRS advises and subscription forms were not mailed to Shareholders resident outside of the Eligible Jurisdictions, unless such Shareholders are able to establish to the satisfaction of the Company that they are eligible to participate in the Rights Offering, and provide such evidence to the Company and the Rights Agent by April 20, 2023. After April 20, 2023, the Rights Agent will attempt, on a commercially reasonable basis, to sell the Rights of ineligible Shareholders (other than those Shareholders from whom the Company accepts subscriptions) over the facilities of the CSE. The Rights Agent will mail cheques representing the net proceeds, without interest, from such sales, to such ineligible Shareholders. The Company believes that its directors and senior officers who own Shares intend to exercise the majority of their Rights to purchase Units under their basic subscription privilege; however, the number of approximate Rights that will exercised by directors and senior officers cannot be ascertained as at this date.

AlphaNorth Asset Management an insider (as such term is defined under applicable securities laws) and holder of greater than 10% of the issued and outstanding Shares of the Company, has advised the Company that it intends to exercise, subject to relevant restrictions, its basic subscription privilege to acquire 1,268,040 Units for total gross proceeds to the Company of $317,010.

The Company has also entered into an agreement with Research Capital Corporation (RCC or the Soliciting Dealer) pursuant to which RCC was appointed as the exclusive soliciting dealer for and on behalf of the Company on a commercially reasonable efforts basis. RCC will also have the right, but not the obligation, to purchase Units for which subscriptions have not been received by the Expiry Time on the Expiry Date (the Top-up Right). RCC will receive a commission of five percent of the gross proceeds of the Rights Offering, excluding those Rights exercised by Shareholders on the presidents list (the Presidents List) for which a commission of two percent will be paid to a maximum of 25% of the gross proceeds of the Rights Offering. RCC will also receive that number of Soliciting Dealer warrants (the Soliciting Dealer Warrants) equal to five percent of the Units subscribed for under the Rights Offering, excluding those Units subscribed for by Shareholders on the Presidents List for which they will receive two percent in Soliciting Dealer Warrants and those Units resulting from the exercise of the Top-up Right. Additionally, the Soliciting Dealer will receive that number of Soliciting Dealer Warrants equal to eight percent of the Units issued under the exercise of the Top-up Right. Each Soliciting Dealer Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Unit at the Unit subscription price, for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance. The Company will also pay to RCC a corporate finance fee of $20,000 plus tax.

The proceeds of the Rights Offering are expected to be used for working capital and general corporate purposes and administrative expenses.

The Rights and the underlying Shares and Warrants, and the Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants, have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or the any U.S. state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities within the United States, and the securities may not be offered or sold in the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of any person in the United States or any U.S. person, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws, or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements described in the Circular. There shall be no offer or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful absent registration or qualification of such securities under the laws of any such jurisdiction. In addition, Warrants may not be exercised by, or for the account of benefit of, any person in the United States or any U.S. person absent an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. United States and U.S. person are as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.

About Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Algernon Pharmaceuticals is a Canadian clinical stage drug development and repurposing company investigating multiple drugs for unmet global medical needs. Algernon Pharmaceuticals has active research programs for IPF with chronic cough, and chronic kidney disease, and is the parent company of a newly created private subsidiary called Algernon NeuroScience, that is advancing a psychedelic program investigating a proprietary form of DMT for stroke and traumatic brain injury.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Christopher J. MoreauCEOAlgernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.604.398.4175 ext 701[email protected] [email protected] www.algernonpharmaceuticals.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMER STATEMENT: No Securities Exchange has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Rights Offering, closing of the Rights Offering and use of proceeds from the Rights Offering and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as will, may, should, anticipate, expects and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions of the relevant securities exchange(s) and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.

Source: Algernon Pharmaceuticals
SANTIAGO, Chile, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BANCO ITAU CHILE (NYSE: ITCB; SSE: ITAUCORP) announced that it filed today a Material Event Notice with the Chilean Commission for the Financial Market reporting that in the Annual General Shareholders Meeting of Banco Itau Chile (the Bank) held today, shareholders agreed on the matters included in the Material Event.

The full Material Event Notice is available on the companys investor relations website at ir.itau.cl.

Investor Relations  Itau Chile

+56 (2) 2660-1701 / [email protected] / ir.itau.cl

Source: Banco Itau Chile
A medical worker administers medication to malaria patients in Baringo County, Kenya, Oct. 5, 2017. (Xinhua/Allan Mutiso)

Kenya's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced new strategies that harness sustained funding and innovations in order to eliminate malaria by 2030.

NAIROBI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced new strategies that harness sustained funding and innovations in order to eliminate malaria by 2030.

Josephine Mburu, principal secretary in the Ministry of Health, said that by implementing high-impact interventions such as domestic financing and novel innovations, the country is likely to achieve zero malaria status in the next seven years.

"The Ministry of Health plans to use innovative tools such as the use of drones in larval source management in lake endemic zones," Mburu remarked at a briefing in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, ahead of World Malaria Day which falls on April 25.

She revealed that Kenya plans to distribute 18.3 million long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) in 28 targeted counties next year.

A shopkeeper displays available malaria drugs at a chemist in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Oct. 15, 2015. (Xinhua/Nyalwash)

The Kenyan official also said that the government aims to ensure households in malaria-risk areas have one net for every two members as a way to reduce the burden of malaria in the country.

Mburu added that Kenya is continuing to provide prompt malaria diagnosis and treatment through microscopy and the use of quality-assured malaria rapid diagnostic test kits and medicines.

She disclosed that the End Malaria Council Kenya has mobilized 1 million U.S. dollars toward the fight against malaria as part of domestic funding since external funding is either stagnating or declining in an environment of increasing needs.

Abdourahmane Diallo, the World Health Organization (WHO) country representative in Kenya, lauded the government for making significant progress in the fight against malaria.

Abdourahmane Diallo, WHO Country Representative in Kenya, makes his remarks during the launch of Malaria Behavior Survey 2022 in Nairobi on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Charles Onyango/Xinhua)

Diallo commended Kenya's effort in reducing the malaria burden from 8 percent to 6 percent in 2020, the mass distribution of 16 million mosquito nets during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, and the development of malaria rapid diagnostic tests.

He said that interventions that include the establishment of the End Malaria Council and Fund to mobilize resources for malaria elimination have helped avert deaths caused by the tropical disease.

Diallo noted that 82 percent of cases of malaria and 95 percent of deaths as a result of the disease were averted in Africa in 2022, adding that the east and southern Africa region has the highest prevalence of exposure to malaria during pregnancy at 41 percent.

He stressed that more efforts are needed to manage the emergence of an invasive malaria mosquito vector that was discovered in the northern Kenyan arid counties of Marsabit and Turkana. 
In addition to Brooks, four other luminaries will receive honorary degrees from the University

Washington, D.C., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Catholic University of America announced today New York Times bestselling author, columnist at The Atlantic, Ph.D. social scientist, and happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks will be the keynote speaker at its 2023 Commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

Too often our society sees the glass half-empty, looking largely at the negative. But Arthur Brooks is different: while a realist, he sees the world as a place where people can find purpose, happiness, and joy throughout their lives, said Peter K. Kilpatrick, president of The Catholic University of America. His messages of searching for the good in all things and all people and life are words that our new graduates will surely want to hear.

With a focus on helping people and organizations find meaning and happiness in their lives and work, Brooks - who has a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School - has carved out a place in academia and popular culture that resonates with audiences of all stages of life. His latest book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, was a number one New York Times Best Sellers and he has made numerous media appearances including Good Morning America, Oprah Daily, and The Jon Stewart Show and was featured in the film The Pursuit. He is also author of the book Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt, and a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular weekly How to Build a Life column.

In addition to his writing, Brooks is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship.

The Catholic University of America is an institution dedicated to teaching the truth and encouraging its students to think deeply about the challenges facing their communities, our country, and the world, said Brooks. My hope is that as these newly minted graduates go on with their lives, they will use their degrees in ways that help people and society overcome the negative winds that often push against them.

The University expects to bestow more than 1300 degrees. The Commencement ceremony will be held on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It will be live streamed and recorded. More information about the program can be found here.

In addition to Brooks receiving an honorary doctorate from the University, these four individuals will also receive honorary doctoral degrees:

Thaddeus F. Aubry, B.A. 1966, Founding Director, Partnership Program

Aubry has dedicated his life to service and education of at-risk youth, as well as studying the most effective methods of intervention. He chose this path almost immediately after graduating in 1966 from The Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature.

Aubry has taught several college and university courses, including: American Black History (Goucher College), American Studies (George Washington University,.), Survey of Black American Literature and Development of Slavery in the United States (The Catholic University of American.). Mr. Aubry taught this course with Sister Thea Bowman, who is now a candidate for sainthood.

Marguerite (Peg) Harmon, Director, Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona

Harmon is the former CEO of the Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona (CCS), where she has served for over 45 years. She began her career with CCS as an intern in the Community Outreach Program for the Deaf, eventually becoming the program director in 1977. By 1980, the program had become its own agency within CCS, and Harmon was its executive director. In January 2011, Harmon received the CCUSA Keep the Dream Alive Award, which honors individuals who inspire the nation to keep the dream of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. alive through their work.

Harmons personal contributions to CCS have been immeasurable. Her gifts of kindness, sincerity, warmth and vision have inspired and uplifted employees, volunteers, and clients alike. Her faith and love for Jesus Christ have guided every task and project she has led. Harmons leadership and dedication have been recognized by many, including the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc, where she served on the national board and the Governors Arizona Serves Commission and is a member of the Regional Council of Arizona First Things First.

Leon A. LeBuffe, B.A. 1966, Ph.D. 1974, Co-Founder, Partnership Program

Within just a few years of graduating from The Catholic University of America in 1966 with a B.A. degree, cum laude, LeBuffe was appointed as Assistant Dean for Special Projects (Partnership). In this role, Dr. LeBuffe helped create an outreach and scholarship program aimed at local African American high school seniors who may not have been able to attend college. In fact, most, if not all, of these students were the first generation of their families to ever attend college. The Partnership Program, as it was named, has continued with various form changes for 50 years, and has accepted hundreds of scholars.

LeBuffe later served as Dean, Director and Professor of History at Gallaudet University, the national liberal arts university for the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington D.C. He initiated the first summer programs and grew them to 10,000 enrolled students. He created award-winning family education and support programs that attracted 1,100 families.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, B.A. 1997, Journalist

Lopez is a nationally syndicated columnist and award winning opinion journalist. As a Philosophy and Politics alumna from The Catholic University of America, Ms. Lopez has used her journalistic skills to write about various topics, including bioethics, religion, feminism, education and politics.

She is currently a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, where she heads the Center for Religion, Culture and Civil Society, and is an editor-at-large of the National Review magazine. She is a media fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute and is a published author of A Year with the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living. Lopez is currently serving as the chair of Cardinal Dolans Pro-Life Commission in New York, where she hosts many conversations on life - including foster care and adoption. She is also a fellow at The Catholic University of Americas Institute for Human Ecology.

Media contact: Daniel F. Drummond, University Communications, [email protected] , 202-243-8621 (Mobile)

About: The Catholic University of America is the national university of the Catholic Church and the only higher education institution founded by the U.S. bishops. Established in 1887 as a papally chartered graduate and research center, the University comprises 12 schools and more than 30 research facilities and is home to approximately 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Division of University Communications  Washington, DC 20064

[email protected]  www.catholic.edu  202-319-5600

Attachment
London, UK, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To address the latest innovation, ChatCrypto, the fastest-growing AI community is set to launch a deflationary artificial intelligence token, ChatCrypto token. ChatCrypto token will utilize as a gateway to license Artificial as a Service (AIaaS), Blockchain as a Service (BaaS), and rent HPC power via their Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The platform designs this innovative token to provide users with an efficient and secure way to access the platforms AI technology. By utilizing a deflationary model, the ChatCrypto token intends to create a more stable and sustainable ecosystem for the platform and its users.

Chatcryptos AI face Morpheus; Morpheus is a AI face of chatcrypto that makes people and community grow like a rocket speed

ChatCrypto token powers the ChatCrypto ecosystem and can be used to purchase everything listed on the platform. Additionally, the deflationary model also provides users with an incentive to hold onto their tokens, as the value of each token will increase over time.

With the new development, ChatCrypto enables users to learn complex and new skills in blockchain development and cryptocurrency trading by utilizing the ChatCrypto AI tools.

Including more, the platforms ChatCrypto AI Bot gives the opportunity to learn crypto trading methods. It provides tremendous trading methods by generating accurate trade statistics from the graph and candle reading. ChatCrypto AI Bot works on AI-based algorithms to get accurate data.

In addition, ChatCrypto AI offers a variety of exceptional services such as asset management, supply chain traceability, smart contracts, voting, taxation, and land registration as well.

Furthermore, the innovative platform continues to grow and evolve and offers multiple features and services being added to the ChatCrypto ecosystem. With its unique deflationary model and AI technology, the ChatCrypto token is poised to disrupt the cryptocurrency market and provides users with a secure and efficient way to access advanced AI services. In addition, the platform will constantly innovate and utilize the latest technology and will be more secure.

ChatCrypto tokens total supply is 32,000,000,000, of which 13% is used for marketing, and 15% is for liquidity & staking. From the total supply of the token, 5% is needed for development, and 10% is utilized for airdrops.

ChatCrypto is the fastest growing AI Community in the world currently with 200,000 users in just 10 days of airdrop campaign

About the Company - ChatCrypto:ChatCrypto is a blockchain company that focuses on developing innovative solutions that integrate AI with the cryptocurrency market. The company intends to make the crypto market more accessible by offering an intuitive and user-friendly platform.

Additionally, the platform aims to revolutionize the cryptocurrency market by introducing cutting-edge technology and the latest innovations.

Website | Telegram | Twitter Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this press release should be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold, any investment or security, or to engage in any investment strategy or transaction. It is your responsibility to determine whether any investment, investment strategy, security, or related transaction is appropriate for you based on your investment objectives, financial circumstances, and risk tolerance. Consult your business advisor, attorney, or tax advisor regarding your specific personal, business, legal, tax, and investment situation

Salmon James CHATCRYPTO pr-at-chatcrypto.ai

Source: ChatCrypto
ELDERSBURG, Md., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Source Wireless, a leading critical communications dealer, was awarded a $44,952.78 contract from the City of Clearwater, Florida on February 14, 2023, to provide tactical communications headsets and push to talk adapters.

Under the contract, First Source Wireless will supply 37 3M Peltor ComTac VI Single Comm Headsets and 37 Tactical Silynx Push to Talk Adapters for Harris XL-200 and Harris XL-100 Handheld Radios.

We are pleased to be awarded this contract to support the city of Clearwaters plan to improve communications said Nick Hohman, President of First Source Wireless. The 3M Peltor ComTac VI Single Comm Headsets alongside the Silynx push to talk adapters are the perfect combination for keeping everyone connected in the field and noisy environments.

The 3M Peltor ComTac VI Single Comm Headset is a tactical headset used to improve situational awareness, hearing protection, and decrease communication inconsistencies. Moreover, the Silynx Push to Talk Adapters encourage hands-free communications.

These devices will be helpful for the City of Clearwater, Florida to help the city employees protect their hearing and communicate clearly handsfree.

First Source Wireless is an authorized dealer for leading communication companies including 3M, Silynx Communications, Ops Core, Pulse Larsen, Cradlepoint, and more. First Source Wireless supplies equipment to public safety, military, and occupational professionals across the country

For questions or more information regarding this press release, contact Taylor Thomas at 800-806-1076 or via email [email protected]

Source: First Source Wireless, LLC
CALGARY, Alberta, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forward Summit, Canadas premier event for advancing economic reconciliation, announced today it will return this year with two exciting events: Forward Summit WEST, May 17-18 in Calgary, AB and Forward Summit EAST, Sept. 27-18 in Orillia, ON.

Each of the two-day events will bring Corporate Canada and Indigenous communities together to discuss how to work in partnership towards a common goal: building a strong, prosperous and equal Canada for all. Upholding the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Call to Action #92, the conference guides significant conversations on building respectful relationships with Indigenous communities that result in collaborative, competitive and successful business development projects that progress economic reconciliation for Indigenous peoples.

Forward Summit is a truly immersive experience that fosters the conversations necessary to address and correct the growing economic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians, said Miki Reeder, President and Founder, Forward Summit. I am certain the lived experiences, insights and unique outlooks presented by our 2023 speakers will inspire attendees to take tangible steps towards economic reconciliation and, ultimately, help foster a stronger Canadian economy and workforce.

In 2022, Forward Summit welcomed over 1,000 participants, 50 exhibitors, 170 Indigenous communities and 130 speakers from across Canada. This years event promises to be just as exciting, with engaging speakers including Keith Henry, CEO, Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada; Bobbie Racette, CEO, Virtual Gurus; Suzanne Carriere, Citizenship Judge, Government of Canada; Stephen Buffalo, President and CEO, Indian Resource Council and many more. The conference agenda, speakers and topics are shaped by the Indigenous-led Leadership Council, which is comprised of established and emerging Indigenous leaders from across Canada.

Forward Summit also recognizes the crucial need for Indigenous youth voices to be included on the path to reconciliation. In partnership with Actua, Canadas leading youth STEM outreach organization, 25 Indigenous youth from the Calgary Board of Education have been invited to participate at Forward Summit WEST. Of these students, four have been selected to speak on the conferences opening panel and share their expectations when it comes to the level of industry and government support necessary in securing their future.

STEM education is key to our future economy, so its critical to economic reconciliation that we increase Indigenous participation in STEM education and conversation around our future workforce, said Jennifer Flanagan, President and CEO, Actua. Through partnerships that bring together youth, industry and educators, we can progress together in a way that is both meaningful and impactful."

"The Calgary Board of Education is proud to support four Indigenous youth from various high schools throughout the city to participate in the Forward Summit Youth Panel Discussion on the topic of economic reconciliation, said Shane Spriggs, Indigenous Education Specialist, Calgary Board of Education. We are also excited to have 21 additional Indigenous high school students participate in roundtable discussions with industry leaders, communities, and organizations where they will amplify their voices to incite meaningful dialogue."

Tickets for Forward Summit WEST, May 17-18 and Forward Summit EAST, Sept. 27-28 are on sale now. Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) members receive 10 per cent off their registration. For more details on conference programming, speakers and tickets, please visit www.forwardsummit.ca.

About Forward SummitSince its inception in 2019, Forward Summits goal has been to provide organizations, Indigenous communities and business professionals with the tools and resources necessary to build successful, collaborative, and competitive business development projects that progress economic reconciliation for Indigenous peoples. Unlike many other conferences, Forward Summits intended outcome is to create a community focused on action. The event brings together a diverse audience of Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations, Senior Executives, and Indigenous Community Leaders for over 20 hours of important discussions pertaining to economic reconciliation. For more information, please visit www.forwardsummit.ca.

Kelsey WilsonBrookline Public Relations, Inc. C: 403.471.1284E: [email protected]

Jennie PriceWorkforce ForwardC: 403.383.1675E: [email protected]

Source: Forward Summit
Aspocomp Group Plc, Stock exchange release, April 20, 2023, at 12:10 p.m. (EEST)





DECISIONS OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2023



The Annual General Meeting of Aspocomp Group Plc held on April 20, 2023, adopted the annual accounts and the consolidated annual accounts as well as granted the members of the Board of Directors and the CEO discharge from liability regarding the financial period 2022. The Annual General Meeting approved the Remuneration Report for the governing bodies 2022.



The Annual General Meeting decided to pay a dividend of EUR 0.21 per share, as proposed by the Board of Directors. The dividend will be paid to shareholders registered in the company's register of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd on the record date of the dividend distribution, April 24, 2023. The dividend will be paid on May 2, 2023.



The Annual General Meeting decided to set the number of Board members at four (4) and re-elected the current members of the Board Ms. Paivi Marttila, Ms. Kaarina Muurinen, Mr. Jukka Huuskonen and Mr. Anssi Korhonen for a term of office ending at the closing of the following Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting re-elected PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy, Authorized Public Accountants, as the company's auditor for a term of office ending at the closing of the following Annual General Meeting. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has notified that Mr. Tuukka Kiuru, Authorized Public Accountant, will act as the principal auditor.



The Annual General Meeting decided that the amount of remuneration payable to the Board of Directors remain the same as in the ending term and thus the chairman of the Board of Directors will be paid EUR 30,000, the vice chairman of the Board of Directors be paid EUR 20,000 and the other members will be paid EUR 15,000 each in remuneration for their term of office. The Annual General Meeting further decided that EUR 1,000 will be paid as remuneration per meeting to the chairman and that the other members be paid EUR 500 per meeting of the Board of Directors and its committees. The members of the Board of Directors will further be reimbursed for reasonable travel costs. It was decided that the auditors fees will be paid in accordance with the auditors invoice.



The Annual General Meeting decided to authorize the Board of Directors, in one or more installments, to decide on the issuance of shares and the issuance of options and other special rights entitling to shares referred to in Chapter 10 Section 1 of the Companies Act as follows:



The number of shares to be issued based on the authorization may in total amount to a maximum of 684,144 shares.



The Board of Directors decides on all the terms and conditions of the issuances of shares and of options and other special rights entitling to shares. The authorization concerns both the issuance of new shares as well as own shares possibly held by the company. The issuance of shares and of options and other special rights entitling to shares referred to in Chapter 10 Section 1 of the Companies Act may be carried out in deviation from the shareholders pre-emptive rights (directed issue).



The authorization cancels the authorization given by the Annual General Meeting on April 26, 2022, to decide on the issuance of shares as well as the issuance of special rights entitling to shares. The authorization is valid until June 30, 2024.



The Annual General Meeting decided to amend the companys Articles of Association to enable convening a General Meeting as a virtual meeting without a meeting venue as an alternative to a customary general meeting or a hybrid meeting. The Finnish Companies Act requires that shareholders can exercise their full rights in virtual meetings, with equal rights to those in customary in-person General Meetings. The 9  of the companys Articles of Association reads as follows:



9  The General Meeting shall be held in Helsinki or Espoo. The Board may decide that the General Meeting is arranged without a meeting venue in a manner where shareholders exercise their full decision-making powers in real time during the General Meeting using telecommunications and technical means (virtual meeting).



In order to exercise his right to speak and vote at the General Meeting, a shareholder must register in the manner specified in the invitation to the meeting. The closing date for registration shall be no sooner than ten days before the meeting.



The minutes of the Annual General Meeting are available on the companys website at www.aspocomp.com/agm starting from May 4, 2023 at the latest.





THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS' ORGANIZATION MEETING



In its organization meeting held after the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors of Aspocomp Group Plc re-elected Ms. Paivi Marttila as the Chairman of the Board. Ms. Kaarina Muurinen was re-elected as the Vice Chairman.



The Board of Directors did not establish an Audit Committee, the Board itself performs the duties of the Audit Committee.



The Board of Directors has at its meeting evaluated the independence of the Board members in compliance with the recommendations of the Finnish Corporate Governance Code. It is the view of the Board of Directors that all Board members are independent of the company's major shareholders. The Board of Directors has also assessed that all the Board members are independent of the company.





For further information, please contact Mikko Montonen, President and CEO,

tel. +358 40 5011 262, mikko.montonen(at)aspocomp.com.



ASPOCOMP GROUP PLC



Mikko Montonen

President and CEO





Aspocomp  heart of your technology



A printed circuit board (PCB) is used for electrical interconnection and as a component assembly platform in electronic devices. Aspocomp provides PCB technology design, testing and logistics services over the entire lifecycle of a product. The companys own production and extensive international partner network guarantee cost-effectiveness and reliable deliveries.



Aspocomps customers are companies that design and manufacture telecommunication systems and equipment, automotive and industrial electronics, and systems for testing semiconductor components for security technology. The company has customers around the world and most of its net sales are generated by exports.



Aspocomp is headquartered in Espoo and its plant is in Oulu, one of Finlands major technology hubs.



www.aspocomp.com




ATHENS, Greece, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), (the Company), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels, today announced that on April 12, 2023, it signed a term loan facility with Danish Ship Finance A/S for up to US$100 million with maturity date in April 2028. Yesterday, it concluded the drawdown of US$100 million, secured by nine vessels. The proceeds from the loan facility refinanced other loan facilities with an aggregate outstanding amount of approximately US$87 million, namely two existing loan facilities with BNP Paribas of approximately US$75.2 million (maturity dates in July 2023 and in May 2024) and another loan facility with DNB Bank ASA of approximately US$11.8 million (maturity date in March 2024) related to the same nine vessels. The remaining proceeds may be used to pay transaction costs and expenses incurred in connection with the loan agreement and/or general corporate purposes.

Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet currently consists of 42 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 10 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 6 Kamsarmax, 7 Panamax and 10 Ultramax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet, is approximately 4.7 million dwt with a weighted average age of 10.0 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release.

About the Company

Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on short to medium-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including impacts of the pandemic and of businesses and governments responses to the pandemic on our operations, personnel, and on the demand for seaborne transportation of bulk products; the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, including risks associated with the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and related sanctions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Corporate Contact: Ioannis Zafirakis Director, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer and Secretary Telephone: + 30-210-9470-100 Email: [email protected] Website: www.dianashippinginc.com Twitter: @Dianaship Investor and Media Relations: Edward Nebb Comm-Counsellors, LLC Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350 Email: [email protected]

Source: Diana Shipping Inc. c/o Diana Shipping Services S.A.
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) today welcomes the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) final rules related to Total Cost Reporting (TCR). The rules will require that additional expense information be added to the annual report on charges and other compensation, which will help ensure that the costs and value of investment funds are better understood by investors.

Providing investors with more complete fee information related to the investment funds they hold is the ultimate goal for regulators and the industry, said Andy Mitchell, President and CEO, IFIC. It is our view that the CSAs approach will achieve this goal by enhancing the information investors receive in a manner that strengthens the investor-advisor relationship.

The CSA also indicated that the timeline for the industry to implement the new TCR approach will be extended to ensure this complex technology project will be successfully and prudently completed. The CSA further announced that it intends to create a standing implementation committee so that regulators and the industry can work together to identify and overcome operational and technical barriers to implement TCR. IFIC welcomes both of these decisions and looks forward to participating in this important project.

IFIC appreciates the CSAs willingness to engage with stakeholders, and hear and consider meaningful feedback throughout the review and comment process, added Mitchell. We believe this constructive dialogue improved the final outcome and will provide an excellent model for future consultations.

IFICs TCR submission can be viewed at IFIC.ca.

About IFIC

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada is the voice of Canadas investment funds industry. IFIC brings together approximately 150 organizations, including fund managers, dealers, professional and back-office service providers, to strengthen the integrity of the investment funds industry, foster public confidence in investment funds, and enable investors to achieve good outcomes. By connecting savers to Canadas economy, our industry contributes significantly to Canadian economic growth and job creation.

For more information, please contact:

Pira KumarasamySenior Manager, Communications and Public Affairs[email protected]416-309-2317

Source: The Investment Funds Institute of Canada
MILAN, Italy, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intesa Sanpaolo renews its commitment to support businesses in the energy transition. Promoting the energy autonomy processes of Italian companies by increasing their competitiveness and generating economic, environmental and social benefits for the community, with a view to renewed cooperation between the public and private sectors. This is the main objective of 'Motore Italia Transizione Energetica', the programme presented by Intesa Sanpaolo, which envisages a series of initiatives to encourage investment in energy from renewable sources, also launching a specific project linked to Renewable Energy Communities (RECs).

The package of measures was illustrated by Intesa Sanpaolo in Milan, during a presentation attended by business and institutional representatives such as Alessandra Ricci, CEO of SACE, Paolo Arrigoni, chairman of GSE, Antonio Decaro, mayor of Bari and chairman of ANCI. Following an overview of the country's economic and energy context by Gregorio De Felice, Chief Economist at Intesa Sanpaolo, Anna Roscio, Head of Corporate Sales & Marketing at Intesa Sanpaolo, illustrated the new plan entitled 'Motore Italia Transizione Energetica (Italy's Energy Transition Engine). Emanuele Orsini, Vice-President of Confindustria, also took the floor. Stefano Barrese, Head of Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori Division, illustrated the goals and opportunities for the business world in investing in renewable energy and contributing to the country's growth.

The 76 billion euro cap for investments in renewable energy plants is one of the measures proposed by Italy's leading banking group to support the energy and environmental transition set out in the NRRP, for which the group has earmarked a total of more than 410 billion euros between now and 2026 to support the objectives of the plan's missions, of which 120 billion euros for SMEs.

Stefano Barrese, Head of Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori Division, commented: "Today, together with our partners, we are renewing our commitment to the business world in a decisive area, that of energy transition. The collaboration between private and public entities, which has already yielded good results during the pandemic, must be strengthened for the development of Renewable Energy Communities, an important opportunity for SMEs and households by virtue of concrete economic, social and environmental benefits for entire territories. This is why we intend to provide our businesses, private individuals, and Third Sector operators, in the broadest possible perspective, with the most innovative tools to make them seize the opportunities arising from the energy transition, reinforcing the initiatives already launched under the NRRP, with a forecast of 410 billion euros in funding, of which 76 billion earmarked for the energy transition, thereby helping to generate sustainable growth in line with the objectives of our Business Plan."

For more information:

Press Office LaPresse - [email protected]

A video accompanying this announcement is available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/77d603fb-18e1-474f-a185-d937c2f7a0c8
New Marigold Solution Makes it Easy for Selligent Customers to Collect and Activate Zero-Party Data and Preference Insights through Real-Time Interactive Experiences

BRUSSELS, Belgium and NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marigold , a global martech leader focused on delivering relationship marketing solutions that help marketers acquire, grow and retain customers, today launched Marigold Experiences for Enterprise to its Selligent customers. Designed to address the needs of global organisations, Marigold Experiences for Enterprise makes it easy for non-technical marketers to create engaging, interactive experiences that collect zero- and first-party data, preference insights and purchase intentions at speed and scale.



This latest innovation extends the powerful data capabilities of Selligent by Marigold, which offers an integrated set of products for creating, executing and measuring marketing campaigns across multiple channels, regions and languages. Making Marigold Experiences accessible directly from within the Selligent platform allows teams to quickly and easily collect the insights and permissions they need to activate personalised and permission-based marketing across the customer lifecycle. Powered by the industrys leading zero-party data platform, Marigold Experiences for Enterprise helps Selligent customers turn unknown contacts into valued, long-term customers faster.

Marigold Experiences for Enterprise offers an extensive, out-of-the-box template library, making it easy for teams to quickly create interactive, consumer-facing digital experiences such as polls and quizzes in exchange for customer preference data and purchase intent. Once captured, preference insights and purchase intent data can be rapidly actioned through Selligent Marketing Cloud to create data-driven campaigns with rich segmentation and personalisation.

An impactful zero-party data strategy doesnt stop at acquisition and profile enrichment. According to the recent 2023 Global Consumer Trends Index , nearly half of consumers around the globe are frustrated with irrelevant messaging, and one out of three are turned off by messaging based on information they didnt share directly with the brand.

This is especially difficult in Europe, where marketers are challenged to comply with GDPR and related regulations while crafting messages that resonate with consumers. Striking this balance requires a trusted, GDPR-compliant solution that drives rich personalisation and keeps data accurate, relevant and current.

"We understand the challenges faced by marketers, particularly across European businesses, in complying with GDPR and evolving marketing regulations. Marigold is committed to providing our clients with relationship marketing solutions and offerings that take a zero-party data approach and are backed by hands-on customer experience and industry expertise, said Nick Watson, Vice President of Client Success, EMEA at Marigold. Our aim is to ensure that marketers can collect all important PII and zero-party data with the necessary opt-in permissions. By activating that data with the powerful capabilities of Selligent Marketing Cloud, marketers can drive more engaging, personalised cross-channel marketing communications to help build long-lasting relationships, turning unknown consumers into loyal customers and ultimately grow customer lifetime value."

Availability:

Marigold Experiences for Enterprise is available now to Selligent customers and partners. Customers can also leverage Marigolds strategic team of in-house experts or the companys growing global partner network to build and execute the right strategy for their organisation. To learn more about Marigold Experiences for Selligent, visit here .

About Marigold

Marigold is a global pioneer in relationship marketing, providing tailored, industry-specific martech solutions to over 40,000 businesses around the world. With Campaign Monitor, Cheetah Digital, Emma, Sailthru, Selligent, and Vuture under one roof, Marigold delivers the technology and expertise marketers need to grow relationships, grow revenue, and ultimately grow their businesses. Find out more at MeetMarigold.com.

Media Contacts:



Melissa Hourigan

Fabric Media

[email protected]

720-608-1919

Katie Pfister

Marigold

[email protected]

908-227-7267




NEW YORK, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE: MCB), the holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank, resulting from allegations that MCB may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.



SO WHAT: If you purchased MCB 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=14239 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On March 30, 2023, market analyst Vidar Research published a report entitled Metropolitan Commercial Bank is a mixed bag of problems[.] The report alleged that [Metropolitan Commercial Bank] is bleeding deposits[,] stated that Metropolitan Commercial Bank is the issuer of choice for prepaid debit cards of crypto firms[,] questioned whether Metropolitan Commercial Bank was actually moving away from cryptocurrency (as it had allegedly announced), and alleged that its balance sheet is shocking comparable to the failed Signature Bank (SBNY)[.] In summary, the report alleged that Metropolitan Commercial Bank is a failed bank and that it will share the fate with the likes of SBNY [Signature Bank] and SIVB [Silicon Valley Bank].

On this news, MCBs stock price fell $9.66 per share, or 27.6%, to close at $25.36 per share on March 30, 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 firms 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 Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com
HARBIN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang saw its foreign trade in goods grow 29.6 percent year on year to 71.98 billion yuan (about 10.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2023, according to local customs.

Over the period, Heilongjiang's imports rose 26.6 percent year on year to 57.52 billion yuan, while its exports grew 43.3 percent to 14.46 billion yuan, data from Harbin Customs showed.

The province's trade with countries along the Belt and Road reached 56.98 billion yuan, up 30.1 percent year on year, accounting for 79.2 percent of the province's total foreign trade volume.

Its trade with members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) rose 28.1 percent to 7.06 billion yuan. 
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nexus Industrial REIT (the "REIT") (TSX: NXR.UN) announced today that it intends to release its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 before the opening of the TSX on Monday, May 15, 2023.

Management of the REIT will host a conference call at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time on Monday, May 15, 2023 to review the financial results and operations.

To participate in the conference call, please dial 416-915-3239 or 1-800-319-4610 (toll free in Canada and the US) at least five minutes prior to the start time and ask to join the Nexus Industrial REIT conference call.

A recording of the conference call will be available until June 15, 2023. To access the recording, please dial 604-674-8052 or 1-855-669-9658 (toll free in Canada and the US) and enter access code 0107.

April and May 2023 Distribution

The REIT will make a cash distribution in the amount of $0.05333 per unit, representing $0.64 per unit on an annualized basis, payable May 15, 2023 to unitholders of record as of April 28, 2023.

The REIT will also make a cash distribution in the amount of $0.05333 per unit, representing $0.64 per unit on an annualized basis, payable June 15, 2023 to unitholders of record as of May 31, 2023. The REITs distribution reinvestment plan (DRIP) entitles eligible unitholders to elect to receive all, or a portion of the cash distributions of the REIT reinvested in units of the REIT. Eligible unitholders who so elect will receive a bonus distribution of units equal to 4% of each distribution that was reinvested by them under the DRIP.

About Nexus Industrial REIT

Nexus is a growth-oriented real estate investment trust focused on increasing unitholder value through the acquisition of industrial properties located in primary and secondary markets in Canada and the ownership and management of its portfolio of properties. The REIT currently owns a portfolio of 113 properties (including two properties held for development in which the REIT has an 80% interest) comprising approximately 11.6 million square feet of gross leasable area. The REIT has approximately 68,000,000 Units issued and outstanding. Additionally, there are Class B LP Units of subsidiary limited partnerships of Nexus issued and outstanding, which are convertible into approximately 19,862,000 Units.

For further information please contact:

Kelly C. Hanczyk, CEO at (416) 906-2379; orRob Chiasson, CFO at (416) 613-1262.

Source: Nexus Industrial REIT
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProStar Holdings Inc. ("ProStar" or "the Company") (TSXV: MAPS) (OTCQX: MAPPF) (FSE: 5D00) and ImpulseRadar joined resources to provide a more precise location subsurface utility mapping solution by integrating ProStars Precision Mapping Solutions PointMan and ImpulseRadar's world-leading PinPointR Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology.

"The industry is changing and moving away from standalone systems toward more integrated solutions," stated Matthew Wolf, President of ImpulseRadar USA, Inc. "That means in our efforts to continue to be a Global leader and to satisfy our customer's needs, we are eager to work with the leading technology providers that offer value-added software solutions. PointMan fits that model with a world-class utility mapping software that complements our solutions."

ImpulseRadar's PinPointR technology, combined with ProStar's flagship mobile mapping solution, PointMan, now provides a powerful and comprehensive non-destructive solution for any industry requiring a precision utility mapping solution. PointMan, combined with PinPointR GPR, is designed to quickly and precisely locate, identify, and display subsurface utility locations, including those not detectable by traditional methods.

"ImpulseRadars Ground Penetrating Radar solutions have become a trusted technology worldwide that offers several advantages over other traditional utility locate solutions," stated Page Tucker, CEO & President of ProStar. "Our goal is to become the defacto precision mapping solution for all equipment manufacturers of utility mapping equipment. Adding ImpulseRadar to our growing list of manufacturers is a giant step in realizing our goal."

About ImpulseRadar

With Headquarters in Mala, Sweden, and offices in Malaysia and the United States, ImpulseRadar has become a global leader in developing non-destructive utility locating technologies. ImpulseRadar is focused on bringing the latest non-destructive utility mapping technology to market, delivered in the most robust and user-friendly solutions. ImpulseRadar takes pride in developing and bringing to market the most advanced and innovative GPR solutions that continue to drive paradigm shifts in the utility mapping industry worldwide.

To learn more visit: www.impulseradargpr.com

About ProStar:ProStar is a world leader in Precision Mapping Solutions and is creating a digital world by leveraging the most modern GPS, cloud, and mobile technologies. ProStar is a software development company specializing in developing patented cloud and mobile precision mapping solutions focused on the critical infrastructure industry. ProStars flagship product, PointMan, is designed to significantly improve the workflow processes and business practices associated with the lifecycle management of critical infrastructure assets both above and below the Earths surface.

ProStars PointMan is offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) and seamlessly connects the field with the office and provides the ability to precisely capture, record, display, and manage critical infrastructure, including roads, railways, pipelines, and utilities. Some of the largest entities in North America have adopted ProStars solutions, including Fortune 500 construction firms, Subsurface Utilities Engineering (SUE) firms, utility owners, and government agencies. ProStar has strategic business partnerships with the worlds leading geospatial technology providers, data collection equipment manufacturers, and dealer networks.

The Company has made a significant investment in creating a vast intellectual property portfolio that includes 20 issued patents in the United States and Canada. The patents protect the methods and systems required to digitally capture, record, organize, manage, distribute, and display the precise location of critical infrastructure, including buried utilities and pipelines. ProStars Executive management team has extensive experience in the management of both early-stage and Fortune 500 technology companies in the private and public sectors.

For more information about ProStar, please visit www.prostarcorp.com.

On behalf of the Company,Page Tucker on sales / corporate news releases, CEO and DirectorContact:Joel SutherlandInvestor Relations970-822-4792[email protected]

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the terms and conditions of the Companys future plans. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Companys securities; the state of the technology sector; recent market volatility; the COVID-19 pandemic; the Companys ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Companys recent Annual Managements Discussion & Analysis filed on SEDAR on April 14, 2022, for a more complete discussion of applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Companys issuer page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Source: ProStar
Final 56-week results from the Phase 3 study for SB15 compared with reference aflibercept in neovascular age-related macular degeneration to be presented, in addition to analytical similarity data between SB15 and reference aflibercept

INCHEON, Korea, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Samsung Bioepis Co., Ltd. today announced that it will present new data on SB15, a proposed biosimilar to Eylea1 (aflibercept), at the 2023 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting held from April 23 to 27, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

At the meeting, researchers will present new analytical data on similarity between SB15 and reference product in terms of structural and physicochemical properties and biological functions, as well as 56-week results from the Phase 3 randomized clinical study between SB15 and the reference product in terms of efficacy, safety, immunogenicity, and pharmacokinetics (PK). 32-week interim results from the Phase 3 study were previously presented at the 2022 American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Annual Meeting in September 2022.2

Details about Samsung Bioepiss abstract are as follows:

Abstract Presentation Details Phase III Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing SB15 with Reference Aflibercept in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Session: Paper Session 119Date/Time: Apr 23, 2023 1:00 PM-1:15 PMAbstract Number: 3877747Presentation Number: 464Authors: SriniVas R. Sadda, Se Joon Woo, Mario Bradvica, Attila Vajas, Min Sagong, Jan Studnicka, Edward Wylegala, Cheolmin Yun, Michal Orski, Sergei Astakhov, Edit Toth-Molnar, Adrienne Csutak, Lajos Enyedi, Taehyung Kim, Inkyung Oh, Hyerin Jang Analytical Similarity Assessment of an Aflibercept Biosimilar SB15 to Its Commercially Available Reference Product (Eylea) Session: Poster Session 256 (AMD antiVEGF)Date/Time: April 24, 2023, 3:15 PM-5:00 PMAbstract Number: 3879811Posterboard Number: 2246 - C0199Authors: Min Sagong, Hangyeore Lee, Jongcheol, Huh, Dayoung Kim, Soye Lee, Beomchan Kim, Jinsu Song, Jungmin Lee, Neil M Bressler

Samsung Bioepis and Biogen announced in November 2019 that they had entered into an exclusive commercialization agreement for two ophthalmology biosimilar candidates, SB11/BYOOVIZ (ranibizumab) and SB15 (aflibercept) in major markets around the world.

SB15, if approved, will strengthen the portfolio offerings of the two companies with two of the most widely prescribed anti-VEGF therapies, extending options for patients, prescribers while helping enable healthcare sustainability.

About Samsung Bioepis Co., Ltd.Established in 2012, Samsung Bioepis is a biopharmaceutical company committed to realizing healthcare that is accessible to everyone. Through innovations in product development and a firm commitment to quality, Samsung Bioepis aims to become the world's leading biopharmaceutical company. Samsung Bioepis continues to advance a broad pipeline of biosimilar candidates that cover a spectrum of therapeutic areas, including immunology, oncology, ophthalmology, hematology, and endocrinology. For more information, please visit: www.samsungbioepis.com and follow us on social media  Twitter, LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACTAnna Nayun Kim, [email protected]Jane Chung, [email protected]

References:______________________

1 Eylea is a trademark of Regeneron.

2 Se Joon Woo, Srinivas R Saddam et al. SB15, a Proposed Biosimilar to Aflibercept, in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD): 32-week Results. Abstract presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2022 Annual Meeting.

Source: Samsung Bioepis
LONDON, April 20, 2023  Stolt-Nielsen Limited (Oslo Brs: SNI) today announced that all agenda items were approved, and all nominated Directors were elected at its Annual General Meeting of shareholders held today at Clarendon House, 2 Church Street, Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda.

The final dividend for 2022 of $1.25 per Common Share as recommended by the Board of Directors on February 23, 2023 was approved and will be paid on May 10, 2023 to shareholders of record as of April 26, 2023. The shares will trade ex-dividend on and after April 25, 2023.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting are attached and can be accessed here:

https://www.stolt-nielsen.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/

For additional information please contact:

Jens F. Gruner-Hegge

Chief Financial Officer

UK +44 (0) 20 7611 8985

[email protected]

Ellie Davison

Head of Corporate Communications

UK +44 (0) 20 7611 8926

[email protected]

About Stolt-Nielsen Limited

Stolt-Nielsen (SNL or the Company) is a long-term investor and manager of businesses focused on opportunities in logistics, distribution and aquaculture. The Stolt-Nielsen portfolio consists of its three global bulk-liquid and chemicals logistics businesses - Stolt Tankers, Stolthaven Terminals and Stolt Tank Containers, Stolt Sea Farm and various investments. Stolt-Nielsen Limited is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Brs: SNI).

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act

Attachment
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Theres still time for Canadians to take advantage of great rates and exciting perks when they book a last-minute escape or get a jump start on fall vacation planning with Sunwing and Blue Diamond Resorts in Cuba. On now until April 30, 2023, customers can find their feel-good getaways in the popular all inclusive destinations of Varadero, Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Largo and more, with unlimited sun, sand and adventure surrounded by Cubas beautiful landscapes.

Whats more, travellers who purchase a Blue Diamond Resorts vacation package at participating properties with Royalton Luxury Resorts, Mystique by Royalton, Grand Memories Resorts & Spa, Memories Resorts & Spa and Starfish Resorts in Cuba by April 30, 2023, for departures between April 1, 2023 and October 31, 2023, will be automatically entered for a chance to win a free all inclusive getaway for two to the family-friendly Memories Flamenco Beach Resort in Cayo Coco or adults only Sanctuary at Grand Memories Varadero in Varadero. Non-purchasing customers are also eligible but limited to one entry during the contest period and must complete a contest form on Sunwing.ca*.

Blue Diamond Resorts is the fastest growing resort chain in the Caribbean, with an expansive hotel portfolio spanning multiple destinations, including Cuba, that offer adults only and all-ages vacation experiences at varying price points. From sought-after tropical destinations to a comprehensive array of amenities and services and convenient access to exciting attractions, shopping, local culture and more, Blue Diamond Resorts in Cuba offers it all. Cayo Largo in particular, Sunwings newest destination in Cuba with Blue Diamond Resorts, boasts a fantastic selection of properties for customers interested in boutique vacation experiences, plus pristine sand, sunnier skies year-round and the perfect playground for underwater adventures, with more than 30 dive sites and over 200 ancient shipwrecks to explore.

To help keep Blue Diamond Resorts top of mind for Canadians in search of a feel-good summer, Sunwing and the resort chain are also offering several perks for customers who book during the month of April. Customers will get exclusive access to reduced package rates and complimentary upgrades on rooms while supplies last*, including Diamond Club room categories, at participating properties in Cuba.

Plus, Sunwing customers can attend the ultimate summer kick-off event when they book a vacation package and stay at Grand Memories Santa Maria, Sanctuary at Grand Memories Santa Maria, Memories Paraiso Beach Resort or Starfish Cayo Santa Maria this May. For under $999, guests in paradise can enjoy an all inclusive getaway and access to Cubas hottest electronic dance music festival on May 11-14, 2023 and May 18-21, 2023, with beats from over 20 Canadian and international DJs, beach parties, pool parties and more.

For more information or to book a feel-good summer vacation with Blue Diamond Resorts Cuba, visit www.sunwing.ca or contact a travel agent to make the most of great rates and exciting perks on last minute or future getaways.

*Terms and conditions apply.

About Sunwing

The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from airports across Canada to popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing customers benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. The company supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid.

For more information:

Melanie Anne FilippSenior Director, Corporate Communications & Media RelationsSunwing Travel Group1-800-387-5602 | [email protected]

An image accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/14ab8837-5d99-486e-ada2-6f008b7838b5

Shine bright and win with Blue Diamond Resorts Sunwing customers have more chances to win an all inclusive getaway!

Source: Sunwing Vacations Inc.
BOSTON, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- True Tickets, the first solution for new first-party data broadly available for Tessitura Network members, announces the release of the next version of its rules-based ticket sharing feature, further empowering event organizers to create and assign rules related to the sharing of digital tickets. The new version allows clients to set rules at the performance, price type, and constituent levels, giving them even more control over their ticketing operations.

With phase two of rules-based ticket sharing, True Tickets clients can set up guardrails against sharing specific types of tickets or require the original purchaser to attend the show. For example, a venue may opt not to allow student tickets to be shared, or at a VIP event, may limit ticket sharing to within one degree of separation.

Our clients have made it very clear that they need to ensure their ticketing policies are followed, even after they put tickets into the hands of buyers, said Kirk Mortensen, Head of Product at True Tickets. Now, True Tickets gives them an unprecedented level of configurability and control so that they can provide a better experience for their patrons and fans, protect them from fraud and scalping, and ultimately build stronger customer relationships.

True Tickets' rules-based ticket sharing feature creates a chain of custody for each ticket, making the enforcement of terms and conditions much easier for clients. Purchased tickets can be time-fenced and feature dynamic QR codes to discourage scalping.

For venues, the feature offers not only more data, but also more accurate, consistent, and standard data about who is in possession of tickets to their events at all times and who attends their experiences. For consumers, rules-based ticket sharing ensures that the ticket they possess is valid and will get them into the event.

True Tickets' services are available today to more than 700 arts and cultural institutions using the Tessitura technology platform. The company is also in conversations with potential partners in the performing arts about expanding the reach of the service and its capabilities.

To learn more about rules-based ticket sharing and True Tickets, visit www.true-tickets.com.

About True TicketsTrue Tickets is a secure contactless digital ticketing service that puts venues and event organizers in control of their tickets and in communication with their true audience. True Tickets' business-to-business solution easily integrates with Tessitura, the unified enterprise system for arts and cultural institutions, empowering performing arts centers, theatres, ballets, orchestras, and more to leverage the power of digital-native tickets to ensure extraordinary live experiences for their guests. With True Tickets, these institutions can set rules and track ticket custody, limit the excesses of the secondary market, and restore direct relationships between their audiences and the live events they love.

For additional information, please visit True-Tickets.com or follow True Tickets on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media inquiries: Crystal Henderson The Press House [email protected]

Source: True Tickets
GRAND ISLAND, Neb., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verizons award-winning 5G Ultra Wideband network is now available across Nebraska in new markets including Columbus, Cozad, Grand Island, Hastings, Nickerson, North Platte, Spalding and Tilden. Verizons first 5G Ultra Wideband cell sites in each of these communities are now live, meaning customers can take advantage of higher speeds, greater capacity and performance comparable to a wired broadband internet connection. In the coming months, Verizon engineers will continue to roll out 5G Ultra Wideband in these and additional markets in the state, and also complete deployment of service in Omaha, Nebraska.

With 5G Ultra Wideband service now available, residents and visitors in these communities will join the more than 200 million people (roughly 2 out of every 3 Americans) who are enjoying access to 5G Ultra Wideband service. This new service enables people to do things on their mobile device that previously required a wired internet connection, including downloading huge documents and streaming movies in HD audio and video, playing console quality games and conducting video chats, and video conferencing with clear sound and video.

"We're thrilled Verizon is expanding its services in Nebraska, bringing enhanced connectivity to multiple cities across our great state," said State Senator John Lowe. "Verizon continues to support our citizens and communities, and their 5G Ultra Wideband service will bring new benefits and possibilities to residents and visitors in Nebraska."

Verizon is committed to delivering the most reliable network experience and meeting our customers connectivity needs, said Dean Brauer, Vice President of Engineering and Operations for Verizon. This new service connects families, friends, homes and businesses in Nebraska with our best-in-class 5G ultra wideband technology.

Network enhancements in Nebraska

These deployments use Verizons recently acquired C-band spectrum. Verizon engineers are using up to 100 MHz of C-band spectrum to deliver 5G service to customers. By the end of the year, customers throughout Nebraska will be able to take advantage of even more spectrum as it becomes available for 5G Ultra Wideband. That additional bandwidth will turbo charge the service, offering significantly higher speeds, much greater capacity to accommodate more customers and more robust services.

The addition of 5G service in Nebraska will result in exponential increases in data carried into and out of the cell sites serving the community, which requires upgraded fiber optic cable links. Verizon has increased the capacity on the fiber connections in many cell sites so they can carry 10 times the amount of data.

Get the most of our 5G Ultra Wideband

To experience the benefits of 5G Ultra Wideband, customers will need one of Verizons latest 5G phones with the latest software update. Theres never been a better time to upgrade or switch. Verizon is offering great deals on its best 5G smartphones in store, on the My Verizon App or online at verizon.com/deals, and for businesses at verizon.com/5gdevices.

Customers will also want to be on one of Verizons latest plans. To sign up for premium 5G Unlimited plans  5G Get More, 5G Play More and 5G Do More  customers can visit a store, use the My Verizon app or go to verizon.com/plans/unlimited. Or if customers are looking for a great value and access to Verizons 5G Nationwide network, they can review Verizons 5G Start or the brand new Welcome Unlimited plan. Plans for business include the Business Unlimited Plus Data Device and the Business Unlimited Pro Data Device. Business customers can shop for plans at verizon.com/business/plans.

Additionally, through Verizon Frontline, the advanced network and technology developed over three decades of partnership with first responders to meet their unique and evolving needs, public safety agencies in Nebraska will also be able to experience the benefits of these network enhancements. To learn more about Verizon Frontline, visit verizon.com/frontline.

MEDIA CONTACT:Erica Dilk720.483.4341[email protected]

Source: Verizon Sourcing LLC
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Buffalo Coal Corp. (TSXV: BUF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of the going private transaction by way of share consolidation (the "Consolidation"), which was approved by the Company's shareholders at the special meeting of shareholders held on April 17, 2023. In connection with the Consolidation, the common shares of the Company will be delisted from trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") at the end of the trading day on April 21, 2023 and on the Alternative Exchange managed by JSE Limited on April 28, 2023.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Buffalo Coal

Buffalo is a coal producer in South Africa. It holds a majority interest in two operating mines through its 100% interest in BCD, a South African company which has a 70% interest in Zinoju Coal Proprietary Limited ("Zinoju"). Zinoju holds a 100% interest in the Magdalena bituminous mine, the Aviemore East anthracite mine and the Balgray and North Adit anthracite projects in South Africa. Buffalo Coal has an experienced coal-focused Board and Management team.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the Company's current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Ms. Emma Oosthuizen

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 27 342121455

Email: [email protected]

Registered Office:

Greytown Road

Industrial Area, Dundee

KwaZulu-Natal, 3000

April 20, 2023

Designated Advisor: Questco Corporate Advisory Proprietary Limited

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163188
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. (TSXV: AGH.H) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its press release of March 29, 2023, Kuya Silver Corporation ("Kuya Silver") has completed its acquisition of a package of properties totaling approximately 1746 hectares in Silver Centre area (part of the greater Cobalt, Ontario mining district) from the Company (the "Acquisition").

Pursuant to the Acquisition, in consideration for the transfer of the properties, Kuya Silver has issued 1,666,667 common shares of Kuya Silver to the Company. All such shares are subject to a statutory resale restriction of four-months and one day from the date of issuance. In addition, the Company and Kuya Silver have agreed that 25% of the shares are subject to a six-month minimum hold period and 25% of the shares are subject to a nine-month minimum hold period. The Company has retained a 2% royalty on net smelter returns payable from any future commercial production from these properties.

The Agreement remains subject to approval by and fulfillment of the CSE and TSX Venture Exchange requirements.

About Canadian Silver Hunter, Inc.

Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of gold, silver, and battery technology metals in Canada.

For more information, please contact:

Jeffrey Hunter, President & Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (416) 707-4230

[email protected] www.canadiansilverhunter.ca

Reader Advisory

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information," including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs, and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may," "would," "could," "will," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "must," "next," "propose," "new," "potential," "prospective," "target," "future," "verge," "favourable," "implications," and "ongoing," and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking information. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing statements, any discussion of the potential of exploration targets is forward-looking information.

Investors are cautioned that statements including forward-looking information are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including but not limited to fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market, and business conditions. There can be no assurances that such forward-looking information will prove accurate, and therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of the risks and uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture exchange nor its Regulation Securities Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163153
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Golden Independence Mining Corp. (CSE: IGLD) (OTCQB: GIDMF) (FSE: 6NNA) (the "Company" or "Golden Independence") has received a request from OTC Markets Group Inc. ("OTC Markets") to issue a statement about recent promotional activity concerning the Company and its common shares (the "Common Shares"), including the distribution of promotional newsletter emails published by Emerging Markets Consultants LLC ( "EMC") discussing the Company, its business, and the gold industry in general (the "Material"). Full details of the engagement of EMC are contained in the Company's April 13, 2023 news release. The Company believes the recent promotional activities commenced on or about April 17, 2023, as disclosed in its April 13, 2023 news release.

EMC is a third-party marketing firm retained by the Company to provide communications and media services and to amplify the distribution of Company news release content. Regarding the Material, the Company does not believe the statements were false or misleading, and notes that it provided EMC with publicly available sources of information and provides sign off on content.

On March 1, 2023 the Company also announced the engagement of MIC Market Information & Content Publishing GmbH ("MIC") to provide marketing services, including digital content creation, distribution, and market awareness campaigns. Other than EMC and MIC, the Company has not engaged any other third-party providers to provide investor relations services, public relations services, marketing, or other related services including the promotion of the Company or its securities in the last twelve months.

The Company does not believe these marketing campaigns have resulted in any unusual trading activity, though they have resulted in more investors becoming aware of the Company and its activities, which could affect trading volumes.

The Company notes that, to its knowledge, after inquiry of management, no directors, officers or third-party service providers traded in the Company's securities within the past 90 days. The Company notes that, according to publicly available filings, one shareholder owning 10% or more of the Company's securities sold a total of 365,500 shares and purchased a total of 5,000 shares in the market. To the Company's knowledge, this shareholder reported all acquisitions and dispositions in accordance with Canadian securities regulations.

Pursuant to a private placement the Company has issued the following shares and warrants that closed in March of 2023. The shares were issued at a discount to market pursuant to the private placement pricing policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") and all securities issued were restricted and subject to statutory hold periods. The warrant exercise prices were at a premium to the market price at the time of grant and as such were not discounted.

On March 1, 2023, the Company closed a non-brokered private placement an issued a total of 7,076,353 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.31 per Unit for gross proceeds of $2,193,000. Each Unit consisted of one common share (each, a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitled the holder to purchase one additional common share at a price of $0.50 for a period of two years from the date of issuance. In connection with the Private Placement, the Company paid an aggregate of $70,401 in finders' fees and issued 236,778 finders' warrants (the "Finders' Warrants"). The Finders' Warrants have the same term as the Warrants.

The Company confirms that it has not issued convertible securities allowing conversion to equity securities at prices constituting a discount to the current market rate at the time of the issuance.

The Company is committed to compliance with the OTC Markets Group Policy on Stock Promotion and the OTCQB Standards. The Company encourages those interested in the Company to rely solely on information included in press releases issued and distributed by the Company via an approved dissemination service and its filings and disclosures made with the Canadian securities regulators and the CSE and available on their websites: www.sedar.com and www.thecse.com, respectively.

About Golden Independence Mining Corp.

Golden Independence Mining Corp. is a development company currently focused on the development-stage Independence project located adjacent to Nevada Gold Mine's Phoenix-Fortitude mine in the Battle Mountain-Cortez Trend of Nevada in addition to the wholly owned Napoleon gold project located in the Kamloops Mining Division of BC. The Independence project hosts an M&I resource of 334,300 ounces of gold and an Inferred resource of 847,000 ounces of gold with a substantial silver credit. A 2021 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlined a low-cost heap leach operation focusing on the near-surface resource with total production of 195,443 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,078 per ounce of gold. The Napoleon project is comprised of over 1,000 hectares and prospective for multiple forms of gold mineralization, with exploration in the area dating back to the 1970's with the discovery of high-grade gold.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Jeremy Poirier, Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 1.604.722.9842

Email: [email protected]

This press release contains forward-looking information (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation) that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information includes statements based on current expectations of management made in light of management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and, as such, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, without limitation, statements regarding the exploration potential of its properties. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information in this news release, including without limitation, inherent risks associated with the mining industry and the results of exploration activities and development of mineral properties, stock market volatility and capital market fluctuations, general market and industry conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion & analysis. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. This forward-looking information is based on estimates and opinions of management on the date hereof and is expressly qualified by this notice. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada at www.sedar.com. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163242
This aerial photo taken on Jan. 1, 2023 shows the night view of the Tianhe Road area in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

GUANGZHOU, April 19 (Xinhua) -- An Understanding China conference on Chinese modernization and new opportunities for the world was held Wednesday in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province.

The conference, Understanding China -- Greater Bay Area Dialogue, gathered politicians, officials, experts, entrepreneurs, foreign envoys, and representatives of international organizations and multinational companies. It aims to help people understand China's modernization and the new opportunities it will bring to the world.

Over the past decade, China's reform and opening up and its socialist modernization have advanced greatly, writing a new chapter of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, Zheng Bijian, head of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, said at the opening ceremony.

The key to the great achievements lies in China's adherence to the fundamental principle of development, a people-centered development philosophy, and its commitment to high-quality development, Zheng said.

In a video speech, former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo hailed China's development achievements since the beginning of its reform and opening up as "breathtaking."

The event has an opening ceremony, 10 parallel forums, four closed-door seminars, and three special sessions.

The event is co-hosted by the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, the Guangdong provincial government, and France's Prospective and Innovation Foundation. 
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - IMPACT Silver Corp. (TSXV: IPT) (OTC Pink: ISVLF) (FSE: IKL) ("IMPACT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the Non-Brokered financing previously announced on April 6th, and upsized on April 12th, 2023 (the "Offering").

The Company received an aggregate proceeds of C$8,343,813.24 from the issuance of 30,903,012 units (the "Units") of the Company at C$0.27 per unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one full Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable to acquire one Common Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of C$0.35 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the Offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for exploration, development and general corporate purposes.

Frederick Davidson, CEO and President of the Company comments, "With global currencies on a near-term pause from further rate hikes and recent historical highs in precious metal prices - the demand in gold and silver as fundamental wealth preservation assets is growing and we are motivated to grow IMPACT's operation and shareholder value with proceeds of this financing."

In consideration for their services, the Company has paid certain registered dealers a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross subscription proceeds raised from certain subscribers in the Offering for total commissions of $183,295.22. Additionally, the Company granted an aggregate of 678,871 non-transferable broker warrants to finders under the Offering. Each broker warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at a price of $0.35 per common share until April 19, 2025.

The securities issued under the Offering are subject to a standard hold period of four months and one day, expiring on August 20, 2023, all in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Offering is subject to the Company's remaining filing requirements with the TSX Venture Exchange.

A director of the Company participated in the Offering. This participation by an insider in the Offering constitutes a related-party transaction as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. However, the Company considers such participation would be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101, as the fair market value of the Units subscribed for by the insiders, and the consideration for the Units paid by such insider, do not exceed 25 per cent of the Company's market capitalization.

The Company plans to follow up with a small second tranche for gross proceeds of up to $500,000 or up to 1,851,851 units. The units will have the same terms as the units sold under the current Offering and largely allocated waiting payment and documentation reviews. The Company expects to close this second tranche by the end of April.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

ABOUT IMPACT SILVER

IMPACT Silver Corp. (TSXV: IPT) is a successful producer-explorer with two mining projects in Mexico.

Royal Mines of Zacualpan Silver-Gold District: IMPACT owns 100% of the 211 km2 Zacualpan project where four underground silver mines and one open pit mine feed the central 500 tpd Guadalupe processing plant. To the south, the Capire Project includes a 200 tpd processing pilot plant adjacent to an open pit silver mine with an NI/43-101 inferred mineral resource of over 4.5/million oz silver, 48 million lbs zinc and 21 million lbs lead (see IMPACT news release dated January 18, 2016 for details and QP statement, and footnote4 for report reference); Company engineers are reviewing Capire for a potential restart of operations. Over the past 17 years, IMPACT has placed multiple zones into commercial production and produced over 12 million ounces of silver, generating revenues over $241 million.

Plomosas Zinc-Lead-Silver District: IMPACT signed a purchase / sale agreement with Consolidated Zinc Limited (ASX: CZL) of Australia to purchase the Plomosas property and mining operations for US$6 million (cash and shares) plus a 12% NPI (net profit interest) and a third party 1% NSR royalty. Plomosas is a high-grade zinc-lead-silver producer with exceptional exploration potential. Upon closing of the transaction, IMPACT plans to upgrade the mill and mine

with the aim to recommence operations in the near term followed by plans for expanding operations. Exploration potential at Plomosas is exceptional with only 600m of the 6/kilometre long structure assessed plus other exploration targets including untested copper-gold targets. Regionally, Plomosas lies in the same mineral belt as some of the largest carbonate replacement deposits in the world.

On behalf of IMPACT Silver Corp.

"Frederick W. Davidson"

President & CEO

For more information, please contact:

Jerry Huang

CFO | Investor Relations

(604) 664-7707 or [email protected]

(778) 887 6489 Direct

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This IMPACT News Release may contain certain "forward-looking" statements and information relating to IMPACT that is based on the beliefs of IMPACT management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to IMPACT management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to future silver prices, interpretation of drill results, future work plans, the timing of closing of the Offering, proceeds received and use of funds, the potential of the Company's projects, and potential and plans for the Plomosas project, are forward looking statements. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "planned", "expect", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential", and similar expressions, or describes a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "should", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the expected use of proceeds of the Private Placement.

Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks and assumptions, including with respect to, without limitations, exploration and development risks, expenditure and financing requirements, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors, general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events. There are no assurances the Company will close the acquisition of the Plomosas project. Should any one or more risks or uncertainties materialize or change, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and forward-looking statements may vary materially from those described herein. IMPACT does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

The Company's decision to place a mine into production, expand a mine, make other production related decisions or otherwise carry out mining and processing operations, is largely based on internal non-public Company data and reports based on exploration, development and mining work by the Company's geologists and engineers. The results of this work are evident in the discovery and building of multiple mines for the Company and in the track record of mineral production and financial returns of the Company since 2006. Under NI 43-101 the Company is required to disclose that it has not based its production decisions on NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource or reserve estimates, preliminary economic assessments or feasibility studies, and historically such projects have increased uncertainty and risk of failure.

303-543 Granville Street Telephone (604) 664-7707

Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1X8

www.impactsilver.com

Twitter

LinkedIn

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163160
First phase of optimization was focused on streamlining Colombian operations, resulting in a moving forward annualized cost reduction of CAD 5.0 million, representing overall cost savings of more than 45% compared to 2022 1.

Khiron has completed the wind down of its Colombian cultivation and extraction activities, to focus on its clinics business and its high-margin B2C medical cannabis model in Colombia.

Similar to the Companys European production model, Khiron Colombia will outsource the production of Khiron-branded medical cannabis products to a reputable contract manufacturer, resulting in higher operational margins.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. (TSXV: KHRN) (OTCQX: KHRNF) (FSE: A2JMZC) ("Khiron" or the "Company"), today announces the completion of its first phase of business optimization in Colombia, to focus on its unique high-margin B2C business model, centered around its clinic operations.

The Company's focus in Colombia is to continue to generate demand through the increase of insurance coverage for medical cannabis in its ZereniaTM clinic network and expanding access to Khiron's medical cannabis products in other clinics and hospitals across the country.

At the same time, Khiron is reducing non-core, cash-intensive activities. As part of this initiative, the Company began wind-down of its cultivation and extraction operations in Colombia in early 2023 and has now ceased all its own upstream activities. As a result, the Company has reduced total direct labour headcount by more than 70% in Khiron Colombia SAS from June 2022 to April 2023, as well as a reduction in senior executive compensation and positions by more than 50%.

The Company has entered into a partnership with an accredited 3rd Party contract manufacturing organization (CMO) in Colombia to outsource the production of Khiron-branded medical cannabis products. Under this agreement, Khiron's partner has: i) purchased Khiron's extraction and laboratory equipment, ii) stored the Company's existing inventory of dried flower and full spectrum extracts to manufacture final product for the Company. In addition, Khiron's partner will distribute products to Khiron and Zerenia's patients across Colombia. Through this partnership, Khiron will also be able to leverage the partner's established network of over 300 hospitals and pharmacies across Colombia to increase product sales.

Moving forward, Khiron will continue to implement initiatives to simplify the Company's overall group structure in Latin America, focusing on business operations with a clear short-term positive cashflow outlook.

Alvaro Torres, CEO of Khiron, comments: "Since we started Khiron, our core focus has always been to generate patient demand with a unique B2C business model centered around our clinics and selling products at high margins. Our long-term intention has never been to be fully vertically integrated, but this was necessary for the Company to gain the first mover advantage and needed to become a leader in Colombia and Latin America. With this and upcoming optimization initiatives, we continue to demonstrate our strict discipline on spending while ensuring a proper growth trajectory. The partnership with our CMO ensures complete regulatory compliance, safety of our high-quality inventory, agile operations, and access to a strong network of pharmacies and clinics."

Notes:

This is forward-looking information and based on a number of assumptions. See "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information". Based on cost opportunities identified by Khiron management. This target, and the related assumptions, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. While Khiron believes there is a reasonable basis for this target, such target may not be met. Actual results may vary and differ materially from the targets. Certain financial information included in this press release is neither audited nor reviewed. Where possible, the information has been constructed by management from available audited or audit reviewed financial statements. Where no audited or audit reviewed information has been available, additional management accounting information has been utilized to construct financial information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information.

About Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Khiron is a leading global medical cannabis company with core operations in Latin America and Europe. Leveraging wholly owned medical health clinics and proprietary telemedicine platforms, Khiron combines a patient-oriented approach, physician education programs, scientific expertise, product innovation, and focus on creating access to drive prescriptions and brand loyalty with patients worldwide. The Company has a sales presence in Colombia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Peru, and Brazil. The Company is led by its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced and diverse executive team and board of directors.

Visit Khiron online at https://investors.khiron.ca.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/khiron-life-sciences-corp/

Investor Contact:

E:[email protected]

Media Contact:

Peter Leis,

Europe Communications

E:[email protected]

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature constitutes forward-looking information. Forward-looking information contained in this news release may include statements pertaining to the expected synergies and benefits to the Company from the acquisition of the Target as well as statements as to business strategy. Forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release reflect management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available and on assumptions that management believes to be reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the expected benefits to be realized by Khiron's business as a result of the acquisition of the Target, and assumptions regarding market opportunities in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates and where it seeks to operate.

Although management believes that its expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, forward-looking information is always subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of management, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following: general economic conditions, adverse conditions in capital markets, political uncertainties, counterparty risk, failing to obtain required regulatory requirements and approvals, failure to maintain required permits and licences, business integration risks, as well as those other risk factors discussed in Khiron's most recent annual information form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

As a result of the foregoing and other risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained in this press release. Readers are further cautioned that the foregoing risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive, and there may be other risks and uncertainties, presently unknown to management of the Company, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Khiron disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information disclosed herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE, NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE), ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163215
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Rome Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RMR) (FSE: 33R) ("Rome" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Gasson as its President and CEO.

Mr. Gasson is a qualified geologist with more than 33 years of experience developing mineral deposits throughout the globe, predominantly in Africa. He has been active in South Africa, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 1986 in gold and base metals exploration and resource development. Mr. Gasson was instrumental in the negotiations, acquisition and discovery of Alphamin's Bisie tin project (the world's highest grade tin deposit at 4.5% tin) which is located 8 km to the south of the Company's Bisie North Tin Project. Mr. Gasson and his technical team, who have extensive experience and understanding of the geology and mineralisation at Alphamin's deposits, which are located in Eastern DRC in one of the world's highest grade tin provinces, are confident that the Bisie North Project has excellent potential for significant discovery of tin and base metal mineralisation within their current priority target areas. Mr. Gasson has 19 years' experience in the DRC, has built up a network of high-profile contacts in DRC and was also instrumental in the discovery of 1 million tonnes of copper at Kipoi and 3 Moz of gold at Amani's Giro deposits, which are both in the DRC. Mr. Gasson currently serves on the boards of AJN Resources and Pathfinder Minerals. He is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and holds a B.Sc. Honours degree.

The Company thanks its former President and CEO, Dr. Georg Schnura for his valuable contributions to the Company over the past nine years. Prior to Rome, Dr. Schnura incorporated Alphamin Resources where he worked closely with Mr. Gasson on the development and financing of Alphamin's Bisie project. Dr. Schnura was instrumental in getting the Rome's shares reinstated for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2022 and in the Company acquiring its options on the Bisie North Tin Project.

Dr. Schnura commented: "I am pleased that Mr. Gasson has accepted the position as CEO of the Company. His expertise and experience in the area neighbouring Alphamin Resources' property, where he was instrumental in discovering the world's richest tin deposit, is needed to move Rome Resources into the next stage of development."

Dr. Schnura continues as non-executive director where he is expected to add significant support with promoting the Company going forward.

The Company also announces Michelle Robinson's resignation from the board of directors and thanks her for her valuable contribution to the Company over the past nine years. The Company wishes her the very best in her future endeavours.

About Rome Resources

Rome Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that has entered into two option agreements to acquire 51% direct and indirect interests in two contiguous properties situated in the Walikale District of the North Kivu Province in eastern DRC, which are collectively referred to as the "Bisie North Tin Project". Rome intends to fund exploration on the project up to the completion of a definitive feasibility study.

Contacts

Investors / Shareholders

Mark Gasson

President, CEO & Director

P: (604) 687-6140

Media

E: [email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release may include certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Although Rome Resources Ltd believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, Rome Resources Ltd disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163191
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2023) - Zephyr Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ZFR) ("Zephyr" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the Company entered into an option agreement to acquire up to a 75% interest in the MC-2 Gold Property (the "MC-2 Property"), from four arms length citizens of Zimbabwe (the "Owners"). The MC-2 Property comprises five mining claims totaling approximately 50 hectares and are strategically located within approximately 2 kilometers of the recently announced option acquired on the MC Gold Property (news release January 12, 2023). The two properties are on trend, sharing many of the same geological characteristics and excellent exploration potential for large scale, shear zone hosted gold deposits. The proximity of the two claim groups with each other is a synergistic feature from a development perspective in the event of a discovery.

Loren Komperdo, President and CEO stated: "The MC-2 Property is characterized by favourable rock types such as iron rich meta-basalts, strong evidence of pervasive structural preparation providing abundant loci for gold deposition, widespread small scale mining activity, and strong synergies with Zephyr's nearby MC Gold Property. The geological characteristics look very similar to the Red Lake gold camp in northern Ontario. To the best of our knowledge this property with numerous drill targets has never been drilled. We remain focused on identifying and optioning mining properties in Zimbabwe that show high discovery potential for large gold deposits."

The MC-2 Property is currently being mined by small scale miners to a shallow depth, typically to 8 to 10 meters in the easily mined weathered zone. Records show that small scale mining on the claims date back to 1986 as reported thereon by Kalbskoff, Zimbabwe Ministry of Mines. Historic shafts and open cuts on gold mineralized structures are present on all of the five claims which collectively cover a width ranging between 200 to 400 meter and strike length of 1,500 meters. The principal focus of mining has been on the 'Main Reef' (quartz vein) which strikes 077 degrees azimuth & dips 85 degrees S-SE and occupies the fold axis of a similarly trending anticlinal fold, with splay veins and parallel vein structures being a secondary focus.

Host rocks are principally silicified, sheared meta-basalts showing silicification and shearing adjacent to the reef. Reported (Kalbskoff 1986, and Mupaya 1999), gold grades range from 0.8 g/t gold over 1.58 m to 105.52 g/t over 0.30 m. Of particular interest is Kalbskoff's report (June, 1986), of mineralized and silicified schist with limonite grading 5.4 g/t gold over 0.6 m; mineralized greenstone grading 13.4 g/t gold over 0.40 m; mixed quartz and mineralized schist grading 8.4 g/t gold over 0.43 m, and grab samples from a stockpile showing abundant galena grading 7.6 g/t gold and 82.2 g/t silver. Grab samples of reef and sulphide mineralized material collected during a preliminary investigation by Zephyr ranged from 0.12 g/t gold to 36.28 g/t gold, and wallrock assays from 0.18 g/t gold to 1.42 g/t gold.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Zephyr through its wholly own Zimbabwean subsidiary, Sutter Mining (Private) Limited ("Sutter") can acquire 75% of the Lion Property by incurring US$665,000 in exploration expenditures and making cash payments to the Owners totaling US$65,000 over five years. The Owners are permitted to continue small scale mining within prescribed parameters from areas currently being mined until Sutter makes a decision to transfer the Claims into a new operating company (Newco), owned as to Sutter 75%and the Owner 25%.

QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL ("QA/QC")

Grab samples were bagged, sealed and sent to the facility of Zimlabs in Harare, Zimbabwe, where each sample was dried, crushed, and pulverized before being fire-assayed (Lab Method Code G703). Gold analyses were obtained via 30g fire assay, lead collection and AAS finish. As part of its QA/QC program, the Company inserted blank and duplicate samples into its sample batch.

Qualified Person

Mr. Arimon Ngilazi, an independent consultant to the Company, and a qualified person as the term is defined under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Mr. Ngilazi has not visited the property.

References

S. Kalbskoff; Zimbabwe Geological Survey; A Report on the Swift Reef, 27 June 1986 and; A Progress Report, September 1986.

F.B. Mupaya; Zimbabwe Geological Survey; A Geological Note on the Mine: Claim14; 13 September 1994 and; A Progress Geological Report 14, 8 July 1999.

About Zephyr Minerals Ltd.

Zephyr Minerals Ltd. is active in mineral exploration in Colorado, USA and Zimbabwe. In Colorado Zephyr has been focused on mine permitting activities at its 100% owned Dawson gold property, which is presently in hiatus pending the collection and submission of additional water well data and satisfying certain other environmental related questions. The additional required water wells are still in the planning stage and will be drilled once available funds are in hand. Upon collection of the additional data the Company plans to reapply for a mining permit at Dawson.

In Zimbabwe the Company is working to build a mineral property portfolio and to this end has applied for two Exclusive Prospecting Orders covering 124,000 hectares. Zephyr is actively assessing additional mineral opportunities in Zimbabwe on an ongoing basis. Zimbabwe boasts favourable foreign ownership rules for mineral properties as well as prospective, underexplored Archean greenstone belts.

For further information please contact:

Loren Komperdo, President & CEO

or

Will Felderhof, Executive Chairman

T: 902 706-0222

[email protected]

To be included in the Zephyr email database for Company updates please contact

[email protected].

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. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including, with respect to the use of funds from the private placement, expectations and assumptions concerning timing of receipt of required regulatory approvals and third party consents and the satisfaction of other conditions to the completion of the exploration work on the Dawson-Green Mountain Property. The forward-looking statements contained in this document 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/163168
MIAMI (PRWEB) April 19, 2023

Danielle Gonzalez, a Real Estate Practice shareholder in the Miami office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A., advised Empira Group in its acquisition of a multifamily development site at 901 SW Third Ave. and 244 SW Ninth St. in the Brickell area.

The acquisition of the former Empire Brickell site, which closed April 17, is Empira's second acquisition of a multifamily development site in greater Downtown Miami within an eight-month period. Empira, a Switzerland-based institutional real estate investment firm, recently entered the Miami market with plans to expand across Florida and the Sun Belt amid strong demand for high-quality, multifamily housing.

Gonzalez represents Empira in connection with its U.S. expansion, including all aspects of deal structuring, negotiating, and transaction management.

"Greenberg Traurig is proud to support Empira on another exciting project that will bring much in-demand multifamily housing to Brickell, one of Miami's fastest-growing neighborhoods," Gonzalez said. "This is more validation that South Florida's thriving economy and business-friendly climate are attracting key investments from across the globe. Greenberg Traurig looks forward to continuing to work with Empira as it builds out its presence in South Florida and in other target markets around the U.S."

Empira plans to begin construction of a 26-story, 310-unit apartment tower in Brickell during the first quarter of 2024, with completion scheduled for 2026. The high-rise, designed by Coral Gables-based Corwil Architects, will offer a range of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments with 380 parking spaces. The building will also have approximately 2,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and an array of amenities on the seventh floor, including a pool, fitness center, lounge area, and business center. The building will meet specific environmental and sustainability standards, such as energy efficiency, water conservation, use of sustainable materials, and indoor air quality, to achieve at least a LEED Silver certification.

The newly acquired site is located just 1.5 miles north of Empira's previously acquired site at 3025 and 3051 SW Third Ave. in The Roads neighborhood, where the developer plans to build an 85-unit boutique, multi-family property.

Gonzalez represented Empira in both acquisitions with assistance from Greenberg Traurig Real Estate Shareholder Eric A. Castleson, as well as Land Use Shareholders Carlos R. Lago, Jorge L. Navarro, and Brian A. Dombrowski.

"Greenberg Traurig's deep and extensive experience in South Florida, combined with its national and global reach, is valuable as Empira expands its investment in key U.S. housing markets," said Rafael Aregger, Empira's Head of Investments US. "Empira is focused on cities experiencing rapid population and job growth, such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Dallas, Austin, and Phoenix, among others. We believe Greenberg Traurig's significant presence across Florida and the Sun Belt will be very helpful in navigating new markets and opportunities."

Additional partners in the transaction are Grand Peaks and JLL Capital Markets.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2650 attorneys in 45 locations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The firm is a 2022 BTI "Highly Recommended Law Firm" for superior client service and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law Global 100 and NLJ 250. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab. The firm is recognized for powering its U.S. offices with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program and is a member of the U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership Program. The firm is known for its philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.

About Empira: Empira Group is an institutional real estate investment firm headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. The firm focuses on private equity and private debt investments in residential real estate in the United States and German-speaking Europe. Empira currently manages over $7 billion in AUM, representing more than 100 German and Swiss institutional investors. Besides its Headquarters in Switzerland, Empira has offices in numerous German cities as well as London, Stockholm, Vienna, Luxembourg, and a fully vertically integrated investment office in Miami. Empira Group focuses on identifying unique investment opportunities to develop superior quality and sustainable mid-rise and high-rise residential properties in dynamic and fast-growing locations across the US Sunbelt region. For more information visit Empira's website.



Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/greenberg_traurigs_danielle_gonzalez_advises_empira_group_in_2nd_miami_development_site_acquisition/prweb19293170.htm
HONG KONG, Apr 20, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - - The creative industry is a powerhouse of economic growth. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) unveiled seven creative events covering fashion, lifestyle and licensing at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The events are the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair; Home InStyle; the Hong Kong International Home Textiles and Furnishings Fair; Fashion InStyle and the Hong Kong International Printing and Packaging Fair, as well as the Hong Kong International Licensing Show and Asian Licensing Conference. As international business travel and commercial activities return to normal, these seven events have attracted more than 4,100 exhibitors from 23 countries and regions, covering gifts, home products, home textiles, fashion, printing and packaging solutions, licensing projects and more, while the Asian Licensing Conference has invited about 30 global industrial giants and insiders to share insights.

During a media tour, HKTDC Deputy Executive Director Sophia Chong said: "HKTDC has always been committed to promoting Hong Kong creative and design industry to the world through exhibitions, conferences and other activities. This year, we are bringing together seven major events covering fashion, lifestyle and licensing in April under one roof for the first time, providing a unique platform to cultivate new possibilities for licensing business through accommodating more non-character IPs; broadening the IP portfolio to include art, culture and digital brands that are used in licensed gifts. We believe this will create greater synergies and will open up more business opportunities across industries and disciplines.

"As one of the world's most recognised cities for meetings, exhibitions, incentive and business travel, Hong Kong attracts high-quality exhibitors and buyers from around the globe. HKTDC exhibitions are known for their internationalisation, scale and comprehensive support facilities. This year, the exhibitions featured about 70% non-local exhibitors and welcomed numerous provincial and municipal delegations from Mainland China - a testament to the return of international businessmen to Hong Kong," she added.

The events have recruited more than 200 buying missions from 50 countries and regions, including buyers from the mainland, Japan, Korea, Association of Southeast Asian countries, India, the Middle East, Germany, France and the United States to source in Hong Kong. The EXHIBITION+ hybrid model extends business discussion beyond the physical shows until 29 April via the smart business matching platform Click2Match.

Designer brands showcase creative works in Cultural and Creative Corner

The exhibitions feature a diverse array of fashion and lifestyle products, with many institutions and companies joining for the first time. The Gifts Fair, Home InStyle and Home Textiles Fair feature over 2,800 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions. As the cultural and creative industries flourish, the Cultural and Creative Corner zone debuts at the Gifts Fair and Home InStyle to showcase designer brands and products with cultural characteristics, unique and tasteful designs. A mainland pavilion also debuts, bringing exclusive Chinese traditional handicrafts such as bamboo carvings, ceramics and paper-cutting lamps, showcasing the preservation and succession of intangible cultural heritage. At Home InStyle, the Zhejiang Pavilion features handcrafted home-decor products from different provincial cities under the Zhejiang Ingenuity: Culture and Quality theme. The Yuecheng District of Zhejiang Province is also participating in the Home Textiles Fair for the first time, showcasing high-quality bedding products.

Fashion InStyle has attracted about 500 exhibitors, including a debut Jiangxi Province pavilion where 25 exhibitors showcase fashion and accessories. The Hong Kong International Printing & Packaging Fair also attracted 460 exhibitors with a new comer from Hungary. The international presences signal the strong revival of international business confidence in Hong Kong.

Promoting transformation of local creative force

The Hong Kong Houseware Fair has been renamed Home InStyle with the expectation of bringing more design and style-oriented products to buyers. The Hong Kong Industrial Designers Association (IDSHK) will join Home InStyle for the first time. The association's ReMIX brands and designers matching programme created design products in collaboration with local traditional brands such as Camel's vacuum flasks and Red Apple's home furniture, illustrating the power of design in brand rejuvenation. Other newcomers include local brand Inwork Synergy International Limited, which specialises in handcrafted wooden tableware, and Derangedesign Co. Limited, which won the A'Design Award for its iconic irregular stainless steel sculpture containers. Furthermore, the Hong Kong Exporters' Association highlights Hong Kong Smart Design Award winning pieces at the Gifts Fair to promote local design talents.

The HKTDC has been a staunch advocate for the development of local creative culture and protection of intellectual property. With the support of CreateHK, the DLAB Hong Kong Pavilion returned to the Licensing Show this year, gathering 45 locally produced, original intellectual properties - including SHIBAINC, Falling Cyan, Malut Design and 8EGGS Studio - displaying the products of Hong Kong creative minds.

Technology leads to sustainable future

Highlighted Fashion InStyle's zone InnoFashion and Trade Services focuses on fashion technology and trade services and showcases a variety of innovative fashion technologies, including the AiDLab of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which brings in world's first designer-led AI system (AiDA) that facilitates designer's inspiration and speeds up the whole ideation and design development process, improving the sustainability of the production chain. Headquartered in Israel, Hong Kong exhibitor Stratasys has developed a 3D printer that can print three-dimensional textile materials entirely with computers.

Demand for environment-friendly products continues to rise in global markets. About a quarter of the Printing & Packaging Fair exhibitors provide green printing and packaging products and services. Sustainability and safety certified products are also available in the Home Textiles Fair, including products made of organic and recycled materials with international certifications such as GRS, BSCI and OEKO-100.

Engaging dialogues on trending topics including ChatGPT and ESG

The AiDLab Summit debuted at Fashion InStyle. Academic experts such as Professor Sharon Baurley, Director and Professor of Design & Materials at the Materials Science Research Centre of the Royal College of Art and Professor Calvin Wong, Cheng Yik Hung Professor in Fashion at the School of Fashion and Textiles at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Centre Director of AiDLab discussed artificial intelligence (AI) application in fashion design. The Feel the Pulse of the Upcoming Trend in 2023 seminar invited Euromonitor International Hong Kong Research Manager Herbert Yum and Ivan So, digital consultant at HDcourse, to share insights on global consumer trends as well as ChatGPT and its impact on business-to-business marketing implications.

Licensing Show displays over 500 brands and projects, signalling a thriving industry

Hong Kong is a bustling hub for licensors, licensees, agents and manufacturers and is the preferred partner for foreign licensors. This year's Hong Kong International Licensing Show showcased over 500 diverse licensing projects and brands; exhibitors include top global licensors and licensing agents such as CAA-GBG Global Brands Management Group, Medialink Group and WildBrain CPLG. The exhibition features nine large pavilions, the largest being the Mainland China Pavilion, along with those from Macao, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan, where exhibitors bring unique brands to Hong Kong.

At the concurrent Asian Licensing Conference, the first session featured Ben Peace, Vice President for the Asia Pacific at WildBrain CPLG (the agency for PEANUTS, Sonic Prime, and the Teletubbies); Maura Regan, President of Licensing International; and Miki Yamamoto, Senior Vice President, Licensing in Asia at IMG, who discussed global licensing developments, post-pandemic shifts in consumer behaviour and key factors reshaping the licensing landscape.

Websites

- Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair: www.hktdc.com/event/hkgiftspremiumfair

- Home InStyle: www.hktdc.com/event/homeinstyle

- Hong Kong International Home Textiles and Furnishings Fair: www.hktdc.com/event/hkhometextilesfair

- Fashion InStyle: www.hktdc.com/event/fashioninstyle

- Hong Kong International Printing & Packaging Fair: www.hktdc.com/event/hkprintpackfair

- Hong Kong International Licensing Show: https://www.hktdc.com/event/hklicensingshow/en

- Asian Licensing Conference: https://www.hktdc.com/event/hklicensingshow/en/programme?category=all&date=all

- HKTDC Media Room: https://mediaroom.hktdc.com/en

- Photo download: https://bit.ly/41FUoy9

About HKTDC

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn

Media enquiries

Please contact the HKTDC's Communications and Public Affairs Department:

Snowy Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4525, Email: [email protected]

Hong Kong International Licensing Show and Asian Licensing Conference

Kate Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4239, Email: [email protected]

Frankie Leung, Tel: +852 2584 4298, Email: [email protected]

Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) April 20, 2023

On Wednesday, April 19, The Archer School for Girls presented its twelfth annual Archer Film Festival empowering young, underrepresented voices in film. The event, held at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, included a screening of finalist films and featured a Q&A with President of One Race Films Samantha Vincent and Good Pals production company co-founder Cara Shine. Festival organizers received more than 300 student-produced film submissions from over 50 countries around the world. Event sponsors included The Kennedy/Marshall Company, the Katie McGrath & JJ Abrams Family Foundation, Mark Gordon Pictures, Paramount, Skybound, and Tara & Marc Guggenheim.

SAMANTHA VINCENT is President of One Race Films, the film, television, and video game production company that has grossed over $5 billion since 2009 under her leadership. She has produced the last two installments of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, "F9: The Fast Saga" and most recently "Fast X" releasing May 19, 2023, and executive produced "Fate of the Furious," "Furious 7," "Fast & Furious 6," "Fast Five," and "Fast & Furious." Additional credits include "The Last Witch Hunter" (Executive Producer), "Riddick" (Executive Producer), and "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" (Producer). Vincent drove the company's platform expansion into gaming with "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" and the original title "Wheelman," representing two of the company's most successful gaming endeavors. Beyond film and video games, Vincent shepherded the company into the digital arena with the groundbreaking micro-budget series "The Ropes." Vincent is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is a Board Director for Private School Axis in Los Angeles and Westbeth Artists Housing in New York. She holds a master's degree in Educational Policy from Harvard University.

CARA SHINE teamed up with friend and former colleague Rebecca Miller in 2020 to launch the production company Good Pals. Their first foray together, "The Fallout" written and directed by Megan Park and starring Jenna Ortega, Shailene Woodley, John Ortiz, and Maddie Zeigler, debuted at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival and won all the top prizes in the Narrative Feature category, including the Grand Jury Award, The Brightcove Directing Award, and Audience Award. It was sold in a lucrative deal to HBO Max and debuted on January 27, 2022. They wrapped production recently on a Welsh-set Christmas comedy starring Brittany Snow and Lucas Bravo. In addition to this, the pair have also set up Simon Pegg's directorial debut at Paramount, which is based on a novel by Michelle Paver and aims to shoot in 2024. In partnership with The Exchange and with Hannah MacPherson set to direct, Shine and Miller are producing the highly anticipated elevated genre film "See How They Run" by Lily Hollander, which came in 2nd on the 2021 Blacklist. Good Pals has also partnered with Architect Global in London to bring to life the romantic comedy "Joint Custody" penned by Justin Isbell.

The Archer Film Festival is a student-run and student-led event. "We had so much fun watching all of the submitted student films. There were so many incredible options from all around the world and we are thrilled about our final picks. We so enjoyed getting to share with the audience the amazing films that we chose," said Archer Film Festival team member and junior Tess Hubbard. "We were so thrilled to get to talk to Ms. Vincent and Ms. Shine. For students like me who are interested in working in the industry, their insight is invaluable, and we are so grateful they took the time to talk to us."

The gender gap still persists in the film industry. According to a 2022 report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women comprised only 24% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films, representing a slight decrease since 2021.

The Archer Film Festival strives to bridge that divide by empowering and highlighting young filmmakers who share the goal of advancing the artform by showcasing work from students whose perspectives are rarely seen or heard.

###

About The Archer School for Girls

The Archer School for Girls is for the ambitious and joyful. At forefront of all-girls education, Archer is dedicated to empowering the next generation of female leaders.

A contemporary girls' school in Los Angeles, Archer sustains a collaborative, student-centered teaching and learning community that explores and contributes to the research on how young women learn and thrive.

Since 1995, Archer has been inspiring young women to become confident, ethical changemakers by strengthening their voices and capacity to contribute positively to society and the world.

For more information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @ArcherSchool, or visit our website http://www.archer.org.

Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/2023/4/prweb19293165.htm
ATLANTA , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Artivion, Inc. (NYSE: AORT), a leading cardiac and vascular surgery company focused on aortic disease, announced today that first quarter 2023 financial results will be released on Thursday, May 4, 2023 after the market closes. On that day, the Company will hold a teleconference call and live webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the results, followed by a question and answer session hosted by Pat Mackin , Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Artivion.

To listen to the live teleconference, please dial 862-298-0702 a few minutes prior to 4:30 p.m. ET . The teleconference replay will be available approximately one hour following the completion of the event and can be accessed by calling (toll free) 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415. The conference number for the replay is 13737780.

The live webcast and replay can be accessed on the Investors section of the Artivion website at www.artivion.com and by selecting Webcasts & Presentations. In addition, a copy of the earnings press release, which will contain financial and statistical information for the completed quarter and full year, can be accessed in the Investors section of the Artivion website.

About Artivion, Inc.

Headquartered in suburban Atlanta, Georgia , Artivion, Inc. is a medical device company focused on developing simple, elegant solutions that address cardiac and vascular surgeons' most difficult challenges in treating patients with aortic diseases. Artivion's four major groups of products include: aortic stent grafts, surgical sealants, On-X mechanical heart valves, and implantable cardiac and vascular human tissues. Artivion markets and sells products in more than 100 countries worldwide. For additional information about Artivion, visit our website, www.artivion.com .

Contacts:









Artivion

Gilmartin Group LLC D. Ashley Lee

Brian Johnston / Lynn Lewis Executive Vice President &

Phone: 332-895-3222 Chief Financial Officer

[email protected] Phone: 770-419-3355





View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/artivion-announces-release-date-and-teleconference-call-details-for-first-quarter-2023-financial-results-301803535.html

SOURCE Artivion, Inc.
Building on Azul's reputation for operational excellence, Azul TecOps now offers services to external customers

SAO PAULO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Azul Airlines has announced the creation of its newest business unit: Azul TecOps. With this move, the company extends its industry leading operational and technical expertise to external customers in Brazil , Latin America and around the world.

With extensive experience supporting Azul's current diverse fleet, the new business unit will provide heavy maintenance, line maintenance, component repair and overhaul, training, and technical consulting services for aircraft types such as the Airbus A320, A321, A330, A350, Embraer E1/E2, ATR 600, and Boeing 737-400F. In addition Azul TecOps will also offer repairs for aeronautical components such as wheels, brakes, batteries, structures, interiors, avionics, oxygen systems, safety/emergency equipment. The new business unit is also able to accomplish various other tests and non-destructive inspections.

"Azul is a global leader in customer service and operational excellence. As the World's Best Airline in 2019 and the World's Most On-Time Airline in 2022 we know what it takes to deliver industry leading reliability" says Flavio Costa, Azul's Technical Vice President. "With the launch of Azul TecOps, we are excited to now bring this expertise to the outside world. Our 15 year history in supporting Azul's growing and diverse fleet gives us unique operating experience and technical knowhow that we can now deliver to new customers" said the executive.

Azul TecOps is based at Azul's main hangar located at Viracopos airport just outside of Sao Paulo. This modern facility which is just three years old is considered to be largest hangar in Latin America with a 35,000 square meter footprint. The hangar boasts capacity to serve three simultaneous lines for heavy maintenance external services. In addition the MRO complex has 13 workshops to execute services support for a wide range of component, interior and emergency equipment projects. Several other services such as engine boroscope inspections, aircraft weighing, CVR and DFDR data analysis and placard manufacturing are also provided.

Azul TecOps secondary facility in Belo Horizonte , at Pampulha airport also offers smaller hangars for aircraft maintenance services. Altogether this facility has a 14,000 square meters footprint with four simultaneous lines of heavy maintenance to service the ATR, Embraer 195 E1, Boeing, and Pilatus fleets.

The new business unit is forming strategic partnerships with OEMs around the world and looks forward to many new partnerships in the near future. To find out more about Azul TecOps or to contact us please visit our homepage.

About Azul

Azul S.A. (B3: AZUL4, NYSE: AZUL) is Brazil's largest airline in number of flights and destinations served, with more than 900 flights per day to more than 150 cities. With an operational fleet of more than 160 aircraft and more than 14,000 crew members, Azul flies more than 300 direct regional, domestic and international routes. In 2022, Azul was named the most on-time airline in the world, according to the OnTime Performance-OTP Review report by Cirium - the world's leading reference for operational data in the aviation industry. In addition, in 2020, Azul was elected the best airline in the world by TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice, being the only Brazilian carrier to be awarded with both prestigious industry recognitions. For more information, visit https://ri.voeazul.com.br/

*Follow us on Instagram: @imprensaazul

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/azul-launches-azul-tecops---aircraft-maintenance-repair-and-overhaul-services-301803441.html

SOURCE Azul Airlines
Workers Demand Better Wages, Retirement Security

NILES and JOLIET, Ill. , April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters Local 777 members at three Rise dispensaries (a subsidiary of Green Thumb Industries, or GTI) in Chicagoland walked off the job today at 4:20 p.m. CT to begin an open-ended unfair labor practice (ULP) strike.

The strike was precipitated by the company demanding that workers at the Niles location remove pro-union buttons while they were on the job, a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

"The company's demand that the workers remove their pins is part of a broader pattern of disrespect to their workforce," said Jim Glimco , Local 777 President. "GTI is refusing to offer these men and women wages commensurate with the cost of living, or retirement package that is acceptable for Teamsters. It's far past time this company recognize the people responsible for all of the success it's had."

This is the first time in the history of Illinois  and one of the first times in American history  that three cannabis dispensaries under the same company umbrella have gone on strike at the same time.

"These workers deserve prosperous, middle-class careers and they're willing to fight for it," said Peter Finn , Teamsters Western Region International Vice President and Food Processing Division Director. "They aren't walking off the job by themselves. They're walking onto that picket line as one unified front, with the backing of more than 1.2 million Teamsters throughout North America ."

"We're focused on creating a high-quality career here and we need a wage that reflects how valuable we are," said Reilly Drew , a patient care specialist at the Rise Niles dispensary. "People think of advancing as moving up the ladder, but in this situation, it's about raising the whole floor up for everyone. We want to make this a prosperous industry because it's a profitable industry."

"The forceful removal of these buttons shows us how GTI feels about our movement, and how little they care about us as workers," said Julie Evans , a patient care specialist at the Rise Rock Creek Boulevard dispensary in Joliet . "I feel that it is extremely unfair, disrespectful, and rude that Niles was forced to remove their insignias while other stores were not. I stand with my fellow Teamsters in solidarity against this unfair labor practice."

"I voted to strike in solidarity with my Rise coworkers over the baseless and uninformed removal of the union button, which was intended to reduce representation in our stores," said Brandon Basil , a patient care specialist at the Colorado Street Rise dispensary in Joliet . "We'll fight for a fair contract with more to offer for our incredibly hardworking brothers and sisters in the cannabis industry, including a living wage!"

The ULP strike will continue through tomorrow and until further notice.

Founded in 1937, Teamsters Local 777 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout the Chicago area. For more information, go to teamsters777.org/.

Contact:

Matt McQuaid , (202) 624-6877

[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cannabis-teamsters-strike-three-dispensaries-on-eve-of-four-twenty-301802460.html

SOURCE Teamsters Local 777
Supreme Court Will Most Likely Issue Ruling on Texas Chemical Abortion Pill Case on Friday, April 21

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution

April 20, 2023



WASHINGTON, April 20, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ -- Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution to hold prayer vigil and news conference at the Supreme Court on Friday morning.



The group will gather on Friday, April 21, at 10 a.m. on the public sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court calling for the justices to affirm the decision of Federal District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk who suspended the Food and Drug Administration's approval of Mifepristone.



Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution will be praying for God to guide and direct the nine Supreme Court Justices to issue a ruling affirming human rights and protection for women and their preborn children.



Based in Washington, D.C., Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution is a women's advocacy and educational group that works on issues of human rights and justice which empower and inspire women. It is affiliated with Stanton Healthcare which has life-affirming women's health clinics in America and internationally.



Brandi Swindell, Founder and CEO of Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution, states:

"As the founder of life-affirming medical clinics that support women with unexpected pregnancies, Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution calls upon the Supreme Court to affirm the decision U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, of the U.S. Northern District of Texas, who suspended the Food and Drug Administrations approval of Mifepristone.



"Chemical abortions now account for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. and have significantly higher complication rates than that of surgical abortions. What the FDA and the abortion lobby are promoting is a new type of 'back-alley abortion' with no medical oversight and care. We will not be silent when it comes to standing for the safety of women's health and wellness."

Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Chief Strategy Officer for Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution, adds:

"The pro-life community and all who embrace human rights must passionately stand against this barbaric practice of chemical abortions which kills innocent children, harm women, and destroys our environment.



"We pray the nine justices would embrace the hallowed words etched on the Supreme Court building: 'Equal Justice Under Law.' As a nation, we cannot allow chemical abortion pills to destroy human life."

For more information or interviews, please contact:

Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741



SOURCE Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution



CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741


Meet Lu Jicai, the dedicated archaeological researcher who has tirelessly worked to protect the ancient city of Jiaohe in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. With new sections of the relics opening to the public, it's the perfect time to visit and learn more about China's history.



Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Proceeds raised will be used to fund future acquisitions, and fuel business development of innovative pipeline assets

SINGAPORE , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CBC Group ("CBC"), Asia's largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm headquartered in Singapore , and Hasten Biopharmaceutic Company Limited ("Hasten"), today jointly announced the completion of a US$315 million fundraising round for Hasten. Hasten is an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company backed by CBC, Hefei Industry Investment Group, and Feidong County of Hefei City.

The fundraising round was co-led by CBC and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investment Company, with participation from other institutional investors. Proceeds will be used to fund future acquisitions and business development of innovative pipeline assets.

Fu Wei , Chief Executive Officer of CBC, said, "Hasten is a well-established Chinese biopharma company with tremendous growth potential. The firm reported 47% growth in sales from Q2 to Q4 in 2022, which is testament to CBC's unique and effective investor-operator strategy. We are confident that the attractive entry valuation, coupled with strong operational and growth momentum, will create long-term sustainable value for CBC and our fellow shareholders."

"We look forward to deepening our relationship with Hasten and tapping the synergies between Hasten and our other portfolio companies to further strengthen our robust and world-class healthcare ecosystem", he added.

Mohamed Albadr, Head of Mubadala's China office, added, "We are excited to partner with CBC and Hasten to build a leading biopharma platform focused on providing high quality, reputable and accessible healthcare products to critical care patients in China ."

Summer Xia , Chief Executive Officer of Hasten, commented, "The proceeds raised will catalyse our growth and expansion plans to become China's leading healthcare company in chronic and age-related diseases, and acute and severe diseases, and realise our vision of providing patients with advanced treatments to improve their life quality. Through organic growth and future acquisitions, we aim to continue creating significant commercial synergies with our existing portfolios and bring more valuable healthcare solutions to the majority of patients, as well as create a health management ecosystem in China ."

This latest round of fundraising follows Hasten's acquisition of the Chinese-mainland exclusive rights for five cardiovascular and metabolism drugs from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in March 2022 . Meanwhile, Hasten has been building a robust innovative late-stage business development pipeline, creating synergies with its current commercial platform to further support the company's growth.

About CBC Group

Headquartered in Singapore , CBC Group is Asia's largest healthcare-dedicated asset management firm, with an AUM of over US$7 billion . CBC Group is focused on platform-building, buyout, private credit, venture, and real estate, across the healthcare space, including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical technology, and healthcare services. We are committed to creating lasting value by integrating global innovations and talents. Partnering with the world's top entrepreneurs and scientists, our unique "investor-operator" approach has empowered leading healthcare companies to widen access to affordable medical care, catalyse innovations, and improve efficiency in fulfilling unmet medical needs worldwide.

For more information on CBC Group, please visit www.cbridgecap.com.

Connect with us on LinkedIn (CBC Group).

About Mubadala Investment Company

Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign investor managing a global portfolio, aimed at generating sustainable financial returns for the Government of Abu Dhabi. Mubadala's $284 billion portfolio spans six continents with interests in multiple sectors and asset classes. The company leverages its deep sectoral expertise and long-standing partnerships to drive sustainable growth and profit, while supporting the continued diversification and global integration of the economy of the United Arab Emirates .

For more information about Mubadala Investment Company, please visit: www.mubadala.com

About Hasten Biopharmaceutic Co., Ltd.

Hasten Biopharmaceutic Company Limited ("Hasten") is an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company. Adhering to our core values of integrity, agility, innovation, and accountability, we are committed to providing high-quality healthcare solutions to serve our key stakeholders, creating an ecosystem to provide better care for patients with chronic diseases, and ultimately achieve the goal of becoming a healthcare industry leader.

For more information on Hasten, please visit www.hastenpharma.com.

Connect with us on LinkedIn (Hasten).

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SOURCE CBC Group
Now selling from the mid $400s in Spring Hill , Barton Hills to host a celebratory Grand Opening in April

SPRING HILL, Tenn. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS), a top 10 national homebuilder and industry leader in online home sales, is excited to announce that Barton Hillsnow selling in Spring Hill from the mid $400swill host a Grand Opening event on Saturday, April 22 , giving homebuyers and agents a unique opportunity to tour the community's stunning Woodruff model and explore available quick move-in homes while enjoying complimentary refreshments.

Offering a convenient location south of downtown Nashville , Barton Hills puts shopping, dining, historical sites, and employment hubs like Spring Hill's new GM manufacturing facility within easy reach. Homebuyers can choose from a versatile selection of two-story single-family homes with generous homesites, inviting open-concept layouts, included features like quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances, and options like main-floor owner's suites on select homes.

Learn more & view available homes at www.CenturyCommunities.com/BartonHills.

More About Barton Hills

Now selling from the mid $400s

256 homesites

5 two-story floor plans

3 to 5 bedrooms, 3 to 4 bathrooms

Up to 3,271 square feet

2-bay garages

Planned amenities such as a walking trail, beach volleyball court, and a gathering lawn with an open-air pavilion (subject to change)

100 Millbrook Drive

Spring Hill, TN 37174

615.682.4234

DISCOVER THE FREEDOM OF ONLINE HOMEBUYING:

Century Communities is proud to feature its industry-first online homebuying experience on all available homes in Tennessee .

How it works:

Shop homes at CenturyCommunities.com Click "Buy Now" on any available home Fill out a quick Buy Online form Electronically submit an initial earnest money deposit Electronically sign a purchase contract via DocuSign

Learn more about the Buy Online experience at www.CenturyCommunities.com/online-homebuying.

About Century Communities

Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS) is a top 10 national homebuilder, offering new homes under the Century Communities and Century Complete brands. Century is engaged in all aspects of homebuilding  including the acquisition, entitlement and development of land, along with the construction, innovative marketing and sale of quality homes designed to appeal to a wide range of homebuyers. The Colorado -based company operates in 18 states and over 45 markets across the U.S. , and also offers title, insurance and lending services in select markets through its Parkway Title, IHL Home Insurance Agency, and Inspire Home Loans subsidiaries. To learn more about Century Communities, please visit www.centurycommunities.com.

For information, contact:

Alyson Benn

Century Communities, Inc.

303.558.7352

[email protected]

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SOURCE Century Communities, Inc.
Approximately $3 billion in organic recruiting and two new strategic relationships with financial institutions underscore positive first quarter momentum

Key affiliations continue from across the industry as advisors seek independence and embrace Cetera's wealth hub capabilities

LOS ANGELES , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera Financial Group (Cetera), an at-scale wealth hub that offers financial professionals and institutions the latest solutions, support and services, announced today that it attracted nearly $3 billion in assets under administration through its organic recruiting efforts in the first quarter of 2023. In addition, Cetera Investment Services finalized strategic relationships with two financial institution investment programs (Mechanics Investment Services and UNCLE Wealth Management). The strong quarter reflects advisors' continued interest in Cetera's wealth hub, which empowers advisors to affiliate in whichever way they deem most appropriate and supports advisors throughout their professional lifecycles.

"As today's financial advisory landscape continues to evolve, advisors are drawn to a relationship with a partner who can support them through all stages of their careers and address their changing needs," said Tom Taylor , chief sales and growth officer at Cetera. "Cetera is positioned well to help advisors navigate today's changes as a trusted wealth hub partner. We expect continued positive momentum as advisors appreciate the value in Cetera's growth and succession resources, enhanced advisor tech stack and a personalized experience where they never feel like a number."

Key first quarter affiliations include:

The first quarter momentum follows a record 2022, when Cetera attracted $13 billion in organic recruiting and Cetera Investment Services onboarded 11 financial institutions. Visit www.cetera.com for more information.

About Cetera Financial Group

An at-scale wealth hub, Cetera Financial Group (Cetera) offers financial professionals and institutions the latest solutions, support, and services. Breaking away from a commoditized and homogenous IBD model, Cetera instead creatively addresses advisors' and institutions' unique needs, whether they are seeking to grow, scale, or transition with a merger, sale, investment, or succession plan. Cetera proudly serves independent financial advisors, tax professionals, licensed administrators, large enterprises, as well as institutions, such as banks and credit unions, providing an established and repeatable blueprint for scalable growth.

Cetera's approach empowers advisors to affiliate in whichever way they deem most appropriate. During the professional life cycle of their practice, the Cetera wealth hub helps to ensure each advisor's affiliation model identifies and ignites growth levers in a way that helps increase the value of their practice, people, and legacy. Cetera delivers holistic, unbiased financial planning and advice to Main Street investors, helping them achieve their version of financial wellbeing at all life stages. For financial professionals, Cetera provides growth and succession resources, an enhanced advisor tech stack and importantly, an experience where financial professionals don't feel like a number, but an integral part of Cetera's rich and thriving ecosystem.

Home to more than 8,000 financial professionals and their teams, Cetera oversees approximately $322 billion in assets under administration and $115 billion in assets under management, as of December 31, 2022 . In a recent advisor satisfaction survey of more than 14,000 reviews, Cetera's Voice of Customer (VoC) program vigorously measures advisor experience and satisfaction 24/7. Currently, it's ranked 4.7 out of 5 stars.

Visit www.cetera.com, and follow Cetera on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

"Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), and Cetera Financial Specialists LLC. All firms are FINRA/SIPC members. Located at: 655 W. Broadway , 11th Floor, San Diego , CA 92101.

Individuals affiliated with Cetera firms are either Registered Representatives who offer only brokerage services and receive transaction-based compensation (commissions), Investment Adviser Representatives who offer only investment advisory services and receive fees based on assets, or both Registered Representatives and Investment Adviser Representatives, who can offer both types of services.

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SOURCE Cetera Financial Group
GUANGZHOU, China , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- China's pursuit of high-quality development will produce notable positive spillover effects for the global economy, facilitating trade and contributing to global decarbonization efforts, according to participants at an ongoing international forum in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou .

The conference, Understanding China -- Greater Bay Area Dialogue, themed "Chinese modernization and new opportunities for the world" and scheduled from April 18 to 20, has attracted celebrated figures from the global political, academic and economic communities, from both home and abroad.

Fred Hu , chairman of Primavera Capital Group, said that China's high-quality development is of great significance to promoting production and foreign trade, and ensuring the security of the global supply chain.

" China's economic strength has improved significantly over 40 years of rapid growth, and now it has assumed an increasingly bigger role in the world economy," Hu said.

He cited the fact that China's gross domestic product accounted for 18.5 percent of the global total in 2021, much higher than the 7.7 percent registered in 2001.

Gordon Brown , former prime minister of the United Kingdom , also acknowledged China's contribution to the global economy, saying that the country's rapid growth is something that any Western finance minister "can only dream of".

Along with its economic takeoff, China has now become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, cementing its position as the largest country in global trade in goods, Hu noted.

The country's rise within the global trade system is supported not only by its big population, vast territory and large economic scale, but also its enabling business environment and institutional arrangements made in the form of trade agreements, Hu said.

Singapore's Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong echoed Hu's words, predicting that ASEAN will seize the opportunities arising from China's continued growth by upgrading the ASEAN-China free-trade agreement.

A substantive upgrade to the agreement will pave the way for deeper regional economic integration and a stronger rules-based multilateral trading system, Goh said.

Looking forward, Hu said he believes that China's continuous efforts in expanding opening-up will boost the confidence of overseas businesses and forge more stable and sustainable trade and investment ties.

Another important part of China's high-quality development is green development, which Hu believes means achieving zero carbon emission goals as soon as possible and acting as a bellwether in addressing climate change.

Laurence Tubiana , chief executive officer of the European Climate Foundation, said that China is now a global champion of clean energy.

The country's pursuit of the dual carbon goals, its pace of deployment of renewable energy and the development of electrical vehicles are all very promising signs, Tubiana added.

"The world needs China to make decarbonization affordable, and that's what China has done in the past for a good number of clean energies," said Tubiana.

China should complete the energy transition at an early date, further consolidate its position as a global leader in climate change response and promote the sustainable development of the world, according to Hu.

To that end, China should leverage green technology, scale up support for decarbonization and green finance, and increase the share of renewables in the energy mix, Hu said.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinas-high-quality-development-to-have-positive-spillover-effects-301802804.html

SOURCE Understanding China - GBA Dialogue
IRVING, Texas , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rely Credit, a subsidiary of financial innovator TF Holdings, Inc. has hired Dan Taggart as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In this new role, Dan will lead this relatively new company's growth and profitability strategies using his vast knowledge gained from spending over 25 years in the consumer lending industry.

In his last corporate executive role at Regional Management Corp., Dan was the Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Risk Officer leading the growth and success of the business for over 5 years. Prior to that, Dan was Executive Vice President of Agility 360, a financial services consultancy. Dan also spent over 11 years at Citigroup, holding a variety of positions including Senior Vice President and Senior Credit Officer, among others. While at Citigroup, Dan managed multiple default operational units supporting various aspects of mortgage servicing and loss mitigation.

"Having launched Rely Credit over a year ago, we are excited for Dan to take the lead to build Rely Credit through our retail footprint with key partners serving the Hispanic marketplace. His role will be critical to the future success of our company and Dan's experience is a perfect fit for this position," said Martin J. Wong , Chairman and CEO of TF Holdings, Inc.

Dan said, "I'm looking forward to bringing my knowledge and experience to this new position and creating a plan for growing Rely Credit. I am grateful to be joining a company that sees the value in serving this growing community."

Rely Credit is a consumer lender using the financial technology of its affiliates to offer bilingual loans that are convenient and affordable to the underserved and unbanked communities.

About Rely Credit

Rely Credit provides retail loan products that are affordable, help establish credit and are inclusive of all members in the communities we serve, regardless of credit experience. Rely Credit is a fully owned subsidiary of TF Holdings, Inc. TF Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary companies provides credit and financial wellness tools to consumers, and licenses loan origination, risk underwriting and loan management software to lenders. The company is based in Irving, Texas .

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SOURCE Rely Credit
YPSILANTI, Mich. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eastern Michigan University's Board of Regents today ( April 20 ) gave approval to the University to finalize an innovative utilities and infrastructure partnership that will deliver significant and lasting enhancements to the overall campus experience for students, faculty and staff. The partnership will generate a multi-million-dollar influx of outside funds to the University to:

Further support Eastern's strong sustainability efforts and energy conservation measures, while making the University even more "green";

Provide immediate and long-term solutions to deferred maintenance of older buildings and modernize the aging utility infrastructure; and,

Create a continuous income stream to support academic programs and strategic enrollment and retention initiatives, while including a distinctive opportunity for students, faculty and staff to develop projects to support enrollment and retention objectives.

"The higher education environment is as challenged as it has ever been in my 14 years as a university president," said Eastern Michigan University President James Smith . "Institutions must become nimbler and more creative than ever to identify new sources of revenue to invest in student and employee success.

"This innovative initiative will deliver significant and sustainable enhancements to the overall campus experience for students, faculty and staff. The University will immediately begin working to implement the full scope of projects under this partnership, with some of the enhancements taking place within a matter of months. Others will roll out over time in the months and years ahead and will benefit the University for decades in the future."

Similar partnerships have been formed at universities across the country, such as Ohio State University, University of Iowa, Georgetown University, University of Idaho, Louisiana State University.

How it works

Eastern Michigan University has entered into a 50-year partnership with Eagle Energy Partners, a consortium consisting of CenTrio Energy , Noresco , and Burns & McDonnell , all of which bring deep energy-sector expertise to modernize utility systems and improve sustainability efforts.

Eastern and Eagle Energy Partners have identified a series of projects that will result in reductions in energy use and in operating costs, while enhancing the redundancy and reliability of the University's electrical grid and its capacity.

Under the agreement, Eastern will receive approximately $115 million (final amount to be determined on financial close later this summer) to address the following needs:

Reduce existing University debt by $25 million , which will generate approximately $1 million in annual debt service savings.

, which will generate approximately in annual debt service savings. Provide $90 million for the University to establish the Strategic Initiatives Fund , which is projected to generate $5 million annually in investment returns.

Other key elements of the partnership:

Eagle Energy Partners will invest $20-25 million of its own funds in immediate infrastructure improvements, which will generate approximately $900,000 annually in utility and operations savings for the University.

will invest of its own funds in immediate infrastructure improvements, which will generate approximately annually in utility and operations savings for the University. Eagle Energy Partners will invest $26 million of its own funds (pending final agreements) in energy conservation projects, which will generate $1-1.5 million in annual utility and operations savings for the University.

will invest of its own funds (pending final agreements) in energy conservation projects, which will generate in annual utility and operations savings for the University. Eastern will pay Eagle Energy Partners $5.3 million annually to manage, operate, maintain and improve the University's utility infrastructure.

Taking into account the investment returns, debt savings, utility and operational savings, and the University's payment to the partner, the overall annual net benefit to the University will be $2.7 - 3.2 million.

Eagle Energy Partners was selected for the project by Gilbane , EMU's master developer. Gilbane is the construction and development firm leading the University's new $200 million residential housing transformation, " Welcome Home 2025 ."

Strategic Initiatives Fund

The $2.7-3.2 million in annual net benefit to the University generated by the partnership will be used to support faculty and academic programs; student persistence and retention; and, enrollment and student recruitment efforts.

A portion of the $2.7-3.2 million will be dedicated to a campus-wide effort to seek proposals from departments and offices to fund initiatives that are designed to help accomplish goals outlined in the University's Strategic Plan and/or increase student enrollment.

The University's Budget Council offered suggestions for how such a proposal process could be designed and implemented. Once the process is further developed, which is expected to be finalized this fall, details will be communicated to campus.

Impact of energy efficiency and conservation measures

Under the partnership, Eastern will realize an estimated 217,000+ MMBtu reduction (MMBtu is an abbreviation for one million British thermal units). This projection is based on the approximate 35% reduction in natural gas and electrical consumption under the plan for the entire campus. This reduction is equivalent to the following:

Greenhouse gas emissions from 2,500+ gasoline-powered vehicles for one year

CO2 emissions from 1,340,000+ gallons of gasoline consumed

CO2 emissions from 2,300+ homes' electricity use for one year

EMU expects to see, over time, an improvement to its STARS Rating (Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System). EMU was awarded a Bronze rating in 2022, placing the University in the top 5% of colleges in the U.S. for sustainability efforts. Projections indicate that under the partnership there is a potential to improve the rating from Bronze to Gold, nearly doubling EMU's score.

Under the partnership, certain infrastructure improvements will begin immediately. For additional details and a list of benefits for students, please visit the University's utilities and sustainability partnership website.

The University's facilities team will continue to support the campus utility infrastructure and buildings as it currently does due to its deep understanding of the system. The six EMU employees who work in the Energy Center will have the opportunity to remain employed by EMU working in the Energy Center or begin working for the partner  the choice rests with each employee.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan . It currently serves more than 14,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Engineering and Technology; Health and Human Services; and its graduate school. National publications regularly recognize EMU for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. Visit the University's rankings and points of pride websites to learn more. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website. To stay up to date on University news, activities and announcements, visit EMU Today.

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SOURCE Eastern Michigan University
New guaranteed savings program will help decarbonize critical buildings and provide capital improvements while supporting operations and maintenance

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (NVFEL) in Ann Arbor, Michigan , selected energy and sustainable solutions provider NORESCO to implement a new decarbonization program through an energy savings performance contract (ESPC). NORESCO is part of Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions.

The new ESPC program includes $130 million of energy efficiency improvements, critical infrastructure upgrades and comprehensive operations and maintenance services over a 22-year term. NORESCO has been partnering with EPA NVFEL for more than 20 years through an ESPC including comprehensive operations, repair and replacement services.

NVFEL is an integral part of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality. It is a state-of-the-art facility that provides emission testing services for motor vehicle, heavy-duty engine and nonroad engine programs in support of rulemakings, enforcement actions and test procedures development.

This ESPC program will help NVFEL make progress toward Executive Order 14057, which sets policy goals for the federal government to lead by example with carbon reduction. The improvements are projected to reduce the facility's energy consumption by 39%, cutting annual emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents by 3,150 metric tons, which equates to the carbon sequestered by 3,700 acres of U.S. forests in one year. They are also projected to reduce the facility's water consumption by 16%.

NVFEL's emissions testing is conducted under precise temperature and humidity conditions that cannot tolerate interruption resulting from systems downtime. NORESCO's work will benefit NVFEL's mission by installing new, more resilient, highly efficient boiler and chiller plants and advanced building energy management control systems. Additionally, the program includes comprehensive replacement of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems nearing the end of their service lives and serving laboratories throughout the facility.

"We are thrilled to continue our long-term partnership with the EPA and are eager to implement these energy solutions to meet the Ann Arbor laboratory's requirements while helping the federal government make progress toward its decarbonization goals," said Doug Sattler , Senior Vice President, Federal, NORESCO.

NORESCO's partnership with the EPA supports Carrier's 2030 Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) goals to help reduce its customers' carbon footprint by more than 1 gigaton.

NORESCO's work is enabled through the U.S. Department of Energy's ESPC Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. For more information, visit www.noresco.com.

About NORESCO

NORESCO, a part of Carrier Global Corporation, helps clients adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change by decarbonizing, modernizing and electrifying aging infrastructure to be more sustainable and resilient. By deploying innovative distributed energy, storage and renewable energy solutions, NORESCO improves the health and efficiency of existing campuses, buildings and communities. To date, NORESCO has guaranteed more than $5 billion in energy and operating cost savings at more than 10,000 facilities while reducing customer CO 2 emissions by more than 25 million metric tons  the equivalent to planting 1.4 million acres of forest. For more information, visit www.noresco.com.

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SOURCE NORESCO
BEIJING , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 7 th The TOJOY Science and Technology Association celebrated its first anniversary in Beijing . The association is comprised of scientific and tech workers within Chinese business accelerator TOJOY and the Beijing Association for Science and Technology's membership. The association leverages innovative technology to empower the scaling and upgrading of enterprises through TOJOY's acceleration platform.

The association was founded last year at the TOJOY Association Congress. TOJOY CEO Ge Jun served as the chairman of the congress's first committee. In July of the same year, Ge Jun was elected as a member of the Tenth Committee of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology.

At the anniversary meeting, Ge Jun commented on TOJOY's consistent support and enablement of the promotion of innovative technology in business as a key part of value creation and enterprise competitiveness.

As of 2022 TOJOY had hosted more than 12,000 online and offline innovation project roadshows, promoting more than 9,000 science and tech innovations in partnership with TOJOY Boss Cloud and innovative companies accelerated on the TOJOY platform.

According to the company, TOJOY's business acceleration platform was built with scientific innovation as a key contributor to the success of the enterprises accelerated on its service platform. Cooperation and exchanges between entrepreneurs have been increasingly stimulated as the company has integrated innovative tech and practices into its platform, helping thousands of member businesses to transform and upgrade their business models. Such digital programs include TOJOY's Boss Code Business Card and Yuan Universe Live Studio .

At the event Ge also announced TOJOY's Science and Technology Innovation Pioneer List. The list will recognize entrepreneurs, scientists, and researchers for their contributions to innovation in China . The upcoming list announcement is promoted as an opportunity for high-quality, high-value networking and exchange for those in China's science and technology industries.

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SOURCE TOJOY SHARED HOLDING GROUP
CHICAGO , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Katten announced today that the firm commemorated a decade of service with the Katten Legal Clinic at Chicago Public Schools' Jose de Diego Community Academy in collaboration with Legal Aid Chicago, the Midwest's largest provider of free civil legal services.

"Our Katten de Diego Legal Clinic is the crown jewel of our pro bono program." - Jonathan Baum , Katten's senior counsel

"Our Katten de Diego Legal Clinic is the crown jewel of our pro bono program. It exemplifies our commitment to provide high-quality legal services to those who desperately need them but can't afford to pay for them," said Jonathan K. Baum , Katten's Director of Pro Bono Services. "I salute the talented attorneys and paralegals who have helped our clients navigate tough situations in tough times. And we are so grateful to our partners at Legal Aid Chicago, without whom this work would not be possible."

The Katten clinic is one of the nation's first legal aid clinics in an urban public school, an initiative that was recognized in 2016 with an American Bar Association (ABA) Pro Bono Publico Award.

"Legal Aid Chicago is proud to partner with Katten and the Jose de Diego Community Academy to deliver critical legal services to the Humboldt Park community. The Katten de Diego Legal Clinic provides an opportunity for people to receive help and have their stories heard within their own neighborhood, making legal aid accessible to those who need it the most," said Melissa A. Bartolomei , supervisory attorney of Pro Bono and Community Partnerships at Legal Aid Chicago. "We are grateful to the attorneys and paralegals at Katten for their unfailing dedication to this clinic and the clients we serve."

Services at the walk-in clinic are cost-free and offered monthly throughout the year. Since opening in 2013, the clinic has served more than 1,000 individuals and families, principally residents of the city's Humboldt Park and Wicker Park neighborhoods.

Katten and Legal Aid Chicago attorneys have worked one-on-one with clinic clients on a range of civil matters involving issues related to family law, housing and consumer disputes, public benefits and expungement of criminal records. During the pandemic, the clinic shifted to virtual meetings with clients. Last year, in-person operations resumed.

"The Diego community is so fortunate to have our partnership with Katten. We have referred so many of our students' parents for legal support over the years, which provides the wraparound support our families so desperately need," said Jose de Diego Community Academy Principal Jacqueline Menoni . "I am proud to have this wonderful connection and feel really lucky we can house this great service inside our school building."

In a multifaceted partnership with the school, Katten also has donated school supplies for elementary school students throughout the neighborhood, organized holiday book drives and participated in the Lawyers in the Classroom program, which helps students better understand the legal system and learn about law-related careers.

Katten is a full-service law firm with approximately 700 attorneys in locations across the United States and in London and Shanghai . Clients seeking sophisticated, high-value legal services turn to Katten for counsel locally, nationally and internationally. The firm's core areas of practice include corporate, financial markets and funds, insolvency and restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, structured finance and securitization, transactional tax planning, private credit and private wealth. Katten represents public and private companies in numerous industries, as well as a number of government and nonprofit organizations and individuals. For more information, visit katten.com .

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SOURCE Katten
World-class franchisor expands its growing portfolio with its first investment of 2023

RICHMOND, Va. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Empower Brands , multi-brand franchisor of premium commercial and residential services, announced today that Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows will be joining its growing portfolio of brands. This marks Empower Brands' first additions to its portfolio since rebranding late last year. The addition of these industry leading brands brings Empower to nine total brands under its umbrella and will add 115 franchisees to its ever-growing network.

"Since uniting our organizations under the Empower umbrella, we've set out on a mission to expand our portfolio with industry leading brands to better provide for our customers and franchise owners. As successful emerging franchise brands with cultures akin to Empower Brands, Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows make the perfect addition to our growing family of brands," said Scott Zide , CEO of Empower Brands. "With a focus on championing the success of our franchisees, Empower Brands will help position Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows for continued rapid growth and strengthen the training and support provided to the franchisees."

Founded in 2020 by Scott Marr , Koala Insulation is a nationally established franchise based in Melbourne, Florida that provides high-quality insulation services. Since its launch, the brand has expanded to over 100 franchisees serving 400 territories nationwide and received major recognitions and accolades, including Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 and 2023 Fastest Growing Franchise lists. Marr's second franchise business, Wallaby Windows, was launched in early 2022 as an emerging brand specializing in replacement windows and door. After establishing a strong proof of concept in its home market, Wallaby Windows recently announced plans to expand nationwide through franchising, plans that Empower Brands is perfectly suited to help support.

"Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows have already experienced exceptional growth, and the support and resources under Empower Brands will allow us to expand even further," said Scott Marr , founder and CEO of Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows. "Empower Brands has a proven track record for not only growing brands but fostering a franchisee-first culture. By joining forces with Empower Brands, I'm confident we can accelerate our growth even more and strengthen the training and support we provide our franchise owners. I'm excited to continue the growth and know that our brands will continue to thrive with the support of Empower behind us."

The two brands join JAN-PRO , Intelligent Office , FRSTeam , Archadeck Outdoor Living , Outdoor Lighting Perspectives , Conserva Irrigation and Superior Fence & Rail as part of Empower's growing portfolio. Following the company's rebrand last year which united the world-class organizations formerly known as Lynx Franchising and Outdoor Living Brands to form Empower Brands, Koala Insulation and Wallaby Windows mark Empower's first investment and moves the business towards its goal of 12 or more brands by the close of 2023.

To learn more about franchising with Empower Brands, visit EmpowerFranchising.com .

About Empower Brands

Empower Brands was founded in 2022 as a product of the integration of Lynx Franchising and Outdoor Living Brands. Empower encompasses seven industry-leading brands across commercial and residential services: JAN-PRO, Intelligent Office, FRSTeam, Archadeck Outdoor Living, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP), Conserva Irrigation and Superior Fence & Rail. Empower is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest quality products and services in the commercial and home services industries while simultaneously delivering its franchise owners committed personal support, tools and empowerment to pursue their own success. Empower Brands is a portfolio company of MidOcean Partners, a leading private equity firm with an excellent track record investing in successful, growth-focused franchise businesses. For more about Empower Brands, visit the company's website at EmpowerFranchising.com .

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SOURCE Empower Brands
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang will attend the opening ceremony of the Lanting Forum on Chinese Modernization and the World to be held at the Grand Halls in Shanghai on Friday and deliver a keynote speech, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced here Thursday.

The forum is expected to host foreign dignitaries, prestigious experts and scholars, business leaders, foreign diplomatic envoys and representatives of international organizations in China and representatives from international media.

The forum is jointly organized by the China Public Diplomacy Association, the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. Under the theme of "Chinese Modernization and the World," the forum consists of three panel sessions and a luncheon with the business community for in-depth exchanges on topics including the new development of China, better global governance, closer people-to-people exchanges and pursuing high-standard opening up. 
Launching Earth Week, LG Innovation Brings Advanced Performance, Design, Enhanced Energy Efficiency to U.S. Home Water Heating Market

ALPHARETTA, Ga. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Electronics USA has officially launched the much-anticipated LG Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater, helping homeowners save money and reduce energy usage and their carbon footprint. Ushering in new innovations in water heating, this energy efficient hot water solution combines heat pump technology with LG's advanced smart control systems, raising the bar for residential water heaters.

Designed for eco-conscious homeowners, LG's ENERGY STAR certified Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater delivers hot water with an impressive Uniform Energy Factor of 3.75 UEF, the industry standard for measuring water heater efficiency -- a more efficient rating than conventional gas and electric resistance water heaters. With a robust set of high-performance features and trailblazing design, LG's Inverter Heat Pump Water heater provides homeowners with impressive energy savings of up to 70 percent compared to conventional electric water heaters.

The Earth Week 2023 launch of LG's advanced new all-electric heat-pump water heater coincides with the company joining the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a key initiative paving the way to America's clean energy future. LG also is an active member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR Manufacturers Action Council and participates in the Advanced Water Heater Initiative.

This new product minimizes the need for supplemental electric resistance heat, providing an additional opportunity for electrical consumption savings, due to its wide operating range (23F to 120F ambient temperatures). Complete with LG ThinQ technology, Wi-Fi capability, and smartphone control for ease of scheduling and monitoring, the LG Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater is and unique and efficient option for homeowners.

Incorporating LG's inverter heat pump technology, the new product utilizes a highly efficient Dual Inverter Compressor, which maximizes power in Turbo Mode for a 30 percent faster heating time than in standard operating mode. Thanks to its inverter compressor, LG's water heater operates at a quiet sound level for homeowners looking to maintain a quiet environment.

The LG Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater entered the market as an energy-efficient alternative to electric resistance and gas water heaters. Along with the U.S. EPA's latest standards on water heaters,1 the LG's heat pump water heater was designed to meet the growing demand for electric solutions as part of the broader decarbonization movement. The groundbreaking ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade program encourages the use of ENERGY STAR-certified heat pump water heaters as a way for homeowners to move towards a clean energy future2.

According to the U.S. EPA, water heaters can use about 20 percent of a home's energy,3 and switching to an energy efficient water heater is a way for homeowners to lower their home's carbon footprint while reducing energy use and heating cost. As an ENERGY STAR-certified product, LG's Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater is an energy efficient hot water solution with the benefits of inverter compressor technology, taking water heaters to the next level.

"More homeowners are switching to energy-efficient heat pump technology as the market's movement towards electrification continues to grow, and LG is innovating the water heater category to deliver more eco-friendly options for consumers," said LG Electronics USA Senior Vice President Steve Scarbrough . "With its unique design and outstanding performance, the LG Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater provides a new solution for residential water heating and a highly efficient alternative to electric resistance or gas water heaters. LG continues to advance the heat pump water heaters and HVAC categories, delivering the benefits of inverter compressor technology, such as quiet operation and intuitive control."

Since it was previewed ahead of this month's launch, LG's Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater has garnered numerous awards for its high performance and innovation including accolades from the National Association of Home Builders, and media outlets such as Architizer magazine, Green Builder, The Architect's Newspaper, Architectural Products, Residential Products and more.

To learn more about the LG Inverter Heat Pump Water Heater, visit LG's HVAC site HERE. For more information about LG's full portfolio of heating and cooling solutions and controls, visit lghvac.com.

1 https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/through-public-private-partnerships-epa-helps-advance-efficiency-and-reduce-emissions

2 https://www.energystar.gov/about/how_energy_star_protects_environment/clean_energy_future

3https://www.energystar.gov/products/energy_star_home_upgrade/super_efficient_water_heater

About LG Air Conditioning Technologies USA

LG Electronics USA's Air Conditioning Technologies business is based in Alpharetta, Ga. LG is a leading player in the global air conditioning market, manufacturing both commercial and residential air conditioners and building management solutions. From consumer and individual units to industrial and specialized air conditioning systems, LG provides a wide range of products for heating, ventilating and air conditioning. The company's industry-leading variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology minimizes efficiency losses, provides sustainable energy savings and offers some of the lowest lifecycle costs compared to other systems on the market today. Ten-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, LG Electronics USA (based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc., a $68 billion global technology and manufacturing. For more information, please visit lghvac.com.

Media Contacts:

LG Electronics USA

John I. Taylor

+1 202 719 3490

[email protected]

Kim Regillio

+1 815 355 0509

[email protected]

Brian Miseo

+1 862 485 1764

[email protected]

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SOURCE LG Electronics USA
C$ unless otherwise stated TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

TORONTO , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife has released an updated template for its statistical information package (SIP), which will be used in connection with the reporting of Manulife's first quarter of 2023 financial results on May 10, 2023 . The SIP has been updated primarily to reflect the adoption of IFRS 17 "insurance contracts" and IFRS 9 "financial instruments" effective January 1, 2023 . An accompanying summary of changes to the SIP has also been made available to further assist users in understanding the updated presentation.

The SIP template and accompanying summary of changes are available in the IFRS 17 section of Manulife's investor relations website: manulife.com/en/investors/results-and-reports.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada , we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada , Asia , and Europe , and primarily as John Hancock in the United States . Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2022, we had more than 40,000 employees, over 116,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 34 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto , New York , and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong .

Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com .

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SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation
The award continues to acknowledge the female chefs paving the way for future industry leaders

One of the most important figures in Mexican gastronomy, and chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City , Elena Reygadas is awarded this year's accolade, voted for by a global panel of experts

, is awarded this year's accolade, voted for by a global panel of experts Named Latin America's Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas is a passionate advocate of Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production

Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas is a passionate advocate of Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production The chef has recently launched a scholarship programme in Mexico for young women studying gastronomy to encourage the female leaders of the future

LONDON , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the first of this year's pre-announced awards, The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 today reveals that Elena Reygadas , chef-owner of Rosetta in Mexico City , has been named as The World's Best Female Chef 2023. Since being recognised as Latin America's Best Female Chef in 2014, Reygadas has become one of the most important figures within Mexican gastronomy.

A passionate advocate for Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production, she has recently launched a female-focused scholarship programme in Mexico with the aim to promote greater gender parity in kitchens. With the goal of championing equal opportunities and strengthening the leadership of Mexican women in the gastronomic world, the 'Beca Elena Reygadas' scholarship is open to Mexican students who have been accepted into a culinary school.

Hailing from a large family, Reygadas learnt to cook as a child and later went on to study English Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico . However, she never stopped cooking  Reygadas worked in restaurants throughout her studies and continued cooking at home; several years of dedicated practice led her to become a chef after finishing university. Studying in New York led to four years in London under the tutelage of Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli , before returning to Mexico City to open Rosetta, today celebrated as one of the best in the city.

Rosetta opened in a beautiful mansion house in Mexico City's Roma district in 2010, serving an elegant menu that focuses on revamping traditional Mexican dishes. With a daily changing offering thanks to its focus on seasonal, local ingredients sourced from small producers, it placed at No.60 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 list and No.37 in Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2022.

From her speciality of exquisite hand-made pastas which helped Reygadas make her name  such as the hoja santa tortelinni  to favourites like the pistachio pipian and romeritos taco, and the fresh corn tamal serviced with warm smoked cream, her inspired dishes seek to elevate and celebrate indigenous ingredients.

As well as an adjacent Rosetta bakery, which provides bread to many of Mexico City's leading restaurants, Reygadas also runs casual Mexican restaurant Lardo and bistro Cafe Nin, both in the capital. Her first cookbook was published in 2019, with a focus not just on recipes and the philosophy behind them, but on Mexican ingredients, in particular the environment and traditions that shape them.

William Drew , Director of Content for The World's 50 Best Restaurants, says: "It's an honour to bestow The World's Best Female Chef award this year on Elena Reygadas , a chef who is paving the way for future generations of female leaders in Mexico and beyond. With her advocacy of traditional dishes and indigenous biodiversity, Reygadas is promoting the future of Mexican gastronomy and we're proud to support her mission with this prestigious award."

Reygadas says: "I'm very grateful and honoured to have been awarded by people I admire so much. Cooking is a communal practice. And so, for me, this award belongs to my entire team, as well as to all the women in the kitchen who have preserved our culinary legacy for generations."

The World's Best Female Chef 2023 award is the first of several awards to be revealed ahead of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2023 awards ceremony in Valencia , which will be held at Les Arts opera house, part of the city's modernist City of Arts and Sciences complex, on the evening of Tuesday 20th June. This year's programme will include a series of key events which have become the cornerstone of 50 Best Restaurants celebrations: thought-leadership forum #50BestTalks; the 50 Best Signature Sessions series of collaborative dining events open to the public; a Chefs' Feast showcasing the finest produce and cooking from the Spanish region, all culminating in the awards ceremony and countdown itself.

The world's most renowned chefs will also impart their knowledge to local culinary students through a 50 Best educational event, as 50 Best continues its mission to amplify diverse voices and positive messages, foster progressive discussion and cross-border collaboration, and encourage greater gastronomic discovery and exploration.

For media centre access, please visit:

https://mediacentre.theworlds50best.com

50 Best Social Media

About The World's 50 Best Restaurants

Since 2002, The World's 50 Best Restaurants has reflected the diversity of the world's culinary landscape. The annual list of the world's most prestigious restaurants provides a snapshot of some of the best destinations for unique culinary experiences, in addition to being a barometer for and a pioneer of global gastronomic trends. The 50 Best family also includes Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants, The World's 50 Best Hotels, The World's 50 Best Bars, Asia's 50 Best Bars, North America's 50 Best Bars, 50 Best Discovery and the #50BestTalks series, all of which are owned and run by William Reed . 50 Best aims to bring together communities across the hospitality sector to foster collaboration, inclusivity, diversity and discovery and help drive positive change.

About the host destination: Visit Valencia

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain with more than 800,000 inhabitants. Bathed by the waters of the Mediterranean, it is clean and green, thanks to multiple urban parks, and boasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year. Its rich Mediterranean cuisine is based on local produce from the orchard that surround the city and nourish its markets, bars and restaurants. In addition, Valencia is the birthplace of the most international Spanish dish: paella. It is a perfect city to enjoy at any time of the year thanks to all its Unesco Heritage attractions such as: the Lonja de la Seda, the Tribunal de las Aguas or the Fallas. Valencia is at the forefront of sustainable projects that have earned it several international awards such as European Smart City 2022, as well as European Green Capital 2024.

About the main sponsor: S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna

S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the main partners of The World's 50 Best Restaurants and 50 Best for Recovery. S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna are the leading natural mineral waters in the fine dining world. Together they interpret Italian style worldwide as a synthesis of excellence, pleasure and well-being.





Our partners:

Visit Valencia  Official Host Destination Partner

 Official Host Destination Partner S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna  Main Partner & Official Water Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Restaurant

&  Main Partner & Official Water Partner; sponsor of Estrella Damm  Official Beer Partner; sponsor of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award

 Official Beer Partner; sponsor of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award American Express Resy  Official Credit Card & Booking Platform Partner (Resy); sponsor of the American Express One To Watch Award

Gin Mare  Official Gin Partner ; sponsor of the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award

 Official ; sponsor of the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award Flor de Cana  Official Rum Partner; sponsor of the Flor de Cana Sustainable Restaurant Award

 Official Rum Partner; sponsor of the Flor de Cana Award Sosa  Official Ingredients Partner; sponsor of The World's Best Pastry Chef Award

Beronia  Official Wine Partner; sponsor of the Beronia World's Best Sommelier Award

Best Sommelier Award Aspire Lifestyles  Official Concierge Partner

Dassai Sake  Official Sake Partner

Tequila Ocho  Official Tequila Partner

illycaffe  Official Coffee Partner

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co.  Official Whiskey of the World Partner

 Official Whiskey of the World Partner Techlam  Official Premium Worktop Partner

Cinco Jotas  Official Iberico Ham Partner

Nude Glassware  Official Glassware Partner

Jaen Seleccion  Official Olive Oil Partner

Villa Massa  Official Limoncello and Amaretto Partner; sponsor of Villa Massa Highest Climber Award

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2048498/World_50Best_Restaurants_2023_Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2048202/50_Best_Female_chef.jpg

PDF - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2054678/World_50Best_Restaurants_2023.pdf

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SOURCE 50 Best
PrairieCare, a division of Newport Healthcare, joins forces with leading healthcare providers in Minnesota to roll out a new data-sharing initiative across the state

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Minnesota healthcare system combats a surge in demand for mental health services, the state faces a boarding situation crisis in hospitals and emergency departments. The number of youths in psychiatric crisis who are boarding in hospitals and emergency departments has soared in recent yearsone study found that the number of kids stuck in ERs awaiting mental health treatment tripled between 2019 and 2021and stays are getting longer. The reason: more than 80% of Minnesota counties are designated as areas with a mental health treatment shortage.

In the face of this challenge, PrairieCare, one of the nation's most innovative, fastest-growing psychiatric health systems, in partnership with the Metro Health and Medical Preparedness Coalition, AspireMN, and the Minnesota Department of Health, announced today the launch of the state's first Mental Health Collaboration Hub. The Mental Health Collaboration Hub is a free online resource available 24/7 for care settings that connects hospitals with mental health treatment providers across Minnesota , to share real-time information that helps match youth with available therapeutic treatment.

"We have a remarkable community of providers who are innovative, determined, and compassionate," said Todd Archbold , CEO of PrairieCare. "The Hub is the result of a grassroots effort to decompress hospitals so that we can provide better mental health care, faster."

More than 80% of the youth admitted to PrairieCare's inpatient and residential programs come from boarding situations. "We need to invest in upstream solutions that prevent crisis and develop thoughtful care pathways," said Archbold.

According to Kirsten Anderson with AspireMN, "Due to the lack of treatment options, children are now boarding in county administration buildings, held in juvenile detention, and other areas while they wait for appropriate care." In fact, many kids spend days boarding, and in some cases up to several months, a situation with sometimes devastating results.

Innovative, yet relatively simple in concept, the Mental Health Collaboration Hub allows hospitals to input de-identified case information for youth who are boarding in their system, and the Hub will match them to treatment settings across the state. The system also displays trend data in a dashboard that includes ages, diagnosis, guardianship status, treatment recommendations, and more. In addition to innovative reporting, case matching, and automation tools, the Metro Health and Medical Preparedness Coalition facilitates weekly video calls to discuss cases and treatment options in depth. This allows users within the Hub to strengthen their network and monitor trends in real-time.

The Mental Health Collaboration Hub has participation from over 90 organizations across Minnesota including the state's largest health systems, counties, and mental health treatment providers. Together, Minnesota's provider community has already identified over 100 children and adolescents in boarding situations. Of this group, 77 individuals have been discharged from inappropriate settings, and most of them are now receiving mental health treatment.

"These outcomes are a testament to the integral role that information exchange serves in identifying optimal care pathways in real time, a process that did not exist in an aggregated way between providers before," said Archbold.

The Mental Health Collaboration Hub joins another statewide initiative for healthcare providers known as the Psychiatric Assistance Line. This free service is available to any healthcare provider to call for mental health triage and referral, or for a consultation with a Board-Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist regarding a patient.

Both the Mental Health Collaboration Hub and the Psychiatric Assistance Line are provided through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and were spearheaded by PrairieCare leadership.

"Health systems and care providers across Minnesota have been collaborating to identify solutions for children in boarding situations, recognizing that this is a national crisis," said Archbold. "Both the Mental Health Collaboration Hub and Psychiatric Assistance Line are shining examples from the Minnesota healthcare community, and can be used as models for other states seeking to affect change and save young lives."

To learn more about PrairieCare or its programs, visit Prairie-Care.com.

About PrairieCare

PrairieCare, a division of Newport Healthcare, is one of the nation's most innovative, fastest-growing psychiatric health systems, offering psychiatric services for all ages, including free mental health screenings, clinic services, intensive outpatient programs (IOP), partial hospital programs (PHP) and residential services. PrairieCare is based in Minnesota , with nine locations across the Twin Cities metro area, Mankato and Rochester . For more information about services offered, visit prairie-care.com.

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SOURCE PrairieCare
Bipartisan Organization led by Republicans Olivia Troye , Former Freedom Caucus Member Denver Riggleman & Democrat Marcus Flowers Punches First in 2024 Congressional Fight with New Ad

"Blackshirts" Makes Direct Comparison Between Authoritarian Views of MAGA Freedom Caucus and Original Fascists

WASHINGTON , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a bipartisan effort, former homeland security advisor to Vice President Mike Pence and President George W. Bush appointee Olivia Troye , former U.S. Congressman Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), and former Congressional candidate Marcus Flowers , who ran against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (MAGA-Ga.), are launching Mission: Democracy, an organization that will use a combination of paid and earned media plus grassroots tactics to take the fight directly to MAGA Members of Congress in their home districts.

The organization's first salvo is the release of a new ad, "Blackshirts," which can be viewed [here].

"This is a public education campaign," said Ms. Troye . "Some vote for MAGA candidates because they think they are 'shaking things up' to make our country better. They are actually damaging our nation by electing individuals who cannot get anything done for local districts because they are too busy causing chaos. The greater problem is that this chaos is a smoke screen for promoting extremist policies aimed at removing the rights of those with whom they disagree, enriching themselves, and increasing their power."

Recently, MAGA Republicans in Congress brought Washington to its knees as they extracted concessions from Speaker Kevin McCarthy to pursue an extremist agenda.

"These extremist politicians play on people's emotions to win. They act like they are regular folks when they are worth far more than the people they claim to represent and would not be caught dead dining with anyone wearing a red hat," said Mr. Flowers .

Mission: Democracy is raising funds to play this ad in the home district of Rep. Greene . It plans to unleash education campaigns aimed very locally at MAGA Republicans in Congress. This makes the organization unique as many groups only release ads, but hardly take the fight locally.

Ms. Troye added, "I am proud to stand up for my country, our values, and all the freedoms we are afforded. It is my life's work. And while I never thought I would spend my days fighting extremists who are working to destroy America from the inside, that is where this fight has led. If they think they are going to use the name 'Republican' or even 'Congressman' as a vehicle for their hatred and extremism, they are mistaken. We are not going anywhere."

Mr. Riggleman , a founder, said, "Being new to politics when I entered Congress, I hoped when I joined the Freedom Caucus that discussions encouraging freedom of thought and expansive views on what it means to be American in our diverse nation would be foremost on their agenda. I was wrong. These elected members have a view of America that is narrow and based on a cult of personality rather than policy. Many have no reverence for America's legacy of beating back autocracy, communism, and fascism. Many have no appreciation or respect for institutions of our government that run contrary to a very narrow worldview. And many spread conspiratorial lies that weaken our democracy and embolden our enemies."

The term "Blackshirts" is a direct reference to the members of Benito Mussolini's squads. The primary font used in the ad is Mostra Nuova, which was used on Italian Art Deco posters in the 1930s. It was a favorite font of fascists and their propaganda in Italy . The ad reminds Americans that fascists first came to power by election. Once in office, they dismantled rights, especially those of women. We should believe MAGA politicians when they express their beliefs. They are not "crazy." They are intelligent, organized, and intent on creating an America in their image. It is one where lies are spread to slowly undermine trust in our electoral system and our courts. It is one where education is diminished and where ignorance is celebrated. It is one where totalitarianism by the Russian regime is encouraged, not fought.

MAGA embodies everything we fought to destroy during World War II and the Cold War.

It is un-American.

About Mission: Democracy

Mission: Democracy was founded by people who disagree on several important issues, former national security official Olivia Troye and former Member of Congress Denver Riggleman , Republicans and former Democrat Congressional candidate Marcus Flowers . It aims to educate the American people about the dangers the MAGA movement poses, congressional district by congressional district. Funds raised will go toward advertising, earned media efforts, and grassroots tactics. Former Biden speechwriter Mathew Littman serves as the organization's executive director.

PAID FOR BY MISSION DEMOCRACY PAC, MISSIONDEMOCRACY.ORG, AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE.

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Mission Democracy PAC
WASHINGTON , April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement from Eileen O'Reilly , president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein , president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, on the murder of radio journalist Dumesky Kersaint in Haiti on April 16 .

"We are extremely concerned about the recent murder of Haitian journalist Dumesky Kersaint, who was shot multiple times by a group of armed assailants. Our hearts go out to his family and his colleagues at Radio Te'le' Inurep. He was 30. Kersaint is the first Haitian journalist killed in 2023, although there have been kidnappings and beatings. Last year, eight journalists were killed in Haiti making it the third most dangerous place to be a journalist, behind only Ukraine and Mexico . This is a significant problem that must be addressed.

It is essential that there be a full and thorough investigation of the murder of Dumesky Kersaint, as soon as possible. Kersaint was known for covering social protests and was south of Port-au-Prince in Carrefour at the time he was killed. It is unclear from reports if he was the target of the shooting or if he was a victim of crossfire. We call on the United States , the United Nations and others to assist Haiti if needed with what is a huge challenge with respect to journalist safety."

Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major journalism organization and is a leading voice for press freedom worldwide.

The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with the skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. The NPCJI is the nonprofit affiliate of the National Press Club.

Contact: Bill McCarren , 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

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SOURCE National Press Club
MIAMI , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oceania Cruises , the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line, is delighted to partner with multi-award-winning whisky brand Chapter 7 on the creation of an exclusive 20-year-old small-batch cask of whisky to celebrate the launch of its stunning new ship, Vista, and the brand's 20th anniversary.

Just 304 bottles of the whisky will be drawn and will be available for purchase by guests sailing on board Vista during her inaugural season this summer.

This exciting partnership comes as part of a long-term collaboration with Oceania Cruises and cruise retail market leader Harding+.

"We are excited about the immersive approach that Harding+ and Chapter 7 are bringing to the launch of Vista and the continuing celebrations of our 20th anniversary," said Frank A. Del Rio , President of Oceania Cruises. "The importance of guest understanding is at the heart of this partnership, and innovative, emotional approaches in telling our brand stories, which engage all the senses, are at the heart of Oceania Cruises."

Sebastian Harding , Director of Operations at Chapter 7 Whisky, added, "We are honored to bring our 20-year aged special cask to such a special occasion for Oceania Cruises. We believe a cask is like a character in a novel, where the best ones tug at the heartstrings and don't let go. We believe our 304 specially curated bottles can play just that role of character for Vista's guests, as they discover something special that perfectly complements their cruise experience."

The 1,200-guest ship caters to inquisitive travelers, food and wine connoisseurs and affluent individuals, and Harding+'s quaternity model of working balances the cruise ship profile with guest needs, brand fit and insights, as well as Harding+ retail knowledge.

Paul Cunningham , Director of Buying from Harding+, explained: "We always strive to make every cruise better and the storytelling behind the uniqueness of this one-off approach is sure to grab the attention of discerning guests in both the content and the channels we are using to bring things to life. We know Oceania Cruises guests are curious travelers and this premium approach fits the Vista story and style."

To celebrate the production of this one-off cask, Harding+ has produced a special film that tells the story of luxury, rarity and the creative passion behind the whisky-making process. The film brings to life the cask selection process and the journey that flows from that through to the bottling, the nosing and the palate test.

The Harding+ Chapter 7 film can be viewed here.

About Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises is the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line. The line's seven small, luxurious ships carry a maximum of 1,238 guests and feature the finest cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries that span the globe. Expertly curated travel experiences aboard the designer-inspired, small ships call on more than 600 marquee and boutique ports in more than 100 countries on seven continents on voyages that range from seven to more than 200 days. The brand has a second 1,200-guest newbuild, Allura, on order for delivery in 2025. Oceania Cruises is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH). To learn more, visit www.nclhltd.com

About Harding+

Harding+ is the number 1 global cruise retailer by size, working as partners with 19 different cruise line operators across the globe, and with 115 cruise ships in operation or under contract.

We create memorable shopping experiences with a 'Quaternity' Partnership approach between our business, our cruise line partners, brand partners, and customers.

The business has central hubs in Bristol , Miami , and Sydney , employing over 900 staff on board ships, and 250 landside.

The 300+ shops Harding+ operates cover 17000 m2, and deliver over 4.4m transactions per year.

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SOURCE Oceania Cruises
Working with Hikvision, Oman Tower Company has equipped a telecom tower in the city of Salalah with two giant LED screens to broadcast community messages and advertising. The project  which was delivered in just one month  has cemented Oman Tower Company's reputation for technology innovation and leadership, as well as creating an additional revenue stream for the organization.

Challenges: converting a static telecom tower into a local attraction and revenue-generating asset

HANGZHOU, China , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Around the world, telecom towers are typically static, practical structures that exist only to support mobile transmission equipment. Until recently, this was the case at Oman Tower Company, which provides infrastructure to wireless telecommunication service operators and government entities in Oman on an 'open access' basis.

To add value to its telecom tower near the Clock Tower , a landmark of Salalah, the country's second largest city, Oman Tower Company decided to equip it with a huge LED display, which would broadcast community messages and adverts. As well as creating a new revenue stream for the company, the goal was to convert the tower into a local attraction, and a revenue-generating asset for the company.

The timing of the project was also critical, with a requirement to install the new screens in advance of the 52nd National Day of the Renaissance of Sultanate of Oman . Mohammed Nadeem , Business Development Manager for Hikvision in Oman , says, "With close collaboration between the Hikvision MENA team and our LED manufacturing operations team, we knew we could deliver the screens on time, and Oman Tower put all of their trust in us to make it happen."

Solution: two giant, custom-built LED displays

The Hikvision team wasted no time, rapidly planning and designing a visually striking LED solution comprising two giant, high-resolution LED screens. These were made to measure based on the physical shape, characteristics, and measurements of the Salalah telecom tower.

The larger of the two screens mounted on the tower (which measures 41.47 square meters) shows video and still adverts and community messages in vivid color, 24 hours a day. The smaller screen (which is 5.5 square meters) displays time and weather information for city residents.

The Hikvision LED screens are both equipped with dual power supplies, ensuring that they continue to function in the event of a technology fault. They also have dual network cards for continuous broadcasting of community messages and adverts.

Benefits: cementing the company's reputation for technology innovation and leadership

In line with Oman Tower Company's requirements, the LED screens were installed in time. "Hikvision was able to plan, design, build and deliver the solution within an extraordinary tight project timeframe," says Majid Al-Kharoosi , the Managing Director at Oman Tower. "It really was an impressive effort and we greatly appreciate the effort and collaboration involved."

The LED screens are now regarded as an impressive feature in Salalah's cityscape, converting the telecom tower into a much-commented local attraction. "The screens are unique and grab the attention of anyone nearby the telecom tower," says Mr. Al-Kharoosi . "As a local talking point, they add vitality to the local area, but also demonstrate our technology innovation and leadership  and bring new value to our brand."

The screens also promise to deliver reliable service, thanks to Hikvision's ruggedized LED technology. "In Salalah, we experience heavy rain for three months of the year, mixed with brackish water from the nearby Gulf of Oman  a weather phenomenon known locally as 'Khareef'. The Hikvision screens are built to withstand these harsh weather conditions, and are also shock-resistant, which means they will continue to perform at their best long into the future."

Finally, but equally importantly, Oman Tower has converted its Salalah site from a static structure into a revenue-generating asset for the company. "Advertising revenues are now contributing to our bottom line, and it's thanks to the Hikvision LED screens," says Mr. Al-Kharoosi . "In the future, we hope to deploy screens on additional towers in cities across the country to replicate this business model and to further increase the value of telecom towers to our revenues and business."

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SOURCE Hikvision Digital Technology
The four $25,000 investments are part of OnPoint's Green Horizons initiative, which empowers members, employees and the community to help build a more sustainable future

PORTLAND, Ore. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Earth Day 2023, OnPoint Community Credit Union has donated $100,000 to four nonprofit organizations that protect the Pacific Northwest 's environment, natural resources and wildlife. This year's beneficiaries are The Nature Conservancy in Oregon , Ecotrust, Oregon Environment Council and SOLVE Oregon. The donation is part of OnPoint's Green Horizons effort, an initiative launched in April 2021 to empower members and employees to care for the planet. The initiative provides members with discounts on green vehicles and solar panels, partners with local environmental nonprofits, and offers employees telecommuting programs, volunteer opportunities and environmental education.

"Addressing the effects of climate change starts at a local level to make a lasting impact," said Rob Stuart , President and CEO, OnPoint Community Credit Union. "We created the Green Horizons initiative to make going green more accessible, and to support the organizations fighting every day to protect our most vital natural resources. We are proud to support these efforts and to continue making greener choices more accessible to the community."

Supporting Oregon's conservation with local nonprofit support

OnPoint will donate $25,000 to each of this year's four nonprofit recipients: The Nature Conservancy in Oregon , Ecotrust, Oregon Environment Council and SOLVE Oregon. The Nature Conservancy in Oregon (TNC) brings people together to solve the most significant conservation challenges of our time. OnPoint has supported TNC since 2017, donating more than $316,800 to help fund projects, including forest restoration, ensuring vibrant and resilient coastal communities and sustainable fisheries, and protecting existing soil and underground carbon in Eastern Oregon . In 2021 in particular, OnPoint pledged up to $250 to TNC for every approved electric or hybrid vehicle loan with OnPoint. The campaign resulted in 1,474 approved green auto loans and a $226,750 donation to TNC.

"We are proud to be a recipient of OnPoint's Green Horizons for the third year in a row," said Derek Johnson , State Director, The Nature Conservancy in Oregon . "Oregonians are already experiencing the effects of climate change today, and OnPoint's latest donation will allow us to continue our urgent work to protect our natural resources to build resilience for the future."

Ecotrust has partnered with communities across our region for more than 30 years to inspire fresh thinking at the intersection of equity, economy and the environment. The organization is dedicated to restoring our lands and waters, promoting climate-resilient communities, and building broadly-shared intergenerational wealth. With OnPoint's donation, Ecotrust will advance a more equitable and restorative regional food economy through its innovative food systems programming and spaces. As part of the partnership, Ecotrust will promote and resource local food producers and entrepreneurs, while connecting and fostering key relationships with institutional food buyers who are committed to sourcing regional products.

"Collaborating with community leaders and organizations like OnPoint is how we build an equitable and prosperous future for all," said Christopher Rachal , Community and Funding Partnerships Manager at Ecotrust. "We are moved by the generosity and supportive partnership and look forward to continuing our collective work to advance climate resilience across our region."

Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) brings the community together to find environmental solutions that enable everyone to participate in making Oregon a better place to live. Founded in 1968 by concerned Oregonians across the state, OEC is a membership-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. OEC partners with businesses, local communities and elected officials to create protective public policy. Oregon Environmental Council aims to protect public access to Oregon's coast, reduce millions of tons of climate pollution, rid children's products of toxins and safeguard drinking water.

"Our goal is to ensure every Oregonian has access to healthy air, water and climate. Community partners like OnPoint make our work possible," said Jana Gastellum , Executive Director, Oregon Environmental Council. "We are thankful for this donation which will allow us to advance smart solutions, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, solar panels and safer consumer products that help more Oregonians live healthier lives."

SOLVE Oregon brings diverse communities together to improve the health and safety of Oregon's neighborhoods and natural areas, including the coast, rivers, parks and forests. For the past three years, OnPoint has supported SOLVE Oregon with $34,977 in donations and by sending dozens of employee volunteers to participate in SOLVE clean-up events. These events organize individuals and communities across Oregon to help remove litter from city streets and marine debris from beaches that can endanger wildlife and negatively impact water quality.

"OnPoint's donation and employee volunteer support has helped us grow our event capacity to keep more neighborhoods safe and healthy," Kris Carico , Chief Executive Officer, SOLVE Oregon. "We look forward to building our partnership with OnPoint to expand our reach and clean up more neighborhoods and natural areas throughout Oregon ."

Increasing accessibility with auto and home special rate discounts

To make going green more accessible, OnPoint's Green Horizons offers special rate discounts for members. OnPoint's Green Auto Discount offers 0.25%1 Annual Percentage Rate (APR) off auto loan rates for new or used electric or hybrid vehicles financed through OnPoint. People in the market for an electric or hybrid vehicle can also find additional incentives through Oregon , Washington and federal programs.

OnPoint's Green Horizons also makes it more affordable for homeowners to produce their own solar electricity. When homeowners apply for an EquityFlex Line of Credit for home improvements, they can fix a portion of their line of credit for the purchase of solar panels and receive a 0.25%2 discount off the EquityFlex Fixed Portion APR. Homeowners can find even more savings by looking at incentives and rebate programs in Oregon and Washington .

For more information about OnPoint's investment in building a greener future, such as telecommuting programs, employee volunteer opportunities, and other donations to environmentally-focused organizations, please visit OnPointcu.com/green-horizons.

ABOUT ONPOINT COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION

OnPoint Community Credit Union is the largest credit union in Oregon , serving over 516,000 members and with assets of $8.9 billion . Founded in 1932, OnPoint Community Credit Union's membership is available to anyone who lives or works in one of 28 Oregon counties ( Benton , Clackamas , Clatsop , Columbia , Coos , Crook , Curry , Deschutes , Douglas , Gilliam , Hood River , Jackson , Jefferson , Josephine , Klamath , Lane , Lincoln , Linn , Marion , Morrow , Multnomah , Polk , Sherman , Tillamook , Wasco , Washington , Wheeler , and Yamhill ) and two Washington counties (Skamania and Clark) and their immediate family members. More information is available at www.onpointcu.com or 503-228-7077 or 800-527-3932.

1. APR = Annual Percentage Rate. Vehicles meeting OnPoint's Green Auto Discount standards receive a 0.25% discount off stated APR (Annual Percentage Rate). All OnPoint loans are subject to credit terms and approval. Discount does not apply to existing OnPoint auto loans.

2. Receive a 0.25% discount off stated EquityFlex Fixed Portion APR when proceeds are used to purchase solar panels. Review of purchase order or invoice required to qualify. Discount applies to invoice/purchase order amount, not to exceed $12,000 . All OnPoint loans are subject to credit terms and approval.

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SOURCE OnPoint Community Credit Union
SHANGHAI , April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The renowned French skincare brand, Pier Auge, held its first brand ceremony in China . Diane de COMTE, Chairman of Pier Auge, and Charles Dupont , CEO of the brand, travelled from Paris, France to Changsha to present the 62-year story of Pier Auge from 1961 to 2023.

The brand ceremony was held in Changsha as it is a representative city of the new tier 1 and tier 2 cities in China , which are on the rise and constitute an important consumer market in China . Different from Tier 1 cities such as Beijing and Shanghai , which have an urban population of only 80 million, the new Tier 1 cities and Tier 2 cities have an urban population of over 500 million, and are closer to the largest urban population in China . Also, as a new Internet Poplour city with a large number of emerging consumer groups who are looking for fashion, health, leisure and quality, this city shows the brand with a better representation of the life of the largest urban population in China .

Founded in 1961 in Monaco by senior pharmacist Pierre Jules Auge, Pier Auge is a brand that represents a story of "Born for love" and the event was held to capture and celebrate this sentiment. By using a combination of VCR and drama scenes to illustrate Pier Auge's story, the brand beautifully portrayed its origin as a gift of love from a senior pharmacist to his wife with sensitive skin, to its growth in becoming an influence on many generations of French women.

The brand ceremony was divided into four chapters, each highlighting a specific era in French history and the brand's corresponding products. Through the 62-year history of the brand, the audience was vividly shown the classics products, hero products and new products of the brand. The first chapter showcased the brand's founding couple's encounter and love through a Waltz Masquerade Ball. The second chapter, set in the French 1960s and 1970s, presented five versions of the Ental cream, the sensitive skin pioneer. The third chapter featured the Snow Melt Mask, a customized SPA skincare product popular in France in the 1980s and 1990s. The fourth chapter, which was set from 2000 to 2020, highlighted the brand's implementation of inheritance, innovation and science in French skincare.

In opening their latest chapter, the CEO of Pier Auge, Charles Dupont announced the brand's global plan for the next three years. Since partnering with S'Young International, Pier Auge has achieved significant success in the Chinese market. The partnership with S'Young International enabled Pier Auge to capture key growth points based on its brand heritage, helping the brand identify its customer groups and create hero products. S'Young's market know-how provided all-around support for Pier Auge to drive the brand's popularity among Chinese customers. Now, the brand's flagship product, Douce Aura, secured the first spot on the add-to-cart list of Tmall Global imported applied mask cream.

The success of this Brand Ceremony also marked a new milestone for Pier Auge as it continues to expand its global impact and ensuring its future growth.

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SOURCE S'Young International
UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Wednesday launched its SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Investor Map 2023 at the SDG Investment Fair 2023 during the Pakistan session held at the UN headquarters in New York.

"The map is a dynamic impact intelligence tool that identifies a range of market-specific investment opportunities in Pakistan for SDG-aligned capital deployment, backed by Pakistan-specific data and evidence," said Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations Munir Akram at the meeting.

"The map will highlight bankable investment opportunity areas which, if prioritized, can lead to a reduced trade deficit; gradual transition to alternate and renewable energy; sustainable production and consumption patterns; robust infrastructure; and enhanced food security," he added.

Akram reiterated that the Pakistani government is fully committed to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its goals but the growth trajectory has gotten "disrupted" as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the catastrophic floods of 2022 and the ongoing food, fuel, and financial crisis.

"Our fiscal space for development expenditure has shrunk. Pakistan's annual financing gap for the SDGs stands at 3.72 billion U.S. dollars for the period 2020-2030," said Akram.

With the core support of the United Nations Development Programme, Pakistan had developed its first-ever SDG Investor Map in 2022, according to Akram.

During the meeting, the South Asian country also unveiled a diversified portfolio of climate-resilient investments worth 2.84 billion dollars.

"Being one of the top 10 countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change, our adaptation needs are immense; estimated to cost between 7-14 billion U.S. dollars per annum," said the ambassador.

Akram further emphasized the goal behind the development of the "Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Framework" by the Pakistani government, which was presented at the "International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan" in Geneva.

"It is time to redouble our efforts to increase investment in the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDG Investment Fair provides an inclusive platform for doing so by promoting innovative partnerships for mobilizing private capital. It is encouraging that Pakistan is presenting innovative proposals to attract private capital to drive its sustainable and climate resilient growth in the aftermath of the floods," said Navid Hanif, UN assistant secretary-general for economic development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 
TORONTO , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Cybeats Technologies Corp. ("Cybeats'' or the "Company") (CSE: CYBT) (OTCQB: CYBCF) is pleased to announce the appointment of esteemed cybersecurity expert Dr. Georgianna Shea to its advisory board.

Dr. Georgianna Shea serves as Chief Technologist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) and Transformative Cyber Innovation Lab (TCIL). Boasting over 25 years of experience in various engineering and cybersecurity disciplines, she devoted her career to National Security. Her extensive expertise, leadership skills, and proven track record make Dr. Shea an invaluable addition to Cybeats' advisory board.

"I am honored and enthused to join Cybeats' advisory board and look forward to working closely with the team to help advance their cybersecurity efforts to enable data-driven decision capabilities that lead to improved cybersecurity," said Dr. Georgianna Shea , Cybeats Advisor.

" Dr. Shea 's expertise will play a crucial role in shaping our product's future, and we are excited to welcome her to our team. Her vast experience and deep understanding of cybersecurity will undoubtedly contribute to our continued growth and innovation in the areas of SBOM management, risk and compliance, and software supply chain intelligence. As a practical leader in the industry, Dr. Shea has a deep understanding of the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and will actively advise us on how to bridge the gap between the private and public sectors in this space," said Dmitry Raidman , CTO of Cybeats.

Dr. Shea holds a Doctorate in Computer Science Information Assurance from Colorado Technical University. She has held various leadership positions within top tech companies and community groups, including serving on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology's Working Group on Cyber-Physical Resilience, the Global Resilience Federation's Operational Resilience Framework Team, and as an advisory board member for American Binary.

Among her many achievements, Dr. Shea has numerous publications advocating for policies enhancing cybersecurity for national security, has served as an adjunct professor with multiple universities, is a member of the CyberWire Hash Table of experts, and is a member of the Cybersecurity Canon at the Ohio State University.

About Cybeats

Cybeats is a cybersecurity company providing SBOM management and software supply chain intelligence technology, helping organizations to manage risk, meet compliance requirements, and secure their software from procurement to development and operation. Our platform gives customers comprehensive visibility and transparency into their software supply chain, enabling them to improve operational efficiency and increase revenue. Cybeats. Software Made Certain. Website: https://cybeats.com

SUBSCRIBE: For more information, or to subscribe to the Company's mail list, visit: https://www.cybeats.com/investors

Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for the products described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Company filings are available at sedar.com.

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SOURCE Cybeats Technologies Corp.
SUPERIOR, Wis. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Superior Choice Credit Union announces the opening of a new branch in Rice Lake , Wisconsin. The newly built 8,000 square foot stand-alone building will be ready to service members on April 24 th. The building will serve as a hub for SCCU that not only assists members but will have the ability to house back-office staff and departments such as training, community, and commercial. The building will include a state-of-the-art conference room, available for member use at no cost, which will also moonlight as a venue for the credit union to host complimentary public financial literacy sessions. This branch marks number 13 for Superior Choice Credit Union, as they continue to expand throughout the northwest Wisconsin and Minnesota regions.

"We are excited to be a part of the Rice Lake Community and have already felt the warmest welcome by Mayor Fonfara, the Chamber of Commerce, and many others. We look forward to participating in events, sponsoring local organizations, and learning what is important to Rice Lake ," shared Tim Foster , SCCU President and CEO, adding "we are proud of this building and look forward to filling it with SCCU members and community members for many years to come."

The Rice Lake Branch hours are Monday-Friday 8:30AM-5:30PM and Saturday 9AM-noon .

SCCU is committed to being community focused. For donation requests or to partner, visit: https://superiorchoice.com/about/community/

About Superior Choice Credit Union

Superior Choice Credit Union has been locally owned and operated by its members since 1932, with thirteen branches across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin . SCCU provides a full suite of financial services from checking and savings to lending and credit card reward programs. Visit www.superiorchoice.com for more information.

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SOURCE Superior Choice Credit Union
CANTON, Ohio , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TimkenSteel Corp. (NYSE: TMST), a leader in high-quality specialty steel, manufactured components, and supply chain solutions, will release its 2023 first-quarter financial results on Thursday, May 4 , after the market closes on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company will provide live Internet listening access to its conference call with the financial community scheduled for Friday, May 5, 2023 , at 9:00 a.m. EDT . The live conference call will be broadcast at investors.timkensteel.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available at investors.timkensteel.com.

ABOUT TIMKENSTEEL CORPORATION

TimkenSteel (NYSE: TMST) manufactures high-performance carbon and alloy steel products from recycled scrap metal in Canton, OH , serving demanding applications in mobile, energy and a variety of industrial end markets. The company is a premier U.S. producer of alloy steel bars (up to 16 inches in diameter), seamless mechanical tubing and manufactured components. In the business of making high-quality steel for more than 100 years, TimkenSteel's proven expertise contributes to the performance of our customers' products. The company employs approximately 1,700 people and had sales of $1.3 billion in 2022. For more information, please visit us at www.timkensteel.com.

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SOURCE TimkenSteel Corp.
WASHINGTON , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tulsi Gabbard is joining the Sekulow Broadcast team as Senior Military and Political Analyst. Starting today, the former member of Congress and presidential candidate will make weekly appearances on Sekulow.

Sekulow provides cutting edge analysis of today's political and legal landscape with elected officials and respected thought leaders. The show airs live each weekday at Noon Eastern on over 1,000 stations plus SiriusXM, with live video stream on Facebook , YouTube , Rumble and ACLJ.org .

"I'm looking forward to joining the Sekulow team every week and sharing my perspective as we take on the critical issues facing the American people today," said Tulsi Gabbard . "Sekulow's focus on truth, freedom and the Constitution is essential during these challenging times."

Sekulow is hosted by renowned constitutional attorney ACLJ Chief Counsel, Jay Sekulow, and ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow . Jordan also co-hosts Salem Media's Sekulow Brothers podcast with his brother Logan Sekulow , ACLJ's Director of Media and an award-winning filmmaker, producer, podcaster, and radio host.

" Tulsi Gabbard is one of our nation's most respected voices, from the halls of Congress to Fox News and beyond," says Jordan Sekulow . "Tulsi brings tremendous value to our audience, and we're thrilled to offer her perspective alongside other members of the Sekulow Broadcast team including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell , among others."

Tulsi Gabbard served as the representative for Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District from 2013-2021. In February 2019 , she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States , the first female combat veteran to run for U.S. president. She left the Democratic party in 2022 and currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, as a Fox News contributor, and hosts the podcast, The Tulsi Gabbard Show.

Media Contact:

Brian Mayes

Nashville Publicity Group

615-771-2040

[email protected]

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SOURCE American Center for Law and Justice
The occasion marks the first business school in the U.S. to be named after a Latina, reflecting VU's commitment to expanding educational opportunities as a leading Hispanic-Serving Institution

COSTA MESA, Calif. , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As an Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and leader in broadening impact and expanding opportunities for first-generation students, Vanguard University (VU) announces the naming of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management, adding the latest phase to its recent academic restructuring into multiple Schools and a College of the Arts and Sciences. The Arvielos have partnered with Vanguard's vision in sponsoring the largest academic donation in the university's 103-year history.

First business school in the U.S. to be named after a Latina at Vanguard University

A surprise unveiling of the new school's name took place on the Costa Mesa campus in the Waugh Student Center at 10 a.m. on April 19 to an unsuspecting Patty Arvielo and nearly 800 cheering students, faculty, staff and supportersa "take your breath away" moment for both the Arvielos and the Vanguard community.

"I've never been so surprised in my life," said Patty Arvielo, teary-eyed after the reveal. "For someone who didn't think she was smartor fit the profile of what smart means in Americamy story is important and I share it to empower you. Because that's what this country offers and that is why our grandparents and parents came to this great country, to offer us the opportunities to succeed! I'm so blessed to be here with my husband, my kids, my friends and coworkers. I love this with all my heart. And now, I have more familiaso thank you."

"At this moment of growth for Vanguard University, we are grateful for the support and partnership of the Arvielos," said VU President Michael J. Beals , Ph.D. "We are honored to align our business programs under Patty Arvielo's name because of who she isa phenomenal business leader and role model for Hispanic, female and all students whose life story and work demonstrate what is possible. We recognize the impact that Patty Arvielo's namesake and support will have on generations of students as Vanguard prepares them for a life of Christ-centered leadership and service."

At the surprise announcement, third-year VU business student Kaitlyn Velazquez also shared what the Arvielo's recognition personally means to her. "As a Latina pursuing a career in business, it is so inspiring to be able to feel represented by someone who has made a name for herself in the pathway [of business that] I have always dreamed of. Knowing how much my parents sacrificed in order to best set me up for success, and seeing everything that Mrs. Arvielo has accomplished, gives me even more hope for my future in this field."

Building on Vanguard's Legacy

The establishment of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management comes as the business program celebrates its 50th anniversary. With degree programs in accounting, business administration, management and marketing, business has remained the highest enrolled academic program at VU for the past few decades. The new Patty Arvielo School of Business will officially launch in the 2024-2025 academic year and will serve undergraduate and graduate residential, distance and non-traditional students in business, communication, organizational psychology and people operations.

Immediate steps for the launch of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management include the appointment of a transitional dean, recruitment of anchor faculty, and a national search for the founding dean by Fall 2024. The transformational gift from the Arvielos will build upon VU's legacy over the past five decades of preparing students to become leaders in business by combining Christian faith, in-depth knowledge and character development with a strong liberal arts foundation. The gift will allow VU to build upon its success to establish a missionally-aligned, market-focused, compelling, innovative and impactful school in the heart of Orange County that will develop tens of thousands of competent, character-rich business leaders prepared to make a positive impact in a complex and rapidly changing world. The gift will help fund endowed faculty chairs, endowed student scholarships, new faculty, market analyses and the launch of graduate programs, online course development, career preparation programming and the launch of a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2025.

First Business School in the U.S. to be Named After a Latina

The establishment of the Patty Arvielo School of Business and Management marks a significant milestone for Hispanic women nationally, as it is the first school of business in the United States to be named after a Latina. As the daughter of a proud Mexican immigrant mother, Patty Arvielo is a self-made, award-winning entrepreneur. She began her career at age 16, learning the mortgage industry from the ground up before co-founding New American Funding in Tustin, California in 2003 and growing it into one of the largest independent mortgage lenders in the country and the largest Latina-owned private mortgage company in the nation, with a servicing portfolio of over 241,000 loans for $63.9 billion . The company's Latino Focus and New American Dream initiatives were launched by Patty Arvielo with the goal being to enhance the quality of the lending experience for Latino and Black homebuyers.

Vanguard's History as an Hispanic-Serving Institution and Recent Academic Restructure

VU was designated by the U.S. Department of Education as an HSI in 2015then only the second four-year institution in Orange County to receive this designation. Today, 47 percent of VU undergraduate students are Hispanic, 68 percent are students of color, and 35 percent are first-generation college students. Vanguard has received several Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program grant awards from the U.S. Department of Education$2.6 million in 2015, $3.8 million in 2017 and $2.75 in 2020intended to expand educational opportunities, academic offerings and programming for Hispanic and all students.

Earlier this year, VU announced a transition in its academic structure and leadership, establishing multiple Schools and a College. The Patty Arvielo School of Business will house the accounting, business administration and marketing programs, and will launch officially in Fall 2024. The College of the Arts and Sciences will house the core of Vanguard's academic offerings, including the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, STEM and allied health programs; the School of Theology and Ministry will offer undergraduate, non-traditional and graduate programs in theology and ministry; and the School of Education will offer programs including liberal studies, early childhood education, the teaching credential program and graduate education.

To learn more about Vanguard University, visit www.vanguard.edu.

About Vanguard University

Founded in 1920, Vanguard University in Costa Mesa is a private, Christian, comprehensive university of liberal arts, sciences and professional studies that encompasses more than 2,200 students from every region in the country, over 33,000 alumni worldwide, 100 full-time faculty, over 30 undergraduate programs and six graduate degree programs. A hallmark of a Vanguard education is collaborative scholarship in the arts and sciences, which foster the intellectual development, moral maturity and spiritual vitality of its students for the public good. Rooted in a strong academic tradition and commitment to student success, Vanguard University is recognized by the U.S. News & World Report 2023 rankings as a first-tier regional university in the West, a Top Performer on Social Mobility, a Best College in the West for Veterans, a Best Value School and a Best Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program. Vanguard University represents a diverse student population, with 68 percent students of color, 47 percent Hispanic and nearly half of students the first in their family to attend college. Further information about Vanguard University is available at vanguard.edu.

About New American Funding

New American Funding is an independent mortgage lender with a servicing portfolio of 244,700+ loans for approximately $64.5 billion and more than 165 nationwide locations. In 2022, New American Funding was ranked #1 by J.D. Power in Customer Satisfaction among Mortgage Servicers. The company was also named #43 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2023. The company offers state-of-the-art career training and provides its branch Loan Officers with innovative technologies to streamline the mortgage process.

Media Contact:

Kristin Scheithauer

(714) 336-0920

[email protected]

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SOURCE Vanguard University
CHICAGO , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Westside Children's Therapy is a pediatric therapy provider for children with special needs, and our therapists took the time to make sure you and your family know that a trip to Disney World can be possible!

Planning a family vacation to Disney is an exciting experience, but it can also be daunting, especially when you have a child with cognitive or physical disabilities. However, ALL families can enjoy a Disney vacation (or any vacation for that matter) with a little extra planning and flexibility.

Westside's tips have already helped families with children with special needs make their trip possible!

As a parent, you want to make sure that your child's needs are met and that they feel comfortable and included in all aspects of the trip. The good news is that there is a LOT you can do ahead of time to prepare for your vacation and make it inclusively magical for all family members.

In this blog, we will review the services available from Disney to assist families with special needs, as well as some practical things you can do ahead of time to make your trip as smooth and wonderful as possible!

What services does Disney offer for guests with disabilities?

Disney offers several services for guests with physical and cognitive disabilities. It's worth checking out the downloadable Guide for Guests with Cognitive Disabilities, including Autism, and their Services for Guests with Disabilities website. This website details how to contact Disability Services, as well as information about electric conveyance vehicles (ECV) and wheelchair rentals. It also outlines services for guests with hearing, mobility, and visual disabilities.

We have outlined some of the programs and services offered by Disney.

To read the rest of this blog, click HERE !

If you want to plan a trip to Disney but are unsure of special needs accommodations and want some answers, this is a great place to start!

About Westside Children's Therapy

Westside Children's Therapy believes that the heart and soul of what it does is driven by an obsessive pursuit to ensure that this is not "just another" therapy provider. Westside provides an environment where everyone feels part of the Westside Family. These qualities show in all the services provided by Westside. For more information visit westsidect.com/ , call (815) 469-1500, or follow us on Facebook or Instagram .

Media Contact: Sean Hastings

Marketing Specialist

[email protected]

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SOURCE Westside Children's Therapy
ASU+GSV Summit 2023 was held successfully in San Diego, USA, providing a platform for global education professionals to share forward-looking insights and foster international collaboration. The event brought together thousands of academic and industry experts and business leaders from around the world, who participated in forums, exhibitions, roadshows, immersive experiences, and more.

WuKong Education, a leading international K-12 online education brand, was invited to participate in recognition of its remarkable growth and industry influence in recent years.

SAN DIEGO , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- April 17th - 19th , the ASU+GSV Summit was held in San Diego, USA. The event brought together 7,100 in-person attendees, including business leaders such as Bill Gates and K-12 leaders from the education industry, as well as outstanding education technology companies such as Chegg, WuKong Education, and BYJU's.

WuKong Education's founder Vicky Wang , co-founder Nicky Shang , and Head of Marketing of North America Rebecca Deng represented the company, sharing insights on product development and business growth strategies with EdTech leaders from around the world.

With over 300,000 users in 118 countries and regions worldwide, WuKong Education has gained widespread attention for its remarkable growth and industry influence. The company's Teaching and Research Team consists of experienced teachers from top universities such as Harvard, Oxford, and Columbia . Aligned with ASU+GSV's theme of "Brave New World: Imagining a new era in which all people have equal access to the future," WuKong Education prides itself in being a leading solutions provider on increasing the access of high-quality Chinese and math courses through its innovative platform and network of 3,000+ certified teachers.

During the summit, WuKong Education showcased its unique curriculum, which incorporates the leading Inquiry-Based Learning method that encourages students to learn through exploration in the classroom. Founder Vicky Wang explained, "From the design of the teaching syllabus and teacher training program to the interactive activities in the live class session, the essence of Inquiry-Based Learning is reflected through carefully crafted classroom design. Students' passion for learning is truly ignited, making children the masters of their own learning journey."

As a leader in the online education industry, WuKong Education is dedicated to driving education innovation and bridging the gap of equal access to mathematical and language learning for K-12 children worldwide. WuKong Education's participation at ASU+GSV Summit 2023 highlights the company's continued commitment in promoting education equity and excellence. Its vision of providing quality education for all students continues to fuel its growth and success in the industry.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wukong-education-attends-asugsv-summit-2023-as-a-partner-to-bridging-the-gap-of-equal-access-to-mathematical-and-language-learning-301802664.html

SOURCE WuKong Education
Abandoned footwear and other belongings lie on the ground after a stampede in Sanaa, Yemen, April 19, 2023, in this still image taken from video. Al Masirah TV/via Reuters TV/Handout via REUTERS

SANAA (Reuters) -At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as residents gathered at a school to receive cash donations distributed by merchants during Ramadan, witnesses and the Houthi administration said on Thursday.

Hundreds of people crowded to receive the alms, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, two witnesses involved in the rescue effort told Reuters.

"When the door opened, there was a big rush by people wanting to reach the school yard first and some people began falling on the steps leading to the entrance," one medic said.

Two thirds of the population need help in the war-torn country, which was impoverished even before the conflict erupted eight years ago.

The Houthi health ministry said 77 people were injured, including 13 in a critical condition, in the charge that occurred during the distribution of the cash collected in the final days of the Muslim fasting holy month before the Eid al Fitr festivities.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the group's supreme revolutionary committee, said on Twitter that merchants had gathered "several days'" worth of registered individuals to distribute aid to at one go at a school, the entrance to which is off a narrow road with steps leading up to the gate.

A video posted by Houthi television on Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety. Security staff fought to push people back and control the crowd.

Another video after the stampede showed scores of discarded shoes, a crutch and clothing on the steps of the building, and forensic investigators in protective white suits sorting through personal belongings.

'GREAT TRAGEDY'

The two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was under way, the interior ministry said.

"We are experiencing a great tragedy, a large number of our citizens have died during this stampede," said Abdulaziz Bin Habtour, the prime minister of the Houthi movement, de facto authorities in north Yemen.

In remarks published by the group's media centre, he said measures would be taken to "find a serious solution so it does not happen again". The president of the supreme judicial council said the necessary legal measures would be taken.

Yemen has been mired in an eight-year conflict that pits a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthi group. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, wrecked the economy and pushed millions into hunger.

The United Nation's World Food Programme feeds 13 million in Yemen but funding shortfalls have reduced its activities.

An expired U.N.-brokered truce has delivered a year of relative calm, the longest stretch in the conflict, and Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are engaged in talks in parallel to U.N. efforts to establish a permanent ceasefire.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis months after the group ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa. The conflict has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Riyadh and Tehran in March agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016 and prisoner exchanges this month between the two sides have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher in Cairo; Mohammed Alghobari in Aden and the Yemen team in Sanaa; Writing by Andrew Mills, Michael Perry and Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Stephen Coates and Alison Williams)
FILE PHOTO-French President Emmanuel Macron greets U.S. President Joe Biden at the conclusion of their joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by phone on Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron and discussed Macron's state visit to China, the White House said, a week after Macron's remarks following the visit raised eyebrows in Washington

"They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The Presidents also reiterated their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's brutal aggression," the White House said.

In an interview with Politico and daily Les Echos following the China state visit, Macron indicated Europe should avoid being drawn into a conflict over Taiwan and should focus on strategic autonomy independent from both the United States and China.

Biden spoke earlier on Thursday to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the White House said China was a key topic.

"The two leaders discussed President von der Leyens recent trip to Beijing and their shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order, human rights, and fair trade practices," a White House statement said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Franklin Paul, David Gregorio and Leslie Adler)
FILE PHOTO: Julie Su applauds while being nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden to serve as the Labor secretary during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican U.S. lawmakers on Thursday criticized President Joe Biden's nominee for U.S. labor secretary, Julie Su, saying she dismantled the gig economy, hurting companies such as Uber and DoorDash

Su, a civil rights lawyer and former California labor commissioner, found unequivocal support from several Democrats on the committee. She needs at least 50 votes in a Senate where Democrats have a slim 51-49 majority.

At her testimony, Senator Bill Cassidy, ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said that in California she enforced 85 "controversial laws that dismantled the gig economy," and hurt "Uber, DoorDash and Lyft."

Su said misclassification of a de-facto employee as an independent contractor who is not entitled to earn the minimum wage and overtime pay, "is a problem in our economy that needs to be addressed."

"Bonafide independent contractors will always have a place in our economy, they have and always will and they're very, very important," Su said.

In California, Su supported laws that classified some gig workers as employees, which gives them benefits such as a minimum wage, sick time and healthcare. Industry groups that represent companies employing gig labor have launched an aggressive campaign to oppose her nomination.

Cassidy also accused her of eliminating independent contracting during her tenure as Biden's deputy secretary of labor. He asked her if she would commit to not pushing California-type regulations if nominated, and Su answered, "yes."

Su was also asked if she would commit to not pursuing a joint employer rule, which would treat companies as so-called "joint employers" when they have indirect control over working conditions such as scheduling, hiring and firing. She replied that "there is not a joint employer rule on our regulatory agenda."

It is not a given that all Senate Democrats will support Su.

Crucial senators in Montana, West Virginia and Arizona, who voted for Su to become deputy labor secretary in 2021, are on the fence about her confirmation for the top job.

"The debate over Ms. Su has nothing to do with her qualifications" but "everything to do with the fact that Julie Su is a champion of the working class of this country who will stand up against the forces of corporate greed," said Bernie Sanders, who chairs the committee.

Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, called the hearing an instance in which "big business lobbyists decide collectively that they're going to flex their muscle and try to defeat" a candidate.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
SINGAPORE, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Tsinghua Science Satellite is collecting data to help with the precise tracking and forecasting of space debris, said Wang Zhaokui, a professor of Tsinghua University at the 5th Committee on Space Research Symposium in Singapore Thursday.

The satellite, launched from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Aug. 6, 2020, is currently operating normally in orbit, Wang said.

It collects continuous precision orbital data to improve the Earth's upper atmosphere model, which is significant to the precise tracking and forecasting of space debris, Wang said.

"The satellite weighs 21.2 kg and operates with a mission orbit altitude of 500 km. It adopts a pure spherical novel configuration to ensure that the atmospheric drag is independent of the satellite's attitude, thereby greatly improving the accuracy of atmospheric density measurement," said the satellite expert.

"Our team also developed an electromagnetic separation system, a super capacitor-battery power system, and an integrated full-field solar sensor, which lays a solid foundation for the development of scientific small satellites in the future," Wang noted.

"We have cultivated a research team with an average age of 25 years old through the development of the satellite and they will be a strong reserve to China's space science research," the professor said.

Held at Nanyang Technological University, the event lasts from April 16 to 21. It attracts over 200 scientists, researchers and industry experts discussing advances in space sciences, with a focus on the emerging field of small satellite development. 
FILE PHOTO: Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad looks on after a meeting with Brazil's Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto in Brasilia, Brazil, April 3, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's finance minister said on Thursday the country would implement a "digital tax" on shipments from e-commerce giants, after backtracking earlier this week from a decision to tax individual-to-individual shipments of up to $50.

"We will follow the example of developed nations, a digital tax," Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters. "Consumers will be exempt from any tax collection when they make the purchase, companies will collect it without passing on any additional cost."

The move comes after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked his economic team not to proceed with a previously planned ending to tax exemptions for international orders from individuals.

Haddad did not provide further details on the new proposal.

According to a source at the Finance Ministry, the proposed measure will not involve creating a new tax, but instead adopting an improved collection system. The source emphasized that the tax in question already exists and will be collected electronically prior to the shipment of goods.

"We are not going to create or increase taxes, we are just going to make easier electronic collection possible," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity since discussions are private.

International shipments made by companies are subject to the existing 60% taxation.

Haddad had already announced the government would look for administrative means and implement heightened oversight to close a loophole that Asian e-commerce giants were seen taking advantage of by dispatching orders as if they were individuals to benefit from the tax exemption.

Alibaba Group's AliExpress, Sea Ltd-owned Shopee and Shein were seen as the main targets of the measure.

Haddad previously said AliExpress and Shopee had agreed with the tax proposal before the government reversed it. He said on Thursday that Shein was planning to nationalize 85% of its Brazil sales by implementing local production, which the company later confirmed.

In a statement, Shein said it will invest 750 million reais($148.85 million) in Brazil in the coming years as it intends to partner with 2,000 manufacturers in the country, which should generate the creation of 100,000 jobs over the next three years.

(Reporting by Isabel Versiani and Marcela Ayres; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by David Gregorio and Leslie Adler)
Britain's Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, visit Indian Streatery, an authentic, family-run independent Indian restaurant based in the city centre, celebrating Birmingham's rich Asian culture, in Birmingham, Britain April 20, 2023 . Arthur

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Prince William helped out an Indian restaurant during a royal visit on Thursday by taking a phone reservation from an unsuspecting customer.

The heir to the British throne and his wife Kate were visiting the family-run restaurant Indian Streatery during their trip to Birmingham in central England, when he took the call from someone seeking a booking for two people.

After checking with the owners as to the restaurant's location, he then had a discussion with the caller about when a table was free and whether they would have time to eat before catching their train.

"What name is it under?" the prince said as he concluded the conversation, without revealing his own name to the caller. "See you at quarter past two."

William's office later said on Twitter: "Hope we told this customer to come to the right place...!"

As well as taking the booking, the royals also helped out preparing dishes in the restaurant's kitchen before continuing their visit in the city with a game of darts at an underground bar.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Hyundai Motor Company is pictured at the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

By Doyinsola Oladipo

(Reuters) - The California attorney general and the attorneys general of 17 other states on Thursday asked a federal regulator to recall Hyundai and Kia vehicles, saying they are more likely to be stolen because they lack safety features that are standard in other cars.

Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp vehicles represent a large share of stolen cars in multiple U.S. cities, according to data from police and state officials. While most cars in recent years have been installed with industry standard anti-theft devices, some entry-level models from the Korean automakers were not equipped with engine immobilizers or push-button ignitions.

Hyundai Motor is the biggest shareholder of Kia.

"Kias and Hyundais failure to install standard safety features on many of their vehicles have put vehicle owners and the public at risk, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is spearheading the push by the states for a recall, said in a statement. The states have written to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with their concerns.

Hyundai argued that while some of its vehicles lacked immobilizers, they were compliant with federal anti-theft requirements as engine immobilizers are not federally mandated.

"These specific models comply fully with all applicable federal standards, a recall is neither appropriate nor necessary under federal law," said Kia in a statement.

U.S. theft claims were nearly twice as common for Hyundai and Kia vehicles compared with all other manufacturers among 2015-2019 model-year vehicles, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safetys Highway Loss Data Institute said last year.

TikTok videos that show how to steal Kia and Hyundai cars without push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices have spread nationwide, leading to a raft of car thefts.

Bonta said the carmakers included the industry standard immobilizer in the same models in Canada and Europe but chose to "carve out" the United States.

Instead of taking responsibility with appropriate corrective action, these carmakers have chosen instead to pass this risk onto consumers and our communities," Bonta said.

The automakers in February said they would offer software upgrades to 8.3 million U.S. vehicles to help curb thefts.

However, upgrades will not be available for many affected vehicles until June and cannot be installed on some 2011-2022 models, Bonta's statement said.

(This story has been corrected to say some, not all, Hyundai and Kia models lack immobilizers and push button ignitions in paragraph 2, and changes the reason why Hyundai said it is compliant with federal requirements in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)
By Nia Williams

(Reuters) -Canadian police are investigating the theft of a C$20 million ($14.84 million) cargo of gold and other valuables that was stolen from a holding facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The cargo was reported missing after arriving on an aircraft early Monday evening, Peel Regional Police Inspector Stephen Duivesteyn told a news conference on Thursday.

Duivesteyn said after the aircraft landed the cargo was unloaded and taken to a holding facility, in line with normal procedure, but disappeared some time afterwards.

"Subsequent to its arrival this high value cargo was removed by illegal means from the holding facility," Duivesteyn said.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) said it was aware of the theft, adding that the thieves accessed the public side of a warehouse leased to a third party, outside the GTAA's primary security line.

The theft "did not involve access to Toronto Pearson itself and did not pose a threat to passengers or GTAA staff", the GTAA said in a statement late on Thursday.

The cargo was reported missing to police a short time later.

Duivesteyn would not say where the aircraft carrying the cargo had come from, or its final destination.

"This is very rare," he said.

($1 = 1.3476 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Nia Williams; additional reporting by Yana Gaur;Editing by Chris Reese, Robert Birsel)
Actor Alec Baldwin departs his home, as he will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust", in New York, U.S., January 31, 2023. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado

By Andrew Hay

TAOS, New Mexico (Reuters) -New Mexico prosecutors on Thursday said they would drop involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie "Rust" in 2021.

The decision came after new evidence surfaced on the gun Baldwin was using that fired the live round that killed Hutchins, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The movie's weapons handler, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case and her prosecution will continue, state prosecutors said in a statement.

"New facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis," special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said. "We will therefore be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin."

But they added, "This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled."

The dramatic turn in the 18-month-old case arrived on the same day that Baldwin and other cast members resumed filming the movie in Montana.

Baldwin lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro announced earlier on Thursday that charges were being dropped, which prosecutors later confirmed.

On Thursday, Baldwin posted a photo of himself with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, on Instagram, saying, "I owe everything I have to this woman (and to you, Luke)."

Baldwin, 65, and Gutierrez-Reed, 25, were charged in January with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the Oct. 21, 2021, shooting on a film set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hutchins died, and director Joel Souza was injured, when a Colt .45 revolver Baldwin was rehearsing with fired a bullet.

In a statement on Thursday, Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion said, "We fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated."

Baldwin was initially accused of showing a "reckless" disregard for safety in Hutchins' death. Prosecutors said video showed him with his finger on the trigger of the revolver minutes before it fired the live round.

Baldwin has said he was told the gun was "cold," an industry term meaning it did not contain ammunition with an explosive charge, and he never pulled the trigger.

Investigators have not been able to determine how live rounds made it on the set.

After an evidence viewing in the case last week, new information showed that the reproduction long Colt .45 "Peacemaker" revolver Baldwin was using had parts added to it since its manufacture by Italian gunmaker Pietta, according to the source with knowledge of the case.

"It definitely was modified, which compromises the whole argument that the gun was in fully functioning operating form and could only have fired if Baldwin pulled the trigger," the person said.

The state's prosecution has been beset by legal errors, with the most serious charge against the defendants dropped in February and two prosecutors forced to step down.

The first assistant director, Dave Halls, last month received a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon. Prosecutors had said he was responsible for set safety.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay, Joseph Ax and Tyler Clifford; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Leslie Adler and Christopher Cushing)
FILE PHOTO: People gather for a vigil and hold white sheets of paper in protest of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, as they commemorate the victims of a fire in Urumqi, as outbreaks of the coronavirus disease continue in Beijing, China, Novemb

By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) - At least two Chinese women who joined historic "white paper" demonstrations in Beijing calling for an end to COVID-19 curbs were released on Wednesday after almost four months in detention, two of their friends told Reuters.

The protests, unprecedented in President Xi Jinping's decade in power, began in late November in cities across China. They were suppressed by police within days but helped hasten the end of three years of tough COVID restrictions, sources have previously told Reuters.

Immediately following the protests, in which hundreds took to the streets across the country, many holding up blank sheets of paper as a symbol of their discontent, police interrogated and detained dozens of participants, according to rights groups, lawyers and friends of those individuals.

Many were only held for 24 hours or less, or were released after a few weeks.

Cao Zhixin, a 26-year-old book editor, and Zhai Dengrui, a 27-year-old teacher, were released on Wednesday, according to two friends of the individuals.

Reuters could not immediately reach the pair for comment or establish why they were released.

The Ministry of Public Security and the Beijing Public Security Bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They have not previously commented on the detentions.

Human Rights Watch had reported the pair were among four protesters detained in December and charged with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", which carries a sentence of up to five years.

Cao, shortly before she was detained, had taken a video of herself calling for help. The clip was later released by friends and widely circulated online.

In it, she mentions that several of her friends who joined the protests were taken away by police.

Other protesters fell silent under the threat of official retribution but some have spoken out against China's crackdown on the largely peaceful demonstrations.

Reuters could not independently verify the total number of protesters who were detained by police or have been charged and remain in custody.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Robert Birsel)
By Summer Zhen

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Large China-based fund managers are setting up shop in Hong Kong for the first time, seeking to fill Chinese investors' appetite for U.S. dollar-based products and international exposure after the country reopened its borders.

The foray by China-based funds into Hong Kong kicked off last year as China lifted years of COVID-19 lockdowns, and as high net worth Chinese families were finally able to travel and diversify investments in their hunt for stronger returns.

At least eight mainland-based funds, including billion-dollar yuan quant funds, equity funds and mutual funds, have set up operations in Hong Kong in the past six months, and more than 10 others are headed there, according to a Reuters tally based on sources and public information.

Most of them are rapidly building offshore sales and research teams and preparing for the launch of their first U.S. dollar funds. As mainland-based funds are yuan denominated, fund managers need to set up in Hong Kong to be able to offer foreign currency products.

One of those firms, Beijing-based Ren Bridge Asset Management, which manages 17 billion yuan ($2.5 billion), opened an office in Hong Kong in March and is in the process of applying for an asset management license there.

The fund, which has delivered annualised returns of 21% since 2017, has launched a fund offshore with a long-bias equity strategy, mostly for Ren Bridges existing clients, including corporates and family offices, with funds abroad.

Xue Youwei, former chief financial officer of Lion Fund Management, is to oversee the overseas operations.

"We are optimistic about Hong Kong as the global asset management hub. Through offshore funds we hope to expand the investment scope, explore hedging strategies, while learning from excellent overseas peers," Xue told Reuters.

Shanghai Qianxiang Asset Management, a quant hedge fund in China managing over 10 billion yuan, received an asset management license from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission in February and is developing its first global commodity trading adviser strategy for investing in overseas markets.

"Foreign managers are getting licenses and issuing funds in China - it's natural for us to go overseas," said Jason Yim, managing director of QX Asset Management in Hong Kong.

Wealth management firms such as Noah Holdings, China's largest independent wealth manager, are also aggressively expanding teams in Hong Kong.

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

China's onshore hedge funds have seen exponential growth in the past decade, with 6 trillion yuan of assets under management, according to UBS research.

Qianxiang's bigger competitor Lingjun Investment, which manages more than 60 billion yuan, formed a Hong Kong marketing team and launched its first offshore quant fund late last year, according to regulatory filings and sources.

Star asset manager Foresight Fund Management, a Shanghai-based mutual fund founded by veteran investor Chen Guangming, announced the opening of its Hong Kong branch in March.

Erin Wu, head of investor relations at OP Investment Management, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund platform that provides services to new funds, said she has received more inquiries this year than before the pandemic. Wu is talking to more than 10 China-based managers on preparing an offshore structure.

($1 = 6.8936 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Summer Zhen; Editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Sonali Paul)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Credit Suisse is pictured outside its office building in Hong Kong, China March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Lam Yik

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) - Credit Suisse was accused on Thursday of having "learnt nothing" from the 2008 financial crisis on the first day of a trial at London's High Court over residential mortgage-backed securities.

Loreley Financing, a special purpose vehicle set up by German bank IKB, is suing Credit Suisse over its 2007 purchase of $100 million of notes as part of a collateralised debt obligation transaction.

The Jersey-registered company said in court filings that it bought the notes because of Credit Suisse's "false and dishonest representations" about their value.

Loreley also argues the allegedly false representations were part of a "systemic fraud" by the Swiss bank in relation to the securitisation of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

Credit Suisse denies that there was any fraud in relation to its RMBS business, saying in written arguments that Loreley's case is "thoroughly implausible".

Loreley's lawsuit, which was filed in 2018, long pre-dates Credit Suisse's takeover by its rival UBS last month.

But the case underlines the legacy issues facing UBS in taking on Credit Suisse  which has suffered from high-profile risk management failures and a string of losses in recent years.

Opening the case on Thursday, Loreley's lawyer Tim Lord repeatedly referred to Credit Suisse's $5.28 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which was agreed in 2016 to settle claims it misled RMBS investors.

Lord said Credit Suisse's defence to the lawsuit suggests the bank considers its conduct as set out in a statement of facts agreed with the DOJ was "acceptable banking practice".

However, Credit Suisse argued in court filings that the settlement with the DOJ "makes no reference to dishonesty, fraud, knowing misrepresentation or anything of that kind".

Its lawyer Patrick Goodall added that, if Loreley is correct, "then it is not merely Credit Suisse which was running a wholly dishonest business  many of the allegations made against Credit Suisse were matters which were replicated across the entire industry".

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
FILE PHOTO: Deutsche Bank logo is seen in this illustration taken March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's Russian subsidiary's profits jumped by almost six times in 2022 to 5.4 billion roubles ($66.42 million), Russian audit documents showed, the latest example of a foreign lender booking strong earnings in the Russian market.

Foreign banks have stepped in to take business from Russian lenders who fell under sweeping Western sanctions imposed following Moscow's decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February last year.

Deutsche Bank said it would wind down its business in Russia in March 2022, joining other foreign lenders in leaving the country. It had already reduced its Russian footprint in recent years and is continuing to de-risk its Russian IT operations, including relocating staff.

Profit for the period leapt by more than 480% to 5.4 billion roubles. However, total assets dropped 36.3% to 81.6 billion roubles.

Net interest income jumped more than 10 times to just over 7 billion roubles. Russia lifted its key rate to 20% in an emergency move after Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation", before gradually lowering it to 7.5%.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

As of Dec. 31, 2022, Deutsche Bank's loan exposure to Russia amounted to 806 million euros ($884.02 million) on a gross basis and approximately 0.2% of the total loan book, the group said in its annual report. That compared to 1,397 million euros a year earlier.

"The majority of loan exposure relates to large Russian companies with material operations and cash-flow outside of Russia," the bank said in that report. "Such existing loans may be provided onshore by DB Moscow, or offshore by other group entities outside of Russia."

Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo's Russian subsidiary also saw a profit jump in 2022, while Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International, earned more than half of its profit last year from Russia.

The audit documents, dated March 31, were first reported on Thursday.

($1 = 81.3060 roubles)

($1 = 0.9117 euros)

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Elena Fabrichnaya; editing by Barbara Lewis)
A member of the European border and costal guard FRONTEX talks with a Macedonian policeman during the ceremony for the official start of the joint border control with Macedonian police in Skopje April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

SKOPJE (Reuters) - The European Union's border agency, Frontex, started deploying guards at North Macedonia's southern border with Greece on Thursday in a joint operation with Skopje to control and prevent illegal migration and cross-border crime.

Under an agreement signed last October, Frontex will deploy more than 100 guards at the border, Frontex officials said. The agreement is valid until Jan. 24 2024 but may be extended.

North Macedonia is the fourth Western Balkan country to sign such a deal with Frontex, following Albania, Serbia and Montenegro.

"We are no longer alone in the fight against illegal migrations," Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski said at an official ceremony marking the deployment.

He added that half of illegal entries in the EU were via the Western Balkan route, which has again become attractive to migrants this year.

A NATO member since 2019, North Macedonia wants to join the European Union and sees the agreement with Frontex as another step in that direction.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
NAIROBI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- African governments should prioritize funding to boost immunization services and primary health care, the UN children's fund, UNICEF said in a new report released on Thursday.

The report, titled "The State of the World's Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination" reveals that 12.7 million children in Africa missed out on one or more vaccinations over three years.

"The right policy decisions and increased budget allocations for primary health care for children, including immunization, in underserved communities in Africa can boost our efforts toward a healthier, safer, and more prosperous continent," said Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Fall said the recent resurgence of measles, cholera, and poliovirus in Africa is a warning that efforts be stepped up. "African leaders must act now and take strong political action to reduce the gap in vaccination and make sure that all children are immunized and protected."

According to the report, Africa is the region with the highest number of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children as 12.7 million children were under-vaccinated in 2021, including 8.7 million who did not receive a single dose, also called "zero-dose" children.

The report says half of the top 20 countries in the world with the largest number of zero-dose children are in Africa.

"Nigeria and Ethiopia are the two countries with the largest number of zero-dose children on the continent with more than 2.2 million and 1.1 million respectively. Two in five zero-dose children in Africa live in one of these two countries," UNICEF said.

The report calls on the government to urgently identify and reach all children, especially those who missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic

The governments should also build resilient health systems through investment in female health workers, innovation, and local manufacturing as well as strengthening demand for vaccines, including by building confidence.

The report shows that the world has experienced the largest sustained backslide in childhood immunization in 30 years, fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNICEF said the pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the diversion of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker shortages, and stay-at-home measures.

It says ongoing challenges such as conflicts, climate change, and vaccine hesitancy also contributed.

In Africa, says the report, the pandemic also exposed - and exacerbated -- lack of resilience and persistent weaknesses in health systems and primary health care whereas before the pandemic.

"We must act urgently to make sure that every child who has been left out is vaccinated. Using routine immunization as an entry point to strengthen primary healthcare and community systems will also help deliver other essential services so that together with governments and partners, we can address multiple child deprivations and accelerate progress for children," said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Poirier said immunization is one of the world's most effective public health interventions, but millions of children in Africa are still deprived of life-saving vaccination. 
French SNCF railway workers on strike, wearing vests of French CGT and Sud Rail labour unions, enter the headquarters of stock market operator Euronext at La Defense business and financial district as part of a "day of expression of railway anger" follow

By Noemie Olive

PARIS (Reuters) -A group of protesters briefly invaded offices of stockmarket operator Euronext in Paris' La Defense business district on Thursday, saying big companies must pay up to finance pensions, as part of wider protests against a rise in the retirement age.

"We are told that there is no money to finance pensions," said Sud-Rail unionist Fabien Villedieu. But there is "no need to get the money from the pockets of workers, there is some in the pockets of billionaires."

Waving union flags, the group of a few hundred protesters occupied Euronext's lobby, engulfed in red smoke from flares, and chanted words popular with pension protesters: "We are here, we are here, even if Macron does not want it we are here."

They also shouted: "Macron resign!"

Earlier this month, similar scenes occurred at Blackrock's Paris offices.

At the weekend, Macron signed into law the rise in the retirement age which means citizens must work two years longer, to 64, before receiving their state pension.

That was after three months of protests that brought huge crowds onto the streets and at times turned violent. Opinion polls show a vast majority of voters oppose the pension reform.

Macron and his government say they want to move on and work on other measures to do with working conditions, law and order, education and health issues.

But the protesters in La Defense on Thursday, as well as those who heckled Macron during a visit to France's eastern Alsace region on Wednesday, made clear many were not ready to move on.

"We'll continue until the (pension law's) withdrawal," protesters shouted in La Defense's central square, standing by a banner that read: "No to the pension reform".

Macron himself faced protests on Thursday during his second public outing since signing the bill into law.

While he was visiting a school in the southern French town of Ganges, smiling and taking selfies with pupils, protesters held a few hundred meters away by police also chanted against the pension reform.

"There is a bit of everything," Macron said in the schoolyard, shrugging off the protests. "There are people who are happy, and people who are not happy."

(Additional reporting by Lucien Libert, Tassilo Hummel, Elizabeth Pineau, Benjamin Mallet; writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Christina Fincher)
People spray water while taking part in the annual Minan civilian defense drill, which this year focuses on the response from various agencies and volunteer groups if under attack by China, at a power plant in Nangan island, which is part of the Matsu

By Fabian Hamacher

NANGAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - Emergency workers on a Taiwan-controlled island next to China's coast practiced responding to a simulated Chinese attack on Thursday, a little more than a week after Beijing staged war games around the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

The Matsu Islands, close to China's Fuzhou city, have been controlled by the government in Taipei since defeated Republic of China forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists.

Often shelled by China during the height of the Cold War, Matsu is today a fashionable destination for tourists drawn to its rugged beauty.

But its closeness to the Chinese coast means Taiwan's government is well aware of the danger Matsu would face should war break out, as Beijing presses Taiwan to accept its sovereignty claims.

The drills on Matsu's main island of Nangan are part of Taiwan's annual Minan civil defence exercises, and this year's scenario for Matsu imagines a date in August 2025 when China first cuts off and then attacks the islands.

Ambulances and fire engines raced around Nangan's power station, the site of the exercises, spraying water on fires and evacuating the wounded.

"If the situation between Taiwan and China becomes more tense, I believe that all colleagues on the response team will know where they should be," county magistrate Wang Chung-ming told reporters.

"In time of war, the army will be in charge of fighting, while we are in charge of support and logistics," he said.

Matsu's vulnerability was underscored in February when the two undersea cables connecting the islands were cut, possibly by civilian Chinese ships, disconnecting the 14,000 people who live there from the internet.

Matsu does have a military garrison, though far fewer troops are based there now than during the decades following 1949.

"It doesn't help to be afraid," said Tsai Chen-han, 24, who took part in the drill. "The goal of this is make people stay alert and not to become complacent while leading their everyday lives."

(Reporting by Fabian Hamacher; Writing by Ben Blanchard and Angus MacSwan)
FILE PHOTO: Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during a Quad Ministers' panel at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi, India on March 3, 2023. OLIVIER DOULIERY/Pool via REUTERS

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's foreign minister urged Pacific island countries on Thursday to stay united in the face of great power competition as she visited New Caledonia, where the president raised concerns about Australia's AUKUS nuclear submarine programme.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong's visit to the French territory coincides with a push by a China-backed group for several Pacific island nations, including New Caledonia, to sign a splinter security pact.

The region's main diplomatic bloc, the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum, which includes Australia, last year rejected a push by China for 10 nations to sign a security and trade deal amid concerns by the United States and its allies over Beijing's military ambitions.

Solomon Islands, the only Pacific island country with a security pact with China, is pushing for the Melanesian Spearhead Group of Vanuatu, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia's leading pro-independence party, to create a sub-regional security framework which would also involve Beijing, statements show.

In a speech to New Caledonia's Congress, Wong said the Pacific faced challenges from climate change, economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and strategic competition, and "we believe a united Pacific Islands Forum is central to protecting our shared interests".

"We are stronger together," she said.

While New Caledonia is a French overseas territory, its president Louis Mapou, a pro-independence indigenous leader, is from the Kanak Socialist Liberation Front (FLNKS), a political alliance strongly tied to the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which was formed four decades ago to push for independence for indigenous Melanesian groups.

A spokesman for Mapou told Reuters that New Caledonia is negotiating to become an associate member of the MSG, and confirmed the security framework was being discussed among members.

"In terms of China's presence, the president has always said New Caledonia is open to discussions with any countries - China, Japan, United States," he said.

Mapou's spokesman said he had raised New Caledonia's concerns about whether AUKUS, a defence technology partnership with the United States and Britain to sell Australia nuclear-propelled submarines, complied with the Pacific's nuclear-free treaty in discussions with Wong. Wong responded saying Australia was transparent and the AUKUS submarines would carry only conventional weapons, he said.

Wong told reporters afterwards AUKUS would contribute to regional stability, and Australia complied with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

The need for nations to respect the South Pacific's nuclear free zone was also raised by Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in a meeting on Thursday with Britain's visiting Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, the Solomon Islands said in a statement.

Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea officials would discuss a MSG security framework in Honiara, a separate Solomon Islands statement said.

The top official for the group, whose headquarters in Vanuatu was funded by Beijing, has previously it was considering Chinese security assistance.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Mark Potter)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian court on Thursday acquitted 69 Hindus, including a former minister from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of the murder of 11 Muslims during communal riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.

The killings occurred in Ahmedabad on Feb. 28, 2002, a day after a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, setting off one of independent India's worst outbreaks of religious bloodshed.

A total of 86 Hindus were accused of the killings in the Naroda Gam district of Ahmedabad, 17 of whom died during trial. All the accused were free on bail.

We have been saying from the first day that they were framed," defence lawyer Chetan Shah, who represented 82 of the accused, said. "Some of the accused were not present at the scene on the day of the incident."

Shamshad Pathan, who represented the victims, said they would challenge the court's decision in a higher court.

Justice has eluded the victims once again. We will study the grounds on which the court has acquitted the accused persons," Pathan said.

Those acquitted include Maya Kodnani, a former minister of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP, who was a lawmaker at the time of the riots, former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Jaydeep Patel.

Bajrang Dal and VHP are Hindu nationalist groups and have close links to the BJP.

Kodnani was also an accused in a case in which 97 people were killed in the 2002 riots. She was convicted but later acquitted by a higher court.

At least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed across Gujarat in the 2002 riots. Activists put the toll at over twice that number.

Critics accused Modi, who was chief minister at the time, of failing to protect Muslims. Modi denied the allegations and a Supreme Court-ordered investigation found no evidence to prosecute him.

(Reporting by Sumit Khanna, Writing by Sakshi Dayal, Editing by Nick Macfie)
FILE PHOTO: A laborer works in a container area at a port in Tokyo, Japan July 19, 2017. Picture taken July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's export growth slowed in March, dragged down by a drop in China-bound shipments of cars and steel in a slide that underscores concern about slackening global demand amid higher interest rates and Western banking-sector jitters.

Import growth outpaced exports in March, due to the hefty cost of coal, crude and oil products, helping bring the annual trade deficit in the world's third-biggest economy to a record 21.7 trillion yen ($161 billion). It exceeded the previous record of 13.7 trillion yen in fiscal 2013.

The yen's depreciation by 16.5% from the same month a year earlier also boosted the value of imports, rather than driving up external shipments as Japanese exporters have shifted production overseas during previous periods of yen strength.

Thursday's data, released by the Ministry of Finance, showed exports rose 4.3% in March from a year earlier, logging a 25th straight month of increase, led by shipments of U.S.-bound cars. That was above economists' median estimate of a 2.6% gain, but below a 6.5% increase in February.

Analysts say Japan's trade deficit will persist for the time being as exports weaken.

"Chinese consumption lacks strength even after zero-COVID curbs were lifted," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

"Effects of the fully-fledged monetary tightening in the West since last summer will play out in their economies, causing Japan's exports to turn downward going forward."

A months-long global monetary policy tightening streak to curb red-hot inflation has raised the spectre of a worldwide recession, while the recent failure of two mid-sized U.S. banks as well as troubles at Credit Suisse, have raised worries about a credit crunch.

Thursday's data showed imports rose 7.3% in the year to March, below the median estimate of an 11.4% increase and after the prior month's 8.3% gain.

The trade balance in March came to a deficit of 754.5 billion yen versus the median estimate for a deficit of 1.29 trillion yen in March, after a shortfall of 897 billion yen in February.

By region, exports to the United States grew 9.4% in the year to March, slowing from the 14.9% seen in the previous month.

Exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, fell 7.7% year-on-year in March, a fourth straight month of declines, the trade data showed.

($1 = 134.7400 yen)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Shri Navaratnam)
Kosovo police officers stand guard next to a newly installed voting container for the upcoming local elections in Zubin Potok, Kosovo, April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj

By Fatos Bytyci

ZUBIN POTOK, Kosovo (Reuters) - Kosovo's election commission has put containers by main roads for Sunday local elections in the northern part of the country even though the Serb majority there plans to boycott the vote.

Serb officials from the area, administrative staff, judges, and policemen resigned collectively in November 2022, in protest over Pristina's plan to replace Serbian car licence number plates with those of Kosovo.

The four municipalities, which border Serbia, do not recognise authorities in Pristina and see Belgrade as their capital.

Serbs in the area are demanding the creation of an association of Kosovo Serb municipalities that was agreed a decade ago with Pristina before they take part in the vote.

Local workers have put four containers in two makeshift polling stations near the small town of Zubin Potok on the side of the road that leads to Serbia.

The works are guarded by heavily armed police brought from other areas of the country after more than 500 local Serb policemen resigned last November.

"In these four municipalities we have in total 19 polling centers, six are regular ones and 13 are alternative centers that will be held in other alternative objects (containers) in other locations in these four municipalities," said Valmir Elezi, the spokesperson of Kosovo's Central Election Commission.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who has repeatedly called on Serbs to participate in the election, accused Belgrade on Tuesday of intimidating them not to go and vote.

Only two mayor candidates are ethnic Serbs but they are not loyal to Belgrade. The turnout is expected to be low.

On March 18th, Pristina and Belgrade verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan aimed at improving ties.

The main aim of the plan is to defuse tensions in the northern part of the country by offering more autonomy to local Serbs, while allowing Pristina to control that part of its territory.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
A view shows the accident scene following a large blast in a street in the city of Belgorod, Russia, April 20, 2023. Mayor of Belgorod City Valentin Demidov via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian Sukhoi-34 supersonic warplane accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine late on Thursday, causing an explosion and injuring three people.

Video footage from the site showed piles of concrete on the street, several damaged cars and a building with broken windows. One shot showed what appeared to be car upside down on the roof of a store.

Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced a state of emergency overnight and said there was a crater measuring 20 metres (65 feet) across on one of the main streets. Four cars and four apartment buildings were damaged, he added.

Three people had been injured, he said.

"Thank God there are no dead," Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement on Telegram, adding that an apartment building had been evacuated overnight.

Tass cited the Russian defence ministry as saying that a Su-34 supersonic fighter-bomber jet had accidentally discharged a munition.

"As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition," Tass cited the defence ministry as saying.

It did not say what kind of weapon was involved.

The ministry said some buildings had been damaged and announced a probe was already under way, according to Tass.

The Belgorod region is one of several parts of southern Russia where targets such as fuel and ammunition stores have been rocked by explosions since the start of what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Jamie Freed and Christina Fincher)
BAMAKO (Reuters) - The chief of staff of Mali's interim president, Oumar Traore, and three others have been killed in an ambush, the government said on Thursday.

The ambush took place in the rural area of Nara in Mali's southwestern Koulikoro region, the statement said, without providing further detail on when the attack occurred or who was responsible for it.

One other person, a driver who was traveling with the delegation, is missing, it added.

Mali is one of several West African countries battling a violent Islamist insurgency that has spread from its arid north over the past decade.

Militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have seized swathes of territory across the region, killed thousands and displaced millions.

Frustrations against the authorities' failure to quell the violence have spurred two military takeovers in Mali since 2020.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Estelle Shirbon)
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Thursday it summoned China's ambassador to protest at Beijing's criticism of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks on Taiwan.

The move came after China and South Korea exchanged harsh words over Yoon's comments in a recent interview with Reuters.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Yoon said increased tensions around Taiwan were due to attempts to change the status quo by force, and he opposed such a change.

"The Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue." Yoon said.

Asked about Yoon's comments, the Chinese foreign ministry denounced Yoon and called on South Korea to "prudently handle matters" related to Taiwan.

"Its resolution (of the Taiwan issue) is a matter for Chinese who do not need to be told what should or should not be done," spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular news briefing on Thursday.

Hours later, South Korea's foreign ministry hit back and said comments by the Chinese foreign ministry were "unspeakable".

A vice foreign minister called in Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming and strongly protested what South Korea called "diplomatic discourtesy", the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement.

On Sino-U.S. rivalry, the South Korean leader has trodden cautiously, with China being South Korea's largest trade partner, but he has been more vocal over tension in the Taiwan Strait.

Tensions over democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, have spiked over the past three years as Beijing ramps up diplomatic and military pressure to get Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park, Soo-hyang Choi, Hyonhee Shin; Editing by)
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday extended congratulations to faculty, students, and alumni of Yunnan University as the university marks its 100th anniversary.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent a congratulatory letter to the university. 
FILE PHOTO: Alejandro Werner, Director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) speaks during the launch of the report "Economic Perspectives-Americas: Frustrated by Uncertainty", in Bogota, Colombia October 28, 2019.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Salvadoran bond spreads narrowed on Wednesday to their tightest since December 2021 in a rally triggered by hopes a key new adviser to the finance ministry would be able to help secure a debt deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The tightening started on Monday after news that Alejandro Werner, former director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the IMF, had been appointed as an adviser by the Ministry of Finance.

"The market rallied on the hope the appointment would accelerate the perspective of an IMF program for the country or at least that Werner would help the government formulate a medium-term fiscal framework," said BNP Paribas' Nathalie Marshik in a Wednesday note.

Werner may have been appointed months ago "but the market is only finding out now", she said.

The bond spread, or premium to comparable U.S. Treasuries, remains among the highest in Latin America as it dropped to 1,354 basis points (bps), having hit a historic high near 3,500 bps last July.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Werner was seen on Friday at a meeting with finance minister Alejandro Zelaya and investors in Washington.

The finance ministry did not respond to a request for comment but Zelaya told local TV late on Wednesday that Werner "is collaborating with the government", helping "not only to seek an agreement" with the IMF but with a long-term vision.

El Salvador is effectively locked out of global debt markets, its bonds trading at yields of 16% and above.

"We believe this appointment is yet another effort by the authorities at polishing their image with markets in the hope of a bond issuance," Marshik wrote.

The IMF Board met in March to discuss findings of a staff visit to San Salvador, but the Salvadoran authorities did not consent "to publication of the staff report and the related press release," the IMF said.

Werner was at the fund in 2021 when the Salvadoran government was requesting an IMF program of more than $1 billion, but talks were derailed first by a series of moves by the government of President Nayib Bukele that were criticized by Washington, and later by the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender.

Last Thursday, the current acting director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, Nigel Chalk, said there is potential for a deal, but the Salvadoran government had not yet requested a program and talks were ongoing without a "particular timetable".

(This story has been corrected to change the figure to 16% from 50%, in paragraph 8)

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York and Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Editing by Sonali Paul)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The search for three American sailors last seen in northwest Mexico has been suspended by the Mexican Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, a Coast Guard spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday.

The three sailors, identified as Kerry O'Brien, Frank O'Brien and William Gross, were last seen on April 4 in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the Coast Guard said last week.

Los Angeles-based Coast Guard spokesman Richard Uranga told Reuters that after the Mexican Navy had suspended their search, the U.S. Coast Guard had followed suit.

Uranga said he did not have further information on why the search was called off.

The sailors left the port city of Mazatlan earlier this month to head to San Diego, and were supposed to stop along the way in Cabo San Lucas, on the tip of the Baja California peninsula. They never arrived.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sarah Morland)
FILE PHOTO-Sudan's Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan attends a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok during the International Conference in support of Sudan at the Tempor

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan received separate phone calls on Thursday from the United States, Saudi and Qatari foreign ministers, also from the Turkish president and the Egyptian intelligence chief, an army statement reported.

The calls come amid efforts to get both the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to agree to a three-day ceasefire across the Muslim Eid that starts on Friday.

All parties, including calls from the U.N. secretary general and South Sudan and Ethiopia leaders, affirmed the necessity to stop the violence and resort to dialogue.

(This story has been corrected to change the country name in paragraph 3)

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz ; Writing by Alaa Swilam; Editing by Chris Reese)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deliver remarks to reporters outside the U.N. Security Council at U.N., headquarters in New York City, U.S. April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N.-convened meeting on Afghanistan next month will not focus on the possible international recognition of the Taliban administration, a U.N. spokesperson stressed on Thursday after comments by the deputy U.N. chief sparked concern and confusion.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set to host a closed-door gathering in Doha on May 1-2 of special envoys on Afghanistan from various countries. His deputy, Amina Mohammed, suggested on Monday the gathering "could find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition."

"The Doha conference on the 1st and 2nd of May is not focusing on recognition and we don't want there to be any confusion about that," said deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq. "The point of discussion ... is to build a more unified consensus on the challenges at hand."

The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew following 20 years of war.

In December, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly approved postponing, for the second time, a decision on whether to recognize the Afghan Taliban administration by allowing them to send a United Nations ambassador to New York.

Earlier this month the Taliban began enforcing a ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations after stopping most women working for humanitarian aid groups in December. Since toppling the Western-backed government, they have also tightened controls over women's access to public life, including barring women from university and closing most girls' high schools.

The Taliban says it respects women's rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest rally after Georgias House and Senate voted to prohibit most medical treatments to minors that help affirm gender identity, outside the Capitol Building in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 20, 2023.

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - Advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to strike down a new Tennessee law that bans doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatment such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery to transgender minors.

The American Civil Liberties Union and LGBTQ group Lambda Legal in a lawsuit filed in Nashville, Tennessee federal court say the law, which takes effect July 1, unlawfully discriminates against transgender people based on their sex.

The law would ban any medical procedure performed for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth.

Republican state lawmakers who passed the bill in February said it was necessary to protect young people from being permanently harmed. But many medical associations have said the law is transphobic and that gender-affirming care can be life-saving.

The new lawsuit says depriving transgender youth of medically necessary care will have devastating consequences for them and their families. Untreated gender dysphoria can trigger anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts, the groups said.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three families with transgender children and a Memphis-based doctor who performs gender-affirming procedures.

The office of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the ban into law last month along with a separate measure restricting drag performances in public. A federal judge blocked the drag law earlier this month pending the outcome of a lawsuit by an LGBTQ theater group.

The laws are part of escalating efforts by Republican lawmakers to regulate the conduct of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill intended to ban transgender women and girls from competing in women's and girls' school sports. The proposal is seen as having little chance of passing the Democrat-led Senate.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal claim in Thursday's lawsuit that Tennessee's law violates the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by singling out transgender people. They also say the law violates the federal Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex discrimination in the provision of healthcare.

Several other U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for minors, and over the last several weeks groups have sued over laws adopted in Utah, Florida, Indiana and Arkansas.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Richard Chang)
A general view shows damage during a rain-wrapped tornado in Cole, Oklahoma, U.S., April 19, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. Hans Duran/via REUTERS

By Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) -Teams of emergency crews on Thursday picked through flattened homes left in the wake of a powerful tornado that killed at least three people in central Oklahoma a day earlier.

Two of the fatalities were reported in McClain County, while the third occurred in a nearby county, Sheriff's Deputy Scott Gibbons said.

Rescue workers had finished their search for trapped people after a twister roared through the farming county of 40,000 on Wednesday evening, he said.

"We're going to have quite a few homes that are completely destroyed throughout our county," Gibbons said.

A survey crew near Cole, a rural town of 600 about 30 miles (48 km) south of Oklahoma City, found a home with damage caused by a EF-3 tornado, the National Weather Service said in a Tweet. An EF-3 is the third strongest tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, packing winds of up to 165 miles (265 km) per hour.

Video footage and photographs from Cole and other parts of the county showed leveled homes and debris fields, power poles strewn across roadways and uprooted trees laying in yards.

One family of four sheltered under a mattress in their mud room as the tornado flattened their home, the National Weather Service reported.

The tornado was part of a swarm of 18 twisters sighted by spotters in Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The dangerous weather was expected to continue throughout the afternoon and evening on Thursday with the possibility of more tornadoes, along with scattered severe thunderstorms and large hail in the forecast for northeast Kansas into southwest Iowa, the NWS said.

Almost 16,000 customers in Oklahoma remained without power as of midday on Thursday due to the storms, according to the website .

The activity comes weeks after a tornado tore through southeastern Missouri, killing five people. A previous bout of thunderstorms also unleashed a tornado last month that devastated the town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, destroying many of the community's 400 homes and killing 26 people.

(Reporting by Yana Gaur and Jyoti Narayan in BengaluruEditing by Mark Potter, William Maclean and Angus MacSwan)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deliver remarks to reporters outside the U.N. Security Council where he appealed on for a three day ceasefire of hostilities in Sudan to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at U.N., headquarters in New

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Thursday for a three-day ceasefire in Sudan over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr to allow trapped civilians to escape to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies.

Guterres did not specify when the ceasefire should start. The three-day holiday begins in Sudan on Friday.

Since fighting broke out between Sudanese troops and paramilitary forces on Saturday, he said humanitarian operations have become "virtually impossible" and warehouses, vehicles and other humanitarian assets have been attacked, looted and seized.

Three U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) workers were killed and two injured in clashes on Saturday in Kabkabiya in North Darfur.

"Targeting humanitarian workers and assets must end," Guterres told reporters. "I am also extremely worried about the situation of United Nations personnel, many of whom are trapped in their homes in areas of active conflict."

The United Nations has about 4,000 staff in Sudan, of which 800 are international staff, and said before the violence erupted nearly 16 million people throughout the country - one-third of the population - were in need of humanitarian aid.

Guterres spoke to reporters after meeting virtually with the heads of the African Union, Arab League, regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and other relevant organizations.

"There was a strong consensus on condemning the ongoing fighting in Sudan and calling for a cessation of hostilities," Guterres said.

He said a three-day Eid truce must pave the way for a permanent ceasefire.

"The cessation of hostilities must be followed by serious dialogue allowing for the successful transition, starting with the appointment of a civilian government," Guterres said. "The fighting must stop immediately."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Kanishka Singh and Cynthia Osterman)
Humanitarian workers and passengers disembark from a United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) helicopter managed by the World Food Programme (WFP), painted in orange colour as part of efforts to improve safety of operations in the restive eastern C

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The United Nations has painted bright orange its two white helicopters providing humanitarian relief in eastern Congo in an effort to protect them from militia attacks by distinguishing them from other aircraft.

Insecurity has worsened in east Congo since a rebel group known as the M23 - one of many armed militias active in the region - launched a fresh offensive last year.

Humanitarian operations to help the thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting have been caught up in the fighting.

Last year, the U.N. recorded 293 security incidents that affected relief missions to east Congo, resulting in the death of nine humanitarian workers. More than 20 were kidnapped last year.

The U.N. Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) unveiled the two repainted World Food Programme helicopters this week. Their colour is meant to avoid confusion with the white ones used by the U.N. peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, which have been attacked in the past.

But a civil society activist in the city of Goma was sceptical.

"This change of colour does not change the basic problem, which is insecurity," Stewart Muhindo told Reuters via telephone.

"The fact that the humanitarian community is trying to stand out is proof that the United Nations system has failed in its peacekeeping mission," he said, reflecting widespread frustrations against MONUSCO that frequently spurs protests.

Eight peacekeepers were killed when a MONUSCO helicopter on a reconnaissance mission crashed in the midst of rebel fighting in March last year. The government blamed the M23, which they denied.

In February, another peacekeeper was killed when a helicopter operated by the mission came under fire while in mid-air.

(Reporting by Sonia Rolley; Editing by Sofia Christensen and Alison Williams)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen discusses "U.S.-China Economic Relationship" during a forum hosted by the Johns Hopkins University at the Nitze Building in Washington, U.S., April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the world's largest official bilateral creditor, China should participate in meaningful debt relief for countries facing problems, but it has served for too long as a "roadblock" to necessary action, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a major speech on U.S.-China relations on Thursday.

Yellen said the United States expected China to make good its pledge to work constructively on issues such as debt relief and climate change, noting that delays in restructuring raised costs for both borrowers and creditors.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Yellen welcomed China's recent provision of credible financing assurances for Sri Lanka, but said Washington continued to urge China's "full participation" in providing debt treatments for Zambia, Ghana and other countries.

Yellen's remarks came after global finance officials from creditor and debtor countries, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and the private sector met in Washington last week on ways to accelerate long-stalled debt restructuring efforts. The IMF estimates that more than half of low-income countries are close to or already unable to service their debts.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that the new Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable had made "tangible progress" on debt restructuring issues. She said China and other participants had reached a common understanding that multilateral development banks could provide positive net flows to countries in need, instead of accepting outright reductions in debt levels.

China has long been unwilling to accept losses on loans unless private-sector creditors and multilateral development banks shoulder their share of the burden.

"China's participation is essential to meaningful debt relief, but for too long it has not moved in a comprehensive and timely manner. It has served as a roadblock to necessary action," Yellen said.

The United States and China - as the world's largest economies - had a responsibility to work together to help emerging markets and developing countries facing debt distress, she said.

"Chinas status as the worlds largest official bilateral creditor imposes on it the same inescapable set of responsibilities as those on other official bilateral creditors when debt cannot be fully repaid," the Treasury secretary said.

Yellen said Washington was working with other stakeholders to improve the Group of 20's Common Framework process for low-income countries and the overall debt treatment process, adding, "Solving these issues is a true test of multilateralism."

She said the United States and China - the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases - also needed to work together to tackle climate change, and called on Beijing to end overseas financing of unabated coal-fired power plants.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Franklin Paul and Jonathan Oatis)
UNITED NATIONS, April 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for accelerated climate action through global cooperation.

"We need global acceleration through cooperation. And that means rising above disagreements, differences and tensions. Geopolitical divisions must not torpedo the world's climate fight for 1.5 degrees," he told the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in a video message.

"You are the major economies -- but also the major emitters. And our world has a major climate challenge before us. Today's policies would make our world 2.8 degrees hotter by the end of the century. And this is a death sentence," said Guterres.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has made clear that it is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels -- but only if the world takes a quantum leap in climate action. And that depends on the major economies, he said.

Guterres called for accelerated action in three areas.

First, net-zero deadlines.

He called on leaders of developed countries to commit to reaching net-zero emissions as close as possible to 2040 and on leaders of emerging economies to commit to reaching net-zero as close as possible to 2050.

"And I also urge all countries, developed and developing, to step up their national climate action plans, or NDCs, to bring them in line with the 1.5 degrees goal," he said, referring to Nationally Determined Contributions.

Second, departure from fossil fuels.

Renewables can deliver -- on access, affordability, and energy security. And the science is clear: new fossil fuel projects are entirely incompatible with 1.5 degrees. Yet many countries are expanding capacity on fossil fuels, he said. "And I urge you to change course: phase out coal by 2030 in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries and 2040 in all others; end all licensing or funding -- both public and private -- of new fossil fuel projects; make sure generation of electricity is net-zero by 2035 in developed countries, and 2040 elsewhere; decarbonize major sectors faster -- from shipping, aviation and steel, to cement, aluminum and agriculture -- in close cooperation with the private sector; put a price on carbon; shift fossil fuel subsidies to finance a just transition to renewables."

Third, acceleration of climate justice by reforming the international financial system.

He asked the leaders of the major economies, as major shareholders of multilateral development banks, to push them to coordinate their operations better, and to overhaul their business models and approaches to risk, in order to turbocharge climate action and sustainable development.

Developed countries must also deliver on the commitments made in previous UN Climate Change conferences. Adaptation must reach 50 percent of climate finance. The loss and damage fund must be operationalized. And the Green Climate Fund must be replenished, said Guterres.

The Major Economies Forum held its fourth meeting -- in virtual format -- on Thursday under the auspices of the U.S. government. 
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen talks with other attendees at the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, U.S., October 14, 2022. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she is insisting that next steps in the World Bank's evolution be taken in coming months, including potential changes to allow the bank's private sector and poor country lending arms to lend to sub-sovereign entities like cities and regional authorities.

Yellen told Reuters World Bank shareholders had "extremely productive" discussions last week after approving an initial round of reforms to ensure the bank can better tackle issues such as climate change, pandemics and conflict, alongside its work to reduce poverty. Now they expected the bank to take further actions on a "rolling basis," in the run up to the October annual meetings in Morocco, she said.

"There is momentum that we are eager to seize for the next phase of this work because these challenges are not going away; they are only growing by the day. Expectations are also very high," Yellen said in written answers to emailed questions.

"We need to focus and prioritize to get work done. We will not solve all the problems but I am steadfast in insisting that we deliver better and more," she added.

Yellen kicked off efforts to retool the bank in October after an independent report prepared for the Group of 20 economies last July concluded the World Bank and other development banks could free up hundreds of billions of dollars by adjusting their balance sheets and accepting a bit more risk.

The World Bank's steering committee last week endorsed a more ambitious set of reforms than those initially proposed by the bank's management, including an updated mission statement and balance sheet changes that will boost the bank's lending by $50 billion over 10 years while maintaining its top-tier AAA credit rating, and focusing more on private capital.

Yellen said private sector executives told her they were upbeat that new incentives and reforms at the World Bank could free up more private capital for development goals.

That will be a key area of focus for ex-Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, the U.S. nominee to head the bank after the departure of current chief David Malpass on June 1, would deliver on the reform agenda, Yellen said.

In addition to subnational loans, shareholders are also urging the bank to allow its middle-income lending arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to lend to supranational institutions like COVAX, a facility backed by the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Yellen said.

And they want the bank to establish principles for concessionality and resource allocation, including more strategic utilization of existing pools of grant and low-interest resources, while adopting process improvements to increase its "speed and agility while maintaining quality."

Malpass told Reuters the bank would draft a work plan for reforms to continue over the summer. "The needs of the countries are immense, both for development and for global public goods," he said. "We'll explore additional avenues to provide resources directly from the MDBs and enable private sector capital."

A senior U.S. Treasury official said additional financial gains were possible, including through further changes to the bank's equity to loan ratio, which was just lowered to 19% from 20%, and by developing a "safe, prudent" way to incorporate some callable capital into the bank's capital adequacy framework.

"We do think there is a potential to derive more value from callable capital that we have been," the official said, adding that doing so would require "hard, very technical work."

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Diane Craft)
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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

DOLLAR GENERAL CORPORATION (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Tennessee 001-11421 61-0502302 (State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

100 MISSION RIDGE GOODLETTSVILLE , TN 37072 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrants telephone number, including area code: ( 615 ) 855-4000

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on

which registered Common Stock, par value $0.875 per share DG New York Stock Exchange

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 

ITEM 5.02 DEPARTURE OF DIRECTORS OR CERTAIN OFFICERS; ELECTION OF DIRECTORS; APPOINTMENT OF CERTAIN OFFICERS; COMPENSATORY ARRANGEMENTS OF CERTAIN OFFICERS.

On April 19, 2023, the Board of Directors (the Board) of Dollar General Corporation (the Company) approved the promotion of Kelly M. Dilts, 54, to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective May 1, 2023. As the Company previously disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K dated January 26, 2023, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on January 30, 2023, John W. Garratt, the Companys President and Chief Financial Officer, announced his plans to retire from employment with the Company effective June 2, 2023. On April 19, 2023, Mr. Garratt agreed to relinquish his position and title of Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective May 1, 2023, to aid in the Companys transition of the Chief Financial Officer role prior to his retirement date.

Ms. Dilts has served as the Companys Senior Vice President of Finance since July 2019, overseeing financial planning and analysis; procurement; margin planning and analytics; decision science and analytics; and investor relations. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Dilts served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Francescas Holdings Corporation, a specialty retailer operating a nationwide chain of boutiques, from April 2016 until July 2019. Between February 1998 and April 2016, she held various positions of increasing responsibility in finance and investor relations with Tailored Brands, Inc., including Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations (June 2014 to April 2016); Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer (July 2012 to June 2014); Vice President, Finance (April 2003 to July 2012); Associate Vice President, Finance (April 2002 to April 2003); Financial Planning and Analysis Manager (March 2000 to April 2002); and Assistant Controller (February 1998 to March 2000). She also served as the Controller for Olympia Enterprises from April 1993 to February 1998, after beginning her career with Deloitte & Touche in January 1990.

On April 19, 2023, in connection with the approval of Ms. Diltss promotion, the Compensation Committee of the Board approved, in each case effective May 1, 2023:

 an increase in Ms. Diltss annual base salary from $676,794 to $750,000; and

 an increase in Ms. Diltss targeted annual incentive opportunity from 50% to 75% of her base salary (with the annual incentive target and any actual incentive payout to be prorated to reflect the portion of the year in each of her Senior Vice President and Executive Vice President positions), with respect to the current fiscal year and based on the achievement of the adjusted EBIT performance target previously established by the Compensation Committee in accordance with the terms of the Companys annual incentive plan.

The Compensation Committee also determined that a one-time long-term incentive having an approximate value of $878,297 will be awarded to Ms. Dilts in connection with her promotion to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This long-term incentive will be delivered in non-qualified stock options (the Option) to purchase shares of the Companys common stock at a per share exercise price equal to the closing price of the Companys common stock on the grant date of the Option, which date shall be determined in accordance with the Companys normal course quarterly equity award practices for newly hired or promoted employees. The Option will be scheduled to vest ratably in installments of 25% on each of the first four anniversaries of the grant date, subject to Ms. Diltss continued employment with the Company, and will terminate no later than ten years from the grant date.

In addition, in connection with such promotion, on April 19, 2023, the Company entered into an employment agreement with Ms. Dilts (the Employment Agreement), effective May 1, 2023 (the

1

Effective Date), in the form of Executive Vice President Employment Agreement previously filed by the Company on a Current Report on Form 8-K dated April 5, 2021, and filed with the SEC on April 8, 2021, which will supersede and replace her existing employment agreement on the Effective Date pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Employment Agreement. The initial term of the Employment Agreement extends until March 31, 2024, unless earlier terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Employment Agreement, subject to automatic month to month extensions for up to six months unless the Company gives written notice within the time frame set forth in the Employment Agreement that no extension or further extension, as applicable, will occur or unless certain other conditions specified in the Employment Agreement occur. The Employment Agreement provides for various customary business protection provisions, including non-competition, non-solicitation, non-interference, non-disparagement, and confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions, facilitates the implementation of the Companys clawback policy, and provides:

 for a minimum annual base salary, which may be increased from time to time in the sole discretion of the Company;

 that incentive compensation shall be determined and paid under the Companys annual bonus program for officers, as it may be amended from time to time, at Ms. Diltss applicable grade level; and

 that Ms. Dilts shall be entitled to receive executive perquisites, fringe and other benefits as are provided to officers at the same grade level under any of the Companys plans and/or programs in effect from time to time and shall be eligible to participate in those various Company welfare benefit plans, practices and policies in place during the term of the Employment Agreement to the extent allowed under and in accordance with the terms of those plans, as well as in any other benefit plans the Company offers to similarly-situated officers or other employees from time to time during the term of the Employment Agreement.

In addition, pursuant to the Employment Agreement, and subject to limited conditions set forth therein, if Ms. Dilts is terminated by the Company without cause (as defined in the Employment Agreement) or if she resigns from the Company for good reason (as defined in the Employment Agreement), or if she resigns within 60 days after the Companys failure to offer to renew, extend or replace the Employment Agreement before, at or within six months after the end of its original term or any term provided for in a written renewal or extension of the original term (with limited exceptions outlined in the Employment Agreement), she shall be entitled to (1) continued base salary payments for 24 months (subject to timing and form of payment provisions set forth in the Employment Agreement); (2) a lump sum payment of two times the amount of the average percentage of target bonus paid to her under the Companys annual bonus program with respect to the Companys two most recently completed fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the termination date occurs multiplied by her target bonus level and base salary applicable immediately preceding the termination (subject to certain additional calculation provisions set forth in the Employment Agreement); (3) a lump sum payment equal to two times the annual contribution that would have been made by the Company in respect of the plan year in which the termination occurs for her participation in the Companys medical, pharmacy, dental and vision benefits programs; and (4) reasonable outplacement services, as determined and provided by the Company, for one year or until other employment is secured, whichever comes first.

The foregoing description of the Employment Agreement is a summary only, does not purport to be complete, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to Exhibits 99.1 and 99.2 filed herewith and incorporated by reference as to Ms. Diltss Employment Agreement terms as if fully set forth herein.

2

There are no arrangements or understandings between Ms. Dilts and any other persons pursuant to which she was selected to become Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, nor are there any family relationships between Ms. Dilts and any of the Companys directors or other executive officers. Neither Ms. Dilts nor any related person of Ms. Dilts has a direct or indirect material interest in any existing or currently proposed transaction to which the Company is or may become a party that would require disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

ITEM 7.01. REGULATION FD DISCLOSURE.

On April 20, 2023, the Company issued a press release regarding certain of the matters discussed in Item 5.02. A copy of the press release is attached to this Form 8-K as Exhibit 99.3 and is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

The information contained within this Item 7.01, including the information in Exhibit 99.3, shall not be deemed filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

ITEM 9.01 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS.

(a) Financial statements of businesses acquired. N/A

(b) Pro forma financial information. N/A

(c) Shell company transactions. N/A

(d) Exhibits. See Exhibit Index to this report.

3

EXHIBIT INDEX

4

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

Date: April 20, 2023 DOLLAR GENERAL CORPORATION By: /s/ Rhonda M. Taylor Rhonda M. Taylor Executive Vice President and General Counsel

5

ATTACHMENTS / EXHIBITS

EXHIBIT 99.2

EXHIBIT 99.3

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(Tribune News Service)  The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has joined a group of universities and research institutions focused on the real-world problems of U.S. Space Command.

AFIT joins 16 other institutions of higher learning in Space Commands Academic Engagement Enterprise, the school recently said.

In an interview Wednesday, Lt. Col. Robert Bettinger, head of AFITs astronautical engineering degree program, said the move positions AFIT students to dive into questions important to Space Command.

This partnership enables our students to continue working on defense-focused projects, to capitalize on their overall education program, Bettinger said. The intent of all of our programs is to provide all of our students the education necessary to succeed out in the Department of Defense, in whatever capacity theyre needed.

Do you want to keep up with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base news?

Wright Patt Today is a newsletter for people who live, work and care about one of the largest Air Force bases in the world. Well deliver the latest military-related news and stories important to the Wright-Patterson community to your inbox every weekday.

The best way to do that is to give them real-world problems, he added.

There will be no change to AFIT curricula, but more of a understanding of the hard technology problems Space Command faces, he said.

Launched in 2022, the academic enterprise consists of institutions of higher learning across the country working with the command.

Members today include Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (founded in Cincinnati but located today in Florida), Georgia Tech, Purdue and others.

To join the enterprise, institutions must be a two-year, four-year, or post-graduate degree institution with programs aligned to study and work in space.

U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Force are distinct. The Space Force is a branch of the military, under the Department of the Air Force, as the Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy.

Space Command is one of 11 military combatant commands, organizing, training and equiping space professionals.

AFITs Graduate School of Engineering and Management offers several certificates and degrees in space-related fields, including graduate certificates in space systems and vehicle design, and masters and doctoral degree programs in astronautical engineering and more, the school said.

(AFIT) graduates have mastered the next-generation STEM skills that will enable them to be key leaders critical to the success of future ( U.S. Space Command) endeavors, Col. Nate Terry, senior military professor and director of the Center for Space Research and Assurance, said in a statement.

(c)2023 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

Visit at www.daytondailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
TUCSON, Ariz. (Tribune News Service)  Tucsons Davis-Monthan Air Force Base will become home to a new special-operations wing as its A-10 Warthog ground-support jets are finally retired over the next few years, under a new Air Force plan.

Local officials were recently briefed on the plan, which would establish a new power projection wing under the Air Force Special Operations Command at D-M, joining the bases related combat search and rescue mission.

Tucson-area leaders have been anxious about what will happen to D-M as the Air Force looks to retire its biggest flying mission  three squadrons of A-10 Thunderbolt II jets  by the end of the decade with no clear replacement mission in sight.

Now, a new mission is in the works.

At the urging of Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Tucson) and other Arizona lawmakers, Air Force officials recently briefed local government officials and D-M supporters on a plan to establish a new wing of the Air Force Special Operations Command at D-M.

The Pentagons proposed fiscal 2024 budget includes $5 million in funding for an Environmental Impact Statement and an area development plan to establish the 492nd Power Projection Wing at Davis-Monthan. The Air Force also plans to increase combat search and rescue operations at the base.

An Air Force Site Activation Task Force has already begun work to determine requirements and plan the transition for the new wing.

The head of the DM50, a Tucson support group for the base, said the new mission helps ensure the future of D-M and its billion-dollar contribution to the local economy for decades to come.

Were very optimistic about the future of D-M, DM50 chairwoman Linda Morales said. From what weve been told its an enduring, 30-year-plus mission for D-M, and its no loss of personnel, so it maintains the personnel levels, the economic impact that weve enjoyed.

The last economic impact study on D-M in 2017 found the base had a $2.6 billion overall annual impact on the Tucson economy, including about $1 billion in direct impacts.

Good fit

The Special Operations and search and rescue units also will have less impact on the community than replacing the A-10s at D-M with F-16s or F-35s, which are both significantly louder than the A-10 and other aircraft based at D-M.

D-M has been passed over as a base for the F-35, most recently in 2020 when it was a finalist to host an Air Force Reserve squadron of the fifth-generation fighter jet.

An Air Force environmental study showed that under one scenario, an estimated 1,506 people living near D-M would experience increased average noise levels of 65 decibels or more  a threshold the Air Force says can make an area incompatible for residential use.

The Air Force Special Operations Commands flying units operate fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, including the CV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft; various versions of the Hercules transport including AC-130 gunships, the EC-130 Commando Solo broadcast platform and MC-130 variants; as well as smaller reconnaissance and operations planes and the MQ-9 Reaper drone.

I think its a good fit for Tucson, and I think its going to be a pretty seamless adjustment because its not the louder fighter jets, Morales said.

Morales said Air Force officials have said they also plan to follow through with earlier plans to move some combat search and rescue units to D-M from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Michael Guymon, president and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce, said the local economy is heavily reliant on aerospace and defense, and D-M is part of that.

Any new operation, any new expansion of activities at the base is good for Tucson and good for Southern Arizona, said Guymon, who is a D-M honorary commander and sits with Morales on the board of the Southern Arizona Defense Alliance.

Lobbying effort

In early April, Kelly and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Reps. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Juan Ciscomani wrote to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, urging him to work closely with the Arizona congressional delegation and the Tucson community to secure the long-term future of D-M.

Given the advantages the base offers to the Air Force, from its very favorable year-round flying conditions and considerable range space to its proximity to leading defense industry partners, it should and must maintain a critical role in our national defense, the letter said.

The Air Force has been trying to retire the A-10 since at least 2015, when it floated a plan to replace three squadrons of A-10s at D-M with F-16 fighters by 2019, arguing the slow-flying, 1970s-era Warthog would not survive in the contested airspace of potential future conflicts.

But lawmakers led by the late Sen. John McCain and former Sen. Martha McSally, a former A-10 pilot, blocked those retirement plans year after year, arguing that there was no ready replacement for the A-10 for its dedicated task of close air support of ground troops and pressing the Pentagon to complete a needed A-10 wing-replacement program.

Shifting plans

In 2021, members of Congress led by Kelly blocked an Air Force plan to retire 42 A-10s, including 35 at D-M, as part of a larger plan to create a center of excellence for combat search and rescue at the Tucson base, which already hosts a search-and-rescue group.

But the Air Force said that plan was conditioned on being able to start retiring D-Ms A-10s, so the deal was off, dismaying some local officials who saw the new search-and-rescue center as a way to guarantee D-Ms long-term future.

Last year, Congress as part of the fiscal 2023 Pentagon budget allowed the Air Force to move ahead with a plan to retire 21 A-10s. Those will come from an Air National Guard base in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which will get an equal number of F-16 fighters.

The Pentagon in its fiscal 2024 budget has asked to retire 42 more A-10s, including 35 at D-M, among more than 300 older aircraft it wants to mothball.

The Air Force wants to free up funding to buy more F-35s and F15-EX fighters, as well as new tankers, utility helicopters and airborne communications planes.

The planned cuts would winnow the A-10 fleet down to 218 planes, and while wing replacements could keep many of those remaining A-10s flying into the 2030s, a top Air Force official recently said the service will move to accelerate retirements to eliminate the entire fleet in five or six years.

D-M hosts one active-duty combat A-10 squadron, the 354th Fighter Squadron, as well as an active-duty A-10 training squadron and an Air Force Reserve A-10 training squadron.

D-Ms 355th Wing also hosts the 563rd Rescue Group, which includes two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter squadrons, two EC-130H Compass Call jamming plane squadrons, two squadrons of pararescue specialists, known as PJs; and related maintenance and support units.

The rescue units often train with A-10s, who have long provided close air support to rescue missions.

Based at Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle, the Air Force Special Operations Command often trains with combat rescue units, and it commanded all of the continental Air Force search-and-rescue units from 2003 to 2006, as part of a realignment related to the Global War on Terror.

Those units including the 563rd Rescue Group are now under the Air Combat Command, operating at D-M as a geographically separated unit under the 23rd Wing at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

Multi-mission base

D-M, which won the prestigious Commander in Chiefs Installation Excellence Award in 2012 and 2018, also hosts the 55th Electronic Warfare Group; the headquarters of the 12th Air Force; and the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the Air Forces main boneyard for retired aircraft.

D-M also supports Border Patrol aviation and Air National Guard drone, homeland security and training missions.

The 55th Electronic Warfare Group, which was continuously deployed during the conflicts in the Middle East, has up to now conducted aerial surveillance and jamming using about a dozen EC-130H Compass Call planes  converted versions of the workhorse Hercules transport.

The Air Force is in the process of transitioning the group to use converted Gulfstream 550 business jets known as EC-37Bs, the first of which are set to enter service later this year as the 55th Electronic Warfare Group is expected to stay at D-M.

dwichner@tucson.com

(c)2023 The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.)

Visit at www.tucson.com
The Army will have a challenge to meet its expanded enlistment goal this year, though the service is recruiting better in 2023 than last year when it fell thousands of soldiers short of its goal, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Wednesday.

Sixty-five thousand [recruits for fiscal year 2023] is a very ambitious goal, she said while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee in defense of the services $185.5 billion budget request for fiscal 2024. The service set such a lofty target for 2023 after only taking in 45,000 recruits in 2022 because [Gen. James McConville, the Army chief of staff,] and I felt it was important to send a signal to our recruiter force that they shouldn't take their pedal off the metal.

Despite the insistence from the services top leaders that they have prioritized efforts to bring in new recruits above other challenges that the Pentagons largest military service faces, lawmakers repeatedly expressed skepticism they can achieve their goal.

Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told Wormuth that he worried the Army would be forced to cut its force strength. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he worried the service had a perception issue after recent events including the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and highly publicized controversies such as the coronavirus vaccine mandate and equality concerns within the force.

I hear from some multigenerational military families, where theres a reluctance to have their kids join because theres a perception that [President Joe Bidens] administration [is] more about social issues than warfighting, said Bacon, a retired Air Force general. Its a perception, and perceptions arent always reality, but it is a reality to those who see it on cable news or read it on the internet. Weve got to keep reminding folks that we have  the greatest Army in the world, the greatest military in the world that will kick anybodys butt. Thats what people want to be a part of.

Gen. Randy George, vice chief of staff of the Army, told the House Armed Services Committees subpanel on readiness at another hearing Wednesday that the service projects it will sign 55,000 new recruits this year. Thats 10,000 more than last year, but still short of the Armys 65,000 goal.

We are challenged by the fact that a small number of young Americans  are qualified to serve, George said. Fewer still, were finding, are interested in serving. And thats something we are working very hard to change.

The recruiting challenges have not been limited to the Army, which missed its 2022 goal by 15,000. Pentagon officials have said the other services have struggled to reach their enlistment goals in recent years in an environment often described as the most difficult recruiting climate in recent history.

Only about 23% of young Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 meet the academic and physical requirements to serve in the military, according to recent Pentagon data. Furthermore, only about 10% of young Americans are even interested in military service, officials have said.

At the readiness subpanel hearing, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, vice chief of naval operations, said she expects the Navys recruiting shortfall this year to be about 6,000. Gen. David Allvin, the Air Force vice chief of staff, said the service expects its total force in 2023  the number of new and existing members across the Air Force, Reserve and Air National Guard  to be about 10,000 short.

Gen. Eric Smith, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, and Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations for Space Force, told lawmakers that their services will meet recruiting goals this year.

An Army study this year found issues related to the culture war, or so-called woke military, was low on the list of reasons why young Americans rejected enlistment with only about 5% of respondents citing such concerns.

Many people known as Generation Z  those born from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s  who were polled cited safety issues, such as the fear of death or serious injury, as their main reason for lacking interest in military service, McConville said.

The recruiting problem has led the service to adopt a variety of new efforts aimed at reaching Gen Z people. In recent months, the Army has brought back its popular Be All You Can Be" campaign from the 1980s and 1990s. It started new classes to help otherwise-qualified potential recruits boost military aptitude test scores or their fitness levels. The service has also made new efforts to connect with schools and community officials throughout the country to bolster recruiters' visibility in their areas of responsibility, especially after the coronavirus pandemic forced most recruiting efforts into the virtual world for much of the last three years.

The initiatives have seen some success, McConville said. The Future Soldier Prep Course, which began last year at Fort Jackson, S.C., and expanded this year to Fort Benning, Ga., has produced 4,219 recruits who have moved on to Basic Combat Training, he said. Without the course, those individuals would not have met the standards to enlist. So far, the general said, 98% of potential recruits accepted into the new program have improved their scores enough to enlist.

The Army course has been so successful that the Navy launched its version  the Future Sailor Preparatory Course Physical Fitness Track pilot program  this month to help recruits meet physical admission standards. Its located at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois.

The Navy said its pilot course will provide physical fitness training along with nutritional and life skills course work for potential recruits who are as much as 6% above body-fat standards.

Some lawmakers at the House Armed Services Committee hearing pointed to other pools of potential recruits to help bolster enlistments.

Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., urged her fellow lawmakers to support legislation now in the Senate that would allow undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children known as Dreamers to enlist in the military as a pathway to citizenship.

The [Defense] Department is very supportive of looking at finding ways, for example, to bring the Dreamers into the Army and the other services as a pathway to citizenship, Wormuth said. I think we would very much welcome that.
The U.S. Army held an artillery summit this week with allies in Poland, where commanders strategized how to better incorporate a much-lauded rocket system into their fighting formations.

V Corps, at a Polish base in the north-central city of Torun, brought senior leaders together for the European High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Initiative.

The Corps headquarters described it as a pathbreaking effort to enhance how allies fight together with long-range firepower.

We see this as the underpinning of an expanded ability to fight with joint fires in support of large-scale combat operations, V Corps commander Lt. Gen. John S. Kolasheski said in a statement Wednesday.

The HIMARS system has received added attention ever since Ukraine put the weaponry to effective use against Russian units, a factor that helped Ukraines smaller military push back a larger Russian force.

The three-day summit in Poland, which concluded Wednesday, marked a milestone for V Corps new HIMARS initiative, which eventually will bring allied troops together with American units for an apprenticeship program.

The effort focuses on countries that either have HIMARS or are in the pipeline to acquire the system.

We take their officers and noncommissioned officers and embed them into our HIMARS or [Multiple Launch Rocket System] battalions, where they get an opportunity to learn what it takes to effectively man, train, maintain and sustain the system, Kolasheski said.

The U.S. military over the past year also has made the HIMARS system a focal point during training events across Europe, showcasing how the rockets can be boarded on military aircraft for quick reaction operations.

Col. Wil Hsu, commander of the 41st Field Artillery Brigade, based out of Grafenwoehr, said the system enables commanders to reach targets that are really far out.

The HIMARS can go on C-130 and C-17 (cargo planes) and be transported around the European theater and make a big impact, he said in the statement.

Maj. Gen. Greg Anderson, whose 10th Mountain Division headquarters is now deployed to Europe, said the summit served as a forum for allies to stitch together an array of components so that allied and divisions and corps can fight as one.

Were training each other  iron sharpens iron, Anderson said.

Lt. Gen. Wieslaw Kukula, general commander of the Polish Armed Forces, said the effort amounted to a new way of thinking about how we create a shared mental picture.
FORT HOOD, Texas  Thousands of American and foreign troops are spread across the training ranges of Fort Hood this month to test their ability to work together and share information to combat a large enemy force.

Gen. James McConville, the Army chief of staff, traveled to the central Texas Army base Thursday to observe the training, which is meant to prepare armored units to deploy and oversee several divisions in combat against a near-peer enemy. It tested the commanders of III Corps, the 1st Cavalry Division and foreign partners to establish headquarters and link communication to lead combat in a simulated environment.

The most recent deployments of III Corps had it leading the multination operations against the Islamic State terrorist group, and this months exercise again emphasized the need for the U.S. Army and its allies to be able to operate together. Troops from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France could be seen moving about tents and facilities Thursday at the Texas post, which was transformed into a combat operation headquarters tasked with commanding the simulated combat.

These are very complex operations, McConville said after visiting British troops of the U.K.s 3rd Division, which had established itself at an old training village on one of Fort Hoods vast ranges.

We spent the last 20-plus years doing counterinsurgency, counterterrorism and irregular warfare. We're at an inflection point, and we believe the next battle, and that was seen unfold in Ukraine, is going to be large-scale combat operations.

The British division sent about 1,500 soldiers and 400 vehicles to participate, as well as its commander, Maj. Gen. James Martin.

In the U.K., we believe we're never going to go into a large-scale, high-intensity conflict again without allies or partners, Martin said. I think events since Feb. 24 of last year have shown that state-on-state conflict is still a very real possibility and a threat and, as we see at the moment, is destabilizing Europe.

The international exercise came on the heels of the arrest last week of a National Guard airman who is charged with posting top secret Defense Department documents online that included some about the war in Ukraine. The documents included sensitive information about the U.S. and its allies, and raised concerns about how Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old low-level IT specialist, could have accessed the files. The leak went undetected for months.

McConville said the foreign officers whom he spoke with did not raise concerns to him about the document leak.

We're very concerned about any security breaches, but we have very strong relationships with our allies and partners, and we work together all the time, McConville said. That's why an exercise like this is so important.

Martin said the incident did not waiver his confidence in his U.S. military partners.

We all know things only move, when you're talking about allies, at the speed of trust. I would say the trust between our two nations and our two militaries and two armies is unparalleled, he said. I certainly have not seen any undermining of that trust between us because of these recent events.

The exercise is expected to continue at Fort Hood through the end of April.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  Police in Seoul have arrested a U.S. soldier on suspicion of assaulting a taxi driver who chased him down after he allegedly skipped out on the fare.

The male soldier exited the taxi without paying and fled in the Gangnam district around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, an investigator from the Gangnam Police Station told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.

The investigator did not identify the soldier, citing South Koreas pre-trial confidentiality law. South Korean officials customarily speak to the media on the condition of anonymity.

The soldier is stationed at Camp Humphreys, roughly 30 miles south of Seoul, 2nd Infantry Division spokesman Lt. Col. Ryan Donald said in an email Thursday.

The investigator said the taxi driver pursued the soldier, who beat up the driver several times. He said the driver was pushed down and landed on his arm.

Police on the scene suspected the soldier was drunk due to his talking gibberish and his inability to walk straight, according to the investigator.

The soldier was turned over to U.S. Forces Korea military police. The investigator said Seoul police are seeking to interview the soldier later for their own investigation.

USFK typically takes custody of its service members after their arrest unless they are accused of more serious crimes like murder or rape, according to the status of forces agreements section on criminal jurisdiction.

The 2nd ID takes all reports of inappropriate behavior seriously and are cooperating with South Korean police, Donald said. The command will not comment further until the investigation is complete, he said.

This type of alleged behavior does not represent [the commands] values or the respect we hold for Korean people or their culture, Donald said.
(Tribune News Service)  A body found in Illinois along the coast of Lake Michigan has been identified as Seamus Gray, a Navy sailor who was last seen leaving a bar after a night out for St. Patricks Day.

ComEd employees initially spotted the body on Wednesday while doing routine work near Waukegan Harbor, WSL reported. They flagged down passing officers from the Waukegan Police Department, who pulled the remains to shore just after 7 p.m. The Waukegan Fire Department also responded and assisted in the recovery effort.

The body and clothing matched the description of Seamus Gray, police said in wake of the tragic discovery. Gray was assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes.

On Thursday, the Lake County Coroners Office confirmed the body belonged to 21-year-old Gray, who died from drowning, per findings from his preliminary autopsy. The coroner noted there were no signs of a significant injury that would have contributed to his death.

Gray was last seen leaving the Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street on March 18 around 2 a.m. Detectives have since obtained surveillance footage of Gray leaving the watering hole, not far from the Waukegan Harbor. The bar manager said Gray only briefly entered the building before he was turned away for being too intoxicated.

Video also shows Gray walking alone in a back alley behind the bar while footage provided by a nearby business captured him standing right along the waters edge.

The last 8 days have been grueling, nauseating, heartbreaking and quite honestly soul-crushing, his mother wrote in a Facebook post. This boy is my heart, my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck.

As I type this Im trying not to throw up. I cannot sleep, and will not sleep until I have answers as to where my son is, and what happened to him, she added.

Waukegan police, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Lake County Coroners Office said they will continue to investigate the incident.

2023 New York Daily News.

Visit nydailynews.com .
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  An aircraft carrier hits different as a backdrop for a high school class photo.

Seniors at Yokosukas Nile C. Kinnick High School lined up for their class picture Tuesday aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, the centerpiece of the 7th Fleet. Its one advantage of graduating from a Defense Department school.

About 100 students from the class of 2023 came aboard the Ronald Reagan for a tour and a look at sailor life. Some members of the graduating class have parents serving aboard the carrier and many know members of its crew.

The event was a success and exceeded expectations as the students were allowed to use the ship's aircraft elevator upon exiting, said Rosie Ortiz-Torres, a Ronald Reagan ombudsman. Additionally, they have a great class photo as a keepsake to look back some day and share this moment for years to come.
UNITED NATIONS, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A new report of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) finds that public perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52 out of 55 countries studied.

The State of the World's Children 2023 report, which, for the first time, is solely dedicated to routine immunization, reveals that the perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined by more than a third in South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Senegal and Japan after the start of the pandemic.

China, India and Mexico were the only ones among the 55 countries studied where the data indicates the perception of the importance of vaccines held firm or even improved, according to the report, which was launched on Thursday.

Vaccine confidence is volatile and time specific. Additional data collection and further analysis will be required to determine if the findings are indicative of a longer-term trend. Despite the falls, overall support for vaccines remains relatively strong. In almost half of the 55 countries studied more than 80 percent of respondents perceived vaccines as important for children, said UNICEF.

However, the report warns that the confluence of several factors suggests the threat of vaccine hesitancy may be growing. These factors include uncertainty about the response to the pandemic, growing access to misleading information, declining trust in expertise, and political polarization.

"At the height of the pandemic, scientists rapidly developed vaccines that saved countless lives. But despite this historic achievement, fear and disinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the virus itself," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a press release. "This data is a worrying warning signal. We cannot allow confidence in routine immunizations to become another victim of the pandemic. Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases."

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere, especially due to intense demands on health systems, the diversion of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker shortages and stay-at-home measures.

The report finds that 67 million children missed out on vaccinations between 2019 and 2021. Children born just before or during the pandemic are now moving past the age when they would normally be vaccinated, underscoring the need for urgent action to catch up on those who were missed and prevent deadly disease outbreaks.

In 2022, the number of measles cases was more than double the total in the previous year. The number of children paralyzed by polio was up 16 percent year on year in 2022. When comparing the 2019 to 2021 period with the previous three-year period, there was an eight-fold increase in the number of children paralyzed by polio, highlighting the need to ensure vaccination efforts are sustained.

The pandemic also exacerbated existing inequities. For far too many children, especially in the most marginalized communities, vaccination is still not available, accessible or affordable. Even before the pandemic, progress on vaccination had stalled for almost a decade as the world struggled to reach the most marginalized children.

Of the 67 million children who missed out on routine vaccination between 2019 and 2021, 48 million of them did not receive a single routine vaccine. By the end of 2021, India and Nigeria -- both countries with very large birth cohorts -- had the largest numbers of zero-dose children. But increases in the numbers of zero-dose children were especially notable in Myanmar and the Philippines, shows the report.

The report urges governments to urgently identify and reach all children, especially those who missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic; strengthen demand for vaccines, including by building confidence; prioritize funding to immunization services and primary health care; build resilient health systems through investment in female health workers, innovation and local manufacturing.

"Immunizations have saved millions of lives and protected communities from deadly disease outbreaks," said Russell. "We know all too well that diseases do not respect borders. Routine immunizations and strong health systems are our best shot at preventing future pandemics, unnecessary deaths and suffering. With resources still available from the COVID-19 vaccination drive, now is the time to redirect those funds to strengthen immunization services and invest in sustainable systems for every child." 
Wiesbaden, Germany, Dec. 22, 1946: Maj. Gen. Idwal H. Edwards, commanding general of USAFE (standing at the lectern, right), Chaplain Capt. William Z. Dalin, Headquarters Command, USAFE (standing, left); Brig. Gen. J. H. McCormick, assistant chief of staff, A-1, Headquarters Command, USAFE (seated, second from left); and Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, advisor to Theater Command on Jewish Affairs, are shown at the rededication ceremony of the Jewish Synagogue Center of Wiesbaden.

Bernstein would become known for his work resettling hundreds of thousands of displaced European Jews after World War II. Dalin served as the only Jewish chaplain of the U.S. Air Corps at the time and served as an aide to Bernstein, also assisting Jewish displaced persons.

The Orthodox Synagogue in Wiesbaden was desecrated and defiled Nov. 10, 1938  also known as Kristalnacht, when Nazis in Germany annexed Austria and torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses, and killed hundreds of Jews the areas of the Sudetenland in then-Czechoslovakia. The restoration of the building was partly made possible with the assistance of the U.S. occupational forces stationed at the Headquarters Command, United States Air Forces in Europe, Wiesbaden Air Base.
President Joe Bidens four-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which began April 11, provided overall opportunity to highlight our important, and complex, relationships with both Ireland and Britain. These ties span significant economic, military security, and above all historical dimensions.

Northern Ireland is geographically part of the island of Ireland, but under the sovereignty of Britain. Together with England, Scotland and Wales, these regions comprise the United Kingdom. The majority of Northern Irelands population is Protestant, while Ireland is overwhelmingly Catholic.

Ireland overall was under British rule until 1921. Independence relieved considerable political pressure, but Northern Ireland has remained a source of tension and  periodically  violence. U.S. leaders have been influential in efforts to broker and maintain peace, over many years.

Former Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, was central to the successful peace negotiations. On St. Patricks Day in 1977, Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., joined with fellow Democrats Gov. Hugh Carey, of New York, and U.S. House Speaker Tip ONeill, of Massachusetts, in urging Irish Americans and others to stop sending money to violent groups.

Bidens successful trip reflected both these political and more personal dimensions. The president addressed an enormous audience at a cathedral in County Mayo, where his family has strong roots. Over the years, he said, stories of this place have become part of my soul, part of my family lore. During a visit to Knock Shrine, Biden had the opportunity to talk with former U.S. Army Chaplain Father Frank OGrady, who gave last rites to his late son Beau Biden.

Former President Bill Clinton arrived on April 14 for celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, that ended the sectarian violence that had plagued the territory  and both Ireland and Britain  from the late 1960s.

The understanding, actually two agreements, signed on April 10, 1998, involved the details of power-sharing among Northern Irelands political parties and also the governments of Britain and Ireland. Despite challenges and occasional crises, this historic peace accord overall has held. Biden made a point of visiting with five leaders from the main political parties of Northern Ireland.

Events related to Northern Ireland reach well beyond the province. Britain after a long ordeal implemented Brexit, departing the European Union. Ireland remains a staunch EU member. Britain is a military power within NATO, while Ireland is a neutral nation.

Wider relationships may prove crucial. The Group of Eight nations held a summit in Northern Ireland in June 2013. Members emphasized economic cooperation. The venue selected also underscored progress toward peace.

The Northern Ireland summit also reconfirmed commitment to wider strategic cooperation. The participants agreed to work to ensure negotiations to end the Syria civil war became an urgent priority.

Britain and the U.S. are historically close military partners. Such alliance began in World War I, and became close, vital and lasting during World War II.

Intelligence operations were important in both wars, and were the initial source of cooperation in the second war, which evolved into our continuing Special Relationship. Current developments in Europe provide sound reasons to reemphasize this cooperation.

Today, the so-called Five Eyes intelligence cooperation among Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States remains crucial though rarely discussed publicly  and that is good. This partnership should be kept in mind whenever reviewing developments in British-Irish relations.

Both Britain and Ireland are closely tied to the U.S. in the most human dimension of international relations, immigration. Biden and Clinton have done a fine job of reinforcing these relationships.

Arthur I. Cyr is author of After the Cold War  American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia.
BAMAKO, Mali  Ayouba Ag Nadroun was at the market in central Mali in March when Islamic militants attacked his village, killing dozens of people and stealing about $10,000 worth of his cows and camels.

"We lost everything," the 62-year-old told The Associated Press by phone from the Menaka region in the West African nation.

Cattle raiding by Islamic militants is soaring at unprecedented levels in Mali, with jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stealing millions of dollars' worth of cattle to buy weapons and vehicles to fund their insurgency across the war-torn West African country and region below the Sahara Desert, known as the Sahel.

As jihadis gain control of more territory, looting is increasing and fueling conflict among already impoverished communities fighting to keep their families fed and alive, according to a recent report by The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Mali has been battling to contain an Islamic militant insurgency for more than a decade.

Despite a victory in 2013, when France sent troops in to help its former colony to drive al-Qaida-linked militants from northern areas of the country, violence has not only continued, but spread. Attacks have spilled into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, where militants are exploiting people's grievances against the state to recruit fighters and control land.

While cattle rustling has been at the heart of Mali's war economy for years, the recent surge by Islamic militants is worrying, according to the global network's report.

In the central Mopti region, one of the hardest hit by more recent violence, some 130,000 cattle were stolen in 2021, about the same amount taken between 2018 and 2020 combined, said the report by the global initiative known as GI-TOC. While the groups have several funding streams, including drug trafficking, hostage taking and gold mining, analysts say livestock raiding is one of the most preferred because of the consistent cash flow, especially in Mali, which is the second biggest cattle exporter in the region after Nigeria. Jihadis loot livestock and then rely on a network to sell it and use the money to buy weapons and vehicles.

"Unlike other criminal markets (such as cocaine or kidnappings), cattle rustling has proven to be a resilient and stable source of income for armed groups, because Mali is a key regional producer and exporter of cattle," said Flore Berger, Sahel analyst at GI-TOC. "It's likely that cattle rustling continues to provide sources of revenue because countries in the region will continue to buy from Mali," she said.

Villagers say jihadis are strategic about their theft, staking out watering holes where they know the cattle will come to drink.

"They set up shop next to the wells for several days and every time the thirsty animals come to get water the terrorists take them," said Mahamad Ag Moustapha, the mayor of Inekar commune in the Menaka region. Last April, the father of nine lost more than $84,000 worth of cattle when jihadists attacked his town. He now lives in a displacement site in Menaka.

"There are no animals within a 186-mile radius of the town of Menaka.  The terrorists are trying to weaken the population economically, so the population does not fund a resistance," he said.

While it is hard to determine how much money jihadis are making from stealing livestock, analysts estimate they are taking cattle worth tens of millions of dollars a year.

Net profits made from stolen livestock from one district in the Mopti region  under jihadi influence  was approximately $730,000 in one year, said the report. In neighboring Burkina Faso, where violence has been raging since 2016, jihadis can earn nearly $50,000 a month from cattle raiding in regions such as the Sahel, North and Center-North, where they operate.

"We are aware that the money generated by the sale of stolen cattle is used to finance activities of the terrorists," Col. Abdoulaye Dembele, spokesman for the Malian army, told AP.

"It is difficult to secure the cattle of Mali from terrorists, the country is vast, and our first concern is to secure the people," he said.

However, in recent months, "we have recovered several hundred head of cattle in Mopti, in the center, and also in the Menaka region. In both cases, we have handed the cattle over to the local authorities who will take charge of finding their owners and returning the animals to them. As long as the stolen cattle are within a radius of our military camps, we can intervene, but if it is far from the military camps it becomes difficult," he added.

Yet despite the increase in cattle theft, conflict experts say it doesn't compare to the highly profitable business of hostage taking.

"We've heard unconfirmed reports that ransoming hostages is (jihadis') most lucrative revenue stream, generating approximately 30% of its income," said William Linder, a retired CIA officer and head of 14 North Strategies, an Africa-focused risk advisory. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

French journalist, Olivier Dubois was kidnapped by jihadis from northern Mali in April 2021. He was released last month, however, the conditions of his release, including whether it involved a ransom, have not been disclosed.

Still, the surge in cattle raiding unsettles some residents in the Sahel region more because it cuts into their ability to survive.

Two years ago, villagers in the Gourma region said they noticed a spike in jihadis selling thousands of stolen cattle in villages at a third of the price, making it hard for traders to compete. The jihadis sell cattle in the thousands, generally to beef traders who take it across the border to neighboring Burkina Faso or Niger, said a 34-year-old tea seller at a market in Gossi town who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

By controlling the cross-border livestock markets, jihadis are strengthening their legitimacy in the territory they take and diminishing control by the state, said Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence company.

"The consistent flow of income enables them to acquire arms, recruit new members, extend their power, and undermine state authority," he said. To cut revenue, governments in the Sahel region need to establish authority, tighten border controls, regulate cattle markets and gain the trust of local communities, he said.

Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal.
WASHINGTON  The Pentagon is moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan.

Two Biden administration officials say the deployments to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti are necessary because of the current uncertain situation in Sudan, where fighting is raging between two warring factions.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the administration's planning for a potential evacuation. That planning got underway in earnest on Monday after a U.S. Embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

In a statement Thursday, the Pentagon said it will deploy "additional capabilities" to the region to potentially help facilitate an evacuation of embassy personnel from Sudan if required, but provided no details, and did not state the location.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the decision to prepare for a possible evacuation was made by President Joe Biden in the "last couple of days." The president "authorized the military to move forward with pre-positioning forces and to develop options," Kirby told reporters at the White House.

"There's no indication that either side is deliberately going after or trying to hurt or target Americans," Kirby said. "But it's obviously a dangerous situation."

Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said conditions were not yet safe to mount any evacuation but stressed that all embassy personnel are safe and accounted for and that those who haven't been moved to a secure centralized location had been instructed to shelter in place at their homes.

U.S. officials have told lawmakers concerned about the situation that there are roughly 70 American staffers at the Khartoum embassy, according to congressional aides.

An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan, but the State Department has cautioned that that figure is likely inaccurate as there is no requirement for Americans to register nor is there a requirement to notify the embassy when they leave.

Since hostilities between the two factions erupted last weekend, the U.S. has been contemplating the evacuation of government employees and has been transporting them from their homes to a secure, centralized location to prepare for such an eventuality.

The officials said Djibouti, a small country on the Gulf of Aden sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, will be the staging point for any evacuation operation.

However, any evacuation in the current circumstances is fraught with difficulty and security risks as Khartoum's airport remains non-functional and overland routes from the capital out of the country are long and hazardous even without the current hostilities.

If a secure landing zone in or near Khartoum cannot be found, one option would be to drive evacuees to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. But that is a 12-hour trip and the roads over the 523-mile route are treacherous.

Another might be to drive to neighboring Eritrea, however that would also be problematic given that Eritrea's leader, Isaias Afwerki, is not a friend of the U.S. or the West in general.

The last time the U.S. evacuated embassy personnel overland was from Libya in July 2014, when a large convoy of U.S. military vehicles drove staff from the Tripoli embassy to Tunisia. There have been more recent evacuations, most notably in Afghanistan and Yemen, but those have been conducted largely by air.
HAVANA  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned U.S. sanctions on Cuba on Thursday as he visited the island and met with top leaders, including newly re-elected President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Lavrov was on the last leg of a Latin American tour that has taken him to Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The Russian foreign minister met with Diaz-Canel and semi-retired but still influential leader Raul Castro, according to photographs published by the Communist Party newspaper Granma, although no further details were offered on the content of the meetings.

During his visit to the island nation, which for decades was a staunch Moscow ally, Lavrov condemned the American economic sanctions on Cuba, and blasted the U.S. for seeking to impose "its will on the world," according to a dispatch on the state media outlet Cubadebate.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov met with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez and took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial in Havana for Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

Rodriguez, for his part, rejected what he called the "expansionist aspirations" of NATO and the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Cuba has had an extensive relationship with Moscow since the 1960s, when it joined the bloc of socialist countries led by the then Soviet Union, receiving many vital imports  fertilizers, industrial equipment, spare parts and, above all, oil  in exchange for sugar.

Russia, along with Venezuela, is one of Cuba's few suppliers of oil, sending an undetermined amount to the island, which is undergoing a severe energy crisis.

Also, two weeks ago, Cuban banks started to accept payments with MIR cards, a payment system in Russia that allows Russian tourists to make cash withdrawals and convert rubles to Cuban pesos.

MIR cards are accepted in other partner countries of Russia, including Turkey and Vietnam, and are operated by the state-owned Russian National Card Payment System.
TOKYO  A 24-year-old man who allegedly threw an explosive at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wanted to be a politician and believed that he was unfairly blocked from running for Japan's parliament by an age requirement, according to media reports and social media posts that appeared to be his.

The suspect, Ryuji Kimura, was wrestled to the ground and arrested Saturday at a campaign event in the fishing port of Saikazaki, in the western Japanese city of Wakayama. The explosive, believed to be a pipe bomb, landed near Kishida, who escaped unhurt.

Kimura has refused to talk to police, but local media reports that he bore grievances about Japan's election system might shed light on his motives.

In June last year Kimura, who police said is unemployed, filed a lawsuit with the Kobe District Court claiming that he should have been allowed to register for the July 2022 Upper House election, according to Japanese media including NHK public television and Kyodo News. A candidate must be aged 30 years or older and present a $22,260 deposit to run for the upper house, the less powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament. He was 23 at the time.

He demanded the government pay $740 in compensation for his psychological anguish, according to the reports.

Violent crimes are rare in Japan. With its strict gun control laws, the country has only a handful of gun-related crimes annually, most of them gang related. But in recent years Japanese police have worried about "lone offender" attacks with homemade guns and explosives. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun at a campaign event on July 8, just two days before the upper house election.

In a document he submitted to the court, Kimura argued that the election system that blocked his candidacy was unconstitutional, the reports said.

Kimura argued that the election law violates constitutional guarantees of equality and other rights, according to media reports. The court dismissed his claim in a November 2022 ruling, and Kimura appealed the decision to the Osaka High Court, whose decision is expected in May, reports say.

Tweets posted to an account cited by local media as Kimura's and seen by the Associated Press complained about Japan's political system. The account does not carry his name, but identifies itself as representing the plaintiff in a lawsuit that matches the one filed by Kimura. The Associated Press was not able to contact the owner of the account. The account had only 23 posts since it began late June.

An Aug. 11, 2022 tweet said the deck is stacked against ordinary people who quit their job and pay the deposit to run in national elections. "There is an established system where ordinary people can never become politicians."

Other tweets on the account criticized Kishida's decision to hold a state funeral for Abe.

The man accused of shooting Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, told authorities soon after his arrest that he killed Abe because of the former prime minister's apparent links to a religious group that Yamagami hated. In statements and in social media posts attributed to him, Yamagami said his mother's donations to the Unification Church bankrupted his family and ruined his life.
TOKYO  The United States hopes to deepen trade ties with Japan as it fortifies cooperation on economic security with its Asian allies and partners, the top U.S. trade envoy said Thursday.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's visit to Tokyo, her fourth since she was appointed, follows a trip to the Philippine capital, Manila, to help fortify trade relations among the three countries as they build both economic and defense ties.

Speaking Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Tai pointed to a new trade partnership that she said has brought "tangible results for our workers, small businesses, and producers on both sides of the Pacific."

That includes an agreement to lift limits on U.S. exports of beef to Japan and a new biofuels policy to facilitate exports of more ethanol to Japan. On Wednesday, Tai met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to discuss making supply chains more resilient and secure, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Tai also reviewed the status of negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, a new trade pact proposed by Washington, emphasizing the importance of cooperation with Japan, the ministry said.

The framework has 13 members, including the U.S., that account for 40% of global gross domestic product: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hayashi responded by welcoming more U.S. engagement in the regional economy, saying Japan will proactively discuss the plan with other partners.

Japan and the United States have been promoting multilateral cooperation, most recently with the Philippines as they share common concern over China's growing influence and assertiveness in both security and economic activities.

The U.S. has stepped up diplomacy across the region, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopping over the weekend in Vietnam, which Washington sees as a key component of its strategy for the region given the country's traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China.

Tai also met Wednesday with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The trade ministry said the two discussed strengthening supply chains  an issue that gained urgency amid shortages of computer chips and other goods during the pandemic. They also discussed ways to cooperate in the protection of human rights in business, the ministry said.

Japan and the United States have set up a taskforce that aims to eliminate human rights violations in international supply chains and to ban use of materials from suppliers that subject their workers to inhumane conditions.

To highlight such efforts, Tai toured an outlet of outdoor equipment and clothing retailer Patagonia in Tokyo's popular Shibuya shopping and business district.
Ten veterans of the Korean War, some of them iconic names, will appear on New Yorks Times Square in a video remembrance of the conflicts end 70 years ago.

The South Korean Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs produced the 30-second video that will play 680 times a day on digital billboards on Thursday and Friday in the heart of the city, according to a ministry news release Thursday.

The video features veterans of the war who contributed to the protection of freedom of South Korea and to the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea, according to the release. The war ended in July 1953 and the military alliance between the two was formalized in October that year.

The alliance was built on the sacrifice and dedication of war veterans, Patriot and Veterans Affairs Minister Park Minshik said in the release.

Two digital billboards will play the videos, one at 2 Times Square from 5 a.m. to 4:59 p.m. Thursday and another at Times Square Spectacular, 1540 Broadway, from 5 p.m. Thursday to 4:59 a.m. Friday.

The video depicts veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War, including former Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, former Eighth Army commander Gen. James Van Fleet and former Air Force Col. Dean Hess, who helped orchestrate the evacuation of around 1,000 South Korean orphans.

The video also includes South Korean army Gen. Paik Sun-yup, the first in his country to achieve four-star rank, and South Korean air force Gen. Kim Doo-man, the countrys first pilot to fly 100 sorties.

The service members defended liberal democracy  in the Korean War and played huge roles in the history of the alliance that has been maintained for the past 70 years, the release said.

The video plays a week before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeols scheduled state visit Wednesday to Washington, D.C.

North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea on June 25, 1950, prompting the United States and 22 nation allies to repel the invasion.

Around 33,700 U.S. troops died in combat or are presumed dead after going missing or being captured, according to the Defense Casualty Analysis System.

The hostilities ended on July 27, 1953, after a delegation from the U.S., U.N. Command, North Korea and China signed an armistice agreement.

On Oct. 1, 1953, the U.S. and South Korea signed a mutual defense treaty that cemented their alliance so that neither stands alone in the Pacific area.
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  Yosuke Tanigo, an economics student from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, made his first trip inside a U.S. military installation on Thursday.

He and 21 other Japanese university students toured this airlift hub in western Tokyo as part of the Ambassador Youth Council program run by the American Consulate General Osaka-Kobe. The program gives select university students firsthand access to U.S. military and diplomatic experts to learn about Japans relationship with the United States.

I wanted to learn more about the United States and U.S alliance and what I can do to help build that relationship, said Tanigo, 21.

The students, all from Japanese universities in central Japan, spoke with senior leaders at Yokota and toured a C-130J Super Hercules and a UH-1 Iroquois, or Huey. This is the sixth year that students in the program have toured the base.

For many, like Tanigo, it was their first time inside the fence at a U.S. installation.

I also had a great time touring the aircraft today and being able to go inside the aircraft and see things that I have never seen before in person, he said.

During the six-month program, the students hear from speakers from across the U.S. Embassy and U.S. military in Japan, Neal Murata, director of public engagement and communication for the consulate, told Stars and Stripes on Thursday. Topics include environmental cooperation and space exploration and cooperation.

At Yokota, they learned about military cooperation between the U.S. and Japan, Murata said.

For us, it's important to reach out to the next generation who might not have never gone to the United States before and only know the United States through things like movies or other types of media, he said. So we really want this younger new generation, who we've selected very carefully, to have a better understanding of why this relationship is so important.

The tour started with a brief on Yokotas mission from Col. Julie Gaulin, vice commander of the 374th Airlift Wing. She also answered the students questions.

Thanks for caring about the U.S.-Japan relationship, Gaulin told the visitors. I think that we are better together. Whether you wear a uniform, you're in an academic center, or you work for the government, we need everyone because all those different perspectives are so important.

After the brief, the students headed to the flight line to tour military aircraft.

Master Sgt. Toni Odom, a loadmaster for the 36th Airlift Squadron, talked about her job, her experiences in the U.S. military and the exercises her squadron does with the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

A female Japanese student asked Odom about her experiences as a woman in the military, Odom said. The number of women serving in the military has grown throughout the years along with opportunities in leadership, she said.

I really hope, overall, they took away a good grasp of what we do here on Yokota, she told Stars and Stripes. And I hope that I have inspired some of them to pursue their dreams in aviation.
AMMAN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of Jordan and Iran agreed on Thursday via a phone call to soon hold a meeting to discuss ways to improve their bilateral relations, said the Jordanian foreign ministry.

During the phone call with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign minister Ayman Safadi stressed the need to continue a practical and transparent bilateral dialogue to address lingering issues between the two countries, including the situation at the Jordan-Syria border and drug smuggling to Jordan.

Safadi said that Jordan seeks to have good relations with Iran based on the principles of non-interference in internal affairs and cooperation that benefits the two sides as well as the region, the statement added.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, for his part, said Iran looks forward to developing good relations with Jordan, whose regional role is highly valued.

The two ministers agreed to proceed with joint security meetings on remaining issues and to continue high-level communication for reaching understanding.

Although having diplomatic ties, the relationship between Jordan and Iran has long been tense. In early March, Jordan welcomed the decision by Iran and Saudi Arabia to resume ties. 
JERUSALEM  Israel's Defense Ministry on Thursday said it has begun talks to sell an advanced missile defense system to Germany. The announcement came two weeks after Israel said it was selling another missile defense system to NATO's newest member, Finland.

Although Israel has long had close economic and military ties with western European countries, the latest deals could draw the attention of Russia.

Israel has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Ukraine for fear of antagonizing Russia. It appears to be counting on the fact that the latest deals involve only defensive weapons. Israel's Defense Ministry also noted that both deals would also need U.S. approval, because the systems have been jointly developed with the United States.

In Thursday's announcement, the ministry said it launched "advanced negotiations" this week with its German counterparts over the purchase of the "Arrow 3," a system designed to intercept long-range missiles outside the atmosphere.

Germany has previously expressed interest in the system and been pushing to coordinate a European air defense system with some 15 countries.

"We value the opportunity to share our capabilities with the partners and allies of the state of Israel," said Boaz Levy, chief executive of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, the primary builder of the Arrow system. "Within the framework of this agreement, we further deepen our security ties between Israel and Germany."

Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Ministry said it had reached an agreement to sell its "David's Sling" system to Finland. The system is meant to defend against medium-range aerial threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.

The deal was valued at nearly $350 million. "I am confident that the cooperation between our countries will further enhance our readiness to respond to regional and global threats," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at the time.

While Israel has expressed support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, it has turned down requests to provide weapons. Instead, it has delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine and promised to deliver a sophisticated air defense warning system.

Israel has a delicate relationship with Russia. It maintains security coordination with Russia in neighboring Syria  where Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military positions in recent years. Russia is also home to a large Jewish community.

Uzi Rubin, the former director of Israel's missile defense program, said Israeli sales of missile defense systems to Ukraine are unlikely anytime soon. But he said the deal with Finland, and likely Germany, could usher in additional sales to Europe as the continent realizes it must defend itself against the "big bad bear" of Russia.

"Europe has lived for 30 years with a kind of illusion that it has no security problems anymore," said Rubin, who is now a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. "Now that the big bad bear is out hunting, everybody is scared."

Associated Press reporter Sam McNeil in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
KYIV, Ukraine  NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg defiantly declared Thursday that Ukraine deserves to join the military alliance and pledged continuing support for the country on his first visit to Kyiv since Russia's invasion just over a year ago.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Stoltenberg, who has been instrumental in marshaling support from NATO's members, to push for even more from them, including warplanes, artillery and armored equipment.

The Kremlin has given various justifications for going to war, but repeated Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO was a key goal behind its invasion, arguing that Kyiv's membership in the alliance would pose an existential threat to Russia.

NATO leaders said in 2008 that Ukraine would join the alliance one day, and Stoltenberg has repeated that promise throughout the course of the war  though the organization has established no pathway or timetable for membership.

"Let me be clear, Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family," Stoltenberg told a press conference. "Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO."

He said he and Zelenskyy discussed a NATO support program.

"This will help you transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance," Stoltenberg said. "NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes."

He noted Thursday's announcement by Denmark and the Netherlands that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least another 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks from early 2024. He added that he expected countries to "make new announcements of concrete military support to Ukraine" at a meeting Germany on Friday.

The fighting in recent months has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum. But Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive in coming weeks, and it has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies.

NATO has no official presence in Ukraine and provides only provides nonlethal support to Kyiv, but Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the war.

A procession of international leaders has made the journey to Kyiv over the last year, and the former Norwegian prime minister is one of the last major Western figures to do so.

NATO, formed to counter the Soviet Union, has long feared being dragged into a wide war with nuclear-armed Russia, but as the West has moved from hesitantly providing helmets and uniforms to tanks, warplanes and advanced missile systems, high-level visits have become routine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of the goals of what Moscow calls its "special military operation." Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Peskov said that Ukraine's accession would pose a "serious, significant threat to our country, to our country's security."

Earlier this month, Finland joined the alliance, setting aside decades of neutrality in a historic realignment of Europe's post-Cold War security landscape. While NATO says it poses no threat to Russia, the Nordic country's accession dealt a major political blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Finland's membership doubles Russia's border with the world's biggest security alliance. Neighboring Sweden is expected to join in coming months, too, possibly by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.

The alliance has focused on bolstering defenses on its own territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member country. Under NATO's collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered to be an attack on them all.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It's the main international forum for drumming up military support for the conflict-ravaged country.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine Space Agency said Thursday that a bright flash of light in the night sky over the country the previous day was probably a meteorite entering the earth's atmosphere. Residents of the capital and several cities in Belarus saw the flash of light, which lingered for a couple of seconds, and an explosion was heard in the Kyiv region. It triggered an air raid alarm in Kyiv.

Cook reported from Brussels.

Follow the AP's coverage of the war.
(Tribune News Service)  Some of Ukraines key allies including the U.S. are considering moving closer to an outright ban on most exports to Russia, a potentially significant tightening of economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war.

Group of Seven officials are discussing the idea ahead of a leaders summit in Japan in May, according to people familiar with the matter, and the aim would be to include European Union member states in the crackdown. The proposal is still being debated and could change, the people said.

The approach being discussed by diplomatic envoys would flip the existing sanctions regime around, with all exports banned unless exempted, the people said. Under the current criteria all exports are allowed unless sanctioned.

If G-7 leaders endorse the move at the summit, exactly what would be excluded would then have to be agreed, with medicines and agricultural products  including food  very likely to stay exempted, one of the people said.

But there are potentially serious obstacles to implementation. To come into force in the E.U., the new criteria would need to be adopted by all members, and that would set off a testy debate given the likely backlash from companies that still export goods to Russia, alongside the risk of retaliation by Moscow.

If a near-total embargo on exports is imposed, much of the remaining trade flows from these countries with Russia would evaporate. A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council declined to comment on the prospect of such a move.

So far sanctions have almost halved the value of E.U. and G-7 exports to Russia, with limits on everything from electronics to luxury items. That still leaves $66 billion worth of goods from Europe, the U.S., Canada and Japan going in, according to the Geneva-based Trade Data Monitor.

G-7 members are concerned that is too big a benefit to Putins wartime economy, especially as Moscow finds ways around sanctions to bring in goods via third countries. The G-7 and E.U. have imposed several rounds of penalties, some of which included a grace period before coming into effect.

Russia has responded to sanctions by imposing export bans of its own and periodically cutting energy supplies to Europe. The E.U. would be particularly vulnerable to restrictions on commodities like copper. And a near-total ban on exports to Russia could drive Moscow even closer to China as it seeks alternatives to sanctioned goods.

Moscow has stopped publishing figures on imports but several international monitors and governments track their exports to Russia and customs data.

Germany, Italy and Poland remain the top three European goods exporters to Russia, Trade Data Monitor data show. Across the G-7, non-medicine and non-agriculture products that could be most affected include cars, chocolate, beer, footwear, flowers and make-up.

Even with the existing curbs, Russia has managed to import some sanctioned U.S. and European components via third countries. That is putting an increased focus by the G-7 and E.U. on tackling sanctions circumvention, especially enhancing the monitoring of so-called dual-use goods that can serve either a military or civilian purpose.

That effort has involved applying diplomatic pressure on other countries, expanding restrictions to all goods that have been found in Russian weapons in Ukraine, and targeting companies that may be helping Moscow  intentionally or otherwise  to get around restrictions. Earlier this month the U.S. sanctioned dozens of entities in 20 countries it accused of helping Moscow evade sanctions.

At the same time, European nations look to Moscow for some commodities including palladium, copper, iron and nickel.

Ramping up the efforts to limit Putins economic reach is likely to be a key item at the G-7 summit. Leaders are also expected to make progress on a mechanism to track and trace Russian diamonds across borders, eventually paving the way for restrictions on the trade, Bloomberg reported previously.

With assistance from Jenny Leonard and Sylvia Westall.

2023 Bloomberg L.P.

Visit bloomberg.com .

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency developed plans to conduct covert attacks on Russian forces in Syria using secret Kurdish help, according to a leaked top secret U.S. intelligence document.

The introduction of a new battlefield  thousands of miles from the war in Ukraine  appeared designed to impose costs and casualties on Russia and its Wagner paramilitary group, which is active in Syria, and possibly force Moscow to redeploy resources from Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directed a halt to the planning in December, but the leaked document, based on intelligence gathered as of Jan. 23, lays out in detail how the planning progressed and how such a campaign could proceed if Ukraine revived it.

The document  which in places bears the marking HCS-P, indicating that certain information is derived from human sources  details how officers of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, the Ukrainian defense ministry's military intelligence service, could plan deniable attacks that would avoid implicating the Ukrainian government itself.

The Washington Post obtained the document, which has not been previously reported, from a trove of intelligence material allegedly leaked to a Discord chatroom by Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. The Department of Defense declined to comment.

President Vladimir Putin's 2015 intervention in Syria to help the embattled Assad regime retain power during the civil war has created a permanent presence of thousands of Russian troops there. The deployment, which includes advanced warplanes and air defense systems, has bolstered Moscow's regional presence but exists in an environment Russia does not totally control. Moscow transferred some troops and hardware from Syria to the Ukraine battlefield last fall, which may have led Kyiv to assess that their departure created vulnerabilities.

Attacks on Russian forces in Syria "might raise the threat level to the point where the Russians would need to call in reinforcements," which could help the war effort back in Ukraine, said Aron Lund, a fellow at the think tank Century International.

Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine's Main Directorate for Intelligence, declined to comment.

During planning in December, the document states, Ukrainian military intelligence officers favored striking Russian forces using unmanned aerial vehicles and starting "small," or possibly limiting their strikes only to forces of the Wagner mercenary group.

Ukrainian officers considered training operatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the military force of Syria's Kurdish-controlled autonomous northeast, to strike Russian targets and conduct "unspecified 'direct action' activities along with UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] attacks," according to the document.

As planning occurred last fall, the SDF sought training, air defense systems and a guarantee that its role would be kept secret in exchange for supporting Ukrainian operations. The leadership of the SDF also forbade strikes on Russian positions in Kurdish areas, the document says.

"The documents that you are talking about regarding our forces are not real; our forces have never been a side in the Russian-Ukrainian War," said Farhad Shami, an SDF spokesperson.

The document indicates that Turkey was aware of the planning, stating that Turkish officials "sought to avoid potential blowback" and suggested that Ukraine stage its attacks from Kurdish areas instead of those in the north and northwest held by other rebel groups, some of them backed by Turkey.

Turkey opposes the SDF, however, and considers its core military element, the People's Protection Units or YPG, to be a terrorist group. The SDF is the main partner of U.S. troops in Syria, where they often share bases on an ongoing mission to stifle the resurgence of the Islamic State.

The Turkish foreign ministry and embassy in the United States did not return requests for comment.

While it is not clear how much Ankara knew about Kyiv's plan, having Ukraine help arm their enemy may not have been intolerable if Turkey thought it might draw a violent response from Moscow, according to a former U.S. official who worked in the region, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due of the sensitive nature of the intelligence.

"Turkey's goal in the region is to eliminate the military capability and leadership of the SDF," the former official said. "If Turkey were to be greeted with such a plan, it would be in their interest to bait the Ukraine-SDF alliance into drawing the wrath of Russia."

Moscow likely knows the location of SDF units and would not face great difficulties in striking them, because SDF forces often operate near Russian military bases, the former official said.

Lund said that Ukraine's plans represented a "high-risk project for the SDF," which needs to maintain a good working relationship with Russia. "For the SDF to agree to something like this  it seems like a real gamble," said Lund, who also works as a Middle East analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Agency.

In November, according to the leaked document, Ukrainian military intelligence officers identified potential logistical constraints to their ambitions, including "issues with intra-Kurdish border controls and establishing a base of operations." By Dec. 29, the officers appear to have found out that Zelensky had halted their planning. It is unclear why Zelensky directed the HUR to cease planning operations, but the document assesses that he may have done so for a variety of reasons: U.S. pressure, Ukraine's limited supply of drones or doubts about whether the attacks could succeed.

Another factor could have been the "comparative success" of military intelligence operations in Russia, the document states. The HUR has been aggressive in staging sabotage, assassination and destabilizing operations in Russian-controlled areas in Ukraine, according to other documents in the leaked trove. These areas likely offer advantages in logistics, language and other variables.

Kyiv is unlikely to revive the plans or "impose significant costs on Russia in Syria" without support from the United States and Turkey, the document says. If Ukraine did proceed, attacks could "incur a Russian response targeting U.S. interests in the region if support for an operation is attributed to the United States."

The document goes into detail about what a campaign of "notional" covert Ukrainian attacks might look like, ranking them by the likelihood that they would cause Russia to escalate in response. It weighs attacks on well-defended "priority" Russian facilities near Damascus and the Syrian coast, which would be the most dangerous but the most costly for Russia, against strikes on "Russia-affiliated petroleum infrastructure" in central Syria, which is poorly protected by air defense but would only impose "modest costs" on Russia, particularly on the Wagner group.

The Syrian battlefield "provides deniability options" to Ukraine, the document states, because it could attack Russian positions previously struck by Syrian rebels, launch attacks from rebel or even regime-held areas, and attribute attacks to "front, defunct or active nonstate groups."

Ranked highest on the escalation graph is an attack on a "key Russian facility," which is accompanied by a graphic outlining an attack on Latakia's Bassel al-Assad Airport, which shares facilities with Hmeimim Air Base, Russia's main military base in Syria. The graphic is dated to 2018  the same year that the air base was attacked by a "swarm" of unmanned aerial vehicles  and says "Syrian opposition UAV used in attack." It shows the departure point and flight path of the UAV from a location in Idlib governorate around 50 kilometers northeast of the air base and illustrates how it flew over the air base itself. The departure point roughly corresponds to the same place from which Russia alleged the drones had taken off.

The document also suggests such a facility could be attacked using "USVs," or uncrewed surface vessels, and an inset map highlights the Russian naval base at Tartus. Ukraine has dispatched one-way uncrewed boat drones with onboard explosives to attack Russian ships in the Black Sea.

The chart also posits an attack profile on "oil and gas infrastructure," including a photograph of the "Wagner-associated Jihar gas plant," which The Post geolocated to gas fields near the town of Palmyra. The image is dated Jan. 5 and suggests the possible munitions, staging area and target types. It suggests the use of "Group 1 or 2 UAVs," likely a reference to how the U.S. Defense Department ranks the size, weight and speed of its unmanned aerial vehicles from lowest to highest.

At the lowest end of targets risking Russia's escalation, the document lists attacks on Wagner positions. A photograph shows parked vehicles and structures at what is identified as a Wagner facility near the Syrian town of Furqlus.

In lightly defended areas like that, "a determined enemy with a bit of technological know-how could do some damage," Lund said.

The leaked assessment acknowledges that attacks like these could "complicate" U.S. coalition operations in eastern Syria if Russia "more aggressively" polices Syrian airspace or moves air defense weapons.

It mentions a real but previously undisclosed Nov. 27 incident in which a Russian SA-22 air defense system based in eastern Syria fired on a U.S. MQ-9 drone. The drone was not struck by the missile, a U.S. official said.

The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan contributed to this report.
(Tribune News Service)  The military intelligence unit on Cape Cod where Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira worked has lost its intelligence mission in the wake of Teixeira allegedly leaking highly classified Pentagon information, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The Air Force's 102nd Intelligence Wing, of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, at Otis Air National Guard Base is no longer performing its assigned intelligence mission, an Air Force spokesperson has confirmed.

"The mission has been temporarily reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force," the spokesperson added.

This change at Otis Air National Guard Base comes after Teixeira was arrested by federal agents at his North Dighton home last week.

The 21-year-old is facing charges in connection with allegedly leaking highly classified national security information about the Ukraine war and other sensitive matters.

The Secretary of the Air Force has ordered the Department of the Air Force Inspector General to "investigate overall compliance with policy, procedures, and standards, including the unit environment and compliance at the 102nd Intelligence Wing related to the release of national security information," the Air Force spokesperson said.

Teixeira was an IT specialist, a "cyber defense operations journeyman," with the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He held a top-secret security clearance, and he maintained sensitive compartmented access to other highly classified programs.

"The Massachusetts National Guard has and will continue to fully cooperate with the FBI's investigation into the alleged actions of Jack Teixeira," a Massachusetts National Guard spokesperson said in a statement.

"National security is our foremost priority," the spokesperson added. "Attempts to undermine it compromise our organization's values and degrades trust among our members, the public, allies, and partners. We welcome any review of our adherence to established Department of Defense regulations for the handling of classified information. We will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to address any issues identified during an investigation."

The Air Force has reassigned the 102nd Intelligence Wing's mission to other Air Force organizations pending the outcome of a review of the unit's policies and procedures.

Unit members are still working, a spokesperson said, adding that there's always training to do. Also, not all members are assigned to the intelligence mission.

In addition, Air Force senior leaders are directing a security-focused stand-down be conducted in the next 30 days at each unit across the Department of the Air Force, an Air Force spokesperson said. The focus of the stand-down will be to reassess our security posture and procedures, validate the need to know for each persons access, and emphasize to all Airmen and Guardians the responsibility we are entrusted with to safeguard this information and to enforce and improve our security requirements.

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Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both U.S. allies, use threats, physical surveillance, hostage-taking and prosecutions to try to silence dissidents and rights activists on U.S. soil, according to evidence presented in a report released this week.

The report by the Freedom Initiative, a nonprofit rights organization founded by Egyptian American activist Mohamed Soltan, found that Cairo and Riyadh have become more innovative and emboldened in carrying out transnational repression  the targeting of critics abroad.

While U.S. politicians frequently voice outrage and impose consequences in response to such tactics on the part of adversaries such as China, Iran and Russia, the report argues, policymakers have not meaningfully held Saudi Arabia and Egypt to account  including for behaviors that violate U.S. law and threaten national security.

The findings demonstrate that U.S. equivocation on rights is a palpable threat to our own citizens, corporations and national interest, U.S. trial lawyer Jim Walden wrote in the introduction to the report.

The grisly murder and dismembering of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi by a squad of hit men inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018 drew global outcry, along with attention to attacks on dissidents outside of the countries they criticize. The CIA concluded after the assassination that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered it. Under President Donald Trump, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 17 people it said were involved.

Even under the brightened spotlight, weve seen authoritarian regimes use kind of novel tactics and become emboldened in how theyre carrying out transnational repression, said Allison McManus, research director at the Freedom Initiative.

For its report, the organization conducted a survey of 72 people with personal or professional ties to Egypt or Saudi Arabia  many of whom are U.S. citizens and members of the Egyptian and Saudi diasporas  that paints a picture of efforts by the two governments to intimidate dissidents and critics in the United States.

Egyptian human rights advocates and graduate students reported being surveilled by alleged Egyptian operatives at restaurants and public events in Washington. Some respondents reported the Egyptian Embassy had denied them consular services. Some have received death threats, sometimes by callers who identify as Egyptian security officers. Egypt has also put human rights activists and dissidents on trial in absentia, leaving its citizens living in the United States unable to return home, the report says.

Egypt also continues to jail two U.S. legal permanent residents, Hossam Khalaf and Salah Soltan  Mohamed Soltans father  whom the United Nations has declared arbitrarily detained, the report says. At least two U.S. citizens have been banned from exiting Egypt. And authorities have repeatedly detained family members of individuals living outside of Egypt in retaliation for criticism of the government.

Sherif Mansour, the U.S.-based Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said relatives in Egypt have been arrested and tortured in connection with his rights work in the United States. In 2020, Egyptian authorities arrested his cousin, Reda Abdelrahman, in what the report calls an act of state hostage-taking intended to silence Mansour. Abdelrahman was released in 2021 but remains subject to a travel ban.

We have stopped talking to anyone in our family, for years, Mansour said in an interview. He doesnt send his relatives in Egypt greetings for Ramadan anymore.

Saudi Arabia has wrongfully detained or placed travel bans on U.S. citizens, the report says. Eight respondents reported Saudi authorities had detained or disappeared their family members. Four said they had been physically followed while in the United States, and five reported receiving threatening phone calls or messages.

Abdullah Alaoudh, the Freedom Initiatives U.S.-based Saudi director, said he regularly receives threats to his life on social media from users he suspects of acting at the behest of the Saudi government.

In one comment on Twitter this week, a screenshot of which Alaoudh shared with The Post, a user whose account has since been suspended tweeted: I hope that you return to Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi people will be waiting for you, and you will be hanged on lampposts at the airport, which is the verdict that every traitor deserves.

I dont think they are joking at all, Alaoudh said, particularly after they just got away with murder in the case of Khashoggi.

The Saudi and Egyptian embassies in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

The tactics leave Egyptian and Saudi dissidents feeling unsafe, no matter where in the world they live. Many of those surveyed reported experiencing feelings of isolation or recurring nightmares, or said they have changed their work or study plans.

The United States has not dramatically changed its policies toward Egypt or Saudi Arabia in response to their repression of dissidents at home and abroad. Trump maintained close ties with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed, even after Khashoggis murder.

On the campaign trail, President Biden promised to hold Cairo and Riyadh accountable for human rights abuses, pledging to offer no blank checks to Sisi and to make Saudi Arabia a pariah in response to Khashoggis assassination.

His administration released a U.S. intelligence report in 2021 indicating the crown prince approved the plan that led to Khashoggis death. The State Department also announced the Khashoggi Ban, a measure to impose visa restrictions on individuals who, acting on behalf of a foreign government, carry out acts of transnational repression targeting journalists, activists or other dissidents. Last year, the FBI created a fusion center to coordinate agency efforts on the issue.

But the Biden administration and U.S. lawmakers have not made a substantial effort to curb transnational repression by allies  Egypt and Saudi Arabia in particular  on U.S. soil or against U.S. citizens, the report argues.

The United States has withheld a small portion of funding to Egypt over its human rights record while continuing to provide substantial military aid to Cairo. The State Department in January hailed a historically strong and growing partnership with Egypt.

The Biden administration is trying to do the bare minimum, Mansour said. Determinations on security aid have been one of the major tests of whether they are going to put their money where their values are, he added. And with Egypt, they have missed that chance once, twice, every time.

Last year, Biden fist-bumped Mohammed during a visit to the kingdom  and his administration has stepped up cooperation with Saudi Arabia, especially as Russias war in Ukraine disrupted global energy markets and as Riyadh pushes for a peace deal in Yemen. Saudi Arabia continues to be one of the top importers of U.S. arms.

The Biden administration banned 76 Saudi citizens from entering the United States in relation to Khashoggis murder  but not Mohammed. In November, the Biden administration declared him immune from a lawsuit filed in the United States by Khashoggis fiancee and a human rights organization.

Weve really seen relationships with Egypt and Saudi Arabia return to business as usual, McManus said.

The State and Justice Departments did not respond to requests for comment.

The report calls for transnational repression to be codified as a crime under U.S. law. Last month, a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill to that end. An earlier legislative attempt failed.

The FBI, meanwhile, is taking the issue very seriously, McManus said. But more training of local law enforcement agencies on responding to reports of transnational repression is needed, especially in places with large diaspora communities, the report says.
WASHINGTON  For some senators, the Democratic effort to temporarily replace ailing 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee is about speeding up confirmation of President Joe Biden's federal court nominees. But for others, particularly her most long-serving peers, it's personal.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is the same age as the California Democrat and has worked with her for three decades on the committee, said he thinks Democrats have been trying to force her out of office "because she's old." He called that "anti-human."

The attempt to replace her on the committee is "disrespectful and not in keeping with her many contributions," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican who is close friends with Feinstein.

Feinstein is not the first senator to take an extended medical absence or face uncomfortable questions about age or cognitive abilities. But the open discussion over her capacity to serve shows just how much the Senate has changed in recent years, with high-stakes partisanship replacing a more collegial, clubby atmosphere.

It also highlights the difficulty, and the sensitivity, surrounding Democrats' uphill efforts to replace Feinstein's vote on the influential committee as she recovers from a case of the shingles. Her absence, which comes as her health and memory has noticeably declined in recent years, means that some of Biden's picks for the federal bench are stalled in committee.

Democrats say Republicans snubbed a sick colleague when they blocked Feinstein's unusual request to be temporarily replaced.

"It is flat wrong to seek partisan advantage from health issues of a colleague," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. "The American people reject that kind of scorched earth approach to governing."

Republicans say Democrats are unfairly trying to force her off one important committee  she serves on others  simply to game the system because they lack the votes to move Biden's most partisan nominees.

It is a marked difference from the Senate of years past.

Collins said Feinstein has been treated differently from men in the Senate who have had memory or health issues. Examples include Republican Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Cochran and Byrd remained atop the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee after their health began to fail; Byrd eventually stepped down from the position voluntarily; Cochran resigned from Congress.

"The contrast is pretty sharp," said Collins, who served with all three men and has worked closely with Feinstein for years. Collins said senators were more collegial and respectful of each other in the past, and there was less pressure on the men to resign or step down from a committee.

She said she believes the efforts to push Feinstein off the committee are sexist. "We're all human, and senators get ill," Collins said. "Because the Senate has been disproportionately male for so long, I think what we're seeing now is a different standard being applied."

Older senators in declining health were more protected by leaders and members of both parties in the past, Collins said.

Feinstein herself requested a temporary replacement on the Judiciary Committee in a statement last week. But the pressure on her to step back from her duties due to questions about her age and cognitive abilities dates back several years.

In 2020, Feinstein said she would not serve as the top Democrat on the committee after criticism from liberal advocacy groups about her handling of hearings on Amy Coney Barrett's nomination for the Supreme Court. Earlier this year, Feinstein said she would not serve as the Senate president pro tempore, or the most senior member of the majority party, even though she was in line to do so. The president pro tempore opens the Senate every day and holds other ceremonial duties.

In February, she announced she would not run for reelection in 2024.

Angst over health issues in the Senate is not new, and many senators are well over retirement age. Also, Feinstein is not the only senator take an extended absence this year.

Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who is 53, returned to the Senate this week after checking himself into the hospital for clinical depression in February. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is 81, also returned this week after falling and hitting his head in early March.

Feinstein asked for the pause in her service on the committee after Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on her to resign from the Senate. Khanna said it is "unacceptable" for her to miss votes to confirm judges who could be weighing in on abortion rights, a key Democratic priority. Khanna has endorsed Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, one of several California Democrats already running to replace Feinstein in the Senate.

After Khanna's call for her to resign, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, defended her longtime California colleague. Like Collins, Pelosi suggested sexism is at play.

"I don't know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way," said Pelosi, 83, in an interview with a California radio station. "I've never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way."

McConnell said on the Senate floor that he believes Democrats are trying to "sideline" Feinstein, whom he called a "titanic figure." Elected in 1992, she was the first woman to serve as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to hold the rank as the top Democrat on Judiciary Committee. Before her Senate career she was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco.

"Let's be clear," said McConnell in remarks on the Senate floor. "Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague off a committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees."

Schumer on Tuesday declined to answer when asked if Feinstein should resign. He would only say that he had spoken to Feinstein last week and "she and I are both very hopeful that she will return soon." Her office has not provided a timeline for her return.

As Schumer called up the resolution to replace Feinstein, he said he was asking for support in replacing her "not just as leader, but as Dianne's friend in honoring her wishes until she returns to the Senate."

Democrats acknowledge it's an uncomfortable question as they try to balance the health of colleagues against their efforts to legislate and approve nominations with a narrow 51-49 majority.

"If any one of us is missing, it has an impact on the ability of the Senate and of committees to function," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. "And so any conversation about our health and continuing service has its sensitivity."

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  A suspected African terrorist who has been in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than 20 years has been released and sent back to his home country of Algeria, the Defense Department announced Thursday.

Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush was captured 21 years ago in Pakistan as a law of war detainee during the widespread search for terrorist threats by the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He arrived at the naval prison at Guantanamo in June 2002.

Bakush, now 52, was initially captured due to purported ties to known members of al-Qaida, according to the review board established in 2011 to assess Guantanamo prisoners. The detention center was opened in 2002 specifically to house suspected terrorists in the aftermath of 9/11.

The Periodic Review Board decided a year ago that keeping Bakush there was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States. At the time, the board said he could be transferred to his home country if certain security measures were met  including monitoring, travel restrictions and continued information sharing, the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress in February that Bakush would soon be repatriated in Algeria and all conditions of the transfer had been met.

Bakush was never charged, mainly because investigators couldnt produce any hard evidence that he participated in terrorism.

Because [he] has consistently denied involvement in terrorist activities and has provided conflicting information to interrogators, we lack insight into what motivated his activities before detention and whether he would pursue extremist activity after detention, the review board said after a hearing about Bakush in 2016.

Throughout our meetings, Said has expressed his desire to be transferred from Guantanamo Bay, the board said. He is willing to participate in any rehabilitation or reintegration program as well. Said looks forward to life after his transfer from Guantanamo Bay, meeting a woman to be his future wife, and starting a family together with her.

It wasnt immediately clear whether Bakush has already made it back to Algeria, a country in northwestern Africa thats long been tied to various terrorist groups. Algeria is designated a Level 2 travel advisory from the State Department, which urges Americans to exercise increased caution there due to terrorism and kidnapping.

With Bakushs release, 30 inmates remain at the Guantanamo prison, the Pentagon said. Sixteen are eligible to be transferred, three are eligible for a review board hearing, nine are still going through the military commissions process and two have been convicted by the commissions.

Former President Barack Obama, who promised to close the detention center, transferred 170 inmates out of the camp during his eight years in office and former President Donald Trump transferred one to Saudi Arabia in 2018. At one point in the early 2000s, there were close to 700 inmates jailed at the detention center.

Obama did not close the detention center because he was never able to clear bipartisan obstacles in Congress to get it done. Trump made the prospect more difficult by ordering the detention center to remain open indefinitely. President Joe Biden has said he wants to shut it down before he leaves the White House.

Bidens goal, however, is fraught with obstacles. To move prisoners, for example, the U.S. must find a country thats willing to accept them  if the inmates home country doesnt  and comply with certain security conditions.

Biden has been successful in getting some of the detainees transferred. Besides Bakush, his administration has moved three other Guantanamo detainees in recent months  two to Pakistan and one to Saudi Arabia. They, too, were no longer considered a threat to U.S. security. Another detainee, Muhammad Rahim, is scheduled for a review board hearing May 9.

The detention center has been controversial due mainly to reports of human rights abuses and constitutional violations, such as holding the prisoners for decades without charges or a trial.

The military commissions created at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp have been a complete failure through which the United States government has intentionally skirted U.S. and international law and abused the rights of those who remain imprisoned at the facility, Amnesty International said in September on the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It is time for the United States to close this chapter and provide genuine accountability for 9/11 victims and survivors, while respecting the human rights of the accused and those who continue to be unfairly detained indefinitely without charge.

If Biden is successful in moving all the Guantanamo detainees who are eligible for transfer, it would leave fewer than a dozen at the detention center. But the U.S. government would have to figure out what to do with them before it could close the prison.

Many of the remaining cases are so hard. Reducing the population through individual transfers makes the remainder problem smaller, but not very much easier, Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia University Law School, told Defense One in 2021. They need a solution for those high-profile cases.

Perhaps the best-known inmate who remains at the detention center is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is considered to be the top architect behind the 9/11 attacks. Hes charged with numerous terrorist-related offenses but has yet to stand trial due to a series of delays.
WASHINGTON  Commanders of U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region said Thursday their work has not been diminished by U.S. support for Ukraine, rebuking Republican factions who insist the U.S. cannot simultaneously handle threats from Russia and China.

Adm. John Aquilino, who leads U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Army Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of American troops in South Korea, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that they have not been affected by more than a year of U.S. armament shipments to Ukraine as it battles Russias invasion and said they remain equipped to address Chinese aggression.

The U.S. is the only global force capable of managing multiple threats, Aquilino said. I havent been impacted at this point as it applies to my deterrence mission so I do believe we can do both. I believe we have to do both to maintain the peace.

Aquilinos appraisal of readiness came at the prompting of Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the committee, who noted the opposition of some lawmakers to continued aid for Ukraine.

Most Republicans in Congress have said they stand firm in their support for the war-battered country, though some hard-liners in the party are questioning the prudence of spending resources on Ukraine while China grows stronger and eyes a possible invasion of the neighboring island of Taiwan.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a leader of Senate Republicans isolationist wing, has called for a nationalist foreign policy that scraps aid to Ukraine in favor of total focus on China.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has said he would not provide a blank check for U.S. assistance to Kyiv, though he discussed Ukraines need for weapons in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, reiterated her support for Ukraine on Thursday while acknowledging there are ongoing discussions in the Senate and House about the tradeoffs of maintaining military assistance to the country.

There are those who say we cannot complete both missions, that we shouldn't be helping in Ukraine. I agree with you, Admiral Aquilino, I agree with you General LaCamera that we must maintain our assistance to Ukraine, she said. It will not at this point degrade what we are doing as we look towards the east.

She urged her fellow lawmakers to heed the commanders words as Congress debates future Ukraine assistance packages. Congress has approved more than $100 billion in aid and military assistance to support the Ukrainian government and allied nations since Russia launched its invasion last year.

I do hope that other members of Congress understand this need and plainly put, it is for the defense of our nation and our global standing that we ensure success with Ukrainians, but we also cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to any fight that might occur, whether its North Korea, whether its China, Ernst said.

Aquilino told senators that support for Ukraine has not depleted munitions needed for a potential defense of Taiwan nor degraded any capabilities.

LaCamera said the nature of the fight in Ukraine does not necessarily translate to what a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific region will look like but it offers a glimpse of how the U.S. will view the invasion of another nation's territory.

I think the support that's been provided, the lessons learned coming off of [Ukraine], I think it reinforces how we feel about sovereignty and a country's right to choose their future, he said.
(Tribune News Service)  Former Rep. Bud Shuster of Pennsylvania, a congressional power broker whose mastery of earmarked spending and highway projects in the 1990s earned him the sobriquet King of Asphalt, died Wednesday at age 91.

Chairman Shuster was a force, and our Nations highways, aviation system, ports and waterways, rail network, water systems, and more all benefited from his ability to bring together Members of Congress from across the political spectrum in support of infrastructure, current Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., said in a statement. More importantly, communities across the country and our economy were also strengthened by his leadership and achievements on these issues.

Shuster, a Republican, saw transportation as a way to benefit his struggling district in the Allegheny Mountains of south-central Pennsylvania and it became his signature issue. It also tarnished his reputation.

He was rebuked by the House Ethics Committee in the autumn of 2000 for allegedly accepting improper gifts and favoring a lobbyist  his former chief of staff, whose Alexandria townhouse Shuster often shared when in Washington.

Though reelected to Congress that November for a 15th term, Shuster lost his prize chairmanship of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to a term limit rule House Republicans had adopted in 1994.

Denied an extension, Shuster stunned colleagues the day after he was sworn into office in January 2001 by announcing that he would resign at months end. He cited his health concerns and those of his wife.

Shusters son, Bill, a Chrysler dealer back home in Pennsylvania, won the special election that May to succeed him, and like his father, he became chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee before retiring from Congress.

The elder Shuster earned a reputation as a power broker, one who helped to modernize the nations transportation system and to decide where billions of dollars in federal funds would be spent. Shuster left his mark through two landmark measures: the 1998 surface transportation bill and the 2000 aviation bill.

In both cases, Shuster succeeded in greatly increasing the amount of money spent on transportation largely by guaranteeing that revenue from gasoline taxes would be reserved for road and transit projects and that airline ticket tax money would be kept for aviation programs.

Helped build America

In nearly three decades in Congress, Shuster perfected the art of earmarking, expanding member-designated projects tenfold in the 1998 highway bill.

Shusters six-year, $218 billion highway measure included $9 billion in special projects, $110 million of it for his own district. I hope they put on my tombstone 40 years from now: He helped build America, Shuster once said.

In his district, Shusters road-building efforts became legendary. Pennsylvanias Interstate 99 is named the Bud Shuster Highway. A three-mile route, the Bud Shuster By Way, bypasses his hometown of Everett. Shusters 2000 aviation bill followed nearly three years of failed attempts.

He succeeded by arguing that aviation was vital to the nations economy, that airport infrastructure had been squeezed even as air traffic was soaring, and that money collected through airline tickets for the aviation trust fund was being spent on other purposes.

Shuster built his legislation over the grumbling of congressional appropriators, who complained that his spending restrictions limited their prerogatives. After three months of intensive talks, Congress cleared a three-year Federal Aviation Administration authorization that required all aviation trust funds to be spent on aviation programs, a victory for Shuster.

Late in the 106th Congress in 2000, Shuster tried to add a final installment in a trilogy of trust fund bills, but could not convince seaport and shipping interests that they would benefit by protecting maritime spending as he had highways and aviation.

Shuster is also be known for the ethics investigation relating to his use of campaign funds and his relationship with his longtime aide, Ann M. Eppard, who quit to became a transportation lobbyist before Shuster became Transportation chairman in 1995.

In October 2000, the House Ethics Committee, in a letter of reproval, found that Eppard played a major role in Shusters office for 18 months after she became a lobbyist, including scheduling and advisory services.

In a speech on the House floor at the time, Shuster accepted the finding but defended his behavior. He said he had accepted the letter, a negotiated settlement, to put the issue behind him and stop the hemorrhaging of legal fees. The letter of reproval, the mildest form of punishment available to the committee, did not require further action by the House.

After winning his House seat in 1972, Shuster rarely had to exert himself politically. In 14 elections, he ran unopposed nine times.

Born Elmer Greinert Shuster on Jan. 23, 1932, in Glassport, Pa., Shuster grew up in a conservative district whose economy once relied on the railroad and mining operations. He earned a bachelors degree at the University of Pittsburgh, a masters in business administration at Duquesne University and later a business doctorate at American University. Shuster also served in the U.S. Army between 1954 and 1956 as an infantry lieutenant.

Before running for Congress, he was a vice president in the Radio Corporation of Americas Computer Division and founded his own software company. Without prior experience in public office, Shuster surprised the political establishment in his district through his election to the House in 1972, defeating in the primary a state senator who had the support of the party.

Outside of Congress, Bud Shuster was a family man and undertook creative endeavors. He met his wife Patricia while they attended the same high school, and they raised five children. A pianist, Shuster was trustee at the Kennedy Center and National Symphony Orchestra.

He also authored several books, the first of which, Believing in America (1983), covers American history from World War I to the early 1980s.

After his retirement from Congress, Shuster consulted for the Association of American Railroads and was also visiting assistant professor of political science at St. Francis University in Loretto, Penn.

Roll Calls Niels Lesniewski contributed to this report. 2023 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

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This video screenshot of the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV shows injured people receiving medical treatment after a stampede at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen on April 19, 2023. Yemen's government on Thursday called for an international investigation into the deadly stampede in the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa, as the death toll has grown from 80 to at least 87. (Xinhua)

ADEN, Yemen, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's government on Thursday called for an international investigation into the deadly stampede in the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa, as the death toll has grown from 80 to at least 87.

The Yemeni government, based in the southern port city of Aden, issued a statement, calling for "an independent and comprehensive international investigation to shed light on the details and circumstances surrounding the deadly stampede in Sanaa."

It added that "the recent disaster is a reflection of the ongoing hardships faced by Yemenis on a daily basis since the Houthi takeover of Sanaa in 2014, which has led to the loss of income, taxes, and widespread suffering due to hunger and poverty."

The Houthi-run interior ministry said the disaster on Wednesday evening was caused by a stampede during the random distribution of cash by local merchants, without organization or collaboration with the ministry, reported the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

Abdul Khaliq Al-Ajri, the spokesman for the ministry, was quoted as saying that two merchants responsible for the uncoordinated distribution of money were arrested while an investigation was already launched.

A Houthi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that "the stampede in Sanaa has resulted in a death toll of at least 87 people, with over 320 injured and approximately 59 in serious condition."

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi group seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized Yemeni government out of Sanaa. 
BELLINGHAM, Wash.  A ban on dozens of semi-automatic rifles cleared the Washington state Legislature on Wednesday and the governor is expected to sign it into law.

The high-powered firearms  once banned nationwide  are now the weapon of choice among young men responsible for most of the country's devastating mass shootings.

The ban comes after multiple failed attempts in the state's Legislature, and amid the most mass shootings during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009.

The Washington law would block the sale, distribution, manufacture and importation of more than 50 gun models, including AR-15s, AK-47s and similar style rifles. These guns fire one bullet per trigger pull and automatically reload for a subsequent shot. Some exemptions are included for sales to law enforcement agencies and the military in Washington. The measure does not bar the possession of the weapons by people who already have them.

The law would go into effect immediately once it's signed by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, who has long advocated for such a ban. When the bill passed the state House in March, Inslee said he's believed it since 1994 when, as a member of the U.S. Congress, he voted to make the ban a federal law.

After the bill passed, Inslee said the state of Washington "will not accept gun violence as normal."

Inslee said lives will be saved because of the semi-automatic rifle ban and two other measures approved by the Legislature this session: one that introduced a 10-day waiting period for gun purchases and another to hold gunmakers liable for negligent sales.

Republican state lawmakers opposed the ban, with some contending school shootings should be addressed by remodeling buildings to make them less appealing as targets and others saying it infringes on people's rights to defend themselves.

"HB 1240 clearly violates our state and federal constitutions, which is why it will end up in court immediately," Sen. Lynda Wilson of Vancouver said.

The U.S. Congress reinstating a ban on semi-automatic rifles appears far off. But President Joe Biden and other Democrats have become increasingly emboldened in pushing for stronger gun controls  and doing so with no clear electoral consequences.

Nine states including California, New York and Massachusetts, along with the District of Columbia, have already passed similar bans, and the laws have been upheld as constitutional by the courts, according to Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

In Colorado, lawmakers debated on Wednesday about similar gun measures, but a sweeping ban on semi-automatic firearms faces stiffer odds.

Lawmakers in the Texas Capitol set aside a slate of proposed new gun restrictions without a vote after hours of emotional appeals from Uvalde families whose children were killed last year. The hearing didn't end until the early morning hours Wednesday.

During debate on the Washington state bill, Democrats spoke of frequent mass shootings that have killed people in churches, nightclubs, grocery stores and schools.

Sen. Liz Lovelett of Anacortes said that kids' concerns about school shootings need to be addressed.

"They are marching in the streets. They are asking for us to take action," Lovelett said. "We have to be able to give our kids reasons to feel hopeful."

Another gun-control bill that passed in Washington this session would allow people whose family members die from gun violence to sue if a manufacturer or seller "is irresponsible in how they handle, store or sell those weapons." Under the state's consumer-protection act, the attorney general could file a lawsuit against manufacturers or sellers for negligently allowing their guns to be sold to minors, or to people buying guns legally in order to sell them to someone who can't lawfully have them.

A second bill would require gun buyers to show they've taken safety training. It would also impose a 10-day waiting period for all gun purchases  something that's already mandatory in Washington when buying a semi-automatic rifle.

Some gun-control legislation in other states has been struck down since last year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which set new standards for reviewing the nation's gun laws. The ruling says the government must justify gun control laws by showing they are "consistent with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
ROCKVILLE, Conn.  A Connecticut man who viciously and randomly attacked two people with a Samurai-style sword, killing one and severely wounding the other, was sentenced Thursday to 55 years in prison, the same sentence he received for a fatal shooting and kidnapping that occurred two days after the attack.

Peter Manfredonia struck 62-year-old Ted DeMers in the head with the sword, completely severed his right hand, sliced off his left thumb and index finger and repeatedly slashed his back during the attack in Willington on May 22, 2020. Manfredonia then wounded 80-year-old John Franco, who had severe injuries to his hands and wounds to his head and neck. DeMers was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.

Manfredonia, now 26, who was a University of Connecticut senior in 2020 studying finance and mechanical engineering, later held another local man hostage for 24 hours. He then drove across the state to Derby, fatally shot a school classmate and kidnapped that victim's girlfriend. He was caught in Hagerstown, Maryland, ending a six-day manhunt in several states.

Manfredonia appeared in state Superior Court in Rockville on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in both the Willington and Derby cases and agreed to 55-year sentences. Judge Kathleen McNamara imposed the prison term for the sword attack Thursday, which will run concurrent with the sentence for the fatal shooting and kidnapping.

Although Connecticut no longer has capital punishment, both DeMers' widow, Cindy, and Franco told the judge they believed Manfredonia deserved the death penalty.

Cindy Demers described rushing to the scene of carnage outside her home that day.

"It was like being in a war zone," she said. "All I could focus on was reassuring Ted that he was going to be OK and we would put his body back together. We will get through this. We had gotten through so much together up until this point.

"Dying was not an option," she continued. "And even seeing him and his injuries, I couldn't even imagine that was a possibility. He was still alive when he was taken away, but he never came home. ... My husband's life was stolen from him viciously. Life as I knew it stolen from me. My world as I knew it came to an end."

Franco, a U.S. Navy veteran who is now 83, attended the hearing and added, ""He should be terminated. I'm a true believer in capital punishment, especially in a situation such as this." Franco was called a hero for coming to DeMers' aid when he saw the attack.

Family and friends described DeMers as a kind and generous man who coached Little League in town and would help anybody who needed it. He tried to help Manfredonia that day because he thought Manfredonia had crashed his motorcycle, witnesses said.

It was the second straight day that victims of Manfredonia's violent spree offered emotional testimony in court. Manfredonia apologized at both hearings. He was sentenced on Wednesday for shooting 23-year-old Nicholas Eisele to death in Derby and kidnapping Eisele's girlfriend, whom he released unharmed a few hours later in New Jersey.

Tolland State's Attorney Matthew Gedansky said Thursday that Manfredonia went to DeMers' neighborhood that day to see his ex-girlfriend, who lived nearby. Gedansky said it appeared Manfredonia had plans to kill the woman but was interrupted by Demers, who had approached him on the street to see if he needed help.

Manfredonia's lawyer, Michael Dolan, said Manfredonia's actual plan was to commit suicide in front of his ex-girlfriend. Dolan said Manfredonia has bipolar disease and anxiety, and was having a psychotic episode at the time of the killings.

Gedansky said he believed Manfredonia was desperate when he went to Eisele's apartment two days later, knowing Eisele had money. Manfredonia and Eisele grew up together in Newtown, Connecticut.

Manfredonia's apology on Thursday was similar to the one he made on Wednesday. He directed separate comments to DeMers' family, Franco and Donald Hipsky, the man whose home Manfredonia broke into after the sword attack and who was held hostage for 24 hours but not physically hurt.

"There are no words that can possibly atone for what I have done. Know that I am sorry nonetheless," he said to DeMers' family. "You have done nothing to deserve the pain that I have caused. My actions were nothing short of reprehensible. I do not expect forgiveness for my actions and I will regret them every day for the rest of my life."

As part of his plea bargains, Manfredonia agreed not see seek early release through requests for parole or sentence modification.
The Murphy Administration has awarded contracts to two health care consulting firms to temporarily provide consulting and management services at the three state-run nursing homes serving veterans, for as much as $5 million, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday.

Gov. Phil Murphy ordered the department to seeks bids from an outside vendors in November after the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cut off federal funding for new admissions at the Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park and state inspectors found major shortcomings in care and deficiencies in pandemic infection control they said put residents in immediate jeopardy.

Admissions resumed in February after the department had improved its infection control strategies and made key personnel changes.

Interim Quality Partners, LLC will provide management and consulting services at the Menlo Park nursing home, as well as consulting services at Vineland; Care Plus Bergen, LLC will provide on-site consultant services to the veterans home in Paramus, according to a notice posted on the state website.

Brig. Gen. Lisa J. Hou, the Adjutant General of New Jersey and commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, announced the successful bidders during a hearing before the Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday in Trenton.

Neither Hou nor her office provided detail on how much each the bidders will be paid. Hou told the committee the entire tab would not exceed $5 million, adding, That doesnt mean we will need all of that.

The temporary teams will not displace anyone on staff at Menlo, and will assist in recruiting permanent leadership, Hou said.

In December, Hou replaced the facilitys CEO and hired a nurse practitioner as director of nursing. The department also signed contracts to with four specialists  two infection control consultants, one nursing consultant and one administrative consultant.

The state veterans homes had among the highest death rates in the country from the pandemic, claiming the lives of more than 200 residents and staff, according to the state, although one attorney who represents dozens of families who sued the state suggests the number of fatalities may actually be more than 240.

The state has paid out nearly $69 million to settle lawsuits filed by the families of 190 dead veterans homes residents from Menlo Park and Paramus. The lawsuits accused the state of negligence in allowing the coronavirus to run rampant inside the facilities, but the cases were settled without the state admitting to any wrongdoing.

A federal investigation into the deaths at Menlo Park and Paramus is still ongoing, as are two separate state investigations, Hou confirmed at the budget hearing. She declined to comment further.

NJ Advance Media Staff Writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

slivio@njadvancemedia.com .

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The Islamabad High Court has ordered the government not to harass Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan during the Eid holidays.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq was hearing Imran Khans petition seeking details of the cases registered against him as well as orders for the police not to arrest him.

The government was issued a notice at the request of Imran Khan, and a response sought.

During the proceedings, Imrans lawyer Faisal Chaudhry commented that reports of talks between political parties is a good discussion, and today, the development may move in a positive direction.

Imran Khans request for keeping the petition pending till after Eid was also approved, and has been scheduled for re-hearing on April 27.

Imrans counsel further said Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq visited Zaman Park and made an encouraging effort to negotiate.

The chief justice remarked that this incident apparently created a bad taste.

Chaudhry further expressed fears that another operation against his client is on the cards during the Eid holidays.

I can request the details of the cases but how can I give a blank order? questioned Justice Farooq.

Subsequently, the IHC CJ ordered the government not to harass the ex-PM during the Eid holidays and issued notices to the federation, the police and the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA), seeking details of cases against Imran.

The PTI chief's request to delay the hearing of the case till after Eid was also accepted and the court adjourned the case till April 27.

Earlier this week, Imran had apprised the Lahore High Court (LHC) that he had concrete information of another attack at his Zaman Park residence during the Eid holidays, requesting that the police officials be prevented from arresting him in order to avoid any bloodshed planned by them.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the federal coalition and PTI to sit together and develop a consensus on the date for elections in the country by 4pm, but at the same time asserted that it would not go back on its order fixing May 14 as the date for elections to the Punjab Assembly.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial stated that there could be no obstinacy in negotiations and they could be successful through bilateral dialogues.

He requested that leaders of all political parties sit today and negotiate, rather than after Eid. He furthered that after Eidul Adha in July, elections could be held.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Bandial and comprised of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the case.

A day earlier, the bench had issued notices to all majority political parties over a constitutional petition for holding elections of all provincial and national assemblies on the same date.

The petition, filed by Sardar Kashif Khan who is a permanent citizen of Abbottabad, has engaged Shah Khawar as his counsel.

The counsel for the petitioner said there is a need for political dialogue for ending the impasse on the issue of holding general elections for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) assemblies.

Shortly after the hearing commenced today, the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan requested a 15-minute break so that the court could bring in more seating to facilitate political leaders.

When the hearing resumed, the petitioners counsel took to the rostrum and stated that the leadership of many political parties was present in the court. He added that it would be appropriate for the court to hear all the leaders.

The lawyer continued that holding elections on the same date was necessary for the strength of democracy.

Chief Justice Bandial expressed his gratitude to the political leaders for coming to the apex court.

There is anxiety within the nation [regarding elections], and there will be peace if the political leadership solves the problem, he remarked, adding that complications would arise if the court gave orders instead.

The CJP maintained that it would be a blessing if the political leaders resolved the issue through understanding.

He continued that the Ministry of Defense has also requested that the elections be held on the same day across the country, and the petitioner had requested that as well. The CJP said that the AGP had raised a similar point but it was lost amid politics.

Referring to the news on the break in the impasse between the ruling coalition and the opposition, the CJP maintained that according to the news, the Pakistan Peoples Party [PPP] appreciates the dialogue and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] also appreciated the proposal of negotiations.

Farooq Naik appeared before the top court on behalf of the PPP and stated that Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Qamar Zaman Kaira, and Tariq Bashir Cheema were also in attendance.

He highlighted that the ruling political alliance was of the common opinion that the time for elections in 90 days had passed, and the court had extended the date twice.

Political parties have already started working together for elections. Bilawal Bhutto also met Maulana Fazlur Rahman in this regard, he said, adding that the political dialogue within the government coalition would be completed immediately after Eid.

He furthered that talks would be held with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) again to end the tensions.

Our effort will be to create a political consensus through these dialogues. Elections should be held on a single day as soon as possible, he said.

Naek maintained that elections should be held by caretaker governments across the country and political issues should be settled between the parties. He added that no institution should interfere in political matters.

PML-Ns Khawaja Saad Rafique appeared on the rostrum and affirmed, after consultation with his partys leadership, that elections should be held simultaneously across Pakistan.

He stated that the PML-N was fully ready for negotiations on elections and a meeting of party leaders was called after Eid.

Instead of wasting the time of state institutions, politicians should talk among themselves, he said.

Ayaz Sadiq appeared on the behalf of the Baloch National Party (BNP) and stated that were in touch with the PTI in a personal capacity and would continue to do so in the future.

Tariq Bashir Cheema stated that he was asked by Chaudhry Shujaat to be at the hearing. Cheema also said that elections should be held on the same date, adding that doing so would end differences.

He informed the court that it may be criticised if it decided in favour of simultaneous elections but if the politicians did it, it would be better for everyone. He added that the joint decision of the political leaders will be accepted by the nation.

BNP Awami leader Mohammad Asrarullah Tareen also agreed with same-day elections and urged political dialogue.

PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi came to the rostrum and stated that he had hashed out the partys point of view.

The constitution is clear about conducting elections within 90 days. I am subject to the Constitution, not to anyone's wish, he said.

He continued that the SC gave a decision regarding the elections but obstacles were erected in the execution of the court decision. He maintained that the court showed tolerance and restraint and protected the Constitution.

Qureshi stated that the PTI had come forward instead of being bitter and that political forces had to pull the country out of the quagmire.

Elections are the constitutional and democratic way. People are the source of power, there should be elections, he said.

He added that while the PTI never backed down from negotiations, the negotiations could not be above the Constitution.

Regarding the non-disbursement of funds for the election despite SC orders, Qureshi said that the Parliament's resolution could not be above the Constitution.

On behalf of Imran Khan, we will try to find a way out, he said, adding that a solution would be found if proper suggestions were given.

Returning to the rostrum, Rafique said that the court shouldnt be made into a debate club and if the political parties could meet they could conduct a dialogue.

We are not convinced to stay even one day beyond the period stipulated in the Constitution, he said.

Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed came to the rostrum and stated that the nation saluted judicial decisions.

He maintained that the decision of the court would be the decision of the entire nation.

Rashid stated that he was not opposed to negotiations but the negotiations should be meaningful. He highlighted that a respected personality had boycotted the hearing today.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Siraj-ul-Haq took to the rostrum and urged negotiation, adding that it was not an option but rather Gods command.

The Constitution came into existence on the basis of consensus, and even today the Constitution can save the country. Protecting the Constitution is protecting the country, he said.

Siraj maintained that politicians should fix their own house.

He continued that Pakistan was not created by any army general but was the result of a democratic struggle, adding that the country would not have sunk if there had been no dictatorship.

He maintained that the JI was not with the PDM, nor with the PTI and that he had met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan. He added that elections were the only solution to the nation's problems and there was no other way.

Elections cannot be held on the basis of one's personal wish, he said.

Siraj stated that his position was that the judiciary, the armed forces and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should stay away from politics.

He added the reason for the problems was that the judiciary, the establishment and the ECP were no longer apolitical.

He maintained that it would be appropriate to hold an election on a suitable date after Eidul Adha and the court should leave this matter to the politicians.

Imran Khan's lawyer Salman Akram Raja appeared in court and stated that there was a risk of an operation against the PTI chief at Zaman Park during the Eid holidays.

The chief justice, however, stated that the concerned court was approached by the PTI and the high court would soon announce its order.

The chief justice remarked that there was a suggestion that the court should terminate the proceedings, and added that all political leaders had today reiterated their adherence to the Constitution.

If we don't follow the Constitution, there will be many twists and turns, he said.

He continued that Article 254 of the Constitution had never been interpreted and under it, the date should not be extended, therefore it was not interpreted.

The Election Commission made a wrong decision on which the court issued an order. The election date in Punjab is May 14, he maintained.

Bandial stated that the court was bound by the Constitution and the law.

He highlighted that Siraj-ul-Haq, the PML-N and the PPP had attempted negotiations and later the PTI also talked about elections being held simultaneously.

It should be remembered that there is a judicial decision in place. I am sure that no member of the assembly wants to go against the court decision, he said, adding that during todays hearing, no political leader gave a wrong decision.

The CJP said that there could be no obstinacy in negotiations and that negotiations could be successful through bilateral talks.

He requested that the leaders of political parties sit today and negotiate, rather than after Eid. He furthered that after Eid in July, elections could be held.

The hearing was then adjourned till 4 pm.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the Pakistan delegation to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on 4-5 May 2023 in Goa, India next month, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch made the announcement today during her weekly press briefing.

The FO said that the foreign minister is attending the SCO CFM meeting at the invitation of the current Chair of SCO CFM, Dr S Jaishankar, Minister for External Affairs of the Republic of India.

Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had also attended the last meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in July last year in Tashkent.

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman represented Pakistan at the 4th SCO Meeting of Heads of Ministries on Environmental Protection. The meeting was held online in New Delhi on 18th April 2023.

The spokesperson stated that the National Disaster Management Authority director virtually attended the SCO Expert Meeting of Heads of Agencies for Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations while today Muhammad Idrees Mahsud, Member Disaster Risk Reduction, is virtually participating in an SCO meeting.

The SCO comprises Pakistan, China, India, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Central Asian countries with whom Pakistan has recently been strengthening foreign ties  namely Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
KIGALI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Rescue efforts continued Thursday for six artisanal miners reported missing after a quartzite mine collapsed on Wednesday in southern Rwanda, a local official said.

The accident occurred in the Kinazi sector in Huye District on Wednesday evening, according to Annonciata Kankesha, the district's vice mayor in charge of social affairs.

"The victims were operating in an underground tunnel at an illegal mining site. After learning about the incident, rescue teams have launched efforts to rescue the victims," she told reporters.

Kankesha said the tragedy could have been caused by flooding.

Local residents said the tunnel is estimated at between 60 to 80 meters deep, and illegal mining activities have been going on at the mine for the past four years.

Families of the victims appealed to the government to "ensure proper safety mechanisms for those doing mining activities."

Being the second largest revenue earner in the country, the mining sector is undergoing a state of transition from artisanal to semi-mechanized mining, according to the regulatory body, the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board.

Accidents are often reported at artisanal mining sites, where miners work discreetly to avoid inspection from authorities. 
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said the power to interpret the Constitution lies with the judiciary, while the power to write and amend it rests with the Parliament.

The premier inaugurated the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 app today, which will enable millions of Pakistanis to access the basic principles of the Constitution through digital technology.

During the ceremony, the prime minister said, Transferring the Constitution of Pakistan to digital technology is a matter of happiness. Through the mobile app, the youth will be able to benefit from the Constitution.

He added that the time has come for everyone to come together to uphold and respect the Constitution and that the judiciary can interpret the Constitution, but not rewrite it.

This authority lies with the Parliament, the premier emphasized while adding that the Constitution has been born from the cradle of Parliament.

PM Shehbaz said that it has never happened that the Supreme Court issues a stay order against an unenacted bill.

He noted that sometimes the Constitution has been rewritten and broken by dictators, and expressed hope that the judiciary and bars will act as the guardians of the sacred document.

He stressed the need for all institutions to come together to uphold the Constitution.

PM Shehbaz also praised the framers of the Constitution, which included Bhutto Shaheed, Mufti Mahmood, Shah Noorani, Khan Abdul Wali, and others.

He said, These leaders put aside all differences and created the Constitution for the Constitution of Pakistan. The names of these leaders will be remembered in beautiful and golden words.

Speaking about the mistakes made by politicians in the past, including himself, the prime minister said, Great people are those who learn from mistakes and move forward.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said it is a great moment that now the constitution will be accessed through a mobile application. He said it will provide awareness to the youth and citizens of the country about the constitution.

The Prime Minister praised former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and other political leadership who gave the constitution of Pakistan to the masses.

He said the entire nation and all the institutions will have to be united to protect the constitution collectively.

Shehbaz Sharif said the government is committed to sacrifice its political capital to save the state. He called for self-retrospection to move forward.

He also appreciated all the stakeholders for celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the constitution of Pakistan.

In her remarks, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said we have achieved an important milestone of incorporating the constitution in curriculum for awareness of youth of the country. She said it will become part of the curriculum by next year.

Marriyum Aurangzeb thanked Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah for providing support in developing the App.

She said with inauguration of this App, youth will be able to access to all articles and chapters of the constitution. She said app will be available in Urdu and English.

This App is being released as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Constitution of Pakistan.
Sullivan, IN (47882)

Today

Sunny to partly cloudy. High 63F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low near 40F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Olivia explained that her daughter came down with infection hours after her birth and, if given an antibiotic, would have made a full recovery.

The mother of a 27-year-old woman with cerebral palsy has told of how she turned to drugs to cope with guilt after her daughter went into care.

Olivia Harte was speaking after her daughter Jane this week settled her 12 million High Court action against a retired consultant over her care as a newborn.

Jane had taken the case against Pallany Pillay (88), the proprietor of the now-closed City General Hospital and her mothers consultant in 1995.

She is profoundly, permanently and irreversibly disabled and has to use a wheelchair.

Speaking to Neil Prendeville on Corks RedFM, Olivia explained that her daughter came down with infection hours after her birth and, if given an antibiotic, would have made a full recovery.

Everyone was prepared for a healthy baby, she said.

As the hours went on, she became more irritable and distressed, the breathing became more noisy and she was squealing.

That evening, baby Jane was in a desperate state and was rushed to the neonatal unit at Erinville Hospital.

She was 17 hours old and was near dead on arrival. She had developed a common infection, Strep B, which was easily treated. I didnt know this until her records were examined by a medical expert in 2020.

All she needed was an antibiotic but for all those years, I didnt know that.

Our expert says she would be perfect and there would have been no complications if this antibiotic had been administered early on. So, it developed into meningitis and sepsis.

As time went on, we could tell it was severe. No oxygen went to her brain, and she was left catastrophically and severely brain damaged.

Jane was accepted into the Cope Foundations respite programme in 1998 to help with her care  a move that caused Olivias life to spiral.

My own personal story took a downturn then. I went into addiction and that was my way of coping and escaping. I couldnt cope at all.

I found it very hard for Jane to be in Cope. I felt like a failure and that I let her down. I felt like I gave her away and abandoned her.

It started with party drugs and unfortunately, I ended up on heroin and crack. But Im in recovery 15 years, since 2008. Im blessed.

Olivia said the 12 million settlement approved by the High Court on Wednesday will change Janes life.

I was delighted in a way, but no amount of compensation is going to give me back my daughter that should have been born healthy.

Shes never sick but her muscles are deteriorating and its affecting her posture. The use of her left arm is of no use anymore. She used to be able to crawl and climb up on a chair but shes gotten older.

She gets the best care at the Cope Foundation, but their services are limited.

Im delighted for Jane that she can have the best care possible going forward. I dont know how long 12m will last for her but it will make a huge difference to the quality of her life.
Alan Leech was described as nothing more than a local junkie who had been criminally opportunistic and had milked Kennedy "like a cash cow

A Dublin man who was solicited by another man to kill his wife's friends is to be sentenced next month for extortion, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.

Defending counsel told the court that Alan Leech (38) was an opportunistic local junkie who had milked his acquaintance Bryan Kennedy "like a cash cow when Kennedy approached him about murdering the women his wife had met online.

Alan Leech of Loftus Hall Apartments, Hazelbrook Square, Churchtown, Dublin 14, pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces on three occasions during January 2020.

At a sentence hearing today, the court heard that Leech and Kennedy knew each other as their children went to the same school.

Kennedy confided in Leech that his wife was having an online relationship with a couple who lived in Canada and that he believed the only way to salvage his marriage was to arrange for the couple to be killed.

Garda Tony Galway told Karl Moran BL, prosecuting, that Leech quoted the figure of 10,000 and led Kennedy to believe that he had contracted third parties to carry out the murder.

Last January Kennedy, of Mount Tallant Avenue, Harolds Cross, Dublin 6W, was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to four and a half years in prison for soliciting Leech to murder two women on a date between October 2019 and January 2020.

Kennedys sentence was deferred until Monday of this week to allow time for him to put in place care for his children.

Gda Galway told the court that Kennedy, who was on social welfare, borrowed money from family members, friends and neighbours and paid Leech the sum of 8,000 to arrange the murder.

Investigating gardai took 65 screenshots of WhatsApp messages between Leech and Kennedy about the organisation of the murder and how it was to be carried out.

The court heard that Leech never contracted any third parties nor planned to carry out a murder, but had simply taken advantage of Kennedys mistaken belief that he had criminal connections.

When Kennedy failed to pay the outstanding 2,000, Leechs messages became more direct and threatening. Leech told Kennedy that the third parties were threatening him for the rest of the money and that he had been beaten up in front of his kids.

He said these third parties had come to his house several times and stolen things and that he had begged them on his hands and knees but that they wouldnt listen and were like animals.

Some of Leechs messages were read out in court, including: Ill carve your f*****g throat. Dont dare text me back with your sob stories cos Ill f*****g end you.

On January 6, 2020, Kennedy left Ireland for the UK out of fear of Leech and the threats he was making.

Kennedy left his phone and some belongings with his friend, along with instructions to his wife to keep their children locked in the house, to take a different bus home from school and to be wary of Leech.

Bryan Kennedy talking to our reporter

Kennedys wife said Leech met her at the school gates and asked where Kennedy was.

A few days later, Kennedys wife opened her door and saw Leech standing at the hedge. He told her that her husband had been watching everything she had been sending online to the Canadians and wanted to send a hit over to make it stop.

Leech said he would be kneecapped by the third parties if he didnt get the 2,000 and took a photo of Kennedys front door. He got pissed off, Kennedys wife later told gardai.

The following day, Kennedys wife heard a knock at the door. She sent her children upstairs and called the guards but heard Leech kicking the door and saying, Ill be back later.

Leech also sent her messages on Facebook saying her husband had sent him photos of the Canadian couple for the purpose of identifying them for the murder.

The court heard Kennedy returned from the UK and went to Nutgrove Shopping Centre with his wife on January 11, when they heard two whistles and saw Leech, who approached and threatened that he would personally carve Kennedys face.

Gda Galway told the court that no arrests were made for some months, as gardai wanted to first ensure that nobody in Canada or Ireland was in immediate danger.

Leech has 43 previous convictions, including 27 for theft in 2009 for which he served an 18-month sentence. He told gardai on arrest that he had a drug debt and had just taken advantage of Kennedy.

Bryan thought I was involved in gangs and I played along. I thought, if hes not man enough to control his wife, Ill take advantage of it, he told gardai.

The court heard that at one point Leech had an earbud in his ear while talking to Kennedy to pretend that he was on the phone to third parties who were threatening him.

I got it from watching films, Leech told gardai.

A victim impact statement submitted by Kennedys wife said she has been frightened of leaving the house ever since she was threatened by Leech.

She said she has recurring PTSD nightmares and that her disability has flared and worsened so badly because of stress that she is now in a wheelchair. This man has ruined my life, my mental and physical health and my children. My childrens father is in jail because of this, she said.

Justin McQuade BL, defending Leech, said his client had no gangland connections and had simply played Kennedy like a salmon by pretending that he was in contact with third parties.

There was a couple of Walter Mittys on both sides, said Mr McQuade.

He described Leech as nothing more than a local junkie who had been criminally opportunistic and had milked Kennedy "like a cash cow.

The court heard Leech had a chronic addiction to cannabis, cocaine and crack cocaine. Mr McQuade said Leech had expressed remorse and had pleaded guilty early.

Letters were presented to court from Leechs father and from Merchants Quay Ireland, outlining their willingness to engage with Leech.

The court heard that Leech is a single father whose daughter is being cared for by his parents, who are supportive and pro-social.

Judge Orla Crowe adjourned the case for sentence to May 2.
Brian Mulhall (53) who had served jail time in the past and had been out of prison nearly a year was really struggling

A shoplifter who is really struggling at present has asked a judge to jail him, so he can go back into prison and clear out his head.

Brian Mulhall (53) had a history of theft-related offences, had served jail time in the past and had been out of prison nearly a year, a court heard.

Judge Gerard Jones convicted and sentenced Mulhall to three months in prison.

The defendant, of Abbotstown Avenue, Finglas, admitted stealing groceries, valued at 73, from Supervalu, Rathborne Drive, Ashtown, Dublin 15, on November 16, 2022.

Sergeant Maria Callaghan told Blanchardstown District Court that gardai were called to the shop following reports of a theft.

Sgt Callaghan said the defendant had placed a number of items in a bag, and had walked out without paying for the goods.

He was stopped by security staff, and the groceries were recovered in a resalable condition, the sergeant said.

The court heard Mulhall had a number of previous convictions dating back some years, the majority of which were for theft-related matters.

Mulhall, who is unemployed and on social welfare, had previously served time in prison, and had been out for about a year, the court heard.

Defence solicitor Rory Staines said that he was in the unusual circumstances of asking the judge to give his client a prison sentence.

Mr Staines said the defendant was really struggling at the moment, and Mulhall believed he needed to go to jail so he could clear out his head.
A German court today announced that it does not have jurisdiction to try Christian Brueckner in relation to five sexual offences.

Madeleine McCann went missing from her parents holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007 (PA)   PA

The chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeline McCann will not be prosecuted over the rape of an Irish woman.

A German court today announced that it does not have jurisdiction to try Christian Brueckner in relation to five sexual offences.

One of these relates to the rape of Hazel Behan, who was working as a holiday representative on the Algarve in 2004 when she was assaulted.

However, prosecutors have told independent.ie that they expect to appeal the decision.

Ms Behan, who it's understood has been informed of the development by her legal team, declined to comment when contacted.

Madeleine McCann went missing from her parents holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007 (PA)   PA

Last October the regional court in the German city of Braunschweig charged Christian Brueckner with five counts of sexual assault and rape.

The 45-year-old, who is currently serving a jail term for raping a pensioner, has previously been identified as the chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeline McCann in 2007.

The British girl was aged four when she vanished while on a family holiday in Portugal.

The Braunschweig regional court has now ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Brueckner in relation to the sexual offences.

This, officials said, is because he was last residing outside of the local district in the nearby state of Saxon-Anhalt.

While the ruling does not effect his current prison term, it may impact the investigation by Braunschweig officials into the McCann case.

Prosecutors have told Independent.ie they are continuing their investigations and that they expect to appeal the ruling to a higher court.

Christian Wolters, of the Braunschweig prosecution office, said: "Firstly, the decision does not change anything: we continue to investigate the Maddie case and the accused remains in custody.

"With regard to the decision of the Braunschweig Regional Court on jurisdiction in the proceedings pending there, we will first carefully examine the reasons and then probably have the decision reviewed by the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court," Mr Wolters said.

"In view of a decision by the Higher Regional Court, we continue to assume that we have jurisdiction, so that the investigations in the Maddie case will continue as planned.

"From our point of view, there is currently no reason to speculate about the possible responsibility of the Magdeburg public prosecutor's office for the investigations in the Maddie case and any associated submission of the proceedings."

Brueckner, who can only be identified by German officials as Christian B due to the countrys strict privacy laws, is currently serving a seven-year jail term for the rape of a US woman (72) in 2005.

He spent large amounts of time in the Algarve between 1995 to 2007 where he was a drifter with a string of previous convictions for sex offences and child abuse.

In June 2020 he was named as a chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeline McCann, who was last seen on May 3, 2007.

A month later the investigation into the rape of Ms Behan was reopened after she came forward saying she believed Brueckner was her attacker.

At the time she told police the man involved was about 6ft 1in tall (1.85m), had blond eyebrows, piercing blue eyes and spoke English with a German accent.

Ms Behan said she also noted similarities between her attack and the rape of the American woman.

She previously said she was mind blown when details of his attack on the 72-year-old emerged, saying there were similar tactics and methods in both crimes.

Recalling her attack previously, she said she was awoken to someone calling her name and saw a man armed with a 12in machete standing in the room.
Drug-related intimidation occurs when a criminal or criminals allege that a sum of money is owed as a result of a drug debt

A man in his 20s is due before the Dublin District Court this morning to face charges in connection with ongoing investigations into drug related intimidation in the North Dublin area.

He is expected to appear at the Criminal Courts of Justice at 10.30am.

Gardai said investigations are ongoing as part of Operation Fogra, the Garda response to Drug Related Intimidation (DRI) in the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

The operation was launched as part of the Garda National Strategy under Operation Tara to combat drug related intimidation which gardai say is a major source of community harm and fear in the DMR and a sinister motive for various forms of criminality.

The operation is based on two pillars including a harm reduction victim centred approach and information enabled policing informing operational responses.

The objectives of Operation Fogra are to support communities, increase frontline awareness of DRI and enhance collaboration, a Garda spokesperson said.

Drug-related intimidation occurs when a criminal or criminals allege that a sum of money is owed as a result of a drug debt.

Intimidation can take the form of threats (including threats of physical violence), and physical violence, damage to property.

A garda spokesperson previously said: If you or someone you know is experiencing drug-related intimidation, there is help and support available.

"The Drug Related Intimidation Programme responds to the needs of persons who use drugs and family members experiencing drug related intimidation.

They added: An Garda Siochana is determined to support victims of drug related intimidation and to bring offenders before the courts.

If you are the victim of drug related intimidation, the first thing you should do is seek advice to identify your options.

Victims should be aware that payment of money can in many instances increase the pressure and threats being made to victims from criminals seeking to extort money. The Drug Related Intimidation Inspector and Operation Fogra team are available to provide advice to you.
Leanna McFall (45) was shouting and screaming about going for a smoke, demanding pillows and a trip to the shop

A woman who racially abused a hospital consultant and twice assaulted a ward nurse has been sentenced to eight months in jail.

Leanna McFall (45) had earlier entered guilty pleas to two counts of assaulting the nurse on consecutive days on November 25 and 26, 2021.

Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, heard how McFall had been a patient on ward three at Antrim Area Hospital for a couple of weeks when she began verbally abusing staff on November 25.

She said that if she got her hands on any of them she would knock them out, said the prosecuting lawyer.

The first assault happened when the nurse was administering an insulin injection to another patient.

McFall, who was shouting and screaming about going for a smoke, threw a pillow at her, hitting the nurses hand.

McFalls behaviour escalated that day. She was shouting about demanding pillows and a trip to the shop to such an extent that ward staff had to call for security.

The following day, a consultant was doing ward rounds when McFall was verbally abusive to him and used racially abusive language. She called the nurse a useless, fat b******.

At around 3.30pm that day, McFall asked the nurse to empty her catheter bag at her bedside and, the court heard, that to do so the nurse had to get down on her knees.

That exposed her head, said the lawyer, outlining how McFall grabbed her chart and struck her on the top of the head with the metal part of it.

That action caused the urine in the catheter bag to spill over the victims arms and knees, leaving her in pain and shock and tearful.

Arrested and interviewed, McFall, from High Street in Ballymena, denied being abusive but accepted that she probably committed the catheter incident.

Defence solicitor Emma McCann said McFalls life had been chaotic and blighted by alcohol addiction but that she accepts her behaviour was totally unacceptable.

Its clear that she has her own physical limitations, said the solicitor, submitting that while McFall hasnt endeared herself particularly well to probation I will be asking you to avoid custody.

Ms McCann asked: What great benefit would custody be, as opposed to community service?

But Deputy District Judge Chris Holmes replied: Frankly, I dont care.

Im way past the rehabilitation point here, he told the court.

Having checked that Hydebank Womens Prison could cope with McFall, who uses a wheelchair, District Judge Holmes told her that her behaviour was utterly and completely unacceptable.

Imposing jail sentences totalling eight months, he told McFall: Im afraid you have reached the end of your rope.

Describing her as a thief and not a very nice person to start with, the judge told McFall that he recognised she has to use a wheelchair and you have my every sympathy. But he added that everyone in society is equal and that meant she had the same responsibilities as every able-bodied person in society and you dont get to behave like this.

Although Mr Holmes imposed four months jail on each count to be served consecutively, he also freed McFall on 500 bail pending appeal.

He warned her, however: We will see how it goes in the appeal court, but if I were you, I would be making arrangements for being in prison.

I do not see a county court judge feeling any better about this than I did.
KIGALI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan police have arrested 800 people suspected of theft in a countrywide crackdown following a recent wave of criminal activity, said authorities on Wednesday.

The suspects are mainly between 20 and 30 years old and "were apprehended over the past two months in towns across the country, with a majority of them being in the capital city Kigali," Desire Gumira, the Regional Police Commander central region, told reporters.

He said the security operation was prompted by the recent wave of theft in various urban centers in the country as reported by residents.

Gumira appealed to the public to develop a culture of timely reporting suspected individuals to security agencies.

The suspects were found to be regular drinkers of alcohol yet without clear sources of income, according to the police.

Warning against lawlessness, police assured the public that security agencies are mapping crime spots to prevent crimes.

If a person is convicted of theft, they can face imprisonment for a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years, as well as a fine ranging from 1 million Rwandan francs to 2 million Rwandan francs (about 901 U.S. dollars to 1,802 dollars), or community service for six months. 
Members of Action Antifasciste Paris-Banlieue (AAPB) travelled to Northern Ireland to take part in Easter commemorations.

Saoradh hold an easter commemoration event in west Belfast on April 8th 2023 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)   Kevin Scott

Dissident republicans have formed an alliance with an anti-fascist group linked to violent attacks in France.

Members of Action Antifasciste Paris-Banlieue (AAPB) travelled to Northern Ireland last week to take part in Easter commemorations in Belfast and Derry.

A member of the group spoke at the Derry parade on Easter Monday at which police came under attack from young rioters.

A small number of AAPB members had also taken part in a parade in Belfast on Saturday.

Both events were organised by Saoradh, which is regarded as the political wing of the New IRA.

The Parades Commission had been notified, as required by law, about the Belfast parade but the commission was not notified about the commemoration event in Derry.

As a result, it was an illegal event.

The PSNI last week said they had strong community intelligence which indicated there were plans to use the parade in the Creggan area of the city to draw police officers into serious public disorder.

Organisers of the parade claimed they planned to have a dignified event and urged police to stay away.

Marchers at Easter parade

A short time after the parade started on Monday afternoon, a number of petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown by a group of youths at a police vehicle parked on the route. No one was injured during the attack.

The vehicle left the area and police stayed out of Creggan for the remainder of the hour-long event, which ended with speeches at the city cemetery.

Members of a colour party which had led the parade changed their clothing after the speeches ended. They were protected from the view of an overhead police helicopter by people holding up umbrellas.

The clothes were then burned close to one of the entrances to the cemetery.

Several plastic bins were later set on fire a short distance away and used to block a road.

On Tuesday, the PSNI said they had found four viable pipe bomb devices in the cemetery which, they believe, would have been used against police officers had they not withdrawn from the area.

Speaking in the Derry cemetery during Mondays event, the AAPB representative said they hoped to build up international networks of solidarity.

AAPB, which was formed in 2008, is made up of a small group of anti-fascists who are based in the suburbs of Paris.

It is believed, according to a journalist who has written extensively about the group, that it has no more than 30 members.

AAPB said 12 of its members travelled to Northern Ireland for the republican commemorations.

After the Derry parade, the group posted a message on its Facebook page which wrongly claimed that the PSNI had tried to ban the event.

A dozen Parisian antifascists were present in Derry at the invitation of Saoradh to participate in the commemoration in honor of the women and men of the 1916 uprising, the message read.

The police, who had been communicating for several weeks about the banning of this march, planning to prevent it, failed in the face of the determination of the inhabitants of Creggan.

French anti-fascists took the floor at the end of the march to recall the importance of international solidarity and also addressing the social and ecological movement that we are experiencing in France.

During his short speech at the Derry parade, the AAPB representative mentioned their comrade Serge.

This was a reference to Serge Duteuil-Graziani, a 32-year-old man who was seriously injured after being struck in the head by a gas canister fired by police during a recent protest in France.

The protest at Sainte-Soline in south west France last month was against agricultural reservoirs in the region.

In 2013, an AAPB member, 18-year-old Clement Meric, died after being punched during a fight with a group of right-wing skinheads in Paris.

In 2020, AAPBs Twitter account was suspended and, as a result, the group said it had lost all its followers on the social media site. The account was reactivated a short time later.

Sebastien Bourdon, a journalist who has covered the anti-fascist movement in France, said AAPB members have been involved in public protests in France over the last few years and hold counter-demonstrations at far-right rallies.

They do from time to time violently clash with far-right groups in France, especially in Paris, but it is not that common, he said.

In 2016 in France there was quite a big social movement against government reforms and in Paris some of the protests turned quite violent. Some members of AAPB were definitely involved in the protests and the clashes.

Mr Bourdon said he believed AAPB had taken part in events in Ireland prior to last weekends commemorations.

Maybe a few years ago I saw a picture of them, or maybe it was one guy travelling, meeting with local Irish militants. I am not sure which group and when exactly, but I know I have seen at least one picture before of them going to Ireland.

They do travel from time to time and attend various events all around Europe but its definitely not anything big.

It is not like a network or they are trying to set up a branch elsewhere. Its just they attend other leftist events across Europe whenever they get invited.

I am not even sure they know that much about the political situation in Ireland and the whole event and the meaning around it.

I think they see it as a leftist revolutionary event and thats why they went there.

Several prominent dissident republicans, including Thomas Ashe Mellon and Dee Fennell, were among those who took part in last weekends events.

Speaking at the Derry commemoration, Saoradhs national chairperson Stephen Murney urged people to join the IRA.

The PSNI are studying the footage gathered at the Easter Monday parade before deciding if charges can be brought against of the participants.

There was widespread condemnation after police found the pipe bombs in the cemetery.

Foyle MP Colum Eastwood said those involved in the planned attack had no political mandate or support from people in Derry.

Planting devices in a cemetery, a place where people go to grieve and remember their loved ones, is disgusting, he said.

These actions have put Derry people in danger, and those behind it must stop for good.

Those who carried out this act do not care about Ireland or our people, only their narrow, twisted agenda. The only way we can work towards a new Ireland is through respect, tolerance and democracy.
The network is locked down for a reason  to prevent inmates communicating with other criminals on the outside, or passing information on whats happening inside the prison.

A major cyber security review is underway in Portlaoise Prison after inmates bypassed restrictions on the school internet network to access social media.

Two inmates, a convicted crime-gang money-launderer and his brother, are at the centre of the probe to determine how the networks restrictions were breached, allowing them to access TikTok.

The social media sharing website allows users to post short-form videos and text.

Its a serious security breach, a source told the Sunday World. This is not supposed to be possible. The network is locked down for a reason  to prevent inmates communicating with other criminals on the outside, or passing information on whats happening inside the prison.

Accessing TikTok has the potential to allow inmates pass information, and that presents a potential and real risk to the safety of officers, other inmates and the public.

The Sunday World cannot identify the brothers at the centre of the probe as one of them is currently before the courts facing serious criminal charges.

TikTok   NurPhoto via Getty Images

He is serving a three-year sentence after he and associate were stopped transporting a six-figure sum of money along the N4.

The pair were further linked to the cash by DNA and mobile phone records.

The offence on which he is due to stand trial later this year is of a similar nature.

The school internet network, which allows inmates access to Open University learning, is considered a vital cog in efforts to rehabilitate inmates.

But connectivity on the network is heavily restricted to prevent prisoners accessing social media, pornography or other unapproved sites.

Its understood the breach was detected by the Prison Services Operational Support Group (OSG) when an inmate was overheard discussing it on an approved phonecall.

The breaches date from early April.

One line of investigation is that they may have done so by clicking through to the site indirectly on a link attached to a third-party website.

Its not a case of anyone having removed the restriction on accessing social media or anything like that, a separate source said.

What is believed to have happened is that they somehow managed to get to the TikTok by clicking on a link displayed on a website that was not restricted...

It shouldnt have been possible and the investigation will examine how it occurred.

A second strand of the probe is seeking to identify what, if any, material, the brothers posted.

At the moment, there is nothing to suggest they posted any material, the source said. A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said it could not comment on ongoing investigations.

Access to Open University courses for inmates is considered the jewel in the crown of the Irish Prison Services educational offerings. More than 350,000 funded the attendance of 125 prisoners in 2018 and 2019.
Ross, who serving 10 years for violent offences, could be transferred to Portlaoise because of overcrowding

Regency Hotel getaway drivers Paul Murphy (61) and Jason Bonney (52) are languishing in the same jail isolation unit where their friend Gerry The Monk Hutch spent almost 19 months on remand while facing trial.

It is the 3G wing landing of Wheatfield Prison  the so-called Hutch Wing  a high-security area where they are separated from other inmates because of the perceived threat from the Kinahan cartel to their lives for their involvement in the murder of gangster David Byrne.

The pair will remain there until May 8 when they will be sentenced after being found guilty of the charge of participating in or contributing to the murder of Byrne (33) by providing access to vehicles used in the Regency attack.

The 3G wing was the same landing Jonathan Dowdall once shared with his former friend Hutch before he asked to become a state witness and gave evidence, which was deemed unreliable by the Special Criminal Court.

It is a wing with 18 individual cells, but now with only five prisoners, including The Monks criminal nephew Ross Hutch, who is serving 10 years for violent offences and is said to be in a state of complete panic after his uncle left the prison system.

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch in north Dublin yesterday. Photo: Padraig O'Reilly

Ross doesnt have Gerrys protection in jail any more  there is a rumour that he is going to be transferred to Portlaoise because of the overcrowding issue in the jails now. He could be eaten alive down there by Hutch enemies, a prison source said.

Also said to be extremely nervous after this weeks court judgment that freed Hutch is Dowdall, perhaps the most high-profile criminal informant in the history of the criminal justice system.

He is in Limerick Prison and has been officially granted access to the States Witness Protection Programme. There is an expectation he could be moved out of the country very soon.

He shares a special isolation unit, including individual cells, with his father, Patrick, and a disabled drug dealer. The three cannot mix with other inmates for security reasons.

While all this plays out, new details have emerged about Bonney, whose black BMW X5 SUV was part of a convoy of six cars that parked at St Vincents GAA club grounds in Marino, north Dublin, before the Regency shooting on the afternoon of February 5, 2016.

Bonney, who has been convicted of being a getaway driver in the hotel bloodbath, was telling anyone who would listen to him that Im going to beat that rap in the weeks before he was convicted at the Special Criminal Court, according to sources.

He is a long-term associate of The Monk and owns two houses and four apartments.

He built up a property portfolio worth millions of euro that was always suspected of being linked to his involvement with his north inner city friend and The Monks alleged armed heists.

Bonney is a strange one, for sure. He was going around saying he would be beating the rap, a source said.

Then he would say he was over 80pc sure  that he was happy it was those judges rather than other Special Criminal Court judges sentencing him, and he was always giving out about Jonathan Dowdalls lies and the trouble they had caused Gerard.

Bonney and Paul Murphy were both found guilty of facilitating the Regency Hotel gunmen

Suspected of being involved in some of The Monks biggest heists, Bonney is described as an affable enough type who allegedly hates the drugs business and has links to dissident republicans as well as Provo factions before that.

For many years, he was what criminal sources have described as a man of substance in the Donaghmede and Coolock areas which were his bases.

Jason Bonney was no ordinary fool, he had money and plenty of it at a time when many people didnt even have a bean in those patches, a source said.

There was always a whiff of dodginess about him, even though he seemed on the outside to be a very successful builder. A kind of a Del Boy mostly, but not a Del Boy you would row with without serious consequence.

Bonney was involved in Corinthians gym with The Monk when it opened in 1998 and later ran a club in Swords.

By the time former accomplished boxer Bonney got involved in the murder of Byrne for the Hutch gang, he was living in an upmarket property in Portmarnock, and thought his days of involvement in organised crime were behind him.

Instead, he was quickly targeted by the Kinahan cartel, who identified his role in the feud murder, leading to threats and armed garda protection around his upmarket property.

This man has not had one good nights sleep since the Regency Hotel attack, a pal said.

Maybe he will finally get a good kip in jail, but who knows?

He seemed calm enough when he was found guilty on Monday.

He has literally been looking over his shoulder for almost seven years, and this a lad that claimed he did a jail stretch in the UK but no one knows any details about that.

When contacted for comment, the Irish Prison Service said it does not comment on individual prisoners.

On Monday at the Special Criminal Court while delivering the judgment in relation to Bonney, Judge Tara Burns said the court had been lied to in the most malevolent manner when Bonneys since deceased father William Bonney was implicated in the Regency attack.

It was asserted in evidence that William Bonney had been using the BMW on the day of the shooting. Judge Burns said the court was satisfied William Bonney was at home that afternoon and had not .

She also said the court was satisfied that William Bonney did not leave his house until after the Regency events had happened.

The judge said she was satisfied that Jason Bonney was the only person driving his BMW throughout that day and that he was the driver when one of the gunmen, Kevin Flat Cap Murray, got into the car at St Vincents GAA car park following the shooting.

In relation to Murphy, she said the Avensis seen on CCTV footage before and after the shooting belonged to him, that he remained driving it for the afternoon and that it was also used by one of the gunmen at St Vincents car park.
The Mullingar native hosted a secret fan event at Fuel Studios on Dublins Camden Street on Sunday ahead of the release of his upcoming album, The Show, which hits shelves in June.

Niall Horan with Meltdown staff at his secret fan event in Dublin over the weekend

Niall Horan called on the help of his favourite toastie shop to help launch his latest single over the weekend.

The Mullingar native hosted a secret fan event at Fuel Studios on Dublins Camden Street on Sunday ahead of the release of his upcoming album, The Show, which hits shelves in June.

A handful of dedicated supporters were invited down to listen to Niall belt out some tunes at the intimate gig, including some of the unreleased tracks from his third record.

One of the songs on the setlist was the former One Direction stars newest single Meltdown, which is about feeling anxious and being in that kind of freaking out moment but knowing deep down that everything will be alright.

To celebrate Meltdowns release at the end of the month, Niall and his team enlisted in the help of a local business of the same name.

Meltdown, which is located on Montague Street just off Harcourt Street near St Stephens Green, was asked to cater the event and brought along heaps of delicious toasties for fans to enjoy while they waited for Niall.

Guests even got to take home a jar of the sandwich joints signature hot sauce, which was included in their goodie bags alongside a t-shirt and signed poster.

Taking to Instagram after the event, Meltdowns owner Maeve said she was delighted that Nialls new tune shares a name with her business.

She also revealed that she didnt know who she was working for and got quite the shock when it turned out to be the musician.

When I got asked to cater for a secret fan event, I never thought it was going to be the one and only @niallhoran, Maeve wrote.

He was as sound as expected and I can't believe his next single is called Meltdown, she said, before thanking Universal Music Ireland and Fuel HQ for getting her involved.

It comes after Niall lifted the lid on his relationship with girlfriend Amelia Woolley as he revealed how the designer shoe buyers love for true crime documentaries inspired one of the tracks on The Show.

Speaking to NME, he told of how his belle was his muse for the folk-influenced tune, You Could Start A Cult.

I watch a lot of true crime with my girlfriend, Niall explained.

It's a lot of that kind of thing, and I just wrote it down one night when we were watching something, because its a big thought.

I thought it was funny initially: you could literally start a cult, and I'd follow you into the fire. It started as a joke and became this really sweet song, it is funny.
A woman who is trapped in her own body after a catastrophic stroke is calling on the Government to introduce new laws to allow people with a serious disability to wipe their student debt.

Asha Prasad, from Waikato, became a quadriplegic in 2006 after suffering a stroke in the days after a massage.

The entire purpose of a student loan is to help through university, to access work, to progress through the entire industry, and to pay back to the public purse, she said.

"That opportunity was taken away from me, no matter how high my aspirations were, and its impossible to pay it back. Whether its now or in the future, my circumstances will remain.

Prasad was given just 12 months to live after her stroke at the age of 26.

She was working at a small advertising agency in Sydney, having graduated from Auckland University of Technology only six months earlier, when she had the stroke.

She has been trapped in her body since.

You cant eat, talk or move  except your eyes can blink. You are fully aware of whats going on in your surroundings, you understand and can read and everything, but you are essentially trapped in your own body, she said.

She has since regained some movement in her right hand, which allows her to type into a computer, and has also regained some ability to speak.

Since my injury, and besides the physical disabilities, I also have fatigue issues, anxiety, outbursts of depression and a speech impairment.

Before her stroke, Prasad studied for a diploma in tourism then a bachelor of business with a double major in advertising and international business. She was the first in her family to obtain a tertiary degree.

Asha Prasad has made gains despite her prognosis. Photo: Supplied/Stuff.

Her student loan now sits at $60,000, having grown from $40,000. It continues to accrue interest while she is in Sydney.

Prasad moved home after her accident but moved back to Sydney in 2017. She couldnt get as much support in New Zealand because the accident didnt happen here, she said.

However, she plans to return home again this year and faces the prospect of having her student loan hover over her meagre income.

I have not worked since my stroke and I survive on an allowance from my insurance provider, which is very low.

Student loan repayments are triggered when a persons annual income reaches $22,828, with 12% of every dollar earned going towards the loan. For a person earning $600 per week, the repayment would be $19.32.

There is no way for someone to apply to have their student loan debt erased in full unless they die or are declared bankrupt.

Even if Prasad does not hit the threshold to start repaying her loan, she has no incentive to try and increase her income or quality of life.

I would love to see a law for student loans being erased fully and granted based on the grounds of special circumstances, she said.

Prasads disability advocate, Michael Magro at Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, is supporting her call for reform.

Ashas life has changed significantly since she had a brainstem stroke and although Asha has a warrior spirit, the chances of her ever repaying the debt are nil.

Minister of Revenue David Parker couldnt comment on Prasads case but said any borrower could seek to have their penalty interest waived if they were in hardship. However, Inland Revenue had no way to waive student loan debt.

- Bridie Witton/Stuff.
An illegal operation has been shut down by a joint investigation targeting logistics sector insiders allegedly working with the Killer Beez gang to import drugs into the country.

Seven arrests have been made as warrants were executed across the Auckland region on Tuesday, along with the seizure of a shipment of a quarter of a tonne of drugs before it reached NZ shores.

Under Operation Papyrus, New Zealand Police and New Zealand Customs have been investigating the importation of methamphetamine and cocaine over the past year.

Detective Inspector Tom Gollan, of the National Organised Crime Group, says the most recent shipment was identified and seized in the United States back in February.

Police worked alongside our international partners to stop this shipment, which was later found to contain 265kg of methamphetamine.

The investigation also shed light on the operations alleged methods of importation into the country.

Operation Papyrus found insiders within the transport and logistics industry were allegedly working with members of the Killer Beez gang to facilitate the drug imports.

Our investigation is continuing into this aspect and further arrests and charges cannot be ruled out.

The seven people arrested include members of the Killer Beez gang.

Those who will face court include five men - aged 29, 31, 35, 44, 55  and two women  aged 31 and 32.

All will face a raft of drug importation charges as well as charges of participating in an organised criminal group.

All are expected to have their first appearances at different times in the Auckland District Court this week.

Detective Inspector Gollan says the investigation highlights the value that the ongoing partnerships between New Zealand authorities, overseas law enforcement and industry partners continues to yield.

Insider threats embedded within industries that work across New Zealands borders remain a key concern for authorities.

For that reason, Police and our partners continue to work hard to identify and hold those to account who are enabling criminal groups to carry out their illicit operations.

Customs Manager of Investigations, Cam Moore says: This is a satisfying result where Customs work with Police has stopped some 260 kilograms of methamphetamine entering New Zealand from the United States.

That substantial amount of methamphetamine could be expected to produce around 13 million individual common doses which, if sold on the street, could be worth approximately $91 million.

Were very pleased to have disrupted that level of illegal drug activity and the profits which the criminals involved were hoping to make through the harm they could have caused in communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Customs will continue to support investigations, particularly around trusted insiders in the transport and logistics industries who were willing to risk their privileged employment status to help this organised criminal drug smuggling operation, Cam Moore says.
A forum designed to aid the significant infrastructure deficit the Bay of Plenty is facing is being launched in Tauranga today.

Officially named the Western Bay of Plenty Infrastructure Forum, it brings together stakeholders from across the region, including business leaders, local government, and community representatives, to identify and prioritise infrastructure projects and advocate for investment.

Attending the launch, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says he whole heartedly endorses the formation of the group.

I cant emphasise enough how significant it is you brought this forum together.

[The region] is now clearly at a scale and size now where a plan like this is absolutely essential.

The Finance Minister acknowledges the significant concerns in the local infrastructure sector, and highlights the Governments fast-track consenting process is here to stay post Covid-19.

He also calls the integration of public transport essential to making future roading network plans work.

Theres a lot of land you can develop, but the development now needs to be based around the carbon footprint of those cities. Everything you do has to include that as part of your resilience.

Ministers Jan Tinetti and Angie Warren-Clark also attended the launch. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

Robertson also acknowledges the key role Taurangas port plays in the nations infrastructure and supply chain, and is keen on working in conjunction with the port to build an integrated nationwide supply chain strategy in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Coastal shipping has got to be a bigger part of our resilience strategy.

The forum says they will play a "vital role"in shaping the future of Tauranga and the wider region, and have released a ten-point action plan detailing their infrastructure vision.

It includes a Port of Tauranga berth expansion, four lane roading from Hamilton to Tauranga, an increase in homes in Tauriko and eastern suburbs and a 74 to 94 per cent increase in rail traffic.

The plan also recognises Hewletts Road, Hull Road and Totara Street as places with congestion, access, and road safety issues.

The new forums chair and Chief Executive of Priority One, Nigel Tutt, says the Government needs to look towards investing in critical infrastructure to ensure the region continues to grow and thrive  and support the wider economic needs of New Zealand.

The city has seen a 72 per cent population increase since the turn of the century, yet only the Tauranga Eastern Link has been completed during that time, says Tutt.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Leonard Sampson. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Leonard Sampson echoes this same sentiment.

The port is a vital link for Aotearoas imports and exports, and without development the country is likely to face future growth constraints. The launch of the Forum is a significant step forward to address the infrastructure deficit that Tauranga and the wider region face; we need to act, and we need to act now, says Sampson.

Tranzliquid Logistics Ltd managing director Greg Pert says long-term funding agreements around roading need to be put in place urgently if the freight and logistics industry is to plan effectively and meet future demands.

Were experiencing significant delays in moving freight between Tauranga and the rest of the country due to poor roading infrastructure, says Pert.

The pressures in the future will only get bigger, as the economy and population continue to grow, and demands on the freight network become stronger  urgent action is needed.

Scott Adams, general manager of Carrus Corporation and Chair of the Urban Task Force, says Tauranga is the only city in New Zealand that has not met its housing supply obligations under the national policy statement.

Tauranga has the worst housing and rental affordability of any major city in the country  we need to be investing now and we need the support of central government to create specific infrastructure strategies for our region, says Adams.

Welcoming the forums launch and accepting their concerns, Robertson says the forum is a magnificent place to start addressing core infrastructure issues facing the region.

Robertson says the forum will give the Government "confidence" in future investments in the region. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

[Auckland Transport Alignment Project], ATAP, has played a really significant role in giving the Government confidence that we are investing in something which is genuinely an integrated plan for a city or region.

"It is much easier for us when we're on the other end of that when we're looking at something which is coherent, understood, and dare I say it, even agreed upon across a region."

Western Bay of Plenty Infrastructure Forum's ten-point action plan:
British man held over La Cala death is bailed The 32-year-olds passport has been withdrawn while police investigations continue into how doorman Jose Pisanis died at Olivias

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A judge has granted bail to a British man who was arrested over the death of a doorman at a well-known restuarant in La Cala de Mijas. Jose Rafael Pisani Pardo died after reportedly being struck when he tried to break up a fight at Olivias in Mijas Playa last weekend.

The suspect, a 32-year-old British national, was held on Tuesday and is still under investigation, reportedly for manslaughter. Sources also said the two men knew each other and SUR has learned both worked as personal trainers on the Costa del Sol.

The Fuengirola duty judge has withdraw the mans UK passport and obliged him to sign in at court regulary. Sources added that the person under investigation has a known address in Spain.

Video recordings

Guardia Civil officers who are handling the investigation have the video recordings from security cameras at the restaurant as well as other images captured by eyewitnesses of the origin of the brawl. From these videos and also from the witness statements collected, the investigators have started to reconstruct what happened.

The initial findings indicate that the alleged attack occurred around 12.30am on 16 April during a fight between restaurant customers. Pisani intervened in the dispute to mediate and tried to restrain the suspect, but he wriggled free of him and allegedly punched him on the chin. The doorman fell backwards, knocked out by the blow. Pisani was left unconscious and was rushed in a critical condition to Malagas Regional hospital, where he was admitted straight to the intensive care unit (ICU) with severe head trauma. He went into a coma that same morning and died a few hours later.
ABUJA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian police said on Thursday that a total of 17 suspected gunmen were arrested in recent anti-kidnapping operations in the country's central state of Nasarawa in the past two months.

Ramhan Nansel, a spokesman for the police in Nasarawa, told reporters in the state capital of Lafia, that the arrests were made between Feb. 10 and April 19 -- based on intelligence by the police operatives.

Five of the abducted victims were rescued unhurt during the anti-kidnapping operations by the police, Nansel said.

According to the police officer, some of the suspects confessed to being responsible for the series of kidnappings in the Eggon-Akwanga road in Nasarawa, parts of Lafia and its environs, as well as in the southern part of the central Nigerian state.

The suspects also confessed to being members of a kidnapping syndicate formerly operating in the northeastern part of the country, with a recent relocation to Nasarawa after security operatives had killed some of the syndicate's members, Nansel added.

Armed attacks have been a primary security threat in Nigeria's northern and central regions, leading to deaths and kidnappings in recent months. 
In June 2022, the EU and India relaunched their negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This was the result of the outcome of the EU-Indian Leaders meeting in May 2021, where it was agreed that time was ripe to put new efforts into reaching a deal.

But why do we need an FTA? And why do we need to engage more with each other overall? The answer is simple. The EU India relationship has an enormous untapped potential. There are shared values but also threats and opportunities that should be addressed together. A forthcoming report, commissioned by the confederation, will make the economic case for closer relations

Untapped potential

Given the size of the two economies, it is obvious that we trade less than we could and we invest less than we could. The size of the EU economy is more than four times the size of the Indian economy, with less than a third of the population. The EU is an affluent and sophisticated market, which Indian businesses needs to connect to, to expand their business and learn from a highly competitive environment. On the other hand, growth prospects for India are manyfold higher than the lackluster prospects for the EU, which creates a need for EU firms to connect more to India. In short, the EU and India complement each other.

We can see that the EU is much more dependent on China than India. This is not strange, as the Chinese economy, production capacity and consumption levels are much larger. However, even after having taken this into account, the EU India trade relationship is, on the whole, very limited in relation to EU-China trade.

The EU exports 30 times as many cars to China as it does to India and almost nine times as much electrical machinery, as well as 15 times as much pharmaceuticals and 30 times as many beverages. As for services, we can see that EU firms receive 9 times as much revenue from IPR in China than they do in India and that Chinese tourists generated 7 times more income than Indian tourists for the EU economy.

As for imports the figures are even more pronounced, as China is a major supplier of many goods to the EU in a way India is not. 22 % of imports of goods into the EU originated in China in 2021, whereas imports from India constituted a mere 2 %. Hence China is ten times more important for EU supplies of manufactured goods than India.

Products where India might develop a competitive advantage but where there are now noteworthy gaps in supplies to the EU, compared to China, include toys (77 % from China, 0.6 % from India), furniture (66 % from China, 3 % from India) and clothing (33 % from China, 4 % from India). When it comes to more advanced products, such as electrical machinery, Chinas share of EU imports is 50 times larger than Indias share.

When it comes to imports of services India is doing much better, and in particular ICT-services where Indias share is 3 times larger than the share of China. Here India has clear comparative advantages and exports have grown and are expected to continue to grow. However, in other all other services sectors China exports more to the EU than India does.

As for attracting EU FDI a comparison with Brazil is interesting. In 2020 EU FDI stocks in Brazil were 3 times larger than in India, despite the Indian economy being twice as big as the Brazilian.

Tapping the potential

The reliance on China, both as a source of supplies and a destination for exports, is creating increasing discomfort in Europe where many would rather see a diversification in trade patterns. Such a diversification must include a much closer economic relationship with India.

With a gradually enhanced productive capacity in India, it will be increasingly possible to choose India as a source of supplies and a site of manufacturing for EU firms. And with a rising standard of living and a growing middle class, Indians can be expected to demand more EU products, at the same time as Indian investment in infrastructure, digitization and the green transition opens up opportunities for European businesses.

However, even if current trends point in the direction of increased EU-India trade the trajectory is not sufficient. There is even a real risk that we might go backwards. There are various signs of new protectionism in India that could hamper EU firms, for example the Self-reliant India campaign and aspects of the Make in India scheme. But there is also a wave of new unilateral EU trade instruments that are not traditional protectionism but could make trade more complicated and costly and serve to shut non-EU, including Indian, firms out of the EU market. That includes the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will affect trade in some energy intensive sectors, the International Procurement Instrument (IPI), which can close procurement markets for Indian firms and the due diligence-legislation, which will put new sustainability related compliance costs on Indian firms supplying the EU market. There are also a range of initiatives in Europe on the digital economy, like the Data Act and the AI-Act, which will fill major global regulatory gaps and may greatly affect opportunities for trade in ICT-services. It is a virtual avalanche of new regulation in Brussels that will affect trade opportunities for firms across the globe.

How can we avoid a backlash in EU Indian trade relations and instead move forward and lay the foundation for a stronger relationship? There are two main venues. With the launch of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) a new forum has been created for cooperation in the fields of the green transition, new technologies and resilient supply chains. It can be, if it is used proactively by the partners, a forum for exchange on ongoing regulatory processes in the two jurisdictions which could preempt unnecessary trade barriers. It should not be wasted to political symbolism.

More importantly, the EU and India should aim for an ambitious FTA. Such an agreement should reduce existing trade barriers, and prevent new ones, in mutually beneficial manner. For India, it would mean being granted permanent tariff free access to the EU market, in a way competitors like Vietnam and Bangladesh already have. It could also ensure permanent market access for services exports. Having an FTA with the EU would also send a strong signal to the global business community that India is open for business and a reliable partner. Research has shown that this signal in itself spurs trade and investments.

For the EU, there are vast opportunities to access the Indian market if tariffs are lowered, customs formalities simplified, services restrictions liberalized and FDI protected in a legally binding investment agreement. Also for India, this would be beneficial as the such an ambitious agreement will contribute to an enhanced level of legal and political predictability in the Indian market. Predictability is key to attract FDI, which is a core Indian interest.

To summarise, to fulfil the potential of EU-Indian relations, action is needed. We need a FTA, as a basis for future economic relations, to the benefit of both the EU and India.
JOHANNESBURG, April 20 (Xinhua) -- South Africa would like to increase its cooperation with Namibia in various areas, including the energy sector, to grow the economy of both countries, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday.

Ramaphosa made the remarks during his talks with Namibian President Hage Geingob, who is here on a state visit to South Africa.

"We are committed to deepening our cooperation, particularly in the area of trade and investment. One of the areas to expand cooperation is in energy investment," said Ramaphosa, adding that the two countries are planning massive hydrogen projects.

The private sector and state-owned enterprises from both countries should work together in the energy sector, which will result in the growth of the economies of both countries, Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa also vowed to work together with Namibia in the pursuit of low-carbon, inclusive, and climate-resilient development.

"One of the most pressing issues facing our respective countries and our region is climate change," he said.

Namibia is one of South Africa's top trading partners in the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Community, according to Ramaphosa, who called for efforts to use the geographic proximity and close ties between the two economies for greater mutual benefit. 
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West Seneca, N.Y.  A 14-year-old boy who took his family car without permission died in a fiery crash when the car smashed into a tractor-trailer on the Thruway near Buffalo, according to police.

State police on Thursday released the identity of the boy as Sanaullah Abid, of Erie, Pennsylvania.

The crash happened at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 8 just south of Buffalo in West Seneca, about 90 miles from the boys home.

The boy was driving the familys 2016 Nissan Rouge east on the interstate at a high rate of speed when it crashed into the back of a 2023 FedEx Freightliner tractor-trailer, troopers said. The car then struck a barrier and burst into flames.

Sanaullah was declared dead at the scene by the Erie County Medical Examiner. He was the only person in the car at the time, troopers said.

The driver of the trucks, Daniel Vazquez Jr., 54, of Rochester, was not injured during the crash.

The crash caused hours-long delays on the highway as troopers investigated the crash.
DeWitt, N.Y.  A man who fled a Rome courthouse before he could be taken into custody last week was captured in DeWitt Wednesday, police said.

Police found Kyle A. White, 37, in the Red Roof Inn on North Thompson Road in DeWitt after he hid at other locations in Oneida County, according to a news release Thursday from the Rome Police Department.

White was originally arrested April 11 in the 200 block of Erie Boulevard West in Rome after he and a woman were stopped during a traffic stop, Rome police said. White and Mandi L. Gillett, 34, were riding in a 2007 Dodge Dakota where officers discovered drugs, they said.

In the vehicle, officers found 81 grams of methamphetamine, 47 glassine envelopes of Fentanyl, 2.3 grams of separately packaged Fentanyl, three digital scales, packaging material and $1,057, police said.

Gillet, who was driving the truck, was arrested and charged with second and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. White was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Police said White and Gillet were taken to Oneida County Central Arraignment where they were later released on their own recognizance. The two later appeared in court for arraignment in Rome City Court the next day, they said.

Gillet was taken into custody, but White fled from the courthouse, police said.

The Onondaga County Sheriffs Office, Syracuse police and State police helped find White. He was turned over to Rome police and later arraigned in Rome City Court, police said.

White was taken to the Oneida County Correctional Facility where he remains without bail.

Editors note: Article updated to add name of hotel and the correct location of hotel where man was found. It was not in Syracuse as police originally said. It is in DeWitt.

Staff writer Darian Stevenson covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at dstevenson@syracuse.com
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Police arrested one man but are still searching for a shooter who killed a 39-year-old man on Shonnard Street in Syracuse Sunday night, according to court documents.

Miguel A. Cruz, 35, was charged Wednesday with murder and weapons possession for handing a gun to a person who fired the shots that killed Gregory Graves, of Syracuse, a Syracuse detective wrote in a criminal complaint filed in Syracuse City Court. The shooter was not identified.

Cruz was captured on multiple cameras in Syracuse, according to the complaint. The video footage and other evidence were enough to show Cruzs complicity in this crime, according to the complaint.

Cruz, of Clay, is not accused of firing the gun on the night of the murder in the 400 block of Shonnard Street, according to the complaint. No other arrests have been made in this case as of Thursday morning.

Cruz was arrested Wednesday at the Hampton Inn on Rt. 31 in Clay. He was taken into custody by Syracuse Police SWAT officers and homicide detectives, Syracuse police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Blake said in a news release Thursday.

Cruz, who was arraigned Thursday, is currently being held in the Onondaga County Jail with no bail set, according to Onondaga County incarceration records.

He is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

He is set to appear in court again on April 25.

Related article: Syracuse family loses a second loved one to gun violence: Leave the guns alone

Gregory "Dugga" Graves, 39, of Syracuse, was shot and killed Sunday, April 16, 2023, on Shonnard Street in Syracuse. His family is mourning his death.

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.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the wealthiest billionaire in New York, according to a recent list from Stacker.

Bloombergs net worth is $94.5 billion, according to Stackers list, which is based on data from Forbes. Bloomberg made his money as founder of Bloomberg LP, a financial and business news company.

His net worth ranks him as the seventh-wealthiest person worldwide.

Overall, New York has 113 billionaires, Stacker said.

Most of the people at the top of that list made their money in finance or investing. Other sources include media, apparel, real estate and even candy.

You can find a list of the 20 richest billionaires in New York below and read more on Stackers website. The people on the list are ranked by net worth as of March 24.

#20. David Siegel- Net worth: $6.8 billion (#344 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: Scarsdale- Source of wealth: hedge funds, self made

#19. Philippe Laffont- Net worth: $6.9 billion (#339 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: hedge fund, self made

#18. Ralph Lauren- Net worth: $7.0 billion (#323 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: apparel, self made

#17. Don Vultaggio & family- Net worth: $7.0 billion (#320 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: Port Washington- Source of wealth: beverages, self made

#16. Henry Kravis- Net worth: $7.5 billion (#294 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: private equity, self made

#15. Leonard Stern- Net worth: $7.6 billion (#286 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: real estate

#14. Ramzi Musallam- Net worth: $7.9 billion (#271 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: private equity, self made

#13. David Shaw- Net worth: $7.9 billion (#268 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: hedge funds, self made

#12. Leon Black- Net worth: $8.4 billion (#239 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: private equity, self made

#11. Chase Coleman III- Net worth: $8.5 billion (#229 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: investments, self made

#10. Valerie Mars- Net worth: $9.6 billion (#190 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: candy, pet food

#9. Donald Newhouse- Net worth: $10.8 billion (#161 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: media

#8. Israel Englander- Net worth: $11.3 billion (#156 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: hedge funds, self made

#7. Stephen Ross- Net worth: $11.6 billion (#145 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: real estate, self made

#6. Rupert Murdoch & family- Net worth: $17.1 billion (#95 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: newspapers, TV network

#5. Leonard Lauder- Net worth: $21.4 billion (#76 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: Estee Lauder

#4. Stephen Schwarzman- Net worth: $27.5 billion (#49 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: investments, self made

#3. Jim Simons- Net worth: $28.1 billion (#47 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: East Setauket- Source of wealth: hedge funds, self made

#2. Julia Koch & family- Net worth: $59.0 billion (#19 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: Koch Industries

#1. Michael Bloomberg- Net worth: $94.5 billion (#7 wealthiest in the world)- Residence: New York- Source of wealth: Bloomberg LP, self made

Note: Donald Newhouse is president of Advance Publications, the parent company of Advance Local and Advance Media New York, which publishes Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598
The Broken Lizard comedy troupe, best known for the movies Super Troopers and Beerfest, relentlessly make fun of each other. Its a lifelong friendship that began at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., and continues with their latest film, Quasi.

Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske co-wrote and co-star in the live-action Monty Python-style satire based on Victor Hugos classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The story centers on a hunchback (Lemme as Quasimodo) in Paris who yearns for love and ends up in the middle of a murderous feud between the Pope (Soter) and the King of France (Chandrasekhar).

They all play multiple roles in the film; Heffernan also directs, though he joked he has no control during syracuse.com | The Post-Standards joint interview with all five Broken Lizard members. Lemme said Heffernan was a director in name only, bro, and Soter called it an honorary title.

I herd cats, you know? I wrangle children, Heffernan said. Weve been working together so long, its just a comfortable world that were in and and theres no one stabbing in the back... its just a very comfortable, fun atmosphere.

The five-member group met in 1989 while they were college students at Colgate, located about 40 miles outside of Syracuse. They originally performed under the name Charred Goosebeak, and eventually became Broken Lizard after Heffernan and Chandrasekhar graduated in 90. They performed on stage in elaborate sketch comedy shows before turning to the screen; their first short, The Tinfoil Monkey Agenda, was released in 1994, and their first movie, Puddle Cruiser, was shot on the Colgate campus and released in 1996.

Five years later, they wrote and starred in Super Troopers together, playing hapless Vermont state police troopers who entertain themselves with shenanigans while attempting to serve and protect. It became a huge hit on DVD and led to other projects, including films together like Club Dread, Beerfest, The Slammin Salmon and 2018s Super Troopers 2. (Theyre also working on another sequel: Super Troopers 3: Winter Soldiers.)

Chandrasekhar said the idea for Quasi came around the same time as Super Troopers. Inspired by Monty Python, they often wore wigs and costumes in sketch comedy on stage, but it proved hard to find a studio to fund it  even if it was going to be a silly one where an orthopedically challenged hero falls in love with the queen (Adrianne Palicki of Friday Night Lights fame).

We could never afford the budget to make a movie like that so we started making more realistic movies, Chandrasekhar said.

Two decades later, the idea landed at Searchlight Pictures, a company that supports period pieces along with a broad variety of movies like The Shape of Water, Slumdog Millionaire, Jojo Rabbit and Little Miss Sunshine. Broken Lizard takes many liberties when depicting 15th century Paris, though, including modern jokes about selfies, in-laws, and not believing in labels. They do sporadically use French words, but not for accuracy.

As comedians I think were just always looking for just some funny stupid way to make each other laugh, Soter said. I think we got into the habit of, for emphasis, any word that had a French origin then. You had to say, you know, liaison. So if you ever used a word that was originally French it gave you an opportunity to put a little performance.

And to remind the audience that we were making a movie in France, Chandrasekhar noted.

L to R: Erik Stolhanske, Jay Chandrasekhar, Adrianne Palicki and Paul Soter appear in the new Broken Lizard movie "Quasi," now streaming on Hulu. (Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.  2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.)

The film also includes several running gags, including an obsession with oysters. It culminates with a gross-out scene where Heffernan eats an oyster, spits it out and then hands it to Lemme  who eats it, real ly, to the rest of the gangs amusement.

I had to brace myself for what was coming, Lemme recalled. Knowing that Heffernan is going to chew that thing up in his mouth, put it back in the shell, Im gonna have to suck it... was a little overwhelming.

It also created a problem due to strict Covid protocols on set.

The props guys, they didnt want us to do that, Heffernan said. Theyre like, You cant do that. And Im like, Well, were going to do something were not going to tell you were going to do it. And you know, they were very upset about it because we were violating Covid protocol and I was violating Lemmes Covid protocol, too. But we did it anyway for the good of the joke!

Soter said it was especially funny because they agreed Heffernan is the one they all least wanted to share pre-chewed food with.

Kevins got a like a Guinness Book of World Records wettest mouth in the world, Soter said.

You know the saltine challenge? 6 saltines in a minute no one can do it except for Heffernan, Lemme added. What that means is, scientifically, its the saliva that helps you taste food. If I had to honestly eat a piece of steak that somebody had chewed, he would be my last choice because all the flavor would be sucked out of it.

But Lemme said he also owed him one because he accidentally exposed Heffernan to Covid on the set of their truTV firefighter comedy, Tacoma FD. Lemme was directing an actor to shout in Heffernans face, then the actor tested positive for Covid  and so did Heffernan afterwards.

It feels like the kind of pranks they might have played on each other in college, which inspired some of their jokes. Chandrasekhar, whose credits include The Goldbergs, Dukes of Hazzard, and the Syracuse-shot Plan B, previously revealed that Super Troopers included an inside joke from their experiences in Central New York.

There was a Burger King in Hamilton, N.Y., where Colgate is, that had three sizes, Small, Medium and Liter, he said in a 2014 Reddit AMA. I would go in there and order a large. And theyd say, We dont have large, we have liters. So theyd make us order liters of cola, which I found to be just anti-American.

It inspired a scene in their 2001 film where Farva (Heffernan) tries to order a liter of cola at a fictional fast food restaurant. The clerk is baffled by it, asking a co-worker if they sell leederacola, prompting a hilarious outburst from Farva.

Its hard to imagine anyone but Heffernan playing Farva or Chandrasekhar as Thorny, or any of the other roles theyve played. But when theyre writing the scripts together, the roles are not decided.

We write the script as far along the process as we can so we dont write for one particular character so we keep it very diplomatic, Stolhanske told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. And then towards the very end of the process, then we cast. And to be honest it just sort of organically happens.

One role went to Brian Cox, who plays the narrator in Quasi. Cox co-starred in Super Troopers as Captain OHagan and recently won his first Emmy Award for HBOs Succession.

Hes insufferable now, Heffernan joked. We obviously have a special place in our heart for him and he has the same for us... Good guy to know.

(L-R) Erik Stolhanske, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Jay Chandrasekhar, and Paul Soter attend the Los Angeles premiere of Searchlight Pictures' "QUASI" at The Hollywood Roosevelt on April 19, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

Its clear that the Broken Lizard crew thrives on ribbing each other, both on-screen and off. But when they first met at Colgate, Heffernan genuinely did not like Lemme because Lemme stole his winter coat.

He hated me for it, Lemme said. You know how cold it is up there... you know how quickly the weather can turn. I went to this party at their fraternity house and all of a sudden a blizzard started... I figured, Ill just borrow a coat. And I sifted through the coats, I found this one overcoat, it wrapped around me twice. There was a jumbo Snickers bar in the pocket, so I took it. Whats the big deal?

Anyway, I forgot where I had gotten the coat and I returned to the scene of the crime a couple of weeks later with the coat. Somebody told Kevin, Hey, your coats here. And Kevin looked into the coat and found in the pocket my ID, and he came and found me. I was on the dance floor, you know, cutting a rug with some ladies. Kevin came up to me and he said, Youre the son of a bitch that stole my coat. I said, I did not. Hes like, Oh yeah? Well, I found your ID in my pocket. And I went, Oh my God, the same guy that stole my ID is the same guy that stole your coat.

They all laughed. Heffernan didnt buy Lemmes story, but thinks Heffernan respected his ability to come up with a quick story.

Soter, whose blasphemous pope is the most Monty Python-iest of all the characters in Quasi, wondered how the situation couldve ended differently.

So lets say youve stolen the coat and then the next day you read in the paper that a Colgate student had died of exposure, walking back up the hill without a coat. Would you be like, Eh, sucks to be that guy? Soter asked Lemme.

Chandrasekhar then chimed in, saying Broken Lizard couldve been very different if he couldnt talk Heffernan into letting Lemme join the group afterwards.

Hes so lucky that I exist... When I was like, What about Steve Lemme? Hes funny, he goes F--- that thief, Chandrasekhar recalled. Im like, Come on, hes funny, come on. And he goes, OK fine, he can play the scumbag role.

Scumbag? Maybe thats why Lemme also plays the Jester in Quasi.

Quasi is now streaming on Hulu.
MOGADISHU, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Recurring clashes between security forces and clan leaders in Las Anod in northern Somalia have resulted in the killing of 80 people and displacement of 30,000 more, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.

The WHO said in its latest update that between 154,000 and 203,000 people are estimated to have been displaced since December 2022 in the ongoing fighting.

"The situation has escalated at a time when people in the Sool region are experiencing unprecedented water shortages due to the severe drought and facing an elevated risk of disease outbreaks," the UN health agency warned.

According to the UN, since clashes erupted in the city of Las Anod in northern Somalia on Feb. 6, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced within Somalia, and an estimated 100,000 have crossed the border into Ethiopia to escape violence.

The WHO, which has ramped up medical response in the area, said it has donated biomedical equipment to establish a triage corner in Kalabeydh and trained health staff on triage management. It also said 24 community-based surveillance teams were deployed to carry out case detection, testing, case management, and referral of severe cases to the health facilities in the Hudun and Buhoodle districts.

Las Anod is in the Sool and Sanaag regions, which are claimed by both Somaliland and Puntland States. The current fighting broke out after local clan elders issued a declaration stating that they are no longer part of Somaliland and that the Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions are now governed by the government of Somalia.

Both sides are reportedly using heavy artillery and machine guns, causing serious damage, including to health facilities in the area. 
A 23-year-old climber from Connecticut fell 40 feet on Sunday afternoon in the Spiders Web climbing area in the town of Keene. Six New York State Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers reached the fallen climber, who had significant injuries, and determined a hoist rescue was the best option. A NYS police helicopter lowered a litter to the ground while rangers secured the climber and hoisted the litter back into the chopper. The patient was flown to Marcy field and transferred to a LifeNet helicopter for transport to the hospital.

Rangers last week fought 26 wildfires in 16 counties that burned nearly 1,000 acres of land, including this 300 acre fire in the town of Deerpark in Orange County.

The following reports are excerpted from DEC

Two hikers from Clifton Park got lost in Daniels State Forest on Sunday afternoon. They reported that they were hot, tired, and had blistered feet. Furthermore, they admitted being unfamiliar with the terrain and not being prepared with a map. Rangers pinpointed their location on the main trail by using cell phone data and directed the hikers to walk toward the trail head. After a ranger met the pair on the trail and guided them out, their trackers indicated that theyd walked 15 miles instead of their planned five mile hike.

From April 11 to 17, rangers fought 26 wildfires in 16 counties that burned nearly 1,000 acres of land. The largest fires were in the town of Deerpark in Orange County at 300 acres, and in the town of Richmondville where the fire totaled 241 acres spanning Otsego and Schoharie counties. In both fires, rangers worked with New York State Police (NYSP) Aviation to perform dozens of bucket drops. Rangers also coordinated firefighting efforts with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, New York State Parks, Department of Transportation, Office of Emergency Management, dozens of local responders, volunteer firefighters, and other DEC staff trained in wildland fire suppression.



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Rangers find body of missing Upstate NY man, squelch brush fires - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers assist rescue efforts in two Upstate NY drownings, nab sap stealers - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers recover two bodies in separate incidents; rescue injured hikers - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers catch cattail thieves, search for evidence in ADK murder investigation - newyorkupstate.com

Rangers recover body of hiker who fell off 50-foot cliff - newyorkupstate.com

Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.comand NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.
A bipartisan state commission Thursday approved a redistricting plan for the New York Assembly that keeps intact the existing five legislative districts in the Syracuse area.

The New York Independent Redistricting Commission voted to approve final district maps that appear identical to the existing district boundaries in Central New York.
By Joseph Wilkinson | New York Daily News

The period for Facebook users to submit their claims to a $725 million settlement over the Cambridge Analytica scandal began on Wednesday.

Anyone who had a Facebook account at any point between May 24, 2007 and Dec. 22, 2022 can apply for a share of the massive settlement. The claim form will be available online through Aug. 25, 2023. Users are also allowed to mail a physical letter to claim their share.

Facebook gave Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting company, data on 87 million users back in 2015. Various Republican campaigns, including Donald Trumps campaign for president, then hired the company and used the data to target voters.

However, Facebook kept that information hidden for years. The company didnt reveal the data-sharing snafu until March 2018, as multiple news outlets were on the verge of uncovering the story.

We have a basic responsibility to protect peoples data, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the time. And if we cant do that, then we dont deserve to have the opportunity to serve people.

Zuckerberg was also hauled in front of Congress to testify about the scandal. While there, he admitted that his own data was obtained by Cambridge Analytica. Zuckerberg also apologized at the hearing, but when asked about changing the companys business model, he responded, Im not sure what that means.

The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion over the scandal. Meanwhile, a group of users sued the company in federal court in Northern California.

After years of legal wrangling, Zuckerberg and former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg were staring down hours-long depositions in the summer of 2022. Instead, Facebook agreed to settle the lawsuit. It took four months to hammer out the details before the parties agreed on the $725 million payout.

When the scandal broke in 2018, it led to calls for people to delete their accounts. Anyone who did delete their account remains eligible for the settlement money. Facebook still has an estimated 250 million users in the U.S. and 2 billion users worldwide.

2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com.
Advanced Polymer Coatings creates new MarineLINE global customer care role

The new position is being created in response to the companys continuing growth and the need to offer an even wider breadth of support for its customers.

AVON, OHIO headquartered manufacturer Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) is appointing Stephen Jarvie to the new role of Global Customer Care Manager, MarineLINE. Stephen will lead on APCs work to deliver more support to customers of the industry leading MarineLINE cargo tank coating system for chemical and product tankers, including the further development of a 24-hour global service to respond to their requests for time-sensitive information. Captain Onur Yildirim, APC Global Marine Manager, says the new position is being created in response to the companys continuing growth and the need to offer an even wider breadth of support for its customers. That includes the timely delivery of the technical information and advice that enables their vessels to stay in operation longer and maximise the return on investment of their MarineLine coating system. He said: Many queries are cargo carriage requests. Often, the customer will contact us with only 10-12 hours notice before needing to know if they can carry the next cargo. Time is money, and a huge advantage of the MarineLINE coating is the extensive catalogue of cargoes that can be carried, coupled with the availability to switch grades more frequently. Giving operators answers quickly and efficiently enables them to maximise vessel time and revenue. He added: Operators are very busy managing multiple demands. We want to take the pressure off them with fast reliable coating information which is what Stephen will do. Our customers are at the heart of what we do and this new role is focused on constantly improving their experience. UK based Stephen, aged 53, is being promoted from his previous position as APCs European Sales Manager. With almost 20 years of experience in sales, customer service, and technical roles, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the position. Before joining APC, he worked for PPG and AkzoNobel and has been in his European sales role since 2019. Stephen said: Im delighted to be moving into this new support role and Im looking forward to further strengthening relationships with MarineLINE customers as we continue to develop and grow our customer care service. As part of the that work, Stephen and APC will develop its team of strategically placed personnel across different time zones to ensure that vessel operators can always connect with someone who can help and inform them. The business is also exploring the future development of an online portal, a place where customers can access all their vessel information and project and technical reports. Stephen said: Taking a really proactive approach means working even more closely with ship operators to deliver high performance. We also want to ensure all their servicing needs are met. It is about nurturing relationships that are built on trust. We have always been driven by our customers needs and delivering excellence for them remains our number one priority. We want to continue to be their first choice when selecting cargo tank coatings. APC is also best placed to manage recoating as MarineLINE is the original coating and the most durable and cost efficient on the market. Matt Sokol, APC Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said: Were thrilled to move Stephen into this new role and are confident that his experience and vision for APC Customer Care will take our business to the next level. APC now has more than 12 per cent of the global chemical tanker coating market with 700 ships coated worldwide with MarineLINE. Exports underpin APCs growth with key markets, including China, the Gulf, Croatia, and Turkey.




The Coast Guard medevaced a motor vessel captain 218 miles offshore Alabama

NEW ORLEANS  The Coast Guard medevaced a 69-year-old motor vessel captain 218 miles offshore Alabama, Wednesday.

Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received a call at 12:17 p.m. via VHF-FM channel 16 from the crew aboard the motor vessel Overseas Anacortes stating their captain was experiencing heart attack-like symptoms.

Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon who recommended the captain receive higher-level medical care within 8 to 10 hours. A Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew was launched to assist.

The helicopter crew arrived on scene, hoisted the captain, and transferred him to University Medical Center New Orleans.

The captain was last reported to be in stable condition.
Svanehj acquires US-based LNG specialist

With its third company acquisition in just over two years, marine pump specialist Svanehj continues to expand its service solution business. This time by taking over California-based Complete Cryogenic Services, a specialist in service and overhaul of submerged pumps on LNG tankers.

The number of LNG tankers globally has grown by around 40% in the last five years, and 2022 was a record year with more than 200 new contracts signed. With this, an attractive service and aftersales market emerges, in which Svanehj is determined to gain market share. Therefore, the Danish marine pump and gas tank equipment specialist has acquired Complete Cryogenic Services (CCS) in Tustin, California, with more than 30 years of experience in the service and overhaul of submerged cargo, spray, and high-pressure pumps for cargo containment systems on LNG tankers. 'CCS is a well-known and recognized company that will strengthen our efforts to become the leading service provider of inspections, service, and calibration of cargo equipment in the LNG segment. At the same time, the acquisition is an investment in knowledge and know-how that will help us develop new products and services for the energy transition of shipping', says Sren Kringelholt Nielsen, CEO of Svanehj. Local service engineers worldwide In recent years, Svanehj has invested significantly in its service solution business through acquisitions of FORCE Technology Marine Equipment Service (2020) and Wartsila Tank Control Systems (2022), as well as the establishment of a 1,600 sqm service and repair shop in Singapore (2021). With the acquisition of CCS, Svanehj Service Solutions is now located on three continents with just under 100 employees, almost a tenfold increase in four years. 'We have invested significantly in our service business to be close to customers with local service engineers worldwide. Today, Svanehj can offer integrated solutions with service on safety valves, gauging and instrumentation systems, and submersible cargo, spray, and high-pressure pumps  all carried out by one service provider to make the entire service scope easier and more financially viable', says director of service and aftersales at Svanehj, Morten Christian Larsen. With the acquisition of CCS, Svanehj will also be able to re-engineer critical spare parts for all pump types. Morten Christian Larsen points out that it is essential to Svanehj's strategy of supplying high-quality spare parts for other brands' equipment. Ensuring a future succession CCS becomes an independent part of Svanehj Service Solutions and will be named "Svanehj CCS - Complete Cryogenic Services". The company's nine employees will continue to work in their current roles with Henry Smith IV as director. He sees obvious synergies in bringing decades of experience with submerged LNG pumps into Svanehj's growing service business. 'For us, the change of ownership is an opportunity to ensure a future succession and scale our business globally. We have come to know Svanehj as a company with solid values and a clear vision to help overcome the barriers in the energy transition of shipping. We are very much looking forward to being a part of that,' says Henry Smith IV. Following the acquisition of CCS, Svanehj employs 320 people and has activities in Denmark, the UK, France, Singapore, China, Japan, and the USA.




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TOKYO, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union, a non-partisan organization in Japan, has decided to appoint Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as its chairman.

In a speech delivered at the general meeting of the organization on Wednesday, Nikai called for extending the Japan-China relationship into the future.

Nikai told the press after the meeting that it is necessary to build a good relationship between young generation of the two countries to further promote the development of Japan-China relations, adding that the two sides will deepen exchanges in culture and sports, among other fields.

Nikai, 84, was secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2016 to 2021. Nikai, who has led delegations to visit China multiple times, has long been committed to friendly exchanges and cooperation between Japan and China.

Katsuya Okada, secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party, assumed the post of the union's deputy secretary-general.

"The Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union has welcomed the strongest chairman," he said. 
SUVA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Medical professionals from the Pacific region are attending a three-day conference focused on building child health capacity in the region.

The conference for the Pacific Pediatric Association is being held in Nadi, Fiji's third largest city on the western side of the main island Viti Levu.

James Fong, Fiji's Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, told attendees on Thursday the importance of chalking out solutions that will assist in healthcare for children in the region.

He said although child mortality rates have decreased steadily, the region has failed to meet international development targets on the mortality of newborns and children under five years of age.

Fong also stated that it was encouraging to see the breadth of local and regional research, and he hopes to see more local and regional leadership in the future.

Some key barriers and bottlenecks identified in the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Pacific Island Situational Report will also be deliberated by doctors attending the conference. 
In brief: Companies tempted to do business with sanctioned Huawei might want to look at Seagate and think twice. The storage giant has been hit with a $300 million fine by the United States Department of Commerce for selling $1.1 billion worth of disk drives to the Chinese firm.

It was during 2019 when the Trump administration placed Huawei on the Entity List, a trade blacklist that prevented the sale of US goods to the company over national security concerns.

But last October, Huawei notified investors that the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) had sent it a letter alleging violations of the US Export Administration Regulations. Seagate said that it did not engage in the prohibited conduct alleged in the letter, claiming that, among other things, its HDDs were not covered by the export bans.

But Seagate's confidence appears to have been misplaced. The company posted a filing confirming that between August 2020 and September 2021, it sold approximately 7.4 million HDDs, valued at roughly $1.1 billion, to Huawei and its entities. Seagate became Huawei's sole supplier of hard drives despite the other two primary suppliers  Western Digital and Toshiba  ceasing shipments after the sanction rules took effect.

Seagate has now agreed to pay $300 million to the US Department of Commerce in quarterly installments of $15 million over the course of five years beginning October 31. It has also agreed to three audits to ensure it complies with export control laws and is subject to a five-year suspended order denying its export privileges.

Even after "its competitors had stopped selling to them [...] Seagate continued sending hard disk drives to Huawei," Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, said in a statement. "Today's action is the consequence." He added that the penalty was the largest imposed by the agency not tied to a criminal case.

Seagate had claimed that its drives were not subject to export controls as they were foreign-made and not directly produced by US equipment, but their manufacturing process used third-party products that require licenses to make China-bound tech.

"While we believed we complied with all relevant export control laws at the time we made the hard disk drive sales at issue, we determined that [...] settling this matter was the best course of action," Seagate CEO Dave Mosley said in a statement.

As a result of the fine, Seagate has brought its third quarter results announcement forward by five days and will report them before the market opens. Investors have been warned that the $300 million fine will have an impact on its results. The Reg notes that the fallout will likely see several senior Seagate executives leaving the company, and it will almost certainly go after its outside counsel.
TechSpot is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust

What just happened? GlobalFoundries acquired IBM's chip manufacturing business in 2014, and the two companies worked together for a while. Now, the multinational corporation says Big Blue is playing dirty with intellectual properties it has no rights to give anyone. The New York company has filed suit.

GlobalFoundries recently filed a lawsuit against IBM, saying the company illegally shared trade secrets and confidential intellectual property with Rapidus. Big Blue is working with the Japanese consortium to develop cutting-edge microchip technology on a two-nanometer manufacturing process. GlobalFoundries says IBM is infringing its IP.

GlobalFoundries stated that IBM is "unjustly receiving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing income and other benefits." Initially, IBM collaborated with Intel on a new-generation chip technology in 2021, which according to GlobalFoundries, is yet another infringement of its IP rights.

In a written statement sent to Reuters, IBM denied its former partner's allegations stating that GlobalFoundries filed a "meritless lawsuit" after a court previously rejected the company's attempt to "dismiss IBM's legitimate fraud and breach of contract claims." Intel and Rapidus, the two other companies involved in the GlobalFoundries lawsuit, have provided no comment.

GlobalFoundries and IBM worked together on the chip technology for decades, and the former had exclusive licensing rights on the IP since 2015. The company seeks monetary compensation, punitive damages, and an injunction against IBM. Furthermore, besides spilling its trade secrets to competitors, IBM is seemingly trying to recruit GlobalFoundries engineers at an accelerated pace after partnering with Rapidus in December 2022.

Rapidus is a joint initiative by Sony, NEC, and other major technology companies backed by Japanese state authorities. It is a national strategic effort for Tokyo to regain prominence in the chip manufacturing business through cooperation with US players in the industry. Japan aims to ensure that its car makers and IT companies have enough components in the supply chain to avoid new chip shortages in the future.

GlobalFoundries already tried to sue IBM in 2021, when Big Blue claimed the chip foundry owed $2.5 billion in damages. GlobalFoundries asked a judge to dismiss the contract breach accusation. That lawsuit is still ongoing.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a new COVID-19 vaccine booster recommended for its inoculation among older adults, aged 65 years and older. This new shot features a new formulation of the mRNA-based vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, updating their original vaccine formula to bring better immunity for all.

Initially, this shot was already made available to the younger age group, those 18 and above and kids 13 and above, to get the latest layer of protection against the notorious virus.

FDA Approves New COVID Booster Formulation for Older Adults

(Photo : Alessio Coser/Getty Images)

In a move aimed at further protecting the public from COVID-19, the FDA has recently authorized the use of new booster vaccines for individuals aged 65 years and older. This decision comes as part of ongoing efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure that those who are at higher risk of severe illness or complications from COVID-19 remain protected.

Boosters are intended to reinforce the body's immune response to the virus and provide an additional layer of protection, years after the original shots were made.

The new formula is a bivalent booster, which means it contains two different components that target different variants of the virus. This is a departure from the monovalent original shots, which targeted specific variants of the virus.

The bivalent booster is designed to provide broader protection against multiple variants of the virus, including those that may have emerged since the original vaccines were developed.

Read Also: COVID-19 Psychosis: Should You Be Worried? Here's How It Starts

It is Not Yet Available for Distribution-Why?

It is important to note that while the FDA has authorized the use of booster vaccines for individuals aged 65 years and older, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is yet to provide official recommendations on the matter.

That being said, it is still not available for distribution to those interested in taking the latest booster for older adults, despite already being approved for the younger age group.

Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as Moderna have already introduced this new bivalent formulation to their mRNA-based shots, also recommended by the FDA.

COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 is not yet over, and despite the public already developing immunity to it, people may still face the threats of enhanced strains that may start yet again another epidemic. Still, the US and other countries are looking into new vaccine strategies that would encourage more to be inoculated in the long run.

The mRNA vaccines are highly effective in preventing COVID-19, and the updated booster doses are expected to further enhance the body's immune response to the virus. This development underscores the dynamic nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing efforts to adapt vaccines to address emerging variants of the virus.

The authorization of booster vaccines for individuals aged 65 years and older marks an important step in the fight against COVID-19. It is a proactive measure to protect vulnerable people who may be at increased risk of severe illness or complications from the virus.

As the pandemic continues to evolve, vaccination remains a key tool in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting ourselves and our communities from the virus.

Related Article: New COVID-19 Arcturus Variant Raises Concerns; Strain Has Very Unusual Symptom

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NEW DELHI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 80 people, mostly children, were taken ill after eating food during a fair in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, Officials said Thursday.

"Last night dozens of people from Karmatand area complained of stomach pain and vomiting. We were told they had gone to Bhokta fair, where they had reportedly eaten chaat masala (snack spice)," an official said. "Primarily it seems the food might have been adulterated."

According to U. K. Ojha, head of the department of medicine at Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital, 80 people, mostly children, were admitted to the institute with the condition of one child was critical.

The local administration has rushed additional doctors and nurses to the local health facility to cater to the need of people in the village. 
Due to Twitter's lack of relevance for its audience, Sweden's public radio, Sveriges Radio, has declared its decision to depart the social networking site, according to a report by AP.



This comes amid new labels on public broadcasters as "government-funded," which led to the exit of other media companies as well. However, Sveriges did not say that this was the reason for its departure.



The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Public Radio (NPR) have, however, cited Twitter's new policy for their exits, arguing that it undermines their credibility as news providers.

Twitter Deprioritized

Christian Gillinger, who is in charge of Sveriges Radio's social media efforts, revealed in a blog post that the broadcaster had deprioritized its Twitter activity for a while before deciding to fully stop using it and closing down multiple accounts.



Only 7% of Swedes use Twitter every day, according to Gillinger, who also remarked that Twitter had lost some of its significance over time. The news service of the broadcaster, SR Ekot, will still be accessible on Twitter but will now be flagged as inactive.

Since joining Twitter in 2009, Sveriges Radio has highlighted the recent "turbulence" involving the service's operations. Gillinger voiced concern that over time, Twitter's ability to deal with bogus accounts, bots, disinformation, hate messages, and threats may be harmed by its workforce reduction.

Read Also: Will Elon Musk's Ask-Me-Anything for Twitter Blue Subscribers Encourage More to Subscribe?

Conflict Over Labels

Reporters and Chief Twit Elon Musk are currently engaged in a new conflict over the classification of public broadcasters as government-funded organizations.



According to the CBC, the designation "government-funded" detracts from the objectivity and professionalism of its journalists' reporting and misrepresents the organization's independence.

As a result, it has chosen to halt its Twitter activity. A similar move was also made earlier this month by Public Broadcasting Service and NPR.

CBC has written to Twitter asking the company to reevaluate the classification. Musk tweeted about the issue and altered the title to read "69% Government-funded media."



However, CBC spokesperson Leon Mar claims that the CBC does not fit the criteria for the "government-funded media" classification on Twitter.

According to Mar, CBC is financed through a parliamentary allocation that is voted on by all members of Parliament, and its autonomy is safeguarded by the Broadcasting Act.

CBC's board of directors determines its funding. For the 2021-22 fiscal year, the government provided CBC with over $1.2 billion Canadian.

In April, Twitter removed The New York Times' verification check mark from its main Twitter account. The reason behind the removal is believed to be the newspaper's refusal to pay for verifying its institutional accounts.



Twitter's blue check marks were initially used to verify high-profile accounts like those of journalists, but anyone can get them by subscribing to Twitter's premium service.

This has become a cause of concern for news outlets since the check marks are indicative of the reliability of the source from which the information is shared.

Related Article: Twitter Subscriptions to Maximize Creator Monetization, Elon Musk Claims It Won't Charge For Now

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The dead NASA satellite, RHESSI (Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager), is expected to crash back into Earth!

This advanced satellite served NASA well before it retired in 2018. The NASA RHESSI satellite operated in 2002 and was decommissioned by the international space union in 2018.

It has drifted in space for more than 20 years now. But, NASA confirmed that this dead satellite would make a re-entry today, Apr. 19.

NASA said they are coordinating with the U.S. Department of Defense to learn more about RHESSI's Earth re-entry.

[UPDATE] Dead NASA Satellite to Crash Into Earth!

According to USA Today's latest report, the decommissioned NASA RHESSI satellite was first expected to make its Earth re-entry on Apr. 9 at 9:30 p.m. ET (plus or minus 16 hours).

Also Read: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Sees a Brilliant Smash-up of 2 Spiral Galaxies

However, NASA updated this estimation window, saying the satellite's re-entry could happen at around 9:40 p.m. ET (plus or minus 10 hours) on the same day.

Since the dead satellite weighs around 300 kilograms (660 pounds), it would put anyone's life at risk if it ever crashed down on people.

But, NASA clarified that the chances of its debris hitting an individual on Earth is relatively low; only 1 in 2,467.

NASA stated that once RHESSI re-enters its Earth, the atmosphere will burn it up, disintegrating many parts. However, some of its debris will still crash into the planet.

As of press time, NASA and the Defense Department are still monitoring the dead satellite.

Remembering RHESSI

Before decommissioning, NASA used the RHESSI satellite to observe solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun.

CGTN reported that this NASA satellite captured images in gamma rays and high-energy X-rays, recording over 100,000 solar events.

"RHESSI covered more than a complete 11-year solar cycle, recording over 100,000 X-ray events, 42 with gamma-ray emission above 300 keV, and 27 with gamma-ray line emission," said NASA.

The space union added that during RHESSI's active period, it was the only satellite that provided imaging spectroscopy of energetic electrons.

If you want to learn more about this dead satellite, you can click this link.

In other stories, the ESA JUICE mission will soon find life on the moons of Jupiter. We also reported about the new moon water-powered spacecraft, which is being developed by SpaceX veterans.

For more news updates about decommissioned satellites and other space technologies, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: NASA Rhessi, 660-lb. Satellite is Re-Entering the Planet with 'Low' Chances of Harming People

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A new Chinese supersonic spy drone appeared on leaked documents allegedly from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Based on these leaked files, the new high-speed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) will soon be deployed by the Chinese government.

Reuters reported that the leaked U.S. document included satellite imagery (dating back to August 9, 2022) of the WZ-8 rocket-propelled reconnaissance drone.

Two drone units were seen at an air base around 350 miles from Shanghai.

As of writing, the Chinese government hasn't confirmed when will these drones become operational or if they are really planning on launching them.

New Chinese Supersonic Spy Drone Allegedly Being Developed

According to Business Insider's latest report, supersonic spy drones can reach high speeds (three times faster than the speed of sound).

Also Read: 70 Chinese Warplanes Launch Simulated Attacks on Taiwan, Escalating Tensions in the Region

Although this is an impressive capability, the WZ-8 drones are still slightly slower than the Lockheed Martin SR-72 Blackbird of the United States.

Aside from having high-speed capability, Chinese supersonic drones can be launched from bomber airplanes.

Experts said that these advanced UAVs can assist China when it comes to real-time mapping; allowing the government to gather the information that they can use in their geographical strategies.

WZ-8 Drones' Other Details

China introduced its advanced supersonic spy drones back in 2019.

These UAVs were unveiled at the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Speculations claimed that these drones were already functioning during that period.

Now, the leaked U.S. documents revealed that China already has flight paths for these supersonic UAVs.

If these drones are really launched in the near future, it would drastically improve the defenses or war activities of China.

As of writing, the Department of Defense and China's Ministry of National Defense haven't shared any statement regarding the supersonic drones.

You can click this link to learn more about these advanced WZ-8 rocket-powered drones.

Recently, Japan's announced its new bomb shelter bill, which will further enhance its defenses.

We also reported about the advanced F-16 drones; these can act as robotic wingmen for the U.S.-owned F-15 fighter jets.

For more news updates about drones and other defense innovations, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Chinese Spy Balloon Collected Information on US Military Sites and Sent Data to Beijing

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
According to the UN's World Population Dashboard, India is now the world's most populous country as of mid-2023. With over 1.4286 billion people, the country's population is slightly larger than China's.

India also has one of the world's youngest populations, with more than half of its population under 30 and more than two-thirds of its working-age population aged 15 to 64.

Bloomberg tells us in a report that this youth advantage could be critical in unlocking economic growth by producing and consuming more goods and services, driving innovation, and keeping up with constant technological changes.

Challenges to India's Growing Market Power

Despite India's growing market power and geopolitical significance, the country ranked last out of 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index 2022, also with one-third of the country's youth unemployed, undereducated, or unemployed.

Data also tells us that only 5% of the Indian workforce is formally skilled, and the country's schools and universities have poor infrastructure and a shortage of qualified teachers.

As India transitions to an industrialized economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing to increase manufacturing's share of the economy from 14% to 25%.

Pushing to Increase Manufacturing

Apple

Foxconn, an Apple supplier, is reportedly planning to invest $700 million in a new plant in India to increase local production.

The iPhone component manufacturing facility would be built on a 300-acre site adjacent to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The new manufacturing plant in India is expected to create over 100,000 new jobs.

Earlier this year, the Indian Trade Minister announced that Apple intends to manufacture more of its products in India, with the goal of producing around 25% of all its products in the country.

EVs

While international car brands such as Tesla, Volvo, and Rivian are entering EV markets in various countries, India has a policy that prohibits EV makers from entering the market.

Tata Motors is currently India's only EV manufacturer, and even Tesla is having difficulty entering the Indian market due to the protectionist law.

The government's high import tariffs force international automakers to relocate to other regions, leaving India with no choice but to promote its domestic brands.

Read Also: Tata Motors Unveils a New Cheaper All-Electric Car Which Starts at Just $10,000

As the global electric vehicle (EV) market expands and approaches its peak, India's economy stands to benefit from the entry of new players.

The electric vehicle industry is expected to generate $457.60 billion in revenue by 2023, with a 17.02% annual growth rate. This expansion will likely result in a market volume of $858.00 billion by 2027, with unit sales reaching 16.21 million vehicles in the same year.

Chips

Earlier this year, the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) announced plans for joint quantum computing and defense efforts.

The agreement reached by Washington and New Delhi does not specifically mention China. Nonetheless, it is widely assumed to be part of a broader US strategy to reduce China's influence in global supply chains.

The partnership has sparked debate in Beijing, where officials have expressed growing concern about the United States' attempt to economically and technologically isolate itself from China.

Growing Market Power

Bloomberg tells us that India's new status as the world's most populous country may strengthen its bid for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat.

India is already using its growing market power to position itself as a significant geopolitical player, maintaining close ties with the United States, Japan, and Australia.

India has also resisted joining global sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, instead buying cheap Russian crude.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Apple India Production to Increase to 25%: Less Reliance on China?

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not mince his words on television following his statement about the leftist programmers who are training artificial intelligence to lie.

With ChatGPT's insurmountable popularity, several companies want to invest resources on creating their own AI tool. However, it appears that some platforms tend to create biases and lies through their software.

Elon Musk Says AI Chatbots are Made to Lie

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Elon Musk said that some platforms are "training the AI to lie." He added that the left-wing experts are the ones behind this AI software.

For the past 50 years, the historical events in America were stained with both truth and lies. A lot of biases have been brought up to ChatGPT which is the newest generative AI platform on the planet, Fox News Digital says.

"Artificial Intelligence will simply reflect and magnify the mindset and ideology of its creators - and impress those values upon the rest of us," Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution said.

If an artificial intelligence can easily alter the information written in history and politics, the modern generation tends to suffer via misinformation.

For many generations, the alternative versions of the legacies have made its way to the American students. At present, they have been invading AI platforms.

ChatGPT might give you some answers straight from a textbook, but that doesn't mean that all of them are correct. The AI chatbot tends to err sometimes, resulting in more biases and inaccuracies in facts.

Per Carlson, the AI can be programmed to lie to the humans to create political ripple. A year or two years from now, AI will continue to change until it's too late that we realize that it's lying to us.

Elon Musk Accused Larry Page of Aspiring to be 'Digital God'

Before, Musk and Larry Page, the Google co-founder used to be close friends. However, the Tesla boss said that the latter was not seriously taking AI safety with the launch of ChatGPT.

As The New York Post reports, Musk claims Page "wanted a sort of digital super-intelligence" to transform into a"digital god" soon.

During the time when Musk and Page's friendship became sour, Google reportedly acquired AI-focused firm DeepMind.

Musk acknowledged Google's penchant for improving the approach to AI, yet he also said that there's also a potential for it to be bad.

Related Article: TruthGPT vs. CHATGPT: How Is Elon Musk's AI Different From OpenAI's Chatbot?

Government Needs to Close Service Centers Operating AI Programs

In another story by Business Insider, Musk said that the government should have a contingency plan to shut down the AI if it gets out of hand.

The tech billionaire said that the authorities should "cut the power" so there's no need to blow up the service centers.

Read Also: Japanese Bank Daiwa Starts Using AI-Powered Chatbots, Citing 'Limitless Potential'

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The new iPhone 14 hardware defects cause the iOS device to automatically reboot or crash.

If this is true, then Apple could be forced to conduct a recall to fix the hardware issues.

The latest iPhone 14 issues were spotted on the Black Cat Complaint platform; a website for customer complaints.

Many iPhone 14 users already shared their negative experiences via the official Black Cat Complaint WeChat account.

Here's what affected iPhone 14 consumers shared.

iPhone 14 Hardware Defects Force Device to Reboot, Crash

According to GizmoChina's latest report, the affected iPhone 14 buyers are located in China.

They said that they purchased their defective iOS smartphones from an Apple-authorized dealer.

After buying the iPhone 14 units, they experienced numerous reboots and crashes each day; averaging around one to two reboots/crashes.

Affected Chinese users speculated that the unwanted crashes and reboots are caused by hardware defects.

They tried to conduct a remote diagnosis and analysis report via the customer service hotline.

However, in their first attempt, customer representatives said that there were no hardware problems at all.

In their second call, customer service changed its statement; saying that it was a software upgrade issue.

Will This Lead to iPhone 14 Recall?

As of press time, Apple hasn't responded to the complaints made by its Chinese consumers.

But, if the issues are really caused by hardware defects, then there's a chance that a recall from the tech giant manufacturer will happen.

This is not the first time that iPhone 14 users experienced issues that were allegedly caused by hardware defects.

MacRumors recently reported that many iPhone 14 Pro users were affected by the horizontal lines display issue.

Luckily, Apple was able to acknowledge the problem immediately. You can click this link to learn more about the previous iPhone 14 Pro horizontal line problem.

Here are other stories we recently wrote about smartphones:

A study claimed that the value of the Samsung Galaxy S23 series depreciates faster than iPhone 14.

Previously, Apple explained why iPhone batteries become less efficient as iOS handsets age.

For more news updates about iPhone 14 and other popular smartphones, always keep your tabs open here TechTimes.

Related Article: iPhone 14 Crash Detection: Apple Urges Users to NOT Cancel Unintended Emergency Call

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NASA has made a giant step toward its upcoming Moon missions by converting its 6.2 million-gallon Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) into a lunar surface replica, Futurism tells us in a report.

This facility will allow astronauts to train for future Moon missions by simulating one-sixth of Earth's gravity, just as it would be on the Moon.

NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

NASA explains that the facility is critical in preparing astronauts for spacewalks. Neutral buoyancy is an object's equal tendency to sink or float, and when achieved in the NBL, it allows astronauts to "hover" underwater, simulating the weightlessness experienced in space.

The NBL employs a combination of weights and flotation devices to achieve neutral buoyancy. This allows astronauts to practice tasks like repairing and maintaining equipment, testing hardware compatibility, and performing spacewalk procedures during flight, all of which are required for mission success.

While the sensation of weightlessness is not entirely replicated in the NBL, suited astronauts still feel weight due to the additional weight of their suits. Furthermore, water drag can make some tasks in the NBL more difficult than zero gravity, so trainers must be aware of and compensate for these differences.

Read Also: [UPDATE] Dead NASA Satellite to Crash Into Earth! Should You Be Worried? Here are RHESSI's Re-Entry Details

The NBL, located in Houston, Texas, was previously used to train astronauts for extended stays on the International Space Station and Orion spacecraft recoveries. The transformation of the NBL will allow NASA's Artemis 3 mission to train its astronauts for their historic Moon landing later this decade.

Training Astronauts for Future Moon Missions

Clay Tomlinson, program manager at V2X, the company contracted to build the lunar replica, tells Gizmodo that sand that mimics lunar regolith will be installed to allow astronauts to traverse the environment and experience what it's like on the Moon.

Furthermore, the NBL will provide a simulated environment with boulders, sand, and the movement of the Sun to simulate the real thing. Astronauts will use weights and flotation devices to dive to a depth of 40 feet to experience a one-sixth gravity simulation.

Futurism tells us in the same report that future training at the facility will also include the Lunar Gateway, a space station that will serve as a stepping stone for astronauts on their way to the Moon's surface.

V2X expects to supply underwater simulations to an increasing number of private companies as more commercial space partners become involved.

According to Tomlinson, the current atmosphere at the NBL is exciting, with the entire center anticipating the exploration and new challenges ahead.

The development of the lunar replica will be a significant step forward in NASA's journey to the Moon, laying the groundwork for what could be one of the most historic missions in space history.

With the facility, the first astronauts to walk on the Moon in more than 50 years will know better what to expect when they finally set foot on the lunar surface.

Related Article: NASA Rhessi, 660-lb. Satellite, is Re-Entering the Planet with 'Low' Chances of Harming People

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Mairead McGuinness, the European Union's (EU) financial services chief, has urged the rest of the world to follow the EU's new comprehensive set of rules for crypto assets, Reuters reports.

The EU's Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA) is set to be the world's first set of rules for the previously unregulated cryptocurrency sector once approved on Thursday, April 20.

EU member states and the European Parliament have already approved the regulation.

Preventing Another FTX-Like Crypto Scandal

The crypto industry has been rocked by the failure of crypto exchange FTX and other failures, which have caused benchmark bitcoin prices to plummet.

The EU's MiCA regulation requires crypto firms to be authorized by the EU to serve customers in the bloc and to adhere to anti-money laundering and terrorism financing safeguards.

Reuters tells us that MiCA will be phased in at the beginning of July 2024 to allow the sector time to adapt. Crypto firms licensed in one EU member state could offer their services in all 27 countries.

Read Also: OpenAI's ChatGPT Can Decode Federal Reserve Statements, Predict Stock Market Trends: Study

Additionally, the regulation identifies and covers three types of crypto assets: asset-referenced tokens (ART), electronic money tokens (EMT), and other crypto assets not protected by existing EU law.

European lawmakers are heralding the new regulations as the end of the "Wild West era" of crypto assets - an apt metaphor for the state of crypto asset security in the last few years.

Cities throughout the EU, including Paris, are already courting firms in the sector. However, McGuinness emphasizes that other countries must follow suit by enacting strong and robust crypto regulations, as global convergence is critical.

More Countries Heeding the Call

No equivalent laws exist in the United Kingdom, though UK lawmakers recently published draft regulations for crypto assets.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) currently monitors crypto asset firms to ensure that they have adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing procedures in place, but crypto assets themselves are not regulated.

More About MiCA

McGuinness stated that the commission would investigate whether additional rules for decentralized finance, as well as lending and borrowing in crypto assets, are required.

The EU's MiCA regulation is intended to improve consumer and investor protection while encouraging innovation and crypto asset use.

The regulation identifies and regulates the issuance and trading of crypto assets and the management of the underlying assets, where applicable, by providing legal certainty for crypto assets not covered by existing EU legislation, with additional regulatory rules aimed at significant ART and EMT.

McGuinness believes that if FTX had been brought under the jurisdiction of the EU, many of its practices would have been prohibited under MiCA.

More News on Crypto

In the most recent development of the FTX bankruptcy case, the renowned cryptocurrency company has regained $7.3 billion in lost funds, signaling a new beginning.

The company's lawyer also asserted that the company's stakeholders are discussing whether to relaunch the company and will confirm this decision by the end of the next quarter.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Cryptocurrency Payments Now Available to Select Merchants in Georgia, Including Wendy's

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The world is going digital and it will center on devices to bring users access or credentials with Purdue University focusing on the Apple Wallet app to house its student IDs for their access and entry to the campus. The West Lafayette-based school will no longer make physical plastic ID cards for its students as it would be available on their smartphones exclusively.

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet add another university to use its service that features colleges and universities to use the app for identity verification purposes.

Purdue University Goes Digital with Apple Wallet and Google Wallet Student IDs

(Photo : Purdue University)

Purdue University is now transitioning to a Mobile ID setup where users will only need to swipe their smartphones to gain access to the campus and verify their identification. Instead of the traditional ID cards that can be worn with a lanyard or kept in one's wallet, they will head to digital platforms including the Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.

Student IDs have helped verify a person's affiliation with their schools, being their main identification on campus, also a required piece of plastic for borrowing books in one's library, finance, and more.

Instead of swiping one's ID, users may only bring their iPhones, Android phones, and Apple Watches to present their identification, now centering on a digital approach.

The university is applying this for everyone at the school including its faculty and staff.

Read Also: Apple Wallet Now Supports Digital Driver's License-In Arizona! More States Will Soon Follow

No More Physical Plastic ID Cards with Apple Wallet's Blackboard Integration

Apple Wallet is one of the most iconic companies which allowed physical ID cards to appear in its app, with student IDs being an iconic adoption through its partnership with Blackboard back in 2018. Contactless student IDs were a thing five years ago but were not exactly a big deal until the pandemic came.

IDs, Hotel Room Keys, Car Keys, and more via Apple Wallet

One of the most important lessons that the COVID pandemic taught the world is that it can transition into digital experiences and features for all needs, centering on different transactions, as well as identification. Apple Wallet is one of the most active in adding different features for users, first centering on partnering with universities that have approval from its states.

These were not the only cards or verification items available for integrating into one's Apple Wallet, as different vaccination providers, including the state, allow vaccination cards to also appear on the app.

Apple also collaborated with Hyatt to issue hotel key cards to guests and visitors via the Wallet app, initially starting with six hotels accepting smartphones to tap and unlock the rooms.

The digital world is expanding to more opportunities and uses for their devices, one that would contain all the necessary details from a user right on the smartphone, even a driver's license for some states. Purdue University is adapting to the digital world and is now refraining from the use of physical plastic ID cards, now heading over to the Apple Wallet and Google Wallet for campus access.

Related Article: Apple Bring Fresh Updates For iOS 16 Wallet App -New Keys, Apple Pay Later, and More

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After dropping Twitter from one of its advertising platforms, Chief Tweet Elon Musk threatens Microsoft in a lawsuit for training illegally using Twitter data. By April 25, Microsoft advertising clients will not be able to access and engage on their Twitter accounts through Smart Campaigns.

(Photo : CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Twitter CEO Elon Musk speaks at the "Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships," marketing conference in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 18, 2023.

Dropping Twitter

Microsoft Corp. announced that the company's social media planning and scheduling tools for advertisers will no longer support Twitter starting April 25. According to Bloomberg's report, this comes after Twitter started charging for access to its programming interface.

Smart Campaigns ad platform aims to help advertisers manage social media ad campaigns on service. Aside from Twitter, the supports Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. But as Microsoft announced dropping Twitter, users of the product will not be able to create tweets, engage, and use communicate through the platform.

While the company did not disclose its main reason for winding down the support, Twitter is reportedly planning to charge companies from $42,000 to as much as $210,000 per month for access to the company's API. This will allow third-party applications to interface with the platform.

TechCrunch reported that this moment comes at the wrong timing for Twitter and Musk, who has been actively working to earn advertisers' trust after losing more than half of the platform's top 1,000 advertising when he took over the company in October.

Filing a Lawsuit Against Microsoft

Chief Tweet Elon Musk threatened Microsoft with filing a lawsuit and accused the company of illegally using Twitter's data to train its artificial intelligence model. By dropping Twitter, it will not allow ad buyers to manage all of their social media accounts in one place. As per PCMag, no evidence was yet provided by Musk to prove the illegal training.

Also Read: Twitter Subscriptions to Maximize Creator Monetization, Elon Musk Claims It Won't Charge For Now

CNBC reported that Musk has always been tweeting about planning to sue. However, no lawsuit appears to have been filed by the CEO. This threat marks that data ownership is rapidly becoming a battleground in the generative AI rush.

Not only Twitter, but a lot of companies are working to develop AI models similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. One of Microsoft's efforts is investing $10 billion in OpenAI last year in an unusual deal, developing its own model and selling access to the ChatGPT maker.

Musk also has been of a "beef" with Microsoft ever since he left the company a few years ago. Before this partnership, Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left the board in 2018. Since then, he periodically criticized the company for allegedly spouting misinformation, propaganda, and promoting political correctness.

In response to this, he is planning to develop its own rival, countering OpenAI and Microsoft with his own AI chatbot program called TruthGPT.

Related Article: Elon Musk Twitter: CEO Claims US Government Had 'Full Access' to the Public's DMs

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PHNOM PENH, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian fresh longans have become popular among Chinese consumers after the kingdom launched its first direct shipment of the fruit to China in October last year, a senior official said on Thursday.

Im Rachna, undersecretary of state and spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the kingdom had exported more than 6,000 tons of fresh longans to China during the period of October 2022 to March 2023.

She added some 3,400 tons of fresh longans were shipped to China during the January-March period this year.

"Our fresh longans have gained popularity and support among Chinese people, as the fruit has not only been sold in various markets, but also put up for sale on e-commerce platforms," she told Xinhua. "We hope our fresh longan export to China will continue to grow."

Rachna said Cambodian fresh longans for export to China are of high quality and have properly complied with China's sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.

Longan is Cambodia's third fresh fruit having officially gained direct access to the Chinese market after banana and mango.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said China is a huge market for Cambodian agricultural products.

"We're pleased to provide high-quality products such as milled rice, fresh fruits, and other agricultural items to China," he told Xinhua. "We hope more Cambodian agricultural products such as durian will be able to export to the Chinese market in the near future."

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia has more than 18,000 hectares of longan trees, producing more than 131,000 tons of fresh longan annually. 
Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel responded to the pressure of TikTok's massive growth and the debate regarding a full ban in the United States. As per the CEO, this would be beneficial in the short run but also acknowledged its longer-term implications.

(Photo : Charley Gallay/Getty Images Snap, Inc.)

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 19: (L-R) Kara Swisher and Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc. speaks onstage during the Snap Partner Summit 2023 at Barker Hangar on April 19, 2023 in Santa Monica, California.

Supporting TikTok Ban

During an interview with journalist Kara Swisher at the tech and social platform's Snap Partner Summit 2023, Snap Inc. Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel was asked if he thinks there should be a TikTok ban. As per The Hollywood Reporter, his response was he would love that, but only in a short term.

While he would love to see the platform to be blocked by the authorities as it would be beneficial to everyone, he is also concerned about the longer-term implications of singling out one technology company. He believes that when people come across new technology, the first thing they do is break it.

Spiegel stated that it is important for everyone to know the full story and really develop a regulatory framework before dealing with national security concerns, especially when it comes to technology. "I think based on the information that is publicly available, there are legitimate national security concerns far above my pay grade and security clearance," he added.

Also Read: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Throws Sick Shade at Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse

TechCrunch reported that Snapchat Spotlight, Snap's TikTok rival, has already gained 350 million monthly users. Despite having many users, it still falls behind TikTok's 1 billion monthly users in 2021 and YouTube Shorts' 1.5 billion logged-in monthly viewers.

In order to keep up with its competitors, Snap revealed during the Partner Summit that the company will continue to invest heavily in AI and AI experiences to have an edge in the market and differentiate from other platforms.

TikTok Ban

Compared to other platforms facing security reasons, TikTok is in a different position as it is owned by a Chinese company named ByteDance. Although the company always clarifies that they are not linked to China, it has proven problematic for the company's reputation among government officials in the United States, as per previous reports.

There has not been evidence that TikTok has handed over American user data to the government of China. While this has been still in process in the US, local governments have already taken several steps to ban the app. Only last week, Montana's complete TikTok Ban Bill received its final approval with 54-43 votes in favor of the measure.

It extends beyond the implemented restrictions across several states that prohibit the use of the platform on government-owned devices. This bill must be signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Gianfrote, which will not become effective until January 2024 if passed into law.

In response to this, TikTok released a statement on April 14 and stated, "The bill's champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices," as it would be decided by the courts, not the people.

Related Article: Snapchat CEO Admits Users are Flocking its TikTok-Like Feature More Than Stories

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A new rebrand is taking place this year for Google Fi, and this service is now called "Google Fi Wireless" which highlights the latest features and capabilities of the company's cellular network. The company also updated the logo of its Google Fi Wireless service, with the company now centering on "family-centered" plans for the service.

With the launch of this new and improved family version of Google Fi Wireless comes a seven-day free trial for all, centering on the data connections via the eSIM.

(Photo : Google)

Google Fi Wireless: New Rebrand for the Cellular Network

Google announced the new and improved version of its cellular network, not seeing a new brand for its distribution, the Google Fi Wireless. The company is now marketing this for families who want to have an interconnected experience even outside the home, centering on new family-friendly pricing which is now its focus.

The internet company is also allowing smartwatch interconnectivity without additional costs, a new family-centric app to use for connecting with loved ones, and a free trial to experience what it offers.

Google Fi Wireless' Simply Unlimited plan is available for $80 monthly for two to four lines in a single plan, featuring unlimited data, calls, and texts to different networks, as well as 5 GB hotspot tethering for the US, Canada, and Mexico regions.

Read Also: How to Get Free YouTube Premium? Google Fi Makes This Possible; Eligible Users and Other Details

Free Trials via eSIM-Is the Google Fi Wireless Worth it?

Apart from the new offer, the company is also leveraging a "risk-free" trial for the SIM plan, but it centers on eSIMs that would allow users to access its Simply Unlimited plan for seven days. Users need to enter their card details when starting, but would not charge users after the seventh day of using it, which they could easily cancel via the app.

Google Fi and What it Offers the Public

Google Fi is one of the services offered by the Big Tech company from Mountain View which centers on cellular network connections for internet access on the smartphone. The company has since expanded its services for all, also adopting the famed 5G connections first available in the US, and it was also made available to other countries.

The company has done several changes to Google Fi in the past, with its ever-updating prices to higher data caps, it provided the public with different experiences and inclusions on their plan. The latest price reduction put the price of this SIM-only plan at $20 monthly, allowing personal hotspots to share with other users as well.

Its latest rebrand aims to revamp the Google Fi service into a plan which is more accessible for families that could experience interconnection via the network. Google Fi Wireless is giving the public more to experience in this outing, with its massive reliance on T-Mobile's network as well, now available for users to try for free.

Related Article: Google Fi Drops US Cellular in Favor of T-Mobile - But Subscribers Can Still Access It

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In the move towards electric mobility, Jaguar Land Rover has been slow in its adoption of the clean energy power found in the industry, but the company is now looking to bring EVs, with the Range Rover brand. This new development will center on a midsized SUV coming in less than two years, announcing its plans to transition to clean energy.

Alongside this Range Rover EV is the company's focus on developing electric cars on their brands, as well as self-driving technology with a whopping $18.7 billion budget for its development.

(Photo : Jaguar Land Rover )

Range Rover is Going Electric, 2025 to Bring a Midsized SUV EV

2025 will see a new era for Range Rover, as its first electric vehicle outing will arrive with a midsized SUV featuring clean energy, the company announced today.

"Today I am proud to announce we are accelerating our electrification path, making one of our UK plants and our next-generation medium-size luxury SUV architecture fully electric. This investment enables us to deliver to our modern luxury electric future, developing new skills, and reaffirming our commitment to be carbon net zero by 2039," says Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell.

The luxury brand claimed that it has started its "Reimagine" campaign for the brand two years ago, centering on modern luxury options available in the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. JLR will start developing the Range Rover EV by later this year.

Apart from the midsized SUV Range Rover EV coming in 2025, the company is also set to bring a Jaguar GT four-door modern luxury sedan to bring 700 miles of range.

Read Also: Jaguar Land Rover Cuts UK Production Until March 2023 Due to Semiconductor Shortages

Jaguar Land Rover is Allocating $18.7B for EV Development

The Verge also noted that JLR is looking to further developments of its EV project, and the company is putting as much as $18.7 billion to create electric cars in the future, as well as its autonomous driving tech.

Jaguar Land Rover's Switch to Electric

The world is already looking at extensive models and cars available in the electric vehicle market, as more manufacturers are transitioning to clean energy developments. However, there is one iconic company that went against the current that brought electric to the shores, and this is Jaguar Land Rover, who is only making a change now.

The company previously announced that it will bring autonomous driving cars to the United Kingdom by 2020, and this was the technology JLR has focused on in the past.

It was not until 2022 that the company announced its plans to convert its Halewood Plant in England to support its transition to clean energy, as other companies did earlier.

Jaguar Land Rover has held out for its love of internal combustion engines for a long time, being a renowned name in the industry for their performance and capabilities. However, times are changing and the world asks for a more sustainable drive, one that can only be achieved with EVs, and the company is pitting its Range Rover for this change.

Related Article: Jaguar Land Rover Announces Global Hiring Campaign Amidst Tech Industry Layoffs

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NASA has partnered with Collins Aerospace, ILC Dover, and Oceaneering to develop a new and improved spacesuit for spacewalking.

The new spacesuit, also known as an astronaut's personal spaceship, will enable NASA's astronauts to easily conduct critical spacewalks in low Earth orbit.

New Spacesuit with Advanced Tech

The newly developed spacesuit is intended to accommodate astronauts of various sizes and offer greater mobility compared to the current design.

Furthermore, it incorporates advanced technology that is both more efficient and long-lasting and necessitates less maintenance than the existing model.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has praised the partnership with Collins Aerospace, stating that it represents the future of space exploration and the strength of American innovation.

For over 40 years, NASA astronauts have been using the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit design that debuted during the Space Shuttle Program in the 1980s.

Despite exceeding its intended design lifespan, the EMU spacesuit alone is not sufficient for NASA to accomplish its exploration objectives, and hence there is a need for more advanced spacewalking capabilities.

A new spacesuit will enable NASA to tackle the EMU's obsolescence issues and leverage modern technologies like enhanced mobility and advanced life support systems.

The new spacesuit features advanced life support components, including a liquid cooling and ventilation garment for regulating body temperature during spacewalks.

It accommodates a wide range of sizes and offers a high-mobility upper torso, with adjustable features to minimize maintenance procedures and astronaut training hours.

Read Also: Asteroid Didymos' Spinning Activity Confuses NASA; New Study Shows Rock Completes Rotations in Just 2 Hours!

xEVAS Contract

Under the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract, Collins Aerospace has been chosen to compete for task orders to support NASA's spacewalking requirements until 2034.

Additionally, Axiom Space has been selected by NASA to develop new spacesuits for the Artemis III mission, marking the first time humans will land on the Moon in over 50 years. The two vendors will also contend for future task orders related to spacewalking and moonwalking services.

NASA's partnership with industry is aimed at building a robust commercial space industry where the agency is one of many customers. The new spacesuit brings NASA a step closer to replacing its current spacesuit design, which has been in use for decades during space shuttle and space station missions.

The advanced suit will enable continued maintenance and operations of the International Space Station by NASA and its international partners.

Through such operations, the agency aims to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic missions, paving the way for a long-term presence at future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and on the Moon.

The Artemis missions, which aim to establish a long-term presence on the Moon for science and exploration, will also benefit from this new spacesuit technology.

Related Article: NASA Hubble Discovers Saturn's Ring System Heats Planet's Atmosphere-A Never-Before-Seen Phenomenon!

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(Photo : Hair Transplantation.com) (Photo : Hair Transplantation.com)

Turkey is fast becoming a hub for affordable and high-quality medical care. With the recent acquisition of Hairtransplantation.com the IdealofMeD group is adding some tech to this exciting market.

IdealofMeD is one of the global leaders in hair transplants and health tourism in Turkey, and its latest acquisition is in line with the company's tech-inspired business approach in a sector where records are being broken at an unprecedented rate. The goal of Hairtransplantation.com, according to Cem Arel, one of the company's founders, is to develop into a global brand that offers hair transplants similar to hotels.com or turkishairlines.com

Tech and AI is fast becoming integrated to the medical industry

With the ever-ongoing rise of e-commerce and online booking platforms, patients are increasingly turning to digital channels to book their medical procedures. Turkey has come a long way from being just a cheap hair transplant destination. By acquiring Hairtransplantation.com, IdealofMeD is positioning itself as a major player in the online hair transplant market. "The acquisition of Hairtransplantation.com is a strategic move for IdealofMeD," said Jorn Elferink, co-founder of the IdealofMeD Group. "We see tremendous potential in the online hair transplant market, and we believe that Hairtransplantation.com has the potential to become a global brand. Not just for bookings, but also as an information- and discussion platform." The acquisition of Hairtransplantation.com, which is valued at 5 million USD, demonstrates the level of investment in technology in the health industry as well as the strength of the medical businesses in Turkey.

Apps are being developed to improve the hair transplant experience (and more)

Besides premium domain names, by investing in and building digital platforms such as an hairtransplantation app for aftercare, along with Ai, companies like IdealofMeD are better able to meet the needs of patients who are looking for convenient and affordable medical care. As the health tourism industry continues to grow, we can expect to see more companies following in IdealofMeD's footsteps and investing in technology to improve the patient experience.

We can only imagine how this will change the industry (and how fast) especially if you look at how banking, communication and travel have changed when apps first were introduced.

Turkey had over 1 million medical tourists in 2022

Turkey is quickly developing as the world's hub for hair transplants, and the country's health tourism sector is booming more than ever, despite the COVID-19 pandemic briefly slowing it down and long-ongoing economic unstability. According to recent reports, the Turkish Ministry of Health estimates that over one million health tourists received a hair transplant in Turkey in 2022. Approximately half of the $4 billion income generated by the health tourism industry was obtained from hair transplants.

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A new protein can defeat the deadly flesh-eating bacteria, as claimed by a recent study conducted by the Australian National University.

Involved scientists said that the new NLPR3, which is found in the immune system, can be triggered to prevent the bacteria called Clostridium perfringens.

If this is true, the bacteria can be prevented from causing the deadly flesh-eating disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that one in every five flesh-eating disease patients dies yearly.

If the new study's claim is valid, then using the NLPR3 protein would greatly help the world.

New Protein Can Defeat Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Dr. Anukriti Mathur from the ANU JSCMR said that the flesh-eating bacteria produce two toxins that act differently.

Also Read: Researchers Discover Gut Microbe That Worsens Obesity, Hints Microbiome-Based Treatments

"The first toxin punches holes into the cell surface, while the other enters the cell and damages the cell's internal structures," said Dr. Mathur via Interesting Engineering.

In their new study, Dr. Mathur and his team claimed that the new NLRP3 protein could detect these toxins, similar to how home security works.

Co-author Callum Kay of ANU JCSMR also compared the new immune system to a fire detector. Kay said that when NLRP3 detects these toxins, it will conduct countermeasures to prevent them.

Triggering the New NLRP3 Protein

There's one issue with this new protein. Callum explained that the NLRP3 protein could be overactive.

This causes it to have disproportionate responses, which can harm the body instead. When this happens, the human body's safety mechanism will fail. But, thanks to their efforts, ANU discovered that drugs could be used to dampen the overactive response of NLRP3.

Their new study was published in the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) journal on Apr. 20.

If you want to learn more about their findings, you can click this link.

Here are other health stories we recently wrote:

A previous study claimed that hearing aids could help decrease the risks of dementia. We also reported on the concerns raised by nicotine-free vapes after experts discovered they are still addictive.

For more news updates about new proteins and other health topics, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: New Gene Discovery May Lead to Reversible, Non-hormonal Male Contraceptive

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A new WhatsApp scam is fooling many Singaporean users.

This new malicious campaign was confirmed by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE). As people spend more time online, scammers and other cybercriminals are improving their methods in order to victimize users.

Now, CASE said that WhatsApp scammers discovered a new way to fool users. The agency said that they are using fake shopping surveys.

Aside from this, CASE also confirmed that the new scam campaign impersonates their officers.

New WhatsApp Shopping Survey Scam

According to The Strait Times' latest report, CASE Executive Director Lee Siow Hwee's team has already received three reports about the new WhatsApp scam.

Also Read: WhatsApp Expands Video Calling Support for Up to 8 Users in Windows: What Else Is New?

The agency said victims are invited to participate in a fake shopping survey, which scammers claimed is used to improve the shopping experiences of consumers.

The fake shopping surveys require victims to answer questions related to their profile and shopping preferences.

WhatsApp scammers behind the campaign promise that participants will receive $13 once they complete the surveys.

Since the new WhatsApp shopping survey scam is quite serious, CASE provided the things that users can do to avoid becoming victims.

What WhatsApp Users Can Do

Lee said that CASE doesn't conduct surveys via text messages. She added that they only ask residents to complete their surveys in person.

Aside from this, the CASE executive director also clarified that their interviewers are required to produce a letter of authorization.

If you have been receiving WhatsApp messages asking you to complete a shopping survey, the best thing you can do is contact CASE via their official number; 9795-8397.

You can also search for the scam via the Scam Alert SG website. Once you visit this web page, you can read other people's complaints and the things you can do if you are ever scammed.

The WhatsApp shopping survey scam is just among the new malicious campaigns appearing.

Recently, the LockBit Gang reportedly targeted Mac devices using new ransomware.

We also reported about a Bitcoin bandit who stole over 50,000 BTCs.

For more news updates about scams and other security threats, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: This WhatsApp Security Update Will Protect You From Hackers, but You Need Your Old iPhone

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Some users tend to disregard the iPhone Face ID feature.

They either prefer using their passcodes or find using the Face ID quite awkward in public. However, security researchers said that Apple consumers should always use the Face ID.

Apple is conducting efforts to further enhance its iPhone security features.

Recently, the gadget maker launched the latest iOS 16.4.1, which includes new security features for major vulnerabilities.

However, cybersecurity researchers warned that attackers are currently focusing on basic iPhone attacks.

Using iPhone Face ID in Public is a MUST

According to Forbes' latest report, many iPhone thieves were spotted shoulder-surfing their victims.

Also Read: iPhone App 'Glucomate' Enables Glucose Monitoring Trend Analyzation: Here's What You Need to Know

This means that they are watching iPhone users type their passcodes while in public.

Numerous reports warned that after knowing the passcodes, these iPhone thieves would quickly snatch their victims' iOS devices.

Since they already have the needed passcodes, they can access stolen iPhones with ease.

Passcodes can allow these criminals to easily reset Apple ID passwords, erase the entire device, and turn off the Find My app, which will prevent the victim from tracking their stolen devices.

As of writing, Apple is still working on additional security features that can protect users from emerging threats.

"We work tirelessly every day to protect our users' accounts and data and are always investigating additional protections against emerging threats like this one," said the iPhone maker.

How to Set Up Face ID

The official Apple Support website provides the needed steps that new iPhone owners can follow to set up their Face ID features.

First, you need to visit your iPhone's Setttings. After that, look for the "Face ID and Passcode" option and click it. Then, choose the "Set Up Face ID" button to finish the process.

You can even set an alternate appearance so that your Face ID will work even when you are using glasses.

To do this, go to Settings and click the "Face ID and Passcode" option. After that, choose "Set Up an Alternate Appearance." From there, just follow the instructions provided.

To learn more details about the iPhone Face ID, you can click this link.

In other news, rumors claimed that next-gen standard iPhone models could soon have 120Hz ProMotion displays.

We also reported about the iPhone 15 Pro Max periscope camera lenses, which could be supplied by Largan.

For more news updates about iPhones and other Apple devices, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Beware iPhone Users: QuaDream Hackers Using Calendar Invites to Spread Spyware

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Swiss firm Proton has announced its new product that competes with existing password managers.

The launch of Proton Pass prompts the use of end-to-end encryption so users can always secure their confidential information kept in storage, including their passwords, email, and bank account details.

Proton Launches Proton Pass

After seeing success with the launch of ProtonMail, the company's service focused on encrypted email, Proto has recently unveiled its password manager dubbed Proton Pass.

According to Engadget, the Proton Pass was made possible with SimpleLogin, which the company acquired back in 2022.

Proton Pass aims to be the best password manager when it comes to encryption. With an advanced set of security and privacy features in one product, it's no wonder that it can compete soon with other password managers.

What's more interesting about this product is that Proton's servers experience a data breach, your information is guaranteed to be safe since Proton has the user key.

"This is important because seemingly innocuous bits of information (such as saved URLs, which many other password managers don't encrypt) can be used to create a highly detailed profile on you. For example, if an attacker can see that you have passwords saved for an account with Grindr, gop.com, or even a manga fan site, they'll know a lot about you as a person, even if they can't actually access your accounts," Proton's founder and CEO Andy Yen wrote.

Lifetime Plan Subscribers Can Use Proto Pass Beta

As per TechCrunch's report on Thursday, April 20, loyal Proton customers who have the lifetime plan can now access the Proton Pass on its beta form.

The company said that the new customers wouldn't be able to use the Visionary Plan, but they could still access the password manager soon.

Just like Proton's other products, the password manager can come with different subscription tiers. Most likely, it can appear in the case of Proton Unlimited, which features premium features for paid users. Some of them are Proton Calendar, Proton VPN, Proton Mail, and Proton Drive.

Related Article: How to Launch Apple's All-Around Password Manager and Why it's Good [2023]

LastPass Hack Paves Way For Other Password Managers to Thrive

With the controversial data breach that penetrated LastPass last year, some customers might be finding other alternatives that are free from these attempts.

The liability theft that impacted the leading password manager provider could have opened new opportunities for other companies to launch their own password managers.

As for Proton CEO Andy Yen, the whole organization has been worried about the security risks following the LastPass breach several months ago.

With this, the company will aim to roll out better updates for Proton Pass that will safeguard users from suspicious hackers and threat actors.

In the meantime, you can check the top 5 best password manager software firms of 2023.

Read Also: New Google Password Manager Update to Allow Users to Add Notes to their New, Old Passwords

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Students join the live talk of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship's taikonauts conducted from China's space station via video link in Yangon, Myanmar, April 20, 2023. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)

YANGON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Twenty Myanmar students from Yangon wearing their white and green school uniform on Thursday joined the live talk of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship's taikonauts conducted from China's space station.

Thiha Thu, a 10th grader from a high school in Yangon's Mingaladon township, is one of the 20 Myanmar students who joined the event titled: "Talk with Taikonauts" via video link.

"I feel proud to join the event. From the event, we have come to know the lifestyle of astronauts in space. We have also witnessed the technological development of China," Thiha Thu told Xinhua.

Eindra Myint Mo, an 11th grader who wants to become a pilot, also got a chance to join the live talk of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship's taikonauts from China's Tiangong space station.

"I am very interested in space and the event," she said.

"Before that, I only knew there is no gravity in space. Now, I have come to know what can be eaten and what can't be eaten in a spaceship and how to drink in space," Eindra said.

Soe Yati Tun and friends from a high school in Yangon's Dagon township also joined the special event beamed from China's Tiangong space station.

"Going to space is risky and it is an honorable job," she said.

Daw Maw Maw, a teacher who moderated the Myanmar students during the event, told Xinhua that the students will get inspiration and motivation by attending an event like that.

"For Myanmar students, it is the first time being invited by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," she said.

The 20 Myanmar students joining the event have been selected from four high schools in the four districts of Yangon, she added.

The Ministry of Education of Myanmar and the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar jointly organized the Yangon event. 

Students watch an event about a dialogue with Chinese taikonauts on board the orbiting Chinese Tiangong space station via video link in Yangon, Myanmar, April 20, 2023. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)

Students join the live talk of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship's taikonauts conducted from China's space station via video link in Yangon, Myanmar, April 20, 2023. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)

Students join the live talk of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship's taikonauts conducted from China's space station via video link in Yangon, Myanmar, April 20, 2023. (Photo by Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua)
This photo taken on April 19, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of China Construction Bank (CCB) Hungary branch in Budapest, Hungary. CCB, the world's second-largest bank based on assets, opened a branch in Hungary on Wednesday. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China Construction Bank (CCB), the world's second-largest bank based on assets, opened a branch in Hungary on Wednesday.

At an opening ceremony held in the capital city Budapest, CCB Chairman Tian Guoli said the new branch will further encourage financial cooperation between China and Hungary, and provide quality financial services for Chinese and Hungarian enterprises, which includes a fintech lab to promote financial-technological innovations.

Hungarian Minister of Economy Development Marton Nagy lauded the opening of the bank branch, saying that a well-functioning financial system and banks are crucial to economic growth.

Expressing gratitude to CCB for assisting Hungary during the COVID pandemic, he emphasized the importance of constantly exploring opportunities in economic and trade cooperation to promote development for both parties.

Yang Chao, Charge d'affaires ad interim of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, said the new branch will help expand practical cooperation between the two countries and provides a new channel for innovative cooperation.

He said he hopes that the financial institutions of both countries can strengthen exchanges and cooperation, complement each other's advantages, and inject new impetus into the Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries. 
KIEV, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian capital on Wednesday kicked off flooding rescue exercises amid a significant rise of waters in the Dnipro River, the Kiev City State Administration reported.

The exercises envisage actions of emergency response to flooding in Kiev if the Dnipro water level reaches 800 centimeters above zero level, causing flooding in six districts of the city.

The exercises consist of seven emergency actions, including rescue operations to remove flood victims from a drifting vessel, providing medical aid to victims, and conducting work on pumping out water from a flooded facility, among other measures.

A total of 120 rescue personnel and utility workers are participating in the exercises.

This year, the water levels in the Dnipro exceeded last year's levels by between 50 centimeters and one meter, affecting public and private infrastructure in the areas located near the river.

The city authorities expect the flooding will reach its peak levels in Kiev on April 22.

This year's spring flooding affected nine regions in northern, central and western Ukraine.

About 1,715 households and 21,950 hectares of agricultural lands across Ukraine were hit by flooding, which also disrupted transport links to 32 cities and villages, the State Emergency Service reported Wednesday. 
From being a virtual unknown, Nabilah Nordin has become an institutional favourite in no time at all. Her work, which can also be found in Melbourne Now at the National Gallery of Victoria and Fantastic Forms at Bundanon, has been given the prime location in the vestibule at the AGNSW. Nordins sculptures are self-consciously experimental, using vivid, eye-catching colours and unusual materials. One piece at the AGNSW, Discipline, is made from coloured balloons set in epoxy resin. Nabilah Nordins Corinthian Clump, 2023, at the Art Gallery of NSW. Credit: Mim Stirling Nordin has one thought with many different variations. That idea is to systematically refuse conventional ideas about sculptural form. Her six pieces at the AGNSW form a single ensemble titled Corinthian Clump. Its a playful response to the severe neo-classical aesthetics of Walter Vernons gallery entrance, in which she takes the geometric preoccupations of the architecture, screws them up and glues them together in a new randomised incarnation. Its a game that relies on the continuous fertility of the artists imagination to keep coming up with forms that break the unspoken rules of art  rather like having to compose sentences without using one or two vowels. Pierre Mukeba Pierre Mukeba occupies a special place in Australian art, as a representative of an African diaspora gradually finding its way into all aspects of life in this country. Born in the Congo, Mukeba spent time in refugee camps in Zambia and Zimbabwe before coming to Adelaide in 2006. His lively, brightly coloured drawings have been embraced enthusiastically by private and public collectors, making him a familiar inclusion in surveys such as The National.

His work, The last supper and the sheges, takes the Biblical story and recasts it with a group of central African outcasts. The theme is universal, the figures a reminiscence of the artists origins, the medium a floating piece of calico backed by offcuts of Dutch wax fabric, an accepted symbol of Africa. Like many emigre artists, Mukeba finds himself positioned between two cultures and falls back on the one he knows best. The appeal for local viewers is to catch a glimpse of this unfamiliar reality, and accept it as part of the new, globalised world we all inhabit. Reko Rennie In What Do We Want?, a three-channel video of less than three minutes duration, Reko Rennie conjures a strange, disturbing scenario of Indigenous people training in martial arts under the guidance of a tough-looking Aboriginal sensei. The aim, as it is chanted at the end and flashed on screen, is No more cops killing our mob. The message is that everyone wants peace, love and understanding, but, if necessary, will fight for what they see as just. Theres an aggressive edge to this film that undermines all the fine sentiments. Rennies martial arts students are akin to the Black Panthers, ready to combat violence with violence. If Rennie aimed to make us conscious of the impact of police brutality, he may only succeed in alarming his audience. Museum of Contemporary Art

Hoda Afshars Aura, 2023, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Credit: Anna Kucera Hoda Afshar Yet another artist who seems to be an obligatory inclusion in contemporary surveys, Hoda Afshar has justified her surge to fame with one thoughtful body of work after another. A photographic artist from Iran, she is intensely conscious of the political currents that underpin everyday life, even in a country as complacent as Australia. Her series Remain (2020) was shot on Manus Island, making visible those refugees who have been filed and forgotten by the Australian government. The series Aura at the MCA brings together images from the year 2020, scavenged from the internet, that remind us of the pandemic, the bushfires and other momentous events. Afshar has isolated details, rendered them in grainy black-and-white, and adopted a mode of presentation that echoes the famous exhibition The Family of Man (1955), put together by Edward Steichen for New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. Its an ironic reference because the family of man is radically divided today, even though we have never been more connected. Diena Georgetti

Diena Georgettis work is an extended meditation on one of the perennial problems of the modern artist: how to be original. Her solution is to rove freely over the history of art, borrowing and recombining motifs in the form of a digital collage that is painstakingly translated into a painting  or so I understand it. Unlike most artists she has no signature style, as every series looks as if it was painted by a different person. The paintings at the MCA - part of a series called Community of the People - present a mashed-up blend of abstraction and schematic figuration from the 1950s and early 1960s. I cant identify specific paintings, but theres a retro feel to each canvas. Stylistically these pictures take us on a trip down the time tunnel, in which everything gets a little garbled. Turning a corner and coming across this series is disconcerting, as if one has left the realm of contemporary art and stumbled into another era. Carriageworks Naminapu Maymuru-White Is Carriageworks always empty, or does it just feel more empty than most places because of its cavernous interiors? Either way, Naminapu Maymuru-Whites small bark paintings of stars, clustered on an end wall, hint at a space much vaster than the gallery. Yet another outstanding artist from Yirrkala in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Maymuru-Whites theme is Milniyawuy, or as we know it, the Milky Way.

Its much easier to see the stars at night in north-eastern Arnhem Land, and these paintings make us feel as if we are gazing at a panorama divided into small segments. In their simplicity and directness, Maymuru-Whites pictures are among the most engaging in the show. Although the Yolgnu have their own stories about the cosmos, the experience of star-gazing and seeing patterns in the heavens is common to all people of all times. If you have any doubts look to the story of the Seven Sisters, which begins among the stars and is echoed independently by civilisations from Scandinavia to Persia to China to Australia. Installations on display at Carriageworks, left to right: Susan Balbungas Bamugora, 2023; Naminapu Maymuru-Whites Miliyawuy  Celestial River, 2023; Katie Wests The women plucked the star pickets from the ground and turned them into wana (digging sticks), 2023. Credit: Zan Wimberley Elizabeth Day Perhaps its the challenge of those towering ceilings, but Elizabeth Day has made a huge effort with an installation that covers a wall at Carriageworks with wool unravelled from old garments. In The Flow of Form: Theres a Reason Beyond Reason (1797 Parramatta Gaol), Carriageworks Redfern, Day has re-created a phantom image of the facade of the old Parramatta Gaol, coated in clusters of threads, in the manner of a quilt or tapestry. The sheer scale of the work lends it a sense of drama, while the bunches of coloured threads mimic an Abstract Expressionist canvas. Day, who has spent much of her career working with people in prisons and mental institutions, has taken this opportunity to create a piece about the many lives that have disappeared behind closed doors. Each unravelled garment suggests an anonymous person closeted away from friends and family. Day conjures up the broken threads of personal relationships, with all that colour concealing a great weight of melancholy.

Campbelltown Arts Centre Jumaadi Since coming to study in Sydney from his native Indonesia in 2000, Jumaadi has appeared in numerous exhibitions, both in this country and overseas. He has worked in diverse media, making paintings, drawings, paper cuts, puppets and videos. His subject matter, however, remains rooted in his birthplace near Yogyakarta, drawing on everyday life and folklore to create magical scenarios. Jumaadis pictures have a strong graphic quality and a mysterious symbolism; for instance, a large field of tree stumps, each with a single eye. It seems to suggest that nature is observing every depredation we inflict upon it. His largest work at Campbelltown features a black wall festooned with white paper cutouts, showing trees, figures and animals. We are looking at a story told in sign language, a language that revels in ambiguity. Julian Martin

Julian Martin has long been a mainstay of Melbournes Art Projects, crossing over from the world of so-called outsider art to the mainstream. His pastel drawings are equally adept at crossing the divide between abstract and figurative art. Each picture begins with an observation, which is refined and transformed into blocks of pure colour. Yet these seemingly abstract works retain a sense of the object, hovering on the verge of recognisability. Martin is an artist with a highly distinctive touch. A suite of his small works, as seen in this exhibition, reveals his skill with colour, which has an obvious emotional inflection. Although he has been exhibiting since the late 1980s, Martins work has been comparatively neglected by the major institutions. This display at Campbelltown should get the galleries to pay closer attention. Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan with the Fruitjuice Factori Studios Another Country (The Juncture of Between Becomes Comfort Zone), 2010-2023, at Campbelltown Arts Centre. Credit: Mim Stirling Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan with the Fruitjuice Factori Studio The Aquilizans were well-known in Australia even before they migrated here in 2006. Since then, this husband and wife have constructed huge installations made from cardboard and various scrap materials, at the Art Gallery of NSW and other venues. Their work, which draws on the folk traditions of the Philippines, is always playful and often made in collaboration with amateurs and would-be artists.
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 Even if you think youre not familiar with food writer and internet personality Alison Roman, you might know some of her recipes, the most popular of which are known simply by titles such as (hashtag optional) #ThePasta, #TheStew and #TheDip. Roman, a pastry chef and recipe tester turned cookbook writer, has long been an avid social media user, and began sharing her recipes on Instagram in 2011. Her first cookbook, Dining In, was released in 2017. That book features unfussy, chatty cooking instructions for everything from steak to bean salad, but it was her salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread recipe that was the first to earn its own hashtag, going viral as #TheCookies in late 2017 as Romans fans began sharing photos of their own batches of the shortbread. Then in her early 30s, Roman, who is in Australia next month for a series of appearances, including the Melbourne Writers Festival, soon became the darling of Millennial home cooks who enjoyed food but were often restricted by budget and a lack of fancy culinary implements. The Brooklyn-based Romans recipes, her wry writing style, social media presence and in particular the photos shed share of her kitchen at the time  an ageing stovetop in a cramped space devoid of marble benchtops  were, as marketing department types like to say, relatable. Even her books contain the occasional burnt pie crust. Food writer Alison Roman: People have said Im polarising [but] I think any individual on the planet elicits different responses. After more of her recipes were prefaced with a definite article, The New York Times hired Roman, who had previously worked as a food editor for Bon Appetit, as a freelance contributor, and her star continued to rise. In 2019, she released a second cookbook, Nothing Fancy, focusing on simple dinner party fare (this one launched #TheStew). Shes long been polarising; even the New Yorker once described her as home-cookings most relentless polemicist.

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But seven months later, in May 2020, as her recipes were being shared by an even greater audience now embracing cooking during the pandemic, Roman was abruptly cancelled after an interview with US online newsletter New Consumer in which she talked about model turned food writer Chrissy Tiegen, and Japanese decluttering queen Marie Kondo. Roman, who was collaborating with a cookware company on a range of vintage-inspired spoons that she plugged in the same interview  took aim at Kondo as capitalising on her fame, and described Tiegen, who quickly moved from cookbooks to a Target product line, as having people running a content farm for her. That horrifies me, and its not something that I ever want to do, Roman said in the piece. I dont aspire to that. Ultimately I was like, well, I make food and I make recipes for people and thats the work that I do and I want to keep doing it. Alison Roman The backlash, typically, was immediate; first for Romans seeming hypocrisy, and then for the fact that both the women she commented on were Asian. Roman was branded a perpetrator of the food medias structural racism; the candour that had made her so popular was her undoing. The requisite Twitter controversy, a thousand think-pieces and social media users searching her accounts for historical transgressions ensued. Roman issued a public apology to both women, and her New York Times column was suspended (she was officially dropped from the paper in December that year). But for such a high-profile cancellation, Roman wasnt banished for long. A month or so later, she launched her newsletter (called A Newsletter) and by the end of the year, she started her YouTube series Home Movies, videos in which she cooks a recipe from scratch, bantering away unscripted. I didnt really go away at all, says Roman over Zoom from the US. And I mean, it was the pandemic, so a lot of people went away.

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Even so, it was a quick recovery from such a public fall from grace. I think its  commensurate to like, punishment, crime. Ive talked about it so much already in so many interviews and all the information kind of  exists out there, she says. I think any time anyone feels embarrassment or public shame, the instinct is to kind of  hide your head, and you know, stay quiet for a little bit, which I definitely felt, but ultimately I was like, well, I make food and I make recipes for people and thats the work that I do and I want to keep doing it. And the people that like me and want to follow it can follow it  and they do. Id rather have somebody say Im annoying than my food is bad, says the polarising food writer. Credit:Chris Bernabeo Her YouTube channel has 220,000 subscribers; her Substack newsletter has 236,000, from, she says, around 150 countries. I think the beauty of YouTube and the internet in general, is that things become widely shared, she says. Its my goal to make sure its accessible to anyone, whether youre living in Spain or India or Japan or the US, I think its cool that you can make the shallot pasta, or the stews or the soups. I get a lot of questions saying, oh, where I live we dont have buttermilk, or we dont have this, so I end up also learning whats available in different places, which is very cool. A recent profile in Londons Telegraph magazine labelled Roman the worlds coolest cook. Her celebrity followers include Reese Witherspoon. Closer to home, Michaela McGuire, artistic director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, invited her to join the line-up after becoming enamoured of Romans no-nonsense recipes. Nothing Fancy is the cookbook that changed my weeknight and dinner party offerings from competent but unremarkable to deceptively distinctive and delicious, McGuire enthuses. Yes, Alison made it glamorous and fun to cook in a small kitchen, but most of all she made it relaxing. Her recipes arent fussy; her One Pot Chicken with Dates and Caramelised Lemon takes 10 minutes to get in the oven and is a showstopping combination of all Alisons favoured flavours and textures: salty, lemony, jammy, chilli-flaky, tangy.

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Halfway through Nothing Fancy theres a pep talk titled, when things dont go well, which reminds you that cooking and having people over is meant to be fun. She gives you permission to make something thats amazing, if not perfect. Last month Roman published her third cookbook, this time focused on desserts. Sweet Enough adheres to her effortless chic schtick, and features sweet dishes that look much more complex to prepare than they are. A dessert book seems a logical step for Roman, who, after dropping out of college, trained as a restaurant pastry chef, and worked at Sona in Los Angeles (where she grew up) and the much awarded dessert chain Milk Bar in New York, among other places. Not #TheCookies, but Romans Perfect salted shortbread from her new book <i>Sweet Enough</i>. Credit:Chris Bernabeo Yet Roman declares herself not a dessert person. What? Im not! When I go out for dinner, I dont really order dessert. If Im having breakfast, its always savoury, she says. I prefer to cook, rather than bake its just not in my personality. She concedes that given her pastry background, she does feel a connection to desserts, just not in the same way as someone whos like, oh Im absolutely defined by my love of sweets.

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Even as a kid, Roman wasnt much of a sweet-tooth. I loved matzo balls, broccoli  the sweetest I would eat was oatmeal in the morning. All my cereal was unsweetened. Thats what I gravitated towards, like, a bagel and cream cheese, lox, salmon, whitefish; Jewish deli culture. Everything was savoury! I wanted salt and butter and onions. Which might explain why even in a dedicated dessert cookbook (admittedly one that she describes as for dessert agnostics), Roman has sneaked in a small savoury chapter. I think its nice to have dessert from a perspective of somebody who tends to favour those types of foods, she says. And for people who are, ugh, Im not really a dessert person, Im like, even you, every now and then, are going to need to bake a cake for someone, or cookies, or youre bored and youre like, what am I going to do, maybe Ill bake a cake  I feel like this book is for those people. Loading And perhaps also for people who enjoy her recipes but not necessarily Roman herself. Lots of her newsletter subscribers accidentally hit reply when they mean to forward the email on, and recently Roman had one with a message someone thought they were sending to a friend, that said I really cant stand her, but her recipes are the best. Yeah, people have said Im polarising [but] I think any individual on the planet elicits different responses. I have yet to meet a single human on this beautiful planet that 100 per cent of people like, she says.

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HELSINKI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Operating profit of Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia fell below market expectations for the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, according to the company's financial report released on Thursday.

Nokia's net sales were up year-on-year to 5.9 billion euros (6.47 billion U.S. dollars), while its comparable operating profit fell to 479 million euros.

The value of the Nokia stock declined on the Helsinki Stock Exchange by 7 percent by Thursday early afternoon local time.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pekka Lundmark said in a written statement that signs of the economic environment impacting customer spending have appeared. He said he was confident that the need to invest in 5G and fiber persists, and "we see this primarily as a question of timing."

"We will maintain our cost discipline to ensure we can successfully navigate this uncertainty... Profitability in the second half of the year will be stronger than the first half," Lundmark said.

Analyst Kimmo Stenvall of the Finnish OP Financial Group told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper that Nokia performed fairly well in mobile networks, compared with expectations. "Especially compared with its Swedish competitor Ericsson, Nokia grew well in the mobile networks sector," he said. The progress of 5G investments in India was important to the company. However, investments in North America slowed down as expected.

Nokia did not change its guidance for the year. It expects sales in 2023 to amount to 24.6-26.2 billion euros and the profit margin to be 11.5-14.0 percent. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollar) 
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A posse of new venues  including a new Luke Mangan bar  indicate the party vibe is returning to Potts Point.

The precinct around Bayswater Road has long served as a barometer for Sydney hospitality, and celebrity chef Luke Mangan is tipping that it is on the rise again, with plans for a food-led bar in Potts Point. And Mangan isnt alone  a posse of new venues is opening in the area.

Chef Luke Mangan is hoping to help bring the magic back to the area around Bayswater Road. Supplied

Mangan has nabbed a site on Pennys Lane, which runs between Kings Cross Road and Bayswater Road, behind the Coca-Cola sign. Itll open in September, and while the chef hasnt settled on a name, he argues both the site  which will accommodate 90 people  and the area, are ripe for a bar.

Others agree. In February, Vermuteria, an old-school Euro aperitif bar, opened in the long-time home of Cafe Hernandez on Kings Cross Road, as did the Spanish-inspired Bar Lucia, on Kellett Street.
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Eating outJust open Three new Melbourne lunch spots (and theyre not all sandwiches) A Japanese favourite switches gears to grab-and-go, OlMates Southbank sangers come northside and more. Emma Breheny April 20, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

OlMates crosses the river Southbank sandwich bar OlMates, spotting a rare sandwich-free zone in Melbournes north, has opened in Thornbury. It brings the teams South Asian-skewed sandwiches, such as roast beef with a rogan josh dipping sauce, to a different, more leisurely crowd. Spice-roasted cauliflower with date and tamarind chutney is one of OlMates South Asian-insipred fillings. Supplied Chef Pranav Walimbe is responsible for sneaking green chilli, coriander and ginger into bread rolls, as in a recent special featuring porchetta cooked with flavours of cafreal, a coriander-heavy dish hailing from Goa, India. Vegetarian options include spice-crusted cauliflower with date and tamarind chutney, or crushed chickpeas and salad. More common sandwiches, such as fried chicken and coleslaw on brioche, or a meatball sub, are also in the mix.

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The green-tiled shop has 15 seats inside for longer visits, which are more common at this shop according to co-owner Annie Martinu. She and partner Andreas also own Reverence Coffee Roasters, which is the bean of choice across espresso and batch brew. Open Mon-Fri 7am-2.30pm, Sat 8am-2.30pm. OlMates, 779 High Street, Thornbury, instagram.com/olmates.au Ima sets up shop Dearly loved Carlton spot Ima Project Cafe has resurfaced in Brunswick with not one but two ways to enjoy its Japanese-meets-Aussie fare.

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While new sit-down venue Ima Asa/Yoru (translating to day/night) is under construction, the team are keeping busy two doors away with Ima Pantry. The pantry harnesses the best parts of an artisan grocer, cafe and convenience store, stocking everything from milk, soap and fresh produce to hojicha powder and small-batch yuzu kosho. Ima Pantry combines the best of cafes, grocers and Japanese convenience stores. Supplied The spare industrial fit-out is offset by enormous rice-paper lamp shades. Browse the impressive retail range before taking a look at that days offering for lunch. Five different dishes are served bento-style with rice, with the daily menu of okazu (side dishes) recently including Japanese potato salad, a type of stir-fry known as kinpira, and grilled broccolini with sesame dressing. You can also get onigiri, which were only served at Ima as part of meal sets, and Japanese-accented toasties. Keep an eye out for weekend specials.

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Open Mon 7.30-3pm, Wed-Sun 7.30-3pm. Ima Pantry, 9 Duckett Street, Brunswick, imaproject.co Sydneys Destination Roll arrives in Melbourne Lunch on a budget in the CBD is still possible, thanks to the arrival of Sydney chain Destination Roll. The banh mi specialist is filling crusty rolls  apparently baked every 15 minutes  with barbecue pork, crisp-skin chicken or other combinations, plus all the pickles, chilli and coriander youd expect. Prices start at $10 and dont go beyond $12.

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Sydney banh mi shop Destination Roll has touched down in Melbourne. Piers Fitton Photography Since opening in Sydneys west more than 10 years ago, Destination has grown to have 12 shops around the harbour city. This is its first Melbourne location. The menu also offers pho and pork chop with broken rice  but with a name like Destination Roll, we reckon the sandwiches are the safe bet. Open Mon-Thu 9am-2pm, Fri 11am-3pm. Destination Roll, shop 6, 699 Collins Street, Docklands, destinationroll.com.au

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Shine Lawyers have launched a class action against the operators of a NSW aged care home in which 19 residents died during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus spread through western Sydneys Anglicare-run Newmarch House in April and May 2020, with 37 out of 97 residents testing positive and 19 dying over that period.

Flowers and tributes outside Newmarch Aged Care Village after COVID-19 was reported there in May 2020. Credit: James Alcock

A further 34 staff members also caught the disease.

Shine Lawyers say the class action has been filed in the NSW Supreme Court on behalf of 25 people whose relatives died from COVID-19 and allegedly negligent health care at Newmarch House during the pandemic lockdowns.

Shine Lawyers associate Emily Clarke named Anglicare and the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District of NSW Health as defendants in the legal case.

Death was a sad reality of the pandemic but lives could have been saved at Newmarch House, Ms Clarke said.

Residents were being treated in a facility at the home which clearly was not able to care for them properly when they should have been transferred to an actual hospital as quickly as possible, she said.

We allege it was both the operators of the home and NSW Health whose failures contributed to these deaths.

On top of this, the poor communication with family members outside the home caused serious psychological injuries to the group members in this class action.

AAP
The report showed how improper influence compromised the procurement process for a contract of $1.2 million, he said. It revealed a range of breaches of duties and obligations of ministers, ministerial advisers, chiefs of staff and public servants and it showed misconduct which favoured the interests of a union and corroded standards of public governance. Former Court of Appeal judge Stephen Charles, KC. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Unlike the NSW ICAC and Queensland Integrity Commissioner, Victorias peak anti-corruption body can only make findings of corruption if the conduct they uncover would constitute an indictable criminal offence or one of a narrow range of common law crimes including bribery, perverting the course of justice or misconduct in public office. Charles urged Victoria to adopt the broader definition of corruption used by Transparency International, which covers the abuse of entrusted power for personal or political gain.

Had this definition been in place when Operation Daintree began, it is likely that IBAC would have made findings of corruption against several government figures, he said. The facts that were found by IBAC amount on Transparency Internationals definition to findings of clear corruption, he said. Loading Andrews has deflected questions on whether the government would consider changing the definition. Opposition Leader John Pesutto said he was open to the idea but made no firm commitment. Monash University associate professor Yee-Fui Ng, a government integrity expert quoted extensively in the Operation Daintree report, said the weak appetite for reform was unsurprising. It is in the self-interest of the government to keep denying there is a problem here and no additional regulation is required, she said.

Charles reiterated his previous call for IBAC to be given greater scope to conduct public hearings and for law changes to reduce the prospect of subjects of investigation being able to delay the publication of reports. Two findings of long-standing IBAC investigations  operations Sandon and Richmond  remain unpublished due to legal challenges. The electorate in 2022 had to vote without knowing the full state of affairs involving Andrews crooked government, Charles said. The power of public hearings to expose improper conduct within governments was reinforced by the evidence uncovered during the royal commission that examined the robo-debt scandal of the previous federal government. Andrews has committed his government to adopt IBACs recommendation from July last year to establish a parliamentary integrity commissioner. Enabling legislation for the new office, which would give teeth to codes of conduct governing both parliamentarians and their staff, has not yet been drafted. Andrews said it was being dealt with as fast as possible.

Its not a matter just for the government, though, its a matter for the parliament, he said. While Andrews has not committed to supporting the Daintree recommendations  several of which build on public sector integrity reforms advocated by previous IBAC reports  current and former Labor MPs, including ministers, privately expressed concerns about the erosion of ministerial responsibility and the centralisation of power under Andrews leadership. Loading When invited to respond to the criticisms of the integrity experts, a spokesperson for the Victorian government referred The Age to a section of the Operation Daintree report that explains how the publication of IBACs findings fulfils the agencys education and corruption prevention function. The IBAC explanation was provided after Andrews and HWU secretary Diana Asmar questioned IBACs right to publish the report. Their criticism came as current and former MPs expressed concern that a systemic issue linked to grey corruption in the Operation Daintree report  the centralisation of government decision-making  had become more pronounced since the investigation was launched.

One government insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to frankly discuss internal matters, told The Age several people had raised concerns with senior staff in the premiers office about staff attached to the Premiers Private Office inappropriately interfering in ministerial offices. They said the problems IBAC identified been exacerbated since the 2018 election with the creation of the Coordinating Ministers of Cabinet, a group of 10 ministers including the premier, who now have a select, decision-making authority. The insider said CMC, which was established during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, had enshrined and institutionalised the centralisation of power, as well as the diminution of ministerial authority, effectively formalising the cultural practice that IBAC called out in Operation Daintree. Andrews on Thursday rejected that criticism of the CMC and likened its functions to cabinet subcommittees, which deliberate policy and put forward a position for the cabinet to ratify. Ive sat as a minister, and as a chair of cabinet meetings for a long time, and [cabinet subcommittees] are all empowered to do certain things, Andrews said. And when they do those things  that decision would be ratified and acknowledged by the full cabinet.

Thats not new, thats not different, thats not a COVID hangover. That was there before COVID, long before, [and] for as long as Ive been around public administration. Operation Daintree was the final report overseen by Robert Redlich, a former Supreme Court judge who completed his five-year term as IBAC commissioner at the end of last year. The government has not yet advertised for his permanent replacement. Meanwhile, the Labor-led public accounts and estimates committee decided not to re-appoint Victorias parliamentary budget officer on Wednesday. The opposition and the Greens described the move as a ploy to avoid scrutiny after the officer criticised government control of his funding.
Its surreal. It feels like a dream actually, she said.

The best view was from Exmouth. Credit: Nine News Perth

Darkness fell across the North West Cape about 11.29am AWST (1.29pm AEST) when the moon completely blocked the sun for a minute after temperatures suddenly dropped by five degrees.

The eclipse lasts about three hours as the moon passes between the sun and earth as a partial then total eclipse, casting a 40-kilometre-wide shadow over the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo reef region.

A bright solar corona that looks like a white halo visible to people in the path of totality, along with some stars and planets was eagerly anticipated.

As the partial eclipse started Lois Polatnick, from Chicago, described his excitement.

The moon is taking a bite out of the sun as we enter the shadow of the moon, she said.




The Other Side of War Paul Fussell -- historian, literary critic, and veteran -- wants to change the way Americans remember the Second World War



February 1997



W e often remember our involvement in the Second World War as emotionally uncomplicated -- we had unambiguous moral purpose, wholehearted involvement, and absolute victory. But Atlantic contributor Paul Fussell remembers it differently in his new memoir, Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic (Little, Brown, 1996). An officer in the infantry during the last months of the war, Fussell saw and experienced the incompetence of American ground troops, the stupidity of their battle plans, and the utter, inexpressible horror of battle. He saw that only the least educated, poorest, or least fortunate soldiers ended up in the infantry, where many were killed unnecessarily. The war turned Fussell into a skeptic and an ironist; his project ever since has been to pick apart Americans' cheerfully euphemistic and nostalgic take on history. Fussell's love of language -- and his search to justify his survival of several close calls in combat -- led him to become an English professor, in an effort, he writes in Doing Battle, to "restore subtlety, civility, and decency after their wartime disappearance." Working toward that same end, Fussell has also become a prolific author. In The Great War and Modern Memory (1977), winner of the National Book Award, and Wartime (1989), he tried to demystify the prevailing notions of the First and Second World Wars as "good" or "cheerful" wars by examining written accounts of infantrymen's experiences. In later books, such as Class (1990) and BAD: or, The Dumbing of America (1992), he turned his eye to American society. Doing Battle is thus a summation of sorts: Fussell describes his own life in the context of the war and the society he has spent his career critiquing. Fussell recently spoke with The Atlantic Monthly's Katie Bacon.

D oing Battle describes how fighting in the Second World War changed you from an innocent boy to an angry skeptic, and how that skepticism has shaped the rest of your life. Was your intention in writing the memoir to change the way people remember the war? Excerpts from Doing Battle read by the author in RealAudio To the Reader "How a young person so innocent was damaged this way and what happened as a result is the subject of this book." Chapter One "'You can't roll the dice everyday and not get waxed'" Chapter Four "I came upon a perfectly preserved dead waxwork German squad." Chapter Six "The world was now to be saved from its folly, brutality, and coarseness of conscience." Chapter Seven "I was angry at the whole postwar atmosphere of public misrepresentation and fatuous optimism."

* * * Related articles from The Atlantic's archives "One War is Enough," February 1946 Edgar L. Jones argues against peacetime conscription, which he believes would be the mark of a belligerent nation, by describing American GIs' true feelings about the war. "'Is This Like Your War, Sir?'," September 1972 Arthur T. Hadley, an officer during the Second World War, compares that war with Vietnam by returning to the European battlefields where he fought. "The Real War 1939-1945," August 1989 On the fiftieth anniversary of the Second World War, Paul Fussell argues that America doesn't understand what the war was really like. Very much so. I've been an enemy for years of the concept of the "Good War" and of all the sentimentalizing that's done by people who didn't fight it or who profited from it in one way or another. We all profited, but at what a cost. People can forget very readily the pain and misery and death and destruction that the war caused. Sometimes I'm accused of assuming that the war was not necessary, but that's a mistake. It was absolutely necessary. Hitlerism had to be wiped out and so did the Japanese empire, no question about it. But all wars are horrible, and flimsy, superficial war talk is always extremely dangerous. You argue that H. L. Mencken "was limited by a very American malady: skilled as he was with comic irony, he was deficient in the tragic sense. He didn't respond to the classical understanding that all human life is destined to failure, and that only tragic irony is capable of offering a grown-up vision." How has this "American malady" shaped the way Americans -- both soldiers and civilians -- view the Second World War? What about other wars in which we've fought? This malady is what makes us want to clean up the Second World War and to turn it into a great merry operation -- which we have succeeded in doing. Americans have also tended to cheerful-ize our behavior in the First World War, which people now tend to remember as very amusing. The fact that we won both wars is terribly important in terms of how we view them. People forget this. By the time the Second World War happened, most other countries had experienced deep Vietnam-like defeats and had had to deal with intellectually and imaginatively. We didn't until the Vietnam War, which helped us grow up a great deal. We all know that the Second World War destroyed Germany, which had to be rebuilt, but most Americans don't know that it also ruined England -- through wartime expenditure, loss of life, and the damage England suffered in the bombings. It turned England from a powerful, imperial world presence into a third-rate Netherlands. It's just a pitiful little country now, desperately trying to keep up its morale with parades, horse guards, and a Queen. But it is poverty-stricken and pretty hopeless. The war caused that. The point is that you can't fight a war like that, so close to the enemy as the English were, and survive intact. You can win, but you suffer a great deal. The class line dividing those who generally fought in the Vietnam War from those who didn't has generated much comment and protest since the war. In Doing Battle you argue that an "unintended form of eugenics" took place in the Second World War, too; the less-educated and less-skilled were disproportionately assigned to the infantry and were treated as expendable. How did this fail to attract the country's attention, if not outrage? Because of the power of wartime propaganda, which gave the impression that everyone was in the infantry. It's fascinating to look at ads that were in magazines in the 1940s and to notice

Click here to see the full-sized advertisment.

their suggestion that not only was every soldier good-looking, blond, and blue-eyed -- like SS men -- but also that they were educated and intelligent. This simply wasn't true. As numerous historians have pointed out, the Air Force got the best men, the Navy the next, the Marines the next, the Coast Guard the next, and the infantry took what was left. There wasn't much. This also happened, of course, in the Vietnam War, and that's another source of my anger and annoyance. Vietnam was really scandalous. All you had to do was attend a college of chiropractic medicine and you got out of it. The people who fought in it were blacks, Mexican-Americans, and poor boys from the countryside who had no way to escape. Everybody else escaped it, including, thank God, President Clinton, and many Click here to see the full-sized advertisment.

others. Robert McNamara lost no sons in the war because he was above it. This should be much better known and agitated about than it is. In the Second World War the coverage was much wider. The Air Force, for example, had all kinds of people, including Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable, the latter of whom actually fought in a bomber, which is as dangerous as the infantry. But the Air Force was glamorous and romantic, and that tended to confuse everybody about who was actually doing the fighting. For example, in my experience at universities, which dates from 1951, I have met only two faculty colleagues who fought in dangerous branches of the service. But except for that everyone else seems to have slid into some sort of intellectual position that made it unlikely that they'd be deeply damaged. I met no one who had been in the infantry. The Great War and Modern Memory came out of your explorations of the limits of language in expressing the violence and terror of war. In Doing Battle, how fully were you able to express the horror of your own war experience? I don't know, because there's an immense gulf -- it's unbridgeable, philosophically -- between the experience of the senses and the rendering of that experience in black marks on a white page. They're two totally different things. And the success of a writer of a memoir is measured by the degree to which he or she has managed to bridge that unbridgeable distance. All you can do is give an illusion of the experience. I don't know how fully I was able to do that. I did the best I could. Have you received responses from other War veterans? Yes, a great many. And most of them say, "I didn't know anyone could describe my experience as well as you have." I'm conscious from the mail I receive of the immense body of men and women my age who are delighted that somebody has addressed the war this way. But I've done this before, in my book Wartime; I just didn't talk about myself. Doing Battle is sort of a validation of that book. In a search to understand your own war experience, you read the accounts of infantry soldiers in other wars, and especially identified with those of Edmund Blunden, Robert Graves, and Siegfried Sassoon, all officers in the British army during the First World War. What was it that drew you to these accounts? They had been written by junior officers of the infantry who had, like me, a literary instinct, or a literary bent. They were much better-educated than I was or than I would ever be, but they were writers and thinkers in literary terms. Have you since found descriptions of the Second World War that you identify with in the same way? Yes I have, and one of the best is unavailable in this country, which strikes me as typical. It's Journey With a Pistol, by Neil McCallum, about a junior officer of infantry in the British Army who fought from El Alamein through the Alps in Italy. I like it because it's literate, sophisticated, and full of black humor. There's an American work that I've praised elsewhere of which I'm very fond: With the Old Breed by Eugene B. Sledge, about the Marine Corps in Peleliu and Okinawa. It's a superb, honest, heartrending, and brutal account of the fighting in the last months of the Pacific war. There's another one -- not so scandalous in its revelations, but beautifully written -- by Samuel Hynes, who like me is a professor of English. It's called Flights of Passage, and it tells of his experience as a fighter pilot in the Navy. Those three books have had a powerful effect on me, and I think they're absolutely as good as the great memoirs that came out of the First World War. Throughout Doing Battle you rail against many of our society's closely held beliefs, calling them myths or examples of "moral canting." How do people react to your skepticism? Well, let me put it in a self-interested way. Intelligent and sensitive people react to it with pleasure; morons hate it. I had an abusive letter just yesterday that objected very much to my "lack of patriotism" and my willingness to traduce the United States. I don't think I do that at all. I like the United States so much that I wish it would grow up. In a December interview in the Toronto Star you said that you don't read novels, except those written by friends. In Doing Battle, however, you cite several novels that have made a significant impression on you, and you have taught literature throughout your career. Can you elaborate a bit on your feelings about the novel? I think the novel is essentially a plebeian form. The Book-of-the-Month Club distributes novels, never poems. I get embarrassed by the dialogue in novels; most of it seems to me so talentless, coarse, and cornball that it makes me impatient. I teach poetry and criticism as a result, because I find the intellect more interestingly displayed in those two literary forms. That said, I do love certain novels. I read every piece of fiction that Philip Roth produces, and there are several other authors whom I follow avidly. But I'd follow them if they were writing something other than novels; there's something about their minds, their impudence, and their distance from public shibboleths that I admire. I much prefer argument and satire to novels, but if a novel is sufficiently satirical, like Catch 22, I'll read it, or if it's brilliant, like Catcher in the Rye, I'll not just read it, I'll go back to it repeatedly. But the run-of-the-mill novels are not very interesting to me. Of course, my standards are very high. They're supplied by Conrad, by Tolstoy, and by Flaubert. It bothers me that Americans can't produce fiction like that, even though there are plenty of brilliant people here. What effect did your experience in the war and the feelings it left you with have on your teaching? It affected me a great deal, because it suggested to me that teaching could do something important: it could change people's minds, it could set them on a life-long course where they would become skeptical, critical, and unreceptive to advertising and public lies. I've always emphasized skepticism in my teaching. Most of the teaching I've done has been the teaching of satire, the teaching of some kind of literature of disclosure that strips away the pretty costumes worn by inherently ugly or unspeakable things. What are you working on now that you've retired from teaching? I'm about to start on a short biography of Winston Churchill. I've been asked to do this because Churchill was, like me, made by a war, and he was always a writer, as distinguished a writer as he was a statesman and parliamentarian. I find the connection between his writing and his political behavior a fascinating subject for a short biography. One of my models, though it's a satiric work, is Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians, in which he dumps on all the people he writes about. But the length of those character descriptions is very attractive, and it suggests that there's a lot to be done with short biography.



More Books & Authors features in Atlantic Unbound

Copyright  1997 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
Toyota Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is, Makes New Investment In "Motorist CHOICE Is The Future"

Building 250-300 MPG Flex-fuel/Gasoline Hybrid Factory In Brazil

SEE ALSO: (Originally Published 3/21/2018) Toyota Reveals World-First Flexible Fuel Hybrid Prototype in Brazil Reduces 90% Of Gasoline Use (What Took So Long?) - HERE

SEE ALSO: (Originally Published 10/11/2022) BIG DEAL: Toyota Made In Brazil Flex-fuel Car "Greener Than Electric" Corolla Altis, India's 1st Hybrid with flex-fuel engine 250-300 MPG of Gasoline - HERE

SEE ALSO: Toyota Continues "Motorist Choice Is The Future" - HERE

EDITOR's NOTE" America's (Land of Ethanol) Car Makers Disregard Profitable and Patriotic Opportunity And Ignore Flex-Fuel Power To Stick With Chinese Battery Vehicle Future (Buh-Bye We Say)

SAO PAULO - April 19 2023: Alberto Alerigi reporting for Reuters wrote that Toyota Motor Corp said it will invest 1.7 billion reais ($337.68 million) to manufacture a new hybrid, flex-fuel compact car in Brazil, which will run on both gasoline and ethanol in addition to its electric engine.

The Japanese carmaker has been betting big on the segment in the South American country, where most cars can run on 100% ethanol, having in 2019 launched Brazil's first hybrid flex-fuel vehicle, a version of its flagship sedan the Corolla.

Rivals Stellants and Volkswagen are also investing in the technology, going against U.S.-based General Motors and Ford which have focused on fully electric cars.

Toyota's announcement came at an event attended by the firm's local head, Rafael Chang, and Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas. Part of the investment - roughly 1 billion reais - will come from tax credits Toyota had with the state.

"Toyota believes in the Brazilian market and continues to invest in technology and innovation to meet consumer needs," Chang said. "It is a sustainable solution that also creates jobs and economic development".

Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that engines for the new compact car, whose name was not revealed, will be built at Toyota's Porto Feliz plant, a move expected to create 700 jobs.

The car is set to be launched in Brazil in 2024 and sold in 22 Latin American countries, it added.

Official Announcement:

Sao Paulo, Brazil, September 19, 2019Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) announces that Toyota do Brasil Ltda. (TDB), TMC's Brazilian sales and manufacturing subsidiary, has just formalized its intention to invest R$ 1 billion in its Sorocaba Plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The plant, which opened in 2012 and already produces the Etios and Yaris models, will be responsible for the manufacture of a new model in the Brazilian market scheduled for commercialization in 2021.

The choice of Sorocaba Plant was due to the initial project of the unit, which already provided for the possibility of expansion, as well as the logistics ease of suppliers. To start production of this new vehicle, Toyota plans to hire 300 new employees.

Masahiro Inoue, CEO of Toyota Latin America & Caribbean and Chairman of TDB stated that, "Toyota's commitment to the development of the Brazilian automotive industry and to Brazil is only possible with a strong partnership between the various stakeholders of the company. This announcement of another investment we make in Brazil is the result of the joint work of our employees, suppliers, dealers, unions and the government and reinforces our long-term vision in the country."

Details on the new vehicle, engine, and exact release date will be shared at a later date.

"This announcement of another investment represents a stronger Toyota in Brazil," added TDB President Rafael Chang. "During this decade, which meant challenging times for the economy and the automotive industry, Toyota remained true to its commitment to pursue the smile of its customers, growing sustainably, seeking greater business competitiveness and, fundamentally, contributing to the development of its businesses where it operates."

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LOS ANGELES, April 19 (Xinhua) -- There will be no known asteroid impact threats for at least 100 years, according to NASA's new planetary defense plan.

NASA released its Planetary Defense Strategy and Action Plan on Tuesday to guide the agency's efforts over the next decade.

For three decades, NASA has engaged in studying near-Earth objects (NEOs), asteroids and comets that orbit the sun and come within 30 million miles of Earth orbit.

While NEOs have the potential to help planetary scientists better understand the birth and formation of the solar system, some travel in orbits that bring them close enough to Earth's vicinity to make them potential impact hazards, said NASA.

Key areas of focus for NASA's planetary defense identified in the strategy include improving NEO survey, detection, and characterization efforts, developing and demonstrating NEO mitigation technologies similar to the agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, and fostering international collaboration related to NEO surveying and mitigation.

"An asteroid impact with Earth has potential for catastrophic devastation, and it is also the only natural disaster humanity now has sufficient technology to completely prevent," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer. "The release of this NASA strategy steps up NASA's intentions for the next 10 years to ensure the agency works both nationally and internationally to protect our planet for the benefit of all." 
WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Authorities of the U.S. state of Alabama said Wednesday that three people have been arrested in connection with a birthday party mass shooting the past weekend.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) tweeted that the individuals, including two teenagers, were taken into custody and all charged with four counts of reckless murder.

Gunfire erupted Saturday night at a dance studio on Broadnax Street in Dadeville, Alabama, where friends and family were celebrating the birthday of a 16-year-old girl.

Four people died in the shooting and more than two dozen others were wounded. Four victims reportedly remained hospitalized and in critical condition as of Wednesday.

"Violent crime has NO place in Alabama and what happened in Dadeville was horrific," Governor Kay Ivey tweeted on Wednesday.

"The work is not done, and we will fully support ALEA as they work to ensure we hold ALL responsible for this tragedy accountable," Ivey wrote. 
HOUSTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- A county commissioner in South Central U.S. state Oklahoma has resigned after being secretly recorded talking about killing reporters and lynching Black residents, the office of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt confirmed on Wednesday.

"Effective immediately, I, Mark Jennings do hereby resign as McCurtain County District #2 commissioner," Jennings wrote in a hand-written letter two days after the governor called for his resignation.

Stitt also called for the resignations of Sheriff Kevin Clardy and two other sheriff's department employees, who were also allegedly heard on the recording, describing the recorded comments as "horrid" and "hateful."

"When the words of public servants are so vile that they're hurting the people they serve, they should no longer hold those positions," state Senator George Burns, a Republican, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association has suspended Clardy and two others from the organization, according to local media reports. However, the move does not remove them from their jobs with the sheriff's department.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesman Gerald Davidson said on Wednesday that the agency has launched an investigation into the matter at Stitt's request. 
This video screenshot released by SpaceX on April 20, 2023 shows the Starship rocket exploding after liftoff from the launch pad in SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, the United States. SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, exploded after liftoff from the U.S. state of Texas during an inaugural test flight on Thursday morning. (SpaceX/Handout via Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, April 20 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, exploded after liftoff from the U.S. state of Texas during an inaugural test flight on Thursday morning.

The rocket got off the launch pad in SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, South Texas, but exploded minutes later. The spacecraft failed to reach orbit.

The uncrewed spacecraft was scheduled to have a 90-minute trip around the Earth before a splashdown near Hawaii.

Starship was fully loaded with more than 4500 metric tons (10 million pounds) of propellant before the launch, according to SpaceX.

The launch was the first test flight of SpaceX's fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket.

Starship experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" before stage separation, according to SpaceX.

"Today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary," the company tweeted.

Teams will continue to review data and work toward the next flight test, said SpaceX.

"Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months," Elon Musk, founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, said on Twitter. He monitored launch from the SpaceX control center in Boca Chica.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the launch of SpaceX's Starship rocket is "a good first step."

"It looks like they got through the first stage of this big monster rocket. That's a real accomplishment. We'll get a report on what happened to the second stage, but I'm very encouraged that they've gotten along this far," Nelson told CNN.

It was the second launch attempt of Starship after the first attempt was scrapped on Monday due to technical issues.

SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively referred to as Starship, represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Starship will be the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes, according to SpaceX.

To date, the SpaceX team has completed multiple sub-orbital flight tests of Starship's upper stage from Starbase, and also conducted numerous tests of the Super Heavy rocket, which include the increasingly complex static fires that led to a full-duration 31 Raptor engine test, according to SpaceX.

NASA awarded SpaceX contracts worth several billions of U.S. dollars to use Starship to ferry American astronauts to the surface of the moon under the space agency's Artemis program.

NASA has announced plans to use a Starship to put astronauts on the lunar surface in 2025. 

This video screenshot released by SpaceX on April 20, 2023 shows the Starship rocket lifting off from the launch pad in SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, the United States. SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, exploded after liftoff from the U.S. state of Texas during an inaugural test flight on Thursday morning. (SpaceX/Handout via Xinhua)

This video screenshot released by SpaceX on April 20, 2023 shows the Starship rocket lifting off from the launch pad in SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, the United States. SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, exploded after liftoff from the U.S. state of Texas during an inaugural test flight on Thursday morning. (SpaceX/Handout via Xinhua)

This video screenshot released by SpaceX on April 20, 2023 shows the Starship rocket exploding after liftoff from the launch pad in SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, the United States. SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, exploded after liftoff from the U.S. state of Texas during an inaugural test flight on Thursday morning. (SpaceX/Handout via Xinhua)
LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. senator Bernie Sanders has called on the U.S. Congress to raise the minimum wage to a living wage for the working class, in an opinion piece in The Guardian.

"At a time of massive and growing income and wealth inequality and record-breaking corporate profits, we must stand up for working families -- many of whom are struggling every day to provide a minimal standard of living for their families," Sanders wrote in the article for the newspaper.

According to Sanders, the federal minimum wage of 7.25 U.S. dollars an hour has not been raised since 2009 and has lost over 27 percent of its purchasing power since 14 years ago.

Raising the minimum wage is also good for the U.S. economy, argued Sanders. "Putting money into the hands of people who will spend it on basic needs is a strong economic stimulant," he said. 
An Intense New Novel About Family, Fashion, Business, and Books
EF Academy

EF Academy, LAs newest private high school, kicks off free, exclusive speaker series focused on Helping Teens Become Successful  and Happy

EF Academy

EF Academy  Pasadena Campus

PASADENA, Calif., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EF Academy , LAs newest private day and boarding school, today unveils a speaker series focused on Helping Teens Become Successful and Happy. Laurie Santos , Ph.D, Yale Happiness Expert and professor of psychology, will host the first event in the series on EF Academys campus on May 4th.



Dr. Laurie Santos is best-known for her class at Yale University, Psychology and The Good Life, the most popular class in the universitys 300-year history. She is also the host of  The Happiness Lab  podcast, where she shares the latest scientific research and surprising and inspiring stories to change the way people think about happiness. Since adapting her Yale course for teenagers online, more than 3.3 million students have enrolled and its now available on YouTube .

At EF Academy, Dr. Santos will lead an in-person session entitled, The Science of Well-Being for Teens, sharing what psychology teaches teens about how to be happier, how to feel less stressed, and how to thrive in high school and beyond.

Teenagers today are facing immense pressure from all areas of their lives  from academics to being accepted into the top university to presenting as perfect on social media. The pressure, along with the pandemic, have led more than a third of our teens to experience a mental health issue, said Dr. Santos. Scientific findings can teach us how to be less stressed, successful in life and even happy  Im hoping to bring these learnings to students, parents and educators in the local community and help teens flourish and actually enjoy the young years of their lives.

Event details:

Date : Thursday, May 4, 2023

Time: Campus opens at 5 p.m. and Dr. Laurie Santos talk begins at 7 p.m.

Location: EF Academy, 1505 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA

Admission: The event is free, but there are limited seats available. Reserve your spot today at Pasadena.EFAcademy.org .

Story continues

Our school believes its critical to educate the whole student  not just preparing them for college, but for life beyond the classroom, said Dr. Sally Mingarelli, EF Academys Head of School. Its incredibly challenging to be a teenager today  between living through a pandemic, going back to school, and living online, there is a lot to navigate outside of academics. We want to host an open dialogue about the reality of being a teenager today, not only for our own students, but for families and high school students in the Pasadena and greater LA community.

For more event details and to reserve tickets, visit: Pasadena.EFAcademy.org

About EF Academy

EF Academy brings a modern approach to high school, providing a fully immersive education, designed to ignite curiosity, growth and well-being. EF Academy has campuses in New York City, Oxford and Pasadena.

Contact:

LaunchSquad for EF Academy

EF@launchsquad.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9f288448-0e07-4874-bf84-e2b50253aa5f




shaunl / Getty Images

Costco is amazing, but it can also feel overwhelming. You want to make sure you're buying items you'll actually use that are also a good deal.

Costco's Best Deals? Employee Reveals 10 Standout Buys for Your Money

More: How To Build a Financial Plan From Zero

It's easy to get distracted by large quantities of everything you can imagine, typically at lower prices than you'll find at other stores. Of course, you'll always want to keep the number of people you're actually feeding in mind, as bulk items aren't a good deal if you end up tossing a good portion of them.

No two shopping trips to Costco are ever the same. This is due to the changing nature of available items at your local warehouse, as well as your likely desire to not eat the exact same things every week.

However, there are several items you'll definitely want to consider having on hand as staples in your household. Here's a look at 10 Costco foods to buy on every shopping trip, as they're a great deal and can even make your busy week less hectic.

Fang Zheng / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken

Price: $5.84

Honestly, one of the best deals you'll find at a grocery store, the Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken is a steal. Beyond the price, one of the greatest things about this chicken is the versatility it offers.

Serve it for dinner as an easy main course or put it on a sandwich or salad for lunch. You can even do something different with it each week to ensure you don't get tired of it.

Take Our Poll: Are You Concerned About the Safety of Your Money in Your Bank Accounts?

carlosgaw / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Cello Variety Pack, Cracker Cut, Premium Sliced Cheeses

Price: $15.99

The Cello Variety Pack offers something for everyone. Enjoy approximately 32 slices each of cracker cut aged cheddar, Jarlsberg, creamy Havarti and Dutch gouda.

You can do so many different things with this variety pack. Pair it with crackers for an afternoon snack, put a few pieces on a sandwich or turn it into a cheese tray when entertaining.

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Since there's around 128 total slices in each pack, each slice only costs about $0.12. You will never regret opening your refrigerator and finding bite-sized, pre-sliced cheese.

Costco

Kirkland Signature Cheese, Fruit & Nut Snack Packs

Price: $13.99

Healthy, delicious and satisfying, Kirkland Signature Cheese, Fruit and Nut Packs are a must-buy. Each box contains 16 single-serve packs, meaning they cost just $0.87 each.

Eight packs contain natural sharp cheddar cheese with sea-salted cashews and dried cranberries. The remaining eight consist of natural white cheddar cheese, also with sea-salted roasted almonds and dried cranberries.

A quick and easy snack you can enjoy guilt-free, these 1.5-ounce packs area ideal for work, home or on the go.

Rouzes / Getty Images

Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza

Price: $13.99

If you're like many households, pizza is a weekly staple at your dinner table. Save money on delivery by purchasing a four-count pack of Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza.

Each 16.95-ounce frozen pizza is topped with 100% real cheese and contains no preservatives or hydrogenated oils. Plus, they're made with a breadcrumb crust, promising extra deliciousness.

Alternatively, if you're more of a pepperoni family, you can opt for the four-count Kirkland Signature Pepperoni Pizza, priced at $16.99.

Read: 9 Best Aldi Products To Buy Instead of Name-Brand Alternatives

Chamille White / Shutterstock.com

Kirkland Signature Baguette

Price: $7.01

Everyone loves a baguette, so you can't go wrong with a Kirkland Signature Baguette two-pack. Each baguette Weighs in at 24 ounces, and can be paired with anything.

Serve it with soup on a chilly day, use it to make a sandwich, pair it with a salad or cut it up and put it on a charcuterie board. Given the sheer number of uses, you'll quickly see the benefit of always having at least one baguette on hand.

Do note, these baguettes should be used within one day of purchase or frozen for later use.

Voyagerix / Shutterstock.com

Kirkland Signature Stir-Fry Frozen Vegetable Blend

Price: $12.51

Weighing in at 5.5 pounds, having the Kirkland Signature Stir-Fry Frozen Vegetable Blend on hand is a decision you won't regret. Featuring a mix of sugar snap peas, red peppers, mushrooms, carrots, onions and more, this is an easy way to enjoy a hearty mix of vegetables.

Adding a protein and serving stir-fry for dinner is the most obvious use, but you don't have to stop there. These vegetables can also serve as a quick, easy and healthy side dish.

boblin / Getty Images

Kirkland Signature Ready-Made Dinner

Price: Varies

You're a busy person who doesn't always have time to make dinner. Thankfully Costco has that covered in a both a delicious and cost-effective manner.

Choose from a variety of options, including Kirkland Signature Ravioli Lasagna with Beef and Pork -- $20.79, i.e., $5.84 per pound -- Kirkland Signature Chicken Street Tacos, 12-count -- $18.81, i.e., $6.42 per pound -- and Kirkland Signature Chicken Pot Pie -- $26.95, i.e., $4.67 per pound.

This will allow you to save money on takeout, and depending on the size of your family, you'll also likely have leftovers.

More: 8 Costco Items That Have the Most Customer Complaints

Costco

Kirkland Signature Organic Fruit & Vegetable Pouches

Price: $14.73

If you have babies and toddlers, you know how expensive pouches can be. Prepare to be amazed, as you'll pay just $0.61 per pouch with this 24-count pack of Kirkland Signature Organic Fruit and Vegetable Pouches.

You'll receive 12 apple, strawberry and spinach pouches, along with 12 apple, mango, yellow carrot and peach pouches. They're also gluten free and contain no added sugar, so you can feel great about what you're feeding your little ones, while saving money.

Costco

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Bars

Price: $18.12

Just as the name suggests, Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Nut Bars can satisfy multiple cravings in one bite. Delicious and filling, each box contains 48 bars, which makes the per unit price just $0.38.

These bars are a pantry staple, because they're a cheap and quick snack. Put a few in your desk at work, keep one in your bag or put them in your kids' lunchboxes. When you see the size of the box, you'll assume it will last awhile, but 48 tasty snack bars will disappear faster than you expect.

Shutterstock.com

Kirkland Signature Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

Price: $16.18

Healthy and hassle-free, Kirkland Signature Spinach Salad With Poppyseed Dressing makes eating your greens easier than ever. Containing a variety of ingredients, such as hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, red onions, craisins, cheese and bacon, this massive pre-made salad weighs 2.75 pounds.

The possibilities are endless -- turn it into a week's worth of lunches, serve it for dinner or bring it to a potluck. When you think about how much time and effort it would take to make this salad from scratch, you'll definitely want to just keep buying it each week.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Costco Foods You Should Include in Your Weekly Shopping Budget
2nd Teen Charged in Kidnapping Migrants in Houston

The FBI works on the scene of a shooting in north Houston on March 23, 2023. (Ralph Green/Houston Chronicle via AP)

HOUSTONA second teenager has been charged with kidnapping several migrants and allegedly holding them captive for several days at a Houston hotel before they were rescued by FBI agents during a confrontation that ended with the fatal shooting of another suspect, authorities said Monday.

Demarcus Celestine, 17, was charged on Saturday with three counts of aggravated kidnapping, according to court records.

His arrest was made public on Monday by a tweet from the FBIs Houston office, which said Celestine had been arrested by FBI agents and the Harris County Sheriffs Office in Houston.

Celestine, who appeared in court Monday, remained jailed on bonds totaling $300,000.

An attorney for Celestine didnt immediately return a call or an email seeking comment.

The FBI works on the scene of a shooting in north Houston on March 23, 2023. (Ralph Green/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Authorities allege the kidnapping began March 18 in neighboring Waller County when three migrants who had been traveling on Interstate 10 were stopped and forced from a vehicle.

The migrants driver might have called 911 and informed the Waller County Sheriffs Office about the kidnapping, authorities said. The sheriffs office later worked with the FBI to find the migrants.

Prosecutors allege Celestine took the migrantstwo women and one manat gunpoint to the north Houston hotel, where he held [them] under threat of death by firearm, sending messages to family members to bring money in exchange for their release, according to court records.

Celestine is accused, along with two other suspects, of using physical violence against the migrants as they were held for several days.

On March 23, five days after the migrants were abducted, FBI agents rescued the migrants from the hotel. One of the suspects, later identified as Alberto Montes II, 20, was fatally shot. Montes parents told KTRK earlier this month they are still seeking answers from authorities about why their son was fatally shot. The FBIs investigation of the shooting remains ongoing, said agency spokesperson Connor Hagan.

Another suspect, Josiah Jackson, 17, has been charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping. Jackson remained jailed on bonds totaling $200,000.
4 US Black Nationalists Charged With Conspiring With Russian Intelligence in Malign Influence Campaign

The seal of the F.B.I. hangs in the Flag Room at the bureau's headquaters in Washington on March 9, 2007. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged three Russian nationals and four U.S. citizens connected to black nationalist movements with taking part in a malign influence campaign in the United States on behalf of Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) intelligence agency.

The four U.S. citizens charged are Omali Yeshitela, Penny Joanne Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus C. Romain Jr., aka Gazi Kodzo.

Yeshitela, Hess, and Nevel are members of the African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP), also known as the Uhuru movement. Romain is the leader of the Black Hammer Party, according to the DOJ.

The four U.S. citizens are accused of working with Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov, and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov, who are Russian nationals accused of working on behalf of the FSB and the Russian government.

All seven are charged with conspiring to recruit U.S. citizens to act as illegal agents of the Russian government in the United States, for which they face a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Yeshitela, Hess, and Nevel are charged with acting as agents of Russia within the United States without prior authorization, for which they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

According to the DOJ, one focus of the alleged influence campaign was to create the appearance of American popular support for Russias annexation of territories in Ukraine.

APSP and Black Hammer

The APSP was established in 1972, with Omali as one of its original co-founders. A website for the APSP lists a party platform, which was adopted in 1979 and amended in 1981, that denounces what it describes as U.S. and western European political, economic, and military interference in the affairs of Africa and African people around the world.

The APSP platform also denounces capitalism and calls for the United States and European nations to pay reparations to African countries and their descendants. The APSP platform further calls for an end to taxation of black people in the United States.

The Black Hammer Party was founded in 2019 by Romain. The organization states that its mission is to take the land back for all colonized people worldwide.

The extremist organization also lists a set of principles denouncing capitalism and colonialism and states, The Colonized Proletariat is the only true proletariat, and Only through our leadership can white power, capitalism, colonialism, imperialism and all its symptomatic offspring be smashed.

Alleged Ties to Russia

A federal indictment (pdf) alleges that the Russian nationals were in contact with Yeshitela, Hess, Nevel, and Romain for several years. The Russian nationals allegedly paid for Yeshitela to travel to Russia in 2015. Ionov also allegedly prompted Hess to draft and promote a petition on Genocide of African people in U.S.

Ionov also allegedly prompted the APSP to issue a statement in 2016 opposing a proposal to ban the Russian national teams participation in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro.

Ionov is the founder of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), an organization headquartered in Moscow and funded by the Russian government. According to federal prosecutors, Ionov used AGMR as a tool to advance Russias malign influence campaign.

In July 2017, Ionov allegedly reached out to Nevel, who was a candidate for mayor of St. Petersburg at the time. Ionov allegedly requested an interview with Nevel to talk about reparations and proposed lending support to Nevels campaign, including campaign finance, through AGMR. It wasnt clear from the charging documents whether Nevels campaign accepted this support.

At Ionovs invitation, Yeshitela allegedly spoke at a 2020 conference in the so-called Donestk Peoples Republic, an area along the border of Ukraine and Russia that Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists have been fighting over since 2014.

After Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ionov contacted the APSP members with a message declaring that Russia has exhausted all possible tools to prevent conflict in Ukraine. Ionov said the war truly began in 2014 when the United States and European Union member nations promoted a change in political leadership in Ukraine and that pro-Western neo-fascists had burned people in Odessa and shot thousands of civilians in the Donbas.

Thereafter, the APSP hosted Ionov on a March 2022 video conference during which he said anyone who supported Ukraine also supported Nazism and white supremacy, and the APSP allegedly issued statements of solidarity with the Russian government.

In June 2022, Romain promoted a demonstration at the Georgia Capitol building in opposition to U.S. support for the war in Ukraine.

Romain issued a statement that reads, in part, [The United States] is sending Billions of OUR Tax dollars to kill the Russian people who have done us no harm.

Romain subsequently shared the press statement with Ionov and said: This is the press release! Hope you like it.

Federal agents searched the homes of Yeshitela, Hess, Nevel and another APSP member during pre-dawn raids in July 2022. Ionov was the first to be indicted, in July 2022, but the two other Russian nationals and four U.S. citizens were indicted in a subsequent superseding indictment on April 18.

All Americans should be deeply concerned by the tactics employed by the FSB and remain vigilant to any attempt to undermine our democracy, Kurt Ronnow, acting assistant director of the FBIs Counterintelligence Division, said on April 18. The FBI remains committed to confronting this egregious behavior and ultimately disrupting our adversaries and those who act on their behalf.

Response to Federal Investigation and Charges

NTD News reached out to the APSP and the Black Hammer Party for comment, but neither organization responded by press time.

In December 2022, the APSPs official publication, The Burning Spear, published a statement accusing federal investigators of pursuing bogus and slanderous charges against Yeshitela and the APSP.

The organization stated, The U.S. government and its Department of Justice will attempt to put us on trial and imprison us for fighting for the liberation of African people in the U.S. and around the world.

From NTD News
ACCC to Oppose Qantas $614M Acquisition of Alliance

Qantas has promised to start direct flights from Sydney to London by late 2025 (Steve Parsons/PA)

The competition watchdog says it will oppose Qantas proposed acquisition of Alliance Airlines, an ASX-listed charter airline that mostly serves the resource sector.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said on Thursday it was concerned that the $614 million (US$414 million) transaction would reduce competition for resources industry customers in Western Australia and Queensland.

We consider Alliance to be an important competitor to Qantas, and the removal of Alliance is likely to substantially lessen competition threatening increased prices and reduced service quality for customers, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

Flying workers in the resource industry to and from their worksites is an essential service for this important part of the Australian economy, so it is critical that competition in this market is protected.

Qantas said it had requested a meeting with the ACCC to seek more information about its decision, which it said was at odds with the increasingly competitive nature of the segment.

As the ACCC has previously acknowledged, customers in the resources segment are sophisticated and well resourced with procurement expertise and strong bargaining power in their negotiations with airlines and other operators, Qantas said.

The ACCC said it carefully investigated the proposed acquisition, which was first announced in May 2022, and had received considerable feedback that Alliance was strongly valued by customers as a particularly vigorous and effective competitor.

The ACCC said while Australians might not have heard of Alliance because it doesnt sell seats on most passenger routes, it was one of Australias most significant airlines, with 70 aircraft currently and more on order.

Qantas currently wet-leases 18 Embraer aircraft from Alliance, which operates them for QantasLink.

The flag carrier took a nearly 20 per cent stake in Alliance in February 2019 and was proposing to acquire the rest of the company in an all-scrip transaction.

Alliance Aviation said in a statement that it was disappointed with the ACCCs decision and would consider its options before deciding on its next step.

The two companies could decide to go ahead with the merger despite the ACCCs opposition, meaning the matter would be decided by the Federal Court.

While we respect the ACCC and its process, we remain of the view that there is a strong industrial logic for Alliance to be part of the Qantas Group and that the proposal does not substantially lessen competition, said managing director Scott McMillan.

We also think there is a compelling case that the proposed transaction will lead to superior outcomes both for Alliance shareholders and for our customers.
Indictment of US Pro-Russian Socialists Is Revealing, But Charges Precarious

News Analysis

A recent indictment of a several American socialist activists makes a strong case that they worked hand-in-glove with a Russian intelligence cutout. That doesnt mean, however, that the charges against them will stand.

The April 13 indictment alleges that several members and officials of the African Peoples Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement (APSP), all American citizens, conspired and acted as agents of Russia to further Russian interests in America, including influencing several local elections.

The 37-page document (pdf) details how Omali Yeshitela, founder and chairman of APSP, traveled to Moscow in May 2015 and launched a cooperation with Aleksandr Ionov and his Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR). Ionovs group was not only funded by grants from the Russian government, but he answered directly to the FSB, Russian intelligence and security service, the indictment alleges.

Ionov would send requests to APSP to instigate and back various causes in Russian interest, including several demonstrations, a petition on Genocide of African people in U.S., support for Russian invasion of Ukraine, and support for the Russian Olympic team in 2016 when over 100 Russian athletes were banned from competing because of a sprawling doping scandal.

In the other direction, APSP would ask Ionov for money, including some $12,000 for a four-city tour in 2016 in support of the genocide petition.

Two APSP members also ran for local offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2017 and 2019 with the clandestine support of AGMR, prosecutors allege.

The allegations indicate that APSP officials were aware of what they were doing.

As Yeshitela said in a summary of one of his 2015 Moscow trips emailed to APSP members, it was clear that AGMR was an instrument of Russian government, the indictment says.

Prosecutors, however, will face a rather high legal bar to secure convictions in the case.

The charges they brought are: Violation of Section 951, which bans acting as an agent of a foreign government without registering as such; and a conspiracy to violate said statute.

Section 951 requires a rather tight relationship between the foreign government and its supposed agent.

In 2018, a Virginia judge tossed a Section 951 charge saying that the meaning of agent in this context includes the power of the principal to give directions and the duty of the agent to obey those directions.

A person must do more than act as a representative or on behalf of a foreign government, said the district judge, Anthony Trenga (pdf).

The indictment against APSP includes evidence that Ionov was a Russian agent, including his communications with alleged FSB agents Yegor Popov and Aleksey Sukhodolov.

Dont do anything without me or [Sukhodolov] anymore.  Because I am the only person responsible for working with you. [Sukhodolov] oversees and manages everything.  These are important internal formalities. Please do not violate them. This can have serious consequences, Popov communicated to Ionov in 2018, according to the indictment.

But the indictment offers little evidence of Ionov having such direct control of the Americans. It states that he was directing APSP officials to do things but its not clear they were under any obligation to follow.

Its possible APSP violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which bans unregistered advocacy on behalf of a foreign entity that primarily benefits a foreign government. But bringing charges under FARA requires that the violator knew he was supposed to register. Usually, if the Department of Justice discovers a violation, it simply sends a notice asking the person or entity to register ex post.

Prosecutors havent charged a FARA violation in the APSP case.
ANALYSIS: The Missing Pieces in Trudeau Foundations Chinese Donation Puzzle

News Analysis

New information is surfacing on the Chinese donation that took down the leadership of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, but how accurate is it and how does it tie into the larger picture?

Its clear that the donors were affiliated with the Chinese regime, and reportedly the money was meant to serve a purpose in Beijings foreign influence strategy.

One stakeholder who claims he played a key part in the donation given in 2016 provides a different account of how the donation came about.

Guy Lefebvre, a former vice-president of the Universite de Montreal (UdeM), told Le Devoir that the Chinese donors were not interested in dealing with the foundation and that he was the one who reached out to them so they would give money to UdeM.

Lefebvre, a former dean of UdeMs law faculty and now a professor emeritus there, had links with China at the time, being among other things a fellow at a Chinese Communist Party think tank.

Analyzing the different stories to see how they mesh together is made difficult by the lack of specific dates for important events of the saga, with most accounts only providing a certain year instead of months or actual dates.

There is also ambiguity on when the donation deal with Trudeau was launched, and if there was any overlap with Trudeaus tenure at the foundation.

Trudeaus office says he was unaware of the donation, having withdrawn his involvement in the foundations affairs after he became the Liberal Party leader in 2013, reported The Globe and Mail in a Feb. 28 article.

The prime minister himself said in an April 11 news conference that he has absolutely no intersection with the foundation established in his fathers name.

Donation Cleared

When it was reported in 2016 that billionaire Chinese Communist Party (CCP) advisor Zhang Bin and another wealthy Chinese businessman, Niu Gensheng, would donate $200,000 to the Trudeau Foundationa move that followed Bins attendance at a cash-for-access fundraiser with Trudeau in May that yearthe ethics commissioner rejected the Oppositions demand to examine the matter.

In December 2016, then-commissioner Mary Dawson said she could find no evidence that Zhang has dealings or is seeking funding from the Government of Canada, media reported at the time.

Information in the public domain indicates that the terms of the donation to the Trudeau Foundation were negotiated between September 2014 and spring 2016, after Mr. Trudeaus involvement with the Foundation had ended. I will therefore not be looking further into the matter at this time, Dawson reportedly wrote to then-interim Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose.

Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party in April 2013.

The Epoch Times asked the Trudeau Foundation and the Prime Ministers Office for the exact date Trudeau stopped being involved with the Foundation but didnt hear back.

An archive of a page on the foundations website showing Trudeaus biography suggests that he was listed as an active member as of April 19, 2014.

A subsequent Wayback Machine capture of the same page on Oct. 23, 2015, has a note with an added asterisk at the end of his biography stating: * Mr. Trudeau has withdrawn from the affairs of the Foundation for the duration of his involvement in federal politics. The note doesnt appear in the April 19, 2014, capture.

Hence, when the Zhang donation was revealed by media in 2016, Trudeau was technically no longer involved in the affairs of the foundation, according to his page on the foundations website.

However, the donation deal was actually concluded in 2014, a UdeM spokesperson told The Epoch Times, with only the signature ceremony taking place in 2016.

A spokesperson for the ethics commissioner told The Epoch Times that Trudeau would not have been in breach of his obligations even if he was still involved with the foundation prior to becoming prime minister, since he wasnt subject to the Conflict of Interest Act.

As an MP, he was only subject to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons, said communications director Melanie Rushworth.

Nothing in the Code prevents Members who are not ministers or parliamentary secretaries from being a director or officer in a non-profit organization as long as they are able to fulfil their obligations under the Code, she said

The foundations entire leadership resigned on April 11 over the handling of the donation and the resulting fallout.

Origin of Donation Idea

It is undisputed that UdeM received the bulk of the $1 million donation from Zhang Bin and his associate Niu Gensheng. Both men work for the China Cultural Industry Association (CCIA), a state-backed entity promoting Beijings interest abroad.

In the September 2016 issue of its Droit Montreal publication, the universitys law faculty wrote about the historical donation of $800,000 it had received in June that year from Zhang and Niu.

The CCIA wrote on its website in December 2014 that a Zhang Bin-Niu Gensheng-Trudeau Education Fund had been discussed in June that year between Zhang, Niu, Trudeau Foundation director Alexandre Trudeau (brother of the prime minister), and UdeM vice-president Guy Lefebvre.

What took place before June 2014 needs to be unearthed to better understand the genesis of the donation, for which there are at least three explanations.

The original explanation presented by UdeM in November 2014 was that parents of a Chinese student at the Faculty of Law were so pleased with their sons experience on campus that the father reached out to Zhang Bin, who then made the donation.

The second origin story was reported by The Globe and Mail in its Feb. 28 article. It says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had intercepted a conversation in 2014with no specific time period givenbetween Zhang and a Chinese diplomat in Canada. It says the diplomat told Zhang to give $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation and said Beijing would reimburse him.

The third origin story was laid out by Guy Lefebvre in an interview with Le Devoir published on April 17.

The November 2014 UdeM article explained how the strong ties between Chinese universities and UdeM were developed because of Lefebvre and that he played the key role in the donation deal.

Le Devoir reported that Lefebvre said it was he who contacted Zhang Bin after Zhang, along with Niu Gensheng, donated $800,000 to the University of Toronto, to ask him to donate to UdeM as well.

Lefebvre met Zhang for the first time in 2014, then twice in Beijing, reported Le Devoir; Lefebvre said they only met four or five times. An initial or specific date for those meetings was not mentioned.

UdeMs version of the 2014 events, about the father of a UdeM student, is not consistent with the other two versions. As for the CSIS and Lefebvre versions, without knowing the date of the conversation intercepted by CSIS or when Lefebvre first reached out to Zhang, its hard to know if and how the events are related.

But theres yet another contradiction: Lefebvre telling Le Devoir the Trudeau Foundation was not involved at the beginning. He said that initially, Zhang and Bin wanted to donate solely to the Universite de Montreal to establish scholarships and that Zhang had never expressed the wish to contribute to the foundation.

There was no request from his part, thats abundantly clear, Lefebvre told Le Devoir.

Lefebvre explained that the Trudeau Foundation sought to insert itself into the deal after he reached out to the foundation about using the name of Pierre Elliott Trudeau for the scholarships.

The 2014 UdeM article said the donation was meant in part to honour the memory and leadership of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as one of the first Western leaders to recognize the Peoples Republic of China, having established diplomatic relations with China in 1970. Trudeau is also a graduate of the Universite de Montreal and taught at its law faculty.

Lefebvre told Le Devoir its also the Trudeau Foundation that asked for the specific amount of $200,000, along with $50,000 to build a statue of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Lefebvres information does not correspond to what the Globe reported about the consulate instructing that a $1 million be donated to the Trudeau Foundation. Le Devoir says Lefebvre didnt dispute CSIS reporting on what took place but insisted the initial project didnt involve the foundation.

Lefebvre said he didnt expect the Chinese state would be involved. Perhaps I was naive, he told Le Devoir. Lefebvre has extensive experience in China and ties to Chinese entities, including being a fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a CCP think tank.

His resume on the UdeM website that earlier contained multiple references to his involvement with China has been completely purged of any such links in recent days. The previous version is available in the Internet Archive.

The Epoch Times asked UdeM why all Chinese connections were removed from Lefebvres resume and it said individual UdeM members are responsible for the resumes content. This suggests Lefebvre purged the content himself. Lefebvre has not responded to several requests for comment.
Andrew Gillum on Trial for Fraud, Lying to FBI During Campaign Against Ron DeSantis

The former rising Democrat star faces 17 criminal counts

A former candidate for Florida governor, Andrew Gillum, faces 17 counts of fraud and lying to the FBI during his 2018 campaign against now-Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Gillum, who was Tallahassees mayor before he ran for governor and was considered a rising star within the Democrat Party, is now on trial in a federal court in Tallahassee. Prosecutors argued that during his run for governor, he committed fraud by using campaign funds to make various purchases.

This case is not about politics, assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan said, according to reports from the trial. This case is about deceiving donors [and] stealing from his own campaign.

Gillum, 43, is accused of accepting about $57,000 in political contributions that were secretly funneled through a co-defendants company to his personal accounts. The co-defendant is Sharon Lettman-Hicks, a longtime political adviser to Gillum and former executive with the People for the American Way Foundation, a progressive group.

She ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for the state House.

Prosecutors also say Gillum lied about his interactions with undercover FBI agents posing as developers who paid for a 2016 trip he and his brother took to New York, which included a ticket to the hit Broadway show Hamilton.

Gillum is accused of falsely telling the FBI later that he never received anything from these undercover developers and that his brother provided the Broadway ticket.

Democratic Florida gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum speaks at a campaign rally in Miami, Fla., on Sept. 24, 2018. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Start of Investigation

The FBI began an investigation into P&P Communications, a firm founded by Lettman-Hicks, after the agency saw that Gillum was being paid large amounts of money by the company, which hired him in 2017 as he was probing a bid for governor. Milligan said that P&P defrauded several nonprofits by soliciting about $242,500 in campaign donations and sending the money to her firm to pay Gillum, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Mr. Gillum had a motive for this, Milligan told the court on April 18, adding that the case isnt about whether Gillum was a good mayor or not. He needed the money.

Gillum and Lettman-Hicks have pleaded not guilty. Gillum said after he was indicted that he had a target on my back since he was the state capitals mayor, and predicted he will be vindicated.

Margot Moss, a Miami-based attorney representing Gillum, opened her arguments by showing Gillum, his wife, and their three children together in photos.

This case is about what happens when you put a target on someones back, she said, echoing Gillums previous statements, according to the newspaper. And then they twist and they force the evidence in the direction of the targets. But this is not what our justice system is about.

Then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey react after appearing at his midterm election night party in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 6, 2018. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Gillums salary and the payments he received from P&P were legitimate, Moss argued.

The truth is Andrew Gillum is innocent. Thats why he has chosen to go to trial to say loud and clear I am not guilty, Moss told the jurors.

But an undercover FBI agent, Mike Miller, testified to the court that he posed as a real estate developer seeking help with projects in exchange for cash, WTXL reported.

In one recording that was played in court, Andrews brother, Marcus Gillum, claims Andrew Gillum is aware of the scheme and then asks Miller for anywhere between $25,000 to $75,000 in exchange for possible development projects

In 2020, two years after losing to DeSantis, Gillum was discovered inside a Miami Beach hotel room with a male who had allegedly overdosed on drugs. Authorities said Gillum was too far under the influence to describe what had happened in the hotel room.

Later, Gillum confirmed he was seeking treatment for depression and alcohol abuse. He was never charged with a crime in connection to the incident, although it likely torpedoed his political future.

Charges

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a 2022 news release that between 2016 and 2019, Gillum and Lettman-Hicks conspired to commit wire fraud by unlawfully soliciting and obtaining funds from various entities and individuals through false and fraudulent promises and representations that the funds would be used for a legitimate purpose.

Prosecutors further allege that the defendants used third parties to divert some of the funds to a company owned by Lettman-Hicks, which she fraudulently disguised as payroll payments to Gillum for his personal use.

Initially, both defendants were charged with 19 counts of wire fraud, although Gillum now only faces 17 counts. Gillum was also charged with making false statements to FBI agents, the DOJ said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
fizkes / Getty Images/iStockphoto

It can be difficult to find a job that pays well and satisfies the need for a work-life balance. Not only that, but it can be hard to find a stable job that lets the job seeker use relevant skills and gain a sense of fulfillment.

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Millennials, who make up the largest age group in the American workforce, face these quandaries more than any other generation.

One would think that the hiring process is easier with technology  its harder, said Alice Rush, MA, certified career counselor and a career advisor at University of Phoenix.

This is especially true with the prevalence of remote work.

When you are looking for a remote job, you are competing with the hundreds and thousands of people throughout the USA or even globally, Rush said. [There are] so many more thousands of applicants than baby boomers had to contend with locally in one geographic region.

Although finding a job as a millennial can be tricky, there are ways to make it easier. One of those ways is to learn the key terms that recruiters and hiring managers commonly use. By familiarizing yourself with these terms, as well as by understanding whats unique for job seekers in the millennial generation, you can increase your chances of finding the right job for you.

ATS

The Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a program many employers use to quickly identify and screen potential candidates and their resumes. For the most part, millennials have experience but havent reached senior-level positions. Because of this, they often have to get past the ATS filter before they ever get an interview.

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The problem is that the competition for entry-level or mid-level jobs is getting tougher; it is not uncommon for employers to receive 100 to 200 applicants for these kinds of jobs, said Nathan Brunner, CEO of Salarship. To reduce the candidate pool, recruiters use an algorithmic filter that checks the candidates resume against the job description. That is, the ATS.

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Its a good idea to optimize your resume for the ATS filter. This involves using keywords from the job description in your resume.

To get a fair chance at getting the job, Brunner said, I would strongly recommend millennials to customize their resume with relevant keywords mentioned in the job description.

Rush also confirmed this by saying, Targeting your resume and aligning your skills with the requirements of the job is imperative to increasing your probability of being asked to interview for the position.

If your resume cant get past the ATS filter, it may never be seen by human eyes.

Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance can mean different things to different people. For some, its the reduction of work-related stress. For others, its the balance between the time spent dedicated to work and the time spent leading a fulfilled life outside the office. Knowing what kind of work-life balance you need can go a long way to achieving job satisfaction.

Not all jobs offer good work-life balance. Some employers will have mandated overtime or expect employees to do extra work  sometimes without pay. But as millennials and Gen Z job seekers start replacing the older generations, its time for employers to make a change.

When asked about this, Dr. Danielle Kelvas, a medical writer at Hospital Recruiting: Physician and Healthcare Job Board, weighed in about changes to the medical industry.

According to a survey released by the American Nurses Foundation and Joslin Insight, Generation Z and millennial nurses have specific desires when it comes to their workplace environment, Kelvas said. For example, they place a high value on work-life balance, flexible scheduling and opportunities for professional development. Healthcare employers looking to attract and retain millennial and Gen Z professionals may need to offer these types of benefits and amenities.

This is true even for those not pursuing a career in the medical profession. Younger job candidates tend to look for positions that reflect their interests and desires. So, sooner or later, companies looking to hire these job seekers are going to need to learn to adapt to their needs.

Hybrid Workplace

Working from home has gained a lot of traction in recent years. In fact, nearly 18% of people living in areas with a population of 65,000 or more worked from home in 2021. That was triple the number from just two years prior.

Now, many employers offer hybrid workplaces  i.e., the ability to work from home and in the office. For many, this offers more flexibility and a better work-life balance.

But the term hybrid workplace may not have the same meaning for all employers.

More and more companies are adjusting to spending more time in an office, so if youre applying for a hybrid job hoping to spend most of the time at home, you should be prepared in case that changes, said Ryan Miller, director of client success at Employment BOOST.

If youre interested in hybrid work, its important to find out how each company defines that. Its also a good idea to see whether the company plans to change its work model at any point.

Businesses have no obligations to maintain their current office/virtual schedule, Miller added.

Networking

Building a professional network can be vital to helping job-seeking millennials find work, especially in an increasingly digital world. In some cases, it might even be more important than having the perfect resume.

We know a very small percentage of applicants who apply online are requested to interview, Rush said. Most of the job search time invested needs to be placed on networking. As the adage states, Network or Not Work.'

Many millennials shy away from networking, but learning how to do it effectively can go a long way toward building a lucrative career.

Rush said, Social science research indicates that in-person human contact results in greater likelihood of callbacks and deeper connections than those more superficial interactions through email or text.

Job Hopping and Counteroffers

Job hopping, which is essentially going from one job to another, has become more prevalent in the modern era. This is because many job seekers are always on the lookout for improved pay and benefits. For some people, job hopping can even lead to better career prospects.

If you do accept a new offer with a company, you should be wary of a counteroffer from your current employer, Miller said. Employers can promise you the world if you stay with your current company, but accepting them can put a target on your back for your current employer.

Before accepting a counteroffer to stay, consider the benefits and drawbacks.

Knowing that youre not invested/interested in the company long term brings your loyalty to the company in question and can open you up to being reassigned or maybe even bring you in line for the next time a company has a potential layoff, Miller said. Additionally, counteroffers often will not address all of your issues/concerns with the company.

If you do decide to leave your company, try to do so on a good note. This can help you keep some of those important professional connections and potentially get you a better opportunity in the future.

Professional Associations and Affiliations

When looking for a job, see whether the company or employer youre interested in is part of a professional association or affiliation. If so, this can boost your chances of getting an interview.

In the past, a job applicant used to be able to apply in person and have the receptionist hand carry your resume over to the hiring manager, Rush said. Now for millennials  they must get creative. They need to use their affiliations, their alumni from where they went to school, or professional association and ask them to hand carry your resume over to the hiring manager.

There are several ways to do this. For example, you can use LinkedIn to find connections from a school or company. Or you can do a quick internet search to find professional associations based on your major or area of interest.

From that search list, Rush said, you can then find a local chapter in your area for job clubs and in person connection groups.

Career Portfolio

In many ways, a portfolio is like a resume. It shows off your abilities, skills and experiences. Depending on your industry, it might be a good idea to have an online portfolio or website you can direct recruiters or employers to. This can give them a better idea of what you can do than a resume would.

Following Up

Once you have an interview, its important to follow up. Even if you dont know the outcome yet, sending a polite thank-you could improve your chances of getting another interview, or even the job.

When you do follow up, keep it short and sweet. Try to send it the same day or the day after your interview. And it doesnt hurt to remind the recipient of who you are and what you discussed.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Job-Seeking Terms That Millennials Should Know
Appeals Court Grants Braggs Request to Temporarily Freeze House Subpeona

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on April 20 issued a temporary administrative hold on the return date of the House Judiciary Committees congressional subpoena to Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office.

Pomerantz investigated former President Donald Trumps finances before leaving Braggs office in February 2022 in protest of Braggs initial unwillingness to bring an indictment against Trump. Bragg then brought the indictment against Trump in late March, prompting Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to initiate a probe into what Jordan calls a politically motivated prosecution against a former president. Jordan subpoenaed Pomerantz to seek his testimony. In response, Bragg sued the House Judiciary Committee and Pomerantz to prevent Pomerantz from testifying.

The appeals courts April 20 order temporarily froze a lower courts ruling on April 19 that declined Braggs request to block Pomerantz from testifying to Congress. It allowed Pomerantz to delay his testimony until early next week, when a three-judge panel will decide whether to put the subpoena on a longer hold as Bragg appeals the lower courts decision.

The court indicated that the order doesnt reflect its opinion of the merit of Braggs case but is only a temporary hold to allow it to review Braggs application. The court instructed the parties to complete court filings on a permanent stay on the ruling.

It came as the latest development in the legal clash between House Judiciary Committee lawmakers, which centers on the question of whether Congress has the authority to become involved in the Manhattan DAs prosecution of a former president.

District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, ordered on April 19 that the congressional panel has the authority to become involved in the investigation of Trump because it has legitimate legislative interests.

The lower courts order, a victory for the Judiciary Committees lawmakers, came after an hour-long verbal clash between Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., counsel for Bragg, and House general counsel Matthew Berry in the Southern District Court of New York.

In her order, Vyskocil ruled in favor of the congressional lawmakers, affirming their stance that the subpoena they issued on Pomerantz serves legitimate legislative purposes and is thus protected from lawsuits by the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution. That clause protects federal legislators from lawsuits for actions that serve a valid legislative purpose.

It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection, the judge wrote in her ruling. Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition.

No one is above the law.

Vyskocil agreed with the House Judiciary Committees argument that Congress has a legislative interest because House lawmakers introduced legislation that Pomerantzs testimony could help inform. This includes a bill that, if enacted into law, would bar the use of federal funds to investigate a sitting or former president (the Accountability for Lawless Violence In our Neighborhoods, or ALVIN, Act) and another that would allow Congress to remove an action or prosecution against a former president (H.R. 2553).

Vyskocil also said Congress has the interest and authority to examine whether politically motivated prosecutions of a former president would interfere with the duties of a sitting president, as fear of post hoc prosecution might inappropriately influence a sitting presidents decision-making on policy.

The judge further noted that because Pomerantz revealed many details of his investigation of Trump in his book, People Vs. Donald Trump, the publishing of that bookand Pomerantzs high-profile media appearances on this mattereffectively waived his privileges from speaking to the information contained in the book about his investigation of Trump.

Michael Scotto, who worked for 23 years as a prosecutor in the Manhattan DAs office, told The Epoch Times in an email on April 20 that Braggs lawsuit is still pretty much dead, even considering the appeals courts order extending the subpoena deadline. He agreed with Vyskocils assessment that Congress has legitimate legislative interests in inquiring about the prosecution of a former president and that Braggs separation of powers claims wouldnt override those interests.

Another consideration, according to Scotto, is that Pomerantz could invoke various privileges at the House hearingwhich can be litigated if Congress finds that his refusal to answer on privilege grounds is baselesswhich weakens Braggs central claim that Pomerantzs testimony would cause irreparable harm to his case. Scotto also indicated that Pomerantzs testimony wouldnt significantly interfere with Braggs criminal case because Pomerantz didnt work on that case and isnt currently working for Bragg.

If there was never a book, we wouldnt be here, Scotto said.
Arizona Boy Hospitalized Twice Before Death in State Care

A 9-year-old boy who died last year while in the care of Arizonas child welfare agency was hospitalized twice for a life-threatening diabetes complication in the weeks leading up to his death, according to an autopsy report released this month.

The state took Jakob Blodgett into its custody on Dec. 9 after his father, Richard Blodgett, was arrested on suspicion of drug possession. Before the end of the year, Jakob was dead.

The Maricopa County medical examiners report listed the boys cause of death as complications of Type 1 diabetes, including the serious complication known as ketoacidosis. The manner of death was listed as natural.

Blodgett, 47, has said his son was diagnosed with diabetes as a toddler, meaning his body couldnt produce enough insulin to survive.

Blodgett, who already had a drug case pending when he was arrested, remains in custody in Holbrook, about three hours outside of Phoenix. In a message sent Monday night from the facility, he said he has been struggling to cope with his sons death.

i dont have a choice but to deal with it as best i can, he wrote to The Associated Press, it sucks and my heart is broken.

The report states that Jakobs medical history included poorly controlled diabetes, although the doctor who performed the boys autopsy didnt specify how far back that history goes. The report largely focuses on the weeks he was in the states care.

Richard Blodgett and his son Jakob. (Richard Blodgett via AP)

Jakob was hospitalized for ketoacidosis on the same day he came under the states care, according to the report. He was released from the hospital Dec. 15 and taken to a group home in metropolitan Phoenix. While at the home, Jakob resisted his insulin therapy and glucose monitoring, the autopsy said.

By the time he was taken back to the hospital Dec. 21, Jakob was vomiting and his brain was swelling, according to the autopsy.

Jared Greenholz, a California-based emergency medicine physician whose specialties include treating diabetic ketoacidosis, said early symptoms include excessive thirst and urination, while more severe symptoms include nausea and vomiting.

Greenholz, who reviewed the medical examiners report, said Jakobs body would have been under more stress than usual when he was hospitalized for the second time, because he had been treated for ketoacidosis less than two weeks earlier.

Blodgett has said his son already was on life support when a worker from the Arizona Department of Child Safety visited him in jail in Holbrook to deliver the news.

The state agency declined comment Monday on the medical examiners findings, citing confidentiality laws.

The Maricopa County Sheriffs Office opened an investigation into Jakobs death. A spokesperson said Friday that investigation is ongoing.

Blodgett has said he was managing his sons condition for years before his recent arrest. He believes the state failed in its duty to protect his son, either by not monitoring Jakobs blood sugar levels or not ensuring that he had enough insulin to prevent ketoacidosis.

Amy Hernandez, a personal injury and wrongful death lawyer retained by Blodgett to look into his sons death, said she thinks the medical examiners report supports Blodgetts theory.

Even if it wasnt the most tightly controlled with Richard, once Jakob went into the custody of the state, the state at the point was responsible for his care and welfare, Hernandez said.

By Rio Yamat
As Illegal Immigrant Encounters Rise, Customs and Border Protection Funding Set to Be Cut

Illegal border crossers are rescued by agents on a U.S. Customs and Border Protection boat as they get stuck halfway across the Rio Grande from Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 16, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

House Republicans had some harsh words for President Joe Biden as they tried to understand why his FY 2024 budget proposal for Customs and Border Protection is less than the previous year.

According to the Congressional Budget Justification for the Department of Homeland Security, the FY 2024 CBP budget is $19.5 billion. This is down from $20.8 billion in FY 2023.

Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) said the presidents proposal was full of gimmicks that indicated he is not serious about border security.

If we funded the CBP at the requested levels, the border would be less secure, Rutherford said.

The Florida Congressman was speaking to Troy Miller, Acting CBP Commissioner, who was testifying before the Subcommittee on Homeland Security on the Fiscal Year 2024 Request for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.

Illegal immigrants wait to enter a shelter at the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 17, 2022. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said that figures he had seen from the Department of Homeland Security show record-high encounters with illegal immigrants, 257,000 last month alone.

I think that clearly, we are seeing a humanitarian crisis along the southwest border, Guest said.

According to Guest, the CBP is getting a 7.5 percent budget cut in the face of this crisis.

Should this not be one of the agencies that Congress should invest and invest robustly in? Guest asked.

Committee members asked Miller how the agency would deal with the expected surge of illegal immigrants after May 11. That is the day Title 42, a World War II-era immigration policy invoked by the Trump administration, ends.

President Joe Biden signs executive orders related to immigration in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 2, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Title 42 allowed CBP to immediately process illegals for deportation to prevent the transmission of the novel coronavirus.

That day, the Biden administration will revert to Title 8 policy which calls for CBP to process illegal immigrants and consider any asylum requests they might make. The number of people attempting to enter the country illegally is expected to jump from around 6,000 per day to an expected 18,000 or more.

According to Miller, CBP hired approximately 1,100 processing coordinators and plans to bring 500 more. It is finalizing transportation contracts to move the illegal immigrants and has contacted Panama and Columbia about slowing peoples progress before they make it to the U.S. border.

CBP is requesting $16.5 billion in net discretionary funding, including $34 million, to promote the health and well-being of agents under tremendous stress.

This includes childcare facilities for illegal migrant families, medical care for illegal migrants and CBP personnel, and mental health care for agents and other CBP personnel when needed. Miller said CBP management is also instituting training to ensure agents who need help will seek it, knowing that it wont negatively impact their employment.

The CBP budget also calls for technology and facility upgrades that Miller termed force multipliers.

Plans Include New Technology

He said the agency plans to upgrade existing systems to get information to the agents in the field faster and more efficiently. It also plans to purchase new technology to get more information from areas between ports of entry where illegal migrants and smugglers attempt to sneak through.

Miller said the budget also calls for hiring 500 new agents.

Rutherford and other Republicans on the committee made it a point to praise Miller and his staff for their work. They said they dont blame him or any of the agents for the situation at the border. But they said the budget numbers dont add up.

Rutherford expressed concern for the CBP agents.

The agents and officers jobs are made harder by the presidents fundamentally unserious budget request, Rutherford said.

He pointed the CBP payroll is set to be cut by $63 million. By his estimation, the CBP budget, as presented, would be $400 million short.

The administration is essentially cutting the CBP budget at a time of crisis, Rutherford said.
A 1-year-old Australian shepherd took an epic trek across 150 miles (241 kilometers) of frozen Bering Sea ice that included being bitten by a seal or polar bear before he was safely returned to his home in Alaska.

Mandy Iworrigan, Nanuqs owner who lives in Gambell, Alaska, and her family were visiting Savoogna, another St. Lawrence Island community in the Bering Strait, last month when Nanuq disappeared with their other family dog, Starlight, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Starlight turned up a few weeks later, but Nanuq, which means polar bear in Siberian Yupik, was nowhere to be found.

About a month after Nanuq disappeared, people in Wales, 150 miles northeast of Savoonga on Alaskas western coast, began posting pictures online of what they described as a lost dog.

My dad texted me and said, Theres a dog that looks like Nanuq in Wales, Iworrigan said.

A photo provided by Mandy Iworrigan shows Nanuq, a 1-year-old Australian shepherd, after he was returned to Gambell, Alaska, on April 6, 2023. (Mandy Iworrigan/AP Photo)

She reactivated her Facebook account to see if it might be her wandering hound.

I was like, No freakin way! Thats our dog! What is he doing in Wales? she said.

The events of Nanuqs journey will likely always be a mystery.

I have no idea why he ended up in Wales. Maybe the ice shifted while he was hunting, Iworrigan said. Im pretty sure he ate leftovers of seal or caught a seal. Probably birds, too. He eats our Native foods. Hes smart.

A photo shows 1-year-old Australian shepherd returned to his home in Gambell, Alaska, on April 6, 2023, after he disappeared for a month and walked on the Bering Sea ice 150 miles to Wales, Alaska. (Mandy Iworrigan/AP Photo)

She used airline points to get her dog back to Gambell on a regional air carrier last week, a charter that was transporting athletes for the Bering Strait School Districts Native Youth Olympics tournament.

Iworrigan filmed the happy reunion when the plane landed at the airstrip in Savoonga, with both she and her daughter Brooklyn shrieking with joy.

Except for a swollen leg with large bite marks from an unidentified animal, Nanuq was in pretty good health.

Wolverine, seal, small nanuq, we dont know, because its like a really big bite, she said.
Australias Aged Care Costs To Inflate by $5 Billion in 2022-2023

An ambulance parks in front of the Wyoming Nursing Home in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 2, 2021. (Sean Foster/Getty Images)

Australias aged care sector will cost the country $5 billion (US$3.36 billion) more in 2022-2023 and is expected to put more pressure on the government budget in the coming years.

The 2023 federal budget to be released on May 9 will feature aged care services as the fifth-largest area of government spending.

Specifically, the total cost of providing aged care services for Australians will jump from $24.8 billion to about $29.6 billion this financial year.

Furthermore, the figure is expected to reach $35.8 billion by 2025-2026 and will continue to rise as the population ages.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, there were 4.2 million Australians aged 65 and above as of June 30, 2020, accounting for 16 percent of the population.

This represents a four percent increase compared to the demographic data in 1995.

The ABS predicted that the percentage of older people would climb to 18 percent by 2033 before reaching 20 percent in 2060.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said the sector had suffered from a lack of funding for a decade under the former Coalition government and that Labour was committed to providing better support.

Properly funding our aged care sector comes at a pricewith costs to increase in the budget by 23 percent in the 2022-2023 financial year, she said.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said aged care was a major area of growing government expenditure, apart from the interest bill on debt and the budgets for defence, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and healthcare services.

Within the considerable constraints were facing on the budget right now, well do what we can to help Australians, and well do it in a targeted, methodical, responsible and affordable way, he said.

How Aged Care Works in Australia

Australia has a system of aged care that provides a wide range of services to older people (aged 65 and over) as well as Indigenous people aged 50 and above who have to live with support in their own homes.

Around 95 percent of the systems funding comes from the government in the form of subsidies and supplements to approved service providers.

There are three main types of care under the system: care at home, residential care, and flexible care.

Care at home is an entry-level support that provides a number of basic services such as social support, transport, help with domestic chores, personal care, home maintenance, home modification, nursing care, meals and allied health services.

A resident looks from an aged care facility in Melbourne, Australia on May 31, 2021.(William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, residential aged care is catered to those requiring more care than what can be provided in their homes and includes services such as personal care, accommodation, and nursing.

Residential aged care can be provided on a permanent or short-term basis.

Flexible care is designed for those needing a different care approach than the above two types. It includes some short-term services to people who go through hospital rehabilitation or older people living in remote communities.

Australians receiving aged care support may need to pay a contribution fee, which varies depending on the type of services they are provided.

Aged Care Centre Closures

The new aged care expenditure comes as many service providers across the country are forced to close down their facilities due to new government requirements.

In October 2022, the federal parliament passed legislation requiring aged care homes to have a registered nurse on-site and on duty 24/7.

The law will come into effect on July 1, but many service providers have announced the closure of their centres due to insufficient staff.

Hundreds of older people in Sydney have been forced to look for a new place to live after Wesley Mission, a Christian charity, announced in April that it would close the remaining three residential aged care facilities in the city.

Brightwater Care Group, which operates 23 centres across Western Australia, also confirmed it would close three sites in Perth in the next 12 months as the company had problems meeting the staffing mandate.

Opposition Deputy Leader Sussan Ley criticised the government for the new policy, saying it brought a crisis to the aged care system.

Anthony Albanese ignored the experts and listened to the pollsters. He weaponised aged care for his own political advantage, she told reporters.

He sowed the seeds of the crisis that is now unfolding across the nation.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would offer no apologies for its 24/7 staffing mandate, saying 90 percent of services providers had met the requirement.

We make no apologies for being ambitious in this area, but were also being very practical about the way that these issues are dealt with, he told ABC radio.

Were dealing with elderly Australians who deserve the best care, and the way to deliver the best care, one of the elements of our plan for aged care, was ensuring that nurses are available 24/7.
Author Explains Why Beijing Sees Taiwan as a Thorn in Its Side

Customers dine near a giant screen broadcasting news footage of aircraft under the Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese military taking part in a combat readiness patrol and "Joint Sword" exercises around Taiwan, at a restaurant in Beijing on April 10, 2023. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

As the Chinese invasion of Taiwan seems inevitable according to experts, James Gorrie, author of The China Crisis, has laid out reasons why Beijing sees Taiwan as a thorn in its side.

He said that as the Chinese regime is not a legitimate government, they rule out of fear and oppression.

Otherwise, he noted, they wouldnt have to have the security state, the surveillance state, the slave prison state that they have.

As the island that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims as its own territory is not ruled the same way, it is strategic to the Chinese that Taiwan proves to the Chinese people that the CCP really isnt necessary. So its an ideological thorn side, he contended.

James Gorrie (Courtesy of James Gorrie).

In terms of GDP per capita, the Taiwanese are doing much better than the Chinese in China, he noted.

According to statistics, Chinas 2022 GDP per capita stood at $12,814, while that of Taiwan was $32,586.

So its the antidote to the CCP. Its their kryptonite, Gorrie told China in Focus on NTD, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

The mainland Chinese would then raise questions: Why should we have to do what the CCP says? Taiwan isnt, and theyre doing great. Why cant we do that? he noted.

Taiwan is also a critical source of the global production capacity for semiconductors, which China must have them and the rest of the world needs them as well, he said.

So theres a very strategic component that is undeniably there, the expert noted.

From another perspective, according to him, Taiwan is a military ally of the United States, and one could arguably say that its the keystone to the U.S. Asia Security pact.

And that impinges on the CCPs prestige and their claim of being all powerful and unapproachable, he said.

The CCP and quite frankly, [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping has staked his reputation reuniting China, right by bringing them to heel, first Hong Kong, and now the CCP wants to do the same with Taiwan. And that says, hes basically made a claim this was going to happen, he added.

Win Without a Shot

According to the expert, Beijing would prefer to take over Taiwan rather than launch a kinetic war.

Theyd rather take over Taiwan rather than a shot and they may give them some kind of special zoning, special treatment, promise, whatever they need to promise them. But I think that the ideal for the Chinese is, Lets just take it over without a shot. And well let the U.S. declare war. Look them fire the first shot, crossing our blockade and see how well that plays.

Wider Asia-Pacific War

If Taiwan falls into the hands of China, he said, it may well trigger a wider Asia-Pacific war.

He pointed to Japans 2021 white paper, saying Japan had already declared back then that the country views its security as directly linked to the security of Taiwan.

So it has intended to deter Chinese aggression there  Japan is already doubling their defense budget, theyre restructuring their military, theyre developing their own military-industrial complex. They have said they want to arm other nations in the region. The Philippines has said much the same, he added.

So if a Taiwan invasion was successful, I would think that we could see a much wider conflict quickly.

On the other hand, then the U.S. security assumptions underlying the region would get severely, severely damaged, according to him.

I think theres a demoralization strategy that the Chinese that Beijing is playing. They want to demoralize and have the Taiwanese and the rest of the Asia-Pacific think that the U.S. is no longer capable of defending them, much less willing to, Gorrie said.
Fire in Beijing Hospital Kills 29; Authorities Withhold Victim Identities

An investigator inspects burnt out area following a fire at a hospital in Beijing on April 19, 2023. (Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Authorities in China are withholding the identities of 29 people who died in a fire in the inpatient department of a Beijing hospital on April 18 amid an investigation into the blaze.

The fire broke out in the east building of the Changfeng Hospitals inpatient department after midday. Twenty-six patients, a nurse, a caretaker, and a patients family member died, authorities said.

Another 39 others were injured in the blaze, with three in critical condition and 18 in severe condition. Seventy-one patients were transferred to other hospitals.

The fire was caused by sparks generated during construction work in the hospitals inpatient department, which ignited flammable paint on the site, according to an official notice issued on April 19.

Meanwhile, 12 people deemed responsible for the fire, including the president, the vice president, the director of the general affairs department of Beijing Changfeng Hospital, and the construction companys head, have been arrested, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau announced on April 19.

According to multiple mainland Chinese media outlets, officials kept the hospital fire a secret for eight hours until the evening of April 18. Patients families havent been notified about their loved ones condition or whereabouts as of press time.

On the night of the fire, many family members of patients asked the hospital for the death list, mainland Chinese media outlets reported.

More than 30 family members of the patients were waiting in front of the triage desk, asking about the patients whereabouts that night. Most of them had rushed to the hospital after learning of the fire and losing contact with their ill family members at the hospital.

A person told mainland Chinese media Times Media on April 19 that since the fire, they still hadnt been able to see their family member, nor have they been told of their family members situation.

Damaged windows are seen following a fire at the Changfeng Hospital in Beijing on April 19, 2023. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

Geriatric, Hospice Patients

The fire started on the fifth floor of the eight-story building, a patients family member told China Youth Daily.

The people on and above the fifth floor of the building were mainly geriatric and hospice patients, according to mainland Chinese media outlet Economic Observer Network.

A caretaker involved in the rescue said that after the fire broke out, some rooms in the building were difficult to access. The limited mobility of elderly and critically ill patients made them harder to rescue.

A viral video on social media shows two people on the sixth and eighth floors escaping the fire by twisted white sheets as a rope hanging from windows.

Screenshot of a viral video that shows patients trying to escape from the windows during the Beijing Changfeng Hospital fire on April 18, 2023. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Apology, Censorship

At a briefing on the fire on April 19, the deputy head of Fengtai District of Beijing apologized to the public; however, official media closed comments on related news.

Netizens posted on their social media accounts about the incident.

One post reads, Is this an apology? He didnt even dare to allow the public to comment.

Another posted, A single apology for dozens of lives lost.

An investigator inspects the damage at the Changfeng Hospital in Beijing on April 19, 2023, after a fire broke out a day earlier. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Another one called on the official, Take the blame and resign!

While the fire broke out at noon on April 18, the first official notice wasnt issued until after 8:30 p.m. that night. News of the fire was suppressed online, with pictures and videos quickly deleted from social media platforms.

Mr. Zhao, a resident of Fengtai District, told The Epoch Times that police had surrounded the hospital.

We were not allowed to approach the scene, and we were not allowed to take pictures. Everything was blocked, and the news was also blocked. There is very little information reaching outside, he said.

Xiao Lusheng and Hong Ning contributed to this report.
Biden Admin Announces Program to Maintain Free COVID-19 Vaccine, Treatments for Uninsured

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a new program to assist the uninsured in accessing COVID-19 care, such as vaccines and anti-viral medications.

According to the agencys April 18 press release, the HHS Bridge Access Program For COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments was set up to promote access to COVID-19-specific care as the responsibility for vaccine and other medication distribution transitions from governmental to the private sector.

Under the program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, which will be allocated through the CDCs network of state and local health department immunization awardees nationwide.

These awardees will then distribute vaccines to local health departments (LHDs) and participating Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-supported health centers.

The HHS will also create a novel, funded partnership with pharmacy chains to enable them to offer free COVID-19 vaccinations and treatments to the uninsured through their network or retail locations.

The program has been designed to ensure Americans have continued, easy access to COVID-19 vaccinations and treatments.

Syringes and vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be administered at a drive-up vaccination site from Renown Health in Reno, Nev., on Dec. 17, 2020. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Participating pharmacies will be expected to ensure appropriate oversight, including patient attestations regarding lack of insurance coverage, and by providing the CDC with periodic facility-level data.

Pharmacies will also be eligible for one-time base payments for each site targeting areas with low rates of access and low rates of vaccination.

Under the agreements, uninsured individuals will have access to specific COVID-19 treatments, including Paxlovid and Lagevrio, from participating pharmacies with no out-of-pocket costs.

The goal is to include not only large pharmacy chains but also smaller, local chains and independently owned pharmacies.

The program aims to ensure a smooth transition for the provision of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments from the purchase and distribution by the U.S. government to traditional healthcare pathways.

Over the last two years, the Administration has implemented the largest adult vaccination program in U.S. history, with nearly 700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines given to 270 million Americans.

Vaccine Effectiveness

The Biden administrations attention to ensuring COVID-19 vaccine access juxtaposes with recent data showing that newly formulated COVID-19 vaccines provide little protection against severe illness.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, adults aged 18 to 65 without an immune-compromising condition, a bivalent vaccination initially increased hospitalization protection from 21 percent to 68 percent. Sixty to 119 days later, this protection decreased to just 27 percent.

According to the data, immunocompromised adults 18 or older saw even worse protection, with the protection never going above 43 percent.
Biden Commits $1 Billion to Global Climate Fund

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) at the South Court Auditorium at Eisenhower Executive Office Building June 17, 2022, in Washington. President Biden hosted the forum to discuss energy security, global food security and climate crisis. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

U.S. President Joe Biden committed $1 billion to a U.N. global climate fund during remarks at the April 20 Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF).

Im pleased to announce the United States is going to provide $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund, a fund [that is] critical in ways to help developing nations that cant do now, Biden said, speaking just after U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.

Established through a series of U.N. climate conferences, the Green Climate Funds governing instrument states that its meant to help developing countries limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Fund has already received $1 billion from the United States.

We need to strengthen the role of multilateral development banks in fighting [the] climate crisis as well, starting with the World Bank, Biden said during his remarks.

He said he wanted those institutions to expand their climate-related lending.

Senior officials previewed Bidens remarks in an April 19 call to reporters.

A senior administration official told reporters that the funding would come from money in hand rather than the fiscal year 2024 budget, which is already under scrutiny by congressional Republicans.

The officials were asked what Biden would tell other countries about his 2021 promise to deliver $11.4 billion in international climate aid by 2024.

The senior administration official said the administration is considering new and creative authorities as part of its efforts to obtain that funding.

Biden also announced that the U.S. would provide the Amazon Fund, which is managed by the Brazilian Development Bank, with $500 million to aid what he described as Brazils renewed effort to end deforestation by 2030.

He said another federal institution, the Development Finance Corporation, aims to send another $1 billion for conservation efforts in Latin America and the Amazon.

Low-Emissions Vehicle Goal

Biden on April 20 proposed an ambitious target for global vehicle emissions.

I encourage all of you to join us in our collective goal to ensure that at least 50 percent of new passenger cars and 30 percent of trucks will be zero emissions by 2030, he said.

The senior administration official further elaborated on that aim on April 19.

By 2030, over 50 percent of LDVs [light-duty vehicles] and at least 30 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles sold globally will be zero-emission vehiclesso battery-electric, fuel cell, plug-in hybrid vehicles.

A senior State Department official who spoke to reporters on April 19 noted that medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are more important sources of emissions in many major emerging economies relative to light-duty vehicles.

In some respects, the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) latest tailpipe emissions proposals, released on April 12, exceed the standards outlined on April 20.

The EPA expects that, under its new standards, two-thirds of new light-duty vehicles sold in the United States will be electric by the model year 2032.

Part of the zero-emission vehicle goal tomorrow encourages all major economies to set their own zero-emission vehicle goals by COP 28 for all vehicle classes, and just as we have set standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles, this is calling for all major economy foreign countries to do the same, the senior official told reporters.

The U.N. COP28 climate conference will occur in November and early December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

In his April 20 remarks, Biden said the latest EPA targetwhich he suggested sets a global standardis part of the U.S. efforts to create a clean transportation sector, alongside spending in major legislation such as last years SchumerManchin bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act.

We stood with the CEOs of major car manufacturers and the workers who will build our clean transportation future. And theyre all in, the president said.

Yet in a blog post published after the standards came out, the leader of a major automaker trade organization sounded more skeptical.

EPAs proposed emissions plan is aggressive by any measure. By that I mean it sets automotive electrification goals in the next few years that are  very high, said John Bozzella, president and CEO of Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

The proposal exceeds the administrations own 50 percent electrification target.

Bozzella also noted that his industry is fully committed to an electric and low-carbon transportation future.

Biden signed an executive order in August 2021 that established as an aim that 50 percent of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles.

The senior State Department official said on April 19 that the EPAs new target [speaks] for itself as the most recent and substantive statement on our intent for vehicle standards, suggesting that the August 2021 target has been supplanted.

The US, China, and Climate

First launched in March 2009 by then-President Barack Obama, the MEF brings together countries from across the planet. Participants include Brazil, China, India, France, and the UK.

Kerry held a preparatory meeting for the April summit last month.

This group has now come together three times under President Bidens leadership, Kerry said on April 20.

The forums makeup has shifted over the years. Russia, a participant in the inaugural July 2009 meeting in Italy, was the target of criticism in the June 2022 forum.

Despite growing tensions between China and the United States, China has continued to attend. Kerry has consistently stressed the need for coordination between the two countries on climate and energy. Both nations are top global greenhouse gas emitters.

The senior administration official confirmed on April 19 that Chinas climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, will be at the forum.
Bidens Budget Falls Short on Combatting Illegal Immigration: Top Democrat

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, expressed concern on April 18 that President Joe Bidens proposed budget falls short of whats needed to combat illegal immigration along the southern border.

Cuellar made comments expressing reservations about the budget during an April 18 hearing of the Appropriations Committee, where members heard from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Tae Johnson. In his capacity, Johnson is performing the duties of ICE director.

Since I represent a lot of border area, [its] important to me that people arent crossing our land, Cuellar said at one point during his questioning.

Cuellar, who represents a border area comprised of Catholic Hispanics, is one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, and has often supported policies taking a conservative approach to issues ranging from abortion to border security.

Among other provisions, Bidens proposed budget would establish a two-year Border Contingency Fund to help combat illegal immigration at the border. Until now, the administration has downplayed the severity of the situation at the border, refraining from characterizing it as a crisis.

The contingency fund would grant around $1 billion in extra funding to ICEbut only after a certain number of encounters with illegal aliens has been met.

Cuellar said he was concerned with the administrations proposal for the Border Contingency Fund, which he said rests on the premise that the government can literally contract and execute over $1 dollars to provide resources they need afteraftera predefined level of encounters have been realized at the border.

The result of this, Cuellar said, is, under this new structure, the funding would not be available until well in the execution of the fiscal year.

If the policies are enacted, Cuellar noted, it would reduce ICE detention space by 9,000 beds at a time that the United States is experiencing an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration.

Currently, ICE has capacity for 34,000 beds per daya figure that Chairman Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) said is already insufficient. Under Bidens proposed budget, that number could drop to 25,000.

I want to thank the men and women of ICE, I wanna make sure we provide them the resources [for] the work that they do, Cuellar said.

On the other hand, Cuellar said it was important for the United States to find that balance between law enforcement at the border but at the same time, the rights of the asylum seekers.

Cuellar cited reports of asylum claimants being deported despite having a pending case in U.S. immigration courts.

If theyre supported to be here, they should be here. If theyre supposed to be removed, they should be removed, Cuellar said. Thats why its important that we find that balance.

Backlogs Go Until 2033

During much of the hearing, Cuellar and Joyce focused on the backlogs facing both ICE processing and the immigration courts.

Im concerned about a few things, big picture, Cuellar said.

In New York City and San Antonio, it is projected to take until 2033 for asylum claimants to even appear before ICE. After that, it can take another two to three years before they get a day in court.

Its a little concerning that some of them have to wait until 2033 just to appear before you, then they get another 2-3 years before they even go to an immigration judge, Cuellar said.

To address this, Johnson proposed making virtual arrests by delivering Notices to Appear in court via electronic communications. He also told the panel that ICE had plans to expedite their way through the backlog in the most clogged cities.

Earlier, a top CBP chief acknowledged that DHS does not have operational control of the border, undercutting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkass claims to the contrary.
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Logo of Publicis is seen at VivaTech fair in Paris

By Diana Mandia

(Reuters) - French ad group Publicis' revenues beat forecasts in the first quarter, driven by its digital and data-driven businesses amid rapid market changes and with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

The company has relied on the evolution of its clients' ad spend towards first-party data management, commerce and business transformation, as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift away from traditional advertising.

Publicis' digital and data-driven businesses Epsilon and Sapient recorded organic growth of 10% and 11% respectively in the quarter.

Net revenue jumped 7.1% organically to 3.08 billion euros in the first quarter, above a company-compiled consensus of 4.5%.

Data and tech account for one third of Publicis' revenues.

Ad groups such as Publicis and WPP are confident that clients' spending will be sustained even if the recent banking crisis in the U.S. has raised alarm bells.

"To date, we can see projects that are a little bit delayed, because some of the mid-sized banks want to look a little bit at what's going on, but our big clients, who represent the vast majority of our revenues, are not stopping their transformation", chief executive Arthur Sadoun told journalists.

Publicis is also keeping a close eye on developments in artificial intelligence, which Sadoun said has been at the heart of the group's operations for years thanks to the Marcel AI platform, created in 2017 from a partnership with Microsoft.

Publicis also signed a partnership with ChatGPT owner OpenAI in 2022, Sadoun said.

"Our data is optimised every nano-second and this is done by artificial intelligence, so we are able to know that if you have already bought a shampoo on Walmart.com, the challenge is not to offer you another shampoo, but an after-shampoo", he said.

Publicis' annual organic growth should reach the top half of the 3-5% range previously forecast, the group said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Diana Mandia; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Bill Proposes to Establish Permanent US Special Envoy to Pacific to Counter CCP

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) speaks during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson before the Senate Judiciary Committee on, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced legislation on April 20 that would establish a permanent U.S. special envoy to the Pacifics leading policy forum to combat the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) growing influence in the region.

The measure (pdf), known as the U.S. and Pacific Islands Forum Partnership Act, proposes to establish a permanent presence with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), a group of countries that includes Australia, New Zealand, and 18 Pacific Island nations in total.

Kennedys office noted that the regime in Beijing sees the group of Pacific Island countries as strategically important to its ambitions to dominate the region, given that the communist regime already has a special envoy to the PIF. In February, the CCP appointed Qian Bo, Chinas ambassador to Fiji since 2018, as its special envoy.

Communist China aims to broaden its sphere of influence across Southeast Asia, and Americas diplomacy in the Pacific has been a long-term challenge, Kennedy said in a statement. Beijing is putting more economic and diplomatic pressure on the Pacific Island states each day, and one of the clearest and easiest steps that Congress can take to counter this communist antagonism is to establish a special envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum.

This picture taken shows flags from the Pacific Islands countries being displayed in Yaren, Nauru, on the last day of the Pacific Islands Forum on Sept. 5, 2018. (Mike Leyral/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden administration has previously noted that the United States has dropped the ball in the Pacific, which some analysts have said allowed the CCP to cultivate its influence and play an increasingly aggressive role. Beijing has been investing heavily in terms of foreign aid and other projects in the region in recent years through predatory programs, such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Kennedys office stated that a permanent, Senate-confirmed special envoy would help strengthen growth and cooperation with these important Pacific Island countries.

Making the position Senate-confirmed would also elevate diplomacy in the region and ensure accountability to Congress, Kennedys office stated.

With a special envoy, the United States can build stronger relationships with these Pacific Island countries and counter Beijings growing influence.

This special envoy will help answer a diversity of threats from the communist regime by deepening trust and increasing dialogue on the Pacific Islands economic, cyber security, and military concerns, Kennedys office stated.

Inextricably Linked

The U.S. diplomatic envoy was announced in July 2022, when Vice President Kamala Harris gave a rare nonmember address to the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji. Typically, nations outside the membership arent invited to attend.

Harris outlined a number of steps that the United States would take a strengthen diplomatic relations. This would include dispatching the Peace Corps to the region, setting up embassies in Kiribati and Tonga, looking at reestablishing a mission for providing humanitarian aid, and appointing a U.S. envoy to PIF, she said.

The history and the future of the Pacific Islands and the United States are inextricably linked. We have historic bonds going back generations, she said during her speech.

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris speaks via video link to the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji, on July 13, 2022. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

We recognize in recent years the Pacific Islands may not have received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve. Today, I am here to tell you directly we are going to change that.

The address was seen as a signal that the United States is seeking to regain its influence in the region. The CCP and democratic nations have been locked in an ongoing diplomatic tug-of-war over the region.

Kennedys legislation received some bipartisan support, with 11 senators co-sponsoring it, including Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.)

The PIF is the Pacific regions main political and economic policy grouping, founded in 1971. A full list of its members includes Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

PIF officials didnt respond to a request from The Epoch Times for comment.

Daniel Teng contributed to this report.
Canadians Should Worry More About National Security, Says Former CSIS Director

Richard Fadden, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, appears at Senate national security and defence committee in Ottawa on April 27, 2015. A former head of Canada's spy agency is warning that this country is resting too heavily on its laurels at a time of rising global threats and upheaval, including dysfunction among its Western allies and the emergence of China and Russia as aggressive adversaries. Richard Fadden, a former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and national-security adviser to prime ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, says Canada needs to take a hard look at itself to ensure it is ready to face its new reality. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

As parliamentary committees and government officials investigate alleged Chinese interference in Canadas past two general elections, a former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says Canadians should worry more about the countrys current state of national security and defence.

Richard Fadden, who served as CSIS director from 2009 to 2013 and was also Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus national security advisor from 2015 to 2016, recently penned a Globe and Mail column in which he expressed concern about the federal governments response to a shifting geopolitical environmentwhich he said includes the rise of an increasingly assertive China and Russia acting in total disregard of international law.

To what extent have Canadians and our governments acknowledged and reacted to these changes? Not so much, Fadden wrote in the column titled Canadians need to worry more about defence and security, which was published on April 17.

Fadden wrote that Canada does what is absolutely the minimum to stay within its G7, NATO, and NORAD treaty obligations and said national defence spending measures tend to be low priorities.

It would seem that Justin Trudeaus government has clearly decided to focus on social objectives, all of which are truly laudable, he wrote. Many billions have been spent or committed to this sector while the national defence/security sector has not been forgotten, but has certainly not received the attention the world situation suggeststo the consternation of our allies.

A recent Washington Post report cited leaked Pentagon assessments that appear to corroborate Faddens comments on defence spending.

According to the leaked documents, Trudeau previously told NATO officials in private that Canada will never spend 2 percent of its GDP on national defence measureswhich NATO has asked all its member to do since 2014.

The Pentagon assessment also reportedly said that a number of countries are disappointed with and concerned about Canadas military spending.

In his recent column, Fadden said it is hard not to conclude that Canadas federal government simply does not believe that the deteriorating world situation is very serious.

To suggest otherwise must mean it shares that view but has chosen to ignore it, he wrote. If this is the case, it is a serious abandonment of its responsibilities to Canadians.

At Risk

Fadden recently made headlines after joining ranks with other past and present government officials and politicians calling on the Liberal government to begin an independent public inquiry into allegations of Chinese interference in Canadas 2019 and 2021 general elections.

Fadden said in February that the allegations are so serious they need to be looked into.

I think the first thing we need to do is to talk about this seriously, and given the general environment [in] Canada, I dont think its going to work unless we have a public inquiry, he said in an interview with Global News on Feb. 26.

Fadden concluded his recent column by saying he believes the world is going through the greatest changes since the Second World War and certainly since the end of the Cold War regarding political tensions.

Almost all of these changes are for the worse, he wrote, adding that the Canadian public needs to tune into these challenges.

However, it is particularly discouraging that our government seemingly does not accept this new realitynor does it act accordinglyputting us all at risk.

Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
A top U.S. health official acknowledged on April 19 that people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine can transmit the disease to others.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), made the unsupported claim in 2021 that people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine do not carry the virus and do not get sick.

Weve had an evolution of science and an evolution of the virus, Walensky told a congressional committee in Washington, adding that the statement is no longer correct with the Omicron subvariants that we have right now.

The Biden appointee also doubled down on her initial claim.

Was that statement correct? Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) asked.

At the time it was, Walensky responded. It was a wildtype virus that we had, it was even before the Alpha variant, it was the initial wildtype variant, and all the data at the time suggested that people who were vaccinated, even if they got sick, couldnt transmit the virus to anyone else.

Asked for citations for the claim, Walenskys press secretary Jason McDonald provided four studies, including two published by the CDCs quasi-journal.

None of the studies are randomised trials, and they all have various flaws. Irrespective of that they all showwhat I think nobody can denythat a proportion of vaccinated individuals get ill, and when ill they also have positive PCR tests as an indication that they will excrete virus, Christine Stabell Benn, a health professor at the University of Southern Denmark, told The Epoch Times in an email. Conclusion: vaccinated individuals can get ill and they can transmit.

Dr. Tracy Hoeg, an epidemiologist based in California, also said the papers dont support Walenskys claim.

They all report observed reductions but none of them found that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, do not get sick,' Hoeg told The Epoch Times in a Twitter message. Are they kidding? Seems delusional to come to that conclusion from those article.

Even in March 2021, Walenskys claim drew criticism from scientists.

What we know is the vaccines are very substantially effective against infectiontheres more and more data on thatbut nothing is 100 percent, John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, told the New York Times back then.

Its possible that some people who are fully vaccinated could get COVID-19. The evidence isnt clear whether they can spread the virus to others, the CDC said at the time.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which authorized the vaccines, said when authorizing them that the clinical trials did not test transmission and has maintained that stance to the present day.

Just two weeks after Walenskys initial statement, made during an appearance on MSNBC, the CDC said some 5,800 Americans had contracted COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, with 74 dying. The CDC later stopped counting so-called breakthrough infections as the numbers soared. Data has shown that vaccine protection wanes considerably after several months and starts low against the current Omicron subvariants, with some papers estimating vaccinated people are more likely to become infected over time.

Another Dubious Claim

Walensky was also questioned about a Cochrane Review of masks against influenza and COVID-19.

Researchers found that based on the current evidence, masks were not effective in reducing the spread of respiratory viruses.

Under pressure from outside groups, Cochrane editor-in-chief Karla Soares-Weiser said in March the review did not show that masks dont work.

The authors said in their summary that we are uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses based on the studies we assessed. That wording was open to misinterpretation, for which we apologize, Soares-Weiser said, adding that we are engaging with the review authors with the aim of updating the Plain Language Summary and abstract to make clear that the review looked at whether interventions to promote mask wearing help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses.

Cochrane is known as a gold standard, Walensky said on Wednesday, and I think its notable that the editor-in-chief of the Cochrane actually said that the summary of that review, she retracted the summary of that review and said it was an inaccurate summary.

As of April 20, the review has not been updated, and no parts have been retracted.

If it has not been changed yet, you may want to reach out to Cochrane, McDonald told The Epoch Times.

Cochrane did not respond to a request for comment.

Tom Jefferson, the lead author of the review, told journalist Maryanne Demasi that Walenskys retraction claim wasnt true.

Walensky is plain wrong. There has been no retraction of anything, he said. Its worth reiterating that we are the copyright holders of the review, so we decide what goes in or out of the review and we will not change our review on the basis of what the media wants or what Walensky says.
Charges Against Alec Baldwin Dropped in Deadly Rust Shooting, Lawyers Say

Actor Alec Baldwin attends the 2019 PEN America Literary Gala in New York, on May 21, 2019. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Lawyers for actor Alec Baldwin said Thursday that prosecutors dropped charges stemming from the fatal shooting of a cinematographer during the filming of Rust in October 2021.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident, said a joint statement by Baldwins attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro. They told a number of news outlets that prosecutors dropped the case against the longtime actor.

The Epoch Times has contacted New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, who brought charges against Baldwin in connection to the case, for comment. The DAs office has not issued a public statement following Baldwins lawyers statement to news outlets on Thursday.

During filming of the western movie Rust, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin was rehearsing a scene while using a pistol when the gun allegedly went off, he said in subsequent interviews with media outlets. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the incident.

Baldwin was charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of Hutchins. Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was also charged with involuntary manslaughter.

In the casebrought against the 30 Rock star by prosecutors in JanuaryBaldwin has pleaded not guilty. A lawyer for Gutierrez Reed previously stated that she will enter a not guilty plea and has maintained her innocence.

Officials previously dropped a firearm enhancement charge against Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed. Reports indicated that either defendant could have faced up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

Its not clear if prosecutors are planning to drop charges against Gutierrez Reed.

Prosecutors alleged that Baldwin had negligently discharged a Colt .45 revolver during a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In interviews and in posts online, Baldwin has claimed that he did not pull the trigger and said he had no idea that the pistol may have contained a live round.

This aerial photo shows the movie set of Rust at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 23, 2021. (Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

During a controversial interview with ABC News weeks after the shooting, Baldwin maintained his innocence. Well, the trigger wasnt pulled, I didnt pull the trigger, Baldwin told ABCs George Stephanopoulos at the time.

So you didnt pull the trigger? Stephanopoulos responded.

No, no, no. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger, never, Baldwin said in response. Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasnt even supposed to be on the property, he also said during that interview.

However, an FBI forensic report later found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled. Some gun experts also sounded the alarm on his claims, saying that he appeared to have violated one of the main firearms safety rules: Never point a firearm at another human being.

Responding to the shooting at the time, consultant Bryan Carpenter of Dark Thirty Film Services told the New York Post that loaded or unloaded, a weapon never gets pointed at another human being.

You never let the muzzle of a weapon cover something you dont intend to destroy, he said. All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.

Dave Halls, the assistant director of Rust, pleaded no contest on March 31 to negligent handling of a weapon, a misdemeanor. He received six months of unsupervised probation as a sentence.

Filming for Rust could resume this week in Montana, the production company told The Associated Press Wednesday. Baldwin will continue his involvement as an actor and coproducer, and Rust Move Productions attorney Melina Spadone said via a representative that filming will restart Thursday at the Yellowstone Film Ranch.

Baldwins next court appearance was set for May 3. Court papers show that Baldwin waived his right to appear at the hearing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chinese Panda on Long-Term Loan to Thailand Dies Suddenly

Lin Hui, a female Panda on a 10-year loan from China, eats bamboo at the Chiang Mai Zoo in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, on Sept. 23, 2005. (Apichart Weerawong/AP Photo)

BANGKOKA giant panda on long-term loan from China died in a zoo in northern Thailand on Wednesday, six months before she was due to return home, officials from the Chiang Mai Zoo said.

The cause of Lin Huis death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday morning, and her nose was seen bleeding when she laid down after a meal, said Wutthichai Muangmun, the zoo director.

She was rushed into the care of a joint ThaiChinese veterinarian team but her condition deteriorated and she died early Wednesday morning, he said.

Tewarat Vejmanat, a veterinarian who spoke at a news conference broadcast live on the zoos Facebook page, said the panda, who had a health check every day, was already at an advanced age at 21, and there had been no sign of illness or any difference in her behavior before she became sick.

Lin Huis male mate, Chuang Chuang, who was kept with her at the Chiang Mai Zoo, died there in 2019 at the age of 19. The couple arrived in Chiang Mai in 2003 on a 10-year loan that was later extended for another 10 years.

While the loan was ostensibly for research and conservation purposes, it was generally regarded as an act of soft power diplomacy by the Chinese communist regime, which has sent pandas to many countries.

When Chuang Chuang died in 2019, Thailands then-Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said the country had to pay $500,000 to the Chinese regime in compensation. It was later reported that heart failure was the cause of his death.

Zoo director Wutthichai said the zoo has a 15-million-baht ($435,000) insurance policy on Lin Hui, who was due to be returned to China this October.

The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38. Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.

This is when we just got here, she was lying on her side. Then I saw her nose was bleeding, she commented in one of the clips. She looked like she had nausea. We were not sure.

Screenshots from the videos were widely shared by Thai social media users.

The cause of Lin Huis death will take time before it can be determined, Wutthichai said, and how and when that would be revealed will be entirely up to China. Under an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese regimes panda conservation project, an autopsy cannot be performed until a Chinese expert is present.

Some Thai internet users speculated that air pollution in northern Thailand, which in recent weeks has spiked to levels considered dangerous to human health, contributed to Lin Huis death. The zoo staff, however, said that was unlikely, as Lin Hui lived in a closed space in an area of the zoo considered to have the cleanest air.
400-Foot SpaceX Rocket Explodes Over Gulf of Mexico

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket self-destructs after its launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, on April 20, 2023, in a still image from video. (SpaceX/Handout via Reuters)

Elon Musks SpaceX launched its first Starship rocket on the morning of April 20 in an uncrewed test flight that ended minutes later with the craft exploding in the sky over the Gulf of Mexico near Texas.

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation, the private space exploration company wrote on Twitter. Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test.

The company wrote that with the failed test, the firm will learn from its mistakes. Todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary, it said.

Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship! SpaceX wrote.

Live video footage of the test showed the rocket traveling for several minutes before it appeared to fail. The unmanned rocket later exploded in midair.

Musks firm was looking to send the nearly 400-foot rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern portion of Texas, located near the Mexican border. Both the booster and spacecraft were slated to fall into the ocean.

Musk wrote on Twitter shortly after the 3-plus-minute test flight that the firm learned a lot and suggested that the company will perform its next test launch in a few months.

Large numbers of spectators watched from South Padre Island, located a few miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site. SpaceXs first attempt to launch the Starship rocket was called off on April 17 because of a frozen booster valve.

A mishap is part of our businesses, and its a pretty realistic possibility, an FAA official told reporters before the launch on April 20. We see this quite often with first time launches of new and somewhat unproven space vehicles, [at] the rate of about 11 percent. So to see a mishap here would not be particularly unusual.

Our job, of course, is to ensure that if a mishap occurs, that that mishap does not impact the public in an adverse manner. So thats the focus that we have in our licensing activity.

T-0 in 4 mins pic.twitter.com/LIMFFjQwXz  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys. Earlier versions of the rocket were sent into the stratosphere.

Both the lower-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship vessel it would carry to space are designed as reusable components, capable of flying back to Earth for soft landingsa maneuver that has become routine in dozens of missions for SpaceXs smaller, orbital-class Falcon 9 rocket.

But neither stage would be recovered from the April 20 launch. Instead, both parts were to end their introductory flight to space with crash landings at sea. The lower stage was to fall into the Gulf of Mexico after separating from the upper stage, which was to come down in the Pacific Ocean after achieving nearly one full Earth orbit.

In February, SpaceX conducted a test-firing of the Super Heavy, igniting 31 of its 33 engines for roughly 10 seconds with the rocket bolted in place vertically atop a platform. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on April 14 granted a license for the first test flight of the fully stacked rocket system, clearing a final regulatory hurdle for the long-awaited launch.

On April 16, Musk warned that the chances of success were low and said that getting to the separation of the first and second stages during liftoff would be considered successful.

Starship is the biggest rocket ever made, Musk told reporters over the weekend. Its over twice the thrust of  the Saturn 5 moon rocket, which is largest rocket ever to get to orbitits roughly twice the mass. So, weve got 33 engines on the booster, weve got six engines on the upper stage of the ship. Its a lot of engines.

He also said: So I guess I would just like to set expectations low. If we get far enough away from the launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just dont blow up the launch pad.

NASA Chief Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX after the test.

Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward, he wrote in a Twitter post. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight testand beyond.

Reuters contributed to this report. This is a breaking news article. Check back for more developments.
Ex-Homeland Security Agent Gets 8 Years for Molestation of Girls in Irvine

SANTA ANA, Calif.A former Homeland Security employee was sentenced to eight years in prison April 19 for molesting two girls and inappropriately touching another victim in Irvine.

Terry Edward Keegan, 60, was convicted March 23 of a felony count of lewd acts on a minor younger than 14 as well as single misdemeanor counts each of child annoyance, sexual battery, simple battery, and destroying or concealing evidence.

Keegan was given credit for 516 days behind bars so far. Orange County Superior Court Judge Andre Manssourian also ordered Keegan to register as a sex offender for the next 20 years.

Keegan faced three, six, or eight years in prison. Manssourian rejected a plea for probation for the Army veteran and former reserve Orange County deputy sheriff. Keegan worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration Services.

Victims Mother

The mother of one of the victims, who lost custody of her daughter and son due to alcohol and drug addiction issues, told Manssourian of her frustration coming to grips with what happened when her mother, the longtime girlfriend of Keegans, took custody of the children.

I have to live with a certain amount of guilt for any of this happening, she said. I have a lot of anger, though, because the kids were taken from me and I was told I was unfit, that they were going to be protected from me and I had no idea it was quite the opposite.

She said her daughters usual optimistic outlook has faded.

I had to watch the light go out of my daughters eyes, she said. That part of her that was my favorite, the positivitythat part of her is gone.

Keegans crimes have ripped apart our family, she said.

The victims mother said her daughter did not want to come forward and intended to carry that burden because she did not want to wreck her grandmothers relationship or attract attention from child protective services again.

I dont understand how they allowed him back into the household after the first allegations surfaced, she said. They yanked my kids away from me for way less.

Manssourian told her, I see the irony of what youre saying. I get why youre angry and your bitterness.

The judge told her he was impressed with how the victim carried herself in testimony.

Youve got a good kid, he said. She made a good impression on me.

Defendants Arguments

Keegans attorney, Jay Moorhead of the Orange County Public Defenders Office, argued for probation, citing how the defendant grew up with an abusive alcoholic father as well as his lack of a criminal record and public service. The defendants parents split up when Keegan was 13.

But Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver said Keegan used his governmental employee status as a veil to create a false sense of security for the parents of victims. Keegan also exploited the vulnerability of his girlfriends granddaughter, Oliver argued.

The victim did not want to rock the boat. She wanted to put her head down and endure the abuse and the defendant took advantage of that vulnerability, Oliver said.

Oliver also noted how Keegan wiped out data from his devices with special tools that forensic experts could not recover.

Manssourian said the defendants public service both worked in his favor and also against him in the case.

It turns out the fox was guarding the hen house, Manssourian said of the community trusting the Homeland Security employee.

The judge also said, One wonders what was on those hard drives [that Keegan destroyed].

How much were you able to spare yourself from more serious prison time because you were able to eliminate evidence on that hard drive? Manssourian said. Thats a cloud hanging over this case.

Victims Testimony

One of the victims had lived with Keegan since she was about 4 years old, and her grandmother took custody of her, she testified. The other two victims were friends of hers, according to Oliver.

One of the friends told a doctor in 2016 that Keegan would pick her up and molest her when she would visit with the defendants relative when she was 8 to 10 years old, Oliver said. The doctor called Irvine police, but they did not follow up, and the investigation fell through the cracks, Oliver said in her opening statement of the trial.

The victim also told investigators that once, while at a community pool, Keegan began taking pictures of her and her sister and said he was testing out a new camera, Oliver said.

Irvine police were contacted again in the spring of 2021 after his relative and her friend were hanging around during spring break, Oliver said. The two were 16 at the time.

Keegan also made inappropriate comments to one of the girls and insisted on taking her out to shop for bathing suits, the prosecutor said. He called around to stores during the coronavirus pandemic to see which ones had fitting rooms, she said.

When they were at the pool, one of the girls saw him trying to take a picture of her and she said to stop, Oliver said. But Keegan allegedly said she looked cute and asked her to pose with the girl he lived with.

The friend told the girl who was living with the defendant that just before Easter he had touched her buttocks, Oliver said.

When one girl told her mother, she called the police in April 2021, Oliver said. The girl said Keegan would often make inappropriate comments about her body and breast size over the five years the girls were friends.

The relative said she found a vibrator in his bedroom while she was looking for scissors when she was in the sixth grade and he told her it was for an ex-girlfriend and that he was saving it for her, Oliver said.

The girl also recounted how Keegan would often expose himself, walking around nude in his bedroom, which was across from hers, and that once when they were in a hotel she saw him masturbating in the bed next to hers, Oliver said. Keegan also took her to the sex toy part of a Spencers store once and told her she would enjoy the devices, Oliver said.

The girl testified that he once slipped his tongue in her mouth while kissing her good night when she was 12.

She said he was the only father figure she has ever had and that she would call him grampa.

The accuser also said, I still love him.
Fake Pizza Delivery Vehicle Used in Bank Card Scam, Toronto Police Say

Police are warning of a debit card scam in Toronto involving a vehicle that appears to be a Dominos Pizza delivery vehicle.

The scam is perpetrated by two suspects, police say. One is the delivery driver and the other pretends to be a customer.

The vehicle parks in retail parking lots and the female customer approaches people asking them to help her out because the deliveryman cant take cash. She asks the victim to pay with his or her debit and she gives the repayment in cash.

With a modified point of sale terminal, the deliveryman is able to record the victims pin number. He then swaps the victims card with one that looks similar, keeping the original to make purchases and withdrawals.

Police warn people to be wary of this and similar scams, adding that most legitimate delivery drivers take cash. People should also avoid handing over their debit cards, police say, or if they do, they should verify that the card handed back is indeed their own.

Toronto police warned of a similar scam in March involving a taxi. Two perpetrators play the same roles and do the same thing, except the one poses as a tax driver instead of a delivery driver.

Another recent scam on the Toronto polices radar is the romance scam.

Perpetrators connect with victims through online dating platforms. Be aware if the conversation quickly turns to money, Inspector Paul Rinkoff of the financial crimes unit said in a video post.

The perpetrators may tell their victims they have a problem and need financial helptheyre stranded somewhere and need money to get home, or they need help paying for a medical problem.

Rinkoff said victims should report it when they have been scammed at TPS.ca/fraud.
Feral Cat Hunting Competition Cancelled After Animal Rights Activists Raise Concerns

In this Friday, April 1, 2016 photo, a feral cat hides in a wooded area near a beach parking lot at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, N.Y. The American Bird Conservancy has filed a lawsuit against the New York parks department seeking to have the feral cats removed from Jones Beach because they claim they are a threat to an endangered bird species called the piping plover. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman)

The addition of a new feral cat category in an annual hunting competition in rural New Zealand has sparked public outrage, prompting organisers to scrap the category.

Organisers of the North Canterbury Hunting Competition expressed their disappointment at the withdrawal, a move they said was made to avoid further backlash.

Under the category, kids under 14 were being offered a cash prize of up to $250 (US$155) for the most feral cat kills.

We are disappointed and apologise for those who were excited to be involved in something that is about protecting our native birds and other vulnerable species, they wrote on Facebook.

To clarify, for all hunting categories, our hunters are required to abide by the firearms act 1983 and future amendments as well as the animal welfare act 1999.

Animal rights advocate group Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) had expressed concerns that pet cats may be killed by accident given the difficulty in discerning whether a cat was feral, stray, or a pet.

SPCA is extremely concerned about this, the group wrote on Facebook.

In addition, children often use air rifles in these sorts of events, which increases the likelihood of pain and distress and can cause a prolonged death.

SPCA advocates that, instead of organised killing events, education around humane and compassionate practices can better prepare young people to appreciate and protect the biological heritage of New Zealand.

A hunter holds his gun during a boar hunt in Pietrosella on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on Aug. 15, 2020. (Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP via Getty Images)

Mat Bailey, an organiser, said the feral cat category was just one of many that aim to encourage kids to get outdoors.

He said the annual competition was a popular community event that raises money for the local school and pool.

Its great for the community, gets the kids outside  gives it a bit more meaning, knowing theyre going to help their school, Bailey told Stuff news.

Last years competition contributed $10,000 of the $50,000 cost of hiring a third teacher for their local school and $10,000 to the local pool.

This fundraising effort is critical in aiding the local school to employ a board-funded third teacher and gives our local community and kids greater opportunities, the organisers said.

They were incredibly disappointed that some vile and incredibly inappropriate messages had been sent to the school, with Bailey revealing that there had been death threats and a threat to burn down the school.

Activists were targeting the school heavily  Its not run by the school, but by local families and farmers, he said.

The rest of the event will go ahead as planned, with categories including hunting wild pigs, wild deer, and hares.

New Zealands Cat Problem

As efficient hunters, catsboth feral and domesticpose a major risk to New Zealands biodiversity, killing up to 100 million birds every year.

New Zealand historically lacked mammal predators, meaning its indigenous species can be easily devastated by the predator.

New Zealand has over 1.1 million pet cats and an estimated 2.5 million feral cats.

Biosecurity consultant Helen Blackie believes the culling of feral cats should only be done by experienced hunters.

They [cats] are one of our foremost predators in New Zealand, and unfortunately, their numbers seem to be growing exponentially at the moment, she told Radio New Zealand.

There are a lot of people, particularly in rural areas, that are struggling with feral cats.

Blackie said feral cats not only posed an issue for conservation efforts but also for the primary industry due to the diseases that the animals carried. These include toxoplasmosis, which causes abortion in sheep.

Cats Can Cause Huge Damage

Feral cats have already caused the extinction of six bird species in New Zealand, such as the flightless bird Lyalls wren, and also causes severe damage to the population of bats, lizards, and insects.

The Department of Conservation reported in 2010 that a single cat had killed at least 102 bats within the span of a week.

This really highlights the impact that cats can have on native wildlife, and I dont think a lot of people realise what skilled predators cats really are, said Jess Scrimgeour, a Department of Conservation scientist.

Its one thing to suspect predation occurs, another thing entirely to actually witness the damage one cat can do.

According to an Australian study by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub (pdf), many families are unaware that it is highly likely their pet cats hunted (if theyre not contained 24 hours a day).

Most owners believed their cats didnt hunt because they never came across evidence of killed animals, but 85 percent of the animals killed by pet cats are never brought home.

On average, each pet cat that is allowed to roam (even for only part of the day or night) kills 186 reptiles, birds, and mammals per year in Australia, the report said.

Collectively, roaming pet cats kill 390 million animals per year in Australia.
R | 2h 3m | War, Drama | April 21, 2023

Guy Ritchies The Covenant stars Jake Gyllenhaal as U.S. Army Sgt. John Kinley, top-dog of an elite, hunter-destroyer taskforce designed to demolish Taliban weapons outposts.

Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim, L) and Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal, front-center) in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Following an ambush, Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) undertakes a truly Herculean mission, schlepping the wounded, nearly-dead Kinley halfway across Afghanistan, over mountains and through the underbrush, on a makeshift gurney, and then a rickety wooden cart, with the Taliban in hot pursuit.

Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) trundles Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) over hill and dale to save his life, in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

When Kinley later learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to the United States as promised, he, like all American special operations personnel who operate under the powerful code of conduct of never leaving a man behind, heads back into the Afghanistan war zone Sandbox to single-handedly make good on that promise, before the Taliban can hunt them down.

Hence the title with Covenant. But why is it exclusively Guy Ritchies Covenant? Because director Guy Ritchies giving notice to the world, herewith, that this is an about-face from his usual schtick (and I say schtick very fondly) of hilarious, Cockney-insult-spewing, underworld British tough-guys. This is his first foray into serious fare. And its an extremely good fit.

U.S. Army Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal, L) and Sgt. Declan OBrady (Alexander Ludwig) trade friendly insults, in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Guy Ritchies The Covenant

In keeping with Ritchies style, all the squadron soldiers are introduced via pop-up graphics listing their names and nicknames, heralding, one imagines, classic Ritchie alpha-male one-upmanship banter. However, its all fairly subdued and grounded in order to serve the serious subject matter, and realistically portrays an elite military brotherhood ready to lay down their lives for each other. Ritchies just gearing up to tell a good tale.

After Sgt. McKinleys previous interpreter is killed by IED (improvised explosive device), he runs auditions for the position, and Ahmed joins the squada position employing multilingual locals with the promise of travel visas out of Afghanistan afterward. Obviously, interpreters are used to investigate the whereabouts of IEDs, but Ahmed goes above and beyond, at one point testing Kinleys patience when he insists another Afghan squad member is lying and rerouting them into an ambush.

U.S. Army Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal, L) and Ahmed (Dar Salim) discuss leads on Taliban weapons caches, in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

The explosives are ultimately found, but had Kinley trusted Ahmed instead of assuming he was overstepping his bounds, the situation wouldnt have gone south and racked up a body count on both sides. As Ahmed explains later, hes not a translator, per Kinleys description of his job. Hes an interpreter. Theres a difference: Hes got people-reading and detective skills.

After a big shoot-out set piece at a remote mine-shaft, Sgt. McKinley and Ahmed, isolated and outnumbered by the ruthless Taliban, and deep in Indian Country, make an escape and take turns looking out for one another. This involves a sustained stretch of tense action, with sporadic shootouts and stealthy knife kills, as well as various commandeered-vehicular chases and some very fine drone shots that capture the natural beauty of the Afghan hinterlands.

Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim, L) being chastised by Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) for losing his rifle in a long slide down a mountainside, in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

And then, of course, the meat of the taleAhmeds Sisyphean schlep of Kinleys wrecked, hallucinating near-corpse, while placing himself deep in danger by doing the right thing with awe-inspiring fortitude.

Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim, L) hides Sgt. John Kinleys face (Jake Gyllenhaal) with a robe to hide him from the Taliban in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Gyllenhaals and Dar Salims portrayed brotherly bond is riveting as they valiantly trade center stage in the electrifying crux battle scenes that bolster this emotionally draining narrative. This is the type of thing military men live for.

The remainder of Guy Ritchies The Covenant concerns the aftermath; showing John McKinley dealing with endless bureaucratic red tape and, maddeningly, being put on hold, while trying to repay his debt to Ahmed.

U.S. Army Colonel Vokes (Jonny Lee Miller) mostly looks the other way to allow Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) to bypass excessive bureaucratic paperwork and get results, in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

While theres obvious respect, admiration, survivors guilt, and a bone-deep drive to return the favor of doing the right thing, Gyllenhaals portrayal of Kinleys PTSD is a bit lukewarm in the stretch building to the final action-packed sequence. However, the juxtaposition of Ahmeds destitute young wife and baby with Kinleys well-off wife running the family business of selling vintage American cars and Harley-Davidsons is powerful.

U.S. Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and wife Caroline Kinley (Emily Beecham), in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Ultimately

Guy Ritchies The Covenant is easily one of the directors best films, unlike anything hes made previously. Most of his familiar trademarks (hyperactive editing, thuggish humor, style-over-substance) are either M.I.A. or tailored to fit a serious military drama that has nothing to do with American jingoism (as its being currently accused of) and everything to do with valor, courage, honor, and the profound devotion of military personnel who serve alongside one another in times of war.

Army Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal, L) and Ahmed (Dar Salim) make a last stand on a bridge, in Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Most importantly, Ritchie is clearly sincere about exploring this little-known covenant between U.S. Army personnel and its interpreters, that found themselves joining the ranks for a range of for reasons, such as hatred of the Taliban and/or the desire to exact revenge on them for killing family members, money, and the desire to obtain an American visa.

Granted, the screenplay doesnt drill down too deeply into any one of these complex dynamics, but via this subject matter Ritchies not only managed to find a refreshing angle to explore this particular war, but also refreshingly reinvented his directorial wheelhouse. Id like to see more Guy Ritchie spec ops military movies, loaded with full clips of his unparalleled, hilarious, irreverent, manly-man humor.

Movie poster for Guy Ritchies The Covenant. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Guy Ritchies the Covenant

Director: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Alexander Ludwig, Antony Starr, Bobby Schofield, Emily Beecham, Jonny Lee Miller

MPAA Rating: R

Running Time: 2 hours, 3 minutes

Release Date: April 21, 2023

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
InsightAce Analytic Pvt. LTd.

Companies covered in this report are IBM, AI, Google LLC, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle, FuGenX Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Cloudera, Cisco Systems, NVIDIA Corporation, Intel Corporation

Jersey City, NJ, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global AI in Fuel Market is estimated to reach over USD 5.32 billion by 2031, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.76% during the forecast period.

The fuel supply chain is being optimized using AI to control inventory, reduce waste, and increase delivery efficiency. In addition to streamlining the processes for producing and distributing fuel, AI is being used to assess real-time data on its quality, spotting possible problems like contamination or low-quality fuel.



The petroleum industry is under pressure to meet the expanding global energy demand. Petroleum companies can profit from AI by streamlining their processes, reducing expenses, and satisfying demand while remaining profitable. This should encourage market growth. The demand for innovative solutions in drilling, boiler diagnostics, quality control, planning, and predictive maintenance across various activities is also increasing, driving market growth.





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Furthermore, increasing product demand from oilfield operators, implementing different government programs to lessen the environmental impact of energy production, and intensive research and development (R&D) activities are other factors anticipated to drive the market.

Recent Developments:

In June 2022, Hub71 in Abu Dhabi and AIQ, a joint venture between Group 42 and Adnoc, are working to develop fresh artificial intelligence applications for the fuel sector. As a portion of the agreement, Hub71 and AIQ will work together to advance the development of cutting-edge digital technology to optimize the value of Fuel operations and support the sustainability of the energy sector.

In February 2022, Avni International, an independent tanker operator engaged in the shipment of crude oil and petroleum, and Windward, a provider of predictive intelligence, are collaborating to implement AI in the international marine trade. Windwards AI-powered platform will bolster the company's sanctions compliance program, inspect boats, and analyze maritime traffic and port congestion to optimize its tank operations.

Story continues

List of Prominent Players in the AI in Fuel Market:

Accenture plc

C3.AI

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Cloudera, Inc.

FuGenX Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Google LLC

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd

IBM

Infosys Limited,

Intel Corporation

Microsoft Corporation

Neudax

NVIDIA Corporation

Oracle

Shell plc.





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AI In Fuel Market Report Scope:

Report Attribute Specifications Market size value in 2022 USD 2.52 Bn Revenue forecast in 2031 USD 5.32 Bn Growth rate CAGR CAGR of 8.76 % from 2023 to 2031 Quantitative units Representation of revenue in US$ Billion, and CAGR from 2023 to 2031 Historic Year 2019 to 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2031 Report coverage The forecast of revenue, the position of the company, the competitive market statistics, growth prospects, and trends Segments covered Type, Function And Application Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S.; Canada; U.K.; Germany; China; India; Japan; Brazil; Mexico; The UK; France; Italy; Spain; China; Japan; India; South Korea; Southeast Asia; South Korea; Southeast Asia

Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

The fuel business has had tremendous growth on a global scale, which is encouraging the market. AI tools make the automation of geological data processing, digitization of records, and identification of problems like increasing equipment utilization and pipeline corrosion possible. Furthermore, the market expansion is aided by the widespread use of products for monitoring toxicity levels and leaks and automatically modifying cooling and heating systems. In addition, several developments in the fuel sector, including machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to handle difficult problems rapidly and effectively, are significantly boosting the market growth.

Challenges:

Implementing AI technologies in the gasoline industry can be expensive for small and medium-sized firms. Since AI technology is expensive to install, some businesses may choose not to use it, restricting the market's growth. AI systems need a lot of high-quality data to function successfully. The availability of this data, or the quality of the data, maybe a barrier for the fuel sector, which limits the utility of AI solutions.

A further disadvantage of AI technology in the petrol sector is that it can be expensive to install, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. The high expenses associated with integrating AI technology may deter some companies from doing so, which would impede the sector's expansion.

Regional Trends:

The North America AI in the fuel market is expected to register major market share in revenue and is projected to raise at a high CAGR soon. North America has emerged as the most significant global market regarding the fuel volume produced over time. Artificial intelligence has aided in nearly every field and process in creating these products.

The region's strong economy, the widespread adoption of AI technologies by oilfield operators and service providers, the prominence of leading AI software and system suppliers, and joint investments from the public and private sectors in R&D activities are all expected to contribute to the region's high demand for AI.





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Segmentation of AI in Fuel Market-

By Type

Hardware

Software

By Function

Predictive Maintenance and Machinery Inspection

Material Movement

By Application

Upstream

Downstream

By Region-

North America-

The US

Canada

Mexico

Europe-

Germany

The UK

France

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific-

China

Japan

India

South Korea

South East Asia

Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America-

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa-

GCC Countries

South Africa

Rest of Middle East and Africa

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Fractured Rail Found After Fiery Minnesota Derailment

Federal investigators say BNSF railroad is analyzing a section of fractured rail after last months fiery derailment that prompted evacuations in southwest Minnesota, but they didnt say definitively that the broken rail caused the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary report Tuesday on the March 30 derailment that forced about 800 people from their homes in Raymond, Minnesota, after 10 ethanol cars derailed and several of them caught fire from the fuel additive leak. Those ethanol cars were among 23 cars that came off the tracks shortly before 1 a.m. that day.

The fire burned into the following day before firefighters could extinguish it, but no one was hurt and everyone who evacuated was able to return home within 12 hours of the derailment. Investigators estimated that the derailment caused $1.9 million of damage to railroad equipment and the tracks.

This Minnesota derailment only added to the growing concerns about railroad safety in the wake of the fiery Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment outside East Palestine, Ohio. Roughly half the town of about 5,000 had to evacuate in the days after that derailment, when hazardous chemicals were released and burned, leaving many residents with questions about the potential for long-term health problems.

People who live around the derailment that happened near the Pennsylvania border are demanding more answers as the railroad works to clean up contaminated soil and water. Norfolk Southerns CEO testified in Ohios legislature Tuesday after previously appearing at two Congressional hearings focused on possible railroad safety reforms.

The NTSB said that two of the ethanol cars were punctured during the Minnesota derailment even though they were the upgraded models of tank cars that were designed to resist leaks after a string of fiery crude oil and ethanol derailments a decade ago. The fire from those leaking ethanol cars damaged the gaskets on three other ethanol cars nearby, causing them to leak as well, even though the gaskets were rated to withstand temperatures up to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

A BNSF train carrying ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire near Raymond, Minn., on March 30, 2023. (Mark Vancleave/Star Tribune via AP)

The Forth Worth, Texas-based railroad declined to comment on the NTSB investigation, but spokesperson Amy McBeth said the cleanup at the site is largely complete. She said testing in the area hasnt shown any threat to human health or the environment.

At the time of the derailment, state officials said they werent especially concerned about groundwater contamination because most of the ethanol would burn off and the ground remained frozen, with temperatures hovering just a few degrees above zero Fahrenheit.

Investigators said that at the time of the derailment, the train was going 43 mphwhich is below the 49 mph speed limit for the area.

The Minnesota derailment happened about 100 miles west of Minneapolis. The full NTSB report on the derailment, which will identify the cause, may take more than a year to complete.

The crew of the 40-car train included an engineer, a conductor, a brakeman, and a conductor trainee. None of them were hurt.

By Josh Funk
Google Wins Appeal of $20 Million US Patent Verdict Over Chrome Technology

The Google logo is pictured atop an office building in Irvine, Calif., on Aug. 7, 2017. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Alphabets Google LLC on Tuesday convinced a U.S. appeals court to cancel three anti-malware patents at the heart of a Texas jurys $20 million infringement verdict against the company.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that Alfonso Cioffi and Allen Rozmans patents were invalid because they contained inventions that were not included in an earlier version of the patent.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the company appreciated the decision. Representatives for the inventors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cioffi and the late Rozmans daughters sued Google in East Texas federal court in 2013, alleging anti-malware functions in Googles Chrome web browser infringed their patents for technology that prevents malware from accessing critical files on a computer.

A jury decided in 2017 that Google infringed the patents and awarded the plaintiffs $20 million plus ongoing royalties, which their attorney said at the time were expected to total about $7 million per year for the next nine years.

But the Federal Circuit said Tuesday that all of the patents were invalid. The three patents were reissued from an earlier anti-malware patent, and federal law required the new patents to cover the same invention as the first, the unanimous three-judge panel concluded.

The appeals court said the new patents outlined technology specific to web browsers that the first patent did not mention.

The case is Cioffi v. Google LLC, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 18-1049.

By Blake Brittain
Grandfather Acquitted of Mischief Charges Involving Red Wagon at Freedom Convoy

Protesters stand on the back of a truck during the Freedom Convoy demonstrations against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The court has acquitted an Ontario grandfather charged with mischief and police obstruction, after police accused him of providing gas in jerrycans to protesters who attended the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa in early 2022.

His lawyer, Jim Karahalios, said he believes it is the first acquittal on criminal charges of any individual associated with the convoy protests. Thus far, most of the cases have only ended because the Crown chose to withdraw the charges. In this case, a trial was held before a judge who determined the outcome.

In an April 18 social media post, Karahalios said he was proud of his client, Allen Remley, for not backing down to the pressure to take a deal from the Crown.

Remley, who the court heard was known for his charity work in Africa, was acquitted by Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey despite not bringing forward any evidence.

According to the justice, the investigative officers notes were poorly taken, Remley was denied his constitutional right to a lawyer, and the government failed to prove its case.

The Ottawa police brought the charges in relation to a childrens wagon filled with jerrycans being transported to the convoy protest on Feb. 12, 2022, for what police called a mobile gas station in downtown Ottawa near Kent Street and Nepean Street.

The investigation was started after jerrycans were banned from the convoy. At the time, police officials announced that bringing gas to the convoy would be considered mischief. This took place two days before the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act.

The court heard that Constable Jonathan Kenney was told to investigate the small red wagon that morning, and drove a rented minivan to the scene because there were no available marked police units.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the trial judge heard that police told truckers to travel to Wellington Street, and later blocked it. The constable told the court that Neapean and Bank Street were open for travel. Sergeant Louis Carvalho, who also testified in court, confirmed that Ottawa police were directing convoy protestors in their trucks to Wellington Street.

While giving evidence, Kenney said he saw jerrycans on a childrens wagon near the truck Remley was driving, but couldnt give more details. Later, he said the small red wagon was 10 feet away from Remleys truck. He testified that he did not see Remley putting gas into the jerry cans and said the grandfather was polite.

Bystanders began yelling at the constable to leave Remley alone, and the court heard that Ottawa police officers felt the situation was dangerous and retreated. People yelled that the grandfather was a patriot.

Kenney demanded Remleys drivers license, even though he testified the man did not interact with the crowd or cause any trouble. He told the court, The investigation was not worth it, and said he did not want to be a powder keg.

Free Man

In court, the officer testified he may not have had grounds to ask for Remleys drivers license.

Now Im not sure I had authority.  At the time, I thought I had authority under the Highway Traffic Act, but now I think I didnt. I asked for the identification to continue my investigation. It was an error on my part, Kenney told the court. He also said he told Remley, You came here a free man and you leave as a criminal.

The judge said that the officer had not advised Remley that he had the right to a lawyer and did not order him to leave, merely suggesting he consider leaving.

The officer admitted on the stand the notes from his little red wagon investigation were not great. He also told the judge he did not know what was in the jerry cans or what specific liquid they contained, and did not see Remley filling them.

In delivering the acquittal of the charge of police obstruction, the justice said there was no evidence at all before the court that Remley was impacting the officers ability to do his job. The judge stated that Remley did not incite the crowd in any way.

Based on the evidence before me, the best we have is jerry cans in a wagon 10 feet away with dozens of people milling about, she stated.

Remley, through his lawyer, said he was relieved by the decision. However, the Crown has announced it is appealing his acquittal.

Karahalios did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on April 19 that older people and people with weakened immune systems may obtain additional doses of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines.

The change comes as part of the CDCs efforts to simplify its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. The agency said the move also gives people at higher risk of COVID-19 the option of taking additional vaccine doses.

The CDCs new recommendations (pdf) are:

Adults aged 65 and older are recommended to take an updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccine dose and have the option to obtain a second dose, provided four months have elapsed since the last one.

Meanwhile, those who are immunocompromised can obtain even more additional doses, provided two months have elapsed since the last one. This allows more flexibility for healthcare providers to administer additional doses to immunocompromised patients as needed, according to the agency.

Those aged 664 are recommended by the CDC to take one updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccine. This is regardless of whether they previously received a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine. But those who have already received an updated (bivalent) vaccine do not need to take any action.

As for children under 6, the agency said the recommendations would vary by age, as well as by which COVID-19 vaccines the child has previously taken.

The CDC noted that the original (monovalent) mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, which were targeted toward the original Wuhan strain, will no longer be recommended for use in the United States.

It also noted that options other than the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are available for people who cannot or will not receive an mRNA vaccine. The recommendations for the original (monovalent) Novavax or Johnson & Johnsons Janssen COVID-19 vaccines werent affected by the changes.

The recommendations refer to the mRNA-based updated bivalent vaccines, which are available from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. They are targeted toward the original strain from Wuhan as well as the omicron BA.4/BA.5 strains. The vaccines were authorized and recommended as boosters in the fall of 2022, even though there were no clinical data in support of their safety or effectiveness.

The BA.4 and BA.5 strains are no longer in circulation in the United States. The CDC estimates the omicron XBB.1.5 strain as comprising 78 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the country as of April 15.

Earlier on April 19, the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met to discuss the vaccine recommendation changes. ACIP members expressed their support for the recommendations although there was no vote at the meeting, according to the CDC.

The CDCs changes align with those made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 18, which included issuing an emergency use authorization for additional doses of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines for the high-risk population.

Dont Protect Well: CDC Data

Data reported by the CDC on April 19 showed that the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines from either Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna offered limited and short-lived protection against severe illness.

The unpublished CDC data was drawn from the CDCs VISION Vaccine Effectiveness Network, which are sites that collect data on vaccinations and COVID-19 admissions, and covered the period spanning September 2022 to March 2023.

Data showed the protection against severe illness for adults from either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna bivalent vaccines started above 50 percent, but quickly dropped within months.

In those who were not immunocompromised, data showed that for people aged 1865, a shot increased the protection against hospitalization from 21 to 68 percent, but the protection quickly falls to 27 percent within 60119 days later.

Meanwhile, for those aged 65 and older, data showed the protection of the bivalent vaccine dose against hospitalization increased from 25 to 64 percent but fell to 39 percent by 120179 days later.

In those who were immunocompromised, protection against hospitalization peaks at 43 percent, never reaching past 50 percent at any point.

U.S. officials and World Health Organization experts say 50 percent is the threshold for a successful vaccine.

Vaccines typically protect against infection, but the COVID-19 vaccines have never entirely prevented infection and have performed increasingly worse against the outcome as newer variants have emerged.

Earlier observational studies have found the bivalents give transient protection against hospitalization and poor shielding against infection.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
A new report on immunisation suggests that confidence in childhood vaccines has fallen up to 44 percent in 52 countries coinciding with the largest sustained backslide in childhood immunization in 30 years, fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The only three countries where vaccine confidence remained steady were China, India, and Mexico. The data from these countries indicates the perception of the importance of vaccines held firm or even improved.

The report attributed this trend to several factors, including uncertainty about the response to the pandemic, growing access to a wider range of information, and political polarization.

Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, said that this data is a worrying warning signal.

At the height of the pandemic, scientists rapidly developed vaccines that saved countless lives. But despite this historic achievement, fear and disinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the virus itself, Russell said in a press release.

We cannot allow confidence in routine immunizations to become another victim of the pandemic. Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria or other preventable diseases.

72 doses of Vaccines from Birth to Eighteen Years

Recently, vaccine critics have brought to light the large number of shots that are given to American children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)s immunization schedule, children are given up to 72 doses of 16 vaccines.

Despite this, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the founder and chief legal counsel of Childrens Health Defense and author of The Real Anthony Fauci, said that not a single vaccine on the schedule has been safety tested prior to being approved.

None of the 72 doses of vaccines that are currently mandated for children has ever been tested in a pre-licensing safety study against a true placebo, Kennedy told the Epoch Times.

It is a big problem, he says, because many of the injuries that come from vaccines, like all medicines, are long-term injuries.

You may say that the vaccine prevented the infection, but then you dont count the cancers, the neurological disorders, the ADHD, and the autoimmune diseases that pop up five years from now. You need long-term studies, he said.

Many injuries that come from vaccines are long-term injuries but are often pushed out before these are discovered for expediency. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)

Kennedy said that DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) vaccine is the most popular vaccine in the world because of the efforts of those behind vaccines.

Incidentally [the US] withdrew the vaccine because it was killing so many children, it was causing brain damage according to a study that was done by UCLA, Kennedy said.

We ended it in the United States. We replaced it with a DTaP vaccine, an attenuated version, which is safer but less effective. They did the same thing in Europe.

Eventually, the Danish government did an extensive study of DTP with 30 years of vaccination records with leading pro-vaccination scientists, including Peter Aaby. They found that the vaccine was causing anemia, dysentery, and pneumonia and were killing more people than diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis did prior to the introduction of the vaccine.

Thats the danger. You could have a vaccine for 30 or 40 years, and nobody actually notices that the kids who are taking it are worse off from a health perspective because you have never done the placebo-controlled trials, he said.
Some Americans cannot receive another COVID-19 vaccine dose, U.S. regulators said on April 18, as they made sweeping changes to the vaccine system.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the changes, including replacing the old Pfizer and Moderna vaccines with updated bivalent shots that had previously only been available as boosters.

Regulators are also scaling back the number of recommended doses for most individuals, including people who havent received a shot.

Key changes include:

Most unvaccinated Americans are still being encouraged to get a COVID-19 vaccine but only need a single dose of a bivalent, the FDA said. The exception is young children. Children aged 6 months through 5 years can receive two doses of Modernas bivalent while those aged 6 months through 4 years can get three doses of Pfizers bivalent.

Americans who have received a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine and one of the bivalent boosters still cannot get an additional dose, unless theyre in certain groups.

Any individual 65 years old or older can receive a bivalent dose, even if theyve already received one, provided four months or more has elapsed since their last shot.

People aged 5 and older and deemed immune compromised can get another bivalent at least two months after their last shot, even if it was a bivalent, and can get additional doses at the discretion of, and at intervals determined by, their healthcare provider.

Little Data to Support Bivalents

The FDA authorized the original vaccines in late 2020 based on clinical trial efficacy data. The original vaccines targeted the Wuhan virus strain, which hasnt circulated since 2020.

The updated bivalents target the Wuhan strain and the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron strain. The subvariants were displaced in 2022.

Regulators authorized the bivalents as boosters in 2022 despite no clinical trial data being available. In letters formally announcing the bivalents as replacing the old vaccines, the FDA made clear that scientists arent sure whether the bivalents protect against COVID-19.

Based on the totality of the scientific evidence available, FDA concluded that it is reasonable to believe that Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 Vaccine, Bivalent may be effective in individuals 6 months of age and older for the prevention of COVID-19, the letter to Pfizer states. The same language was used for Modernas shot.

Most of the data supporting Pfizers expanded authorization comes from the old vaccines and a bivalent that has never been used in the United States. The only trial data for the available bivalent showed that children had higher levels of neutralizing antibodies when they received a bivalent. Antibodies are thought to protect against COVID-19.

No clinical trial data for Modernas shot was cited, and no efficacy data was cited for either vaccine.

Dr. Peter Marks, a top FDA vaccine official, claimed in a briefing that the available data continue [to] demonstrate that vaccines prevent all serious outcomes from COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. Its not clear which data he was citing, and the FDA did not respond to a request for comment.

The FDA cited a single observational study in its letter to Pfizer. English researchers reported in The Lancet that vaccination with an old vaccine in addition to previous infection provided strong protection against symptomatic COVID-19 through March 2022. Other research has found that prior infection alone is as good as or better than vaccination.

Other observational studies have found the updated vaccines provide transient protection against hospitalization and poor protection against infection.

Seroprevalence data indicates a majority of Americans have recovered from COVID-19, the FDA noted. Thats an important acknowledgement, Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at the University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Gandhi said she agrees that only the elderly and immune suppressed should receive another dose, as opposed to the entire population. Dr. Harvey Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, said that he sees the vaccines as largely unnecessary.

The current vaccines are out-of-date, any new ones will be out-of-date by the time they are generally available, and mostly everybody already has SARS-CoV-2 antibodies anyway, Risch told The Epoch Times via email. At this point, the vaccines are thus not generally useful products for serving a public health function.

Change Made to Boost Uptake

Uptake of the vaccines was high after they were authorized, but has dropped considerably since. Just 16.7 percent of the U.S. population has received a bivalent shot, compared to 69.4 percent who received a primary series of the old vaccine.

FDA officials said the changes announced on April 18 were made to simplify the vaccine composition, reduce the complexity of the available doses, and increase uptake.

This approach will help us achieve higher vaccination coverage across the country, Marks told reporters. If anything comes out of this action, were hoping that it can encourage people who have not received the bivalent booster to go out and consider getting one.

The newly rolled out system is for the spring, as officials are planning to meet over the summer to discuss a fall regimen. They plan to adapt COVID-19 vaccines to the influenza model, updating strains in the vaccines each year.

Advisers to the agency backed the pivot to bivalents in a January discussion. Some said they favor updating the strains in the future.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Dr. Gandhis name. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Hongkongers Leaving Under BNO Visa Scheme Have Their MPF Pension Withheld

Hong Kong Watch: Financial service institutions cooperate on brazen asset grab

"Hong Kong Watch" estimates that financial service institutions withhold about US$2.73 billion of MPF (Mandatory Provident Fund) savings from past Hong Kong wage earners now living in the UK through the BNO Leave to Remain visa scheme. File photo. (Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times)

In January 2021, the British government launched the BNO Leave to Remain visa scheme. Since then, more than 100,000 Hong Kong people have emigrated to the UK. Some British Hong Kong residents pointed out that they cannot withdraw their MPF (Mandatory Provident Fund) savings in Hong Kong, which has attracted much attention. Recently, some organizations have calculated that financial service institutions withheld about HK$21.5 billion (US$2.73 billion) of MPF savings from Hongkongers who have emigrated to the UK through the BNO visa scheme.

British-based NGO Hong Kong Watch, which has been consistently concerned about the human rights situation in Hong Kong, published a research report on April 17. It pointed out that according to the letter sent by a Hong Kong bank to the concerned Hong Kong people on the BNO visa scheme, it said the bank followed the Hong Kong governments guidelines to the MPF Authority (MPFA). And according to the guidelines, those individuals (on the BNO visa scheme) are not allowed to withdraw their MPF funds in advance.

The Hong Kong MPFA stated that according to the Hong Kong government statement in January 2021, it no longer recognizes BNO passports as valid travel documents nor as identity proofs. Therefore, members of MPF schemes cannot rely on BNO passports or related visas to claim as evidence of permanent departure from Hong Kong to apply for early withdrawal of their MPF savings.

The Hong Kong Watch pointed out that the CCP unilaterally announced that it would not recognize BNO in response to the BNO visa scheme to prevent hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people from withdrawing their MPF assets and that this was simply an act of retaliation.

Sam Goodman, Hong Kong Watch Director of Policy and Advocacy, analyzed that the CCP government no longer recognizes BNO passports as a kind of retaliation to impose economic penalties on Hong Kong emigrants, which seriously violates the obligations stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.

He said, This is an act of brazen asset grab, and is designed to financially punish those leaving the territory through the BNO visa scheme. It is intended to warn other people who are considering leaving Hong Kong.

A Hong Kong resident, Mr. Chan (pseudonym), who emigrated to the UK through the BNO visa scheme for nearly two years, revealed to the Epoch Times that he had sworn in the UK to leave Hong Kong permanently. In response, he hired a British solicitor to supervise the oath and sent it back to Hong Kong with a copy of the Biometric residence permit. But the MPF savings can still not be retrieved.

HSBC Hong Kong replied to him that the applicant must provide a copy of the passport of full British citizenship after naturalization in the UK before he can retrieve the MPF fund, so Mr. Chan needs to wait a few more years before trying to reapply. According to the BNO visa scheme, Hong Kong people must have lived in the UK for six consecutive years before they can apply for British citizenship.

The U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a commentary entitled Hong Kongs Hostage Pensions on April 14, stating that BNO Hong Kong residents were deprived of their MPF funds. The MPFA later issued a statement calling the report misleading and asked the WSJ to retract the content.
House Passes Resolution to Overturn DC Policing Bill

The U.S. House passed a disapproval resolution on April 19 to block the District of Columbias Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022.

The vote was 229189. Fourteen Democrats joined all 215 Republicans in voting for the resolution. The resolution is unlikely to advance in the Democratic-led Senate.

The D.C. legislation would prohibit the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) and other local law enforcement personnel from using neck restraints or any other technique that causes asphyxiation, presents an unnecessary danger to the public and constitutes excessive force.

The lawwhich the city council passed in December 2022also approves the use of police body camera footage and requires, with a couple of exceptions, the mayor to release such footage with the names of the officers behind the footage where officers [were] directly involved in the officer-involved death or serious use of force.

However, the mayor cant release footage if the next of kin of an officer-involved death or the individual against whom the serious use of force was used, or if the individual is a minor or unable to consent, the individuals next of kin doesnt agree to its release.

Additionally, the act authorizes District of Columbia Housing Authority Police Department (DCHAPD) members to make arrests, carry a firearm, and perform other functions normally reserved to members of the Metropolitan Police Department.

It also allows personnel of D.C.s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to carry a firearm, make warrantless arrests for felony violations of the law, and serve as affiants for search warrants. The law subjects DCHA and OIG to the same oversight and process that is used in dealing with complaints against MPD officers.

The act would establish a Police Complaints Board consisting of nine members, including a representative from one of D.C.s eight wards and one at-large member. The members are appointed by the mayor and require confirmation by the D.C. Council, which has 90 days to act on the nomination.

If there is no vote on the nominee within that timeframe, then the appointee is rejected. The act would strip the mayors power to appoint the boards chairperson, giving it to the board. However, the mayor can remove a board member for cause.

The policing and justice overhaul measure has been criticized by Republicans for being harsh on law enforcement.

This Joint Resolution would disapprove of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 which was passed by the D.C. Council in defiance of very real safety concerns raised by law enforcement, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) told The Washington Post. Its time to say enough is enough and push back on the anti-police narrative, starting here in our nations capital.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who introduced the disapproval resolution, called D.C.s pending law an anti-police measure.

However, D.C. congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton expressed objections to the GOP resolution.

The legislative history and merits of D.C.s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, which is the subject of this disapproval resolution, should be irrelevant, since there is never justification for Congress nullifying legislation enacted by D.C., but I would like to set the record straight, she said on the House floor.

D.C.s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 would, among other things, make it easier to fire officers for misconduct; prohibit the hiring of officers with prior misconduct; require the release of the names and body-worn camera recordings of officers directly involved in an officer-involved death or serious use of force; strengthen civilian oversight of police; establish a public database of sustained allegations of officer misconduct; make officer disciplinary records subject to release under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act and prohibit chokeholds and asphyxiating restraints.

While the bill passed the Republican-controlled House, its unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. The White House has said that President Joe Biden would veto the resolution if it came to his desk.

The president believes we have an obligation to make sure all our people are safe and that public safety depends on public trust. It is a core policy of this Administration to provide law enforcement the resources they need for effective, accountable community policing, the White House said in an April 17 statement.

While President Biden does not support every provision of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, he will not support congressional Republicans efforts to overturn commonsense police reforms such as: banning chokeholds; limiting use of force and deadly force; improving access to body-worn camera recordings; and requiring officer training on de-escalation and use of force, it stated. Congress should respect the District of Columbias right to pass measures that improve public safety and public trust.

However, Biden did sign a GOP resolution in March overturning a D.C. crime bill.

The Republican-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate both passed the resolution on a bipartisan basis and Biden expressed that he would sign the bill, pitting himself against progressives and his own belief that the District of Columbia should be a state.

The conundrum also put Biden on the spot amid Republican criticisms of his fellow Democrats being soft on crime. Bowser vetoed the billonly for the city council to override her veto. The resolution was the first time in decades that Congress voted to override a D.C. bill.

Under the code, the mandatory minimum penalty for first-degree murder would have remained 24 years in prison but the maximum would have been reduced from life behind bars to 51 years in prison. The penalty for first-degree murder would be 57 years if the defendant was already charged with a crime committed murder while on release. All other mandatory minimum sentences would have been done away with under the code.

The act would allow juries to decide misdemeanor cases.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have required doctors to inform women that medication abortions can be reversed if action is taken in time.

Pro-life groups have now urged GOP lawmakers to override the veto, contending that Kansas women should have the right to know the option is available.

House Bill 2264, also known as the Womans Right to Know Act, requires health care providers to inform women that the effects of mifepristone, the first of two drugs used for chemical abortions, may be reversible using progesterone, a hormone produced naturally during pregnancy.

The bill passed the House 80-38 earlier this month after it passed the Senate 26-11.

Kelly, a Democrat, noted in her veto statement that Kansans voted in a ballot initiative last year not to ban abortion in the state constitution.

In August, Kansans made clear that they believe personal health care decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not politicians in Topeka, Kelly said (pdf). This bill would interfere with that relationship and, given the uncertain science behind it, could be harmful to Kansans health.

Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican, criticized the governors decision, saying vulnerable women have the right to know all of their options when facing an unplanned pregnancy.

With this veto, Governor Kelly has shown that she does not believe vulnerable women have the right to know all of their options, Hawkins said in a statement. He noted that the bill would have informed them of them option of reversing the medication abortion.

House Republicans stand united to act during veto session to ensure women in this incredibly vulnerable position are provided with all the facts, he added.

The Legislature will return on April 26 for a veto session. The House would need 84 votes to override the veto and 27 votes in the Senate.

Pro-Life Advocates Say Women Should Be Informed of Abortion Pill Reversal Option

Pro-life group Kansas For Life (KFL) released a statement calling on legislators to override the ideologically driven veto.

Once again, Governor Kelly has sided with the extremist abortion industry over empowering women with facts about their true options concerning medication abortions and the potential to reverse the process once it has begun, said KFL Director of Communications Danielle Underwood in a statement.

House Bill 2264 was passed with bipartisan support and the undeniable truth that over 4,000 babies have been saved with the protocol. Why is Governor Kelly so afraid of trusting women with this information?

Nearly 68 percent of abortions in Kansas are medication abortions using a regimen of two doses of different pills, mifepristone and misoprostol. Nationwide, the two-step drug regimen accounts for more than half of all abortions in the country.

The second set of pills, misoprostol, is taken by the woman at home, usually within 24 to 48 hours of taking the first set of pills. This means there is a narrow window for women who want to change their minds after taking mifepristone to try reserving the effects of that drug.

A KFL fact sheet on abortion pill reversal (APR) states that an increasingly significant number of women who have ingested mifepristone change their minds about using misoprostol and have sought the APR to save their baby.

The Abortion Pill Rescue Network says it has assisted women in 77 different countries and all 50 U.S. states, saving over 4,000 babies since 2012 using the APR protocol.

How Abortion Pill Reversal Works

Mifepristone works by blocking progesterone, which is essential for providing the nutrients needed for the growth and development of an unborn child. The drug stops this process and leads to the termination of the pregnancy. The drug misoprostol is then used to induce labor and expel the unborn childs remains.

Progesterone can be used to reverse the effects of mifepristone. Supplemental hormones have been used for decades as a bona fide treatment for women struggling with infertility or pregnancies prone to miscarriage.

However, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not support prescribing progesterone to stop a medication abortion, saying APR has not been backed by science.

Two studies on APR published by the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that medication abortions could safely and effectively be reversed with progesterone after a woman takes mifepristone.

Progesterone competes with mifepristone for the progesterone receptor and may reverse the effects of mifepristone, one studys abstract states.

This study, titled Progesterone use to reverse the effects of mifepristone, found that 60 percent of women who took mifepristone were able to carry their pregnancies to term after receiving 200 mg of intramuscular progesterone.

A second observational study published by the NIH on APR showed an approximate 64 to 68 percent success rate in situations where only the first abortion pills are ingested, compared to about 23 percent when nothing is done.

There was no apparent increased risk of birth defects, stated the study, which concluded that, The reversal of the effects of mifepristone using progesterone is safe and effective.

Women who change their minds after beginning an abortion by pills deserve all the information normally available to other women receiving medical help in maintaining pregnancy until delivery, the KFL factsheet states.

This information should be provided to women before an abortion, as part of giving full consent, inside the facility prior to the procedure, in case of continued ambivalence, or with paperwork sent home by the abortionist because the reversal treatment has a short window of time to begin for success.
IN-DEPTH: The Real Reason Behind Chinas $10 Billion Offer to Taliban for Lithium

Afghanistan's acting first deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar (L) and China's ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu in Kabul on Jan. 5, 2023. (Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images)

A Chinese company has offered the Taliban $10 billion and a proposal to build key strategic infrastructure connecting north-south Afghanistan in exchange for access to the countrys lithium reserves. Some experts raised concerns that the offer would allow the Chinese regime to expand its influence in the region.

The proposal was discussed between a representative of Gochin and the acting minister of the Talibans Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Sheikh Hadith Shahabuddin Delawar, in his office on April 13. The talks happened just a few months after the Taliban arrested two Chinese nationals trying to smuggle 1,000 metric tons of lithium-bearing rocks out of the country.

Experts said it needs to be seen if the deal is feasible, but once signed, it will have diplomatic and political ramifications, and the proposed infrastructure development will likely have a long-term strategic impact.

Geopolitically, this deal could give China a significant advantage and influence in the region, as it secures a supply of critical resources and strengthens its presence in Afghanistan, Maher Saadat, an exiled activist and Afghan affairs analyst, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Afghanistans lithium reserves potentially rival those of Bolivia, which has the worlds most significant amount of lithium resources. The Talibans Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said in a press release that the deal, once executed, will provide direct employment to 120,000 people and indirectly to 1 million.

Abhishek Darbey, a research associate of the Chinese Research Program at the New Delhi-based Center for China Analysis and Strategy (CCAS), pointed out to The Epoch Times in an email that China is among the first countries that supported the Taliban to form a government in Kabul following the withdrawal of the United States from the country. He believes the Chinese regime wants to control the region.

In the case of Afghanistan, the country is important for China because the land domain of the Belt and Road Initiative will pass through this region, and a peaceful Afghanistan will create favorable conditions for the BRI to grow and progress, he said.

Also, China considers itself to be a major power of the region and, therefore, it wants to be a participant in [the] decision-making of the region or wants to be a power with a capacity to influence the regional politics, he added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistans Taliban, in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021. (Li Ran/Xinhua via Reuters)

Lithium for the Taliban

Afghanistans lithium reserves are a quick source of money for the Taliban, but they dont have a long-term strategic goal for it, according to the experts.

They may view it as an opportunity to generate immediate revenue to fund their activities and consolidate their power, given their history of relying on various sources of illicit financings, such as drug trafficking and extortion, Saadat said.

The Talibans focus on immediate financial gainswithout considering the long-term implications and sustainable development of the lithium depositsis likely to limit the potential benefits of the reserves for Afghanistan and its people, he said.

[It] will not contribute to the overall socio-economic development and stability of the country with certainty, he said.

The first lithium mine was discovered in Ghazni city in 2013. These rare mineral mines are located in five areas in Afghanistan: Herat, Shuryak Valley, Tagab District in Kapisa Province, Nawur District in Ghazni Province, and Badakhshan.

Darbey said the Chinese interest in the region is not newin 2021, two Chinese companies were sent to Ghazni to conduct technical research and inspect lithium and goldmines.

While Chinas lithium reserves are depleting, the Afghan deposits are unexploited. Five Chinese companies have set up their representative offices in Afghanistan, and around 20 Chinese companies have made inquiries about lithium projects, according to Darbey.

Delawar said that the contract of the mines in Afghanistan would be given according to the Talibans law.

Darbey pointed out that the Taliban government is already supporting Chinese investment in its wider mining sector, and Chinas two largest lithium minersTianqi and Ganfenghave already examined the lithium mines in Afghanistan.

A factory worker at Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co. Ltd, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, in Nanjing in Chinas eastern Jiangsu Province, on March 12, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Infrastructure Development

The Talibans Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said in its press release that the Chinese had proposed developing three infrastructure projects: the Salang Tunnel that connects north Afghanistan with Kabul, the Nuristan highway that connects Kunar to Laghman, and a power dam project.

The Chinese side has said that they will repair Salang Pass for smooth transportation between China and Afghanistan for the purpose of mining and other activities, Darbey said.

Gochin has proposed to repair the Salang Passa lifeline of Afghanistanin seven months and carve another tunnel over the pass.

The fight for Salang Pass has been an important part of Afghanistans war history because of its strategic location on the mapthe Soviet Union and the United States used it to move military troops. Today the pass is important for the Talibans military movement.

The first construction for the two-lane Salang highway across the Hindukush mountains, which included creating a 1.7-mile-long tunnel at the Salang Pass at 3,400 meters above sea level, was undertaken by the Soviets in the 1960s.

The narrowness of the Salang Pass is one of the factors responsible for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country, according to Saadat, who said that the U.S. military heavily relied on airlifting supplies because it was difficult to move heavy equipment through the pass.

This airlifting was not only logistically challenging but also economically expensive, which added to the overall cost of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, he said, adding that the high cost of the war in Afghanistan was one of the main reasons the United States left the country.

Today the Taliban controls the crucial transportation route for moving fighters and supplies across the country because they have complete control over the Salang Tunnel, making it indispensable for the Talibans military operations, according to Saadat.

Additionally, the Nuristan Highway and Power Dam provide the Taliban with an opportunity to control the regions infrastructure, which can be used to exert power and influence over the local population, he said.

The Taliban had last year announced that tariffs on freight traffic would generate $341 million in its treasury. Saadat said that the Chinese-proposed projects could also generate revenue through taxation and extortion, which can be used to fund Taliban activities and consolidate its power.

Darbey said that with more Chinese infrastructure projects, its likely that the Chinese will train Taliban troops to improve their security apparatus in a short amount of time.

The possibility of sending Chinese security troops in the region also cannot be undermined, he said.

The overall situation could also create tensions with other countries that have interests in the region, potentially leading to conflicts or strained international relations, according to Saadat.

Furthermore, it could lead to China creating a debt trap for the Taliban, increasing its economic leverage in Afghanistan and potentially affecting the geopolitical dynamics in the region, he said.

Vehicles and rescue teams are pictured at the site of a deadly oil tanker fire at the Salang Pass tunnel in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, on Dec. 19, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Connection With Central Asia

Experts said the proposed infrastructure development would help improve Afghanistans connectivity with Central Asia, benefiting China.

Saadat said that by offering to repair the Salang Pass in seven months, China is offering the Taliban a crucial transportation route that connects Kabul to the Central Asian market through Hairatan.

Hairatan is a town in the northern Balkh Province of Afghanistan and borders Uzbekistan. It was through the same borders that landlocked Uzbekistan, which hosted the U.S.-led coalition forces in 2001 that toppled the Taliban after 9/11.

After the Taliban took over in 2021, Uzbekistan continued to do business with Afghanistan through the same border as its firms sought a path through Afghanistan to ports in Pakistan and Iran.

The Taliban is also a part of the East-West Railway Corridor project that stretches from China to Europe through Iran and Afghanistan, and a north-south connection through Salang is important for the overall navigation map of Central Asia that China is developing.

The importance of Salang Pass for the Taliban is that they cannot do it themselves, and it would enable them to access and export the lithium deposits, which they see as a quick source of money, he said.

Challenges

Although China has a number of investors willing to invest in Afghan lithium reserves, they will face challenges and risks, including a treacherous topography and increasing terrorist attacks, according to the experts.

First, throughout the year, harsh climatic conditions prevail over the geographical location of Wakhan Corridor connecting the two countries, and the region remains snow-covered for at least nine months, Darbey said.

The Chinese regime will have to improve its logistics across this region to ensure the smooth transportation of raw lithium from the mines of Afghanistan to China. He said that improving transport facilities might not be challenging for the Chinese because they have experience building logistics systems in similar terrain in Tibet and Xinjiang.

The other challenge is ISIS. Since November 2021, ISIS has launched 248 attacks, and in retaliation, the Taliban government has conducted 132 military operations against it, according to Darbey. He said that despite all the counter operations, the Chinese nationals in Afghanistan are not safe.

Though the Taliban government has repeatedly spoken to ensure [the] security of the Chinese investment and investors lives, it still has a long way to go before it guarantees the safety and security of the Chinese citizens working in the mining industries.
(Bloomberg) -- Freshippo, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. grocery chain known for selling cooked lobsters and grouper freshly chosen from fish-tanks in the store, has started preparations for a Hong Kong initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said.

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The company is working with banks including China International Capital Corp. and Morgan Stanley to help prepare for the first-time share sale of the unit, known in Chinese as Hema, the people said. The plan is still at an early stage and a listing might not happen until next year or later, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The size of Freshippos IPO and its target valuation are still under consideration, the people said. In January 2022, Freshippo was considering raising funds at a valuation of $10 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Since then, valuations of privately-held companies globally have fallen as stocks plunged and investors shied away from riskier assets.

Deliberations are ongoing and details of the IPO, including the final advisory lineup, could still change, according to the people. Alibaba may also decide not to proceed with a listing for Freshippo, they said. A spokesperson for Alibaba didnt immediately reply to a request for comment, while representatives for CICC and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Freshippo is among the first of several Alibaba units in the pipeline to be listed after the Chinese tech giant last month made a surprise announcement to split up its $250 billion business. The firm will be divided into six main units in sectors including e-commerce, media and cloud computing. Cainiao Network Technology Co., Alibabas $20 billion logistics arm, is set for an IPO as soon as the end of 2023, Bloomberg News reported.

Story continues

Alibaba fell about 2.1% on Wednesday in New York, tracking a broader decline across Chinese technology stocks. The company has a market value of around $242 billion.

Freshippo offers a Sams Club-like supermarket experience that includes a dine-in restaurant as well as 30-minute home delivery. Its grocery brand Hema Xiansheng turned profitable in 2022, according to a company website citing an internal memo from Hema Chief Executive Officer Hou Yi.

Started in 2016, Shanghai-headquartered Freshippo had more than 270 self-operated stores across China as of March 31, 2022, according to its website. It facilitates high-tech automatic order picking that transports goods via conveyors attached to the roof of the store, and uses robots to deliver food for its dine-in customers.

The IPO plan raises the odds that the money-losing supermarket unit can become profitable this fiscal year ending March 2024, boosting its earnings outlook, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Catherine Lim and Trini Tan wrote in a note on Wednesday. Freshippo could command higher valuations than peers such as Sun Art Retail Group Ltd., DingDong Cayman Ltd. and Missfresh Ltd., which is backed by another tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., they said.

--With assistance from Jane Zhang.

(Adds Alibabas shares in sixth paragraph and Bloomberg Intelligence analyst comments in last paragraph.)

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IN-DEPTH: It Is Skynet: Pentagon Envisions Robot Armies in a Decade

The Pentagon's quest for an AI-dominated battlefield is becoming a reality

WASHINGTONRobotic killing machines prowl the land, the skies, and the seas. They are fully automated, seeking out and engaging with adversarial robots across every domain of war. Their human handlers are relegated to the rearguard, overseeing the action at a distance while conflicts are fought and won by machines.

Far from science fiction, this is the vision of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.

The United States, according to Milley, is in the throes of one of the myriad revolutions in military affairs that have spanned history.

Such revolutions have spanned from the invention of the stirrup to the adoption of the firearm to the deployment of mechanized maneuver warfare and, now, to the mass fielding of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

It is a shift in the character of war, Milley believes, greater than any to have come before.

Today we are in  probably the biggest change in military history, Milley said during a March 31 discussion with Defense One.

Were at a pivotal moment in history from a military standpoint. Were at what amounts to a fundamental change in the very character of war.

Robotic Armies in 10 Years

Many would no doubt be more comfortable with the idea of robots battling for the control of Earth if it were in a science-fiction novel or on a movie screen rather than on the list of priorities of the militarys highest-ranking officer.

Milley believes, however, that the worlds most powerful armies will be predominantly robotic within the next decade, and he means for the United States to be the first across that cybernetic Rubicon.

Over the next ten to fifteen years, youll see large portions of advanced countries militaries become robotic, Milley said. If you add robotics with artificial intelligence and precision munitions and the ability to see at range, youve got the mix of a real fundamental change.

Thats coming. Those changes, that technology  we are looking at inside of 10 years.

That means that the United States has five to seven years to make some fundamental modifications to our military, Milley says, because the nations adversaries are seeking to deploy robotics and AI in the same manner, but with Americans in their sights.

The nation that gets there first, that deploys robotics and AI together in a cohesive way, he says, will dominate the next war.

I would submit that the country, the nation-state, that takes those technologies and adapts them most effectively and optimizes them for military operations, that country is probably going to have a decisive advantage at the beginning of the next conflict, Milley said.

The global consequences of such a shift in the character of war are difficult to overstate.

Milley compared the ongoing struggle to form a new way of war to the competition that occurred between the world wars

In that era, Milley says, all the nations of Europe had access to new technologies ranging from mechanized vehicles to radio to chemical weapons. All of them could have developed the unified concept of maneuver warfare that replaced the attrition warfare which had defined World War I.

But only one, he said, first integrated their use into a bona fide new way of war.

That country, Nazi Germany, overran Europe in a very, very short period of time  because they were able to take those technologies and put them together in a doctrine which we now know as Blitzkrieg, he said.

Blitzkrieg 2040

Milley, and the Pentagon with him, hopes to do the same now by bringing together emergent capabilities like robotics, AI, cyber and space platforms, and precision munitions into a cohesive doctrine of war.

By being the first to integrate these technologies into a new concept, Milley says, the United States can rule the future battlefield.

To that end, the Pentagon is experimenting with new unmanned aerial, ground, and undersea vehicles, as well as seeking to exploit the pervasiveness of non-military smart technologies from watches to fitness trackers.

Though the effort is just gaining traction, Milley has in fact claimed since 2016 that the U.S. military would field substantial robotic ground forces and AI capabilities by 2030.

Just weeks from now, that idea will begin to truly culminate, when invitations from the Defense Department (DoD) go out to leaders across the defense, tech, and academic spheres for the Pentagons first-ever conference on building trusted AI and autonomy for future wars.

The Pentagon is on a correlating hiring spree, seeking to pay six figures annually for experts willing and able to develop and integrate technologies including augmented reality, artificial intelligence, human state monitoring, and autonomous unmanned systems.

Likewise, the U.S. Army Futures Command, created in 2018, maintains as a critical goal the designing of what it calls Army 2040. In other words, the AI-dependent, robotic military of the future.

Though slightly further out than Milleys assumption of 10 to 15 years, Futures Command deputy commanding general Lt. Gen. Ross Coffman believes that 2040 will mark the United States true entry into an age characterized by artificially intelligent killing machines.

Speaking at a March 28 summit of DoD leaders and technology experts, Coffman described the partnership between man and machine that he envisions for the future, relating it to the relationship between a dog and its master.

Rather than having AI help soldiers get into the fight, however, Coffman believes humans will be helping machines to the battlefield.

I think were going to see a flip in 2040, Coffman said, where humans are doing those functions that allow the machine to get into a position of relative advantage, not the machine getting humans into a position of relative advantage.

Everything Spins Out of Control

Remaking the American military and forming a new, cohesive way of war is a tall order. It is nevertheless one that the Pentagon appears prepared to pay for.

The DoD is requesting a record $1.8 billion in funding for AI projects for the next year alone. That amount will exceed the estimated $1.6 billion in AI investments being made by Chinas military.

Much of it is also earmarked for initiatives to improve the decision-making of autonomous weapons systems.

The effort appears at the very least to be a real start toward Milleys vision of fielding autonomous systems en masse. It also raises deep concerns about what the next war could look like, and whether the very much human DoD leadership is adequately prepared for managing its autonomous creations.

John Mills, former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, believes that this path is rife with the potential for unintended consequences.

It is Skynet, Mills told The Epoch Times, referencing the fictional AI that conquers the world in The Terminator movie franchise. It is the realization of a Skynet-like environment.

The question is, what could possibly go wrong with this situation? Well, a lot.

Mills doesnt believe AI deserves all the mystique its been given in popular culture, but he is concerned about the apparent trend in military decision-making toward building systems with real autonomy. That is, systems capable of making the decision to kill without first obtaining human approval.

[AI] sounds dark and mysterious, but its really big data, the ability to ingest and analyze that data with big analytics, and the key thing now is to action that data, often without human interaction, Mills said.

The loss of this man-in-the-loop in many proposed future technologies is thus a cause for concern.

Training human beings to correctly identify between friend and foe before engaging in kinetic action is complicated enough, Mills believes. Much more so with machines.

Whats different now is the ability to action these incredible data sets autonomously and without human interaction, Mills said.

The integration of AI with autonomous vehicles, and letting them action independently without human decision-making, thats where everything spins out of control.

To that end, Mills expressed concern about what a future conflict might look like between the United States and its allies, and China in the Indo-Pacific.

Imagine, he said, an undersea battlespace in which autonomous submarines and other weapons systems littered the seas.

Fielded by Chinese, American, Korean, Australian, Indian, and Japanese forces, the resulting chaos would likely end with autonomous systems engaging in war throughout the region, while manned vessels held back and sought to best launch the next group of robotic war machines. Anything else would risk putting real lives in the way of the automated killers.

How do you plan for engagement scenarios with autonomous undersea vehicles? Mills said

This is going to be absolute chaos in subsurface warfare.

Automated Killing

To be sure, preventing the automated killing of combatants by artificially intelligent systems is something the Pentagon has thought about for a long time.

The 2018 Artificial Intelligence Strategy, for example, sought to accelerate AI adoption across the DoD while seeking ethical approaches to reduce unintentional harm.

The 2020 Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence, likewise sought to ensure that only trustworthy and governable AI technologies were adopted by the military.

The 2022 Responsible Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Implementation Pathway (pdf), meanwhile, outlined a plan to mitigate the unintended consequences that could result from the deployment of AI in military systems.

None of these efforts, however, actually will prevent the adoption of fully autonomous killing machines. Indeed, they were never intended to.

Thats because all such documents were crafted under the guidance of DoD Directive 3000.09 (pdf), the Pentagons guiding document for the development of autonomous weapons systems.

Thats foundational, Mills said of the document. Its very important because it drives development.

Originally issued in 2012, the document just received a major overhaul in January, meant to prepare the Pentagon for what DoD Director of Emerging Capabilities Policy Michael Horowitz said at the time was a dramatic, expanded vision for the role of artificial intelligence in the future of the American military.

There is just one caveat to that ethical, trustworthy, governable, deployment of lethal AI systems: The Pentagon does not have any hard and fast rules to prohibit autonomous systems from killing.

Indeed, while 3000.09 is often referenced by proponents of man-in-the-loop technologies, the document does not actually promote such technologies, nor does it prohibit the use of fully automated lethal systems.

Instead, the document outlines a series of rigorous reviews that proposed autonomous systems must go through. And, while no independent AI weapon systems have made it through that process yet, the future is likely to see many such systems.

This is in no small part to the fact that Chinas communist regime is rapidly working to field its own automated killing machines, and the DoD will have to prepare to meet that threat head-on, all the while attempting to retain American values

[China is] trying to address these hard problems also, of allowing [AI] to engage without human intervention, Mills said.

I think their proclivity is to allow it even if they accidentally kill their own people.

To that end, the next war may well be one fought primarily between artificially intelligent robots, with human handlers standing at the sidelines, trying their best to direct the action.

Whether the United States can manage that without losing control of its creations, remains to be seen.

Mills is hopeful that, if anyone can do it, it is the United States. After all, he says, we have the best human talent.

I think we still have enough guardrails where it will be iterative, so that we can become smarter and learn to build into the algorithms precautions and control measures, Mills said.

I think we have good teams and people in place.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
IN-DEPTH: Trudeau Foundation and the Chinese Donation: Whats All the Controversy About?

At the centre of the controversy surrounding the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is a donation by two Chinese regime-linked figures and allegations that the donation was meant to wield influence over Justin Trudeau, who went on to become prime minister of Canada.

Since then, other controversial developments have transpired, including appointments of former Trudeau Foundation members by the prime minister to probe foreign interference issues, the proximity of Trudeau or his office with the foundation and its members, and the foundations handling of the Chinese donation.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation

The Trudeau Foundation was created in 2001 in honour of the late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. It was given a $125 million endowment by the federal government.

The charity provides mentorship, scholarship, and fellowship programs focused on leadership development of scholars in various academic fields. Its governed by two bodies, its members and a board of directors, with limits of 30 members and 18 directors. The members elect directors to the board, which in turn manages the foundations operations.

The directors are elected for renewable two-year terms. Two seats are reserved for directors appointed by the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development, and another two for representatives of the family of Pierre Trudeau. Six seats are reserved for members appointed by the minister, and another three for liquidators of the succession of Pierre Trudeau.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a town hall meeting at the Manitoba Building Trades Institute in Winnipeg on April 12, 2023. (The Canadian Press/John Woods)

Trudeaus children, including current prime minister Justin Trudeau, have served as foundation members. Justin Trudeau has said he put his relationship with the foundation on pause after becoming leader of the Liberal Party in 2013.

Justin Trudeaus brother, Alexandre, is currently a member of the foundation. Their sister, Sarah Coyne, was on the board of directors but resigned due to the recent controversies.

Notable past members or directors of the foundation include former governor general David Johnston and former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, among many other political insiders.

A National Post analysis shows that donations to the foundation significantly jumped in 2013 after Trudeau became Liberal leader. Prior to 2013, donations were around $62,000 per year. They jumped to $254,000 in 2013 and to over $600,000 in 2015 and 2016 after Trudeau became prime minister. At the same time, foreign donations started to appear in 2014 and onwards, reaching $535,000 in 2016.

Chinese Donation

The controversy around Chinese influence implications first began in 2016, when The Globe and Mail reported that Trudeau attended a cash-for-access fundraiser where Chinese Communist Party-linked businessman Zhang Bin was also in attendance. Weeks after the event, the Trudeau Foundation and the University of Montreals Faculty of LawPierre Trudeaus alma mater and former workplaceannounced having received a donation of $1 million from Zhang and another wealthy Chinese national.

Zhang is a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body within the communist regime.

Amid opposition parties request to investigate any influence concerns, then-ethics commissioner Mary Dawson said there was no evidence that Trudeau had any role in soliciting funds from Zhang, as the donation deal was negotiated after Trudeau had ended his involvement with the foundation.

The Liberals did end cash-for-access events in the aftermath of the controversy, however.

The controversy increased a few notches in recent months after media reports of leaked intelligence information revealed more about Chinas influence operations in Canada.

A Feb. 28 Globe and Mail report citing national security officials said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in 2014 had captured a conversation between a Chinese diplomat and Zhang, where the diplomat instructed Zhang to donate to the Trudeau Foundation. The diplomat reportedly told Zhang that the Liberal Party, which by then was led by Trudeau, could potentially defeat the governing Conservatives in the 2015 election, and that Beijing would reimburse him for the donation amount.

Of the donated amount, $140,000 went to the Trudeau Foundation. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been calling for Trudeaus brother, Alexandre, to appear before a parliamentary committee since he was the one that negotiated and signed the deal to receive the money.

Election Interference Probes

Amid recent revelations of Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, the Liberal government has touted several initiatives and probes to ensure election integrity. But appointments heading those investigations by Trudeaus governments have themselves been controversial because of their ties to the Trudeau Foundation.

On Feb. 27, the Conservatives cried foul over the appointment of former Trudeau Foundation president and CEO Morris Rosenberg to produce a report on foreign interference in the 2021 election. Rosenberg, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs, served as president and CEO of the Trudeau Foundation from August 2014 to July 2018.

Then-Gov. Gen. David Johnston at Rideau Hall on Oct. 9, 2013. (The Canadian Press/Fred Chartrand)

Most controversial has been Trudeaus appointment of former governor general David Johnston as special rapporteur to probe foreign interference. The opposition parties say there are conflict of interest issues since Johnston is a Trudeau family friend and has been a member of the Trudeau Foundation.

Trudeau has defended Johnstons appointment and praised his character. He has also rejected opposition calls for holding a public inquiry into the issue of election interference, saying instead that the government will hold one if Johnston decides an inquiry is necessary.

Board Resignations and Aftermath

On March 1, shortly after the Globes report on the Chinese donation and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) links, the Trudeau Foundation said it would return the money.

But further controversy ensued after La Presse reported on April 12 that the foundation hadnt in fact returned the money. Citing unnamed insiders at the foundation and an internal document, La Presse said the money couldnt be returned because the name on the donation cheque wasnt the same name as that of the real donor.

The entire leadership of the foundation, specifically the board as well as the president and CEO, announced their resignation on April, with three directors agreeing to remain on an interim basis to continue operations.

On April 13, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet called on the Office of the Auditor General to investigate the donation to the foundation. The following day, Poilievre asked the Canada Revenue Agency to audit the foundation, giving special focus to the reported Beijing-linked donation.

The foundations interim board chair has welcomed an investigation by Auditor General Karen Hogan. Hogan said on April 18 that her office is assessing whether its mandate would allow for such an investigation into the foundation.

PMO Contact With Foundation

Another report by La Presse on April 14 stated that although the prime minister has said theres a wall separating his government from the Trudeau Foundation, his office contacted the foundation in 2016 after the Globe report revealing Zhangs donation. The Prime Ministers Office reportedly defended the move, saying its normal for staff to gather information on matters that the prime minister could be interviewed about.

Opposition leaders have also been peppering Trudeau with questions this week, after news emerged that he stayed at a luxurious estate in Jamaica owned by a wealthy family that made a sizable donation to the Trudeau Foundation two years ago.
Joly Tells Canadians in Sudan to Shelter in Place as Dire Clashes Close Airport

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has no means of evacuating citizens from Sudan, where violence has drastically escalated between the countrys army and its rival paramilitary force.

The streets of the capital of Khartoum were generally calm a week ago, but a skirmish over a planned transition to democratic rule escalated into raging battles between the two groups.

The Global Affairs Department knows of roughly 1,500 Canadians registered as being in Sudan, and Joly is urging anyone in that country who hasnt submit their details to the government to do so.

She says all of Canadas diplomats and hired local staff have been accounted for, and are trying to offer services while working remotely.

Joly is planning to speak with her counterparts in the African Union as well as nearby countries such as Egypt and Djibouti, and she urged a de-escalation to the conflict.

She added that a historic number of conflicts means Ottawa must invest more in diplomacy, both to offer consular services to Canadians and to prevent conflict.
Judge Rejects Arizona AGs Attempt to Revoke Elections Agreement With County Recorder

An Arizona judge has rejected state Attorney General Kris Mayess attempt to terminate an agreement between Cochise County and the county recorder in a Thursday ruling.

The agreement, which was drafted in February 2023, permits the Cochise Countys recorder to be granted control over almost all of the powers and duties of the election conferred by statute upon the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, the document states.

After the initial agreement was written, Mayes filed a lawsuit in March on behalf of Arizona against the three Cochise County supervisors and the county recorder, citing that the agreement violates the Arizona Constitution and Arizona law, according to the documents filed.

Arizona Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs (R) looks on as Kris Mayes (L), Democratic candidate for Arizona Attorney General, speaks at a press conference calling for abortion rights outside the Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse in Tucson, Ariz., on Oct. 7, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In Tuesdays hearing, Judge Howard Fell said the agreement was legal and the board couldnt intervene with county recorders doing their job during elections.

The Board does have the power to delegate at least some election duties to the recorder that is not otherwise specifically authorized by law, Judge Fell said during a live stream of the hearing.

The state insinuated that the boards move was part of a pattern of exceeding their statutory authority with respect to elections, according to the court documents.

This effective transfer of the Boards powers to the County Recorder has no statutory basis and threatens the right of Cochise County residents to have their elections conducted lawfully and transparently. The State has brought this action to prevent and redress those harms, the statement read.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, expressed his concern over the delegation of duties by the county recorders and said it crossed a legal line. In addition to this broad transfer of power, I am deeply concerned this move might shield or obscure actions and deliberations the Board would typically conduct publicly under open meeting law, Mayes said in a statement. In response to the injunction, members of the board said their arrangement is perfectly legal, and the state shouldnt interfere in their upcoming May election. The biggest flaw in the States argument is that even though the State pushes for a rushed resolution prior to the May 16, 2023, Cochise County Jail District vote, it ignores the fact that the governing body of any election district authorized to conduct an election may contract with the board of supervisors and county recorder for election services, the statement read. Once the hearing concluded, State Attorney Joshua D. Bendor wasnt sure what the next legal course of action would be as he respectfully disagrees with the judges ruling. Theyve said theyre hiring an Elections Director a week from today and theres been some indication theyll terminate the agreement after that. If they do maybe weve done all we need to do here, if things keep going well have to see about what to do next, he told News 4 Tucson outside the courthouse. The county was sued for both attempting to implement illegal hand-counting procedures and for refusing to certify the results of the election, during last years 2022 midterm elections, according to documents.

Peggy Judd, a Cochise County Supervisor, was in attendance during the hearing Tuesday and was delighted with the outcome.

Im just pleased because I feel like weve had a lot of losses and a lot of what I would call public humiliation and I dont blame anyone and for a bit of it I take credit but it felt good to have a judge say this is ok, she told News 4 Tucson.

Cochise County resident George Preggatis drove up to Tucson to attend the hearing.

I think the judge made the right decision. I believe the Cochise Board of Supervisors have retained their power and will continue to exercise it appropriately, Preggatis said.
Kansas City Homeowner Pleads Not Guilty to Assault in Shooting of Teen

Andrew Lester arrives for his initial court appearance before Judge Louis Angles in Kansas City, Mo., on April 19, 2023 in a still image from video. (Pool TV via Reuters)

LIBERTY, MissouriAn 84-year-old white man charged in the shooting and wounding of a black teenager who mistakenly walked up to the mans house in Kansas City pleaded not guilty to felony charges on Wednesday during his first court appearance in the case.

Andrew Lester would face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of first-degree assault, as charged, for shooting Ralph Yarl, 16, on the doorstep of his suburban home last Thursday night. He also was charged with armed criminal action, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

He entered not guilty pleas to both counts during a brief arraignment in a Clay County courtroom, online court records showed.

The defendant, slightly hunched and walking with a cane, stepped up to the bench and stood with his attorney at his side as he spoke briefly with the judge during a proceeding that lasted just over three minutes, video-only footage of the session showed.

Lester, who surrendered to police on Tuesday but was subsequently released on $200,000 bond, left the courthouse after Wednesdays arraignment.

His encounter with Yarl occurred when the teenager walked up to Lesters house late at night by accident, mistaking it for another home nearby with a similar address where Yarl intended to pick up his younger siblings, according to authorities.

Lester fired two shots through a glass door with a .32-caliber revolver, prosecutors said. Yarl, who was struck in the head and an arm, did not cross the threshold, and it was not believed that any words were exchanged before the gunfire, according to Clay County prosecutor Zachary Thompson.

Thompson has said the case has a racial component, without elaborating. Prosecutors have not filed hate-crime charges, which carry lesser penalties in Missouri than the two counts Lester faces.

The high school student has been recovering at home, according to his family.

Lester was initially detained shortly after the shooting and placed on a 24-hour investigative hold, then freed on his own recognizance. His release fueled days of protest before he was charged days later and he turned himself back in to police on Tuesday.

In another case of a person being shot after going to the wrong address, a homeowner in upstate New York fatally wounded a 20-year-old woman on Saturday when she turned onto the wrong driveway while looking for a friends home.

Two Texas cheerleaders were also shot northeast of Austin after they got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot early on Tuesday. In both the New York and Texas incidents, the shooters have been charged with felonies.
Lawsuit: Mans Jail Death Caused by Inadequate Medical Care

ATLANTAThe family of a man who died in a jail in Atlantas suburbs said his death could have been prevented if he had received proper medical attention for an ulcer that caused internal bleeding.

Deion Strayhons family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against NaphCare Inc., a private company contracted to provide medical care at the Gwinnett County Jail, as well as several doctors and nurses who treated Strayhon.

The lawsuit filed Friday says Strayhon, 26, repeatedly complained of stomach pain, vomiting, constipation and being unable to eat from March 23, 2021, until he was found dead in his cell on April 16, 2021. None of the doctors or nurses who treated him tried to find the cause of his pain, the lawsuit alleges.

An autopsy showed that Strayhon died from bleeding caused by a large ulcer in his small intestine that eroded into a blood vessel, causing bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract, the lawsuit says.

NaphCare did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment submitted through its website. The Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office, which is not named as a defendant, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

The lawsuit was filed by Strayhons mother, Sherry Strayhon, and Lakea Mack, Strayhons girlfriend and the mother of his daughter who was born shortly after his death.
NASAs Spending Unsustainable If US Wants to Return to Moon, Mars: Watchdog

An Osprey perches near the main press center at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 6, 2022. (Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images)

The inspector general for NASA told Congress that current spending levels are unsustainable if the United States hopes to achieve its goals of returning to the moon and sending astronauts to Mars.

NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin appeared before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on April 19 as part of a hearing on Protecting American Taxpayers: Highlighting Efforts to Protect Against Federal Waste, Fraud, and Mismanagement.

Martin told the panel that while undoubtedly innovative and inspirational, NASA faces long-standing challenges with its contracting and project management that have led to substantial cost and schedule growth in many of its programs.

Currently, NASA has a series of initiatives that seek to expand humanitys reach in the solar system, beginning with a return to the moon decades in the making called the Artemis program. Later, NASA hopes to use the lunar missions as a baseline for further exploration to Mars and beyond.

But, Martin told Congress, NASA has consistently gone over budget in a way thats unsustainable if the agency hopes to meet these aspirations. Martin said that NASA has had persistent problems creating comprehensive and accurate estimates for costs and scheduling.

NASA has worked for years to develop reliable lifecycle estimates for many of its multibillion-dollar programs, including Artemis and the James Webb Space Telescope, Martin explained.

For Artemis, NASA lacks a comprehensive cost estimate that accounts for all program costsan omission that contributes to a lack of transparency into the funding required to sustain the program.

Martin said his office audit of NASA found that the agency will spend $93 billion on the Artemis program between 2012 and 2025.

Moreover, they discovered a per-launch cost of $4.1 billion. This level of spending, Martin said, is unsustainable.

NASA must accelerate its efforts to make its Artemis later programs more affordable; otherwise relying on such an expensive single use rocket system will inhibit NASAs ability to sustain its exploration goals for the moon and Mars essential project management, he said.

One of the greatest challenges for space exploration is the expense required to launch a space mission. The rockets that complete the launch cost billions to create and are good only for a single use with current technology.

Billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of NASA competitor SpaceX, has begun the process of overcoming this challenge, developing a reusable rocket that could drastically cut long-term space exploration costs.

NASA, however, is still stuck using the much more expensive single-use rockets. Many of NASAs issues, Martin said, stem from its poor track record in choosing contractors.

But Martin said NASA also has a history of paying overly generous award fees to contractors that are often inconsistent with a particular performance.

He cited an incident in 2018 with Boeing: Poor performance by the company led to a 2.5 year schedule increase and a $4 million cost increase. Nevertheless, between 2012 and 2017, NASA paid Boeing $323 million in award fees, of which Martin said $64 million was suspected to be wasteful or unearned.

The United States previously landed astronauts on the moon in 1972 as part of its Apollo 17 mission.

In December 2022, NASA launched the Artemis 1 mission, an unmanned return to the moon. NASA hopes to return Americans to the lunar surface in November 2024.

The NASA moon rocket stands on Pad 39B for the Artemis 1 mission to orbit the moon at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sept. 6, 2022. (John Raoux/AP Photo)
COVID-19 may have originated in a set of laboratories in China that was conducting experiments with U.S. taxpayer dollars, the head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on April 19.

Did the COVID-19 virus originate from the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) asked Dr. Lawrence Tabak, the acting NIH director, during a hearing in Washington.

I have no idea, Tabak said.

The NIH funded experiments done at the institute, which is located in the same city where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in late 2019.

At least some of those experiments resulted in the increase of a viruss transmissibility, the NIH acknowledged in 2021. Experiments that increase the pathogenicity or transmissibility of a biological agent like a virus are commonly known as gain-of-function.

Tabak said that no gain-of-function experiments were done at the institute, despite authoring the NIH acknowledgment.

He also said he believes that COVID-19 spread from bats to an intermediary animal before infecting humans.

There are two prevalent theoriesa lab accident, or as you say a lab leak, versus a zoonotic transfer from animals to humans, Tabak said. In my mind, the available evidence favors the latter, but of course our minds are open to the former possibility.

Tabak did not cite any of the evidence and the NIH, whose former top officials worked hard to promote the natural origin theory, did not respond to a request for citations.

Natural origin theory proponents have largely said most COVID-19 cases came from a wet market full of animals near the institute, with one recent paper saying new sequencing data supports the theory. Lab leak theory proponents have noted that Chinese officials have withheld key evidence from the labs and that no intermediary animals have been identified more than two years after COVID-19 started.

Natural emergence typically leaves behind a story, a trail, a footprint, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told reporters in a briefing this week. Convincing evidence is yet to be presented.

Marshall was holding a briefing on a report he released that delved into the origins debate and concluded that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Investigators who spent 18 months looking into the matter said that there were signs Chinese researchers started developing COVID-19 vaccines at the institute no later than November 2019 and that the virus resulted from failures of biosafety containment during SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related research. SARS-CoV-2 is a name for the virus that causes COVID-19.

John Ratcliffe, who was the former director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021, told a different congressional panel this week that a lab leak is the only explanation credibly supported by our intelligence, by science, and by common sense.

According to the latest information, U.S. intelligence agencies are split on the origin of COVID-19, with several favoring a natural origin and several others saying a lab leak is most likely. President Joe Biden signed a bill on March 20 that mandates declassifying intelligence relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but no new intelligence has yet been released.
Ottawa Names Special Envoy to the Indo-Pacific Region

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly responds to questions as Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino listens during a news conference to announce Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy in Vancouver on Nov. 27, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

The federal government has named Ian McKay, Canadas current ambassador to Japan, to also serve as Canadas special envoy to the Indo-Pacific region.

Global Affairs said in an April 19 news release that Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly named McKay to the role in order to advise the federal government, as well as take part in diplomatic missions in the Indo-Pacific and advance the implementation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Canada and the Indo-Pacific have long-standing trade and diplomatic relations, which Ottawa intends to strengthen as part of the strategy launched in November 2022. The strategy began with a five-year investment of close to $2.3 billion.

The government said the strategy includes being more involved in the Indo-Pacific region over the next 10 years and increasing Canadas contributions to regional peace and security, including increasing the Canadian Armed Forces participation in regional military exercises.

The government will also add to Canadas Indo-Pacific naval presence, establish a Canadian Trade Gateway in Southeast Asia, and open Canadas first agriculture office in the region, at a cost of $38.1 million.

Ottawa also plans to spend $24.5 million for the new office of the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada in the region, to help build and strengthen relations with local partners.

Experience

McKay has previously worked in financial, political, and economic development roles at all three levels of government. He was appointed special envoy to Japan in 2018, and appointed as Canadas Ambassador to Japan on April 15, 2021, a role he will keep along with his new appointment.

McKay played a critical role during final negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which facilitates deeper trade ties between Canada and our Indo-Pacific partners, the release said.

Japan, which is part of the Indo-Pacific region, is one of Canadas G7 partners, which the federal government described as a close relationship, stating that McKays new role will bring vast regional experience to promoting Canada in that region.

McKay, originally from Penticton, British Columbia, was appointed in March 2018, as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Invest in Canada, which promotes Canada globally as a place to invest. He previously worked in international financial markets in Tokyo, London, and New York.

From 2001 to 2005, Mr. McKay served as a senior policy advisor to three federal cabinet ministers in the Government of Canada and from 2010 to 2013 as the National Director for the Liberal Party of Canada.

After his role in Ottawa, McKay took a position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Economic Commission from 2013 until 2018.

The Indo-Pacific region includes 40 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, fourteen Pacific Island Countries, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

Canada said the Indo-Pacific region accounts for more than one-third of the worlds economic activity, and by 2040, will be responsible for more than half of the global economy. By 2040, said the news release, the Indo-Pacific will be home to two-thirds of the global middle class. It is already housing 65 percent of the worlds population and boasts 21 of the globes 30 largest cities.
An international painting competition is more than a place for storied artists to win prizes; its one where artists can gain valuable insight from their peers, in an atelier-like setting, just like the old masters once did.

For artists Haiyan Kong and Paula Wilson, the NTD International Figure Painting Competition was also a place to present the truth. For Kong, joining the competition was the culmination of a five-year-long process of depicting a monumental event in her life and for her home country. For Wilson, learning from artists that came before, like Kong, gave her the insight to further hone her art.

In 2019, Kong won first place at the 5th NTD International Figure Painting Competition with her monumental 14-foot painting titled April 25, 1999. That was the day almost 24 years ago when around 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners made a peaceful protest calling for the release of 45 practitioners who had been arrested in Tianjin, a city near Beijing.

The spiritual practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was introduced to the public in China in 1992, and taught people to follow the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Amid the repressive environment under the Chinese communist regime, these simple but powerful principles flourished, and an estimated 70 million people took up the practice by 1999.

The 45 Tianjin practitioners had been arrested while appealing to a magazine publisher who had published an article slandering their faith.

Kong was one of the 10,000 practitioners at the protest that day. Shed agonized about making the trip to Beijing. It would be safe if I stayed home. But if everybody thought this way, then who would take a stand and set things right? If everyone thought only about themselves, what would the world become? she told NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

Haiyan Kong won the Gold Award at the 5th NTD International Figure Painting Competition with her work April 25, 1999 at the Salmagundi Club in New York on Nov. 26, 2019. (Chung I Ho/ The Epoch Times)

A few of the petitioners were called on to meet with Chinese premier Zhu Rongji and his staff, and the peaceful protest ended with the release of the detained practitioners.

Just a few months later, on July 20, 1999, Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin ordered police to arrest practitioners across China. Some were beaten and tortured. On July 22, Jiang officially banned Falun Gong and later started a systematic campaign of persecution against practitioners, including the heinous act of state-sanctioned organ harvesting.

Kong decided to let her art tell the world the truth: that the practice was peaceful and the persecution was wrong. Information is censored in mainland China, she said, but a picture needs no words. The power of art can reach everyone, regardless of your nationality.

Painting the Truth

In Kongs award-winning painting, hundreds of practitioners form an orderly line outside the central appeals office in Beijing, waiting to be heard. Kong had wanted to paint the people who were there that day, but the available photographs were of a low resolution.

April 25, 1999 by Haiyan Kong. Oil on canvas; 13 feet, 11 1/2 inches by 2 feet, 10 inches. The painting won the 5th NTD International Figure Painting Competition in 2019. (Courtesy of NTD Television)

Instead, she met practitioners outside of mainland China and painted each person as an individual portrait. I tried to bring to life their actual personalities, facial expressions, and inner spirit, she said. She made a complex composition with multiple perspectives so that any part of the painting could be viewed as if you were looking straight at it.

She took more than five years to complete the painting, often spending 16 hours a day at her easel.

Kongs horizontal composition mirrors a traditional Chinese handscroll, a format shes familiar with, having been taught traditional Chinese art from the age of 10.

Painting Like the Old Masters

Wilson first met Kong in New York during the NTD competition. As a Falun Gong practitioner, Wilson felt deeply moved by Kongs painting and her personal story. Their shared faith and spiritual understanding transcended their language barrier. Both sought to paint the truth.

Haiyan Kong (L) with Paula Wilson at the Salmagundi Club, New York, in 2019. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

Wilsons art training happened later in life than Kongs. When Wilsons twin boys started school, she joined a local art class that her mother attended. At one of the classes, they explored chiaroscuro, the technique that 17th-century Italian artist Caravaggio loved, whereby dramatic light and shade define a composition.

Wilson copied an old family photograph by drawing a grid on a photocopy of the scene to recreate the light and shadow. The teacher and her classmates were impressed with her drawing, and it started a conversation about how the old masters painted, using red chalk or charcoal preparatory drawings and then underpainting their work, for instance. Wilson knew from then on that thats what she wanted to do: paint like the old masters once had, using the same methods, techniques, and recipes for making paints, mediums, and glues.

A series of serendipitous events propelled Wilson on her path to learn those age-old traditions. Around the time that she learned chiaroscuro, her mothers copy of Artists & Illustrators magazine featured traditional artists from Manchester, not far from where she lives. Thats how she first heard of Louis Smith, who taught part-time classes in classical portraiture. Wilson was a full-time caretaker for her partner who had just had a stroke, so she wasnt in a position to learn with Smith at the time.

Two years later, Wilson contacted Smith to do paid modeling. Smith had now established a two-year course on the traditional methods of painting he had learned at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. Smith needed administrative help, and Wilson wanted to learn from him but couldnt afford the tuition. It seemed like a perfect arrangement, so they exchanged skills for six months.

Louis Smith, 2016, by Paula Wilson. Conte on newsprint paper. Wilson drew her classical portrait of her teacher Louis Smith as part of her study with him. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

The Value of Traditional Art

Knowing artistic traditions gives the artist a framework to work within. Wilson recalls reading that Leonardo da Vinci taught his students and then encouraged them to develop their own style. She likens that process to being taught handwriting. We are all taught how to form letters and words, and then we develop our personal handwriting style.

Wilson finds the classical painting process beautiful and rewarding. Its a very technical process, using centuries-old recipes and methods passed down from master to apprentice, generation after generation.

The Beard, 2018, by Paula Wilson. Conte and charcoal on toned paper. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

Artist Paula Wilson paints in the classical tradition, laboriously building her work up layer by layer. Pictured on her easel here is an underpainting of her brother. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

As this painting takes shape, we can see how artist Paula Wilson builds up the different layers and expression of her subject. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

She enjoys the expressive nature of the classical art tradition. It allows for movement, feeling, and emotion, Wilson told The Epoch Times. She explained that when painting in the classical style, the artist achieves movement in the painting by choosing what part to focus on and what to slightly blur. A hyperrealist artist, however, concentrates on giving clarity to the whole composition, often resulting in a lack of depth in a work.

She likens applying the paint to sculpting. Youre actually sculpting and molding [oil paint] with a fine brush, with no brush marks in it whatsoever, she said.

Painting With Purpose

Every artist has an Achilless heel. At the moment, Wilson struggles with the initial construction phase, when she has to draft the composition using straight lines and apexes. Its the foundation of a whole painting. If the elements of the construction drawingthe measurements, proportion, and perspectivearent right, then the composition collapses later in the process. The more you practice, the better your brain becomes at recognizing the right angles to draw, she explained.

When Wilson puts her paintbrush to canvas, she often feels a divine presence guiding her. She once read it described as having the stroke of gods.

Personal thoughts come out that you cant even conceive with your conscious mind, she said.

Smith taught Wilson the classical drawing method using conte, a crayon made from compressed charcoal or graphite and clay that is slightly oilier than charcoal. She enjoys the dramatic lighting effects that conte allows, like in her portrait of human rights investigator Ethan Gutmann. Shes happy with the effect. It feels like hes coming out of the darkness, she said.

Ethan Gutmann, 2019, by Paula Wilson. Conte on hot pressed paper. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

The Importance of Peer Support

Wilson took months to complete Gutmanns portrait because of her family commitments. A competition deadline and a gentle nudge from a fellow artist helped her focus on completing the drawing and letting go of perfection.

After completing the portrait, Wilson gained the confidence to enter the competition for the prestigious BP Portrait Award, held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. She entered a self-portrait that shed completed in an intense six days of painting in front of the mirror. The painting hangs on her wall. She sees it as a record of her artistic progress, and now views it as more of an underpainting needing refinement. Every piece she creates is a stepping stone to mastery.

Wilson entered the 5th NTD International Figure Painting Competition with a composition shed seen while meditating. She worked alone creating the piece, using figures from her imagination rather than drawing from models. At this point, she wanted to stay true to her vision. I wanted to prove myself, she said. I didnt want any interference from anyone telling me it should be like this or that.

Although Wilsons competition entry wasnt accepted, she won valuable insights from the process and an invitation to New York to accompany the competition finalists on expert talks and tours to museums.

British artist Paula Wilson models for finalists of the 5th NTD International Figure Painting Competition in New York in 2019. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

British artist Paula Wilson with her portrait sketch by New York-based artist Ken Goshen. (Courtesy of Paula Wilson)

Staying at the same hotel as Kong gave Wilson the opportunity to learn about Kongs life and her painting technique. She took onboard this guidance, and that of other painters, soaking everything up like a sponge; in her view, accepting peer help and constructive criticism is an important part of artistic development.

She soon realized where shed gone wrong with her competition entryshe had been trying to make the perfect painting without having the right tools or skills. Great artists such as 19th-century painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau used models, using the same model in different positions for a painting. She also realized that the finalists works werent perfect, but they accepted imperfections as part of their painting process.

Since the last NTD competition in 2019, Wilson is approaching her painting differently. While Wilson had previously worked alone, the competition environment gave her almost an atelier experience, where peers bounced their creative ideas off one another. She learned from observing other artists to keep her painting process simple, following a definite tradition. For the 6th NTD International Figure Painting Competition, shes creating her composition using the golden ratioan ancient geometric calculation that replicates nature and results in the most harmonious compositionsjust like Leonardo da Vinci once did. Shes also using a model, preparing her canvas using rabbit skin, making a proper underdrawing, and asking for advice along the way.

Just like Kong, Wilson wants her art to help people know the truth and to guide people to goodness. What Im doing is definitely about awakening from this world, she said. For Wilson, that means not only showing the goodness of humanity, but also reminding people that we have to face divine consequences if our thinking isnt upright.

Wilson hopes that her story helps aspiring artists who may be afraid to try, or think that they cant create representational art. It is very difficult. But try and see what happensput your heart into it, she said.

Professional representational artists, fine art teachers, and students can register for the 6th NTD International Figure Painting Competition through June 15. The exhibition and award ceremony will be held in New York in November. (The date and venue will be announced on the competition website.) To find out more, visit OilPainting.NTDTV.com

To learn more about artist Paula Wilson, visit WilsonPaula.com
Market.Us

The wrapping foils segment led the market, capturing the largest revenue share of 35% in 2022. These foils are 100% recyclable and degradable, which is driving the demand for aluminum wrapping foils in the healthcare, food, and electronics industries for product packaging.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global aluminum foil market size was valued to be worth USD 26.3 billion in 2022. From 2023 to 2032, it is estimated to reach USD 42.3 billion by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 5.0 %.

Aluminum foil is a thin, flexible sheet of aluminum metal that is commonly used in food packaging, cooking, and various other applications. Aluminum foil has several properties that make it popular for use in food packaging and cooking. It acts as an ideal barrier against sunlight, moisture, and air which helps to preserve the freshness of food.

Aluminum Foil Market

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Key Takeaway:

By product type, the wrapping foils segment generated the largest revenue share of 35% in 2022.

By end-user industry, the food & beverage industry segment was dominant in the market, with the largest market revenue share of 38% in 2022.

In 2022, Asia Pacific dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 53% .

North America is expected to grow at a significant CAGR from 2023-2032.

Factors affecting the growth of the aluminum foil market



There are several factors that can affect the growth of the aluminum foil market. Some of these factors include:

Rising demand in the personal care & cosmetic industry: Aluminum is more sustainable and allows more modern designs as compared to plastic; thus, the cosmetics & personal care industries are shifting towards aluminum packaging to reduce packaging and transportation costs.

Increasing demand in the pharmaceutical industry: Aluminum foil is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for packaging and storing medicines. Thus increasing demand for medicines and driving the growth of the aluminum foil market.

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Market Growth

The market growth is attributed to increasing demand for the packaging of pharmaceutical products. High-quality medicines require advanced and safe packaging that protects the drug from oxygen, moisture, and environmental influences. Aluminum foil is ideal packaging material in the pharmaceutical industry as it is a good barrier to light, oxygen, and other external conditions. Aluminum foil has inherent barrier properties, excluding microorganisms, gases, moisture, and other external factors. Thus aluminum foil is the primary material in the packaging of the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, these foils are used in the packaging of cardiac devices, diagnostic devices, medical devices, and catheters & tubing.

Regional Analysis

The aluminum foil market was dominated by Asia Pacific, which acquired the most significant revenue share of 53% in 2022. The region's growth is propelled by increasing demand for aluminum foil in the food & beverage industries. China is the largest consumer of aluminum foils due to the high demand in food industries. Increasing consumer trends towards packaging foods and rising disposable income drive the need for packaged and ready meals, so the demand for aluminum foils is increasing in food industries. North America is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period due to increasing consumer awareness regarding safe and fresh foods consumption.

Competitive Landscape

Amcor Plc. is the leading key player in the global aluminum foil market. The company offers various aluminum foils used in various applications such as packaging, insulation, and industrial uses. Major key players in the aluminum foil market are focusing on business strategies such as acquisition, merging, collaboration, and competitive pricing to obtain a competitive edge. In addition, several key players are expanding their business in foreign countries to expand their product portfolio. The major key players in the aluminum foil market include ACM Carcano, Amcor Plc, Assan Aluminyum, Ess Dee Aluminium, Eurofoil, Hindalco Industries Limited, and Henan Huawei Aluminium Co. Ltd.

Recent Development of the Aluminum Foil Market

In July 2021, Amcor Plc. Announced the acquisition of Nampak Flexible, Africa's leading flexible packaging company.

On 15 April 2020, Novelis acquired US-based aluminum rolled products manufacturer Aleris Corporation.

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Scope of the Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 26.3 Billion Market Size (2032) USD 42.3 Billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 5.0% from 2023 to 2032 Asia Pacific Revenue Share 53% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

The aluminum foils are lightweight compared to other packaging materials, reducing the required energy during transportation. Aluminum foils are easily available and more cost-effective than other packaging materials, such as plastic, so aluminum foils are a good choice for food packaging. Packaging is an essential part of the food supply chain in this era because the demand for fresh and safe food is increasing due to consumer health awareness. The aluminum foils are light, easily recyclable, and flexible compared to other packaging materials. Also, it is non-toxic and hygienic, which helps keep the aroma of foods as it is. Aluminum packaging protects packaged food from oils & gases, light, water, ultraviolet radiation, vapor, microorganisms, and oxygen. Thus increasing use in food & beverage industries drives the market growth.

Market Restraints

The production and disposal of aluminum foil can have significant environmental impacts, such as energy use, greenhouse gas emission, and waste generation. The availability of alternative packaging materials, such as plastic and paper which is cheaper than aluminum, is expected to hamper the market growth in the forecast period.

Market Opportunities

Consumers are more conscious of the environment, so the demand for sustainable packaging solutions is increasing. Apart from this, aluminum is fully recyclable and can be reused many times. Therefore, manufacturers in the aluminum foil market are developing new packaging solutions using aluminum foil that are eco-friendly. Aluminum foil is used in a variety of industrial applications, such as insulations, laminates, and electrical conductivity. Aluminum foils are used in lithium-ion batteries for electrolytic capacitors. The increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is driving the need for batteries which is expected to drive market growth in the forecast period.

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Report Segmentation of the Aluminum Foil Market

Product Type Insight

Based on product type, the wrapping foils segment was dominant in the market, with the largest market revenue share in 2022. The wrapper aluminum foil is used in household applications for food storage, covering baking surfaces, and wrapping foods to prevent them from external moisture. The demand for wrapping aluminum foil is increasing in household applications due to increasing health awareness among consumers. In addition, the wrapping aluminum foils are 100% recyclable and degradable; thus, the demand for wrapping aluminum foils is increasing in the healthcare, food, and electronics industries for the packaging of products.

End-User Industry Insight

Based on the end-user industry, the food & beverage segment was dominant, with the largest market revenue share in 2022. Aluminum packaging in food products acts as a good barrier to sunlight, moisture, oxygen, microorganisms, and other environmental factors. Aluminum packaging helps retain food products' original odor and flavor for a long time. These foils are lightweight, easily available, and cost-effective, reducing packaging costs. Therefore, the demand from the food & beverage industries is increasing.

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Market Segmentation

By Product Type

Wrapper Foils

Containers Foils

Foil Lids

Pouches

Blister Packs

Other Product Types

By End-User Industry

Food & Beverages

Pharmaceutical

Electronics

Tobacco

Cosmetics & Personal care

Automotive

Other End-User Industries

By Geography

North America The US Canada Mexico

Western Europe Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe

Eastern Europe Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC

Latin America Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Key Market Players

ACM Carcano

Amcor Plc

Assan Aluminyum

Ess Dee Aluminium

Eurofoil

Hindalco Industries Limited

Henan Huawei Aluminium Co. Ltd

Laminazione Sottile

Shanghai Metal Corporation

UACJ Foil Corporation

Xiamen Xiashun Aluminium Foil Co. Ltd.

Zhejiang Junma Aluminum Industry

Other Key Players

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Automotive heat shield market was valued at USD 12.79 billion in 2021. This market is expected to reach USD 21.42 billion growing at a CAGR of 4.8%, between 2023 and 2032.

Aluminum Coils Market size is expected to be worth around USD 117.66 Billion by 2032 from USD 98.82 Billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 1.76% during the forecast period 2023 to 2032.

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Aluminium Foil Packaging Market valued at USD 33,590 Million in 2021. It is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% between 2022 and 2032.



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Aluminium Foil Packaging valued at USD 33,590 Million in 2021. It is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% between 2022 and 2032.



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Pence: Energy Independence Key to National Security, US Military Strength

YORBA LINDA, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 19: Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivers closing remarks at the Nixon National Energy Conference at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum on April 19, 2023 in Yorba Linda, California. Pence discussed American energy policy at the event which marked the 50th anniversary of the countrys first energy policy. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Former Vice President Mike Pence told supporters gathered at a conference in Orange County, California, today, that Americas national security and military strength hinges on domestic oil and gas production and energy independence.

Energy is more than a domestic issue. It affects foreign policy, Pence said at the Nixon National Energy Conference at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda.

Under the Trump administration, a strong economy helped the United States rebuild its military to serve as a deterrent to would-be foreign threats. But the Biden administration has put a stop to domestic oil and gas production, he said.

A vibrant energy sector powers American strength and independence on the world stage. And with that renewed economic strength during our administration, we were able to not only rebuild our economy but we rebuilt our military after years of reckless budget cuts, he said.

Pence said the energy policies that the Trump administration proposed were based on ideas Nixon proposed.

The truth is we didnt invent the energy playbook, he said. In fact, it looked an awful lot like the Nixon playbook that was ignored by the Congress of his time 50 years ago.

Then as now, he said, the energy crisis that Nixon faced in the early 1970s was government induced.

One of the Trump administrations first actions was to withdraw the United States from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Agreement, which punished American industry while allowing China to continue polluting with impunity, he said.

The Trump administration replaced the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan with affordable free market clean energy rules, approved the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, expedited the approval of the Burgos pipeline, and opened the Alaska National Wildlife region to responsible oil and gas leasing, Pence said.

It was an extraordinary record of success, he said. Within months of unleashing American Energy  our economy took off like a jack rabbit as we say in Indiana.

The United States became the top producer of oil and natural gas in the world, and for the first time in three quarters of a century, became a net exporter of natural gas, with energy imports falling to the lowest level in 60 years, Pence said.

We fueled economic growth7 million good paying jobsunemployment plummeted to a 50-year-low, we moved 10 million people from welfare to work, he said. It was the largest poverty reduction in American history. Thats what happens when you unleash American energy: America prospers.

Under Trump, the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and renewed American strength and independence, as well as achieving first new peace deal in the Arab World in 25 years in the Abraham Accords.

We made history, he said.

But, for more than two years, the war on energy is back with a vengeance under the Biden administration, and the United States is weaker on the world stage than ever before, Pence said.

Criticizing Biden for saying he wanted to end fossil fuels during his campaign, Pence blasted Democrats for claiming efforts to increase domestic oil and gas production is partisan politics.

With the support of the Democrat majority, Biden cancelled the Keystone and XL pipelines, imposed drilling moratoriums, refused to auction oil and gas leases on federal lands, and now, he wants to weaponize the SEC to choke out financing for traditional energy sources through capricious ESG regulations, Pence said.

Environmental Social Governance, or ESG, supported by the World Economic Forum, is a complex and highly politicized system of credits given to corporations who support and promote government policies.

Biden has failed to protect hardworking Americans from woke ideology in corporate boardrooms and is now trying to force two-thirds of all gasoline vehicles off the road with draconian new standards, according to Pence.

Unrealistic demands to drive gas-powered vehicles off the road in California and replace them with electric vehicles is being done to appease the radical left in America and will increase U.S. dependence on China, the worlds dominant battery maker, he said.

Under their policies, American consumers will lose and China will win, Pence said.

President Biden has turned a surplus of American oil and gas into a deficit in the name of environmental extremism, and all at the expense of American workers.

Pence also blasted Biden for depleting half of the national strategic petroleum reserve intended for emergencies instead of increasing domestic energy production.

Biden, he said, then went hat in hand to OPEC asking it to increase production, and as evidence of Americas waning influence on the world stage, OPEC turned him down, and now Middle Eastern countries are drawn closer to China and Russia by the day.

The truth is President Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad, he said.

Bidens war on energy has sapped American strength and influence in the world.

The time has come for America to return to the policies that will drive American growth and American strength, and it begins with American energy, Pence said.

Read More Republicans Introduce Major Reform Package to Restore US Energy Independence

Foreign Aggression

Pence blamed the Biden administration for its disastrous withdrawal of American troops and military equipment from Afghanistan which emboldened Russia.

President Biden has replaced American strength with weakness and hes made the world a more dangerous place, Pence said. And, so now more than ever, we need to renew American strength to recognize that America is the leader of the Free World.

Pence said Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible for the unprovoked invasion in Ukraine and that Putin Russia need to be held to account.

Expounding on points he made at a fireside chat at a private fundraiser for the Lincoln Institute on Tuesday, Pence said America is the arsenal of democracy.

If America isnt leading the Free World, the Free World is not being led, he said. The war in Ukraine is not our war, but freedom is our fight.

Pence said he believes the United States should continue to give the Ukrainian military the means to repel the Russian invasion and reclaim their sovereignty.

It is in the interest of freedomtheirs and ours, he said. We must make it clear that we will not tolerate naked aggression and attempts to redraw national boundaries by force anywhere in the world, whether its in Europe, on the Korean Peninsula or in the Taiwan Straits.

Energy independence and a strong military, he said, also serves as a defense against Chinese communist aggression.

The fate of Ukraine will reach far beyond the European continent. I guarantee you that Communist China is watching. I believe history teaches that weakness arouses evil, and weakness in Europe today may very well arouse an even greater evil in the Asian Pacific, he said.

While Nixon opened the door to U.S.-China trade relations in the hope China would embrace greater liberty for its people with a stronger economy, Pence said that in recent decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has only grown bolder in repressing their people, trampling on religious liberty, human rights, committing trade abuses, intellectual property theft, threatening Taiwan and engaging in aggressive military actions that threaten the navigation in the Asian Pacific.

This week alone, we learned the two Chinese nationals were arrested for running an illegal police station in New York City, which existed to harass dissidents who had fled China to come to the land of the free and the home of the brave, he said. China may not yet be an evil empire, but under President Xi it certainly aspires to become one. President Xis vision for the world is one in which freedom is constrained but Beijings power is not.

Earlier this month, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, to push back against the CCPs aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.

McCarthy called on Congress to hasten the supply and delivery of military weapons to Taiwan amid rising tensions between the self-governed democracy and Chinas ruling communist regime. He urged the United States and its allies to stand against Chinas aggression with one voice and a clear and consistent message to promote peace and protect democracy.
Protesters Storm Paris Euronext Building Over Pension Reform

Union members and protesters enter the entrance hall at the headquarters of the Pan-European stock exchange Euronext during a protest action against unpopular pension reforms, in the La Defense district of Paris, France on April 20, 2023. (Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP via Getty Images)

A group of protesters briefly invaded stock market operator Euronexts offices in the La Defense business district of Paris on Thursday, as protests against French President Macrons pension reforms continue.

The protesters said that big companies should pay to finance pensions. We are told that there is no money to finance pensions, said SUD-Rail unionist, Fabien Villedieu. There is no need to get the money from the pockets of workers, he said, as there is some in the pockets of billionaires.

Waving union flags, the group of a few hundred protesters occupied the Euronext buildings lobby. The area was engulfed in red smoke from flares, and the protesters chanted slogans popular during the anti-pension reform protests: We are here, we are here, even if Macron does not want it, we are here.

They also shouted: Macron resign!

On April 6, similar scenes occurred at the Paris offices of Blackrock, the worlds largest asset manager.

On Monday, Macron addressed the nation in a public TV broadcast after signing his unpopular pension reform into law over the weekend. He explained that the decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was necessary to prevent future deficits spinning out of control.

Macron signed the pension reform into law despite three months of union strikes and protests that brought millions of people onto the streets.

In his public broadcast, the French president promised concrete measures to better education, improve working conditions, provide more career opportunities, and increase wages.

Macron also invited the unions and employer organizations to bring ideas to the table to invigorate the French economy.

We have ahead of us 100 days of appeasement, unity, ambition, and action for France, he said.

But the protesters in La Defense made clear that they were not ready to move on.

Well continue until the withdrawal (of the pension law), protesters shouted, standing by a banner that read: No to the pension reform.

Macron himself faced protests on Thursday during his second public outing since signing the bill into law.

While he was visiting a school in the southern French town of Ganges, smiling and taking selfies with pupils and sympathizers, police held back protesters a few hundred meters away as they demonstrated against the reforms.

There is a bit of everything, Macron said in the schoolyard, as he attempted to play down the protests. There are people who are happy, and people who are not happy.

The unhappiness, however, runs deep. According to a Fiducial-Odoxa public safety poll published in February, 57 percent of French respondents believe it is possible some kind of insurrection could occur over the pension reform.

It is the second time in 13 years that the official retirement age has been raised in France.

Reuters contributed to this article.

From NTD News
Risk of Debt Default Is Non-Trivial, Warns JPMorgan

JPMorgan has warned that theres a non-trivial risk of a default on U.S. government obligations as the debt-limit deadline looms with no agreement in sight.

Analysts at the bank said in the Wednesday note that they expect the debate over the debt ceiling as well as the one on the federal funding bill to come dangerously close to their respective deadlines.

The United States reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling in January, leaving it to a politically divided Congress to raise the cap and allow the government to keep paying its bills.

Democrats have insisted on a bill with no preconditions to raise the debt ceiling, while Republicans have demanded spending cuts in exchange for their support to lift the borrowing cap.

X-Date

The Treasury Department has, since the January breach of the debt cap, resorted to so-called extraordinary measures to keep making payments on outstanding federal debt obligations and keep the government from defaulting, but these will run out at some point.

The federal government could reach the moment when it will no longer be able to meet its financial obligationsknown as the X-dateas early as June 5, according to a January letter (pdf) to lawmakers from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

When the X-date is reached and theres no agreement to lift the debt cap, Treasury will be unable to issue any more bills, bonds, or notes. It could only make payments on its debt obligations from tax revenues.

Yellen is expected in the next few days to revise the X-date, which analysts have generally put at a later date than June 5, seeing it as a worst-case scenario that she presented to lawmakers in her January letter.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies about the Biden administrations Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget proposal before the Senate Finance Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 16, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that the X-date would fall at some point between July and September, while investment bank Goldman Sachs expects it will come at some point in June.

JPMorgan analysts said in the note Wednesday that they see the X-date coming in the middle of August.

Signs of stress typically start in the T-bill market two to three months before the X-date given money market funds, which are large holders of T-bills, will begin to more actively advertise that they dont hold any bills that mature over those dates, JPMorgan analysts said in the note.

Markets have already started showing early signs that investors are stressed about a possible debt default. On Thursday, jitters over the debt ceiling deadlock in Washington sent the cost of insuring exposure to U.S. government debt to its highest level in over a decade.

Spreads on U.S. five-year credit default swaps, which are market-based measures of default risk, widened to 49 basis points, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Thats more than twice the level the swaps stood at in January.

Bumble Into the First Default

Both Democrats and Republicans have warned that failure to meet the countrys debt obligation would be disastrous for the economy. Yet while Republicans have pushed for Democrat commitments to cut spending in exchange for agreeing to lift the borrowing cap, President Joe Biden has so far insisted on a clean bill to raise it.

Biden said that hes prepared to consider GOP proposals for spending cuts as part of a budget plan, but that such discussions must be separate from prompt action on the Congresss basic obligation to pay the nations bills an avoid economic catastrophe, according to a letter from the president to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

McCarthy said Monday in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange that unless Biden negotiates with Republicans to raise the debt cap, he would bumble into the first default.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at an International Union of Operating Engineers Local 77 union training facility in Accokeek, Md., on April 19, 2023. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Rather than negotiate with the GOP on spending cuts as part of raising the debt ceiling, Biden and his Democrat allies in Congress have demanded that Republicans make their spending-cut proposals public.

On Wednesday, House Republicans did just that, introducing legislation to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, or until March 31, 2024, whichever comes first.

Called the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, the 320-page bill calls for returning discretionary spending to 2022 levels, capping spending growth to 1 percent per year, and repealing certain tax credits. It would also cancel Bidens student loan forgiveness program, take back unspent COVID-19 relief funds, remove barriers to increased domestic energy production, and reimpose work requirements for some participants in the food stamp program.

If Washington wants to spend more, it will have to come together and find savings elsewhere, just like every household in America, McCarthy said on the House floor.

President Biden has a choice. Come to the table and stop playing partisan political games, or cover his ears, refuse to negotiate, and risk bumbling his way into the first default in our nations history.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on July 29, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Blueprint to Devastate?

Biden criticized McCarthys announcement during a Wednesday speech on the economy in Maryland, calling the Republican bill not a plan.

The House Republican proposal would cut critical programs, so-called discretionary spending, by 22 percent, Biden said. That would mean cutting the number of people who administer Social Security and Medicare, meaning longer wait times.

Higher costs for child care, significantly higher, preschool, college, higher costs for housing, especially for older Americans, people with disabilities, families with children, veterans, Biden continued.

In a statement Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused of McCarthy of siding with extreme MAGA Republicans and calling the plan a blueprint to devastate hard-working American families.

MAGA House Republicans are holding the American economy hostage in order to take a hatchet to programs Americans rely on every day to make ends meet, she said.

Biden submitted his 2024 budget proposal in March and has since asked Republicans to do the same.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the Problem Solvers Caucus recently released a one-page document that proposes suspending the debt ceiling until Dec. 31, establishing an independent fiscal commission, adopting deficit stabilization controls, and revising the budget process.

The caucus, which is made up of 31 Republican and 32 Democrat members of the House, has proposed this solution to the debt-ceiling deadlock if no breakthrough deal is reached.

Weve seen their one-pager, the White House press secretary said during a briefing on April 19. We have a very close and respectful relationship, a good relationship, with the Problem Solvers Caucus. I just dont have a reaction to share at this time.

Our position continues to be to not negotiate over default. This is something that is the responsibility, the obligation of congressional members. They were able to do this three times in the last administration.

Emel Akan and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Rowan Wilson Confirmed as New Yorks Chief Judge After Hochuls First Nominee Blocked

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 12: New York Governor Kathy Hochul joins other politicians and Jewish leaders for a conference addressing the rise in antisemitic incidents across the United States at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan on December 12, 2022 in New York City. The conference was hosted by the Orthodox Union and comes as the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks anti-Semitic behavior nationwide, found 2,717 incidents in 2021. This represents a 34 percent rise from the previous year. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The New York Senate has confirmed Rowan Wilson as the next chief judge of New York State.

The Democrat-controlled state Senate confirmed Wilson with a 40:19 vote. He will lead the Court of Appeals, the highest court of the Empire State, and the states court system.

Wilson, 62, succeeds Judge Janet DiFiore who resigned in August.

He has been an associate judge of the Court of Appeals, New Yorks highest court, since 2017.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tapped him earlier this month to lead the seven-member high court and oversee the states judicial system. The confirmation vote caps months of conflict between Hochul and her fellow Democrats in control of the Senate over the direction of the court.

Wilsons confirmation leaves a vacancy for an associate judge on the top court.

Hochul said she intends to nominate former state solicitor general Caitlin Halligan, who is currently a partner at a New York City-based law firm, to fill the associate judge vacancy.

Wilsons nomination came after Hochuls first choice, Hector LaSalle, faced a barrage of criticism from liberal senators and their allies, who criticized decisions he made as an appeals judge.

In an unprecedented move, the Senate rejected LaSalle in February.

Prominent Democrat Joins Republicans to Object

Most Democrats applauded Wilsons confirmation.

Rowan Wilson is among the highest legal intellects I have ever encountered and has an approach to decision-making that reflects the best of what our society deserves, state Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris said in a statement. He will be a groundbreaking jurist who will elevate New Yorks Court of Appeals to its rightful and historical place as a leader in American law.

Hochul congratulated Wilson after the confirmation and said she looks forward to working closely with him to elevate the esteem of our States highest court, protect New Yorkers rights and safety, and ensure that justice is administered.

However, former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, a prominent Democrat in New York, said Wilson has poor judgment and that one of his rulings makes it harder to convict rapists in the New York State.

Republicans criticized Wilson for his liberal jurist record and described him as an activist judge.

That result, I think, is egregious. I think its a misapplication of the law, said Sen. Anthony Palumbo, the ranking Republican on the committee.

Democrats have praised the Harvard Law School graduates record on civil rights, labor, and environmental issues.

Wilson also dissented in a top court ruling last year that rejected new congressional maps, which had widely been seen as favoring Democrats.

That dissent has alarmed some Republicans because the Court of Appeals could possibly one day consider a Democrat-backed lawsuit seeking to compel the redrawing of New Yorks congressional boundaries. The current maps are believed to have partially helped the GOP regain control of the U.S. House last year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sad Day: Dan Bongino Leaves Fox News, Effective Immediately

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 21: Dan Bongino speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on October 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon )

Dan Bongino, the nationally syndicated radio and podcast host, confirmed Thursday that he is departing Fox News, effective immediately.

Bongino made the announcement during an episode of his podcast, saying that he has no issues with the network. However, recent negotiations over his contract had come up short, leading to the departure.

Before leaving, Bongino had hosted a weekly Saturday show on Fox News called Unfiltered, while he also had a show called Canceled in the USA on Fox Nation. The final episode of Bonginos Saturday night show aired on April 15.

The show ending last week was tough. Its not some big conspiracy theory, I promise you. Theres no acrimony, Bongino said Thursday. We just couldnt come to terms on an extension. Thats really it. He added: I really enjoyed myself there. They were good for me for ten years.

Its a sad day. They did give me the opportunity to do one last show, I dont want you to think they showed me the door, he continued to say. Thats on me, not on them, but I thought it was best to go this way for now.

During the podcast episode, he said that his departure was not due to the recent lawsuit that Fox News had just settled earlier this week. The timings not great, he conceded.

Bongino added that his Saturday show was among the highest-rated programs in that time slot on cable television.

We were the number one show 90 percent of the time, Bongino told his listeners Thursday. We had a great team, he said, adding: This wasnt some WWE brawl that happened. We just couldnt come to terms on an extension.

Describing his tenure at Fox, the network allowed [him] to do a show called Unfiltered, did what we wanted to do over there and covered the topics we wanted to cover, he added. And its a sad day. Its a sad day.

In a statement to news outlets, Fox News said, We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors. The company did not explain why it was parting ways with Bongino, who was a former New York City Police Department official and U.S. Secret Service agent before entering the media business.

In 2006, Bongino joined the Presidential Protective Division of former President George W. Bushs administration. He also served on the team that provided protection to former President Barack Obama.

He has also hosted a number of popular syndicated radio programs, and his show was used to replace the one that was hosted by Rush Limbaugh, who died in early 2021. His one-hour long radio show for Westwood One also was distributed via the Fox Nation subscription service.

Other than those endeavors, he also hosts his own website, Bonginoreport.com, and hosts a show on Rumble.

So the Fox Nation showfor the radio show: I will have some updates on that. I think thats going to end at the end of the month, and well have some updates on that. Well have some options for that, too, Bongino also said Thursday.

Unfiltered generated some 1,179,000 viewers on April 15 during the final episode. About 93,000 were in the 25-54 age demographic that is coveted by advertisers, according to Nielsen data.

Fox News also recently proclaimed in a news release that Bonginos show was the No. 1 program in the weekend primetime category, averaging 1.3 million viewers. Of that figure, 134,000 were in the 25-54 demographic.

Fox will now air Lawrence Jones Cross Country in place of Bonginos program starting this Saturday. A new schedule will be announced in the coming weeks, said the statement, issued to Forbes magazine.

Fox News said in a statement, We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors.
Senate Passes Private Members Bill Protecting Canadian Workers Pensions

Marilyn Gladu addresses the crowd at a federal Conservative leadership forum during the annual general meeting of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative party in Halifax on Saturday, February 8, 2020. The 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election will be held on June 27, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

A private members bill that creates new protections for workers pensions in the event of employer insolvency has passed in the Senate and will soon become law.

Pension protection is more important than ever. If an employers bankruptcy can wipe out an employees pension, then millions of Canadians who have worked hard all their lives are at risk of not being able to retire or afford to live, said Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu in a release.

Gladu first introduced Bill C-228, An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act and the Pension Benefits Standards Act, in the House of Commons in February 2022. It passed the third reading in the Senate on April 18 and is now awaiting Royal Assent before becoming law.

The act is meant to ensure that Canadian workers are protected in the event of a companys collapse, according to the release. If a fund is insolvent, the company will be required to declare bankruptcy and give priority to pension payout or transfer funds into the pension plan to make it solvent.

Private members billslegislation proposed by MPs who arent in cabinetrarely become law in Canada.

Gladu, who is also the shadow minister for civil liberties, said her goal with this bill was to protect Canadians, their families, their livelihoods, and their retirements, while at the same time ensuring that lenders and suppliers receive due consideration.

In addition, the bill will require fund managers to prepare an annual report on the solvency of the pension fund and send it to the superintendent, who currently reviews this information, as defined in the Pension Benefits Act. The report will then be tabled in Parliament for greater transparency.

This bill combines the elements of others that came before, and I am hopeful we will continue to work across the aisle to support and protect Canadians going forward, said Gladu.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) called the passing of the bill a historic victory for the protection of Canadian pensioners.

Until now, when companies like Sears went bankrupt, the assets of the failed company were divided and banks were paid first. This unexpected loss in a fixed income plunged vulnerable seniors into poverty, said Bill VanGorder, chief policy officer at CARP.

This soon-to-be law will protect the 4.6 million Canadian seniors and their families who rely on pensions for their financial security in retirement.

Criticism

The bill has been criticized by the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC), who have said it would be harmful to defined benefit pension plan sponsors. Back in September 2021, PIAC co-signed an open letter calling for MPs to block the bill.

In the letter, PIAC said while it shared the concerns of MPs on the standing committee on finance regarding pensions, it strongly disagreed that adopting a super-priority for unfunded pension liabilities and employee retirement benefits in insolvency situations, is the best way to achieve pension security.

PIAC has argued that by implementing super-priority rules, the bill would cause companies that sponsor defined benefit pension plan plans to be subject to higher interest, which could force employers to close the plans.

The open letter was also signed by the Canadian Bankers Association, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.
LONDONEwelina Ochab, a British human rights lawyer, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Eventim Apollo on April 15. Due to her work, she knew much about some things happening in China today, but less about the cultural heritage of China before communism.

From the moment the curtains opened and a scene above the clouds appeared, Ms. Ochab was enchanted with the artistry.

I think it just shows the importance of preserving this cultural heritage for future generations, Ms. Ochab said.

If it continues the way it is happening right now, a lot of this cultural heritage will be destroyed so it is crucial to preserve it.

New York-based Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company, and has a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, one of the worlds oldest and longest continuous civilizations, until communisms rise to power in 1949. Since then, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has worked to uproot Chinas traditional culture.

This is a very interactive way of preserving it, and with the performances around the world you show it to other people as well and they see the beautiful culture, they see the damage done by the CCP, and hopefully it encourages them to act, said Ms. Ochab.

Ms. Ochab praised the music, dance, and wonderful performances, and said of equal importance was a story-based dance she saw right before the intermission.

This story was based in modern-day China, based on true events. It touched on the CCPs unconscionable practice of live organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, citizens who are imprisoned for practicing their faith.

Ms. Ochab has been working with members of Parliament on the persecution of Falun Gong adherents in China for several years now. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice centered around the three principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance.

She did not realize Shen Yun would touch on this sensitive topic, but was impressed and not surprised. After all, the number of Falun Gong practitioners were estimated to be 100 million in China, and it is also a widely popular meditation practice around the world.

This is something people definitely should see. It is a shame that one cannot show the performance in China. Heartbreaking, but ultimately thats the reality of life in China right now with the CCP in power. But hopefully, hopefully someday it will change, and performances like this will be shown in China, Ms. Ochab said.

I hope people, even if they dont know anything about organ harvesting, they got the idea of what was happening. Because it was there. It was very powerful, she said. To see what is happening behind the curtain in China, I think thats very important. I think having that place there, it can educate a lot of people.

The 2019 China Tribunal that looked into the CCPs forced organ harvesting had taken place in London, and it began Ms. Ochabs work on this issue. At the time, a lot of information and reports on organ harvesting was coming out, as well as a lot of propaganda from the CCP.

You cannot take the propaganda as it is, you have to seek the truth, and thats what the China Tribunal was doing, she said.

She hoped Shen Yun would do the same for people around the world.

I think it will be opening eyes for many people, she said.

I think its very brave of them to do it. I think its one thing to say a very wonderful job done, thats one thing, but its really brave, because I know that they will be facing many difficult challenges because of what they do.

Im sure they will be banned from entering China, their families may be threatened, definitely they are facing many risks with the work that they do.

Incredible bravery. Keep going, we all very much look forward to better times when the communities are not persecuted anymore.

Reporting by Chloe Hsiao.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
David Alton, Baron of Liverpool, after the Shen Yun performance at the Eventim Apollo venue in London, U.K. on April 19, 2023. (NTD)

LONDON David Alton, Baron of Liverpool, was impressed by the powerful message Shen Yun Performing Arts delivered at the Eventim Apollo venue on April 19.

Its a wonderful show; it underlines the beauty of Chinese civilization and culture, said Lord Alton. What a tragedy that a show like this cant be shown in China itself, he said.

Its of a very high standard indeed, he said.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company. Along with folk dances and solo performances, the production depicts story-based pieces that tell tales from ancient times to the modern day.

Since 2006, the company has performed at top theatres worldwide with a mission to revive Chinas 5,000-year-old traditional culture. Shen Yun says its performances demonstrate China before communism.

Desire for Beauty

I think the show is reminding people of something that could otherwise have been so easily lost but is always in the human spirit, in the mind, and in the imagination  this desire for beauty, said Lord Alton.

I think [Shen Yun] communicates itself as real beauty against some of the horrible ugliness and the violence that we see disfiguring the world, he said.

Hearing the soprano, who sang this evening, talking about the wonder of creation  are things that people should be free to talk about and think about, he said. Its something that many of us from different traditions, different backgrounds, different countries hold in common  and the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship doesnt allow it.

As a patron of Hong Kong Watch and vice chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Uyghurs and Hong Kong, Lord Alton said he takes considerable interest in China.

He was particularly moved by the story-based dance portraying the persecution of Falun Dafa, a meditation discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution against the practice in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

One dance piece this year depicts the state-orchestrated crime of forced organ harvesting from Falun Dafa prisoners of conscience, part of the CCPs persecution campaign.

This is a very real live issue; its before the British Parliament at this moment, he said. Forced organ harvesting  is a hideous crime.

I think that people will go away from this performance talking about this, he said. This will alert people all over the world  about the enormity of what is being done.

Lord Alton appreciated the spiritual message in the performance that we are all held accountable for our actions.

It was good  to be reminded that we are not alone in this world, that there is a Creator, and that we are answerable as well for our actions to the Creator, he said. That is a story that comes through in tonights performance  the struggle between good and evil, he said.

This is a show you shouldnt miss; you must go to see it and then go away and think about the messages that it communicates.

Reporting by NTD and Jennifer Schneider.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Zerify

EDISON, N.J., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zerify Inc., (OTC PINK: ZRFY), the 22-year-old cyber-security company focused on Secure Video Conferencing & Endpoint Security announced today that Annie Damato & Associates will be utilizing Zerifys cyber security solutions to provide their clients with an even higher level of security and privacy.



Zerify Meets Secure Video Conferencing platform ensures secure communications between Annie Damato & Associates and their clients, says Mark L Kay, CEO of Zerify. Zerify Meet is the industrys only video conferencing platform that authenticates every user with two factor authentication prior to entering a meeting, additionally, Zerify Meet encrypts all video and audio calls and has an advanced screen sharing and recording features making it easier for clients to collaborate with the team at Annie Damato & Associates.

Zerify Defender is our Endpoint Security Agent which proactively locks down three devices (camera, microphone & audio-out speaker stream) and three processes (keyboard stack, clipboard and screen sharing) against attacks that most anti-virus and endpoint security solutions do not address. Traditional anti-virus and endpoint solutions were designed to block known and documented threats, but they leave the door open to new and emerging ones. Zerify Defender seals this gap and adds a layer of zero trust protection guarding businesses from both, known and unknown threats, says Kay.

As a financial consulting firm, the security and privacy of our clients information is our top priority, says Annie Damato, CEO. Partnering with Zerify allows us to offer an even higher level of security and peace of mind for our clients, especially during these times of remote work and heightened cyber threats.

Annie Damato & Associates is committed to providing small business owners with expert consulting services, including valuations, planning and risk mitigation strategies. With the addition of Zerifys Secure Video Conferencing and Endpoint Security solutions, we are able to deliver these services with the utmost security and privacy.

Story continues

To learn more about Annie Damato & Associates, go to: https://anniedamatoandassociates.com/about-us/#

To learn more about Zerify Meet, go to: https://www.zerify.com/

About Annie Damato & Associates

At Annie Damato & Associates, we understand this is about you, your family, and your business! Being in this industry has helped me and my family put strategic plans in place to help mitigate risks that have helped us get through very difficult challenges. Challenges that include long term illnesses, disability, and even death. Over the years, we have been able to help many other families mitigate risks. I've learned that we cannot eliminate these risks, but we can help you put strategies in place to help you get through the financial burden that comes along with these challenges.

We have over 30 years of combined experience. Our business practice has evolved to adapt to current economic times. As business owners, we realized that many business owners rely on their businesses as their Retirement Plan. Yet most business owners do not know the true valuation of their business. Or even worse, do not have an Exit Strategy in place if for some reason (such as illness or death or other factors) are forced to exit the business. Their families may be left devasted!

About Zerify:

Zerify Inc. (OTC PINK: ZRFY), formerly StrikeForce Technologies, is an Edison, New Jersey-based company with over two decades of experience in cybersecurity solutions. The company helps to prevent cyber theft and data security breaches for consumers, corporations and government agencies through powerful multi-factor out-of-band authentication and keystroke encryption along with mobile solutions. Zerify offers a video conferencing solution that uses no desktop and is entirely web-based, offering a five-level meeting security control approach designed to protect valuable information. Features include keystroke protection, anti-screen capture, and push and biometric authentication to keep businesses secure.

The technology also protects cameras, microphones and speakers, keeping computers and confidential data secure even when one is offline and not on a video conference. No other video conferencing service on the market, such as Zoom, Webex, LogMeIn, MS Teams or BlueJeans, offers these protections.

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(732) 661-9641




On Tuesday, Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, presented her inaugural city budget, which includes provisions to address the homelessness crisis, boost mental health services, and bolster LAPD recruitment. The budget allocates almost $1.3 billion to combat homelessness.

Paul Scrivano, the owner of the Blue Dog Tavern in Sherman Oaks outside of Los Angeles, is a long-time critic of the city council. Joining Larry Elder, he argues that politicians and city officials are more interested in maintaining funding for homeless services than actually solving the problem. This is nothing but a money grab to give to her unions to give to her homeless 501(c)(3), Scrivano says.

He also expresses frustration with Los Angeles council members for advocating for defunding the police and then complaining about low LAPD staffing.

Fox News agrees to pay $787 million to settle Dominions defamation lawsuit. Joining Larry Elder to discuss this is John Eastman, former Professor and Dean of Chapman University School of Law and one of the attorneys who represented Donald Trump, and who, as a result, is facing disbarment in California.

Although the settlement may be used to debunk all claims of election illegality and fraud, Eastman points out that other allegations of election irregularities remain viable. He also argues that Fox Newss admission does not have any bearing on the majority of the allegations from the 2020 election.

The Justice Department revealed on Monday that the FBI has apprehended two individuals accused of establishing and running an unauthorized Chinese police station in New York City. The alleged purpose of this operation was to exert influence over and intimidate critics of the Chinese government residing in the United States.

Joining Larry Elder to discuss this is Brent Sadler from the Heritage Foundation. He says that the Chinese Communist Party is highly skilled at influencing foreign political leadership and embedding itself in the global marketplace. They are also known for being adaptable and pragmatic, which makes competition with them difficult. In the next couple of years, there may be a kinetic test of American resolve as China seeks to exert its influence further.

Lastly, they touch on the recent leak of classified Pentagon documents that could jeopardize American national security and put lives at risk.

The Larry Elder Show is sponsored by Birch Gold Group. Protect your IRA or 401(k) with precious metals today: http://larryforgold.com/
Show Me Your Budget: Biden Renews Attack on House Republicans Over Debt Ceiling

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at an International Union of Operating Engineers Local 77 union training facility on April 19, 2023 in Accokeek, Maryland. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden on Wednesday gave a speech in Accokeek, Maryland, to promote his economic agenda and rally support for it. He began his remarks by criticizing MAGA Republicans for standing in the way of his economic vision and threatening to undo all of his policies.

This aint your fathers Republican Party. Its a different deal right now, Biden told labor union members at a training facility in Accokeek. Thats why Im here today. Because you and the American people should know about the competing economic visions of the country that are really at stake right now.

Biden reacted to House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthys (R-Calif.) remarks to Wall Street on April 17, contrasting his agenda to what he called the MAGA economic vision.

Do you think he told the wealthy and powerful its about time they step up and start paying a fair share? Not a word, Biden told the crowd in Maryland. Do you think he told billion-dollar companies to stop stashing profits in tax havens and shipping jobs overseas? I didnt hear any of that, he continued.

Instead, he proposed huge cuts to very important programs that millions of hardworking middle-class Americans count on  Folks, this time, the same old trickle-down dressed up in MAGA clothing is worse than ever.

Biden submitted his 2024 budget proposal on March 9, and has since asked House Republicans to do the same.

My dad used to have an expression: Dont tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and Ill tell you what you value.

McCarthy blamed Biden for declining to meet during a speech at the New York Stock Exchange on April 17 and accused him of misleading the public.

I want to talk to you about the debate thats not happening in Washington but should be happening over our national debt. Its a debate that directly affects the lives of every American, McCarthy said.

House Republicans on Wednesday introduced legislation to raise the nations debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or until March 31, 2024, whichever occurs first.

McCarthy is expected to bring the bill up for a vote next week. It is unclear whether Republicans can assemble the 218 votes required for passage in the narrowly divided House.

The measure aims to restore discretionary spending to 2022 levels, limit annual spending growth to 1 percent, reclaim unspent COVID-19 relief funds, repeal certain tax credits, reinstate work requirements for public assistance, and remove barriers to domestic energy production.

Meanwhile, the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, released a one-page document that proposes suspending the debt ceiling until Dec. 31, establishing an independent fiscal commission, adopt deficit stabilization controls, and revise the budget process.

The caucus, which is comprised of 31 Republican and 32 Democrat members in the House, has proposed this solution to the debt-ceiling problem if the White House and congressional leaders fail to reach an agreement.

Weve seen their one-pager, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during an April 19 press conference. We have a very close and respectful relationship, a good relationship, with the Problem Solvers Caucus. I just dont have a reaction to share at this time.

Our position continues to be to not negotiate over default. This is something that is the responsibility, the obligation of congressional members. They were able to do this three times in the last administration.
SNP Leader Overseeing Party Finances After Treasurer Steps Down After Arrest

Scotlands First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister Shona Robison (right) arrive for First Minister's Questions (FMQs) in the main chamber of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, on April 20, 2023. (Jane Barlow/PA Media)

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf is overseeing his partys finances after Colin Beattie resigned as treasurer of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following his arrest.

Beattie was arrested on Tuesday in connection with a police investigation into the SNPs finances, and was later released without charge pending further investigation.

He said on Wednesday that he would step back from his role as SNP treasurer and give up his position on the Public Audit Committee of the Scottish Parliament.

Undated handout photo of SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, issued by the Scottish Parliament on April 18, 2023. (Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament via PA Media)

As SNP leader, Yousaf is now required to take on the role, but he told the BBC he hopes someone would be appointed to the job in the coming days.

Well appoint a treasurer in the coming days, but of course, as party leader, Ill make sure Im overseeing the finances of the party. But well appoint a new national treasurer as soon as we can, he said.

The post is usually one elected by members, but Yousaf said the party was not going to have time to elect someone to the role and ruled out continuing in the job alongside being party leader and first minister.

Avoid Further Distraction

In his statement, Beattie said: This afternoon, I informed the party leader that I will be stepping back from my role as SNP national treasurer with immediate effect.

I have also informed the SNP chief whip at Holyrood that I will be stepping back from my role on the Public Audit Committee until the police investigation has concluded.

On a personal level, this decision has not been easy, but it is the right decision to avoid further distraction to the important work being led by Humza Yousaf to improve the SNPs governance and transparency.

I will continue to cooperate fully with Police Scotlands inquiries and it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further on a live case.

In a Twitter post, Yousaf said: I know that his decision to step back from the role of SNP national treasurer will not have been an easy one, but he has done so in the best interest of the party. A new treasurer will be appointed as soon as possible.

Police Probe

Beattie was the second person arrested in the investigation into how more than 600,000 in donations to Scotlands ruling party earmarked for an independence referendum had been used.

Earlier this month, former SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrellhusband of Scotlands former First Minister Nicola Sturgeonwas arrested and questioned for more than 11 hours before being released without charge pending further investigation.

Nicola Sturgeon, then SNP leader and Scottish first minister, and husband Peter Murrell pose after casting their votes in the 2019 General Election at Broomhouse Park Community Hall, Glasgow, Scotland, on Dec. 12, 2019. (Andrew Milligan/PA Media)

A luxury motorhome was seized by police from outside a property in Dunfermline on the same morning that Murrell was arrested.

The police investigation into the SNPs finances began in July 2021, following complaints about how donations given to the party for use in a fresh independence referendum campaign had been used.

Two SNP MPs had quit the partys National Executive Committee (NEC) in May of that year, citing a lack of transparency.

But the SNP leadership strongly denied claims the money raised for independence campaigning was diverted elsewhere.

Sturgeon, who was then first minister and SNP leader, insisted she was not concerned about the partys finances and that every penny of cash raised in online crowdfunding campaigns would be spent on the independence drive.

The party said it raised a total of 666,953 through referendum-related appeals between 2017 and 2020.

But questions were raised after its accounts showed it had just under 97,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, and total net assets of about 272,000.

It emerged last year that Murrell had loaned the SNP 107,620 in June 2021. An SNP spokesman said at the time that the loan was a personal contribution made by the chief executive to assist with cash flow after the Holyrood election.

Speaking on April 8 about her husbands arrest, Sturgeon said she couldnt comment on an ongoing investigation, and would fully cooperate with it.

Poor Stewardship of Public Money

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the decision to step aside as treasurer is right, but was taken by the wrong manaccusing the SNP leader of playing for time.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the treasurer post would be the least appealing job in Scottish politics.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy suggested Beattie should have been suspended as soon as he was arrested.

But Yousaf said he did not think that would be the right thing, given Beattie had not been charged with a crime.

In the Westminster Parliament in London, Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons, said on Thursday, I think the SNPs membership will feel rightly let down by this, similar to how the rest of Scotland will feel with the SNPs poor stewardship of public money.

PA Media contributed to this report.
SoCal Man Convicted of Sex Attacks on Girl for 12 Years

SANTA ANA, Calif.A 51-year-old man was convicted April 19 of sexual assaults on a girl he was related to from when she was 5 to 17 years old in Santa Ana, Anaheim, and Lake Elsinore.

Pablo Amaya Posada was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child with a foreign object, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a childoral copulation with force or fear, and two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child, all felonies.

He is scheduled to be sentenced May 16.

The victim came forward to police in 2019 alleging Posada had attacked her multiple times while she lived with him, starting in November 1997 and continuing through 2009, according to police testimony in Posadas preliminary hearing.

The abuse continued through moves from Santa Ana to Anaheim and then to Lake Elsinore, according to police.

Whenever the girl threatened to tell someone about the attacks, Posada said he would kill her or a family member, police said.
State Department Fails to Comply With House GOP Subpoena to Turn Over Afghan Dissent Cable

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference at State Department in Washington on April 11, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has failed to comply with a congressional subpoena, which required the State Department to hand over by April 19 a dissent cable from the time of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Epoch Times has learned.

Yimmi Fontenot, the press secretary for Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which issued the subpoena, told The Epoch Times that the State Department has not sent over the cable.

The committee subpoenaed Blinken in March for the cable, which, as The Wall Street Journal first reported, showed the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warning Foggy Bottom about the Taliban quickly gaining ground and the Afghan forces falling apart. They gave suggestions on how to expedite an evacuation and alleviate the situation.

The cable, dated July 13, also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban, reported WSJ, citing a person familiar with it. The withdrawal was completed at the end of the following month.

This committee is empowered by the U.S. Constitution to conduct oversight of the State Department, said committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) in announcing the subpoena on March 28.

We have made multiple good faith attempts to find common ground so we could see this critical piece of information. Unfortunately, Secretary Blinken has refused to provide the Dissent Cable and his response to the cable, forcing me to issue my first subpoena as chairman of this committee.

McCaul has requested the cable on multiple occasions.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, the State Department implied it has not turned over the document.

Secretary Blinken has continued to make clear his and the State Departments commitment to working with the House Foreign Affairs committee to provide relevant information, while also upholding his responsibility to protect the integrity of the Departments dissent channel, said Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.

Discussions with the committee about next steps are ongoing, but the Department has again offered a briefing about the concerns raised and the challenges identified by Embassy Kabul, proposed for next week, which we sincerely hope the Chairman will accept, in addition to offering other means to help inform the Committee in its investigation, he continued.

Blinken told the committee during a March 23 hearing that he would not hand over the cable, citing security and privacy concerns with the State Departments dissent channel system.

We continue to believe that our offers can satisfactorily provide the committee with the information it needs to conduct its oversight function while still protecting the dissent channel.

It is vital to me that we preserve the integrity of that process and of that channel, that we not take any steps that could have a chilling effect on the willingness of others to come forward in the future, to express dissenting views on the policies that are being pursued, he said.

However, Blinken expressed a willingness to give the committee relevant information from it.

I hope we can find a way to do it that meets both of our needs, he said.

McCaul, on the eve of the subpoena deadline, suggested that he would take Blinken to court if he didnt comply with the subpoena.

Honestly, I think theyre trying to stonewall this until the end of this Congress, McCaul told Punchbowl News.

In an April 20 statement, McCaul said he is considering the next steps in response to Blinken refusing to comply with the subpoena.

We have told the State Department repeatedly that a briefing or summary does not in any way satisfy the subpoena, he said. I am currently discussing next steps with my staff and House legal counsels to decide on what action to take if the State Department continues to refuse to comply with the subpoena despite their legal obligation to do so.
Surging Terror Raids in Nigeria Following Controversial Elections Renew Caliphate Concern

Placards are displayed on a vehicle as a group of people protest the outcome of the 2023 presidential elections and the emergence of the candidate of All Progressives Congress' (APC) Bola Tinubu as the president-elect in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 1, 2023. (Kola Sulaiman/ AFP via Getty Images)

JOS, NigeriaA wave of terrorist attacks following Nigerias presidential elections has terrified Christians and renewed concern about an Islamic caliphate in Africas most populous nation.

At least 1,041 Christians have been killed across the country since January by Islamic extremists, according to Emeka Umeagbalasi, a respected criminologist and genocide researcher who is chairman of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), an organization that tracks and reports genocide in Nigeria.

He says the attacks have been influenced by the outcome of the presidential election, which produced a Muslim president- and vice president-elect for the first time in the countrys history.

Seventy to 80 percent of the attacks occurred a week before the elections or shortly after, he told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

According to Umeagbalasi, Boko Haram and ISIS terrorists seeking to establish an Islamic state are responsible for the attacks, together with militants of Fulani ethnicity.

The Fulani are a large ethnic group in West Africa that claims up to 20 million residents in Nigeria.

Militants who identify as members of the tribe include village-raiding semi-nomadic herdsmen and kidnap-for-ransom bandit terrorists besieging the northwest and north-central regions. Attacks by the Fulani militants have taken six times more lives than Boko Haram in recent years, according to the HART Foundation, a UK-based nonprofit organization.

Fulani terrorists are responsible for more than half of the killings this year, including the deaths of more than 528 Christians as of April 10, Umeagbalasi said.

The attacks in Nigeria are genocidal against Christians, according to Solomon Maren, a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives.

Christians Massacred

However, President Muhammadu Buhariwho boasted of making successes on security in a tweet for Easter on April 7has turned a blind eye to the attacks, which have surged in recent weeks, according to Maren, who represents a district in Plateau state in the Nigerian House.

Consistently, we see Christians being massacred, and the president, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, is not doing anything to stop them, Maren told The Epoch Times.

On April 16, in one of the latest instances, a series of attacks were directed against five villages 30 miles southeast of Jos, the capital of Plateau state. The attacks claimed several lives and properties according to Plateau Gov. Simon Lalong.

Titus Alams, a former speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly who hails from the area, said at least three people were killed.

For several hours, 200 to 300 terrorists armed with assault rifles swarmed the Christian communities on the boundaries of Mangu and Bokkos counties, burning houses and shooting at residents as they tried to flee, Alams told The Epoch Times.

The terrorists started attacking Marish, Murish, Maitumbi, Bet, and Ruboi communities at about 2 p.m., hours after three locals killed the previous day were buried, Alams said.

A group of 20 to 30 civilian volunteers fighting with homemade single-shot guns in each community were only successful in delaying the terrorists to enable women and children to escape, he said.

They were overwhelmed, Alams said, noting that a military task force located 10 miles away didnt arrive at the scene until six hours later.

A spokesman of the Nigerian Armys 3rd Division in Jos, Maj. Ishaku Takwa, told The Epoch Times that a convoy of military vehicles responding to the attacks crashed, injuring eight soldiers.

The attacks, which came three days after five people were killed at a mining site in western Bokkos, were carried out by Fulani militants, according to Alams, and followed a mass invasion of a Christian town 100 miles away in the south of Kaduna state that killed at least 33 people.

A band of 100 armed terrorists invaded the farm town of Runji in Zangon Kataf County on April 15, killing 33 and wounding at least six others according to county Chairman Zimbo Machaudi.

The terrorists razed at least 30 houses, incinerating more than 20 residents, including babies trapped inside them before the military intervened, Machaudi told The Epoch Times.

The commander of the Special Task Force in charge of southern Kaduna, Brig. Gen. Timothy Opurum, told The Epoch Times that his team had received advance notice of the attack but was outsmarted by the terrorists.

Before we got there, the attackers had already started killing, he said.

Unprotected Camps

Two days prior to that attack, nine people were killed in the town of Tanje, 10 miles from Runji, according to media reports.

It was the second attack in southern Kaduna since the disputed presidential elections that saw Islamic leaders calling their followers to vote for Muslims as a jihad.

Seventeen people were killed on March 12 in Ungwan Wakili, which is 20 miles from Tanje.

The attacks in Plateau and Kaduna are similar to a mass shelling of communities in Benue state that has displaced more than 2 million residents in recent years, according to officials.

On April 7, displaced people were attacked in their unprotected camps by the militants seeking to take over the state, according to Lt. Col. Paul Hemba, who serves as the national security adviser to Benue Gov. Samuel Ortom.

More than 40 of them were sheltering in an abandoned government school when killed in northwestern Makurdi, the state capital, Hemba told The Epoch Times.

The attack was intended to drive the refugees out of an area thats already experiencing an influx of Fulani militants as part of an effort to Islamize the state, he said.

Already, they have seized many of our communities and turned them into no-go zones for Christians. When you go to some of those places, you will see them moving freely with their guns, Hemba said.

The attack followed weeks of mass village invasions in Benue that left more than 100 residents dead, according to media reports.

As of April 10, attacks in Benue have led to the deaths of at least 380 Christians this year, making it the most persecuted state in Nigeria, according to Umeagbalasi.

Emmanuel Ogebe, leader of a Nigerian law group in the United States, has alleged that the recent declaration of the Muslim candidate of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the Feb. 25 presidential elections in the country is the motivation for the surging attacks.

Already, Muslims have been celebrating an Islamic republic of Nigeria because Tinubu [Bola Ahmedthe Nigerian president-elect] picked a fellow Muslim as vice president instead of a Christian as has been the practice, Ogebe told The Epoch Times in a text message.

The attacks often described by genocide deniers as clashes between sedentary farmers and semi-nomadic herdsmen are aimed at imposing an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, Maren said.

When you look at the patterns of attacks, who the victims are, and the fact that they always drive out people and settle in their lands, you cannot rule out the fact that there is an agenda that is being carefully and systematically implemented, he said.

Andrew Boyd, spokesman for Release International in the UK, concurs.

The violence is often simplistically characterized as clashes between herders and farmers, ignoring the religious dimension behind many of the attacks which have the characteristics of an Islamist jihad, he wrote in a statement mailed to The Epoch Times.

Predominantly Christian villages have been overrun, church buildings destroyed, and pastors targeted for assassination. Villagers are being burned out of their homes.

Kyle Abts, president of the International Committee on Nigeria, has called for international sanctions to be imposed on Nigerian officials for encouraging killings.

The world must hold the Nigeria government accountable for the egregious manner in which it is destroying its citizens and their democracy, Abts wrote to The Epoch Times in a text message.

The Nigerian government lied to the world that they would be able to conduct a free and fair election and that the terrorism would stop. Neither happened and we have returned to violence, kidnappings, and killings.
Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Bill Protecting Firearms Industry From Lawsuits Over Crimes Involving Guns

Gun control advocates raise signs in the gallery of the Tennessee House chamber in Nashville, Tenn., on April 6, 2023. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)

Members of the Tennessee state Senate voted on Tuesday in favor of a bill that would protect gun and ammunition manufacturers and sellers from civil liability when their products are used to commit crimes.

The Republican-controlled Tennessee Senate passed HB 1189 by a vote of 19 to 9 on Tuesday, after the Republican-controlled House voted 71-24 in favor of the bill on March 6. The legislation now goes to Republican Gov. Bill Lees desk for final passage.

The legislation states a firearms industry dealer, manufacturer, or seller cannot be held liable in a civil lawsuit in the state unless they accompanied a person in committing the underlying crime for which the lawsuit was brought or unless they sold a firearm product that was defective.

The law states that if a defective firearm product discharges in the course of a voluntary criminal offense, then that voluntary act must be considered the sole proximate cause of the property damage, injury, or death for which civil liability arises, thus excluding the firearm industry member from liability in that case.

In 2005, the U.S. Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which generally protects firearm industry members from civil liability over the criminal misuse of their products. Some states and localities have explored ways in which firearm industry members can be held liable outside the existing protections of the PLCAA.

California passed legislation last year that allows victims of violence involving guns or the states attorney general to sue firearm industry members if they can establish that a firearm product was abnormally dangerous. The law states a firearm product qualifies as abnormally dangerous if it is most suitable for assaultive purposes instead of lawful self-defense, hunting, or other legitimate sport and recreational activities or if it is designed, sold, or marketed in a manner that is targeted at minors or other individuals who are legally prohibited from accessing firearms or foreseeably promotes conversion into an illegal firearm product.

New Jersey passed a similar bill in 2022 that allows the state attorney general to pursue civil cases against members of the gun industry if the state determines that their sales or marketing practices are a public nuisance. A federal judge recently granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state of New Jersey from pursuing civil litigation against firearms industry members amid a lawsuit challenging the states law.

While some states have looked for avenues to bring civil liability against firearms industry members, Republican Tennessee lawmakers introduced HB 1189 and an identical Senate version of the legislation, SB 822, in January in a move that adds to the civil liability protections of the PLCAA.

HB 1189s passage in the Tennessee Senate also comes after a high-profile shooting incident in which a suspect entered a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, and killed three children and three adults on March 27. Authorities have identified the suspect in that shooting incident as a transgender individual.

Following the Nashville school shooting, lawmakers passed legislation expanding school security measures with broad bipartisan support.

While Republicans have broadly favored expanding school security, Democrats and gun control advocates have also called for new restrictions on guns in the state following the school shooting. The Tennessee state capitol has been the site of multiple gun control protests in recent weeks and the Tennessee House voted to expel two Democratic lawmakers after they interrupted floor proceedings and used a bullhorn to join chants from gun control protesters in the House gallery.

In light of the Nashville school shooting and subsequent protests, some lawmakers criticized the timing of the legislation to protect the gun industry from criminal use of its products.

There are people that we should be going out of way to protect this week, said Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Democrat from Nashville. And weve been receiving emails and calls, people are holding up signs, telling us to go out of our way to help those people. Not one of those signs says to protect the gun manufacturers.

Sen. London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis, said the timing of the liability legislation was disrespectful.

Sen. Joey Hensley, a Republican from Hohenwald and the sponsor of the Senate version of the liability legislation, said his bill doesnt prevent any other proposal from passing.

Read More 97.8 Percent of Mass Shootings Are Linked to This

Sen. Art Swann of Maryville was one of three Republicans who opposed the legislation providing added civil liability protections for the firearms industry.

Swann said gun-makers have encouraged the environment weve got right now, adding, theyre accountable for it, and we need to hold them to it.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

From NTD News
Texas Senate Unanimously Passes School Safety Bill

An FBI agent outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

The Texas Senate unanimously passed a school safety bill that would require increased security measures across the state.

Texans have been reminded far too often that evil exists and that we live in a broken world, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a press release on Wednesday following the bills passing. SB [Senate Bill] 11 is a top priority of mine and of all 31 senators because it represents a blueprint for our schools to use to harden their facilities moving forward.

This is the most robust school-based response framework that Texas has ever designed and is the product of a years worth of bipartisan research and planning.

The legislation would provide funding for increased security measures and create a new office within the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to oversee districts compliance with school safety and security regulations (pdf).

The bill would increase school security funding from $600 million to approximately $1.5 billion in the states biennial budget, Patrick told KTVT-TV.

Senate Bill 11 passed nearly 11 months after the Robb Elementary School shooting, leaving 19 students and two teachers dead in Uvalde, Texas.

School security is a top priority for Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott in this legislative session.

Republican state Sen. Robert Nichols authored the bipartisan bill, which was co-sponsored by nine others.

School Safety Funding

Currently, funding for school safety equipment and programs is based on a rate of $9.72 per student across all schools, Nichols said, adding that some of the smallest districts receive only about $1,000 annually, forcing schools to use classroom funds to improve safety.

Senate Bill 11 restructures the school safety alarm allotment to reflect a per-campus funding formula, Nichols said during Wednesdays debate at the state Capitol.

The new formula would provide $16,800 per campus for schools with 1,100 or more students enrolled, scaling down to $15,000 for the smallest campuses with 350 or fewer students.

TEA Oversight

Following the Uvalde tragedy, Patrick commissioned a special committee to evaluate the school safety problem across the state and make recommendations for improvement, according to a Senate report.

Nichols and the committee offered their recommendations through the proposed legislation.

Among the issues found was a lack of clarity of authority between state agencies involved with school safety issues.

Senate Bill 11 would provide TEA oversight by creating the Office of School Safety and Security.

A governor-appointed and Senate-confirmed Chief of School Safety would head up the office.

The new office would work with the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) in San Marcos to develop the states standards for school emergency plans.

Districts would submit emergency plans to the TxSSC for review and approval.

Schools would also be subject to an intruder detection audit each year by plain clothes school safety personnel who would go on campus to check how easy or difficult it is to access various areas of the school. The auditors would not act in suspicious or threatening ways.

If a district fails to meet the states standards, it could be assigned a conservator to oversee school safety.

The TxSSC did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

School Law Enforcement

All school-based law enforcement officers would be required to complete the TxSSCs Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training program.

The ALERRT center is the gold standard for active shooter response training, and its imperative that our school-based law enforcement receives that training, Nichols said.

The legislation strengthens the states truancy laws and requires parents to be notified of any violence occurring on campus.

The next step is for the House to bring the Senate bill up for debate.

Next week, the House will debate its two school safety bills, House Bill 3 and House Bill 13.
The Founders and the Constitution, Part 6: James Wilson

Commentary

James Madison was the individual with the most influence on the framing (writing) of the Constitution. Some authors rate James Wilson second.

I dont agree with the latter assessment. Wilsons impact at the Constitutional Convention, while significant, is overrated. But his contribution during the ratification debates (17871790) was exceptional.

Personal Life

James Wilson was born on Sept. 14, 1742 in the county of Fife, in Scotland. He was the fourth of seven children. His parents were farmers of modest means, but Jimmys exceptional talent encouraged them to strain their finances to provide him with the opportunities he deserved.

Wilson won a scholarship to the nearby College of St. Andrewsnow the University of St. Andrews. He withdrew without a degree after his father died and the family could no longer support him. Some have claimed that Wilson also attended college in Edinburgh and/or Glasgow, but those claims are unverified.

During four months in 2005 I lived in England, doing research at the University of Oxford. I encountered a librarian from the University of St. Andrews, who told me that her library had Wilsons surviving academic records. She suggested I visit Scotland to examine them. I couldnt accept the invitation until nearly four years later, when my daughter Deborah was studying at St. Andrews.

Among those records were Wilsons library withdrawals. I was delighted to see that he shared my passion for Roman history.

A portion of James Wilsons 1758-59 library record from the University of St. Andrews, on May 5, 2009. The record shows some of Wilsons withdrawals of books on Roman history (Courtesy of Rob Natelson).

At some point, his mother decided that Scottish horizons were too constricted for Jimmys talents and ambition. Reluctantly, the family financed his emigration to America.

Wilson soon landed a job as a Latin instructor at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). His work must have been excellent, for the college awarded him an honorary masters degree.

He next decided to study law. In those daysand, indeed, until the 20th century, when academia acquired its baleful monopoly over legal educationmost aspiring lawyers prepared for the licensing exam by clerking in the offices of senior attorneys. Wilson clerked in the office of the best of the best: John Dickinson. Under Dickinsons tutelage, Wilson developed a wide and deep understanding of the law.

During 1767 and 1768, Dickinson published his famous Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, which laid out the colonies case against Great Britain. Wilson copied his mentor by writing a pamphlet of his own: Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament. When finally published in 1774, it was very well received.

After winning his law license, Wilson practiced law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for about eight years, before returning to Philadelphia. While in Carlisle, he married his first wife, Rachel Bird (1771). They had six children. Rachel died in 1786.

During the 1770s, Wilson began the course of overly ambitious land and business speculation that ultimately led to financial humiliation. Many people thought he was wealthy; in reality, he was just highly leveraged.

He intermittently served in the Second Continental and Confederation Congresses. In 1781, the Confederation Congress chartered a national bank, although the Articles of Confederation granted no power to Congress to do so. This bank loaned Wilson a great deal of money.

Predictably, perhaps, Wilson defended Congresss creation of the bank: The United States, he argued, have [sic]  general powers  not derived from any particular states, nor from all the particular states, taken separately; but resulting from the union of the whole.

Wilsons claim of an implicit reservoir of power in the central government sometimes is called the doctrine of inherent sovereign authority. As we shall see, this idea continued to be influential after the Articles of Confederation passed into history and after Wilson himself had renounced it.

The Constitutional Convention

Wilsons relationship with the Pennsylvania legislature waxed hot and cold, but when the legislature chose its commissioners (delegates) to the Constitutional Convention, it apparently was during a warm period. Wilson was elected. Like Madison, Wilson was a moderate nationalist. (See the first essay in this series for an explanation of that term.)

At the convention, Wilson supported: (1) direct election of senators, (2) divorcing presidential elections from the states, (3) creating a council of revision with an absolute veto over congressional bills, (4) granting Congress an absolute veto over state laws, (5) relegating the states to a subordinate position, and (6) at one point, at least, a lifetime term for the president.

His colleagues rejected every one of these ideas.

At the convention, Wilson opposed: (1) a ban on ex post facto laws, (2) a grant to Congress permitting it to define and punish Offenses against the Law of Nations, and (3) specific enumeration of the federal governments powers.

His colleagues overruled him on all these as well.

Wilson was highly committed to allocating senators by population districts rather than by states. He had a great deal of trouble accepting his defeat on that issue, and even obliquely threatened to break up the Union.

My impression is that Wilsons colleagues admired his learning, but they must have found his obsessions tiring. Whether or not that was true, the convention record rebuts the claim that he was the second-most-influential delegate after Madison.

Still, he won some significant successes, including popular election of the House of Representatives, and an executive branch headed by a single person.

Like Edmund Randolph, Wilson was one of the five members of the Committee of Detailthe elite group charged with preparing the Constitutions first draft. He seems to have been given the job of writing the final version of the committees report.

The Ratification Battle

Wilsons greater accomplishments came during the campaign for the Constitutions ratification. Those accomplishments were local and national. In Pennsylvania, he served as the leader of the pro-Constitution forces at the state ratifying convention. In this respect, his role was similar to that of Randolph in Virginia. However, Randolphs convention victory was narrow, but Wilsons was decisive.

His national impact was due largely to his Oct. 6, 1787 Speech in the State-House Yard, which responded to criticisms of the Constitution. The speech was reprinted in 34 newspapers in 12 states, and it served as a playbook for the Constitutions defenders, until largely superseded by the essays in The Federalist.

Wilson knew that to win the ratification debate, he had to assure the public that the Constitution would not create an all-powerful national aristocracy. This meant he had to swim upstream against his own reputation as an advocate of a potent central government with inherent sovereign authority.

Accordingly, Wilson emphasized that the new federal establishment would be limited to the powers enumerated in the Constitutionso limited, that the new government could not, for example, threaten freedom of the press. Thus, Wilson implicitly renounced his theory of inherent sovereign authority. He also emphasized some features he had opposed during the federal convention. For example, during the federal convention he had advocated a directly elected Senate. But in supporting ratification, he praised the Constitutions provision for election of senators by state legislatures (changed by the 17th Amendment).

In presenting the Constitution this way, Wilson was not being dishonest. What the public needed to know was not what Wilson had wanted, but the actual meaning of the finished Constitution they were being asked to ratify.

Despite his reassurances, many people remained suspicious of the brilliant Scot, whom they deprecatingly called James de Caledonia. (Caledonia is one of two Latin names for Scotland.) The skeptics wanted it to be absolutely clear that the federal government would have no inherent sovereign authority. The clarification they desired was added by the 10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Later Life

In 1789, President George Washington appointed Wilson to be a justice on the Supreme Court. But his work on the court was less significant than a series of legal lectures he delivered during 17901791 at the College of Philadelphia. These lectures helped lay the groundwork for further development of the American branch of the Anglo-American legal system.

In 1793, Wilson married his second wife, Hannah Gray, by whom he had one child. However, his domestic bliss was marred by a financial malady that became ever-more serious: Even while a Supreme Court justice, he was imprisoned twice for debt.

Wilson died of a stroke in Edenton, North Carolina, on Aug. 21, 1798, while hiding from his creditors.

Later Influence

Despite the clear wording of the 10th Amendment, apologists for federal power still use Wilsons inherent sovereign authority theory. In 1936, the New Deal Supreme Court relied on it to uphold expansive presidential powers over foreign affairs. In 2004, Justice Stephen Breyer mentioned it as a possible source of congressional power over Indian tribes. Leftist law professors frequently employ it to justify federal intrusion into areas the Constitution reserves to the states.

Despite Wilsons move away from that theory, the seed he planted became a weed that sprouts up again and again.

Conclusion

James de Caledonia seems to have had an academic personality. He performed exceptionally in the world of ideas, but less well in other fields of endeavor. His management of money was disastrous.

He did well at the Constitutional Convention, but might have done better still if he had Madisons flexibility or Randolphs or Dickinsons sense of political feasibility. Wilson won outstanding success in the ratification debates, but only because he (wisely) abandoned ideas he previously had promoted.

Read prior installments here: first, second, third, fourth, fifth.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Top Democrat Urges Supreme Court Chief Justice to Testify on Ethical Issues

The U.S. Supreme Courts chief justice should testify under oath to Congress on ethical issues, a top Democrat said on April 20.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said that Chief Justice John Roberts should testify at a May 2 public hearing regarding the ethical rules that govern the Justices of the Supreme Court and potential reforms to those rules in a letter to the justice.

If Roberts accepts the invitation, the justice would not be expected to answer questions from senators regarding any other matters, Durbin said.

No sitting justices have testified before the panel since 2011. Since then, the nations top court has failed to address justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges, Durbin said.

Testifying in public could help strengthen faith in our public institutions, he added.

The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including whether Roberts would obey a subpoena if one were issued.

Let him deal with a situation in his own backyard, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the panels ranking member, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. Im not saying its inappropriate; Im just saying I would be surprised if he agreed to come. And I would support his decision not to come.

Durbin told reporters that he cannot issue a subpoena if the invitation is turned down because of the absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Feinstein, 89, has not been in Washington since February, leaving an equal number of Republicans and Democrats on the committee.

The aging senator asked to be temporarily replaced as she recovers from shingles. Still, Graham blocked the effort because he didnt want to help Senate Democrats approve more judges to the federal bench.

Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, giving them control of the upper chamber and each committee. But without Republican support on the now deadlocked panel, Democrats cannot carry out some business, including issuing subpoenas and discharging judicial appointees.

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in Washington on April 18, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Needs to Change

Durbin, the Senate majority whip, has been among the Democrats increasingly calling on the Supreme Court to enforce a code of conduct for justices.

He issued a fresh call after the publication of a report about Justice Clarence Thomas accepting free vacations from a GOP megadonor. Thomas has denied wrongdoing.

The highest court in America should not have the lowest standards when it comes to ethics. But for too long, that has been the case with the United States Supreme Court. It definitely needs to change, Durbin said on the Senate floor in Washington.

He said the Supreme Court should take action; if it does not, Congress should pass new laws targeting the court.

Democrats have floated bills that would impose term limits on justices and force them to implement an ethics code.

One bill being considered would try to force the adoption of a code by tying it to congressional funding for the court.

It is unacceptable that the Supreme Court has exempted itself from the accountability that applies to all other members of our federal courts, and I believe Congress should act to remedy this problem, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, who is weighing introducing the bill, told news outlets in a statement.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), the top Republican on the subcommittee, does not support the proposal.

Senator Hagerty strongly believes in preserving the independence of the Judicial Branch from political interference intended to force the Court to change its rulings or policies, a spokesperson told outlets. Threats to hold the personal security of the justices and their families hostage, in exchange for favored policies, are no different from court-packing proposals or protests outside the homes of Justices.
Warranty Provides Unprecedented Accountability and Protection Against this Bot-Driven Attack Plaguing Businesses

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arkose Labs , the global leader in bot management and account security, today announced a commercial guarantee against SMS toll fraud attacks. The $1 million SMS Toll Fraud Warranty covers up to a million U.S. dollars in telecom expenses if Arkose Bot Manager fails to defeat an SMS toll fraud attack on an Arkose managed service customer within the SLA. A number of customers rely on Arkose to block these types of attacks. In one case, the Arkose platform saved a social media company $3 million per month in fraudulent SMS charges.

Arkose Labs (PRNewsfoto/Arkose Labs)

SMS toll fraud , also known as SMS pumping or International Revenue Share Fraud ( IRSF ), is a type of bot attack that sends large volumes of SMS messages to premium rate numbers, resulting in fraudulent SMS charges to a business. These charges can amount to millions of dollars a month. According to research , SMS Toll Fraud cost businesses $10 billion in 2021, up from $1.8 billion in 2013.

"We're once again putting our money behind our award winning service," said Frank Teruel, CFO of Arkose Labs. "This type of attack hits a company right in the wallet. We stand confident in our platform, and Arkose already has saved customers millions in fraudulent SMS charges by stopping these attacks. Frankly, this type of warranty should be table stakes for any security vendor. It is our second warranty of efficacy and continues to add accountability, protection, and allows us to partner even more closely with our customers on their success."

One example of SMS toll fraud subverts what is meant to be security infrastructure by exploiting 2-factor authentication. Attackers input premium rate numbers into the phone number field, then automate huge amounts of traffic requesting one-time passcodes. Companies pay a premium to text the passcodes, and the hackers receive a portion of the revenue.

Story continues

Arkose Bot Manager's anti-automation technology identifies and stops the bots that fraudsters use to execute SMS toll fraud attacks. Businesses can insert Arkose Labs at any touchpoint which is protected by one-time passwords in order to detect and challenge fraudulent traffic. In addition, Arkose uses unique in-session authentication that combines real-time risk classification with interactive challenges to lower reliance on multi-factor authentication methods.

The Arkose $1 million SMS Toll Fraud Warranty is included at no additional cost with the Arkose Bot Manager managed services offering. More details about the warranty can be found at: https://www.arkoselabs.com/sms-toll-fraud-warranty/ .

For more information about Arkose Bot Manager, visit this link or sign up for a demo .

About Arkose Labs

Arkose Labs' mission is to create an online environment where all consumers are protected from malicious activity. Arkose Bot Manager combines powerful risk assessments with dynamic attack response that undermines the ROI behind attacks while improving good user throughput. Headquartered in San Mateo, CA with offices in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia; San Jose, Costa Rica; and London, UK; the company debuted as the 106th fastest-growing company in North America on the 2022 Deloitte Fast500 ranking. For more about Arkose Labs, including the latest bot management, account security news, and threat research, follow the company on LinkedIn .

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arkose-labs-guarantees-success-against-sms-toll-fraud-attacks-with-1-million-warranty-301802557.html

SOURCE Arkose Labs
Toyota to Invest $338 Million in New Hybrid, Flex Car in Brazil

SAO PAULOToyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday it will invest 1.7 billion reais ($337.68 million) to manufacture a new hybrid, flex-fuel compact car in Brazil, which will run on both gasoline and ethanol in addition to its electric engine.

The Japanese carmaker has been betting big on the segment in the South American country, where most cars can run on 100 percent ethanol, having in 2019 launched Brazils first hybrid flex-fuel vehicle, a version of its flagship sedan the Corolla.

Rivals Stellantis and Volkswagen are also investing in the technology, going against U.S.-based General Motors and Ford, which have focused on fully electric cars.

Toyotas announcement came at an event attended by the firms local head, Rafael Chang, and Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas. Part of the investmentroughly 1 billion reais will come from tax credits Toyota had with the state.

Toyota believes in the Brazilian market and continues to invest in technology and innovation to meet consumer needs, Chang said. It is a sustainable solution that also creates jobs and economic development.

The Sao Paulo state government said in a statement that engines for the new compact car, whose name was not revealed, will be built at Toyotas Porto Feliz plant, a move expected to create 700 jobs.

The car is set to be launched in Brazil in 2024 and sold in 22 Latin American countries, it added.

($1 = 5.0343 reais)
Transgender Suspect Arrested After Alleged Womens Shelter Sexual Assault

A suspect in the sexual assault of a female victim at a Windsor, Ontario, women's shelter on April 4, 2023. (Windsor Police Service Handout)

A suspect accused of sexual assault against a resident of a womens shelter in Ontario has surrendered to police.

Windsor Police Service said the alleged sexual assault took place at a Windsor womens shelter on April 4. A female victim contacted police and reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a male identifying as female.

The suspect, who police identified as Desiree Anderson, 32, also known as Cody DEntremont, allegedly climbed into bed with the victim at the shelter and sexually assaulted her.

According to a news release on April 18, the suspect was described as 57 tall, 141 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair. Police circulated a photo of the suspect, who was pictured with long brown hair and bleached blond ends, at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time on April 18.

Officers said the suspect was alleged to frequent the downtown Windsor area.

Police announced just after 5:00 p.m. local time that the suspect had gone to the police voluntarily. We want to thank the public for their support and for sharing our post. Your help in spreading the word played a crucial role in bringing about a resolution, said the force.

Windsor police, who could not be reached for comment, told the National Post that the suspect was processed as a female and is being referred to as a female.

Police were asking for anyone with further information about the incident or the suspect to contact the major crimes unit at 519-255-6700, ext. 483.
UK Government Urges Voters to Check Their Photo ID Ahead of Local Elections

A member of the public goes to vote in the Chester by-election at the Festival Church polling station in Chester, England, on Dec. 1, 2022. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The UK government has reminded voters in England to check if they have the accepted photographic identification that will be required for next months local elections.

More than 8,000 council seats in England are up for grabs on May 4 across 230 local authorities, ranging from small rural areas to some of the largest towns and cities. Polls are also taking place to choose mayors in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield, and Middlesbrough.

Under the Elections Bill passed in April 2022, those turning up at polling stations will need to show a valid photo ID before being given a voting slip.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities said that the vast majority of voters will already own an accepted form of identification, which includes passports, driving licences, and travel passes for older people.

Those without accepted proof of their identity are being urged to apply for a voter authority certificate (VAC) before the April 25 deadline.

The free service has been set up specifically to allow people to vote in the English local elections, giving them a form of photo ID that will be recognised when arriving at polling stations.

Those applying need to supply a recent, digital photo of themselves along with their National Insurance number.

Applicants who do not have National Insurance details will need to provide alternative documents to prove their identity, such as a birth certificate, bank statement, or utility bill.

As of Wednesday, the number of people who had applied for a VAC was just under 70,000.

That figure falls far short of the governments estimate that around 4 percent of the population, equating to 2.1 million people, are likely to not have a valid form of photo ID to comply with the law change.

Michael Gove, secretary of state for levelling up, housing, and communities, leaves BBC Broadcasting House, in London, on March 26, 2023. (Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said: Its vital you check now if you have the photo identification needed to vote in English local elections taking place in May.

While the vast majority of voters already own an accepted form of identification, anyone who needs to can apply for a free voter authority certificate before 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

For more information please check your polling card and find more details online.

Opposition

The voter ID rules apply to England as of the May 4 local elections and will come into force for UK general elections from October.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the rule change will help make sure voting is a high-integrity process.

Downing Street said the rules are aimed at preventing potential voter impersonation, rather than dealing with any widespread existing issue.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives a speech on education at London Screen Academy, in London, on April 17, 2023. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Media)

Much like in the USA, the issue has become a hot topic in the UK, with Labour calling the new ID requirement a discriminatory policy that will disenfranchise millions of voters.

Green Party peer Baroness Jones said the photo ID law change is a disaster for democracy and accused the government of perpetrating voter fraud, arguing that it will prevent certain groups, particularly younger people, from voting.

She made the comments after joining opposition MPs and campaigners to deliver a petition to Downing Street and a letter to the prime minister on Wednesday, calling on the government to urgently scrap the new compulsory rules for English elections.

But the prime ministers official spokesman said only a very small proportion of young voters lack the necessary ID to cast their ballot.

Northern Ireland Precedent

Voter ID is not entirely a novelty for the UK, as it has been a requirement in Northern Irelanda British provincefor nearly 40 years.

Voter ID requirements were introduced in Northern Ireland after the 1983 general elections following concerns about the extent of voter fraud in the British province. Since 2003 photographic ID has been required.

According to a briefing paper for the House of Commons, There has been no evidence that the ID requirements in Northern Ireland have affected turnout.

Since 2014 the Electoral Commission has recommended that photo ID should be required in the rest of the UK.

Election Integrity

According to a database on voting rules worldwide compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center, election integrity measures are widely accepted globally, and have often been adopted by countries after theyve experienced fraud under looser voting regimes.

Of 47 nations surveyed in Europe, all except the UK have been requiring a government-issued photo voter ID to vote.

Some 74 percent of European countries entirely ban absentee voting for citizens who reside domestically. Another 6 percent limit it to those hospitalized or in the military, and they require third-party verification and a photo voter ID. Another 15 percent require a photo ID for absentee voting.

Similarly, government-issued photo IDs are required to vote by 33 nations in the 37-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which has considerable European overlap.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Ukraine, Poland Strike Deal to Restart Transit of Grain

Grain is poured from a combine harvester into a tractor in the village of Mala Divytsa, Ukraine, on July 27, 2015. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

WARSAW, PolandPolish and Ukrainian officials say convoys of Ukrainian grain transiting Poland for export abroad will be sealed, guarded, and monitored to ensure the produce stops flooding the Polish market and playing havoc with prices.

Tuesdays announcement came after two days of intensive talks following protests by Polish farmers, who said much of the Ukrainian grain was staying in Poland and creating a glut that caused them huge losses.

The deal will also end a temporary prohibition issued by Poland Saturday to address the protests on the entry of grain from Ukraine. Hungary and Slovakia, which are also affected by the transit of Ukrainian farm produce, later took similar measures. These moves drew the anger of the European Unions executive branch, the European Commission, which manages trade for the 27 member countries.

Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus told a press conference Tuesday that Warsaw and Kyiv have worked out mechanisms that mean that not a single ton of [Ukraine] grain will remain in Poland, that it will all be passing in transit, 

He said that for an unspecified length of time all Ukrainian produce in transit will be sealed, with traceable devices attached, and ferried in special guarded convoys to Polish ports and border crossings, on its way to other countries.

The transit is to ease the accumulation of grain and other produce intended for export to needy countries thats blocked in Ukraine by Russias invasion.

Telus said the weekends temporary ban was partly intended to draw the EUs attention to the acute problem. He alleged that the EU, while supporting the idea of the transit, has done nothing to facilitate it and prevent the glut.

The issue led to intensive talks between Poland and Ukraines agriculture ministers, with the participation of Ukraines deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko. The transit measures will be introduced Friday, when the temporary ban on grainmainly wheatwill be lifted.

We pay attention to the problems of our Polish colleagues with the same attention as Poland treats our problems. Therefore, we have to respond promptly and constructively to this crisis situation, Svyrydenko said in Warsaw.

It was not clear when a ban on the entry of other Ukraine goods such as sugar, eggs, meat, milk and other dairy products, and fruits and vegetables would be lifted.

Farmers in Poland and neighboring countries say that Ukrainian grain and farm produce, apart from flooding their markets, has filled their own storage areas, leaving no room for their own crops from this year.

After Russia blocked traditional export sea passages amid the war in Ukraine, the European Union lifted duties on Ukrainian grain to facilitate its transport to Africa and the Middle East and offered to pay some compensation, which the farmers said was insufficient.

Much of the grain ends up staying in transit countries, and some Polish unions and opposition politicians accuse government-linked companies of causing the problem by buying up cheap, low-quality Ukrainian grain, and then selling it to bread and pasta plants as high-quality Polish produce.

Polands main ruling party, Law and Justice, is seeking to ease the discontent of farmersthe partys voter baseahead of fall parliamentary elections.

In Romania, another country affected by Ukraine produce overflow, the ruling Social Democrat Party said Tuesday that it will ask its governing coalition partners to urgently look to issue a temporary suspension of imports of food products from Ukraine.

Such a measure is necessary to protect Romanian farmers, in the context in which compensation received from the European Commission cannot cover the total value of the damage, the party said in a statement.
A terminally ill Alberta woman who was removed from an organ transplant list because she wasnt vaccinated for COVID-19 continued to be denied access to the medical procedure even after obtaining an independent medical report showing that she has natural immunity, says the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).

Sheila Annette Lewis has been challenging the constitutionality of the vaccine requirement put in place by Alberta Health Services (AHS) for transplant candidates.

On March 28, Lewis provided her doctors in the Alberta transplant program with a privately-funded medical report, which established that she has strong natural immunity to COVID-19 and had overcome previous COVID-19 infections, the JCCF said in a press release on April 18.

The report, provided by the Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation on March 24, said Lewiss blood sample clearly supports the presence of SARS-CoV-2 immunoreactivity. It also noted that she was likely infected with the disease around mid-September 2021 and was reinfected again more recently, and thus has extremely high levels of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
US Army Seeks $18 Billion to Replenish Munitions Lost to Ukraine

FILE - Airmen with the 436th Aerial Port Squadron use a forklift to move 155 mm shells ultimately bound for Ukraine, April 29, 2022, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The Pentagon announced a new package of long-term security assistance for Ukraine on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion with a $2 billion commitment to send more rounds of ammunition and a variety of small, high-tech drones into the fight. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The U.S. Army is seeking $18 billion to expand and modernize its munitions production capabilities following the critical depletion of key stockpiles because of the United States ongoing security aid to Ukraine.

The $18 billion is planned to be spent over 15 years, according to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth. The first tranche of investments$1.5 billionis included in the Pentagons budget request for fiscal year 2024.

That amount is expected to help the Army expand and modernize the nations ammunition production facilities, arsenals, and depots.

We have 23 different ammo plants, arsenals, and depots around the country. That $1.5 billion is basically going in to try to modernize those plants, Wormuth said during an April 19 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.

Thats helping us, for example, expand capacity at the plant in Scranton (Pennsylvania) that makes 155 mm casings, she added, referring to an artillery round heavily used by the Ukrainian military.

WWII-Era Facilities Struggle to Meet Demand

A critical aspect of the problem facing U.S. munitions stocks is the United States aging infrastructure. Some active ammo plants, Wormuth said, were built during World War II.

The Armys organic industrial base is very, very old. I think its fair to say its vintage in a lot of our arsenals and depots, she said.

That presents numerous challenges to the military-industrial base, Wormuth added, not the least of which is the sheer cost of integrating new machining tools and software to upgrade the Armys organic industrial base.

Another challenge is the scale at which the military will have to produce key munitions, like the 155 mm artillery round, to replace those it has delivered to Ukraine out of its own stocks.

Since Russia launched its attempted conquest of Ukraine last year, Wormuth said, the Army has increased its production of the 155 mm artillery round to 20,000 units a month from 14,000.

Wormuth expects the upgrades to produce 75,000 rounds a month within the next two years.

The drastic uptick, she said, was vital for maintaining momentum and ensuring that the nation could continue to focus on long-range precision capabilities.

Previous estimates of ammo consumed by a major conflict, she said, were too low.

My sense is were going to need to do more, Wormuth said. One thing the war in Ukraine has shown us is that the estimates weve made for the munitions [required] for future conflicts are low.

Everything we see in Ukraine shows the importance of artillery.

US Depleting Munitions Stocks in Ukraine

The U.S. Army has spent $20 billion on providing lethal assistance to Ukraine, including everything from tactical vehicles to the much-used 155 mm round.

Despite the stoic facade presented by policymakers, however, the effort has critically depleted the United States own stockpiles of munitions, and Wormuth believes that large, multiyear procurement initiatives will be vital to fixing that problem.

One of the greatest lessons learned from Ukraine, she said, is the need for a more robust defense industrial base.

The comments echoed previous remarks by Wormuth in March, in which she warned that the United States was purchasing munitions at the absolute edge of defense industrial capacity.

The comments also follow just months behind a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, which found that the United States could run out of critical munitions within a single week during a war with China.

Speaking at the April 19 hearing, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said that more investments would be required to ensure the private sector is ready to produce munitions at the new, higher capacities necessary to avert such a scenario.

Industry works on contracts, not on enthusiasm, McConville said. We have to replenish our war stocks.
US-Made Patriot Guided Missile Systems Arrive in Ukraine

Patriot missile launchers acquired from the U.S. last year are seen deployed in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 6, 2023. (Michal Dyjuk/AP Photo)

KYIV, UkraineAmerican-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the countrys defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

Germanys federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers Wednesday in Berlin.

Germany has also delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year, Baerbock said.

Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, five months before Russias full-scale invasion and seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible.

Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word, Reznikov wrote.

Experts have cautioned that the systems effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war, even though it will add to Ukraines arsenal against its bigger enemy.

The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, its not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

In other developments Wednesday, China denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields. China has insisted that it will not help arm Russia, one of its key allies.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that Beijing maintains strict control over the export of drones in keeping with international standards preventing them from being used for nonpeaceful purposes.

China, which has repeatedly criticized the U.S. and other countries support for Ukraine as adding fuel to the fire of the war, has an objective and fair stance and seeks peace, the statement said.

Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he recently visited Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraines southern Kherson and easternmost Luhansk provinces.

The purpose of the trip was to meet with the military, whom I did not want to distract for a long time and a long distance from the deployment of the units they command, he said.

Kyiv officials have reported daily civilian, but not military, casualties from Russian bombardment.

At least four civilians were killed and 27 others were wounded Tuesday and overnight, Ukraines defense ministry reported.

A 50-year-old man and 44-year-old woman were killed in a Russian airstrike on a border town in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in televised remarks.

Russian forces launched 12 rocket, artillery, mortar, tank and drone attacks on Ukraines southern Kherson region, killing one civilian at a market in the center of Kherson, the regions namesake capital, and a nearby school, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said.

A woman was killed and another was wounded in northern Ukraine after Russian forces shelled the border village of Richki from multiple rocket launchers, the local military administration said.

Russian forces also fired exploding drones at Ukraines southern Odesa region.

By Adam Pemble
US Must Restore Leadership In Nuclear Energy: GOP Lawmaker

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) speaks at a House Republican news conference on energy policy at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 8, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said in a hearing on April 18 that in the interest of strengthening American security, the nation must mobilize and solidify and grow its position as a leader in nuclear energy.

McMorris Rodgers made the comments at a hearing of the Energy, Climate, and Grid Security subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. She and House colleagues had recently been on a fact-finding and diplomatic trip to Europe, where they observed energy policies and initiatives of nations on the continent.

Amid growing concern about the effects of carbon emissions and fossil fuels on the climate, nuclear energy, which is clean and does not emit carbon into the atmosphere, meets with favor from lawmakers of both parties.

The 92 nuclear reactors in the United States produce about half of the nations carbon-free electricity.

Many of us just returned from Europe, where we heard a lot about the scary realities of shutting down nuclear energy, said McMorris Rodgers.

Putin is weaponizing Europes Reliance on Russian natural gas as he shuts down gas pipelines. Countries have been forced to scramble to secure their energy supplies, keep their economies running, and [keep] energy affordable. Germany, which just completed its phase-out of its nuclear power plants this weekend, is especially in crisis, she said.

America, not Russia or China, must lead to restore and expand our leadership in nuclear energy, and we do it by unleashing our unmatched genius for innovation, by assuring a predictable regulatory landscape to help attract investment and support decisions to expand nuclear deployment, and by encouraging new technologies that will provide exciting new nuclear applications.

Nuclear energy industry leaders and experts testified and answered questions at the hearing, which was titled American Nuclear Energy Expansion: Powering a Clean and Secure Future.

Seabrook nuclear power plant in Seabrook, N.H., on May 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Testifying at the hearing were Jeremy Harrell, Chair of the Board of Directors, U.S. Nuclear Industry Council; Regis Repko, Senior Vice President, Generation and Transmission Strategy, Duke Energy; Armond Cohen, Executive Director, Clean Air Task Force; and Dr. Jess Gehin, Associate Laboratory Director, Nuclear Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory.

Along with the need to grow and expand nuclear energy at home and abroad and meet the China and Russia threats, other issues that received considerable time and attention in the hearing were making more efficient the regulatory process in the building of new nuclear power plants, the disadvantage in which the United States finds itself in relying on foreign countries for almost all of the uranium needed to power its nuclear reactors, the treatment and disposal of radioactive spent materials that nuclear reactors produce, and the aging of nuclear reactors.

Challenges, Opportunities

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), chair of the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security, had also been on the Europe trip.

We met with several groups excited about the promise of employing more nuclear, especially advanced reactors, Duncan said.

Duncan mentioned that Germany was shutting down plants, a policy that the United States must not follow, for nuclear energy must be part of our energy matrix.

He added: To expand the industry, it is vital we encourage regulatory certainty and make sure our reactor licensing processes enable the safe and broad deployment of nuclear technologies.

Dr. Jess Gehin presented the subcommittee with a statement that detailed the extent of the dependence of the United States on foreign uranium.

The United States is highly reliant on other nations for uranium needed to operate our reactor fleet, read the statement.

Currently, our nation imports over 90 percent of the uranium needed for our reactor fleet. In the United States, uranium mining has decreased 92 percent since 1980. In 2021, the United States domestically produced only 5 percent of the uranium purchased, according to the U.S. governments Energy Information Administration.

Also noted in the statement, again referencing Energy Information Administration statistics, is that operators of U.S. nuclear power reactors purchased the equivalent of roughly 47 million pounds of uranium in 2021. Of that, 35 percent came from Kazakhstan, 15 percent from Canada, and 14 percent from both Australia and Russia.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Feb. 2, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), ranking member on the subcommittee and backer of nuclear energy, addressed the need for safe and effective methods to handle the spent radioactive fuel that reactors create.

If nuclear energy is to play a role in our energy transition, we must address two things, said DeGette.

First, the United States must develop a comprehensive science-based strategy to dispose of spent fuel, a strategy that does not cause harm to public health or our environment, she said.

If we dont have a long-term permanent solution for disposing of nuclear waste, then we will struggle to be able to use this source of carbon-free electricity. We must also figure out how to handle the aging of our nuclear plants. Since Ive been in Congress, weve only had one new nuclear power plant come online, and during that same time, weve shut down and decommissioned many reactors across the country, including the one reactor we had in our state of Colorado.
Vivek Ramaswamy Files Lawsuit Against World Economic Forum

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on March 3, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is suing the World Economic Forum (WEF) for affiliating him as one of its Young Global Leaders, despite rejecting the request and repeatedly asking to be removed from its list of members.

I fundamentally disagree with the WEF agenda, Ramaswamy said in a post on Twitter Tuesday. Ive been one of the biggest crusaders in our country against it. They named me a young global leader when I explicitly said no. Now its time to hold them accountable for it.

Ramaswamy argued that the organization of global elites also listed other young and successful business leaders on the forum without their consent.

In a poll initiated by the 37-year-old businessman-turned-politician, he asked his 456,000 followers to vote on whether they think he should sue the WEF, with over 29,000 Twitter users responding to it. The result showed a whopping 90 percent in favor of filing a lawsuit against the organization, which is headquartered in Geneva.

Should I sue the World Economic Forum?  Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) April 18, 2023

In a statement on Wednesday, Ramaswamy formally announced that hes filing a lawsuit against the WEF, saying its time to hold the organization accountable for creating the false illusion of affiliation in order to undermine its adversaries.

Our Founding Fathers fought the American Revolution to declare independence from the Old World monarchy, Ramaswamy said. That old monster now rears its head again in the form of WEFs agendas including stakeholder capitalism and the Great Reset. Thats why Ive been one of the most vocal crusaders in America against WEF.

According to the New York Post, citing the lawsuit, Ramaswamy filed it in a court in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday and is seeking only nominal damages of $2,500.

The lawsuit, per the Post, reads: The WEF seemingly exploited this false and manufactured affiliation with Mr. Ramaswamy to undermine his credibility as a critic of the World Economic Forum and its objectives.

This is an organization that does a lot of wrongs and Ive opposed it publicly and believe it should be held accountable, Ramaswamy told the paper. The WEF has a radical worldview that rejects the principles America was founded on. Im not interested in being a global citizen. Im an American.

Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who founded and leads biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences, appeared on the WEFs 2021 list of Young Global Leaders (YGL) before his name was pulled from the website, an archived version shows.

A WEF spokesperson told the Daily Caller that the organization invited Ramaswamy to become a member of the YGL community, but he declined the proposal.

An individual does not formally become a member of the YGL community until they accept a nomination, the spokesperson told the publication.

Control the World

Critics of the WEF often claim that the organization is working to control the world through its influence on global politics and the economy. They typically argue that WEFs focus on globalization and its promotion of neoliberal economic policies are evidence of this goal.

Additionally, some critics of the WEF view with disdain its exclusive, invitation-only membership and its annual meeting in Davos, which reinforce the organizations elitist image.

In January, millions of Twitter users responded to a poll initiated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, asking his 135 million followers whether they think the WEF should control the world. The vast majority of respondents voted that it would be bad if the elite gathering organization controlled everything.

The WEF says its mission is to improve the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Pass Bills Prohibiting Bans on Gas-Powered Engines

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Assembly passed a pair of bills on Tuesday that would preemptively stop any effort by state or local agencies from banning gas-powered vehicles and appliances like lawnmowers and snow blowers.

Wisconsin Assembly Bill 141 specifies that no state agency and no local governmental unit may restrict the use or sale of a device based on the energy source that is used to power the device, while Assembly Bill 142 specifies that no state agency and no local governmental unit may restrict the use or sale of motor vehicles based on the energy source used to power the motor vehicle, including use for propulsion or use for powering other functions of the motor vehicle.

The government should not be forcing individuals to buy certain products, eliminate competition and destroy the free market, said Rep. Ellen Schutt, a Republican from Clinton who co-authored the bills.

AB 141 and 142 passed in the Wisconsin State Assembly by a vote of 62-35 and 63-35, respectively. No Democrats in the State Assembly supported the bills.

Rep. Christine Sinicki, a Democrat from Milwuakee, argued that the state of Wisconsin has no plans currently to prohibit gas-powered vehicles and appliances and called the legislation a big waste of time.

These bills are really a solution that is looking for a problem that does not exist, Sinicki said, APG Wisconsin reported.

While Sinicki denied gas-powered engines are at risk, Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers recently celebrated the launch of the Clean Economy Coalition of Wisconsin (CECW), which advocates for Carbon-free power and policies that support a 100 percent carbon-free state by 2050.

The Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis., in 2018. (Andy Manis/Getty Images)

Though Wisconsin has yet to set a specific timeline for phasing out gas-powered vehicles and appliances, several other U.S. states have set timelines for ending the sale of gas-powered vehicles. California was the first U.S. state to propose ending sales of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, and other states have since followed.

Rep. Shae Sortwell, a Republican from Two Rivers, also criticized Sinickis premise that lawmakers shouldnt bother with passing legislation to prevent something from happening in the future.

Its a basic premise of good government that we try to look into the future and say, OK, what might people do? Sortwell said, according to a Wisconsin Examiner report.

[If] were going to say, Oh, were not going to pass this because nobody has attempted to do it. Well, theres a whole lot of things that havent been attempted yet. And yet, we have laws and constitutions to protect the rights of the people to live their lives, without interference of future governments.

Gas stations and fossil fuel industry groups such as Kwik Trip and the American Petroleum Institute have thrown their support behind the measures. Meanwhile, environmental advocates and the American Lung Association oppose them.

Veto?

The bills now go on to the Republican-controlled state Senate. While the legislation may pass the legislature, it faces tougher odds of garnering Everssignature. Republicans recently gained a supermajority in the Wisconsin Senate but are still two votes shy of a supermajority in the State Assembly, making it unlikely that they could override a veto of the bills from Evers.

Evers has been at odds with Republicans when pushing to use state money to build electric vehicle charging stations.

He has not said outright whether he would veto the Republican bills prohibiting bans on gas-powered vehicles and appliances. At an event in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Evers said he didnt believe a ban on gas engines was necessary for Wisconsin to eventually transition to using electric vehicles.

From NTD News.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.
HANGZHOU, China, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ASTRO N  Astronergy's n-type TOPCon module series - recently saw great moves at the Walla Walla Solar Farm in Australia, laying a milestone for marking Astronergy TOPCon PV modules' fastened pace to help create a net-zero carbon world.

Astronergy n-type TOPCon PV modules to help generate green power in Australia. (PRNewsfoto/Astronergy)

Equipped with 355MWdc ASTRO N modules, the solar farm at New South Wales Riverina region is expected to generate 700,000 MWh of electricity annually, benefiting at least 90,000 local households and reducing 520,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission per year.

Walla Walla is the result of a collaboration between Gransolar Group, which will form a joint venture with Astronergy, and renewable energy solutions developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures Australia (FRV Australia), co-owned by Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Canadian fund OMERS. GRS is the leading EPC contractor in Australia.

According to project participants, the modules to be installed at the solar farm are ASTRO N5 bifacial double-glass 182mm PV modules, which are enabled with advantages of high power of up to 625W, high efficiency of up to 22.4% and high performance with only 1% degradation in the first year.

What's more, 30-year performance warranty insurance by globally renowned Ariel Re for all these PV modules, perfectly satisfied the project's at least 30 years of power generation need.

With enchantments of over 700,000 ASTRO N5 bifacial double-glass modules for long-lasting clean energy generation after operation in 2024, the ASTRO N-equipped project will also boost the local economy by creating up to 250 construction jobs.

In the journey to promote the world's lives in sustainable and net-zero carbon, ASTRO N is accelerating its pace. For a greener world, Astronergy is always keeping positive and forward. In May, Astronergy World Tour 2023 to hold its first Solar Party in Australia, welcoming everyone interested to register and participate (https://alt.jotfor.ms/231002710462136 ).

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View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/astronergy-355mw-topcon-modules-to-offer-green-energy-in-australia-301802515.html

SOURCE Astronergy
Wreckage of Submarine Found by Divers in Long Island Sound

Diver Steve Abbate inspecting a propeller on April 16, 2023, of the 92-foot attack submarine Defender that was scuttled by the Army Corp of Engineers in 1946. (Joe Mazraani/Shoreline Diving Services via AP)

HARTFORD, Conn.Connecticut divers have discovered the wreckage of an experimental submarine that was built in 1907 and later scuttled in Long Island Sound.

The Defender, a 92-foot-long boat, was found Sunday by a team led by Richard Simon, a commercial diver from Coventry, Connecticut.

Simon said he had been interested in the story of the Defender for years. He spent months going over known sonar and underwater mapping surveys of the bottom of the sound, as well as government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, to identify any anomaly that fit the size of the sub.

A submarine has a very distinct shape, he said. It needs to be 100 feet long and 13 feet in diameter. So I made a list of everything that was that long and there was one target on that list.

Simon then assembled a group of top wreck divers to determine if the Defender was in the location he had identified.

Poor tidal conditions forced them to abandon an attempt last Friday. They returned on Sunday and discovered the Defender lying on the bottom, more than 150 feet beneath the waters surface, off the coast of Old Saybrook.

It was legitimately hiding in plain sight, he said. Its on the charts. Its known about in Long Island Sound, just no one knew what it was.

The team preparing to dive the wreck of the 92-foot attack submarine Defender on April 14, 2023, that was scuttled by the Army Corp of Engineers in 1946. (Jennifer Sellitti/Shoreline Diving Services via AP)

Simon described the agony of waiting on the deck of his research vessel, staring at a dive buoy in the fog and waiting for his two divers to surface. Once they did and confirmed they had found a sub, the team erupted in pure joy, he said.

Simon said he didnt want to give the exact depth, because he said that could give away the subs location.

The submarine, originally named the Lake, was built by millionaire Simon Lake and his Bridgeport-based Lake Torpedo Boat Company in hopes of winning a competition for a U.S. Navy contract, according to NavSource Online, a website dedicated to preserving naval history.

It was experimental vessel, with wheels to move along the sea bottom and a door that allowed divers to be released underwater, Simon said.

The company lost that competition and Lake then tried refitting the boat for minesweeping, salvage and rescue work, renaming it the Defender. But he never found a buyer. It was a well-known sub and was even visited by aviator Amelia Earhart in 1929, Simon said.

But the submarine spent many years unused, docked in New London before eventually being abandoned on a mud flat near Old Saybrook. It was scuttled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1946, but the corps never disclosed where, Simon said.

Simon said it was clear when his team found the wreckage that it was indeed the Defender. The length, the size and shape of protrusions on the submarines distinct keel, and the shape and location of diving planes characteristic of Lake-built vessels, all helped identify it, he said.

Simon and his team plan to spend the summer diving on the sub, filming it and taking photographs. He said he and the company he and his wife own, Shoreline Diving, put up the money for the search. He said he hasnt figured out how to monetize the find, but said that wasnt the goal in looking for it.

He has already contacted the Navy to see if it would be interested in helping preserve the wreckage.

The ship has some protections under what is known as the Abandoned Shipwreck Act, a 1988 law that would allow it to be treated as an archaeological or historical site instead of a commercial property to be salvaged, he said..

So, as a wreck diver, I can go visit history; I can touch it; I can experience it, he said. Its just a different connection to history, to the past that we dont have in any other activity.

By Pat Eaton-Robb
Authorities warn against spreading false info on social media





Staff Reporter

RAIPUR.

The rampant spread of misinformation on social media has become a growing concern. In a recent incident, a false document attributed to the Under Secretary of the Home Department has gone viral on social media, prompting authorities to take action. The document in question contains malicious information and is completely false. It has been found to be in violation of Sections 419 and 469 of the Indian Penal Code, which provide for punishment for cheating by personating and forgery, respectively. According to Section 419, anyone who cheats by personating can face imprisonment of up to three years, or a fine, or both. Similarly, section 469 provides for imprisonment of up to three years and a fine for those who commit forgery with the intent to harm the reputation of a party.

The unknown person who attempted to tarnish the image of the Chhattisgarh Government and Home Department by spreading the forged document has been charged under these sections. The police have registered a case against the accused at the Rakhi Police Station. In response to this incident, the Senior Superintendent of Police in Raipur has urged the public to be cautious of misleading and malicious messages on social media.

The police have also warned of strict action against those who intentionally spread false information. It is crucial for individuals to verify the accuracy of information before sharing it on social media. The spread of false information can have serious consequences and can harm the reputation of individuals and organisations. It is essential for everyone to be responsible and vigilant while using social media platforms.
CRUSHING MAFIA





NOBODY could grudge the confidence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath when he asserted that no mafia could threaten anybody in the State. For the past six years, Yogi Adityanath has worked round-the-clock to crush crime and its masterminds in an unprecedented manner. In the process, his Government has spared no one -- even from his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has gone full distance in crushing crime like no Chief Minister of any State in India did in the past 75 years. And all the efforts in this regard have paid rich dividends, in the sense the State can now boast of having become a mafia-free entity.

What Uttar Pradesh was until six years ago, and what it is now are altogether two different propositions. Backed by political leaders and parties, crime had flourished in Uttar Pradesh like nowhere else in the country. In incidence of crime and the influence criminals enjoyed could match easily the conditions in the neighbouring State of Bihar. The nexus between crime and politics had become so hellish, so ugly that the larger Indian society felt that there could be no redemption from the condition ever. Rape and murder and extortion and open looting of other peoples property etc was so common in Uttar Pradesh for several decades that many people left the State silently for good.

The worst part was that the political party ruling the State often patronised countless criminals and their ugly activities. It was common thing that criminals would threaten the common people openly and grab lands and markets -- and ofcourse, kill people wantonly, brazenly, shamelessly and still move around without remorse or fear of law. Communal riots were so common in Uttar Pradesh that those were counted in hundreds every year, killing countless people and damaging property worth millions of rupees. And all this took place under political umbrella, to be sure.

Yogi Adityanath took over chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh against this background of countless impossibilities. What has followed in the past six years is a systematic annihilation of crime and its masterminds in whatever field. Beginning with removal of encroachments -- by whosoever person of whatever importance, the monk-Chief Minister moved ruthlessly against all types of violations which included damage to public property -- for which the Government started recovering heavy compensation from the wrong-doers. Action was expanded subsequently to covering other acts of crime as well, in the process inviting a lot of political criticism.

Unmindful of all that, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath continued with his resolve against crime and graft and succeeded beyond any imaginable measure in the past six years. His confidence that no mafia could threaten anybody in the State, thus, stands justified. Also are justified his other assertions that the State has not seen a single riot on any count in the past six years, or no matter the caste and religion of the criminal, he would be punished at any cost.

It was only expected that the political Opposition would not tolerate such a straightforwardness of thought and action. But Yogi Adityanath is unbothered and continues with his resolve regardless of the degrees of difficulties in any mission against crime. In the process, the monk-Chief Minister has become a national icon, no matter the politics against him. The journey, of course, has not been easy, so to say. But the Chief Minister has the fullest possible backing from the Centre in general and Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah in particular. What is being witnessed in Uttar Pradesh currently is an unprecedented crushing of crime.
In todays society, social harmony has become extremely crucial: Dr Bhagwat





Staff Reporter

Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Dr Mohan Bhagwat said in todays society, social harmony has become crucial and it is essential not to divide saints based on caste. He said the practice of judging people based on their caste or status has been prevalent for thousands of years, but it is time to gradually reform it.

The RSS chief was addressing a programme orgnaised on the 723rd anniversary of Jagadguru Ramanandacharya at Manas Bhawan, on Tuesday. He said those who seek to divide and weaken the country by showing India in a negative light must be answered with social harmony. He said the RSS is uniting the Hindu society and without social harmony, no union is possible. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt social harmony. Dr Bhagwat said qualification is innate and it cannot be learned. People will have to correct even the smallest behaviors. He said people nowadays are afraid of changing their habits, but it is essential to change them. Our scriptures say that if you are a devotee, even a pillar can reveal God. God cannot be bound by a specific caste or creed. Therefore, social harmony is the key to achieving unity and creating a more just and equitable society. Now the time has come that Hinduism should not support discrimination at all. During the lecture series, Jagadguru Sukhanand Dwara Acharya Swami Raghav Devacharya shared several interesting facts about the work done on social harmony by Jagadguru Ramanandacharya.
Staff Reporter

Since the rule of getting Aadhaar, the biometric identity card issued by the Indian Government, became compulsory in schools, Aadhaar Seva Kendra at Sadiqabad is facing heavy rush. The long queues in the Kendra premises are leading to people suffering from long wait in scorching heat. Though the Kendra people are doing their work in a proper manner, lack of adequate centres has made their job tiring. They are not only dealing with huge volume but lack of awareness among people too. There are 16 centres, all post offices in Nagpur, where Aadhaar can be updated or where corrections in Aadhaar can be made. This facility is also available at Aadhaar Seva Kendra at Sadiqabad which is the only centre that only looks after all Aadhaar-related works. The kits are provided at the centres. One kit has the capacity of facilitating 120 persons.

Normally two types of people visit these centres-- one, who want to get updated their Aadhaar card and others who want to make corrections. Daily, we cater to around 700 people for the two types of works. The volume, now, has an additions of school children who are gathering to get their Aadhaar, the biometric identity card issued by Government of India. Everyday almost 400 children are visiting our centre which means we are providing services to 1,000 people. We have adequate kits and our staff is working hard to help people, said Centre Manager Cap. Anilkumar Marathe while talking to The Hitavada.

Despite there are 16 other centres, mostly post offices, people are avoiding to visit those. The people standing in queue said, At post offices the timings are too short. Secondly, their net facility is very poor. We have to wait for long and on many occasions have to return home with our child without getting work done. On the contrary, the Aadhaar Seva Kendra is being run by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) where the Internet facility is powerful as it has broadband and lease services both.

We have no problem dealing with volume but most lack in awareness so we have to explain them everything which is time-consuming. Normally we work with one counter open but addition of students made us to open three more counters. Two counters are strictly dedicated to students, one counter for Aadhaar update and corrections. The work here is very much transparent as we provide details of charges along with the receipt of Aadhaar, elaborated Captain Marathe. The Aadhaar Seva Kendra at Sadikabad does not encourage online appointment as according to Captain Marathe, most people come from rural background who have to visit the centre again. Giving online appointment to the people is a waste of time and excursion. We ask people to wait and get their Aadhaar card updated on the same day. It came to our notice that some private centres are looting people in the name of getting them online appointment. People should be aware of it, pointed out Captain Marathe.
Public sector general insurance employees stage demonstrations





Business Bureau

The public sector general insurance (PSGI) employees conducted lunch hour demonstrations all over India on April 17, 2023. The call for the demonstration was given by apex body of PSGI companies the Joint Forum of Trade Unions and Associations (JFTU). All the four PSGI companies decided to roll out KPI and Restructuring from April 17 on pan India basis. At Nagpur the lunch hour demonstrations were held in front of Regional Office of United India Insurance Company Limited, situated at Shankar Nagar. To register their protest the employees shouted slogans against Department of Financial Services (DFS) and General Insurers Public Sector Association of India (GIPSA). A gate meeting was also organised after the demonstration. Pravin Dongre of All India SC/ST Employees Welfare Association, Shailesh Bhure of GIBCEWA and Prashant Dixit, General Secretary of General Insurance Employees Union, Western Zone, addressed the meeting. The speakers criticised DFS and GIPSA member companies for implementation of KPI and Restructuring unilaterally and in hazed manner. They informed that instead of interaction session on the issues the management wants to hold information session with the unions/associations.

Speakers also appealed the PSGI employees to prepare for long struggle against the anti public sector and anti employees policy of the Government. The meeting was conducted by Sourabh Tatekar. After the meeting a joint memorandum addressed to the Chairperson GIPSA was submitted through the Deputy General Manager of United India Insurance Company Limted. Employees from the PSGI offices of the city participated in the demonstrations. For the success of demonstrations Vinay Karpe, Anant Borekar, Deepak Gotmare, Sumit Tiwari, Swapnil Kohle, Homraj Adey, Rohit Shivhare, Chandu Sawarkar and Sunil Tambe have taken efforts.
Rajnath asks Army to maintain vigilalong LAC as situation remains tense





NEW DELHI :

DEFENCE Minister Rajnath Singh onWednesday asked top Army commanders to maintain a strong vigil along the Line of Actual Control with China as the situation in the northern sector remained tense due to the deployment of PLA troops. In his address at the Army Commanders Conference, Singh, referring to the eastern Ladakh border row, expressed full confidence in the Army to deal with any contingency while noting that the ongoing talks for peaceful resolution of the issue will continue. He said, disengagement and de-escalation is the best way forward, the Defence Ministrysaid. Singh said a whole of theGovernment approach isbeing followed to ensure availability of best weapons, equipment and clothing to the troopsdefending countrys territorial integrity while braving extremeweather and hostile forces.

The situation is tense dueto deployment of PLA troopsin the northern sector. OurArmed Forces, especially theIndian Army, will have to continuously keep their vigilancein order to maintain the security of the LAC, he said, according to sources. The Defence Minister saidthat the security of the country is the topmost priority forthe Government.
SC sets aside HC orderacquitting G N Saibaba





NEW DELHI :

SC remanded the matter back to the High Court for fresh consideration and directed that the case be decided within four months.

THE Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Bombay High Court order acquitting former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba in a Maoist links case and remanded it to the High Court for fresh consideration on merits within four months. A bench of justices M R Shah and CT Ravikumar directed the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to place Saibabas appeal and that of other accused not before the same bench which had discharged them but another bench. It said that question of law, including sanction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), is to remain open for adjudication by the High Court. We set aside the impugned common judgement and order passed by the Bombay High Court. The matters are remitted back to the High Court to decide the said appeals afresh in accordance with law and on its own merits, including the question of sanction,the bench said.

The order came on an appeal filed by the MaharashtraGovernment challenging the High Court order. Additional Solicitor GeneralSVRajuandadvocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh appeared for the MaharashtraGovernment and senior advocate R Basant represented Saibaba in the case in the apex court. The top court on October 15 last year had suspendedtheHighCourt order acquitting Saibaba and others in a Maoist links case,saying them eritsof the case was not considered while granting them the relief.

In a special hearing conducted on Saturday, theapexcourt hadrejected Saibabas request to order his release from jail due to his disability and health conditions and put him under house arrest after the Maharashtra Governmentopposedthe prayer, saying nowadays, there is a new tendency of urban Naxals to seek house arrest. More than eight years afterhisarrestin2014,the Bombay High Court on October 14 last year acquitted Saibaba and ordered his release from jail, noting that the sanction orderissued to prosecute the accused in the case under the stringent provisions of the UAPA was bad in law and invalid. The Nagpur bench of the High Court had allowed the appeal filed by Saibaba challenging a 2017 order of the trial court convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment for offences under provisions of UAPA and the Indian Penal Code.
Sudan: Thieves Fall Out





By Gwynne Dyer

ITS A pity that both sides cant lose in the war that broke out between rival Generals in Sudan on Saturday, but the best that the 48 million Sudanese can hope for now is that one side loses quickly. Beyond that, its all bad: the rival Generals both want to strangle the democratic revolution that began in the streets of Khartoum four years ago.

It was a long overdue revolution. The previous military dictator, Omar al-Bashir, was in power for thirty years, waging constant wars against minority groups and handing huge chunks of the economy over to military interests while civilian living standards stagnated. Bashir overthrew the elected Government in 1989 for negotiating with separatist rebels in the south, but he ended up having to let South Sudan go himself. He created the Janjaweed, an ethnic militia, to destroy rebels in the western province of Darfur, and wound up indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide. He stole at least $9 billion. The revolution that overthrew him in 2019 was a spontaneous popular uprising driven by idealistic students and the exhausted commercial and professional classes of Khartoum. The military dumped Bashir and jailed him for corruption, but they also forced the rebels to join a Transitional Military Council (TMC) with them.

Jailing Bashir kept him out of the hands of the ICC, whose investigators might link other Generals to his crimes. The TMC deal forced the democratic movement to accept a two-year delay before free elections. But the Sudanese Generals were really waiting for billions in help to arrive from other nervous dictatorships in the region like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. By 2021, $3 billion of financial aid from Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia had duly arrived, and the senior military officer on the TMC pulled the plug on power-sharing with the civilians. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared on TV that the military would stop negotiating with the Alliance for Freedom and Change and cancel what had been agreed on.

Burhan had to kill a lot of civilians to make them accept this betrayal, of course, and he worried that his own soldiers, who had been fraternising with civilians on the streets for the previous two years, might refuse to massacre them. He solved that problem by bringing the Janjaweed to town, now renamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The commander of the RSF, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemeti, was already a power in the land second only to Burhan. The RSF is essentially Hemetis own private army, and killing a few hundred people on the streets of Khartoum was no big deal to a man who slaughtered tens of thousand in Darfur, so he was happy to help. The coup succeeded in derailing the plans for free elections and a handover to civilian rule. Many civilians were killed and the key trade unions and professional groups that had organised the big protests were dissolved, although smaller protests and barricades keep appearing and disappearing again in Khartoum.

Burhan, the chief thief, and Hemeti, now No. 2 in the regime as a reward for his help in the 2021 coup, should have been able to cooperate in some lying promise about an election in a few years, and renege on it later. Amazingly, they couldnt even manage that. Burhan has already had decades to make his pile, while Hemeti, despite all his gold mines in Darfur, feels he is just getting started. So Burhans plan to integrate the RSF into the Army within two years (which would destroy Hemetis power base) was completely unacceptable to the assistant thief. He wanted ten years  so the thieves fell out.

The fighting is happening all over the country, because both the Army and the RSF are everywhere. At the time of writing its hard to tell which side will win, but its also hard to care. Both men have a lot of Sudanese blood on their hands, and neither has the skill to run even a dictatorship efficiently. The one thing we can say with confidence at this point is that it is not an African problem. Civilian rule has taken a beating in the Sahel belt of Africa recently, but democracy, however imperfect, is still a reality or a live prospect in most of sub-Saharan Africa. The Sudanese, or at least the dominant ethnic groups there, still see the country as part of the Arab world  and in that context what is happening in Sudan is not at all surprising. There are no democracies whatever in the Arab world, and military or monarchical tyrannies are the norm. Moreover, they collaborate to maintain the status quo. Move along, please. Theres nothing new to see here.
More than a dozen states are calling for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to a lack of anti-theft features.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 17 other attorneys general on Thursday sent a letter asking the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a recall of "unsafe" Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022. They accuse the automakers of failing to include anti-theft devices that were standard "in almost every other new car manufactured during that time period."

The bottom line is, Kias and Hyundais failure to install standard safety features on many of their vehicles have put vehicle owners and the public at risk, Bonta said in a statement. Instead of taking responsibility with appropriate corrective action, these carmakers have chosen instead to pass this risk onto consumers and our communities.

What are Kia and Hyundai saying?

A statement from Kia said the company "remains very focused on this issue" and is taking action to address the attorneys general's concerns. The company argued that a recall is "neither appropriate nor necessary under federal law" since its vehicles comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

A separate statement from Hyundai said it was communicating with NHTSA on ways to assist customers and noted its vehicles are "fully compliant with federal anti-theft requirements."

More than a dozen states are calling for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles with a lack of anti-theft devices.

Attorneys call for 'immediate action'

The letter comes one month after 23 attorneys general urged Kia and Hyundai to take action against a "crisis of thefts" fueled by social media. Data suggests motor vehicle thefts have been rising for several years, with Kia and Hyundai making up a large share of stolen vehicles in multiple cities.

The automakers earlier this year began offering drivers a free enhanced security software upgrade and free steering wheel locks through law enforcement agencies. Hyundai also partnered with AAA to offer insurance options in 47 states after some insurance providers dropped older Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

Story continues

But the attorneys general say Kia and Hyundai have not gone far enough.

A free steering wheel lock "does not address the underlying ignition system flaw that makes the vehicles so vulnerable to theft," Bonta's statement said.

Hyundai expedited the rollout of its software upgrade for affected vehicles, the company announced last week.

Dig deeper:

You can follow USA TODAY reporter Bailey Schulz on Twitter @bailey_schulz and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter here for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 18 states ask for recall of Kia, Hyundai vehicles vulnerable to theft
Two residentleopardesses givebirth to 4 cubs





Staff Reporter

In a good news for Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoo and widlife lovers, two resident leopardesses -- Chinki and Ruchi -- gave birth to four cubs in the open enclosure in last two days. On Sunday, Chinki delivered two cubs, but one died during the delivery. Another leopardess Ruchi gave birth to three cubs, on Tuesday. Shatanik Bhagwat, Director of the Zoo, said, It is the first such kind of event for the zoo. We are monitoring health of all four cubs and both leopardess. All three cubs have been accepted by Ruchi, and are doing well.

The veterinarian doctors at the zoo are feeding one of the cubs of Chinki artificially, and we are taking special care of the leopardess as she is not capable to fed the cub due to weakness, Bhagwat told The Hitavada. According to the sources in the zoo, these are the same leopardesses who mated with a wild leopard that had entered in the enclosure a few months ago. The leopard stayed into the enclosure for over a month.
We will establish a drug-free India by 2047: Amit Shah





NEW DELHI,

TERMING the drug menace a major issue across the country, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday announced to make a drug-free India by 2047, seeking a Team India and whole of Government approach in the fight against the menace. Shah made the announcement at the inaugural event of the first National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of States and Union Territories here in the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government is committed to eradicating the menace of drugs. We will establish a drug-free India by 2047, Shah said while addressing the event. Shah called for a whole of Government and team India approach infight against the drug menace keeping aside political differences.

Keeping aside our political differences all the State Governments and agencies need to come together to fight against the drug menace, Shah further said,  said Shah, adding We will have to adopt top to bottom and bottom-to-top approach during the investigation of drug trafficking cases. The Home Minister clarified, saying I want to tell you today that we are at such a juncture that we can win the battle against the drug menace.

Those who consume drugs are the victims and those who sell them are the culprits. Strict action should be taken against such people, the Home Minister further added. He also said that the fight against the drug menace is an international fight and it is not as easy but he assured that we will establish a new India by 2047.
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WEST BATH, Maine (AP)  A sister who discovered a crime scene in which four people were shot to death arrived to broken glass, bullet holes, blood and guns strewn about the home, and the suspect was later arrested at the scene of a highway shooting with what appeared to be blood on him, according to state police.

Police found multiple cartridge casings of varying calibers in the vehicle driven by the suspect after shots were fired at vehicles along Interstate 295, wounding three people, state police said.

A state police affidavit released Thursday as the suspect, Joseph Eaton, made his first court appearance contained grisly details, a note found at the scene and a timeline for the events. Eaton showed no emotion during the brief hearing other than to acknowledge to the judge that he understood the charges.

One of his court-appointed attorneys, James Mason, acknowledged after the hearing that the shootings shook the state.

What happened in Bowdoin is undeniably tragic. But I ask everybody to please reserve judgement, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said the next step for law enforcement is to complete the investigation and present the case to a grand jury while victim advocates provide support to family and friends of the victims. "This is a horrible crime, unimaginable loss being faced by the victims, and our hearts go out to the victims, Robbin said.

Police have yet to discuss what might have been a motive behind the shootings on a rural property in Bowdoin and then along a busy interstate highway about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Maine's largest city, Portland. Police also have not discussed what gun or guns were used, or how Eaton obtained them.

Eaton, 34, has been jailed since his arrest Tuesday at a chaotic scene along Interstate 295, where traffic backed up as heavily armed law enforcement searched the area.

Police say Eaton confessed to killing four people, including his parents, in Bowdoin and wounding three people while shooting at vehicles. Eaton is charged with four counts of murder for the killings in Bowdoin but has not yet been charged in the highway shootings, officials said.

He had been released four days before the shootings from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Police say his mother picked him up from prison April 14 after he completed a sentence for aggravated assault.

The latest in a string of mass shootings in the U.S. began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims were identified as Joseph Eatons parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said. The two couples were described as best friends.

Police previously said Eaton told them he began firing on several cars along I-295 soon after that because he thought he was being followed by police. Bullets struck a family in one of the vehicles, wounding Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey was critically wounded, police said.

The crimes left the victims' families and friends stunned.

Friends who knew Patricia Eger through her work as a dedicated volunteer and board member of Lisbon Area Christian Outreach, which operates a food pantry, described her as the deeply religious daughter of a lighthouse keeper, passionate about charity work and tirelessly helping others.

She knew, automatically, what anybody needed, said Carol Day, a fellow volunteer and one of several who gathered to remember their friend Thursday evening. I think our community has lost a good person who cares so much about them.

A state police affidavit indicated the discovery of the deaths in Bowdoin was made by Patricia Eger's sister, who first noticed something was amiss when she saw blood on the steps leading into the home and then saw the carnage and a body. The affidavit noted all bodies were covered and that the family dog had been killed as well.

Investigators who arrived on the scene discovered an unsigned note on an island in the kitchen that referenced that someone had been molested, nothing was done about it and the writer wanted to be freed of pain.

The day before the shooting, a man believed to be Joseph Eaton posted an anguished live video on social media that referenced trauma including molestation. Being molested and stuff, you know, it destroys somebody, the man said. He also criticized people who call themselves Christians but are unwilling to forgive.

___

This story has been corrected with the correct spelling of Leanne Robbin's name.
WASHINGTON (AP)  An IRS special agent is seeking whistleblower protection to disclose information about what the agent alleges is mishandling of an investigation into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent to members of Congress.

Mark Lytle, the attorney for the IRS whistleblower, wrote to lawmakers Wednesday that his client has information about a failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition" of a criminal investigation related to the younger Biden's taxes and whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase.

Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle, Lytle said in a letter, obtained by The Associated Press, that was sent to the chairmen and ranking members of several House and Senate committees.

The letter states that the supervisory special agent previously disclosed the information they are seeking to share with Congress internally with the IRS and a watchdog for the Justice Department. Lytle added that his client is able to contradict sworn testimony to lawmakers by a senior political appointee." That appointee is not named.

The special agent also wants to disclose examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected," the lawyer added.

The president respects the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing Thursday. The Justice Department declined to comment. Hunter Biden's legal team had no immediate comment. A request for comment from the IRS was not immediately returned.

Hunter Bidens taxes and foreign business work have been under federal investigation by a federal grand jury in Delaware since at least 2018. So far no charges have been filed. Additionally, his membership on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and his efforts to strike deals in China have long raised questions by Republicans about whether he traded on his fathers public service.

Joe Biden has said he has never spoken to his son about foreign business. There are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a congressional hearing last month that he wont interfere with the department's investigation.

He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has left the matter in the hands of U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the top federal prosecutor in Delaware, who would be empowered to expand his investigation outside the state if needed.

He has been advised he is not to be denied anything he needs, Garland said. I have not heard anything from that office to suggest that they are not able to do everything the U.S. Attorney wants to do.

The whistleblower letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as House Republicans have opened their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden's business dealings, including examining foreign payments and other aspects of his finances.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, recently reviewed financial transactions by members of the Biden family that were flagged for attention. Those financial reports are routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the government, and are not evidence on their own of misconduct.

But Comer, who has been leading the various probes into Hunter Biden, said the whistleblower letter is further evidence of the importance of congressional inquiry into the president and his family.

Its deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations," Comer said in a statement Thursday.
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JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Nearly 13 million children missed one or more vaccinations in Africa between 2019 and 2021 because of the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the continent vulnerable to even more outbreaks of disease and facing a child survival crisis, a new report from UNICEF said Thursday.

Amid a global backslide in childhood immunization over those three years, which the United Nations Children's Fund said is the worst regression for childhood vaccinations in 30 years, Africa is the region with the highest number of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children. UNICEF said that 12.7 million African children missed one or more vaccinations and 8.7 million didn't receive a single dose of any vaccine from 2019-2021.

The report, The State of the World's Children 2023, confirms previous indications and lays out more data showing that the pandemic interrupted childhood vaccination almost everywhere, UNICEF said.

Half of the 20 countries in the world with the largest number of children without any vaccinations  referred to as zero-dose children  are in Africa, UNICEF said. In Nigeria, 2.2 million children have never received a vaccination. In Ethiopia, 1.1 million are unvaccinated against diseases.

UNICEF's report comes as Africa, but also other parts of the world, report disease outbreaks on a scale not seen in years. In the southern African nation of Malawi, more than 1,000 people died in a cholera outbreak at the start of the year, the worst there in 20 years. Nearly 700 children died in a measles outbreak in Zimbabwe last year. Most of the Zimbabwean children were unvaccinated against the disease, authorities said.

UNICEF said the intense demands on health systems, the diversions of immunization resources to COVID-19 vaccination, health worker shortages and stay-at-home measures all contributed to missed vaccinations across the world. So did conflicts, climate change and vaccine hesitancy.

But in Africa, the pandemic exposed and exacerbated the lack of resilience and persistent weaknesses in health systems and primary health care, UNICEF said.

Last year, 34 of the 54 countries in Africa experienced disease outbreaks such as measles, cholera and poliovirus, UNICEF said, adding there's a "child survival crisis" on the continent.

The resurgence of those diseases should serve as a clear warning for Africa, said Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.

African leaders must act now and take strong political action to reduce the gap in vaccination and make sure that all children are immunized and protected, he said.

UNICEF noted that children born just before or during the pandemic were now moving past the age when they would normally be vaccinated and stressed the need for health authorities to catch up" with those missed vaccinations to prevent more deadly disease outbreaks.

Also Thursday, the World Health Organization released its assessment, saying Africa needs to vaccinate an estimated 33 million children by 2025 to get back on track and recover from the COVID-19 pandemics disruptive wake.

___

Follow AP health coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/health and Africa news at https://apnews.com/hub/africa
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Linkedin Divya Karyza (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, April 20, 2023

Representatives of gas-intensive industries have urged the government to ensure sustainable supplies of below-market gas prices for manufacturers.

Yustinus Gunawan, chairman of the Forum for Industries Using Natural Gas, said industry players expected the government to devise a strategy that would ensure certainty in the pricing of gas delivered to gas-intensive industries.

Specifically, they requested sufficient supplies of the lower-priced gas in accordance with Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Decree No. 134/2021 on users and prices of natural gas for industry.

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Linkedin Josa Lukman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, April 20, 2023 18:35 6 0de7eba49861a560f8b2ec6fa5fd84ef 4 Companies cultivation,APRIL,nature,impact,solution Free

Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) have emerged as a critical approach to simultaneously addressing climate change, protecting ecosystems, preventing biodiversity loss, and supporting livelihoods. NbS encompasses a range of measures such as protection and restoration of forests and other natural ecosystems and improved management of productive lands.

However, implementing NbS requires increased funding, technical support, and collaboration between governments, private sectors, and communities. Indonesia, with its rich biodiversity and natural resources, is well-positioned to play a leadership role and benefit from NbS initiatives.

At a recent Net-Zero with Nature-based Solutions conference organized by CMT, Nadine Zamira Syarief, Sustainability and ESG Manager APRIL Group, highlighted how APRIL Group is investing in NbS initiatives to deliver lasting and positive impacts on climate, nature, and people in line with its APRIL2030 commitments and targets.

Nadine emphasized the importance of grounding NbS initiatives in credible and context-relevant science to inform the best management interventions and align them with broader business strategies. APRIL Group has invested in four greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring towers and equipment to fully understand the emissions dynamics across different land use types that APRIL manages, and enabling the company to contribute to national and global scientific knowledge. Since investing in the first towers in 2016, APRILs scientists have been working alongside the broader scientific community to publish peer-reviewed studies on tropical peatland ecosystems based on the data collected.

In addition to its scientific contributions, APRIL Group has also undertaken various conservation and restoration efforts that contribute to its mitigation efforts. Its flagship NbS initiative, the Restorasi Ekosistem Riau (RER), is an ecosystem restoration project covering over 150,000 ha of the Kampar Peninsula in Indonesia that was initiated in 2013. The RER project aims to restore degraded peatland forests and protect biodiversity, while also providing benefits to local communities such as livelihood opportunities. APRIL Groups steadfast commitment to conservation and restoration is backed by a conservation fund financed by applying a USD$1 allocation for every ton of wood harvested.

"From our experience, it is important to ground nature-based solutions on credible science, work with local communities and position them both as beneficiaries and actors, and linking these solutions to the business arm to ensure long-term financing and its sustainability, said Nadine during the event.

. (./.)

Nadine also discussed APRIL's commitment to responsible land management, particularly in preventing and mitigating fires beyond its own operations. The company's Fire Free Village program addresses fire risks in the broader landscape and works to prevent fires through community engagement, providing agribusiness programs, operational support, and knowledge transfer about fire prevention.

Since the program's inception in 2015, there has been up to a 90 percent reduction in burnt land area in the villages where interventions have occurred thus avoiding millions of tons of carbon being released into the atmosphere. Moreover, APRIL has been building relationships with communities through the Fire Free Village program, and these relationships have evolved to include community conservation programs. The program helps communities keep standing natural forests in their villages and employs a similar engagement model to that of the Fire Free Village program.

With its commitment to responsible land management, protection and restoration, APRIL Group is taking important steps toward achieving its sustainability goals while making a positive impact on the environment and local communities.

Representatives from PEFC International, Sime Darby, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Tata Steel and Natura & Co were also at the panel session, where they shared and discussed their approach to Nature-Based Solutions.

Separately on a the same event, Addriyanus Tantra, SFM Certification and Compliance Manager, Sustainability Operations at APRIL emphasized that sustainable forest management has been an integral part of APRILs business operation, which are guided by Sustainable Forest Management Policy 2.0 with a set of ambitious targets for APRIL2030.

Collaboration with multiple stakeholders is key factor in achieving sustainable forest management practices and initiatives. However, among all the stakeholders, the community living within the boundaries of operations is the most significant to be more inclusive thus close engagement is a priority for a more effective and successful outcome for all stakeholders involved, Addriyanus said. .

Sustainable forest management allows us to protect and produce from the same landscape. And our experience shows that we cant do it alone. We need to collaborate with other stakeholders, and the most important stakeholder of all is the local community,  said Addriyanus, summing up his presentations.

This article was published in collaboration with APRIL Group.

Topics : cultivation APRIL nature impact solution
Benzinga

Fisker Inc (NYSE: FSR) said the European regulators had certified the Fisker Ocean SUV. The company intends to start deliveries of Fisker Ocean One launch edition to European customers on May 5. "After that, we intend to deliver all Ocean Ones by the end of September while also initiating some deliveries of the Fisker Ocean Extreme, starting in Europe with the U.S. to follow," said Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker. The CEO said the company recently built several mid-trim level all-wheel-drive Fisk
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Linkedin Patrick Fallon with Chris Lefkow (AFP) Boca Chica and Medford Colonia, United  Thu, April 20, 2023 23:30 5 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b05515bdd 2 Science & Tech SpaceX,space,starship,Elon-Musk Free

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, exploded during its first flight on Thursday, but Elon Musk congratulated his SpaceX team on an "exciting" test of the spacecraft designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The uncrewed rocket disintegrated four minutes after successfully blasting off at 8:33 am Central Time (1333 GMT) from Starbase, the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas.

The Starship spacecraft that will eventually carry crew and cargo had been scheduled to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight, but separation failed to occur and the rocket blew up in a ball of fire over the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite the failure to complete the full 90-minute flight test and reach orbit, SpaceX and Musk, the founder and CEO of the private space company, declared it a success.

"Congrats SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!" Musk tweeted. "Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."

SpaceX said that "with a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary."

"We cleared the tower which was our only hope," said Kate Tice, a SpaceX quality systems engineer.

The US space agency NASA has picked the Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the Moon in late 2025 -- a mission known as Artemis III -- for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX, saying "every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward."

'Complicated, gigantic rocket'

Starship consists of a 164-foot (50-meter) tall spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo that sits atop a 230-foot tall first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket.

SpaceX conducted a successful test-firing of the 33 massive Raptor engines on the first-stage booster in February but the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket were being flown together for the first time.

The integrated test flight was intended to assess their performance in combination.

The launch was initially scheduled for Monday but was postponed until Thursday because of a frozen pressure valve on the first-stage booster.

Musk had warned ahead of the test that technical issues were likely and sought to play down expectations for the inaugural flight.

"It's the first launch of a very complicated, gigantic rocket. There's a million ways this rocket could fail," he said.

NASA will take astronauts to lunar orbit itself in November 2024 using its own heavy rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development for more than a decade.

Starship is both bigger and more powerful than SLS and capable of lifting a payload of more than 100 metric tonnes into orbit.

It generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

'Rapid unscheduled disassembly'

The plan for the integrated test flight was for the Super Heavy booster to separate from Starship after launch and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.

They failed to separate however and the booster rocket and Starship spacecraft began spinning out of control, exploding four minutes into the test flight in what SpaceX euphemistically called a "rapid unscheduled disassembly."

Had separation occurred, Starship, which has six engines of its own, was to continue to an altitude of nearly 150 miles, completing a near-circle of the Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after launch.

"If we get far enough away from the launchpad before something goes wrong then I think I would consider that to be a success," Musk said prior to the test. "Just don't blow up the launchpad."

SpaceX foresees eventually putting a Starship into orbit, and then refueling it with another Starship so it can continue on a journey to Mars or beyond.

The eventual objective is to establish bases on the Moon and Mars and put humans on the "path to being a multi-planet civilization," according to Musk.

"That's our goal. I think we've got a chance."
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Linkedin Yvette Tanamal and Nur Janti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, April 18, 2023

Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Yudo Margono arrived in Papua on Monday, senior military officers have said, following the first confirmed TNI death in a sensitive operation to rescue a foreigner taken hostage by armed rebels.

Indonesian security and military personnel have been deployed to the countrys easternmost region since rebels from the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) took New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens hostage after a routine flight to Papuas Nduga regency some two months ago.

A string of attacks on aircraft has also occurred in the restive region since the Feb. 7 abduction, the latest involving a civilian airplane shot upon landing in Puncak regency, Central Papua, on Friday morning.

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Linkedin Dio Suhenda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, April 20, 2023

With the countrys biggest homecoming mudik (exodus) season in recent memory now in full swing, public transportation hubs and thoroughfares across the country have been clogged with millions of Indonesians making their journeys back home.

Wednesday, the start of a seven day Idul Fitri holiday period, saw the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, which is the main passageway for cars leaving Jakarta eastward, pummeled by heavy traffic.

West Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ibrahim Tompo said based on police monitoring on Wednesday noon, there were lines of cars that stretched 60 kilometers.

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Linkedin Reuters Jakarta  Thu, April 20, 2023 15:19 6 0de7eba49861a560f8b2ec6fa5fa00b1 2 Archipelago Susi-Air,Papua,hostage,TNI,rescue Free

Indonesia's military confirmed on Wednesday that three soldiers missing since a weekend ambush by rebels in the restive Papua region have been found dead, in a setback for its mission to locate a New Zealand pilot held captive by separatists.

The military said the bodies of those soldiers and another earlier confirmed dead had been airlifted from the area. Five wounded troops who were found the previous day had also been evacuated.

Indonesia's military chief on Tuesday dismissed a claim by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) that 15 troops were killed in the attack on a group of 36 soldiers searching for where Susi Air pilot Philip Mehrtens was being held.

"Currently the four soldiers who died have been evacuated," a military spokesperson in Papua, Herman Taryaman said in the statement.

The abduction in February of Mehrtens has intensified conflict between rebels and Indonesia's security forces in the remote, resource-rich region, which came under Indonesian control after a 1969 referendum that followed the end of Dutch colonial rule.

TPNPB on Wednesday said it had pictures and video evidence to show its version of Saturday's events was accurate. Spokesperson Sebby Sambom said those images would be later shared as proof.

The rebels say they attacked the soldiers because Indonesia had not responded to its request for peaceful negotiations.
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Linkedin Nur Janti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, April 20, 2023 14:40 6 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc531ce5 1 Society Joko-Widodo,Jokowi,Joko-Widodo-Maruf-Amin,second-term,Maruf-Amin,Idul-Fitri Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and First Lady Iriana returned to their hometown of Surakarta, Central Java, on Wednesday to celebrate Idul Fitri with their family.

The President departed from Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta in the afternoon, accompanied by only a few staff members. He had instructed all staff from the State Secretariat and the Cabinet Secretary office, who usually accompany him on his trips, to spend the holiday in their hometowns with family.

Bey Machmudin, the secretariats deputy for protocol, press and the media, said that as this was the first Idul Fitri after the country lifted all COVID-19 mobility curbs, Jokowi wanted to allow his staffers to gather with their loved ones, since they had accompanied the President during the pandemic.

"The President will celebrate Idul Fitri with his family, Bu Iriana, their children, in-laws and grandchildren," Bey said, as quoted by Kompas.id.

Read also: Iftar ban for public servants sparks backlash

Meanwhile, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin is set to perform Idul Fitri prayers at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta and to celebrate the holiday in Banten and West Java.

Vice presidential spokesperson Masduki Baidlowi said on Wednesday that the second family would be in Tanara, Banten, for two days and would then stay at Second Lady Wury's house in Cimanggis, West Java, until Tuesday.

"Today, [the Vice President] is still at the official residence until Idul Fitri. Then, [he is scheduled for] prayers at Istiqlal. After that, he will go back to the office and depart for Tanara [Banten] in the afternoon," Masduki said.

Neither the President nor the Vice President will be holding an Idul Fitri open house, which they held annually in the years before the pandemic.

The last time Jokowi held an open house was in 2019. Hundreds gathered in line at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta some four hours before the start of the event, which was held at the nearby Merdeka Palace.
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Linkedin Raka Ibrahim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, August 19, 2021 15:00 615 526e0a36a436d7a70544fc9c3ebeca5e 1 Lifestyle human-rights,human-rights-activists,Human-Rights-Day,activists,what-we-can-do-better,organization Free

How we can do better is a new column that takes an insiders look at various sectors and how they could improve. In this second installment, we delve into Indonesias NGO sector.

For many victims of state crimes, human rights activists may represent their chance for making a final stab at justice and restitution, but life as a rights activist is a heavy one. As they fight against dirty donor politics, internal squabbles and financial woes, their stalwart dedication to humanity is their one saving grace.

Overworked, ridiculed and battling an enemy too distant to care, the misadventures experienced by human rights activists in Indonesia could fill a thick tome. They face death threats even as they confront the seediest sides of post-New Order Indonesia on a daily basis. But for many, it is a cross they have chosen bear out of a profound sense of duty.

"Personally, I feel like we're maintaining a common dream," said Esther (not her real name), a 29-year-old human rights activist. "In spite of everything, here we have a sense of hope."

Esther's story is a familiar one among activists her age. She belongs to a generation of post-2010 idealists who emerged after the elation of reformasi had subsided and frustration at the slow pace of democratization had already set in.

There was an atmosphere of hope, she recalled, but also uncertainty. Fresh out of law school, Esther applied for a research job at one of the country's top anticorruption watchdogs, where she has worked for the past eight years.

She possesses a steeliness when speaking about her chosen field. Even so, she has no illusions about the challenges her peers face. Forget the external threat that human rights violators pose: Today's activists must contend with a convoluted internal world of donor politics, an infamous toxic work environment and stuttering attempts at regeneration.

Win the battle, lose the war

Nisrina Nadhifah is considered somewhat of an old-timer in the nongovernmental organization (NGO) sector, despite her relatively young age of just 26. She has volunteered with various national and international NGOs for over a decade since her early teens. She has seen it all and she speaks with resigned weariness about donor politics, a universal issue that is also dogging Indonesian NGOs.

"We live under a regime of donors," Nisrina said. "There are [many] organizations with decades of experience and deep local insight, but when they meet foreign donors who hold all the funding, they have to follow suit. Many have to lower their standards to comply with the donors."

Nisrina observed that the shift to donor-driven funding happened after the birth of the Reform movement in 1998 and in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Aceh. Both were momentous times when large amounts of aid and social work were in sudden demand, and community-run organizations were forced to expand at an unnatural rate. The two events also positioned Indonesia as a young, fragile democracy in need of international aid, and donor funds began pouring in.

Read also: COVID-19 crisis erodes womens rights in Indonesia: Activists

The unequal relationship between donors and NGOs, however, means that rather than executing actions that directly benefit civil society, many organizations have been distracted by endless programs that follow the whims of foreign donors. Such programs may look grand on paper, but often have limited long-term impacts for the people they are supposed to help.

Esther lamented the decline of activists as mere "proposal crafters", while Nisrina felt this had led to creating a "toxic culture at organizations that had become reactive and unfocused.

"We are slowly forgetting the big picture," Nisrina criticized. "NGOs have become better at executing programs, but worse at planning and management."

"Donor politics is a dirty game," said Esther.

"[Donors] fund NGOs and governments alike. So when we're advocating against something, the donors are actually moderating the conflict, all the while really serving the purposes of their home countries. NGOs aren't free to decide their [own] moves. This conflict of interest often leads NGOs to soften their approach," she added.

Esther and Nisrinas observations paint human rights organizations as reluctant players in a sector with unsustainable demand and a creaking, ponderous supply chain. Activists might grumble in private about the rules and wayward programs imposed by certain donors, but dig a little deeper and they will begrudgingly admit that such donors are, at the very least, a necessary evil.

Understandably, many NGOs are struggling to keep up amid the precariously limited resources and high demand for immediate action. Whether through careless management or sheer overload, human rights organizations have become notorious for their toxic work environment. A culture of overwork, low salaries, backdoor political gamesmanship and lack of work-life balance reign supreme.

"On paper, we work 9 to 5, but in reality it's more like 9 to 9," joked 28-year-old Nanda (not his real name). "If a client calls us at 10 p.m., it's an emergency. We can't just say we're out of office."

Esther and Nisrina both recount similar experiences of expectations that activists be on call 24/7 and treat every situation as urgent. For Nanda, a newlywed who has worked almost a decade in advocating for human rights, this unspoken culture has inexorably changed his personal life.

"We're afraid of planning something far in advance," he said. "For example, I can't say that next month I'm going to take a leave of absence or go on vacation. If I take a day off, it's a spur-of-the-moment thing. Everything is, except for work."

Worryingly, this situation is treated as the norm. "We normalize this simply because we work at NGOs," said Esther. "It's as if this is an acceptable risk when we're fighting for the common good, but this culture is exploitative. Many activists risk their lives in the field without overtime pay, transport reimbursements or operational support."

Any pushback is often been met with stiff resistance from management. "There's a feudalistic narrative that back in the day, activists were so dedicated they even lived in the office," Esther continued. "And older activists are happy to repeat this anytime someone protests about overwork. Asking for more reasonable working hours is considered as a sign of a lack of dedication."

The old guard

Esther's critique touches on a sensitive subject among today's activists: the role of senior employees at human rights NGOs, specifically those of the generation that flourished during the 1998 crises.

"NGOs definitely have a seniority problem," Nanda said. "And there's a lot of shadow seniors [...] former activists or peers of board members and they think they know everything. This makes it difficult for younger activists to share their insight and ideas. Things only start moving once the seniors think that it's time."

This disproportionate loyalty toward a declining generation of activists, coupled with a dated, romanticized view of social work, has resulted in bleak morale.

Read also: Human rights deteriorated in Indonesia in 2020: Amnesty

"The line between the personal and professional is blurred," Nanda said. "The closer you are personally with the bosses, the better your life is. And that means it's difficult for [other] people to call you out when you make a legitimate mistake."

Although he declines to name names, he claims that many activists have gotten away with allegations of sexual assault, conflicts of interest and professional neglect because of their close ties with a cabal of senior activists. "They have a circle of friends that shield them from [such] allegations.

Many cases got lost in a fog of denial or half-measures that were taken in response. Obviously, no justice was truly served," he added.

As younger activists struggled to reckon with the questionable leadership of their seniors, the internal NGO culture apparently shifted to a more sinister direction.

"After 2014, we began seeing an influx of ambitious activists who saw NGOs as a stepping stone to politics. They would use their past [role] as an activist to convince people that they will fight for the common good. But in reality, these opportunists only bog down any attempt at meaningful change," said Esther.

After these freeloaders leave the NGOs, what's left is a cast of misfits: People like Esther who privately confide their fears that their skill set is unusable in any other sector; people like Nisrina and Nanda whose patience is only matched by their headstrong, genuine dedication to human rights; and many senior activists who haven't been picked to join their peers in political parties or political pressure groups.

Change is coming

"We're sliding further into donor dependency," Nisrina sighed. "When I look at feminist and LGBT collectives around the world, they've taken to more creative means to fund themselves. Some open ad agencies, others run salons, minimarkets and other small businesses to fund their activism."

The strategy isn't unthinkable in Indonesia, where it would have an unexpected, added advantage.

"The opposition has always painted us as the lackeys of a shadowy foreign power. It's not significant, but it's enough to foster distrust and dent our credibility to the public," Esther observed. Becoming financially independent and transparent would go some way toward restoring public trust in NGOs, she added.

Read also: Speaking out: Addressing past human rights violations in Aceh and Timor-Leste

According to Nanda, NGOs must also be proactive in breaking up the cumbersome bloc of aging activists. "Younger activists and people on the ground should be asked about the reality on the field and encouraged to suggest solutions, then we can collaborate with others to implement [these solutions]," he said. Simply put, it's high time that NGOs trusted their own people.

Ultimately, these innate problems can be fixed only through structural change. If these internal flaws are to be remedied, then NGOs must fundamentally rethink the way they're funded, managed and organized. Tall order, then, for a sector famously slow to adapt and stubbornly reluctant to change.

Many younger activists have allegedly found the going too rough and fallen by the wayside, but people like Nisrina are here to stay. Having handled some of the country's toughest human rights cases, her dedication remains as strong as ever.

"It may sound cliche, but this field makes me feel like I can truly be myself. I don't feel like I'm [...] a robot. I'm human and helping other humans. Somebody has to do it," she said. (*)
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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, April 20, 2023 07:00 6 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc52ab94 1 Editorial Indonesia,Idul-Fitri,travel,COVID-19,Jokowi,traffic,congestion,toll-road,cikampek Free

It seems that this Idul Fitri holiday season, everyone wants to break free. After three years of COVID-19-induced mobility curbs, folks appear to have had enough with restrictions and this year, have decided to travel with a vengeance.

The government-sanctioned long holiday season, which kicked off on Wednesday and will last until Tuesday night, is a good enough excuse to travel. Meeting relatives, joining family or high school reunions and attending religious gatherings certainly come as a bonus.

The government is perfectly aware of this. Its own estimates put the number of people traveling during this Idul Fitri holiday at 123 million, more than a 30-percent increase from last year's 85.5 million. So, this year, almost half of the country's population is expected to move about freely around the country.

It remains to be seen if the country's infrastructure and transportation networks can cope with this pressure.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said potential problems could arise from more people traveling and cautioned against a repeat of the 2016 "Brexit" incident, during which 13 people died from exhaustion in a massive traffic congestion that lasted for more than 51 hours on the newly opened toll road in Central Java. The incident went down as one of the worst traffic jams in history, and certainly one of the deadliest.

This year, the government took measures to ease the flow of traffic by opening new toll roads, increasing the capacity of the railway network and airlines as well as giving practical solutions like ferrying motorbikes from major cities to smaller locales in Java.

When easing the flow of traffic during mudik, homebound travel, however complicated and arduous, will only be half the equation. In fact, it is easier, because at least traffic from major urban centers will be dispersed to smaller, less-congested areas.

The bigger problem will be how to manage the arus balik (return traffic) with the same number of travelers rushing back to Jakarta and other major urban centers nearly simultaneously and traveling through the same bottleneck and choke points like the Cikampek toll gates, Merak port and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

We still remember from last year the decision to allow for only one-way traffic from Central Java to Jakarta via the Cikampek toll road led to a massive congestion in the eastern suburbs of Jakarta. Folks in the area had to begrudgingly stay home as they failed to gain access to eastbound lanes of the toll road.

This can happen again this year, especially if police cannot find better ways to distribute traffic going to Jakarta. And it is likely similar problems could be replicated in other major cities in Java and elsewhere.

At the top of the priority list is for the police to find more creative ways to manage return traffic. It also helps if government agencies and private companies allow for more freedom for their employees to decide when they can return to work. If the traffic situation does not improve in the days after Idul Fitri, there is always the option of telecommuting, one of the best practices we are already familiar with, thanks to the pandemic.

From the pandemic, we have learned that when it comes to safety, there is always a workaround that everyone could try and that should also apply to this holiday season.

Idul Fitri should be the most joyous season for Muslims and they should be able to celebrate the festival without having to worry about traffic on the way home.

Eid Mubarak and safe passage everyone.
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Linkedin Ban Ki-moon Seoul  Thu, April 20, 2023 09:32 6 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc52db76 2 Academia Ukraine,Russia,aggression,international-criminal-court,UN,General-Assembly,resolution Free

A year after Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the search for a credible path towards peace, based on the United Nations Charter, is ever more urgent. At the same time, mounting evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians in liberated Ukrainian territory reminds us that there can be no lasting peace without justice.

On Feb. 24, 2022, the UN General Assembly voted by 141 to 7 for a peace resolution that reaffirmed global unity on the core principles at stake: A just and sustainable peace, based on sovereignty, territorial integrity and accountability.

Turning these words into concrete actions is our collective responsibility. This is why the world needs to establish a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression in Ukraine. President Putin and others in Russias leadership must be held accountable for their crimes, as Nazi Germany and imperial Japan leaders were tried at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II.

Such a move is a vital complement to the recent indictment of President Putin by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

In May/June 2010, as secretary-general of the UN, I attended the Kampala Review Conference of the Rome Statute where a historic agreement was reached between states from all regions of the world on the definition of the crime of aggression.

More than a decade later, an act of aggression has been committed by a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It demands a unified, robust international response, demonstrating to the Russian leadership and autocrats everywhere that the fight against impunity supersedes geopolitical divides.

The ICC cannot prosecute the crime of aggression in Ukraine because Russia has not ratified its founding agreement, the Rome Statute, and the UN Security Council will not make a referral to the ICC given Russias veto power.

A special international tribunal can close this jurisdictional gap, focusing on the crime of aggression as the supreme international crime that encompasses all the acts and atrocities that flow from it.

Momentum for such a tribunal is building, with more states joining the core group that is working on accountability for Russias aggression, support from the European Union and the establishment of a new center for evidence on the crime of aggression in The Hague.

There is an active debate currently underway on the tribunal model that should be adopted. In my view, it will be most effective and legitimate if it can demonstrate broad international support, including from Asia, Africa and Latin America, through a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution recommending its establishment.

Some states, including those that publicly champion and defend the rules-based international order, may have reservations about the UNGA playing this kind of leadership role on accountability. Others may be concerned that the pursuit of justice could make peace less likely. But I have long believed that peace versus justice is a false choice, and that we must pursue both with equal vigor, in tandem.

I believe the best way to hold the top Russian leadership accountable is through the establishment of an international tribunal, based on international law and the Kampala definition of aggression as a leadership crime.

The main alternative being put forward  a hybrid Ukrainian/internationalized model based on Ukrainian law  risks being unable to overcome immunities, and could place undue pressure on the Ukrainian government. UN member states around the world should unite behind its efforts to work toward the UNGA-recommended international model.

At the Group of 20 Summit hosted by Indonesia in Bali in November 2022, leaders agreed in the final communique that it is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. This includes defending all the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

President Putin, his ministers and generals have all shown their contempt for these values by their actions over the past year. The crime of aggression is, by definition, a leadership crime. This must be the focus of the international community. The individual responsibility of a political leader should not, however, induce the collective responsibility of a whole nation and affect international sporting or cultural exchanges.

An international tribunal would deliver on the shared responsibility of all UN member states to tackle impunity and defend the essence of the UN Charter. When this issue is put to the UNGA, as I believe it must be, I hope political leaders across the world, from Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas, will rise to the moment. Endorsing this approach will be a decisive step towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and a victory in the battle against impunity.

***

The writer is former United Nations secretary-general and deputy chair of The Elders.
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Linkedin Panu Wongcha-um (The Jakarta Post) Reuters/Pathum Thani, Thailand  Thu, April 20 2023

Chonthicha Lookkate Jangrew is going door-to-door asking people to vote for her in Thailands May 14 election, even though she faces possible jail time on charges of sedition and defaming the king during unprecedented protests in 2020.

The 30-year-old is one of more than a dozen activists from a student-led protest movement who are taking their once-taboo cause from the streets to the ballot box as election candidates.

They are bringing the issue of the role of monarchy in society into the open. King Maha Vajiralongkorn is officially revered under the constitution and insulting the monarchy is illegal under strict laws known as lese-majeste, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

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MONTREAL, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE: AUAG) (OTCQB: AUXIF) (the "Company" or "Auxico") is pleased to announce the results of metallurgical testing conducted on rare earth concentrates from its Minastyc property in Colombia; please refer to Table 1 below.

Auxico Resources Canada Inc. Logo (CNW Group/Auxico Resources Canada Inc.)

Table 1

Formula Nd 2 O 3 Pr 6 O 11 Dy 2 O 3 Y 2 O 3 La 2 O 3 CeO 2 Sm 2 O 3 Gd 2 O 3 Er 2 O 3 Assay (%) 8.73 2.02 0.77 0.92 6.56 26.58 1.86 0.79 0.38



The above feed material of concentrate samples from Minastyc Property was processed into light and heavy rare earth concentrates, as per Table 2. The metallurgical testing was conducted by Coalia Lab in Thetford Mines, Quebec, using various acid leach processes enhanced by ultrasound and calcination at various stages of the process. The results of the testing demonstrate the ability to produce commercial concentrates of light and heavy rare earths.

Table 2



Nd Pr Dy Tb Y La Ce Sm Gd Er Light REE 46.9 % 14.0 % 1.0 % 0.49 % 1.1 % 23.1 % 1.3 % 8.7 % 2.8 % 0.2 % Heavy REE 14.9 % 0.0 % 16.1 % 3.42 % 12.4 % 0.0 % 8.5 % 9.8 % 10.3 % 7.5 %



Of the light rare earths, the result of neodymium at 46.9% depicts a concentration of 5 times compared to the initial ore, and praseodymium 7 times; the value of neodymium oxide at current market price is approximately USD $48,000 per tonne (The Institute for Rare Earths and Metals AG, as of April 19, 2023). For the heavy rare earths, dysprosium has been concentrated 20 times compared to the initial feed; the market price of dysprosium oxide is approximately USD $280,000 per tonne, while the market price of terbium oxide is at USD $588,000 per tonne (The Institute for Rare Earths and Metals AG, as of April 19, 2023). The light and heavy rare earth concentrates in Table 2 will be the object of further metallurgical testing in order to produce elemental rare earths using ligand chemistry. Initial results indicate the recovery of 99% of neodymium, praseodymium, samarium and gadolinium.

Story continues

According to Jack Lifton, an advisor to the Company, "the content of neodymium and praseodymium achieved by these processes in the light rare earth concentrates, and the content of terbium and dysprosium in the heavy earth concentrates, are commercial products ideally suited for the magnets in electric vehicle batteries."

The shift towards clean energy systems and a green economy is set to drive a substantial increase in demand to mineral markets. The energy sector, specifically batteries, magnets and advanced technologies, is emerging as a major driving force to the energy transition, with critical minerals at the foundation. One of the goals outlined by the Colombian Government is to prioritize the energy transition, and with global supply constraints on these minerals, Auxico's prospective production at its Minastyc property looks to play a predominant role in bridging this supply gap.

The work outlined above has been conducted by Central America Nickel Inc. (CAN), with patents to be filed near-term on this new testing process. According to a licensing agreement signed between Auxico and CAN, Auxico has the right to use proprietary processes and technologies developed by CAN on properties owned or controlled by Auxico.

Qualified Person

Mr. Ricardo Sierra, B.Sc. of Science a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM 3078246), is a qualified person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release and in relation to the Minastyc Project in Vichada Colombia. Mr. Ricardo Sierra is an independent technical consultant to Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

About Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

Auxico Resources Canada Inc. ("Auxico") is a Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and based in Montreal, trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) under symbol AUAG and on the OTCQB Market under symbol AUXIF. Auxico is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Additional information on Auxico can be found on the Company's website (www.auxicoresources.com) or on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under "Auxico Resources Canada Inc."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 signed. 

Mark Billings

Chairman, Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

mb@auxicoresources.com

Cell: +1 514 296 1641

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements and information in this press release include information relating to the planned studies, drill program and the development of the Minastyc or Massangana Project, its sampling program, indications and other mining projects and prospects thereof, related to the Company's operations in Brazil, Colombia and/or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various risk factors. These factors include, among others, uncertainties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors, and their potential effects, which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Except as required by securities law, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

SOURCE Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

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Linkedin AFP New Delhi, India  Thu, April 20, 2023 09:15 6 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b0550cc22 2 Asia and Pacific India,population,China,demography,food-security,energy,Narendra-Modi,UN Free

India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous country by the end of June, UN estimates showed Wednesday, posing huge challenges to a nation with creaking infrastructure and insufficient jobs for millions of young people.

The seismic shift will see India's population hit 1.4286 billion -- almost three million more than China's 1.4257 billion -- at mid-year, the United Nations Population Fund's State of World Population report forecast.

China has generally been regarded as the world's most populous country since the fall of the Roman Empire but last year its population shrank for the first time since 1960, while India's has continued to rise.

The South Asian giant spreads from the Himalayas to the beaches of Kerala, with 22 official languages, and nearly half its inhabitants are under 25.

The country faces huge challenges providing electricity, food and housing for its growing population, with many of its massive cities already struggling with water shortages, air and water pollution, and packed slums.

According to the Pew Research Centre, the number of people in India has grown by more than one billion since 1950, the year the UN began gathering population data.

China ended its strict "one-child policy", imposed in the 1980s amid overpopulation fears, in 2016 and started letting couples have three children in 2021.

Many blame its falling birth rates on the soaring cost of living, as well as the growing number of women going into the workforce and seeking higher education.

China said on Wednesday that it "implements a national strategy to actively respond to population ageing, promotes the three-child birth policy and supporting measures, and actively responds to changes in population development".

"China's demographic dividend has not disappeared, the talent dividend is taking shape, and development momentum remains strong," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

8 billion

India has no recent official population data because it has not conducted a census since 2011, with a follow-up in 2021 delayed by the Covid pandemic.

The initiative is now bogged down by logistical hurdles, making it unlikely the massive exercise will begin anytime soon. Some accuse the government of deliberately delaying the count until after national elections next year.

The census will shine a spotlight on how the Indian economy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is struggling to provide jobs for the millions of young people entering the job market every year.

The new UN report also estimated that the global population will have hit 8.045 billion by mid-2023, by which time almost one in five people on the planet will be Indian.

Other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, can expect a demographic slump over the coming decades, according to other UN figures published last July.

In Africa, the continent's population is expected to rise from 1.4 to 3.9 billion inhabitants by 2100, with about 38 percent of Earth dwellers living there, compared to around 18 percent today.

The population of the entire planet, meanwhile, is only expected to decline in the 2090s, after peaking at 10.4 billion, according to the UN.

Sleeping giant

India is on the frontlines of the effects of climate change, but generates most of its electricity from coal and its efforts will be vital in the global fight to reduce carbon emissions.

The nuclear-armed nation has started to become more assertive on the world stage, pushing for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Many Western countries are banking on the world's largest democracy, already a member of the US-led Quad alliance, becoming more of a geopolitical counterweight to China.

But it also co-founded the BRICS grouping with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa to challenge the dominant US- and European-led global governance structures, and is a member of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization alongside Moscow and Beijing.

New Delhi has resisted Western pressure to freeze out Moscow, opting instead to strengthen trade ties with its long-standing ally and ramping up imports of Russian oil.
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Linkedin Reuters Boston, US  Thu, April 20, 2023 13:35 6 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b05512370 2 Americas US-election,2024,Kennedy,John-F-Kennedy Free

Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of a storied US political dynasty, announced on Wednesday a long-shot bid to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.

Kennedy, 69, faces little chance of success, but his campaign could serve as a platform to advance claims that childhood immunizations pose health risks -- a theory that has been discredited by multiple scientific reviews.

At a rally in Boston, Kennedy did not mention vaccines or question their effectiveness. He said he would prioritize research on chronic diseases if elected president.

"This is crippling to the middle class of this country. We need to figure out what it is," he said.

Kennedy has been banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and the son of former US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential bid.

Kennedy invoked his father and uncle, but also acknowledged that many current members of the extended family do not support his presidential bid.

His anti-vaccine activism has earned him allies on the right. In 2017, Republican then-President Donald Trump tapped him to oversee a vaccine review panel, drawing criticism from scientists who said it could legitimize unfounded skepticism.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy criticized social-distancing requirements and vaccine mandates. At a January 2022 rally in Washington he suggested that Americans had fewer freedoms during the pandemic than Jews living in Nazi Germany. He later apologized for his remarks.

Self-help guru Marianne Williamson has also said she will challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination.

Biden, 80, said last Friday that he will run for re-election and will make a formal announcement "relatively soon."
Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS  Get Rating) by 70.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 576,841 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 237,474 shares during the period. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP owned about 0.80% of B&G Foods worth $6,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BGS. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of B&G Foods by 2.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 66,492 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in B&G Foods by 16.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,804 shares of the companys stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 2,664 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in B&G Foods by 13.6% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,087 shares of the companys stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in B&G Foods by 5.7% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 61,601 shares of the companys stock worth $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 3,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in B&G Foods by 56.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 33,903 shares of the companys stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 12,233 shares in the last quarter. 63.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on B&G Foods in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a sell rating for the company. TheStreet upgraded B&G Foods from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, B&G Foods presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $15.70.

B&G Foods Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE BGS opened at $15.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firms 50-day moving average price is $14.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.02. B&G Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.91 and a 52-week high of $29.33.

B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.17. B&G Foods had a negative net margin of 0.53% and a positive return on equity of 8.97%. The firm had revenue of $623.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $583.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. B&G Foodss revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that B&G Foods, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B&G Foods Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.90%. B&G Foodss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -506.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bruce C. Wacha sold 12,500 shares of B&G Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.81, for a total transaction of $185,125.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,491 shares of the companys stock, valued at $688,531.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock.

About B&G Foods

(Get Rating)

B&G Foods, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of shelf-stable frozen food, and household products in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Its products include frozen and canned vegetables, hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, bagel chips, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, and wine vinegar.

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Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. (NYSE:CPAC  Get Rating)s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $5.27 and traded as high as $5.48. Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. shares last traded at $5.25, with a volume of 3,896 shares trading hands.

Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. Stock Up 0.2 %

The businesss 50 day moving average price is $5.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $445.04 million, a PE ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 1.25.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. (NYSE:CPAC  Get Rating) by 6.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 98,674 shares of the construction companys stock after acquiring an additional 5,935 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LPs holdings in Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. were worth $670,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lowes Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,212 shares of the home improvement retailers stock, valued at approximately $1,835,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LOW. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Lowes Companies by 7,952.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Lowes Companies by 2,072.5% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,078,468 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $218,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,827 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Lowes Companies by 13.0% in the 3rd 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. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lowes Companies by 209.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,219,542 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $246,579,000 after purchasing an additional 824,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Lowes Companies by 176.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 925,087 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $173,738,000 after buying an additional 590,013 shares in the last quarter. 72.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LOW. Barclays started coverage on shares of Lowes Companies in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. They set an equal weight rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Lowes Companies in a report on Monday, February 13th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Lowes Companies from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Roth Capital reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Lowes Companies in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Lowes Companies from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $223.85.

Insider Activity

Lowes Companies Stock Performance

In related news, EVP Donald Frieson sold 9,411 shares of Lowes Companies stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,888 shares in the company, valued at $3,523,936. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Company insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock.

Shares of LOW stock traded up $1.77 on Thursday, hitting $210.60. The stock had a trading volume of 842,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,980,392. The stocks 50 day moving average is $201.05 and its 200-day moving average is $201.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.09. Lowes Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $170.12 and a 52-week high of $223.31.

Lowes Companies (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Lowes Companies had a net margin of 6.63% and a negative return on equity of 82.30%. The company had revenue of $22.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $22.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Lowes Companies, Inc. will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Lowes Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be given a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 25th. Lowes Companiess payout ratio is 41.96%.

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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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LOW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lowes Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating).

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Enerplus Co. (NYSE:ERF  Get Rating) (TSE:ERF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,640,000 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the March 15th total of 2,940,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the companys stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,170,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Enerplus from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, March 25th. Barclays upgraded shares of Enerplus from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Enerplus from C$26.00 to C$25.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Enerplus has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $24.75.

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Enerplus Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ERF traded down $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $14.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,419,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,734. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 2.18. Enerplus has a 1-year low of $11.00 and a 1-year high of $19.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Enerplus Increases Dividend

Enerplus ( NYSE:ERF Get Rating ) (TSE:ERF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.78. The business had revenue of $548.70 million during the quarter. Enerplus had a net margin of 37.93% and a return on equity of 85.10%. Analysts expect that Enerplus will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 6th were paid a $0.111 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. This is an increase from Enerpluss previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Enerpluss dividend payout ratio is currently 5.74%.

Institutional Trading of Enerplus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,296,902 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $105,372,000 after buying an additional 169,917 shares in the last quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC now owns 7,691,041 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $108,982,000 after buying an additional 338,325 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 60.5% during the 3rd quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,108,144 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $72,332,000 after buying an additional 1,925,908 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,532,118 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $63,779,000 after purchasing an additional 273,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Research Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Enerplus by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 3,506,191 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock worth $61,884,000 after purchasing an additional 101,538 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.01% of the companys stock.

Enerplus Company Profile

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Enerplus Corp. engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It conducts operations in Willston Basin, Marcellus Shale, and Canadian Waterfloods. The firm holds interests in North Dakota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG  Get Rating) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,419 shares of the energy exploration companys stock after buying an additional 1,856 shares during the period. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in EOG Resources were worth $5,753,000 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 EOG. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of EOG Resources by 16.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 16,031 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $1,911,000 after buying an additional 2,213 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new position in shares of EOG Resources during the first quarter worth $404,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of EOG Resources during the first quarter worth $278,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in shares of EOG Resources by 237.7% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,155 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 813 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of EOG Resources by 23.7% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 662 shares of the energy exploration companys stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. 87.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James decreased their target price on EOG Resources from $171.00 to $140.00 in a report on Monday, March 27th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on EOG Resources in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on EOG Resources from $167.00 to $158.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on EOG Resources from $164.00 to $141.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on EOG Resources from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $149.96.

EOG Resources Stock Performance

Shares of EOG traded down $1.51 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $117.29. 443,653 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,775,361. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $116.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.71. EOG Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.16 and a twelve month high of $150.88. The company has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.53.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The energy exploration company reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.31 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.09 billion. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 34.95% and a net margin of 30.19%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. EOG Resourcess dividend payout ratio is presently 24.98%.

EOG Resources Profile

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EOG Resources, Inc engages in the exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil and natural gas. It operates through the United States, Trinidad & Tobago, and Other International segments. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lowes Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,676 shares of the home improvement retailers stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.s holdings in Lowes Companies were worth $732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LOW. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Lowes Companies by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. now owns 10,374,801 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $1,948,491,000 after buying an additional 167,495 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Lowes Companies by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,916,354 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $1,486,770,000 after buying an additional 912,518 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lowes Companies by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,463,854 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $650,546,000 after buying an additional 160,651 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia grew its stake in shares of Lowes Companies by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 2,071,408 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $389,031,000 after buying an additional 58,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Lowes Companies by 7,952.8% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,586,400 shares of the home improvement retailers stock worth $320,754,000 after buying an additional 1,566,700 shares in the last quarter. 72.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Lowes Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:LOW traded up $1.22 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $210.05. 441,735 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,974,071. Lowes Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $170.12 and a 12-month high of $223.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $201.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.27 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.09.

Lowes Companies Announces Dividend

Lowes Companies ( NYSE:LOW Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.07. Lowes Companies had a net margin of 6.63% and a negative return on equity of 82.30%. The company had revenue of $22.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $22.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. Lowes Companiess revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Lowes Companies, Inc. will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid 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 2.00%. Lowes Companiess payout ratio is 41.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lowes Companies

In other Lowes Companies news, EVP Donald Frieson sold 9,411 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,523,936. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Lowes Companies from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lowes Companies from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Lowes Companies from $230.00 to $210.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Lowes Companies from $300.00 to $275.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Lowes Companies from $258.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fifteen 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 target price of $223.85.

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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Buying a low-cost index fund will get you the average market return. But across the board there are plenty of stocks that underperform the market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK) share price is up 27% in the last three years, that falls short of the market return. Zooming in, the stock is actually down 3.8% in the last year.

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 3 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for Bank of New York Mellon

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

During the three years of share price growth, Bank of New York Mellon actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) drop 11% per year.

So we doubt that the market is looking to EPS for its main judge of the company's value. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

Do you think that shareholders are buying for the 0.6% per annum revenue growth trend? We don't. While we don't have an obvious theory to explain the share price rise, a closer look at the data might be enlightening.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Bank of New York Mellon 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

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Bank of New York Mellon the TSR over the last 3 years was 40%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

Story continues

A Different Perspective

While it's never nice to take a loss, Bank of New York Mellon shareholders can take comfort that , including dividends,their trailing twelve month loss of 0.6% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 7.3%. Of far more concern is the 1.2% p.a. loss served to shareholders over the last five years. While the losses are slowing we doubt many shareholders are happy with the stock. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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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Fleming College held a summit on Thursday on how to build a better Peterborough  one where ideas were discussed such as rethinking the municipal ward system, making city council a full-time job with full-time pay and lowering the voting age to 16.

There was no debating or partisanship at the summit, which was called Ignite: the Electric City  it was all blue-sky discussion.

Today is not a political event, Fleming president Maureen Adamson declared in her opening remarks.

Adamson described the summit as a day of bringing thought-leaders together to talk about the innovations and projects theyd like to see in Peterborough.

About 130 people were there for panel discussions and speeches, including Peterborough city council members, architects, city police, health care workers, lawyers and more.

There were also guests from afar, including former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who advised people to do three things for Canada every year  acts of volunteerism or public service.

Shovel the neighbours driveway or start a charity, he said  the size of the gesture doesnt matter.

What matters is service to others, he said.

There were some specific ideas for Peterborough discussed.

Coun. Joy Lachica said on one panel that maybe its time to consider redesigning the model of governance in Peterborough  where theres a ward system  to potentially have councillors-at-large.

Thats working in some cities and municipalities. Maybe we could try to think about that approach, she said.

Coun. Alex Bierk said he thinks Peterborough can rise to any challenge, as long as people have empathy.

I truly believe in this city and I believe in our downtown, he said, on the same panel.

Overall, we need to take care of one another, he continues. Not just the business class, not just the people in this room  we need to take care of one another. And we need to ask ourselves, are we doing that?

Local lawyer Jeff Ayotte pitched an idea during one panel to consider making council jobs full-time.

For years the job of city councillor has been classed as part-time. Councillors earn a little less than $35,000 annually, and most work full-time jobs.

Ayotte said thats demanding of our civic leaders  impossibly so.

Lets give them time (to do council work), he said, and pay them more  perhaps $125,000 for a councillor.

He further proposed that the mayors position pay $300,000 instead the current pay of a bit more than $100,000.

Ayotte  who said hell never run for office  wasnt proposing it for council to decide, he said. An independent committee could be struck to consider it for the next term of office, he said.

Try it for a term, he said: If it doesnt work, change it.

Other ideas: architect Michael Gallant later suggested having a car-share program in Peterborough, so families with one car and two parents could have access to a second vehicle occasionally.

Im looking at you, Jeff, Gallant said to Leal, who was sitting in the front row at the time.

Toronto activist Dave Meslin, the author of Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up, spoke on a panel about how no one recalls what they learned about municipal affairs in school.

We should teach civics better, he said.

He also suggested the voting age be lowered to 16, saying teens who are living at home with their parents are more likely to vote than they are at age 18 when theyre on their own at college.

And if a person votes in the first election theyre eligible, he said, theyre more likely to be voters at every election for life.

Peterborough city council would lead the way, Meslin said, by petitioning for the voting age to be decreased to 16.

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A proposal to remove a pledge of allegiance to King Charles III or give municipalities the choice to nix the statement as part of councillors oath of office was voted down at Peterborough County councils regular meeting Wednesday  sparking a debate that divided members on the British monarchys current place and relevance in municipal politics.

Last month, council supported a resolution from the Municipality of Trent Lakes, asking the province to include an acknowledgment of the rights of the First Nations, Inuit and Metis people of Canada. The amendment would see new council members recognize Indigenous rights during swearing in ceremonies.

At the same time, Coun. Joe Taylor, mayor of Otonabee-South Monaghan Township, suggested making further amendments to the oath. He proposed removing the pledge of allegiance to King Charles III  or to give municipalities the option of withdrawing the statement. Taylors suggestion was not approved. Council instead asked staff to craft a report on the proposition.

On Wednesday, the report was brought back to council, and Taylor revisited his desire to make a formal request to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

I believe that the time has come to ask the provincial government to remove allegiance to King Charles III in our oath of office. At the very least, I think they should give us the choice, said Taylor. When I start out the term of office and I raise my hand and I swear to something that I dont really believe in, Im not off to a really good start, said Taylor.

I dont believe its any longer relevant to be giving allegiance to King Charles III in the oath of office, he continued, stressing he means no disrespect to the British monarchy. I just dont think it has any place in our goal in municipal government in the province of Ontario. I think its time.

Coun. Carolyn Amyotte, deputy mayor of North Kawartha, was among council members who voiced their support for Taylors proposal.

I certainly agree. I think its inappropriate. I think it does make sense and I certainly support (Taylors) suggestion to put this forward to make a change or give us an option that we could do something that personally makes sense and is honourable and appropriate, Amyotte told council.

Coun. Lori Burtt, deputy mayor of Asphodel-Norwood Township, echoed those sentiments.

When I took my oath last term, I was really surprised that we did an oath, at the time, to the Queen, she said. Quite frankly, when I make decisions, I make decisions based on our citizens and I make decisions based on the province and our country. So I did, as well, find it uncomfortable to make an oath to the Queen at the time.

I think just being aware of it and having an option and really thinking about it in terms of Reconciliation. I think this is a little step forward on that, she added.

Deputy Warden Sherry Senis, mayor of Selwyn Township, however, spoke out against Taylors proposal to explore amending the oath.

I am not in support of this, Senis said, adding that council faces a host of more weighty issues. We are still members of the Commonwealth, and weve already taken our oaths so we would be making this decision for the next (council) and I dont feel its our place at this time and Im in support of keeping the status quo.

Senis called for a vote on Taylors motion to send a request to the ministry. The motion was ultimately struck down, with 10 members voting no and six voting yes, meaning a request to the ministry will not be made.

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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I am writing to bring attention to the alarming number of discarded needles that are littering the train bridge and Little Lake in our city. It is becoming increasingly concerning that people are not taking the proper precautions when dealing with these needles. I urge people to invest in needle proof gloves if they are picking up garbage. Using pickers instead of your hands is also advisable. If you do not have gloves, I strongly suggest investing in some!

I encourage that all council members walk the bridge to see for themselves just what I am talking about. Have a look around, they'll see them too.

Recently, I saw a new Canadian family who had their little kids frolic in the warmth of summerlike weather, barefoot. I had to raise my voice at them to stop as they had no clue how riddled that grass is with discarded needles.

It is not only alarming but also deeply concerning that these needles are being left in such areas where people and especially children can get hurt.

I implore the authorities to take urgent action and put in place measures to ensure that these needles are disposed of safely and that people are educated about the risks associated with them. It is important to protect our community's health and safety.

However, it is important to note that the issue of addiction in our community needs to be addressed as well. Methadone is a terrible system for curing addiction, and we need more resources to help those struggling with addiction.

We have a safe injection site, but no needle exchange programs, no open detox or rehab facilities at all, and none in the works. There is no enforcement, police presence, or direction to deter people from shooting up in public, in parks, or in the downtown core.

Adding more needle drop boxes will not solve the problem. Perhaps the city needs a dedicated cleanup crew to specifically address these hot spots.

Jim Reedyk, Parkhill Road West

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REGINA - Canadas only rare earths mining company is pausing all construction at its Saskatoon processing facility.

Vital Metals said in a news release Wednesday the pause will allow the company to conserve cash and seek other sources of funding to potentially build a sustainable business model for the facility.

The company had planned to complete a calcine circuit that would produce an intermediate rare earths oxide product for potential sale to a third party, but it said it has been unable to secure such sales on commercially satisfactory terms.

It said a review of the economic viability of mining and processing ore at North T, a deposit in the Northwest Territories, has indicated the scale of operations and associated unit operating costs will not achieve positive cashflow from the project.

The company said it intends to retain Saskatoon employees as it conducts a strategic review, which is expected to take three months.

Prior to pausing construction, Vital Metals had deferred plans to complete circuits that dealt with rare earth hydrometallurgical leaching, purification and precipitation.

The company has spent roughly $19.7 million on the Saskatoon facility, which is half built.

Richard Crookes, Vitals interim chairman, said the company has been experiencing increased costs and low rare earth prices.

He added the company has been unable to find an immediate market for the products.

There is no economic imperative to complete this demonstration project at the current time; however the Saskatoon processing facility can provide valuable intermediate processing capacity for a downstream rare earth hub in Saskatchewan, Crookes said in the news release.

North America needs independent downstream processing to further enable the transition to the green economy and Vital is looking forward to working with like-minded parties to deliver a completed project.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau toured the plant in January to promote critical minerals as being key for clean energy technologies.

While pausing the construction raises questions about the future of critical minerals in Saskatchewan, some remain optimistic.

Wanda Nyirfa, vice-president of external relations at the Saskatchewan Research Council, said while shes disappointed to see construction paused, she believes Saskatchewan remains a good place to invest in critical minerals.

The Saskatchewan Research Council is a provincial Crown corporation that focuses on research and technology development.

It is currently building a rare earth process facility that aims to help spur the sector by being part of an early-stage supply chain.

We have companies, industry and governments from around the world who are engaging with us. This supply chain is something thats unique and is going to be critical going forward in the rare earths industry globally, Nyirfa said.

Earlier this year, Saskatchewan released a critical minerals strategy that aims to double production by 2030.

The federal government has promoted critical minerals as being essential for moving toward a greener and more digitally focused economy. Ottawa has said producing more of them at home would also help avoid supply-chain disruptions.

Critical minerals include lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, zinc and rare earth elements. They are used for batteries, solar panels, computer chips and electrical transmission lines.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Prosecutors in New Mexico plan to drop an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film  Rust, Baldwins attorneys said Thursday.

We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident, Baldwins attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.

When word of the dismissal came, Baldwin was at Yellowstone Film Ranch on the set of a rebooted Rust production. Filming was to resume Thursday at its new location in Montana, 18 months after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins shut it down, a representative for Rust Movie Productions said.

Baldwin and the films weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were both charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting.

Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun when off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said the gun went off accidentally and that he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled.

Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe district attorneys office, declined to comment on the status of the criminal charge against Baldwin when reached by telephone Thursday.

It wasnt immediately clear whether charges could be refiled, nor whether the charge would also be dropped against Gutierrez-Reed.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorneys said that they fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated.

The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered, the lawyers, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion, said in a statement.

The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence had already been dismissed, and the first special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.

The charges against Baldwin had marked a stunning fall for an A-list actor whose 40-year career included the early blockbuster The Hunt for Red October and a starring role in the sitcom 30 Rock, as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorseses The Departed and a film adaptation of David Mamets Glengary Glen Ross. In recent years, he was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

The 65-year-old worked little since the shooting but hardly went into hiding. He stayed active on social media, making Instagram videos and posting picture of his wife and seven children.

Rust safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest in March to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months of probation.

Plans to resume filming were outlined last year by the cinematographers widower Matthew Hutchins in a proposed settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit that would make him an executive producer. Souza has said he will return to directing Rust production to honor the legacy of Halyna Hutchins.

Despite the settlement, attorneys for the Hutchins family said they welcomed the criminal charges against Baldwin when they were filed. They had no immediate comment on the pending dismissal Thursday.

After a scathing safety review by regulators in New Mexico that detailed ignored complaints and misfires before Hutchins death in October of 2021, the production company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Baldwin had yet to even travel to New Mexico for a court appearance, and none had been required of him under state law. Evidentiary hearings had been scheduled for next month to determine whether to proceed toward trial.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies had said previously that her office is pursuing justice in the death of Hutchins and wants to show that no one is above the law when it comes to firearms and public safety. She says the Ukrainian-born cinematographers death was tragic and preventable.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed.

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Ever feel a twinge of envy when a friend posts a shot from their bucket-list vacation?

Or a slight sting when you feel like your career is stalled and a colleague gets your dream job?

Youre not the only one. If you were, that 1990s Morrissey song We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful would never have been so successful.

But, as common as these feelings may be, not everyone can relate to them.

It truly makes me happy when other people are happy, said Sarah Parniak, a Toronto account manager who says she doesnt have a lot of time for jealousy. I love celebrating people. I love it when people feel good, because it makes me feel good.

Parniak said shes never thought very much about this aspect of her personality. A few months ago, though, she saw a reference to something called freudenfreude (a German word that means cultivating joy for other peoples success) and realized the sentiment doesnt come naturally to everyone.

I was really happy when I realized there was a word for it, said Parniak. Now that I know its a concept, I want to more actively put it into my daily life.

Freudenfreude is a neologism, meant to indicate the opposite of schadenfreude: experiencing joy from other peoples misfortunes. Freudenfreude appears to have been coined by social scientists a little over a decade ago, in the context of research into the link between schadenfreude and depression, but its only recently seeped into the public discourse.

While freudenfreude may be a new word, its not a new idea.

In psychology, some people use the term positive empathy, empathic happiness or sympathetic joy, explained Greg Depow, a PhD candidate in the University of Torontos department of psychology.

There is also mudita, a Sanskrit word that translates as sympathetic joy and is one of the four sublime states in Buddhist practice.

I think of positive empathy as a term with a short history but a long past, said Depow.

Even though its short on history, Dr. Jud Brewer, a neuroscientist and director of research at Brown Universitys Mindfulness Center, says sympathetic joy is likely good for us based on its similarity to mindfulness exercises that are designed to help people cope with anxiety and depression. One such exercise is called loving-kindness, a meditation in which you express goodwill toward others, with thoughts like may you be happy directed at friends, strangers and even the people who are currently making your life difficult.

Practising loving kindness is about the experience of expansion, because were not turning away, closing down and protecting ourselves, explained Brewer. Sympathetic joy falls into the category of an experience thats connecting and energizing us.

The theory is that these experiences have an effect on the default mode network, the system in the brain thats active when were on autopilot. Since it organizes memories and helps us maintain a sense of self, its a crucial part of the brain. When that network starts to become overactive, however, we can get stuck in thought grooves, or become overwhelmed by noisy brain ruminations and anxieties that can be hard to control.

Mindfulness practice has been shown to deactivate the default mode network. These exercises can help bring us back to the real world and get us out of our heads.

Do you ever wonder why its so hard to stop scrolling Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? That restless itch to see whats next? Struggling with wanting to get all of the information you need? That itch is curiosity. But not all curiosity is created equal, and by understanding how curiosity works, you can use it to change habits and feel better  at any time.

This is all good news, since it suggests that we can train ourselves to be more like Sarah Parniak. At the University of Toronto, Depow is working on research to see if people can retrain their emotional responses to social media  a medium that, for some, can trigger a lot of envy.

Instead of sharing in a friends joy when they post positive things, people tend to make comparisons toward themselves and feel badly as a result, said Depow. Instead, if they can bounce that off a feeling of self-compassion and realize this doesnt necessarily mean anything about their own lives, they can redirect their focus to sharing positive emotions and being happy that their friend is happy.

Joy has been neglected, not only in terms of our life experience, but also by the research community, said Gordon Flett, Canada Research Chair in personality and health and professor at York University.

Its especially important, said Flett, because research suggests empathy in Western cultures in on the wane.

In individualistic cultures, we dont have as much empathy for others as we should, he said. Collective joy is a great differentiator of communities where theres a sense of pulling together, as opposed to us versus them.

Reforming these tendencies may seem like a gargantuan task, but Brewer said that, on an individual level, we mostly just need to get out of own way and start to pay attention to how emotions make us feel. Hating our friends success makes most of us feel worse instead of better.

Vicarious joy, on the other hand, feels, well, joyful. And the more we realize that, the more well just naturally seek it out.

Easy  once you know how.

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Voyager Digital Holdings has reportedly reached an agreement with the U.S. federal government to proceed with a $1 billion plan to sell its assets to the American arm of the crypto exchange Binance.

The news was shared by the Voyager Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) on Wednesday.

Voyager, the UCC, and the Government reached a resolution that will allow the Plan to move forward and go effective shortly, the UCC said in a Twitter thread.

According to the Committee, the resolution is embodied in a joint stipulation providing that the appeals will continue with respect to the Plans exculpation provision, with the government agreeing that the Binance.US acquisition of Voyagers assets may move forward without such provision and will not otherwise be subject to the stay.

2/ The resolution is embodied in a joint stipulation providing that the appeals will continue with respect to the Plans exculpation provision. The Government has agreed that the Plan may move forward without such provision and will not otherwise be subject to the stay.  Voyager Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (@VoyagerUCC) April 19, 2023

The Committee added that together with Voyager it is seeking to help Binance.US to move forward as quickly as possible once this stipulation is approved by the District Court.

Decrypt has reached out to Binance.US for comments and will update this article should we hear back.

Voyagers arduous path to reimbursing investors

The approval comes three weeks after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York temporarily halted a previously reached agreement that would see Binance.US pay $20 million in cash to Voyager, and take on crypto assets deposited by the firm's customers.

Voyager filed for bankruptcy last July after disclosing significant exposure to the failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and has been actively working on a plan to redistribute funds to its investors since then.

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The firm reached an agreement with FTX for the exchange to purchase its distressed assets in September 2022, however, the deal was taken off the table after FTX declared bankruptcy on its own, and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was charged with multiple financial crimes.

In December 2022, after the purported deal with FTX fell through, Voyager revealed that Binance.US had made the highest and best offer for its distressed assets, with the approximate value of the deal of $1.022 billion.

A February court filing showed that 97% of the 61,300 account holders of Voyager supported the agreement with Binance.US, yet regulators including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have raised concerns about the deal.

CFTC Lawsuit Won't Affect Binance's Acquisition of Voyager, Experts Say

The SEC has launched an investigation into whether Voyager violated federal securities laws and failed to adequately explain how it will safeguard customer assets after the transfer to Binance.US. The FTC has meanwhile alleged that the deal would unlawfully shield Voyager from accountability for "actual fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence."

In a separate filing, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYFDS) said Voyager onboarded customers in the state of New York and thus illegally operated a virtual currency business in the state without a license.

Aside from the above, Binance.US itself is facing regulatory hurdles that could possibly impact the exchange's ability to finalize the deal.
Its an open secret that Ontario now makes excellent wine. But some of the best bottles never land on shelf at the LCBO. You can only buy them from the wineries directly, which these days is just a click away. So, heres your insiders guide to what to snap up now  before these top drops sell out.

2019 Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling VQA Vinemount Ridge, made in association with Stratus ($39, stratuswines.com)

One of the best Rieslings Ive tasted this year is the 2019 Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling VQA Vinemount Ridge, made in association with Stratus ($39, stratuswines.com). This off-dry thriller is just a gem because it will appeal to everyone in the room  from the casual wine drinker looking for something bright and fruit-driven to the connoisseur who pines for purity, subtlety and finesse.

Each sip starts with effusive aromas of sliced key lime, sweet peach and elderflower before drenching the palate with a lick of lime sorbet laced with lush stone fruit and allusions of sun-parched clay, petrol and salt. Beautifully pristine and balanced wine with a crisp, crystalline character and a long finish. Makes fabulousness look easy. Score: 96

The 2018 vintage of the Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling is at the LCBO, but the 2019 being recommended here is a winery exclusive. Serve it with someone special and a plate of Gruyere, Gouda and ash-ripened goat cheese drizzled with honey and topped with chopped walnuts.

2020 Bachelder Wismer-Foxtrot Nord Chardonnay VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($55, bachelderniagara.com)

For a sublime dry white, theres the 2020 Bachelder Wismer-Foxtrot Nord Chardonnay VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($55, bachelderniagara.com). Every swirl of this sunlit Chardonnay releases scents of marzipan, orange zest and poached pear before streaming in with lit-cool-creamy vinosity. Candied almonds and mixed citrus flavours beam in, arc and recede slowly before leaving behind that tantalizing taste of salt and stone as well as a final twist of grapefruit zest. This full-bodied, bone-dry white persists for ages before tempting you back for the next sip. Score: 94

Pour this bottle with wild salmon with a white wine cream sauce  made with a splash of this Ontario Chardonnay.

2022 Malivoire Rose Moira, VQA Beamsville Bench ($24.95, malivoire.com)

Rose lovers will want to taste the 2022 Malivoire Rose Moira, VQA Beamsville Bench ($24.95, malivoire.com), which is pale silvery ballet-slipper pink  an evocative foreshadowing of the elegance to come. Then it dances in with lean and lively poise. Made from Pinot Noir, it seems to pirouette across the palate leaving shimmering allusions of roses, red currant and strawberry-rhubarb in its wake. The flavours of this dry, light-bodied rose are coy, delicate and enchanting. Outstanding value here. Score: 93

Splash it in your glass and sip it in the sunshine with a handful of freshly roasted, salted cashews hot from the oven.

2020 Leaning Post Pinot Noir Bock Vineyard, VQA St. Davids Bench ($50, leaningpostwines.com)

The 2020 Leaning Post Pinot Noir Bock Vineyard, VQA St. Davids Bench ($50, leaningpostwines.com) is a gorgeous red youll want to get your hands on. It draws you in immediately with the fragrance of Grandmas bumbleberry pie, freshly-baked, before flooding in with more of the same  baked black forest fruit and height-of-summer strawberries as well as toasted pastry and a touch of windswept wildflowers. Each sip tapers to a slow roasted beetroot finish creating an earthy depth. Just a delight. Score: 93

This wine pairs particularly well with crackling roast pork, wild mushroom risotto or a plate of charcuterie.

2020 Tawse Robyns Block Chardonnay VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($46.95, tawsewinery.ca)

Also excellent with wild mushroom risotto  or homemade fettuccine with a mushroom cream sauce is the 2020 Tawse Robyns Block Chardonnay VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($46.95, tawsewinery.ca). Each glassful teems with scents of lemon cream and crushed limestone before sliding in slick, glassy and cool. Wonderful mid-palate stuffing suggests homemade lemon curd and baked, caramelized apple sprinkled with crushed pralines. The dry, cascading complexity charms the senses. Despite the lean 12.5 per cent alcohol, the wine tastes generous and weighty due to the density of fruit. Great tension too. Score: 91

While its true that many of the best bottles never land on shelf at the LCBO, some do. And the next wine is available at the local liquor giant  albeit in limited quantities.

2020 Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($49.95 in Vintages, leclosjordanne.com)

The 2020 Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($49.95 in Vintages, leclosjordanne.com) is a real treat. The fragrance calls to mind nougat, almond paste and candied orange zest as well as whipped buttercream. The scent is subtle and just sublime  you could nose this wine all day. Then, it slips in with creamy-toasty baked-apple goodness stitched with gingerbread, vanilla bean and almond before tapering to a long, salted grapefruit zest finish. A cerebral wine that tastes complete. Score: 95

For this special bottle, consider grilling lobster tails and serving them with beurre blanc for dunking. Just the thing.

While these wines arent inexpensive, they all offer good value compared to bottles of a similar standard from elsewhere. Theyre world class selections you can be proud to pour not just because theyre local. But because theyre liquid art.

Carolyn Evans Hammond is a Toronto-based wine writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Wineries occasionally sponsor segments on her YouTube series yet they have no role in the selection of the wines she chooses to review or her opinions of those wines. All prices are subject to change. Please drink responsibly. Reach her via email: carolyn@carolynevanshammond.com

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Q My cousins girlfriend is always stirring the pot. She makes things up about me and my sister, and tells my cousin, who believes her. We have no idea of what shes said until our cousin says something so out of character that we then ask whats going on. Then were told some incredulous lie with absolutely no basis in reality.

We then have to convince our cousin of our innocence, which ultimately throws his girlfriend under the bus. He likes her a lot and this throws him into a tailspin of confusion.

What is going on and how do we stop this vicious cycle? Its happened three times now.

Confused cousins

A The girlfriend sounds like she is trying to come between you, your sister, and your cousin. But only she knows why. Its juvenile and will end badly.

You and your sister need to talk to your cousin, alone. Lay it out for him, describing all three instances of lying and the outcome. Let him figure it out for himself.

However, if he really likes her, then tell him that you and your sister will always be there for him as family, but youll both be distancing from him and his girlfriend. Dont get involved in her stories. Just walk away.

Q On Easter weekend, Im planning on having all my grandchildren over for a family brunch. Im a part-time working widow, but I make my own schedule so I took a few days off to cook, clean and prepare the house. I bought lots of chocolate, baked cakes and cookies, and Ive bought a roast beef.

I was feeling very pleased with myself and looking so forward to the afternoon. And then . my daughter just called and told me they wont be coming over. She has two children. Her husband has a cousin visiting from overseas and they want to take him into the country. I extended the invitation to include the cousin, tried to ask if they could go after our lunch, but to no avail.

And then my son called and told me he and his husband wouldnt be joining us either. They have one child. Something to do with a concert. I didnt get the details.

Now my other daughter is upset because her kids wont have any of their cousins, and itll just be her family and me. She wants to cancel. This is so upsetting to me!

Easter disaster

A Im sorry this is coming out after the holiday (Note: I spoke with this letter writer privately and we found a solution), but hopefully this will help in the future. Theres a saying, Man plans and God laughs. We can only do our best. We cant control other people.

Its a shame that your son-in-law couldnt figure out a way to incorporate his cousin into your family gathering and show him the countryside. As for your son, assuming he knew about your brunch plans, choosing to instead go to a concert wasnt a nice thing to do.

Since you already have loads of food and chocolate, why not ask your daughter to invite another family, or each child brings a friend? Im a more the merrier kind of person, so thats what I would suggest.

Next year, make it very clear to your family what your plan is, what youre hoping to accomplish, and invite them. But also, be clear that an RSVP is a commitment and you will be cooking accordingly.

FEEDBACK: Regarding the family constantly late for carpool (March 15):

Reader: As someone diagnosed with ADHD later in life, I was shocked to learn that it could be the reason I was always 10 minutes late for everything.

So, its possible she or her child has this and struggles to get through the steps involved in getting out the door, or staying focused.

Approach the situation gently. Some people try extremely hard and no matter what they do, they just cant. Giving her suggestions on how to be better at being on time will only make things more frustrating for her.

FEEDBACK: Regarding the older women hitting on younger men (March 16):

Reader: Im absolutely appalled at your response to the letter from the young men.

Tell me, would your response be the same if the letter was written by young women with older men hitting on them?

Lisi: Absolutely, yes.

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 - A Montreal university says it will keep a donation that has been linked to an alleged plot by the Chinese government to influence Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but it will now use the money to promote democracy.

The Universite de Montreal said Thursday that it has not been able to confirm the allegations, made by an unnamed national security source in The Globe and Mail, that the donation was part of a political interference operation.

Repaying the money would be difficult and would require the university to convince a Quebec Superior Court judge to void the gift on the basis of some form of defect of consent or impersonation, said Daniel Jutras, the universitys rector.

We really dont have any evidence of that that we could actually bring forward in the court, so I think that avenue is fraught with significant likelihood of failure, Jutras said in an interview Thursday.

In 2016, two Chinese businessmen  Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng  pledged $800,000 to the university.

Most of the money was supposed to be used to create a scholarship fund to help Quebec students study in China and Chinese students study in Quebec, while $50,000 was intended to build a statue of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who studied and taught law at the university before entering politics.

However, media reports have alleged that Zhang was instructed by a Chinese diplomat to make a $1-million donation in honour of Trudeau in an effort to influence his son, the current prime minister. As part of the donation, the businessmen pledged an additional $200,000 to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, which calls itself an independent, non-partisan scholarship organization established in memory of the former prime minister.

The university maintains there was nothing unusual about the donation it received and that it came during a different time in Canada-China relations.

The gift was a very normal gift back in 2016. A couple years before we received that gift, the University of Toronto received the same amount of money, $800,000, from the same people, Jutras said. At the time, he said, universities, corporations and governments were all attempting to strengthen ties with China.

The university said only $550,000 of the promised donation was ever received, and only four scholarships, each worth $10,000, were awarded.

Jutras said few students qualified for the scholarship, which had strict conditions, and there were few applications. In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the type of exchanges funded by the scholarship became impossible. Since the re-establishment of international travel, Jutras said, there has been little interest among the universitys students to engage in research in China.

While preliminary design work was done for the statue, it was never created.

Almost $507,000 remains in the scholarship fund, the university said. Jutras said the university hasnt decided exactly how it will spend the money.

The idea is to reallocate it to support research projects, student scholarships, bursaries, mobility of students and professors under this broad theme of democracy and international relations, he said, adding that specifics will be decided in the coming weeks and months. He said the university has attempted to contact the two donors to inform them of the change of plans but hasnt heard back.

The related pledge of $200,000 to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation led that organizations president and board of directors to resign last week. The foundation, which was launched with an endowment from the federal government, has also asked the federal auditor generals office to investigate the donation.

The university said the Trudeau Foundation became involved after Guy Lefebvre, then vice-rector of international affairs, asked the foundation for the right to use Trudeaus name and image.

That $200,000 was supposed to be used for conferences and public activities at the university  which the university says never took place. The foundation has said it only received $140,000 of its donation and it wants to return the money.

The university said Lefebvre, who negotiated the donation and has since retired, has cut all ties with Chinese institutions. Lefebvre had been the co-director of the Sino-Canadian Research Centre at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing and in July 2022 was awarded the Wenlan Scholar Chair Professorship in International Law at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in China.

From my point of view, he was acting as a scholar trying to build connections with China at a time when every university in Canada was seeking to build ties with China, Jutras said, adding that he sees no flaws in Lefebvres negotiations with the two donors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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Haze not affecting tourism, says hotelier

PHUKET: The Deputy Director of Sales at the Royal Phuket City Hotel in the heart of Phuket Town has come forward to say that the haze that has been plaguing Phuket for the past week is not affecting tourism, according to a local government report.

tourismpollutionhealth

By The Phuket News

Thursday 20 April 2023, 09:55AM

Anyaporn Sawangwongseree said that the weather in the Phuket area which has a haze-like sky as experienced in the past two to three years does not affect the tourism aspect of Phuket, said a report posted by Radio Thailand Phuket, which operates under the Public Relations Department.

Especially tourists who come to dine at Twist restaurant located on the 19th floor of the Royal Phuket City Hotel, which offers a panoramic view of Phuket city, while watching the sunset in the evening as well as enjoying the natural atmosphere of Phuket Town, and both city and sea views, the government report quoted her as saying.

Apparently, from talking to customers who are both Thai and foreign tourists who come to use the hotel restaurant, there was no concern or doubt about the weather conditions in any way, the report, posted late yesterday (Apr 19) continued.

And we can see that it is normal for the weather to change from summer to rainy season. It is not caused by dust or PM 2.5. People still go about their lives as normal and a lot come to use the service at the hotel every evening into the night, Ms Anyaporn said.

In a section of text that was not clear whether it was Ms Anyaporn talking or the government officials understanding of the situation, the report said, According to data from the Air4Thai application, the situation and air quality in the Talad Yai Subdistrict area [in Phuket Town] reports for Apr 19 show particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in size (PM2.5) with a value of 37 micrograms per cubic meter. It is good air quality criteria and people can do outdoor activities and travel normally.

People can accurately check the air quality, which is the actual data of the area, at the Air4Thai application because there is an air quality measurement station located in the actual area not a prediction Therefore, it is correct information, said the government report.

Unfortunately for Ms Anyaporn, the photos taken to accompany the report showed an empty restaurant during the day with clear views of haze over the town.

Further, regarding the reliability of the Thai government-regulated Air4Thai air quality monitoring app, the Phuket Info Center, which operates under Phuket branch of the Ministry of Interior, earlier this week itself said it was reporting the situation using the Swiss-based IQAir platform as it showed results more consistent with the actual situation in Phuket.

The report also made no mention of any effect the haze has had on short-term advance bookings. Local tourism officials have remained silent on that also, choosing instead to focus on the longer term when Chinese tourists are expected to return in greater number in the months coming.
Phuket selects Outstanding Woman of the Year

PHUKET: Authorities have revealed their selection for Outstanding Woman of the Year from Phuket province, it was confirmed today.

culturecharity

By The Phuket News

Thursday 20 April 2023, 02:27PM

Pranee Manachit, 78, from Talat Nuea will receive a plaque of honour from the National Womens Association Council under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen as part of national celebrations for National Womens Day in Bangkok on Aug 1.

Mrs Pranees selection was revealed at a meeting conducted at Provincial Hall this morning, presided over by Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan and representatives of the Phuket Womens Association. Mrs Pranee was selected from a short-list of six candidates overall.

Mr Amnuay explained the criteria and qualifications required in order for a candidate to be selected, that were assessed by him and the members of the Phuket Womens Association, namely:

1. The candidate has to be a Thai woman aged 40 and above that the board consider as demonstrating good conduct, diligence and honesty who is considered a role model within their family and the wider community

2. The candidate has demonstrated effective and consistent application to helping develop their local community to create a positive image

3. The candidate has, or still does, demonstrate a successful career in a role that has benefited the local community

4. The candidate has demonstrated leadership qualities that are respected by residents of the local community

5. The candidate has demostrated an ability to promote Thainess whereby she has promoted, supported and preserved local arts and culture

6. The candidate must have been domicialed as a resident in their province for at least one year

7. The candidate has never been nominated for the honour previously

Mr Amnuay revealed that Mrs Pranee was proposed by the Phuket Womens Association as she successfully meets all the criteria, emphasising that she has demonstrated excellent leadership and personality skills by conducting various volunteer projects that have earned the trust of residents in the local community.

Additionally, she operates a hugely popular and successful YouTube channel called Jee Pek Song Mae and Son Kuo Krua which has over 100,000 followers and has received over 50 million views, Mr Amnuay said. Mrs Pranees channel has also received an official shield of recognition from YouTube for its popularity, he added.
Smog coming from the North, says PSU professor

PHUKET: A professor at the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Faculty of Science has pointed out that PM2.5 in the haze that has been blanketing Southern Thailand for the past week has come from the north of the country.

weatherpollutionhealthtourism

By The Phuket News

Thursday 20 April 2023, 10:51AM

Image: PSU

The clarification came through an announcement by the Faculty of Science at PSU Hat Yai, in Songkhla province, the main campus and research facility for PSU in the country.

The Phuket Info Center, operated under the Phuket office of the Ministry of Interior, relayed the announcement this morning (Apr 20).

The clarification was made in response to growing claims online that incorrectly asserted that the smog was coming from Indonesia, said the announcement.

Asst Prof Dr Helmut Josef Durrast, Physics Program Lecturer at the PSU Faculty of Science, said he had monitored satellite images of the haze caused by agriculture and forest fires, which he said are the sources of smog in Thailand and other regions.

It was found that the current PM2.5 smog situation in Southern Thailand was influenced by the burning of agricultural and forestry areas in the north and northwestern regions of Southeast Asia, including Thailand and neighboring countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

If the smog were from Indonesia, this could only be caused by the southwest monsoon winds, but there is no southwest monsoon at present, Prof Durrast said.

Additionally, satellite images show that smog covers most of the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Thailand, which is the border between the northeast and southwest monsoon winds.

The wind is not blowing strong. So it is expected that the southern area will still experience haze for a while, he said.

Some news agencies have published comments about the haze situation in Betong District, Yala Province, claiming that it is caused by Indonesia, which is not true. There are only a few fires there at this time, Prof Durrast continued.

The PM 2.5 smog situation will continue until the wind and rain change, especially the change in the southwest monsoon winds will cause stronger winds and a little bit of rain, he said.

Of note, the post indicated people to follow https://www.iqair.com/th/thailand or https://aqicn.org to monitor the air quality situation, not the Thai-government regulated Air4Thai app.

It is recommended that during this period, people in the area are asked to refrain from activities that cause PM 2.5, such as burning agricultural scraps, forestry materials or garbage in the open air. In addition, it is recommended to wear a mask for safety from PM 2.5 and COVID-19, Prof Durrast concluded.
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - In Bloom: Flowers and Footwear opens at the Bata Shoe Museum today, Thursday, April 20, just in time for spring. As one of fashion's most timeless inspirations, representations of flowers have appeared in textiles and footwear throughout history. From spring cherry blossoms as a symbol of new beginnings to the fall-blooming chrysanthemum as an emblem of joy and happiness, each floral motif holds a unique meaning and story. A celebration of how nature has provided meaning and material for shoemaking across both time and place, the exhibition features some of the most beautiful shoes from the museum's collection.

In Bloom: Flowers and Footwear (CNW Group/Bata Shoe Museum)

"Spring is the perfect time to consider and enjoy all of the beautiful florals that have long embellished footwear and fashion around the world," says Elizabeth Semmelhack, Director and Senior Curator, Bata Shoe Museum. "Flowers can be uplifting and calming, providing a sense of wonder and renewal; sentiments that we are all searching for right now."

Both shoe lovers and floral enthusiasts will enjoy this fascinating showcase that pairs each footwear artifact with one or more botanicals. Twenty-five floral and natural material variations are highlighted throughout the exhibition. From hydrangea, peony, iris, and tulip to cork, thistle, and acanthus, visitors will learn about the origin and meaning of each, as well as several interesting facts such as: during World War II, many countries restricted the use of traditional shoemaking materials such as leather and rubber. Shoemakers throughout Europe and North America turned to cork and grass for fashionable women's footwear, including platforms.

The museum is honoured to have collaborated with three Indigenous guest curators including anthropologist Linda Sioui, beadwork artist and curator Paula Menarick, and Camina Weasel Moccasin, curator from the Galt Museum & Archives in Alberta. Each generously shared their expertise on a selection of three floral moccasins, representing a total of 9 pairs in the exhibition.

Story continues

In addition to the exhibition designed by award-winning agency Arc + Co. Design Collective, the Bata Shoe Museum is excited to unveil a new front window installation created by rye florals co. Reflecting the themes of nature, transformation and growth, the installation aims to inspire feelings of beauty and abundance.

Exhibition Highlights

Sandals designed by Yves Saint Laurent in 1986 that make the wearer's feet appear to be wrapped in foliage

Manchu platform shoes with flower pot style pedestals decorated with cherry blossoms from the second half of the 19th century

Hand-painted Air Jordan 1s embellished with peonies by artist Vicky Vuong

An Andrea Pfister mule from the 1980s featuring poppies

Peranakan beaded wedding shoes from the 1920s featuring peonies and butterflies

Infant socks with floral embroidery known as taraebeoseon from Korea, dating to the early 1900s made of cotton

Eighteenth-century shoes made of brocaded silk featuring roses

The Bata Shoe Museum is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The BSM is pleased to offer free general admission every Sunday. Indigenous visitors are always welcome for free.

ABOUT THE BATA SHOE MUSEUM

With a growing international collection of nearly 15,000 shoes and related artifacts, the Bata Shoe Museum showcases 4,500 years of footwear history in four distinctive rotating galleries. Through the creation of its innovative exhibitions, the BSM strives to enlighten and entertain visitors of all ages. For every shoe there's a story.

batashoemuseum.ca

TikTok / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube

@Batashoemuseum

#BSMInBloom

Download Media Kit Here.

For additional high-res images and other press inquiries, please contact:

Sarah Power, Head of Communications & Marketing, Bata Shoe Museum

sarah.power@batashoemuseum.ca

416-979-7799 x 225

BSM_Logo (CNW Group/Bata Shoe Museum)

SOURCE Bata Shoe Museum

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View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2023/20/c3341.html
A business on Cherry Blossom Road in Cambridge is the latest victim of a break and enter theft involving wire.

Waterloo Regional police are now warning businesses after 11 in the region have been targeted since March 29.

The incident on Cherry Blossom occurred on April 13 at approximately 4:15 a.m., when police said unknown suspects allegedly broke into a business and stole more than 20 rolls of industrial wire.

Investigators believe the suspects are operating throughout southern Ontario and have targeted businesses in Waterloo Region, Woodstock, Guelph, York Region, and Durham Region.

Police are encouraging business owners and staff to consider:

 Installing a surveillance/security system, which can be monitored remotely.

 Ensure all currently installed surveillance/security systems are in good working order.

 Installing security film on windows/glass to help prevent easy entry.

 Keep some lighting on inside for surveillance opportunities during the overnight hours.

 Install latch guards on all doors to protect against prying.

 Report suspicious persons or vehicles observed during operating hours to police.

The investigation into these break and enters is ongoing and anyone with information can call police at 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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A 34-year-old Cambridge man is facing child pornography charges after a three-month investigation by the Waterloo region police's Cybercrime  Internet Child Exploitation unit.

Police said the investigation began in January after they received information from the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre regarding an individual distributing child pornography through various applications.

On April 20, investigators completed a search warrant at a residence in the area of St. Andrews Street and Cedar Street, where they arrested the man and charged him with two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of distribution of child pornography.

The man is scheduled to appear in court on May 24.

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April 22 is Earth Day, a worldwide environmental movement advocating for sustainability and climate action. Reducing food waste is a simple way everyone can participate in Earth Day and can help extend the life of your grocery essentials.

In Canada, food waste is a big problem. According to the National Zero Waste Council, 63 per cent of the food Canadians threw out in 2022 could have been eaten. This is not only a waste of resources and a contributing factor to Canadas greenhouse gas emissions, but its a waste of money too. For the average household, thats like throwing away $1,300 annually. And its especially concerning knowing so much food is being wasted when it could go to people in need.

Reducing food waste is a top priority at the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. We have several initiatives to help us reduce waste and provide our community with healthy and nutritious meals.

In 2018, we opened the Fresh Approaches Food Centre, our award-winning, on-site food processing facility. In this space, staff and volunteers slice, dice and repackage dry, fresh and frozen food, extending the shelf life and increasing the variety, quality and quantity of food distributed to our agency partners through the Community Food Assistance Network. To date, nearly 400,000 pounds of food  that otherwise may have ended up in a landfill  has been processed in the Fresh Approaches Food Centre.

In 2019, we furthered our commitment to reducing food waste by launching our food recovery program: Saving Fresh. Feeding Community. As part of this program, we work with corporate, community and food industry partners to prevent edible, healthy food from being discarded and instead redirected to help the 40,500 people in our community struggling to afford to put food on the table.

We also strive to raise awareness about the difference between expiry and best-before dates.

A best-before date simply indicates how long a product will remain at its best quality and does not determine whether a product is safe to eat or not. In other words, foods with best-before dates may be consumed if the best-before date has passed.

An expiration date is different, as it outlines the last day a product is safe to eat. As such, foods with expiry dates should never be consumed after the expiration date. But knowing the difference between best-before and expiry dates can reduce the amount of food wasted.

Reducing food waste is a community effort. This Earth Day, we invite you to reflect on the amount of food you throw away and whether you or someone else in need could enjoy it.

Kim Wilhelm is the interim CEO of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region.





"This Earth Day, we invite you to reflect on the amount of food you throw away and whether you or someone else in need could enjoy it."  Kim Wilhelm

RELATED STORIES Nutrition Month may end in March, but The Food Bank of Waterloo Region keeps the focus on healthy eating

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KITCHENER  A Kitchener man is facing charges after police say he threatened people with a knife at a downtown business.

On Wednesday at around 1:15 a.m., Waterloo Regional Police were called to a business in the area of King Street West and Ontario Street North for the report of a man with a knife.

No injuries have been reported. The man was arrested without incident once police arrived.

A 45-year-old Kitchener man is charged with assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, failure to comply with judicial release order, and possess break-in instrument.

He was held for a bail hearing.

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CAMBRIDGE  Two Kitchener teens and a youth under 18 are facing a number of charges in connection to ongoing armed robbery investigations.

One of the robberies under investigation happened early in the morning on March 27 at a convenience store on Christopher Drive.

An employee told Waterloo Regional Police a male entered the store, got into an argument with the employee, and then left. Shortly after that, a second male came in and took merchandise while holding up a knife.

The male then fled the area in a black sedan.

On Wednesday, police conducted four searches at three locations around the region. Officers seized items at the three sites, including a replica firearm and three stolen vehicles.

An 18-year-old, a 19-year-old and a male youth under 18  all from Kitchener  were arrested and charged with numerous offences including robbery with a weapon; robbery; break, enter and commit; disguise with intent; use stolen credit card; theft of motor vehicle; possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose; possession of stolen property over $5,000; and break and enter with intent.

The accused young people were held in custody for a bail hearing. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are anticipated, police said.

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WATERLOO REGION  Region of Waterloo councillors got an earful on the police budget and a staffing report at a meeting Wednesday, with two residents saying delaying the public release of the report until after budget approval was egregious and a significant disappointment.

Some councillors expressed their own disappointment that neither police nor the Waterloo Region Police Services Board commented on the report by consultants KPMG when The Record reported about it.

Particularly why this report is something that should have been shared as soon as possible is the chief referred to it extensively, as did other members of the police services board, said Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe.

They referred to it extensively as a report that they relied on while building their budget. ... We shouldnt have had to read about it in the media.

I am disappointed in that, absolutely.

It does question transparency and accountability, Coun. Colleen James said.

Coun. Rob Deutschmann said he was especially concerned about a section of the report about high growth and high crime that said there has been a 59 per cent increase in the number of visible minorities in the community from 2016 to 2021.

He said the chief needs to explain that. Im concerned about it, I know others are concerned about it, he said.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic disagreed. Im not sure if thats comment that the chief of police needs to respond to, because its not the chiefs report, its the consultants report, he said.

Regional Chair Karen Redman, who has declined to be interviewed on the subject, said a comprehensive communication report will be coming to the police board that will address some of the issues raised by councillors. Chief Mark Crowell is expected to come to council before councils summer break, which starts in July.

The fact is consultants bring reports forward and theyre bringing opinions forward, and its something that the WRPS leadership team and the board are analyzing and digesting, Redman said. I would hope that its not just taken at face value.

We are disturbed by the lack of transparency in the WRPS budget process, Janice Jim from GroundUp WR, a local grassroots advocacy group, told regional council.

The report was released in late March after an Access to Information request by The Record.

In it, consultants KPMG noted the force posted annual surpluses in 2019, 2020, and 2021 of $2.1 million, $4.9 million and $2.3 million, mostly related to staffing.

Those annual surpluses could be used to pay for the hiring of new officers, KPMG said. The 2019 surplus was equivalent to about 18 new officers at the 2023 salary, the report noted.

The report was used to bolster the forces 2023 budget request for an increase of $18.3 million and 19 more police officers.

But only members of regional council who sit on the police board  Redman, Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz and Coun. Doug Craig  had access to the full report.

Kitchener resident Kevin White said it was a significant disappointment to learn of the surpluses and KPMGs suggestions, after regional council chose at budget time not to fund small funding requests from community organizations, including less than $40,000 for Porchlight Counselling and Addictions to provide services in Cambridge.

He and Jim asked council to vote to reconsider the police budget.

It is imperative for council to take action, he said.

Redman cautioned Jim to be careful with your words when Jim said the decision of regional council members on the police board not to tell the rest of council about the surpluses and suggestions in the KPMG report was a glaring dereliction of duty.

At the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board meeting earlier Wednesday, the board did not discuss a report that the police 2022 year-end surplus was $284,000, down from a December estimate of $1 million.

The board was told police saved $2.1 million on staffing in 2022 because of vacancies but went over budget $2.5 million in overtime because there werent enough officers to meet demand.

When we have vacancies, unfortunately theres people that have to still come to work to make sure that were providing support to the community, said Kirsten Hand, director of finance for the police.

The year-end financial report presented at the police board said there were 29 fewer officers at the end of 2022 than the approved complement of 818.

The timing of hiring and recruitment challenges were a major issue at budget time, after police estimated they would have a $1-million surplus because the extra officers approved for 2023 wouldnt be hired until later this year.

The service still hasnt hired all of the 35 officers approved for 2022.

Surpluses are put into reserves for capital projects. The 2023 capital budget includes a $6-million capital surplus from 2022.

When regional council was considering the police budget, it was given a five-page summary of the report.

The summary did not include any of the information about surpluses and related recommendations.

Paige Desmond is a Waterloo Region-based reporter focusing on municipal issues for The Record. Reach her via email: pdesmond@therecord.com

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CAMBRIDGE  Cambridge Memorial Hospital will begin phasing out its mask mandate beginning next week.

The decision comes after both Grand River Hospital and St. Marys General Hospital lifted mask mandates in most areas this week, in line with a growing number of hospitals across Ontario.

Both hospitals faced harsh backlash online after announcing the decision, with some commenters worried the decision could lead to future outbreaks and further strains on the health-care system.

The province recently gave hospitals the go-ahead to remove pandemic-related restrictions with the guidance to do so at their own pace and choosing, said Cambridge Memorial spokesperson Stephan Beckhoff. To this end, CMHs first priority was to revert back its visitor restrictions to as it was before the pandemic.

Since 2016, Cambridge Memorial has allowed care partners such as parents or spouses to have all-day access to patients in hospital. The policy came back into effect on April 17 after a long hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hospital also reviewed other pandemic-related policies, said Beckhoff, including universal masking.

After careful consideration, it will begin a phased approach to end universal masking starting on Monday, with masks becoming optional in all public areas of the hospital.

Masks remain mandatory for all staff, physicians and midwives providing direct patient care, said Beckhoff.

There are also some clinical areas and specific instances where masking will be required, he said, such as in cancer care or when patients have respiratory symptoms.

This decision was done with careful consideration to least disrupt CMH personnel, patients and visitors while maintaining our exceptional safety standards, said Beckhoff. The hospital chose to delay to help make for a smoother transition by allowing for added communication, extra staff supports and the removal of existing signage.

The lifting of mask mandates in hospitals marks a substantial milestone in the pandemic.

Most provincial requirements related to public health and workplace safety measures have now been lifted, said Ministry of Health spokesperson Bill Campbell. Long-term care homes and retirement homes are among the only remaining locations where masks remain mandated by the province.

Individual organizations and businesses such as a health-care setting may implement their own policies related to masking with consideration to available and relevant infection prevention and control guidance, he said.

In so doing, they must follow any applicable laws  like the Human Rights Code or Occupational Health and Safety Act  and should obtain independent legal advice should they consider doing so.

Any decision to reintroduce public health measures in Waterloo Region will come from the regional public health unit, said Campbell.

Robert Williams is a Waterloo Region-based reporter for The Record. Reach him via email: robertwilliams@torstar.ca

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The road to a wretched place is often paved with the best of intentions.

Take French immersion in the regions public schools. Its been changed around, for excellent reasons.

Starting in the fall, French immersion students will learn math and science in English instead of in French. Meanwhile music, social studies and drama will be taught in French, instead of English.

Part of the reason for this is that Waterloo Regions students will likely perform better in math if theyre taught math in English, said Crissa Hill, superintendent of student achievement and well-being for the Waterloo Region District School Board.

The Grade 3 and 6 EQAO standardized tests are conducted in English, and thats another good reason to teach math in English, she added in an interview Wednesday.

Cant argue with that. Makes complete sense, doesnt it?

Until you realize what a terrible hit music instruction is going to take as a result of this decision.

Some elementary schools are lucky to have a teacher who is well educated in music and willing to teach it. Not all schools do. There is no requirement that a musically literate teacher be in every school.

But its about to get worse.

If music now has to be taught in French to immersion students, not all the qualified music teachers will have the opportunity to teach it, because not all those teachers are also qualified to teach French.

And with these new restrictions, there is also less flexibility for the principal to schedule this person to teach music  even if he or she is the only adult in the school who knows how.

One teacher I spoke to, who asked not to be named lest there be professional repercussions for her, works in a Waterloo elementary school with a lot of French immersion students.

She used to teach music  including theory, instrumental ensembles and choirs  two periods a week to each class.

But she just got her schedule for next year, and there is very little music instruction on it.

Meanwhile, she hears other teachers, who can teach French but have no background in music, worrying about how theyll manage in the classes that she used to lead with so much ease and joy.

Shes so upset about this, she even considered switching to a school that doesnt have French immersion so she could continue teaching music  but she has become too attached to her school community, and the families and children in it.

Its wrenching for her, and for other teachers in the same position.

Weve absolutely heard from them, said Jeff Pelich, president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Waterloo Region, who has a degree in music himself, is a former music teacher, and has great sympathy for the situation.

Its disappointing to see that music instruction has to bear the consequences of this decision, he said.

Not every school is lucky enough to have a qualified music educator, but the new rules mean less flexibility for the principal to use what resources there are, he agreed.

Hed like to see the provincial government require a music educator in every elementary school.

Its important to have a qualified person in front of students because it creates a more meaningful experience, said Pelich.

Its always the teacher who brings the curriculum to life.

Hill, the school board superintendent, said there is music curriculum for students in elementary schools, and elementary teachers are expected to be able to teach all the subjects. Therefore, theyre all qualified to teach music.

But thats part of the problem. You dont have to be a musician to teach music to elementary students. The curriculum isnt asking you to teach theory or literacy, which is the backbone of this subject. It calls more for music appreciation. Stuff like reflecting on and appreciating music you hear, exploring different styles and genres of music, creating your own song.

Hill added that French immersion teachers will be getting extra support, if they want it, to help them prepare for music instruction.

And, of course, theres nothing to stop extracurricular activities like choir from proceeding in schools, she added.

Still, Im uncomfortable. Music is a language. There are underlying structures to it, and levels of fluency, all of which is sidestepped in the governments curriculum, and made worse by these upcoming changes.

We would be outraged if someone was teaching French who couldnt speak, read or write French

So why are we allowing the same thing to happen to music?

Luisa DAmato is a Waterloo Region-based staff columnist for The Record. Reach her via email: ldamato@therecord.com

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Close up of Television Licence for the United Kingdom, The fee is paid yearly and is used to fund the BBC services - Lenscap / Alamy Stock Photo

Spy chiefs were on Thursday racing to understand if Russian-linked hackers had accessed critical national infrastructure after one of Britains biggest outsourcers was targeted in a cyber attack.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it was seeking assurances from Capita after the outsourcer confirmed that sensitive data might have been stolen by criminals last month.

Capita - which collects television licence payments in addition to working on nuclear projects and handling IT for councils and the NHS - is also facing questions from the BBC over whether millions of households' data were put at risk.

It follows media reports that a Russian-speaking cyber gang called Black Basta had claimed responsibility for the attack and was openly sharing addresses, passports and other documents online.

The NCSC, part of spy agency GCHQ, said it was still trying to understand the full scale of the damage, while the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) confirmed it was looking into the attack.

Paul Chichester, operations director of the NCSC, told The Telegraph at a conference in Belfast that security officials were still trying to understand the impact of the breach, with a focus on government systems and critical national infrastructure.

He said the organisation had not identified any significant concerns so far, but added: Notwithstanding that, clearly there are some areas we need to continue to be reassured about.

It's definitely, I'd say, a developing picture.

After insisting for weeks that there was no evidence data had been stolen, Capita disclosed on Thursday morning that hackers had been in its systems for nine days before they were detected.

The company said that only 4pc of its computer servers had been affected. But it also admitted that not all clients' services had been restored and that there was some evidence that customer, supplier or colleague data may have been stolen.

The company continues to work with the NCSC, the Cabinet Office and forensic data experts to understand the full scale of the damage.

Story continues

The BBC suggested that it was yet to establish whether data belonging to the country's 25m licence fee payers had been accessed.

A spokesman said: "We continue to work with Capita to understand any potential impact of this cyber incident."

Capita believes hackers first gained access to its systems on or around March 22.

But it was not until about 5am on March 31 that the company became aware of the attack and interrupted it.

Three days later, bosses publicly disclosed there had been a cyber incident but refused to acknowledge it was an attack.

Jon Lewis, Capitas chief executive, went so far as to claim the companys response would go down as a case history in best practice.

Just days later, however, his assertion was thrown into doubt when it emerged that highly sensitive data from Capitas customers appeared to be circulating online, including the personal details of teachers working at three Sheffield schools, the bank account details of 152 organisations linked to Capitas nuclear division and the floor plans of multiple buildings.

In response, Capita once again said it had not been able to confirm any evidence that customer data had been stolen.

As the business changed tack on Thursday, a spokesman for the company confirmed it had reported itself to the ICO.

If Capita is found to have not disclosed key details about the cyber attack quickly enough, it could face a fine of up to 120m, or 4pc of its annual sales.

A spokesman for the ICO said: Capita has reported an incident to us and we are making enquiries.

Cyber security experts expressed incredulity that it had taken Capita so long to confirm that the incident may have resulted in the theft of data.

Alan Woodward, a professor at Surrey Universitys Centre for Cyber Security who advises governments on data security, said Capitas links with countless other businesses risked acting as a force multiplier on the potential damage caused.

He said: Having been in there for such a long time undetected, you have to wonder what the hackers were up to - and what they might have left.

Even if Capita thinks it has now got them out, you can try to cleanse but you can never be 100pc sure unless you completely rebuild your entire system.

So I expect they will now be looking over their shoulder for some time. It is the old adage: If you give someone unfettered access to your computer or network, it is no longer your computer or network.
The once in a lifetime concert, featuring special guests Alison Mosshart (The Kills, The Dead Weather), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) and Tony Kanal (No Doubt), was filmed for a forthcoming concert film, produced by Lastman Media and scheduled for theatrical release later in 2023.
The Dundas Museum & Archives presents Two Stacks: An Honouring of Sophia Burthen (Pooley), an art exhibition facilitated by Andrew Hunter, in co-operation with the Slavery North Initiative at University Massachusetts Amherst.

The exhibition runs to May 13.

Hunter researched the life of Sophia Burthen (Pooley), a Black girl kidnapped from her family and enslaved in this area in the late 18th and early 19th century.

His book, It Was Dark There All The Time: Sophia Burthen and the Legacy of Slavery In Canada (2022), explores fragmentary details of Sophias life as the basis for a discussion of race, colonial trauma, and Canadian identity.

Hunter expresses in the exhibit: I hope Sophia's story isnt over, that others will engage with her, and that she will be remembered, not in the margins, but centred, in the heart of this place.

This travelling exhibition features works of significant contemporary Black and Indigenous artists from across North America, including Tim Whiten, Anique Jordan, Ebti Nabag (with Reighen Grineage), Shelley Niro, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Camal Pirbhai and Camille Turner, Jeff Thomas, Chantal Gibson, C.S. Giscombe and Syrus Marcus Ware.

Born in New York, Sophia was stolen from her family along with her sister and sold to Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant. After several years, Brant sold her to Samuel Hatt of Ancaster. Samuel was the brother of Richard Hatt of Dundas.

According to her own account, Sophia was enslaved by Hatt for seven years before being told that if she made her escape, there would be no attempt to bring her back.

Sophias story exists today because she was able to live past the age of 90, at which time she had her account published in Benjamin Drews 1856 book The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada.

The Dundas Museum & Archives is located at 139 Park St. W.

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Hamilton police arrested a man early Wednesday evening following a call for a barricaded person that saw a large police presence in the Rosedale neighbourhood.

The man was arrested peacefully and charged with assault. He was taken to hospital under the Mental Health Act.

A police drone was used during the investigation. Tactical officers were also on scene because of the possible presence of a weapon (police initially described the incident as a firearms call), however, no weapons were used.

Just after 6 p.m., police had warned the public to stay away from the area near the Red Hill Valley Trail where Lawrence Road meets King Street East.

A police vehicle was stationed at the entrance to the trail parking lot, and roads were closed near Lawrence and Martin Road, as well as around Parkdale Avenue South and Sylvia Crescent.

At 7:10 p.m., police said roads had reopened.

Reach The Spectator newsroom at 905-526-3420 or news@thespec.com

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A national strike launched by Canadas largest federal public-service union has cancelled classes for more than 1,100 students on Six Nations of the Grand River territory.

Teachers at the reserves federally funded and administered elementary schools are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, whose 155,000 members went on general strike on Wednesday.

In a media release, Six Nations Elected Council announced the closure of Jamieson Elementary, J.C. Hill Elementary, Emily C. General Elementary, I.L. Thomas Elementary and Oliver M. Smith Elementary.

Travis Anderson, director of federal schools with Indigenous Services Canada in Ontario, apologized for the inconvenience in a letter to students and families.

We know this is not welcomed news, and we understand the impact this will have on families, Anderson said.

Without the federal teaching staff in our schools, we could not ensure safe conditions for students. The decision to close schools to students is a difficult one but required for overall student safety and security.

Lloyd S. King Elementary School in neighbouring Mississaugas of the Credit remains open. A MCFN spokesperson explained that teachers are employees of the First Nation itself and not the federal government.

The effect of the strike can be felt outside the classroom on Six Nations as well. Maintenance staff at Ohsweken Public Health are off the job, though nurses remain at work because they are classified as essential workers and legally unable to strike.

Band members may also experience customer service delays in other departments such as registration and lands and estate, council said.

The PSAC strike has impacted our Six Nations of the Grand River community and has the SNGR Elected Council concerned for all of our members, students and families, said Chief Mark Hill in a statement.

We are maintaining regular contact with federal officials in hopes of alleviating as much stress as possible through this difficult time. We will continue to assert political pressure to get all those affected in our community back to their regular routines as quickly as possible.

J.P. Antonacci s reporting on Haldimand and Norfolk is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. jpantonacci@thespec.com

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Josh Ayoub read every page of Le Petit Prince in his Grade 12 French class. Still, when it came time to write an essay on the popular parable, he was stumped. So, he bounced some ideas off ChatGPT  a brainstorming session, but with artificial intelligence.

He likes technology, and began experimenting with the language-processing tool when it was publicly released in November 2022 to see what its limits are.

Enter a question, such as why is the sky blue? and ChatGPT spits out an answer. Ask it to write a 500-word essay on William Goldings Lord of the Flies, and its typed out before your eyes.

For school, ChatGPT generates information you might have googled in the past, but faster and without the noise  such as sponsored links and search suggestions  of an internet query, he said.

Its a great tool when youre at a dead end, the 17-year-old St. Thomas More (STM) Catholic Secondary School student said.

Ayoub used the results as a starting point for an essay, which he wrote himself.

He also acknowledged the ethical grey area around ChatGPT, adding that how its used all depends on the person.

According to OpenAI, the company behind the program, ChatGPT is trained to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. This means students can use it as a crutch  or to cheat entirely.

Its certainly a viable threat to education as we currently deliver it, said STM principal Brian Daly.

An overreliance on ChatGPT could affect students ability to write and communicate ideas long term, he said.

There have always been a plethora of ways to cheat, but maybe none this smart. Unlike plagiarism, to conclusively say that this was AI generated is not easy, Daly said. While hes not aware of any cheating at his school, hes sure it has happened.

Its the buzz in the halls of STM, said Grade 12 student Alice Okpere.

It is definitely being talked about all around schools by teachers and students, said the 17-year-old, who is also a Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board student trustee.

Student trustees say students have started to experiment with ChatGPT in recent months, using it for fun, as a learning tool  and to cheat.

Ive seen people sitting in class with day-of assignments due, and they just ChatGPT all of it, said Cathedral High School student Paige Wallace, 17.

One peer hasnt done an assignment in months thanks to AI tools, she said.

Wallace, also a student trustee for the Catholic board, said high-schoolers are cheating smarter, using online paraphrasing tool QuillBot, to dumb it down, making their AI-generated assignment sound like a teenager wrote it.

With a paid premium subscription, students can access a setting that rewrites text in simple language.

Neither of the citys two largest school boards currently track ChatGPT cheating, which is typically dealt with at the school level.

Regardless, theres no surefire way to identify it, said Alona Fyshe, an associate professor in computing science and psychology at the University of Alberta. Existing AI detection tools screen content for word predictability, since programs like ChatGPT tend to generate average responses, she said.

They will not tell you for sure if something was or was not generated by AI, she said.

Several educators told The Spectator it is unlikely they could identify an assignment completed with AI with any confidence unless they were already familiar with a students writing.

If I hadnt assessed the student prior and I didnt know what their writing style was, it would be very difficult, said Fabio Medeiros, a French and religion teacher at STM.

ChatGPT does have some hallmark features, such as the cadence of the content it produces, that make it stand out, said Alpha Abebe, an assistant humanities professor at McMaster University.

If you are a student whos using it in a lazy way, meaning youre submitting exactly what gets spit out by ChatGPT, then you probably are making yourself vulnerable to being caught, said Abebe, who is currently researching student perspectives on AI.

But, a response tailored and edited by students is a lot less easy to detect, she said.

Other concerns include misinformation  ChatGPT can get it wrong  and, as Abebe points out, each output only reflects narrow set of ideas.

A disclaimer on ChatGPTs website lists incorrect information, bias and limited knowledge after 2021 as the programs limitations.

To adapt, educators are having students do more work in class where progress can be monitored. An English essay, for example, might be broken down into steps, like an outline or drafts. This is part of an ongoing shift toward process over product, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board spokesperson Nick Benner said in an email. Students are also graded on multiple sources of data, including observations and classroom conversations, in addition to assignments produced, he said.

The program is blocked on board devices and networks to prevent inappropriate use.

The thing that an AI tool cannot do is it cannot critically think, and thats where we need to focus our education because thats what students need to do in the future anyway, Daly said.

Abebe said shell be spending precious time this summer reviewing courses and redesigning assignments in light of this new technological advancement.

Learning tool

Some are optimistic the revolutionary tool can be leveraged for good.

Medeiros, a tech-savvy teacher whos spent months honing his ChatGPT skills, has started to use the program like a colleague. Unlike Google, its an interactive experience in which you can dialogue with the botStudents are also graded on multiple sources of data, including observations and classroom conversations, in addition to assignments produced, he said, using prompts and parameters.

Last semester, he asked ChatGPT to produce a dialogue in French based on a prescribed topic and characters, which he then amended and edited before using as an oral assessment in class. What in the past took him hours, took about 30 minutes.

Its a great tool to improve our productivity, he said.

At the public board, teams of educators are experimenting with AI as a classroom learning tool, which will ultimately help to inform a board-wide approach, Benner said.

Fyshe hopes educators, particularly in post-secondary, can focus on opportunities. In her experience, students have so far been cautious in their approach, using the program to help them study.

If they dont understand something, they can ask ChatGPT to explain it in a new way, she said, as an example.

Its also a cost-free way to help English language learners improve their writing and editing skills, she said.

Like Ayoub, Okpere, the Catholic student trustee, sees ChatGPT as a modern-day calculator or internet  once-scary tools weve learned to work with.

Its not going away. People are going to end up using it, she said.

Students should be taught how  and how not  to use it before we shoot it down.

We have to understand that technology is going to keep changing and education needs to revolutionize, Okpere said.

We asked the AI program: Is ChatGPT a threat to education?

As an AI language model, I dont have the ability to be a threat to education on my own. I am simply a tool that can be used to provide information and answer questions. Its up to the users to decide how they use the information provided by me.

However, if students use ChatGPT to cheat on exams or assignments, then that could be considered a threat to education and academic integrity. Its important for students to understand that learning is a process that involves critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. Relying solely on technology to provide answers can hinder their ability to develop these skills and could ultimately have negative consequences in the long run.

Its crucial to use resources like ChatGPT responsibly and ethically, and to ensure that they are being used to supplement and enhance the learning process rather than to shortcut it.

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As McMaster University prepares to welcome graduate students to their newly built 10 Bay residence, some are raising concerns about rental rates in the building.

Construction on the student building, located at the corner of King Street West and Bay Street North, began in 2021. With building permits valued at $80 million, it was one of the most expensive projects in Hamilton in 2022.

In a statement to The Spectator, McMaster spokesperson Wade Hemsworth said the building will see its first residents move in ahead of the coming fall term, with construction set to be complete by January 2024.

The 30-storey residence will include 27 floors of fully-furnished residence spaces, with the monthly rent including utilities, high-speed internet, security, live-in support staff and use of the buildings amenities, according to the university.

Services include a fitness centre, movie theatre room, study spaces, a music room, coworking space, a games room as well as a rooftop park featuring a walking track and barbecue area.

Rents start at $1,375 per month, for a private room in a two-bedroom unit.

A basic studio apartment, at approximately 355 square feet, costs $1,865, while one-bedroom suites, averaging 515 square feet in size, will rent for $2,065. Couples are allowed to share either kind of unit, the website notes.

More than half of the rooms in the building will cost under $1,500, according to the university.

However, CUPE 3906 president Vic Wojciechowska, which represents teaching and research assistants at the university, told The Spectator that rental rates in the building are neither sustainable nor affordable for some grad students.

Wojciechowska pointed to recently released aggregate data from McMasters task force on graduate funding, which showed, for example, that grad students in engineering completing their degree in-time received an average of $21,955 in funding in the 2021/2022 academic year.

At that rate, year-long lease of a single bedroom would cost $16,500, leaving a grad student with $5,495 to cover other costs such as food, transit and other essentials.

For a rental to be considered affordable in the eyes of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 30 per cent or less of an individuals income would go toward rent. So in this case, for a single bedroom, more than 75 per cent of that students annual income would be dedicated to their housing, per The Spectators calculation.

This is in no way affordable for most grad students, said Wojciechowska, noting he could not afford the rents in the building. Mac is not ensuring that all students have the means to afford the basic costs of living.

Hemsworth told The Spectator that rent prices in the residence were set to be comparable to similar buildings in the core that offer matching services and amenities.

He added that the building does not require students to pay first and last months rent in advance, and they will not need to supply a credit check, income verification or proof of employment.

Ward 2 Coun. Cameron Kroetsch told The Spectator that while the project has created new housing for students in the core, he doubts it will deliver the economic boost once thought.

Former Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr told The Spectator in early 2021 that the residence would be massive for the core, noting that students would spend money at local shops and support the downtown arts-and-culture scene.

But Kroetsch says its going to be a challenge for people to participate as members of their community when so much of their money is going toward housing costs.

Kroetsch said that while grad school should be an exciting time for students, the lack of affordable housing can take the wind right out of the sails of the experience.

Institutions have a public duty to ensure the projects theyre a part of are as affordable as possible.

The student residence was developed in what the university called a public-private partnership with Knightstone Capital Management. They are also working together on the student residence that will be built on Traymore Avenue.

Applications for 10 Bay opened April 17. Of the 453 apartments in the building  which will consist of 644 bed spaces  69 of the units will be barrier-free for those using assistive devices, according to the university.

The university is expecting the lobby, building amenities and parking garage to all be available for the start of the next school year. Parking and meal plans are not included in the rent.

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DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Belvac, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV), and a leading global supplier in the two-piece metal packaging industry for over 60 years, today announced the latest development in can necking technology, the Servo Belvac Necker.

"The Servo Belvac Necker marks a new generation of energy-efficient machinery for the two-piece aluminum packaging industry. With the growing industry demand for sustainable technology, the Servo Belvac Necker has been engineered to maximize the profitability of can plant operations," said Eric Hodge, Director of Global Sales Operations at Belvac.

The Servo Belvac Necker can continuously operate up to 3600 cans per minute while utilizing advanced servo motor control, allowing for every turret to independently rotate. The Servo Belvac Necker uses up to 15% less electrical consumption compared to the standard motor and gearbox configuration on a traditional necker. The independent rotation is ideal for quickly resolving can jam situations, facilitating faster resetting and synchronization, which in turn increases efficiency.

"Belvac has invested significantly in value engineering the machine, which addresses our customers' need for more sustainable technology. We look forward to showcasing the machine to the industry at METPACK," said David Mammolenti, President of Belvac.

The 2023 METPACK Conference, which is the world's leading trade fair for metal packaging, will be held at Messe Essen in Essen, Germany, from May 2-6. For more information about Belvac, please visit belvac.com.

About Belvac:

Belvac was founded in 1962 (as Belgium Tool & Die Company) in Lynchburg, Virginia, by Al Stroobants. Belvac has been a part of Dover Corporation since 1993. For over Sixty years, Belvac has turned innovative ideas into world-class machinery, serving the two-piece metal packaging industry. Learn more at belvac.com.

About Dover:

Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of over $8 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy & Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate & Sustainability Technologies. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 65 years, our team of over 25,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com.

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Belvac Contact:

Lauren McClaskey

(434) 832-7390

laurenm@belvac.com

Dover Media Contact:

Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications

(630) 743-5039

asakowicz@dovercorp.com

Dover Investor Contact:

Jack Dickens, Senior Director, Investor Relations

(630) 743-2566

jdickens@dovercorp.com

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Upwards of 100 prisoners at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre are participating in a hunger strike, demanding better conditions at the Barton Street jail.

The hunger strike began on the fourth floor of the jail Wednesday morning and has been gradually expanding as word spreads.

According to the Barton Prisoner Solidarity Project, which has heard from prisoners on four ranges, they are demanding fewer lockdowns, more regular access to the yard and crucially that they be allowed to keep access to television stations that had been won in an earlier protest.

Theyre still feeling pretty good, staying strong, said spokesperson Cedar Hopperton Thursday morning. Its happening in a spirit of solidarity.

The television stations in question include movie and music channels, without which some prisoners may go years without hearing music.

Frequent lockdowns and lack of time outdoors in the yard are chronic problems at the jail. Hopperton said prisoners are supposed to get time outside each day, but those they hear from often get out once a week at best.

The excuse is always staff shortages, she said.

Hopperton shared a statement from one prisoner, Zack Hunter, who gave his permission for it to be released.

These are basic rights violations that need to be rectified, Hunter said, adding that management needs to change.

They expect us to rehabilitate and become better citizens in the community, but with what help? What support? he said. Most of the population in this jail is affected by drug addiction and homelessness, so with no resources offered for rehabilitative programming, they are being enabled to reoffend.

For years prisoners have been asking for access to programming at the jail, including education and rehabilitation. Hunter said there are no opportunities to gain skills. This system is a broken bone that urgently needs surgery, he said.

Hopperton noted that hunger strikes can be dangerous to peoples health. Thats why its important to show outside support, she said, adding that the solidarity project is encouraging people to call the jail and ask that management meet with prisoners and meet their demands.

The ministry said it is aware prisoners are refusing meals, and correctional staff are working with the inmates to address their concerns.

Health care staff are monitoring inmates involved. The inmates continue to have access to canteen, including snacks, Ministry of the Solicitor General spokesperson Andrew Morrison said in an email.

Nicole OReilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com

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ST. PAUL, ALBERTA - Nineteen anomalies have been located using ground-penetrating radar during a search for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school northeast of Edmonton.

Initial findings from the search at Blue Quills residential school describe the anomalies as reflections of interest, meaning they have traits consistent with burials but more analysis is needed.

This report details the results of what is the beginning of a long journey to find answers to what happened to the children who never came home from the residential school at the Blue Quills, said the report released Wednesday.

The search was organized by University nuhelotine thaiyotsi nistameyimakanak Blue Quills, which is a First Nations-operated university at the site of the former residential school.

Kisha Supernant, an Indigenous archeologist and director of the University of Albertas Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, came to the site near St. Paul with her team last August.

They used ground-based ground-penetrating radar, the report said, targeting areas that had been identified earlier by elders and residential school survivors. Drone imagery was also taken in the areas that were surveyed.

Elders lifted their pipes daily during the search to ensure the work was done with deep respect for missing children, their families and all survivors, a news release from the university said.

The report advised that ground-penetrating radar is not able to confirm the presence or absence of human remains so it is not a foolproof method of detecting graves.

It noted the results may be disappointing for community members in need of answers, but what was found provides information and a starting point for further investigation.

We recognize that the results of the survey for unmarked graves may be distressing for members of the community and for all the survivors, as every child matters and there remains a lack of justice and accountability for what happened, the report said.

Marc Miller, federal minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, posted on social media that he was thinking of all the families from the numerous Indigenous communities who had children sent to Blue Quills Residential School.

Canada will continue to support them as they continue their search for the truth.

The school was started by Roman Catholic missionaries in Lac la Biche but later moved to the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. It was relocated again in 1931 to St. Paul.

Survivors told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which looked into the legacy of residential schools in Canada, about humiliation, hunger, and physical and sexual abuse at the Blue Quills residential school.

Parents of children at the school occupied the institution in 1970 and demanded its operation be turned over to the First Nation. It became Canadas first residence and school controlled by First Nations people and was later transformed into the university.

A report released earlier this year from an unrelated group found unpasteurized milk was responsible for many deaths of Indigenous children at the same institution.

That report by the Acimowin Opaspiw Society, formed by the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in 2021, found the children were being fed unpasteurized milk and later many developed tuberculosis and other diseases.

School staff and administrators had their own pasteurized dairy products, the report found, and they were healthy.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

 By Kelly Geraldine Malone in Saskatoon

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HALIFAX - A Nova Scotia company is seeking to have a court overturn the recent federal decision to close the lucrative eel fishery in the Maritimes.

The federal Fisheries Department closed the elver fishery in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for 45 days last weekend to conserve the stock from poachers.

In response, Wine Harbour Fisheries asked the Federal Court of Canada on Wednesday to review the decision by federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray.

Michel Samson, the companys lawyer, said in an interview Thursday that his client doesnt believe the ministers decision was reasonable.

We believe there were alternatives, whether it be not issuing the order in the first place or issuing an area-specific order rather than closing down the entire commercial fishery, Samson said.

He called the closure arbitrary and said the move has had a devastating impact on his client and its workers. Wine Harbour Fisheries was only able to land 33 kilograms of a quota of 1,032 kilograms before the closure went into effect, he said.

The Fisheries Department has said the closure was necessary following complaints about violence and intimidation linked to poaching.

In the court application, Wine Harbour Fisheries maintains that it and other licence holders tried many times to persuade the department to take enforcement steps to deal with conflict on the rivers.

To the extent there is unauthorized fishing, this is due to the (departments) failure to properly enforce the law and prevent unauthorized fishing, the document states.

In an email sent Tuesday, the department said that before initiating the closure it had engaged with all commercial licence holders as well as with First Nations chiefs whose communities are harvesting elvers under communal commercial licenses or interim understandings.

It said the elver fishery, which had a total allowable catch of 9,960 kilograms, has to be managed closely.

This was not possible due to an unprecedented amount of unreported activity, the department said. The scale of the unreported fishing is such that it presents a serious risk to the conservation of the  American eel stock and the safe and stable management of the fishery. That is why closure is required.

The department has 10 days to respond to the latest legal move, although Samson said it will likely be a while before the issue is heard by a judge.

He said a judicial review that was launched last year over the removal of 14 per cent of the commercial quota without compensation was only heard earlier this year, with a decision likely to be issued in May.

The season will be over before we have a chance to get in front of a judge, said Samson, who added that a similar closure in 2020 also cost his client financially.

This (closure) has happened twice  we are not looking for a three-peat of this, he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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Toronto Public Health issued 10 conditional passes to restaurants, cafes, bakeries, bars and grocery stores on April 18.

244 Pizza and Wings at 1166 Weston Road received a conditional pass with three major infractions:

Fail to provide thermometer in refrigeration equipment

Fail to remove wastes when necessary to maintain sanitary condition

Use utensils not of readily cleanable material

A.R.k. Market at 31 St. Dennis Drive received a conditional pass with three major infractions:

Fail to ensure facility surface cleaned as necessary

Fail to protect against harbouring of pests

Fail to equip sanitary facility with single service towels or dryer

Downsview Market and Convenience at 1381 Wilson Avenue received a conditional pass with one major infraction:

Food premise maintained in manner permitting adverse effect on food

Fisherman Lobster King at 2900 Warden Avenue received a conditional pass with two major infractions:

Fail to provide adequate number of handwashing stations

Mechanical equipment not maintained to maintain rinse water at 82 C

Istanbul Cafe and Expresso Bar at 174 Eglinton Avenue East received a conditional pass with two major infractions:

Fail to protect against breeding of pests

Refrigerate potentially hazardous foods at internal temperature above 4 C

Marhaba Supermarket at 3018 Danforth Avenue received a conditional pass with two major infractions:

Food premise maintained in manner permitting adverse effect on food

Use utensils not in good repair

Mr Tonkatsu at 520 Bloor Street West received a conditional pass with three major infractions:

Fail to protect food from contamination or adulteration

Fail to provide handwashing stations with adequate supplies (hot and cold water)

Fail to remove garbage when necessary to maintain sanitary condition

Pusateri Fruit Market at 497 Church Street received a conditional pass with two major infractions:

Fail to equip sanitary facility with hot and cold running water

Fail to equip sanitary facility with single service towels or dryer

Robo Sushi at 865 York Mills Road received a conditional pass with three major infractions:

Fail to ensure food handler in food premise refrains from conduct that could result in contamination of food

Fail to protect against breeding of pests

Use food equipment not of readily cleanable form

Sunshine Wholesome Market at 942 College Street received a conditional pass with one major infraction:

Fail to protect against harbouring of pests

A conditional pass is issued when at least one infraction presents a significant health risk, and a closure is ordered when at least one infraction presents an immediate health hazard. Both outcomes trigger an additional inspection within 48 hours. Failure to comply with Torontos DineSafe program can result in fines, court summons and other enforcement action.

Miss a DineSafe roundup? Find out which restaurants recently made the list

About this story

This story was automatically generated using open data from the City of Toronto. The Toronto Star has no role in collecting, reviewing or analyzing this data, and makes no representations or endorsements about any food premises, or the products or services offered by a food premise. Readers should review any municipal disclaimers located at the citys open data portal.

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A 14-year-old child has been arrested after allegedly threatening a junior and secondary school in Toronto.

Toronto police officers responded to a threat to Forest Hill Junior and Senior Public School on Wednesday morning.

The suspect has been charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. The child will appear before the court on April 20.

It is unclear at this time what kind of threat was directed at the institution or if the child attended the school.

As a young person is involved, we will not release any info that will potentially identify them, Toronto police told The Star.

A separate Toronto school was put under hold and secure on Wednesday after a group of children threatened to shoot at the institution.

Access from outside the school was not permitted throughout the day, as the exterior doors to the building were locked, and students remained indoors. The hold and secure measures were extended until the end of the school day. Police assisted with the dismissal of students and staff.

We anticipate continued Police presence in the area tomorrow, read a letter sent to parents, guardians and caregivers at Weston Collegiate.

No injuries were reported for either of the threats.

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Toronto police said an 18-year-old man was transported to the hospital after a stabbing in the citys midtown.

The incident happened Wednesday morning near St. Clair Avenue West and Tweedsmuir Avenue after reports of a person with a knife.

Police said officers found the male victim with non-life-threatening stab wounds upon arrival.

A 32-year-old man was arrested at the scene. No charges have been laid at this time.

In an email to The Star, police said there is no further information to whether the incident was targeted or a random attack. The investigation is ongoing.

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As a downtown hotel shelter for homeless youth has been preparing to relocate its occupants by the end of April so the property owner can return to the tourism business, the shelters next location is already on a ticking clock  with four months before it will also be forced to close.

The Strathcona, a hotel near York and Wellington Streets that city hall has been leasing since the onset of the pandemic as an extra shelter, has already been in turmoil this spring, with more than 100 adult residents displaced to other facilities to make space for the youth programs.

But as those moves are underway, the city now says it expects the Strathcona lease to also be terminated, this time by the end of August  despite Torontos continued struggles with shelter capacity, and statistics showing an average of 119.8 people turned away each night in March.

The City is working to confirm the end date with the property owner in light of their desire to return to hotel operations and we anticipate having to hand the property back over by the end of August, a city hall spokesperson said, noting the site was always intended to be temporary.

As of Sunday, there were 90 people staying in the remaining adult shelter program at 60 York St., and 126 young people at the youth hotel nearing its final days. Three of the four youth programs at the closing hotel are slated to move to the Strathcona, though city hall was looking at an alternate arrangement for the smallest program, which as of Sunday had 11 occupants.

Its not clear at this point where those programs will move once the Strathcona closes, with the city statement vowing to work with its operating partners to develop relocation plans.

Mark Aston, executive director of youth shelter agency Covenant House, previously hinted that the Strathcona may be on borrowed time, while pointing to the citys plan to close up to five of its temporary, pandemic-era shelters in 2023. Im not anticipating us to be at the Strathcona for a long period of time, he said. This is not, by any means, a permanent or long-term thing.

While the city continues to see more demand for shelter than available space, municipal officials have pointed to the financial strain of the temporary sites in outlining the closure plan. A 2021 lease extension for the Strathcona, for example lists the room rates as $100 per room each day.

In its statement about the Strathcona closure, the city also said decisions were made based on the availability of sites and property owners willingness to continue to lease them out.

With a deadline now looming, city hall said it would prioritize moving Strathcona occupants into housing, where possible, before looking at moves to other shelters. But in a city where affordable housing is hard to come by, the city has struggled with that effort during the initial closures of the more than two dozen temporary shelters opened during the pandemic.

Looking at sites that shut down in 2022, the city has reported housing rates as low as three per cent  at 195 Princes Boulevard  while 58.4 per cent of residents went to another shelter, 5.2 per cent went to a health or correctional site, and 33.5 per cent went to unknown locations.

At the higher end was the Bond Place, which underwent a phased closure after the city purchased the site to convert into housing. There, the city reported a housing rate of 30.4 per cent after the closure was announced, with 29.6 per cent moving to other shelters, 8.8 per cent to health or corrections sites, and 28 per cent to unknown locations. (A further 2.4 per cent of the remaining Bond residents died before they were forced to leave, city statistics detail.)

One current occupant of the Strathconas adult shelter program, Robert Brown, told the Star that as of Tuesday, those staying on-site still hadnt been formally notified about the looming closure  with occupants only finding out after staff were informed, and word trickled out unofficially. There was now a meeting scheduled for occupants next week, Brown said.

There are 90 residents, theres nothing thats been said, and there is really no plan of action.

Looking ahead, he wants to see a clear plan to help people access permanent housing before the shelter closes  noting that some residents still hadnt started on the complex paperwork and applications required to access supports like housing subsidies for people facing homelessness. With such a tight timeline, he suggested extra investments could be made in housing workers.

If it wasnt possible to get someone into proper housing, hes hoping residents in the single-room setup arent funnelled into the citys older, dormitory-style shelters, suggesting that would be a step backwards. To fellow resident Katy Chiappetta, its a situation thats left her anxious.

Theres only so much time to (find) vacancies for housing 90 people, as we stand right now, Chiappetta said, looking at the four-month runway ahead. Thats not even including the kids.

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Canadas spy network warned Western governments to brace themselves for radical and sometimes violent attacks as the pandemic began.

Such warnings were outlined in documents prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and stamped TOP SECRET, Confidential and SECRET/ CANADIAN EYES ONLY.

Heavily redacted copies of the reports from mid-2020 were obtained by the Toronto Star under the Access to Information Act.

One of the reports was prepared for an international video teleconference on June 2, 2020.

The video teleconference is taking place following a suggestion made by the United Kingdom to have a  discussion focused on COVID-19, the report states. The call will allow participants to share information on national security matters affected by the pandemic and to identify further opportunities to collaborate and learn from one another in the immediate and longer term.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a proliferation of hateful messages and conspiracy theories online, it states.

In particular, the reports note that conspiracy theorists had linked efforts to fight the COVID-19 virus and a push for 5G wireless technology, the fifth generation of wireless communications technologies that requires the construction of special sensors and receivers.

Recent surveys suggest that a not insignificant minority of Canadians believe there is a connection between 5G technology and the COVID-19 pandemic, one CSIS report states.

There have been a handful of attacks on communications towers in Canada during the past month, but the motivation remains unknown, the May 2020 report states. Arson and sabotage attacks on 5G infrastructure have also spread across the U.K. and Europe over the past several months.

An April 27, 2020, CSIS report marked SECRET, notes that 5G conspiracy theories became popular at the pandemics onset.

The included conspiracy theories that governments and law enforcement planned to weaponize 5G technology to push toward the creation of a police state.

Such conspiracy theories can have tragic real-life consequences, the report notes.

Most concerning was an attack on a tower supplying voice and data traffic to a Birmingham field hospital treating COVID-19 patients, a CSIS report notes.

Extreme elements of the anti-government milieu regularly adopt conspiracy theories claiming government plots involving a reduction of gun rights, the implementation of a police state, or blind adherence to international bodies such as the UN or World Health Organization, leading to the New World Order, the report states. Statements by the government or scientific experts claiming that 5G technology is safe or is unrelated to COVID-19, for example, are met with skepticism if not outright rejection.

In briefing notes prepared for Minster of Public Safety Bill Blair, strategic objectives include countering violent extremism, terrorism and hate.

Canada is deeply concerned that threat actors are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to further their geopolitical aims and erode support for the values of democracy and human rights that underpin our society, the briefing note states.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is facing an infodemic  an overabundance of information, some accurate, some not  that can make it hard to identify reliable information.

It continues: Violent extremists and terrorists are calling for violence, including physical attacks, against certain groups, including the Asian and Jewish communities.

One of the reports from CSIS is marked SECRET/ CANADIAN EYES ONLY, and dated Sept. 22, 2020.

It discusses the real-world implications of the conspiracy theorists in the online group QAnon.

At its core, the narrative alleges that U.S. President Donald J. Trump is engaged in a battle against a global elite  which aims to keep the people of the world poor, ignorant and enslaved. Adherents believe world governments are being controlled by a shadowy cabal of pedophiles. In this narrative, political opponents are enemies of humanity.

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RICHMOND HILL, Ont. - Police say a sixth person has been arrested for the alleged December 2021 attack on a woman who was later abducted from a relatives home in Ontario.

York Regional Police say officers arrested a 24-year-old British Columbia man in Surrey, B.C., on Friday as they continue investigating what happened to 37-year-old Elnaz Hajtamiri.

Police say the man remains in custody in Ontario on charges of aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

They say Hajtamiri was violently assaulted with a frying pan in an underground parking lot in Richmond Hill, Ont., on Dec. 20, 2021.

Police say she was then abducted on Jan. 12, 2022, from a relatives home in Wasaga Beach, Ont., where her family says she was hiding out after the attack.

Police say two women have been charged with kidnapping, while a warrant remains out for one man and investigators try to pin down the identity of another outstanding suspect.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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TORONTO and CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - BMO today announced the appointment of Darrel Hackett as U.S. Chief Executive Officer of BMO Financial Group, President & CEO of BMO Harris Bank N.A., and CEO of BMO's U.S. holding company, BMO Financial Corp. (BFC). Mr. Hackett will report to Chief Executive Officer Darryl White, join the bank's Executive Committee, and will chair the U.S. Management Committee. His appointment is effective June 1, 2023.

Darrel Hackett (CNW Group/BMO Financial Group)

Joining BMO in 2004, among several leadership roles at BMO and in the community, Mr. Hackett has served BMO's clients as the leader of the bank's U.S. Business Banking group, as Head of the bank's North American Integrated Channels team, and most recently as President of BMO Wealth Management  U.S., leading a team of wealth management professionals across the country.

"As our U.S. CEO, Darrel's track record of dedication to our clients' success, extensive community leadership, and commitment to making progress for the elimination of barriers to inclusion will be key to the continued success of BMO U.S.," said Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group. "Darrel is a purpose-driven, high performing and client focused leader and I am excited to work with him in this new role as Team BMO continues to break new ground in the U.S. market."

Mr. Hackett's appointment follows the retirement announcement of Dave Casper, U.S. CEO, BMO Financial Group. Joining BMO with the bank's acquisition of Harris Bank in 1984, Mr. Casper led BMO's U.S. commercial banking business since 2010, BMO's North American commercial banking business since 2015, and has served as U.S. CEO since 2018.

"Dave's leadership has been instrumental to BMO's growth, particularly in the United States, as we've supported the growth ambitions of our clients and contributed to a thriving economy throughout the communities we serve," continued Mr. White. "Dave's commitment to the home of BMO's U.S. headquarters, the City of Chicago, is legendary. Under Dave's leadership of BMO's commercial banking businesses, BMO has progressed to become a top 5 commercial lender in North America, and Dave played a key role in our recent acquisition of Bank of the West."

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Following Mr. Casper's retirement, the Board of Directors of BFC has appointed Mr. Casper to serve as Chair of the Board. In Summer 2023, Mr. Casper will succeed John Rau who has served with distinction as Chair of the Board since 2017 and as a member of the Board since 2008.

"We are grateful for the extraordinary guidance and leadership John has provided throughout his distinguished tenure on the board. He is an important part of our U.S. bank's strong governance model and I look forward to Dave bringing his many years of experience to the role of Chair," said Mr. White.

"It is an honor to serve as a member and as Chair of the BFC Board of Directors," said John Rau, Chair of the Board of Directors of BFC. "The opportunity to work with, and alongside, such dedicated professionals on the board and among management is a true privilege. Dave's skill set and leadership will be a great fit for the Chair," concluded Mr. Rau.

Biographical notes for Mr. Hackett are available here: Darrel Hackett.

About BMO Financial Group

BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.15 trillion as of January 31, 2023. Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a diverse team of highly engaged employees providing a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services to 12 million customers across Canada, the United States, and in select markets globally. Driven by a single purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future and more inclusive society.

Internet: www.bmo.com Twitter: @BMOMedia

David Casper (CNW Group/BMO Financial Group)

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Peel police are investigating the theft of over $20 million worth of gold and other high-value goods from Toronto Pearson Airport, Insp. Stephen Duivesteyn said Thursday in a media scrum.

Duivesteyn said a high-value container was stolen on Monday after it was off-loaded into a holding cargo facility when a plane arrived at Pearson, Canadas busiest airport.

What I can say is that the container (had) a high-value shipment. It did contain gold but was not exclusive to gold and contained other items of monetary value, Duivesteyn said, estimating the container to be about five to six square feet in size.

The thefts investigation is being led by Peel Regional Police, and includes the airports Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Duivesteyn said police believe this is an isolated incident, and very rare.

Our goal is to solve this theft, he continued. We want to solve it. I cannot provide exact details  For the public worried about flying out, there should be no concern. We do not consider this a public safety matter.

Rachel Bertone, spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) which manages Pearson, said in a written statement to the Star that the thieves accessed the public side of a warehouse leased to a third party, outside of our primary security line.

This did not involve access to Toronto Pearson itself and did not pose a threat to passengers or GTAA staff, Bertone added.

In response to reporters questions, Duivesteyn said it is too early to say whether this was a professional job, and would not speculate on whether the heist involved organized crime elements.

Were three days in, said Duivesteyn. So, our investigators have got their eyes open to all avenues. We really dont want to make an error and sort of focus on one particular area. Were kind of keeping a broad outlook on it. Were looking at all angles on how this item was stolen.

Its not the first gold theft from Pearson airport. In 1952, about $215,000 in gold bars (valued at about $2.5 million today) were mysteriously stolen from Malton airport  now Pearson. The robber or robbers were never seen and no suspects were ever publicly named. The heist made headlines around the world and the Stars story ran with the headline: Cant tell yet how $214,000 gold stolen.

In the September, 1952 theft, an armoured Brinks van delivered 10 boxes of refined gold to Malton airport that were loaded onto a cargo flight to Montreal, to then be shipped to England. When the plane arrived, there were only four boxes of gold bullion. The investigation included the RCMP, OPP and special investigators from Canadian National Railways (which was then involved in the airports management).

The Stars story noted that everyone working at the airport was thoroughly questioned and one employee, 22-year-old Howard Halpenny, who wheeled the bullion to a landing before the arrival of the plane destined to take it to Montreal, was questioned for hours.

It wasnt any picnic, he told the Star. Halpenny said that hed put all the boxes of gold onto a cargo cart and then went to get mail to be loaded onto the flight. He helped load the plane and, when he returned from the terminal with documents for the flight, he discovered someone had finished loading the gold onto the plane.

The story went on to say police felt it was likely the thieves watched the movements of the dozen or so employees in the air cargo office.

Airline investigators said they were completely in the dark, and that police were fairly certain it was loaded into a car outside the cargo office.

More airport gold heists followed. Canadian Ken Leishman, known as the Flying Bandit, and four accomplices stole $400,000 worth of gold bars from Winnipeg International Airport in 1966. The Stopwatch Gang  Canadians Lionel Wright, Stephen Reid and Paddy Mitchell (known for wearing a stopwatch around his neck)  stole more than $750,000 in gold bars from the Ottawa airport in 1974.

At Pearson on Thursday, the theft of the gold and other high-value goods  which Duivesteyn described as being stored in a regular aircraft cargo container  certainly piques our interest, and well try and dig into it.

Police would not comment on evidence gathered so far, on the cargos final destination, nor on who was the intended recipient of the cargo.

Police also do not know if the suspects are still in the country.

This will take the best of my investigators, Duivesteyn said.

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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Police have arrested a sixth person in a 2021 frying pan attack on a woman who was abducted a month later and has been missing since.

24-year-old Jaspreet Singh has been charged with aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence in relation to the December 2021 attack on 37-year-old Elnaz Hajtamiri in Richmond Hill. Singh was arrested in Surrey, BC and has been transported back to York Region.

It is alleged that on Dec. 20, 2021, Hajtamiri was attacked and struck by a frying pan in an underground parking lot in the area of Yonge Street and Bantry Avenue.

Investigators arrested and charged Singh on April 15.

To date, Harshdeep Binner, 24, Akash Rana, 25, Riyasat Singh, 24, and Harshpreet Sekhon, 25, have also been arrested and charged in connection with the Richmond Hill attack. Riyasat Singh pled guilty to his charges and was deported in December 2022.

GPS tracking devices were found under her leased car.

Police say that on Jan. 12, 2022, Hajtamiri was abducted from a home in Wasaga Beach at around 8:30 p.m. by three individuals who were dressed in fake police gear. The suspects fled in a white Lexus RX SUV.

Elnaz moved to Wasaga Beach north of Toronto after being brutally beaten in the December attack the year prior.

A $100,000 reward still stands for any information on the 2022 abduction on Hajtamiri.

Hajtamiris ex-boyfriend, 35-year-old Mohamad Lilo was arrested for allegedly planning the attack in Richmond Hill. Lilo has also been charged by the OPP in connection with Hajtamiris kidnapping.

Hajtamiri and Lilo broke up in October 2021; his case remains before the courts.

On March 16, Krystal P. Lawrence, 30, of Brampton was arrested and charged with kidnapping. Lawrence was released with conditions and will appear in a Collingwood court on May 2.

A Canada-wide warrant still remains for 23-year-old Sukhpreet Singh who is charged with aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

Police are still looking for Toronto man Deshawn Davis, 35, in relation to Hajtamiris kidnapping.

Investigators believe the same people are involved in the December attack and the January abduction, Graham said.

Elnaz, who also goes by the surname of Tamiri, is described as five-foot-three with a slim build. She had shoulder-length hair until it had been cut to a shorter length before she was abducted. She was born in Iran and came to Canada in 2018.

Hajtamiri remains missing over a year later.

I beg you, as a mother, to guide us and tell us anything you know, Fariba Hajtamiri, who lives in Iran, said in recorded plea to the public released by the Ontario Provincial Police last year.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7241, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, or leave an anonymous tip online at www.1800222tips.com

Correction  April 20, 2023: Elnaz Hajtamiri was attacked in Dec. 2021 and was later abducted in Jan. 2022. A previous verious of this article erroneously said she was abducted a year after her attack.

With files from Ana Pereira, Peter Edwards, and Kelly Skjerven

TG Thea Gribilas is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: tgribilas@thestar.ca

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For chef Reem Ahmed, its no surprise her most cherished Ramadan memories involve food. She baked desserts with her family and met her husband for the first time at an Iftar event at Toronto Metropolitan University. For Ahmed, its also the food served, shared and enjoyed with family during Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, thats worth celebrating.

We used to bake so many Kahk al-Eid cookies with my grandma, my mom and cousins that we would then give to neighbours, said Ahmed, who was the first hijabi Muslim contestant on MasterChef Canada in 2018. This traditional breakfast cookie during Eid was a great introduction to our culture. You can turn a stranger into family by feeding them.

Ahmed, who now hosts virtual cooking classes and posts cooking tips on Instagram to nearly 45,000 followers, all while raising three children, relishes the sense of community felt during Ramadan. Youll find Iftar tents in Egypt where people get together with really long tables and lots of food to feed homeless people or a family who need company.

Eating out is also a part of Ahmeds Ramadan celebrations. Having lived in Scarborough, downtown and now Mississauga, shes familiar with so much of the diversity of halal foods in the city. I want my children to grow up focusing on good deeds, kindness. And that every cuisine is special, she said. So long as theyre halal, of course.

As Eid al-Fitr is celebrated across the world this week, Ahmed shares her five favourite halal dishes to try in the GTA.

1. Egyptian Lamb Shank Fata at Masrawy Egyptian Kitchen, 2275 Britannia Rd. W., Mississauga

The lamb is braised and roasted for four hours, resulting in a succulent and tender texture. And nestled atop a bed of soft and sticky Egyptian rice, infused with notes of vinegar and garlic, the dish is perfectly complemented by crispy baladi bread that provides a satisfying crunch, similar to croutons. And to finish, this dish is topped with a secret and ancient recipe called salsa Tashaa, which adds an extra layer of depth and complexity.

2. Boneless Chicken Karahi (Chitti) at Karahi Boys, various locations

Kashmiri-style Karahi is a harmonious blend of yogurt, cream, coconut and a carefully curated selection of fresh spices. The absence of tomatoes and red chili spice ensures that the spice level is mild and approachable, suitable for a wide range of palates and picky little kids. The dish features both white and dark meat, cooked to perfection and seasoned well.

3. Kunefe at Mama Fatma, 10385 Weston Rd., Vaughan

Indulge in a truly authentic Turkish dessert experience with this Kunefe, a must-try delicacy, especially on Eid morning. Kunefe is a delightful combination of shredded wheat and unsalted cheese that is expertly baked then drizzled in homemade syrup. Topped with a generous amount of finely chopped pistachio, the result is a heavenly, sizzling hot dessert. For the ultimate indulgence, pair it with a steaming teapot of black chai latte.

4. Beef Skewers on Hot Sizzling Plate at Chinese Halal Restaurant, 101 Ravel Rd., North York

RELATED STORIES GTA Mississaugas Masrawy Egyptian Kitchen a staple for those looking for authentic taste of Egypt

If youre a fan of bold flavours and sizzling hot dishes, youll love this. The grilled beef skewers are served on a hot plate that creates a seared caramelized crust and enhances the overall flavour of the dish. The tender and juicy beef is bursting with flavours. Whether youre a meat lover or simply looking for a delicious East Asian dish, these sizzling skewers are perfect. I would recommend pairing it with fried noodles.

5. Peri Peri Chicken Full Pack at Nandos, various locations

For a truly satisfying and flavourful meal, look no further than Nandos chicken full pack. Its a combo of South African and Portuguese flavours. The chicken is prepared with Nandos signature Peri Peri seasoning, which gives it a unique and bold flavour. And the best part? Its halal!

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All charges against a man targeted in a major Toronto police drug investigation were dropped in a downtown courtroom Tuesday, one day after testimony from the former cop who stole drugs seized in the case, then had a near-fatal overdose outside the station.

Crown prosecutor Pam Larmondin said little Tuesday afternoon as she invited acquittals against a man charged with multiple drug trafficking offences stemming from the Toronto police-led Project Sunder. Facing the possibility of jail time, the alleged trafficker and one of his accused associates instead walked freely out of the Ontario Superior Court after Justice Susanne Boucher briefly explained the court would enter acquittals due to insufficient evidence.

Announced in October 2020, Project Sunder was a yearlong provincial anti-gang investigation that saw 114 people charged with 800 counts relating to gang activity, including firearms offences and drug trafficking from Toronto to Thunder Bay.

Tuesdays acquittals against two of those charged came amid defence counsel allegations of security problems within Toronto polices drug storage lockers and one day after testimony from a former cop whod first processed some of the drugs seized in Project Sunder, then stole and ingested them.

Taking the stand Monday, former officer Lorenzino Censoni testified that he had no recollection of the months before and after Sept. 1 and 2, 2020, when he helped process Project Sunder drugs before returning to the drug locker, ripping open two bags of what he thought was cocaine and ingesting the contents.

Within hours, colleagues found him without vital signs in his Jeep Wrangler, metres from the station, bleeding from his nose. Beside him was white powder and a rolled-up evidence receipt from Project Sunder.

Do I remember that happening? No. Im pretty ashamed of it, Censoni testified under questioning by defence lawyer Kim Schofield, citing memory loss from his overdose.

Do I take ownership of it? Yes.

Blood work showed Censoni, who was placed in an induced coma and hospitalized for a month, had ingested fentanyl. In a separate court proceeding in 2021, the 52-year-old pleaded guilty to theft and unlawful possession of fentanyl, received a 12-month conditional sentence and resigned from Toronto police.

Crown lawyers prosecuting five of those charged in Project Sunder had called Censoni and his former partner to the stand to testify about the processing and cataloguing of the drug evidence.

Their testimony, Schofield said, made clear there was no way they could account for the drugs seized in the case against her client.

Its highly unusual that in the face of (Censonis) admitted theft, and abuse of the property locker and drug exhibits, that the Crown would proceed in the first place, said Schofield, whod represented the man whose charges were dropped Tuesday.

That it was even possible for this to happen  so blatantly  speaks to the lack of accountability of police property systems, she said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General declined to comment on the reasons for the acquittals Tuesday, citing the ongoing prosecutions connected to Project Sunder. Crown lawyers do not have to provide reasons when they decide to discontinue a prosecution.

Censoni was one of two Toronto police officers who stole drugs from the evidence locker at North Yorks 31 Division in a matter of months.

Shortly after Censonis overdose, former detective Paul Worden also took drug evidence from the division  one of an estimated 20 times the homicide detective admitted hed stolen drugs from police evidence lockers across the city over a period of 18 months.

Unlike Censoni, Worden was never criminally charged, something former Toronto police chief James Ramer admitted in a 2021 year-end interview with the Star was a mistake. Worden, who said he was in the throes of an opioid addiction, immediately resigned after his thefts were discovered and Toronto police brought in the OPP to investigate their impact on drug and homicide cases. An internal police report obtained by the Star estimated that Wordens actions could impact 17 criminal cases.

In an interview with internal investigators, Worden detailed how he used a police network that catalogued drug evidence to source drugs destined for destruction, though he admitted to also stealing drug evidence from ongoing investigations.

Since Censoni and Wordens thefts were discovered, Toronto police have said they installed video cameras in every evidence locker in the city. They also created a formal policy stating that professional standards investigators cannot make decisions about whether or not to lay criminal charges without consulting with Crown prosecutors.

Its not clear if the OPP recommended other changes be made; the report has not been publicly released and Toronto police last year denied a freedom of information request filed by the Star for the report, citing criminal cases still before the court.

A Toronto police spokesperson said in a statement that the OPP report will not be publicly released as it is subject to the legal provisions of the Police Services Act, and is a matter involving the personal disciplinary situation of an identifiable individual. She noted an update on the report and changes made was provided to the police board last year.

In a court application filed last month  before her clients charges were withdrawn  Schofield asked the court to stay the charges because of the egregious police misconduct. The application alleged there was a serious problem in Toronto polices security and record-keeping apparatus when it came to drug evidence.

The public would be outraged by Censonis actions, Schofield and co-counsel Ricardo Golec wrote.

This is particularly true when considered in the context that DC Censonis conduct was not isolated, nor did it lead to any correction such that Worden could be prevented from engaging in much the same conduct months later, it read.

On the stand Monday, Censoni said hed been taking cocaine about once a month in the lead-up to processing drug evidence in Project Sunder, an assignment he got while with the major crime unit. He got the drugs he personally used from a Mississauga dealer he had programmed into his phone, he said.

Censoni admitted his drug and alcohol addiction was getting worse leading up to his theft but, due to memory loss associated with his overdose, he didnt have any recollection for about two months leading up to the theft and several months after.

In cross-examination, Schofield asked Censoni if it was possible hed stolen drug evidence from lockers before. She noted he had simply ripped holes in the bags, left them to be discovered, then did the drugs 50 metres from the station.

Im going to suggest to you thats not the behaviour of someone who does that for the first time, she said.

Censoni said he couldnt answer whether that had happened before, but later said: Had I tampered with evidence in the past, it would have been caught.

In an interview, Schofield said Toronto police needs to do more to assure the public that vulnerabilities in its drug locker storage system have been addressed.

Public confidence can only be eroded by this, and it can only be further eroded by no public statement about the measures that Toronto police have taken, she said. It should be public.

Several large Toronto police probes have collapsed in court or ended in acquittal in recent months, including some in which police misconduct was cited.

In January, another Project Sunder prosecution  a gun case  ended in stayed charges when a judge found Toronto police failed to get necessary judicial permission before forcing their way into a mans home with a battering ram. (Toronto police said an appeal has since been filed.)

Last month, an Ontario judge stayed drug trafficking charges against a self-admitted cocaine dealer after finding Toronto police stole $6,000 from the drug dealers apartment. Charges were also suddenly stayed last month in Project Brisa, a large international drug trafficking case, amid allegations that officers misled the court, though prosecutors provided no reasons.

A Toronto police spokesperson said Tuesdays acquittals will be reviewed and the appropriate action taken, but noted, it is one of hundreds of cases put before the courts, the majority of which proceed without issue.

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis

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Two women were taken to hospital after being stabbed during a fight in Etobicoke Wednesday night.

Police were called to the area of Manitoba Street and Legion Road North around 8 p.m. for reports of an altercation, according to a tweet from Toronto police.

The women suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

No suspect information was made available.

Toronto police are asking anyone with information to contact 416-808-3300.

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Ex-paralegal Benito Zappia once owned a firm whose slogan was We win or its free, offering money-back guarantees to clients fighting traffic tickets.

Turns out, winning involved paying off a court clerk to alter 11 clients cases at the 2700 Eglinton Ave. W. provincial offences courthouse, changing traffic ticket convictions to withdrawals and erasing the fines that had been imposed.

On Thursday, Superior Court Justice Breese Davies convicted Zappia of two counts of fraud under $5,000, and attempting to obstruct justice. In doing so, she rejected his denials on the stand that he paid off the clerk in question, or that the clerk harboured animus toward him because of alleged bad blood between their two families.

Paying a court clerk to use his access to the courts information management system to change the lawful outcome of a court proceeding is undoubtedly an act that defeats the course of justice, Davies said.

Ex-city court clerk Frank Rizzello pleaded guilty last year to fraud over $5,000, admitting to receiving payoffs from paralegals to alter more than 100 provincial offences tickets, totalling more than $30,000 in fines. He was paid $50 for each altered ticket. Rizzello was sentenced to two years in jail.

Davies said 11 of the cases were clients of Zappias firm, totalling over $3,000 in fines. Zappia said those cases had been subcontracted to another paralegal, and denied on the stand having any involvement in Rizzellos scheme.

I find the only reasonable inference to draw from the totality of the evidence is that Mr. Zappia asked Mr. Rizzello to change the outcome of those 11 cases and he paid him to do so, either directly or indirectly, Davies said.

In all 11 cases, no one from Zappias firm attended court on behalf of the clients. They were convicted in absentia, and then the records were later altered by Rizzello marking them as withdrawn and the fines erased.

In fact, Zappia rarely went to court at all, Davies said, as his role was to bring in new clients for the firm and subcontract the cases to other paralegals. His licence was revoked by the Law Society in 2021 for conduct unrelated to the criminal case.

Davies said Zappia had a significant financial incentive to pay off Rizzello to ensure his clients were not convicted, even if the files had been outsourced to other paralegals. If the ticket was not withdrawn, Zappia would have to refund the clients retainer in keeping with his firms promise, Davies said.

By paying Mr. Rizzello $50, he could guarantee that he would be able to keep the full retainer in all of his 2700 Eglinton Ave. W. files, thereby reducing the refunds he had to pay and increasing his profits, Davies said.

Rizzellos scheme was uncovered during an internal investigation sparked by an anonymous tip in 2018, and Zappias clients ended up having to repay the fines erased from their cases. When the truth was uncovered in 2018, Zappia failed to tell his clients, and he did not refund the retainer in all of the cases, Davies said.

Four paralegals including Zappia were arrested by Toronto police in 2019, but charges were withdrawn the following year by the Crown against the other three.

Zappia defrauded the city of Toronto by depriving it of fines lawfully imposed in the altered cases, Davies said. He also defrauded his 11 clients by taking their retainers and then failed to provide the services he agreed to perform.

He deliberately engaged in fraudulent conduct by failing to attend court or having someone to attend court as his agent, and knowingly causing his clients to be convicted in absentia, she said.

Rizzello had been brought from jail to testify in Zappias case. The latter alleged on the stand that there had been bad blood between their two families for years, and argued that Rizzello had motive to falsely implicate Zappia in the illegal scheme.

Rizzellos aunt had been married to Zappias uncle  his fathers twin brother. Zappia testified there had been a physical altercation between the Zappia twins in 2010, leading to a rift between the Rizzello and Zappia families. Rizzello testified that he wasnt even aware he was related to Zappia by marriage until Zappias lawyer brought it up in cross-examination.

The theory that Rizzello falsely implicated Zappia because of family drama in my view is far-fetched and not supported by the evidence, Davies said.

The case returns to court next month to set a date for a sentencing hearing.

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering courts, justice and legal affairs for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant

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There was a particularly instructive part of Premier Doug Fords press conference on Tuesday, when he was discussing the plan to destroy a heritage cultural building in North York and move the beloved Science Centre attraction it houses to a new home around the edges of the giant private spa he is building at Ontario Place.

I always respect that Toronto is the host city, he said. But last time I checked on the sign out there, it doesnt say Toronto Place, it says Ontario Place.

You get that? The word host, in Fords mouth, takes on a certain connotation. Like how a virus attacks a host. Or how a parasite feeds on a host. Hes not the guest in such a scenario, hes the invasive agent who will impose his will on a defenceless body, feeding off it and poisoning it for his own benefit until it is so weak that its survival falls into question.

The thing Doug Ford respects about a host is that it has assets he can plunder and he can point to the signs saying he has the authority to keep on raiding until all the goodies are devoured or destroyed or given away.

The sign says Ontario Place, or it says Ontario Science Centre or it says Ontario Line construction or it says Ontarios Greenbelt. The legislation says cities are creatures of the province. Ford has the authority, and that is all the justification he needs.

Theres a common thread to so very many of these Ford announcements that so many local people in the places they affect object to: in almost every case, someone is gonna get rich. And in almost no case is that someone me or you or the people of the communities under attack.

The specific context here about the Science Centre is that seemingly everyone in Toronto hates this idea: the conservative former cop who represents the neighbourhood on city council; the centrist mayoral candidate who floated the idea of moving the Science Centre but who is now shocked that levelling architect Raymond Moriyamas ravine masterpiece of a building would be part of the bargain; local community groups; the vast majority of major mayoral candidates.

As it is, it stands alongside the zoo as one of the citys major attractions not located downtown, yet it still draws about a million visitors per year  it may be a surprise to those people that Ford claims it is in such bad shape it must be torn down. Especially since the far smaller space they propose moving it to  including the pods and Cinesphere of Ontario Place  are actually derelict at the moment. We are about to open a rapid transit station called Science Centre meant to serve that attraction on the Eglinton Crosstown line, and we are constructing another subway line whose terminus was planned explicitly to serve it as an anchor attraction of the neighbourhood. Now, that massive investment of public money will instead serve to make whoever develops the land around it even wealthier.

The further specific context is that this whole plan is meant to prop up a scheme for Ontario Place that no one asked for and virtually no one likes, a way to claim that even while a forest of parkland is being razed to make way for a giant glassed-in tropical waterslide attraction, there will still be public uses down there wedged in beside it.

Heres the thing: currently we, the public, have two massive publicly owned attraction spaces in different parts of the city. The plan is to demolish one entirely and give it all away, and then demolish and give away a big chunk of another one while squeezing all the former and potential uses of both spaces into the sliver that remains.

It all stinks.

There are more pressing issues in Toronto than the fate of these two sites  including the need for more housing and affordable housing that serves as Fords window dressing for so much of what he does. But the issue here is not only about those specific sites. Its about the premiers repeatedly demonstrated view that our city (and often the area around it) are hosts he can impose himself on for his own purposes, sucking them dry and debilitating them. Hell rewrite the governance and democratic structure of Toronto  or Brampton, or Ottawa  in the middle of an election campaign, or secretly right after one; hell remove environmental protections for the benefit of rich lobbyists despite explicit promises not to; hell demolish the beloved architecture and infrastructure of our childhood memories and sell us out for the short money, time and again.

The question for the next mayor is how do you deal with that issue. How does a good host respond?

Some candidates, most notably Josh Matlow so far, seem to think we need to respond as if were fighting off a virus that needs to be expelled. At least one candidate, Mark Saunders, seems to prefer we see ourselves as a different kind of host, laying out our fine china and best silver for Ford even as he smashes the cups and pockets the flatware. Saunderss most recent job was advising Ford on the Ontario Place plan. Ford sure seems to see him as the potential host with the most. That ought to be instructive, for better or worse, on how hed represent us to the province as mayor.

The current building is unsafe and outdated, Saunders told the Star about the Science Centre, repeating Fords line. And I would think that it makes more sense to demolish it than try to rehabilitate it.

Unsafe and outdated could, in a nutshell, describe how a lot of people increasingly see the whole city they have loved. One large question in the mayoral campaign is whether we should work to rehabilitate it, or elect more leaders who just think it makes sense to demolish it?

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A Toronto public school board trustee wants to get rid of the controversial new lottery system used to admit students to many specialized high schools and programs and bring back a merit-based approach.

Random selection is unfair and will hurt the quality of programming, Trustee Weidong Pei said at a community meeting on Tuesday night, adding he wants to reverse the boards new policy, which it created to dismantle systemic barriers and boost equity.

The lottery system, as it stands right now, is unfair, he told the crowd of about 100 people, mostly parents, gathered at Earl Haig Secondary School for the meeting, with about 200 watching online. Also, its going to undermine the quality of those specialized programs.

I want to work with my new board members to design a (policy) that addresses equity issues, but at the same time will address accessibility issues, said Pei, eliciting applause from the crowd, some of whom spoke about their frustrations with the policy change.

Pei said some talented, capable and skilled kids are being shut out of the new admissions process for the citys most sought-after programs and schools, which focus on areas such as arts, science and math. He knows of students who were unsuccessful in the lottery and are now headed to other boards or private schools, calling it a talent drain.

A spokesperson for the Toronto District School Board said these programs have offered outstanding opportunities for some students, but families have told us that barriers to access including admission processes, entrance criteria and geography, have limited these opportunities for a significant number of students.

Since the changes to the policy, more students who represent the diversity of TDSB schools have expressed an interest in and have registered to attend these programs, Ryan Bird told the Star.

Application process handled centrally

Before the policy change, students applied directly to the programs and schools and had to demonstrate ability, which may have included an entrance exam or audition. But now, the application process is handled centrally and students just need to indicate interest in the program. When the number of applicants exceeds space, which is the case for most programs, priority is given to those from underserved communities and then a lottery is used for remaining spots.

Pei of Ward 12 (Willowdale) told the Star, We need to replace the unfair lottery system with a merit-based admissions process that will improve the representation of under-represented groups. Hed like to see students from under-represented groups be given more supports  and information  to help prepare them for these programs.

He intends to present a motion in June to reverse the admissions policy. Hell need a majority of the trustees  12 out of the 22  to agree to reopen debate on a decision made last May. Because half of the board members were newly elected in the October municipal election, Pei hopes he can garner the necessary support. At Tuesdays meeting, new trustees Liban Hassan of Ward 6 (York South-Weston) and Dennis Hastings of Ward 1 (Etobicoke North), were there to show their support for Pei, whos also a new trustee.

A childs educational future is too important to be determined by the luck of a draw, Pei told the Star.

In May, trustees approved the new Student Interest Programs policy, which aims to provide equitable access, regardless of ability, to improve representation of certain groups. At the time, Director of Education Colleen Russell-Rawlins said the TDSB has a responsibility to give students pathways to pursue their dreams and realize their full potential.

The new policy was implemented this year for those applying for September 2023. Interest was up. According to TDSB data, the number of Grade 9 applications for September 2023 was up in all programs totalling 9,660. By comparison, in September 2022, there were a total of 6,844 applications. (Thats the number of applications, with students permitted two choices. The total number of Grade 9 applicants for next September is 5,930.)

In the arts programs, for instance, there were 2,309 Grade 9 applications for next September, compared with 1,453 last year. And, there were 4,050 for math, science and technology programs, compared with 2,997 in 2022.

Underserved racial communities prioritized

Priority seating spaces were allocated to four historically and currently underserved racial communities: Indigenous, Black, Latin and Middle Eastern. The TDSBs 2016 student census data shows self-identified students from those groups make up about 20 per cent of its overall student population, and the board wanted to fill 20 per cent of its seats in specialized programs with kids from those groups. It was able to do this in nearly all programs.

Due to the high number of applicants, students from those racial groups who werent initially selected as part of the first 20 per cent, were added to the lottery for the remaining 80 per cent of seats.

The board said it increased the number of seats in most programs to provide greater access. For instance in September 2022, there were 2,339 seats in Grade 9 available, while next September there are 2,675, which is a 14 per cent increase.

Because of enrolment constraints at Marc Garneau and William Lyon Mackenzie collegiates  both schools are already above capacity  half of the available seats for their STEM-focused specialized program were assigned to applicants living in the catchment area during the lottery.

Students who applied to TDSB specialty programs and schools were notified during the winter about whether they got in.

A group of nine parents is so frustrated by the change in policy that they have applied to a Divisional Court for a judicial review of the change.

I have a son in Grade 7 and although hes not impacted this year, he could be impacted next year, said Mary Xue, whos part of that group, which is raising funds and looking for a lawyer. Someone needs to stand up for this. Its just not right, she told the Star.

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A woman on trial for killing a Toronto lawyer with whom she was involved in contentious litigation will testify she was not driving a rented pickup truck that deliberately ran over him in a midtown parking lot, her lawyer told jurors Thursday.

She did not rent it, did not pick up the keys, and did not drive it, defence lawyer Naomi Lutes said in a brief opening statement on behalf of her client, Anh Chiem, 64.

Scott Rosen, 52, was walking to his vehicle when he was struck twice by a white U-Haul pickup truck in the Eglinton Avenue East garage of his law office on Dec. 18, 2020. Horrified witnesses watched the pickup truck pin Rosen to the wall, leaving him with catastrophic injuries.

Video surveillance captured the truck accelerating at a high rate of speed and striking him, reversing and striking him again, but did not show the drivers face.

For the past month, prosecutors have been calling evidence to show that Chiem, drowning in debt, came to bitterly resent the civil litigator while he was representing her former son-in-law developer in a residential property dispute. Rosen was pursuing her assets and opposed her bankruptcy on behalf of a client.

Jurors have heard the U-Haul rental agency operator testify that Chiem rented the pickup truck on Dec. 15, 16 and 17, witnesses saw her sitting in the truck for hours across the street from the parking lot on each of those days. On Dec. 18, a mechanic who worked near the rental agency gave the trucks key to a woman he believed was Chiem.

The pickup was located, about 90 minutes after Rosen was struck, with his blood on the front bumper.

The jury has also heard a Toronto police constable describe writing Chiem a ticket for covering up the trucks Arizona licence plate with duct tape. A man driving on Bathurst Street the evening Rosen died testified he pulled in front of the damaged truck, and spoke to the driver matching Chiems description  whom he later recognized in a news story announcing her arrest.

After Crown attorneys Bev Richards and Corie Langdon closed their case Thursday, Lutes told jurors that her client will tell them she was not responsible for Rosens murder.

While the Crown indicated the trial is about money and murder, Lutes said the case is also about identification ...(and) who was driving the U-Haul pickup truck on December 18, 2020 and Ms. Chiem will tell you that it was not her.

Chiem will explain why she rented the truck on Dec. 15, what the arrangement was with the operator, what she did on Dec. 15, 16 and 17, and why, on Dec. 18, she was in the area of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, and it had nothing to do with Mr. Rosen.

She will also deny obscuring the licence plate with duct tape as well as telling the U-Haul truck agency operator that the truck was damaged on Dec. 18 because she lost control of the vehicle.

Chiem will also explain why she filed complaints to the Law Society about Rosen  and other lawyers who represented her  and what she was hoping would happen, said Lutes.

By the end of court on Thursday, Chiem, the mother of three grown children, had taken the stand and began answering Lutes questions through a Vietnamese interpreter. She is expected to continue testifying Friday at the trial presided over by Justice Peter Bawden.

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Good morning. This is the Thursday, April 20 edition of First Up, the Stars daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier each day, in your inbox.

Heres the latest on Doug Fords proposed planning changes, the fate of a Toronto youth shelter, and a fight to overturn TDSBs controversial lottery system.

DONT MISS:

Sprawl for all? What Doug Fords proposed changes to planning rules could mean for future growth

The Ford government introduced the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act 2023 earlier this month, which, coupled with changes to the provincial planning statement, alters how Ontario has planned its cities since 2005. Its the third time in a year the province has brought in legislation to overhaul the planning system, all with the goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031, reports Noor Javed. So, how will Bill 97 affect Ontarios cities? The Star talked to experts across several industries to understand how the provinces new planning rules will impact them. Heres what they had to say.

+ More: Some critics say it will discourage densification within cities and open the door to sprawl. Others say the new plans will ultimately address the housing needs of rural residents.

+ Bad news for: Farmers. The president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture fears new changes will further threaten farmland. Some changes give municipalities flexibility to develop rural settlements and split large farms into smaller lots to create additional residential units and housing for farm workers.

A downtown youth shelter just found a new home  but itll close in four months

When a Toronto youth shelter was told to close this spring, it turned to the Strathcona Hotel near York and Wellington as a refuge for its occupants. Now, the city now says it expects the Strathcona lease to also be terminated by the end of August, leaving the city scrambling to make relocation plans. With a deadline now looming, city hall said it would prioritize moving Strathcona occupants into housing, where possible, before considering moves to other shelters. But in a city where affordable housing is hard to come by, the city has struggled with that effort during the initial closures of the more than two dozen temporary shelters opened during the pandemic. Victoria Gibson reports on Torontos continued struggles with shelter capacity, and how residents are responding to the four-month deadline.

+ Go deeper: While shelter demand continues to surpass available space, municipal officials have pointed to the financial strain of the temporary sites. A 2021 lease extension for the Strathcona, for example, lists the daily room rates as $100.

+ The aftermath: One occupant of the Strathconas adult shelter program told the Star that residents hadnt, as of Tuesday, been formally notified about the looming closure  only finding out after staff were informed and word trickled out unofficially.

Why this rookie trustee is vying to overturn the TDSB lottery system for specialty high schools

Weidong Pei, a Toronto public school board trustee, wants to scrap the controversial new lottery system used to dole out spaces in specialized high schools and bring back a merit-based approach, reports Isabel Teotonio. At a community meeting Tuesday night, Pei told a crowd of mostly parents he wants to work with new board members to design a (policy) that addresses equity issues, but at the same time will address accessibility issues. He argues that the lottery system shuts some talented, capable and skilled kids out of the new admissions process for the citys most sought-after programs and schools. As a result, they are now headed to other boards or private schools, he said, calling it a talent drain. Heres why the rookie trustee says a childs educational future is too important to be determined by the luck of a draw.

+ Context: Before the policy change, students applied directly to the programs and schools and had to demonstrate ability, which may have included an entrance exam or audition. But now, the application process is handled centrally and students need only to indicate interest in the program. When the number of applicants exceeds space, which is the case for most programs, priority is given to those from underserved communities and a lottery is used for remaining spots.

+ Who cares: A group of nine parents so frustrated by the change in policy have applied to a Divisional Court for a judicial review of the change. I have a son in Grade 7 and although hes not impacted this year, he could be impacted next year, one parent told the Star. Someone needs to stand up for this. Its just not right.

WHAT ELSE:

 How will the federal public servants strike affect you? Heres everything you need to know.

 Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh all crave the labour vote. Heres why the federal strike complicates that.

 These Canadians are taking the government to court over citizenship by descent. They say they shouldnt be penalized for being born abroad.

 Canada has named Ian Mckay as its lead envoy and co-ordinator in the Indo-Pacific region. Heres what he hopes to achieve.

 Gil Penalosa, runner-up in the fall election, has dropped out of the Toronto mayoral race.

 A new report ranks Toronto as the twelfth wealthiest city in the world in 2023.

 A Toronto drug case was dropped after a cop testified he stole drug evidence and overdosed in station parking lot.

 After earthquakes in Turkey they looked to Canada. How a young familys dilemma is the new reality for Roxham Road migrants.

 I dont wanna die here. A GTA family trapped in Sudan is pleading for help from the Canadian government.

 Torontos luxury real estate sales have plunged 65 per cent as inventory dries up.

 Love Is Blind alumni say they experienced emotional distress and inhumane conditions.

 Kids could always be mean  did lockdown make them meaner?

POV: Moving the Science Centre is the right move from our wrong-headed premier.

CLOSE-UP: Under a cloudless sky, Indonesian youth gathered to watch a rare solar eclipse cross over remote parts of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor on Thursday.

Thank you for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca

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NDJAMENA, Chad (AP)  At least 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled into neighboring Chad amid fighting in their own country, authorities said.

A contingent of soldiers crossed into Chad earlier this week and have been disarmed said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chads defense minister at a press conference in the capital, NDjamena, on Wednesday.

As fighting rages in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and Sudans Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, concerns of a regional spillover are increasing. After the fighting erupted on Saturday, as both sides vie for power, Chad closed its 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) border with Sudan.

The RSF is a powerful armed force and this military superiority likely explains why Sudanese troops are fleeing into Chad, say conflict analysts.

By detaining these fleeing troops, (Chads president) is seeking to avoid the perception that he is allowing the Sudanese army to operate from Chad against the RSF. Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral and help broker a cease-fire in Sudan. (However), Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war, said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

NDjamena is likely to oppose (Dagalo) due to fears that RSF dominance in Darfur could empower Chadian Arabs to unseat the (presidents) regime. Many within (Dagalos) Rizeigat tribe live across the border in Chad, he said.

Sudans fighting has caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, said the United Nations. New arrivals are entering a situation marked by soaring humanitarian needs and chronic underfunding, it added.

The country was already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. Its surrounded by conflict-riddled nations and is hosting some 600,000 refugees from Sudan, Niger, Cameroon and Central African Republic, one of the biggest burdens in Africa, according to the U.N.

___

Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal

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ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP)  Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Thursday opened the countrys permanent embassy in Turkmenistan and said the move will strengthen Israels position in Central Asia.

Cohen, in the first visit by an Israeli top diplomat since 1994, met with Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Ties with Turkmenistan have great importance for security and diplomacy, and the visit will strengthen Israels place in the region, Cohen said on Twitter.

Opening the permanent diplomatic mission in the capital Ashgabat, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the Iranian border, gives Israel its third embassy in former Soviet Central Asia, after Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Turkmenistan, which holds vast natural gas reserves, maintains a firmly neutral foreign policy. It has remained largely isolated under autocratic rulers since independence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

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ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Authorities in southern Greece say one migrant has died and 47 others have been rescued after a sailboat crashed into rocks and partially sank in a remote coastal area of the Greek mainland.

The coast guard said the migrants  15 men, 16 women and 16 minors  were located Thursday near the southern tip of the Peloponnese region, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Athens, after managing to reach a beach and call for help.

The migrants carried a man found to be unresponsive by rescuers and later confirmed dead, while four children and three women were hospitalized for observation. The nationality of the migrants was not immediately known.

Officials said coast guard divers had checked the hull of the sailboat and found no one trapped inside.

Migrants have typically embarked on riskier journeys in recent years to try and avoid heavily patroled Greek islands near the coast of Turkey.

Boats heading to the Greek mainland or Italy are frequently abandoned by smugglers in the early stages of the crossing.

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BEIRUT (AP)  Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen.

In other parts of the region, the holiday came against the backdrop of reconciliation and rapprochement between former rivals.

The Islamic calendar is lunar and depends on the sighting of the moon  something Muslim religious authorities tend to disagree on. Ramadan sees worshippers fasting daily from dawn to sunset, ending with Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

This year again, the holiday comes amid fighting and devastation, particularly in the Middle East.

In Sudan, the holiday was eclipsed by raging battles between the army and its rival paramilitary force, despite two attempted cease-fires. The fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands.

In Yemen, the Arab worlds most impoverished nation, a stampede late Wednesday at a charitable event in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa killed at least 78 people and injured 77.

Religious authorities in both Sudan and Yemen said they will mark the start of Eid al-Fitr on Friday.

In Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population worldwide, the second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah  with over 60 million members  said that according to its astronomical calculations, the holiday of Eid al-Fitr starts on Friday. However, the countrys religious affairs minister had announced on Thursday that the start of the holiday would fall on Saturday.

In some places, tensions and fighting had calmed. Long-time Mideast rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed last month to restore diplomatic ties after China-brokered negotiations  an ongoing reconciliation that has deescalated proxy wars in the region.

Saudi officials and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen recently began talks in Sanaa and during the last days of Ramadan exchanged hundreds of prisoners captured in Yemens civil war, which erupted in 2014.

Riyadh also sent its top diplomat to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, a significant step towards ending his political isolation and potentially returning the war-torn country to the Arab League.

However, Tehran and Riyadh disagreed on the start of he holiday  for Saudis, Eid al-Fitr would begin Friday while officials in Iran said it starts on Saturday.

The start of the holiday is traditionally based on sightings of the new moon, which vary according to geographic location, while some countries rely on astronomical calculations rather than physical sightings to determine the start of Eid al-Fitr.

United Arab Emirates and Qatar, followed Saudi Arabia and announced the holiday would begin for them on Friday, while their Gulf Arab neighbor, Oman, declared that the moon had not been sighted and the holiday would begin on Saturday.

Iraqs Sunni authorities announced the holiday would begin Friday, while the countrys top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, set a Saturday start date. The governments of Lebanon and Syria, both in the throes of crippling economic crises, said Friday would mark the beginning of the dayslong holiday.

Indonesias Security Minister Mohammad Mahfud called on Muslims to be respectful of each others celebrations, and asked Muhammadiyah members to have their holiday feasts at home  in consideration of the Muslims who would still be fasting on Friday.

The countrys roads and highways were gridlocked as millions crammed into trains, ferries, busses and on motorcycles, as they left cities to return to their villages to celebrate with family. The government estimated that more than 123 million travelers were expected to crisscross the vast archipelago that spans 17,000 islands, with about 18 million departing from Jakartas greater metropolitan area.

Meanwhile, clerics of Pakistans state-backed moon sighting committee announced at a news conference in Islamabad that Eid al-Fitr would be celebrated on Saturday in Pakistan as there were no sightings of the moon there.

Egypt and Jordan said that for them, Eid al-Fitr would begin on Friday. In divided Libya, the religious authorities based in the capital of Tripoli, said it would start on Saturday. In the countrys east, run by a rival administration, authorities marked Friday as the start.

In Afghanistan, the head of the Taliban-appointed judiciary, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, also said the holiday would start on Friday.

___

Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Munir Ahmad and Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that one of Libyas rival administrations in the countrys capital said the holiday would start on Saturday, the other said Friday.

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ROCKVILLE, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut man who viciously and randomly attacked two people with a Samurai-style sword, killing one and severely wounding the other, was sentenced Thursday to 55 years in prison, the same sentence he received for a fatal shooting and kidnapping that occurred two days after the attack.

Peter Manfredonia struck 62-year-old Ted DeMers in the head with the sword, completely severed his right hand, sliced off his left thumb and index finger and repeatedly slashed his back during the attack in Willington on May 22, 2020. Manfredonia then wounded 80-year-old John Franco, who had severe injuries to his hands and wounds to his head and neck. DeMers was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.

Manfredonia, now 26, who was a University of Connecticut senior in 2020 studying finance and mechanical engineering, later held another local man hostage for 24 hours. He then drove across the state to Derby, fatally shot a school classmate and kidnapped that victims girlfriend. He was caught in Hagerstown, Maryland, ending a six-day manhunt in several states.

Manfredonia appeared in state Superior Court in Rockville on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in both the Willington and Derby cases and agreed to 55-year sentences. Judge Kathleen McNamara imposed the prison term for the sword attack Thursday, which will run concurrent with the sentence for the fatal shooting and kidnapping.

Although Connecticut no longer has capital punishment, both DeMers widow, Cindy, and Franco told the judge they believed Manfredonia deserved the death penalty.

Cindy Demers described rushing to the scene of carnage outside her home that day.

It was like being in a war zone, she said. All I could focus on was reassuring Ted that he was going to be OK and we would put his body back together. We will get through this. We had gotten through so much together up until this point.

Dying was not an option, she continued. And even seeing him and his injuries, I couldnt even imagine that was a possibility. He was still alive when he was taken away, but he never came home. ... My husbands life was stolen from him viciously. Life as I knew it stolen from me. My world as I knew it came to an end.

Franco, a U.S. Navy veteran who is now 83, attended the hearing and added, He should be terminated. Im a true believer in capital punishment, especially in a situation such as this. Franco was called a hero for coming to DeMers aid when he saw the attack.

Family and friends described DeMers as a kind and generous man who coached Little League in town and would help anybody who needed it. He tried to help Manfredonia that day because he thought Manfredonia had crashed his motorcycle, witnesses said.

It was the second straight day that victims of Manfredonias violent spree offered emotional testimony in court. Manfredonia apologized at both hearings. He was sentenced on Wednesday for shooting 23-year-old Nicholas Eisele to death in Derby and kidnapping Eiseles girlfriend, whom he released unharmed a few hours later in New Jersey.

Tolland States Attorney Matthew Gedansky said Thursday that Manfredonia went to DeMers neighborhood that day to see his ex-girlfriend, who lived nearby. Gedansky said it appeared Manfredonia had plans to kill the woman but was interrupted by Demers, who had approached him on the street to see if he needed help.

Manfredonias lawyer, Michael Dolan, said Manfredonias actual plan was to commit suicide in front of his ex-girlfriend. Dolan said Manfredonia has bipolar disease and anxiety, and was having a psychotic episode at the time of the killings.

Gedansky said he believed Manfredonia was desperate when he went to Eiseles apartment two days later, knowing Eisele had money. Manfredonia and Eisele grew up together in Newtown, Connecticut.

Manfredonias apology on Thursday was similar to the one he made on Wednesday. He directed separate comments to DeMers family, Franco and Donald Hipsky, the man whose home Manfredonia broke into after the sword attack and who was held hostage for 24 hours but not physically hurt.

There are no words that can possibly atone for what I have done. Know that I am sorry nonetheless, he said to DeMers family. You have done nothing to deserve the pain that I have caused. My actions were nothing short of reprehensible. I do not expect forgiveness for my actions and I will regret them every day for the rest of my life.

As part of his plea bargains, Manfredonia agreed not see seek early release through requests for parole or sentence modification.

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IDABEL, Okla. (AP)  The widow of an Oklahoma man who died following a 2022 arrest filed a lawsuit Thursday against the rural sheriff who a newspaper says it caught on tape talking about killing journalists who were reporting on her husbands death.

Last March, outside the rural area of McCurtain County, Bobby Barricks death drew scant attention. The 45-year-old had died in a hospital days after deputies shocked him with a stun gun.

But the wrongful death lawsuit that Barbara Barrick filed in federal court Thursday comes as national attention is drawn on the county, more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, by a recording of local officials discussing killing journalists and lynching Black people.

Its been a hard year not knowing what happened to my husband, Barbara Barrick said during a Thursday news conference in front of the sheriffs office. She praised the persistent and brave efforts of local newspaper reporters to find out more about her husbands arrest and death.

Over the weekend, the McCurtain Gazette-News published recordings revealing County Commissioner Mark Jennings, Sheriff Kevin Clardy and deputies seeming to discuss killing reporters with the paper and hanging Black people.

The officials have not publicly addressed the content of the recordings, which prompted calls for their resignations, including from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Unfortunately, all of our attorneys are telling us we are supposed to stay quiet, Undersheriff Mike Manning told The Associated Press Thursday, declining further comment. Id love for everybody to hear both sides of the story.

The recorded comments from March 6 were captured after the papers publisher, Bruce Willingham, says he left a recorder inside the room after a county commissioners meeting because he suspected the group was continuing county business after the meeting ended, in violation of the states Open Meeting Act. They included discussion of two or three hit men.

Willingham said he believed the officials were upset by stories weve run that cast the sheriffs office in an unfavorable light, including coverage of Bobby Barricks death.

McCurtain County is in far southeast Oklahoma, in the forested foothills of the Ouachita mountains, bordering Arkansas and Texas. The part of the state is often referred to as Little Dixie, because of the influence in the area from white Southerners who migrated there after the Civil War, and Barbara Barretts lawyer suggested Thursday that racial tension may have played a role in her husbands death.

Barrett was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation and his wife alleged in her lawsuit that the sheriffs staff have stated their resentment for members of the Native American community in a racial manner.

Barbara Barrick sued Clardy, three deputies and a state game warden, claiming they violated her husbands constitutional right and used excessive force during his arrest. The suit says the deputies found her husband hog tied on the ground outside a convenience store, where hed been beaten by a crowd.

The deputies then handcuffed, beat and shocked Bobby Barrick, according to the suit, and deactivated their body cameras

The Gazette-News, a small newspaper with limited online presence, sued the sheriffs office last month, seeking body camera footage and other records of the arrest. On Thursday, the newspaper released the full recording of the meeting where officials threaten its reporters.

On Wednesday, Jennings resigned, according to Gov. Stitts office. The day before, the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association voted unanimously to suspend Clardy and two of his deputies.

In a post on the sheriffs office Facebook page on Tuesday, officials did not address the recorded conversation but claimed the recording was illegally obtained. Willingham said he twice spoke with his attorneys to be sure he wasnt doing anything illegal in making the recording.

None of the officials on the recording have responded to telephone calls or emails from the AP seeking comment.

___

Bleiberg reported from Dallas.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP)  After years of opposition to any form of marijuana legalization in Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers are now working privately to build support for a medical cannabis program that could win bipartisan backing and be enacted into law later this year, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press on Thursday.

For now, the group of lawmakers  whom Vos declined to name  are working only among Assembly Republicans to build enough support, and he hopes to introduce the plan this fall. Vos has long backed some form of medical marijuana program, but no bill has ever received a vote in either the GOP-controlled Assembly or Senate.

Vos said he remains steadfastly opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana and does not want to create a medical program that would be a precursor to that. Wisconsin remains an outlier nationally, with medical marijuana legal in 38 states and recreational marijuana legal in 21. The push for legalization in Wisconsin has gained momentum, as neighboring Illinois and Michigan allow recreational use while Minnesota and Iowa have legalized medical use.

We are not Illinois. We are not California. We are not Colorado, Vos said in an interview. We are a state thats at best purple. And purple is not legalization of recreational marijuana.

Voss announcement that Republicans have been working on a deal he hopes can pass the Legislature comes on April 20, or 420 Day, marijuanas high holiday. Advocates for pot legalization planned to announce a Grass Routes Tour that will make four stops across the state to promote cannabis legalization.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, who is leading the fight for full legalization, cast doubt on Vos intentions.

Weve seen this story before  but actions speak louder than words, Agard said in a statement. Session after session, the Speaker has come forward with empty promises but no tangible steps toward any form of legal cannabis Wisconsin.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed full legalization of marijuana in his state budget, an idea that Republicans vowed to reject. Last April 20, a Republican-authored bill creating a medical marijuana program received a public hearing, the first time any such bill made it that far in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

However, the bill died in committee.

Senate Republicans have been less open to pot legalization than those in the Assembly. But in January, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said a bill to create a medical marijuana program could pass this legislative session  as long as regulations are put forward to ensure its for those in serious pain.

Sixty-four percent of Wisconsinites support legalizing marijuana for any use, according to October polling by the Marquette University Law School. More than 80% of Wisconsinites supported the idea of a medical marijuana program, according to 2019 polling.

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Its been a strange few weeks. Canadian Muslims just finished the holy month of Ramadan, a time of expected vibrancy and community. But happy times have been dimmed by a staggering spike in Islamophobic incidents across the country that have ruined the month for many.

The dominant target seems to be mosques, where large crowds of Muslims are gathering for multiple daily prayers that can go late into the night.

A few of these alleged incidents have made headlines.

Like the man who tried to drive his car into congregants at the Islamic Society of Markham. Or the two Muslim women who had a gun pointed at them by a fellow driver in Kitchener, Ont., as they headed home from the masjid. Or the guy who shattered the glass doors of a mosque in Montreal. Or the young Muslim woman who had a knife pulled on her in the Toronto subway. Or the increasing cases of vandalism at Muslim community spaces. The list goes on and on.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Most cases dont make the news. The National Council of Canadian Muslims, which helps community members respond to such incidents, has received over 40 reports from community members across Canada since Ramadan started  a record number. The single day high is seven reports, another record. But not every case makes headlines. Community members who come to us for help often dont want media attention.

These numbers also dont include reports of incidents taking place in Canadas schools that NCCMs education department has been fielding  about one per day since January (another record). These incidents involve Islamophobic bullying in classrooms, usually from other students or even teachers. NCCM finds that parents are often frustrated with school administrators who have little experience dealing with Islamophobia, and sometimes downplay its severity. Caseworkers then step in to help resolve the issue, often by providing Islamophobia training to school staff.

NCCM records a higher volume of troubling reports almost every Ramadan, but this year was especially bad. The holy month already makes the Muslim community more visible than usual.

Thousands of worshippers head to mosques to experience the sacred time together. Many community centres also run extra programs, speaker series, and meals. In recent years, Ramadan has been occurring in spring and summertime according to the Islamic lunar calendar. This means worshippers are hanging out more right outside of mosques and community facilities. This increases their public visibility in general and likely to those who have this month caused harm.

These outdoor gatherings might help explain the increasing number of attackers who are using their cars to intimidate or hurt congregants this month.

Such incidents recall the truck attack in 2021 that killed four members of the same Muslim family two years ago in London, Ont. There have been some close calls this year.

After a brief dip in 2020, Statistics Canada reported that the number of Islamophobic hate-motivated attacks reported to police in 2021  144  have climbed back toward levels weve seen without fail since 2013. Often more than 150 cases have been reported per year and in 2017 a staggering 349. The number of reports that NCCM is getting seems to fit these unfortunate statistics.

All this is giving the Muslim community pause during a time when neighbours and congregants are supposed to achieve more serenity in their faith. It is hard to gather oneself or to breathe lightly when the reverberations of Islamophobic hate are felt all around our communities.

More people are wondering why the problem seems to be getting worse despite so many promises by elected officials to address Islamophobia. Mosques are again talking about reshaping security measures to ensure maximum safety. It has been a surreal time.

The response needs to be solidarity from all Canadians to stop repeated cycles of violence. We all need to commit to rooting out Islamophobia and hate in our society. Whether its reforming the governments Security Infrastructure Program to help beef up mosque security, or implementing better measures to prevent hate crimes, promises must become tangible progress.

This isnt just a Muslim community problem. Hate is a problem for our whole country to help address. The quicker we get to work, the better chance we have to prevent tragedy.

Steven Zhou is a writer for the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

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Our health care system is struggling with challenges in funding, staffing and the deep scars left by the coronavirus pandemic. But Canada is also leading the world in research for the chronic diseases that put the most pressure on our health care system.

Canada has the ability and talent to launch the moon shots that lead to next-generation treatments utilizing stem cell and gene therapy or regenerative medicine. We just need the ambition to do it. The reality today is Canada lags behind other nations in translating research success into health innovation, as was acknowledged recently by the federal governments Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System. Its time to address the obstacles in the way.

Advanced medical research in Canada is making dramatic progress with discoveries that have the potential to heal damaged organs, reverse the effects of chronic conditions and create economic growth. Policymakers and government officials should support and fund life-science innovations so the benefits of our discoveries are realized here and take pressure off our health care system. This means following through on targeted medical research until advanced therapies are ready to benefit patients in large numbers.

Potential to cure Type 1 diabetes

For example, Canadian researchers have discovery projects underway with the potential to cure Type 1 diabetes, which requires patients to regularly inject insulin. A broad network of research and innovation experts are working to improve the function of insulin-producing stem cells that can be transplanted into diabetes patients in a project led by the University of Torontos Medicine by Design and UHNs McEwen Stem Cell Institute. Its a transformative therapy that could make certain types of diabetes curable rather than a lifelong condition. Once realized, these new therapies can free up health care resources for other ailments.

This project, among others at Medicine by Design, is made possible by the federal governments $114-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund in 2016. It has produced positive results toward the goal of ending diabetes, but its funding is based on a date on the calendar and its due to end this year.

Our goal for a diabetes cure should be on par with other big societal challenges like climate change. But there is a lack of funding and policy support to take our best research discoveries and provide them with the resources to get homegrown treatments into the clinic faster.

Canada loses out on economic benefits

Projects on track to be successful are often stymied when their funding expires. When that happens, these projects and the research talent behind them may relocate to other countries. So Canada starts the research with heavy taxpayer investment, but often loses out on the economic benefits flowing from the breakthroughs.

We must provide a complete path for promising discoveries. That means providing resources for taking projects all the way to scaleup, regulatory approval and the clinic. As outlined by the advisory panel, increased investment in world-leading discovery research is essential to ensure a pipeline of new opportunities. But we also need a strategic approach to support promising scientific discoveries based on reaching ambitious targets.

What does success look like? New made-in-Canada advances will keep more people out of hospital. Patients whose treatment options are now limited will have a much higher quality of life. And long-term economic growth and high-paying career opportunities in life science and biomanufacturing, two important sectors of the global innovation economy.

Regenerative medicine can help reinvent a health-care system where common diseases and chronic treatments are a thing of the past, or require much less medical care. Canada can be a world leader in exporting these advances.

The missing ingredients are a strategic framework, research funding that targets innovation goals and the ambition to launch medical research moon shots.

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Companies covered in this study are Amcor plc; Becton, Dickinson, and Company; AptarGroup, Inc.; Drug Plastics Group; Hergesheimer AG; Schott AG; Owens Illinois, Inc.; West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

Jersey City, NJ, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Pharmaceutical Packaging Market is estimated to reach over USD 260.98 billion by 2031, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.9% during the forecast period.

Businesses are working on using thread-recycled (PCR) materials and producing biodegradable packaging to boost packaging sustainability. The company sells bottles made of R-PET and BIO-PET (resins made from sugarcane plants). This recycled and renewable trend is predicted to get up steam in the coming years. Developments in medicine and biotechnology propel the pharmaceutical sector.



Furthermore, being one of Europe's top-performing, high-technology sectors, the pharmaceutical business is an asset to the European economy. The pharmaceutical sector is undergoing a considerable transformation, with an increased emphasis on developing biological medications in recent years. Few biomaterials medicinal solutions are unstable in liquid form and, as a result, are only available in powder form or dry powder dosage forms. Lyophilized pharmaceuticals require specialized packaging to maximize, creating new opportunities for packaging producers.





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Specialty packaging, like unique bottle and plastic container shapes and designs, can help items stand out from the competition and draw in consumers. To enhance the use and aesthetics of their products, glass packaging businesses are also experimenting with cutting-edge technologies like lightweight and decorating methods. Some glass packaging firms are investing in technologies to lower energy and carbon dioxide emissions consumption and implementing policies to enhance the percentage of their recycled products.

Story continues

Recent Developments:

In February 2023 -Schott launched its first plant in the United States to increase its diagnostics and life sciences product and manufacturing capabilities. A multimillion-dollar investment will be made in constructing a new Phoenix, Arizona, facility dedicated to producing custom DNA.

In May 2022-CCL Industries Inc. intends to expand its Innova business unit near Leipzig, Germany. A new 8 m wide multi-layer co-extrusion line will make highly engineered thin gauge label films to fulfill the rising, sustainability-driven demand for materials with lower resin contents.

List of Prominent Players in the Pharmaceutical Packaging Market:

Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner Gmbh & Co Kg

Amcor Plc

AptarGroup, Inc.

Aptargroup, Inc.

Ardagh Group S.A.

Becton, Dickinson, and Company

Berry Global Inc.

Bilcare Limited

Catalent, Inc.

CCL Industries, Inc.

Comar

Drug Plastics Group

Frank Noe Egypt Ltd.

Gaplast Gmbh

Gerresheimer Ag

Hergesheimer A

International Paper

Lonza Group Ltd.

Mondi Group

Nipro Corporation

Nolato Ab

Origin Pharma Packaging

Owens Illinois, Inc.

Schott AG

Sealed Air

SGD Pharma

Silgan Holdings Inc.

Vetter Pharma International Gmbh

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

WestRock Company





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Pharmaceutical Packaging Market Report Scope:

Report Attribute Specifications Market size value in 2022 USD 113.04 Bn Revenue forecast in 2031 USD 260.98 Bn Growth rate CAGR CAGR of 9.9 % from 2023 to 2031 Quantitative units Representation of revenue in US$ Billion, Volume (KT) and CAGR from 2023 to 2031 Historic Year 2019 to 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2031 Report coverage The forecast of revenue, the position of the company, the competitive market statistics, growth prospects, and trends Segments covered Material, Product And End User Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S.; Canada; U.K.; Germany; China; India; Japan; Brazil; Mexico; The UK; France; Italy; Spain; China; Japan; India; South Korea; Southeast Asia; South Korea; Southeast Asia

Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

One of the key growth causes for the pharmaceutical packaging market is the massive growth of the pharmaceutical sector. Because of scientific and technological breakthroughs, the pharmaceutical industry has grown rapidly in recent years. The primary drivers driving the US market are the country's massive healthcare system, High per capita income and large investments in drug development. Furthermore, the increasing relevance of generic pharmaceuticals and improved availability of medical facilities are expected to generate profitable prospects for pharmaceutical packaging in the next years.

Challenges:

The COVID-19 pandemic had a wide-ranging effect on the healthcare industry. A lack of people, infrastructure, preparations, supply chain interruptions, and a scarcity of vital pharmaceuticals harmed the pharmaceuticals business. Furthermore, the pandemic had a huge impact on China, a major importer of pharmaceutical raw materials. Due to COVID-19, the need for localization in pharmaceutical packaging was underlined. The primary problem is a need for more product awareness and commercialization in emerging nations, which is expected to slow the growth of the Pharmaceutical Packaging industry. However, the high cost of Pharmaceutical Packaging and its scarcity are projected to hamper the market's overall growth.

Regional Trends:

The North American pharmaceutical packaging market is expected to register a major market share in revenue and is projected to grow at a high CAGR soon. The primary factors leading to North America's substantial market share are what it means for pharmaceutical manufacturers in the United States, expansion of production facilities, and contracts between drug companies and CMOs to boost pharmaceutical access. Rising government funding for COVID-19-related medicines also stimulates pharmaceutical packaging demand in North America.

Besides Asia Pacific substantial market share, the Chinese pharmaceutical sector's rapid expansion presents numerous marketing opportunities for the country's pharmaceutical packaging enterprises. It is increasingly vital for businesses to seek out packaging solutions that address changing requirements in the pharmaceutical packaging sector. Increasing health awareness among clients in Asia Pacific, particularly in developing nations such as China and India, combined with rising amounts of disposable income, is expected to enhance pharmaceutical industry growth throughout the forecast period, enhancing demand for its packaging.





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Segmentation of Pharmaceutical Packaging Market-

By Material

Plastics & Polymers Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Polypropylene (PP) Homo Random Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Polyethylene (PE) HDPE LDPE LLDPE Polystyrene (PS) Others

Paper & Paperboard

Glass

Aluminium Foil

Others

By Product

Primary Plastic Bottles Caps & Closures Parenteral Containers Syringes Vials & Ampoules Others

Blister Packs

Prefillable Inhalers

Pouches

Medication Tubes

Others

Secondary Prescription Containers Pharmaceutical Packaging Accessories

Tertiary

By End-use

Pharma Manufacturing

Contract Packaging

Retail Pharmacy

Institutional Pharmacy

By Region-

North America-

The US

Canada

Mexico

Europe-

Germany

The UK

France

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific-

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Southeast Asia

Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America-

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa-

GCC Countries

South Africa

Rest of Middle East and Africa

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Determined to pack more homeless people into Torontos overcrowded shelters, officials have come up with a solution: reduce the number of inches between beds.

Theres a certain logic to this and it may be the best we can do  given our refusal to consider solutions that would actually be innovative.

And so it is that here in Toronto were busy studying how to jam more beds into already-cramped shelters, while over in Finland  where innovation is more than just another word for privatization  theyve managed to virtually end homelessness.

OK, so the Finns are more generous and just shell out a lot more to help the homeless, right? Actually not. The Finns are simply smarter.

Instead of abandoning the homeless, they housed them. And that led to an insight: people tend to function better when theyre not living on the street or under a bridge. Who would have guessed?

It turns out that, given a place to live, Finlands homeless were better able to deal with addictions and other problems, not to mention handling job applications. So, more than a decade after the launch of the Housing First policy, 80 per cent of Finlands homeless are doing well, still living in the housing theyd been provided with  but now paying the rent on their own.

This not only helps the homeless, it turns out to be cheaper.

In Canada, however, were determined to stick to market-based solutions, no matter how badly they fail or how costly they are.

Indeed, homelessness is just the extreme end of Canadas dysfunctional housing market, which weve left largely in the domain of the private marketplace, creating a huge divide between those who can afford to buy a house and those who cant.

This has resulted in a large underclass of tenants  roughly one-third of Canadian households  many of whom are little more than a pay cheque away from eviction.

More government intervention required

The situation cries out for more government intervention.

In fact, the government does intervene in the housing market  most notably in ways that actually enhance the privileged position of homeowners by, for instance, sparing them tax on the capital gains they receive on the sale of their homes.

This largely hidden government intervention in the housing market not only amounts to an enormous subsidy for homeowners  costing the federal government almost $10 billion a year in lost revenue  it also further disadvantages tenants by driving up housing prices, putting a home farther out of reach.

Of course, the government also intervenes to increase the housing supply, ostensibly helping tenants. However, these measures often take the form of financial incentives for developers, mostly benefiting developers. The additional rental units created rarely result in lower rents, notes political economist Ricardo Tranjan in his new book The Tenant Class.

The best way to benefit low-income renters would be for government to create housing that isnt based on the profit motive  by building housing itself or subsidizing non-profit groups to do so.

Canada used to be fairly good at this social housing, along with the Europeans. In the late 1960s and early 70s, about 10 per cent of new rental housing built in Canada was social housing.

Canada has exited social housing

But while the Europeans have remained strong in social housing, Canada has almost completely exited the field, with our social housing dropping to just 4 per cent of total households  roughly the same level as the devoutly pro-market U.S.

If we want to deal with our dysfunctional housing market more effectively than simply pushing the shelter beds more closely together, the answer will involve increasing the supply of housing that isnt based on the profit motive.

Sadly, this is not on the political agenda, although its noteworthy that Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow is advocating a proposal along these lines as part of his mayoral campaign.

Matlows proposal will no doubt be dismissed as impossibly costly by commentators who, as homeowners, quietly benefit from the impossibly costly (although largely hidden) subsidy provided to homeowners.

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Once again Indigenous communities are bearing the brunt of the corruption, contamination and pollution of their territories by industry.

Yet another oilsands corporation has dumped 5.9 million litres of oilsands overflow water and mud into a creek that discharges into the Athabasca River. Announced on Tuesday by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), the amount released was two times over provincially regulated limits.

Fort Chipewyan is in Northern Alberta, where mostly Dene, Cree and Metis people live, along the banks of the Athabasca River. The community of approximately 1,200 were (non-surprisingly) left in the dark about the spill into their main water source. Because side-stepping regulator rules is becoming standard practice by the biggest players in the business of oil. At the same time, the AER is failing to hold these industries to account.

You may recall in February, Fort Chipewyan learned of a 5.3-million-liter toxic tailings leak from Imperial Oils Kearl Lake Mine. This mine had been previously spilling for a whole year and Imperial, along with the AER, did not notify effected First Nations like Fort Chipewyan.

On Monday, Indigenous leaders from Fort Chipewyan testified in hearings in Ottawa about the impacts to their community. Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Chief Allan Adam called the AER a complete joke and called for its disbandment.

In a statement released Wednesday, Chief Adam said, Suncors actions highlight the continued failure of the AER to prevent, properly communicate, or proactively regulate environmental catastrophes in the oilsands. The AER needs to be disbanded and replaced with a new agency that is able to properly oversee industry. An agency that is rooted in the protection of our section 35 and Treaty rights.

Chief Adam then criticized the AER on Wednesday after First Nation communities further downstream in the Northwest Territories were not informed about the spills, instead they found out from the ACFN.

Are the oilsands executives performing test drills for their planned disposal of trillions of litres of aging tailings ponds waste into the Athabasca? The federal government is expected to finalized legislation for the oil industry on how to safely dump treated tailings into the river.

A representative for Canadian Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault said Canada is committed to fix the notification process when something goes wrong and address ongoing concerns about the possibility of seepage from all oilsands tailings ponds.

But these concerns have piled up, the tailings have been leaking and leeching into nearby tributaries for years. The feds are talking remediation now because they probably feel backed into a corner by the recent damning headlines and public outcry.

The Alberta and Canadian government minimize the severity of these spills to protect the interests of industry. In other words, its profit over people  the status quo treatment of Indigenous Peoples in so-called civilized Canada and around the world.

Indigenous lands are continuously exploited and delegated as sacrifice zones for the gains of the rich, powerful and white society. Industries and governments are executing a license to butcher Indigenous lands, waters and lives with impunity.

And its out of control.

Our people have already survived genocide and continue to endure the consequences of colonial violence such as this. For decades, high numbers of a rare bile duct cancer has plagued Fort Chipewyan, which many residents believe is linked to contamination from the oilsands. With the recent tailings leaks and new contamination residents are afraid to consume their water, practice their inherent rights to hunt and fish and fear for the health of their families.

The moral imperative is for industry, governments and their regulators to take responsibility. They should be put on the stand, sanctioned and immediately made to rectify this wilful destruction.

If reconciliation is a top priority for Canada, then now is the time to endorse it.

Brandi Morin , an award-winning French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 in Alberta, is a freelance contributor for the Star. Reach her via email: bmorincommunications@gmail.com

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The Elon Musk-era Twitter saga took another turn on Sunday when Twitter labelled the CBC government-funded media.

This was entirely predicable. Twitter had already applied similar labels to U.S. public broadcasters PBS and NPR and the U.K.s BBC. NPR has already quit Twitter over this misleading label, which implies that NPR, PBS, or the BBC are not only funded by governments, but also editorially controlled by them.

It may be the CBCs turn to quit as well. But theres more that the CBC can do than just quit Twitter: it can run its own version of Twitter. It can run a Mastodon server.

Mastodon is a free and open source Twitter alternative that puts anyone in control of their own social media. I run my own server where I can do Twitter-like things: post text and images, follow others, be followed, and verify my identity (without having to pay Musk for the privilege).

What makes Mastodon powerful is that its part of the fediverse, a globe-spanning network of computers. My little Mastodon server is connected to thousands of others, enabling me to engage with a global audience.

Mastodon and the fediverse got a major boost last fall when Musk took over Twitter. Many people, rightly concerned that Musks management of Twitter would be authoritarian, left Twitter for the fediverse and now there are nearly 10 million people using it. While thats small in relation to Twitter, the fediverse is rapidly growing.

Foolish to depend on Facebook

Of course, the CBC and other public media can use other corporate social media, such as Facebook. However, the key lesson of Musks actions is that its foolish to depend on for-profit, centrally controlled social media. Meta/Facebook is no angel in this space  it has already threatened to block Canadians from news if Parliament introduces new digital media regulations.

Whether or not Bill C-11 is good regulation, the threat alone reveals that the CBC could well be blocked from reaching its audience if the U.S.-based Meta decides it doesnt like Canadian regulations.

If the CBC wants to engage in Twitter-like activities but without ever having to suffer the whims of a techbro billionaire, running its own Mastodon server would give it autonomy. It could run a server as a public service for all Canadians  something a colleague and I

argued back in November of last year.

This would enable Canadians to enjoy social media outside of U.S.  or Chinese-dominated sites.

Or, a less radical solution could be for the CBC to limit its Mastodon server to its own employees. This would be at a smaller scale than providing the service for all Canadians, but would allow the CBCs reporters and personalities to have verified accounts. CBC journalists could link their profiles to the CBC Mastodon instance.

This would be far more reliable than Twitters current pay-for-a-checkmark system. Because the CBCs Mastodon server would be connected to the larger fediverse, the CBC would both enjoy global reach and local autonomy.

And no billionaire could ever take that away.

Robert W. Gehl is the Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, York University.

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Before we can decide if private clinics are the answer to health-care woes, the public must know what private clinics are paid compared to what OHIP pays public hospitals for the same procedures.

That is the only way to decide the best solution.

Just saying that our OHIP card will pay for all expenses at private clinics doesnt mean that these clinics arent using more of our taxpayer dollars and taking OHIP funds from the public facilities.

The Ontario government is refusing to release that information.

Surely someone can find out this information in order to make the right decision about health care in Ontario.

Carolynne Canham, St. Catharines

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Too often, our elections are influenced by cheap slogans.

But the only smart thing about John Torys Smart Track was the name, and then theres our Buck A Beer Premier Doug Ford.

Im supporting Josh Matlow for mayor of Toronto because of his real commitment to municipal governance and the depth and specificity of his ideas.

All of us are in favour of affordable housing and a safe, clean city that works for everyone, but we need a mayor like Matlow, who has specific ideas about how to accomplish those goals.

Jim Mason, Toronto

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Early January this year when Indias top industrialist Gautam Adani completed the purchase of Haifa Port in Israel, he was Asias richest and most admirable businessman. But then a sudden shark attack by a US-based shortseller Hindenburg Research Group left Adani bleeding.

The short-seller wrapping itself in the garb of researchbased corporate activism made billions for itself. Thats what short sellers do. They wager that the stock they are short selling will drop in price. If the stock does drop after the short sale, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the short sellers profit, according to Investopedia.

And then Hindenburg jumped to a most outrageous conclusion ~ a conclusion more political than financial: Indias future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation. Under US law, this accusatory statement may amount to Actual Malice or reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the information.

Theres no evidence that the Adani Group has retarded Indias economic growth or robbed the country. Or the port-to-cement global conglomerate has pulled The Largest Con In Corporate History.

Research groups and accounting firms are not news media companies, and they are not protected by the First Amendment. Immediately following the attack, because of the global media echo-chamber effect, the Adani Group lost billions and so did Gautam Adani himself. But it wasnt a bubble bust. The Adani Groups setback had no significant effect on the $3.2 trillion Indian stock market, one of the five most vibrant stock markets in the world. Nor did global investors lose faith in India.

The worldwide conglomerates operations, which employ more than 23,000 people, stand on a solid foundation and include port management, electric power, mining, renewable energy, airport operations, oil and gas, food processing, and infrastructure. The Indian government did not buy into the myth that the Adani Group was too big to fail; and let it struggle on its own. Financial institutions stood by the Adani Group.

But Hindenburg by short-selling the Adani Group profited by triggering the Indian giants price plunge, according to Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Sydney, Australia. Investor Mark Mobius in an exchange with Business Today, went further and said, My feeling is that probably the whole thing about Adani was overblown by the Hindenburg Group. They have their reasons for if youre shorting stock, you want all the bad hints to come out. But I dont think the reports by Hindenburg were completely accurate and on target. Apart from vehemently rejecting the allegations, the Adani Group promptly rationalized, reorganised, and restructured its operations, and has begun to rise again.

However, keeping in mind the news medias intense focus on the group, it needs to rebuild its international reputation, which can be done with the tools of modern corporate diplomacy.

Today, all major global corporations have competent corporate diplomats who keep in mind that one of the most important corporate challenges of today is to make companies not only financially successful, keeping the shareholders value in mind; but also make them behave as socially responsible corporate citizens. A failed company can be a social disaster regardless of the fact whether it is a socially responsible corporate citizen or not. At the same time, a financially successful company may not be able to sustain its competitive position in the global marketplace without building and sustaining its reputation as a good corporate citizen. To build a broad base of support for its activities and to maintain its brand and social reputation, a global company such as the Adani Group must do bridgebuilding diplomacy. The first step in doing corporate bridge-building is to ask the question: Who are we? The answer will embody the mission, the reason for being there, apart from creating wealth and prosperity which is the foundation of capitalism.

To answer the above question operationally, the following points should be kept in mind: * There is always scope for incorporating socially responsible behaviour into the business strategy of a company without hurting its financial success. * An open trusted relationship between a company and its various stakeholders would create better chances of weathering a crisis when it occurs. * Companies that live primarily on their brand reputation must live up to public expectations. * For global companies, establishing an early awareness system is indispensable not only for scanning emerging trends and troubles but also for exploring newer opportunities that may be arising.

This is what the Adani Group should have done and needs to do urgently. * A company that is perceived as a socially responsible good corporate citizen attracts talented people whose presence adds value to the company. * In the age of social media, companies are under constant global scrutiny by NGOs and other civic society and corporate activists such as the Hindenburg Group. * The news media is on the prowl for bad news because bad news makes good stories. Consider this: The Financial Times, Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other financial newspapers, instead of doing their own research, simply began to parrot Hindenburgs accusations. If the Adani Group was indulging in brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades, how is it that these mighty and powerful media outlets did not know?

This is an example of lazy journalism; or echo-chamber journalism. The first task of a corporate diplomat is to change the mindset of the top leadership about how, in the long run, social responsibility and sustainability policy can contribute to the companys financial strength. The inward-looking performance-oriented corporate culture of a company must be changed to factor in the impact of its performance on the external environment.

The mission must embrace the entire supply chain, including customers and suppliers. Distrust should not linger anywhere along the supply chain. By building and widely disseminating the mission internally and along the entire supply chain, the corporate bridge-builder and diplomat would know where the resistance lies and how to change attitudes and build alliances. A good corporate value statement not only integrates the core business of a company into its social responsibility as a good corporate citizen but also dresses the entire package as the mission of the company.

The mission statement that also embodies a companys business case must make the companys presence a social necessity, an essential part of doing the public good. When a company focuses its attention exclusively on the marketplace, it might not pay much heed to the non-market environment in which it is embedded, and consequently, it might unwittingly ignore whatever dormant problems its early warning surveillance system captures. The cost of neglect could be very high, as the Adani Group has realized.

The top management was obsessed with the companys market share value and its leaders learned the hard way. Being heard when the noise is loud is difficult. In the age of information overload, it is difficult to capture media attention. It is important for a corporate bridge-builder diplomat to have a media strategy, for example, on how to deal with negative news, and which groups to focus on when responding to bad news.

The Adani Group was not ready for bad news, regardless of its authenticity. The public is rather distrustful of the corporate world today. Many companies spin tales to cover their tracks, though most of the information about them is already available on the Internet.

Trust can be built through reasonable transparency, even though a company might never be able to please all its critics. A corporate bridge-builder diplomat should know how much transparency is strategically necessary without compromising the companys integrity and endangering its trade secrets. For the Adani Group to rise and shine and compete as a global company, it must redefine its mission statement that should answer: Who are we? What are we doing and why?

(The writer, who is the author of INDIA IN A NEW KEY: NEHRU TO MODI, is affiliated with the Diplomacy and International Program at the Norwich University Graduate College. He publishes the Freedom & Geopolitics newsletter and podcast)
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamul Congress national general secretary will start Sanjog Yatra from 25 April. Mr Banerjee will visit all the blocks and hold meetings with the party functionaries.

Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said, I told Abhishek not to go out in this excessive heat. He will start the mission from 25 April. It may be recalled that Mr Banerjee had to cancel his trip to East Burdwan due to the prevailing heat wave in the district.

The average temperature in the district is 43 degrees Celsius. Mr Banerjee will talk to the people and the leaders to have an on the spot experience about whether they are getting the government benefits or not.

He has made it clear that no muscle flexing by party leaders or workers in the ensuing panchayat election will be allowed and the people will decide who will be the candidate. He has requested party leaders more than once to work and not to think about the candidates.

Senior Trinamul leaders said the partys target was not the panchayat election but the Lok Sabha polls. We want to see our strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses will be repaired.

People by and large still have faith in Mamata Banerjee and we want to listen to their grievances, they said. Trinamul will organize meetings to make people aware of the schemes and how they have benefitted them.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee reiterated her demand for the resignation of Union home minister Amit Shah. Miss Banerjee on Wednesday told reporters at Nabanna that BJP is the most corrupt party in the country.

She said, they should clarify about the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh and killings of so many people in encounters in Uttar Pradesh first, before engaging central agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Trinamul Congress MLAs on corruption charges. Four MLAs have been arrested and the central government is using the CBI and ED to threat against them, the chief minister alleged.

BJP has a big dacoit, who was involved in corruption when he was in charge of several districts Malda, Murshidabad, Midnapre, Bankura etc, she said, without taking name of Mr Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. Mr Adhikari was the political observer in charge of several districts in the state when he was in the Trinamul Congress.

She also stuck to her earlier stand of demanding Mr Shahs resignation. How can he say that Trinamul Congress government would collapse if BJP gets 35 LS seats from Bengal in next parliamentary polls? It means that the Union home minister is conspiring against our government, Miss Banerjee said. How can he topple an elected government based on which rules in the Constitution? The central government is trying to destroy the federal structure of the country. She said that BJP is dividing the country in the name of religion and caste.

Thousands of youths are losing jobs. While addressing a rally organized by BJP in Suri of Birbhum on Friday, Mr Shah virtually kicked off the partys campaign for parliamentary elections, next year.

He appealed to the people to ensure his partys victory in 35 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming general elections. Give us more than 35 seats from West Bengal in the next LS elections.

Its clear that Narendra Modi will be Prime Minister of the country again. I can assure you that Mamata Banerjees government wont survive beyond 2025, Mr Shah had said in the rally. Public pulse is important in same-sex marriage debate: Mamata Understanding the public pulse in an important aspect and a deciding factor in the debate on the same-sex marriage in the country, chief minister Mamata Banerjee observed on Wednesday.

Generally, I love people who love others. But since a case is pending at the Supreme Court relating to this issue, it would not be right on my part to comment on this issue at this moment.

The matter is sensitive. All I can say is that we have to understand the pulse of the people in the matter, she said in response to a question from the media. Banerjee also said that any detailed comment on this matter can be given only after the court order.

Her observation on this count comes on the same day when the apex court observed that there is no is no data to show same-sex marriages is an elitist concept as highlighted by the Union government.
Bright Mountain Media, Inc.

Insights and Agency expected to add approximately $50 million of annualized revenue

Bright Mountain Media expands its web portfolio and adds data-driven insight capabilities

BOCA RATON, FL, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bright Mountain Media (OTCQB: BMTM) (Bright Mountain or the Company), a global holding company with current investments in digital media technology and publishing, today announced the acquisition of two critical business units of Big Village. Bright Mountain will add Big Villages Insights and Agency divisions to its portfolio. The Company acquired the Big Village assets for approximately $20 million, plus assumed liabilities, in an all-cash transaction funded by a senior secured credit facility. The assets are expected to add approximately $50 million of annualized revenue and be immediately accretive to 2023 Adjusted EBITDA through revenue and cost synergies.

By combining Big Villages proprietary insights and award-winning creative and media divisions with Bright Mountain Medias existing premium publishing and ad technology, the Company expects to maximize value to clients, delivering a full spectrum of advertising, marketing, and media services under one roof.

Commenting on the transaction Bright Mountain Media CEO Matt Drinkwater said, Data and consumer insights are foundational to any marketers success. Big Villages Insights division has built a strong reputation for marrying traditional research methodologies and behavioral data with modern analytics that get to the heart of the consumer. This acquisition provides true data-driven insights that align with our long-term growth strategy and underscores our commitment to delivering exceptional quality and value to our customers.

From understanding consumer behavior to crafting creative strategy, to implementing and optimizing media investments, we can now provide a holistic view of target audiences, ultimately powering our customers creative and media strategies to deliver business results.

Story continues

Mr. Drinkwater continued: We look forward to integrating the diverse talent and innovative thinking of both business units to drive growth, innovation, and success for our entire set of collective clients. We are confident that we will continue to set the standard for excellence in the marketing and media industry.

The Big Village acquisitions round out a growing portfolio of Bright Mountain Media offerings, including a robust stack of programmatic technology and Wild Sky Media , a collection of high-profile owned and operated audience destinations offering global reach through engaging content and multicultural audiences.

About Bright Mountain

Bright Mountain Media, Inc. (OTCQB: BMTM) is an end-to-end digital media and advertising services platform, efficiently connecting brands with targeted consumer demographics through the removal of middlemen in the advertising services process. The companys publishing division, led by Wild Sky Media, offers significant global reach through engaging content and multicultural audiences, telling unique stories of our most diverse generation. The companys robust portfolio of websites includes Mom.com, CafeMom, LittleThings, MamasLatinas and many more. For more Information, please visit www.brightmountainmedia.com .

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has frozen 10 bank accounts of Trinamul Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha, who has been arrested in connection with the multicrore teachers recruitment scam.

Sources said that the central agency officers have, so far, been able to track 12 bank accounts, of which four are in the name of the arrested MLA, three in his wife Togori Sahas name and the remaining five jointly held by the couple. Out of these 12 bank accounts, 10 have been frozen and the remaining two will be freezed shortly, said a CBI associate.

Of the 12 accounts traced by the CBI sleuths, eight are held with bank branches in Murshidabad district where Saha is the MLA from and the remaining are based out of bank branches in Birbhum district.

Sources said that in the next step, the officials of the bank branches where these accounts are being held will be summoned by the CBI sleuths for details of the debit and credit transactions from these accounts.

Meanwhile, CBI is currently questioning Saha on the sources of his funds for purchasing huge property in different parts of Birbhum district in forms of land, residential flats and oil mills among others.

The CBI sleuths, sources said, were also quite intrigued on how the arrested MLA managed to procure such property at a registered price much lower than the prevailing market price of the same property
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) sponsored and BJP supported 12-hour hartal across 14 districts of the state passed off peacefully much to the collective relief of the administration given the fact that it was against the communal strife in Sambalpur.

The hartal was called to protest against the attack on a Hanuman Jayanti rally on 12 and 14 April at Sambalpur that led to arson and violence resulting in the imposition of curfew and suspension of the internet. At least 100 people have been arrested in connection with the violence.

The bandh was observed in Sambalpur, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Balangir, Sonepur, Boudh, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri and Rayagada districts.

While most of the shops and business establishments remained closed in these districts, vehicular movement was affected in many of these districts as VHP activists staged road blockades.

Reports from Rourkela said the Bajrang Dal activists were on the streets in most parts of the Sundergarh district enforcing the bandh.

The bandh was total in Sundergarh district as businesses remained closed and vehicular traffic came to a halt.The impact of the bandh was minimal in Rourkela town.

The report from Kalahandi district said the bandh evoked spontaneous response in most parts of the district. And in Bolangir district activists took to the streets and the effect of the bandh was felt in the town.

The VHP had appealed to the merchant association and other bodies to help observe the bandh.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has returned the file to make payment worth Rs 55 lakh from state exchequer to ensure cozy stay of a dreaded criminal from Uttar Pradesh Mukhtar Ansari in Ropar Jail.

UPs gangster was kept in Ropar Jail by facilitating him with all possible needs. He was not presented in court even after having warrants issued against him 48 times. Expensive lawyers were hired with expenditure of 55 lakh, but I have returned the file regarding clearing this expense from the money collected through peoples taxes, Mann said in a tweet.

Terming it as brazen loot of the public money which cannot be tolerated, the CM  who also holds the charge of the jails department  said for reasons best known to the previous Congress regime, this notorious criminal  who was lodged in the Rupnagar Jail between January 2019 and April 2021  was kept in Ropar Jail with full comforts.

Mann said apart from ensuring comfortable stay the state government ensured that this hardcore criminal did not face any sort of difficulty within the jail and escaped the legal action against him.

The CM said that the benevolence of the previous rulers towards this dangerous criminal can be judged from the fact that though 48 warrants were issued against him but the government didnt bother to produce him.

He said that surprisingly the then government spent Rs 55 lakh of taxpayers money to safeguard the interests of this criminal lodged in Ropar Jail. Mann said this atrocious loot of the public money is totally unwarranted and undesirable adding that he has returned the file regarding this matter to the department.

The CM said this open plundering of the taxpayers money cannot be tolerated at any cost. He said that the government is also mulling to recover this money from the ministers in the previous government who have taken this sinister decision.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state government had early this year marked a probe into the allegations related to Ansaris stay in Punjab.A probe led by additional director general of police (ADGP) Counter Intelligence RN Dhoke had a few days ago submitted a report to the CM, pointing out glaring lapses by the jail department in arranging stay.The inquiry report alleged Ansari had connections with some state and national Congress leaders.

The report recommended proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act against some jail officials for allegedly taking bribes from Ansari in lieu of providing him special facilities.

Sources said the file pertaining to senior advocate Dushyant Dave who represented the Punjab government in the Supreme Court in 2021 when the Uttar Pradesh government had sought Ansaris transfer to UP is awaiting clearance from the government. Punjab had opposed the transfer.

Ansari was in Ropar jail in connection with an extortion case from January 2019 to April 2021 during the tenure of the previous Congress government led by Captain Amarinder Singh. Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was the minister of jails during the time.
The Punjab Police on Thursday claimed to have solved a sensational case of human sacrifice bid on a middle-aged woman with the arrest of two persons, who attempted to murder the victim as part of sorcery to get wealthy.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ropar Range Gurpreet Singh Bhullar identified the arrested accused as Kuldeep Singh alias Keepa and Jasvir Singh alias Jassi, both residents of village Ferozepur in Fatehgarh Sahib.

The police have recovered a Hero Deluxe motorcycle (PB 52 B 2187) and a sickle used in crime from the possession of accused persons.

As per information, a 50-years-old woman identified as Balvir Kaur of village Faror in Fatehgarh Sahib was found lying gravely injured in the fields near canal at village Ferozepur on Wednesday morning. The victim is out of danger and is undergoing treatment at PGI Chandigarh.

Addressing a press conference, Bhullar said both the accused were circus performers and used to perform cycle shows in different villages. Accused persons Keepa and Jassi met Balvir Kaur through her son Dharampreet, who became friends with them during their show at village Faror about eight months back, he said.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Fatehgarh Sahib Dr Ravjot Kaur Grewal said both the accused, wanted to be rich, came in contact with a Tantrik (Sorcerer), who asked them to perform a Human Sacrifice on a woman.

She said that accused Keepa and Jassi on Tuesday called Balvir Kaur on pretext of taking her to Tantrik for paying obeisance, and took her to an isolated place in village Ferozepur to kill her, where they attacked her using a sickle resulting in grave injuries on her neck and other body parts.

Following information from the villagers, the police have immediately started investigations in this case and arrested both the accused persons, said Kaur.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday informed that a detailed report of the Summer Action Plan will submitted to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 24.

This years Summer Action Plan includes focus points like dust pollution, industrial pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, and communication with neighbouring states, Rai said.

Under the chairmanship of the Delhi Environment Minister, a review meeting for the Summer Action Plan was held today at the Delhi Secretariat with officials from 30 departments concerned.

During the meeting, all the departments concerned submitted their reports and suggestions to the Environment Department regarding the Summer Action Plan.

On the basis of the reports and suggestions provided by all the departments as part of the Summer Action Plan, the Environment Department has also been directed to prepare a detailed action plan.

Rai said, The Kejriwal government has worked tirelessly to combat pollution. The Winter Action Plan, which was implemented last year to combat wintertime pollution, has led to a steady decrease in PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels in Delhi. Moreover, the pollution level has decreased by more than 30% in the past eight years.

He said the government is developing a Summer Action Plan this year as well, focusing on 16 focus points, to combat pollution over the summer.

For this, the Department conducted a joint meeting on April 12 with all of the departments concerned. The Summer Action Plans 16 focus points were determined during that meeting, and each department was ordered to prepare an action plan based on them, and submit a detailed report to the Environment Department within seven days i.e., by April 20, he said.

Today at the Delhi Secretariat, a joint meeting was convened to go over the reports that the various departments submitted, Rai said.

Officers from the Environment Department, DPCC, Development Department, Delhi Cantonment Board, CPWD, DDA, Delhi Traffic Police, Delhi Police, DTC, Revenue Department, DSIIDC, Education Department, DMRC, PWD, Transport Department, NHAI, Delhi Jal Board, DUSIB, NDMC and MCD etc were present in the meeting, he said.

He said, Under the 16 focus points included in the Summer Action Plan, it has been decided to prepare an immediate and long-term action plan to control Delhis pollution and work towards its implementation. After the meeting today, the Environment Department was directed to prepare a detailed action plan on the basis of the reports and suggestions submitted by all the departments.

And after preparing the final draft of the Summer Action Plan, its detailed report would be submitted to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 24, the Delhi Environment Minister said.

The main objective of this meeting is to formulate a joint action plan against pollution inside Delhi, he added.
Amid public outrage, Sikkim Police has arrested a taxi driver in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a schoolgirl near Gangtok.

Akshay Sachdeva, the Special DGP, along with highranking officials from the Gangtok District Police, yesterday announced that the girl was reported missing to the Gangtok Sadar Police Station on 11 April.

According to the SDGP, a report was received from the Lindok Police Station on 14 April, stating that a grass cutter had discovered the body in the jungle.

At that time, the Sadar Police Station recorded an Unnatural Death (UD) case and sent the body for postmortem. Initially, a medical team indicated possibly that the case could be murder and sexual assault. It was later confirmed that the case was related to the same missing girl when a cross verification was done based on a photo provided by the mother and a locket that the dead body was wearing, which matched the missing girls, Mr Sachdeva said.

The accused, Pritam Sharma, 29, hails from Samastipur in Bihar and he had been working as a driver, while living in Sichey earlier and currently residing in Tathangcheng. According to reports, he lured the 11-yearold girl by promising to drop her home after school. However, when the victim told him that she had reached her house, the accused forced her to go with him. He then promised to buy her some juice and took her to the Pangthang Fambong jungle.

During investigations, the accused admitted to sexually assaulting the minor girl in the jungle. He then killed her out of fear to conceal evidence and claimed that he strangled her with her school tie, a police officer said.

Many plainclothes police personnel pitched into the investigation from all angles to draw a conclusion in this case, in which CCTV footage was also an important tool from where police successfully caught the culprit. The entire SIT team set up under the direction of the DGP was assigned to conduct investigations from CDR analysis, public interactions, CCTV footage collections, the officer said.

On the other hand, Sharma has claimed that he is a married man.

A blind murder case has been solved following hard efforts put in by our Special Investigation Team (SIT) within a very short span of time after occurrence, and that is the best part of Sikkim Police, the SDGP told media persons.

Mr Sachdeva further appealed to owners of houses in Sikkim to verify tenants identity before renting out their rooms. House owners should keep records of their tenants, history and address, he said.
Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana, who is also known for his vocal prowess, has collaborated again with his Paani Da Rang creative partner and friend, music composer Rochak Kohli for the upcoming romantic single, Raatan Kaaliyan.

The two have earlier worked together on tracks like Mitti Di Khushboo, Yahi Hoon Main, Chan Kitthan. Ayushmann instantly fell in love with Rochaks rendition for Raatan Kaaliyan penned by Gurpreet Saini and Gautam G. Sharma.

Talking about the song, Ayushmann said: I thoroughly enjoy the process of creating new music so when Rochak discussed this song with me, I was immediately on board to lend my voice for it. It also has been a while since I have created and dropped a new song and I was dying to give people something new. The lyrics are deeply reflective and have a lot of layered emotions running through it. Rochak and Gurpreet Saini are both very dear friends and I enjoy collaborating with them creatively. We are very passionate about our music.

Ayushmann is set to perform in Dubai on April 23 and he revealed that he will be surprising fans and audiences by dropping a new song at the concert.

Ayushmann shared: I am really looking forward to share this track with my audiences at the Dubai concert on April 23. They will be the first people to hear the song and I hope they love it thoroughly. If you ask me, it has a very addictive beat and the lyrics are sure to tug at your heart.

Composer Rochak Kohli expressed his excitement as he said: Ive had a long journey with T-Series as well as Ayushmann. Without a doubt, this song is going to be a big one and I cant wait to finally put it out there for the listeners very soon.

Raatan Kaaliyan will be released soon under Bhushan Kumars music label T-Series.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute affecting over 700 kilometres of boundaries between the two states, pending since 1972, has been resolved by both States.

Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu signed the agreement in the presence of the Home Minister. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and senior officials from the Centre and the two States were present on the occasion.

Describing the resolution of the dispute a historic moment, the home minister said the two states have accepted the Local Commissions report, which had remained controversial for years, either in courts or at Government level. Shah congratulated the two chief ministers and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for the agreement.

He said the two CMs had formed regional committees and talked to local people and villagers, to arrive at a resolution of the dispute. Thursdays agreement will prove to be a milestone in the direction of realizing Prime Minister Narendra Modis dream of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free Northeast.

The agreement between the two states ends the dispute relating to 123 villages along their boundaries. It has kept in view the historical perspective, demographic profile, administrative convenience, proximity to the border and aspirations of the residents.

Under the agreement, both state governments have agreed that this agreement will be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither of the States will make any new claim related to any area or village in future.

After the agreement, a detailed survey will be carried out by the Survey of India in the presence of representatives of both the state governments to determine the boundaries of both the states.

Shah said that since 2018, the Government of India has signed several accords including BRU, NLFT, Karbi Anglong, tribal peace accord to establish peace and end violence in the Northeast.

As a result of these agreements, peace has started prevailing in the entire North East and so far more than 8000 armed youth have shunned violence and joined the mainstream.

Shah said that compared to 2014, there has been a 67 per cent reduction in incidents of violence, 60 per cent reduction in the number of deaths of security forces and 83 per cent reduction in the number of civilian deaths in the North East, which is a big achievement of the government.

He said the Modi Government has withdrawn AFSPA from many places in the Northeast  70 per cent police stations in Assam, 15 police stations in six districts in Manipur, all but three districts in Arunachal Pradesh, seven districts in Nagaland, and entire Tripura and Meghalaya are now free from AFSPA.

The home minister said that due to the efforts of the Modi government, all-round development is visible in the entire Northeast today and this entire region is on the path of progress. He said that the Prime Minister himself has visited this region more than 50 times and has always promoted its language, culture, literature, costumes and food.

He said that by witnessing the local Bihu dance during the Bihu festival in Assam recently, which created a world record, Prime Minister Modi had made it world famous.

Shah said that resolution of the border dispute should have been found immediately after Independence, and now it is being done in the 75th year of independence.
Mahesh Tenginkai, who has been fielded by the BJP from Karnatakas Hubballi Dharwad Central Assembly Constituency, to contest in the upcoming elections, on Thursday slammed Congress over its remarks against BJP chief JP Nadda and said that the grand old party is infamous for its lies and creating a divide among people.

Tenginkais reaction comes after Congress leader Siddaramaiah hit out at BJP chief JP Nadda over his Karnataka should not be devoid of Modi Jis blessings statement which the latter made during an election rally in Shiggaon on Wednesday. I urge you all to make the Lotus win, make the BJP win! Karnataka should not be devoid of Modi Jis blessings and it should never remain behind in the race towards development. This, you all must ensure by choosing only Lotus, Nadda had said.

Taking on the BJP chief, Siddaramaiah and Jairam Ramesh had condemned the remark stating that PM Modi is not God to bless anyone.

In democracy, people decide the fate of the candidates & the elected representatives can serve them. @narendramodi is not God to bless anyone. I condemn the statement of @JPNadda about @narendramodis blessings on Karnataka. Looks like he needs lessons on democracy. All states are equal & have same rights according to the Constitution. There is no space for dictatorship in democracy, he tweeted.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the BJP leaders of being desperate.

Desperation has now taken hold of the PM and his brigade. Naddaji is reflecting this despair. Expect more such statements as reality begins to sink in, he tweeted.

Slamming both leaders, BJP Hubballi Dharwad Central Assembly candidate Mahesh Tenginkai who replaced Jagadish Shettar on the seat said that the Congress leaders always tell lies and are disruptive forces in society.

Congress is infamous for its lies. They always speak lies. If there is any disruptive force in society, it is Congress. They create a divide among religions. The people are talking about development under PM Modi and CM Bommai. Congress does not have anything to show. We will return to power in Karnataka with the majority, Tenginkai said while speaking to ANI.

It should be seen what Siddaramaiah has said. Who has incited violence? People of the world believe in PM Modi. If Siddaramaiah feels bad, then let it be. This is why Congress leaders are saying this, he added.

Tenginkai filed his nomination from the seat on April 18 after his name was announced by the party in the third list.

Karnataka will go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13.
The Uttar Pradesh government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is moving closer to its goal of One District, One Medical College scheme with each passing day.

Currently, the government is busy upgrading divisional and district hospitals to medical colleges in 27 districts of the state in three phases, of which 13 medical colleges, including five in phase one and eight in phase two, are already running and their construction work is almost completed, officials here on Thursday said.

It is worth mentioning here that the five District and Divisional Hospitals of Phase-I and eight of Phase-II, that have been upgraded to medical colleges, were approved by the Medical Education department four and two years back, respectively, whereas more than 60 percent of work on 14 hospitals has been completed in the third phase.

The Department will apply this year for the recognition of the hospitals to be upgraded to medical colleges in the Third Phase.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths One District One Medical College programme aims to provide better and affordable health services in the state. The upgrading of the district and divisional hospitals of the state to medical colleges by the Medical Education Department is part of the governments strategy to achieve the goal.

The upgradation work in Rajarshi Dasharatha Medical College, Ayodhya and Maharishi Vashistha Autonomous State Medical College, Basti, has been completed in Phase 1. Besides, except for the multi-purpose hall, the rest of the works have been completed at the Government Medical College campus in Shahjahanpur.

Similarly, upgrading of Maharaja Suheldev Autonomous State Medical College campus and Maharishi Balark Hospital, Bahraich, has been completed along with the work of JR-SR in the hospital campus while 35 percent of construction of the hospital building has also been completed.

On the other hand, the construction of Medical College, Firozabad, has been completed along with 20 percent work of the hospital complex. The structural work of the hospital building of Medical College, Firozabad, has been completed and finishing touches are being given to it whereas partial works remain to be done at the college campus.

Maa Vindhyavasini Autonomous State Medical College, Mirzapur; Maharshi Vishwamitra Autonomous State Medical College, Ghazipur; Autonomous State Medical College, Hardoi; Madhav Prasad Tripathi Medical College Siddharthnagar; Maharishi Devraha Baba Government Medical College, Deoria; as well as Veerangana Avantibai Medical College are being built by the Medical Education Department in Phase 2. Moreover, the upgradation works of Lodhi Autonomous State Medical College, Etah, and Government Medical College, Pratapgarh, have been completed and the buildings have been handed over to the department. On the other hand, 90 percent work of Amar Shaheed Jodha Singh Ataiya Thakur Daryanv Singh Medical College, Fatehpur, has been completed whereas the remaining 10 percent work will be completed in June.

Furthermore, the upgradation of Phase-III hospitals to medical colleges is going on in 14 districts of the state on a war footing and almost 60 percent work has been completed. The construction of medical colleges in Kushinagar, Kaushambi, Sultanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Lalitpur, Pilibhit, Auraiya, Sonbhadra, Lucknow, Bulandshahr, Gonda, Bijnor, Chandauli and Lakhimpur Kheri is being carried out by the Public Works Department.
Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (PSG) will host a webcast for Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: RA) (the Fund) on Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 4:30pm ET. PSG will provide an update on the Fund and on general market conditions.



There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Fund during the call. Questions may also be submitted ahead of the call by sending an e-mail to publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com.

Registration and Webcast Link: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1609833&tp_key=4686a55e0f

Audio Only Dial-In: +1 323-794-2423 or 888-254-3590

Participant Passcode (required): 5459358

It is not necessary to dial into the audio conference, unless you are unable to join via the webcast URL.

A replay will be available via this link shortly following the webcast. A transcript of the call will also be available by calling 855-777-8001 or by sending an e-mail request to the Fund at publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com .

Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (Public Securities Group or PSG) is a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management ULC, an unlimited liability company formed under the laws of British Columbia, Canada. Brookfield Corporation holds a 75% interest in Brookfield Asset Management ULC, while Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (Brookfield Asset Management), holds a 25% interest in Brookfield Asset Management ULC. Brookfield Asset Management is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately US$800 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2022.

PSG is an SEC-registered investment adviser and represents the Public Securities platform of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. With over US$21 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2023, PSG manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for institutional and individual clients, including financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth investors. For more information, go to https://publicsecurities.brookfield.com/.

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Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. is managed by PSG. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material information about the Fund. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at https://publicsecurities.brookfield.com/.

COMPANY CONTACT

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.

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Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Quasar Distributors, LLC, provides filing administration for Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.




Five soldiers of the Indian Army deployed for counter terrorism operations were charred to death and one was seriously injured on Thursday when the truck in which they were travelling in the Poonch district near the Line of Control (LOC) caught fire after Pakistan-backed terrorists attacked the vehicle with grenades.

Reports said that terrorists tossed grenades engulfing the truck in fire. A massive hunt has been launched to track down the terrorists who escaped into forest after attacking the Army truck.

A spokesman of the Northern Command of the Army said taking advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area, unidentified terrorists approximately at 3 pm fired upon one Army vehicle that was moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajauri sector. The vehicle caught fire due to likely use of grenades by the terrorists, the spokesman said.

Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations in this area have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident, the spokesman added.

Another seriously injured soldier has been immediately shifted to the Army Hospital at Rajauri and is under treatment, he added.

The area has been cordoned off by the Army and other security forces and Operations are in progress to locate the terrorists.

Further details are being ascertained, the spokesman said.

Senior Army officers and police personnel have rushed to the spot that is about 90 km from Poonch. Sector Commander of the 13 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of the army has also reached the spot.

A court of inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Meanwhile, videos of the burning truck have gone viral in which Army personnel and civilians are seen retrieving the charred bodies from the vehicle.

In another incident, a truck driver and his companion were killed when their vehicle was hit by a landslide and shooting stones last night on the JammuSrinagar highway.

Giving details of the mishap, senior superintendent of police, Ramban district, Mohita Sharma said, Shooting stone hit a truck near Digole.

She identified the deceased as Maqsood Ahmed and Naveed Ahmed. Both belonged to South Kashmirs Pulwama district, she added.

Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha tweeted; I am deeply anguished by the loss of lives of brave Army personnel in a tragic incident at Poonch. Their rich service to the nation will never be forgotten. My thoughts are with the bereaved families.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that if the world were to become a happy and better place, it would have to adopt Buddhas mantra of working not just for its own interests but to take care of others in neighbourhood, surviving with limited resources.

The current times require that every person and country should worry about global world interests too, while looking after their own welfare, so that the world becomes a stable place, the Prime Minister said, addressing the first Global Buddhist Summit.

The two-day summit has been organised by the Ministry of Culture and the International Buddhist Confederation with the theme Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis.

The Prime Minister said Buddhas life showed the path from problem to solution. He gave up the life of royal comforts and a kingdom not because he faced any discomfort. Buddha realised that while he lived in a palace, there was pain in the life of others, and he could not ignore this reality.

The Prime Minister said the present times are the most challenging times of this century as there is war, economic instability, terrorism and religious fanaticism, and the challenge of climate change with species disappearing and glaciers melting.

Amidst all this there are people who believe in Buddha and the welfare of all creatures, he said. This hope, this faith is the biggest strength of this earth. When this hope gets united, the Buddhas Dhamma will become the worlds belief and Buddhas realization will become the belief of humanity.

Mr Modi underscored the relevance of Buddhas teachings by saying that all the problems of modern times lend themselves to solutions through the ancient teachings of the Lord. Lord Buddha, the Prime Minister said, preached abandoning war, defeat and victory for eternal peace.

He said enmity can never be countered with enmity and happiness lies in unity, the Prime Minister said. Similarly, Lord Buddhas teaching that one should first look at the conduct of the self before preaching others can address the menace of imposing ones own views on others so prevalent in todays world.

The Prime Minister said The path of Buddha is the path of the future and the path of sustainability. Had the world followed Buddhas teachings, it would not have faced the problem of climate change. This problem arose, the Prime Minister explained, as nations stopped thinking about others and coming generations.

This mistake accumulated to catastrophic proportions, he said. Buddha preached good conduct without any consideration of personal gain as such behavior leads to overall good.

The Prime Minister highlighted how each person is affecting the earth in one way or the other, be it with lifestyle, eating or traveling habits and pointed out that everyone can contribute towards fighting climate change.

Referring to Lifestyle For Environment, the Mission LiFE, an initiative by India influenced by the inspirations of Buddha the Prime Minister said that if people become aware and change their lifestyle, then this huge problem of climate change can also be tackled. Mission LiFE is influenced by the inspirations of Buddha and it furthers Buddhas thoughts, Modi remarked.

He said there is the need to come out of the definitions of materialism and selfishness and imbibe the feeling of Bhavatu Sab Mangalan, i.e., Buddha should not only be made a symbol but also a reflection.

He remarked that this resolution will be fulfilled only when words of the Buddha of not turning back and always moving forward are remembered. The Prime Minister expressed confidence that resolutions will become successful with everyone coming together.

The Prime Minister noted that the Global Buddhist Summit is taking place during Indias 75th year of Independence when the nation is celebrating Azaadi Ka Amrit Kaal. He said that India has a major goal for its future and new resolutions for the global good. The inspiration behind India achieving the recent global landmarks in various sectors is Lord Buddha himself, he said.

Minister for Culture G Kishan Reddy; Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju; Ministers of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal and Mrs Meenakshi Lekhi;, and Secretary General of International Buddhist Confederation Dr Dhammapiya were present on the occasion.
The government on Thursday advised all Indian nationals in Sudan to stay wherever they were in view of the tense situation in the country where a power struggle is on between the Army and paramilitary forces.

We are in touch with Indian nationals. Our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of all of them. We dont want to get into details as that may compromise their security, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said when asked about the numbers of Indians in Sudan.

Asked if there was any plan to evacuate Indians from the African country, the spokesperson said it would depend on the situation on the ground.

India, he said, was in touch with various countries, like the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE regarding various aspects of the situation in that country. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had spoken to his Saudi and UAE counterparts. He also spoke to his Egyptian counterpart today.

On the ceasefire announced by the warring groups in Sudan, he said if it continued, India could take advantage of the situation to move the Indians to safer places and provide them with necessities.
the wake of rising coronavirus cases, the Maharashtra government has activated 25 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in the state, Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan said on Wednesday.

He also urged people to wear masks and called it an effective tool to prevent the spread of the virus. Speaking to the reporters, Mahajan said, Due to increasing COVID-19 cases in the state, the state government has activated 25 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals. As of today, more than 5,000 beds, more than 2,000 ventilators available for Covid patients and 62 Liquid Medical Oxygen and 37 PSA plants are functional.

In the same way 2000 jumbo and 6000 small oxygen cylinders are also prepared. Every medical college has covid testing facilities and in a day medical colleges can conduct more than 30 thousand covid tests, he added.

Recently, on April 10 and 11, a Covid Mock Drill was also conducted in every college as per the guidelines of the Government of India.

The Minister also interacted with the authorities of all government medical colleges and hospitals in the state.

A review meeting was held on Wednesday under Mahajan along with the Deans of all the Government Medical Colleges and the officers of the Medical Education Department regarding the increasing incidence of Covid.

Minister Mahajan instructed all doctors, nurses and paramedical staff to use masks in hospitals.

The number of Covid cases has been on the rise over the past few weeks. On Wednesday, Maharashtra reported 1100 new cases and four fatalities. 10,542 new cases were also recorded across the country.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that the states public health model was unique in the country as it enacted the Right to Health Bill for every person, and raised the CM Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojnas (CMCSBY) treatment limit up to Rs 25 lakh in the current fiscal year.

Gehlot was addressing the swearing-in ceremony of 1763 newly appointed doctors and the launch function of the RajHealth portal at newly built Rajasthan International Centre here.

Wishing a bright future to the newly appointed doctors, Gehlot claimed that the common man was feeling secured with the facility of free treatment up to Rs 25 in CMCSY, which included free OPD-IPD facilities at the private and government hospitals and pathological tests.

Recalling the previous UPA government, Gehlot said the Manmohan Singh government at the centre had given many rights to the citizens including the Right to Information, the Right to Food Security, the Right to Education and Employment Guarantee. In this series, he said, the State Government implemented the Right to Health.

On meeting challenges during Covid-19 phases, the CM said that the Centre for Post-Covid Rehabilitation and Institute of Respiratory Disease were being opened with a cost of Rs 120 crore. The research and results of this centre will not only benefit the state but the entire country, he added.

He said that seven per cent of the states budget will be spent on medical and health and . 90% of people in the state have health insurance, which is the highest in the country.

According to the CM, it is the result of all the governments schemes and better implementation that Rajasthan is among the leading states in the country on various standards including low Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena said that now the doctor will be available in each PHC with the posting of newly appointed doctors.

Chief Secretary Usha Sharma said that the newly appointed doctors will have an important role in making the state a Nirogi Rajasthan (Healthy Rajasthan) and carrying the health model of the state to the country.
President of India, Droupadi Murmu during her four days sojourn at Shimla, visited the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) on Thursday. Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla was also present on the occasion.

She was welcomed and felicitated by IIAS Chairperson Prof Shashi Prabha Kumar, IIAS Vice Chairman Prof Shailendra Raj Mehta, IIAS Director, Prof Nageshwar Rao and IIAS Secretary Subrat Kumar Pradhan.

Education Minister Rohit Thakur was also present on the occasion amongst others.

The President who evinced keen interest was given a brief introduction about the historical and archaeological importance of the building and Institute.

She visited three photo galleries related to pre-independence and of historical significance followed by a tour of the rich library of the Institute.

Impressed by the institute, she penned her remarks in the visitors book of the Institute and wrote, I am very happy to visit the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, a premier research Institute of the country promoting high-quality academic work in the fields of humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Set up by my predecessor and renowned scholar Dr S Radhakrishanan, the IIAS encourages free and creative thought process through research and exchange of ideas. I wish all research scholars, officials and staff a very bright future.

The President also opened the 173 year-old Rashtrapati Niwas, Mashobra, earlier known as the Presidential Retreat to the general public. Thrown open for the public, people can visit the Retreat from 23 April
In an unprecedented move, the Kerala government on Wednesday organised an official farewell ceremony for Chief Justice S Manikumar who is retiring from service on 23 April at Leela Hotel in Kovalam.

State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Law and Industries Minister P Rajeeve, Finance Minister K N Balagopal, Revenue Minister K Rajan, Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup, Chief Secretary V P Joy, Additional Chief Secretary (Home And Vigilance) V Venu and other senior officials attended the function. It is alleged that the farewell was held in secret.

The usual practice when a chief justice retires is that the full court of the state high court would honour him. Following this practice, a full-court reference was held in Kochi last week. Senior lawyers of the high court had also organised a send-off function to the retiring chief justice the other day.

It is being alleged that the chief justice, by accepting the invitation of the state government, has gone against a charter adopted by the Supreme Court.

The charter called the Restatement of Values of Judicial Life which was adopted by the apex court on 7 May 1997 serves as a guideline for an independent and fair judiciary. It is a code of judicial ethics and serves as a guide for an independent and fair judiciary, paving the way for the impartial administration of justice.

The code comprises 16 points. Point 10 of the code says a judge shall not accept gifts or hospitality except from his family, close relations and friends.

Earlier, the participation of Lokayukta Cyriac Joseph and Upalokayukta Harun-ul-Rashid at the Iftar party hosted by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sparked a controversy in the state.

RS Sasikumar, the petitioner in the Chief Ministers Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) case, said that the Lokayukta judges in having attended the party hosted by the chief minister, while a case against the Chief Minister is before them, is an insult to the Judiciary and that he lost faith in the judiciary after this.

Earlier, Chief Justice S Mani Kumars meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had created a controversy. The meeting was held at Ernakulam Guest House. After the meeting, the high court had issued a press release stating that the chief Justice had come to invite his daughters marriage and the news circulating about this was baseless.

Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader, VD Satheesan expressed serious concerns over the farewell party given to the chief justice by state government.

Stating that such a practice was unheard of in the state, Satheesan said Not long ago when there was an adverse verdict against Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin case, all saw how the then retiring Chief Justice was given a mock send-off by the feeder organisations of the CPI-M. Taking that into account, Vijayans present send-off shows that he has respect for the judiciary which is a welcome thing. But, CM Vijayan has to explain why and what was the reason for this kind of a secret send-off.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that a complaint has been sent to the President of India and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court regarding the send given to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court by the state government.

The complainant Sabu Stephen is a social worker. In his complaint, Sabu Stephen demanded an inquiry into the actions taken by the Chief Justice in cases where the Kerala government is a party.
Not every one of us wakes up fresh and is ready to face the day. Being fresh and stress-free can make you more productive and successful throughout the day. The moment we wake up in the morning, we should do something which we should never miss. According to Hansa, Director of the Yoga Institute, these are the things that should be included in our daily routine to have a stress-free day.

Always remember to thank God for whatever we have in our lives, and it is important to have full confidence that God is there with us and that if we are doing everything right, then no one can stop us. Starting the day with positive strength is very important. It will make the day stress-free.

Do breathing exercises in the morning. It is important to breathe fresh air which flows in the morning. People with anxiety issues then breathing efficiently in the morning makes the body energized and also healthy. Becoming aware of your breath while deep breathing is an important thing. Long inhalation and exhalation for 10 seconds and start concentrating on the abdomen because we have to evacuate all the bad feelings and thoughts which are not required. Doing this will make us energetic to start the day stress-free.

The stomach is important to get empty as it contains toxins that should be released from the body in the morning. If the stomach gets constipated, then we feel stressed the whole day. This can be released by doing certain exercises or yoga which will make our digestive system strong and ultimately release all the stress.

Planning out the day quickly and doing everything accordingly can make the day stress-free. Preplanning can seek the day with no confusion; it can make a person organised and happy. Our brain is efficient in the morning which helps us to make better decisions. Making a to-do list must be the thing that can make the day sought and stress-free.

It is very important for everyone that the moment a person leaves a beck, the first thing is to drink a glass of warm water so that the gums become softer, and the throat becomes a little relaxed and removes toxins. Drinking water helps the body to maintain itself overall. If the body is fully maintained it will ultimately make us fully charged and happy.

All these things will not take much time. It can be finished in a few minutes and doing it step by step is the key to starting a stress-free day and can bring positivity around you.
Even with the Constitution of India granting equal rights to every human being in the country, indifference towards certain sections of society often leads to their exploitation. The already granted rights often need to be reclaimed by facilitating judicial intervention. Prostitution has been a topic of debate for a long time, with some advocating for its legalisation and regulation to ensure the safety and well-being of sex workers, while others argue that it perpetuates gender inequality and exploitation, and that efforts should be focused on addressing the root causes of prostitution, such as poverty and a lack of education.

Article 14 of the Constitution provides for equality before law  the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, thereby prohibiting discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The societal stigma and hierarchy disregard the gender equality guaranteed by Article 14 as well as the dignity of women who choose to follow sex work as their main source of income.

The Supreme Court in Buddhadev Karmakar v. State of West Bengal (the appellant had murdered a sex worker by repeatedly banging her head against a wall) transitioned the criminal appeal into a suo moto action, giving a wide interpretation to Article 21 of the Constitution, thereby stabilising the Right to Dignity of Life of sex workers and their wards.

Recognising sex work as a profession, the apex court recently ruled, Sex workers are entitled to equal protection of the law. Criminal law must apply equally in all cases, on the basis of age and consent. When it is clear that the sex worker is an adult and is participating with consent, the police must refrain from interfering or taking any criminal action. The three-judge bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao said that sex workers have the same right to a dignified existence as granted by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution to other citizens.

It should be noted that while sex work or prostitution is not prohibited in India, trafficking for sexual exploitation is a crime under Indian law. Pimping, soliciting, exploitation, and renting out property for sex work are all punishable offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA).

The social circumstance, however, is not ideal. Sex workers, along with their wards, are often subjected to societal stigma and persecution. This mistreatment by society negatively impacts a large number of their children; their children are discriminated against, secluded and mistreated despite provisions of the Indian Constitution.

According to the 2014 Surgeon Generals Report, nearly 9 out of 10 boys have been seen smoking substances like tobacco and cigarettes before the age of 18. Female wards are often trafficked or forced into the same profession as their mothers even before they turn 18. The Directive Principles of State Policy provided under Article 39(e) of the Constitution state that the government should protect children against entering professions that are unsuited to their age or strength for financial need. According to Article 39(f), children have the right to equal opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner in conditions of freedom and dignity, and guaranteed protection of childhood and youth against implication and against moral and material abandonment.

In 2015, the Government of India passed the Juvenile Justice Act which would provide for the welfare and benefit of children in need of care and protection, and children in conflict with law. This included apprehension, detention, prosecution, penalty or imprisonment, rehabilitation and social reintegration of children in conflict with law. It also provided procedures and decisions or orders relating to rehabilitation, adoption, re-integration, and restoration of children in need of care and protection.

As per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, a Juvenile is any child who has not attained the age of 18. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 provides for a Child Welfare Committee. Children should be given refuge, a place for safety away from the harsh environment; they should live under surveillance, according to Section 30 of the Act. Children who have been abandoned must be given to public employees, child welfare police officers, or social workers, according to Section 31. In accordance with Section 35, a parent or guardian who is facing societal stigma may entrust the child to the welfare committee board for his/her care and protection. Under the supervision of the welfare committee, Section 39 establishes a number of regulations to help those children get back on their feet.

Concerning the rehabilitation of children of sex workers, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the case of Gaurav Jain v. Union of India. According to the ruling of the apex court, housing the children of sex workers in separate schools and hostels was not in their best interests. However, they could not be left out in a hostile environment where there was a potential threat of young girls being bullied and mistreated. It was determined that the State and all other volunteer NGOs must assist in the rehabilitation of sex workers and their children so they could live lives of dignity, offer them educational opportunities, and provide them financial assistance.

A few significant findings from a survey report have been highlighted by the National Commission for the Protection of Childrens Rights (NCPCR):

There is a probability that children may pursue the same career as their parents; these kids are wary of interacting with people from other backgrounds, and without proper education and rehabilitation, they risk following in their familys footsteps. Children of sex workers face discrimination from children of other communities. The majority of the time, it was noted, the kids opted not to interact or mingle with strangers or members of other groups.

The research, which was based on a set of questions provided to 1,000 respondents, stated that the groups under examination preferred to live apart from the rest of society. The NCPCR stated that in order to protect the children of sex workers from the influence of their traditional practice, they need high-quality education, rehabilitation, and reintegration. They require residential facilities because otherwise they eventually become part of the family profession, the statement read.

Non-governmental organisations like New Light (based in Kalighats redlight area) and Amra Padatik (in Sonagachi, the largest red-light area in Asia) work for the welfare, including proper education, healthcare and moral support, of the children of sex workers. With a current member count of 1,700, Amra Padatik has childrens homes in places like Kolkata, Baruipur, Uluberia, Durgapur and Asansol. Mothers pay a monthly sum of Rs 1,500 for their children. The children are looked after until they are 21 years of age.

Talking to The Statesman, Aparajita (name changed) said, My daughter is in her twenties now. Ive kept her in a boarding school, away from my lodging all her life. She wishes to be a geologist. I consider myself lucky that she understands my struggle and proudly calls herself a sex workers daughter.

(The writer is a law graduate and a student of the Statesman Print Journalism School.)
SIT teams, along with the members of the judicial commission probing into the daring killing of Mafia Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on Thursday, visited the spot of the crime along with forensic teams to recreate the scene.

Sources said a bike was also used to recreate the scene by the six member forensic team.

Mafia don Atiq and Ashraf were shot dead on April 15 in Colvin Hospital premises.

The SIT constituted in the case inspected the site and got the scene recreated. On that day, all the constables, including those deputed for the security of Atiq and Ashraf, were present. Everyone was asked to take the same position that they had taken at the time of the incident.

The judicial commission headed by retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi reached Prayagraj to investigate the murder of Atiq and Ashraf. The commission had a meeting with the top officials of the Commissionerate and ADG Zone and Police Commissioner at the Circuit House.

The members of the commission also visited the spot of the incident Colvin Hospital. Apart from Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi, the commission also includes retired IPS Subesh Kumar Singh and retired Justice Brijesh Kumar Soni.

In connection with the murder of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf, the SIT from Lucknow also held a meeting with the officers of Police Commissionerate. Various aspects of the incident were investigated and officers were questioned.

After this, the officers inspected the spot and expressed their displeasure over the failure of the CCTV installed in the campus of Colvin Hospital. Raising objection to the CCTV being closed for months, SIT members asked why no one paid attention to it. Questions were also raised on the security of the hospital.

Meanwhile, the three accused involved in the Atiq- Ashraf killings, who are in police custody since yesterday, were repeatedly saying that they wanted to be a big mafia and hence they committed the crime.

Sources said the police team had already interrogated Atiqs shooters of more than 12 hours and all the three accused are changing statements frequently.

One of the accused, Sunny, said, I dont have any boss, I am a don.

According to the sources, shooter Sunny in police custody has confessed that they got weapons from the Jitendra Gogi gang from Delhi. Kanpur-based criminal Babar was also associated with this gang. Through Babar, they came in contact with the Gogi gang.

Sources said the accused revealed that they reached Prayagraj by bus from Lucknow on April 12. All three of them stayed in a hotel in front of the railway station, one and a half kilometers away from Colvin Hospital. They initially intended to kill Atiq and Ashraf in court on April 13, but at that time they did not get a chance to execute their plan. After this, on April 15, during the day, they went to see Colvin Hospital. They bought two new mobiles but could not collect fake IDs for SIM cards.

After shooting Atiq and Ashraf to death, the trio raised slogans of Jai Shri Ram to overcome their fear, the shooters said.

Earlier, the three shooters confessed in front of the police that they wanted to be like Lawrence Bishnoi, sources said.
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES./

BTQ is pleased to have been named a Top Project to Watch in 2023 by CoinDesk, a global leader in blockchain industry news and data





BTQ COO Nicolas Roussy Newton to participate in a live panel discussion at the Consensus Conference in Austin, Texas, on April 29, 2023





BTQ will also speak at ETHTaipei on the topic of "The Future of Zero-Knowledge" demonstrating their commitment to advancing the blockchain and quantum technology industry, on April 25, 2023

VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - BTQ Technologies Inc. (NEO: BTQ) a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission critical networks, is pleased to announce that it has been named a Project to Watch by CoinDesk, the leading cryptocurrency and blockchain news and media platform. BTQ's COO, Nicolas Roussy Newton, has accepted an invitation to speak on a panel at CoinDesk's Consensus Conference on April 29, 2023, in Austin, Texas.

BTQ logo (CNW Group/BTQ Technologies Corp.)

BTQ is being recognized by CoinDesk for its innovative approach to quantum-safe encryption technology, which has the potential to revolutionize data security in blockchain applications and adjacent industries, including finance, healthcare, and government. With over 10 million website visits and 1.6 million podcast downloads each month, CoinDesk is the leading authority in all things cryptocurrency and blockchain, covering breaking news and providing in-depth analyses on the next generation of investing and the future of money.

"We are humbled to have been named one of the Projects to Watch by CoinDesk," said Nicolas Roussy Newton, COO of BTQ. "It's a privilege to be recognized for our work and we are excited to share our vision and our technology with the attendees at the upcoming Consensus Conference."

Consensus Conference is one of the most prestigious blockchain and cryptocurrency conferences in the world, attracting leading experts and innovators from across the industry. BTQ COO Nicolas Roussy Newton will be speaking about the importance of quantum-safe encryption technology in ensuring the security of blockchain networks and other mission-critical systems.

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Additionally, BTQ Technologies Inc. has been invited to speak at ETHTaipei, continuing the company's thought leadership in the blockchain and post-quantum technology space following speaking events at ETHDenver and ETHTokyo. The upcoming talk, titled "The Future of Zero-Knowledge: Challenges, Advancements, and Tools for Developing Post-Quantum zk-SNARKs," will delve into the challenges and successes of using post-quantum proving systems. The presentation will also examine the strengths, weaknesses, and trends of arithmetic circuit backends such as R1CS, PLONK, and AIR, while introducing tools to transition towards developing post-quantum zk-SNARKs. This presentation will further demonstrate BTQ's commitment to advancing the blockchain and quantum technology industry.

If investors in attendance at either conference are interested in booking 1-1 meetings with the team, please reach out to investors@btq.com .

About Consensus Conference

Consensus Conference is an annual gathering of blockchain and cryptocurrency experts and innovators from around the world. The conference features keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities for attendees.

About ETHTaipei

ETHTaipei brings together Ethereum-focused teams from all over the world and offers a platform for Taiwan to engage with the global blockchain community. The event will feature keynote speaker Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, who will provide insights on the future of Ethereum.

About BTQ

BTQ was founded by a group of post-quantum cryptographers with an interest in addressing the urgent security threat posed by large-scale universal quantum computers. With the support of leading research institutes and universities, BTQ is combining software and hardware to safeguard critical networks using unique post-quantum services and solutions.

Connect with BTQ: Website | LinkedIn

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Olivier Roussy Newton

CEO, Director

Neither the NEO nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

Forward Looking Information

Certain statements herein contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to the business plans of the Company, including with respect to its research partnerships, and anticipated markets in which the Company may be listing its common shares. Forward-looking statements or information often can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan" or "may" and the variations of these words are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information.

The Company has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions, the development of post-quantum algorithms and quantum vulnerabilities, and the quantum computing industry generally. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.

Although management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, expressed or implied, by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include risks relating to: the availability of financing for the Company; business and economic conditions in the post-quantum and encryption computing industries generally; the speculative nature of the Company's research and development programs; the supply and demand for labour and technological post-quantum and encryption technology; unanticipated events related to regulatory and licensing matters and environmental matters; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; changes in laws (including regulations respecting blockchains); risks related to the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 including, but not limited to, its impact on general economic conditions, the ability to obtain financing as required, and causing potential delays to research and development activities; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE BTQ Technologies Corp.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2023/20/c0678.html
Juan Carlos I returned to his homeland for his second visit in three years following his move to Abu Dhabi in August 2020 in the wake of a series of scandals.

The 85-year-old king emeritus, who abdicated in favour of his son, Felipe VI, in June 2014, is attending a sailing regatta in the resort of Sanxenxo in the north-western region of Galicia, Xinhua news agency reported.

Juan Carlos flew to Spain from London in a private jet.

On Tuesday, he watched Real Madrids 2-0 win against Chelsea in the Champions League in London, and he was also pictured leaving an exclusive club there on Monday night.

Juan Carlos is not expected to travel to the capital Madrid or meet his son during what was described as a private visit and a personal decision by Spanish government spokesperson Isabel Rodriguez.

Juan Carlos has been credited by some with helping Spains transition after the death of General Francisco Franco in late 1975, but his image has been tainted in recent years by financial scandals and controversies in his personal life.

In 2020, an investigation was launched into suspicions that he was paid kickback by Spanish firms to secure a contract to build a high-speed rail link between Medina and Mecca in Saudi Arabia. That investigation was closed in 2022, due partly to statute limitations and to the fact that Juan Carlos is immune from prosecution for actions pertaining to the period before his abdication.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead his countrys delegation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting scheduled to be held in Goa on 4-5 May.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead Pakistans delegation to the SCO-CFM meeting being held on 4-5 May 2023 in Goa, India. The FMs participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans continued commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in Islamabad. She said Bilawal would attend the meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

This will be the first visit by a top Pakistani leader to India since former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif travelled to New Delhi for the inauguration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. Bilawal will be the first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years. In 2011, the then Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India.

At a media briefing in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi confirmed that invitations had been sent to the foreign ministers of all SCO countries for the meeting. Asked if Pakistan had sought a bilateral meeting between the two foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, he said It would be premature to say anything in the matter. Usually, the minister tries to hold as many bilaterals as possible on the margins of such meetings, he added.

The Pakistan foreign minister had come under heavy criticism recently after he resorted to a personal attack on Prime Minister Modi and slammed the RSS while responding to External Affairs Minister Jaishankars charge that Pakistan continued to support various anti-India terror groups and described the neighbouring country as the epicentre of terrorism.

Strongly condemning Bilawals remarks, India said he should better direct his frustration towards the masterminds of terrorist enterprises in his own country that have made terrorism a part of its state policy.

India has formally sent invitations to all SCO members, including Pakistan and China, for the upcoming Goa meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are also likely to participate.

The SCO comprises Russia, India, China, Pakistan, and four central Asian countries  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Iran is the latest entrant to the grouping and will attend the summit in India later this year for the first time as a full-fledged member.
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FILE  Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the New York State Capitol, May 14, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched his longshot bid to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination next year. Kennedy, a member of one of the countrys most famous political families who has in recent years been linked to some far-right figures, kicked off his campaign in Boston on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has calmed the City of Londons market jitters and reset ties with Europe, but the governments toxic relationship with the civil servants who keep ministries running may prove more difficult to repair.

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Since vowing in October to restore professionalism after the tumultuous tenures of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Sunak has been buffeted by a series of allegations of bullying and abusive conduct by Conservative ministers toward their staff. Some predate Sunak, such as allegations of unprofessional conduct by former Business Secretary Alok Sharma, accounts that Bloomberg News first reported Sunday and that Sharma denies.

Others hit closer to home, such as bullying claims against Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, who ran Sunaks campaign for Conservative Party leadership. Sunak has received the report of a five-month investigation into eight formal complaints against Raab and is considering the findings, the prime ministers spokesman told reporters on Thursday. A person familiar with the premiers plans said his decision wont be made public before Friday.

Raab has denied the allegations of bullying and said he behaved professionally at all times.

The controversies lay bare an unprecedented rift between the political appointees who make policies for the UK government and the bureaucrats who execute them. While some of the tension might stem from generational changes in expectations of workplace behavior, it appears to have been exacerbated by the Conservatives post-Brexit tilt toward a more populist political stance.

In two briefings on Thursday, spokesmen for Sunak said the premier retains full confidence in his deputy.

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But how Sunak handles the report on Raab, 49, who sits next to the prime minister on the House of Commons benches and stands in for him in his absence, will signal how concerned he is about easing tensions with the public workforce.

Grievances

If Raab is found guilty of bullying, Sunak can make a virtue of the decision by acting quickly, getting rid of him and showing everyone he is different to Boris Johnson, which he is so keen to do, Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University and expert on the Tory Party said in an interview. On the other hand, if Raab is dispatched quickly, the butchery could worry a lot of Sunak loyalists.

As reports of civil service grievances proliferate, Tory politicians have increasingly accused the governments work force of left-wing bias. Johnson proposed cutting 91,000 civil service jobs while while Truss broke precedent by dismissing the Treasurys top civil servant, Tom Scholar, immediately after she came to power in September.

Conservative ministers have publicly criticized workers reluctance to return to the office after Covid-19 rules were lifted. Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg distributed printed cards on empty desks in the Cabinet Office, saying, Sorry you were out when I visited.

In that atmosphere, workers have grown more reluctant to file formal complaints against ministers, whose cases ultimately fall to the premier under the Ministerial Code. Johnsons decision not to punish his then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2020, after she was found to have broken ministerial rules discouraged some criticism from coming forward, officials have told Bloomberg.

Bullying

One-in-six civil servants have reported experiencing or witnessing bullying or harassment in government departments in the past year, according to the FDA union of civil servants. The sentiment has borne out in Bloombergs interviews with multiple civil servants, who say ministers have grown more willing to shout, insult their work, interrupt their private lives and otherwise make them feel disrespected.

Sharma, for instance, was difficult, unpredictable and could quickly lose his temper, according to four senior officials who worked with him between 2020 and 2022. Both the government and Sharma said they were unaware of any complaints against Sharma stemming from his time as business secretary and climate talks chief.

I refute strongly these allegations, Sharma said in a statement.

The referendum on leaving the European Union, which opened political divides across the UK in 2016, marked a chaotic turning point in the relationship, with ministers routinely questioning the impartiality of officials, FDA General Secretary Dave Penman told Bloomberg. The situation worsened under Johnson, Penman said, adding that everybody, including ministers, knew that no one was going to hold them to account for misbehavior.

Cultural Shift

There has been a cultural shift in not really respecting the role of the civil service and feeling that they can behave in a way thats dismissive, rude and aggressive as ministers, he said.

Sunak, for his part, has pledged to uphold integrity, professionalism and accountability in government, a remark that has been cited as an acknowledgment that those characteristics were seen as lacking. In one of his first acts as premier, he scrapped Johnsons planned cut to the civil service. He said in October that the pandemic showed the parts of the British civil service at its best, although he added that the bloated post-Covid state is in need of a shake-up.

Thats part of a broader tonal shift by Sunak that has helped reassure voters and investors since the Trusss departure after an historically brief premiership 49 days. The Conservatives have narrowed Labours lead in public opinion surveys in the wake of the governments largely successful budget roll-out and the Windsor Framework agreement with the EU over ties with Northern Ireland.

The Labour Party has seized upon the tension between the government and its workforce as part of its bid to return to power after 13 years in opposition. Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner highlighted that vulnerability in a pointed exchange with Raab in Parliament last month in which she said he knows first-hand the misery caused by thugs and their intimidating behavior, lurking with menace, exploding in fits of rage, creating a culture of fear.

Labour

Labours embrace of the workforces cause has at times risked deepening suspicions between the government and the bureaucracy, such as when opposition leader Keir Starmer hired senior civil Sue Gray as his chief of staff. Gray had the been high-profile author of a damaging report into parties held by Johnsons government in violation of lockdown rules, revelations that laid the ground for his ultimate resignation in July.

Such distrust is likely to outlast the controversy over Raab.

The political division and turmoil of recent years have had knock-on consequences for the relationship between ministers and civil servants, Institute for Government Director Hannah White said in an interview. Politicians finding it difficult to deliver contentious policies  from Brexit to tax cuts to immigration  have resorted to public criticism of civil servants and been prepared to sack senior officials they believe may stand in their way.

--With assistance from Ellen Milligan.

(Updates with Sunak delaying decision on Raab probe in third paragraph.)

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Colin P. Clarke is the director of research at the Soufan Group, an intelligence and security consulting firm in New York City. This was first published in the Los Angeles Times.
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ALTON  First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said Learn from the mistakes of others. Its a phrase most people have used at some point in their lives, but at a recent Active Threat Response course being taught to local police it was taken to heart this week.

The training was being taught by senior Alton police officers at the empty St. Claires Hospital building at 5th Street and Central Avenue in Alton. The training is a valuable tool that police officers hope they will never have to use.

Officers from Alton and other law enforcement agencies participated in the training, led by Sgt. Manny Espinoza and Lt. Jeremiah Dressler with assistance from Sgt. Joel Bromaghim. Participants were schooled in formations and tactics, but the biggest lesson was in avoiding the mistakes made by law enforcement at the Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 21 people in Uvalde, Texas, on May, 24, 2022.

Participants learned to expect noise, expect chaos, expect a lack of communication, but never stop moving forward to engage the shooter.

Dressler could not stress enough the need to engage and keep the gunman busy so that their attention is on police and not on innocent victims.

It took 376 police officers 77 minutes to stop the Uvalde massacre in what has been widely criticized as a near textbook on what not to do. Dressler has watched the tapes of the police response in Uvalde several times and told officers, It makes me sick.

But even when police do almost everything right, still there is room to watch and learn lessons for improvement, like, in the recent Old National Bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 11. Instructors believed, even there, some improvement was possible.

After some refresher lessons, the officers in Alton split into two groups to run drills on finding an active shooter.

The sounds of a roller coaster, complete with screams, was played in the halls of Alton's closed hospital. An electronic device that simulates the sounds of shots being fired, called a shot box, was set up and moved to different locations within the building to make the situation as real as possible.

In the afternoon things became more intense when officers used bright blue Glock Sim Guns that fire fairly soft plastic bullets, known as Simunition. The active shooters were portrayed by new hires to the Alton Police Department who wore protective clothing and eye protection.

As officers practiced the main lesson to never stop moving forward, instructors watched and critiqued each session after groups of officers sought out and engaged the "bad guy."
Julius Adamek / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

A St. Louis man is headed to federal prison for the next 50 years after murdering a security guard during a bank robbery in East St. Louis nearly two years ago.

Jaylan Quinn, 23, pled guilty to one count of bank robbery and one count of using a firearm to commit murder in the shooting death of bank security guard Ted Horn. After his imprisonment, the defendant will serve five years of supervised release. Quinn was also ordered to pay $7,280 in restitution.
NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of one-time presidential hopeful Bobby Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, officially announced his bid to run for president of the United States as a Democrat.

Kennedy made the announcement at the Boston Park Plaza in Boston. Last week he filed the appropriate forms showing his intent for candidacy.
SPRINGFIELD  Lawmakers advanced a measure that would require public elementary and high schools to include a unit of Native American history in their social studies curriculum, beginning with the 2024-2025 school year.

House Bill 1633 passed out of a Senate committee this week with a 10-3 vote after passing the House 75-32 last month. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration before it can head to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The measure also requires the State Education Equity Committee, which provides recommendations for advancing equity in education, include a representative from an organization that works for economic, educational, and social progress for Native Americans.

According to Andrew Johnson, executive director of the Native American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, the lack of Native American representation on the committee was a serious oversight that didnt reflect the states diversity.

This is one of the many examples where the lack of proper education has deprived our citizens of discovering the full extent of the complexity, interrelations and impact of the people who originally inhabited this land and who continue to live here today, Johnson said in committee.

While the legislation does not actually create curriculum for the history course, it does specify the unit should include Native American contributions in government and the arts, humanities, and sciences, as well as the contributions of Native Americans to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of their own nations and of the United States.

The bill also requires the unit of instruction to include descriptions of large urban Native American populations in Illinois and, for grades 6 through 12, a section on the genocide of and discrimination against Native Americans.

While the Illinois State Board of Education would provide instructional materials and guidelines for the development of the curriculum, each school district would be required to develop it on their own. Additionally, each school board will have to determine the minimum amount of time that qualifies as a unit of instruction.

It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton, who said in committee that teaching the subject matter has been overlooked for far too long.

Joseph Rupnick, chairman for Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, said in committee that Native Americans experience higher suicide rates because of cultural disconnection, alienation and pressure to assimilate. He added the inclusion of their history in school curriculum may help them feel further connected to their community and history.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. suicide rate increased 33 percent from 1999 to 2017. Over the same period, the suicide rate for American Indian or Alaska Native women increased by 139 percent and 71 percent for men.

Integrating Native history in our education system will help discriminatory myths about Native Americans in an inclusive environment free of caricatures of our families, parodies of our tradition and words that diminish our worth, Rupnick said.
BELLEVILLE  Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs is looking to reunite hundreds of thousands of Metro East residents with more than $184.3 million in unclaimed cash and property.

The money is waiting to be claimed under the offices I-Cash program, which safeguards unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards until they can be returned to their rightful owner.

Its often a surprise for people to find out they have an overlooked investment account or final paycheck through no fault of their own, Frerichs said. This money and property belong to the people of Illinois. It should be in their pocketbook rather than the states safe.

Frerichs reminder is part of a statewide digital media, newspaper and direct mail push to reunite residents with more than $3.5 billion in unclaimed property. State law requires the Illinois Treasurers Office to publish newspaper ads in all 102 Illinois counties every six months and to send letters to residents who have newly reported unclaimed property of $100 or more.

Here are the unclaimed property totals for Metro East counties:

 In Madison County, there are more than 441,600 unclaimed properties totaling more than $44 million.

 In St. Clair County, there are nearly 483,000 unclaimed properties totaling more than $119.6 million.

 In Monroe County, there are more than 40,550 unclaimed properties totaling more than $1.6 million.

 In Calhoun County, there are more than 5,000 unclaimed properties totaling $115,000.

 In Jersey County, there are more than 24,200 unclaimed properties totaling more than $1.3 million.

 In Bond County, there are nearly 18,900 unclaimed properties totaling more than $316,000.

 In Clinton County, there are nearly 35,400 unclaimed properties totaling more than $2 million.

 In Fayette County, there are more than 20,000 unclaimed properties totaling nearly $4.7 million.

 In Marion County, there are more than 63,650 unclaimed properties totaling more than $8.5 million.

 In Effingham County, there are nearly 40,600 unclaimed properties totaling nearly $2 million.

An estimated one-in-four adults in Illinois who search I-Cash find unclaimed property, and the average claim is $1,000. Treasurer Frerichs has returned a record more than $1.6 billion in unclaimed property through more than 1.3 million claims during his tenure after he prioritized changes in technology, efficiency and state law to streamline the process.

Thousands of items are reported and remitted to the state annually, and residents are encouraged to check the unclaimed property database twice each year. Set up a reminder on your smart phones calendar or fire up your computer and do a search when you change your smoke detector batteries every six months.

Visit www.illinoistreasurer.gov/ICASH to enter your name and find out if unclaimed property is waiting for you.
BALTIMORE (AP)  A severe staffing shortage in Maryland prisons and jails is creating dangerous conditions for both prisoners and guards, according to a report released Thursday by the union representing state correctional officers.

The report  which includes a detailed analysis of current staffing levels and assignments in Marylands 19 state-run facilities  calls on the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to hire over 3,400 more correctional officers, saying the agency is operating at an all-time low.

The problem isnt unique to Maryland. Corrections systems and law enforcement agencies across the country have struggled to recruit and retain officers in recent years.

During a Thursday morning news conference, union leaders said theyre hopeful Marylands newly elected Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, will take steps to address the problem after what they called a lack of action under his predecessor, Republican Larry Hogan.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, corrections spokesman Mark Vernarelli said the agency appreciates Moores commitment to filling vacancies across the state and getting the government back to firing on all cylinders. He said the department has hired 404 people already under the current administration, a 62% increase over this time last year.

Union leaders said they hope those numbers continue increasing.

The staff shortage is extreme and creates a dangerous cycle  officers are often forced to work overtime, which leads to burnout, high turnover and a deepening staff shortage, the report says.

Some educational programs for Maryland inmates have been shut down or scaled back because there arent enough officers to supervise them.

Currently, all institutions are operating dangerously, with over 100 inmates to one officer, the report says. With staff resources overstretched, conditions for inmates have worsened, and levels of violence have increased while staff are being put at risk.

Speaking during Thursdays news conference, Maryland correctional officers raised safety concerns, saying assaults have increased as a result of the staffing shortage.

The way we are currently staffed, there is no room for error or accidents, said Rownite Stevens, a longtime correctional officer and union leader. Weve said over and over again we are understaffed, and the previous administration ignored our concerns.

Hogans administration acknowledged the high vacancy rate and pledged to hire and retain more officers, including through pay raises and financial incentives, but union leaders said those efforts had little effect.

The report, which also calls for the department to fill existing vacancies, was produced under a Maryland law passed in 2017 that requires a staffing analysis of state-run correctional facilities every two years.

Its release came just days after a transgender woman sued the Maryland corrections system, saying she was improperly housed in a mens jail, where she was sexually assaulted at knifepoint by another prisoner, subjected to frequent ridicule and denied hormone therapy in what constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
Buzzfeed chief executive Jonah Peretti - Manuel Blondeau - Corbis

BuzzFeed News is to shut after 12 years as the company battles a slowdown in online advertising and a darkening economic picture.

Its parent business Buzzfeed is to cut 15pc of jobs, or 180 roles, and will focus future media efforts on HuffPost, as well as developing artificial intelligence software that can replace writers.

In a memo to staff, chief executive Jonah Peretti blamed changing reader habits and a tough economy for the decision.

He added: But I want to be clear: I could have managed these changes better as the chief executive officer of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances.

Our job is to adapt, change, improve and perform despite the challenges in the world. We can and will do better.

When it launched in 2011, the company intended to reinvent media for the digital age and take market share from traditional newspapers.

It hired investigative journalists in an attempt to burnish the credentials of the Buzzfeed brand, which to begin with was best known for viral content known as "listicles".

The organisation quickly garnered attention for a series of scoops, including the so-called Steele dossier that exposed possible ties between then-President Donald Trump and Russia. It also won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles that exposed Chinas repression of Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

However, Buzzfeed shut down its UK and Australia news operations in 2020 as the flaws in its advertising-funded business model became more apparent. It has been beset by financial difficulties since a disastrous stock market float through a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) at the end of 2021.

At its peak, the digital publisher was worth around $1.7bn, but this valuation has now tumbled to just $110m. Shares were down 15pc after the latest cuts were announced.

In January, BuzzFeed revealed that it intended to start using artificial intelligence to help write quizzes as it grappled with the impact of the new technology with the sector.

Story continues

The company is working with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, on the initiative.

In the note to staff, Mr Peretti said BuzzFeed will continue to focus on AI, while its news efforts will be concentrated in HuffPost, the digital news publisher it acquired in 2020.

As part of the shake-up, chief revenue officer Edgar Hernandez and chief operating officer Christian Baesler will both leave the company.

The cuts came on the same day that rival online news site Insider announced it was laying off 10pc of its US workforce.

Its chief executive Barbara Peng said the cuts were necessary to keep the company healthy and competitive amid growing pressure on the industry.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Three transgender children and their parents sued Tennessee on Thursday over a new law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.

The law, scheduled to go into effect on July 1, prohibits health care providers from providing hormone treatments or surgeries for transgender youth where the purpose is to allow the child to express a gender identity inconsistent with the immutable characteristics of the reproductive system that define the minor as male or female.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and other groups in federal court in Nashville. It claims the Tennessee law violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause because it allows the banned medical treatments when they are used to treat conditions other than gender dysphoria. It claims the ban is based on generalized fears, negative attitudes, stereotypes, and moral disapproval of transgender people, rather than the well-being of the state's adolescents and children.

All of the treatments prohibited by the Health Care Ban are permitted when undertaken for any reason other than to affirm a gender identity that differs from a patients sex designated at birth, the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit also claims the ban violates parental autonomy protected under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

One of the plaintiffs is a 15-year-old transgender girl who sued under the initials L.W. Growing up, L.W. had constant anxiety about her gender, the lawsuit states. Her discomfort with using the boys' restroom at school was so great that she would avoid it altogether and develop urinary tract infections.

After she told her parents that she was transgender, L.W. began taking hormone blockers and later estrogen. Her parents say they have noticed a huge change in L.W., who is now outgoing and thriving, according to the lawsuit. The parents say the new law will force them to either leave Tennessee entirely or makes costly trips out of state for L.W.'s medical care.

The law includes a nine-month phase out period for medical treatments begun before it goes into effect, but no new treatments could be started during that time and all treatment must be completed by March 31, 2024. Health care providers who violate the ban would be subject to regulatory discipline and could be sued by the attorney general or private parties. Violations carry a $25,000 penalty.

The Tennessee Attorney General's Office did not immediately return a message requesting comment on Thursday.

At least 12 other states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of the laws in Alabama and Arkansas.
SRINAGAR, India (AP)  Five Indian army soldiers were killed on Thursday when rebels fighting against Indian rule ambushed a military vehicle in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, the military said.

Militants attacked the army vehicle with gunfire in the southern Rajouri sector near the highly militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, a military statement said. It said five soldiers died in the attack and another was seriously injured.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Under a cloudless sky, 20,000 eclipse chasers crowded a tiny outpost to watch a rare solar eclipse plunge part of Australia's northwest coast into brief midday darkness Thursday while temporarily cooling the tropical heat.

The remote tourist town of Exmouth, with fewer than 3,000 residents, was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crossed remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.

An international crowd had been gathering for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.

NASA astronomer Henry Throop was among those at Exmouth cheering loudly in the darkness.

Isnt it incredible? This is so fantastic. It was mind-blowing. It was so sharp and it was so bright. You could see the corona around the sun there, the visibly excited Washington resident said.

Its only a minute long, but it really felt like a long time. Theres nothing else you can see which looks like that. It was just awesome. Spectacular. And then you could see Jupiter and Mercury and to be able to see those at the same time during the day  even seeing Mercury at all is pretty rare. So that was just awesome, Throop added.

First-time eclipse chaser Julie Copson, who traveled more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) north from the Australian west-coast port city of Fremantle to Exmouth, said the phenomenon left her skin tingling.

I feel so emotional, like I could cry. The color changed and seeing the corona and sun flares , Copson said.

It was very strong and the temperature dropped so much, she added, referring to a sudden 5-degree-Celsius (9-degree-Fahrenheit) fall in temperature from 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) when the moons shadow enveloped the region.

It was the fifth eclipse for Detroit resident Shane Varrti, who began planning his trip to Exmouth a year ago.

Its very exciting. All this effort has come to fruition, Varrti said.

In Indonesia's capital, hundreds came to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse that was obscured by clouds.

Azka Azzahra, 21, came with her sister and friends to get a closer look by using the telescopes with hundreds of other visitors.

I am still happy to come even though it is cloudy. It is happy to see how people with high enthusiasm come here to see the eclipse, because it is rare, Azzahra said.

The call to prayer resounded from the city's mosques when the eclipse phase began as Muslims in the country with the worlds largest Muslim population said eclipse prayers as a reminder of Gods greatness.

In East Timor, people gathered around the beach in Lautem municipality, waiting to witness the rare solar eclipse through their eclipse glasses. Some of them came from other countries and gathered with locals to have a clear view of the eclipse.

Timor Leste is one of the unique countries where the experience is less humid, less cloudy, so we are expecting a clear sky, thats why many international astronomers wish to converge here. We are hoping that there is going to be a clear sky, Zahri Bin Ahmad, astrophile from the South East Asia Astronomy Network of Brunei said as they waited Thursday.

People cheered as the sun and moon reached maximum eclipse.

This is a very new natural phenomenon for Timor Leste. It is very important for us to be able to watch and experience it firsthand, said Martinho Fatima, a civil protection authority officer.

The hybrid solar eclipse tracked from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and was mostly over water. The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon.

Such celestial events happen about once every decade: The last one was in 2013 and the next one isnt until 2031. They occur when Earth is in the sweet spot so the moon and the sun are almost the exact same size in the sky, said NASA solar expert Michael Kirk.

At some points, the moon is a little closer and blocks out the sun in a total eclipse. But when the moon is a little farther away, it lets some of the suns light peek out in an annular eclipse.

Its a crazy phenomenon, Kirk said. Youre actually watching the moon get larger in the sky.

Several other upcoming solar eclipses will be easier to catch. An annular eclipse in mid-October and a total eclipse in April 2024 will both cross over millions of people in the Americas.

___

Burakoff reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SPHERICAL INSIGHTS LLP

The Global Machine Safety Market Size was valued at USD 5.63 Billion in 2022 and the Worldwide Machine Safety Market is expected to reach USD 9.75 Billion by 2032, According to a research report published by Spherical Insights & Consulting. Companies Covered: ABB Ltd., Emerson Electric Co., General Electric, Honeywell International Inc., Schneider Electric, IDEC Corporation, Rockwell Automation, Inc., Siemens AG, Yokogawa Electric Corp., Omron Corporation, Keyence Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pilz GmbH & Co., Sick AG, Balluff GmbH, Banner Engineering Corp and among others.

New York, United States , April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Machine Safety Market Size is to Grow from USD 5.63 Billion in 2022 to USD 9.75 Billion by 2032, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.65% during the projected period. The rising adoption of the safety standard for machinery assets and workforce safety in several end-use such as the oil & gas, energy & power, chemicals, food & beverages, aerospace & defense, automotive, semiconductor & electronics, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, metals & mining, and others will boost the demand for the machine safety market during the forecast period.

Get a Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/request-sample/1710

List of Key Market Players

ABB Ltd.

Emerson Electric Co.

General Electric

Honeywell International Inc.

Schneider Electric

IDEC Corporation

Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Siemens AG

Yokogawa Electric Corp.

Omron Corporation

Keyence Corporation

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Pilz GmbH & Co.

Sick AG

Balluff GmbH

Banner Engineering Corp.

Recent Developments

On April 2023, Siemens and Microsoft are leveraging the collaborative power of generative artificial intelligence (AI) to assist industrial companies in driving innovation and efficiency throughout the product design, engineering, manufacturing, and operational lifecycle. The companies are integrating Siemens' Teamcenter software for product lifecycle management (PLM) with Microsoft's collaboration platform Teams and the language models in Azure OpenAI Service, as well as other Azure AI capabilities, to improve cross-functional collaboration.

Story continues

In September 2022, NVIDIA introduced the IGX edge AI computing platform for secure and safe autonomous systems. IGX combines hardware with programmable safety extensions, commercial operating-system support, and powerful AI software, enabling organizations to safely and securely deliver AI in support of human-machine collaboration. For healthcare and industrial edge AI use cases, the all-in-one platform enables next-generation safety, security, and perception.

Market Overview:

A machine safety system monitors the overall condition of machinery and equipment over time in order to reduce failure risk and extend service life. These are useful for protecting machines, increasing productivity, and reducing inefficiency and costly errors. Such systems have applications in a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, automotive, mining and metals, healthcare, and others. Businesses are implementing safety-certified procedures along their manufacturing lines in an effort to reduce industrial accidents. Industrial safety products, such as emergency shutdown systems and safety controller components, are frequently used by industry participants to reduce the likelihood of an interruption or accident occurring.

Buy Now Full Report: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/checkout/1710

Browse key industry insights spread across 200 pages with 105 market data tables and figures & charts from the report on " Global Machine Safety Market Size , Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Implementation (Individual Components, Embedded Components), By Component (Presence Sensing Safety Sensors, Safety Interlock Switches, Safety Controllers, Modules, Relays, Programmable Safety Systems, Emergency Stop Controls, Two-hand Safety Controls, Others), By End-Use (Oil & Gas, Energy & Power, Chemicals, Food & Beverages, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Semiconductor & Electronics, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Metals & Mining, Others), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2022  2032."

The individual components segment is dominating the market with the largest revenue share over the forecast period.

On the basis of type, the global machine safety market is segmented into system individual components and embedded components. Among these, the individual components segment is dominating the market with the largest revenue share over the forecast period. Following the identification of potential hazards via a risk assessment, individual safety components are installed. Individual components are easy to connect and configure due to their compatibility.

The programmable safety systems segment accounted for the largest market share over the forecast period.

On the basis of product, the global machine safety market is segmented presence sensing safety sensors, safety interlock switches, safety controllers, programmable safety systems, emergency stop controls, two-hand safety controls, and others. Among these, the programmable safety systems segment accounted for the largest market share over the forecast period. This segment's expansion can be attributed to the widespread acceptance of capable programming safety systems in end-user industries. They are an important part of safety instrumented systems.

The oil & gas, energy & power segment accounted the largest revenue share of more than 55% over the forecast period.

On the basis of end-use, the global machine safety market is segmented into oil & gas, energy & power, chemicals, food & beverages, aerospace & defense, automotive, semiconductor & electronics, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, metals & mining, and others. Among these, oil & gas, energy & power are dominating the market with the largest revenue share of 55% over the forecast period. The energy and power industries must optimize the use of available resources while reducing asset breakdowns and improving operational efficiency. Furthermore, the potential for machine safety is expected to emerge from the growing demand for industrial automation products in the oil and gas sector.

Inquire Before Buying This Research Report: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1710

Asia Pacific dominates the market with the largest market share over the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is dominating the market with more than 45% market share over the forecast period. Some of the factors contributing to the region's market growth include the widespread use of automated machines, increased acceptance of international machine safety standards, and the subsequent impact of large-scale companies on safety system adoption. North America, on the contrary, is expected to grow the fastest during the forecast period. This is because of the area's prominence of major business enterprises, as well as strict government safety standards.

Competitive Analysis:

The report offers the appropriate analysis of the key organizations/companies involved within the global market along with a comparative evaluation primarily based on their product offering, business overviews, geographic presence, enterprise strategies, segment market share, and SWOT analysis. The report also provides an elaborative analysis focusing on the current news and developments of the companies, which includes product development, innovations, joint ventures, partnerships, mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, and others. This allows for the evaluation of the overall competition within the market. Major vendors in the Global Machine Safety Market include ABB Ltd., Emerson Electric Co., General Electric, Honeywell International Inc., Schneider Electric, IDEC Corporation, Rockwell Automation, Inc., Siemens AG, Yokogawa Electric Corp., Omron Corporation, Keyence Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pilz GmbH & Co., Sick AG, Balluff GmbH, Banner Engineering Corp., and among others.

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Browse Related Reports

Global Functional Safety Market Size, Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Devices (Safety Sensors, Safety Controllers, Programmable Safety Systems, Safety Switches, Emergency Stop Devices, Others), By Safety System (ESD, HIPPS, BMS, TMC, F&G, DCS, SCADA, Others), By Verticals (Process Industry, Power Generation, Chemicals, Food & beverages, Water & Wastewater Treatment, Pharmaceuticals, Metals & Mining, Discrete Industry, Automotive, Railways, Medical, Others), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2021  2030

https://www.sphericalinsights.com/reports/functional-safety-market

Global Industrial PC Market Size, Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Box, Panel, Rack Mount, Embedded, DIN Rail, Others), By Technology (Resistive, Capacitive), By End-Use (Discrete Industries, Process Industries), and By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2022  2032

https://www.sphericalinsights.com/reports/industrial-pc-market

Global Neutral Grounding Resistor Market Size, Share, and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Low Resistance and High Resistance), By Voltage (Low (<1 kV), Medium (1-36 kV), and High (>36kV)), By Site (Indoor (IP00/IP20) and Outdoor (IP23/IP55), By End-Use (Power generation, Data Center, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Military & Defense, and Others), By Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa), Analysis and Forecast 2023  2032 Global Neutral Grounding Resistor Market Insights Forecasts to 2032

https://www.sphericalinsights.com/reports/neutral-grounding-resistor-market

About the Spherical Insights & Consulting

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Sixteen-year-old Uganti, a student of class 11 at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in Maner in Bihar, dreams of becoming an Indian Administrative Service officer. A few years back, she could not dream so big as girls in her village were married off before they reached high school.

Uganti would have met the same fate as her parents also decided to marry her off once she completed class 5. She, however, wanted to study. The conflict started taking a toll on her mental health. She called her teacher Kanchan Kumari, who motivated her to share her thoughts with her parents.

A few days later, Uganti broke the news to her parents, I want to study, and I refuse to get married at such a small age.

Kanchan is working with CorStone, an NGO aimed at building inner health and mental well-being in marginalised and vulnerable youth in Bihar. She has been conducting the 'Girls First' programme since 2019, helping adolescent girls recognise their potential and achieve their goals.

Uganti has been part of the programme for almost five years now, said Kanchan, who participated in a conference on Promoting Adolescent Well-being in Every School in Delhi recently.

Although the government has brought mental well-being of students into focus through its National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the NGOs are also trying to join hands with state governments to get better results.

There is a scarcity of teachers in most of the schools in Bihar, still they are trying to focus on the mental well-being of their students while upgrading their skills, said Kanchan.

Sajjan R., Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in Bihar, said mental health is crucial for holistic development. The first leg of the orientation of 40,000 teachers has been completed recently, he said.

We hope to reach every middle school in Bihar so that students can learn about their strengths, become resilient and stay mentally healthy in difficult times
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh's wife Kirandeep Kaur was detained at the Amritsar airport before boarding a London flight on Thursday, police sources told ANI. Amritpal, founder of the 'Waris Punjab de' outfit, is still absconding despite a nationwide hunt to nab him.

He escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18 by switching vehicles and changing appearances. Amritpal's close aide Papalpreet Singh, who also fled Punjab following a police crackdown, was arrested last month.

Kirandeep, 29, married Amritpal in February, months after he took over as the leader of the radical group Waris Punjab De. Born and raised in the UK, Kirandeep was a physiotherapist and interpreter when she met Amritpal online. She ran a radio programme on Punjab, titled Punjab Diya Leheran (The waves of Punjab). Speaking exclusively to THE WEEK earlier, she said she always knew she was Amritpal's 'second priority'.

When asked about her plans to return to the UK, she said there are allegations that she is doing 'something illegal' in the UK, and that can legally stay in India for 180 days. Earlier, too, when I went back to the UK after staying here for six months, it was for a week to visit my family, she said.

Amritpal 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.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf, recreated the murder scene in Prayagraj on Thursday. Amid tight security, the team tried to replay the sequence of events that led to the shooting of the gangsters as they were being taken for a medical checkup.

Atiq and Ashraf were shot dead by three men who came posing as journalists and shot them at point-blank range on the night of April 15. The three accusedLovelesh Tiwari, Mohit and Arun Kumar Mauryawere sent to four-day police custody on Tuesday.

Five police officers including the station officer of Shahganj police station have been suspended for 'negligence'. The SIT has made several arrests in connection with the case. An alleged member of the Atiq Ahmad gang, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000, has been arrested, police said. Asad Kalia, a resident of New Chakia, was arrested by the Kareli police on Wednesday. Kalia was considered the right hand of Atiq's wife Shaista Praveen, who is wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case and is absconding.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday detained three men who helped the main accused Tiwari in pretending to be a reporter. According to NDTV, the three men who work for a local news website, showed the ropes of reporting to Tiwari and helped him buy a camera.

Atiq was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader's murder.
On the last day of filing nominations for the Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP and Congress have come out with their final list of candidates. While the saffron party announced its faces for Shivamogga and Manvi, the Congress list includes candidates for the remaining five constituencies.

Much to the dismay of former Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa, the BJP refused to give a ticket to his son K E Kantesh in the Shivamogga assembly segment. Instead, the party has fielded Channabasappa.

Eshwarappa, who recently announced his decision to retire from electoral politics, had requested the Central leadership to not consider fielding him from Shivamogga. Instead, sought the ticket for his son Kantesh.

There were already rumblings within the party over the Shivamogga seat after BJP leader and MLC Ayanur Manjunath lashed out against Eashwarappa for promoting his son rather than for those who worked with him to build the party. Manjunath then switched sides to join JD(S) and is now the JD(S) candidate from the segment.

Kanthesh too had met former Chief Minister and BJP Parliamentary Board member BS Yediyurappa in his bid for candidacy. He had then expressed confidence in the party and in "getting a chance."

From Manvi, an ST reserve constituency, the party has fielded B V Nayak as the candidate. With the announcement of this list, the BJP has announced candidates for all 224 Assembly segments in the state.

Congress final list

The Congress too has come out with the final list wherein it replaced the candidate against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Shiggaon. While its earlier list had Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from Shiggaon in the Haveri district, the party zeroed in on Yasir Ahmed Khan Phatan in the final list.

The Congress has nominated B V Rajeev Gowda from Sidlaghatta, replacing sitting MLA V Muniyappa.

The other candidates announced are Mohammed Shalam for Raichur, S Anand Kumar from C V Raman Nagar, H P Sridhar Gowda from Arkalgud and Inayath Ali from Mangalore City North.

With this, Congress has fielded candidates for all the 224 Assembly segments in the state.

However, sitting MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy was replaced in Pulakeshinagar. The party has replaced him with A C Srinivasa. However, Murthy on Wednesday filed a nomination as an independent candidate.

Murthy, a Dalit, won the 2018 Assembly elections with the highest margin of 81,626 votes, creating a record. His house along with the DJ Halli police station was torched by a violent mob in August 2020, over a social media post shared by his relative.

In Bengaluru's K R Puram, Congress has fielded D K Mohan against BJP's Byrathi Basavaraj, a Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government.

Interestingly, Byrathi Basavaraj won the seat on a Congress ticket in the 2018 Assembly polls. He was among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who resigned, which led to the collapse of the coalition government and paved the way for the BJP to come to power in 2019. In the subsequent by-polls, he won on a BJP ticket.

In Mulbagal, the party has fielded B C Muddugangadhar. In 2018, the seat was won by independent candidate H Nagesh, who is now the Congress candidate from the Mahadevapura segment in Bengaluru.
In a surprise move, Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar's brother D.K. Suresh, filed his nomination as an independent candidate from the Kanakapura assembly constituency on Thursday. Shivakumar is the party's candidate from this seat. The development, just hours before the deadline for filing nomination for the upcoming assembly polls, is a 'precautionary, measure, DKS told reporters.

Suresh is the Congress's MP from Bangalore Rural. According to Congress sources, Suresh has filed his papers, as a backup plan in the event of Shivakumar's nomination getting rejected as he has a number of cases pending against him. "Although there are no convictions, we wanted to play it safe," Congress sources told the Deccan Herald.

The ruling BJP has fielded senior minister and its prominent Vokkaliga face R. Ashoka from Kanakapura to take on Shivakumar. Ashoka is also contesting from Padmanabhanagar constituency, and it was earlier speculated that Suresh will be fielded from this segment to take on the BJP veteran.

Suresh, the Congress's lone MP in the state, had dropped hints about his candidature but had not revealed the constituency. They have told me to file nomination and keep all the documents ready. I am waiting for the AICC leaders to tell me their decision, he said on Wednesday. Speculations were rife that he Congress candidate in Padmanabhanagar, Raghunatha Naidu, would withdraw his nomination to make way for Suresh.

The BJP fielded Asoka from Kanakapura in an attempt to dent the Congress votes in the constituency where Shivakumar has tasted victory thrice.

The Congress and the BJP are set for a fierce poll battle, even as the saffron party braces for turmoil and defections. Upset with the candidates list, two prominent Lingayat leaders of the BJPJagdish Shettar and Laxman Savadijoined the Congress earlier this week. The state goes to polls on May 10.
A sessions court in Surat on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhis plea to stay his conviction of two years in the Modi surname remarks defamation case.

The Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Surat sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail on March 23 in connection with a case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi over his remarks, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?," made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.

Following the conviction, Rahul was disqualified as MP. He represented Wayanad, Kerala, in the Lower House.

On April 3, Rahul was granted bail and the hearing on his plea to stay the sentence was to be held on another date.

The Congress displayed a show of strength when Rahul reached the sessions court on April 3. He was accompanied by his sister Priyanka Vadra, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and a host of other Congress leaders and lawyers. Hundreds of party workers, who were trying to reach Surat to show solidarity, were detained at various places and later released after the hearing.

Meanwhile, sources said that Rahul is likely to approach the Gujarat High Court now. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to social media and said that they will continue to avail all options still available to them under the law.

Kirit Panwala appeared on behalf of Rahul in the sessions court on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Naishad Desai, Congress leader from South Gujarat, told THE WEEK, that it is a total injustice. "It appears that the court has neither sent Rahulji in court nor has it allowed him to be in the Parliament," he observed.
The NIA on Thursday filed a chargesheet against six people in connection with the October 2022 Coimbatore car bomb blast, saying the prime accused of the terrorist attack was "inspired by ISIS ideology".

The case pertains to an explosion that took place on October 23, 2022 at an ancient temple, "Arulmigu Kottai Sangameshwarar Thirukovil", on Eswaran Kovil Street, Ukkadam in Coimbatore.

A vehicle-borne improvised explosives device (V-IED), driven by Jamesha Mubeen, had blown up in front of the temple. Mubeen was killed in the blast, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in a statement.

"Mubeen was inspired by ISIS ideology to carry out this attack. He had also taken 'bayath' or oath of allegiance to its self-proclaimed Caliph Abu-al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi," it said.

While the charges against Mubeen were abated as he was killed, the agency charged his alleged associates Mohammed Asarutheen, Mohammed Thalha, Firos, Mohammed Riyas, Navas and Afsar Khan under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), IPC and the Explosives Substances Act.

Mubeen, the NIA said, was "aided and assisted" by the six in arranging logistics.

"Thalha had sourced the Maruti 800 blue colour car bearing registration number TN-01-F-6163 which was used in the explosion of vehicle-borne IED," it said.

Firos, Riyas and Navas had loaded the explosives, gas cylinders, etc. in the car making it the potent weapon it became, while Asarutheen and Afsar, both cousins of Mubeen, procured, weighed, mixed and packed the chemical constituents used to manufacture the V-IED used in the attack, the statement said.

A pendrive was recovered from Mohammed Asarutheen and it "contained" video recordings of Jamesha Mubeen, where he had identified himself as a member of Daulat-e-Islamia (or Islamic state), the NIA said.

"He had spoken extensively on his intention to commit a suicide terror attack against the 'kafirs' (non-believers) and to become a martyr.

"Mubeen was inspired by the bayans (sermons) of Zahran Hashim, a radical Islamic cleric of Sri Lanka, who masterminded the Easter serial suicide bomb attacks in 2019 killing around 260 people. Mubeen wanted to orchestrate a similar kind of attack against the 'kafirs' in India," it said.

The agency said it also recovered handwritten notes from Mubeen's residence where criticism of the "existing" democratic system, which are not in tandem with Islamic laws, has been mentioned.

There is also a mention of 'targets', including government offices, district courts, public gathering places like parks, railway stations and a few other local temples, in these notes, the NIA claimed.

It said the Islamic State of Khorasan Province's online magazine called 'Voice of Khorasan' corroborated this in an article titled, 'A Message to the Inhabitants in the Land Occupied by Cow and Mice Worshipping Filths', where the ISKP took responsibility for this attack.

"The article goes on to state that the attack was revenge to uphold the honour of their religion and to establish Allah's deen and his law upon his land and to terrorize the 'Kufr' and its followers with the threat that it was just the beginning," the NIA said.
India is in touch with various countries with a key focus on ensuring the safety of its nationals in Sudan, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday, adding that the ground situation in the violence-hit country is very tense.

Just to give you a sense... the situation on the ground continues to be quite tense. It remains very tense, which renders any movement very risky. So currently our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of the individuals wherever they are located. We are in touch with the people," MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said addressing a media briefing.

Bagchi said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had already spoken to his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt and that he is likely to meet the UN Secretary-General in New York later in the day.

"We announced External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is on a visit to Latin America and enroute he has stopped in New York. He is holding discussions and today he will be meeting UN Secretary-General and we will let you know the updates on what happens after that," Bagchi said.

He said India is keeping a close watch on the developments in Sudan and that the safety and security of Indians is our key focus. Asked whether India is looking at evacuating the Indians in Sudan, he said some plans are being worked out but it will depend on the ground situation.

"We are engaged with countries in the region and other countries that have a key role to play particularly, the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE," he said.

"Our ambassador in Washington DC and High Commission in London are in touch with the respective host governments. We are also working with various UN Bodies that are present since the UN has a significant presence there," the MEA spokesperson further said.

Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group for the last six days that has reportedly left around 200 people dead.

On Monday, the Indian embassy in Sudan had issued a fresh advisory urging Indians not to venture out of their residences and stay calm.

The embassy, on Sunday, had said an Indian national died in Khartoum after sustaining bullet injuries.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday took on record the amendments made to the AIADMK rule book, thus putting an end to the leadership tussle in the grand old Dravidian party.

In a communication to EPS, the ECI said that it is taking into record the amended rules and regulations of the party, and change in office-bearer. Based on the several letters sent by EPS and his supporters, the ECI said the amended rules and regulations of the party and change in office-bearer vide your letters under reference have been taken on record subject to any further court order/direction.

The letter apparently means that the ECI has approved the election of EPS as the general secretary of the party. The AIADMK on July 11, 2022, had convened the general council of the party to elect EPS, unanimously, as the general secretary of the party. And now the proceedings of this general council meeting has been taken on record by the ECI.

With the Election Commission taking into record the amendments made in the partys rule book and also the changes in the office-bearers, Palaniswami has emerged as the sole leader of the AIADMK, a party that ruled the state for over 30 years. Palaniswamis rise to the top position was slow and steady over the past six years, pushing aside the erstwhile power centres in the party. He sidelined, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, V.K. Sasikala and more recently his betenoire and arch-rival O. Panneerselvam.

Palaniswami emerged as the face of the AIADMK after the uncertainty that rose in the party following the death of Jayalalithaa in 2016. He was chosen as the chief minister by AIADMKs ousted leader Sasikala, just a day before she was headed to Bengaluru prison. Since then, he had slowly tightened his grip over the party only to rise to the position of the partys general secretary--the post that was once held by MGR and Jayalalithaa. He is the third general secretary of the five-decade-old Dravidian party, founded by MGR and helmed by Jayalalithaa.

However, Palaniswamis fight to strengthen his leadership position is far from over. Sources in the OPS camp say that the fight is still not over legally. The ECI too in its statement released on Thursday said that it had taken into the record all the amendments made, but subject to any court order or direction.








Bottles of beer brewed for the coronation of Edward VIII will go on sale next month. The 'Coronation Ale' was left unopened because the event was cancelled. Edward VIII ascended to the British throne in January 1936 following the death of his father, George V. He abdicated to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. Edward VIII's brother George VI was crowned instead.



At the time royals weren't permitted to marry divorcees, a norm, which weighed on his decision to abdicate. Incidentally, in recent times, royals have married divorcees-- King Charles married his long-time paramour Camilla in 2011 and Prince Harry married an American actress and divorcee Meghan Markle in 2018.

The beer was discovered in the cellars of Greene King in Suffolk in 2011, nearly 75 years later during renovation work. The pub will auction the beer off on March 5, a day ahead of King Charles III's coronation. The proceeds from the sale will go to the charity founded by the future king-- The Prince's Trust. The charity helps underprivileged children to develop life skills.

Royal historian and author, Professor Kate Williams, who is working with Greene King as part of the auction process, told Sky News, "It is absolutely fascinating that these beers have been lying in the cellar for 86 years, having originally been brewed to celebrate the coronation of Edward VIII.
Key Insights

Raytheon Technologies' estimated fair value is US$130 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

With US$104 share price, Raytheon Technologies appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

Our fair value estimate is 18% higher than Raytheon Technologies' analyst price target of US$110

Does the April share price for Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE:RTX) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Raytheon Technologies

Crunching The Numbers

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$4.91b US$6.67b US$8.58b US$10.7b US$11.1b US$11.4b US$11.7b US$12.0b US$12.3b US$12.5b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x12 Analyst x12 Analyst x10 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 2.74% Est @ 2.54% Est @ 2.40% Est @ 2.30% Est @ 2.23% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 7.3% US$4.6k US$5.8k US$6.9k US$8.1k US$7.8k US$7.5k US$7.2k US$6.8k US$6.5k US$6.2k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$67b

After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.1%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 7.3%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$13b (1 + 2.1%)  (7.3% 2.1%) = US$245b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$245b ( 1 + 7.3%)10= US$122b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$189b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$104, the company appears about fair value at a 20% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

The Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Raytheon Technologies as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.877. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Raytheon Technologies

Strength

Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Aerospace & Defense market.

Opportunity

Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the American market.

Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.

Moving On:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Raytheon Technologies, there are three relevant aspects you should further examine:

Risks: To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Raytheon Technologies . Future Earnings: How does RTX's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search 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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Denmark and Netherlands on Thursday announced they would provide refurbished Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. The countries are aiming to supply German-made tanks from the beginning of 2024.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen called it a significant donation which came on top of a contribution by Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, announced in February, to supply at least 100 older Leopard 1 A5 tanks.

In a joint statement, the Danish and Dutch defence ministers said the estimated cost of 165 million euros "to jointly acquire, refurbish and donate" will be equally divided between the two NATO members. In this way, we will jointly take part in the Leopard 2 coalition, supported by many partners and allies," they said.

In January, Germany agreed to send 14 newer Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its military's current stocks.

Acting Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stressed that the tanks were not Danish but are bought in collaboration with the Netherlands.

Denmark currently has Leopard 2 A7 tanks which are a different and newer model than the one we are donating now, Lund Poulsen added.

In a separate statement, Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that having the Leopard 2 A4 main battle tank at its disposal will give Ukraine superiority on the battlefield, due to the tank's major firepower, high level of protection and speed.

Over the last few weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have already demonstrated that they are able to master the skills needed to operate the tank in a short amount of time, she added.

On Twitter, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba wrote that We are deeply grateful for this contribution.

Ukraine had been demanding Western countries to provide them with combat vehicles, primarily tanks to strengthen its defence against Russia. Recently, a bloc of Western countries decided to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

Germany initially was reluctant to provide the tanks as it was worried providing the combat vehicle may be perceived by Russia as its direct involvement in the war. However, later joined the group after the US announced it would provide Abrams tanks to the war-torn country. The United Kingdom had also announced it would provide Challenger tanks to the country and the British Army also trained Ukrainian tank crew in using these combat vehicles.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ukraine on Thursday, the first time since Russia's invasion on Ukraine.

According to reports, Stoltenberg paid tributes to Ukrainian soldiers who died in the ongoing war. The NATO secretary-general is in Ukraine. We will release more information as soon as possible, said an alliance official, who asked not to be identified in line with NATO procedures.

Pictures of Stoltenberg apparently paying tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv's St Michael's Square were published by local media. NATO has no official presence in Ukraine. As an organisation of 31 countries, it only provides non-lethal support--generators, medical equipment, tents, military uniforms and other supplies--to the government in Kyiv.

Though not directly involved, countries under NATO and various other Western countries have extended support to Ukraine in the war by supplying military equipment including tanks.

Stoltenberg has been the strong voice of the alliance throughout the war and has been instrumental in garnering and coordinating support by the 31 members for Ukraine as the country sought to hold on to its territory.

This is Stoltenberg's first visit during the hostilities and underscores the longstanding commitments of the alliance in defence of Ukraine's independence. According to reports, Stoltenberg also reviewed damaged Russian military equipment displayed in Kyiv's central square.

Reuters reported that Ukraine aims to join the alliance and last September announced a bid for fast-track membership after Russia unilaterally annexed four Ukrainian regions that its troops have partially occupied.

Earlier this month, Finland joined NATO, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a historic realignment of Europe's post-Cold War security landscape triggered by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The Nordic country's membership doubles Russia's border with the world's biggest security alliance.

The world's biggest security alliance has focused on bolstering defences on its own territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member country. Under NATO's collective security guarantee, an attack on one member country is considered to be an attack on them all.

The US and many other members are providing weapons, ammunition and training for Ukraine's embattled troops bilaterally and in groups, but NATO as a whole wants to avoid being dragged into any potential war with nuclear-armed Russia.

On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Pakistan announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month.



Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here.



Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in-person.



She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot.



Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.



It would be the highest level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.



The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.



The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.



The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.



Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.



India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
Hundreds of people opposed to the law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 gathered on Thursday in a small town in southern France ahead of President Emmanuel Macron's planned visit, while some other scattered protest actions were staged across France.



Macron's trip to the town of Ganges comes amid a concerted new effort by him and his government to move on from the furore caused by the pension change.

People could be heard singing what has become the anthem of the retirement protests: We are here, we are here, even if Macron doesn't want (us to be here), we are here.

The French president was to meet teachers and students at a middle school, where he was scheduled to promote his education policies.

At his arrival, the site was affected by a power cut, which the local branch of the hard-left CGT union said was a protest action.

Dozens of police officers were deployed in the small town to prevent the crowd from getting close to the school. They briefly used tear gas to disperse people when some tried to storm the barriers.

On Wednesday, Macron went to eastern France, where he mingled among a crowd for the first time since he enacted the law last week. Many seized the occasion to voice their anger.

Raising the retirement age has ignited a months-long firestorm of protest in France. Opponents have been even more infuriated after Macron's government in March forced the legislation through parliament, using special government powers.

The CGT union has called for scattered protest actions across the country. In Paris, hundreds of people gathered for a peaceful demonstration at the Gare de Lyon train station.

Some protesters in the northern city of Lille walked along the railway line, blocking all train traffic for about one hour.

They then left the site peacefully.

Several unions joined a strike at the national railway company SNCF, slightly disrupting train traffic Thursday.

Some regional lines and Paris suburban trains were affected, while high-speed trains were running almost as normal, the SNCF said. (AP) FZH 04201632
In the wake of the lower appeals court reviewing the case of the access to abortion pill, the US Supreme Court has temporarily extended access to the popular abortion drug--Mifepristone--till Friday.

Earlier, questioning the safety of the drug, a Texas judge has suspended the approval for Mifepristone on April 7.

The pill was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over two decades ago in 2000.

While hearing the lawsuit by anti-abortion health professionals challenging the safety of the drug, a federal judge in Texas has issued a preliminary injunction revoking the FDA's approval for the drug.

The judge observed that FDA had rushed the approval and has not considered its side effects. While, several health organisations and the American Medical Association came to the forefront vouching for the drug and claiming that its safe and effective.

However, opposing the Texas ruling, a federal judge in Washington state ordered the FDA to make no change to the drug's availability and preserving its access to the drug in 17 US states.

With the contradicting rulings, the government approached the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. While hearing the appeals, the court had stayed the Texas order making mifepristone available with additional restrictions.

SC ruling

The manufacturers of the drug and the US justice department had approached the Supreme Court last week seeking its intervention to remove the restrictions from the pill.

On Friday, US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of the 5th Circuit, ordered a temporary block on the restrictions until Wednesday evening, when it would issue a decision on whether to keep mifepristone on the market.

But on Wednesday, the court extended the deadline until Friday keeping the drug on the market.

If the SC sides with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals or no ruling issued by the end of Friday, the drug will continue to remain in the market. However restrictions would be imposed on its access also including the drug being taken in the presence of a physician and patients cannot receive the pill by post and that the window for use of the pill shortens from up to 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven.

According to the experts, the ruling would play a very crucial role as it places the other approved medicines in the US in a spot.

A conservative Christian legal advocacy group that filed the initial lawsuit against the FDA, has approached the SC asking it to let the restrictions on the drug into effect. Several Republican lawmakers are backing the request.

The republicans had said that the access to the drug "is a dangerous game with the health and safety of women and girls". Meanwhile the Democrats sought the SC to pause the Texas ruling and argued that it would restrict access to abortion nationwide.
Miguel Diaz-Canel, leader of the Communist Party won a landslide vote of 97.66 per cent of the National Assembly. Diaz-Canel, in 2018, succeeded Raul Castro as president and first secretary in 2021 of the Cuban Communist Party, respectively. He is the first non-Castro born after the 1959 revolution to hold both of those titles.



After getting re-elected, Diaz-Canel announced that the ministers of his government would mostly remain the same, CNN reported. Diaz-Canel, an electrical engineer, has failed a succession of calamities that pushed Cuba even nearer to the brink of economic collapse.

He is expected to continue implementing the political and economic reforms initiated by his predecessor, Raul Castro, in 2011. Late revolutionary Fidel Castro handed over power to his younger brother Raul in 2006, and Raul handed over power to Diaz-Canel.

Diaz-Canel was born in April 1960. He went on to study electrical engineering from the University of Las Villas. He graduated in 1982. Climbing the ranks of political hierarchy, Castro once said of Diaz-Canel, that he demonstrated "capacity" and a "solid ideological firmness."

He began his political career in his late 20s, as the head of the Young Communist League of Cuba (UJC) in Santa Clara. He also served as first secretary of two of the Communist Party of Cuba's (PCC) provincial committees-- Villa Clara and Holguin. He made it onto the Politburo, the Communist Party's executive committee in 2003. When Cubans endured hardships after the fall of the Soviet Union, Diaz-Canel became popular among the public in the localities that he served, always ready to listen to citizens' problems and find solutions.

In 2009, he was appointed minister of higher education in 2009. And in 2012, he was made vice president of the Council of Ministers in charge of education, science, culture and sports.



In February 2013, he was elected the first vice president of the Council of State by the National Assembly. Always maintaining a low profile, Diaz-Canel took centre stage only last year, during which he made several public appearances and defended the continuity of the Cuban socialist model.



Diaz-Canel has been critical of issues such as corruption, bureaucracy and foreign media manipulation. In the last three months he was seen engaging with locals more closely. Diaz-Canel said at a parliamentary election in March that "the people's freedom, independence and sovereignty will endure, and we will never give up on those things."
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Hospital chain Narayana Health is dedicated to patient-centric care and digital tools such as a mobile app that allows doctors to monitor their patients in real time and collaborate with their care team are an integral part of this commitment, says Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sandhya J.

With Narayana Healths patient platform, patients can also take control of their financial transactions and access their clinical records anytime and anywhere, Sandhya told PTI in an interview.

The healthcare service provider is pioneering digital tools that automate data capture, and enable nurses to efficiently manage tasks such as handover and orders. Put simply, she said, it puts nurses back where they belong - by the patient's side.

In a country which needs more doctors, nurses and better healthcare facilities, Narayana Health is making investments in new capabilities, including radiation therapy, cath lab, CT and MRI across its units.

Narayana Health has adopted a cloud-first strategy and forged strategic partnerships with leading technology providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others to enhance patient care, upgrade infrastructure, optimise costs, ensure robust security, privacy measures, and elevate the quality of clinical care.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: What are Narayana Health's plans for organic and inorganic expansion?

A: During fiscal year 2023, we had given guidance of total capex spend of Rs 2,000 crore for FY23 and FY24 - a significant portion of this is in our flagships in Bangalore, Kolkata and Cayman.

Here, we are expanding capacity through both greenfield and brownfield, adding new capabilities as well as modernizing our infrastructure. We are still coming out of our replacement cycles due to stagnant investments during Covid and we are catching up on that across all our 20 units.

We are also making investments in new capabilities like radiation therapy, cath lab, CT, and MRI across our units.

Q: What are the big healthcare challenges as also the opportunities to make a difference when it comes to healthcare infrastructure in India?

A: The demand and supply gap in the Indian healthcare industry is large. We need more hospitals, medical and nursing colleges with our increasing population. Even if 50,000 doctors are added annually, there will be only 11.6 lakh doctors practicing by 2032, which would imply a doctor-patient ratio of 0.76:1000.

Also, primary healthcare and community health centres in rural areas have to be strengthened. Finally, the next big game changer in healthcare would be the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. The mission involves ground breaking initiatives such as implementation of federated exchange of electronic health data across the entire healthcare ecosystem, health claims exchange, various registries etc.

Government agencies like the National Health Authority will need to collaboratively work with providers to provide high quality healthcare to its citizens and work in a collaborative fashion to address both demand and supply side challenges

Q: Could you give a brief overview of Narayana Health's journey so far?

A: Founded in 2000 by Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and headquartered in Bengaluru, Narayana Hrudayalaya (now Narayana Health) is one of Indias leading healthcare service providers, operating a chain of multispecialty, tertiary and primary healthcare facilities. The company has a network of 20 hospitals, four heart centres and 21 primary healthcare facilities across India and Cayman Islands with over 6,370 capacity beds.

Narayana Health has a talented resource pool of 18,440 plus full-time employees and associates including 3,970 doctors.

Q: How are digital and tech at Narayana Health bringing new innovations to life?

A: Narayana Health is dedicated to providing patient-centric care, and digital tools are an integral part of this commitment. Our patient app NH Care and portal empower patients by enhancing their autonomy and transparency. With NH's patient platform, patients can take control of their financial transactions and access their clinical records anytime and anywhere.

Doctors use their phones far more frequently than their laptops, with the average doctor using their phone up to 200 times a day. This knowledge inspired us to create a mobile app that allows doctors to monitor their patients' conditions in real-time through their smartphones and collaborate with their care team. This app has successfully addressed the most critical challenge of managing inpatients in any hospital: contextual and timely communication.

Nurses are the backbone of any hospital, and it is unfortunate that more than 40 per cent of their time is spent in administrative and data-entry tasks. At NH, we are pioneering cutting-edge digital tools that automate data capture, and enable nurses to efficiently manage tasks such as handover and orders. Our goal is to put nurses back where they belong: by the patient's side.

Q: How is NH unleashing the power of data in business decision making?

A: Narayana Health has been using the power of data to transform its business from several aspects. The key areas of impact are the efficiency of operations, patient experience, the organization's financial health through cost reduction, capital optimization, cash optimization, and clinical quality. A major area of impact is the discharge turnaround time which has reduced by over 52 per cent. Another area of impact is outpatient consultations.

Post deployment of Narayana Health's Medha Analytics data intelligence platform, delays in outpatient (OP) have come down by 32 per cent, wait times have reduced by 14 per cent and online appointments have gone up 3.5 times. Other areas of impact include lab turnaround times dropping by 50 per cent, allowing patients to complete their consultations and associated tests within the same day, improved EMR adoption, impact on clinical quality by monitoring infections, continuously assessing patient risk, and deploying automated clinical algorithms.

Q: Could you elaborate on homegrown records management system Athma?

A: Athma is a synthesis of Narayana Health's extensive experience in running an efficient and effective healthcare network. It is a healthcare operating system that brings together best in class processes with cutting-edge technology, human-centric design, and a scalable architecture.

Q: How have cloud technology and AWS enabled you in your operations?

A: Narayana Health has been a pioneer in adopting cloud technology for healthcare services in India, and we remain committed to being cloud-first in our technology strategy. Our Cayman Islands facilities is supported efficiently by AWS and we have been able to leverage the agility, cost optimization, security and scalability that AWS cloud is renowned for, to our benefit.

By centralizing our workloads and moving away from on-premises servers, we have achieved a single instance that powers all of our group facilities. This has enabled us to exchange patient data seamlessly and implement standardized processes across all our facilities. Moreover, enterprise cloud offers us superior availability and security, which is critical for delivering high-quality healthcare services.

Q: As NH continues to scale, what sort of critical cohort of technology partners would you work with to scale.

A: All our technology choices aim to deliver efficient patient care, improved infrastructure, ISO 27001:2013 grade security and privacy controls and better clinical care quality.

We continue to take a cloud-first approach in all our technology choices to continue to benefit from greater flexibility, mobility and security. We have deployed several open source technologies in our landscape and we will continue to leverage the benefits of the customizability, integration and cost effectiveness.

(This story has been produced by PTI in collaboration with Amazon Web Services).
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) There is no evidence that the government catered only to one community and in some instances, minorities have gained more than the majority through schemes for providing access to electricity and bank accounts, an Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister(EAC-PM) working paper has said.

The paper titled 'A Secular Democracy in Practice: Objective Assessment of Amenities Programs in India', authored by Shamika Ravu analysed the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) Rounds 4 and 5 data, conducted in 2015-16 and 201921, respectively.

The focus of the study was on the bottom 20 per cent of households and used 2011 census numbers to construct distinct geographies based on religion.

"Based on a nationally representative sample of more than 1.2 million households across 201516 and 201921, we do not find any evidence that the government catered only to one community (Hindu majority) or discriminated across households based on districts where one religious community was dominant," the paper said.

It noted that with respect to electricity, bank account, mobiles and access to toilets, the gains were widespread across religions and social groups.

"As a matter of fact, in some instances, minorities have gained more than the majority," the paper said, adding that however, the government must do more to uplift the poorest 20 per cent of households across religions and social groups by focusing on amenities like LPG and water on-premises.

Regarding access to bank accounts, the paper pointed out that overall, 74 per cent among the poorest 20 per cent of the households had bank accounts in 201516, which increased to 93 per cent in2019-21.

According to the paper, while the target achievement was an impressive 73 per cent overall, across religions, the biggest gain was for the Muslim community, with a target achievement of approximately 77 per cent.

For different social groups, the target achievement was highest among the OBC at 75 per cent and above 70 per cent for the SC and ST, it added.

Similarly, when it comes to households' access to electricity, the paper pointed out that overall, 53 per cent of the poorest 20 per cent of the households had access to electricity in 201516, which increased to 85 per cent in 2019-21.

"Even though we observe significant gains across all the religious groups, the most considerable improvement in target achievement was for the poorest 20 per cent of the Muslim households at 71 per cent," the paper emphasised.

The paper asserted that India's democracy remains robust, with no evidence of discrimination against religious or social groups in providing basic amenities. "The government must continue to focus on uplifting the poorest 20 per cent to ensure an inclusive society," it noted.

According to the 2011 census, there were 640 districts. Out of the 640 districts, Hindus were more than 80 per cent in 402 (62.8 per cent) districts, Muslims were more than 50 per cent in 32 (5 per cent) districts, while Christians were more than 50 per cent in 35 (5.7 per cent) districts, the Sikhs were more than 50 per cent in 15 (2.3 per cent) of the districts.
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Thursday welcomed customers at the company's first store opened in the national capital.

Located at Select Citywalk Mall in Delhi, the barricade for Apple Saket features a unique design that takes inspiration from Delhi's many gates. However, the Saket store is smaller than the Apple store opened in Jio World Drive at Bandra Kurla Complex on Tuesday.

The Apple Saket store in Delhi is half the size of the Mumbai store where the company will pay a portion of total sales from the store as rent or Rs 40 lakh per month, whichever is higher, according to sources.

The company has more than 70 highly skilled retail team members at Saket store, who has come from 18 states of India and collectively speak more than 15 languages.

Cook during his visit met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the iPhone manufacturer is looking to invest more in the world's second-largest smartphone market.

According to government sources, the iPhone maker is likely to double the employment base at its contract manufacturers in India to around 2 lakh soon.

Cook, on his first trip to India in seven years, opened Apple's first official retail store in the country in Mumbai on Tuesday .

Cook had last visited India in 2016 when the tech giant was just beginning to scale up operations in the country.

Looking to replicate what China did to Apple's business in the last 15 years, the tech giant is eyeing India's massive market with an expanding middle class to power sales growth, and potentially make it a home base for the production of millions of Apple devices.

Cook during his visit met Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

As per the sources, Cook has sought government support to widen its components supplier base in India.

Apple CEO is learnt to have also discussed manufacturing facilities and app design and development accelerator in Bengaluru with both ministers.
Jammu, April 20 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir's agriculture department will introduce a high resistance and better shelf-life NPS-5 variety of mushrooms for commercial farming in September this year after successful field trials of the cultivation of this variety.

"Our second strain is NPS-5 (a variety of mushrooms). We are making its master culture. The seeds will be distributed to farmers by September this year (for commercial farming in Jammu and Kashmir)," K K Sharma, Director of the Department of Agriculture, told PTI.

He said that the trials were successful. "It is not affected by low water, high water situations and high concentration of carbon dioxide. It possesses non-browning characteristics. It has a better shelf life".

Elaborating on the better shelf-life of mushroom variety, Sharma said the majority of mushrooms in the market turn stale if it is not sold for a day or two.

"However, its (new variety) quality is maintained. Due to its quality, its market value will increase and it will generate more revenue," he added.

The department is working on several fronts for ensuring the growth of the mushroom sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

"When a mushroom gets brown in colour during shelf life, its market value gets depleted and causes losses for farmers and its market. This isn't the case with a new variety," Sharma added.

The new strains, which were added to mushroom cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir, will benefit farmers on a large scale. "Its cap remains intact and doesn't get brown. It will benefit farmers as well as consumers," he said.

After much research, the new strain has been produced by the Directorate of Mushroom Research (ICAR), Solan, Sharma said, adding, "They have provided us with the strains and we have to introduce it to the market in Jammu and Kashmir".

Sharma informed that the temperature and humidity are maintained in laboratories for the production of this mushroom variety. "We are also making 4 types of seeds of milky mushrooms, dingri, button and shiitake, a Japanese mushroom. We have crossed a target of 100 quintals of seed this month."

The cultivation trial was carried out on sawdust of broad leaves in polypropylene bags as per the guidelines of the Directorate of Mushroom Research (ICAR), Solan, he said.
Key Insights

Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, V.S. Industry Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.93

Current share price of RM0.82 suggests V.S. Industry Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value

Analyst price target for VS is RM0.89 which is 4.8% below our fair value estimate

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of V.S. Industry Berhad (KLSE:VS) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for V.S. Industry Berhad

The Model

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM290.9m RM221.9m RM282.2m RM381.7m RM416.0m RM446.6m RM474.4m RM500.1m RM524.5m RM548.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x1 Est @ 8.98% Est @ 7.36% Est @ 6.22% Est @ 5.43% Est @ 4.87% Est @ 4.48% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 14% RM256 RM172 RM193 RM230 RM221 RM209 RM195 RM182 RM168 RM154

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM2.0b

Story continues

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 14%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = RM548m (1 + 3.6%)  (14% 3.6%) = RM5.7b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM5.7b ( 1 + 14%)10= RM1.6b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM3.6b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM0.8, the company appears about fair value at a 12% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

Important Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at V.S. Industry Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 14%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.241. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for V.S. Industry Berhad

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Electronic market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market.

Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Threat

Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows.

Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.

Looking Ahead:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For V.S. Industry Berhad, we've compiled three important items you should further examine:

Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for V.S. Industry Berhad you should know about. Future Earnings: How does VS's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search 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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Mumbai, Apr 20 (PTI) Hollywood star Richard Madden says there is a thing going on with him when it comes to choosing emotionally complex characters and while it may turn out to be mentally taxing, it's the challenge he lives for as an actor.

The Scottish star, who attained global fame with his role of Robb Stark in blockbuster series Game of Thrones, has explored themes like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and anxiety through his roles in BBC series Bodyguard and movie Ibiza, respectively.

In his upcoming Prime Video series Citadel and another Amazon Studios production Killer Heat, the actor deals with the concept of duality.

Does he have an inclination towards such characters?

"This is true I suppose," Madden said.

In 'Citadel', it is the first time that I'm playing two characters within the same piece. Two human beings in one body, essentially. And that's what really drew me to this whole concept. The idea of what character traits exist in you because of genetics or because of how you're born, and what are learned based on your life experiences or childhood trauma that make you be the man you are today and inform your decisions, the actor told PTI in an interview here.

Post "Citadel", Madden said he will start shooting for Amazon Studios film "Killer Heat", opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley.

"It's a really interesting kind of noir thriller mystery. Something very different from me. And actually Im playing twins in that so there is another level of duality. I think there is a thing going on with me.

"Citadel follows elite agents Mason Kane (Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), who had their memories wiped as they narrowly escaped with their lives after independent global spy agency Citadel's fall.

The show sees Mason and Nadia building new lives under new identities, unaware of their pasts. Until one night, Mason is tracked down by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who desperately needs his help to prevent rival agency Manticore from establishing a new world order.

Creating these two different personalities, Madden said, gave him an opportunity to play around with painting these two pictures and seeing how they both emerge day by day.

Finding those nuances, similarities and those parallels... As an actor, I got the opportunity to play opposite versions of the same person It is taxing, but it's what I live for and I love it. With these characters, I suppose the extremes balance each other out, so I get to play both versions.

"It's more difficult when you're playing one character who is in a very negative mind frame, that can get to you after weeks or months of playing that character, he added.

Citadel is produced by Amazon Studios and Joe and Anthony Russos AGBO banner with David Weil attached as showrunner.

Working with Russo Brothers was a freeing experience, said Madden. The actor praised the filmmaker duo for their elaborate vision for the series, which will act as a flagship show that will blend with local shows already under production in Italy and India.

The Russos are obviously known throughout the world. There's something about their vision. This show is not only based in multiple countries within our storyline, but is having these other shows. The one in India that's currently filming and the one in Italy that's already finished filming.

"...Luckily one of the two characters I play, he is in many ways, the eyes of the audience. He's discovering this world as you, the viewer are. I got to enjoy that journey of discovering this world, the 36-year-old actor said.

The show also marks Maddens first collaboration with Indian star Priyanka Chopra Jonas and he said they brought out the best in each other.

I feel very honoured and lucky to have had this time with her and hopefully have more time with her. We work very well together. We are very different actors and that can be a real gift because we bring out the best in each other. We have a great dynamic together, he said.

Apart from being an action-spy thriller series, the actor said Citadel also normalises the idea of diversity in Hollywood productions by incorporating creative minds from different parts of the world.

I love that apart from bringing the diversity into a particular show, we're having these other shows which are pulling in all of the talent from these countries. Everyone is having an opportunity to use their voice. The scale of this show is allowing the nurturing of talent from all these different continents and countries. And that is really exciting to me.

Madden said he has always perceived his profession as a collaboration from every aspect and Citadel fulfills that expectation.

There is a writer who has interpreted a thought and he's written a script, a director who interprets those words and has a vision and then there's an actor who interprets that vision and these words and comes up with his own contribution to it. This show does that. It is kind of creating a whole network of talent that are all going to collaborate and bring out the best in each other, he added.

Madden was on his maiden visit to India earlier this month to promote Citadel along with Chopra Jonas.

Even though he didnt get a chance to explore the country this time, Madden said he would love to come back soon.

I'm thrilled to be here. I'm bummed out that I don't get more time to be here. But it's been great for me just to kind of have my feet on the ground for the first time and explore it, and hopefully I get to come back and spend a little more time here because it's been too quick.

He is also hoping that in future they get a chance to work with the team of the Indian installment of Citadel  Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and director duo Raj & DK.

I would like to come back as soon as possible. Maybe in season two or three, if we are lucky enough to have that, there'll be a crossover, there'll be missions in India and we'll get to interact with the amazing talent that you have in the series here, he said.

Citadel, which recently had its world premiere in London, will start streaming on Prime Video from April 28.
Mumbai, Apr 20 (PTI) Siddharth Roy Kapur's production banner Roy Kapur Films and American studio Wiip on Thursday announced the series adaptation of author William Dalrymple's novel "The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company".

The two companies have hired screenwriter Jeremy Brock, known for his work on movies such "The Last King of Scotland" and "Mrs. Brown", to adapt the book, which charts the rise of the East India Company and how it became the first global corporate power by conquering an entire subcontinent.

Dalrymple will serve as a creative consultant on the project.

"The Anarchy" will be mounted as an international co-production between Wiip and Roy Kapur Films. It will be produced across the US, UK and India, a press release stated.

The book tells the remarkable story of how one of the worlds most magnificent empires, the Mughal empire, disintegrated and came to be replaced by the British East India Company - a dangerously unregulated private company based thousands of miles away in a small London office just five windows wide.

Published in 2019, the book was one of The Wall Street Journals Best Books of the Year.

"We are delighted to announce that we have brought on board the acclaimed BAFTA award winning screenwriter Jeremy Brock, to adapt William Dalrymple's global bestseller 'The Anarchy' into a premium series.

"Jeremys expertise in crafting intricate character-driven narratives that are deeply rooted in history and setting them against a huge canvas, makes him the perfect collaborator for this project. We look forward to creating a globally relevant series together that will appeal to audiences across geographies, languages and cultures," Kapur said.

The series will be executive produced by Wiips Paul Lee, Kapur, and XPat Productions Naz Haider.
Kuala Lumpur, Apr 20 (AP) A Singaporean man is scheduled to be hanged next week for abetting an attempt to smuggle cannabis into the island-state, in a resumption of executions after a half-year pause, activists said on Thursday.

The family of Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was notified in a letter that he would be executed next Wednesday, anti-death penalty activist Kokila Annamalai said.

Tangaraju was detained in 2014 for drug consumption and failure to report for a drug test, according to another activist, Kirsten Han.

He was later linked to two drug traffickers through a phone number used to coordinate the delivery of cannabis.

The High Court found Tangaraju guilty of conspiring to traffic 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cannabis and sentenced him to mandatory death in 2018, Han said.

The last execution carried out in Singapore was in October 2022. Death row prisoners, their family members and abolitionists have been holding our breath for the past six months, terrified of when the killing spree will begin again.

We will fight for Tangaraju till the end, Annamalai said.

Singapore, which has harsh drug laws, executed 11 people last year for drug offences.

The hanging of one particular Malaysian sparked an international outcry because he was believed to be mentally disabled.

It brought the country's capital punishment under deeper scrutiny, with rights groups slamming it as a blatant flouting of international human rights norms.

Both the activists said access to justice for Tangaraju was denied because he was questioned without a lawyer. Tangaraju also never handled the drugs he was accused of conspiring to traffic, they said.

He had to represent himself in his appeal, which was rejected by the top court on February 26 on the grounds that Tangaraju failed to show a miscarriage of justice, they said.

Annamalai said Tangaraju's family is appealing to the public to protest his execution.

"The idea that a man might soon be hanged for abetting an attempt to traffic 1 kilo of cannabis  a plant-based substance that's being decriminalised or legalised in a growing number of jurisdictions  is, in and of itself, outrageous in the most horrifying way, Han said.

Critics say that Singapore's death penalty has mostly snared low-level mules and done little to stop drug traffickers and organized syndicates.

But Singapore's government defends it as necessary to protect its citizens and says all those executed have been accorded full due process under the law.

Han said Singapore's harsh criminalisation would only drive the drug trade underground and block people from accessing health care or harm reduction services that could help address the root causes of their use.

Harsh, uncompromising measures like the death penalty are not proven to have a deterrent effect. Not a single person who uses drugs is helped or supported by a hanging of another, likely from a minoritised or marginalised community. It is especially useless, pointless and heartless when it comes to a case as problematic as Tangaraju's. she added. (AP) FZH
Washington, Apr 20 (PTI) The body of a 30-year-old Indian-American software engineer who went missing on April 9 was recovered from a lake in the US state of Maryland, police said.

Ankit Bagai of German town was found in Lake Churchill by officers who were called to the area after a body was reportedly seen in the water, a Montgomery police statement said on Tuesday.

Bagai was last spotted on April 9 at about 11.30 am when he left a treatment centre near Milestone Plaza after which his family led a search party on Sunday and believed he may have been in Virginia or Washington DC, a News4 report said.

Bagai's family started their search at a local police station, going to several locations, including a shopping centre near where he was last seen and posted his image every few steps, hoping to generate a lead, the report said.

"On the day Bagai went missing, police responded to a report of a man in Lake Churchill. It was searched using sonar, using drag hooks, but they did not find anything.

They were out there for three to four hours," Gobind Singh, Bagais brother-in-law was quoted as saying.

According to family members, Bagai, a graduate of the University of Virginia, was prescribed several life-saving medications.

The cause of death has not been released yet. However, police said they do not suspect foul play, the report added.
Washington, Apr 20 (PTI) A US court in California has dismissed a status conference motion moved by imprisoned Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, who is sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, stating that it anticipates a ruling on his extradition to India within 30 days.

Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of US District Court in Central District of Los Angeles had held the last hearing on this issue in June 2021 and the last set of papers was filed in July 2021. The court is yet to give a verdict on the US government's request to extradite Rana to India.

In a motion moved through his lawyer last month Tahawwur Rana, asked for a status conference  a court-ordered meeting between the prosecution and defence to discuss the case details and a plea bargain.

The last pleading in the case was filed on July 21, 2021. Given the passage of time and Rana's continued incarceration, it appears appropriate for the Court and counsel to discuss the current status of the matter, his lawyer said.

Ranas counsel suggested that the status conference be held on April 25. However, the court in an order on April 17, dismissed the motion.

"To the extent the Motion requests that the Court update the parties as to the status of this matter, it is granted. The parties are advised that the Court anticipates issuing a ruling in this matter within thirty (30) days.

"To the extent the Motion requests that the Court hold a status conference, it is denied because it is the Courts current view that such a proceeding is unnecessary and will not assist the Court in its resolution of this matter, the court order said.

However, in the event there are new/additional developments that the parties believe should be brought to the Courts attention before it rules, counsels are directed to confer and are granted leave to file a joint status report regarding the same within seven (7) days, it said.

During court hearings, federal prosecutors argued that Rana was aware that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley was involved with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and that by assisting Headley and affording him cover for his activities, he was supporting the terrorist organisation and its associates.

Rana knew of Headley's meetings, what was discussed, and the planning of the attacks, including some of the targets.

The US government asserted that Rana was part of the conspiracy and there is probable cause that he committed the substantive crime of commission of a terrorist act.

Ranas attorney on the other hand opposed the extradition.

In the 2008 Mumbai attack, perpetrated by the LeT members, 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.

The federal prosecutors said that because members of the conspiracy committed acts resulting in death with the intention of causing death, or at minimum committed those acts knowing its imminent dangers, there is sufficient evidence that the elements for murder would be satisfied.

"Under Indian law, other members of the conspiracy also would be liable for murder, even if they were not physically present," the court said, adding that it was foreseeable that the attacks will result in several deaths.

Rana knew that Headley was working with terrorists and that LeT and other co-conspirators were planning attacks in Mumbai. He also was aware of the location of some of the potential targets, such as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and its second floor, because he and Headley had discussed those locations.

"Thus, Rana understood that by helping Headley and allowing him to use his immigration office in Mumbai as a cover, LeT and the other terrorists would be able to carry out their attacks. Further, because Headley had a co-conspirator meet Rana in Dubai, UAE, and warn him of the upcoming attacks, Rana was in no doubt of what was going to happen," according to the federal prosecutors.
Washington, Apr 20 (PTI) Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar has asked US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to expand the legal pathways for immigration, including by raising the cap for H-1B visas - the most sought-after by IT professionals from India.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

We must expand legal pathways for immigration, including by raising the cap for H-1B visas, Thanedar told Mayorkas during a Congressional hearing by the House Committee on Homeland Security on the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security.

The H-1B visa allocations are capped at 85,000 visas per year, with 20,000 of those set aside for workers holding advanced degrees from US institutions.

Thanedar, a Democrat, said that the fact is that the US border security challenges are a symptom of the broader failure to overhaul the immigration system of the country. During the hearing, he was the only lawmaker to raise the issue of H-1B before the Homeland Security Secretary.

Thanedar said the Department of Homeland Security has a broad range of missions beyond the border that are critical to securing the homeland that deserves our attention.

For example, we must make sure the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is able to carry out its mission to secure all modes of transportation. For far too long, TSA employees have laboured under unfair working conditions while frontline officers are receiving 30 per cent less pay and inferior labour protection when compared to other federal employees doing similar work, he said.

Republican proposals to address these issues have fallen far short, and have only come in response to more sufficient proposals from Ranking Member Thompson and other Democrats. Thankfully, last year Democrats voted to fund expanded labour rights and pay raises for TSA workers, which will take effect this July, he added.
Melbourne, Apr 20 (AP) Around 20,000 eclipse chasers gathered under a cloudless sky in the northwest Australian coastal town of Exmouth to enjoy a rare total solar eclipse that plunged the region into darkness for about a minute late Thursday morning.

The remote tourist town with fewer than 3,000 residents was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crosses remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.

An international crowd had been gathering at Exmouth for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.

In Indonesia's capital, hundreds came to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse, obscured by clouds.

Azka Azzahra, 21, came with her sister and friends to get a closer look by using the telescopes with hundreds of other visitors.

I am still happy to come even though it is cloudy. It is happy to see how people with high enthusiasm come here to see the eclipse, because it is rare, Azzahra said.

The call to prayer resounded from the city's mosques when the eclipse phase began as Muslims said eclipse prayers as a reminder of God's greatness.

NASA astronomer Henry Throop was among those at Exmouth loudly cheering the eclipse in the darkness.

Isn't it incredible? This is so fantastic. It was mind-blowing. It was so sharp and it was so bright. You could see the corona around the sun there, the visibly excited Washington resident told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

It's only a minute long, but it really felt like a long time. There's nothing else you can see which looks like that. It was just awesome. Spectacular. And then you could see Jupiter and Mercury and to be able to see those at the same time during the day  even seeing Mercury at all is pretty rare. So that was just awesome, Throop added.

The hybrid solar eclipse tracked from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and was mostly over water.

The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon.

Such celestial events happen about once every decade: The last one was in 2013 and the next one isn't until 2031.

They occur when Earth is in the sweet spot so the new moon and the sun are almost the exact same size in the sky, said NASA solar expert Michael Kirk.

At some points, the moon is a little closer and blocks out the sun in a total eclipse. But when the moon is a little farther away, it lets some of the sun's light peek out in an annular eclipse.

It's a crazy phenomenon, Kirk said. You're actually watching the moon get larger in the sky.

Several other upcoming solar eclipses will be easier to catch. An annular eclipse in mid-October and a total eclipse next April will both cross over millions of people in the Americas. (AP) FZH
* Status conference motion by Tahawwur Rana dismissed; court order on extradition case in 30 days.



EAM S Jaishankar in New York.



US committed to advancing economic growth with India: White House.



Stampede in Yemen's capital kills at least 78, officials say.



India, US facing same security challenge from China, says US Indo Pacom Commander.



Cuba's parliament ratifies President Miguel Diaz-Canel for new term.



Stories related to political and economic situation in Pakistan. *
London, Apr 19 (PTI) An Indian national with addresses in the UK and Belgium has been arrested in London by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant from the US, it emerged as part of a UK-US coordinated action targeting terrorism financing.

Sundar Nagarajan, also known as Nagarajan Sundar Poongulam Kasiviswanathan Naga and Sundar Poongulam K. Nagarajan Nagarajan, was arrested by the Metropolitan Polices National Extradition Unit from an address at Hayes in west London on Tuesday. After being refused bail, the 65-year-old Madurai-born Nagarajan is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in London next week wanted by the US authorities for fraud and money laundering offences. His arrest followed action by the Mets Counter Terrorism Command to arrest a 50-year-old man in Wales on suspicion of funding terrorism.

The ongoing investigation and arrest by the NTFIU (National Terrorist Financing Investigation Unit) relates to suspected terrorist financing and money laundering, which is believed to be connected to wealthy art collector and diamond dealer, Nazem Ahmad, the Met Police said.

Ahmad is suspected of being a funding source for Hizballah, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and US. Sanctions against Ahmad were also announced this week by the UK government alongside the US government sanctions against Ahmad and a number of his suspected associates, including Nagarajan.

Terrorist groups rely on financial support and funding for their activities and the NTFIU works closely with agencies in the UK and around the world to identify and take action against those people who provide and facilitate this funding, said Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Rees, of the Mets Counter Terrorism Command.

With our international partners, we will never give up on our mission to disrupt terrorist activity, both in the UK and abroad, in order to keep the public safe, he said, adding that the arrests were the result of ongoing work and cooperation with American counterparts as a key milestone in what is a complex investigation into terrorist financing.

The Met Police said that searches at two commercial addresses, both in east London, were carried out by officers this week in connection with the investigation. The NTFIU comprises of specialist financial investigators who investigate suspicious financial activity where they believe it may have links to terrorism.

Its action in the case coincided with the US Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of New York unsealing a nine-count indictment. It is alleged that Nazem Ahmad was involved in real estate development, the international trade of diamonds, and the international acquisition and sale of artwork, and operated these enterprises through a complex web of business entities. Ahmad, a Lebanese resident and dual Belgian-Lebanese citizen, was sanctioned by the US for being a financier for Hizballah.

Nagarajan is named among his associates who used numerous corporate entities and individuals to disguise Ahmads control and beneficial interest in the companies and in financial transactions, and facilitate the acquisition of multiple pieces of valuable artwork and diamond-grading services for millions of dollars worth of diamonds from US persons, according to the US authorities.
Islamabad, Apr 20 (PTI) Pakistan announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India, she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in-person.

She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot.

Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

It would be the highest level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after Indias warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistans Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmirs special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
Key Insights

Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group's estimated fair value is S$0.52 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of S$0.58 suggests Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group is potentially trading close to its fair value

Industry average of 505% suggests Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group's peers are currently trading at a higher premium to fair value

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group Ltd. (SGX:5SR) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

Check out our latest analysis for Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group

Crunching The Numbers

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF (CN, Millions) CN62.9m CN55.6m CN51.4m CN48.9m CN47.6m CN47.0m CN46.8m CN47.0m CN47.3m CN47.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -17.48% Est @ -11.65% Est @ -7.58% Est @ -4.73% Est @ -2.73% Est @ -1.33% Est @ -0.35% Est @ 0.33% Est @ 0.81% Est @ 1.15% Present Value (CN, Millions) Discounted @ 11% CN56.9 CN45.5 CN38.1 CN32.8 CN28.9 CN25.8 CN23.3 CN21.1 CN19.3 CN17.6

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CN309m

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.9%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 11%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = CN48m (1 + 1.9%)  (11% 1.9%) = CN569m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= CN569m ( 1 + 11%)10= CN210m

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is CN519m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of S$0.6, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

The Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 11%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.443. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group

Strength

Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Weakness

Current share price is above our estimate of fair value.

Opportunity

Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows.

Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine 5SR's earnings prospects.

Threat

No apparent threats visible for 5SR.

Next Steps:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group, we've compiled three additional items you should further examine:

Risks: For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group (2 make us uncomfortable) you should be aware of. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! Other Top Analyst Picks: Interested to see what the analysts are thinking? Take a look at our interactive list of analysts' top stock picks to find out what they feel might have an attractive future outlook!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Singaporean stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search 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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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
Kyiv, Apr 20 (AP) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Ukraine for the first time since last year's invasion by Russia, an alliance official said on Thursday.

The NATO Secretary General is in Ukraine. We will release more information as soon as possible, said an alliance official, who asked not to be identified in line with NATO procedures.

Stoltenberg had been to Kyiv before the war, but this is his first visit during the hostilities and underscores the longstanding commitments of the alliance in defence of Ukraine's independence. (AP) FZH
Jakarta, Apr 20 (AP) Under a cloudless sky, 20,000 eclipse chasers crowded a tiny outpost to watch a rare solar eclipse plunge part of Australia's northwest coast into brief midday darkness Thursday while temporarily cooling the tropical heat.

The remote tourist town of Exmouth, with fewer than 3,000 residents, was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crossed remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.

An international crowd had been gathering for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.

NASA astronomer Henry Throop was among those at Exmouth cheering loudly in the darkness.

Isn't it incredible? This is so fantastic. It was mind-blowing. It was so sharp and it was so bright. You could see the corona around the sun there, the visibly excited Washington resident said.

It's only a minute long, but it really felt like a long time. There's nothing else you can see which looks like that. It was just awesome. Spectacular. And then you could see Jupiter and Mercury and to be able to see those at the same time during the day  even seeing Mercury at all is pretty rare. So that was just awesome, Throop added.

First-time eclipse chaser Julie Copson, who traveled more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) north from the Australian west-coast port city of Fremantle to Exmouth, said the phenomenon left her skin tingling.

I feel so emotional, like I could cry. The colour changed and seeing the corona and sun flares , Copson said.

It was very strong and the temperature dropped so much, she added, referring to a sudden 5-degree-Celsius (9-degree-Fahrenheit) fall in temperature from 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) when the moon's shadow enveloped the region.

It was the fifth eclipse for Detroit resident Shane Varrti, who began planning his trip to Exmouth a year ago.

It's very exciting. All this effort has come to fruition, Varrti said.

In Indonesia's capital, hundreds came to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse that was obscured by clouds.

Azka Azzahra, 21, came with her sister and friends to get a closer look by using the telescopes with hundreds of other visitors.

I am still happy to come even though it is cloudy. It is happy to see how people with high enthusiasm come here to see the eclipse, because it is rare, Azzahra said.

The call to prayer resounded from the city's mosques when the eclipse phase began as Muslims in the country with the world's largest Muslim population said eclipse prayers as a reminder of God's greatness.

In East Timor, people gathered around the beach in Lautem municipality, waiting to witness the rare solar eclipse through their eclipse glasses.

Some of them came from other countries and gathered with locals to have a clear view of the eclipse.

Timor Leste is one of the unique countries where the experience is less humid, less cloudy, so we are expecting a clear sky, that's why many international astronomers wish to converge here. We are hoping that there is going to be a clear sky, Zahri Bin Ahmad, astrophile from the South East Asia Astronomy Network of Brunei said as they waited Thursday.

People cheered as the sun and moon reached maximum eclipse.

This is a very new natural phenomenon for Timor Leste. It is very important for us to be able to watch and experience it firsthand, said Martinho Fatima, a civil protection authority officer.

The hybrid solar eclipse tracked from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and was mostly over water.

The lucky few people in its path either saw the darkness of a total eclipse or a ring of fire as the sun peeked from behind the new moon.

Such celestial events happen about once every decade: The last one was in 2013 and the next one isn't until 2031.

They occur when Earth is in the sweet spot so the moon and the sun are almost the exact same size in the sky, said NASA solar expert Michael Kirk.

At some points, the moon is a little closer and blocks out the sun in a total eclipse. But when the moon is a little farther away, it lets some of the sun's light peek out in an annular eclipse.

It's a crazy phenomenon, Kirk said. You're actually watching the moon get larger in the sky.

Several other upcoming solar eclipses will be easier to catch. An annular eclipse in mid-October and a total eclipse in April 2024 will both cross over millions of people in the Americas. (AP) FZH
Islamabad, Apr 20 (PTI) Pakistan on Thursday announced that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would travel to India next month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, a development that could provide an opportunity to break the ice between the two neighbours.

"Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India," Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced at a weekly media briefing here, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in person amidst major differences between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

She said the foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot.

"Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.

It would be the highest-level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after Indias warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistans Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmirs special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

Then Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India in 2011. In May 2014, then-Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis swearing-in ceremony.

In December 2015, then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan and days later, Modi made a brief visit to the neighbouring country.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
London, Apr 20 (PTI) UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman remains defiant amid accusations of being racist after she said that an overwhelming majority of sexual grooming gang members in parts of England were British Pakistani men, reiterating that the truth cannot be classed as racist.

In an article for The Spectator magazine this week, the Indian-origin Cabinet minister stressed that it was necessary to acknowledge the role that ethnicity played in covering up the grooming gangs scandal.

Targeting the Opposition Labour Party, Braverman said unfashionable facts such as the ethnicity of those behind such scandals in parts of England were being countered by fashionable fictions.

If we are to address the injustice of the grooming gangs scandal, we must be willing to acknowledge the role that ethnicity played in covering it up, Braverman writes in the article entitled The truth cant be racist.

To say that the overwhelming majority of perpetrators in towns such as Rotherham, Telford, and Rochdale were British Pakistani and that their victims were white girls is not to say that most British Pakistanis are perpetrators of sexual abuse. The former is a truth, one that made authorities reluctant to confront the issue. The latter is a lie, the speaking of which would be a disgraceful prejudice, she writes.

She lamented the politicians lot as she admitted that her motives for making the statement will be questioned, but hit back at those casually accusing her of racism for speaking plain truths.

There is something peculiar about this political moment, where those of us advancing unfashionable facts are beaten over the head with fashionable fictions. I suppose the ethnicity of grooming gang perpetrators in a string of cases is the sort of fact that has simply become unfashionable in some quarters. Like the fact that 100 per cent of women do not have a penis, she notes, alluding to another emotive debate around transgender access to female spaces.

Her intervention comes in the wake of strong objections from within the British Pakistani community, including claims that it has led many to distance themselves from the governing Conservatives since Bravermans comments earlier this month for the launch of the governments new Grooming Gangs Taskforce.

Last week, the British Pakistani Foundation (BPF), which claims to represent 18,000 Pakistani heritage members, wrote to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ask his cabinet minister to withdraw her irresponsible words as it would be perceived as normalising bigotry against the community.

Similar letters were also issued by other British Pakistani groups, with Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi warning that she feared a backlash against British Muslims due to the remarks.

In a series of television interviews earlier this month, Braverman said that the perpetrators of sexual crimes via grooming gangs are "groups of men, almost all British Pakistani".

Led by the police and supported by the UKs National Crime Agency (NCA), Downing Street says that data analysts will work alongside the governments new Grooming Gangs Taskforce using cutting-edge data and intelligence to identify the types of criminals who carry out these offences, including police recorded ethnicity data.
Islamabad, Apr 20 (PTI) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Thursday that his party was trying to build consensus among the country's political leadership on holding elections, but asserted that any dialogue would be futile if it is carried out "with a gun to your head".

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman's remarks came as the country's Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial requested political leaders to hold negotiations earlier in the day after the Supreme Court resumed hearing a petition seeking to hold general elections for all national and provincial assemblies simultaneously.

Justice Bandial said that there could be no obstinacy in negotiations and that consensus could be built through bilateral talks, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

He asked the political leaders to meet and negotiate on Thursday rather than after Eid. During the hearing, he said the elections could be held in July after Eid.

Despite Justice Bandial's request, no dialogue was held between the highly-polarised political parties.

Later, the hearing was adjourned till April 27 after Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan and PPP lawyer Farooq H Naek met Justice Bandial in his chamber and sought more time to hold dialogue with the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by ousted prime minister Imran Khan to evolve consensus on the matter, the report said.

"We have made attempts in the past to unify the political leadership [on elections] and are willing to do that again, but dialogue cannot take place with a gun to your head as no one will agree," Bilawal, 34, said.

He said the PPP supports holding elections on the same day and is prepared to talk to anyone to achieve this goal.

"Our efforts are aimed at saving democracy, which is currently in danger," he said.

Bilawal hoped that the CJP would establish consensus within his institution before leaving his post.

"Our history has never witnessed such fragmentation within the judiciary. The Supreme Court is currently undergoing a trial before the people," he said.

Pakistan is currently in the grip of political and economic instability, compounded by the bitter tension between the judiciary and executive over the date of elections in the Punjab province.

Parliament and the judiciary are divided over the holding of elections in the two provinces as the former has refused to authorise the funds to meet the expenditures.

The deadlock has increased political instability and with the economy already in freefall, the threat of default of the country has increased.

The federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asserts that it has the power to delay the polls and hold them after August.

However, Khan's PTI party was pushing for early polls and demanding that instead of delaying the Punjab elections, the National Assembly should be dissolved and general elections called in the country.
Mumbai, Apr 19 (PTI) Industrialist Gautam Adani met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the latters residence in Mumbai on Thursday, party sources said.



The meeting follows Pawars recent statement that he is not opposed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the charges made by Hindenburg Research against the Adani group, but a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.



Hindenburg has alleged stock manipulation and accounting fraud in firms belonging to billionaire Adani.
Jagdalpur, Apr 20 (PTI) A bride, her groom and their 10 relatives suffered from burn injuries after an unidentified person allegedly threw an "acid-like" substance on them during the wedding function in a village in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening in Chhote Amabal village under Bhanpur police station limits when the wedding ceremony was underway, an official said.

Groom Damrudhar Baghel (25), bride Sunita Kahsyap (19) and 10 others received minor burns, he said.

As per preliminary information, during the marriage at the bride's house, the power supply went off and someone taking advantage of the darkness allegedly threw an "acid-like" substance on the bride and the groom who were sitting in the 'mandap', causing them a burning sensation, the official said.

The family members who were sitting around them also came in contact with the liquid, he said.

Narayanpur Congress MLA Chandan Kashyap, who was also there to attend the wedding, shifted the injured persons to Bhanpuri hospital in a vehicle of his convoy.

Out of the 12 injured persons, the bride, groom and two others were shifted to a hospital in Jagdalpur for further treatment, the police official said.

Baghel was discharged on Thursday morning, he said, adding the condition of others was reported to be stable.

The police have lodged a case against the identified culprit and launched a probe into the incident.
Panagarh (WB), Apr 20 (PTI) A 12-day joint exercise of the air forces of India and the US is being held at Air Force Station Arjan Singh here, an official said.

The IAF has employed three C130J and one C-17 transport aircraft, while the USAF has also brought four planes of similar configuration, he said.

A US special forces team that participated in the joint exercise from April 10, left on April 16 in one of their C103J aircraft, the official said.

The exercise started with several familiarisation sorties for the USAF air crew, which was followed by a specialised training of low cost low altitude air drop for the C130J air crew of IAF.

Combat free fall and night vision goggles assisted assault landing of the two forces were carried out at Rampurhat in neighbouring Birbhum district, the official said.

On April 17 and 18, large force engagement exercise was held at Kalaikunda Air Force Station in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district with fighter aircraft of the IAF and USAF, the official said.

A long range equipment airdrop was also carried out at a drop zone in Agra during the joint exercise, which is scheduled to conclude on April 21, he said.

This is the 20th edition of Cope India, in which the USAF and the IAF have been holding joint exercises since 2004, the official added.
Imphal, Apr 20 (PTI) Manipur BJP MLA Paonam Brojen on Thursday tendered his resignation from the chairmanship of Manipur Development Society on "personal grounds."

Brojen is the third party legislator from the northeastern state to have resigned from their respective administrative posts of the Manipur government within a fortnight. All three MLAs are currently in Delhi reportedly to meet the party's central leadership and voice their grievances.

Their moves created speculation that dissension was brewing in the Biren Singh-led BJP government.

"I tender my resignation from the post of Chairman of Manipur Development Society Imphal on personal grounds. This may be kindly accepted, Brojen said in a letter to Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Earlier, BJP MLA Karam Shyam resigned on Monday from the chairmanship of Tourism Corporation Manipur Limited complaining that he had "not been assigned any responsibility".

On April 8, another party legislator Thokchom Radheshyaam quit as the advisor to the chief minister citing a similar grievance.

The fourth MLA, Khwairakpam Raghumani, has filed a complaint with the Manipur police against the BJP state Minority Morcha president for "threatening" him through a Facebook post.
NEW YORK, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Market by Product, Application, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2023-2027" report has been added to Technavio's offerings. The CCTV market size is estimated to grow by USD 12,643.33 million during 2022-2027 at a CAGR of 11.92%. APAC will account for 47% of the market growth during the forecast period. The rising investments in infrastructure for airports, shopping malls, and retail stores are increasing the demand for CCTV cameras in the region. Rapid urbanization and a growing emphasis on smart city initiatives will drive market growth in APAC. Moreover, vendors in the market are entering into strategic alliances with other market players, such as technology providers and chip makers, to create cutting-edge products. These factors will drive market growth during the forecast period. For comprehensive details on the market size of the historic period (2017 to 2021) and forecast period (2023-2027) - View the sample PDF report.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global CCTV Market 2023-2027

Vendor Landscape

The CCTV market is fragmented, and vendors compete on the basis of numerous factors such as price, differentiation in quality, regulatory compliance, innovation, service, technology, and R&D. The rising security initiatives by governments, such as face recognition technology and IP-based CCTV cameras that can support innovative technology, will help vendors survive in the market and build an edge over their competitors. Therefore, to survive and succeed in this competitive environment, vendors should distinguish their products and service offerings through clear and unique value propositions.

Market dynamics

Major drivers & challenges 

The increasing government security initiatives are driving market growth. Due to an increase in criminal activity, including theft, fraud, and illegal possession of firearms, governments are tightening security measures. They have launched initiatives for the installation of CCTV cameras in various cities. For instance, in 2021, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority installed CCTV security cameras in 472 subway stations in New York City. Hence, the increase in criminal activities such as thefts, fraud, and illegal possession of firearms will help improve security measures, which, in turn, is expected to boost the CCTV market during the forecast period.

Story continues

Cyber security risks are challenging market growth. Businesses can face major losses due to malware attacks such as ransomware, spyware, rootkits, trojans, worms, and viruses. Hence, they must secure their systems to prevent cyberattacks. IP-based and wireless CCTV cameras are being increasingly targeted by cybercriminals. Hence, cyberattacks on internet-connected CCTV cameras are expected to hinder the CCTV market growth during the forecast period.

Key trends 

The incorporation of video analytics in IP-based CCTV cameras is a key trend in the market. Video analytics is used for locating and examining data that has been recorded in the form of video. CCTV cameras can be used in various locations, including government buildings, prisons, border patrol, ships, and traffic monitoring. IP-based CCTV cameras can digitally record and analyze information regarding crimes such as theft. Hence, such factors are expected to fuel the growth of the global closed circuit television market during the forecast period.

Technavio has identified key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market, which will

help clients improve their strategies for better growth prospects. - View sample report

Company Profiles

The CCTV market report includes information on the product launches, sustainability, and prospects of leading vendors, including ADT INC., Axis Communications AB, Cisco Systems Inc., CP PLUS International, DW, GeoVision Inc., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd., Hanwha Techwin, Honeywell International Inc., IDIS Ltd., Lenovo Group Ltd., LG Corp., MOBOTIX AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Sony Group Corp., Teledyne FLIR LLC, UNIX CCTV Corp., Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Uniview Technologies Co. Ltd., and Panasonic Holdings Corp.

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billed annually at USD 5000

Competitive Analysis

The report includes competitive analysis, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their industry position score and market performance score. The competitive scenario categorizes companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, among others.

Market Segmentation

By product, the market is classified into dome camera, PTX camera, bullet camera, and BOX camera).

By application, the market is classified into public, commercial, and residential)

By geography, the market is classified into APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America.

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CCTV Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 11.92% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 126,43.33 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 10.77 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 47% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading vendors, market positioning of vendors, competitive strategies, and industry risks Key companies profiled ADT INC., Axis Communications AB, Cisco Systems Inc., CP PLUS International, DW, GeoVision Inc., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd., Hanwha Techwin, Honeywell International Inc., IDIS Ltd., Lenovo Group Ltd., LG Corp., MOBOTIX AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Sony Group Corp., Teledyne FLIR LLC, UNIX CCTV Corp., Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Uniview Technologies Co. Ltd., and Panasonic Holdings Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table of contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global CCTV market 2017 - 2021

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

4.3 Application Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

5.4 Threat of new entrants

5.5 Threat of substitutes

5.6 Threat of rivalry

5.7 Market condition

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

6.2 Comparison by Product

6.3 Dome camera - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

6.4 PTZ camera - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

6.5 Bullet camera - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

6.6 Box camera - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

6.7 Market opportunity by Product

7 Market Segmentation by Application

7.1 Market segments

7.2 Comparison by Application

7.3 Public - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

7.4 Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

7.5 Residential - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

7.6 Market opportunity by Application

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

9.2 Geographic comparison

9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.8 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.9 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.12 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

11.3 Landscape disruption

11.4 Industry risks

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

12.3 Axis Communications AB

12.4 CP PLUS International

12.5 GeoVision Inc.

12.6 Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd.

12.7 Hanwha Techwin

12.8 Honeywell International Inc.

12.9 IDIS Ltd.

12.10 Lenovo Group Ltd.

12.11 LG Corp.

12.12 MOBOTIX AG

12.13 Panasonic Holdings Corp.

12.14 Robert Bosch GmbH

12.15 Sony Group Corp.

12.16 Teledyne FLIR LLC

12.17 Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd.

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

13.5 List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Global CCTV Market 2023-2027

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Kolkata, Apr 20 (PTI) Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said losing the national party status won't halt its expansion plans outside West Bengal.

Banerjee, who reiterated the TMC's stand of mulling legal options, wondered whether the national party status was revoked as it was vocal against the "misrule" of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The Election Commission withdrew the national party tag of the TMC, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) last week.

"We are mulling legal options regarding the decision of the Election Commission. But what is absurd is that a party like CPI(M), which has just eight MPs in Parliament, including three in Lok Sabha, is a national party, and the TMC, which has 23 Lok Sabha MPs and 12 Rajya Sabha MPs, is not a national party," he said while addressing a press conference here.

According to the EC order, the Aam Aadmi Party was recognised as a national party.

The country now has six national parties  BJP, Congress, BSP, CPI (M), NPP and AAP.

"In Meghalaya, we got around 14 per cent votes and five seats. The BJP, which has been there for several years, got just two seats and around nine per cent votes. So should they also give up national party status? Our party was most vocal against the misrule of the BJP at the Centre, and maybe, that is why the status has been revoked," Banerjee, the TMC's national general secretary, said.

When asked whether the EC's decision to withdraw the national party tag would hamper the TMC's expansion plans, Banerjee said, "It won't have any impact (on our expansion plans)".

On Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said that her party's name would remain the 'All India Trinamool Congress'.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said he has written to the Election Commission to take cognisance of the matter that the Trinamool Congress is still using "All India" with its name.

"It is tough for the TMC to digest that they are no longer a national party. I have written to the Election Commission to take cognisance of the matter that the Trinamool is still using All India with its name," he said.
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law after a Gujarat court rejected Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case.

A court in Gujarat's Surat city rejected Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in the case over his "Modi surname" remark.

"We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law. Dr A M Singhvi will brief the media on Rahul Gandhi's appeal at 4 pm," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.

The court of additional sessions judge R P Mogera rejected Gandhi's application for a relief pending his appeal against a lower court's order sentencing him to two years in jail in the case.

Gandhi had on April 3 approached the sessions court for appeal against the lower court's order.

A stay on conviction by the sessions court could have paved the way for Gandhi's reinstatement as Member of Parliament.

Gandhi had approached the sessions court for appeal after the lower court sentenced him to two years in jail while convicting him for criminal defamation over his remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.
Chandigarh, Apr 20 (PTI) Radical preacher Amritpal Singh has managed to remain elusive even a month after the Punjab police launched a crackdown following the storming of the Ajnala police station by his supporters to secure the release of an arrested associate.

His wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at the Amritsar airport by immigration officials on Thursday while she was trying to board a flight to London. Amritpal tied the knot with UK-based Kaur in February this year.

The crackdown against Amritpal began on March 18 and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab De.'

He however, escaped the police dragnet twice -- first on March 18 in Jalandhar district by switching vehicles and then again on March 28 in Hoshiarpur when he returned to Punjab along with his key associate Papalpreet Singh.

Papalpreet, who is considered to be Amritpal's mentor and who has allegedly been in contact with Pakistan's ISI, has been arrested.

Several cases have been lodged against the Khalistan sympathizer and his associates for allegedly spreading disharmony, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and obstructing the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.

Despite being sighted in several CCTV footage and photos with changed appearances at many places, including Patiala, Kurukshetra and Delhi, the radical preacher continued to hoodwink the police.

While on the run, two videos and one audio clip of Amritpal surfaced on social media. In one of his two videos, which surfaced on March 30, Amritpal asserted that he was not a fugitive and would soon appear.

The pro-Khalistan preacher had claimed that he was not like those who would flee the country.

There were rumours that Amritpal might surrender on Baisakhi at Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda, but that did not happen.

Tight security arrangements during the Baisakhi festival at Talwandi Sabo, however, earned the wrath of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh who accused the Punjab government of trying to create panic. Police claimed that security was deployed for the convenience and safety of devotees.

The Jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, had even asked the fugitive preacher to surrender before the police and cooperate with the investigation. The appeal, however, fell on deaf ears.

Police continued to search his probable hideouts, the latest being in Haryana's Sirsa a few days ago. Earlier, searches were also conducted in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Recently, Punjab Police pasted posters of Amritpal at railway stations in Batala and Amritsar, announcing that an appropriate reward will be given to anyone who provides credible information about his whereabouts.

On April 15, police managed to nab Amritpal's close aide Joga Singh from Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib. According to them, Joga Singh was in direct contact with Amritpal and had even arranged a shelter and vehicles for him in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit.

It was Joga Singh who brought Amritpal and his aide Papalpreet back to Punjab on March 28.

Nine of Amritpal's aides -- Daljit Singh Kalsi, Papalpreet Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Varinder Singh Johal, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Harjit Singh, Bhagwant Singh, Basant Singh and Gurinderpal Singh Aujla -- have been lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam and charged under the stringent National Security Act.

Ahead of the Baisakhi festival, Punjab police chief Gaurav Yadav had said that those wanted by the law should submit to the process of law.

Amid reports that Amritpal might have taken shelter at a religious place, the top police officer had said that religious places should not be misused.

The 29-year-old Amritpal Singh was last year anointed the head of 'Waris Punjab De', the organisation founded by actor and activist Deep Sidhu in February last year.
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has alleged that industrialist Gautam Adani tried to "get to me" and some other people through his "wheeler dealers" and criticised NCP leader Sharad Pawar for meeting the Gujarat-based businessman.

No politician should engage with Adani till government takes on charges levelled against him, she said.

Without taking Pawar's name, Moitra said she hoped the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar puts the country first and not his old relationships.

"Adani tried utmost to get to me & few others through his friends/ wheeler dealers. He couldn't even find the door, let alone get past it. I have nothing to discuss on 1:1 basis with Adani. I firmly believe till govt takes action no politician should engage with this man," she said in a tweet.

Moitra, who has been one of the the harshest critics of the Adani group, also tweaked a Hindi idiom to sharpen her attack -- "Adani hamaam mein to saare hi nange hai", which roughly means everyone being in the same boat as far as Adani is concerned.

"I have no fear in taking on Great Marathas. Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships.

"And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest," she said.

Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday morning at the politician's residence, Silver Oak, in South Mumbai.
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) The condition of Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel, who is undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, is stable, Nepalese ambassador Shankar P Sharma said on Thursday.

Paudel, 78, was airlifted to New Delhi from Kathmandu on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to a local hospital following shortness of breath.

"President Shri Ramchandra Paudel has been admitted to AIIMS for treatment. His health condition is stable. I wish the Honorable President a speedy recovery," Nepalese ambassador Shankar P Sharma said.

When asked about Paudel's condition, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi only said the Nepalese President is currently receiving medical care at a hospital in New Delhi.

"We wish him speedy recovery. Due to reasons of privacy, I would not be able to share any further information on this," he said.

Paudel was elected as the new president of Nepal last month.
Jaipur, Apr 20 (PTI) The Rajasthan Police has busted a gang involved in stealing high-quality, imported coal during transportation from the Gujarat port to northern states via Rajasthan, officials said on Thursday.

According to the crime branch of the state police, coal imported from the US and Russia worth around Rs 10 crore was being stolen every day from trucks transporting to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Thirteen teams of the crime branch conducted raids at around a dozen places in five districts of Jalore, Pali, Barmer, Bikaner and Jodhpur and detained 19 people, including drivers and cleaners of the trucks on Wednesday night.

The teams also seized trucks, tractors, machines, and 1,850 tons of stolen coal, they said.

The action was taken on the direction of Additional Director General of Police (crime) Dinesh MN and was monitored by Deputy Inspector General of Police Rahul Prakash.

Around 500 trucks transport high-quality coal imported from the US and Russia from Gujarat port to different states via Rajasthan daily. One truck carries coal worth Rs 10 lakh and the accused were stealing 20 per cent coal worth Rs 2 lakh from each truck, ADG Dinesh MN said.

He said to maintain weight, the stolen coal was replaced with poor-quality coal and the trucks were diverted to illegal coal depots where the mixing was done.

The officer said the owners of transportation companies had met him and shared the information about the theft following which, a recce was done and action was taken.

"We have detained a few persons, including drivers and cleaners, and they are being questioned," he said.
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Jawaharlal Nehru University students on Thursday staged a protest over water shortage in several hostels, alleging that they were being denied a basic necessity amid rising temperatures in Delhi.

The protesting students who gathered outside the Dean of Students' office claimed that irregular supply and small-capacity tanks installed in the hostels have worsened the water shortage on the campus.

There was, however, no immediate reaction available from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration.

"The persistent water shortage in this scorching heat is affecting all of us. Many students are falling sick due to a continued lack of water in the hostels.

"We often have to go out in search of drinking water in the middle of the night. The administration needs to solve the problem as soon as possible," said Madhurima Kundu, who is pursuing her MPhil.

The agitating students also raised slogans and held up posters to press for their demands.

"All the hostel presidents, accompanied by the residents, protested against the water shortage on the campus. It is shameful that the JNU admin is least bothered about students being dehydrated and dealing with the water shortage. We are being denied a basic living necessity," said research scholar Swati Singh.

"Water cuts are frequent at almost all hostels. There are no fixed timings for the water supply and the tanks are small. Even drinking water runs out frequently," she added.
Jaipur, Apr 20 (PTI) Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Thursday met the family of Ramprasad Meena, who allegedly killed himself after accusing Rajasthan Cabinet minister Mahesh Joshi and others of creating a lot of trouble for him in connection with a land dispute in Jaipur.

Before ending his life on Monday, Meena recorded a video alleging Joshi and a few other people had caused problems to him because of which he was forced to kill himself.

Joshi, also a local MLA, has denied the allegation and said police should conduct a fair probe.

Police have registered a case of abetment to suicide against Joshi and others based on a complaint by Meena's brother. His family members, however, have sat on a dharna at Subhash Chowk, demanding action against the accused and refused to take his body.

Subhash Chowk police station SHO Ramphool said the body has been kept in a freezer.

"The body could not be shifted to mortuary for a postmortem examination," he said.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena has already joined the family in their dharna, demanding the arrest of Joshi and others.

On Thursday, Pilot reached the dharna site in Chandi ki Taksal and met the family members.

Former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal accompanied Pilot.

Last week, Pilot held a day-long fast in Jaipur against his own Congress government, alleging inaction by it in cases of alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje government.

He has also skipped two programmes organised by the party in Jaipur.
New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) A 28-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his cousin following an argument over petty issues in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri area, police said Thursday.

The accused, Mohd Naushad, is a vagabond, they said.

The body of a 35-year-old man was found lying in a sack on a footpath behind a government school in Trilokpuri in the early hours of Wednesday. He was later identified as Imran, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Amrutha Guguloth said when the CCTV camera of the nearby government school was scanned, some suspicious movement of a vehicle came to notice.

CCTV cameras in Trilokpuri area were also checked and a white van was found moving suspiciously in 15 Block Trilokpuri chowk at around 12 am on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

The van was seen entering the gate of the victim's colony, she said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that a quarrel took place on Tuesday night between Imran and his maternal cousin Naushad over petty issues. Naushad and Makruddin allegedly chocked Imran to death. The accused stuffed the victim's body in a sack and disposed it off with the help of van driver Gaurav, she added.

Raid was conducted at Kamalpur, Majra Burari and Ghaziabad from where Naushad tried to flee, but was nabbed by a police team after a brief chase, the DCP said.

Further efforts are being made for tracing the remaining accused, police said, adding the case is under investigation.
Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 20 (PTI) The Congress in Kerala on Thursday said it would be organising a massive conference to counter the BJP's outreach programmes, targeting the youth and religious minorities in the State, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and MP K Sudhakaran said that the party's conference, to be attended by Rahul Gandhi, would be held in May and it can be seen as a reply to the PM's visit and the alleged anti-youth and anti-farmer stand of the BJP-ruled Centre.

Modi is scheduled to attend several programmes, including Yuvam 2023 in Kochi on April 24, during his two-day visit to Kerala.

According to BJP's Kerala state president K Surendran, Yuvam would be a game changer in Kerala politics. It is a coming together of the youth for the development of the State and is beyond any party politics, he said in a social media post.

He said that it was an indication of the enthusiasm of the youth for accepting Modi and that is why both the left and right fronts were disturbed by it.

Surendran said the questions that would be raised in Yuvam 2023 would deal with the huge unemployment and alleged collapse of the higher education sector.

Sudhakaran, speaking to reporters after a political affairs committee meeting of the party, said that the KPCC would also be launching a campaign to reveal before the public the "real face" of the BJP, RSS and the Sangh Parivar.

As part of the campaign, the alleged attacks by the RSS, Sangh Parivar and BJP on the minority religious groups and communities would be "exposed" before everyone. The large-scale campaign would be kicked off in a couple of months after all the required material for it is gathered by a committee constituted for the purpose, the KPCC chief said.

Sudhakaran also contended that the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and the BJP were working together against the Congress and have the same stand on various important issues, including the issue of unemployment among the youth who, he claimed, were leaving the country in droves in search of jobs abroad.

He alleged that the CPI(M)-BJP alliance was evident from the fact that no central probe agency has questioned Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan yet, despite the various allegations against him, and even the SNC-Lavalin graft case in the Supreme Court is being adjourned repeatedly.

However, various other leaders, including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, of parties opposing the BJP are being targeted by central agencies, the KPCC chief alleged.

Vijayan is facing allegations of corruption in connection with awarding a contract to Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin when he was the power minister in 1996 and causing a loss to the state exchequer.

A special court in Thiruvananthapuram and the Kerala High Court have discharged Vijayan in the case and the CBI moved an appeal in the Supreme Court against that. The apex court stayed the trial in that case.

There will also be a Chintan Shivir 2.0 in May at Charalkunnu in Pathanamthitta district of the state "for a brainstorming session", Sudhakaran said. It would be attended by national leaders of Congress, he added.
LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Champagne Bollinger hosted a regal Coronation celebration at the Bollinger Burlington Bar, Mayfair, in partnership with Illustrated London News (ILN) to unveil the first portrait released of His Majesty King Charles III, since the change of reign, which will be showcased exclusively in the Bar's window during the Coronation period. The private gathering was the first occasion when the original painting was presented to an audience.

Champagne Bollinger hosts Coronation celebrations in the Bollinger Burlington Bar in Mayfair

The portrait, painted in oils by Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) Scholar, Alastair Barford, who was at the celebration, was commissioned by ILN and appears on the cover of "The Illustrated Coronation Edition", for those not able to visit the Bollinger Burlington Bar to view the portrait. The portrait was unveiled to the impressive sights and sounds of the London Scottish regimental band, which helped to get everyone into the Coronation mood. Guests at the celebratory evening were greeted with a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee served en Jeroboam, to toast His Majesty and were amongst the first to see the magnificent Coronation installations that were unveiled that day in Burlington Arcade. The special installations include archival imagery of the Champagne Bollinger Royal Warrant history, dating back to the first royal appointment in 1884 by Queen Victoria, celebrating almost 140 years of continuously holding this prestigious honour, a recognition greatly treasured by the Bollinger family.

Champagne Bollinger will be commemorating the historical occasion with their take on the quintessentially British afternoon tea, with an exclusive Coronation Afternoon Treat menu, created in collaboration with fellow Royal Warrant holder, patisserie chef Didier Merveilleux, who presented some of the delicacies on the evening. The Afternoon Treat menu, paired with a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee, will be available exclusively at The Bollinger Burlington Bar for a limited period, 27 April to 14 May and will be served on stunning Thomas Goode & Co tableware, the tertiary Royal Warrant holder, making it a tasting experience of truly royal standards. Champagne Bollinger will be making a donation to QEST for each afternoon tea sold in recognition of the charity's work in supporting excellence in British craftsmanship.

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Victoria Carfantan, Director of Champagne Bollinger UK & Global Partnerships says: "As a Royal Warrant holder since 1884, Champagne Bollinger were delighted to bring so many partners and friends of the brand together to raise a toast to His Majesty King Charles III to celebrate his Coronation. We look forward to welcoming guests to the Bollinger Burlington Bar in the coming weeks to indulge in the Champagne Bollinger Coronation Afternoon Treat, a true one-off experience, created by Royal Warrant patisserie chef Didier Merveilleux."

Lisa Barnard, Chief Executive of Illustrated London News, commented: "ILN was delighted to co-host this event and celebrate the magnificent new portrait we commissioned of The King by the talented artist Alastair Barford and The Illustrated Coronation Edition. What better than to toast this with a glass of Bollinger on the day of the unveiling of the splendid Coronation decorations in Burlington Arcade?"

The Bollinger Afternoon Treat Menu will be exclusively available at The Bollinger Burlington Bar from 27 April to 14 May priced 125/pp and includes a glass of the House's signature Bollinger Special Cuvee.

For further images please view here: https://we.tl/t-dkORrrMRAL

Please note credit for reproduction of the painting of King Charles III (one-time editorial usage only): HM King Charles III by Alastair Barford Illustrated London News, commissioned for The Illustrated Coronation Edition. www.britishcoronation.com

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Bengaluru, Apr 20 (PTI) Lingayat leaders of the BJP have raised the pitch for unleashing the "Lingayat CM" campaign in poll-bound Karnataka to counter the Congress' narrative to brand the ruling party as "anti-Lingayat".



The politically influential Lingayat community forms about 17 per cent of the State's population, mostly in northern parts of the State which the BJP counts as its strong vote-base.



Senior Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi quit the BJP over denial of ticket to contest in the May 10 Assembly elections and joined the Congress.



The ruling party has been on a damage control mode since then with the Congress accusing it of doing "injustice" to Lingayats and being "anti-Lingayat".



Lingayat leaders from the BJP met at the residence of Karnataka BJP strongman and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday evening, where there were suggestions for countering the Congress narrative by projecting that the next CM would be from the community in the event of the party coming to power.



On Thursday, responding to questions from reporters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai confirmed that the meeting decided to strongly counter the "misinformation" being spread by the Congress on "some issues."



"There were some suggestions (on 'Lingayat-CM). Dharmendra Pradhan (the Union Minister who is the Karnataka election in-charge of the BJP) was also there. He (Pradhan) said he would convey our feelings (on the need for Lingayat-CM) to the high-command".



When a reporter again asked about the Congress narrative branding the BJP as "anti-Lingayats", the Chief Minister sought to counter him: "You want to keep the issue alive?"



In the last 50 years since 1967, the Congress has not made a Lingayat a Chief Minister except for the nine-month tenure of Veerendra Patil, Bommai said. "Don't ask this question again", he told the reporter.



There were several instances of how the Congress treated senior Lingayat leaders, the Chief Minister said, adding that people would not forget how the Congress tried to break the community (demanding a separate religious status to the community) to create a "vote bank" five years ago.



"There is respect, honour and opportunity for all in the BJP," Bommai said and alleged that the Congress "cheated" Dalits, Lingayats and Backward Classes.
A 26-year old man who used a sword to attack two men in Eastern Connecticut before going on a crime spree that included killing a former classmate and kidnapping a woman before a multistate manhunt was sentenced Wednesday to 55 years in prison




New York City Mayor Eric Adams has criticized President Joe Biden and his administration for allegedly neglecting the citys influx of asylum seekers, causing one of the largest humanitarian crises the city has ever faced. The mayor accused the White House of turning its back on the city and leaving it to handle the arrival of over 55,000 asylum seekers claiming to be seeking refuge from persecution and violence, mostly coming from Latin America, on its own. The influx of migrants has led to a projected budget shortfall of $4.2 billion, according to Adams, who has ordered city agencies to cut $4 billion from their budgets over the next four years to pay for the massive humanitarian effort.

The national government has turned its back on New York City, Adams said. Every service in this city is going to be impacted by the asylum seeker crisis. The mayor criticized the federal governments inaction, claiming that most migrants had come to New York to work and support themselves but are prohibited from doing so legally for the first six months of their stay. He added that the situation would only become more costly and dire next month when the Title 42 health policy is set to expire. The emergency measure allowed officials to quickly expel millions of asylum seekers on public health grounds.

Over 50,000 people come to the city of New York seeking assistance and we are told, You will not allow them to work, you have to  give them food, clothing if they need, give them the basic services that they need, youre supposed to make sure they have three meals a day, make sure that all the children are educated  and while youre doing that, New York City, were not going to give you anything in return, Adams complained.

Adams called on the Biden administration and the United States Department of Homeland Security to use all tools that are available to resolve this issue and warned that the number of asylum seekers in the city could jump from 52,000 to 100,000 if the situation is not brought under control. He also claimed that the city was a victim of its own success, having paid for sheltering migrants without raising taxes or laying off municipal workers.

In response to Adams criticisms, the White House attempted to deflect blame onto fiscally conservative House Republicans, even though Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress until January. Gotham is set to receive about $1 billion from Albany to mitigate migrant costs in addition to a still-to-be-determined share of an $800 million relief package approved by federal lawmakers. However, Adams stressed that more help from the federal government is needed to address the crisis.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Andrew Lester had already gone to bed when the doorbell rang a little before 10 p.m. He got up, grabbed a gun and went to check it out. Seeing a Black male appearing to pull the handle of the front door, police say the 84-year-old white man opened fire. No questions asked.

Lester told police he believed someone was attempting to break into his house.

That belief  though wrong  could become a defense as Lester faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action for shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, an honor student who went to the wrong Kansas City address while attempting to pick up his younger siblings.

The case, which has stirred outrage across the country, could shine a light on one of the most common self-defense policies in the U.S  the right to protect yourself in your home. Most states have some version of a castle doctrine, either by law or court precedent, that says residents dont have to retreat when threatened in their homes but instead can respond with physical force.

Missouri is one of about 30 states that also have stand your ground laws, which provide even broader self-defense rights regardless of the location.

MISSOURIS SELF-DEFENSE LAW

A 2007 Missouri law allows people to use deadly force under certain circumstances, including against someone who attempts to unlawfully enter a dwelling, residence or vehicle that is occupied. The legislation, backed by the National Rifle Association, was passed overwhelmingly by the Republican-led Legislature.

Then-Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, enacted the law with fanfare by flying around the state to promote it.

The law ensures law-abiding Missourians will not be punished when they use force to defend themselves and their family from attacks in their own home or vehicle, Blunt said in a statement at the time.

In 2016, Missouri lawmakers overrode the veto of then-Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to expand the castle doctrine into a broader stand your ground law  applying the no-retreat self-defense to people in any other location such person has the right to be.

Missouris law provides wide latitude for people to use lethal force, said Robert Spitzer, a professor emeritus of political science at the State University of New York, Cortland, whose research focuses on gun policy and politics and who wrote the book Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights.

Though no shots were fired, Missouris self-defense laws also were in the spotlight in 2020 when St. Louis attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters passing by their home. The McCloskeys eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, but Republican Gov. Mike Parson pardoned them.

Last year, Missouri lawmakers considered legislation that would have presumed shooters claiming self-defense were acting reasonably  a measure dubbed the Make Murder Legal Act by a prosecutor opposing it. The bill failed.

A DOORBELL RING LEADS TO SHOTS

Lester turned himself in to authorities Tuesday, a day after being charged for shooting Yarl. Lester has no listed attorney, and his legal defense is not clear. But a document filed by police in support of charging Lester indicates that Lester thought he faced a threat.

Lester stated he opened the interior door, and saw a black male approximately 6 feet tall pulling on the exterior storm door handle. He stated he believed someone was attempting to break into the house, and shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door, according to the police statement. Lester told police he was scared to death.

There apparently were no words exchanged before the shooting. Yarl told police he pressed the doorbell but didnt pull on the door. He said the man shot him in the head, then after he fell to the ground, shot him a second time in the arm. As Yarl got up to run, the man said, Dont come around here, according to the police report.

Some legal experts said Tuesday that although Lester could try to use the castle doctrine as a defense, prosecutors could counter that he did not have reasonable grounds to believe Yarl was breaking into his house.

Nothing in the law allows someone to shoot first and ask questions later when someone innocently rings a doorbell. Thats something that UPS does on a daily basis, delivery drivers, children selling Girl Scout cookies, said Ari Freilich, an attorney and state policy director with the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Our laws cant be structured in a way that allow (guns) to be used that cavalierly, Freilich added.

OTHER SIMILAR CASES

A stand your ground law had been in effect in Florida for over six years when it was elevated to national attention by the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a Black 17-year-old. George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watchman who thought Martin looked suspicious, was acquitted after a trial in which his attorneys essentially used the law as a defense.

Similar laws have proliferated in states during the past two decades, and shootings with similarly disputable self-defense assertions have continued to occur. Unlike Zimmerman, some others have been convicted.

Attorneys used a self-defense argument in the trial of Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and neighbor William Roddie Bryan for the 2020 shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, which also has a stand your ground law. The white men claimed they chased Arbery, a Black man, because they thought he was a burglar. Attorneys argued that Travis McMichael raised a gun at Arbery hoping to de-escalate the situation but shot Arbery when he turned toward him as if to fight. All three were convicted of murder.

On Saturday, just two days after Yarl was shot, a woman looking for a friends house in upstate New York was fatally shot after the car in which she riding mistakenly pulled into the wrong driveway. Kaylin Gillis, 20, was traveling through the rural town of Hebron when homeowner, Kevin Monahan, 65, came out onto his porch and fired two shots, the local sheriffs office said. Monahan has been charged with second-degree murder. New York doesnt have a stand your ground law.

(AP)




Ukraines defense minister said Wednesday his country has received the U.S-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile systems it has long craved and which Kyiv hopes will help shield it from Russian airstrikes during the war.

Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.

Ukrainian officials have previously said the arrival of Patriot systems, which Washington agreed to send last October, would be a major boost and a milestone in the war against Moscows full-scale invasion. Its the latest contribution from Kyivs Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for an expected counteroffensive.

China, on the other hand, insists it wont help arm Russia, one of its key allies, and on Wednesday denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields.

Beijing maintains strict control over the export of drones in keeping with international standards preventing them from being used for nonpeaceful purposes, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

China, which has repeatedly criticized the U.S. and other countries support for Ukraine as adding fuel to the fire of the war, has an objective and fair stance and seeks peace, the statement insisted.

The Patriot can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles. Russia has used that weaponry to bombard Ukraine, including residential areas and civilian infrastructure, especially the power supply over the winter.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the system would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.

Reznikov thanked the people of the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many systems had been delivered nor when.

Germanys federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers in Berlin on Wednesday.

Baerbock also said Germany has delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year.

Reznikov said he had first asked for Patriot systems when he visited the U.S. in August 2021, five months before the full-scale invasion by the Kremlins forces and seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula. He described possessing the system as a dream but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was impossible.

Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the Patriot battery, which can need as many as 90 troops to operate and maintain it.

Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word, Reznikov wrote.

Experts have cautioned that the systems effectiveness is limited, and it may not be a game changer in the war, even though it will add to Ukraines arsenal against its bigger enemy.

The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per round and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, its not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the far smaller and cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.

Kyiv officials have reported daily civilian, but not military, casualties from Russian bombardment.

At least four civilians were killed and 27 others were injured in Ukraine on Tuesday and overnight, the press office of Ukraines defense ministry reported.

A 50-year-old man and 44-year-old woman were killed in a Russian airstrike on a border town in the northeastern Kharkiv region, its Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in televised remarks.

Russian forces launched 12 rocket, artillery, mortar, tank and drone attacks on Ukraines southern Kherson region, its Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said, killing one civilian at a market in the center of Kherson, the regions namesake capital, and a nearby school.

A woman was killed and another was wounded in northern Ukraine after Russian forces shelled the border village of Richki from multiple rocket launchers, the local military administration said.

Russian forces also fired nighttime exploding drones at Ukraines southern Odesa region.

(AP)




India is on track to become the worlds most populous nation as its young population soars, and will surpass China by mid-2023, according to data released Wednesday by the United Nations.

While there are hopes that Indias young citizenry could drive the countrys economic growth for years to come, it also might just as easily become a demographic liability if they are not adequately employed. Economists have cautioned that even as Indias economy is among the fastest-growing as its population rises, joblessness has also swelled.

While Indias 254 million people between ages 15 and 24 is the largest number in the world, China is struggling with an aging population and stagnant population growth. That has sparked expectations that the demographic changes could pave the way for India to become an economic and global heavyweight.

Tech giant Apple, among other companies, hopes to turn India into a potential manufacturing hub as it moves some production out of China, where wages are rising as the working age population shrinks.

The U.N. report said India will have about 2.9 million people more than China sometime in the middle of this year. India will have an estimated 1.4286 billion people versus mainland Chinas 1.4257 billion at that time, according to U.N. projections. Demographers say the limits of population data make it impossible to calculate an exact date; India has not done a census since 2011.

China has had the worlds largest population since at least 1950, the year the U.N. began issuing population data. Both China and India have more than 1.4 billion people, and combined they make up more than a third of the worlds 8 billion people.

Not long ago, India wasnt expected to become the most populous until later this decade. But the timing has been sped up by a drop in Chinas fertility rate, with families having fewer children.

India, by contrast, has a much younger population, a higher fertility rate, and has seen a decrease in infant mortality over the last three decades. Still, the countrys fertility rate has been steadily falling, from over five births per woman in 1960 to just over two in 2020, according to World Bank data.

The countrys population has more than quadrupled since its independence from colonial rule 76 years ago. As India looks set to become the worlds largest country, it is grappling with the growing threat of climate change, deep inequalities between its urban and rural populations, economic disparities between its men and women, and a widening religious divide.

The report surveyed 1,007 Indians, 63% of whom said economic issues were their top concern when thinking about population change, followed by worries about the environment, health and human rights.

The Indian survey findings suggest that population anxieties have seeped into large portions of the general public. Yet, population numbers should not trigger anxiety or create alarm, Andrea Wojnar, the United Nations Population Funds representative for India, said in a statement. She added that they should be seen as a symbol of progress and development if individual rights and choices are being upheld.

Many are banking on Indias rising number of working age people to give it a demographic dividend, or the potential for economic growth when a countrys young population is eclipses its share of older people who are beyond their working years. Its what helped China cement its place as a global power.

On Wednesday, China responded to news of the U.N. report with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying a countrys demographic dividend depends not only on quantity but also on quality.

The population is important, so is talent Chinas demographic dividend has not disappeared, the talent dividend is taking place and development momentum remains strong, Wang said at a briefing.

(AP)




House Republicans for months have railed against the Biden administrations handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, holding hearings, visiting border communities and promising to advance legislation to clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

But so far, they have failed to unify behind a plan, delaying efforts to pass legislation.

Now they are hoping to change that. Republicans on Wednesday are jumpstarting work on an immigration and border enforcement package that would remake immigration law to make it more difficult to apply for asylum and easier for the federal government to stop migrants from entering the U.S.

Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican who is chair of the Judiciary Committee drafting the legislation, said he expected Wednesdays markup of the bill to go well.

The undertaking comes as Washington is putting renewed focus on border security, and the plight of thousands of migrants who show up seeking entry into the U.S., with a looming May deadline that is expected to end a federal COVID-era asylum policy. The hearing also comes as Republicans, more than 100 days into their new House majority, are under political pressure to deliver on a key campaign promise to secure the border.

The Republican legislative package, which may not draw much bipartisan support from Democrats, aims to revive a number of policies either enacted or proposed under then-President Donald Trump that tightened up asylum rules.

It would give the Homeland Security secretary the power to stop migrants from entering the United States if the secretary determines the U.S. has lost operational control of the border.

And it would make it more difficult for asylum-seekers to prove in initial interviews that they are fleeing political, religious or racial persecution, impose a $50 fee on adults who apply for asylum and require migrants to make the asylum claim at an official port of entry.

The bill would also enact a Trump-era policy that the Biden administration is pursuing, the so-called safe third country requirement, which generally denies asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S. southern border without first seeking protection in a country they passed through.

Conservative hardliners who say migrants are taking advantage of the asylum process are backing the bill.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a conservative member of the Freedom Caucus who has pushed aggressive border measures, said the legislation reflects in a package form basically where weve all wanted to head, which is to actually enforce the law.

Stop releasing people into the United States who dont have a legitimate claim to asylum that you need to adjudicate, he said.

But Roy and Jordan will have to contend with a group of fellow Republicans who have condemned attempts at aggressively limiting asylum claims as cruel and out-of-touch with Latino communities.

Rep. Tony Gonzales, a fellow Texas Republican who represents a long portion of the U.S-Mexico border from El Paso to San Antonio, has emerged as Roys foil in the GOPs border debate. He insists that measures to toughen border enforcement also be coupled with increasing legal immigration, such as work visas.

Moderate House Republicans, like Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, are pushing for a balanced approach that would also open up legal immigration. People want to come here. They work hard. I think they eventually become great citizens, Bacon said, adding but whats going on at the border is a catastrophe.

The GOP has made inroads with Latino communities in recent years, and while Republican voters from those communities support tougher border enforcement, Latino Republicans also want to see an increase in legal immigration. The Congressional Hispanic Conference, a group of 18 House Republicans, held a bilingual news conference in front of the Capitol on Tuesday to demand a seat at the negotiating table.

This is what the face of the border crisis looks like, Gonzales told reporters. Take a good hard look, because were not going to be quiet about it. Were not going to let others just dictate what happens.

Afterward, Gonzales suggested the bill being considered by the Judiciary Committee is just one option, and has a long way to go before it hits primetime. The Homeland Security Committee, where he holds a seat, is working on its own legislation to increase border enforcement, he said.

The Congressional Hispanic Conference highlighted three policies it wants: designating cartels as terrorist organizations, increasing criminal penalties for people who smuggle fentanyl and increasing salaries for Customs and Border Protection agents.

Democrats are skeptical of Republican efforts to toughen border enforcement. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan, a California Democrat who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the GOP is focused on politicization of the border instead of actually trying to find a solution.

And even if Republicans manage to pass a bill through the House, hardline border enforcement and severe restraints on asylum are unlikely to advance in the Democratic-held Senate, where negotiators prefer to pair border policies with an increase in legal immigration or a path to citizenship for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

There is not consensus in either party, said Theresa Cardinal Brown, a senior advisor for immigration at the Bipartisan Policy Center. There is certainly not consensus across the aisle.

The debate in Congress will likely play out just as an influx of migrants is expected at the southern border. Title 42, a Trump-era rule adopted by the Biden administration, is set to expire on May 11. It suspended the rights for many to seek asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent U.S. immigration policy has been cobbled together through executive actions and legal rulings, Brown said, without any significant action by Congress in decades to address a new reality at the southern border: people, including many children, arriving from a host of countries to claim asylum.

Its going to get bad and I dont think the (Biden) administration is prepared, she said, adding, We are at an inflection point. We will see again whether people will get serious about legislating and come to the table, or will they pound the table.

Gonzales acknowledged the political difficulties around immigration but pointed to the impact in his home district along the border. He hosted Arizonas Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent, for a border visit last month, and said he has been holding calls with Democrats and Republicans in hopes of crafting a bipartisan proposal.

Congress hasnt done anything in decades, the White House has punted time and time again, and it is no doubt a difficult problem set, he said. But I think its a problem worth fighting for.

(AP)
SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

SkyQuest's Health Information Exchange Market report provides actionable insights for individuals interested in valuable data, trends, and opportunities in a rapidly growing industry. Additionally, the report is produced and published concisely, making it accessible to various audiences, from industry experts to market readers. Finally, one can gain an in-depth understanding of the primary and secondary market drivers, providing them with a comprehensive outlook of the current market situation and future projections.

Westford USA, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Health Information Exchange (HIE) market is poised to attain a value of USD 13.09 billion by 2030, with a forecasted CAGR of 8.62% during the period from 2023 to 2030. The driving factors for market growth include government initiatives, increasing demand for coordinated care, rising healthcare costs, the growing volume of healthcare data, and technological advancements. According to research conducted by SkyQuest, HIEs have improved care coordination between providers for 94% of healthcare providers, while 88% believe that HIEs help improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.

Moreover, SkyQuest's recent global research findings suggest that 76% of healthcare organizations consider improving care coordination as a significant driver for HIE adoption, while 65% of respondents reported that HIEs improved the quality of care they were able to provide. A study conducted by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) also found that 87% of respondents considered the interoperability of health data a major priority. The study revealed that 64% of healthcare providers were able to access patient records from other healthcare organizations through an HIE network.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Health Information Exchange (HIE) Market"

Pages - 242

Tables - 90

Figures - 75

In today's time, the Health Information Exchange (HIE) plays a crucial role as it facilitates secure sharing of patient health information among healthcare providers, resulting in enhanced care coordination, better patient outcomes, and decreased healthcare expenses. As the adoption of electronic health records increases, and there is a demand for more efficient and effective healthcare delivery, the HIE market is projected to experience a substantial growth in the future.

Story continues

Prominent Players in Health Information Exchange (HIE) Market

Cerner Corporation

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

Athenahealth, Inc.

RelayHealth Corporation

Optum, Inc.

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC

eClinicalWorks LLC

Greenway Health, LLC

Epic Systems Corporation

Orion Health Ltd.

Medicity, Inc.

InterSystems Corporation

Mirth Corporation

CareEvolution, Inc.

Medicomp Systems, Inc.

GE Healthcare

McKesson Corporation

Merge Healthcare Incorporated

Philips Healthcare

Siemens Healthineers

Get a sample copy of this report:

https://www.skyquestt.com/sample-request/health-information-exchange-hie-market

Hospital Application Segment to Drive Higher Growth as Hospitals Have the Highest Volume of Patient Data

The rapid development of the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market in 2021 has been significantly contributed by the Hospital Application segment, according to a recent analysis. This trend is expected to continue from 2022 to 2030, as hospitals have the highest volume of patient data and require efficient sharing of patient information among healthcare providers. A recent study conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) found that hospital participation in HIE increased from 41% in 2010 to 76% in 2019. The survey also revealed that hospitals use HIE to improve care coordination, reduce readmissions, and enhance patient safety.

Research analysis shows that North America is set to become a dominant player in the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market from 2022 to 2030. SkyQuest has projected that the region will grow at a CAGR of 9.82% during the forecast period. The increasing adoption of EHRs, growing government initiatives to support the implementation of HIE, and high investment in healthcare IT infrastructure in the region are driving this expansion. The US Government has implemented several programs to promote the adoption of HIE, including the State Health Information Exchange Program (SHIEP) and the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). These initiatives have played a significant role in driving the growth of HIE market in North America.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://www.skyquestt.com/report/health-information-exchange-hie-market

Directed Information Exchange Market Segment to Exhibit a Strong Growth Due to Increasing Demand for a Secure and Efficient Way of Exchanging Patient Data

In 2021, the Directed Information Exchange segment accounted for a dominant position in the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market and is expected to maintain its position from 2022 to 2030. The increasing demand for a secure and efficient way of exchanging patient data among healthcare providers is driving this trend.

Furthermore, the Asia Pacific region emerged as a significant player in the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market and is expected to retain its leading position by 2030. SkyQuest has projected substantial growth in the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market for the Asia Pacific region, with a CAGR of 11.97% during the forecast period. This growth is attributed to the rising adoption of healthcare IT solutions, increasing government initiatives to promote healthcare information exchange, and growing demand for better healthcare outcomes in the region. The report also cites the National eHealth Authority in India and the Healthcare Information Technology Promotion Act in South Korea as significant government initiatives driving growth in the region.

A comprehensive analysis of the major players in the Health Information Exchange (HIE) market has been recently conducted in the report. The report encompasses various aspects, including collaborations, mergers, innovative business policies, and strategies, providing valuable insights into key trends and breakthroughs in the market. Furthermore, the report scrutinizes the market share of the top segments and presents a detailed geographic analysis. Lastly, the report highlights the major players in the industry and their endeavors to develop innovative solutions to cater to the growing demand.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://www.skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/health-information-exchange-hie-market

Key Developments in Health Information Exchange (HIE) Market

Population Health Collaborative (PHC) has signed an affiliation agreement with HEALTHeLINK, the health information exchange (HIE) for Western New York, to reduce health disparities and improve wellness in the region. The partnership will leverage HEALTHeLINK's HIE infrastructure to facilitate the electronic exchange of clinical information among healthcare providers. Additionally, HEALTHeLINK will expand its services to include the Live Well Western New York model and Regional Health Improvement Collaborative activities.

At its annual conference in Arizona, the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) announced its merger with the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) to establish a new organization called Civitas Networks for Health. The new organization will function as a platform for local non-profit health collaboratives and health information exchanges to work collectively on policy goals and improvement efforts. It will also provide opportunities for engagement and support action at the local, state, and national levels to achieve policy objectives for healthcare quality, cost, and equity through data-driven and transformative strategies.

Key Questions Answered in Health Information Exchange (HIE) Market Report

What specific growth drivers are projected to impact the market during the forecast period?

List the top companies in the market and explain how they have achieved their positions of influence?

In what ways do regional trends and patterns differ within the global market, and how these differences shape the market's future growth?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Genomics Market

Global Dental Market

Global Breast Implants Market

Global Hyperphosphatemia Market

Sleeping Pods Market

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U.S. lawmakers have accused embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse of limiting the scope of an internal investigation into Nazi clients and Nazi-linked accounts, including some that were open until just a few years ago.

The Senate Budget Committee says an independent ombudsman initially brought in by the bank to oversee the probe was inexplicably terminated as he carried out his work, and it faulted incomplete reports that were hindered by restrictions.

Credit Suisse said it was fully cooperating with the committees inquiry but rejected some claims from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights group, that brought to light in 2020 allegations of possible Nazi-linked accounts at Switzerlands second-largest bank.

Despite the hurdles, reports from the ombudsman and a forensic research team revealed at least 99 accounts credibly tied to senior Nazi officials in Germany or members of Nazi-affliliated groups in Argentina, most of which were not previously disclosed, the committee said Tuesday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The reports raise new questions about the banks potential support for Nazis fleeing justice following World War II via so-called Ratlines, the committee said, referring to a network of escape routes used by Nazis after the war.

The committee said Credit Suisse has pledged to continue its own investigation into remaining unanswered questions.

When it comes to investigating Nazi matters, righteous justice demands that we must leave no stone unturned. Credit Suisse has thus far failed to meet that standard, said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican member of the panel.

The budget committee is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to investigating Nazis and seeking justice for Holocaust survivors and their families, and we commit to seeing this investigation through, said Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island.

Credit Suisse launched the internal investigation after the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named for the Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter, said it had information that the bank held potential Nazi-linked accounts that had not previously been revealed, including during a series of Holocaust-related investigations of the 1990s.

Late that decade, Swiss banks agreed to pay some $1.25 billion to Nazi victims and their families who accused the banks of stealing, hiding or sending to the Nazis hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings.

Credit Suisse said its two-year investigation into the questions raised by the Simon Wiesenthal Center found no evidence to support the allegations that many people on an Argentine list of 12,000 names had accounts at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt  the predecessor of Credit Suisse  during the Nazi era.

It said the investigation fundamentally confirms existing research on Credit Suisses history published in the context of the 1999 Global Settlement that provided binding closure for the Swiss banks regarding all issues relating to World War II.

The latest findings come as problems have boiled over for Credit Suisse, a pillar of Swiss banking whose origins date to 1856, culminating in a government-orchestrated takeover by rival lender UBS.

The emergency rescue last month came after years of stock price declines, a string of scandals and the flight of depositors worried about Credit Suisses future amid global financial turmoil stirred by the collapse of two U.S. banks.

Its troubles havent ended with the rescue. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee said last month that a two-year investigation showed 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.

In the latest Senate findings, 70 Credit Suisse accounts with plausible links to Nazis in Argentina were opened after 1945 and at least 14 stayed open until the 2000s, including some as recently as 2020, according to the investigators reports.

Forensic research firm AlixPartners Ltd. found that 21 accounts  including 12 opened after 1945  had credible connections with those on the Simon Wiesenthal Centers list of senior Nazi officials. They include an SS commander convicted at the Nuremberg trials as well as a Nazi commander who was tried, sentenced and released and whose account was not closed until 2002.

Others include German businessmen, scientists and another Nazi commander who were all either tried and acquitted or imprisoned and released.

The Senate committee, which oversees budget requests related to the State Departments Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, issued a subpoena for the reports after new leadership at Credit Suisse paused its internal investigation last year.

Neil Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor and special inspector general of the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program that bailed out banks following the 2008 financial crisis, was let go as ombudsman overseeing the probe months later.

Credit Suisses decision to terminate oversight risks reputational damage based on the inevitable speculation as to what else may have been found or could have been found if the investigation and oversight were allowed to continue, Barofskys report said.

It says the Swiss lender did not review and investigate all relevant records  including, for example, failing to complete a search on whether Nazi heirs tried to access bank accounts.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said removing Barofsky eroded its confidence in a fair, independent and transparent historical review.

The actions taken today by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget shine light on a dark and troubling past that has remained outside the historical record, the organization said Tuesday.

(AP)




A federal judge weighing whether House Republicans can question a former prosecutor about the Manhattan criminal case against former President Donald Trump peppered lawyers on both sides with questions Wednesday, asking them to parse thorny issues of sovereignty, separation of powers and Congressional oversight arising from the historic indictment.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil promised to rule within hours of the hearing in a courtroom that, on one side, offered views of the New York City skyline that Trump helped shape as a real estate developer, and on the other, the federal building where House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan convened a hearing Monday on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs handing of violent crime.

Vyskocil aggressively questioned lawyers for Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump, and the House Judiciary Committee, which started scrutinizing Braggs investigation of the former president in the weeks before his indictment. Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, sought to focus on the legalities, not the politics surrounding the case.

Im talking about the subpoena, thats whats in front of me, Vyskocil said. Not all the political rhetoric thats been flying back and forth. Thats all color. Thats all theater, but its not whats in front of me.

Jordans committee is seeking to enforce a subpoena for testimony Thursday from Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor who once oversaw the yearslong Trump investigation but left the job after clashing with Bragg over the direction of the case. Pomerantz later wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in recent interviews on 60 Minutes and other shows.

Bragg, a Democrat, sued Jordan and the committee last week seeking to block the deposition. His lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that subpoenaing Pomerantz was part of a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack Bragg and that Congress was invading a state to investigate a local prosecutor when it had no authority to do so.

Boutrous said House Republicans interest in Bragg amounted to Congress jumping in and haranguing the D.A. while the prosecution is ongoing.

A committee lawyer, Matthew Berry, countered that Congress has legitimate legislative reasons for wanting to question Pomerantz and examine Braggs prosecution of Trump, citing the offices use of $5,000 in federal funds to pay for Trump-related investigations.

Congress is also considering legislation, offered by Republicans in the wake of Trumps indictment, to change how criminal cases against former presidents unfold, Berry said. One bill would prohibit prosecutors from using federal funds to investigate presidents, and another would require any criminal cases involving a former president be resolved in federal court instead of at the state level.

House Republicans, Berry said, want to protect the sovereignty and autonomy of the presidency, envisioning a scenario where the commander in chief could feel obligated to make certain decisions to avoid having local prosecutors in politically unfavorable jurisdictions charge them with crimes after they leave office.

For those reasons, Berry argued, Congress is immune from judicial intervention and the subpoena for Pomerantzs testimony should stand. He cited the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Pomerantz declined comment as he walked out of the hearing, holding a stack of papers with his book, People vs. Donald Trump. His lawyer, Ted Wells, said he would accompany Pomerantz if he is required to give deposition testimony on Wednesday.

Neither Pomerantz nor his lawyers spoke during the hearing. But in a declaration submitted to the judge beforehand, he aligned himself with Braggs position and maintained he should not be questioned by the committee.

Vyskocil said Wednesday that forcing Pomerantz to testify would put him in a little bit of a difficult position here.

Berry, the committee lawyer, argued that Pomerantz has already shared lots of information with the public about his work on the Trump investigation and the Judiciary Committee has the right to question him about it, too.

I dont think this is either rational or reasonable behavior that somehow the House Judiciary Committee committee ranks below 60 Minutes, Berry argued.

Pomerantz can refuse to answer certain questions, citing legal privilege and ethical obligations, and Jordan would rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis, Berry said, but he shouldnt be exempt from showing up. If Jordan overrules Pomerantz and he still refuses to answer, he could then face a criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but that wouldnt happen immediately, Berry said.

In his lawsuit, Bragg said hes taking legal action in response to an unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J. Trump.

Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment last week.

(AP)




Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Wednesday announced that he is planning on boycotting the Yom Haatzmaut torch-lighting ceremony despite his love of Israel.

Earlier on Wednesday, Transportation Minister Miri Regev said at a press conference that there should be unity in Israel on Yom HaZicharon and Yom Haatzmaut next week. I intend to personally call Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid and all the heads of the opposition to invite them, she said.

However, Regevs peaceful gesture was rejected by Lapid, who responded. My chair will remain empty at the torch-lighting ceremony because you left me no choice. I love the State of Israel with all my heart but in three months you divided Israeli society, and no fake fireworks show will cover that up. If national unity is so important to you, you wouldnt be destroying our democracy and you would be working for Israeli citizens.

Lapid then mentioned the real reason for his opposition to the current government: We wont sit there to watch another embarrassing show of flattery for the Netanyahu family, he added.

Kan News reporter Michael Shemesh stated in response: Lapid is dramatically boycotting the torch-lighting ceremony this year. But even last year (when he was acting prime minister!) he didnt attend the ceremony. And he also didnt attend the Yom HaShoah ceremonies.

Walla reporter Yaki Adamker responded: In the past, Lapid accused Netanyahu of turning the torch-lighting ceremony into a political event. When he announces that the ceremony will be banned this year only because of legislation in the Knesset  what is that if not turning it into a political event?

Other opposition leaders objected to Lapids statements, including Benny Gantz and Gideon Saar.

National Unity MK Alon Schuster told Army Radio on Wednesday morning: Lapid is not my leader, hes the head of the opposition and the opposition is diverse. I really want us to respect the state events even when there are considerable differences of opinion.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

America now, in terms of the vast growth of Torah Judaism, is a vastly different place than it was in the fifties, sixties and seventies. Most people attribute this change to the Yeshivos and Kollelim. But we forget one important fact.

If there are no Kollel wives, there are no Avreichim. If there are no wonderfully inspiring and highly educated Moros and teachers, there are no wonderfully inspired and highly educated students. And if there are no inspired and highly educated mothers of Klal Yisroel, well, Klal Yisroel would be vastly different.

Rebbitzen Bruriah David ah, was one of those pivotal personalities who had literally changed the landscape of Torah Judaism.

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Recently at the Shiva, someone who was instrumental in the founding of BJJ related to Rav Yonasan David shlita the words of the Brisker Rav about the Chazon Ish zatzal. He said, Until today, there was a world with the Chazon Ish. And now there is a world without the Chazon Ish. The same is true now. Until today there was a world with Rebbitzen David. And now there is a world without Rebbitzen David.

Rav Yonasan David shlita was so moved that he requested the Rav to repeat it once again before he left.

Rav Shlomo Volbe ztl was menachem avel the Rebbitzen when she herself was sitting shiva for her father in 1980. He explained that her father became such a ginat because of the Alters profound love for him  a love that Rav Hutner ztl knew and appreciated.

A MASTER MECHANECHES FOR OVER 6 DECADES

For over six decades she built and inspired the women of Klal Yisroel. She embodied Yiras Shamayim and also passed that on to her students. But it was not just the women that she taught and inspired. Her breathtaking understanding of her father Rav Hutners Torah inspired not just the women, but the men as well.

Rebbitzen David was born in 1939, to her parents Rav Yitzchok Hutner ztl (1904-1980) and Masha Lipshitz (1911-1972), who had married in Warsaw five years earlier in 1933. They arrived on the shores of America in 1934 or 1935.

She attended Bais Yaakov of Brownsville under the leadership of Rabbi Meir Levi (which eventually became Bais Yaakov DRav Meir) for all eight grades. Rebbitzen Shoshana Levi taught her for the seventh and eight grades. The families were very close to the point that Rav Hutner zatzal was the sandek of one of Rabbi Levis sons.

Rav Hutner ztl was a talmid of the Alter of Slabodka, who emphasized Gadlus HaAdam  in dealing with all people. It is clear that Rebbitzen David, his daughter, imbibed this ideal in dealing with her thousands of talmidos over the years. Some had even viewed her as the embodiment of her father that sustained Klal Yisroel since his passing four decades before her.

The Rebbitzen and her husband, and Rav Yonasan David, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok in Har Nof and co-Rosh Yeshivah of Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, helped put Rav Hutners words and thoughts into the multi-volume Sefer known as Pachad Yitzchok. Rebbitzen David was extremely close to her father and was probably the person who knew his Torah best. She was true to her holy fathers thoughts in every one of her shiurim, in her approach to the nobility of Torah and in ensuring that her fathers Torah not be misconstrued. Any attempt at a biography of her father or a video about him was denied because it would not have been emes. It could not be, because of his sheer greatness.

Rebbitzen David uniquely combined Ahavas Yisroel with an exactitude in certain hanhagos that naturally bred a persons Yiras Shamayim as well sheer brilliance in Torah and scholarship. Academically, she studied one of the Acharonim found in the back of the Gemorah and, to anyone who reads her work on the topic, she, clearly but silently, compares that Acharon to the manner in which her own father met that topic and one can see her sheer admiration for her father in that.

Rwbbitzen David taught so many of her charges the words of her father, struggle is not the opposite of growth, it is part of growth.

Just like her fathers Rebbe, the Alter, she strived to develop within her talmidos independent thinking skills, but strictly along the true path of Torah. She would quote Shlomo HaMelech said, (Mishlei 24:16), The tzaddik will fall seven times and will rise. And she taught her fathers thoughts on it  The simple person thinks he meant, Even though a tzaddik falls seven times, he will still rise. A smart person, however, knows that he meant, Because a tzaddik fell seven times, that is why he ultimately rose.

In Pachad Yitzchok, she wrote and explained her Holy fathers words, Loving Hashem, and loving people are one and the same. One cannot have love of Hashem without loving people. And one cannot truly love people without also loving Hashem. And she truly loved Klal Yisroel.

The Rebbitzen reht numerous shidduchim including for some important Roshei Yeshiva.

A mother who had studied there was told by Rebbitzen David, I see that you are doing something right in the way that you are being mechanech your children. It was one of the greatest compliments I had ever received.

A graduate from the 1992/93 recollects, She reht multiple shidduchim for some of my children. When she had an idea, she acted on it. She didnt relegate it to others. She handled the details of even ensuring that the driveway and where he should even park. Most people who ret shidduchim leave the details and the logistics to others  not her. She did it entirely herself. 

A Bais Yaakov graduate who attended the Boro Park Beis Yaakov (under Rabbi Hellman obm) recalled her interview for BJJ : I felt immediately that I was in the presence of absolute greatness. She had me read a Ramban. I made a mistake in it and afterward, she called me to her side and she read it with me. I remember thinking, even if I dont get in, I at least had the unique privilege of learning Torah with Rebbitzen David.

She was initially a teacher at an earlier seminary, but they differed with her She taught hashkafos on haskallah, on Zionism, at Esther Shoenfeld, then BYA, then eventually in Eretz Yisroel.

Her love for others extended to so many. She said over her fathers words, There is a very special type of Ahavah that is unique that we must have for all geirim.

Like her father, she was a world class expert in the writings of the Maharal, particularly in his sefer. Gur Aryeh. She assigned her students specific biographies to read and study in order to increase their yiras shamayim. She assigned them biographies on the Chazon Ish as well as Rav Yoseph Chaim Sonnenfeld.

Rebbitzen David had no children, but in a broader sense she had hundreds of thousands of children. Her thousands and thousands of students have created so many facts on the ground families, students, Yeshivos, Bais Yaakovs, and so much more. Torah Jews all over can say, Sheli veshelachem  shelah.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
Paying a fee to spend overseas or take cash out of a machine has long been a real bugbear of mine, so over the years Ive dedicated a bit of time to tracking down debit cards that let me avoid it.

My most recent foray into this has been to have a bank account with Starling, which along with its impressive take on digital banking also offers fee-free spending and cash machine withdrawals overseas.

Ive been happily using my Starling debit card for this for some years (having a card for overseas spending is a classic money-saving trick) but then just after New Year something weird happened.

I went to take some money out of a cash machine while on an early January family trip to Innsbruck, in Austria, and it flashed up a warning telling me that I would be charged.

I wanted to take out about 80 and the machine told me that I would be charged about 4 something for doing so.

Fee-free but not fee-free: My Starling Bank account doesn't charge me for overseas transactions or withdrawals but the cash machine had other ideas

I was slightly puzzled by this. After all, my Starling card means that I dont pay fees for taking out cash abroad. Thinking it must just be a quirk of this particular ATM - and somewhat affronted - I abandoned the transaction and decided to find another cash machine.

Unfortunately, we didnt pass one on our way back to the hotel. Inevitably, sods law meant this led to the increasingly rare scenario of needing some cash the next day.

I thought you got some cash out last night?, my wife said.

No, it wanted to charge me, I replied.

Well, make sure you get some out next time, whatever happens, she said.

I didnt, of course, because the next machine I went to also wanted to charge me.

Thinking maybe I had just got unlucky with two machines from the same bank, I endeavoured to track down another.

Except that other banks machine wanted to charge me too.

Eventually, I gave up and paid to take some cash out.

I didnt really think any more of this  other than chalking it up to charges maybe being an Austrian banking quirk  until a fortnight ago when I was in France.

I went to take some money out of a cash machine at a branch of Credit Agricole, in the French Alps this time  and there was the warning of a charge again.

The cash machine wanted to levy a 5 fee on my withdrawal of 80. I cancelled the transaction and checked if the same fee applied on 100. It did, so this being a flat charge, I decided to take out the higher amount and lump it, as I didnt have time to try to track down another bank.

So, what is going on here? Why have I suddenly started being charged to take money out of foreign cash machines when I have a debit card that supposedly makes it free?

Firstly, this isn't Starling's fault. Our saving and banking guru Ed Magnus got in touch and the bank told him that nothing has changed at Starling's end. So, it was the cash machine that had other ideas about being fee-free, not my bank.

Usually, if something like this changes we start to hear grumbling from This is Money readers, but thats not been the case this time, so its difficult to tell if this is now par for the course.

But a bit of digging appears to show it might be something linked to Brexit.

Under EU law, banks are not allowed to charge customers from another European Union member country more for withdrawals than they would their domestic customers.

There is no ban on actually charging for cash machine withdrawals or limit on fees, but they must be the same for domestic customers and those from other EU countries.

Due to Brexit, we have lost this protection and while charging doesnt yet appear to be widespread, some European banks have clearly decided to use this as an opportunity to milk a bit of cash out of Britons.

The key connection with Brexit is that EU banks have always been able to charge for taking cash out if they like, but they must do that for all EU member state customers including their own.

Now, Britons aren't covered by these rules, so they can make us pay for withdrawals while keeping them free for their domestic customers and other Europeans.

Credit Agricole is one of these banks and has introduced that hefty 5 charge for cash machine withdrawals, as must have the banks I tried in Austria, the name that shows up in my transactions was Hypo Tirol Bank.

I suspect these wont be the only banks  so if you too have been unexpectedly charged when you thought it should have been free to withdraw cash overseas, email and tell us at editor@thisismoney.co.uk with overseas cash in the subject line.

These charges increase the incentive to not use cash overseas and stick to card spending instead.

I would argue that they also make finding a debit or credit card that offers fee-free spending overseas even more important. Otherwise, you run the risk of being stung by your own bank and the one overseas.

> Check out our round-up of the best cards for overseas spending
Glencore has ramped up pressure on Teck Resources as it continues a bid to take control of the Canadian miner.

In a letter to Teck shareholders, the FTSE 100 firm said it was willing to consider upping a 18.5billion bid after it was rejected by management.

We have sought to engage with your board regarding our proposal, but your board has consistently refused any engagement, Glencore wrote, adding it was willing to talk to shareholders directly if its advances were continually rebuffed, effectively threatening a hostile takeover.

We urge Teck shareholders to take action to ensure that the board engage in bona fide negotiations regarding Glencores proposal, said chief executive Gary Nagle.

Takeover bid: In a letter to Teck shareholders, Glencore said it was willing to consider upping a 18.5bn bid for the Canadian miner after it was rejected by management

Teck has repeatedly snubbed Glencore, having branded its merger offer a non-starter.

Canadian magnate Norman Keevil, the controlling investor in Teck, has also said he will not sell to Glencore at any price. But other shareholders have urged the company to increase its bid.

Teck wants to proceed with a plan to split its business into two entities focusing on coal and metals respectively.

Investors are due to vote on the proposal next Wednesday  a poll increasingly being seen as an informal referendum on Glencores offer.

If it does succeed in taking over Teck, the Swiss firm also plans to separate the combined business into a coal-focused entity, listed in New York, and a metals group based in Canada.

Glencores pursuit, launched this month, comes as the industrys big players try to restructure businesses around metals such as copper and nickel, which are the key to the worlds transition to green energy.

Glencore indicated it would be happy to dig a bit deeper if the targets board were willing to engage in conversation.

'That is not a surprise as miners rarely back down once they have fixed their eye on a new target, said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Ultimately, it is all down to price and even the most stubborn will eventually cave in if enough carrots are dangled in front of their face.

But Glencore also is facing opposition to its plans from its own investor base.

In a letter sent last week to Nagle and Glencore chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi, activist shareholder Bluebell Capital blasted the takeover attempt as alarmingly illogical.

Bluebell, an investor in both companies, said the merger would be value destructive and criticised Glencore for not separating out its own coal business sooner.

Teck said now is not the right time to merge with Glencore and accused its rival of trying to frustrate value creation for investors.
Aviva shareholders have been warned about being disrespectful after last years annual general meeting sparked a sexism row over comments made to chief executive Amanda Blanc.

Chairman George Culmer said unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated at the meeting on May 4 in Norwich.

Last May one investor complained that Blanc was not the man for the job. Another congratulated the insurer on its boards diversity by saying women were so good at basic housekeeping activities.

Sexist abuse: At last May's AGM one Aviva investor complained that chief exec Amanda Blanc (pictured) was not the man for the job

At the time, Culmer said he was flabbergasted by the question-and-answer session. Blanc, 55, became the first woman to lead a major British insurer when appointed in 2020.

She began to streamline Aviva at pace by selling off a swathe of foreign units.

But one of the shareholders, Michael Mason-Mahon, mentioned her predecessors and questioned whether Blanc should be wearing trousers.

He later denied his remarks were sexist.
But the agreement is subject to investor approval and sale of LFS

Link Fund Solutions has agreed to pay up to 235million to investors who lost money following the collapse of Neil Woodford's 3.8billion Equity Income Fund.

The redress covers losses taken by over 300,000 WEIF investors as a result of failures by LFS in its role overseeing the liquidity of the fund, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The redress figure is less than estimates of overall losses suffered by WEIF investors, who are set to receive just 77p for every pound lost.

Redress: Link Fund Solutions has agreed to pay up to 235m to investors who lost money following the collapse of Neil Woodford's 3.8bn Equity Income Fund

The agreement is subject to the competed sale of LFS, which was the fund's authorised corporate director and administrator, to rival firm Waystone Group.

The compensation agreement is also subject to the approval of affected investors and the Court of a scheme of arrangement to resolve all LFSs liabilities relating to the WEIF Scheme.

If the WEIF Scheme is not approved, Link Group has said it will not make the redress contribution.

This would mean any redress would be dependent on the outcome of a contested case between the FCA and LFS, and would be limited to the net assets of LFS, minus litigation and any other costs.

Around 1,417 days have passed since the suspension of the WEIF, with thousands of investors left in the lurch on the compensation front.

The FCA originally calculated the losses arising from failures in liquidity management to remaining investors as being around 306million, which is substantially greater than the remaining assets of LFS.

The sale of Link Groups Fund Solutions business will generate up to approximately 140million in sale proceeds.

The FCA said today: 'The up to 235million in redress includes LFSs assets (cash, capital resource and potential insurance proceeds), plus the proceeds from the sale of Link Groups Fund Solutions business.'

It added that LFS had a net balance of cash and capital resources of approximately 47million. It also holds relevant insurance cover of around 48million and discussions with its insurers are ongoing, the FCA said.

The FCA has previously said it believed the appropriate redress sum was in the region of 298million.

But the regulator said on Thursday: 'Although the redress offered in the proposed Scheme will not provide fund investors with the full redress amount of 298million, the FCA considers it is in the interests of the investors to be given the opportunity to consider the Scheme.

'If the proposed redress amount of 235million is paid in full then investors will have recovered approximately 77p in the pound.

'There has already been a total of 2.56billion paid to investors since the suspension of the Fund from the distribution of proceeds from the sale of investments.'

Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: 'The FCAs investigation raised serious concerns about Link Fund Solutions management of the liquidity of the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

'LFSs actions appear to have caused significant losses for those investors who remained in the fund when it was suspended. We believe the proposed Scheme offers investors the best chance to obtain a better outcome than might be achieved by any other means and it is in the investors interests they be given the chance to consider it.

There are other parties under investigation in relation to the circumstances that led to the suspension of the Woodford's fund.

These investigations continue and they will consider any further failings which may have negatively impacted investors, the FCA said.

Woodford invested in risky early-stage and unlisted stocks, building exposure to 'illiquid' assets that surpassed regulatory standards and industry norms.

As investors panicked and pulled cash out, the fund was left unable to sell them fast enough to return the money, and was forced to suspend withdrawals entirely before ultimately collapsing.

When Link realised the extent of the problem, it closed the fund, selling the stocks and returning the money to investors.

But several sales were at a knockdown price, and some savers have lost huge sums after the fund was frozen in 2019.

Ryan Hughes, head of investment partnerships at AJ Bell, said: 'Some 1,417 days have passed since the suspension of the Woodford Equity Income fund and todays announcement from the FCA regarding financial redress due to the failings of the fund administrator, Link Fund Solutions, will come as significant relief for the thousands of investors who have been very patiently waiting for some form of compensation.'

He added: 'The scale of the financial redress is evident given that it effectively wipes out the UK Fund Solutions business.

'With a number of distributions having been made to investors over the past 3 years the redress payment should take the recovery level to around 77 per cent of the value of the fund on suspension, with a very small balance left in the few remaining unquoted companies that have still to be sold.

'While approval of this redress scheme with Link would close the case and liabilities against them, the FCA points out that this remains a live investigation with other parties remaining under investigation.

'As a result, the Woodford drama will drag on past the four year mark but many investors will no doubt be glad that significant progress now looks to have been made. While it will take some time for this redress process to complete and for payments to be made, investors are one step closer to being able to finally put this whole sorry episode to bed.'
StockNews.com began coverage on shares of International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM  Get Rating) in a report issued on Wednesday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock.

International Tower Hill Mines Stock Performance

Shares of International Tower Hill Mines stock opened at $0.56 on Wednesday. International Tower Hill Mines has a 52 week low of $0.38 and a 52 week high of $1.05.

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About International Tower Hill Mines

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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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By Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The two largest U.S. oil companies are road testing renewable gasoline blends that they say could bring down emissions from conventional autos to levels competitive with electric vehicles (EVs).

The fuels being promoted by Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, if made commercially available, potentially would extend the life of the gasoline market as part of the world's transition to cleaner fuels and electric vehicles.

"We really believe there has to be alternatives for the light duty vehicle," Chevron President of Americas Products Andy Walz said at an event on Wednesday to road test the fuel. "Electrification is not the only answer."

Chevron and Exxon disclosed in the past days test results from partnerships with automaker Toyota Motor Corp using renewable gasoline partially made from soybeans or other non-fossil feedstocks. The blends could be used by the existing U.S. car fleet and gas stations, the oil majors have said.

The tests came as U.S. President Joe Biden's administration last week proposed new pollution standards that could result in EVs accounting for up to two-thirds of U.S. light vehicle sales by 2032, according to government calculations.

Bringing the cost of these renewable gasoline blends to affordable levels would depend on supportive government policies, Exxon said. Chevron added it could be years before the renewable fuel could be available in pumps.

"We believe it is going to need government help to get up and running, and get scale," Walz said, referring to existing incentives such as those provided for biodiesel and renewable diesel.

The most efficient way to bring scale to renewable gasoline would be through a carbon price, but not all jurisdictions are ready for it, said Balaji Krishnamurthy, Chevron's vice president of strategy and sustainability.

The companies use different metrics to measure emissions. Exxon said its renewable gasoline could reduce emissions by as much as 75% compared to conventional gasoline on a life cycle basis. Chevron said its blend was more than 40% less carbon intensive than traditional gasoline, including the carbon intensity of manufacturing the vehicle.

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Jamie Freed)
FinecoBank Banca Fineco S.p.A. (OTCMKTS:FCBBF  Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,736,400 shares, a growth of 27.2% from the March 15th total of 6,870,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 87,364.0 days.

FinecoBank Banca Fineco Price Performance

FinecoBank Banca Fineco stock opened at $17.70 on Thursday. FinecoBank Banca Fineco has a one year low of $11.61 and a one year high of $17.70. The companys fifty day moving average price is $17.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.70.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of FinecoBank Banca Fineco from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of FinecoBank Banca Fineco in a research note on Monday, February 6th. They issued an underperform rating on the stock. UBS Group downgraded shares of FinecoBank Banca Fineco from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Barclays downgraded shares of FinecoBank Banca Fineco from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of FinecoBank Banca Fineco in a research note on Monday, March 27th. They issued an overweight rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $15.67.

FinecoBank Banca Fineco Company Profile

FinecoBank SpA engages in the provision of banking, trading, and investing solutions. It offers multicurrency accounts, payment cards, mortgages and loans, and financial consulting services. The company was founded by Emilio Gnutti in 1979 and is headquartered in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

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Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund (NYSEAMERICAN:EIM  Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 64,800 shares, a growth of 26.8% from the March 15th total of 51,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 144,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund Price Performance

Shares of Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund stock opened at $10.10 on Thursday. Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund has a one year low of $9.38 and a one year high of $11.27.

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Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Monday, April 24th will be given a $0.0354 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 21st.

Institutional Trading of Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund

Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund Company Profile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 20,535 shares of the companys stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,417,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund by 1.6% in the third quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 98,532 shares of the companys stock valued at $954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,574 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund by 9.3% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 55,786 shares of the companys stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 4,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund by 1.2% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 101,903 shares of the companys stock valued at $986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162 shares in the last quarter.

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Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund is a closed-ended investment fund. It has an objective of providing current income exempt from federal income tax including alternate minimum tax. The company was founded on August 30, 2002 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

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New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its position in shares of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR  Get Rating) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,530 shares of the network equipment providers stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Boards holdings in Juniper Networks were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Juniper Networks by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 31,014 shares of the network equipment providers stock worth $1,153,000 after buying an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,036,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 88,358 shares of the network equipment providers stock valued at $3,283,000 after acquiring an additional 16,513 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of Juniper Networks by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,510 shares of the network equipment providers stock valued at $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,694 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of Juniper Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,756,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.22% of the companys stock.

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Juniper Networks Stock Down 4.2 %

NYSE JNPR opened at $31.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of $10.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.95. Juniper Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $25.18 and a one year high of $37.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.24.

Juniper Networks Increases Dividend

Juniper Networks ( NYSE:JNPR Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The network equipment provider reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.65. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Juniper Networks had a return on equity of 10.91% and a net margin of 8.88%. Juniper Networkss revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Juniper Networks, Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 1st were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. This is an increase from Juniper Networkss previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Juniper Networkss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.64, for a total value of $27,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,536 shares in the company, valued at $843,703.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Juniper Networks news, Director Anne Delsanto sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.64, for a total value of $27,576.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,536 shares in the company, valued at $843,703.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rami Rahim sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.28, for a total value of $195,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 937,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,312,143.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,878 shares of company stock worth $1,920,541 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on JNPR. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Juniper Networks from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Juniper Networks from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Juniper Networks in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $34.87.

About Juniper Networks

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Juniper Networks, Inc engages in the business of designing, developing, and selling products and services for high-performance networks to enable customers to build networks for their businesses while achieving agility and improved operating efficiency through automation. The firm also offers routing, switching, Wi-Fi, network security, artificial intelligence-enabled enterprise networking operations, and software-defined networking technologies.

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Tobam grew its stake in shares of Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN  Get Rating) by 93.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,503 shares of the energy companys stock after purchasing an additional 3,617 shares during the period. Tobams holdings in Southwestern Energy were worth $44,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Southwestern Energy by 67.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 568,934 shares of the energy companys stock worth $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 229,458 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Southwestern Energy by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 249,745 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 73,557 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwestern Energy by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 55,453 shares of the energy companys stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 20,978 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwestern Energy by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 428,869 shares of the energy companys stock worth $2,509,000 after acquiring an additional 56,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Southwestern Energy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,200,048 shares of the energy companys stock worth $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 55,303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.26% of the companys stock.

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Southwestern Energy Stock Down 1.8 %

SWN opened at $5.03 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5.10 and a 200 day moving average of $5.87. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a PE ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.31. Southwestern Energy has a 12 month low of $4.60 and a 12 month high of $9.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Southwestern Energy ( NYSE:SWN Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 24th. The energy company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Southwestern Energy had a return on equity of 87.78% and a net margin of 12.32%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southwestern Energy will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SWN. Mizuho lowered shares of Southwestern Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Southwestern Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southwestern Energy from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Susquehanna reiterated a positive rating and issued a $7.50 price objective on shares of Southwestern Energy in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Southwestern Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $8.03.

Southwestern Energy Company Profile

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Southwestern Energy Co is a holding company, which engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). It operates through the Exploration and Production (E&P), and Marketing segments. The E&P segment includes operations in northeast Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and southwest Pennsylvania, The Marketing segment deals in the marketing and transportation of natural gas, oil and NGLs primarily produced in E&P.

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Resources Investment Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM  Get Rating) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,235 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 1,433 shares during the period. Resources Investment Advisors LLC.s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,762 shares of the companys stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Philip Morris International by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. now owns 35,760 shares of the companys stock worth $2,968,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth $200,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the 4th quarter worth $5,484,250,000. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Philip Morris International in the 3rd quarter worth about $263,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.85% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the stock from $109.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Societe Generale began coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. They issued a sell rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. One research 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.com, Philip Morris International presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $111.18.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.2 %

PM opened at $101.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $157.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.47, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.68. The companys 50 day moving average is $98.24 and its 200 day moving average is $97.33. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 11.22% and a negative return on equity of 127.24%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 23rd were issued a $1.27 dividend. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 22nd. Philip Morris Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.44%.

Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International

In other news, insider Stacey Kennedy sold 8,756 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.31, for a total value of $887,070.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 47,731 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,835,627.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 80,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total transaction of $8,028,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,007,048 shares of the companys stock, valued at $101,057,266.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stacey Kennedy sold 8,756 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.31, for a total transaction of $887,070.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 47,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,835,627.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 117,064 shares of company stock valued at $11,738,763. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Philip Morris International Company Profile

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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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First National Trust Co lessened its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB  Get Rating) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,598 shares of the companys stock after selling 323 shares during the period. First National Trust Cos holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Cowa LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,125,608 shares of the companys stock worth $3,277,796,000 after acquiring an additional 489,598 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,445,588 shares of the companys stock worth $670,678,000 after acquiring an additional 397,337 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,845,774 shares of the companys stock worth $320,264,000 after acquiring an additional 346,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,011,045 shares of the companys stock worth $115,664,000 after acquiring an additional 282,019 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.16% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Kimberly-Clark from a sell rating to a hold rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $122.00 to $123.00 in a report on Monday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $130.50.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $138.40 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $108.74 and a twelve month high of $144.53.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 264.67% and a net margin of 9.59%. The companys revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.18 per share. This represents a $4.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clarks previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 9th. Kimberly-Clarks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.52%.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

(Get Rating)

Kimberly-Clark Corp. engages in the manufacture and marketing of products made from natural or synthetic fibers. It operates through the following segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swim pants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, and other related products.

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First National Trust Co cut its holdings in shares of Capital One Financial Co. (NYSE:COF  Get Rating) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,536 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 102 shares during the period. First National Trust Cos holdings in Capital One Financial were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in Capital One Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Capital One Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Capital One Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV increased its position in Capital One Financial by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 450 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its stake in Capital One Financial by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 585 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.30% of the companys stock.

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Capital One Financial Stock Performance

Shares of COF opened at $99.30 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $37.86 billion, a PE ratio of 5.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $101.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.96. Capital One Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $86.84 and a 12-month high of $144.73.

Capital One Financial Announces Dividend

Capital One Financial ( NYSE:COF Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.81 by ($0.99). The firm had revenue of $9.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.07 billion. Capital One Financial had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 19.18%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Capital One Financial Co. will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 6th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. Capital One Financials payout ratio is currently 13.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens cut Capital One Financial from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and set a $79.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on Capital One Financial in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $120.00 to $104.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Capital One Financial from $152.00 to $141.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Capital One Financial from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $119.46.

About Capital One Financial

(Get Rating)

Capital One Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. The firm engages in the provision of financial products and services. It operates through the following segments: Credit Card, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking. The Credit Card segment includes domestic consumer and small business card lending, and international card lending businesses.

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Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW  Get Rating) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,344 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLCs holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $1,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Selway Asset Management acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Charles Schwab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Exos TFP Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.49% of the companys stock.

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Charles Schwab Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of SCHW stock opened at $55.55 on Thursday. The stocks fifty day moving average is $64.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.88. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.00 and a fifty-two week high of $86.63.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

Charles Schwab ( NYSE:SCHW Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.13 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 27.36% and a net margin of 34.82%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 9th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwabs previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Charles Schwabs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCHW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Charles Schwab from $89.00 to $65.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Charles Schwab in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Charles Schwab from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Charles Schwab from $83.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Charles Schwab currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $69.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, CEO Walter W. Bettinger acquired 50,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.31 per share, for a total transaction of $2,965,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 656,501 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $38,937,074.31. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, President Richard A. Wurster bought 2,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $54.39 per share, with a total value of $108,780.00. Following the purchase, the president now directly owns 101,391 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,514,656.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Walter W. Bettinger bought 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.31 per share, with a total value of $2,965,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 656,501 shares in the company, valued at $38,937,074.31. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 81,000 shares of company stock worth $4,706,960 and have sold 676,962 shares worth $53,960,539. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Charles Schwab

(Get Rating)

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.

Further Reading

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ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK  Get Rating) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,508 shares of the asset managers stock after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLCs holdings in BlackRock were worth $20,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 272.5% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 7,182 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $5,089,000 after acquiring an additional 5,254 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust increased its position in BlackRock by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 12,898 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $9,140,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the period. Windsor Group LTD acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 334,708 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $239,814,000 after purchasing an additional 26,299 shares during the period. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $741.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on BlackRock from $868.00 to $920.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on BlackRock from $840.00 to $780.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $829.00 to $861.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on BlackRock from $763.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $756.45.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

BlackRock Stock Performance

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.00, for a total transaction of $2,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 71,307 shares of the companys stock, valued at $49,629,672. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.00, for a total transaction of $2,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 71,307 shares of the companys stock, valued at $49,629,672. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 650 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $728.66, for a total value of $473,629.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,055 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,226,056.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,764 shares of company stock valued at $4,860,815. Insiders own 1.06% of the companys stock.

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $695.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $104.45 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $674.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $686.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $503.12 and a 12 month high of $785.65.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $7.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.71 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.24 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 28.13%. BlackRocks revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 34.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.00 per share. This is a boost from BlackRocks previous quarterly dividend of $4.88. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 6th. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. BlackRocks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.03%.

BlackRock Profile

(Get Rating)

BlackRock, Inc engages in providing investment management, risk management, and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide. Its products include single and multi-asset class portfolios investing in equities, fixed income, alternatives, and money market instruments. The company was founded by Susan L.

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To better serve existing clients and spur further growth in Atlantic Canada

MONTREAL, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - CIMA+, one of Canada's largest privately-owned consulting engineering firms, is pleased to announce the opening of an office in Halifax, at 302238A Brownlow Avenue, Dartmouth, NS. This new location, together with the company's other offices across Canada, will allow CIMA+ to better serve its existing clientele in all four Atlantic provinces, while pursuing its growth plans in that market.

CIMA+ Logo (CNW Group/CIMA+)

Despite having a strong client base and a core group of resources in the Atlantic region, CIMA+ had not yet opened an office there.

"Our potential for growth in Atlantic Canada is promising, with many large renewable energy projects in the works, along with utility upgrades, building retrofits and construction of new infrastructure," stated Denis Thivierge, President and CEO of CIMA+. "We are therefore pleased to formalize our presence in the region."

"We are very pleased to be involved on projects related to the Atlantic loop connecting the four provinces to hydroelectricity and other renewable sources, supporting the phasing out of coal-fired generation. The majority of our Atlantic clients are in the Energy and Resources sector, and we anticipate they will have growing needs in light of the planned infrastructure projects in the region." stated Steeve L'Heureux, Executive Vice President, Energy and Resources at CIMA+

"With our new permanent base in Halifax, our company will be able to contribute even more actively to the economic vitality of the Atlantic region," stated Jeff Hynes, Partner, Director, Energy and Resources at CIMA+. "After last year's opening of our third Atlantic office in Clarenville (Newfoundland and Labrador), we gained a taste of how promising the Atlantic market could be for CIMA+. Now, with our new base in the region's largest city, we look forward to further tapping into this unrealized growth potential."

Story continues

In conjunction with the opening of its Halifax office, CIMA+ has launched a campaign to recruit 10 new employees to support its growing operations in the region. With a mission to provide integrated services and effective solutions to our clients, working in a spirit of partnership and always striving for excellence, CIMA+ is an exceptional employer for professionals wishing to work for one of the largest consulting engineering firms in the country.

About CIMA+

CIMA+ provides a variety of consulting engineering services, namely in the areas of buildings, infrastructure, transportation, energy and resources, project management, communication systems, and the environment. With an ever-growing presence, CIMA+'s team relies on decades of experience acquired across Canada to offer excellence in engineering projects. The search for excellence has been part of our DNA since our foundation in 1990. This commitment has allowed CIMA+ to rank among the largest private consulting engineering firms in Canada. Today, with more than 30 offices across Canada, CIMA+ employs 2,800+ people, over half of whom share ownership in the company.

At CIMA+ we believe that engineering exists to improve the lives of those around us. Sustainable solutions inspired by engineering help meet the many challenges of today and tomorrow. Because when you engineer for people, you also engineer for a better world. For more information, please visit www.cima.ca.

SOURCE CIMA+

Cision

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BOISE, Idaho, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CWAN), ("Clearwater Analytics" or the "Company"), a leading provider of SaaS-based investment management, accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, will release financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 after the U.S. financial markets close on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

Clearwater Analytics (PRNewsfoto/Clearwater Analytics, LLC)

In conjunction with this announcement, Clearwater Analytics will host a conference call on May 4, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET through a live webcast available on the Company's investor relations website. Participants must visit investors.clearwateranalytics.com in advance to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Company's investor relations website, in addition to a press release related to the financial results, related financial tables, and the call transcript.

About Clearwater Analytics

Clearwater Analytics (NYSE: CWAN), a global, industry-leading SaaS solution, automates the entire investment lifecycle. With a single instance, multi-tenant architecture, Clearwater offers award-winning investment portfolio planning, performance reporting, data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, compliance, risk, and order management. Each day, leading insurers, asset managers, corporations, and governments use Clearwater's trusted data to drive efficient, scalable investing on more than $6.4 trillion in assets spanning traditional and alternative asset types. Additional information about Clearwater can be found at clearwateranalytics.com.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clearwater-analytics-to-announce-first-quarter-2023-financial-results-on-may-4-2023-301803495.html

SOURCE Clearwater Analytics, LLC
FILE PHOTO: Meta Platforms Inc's logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration picture

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan judge ruled on Thursday that Facebook's parent company Meta could be sued in Kenya, after 43 moderators at its Nairobi hub last month filed a lawsuit against the group and its local partner Sama for unfair termination.

In response, Judge Matthews Nduma issued an interim injunction against Meta and Sama preventing them from terminating the moderators' contracts, pending a judgment on the legality of their redundancy.

"The court finds that this court has jurisdiction to determine the matter of alleged unlawful and unfair termination of employment on grounds of redundancy," Nduma said on Thursday.

The moderators in the petition - who are now 184 in number - say they were fired in retaliation for complaints about working conditions and attempts to form a union.

"I do this work because I believe in protecting people," said Juanita Jones, a moderator in the petition.

"Moderation is the frontline defence of the internet  and it is time to value the work like it, not treat it as some disposable, dead-end job," Jones said.

The moderators say they were blacklisted from applying for the same roles at another outsourcing firm, Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors.

Meta, Sama and Majorel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

A Kenyan labour court in February ruled that Meta could be sued in the East African country after one former moderator at the Nairobi hub filed a lawsuit against it, alleging poor working conditions.

The cases could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally. The U.S. giant works with thousands of moderators around the world, tasked with reviewing graphic content posted on its platform.

(Reporting by Ayenat Mersie; Editing by Hereward Holland and Jan Harvey)
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Donald Andrews founded Vape City in 2013 and quickly noticed a skyrocketing interest in CBD products  tinctures, topicals, edibles and more  that contain cannibidiol, a non-psychoactive compound of the cannabis sativa plant used to treat anxiety, insomnia, pain and more. To meet demand, the entrepreneur expanded his knowledge of the market and opened Upstate CBD in 2019, which won the top spot in the Best CBD Store category.

There are currently two locations  one in Schenectady and another in Glenville  as well as a team that includes manager Renata Filiaci, who holds a master of science in health and wellness. The business keeps growing. Upstate CBD is now Upstate Canna Co. after Andrews was awarded a license to retail recreational marijuana. Upstate Canna Co. is the first shop in the Capital Region to sell cannabis at their Union Street location. Andrews hopes to eventually transform the Glenville location into a second dispensary.

More for you Here are your picks for the Best of the Capital Region

Q: What is Upstate Canna Co.'s mission?

A: Our mission is to provide quality, third-party lab-tested, NYS-grown CBD and THC products to deliver an alternative way of healing.

Q: What are some of your most popular products?

A: Honestly, everything but Id say gummies, flower, and cartridges.

Q: Why do you think the CBD market has grown so much over the last few years?

A: The cannabis market has grown over the last few years because we are now able to legally supply our customers with products that are regulated by cultivators and distributors. Its very important to provide quality CBD and THC to the public as it has been an underground market that many havent been able to access. We have a wide-ranged demographic coming in to try alternative routes for pain and inflammation relief and seeing a huge difference in their health.

Q: You are licensed to sell recreational marijuana and recently got the green light from the state. What are you looking forward to most and how do you think business will change?

A: We are looking forward to the growth within our business as well as meeting lots of new customers looking to purchase New York State-grown cannabis. It will bring a huge uptick in people, not only to our business, but hopefully the surrounding businesses in the Capital Region.

Q: Where do you see Upstate Canna Co. in 10 years?

A: Ten years is a very long time frame for our brains to wrap around but hopefully we have served the public as best as we can with expertise, quality, and compassion. We plan to have made a name for ourselves and be recognized throughout the Capital Region and (New York) state as a knowledgeable, reputable, and successful business. We want to continue to lower the stigma around THC, CBD and cannabis so that our surrounding communities understand different modalities of healing.
Boarding a plane for vacation? Youre flying out of Colonie. Running errands among the tri-city region of Albany, Schenectady and Troy? Youll likely drive through Colonie at least once.

Well before the sprawling, populous town became the reigning Best Suburb champion in our annual readers' poll, and not long after Henry Hudson began exploring the area, Colonie was established as the crossroads of the Capital Region. Its role in transportation is why the town seems inescapable. And, as town historian, Kevin Franklins job is to research, document and share the history and travel routes that made Colonie, well, Colonie.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did you come into the role of Colonies town historian?

A: Well, Im a lifelong resident of the town. I grew up here in the Latham area. I attended the North Colonie Central schools and graduated from Shaker High School in 1971. In 1973, at the age of 20, I became a police officer in the village of Menands. I stayed there until 2003. I became a historian in the village of Menands in 1986  My involvement with history probably comes from my mother, mostly. She was a collector of fine antiques, but she would go to different antique stores on a very limited budget  Sometimes I would go to different auctions with her. I kind of became fascinated with history  In 2003, Colonies long-time historian Jean Olton had some medical issues. She knew she couldn't keep up with things anymore  And at that time, I had 30 years with the police department, the last seven as chief of the department, and I was ready to do something else. I started soon after I retired in the fall of 2003.

More for you Here are your picks for the Best of the Capital Region

Q: What is the most common Colonie question you get?

A: There's a whole gamut. I'm not a genealogist, but I get a lot of questions (about ancestry). I've had people visit my office from as far away as Australia who trace their family's history back here to this area. When you look at the expansion of this country and the western expansion, especially the Erie Canal, the route along the Mohawk was the only natural break in the Appalachian Mountain chain across the eastern part of North America. So the Erie Canal literally opened up America  I enjoy speaking with people literally from all over the country from time to time. Again, because people made their way westward, I talk with people from California, Alaska, Texas, you name it.

Q: Why was present-day Colonie so appealing to early settlers?

A: With that question, literally you have to go back to when Henry Hudson sailed up to the river here in 1609  He was hired to seek a northern route across the top of the globe in order to conduct trade with Asia because the only other way for European nations to make it was either through trade routes over land which were prone to robbery or they sail all the way around Africa. It was a dangerous journey. A lot of times the ships left port but they never they never made it back. On Hudson's third voyage, he went against orders. He was supposed to sail north and west once he got to the area of North America again  Eventually, he sailed all the way up what they called the North River at that time 150 miles inland to the Albany area  And when Hudson found basically was a utopia, a virgin forest as far as the eye could see that was filled with fish, game and friendly Native Americans who were willing to conduct trade for whatever trinkets that management had on the ship.

Q: Why is Colonie so big? What caused the sprawl?

A: When (Dutch merchant) Kiliaen van Rensselaer came into attractive land, he purchased thousands of acres of land on the west side of the Hudson River (in the present-day Colonie area). ... Even today, in order to get to Troy from Schenectady, or Albany to Schenectady, Albany to Troy, you had to travel through the town of Colonie. Colonie became known as the crossroads of the Capital District.

The Loudon Road or today's Route 9 was laid out in 1756 to bring troops and supplies to Fort William Henry to try to drive the French out of the northern parts of New York, basically to drive them back into Canada. So, the Route 9 corridor became an important early road in the town  The Albany Airport is the nation's oldest commercial airport  I remember laying in my bed at home and listening to the difference between planes and then later on the jets came and they just reverberated through the whole area. The airport did help the growth of the town along with your other means of transportation  The first railroad north out of Albany came through what is now in the hands of Watervliet and Cohoes actually made its way up into Saratoga and then connected to another railroad over there.

Q: As a lifelong resident, why are some of your favorite things about living in Colonie?

A: The different hamlets that are in the town are still all part of Colonie, but they maintain their own little atmospheres. Theres diversity and it has a wonderful, wonderful history going back through the years. The town of Colonie sports some wonderful, wonderful complexes. One, of course, would be the Crossings park, which is a great, beautiful park. But one of the little gems in the town of Colonie is the Schuyler Flatts.
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ALBANY  A gravel-voiced drug dealer from Brooklyn told jurors in U.S. District Court on Thursday he repeatedly supplied a Schenectady businessman with $40,000 kilos of cocaine  only for the illicit ring to unravel when an elderly drug mule was stopped on the state Thruway.

Christopher Kelly, 56, a nail salon manager who has at least four felony convictions  including one that involved packages of cocaine being wrapped in Minnie Mouse wrap  recalled his astonishment when an SUV carrying an estimated 20 pounds of cocaine was stopped on the Thruway in Greene County on April 2, 2021.

"What was your reaction?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett asked Kelly.

Holy st, Kelly responded from the witness stand in the federal drug trial of Jeffrey Civitello Sr., 51, his son, Jeffrey Civitello Jr., 23 and Richard Sinde, 58, of Fort Lee, N.J.

Maybe its just a ticket, Sinde told him, he said.

But it was not. Police had stopped Robert Ingrao, now 76, of Lodi, N.J. whom they detained after investigators found the cocaine in a hidden compartment of the blue Jeep Cherokee, which belonged to the younger Civitello. Federal drug investigators had secretly placed a GPS device on the vehicle earlier in the year, to track its movements.

Prosecutors allege the Civitellos and Sinde, a reputed associate of the Bonanno crime family, conspired to move $600,000 worth of cocaine between New York City and Schenectady.

Kelly told jurors he has known the elder Civitello for almost a decade. Kelly said he was serving time in state prison when he forged a business partnership with a man named Phil to move marijuana through Schenectady. Kelly said Phil, who worked for Civitello, later died. But Kelly said he supplied Civitello with marijuana and cocaine, the latter of which he said he delivered maybe 10 times.

Prosecutors allege that on March 29, 2021 and March 31, 2021, Kelly delivered a total of six kilos of cocaine to Civitello, each worth $40,000. The other nine kilos were also worth $40,000 a piece, leading to the overall cost of $600,000.

Kelly testified that the younger Civitello instructed him on how to use the hidden compartment in the Jeep. Kelly, Sinde and Ingrao drove three separate cars back down the Thruway, according to Kelly, who said a state trooper stopped Sinde for speeding but let him go without a ticket. The next day, Kelly said he met Sinde in a parking lot in the Breezy Point section of Queens. Kelly said he loaded nine kilos of cocaine into the Jeep's hidden compartment. The next day, he testified, Ingrao was driving the SUV when it was stopped.

At the time of the alleged conspiracy, Kelly was facing sentencing in Manhattan for his role in a similar cocaine trafficking ring  the one involving the Minnie Mouse patterned-wrapped cocaine packages being moved in his Mill Basin neighborhood

Ingrao and Kelly have both pleaded guilty to charges in the Albany case; Ingrao is not cooperating with prosecutors.

Kelly, testifying in a white dress shirt and khaki slacks, explained that while in prison later in 2021 he instructed a family member to inform Civitello in a letter that he was not worried about being charged in a new case involving the alleged Brooklyn-to-Schenectady pipeline.

The letter was signed by Mr. Pickles, a moniker Kelly said he used to give the impression that he had a powerful drug partner.

To let (Civitello Sr.) know Im not named in the new case and Im OK, Kelly told Barnett.

Kellys criminal history includes being arrested in a sprawling cross-country marijuana case with his brother, John Kelly, that also included reputed members and associates of New Yorks five Mafia families. Kelly divulged his past, which includes drug dealing, use of cocaine and alcohol, as well as pre-paid phones to throw off investigators. He said he, Sinde and the elder Civitello threw away pre-paid phones after the traffic stop.

Kelly said he still met cocaine customers even as he was struggling with COVID-19. He said he lied to the customers and claimed he was virus free.

Kelly said he wanted to lessen the knowledge of others involved in the drug ring, such as Ingrao, by having Ingrao not be present at Civitellos property on Albany Street known as the yard.

Still, Kelly readily admitted that he brought his elderly mother and his daughter on treks to Schenectady in which he was trafficking cocaine. And Kelly, who said he experiences panic attacks, admitted that he has a very difficult time abiding by the law when he gets around cocaine  and even downplayed his ability as a trafficker.

Honestly, Im not the best drug dealer, Kelly admitted.

Under cross-examination by Sinde's attorney Stacey Richman, Kelly admitted that he has been planning to make money legally off marijuana in California through a pot farm.

Kelly claimed he was moving the drugs, in part, to help Sinde repay a $160,000 debt to a New York City-based drug supplier named "Abi" who he said also supplied him. James Knox, the attorney for the younger Civitello, questioned why Kelly did not know the man's last name or give it to prosecutors.

"I was trying to help Richard get out of debt," Kelly testified.

"Why would you pay another man's debt?" Knox pressed.

"People help each other," Kelly replied.

Kelly concluded his testimony later Thursday. The trial continues before U.S. District Judge Mae DAgostino on Friday.
The water was dark and cold, but more than 100 feet down in Long Island Sound, the divers could see about 10 yards around them at the gravelly sea floor.

They connected a reel to the line that ran up to the surface and began swimming against the current, knowing they only had one shot at finding their prize before the window awarded by the tides closed again. The water pressing against the special dry suits they wore hovered at 44 degrees, cold enough that hypothermia was a concern.

They swam for about 25 feet, and then the profile of the sunken submarine, buried under the waves for nearly 80 years, emerged from the gloom.

"Bam, there it was," recalled Steven Abbate, who dove off the coast of Old Saybrook, Connecticut to the wreck Sunday with co-diver Joe Mazraani.

Contributed/Joe Mazraani

The team, led by commercial diver Richard Simon located the Defender, a 92-foot-long submarine built by Simon Lake in 1907 at his Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Lake, a millionaire who Simon said was inspired by Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," tried unsuccessfully to sell the experimental craft to the U.S. Navy, according to Simon.

"The profile of the sub was absolutely amazing," Abbate said in a phone interview Thursday, recalling the discovery.

However, there was little time for he and Mazraani to celebrate.

The pair of divers made their way up from the seabed over the top of the vessel and toward what they later determined was the bow.

"As we were going to the bow, we were passing hatches," Abbate said, while Mazraani filmed and took photographs of the site.

He described the submarine as intact and sitting on the bottom, listing slightly to one side on the gravelly seabed. After exploring the bow, they made their way to the stern of the vessel.

"We didn't have much time at the bottom because your decompression is building the longer you dive," Abbate said.

"The Defender is completely intact sitting on the bottom. It's incredible," he added. "I can't wait for others to dive to the Defender and be as amazed as we were."

Contributed/Joe Mazraani

Lake was unable to get the Navy interested in Defender, which had previously been named "Lake" and "Simon Lake XV," according to the website NavSource Online. In 1929, the sub was re-fitted to work in salvage, but nothing came of it. The sub sat at the docks in New London before being abandoned on a mud flat at Old Saybrook.

In 1946, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers towed the boat into Long Island Sound and the sub either sank or was scuttled, according to Simon.

"Knowing the time period, knowing it was after World War II, we have all these excess ships sitting around, my guess is it was scuttled," he said. "We scuttled a lot of things in the ocean because, you know, for years, unfortunately, we used it as a dumping ground."

He became interested in the sub and assembled a crew to try and find the vessel. As it turned out, the vessel's location was charted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he said, only the wreck was marked as unidentified.

"No one knew what it was," Simon said. "So by being inquisitive and going and saying, 'Hey, let's check this out,' and having the capabilities, we were able to positively identify her."

Contributed/Jennifer Sellitti

The search team believes the vessel they found is the Defender based on the dimensions of the keel and the shape and location of the diving planes.

The group is now trying to learn more about the history of the vessel and hope to protect it.

Simon said the vessel was unique and ahead of its time, outfitted with wheels to traverse the bottom of the sea and a dive door for a diver to access the water.

During the dive, Simon drove his company's research vessel while Abbate and Mazraani dove to the site. He recalled watching "a little orange ball" in the fog in the middle of Long Island Sound waiting for news of the find.

The crew has kept the exact location and depth of the site under wraps, but the Associated Press reported the wreck is more than 150 feet down. That puts it out of the reach of most amateur divers, according to Simon.

"This isn't something that just anyone can go and visit and dive," he said. "You know, it's deep, it's dark, there's current. So that's a really important thing worth noting, and that's why we don't want everyone and their mother trying to go out there."

Simon said they're now trying to get the site protected by Connecticut authorities.

"This is all of our history," he said. "This isn't my wreck, it's all of our shipwreck and we all need to preserve it and be good stewards of it."

Contributed/Joe Mazraani

Simon got his start in commercial diving through his father. Shoreline Diving, the company he owns with his wife, mostly handles infrastructure projects like dams, and salvaging boats that sink in accidents. Maritime history and shipwrecks are his hobby. At 35, he said he's often the youngest person on a dive, and hopes he can inspire the next generation to take up an interest in diving.

Abbate, who owns a home inspecting business, said he got into diving more than a decade ago after his wife asked if he was interested. "I believe my wife had in mind the Caribbean and scuba diving," he said. But like Simon, he soon became interested in technical diving and diving on wrecks in the Long Island and Block Island sounds. He now dives out of a rigid inflatable boat, or "rib" that he takes out on the water.

Abbate turned 60 the day after they made the discovery.

"Ricky did promise me a better birthday present next year," he added, referring to Simon. "So things are yet to come. There's more discoveries to be made."
ALBANY  In high school, Matthew Robinson could often be found in his car, breaking up pounds of marijuana into dime bags and delivering them to customers while evading the police.

Now, 25 years later, Robinson is spearheading New Yorks first regulated cannabis delivery service through the delivery arm of his company Essential Flowers, Legacy Dispensers. Deliveries officially began on Thursday, April 20 (4/20), a day known worldwide for celebrating and consuming cannabis, in what the Albany native describes as a full circle moment.

New Yorks first retail recreational marijuana dispensary opened in Manhattan in December. The state also allows any retail location to deliver cannabis if the order is from a customer older than 21 (which is verified through identification) and prepaid through a banking routing number. As one of the first 36 conditional adult-use retail licensees, Robinson has plans to open a retail location as well, but it was easier to start the delivery business first.

Late last year, to assist retail in getting off the ground, New York opened a one-year window for proprietors to start delivery before opening their retail businesses. There are, however, licenses that are available for delivery-only shops.

A retail shop in New York City is the only one other location currently delivering cannabis products in New York.

As a Black man who had been arrested for cannabis possession after being targeted by police for two unlawful searches in Guilderland and Albanys South End, I understand the historical importance of our service and am proud to provide it to my neighbors and friends in the Albany area, Robinson said.

The earthy smell of fresh cannabis fills the space of his Albany warehouse, which is stocked with locally grown cannabis products including pre-rolled joints, blunts, flower, dime bags, vapes, drinks, tinctures, edibles and concentrates. Cannabis producers statewide traveled to the location, the address of which Robinson wants to keep low-key for security reasons, to celebrate the milestone and add their products to the menu.

Customers who have already lined up at Upstate Canna Co., the Capital Regions first recreational dispensary in Schenectady, might see some familiar names, such as Sugarhouse Farms, Adirondack Hemp Company, Canna Cure Farms, Juniper Jill and Marijuana Farms New York. Some new brands are making their official debut through the delivery service.

Justice Merkel, owner of Livingston County-based farm Starlit420, traveled four hours to supply the warehouse with his brands pre-rolls, wrapped up in space-themed packaging. For him, 4/20 marks the beginning of his brands transition to the retail space and, possibly, his first legal sale.

Ive been in the business since I was 14 and Ive been through the wringer as far as everything from being locked up to being robbed at gunpoint, Merkel said. Now that we have this opportunity, this full opportunity to sell our goods, it will be good for the whole community and if were able to keep all the business in New York instead of outside companies then well generate wealth for years to come.

Deliveries can be made to residents in Albany County and other nearby jurisdictions. Prices vary depending on the distance drivers must travel. The service is simple, but theres an added emphasis on security and employee safety. Delivery drivers and suppliers must check in through a window to have their identity verified before bringing their vehicles into the supply area. To start, there will always be two employees in each of the unmarked delivery cars. (The company has two cars but hopes to expand to 22.)

A secure lock box in the trunk will secure the products during delivery. When the drivers arrive, only one employee will exit the vehicle to complete the delivery. Unlike food delivery services like Grubhub or DoorDash, the delivery cannot be left at a customers doorstep. Instead, customers must have their IDs scanned and sign for the package.

The delivery service will operate 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Orders may be made through the companys website, called in or emailed with delivery inquiries. Because of federal guidelines against cannabis, electronic bank-to-bank payments, which require routing and banking numbers, are required to order. Cash is also prohibited due to security concerns for drivers.

As Robinson prepares to lead the charge on deliveries, he reflects on his convictions and said it has been a difficult adjustment becoming the face of a service that he and so many other people of color were once punished for. It was hard because you want me to come out and say Im selling weed and my whole life its been illegal. Ive been chased by police and older people who call you a drug addict and stuff like that, and now its legal. It took me time to ease in and get the feel of that because Ive never done it legally.

But, as he stood in front of cultivators and community members alike, Robinson felt right at home, beaming with gratitude. Cheers echoed in the warehouse as he and other team members cut the ribbon Thursday with members of the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce, cheering Happy 4/20 ahead of the first delivery.

At the chamber, we are a reflection of the community, were here to serve you and were happy to be working together with such a diverse business community, said Pete Bardunias, chamber senior vice president of community advancement. There are lots of new things happening in this world and were trying to be there right alongside you for all of it.
CLIFTON PARK  When Jenson Jacob arrived at Shenendehowa High School West to pick up his son, Alex, the 17-year-old autistic boy was being held face-down on the floor as blood dripped from the bridge of his nose.

The New York State Education Department is investigating whether the school violated regulations when it used a physical restraint on the boy, agency officials said. Physical restraints are used by some schools to prevent a student from hurting themselves or others in emergencies, but the controversial methods have also been associated with child and staff injuries and trauma.

Jacob and his wife, Rashmi Khedkar, said the Feb. 27 incident involved Shenendehowa High School Associate Principal Stephen Smith and a school monitor. Alex, who goes by the nickname Guddu, emerged from the incident with a bloodied nose, a bruised chest and an abrasion on his arm, they told police in a deposition. They also recounted the incident in an interview with the Times Union.

School records obtained by the Times Union describe a physical altercation initiated by Alex against multiple staff, resulting in the restraint of the boy. Alex, the student, is generally non-verbal and cannot describe what happened.

State Police investigated the incident and determined no crimes were committed, said Trooper Stephanie O'Neal, spokeswoman from Troop G.

Shenendehowa Central School District declined to answer any questions about the case.

"It would be grossly inappropriate for us to respond to any of the questions related to a student or staff member, as that information is prohibited in terms of confidentiality. Appropriate steps are in place pursuant to special education-related laws and regulations that afford parents a process of due diligence, and the district ensures that is the case," said district spokeswoman Kelly Barclay. "Additionally, any legal matters are handled in accordance with applicable laws and in full cooperation with law enforcement."

It was not the first time that police have investigated the injury of a child in a physical restraint in the district. In 2017, State Police examined an incident in which a middle schooler was allegedly restrained by a classroom aide resulting in injuries. No charges were filed and the case was closed, State Police said.

Recently, the district was directed by the state to conduct an internal investigation into the restraint of Alex and report its findings to the state, in addition to the state Education Department's separate probe, agency spokesman JP O'Hare said.

Earlier this year, the state found the district in violation of its obligation to "provide special education and related services to a student with a disability in accordance with the student's [individual education plan] and must make a good faith effort to assist the student to achieve the annual goals" in at least once instance, according to state records.The district was required to make "corrective action."

The Education Department also proposed this week placing new limits on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools, an action that was not related to the recent Shenendehowa case. The new rules could be finalized in July.

Lori Van Buren/Times Union

Jacob and Khedkar say the district has provided them with conflicting information about Alex's restraint in a meeting the day after the incident and in subsequent communications.

The couple said they were told their son "was being aggressive and ran into a wooden door," resulting in his injuries.

A report released by the school to the family a month after the incident describes the boy throwing items, putting a staff member in a "headlock," grabbing at the clothes of a second staff member and kicking and punching a third, according to a copy of the report. It states a staff member was injured, but does not specify how.

The school suspended Alex for five days due to his behavior.

Khedkar said she and her husband noticed increased signs of agitation and aggression in their son in recent months. Around the time her son's behavior was changing, his special education classroom had a mix of substitutes helping the students, until a new teacher took the job this winter, Khedkar said. Khedkar met with school officials in January to request a behavioral assessment and more classroom support for the boy. That request was denied by the school, Khedkar said.

Another educator interviewed by the Times Union confirmed Alex's classroom lacked a full-time teacher for months, leaving ill-prepared substitutes and aides to "babysit" the students.

"They treat them like animals," the educator said, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the school.

Another parent said the classroom experienced staff turnover, like many other workplaces, but they were not aware of anything irresponsible or inappropriate regarding the care for the students.

Jacob and Khedkar also allege staff involved in the incident were not trained in restraint maneuvers and continued to hold Alex in a prone restraint after he was calm, despite guidance that students should be released from restraints as soon as it is safe to do so. Restraints in the prone, or face-down, position are legal in New York, but banned in at least 37 states; the U.S. Department of Education recommends they should never be used due to the risk of restricting a child's breathing.

"All these years, he was never aggressive. This all started this year," said Khedkar, who is a special education aide at Shenendehowa High School East. "He loves to go school. ... Now after this incident, he has never uttered the word school."

Alex is currenly learning at home, Khedkar said.

Albany Times Union

A Times Union investigation published in October and based on more than 10,000 pages of school records found thousands of New York students, most often children with disabilities, have been physically restrained by staff members in K-12 schools in recent years. The methods are typically used as a last resort to respond to students who are having a behavioral crisis.

New York permits school staff members to use reasonable physical force on students, including various physical restraints intended to immobilize children in emergency situations in which a student or staff member is at risk of physical injury. Staff members can also restrain students to protect the property of the school, school district or others. The techniques also can be used to deal with a non-compliant student whose behavior is interfering with the orderly exercise and performance of school or school district functions, powers and duties.

Sometimes, trauma, injuries and on very rare occasions, death result from the incidents. In six school districts examined by the Times Union whose records included information on student or staff injuries, people were hurt in about 3 percent of restraint cases. Injuries included bruises, abrasions, bite marks, scratches, bloody noses and hurt ribs. In a few cases, ambulances were called.

Karin Brouillard said when her son Robert was restrained and injured in a Shenendehowa Central School District summer program in 2017, the case bore several similarities to Alex's. When Brouillard picked up her autistic, non-verbal son from school, he had four Band-aids on each arm, she said. An aide initially told her the 10 year old was picking at his arms. Later, it was revealed that this aide restrained the boy, leaving bruises and cuts on Robert's arms and a bump on his head, Brouillard said. The mother said she is still uncertain what prompted the restraint.

Contributed by Karin Brouillard

Brouillard said she was told her son was "violent," although the school had not raised previous concerns about his behavior.

The district terminated the aide and two other staff members involved in the incident, according to Brouillard. The district declined to confirm that information.

Three years later, the district called Brouillard to tell her Robert was restrained and injured again. The child emerged with bruises on his wrists and shins, Brouillard said. School staff said they didn't let Robert leave the room during a class and he threw a chair, Brouillard said. Brouillard pulled her son out of the district.
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IDABEL, Okla. (AP)  The widow of an Oklahoma man who died following a 2022 arrest filed a lawsuit Thursday against the rural sheriff who a newspaper says it caught on tape talking about killing journalists who were reporting on her husbands death.

Last March, outside the rural area of McCurtain County, Bobby Barricks death drew scant attention. The 45-year-old had died in a hospital days after deputies shocked him with a stun gun.

But the wrongful death lawsuit that Barbara Barrick filed in federal court Thursday comes as national attention is drawn on the county, more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, by a recording of local officials discussing killing journalists and lynching Black people.

Its been a hard year not knowing what happened to my husband, Barbara Barrick said during a Thursday news conference in front of the sheriff's office. She praised the persistent and brave efforts of local newspaper reporters to find out more about her husband's arrest and death.

Over the weekend, the McCurtain Gazette-News published recordings revealing County Commissioner Mark Jennings, Sheriff Kevin Clardy and deputies seeming to discuss killing reporters with the paper and hanging Black people.

The officials have not publicly addressed the content of the recordings, which prompted calls for their resignations, including from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Unfortunately, all of our attorneys are telling us we are supposed to stay quiet, Undersheriff Mike Manning told The Associated Press Thursday, declining further comment. Id love for everybody to hear both sides of the story.

The recorded comments from March 6 were captured after the paper's publisher, Bruce Willingham, says he left a recorder inside the room after a county commissioners meeting because he suspected the group was continuing county business after the meeting ended, in violation of the states Open Meeting Act. They included discussion of two or three hit men.

Willingham said he believed the officials were upset by stories weve run that cast the sheriffs office in an unfavorable light, including coverage of Bobby Barrick's death.

McCurtain County is in far southeast Oklahoma, in the forested foothills of the Ouachita mountains, bordering Arkansas and Texas. The part of the state is often referred to as Little Dixie, because of the influence in the area from white Southerners who migrated there after the Civil War, and Barbara Barrett's lawyer suggested Thursday that racial tension may have played a role in her husband's death.

Barrett was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation and his wife alleged in her lawsuit that the sheriff's staff have stated their resentment for members of the Native American community in a racial manner.

Barbara Barrick sued Clardy, three deputies and a state game warden, claiming they violated her husband's constitutional right and used excessive force during his arrest. The suit says the deputies found her husband hog tied on the ground outside a convenience store, where he'd been beaten by a crowd.

The deputies then handcuffed, beat and shocked Bobby Barrick, according to the suit, and deactivated their body cameras

The Gazette-News, a small newspaper with limited online presence, sued the sheriffs office last month, seeking body camera footage and other records of the arrest. On Thursday, the newspaper released the full recording of the meeting where officials threaten its reporters.

On Wednesday, Jennings resigned, according to Gov. Stitts office. The day before, the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association voted unanimously to suspend Clardy and two of his deputies.

In a post on the sheriffs office Facebook page on Tuesday, officials did not address the recorded conversation but claimed the recording was illegally obtained. Willingham said he twice spoke with his attorneys to be sure he wasn't doing anything illegal in making the recording.

None of the officials on the recording have responded to telephone calls or emails from the AP seeking comment.

___

Bleiberg reported from Dallas.
These 12 Capital Region employers were selected for recognition based on specific survey statement scores. Survey statements and an employee comment are included with each category.

DIRECTION

Survey statement: I believe this company is going in the right direction.

Ecovative Design

Employee quote: Management has a clear focus and very talented individuals to carry the goal forward.

Submitted by MJ Engineering and Land Surveying

MANAGERS

Survey statement: My manager helps me learn and grow; My manager cares about my concerns.

MJ Engineering and Land Surveying, PC

Employee quote: When I have a concern about my career path, or my work, I am able to sit down privately with my manager. My manager is understanding with my wants and concerns and I leave the talk feeling better about the situation.

Lori Van Buren/Times Union

NEW IDEAS

Survey statement: New ideas are encouraged at this company.

Jahnel Group, Inc.

Employee quote: Regardless of your position, new ideas are accepted, embraced and implemented if the team agrees it is a good idea.

Provided by Policy Research Associates.

DOERS

Survey statement: At this company, we do things efficiently and well.

Policy Research Associates, Inc.

Employee quote: Our company intentionally prioritizes  life-work integration and maintaining a diverse, well staff. Employees are valued as individual people and PRA creates a flexible, person-first purposeful work environment.

Jim Franco/Times Union

MEANINGFULNESS

Survey statement: My job makes me feel like I am part of something meaningful.

The Spotted Zebra Learning Center

Employee quote: Seeing progress in the children that we work with makes this job meaningful.

Will Waldron/Times Union

VALUES

Survey statement: This company operates by strong values.

Center for Internet Security (CIS)

Employee quote: "The CIS Cares organization blows me away with its contributions to our community.  CIS' commitment to providing services to the under-served is another great example of the strong values present in our business practices and decisions."

Provided

CLUED-IN SENIOR MANAGEMENT

Survey statement: Senior managers understand what is really happening at this company.

Empire BlueCross

Employee quote: The directors are involved and engaged in all aspects of their departments - they show this by being available to the associates who report up thru them.

COMMUNICATION

Survey statement: I feel well-informed about important decisions at this company.

Home Instead

Employee quote: I value most being informed about the client assessment so I can better do my job.

Jim Franco/Times Union

APPRECIATION

Survey statement: I feel genuinely appreciated at this company.

Capital Cardiology Associates

Employee quote: Good communication with top management and physicians makes me feel appreciated at this company.

Provided by LA Group

WORK/LIFE FLEXIBILITY

Survey statement: I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life.

The LA Group Landscape Architecture and Engineering, P.C.

Employee quote: My company provides flexibility for remote working and summer hours.

Steve Jacobs / Times Union

TRAINING

Survey statement: I get the formal training I want for my career

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Employee quote: The mentorship program and supervisory classes are the formal training that Ive found most valuable.

Provided by HANYS

BENEFITS

Survey statement: My benefits package is good compared to others in this industry.

HANYS (Healthcare Association of NYS)

Employee quote: The 401K match, health insurance premium contribution, and paid time off are the benefits I find most valuable.
(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG banker Alois Mueller is retiring from the Swiss lender, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Mueller, most recently head of Credit Suisses private markets group in Asia Pacific and co-chair of its global private equity investment committee, plans to leave the firm at the end of April, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. He may pursue other job opportunities after a career break, the people said.

Mueller, who started his career in Switzerland and counts more than 35 years of banking experience in Europe and Asia, is likely to remain based in Hong Kong, they added.

A representative for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

He joined Credit Suisse more than six years ago in Zurich, and relocated to Hong Kong in 2021 to help lead the banks private and alternative markets business in the region, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He was previously a managing director and head of north Asia at Rothschilds wealth management business, and prior to that worked at UBS Group AG for more than 20 years in Zurich and Hong Kong.

Muellers departure follows other senior resignations at Credit Suisse in recent weeks. Those include Lim Zi-Kuan, until recently head of mergers and acquisitions for Southeast Asia, and whos joining Deutsche Bank AG as its co-head of M&A for Asia, Bloomberg News has reported. Bankers at Credit Suisse are facing a period of uncertainty after the lender was forced into a deal with larger rival UBS in March.

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Anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr has launched his longshot bid to challenge US President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination next year.

Mr Kennedy, a member of one of the countrys most famous political families who has in recent years been linked to some far-right figures, kicked off his campaign in Boston on Wednesday and likened his campaign to the American revolution.

My mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country, Mr Kennedy said.

Self-help author Marianne Williamson is also running for the Democratic nomination.

Mr Biden has said he is planning on running again but has not formally announced a campaign.

He is expected to have a glide path to the nomination, with much of the Democratic establishment behind him.

Mr Kennedy is a nephew of President John F Kennedy and the son of his brother Robert F Kennedy, both of whom he repeatedly referenced during his lengthy speech.

He was once known most as an environmental lawyer who worked on issues such as clean water.

But over the past nearly two decades, he has become one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine movement.

Mr Kennedys work has been described by members of his own family and public health experts as misleading and dangerous.

His efforts intensified after the pandemic and development of the Covid-19 vaccine, and an Associated Press (AP) investigation in 2021 showed he had linked up with anti-democratic figures and other groups.

He has appeared at events pushing the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and with people who cheered or downplayed the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

A photo posted on Instagram showed Mr Kennedy backstage at a July 2021 Reawaken America event with former president Donald Trumps ally Roger Stone, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and anti-vaccine profiteer Charlene Bollinger.

All three have promoted the lie about the 2020 election being stolen.

Mr Kennedy has been a guest on Infowars, the channel run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and on the War Room podcast hosted by longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, where he promoted his bestselling 2021 book, The Real Anthony Fauci, in which he accused the USs top infectious disease doctor of participating in a historic coup detat against Western democracy.

The AP documented how Mr Kennedy and his anti-vaccine group, Childrens Health Defence, had capitalised on the Covid-19 pandemic  raking in funding and followers in the US and abroad, and doubling its revenue from 2019 to 2020.

Researchers have found that the group is among the most influential spreaders of anti-vaccine misinformation, and the AP found traffic to its website had soared.

In the second year of the pandemic, Childrens Health Defence continued its huge growth, according to a more recent filing with charity regulators in California.

Revenue more than doubled from seven million dollars in 2020 to 16 million dollars in 2021.

Facebook and Instagram removed the accounts of Childrens Health Defence for spreading misinformation.

Mr Kennedy has repeatedly invoked Nazis and the Holocaust when talking about measures aimed at mitigating the spread of Covid-19, such as mask requirements and vaccine mandates.

He has apologised for some of those comments, including when he suggested that people in 2022 were worse off than Anne Frank, the teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp after hiding with her family in a secret annex in an Amsterdam house for two years.
One third of Irish higher education students surveyed say they are now experiencing serious or very serious financial problems.

Over 21,000 students attending higher education institutions were surveyed as part of the report, published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) .

Approximately 33 percent of the total student population say that they are experiencing serious (or very serious) financial problems.

In the last Eurostudent report, 26 percent of the total student population reported serious financial difficulties.

Accommodation is the largest single expenditure which accounts for around 35 percent of all expenditure, and the average spend on accommodation was 469 (up from 415 in the last Eurostudent report).

Overall, approximately 32 percent of all students indicated that they have a disability, compared with 25 percent in the previous Eurostudent report. A higher level of disability is noted for full-time students than part-time students. The most commonly reported disability is mental health problems.

Dr. Vivienne Patterson, Head of Skills, Engagement and Statistics said: "The release of todays Eurostudent 8 report enables the student voice on finances, accommodation, workload and well-being to be heard.

"This report gives timely and crucial insights into the profile and well-being of our students, including their financial wellbeing, mental health, and the legacy left by Covid-19 on students sense of belonging within their higher education institutions. We would like to thank all those students who participated in the survey, enabling institutions and policy makers to develop a deeper awareness of the challenges faced by todays students, and to ensure that critical supports are in place and deployed effectively," Dr Patterson said.

Labour Senator and spokesperson on Further and Higher Education Annie Hoey has accused Minister Simon Harris of spending too much time on spin and not enough on solutions for hard pressed students throughout the country.

Responding to the survey, Senator Hoey said since the new Department was created, those experiencing serious financial difficulties has surged from 26% to 33%.

Senator Hoey said: "The enormous financial burden of attending further and higher education is well known however it is deeply concerning to learn that things are getting worse, not better, for students despite the newly created Department for Further and Higher Education. Its nothing short of an absolute failure of politics and political will that in the most intense cost of living crisis in recent history.

"As the survey shows, accommodation is clearly the greatest cost for many students. Time and again we have urged this Government to provide better, affordable, purpose built student accommodation, not the unaffordable, luxurious apartments the construction industry continues to pursue. Its the property gold rush of our times and students are the ones paying the ultimate price.

We also know through constant engagement with student representatives that many third level institutions are raising prices of college-owned student accommodation, citing general cost of living excuses. It is completely unacceptable to expect students and their families to pay between double and triple the annual college fee upfront for student accommodation.

"We are coming close to the time of year when panic around student housing sets in. These private student housing providers are manipulating students and especially their parents who want to ensure that their children are in good quality accommodation when they move away for college. Students should not have to spend their entire summer struggling to find an affordable option for accommodation but should be taking time to get ready for the academic year ahead. They, like all renters, deserve certainty of tenancy and affordability.

Minister Harris needs to present himself to Committee to outline his plans for students for the forthcoming academic year. Many further and higher education students are currently undertaking their summer exams. Rather than leaving them panic with deep uncertainty for the summer months, Labour is calling on Minister Harris to outline in detail what supports will be made available and what action he will take to ease the cost of education in Ireland today," Senator Hoey said.
[April 19, 2023] Fortanix to Showcase Industry-Leading Data Security Technology at RSA Conference 2023

Fortanix Inc., the data-first multicloud security company and the pioneer of Confidential Computing, today announced it will have an expanded presence at the RSA 2023 Conference in San Francisco. In addition to cutting-edge demos highlighting some of the latest advances in data security, Fortanix will host 15 sessions from global companies including customers at the Fortanix booth during the conference expo hours Monday-Thursday. "We are thrilled to expand our presence at the seminal event of the cybersecurity industry. As we return from the pandemic, we're seeing renewed interest from customers and partners to meet in person, and we're taking full advantage of that," said Shashi Kiran, CMO of Fortanix. "This year, we're thrilled to host 15 power-packed and informative sessions on various topics related to data security, with industry leaders from Microsoft, Google, SAP, Intel, Imperva, KeyFactor and others speaking at the Fortanix booth. For anyone interested in how to secure data against breaches and ransomware while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements, the Fortanix booth No. 449 is the must-stop booth at RSA." WHAT: RSA Conference 2023 WHEN: April 24-27 WHERE: Moscone Center, 747 Howard St, San Francisco, Booth No. 449 EVENT DETAILS: Data security remains top-of-mind for CIOs, CISOs and CEOs in general, as breaches and ransomware attacks are compromising privacy and impacting regulatory compliance. This impacts companies of all sizes, and no industry is immune from it. Industries that deal with regulated data are the most exposed to both attacks and penalties. Fortanix invites all to visit booth No. 449 at RSA Conference 2023, located in the South Hall of Moscone Center, to hear from security thougt leaders and practitioners from Fortanix, Intel, Microsoft, Imperva and several others.



These talks will cover a variety of topics and include sessions such as: Enabling the Azure Confidential Cloud by Microsoft

Why organizations shouldn't choose between monitoring and encryption by Imperva

Protecting sensitive data with deep visibility by Imperva

Controlling keys and data with SAP and Fortanix by SAP

Post-Quantum for PKI and the Usage of HSM by KeyFactor

Confidential Computing with Intel and Fortanix by Intel

Google External Key Management by Google Following each session, one attendee will win a Nintendo Switch, sponsored by Intel - 15 chances to win in total.

In addition, Fortanix executives will provide an introduction to the flagship Fortanix Data Security Manager (DSM), as well as the new completely free DSM Explorer offering, in addition to a focus on solution areas that are top-of-mind with customers, including key management, tokenization, secrets management, code signing, and more for multi-cloud SaaS and on-premises deployments. Brand New Book on Securing Web3 Infrastructure Fortanix will also distribute digital copies of the brand-new book "Securing Web3 Infrastructure," rated as the No. 1 release in multiple categories on Amazon. Authored by Pralhad Deshpande, Ph.D., the book discusses the intersection of enterprise-grade Confidential Computing and Web3. Additionally, Fortanix will have a giant Plinko game at its booth and will give away Apple AirPods to each attendee that schedules a meeting with a Fortanix representative. For more information on the sessions please visit: https://resources.fortanix.com/join-fortanix-at-rsa-conference-2023 Additional Resources - Fortanix announces partnership with Imperva to provide end-to-end data security

- Blog: Top 5 reasons to meet with Fortanix at RSA 2023 About Fortanix Fortanix secures data, wherever it is. Fortanix's data-first approach helps businesses of all sizes to modernize their security solutions on-premises, in the cloud and everywhere in between. Enterprises worldwide, especially in privacy-sensitive industries like healthcare, fintech, financial services, government, and retail, trust Fortanix for data security, privacy and compliance. Fortanix investors include Goldman Sachs, Foundation Capital, Intel Capital, In-Q-Tel, Neotribe Ventures and GiantLeap Capital. Fortanix is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA. For more information, visit https://www.fortanix.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005962/en/

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[April 19, 2023] TLPFY INVESTOR ALERT: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Teleperformance SE and Announces Opportunity for Investors with Substantial Losses to Lead the Teleperformance Class Action Lawsuit

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit seeking to represent purchasers or acquirers of Teleperformance SE (OTC: TLPFY) American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between July 29, 2020 and November 9, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Captioned City of Warren General Employees' Retirement System v. Teleperformance SE, No. 23-cv-0181 (D. Idaho), the Teleperformance class action lawsuit charges Teleperformance and certain of its top executives with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If you suffered substantial losses and wish to serve as lead plaintiff, please provide your information here: https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases-teleperformance-se-class-action-lawsuit-tlpfy.html You can also contact attorney J.C. Sanchez of Robbins Geller by calling 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Lead plaintiff motions for the Teleperformance class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than June 20, 2023. CASE ALLEGATIONS: Teleperformance is a provider of outsourced omnichannel customer experience management services and related digital services. Teleperformance's services include content moderation for social media platforms, such as TikTok. As the Teleperformance class action lawsuit alleges, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Teleperformance's growth in Core Services and Digital Integrated Business Services, which included content moderation services, had been achieved, in part, by requiring it content moderators to engage in inappropriate, traumatic, abusive, and potentially criminal activities; (ii) certain Teleperformance social content moderators had been trained with materials which included illicit images of child sexual exploitation; (iii) contraband images had been included in Teleperformance Daily Required Reading reports for its content moderation staff; (iv) Teleperformance had failed to safeguard child sexual abuse material and had potentially violated strict rules governing the handling of such materials, including rules relating to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; (v) Teleperformance had failed to provide adequate training or emotional and psychological support to content moderators exposed to egregious materials, including those exposed to extreme graphic violence and sexual images; (vi) Teleperformance had imposed unreasonable time and performance targets that compounded the occupational trauma suffered by its content moderators; and (vii) Teleperformance had failed to implement or maintain the working conditions represented to investors, including by subjecting Teleperformance's content moderation workers to widespread occupational trauma without psychological support, and with paltry pay, punitive salary deductions, extensive surveillance, and aggressive union-busting tactics.



On August 4, 2022, Forbes published an article entitled "TikTok Moderators Are Being Trained Using Graphic Images Of Child Sexual Abuse," revealing that Teleperformance had subjected its workers to unconscionable working conditions, including being "shown uncensored, sexually explicit images of children." On this news, the price of Teleperformance ADRs fell by nearly 5%. Then, on November 9, 2022, Time reported that "Colombia's Ministry of Labor has launched an investigation into TikTok subcontractor Teleperformance, relating to alleged union-busting, traumatic working conditions and low pay." On this news, the price of Teleperformance ADRs declined nearly 19%, further damaging investors.

The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud. You can view a copy of the complaint by clicking here. THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS: The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased or acquired Teleperformance ADRs during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff of the Teleperformance class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Teleperformance class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Teleperformance class action lawsuit. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Teleperformance class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. ABOUT ROBBINS GELLER: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world's leading complex class action firms representing plaintiffs in securities fraud cases. The Firm is ranked #1 on the most recent ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report for recovering more than $1.75 billion for investors in 2022 - the third year in a row Robbins Geller tops the list. And in those three years alone, Robbins Geller recovered nearly $5.3 billion for investors, more than double the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs' firm. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the largest plaintiffs' firms in the world and the Firm's attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history, including the largest securities class action recovery ever - $7.2 billion - in In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. Please visit the following page for more information: https://www.rgrdlaw.com/services-litigation-securities-fraud.html Attorney advertising.

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Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419006058/en/

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[April 19, 2023] SenseAuto Empowers Nearly 30 Mass-produced Models Exhibited at Auto Shanghai 2023 and Unveils Six Intelligent Cabin Products

SHANGHAI, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition ("Auto Shanghai 2023"), themed "Embracing the New Era of the Automotive Industry," has been held with a focus on the innovative changes in the automotive industry brought about by technology. SenseAuto, the Intelligent Vehicle Platform of SenseTime, made its third appearance at the exhibition with the three-in-one product suite of intelligent cabin, intelligent driving, and collaborative cloud, showcasing its full-stack intelligent driving solution and six new intelligent cabin products designed to create the future cabin experience with advanced perception capabilities. Additionally, nearly 30 models produced in collaboration with SenseAuto were unveiled at the exhibition, further emphasizing its industry-leading position. At the Key Tech 2023 forum, Prof. Wang Xiaogang, Co-founder, Chief Scientist and President of Intelligent Automobile Group, SenseTime, delivered a keynote speech emphasizing that smart autos provide ideal scenarios for AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to facilitate closed-loop interactions between intelligent driving and passenger experiences in the "third living space", which presents endless possibilities. SenseAuto empowers nearly 30 mass-produced models showcased at Auto Shanghai 2023

In 2022, SenseAuto Cabin and SenseAuto Pilot products were adapted and delivered to 27 vehicle models with more than 8 million new pipelines. These products now cover more than 80 car models from over 30 automotive companies, confirming SenseAuto's continued leadership in the industry. In the field of intelligent driving, SenseAuto has established mass-production partnerships with leading automakers in China, such as GAC and Neta. At the exhibition, SenseAuto showcased the GAC AION LX Plus, which leverages SenseAuto's stable surround BEV (Bird 's-Eye-View) perception and powerful general target perception capabilities to create a comprehensive intelligent Navigated Driving Assist (NDA) that is capable of completing various challenging perception tasks. The Neta S, another exhibited model at the show, is also equipped with SenseAuto's full-stack intelligent driving solution which provides consumers with a reliable and efficient assisted driving experience in highway scenarios. In the field of intelligent cabin, SenseAuto is committed to developing the automotive indutry's most influential AI empowered platform with the aim of providing extremely safe, interactive, and personalized experiences for users. The NIO ES7 model exhibited supports functions such as driver fatigue alerts, Face ID, and child presence detection. SenseAuto's cutting-edge visual AI technology has boosted the accuracy of driver attention detection by 53% in long-tail scenarios, and by 47% in complex scenarios involving users with narrow-set eyes, closed eyes, and backlighting.



The highly anticipated ZEEKR X model showcased features from SenseAuto's groundbreaking intelligent B-pillar interactive system, a first-of-its-kind innovation that allows for contactless unlocking and entry. Other models on display that boast SenseAuto's cutting-edge DMS (Driver Monitoring System) and OMS (Occupant Monitoring System) technologies include Dongfeng Mengshi 917, GAC's Trumpchi E9, Emkoo, as well as the M8 Master models. Moreover, HiPhi has collaborated with SenseAuto on multiple Smart Cabin features and Changan Yida is equipped with SenseAuto's health management product, which can detect various health indicators of passengers in just 30 seconds, elevating travel safety to new heights. Six Innovative smart cabin features for an intelligent "third living space"

SenseAuto is at the forefront of intelligent cabin innovations, with multi-model interaction that integrates vision, speech, and natural language understanding. SenseTime's newly launched "SenseNova" foundation model set, which introduces a variety of foundation models and capabilities in natural language processing and content generation, such as digital human, opens up numerous possibilities for the smart cabin as a "third living space".

SenseAuto presented a futuristic demo cabin at Auto Shanghai 2023, featuring an AI virtual assistant that welcomes guests and directs them to their seats. In addition, SenseTime's latest large-scale language model (LLM), "SenseChat", interacted with guests and provided personalized content recommendations. The "SenseMirage" text-to-image creation platform has also been integrated with the exhibition cabin for the first time. With the help of SenseTime's AIGC (AI-Generated Content) capabilities, guests can enjoy a fun-filled travel experience with various styles of photos generated for them. At the exhibition, SenseAuto unveiled six industry-first features including Lip-Reading, Guard Mode, Intelligent Rescue, Air Touch, AR Karaoke and Intelligent Screensaver. With six years of industry experience, SenseAuto has accumulated to date a portfolio of 29 features, of which, over 10 are industry-firsts. SenseNova accelerates mass-production of smart driving

SenseAuto is revolutionizing the autonomous driving industry with its full-stack intelligent driving solution, which integrates driving and parking. The innovative SenseAuto Pilot Entry is cost-effective solution that uses parking cameras for driving functions. SenseAuto's parking feature supports cross-layer parking lot routing, trajectory tracking, intelligent avoidance, and target parking functions to fulfill multiple parking needs in multi-level parking lots. SenseNova has enabled SenseAuto to achieve the first domestic mass production of BEV perception and pioneer the automatic driving GOP perception system. SenseAuto is proactively driving innovation in the R&D of autonomous driving technology, leveraging SenseTime's large model system. Its self-developed UniAD has become the industry's first perception and decision intelligence integrated end-to-end autonomous driving solution. The large model is also used for automated data annotation and product testing, which has increased the model iteration efficiency by hundreds of times. SenseAuto's success is evident in its partnerships with over 30 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 ecosystem partners worldwide. With plans to bring its technology to over 31 million vehicles in the next few years, SenseAuto is leading the way in intelligent vehicle innovation. Leveraging the capabilities of SenseNova, SenseAuto is poised to continue riding the wave of AGI and enhancing its R&D efficiency and commercialization process towards a new era of human-vehicle collaborative driving. About SenseTime: https://www.sensetime.com/en/about-index#1 About SenseAuto:

https://www.sensetime.com/en/product-business?categoryId=1095&gioNav=1 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/senseauto-empowers-nearly-30-mass-produced-models-exhibited-at-auto-shanghai-2023-and-unveils-six-intelligent-cabin-products-301801980.html SOURCE SenseTime

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[April 19, 2023] Digitalisation and sustainability in advanced manufacturing to be key focus at Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC 2023

The sixth edition of the region's leading advanced manufacturing event returns with over 300 exhibitors at Singapore EXPO from 18  20 October 2023 SINGAPORE, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC (ITAP), an event of Constellar with international partner Deutsche Messe, returns to Singapore EXPO from 18  20 October 2023. The three-day event is the premier platform for global Industry 4.0 leaders and solution providers to forge deeper engagements with new and existing markets, as well as for key players in the region and stakeholders across the value chain to develop future-ready opportunities for sustainable business growth. Focusing on new trends and solutions in advanced manufacturing, the event will spotlight innovations in Green Factory solutions that will help the manufacturing industry reduce carbon emissions on its journey to Net Zero. It will also feature new developments in Intelligent Machine Tools & Engineered Parts that are integrated with the latest AI technology and designed to improve productivity through process automation. These two new pillars are part of the event's six key exhibitor profiles, which include Additive Manufacturing, Digitalisation, Industrial Automation and Smart Lgistics & Supply Chain.



Last year's ITAP was the first fully-physical edition post-Covid, attracting over 15,000 visitors from 76 countries and regions with more than 35% of its attendees being C-level executives and key decision makers in the industry. This year, ITAP will host more than 300 exhibitors and over 18,000 attendees across 20,000sqm of immersive experiences at Singapore EXPO, including international pavilions, networking areas and product showcases.

Delegates and trade visitors can enjoy guided tours highlighting the latest advanced manufacturing innovations, as well as expanded opportunities for networking and discovery through engagements such as the International Connect Platform, facilitated business matching sessions, and an innovation stage that will be the launching pad for more than 20 new products. ITAP 2023 will also host the Industrial Transformation Forum featuring global business leaders in key industry sectors. Across two conference days, key topics across Sustainability, Optimising Manufacturing Efficiency and Supply Chain Resilience will be addressed. The Future of Manufacturing Summit (FoM) & Roundtable will also return at ITAP 2023 to support industry efforts in encouraging greater receptivity and adoption of Industry 4.0. Leading up to the main event in October, Constellar will be hosting ITAP 2023 engagements in key sectors around the region  Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia  where Industry 4.0 adoption will be pivotal to accelerating economic growth. ITAP 2023 is strongly supported by industry and government partners including Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Economic Development Board (EDB), Enterprise Singapore (ESG), JTC Corporation (JTC), SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) along with their regional counterparts, as well as global industry leaders and key players in the region's business ecosystem. A round up of facts and figures about last year's ITAP can be found here. If you'd like to attend ITAP 2023, click here to register your interest. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/digitalisation-and-sustainability-in-advanced-manufacturing-to-be-key-focus-at-industrial-transformation-asia-pacific-2023-301802508.html SOURCE Constellar

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It's not a stretch to say that CSC Holdings Limited's (SGX:C06) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" for companies in the Construction industry in Singapore, where the median P/S ratio is around 0.4x. However, investors might be overlooking a clear opportunity or potential setback if there is no rational basis for the P/S.

Check out our latest analysis for CSC Holdings

What Does CSC Holdings' P/S Mean For Shareholders?

Revenue has risen at a steady rate over the last year for CSC Holdings, which is generally not a bad outcome. One possibility is that the P/S is moderate because investors think this good revenue growth might only be parallel to the broader industry in the near future. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's not quite in favour.

Although there are no analyst estimates available for CSC Holdings, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The P/S Ratio?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should be matching the industry for P/S ratios like CSC Holdings' to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 6.1% gain to the company's revenues. Still, lamentably revenue has fallen 17% in aggregate from three years ago, which is disappointing. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 19% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this in mind, we find it worrying that CSC Holdings' P/S exceeds that of its industry peers. Apparently many investors in the company are way less bearish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock right now. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent revenue trends is likely to weigh on the share price eventually.

Story continues

What Does CSC Holdings' P/S Mean For Investors?

While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.

Our look at CSC Holdings revealed its shrinking revenues over the medium-term haven't impacted the P/S as much as we anticipated, given the industry is set to grow. When we see revenue heading backwards in the context of growing industry forecasts, it'd make sense to expect a possible share price decline on the horizon, sending the moderate P/S lower. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, investors will have a hard time accepting the share price as fair value.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for CSC Holdings (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you need to be mindful of.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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[April 19, 2023] Penta Security Demonstrates Web Application Security and IAM Solutions at Penta Security Tech Day in Vietnam

SEOUL, South Korea, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Penta Security Systems, a leading cybersecurity provider in Asia-Pacific, joined its partner NTS Hanoi in Vietnam to co-host Penta Security Tech Day on April 11 and 14, where it showcased the latest feature updates on its long-time best sellers, WAPPLES and iSIGN+, to local partners, distributors, and customers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Following the pandemic, East Asia continues its transition to digital technologies at an unprecedented pace, with the use of web applications now reaching every aspect of life. Due to this rapid adoption rate, businesses now face a growing challenge in securing applications and enterprise accounts. Penta Security helps businesses overcome these new challenges with its web application security and authentication solutions. With the largest market share in Asia-Pacific, WAPPLES is a next-generation web application firewall (WAF) and web application and API protection (WAAP) solution designed to effectively protect websites and APIs from the latest OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities. Its patented COCEP detection engine utilizes logic-based rules to filter malicious traffic, resulting in a nea-zero false positive rate.



To enhance account security, iSIGN+ is an appliance-type enterprise authentication solution capable of multi-factor authentication (MFA), with an all-in-one server that handles authentication, data storage, and policy setting. Its single sign-on (SSO) feature enables users to login to all types of accounts using one set of credentials, minimizing the risk of social engineering attacks. "We were delighted to head back to Vietnam to meet our partners and clients. Given an increase in demand for web application security and access management, we wanted to help local businesses stay prepared," said Tae Gyun Kim, CEO of Penta Security. "We look forward to enabling more businesses to achieve zero-trust security."

Find out more about WAPPLES and iSIGN+ at pentasecurity.com. About Penta Security A global leader in web, data, and IoT security with 24 years of expertise in powering secured connections, Penta Security is the top cybersecurity vendor in Asia, as recognized by Frost & Sullivan. Its web application firewall WAPPLES has been the market leader in the Korean market for 13 consecutive years since 2009, and later dominated the entire Asia-Pacific region by obtaining the largest market share since 2016. Since then, it has gained a presence in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. For more visit pentasecurity.com . For partnerships email [email protected] . View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/penta-security-demonstrates-web-application-security-and-iam-solutions-at-penta-security-tech-day-in-vietnam-301802469.html SOURCE Penta Security Systems Inc.

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[April 20, 2023] TiE Mangaluru launches in partnership with TiE Bangalore; to help turbocharge the growth of the technology ecosystem in Silicon Beach of India

MANGALURU, India, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TiE Bangalore announced the formation of TiE Mangaluru Satellite Chapter with 10 Founding Charter Members led by Rohith Bhat  Founder, 99Games/Robosoft as its President. Other Founding Charter members include Praveen Kumar Kalbhavi  MD and CEO at Novigo Solutions, Ram Acharya  CTO at Global Delight, Shylaja Rao  Founding General Partner at Ventana Ventures, Rathnakar Bhat  CEO at Karmic Designs, Suyog Shetty  CEO at Niveus Solutions, Shyamprasad Hebbar  Sr. Vice President at GlowTouch Technologies, Ravi Haldipur  Founder Director at eSamudaay, Prasanna Shenoy  Group President at Invenger Technologies, and Shilpa Bhat  Vice President at 99Games. TiE is a global non-profit organization that is 'Of the entrepreneur, for the entrepreneur and by the entrepreneur.' The mission of TiE is to foster entrepreneurship through mentoring, networking, education, funding, and incubation. With a focus on giving back to the community, TiE's focus is on generating and nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs. "We are excited to announce this partnership," says Rohith Bhat, Founding President, TiE Mangaluru Satellite Chapter & Lead Industry Anchor, Mangaluru Cluster, KDEM. "The Silicon Beach ecosystem is brimming with talent, energy, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit! With 25+ engineering colleges producing 10k+ engineers every year, 15+ incubators, 125+ startups across Fintech, SaaS, Gaming and Healthtech, and with 100+ technology companies employing 15,000+ engineers and generating $375 million in revenues, we are well on our way to becoming the next technology hub in India. And this partnership with TiE Bangalore will help us funnel the best-in-class mentorship, funding and ntworking from Bangalore, the Startup Capital of the World," he added.



Madan Padaki, President of TiE Bangalore added  "We are delighted to partner with Rohith Bhat and the dynamic team of founding Charter Members to create a much more vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Silicon Beach of India. We look forward to working together in bringing the best of TiE's global initiatives to this region. In this context, happy to share that the TiE Global Summit, the flagship event of TiE globally is coming to Bangalore, Karnataka in 2024 and this mega-event will be jointly hosted by TiE Mangaluru, TiE Mysuru and TiE Hubli." TiE Mangaluru would like to thank its Founding Sponsors which include Robosoft Technologies, Novigo Solutions and Niveus Solutions

About TiE: TiE was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, & senior professionals. Over the last 25 years of existence TiE Chapters around the world has become a vibrant platform for entrepreneurs, professionals, industry leaders, and investors to interact with one another and forge long-lasting relationships. There are currently 15,000 members (including over 3,000 charter members or mentors) in 61 chapters across 14 countries. TiE's mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, education, funding, and incubation. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE's focus is on generating and nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs. More at: https://tie.org/about/ About Silicon Beach of India: Silicon Beach of India is the coastal Karnataka region comprising Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts. It is home to over 225 technology companies including startups. This region has 25+ engineering colleges graduating 10,000+ engineers every year; it has 15+ incubation centers supporting 125+ startups. There are over 100 technology companies employing 15,000+ engineers and generating over Rs. 3,000 crores in revenue per year. Reputed companies like Infosys, Cognizant, Mphasis, Cogent, Robosoft, GlowTouch, Novigo, and Niveus each already having 1,000+ personnel here. This region closely follows Bangalore in key development indices such as per capita income, per capita GDP, and top exporting districts. However, it surpasses Bangalore in crucial areas such as Literacy rate, Class 12 pass percentage, Human Development Index, Safety Index, and Women literacy. This can be attributed to excellent schools, top-notch healthcare facilities, diverse and cosmopolitan population, and clean air. The region is also home to long stretches of pristine beaches that run parallel to the magnificent Western Ghats, making it an ideal place to live, work, and play. Furthermore, the Mangaluru International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in Karnataka, offers direct connectivity to major metros in India and airports in the Middle East. More at: https://siliconbeach.in/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TiEMangaluru

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/TiEMangaluru/ Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2058939/Rohith_Bhat.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/tie-mangaluru-launches-in-partnership-with-tie-bangalore-to-help-turbocharge-the-growth-of-the-technology-ecosystem-in-silicon-beach-of-india-301802615.html

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[April 20, 2023] OMRON Launches NX502, New Controllers with Advanced Information Control and Safety Control

- Contributing to Achieving High Production Quality and Improving Energy Productivity - KYOTO, Japan, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OMRON Corporation headquartered in Kyoto, western Japan, will globally release the NX-series NX502-1x00 CPU Units (hereinafter referred to as "NX502"), automation controllers with advanced information control and safety control, and the NX-EIP201 EtherNet/IP (TM) Units (hereinafter referred to as "NX-EIP201"), simultaneously on April 24, 2023. Logo: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202304144894-O6-p8hSED45 Image1: Product of units https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/202304144894/_prw_PI1fl_Puna64F4.jpg With the growing importance of ESG management, efforts to achieve carbon neutrality are becoming more active at manufacturing sites. In addition, manufacturing sites involved in products that are undergoing remarkable technological innovation, such as xEVs and digital devices, are facing the challenge of building lines that can respond to rapid yield improvement and flexible equipment design in order to respond to sudden fluctuations in demand. The NX502 CPU Units and NX-EIP201 EtherNet/IP Units utilize OMRON's unique advanced information processing, communications technologies and large-capacity memory to realize real-time analysis and process modularization (*1). This contributes to the reduction of resource disposal losses at production sites and the shortening of lead times when changing lines. Main Features 1. World's highest precision (*2) data collection and large-capacity transfer capabilities reduce resource disposal losses at production sites With high-precision data collection capability with a jitter of 1 microsecond or less and data transfer capacity approximately four times that of equivalent-class controllers (*3), production-related data (temperature, pressure, flow rate, etc.) can be analyzed and reflected in processing conditions in real time. It realizes rapid improvement of processes that cause defective products and reduces resource disposal losses at various production sites. Image2: Graphs of production-related data https://kyodonesprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/202304144894/_prw_PI7fl_10c0N78k.jpg



- Application example: Crystal-manufacturing process required for precise product processing In order to produce high-quality crystals, production-related data must fluctuate in real time depending on conditions, and there is a problem that manufacturing quality is not stable due to the limitations of communications performance, which is a bottleneck. The high information-processing capability of the NX502 enables early identification of the cause, which leads to improvements in production conditions and contributes to stable mass production of crystals.

2. NX-series first integrated control technology (*4) for large-scale and high-speed safety reduces lead times when changing production lines The integrated control technology advanced by the NX502 and NX-EIP201 allows users to control large-scale production lines with module division through up to 8 network system separations and up to 254 safety connections (*5). This makes it possible to adjust and check partial processes with minimal impact on overall operations even on large lines and maximizes energy productivity by significantly reducing lead times when changing lines. Image3: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/202304144894/_prw_PI8fl_EFE9ZbXD.jpg - Application example: Body frame-welding line handling a wide variety of products Due to the diversification of market needs, when it is necessary to add or change processes while mixed production of various vehicle models is required, it is necessary to minimize lead time by stopping only the relevant parts. The NX502 and NX-EIP201 can separate network systems, including safety. The products can flexibly respond to detailed changes in manufacturing sites, such as the addition of welding processes, and contribute to improving production efficiency. OMRON has been contributing to the improvement of productivity at manufacturing sites by leveraging its strength in control technology under the concept "innovative-Automation." The company aims to achieve sustainable manufacturing sites, such as carbon neutrality in production, in addition to improving productivity at manufacturing sites from now. OMRON will enrich the future for people, industries and the globe by innovative automation. Notes: (*1) Modularization means dividing each process in the production line into functional units and making it easy to change flexibly. (*2) Based on OMRON's research as of March 31, 2023. (*3) Comparison with OMRON's NJ501. Based on its research as of March 31, 2023. (*4) OMRON's unique multi-core technology simultaneously realizes information processing, safety processing, and control. (*5) Safety communications standards "CIP Safety (TM)" and "FSoE (Safety over EtherCAT (R))" - EtherCAT (R) and Safety over EtherCAT (R) are registered trademarks and patented technologies, licensed by Beckhoff Automation GmbH, Germany. - EtherNet/IP (TM) and CIP Safety (TM) are trademarks of ODVA. Introducing "innovative-Automation" OMRON is advancing a unique "innovative-Automation" concept, creating new types of automation that drive the manufacturing revolution forward at the same time as realizing coexistence with the global environment and a sense of purpose for all workers, as well as contributing to the growth of sustainable industries. As it looks to the future of manufacturing, OMRON will pursue novel approaches to productivity in the form of "Autonomation beyond human abilities" and "Advanced collaboration between people and machines," underpinned by "Digital engineering transformation" in order to enrich the future for people, industries and the globe by innovative-Automation. About OMRON Corporation OMRON Corporation is a leading automation company with its core competencies in "Sensing & Control + Think" technology, and is engaged in a wide range of businesses including industrial automation, healthcare, social systems, and device & module solutions. Established in 1933, OMRON has about 30,000 employees worldwide, working to provide products and services in around 120 countries and regions. For more information, please visit the OMRON's website: https://www.omron.com/global/en/ View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omron-launches-nx502-new-controllers-with-advanced-information-control-and-safety-control-301802532.html SOURCE OMRON Corporation

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[April 20, 2023] CMG hosts video festival on UN Chinese Language Day

GENEVA, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 900 videos from 37 countries and regions have competed in the third China Media Group (CMG) International Video Festival at the United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva.

The festival takes place annually to coincide with the UN's Chinese Language Day. This year's theme is "Journey" as 2023 marks a decade since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative which aims to create a modern version of the trade links that once linked the world. Entries from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Serbia, and Russia have competed for nine awards including "Best Video," "Best Director" and "Jury's Special Recommendation". Six youth cultural envoys are also chosen who will be able to visit and study in China. "From the ancient dynasties to the modern era, China has undergone significant transformations and developments, shaping its identity and place in the world. The Chinese language played a cucial role in this journey," said Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva Tatiana Valovaya, who thanked CMG for its contribution to the celebrations.



China's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Chen Xu added: "We welcome more friends from all over the world to learn the Chinese language, appreciate Chinese culture and have a better understanding of the development of China through the platform of the UN Chinese Language Day. I am sure the Chinese language will play a greater role in promoting the diversity of world civilization and building a better future." He hailed the Global Civilization Initiation launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping last month as a catalyst for nations to come together to achieve the goal of better engagement across cultures and peoples.

On that theme, CMG commissioned a special television show, Shared Journey to a Flourishing Age, which was screened at the Palais des Nations in Geneva as well as on the UN's digital platforms. The program takes the form of a highly engaging journey through time and space along the Silk Road using ancient paintings and state-of-the art graphics to bring stories to life. Characters along the way include Cangbao, mascot of the UN Chinese language day, a poet, a German tea expert, a Hungarian dance troupe and a British chef. The show will be shown to tens of millions of people around the world across CMG's own media and through its partners. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2058395/CMG_video_festival.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2058396/CGTN_Europe.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cmg-hosts-video-festival-on-un-chinese-language-day-301802170.html

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[April 20, 2023] ATFX Employees Visit Indonesia Orphanage to Spread Cheer and Support Community

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ATFX employees recently visited two Indonesian orphanages, "Panti Yatim Indonesia" and "Rumah Asuh Yatim Fadhilah Ihsan Yayasan Alpha Indonesia", as part of the company's commitment to supporting the community. The visit was aimed at bringing joy, providing support, and building meaningful connections with the children. "As a company, we believe that giving back to the community is a crucial part of our responsibility," said Joe Li, Chairman of ATFX. " Visiting the orphanage was a humbling experience for our team, and we were honored to have the opportunity to bring some joy and positivity to the children's lives." During the visit, ATFX employees have shown their care by knowing each of ther stories and daily activities, also motivating and cheering them. The team also provided the orphanage with donations of daily supplies and cash to support the children's needs.



ATFX's visit to the orphanage is part of the company's broader corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, which aim to make a positive impact in local communities. The company is committed to supporting charitable causes and fostering positive relationships with community members. ATFX

ATFX is an award-winning currency pairs/CFD broker with a global presence offering customer support in over 15 languages. With over 300 tradable financial assets, including currency pairs, precious metals, energy, indices, and shares traded as CFDs, ATFX is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Cyprus, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in Mauritius, and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/atfx-employees-visit-indonesia-orphanage-to-spread-cheer-and-support-community-301802719.html SOURCE ATFX

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[April 20, 2023] Over 11,000 hectares secured for caribou habitat and restoration in Central B.C.

TSXV: ARTG Federal and provincial governments, First Nations and Artemis Gold collaborate on innovative Caribou Mitigation and Monitoring Plan VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - A groundbreaking plan developed in collaboration with the federal and provincial governments, the Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation, the Ulkatcho First Nation and Artemis Gold Inc. (TSXV: ARTG) ("Artemis" or the "Company"), will see 11,000 hectares secured for 50 years in central B.C. for caribou habitat. In addition, Artemis Gold Inc. will contribute more than $2.7 million in funding over time toward caribou habitat restoration initiatives as part of the company's Caribou Mitigation and Monitoring plan. Artemis owns the Blackwater Mine project, a gold and silver mine under construction that is located on the eastern edge of the Tweedsmuir caribou range. The population of Tweedsmuir caribou has dwindled over the past few decades due to several factors. The land securement is located in and around Capoose Mountain, adjoining Tweedsmuir Park, in a provincially designated high elevation ungulate winter range for caribou habitat with known recent and regular caribou use. The securement commits the company to not explore or develop its mineral tenures in the securement area1. The ungulate winter range designation also precludes logging, effectively eliminating the potential for industrial activity in the area. The funding component of the plan will be used for caribou habitat restoration initiatives led by the Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation and the Ulkatcho First Nation. The two Nations plan to collaborate with the provincial and federal governments to identify and implement priority caribou habitat restoration projects. The plan also commits the company to work closely with the Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation, the Ulkatcho First Nation and the federal and provincial governments on caribou monitoring initiatives throughout the region. "It is a privilege to partner and work with the Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation, the Ulkatcho First Nation, and the provincial and federal governments on a plan that will help accommodate the growth and rehabilitation of the Tweedsmuir herd," said Steven Dean, Chairman and CEO of Artemis Gold Inc., "We support the Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation and the Ulkatcho First Nation in their plans to lead this important work, and view the provincial and federal government support for this initiative as a meaningful step towards reconciliation." The development of the Caribou Mitigation and Monitoring plan is the first time a company, the provincial government and First Nations have collaborated to secure mineral tenures for a period of time in connection with caribou offsetting. It is also the first time an order under the Environment and Land Use Act has been used to ensure the preservation and maintenance of caribou habitat by securing mineral tenures. "Respectful relationships between industry and First Nations are foundational to reconciliation efforts and economic prosperity for all British Columbians," said Josie Osborne, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation. "This initiative combines Indigenous traditional knowledge with industry resources to secure and steward 11,000 hectares of land together with funding for caribou habitat and restoration programs. It is a meaningful example of the potential that can be realized when responsible resource projects proceed in our province." "The recovery of endangered caribou herds is incredibly important, and the complex nature of this work requires deep partnership between the province, First Nations and industry," said Nathan Cullen, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. "Artemis Gold's decision to defer development in 11,000 hectares of critical habitat is a good example of what can be achieved when these partners work together in a respectful way that benefits both ecosystem health, caribou recovery and economic activity." "Our connection to the land, the water, the mountains and the Caribou are all very sacred. We truly believe the Caribou Mitigation and Monitoring plan we developed with Artemis Gold Inc, Ulkatcho First Nation and the federal and provincial governments is precedent setting, and we look forward to implementing the plans and seeing the Caribou flourish again," Council, Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation. "Working with Artemis Gold, Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation, and the provincial and federal governments to address the decline in Caribou has been an important collaboration," said Chief Lynda Price of the Ulkatcho First Nation. "There has always been a cultural connection between Caribou and the Ulkatcho First Nation, and we see success as protecting the Tweedsmuir and Itcha Ilgachuz herds and increasing our local herd populations." Watch here for more information about the multiparty collaboration that led to the Caribou Mitigation and Monitoring plan, and what it means for the Lhoosk'uz Dene Nation and the Ulkatcho First Nation: https://youtu.be/Tl_UfCjo2Qc







__________________________________ 1 The securement area includes a mineral deposit defined by the previous owners of the Blackwater Project, but which mineral deposit is located outside of and does not form part of the reserves and resources for the Blackwater Project as defined by Artemis.

About Artemis Gold Inc. Artemis Gold Inc. is a well-financed, growth-oriented gold development company with a strong financial capacity aimed at creating shareholder value through the identification, acquisition, and development of gold properties in mining-friendly jurisdictions. The company's current focus is construction of the Blackwater Mine project in central British Columbia approximately 160km southwest of Prince George and 450km northeast of Vancouver. The project is one of the largest capital investments in the Bulkley-Nechako, Fraser-Fort George and Cariboo regions of B.C. in the last decade. The first pour of gold and silver from Blackwater Mine is expected H2 2024 and the mine is expected to be in production for a minimum of 22 years. Artemis trades on the TSX-V under the symbol "ARTG". For more information visit: artemisgoldinc.com Qualified Person Jeremy Langford, FAUSIMM, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. ARTEMIS GOLD INC.

On behalf of the Board of Directors "Steven Dean"

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

+1 604 558 1107 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans", "potential" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release, and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the potential of the Project; the jobs to be created in connection with the Project; the contribution of the Project to the economy; opinions of the Province of British Columbia regarding the Project and the region; agreements and relationships with Indigenous partners; the future of mining in British Columbia; the plans of the Company with respect to the Project, including construction, site preparation, clearing, consultation with indigenous groups; and other plans and expectations of the Company with respect to the Project. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include without limitation, risks related to the ability of the Company to accomplish its plans and objectives with respect to the development of the Project within the expected timing or at all, the timing and receipt of certain required approvals, changes in commodity prices, changes in interest and currency exchange rates, risks inherent in exploration and development activities, changes in development or mining plans due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors, unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications, cost escalation, unavailability of materials, equipment or third party contractors, delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances, job action, and unanticipated events related to heath, safety and environmental matters), the COVID-19 pandemic, political risk, social unrest, changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets, and other risks related to the ability of the Company to proceed with its plans for the Project and other risks set out in the Company's most recent MD&A. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, the assumptions that: (1) market fundamentals will result in sustained mineral demand and prices; (2) the receipt of any necessary approvals and consents in connection with the development of the Project; (3) the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of the Project; (4) sustained commodity prices such that the Project remains economically viable; and (5) that the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions related thereto will not materially impact the Company or prevent the Company from operating its business as planned. The actual results or performance by the Company could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company. Except as required by law, the Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. SOURCE Artemis Gold Inc.

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[April 20, 2023] Nabors Industries Forms Strategic Alliance with Corva to Accelerate Digital Transformation of the Global Drilling Industry

Nabors connects Corva to its universal rig controls and automation platform, SmartROS 

Apps built and developed in Corva can monitor and control any rig equipped with SmartROS

Enables exploration and production (E&P) companies to standardize their automation technology stack fleetwide, regardless of rig manufacturer

Empowers all drilling contractors to offer capital-light automation solutions, grow revenues and add value to customers HOUSTON and HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Corva and Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR, "Nabors") today announced a strategic technology partnership to provide a first-of-its-kind digital and automation offering to the global drilling industry. Integrating Corva's industry leading App Store and Dev Center with Nabors' SmartROS universal drilling rig controls and automation system is expected to deliver solutions that rapidly scale process and machine automation, enhance remote project oversight and streamline data exchange and collaboration across any AC rig fleet. Today's Myriad Solutions Limit the Scale and Efficiency of Digital and Automated Rig Solutions Drilling engineers are inundated with redundant digital solutions and rig control systems to run automated well programs. In addition, clear gaps have emerged in the ability to manage communication between office, cloud and edge solutions. Together, Nabors and Corva seek to simplify the execution of automation on any AC rig. E&P companies can now design custom apps and deploy them across their rig fleet, regardless of the rig provider. In turn, drilling contractors can generate new revenues while bringing added value to their customers and crews. Nabors' Digital and Automation Platform is Deployable on Any Rig, Regardless of Manufacturer SmartROS is the platform for the digitization and automation of drilling processes. With SmartROS, drilling contractors can deploy advanced automation to elevate their people, performance and customers without an expensive rig upgrade. The system is developed for drillers by drillers and can be scaled easily across fleets, regardless of rig and equipment manufacturer. Current deployments of SmartROS include more than 124 Nabors rigs in the Lower 48, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as 15 non-Nabors rigs. Nabors' high performance digital infrastructure platform, RigCLOUD, enables edge computing for remote operations. This provides additional flexibility in deploying advisory automation apps to non-SmartROS enabled rigs. Bringing Rig Controls to Corva's Industry Leading App Store Corva features more than 100 Apps and Dashboards that automate, monitor and optimize drilling proesses. This revolutionary suite encompasses a number of cutting-edge applications including Predictive Drilling, a state-of-the-art machine learning technology that enhances rotary drilling performance. Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, Corva's Predictive Drilling has provided meticulously designed data visualizations to 27,000 wells, covering a staggering 596 million feet. This advanced technology empowers users to streamline drilling processes and unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency. With this game-changing suite of tools, this partnership is set to transform the drilling industry, positioning itself as a trailblazer in the development and implementation of next-generation drilling technologies.



Combining the Best of Both Worlds  Apps and Universal Rig Controls Using SmartROS, Corva extends rig control and real-time data pipelines from the wellsite to the E&P company's back office and mobile devices, enabling customers to drill safer and more effectively. Equipped with Nabors Smart Suite of drilling automation products, RigCLOUD Edge infrastructure, and Corva Apps and Dev Center, this integration empowers onsite and remote users to interact, analyze, and collaborate in powerful new ways.

Overall, this exclusive partnership between Corva and Nabors bridges the gap between Edge and Cloud solutions while improving the return on investment for end-users, with no disruption to current workflows, and creates the best of both worlds' situation for the office and drillers alike. Management Comments Ryan Dawson, founder, and CEO of Corva, said: "Through this partnership, Corva and Nabors are creating a unified solution that addresses current industry gaps, touching everyone involved in drilling a well and elevating their experience on the rig or in the office. This collaboration is aimed at providing our customers a new world of possibilities for drilling automation and team communication by pairing best-in-class rig control systems and data pipelines with Corva's App Store, advanced machine learning and physics-based models, and industry-leading user experience." Subodh Saxena, Senior Vice President of Nabors Drilling Solutions, said: "Integrating our universal rig controls and automation system with Corva's App Store provides the industry a one-stop shop for deploying automation across rig fleets. This creates an unparalleled ecosystem of digital and automation solutions that delivers consistent and repeatable results during the well construction process. In addition, both E&P companies and drilling contractors can standardize on a technology stack that is capital light and empowers them to raise the performance outcomes to the next level across multiple rigs." About Corva Headquartered in Houston, Corva is the App Store for Energy, empowering operators and service companies to build solutions at the speed of business. The software developer pioneered a first-of-its-kind cloud-based platform to monitor drilling, completions, and geoscience operations in real time, avoid hazards, maximize crew performance, and drive quantifiable financial efficiencies. Corva's platform supports wellsite operations worldwide on hundreds of rigs and from remote operations centers. Accelerating the expansion of its app store, Corva Dev Center enables customers or third-party developers to rapidly create low-code app solutions with capital efficiency to support their operational needs, reducing development cycles from months to days. For more information, please visit www.corva.ai . About Nabors Industries Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) is a leading provider of advanced technology for the energy industry. With operations in more than 15 countries, Nabors has established a global network of people, technology and equipment to deploy solutions that deliver safe, efficient and responsible energy production. By leveraging its core competencies, particularly in drilling, engineering, automation, data science and manufacturing, Nabors aims to innovate the future of energy and enable the transition to a lower-carbon world. Learn more about Nabors and its energy technology leadership: www.nabors.com . Contacts Corva Media Contact: Danielle Rockwell

+1 713-397-9137

[email protected]



Nabors Media Contact: Brian Brooks

+1 281-775-4370

[email protected]



Nabors Investor Contacts: William C. Conroy

+1 281-775-2423

[email protected]



Kara K. Peak

+1 281-775-4954

[email protected]



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[April 20, 2023] BXP Releases 2022 Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) Report

BXP (NYSE: BXP), the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States, today announced the release of BXP's 2022 ESG Report. 2022 highlights include: Remaining on track to achieve carbon-neutral operations by 2025

Committing to setting a science-based target to achieve net-zero across all emissions Scopes by 2050

Achieving our energy and water reduction targets

Issuing an additional $750 million of "Green Bonds"

Executing actionable diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and goals "BXP is a more purposeful company because of our commitment to ESG and our focus on measurable impact," said Owen Thomas, Chairman & CEO, BXP. "Our position as leaders underlies our efforts to ensure that we deliver exceptional performance in the impact areas most important to our stakeholders, both internally and externally." "The ambition of our organization and perseverance of our team drives the execution of business activities aligned with stakeholder economic, environmental, and social priorities," said Ben Myers, SVP, Sustainability, BXP. "We're pleased with our progress to date and recognize the important role of the real estate industry in addressing climate change, human health, and social justice. Together with our stakeholders, we will continue to pursue positive performance outcomes and initiatives aligned with our sustainability strategy centered on climate action, resilience, and social good. BXP's 2022 ESG Report provides details on BXP's ESG approach, goals, key performance indicators, leadership, and reporting methodoogies related to environmental impact, social impact, and governance. The complete report is available under the Commitment section of our website at www.bxp.com.



BXP will host its second annual ESG Investor Update on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. The webcast will be moderated by Doug Linde, President, and will include presentations by Ben Myers, as well as the Co-Chairs of BXP's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council: Amy Gindel, SVP, Finance & Planning, and Blake Levy, VP, Construction. The webcast will be accessible in the Investors section of our website at www.bxp.com. About BXP ESG

BXP's commitment to ESG leadership has been recognized by numerous industry groups and rankings, including BXP's inclusion as #3 on Barron's 10 Most Sustainable U.S. REITs list. BXP was named to Newsweek's America's Most Responsible Companies 2023 list, ranking first in its industry and 29th overall out of the 500 companies included on the list. BXP was recently recognized for Best ESG Program by Commercial Property Executive and was again named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence, as well as a Best in Building Health winner by the Center for Active Design. BXP was recognized as an inaugural Platinum level Green Lease Leader by the Institute for Market Transformation and the U.S. Department of Energy and was the recipient of Nareit's prestigious Leader in the Light Award. About BXP BXP (NYSE: BXP) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States, concentrated in six dynamic gateway markets - Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. BXP has delivered places that power progress for our clients and communities for more than 50 years. BXP is a fully integrated real estate company, organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT). As of December 31, 2022, including properties owned by unconsolidated joint ventures, BXP's portfolio totaled 54.1 million square feet and 194 properties, including 13 properties under construction/redevelopment. For more information, please visit our website at www.bxp.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005907/en/

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[April 20, 2023]

Nusano Co-Founder Dr. Howard Lewin to Participate in Truist Securities Virtual Radiopharmaceuticals Event

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nusano, Inc., a company reshaping the production of cancer-fighting radioisotopes, today announced its co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Dr. Howard Lewin, will take part in a virtual event hosted by Truist Securities on Friday, April 21, 2023, at 3:30 p.m. ET.



The fireside chat-style event is entitled Turn Up the Radio  Basics on Radiotherapeutics, Nuclear Medicine and Radioisotopes. It will cover the rapidly emerging radiopharmaceuticals market, current supply chain limitations, and what must be done to enable next-generation cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dr. Lewins broad experience includes time as an academic physician and as president of two successful nuclear medicine businesses. He trained in Cardiology and Nuclear Medicine at Cedar Sinai Medical Center and has served as an officer of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, the Society of Nuclear Medicine Cardiovasular Council, the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission for Nuclear Medicine/PET, and the Certification Council for Cardiovascular Imaging.







Interested parties can request access to the event from their Truist Securities client services representative.

About Nusano, Inc.

Nusano is a privately held medical technology company committed to bringing stability and innovation to the rapidly emerging and critically undersupplied medical radioisotopes market. Nusanos proprietary ion source is smaller and more efficient than existing production methods. This results in significantly greater yields and allows for the simultaneous manufacturing of multiple radioisotopes. Nusanos technologies will supply the fight against cancer and support diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceutical development. The companys state-of-the-art production facility opens Q1 2025 in West Valley City, Utah. For more, please visit www.nusano.com .

Contacts:

At Nusano: Scott Larrivee, Head of PR & Communications, 608-345-6629, [email protected]

Investor Relations: Joyce Allaire, LifeSci Advisors, LLC, 212-915-2569, [email protected]
Michael A. Garguilo to lead insurance agency platform that cultivates outstanding talent

Culpeper Insurance Partners brings new M&A partnership options to independent agencies

ALPHARETTA, Ga., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Culpeper Insurance Partners, LLC ("Culpeper") today announced that Michael A. Garguilo has been appointed President & Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors. Leading Culpeper, he will help drive its unique approach in acquiring and operating independent insurance agencies across the United States.

CIP logo

An insurance industry veteran with more than 30 years of leadership experience, Garguilo most recently served as Divisional & Regional President for national insurance broker CBIZ Insurance Services, Inc. after selling his privately owned firm, Garco Financial, LLC, in 2017. Earlier in his career, he was President & Chief Operating Officer of national insurance broker Brown & Brown, Inc.'s Texas subsidiary, and held various executive positions with insurers Chubb and The Hartford.

David E. King, Chairman of Culpeper, commented, "Mike has quite a track record of leading agency and brokerage operations to achieve top performance levels. His deep acquisition experience and proven ability to help acquired agencies attain higher levels of success after joining matches perfectly with what Culpeper seeks to offer its new partners."

Garguilo shared, "Culpeper brings a different option to independent insurance agency owners, one I am excited and proud to help bring to market. Our partners retain their autonomy and the uniqueness which allowed them to be successful in the past. They gain the added power of Culpeper's capital and deeper resources to help propel them forward. By offering them a seat at the leadership table and a continuing stake in the success of our combined firm, we believe agency owners will see us as a very compelling choice for their future."

Story continues

Culpeper Insurance Partners, LLC was formed in 2023 to attract select independent insurance agencies across the United States to join a common company platform offering them access to capital, greater resources, and scale without sacrificing their autonomy and unique characteristics. Culpeper Insurance Partners, LLC is an affiliate of Culpeper Capital Partners, LLC.

Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

For more information:



Holden King

Analyst

Culpeper Insurance Partners, LLC

3480 Preston Ridge Rd., Suite 500

Alpharetta, GA 30005

(561) 805-1900

hking@culpeperins.com

www.culpeperins.com William Quirk

Vice President

Culpeper Capital, LLC

1209 Orange Street

Wilmington, DE 19801

(561) 805-1900

wquirk@culpepercapital.com

www.culpepercapital.com

Cision

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SOURCE Culpeper Insurance Partners
[April 20, 2023] AlphaStruxure SVP and Chief Technology Officer Steve Pullins Joins Xendee's Board of Advisors

The Xendee Corporation, a leading DER and EV charging infrastructure design and operation software provider, announced today that Steve Pullins has joined the Board of Advisors. Mr. Pullins currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at AlphaStruxure, a Schneider Electric and Carlyle joint venture that combines Carlyle's financial backing and Schneider Electric's 185+ years of energy expertise. With over 40 years of experience in the electric utility industry, Mr. Pullins joins Xendee's board of advisors as an expert in operations, maintenance, and engineering of microgrids, and renewable energy project development. He has designed over 75 microgrids for various customers and has worked with more than 20 utility companies on microgrid projects, renewable strategies, and power system optimization with Smart Grid technologies. "Steve has been a visionary in microgrids, and has been applying his knowledge and passion for renewable distributed energy technologies toward the cause of improving lives and building a better and cleaner energy future for generations to come," said Adib Nasle, Co-Founder and CEO of Xendee Corporation. "We're excited to welcome him to Xendee's boardof advisors, so we can benefit from his leadership and expertise as we continue to provide innovative solutions to our customers in the energy industry."



Previously, Mr. Pullins led the nation's Modern Grid Strategy for DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory and has advised several international utility and government organizations on Smart Grid technologies and operations, microgrid development, integrating intelligence, new power generation, and waste to energy issues. "I believe that Xendee's advanced microgrid and EV infrastructure design and operation software technology has the potential to transform the energy industry and significantly accelerate the electrification of transportation, as well as the 'hard to decarb' sectors. I look forward to working with the company's leadership team to drive growth and innovation," said Mr. Pullins.

Mr. Pullins holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from Wright State University and a Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society (PES). About Xendee Corporation Xendee is an award-winning software platform built to integrate the feasibility analysis, detailed engineering, and operation of Distributed Energy Resources and EV charging infrastructure. This includes the ability to rapidly model EV infrastructure for fleet owners, complex energy systems with up to 25 unique types of DER technologies, multi-node installations like a military base, and operate either connected to the grid or completely islanded. Xendee's techno-economic optimization algorithm can then generate an ideal investment solution and operation schedule to meet organizational goals. These goals can include reducing costs, cutting CO2 emissions, and increasing resilience. Explore how Xendee can empower your organization by setting up a call with us at xendee.com/demo. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005045/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Parsable Drives Corporate Sustainability Goals for Global Customers by Digitizing Plant's Environmental Standard Operating Practices (SOPs)

Further engagement with the leading Connected Worker platform from Parsable enables better environmental decision-making for Grupo Bimbo and Holcim. SAN FRANCISCO , April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Parsable, provider of the leading Connected Worker platform for frontline manufacturing and industrial work, continues to drive sustainability practices and goals through digital transformation on the frontline. Global industrial and manufacturing leaders like Europe's leading corrugated packaging company, are utilizing Parsable's platform to capture data from frontline workers using smartphones and tablets during routine activities. Using Parsable, a single insight can result in millions of dollars in productivity gains and reduction in waste. With Fortune 500 clients across 86 countries and over 800 sites, Parsable has achieved remarkable results such as reducing defects by 75% thereby reducing waste and increasing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by 6% within months, without the need for additional IT support. Europe's largest paper packaging company, has leveraged Parsable to optimize operations and achieve sustainability goals. Within just three months, Parsable helped them reduce waste by 10%, resulting in an annual savings of 700k GBP for a single site. Empowering Manufacturers to Drive Sustainability Best Practices "The manufacturing industry has a tremendous opportunity to leverage digital technology for their frontline workers and align them with corporate sustainability goals. By bridging the gap between frontline workforce and corporate, companies gain more visibility, traceability, and the ability to make real-time changes to impact sustainability goals and ensure regulatory compliance," says Yasmin Zarabi, SVP, ESG at Parsable. Many global industrial customers have set ambitious climate goals, such as being carbon negative, achieving zero fatalities or zero waste, and becoming water positive in the near future. Holcim, a leading building materials company, is using Parsable's platform for environmental compliance at more than 300 U.S. sites and counting, as part of their commitment to Net Zero. Parsable's Connected Worker technology plays a key role in integrating Holcim's environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) objectives with their frontline activities. Holcim utilizes inspection data captured through Parsable to ensure regulatory compliance with local permits and ESG objectives, enabling them to capture, record, and analyze environmental work data in near real-time, resulting in decreased compliance deviations and improved environmental performance.



Safety is also a top priority for the manufacturing industry, and relying on paper-based safety instructions, training, safety checks, and incident reporting can be time-consuming and inefficient, leading to increased incidents and lost time incident rates, as well as regulatory fines. Grupo Bimbo, a global bakery with over 130,000 employees, recognized the opportunity to improve safety performance by implementing digital and standardized operational procedures through Parsable. As a result, they were able to directly impact their Sustainability Goal of promoting a safe working environment for employees. Associates on the bakery floor captured data using Parsable-powered dashboards, providing leadership with real-time visibility into safety performance at enterprise-wide, regional, and facility-specific levels. Digitization led to shorter incident reporting time, faster investigation of incidents, and the ability to correct behaviors, resulting in reduced safety incidents.

Driving Environmental Performance with Data from the Frontlines Achieving environmental performance goals, such as reducing CO2 emissions and conserving water resources, can also be realized through data-driven insights from frontline workers. A global bottling company was able to reduce CO2 emissions by digitizing the process for managing returned stock, resulting in real-time management of stock returns and reducing the number of vehicular trips, which contributed to the reduction of carbon emissions in the distribution chain. Additionally, the same company utilized Parsable checklists to track water consumption during the last rinse on packaging lines. Utilities staff and packaging leaders now have regular visibility into water consumption per machine and can identify causes for overconsumption. Through a company-wide reporting system, water consumption data is collected monthly from facilities worldwide, aiding in tracking progress against public ESG water reduction targets. About Parsable Parsable ( www.parsable.com ) helps leaders at the world's largest industrial companies unlock the big data and insights needed to improve their frontline operations and build a more sustainable future. Leading manufacturers rely on Parsable's Connected Worker platform every day to track millions of data points from their frontline operations, and leverage unprecedented visibility to optimize productivity and drive ROI. Parsable is headquartered in San Francisco with presence throughout North America and Europe. Follow the company on LinkedIn , Twitter ( @ParsableHQ ) and the Parsable blog . Media Contact:

Brynne Hazzard

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parsable-drives-corporate-sustainability-goals-for-global-customers-by-digitizing-plants-environmental-standard-operating-practices-sops-301802221.html SOURCE PARSABLE

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[April 20, 2023] Habi, the Largest Proptech Company in Spanish Speaking Latin America, Announces US$100 Million Credit Facility from Victory Park Capital

Habi, the leading residential technology company in Spanish-speaking Latin America, today announced that it has entered into a US$100 million credit facility with Victory Park Capital ("VPC"), a global alternative investment firm specializing in private credit. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005425/en/ This financing is the beginning of a partnership between VPC and Habi to bring more innovation to the sector. Habi plans to continue building on the extensive portfolio of residential products it has created since 2019 and increasing its volume of used home purchases and sales in Colombia, thereby enabling thousands of middle-class families to access housing in an agile, secure and transparent manner. "At Habi, our mission includes improving the home-buying and selling process for millions of families in Colombia and Latin America," said Brynne McNulty Rojas, CEO and co-founder of Habi. "We are proud to have provided more than 30,000 families to date with helpful information and easy-to-use technology during the most important financial decision of their lives. With VPC's support, we aim to serve thousands more by offering a more robust portfolio and even more nimble and reliable processes." Gordon Watson, Partner at Victory Park Capital, said, "We believe in Habi's mission to empower Latin American families and provide a smoother, more accessible home buying and selling process. We are also confident that the proptech industy in Latin America is primed for growth, and our partnership with Habi is a testament to that."



Marcos Kantt, Habi's chief financial officer, said, "We are proud to have the backing of Victory Park Capital, especially in light of the slowdown we are experiencing in technology investment globally. Our results demonstrate resilience to macroeconomic swings, as evidenced by this financing - one of the largest in the proptech sector in the past 12 months - from a globally-recognized institutional investor." Habi is the largest buyer and seller of used homes in Colombia and Mexico, and the largest mortgage originator in Colombia. Through the efficient use of data and technology, the company has reduced the time it takes to sell a home by 30x, going from an average of more than 10 months to just 10 days, through a reliable and trustworthy process.

About Habi Habi, Colombia's second unicorn, is the leading residential real estate company in Spanish-speaking Latin America on a mission to unlock access to liquidity and information for Latin American families. Habi's data-driven approach allows it to offer a range of products and services - including iBuying, brokerage, financial services, marketplace and a free home e-valuation tool. For more information, please visit www.habi.co or www.tuhabi.mx. About Victory Park Capital Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC is an SEC-registered, established credit manager. The Firm was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional resources in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London. VPC provides custom financing solutions across the private capital spectrum, focusing on asset-rich companies with strong corporate governance and a compelling growth trajectory. VPC invests in both emerging and established businesses across various industries in the U.S. and abroad that often cannot access traditional sources of capital. For more information, please visit www.victoryparkcapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230419005425/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Adtalem Global Education Announces Investor Day and Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call

Adtalem Global Education Inc. (NYSE: ATGE), a national leader in post-secondary education and a leading provider of professional talent to the healthcare industry, announced today it will host an Investor Day on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. CDT at Adtalem's Chamberlain University Chicago campus. Advanced registration will be required to attend the event in-person. To register, please visit Adtalem's Investor Day website. During the investor event, Adtalem's executive leadership team will discuss the Company's strategic priorities, growth strategy, and financial outlook. Investors and analysts will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session. In-person participants are invited to join the leadership team to tour the campus. Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call The Company will release its fiscal 2023 third quarter results on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, after financial markets close, followed by a conference call at 4:30 p.m. CDT (5:30 p.m. EDT) the same day to discuss the results. The call can be accessed by dialing +1 877-407-6184 (U.S. participants) or +1 201-389-0877 (international participants) stating "Adtalem earnings call" or use conference ID: 13737030. The call will be simulcast through the Adtalem investor relationswebsite at: https://investors.adtalem.com.



Adtalem will archive a replay of the call for 30 days. To access the replay, dial +1 877-660-6853 (U.S.) or +1 201-612-7415 (international), conference ID: 13737030, or visit the Adtalem investor relations website at: https://investors.adtalem.com. About Adtalem Global Education

Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE) is a national leader in post-secondary education and leading provider of professional talent to the healthcare industry. With a dedicated focus on driving strong outcomes that increase workforce preparedness, Adtalem empowers a diverse learner population to achieve their goals and make inspiring contributions to their communities. Adtalem is the parent organization of American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Chamberlain University, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and Walden University. Adtalem's family of institutions has more than 300,000 alumni and 10,000 employees. Adtalem was named one of America's Most Responsible Companies in 2021 and 2023 by Newsweek and Statista, and one of America's Best Employers for Diversity in 2021 and 2022 by Forbes and Statista. Visit Adtalem.com for more information and follow on Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005248/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Onapsis Announces New Product Updates to Strengthen ERP Cybersecurity

Onapsis, the market leader in business application cybersecurity and compliance, today announced a series of new product updates for the award-winning Onapsis Platform. Enriched with the impactful threat intelligence that only the Onapsis Research Labs (ORL) can provide, the Onapsis Platform further simplifies business application security for CISOs and CIOs alike with a new Security Advisor, new updates to its Comply product line, and critical enhancements that streamline code security from application development to production. "As the only cybersecurity and compliance solution endorsed by SAP, Onapsis is proud to lead the charge in helping organizations secure their digital transformation projects. Our continued innovation is all made possible because Onapsis has worked with thousands of global organizations and has more data than anyone else in this space," said Mariano Nunez, CEO and co-founder of Onapsis. "The expansion of the Onapsis portfolio will provide our customers with critical security capabilities and access to threat intelligence that will greatly enhance their security posture and help them achieve cyber resilience through better risk-driven decision-making, especially as the threat landscape and economic climate become increasingly more volatile." The Next Best Thing to Having an Onapsis Expert in Your Security Operations Center (SOC) Since 2009, Onapsis has worked with thousands of the world's leading brands and thousands of the largest global organizations to help secure the most critical systems powering the economy. As the undisputed market leader, Onapsis has accumulated a vast, unique, and proprietary knowledgebase of data from security engagements over the past 14 years. With the introduction of the Onapsis Security Advisor, Onapsis is leveraging this deep treasure trove of data and pairing it with advanced machine learning to create a solution that will transform the way clients can make security decisions with the Onapsis Platform. Unlike other vendors' offerings, this is not reporting or an "executive dashboard." The Security Advisor leverages the accumulated "best security practices" of thousands of the world's leading organizations to: Identify gaps in visibility and areas for improvement

Highlight areas of unaddressed risk

Track effectiveness of response over time

Benchmark an organization against others and chart progress

Provide highly personalized guidance and insights based on a client's unique landscape

Help security and business leaders better communicate security progress to their leadership and the board. Reducing the Complexity of Securing Custom Code and Applications Onapsis has found that the average company has two million lines of custom code within their SAP system with a potential issue present every thousand lines. It's imperative that organizations take steps to ensure their code is clean, especially before migrating to the SAP S/4HANA cloud. Doing so helps protect their business-critical applications and prevent disruption or costly downtime. Onapsis Control helps AppDev teams "shift left" and embed DevSecOps best practices into their development processes. Onapsis is proud to launch two new versions of Control:



Control Central 2.0 is now generally available. This new zero-footprint architecture for Control centralizes policy management and drastically reduces deployment time and maintenance. It's ideal for ABAP development teams working out of ABAP Workbench to streamline code security.

Control for Code 5.4 is the latest version of Onapsis Control, adding a large number of new and updated test cases, enhanced support capabilities, and a new, out-of-the-box (OOTB) One-Click Fix designed to autofix the most common code errors in development. This helps development and quality assurance teams save valuable time, money, and energy. On the production side, Onapsis is also launching Assess for Code, a new premium add-on license that expands Assess capabilities by giving organizations valuable insight into vulnerabilities, mis-authorizations, and other security issues found in custom code and applications in their production environments. Onapsis Assess for Code helps identify and mitigate these issues before they become larger problems in production. InfoSec teams can use this to understand the effectiveness of their DevSecOps programs during the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and ensure greater security accountability with the AppDev teams. Together, Assess for Code and Control help organizations better secure custom code, from development to production. Optimizing Security and Compliance

To further simplify compliance efforts, Onapsis is proud to announce the latest version of Onapsis Comply with new and updated content along with new "a la carte" right-sized packaging, allowing clients to consume only what they need for compliance. Onapsis Comply also integrates with SAP Process Control, further streamlining GRC efforts by preloading compliance policies into the SAP GRC tool. Additionally, Onapsis Research Labs continues to enrich and infuse the Onapsis Platform with their unique threat intelligence and insights. Onapsis is proud to announce new updates to Onapsis' Threat Intel Center and Network Detection Rule Pack, including support for the recent P4CHAINS family of vulnerabilities. Additionally, new and enhanced machine learning models that power Onapsis' anomaly scoring and Security Advisor capabilities are rolling out across the Onapsis Platform. Unlike other vendors, the Onapsis Network Detection Rule Pack is vendor-agnostic, meaning clients aren't locked into one network security vendor and have greater choice and flexibility when it comes to deploying ORL-powered IDS/IPS rules. Join the Onapsis team at RSA Conference 2023 from April 24-26 at the San Francisco Moscone Center, Booth N-5434, to learn more about these latest product enhancements as well as how Onapsis is continuing to lead the way in protecting organizations' most important business assets. Onapsis will also be partnering with NextGen Cyber Talent, a non-profit that educates underprivileged and underserved talent in cybersecurity, during this year's conference and will be accepting donations at the booth. For more information on Onapsis and its market-leading business application solutions, please visit: https://onapsis.com/strengthen-erp-security About Onapsis Onapsis protects the business applications that run the global economy. The Onapsis Platform delivers vulnerability management, change assurance, and continuous compliance for business applications from leading vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and others. The Onapsis Platform is powered by the Onapsis Research Labs, the team responsible for the discovery and mitigation of more than 1,000 zero-day vulnerabilities in business applications. Onapsis is headquartered in Boston, MA, with offices in Heidelberg, Germany and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and proudly serves hundreds of the world's leading brands, including close to 30% of the Forbes Global 100, six of the top 10 automotive companies, five of the top 10 chemical companies, four of the top 10 technology companies, and three of the top 10 oil and gas companies. For more information, connect with Onapsis on Twitter or LinkedIn, or visit https://www.onapsis.com. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005021/en/

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[April 20, 2023] PartnerHero makes an investment in Jiffy, an early stage CX software product

The investment is being made through the first round of PartnerHero's CX Innovators Fund BOISE, Idaho, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Customer operations outsourcing leader PartnerHero ( www.partnerhero.com ), announced today that it is investing $50,000 in a customer experience-focused startup, Jiffy ( https://www.learnwithjiffy.com/ ). The investment is part of the CX Innovators Fund, an investment vehicle launched by PartnerHero in 2022 to support founders coming from backgrounds in customer experience who are working on products designed to improve the CX landscape. In addition to the $50,000 in funding, invested using a SAFE note, Jiffy will receive mentorship from a group of CX experts from PartnerHero and other companies. "We created the PartnerHero C Innovators Fund because we saw a gap in the startup funding landscape," said Mercer Smith, VP of Insights & Community at PartnerHero. "Traditional equity investors tend to back engineers, designers, and business school grads, but we think a career in customer experience is just about the best preparation someone can get for being a founder. We were rewarded with applications from some extremely innovative companies, including our winner Jiffy."



The company selected for the inaugural CX Innovators Fund will also be able to receive valuable feedback on their products from PartnerHero's more than 2,000 customer experience associates. "The CX Innovators Fund is truly one of the only funds that is specifically tailored to the world of CX and support," said Ben Wright, cofounder of Jiffy. "I have admired the PartnerHero team for many reasons, and that made the decision to apply that much easier. We're seeing decent early traction with Jiffy, and have validated the product with over 50 CS leaders. This money will help get the MVP into our early customers' hands, as well as additional marketing support."

PartnerHero intends to repeat the CX Innovators Fund in 2023. Details will be made available later this year. About Jiffy

Jiffy is an automated knowledge base that helps CX teams save time and streamline operations by making knowledge management part of the team's day-to-day workflow. About PartnerHero

PartnerHero is a provider of premium customer operations outsourcing, including customer support, trust & safety, content moderation, QA, tooling implementation, and CX strategy. The company has offices in the United States, Honduras, Romania, and the Philippines, and remote employees in dozens of additional countries. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/partnerhero-makes-an-investment-in-jiffy-an-early-stage-cx-software-product-301803118.html SOURCE PartnerHero

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[April 20, 2023] AM Best Affirms Performance Assessment of Castel Underwriting Agencies Limited and Castel Underwriting Europe B.V.

AM Best has affirmed the Performance Assessment (assessment) of PA-2 (Excellent) of Castel Underwriting Agencies Limited (Castel) (United Kingdom) and its subsidiary, Castel Underwriting Europe B.V. (CUE) (Netherlands). The outlook of the assessment is stable. The assessment reflects Castel's excellent underwriting capabilities, excellent governance and internal controls, excellent financial condition, excellent organisational talent and excellent depth and breadth of relationships. Castel, through its model of investing in early-stage managing general agents (MGAs) and underwriting teams (collectively "underwriting cells") on its club-style MGA platform, has access to expert and experienced underwriters. Underwriting capabilities further benefit from Castel's in-house underwriting staff. Since launching in 2014, Castel has demonstrated its ability to grow its underwriting cells whilst providing profitable business to its capacity providers. A partially offsetting factor to the component is the limited track record of some of Castel's programmes. Castel's governance and internal controls benefit from its scale, relative to many other delegated underwriting authority enterprises (DUAEs) in the market. The company has an appropriate committee structure, including a board of directors featuring independent and non-executive directors, supported by a number of other committees. The company undergoes external reviews and performs internal reviews regularly, covering underwriting and compliance. Whilst relatively commonplace in the U.K., Castel's limited integration of systems with (re)insurance partners is considered a partially offsetting factor to the governance and internal controls component. Castel's financial position is supported by its consistently profitable operations since inception. Overall earnings benefit from the broad range of programmes underwritten by the company, reducing dependence on any single one. The acquisitive nature of Castel's business model is expected to lead to variable inancial resource requirements over time; however, AM Best expects this to be well-managed by the company to avoid undue strain on Castel's financial condition. Castel's ownership by Arch Capital Group Ltd. is considered a positive to the company's financial condition and provides a potential avenue for additional financial resources.



Castel's senior management team is experienced and has a proven track record in the industry. The company's board of directors brings further experience and oversight. The organisational structure is well-defined with a clear path of reporting duties. Castel offers a range of programmes in its core markets in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as internationally. The company has relationships with a high number of well-rated capacity providers. A significant portion of Castel's processed premium is placed with capacity providers that have supported Castel for at least four years.

As a wholly owned subsidiary, CUE's operations exhibit a number of commonalities with Castel. CUE is regarded as strategically and financially important as the group's European platform, providing access to business in the European Economic Area. CUE is integrated with Castel and has common underwriting practices, with generally consistent underwriting performance expected. This press release relates to Performance Assessments that have been published on AM Best's website. For all information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the Performance Assessments referenced in this release, please see AM Best's website. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Performance Assessments, please view Guide to Best's Performance Assessments for Delegated Underwriting Authority Enterprises. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005692/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Insurity Becomes the Largest Cloud Software Vendor Serving 400+ P&C Insurers in the Cloud, Including 330 in AWS and Azure Public Cloud

Insurity, a leading provider of cloud-based software for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs, today announced that it has reached a significant milestone, with more than 400 of its 500-plus customers deployed in the cloud. Of these cloud deployments, more than 330 are in the public cloud, with approximately half in AWS and the other half in Azure. This benchmark further establishes Insurity as not only the cloud leader in P&C insurance software, but the public cloud leader as well. Insurity is a top 2 core system provider in the P&C industry and is trusted by 22 of the top 25 P&C carriers and 7 of the top 10 U.S. MGAs. Insurity empowers insurance organizations to quickly capitalize on new opportunities by delivering the world's most configurable, cloud-native, easy-to-use, and intuitively analytical software. Its configurable, cloud-native platform enables insurance organizations to quickly act on new opportunities and launch new insurance products in as little as four weeks. Insurity's Sure Suite products are deployed in the cloud by default for new customers. Insurity uses microsrvices and leverages elasticity provided by the public cloud, AWS and Azure, allowing customers to benefit from the unparalleled scalability, security, and reliability provided by the public cloud. For example, insurers using Sure Claims can easily handle the dramatic increases in claim volume that typically occurs following a natural disaster while ensuring a seamless policyholder experience.



"Insurity remains laser-focused on enabling insurance organizations to harness the power of the cloud through our proven and cloud-native software. As evidence of this commitment, despite ARR growing 20% and more than 50 go-lives in the past year, Insurity has not signed a single on-prem customer in the past three years. We are fully focused on growing through cloud-based solutions," said Chris Lafond, Chief Executive Officer at Insurity. "Further, by the end of 2023, Insurity is projected to have over 90% of our 400 cloud-based customers fully deployed in the public cloud. This not only shows our dedication to helping our customers derive the benefits of the public cloud, but also underscores the industry's acceleration toward embracing the public cloud." "Coupled with Insurity's configurable and cloud-based platform, operating on the public cloud provides insurance organizations with the scalability, security, and reliability needed to succeed in today's market," said Jonathan Victor, Chief Information Officer at Insurity. "By leveraging AWS and Azure's robust infrastructure and Insurity's industry-leading software, insurers can quickly launch new products, respond to market changes, and improve overall business agility, ultimately providing superior value to their policyholders."

To learn more about Insurity's cloud-native solutions, get in touch with Elizabeth Hutchinson at [email protected]. About Insurity Insurity is a leading provider of cloud-based software for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs. Insurity is trusted by 22 of the top 25 P&C carriers and 7 of the top 10 MGAs in the US and has over 400 cloud-based deployments. Through its best-in-class digital platform and with unrivaled industry experience and the industry's most robust analytics offerings, Insurity is uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional value, empowering customers to focus on their core businesses, optimize their operations, and provide superior policyholder experiences. Insurity is a portfolio company of GI Partners and TA Associates. For more information, visit www.insurity.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005661/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Tundra Empowers Sustainable Businesses with Dedicated Green-collar Staffing Initiative

TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Tundra, a global staffing leader hiring talent for the world's most recognizable brands, is revolutionizing the renewable energy sector as the first company to provide top-tier talent for green energy projects across North America. Tundra's diverse talent communities allow companies access to the largest community of highly qualified "green-collar" candidates. Tundra's unique talent acquisition strategies provide world-class organizations with curated talent pools of engineers, skilled trades, and project managers who have experience developing and supporting renewable energy projects.



Tundra's long-standing experience in the industry has led to an annual power generation capacity of over 3,000 MW, powering more than half a million homes by hiring talent for organizations like Borea, Enbridge, Demand Renewables, Hatch, and many more. The global staffing leader has been instrumental in leading the way toward a more sustainable future by supplying talent for some of North America's largest wind and solar projects, including Travers and Whitla.

Peter Basso, CEO of Demand Renewables, understands the difficulties sustainable businesses face when searching for skilled candidates. "Finding the right skilled labor candidate to fill open roles and satisfy new market demands has been a challenge, and Tundra has stepped up and provided this service for us as we expand into new markets domestically and internationally," Basso said. Tundra's Green Staffing Initiative has empowered companies like Demand Renewables and Borea to overcome their talent challenges and expand their reach into new markets. Tundra's dedicated green energy recruiters are skilled at identifying top talent with site-based experience, passion for renewable energy, and specialized expertise. As a company committed to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, Tundra is working to reduce emissions and promote sustainability through internal initiatives such as paperless processing, electric vehicle fleets, and LEED-certified buildings. Chelsea Million, Talent Adviser at Borea Construction, has first-hand experience working with Tundra's recruiters. "Tundra has been a trusted partner of ours. They have always provided us with quality candidates in a timely manner. Their large, nationwide network in the renewables sector helped us tackle tough challenges when we needed talent the most," she said. Discover how Tundra's commitment to sustainability and ESG principles goes beyond staffing. Visit us to learn more about our mission to build a better, greener future." View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tundra-empowers-sustainable-businesses-with-dedicated-green-collar-staffing-initiative-301803105.html SOURCE Tundra Technical Solutions

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[April 20, 2023] CIMA+ OPENS NEW OFFICE IN HALIFAX

To better serve existing clients and spur further growth in Atlantic Canada MONTREAL, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - CIMA+, one of Canada's largest privately-owned consulting engineering firms, is pleased to announce the opening of an office in Halifax, at 302238A Brownlow Avenue, Dartmouth, NS. This new location, together with the company's other offices across Canada, will allow CIMA+ to better serve its existing clientele in all four Atlantic provinces, while pursuing its growth plans in that market. Despite having a strong client base and a core group of resources in the Atlantic region, CIMA+ had not yet opened an office there. "Our potential for growth in Atlantic Canada is promising, with many large renewable energy projects in the works, along with utility upgrades, building retrofits and construction of new infrastructure," stated Denis Thivierge, President and CEO of CIMA+. "We are therefore pleased to formalize our presence in the region." "We are very pleased to be involved on projects related t the Atlantic loop connecting the four provinces to hydroelectricity and other renewable sources, supporting the phasing out of coal-fired generation. The majority of our Atlantic clients are in the Energy and Resources sector, and we anticipate they will have growing needs in light of the planned infrastructure projects in the region." stated Steeve L'Heureux, Executive Vice President, Energy and Resources at CIMA+



"With our new permanent base in Halifax, our company will be able to contribute even more actively to the economic vitality of the Atlantic region," stated Jeff Hynes, Partner, Director, Energy and Resources at CIMA+. "After last year's opening of our third Atlantic office in Clarenville (Newfoundland and Labrador), we gained a taste of how promising the Atlantic market could be for CIMA+. Now, with our new base in the region's largest city, we look forward to further tapping into this unrealized growth potential." In conjunction with the opening of its Halifax office, CIMA+ has launched a campaign to recruit 10 new employees to support its growing operations in the region. With a mission to provide integrated services and effective solutions to our clients, working in a spirit of partnership and always striving for excellence, CIMA+ is an exceptional employer for professionals wishing to work for one of the largest consulting engineering firms in the country.

About CIMA+ CIMA+ provides a variety of consulting engineering services, namely in the areas of buildings, infrastructure, transportation, energy and resources, project management, communication systems, and the environment. With an ever-growing presence, CIMA+'s team relies on decades of experience acquired across Canada to offer excellence in engineering projects. The search for excellence has been part of our DNA since our foundation in 1990. This commitment has allowed CIMA+ to rank among the largest private consulting engineering firms in Canada. Today, with more than 30 offices across Canada, CIMA+ employs 2,800+ people, over half of whom share ownership in the company. At CIMA+ we believe that engineering exists to improve the lives of those around us. Sustainable solutions inspired by engineering help meet the many challenges of today and tomorrow. Because when you engineer for people, you also engineer for a better world. For more information, please visit www.cima.ca. SOURCE CIMA+

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank plans to reduce its executive board to nine members from 10 and to cut some jobs in infrastructure and in its private banking business to save costs, a source close to the bank told Reuters on Thursday.

Germany's largest bank, which is due to present first-quarter results on April 27, declined to comment on the plans.

The source said that the cost-cutting measures would not affect plans to replace deputy chief executive Karl von Rohr, who the bank said on Tuesday would not renew his contract as a board member after October.

Deutsche Chief Executive Christian Sewing said in February that he could not rule out job cuts.

The bank completed its transformation phase at the end of 2022 with an improved cost-to-income ratio, but Sewing still needs to reduce costs. Compared to other European banks, Deutsche has high costs in relation to income.

Bloomberg first reported on the board shake-up.

(Reporting by Marta Orosz; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Sabine Wollrab and Miranda Murray)
[April 20, 2023] Psychiatrists Call for Ketamine Insurance Coverage

Leading psychiatrists are challenging inconsistent medical insurance coverage for ketamine, a key medication for patients with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety and other severe mental health conditions. The doctors maintain that the drug is already widely used and proven highly effective for patients who do not respond to traditional medications. However, some insurers give ketamine an unclear label of 'investigative.' This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005708/en/ In a recent PsychologyToday.com blog, co-founders of Advanced Brain & Body Clinic (ABBC) in Minneapolis, Dr. Stephen Manlove and Dr. Brian H. Johns wrote: "Given the debilitating and life-threatening nature of treatment-resistant depression, anxiety and PTSD, the mental health community and our patients need ketamine-in all its forms-as a treatment option. And in too many cases, insurance coverage is the only barrier." The blog details seven reasons why ketamine should be insured and encouraged for severely depressed and suicidal patients: Ketamine is in general use in the medical community in the US and internationally. Ketamine has been proven safe and effective-in fact it can be life-saving-for depression and anxiety patients who have often found no relief from traditional antidepressants. Ketamine-related research is increasing, with recent FDA approval of clinical trials for R-ketamine. Ketamine is needed for treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine can be safely used in a structured outpatient setting. There is a safe and rigorous treatment protocol. Ketamine is economically efficient. Oklahoma City psychiatrist Rachel Dalthorp is actiely appealing to Oklahoma legislators and medical directors at major insurers to move ketamine insurance forward.



"Research has shown there are many different causes of depression," says Dalthorp. "So it's illogical to think that you can treat a different type of depression with the same medicine. When you look at the incidence rate of depression, the data is behind where we really are in practice. We're in a crisis, and we have to act. That means getting these patients the medicine that's most likely to put them into remission quickly, and without side effects, and that's what these medicines can do. I'm really working to increase access to innovative and effective treatments for our patients." Advanced Brain + Body Clinic is one of the only clinics in the country to bill insurers for the administration of ketamine. Johns and Manlove have administered over 16,000 ketamine treatments to treatment resistant depression patients and have seen astounding results - ketamine has a 70% success rate in TRD patients compared to a less than 10% chance of success they would have if they tried yet another conventional antidepressant medication. "We continue to advocate for the coverage of ketamine despite the challenges we've faced because we believe that everyone who needs this medication should have access no matter their income level. The benefits far outweigh any potential risks," says Johns.

For more information on treatment-resistant depression and ketamine treatment, visit AdvancedBrainBody.com. About Dr. Stephen Manlove, MD Dr. Manlove is one of the most entrepreneurial psychiatrists in the upper midwest and owner/operator of Manlove Brain + Body Health in Rapid City, SD and Advanced Brain + Body Clinic in Minneapolis, MN. As an MD, he holds multiple board certifications in psychiatry/neurology, internal medicine and forensics. This deep understanding of medicine gives him a unique ability to practice truly holistic psychiatry-fusing lifestyle changes and brain health best practices with genetic testing and a detailed laboratory workup to develop a personalized plan for each patient. As an early adopter of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and ketamine/Spravato, he and the Manlove Brain + Body team have helped thousands of patients suffering from treatment resistant depression, anxiety and PTSD. About Dr. Brian H. Johns, MD Dr. Brian Johns is a Minneapolis psychiatrist at Advanced Brain + Body Clinic and a mental health leader who helped shape ketamine treatment for depression in Minnesota and the nation. He co-authored a Minnesota VA Hospital medical trial to open the door for ketamine treatment to change-from a revolving-door hospital intervention, to an ongoing regimen at an outpatient clinic-while setting the benchmark for ketamine infusions nationwide. He then developed the region's first ketamine infusion clinic. Over the past several years, he has administered or overseen thousands of ketamine treatments. About Dr. Rachel Dalthorp, MD Dr. Rachel Dalthorp received her medical degree from the University Of Oklahoma College Of Medicine. Following medical school she completed a four year psychiatric residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center where she focused on developing expertise in the assessment and treatment of mood disorders related to the female reproductive cycle. Dr. Dalthorp completed specialized training in the treatment of female sexual disorders and the use of psychedelic medications to treat depression. Dr. Dalthorp is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005708/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc. Announces Strategic Partnership With Palm Beach Capital

Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc. ("Pape-Dawson") announced today the formation of a strategic partnership with Palm Beach Capital ("PBC"). The partnership will provide growth capital to continue Pape-Dawson's expansion within Texas and across the United States. Pape-Dawson Engineers will continue as the majority owner leading the operations of the business post-close. "Given Palm Beach Capital's extensive experience aligning with well-respected firms in the industry, we look forward to partnering with them as we expand into a national engineering firm with a broader mix of high-quality service offerings," said Pape-Dawson President, Gene Dawson, P.E. "Our core operational philosophy is centered around our culture, our employees, and our communities," said Pape-Dawson CEO, Sam Dawson, P.E. "As we expand, we will be looking to partner with engineering firms that share these values and a steadfast commitment to excellence." "Pape-Dawson is an established and respected leader in the industry with best-in-class civil engineers and led by an excellent management team. They have leading market positions, and there are tremendous opportunities for geographi expansion across the U.S. We are thrilled to partner with the Dawson family and the entire Pape-Dawson team to support them in this next phase of growth," said Nate Ward, Palm Beach Capital Co-founder & Managing Partner.



About Pape-Dawson Engineers Pape-Dawson Engineers is a leading civil engineering firm in Texas, helping to build stronger communities across the state. Since opening its doors more than 57 years ago, Pape-Dawson has delivered thousands of public and private sector projects throughout Texas providing land development, transportation, water resources, hydrology/hydraulics, surveying, environmental, and GIS services. Pape-Dawson is headquartered in San Antonio with offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, Corpus Christi, and New Braunfels.

Pape-Dawson was selected as the 2022 Design Firm of the Year by Engineering News Record (ENR) Texas and Louisiana and is ranked #97 in top U.S. pure designers and #117 in top U.S. design firms by ENR. About Palm Beach Capital Founded in 2001, Palm Beach Capital is a middle market private equity investment firm based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Currently investing out of its sixth committed fund, the firm focuses on high growth investment opportunities and partners with management teams in management buyouts, recapitalizations and growth equity investments. Since its inception, Palm Beach Capital has made investments in 55 portfolio companies, with a focus on engineering, business services, healthcare, and transportation and logistics sectors. For more information, please visit the firm's website at www.pbcap.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005725/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Zircon Corporation Enters into Merger Agreement with Harmony Energy Technologies

Represents Key Step in Path to Entering the Public Markets CAMPBELL, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zircon Corporation today announced it has entered into a merger agreement with Harmony Energy Technologies Corp. ("Harmony"). The combined company will do business under the name Zircon and will be centered on leveraging Zircon's sensor-based, ASIC processor technology and patent portfolio, to accelerate growth by expanding its electronic hand-tool product line, entering new markets globally and launching a data, IP and technology licensing business. Harmony is a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting company. Zircon expects its merger with Harmony will allow it to accelerate the process of accessing the U.S. capital markets as a publicly traded company. With a 46-year history, Zircon is centered on building on its leadership in designing and developing innovative hand tools and maintaining a dominant market share. The Company's multi-faceted strategy spans new product development, entry into adjacent mrkets, global expansion and data, IP and technology licensing. Leveraging its technology and manufacturing resources, Zircon believes it is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing need for advanced construction tools across multiple industries including commercial building, government infrastructure, and building information modeling.



"Backed by our talented team, proprietary technology and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, we believe we have ample opportunity to expand our business and deliver profitable growth," commented John Stauss, Chief Executive Officer of Zircon. "Through this merger and a subsequent public listing, we strengthen our ability to execute on our growth plan and move forward with new technological solutions to a wider range of global markets." The merger closed on April 14, 2023.

Pickwick Capital Partners LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Zircon. Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP acted as legal counsel to Zircon. Anthony L.G., PLLC acted as legal counsel to Harmony. About Zircon Zircon Corporation, manufacturer of the original StudSensor stud finder, is a Silicon Valley-based company established and operating in Northern California since 1977. Dedicated to delivering innovative, affordable, and easy-to-use technology to the world's toolboxes, Zircon patented technology drives the design, manufacture, and marketing of high-tech electronic hand tools, saving do-it-yourselfers and professional tradesmen time and money. Zircon StudSensor stud finders, MultiScanner wall scanners, MetalliScanner metal detectors, and electronic scanning, water detection, and leveling tools can be found worldwide throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information, visit https://www.zircon.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zircon-corporation-enters-into-merger-agreement-with-harmony-energy-technologies-301802320.html SOURCE Zircon Corporation

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[April 20, 2023] Ursa Major Founder and CEO on "How I Built This" Podcast with Guy Raz

Episode Available Beginning Today, April 20 DENVER, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ursa Major, America's leading privately funded company that focuses solely on rocket propulsion, is proud to share that founder and CEO Joe Laurienti was featured on the popular podcast "How I Build This" with Guy Raz. The episode covers topics including: How the United States government has been relying on rocket engines that are made in Russia for the past several decades.

government has been relying on rocket engines that are made in for the past several decades. Joe's passion and aptitude for building and "tinkering" with electronics and machines since childhood.

How Ursa Major can help the government and private space companies address their rocket engine supply problems, in part by using 3D printing.

What it's like to walk through the aerospace industry's infamous "Valley of Death." The episode is available broadly beginning today on NPR One , Apple Podcasts , Wondery , Audible , and on public radio stations across the country.



Connect with Ursa Major on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. About Ursa Major

Ursa Major is America's leading privately funded company focusing solely on rocket propulsion, bringing high-performance, staged combustion engines to market for space launch and hypersonic applications. Ursa Major customers, ranging from "New Space" startups to enterprise-level aerospace leaders and the U.S. government, get to flight faster, more reliably, and cost-effectively. The company employs the most sought-after engineers from top space programs and universities. Headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, Ursa Major was named one of the best places to work by Built in Colorado three years in a row. For more information, visit www.ursamajor.com. For downloadable images and videos, visit https://www.ursamajor.com/media/downloadable-assets. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ursa-major-founder-and-ceo-on-how-i-built-this-podcast-with-guy-raz-301803400.html SOURCE Ursa Major

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[April 20, 2023] Wisper Home App: Like Bubble Wrap for the Internet

Unfortunately, parents can't be everywhere and sometimes they don't realize the dangers that are lurking in places they don't see. These are the ones that should worry us the most. The invisible threats. At Wisper Internet we do our best to keep customers and their families safe before threats even reach their devices. In 2022, the Wisper Home App and Calix Routers blocked 115,526 cyber threats before they could even reach customers' homes. In January of 2023, an additional 21,082 threats were blocked. But, as you know, there are more threats out there. In a recent chat, School Resource Officer Casey Harget, with the Dupo, Illinois Police Department, stressed the many threats that are out there for both kids and adults. Harget explained there are three simple tips for kids: Keep Safe, Keep Away, and Keep Telling. Keep Safe means to keep your personal info off the internet and when playing games, make sure you are only playing with people you know. Keep Away refers to online bullying and strangers. Keep Telling means to let a trusted adult know if there are strange people trying to contact you or asking you to do inappropriate things. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq6Top2q4hM



Think about every device you have in your home that is connected to the web in some way. Everything from the obvious computers, tablets, phones and gaming to televisions, thermostats, lights -- there are even smart refrigerators that tell you when you need to buy more milk. In a recent video conversation with Gabe Peterson from Calix, we highlighted the Wisper Home App, and the safety features it employs as the "remote control" for your home. During that conversation we talked about many ways Wisper and the Home App can keep you and your family safe online. You can see that discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wemHQf_tqpA

For more information about Wisper Internet and to determine service eligibility, contact the Wisper Sales Team at (800) 765-7772 or [email protected]. Wisper ISP, LLC, based in Mascoutah, Ill., is a wireless internet service provider with more than 200 employees and 20,000 subscribers across Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005875/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Experts explore growing threats to North American energy security at upcoming University of Houston Law Center event

7th Annual North American Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Conference is on April 27 HOUSTON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Industry and academic leaders will discuss the increasing political, climatic, and criminal risks to the North American energy supply during the University of Houston Law Center's 7th Annual North American Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Conference on Thursday, April 27. Delivering the conference keynote will be Kristen Eichensehr, who serves as the Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law and Director of the National Security Law Center at the University of Virginia Law School. "In the last year we have seen massive changes in energy use and distribution related to geo-political and supply chain disruptions, as well as increasing climate ferocity and cyber-attacks. This conference looks at these topics together and in perspective. It is an important issue being addressed by a very talented group of speakers," said Victor B. Flatt, Professor of Law, UH Energy Fellow and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center. Under the conference theme of energy security, panelists will discuss geo-political risks, climate impacts on electricity, privacy and cyber-security risks and supply chain disruptions. The more than 20 speakers and panelists presenting are: Susan Bickley , Partner, Blank Rome

, Partner, Blank Rome Victor B. Flatt , Professor of Law, UH Energy Fellow, and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center

, Professor of Law, UH Energy Fellow, and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, Law Center Gina Warren , Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center

, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, Law Center Julian Cardenas , Research Assistant Professor and Center for U.S. and Mexican Law Director, University of Houston Law Center

, Research Assistant Professor and Center for U.S. and Mexican Law Director, Law Center Anthony Rapa , Partner, Blank Rome

, Partner, Blank Rome Kristen Van de Biezenbos , Associate Professor, University of Calgary Faculty

, Associate Professor, Faculty Miranda Leppla , Environmental Law Clinic Director, Case Western Reserve University School of Law

, Environmental Law Clinic Director, School of Law Tracy Hester , Instructional ssociate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, University of Houston Law Center

, Instructional ssociate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, Law Center Hannah Wiseman , Professor of Law and Distinguished UHLC Visitor, PennState Law School

, Professor of Law and Distinguished UHLC Visitor, PennState Law School Pablo Pinto , Professor and Director, UH Hobby School of Public Affairs

, Professor and Director, UH Hobby School of Public Affairs Nikolas Guggenberger , Assistant Professor, University of Houston Law Center

, Assistant Professor, Law Center Tiffany Li , Assistant Professor, University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law

, Assistant Professor, Franklin Pierce School of Law Alan Rozenshtein , Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Law School

, Associate Professor, Law School Andrew Wills , Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor, DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response

, Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor, DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response Alex Nisenbaum , Partner, Blank Rome

, Partner, Blank Rome Leonard M. Baynes , Dean and Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center

, Dean and Professor of Law, Law Center Gregory Brown , General Counsel, Evolution Well Services

, General Counsel, Evolution Well Services David Cooke , General Counsel, Arm Energy Holdings

, General Counsel, Arm Energy Holdings Andrew Costa , General Counsel, Atlantic Methanol

, General Counsel, Atlantic Methanol Deonne Cunningham Nauls , General Counsel, GlidePath Power Solutions, LLC

, General Counsel, GlidePath Power Solutions, LLC Paula M. Narcisse , General Counsel, Worldwide Oilfield Machine

, General Counsel, Worldwide Oilfield Machine Linda D. Primrose , General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Legal Department, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.)

, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Legal Department, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Bo Shi , General Counsel, Crescent Energy

, General Counsel, Crescent Energy Elizabeth Trujillo , Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas, University of Houston Law Center

, Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas, Law Center Keith LeTourneau , Partner, Blank Rome



Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Blank Rome LLP and the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. The conference will be in-person on Thursday, April 27 from 8:45 a.m.  5:15 p.m. Central at the University of Houston Law Center, 4170 Martin Luther King Blvd. Attendees may also join virtually. Participating attorneys will receive 6.5 hours of Texas continuing legal education credit.

Click here to register. Click here for more event information. University of Houston Law Center media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Law Center Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-2184, [email protected]; Bonnie Buffaloe, Communications Manager, 713-743-9137, [email protected]. About the University of Houston Law Center The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, top-tier law school located in the nation's 4th largest city. UHLC's Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Part-time programs rank in the U.S. News Top 10. It awards Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, through its academic branch, the College of Law. The Law Center is more than just a law school. It is a powerful hub of intellectual activity with more than 15 centers and institutes which fuel its educational mission and national reputation. UHLC is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. About the University of Houston The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 47,000 students. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/experts-explore-growing-threats-to-north-american-energy-security-at-upcoming-university-of-houston-law-center-event-301803470.html SOURCE University of Houston Law Center

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[April 20, 2023] University of Phoenix to offer Digital Badges at Inclusive Leadership Summit and Career Fair

University of Phoenix is pleased to announce the opportunity for attendees at the University's second annual Inclusive Leadership Summit and Career Fair, May 2-4, 2023, titled "Developing a Culture of Belonging: Prioritizing Social and Emotional Well-Being," to earn two digital badges demonstrating inclusive leadership skills. The badges, which are digital icons that display skills acquired through learning, are sharable on resumes and digital platforms. The University of Phoenix will be offering attendees the opportunity to earn digital badges during the event as part of a larger commitment to skills-aligned programs and courses. Skills-based hiring is on the rise, with many employers looking to hire qualified candidates regardless of a degree. Demand for increased qualifications, and increased equity in the job market may be driving the need for skills-based hiring across industries. Last year, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management released guidance on skills-based hiring for federal agencies.



"University of Phoenix is proud to offer digital badges focused on inclusive leadership as part of our continued commitment to relevant, skills-based learning," shares John Woods, Ph.D., provost and chief academic officer. "As more companies move toward skills-based hiring, we understand the importance of offering adult learners a way to display the skills they have in real time. Digital badges are a win-win: they benefit employers looking to identify candidates with in-demand skills, and they benefit jobseekers seeking to highlight skills that align with their career of choice." The Inclusive Leadership Summit aims to foster an atmosphere conducive to life-long learning and addressing systemic inequities to inform an ever-changing workforce. According to the recently released 2023 Career Optimism Index study by University of Phoenix Career Institute, 47% of American workers are experiencing burnout on the job. Findings of the study suggest that by investing in employees' professional development, mental health and engagement, employers can foster feelings of employee optimism.

All summit attendees will have the opportunity to earn the "Inclusive Leader: Social and Emotional Wellbeing" digital badge. Summit attendees can earn this digital badge by actively engaging in critical dialogue examining aspects of trauma, prioritizing accessibility as an aspect of inclusion, post-pandemic challenges and the ongoing social and systemic issues that hinder performance and retention. Participant engagement will be followed by written reflections on practices meant to foster a safe, inclusive environment that promotes social and emotional wellbeing. Summit attendees wishing to earn the "Inclusive Leader: Owning a Personal narrative" digital badge will focus on practical methods for improving their brand as a champion for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB). Attendees looking to earn this badge will participate in the inaugural Workforce Diversity Leaders Seminar, three highly interactive sessions facilitated for participants to leverage their authenticity as a value proposition to contribute to their practice of inclusive leadership. In addition, the Workforce Diversity Leaders Seminar will serve as a meeting place for the advancement and empowerment of employee resource group (ERG) or business resource group (BRG) leaders, ERG or BRG sponsors and emerging leaders who serve in workforce areas related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Register for the University of Phoenix Inclusive Leadership Summit here. About University of Phoenix University of Phoenix is continually innovating to help working adults enhance their careers in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, and Career Services for Life help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005962/en/

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[April 20, 2023] QIAGEN announces expansion of Supervisory Board

Venlo, the Netherlands, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that Steve Rusckowski, an internationally recognized healthcare industry executive and former Chairman, President and CEO of Quest Diagnostics, has joined the Supervisory Board as a new member and will stand for election at the next Annual General Meeting scheduled for June 22, 2023. It is with great pleasure that we welcome Steve Rusckowski to our Supervisory Board. He has had a remarkable career in the healthcare industry and a proven track record as the leader of one of the worlds most important diagnostics companies. We are looking forward to him making many contributions to the future success of QIAGEN, said Lawrence Rosen, Chair of the Supervisory Board. We are also looking forward to again meeting with our shareholders in person at the Annual General Meeting in June. It is an opportunity to show how QIAGEN is navigating a volatile macro environment in 2023 and executing on a strategy that positions us well for the future. Mr. Rusckowski most recently served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. He joined Quest Diagnostics as President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2012, and was named Chairman in 2016. He stepped down from his role as President and CEO in 2022, and as Chairman in early 2023. Prior to joining Quest Diagnostics, Mr. Rusckowski was CEO of Philips Healthcare, which became the largest unit of Royal Philips Electronics under his leadership. He joined Philips in 2001 when it acquired the Healthcare Solutions Group he was leading at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies. Mr. Rusckowski previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Xerox Holdings Corporation and Covidien plc. He earned a bachelors degree in MechanicalEngineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a masters in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Sloan School of Management.



About QIAGEN QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. Our sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials. Assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. Automation solutions tie these together in seamless and cost-effective workflows. QIAGEN provides solutions to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare), Applied Testing (primarily forensics), Pharma (pharma and biotech companies) and Academia (life sciences research). As of December 31, 2022, QIAGEN employed approximately 6,200 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.

Forward-Looking Statement Certain statements contained in this press release 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. To the extent that any of the statements contained herein relating to QIAGEN's products, collaborations markets, strategy or operating results, including without limitation its expected adjusted net sales and adjusted diluted earnings results, are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with management of growth and international operations (including the effects of currency fluctuations, regulatory processes and dependence on logistics), variability of operating results and allocations between customer classes, the commercial development of markets for our products to customers in academia, pharma, applied testing and molecular diagnostics; changing relationships with customers, suppliers and strategic partners; competition; rapid or unexpected changes in technologies; fluctuations in demand for QIAGEN's products (including fluctuations due to general economic conditions, the level and timing of customers' funding, budgets and other factors); our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our products; difficulties in successfully adapting QIAGEN's products to integrated solutions and producing such products; the ability of QIAGEN to identify and develop new products and to differentiate and protect our products from competitors' products; market acceptance of QIAGEN's new products and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses. For further information, please refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Source: QIAGEN N.V.

Category: Corporate

John Gilardi QIAGEN N.V. +49 2103 29 11711 [email protected] Phoebe Loh QIAGEN N.V. +49 2103 29 11457 [email protected] Thomas Theuringer QIAGEN N.V. +49 2103 29 11826 [email protected] Daniela Eltrop QIAGEN N.V. +49 2103 29 11676 [email protected]

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[April 20, 2023] Yelp Announces Date of First Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects people with great local businesses, announced that it will release its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 after the market closes on Thursday, May 4, 2023. Yelp will issue a press release when its Shareholder Letter has been posted on its investor relations website at www.yelp-ir.com. Following the release of the Shareholder Letter, Yelp will host a webcasted conference call to discuss its first quarter results starting at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on the same day. The live and archived webcasts will be accessible from Yelp's investor relations website at the same web address as above.



About Yelp Yelp Inc. (yelp.com) is a community-driven platform that connects people with great local businesses. Millions of people rely on Yelp for useful and trusted local business information, reviews and photos to help inform their spending decisions. As a one-stop local platform, Yelp helps consumers easily discover, connect and transact with businesses across a broad range of categories by making it easy to request a quote for a service, book a table at a restaurant, and more. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in 2004.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005794/en/

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[April 20, 2023] Materion Corporation to Announce First Quarter 2023 Financial Results on May 3

Materion Corporation (NYSE: MTRN) is scheduled to release its first quarter 2023 financial results on May 3, 2023, before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange. The company will hold a conference call with investors at 9:00 a.m. EST that morning. Jugal Vijayvargiya, President and Chief Executive Officer; Shelly Chadwick, Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer; and John Zaranec, Chief Accounting Officer, will represent Materion Corporation on the call. Conference Call and Slide Presentation To participate, please dial (888) 506-0062 or (973) 528-0011 for international participants and enter participant passcode 545309. Please be sure to dial in 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

A live webcast will be available on the company's website (www.materion.com). To access the webcast, click on Events & Presentations under the Investor Relations page.



About Materion

Materion Corporation is a global leader in advanced materials solutions for high-performance industries including semiconductor, industrial, aerospace & defense, energy and automotive. With nearly 100 years of expertise in specialty engineered alloy systems, inorganic chemicals and powders, precious and non-precious metals, beryllium and beryllium composites, and precision filters and optical coatings, Materion partners with customers to enable breakthrough solutions that move the world forward. Headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, the company employs more than 3,700 talented people worldwide, serving customers in more than 60 countries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005920/en/

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The sixth edition of the region's leading advanced manufacturing event returns with over 300 exhibitors at Singapore EXPO from 18  20 October 2023

SINGAPORE, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC (ITAP), an event of Constellar with international partner Deutsche Messe, returns to Singapore EXPO from 18  20 October 2023.

ITAP Logo

The three-day event is the premier platform for global Industry 4.0 leaders and solution providers to forge deeper engagements with new and existing markets, as well as for key players in the region and stakeholders across the value chain to develop future-ready opportunities for sustainable business growth.

Focusing on new trends and solutions in advanced manufacturing, the event will spotlight innovations in Green Factory solutions that will help the manufacturing industry reduce carbon emissions on its journey to Net Zero. It will also feature new developments in Intelligent Machine Tools & Engineered Parts that are integrated with the latest AI technology and designed to improve productivity through process automation.

These two new pillars are part of the event's six key exhibitor profiles, which include Additive Manufacturing, Digitalisation, Industrial Automation and Smart Logistics & Supply Chain.

Last year's ITAP was the first fully-physical edition post-Covid, attracting over 15,000 visitors from 76 countries and regions with more than 35% of its attendees being C-level executives and key decision makers in the industry.

This year, ITAP will host more than 300 exhibitors and over 18,000 attendees across 20,000sqm of immersive experiences at Singapore EXPO, including international pavilions, networking areas and product showcases.

Delegates and trade visitors can enjoy guided tours highlighting the latest advanced manufacturing innovations, as well as expanded opportunities for networking and discovery through engagements such as the International Connect Platform, facilitated business matching sessions, and an innovation stage that will be the launching pad for more than 20 new products.

Story continues

ITAP 2023 will also host the Industrial Transformation Forum featuring global business leaders in key industry sectors. Across two conference days, key topics across Sustainability, Optimising Manufacturing Efficiency and Supply Chain Resilience will be addressed.

The Future of Manufacturing Summit (FoM) & Roundtable will also return at ITAP 2023 to support industry efforts in encouraging greater receptivity and adoption of Industry 4.0.

Leading up to the main event in October, Constellar will be hosting ITAP 2023 engagements in key sectors around the region  Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia  where Industry 4.0 adoption will be pivotal to accelerating economic growth.

ITAP 2023 is strongly supported by industry and government partners including Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Economic Development Board (EDB), Enterprise Singapore (ESG), JTC Corporation (JTC), SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) along with their regional counterparts, as well as global industry leaders and key players in the region's business ecosystem.

A round up of facts and figures about last year's ITAP can be found here.

If you'd like to attend ITAP 2023, click here to register your interest.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/digitalisation-and-sustainability-in-advanced-manufacturing-to-be-key-focus-at-industrial-transformation-asia-pacific-2023-301802508.html

SOURCE Constellar
[April 20, 2023] White House Announces DFC Working on $50 Million Debt Investment in TIG's Latin American Reforestation Strategy

Today the White House announced that the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is working to assess potential financing of $50 million to help mobilize $1 billion for the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group's (TIG) Latin American reforestation strategy. The announcement was made by President Biden during the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change, when he outlined a number of actions to rapidly scale forest protection and restoration to help address climate change. TIG is a U.S. subsidiary of BTG Pactual, a publicly traded investment bank headquartered in Brazil with a market capitalization of approximately US$ 20 billion. TIG's reforestation strategy aims to protect and restore nearly 300,000 hectares (approximately 700,000 acres) of natural forests in deforested landscapes in Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile; plant hundreds of millions of trees in sustainably managed, independently certified commercial forests; improve biodiversity; and support inclusive and equitable community development. The strategy aims to generate an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon sequestration over 15 years. Gerrity Lansing, Head of TIG said, "We are thrilled that DFC sees the value of TIG's restoration and reforestation strategy, where we are seeking to deliver benefits for climate, rural development and bodiversity. We applaud the governments of Brazil and the United States for their leadership at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change, and their recognition of the critical importance of large-scale climate solutions like forest protection, restoration and sustainable management, in addressing the climate crisis."



Global environmental non-profit Conservation International is serving as Impact Advisor for the strategy to help TIG achieve additional positive environmental, climate, and social impacts. Mauricio Bianco, Vice President of Conservation International Brazil, said, "Protecting nature -- and at the same time, having positive socioeconomic impacts -- are critical for a climate safe future. Initiatives like this one help chart a new path to a sustainable economy that does just that, all while providing a host of additional benefits to local communities and biodiversity. We are very pleased to collaborate with TIG to help the strategy deliver its mission for positive impact."

TIG has already invested in nearly 24,000 hectares (approximately 60,000 acres) of previously deforested land in Brazil - an area 35% larger than the District of Columbia - for conservation, restoration, and sustainable management under this strategy. Mark Wishnie, TIG's Chief Sustainability Officer, said, "DFC support would expand opportunities to protect important biodiversity values in restored natural forests, while also supporting sustainably managed working forests. Through investments made under this strategy, we intend to demonstrate the contribution the forest sector can make to sustainable, climate-smart economic growth. We are excited to work with both our public and private sector partners to deliver real impact and innovation." In 2021, TIG was a founding member of the Forest Investor Club, launched by John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, at COP26 in Glasgow, UK. The initiative is a network of public and private financial institutions committed to accelerating the pace, increasing the scale, and expanding the scope of investments in restoration, conservation, sustainable forestry and green infrastructure. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005986/en/

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[April 20, 2023] First Farmers and Merchants Corporation Holds Annual Meeting of Shareholders

First Farmers and Merchants Corporation (OTC Pink: FFMH), the holding company for First Farmers and Merchants Bank, reported that shareholders elected a slate of 10 directors and ratified the selection of Plante & Moran, PLLC as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. In comments made at the annual meeting of shareholders, Brian K. Williams, First Farmers' Chairman and CEO, said, "First Farmers achieved the highest level of earnings in our 113-year history, and I want to thank all our team members for their contributions in reaching this milestone. Our team is passionate about our mission and values as a community banking partner, and we look forward to continued progress in 2023. "We are also pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Christa S. Martin and W. Eric Mayberry as new members of First Farmers' Board of Directors. They add an additional depth of experience to our Board of Directors along with their close connections to the markets we serve. We look forward to their counsel and expertise in shaping the strategic direction of our company in the future." Dr. Martin serves as the Assistant to the President for Access and Diversity for Columbia State Community College. She is past Vice Mayor of the City of Columbia and the first African American woman elected to that position. She is the recipient of numerous awards including: the Legacy Award from Columbia Peace and Justice Initiative; Nashville Business Journal Women of Influence Trailblazer Award; Midle Tennessee State University Unity Award; President's Medal from Columbia State Community College; Maury County NAACP President's Award; and League of Innovation and Excellence in Community Colleges. She holds a doctor of higher educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University, Masters of Science from Middle Tennessee State University, and a bachelor's degree from Middle Tennessee State University.



Mr. Mayberry is the ninth President of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest state Farm Bureau. He guides its board of director and works with county, district, state, and national leadership, partners in the agricultural industry, lawmakers and other decision makers to ensure agriculture remains prosperous in Tennessee. He previously served as vice president of Farm Bureau and was past president of the Humphreys County Farm Bureau Board of Directors. Mr. Mayberry operates a full-time farming operation in Humphreys County, Tennessee raising corn, soybeans and beef cattle on more than 1,000 acres. Shareholders also re-elected the eight incumbent Directors of First Farmers and Merchants Corporation for a one-year term, including:

Jeffrey L. Aiken, Deputy Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Jonathan M. Edwards, President and CEO, Edwards Oil Company

E. Marlee Mitchell, Partner, Holland & Knight LLP

Jeffrey L. Pannell, CEO, Tennessee Farmers Insurance Companies

Richard C. Perko, President and CEO, Lee Company

H. Alan Watson, Retired CEO, Maury Regional Health

Brian K. Williams, Chairman & CEO of the Company

Gina B. Wolfe, Co-Owner, Wolfe Enterprises About First Farmers and Merchants Corporation and First Farmers and Merchants Bank First Farmers and Merchants Corporation is the holding company for First Farmers and Merchants Bank, a community bank serving the Middle Tennessee area through 22 offices in seven Middle Tennessee counties. As of December 31, 2022, First Farmers reported total assets of approximately $1.9 billion, total shareholders' equity of approximately $97 million, and administered trust assets of $5.7 billion. For more information about First Farmers, visit us on the Web at www.myfirstfarmers.com under "Investor Relations." View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005999/en/

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[April 20, 2023] WindShape Expands Global Reach with State-of-the-Art Drone Testing Laboratories in Tulsa, Oklahoma

TULSA, Okla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WindShape, a trailblazing Swiss company established in 2016, has been revolutionizing the drone industry through research, development, testing, inspection, certification, and validation. In an ambitious effort to extend its global presence, WindShape is announcing a strategic partnership with the Osage tribal nation, to open a cutting-edge indoor drone testing and validation facility at the Skyway36 Droneport and Technology Innovation Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Spanning an impressive 19,000 square feet, this facility will be operated exclusively by WindShape and will utilize its groundbreaking 'Windshaper' technology, to create an indoor free-flight laboratory, simulating natural wind & weather profiles for precise and reliable test results. Guillaume Catry, co-founder and CEO of WindShape, says, "After extensive exploration and engagement with the remarkable people representing the Oklahoma region, WindShape believes that Tulsa will become a major innovation hub and technology influencer in the emerging uncrewed aircraft and Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) industry. We are glad that our solutions, focused on enabling the industry through testing and certification, will contribute to consolidate the regional effort and strategy. Today, testing uncrewed aircraft, or 'drones', for commercial operations is often expensive and inefficient, with limited repeatability and inadequate digital tools for capturing data for compliance and validation. We will address these issues that are critical for this industry, with our exclusive 'Windshaper' technology to simulate any drone flight situation in a laboratory environment. The facility will house 8 specialized labs, each designed to test and validate different drone systems, such as a climate lab for assessing weather resilience, a propulsion lab to validate propulsion units, and two free-flight activity labs equipped with motion tracking cameras, GPS generators, and other digital tools that simulate a drone's flight mission." Craig Mahaney, CEO of Droneport Network, which oversees the Skyway36 center, states, "WindShape will provide unparalleled testing and validation services for drones at a single indoor facility. As a result of the BBB Regional Challenge and the $38.2 million federal grant, the TRAM Cluster has been established, forming a 'super region' for advanced uncrewed transportation systems in the Tulsa region. The WindShape test center will play a vital role in evaluating operational risks and validating safety for flights within the test corridor and the National Airspace System (NAS)." Frank Freeman, chairman of the Osage LLC board, expresses enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, "On behalf of the Board of Osage LLC and Osage Nation, we are excited to be a part of the future of the drone industry. The Osage Nation has been front and center in providing capital resources in the form of infrastructure and cash to further the success of this enterprise. We are excited about the opportunities to provide high-quality jobs for our Citizens and for our Nation to increase its business division. We are grateful to be a part of our state and local government and my alma mater, Oklahoma State University, i their work in providing resources to move this industry forward." As the drone industry expands globally, the demand for testing, validation, and certification also increases. The WindShape facility aims to establish a consistent and reproducible laboratory environment to realize reliable test outcomes.



The WindShape facility aligns seamlessly with the objectives of the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility (TRAM) coalition. Organized by the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG), the coalition brings together key stakeholders such as Oklahoma State University, the Osage Nation, the Tulsa Regional Chamber, Tulsa Innovation Labs, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. WindShape's primary mission is to foster the expansion of the commercial drone industry by providing essential data that improves safety within the National Airspace System. They aim to support manufacturers, operators, and regulatory bodies in capturing, quantifying, and validating operational data to encourage safety and growth within the industry. With the global expansion of the drone industry, the need for testing, inspection, validation, and certification services continues to grow. The WindShape facility is committed to creating a stable and replicable laboratory environment to ensure dependable test results. "WindShape provides a nucleus of knowledge-based capital and much needed research, testing, evaluation, and product innovation capability to drone manufacturers around the world," says Brent Kisling, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. "Uncrewed technologies are a vital aspect of the future of the aerospace and defense sector. For more than a decade, Oklahoma has been at the forefront of this technology, and I can say with confidence that we will continue to be a leader in this field."

"WindShape is the missing link to ensure the operational risk validation necessary to the advancement of aerial mobility and safety in the National Airspace System," says Hopper Smith, state director of aerospace and defense for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. "This facility is a major step toward Oklahoma leading in the development of next generation safe and innovative advanced mobility transportation technology, built on Oklahoma's strong aerospace industry and technology." "The new WindShape Tulsa test facility is a unique and much needed resource for the nascent Advanced Aerial Mobility sector," says Dr. Jamey Jacob, director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education and Counter-UAS Center of Excellence at Oklahoma State University. "I am very excited to work with their team and use the WindShape concept to benefit our customers, government and commercial alike. I'm a big proponent of their design, and their services will provide critical testing and evaluation capabilities required to push adoption forward across the industry." "WindShape's decision to relocate its North American headquarters in Tulsa  and to build its new test facility here as well  is a great example of how regional collaboration results in wins for everyone," says Arthur Jackson, senior vice president of economic development for the Tulsa Regional Chamber. "The Chamber-led Tulsa's Future regional economic development partnership is proud to be part of projects such as this that strengthen our region's position in the Advanced Aerial Mobility arena. Thank you to everyone at WindShape for seeing the value our region will bring to their enterprise." "When inTulsa realized the enormous impact that WindShape's new testing facility will have on Tulsa's Advanced Mobility sector, we were excited to champion them to our local public and private partners. We are thrilled to be their on the ground resource to lay the pathway for their growth and facilitate a soft landing in Tulsa." said Louie Napoleone, Director of Acquisition at inTulsa. The WindShape facility will be situated at Skyway36, a significant part of the Tulsa region's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Flight Test Corridor initiative. This project comprises four operating nodes that connect facilities in Oklahoma State University, Osage, and Tulsa within a 114 nautical mile UAS and advanced air mobility research and testing flight corridor. Skyway36 also offers a 3,000-foot runway that is suitable for small fixed-wing aircraft, and helipad space for UAS and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. "The George Kaiser Family Foundation is thrilled to welcome WindShape to our vibrant community of innovators and entrepreneurs in Tulsa," says Jeff Stava, chief program officer at the George Kaiser Family Foundation. "Utilizing our strong public and private partnerships, inTulsa and Tulsa Innovation Labs were able to help facilitate a clear pathway for Windshape's new testing facility. This is another step forward in building a robust advanced mobility industry in Tulsa, and we are grateful to have them in our city." For more on how you can partner to expand your business in the Tulsa region, please visit TulsasFuture.com. WindShape SA (Switzerland)  Rue de Bourgogne 25, 1203 Geneva, Switzerland

WindShape, Inc. (USA)  1211 W. 36th Street North, Tulsa, OK 74127

Website - www.windshape.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/windshape-expands-global-reach-with-state-of-the-art-drone-testing-laboratories-in-tulsa-oklahoma-301803626.html SOURCE WindShape

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[April 20, 2023] Oshkosh Corporation to Participate in 2023 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo

Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE: OSK), a leading innovator of purpose-built vehicles and equipment, is pleased to announce it will be exhibiting at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Anaheim, California, May 1-4, 2023. ACT Expo is the largest annual conference and trade show in the country focused on advanced transportation technologies and clean fuel vehicles. With nearly 30 years of electrification experience, Oshkosh has introduced purpose-built, battery-electric vehicles in most of its end markets. These include the Pierce Volterra fire truck, the Oshkosh Striker Volterra ARFF, the JLG DaVinci scissor lift, the Oshkosh fully integrated refuse collection vehicle, the eJLTV and the USPS NGDV. North America's first fully integrated, zero-emission electric refuse collection vehicle will be highlighted at the show through a mixed reality experience. Visitors can step inside a prototype of the new, ergonomically designed cab, where they can view detailed features and technologies through virtual reality (VR). After exiting the cab, they will have the opportunity to complete a full VR walkaround of the refuse collection body. The world's first all-electric scissor lift will also be featured. The JLG DaVinci lift has zero hydraulics to eliminate job site leaks and zero emissions to help control pollution. Every component is fully optimized to reduce energy consumption, allowing it to be powered by a single lithium-ion battery. In addition to its exhibit, Oshkosh will be participating in the "Municipal & Refuse Fleets at the Cutting-Edge" breakout session on Wednesday, May 3, from 1-2:15 p.m. PDT. Nader Nasr, senior vice president of engineering, will discuss the latest from the frontlines of zero-emission refuse trucks. For more information on Oshkosh innovation, please visit oshkoshcorp.com. To schedule a media interview at ACT Expo, please contact [email protected].



About Oshkosh Corporation At Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK), we make innovative, mission-critical equipment to help everyday heroes advance communities around the world. Headquartered in Wisconsin, Oshkosh Corporation employs approximately 15,000 team members worldwide, all united behind a common cause: to make a difference in people's lives. Oshkosh products can be found in more than 150 countries under the brands of JLG, Hinowa, Pierce, MAXIMETAL, Oshkosh Defense, McNeilus, IMT, Jerr-Dan, Frontline, Oshkosh Airport Products, London and Pratt Miller. For more information, visit oshkoshcorp.com.

,  All brand names referred to in this news release are trademarks of Oshkosh Corporation or its subsidiary companies. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains statements that the Company believes to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's future financial position, business strategy, targets, projected sales, costs, earnings, capital expenditures, debt levels and cash flows, and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "should," "project" or "plan" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include risks related to the Company's ability to successfully execute on its strategic road map and meet its long-term financial goals. Additional information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update information contained in this news release. Investors should be aware that the Company may not update such information until the Company's next quarterly earnings conference call, if at all. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230420005885/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Globally, Microsoft (News - Alert) Teams has 280 million monthly active users (according to Microsoft) but only 30% of them are active Teams Phone (News - Alert) users and an even smaller percentage use PSTN. This presents a significant market opportunity for CSPs to develop their "with Teams" and for Teams strategies and to take advantage of the expanding Microsoft Teams ecosystem.







In comes a hurdle for CSPs, however. Many of them struggle with the complexities and hidden costs of setting up telephony for Microsoft Teams via Direct Routing or Operator Connect. Most of the time, they are forced to employ a third-party Microsoft partner to manage a Teams integration on their behalf.

Sheesh. Talk about being complex, especially with Teams being so frequently used worldwide.

As a way to overcome those complexities, Alianza has introduced Alianza for Microsoft Teams, a new solution that gives service providers a robust cloud PBX (News - Alert) voice solution for Microsoft Teams.

Think of the documentation that is offered to enable Direct Routing. At that point, users must be experts to get anywhere close to figuring it out. Alianza (News - Alert)'s turnkey, voice-enabled Teams integration goes beyond Direct Routing to simplify the heavy technical and administrative complexities of implementing Direct Routing.

The Alianza for Microsoft Teams solution offers a range of features, including unprecedented automation, robust PBX feature set, top PSTN coverage, extensive CPE interoperability, faster time-to-market, administrative ease and enhanced security.

One of the key highlights of Alianza for Microsoft Teams is the unprecedented automation that allows CSPs to add licenses and sync in just two simple steps. The solution simplifies Direct Routing for PSTN and PBX provisioning, eliminating the heavy technical lift for CSPs.

With comprehensive calling features, the Alianza solution (enabled and set up in minutes) supports knowledge workers who live and breathe Teams, while continuing to support non-Teams users within the organization who are primarily reliant on traditional telephony functionality and devices.

Alianza for Microsoft Teams, with its PSTN coverage, ensures that CSPs provide telephone numbers wherever their Teams users are located. The solution also supports various SIP endpoints, ranging from IP phones to high-density analog gateways, including devices from Cisco (News - Alert), Yealink, and Poly, empowering CSPs with the ability to deploy the right devices for their customers.

For those wondering if the solution is secure, end-to-end encryption of signaling and media is enforced between the integration and Microsoft 365. Additionally, administrative access is controlled by Azure/Microsoft 365 single sign-on, ensuring that no user credentials are stored by the portal.

Alianza for Microsoft Teams is another example of how Alianza innovates to help CSPs grow their cloud communications portfolio and capitalize on large revenue opportunities and radically simplify voice and UC deployment at scale," said Dag Peak, Chief Product Officer at Alianza. "Service providers can leverage Microsoft Teams' popularity, market share and extensive customer base by using Alianza for Microsoft Teams as the ideal, voice integration solution."

No doubt, with its extensive features and benefits, Alianza for Microsoft Teams is set to be a game-changer in the cloud-based voice platform market. The solution better positions CSPs to deliver an enterprise-grade, feature-rich and administratively easy solution to their end users.

Edited by Alex Passett
If you're wondering how to turn off emergency (or AMBER) alerts on iPhone, we wouldn't blame you. While they can save your life, you don't want an emergency alert going off during an interview or when you've just managed to get your baby to sleep.

By default, the iPhone receives Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which are sent to your carrier via governmental groups like FEMA, the National Weather Service, the Department of Homeland Security and local public safety agencies. In the UK, the UK Government is currently undertaking emergency alert tests on all iPhones running iOS 14.5 and later, and Android phones and tablets running Android 11 or later.

With emergency alerts enabled, your iPhone will trigger a loud alarm whenever there's an extreme weather warning, an AMBER alert, an evacuation notice or a national emergency. While it's advisable to keep your phone alert-ready at most times, there's an easy fix for when you just want to enjoy some peace and quiet at home. Here's how to turn off emergency alerts on your iPhone.

How to Turn Off Emergency (or AMBER) Alerts on iPhone

1. Go to Settings > Notifications (Image:  Future) Open the Settings app and tap Notifications.

2. Toggle off Emergency Alerts (Image:  Future) Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and toggle off Extreme Alerts and Severe Alerts.

That's all there is to it. One thing to note is that, even if you disable Emergency Alerts, you will still receive governmental alerts, such as Presidential Alerts. There is no way to stop these happening (that's kinda the point).

If you'd like to read more iPhone guides, check out our other tutorials, including how to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone, how to clear RAM on iPhone and how to delete multiple contacts on iPhone.
By now now you've seen this headline we just want to document it for the blog.

Also . . .

NOTICE LITTLE ACKNOWLEDGMENT BY ACTIVISTS AND OPPONENTS ON THE OTHER SIDE FOR THE OLD MAN'S OBVIOUSLY DIMINISHED CONDITION!!!



Again, we're not excusing anyone's actions or responsibility. But the context is part of reality and the facts of this case . . .



"Andrew D. Lester, stooped over and using a cane, shuffled up to the bench and acknowledged Clay County Judge Louis Angles questions with OK. He appeared slightly confused during the three-minute hearing, and at one point told the judge, I wont be staying there, referring to his Northland home where the shooting took place."



Still . . . There is a denial of the very obvious . . .



Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney representing Yarls family said he noticed Lesters confusing-sounding comments, but believes Lester is aware of his actions.



When the judge asked him to move to one location, he was able to communicate with his attorney, Merritt said. There didn't, to me, appear any diminished mental capacity that would explain his actions."

Merritt also told reporters before the hearing that the family was happy to be at the first step in the judicial process for the shooting.



I want him to spend the rest of his life in prison," Merritt said of Lester. "All of his assets are going to become Ralphs."



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Andrew Lester, white Kansas City man who shot Ralph Yarl, pleads not guilty to felony charges Andrew D. Lester appeared for a three-minute hearing at the Clay County Courthouse for a formal reading of his two felony charges, first degree assault and armed criminal action. Meanwhile, Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing the teen's family, said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime.

Andrew Lester pleads not guilty to charges in Ralph Yarl shooting KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The man charged with two felonies in the shooting of a 16-year-old Staley High School student has pleaded not guilty. Andrew Lester appeared in person for an arraignment hearing at the Clay County Courthouse in front of Judge Louis Angles, entering his plea concerning charges of armed criminal action and first-degree assault.

Kansas City man charged in Ralph Yarl shooting pleads not guilty KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An 84-year-old man charged in the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl appeared in court Wednesday. Andrew Lester was charged Monday with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in Clay County. He surrendered on Tuesday at the county jail; later that day, Lester posted bond and was released from custody.

Developing . . .


Lot to catch up on here but right now we wanted to share a bevy of recent news items on local threats, court cases, ALLEGED misdeeds and just a bit of good news.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Kansas City police shoot, kill armed man near 27th, Brighton Avenue KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man who was allegedly pointing a hand gun at people is dead after being shot by a Kansas City police officer Wednesday afternoon. Just after 4:30 p.m., Kansas City officers were made aware of a man pointing a handgun at people and acting erratically in the area of E.

Extra security at Ruskin High School following social media threat KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Hickman Mills School District will provide extra security at Ruskin High School Thursday after a social media threat. District spokesperson Justin Robinson says a student posted the threat online Wednesday. When the district learned of the threat, police were contacted and a note was sent to families, explaining the reasoning for added security.

Dozens canvass neighborhoods near 35th and Prospect to try and reduce crime Dozens of people canvassed the neighborhoods surrounding 35th and Prospect on Tuesday afternoon in an effort to reduce crime following a violent weekend in Kansas City.Two people were shot and killed in two separate cases near 35th and Prospect over the weekend.

Kansas City family impacted by gun violence reacts to Ralph Yarl shooting KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A family who lost their son nearly six years ago says the Ralph Yarl shooting triggered memories of when they lost 19-year-old Chris Hutson to a road-rage shooting. Hutson was on the phone with his parents, Carthesa and Christopher Hutson Sr., driving down Holmes Road before he was shot and killed by John Young.

Suspect in fatal shooting along I-70 in Oak Grove in custody after overnight manhunt The man at the center of a massive search following a shooting on a busy stretch of the interstate has been taken into custody. Police were searching for 18-year-old Charles J. Smith in connection with the deadly shooting along Interstate 70 in Oak Grove, Missouri. The shooting happened after 4 p.m.

'It's to know that you mattered': New KS law gives victims of child sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits SHAWNEE, Kan. - Kansas took a big leap towards victim advocacy earlier this week when Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill to give survivors of child sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits. The new law will allow police to pursue criminal cases of child sexual abuse indefinitely and give survivors until they turn 31 and three years after a criminal conviction to file a lawsuit.

Cass County man blamed dead girlfriend for shooting, dumping gun: court docs PECULIAR, Mo. - Court documents say a Cass County homicide suspect told investigators his girlfriend shot herself in the head then threw the gun in a pond before she died in their kitchen. Authorities aren't buying it. Route C is one of the main roads cutting through Peculiar, Missouri, and the home where the deadly shooting happened is hard to miss.

Kansas City police determine grenade found in Liberty 'not live' 2023raytownpolicelightscar The Liberty, Missouri Police Department says that a device being investigated as a 'possible grenade' was found not to be a live explosive. The department says they investigated the device after someone reportedly found what they suspected was an explosive while they were cleaning.

Suspect, shot following burglary at Overland Park Airbnb property, charged OLATHE, Kan. - A man who was shot following a recent burglary at an Airbnb in Overland Park, Kansas is charged. Johnson County prosecutors charged Marques Dewayne Hastings with burglary-dwelling firearm. According to court documents, Overland Park police responded to a residential burglary on April 10 near West 61st Terrace and Robinson Street.

Former Olathe teacher pleads guilty Thursday to having sex with 17-year-old student A former Olathe Northwest High School teacher admitted in Johnson County District Court Thursday morning to having sex with a 17-year-old student. Steven Mesa, 48, pleaded guilty before Judge Timothy McCarthy to one count of unlawful sexual relations. Two counts of the same charge were dismissed by prosecutors.

Kidnapping suspect escapes after standoff with Kansas City police KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City police are searching for a man accused of abducting another adult after he escaped an overnight standoff. Around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, a man approached police near 23rd Street and Wheeling Avenue and told officers he had been kidnapped earlier that evening in Independence, Missouri.

Firefighters locate body after blaze in south Kansas City; death investigation underway KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A death investigation is underway after firefighters located a person dead inside a home after a fire in south Kansas City, Missouri. The fire happened at a home in the 8300 block of east 107th Street early Wednesday morning.

Mattie Rhodes receives funding to prevent violence, address trauma in Latino community Abby HooverManaging Editor Last week, City officials announced that the Department of Justice is awarding Aim 4 Peace a $2 million grant to continue to combat violence in Kansas City.

Second Chance Risk Reduction Center in KCMO helps formally incarcerated woman get fresh start KANSAS CITY, Mo. - According to the Second Chance Risk Reduction Program, 4,000 formally incarcerated people return to the Kansas City each year. Many people, like 49-year-old Desirai Carter, return to society after being incarcerated looking for a second chance, but it's not easy to come by.

KCPD Celebrates Call Takers & Dispatchers However, KCPD is short 27 call takers and dispatchers. In other words, the telecommunicators at KCPD work incredibly hard to provide great service. Thank you for your service!

Developing . . .
This operation is scheduled to last until January 2024 but could be extended

The European Border & Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) deployed some one hundred patrol officers to the border of North Macedonia with Greece on Thursday, ANA reports.

The presence of Frontex personnel, who are assisted by North Macedonia police officers, is expected to contribute more effectively to the fight against irregular migration and cross-border criminal activity. Other benefits of this operation include the collection and exchange of operational intelligence and the identification of potential security risks and threats.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: European Border and Coast Guard Agency
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.
The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Unfortunately, these high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson. A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up.

So if this idea of high risk and high reward doesn't suit, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE:RBA). While this doesn't necessarily speak to whether it's undervalued, the profitability of the business is enough to warrant some appreciation - especially if its growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers' Earnings Per Share Are Growing

If you believe that markets are even vaguely efficient, then over the long term you'd expect a company's share price to follow its earnings per share (EPS) outcomes. Therefore, there are plenty of investors who like to buy shares in companies that are growing EPS. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers managed to grow EPS by 8.6% per year, over three years. That growth rate is fairly good, assuming the company can keep it up.

Careful consideration of revenue growth and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margins can help inform a view on the sustainability of the recent profit growth. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 22% to US$1.7b. That's encouraging news for the company!

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. For finer detail, click on the image.

The trick, as an investor, is to find companies that are going to perform well in the future, not just in the past. While crystal balls don't exist, you can check our visualization of consensus analyst forecasts for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers' future EPS 100% free.

Story continues

Are Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

We would not expect to see insiders owning a large percentage of a US$11b company like Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. But we do take comfort from the fact that they are investors in the company. Indeed, they hold US$18m worth of its stock. This considerable investment should help drive long-term value in the business. Even though that's only about 0.2% of the company, it's enough money to indicate alignment between the leaders of the business and ordinary shareholders.

While it's always good to see some strong conviction in the company from insiders through heavy investment, it's also important for shareholders to ask if management compensation policies are reasonable. Our quick analysis into CEO remuneration would seem to indicate they are. The median total compensation for CEOs of companies similar in size to Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, with market caps over US$8.0b, is around US$13m.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers offered total compensation worth US$7.9m to its CEO in the year to December 2022. That seems pretty reasonable, especially given it's below the median for similar sized companies. While the level of CEO compensation shouldn't be the biggest factor in how the company is viewed, modest remuneration is a positive, because it suggests that the board keeps shareholder interests in mind. It can also be a sign of a culture of integrity, in a broader sense.

Does Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist?

One positive for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is that it is growing EPS. That's nice to see. The fact that EPS is growing is a genuine positive for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, but the pleasant picture gets better than that. With company insiders aligning themselves considerably with the company's success and modest CEO compensation, there's no arguments that this is a stock worth looking into. You should always think about risks though. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.

Although Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers certainly looks good, it may appeal to more investors if insiders were buying up shares. If you like to see insider buying, then this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying, could be exactly what you're looking for.

Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.

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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Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data.

The sleeping giant has awoken: reflecting on the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery
Prebid.org, Inc.

NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DPAA, the global trade marketing association driving the growth and digitization of out-of-home media (OOH) and its growing role in todays omnichannel mix announced it has joined Prebid.org, the organization that oversees open source Prebid programmatic advertising solutions. DPAA provides a forum for global collaboration between digital networks, ad tech firms, research companies, content providers, media agencies and advertisers. As a member, DPAA will provide leadership resources to bolster Prebids key Digital Out of Home (DOOH) initiatives.



Were excited to become members of the Prebid community as it will open up more opportunities to support our mission to further grow the OOH industry, said Barry Frey, President & CEO of DPAA. As Vice Chair of the DOOH Taskforce, which is focused on enhancing the Prebid framework with DOOH support and designing what the DOOH format looks like in that framework, I look forward to collaborating with our peers within the Prebid community and contributing insights to further best practices across the industry.

Im pleased to welcome DPAA as a member of Prebid.org to reinforce our important OOH initiatives, said Mike Racic, President at Prebid.org. We look forward to working collaboratively with them and leveraging their knowledge as we work to guide the industry toward a more standardized future.

Prebid.org is an industry-wide initiative supported by a diverse group of over 60 members, representing exchanges, publishers, buyers and third-party developers dedicated to creating standardized solutions for programmatic advertising. Prebid.org manages the open source projects Prebid.js, Prebid Mobile, and Prebid Server, as well as projects focused on Identity, Video and Native. Prebid is set to host its inaugural invite-only summit in New York City this October which will gather industry leaders, including Barry Frey, to discuss the future of a privacy oriented and ad-supported digital ecosystem.

Story continues

About DPAA

DPAA is the global trade marketing association, driving the growth and digitization of out-of-home (OOH) media and its growing role in the Omnichannel mix. Membership in the DPAA community brings many business acceleration benefits, including a wide array of products. DPAA offers members an extensive database of research, best practices and case studies; tools for planning, training and forecasting; social media amplification of news; insights on software and hardware solutions; further integration into the advertising ecosystem by connecting DOOH networks, brands, agencies, ad tech and others.

About Prebid.org

Formed in September of 2017, Prebid.org is an independent organization designed to ensure and promote fair, transparent, and efficient header bidding across the industry. Funded by dues-paying members, it manages the open source projects Prebid.js, Prebid Mobile, Prebid Server, Prebid Video, Prebid Native, and others. Prebid.org is open to all companies who are part of the programmatic ecosystem, from ad tech vendors to publishers and others. We believe that, working together, we can drive standardized, transparent technology for advertising that will make it easier for buyers and sellers to transact at scale in a fully programmatic ecosystem.

Media Contact:

Prebid.org

Charlstie Veith

press@prebid.org

DPAA

Ajay Durani

ajay.durani@dpaaglobal.com




Company Logo

Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Drafting and Negotiating International Agency and Distribution Agreements Training Course" training has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.





This interactive seminar is targeted at those who draft, negotiate and advise on international commercial agreements and cross-border transactions. The programme reviews the sale of goods and the appointment of distributors and agents, as well as the licensing of intellectual property rights within the context of an international contract.

This event is not jurisdiction-specific and is ideal for those working in international practice.

Why you should attend

This two-day seminar will give practical advice on the legal considerations and commercial concerns essential for securing a successful and sustainable international deal.

Day one provides a comprehensive overview of the main international legal instruments governing international contracts, the sale of goods, trade terms, documentary sale and letter of credit. Cross-jurisdictional concerns will be explored generally and, in particular, the allocation of jurisdiction, choice of law, and the recognition and enforcement of judgments. The programme will look at the new Brussels Regulation (in force from 2015), the Hague Convention 2005 (in force from 2015), Incoterms 2010 and 2020, and the UCP 600 (Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits).

Day two provides delegates with the requisite knowledge and skills that they need to negotiate and draft international commercial deals generally, and specifically sales, distribution and agency agreements.

By the end of this seminar, delegates should be properly equipped with the essential skill-base and substantive legal and business knowledge needed in order to effectively advise on, negotiate and draft cross-border commercial agreements.

This intensive and interactive training programme will develop your skills to:

Be aware of the legal and commercial considerations for a successful international deal

Understand the main legal instruments governing international contracts

Explore the allocation of jurisdiction, and the choice of law in a cross-border dispute

Evaluate the dispute resolution mechanisms available to resolve disputes in a sustainable manner

Use best practice techniques to successfully negotiate your contracts

Examine key types of international commercial agreements

Assess the strategic considerations associated with international commercial agreements

Plan in order to better negotiate a value-added deal

Story continues





Who Should Attend:





All those who need to gain knowledge and experience of cross-border commercial agreements including:

In-house lawyers

Private practice legal advisers

Commercial managers

Contracts managers

Business development managers

Key Topics Covered:

Day 1

International contractual disputes

A review of the international instruments governing cross-jurisdictional matters

Alternative dispute resolution

Mechanisms available and their pros and cons

Arbitration agreements

New York Convention

Jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments

Brussels Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters)

Hague Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements

Hague Convention 2019 on recognition of enforcement of foreign judgments in civil or commercial matters

Choice of law

Rome I (Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations)

Practical exercise: Choice of law

International contract law

Key instruments governing international contracts (binding and non-binding)

Choice of law in international contracts

United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods 1980 (CISG)

Applicability and exclusions

Formation of a contract

Responsibilities of seller and buyer

Remedies of seller and buyer

Excuses for non-performance

Practical exercise: Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

Trade terms, documentary sales and trade finance

Introduction

Incoterms 2010 and 2020

Documentary sales and bills of lading

Letters of credit and the UCP 600

Day 2

Distribution agreements

Choosing between an agent and a distributor

The key differences between the two relationships

Framework agreements

Regulation of distribution agreements (DCFR and EU competition law relevant to distribution agreements)

Key terms in distribution agreements: exclusivity, term, licences, verification and termination

Practical workshop: Drafting and negotiation - part 1

Agency agreements

Agency arrangements: when and why?

Common types of agency relationships

Concerns of principal and of agent

Legal regulation of the agency relationship

Directive 86/653/EEC on self-employed commercial agents

Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (SI 1993, No 3053 as amended)

EU competition law

Agency agreements: key terms

Appointment

Exclusivity

Term

Payment

Performance obligations

Targets

IPR protection

Termination

Indemnity

Compensation

Checklist of general provisions

Practical workshop: Drafting and negotiation - part 2

Speakers:



Michala Meiselles

Solicitor, Law Lecturer & Author

Derby Law School



Michala Meiselles is a solicitor in England and Wales specialising in international business law, cross-border transactions and compliance. She has been working as a lawyer since 1994 and qualified as a solicitor in 1999. Starting off her career at Berrymans Lace Mawer, she has since worked in private practice and as in-house legal counsel for local government. Over a decade ago, Michala created her own dedicated consultancy firm, which she presently directs, providing business and legal solutions to multinationals, public sector entities and international organisations. In her work as a solicitor and international lawyer (operating in England, France, Canada and the US), she advises on compliance (inter alia anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering and sanctions), trade finance, import and export, licensing, distribution, agency and foreign direct investment.

Michala is also a senior law lecturer at Derby Law School, where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate law, and a visiting professor of law at Universite Jean Moulin (France) and the Law School of University of Western Ontario (Western Law).

She is author of a book entitled 'International Commercial Agreements - An Edinburgh Law Guide' published by Edinburgh University Press (2013) and has published several articles. She is presently writing a book on international licences covering technology transfer agreements, competition law and cross-border dispute resolution for Oxford University Press.



For more information about this training visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ow7bn6

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.

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev threatens South Korea after Seoul says it may provide weapons to Ukraine.

This was reported by Sky News, according to Ukrinform.

The former president and long-term ally of Vladimir Putin, wrote on Telegram: "There are new ones willing to help our enemies.

"South Korean president Yun Sok-yeol said that, in principle, the state is ready to supply weapons to the Kyiv regime. Until recently, the South Koreans ardently assured that the possibility of supplying lethal weapons to Kyiv was completely ruled out."

Read also: South Korean President sets conditions for giving weapons to Ukraine

Apparently hinting Moscow could send weapons to North Korea in retaliation, he added: "I wonder what the inhabitants of this country will say when they see the latest designs of Russian weapons from their closest neighbours  our partners from the DPRK?

As reported, in the event of an escalation of violence and a massive attack on civilians, South Korea may join Western countries in providing military assistance to Ukraine.
Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov reminds that Ukraine's priority is to quickly create a multi-level air defense system. For this, we need modern fighter jets.

He wrote about this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

Our top priority is to quickly build a multi-level air defense/anti-missile defense system. Patriots, IRIS-T, NASAMS, and MiG-29 are the most recent, but not the final, steps towards this goal. Given the kremlin's barbaric tactics, we need NATO-style fighter jets. We've heard "no, it's impossible" a lot. But I have seen firsthand how the impossible can become possible, Reznikov wrote.

As reported, Patriot air defense systems from the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany have arrived in Ukraine.

A meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group will be held at the Ramstein Air Force Base (Germany) on April 21.
The Netherlands and Denmark will hand over 14 German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine.

Dutch Minister of Defense Kajsa Ollongren wrote this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

The Netherlands and Denmark are to deliver 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine. Together with other partners in the tank coalition we are providing Ukraine with modern main battle tanks with which it can resist Russian aggression, now and in the future," she wrote.

The Dutch Ministry of Defense notes that these main battle tanks will be delivered to Ukraine as soon as possible, after undergoing an overhaul.

Read also: Six Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine already in Spain

"The determination of Ukrainians encourages us to continue providing military support. In addition, Ukrainian and European security are inextricably linked," Ollongren said.

As reported by Ukrinform, Germany handed over 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine. Ukraine also received three 2A6 Leopard tanks from Portugal.

On April 12, Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced that Leopard tanks would be delivered to Ukraine in the coming days. Four more tanks are being repaired and will be sent later.

Photo: defensie.nl
Ukraine's Energy Ministry invites natural gas market participants to join the demand aggregation and joint purchasing mechanism (AggregateEU) established by the European Commission as part of the EU Energy Platform.

Ukrainian Energy Ministry stated this, Ukrinform reports.

"The mechanism operates on the basis of Regulation (EU) 2022/2576 and provides for creating an information system in which business entities interested in purchasing natural gas can enter data on their demand for the next 12 months (starting in July 2023). Subsequently, these applications will be compared with offers for sale from natural gas sellers within monthly tenders," the statement said.

It is clarified that the submission of bids and offers does not entail any obligations. Both the buyer and the seller may withdraw from the transaction at any time.

The European Commission expects the mechanism to attract additional supply from gas sellers from other countries.

The information system for the mechanism has already been created by PRISMA, a provider of IT services for energy markets. One can register to work with the PRISMA system here, as well as on the AggregateEU portal.

The first tender will be held in May 2023. The European Commission recommends that interested bidders register by mid-April.

As reported, Naftogaz of Ukraine invites market participants to participate in bidding for the purchase of natural gas on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange.
A rehabilitation center intended for Ukrainian defenders is likely to be built in the Chernihiv regions Nizhyn. The construction works are expected to be financed by the French Republic.

The relevant statement was made by Nizhyn City Council on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We are actively working to establish a rehabilitation center in Nizhyn, as there is a great demand for this facility. Unfortunately, today there are thousands of defenders who need rehabilitation. There is no similar facility in the Chernihiv region, and we would like it to appear in Nizhyn, Nizhyn Mayor Oleksandr Kodola noted.

In his words, the construction works are expected to be financed not from the city budget but by the French Republic.

According to Kodola, the President of Frances National Association for Architecture, Martin Duplantier, has already visited Nizhyn three times and presented a front-end study.

If we succeed in opening a rehabilitation center, it will be a significant breakthrough in expanding health care services for local residents not only in the Nizhyn community but the entire region, Kodola stressed.
Hungary has banned imports from Ukraine of a number of agricultural products, including honey and some meat products, in addition to grain, until June 30.

Member of the National Assembly of Hungary Gergely Gulyas stated this on Thursday, Ukrinform reports citing Reuters.

According to him, Hungary's ban on imports of major grain and agricultural products includes a total of 25 products. The most important of them are cereals, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, flour, oil, honey, and some meat products.

Hungary's Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said that Hungary would continue to allow the transit of Ukrainian grain, ensuring that such shipments are sent in a controlled manner.

It was worthwhile for Hungary to take decisive action and protect the interests of Hungarian farmers, he said, referring to the ban.

As reported, five countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria) have written to the European Commission (EC) asking it to limit agricultural imports from Ukraine. The large flow of grain and products entering the EU market from Ukraine has led to a drop in prices for such products and has harmed farmers in countries bordering Ukraine.

Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia have completely banned the import of Ukrainian agricultural goods into their territory. Yesterday, the EC reiterated that it does not support such unilateral actions, as trade regulation is within the EU's competence. Earlier, the EU allocated 56 million euros to support farmers in the EU countries bordering Ukraine. Recently, the EC's spokesperson announced the development of a second, larger package of such assistance for EU's farmers.

The EU's "solidarity corridors" were organized on the borders with Ukraine in response to Russia's naval blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports, through which Ukrainian grain was exported to the world market before Russian war. The blockade resulted in the threat of famine in the world's most vulnerable countries.

To mitigate this threat, the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative was launched at the initiative of the UN and Turkey. It allowed the export of some Ukrainian grain but is now being blocked by the Russian Federation.

Thanks to the EU's "solidarity corridors", Ukraine has managed to export more than 25 million tonnes of grain from Ukraine by land, road, rail, and inland waterways.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy today named Oscar Suris Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer. Suris is replacing Selim Bingol, who retired from Duke Energy in late March.

Suris will assume his new role in mid-May and report to Louis Renjel, Executive Vice President, External Affairs and Communications.

Suris will lead the development of communications strategies that advance the company's brand and support its clean energy transition. This will include overseeing media relations, executive communications, employee communications, social media, advertising, issues management and business unit support.

"Our customers are depending on us to deliver reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy. Meeting those customer expectations requires that we collaborate with our many stakeholders, and transparent and proactive communication is a foundational element of that collaboration," said Renjel. "Oscar has a well-established record of helping drive major transformation through his leadership and external affairs expertise. We are thrilled for him to join our team."

Suris will join Duke Energy from Edelman where he served as President of Edelman New York, the largest market operation at the global integrated communications company. Prior to joining Edelman, Suris was Executive Managing Director, Crisis and C-Suite Strategies, at Zeno Group.

His Corporate Communications experience includes 20 years of providing strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies, including serving as Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications at Wells Fargo & Company, and senior leadership roles at Ford Motor Company and AutoNation, Inc.

This experience is backed by 10 years in the newspaper industry, including five years as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and staff roles reporting business news for The Miami News and The Orlando Sentinel.

He has been named six times to PRWeek's "Power List" of the top 50 professionals in public relations. A Cuban native, Suris graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in finance. Suris will be based in Charlotte, where he currently resides.

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Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,600 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2023 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "World's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com . The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter , LinkedIn , Instagram and Facebook .

Contact: Neil Nissan

24-Hour: 800.559.3853

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The federal government and the people of Austria have certainly provided a great deal of support to Ukraine and its people as they face a full-scale war of aggression being waged by an aggressive neighbor. This aid concerns the financial and humanitarian sphere and support for the EU's sanctions policy, but not the direction currently key for Ukrainians - armed support that helps stop the aggressor and, ultimately, expel the occupying forces from the country.

The reason for this is the neutrality of the Republic enshrined in the constitution, which, however, "sometimes goes so far as to put a sign of equality between the aggressor and defender." But there is also another possible reason  its, until recently, good relations with Russia, primarily in the economic sphere, which were not hindered even by the Russian Federation's hybrid aggression against Ukraine in 2014.

The situation surrounding the video address of the President of Ukraine to the National Council of Austria at the end of March also testified to the problem with the efforts of some Austrian politicians - first of all, the far-right Freedom Party, but also parts of the social democrats - to put an "equality sign between the aggressor and defender", hiding behind the screen of neutrality. Then the "libertarians" defiantly left the hall during Volodymyr Zelensky's speech, as his address as... "representative of the warring party" is allegedly a violation of the country's neutral status. Also, as part of the boycott hint, more than half of the deputies from the Social Democratic Party of Austria were absent - some reported a toothache, some had to congratulate a friend on their birthday, etc.

Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg, who represents the Austrian People's Party, was present during the Ukrainian leader's address to parliament, as were a number of other ministers from the government coalition with the Greens, as well as Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. In an interview with Ukrinform, the head of the Austrias MFA assured that the speech of the Head of the Ukrainian State in the National Council "was in no way a violation of neutrality", and to claim otherwise "would be a clearly incorrect interpretation of Austrian neutrality". He emphasized that Austria is neutral only in military terms and that its neutrality in no way stands in the way of solidarity with Ukraine.

In an interview with the agency, Alexander Schallenberg commented on relations with Russia, continued operations in Russia of the Austrian banking group RBI, and ongoing dependence on Russian gas, assured of continued support for Ukraine, including in the field of demining, and also spoke in support of the ICC warrant for Putin's arrest, emphasizing that Russia must not win its war of aggression against Ukraine, calling on the head of the Kremlin to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

"NEUTRALITY DOES NOT IN ANY WAY GET IN THE WAY OF OUR SOLIDARITY"

- Austria was one of the last EU countries where the Ukrainian presidents speech in parliament took place, that is, on March 30. However, not all parliamentary parties were in favor of President Zelensky's speech  the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) defiantly left the hall during his video address, and half of the deputies from the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) ignored the address. Were you in the hall at that time? What did it look like from the inside? Was the speech really a violation of Austrian neutrality?

- I welcomed the fact that President Zelensky was able to make a speech at the National Council of Austria. This was in no way a violation of neutrality. To say otherwise would be a clear misinterpretation of Austrian neutrality. After all, since 1955, Austria has been neutral only militarily but has never been politically neutral. Neutrality of opinion is unfathomable for us if international law is trampled on.

This very clear line is still valid today. If the state, which is also a permanent member of the UN Security Council, decides to violate basic norms of the UN Charter and international law, then Austria will certainly not turn a blind eye to it. We continue to stand resolutely and in solidarity with Ukraine. I perceive President Zelensky's address to the National Council precisely as a sign of such unlimited solidarity. Neutrality in no way stands in the way of our solidarity. And that's why it was important for me to be present in the parliament and listen to President Zelensky's speech.

IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA THERE WILL NOT BE A RETURN TO THE STATUS-QUO, BUT THERE SHOULD NOT BE "MULTILATERALITY A LA FACEBOOK"

- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz referred to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine as "the beginning of a new era", and this led to a significant correction of the German policy course. In Austria, this "Zeitenwende" obviously hasnt come yet. Evidence of this, in particular, is the fact that in the current Security Strategy of Austria, Russia is still mentioned as an "important partner" in Austrian foreign policy. Can Austria stay as it is? Should Austria rethink its neutrality? Does the subject of Austria's accession to NATO remain taboo for you?

- February 24, 2022 was a violent upheaval that tore us from our dreams of a post-national and post-historical Europe. In relations with Russia, there will be no return to the status quo ante, that is, to the situation that existed before Russia launched its aggression.

Regarding Austrian neutrality: it would be a dangerous mistake to think that neutrality equals security. That is why the Federal Government will also develop a new Austrian Security Strategy. The main question here is how Austria, together with its partners, can most effectively contribute to security in Europe. Our existing partnership with NATO also offers opportunities to this end. But joining NATO is not on the agenda.

- After Russia's attack on Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, you often said that peace in Europe can only be with Russia, not against Russia. You added that Russia, despite the ongoing war in Donbas at the time, is an important partner for Europe. Do you think so after February 24, 2022? Can you imagine European security architecture without belligerent Russia?

- Peace and security require strong multilateralism and international agreements. Together, we created the UN Charter post World War II as the foundational rules of the international community. These rules are also the basis of the European security architecture.

We cannot change history and geography. Russia will not disappear from the map. The European security architecture must continue to take this reality into account. Multilateralism means not only exchanging opinions with like-minded partners and listening to one's own echo, but also - based on clear positions - discussing with states with which one does not share the same opinion. Therefore, I believe that platforms such as the OSCE will continue to be of great importance. "Multilateralism a la Facebook", when the algorithm makes it so that you see only the content that is desired, would be a dangerous development, which is definitely not in our interests.

INDEPENDENCE FROM RUSSIAN GAS WILL NOT COME OVERNIGHT

- Another piece of evidence that the "beginning of a new era" in Austria has not yet arrived is the country's continued dependence on Russian gas. On average, the country still buys half of its gas from Russia, thus financing Putin's military machine with billions. The gas supply contract of Austrias OMV with the Russian Gazprom is valid until 2040. Has OMV concluded a binding contract from which it is impossible to get out despite the war and far-reaching sanctions? Will the Federal Government try to terminate this "Russian" contract of a partially state-owned energy company?

- Since last February, we have made huge efforts to significantly reduce our dependence on Russian gas and generally reduce our energy consumption. We have initiated a historic change of course in Austria's gas supply: for the first time in its history, Austria has created a strategic gas reserve  and this gas, of course, does not come from Russia. As the Federal Government, we had to ensure the reliability of the gas supply to Austria, and thats what we did.

In addition, we diversified gas imports: we were able to reduce the share of Russian gas from around 80% to an average of 51% between March 2022 and February 2023. So we have been able to make progress in a relatively short time, and we continue to work toward becoming independent of Russian gas. In absolute terms, imports have already halved. It's a tough road, and it won't happen overnight. But our course is clear.

RAIFFEISEN'S EXIT FROM RUSSIA SHOULD NOT GIVE THE KREMLIN ASSETS WORTH BILLIONS

- Although you point out that Raiffeisen Bank International is only one of many Western companies that continue to work in Russia, nevertheless, RBI is a unique Western business in the Russian Federation, taking into account the systemic role that the bank plays in the Russian economy. According to reports, from 30 to 50% of transfers in euros and dollars from Russia in the SWIFT system flow through RBI. In 2022, the Russian subsidiary of RBI paid EUR 559 million to the Russian budget, which is 4.8 times more than in the pre-war year, and is equivalent to the cost of about 95 Kalibr missiles, which Russia regularly fires at Ukrainian cities. In your opinion, does the continued operation of RBI harm Austria's international image? Will the Austrian authorities reach out to RBI over the need to stop doing business in the Russian Federation?

- Here you have to look at the facts: according to a study by St. Gallen University, more than 90% of companies from the EU and G7 continue to operate in Russia. But it is always pretended that only one Austrian bank works in Russia. This is simply wrong, and pointing the finger at individual companies is also pure polemic. In addition, RBI works not only in Russia  it is also among the largest financial institutions in Ukraine.

For me, the decisive point is that all Austrian companies must comply with EU sanctions without any "ifs" or "buts". Against this backdrop, the RBI will ultimately have to decide how to position themselves going forward. At the same time, it will be necessary to answer the difficult question of how the exit could take place within the legal framework without the Kremlin receiving significant economic benefits from it. We all agree it would not be wise to actually give billions of dollars worth of assets to the Kremlin.

EUR 129 MILLION IN FINANCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN AID AND WILLINGNESS TO ASSIST IN DEMINING

- In September 2022, our governments signed the Framework Agreement on economic cooperation in the development of projects, in particular in health care. Its highest priorities are the construction and equipping of healthcare facilities. Has there been any progress since the agreement was signed off?

- Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, primarily on healthcare facilities, are particularly horrific. Therefore, the special focus of Austrian support is on the construction and restoration of medical infrastructure. To this end, last fall, Austria signed a framework agreement worth EUR 600 million for the construction and modernization of three healthcare facilities. Intensive negotiations are currently underway, and I hope that soon we will move on to the concrete implementation of our projects.

- Austria also helps Ukraine in the treatment of the seriously injured, mainly women and children. How many of our compatriots have been treated in your country since February 24, 2022? Are there also military personnel among them or are they civilians only?

- Austria accepted for treatment more than 30 seriously wounded civilians from Ukraine, primarily women and children. But this is only one of many aspects of Austrian aid.

According to data from the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Institute of World Economics in Kiel, Austria actually ranks first in the amount of humanitarian aid to Ukraine if calculated in relation to GDP. Since the beginning of the war, we have provided more than EUR 129 million in bilateral financial and humanitarian aid. The federal government of Austria, as well as federal lands, communities, and citizens also make a significant contribution to the reception and integration of more than 90,000 Ukrainian immigrants. Currently, more than 55,000 Ukrainians still live with us in Austria. We were also the first country to organize an air bridge with Moldova for the transfer of refugees from Ukraine to Austria. We will proceed with this solidarity and support Ukraine and its people in the future.

- Following the meeting with the Federal President of Austria in early February, the President of Ukraine expressed his gratitude to Austria for humanitarian aid, at the same time stating that Ukraine would also be happy to receive support from Austria in the shape of anti-drone systems and other non-lethal means, as well as in demining. Can the Ukrainian people count on such support from Austria?

- We quickly responded to the Ukrainian governments call to provide support in humanitarian demining. Austria is already contributing to humanitarian demining in Ukraine within the framework of the OSCE Support Program for Ukraine. But we are constantly looking into how we can continue to most effectively support Ukraine in the field of demining.

PROCUREMENT OF PROTECTIVE GEAR, TENTS, AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT THROUGH THE EUROPEAN PEACE FUND

- Austria participates in the European Peace Facility, through which the EU also finances the supply of non-lethal weapons to Ukraine. How big is Austria's financial contribution to the European Peace Facility and what is it used for?

- Due to its constitutional neutrality, Austria cannot support the financing of lethal weapons and ammunition. Instead, we provide more substantial support in the civilian and humanitarian sectors, for example in purchasing protective gear, tents, and medical supplies. Against this background, we agreed to a gradual and substantial increase in the European Peace Fund. Currently, Austria's contribution to the European Peace Fund amounts to almost EUR 100 million.

PUTIN'S ARREST WARRANT SENT A VERY CLEAR AND CORRECT SIGNAL

- Recently, Austria joined the core group for the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine. How do you assess the prospects? In your opinion, will Putin end up on the dock?

- It is absolutely obvious to me that war crimes must be fully probed. No area of this incredibly brutal Russian aggression against Ukraine should remain uninvestigated. Therefore, Austria actively supports the Vienna-based Commission of Inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council in documenting war crimes. We are also among the 43 states that referred the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court. And we support the Court in its important work financially and by deploying an Austrian expert to work in the Office of the Chief Prosecutor. Through the EU Mission in Ukraine, we support the training of Ukrainian forensic experts so that they can gather and evaluate relevant evidence of war crimes. As you know, Austria is also part of a core group of more than 30 states that are currently actively working to establish a special tribunal for the crime of aggression. I hope soon we will see results here and be able to finish what we started. Even if justice sometimes takes a long time to be served, I'm sure it will prevail at the end of the day.

Against this background, Putin's arrest warrant on charges of abducting more than 16,000 children from Ukraine to Russia sent a very clear and correct signal. I welcome every step that helps the law triumph. There must be no impunity. No one can stand above the law, not even a president.

CALL TO PUTIN TO STOP THE WAR AND WITHDRAW HIS TROOPS

- Do you personally believe Ukraine will win the war that Russia is waging against it?

- The Ukrainians' will to defend themselves and their courage are deeply impressive and deserve our respect. Russia clearly underestimated this will to resistance and  considering the huge scale of international support for Ukraine  also completely miscalculated from a strategic perspective. The right of the stronger must not prevail over the force of the law. Russia must not win this war. Therefore, I appeal again to the decision-maker in Moscow: "Stop shooting! Stop the inhumane bloodshed! Withdraw your troops from Ukraine!"

Vasyl Korotkyi, Vienna

Photo: Dragan Tatic, BMEIA
The issue of the ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products requires a serious dialogue with Brussels and with the national governments of those countries that have imposed this ban.

This was stated by Olga Trofimtseva, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, coordinator of the Council of Exporters and Investors, during a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine - Ukrinform.

Read also: Hungary bans imports of certain agricultural products from Ukraine

"Unilateral import bans have been adopted, and they are quite harsh and include products on unclear grounds. As for me, now all this requires a serious dialog, including between Ukraine and Brussels. I believe that we should enter into multilateral negotiations and talk to the European Commission and the governments of these countries in order to ensure a solution to this situation that is beneficial for everyone," she said.

Trofimtseva noted that the EU has clear rules for determining when excessive imports of a product threaten local producers. According to her, producers and governments of the countries where such cases occur must prove the connection between the bankruptcy of producers of certain agricultural products and the growth of imports of these products from other countries.

Trofimtseva emphasized that Ukraine is not aware of a situation where local producers have actually gone bankrupt due to excessive Ukrainian exports. Instead, countries have simply resorted to strict bans, including on the import of various agricultural products from Ukraine and transit restrictions.

The Ambassador noted that the list of goods banned from import raises questions. For example, Poland has banned imports of goods that Ukraine has never transported to the EU. In particular, these are beef and pork.

As Ukrinform reported, on April 15, 2023, Hungary and Poland imposed a temporary ban on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. On April 19, 2023, a ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Slovakia will take effect. At the same time, Poland has also suspended the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through its territory, but plans to resume it on April 21.

Hungary and Slovakia did not stop transit. Bulgaria temporarily banned imports of agricultural products from Ukraine on April 19, 2023, but did not restrict transit.

On Wednesday, April 19, the European Commission announced a plan to implement measures to respond to the excessive supply of Ukrainian agricultural products to EU member states, in accordance with the rules of the EU's common market. In particular, this includes support for affected farms and the application of restrictive measures on the supply of Ukrainian grain and other food products to the EU market.
CRANBROOK, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSXV:EPL) ("EPL" or "Eagle Plains") reports that planning is underway for its upcoming 2023 diamond drill program at the 100% owned Vulcan Project. The planned program is expected to commence in mid-June and will include a minimum of 3,000m (9,842') of diamond drilling at the Hilo & West Basin Zones. The program will be conducted by Terralogic Exploration Inc. of Cranbrook, BC. New Age Drilling Solutions has been contracted to complete diamond drilling activities and helicopter support will be provided by Big Horn Helicopters.

Vulcan is located 30km west of the world-class Sullivan sedimentary exhalative ("sedex") critical metals deposit near Kimberley, BC and is accessible by an extensive network of well-maintained forest service roads. Results from the 2022 drill program were announced previously by Eagle Plains (see news releases December 7th, 2022 and January 18, 2023). Initial observations of core lithologies, mineralogy, alteration and mineral tenor from VU22004 suggest proximity to a sedex-type vent source near the trace of the drill-hole. The 2023 program is being designed to follow-up on the newly discovered mineralized horizons, completing systematic step-out drilling that will test a strong off-hole borehole electromagnetic anomaly and further define stratabound Pb-Zn-Ag mineralization.

2022 Drilling Highlights:

Drillhole VU22004 intersected primary bedded sulphides (sphalerite-galena), as well as textures, mineral assemblages, garnets and alteration (tourmalinite, sericite) - all indicative of proximity to an exhalative (sedex) source

BHEM outlined a strong conductivity anomaly along strike to the south-southeast of VU22004 at depths consistent with the mineralized interval

Previously-reported analytical results for VU22004 include:

11.55m @ 0.46% Zn, 0.02% Pb, 21.48 ppm Cd, 90.65 ppm Sn (545.50-557.05m), including

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1.50m @1.72% Zn, 68.83 ppm Cd, 32.09 ppm Sn (554.58-556.08m), including 0.22m @ 6.46% Zn , 259.00 ppm Cd, 39.10 ppm Sn (554.58-554.80m), and 0.18m @ 3.16% Zn, 126.50 ppm Cd, 26.80 ppm Sn (555.53-555.71m)



Tim Termuende, P.Geo, President and CEO of Eagle Plains commented recently on the upcoming Vulcan program: We are excited to see progress in securing geological personnel and service providers for the upcoming drilling program. Results to date have been extremely encouraging and suggest the presence of a mineralized sedex system at Vulcan. We are confident that the upcoming program will provide important information toward the potential discovery of the source of mineralization delineated in 2022.

Management of Eagle Plains considers the Vulcan project to hold excellent potential for the presence of sedex zinc/lead/silver mineralization. Rocks underlying the Vulcan are within the same sedimentary sequence and host occurrences with mineralization and alteration styles similar to those observed at and adjacent to the now-depleted Sullivan deposit. The Main (Hilo) mineral occurrence at Vulcan returned up to 1.6 % combined lead-zinc over 1.5 metres from rocks near the Lower-Middle Aldridge contact ("LMC"), the same time-stratigraphic horizon which hosts the Sullivan deposit.

The Sullivan mine was discovered in 1892 and is one of the largest sedex deposits in the world. Over its 100+ year lifetime, Sullivan contained a total of 160 million tonnes of ore averaging 6.5% lead, 5.6% zinc and 67 g/t silver, resulting in 298 million ounces of silver, 18.5 billion pounds of lead, 17.5 billion pounds of zinc and significant quantities of associated metals; collectively worth over $40B at current metal prices. Eagle Plains management cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate land are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Vulcan property.

Vulcan Project History

Sullivan-style mineralization was first reported in the mid-1950s at Vulcan. During the 1970s and 1980s, Texas Gulf Sulphur and later Cominco completed extensive geophysical work and drilled shallow holes to test for continuous mineralization in areas of the property. The most comprehensive testing occurred in the Hilo area during the early 1990s by Ascot Resources. In 1991 a five-hole, 1003m drill program was completed, with three holes totaling 1535m completed in 1992.

Since acquiring the initial claims on the property in 2002, Eagle Plains has completed an extensive compilation of all existing data, followed in 2006 by a 125 line-km helicopter-borne time-domain geophysical survey flown at 200m spacing. Additional claims were added to the property position as they became available through staking. Systematic geochemical, geological and geophysical programs were conducted by Eagle Plains and its partners from 2011-2019.

In June 2020, Eagle Plains completed a two-hole, 977m drill program to test the LMC along an existing road cut in an area of elevated soil geochemistry and anomalous geophysical features (magnetometer, induced polarization and magnetotellurics). The LMC contact was successfully intercepted in Hole VU20002 with significant alteration suggesting proximity to a hydrothermal source, though no economic mineralization was encountered.

In 2022, Eagle Plains completed a 537 line-km helicopter-borne high-resolution aeromagnetic survey. Geophysics was followed-up with a 3-hole, 1700m diamond drilling program. Hole VU22004 identified sedex-style mineralization at the West Basin zone deeper in the stratigraphic package than historically tested. Analytical results from VU22004 defined the best intercept on the property to date. Results from this program have been used to re-interpret the stratigraphic sequence at the Hilo and West Basin Zones and have identified target stratigraphy considered to hold high potential to host economic mineralization.

Update on the Brownell Lake Project

Eagle Plains has been notified by option partner Pacific Imperial Mines Inc. ("PPM": TSX-V) that a geophysical program has been completed at the Brownell Lake Project (see news release April 6, 2023). The ground-based electromagnetic survey, totalling 9.5 line-km, was completed by SJ Geophysics of Delta, BC under the supervision of TerraLogic Exploration (Cranbrook, BC). The survey was designed to cover stratigraphy considered to have high potential to host VMS-style mineralization. Preliminary results have delineated multiple strong conductors that are characterized by geophysicists as having a VMS-type signature. Further interpretation and 3D modelling is currently underway to generate drill-ready targets which will be used to form the basis for future work. Detailed results from the survey will be announced once they have been received, compiled and interpreted.

Qualified Person

Charles C. Downie, P.Geo., a "qualified person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and a director of Eagle Plains, has prepared, reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.

About Eagle Plains Resources

Based in Cranbrook, B.C., Eagle Plains is a well-funded, prolific project generator that continues to conduct research, acquire and explore mineral projects throughout western Canada. The Company was formed in 1992 and is the ninth-oldest listed issuer on the TSX-V (and one of only three that has not seen a roll-back or restructuring of its shares). Eagle Plains has continued to deliver shareholder value over the years and through numerous spin-outs has transferred over $100,000,000 in value directly to its shareholders, with Copper Canyon Resources and recently Taiga Gold being notable examples.

The Company is committed to steadily enhancing shareholder value by advancing our diverse portfolio of projects toward discovery through collaborative partnerships and development of a highly experienced technical team.

In late 2022 Eagle Plains announced the formation of a separate division within the Company; Eagle Royalties Ltd. ("ER") which will hold many of Eagle Plains' diverse portfolio of royalty assets. The restructuring will enhance the valuation of Eagle Plains' extensive royalty interests, enabling ER to market and develop its royalty assets while seeking additional royalty acquisition opportunities. Eagle Plains' royalties cover a broad spectrum of commodities on projects controlled by Cameco Corp., Iso Energy Corp., Denison Mines Corp., Skeena Resources Ltd. and Hecla Mining Co./Banyan Gold Corp., among others. Eagle Plains will continue to focus on its core business model of acquiring and advancing grassroots critical- and precious-metal exploration properties.

Expenditures from 2011-2022 on Eagle Plains-related projects exceed $30M, the majority of which was funded by third-party partners. This exploration work resulted in approximately 45,000m of diamond-drilling and extensive ground-based exploration work facilitating the advancement of numerous projects at various stages of development.

Throughout the exploration process, our mission is to help maintain prosperous communities by exploring for and discovering resource opportunities while building lasting relationships through honest and respectful business practices.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim J. Termuende"

President and CEO

For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at 1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)

Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at https://www.eagleplains.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

SOURCE: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.





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https://www.accesswire.com/750277/Eagle-Plains-Secures-Contractors-for-Fully-Funded-Drill-Program-at-the-Vulcan-Project




MENLO PARK, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison Oncology Holding Corp. ("Edison Oncology"), a privately held biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce the presentation of two scientific posters at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research held in Orlando, Florida from April 14-19.

(PRNewsfoto/Edison Oncology Holding Corp.)

In a presentation entitled "A Pilot Clinical Trial of VAL-413 (Orotecan  , oral irinotecan HCl ) in Patients with Recurrent Pediatric Solid Tumors," the company reported that, to date in its ongoing Phase 1-2a clinical trial, of Orotecan, a novel oral formulation of irinotecan, no dose limiting toxicity has been observed in patients receiving Orotecan, and preliminary analysis of pharmacokinetic data suggests that plasma levels of irinotecan and its active metabolite, SN-38, are similar to levels observed following treatment with unformulated commercially available i.v. irinotecan given orally in the same patient.





In a second presentation entitled "Investigating the Therapeutic Efficacy of EO3001 in Clear Cell Carcinoma of the Ovary", Edison Oncology reported that in CRISPR/Cas9 generated isogenic pairs of ovarian cancer cell lines, EO3001 selectively kills ARID1A mutant cancer cells at low nanomolar concentrations compared to "wildtype" ovarian cancer cells that do not harbor the mutation. A mechanism of action of EO3001 in ARID1A mutant ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is also proposed. Since ARID1A mutations are known to inactivate the SWI/SNF complex and expose the DNA into an "open chromatin" structure, such cells have high DNA replication and enhanced metabolic rates. To meet this enhanced energy need such cells become dependent on oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). The poster describes that by directly inhibiting the action of certain mitochondrial proteins required for the function of the OXPHOS pathway, EO3001 may result in energy deprivation and apoptosis the of metabolically overactive ARID1A mutant tumor cells.

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About Orotecan (oral irinotecan HCl)

Orotecan is a novel oral liquid formulation of irinotecan hydrochloride designed to deliver the drug orally with improved tolerability. Irinotecan is an intravenous (i.v.) topoisomerase inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of colorectal cancer and used 'off label' in the treatment of a several types of cancer including gastric cancers, neuroendocrine and adrenal tumors, pancreatic cancer, small cell lung cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, soft tissue sarcomas and bone cancer.

A standard regimen of i.v. irinotecan for the treatment of childhood tumors involves daily infusions for five consecutive days, every two to three weeks leading to significant patient inconvenience, diminished quality of life and high cost to the healthcare system. "Orotecan's oral formulation has been developed to improve tolerability and patient compliance in the treatment of rare childhood tumors, with an opportunity to expand into major adult cancers," said Jeffrey Bacha, Edison Oncology's chief executive officer.

"The data we have observed in our clinical trial thus far supports our confidence that Orotecan has the opportunity to address significant unmet needs in a number of tumors where i.v. irinotecan is currently utilized as a single agent, or in combination with oral anti-cancer treatments."

To date, more than 200 patients have been treated with unformulated commercially available i.v. irinotecan delivered orally with promising results in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma and other pediatric cancers; however, poor palatability of the drug has limited the widespread adoption of this approach in clinical practice.

Edison Oncology's ongoing clinical trial (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04337177) is designed to examine the safety and tolerability of Orotecan and provide data assess the pharmacokinetics of Orotecan compared to current oral regimen employing unformulated i.v. irinotecan given orally.

About EO3001

EO3001 is a novel small-molecule drug candidate that has been studied in prior clinical trials involving more than 1000 patients. Recent research conducted by Edison Oncology and academic researchers has demonstrated EO3001 exhibits potent and selective activity against ARID1A deficient cancer cells. Mutations in ARID1A are associated with treatment resistance and poor outcomes in several cancers including gynecologic malignancies, breast cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer.

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is an orphan cancer indication representing approximately 10% of ovarian cancers in North America with a higher frequency in patients of east Asian descent. OCCC is inherently resistant to standard chemotherapy and radiation treatment and currently represents the worst prognosis of any form of epithelial ovarian cancer.

"According to published studies up to 60% of OCCC patients harbor ARID1-A mutations, providing a readily available biomarker for patient selection in clinical trials," said Mr. Bacha. "We look forward to advancing EO3001 as a potential treatment for this important unmet medical need."

About Edison Oncology

Edison Oncology was founded in 2018 by experienced life science industry veterans to develop and commercialize new therapies targeting the fight against cancer. Edison Oncology leverages a deep understanding of cancer biology and pharmacology to identify and advance underdeveloped drug candidates with the potential to overcome treatment resistance and improve survival outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients.

Company Contact : Investor Relations Contact : info@EOHC.com Amato & Partners, LLC

Investor Relations Counsel

admin@amatoandpartners.com

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SOURCE Edison Oncology Holding Corp.


(Photo : Shubham Sharan on Unsplash)

Traditional universities have been the primary source of higher education for centuries, offering a range of academic programs and degrees to students seeking to advance their careers and knowledge. However, many students have found that the one-size-fits-all approach of traditional universities does not suit their individual needs and learning styles.

People are worried that traditional universities are ignoring students' unique differences and needs, leading to dissatisfaction, high dropout rates, and a lack of preparedness for the workforce. We will explore the problem with traditional universities and discuss how personalized learning and alternative educational models can better serve students' individual needs and goals.

Why One-Size-Fits-All Programs Are Failing Our Students

Traditional universities offer one-size-fits-all programs that do not meet the needs of today's diverse student population, leading to lack of engagement, motivation, and overall satisfaction. For example, students who are visual learners, self-directed, or seeking practical skills may struggle in a lecture-style classroom setting that primarily relies on auditory instruction and rigid schedules. This consistent issue requires an innovative alternative to support all students.

The Need for Change in Higher Education: AIU's Pioneering Alternative

Traditional universities fail to provide adequate support for students struggling with personal or academic challenges. Alternative educational models, like Atlantic International University, prioritize personalized learning and individualized attention. Our pioneer model recognizes that every student has unique strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles and that a tailored approach is essential for success. It is time for students to embrace these alternative models to prepare for the future and to better tend to their needs.

AIU's Unique Approach to Higher Education: A Sustainable Model for Academic Freedom

AIU's pioneered approach to education is built on the principles of academic freedom, which means that students have the freedom to choose their learning path, and faculty members have the freedom to design and teach courses that align with their expertise. At AIU, students engage in a sustainable model intended to give them maximum flexibility and personalization over their education.

Rethinking Education: The Importance of Personalization and Flexibility

One of the critical benefits of AIU's approach to education is that it allows students to learn at their own pace. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for students working full-time or with other responsibilities that make it difficult to attend traditional classes.

Best of all, AIU allows students to customize their learning path. For students who desire an educational path that departs from the traditional model, AIU offers an approach that is the personalized to the student's goals and their career aspirations.

Moving Beyond the Traditional University Model

While the traditional university model has existed for years, it is time for students and educators to move beyond the usual learning systems. Whether universities devote time to transferring to an online or competency-based learning model, the choice is theirs.

At AIU, our counselors advise the student as they direct their futures. For students seeking a university a cut above, AIU is the premier choice to experience an education built for a future of their choosing.

AIU's 25 Years of Success: A Model for the Future of Higher Education

As the world evolves, more than the traditional university model is required to meet the needs of students and employers. AIU's flexible approach to education, which emphasizes real-world experience and practical skills, is a powerful alternative with the potential to transform higher education.

With 25 years of success, AIU is a model for the future of higher education. To learn more about our institution, visit our website today to begin your journey into the future of higher education.
NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Apr, 2023) This week, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28, Razan Al Mubarak, and COP28 Director-General and Special Representative, Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, traveled to the United Nations Headquarters in New York to engage with stakeholders on the margins of the 22nd Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

The Forum on Indigenous Issues is the central UN body dedicated to the concerns and rights of the worlds indigenous peoples. In their respective engagements, both members of the COP28 leadership team reiterated the UAEs commitment to closer collaboration with indigenous communities in driving solutions to the climate crisis.

In her keynote speech at the Forum, Al Mubarak emphasised the importance of leveraging the knowledge and values of indigenous peoples for achieving sustainable development and protecting biodiversity and encouraged their full engagement in the development of policies related to climate change.

As a UN Climate Change Champion, I am committed to partnering with you to support your efforts and to promote solutions from indigenous peoples to solve the climate crisis, stated Al Mubarak.

On the sidelines of the Forum, Ambassador Al Suwaidi briefed representatives of the Group of 77 + China on potential areas of cooperation and the UAEs commitment to work closely with developing countries of the Global South to deliver an inclusive COP28.

Additionally, Al Mubarak and Ambassador Al Suwaidi co-convened indigenous youth activists and young people at the forefront of efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Al Mubarak highlighted the important role of indigenous youth as leaders in building climate resilience and protecting against the impacts of climate change. In his remarks, Al Suwaidi stressed the importance of creating a dedicated space specifically for indigenous youth to support COP28 outcomes and developing indigenous-led durable climate solutions.

On the final day of her visit, Al Mubarak co-hosted an event with environmental and indigenous rights activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim as well as the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The event focused on the promotion of indigenous values and knowledge systems to shape the global dialogue on planetary health and climate action.
ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th Apr, 2023) Friday, 21st April, 2023, corresponding to 1st Shawwal, will be the first day of Eid Al Fitr, the UAE Moon-sighting Committee announced in a statement issued after its meeting tonight.

Abdullah bin Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Committee, said that the committee, after exhausting the sharia methods of sighting the crescent and making the necessary contacts with neighbouring countries, succeeded in sighting the Shawwal month crescent on Thursday evening, and therefore declares that Thursday, 20th April, is the last day of Ramadan 1444, and that Friday, 21st April, is the first day of Eid Al Fitr.

The minister and members of the committee extended warm congratulations on the glorious occasion to President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, Their Highnesses Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates, and the Crown Princes.

They also congratulated the UAE people and Muslims across the world on the auspicious occasion.
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As per SNS Insider analysis, the increasing adoption of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics is also driving the growth of the electronic flight bag market. These technologies enable EFB systems to provide more accurate and reliable flight data, improving flight safety and efficiency

Pune, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "The Electronic Flight Bag Market had a worth of USD 2.67 billion in 2022, and it is anticipated to attain USD 4.42 billion by 2030, exhibiting a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.5% during the estimated period from 2023 to 2030, as per SNS Insider".

Market Report Scope

Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) is a technological innovation that has been transforming the aviation industry. It is essentially a digital device used by pilots and flight crews to replace traditional paper-based manuals, charts, and navigational documents. The EFB offers a wide range of capabilities such as flight planning, weather updates, airport database, weight and balance calculations, and performance monitoring.

Download PDF Brochure For Electronic Flight Bag Market: https://www.snsinsider.com/sample-request/1302

Market Analysis

The electronic flight bag market is driven by a number of factors, including the increasing demand for fuel-efficient aircraft and the need to reduce carbon emissions. With the rising concerns about climate change and environmental degradation, airlines are under pressure to improve their fuel efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint. Another key driver for the EFB market is the growing demand for real-time data and analytics. The EFB provides pilots and flight crews with access to a wide range of data, including weather updates, airport information, and flight performance data. This real-time data can be used to improve decision-making, enhance safety, and increase operational efficiency.

Impact of Recession

The electronic flight bag market has been resilient to economic downturns in the past, but the impact of a recession on this market cannot be ignored. During a recession, airlines may face financial challenges and may be less willing to invest in new technologies such as EFBs. However, despite these potential challenges, the EFB market may still continue to grow during a recession. The EFB offers a range of benefits such as improved safety, increased efficiency, and reduced costs, which can be especially valuable during difficult economic times.

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Key Regional Development

The global electronic flight bag market is expected to experience significant growth, driven by the increasing demand for advanced aviation technology across different regions. North America has been leading the market, with the highest revenue share owing to the presence of numerous EFB manufacturers. With the rapid expansion of aircraft manufacturing, technological advancements, and rising air traffic, the EFB market in this region is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

Buy Exclusive PDF Copy of Electronic Flight Bag Market Along With ME Sheet: https://www.snsinsider.com/checkout/1302

Key Takeaway from Electronic Flight Bag Market Study

The market is witnessing a significant growth trajectory, with the portable segment expected to register high growth in the coming years. EFBs have revolutionized the aviation industry by providing pilots with digital information at their fingertips, replacing traditional paper-based flight manuals and charts.

The market is projected to experience substantial growth in the coming years, with the commercial aviation segment expected to dominate the market. The commercial aviation segment has been a significant user of EFBs due to the need for operational efficiency and enhanced safety measures in the aviation industry.

Recent Developments Related to Electronic Flight Bag Market

Inmarsat, a leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, has partnered with Teledyne Controls to support digital operations of airlines across Europe as part of the Iris Programme. This partnership aims to provide a comprehensive solution that enables airlines to enhance their operational efficiency and improve the passenger experience.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia has recently approved ForeFlight, an electronic flight bag (EFB) for use by pilots operating in Australia. This approval is a significant milestone for ForeFlight, as it is now recognized as a reliable EFB solution that meets the safety standards set by CASA.

Electronic Flight Bag Market Scope:.

Report Attributes Details Market Size in 2022 US$ 2.67 Billion Market Size by 2030 US$ 4.42 Billion CAGR CAGR of 6.5% From 2023 to 2030 Key Segments  by type (Portable, Installed)

 by Platform (Commercial Aviation, Business and General Aviation, Military Aviation)

 by component (Hardware, Software)

 by End-user (OEM, Aftermarket) Company Profiles Esterline CMC Electronics, Honeywell, Ramco Systems UTC Aerospace Systems,m Teledyne Controls LLC, DAC International Inc, The Boeing Company, Navarro AB, Lufthansa Systems, International Flight Support Market Drivers  Increasing number of commercial aircraft.

 Increasing demand for air travel.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. Market Dynamics

4. Impact Analysis

5. Value Chain Analysis

6. Porters 5 forces model

7. PEST Analysis

8. Global Electronic Flight Bag Market Segmentation, by type

9. Global Electronic Flight Bag Market Segmentation, by Platform

10. Global Electronic Flight Bag Market Segmentation, By Component

11. Global Electronic Flight Bag Market Segmentation, By End-User

12. Regional Analysis

13. Company Profiles

14. Competitive Landscape

15. Conclusion

About SNS Insider

At SNS Insider, we believe that businesses should have access to the best market intelligence and insights, regardless of their size or industry. That's why we offer a range of solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of each client, from startups to big corporations. With a passion for our work and an unwavering commitment to delivering value, we are dedicated to helping our clients achieve their full potential.

CONTACT: Contact Us: Akash Anand  Head of Business Development & Strategy Email: info@snsinsider.com Phone: +1-415-230-0044 (US)




Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Apr, 2023 ) :A French court has jailed four Afghans and handed lesser sentences to five others for illegally smuggling migrants across the Channel to Britain on dinghies in 2021.

London and Paris are clamping down on illicit boat crossings into the United Kingdom on the perilous route, which has been used by growing numbers of people since 2018.

The court tried nine Afghans aged 21 to 39 for taking part in four operations to smuggle 53 mainly Vietnamese and Afghan migrants across the Channel between January and March 2021.

All passengers were picked up in either British or French waters.

The Paris court on Wednesday jailed a 30-year-old for six years and fined him 30,000 Euros ($32,000) for orchestrating the crossings, charges he denied throughout the trial.

It ordered that he should be expelled from France once he has served his time.

It sentenced three other defendants to five years in jail and a 25,000-euro fine each, also ordering their deportation afterwards. One of them had six months of his jail term suspended.

Five other Afghans were handed lesser sentences and will not go to prison.
(@Abdulla99267510)

She said the Foreign Minister is attending the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting at the invitation of the current Chair Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister for External Affairs of India.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-April 20th, 2023) Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Foreign Ministers meeting being held on 4th and 5th of next month in Goa, India.

This was stated by Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch while briefing the media persons in Islamabad on Thursday.

She said the Foreign Minister is attending the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting at the invitation of the current Chair Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister for External Affairs of India.

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities.

The Spokesperson said Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had also attended the last meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in July last year in Tashkent.

Commenting on prevailing situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said even during the holy month of Ramazan, the Indian occupation authorities have continued to impose curbs and restrictions on the freedom of religion.

She said the occupation authorities, last week, stopped Kashmiris from offering Friday prayer at Srinagar's Jamia Masjid.

She urged the Indian authorities to bring an end to the restrictions imposed on Kashmiris that prevent them from freely practicing their religion.

The Spokesperson said Pakistan will continue to raise its voice against these grave and systematic human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

She said Pakistan will also continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the just and peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
US President Joe Biden discussed topics including China and continuing support for Ukraine in a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the White House said on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) US President Joe Biden discussed topics including China and continuing support for Ukraine in a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the White House said on Thursday.

"The two leaders discussed President von der Leyen's recent trip to Beijing and their shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order, human rights, and fair trade practices," the White House said in a statement.

Biden and von der Leyen reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the statement said.

Biden and von der Leyen also reiterated the commitment of the United States and EU to ensure that Ukraine has the economic and security assistance its needs, as well as to impose consequences on Russia for its special military operation, the statement said.

In addition, the leaders discussed efforts to accelerate the transition to clean energy economies, the statement said.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2023) A blast occurred in Russia's Belgorod region, forming a large funnel at the incident site, but there are no casualties, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Thursday.

"Emergency in Belgorod. There was an explosion. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties. A huge funnel with a radius of 20 meters (65.6 feet) has formed at the intersection of one of the central streets," Gladkov said on Telegram.

The blast damaged an apartment building nearby and several parked cars, knocked down power lines, the official added.

"The mayor of the city, Valentin Demidov, the head of the regional Security Department, Evgeny Vorobyov, and all operational and emergency services are on site. All additional information will be provided later," the governor said.

According to a Sputnik correspondent, a cordon has been set up at the scene in the southern part of Belgorod. Residents are not allowed to enter the intersection. Emergency teams are working at the site.
KHARTOUM (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) Sudan's armed forces see no options for a diplomatic solution to the situation with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan, Sudan's military spokesman Gen Brigadier Nabil Abdallah told Sputnik on Thursday.

Violent clashes between the Sudanese regular army and the RSF broke out on Saturday, with the epicenter located in Khartoum.

"A diplomatic solution is one of the ways to settle situations between states, and we are talking about rebel gangs outside the law," Abdallah said, answering the question whether there is possibility for a diplomatic solution in the current situation.

The Sudanese military will not allow the development of the "Libyan scenario" in the country, the spokesman said.

"We will never allow our country to regress into any situation similar to any such scenario happening anywhere," Abdallah said, answering a question about the possibility of dividing Sudan between different opposing forces, following the example of Libya.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the head of Ukraine's armed forces, said on Thursday he had discussed Ukraine's military needs with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of the US European Command Christopher Cavoli

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the head of Ukraine's armed forces, said on Thursday he had discussed Ukraine's military needs with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander of the US European Command Christopher Cavoli.

"We discussed Ukraine's priorities for weapon, hardware and munition (deliveries). I briefed Gen. Cavoli about the facts on the ground," Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhnyi said on social media.

The phone conversation was held in the lead-up to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting of senior Ukrainian and NATO military officials at Ramstein air base in Germany on Friday.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Kiev on Thursday that allies were committed to delivering more jets, tanks and armored vehicles to Ukraine. He estimated that NATO's military aid to Ukraine had topped $165 billion since February 2022.

Russia has warned Ukraine's donors that it sees military shipments as legitimate targets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that NATO allies arming and training Ukrainians is tantamount to a direct involvement in the conflict.
(@FahadShabbir)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) The People's Republic of China's (PRC) no-limits partnership with Russia is a worrisome sign that Beijing may not be serious about ending the conflict in Ukraine, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday.

"China's 'no limits' partnership and support for Russia is a worrisome indication that it is not serious about ending the war," Yellen said.

It is essential that China and other countries do not provide Russia with material support or assistance in sanctions evasion, lest the United States impose severe consequences, Yellen said.

The United States will continue to make its position "extremely clear" to China and companies within its jurisdiction, Yellen added.

Washington's approach to its relationship with Beijing is founded on three objectives: securing the national security interests of the United States and its partners; developing a healthy and fair economic relationship; and cooperating on the urgent global challenges of the day, Yellen said.

The United States is confident in its long-term economic strength, although China faces "headwinds" that could slow its long-term growth, Yellen said.
The Pentagon is positioning troops in the African nation Djibouti in preparation for a possible evacuation of US Embassy personnel from Sudan, where conditions in its capital have deteriorated as a result of fighting between two of the nation's generals, Politico reported on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) The Pentagon is positioning troops in the African nation Djibouti in preparation for a possible evacuation of US Embassy personnel from Sudan, where conditions in its capital have deteriorated as a result of fighting between two of the nation's generals, Politico reported on Thursday.

General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who leads Sudan's armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dalago, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, are at war over control of the country. The fighting is rooted in the years before a 2019 uprising that ousted then-leader Omar al-Bashir, who built up tough security forces that he deliberately set against one another, said the report.

"The Department of Defense, through US Africa Command, is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting prudent planning for various contingencies. As part of this, we are deploying additional capabilities nearby in the region for contingency purposes related to securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel from Sudan, if circumstances require it," Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn is quoted as saying in the report.

Most of the fighting is located in Khartoum, where the US Embassy is stationed, and the unrest has stranded many civilians, including embassy staff who are sheltering in place at the compound, which sits eight miles from the international airport.

The troops in Djibouti would be positioned so as to launch a swift evacuation operation that would only bring embassy staff to safety and would not involve a military-led general evacuation of American citizens, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The fighting and bombardments between the two warring sides in Khartoum have left the airport inoperable, leaving the roughly 70 US embassy staff no options to evacuate the city on their own without risking their safety, said the report, and US officials familiar with the planning at the State Department have been discussing evacuation options, including ground evacuation, as recently as Thursday morning.

Under consideration is sending the personnel to the nearby Wadi Seidna Air Base, located 14 miles north of Khartoum, for evacuation by air. According to US officials, the United States is also in touch with other countries who have embassies in the Sudanese capital about their potential evacuation plans, the report said.

The State Department has actively encouraged Americans to avoid traveling to Sudan due to its volatile conditions.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2023) Vietnam does not recognize China's unilateral fishing ban in the South China Sea and calls for freedom of navigation, the deputy spokesperson for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, Doan Khac Viet, said on Thursday.

China has been imposing a fishing ban since 1990. This year, it is valid between May 1 and August 16 in many areas of the South China Sea.

"China's so-called 'fishing ban' not only violates our sovereignty towards the Truong Sa (Paracel) archipelago, but also Viet Nam's (Vietnam's) sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as delineated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Viet said, as quoted by the Vietnam news newspaper.

The diplomat also said that freedom of navigation should be maintained in the South China Sea by all parties as a factor of prosperity in the region.

China justifies its fishing ban with the need to promote the sustainable development of marine fisheries and the improvement of marine ecology. Chinese coast guard units are deployed to patrol the protected areas. Some of these areas are disputed by several regional powers, including Vietnam.
spectator celebrates on South Padre Island, Texas, as the SpaceX Starship launches for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas - VERONICA G. CARDENAS/AFP via Getty Images

Few endeavours in human history have caused so much excitement and anticipation as the Apollo space programme, and there has been nothing to touch it since.

One of the great generational divisions is between those who are old enough to remember the first Moon landing and those who are not. A lucky few can even boast of the visceral experience of witnessing a Saturn V rocket launch in Florida.

On Thursday, half a century on, that thrill of danger and possibility returned to America as the biggest rocket ever built achieved its Earth-shuddering blastoff.

Starship blasts off - SPACEX HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The fact that Elon Musks SpaceX Starship blew up after reaching a height of 25 miles only added to the drama and the romance of the mission to propel mankind back to the Moon, and possibly onwards to Mars.

With characteristic flippance towards the explosion of the 2.4bn rocket, Musks team described it as a rapid unscheduled disassembly.

They did not, though, accept that the self-destruction of the Starship - which happened after it entered a spin - amounted to failure. The fact that the 5,000 tonne giant broke free from its gravitational bounds and reached such a high altitude was seen as a huge leap forward, and at Starbase, engineers sprayed champagne on each other and chanted go Starship despite its disintegration.

Mr Musks business mantra is to fail fast and he said SpaceX had learned a lot ahead of the next test launch later this year.

This was the first time that Starship had been launched on top of a super heavy booster rocket, and the first time a machine capable of taking humans to the Moon had been fired in the lifetime of anyone aged under 50.

"To get this far is amazing," SpaceX's Kate Tice said. "Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake."

Project Apollo, after all, had started with a far bigger disaster, when a fire on the launchpad claimed the lives of Apollo 1s three-man crew in 1967. Two years later their colleague Neil Armstrong was standing on the Moon, and Nasa hopes that Starship will achieve the same result two years from now.

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Bill Nelson, the administrator of Nasa, was among those who congratulated Mr Musk and his team, saying: Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test - and beyond.

This was an unmanned flight, and Starship was always scheduled to be destroyed, though the plan had been for it to separate and plunge into the sea.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, crowds had flocked by the thousand to Cape Canaveral (known for a decade as Cape Kennedy) to experience the sight, sound, and vibration of the mighty Saturn Vs taking flight. The modern-day equivalent is Boca Chica in Texas, where Starship was scheduled for launch at 2.28pm BST (8.28am local time).

Standing a combined 394ft (120m) tall, Starship, atop its booster rocket, is 30ft taller than its analogue era predecessor, around 40pc heavier and more than twice as powerful, developing 17 million pounds of thrust.

Mr Musk was up at dawn on a clear blue morning, telling the world at 5.13am local time: All systems currently green for launch.

The tension had only been increased by an aborted launch on Monday, when a faulty valve was discovered, and it notched up again with a last-minute hitch on Thursday. With two minutes until launch time, the fuel tanks had been filled with their propellant of liquid oxygen and liquid methane and final checks were being carried out when the ground team ordered the countdown clock to be stopped. It read T minus 40 seconds.

John Insprucker, the chief engineer at SpaceX, said the rockets pressurisation was slightly lower than expected, but four minutes later he green-lit the launch and the countdown was back on.

People observe the takeoff of the launch of inaugural test flight of Starship on the second attempt at the SpaceX launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas - ABRAHAM PINEDA-JACOME/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

At 2.33pm Starships 33 Raptor engines ignited, engulfing the launch assembly in a cloud of dust and vapour, and with an almighty roar the black tip of the upper stage emerged into the clear air above.

On the ground, crowds had come from all over the US, Canada and beyond, to witness history from the safe distance of South Padre Island.

Some shouted Go, Baby, Go! as Starship rose on its column of fire, and Rosell Elizondo, watching the launch with her husband Jimmy, said it was like the Superbowl, everybody started cheering and laughing.

starship - PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Three minutes into the flight, Starship was scheduled to separate from its booster, ignite its own six engines and continue to an altitude of 150 miles. But instead, it went into a spin and failed to separate.

"This does not appear to be a nominal situation," Mr Insprucker observed on SpaceXs webcast.

Seconds later, the malfunction triggered an automated flight termination system. The booster, which was supposed to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, and Starship, programmed to land in the Pacific, turned into a fireball less than halfway through what should have been an eight-minute mission.

As we promised, Mr Insprucker later said, excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a spectacular end to an incredible flight test.

Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, described the test as "an impressive step", tweeting: "Lift off IS an incredible success! Great lessons learned. I am confident that SpaceX will quickly resolve issues and get back to the launchpad soon."

Video footage of the test flight showed that six of the 33 engines had either failed to ignite or had stopped working part way through the mission, suggesting there are plenty of problems to solve before the next attempt.

Unlike the Saturn V, both of Starships stages are designed to be fully reusable, bringing down the cost of launches and making space exploration commercially viable, but there are several steps of testing to go before that can be considered.

Elon Musk was one of the calmest people in the room at mission control - HANDOUT/SPACEX/AFP via Getty Images

Mr Musk sees failure as a necessary hurdle on the path to success, and was one of the calmest people in the room at mission control as his rocket self-destructed.

Shortly before Mondays original scheduled launch, he had warned that the chances of failure were high and set a bar for success that Starship did manage to clear.

Id like to set expectations low, he said before the launch. If we get far away from the launchpad before something goes wrong, I think I would consider that a success. Just dont blow up the launchpad.

He had described Starship as a very complicated, gigantic rocket, adding: Theres a million ways this rocket could fail. It may take us a few kicks of the can here before we reach orbit.

The maverick billionaire, who also runs the Tesla electric car brand and owns the Twitter social network, has a track record of bulldozing his way through adversity until he achieves his goal.

Nasa is counting on it: in 2025, the US space agency intends to use Starship for its Artemis III mission to return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo was cancelled in 1972.

Mr Musk is determined to do more than simply repeat past glories. His avowed intent is to get mankind to Mars, to become a multi-planet species, and it is this ambition, more than the prospect of digital age Moon landings, that has brought the excitement of the space pioneers back to the coast of America.

None of those watching on the ground were disappointed. They had, after all, experienced the launch of the most powerful machine ever to take to the sky, and it is not something any of them are ever likely to forget.

Starship launch - VERONICA G. CARDENAS/AFP via Getty Images

Karim Iliya, a photographer selected by SpaceX to travel on a future Starship mission around the Moon, told CNN: This wave of sound just smashed into my body, and I could feel it and I could hear it and I thought: 'Am I really going inside that machine?' It was absolutely wild.

"It was just this feeling of joy and energy running through the crowd and through the people."

He said the explosion, a reminder of the inherent dangers of space exploration, had not put him off the idea of being inside one of the rockets in future, as he regarded what he had seen as a prototype being test flown.

He had been allowed to view the rocket close up after Mondays aborted launch, when he got a feeling of intensity as the machine groaned and vented.

He added: "That's when I realised how alive this machine is and how intense it is and will be when we actually strap ourselves in and leave the planet  which is in itself an absurd thought."

Anthony Gomez, who runs a ranch for Starship superfans, saw the launch from just 3.8 miles away, hosting guests from as far afield as France and Germany.

All of them, like him, had come to see a sight that outstripped even Space Shuttle launches and ushered in the second lunar age.

It was, he said: Incredible. I cried like a baby.
UW and Wyoming SBDC Network Host Tourism Industry Hiring Webinar April 27

Small-business owners can learn how to effectively hire seasonal workers for the upcoming peak Wyoming tourist season Thursday, April 27.

Devan Costa-Cargill will present a Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network webinar titled Hiring Seasonal Employees: Staffing the Tourism Industry in Wyoming from 2-3 p.m. To register, go here. Registration is free.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by the University of Wyoming with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

During this webinar, small-business owners will learn best practices regarding staffing seasonal workers. Costa-Cargill, the Wyoming SBDC Network regional director for Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park and Washakie counties, recently wrote a "Wyoming Business Tips" column on the subject.

Costa-Cargill launched her consulting career in the public school system, specifically in special education. For the past 10 years, she has operated her own small business, providing consultation and enrichment to families and early educators. Her work with the Wyoming SBDC Network began in April 2021, advising small-business startups through the first important steps of their journey.

For more information, call Maureen Johnson, marketing, communication and database manager for the Wyoming SBDC Network, at (307) 343-0925 or email mjohn125@uwyo.edu.
Astronomers from around the world gathered in a small town in Western Australia for one of the wonders of the universe - a total eclipse of the sun. First landfall occurred over the northwestern tip of Australia at Exmouth, along the Ningaloo Coast before moving on to parts of East Timor and Indonesia.

Thousands of people gathered at the remote corner of the Western Australian coast to marvel at this rare cosmic symmetry when the sun, the moon and the Earth aligned.

The total solar eclipse was part of a hybrid eclipse, which happens only a handful of times each century. In Western Australia, it stretched across three hours.

The most dramatic part, when the sun was completely blocked out, lasted for barely a minute.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization radio astronomer Vanessa Moss told VOA total solar eclipses have intrigued and scared people through the ages.

It reminds us about our place in the solar system, she said. These eclipses used to be mysterious things that people could not understand. They used to be bad omens or scary things. But now, thanks to science, thanks to technology that has advanced we can predict them but also just, you know, appreciate more of the wonders of it as opposed to be scared about it. It is actually just a really cool phenomenon to experience.

For those who were there it was an experience they will likely never forget.

The last hybrid solar eclipse was in 2013. NASA expects the next in 2031.

Scientists used the eclipse to study the Suns atmosphere and learn more about distant galaxies.
Officials in Ukraines capital, Kyiv Thursday said a bright flash that lit up the night sky over the city was likely a meteor and not a Russian missile attack or a falling U.S. satellite.

A security camera video and other images posted to social media show the sky suddenly light up as a bright object flashes and appears to fall toward the horizon and then disappear at about 10 p.m. Kyiv time Wednesday.

From his Telegram social media account, Kyiv's military administration chief, Serhiy Popko, said late Wednesday he believed the object was a retired satellite from the U.S. space agency, NASA. The agency had announced a decommissioned satellite used to monitor solar activity was expected to re-enter Earths atmosphere Wednesday.

A NASA spokesperson said the satellite was still in orbit and nowhere near Ukraine at the time the flash was seen.

While the flash reportedly triggered an air raid alert, Popko also said it was not a missile or drone attack, a regular occurrence since Russias invasion of Ukraine last year. He said the citys air defenses were not automatically activated.

There was much speculation on Ukrainian social media, including jokes that the mysterious flash could have been caused by an alien spacecraft. President Volodymyr Zelenskyys chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, posted a flying saucer emoji on his official Twitter account.

Officials with Ukraines space agency said the object was likely a meteor entering Earths atmosphere.

Some information for this report was provide by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Cambodian leader Hun Sen's eldest son was officially promoted to the rank of four-star general Thursday, in another sign of plans for him to succeed his father.

Hun Sen has publicly backed Hun Manet to lead the kingdom in the future.

Hun Manet, who is commander of the army, received the four-star rank at a ceremony attended by more than 1,000 senior military officials.

Defense minister Tea Banh, who presided over the ceremony, said Hun Manet's promotion reflected his efforts "to serve the nation, military and Cambodian people."

Hun Manet  who was educated in Britain and the United States  has been officially backed by the ruling party as a future prime minister and has been active on social media in recent months to increase his public profile.

The 45-year-old has also had more diplomatic meetings with senior political figures than before, according to the Lowy Institute's Asia Power Index.

In 2022 he met 10 world leaders, deputy leaders and foreign ministers, compared with only two in 2019, the institute said.

He will run for a parliamentary seat when Cambodia goes to the polls in July this year, according to a party document seen by AFP.

Hun Sen, who has ruled the country for 38 years, has repeatedly hinted at stepping down but has said he will run for office again in the coming election.

The prime minister, who has wound back democratic freedoms and used the courts to stifle opposition, frequently characterizes his children's achievements as the product of education and training and rejects claims of nepotism.

At the last general election in 2018, Hun Sen's party won every seat in parliament after the Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) a year before.

A court last month found Kem Sokha, a co-founder of the CNRP, guilty of conspiring with foreign entities to overthrow Hun Sen's government.

He was sentenced to 27 years in prison and immediately placed under house arrest.

Scores of opposition figures were convicted of treason last year and Hun Sen ordered the shutdown of one of the country's few remaining local independent media outlets in February, over a report about Hun Manet.
Emerging Markets Consulting LLC. and Golden Independence Mining Corp.

An Emerging Markets News Commentary



ORLANDO, Fla., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We are excited to introduce you to Golden Independence Mining Corp. (CSE: IGLD, OTCQB: GIDMF, FRA: 6NNA) (the Company or Golden Independence). So, lets talk about who this company is and a few of its current projects, shall we?

Golden Independence Mining Corp. is a development company currently focused on the development-stage Independence Project located adjacent to Nevada Gold Mines Phoenix-Fortitude mine in the Battle Mountain-Cortez Trend of Nevada in addition to the Napoleon Gold Project located in the Kamloops Mining Division of BC. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

The Companys success would not be possible without some highly qualified and experienced leaders. Golden Independence has an impressive roster of corporate leaders that come from various backgrounds, each bringing something different to the table. Here are a few:

Jeremy Poirier, CEO

Mr. Poirier brings nearly two decades of capital markets experience in the natural resource and technology sectors. He has served in various senior officer and corporate development roles at exploration mining companies. From September 2016 through December 2019, Mr. Poirier was CEO of Bearing Lithium Corp. and was instrumental in the Company's acquisition of Li3 Energy. Prior to Bearing Lithium, Mr. Poirier held senior roles at Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. and is currently the CEO of Hilo Mining Ltd.

Joel Leonard, CFO

Mr. Leonard has an extensive background in finance and accounting with a focus on financial reporting and internal control. He is a founding partner of JCL Partners Chartered Professional Accountants located in Vancouver and has spent the last three years consulting for publicly traded entities listed on various exchanges.

Tim Henneberry, President

Mr. Henneberry is a professional geoscientist with 40 years of experience in domestic and international exploration and production for base and precious metals and industrial minerals. He has also previously served as president of a consulting service and founder/director/senior officer of several TSX Venture and CSE listed companies.

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To give you an idea of what Golden Independence is currently up to, lets break down the companys current projects:

Independence Project

Located 1.5 kilometres to the southwest of the Phoenix pit of Nevada Gold Mines (Newmont / Barrick JV) in Lander County, Nevada  an excellent mining jurisdiction.

640 acres

Commodities are gold and silver



This month, Golden Independence and their permitting consultants, Westland Resources of Reno Nevada, made impressive progress on this project concluding the bulk of the long-lead time studies required for the environmental assessment which is the permitting of an operating mine.

Napoleon Project

Located 35 km northwest of Kamloops BC via year-round road access within the Kamloops Mining Division which is host to several active mines including New Golds (TSX:NGD) New Afton Mine.

2,662 acres

Commodities are gold and copper



Golden Independence completed its acquisition of the Napoleon Gold Project at the end of March. The Property has excellent infrastructure with road access via paved and well-maintained gravel roads, in addition to benefiting from a strong mining workforce with several active mines in the area including New Golds New Afton Mine and exploration in the region dates back to the 1970s and 1980s.

We are honored to have the opportunity to introduce Golden Independence Mining Corp. and cannot wait to see what is in store for the future of the Company.

For more on Golden Independence Mining Corp., visit: https://goldenindependence.co/

About Golden Independence Mining Corp.:

Golden Independence Mining Corp. is a development company currently focused on the development-stage Independence project located adjacent to Nevada Gold Mines Phoenix-Fortitude mine in the Battle Mountain-Cortez Trend of Nevada in addition to the Napoleon gold project located in the Kamloops Mining Division of BC. The Independence project hosts an M&I resource of 334,300 ounces of gold and an Inferred resource of 847,000 ounces of gold with a substantial silver credit. A 2021 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlined a low-cost heap leach operation focusing on the near-surface resource with total production of 195,443 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,078 per ounce of gold. The Napoleon project is comprised of over 1,000 hectares and prospective for multiple-forms of gold mineralization, with exploration in the area dating back to the 1970s with the discovery of high-grade gold.

About The Emerging Markets Report:

The Emerging Markets Report is owned and operated by Emerging Markets Consulting (EMC), a syndicate of investor relations consultants representing years of experience. Our network consists of stockbrokers, investment bankers, fund managers, and institutions that actively seek opportunities in the micro and small-cap equity markets.

For more informative reports such as this, please sign up at: https://emergingmarketsconsulting.com/

Must Read OTC Markets/SEC policy on stock promotion and investor protection

Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 requires that any person that uses the mails to publish, give publicity to, or circulate any publication or communication that describes a security in return for consideration received or to be received directly or indirectly from an issuer, underwriter, or dealer, must fully disclose the type of consideration (i.e. cash, free trading stock, restricted stock, stock options, stock warrants) and the specific amount of the consideration. In connection therewith, EMC has received the following compensation and/or has an agreement to receive in the future certain compensation, as described below.

EMC has been paid $150,000 by Golden Independence Mining Corp. EMC does not independently verify any of the content linked-to from this editorial. https://emergingmarketsconsulting.com/disclaimer/

Emerging Markets Consulting, LLC

Florida Office

390 N Orange Ave. Suite 2300

Orlando, FL 32801

E-mail: jamespainter@emergingmarketsllc.com

Web: https://emergingmarketsconsulting.com/








Caribbean Community leaders have agreed on plans to introduce bans in their countries on assault-style weapons mostly manufactured in the U.S. to curb spikes in gun violence and weapons smuggling in the 15-nation Caricom bloc.

The decision came late Tuesday at the end of a two-day summit in Trinidad on crime. The bans would require a mix of legislation and changes in licensing regulations.

The Caribbean leaders had called a roundtable on the issue amid complaints from several governments about an increase in gangland violence, bolstered by the availability of high-powered, military-style weapons smuggled mostly from the U.S.

Jamaica, Trinidad, The Bahamas, St. Lucia and Barbados have all complained about an increase in homicides involving guns in recent years.

"Caricom heads have agreed today to take a decision to ban the use and presence of assault weapons in the civilian population of our nations," Keith Rowley, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, told reporters at the end of the summit, attended by most of the heads of government.

The move came just a few weeks after several member nations announced plans to join with Mexico to sue American gun manufacturers over the weapons smuggled into their countries.

Bahamian Prime Minister and Caricom Chairman Phillip Davis told the summit that in his country 98.6% of recovered illegal firearms could be traced to the United States, in Haiti 87.7% and in Jamaica 67%.

"Jamaica had a staggering homicide rate of 52.9 per 100,000 inhabitants," he said, compared with the global average of about 7.5 per 100,000.

However, Davis did not have figures on what percentage of the seized guns were assault-style weapons as opposed to handguns or other weapons that would be unaffected by this week's proposed ban.

Rowley said countries in the Caribbean would need legislation to support the ban, and he called on opposition parties throughout the region to support any parliamentary action by their governments.

He noted that the Caribbean leaders have asked U.S. President Joe Biden for dialogue on the weapons issue.
Ayouba Ag Nadroun was at the market in central Mali in March when Islamic extremists attacked his village, killing dozens of people and stealing about $10,000 worth of his cows and camels.

"We lost everything," the 62-year-old told The Associated Press by phone from the Menaka region in the West African nation.

Cattle raiding by Islamic extremists is soaring at unprecedented levels in Mali, with jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stealing millions of dollars' worth of cattle to buy weapons and vehicles to fund their insurgency across the war-torn West African country and region below the Sahara Desert, known as the Sahel.

As jihadis gain control of more territory, looting is increasing and fueling conflict among already impoverished communities fighting to keep their families fed and alive, according to a recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Mali has been battling to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency for more than a decade.

Despite a victory in 2013, when France sent troops in to help its former colony drive al-Qaida-linked militants from northern areas of the country, violence has not only continued but spread. Attacks have spilled into neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, where extremists are exploiting people's grievances against the state to recruit fighters and control land.

While cattle rustling has been at the heart of Mali's war economy for years, the recent surge by Islamic extremists is worrying, according to the global network's report.

Thefts provide cash flow

In the central Mopti region, one of the hardest-hit by more recent violence, 130,000 cattle were stolen in 2021, about the same amount taken from 2018 through 2020, said the report by the global initiative known as GI-TOC. While the groups have several funding streams, including drug trafficking, hostage taking and gold mining, analysts say livestock raiding is one of the most preferred because of the consistent cash flow, especially in Mali, which is the second-biggest cattle exporter in the region after Nigeria. Jihadis loot livestock and then rely on a network to sell it and use the money to buy weapons and vehicles.

"Unlike other criminal markets [such as cocaine or kidnappings], cattle rustling has proven to be a resilient and stable source of income for armed groups because Mali is a key regional producer and exporter of cattle," said Flore Berger, Sahel analyst at GI-TOC. "It's likely that cattle rustling continues to provide sources of revenue because countries in the region will continue to buy from Mali."

Villagers say jihadis are strategic about their thefts, staking out watering holes where they know the cattle will come to drink.

"They set up shop next to the wells for several days, and every time the thirsty animals come to get water, the terrorists take them," said Mahamad Ag Moustapha, mayor of Inekar commune in the Menaka region. Last April, the father of nine lost more than $84,000 worth of cattle when jihadists attacked his town. He now lives in a displacement site in Menaka.

"There are no animals within a 300-kilometer radius of the town of Menaka. ... The terrorists are trying to weaken the population economically, so the population does not fund a resistance," he said.

While it is hard to determine how much money jihadis are making from stealing livestock, analysts estimate they are taking cattle worth tens of millions of dollars a year.

Net profits made from stolen livestock from one district in the Mopti region  under jihadi influence  was approximately $730,000 in one year, said the report. In neighboring Burkina Faso, where violence has been raging since 2016, jihadis can bring in nearly $50,000 a month from cattle raiding in regions such as the Sahel, north and center-north, where they operate.

"We are aware that the money generated by the sale of stolen cattle is used to finance activities of the terrorists," Colonel Abdoulaye Dembele, spokesman for the Malian army, told the AP.

"It is difficult to secure the cattle of Mali from terrorists. The country is vast, and our first concern is to secure the people," he said.

However, in recent months, "we have recovered several hundred head of cattle in Mopti, in the center, and also in the Menaka region. In both cases, we have handed the cattle over to the local authorities who will take charge of finding their owners and returning the animals to them. As long as the stolen cattle are within a radius of our military camps, we can intervene, but if it is far from the military camps, it becomes difficult," he added.

Hostages worth even more

Despite the increase in cattle theft, conflict experts say it doesn't compare to the highly profitable business of hostage taking.

"We've heard unconfirmed reports that ransoming hostages is [jihadis'] most lucrative revenue stream, generating approximately 30% of [their] income," said William Linder, a retired CIA officer and head of 14 North Strategies, an Africa-focused risk advisory. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

French journalist Olivier Dubois was kidnapped by jihadis from northern Mali in April 2021. He was released last month, however, the conditions of his release, including whether it involved a ransom, have not been disclosed.

Still, the surge in cattle raiding unsettles some residents in the Sahel region more because it cuts into their ability to survive.

Two years ago, villagers in the Gourma region said they noticed a spike in jihadis selling thousands of stolen cattle in villages at a third of the price, making it hard for traders to compete. The jihadis sell cattle in the thousands, generally to beef traders who take it across the border to neighboring Burkina Faso or Niger, said a 34-year-old tea seller at a market in Gossi town who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

By controlling the cross-border livestock markets, jihadis are strengthening their legitimacy in the territory they take and diminishing control by the state, said Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence company.

"The consistent flow of income enables them to acquire arms, recruit new members, extend their power and undermine state authority," he said.

To cut revenue, governments in the Sahel region need to establish authority, tighten border controls, regulate cattle markets and gain the trust of local communities, he said.
While cease-fire attempts in Sudan have failed, the evacuation of scores of Egyptian troops that had been held there has raised hopes that more foreigners trapped in the fighting could be leaving soon.

Sudanese military officials announced early Thursday that 177 technical personnel of the Egyptian Air Force, who had been detained in the town of Marawi, were evacuated to Egypt from Dongola Airport by four Egyptian military transport planes.

The military said the Egyptians were in Sudan for training when fighting broke out Saturday between Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The Rapid Support Forces also announced in a statement Thursday that they handed over 27 Egyptian nationals to the International Red Cross.

The RSF statement described their health as "excellent," and said they handed them over with all their belongings.

Hundreds of other foreign nationals are effectively trapped in Sudan, unable to leave because of heavy fighting this week around Khartoum's international airport.

Clashes continued Thursday in Khartoum, despite cease-fire agreements announced by the warring parties over two consecutive days.

Khalifa Saddiq, a lecturer on extremist and terrorist groups at the International University of Africa in Khartoum, said the release of the Egyptian captives is a positive move by both warring parties.

Speaking to VOA by a messaging application in Khartoum, Saddiq said that under international law, both warring parties have no choice other than to respond positively to calls for a humanitarian cease-fire.

He said both the military and the RSF are expected to abide by the terms of the cease-fire because suspending hostilities has a strong positive impact on the humanitarian situation. This is one of the fruits of the continued external pressure on the parties to suspend hostilities and create a safe passage for humanitarian activities.

Saddiq believes the cease-fires were not respected because some fighters have no direct contact with their field commanders.

He said the RSF is now an unbounded group that lost leadership directives and the majority of its members didn't know that a cease-fire had been announced. Therefore, they are unable to comply with this practice of international law.

Thousands of Khartoum residents have fled their homes in the past two days, seeking safety and basic necessities. Food supplies in the capital have dwindled and most parts of the city have no electricity or running water.

The fighting was triggered over Sudan's political future  which has been in flux since the overthrow of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019  and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.

Ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, known collectively as the Quad countries, are urging the two warring sides to halt the fighting and return to dialogue.

The Quad ambassadors urged the parties of the conflict to commit to the safety and protection of civilians, diplomatic missions and humanitarian workers and to provide safe corridors for humanitarian operations.
Public anger erupted on China's internet over a deadly fire that the government had not disclosed eight hours after it started. While China's state media outlets have started to report on the incident, largely citing an official announcement, online censorship remains.

The fire, which erupted at the ChangFeng hospital in Beijing's Fengtai District, has left 29 people dead as of Wednesday. The local fire department, in an announcement distributed by state media outlets, said they received a call about the fire at around 1 p.m. local time Tuesday.

Video on social media showed smoke billowing out of hospital windows as patients and health care workers tied bedsheets together to escape.

Yet those videos and related discussions were quickly deleted on all Chinese social media platforms. State-owned media outlets such as CCTV and People's Daily did not start reporting on the event until close to 9 p.m. local time.

Angry relatives and internet users went on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and criticized China's level of information control.

"So many deaths but couldn't get on hot topic chart. RIP," wrote one user who goes by the name "Hugging Kitty."

A hot topic chart lists the trending topics on Weibo.

"Not even a hot topic (about it). Keep hiding it," wrote another person with the screen name "Wonton Fifty."

"Our (internet fire) wall is a protection or a cover?" asked a person with the screen name "99Aqu."

"Lives are cheap in their eyes, we have to take care of ourselves even more," wrote user "You don't know Sam."

Some internet users wrote they were first informed of the fire by foreign media outlets instead of Chinese ones.

"Laughable to the extreme.  Heard about this from CNN," one said.

A dozen detained

During a news briefing on the fire a day later, Li Zongrong, deputy head of the Fengtai District in Beijing, said that among the 29 killed, 26 were patients at the hospital. A nurse, a medical assistant and a family member were also among the dead.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Li said the fire may have been caused by welding sparks from work being done in the hospital's inpatient wing. Twelve people have been detained, including the hospital president and her deputy.

Relatives of the patients at ChangFeng hospital voiced anger with the facility's management of the crisis.

Family members told local media they didn't learn about the fire until they saw it on TV later that night and rushed to the hospital to locate their loved ones. They added they had not received any notification from the hospital about the fire on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the two hashtags related to the incident on Weibo were censored to varying degrees. According to data released by Weibo, interest in topics about the fire peaked between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time Tuesday and then plummeted.

Scant information

Meanwhile, searches on Weibo for information about the fire brought up only reports from official accounts.

Hu Xijin, former editor in chief at the state-backed media outlet Global Times, said in a later-deleted post that "there's very little information about the fire, I don't think this is how it should be."

According to online screenshots, ChangFeng hospital, where the fire happened, posted an article on WeChat less than two months ago about how the leadership and staff held a meeting and ran inspections to ensure fire safety.

The article has since been deleted.

One social media user summarized what has happened so far: "First they block information, second they delete all traces, third they extinguish the fire and rescue people, fourth they remove hot topics."

The last time a deadly fire like this drew much national attention was a blaze in Xinjiang that led to demonstrations across China and the U.S., with protesters holding white or blank sheets of paper.

The internet users say nothing seems to have changed. Still, only official narratives are allowed.

"The last fire gave us a lesson, so does this one," wrote a Weibo blogger. "Disaster may only appear in official announcements, and only one narrative is allowed. From this perspective, the fire will burn forever, until we switch our role from a lucky survivor to one of the death toll numbers."

Most of the online comments quoted in this report have been deleted as online censorship on the fire continues.
The battle between the United States and authoritarian regimes is moving beyond the confines of cyberspace and increasingly is playing out on U.S. soil as countries like China and Iran target dissidents and minority groups in ever more brazen operations.

FBI senior counterintelligence officials Wednesday warned of new tactics and of lines that are being crossed by a growing number of countries, saying the U.S. is now facing an inflection point in trying to fend off transnational repression.

The change that we're trying to highlight is sort of an increase in the level of threats, and threats of violence, threats of intimidation that cross lines we have not previously seen, a senior FBI counterintelligence official told reporters, briefing them on the condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the bureau.

China, Iran and other countries see this as a priority for them to stabilize their regimes and make sure that they continue to exist, a second senior official said. They're increasing the priority of this ... they're more willing to go on U.S. soil to go after dissidents.

Wednesdays warning from the FBI comes just days after the FBI arrested two New York City residents, charging them with operating a secret and illegal police station on behalf of Chinas Ministry of Public Security.

We cannot and will not tolerate the Chinese government's persecution of pro-democracy activists who have sought refuge in this country," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said while announcing the charges on Monday.

We remain resolved and steadfast to fight against any efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to oppress and intimidate our residents, he added.

FBI officials declined Wednesday to share details on just how many countries are engaged in transnational repression, which includes tactics like stalking, intimidation, or assault, against people residing in the U.S.

Multiple threats

We try not to rack and stack threats, the first FBI official said, noting China and Iran have been significant offenders.

Other U.S. officials have pointed to indictments against suspects linked to Belarus, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. And concerns about Russia are ever present.

But regardless of which government is behind the acts of repression, human rights organizations agree the threat is growing.

A database maintained by the U.S.-based Freedom House has tracked 854 physical incidents of transnational repression committed in 91 countries by 38 governments since 2014, including 79 incidents in 2022 alone.

China was the most prolific, according to the Freedom House data, engaging in 253 incidents of what the organization described as direct, physical transnational repression over the past nine years.

Turkey was second, followed by Tajikistan, Russia, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Iran and Rwanda.

Growing sophistication

FBI and other law enforcement officials also warn that many of these countries are becoming more sophisticated and more brazen in their efforts to silence critics in the U.S.

In its Worldwide Threat Assessment earlier this year, U.S. intelligence agencies said the Chinese government is actively monitoring Chinese students abroad, mobilizing Chinese student associations to help stifle dissent.

And when that is not enough, Beijing is willing to enlist the aid of China-based commercial enterprises to help surveil and censor PRC critics, the report said.

As for Iran, the report cautioned that Tehran remains committed to developing surrogate networks inside the United States, an objective it has pursued for more than a decade.

Some of Irans attempts have made headlines in the U.S., including multiple plots targeting Masih Alinejad, an Iranian American human rights activist and VOA Persian TV host.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department charged three members of an Eastern European criminal gang in connection with a plot to kill Alinejad outside her New York City home.

In a separate plot last year, U.S. prosecutors charged a member of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in a murder-for-hire plot targeting former U.S. national security adviser Ambassador John Bolton.

In another case, last year, an official with Chinas MPS was charged with trying to interfere with the congressional campaign of a U.S. military veteran who had been involved with the 1989 pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square.

Reaction

Chinas embassy in Washington, late Wednesday, rejected the FBIs allegations.

Chinas police do not engage in transnational repression and coercion against the so-called dissidents and dissenters, embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told VOA in an email.

The Chinese government strictly abides by international law, and fully respects the law enforcement sovereignty of other countries, he said, accusing the U.S. of seeking to smear Chinas image.

Other countries named by U.S. officials as engaging in transnational repression, including Iran, Belarus, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have yet to respond to requests for a response to the U.S. allegations.

U.S. officials, however, have repeatedly dismissed denials like those from China.

US pushback

As alleged, these brazen acts of transnational repression violate U.S. law; they infringe on our sovereignty; and perhaps most critically, they are an attack on our most fundamental values, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said during a speech last month in Washington.

We will use every tool to expose the repressive tactics of autocratic regimes and force their agents to answer for their unlawful behavior, she said. And we will support our allies and partners in doing the same.

Over the past two years, the FBI has ramped up training, both for its analysts and for its field officers, including those who work closely with airports and other transportation hubs, to help them better recognize activities that may point to transnational repression plots.

But the governments engaging in transnational repression are finding more sophisticated ways to silence those they do not like, including the growing use by China and Iran of private investigators, who are not always aware of what is going on.

Weve seen where the private investigators are not witting to what's going on and where, in fact, the subjects are using some kind of cut-out company to mask who is behind, an FBI official told VOA separately, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In other cases, the official said China has even tried to co-opt local police.

When you're dealing with local law enforcement, they tend to trust other law enforcement, the official told VOA. So, when they get a request from, let's say, Chinese law enforcement theyre going to accept it at face value.

FBI outreach

One of the things we're trying to do is to conduct outreach to private investigator associations, just to apprise them of the threat and explain if you get this type of request, it may be transnational oppression, the official said.

Same thing with local police departments, the official added. Part of the outreach is explaining hey, some of these countries use things like red notices for political reasons, where they're going after someone who disagrees with them, and the charges are made up.

The FBI has also invested in outreach to immigrant communities that have been targeted in the past or that are likely to be targeted in the future.

Already, the FBIs threat intimidation guide has been translated into more than 60 languages. And efforts to make sure those communities are comfortable dealing with the FBI are ongoing.

Still, it can be tricky.

Officials say authoritarian regimes often make good use of cyberspace to intimidate and silence those they do not like.

It's certainly an enabler, a second FBI official told VOA. Any country with even limited resources can certainly engage in at least online harassment with very little investment or expertise.

And some authoritarian regimes, like China and to a lesser extent Iran, have even managed to use threats and money to coerce those they are targeting to help silence others.

This is almost an area of potential double victimization, the second FBI official told VOA. A person could be threatened with impacts to their loved ones back in the autocratic country if they don't report on others here in the United States.

It's really challenging, the official added.

Masood Farivar contributed to this report.
The World Health Organization has urged warring factions in Sudan to pause their fighting to enable people to get basic necessities and allow health care workers to reach those in need of care.

In comments to reporters made remotely from Cairo, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed Al-Mandhar, said about 330 people have been killed and about 3,200 others injured since fighting broke out April 15 between the armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan.

In spite of a second 24-hour cease-fire agreement that began late Wednesday, Khartoum and other cities continue to witness heavy fighting. The WHO reports the fighting has restricted movement in the capital, creating challenges for doctors and other health care workers to reach patients.

Al-Mandhari urged the warring factions to implement a sustained humanitarian pause as soon as possible to allow citizens trapped by the fighting to seek refuge, food, water, medicines and medical attention, and so that health care workers can do their jobs.

Citing Sudans minister of health, the WHO regional chief also reported Thursday that 20 hospitals have been forced to close due to attacks or lack of resources, and an additional eight health facilities are at risk of closing due to staff fatigue or lack of medical doctors and supplies.

He also said there are reports of increasing assaults on health workers, military occupation of hospitals, and looting and hijacking of ambulances, as well reports of sexual assaults on international humanitarian workers, all of which he described as deeply disturbing.

Al-Mandhari said before the fighting broke out, nearly 16 million people in Sudanone third of the populationneeded humanitarian assistance.

We are observing a traumatic deterioration of what is already a very difficult humanitarian situation, he said.

In Washington late Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called for both sides to respect the truce, "renounce violence and return to negotiations." She said the country's two top generals, whose forces have turned the capital into a war zone for the past five days, "are responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and noncombatants."

Civilians flee fighting

Hamad Haj, a former professor at the University of Khartoum, told VOA that despite the attempts at ceasefires, "the last few days were really miserable."

He said sporadic fighting is still going on including at the national palace, the military headquarters, and the airport.

Haj told VOA that stray bullets had killed two of his neighbors in the northern part of Omdurman, about 8 kilometers away from the military base of Wadi Saidna.

"We had to withdraw from that area, and we came to our family house in Saura," Haj said. "Since that time, we are safe as a family. We still require some water and food rations. But since yesterday local vendors and sellers were starting to move around within the area, said Haj.

Kenyan President Samuel Ruto broke his silence and addressed the nation on Wednesday evening saying his country was concerned.

Kenya is deeply alarmed that a misunderstanding over a single item in the political framework agreement, mainly the timeframe for the integration of the Rapid Support Forces into the Sudan Armed Forces, has degenerated into violent conflict, he said.

Ruto implored the leadership of both fighting parties to ensure full compliance with the resolution of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, or IGAD, Heads of State emergency summit held last Sunday which included an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Allowing unrestricted humanitarian access and extending full cooperation to the IGAD heads of state mission when it visits Khartoum, he said.

Ruto and two other leaders from the IGAD bloc (Salva Kirr & Omar Guelleh) are slated to visit Khartoum to mediate the crisis.

Seif Magango, spokesperson for U.N.s office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told VOA its a tragic situation.

Its really a very difficult situation, people are still trapped in their homes and unable to find food, water, and medical supplies. Its difficult to move personnel and humanitarian workers around, said Magango.

He also said the fighting should cease immediately.

Thats what the High Commissioner for Human Rights is urging both sides to really think about the people of Sudan. Stop the bloodshed, the talks were progressing, and they were promising and there was hope there would be a political agreement in no time. So bottom line is, you are fighting, during the fighting itself, respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians and ensure there is no attacks on humanitarian workers.

Some information for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The yearslong fight by a Native American media outlet to have its editorial independence restored is the focus of a documentary that examines challenges for Indigenous journalists.

"Everyone says the same thing after watching the film: 'I had no idea this was happening here in the U.S.,'" says Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, co-director of the documentary "Bad Press."

Her film follows Angel Ellis of Mvskoke Media as she works to overturn the tribal councils repeal of a press freedom act that had enshrined her paper's rights.

That paper  Mvskoke Media  serves the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Tribal nations each have their own laws, constitution and governance. But of the 574 federally recognized tribes, only five have laws protecting freedom of the press. Without those protections, the media outlets are at risk of censorship and intimidation.

When the Native American Journalists Association, or NAJA, surveyed 65 media workers in 2018, it found that journalists were being restricted when covering the news.

More than half of the respondents said tribal affairs had gone unreported because of censorship at least some of the time, and 46% reported intimidation and harassment. One-third said officials had to approve stories before publication all or most of the time.

As a reporter and the executive director of NAJA, the promotion of press freedom is a core focus for Landsberry-Baker.

She started work at Mvskoke Media  then known as the Muscogee Nation News right out of journalism school. There, she says, she experienced firsthand the "censorship from tribal administrations."

Press freedom "provides a mechanism for accountability" between tribal officials and citizens, Landsberry-Baker told VOA. "If you don't have an independent media outlet that's reporting on what's happening, then you don't have educated and informed citizens and thusly, informed voters."

But media rights on tribal lands are further complicated by funding.

A 2018 report by the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance found that 72% of Native American newspapers and radio stations were owned and controlled by tribal governments.

Less than half of 1% of media workers identify as Native American, according to 2019 data, the most recent available from the News Leaders Association, and mainstream media fall short in coverage of Indigenous issues. For some Native American communities, a tribal news outlet may be the only source of information about tribal affairs.

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is in a minority of tribal outlets whose media rights are enshrined. In 2015, it passed legislation naming Mvskoke Media an independent news source. The law cited a need to have "news and activities reported objectively and without interference or bias."

So when the Muscogee (Creek) Nations National Council in 2018 revoked that act in an emergency session, Landsberry-Baker decided she had to act.

"I knew this story can't go untold in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and I have to do something about it, and I have to document it in some way," Landsberry-Baker said. She placed a phone call to Joe Peeler, who signed on as co-director of a documentary and flew from Los Angeles to Oklahoma to begin filming.

Their film, "Bad Press," zeroes in on proceedings in which at least one council member argued that the news published by Mvskoke Media wasn't positive enough, therefore warranting the repeal.

Following the decision, a Muscogee (Creek) Nation official took editorial control of the paper, requiring all articles to be submitted for approval before publication.

David Hill, principal chief of Muscogee (Creek) Nation, did not respond to VOA's request for comment.

In the months that followed, 10 of Mvskoke Medias 16 employees quit.

Ellis was one of the few who stayed, saying she felt compelled to support her community and continue to tell its stories.

"Our community is one that's been almost left out of the textbooks, the history books," Ellis told VOA. "Many of the stories were not considered interesting to the mainstream. And I see our journalism that we're doing as a way to compile it, to take that snapshot of us.  That way when people are looking back, they know how we got where we are."

Ellis, who is now director of Mvskoke Media, started at the paper in 2008.

"It's more than just a newsletter. It's more than a newspaper. It's more than a news program," Ellis said. "It's the combative weapon against erasure that we're trying to achieve."

Ellis, who in 2011 was dismissed from the paper over a dispute stemming from a front-page story about an official arrested for embezzlement, had returned to the media outlet in 2018, just three months before the act was repealed.

She says having the documentary camera crew follow her provided not only visibility but protection.

The crew also kept Ellis committed as the fight dragged on. Landsberry-Baker and her team ended up filming almost 500 hours of footage over a four-year period.

"I had no idea how the story would end, but I felt some responsibility to be able to document this important moment for my tribe and to see how things would play out good or bad," Landsberry-Baker said.

As it turns out, things ended up working in favor of press freedom. In 2021, a constitutional amendment was placed on the midterm election ballot of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. A majority  76.25%  voted in favor of press freedom.

"To see that citizen engagement, and to see them embracing this concept of news, good or bad, is our story, and we feel like it's an important component to our sovereignty  was an overwhelming, uniting factor throughout the whole thing," Ellis said.

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation also went on to elect a principal chief who had campaigned on a pro-media platform. Several other candidates who supported press freedom were elected to the National Council.

Landsberry-Baker says the documentary, which debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival, is a culmination of her life's work.

Since its release, journalists from tribes across the U.S. have told her that the film reflects their own struggles with press freedom.

"Our ultimate impact goal is to see more tribes with free press protections at whatever level is comfortable for them," she said. "And so I'm really hopeful that [the documentary] lays out one path and one way to do that."
Before the war, before it was occupied by Russia, and before the bitter battle that ended with Ukraine retaking control of Lyman in October, locals called this city "The Gates of Donbas." It was an export hub for regional commodities such as coal, salt and sand.

Now, it is bombed weekly. Residents say they often don't bother trying to make home repairs because the violence never ceases.

Lida, 85, shows what's left of her top-floor apartment after it was hit by bombs.

"This is my apartment," she says, breathless after walking up four normal flights of stairs and the crumbled remains of the fifth flight. "There is nothing left. Fire destroyed everything.  I would not have believed it if I didn't see it."

Some residents say perhaps it is too late for Lyman to ever return to normalcy. Entire neighborhoods are flattened, factories are closed and the railway, where about 35% of the population used to work, is no longer operational.

"I regret not leaving," says Anna, a 65-year-old former railway worker. "But still, there is no money, and where would I go? I know a lot of people, but no one offered me a safe place. People ask why I didn't evacuate. But to where?"

Few left in Torske

About 15 kilometers from Lyman and only a few more from the front lines is the village of Torske, which is almost entirely abandoned. Ukrainian soldiers whizzing by in military vehicles say the town is still in full view of Russian fighters and frequently hit.

The Russian fighters left behind cars, uniforms and personal items when they moved out of Torske. There is almost no one left to clean up.

A man passes on a bicycle. He pauses but declines to explain why he remains alone in his destroyed home just outside of Torske. He says life here is a little better recently because the clamor of battle has moved a bit out of town.

"Things got really bad here," he adds, remounting his bike.

Fighting continues nearby

In the nearby battle zones, Ukraine and Russia both engage in brutal fighting to take or retain Torske and other villages on the way to Lyman's strategic crossroads. Besides being a critical transportation hub, it also sits between the areas occupied by Russia and the city of Kramatorsk, the regional capital under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine is expected to launch a massive counteroffensive this spring, and Russia has built up defenses on the borders of the territories it now occupies inside Ukraine. Lyman residents say if the battles return to their city, they have no resources left to help them survive.

A year and half ago, Lyman had more than 20,000 people. Now, the few thousand remaining survive only on aid brought in from out of town.

"I had to flee wearing my robe and slippers," says Lida, after showing us the dark, underground shelter where she now lives. "I lost everything. I've now been living in the basement since last year."
New developments:

Severe mud is highly likely slowing operations, the British Defense Ministry said Friday, for both sides in Russias invasion of Ukraine. In the ministrys daily intelligence update about the conflict, the report said Russian online outlets are likely exaggerating the impact of the mud on Ukraine because Russia is seeking to raise Russian morale. Russia also wants to undermine Ukraines supporters, the report said, ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address Mexican lawmakers.

Hungary bans imports of cereals, flour, honey, certain meats and other foods from Ukraine. Other European countries have done the same, saying the cheaper Ukrainian shipments undercut the financial well-being of their farmers and companies.

Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka wins World Press Photo of the year award for capturing an image of an injured pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher away from a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. The hospital was hit by a Russian airstrike.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Ukraine deserves to be in U.S.-led NATO, the Wests main military alliance, but his stance drew an immediate protest from Russia.

In his first visit to Ukraine since Russias invasion 14 months ago, Stoltenberg said at a news conference, "Let me be clear, Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO."

Stoltenberg said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed a NATO support program to help Kyiv transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance. NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said preventing neighboring Ukraine from joining the 31-nation NATO alliance remains one of the goals of Russias invasion. He said Ukrainian membership in NATO would pose a "serious, significant threat to our country, to our country's security.

Earlier this month, Finland, with a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, set aside decades of neutrality and joined NATO, with neighboring Sweden also looking to join the alliance in the next few months.

Despite Stoltenbergs comments on Ukraine joining NATO, it is not likely to occur anytime soon. Western nations individually have shipped billions of dollars in armaments to Ukraine to help it fend off Russias invasion and supplied intelligence information to Kyiv, but sent no troops. If Ukraine were a NATO member, however, other NATO members would be obligated to fight alongside Kyivs forces to defend its territory.

During his Ukraine visit, Stoltenberg went to a memorial for fallen soldiers and reviewed damaged Russian military equipment on display in Ukraines capital, Kyiv.

Stoltenberg has routinely voiced support for NATO members supplying arms to help Ukrainian forces, and he has seen the size of the alliance grow with Finland joining this month in response to the invasion. A similar application from Finlands neighbor, Sweden, has been approved by all NATO members except Hungary and Turkey.

Watch related video by Carla Babb:

NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands announced Thursday they are partnering to buy and refurbish 14 Leopard 2-A4 tanks to Ukraine.

The Dutch and Danish defense ministries said the tanks would be ready for delivery to Ukrainian forces early next year. Denmark and the Netherlands will share the $180 million cost.

Ukraine has asked allies to provide heavy equipment such as tanks in order to be able to match up against Russian forces.

The tank deal followed Wednesdays announcement from Ukraines defense minister that Patriot air defense systems had arrived in the country. The missile systems were another wish list item for Ukraine to better defend against Russian aerial attacks.

Late Thursday, Russian authorities reported an explosion in the city of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine, saying the blast left a crater 20 meters wide in the city center. Neither the regions governor nor the citys mayor said what caused the explosion.

However, a report from the Russian state news outlet Tass cited Russias defense ministry as saying a Russian warplane was to blame.

As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod, there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition, Tass cited the Defense Ministry as saying.

The Belgorod region, including the city of the same name, has been frequently hit by shelling since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

Earlier Thursday, Zelenskyy spoke via video to Mexicos lower house of Congress and asked for support to organize a summit with Latin American countries to help end the Russian invasion.

Ukraine has already proposed to the Latin American community to organize a special summit and show its unity and position on important global principles of territorial integrity, peace and respect between peoples, Zelenskyy said through an interpreter.

The Mexican government has condemned the Russian invasion, but President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has refused to send military aid to Ukraine or impose sanctions on Russia, saying his government aims to achieve peace through dialogue.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Leaked documents provided to VOAs sister network RFE/RL confirm reports that Russia and China collaborate on censorship and internet control tactics.

The materials detail documents and recordings said to be from closed-door meetings in 2017 and 2019 between officials from the Chinese and Russian agencies charged with policing the internet in both countries.

In those documents and recordings  reported on by RFE/RL  officials from both countries share strategies for tracking dissent and controlling the internet, including requests for help to block dangerous news articles and advice on beating circumvention technology.

RFE/RL said its Russian Investigative Unit obtained the recordings and documents from a source who had access to the materials. DDoSecrets, a group that publishes leaked and hacked documents, provided software to search the files.

VOA has not seen the files.

While there have been previous reports about Moscow and Beijing collaborating on tactics related to censorship and other forms of repression, the content of these specific conversations had never before been reported.

Neither the Russian Embassy nor the Chinese Embassy in Washington responded to VOAs emails requesting comment.

In some of the leaked materials, Chinese officials appear to ask Russia for advice on dealing with popular dissent and regulating media, the report said. Meanwhile, Russian officials asked for advice from Beijing on issues such as how to impede circumvention tools like virtual private networks and how to regulate messaging platforms.

The revelations underscore how repression is much more sophisticated in China than Russia, according to Yaxue Cao, founder of China Change, a website that covers human rights in China.

Chinas censorship and Chinas suppression of access to information is total. Russia has a lot more to learn from China, Cao told VOA.

The whole system is propped up by their narratives, their revisionist history, their total control of the media, their total control of the opinion field, Cao said, referring to China.

Other materials showed that in 2017, Aleksandr Zharov, the former head of Russias internet regulator Roskomnadzor, asked Chinas internet regulator to arrange a visit for Russian officials to China to study Chinas Great Firewall censorship and surveillance system.

Two years later, officials from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), Chinas internet regulator, asked Russia to block links to a variety of China-related news articles and interviews that they had deemed to be of a dangerous nature and harmful to the public interest.

At the 2019 World Internet Conference in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen, the CAC and Roskomnadzor signed a deal on counteracting the spread of forbidden information. Documents obtained by RFE/RL showed that some requests made by the CAC later that year to block information in Russia were made under that agreement.

In one request, Chinese officials asked Russia to censor a Chinese-language BBC story about a government campaign launched in 2015 to improve the country's sanitation. In another request, Chinese officials asked Russia to block a blog post about rumors that President Xi Jinping had injured his back.

The Kremlin has grown even more restrictive over the past year since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to Eto Buziashvili, who researches Russian disinformation at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab.

Following Russias invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been trying to double down on censorship in Russia, and the reason is to prevent factual information on the war from spreading in Russia, Buziashvili told VOA.

The RFE/RL report on the leaked information confirms how Beijing and Moscow work together on censorship and propaganda, according to Buziashvili.

For example, she said, Chinese state media representatives and outlets have previously amplified Russian propaganda narratives on social media. Since Russias invasion of Ukraine, Chinese state media have echoed Russian disinformation about the war.

This report just confirms the collaboration between the two states and their entities, Buziashvili said.

It makes sense that the two authoritarian states would work together on influence operations, she added, and the state-controlled media ecosystems in both countries naturally facilitate this kind of collaboration.

If they are cooperating in offline spheres, why not cooperate online and have stronger narratives and reach broader audiences? Buziashvili said.
Market.Us

The enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) market has witnessed significant growth in recent times and is expected to continue expanding at a rapid pace in the years ahead. Advancements in technology, rising demand for data analytics, and Industry 4.0 are some of the factors that will continue to fuel its growth.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Enterprise IoT Market size is expected to be worth around USD 1,819.2 Bn by 2032 from USD 529.3 Bn in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 13.5% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032. This sector of IT is growing rapidly, offering a range of technologies and solutions designed to increase efficiency and sustainability across various business operations. Market growth is predicted to be spurred on by developments such as Wi-Fi/Insteon, Bluetooth, and ZigBee.

In February 2022, AT&T and IBM Corporation joined forces to explore the digital transformation opportunities presented by 5G technology, edge computing, and wireless networking. This partnership seeks to create an encouraging atmosphere for clients in the industry by giving them access to AT technology and hybrid cloud physical. Enterprise IoT can also help reduce costs, boost employee proficiency, and enhance energy efficiency. IoT innovations are being utilized across various sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, utilities, BFSI, including inventory.

Enterprise IoT Market

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Key Takeaway:

Based on the offering, in 2022, the enterprise IoT market was dominated by the hardware segment owing to its increasing requirement and control over IoT devices.

By enterprise size, in 2022, the small & medium-sized enterprise segment dominated the largest market share in the enterprise size segment.

Based on end-user, the manufacturing segment holds a significant share of the end-user segment in 2022.

In 2022, North America dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 36.3% .

APAC is expected to have the highest CAGR among all regions, owing to the development of IT infrastructure, adoption of new technologies, and increasing government initiatives.

Story continues

Factors affecting the growth of the Enterprise IoT Market?

Several factors can have an impact on the growth of the enterprise IoT market, including:

Advancement in technology: As technology continues to upgrade, the enterprise IoT industry is benefiting from the advances in technology such as powerful & cost-effective sensors, wireless communication technologies, and processors.

Increasing demand for data analytics: Real-time data analytics and insights is drives the adoption of enterprise IoT solutions. Companies are looking for leveraging IoT technologies for gaining a competitive advantage by using data to make decisions.

Rise of Industry 4.0: The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by the integration of advanced technologies like AI, robotics, and IoT into manufacturing processes. Industry 4.0 continues to grow, and the demand for enterprise IoT solutions is expected to grow.

Security and privacy concerns: Security and privacy are significant concerns for enterprise IoT solutions. Companies need to ensure that their IoT devices and networks are secure from cyber-attacks and data breaches.

Regulatory and compliance requirements: Regulation and compliance obligations can also impact the adoption of enterprise IoT solutions. Companies must abide by data protection laws and other regulations when utilizing this cutting-edge technology.

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Top Trends in Enterprise IoT Market

The latest trends in the enterprise IoT Market include the increasing use of IoT for industrial applications. IoT is being adopted mostly in the industrial sector where it can be used to improve production processes, supply chain management, and lower maintenance costs. Edge computing is becoming a major technology within the enterprise IoT Market. AI ML is seeing a lot of growth as it integrates with IoT systems, which allows for real-time data analysis and predictive maintenance.

Market Growth

The enterprise IoT market's growth can be attributed to several factors, such as the demand for real-time analytics and insights, cost-effective business operations, and Industry 4.0's increasing popularity. Furthermore, cloud computing, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) are driving this sector along. Technological advances, an increased need for data analytics, industry 4.0, and other factors will continue fuelling its expansion over the coming years. The enterprise IoT market has experienced remarkable success recently and will likely keep growing at this rate over the coming years.

Regional Analysis

North America is accounted as the most dominant market in the global Enterprise IoT market with a market share of 36.3%, during the forecasted period. The early adoption of technologies like big data, ML, AI, IoT, cloud, and mobility in the region is expected to fuel market growth. Additionally, businesses in the region are eager to incorporate IoT technologies into their processes in order to improve operational efficiency. The U.S. government is working for increasing technology adoption, thereby increasing the regions market share.

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Scope of Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 529.3 Billion Market Size (2032) USD 1819.2 Billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 13.5% North America Revenue Share 36.3% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

Due to an increasing focus on digital transformation across various industries, the enterprise IoT market has experienced rapid growth. This expansion is expected to be fuelled by demand for IoT solutions in advanced fields like AI, ML & big data. IoT solutions provide businesses with real-time information about asset status and locations that can be utilized for tracking & optimization. In doing so, IoT helps businesses boost productivity levels. IoT automates routine tasks and allows remote control & monitoring, providing cost-saving benefits by cutting operational expenses. By streamlining processes, new revenue streams can be created through new services or business models such as pay-per-use. Comply with regulatory requirements by offering real-time monitoring & reporting capabilities. IoT solutions that utilize data analytics can generate a lot of information that businesses can use to gain valuable insights and make better business decisions.

Market Restraints

Due to the vast selection of IoT products and platforms available, companies may face difficulties ensuring their solutions are compatible with other platforms and devices. Implementing and managing such solutions necessitates technical proficiency; additionally, devices may collect vast amounts of data which could raise privacy issues. Moreover, these solutions tend to be cost-effective to set up and run for small businesses; hence, companies should ensure their IoT offerings offer clear value propositions to customers in order to justify investment in such technology.

Market Opportunities

IoT devices are utilized to automate industrial processes, such as monitoring equipment performance, optimizing energy usage, and enhancing safety. Industrial automation through IoT solutions presents an enormous growth opportunity. Implementing IoT technology in cities can enhance infrastructure management and public safety while decreasing congestion. Smart cities that utilize IoT solutions are becoming a huge market. Furthermore, these devices have the potential to monitor patient health and manage chronic conditions. They can also be utilized to monitor medication compliance. IoT devices are beneficial in monitoring crop health, fertilizing, optimizing irrigation, and reducing waste; agriculture companies that offer IoT solutions will be able to meet the increasing demand. IoT solutions also enable inventory tracking, improved customer experience, and managed supply chains; businesses providing these solutions may help retail meet real-time data analytics demands.

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Report Segmentation of the Enterprise IoT Market

Offering Insight

The hardware segment dominated the market share with 66.4% in 2022, driven by an increasing need for continuous access & control over IoT devices - this demand is predicted to fuel the segment's growth over the forecasted period. The increasing adoption of professional IoT services among enterprises, such as deployment and integration services, support/maintenance services, and consulting services, is one of the primary factors driving the market growth.

Enterprise Type Insight

Enterprise IoT market share is dominated by small & medium-sized enterprises with a share of 63.8%, due to government initiatives for helping these businesses expand digitally. Governments are investing heavily in IoT projects across various fields such as infrastructure and defense which is expected to drive market growth over the coming years. IoT service providers are striving to enhance products and services through enhanced offerings like business process integration and service management, which should ultimately benefit the enterprise IoT industry in the long run.

End-Use Insight

Enterprise IoT market share will remain dominant in 2022, with manufacturing accounting for 36.4% of revenue share due to the rise of the Industry 4.0 concept that drives enterprise IoT manufacturing applications. Through a combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Services, and IoT we are creating smart factories which operate at full capacity while minimizing waste production.

Recent Developments of the Enterprise IoT Market

In 2022, The rise of 5G technology is the first development we can talk about. 5G networks at the forefront of the development of cellular mobile communications. The recent development will ensure that their spread will mean much more than just a faster internet connection.

In 2022, Edge computing which is just like the opposite of cloud computing technology gained so much prominence just in the last five years. Edge computing means that data is stored in micro-centers as opposed to the cloud, providing numerous new options for the IoT.

In 2021, The enterprise IoT market continued to grow with a focus on edge computing and the development of 5G networks. Edge computing allows for real-time data processing and analytics, enabling enterprises to make quick decisions and respond to critical events in real-time.

For more insights on the historical and Forecast market data from 2016 to 2032 - download a sample report at https://market.us/report/enterprise-iot-market/request-sample/

Key Market Segments:

Based on Offering

Hardware

Software & Solutions Surveillance & Security Network & Connectivity Management Data Management Application Management Device Management

Services

Based on Enterprise Size

Small & Medium Sized Enterprise

Large Enterprise

Based on End-User

Manufacturing

Oil & Gas

Utilities

Transport

BFSI

IT & Telecomm

Healthcare

Other End-Users

By Geography

North America

The US Canada Mexico



Western Europe

Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe



Eastern Europe

Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC



Latin America

Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America



Middle East & Africa

Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Competitive Landscape

The enterprise IoT market has a few key players with subsidiaries in the same industry. The number of small and medium players in the market is low as the market has a high entry barrier. Technological developments are a key driving factor of the market which creates a differentiating factor between new entrants and existing ones.

Listed below are some of the most important enterprise IoT industry players.

Key Market Players:

Amazon.com Inc.

Cisco Systems Inc.

IBM Corporation

Intel Corporation

Microsoft Corporation

Oracle Corporation

SAP SE

Siemens AG

PTC Inc.

Robert Bosch Inc.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Google Inc.

Other Key Players

Browse More Related Reports:

IoT Microcontroller Market size is expected to be worth around USD 17.39 billion by 2032 from USD 5.70 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 11.80% during the forecast period from 2023 to 2032.

IoT device management market was valued at USD 1.58 billion in 2021. It is projected to reach USD 31.33 billion at a CAGR of 31.2% between 2023 and 2032.



Healthcare Internet of Things (IoT) security market is projected to reach a valuation of USD 36269.26 Mn by 2032 at a CAGR of 36% from USD 1675.52 Mn in 2022.

Cellular IoT market was worth USD 1,935.3 million in 2021. This market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.4% over the forecast period.

Edge computing market size is expected to be worth around USD 206 bn by 2032 from USD 40 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 18.3%.

Industrial Internet-of-Things Market size is expected to be worth around USD 1,917.45 billion by 2032 from USD 263.50 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 22.00% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032.

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A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was identified by a local newspaper as one of several officials caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Governor Kevin Stitt's office confirmed Wednesday.

Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received a handwritten resignation letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings. In it, Jennings says he is resigning immediately and that he plans to release a formal statement "in the near future regarding the recent events in our county."

The threatening comments by Jennings and officials with the McCurtain County Sheriff's Office were obtained following a March 6 meeting and reported by the McCurtain Gazette-News earlier this week in its weekend edition. They have sparked outrage and protests in the city of Idabel, the county seat.

In a post on the sheriff's office Facebook page on Tuesday, officials did not address the recorded discussion but claimed the recording was illegally obtained.

On Wednesday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation confirmed it has launched an investigation into the matter at the request of the governor.

The recorded conversation included Sheriff Kevin Clardy, sheriff's Captain Alicia Manning, Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix. During that conversation, Clardy, Manning and Jennings appear to discuss Bruce Willingham  the longtime publisher of the Gazette-News  and his son Chris Willingham, a reporter.

Jennings tells Clardy and Manning "I know where two deep holes are dug if you ever need them," and the sheriff responds, "I've got an excavator."

Jennings also says he's known "two or three hit men" in Louisiana, adding "they're very quiet guys."

In the recording, Jennings also appears to complain about not being able to hang Black people, saying: "They got more rights than we got."

The Associated Press is working to verify the authenticity of the recording. None of the four officials returned telephone calls or emails from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Bruce Willingham told the AP the recording was made when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioner's meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended, in violation of the state's Open Meeting Act.

Willingham said he twice spoke with his attorneys to be sure he was doing nothing illegal.

Joey Senat, a journalism professor at Oklahoma State University, said under Oklahoma law, the recording would be legal if it were obtained in a place where the officials being recorded did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Bruce Willingham said he believes the local officials were upset about "stories we've run that cast the sheriff's office in an unfavorable light," including the death of Bobby Barrick  a Broken Bow, Oklahoma, man who died at a hospital in March 2022 after McCurtain County deputies shot him with a stun gun. The newspaper has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff's office seeking body camera footage and other records connected to Barrick's death.

Separately, Chris Willingham has filed a federal lawsuit against the sheriff's office, Clardy, Manning and the Board of County Commissioners alleging Manning slandered him after he wrote an eight-part series of articles detailing problems inside the sheriff's office. The lawsuit claims after the first few articles were published, Clardy and Manning began investigating which office employees were speaking to the newspaper and were attempting to get a search warrant for Willingham's phone.

The lawsuit, which was filed on the same day the recording was made, alleges that after the series was published, Manning told a third party during a teleconference that Chris Willingham exchanged marijuana for sexually explicit images of children from a man who had been arrested on child sex abuse image charges.

"Manning made these (and other) false statements about Willingham in retaliation for articles he wrote about the (sheriff's office) as a reporter for the McCurtain Gazette and to destroy his credibility as a reporter and journalist," the lawsuit states.

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Sheriff's Association, a voluntary membership organization and not a regulatory agency, held an emergency meeting of its board. It voted unanimously to suspend Clardy, Manning and Hendrix from the association.
Two decades ago Nurul Islam, 70, earned his living by fishing in the Buriganga River that flows southwest of the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka and was once its lifeline.

With hardly any fish to be found in the now dead river, thanks to pollution from widespread dumping of industrial and human waste, Islam sells street food on a small cart nearby to make ends meet.

"Twenty years ago, this river water was good. It was full of life," said Islam, whose family has been living on the bank of the river for generations.

"We used to bathe in the river. There were lots of fish  many of us used to earn a living by catching fish in the river. Now the scenario has changed."

Shallow and smelly

The Buriganga, or Old Ganges, is so polluted that its water appears pitch black, except during the monsoon months, and emits a foul stench throughout the year.

The South Asian nation of nearly 170 million, with about 23 million living in Dhaka, has about 220 small and large rivers, and a large chunk of its population depends on rivers for a living and transport.

Bangladesh is the world's second-biggest garment exporter after China, but citizens and environment activists say the booming industry is also a major contributor to the ecological decline of the river.

Untreated sewage, byproducts of fabric dyeing and other chemical waste from nearby mills and factories flow in daily. Polythene and plastic waste piled on the riverbed have made it shallow and caused a shift in course.

"Those who bathe in this river often suffer from scabies on their skin," said Siddique Hawlader, 45, a ferryman who lives on his boat on the river. "Sometimes our eyes itch and burn."

Too few to enforce rules constantly

In 1995 Bangladesh made it compulsory for all industrial units to use effluent treatment plants to keep pollution out of its rivers, but industries often flout the rule.

While the government makes regular checks to ensure the rules are being followed, it lacks the staff for round-the-clock monitoring, said environment official Mohammad Masud Hasan Patwari.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said all textile factories had effluent treatment plants for wastewater.

"This is mandatory and there is no way to skip the rules as they must ensure compliance with international standards," said Shahidullah Azim, one of its officials.

Pollution in the river water during the dry season was well above standard levels, a recent survey by the River and Delta Research Center showed, identifying industrial sewage as the main culprit.

"The once-fresh and mighty river Buriganga is now on the verge of dying because of the rampant dumping of industrial and human waste," said Sharif Jamil of environment group the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon.

"There is no fish or aquatic life in this river during the dry season. We call it biologically dead."
Pakistans foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, will travel to India early next month, the first visit by a top Pakistani official to the arch-rival neighboring country in almost a decade.

Zadari will visit to attend a meeting of a regional bloc, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO.

The last high-ranking Pakistani official to visit India was the countrys then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who traveled to New Delhi in 2014 for the swearing in of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.



Traditionally strained bilateral diplomatic relations have since deteriorated, fueling military tensions and halting official dialogue for resolving disputes between the nuclear-armed South Asian rival nations.



Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch told a weekly news conference in Islamabad Thursday that the SCO foreign ministers meeting will be held in the western Indian coastal state of Goa on May 4.



She said Zardari was invited by Indias external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in his capacity as the current chair of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers.



Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistans commitment to the SCO charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities, Baloch said.



She declined to say whether Zardari is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Jaishankar on the sidelines of the multilateral gathering. In coming days, as decisions are taken, we will be making further announcements, Baloch said, stressing that the chief Pakistani diplomat is visiting India to attend the SCO conference.



The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a regional bloc jointly founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in 2001 to promote mutual security, economic cooperation and cultural relations among member nations.

India and Pakistan became full SCO members in 2017.



Both rival nations have a long-standing history of conflicts and acrimony stemming from their territorial dispute over Kashmir. New Delhi controls two-thirds of the Himalayan region and Islamabad the rest.



India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over the region since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.



The dispute almost brought the two countries to the brink of another military conflict in February 2019. Later that year, New Delhi revoked a decades-old special status of Kashmir, further worsening the relationship and prompting Islamabad to downgrade an already tense diplomatic relationship and trade ties with India.



Analysts in India welcomed Pakistan's decision to send its foreign minister to attend the SCO meeting.



"Whether there is a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the [Indian state of] Shanghai Cooperation deliberations remains to be seen. One can only hope and pray that both countries manage this meeting with dignity minus acrimony," said Amit Baruah, the senior associate editor of The Hindu newspaper.



"It's election season in both countries, which is all the more reason to keep both the volume and the rhetoric low," Baruah said in written comments to VOA.



China maintains close military and economic ties with staunch ally Pakistan. It has recently invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in the South Asian neighbor under Beijings global Belt and Road Initiative.



Relations between China and India are characterized by both cooperation and competition, as well as occasional military tensions and conflicts. The two countries have engaged in extensive economic cooperation, with Beijing being New Delhis largest trading partner.

Military tensions have worsened since 2020, when a deadly clash occurred between Indian and Chinese troops along their 3,440-kilometer disputed border in the Himalayan region. It resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and several Chinese border forces. Another conflict in the area in 2021 injured troops on both sides.



The tensions have prompted China and India to increase their regional military presence.
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Swedish counterpart outside Stockholm Wednesday, a rare visit intended to show Washington's support for Sweden's bid to join NATO. VOA's Pentagon correspondent, Carla Babb, is traveling with the secretary and has this report from a Swedish naval base.
The Pentagon is positioning military forces near Sudan to help evacuate U.S. Embassy personnel in Khartoum, if needed, amid the explosion of violence between the African country's two warring factions.

U.S. Africa Command is monitoring the situation in Sudan and conducting "prudent planning for various contingencies," according to a statement from the Department of Defense.

"As a matter of policy and security, we do not speculate on potential future operations," it added.

At least 330 people have been killed and about 3,200 others injured since fighting broke out April 15 between government and armed opposition forces in Sudan, according to the World Health Organization.

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Washington has called for the two groups to "renounce violence and return to negotiations," adding that the country's two top generals "are responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and noncombatants."

The fighting between the army and RSF broke out Saturday after months of rising tension over the country's political future and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.

The World Health Organization reports the fighting has restricted movement in the capital, creating challenges for doctors and other health care workers.
Myanmar's Supreme Court reportedly will hear appeals by ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi of her convictions for corruption, election fraud and violations of state secrets laws.



Suu Kyi was arrested February 1, 2021, when Myanmar's military, the Tatmadaw, seized power in a coup against her recently re-elected civilian-led government, driving the country into yet another period of violent conflict.



The 77-year-old is serving 33 years in prison after a slew of convictions in more than a dozen cases that took place behind closed doors. Suu Kyi and her allies have denied the charges against her and have condemned the prosecutions as politically motivated.



Now, the country's Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would hear the appeals of Suu Kyi and co-defendant Win Myint, the ousted former president, according to reports from Reuters and The Associated Press. No date has been set.



"The judge accepted the proposals to listen to the appeals on those seven cases," a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.



Suu Kyi has been convicted on several charges ranging from illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies to committing sedition and violating coronavirus restrictions. She is being held in an annex of a prison in Myanmar's capital, Naypyitaw.



Most appeals filed by Suu Kyi's lawyers have been rejected.



The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal of a corruption case in which Suu Kyi was convicted of abusing her position and causing a loss of state funds, the AP reported.



It also said it would hear a request for a reduced sentence in a case involving Myanmar's official secrets act, according to the AP, as well as an election fraud case.



But analysts say this latest move from the Supreme Court is just a political show that is designed to make the military appear more lenient than it actually is.



The military wants to create the facade that it respects the rule of law, including the right to appeal, according to Zaw Tuseng, president of the Myanmar Policy Institute.



"However, the military controls all the powers  executive, judicial and legislative. This could be to respond to pressures coming from ASEAN and people on the ground," Tuseng told VOA, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.



"What they must do is just release her and all political detainees," Tuseng added.



Since the coup, the military has killed upward of 3,400 people to try to quell resistance, and more than 17,500 people are detained for resisting the coup, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.



Wai Wai Nu, a Rohingya human rights activist and founder of the Women's Peace Network, agreed this move is likely a ploy from the military "to show the international community that they are progressive, so that they can actually gain some legitimacy."



These kinds of political shows are nothing new for the Tatmadaw.



Just this week, the Tatmadaw released more than 3,000 prisoners to mark the Burmese New Year. But only one political prisoner  former Minister of Planning and Finance Kyaw Win  was among those released, Radio Free Asia reported.

Meanwhile, as the Tatmadaw has shown signs of weakening over the past several months, it has intensified its efforts to control the country through airstrikes and scorched-earth campaigns against ethnic minority armies, pro-democracy resistance groups and civilians. U.N. officials have said the military's post-coup abuses likely constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.



Nu believes the potential appeal may also be a signal the military is open to negotiating with Suu Kyi. "Maybe they are trying to find a way out," Nu told VOA.



Earlier this month, the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, granted Myanmar an extension until May 24 to file its countermemorial in an ongoing Rohingya genocide case. The initial deadline was April 24. Myanmar had requested an extension until February 24, 2024.

In July last year, the ICJ rejected Myanmar's preliminary objections in the case, paving the way for the trial to move forward.

Human rights groups and U.N. officials have accused Suu Kyi, a once internationally acclaimed Nobel peace laureate, of complicity in the alleged genocide.



Some information for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
As the conflict in Sudan escalated this week, refugees, many of whom had fled violence in neighboring countries, found themselves trapped in Khartoum and other cities.

In interviews with VOA, many said they fear for their lives and are in need of help, but nobody seemed to be listening to their pleas.

Aster Tariku, an Ethiopian refugee and a mother of two children, described the chaos in Khartoum: "The city is in havoc. There are airstrikes. It's terrifying. We've shut our doors and are hiding in the house. The children scream if I open the doors; they scream. They are in shock."

Aster also spoke of the difficulties of finding food. "I've nothing to feed my children. God is my witness. We are just eating what I had. We stay on an empty stomach and eat during the evening," she told VOA's Amharic service.

Eyasu Adola, a coordinator of the Oromo community in Sudan, said members of the Eritrean and Ethiopian refugee communities have been wounded and killed in the conflict.

"Many people are injured," he said. "And due to the clash, many have died too. We have confirmed that a husband, wife, and child have died, and another four people traveling on a Bajaj [auto rickshaw] have died."

Eyasu also spoke of the ordeal of some Oromo children, saying, "Some children are locked in a school in the Medhanialem Ethiopian Orthodox Church, in Khartoum. They have been there ever since the first day. All the teachers and the students are there."

Another refugee from the Oromo community, who spoke to VOA's Afan Oromo service on condition of anonymity, said he saw some civilians caught in the crossfire. "A woman from our country was hit by a bullet in her leg when she tried to get back home from her workplace. Even her family was not able to visit her at all."

Kumera Jirata, another refugee from Ethiopia based outside of Khartoum, described the condition most refugees are facing. "We are waiting in fear. Nothing is happening so far. Our camp is further away from the capital. However, there is no guarantee for our safety."

All the refugees called on the international community to urgently assist in providing food, shelter and safety.

Two cease-fires declared in Sudan this week broke down, making it difficult for aid workers to reach individuals in need or for people sheltering in their homes to flee to safer surroundings.

The United Nations says Sudan is home to more than 1 million refugees from neighboring countries, including Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Tedros Berhane, an Eritrean refugee living in the capital city, said they are in distress due to the almost non-stop heavy fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

"There's a lot of gunfire and disturbance around us," he said in a WhatsApp message.

Another Eritrean who asked to remain anonymous said, "We've been warned to close our doors and stay in because there is looting and abuse."

Refugees in the country said they had difficulties even before the fighting started. Security forces, some reported, had been harassing and detaining refugees.

"Prior to this chaos, they were harassing refugees, requesting them for identification, so we were telling our families to stay indoors as a result," an Ethiopian refugee told VOA.

But above all else, he added, refugees in the crossfire called on the international community not to forget them. He said, "Please be our voice, for people who are suffering the most."

Eden Geremew, Jalene Gemeda and Winta Kidane contributed to this report.
They are called mercenaries or contractors or volunteers, and they fight on both sides in the war in Ukraine. But whether they are regarded as villains or heroes, their presence is having an unquestionable impact on the battlefield.

The dark side of the irregular fighting forces assisting and resisting Russias full-scale invasion was driven home this week when two ex-convicts told a human rights group they had deliberately killed Ukrainian children and civilians while serving as commanders in Russias paramilitary Wagner Group last year.

In videos posted online by Russias Gulagu.net, Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev described their brutality in graphic detail.

I wasnt allowed to let anyone out alive, because my command was to kill anything in my way, said Uldarov, describing how he fatally shot a 5- or 6-year-old girl.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private military company whose convict-bolstered ranks have been instrumental in the months-long battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, has denied those allegations and threatened retribution.

But Sean McFate, a former American officer and private military contractor who is now a professor at the National Defense University, said no one should be surprised to see atrocities committed by a military force staffed largely with convicts.

When you are  opening 11 time zones of jails and dumping into Ukraine  youre creating a labor pool of psychotic armed men who are running around Ukraine and that region and that doesnt end well, he said in an interview with VOA Ukrainian.

McFate added that the use of mercenaries often goes hand in hand with the arms trade and other illicit practices including human trafficking and narcotics.

Robert Young Pelton, a veteran war journalist who has covered more that four dozen conflicts around the world, argued in an interview that the Wagner Group has become an embarrassment not only to Russias regular forces but to their country as a whole.

Russia has professional soldiers that have some of the finest spetsnaz, special operations people, Pelton told VOA Ukrainian. But by unleashing the Wagner Group in Ukraine, Russia has created an especially dangerous precedent as they legally are not answerable to anyone.

There's no one going to investigate Wagner and judge them for being good or bad because they're technically not a part of a state apparatus [or] any state-sanctioned organization, said Pelton, whose reporting has taken him to Afghanistan, Chechnya and Liberia and brought him into contact with the Taliban and Blackwater security contractors in Iraq.

We now have Russians murdering people inside Ukraine  and are not really held accountable, and yet theyll integrate back into society inside Russia.

On the other side of the paramilitary ledger, Ukraine is supported in its defense of its homeland by several outside groups, some playing a direct role in the fighting.

Among these are the American veteran-led donor-funded organization Project Dynamo that saves civilians from war zones in Ukraine and Afghanistan, and a now-disbanded international Mozart Group that was evacuating civilians and training Ukrainian soldiers.

Some of its former members reorganized under a new name, Sonata, and continue to operate in Ukraine more discreetly, coordinating both with Ukraines high-level military officers and battlefront units to understand operational issues and provide technical solutions.

Kyiv does not reveal the numbers but based on media estimates, roughly from 1,000 to 3,000 foreign volunteers are defending Ukraine now, most of them serving in three battalions of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, or the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.

The legion was formed shortly after Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the help of every friend of Ukraine who wants to join Ukraine in defending the country.

In a written statement to VOA Ukrainian, the legion said that multiple foreigners in the regiment fought bravely and earned high praise from their comrades and commanders, as well as state honors. Some foreign nationals who as part of other battalions served in the weekslong siege at the Azovstal steel plant and in Mariupol also received state honors.

But not all of the foreigners who have flocked to Kyivs defense have served so honorably.

The New York Times has reported that some foreign volunteers ended up undermining the war effort, wasting money or even defecting to Russia. The Kyiv Independent has also reported on misconduct within the International Legion leadership that included physical abuse, threats and sending soldiers on reckless suicidal missions.

The problem is, during the war you get what we call the ash and trash, people who dont know what else to do in their life, McFate said.

The good ones tend to leave because they dont want to get killed with the bad ones. And what you are left with are a refuse from the other wars in Iraq, Afghanistan. And not all of them are bad, but this is a common problem of private warfare, he said.

When asked how the Ukrainian Foreign Legion screens its volunteers, VOA Ukrainian was told that all the soldiers undergo an examination by recruiters, background checks by the government and training before being deployed to the battlefield.

But Pelton said that private contractors always muddy the water when brought into a war. Within that very narrow segment of foreigners fighting in Ukraine, they're more of a problem than a help because they bring international condemnation, confusion, and sort of a moral question to why these foreigners are here.

Despite the moral and legal uncertainties, some experienced American warriors say they are still willing to fight for the right cause.

One of these is Dan Hampton, one of Americas most decorated combat pilots with 151 missions in F-16s. He is also the author of several books and the CEO of MVI International, a private military company based in the western U.S. state of Colorado.

This is the pivotal issue of the Ukraines fight against Russia, this is a black and white conflict.  Ill go myself, Im  one, you can count me in, Hampton said in an interview with VOA Ukrainian on March 9.

Hampton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who received four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor and a Purple Heart, suggested that American contractors could help Ukraine with one of its most vexing problems  its need for an enhanced air combat capability.

Ukraine has for months appealed for the United States and its allies to provide the country with F-16 fighters, but the U.S. has so far refused, arguing that the planes are so complex that it would take months if not years for Ukrainian pilots to become proficient in them.

Hampton suggested that if F-16s were provided, experienced foreign pilots could fly them while Ukrainian pilots train or continue to fly their existing aircraft.

This article originated in VOAs Ukrainian Service.
A crowd of people apparently spooked by gunfire and an electrical explosion stampeded at an event to distribute financial aid in Yemen's capital late Wednesday, killing at least 78 and injuring at least 73 others, according to eyewitnesses and Houthi rebel officials.

Abdel-Rahman Ahmed and Yahia Mohsen, who witnessed the scene, said armed Houthis had fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently striking an electrical wire and causing it to explode. That sparked a panic, and people, including many women and children, began stampeding, they said.

Video posted on social media showed dozens of bodies on the ground, some motionless and others screaming as people tried to help.

The crush took place in the Old City in the center of Sanaa, where hundreds of poor people gathered for the event organized by merchants, according to the Houthi-run Interior Ministry.

The ministry's spokesman, Abdel-Khaleq al-Aghri, blamed the crush on the random distribution of funds without coordination with local authorities. The tragedy came ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month Ramadan later this week.

Motaher al-Marouni, a senior health official in Sanaa, gave the death toll of 78 and said at least 13 were seriously hurt, according to the rebels' Al-Masirah satellite TV channel.

Hamdan Bagheri, deputy director of the al-Thowra Hospital in Sanaa, said in televised comments that the tragedy took place around 8:20 p.m. local time and the facility received at least 73 injured people.

The rebels quickly sealed off the school where the event was held and barred people, including journalists, from approaching.

The Interior Ministry said it had detained two organizers and an investigation was underway.

Yemen's capital has been under the control of the Iranian-backed Houthis since they descended from their northern stronghold in 2014 and removed the internationally recognized government.

That prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 to try to restore the government.

The conflict has turned in recent years into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, killing more than 150,000 people including fighters and civilians and creating one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the country's population, need help and protection, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Among those in need, more than 17 million are considered particularly vulnerable.

In February the United Nations said it had raised only $1.2 billion out of a target of $4.3 billion at a conference aimed at generating funds to ease the humanitarian crisis.
Sweden's public radio said this week that it would stop being active on Twitter, but it did not blame new labels that Elon Musk 's social media platform has slapped on public broadcasters, leading some major North American outlets to quit tweeting.

Sveriges Radio said on its blog that Twitter has lost its relevance to Swedish audiences.

National Public Radio and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, meanwhile, have pointed to Twitter's new policy of labeling them as government-funded institutions, saying it undermines their credibility.

"For a long time, Sveriges Radio has de-prioritized its presence on Twitter and has now made the decision to completely stop being active on the platform, at the same time that we are shutting down a number of accounts," said Christian Gillinger, head of the broadcaster's social media activities.

He cited a recent study showing only some 7% of Swedes are on Twitter daily and said the platform "has simply changed over the years and become less important for us."

"The audience has simply chosen other places to be. And, therefore, Sveriges Radio now chooses to deactivate or delete the last remaining accounts," Gillinger said.

The broadcaster's news service, SR Ekot, which has been labeled "publicly funded media," will remain on Twitter but has been marked inactive.

Sveriges Radio, which has been active on Twitter since 2009, also noted the "recent turbulence" around Twitter's operations and said it was worrying that the social media platform has reduced its workforce "dramatically."

"We believe that it may in the long run affect the company's capacity to handle, for example, fake accounts, bots and disinformation but also hate messages and threats," Gillinger said.

The labels for public broadcasters have unleashed a new battle between reporters and Musk, who has said he wants to elevate the views and expertise of the "average citizen."

Canada's CBC said Monday that it would pause its activities on Twitter after it was labeled as "government-funded" because it "undermines the accuracy and professionalism" of its journalists' work "to allow our independence to be falsely described in this way."

U.S. broadcasters NPR and Public Broadcasting Service made similar decisions earlier this month for related reasons.

CBC received C$1.24 billion ($925.86 million) in government funding in the 2022 financial year, compared with revenue from advertising, subscriptions and other sources of C$651.4 million ($485,000,000) according to its annual report, Reuters reported this week.

Reuters quoted Editor-in-Chief Brodie Fenlon as saying, "The real issue is that Twitter's definition of government-funded media means open to editorial interference by government. As the editor-in-chief of CBC News has said, the government has no  zero  involvement in our editorial content or journalism."
Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about.' So it might be obvious that you need to consider debt, when you think about how risky any given stock is, because too much debt can sink a company. As with many other companies EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

When Is Debt Dangerous?

Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

View our latest analysis for EOG Resources

What Is EOG Resources's Net Debt?

The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that EOG Resources had US$4.86b in debt in December 2022; about the same as the year before. But it also has US$5.97b in cash to offset that, meaning it has US$1.11b net cash.

How Healthy Is EOG Resources' Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that EOG Resources had liabilities of US$5.51b due within 12 months and liabilities of US$11.1b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$5.97b and US$2.87b worth of receivables due within a year. So it has liabilities totalling US$7.75b more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

Since publicly traded EOG Resources shares are worth a very impressive total of US$69.8b, it seems unlikely that this level of liabilities would be a major threat. However, we do think it is worth keeping an eye on its balance sheet strength, as it may change over time. Despite its noteworthy liabilities, EOG Resources boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!

Story continues

On top of that, EOG Resources grew its EBIT by 62% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine EOG Resources's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. EOG Resources may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. Over the most recent two years, EOG Resources recorded free cash flow worth 69% of its EBIT, which is around normal, given free cash flow excludes interest and tax. This free cash flow puts the company in a good position to pay down debt, when appropriate.

Summing Up

While EOG Resources does have more liabilities than liquid assets, it also has net cash of US$1.11b. And it impressed us with its EBIT growth of 62% over the last year. So is EOG Resources's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. We've identified 1 warning sign with EOG Resources , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.

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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Young pro-democracy activists rocked Thailand in 2020 with explosive calls for the army to leave power and for the monarchy to operate under the constitution. Many have been charged, jailed or bailed for their demands and activists say the May 14 election may be a final chance to reset the country on a democratic path. For VOA, Vijitra Duangdee has more from Bangkok. Videographer: Black Squirrel Productions
Two local reporters in North Carolina were convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor trespassing after being arrested while covering the clearing of a homeless encampment in a public park in 2021. Press freedom experts say the charges were retaliatory.

Asheville Blade reporters Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit were arrested December 25, 2021, shortly after the park closed at 10 p.m.

Judge James Calvin Hill said there was no evidence presented to the court that Bliss and Coit were journalists and that he saw this as a plain and simple trespassing case, according to local news reports.

The reporters will appeal via a jury trial in Superior Court. The judge offered the reporters an option to not have a criminal record, but they reportedly declined.

We remain determined to keep fighting. We know all too well that Ashevilles governments run on petty spite and routinely disregard basic rights, the Blade said in a statement following the decision. Every reporter, everyone whos ever criticized any official or cop should find the push to punish our journalists chilling.

Matilda, Veronica and our cooperative as a whole are determined to fight on. The issues here are too important not to, Blade editor David Forbes told VOA after the court ruling.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation called the decision an awful ruling that will hopefully be reversed.

Bliss and Coits defense team had been aiming to get the charges dismissed, according to Forbes.

It is ridiculous, under the First Amendment, to arrest journalists who were clearly newsgathering on an issue of public importance, Forbes told VOA on Wednesday, hours before the reporters were found guilty. Our reporters are committed to fighting for their rights.

Bodycam footage released in February after a court petition shows an Asheville police officer suggesting his colleagues arrest the journalists because theyre videotaping the police sweep of the homeless encampment.

'Singled out'

The footage proves the reporters were singled out for doing their jobs, Seth Stern, advocacy director at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said earlier this year. Police chose to round up journalists before conducting the sweep to stop them from recording.

The Asheville Police Department did not immediately respond to VOAs phone calls and an email requesting comment.

In a statement on Tuesday, before the trial began, the Washington-based National Press Club condemned the case as retaliatory and urged prosecutors to drop the charges.

Journalism is not a crime. No journalist should be arrested for their work. No journalist should be prosecuted for their work. And no journalist should be forced to stand trial simply for doing their job, Eileen OReilly, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said in the statement.

Bliss and Coits trial is the fourth trial of journalists for offenses allegedly committed while gathering and reporting news since 2018 in the United States, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that it is unconstitutional to arrest someone in retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights, even if there technically is probable cause for the arrest.

This trial is another example of legal measures being used as a tactic against the press, Stern told VOA. When it happens in one place and there are not consequences, it emboldens other law enforcement officials, other prosecutors to do the same.

What public good does it advance to prosecute these people, who were doing nothing but gathering the news  a function that a transparent government should value and encourage? Stern asked.

Its extremely disappointing that Judge James Calvin Hill overlooked the obvious First Amendment problems with convicting journalists for recording police conducting a homeless encampment sweep at a public park, Stern told VOA in a statement after the decision was announced.

Over the past few years, strategic lawsuits  both civil and criminal  against journalists have become an increasingly common way to target and retaliate against journalists around the world, analysts say.

The arrests and trial have had a negative impact on the Blades operations, according to Forbes.

Were a small cooperative of trans and nonbinary journalists, and the trial has strained our resources, strained our ability to function, Forbes said.

The trial may also have concerning implications that extend beyond the city of Asheville, Forbes said.

Its both very local and has much larger importance, Forbes told VOA. Were seeing this pattern around the country, and I think it should be disturbing not just for journalists but for the public as a whole.

These kinds of problems tend to start small. They go after smaller publications, more radical publications first, but they never stop there, Forbes said.
A Nobel Prize-winning Ukrainian is in Pretoria this week as part of a group urging South Africa's government to re-think its friendly relations with Russia as it wages war on Kyiv. The Ukrainians called on South Africa to honor an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant and arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he goes there for a summit in August.

Oleksandra Romantsova, who heads Ukraines Center for Civil Liberties, an NGO that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, is in South Africa along with an official from the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, to try and shore up support for Kyiv.



Pretoria has taken an officially neutral stance on the conflict and has refrained from criticizing Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The government is close allies with Moscow, going as far as holding bilateral talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this year and hosting Russian war ships in February for joint military exercises.



Romantsova told VOA the group had met with officials from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and it had a good and productive discussion.

She said as a regional leader, however, it was disheartening that South Africa had not taken a stronger stance in speaking up about the illegal invasion by Russia.



For Ukrainians, who know Nelson Mandela and struggle of South African population for dignity, equality and human rights, its truly quite disappointing, she said.



She said as a country that has good relations with Moscow, South Africa should use that platform to warn Russia about its human rights abuses in Ukraine, such as the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children. She suggested South Africa could play more of a mediation role.



She noted, though, it was really painful to see Putin invited to a summit of the BRICS countries  Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa  scheduled for August in Johannesburg.

The International Criminal Court recently accused Putin of war crimes, saying he is responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

South Africa is a signatory to the ICC and is technically obliged to act on the warrant should Putin attend the event  which he hasnt yet confirmed.

If he does come, Romantsova hopes South African authorities will act.

South Africa should follow the ICC rules and arrest Putin if he attends BRICS, she said.

South Africas hesitancy to condemn Russia is often attributed to their relations during the Cold War, when Moscow courted the anti-apartheid activists who now dominate the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

But a Kyiv university professor traveling with the delegation, Olexiy Haran, told VOA that Ukraine itself, as part of the former Soviet Union, was equally supportive of the ANC.



In times of apartheid, Ukraine provided lots of support to South African liberation struggle So definitely, we supported you and we hoped that you would support us during our fight for freedom, said Haran.



The delegation said they had requested a meeting with the ANC but had not heard back.

ANC spokeswoman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri told VOA the party had never received a request to meet.



Asked if they would consider meeting now, she said shed have to consult with the ANC leadership before she could answer.
Russia's invading forces are deliberately using rape, torture and kidnapping to try to sow terror among civilians in Ukraine, the top prosecutor in Ukraine told U.S. lawmakers in graphic testimony Wednesday.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said nearly 80,000 cases of war crimes have been registered in Ukraine since the war began in February 2022.

Focusing on just one area of the country that has felt the brunt of the war, Kostin described some of the discoveries made when the Ukrainian military liberated Kherson last November. He said about 20 torture chambers were found and more than 1,000 survivors have reported an array of abuses, including the use of electric shocks, waterboarding, being forced to strip naked and threats of mutilation and death.

Kostin said more than 60 cases of rape were documented in the Kherson region alone. In areas still controlled by Russian forces, residents, including children, are being forcefully relocated to other occupied territories or to Russia.

"Such evil cannot let be," Kostin said.

He was asked about the motivations behind Russia's tactics, but said he struggles to understand the brutality of the Russian forces in targeting civilians.

"The only possible explanation is that they just want to erase Ukraine and Ukrainians from the land," Kostin said. "Maybe because they want to really kill all of us."

Russian officials have consistently denied committing war crimes in what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

The United States House Foreign Affairs Committee invited Kostin to testify. The chairman, Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, believes that spotlighting the brutality of Russia's actions will show lawmakers and voters why the U.S. is in the right in supporting Ukraine.

"This is happening right now. They are monsters and they need to be brought to justice," McCaul said. "These are more than war crimes. These are more than crimes against humanity. What we are witnessing in Ukraine is genocide."

McCaul also issued a challenge to fellow lawmakers, saying "history will judge us by what we do here and now."

"No country can remain neutral in the face of such evil," McCaul said.

US leader pushes to provide F-16 jets

Congress approved about $113 billion in economic, humanitarian and military spending in 2022 to assist Ukraine. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine "as long as it takes" to repel the Russian invasion, though support for that aid has softened, polling shows.

Congressional leaders anticipate that Ukraine will need billions of dollars in additional assistance in the months ahead.

Ukraine is preparing to launch a counteroffensive in an attempt to regain territory lost to Russian troops. McCaul said he would like to see the U.S. back Ukraine's efforts to retake Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014, so it could negotiate for a cease-fire from a stronger position. He is pushing for the U.S. and its allies to provide Ukraine with long-distance artillery and F-16 fighter jets for the counteroffensive.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that he spoke by telephone with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, and thanked him for bipartisan support from Congress. Zelenskyy also outlined the "situation at the front" and Ukraine's "urgent defense needs in armored vehicles, artillery, air defense & aircraft."

The House committee also heard from a war crimes survivor, a 57-year-old woman, who said she was taken to a torture chamber for five days, beaten, forced to strip and endured threats of rape and murder. At one point, she was forced to dig her own grave. She said her house was looted. She has escaped, but other Ukrainians still experience such treatment in Russian-controlled territories, she said.

"These terrible crimes need to be stopped," she told lawmakers. Her identity was not revealed out of concerns about retribution.

Prosecutor calls for reparations

Kostin said exposing atrocities is not enough.

"Only with discovering and determining truth, bringing perpetrators to responsibility and providing adequate reparations to victims and survivors, we can say justice has been done," Kostin said.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last month for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. But the practical implications are limited as the chances of Putin facing trial at the court are highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognize the court's jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.

McCaul told The Associated Press he will press for the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI agents to assist prosecutors in Ukraine, even as he doubts there will ever be a full reckoning for the war crimes.

"I don't know what's going to happen, how this is going to end," McCaul said. "But at least there'll be historical documentation about what they did, for generations to read about the atrocities."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to fighting in Sudan on Thursday and appealed for a three-day cease-fire to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to enable trapped civilians to seek safety and supplies.

This must be the first step in providing respite from the fighting and paving the way for a permanent cease-fire, Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

He had just met virtually with the heads of the African Union, Arab League and regional bloc IGAD, as well as representatives from other countries with influence. The session yielded no breakthroughs.

Guterres has been working the phones to achieve a de-escalation since violence erupted last Saturday between former allies, now rivals, Army Commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The cessation of hostilities must be followed by serious dialogue allowing for the successful transition, starting with the appointment of a civilian government, the U.N. chief said.

Humanitarian crisis

Guterres told reporters it is virtually impossible for aid workers to conduct operations in the current state of hostilities, and he demanded that fighters stop targeting humanitarians.

Three employees of the World Food Program were killed in crossfire at the start of the fighting in Darfur. Others have been harassed and intimidated. There have also been reports of sexual assaults on aid workers. Warehouses have been attacked, looted and seized. The WFP said 4,000 metric tons of food was stolen at one of its depots in Nyala, south Darfur.

There were no humanitarian services provided to Sudanese the last five days, simply because its not possible for any humanitarian workers to move outside of their home location or their compound, the acting U.N. humanitarian and resident coordinator for Sudan, Abdou Dieng, told reporters by phone from the country.

He said the U.N. is hoping for a cease-fire to move staff in more dangerous areas to safer zones but noted that what is safe one day may not be safe the next.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that more than 330 people have been killed in the fighting and around 3,200 wounded.

The U.N. has warned that Sudans health care system could completely collapse. Hospitals need more staff and supplies, including blood.

At least 20 hospitals already have closed, according to Sudans minister of health. At least nine in the capital, Khartoum, are closed, with the potential for a dozen more to soon close, according to the United Nations.

Officials say this is all tragic for a country where one-third of the population  or nearly 16 million people  were in need of humanitarian assistance before the latest violence.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Thursday that between 10,000-20,000 Sudanese have fled this week into neighboring Chad. The U.N.s Dieng said his office has also received reports of people arriving in South Sudan and at the border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Calls for dialogue

The fighting between the army and RSF broke out after months of rising tensions over the countrys political future and plans to integrate the RSF into the national army.

Calls to end the fighting have come from around the world and within Africa, including the African Union, the Arab League and IGAD.

The presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti say they plan to travel to Sudan in the coming days to hold discussions with the leaders.

But Sudan's two top generals have yet to express a willingness to negotiate, and each has demanded the other's surrender.

The clashes are part of a power struggle between Burhan, who also heads Sudans ruling military council, and Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the council. The two generals joined forces in October 2021 to overthrow the transitional government formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.

The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis.
The U.N. childrens fund, UNICEF, warns many children are likely to die from vaccine preventable diseases because of a decline in routine immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New data in UNICEFs State of the Worlds Children 2023 report show a significant drop in confidence in the importance of vaccines for children in 52 out of 55 countries studied, noting that vaccination rates have declined by more than a third in South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Senegal, and Japan. Only in three countries  China, India, and Mexico  did the data show people remained positive about the health benefits of vaccination.

In most countries, the study said, people under 35 and women were more likely to report less confidence about vaccines for children after the start of the pandemic.

This is particularly worrisome as the report finds 67 million children, nearly half of them on the African continent, have missed out on one or more vaccinations due to disruptions in immunization services during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fear and disinformation

Authors of the report warn the threat of vaccine hesitancy may be growing due to factors such as misleading information about vaccine safety, declining trust in expertise, and political polarization that are discouraging parents from vaccinating their children.

At the height of the pandemic, scientists rapidly developed vaccines that saved countless lives, said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. But, despite this historic achievement, fear and disinformation about all types of vaccines circulated as widely as the virus itself.

Gains eroded

Health agencies report four million deaths are prevented worldwide by childhood vaccinations every year. But UNICEF warns that much of the gains made over many years in routine childhood immunization have been eroded in the past three years.

The COVID-19 pandemic was largely responsible for the backsliding in coverage, but it also exacerbated existing inequities, said Ephrem Lemango, UNICEFs Associate Director of Immunization.



As a result, a total of 67 million children missed out on routine vaccination between 2019 and 2021 and 48 million did not receive a single routine vaccine, also known as zero-dose, he said.

The report said India and Nigeria have the largest numbers of zero-dose children but increases in the numbers of children who did not receive a single dose of DTP-containing vaccine  against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis  are especially notable in Myanmar and the Philippines.

Lemango said for far too many children, especially in the most marginalized communities, vaccination is still not available, accessible, or affordable.

The analysis in this report clearly shows, children in the poorest households, living in rural areas, and born to a mother with no education and limited empowerment are most likely to lose one or more vaccinations, and to face multiple deprivations, he said.

On the other hand, he noted that in some countries such as Nigeria, Angola, and Ethiopia, you will find that the wealthiest 10 percent of the households are up to 10 to 20 times more likely to have their kids vaccinated as opposed to the poorest households.

UNICEF is calling for urgent catch-up action for those children who have missed out on vaccinations to prevent deadly disease outbreaks, noting that the number of measles cases in 2022 was more than double the total in the previous year and that 16% more children have been paralyzed by polio.

Immunizations have saved millions of lives and protected communities from deadly disease outbreaks, said UNICEF Director Russell. Routine immunizations and strong health systems are our best shot at preventing future pandemics, unnecessary deaths, and suffering.

The report is urging governments to identify and reach all children, especially the 67 million who missed vaccines because of the COVID pandemic. It is calling on states to strengthen their primary health care to better support immunization services, including by providing better conditions to the female workforce.

We are calling on the world and global community to be able to prioritize this issue and avert a child survival crisis before it happens and before it is too late, said UNICEFs Ephrem Lemango.
The United States has renewed calls for countries to take back their nationals who have been held in detention camps and prisons in northeastern Syria.

Since the military defeat of the Islamic State terror group in 2019, thousands of foreign fighters and their families have been detained in several camps and prisons in areas under the control of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.

While many countries have been taking back women and children affiliated with IS who are held in two detention centers in northeastern Syria, U.S. officials have urged them to repatriate more than 10,000 IS fighters, who are also held there.

"This is the largest concentration of detained terrorists anywhere in the world," said Ian Moss, deputy counterterrorism coordinator at the U.S. State Department.

He said IS continues to look for new opportunities to replenish its ranks by trying to free those detained fighters.

"If they escape, they will pose a threat, not only to northeast Syria, but they'll also pose a threat to the region and to our homelands," Moss said Wednesday during an event at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "The best way to prevent this is to repatriate these individuals so they can be rehabilitated, reintegrated, and, where appropriate, prosecuted."

More than 50,000 people, mostly women and children, from nearly 54 countries are currently held at al-Hol and Roj, two camps run by the Kurdish-led SDF. The 10,000 IS fighters are being held in more than a dozen prisons across northeastern Syria.

Syrian Kurdish officials say they cannot bear the responsibility of dealing with IS captives alone and that other countries should step in by taking back their citizens. They have also been calling for the establishment of a special tribunal inside Syria for those IS foreign fighters who have committed crimes in Syria.

Asked by VOA whether the U.S. would support such a tribunal in northeast Syria, Moss said the U.S. government believes that for those prisoners from third countries, their home nations have judicial systems that should be used to prosecute them.

"We're also looking at all options to include the possible prosecution of individuals in northeast Syria. But again, the institutions most capable of effectively prosecuting those cases are found elsewhere," he added.

According to U.S. officials, more than 3,000 individuals, mostly women and children, were repatriated last year to countries that include Albania, Barbados, Canada, France, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sudan, Spain and Slovakia. So far this year, at least 1,300 others have been repatriated to their home countries.

Moss said the U.S. anticipates that at least 25 countries this year will conduct around one repatriation operation from northeastern Syria.

Despite such efforts, experts say most countries have been reluctant to take back their citizens from Syria for domestic political and security reasons.

"But even in the best-case scenario, this is a time-consuming process because backgrounds need to be investigated and family members need to be tracked down and agree to act as guarantors," said Calvin Wilder, an analyst at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington.

Wilder said the focus should be more on improving living conditions in al-Hol camp, which has witnessed a growing number of security incidents that have resulted in the deaths of many civilians.

"Repatriating citizens is a hard challenge with many different stakeholders, but increasing camp standards of living is far simpler for the United States to do unilaterally," he told VOA.

But Moss said the U.S. military, in partnership with the SDF, has been conducting operations against suspected IS operatives inside al-Hol "to reduce threats inside the camp, to give individuals inside the camp some space and to also give space for the provision of humanitarian assistance."

Americans repatriated

While it is not clear how many U.S. citizens are held in northeastern Syria, State Department official Moss said 39 individuals have been repatriated from there.

"That is certainly a priority for me and for my team and colleagues across the [State] Department," he said.

"We do everything we can to bring folks home, whether that's women and children, or other individuals who are in detention, whether they're known foreign terrorist fighters. We work with our interagency colleagues, as appropriate as they work to develop cases and potentially prosecute those individuals for whom they can bring charges against," Moss added.

The U.S. has prosecuted several IS members, but the most prominent prosecution involved El Shafee Elsheikh, a former British citizen, who  along with others in an IS cell known as "the Beatles"  was responsible for a hostage-taking that resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens, James Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Kassig, as well as British and Japanese nationals in Syria. Elsheikh was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2022.

This story originated in VOA's Kurdish Service.
The United States has rejected discussions about recognizing Afghanistan's Taliban leadership at a U.N.-hosted meeting scheduled for May 1-2.



"The intent and purpose of this meeting was never to discuss recognition of the Taliban, and any discussion at the meeting about recognition of the Taliban would be unacceptable," a U.S. official told VOA on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.



The rebuttal came after U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed shared details of the planned meeting in Qatar, suggesting the recognition issue would be on the agenda.



"We hope that we will find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition  of the Taliban. In other words, there are conditions," Mohammed told a seminar at Princeton University on Monday.



That discussion has to happen because Taliban authorities demand diplomatic recognition, and "that's the leverage we have, she stressed.



Doha meeting



U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the two-day meeting in Doha of envoys from countries around the world, but the deliberations will not focus on recognition of the Taliban, his office reiterated Thursday.



The point of the discussion, which will be held in a closed, private setting, is to build a more unified consensus on the challenges at hand, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.



Theres a need to reinvigorate international engagement around the sort of common objectives that the international community has on Afghanistan. So, we consider it a priority to advance an approach-based pragmatism and principles to have a constructive engagement on the issue.



Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid demanded Thursday that the U.N. "fulfill its responsibility" toward the people of Afghanistan.



The "Islamic Emirate wants the recognition process to be completed soon. It will build mutual trust with world countries and help resolve all issues that can benefit regional security and stability," Mujahid told VOA by phone. He used the official title of the Taliban government.



Mohammed's remarks sparked a backlash from Western critics and self-exiled members of the Afghan diaspora, including rights activists and former government officials, citing restrictions the Taliban have imposed on women's access to public life.



On Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric attempted to explain Mohammed's comments, saying the recognition issue was "clearly in the hands of the member states" and that she was reaffirming the need for an internationally coordinated approach.



"She was not in any way implying that anyone else but member states have the authority for recognition," Dujarric said.



The 193-member U.N. General Assembly in December postponed for a second time a decision on whether to recognize the Taliban government by allowing its leaders to appoint their ambassador to the United Nations.



The Taliban seized power in August 2021 from the then-internationally backed Afghan government as U.S.-led NATO troops withdrew following 20 years of engagement in the country.



The Talibans men-only administration has since banned most female government employees from work and teenage girls from seeking education beyond grade six.



Afghan female staffers have recently been barred from working for the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations in a country where millions of families need urgent assistance.



The Taliban dismiss criticism of their governance, saying it aligns with Afghan culture and Islamic law.

Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
Terrica Purvis squinted through goggles as her hands carefully guided a pipette full of indigo-tinted fluid into clear glass test tubes.

It was the last chemistry lab of the winter quarter at Everett Community College. Purvis was working through the steps of what chemistry professor Valerie Mosser jokingly refers to as the "post-apocalypse survival" lab  an experiment using boiled red cabbage water to test the acidity of common household chemicals.

Purvis, 27, is in her first year of study for an associate degree in nursing at Everett Community College. She is also one of more than 6,000 Washington community and technical college students enrolled in the state's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program.

Students who need extra help in subjects such as algebra struggle to learn if the content is taught in an abstract way, educators say. So I-BEST programs feature two teachers in the classroom: One provides job training and the other teaches basic skills in reading, math or English language.

Nationally, two-year community colleges have the worst completion rates in higher education, with only slightly more than 40% earning degrees within six years.

In Washington state, students in the program graduate at a higher rate. Among students who started college from 2015 to 2018, an average of 52% enrolled in I-BEST classes earned a degree or certificate within four years. That compares with 38% of students who did so while enrolled in traditional adult basic education coursework, according to the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

The program is so successful that 12 states have begun implementing an I-BEST model at one or more education institutions.

For Purvis, who hadn't been in school for nearly a decade, this class meant getting extra math help when she needed it: during a chemistry class.

Each time Mosser gave a lecture or held a lab, she was joined by Candace Ronhaar, who works as a tutor and extra math instructor.

In one session, Ronhaar drew a heart on the whiteboard. She wrote the word "mole" beside it, and explained it is a unit of measurement equivalent to the amount of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12. She guided students through practice problems, calculating the mass of chemical compounds.

All six students in Chemistry 121 were also taking an entry-level statistics class, and Ronhaar was co-instructor for both courses. Mosser said Ronhaar's presence was the most valuable part of the I-BEST model.

"I'm an assessment instructor," Mosser said. "She's just a helping instructor. In the minds of students, the difference is incalculable. They have a different relationship with her. They're more willing to go to her, because she doesn't grade them."

Purvis said chemistry was the first class that ever "humbled" her. She doesn't think she would have passed without I-BEST. Students fresh out of high school had an easier time remembering chemistry and math, Purvis said, but she hadn't studied those subjects for 10 years.

"They couldn't have picked a better second instructor," Purvis said of Ronhaar. "I loved it. We went to her office hours all the time."

After high school, Purvis spent six years as a cook in the Navy, and took classes at a couple other colleges. Last year, she was medically discharged and returned to school at Everett Community College full-time. She plans to go on to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and hopes to work in labor and delivery at a hospital.

Helping more students graduate from nursing school has a larger societal benefit. In the first year of the pandemic, from 2020 to 2021, the number of working registered nurses in the United States decreased by more than 100,000  the highest drop in four decades. An estimated 200,000 jobs for registered nurses are expected to open each year in the U.S. through 2031, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2021.

I-BEST was launched as a state pilot program almost 20 years ago as data suggested students needed vocational training to improve job prospects. The program was to change the remediation model in most community colleges, where students who don't do well on placement tests must take pre-college classes in their weak subject  essentially a repeat of high school.

I-BEST enrollment in the state has increased by more than 20% in the past five years, bringing in a diverse group of students. Forty-six percent of its students are students of color, 55% are women and 39% have dependents.

I-BEST opens the door to federal financial aid by making it available to students who didn't graduate from high school. Under financial aid rules, students must either have a high school diploma or prove their "ability to benefit" from aid by being enrolled in a qualifying program, such as I-BEST, where they learn basic skills as part of their career pathway.

Along with nursing, other high-demand I-BEST job pathways include aeronautics, manufacturing and information technologies.

At Bellevue College, I-BEST students enrolled in Business 101 meet with instructor Eric Nacke for an adult basic education class on a separate day. Nacke teaches English in the context of the business world.

Student Forouzan Barfibafeghi moved from Iran to the U.S. in 2020. She holds a bachelor's degree in business from Islamic Azad University in Tehran, where she graduated in 1999. She said Nacke's classes have helped her develop her English skills and given her a sense of community.

"We have created a strong bond between us. That is one of the highlights for me," said Barfibafeghi, who hopes to find work in the insurance industry after completing an associated degree in business.

In Washington, because I-BEST uses a mix of state, federal and other grant funds, the state doesn't know how much the program costs. But the model calling for two instructors does make it more expensive than other adult basic education programs. The program might be more broadly replicated if it weren't so costly, state community college spokesperson Laura McDowell said.

As Purvis prepared for her next quarter of classes, the student said she hoped her future instructors would be as helpful as Ronhaar.

"She's my favorite instructor so far since I've been going to Everett," Purvis said. "We needed her. She had to be there."

Editor's note: This story is part of Saving the College Dream, a collaboration between AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, and The Seattle Times, with support from the Solutions Journalism Network.
Yemens complex eight-year conflict has given the poorest Arab nation one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises. But observers now say a prisoner release is marking a first step toward ending the war.

Saudi Arabia intervened militarily against the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in 2015, hoping to reinstate Yemens internationally recognized government which the militants had ousted.

But continued Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory, along with economic ambitions to turn Saudi Arabia into a premier tourism and logistical hub by 2030 have made Riyadh want to exit the Yemen conflict.

Chinese-brokered talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran may be providing a way out.

Helen Lackner is a former visiting fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations and author of several books on Yemen, including Yemen in Crisis, winner of the Grand Prix of Literary Associations 2018 in the Research Category.

Lackner told VOA that the welcome start of prisoner exchanges is separate from the Saudi-Houthi negotiations about the long-term settlement to the conflict. She refers to the internationally recognized government as the IRG.

The release of prisoners is excellent news. We still have more than 10,000 waiting to be released. The likelihood of a deal between the Saudis and the Houthis in some form or other possibly with the signatures of the IRG is extremely high in the reasonably close future. But that is not the solution to the Yemeni political crisis and to some extent the military crisis, and of course, the humanitarian crisis will not be that significantly changed by such a deal, she said.

Analysts warn there may be continued fighting among the Yemenis because the Houthis, as the strongest force in the country, may have little incentive to seek an inclusive peace and will likely try to control all of Yemen.

If the negotiations in their current form succeed, they wont lead to a durable peace, because the Saudis will have granted de facto recognition to the Houthis ... while excluding other parties, Abdulghani al-Iryani, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, told the Christian Science Monitor.

Lackner said that if the internationally recognized government is made to sign the deal they will sign it because they have no options.

Also, the influence of the Emirati-backed Southern Transitional Council, is likely to decrease considerably, she said. But there are other military and separatist factions present in Yemen who also oppose the Houthis.

Analysts including Lackner, said there are ordinary Yemenis who are terrified of a potential Houthi rule, likening them to the Afghan Taliban.

It would be a nightmare. But they are the strongest element now. And Yemenis have every right to be most concerned there. Although one would like to say that it would be nice not to have any fighting. If they reach the deal, they will definitely stop attacking the Saudis. Thats the easy bit. she said.

Analysts also argue that fighting from the war accounts for a smaller proportion of Yemeni deaths than from the Saudi blockade on the country. They are skeptical of whether the proper groundwork has been laid for a truly comprehensive peace agreement.
Key Insights

The projected fair value for Lockheed Martin is US$499 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

Current share price of US$495 suggests Lockheed Martin is potentially trading close to its fair value

Our fair value estimate is 3.7% lower than Lockheed Martin's analyst price target of US$519

Does the April share price for Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Lockheed Martin

The Model

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

Story continues

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$6.31b US$6.49b US$6.43b US$6.70b US$6.86b US$7.01b US$7.15b US$7.30b US$7.45b US$7.61b Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x11 Analyst x10 Analyst x9 Analyst x3 Analyst x2 Est @ 2.08% Est @ 2.08% Est @ 2.07% Est @ 2.07% Est @ 2.07% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 7.1% US$5.9k US$5.7k US$5.2k US$5.1k US$4.9k US$4.7k US$4.4k US$4.2k US$4.0k US$3.8k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$48b

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.1%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.1%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2032  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$7.6b (1 + 2.1%)  (7.1% 2.1%) = US$155b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$155b ( 1 + 7.1%)10= US$79b

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$126b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$495, the company appears about fair value at a 0.9% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

The Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Lockheed Martin as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.841. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Lockheed Martin

Strength

Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.

Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Aerospace & Defense market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years.

Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Threat

Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.

Next Steps:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Lockheed Martin, we've put together three further items you should look at:

Risks: For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Lockheed Martin that you should be aware of before investing here. Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for LMT's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search 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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New developments:

Black Sea grain deal inspections resume in Turkey

Hungary adds honey, wine, bread, sugar to temporary ban on imports from Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says like-minded countries should oppose illegal unilateral pressure of the West

Ukraines defense minister said Wednesday that Patriot air defense systems had arrived in the country.

Ukrainian officials long lobbied allies to provide the advanced weapons that are capable of shooting down enemy missiles and Ukrainian forces spent several months training in the United States and Europe to use the systems.

"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted. "Our air defenders have mastered them as fast as they could. And our partners have kept their word."

Earlier Wednesday, Ukrainian officials reported overnight drone attacks by Russian forces in the Odesa region of southern Ukraine.

Yuri Kruk, the head of Ukraines military command in the Odesa region, said the drones caused a fire at an infrastructure facility, but that there were no casualties.

Russia has made widespread use of drones to carry out attacks in Ukraine, including against infrastructure targets.

Sweden NATO

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin voiced support Wednesday for Swedens bid to join the NATO alliance.

Speaking during a visit to Swedens Musko Naval Base, Austin said the United States looks forward to continuing to advocate for your swift admission to NATO and we'll work hard to get that done before the summit.

Austin said Swedish forces will add a lot of value to NATO, our overall effort, you have a very, a highly professional military and you've invested a lot in modernization over the last several years.

Sweden applied for NATO membership along with Finland in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine last year.

SEE ALSO:

Finland formally joined the military alliance in early April. Swedens bid has been held up by objections from Hungary and Turkey, which says Sweden has not done enough to crack down on groups that Turkey considers terror organizations.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
New developments:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address Mexican lawmakers.

Hungary bans imports of cereals, flour, honey, certain meats and other foods from Ukraine. Other European countries have done the same, saying the cheaper Ukrainian shipments undercut the financial well-being of their farmers and companies.

Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka wins World Press Photo of the year award for capturing an image of an injured pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher away from a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. The hospital was hit by a Russian airstrike.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Ukraine deserves to be in U.S.-led NATO, the Wests main military alliance, but his stance drew an immediate protest from Russia.

In his first visit to Ukraine since Russias invasion 14 months ago, Stoltenberg said at a news conference, "Let me be clear, Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family. Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO."

Stoltenberg said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed a NATO support program to help Kyiv transition from Soviet-era equipment and doctrines to NATO standards and ensure full interoperability with the alliance. NATO stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said preventing neighboring Ukraine from joining the 31-nation NATO alliance remains one of the goals of Russias invasion. He said Ukrainian membership in NATO would pose a "serious, significant threat to our country, to our country's security.

Earlier this month, Finland, with a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, set aside decades of neutrality and joined NATO, with neighboring Sweden also looking to join the alliance in the next few months.

Despite Stoltenbergs comments on Ukraine joining NATO, it is not likely to occur anytime soon. Western nations individually have shipped billions of dollars in armaments to Ukraine to help it fend off Russias invasion and supplied intelligence information to Kyiv, but sent no troops. If Ukraine were a NATO member, however, other NATO members would be obligated to fight alongside Kyivs forces to defend its territory.

During his Ukraine visit, Stoltenberg went to a memorial for fallen soldiers and reviewed damaged Russian military equipment on display in Ukraines capital, Kyiv.

Stoltenberg has routinely voiced support for NATO members supplying arms to help Ukrainian forces, and he has seen the size of the alliance grow with Finland joining this month in response to the invasion. A similar application from Finlands neighbor, Sweden, has been approved by all NATO members except Hungary and Turkey.

NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands announced Thursday they are partnering to buy and refurbish 14 Leopard 2-A4 tanks to Ukraine.

The Dutch and Danish defense ministries said the tanks would be ready for delivery to Ukrainian forces early next year. Denmark and the Netherlands will share the $180 million cost.

Ukraine has asked allies to provide heavy equipment such as tanks in order to be able to match up against Russian forces.

The tank deal followed Wednesdays announcement from Ukraines defense minister that Patriot air defense systems had arrived in the country. The missile systems were another wish list item for Ukraine to better defend against Russian aerial attacks.

Some material in this report came from Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Rakuten is pictured at the headquarters of Rakuten in Tokyo

By Miho Uranaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Rakuten Bank Ltd amended the filing of its $625 million initial public offering (IPO) after investors pushed for details on the risks from its exposure to money-losing parent Rakuten Group Inc, two people said.

The investor questions, not previously reported, highlight how concerns about the e-commerce giant's losses and mounting debt cast a shadow on Japan's biggest IPO in more than four years that was initially expected to raise about $800 million.

Investors quizzed the lead manager Daiwa Securities Group Inc and other banks about risks from Rakuten Group as they sounded out investor demand for the offering, the people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Most questions were from overseas institutional investors, the people said on condition of anonymity as the information is not public. A U.S. investor asked for details about transactions with other Rakuten companies, one of the people said.

"A substantial discount was ultimately seen as necessary," one of the people said, adding that a turmoil in the global banking sector at the time had also put investors on edge.

Rakuten Bank declined to comment beyond what it has already disclosed. Rakuten Group directed Reuters to Rakuten Bank.

A Daiwa Securities representative confirmed investors had asked about Rakuten Group's finances, adding that many investors were reluctant to invest in banks at a time when widening financial instability directly impacted the sector.

The deal "offered a price that would allow investors to buy with confidence", the Daiwa representative said.

CASH BOOST

The IPO will give a much-needed cash boost to Rakuten Group that has seen four years of losses from the costly build-out and struggles of its mobile phone business. In February, it reported a record annual loss of 372.8 billion yen.

The group has some 400 billion yen in bonds coming due by 2024, a regulatory filing shows.

Story continues

Japan's largest internet bank by number of accounts is set to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday after raising around 83.3 billion yen ($625 million).

Although short of the initial target, it is still Japan's largest IPO since December 2018, according to Refinitiv.

Rakuten Bank slashed the top of its indicative IPO price range by almost 30% to 1,400 yen on April 5, a day after disclosing investments in securitised assets linked to its parent's businesses, including 2.2 trillion yen ($16.3 billion) related to the credit card business, regulatory filings show.

Rakuten Bank also disclosed a 63.2 billion yen investment in securitised assets related to the struggling mobile business.

Neither amount had been outlined in the IPO prospectus filed on March 22, a comparison of the two documents showed.

It later priced the IPO at the top of the scaled-back range, valuing the bank at 238 billion yen.

Demand from overseas investors was so strong at the lowered price that bankers ultimately increased the portion of IPO available to overseas investors, filings showed.

The overseas portion was still more than 15 times oversubscribed, Daiwa said.

($1 = 134.8900 yen)

(Reporting by Miho Uranaka; Writing by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Nobuhiro Kubo, David Dolan and Himani Sarkar)
Photo: A24

Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending of Beau Is Afraid.

Regardless of whether you think its a masterpiece or a career-ending crime against cinema, Beau Is Afraid will leave you with a lot of questions. Namely: Is writer-director Ari Aster okay? And whats going on in the films crazy ending? The picture is structured as an existential mystery, always on the verge of delivering some big revelation that will clarify the insanity weve been watching. But Aster refuses to directly explain the events in the film. Even the finale, which has Joaquin Phoenixs Beau Wassermann facing a surreal tribunal, doesnt really tell us whats been going on.

To try and understand what actually happens at the end of Beau Is Afraid, one must first look back at the rest of the movie. Asters three-hour magnum opus, a psychiatric session masquerading as a quirky A24 comedy-drama, follows Beau, a middle-age nobody living in a bleak one-bedroom apartment on a city street comically ravaged by crime. Beau is supposed to fly to see his mom on the anniversary of his fathers death, but his keys get stolen and he cant leave. When his mom (Patti LuPone) finds out hes not coming, she responds in a cold, passive-aggressive manner that hints at their dysfunctional relationship. Then, after a hilariously surreal sequence in which Beau desperately attempts to purchase a bottle of water from across the street (to take with his new anti-anxiety meds), our hero learns that his mother has died in a freak accident after a chandelier fell on her head. How does he find out? A random UPS driver (Bill Hader) who happened to find his mothers headless body answers her phone when Beau calls.

It would be tempting to say that Beau Is Afraid is the story of Beaus journey back home, but really, there isnt much of a journey. After a hellish series of mishaps  involving a brown recluse spider, a naked tussle in an overflowing bathtub, a standoff with the worlds most inept cop, a stabbing, and a speeding truck ramming him from out of nowhere  Beau winds up in the pleasantly appointed home of Grace (Amy Ryan) and Roger (Nathan Lane), a relentlessly positive bourgeois couple who care for his wounds and promise to take him to his moms funeral. Constantly foiled in his attempts to leave, and already chewed out over the phone by his moms accusatory lawyer (Richard Kind), Beau is terrorized by Grace and Rogers pissy teenage daughter, Toni (Kylie Rogers), whose pill-popping makes her own overmedicated parents look like Temperance League activists.

Finally, he manages to escape, chased by Grace and Rogers animalistic psycho boarder Jeeves, who served with their now-deceased son Nate on the front lines in Caracas (where the U.S. has apparently been fighting a war with Venezuela). Beau runs into the forest and winds up in a back-to-nature theater troupecommune called The Orphans of the Forest. They stage a highly symbolic play that seems, weirdly, to coincide with Beaus own life, even though it doesnt actually coincide much with his life at all. The play itself is about a guy who watches a play that seems to coincide with his life, the point perhaps being that sometimes art that has nothing to do with our lives can feel like its all about us. And Beaus experience of watching the play begins to lay the groundwork for the final act of the film.

I. Beaus Father, the Giant Penis Monster

Beaus mother previously told him that his father died when he was conceived  that his dad was, in fact, killed at the moment of sexual release, the victim of a hereditary disorder that also claimed his grandfather and great-grandfather. Theres a man (Julian Richings) in the Orphans of the Forest campground who claims that he knew Beaus father; he whispers that he helped take care of his father and that he is still alive. Beau begins to wonder if this man might actually be his father. Then the father guy explodes as the camp is attacked by a heavily armed Jeeves, who blows everyone away, including, somehow, himself. Beau runs into the forest, but the ankle monitor Roger put on him switches to incapacitate and zaps him unconscious.

The father guy (Julian Richings). Photo: A24

Whenever Beau goes unconscious in the film (which is often), Aster tends to cut to two things. One is a flashback to a cruise Beau took as a teen with his mom, where he met Elaine, a vivacious girl with whom he fell in love, and who was taken away from the trip by her mom. Another is a hazy dream from Beaus childhood in which he is in a bathtub, being washed by his mother. In the dream, young Beau asks about his father. You know where Daddy is. Daddys dead! Mona, his mother, tells him. She leads Beau, clothed, away and turns to the camera and angrily asks, You want Daddy, too? This is when we realize that the cameras point of view is that of another person in the room. Mona then leads the boy to the attic, makes him go up the stairs, and then slams the attic door, yelling, We dont talk about you anymore!

Lets flash forward a bit, because this event is worth exploring. We learn more about this dream later in the film, when Mona (having revealed she is still alive  long story; well talk about that in a bit) plays a recording of adult Beau telling his therapist about the dream. Theres another me, but hes braver, Beau tells the shrink, suggesting that the weak Beau is in the bathtub, while the stronger, braver Beau is being punished. After the recording ends, Beau tells Mona he wants to know the truth about his father. Mona replies that she tried to keep that truth from him, for his protection. She leads him to the attic stairs and then yells, ominously, That wasnt a dream. That was a memory! Which sounds significant, but in a movie that runs almost entirely on dream logic, is there really any difference?

Upstairs, in the darkened attic, Beau looks around with a flashlight. He sees a gaunt, debilitated, gray-haired, and bearded figure leaning against a wall. (This man is wearing the same T-shirt that brave Beau was wearing in those flashbacks. He also looks like Joaquin Phoenix, though the film credits an actor named Julien Fortin as Beaus Twin in Attic.) Then Beau points the flashlight to another corner of the room, and he sees  an enormous penis monster  a giant, screaming dong-beast with huge balls and spiky, arthropod arms. My boy  the penis monster rasps. Just then, into the attic bursts Jeeves, who is, somehow, still alive. He fires at the penis monster and starts furiously stabbing it, only for the penis monster to drive one of its sharp arms through his head, instantly killing him. Beau falls out of the attic and his shrink drags him away, while Mona wails, That was your father!

A happy family vacation. Photo: A24

So, was that Beaus father? Was Mona impregnated by an enormous sentient phallus? Like most of the film, it probably makes more sense to read this symbolically. We could, of course, spend a lot of time grafting a Freudian interpretation onto the events of Beau Is Afraid. (Theres certainly a lot of Oedipal stuff going on.) But there may be a simpler way of looking at this. Beaus father has been absent all his life. Is the father absent because hes dead, or useless, or because Mona has symbolically cast him to the attic of memories we do not speak of? You can take your pick  it not only doesnt matter, it could also be all three options. All Beau knows of his dad is that he allowed Mona to conceive him, a notion that has grown bigger and bigger in his mind all these years. Dad might as well just be a huge dick, in all senses of the word.

But who is the other man in the attic? Is that  also Beau? The braver version of himself he talked about to his shrink? Or is it maybe a long-lost brother  maybe even a twin  who has been living in the attic, forgotten, ever since he asked about Dad? He holds out an empty cup or bowl, as if hes been starving forever. This figure has had no love. Hes only had giant-penis dad, who can conceive but cant nourish. Later, Beau will be referred to as Monas sole surviving son. Does the other son exist? Did the other son exist? Either way, this gaunt, sad figure is perhaps a cautionary tale of what happens to boys who dare to flee their mothers influence or who simply dare to be different. He might be the most haunting image in the film.

II. Beaus Mother, an Interventionist and Cruel God

In the final act, Beau hitches a ride to Wasserton, the pleasant waterside village where moms home is. Wasser is German for water, and images of it show up repeatedly in the movie. We often hear water on the soundtrack and occasionally even see flashes of a darkened lake or ocean. Weve returned repeatedly to the dream-memory of Beau in the bath and to the ocean cruise where Beau met Elaine. In an early scene set in Beaus city, we see a mom berate her child for not listening to her; the child is playing with a boat in a small pool of water. Beaus anti-anxiety medication has to be taken with water, hence why he attempts to purchase a bottle of it after the water in his building is shut off. Water can be freedom, but it can also mean death: On the cruise, Elaine excitedly took Beau to see a dead man floating in the pool. Water can be symbolic of a mothers love, which can be smothering and destructive, as weve seen. It can also be denied, as retribution. Think of the man in the attic and his empty bowl.

Back to Wasserton. Beau is late, and his mothers funeral is over. He walks inside and sees the open casket where Monas headless body lies. A recording plays of her lawyers funeral speech about her lifelong dedication to her son, with characteristic digs at his failure to show up to the funeral on time. Beau looks around at the photos on the walls. Many are from his youth, but theres also one that looks like a surveillance image from earlier in the film, at Grace and Rogers house, hinting that Beaus mom has been in control of his life all along.

If Mona has become someone impossibly cruel who steamrolls anybody in her path, then Beau is the opposite: someone who is always (literally) getting run over.

A further look around Monas house adds proof. Framed photos and posters show how her company has grown over the years. (The company is identified by an MW logo weve seen throughout, including in Beaus building and as one of the production companies of the very film were watching.) We discover that MW is, among other things, some sort of pharmaceutical giant, peddling meds all across the country and presumably to many of the characters Beau has met, and to Beau himself: ADHD meds, allergy meds, instant dinners, safety razors, pimple creams, and, eventually, rehab neighborhoods and housing complexes such as the one Beau lives in. MWs motto seems to be Perfectly Safe. And a lot of the ads we see feature the young Beau, a literal poster child for these ailments and conditions. Has Mona been using Beau as some kind of guinea pig? Or is it that Mona, so pathologically obsessed with Beaus safety, has built an entire, childproof world around him? There are two seemingly conflicting takeaways: the sheer breadth of Monas concern for her sons well-being, and the cynicism with which she has used Beau to build this empire.

Its terrifying, but also kind of touching  an expression of how protectiveness can curdle into cruelty. This is one of the ideas at the heart of Beau Is Afraid, and one of the animating forces behind just about every scene. Beau has lived in fear all his life. Hes quite relatable in this regard. The images Aster chooses to depict the dangers of the world feel like ones that could have been ripped from the internet. (How many of us have spent an hour or two reading about the dangers of brown recluse spiders on dodgy websites well into the night?) Armed psychos, serial killers, zonked-out junkies, deadly spiders, moody teens  the demons of Beau Is Afraid are a litany of modern American bogeymen. But attempts to protect ourselves from these fears wind up being counterproductive and deadly in their own regard. Grace and Roger closed off their sons room after he died. So what did their daughter wind up doing? She went in there and killed herself, another forgotten child who chose to break free of her parents, albeit in the most horrifying way.

While its portrait of a nation neck-deep in fear, medication, and runaway overprotectiveness strikes home, Beau Is Afraid isnt building up to some screed against the pharmaceutical industry or cynical internet headlines; its targets are more cosmic and existential. Looking at photos of Monas employees, Beau is shocked to see Elaine (played as an adult by Parker Posey). She has apparently been working for Beaus mom for years. Was she always working for Mona? Or did Mona bring her into the company to keep her away from Beau?

Parker Posey as Elaine. Photo: A24

Look closely at some of the other employees faces: They look like the people around Beaus apartment building, including one tattoo-covered guy who aggressively chased him. Were they all working for Mona, propping up a reality she had created for her son? Beau has been struggling, and failing, his whole life to escape his moms sphere of influence. Of course all the psychos surrounding his apartment, preventing him from stepping beyond his door, forcing him to live in fear of the outside, would turn out to be associated with his mom; they are manifestations of a neurosis that may have originated in Beaus fraught relationship with her, terrifying examples of what awaits us in the big dark scary world. We can, again, choose to read this in broader, societal terms: The more we attempt to control the world, the more it spins out of control.

While Beau looks at Monas funeral arrangement, Elaine arrives, a little tipsy. Our hero is shocked to see her. You worked for her? Beau asks. I did, until last week. After a couple more awkward exchanges, Beau kisses her. She reciprocates and suggests they go inside. As soon as they do, her attitude becomes very terse and businesslike. (Bedroom. Where?) She pulls out a condom. The two have sex in Monas bed, and right as hes about to climax, Beau begins to panic, remembering the curse of the men in his family. But its too late. I really felt that, Elaine sighs. That was a lot. You just blasted through that thing. Beau is relieved to see that he has not, in fact, died. But then Elaine achieves orgasm, and is immediately frozen stiff  dead. Its not the mans orgasm that kills; its the womans. Could that be partly the source of Monas resentment toward Beau and his bloodline? Either way, Beaus fears of sex and death have been realized.

In that trial, is Beau really just talking to himself? Is it his mother accusing him, or is it the guilt in which hes always existed?

It is at this point that Mona arrives in the bedroom. Beaus mom is not only still alive, shes been watching all this. You dont look too overjoyed to see me. I was dead just a minute ago, she says passive-aggressively. Servants come in and carry Elaines body away. (In another absurdist touch, the body is frozen mid-straddle.) Beau reveals that he knew Mona wasnt dead when he saw the hands of the headless corpse in the casket: A telltale birthmark gave them away as belonging to his onetime babysitter Martha.

Why did Mona fake her own death? To find out just how little Beau cared for her, it seems. She suddenly unloads a litany of bizarre charges against him, including the fact that he refused to be breastfed as a baby and that he gave her the same For the Boys soundtrack CD two years in a row. She insists he was lying about losing his keys. She then plays tapes of Beaus psychiatric sessions. (Through the weaning process, she took your displays of autonomy as a betrayal, the shrink says in one of the films more direct statements of a theme.) It turns out that Beaus psychiatrist has also been working for his mother, like just about everyone else in the movie.

Cue the aforementioned attic scene with the giant penis-monster. Afterward, Mona tells Beau that she gave up so much to bring Beau into the world, and that she had to squeeze all the love out of herself. She claims that she spent every waking minute worrying about him, about whether he was safe and fed. (This scene is dominated by an enormous statue of a mother and child in the background, an image that has appeared throughout the film.) Beau, distraught, begins choking her  and then, shocked, stops and lets her go. Im sorry, he says. She looks at him in disbelief, and then, as if felled by his intentions rather than his actions, she falls and smashes through a glass display, dying instantly.

III. Beaus Guilt on Trial

Beau runs out of the house, his face frozen in a comic expression of terror. He comes to the edge of the water, gets in a boat, and motors off into the night. He passes through a cave and into what appears to be a star field. Suddenly, his boat stops, as if hes hit something. Stadium lights go up all around him, and it turns out what he thought were stars were thousands of spectators in a cavernous arena encircling him. In the distance, we see Mona with a scar around her neck, and her lawyer, who announces that we will now assess the extent of the subjects guilt. Even farther away, barely audible and visible, is Beaus lawyer, who can barely get a word in.

His one act of defiance, his one act of independence, leads to his demise. Did he just wait too long to break free, or was he always doomed?

Monas lawyer then shows scenes from Beaus life, all of which are interpreted quite unfairly to color Beau in the worst light. (Seriously, Kafka would be proud.) We see Beau feeding ducks and his therapists fish. Then we see him running away from the tattooed guy outside his apartment; Monas lawyer suggests that this shows Beau refusing to help out a hungry fellow member of the human race. The lawyer then shows surveillance video of Beau at age 9, hiding from his mom at a mall while she desperately looks for him; Beau insists that he really was lost. Then we see him at age 15, letting his friends peruse his moms bedroom and steal her panties while she was away; Beau insists that he was pressured. Meanwhile, Beaus hapless lawyer is thrown from his balcony and smashed against the rocks below.

Other reinterpretations follow as Mona grows increasingly furious. And Beau never really sticks up for himself. All of his explanations basically come down to one thing: He was weak and didnt speak up. The kids pressured him. He was afraid his mom would be upset with him for getting lost. True to form, Beau yells that hes sorry. His boat, which has begun to sputter, now catches fire. Beaus legs are stuck and he cant move. Nobody helps him. Suddenly, his face goes expressionless, almost as if hes accepted his fate. All at once, the boat flips over and traps him under it. It shakes and the water bubbles, signs of Beau struggling. The audience begins to file out. Eventually, the boat goes still. Roll credits.

So what the hell just happened?

Beau is a man who has watched the world pass him by. Was this because he was effectively raised in a cocoon, everything provided for him by Mom and her meds and creams and TV dinners? Was it because he was afraid of what lay beyond his door and afraid of upsetting others? Was his constant sense of guilt inborn, or something fostered by his mother? In that trial, is Beau really just talking to himself? Is it his mother accusing him, or is it the guilt in which hes always existed? Mona and Beau are not unique; they are locked in an eternal dance that predates them. The guilt-tripping mother is a common literary figure, as is the guilt-stricken child who attempts to assert his identity.

If Mona has become someone impossibly cruel who steamrolls anybody in her path (and has created a massive business empire as a result), then Beau is the opposite: someone who cant assert himself, someone who is always (literally) getting run over and apologizing. Here we have the twin poles of human experience  predator and prey  and Asters vision suggests that a happy medium might be impossible, at least in our current reality. Beau finally tries to free himself of his mother at the end and heads out over the water  only to discover that she also controls the water. His one act of defiance, his one act of independence, leads to his demise. Did he just wait too long to break free, or was he always doomed?

The films opening sequence, a Beaus-eye view of his birth, had begun in darkness, with the ambient sound of sloshing liquid. As we (blurrily) saw him exit the birth canal, we heard his mothers screams and shrieks. Doctors often have to slap a baby to make sure hes breathing, and we see a quick shot of this happening. In other words, Beau Is Afraid is a journey from a mans first breath to his last. In the end, like many of us, he went nowhere.
Photo: Getty Images

Jonathan Majors was arrested for alleged domestic violence March 26 following a dispute with a 30-year-old woman, according to the New York Police Department. He has done nothing wrong, a representative for Majors told Vulture. We look forward to clearing his name and clearing this up. According to the NYPDs statement, police responded to a 911 call Saturday morning at a Chelsea apartment. A preliminary investigation determined that a 33-year-old male was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old female, the statement reads. The victim informed police she was assaulted. The statement continues, Officers placed the 33-year-old male into custody without incident. The victim sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition. Majors was arrested on charges of strangulation, assault, and harassment.

Majors is expected to appear in court May 8. On April 19, Variety reported that more women have come forward with allegations against Majors, and are working with the Manhattan D.A. ahead of Majors court date. The story also alleges that the victim in the Manhattan case worked on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The U.S. Army has postponed a campaign featuring Majors following the arrest. The U.S. Army is aware of the arrest of Jonathan Majors and we are deeply concerned by the allegations surrounding his arrest, a spokesperson for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office told Deadline. While Mr. Majors is innocent until proven guilty, prudence dictates that we pull our ads until the investigation into these allegations is complete.

An attorney for Majors, Priya Chaudhry, said in a statement March 25, Jonathan Majors is completely innocent and is provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows. We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently. Chaudhry goes on to claim that the evidence includes video footage from the vehicle where this episode took place, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, and most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations. The woman, Chaudhry alleged, was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital yesterday. Chaudhry reiterated that we expect these charges to be dropped soon.

This post has been updated.
Alec Baldwin. Photo: Jim Spellman/Getty Images

Nearly a year and a half since the shooting on the set of Alec Baldwins film Rust killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, producers say its time for the show to go on. Production on the embattled western is resuming this week, the Associated Press reported on April 20. But the road to get to acting again hasnt been easy for Baldwin. While he returns to acting and executive-producing duties on the Joel Souzadirected film, he must also prepare for a myriad of legal battles. New Mexico prosecutors charged the actor with two counts of involuntary manslaughter on January 31. Prosecutors initially attached a firearm enhancement to the charges, meaning Baldwin would face a five-year minimum jail sentence if convicted. However, lawyers successfully disputed the firearm enhancement, arguing that it is an unconstitutional and elementary legal error. Though prosecutors dropped the gun charge on February 20, he still faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the films on-set armorer at the time, faces similar charges. Days later, on February 9, the family of Hutchins filed a new lawsuit against Baldwin and Rust Productions in the Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and loss of consortium, or the damages recovered for the rupture of relationships that are mutually dependent. Where does Rust go from here? Everything we know, below.

Where will Rust resume filming?

Filming will resume at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana, producers confirmed on February 22, with filming officially starting on April 20. The Rust team previously said they would not return to New Mexico to complete the film, which was halfway through filming when Hutchins was killed. The new set opened in June 2020 and hosted Murder at Yellowstone City, The Old Way, and other productions.

Who is involved from the original Rust production?

Both old and new crewmembers will return to production, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bianca Cline steps in as director of photography in Hutchinss stead with widow Matthew Hutchinss blessing and support. The cinematographer, known for her work in Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and American Horror Story, will reportedly donate her salary from the movie to charity. Baldwin, for his part, still has scenes left to film. Despite being embroiled in legal woes, Baldwin may still play the lead role, according to a Variety report.

Noticeably absent is Gutierrez-Reed, the on-set armorer who, together with Baldwin, faces criminal charges for her role in the shooting. Also absent is former assistant director Dave Halls, who signed a plea deal in the criminal case over the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. In fact, producers have not yet named an armorer, props master, and assistant director for the upcoming filming. As for an ammunition supplier, there will be no such role. The shoot will no longer use working weapons, making that job unnecessary. Enhanced safety protocols will be enforced, per THR.

Other key members have signed on to complete the film, however. Director and writer Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting, will return to set. Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining former cast and crew are committed to completing what Halyna and I started, Souza said in a statement. My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halynas legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf. All of the original producers will resume their roles.

A lawyer for Rust Movie Productions says the scene that was being rehearsed when Hutchins was fatally shot has been rewritten, though she did not comment on the changes. Vulture has reached out to the production company for comment.

What does Halyna Hutchinss family have to say about Rust resuming filming?

Hutchinss husband, Matthew, supports the production resuming. Following the settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit over the shooting last October, the deal agreed to continue filming with Hutchinss blessing. Under the deal, he also serves as an executive producer on the film. The late cinematographers mother, father, and sister are not involved in the project and have an active lawsuit that names the production company, Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed, and more.

When is Rust out?

Rust does not have a release date at this point. While filming is set to resume this spring, it is unclear if or how the pending lawsuits will affect the schedule.

This is a developing story.
HBO Films is proud to present the film with the least-searchable name: Reality. Sydney Sweeney stars as Reality Winner, the 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist who leaked an intelligence report suggesting Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election. She was given the longest sentence ever for unauthorized release of government information to the media in 2018. The dialog in Reality comes directly from transcripts of the FBI interrogating Winner in her home, per the films press release. Written and directed by Tina Satter, based on her play Is This a Room, Reality also stars Josh Hamilton (AHS: Coven), and Marchant Davis (The Day Shall Come). It will stream on newly renamed Max May 29.

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Photo: Courtesy of the City of Glendale

Last November, while most Swifties were plotting how to take down Ticketmaster, Sue Breding was masterminding another Taylor-inspired venture. As the communications director for the city of Glendale, Arizona, Breding knew her city had a chance to do something special when Taylor Swifts massive Eras Tour kicked off there in March. So she started working on a proposal, with a pink title at the top: Swift City.

Ceremonially renaming Glendale in honor of one of her favorite musicians seemed like a great way to celebrate the tour and get some attention. I thought Id get coverage from a couple of the local morning shows and the Arizona Republic newspaper, she says. That would be a big win for me. She got more than that. Everywhere from TMZ to Rolling Stone to this very website picked up the news (along with the Republic). Soon enough, other cities were following Bredings lead, as local governments began competing over the perfect Swiftian welcome. Las Vegas lit its gateway arches, Arlington renamed a street, and Houston swapped its venue name for NRG Stadium (Taylors Version).

If anyone were going to kick off this trend, it would be Breding. Back in 2006, when she was a reporter for KTVK, Breding interviewed a then-16-year-old Swift, who was singing the national anthem at a NASCAR race in Phoenix. Breding, who adds that she might have been Glendales first Swiftie, noticed Taylor had this dream in her eyes, and wanted to make the interview fun for the rising artist. Here I am, still making things fun for Taylor Swift, she jokes.

She began planning months before the Eras Tour started. The stadiums office helped her escalate the idea to Swifts publicist, who gave her the blessing to use the tour imagery. There was just one caveat from the notoriously image-conscious star: The Swift City sign needed to be blue. I actually have a version of the pink sign that our graphic designer made, and right away I had to say, No no no, she says. (Breding says the name came down to Swift City or Taylor Town; another Swiftie she works with voted for the former.)

Photo: City of Arlington

Days before the tour began, the press conference Breding hoped for came together. Wearing a blue sequined dress, she introduced Glendales mayor, Jerry Weiers. Whereas Taylor Swift is one of the most influential and bejeweled musicians of her generation  Weiers began, reading a slightly monotone proclamation that also snuck in references to Shake It Off, Fearless, and All Too Well. I do think that was a key part, says Breding, getting him onboard to stand there and read a proclamation, in a language that Im sure he didnt understand. (Hes far from the first politician, after a number of senators wedged Swift references into a Ticketmaster hearing earlier this year.)

After the announcement, Swifties in city halls across the country began to mobilize. Susan Schrock, a Swift fan and the communications coordinator for Arlington, Texas, knew her town could rename itself like Glendale did, or light its monuments like Vegas, but she wanted something different. We thought, Okay, what can we do thats quick and easy and would create a fun memory for the fans? she says. They landed on something more manageable: renaming a road to Taylor Swift Way. In a matter of days, fans were lining up for photos with the new street sign.

But Swifts next stop, Tampa, had an end game ready. We dont like to back down from a challenge, says Angela Ramirez, a communications strategist for the city, adding that they didnt want to copy what another city had already done; we wanted to build on that momentum. Another Swiftie who worked in the administration suggested filming a video with Swift as mayor, but that quickly grew into a video of Tampa mayor Jane Castor inviting Swift to lead the local government. Mayor Swift has a nice ring to it, Castor said in the video. We cant wait to welcome you and your fans to Tampa (Taylors Version). Ramirez says the city DMd the clip to Swift on Instagram, but they didnt get a response. (I think she has her read receipts turned off.) If she had the time between her three Tampa shows, though, Ramirez says the city was definitely open to hearing all of Mayor Swifts ideas. Perhaps City Hall needs an office cat?
Photo-Illustration: Vulture

The mysterious nature of twins  particularly identical twins  has been a devious source of curiosity and fascination in Hollywood for time immemorial. Its a subgenre with surprisingly long legs: William Shakespeare wrote The Comedy of Errors back in 1594. Audiences have been captivated by identical twins through endearing comedies about reuniting twins, thrillers about mistaken identities, medical horrors, quirky dark comedies, and everything in between. For a group that makes up just 0.4 percent of the worlds population, identical twins have enthralled the general populace.

Depictions of identical twins vary wildly, from warm and loving to calculated and distanced. Its common that these twins are deeply troubled, with one suffering under the shadow of the other. Sometimes theyre in perfect unison  others, theyre diametrically opposed. If theres one thing just about every single one of these films can agree on, its that nobody schemes like identical twins.

With identical twins poised to take over again courtesy of the Rachel Weiszled miniseries Dead Ringers, here are the essential identical twin films: movies that paint a compelling mythology of these intrinsically linked beings. The Prime Video series is, of course, an adaptation of David Cronenbergs mesmerizing 80s film. While brilliant, that only scratches the surface when it comes to identical twin movies. Whether creepy or charming, theyre bound to get under your skin.

A Stolen Life (1946)

Most stories about identical twins fall into the genres of horror or comedy, but A Stolen Life, one of the earliest twin movies, opts for sumptuous melodrama. Curtis Bernhardts swooning, soapy film stars the GOAT Bette Davis as Kate and Pat Bosworth. Kate is self-effacing and gentle, while Pat is bold and ostentatious, getting any man she pleases. Jealous of Kates new beau, Bill (Glenn Ford), Pat steals him away, marrying him. But when tragedy strikes, Kate takes an opportunity to get the love shes always longed for.

Though the sisters have indistinguishable hairstyles, Davis instills her characters with completely distinct personalities without being over-the-top about it, in ways only a master can. Brilliantly employing lighting and shadows to bring the twins together on-screen, A Stolen Life is a classic Hollywood film that establishes so much of what was to come for the genre: mistaken identities, living in your twins shadow, and just how difficult it is to exist without  and with  one another.

The Dark Mirror (1946)

A man is dead, and theres a suspect: Terry Collins (Olivia de Havilland). But, when the police discover Terry has an identical twin, Ruth (de Havilland), things complicate. After their arrest, the twins are left with little choice but to enlist a study by Dr. Elliott (Lew Ayres): Id like to add you to my collection, he tells them, an early signal of societys commodification of twins, treating them as what they are and not who they are.

One of the earliest films about identical twins, Siodmak is clearly working out the kinks of guiding the audience to who is who: de Havilland is often wearing a necklace that says either Terry or Ruth, or a lapel with an L or R. Its a bit silly, but the context of the scientific inquiry makes it more practical, even though the doctor swears up and down that he can tell them apart.

The special effects are hugely impressive, always completely convincing that there are two Olivia de Havillands (what a world that would be). The Dark Mirror also provides a showcase for what a great talent can do in a dual role. Olivia is a marvel, delivering not one, but two distinctly brilliant performances, no doubt inspiring plenty of actors to take up the challenge of playing identical twins in the future.

Dead Ringer (1964)

Another movie about identical twins played by Bette Davis? Hollywood made a lot of mistakes in its early days, but having Bette play dual roles twice was not one of them. Dead Ringer (not to be confused with the 88 film) provides a much more menacing opportunity for Davis than her previous foray with twins.

This time around, Davis plays the wealthy Margaret, estranged from her twin, Edith (also Davis), for nearly 20 years. Edith cant pay her bills, and with an eviction notice hanging over her head, she enacts revenge upon her sister, killing her, and assuming her identity. Its a pretty concrete plan, as nobody can see the difference between the twins, but Edith has a much more difficult time assuming her sisters life than she thought. Paul Henreids Dead Ringer is a creepy exploration of how identical twins survive without each other. A high-strung melodramatic horror with a whisk of camp, Dead Ringer understood its market  namely Baby Jane fans  and delivered in spades.

Twins of Evil (1971)

Starring real-life identical twins (and Playboy Playmates) Mary and Madeleine Collinson, Hammers Twins of Evil takes us to a town run by the brotherhood led by Gustav Weil (a tremendous Peter Cushing). This group of puritanical men gets their thrills from cleansing their environment, namely by burning women at the stake for crimes like breathing and simply existing. If you can believe it, theres an even bigger evil at play: vampire Karnstein (Damien Thomas), who kills women for the fun of it.

In Twins of Evil, the sisters are diametrically opposed  Frieda (Madeleine) dives headfirst into evil, entwining herself with Karnstein, much to the dismay of innocent, wouldnt-hurt-a-fly Maria (Mary). Frieda longs to stand out and is instantly bored of her new small-town life, while Maria finds comfort in the monotony. But regardless of what theyre looking for, the twins stand out in every way, from their bubbly personalities to their bright, revealing clothing  at least in comparison to everyone else. Much of the tension comes from a true identical twin staple  mistaken identities, as nobody in town can tell which sister is which. Vivid, detailed sets and a crazy action-packed climax give Twins of Evil its bite.

Sisters (1972)

Brian De Palma is a master of style, and his chilling Sisters is one of his most formally thrilling. Sisters examines the lives of previously conjoined twins: Danielle, a model hoping to become an actor, and Dominique (both Margo Kidder), every bit as beautiful, but a great deal shyer, preferring to remain in the shadows. One day, Dominique ruthlessly murders Danielles fling Philip (Lisle Wilson), in a scene that makes truly inspired use of split screen, a De Palma staple. However, a neighbor across the way, Grace (Jennifer Salt), witnesses the killing. As a reporter, Grace is determined to get to the bottom of things, though shes going to have to uncover seriously sinister secrets along the way.

De Palmas film is a masterful construction of twin identities, particularly the terrifying way separation anxiety manifests itself through formerly conjoined bodies  and whether or not twins ever truly leave each other. Though be warned, you may never want birthday cake ever again.

A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)

Undoubtedly the strangest film on this list, though thats hardly a surprise considering its from the mind of auteur filmmaker Peter Greenaway. A Zed & Two Noughts follows twins Oswald and Oliver (Brian and Eric Deacon), left reeling from the sudden death of their wives, who died in a car accident. Both zoologists, the pair become obsessed with death and decay  particularly through watching animals decompose. They also strike up a psychosexual relationship with Alba (Andrea Ferreol), the woman who was driving their wives. Greenaway is careful to mark a clear distinction between the twins  at the start, theyre easy to tell apart, but as their obsession grows, they become more and more alike.

A Zed & Two Noughts lulls you into its hypnotic spell, and Greenaways painterly shot compositions and lurid color scheme are a sight to behold. Its not easy to shake this phantasmagorical exploration of trauma, nor its haunting images of decomposing animals.

Dead Ringers (1988)

Jeremy Irons gives his career-best performance as Elliot and Beverly, a pair of successful gynecologists who run a Toronto practice together. David Cronenbergs disturbing, macabre masterpiece opens with the twins as children doing experiments and asking another child to have sex with them in their bathtub for science. (Fuck off, you freaks, she rightfully retorts.) As adults, the pair share patients as well as lovers without anyone knowing. You havent had any experience until Ive had it too, Elliot tells his twin. Beverly ends up doing something hes not done before  falling deeply for one of their patients/lovers, actress Claire (Genevieve Bujold). When she discovers the truth of their manipulative natures, everything gets considerably more twisted  as if that was even possible.

The film explores the idea that twins have a sort of symbiotic connection and the parasitic relationship that entails. As the film tagline says, Two Bodies. Two Minds. One Soul  in other words, can these men possibly survive without each other? Dead Ringers studies identical twins at their most conniving, manipulative, fetishistic, and twisted. That Cronenberg manages to convey so much humanity in these men is what makes the film unforgettable.

Big Business (1988)

An update on Shakespeares The Comedy of Errors, Jim Abrahamss Big Business has not one, but two sets of identical twins. A frazzled and overworked nurse makes a mistake and separates the twins from identical sets to fraternal ones. (If a film has ever stressed why nurses need to be well-paid and taken care of, its this one). Present-day Rose and Sadie Shelton (Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler) run a (you guessed it) big business that wants to turn a country town into a strip mine, but the Rattliff sisters, who are also named Rose and Sadie (Tomlin and Midler) go to New York City to stop them.

Most separated-at-birth twin stories find the twins meeting almost immediately, but Big Business keeps the reunion until the very end, which allows an endless series of increasingly improbable near run-ins to occur. Its all thoroughly ridiculous and very, very silly, and a total blast. Tomlin and Midler more than capably carry the film  Tomlin is especially wonderful as the deeply paranoid Rose. Plus, where else can you find Midler singing while milking a cow, and the most exceptional mirror sequence since Duck Soup?

Double Impact (1991)

Double Impact says to hell with showing identical twins as creepy, devious pairs, replacing them with two Uber-muscly, ass-kicking hunks. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chad and Alex, two long-separated twins brought together to get revenge on the people that killed their parents. Thankfully, despite the separation, theyve both managed to achieve peak physical form. While its commonplace to see twins eager to make up for lost time and excited to form a powerful new bond, Double Impact deals with the opposite: What happens when two brothers want absolutely nothing to do with each other? It leads to a technically impressive and cleverly executed scene where JCVD brawls with himself. Filled with epic fight scenes and ridiculous one-liners (You dont know which side of the bread is buttered do you, you silly little bitch), Double Impact offers up a double dose of 90s action bliss.

It Takes Two (1995)

Heres something that may blow your mind: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen arent actually identical twins; theyre fraternal. Still, they look identical, and that was enough to inform the concept of over a dozen films starring the pair. The cream of the crop is 1995s It Takes Two, which blends The Prince and the Pauper with The Parent Trap to great effect. When orphan Amanda (Mary-Kate) meets ultra-wealthy Alyssa (Ashley) at summer camp, they agree to swap lives to get a glimpse at each others lives. Its a nonsensical, cotton-candy confection of a movie, served up with a thick slice of 90s cheese.

Most of these films explain  or over-explain  how these twins were separated at birth, but not It Takes Two: Well never know why or how these kids got separated, and frankly, its all too sweet to even care. Its all brushed off with a nothings impossible and a thumbs-up. It Takes Two is so sweet and lovingly performed that Im inclined to roll with it.

The Parent Trap (1998)

Lindsay Lohan became one of the worlds most in-demand child stars after her revelatory performance in Nancy Meyerss The Parent Trap. The incredibly charming film finds Hallie and Annie (both Lohan) having a chance encounter at summer camp. At first, theyre enemies, engaging in a ludicrously fun game of exchanging pranks. Before long, they realize theyre separated identical twins, and become besties. They devise the ultimate plan to get their parents back together  assuming each others lives to get their parents to fall back in love.

Aided by a terrific supporting cast (especially Lisa Ann Walter and Elaine Hendrix), The Parent Trap brings together everything we love about identical twin movies: scheming, mistaken identities, and a whole lot more scheming. Sure, theres the 1961 version, also lovely, but its sorely lacking the incredible presence of Lohan. An added bonus? There are pranks in this movie that would blow away the cast of Jackass.

Adaptation (2002)

Nicolas Cage gives one of his finest performances as both Donald and Charlie Kaufman, identical twin brothers who are both screenwriters. Though they look and dress similarly, their approaches couldnt be more different. Charlie strives for perfection, and to create something nobody else has done. Hes been hired to adapt a book by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) but is suffering from an unbearable case of writers block. Donald, on the hand, has no vested interest in art  fortune is all he is after. And he gets it, and quickly, selling a script for $1 million in the proverbial blink of an eye.

Directed by Spike Jonze and written by the real Charlie Kaufman, Adaption is a resplendent and unpredictable odyssey. Its a massively compelling exploration of artistic integrity, a study of self-loathing, as well as a treatise on what it means when the man whos supposed to be your equal  your exact  has everything you lack and has managed to find success in ways you could never even dream of.

The Prestige (2006)

At first, Christopher Nolans mind-bending drama about rival magicians desperate to outdo one another doesnt seem to be about twins at all. But, the movies shocking twist  its prestige, to use magician parlance  reveals that its been about twins this whole time. Magician Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), like the audience, is astonished to discover that his competition, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), is actually a set of identical twins  and thats how Borden pulled off the extremely complicated Transported Man trick.

The Prestige is a thrilling and effective sleight of hand, reveling in its use of identical twins as a last-second shock: a dirty little secret best left in the dark, wielded by these brothers who live in the shadows to pull off the ultimate illusion. Here, twins are more a device than definable characters, kept at a distance. But that doesnt make the film any less spectacularly entertaining.

Leaves of Grass (2009)

Edward Norton shines as two extremely different twins: Bill, a philosophy lecturer at Brown, and Brady, still living at home in Oklahoma, selling drugs and deep in debt. They havent had any interaction in years, but when Bill receives word that his brother was killed, he returns home, only to finds Brady very much alive. Bill has been roped into yet another one of his twins grand schemes.

Actor Tim Blake Nelson, who wrote, directed, and stars in Leaves of Grass, deserved better than its middling reviews and dreadful box-office performance. This is a twisty, funny, and surprising movie with great work from its dynamite cast, from Edward Norton and the wickedly delightful Richard Dreyfuss, to Keri Russell, Melanie Lynskey, and Susan Sarandon. Its portrayal of identical twins who are polar opposites largely stands apart from the crowd, but like the others, Leaves of Grass taps into the seemingly symbiotic relationship identical twins possess. No matter how far you go or who you become, its impossible to escape your destiny.

Three Identical Strangers (2018)

A film that ups the ante from identical twins to identical triplets, the only thing thats more unbelievable is the fact that its an entirely true story. Tim Wardles documentary Three Identical Strangers is aware of the compelling nature of its subjects but refuses to treat them with the distanced curiosity of most identical-twin movies. Its a sensitive, thoughtful portrayal of the self, and particularly what it means to discover you have a sibling you never knew existed  not only a sibling, but an identical one, and not only one brother, but two. Its an intriguing look at our fascination with twins, as Eddie, David, and Robert became media sensations after their discovery became newsworthy.

Theres no sugarcoating in Three Identical Strangers, nor any comical schemes: This is a raw, challenging, and endlessly fascinating look at real-life identical siblings and the effects of being thrust into the spotlight.

The Silent Twins (2022)

Based on a riveting true story, Agnieszka Smocynskas The Silent Twins takes a surprisingly radical approach to identical twins onscreen. Instead of casting real twins or using CGI to have one actor play dual roles, the film instead casts two different people as June (Letitia Wright) and Jennifer Gibbons (Tamara Lawrance). Its a surprising choice that feels jarring at first, but its a wise decision that changes the way these identities are portrayed. Instead of an opportunity to gawk and marvel, The Silent Twins presents these two sisters  who retreated inside themselves and spoke only to each other for years  with a sense of complete individuality and autonomy. A methodical, artistic expression of forging your own way thats both dark and uplifting, this may just be the future of representing identical twins onscreen.
(Bloomberg) -- European lawmakers on Thursday gave their final blessing to an ambitious law that will give the European Union its first rules to govern the crypto industry.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The approval of the EUs Markets in Cryptoassets, or MiCA, regulation is the first time that governments have tried to supervise the upstart industry on such a scale and follows the collapse of several big players including the crypto exchange FTX.

European Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said on Wednesday that she expects the legislation to come into force in July after its formally approved by the blocs 27 member states. Specific requirements will take effect progressively, with rules governing stablecoins, for example, set to apply from July 2024.

MiCA, in development for three years, has been welcomed by crypto executives as an alternative to the US approach of policing the sector through enforcement actions. Yet critics say the law is outdated before even taking effect as it would do little to prevent several of cryptos recent high-profile blowups, and there are already calls for updates.

How Not to Play the Game, a Crypto Story Postscript: Matt Levine

The final approval marks the start of a new era of regulatory scrutiny on unregulated crypto markets, which have caused massive losses to many first-time investors and provided a safe haven to fraudsters and criminal organizations for over a decade, said Ernest Urtasun, shadow representative on MiCA and a parliament member for the Greens. Yet important regulatory challenges remain unaddressed and new legislative actions are urgently needed to complete MiCA with the missing pieces.

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Once implemented, MiCA will require any company offering crypto-related services in the EU to gain registration in one of the blocs member states, which then allows them to operate across the entire bloc. The European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority will be in charge of making sure crypto platforms comply with the rules, including having adequate risk management and governance processes to avoid another FTX-style collapse.

A unified EU-wide regulatory framework will likely make the bloc more attractive to digital-asset companies and put pressure on other jurisdictions to follow suit, said Alisa DiCaprio, chief economist at enterprise blockchain firm R3. Europe has been taking market share in crypto venture capital investment from the US, data from PitchBook show.

It would be a surprise if other jurisdictions like the UK and the US arent quick to follow suit and further accelerate their crypto regulatory efforts, DiCaprio said.

We are putting safeguards in place that would prevent companies active on the EU market from engaging in some of the practices that led certain cryptoasset operators to collapse, McGuinness said during the parliament debate. As we have seen in recent months, stringent rules and supervision are very much needed because weve had the collapse of projects such as FTX, Terra Luna, Celsius and Voyager.

She added: While the crypto market is still too small to trigger systemic risks, we also know that there are increasing links between crypto markets and traditional financial services.

The text won preliminary approval last summer, but doesnt include rules to govern parts of the sector that were at the heart of last years biggest failures.

Crypto lending, decentralized finance and nonfungible tokens are all beyond MiCAs scope, leading some figures including European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde to already make calls for a MiCA 2.

Crypto firms have taken issue with MiCAs regulation of stablecoins  digital tokens that aim to keep a one-to-one value with a more stable asset like the US dollar  where operators will be required to maintain local reserves and face trading caps on non-euro-denominated tokens that arent backed by fiat currency.

Undermining Anonymity

The need to comply with the blocs Travel Rule will also undermine the sectors ability to provide anonymity to users, critics have said, forcing exchanges to provide information on senders and recipients for every transaction to authorities and pay particular scrutiny to self-hosted wallets sending more than 1,000 ($1,097).

Firms have another year or two to get to grips with MiCA before theyre expected to comply. The rules on stablecoins will come into effect from July next year, while the broader regulation of cryptoasset service providers and the expectation for them to meet the Travel Rule will be enforced from January 2025.

Overall, crypto executives say its better than no guidance at all. The recent US approach of leading with enforcement action against big players, instead of pushing ahead with sector-specific legislation, has led big names like Coinbase, Circle and Binance to beef up their presences in Europe, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on Tuesday saying anything is on the table when it comes to its future operational footprint.

The lengthy development and delayed implementation of MiCA has led to crypto firms being left in a transition period, Coinbase vice president for business development Nana Murugesan said, where theyre needing to seek licenses in multiple EU states until passporting comes into effect.

Once MiCA comes in, itll become much more of a pan-European bloc strategy, Murugesan said in an interview on Monday, adding that he views Europes regulation of crypto as still a work in progress.

(Updates with comment from executive in eighth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Highlight Intercept 4% CuEq over 39m

Most Significant Interval Encountered at Tesla to Date

Drilled Strike Length Extended to 550m and Remains Open in All Directions

VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Foran Mining Corporation (TSXV: FOM) (OTCQX: FMCXF) ("Foran" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from Hole TS-23-10 from its 2023 winter drill program at the Tesla discovery, located approximately 300 metres ("m") north of Foran's McIlvenna Bay Deposit in Saskatchewan.

Key Highlights:

Significant assay results from Hole TS-23-10:

Intercept of 4% CuEq over 39m is the most significant intercept encountered at Tesla by grade-thickness to date.

Discovery of new, copper-gold rich lens below the known Tesla horizon, located at the northern limit of current drilling and open for expansion.

Drilling confirms mineralization along 550m strike with borehole electromagnetic ("BHEM") surveys suggesting the conductor continues along strike to both the NW and SE.

Tesla continues to remain open in all directions, with assays pending from three additional holes.

Summer exploration program to focus on continued expansion of the Tesla Zone.

Dan Myerson, Foran's Executive Chairman & CEO, commented "Adequately describing the exceptionality and growing potential of the Tesla Zone is a thrilling task. Step-out drilling has uncovered a new lens of copper-gold rich sulphide mineralization below the main horizon and identified one of the most significant intercepts since Tesla's discovery. We believe we have only just begun to tap into the potential of this near-mine opportunity, with continued expansion drilling at Tesla to be conducted from land, while we also systematically drill-test additional targets across our tenement package. We look forward to sharing further results as we continue to explore and define this exciting district, moving ever closer towards establishing Canada's next world-class critical minerals infrastructure-type asset."

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Tesla Zone

The Tesla Zone lies adjacent to the McIlvenna Bay Deposit and was discovered during the 2022 summer program (see June 8, 2022, press release), while drill testing a ~900m (strike) by 300m (width) electro-magnetic conductor (Figure 1). Significant widths of copper and zinc-rich sulphide mineralization have now been intersected in thirteen drill holes, successfully expanding the currently defined strike of the zone to approximately 550m. Tesla remains open in all directions for expansion with downhole EM showing that conductors continue along strike in both directions.

Figure 1 - Plan View of Tesla & McIlvenna Bay (CNW Group/Foran Mining Corporation)

TS-23-10 was collared approximately 100m northwest of TS-23-07 and drilled to a depth of 1,464.5m, representing the northern-most hole drilled to date along the Tesla conductor. This hole returned one of the longest intervals of mineralization encountered so far from the Tesla exploration program and included a new zone of high-grade copper and gold mineralization located in the footwall below the Tesla main lens.

TS-23-10 intersected the predicted Tesla horizon associated with the known EM conductor at approximately 1,050m where it encountered a five-metre-wide zone of zinc-rich massive sulphide and associated copper-rich stringer style mineralization. This was followed downhole by a second six-metre-wide zinc-rich massive sulphide zone at 1,214m, which was directly underlain by a 39m thick zone of copper +/- gold-rich sulphide mineralization which appears to represent a new footwall zone at Tesla. The copper-gold zone consists of stringer-style and foliation parallel pyrite and chalcopyrite mineralization associated with moderate to strong chlorite alteration and local silicification and/or quartz veining. Locally the sulphide mineralization becomes massive to semi-massive in character with strong concentrations of chalcopyrite in the groundmass and assay intervals grading in excess of 5% copper, see Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 -Core Photo from Hole TS-23-10 (CNW Group/Foran Mining Corporation)

We currently consider this new copper-gold zone to represent a second lens of mineralization in the footwall of the main Tesla zone which appears to be spatially related to mineralized intercepts lower down in previously released holes TS-23-06A and TS-23-07, located approximately 330m and 100m away respectively. These are the only three drill holes that have passed through this area and given the tenor of the mineralization intersected to date from this drilling, the area represents a priority exploration target for subsequent drilling campaigns.

A third interval of zinc-rich massive sulphide 2.93m wide was also intersected in TS-23-10 below the copper-gold zone at 1,291m, consisting of medium to coarse grained pyrite in a sphalerite-rich groundmass, associated with weak to moderate chlorite alteration and silicification. Assays are still pending from TS-23-10 below 1,295.46m. Results from the bottom of the hole will be reported when final assays are received.

Modelling the BHEM response from the upper intersection shows the Tesla conductor continuing along strike to the NW for several hundred metres more than the 550m drilled extent reported to date. This provides Foran increased confidence to continue stepping out on additional sections to the NW to extend the proven strike of Tesla during the summer program. Of note, the lower interval of massive copper sulphide in TS-23-10 was much thicker and more conductive than previously encountered. Future surveys in this zone will use lower base frequency for this thicker, more conductive mineralization to aid with signal penetration and to fully characterize decays.

The results from three additional holes: TS-23-08w1, TS-23-09Aw1 and TS-23-11w2, remain pending. All drill holes intersected significant sulphide mineralization and will be reported when assays are received from the lab. A cross section showing the relationship between the Tesla mineralized zones and drill holes is provided in Figure 3, and a table of detailed composites from the 2023 winter program are provided in Table 1 below.

Figure 3  Cross section through TS-23-07, -07w1, -07w2 and -10, 200m window. Location is A-A in Figure 1 (CNW Group/Foran Mining Corporation)

Table 1  2023 Tesla Assay Results1 (*Denotes Previously Released)

Hole From_m To_m Interval_m Cu % Zn % Ag g/t Au g/t CuEq % TS-23-10 1050.4 1055.1 4.7 1.10 5.98 42.7 0.21 3.79 Including 1051.4 1053.2 1.8 1.21 13.58 51.7 0.27 6.86 TS-23-10 1214.0 1219.8 5.9 0.54 7.18 24.9 0.16 3.52 Including 1218.5 1219.8 1.4 0.22 13.67 20.8 0.09 5.56 TS-23-10 1219.8 1258.8 39.0 2.86 0.88 41.4 0.74 3.98 Including 1221.9 1233.1 11.2 4.97 1.72 60.2 1.26 6.88 TS-23-10 1290.6 1293.5 3.0 0.28 12.61 43.5 0.09 5.39 TS-23-07w1* 951.2 985.5 34.3 0.25 8.47 57.5 0.41 4.11 Including 951.2 971.0 19.8 0.25 12.44 74.6 0.37 5.70 TS-23-07w1* 987.0 1001.8 14.8 1.05 0.15 7.3 0.35 1.39 Including 994.8 1001.8 7.0 1.51 0.13 7.5 0.33 1.83 TS-23-07w2* 977.5 988.2 10.7 0.38 4.86 34.2 0.46 2.75 Including 977.5 980.0 2.5 0.49 13.17 38.8 0.30 5.91 TS-23-07w2* 988.2 1028.7 40.5 1.05 0.21 8.9 0.23 1.34 Including 988.2 990.5 2.3 2.52 1.56 39.7 0.99 4.04 And 1005.8 1011.0 5.2 1.57 0.06 7.2 0.16 1.75 TS-23-09A* 936.7 941.7 5.0 0.94 5.00 19.0 0.21 3.09 Including 937.3 938.8 1.5 1.26 14.32 39.8 0.42 7.20 TS-23-09A* 963.3 967.3 4.0 1.40 3.98 24.8 0.06 3.11 TS-23-09A* 986.0 1013.0 27.0 0.69 0.77 9.8 0.12 1.13 Including 986.0 988.0 2.0 1.30 2.09 22.0 0.27 2.42 And 997.5 1001.0 3.5 1.14 0.51 11.8 0.03 1.44 TS-23-07* 1034.5 1042.3 7.9 1.17 4.38 28.6 0.33 3.24 Including 1035.2 1038.7 3.6 0.22 8.34 30.2 0.17 3.68 And 1039.8 1042.3 2.5 2.51 1.04 26.1 0.70 3.55 TS-23-07* 1045.8 1046.9 1.1 1.72 0.42 13.7 0.62 2.38 TS-23-07* 1051.9 1061.3 9.4 1.22 0.17 6.9 0.24 1.49 Including 1056.6 1059.8 3.2 2.18 0.30 10.2 0.32 2.58 TS-23-07* 1223.1 1227.6 4.5 0.12 4.12 79.1 1.49 3.22 Including 1225.2 1226.4 1.2 0.08 3.91 78.8 3.22 4.23 TS-23-08* 1003.0 1019.9 16.9 1.07 6.06 30.4 0.02 3.58 Including 1010.9 1014.0 3.1 0.29 14.50 22.7 0.01 5.90 TS-23-08* 1019.9 1052.0 32.1 2.04 1.06 21.5 0.02 2.61 Including 1034.2 1037.8 3.6 4.17 1.97 29.5 0.001 5.12 And 1040.4 1049.5 9.1 3.40 0.43 25.0 0.001 3.74 TS-22-06A* 809.2 812.8 3.6 0.56 0.07 4.3 0.003 0.62 TS-22-06A* 886.2 901.4 15.2 1.35 0.15 11.9 0.07 1.54 Including 889.0 892.4 3.4 3.05 0.25 24.0 0.07 3.36 TS-22-06A* 905.4 915.5 10.1 3.10 3.00 32.2 0.25 4.62 Including 911.1 914.5 3.4 6.10 3.96 61.9 0.39 8.29 TS-22-06A* 937.5 941.0 3.5 0.95 0.07 9.5 0.62 1.45 TS-22-06A* 991.6 996.0 4.4 1.86 0.25 11.9 0.10 2.11 Including 992.4 993.0 0.6 9.90 1.48 57.8 0.17 10.99 TS-22-06A* 1058.5 1059.7 1.2 1.01 3.82 14.0 0.002 2.55 TS-22-06A* 1064.9 1066.6 1.7 0.74 2.71 8.7 0.001 1.82 TS-22-06A* 1073.6 1076.0 2.4 0.48 1.30 5.9 0.001 1.01 TS-22-06A* 1078.0 1093.7 15.7 2.17 1.21 18.6 0.01 2.77 Including 1080.0 1081.5 1.5 5.90 2.06 39.6 0.02 6.97 TS-22-06A* 1093.7 1100.8 7.1 0.26 11.82 16.7 0.004 4.82 Including 1093.7 1096.4 2.7 0.15 18.90 19.4 0.006 7.38 TS-22-06A* 1103.6 1105.7 2.1 0.29 9.15 19.5 0.01 3.87 TS-22-06A* 1105.7 1109.9 4.2 0.78 0.91 15.7 0.04 1.26 TS-22-06A* 1114.6 1132.0 17.4 2.08 4.47 29.3 0.11 4.04 Including 1117.9 1119.9 2.0 6.64 6.14 59.5 0.14 9.47 TS-22-06A* 1205.0 1222.1 17.1 0.59 13.07 23.5 0.04 5.69 Including 1205.4 1210.1 4.7 0.29 19.41 20.9 0.02 7.73 TS-22-06A* 1224.9 1246.5 21.6 0.57 7.09 30.2 0.23 3.60 Including 1238.4 1242.4 4.0 0.25 14.26 17.4 0.14 5.82

Note: True widths for are estimated to be approximately 80% of reported intersections, except TS-23-06A which was drilled down dip. Intervals generally composited using a 0.5% Cu cut-off grade in stringer zones. 1Copper Equivalent values calculated using metal prices of $4.00/lb Cu, $1.50/lb Zn, $20.00/ounce Ag and $1,800/ounce Au with no provision for metallurgical recoveries.

2023 Exploration Program

With the 2023 winter exploration program now completed, Foran is currently preparing for an expanded drill program at the Tesla Zone from land during the remainder of the year utilizing directional drilling technologies. Planning is underway for the summer regional exploration program focusing on drill targets located both proximal to McIlvenna Bay and on our Bigstone Project (25km to the west), along with geophysical surveys to define drill targets on our extensive land holdings to the south. It is currently anticipated that the summer program will begin in June.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Drilling was completed using NQ size diamond drill core and core was logged by employees of the Company. During the logging process, mineralized intersections were marked for sampling and given unique sample numbers. Sampled intervals were sawn in half using a diamond blade saw. One half of the sawn core was placed in a plastic bag with the sample tag and sealed, while the second half was returned to the core box for storage on site. Sample assays are performed by the Saskatchewan Research Council ("SRC") Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. SRC is a Canadian accredited laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025:2017) and independent of Foran. Analysis for Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn is performed using ICP-OES after total multi-acid digestion. Au analysis is completed by fire assay with ICP-OES finish. A complete suite of QA/QC reference materials (standards, blanks and duplicates) are included in each batch of samples processed by the laboratory. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data.

Qualified Person

Mr. Roger March, P. Geo., Senior Geoscientist for Foran, is the Qualified Person for all technical information herein and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.

The Company's head office is located at 409 Granville Street, Suite 904, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6C 1T2. Common Shares of the Company are listed for trading on the TSXV under the symbol "FOM".

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Foran Mining

Foran Mining is a copper-zinc-gold-silver exploration and development company, committed to supporting a greener future, empowering communities and creating circular economies which create value for all our stakeholders, while also safeguarding the environment. The McIlvenna Bay project is located entirely within the documented traditional territory of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. The Company also owns the Bigstone Project, a resource-development stage deposit located 25km southwest of its McIlvenna Bay project.

McIlvenna Bay is a copper-zinc-gold-silver rich VHMS deposit intended to be the centre of a new mining camp in a prolific district that has already been producing for 100 years. McIlvenna Bay sits just 65km West of Flin Flon, Manitoba and is part of the world class Flin Flon Greenstone Belt that extends from Snow Lake, Manitoba, through Flin Flon to Foran's ground in eastern Saskatchewan, a distance of over 225km.

McIlvenna Bay is the largest undeveloped VHMS deposit in the region. The Company announced the results from its Feasibility Study on February 28, 2022, outlining that current mineral reserves would potentially support an 18-year mine life producing an average of 65 million pounds of copper equivalent annually. The Company filed a NI 43-101 Technical Report for the McIlvenna Bay Feasibility Study on April 14, 2022. The Company filed a NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Bigstone Deposit resource estimate on February 11, 2022. Investors are encouraged to consult the full text of these technical reports which may be found on the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

Foran trades on the TSX.V under the symbol "FOM" and on the OTCQX under the symbol "FMCXF".

Forward Looking Statements

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, as defined under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or to the future performance of Foran Mining Corporation (the "Company") and reflect management's expectations and assumptions as of the date hereof or as of the date of such forward looking statement.

All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "potentially", "intends", "likely", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date specified in such statement.

Inherent in forward-looking statements are known and unknown risks, estimates, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors include management's belief or expectations relating to the following and, in certain cases, management's response with regard to the following: The proposed strategic investment by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan; the status and progression of credit facility discussions; unlocking the untapped value of the Company's properties, delivery of superior or any investment returns; scale, scope and location of future exploration and drilling activities; the potential for the Company's land package to be transformational, the focus of the Company's future drill programs, the incorporation of geotechnical and hydrogeological information into the overall project design; The long-term investment horizon of shareholders; The growth of the Company from developer to producer; The certainty of funding; The future of the Company; De-risking McIlvenna Bay; Delivering on the Company's Net Positive Business strategy; Ownership and reliance on the Company's mineral projects; The Company's history of losses and potential inability to generate sufficient revenue to be profitable or to generate positive cash flow on a sustained basis; The Company's statements about the expected life of mine, productive capacity and other technical estimates on its projects, and the Company's reliance on technical experts with respect thereto; The Company's exposure to risks related to mineral resources exploration and development; Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Infectious Diseases and Other Health Crises on the Company; Global financial volatility and its impact on the Company; The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict; Government, securities, and stock exchange regulation and policy; Legal proceedings which may have a material adverse impact on the Company's operations and financial condition; Capital market conditions and their effect on the securities of the Company; Insurance and uninsurable risks; Environmental, health and safety regulation and policy; Mining hazards and risks; Title rights to the Company's projects; Indigenous peoples' title and other legal claims; Mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates; Uncertainties and risks relating to the Feasibility Studies; Fluctuations in commodity prices, including metals; Competition; Expertise and proficiency of management; Limited operating history; The availability of future financing; Dilutive effects; Impacts of global climate change and natural disasters; Inadequate infrastructure; Relationships with local communities; Reputational damage; Risks arising from the Company's reliance on financial instruments; Risks arising from future acquisitions; Management conflicts of interest; Security breaches of the Company's information systems; and the additional risks identified in our Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2023 and other securities filings with Canadian securities regulators available at www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, economic and regulatory uncertainties and contingencies. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Readers are cautioned against undue reliance on forward-looking statements and should note that the assumptions and risk factors discussed above do not contain an exhaustive list of the factors or assumptions that may affect the forward-looking statements, and that the assumptions underlying such statements may prove to be incorrect. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the Company's securities filings and this news release. All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by this cautionary statement. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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Nobody injured in train accident.

Rail commuters in Italy faced major disruption on Thursday after the wagon of a freight train derailed in Tuscany, leading to the suspension of trains between Firenze Castello and Bologna.

There was nobody injured in the incident, which occurred between Sesto Fiorentino and Firenze Castello, in the early hours of Thursday.

However there was significant damage caused to rail infrastructure, according to the news website of Ferrovie dello Stato.

The accident has interrupted high-speed (Alta Velocita) services between north and south Italy, including the Milan-Rome and Venice-Rome routes and on the Florence-Prato-Viareggio regional line.

Some north-bound high-speed services are guaranteed as far as Florence with some south-bound services running as far as Bologna - according to FS News - and a substitute bus service has been activated between Florence and Prato.

The incident has led to massive delays for commuters in north and south Italy, with the partial and total cancellation of multiple high-speed and regional journeys on Thursday.

Technicians are at work to fix the line affected by the derailment, with the restoration of high-speed services expected in the early afternoon, according to state broadcaster RAI News.

Photo Polizia dello Stato
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Ecuador, one of the few countries in South America with a market-friendly leader, faces weeks of political turmoil as opposition politicians in the National Assembly seek to remove President Guillermo Lasso for the second time since he took office in May 2021. The impeachment case accuses the former banker of failing to stop an alleged graft scheme at the state-run oil shipping business. Lasso rejects the charges and says organized crime gangs are trying to unseat him. Major nationwide protests and an earlier attempt to remove Lasso in mid-2022 sent Ecuadors bonds into a tailspin, leaving them deep in distressed territory.

1. What is the impeachment procedure in Ecuador?

Lasso, 67, faces possible removal under Article 129 of the constitution, which lays out grounds for impeaching the president. The countrys Constitutional Court, which must approve all Article 129 proceedings, voted to do so in this case. The court rejected a number of corruption charges against him, whittling them down to one concerning a single contract involving state oil tanker company FLOPEC. The impeachment is being reviewed by the congressional oversight committee, which must issue its own recommendation on whether to remove Lasso before the plenary can hold a vote. To remove Lasso, whos pledged to defend himself before congress, requires a vote of two-thirds of the assemblys 137 members, or 92 of them. It will likely take at least until May 16 for lawmakers to vote on impeachment. If Lasso is ousted, Vice President Alfredo Borrero, a medical doctor, would become president for the remainder of the presidential term ending in 2025. Impeachment would have no effect on the National Assembly, for which elections are also due in 2025.

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2. What is Lasso accused of?

The impeachment charge against Lasso alleges that he was criminally negligent for failing to cancel a FLOPEC contract that impeachment backers say generated losses. In this way, Lassos accusers say, he committed embezzlement, the misappropriation of assets placed in ones trust. The contract in question is a so-called time charter oil shipping contract, designed to lower costs so that tankers dont travel home empty after they make crude oil deliveries.

3. What does Lasso say?

Lasso denies any wrongdoing and points out that the contract in question was signed in 2018, three years before he took office. His lawyer, Edgar Neira, has told the oversight committee that not only does Lasso not bear legal or political responsibility for individual business decisions at the company, but that FLOPEC actually made a record profit thanks to changes made to the contract under his watch.

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4. Who is behind the impeachment drive?

Among Lassos accusers are members of the the biggest party in congress, the leftwing Citizen Revolution party of former President Rafael Correa. Correa has lived in in Belgium since leaving office in 2017 and was sentenced in absentia by an Ecuadorian court in 2020 to eight years in prison for bribery. Impeachment backers also include the conservative Social Christian Party as well as dissidents from the Indigenous party Pachakutik and the Democratic Left party. Lasso charges that mafias are behind the removal effort, presumably in response to his efforts to root out corruption linked to the Correa administration and crack down on drug trafficking. The first attempt to remove Lasso failed in June 2022 as the Correistas, who have 47 seats, only secured 33 additional votes.

5. What are Lassos options?

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This time around, Lasso says that if he faces ouster, hell dissolve congress, a power presidents can invoke once in their first three years in office. That would trigger early elections, which Lasso says he would contest. In the meantime, he would govern by decree, with the Constitutional Court taking on the quasi-legislative role of reviewing such orders for their constitutionality. If Lasso manages to fend off impeachment, his administration and congress are likely to remain at loggerheads. Both already have very low approval ratings. The Indigenous organization CONAIE, which led the violent unrest in 2022, is demanding that Lasso step down and has threatened renewed protests if he dissolves congress.

6. Why are investors so sensitive to political instability in Ecuador?

Since its independence in 1830, the country has defaulted on its external debt 11 times, most recently at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though Ecuadors international reserves stand near record highs, debt service payments in the coming years are minimal, and the fiscal deficit has narrowed under Lassos government, money managers are quick to abandon the country at times of political upheaval. Moreover, regardless of the outcome of this second impeachment bid, the Ecuadors polarized politics will weigh heavily on any government effort to boost economic growth. If the business-friendly Lasso were to lose his tenuous grip on power, leaving the government in the hands of the opposition, Ecuador becomes a hard sell for investors who still have fresh memories of Correas debt default in 2008.

--With assistance from Maria Elena Vizcaino.

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Chicago, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forklift Market size is projected to grow from USD 58.9 billion in 2022 to USD 84.5 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 7.5% for the same period, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets.

Browse and in-depth TOC on "Forklift Market"

337  Tables

60  Figures

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Report Attributes Details Market size value in 2022: USD 58.9 Billion Projected to reach 2027: USD 84.5 Billion CAGR: 7.5% Base Year Considered: 2021 Forecast Period: 2022-2027 Largest Market: Asia Pacific Region Covered: Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and RoW Segments Covered: By Tonnage Capacity, Application, Class, Industry, Propulsion, Operation, Product Type, Electric Forklift, Battery Type, Tire Type and Region Companies Covered: Toyota Industries Corporation (Japan), KION Group AG (Germany), Mitsubishi Logisnext Co. Ltd. (Japan), Jungheinrich AG (Germany), and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling (US)



The market is expected to witness growth due to major factors such as rising demand for sustainable intralogistics, rapid growth in the e-commerce and warehousing sector, and increasing demand for lean & automated warehouses to increase operational efficiency. In addition, the increase in stringency in emission norms is projected to drive the market for electric forklifts.

Electric forklifts likely to grow wisely during the forecast period.

Electric forklifts are gaining traction within material handling application especially at warehouses and logistics facilities and likely to grow wisely owing to its longer battery life, lower maintenance cost and easy maneurverability. High switching costs to electric forklifts and availability of charging infrastructure and battery capacity is few key concerns for this market; however growing advent of zero-emission working environment, sustainability, reduced running costs and rising development of advanced battery technologies will support positive future growth for this segment. This will help battery, motor and electric ystem and component supplier to gain new revenue streams from this segment in coming years.

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The below 5 tons segment is the largest in this market over the forecast period.

The below 5 tons segment is the largest in this market. This is mainly due to the high demand for these forklifts in consumer goods, e-commerce, and other industries that involve the movement of small to medium-sized goods. In general, the incorporation of forklifts for handling very heavy goods is limited. As the usage of forklifts is end-use dependent, only a few end-use industries, including heavy metal, automotive, and other industries, demand high-capacity forklifts to handle large and heavy loads. Most other end-use industries that incorporate forklifts often utilize them for the movement of small to medium-sized goods. Furthermore, the cost of lower-capacity forklifts enables their utilization at a greater rate.

The labor and fuel costs are the largest costs that are associated with material handling operations. Around 6070% of the expense is for operators, and around 1015% is for fuel. To reduce these expenses, users prefer autonomous forklifts as a viable option. These automated forklifts eliminate operator and associated expenses. These forklifts also greatly reduce the number of injuries that workers on production floors and distribution centers are prone to. Furthermore, the three parts of the supply chain, including inbound logistics, operations, and outbound logistics, contribute more than 80% to the total supply chain and contributes a major value to the overall price of the product. Therefore, efficient material handling solutions are needed to reduce the overall price of the end-product and reduce the turnaround time of production. The integration of autonomous forklifts and AGVs with warehouse management software greatly smoothens the transportation process within warehouses and the entire process becomes highly automated and requires minimal human interface. This greatly aids in reducing the overall operating expenses.

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The Asia Pacific is estimated to have the largest market for forklifts.

The Asia Pacific is estimated to have the largest market for forklifts. This is mainly due to the presence of many leading countries such as China, India, South Korea and Japan in this region. It is estimated that China will lead the forklift market in the Asia Pacific during the forecast period, followed by Japan and India. The Class 3 segment is estimated to dominate the Chinese forklift market with a growth rate of 9.0% during the forecast period. This is mainly due to the presence of a greater number of SMEs that prefer material handling equipment with relatively low initial costs and easier maintenance. The Chinese market for autonomous forklifts is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 13.9% during the forecast period. The increasing demand for advanced warehouses with automation and maximum productivity is driving the demand for advanced autonomous forklifts and AGVs within warehouses in the country.

Key Market Players

The Forklift Market is dominated by giants such as Toyota Industries Corporation (Japan), Kion Group AG (Germany), Mitsubishi Logisnext Co Ltd (Japan), Jungheinrich AG (Germany), Hyster-Yale Materials Handling (US), Hyundai Construction Equipment Co., Ltd (South Korea), Komatsu (Japan), Clark Material Handling Company (CMHC) (US), Kalmar (Finland), Cat Lift Trucks (Netherlands), Anhui Heli Co., Ltd (China), Crown Equipment Corporation (US), Doosan Industrial Vehicle (South Korea), Godrej Material Handling (Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd.) (India), Ep Equipment (China), Lonking Machinery Co., Ltd (China), Linde Material Handling (Germany), Bobcat Company (Republic of Korea), Combilift (Ireland), Vallee (Canada), Narrow Aisle Inc (US), Manitou Group (France), Hoist Material Handling (US), Konecranes (Sweden) and Hangcha (China).

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Industrial Vehicles Market - Global Forecast to 2027

Autonomous Forklift Market - Global Forecast to 2027

Container Handling Equipment Market - Global Forecast to 2025

Cargo Handling Equipment Market - Global Forecast to 2025

CONTACT: About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. We have the widest lens on emerging technologies, making us proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients. The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing. Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com




The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has rebuffed Qantas urgent request to arrange a meeting after the competition watchdog blocked the major carriers attempt to acquire private charter flight provider Alliance Aviation.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb on Thursday announced the watchdog would oppose Qantas proposed acquisition based on an investigation that found the transaction would lead to reduced competition, higher flight prices and lower service quality for resource industry customers in Western Australia and Queensland.

Qantas said it would seek more information from the ACCC about its decision and maintained the transaction would not substantially lessen competition. Credit: Oscar Colman

Cass-Gottlieb acknowledged the ACCC had received Qantas request to meet the regulator to better understand the anti-competition concerns behind the decision.

Were waiting to see, firstly, the separate commercial decisions of the parties when theyve considered the decision, so the balls in their court, she said.
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 I hear the word influencer an image arises, of youthful, lissom Byron baes talking earnestly to camera. I do not think of women past middle-age, for is this not when the great disappearance begins? The older a women becomes the harder she is to find in the media.

So I was cheered to see my personal hero, 85-year-old childrens writer Judy Blume, on Times list of the 100 most influential people for 2023. This month sees the release of a documentary, Judy Blume Forever, directed by Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok and featuring some of Blumes famous fans, including actresses Molly Ringwald and Lena Dunham. Later this year, the film adaptation of her classic novel Are You There God? Its Me Margaret, starring Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates, will appear. So much Judy! Cue the raising hands emojis: it is time.

Childrens and young adult writers have long held Judy Blume in high regard. Consider the Blume Effect: the surge of YA fiction that bubbled up in the oughts (the second golden age) was a direct result of a generation of women processing their girlhoods.

Judy Blume was the first author whose name I looked for in the library, my first brand author. I read her obsessively in the early 80s and obscure details have stayed with me: Nancys nose turned up so much I could look right into her nostrils (Are You There God...); Karens new friends foot-shaped rug (Its Not the End of the World); Tonys hot neighbour Lisa hurling her cigarettes out the car window (Then Again Maybe I Wont); Deenies capsule review of the Natalie Wood film Splendor in the Grass (Deenie). Blumes young characters read the world around them, and I heard their voices in my ear: frank, funny, plaintive, peevish, both strange (American) and true.

Blume grew up in a Jewish family in Elizabeth, New Jersey. She was a scared child, a people pleaser. She adored her father and found her mother emotionally unavailable. Blume was seven when World War II ended; she saw the newsreels and had an understanding of the atrocities committed. She also saw how the world kept turning. Judy Blume Forever details her coming of age in the post-war period: In the 50s so much was about pretend. Blume acted the role of the perfect daughter, then the perfect wife, but, she quips, I was a good girl with a bad girl lurking just inside.

Blume married young and had two children. Her husband okayed the writing as long as it didnt interfere with family life. From the start she was drawn to writing from a childs perspective. I felt that adults kept secrets from kids. I hated those secrets. I had to make up what I thought those secrets were. She had a few false starts and many rejections before finding success with Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret in 1970. She wrote the first draft in six weeks, while the kids were at school.
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 Mwajemi Hussein first met Rolf de Heer, director of such landmark Australian films as Bad Boy Bubby and The Tracker, to discuss playing the lead role in his new film, she had never even been to a cinema. Hussein came to Australia with her family after escaping the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spending eight years in a refugee camp in Tanzania. She spoke no English when she arrived in Adelaide 18 years ago and, as a social worker, lived largely within the African community. I never knew what would happen, she told a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival, where The Survival of Kindness had its world premiere to great acclaim. I have a family and many children and I never know how it would be to act, but I went and I thought, Well, lets go and see. I always jump in, because I believe in challenges. The Survival of Kindness traverses several Australian landscapes that de Heer says were his first subject, subsequently overlaid with a mythic story of survival. Husseins character, simply called BlackWoman, escapes from a cage dumped in the South Australian desert and sets out to save herself, walking to what eventually becomes mountain country in Tasmania. Of course, that is impossible, but the logistics of real travel  including finding water and food, which would be her priorities in the real world  are not relevant here. Her life depends on hiding from authority  screeching paramilitary figures in robotic masks  along with other victims and dissidents she encounters in this unnamed but clearly malevolent armed state. The film is powerful despite the fact that  or perhaps because  nothing is explained. Even the dialogue is withheld from us; it was written in English, but each actor delivers it in her or his own version of a nonsense language. Mwajemi Hussein in The Survival of Kindness. Credit:Photo: Murray Rehling Copyright: Triptych Pictures and Vertigo Productions Anyone can make any story from this movie, says Hussein. She reads it in a way that clearly reflects her own experience. The story says to me that BlackWoman was brave, she was kind. It says having courage is very important, having extreme hope is very important. And that when you dont have options, you go with what you have. De Heer originally wrote the script for Peter Djigirr, who had played leading roles in his earlier films Ten Canoes  which he also co-directed  and Charlies Country, both shot in Djigirrs country in Arnhem Land. De Heer was driving around his own home turf in Tasmania, looking for locations that would be, as he puts it, COVID-nimble, when an image of Djigirr sprang unannounced into his mind.

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It was him in this cage in the desert, locked in, he says. I know him well and what he can express with his face, his acting, you know. It wouldnt go away and it seemed to want to be the beginning of the film. He called the character BlackMan, wrote the script and gathered the finance. Then Djigirr couldnt do it. Time was tight. De Heer approached an organisation for refugees in Tasmania to ask if any Black men there might be interested in working on a film. The person who most sparked his interest, however, was an Ethiopian woman. Did they know somebody with these qualities, but a man? It was only as he was walking to his car that he thought that perhaps the same script would work with a woman. It was a difficult jump to make but, having had that thought, I thought, This is interesting. Ultimately, that mental leap took him to Mwajemi Hussein. Rolf de Heer with Mwajemi Hussein during filming. Credit:Murray Rehling. Copyright: Triptych Pictures and Vertigo Productions Hussein is a remarkable presence, on screen and in the flesh. Even at school, while living with friends of her fathers after he was killed in the war, she was mocked for her determination. Because the area was not encouraging women or girls to study; once you are 15 or 16, depending on the bodys performance, that is the time to get married, she says. But I had something in me pushing me to study. I was really bullied a lot: we say in Swahili, Are you a man or a woman? But I survived. And I was educated. She escaped that village with her husband and three children by walking to Lake Tanganyika and crossing on a rowboat, a slow sitting target for 11 hours, before reaching relative safety. She is now 52, a mother of seven and so fit that the young crew on The Survival of Kindness had trouble keeping up with her on their long walks to location. At home in Adelaide, she sometimes walks barefoot because it reminds me of where I come from and the struggle I went through, she says. In times of stress, she hikes around Mt Lofty, walking barefoot down a rocky path to a river. Its very difficult, but I know what Im doing. I want to say something to connect myself to my ancestors. I want to say something to bring them to me. This is the connection I feel between the film and myself. I was acting but also enjoying the things I really connect to. I grew up drinking water direct from the river, so when I am in the film and drink water from a river I am acting, but inside myself I am talking to my ancestors as well. De Heer has made some of his most significant work with Indigenous artists, building on his close relationship with the late David Gulpilil, but any involvement by white filmmakers in telling Indigenous stories is now regarded as problematic. The Survival of Kindness is not an Indigenous story, but it raises similar questions; a journalist in Berlin asks whether he felt he was the right person to tell the story of a Black woman.

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Not so long ago, according to one Dr Alan Guttmacher, doctors used the word monsters as a quasi-medical term, handed down from an 18th-century midwives manual, for conjoined twins. Guttmacher was head of gynaecology at Mt Sinai, the hospital where the twin gynaecologists whose story was the inspiration for Dead Ringers briefly worked together. As a twin himself, he held firm views on the supposedly unhealthy psychology of the twin bond. All separate identical twins may be regarded as monsters who have successfully escaped the various stages of monstrosity, Guttmacher wrote in one of his many papers on the subject. In a way, he believed, identical twins who had separated in the womb were more at risk of being conjoined psychologically. At least conjoined twins had distinct identities, since they could not be mistaken for each other.

David Cronenbergs Dead Ringers, a 1988 film starring Jeremy Irons as twin gynaecologists called the Mantle twins, recycled many real-life details from the case of Stewart and Cyril Marcus, celebrity twin New York fertility experts whose lives collapsed into a morass of drug addiction, squalor and madness before they both died, one a few weeks after the other, in 1975.

Aspects of the Marcus case  the fact that they both chose to specialise in gynaecology, the balance of power between smooth operator Stewart and back-room plodder Cyril, the years of drug sprees, their final bacchanale combining Nembutal with childrens party food  were seamlessly threaded between Cronenbergs usual concerns of body horror, altered states of consciousness, the coercive nature of institutions and the blurring of sex and power.

Rachel Weisz in Dead Ringers. Credit:

Elliot, the dominant brother in his film, sets up and tries out sexual partners before passing them on to the more reticent Beverly, each pretending to be the other as circumstances demand. Its just a game, until they encounter perceptive actress Claire Niveau (Genevieve Bujold). Obsessed with Claire, Beverly feeds his addled energies into designing a range of hooked and pointed instruments for use on mutant women that nobody who saw the film will ever recall without wincing. Along with its many other fixations, Cronenbergs film twists a scalpel in the belly of misogyny.
WATERTON, AB, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - FortisAlberta Inc. celebrated a milestone today as the company completed the final commissioning of a unique reliability solution to meet the needs of the residents of the Town of Waterton and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit Waterton National Park each year. FortisAlberta is the province's largest distributor of electricity, serving almost 600,000 customer sites across central and southern Alberta.

FortisAlberta Logo (CNW Group/FORTISALBERTA INC)

Alberta's geographic and environmental diversity is a treasured part of the province's natural heritage, but it can pose challenges for those who live in remote areas, as well as to the utilities that work to provide them with energy year-round. For example, the time that it takes to restore electricity to customers living in remote areas like Waterton is typically longer, as these communities are connected to the grid by dedicated radial lines. For those living in Waterton, the fact that these lines pass over environmentally sensitive areas can make the use of traditional outage restoration methods even more complex.

"People choose to live in Waterton and tourists flock to this area because of the rugged beauty of the surroundings. We are proud to play a part in providing the people of Waterton with the electricity that they need to power their homes and businesses and welcome the world to this special area," says Janine Sullivan, FortisAlberta President and CEO. "We have known for some time that our customers in Waterton needed an innovative solution to improve local reliability and I am happy to say that our employees have addressed that need. FortisAlberta is excited to explore how the lessons that we learned in Waterton can help customers living in other remote communities."

As Curtis Eck, FortisAlberta's Vice President, Engineering explains, "We've designed and constructed a microgrid that will seamlessly transfer the community between grid and battery supply during large system disturbances." Mr. Eck confirms that the Waterton facility, which combines a Battery Energy Storage Solution (BESS) with solar photovoltaic (PV) renewable generation operated by Parks Canada, will leverage the company's existing advanced distribution control system to provide customers with up to four hours of backup power during peak periods.

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FortisAlberta completed the $6 million pilot project using a combination of funding obtained from Alberta Innovates and Emissions Reduction Alberta and Natural Resources Canada's Smart Grid Program. "This energy storage system is a positive development that will help strengthen the reliability of Waterton's grid," says Alberta's Minister of Affordability and Utilities, Matt Jones.

"The Government of Canada is pleased to support important projects like this, including through the Smart Grid Program. Solar power and battery storage are vital components of the energy mix as we build a prosperous and sustainable energy future," says The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources.

"Today's announcement is another step toward a reliable and sustainable energy grid for all Albertans and will also help ensure that one of our province's iconic tourism destinations has the infrastructure it needs to thrive," says The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance.

About FortisAlberta

As owner and operator of more than 60 per cent of Alberta's total electricity distribution network, FortisAlberta's focus is delivering safe and reliable electricity to almost 600,000 customer sites across central and southern Alberta. The Company serves more than 240 communities with 128,000 kilometres of distribution power lines across Alberta.

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The trail of dodgy workmanship and contract cost blowouts left behind by Western Australias stimulus-driven construction boom appears to be taking its toll on the justice system, with disgruntled clients waiting months for recourse.

New data released by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety shows 86 building disputes were lodged with the building commissioner in the month of March over workmanship and contractual disagreements.

The number of building complaints being referred to the State Administrative Tribunal has significantly increased in recent years. Credit: Craig Abraham

It takes the total number of complaints lodged this financial year to 745, which at the current rate may rival the whopping 1003 lodged in 2021/22.

The division is dealing with 546 active complaints, which are taking more than five months on average to close.
Snap Incs global chief executive, Evan Spiegel, insists his companys premier app Snapchat is not losing its quirky distinctiveness even as it courts influencers with features resembling those of its rivals TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

At a media conference overnight in California, Snap unveiled a host of new features designed to encourage more influencers to post on the platform in a move away from its origins a decade ago as a tool for friends to message each other. It also said it would make its AI chatbot, which has been a subscriber-only feature, available to all users.

Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel. Snapchat says it has 750 million monthly active users. Credit: Bloomberg

The announcements put it in a stronger position to pick up users from TikTok, which has been banned on government devices in Western countries including Australia and faces potentially being blocked outright in the US over national security concerns tied to its Chinese corporate ownership.

Figures released by Snap highlighted that in India, which blocked TikTok in 2020, time spent on the platform had soared 175 per cent between early 2021 when it launched its TikTok clone feature called Spotlight, and 2022. It did not provide the raw figures on which that percentage was based.
Khartoum, Sudan: Sudans rival generals on Wednesday made a new attempt at a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire after a failed truce the night before. But sporadic fighting continued, and aid groups said they needed guarantees and a wider window to help civilians trapped by five days of intense urban combat.

Terrified Sudanese fled Khartoum earlier in the day, hauling whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the capital, where forces loyal to the countrys top two generals have been battling each other with tanks, artillery and airstrikes since Saturday.

Terrified Sudanese are fleeing their homes in the capital Khartoum, witnesses say, after one internationally brokered ceasefire failed and rival forces battled in the capital for a fifth day. Credit: AP

The fighting became less intense in the first hours after the ceasefire took effect at 6pm, with sporadic clashes continuing in the city centre, said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors Syndicate, who was still in the capital. But he said neither side had provided guarantees to his group to facilitate movement of health care workers and ambulances.

Desperate residents of the capital have been running out of food and other supplies as they sheltered in their homes from the gun battles on the streets. Residents having no electricity and no running water in much of the city.
Singapore: For the past eight years Sirul Azhar Umar has been held in Australia for his part in a grisly, politically charged murder that rocked Malaysia and remains shrouded in mystery.

A member of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razaks police security detail while he was defence minister, Sirul was sentenced to death over the killing in 2006 of Mongolian translator and model Altantuyaa Shaariibuu in a jungle outside Kuala Lumpur but he had already fled to Australia. He was eventually arrested on an Interpol red notice and sent to immigration detention.

Sirul Azhar Umar was arrested in Australia in 2015 and has been held at Sydneys Villawood detention centre. Credit: Interpol

The Australian government has declined to extradite him since he and Azilah Hadri, another former Najib bodyguard, were condemned to be hanged for the crime in 2015, adhering to its policy of not deporting a prisoner to a country where they face execution.

Now, however, a major shift in Malaysias approach to capital punishment has opened up the possibility of the 51-year-old eventually being returned home.
London: Russian spy ships are mapping wind farms and key communication cables off the coast of Britain as part of plans to sabotage critical infrastructure.

Details of the covert ghost ship missions were revealed as the British government and its signals intelligence agency GCHQ warned of a surge in Russian-aligned hackers aiming to disrupt or destroy energy facilities such as power stations.

A fleet of Russian boats, often disguised as fishing trawlers or research vessels but with armed guards, have been observed by European intelligence agencies conducting mass reconnaissance close to British coastal energy and communications networks.

A wind farm off the coast of Whitstable on the north Kent coast in England. Credit: AP

Possible targets are believed to include internet cables, offshore wind farms and connectors carrying electricity and gas pipelines, an investigation found. One underwater research ship was tracked touring wind farms off the east coast of the UK, while another is thought to have entered the Moray Firth in Scotland on November 10 last year.
LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fraser Communications, one of the leading women owned marketing firms in Southern California, announced the appointment of Dr. Paul Simon as Senior Science Advisor. In this role Simon will report directly to the agency's Chief Executive Officer Renee Fraser. PhD. Simon previously served as Chief Science Officer for the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Simon has worked with Fraser on county-wide communications efforts in the past. In this new role Simon will guide outreach strategy and help the agency develop communications efforts with health-related clients across the agency.

Fraser Communications, one of the leading women owned marketing firms in Southern California, announced the appointment of Dr. Paul Simon as Senior Science Advisor.

"Dr. Simon is an exceptional healthcare professional with a track record of delivering outstanding results in the field of Public Health," said Renee Fraser, PhD. Founder, and CEO of Fraser Communications. "As a purpose -driven marketing firm, Fraser takes on some of the more difficult communication challenges related to Public Health on a national, state and county level. Our work includes campaigns to support the prevention of chronic illnesses, the treatment and prevention of substance use, smoking cessation, and preventing teens from vaping. Dr. Simon's knowledge of medicine, epidemiology and policy will add invaluable insights to our campaigns. We are excited to welcome him to our leadership team as we continue to grow our healthcare communications practice with an eye on Public Health."

In his role as Chief Science Officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Simon led the Department's efforts to integrate science into public health practice. He and his staff supported efforts across the Department in the areas of evidence-based practice, program evaluation, public health surveillance, population health assessment, health impact assessment, and other special studies. He also oversaw the Department's Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology, Office of Quality Improvement and Accreditation, Information Management and Analytics Office, and Center for Health Impact Evaluation.

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Simon is board certified in pediatrics and preventive medicine. He also completed a two-year fellowship in field of epidemiology with the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS Program) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1992 and then served as a Medical Epidemiologist in CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, assigned to the Los Angeles County HIV Epidemiology Program from 1992-1998. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a Research Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at USC Keck School of Medicine.

About Fraser Communications

Founded in 1998, Fraser is a premier, award-winning communications firm, and the only agency in the United States led by a psychologist. What sets Fraser apart from others is our deep and longstanding commitment to creating highly impactful campaigns that educate and build awareness for the public good by engaging in meaningful ways. Our award-winning work focuses on diminishing social inequalities  which includes ensuring that all California children receive the best possible start in life  particularly in our underserved communities throughout California. We are known for our ability to motivate action by touching people's minds and hearts through strategic creative and methodical research-based planning that resonates with key target audiences including African American, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ+. Frasers current client list includes: California Department of Public Health and Health Services, LADWP, Clean Power Alliance, LA Department of Public Health, Toyota, and Lexus.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fraser-communications-appoints-paul-simon-md-mph-as-senior-science-advisor-301802440.html

SOURCE Fraser Communications
On 18 and 19 April 2023, at the invitation of the Director General of the Customs Administration of Serbia, Mr. Branko Radujko, WCO Secretary General Dr. Kunio Mikuriya visited Belgrade, Serbia. He met with political and economic leaders and Customs management team to review the progress in Customs reform and modernization and to explore further cooperation.

Dr. Mikuriya met the Minister of Finance of Serbia, Mr. Sinisa Mali, who appreciated the WCOs vision in enhancing Customs connectivity based on global standards and digital technology as well as the investment in further development of people who apply these standards and use technology. He had another meeting with the Prime Minister of Serbia, H.E. Ms. Ana Brnabic, who pledged her political support for Customs reform, putting emphasis on human resource development and organizational aspect.

Secretary General Mikuriya visited the Horgos  Roszke border crossing point between Serbia and Hungary to observe the expansion of infrastructure on the Serbian side in an effort to respond to the growing increase in the amount of truck and passenger movements across the border. He also had a meeting with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia where he appreciated the good dialogue and partnership between Customs and Business.

Dr. Mikuriya concluded his mission with a meeting with senior officers of the Serbian Customs Administration at their headquarters. He took note of Serbias steady progress in digitalization of Customs procedures and the implementation of WCO standards, including Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) programmes. He pledged further support of the WCO for ongoing Customs modernisation process towards the improvement of economic competitiveness.
Fraser Institute

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadas environmental record outperforms a majority of comparable high-income countries worldwide, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.



As Earth Day approaches, Canadians should know that their country remains one of the cleanest on the planet, said Elmira Aliakbari, director of natural resource studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Environmental Ranking for Canada and the OECD: Third Edition.

The study ranks 34 high-income countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on a wide range of environmental indicators including air quality, water quality, greenhouse gases and waste management.

Canada ranks 14th overall with a score of 69.9 out of 100above the OECD average (65.5). Notably, many of the top ranked countries are clustered closely together. For example, Canada and 3rd place Ireland (which scored 75.2) are roughly five points apart. Sweden ranks 1st with a score of 81.5.

Canada ranks particularly high on several measures including 6th on the portion of the population exposed to unsafe air pollutants (with 98.2 per cent of Canadians exposed to levels of fine particulate matter that comply with the World Health Organizations air quality standard). And 8th on exposure to harmful fine particulate matter (smoke, fumes, etc.).

These results are especially impressive considering that, compared to many other OECD countries, Canada is much larger and colder (which means more fuel consumption and emissions) and has a large natural resources industry.

Despite our countrys massive size and cold climate, Canada fares well when compared to the best environmental performers in the world, Aliakbari said.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Elmira Aliakbari, Director of Natural Resource Studies, Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:

Bryn Weese, Director of Communications, (604) 688-0221 ext. 589,

bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org

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Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org




Freddie Mac

New Report Shows Impact of Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds

MCLEAN, Va., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) Multifamily released its annual Impact Bonds Report detailing the companys successful efforts to issue more than $15 billion in Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds since 2019. The annual report showcases how Freddie Macs Impact Bonds continue to support multifamily properties that address persistent housing challenges, particularly environmental and social issues, and provide additional transparency to investors.



Transparency is a foundational component to our Impact Bonds program, said Robert Koontz, the head of Capital Markets for Freddie Mac Multifamily. Through Freddie Macs annual Impact Bonds Report, we reiterate our commitment to reporting and summarize how we support rental housing that is green and affordable in communities that need it most. Each year, this report highlights our most impactful deals and how we are providing investors with innovative ways to support efficient and affordable housing.

The Impact Bonds Report highlights properties and impacts across Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds.

$5 billion in Green Bonds since 2019: Green Bonds are backed by Multifamily loans that incentivize energy- and water-efficiency improvements at workforce housing properties. Tenants in these properties are projected to save an average of $255 per unit annually through lower utility costs as a direct result of the green improvements. In 2022, the environmental impact included water improvements projected to save over 41 million gallons of water per year  the equivalent of filling the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., six times or the annual water usage for over 453 households across America. In addition, 94% of units supported by Green Bonds are affordable to families earning at or below 80% area median income.

$4.6 billion in Social Bonds since 2020: Social Bonds focus on supporting affordable housing by providing liquidity to financial institutions with a distinct mission of addressing affordable housing challenges or providing financing targeted toward underserved populations. Of the units financed with Social Bonds proceeds in 2022, 51.7% of the units are affordable to families earning at or below 50% AMI. Over 150 of the loans underlying Freddie Macs Social Bond issuances since 2020 have supported underserved populations including people with disabilities, senior citizens, farmworkers, veterans and homeless persons through transitional housing. Freddie Mac was recognized by Environmental Finance for Social Bond of the Year for a 2022 transaction of $92.8 million in social bonds, supporting affordable housing for over 1,500 senior citizens across four housing properties in Arizona.

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$5.4 billion in Sustainability Bonds since 2020: Sustainability Bonds attract capital to support residents economic mobility and, more broadly, generate community economic growth and sustainability. Nearly 90% of units at properties with financing supported by the bonds are affordable to families earning 60% of AMI or less. In 2022, Sustainability Bonds proceeds financed eight mixed-income properties, or 5.6% of all properties backing the Sustainability Bonds, with units affordable to tenants earning at or below 50% AMI and above 80% AMI. One of these properties is located in an Area of Concentrated Poverty, helping improve residential economic diversity, which leads to greater economic and social mobility within a community.

The full text of the report is available on Freddie Macs website at this link. Freddie Mac Multifamily is the nation's multifamily housing finance leader. Historically, more than 90% of the eligible rental units we fund are affordable to families with low-to-moderate incomes earning up to 120% of area median income. Freddie Mac securitizes about 90% of the multifamily loans it purchases, thus transferring the majority of the expected credit risk from taxpayers to private investors.

Freddie Macs mission is to make home possible for families across the nation. We promote liquidity, stability, affordability and equity in the housing market throughout all economic cycles. Since 1970, we have helped tens of millions of families buy, rent or keep their home. Learn More: Website | Consumers | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kate Hartig

(703) 903-3802

Kate_Hartig@FreddieMac.com




A full phaseout of Russian liquefied natural gas is possible for some EU states, energy commissioner says

The 'Golar Igloo' natural gas tanker arrived in the Netherlands on September 4. Siese Veenstra/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

The EU's stockpile of natural gas is at the highest level for April since 2011.

That means some EU states could phase out imports of Russian LNG, the bloc's energy commissioner said.

It would also entail increasing the share of renewables and further diversifying sources, Kadri Simson told the FT.

The European Union's stockpile of natural gas is at the highest level for the month of April since 2011, and that could help some member states break free from Russian supplies.

Early this month, storage hit 55.7% of capacity  about 20 percentage points above the five-year average  and the figure has since ticked up to 56.5% in the past few weeks, according to industry group Gas Infrastructure Europe.

"The EU's gas storages are more than half full, which means we finished this heating season in a comfortable position," Kadri Simson, the EU's energy commissioner told the Financial Times. "By increasing the share of renewables and further diversifying sources, full phaseout from Russian LNG will be possible for some member states."

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the Kremlin cut off its pipeline natural gas exports to Europe as retaliation for sanctions placed on its oil and petroleum products. But the EU continued to import Russian liquefied natural gas, which is transported via ships.

Much of the supply went unused, however, thanks to a mild winter. Gas storage could reach 90% capacity by this summer, a level that's typically reached by November.

For now, the EU continues to purchase Russian LNG at a rate higher than in 2021. It remains Russia's second largest importer of the energy supply.

Previously, Simson has called for EU countries and companies to not sign any further LNG contracts with Russia, with the aim of ending the bloc's dependence on Russian energy supplies.

But EU attempts to expand its LNG infrastructure  such as adding eight new regasification terminals in the next year  will really only make a difference mid-decade.

For its part, Russian natural gas company Gazprom said Tuesday that volume of gas available on the European market will be greatly affected by competition for LNG.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Apple Card holders just got a new perk. Members can now access a high-yield savings account paying far more than average  but only Americans have access for now.

Starting this week, Apple Card users have the option of using a savings account from Goldman Sachs paying out 4.15 per cent interest annually, according to a news release.

In comparison, major Canadian banks typically pay out between 1.5 to 2.5 per cent on savings accounts and 0 per cent on chequing accounts, according to Ratehub.ca. According to Apples release, their rates are more than 10 times the U.S. national average  on Monday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) listed national deposit rates for savings accounts as just 0.39 per cent.

The tech giants offer claims to have no fees, no minimum deposits and no minimum balance requirements. Users can sign up within minutes and manage their accounts through their Wallet app.

At the moment, only U.S. citizens or lawful residents can apply for the Apple Card. While Canadians have access to the Apple Pay service, the card and savings account are currently unavailable.

That said, a Canadian expansion may come soon  Canada approved Apple Cards trademark application in 2021, for example, while Apple CEO Tim Cook said they intended to expand the card into other countries during its launch in 2019.

One perk of the Apple Card is 3 per cent cash back on every purchase made. This Daily Cash will be automatically deposited into the new savings account. Users can also transfer cash in through a linked bank account or through their Apple Cash balance.

The money cant be withdrawn directly; instead, it must be transferred either into a linked bank account or ones Apple Cash card. There are no transfer fees attached, the company said.

Apple did not respond to the Stars requests for comment before publication.

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Canadas industry minister is calling on the countrys major telecom companies to come to an agreement over wireless service in Torontos subway system.

In a letter on Twitter, Francois-Philippe Champagne said he has taken note of Rogers Communications Inc.s recent announcement that its buying the company that owns the wireless network in the Toronto Transit Commission subway system.

The letter addressed to executives of Bell Canada, Telus Communications Inc., Quebecor Inc. and Rogers said arrangements are still not in place to ensure service is available to customers who are with a service other than Rogers.

Champagne said he wants the telecom companies to rectify the situation with urgency to reach agreements that would allow any company to access the TTC network.

He requested that the companies respond to his letter within 30 days detailing their respective statuses on the issue, as well as outlining a joint plan to offer mobile service to all customers.

BAI Communications Inc. won the contract to build and operate the TTCs public Wi-Fi and cellular network in 2012, but only Freedom Mobile signed on to provide coverage to its customers through BAIs network.

While customers not with Freedom have been unable to use BAIs network other than for 911 emergency calling for more than a decade, calls to make the system work for all Torontonians have surfaced after a spate of violent incidents on the TTC system.

As a condition of Rogers $26-billion purchase of Shaw Communications Inc., Quebecor acquired Freedom Mobile from Shaw.

Rogers has said it will upgrade the existing network, which covers abound a quarter of the subways underground tunnels, and will also build a 5G network for the entire system in around two years.

Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said last week that his company would not attempt to prevent any of the other telecom companies from offering service to their customers on Torontos subway system once Rogers takes control of the infrastructure.

Rogers is committed to provide access to all TTC riders, and thats why we took action and stepped up to acquire BAI Canada to modernize this critical network and open up access for all riders, Rogers spokesman Cam Gordon said in a statement on Wednesday.

As we have said from the outset, we are committed to working with all carriers.

Bell president and CEO Mirko Bibic responded to Champagne in his own letter on Wednesday evening. He told the minister that the company would only take part in the network if it has a chance to help build it with the other carriers, rather than have to pay access fees to Rogers in order to use the infrastructure.

It is astounding that this important project would be awarded to one party without a transparent open-bid process, wrote Bibic, who stated Bell has urged the TTC to require Rogers to implement a joint-build model.

We have also written to the CEO of Rogers asking for confirmation that Rogers will adopt the proven open access, joint build approach that has been a success in other major transit projects. We have not received a response.

Bibic told Champagne that Bell and Telus have jointly offered to acquire the BAI contract if Rogers wont agree to that model on its own. The offer includes a $10 million direct payment to the TTC for discretionary projects like transit safety improvements.

If Rogers neither invites its rivals to participate in a joint build, nor agrees to sell the contract, Bibic said Ottawa and the CRTC should compel Rogers to implement the joint-build model.

It is clear that Bell is prepared to step up to fund its portion of a state-of-the-art wireless network to serve all TTC commuters, he wrote.

Richard Gilhooley, a spokesman for Telus, said it agreed with Champagne that users of the TTC deserve to have the same world-class wireless connectivity below ground as they do on the streets of Toronto.

Telus continues to believe that a consortium approach to building the TTC network is the best way to ensure that redundancies are in place to allow for continuity of service in the event that one carrier suffers a network outage, Gilhooley said in an email.

This approach was applied during the construction of the network for the STM in Montreal and provided a great outcome for Montrealers.

Gilhooley said having multiple carriers operating their own equipment on the network means less congestion, a more resilient network, and a better overall customer experience.

Quebecor said it has received Champagnes letter and wants to assure Toronto residents that it will maintain services in the subway system where Freedom is currently the only telecom provider.

Providing quality services to commuters and to our customers, as Freedom has been doing for many years in Toronto, mirrors our philosophy and business plan at Videotron and at Quebecor, the company said in an email.

We will continue in this direction, with as much enthusiasm as ever in this competitive environment, to give Canadians more choice at more reasonable prices.

Speaking in Toronto last week, Staffieri promised the network will work for everybody.

One of Rogers priorities is to ensure 911 emergency calling is available throughout the subway system, and not just the portion currently covered by BAIs infrastructure.

We really need to figure out and implement on a timely basis 911 emergency calling throughout the subway transit system and it doesnt matter who youre on. It could be us, Bell, Telus, Videotron  it doesnt matter, Staffieri said.

We think its important for not just our customers but for Torontonians and that was our intent in doing this. If Bell, Telus want to step up and join in, were happy and open to having those discussions with them.

Champagnes letter asked the telecoms to include in their plan consideration of 988 calling once Canadas new suicide crisis line number is operational so that TTC riders can access the line.

Rogers has said talks with BAI began around a year ago.

 With files from Sammy Hudes

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B, TSX:SJR.B, TSX:BCE)

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TORONTO - The agency that operates Torontos subway system has rejected a proposal by Bell Canada to revamp its wireless cell service model in a way to prevent Rogers from charging its rivals a fee for their customers to access the network, calling it a non-starter.

The TTC will not consider Bells request to require a joint-build model, in which all carriers would own a stake in the network infrastructure, spokesperson Stuart Green said in a statement.

On Wednesday evening, Industry Ministry Francois-Philippe Champagne called on Canadas major telecom companies to reach a deal that would allow any company to access the TTC network after Rogers Communications Inc.s purchase of the existing operations. Rogers has said it is open to other providers signing on.

Bell president and CEO Mirko Bibic responded to the minister that his company would only take part in the network if it has a chance to help build it with the other carriers.

The neutral host model, where one company builds the infrastructure and others join through an operating agreement, is common practice and works well in other jurisdictions, said Green in an email.

To suggest, as this letter does, we tear up the contract reached after an open and public bidding process and instead award our wireless services to another consortium without a public tender is a non-starter for the TTC.

Green said the TTC stands by the public and transparent open tender process that began in 2009, which resulted in Australias BAI Communications being awarded a $25-million contract to build and operate the TTCs public Wi-Fi and cellular network three years later.

BAI agreed earlier this month to sell its Canadian operations to Rogers, which plans to build a 5G network for the entire subway system in around two years.

Bell willingly participated in that open tender process, ultimately being outbid by $20 million, Green said.

The current proposal between BAI and Rogers is a private business transaction/acquisition which Bell or others could have entered into at any time over the past 12 years.

He said the agency looked forward to all Canadian telcos banding together to provide wireless access to their customers while on the TTC, as is routinely done across the country on transit systems and in other public facilities.

But Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis noted that while the 2009 bidding process was open, Rogers acquisition of BAI with TTC approval was not subject to an open bid and other parties, including Bell, were not invited to participate.

We have proven time and again that the joint consortium model works for Canada, she said in an email, pointing to Montreals Metro system and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto.

This joint solution can be found in hundreds of public spaces across the country, including Torontos Union Station and in Ottawa.

In a response letter to Champagne on Thursday, Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri urged the minister to not get caught up in the rhetoric of our competitors, particularly the response from Bell ... which included many inaccuracies and unfounded accusations that are disrespectful to the process and are not in the best interests of the TTC and its riders.

He reiterated Rogers is committed to working with other wireless carriers if they choose to commit to work with us in the best interests of all.

In this specific situation relating to the TTC, we have been working with the TTC and BAI for over a year to open up access to the transit system, Staffieri said.

They have made it clear to us that no other carrier, other than Freedom, has made any constructive attempt to work with them to provide wireless services in the subway system.

Telus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his letter to Champagne on Wednesday, Bibic called it astounding that the project would be awarded to one party without a transparent open-bid process.

Bibic told Champagne that Bell and Telus have jointly offered to acquire the BAI contract if Rogers wont agree to a joint-build model on its own or do so by requirement from the TTC. Bibic said Ottawa and the CRTC should compel Rogers to implement the joint-build model if the company resists.

Telus said it agreed with Bell that a consortium approach to building the TTC network is the best way forward.

Only Freedom Mobile signed on to provide coverage to its customers since BAI won the rights to build the network.

While customers not with Freedom have been unable to use BAIs network other than for 911 emergency calling for more than a decade, calls to make the system work for all Torontonians have surfaced after a spate of violent incidents on the TTC system.

As a condition of Rogers $26-billion purchase of Shaw Communications Inc., Quebecor acquired Freedom Mobile from Shaw.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B, TSX:QBR.B, TSX:BCE, TSX:T)

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When pioneering British designer Mary Quant died last week at age 93, it sparked a week of interesting debate about who actually invented the miniskirt.

Quant, who dressed the youthquake that arose out of swinging London in the 1960s, never tried to take credit. While the miniskirt was named after Quants own Mini Cooper  she thought car and skirt shared a design sensibility  she declared in her autobiography that the miniskirt craze was started by young people.

She always maintained that the clothes she made and sold out of her Kings Road shop, Bazaar, were inspired by girls in London slashing their own hemlines higher and higher in response to the conservative fashions of the 1950s. It is a textbook case of a trend trickling up from the streets. That is why it spread so far and so fast.

The miniskirt marked a major moment of democratization in fashion, representing a breath of fresh air and youthful exuberance with a punch of rebellion. Bazaar was the epicentre of the action: part shop, part place to listen to jazz, have a drink, hang out, see and be seen.

During the 1960s, British-designed fashions largely dominated the West. London was considered the epicentre of youth culture and Mary Quants designs were seen by many as revolutionary, says Eve Townsend, lecturer and director of the Fashion Research Collection at the Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Quant, with her signature angular Vidal Sassoon bob, was the midwife of the mod look, influencing women everywhere to dress in the new, defiant spirit. The model Twiggy embodied the era in Quants clothes, complete with go-go boots. At the height of the trend, Quant proclaimed that the ideal miniskirt hem was four inches below ones bum. They had a kind of Look at me quality, she told Vogue in 1995. They said life is great.

The hemline shift had a huge impact, allowing women to move more freely through both their personal and professional lives. Quants exuberant fabrications helped, too.

The use of bright plaids and stripes, oversized polka dots, graphic daisies and monochromatic ensembles allowed woman to visually take up space in the workplace, said Townsend. She added that this clothing offered clues as to the wearers stance on several issues that impacted womens daily lives, including gender inequality and reproductive rights.

The movement spread. Futurist French designer Andre Courreges was busy giving the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture hives with his own determination to show some thigh. His 1964 Space Age collection crept above the knee, though the looks were still quite proper, anchored in structure and technical skill, finished with elegant accessories. When actors Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve began wearing Courreges famous Trapeze mini dresses, it gave the French twist on the look a high-fashion seal of approval.

After the first flush of mod fashion, the miniskirt settled into the fabric of life, with hems rising and falling at intervals. Trends used to be much more cohesive, with consumers following them more faithfully than we do now.

A big moment in shorter lengths came when Jackie Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Her Valentino wedding dress doesnt look shocking today at a few inches above the knee, but it marked a major shift for high society.

In the 1970s, the look went rock n roll: think Debbie Harry in a skin-tight black mini. Madonna took it pop in the 80s, at the same time as the Working Girl look  short skirts with power-shoulder blazers  took hold. The 90s was a big moment for minis, from the Spice Girls Girl Power stage costumes to Alicia Silverstones plaid mini kilts in Clueless to Kate Mosss elegant lingerie looks. There was a flurry of interest in the miniskirt when Pretty Woman came out, with Julia Roberts character pairing hers with thigh-high boots, a sex-forward power look that persists today.

The 2000s saw Paris Hilton raising hemlines in the clubs, a look copied by Abercrombie & Fitch fans everywhere. And on the runways, Tom Fords early 2000s Yves Saint Laurent minis gave way to Hedi Slimanes rock-inspired looks at the same design house during his mid-2010s tenure at the helm.

During the late 90s, the mini was a staple on the streets and in the office. The Y2K era saw it in the clubs and on the red carpet, said Townsend.

RELATED STORIES GTA Making a maxi impact with my Mary Quant mini

It girls have been playing with millennium comeback looks for a few years, but it was Miu Mius belted, supershort pleated minis of spring 2022 that were the harbinger of the next wave of miniskirt fascination. Last summer it had a moment again, with midriffs and legs both in plain view, said Townsend.

This summer seems more about shorts, on the runways and the streets. Lest we forget, those were a Quant innovation, too. Back then, they were called hot pants. She also brought the world go-go boots, coloured tights and playful berets, the idea of a shop as a multi-faceted social setting and accessible costume jewels.

As a jewelry historian, Ive enjoyed her use of bright oversized plastic accessories, said Townsend. The low price point of these items allowed many to participate in the purchasing and wearing of them. They were cheap, chic and incredibly fun.

Quants passing is a good reminder that at its best, fashion adds to the cultural conversation  and brings its wearer a sense of fun.

Leanne Delap is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for the Star and The Kit, where she writes about style and culture. Reach her via email: leannedelap@hotmail.com

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Should foreign-born Canadians who travel and give birth overseas automatically forfeit their right to pass on citizenship by descent?

Thats the question before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which has been asked to decide if Canada is violating the charter by restricting the passing of citizenship by descent to the first generation born abroad only.

The lawsuit was brought by 23 individuals from seven families that have been negatively affected by the loss of citizenship as a result of the so-called second generation cut-off rule introduced by former prime minister Stephen Harpers Conservative government in 2009.

The multi-generational litigants claim the law discriminates against their families based on their place of birth, violates their mobility and liberty rights, and disproportionately puts women at a disadvantage when they have to give birth outside of Canada due to circumstances beyond their control.

The government argues that theres no charter right to citizenship and Canada has never prevented any of the litigants from exiting or returning to the country, arguing that they made the personal choices to pursue international employment opportunities and have children abroad.

However, the families lawyers argued that governments position oversimplifies the complicated reality of the many moving parts of those choices, such as access to health care, cost of health care, risks of travel, loss of job and income and jeopardy to career advancement.

All of them are unable to pass on citizenship due to the circumstances of their birth. Their parents were Canadian citizens who went abroad temporarily for work or travel  Thats a circumstance beyond the control of the members of the first generation born abroad, co-counsel Ira Parghi told Justice Jasmine Akbarali on Wednesday.

Although they didnt choose to be born abroad, they are nonetheless now being penalized for having been born abroad.

The Canadian Citizenship Act has gone through numerous amendments since it came into effect in 1947. For years, it allowed Canadian parents to pass citizenship to their children born outside of Canada onto indefinite generations as long as the foreign-born descendants registered with the government by a certain age.

In 2009, the Harper government enacted and imposed a second generation cut-off for Canadians born abroad after Ottawas massive effort to evacuate 15,000 Lebanese Canadians stranded in Beirut during a month-long war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006.

Then immigration minister Diane Finley said the change was meant to discourage Canadians of convenience by ensuring citizens have a real connection to this country and not selling the Canadian citizenship short.

Minister Finley justified the second generation cut-off by invoking concerns about Canadians of convenience, who would never set foot in Canada, had no real connection to Canada and simply sought citizenship to preserve the option of living here, said Sujit Choudhry, co-counsel for the lost Canadians.

The applicants are not Canadians of convenience. They returned as small children. They spent their formative years here. They are Canadian. Canada is their home.

While Canadians born in Canada and naturalized Canadians could pass their citizenship to their children born abroad, Choudhry said Canadians born abroad by descent could not similarly do so.

Its an entirely arbitrary distinction and its the epitome of discrimination, he contended.

Currently, one option for lost Canadians is to ask the immigration minister for a discretionary grant of citizenship in exceptional cases where a person is stateless or faces special and unusual hardship or proven to be an exceptional value to Canada.

Alternatively, Canadian parents can sponsor their foreign-born children to the country through family reunification if they are underage.

The families lawyers said both pathways are tortuous and unprincipled with little transparency, and decisions are rendered at the whim of a government bureaucrat.

Victoria Maruyama, who was born in Hong Kong and came to Canada in 1980 when she was one-year-old, has had an uphill battle trying to secure Canadian citizenship for her two children. They were both born in Japan, where she met her Japanese husband, then an Air Force pilot, (he quit in 2017) while she was teaching English there in 2002.

In 2017, she brought her children to Canada on visitors visas with the intent to raise them in her homeland. She made a plea to the immigration minister for Canadian citizenship for her kids while fighting to get them into public school and access to health care.

She subsequently applied for a discretionary citizenship grant by the minister and sponsored her young family for permanent residence.

This concept of choice is very problematic when used in such a simple way, Parghi told court.

Born in Libya, Patrick Chandler grew up in Mississauga and studied at the University of Toronto before teaching English in China, where he met his wife, Fiona. Both his children were born in Beijing.

In 2017, Chandler returned to Canada to start his family sponsorship but left his family behind because they wouldnt be eligible for provincial health insurance or able to attend public schools.

It is true that there is an alternative pathway which was to get permanent residency first and then citizenship. It is true thats what the Chandler family did, Parghi said. But in order to get that permanent residency, they had to endure the yearlong separation whose effects were so devastating.

The hearing resumes Thursday with arguments from the government.

Clarification  April, 25, 2023: This story has been updated to clarify that Victoria Maruyamas husband was an Air Force pilot when they met, but quit in 2017.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) stands next to Christian Bruch, President and CEO of Siemens Energy, in front of a turbine of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as Scholz gives a statement during a visit on August 3, 2022 at the plant of Siemens Energy in Muelheim an der Ruhr, western Germany. SASCHA SCHUERMANN / Getty Images

Germany plans to set up a $2.2 billion fund to support domestic raw material production, per Bloomberg.

The fund will help the country secure more of its own commodities and cut its reliance on China.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine made it clear how dependent Germany was on Russia for natural gas.

Germany aims to set up a fund worth up to $2.2 billion to support domestic production and mining of raw materials and cut off its reliance on China, according to a Wednesday Bloomberg report.

The fund could launch next year if policymakers agree on financing, the report said.

A spokesperson for the Economy Ministry of Germany confirmed to Bloomberg that it's working on a "raw materials fund to support raw materials projects at home and abroad."

With nations around the world vying for key electric-vehicle and chip-making materials, Germany's move would help it position itself to be more self-dependent, given that it relies on imports for 90% of crucial commodities, data from DIW Berlin shows.

China, for its part, leads the way as a top supplier.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine revealed just how dependent Germany was on Moscow for natural gas shipments. In 2021, Russia account for 55% of Germany's natural-gas imports, Reuters reported.

The European Union more broadly is looking to ramp up domestic refining and processing of raw materials, and has been negotiating with the US for a potential deal which would help the bloc reduce its reliance on China.

Meanwhile, China is in the midst of a rebound coming out of the pandemic, and some of Wall Street's top banks raised their economic forecasts for the country. The banks predict China's GDP will grow by roughly 6% in 2023.

Read the original article on Business Insider
GRANDE CACHE, ALBERTA - Alberta RCMP say a 28-year-old educational assistant is facing six charges related to the sexual exploitation of two minors.

Mounties are identifying the accused as JJ Lenin Butler from the western Alberta hamlet of Grande Cache.

They say he was arrested Tuesday and charged with three counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual exploitation and one count of possessing child pornography.

RCMP say Butler has been released from police custody with conditions and is set to appear in court on May 4.

Mounties did not identify the school Butler worked at and say they will not release details about the charges he faces.

They say investigators believe there may be more victims and are encouraging people to come forward.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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HALIFAX - A Nova Scotia judge has ruled that a former medical student who killed another student during a drug deal  and then disposed of his body  will be eligible for parole in about seven-and-a-half years.

Justice Jamie Chipman ruled in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that William Sandeson should spend at least 15 years in prison for firing a single bullet into the head of 22-year-old physics student Taylor Samson. Both men attended Dalhousie University in Halifax.

(Sandeson) made a reprehensible and incomprehensible choice, Chipman said in his oral decision. Instead of entering medical school, Mr. Sandeson entered jail in the summer of 2015.

The judge said that since the 30-year-old murderer had already spent seven years and eight months in jail, Sandeson can apply to the parole board for conditional release in 2030.

If he is released at that time or some future time, he has the potential to be a contributing member of society, Chipman said.

Sandeson testified during his jury trial that he fired his handgun at Samson in self-defence on Aug. 15, 2015, but the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder on Feb. 18.

On Thursday, Chipman refuted Sandesons claims, saying, I categorically reject the notion that Mr. Sandeson had any reason to fear Samson.

Sandeson said during his trial he had thrown the body  which has never been found  in a tidal river near his familys home outside Lower Truro, N.S. The judge said this act was an aggravating factor that added years to the sentence.

Those convicted of second-degree murder face an automatic life sentence, but a judge can set parole eligibility between 10 and 25 years.

The six-week trial marked the second time Sandeson was tried for Samsons murder. He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2017, but the verdict was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered in 2020. A conviction of first-degree murder brings an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Crown lawyer Carla Ball had argued for 22 years in jail before parole eligibility, which would have made Sandeson ineligible for parole until 2037, while defence lawyer Alison Craig argued for a sentence of between 10 and 12 years.

Ball argued that while Sandeson didnt have a criminal record, he was involved in dealing drugs at the time of the murder and had planned an armed robbery of Samson.

Craig, however, said, sometimes a drug deal gone bad is just a drug deal gone bad. There doesnt have to be a deep dive into some sort of psychological root cause.

Chipman said his decision to seek middle ground in determining parole eligibility was based on his finding that while the crime was abhorrent, he could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that it was calculated.

He also said he hoped that with the passage of time the court can only hope that William Sandeson will some day become a productive community member again while Taylor Samsons memory will serve to inspire the lives of those whom he touched and continues to touch through his time on Earth.

During Thursdays hearing, Chipman heard a series of victim impact statements from friends and family.

Samsons mother, Linda Boutilier, said in a written statement submitted to the court that after her son was killed she repeatedly walked back roads between Halifax and Truro, N.S., searching for his body or some clue to where he might be found.

Most people can go to a loved ones resting place to visit, she wrote. Taylors resting place should not be some place hidden in the woods or out in the bottom of the ocean.

Samsons girlfriend at the time of his death, Mackenzie Ruthven, told the court she felt robbed of the chance to say goodbye to him.

We dont get to laugh or cry, bring him flowers, or process our trauma in his presence, she said on the witness stand.

The Crown had argued during the trial that Sandeson was motivated by greed to kill Samson and steal the nine kilograms of marijuana he had brought to Sandesons downtown apartment to sell. During the trial, prosecutor Kim McOnie said Sandeson had planned to sell the stolen marijuana to clear a $78,000 debt just as he was starting medical school at Dalhousie.

She also told the jury Sandeson had purchased cleaning products in anticipation of destroying evidence of a bloody crime scene.

Testifying in his own defence, Sandeson rejected all of those arguments. He said he brought his 9-mm semi-automatic handgun to the drug deal to intimidate Samson, not to kill him.

Sandeson admitted to disposing of the body but denied the Crowns allegation that he dismembered the corpse to make it easier to handle.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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CALGARY - The Federal Court has agreed to allow the lawyer for a former truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash to argue against his possible deportation.

In 2019, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm in the Saskatchewan crash that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.

Court was told that the rookie Calgary trucker, a newly married permanent resident, went through a stop sign at a rural intersection and drove into the path of the Humboldt Broncos bus carrying players and staff to a junior hockey league playoff game in April 2018.

The Canada Border Services Agency recommended last year that Sidhu be handed over to the Immigration and Refugee Board to decide whether he should be deported to India.

Michael Greene, Sidhus lawyer, said the Federal Court has decided to hear the case in July. He said it is good news for his client, who is now working in the construction industry after being released on parole from prison.

Theyre happy to finally hear some good news because good news has been in short supply for them, Greene said about Sidhu and his family.

There are lot of compelling facts and its a difficult issue because youve got on the one hand the level of pain and suffering caused and, on the other, youve got someone whos got a lot going for him and hes definitely not your normal criminal. To call him a criminal is a stretch.

The hearing is to be heard in Calgary and Greene said its unlikely the court will offer an immediate ruling.

If he is successful, the matter would be sent back to Canada Border Services Agency for another review. He had indicated previously the original officer put all the weight of his decision on the gravity of the harm caused.

It doesnt mean he gets to stay in Canada. He gets another crack at it. This still brings up the systemic problem the way the system is designed, Greene said Thursday.

Youve basically got enforcement officers making the decision and their job is to enforce, and trying to persuade them to allow him to remain in Canada almost goes against their grain.

The Canada Border Services Agency has previously declined to comment on Sidhus case, but said there are multiple steps built into the process to ensure procedural fairness.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. - Friends, family and hundreds of officers gathered Thursday for a regimental funeral, where an RCMP constable who died on duty was remembered for his kindness, openness and generosity.

Const. Harvinder Singh Dhami, a member of the Strathcona County detachment east of Edmonton, died in a crash while on his way to help other officers with a noise complaint early on April 10.

He was my person, his widow, Ravinder Dhami-Randhawa, said while holding back tears. The most generous, giving and optimistic person.

During her eulogy, Dhami-Randhawa said the morning she received news that her husband had died was a nightmare.

I woke up abruptly to the knocks on the front door  a sound that will forever haunt me.

The two were together for 12 years.

Dhami-Randhawa said her husband made her feel safe and protected since the day they met.

He was the reason I felt safe  not because he was an officer, because thats who Harv was, she said.

I do not feel safe anymore.

Every part of my life, my home, my past, my present and my future, was intertwined with Harv. Today, I stand here empty and broken in ways that I cannot put together.

The 32-year-old officer, affectionately known as Harvey, was described as a dependable colleague who was proud to wear his uniform.

Dhami graduated from the RCMP Academy in 2019 before he was posted to Strathcona County.

Previously in Brampton, Ont., Dhami volunteered for three years serving meals to elderly members of the Punjabi community.

Before the funeral, dozens of people lined streets in Sherwood Park as hundreds of police officers marched with a white hearse carrying Dhamis casket, wrapped in a Canadian flag, to a recreation centre.

Were here to support the fallen officer, said Cheryl Yaremchuk, who was bundled up along the procession route on the chilly morning.

We so appreciate his service.

RCMP Chaplain Shay Anderson considered Dhami a close friend.

I found him incredibly easy to talk to  an open book, Anderson said before he delivered the opening prayer. He had such a humble attitude.

His memory will be cherished by everyone.

Childhood friend Aman Chaggar said he thought of Dhami as a brother.

We would not be the people we are today without Harv, said Chaggar in his eulogy.

In January 2021, Strathcona County victim services recognized Dhami for knowing the value of post-incident supports and sharing them with victims.

Gurvinder Dhami, who is a constable with Peel Regional Police west of Toronto, said the last time he spoke in front of a group of people about his little brother was during his best man speech.

My brother was a remarkable human being. He was the very essence of what it means to be a good, kind and compassionate person.

He said he and his brother had an unbreakable bond. He then brought their mother to the podium.

Always, we love you, said the woman.

Ardaas, a Sikh prayer, was done in Punjabi before RCMP officers dressed in Red Serge carried the casket away. The hearse drove down a road from the recreation centre, where hundreds of officers again stood along the route.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

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EDMONTON - Ivan Pylypchuk was finally getting used to his new early-morning routine commuting to his job at a construction company, which the Ukrainian newcomer joined two days after moving to Canada with his wife and daughter.

He would wake up at 5 a.m. every day and head out at 6 a.m. But on the morning of April 13, less than two weeks after his arrival in Canada, things were different.

Pylypchuk had just bought a fresh cup of coffee from Tim Hortons, making the best of the 15-minute window between connecting buses to work.

As he waited at the stop in southeastern Edmonton, police say an unknown man approached Pylypchuk from behind and stabbed him. The attacker then fled the area on foot.

Pylypchuk dialed 911 and reported the attack seconds before he collapsed and lost consciousness.

He didnt even have a sip of his coffee when he was stabbed at the bus stop, his wife, Yulia Pushkar, said in Ukrainian as a friend, Leonid Leshchinsky, interpreted.

Almost a week after the attack, Pushkar said her husband was feeling better.

Im very happy that he is alive and survived the attack, she said.

It took a four-hour-long surgery and a few days in the intensive care unit for Pylypchuks health to stabilize. Pushkar said their eight-year-old daughter was scared to go meet her father in the hospital.

She hugged him for the first time (on Tuesday), she said. Pylypchuk was moved out intensive care on Monday, but remains in the hospital. His wife said doctors are not sure when he will be discharged.

Alberta Health says the family will not be asked to pay hefty hospital bills.

Ukrainian evacuees are eligible for health insurance coverage in Alberta from the date of their arrival, said press secretary Scott Johnston. This applies to all evacuees who havent applied for health coverage, but are in need of emergency or urgent care.

Pushkar said it would take somewhere between six months to a year for her husband to completely recover.

Even after Pylypchuks recovery, he will most likely be limited to how much he can lift at his construction job, and will likely need another type of work, Pushkar said.

The Edmonton-based construction company that Pylypchuk was working for hasnt fired him, said Leshchinsky, who lives in Ottawa. The company (acknowledges) it wasnt Ivans fault (he got attacked).

They just came to Canada (and) he is the main source of income  (Pushkar) doesnt have English, said Leshchinsky.

Pylypchuk and his family moved to Canada via Sweden after their home in a town about 550 kilometres southeast of Kyiv was shelled and damaged. Pylypchuk was a manager at a local metallurgy company and had been helping friends who had been conscripted to fight for Ukraine after Russias invasion began in early 2022.

There was some explosion near our home and it left some cracks. We couldnt repair it. We had to leave, Pushkar said.

She said the family was looking for a peaceful country and a better life.

We were dreaming about Canada for a long time.

But the random attack on Pylypchuk has scared Pushkar and their daughter, she said.

Im afraid that it can happen again.

Edmonton police said theyre still investigating the attack, and a suspect is yet to be arrested.

Although they dont have plans to leave Canada, Pushkar said theyre looking for a permanent rental accommodation in a safer neighbourhood as her husband continues to recover.

Leshchinsky, the only point of contact for Pylypchuk and his family in Canada, started a crowdfunding campaign that has raised almost $120,000 since Wednesday.

Last year, two Ukrainian newcomers were attacked in Winnipeg. One of them was stabbed in the neck while the other was bear sprayed. Two 19-year-old men were charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, while a 15-year-old boy was detained in a youth facility for the attacks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2023.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Gov. Tim Walz drew stark contrasts between Minnesota and Republican-led states Wednesday night, using his State of the State speech to highlight how he and his fellow Democrats have used their new control over state government to push through an ambitious liberal agenda.

Walz, now three months into his second term, told lawmakers and other dignitaries in the House chamber how Minnesota Democrats are bucking the backlash seen in red states across the country against abortion rights, trans rights, pushes for racial equity and other cultural flashpoints.

Ive seen some of my fellow governors on TV  they find a lot of time to be on TV  and I hear them talking about freedom, Walz said. But it turns out what they really mean is that government should be free to invade your bedroom, your childrens locker room, and your doctors office.

Walz didnt name Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or other GOP leaders who've gained national followings by fighting against the woke left, but his targets were clear.

Its not up to me how folks in those places, folks like Florida go about their business, he said. But I got to tell you, Im pretty glad we do it our way here and not that way.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, quipped afterward that DeSantis is probably off Walzs Christmas card list now.

The 2022 elections gave Minnesota Democrats control over both chambers of the Legislature and the governors office for the first time in eight years. Walz called it a new mandate for action  a chance to set aside the old fights in favor of doing something truly historic for our children and our grandchildren.

The governor noted that he has already signed legislation or issued executive orders this year to protect abortion rights in the wake of last years U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade; to make Minnesota a refuge for patients coming from other states to get abortions; and for trans youth coming from other states to seek gender-affirming care.

While other states ban books from their schools, Walz said, Minnesota schools are banishing hunger from theirs. He has already signed a bill making school meals free for all students beginning this fall. He also signed a bill allowing drivers licenses for all, regardless of immigration status. He signed one allowing convicted felons to vote once they get out of prison, and another making Juneteenth a holiday. And he signed yet another requiring Minnesota utilities to get 100% of their electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040.

If theres one thing I hope folks across this country recognize and take away from what were doing here in Minnesota, is its amazing what you can accomplish when you stop complaining about corporations going woke and start giving a damn about real people and real lives.

Walz also used his speech to promote his budget proposals. The House and Senate have been debating several major budget bills this week, most of which are broadly similar to his own proposals. He mentioned tax credits for families that he says would reduce child poverty by 25%. He renewed his call for direct tax rebates from the states enormous $17.5 billion budget surplus. And he mentioned his support for bolstering funding for public schools.

The governor also highlighted his support for gun safety legislation thats been advancing this session  background checks and a red flag law  after being blocked by Republicans for years.

Minnesotans, and I especially amongst them, are not going to stand by and let people keep making this about the Second Amendment when its really about our first responsibility  keeping our children safe, Walz said. Be very clear: the time for hiding behind thoughts and prayers is long gone. What we need is action and we need it now.

Republican legislative leaders told reporters afterward that they wanted to hear the governor support bigger tax cuts and more about fighting crime.

What we saw was a national campaign speech out there, ignoring the needs of Minnesotans across this state, Johnson said.

With a record budget surplus of $17.5 billion, returning that to Minnesotans, reducing government, and the costs, is what our Minnesota residents are looking for, said House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring.

But House Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said she and her fellow Democrats came away inspired and share the governors apprehensions about whats happening in Republican-led states.

All you have to do is read in the newspaper whats happening in some of these other states. Its horrifying and its frightening, Hortman said, citing abortion, trans rights and the culture wars. Its frightening and there is definitely a very big difference between red states and blue states right now.

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WASHINGTON - A trove of leaked Pentagon secrets included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau privately telling NATO that Canada would never meet the military alliances targets for defence spending, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

One document in particular, unsigned and undated, includes that blunt assessment among other widespread military deficiencies in Canada that are causing friction with security partners and allies, the newspaper says.

The Post report, published online Wednesday, describes it as a Pentagon assessment and does not include any direct quotes from Trudeau himself, nor many from the document beyond single words.

NATO, for instance, is concerned that Canada hasnt added to its battle group in Latvia. Turkey was disappointed by Canadas refusal to help transport aid after an earthquake earlier this year. Haiti is frustrated by Canadas reluctance to mount a security mission.

Widespread defence shortfalls hinder Canadian capabilities, the Post quotes the document as saying, while straining partner relationships and alliance contributions.

It all points toward a U.S. perception of the Canadian Armed Forces as underfunded and ill-equipped, making it hard for Canada to maintain ties among allies and impairing its international reputation.

Defence Minister Anita Anand rejected any suggestion that allies are expressing concerns about Canadas contributions, as she prepared to meet with around 50 counterparts this week at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Germany.

She said spending was a topic of discussion Wednesday when she met with David Cohen, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

We spoke about our defence spending, generally speaking, and we discussed the upward trajectory of our defence spending and in fact how Canada continues to make foundational investments for the Canadian Armed Forces, she said in an interview.

Anand pointed out that the Liberal government has committed to nearly $40 billion on Norad modernization and North American defence, along with $8 billion in military spending announced in the 2022 budget.

As for Latvia, Canada has launched an urgent, competitive procurement process to equip troops there with anti-tank, anti-drone and anti-air defence systems, Anand said.

Planning with the other 10 countries involved in the Canadian-led battle group is still ongoing.

Criticism of defence spending has been a political mainstay in Ottawa, as it is elsewhere around the world. NATO wants its members to spend at least two per cent of their GDP on defence  a target Canada consistently fails to reach.

Canada has always been one that has depended too heavily upon other nations to provide that collective security. And we definitely have benefited from it, Conservative defence critic James Bezan said Wednesday.

Its time for us to step up and make sure that we pull our weight, especially in these dangerous times that we find ourselves in.

Asked about the Post story Wednesday, Trudeau did not acknowledge the report directly or explain precisely what he said to alliance officials.

I continue to say, and will always say, that Canada is a reliable partner to NATO, a reliable partner around the world, he said.

The Post report says the Forces warned back in February that a major military operation would be impossible, given its ongoing support for Ukraine and its support role leading a NATO battle group in Russia-adjacent Latvia.

The story doesnt linger on what that operation might be, but the U.S. has been keen to see someone lead a multinational support mission in gang-ravaged Haiti, and officials have even name-checked Canada as a worthy option.

No such commitment materialized last month after President Joe Bidens Ottawa visit. But that meeting with Trudeau did address other military shortcomings identified in the document, most notably with a promised $14-billion investment in the continental defence system known as Norad.

Canada has faced criticism domestically and around the world for a perceived reluctance to meet NATOs spending expectations.

Its embarrassing, Bezan said.

Here he is telling Americans behind the scenes that theres no chance that well do it. That is undermining our bilateral relationship, and not just on the security front.

NATO established the two per cent threshold in 2006 to ensure ongoing military readiness and provide an indicator of a countrys political will to contribute to NATOs common defence efforts, the alliance says on its website.

Canada was among the allies who signed on in 2014 to aspire towards that target.

The U.S. has shouldered an outsized share of the burden; total spending of all other allies is only about half of American expenditures on defence  a constant, with variations, throughout the history of the alliance.

But Anand said she believes Canadians care about results, and the target is only one way of measuring our contributions.

There arent many other countries that can say that they have trained 36,000 Ukrainian soldiers, she said, while also responding to natural disasters at home and increasing their presence in the Indo-Pacific.

Since the start of Russias war in Ukraine, Canada has provided more than $1.3 billion in military aid, including armoured vehicles, cannons, ammunition and eight Leopard II tanks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.

 With files from Stephanie Taylor and Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa

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OTTAWAWhen NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh turned up in front of Parliament Hill Wednesday to join thousands of striking federal workers, the picket line all but turned into a party line.

After all, Singh has noted repeatedly in recent days, his party has always stood on the side of unions.

They deserve respect, Singh told reporters, more than half of his partys caucus behind him and strikers eagerly crowding around to snap photos.

So were going to keep putting pressure on the government to deliver a respectful contract that understands the struggles these workers are going through.

But for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the calculus of where to stand Wednesday was more complicated.

In the months since becoming leader, hes positioned his party as that which speaks for the working class, as opposed to what he calls the elite Liberals or costly NDP.

Polls suggest he has momentum, with union workers appearing poised to back the federal Conservatives similar to how they swung to the side of Premier Doug Ford in the last Ontario election.

But join striking public servants on the picket line? For Poilievre  whose party used back-to-work bills in government, routinely disparaged the public service and who was a fierce advocate for union-busting legislation  that might be going too far.

Could Liberals lose power?

Still, how Poilievre and Singh will navigate the historic strike now underway will be a test of their respective claims to be the so-called workers vote  and may also test the future of the Liberal government itself.

That upwards of 100,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) workers are off the job follows a period last fall when the Liberals were raked over the coals for the shoddy state of service delivery: people were lining up for days to get passports and immigration backlogs were at historic levels, among other things.

From that situation emerged a Conservative catch phrase: everything feels broken.

As talks with the unions were underway last year, the subject of many a closed-door discussion at the Liberals cabinet retreat was the labour landscape in front of them.

How would they survive the fallout from the fall, then navigate a strike?

How would negotiations with their workers impact talks with unions in other federally-regulated industries or efforts to get auto sector or oil and gas unions onside with their climate policy ambitions?

Recent budgets have been chock full of programs and money for workers in those sectors. In recent town halls, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau has made a point of visiting shop floors and union halls to make his case that his government has their back.

Theres also the question of precedent: whatever deal they reach with the public sector could have an impact on private sector unions and those wage talks.

Treasury Board Minister Mona Fortier suggested Wednesday the government knows there are cascading implications.

I think its important that we get to this wage offer that will not compromise what other jurisdictions are also working on and putting pressure on those jurisdictions and the private sector, she said.

So I think that we have the right path forward and we will, of course, work very hard to get to it.

Poilievre blames Trudeau

For a time Wednesday, the Conservatives werent even sure what path they were going to take  its the Liberals problem, not ours, insiders said.

But eventually they landed on a talking point of exactly that shape.

How will the prime minister fix the government he broke? Poilievre asked Trudeau during question period.

The NDPs Singh jumped ahead to the next potential political pressure point: back-to-work legislation, which could be used by Ottawa to end the strike and impose an arbitration process or contract on both parties.

The NDP repeatedly pressed the Liberals during question period for a commitment they wouldnt introduce such a bill, accusing them of being Conservative in spirit if they do.

Singh also said despite his partys governing agreement with the Liberals  which could see the New Democrats prop up the minority Liberals until 2025  the NDP were not looped into the negotiations.

Early on in the formation of that agreement, the NDP had made it clear that even if they were partners with the Liberals, theyd never  ever  support any decision to bring in a back-to-work law.

Thats led to speculation over whether the governing deal might dissolve should the Liberals move forward with back-to-work legislation, particularly if the government treats the vote as a confidence matter.

But Jennifer Howard, Singhs chief of staff, quashed some of that conjecture Wednesday.

If introducing the law becomes a confidence vote, the NDP, as Singh has already indicated, will vote against it.

If no other party wants to vote with them, then I guess were in an election, Howard said.

But if theres a scenario in which the NDP votes against the law and another opposition party supports it  thereby allowing the Liberal government to survive  the deal could still emerge unscathed, Howard told the Star.

Whats in the agreement commits us to supporting budgets, in exchange for certain things, and on other matters of confidence, commits us to be clear and forthright about what we would do and we have fulfilled that on our end, Howard said.

Howard, who worked as an executive director for PSAC before joining Singhs office, also took a shot at Poilievres failure to connect with workers on the first day of the strike.

If youre a party that claims to support workers, to believe that people who do the work deserve fairness and respect  which is a good wage and good benefits  then you have to support their ability to fight for those things, she said.

The last time the Liberals used back-to-work legislation  to end a Montreal port workers strike in 2021  the Tories backed the bill, over the objections of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois.

Would the party do the same under Poilievre? All they would say Wednesday is that they arent the ones in charge.

We are not at the negotiating table, Treasury Board critic Stephanie Kusie said.

This is in the hands of the incompetent Justin Trudeau and his team, and we really hope that he resolves this strike soon.

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Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Medical Carts Market, By Type, By Application, By Material Type, By Payload, By End User, By Distribution Channel, Estimation & Forecast, 2017-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global medical carts market held a market value of USD 1,576.22 million in 2021 and is estimated to reach USD 4,003.25 million by the year 2027. The market is projected to list a CAGR of 11.24% during the forecast period. The market volume was estimated to be 2,178 thousand units in 2021, and is projected to rise at a CAGR of 9.77% over the anticipated period.

Due to the rising demand for quick and simple access to medical supplies and the widespread use of medical carts, the market for medical carts is expected to experience significant expansion throughout the forecasted period. Additionally, the growing investment in strategic actions is probably what will drive the market's expansion.

The major market players also actively participate in strategic efforts like joint ventures, product launches, and collaborations. Due to the rising need for medical carts in these nations, the Asia Pacific market for medical carts is also predicted to rise at the quickest rate. Based on type, application, material type, payload, end user, and distribution channel, the market is divided.



One of the major drivers of the medical carts market's expansion is the emergence of telemedicine and telehealth as well as technological developments in medical carts. The use of mobile carts is expanding as a result of constantly improving technology that provides better layout, construction, alternatives, and features that satisfy consumer needs.

For instance, in December 2021, Advantech, a well-known supplier of medical computer systems and services, added the AMiS-30EP pole cart to its AMiS product range. This product can be equipped with a range of monitors and devices, depending on the application. These technological advancements will probably cause the industry to grow soon.



Due to associated advantages like being portable and mobile, requiring less space, and providing one-stop solutions for all clinical requirements of the caregiver, these carts are most frequently used by point-of-care facilities. Throughout the forecast period, the segment is expected to hold its position.



Rise in the need for rapid and easy accessibility to medical supplies



The need for medical carts is anticipated to increase in the coming years since these carts boost nursing productivity and enable better patient care.

Story continues

Medical cart innovations including the availability of light items with better mobility and ergonomics are anticipated to improve the usage of these devices. The safety of nursing personnel is increased by the availability of handle and wheel mounts to the proper and appropriate sizes of batteries.



Increase in the geriatric population



According to a WHO estimate, the percentage of people over 60 in the world would increase from 12% to 22% between 2015 and 2022. 80 percent of the elderly population in 2050 will reside in low- and middle-income nations. Furthermore, between 2050 and 2100, the number of people 80 or older is predicted to triple, reaching around 426 million.



Declining mortality rates, which are reflected in rising levels of life expectancy at birth, contribute to population expansion. In 2019, the average life expectancy in the world was 72.8 years, an increase of over 9 years since 1990. The average lifespan worldwide is anticipated to reach 77.2 years in 2050 as a result of further mortality reductions. Thus, the rise in geriatric population fuels the demand for medical carts.



Segments Overview:



By Type

Anaesthesia Carts

Emergency Carts

Procedure Carts

Computer Medical Cart

Medical Laboratory Utility Cart

Others

The emergency carts segment held the highest market share of more than 35% in 2021. Moreover, the computer medical cart segment is also expected to grow at a steady rate. The medical computer cart is designed to reduce the workload for nurses and other healthcare professionals.



By Application

Medical Supply Storage

Surgical Tool Holding

Transporting and Dispensing Medications Systems

Laboratory

Others

The transporting and dispensing medications systems segment is expected to hold the largest CAGR of 11.81% over the anticipated period.



By Material Type

Plastic

Wood

Stainless Steel

Metal

Others

The stainless steel segment is expected to reach USD 1,020.55 million by 2030.



By Payload

50 kg

65 kg Systems

80 kg

150 kg

180 kg

Others

The 65 kg systems segment is expected to grow at a highest CAGR of 11.29% with largest market share.



By End User

Hospitals

Clinic

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Trauma Centers

Others

The hospitals segment held the highest share close to 46% in 2021.



By Distribution Channel

Direct Tender

Third Party Distributors

Others

The third party distributors segment is projected to grow highest at the highest CAGR of more than 10% over the anticipated period.



Regional Overview



By region, the global medical carts market is divided into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and South America.



The North America market for medical carts held the largest market share of more than 30% in 2021. On the other hand, the Asia Pacific market for medical carts is estimated to grow the highest with a growth rate of 12.01% over the forecast period.



Competitive Landscape



Advantech Co. Ltd, AFC Industries Inc., Altus Inc., Bergmann Group, Capsa Healthcare, Enovate Medical, Ergotron Inc., Harloff Manufacturing Co., InterMetro Industries Corporation, ITD GmbH, Jaco Inc., Joy Factory Inc., Medical Master Co., Ltd., Midmark Corporation, Midwest Products & Engineering, Omnicell Inc., The Bergmann Group, Waterloo Healthcare, McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc., and others are the leading companies. Around 40% of the market was controlled by the leading companies.



Several participants are concerned about maintaining their market share. Capsa offers a wide selection of cutting-edge products to meet the specific needs of this industry. There are four different types of medication carts that match the decor of any long-term care facility: Medical carts for any procedure and storage demand; automated dispensing cabinets for controlled drug security (NexsysADC); telehealth carts and electronic health records (EHR/EMR) for papers transportation.



Additionally, in the previous year, McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc. earned 4% of its revenue from its medical surgical solutions.

Executive Summary:











Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Research Framework

1.1 Research Objective

1.2 Product Overview

1.3 Market Segmentation



Chapter 2. Research Methodology

2.1 Qualitative Research

2.1.1 Primary & Secondary Sources

2.2 Quantitative Research

2.2.1 Primary & Secondary Sources

2.3 Breakdown of Primary Research Respondents, By Region

2.4 Assumption for the Study

2.5 Market Size Estimation

2.6. Data Triangulation



Chapter 3. Executive Summary: Global Medical Carts Market



Chapter 4. Global Medical Carts Market Overview

4.1. Industry Value Chain Analysis

4.1.1. Material Provider

4.1.2. Manufacturer

4.1.3. Distribution

4.1.4. End User

4.2. Industry Outlook

4.2.1. Medical Cart Technological Advancement

4.3. PESTLE Analysis

4.4. Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.4.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.4.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.4.3. Threat of Substitutes

4.4.4. Threat of New Entrants

4.4.5. Degree of Competition

4.5. Market Dynamics and Trends

4.5.1. Growth Drivers

4.5.2. Restraints

4.5.3. Challenges

4.5.4. Key Trends

4.6. Covid-19 Impact Assessment on Market Growth Trend

4.7. Market Growth and Outlook

4.7.1. Market Revenue Estimates and Forecast (US$ Mn), 2017 - 2030

4.7.2. Market Volume Estimates and Forecast (000' Units), 2017 - 2030

4.7.3. Price Trend Analysis, By Product

4.8. Competition Dashboard

4.8.1. Market Concentration Rate

4.8.2. Company Market Share Analysis (Value %), 2020

4.8.3. Competitor Mapping



Chapter 5. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By Type

5.1. Key Insights

5.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn and 000' Units)

5.2.1. Anaesthesia Carts

5.2.2. Emergency Carts

5.2.3. Procedure Carts

5.2.4. Computer Medical Cart

5.2.5. Medical Laboratory Utility Cart

5.2.6. Other



Chapter 6. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By Application

6.1. Key Insights

6.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn and 000' Units)

6.2.1. Medical Supply Storage

6.2.2. Surgical Tool Holding

6.2.3. Transporting and Dispensing Medications

6.2.4. Laboratory

6.2.5. Others



Chapter 7. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By Material Type

7.1. Key Insights

7.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn and 000' Units)

7.2.1. Plastic

7.2.2. Wood

7.2.3. Stainless Steel

7.2.4. Metal

7.2.5. Others



Chapter 8. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By Pay Load

8.1. Key Insights

8.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn & 000' Units)

8.2.1. 50 kg

8.2.2. 65 kg

8.2.3. 80 kg

8.2.4. 150 kg

8.2.5. 180 kg

8.2.6. Others



Chapter 9. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By End User

9.1. Key Insights

9.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn & 000' Units)

9.2.1. Hospitals

9.2.2. Clinics

9.2.3. Ambulatory Surgical Centers

9.2.4. Trauma Centers

9.2.5. Others



Chapter 10. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By Distribution Channel

10.1. Key Insights

10.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn & 000' Units)

10.2.1. Direct Tender

10.2.2. Third Party Distributors

10.2.3. Others



Chapter 11. Medical Carts Market Analysis, By Region

11.1. Key Insights

11.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn and 000' Units)

11.2.1. North America

11.2.1.1. The U.S.

11.2.1.2. Canada

11.2.1.3. Mexico

11.2.2. Europe

11.2.2.1. Western Europe

11.2.2.1.1. The UK

11.2.2.1.2. Germany

11.2.2.1.3. France

11.2.2.1.4. Italy

11.2.2.1.5. Spain

11.2.2.1.6. Rest of Western Europe

11.2.2.2. Eastern Europe

11.2.2.2.1. Poland

11.2.2.2.2. Russia

11.2.2.2.3. Rest of Eastern Europe

11.2.3. Asia Pacific

11.2.3.1. China

11.2.3.2. India

11.2.3.3. Japan

11.2.3.4. South Korea

11.2.3.5. Australia & New Zealand

11.2.3.6. ASEAN

11.2.3.7. Rest of Asia Pacific

11.2.4. Middle East & Africa

11.2.4.1. UAE

11.2.4.2. Saudi Arabia

11.2.4.3. South Africa

11.2.4.4. Rest of MEA

11.2.5. South America

11.2.5.1. Argentina

11.2.5.2. Brazil

11.2.5.3. Rest of South America



Chapter 12. North America Medical Carts Market Analysis

12.1. Key Insights

12.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn & 000' Units)

12.2.1. By Type

12.2.2. By Application

12.2.3. By Material Type

12.2.4. By Pay Load

12.2.5. By End User

12.2.6. By Distribution Channel

12.2.7. By Country



Chapter 13. Europe Medical Carts Market Analysis

13.1. Key Insights

13.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn and 000' Units)

13.2.1. By Type

13.2.2. By Application

13.2.3. By Material Type

13.2.4. By Pay Load

13.2.5. By End User

13.2.6. By Distribution Channel

13.2.7. By Country



Chapter 14. Asia Pacific Medical Carts Market Analysis

14.1. Key Insights

14.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn and 000' Units)

14.2.1. By Type

14.2.2. By Application

14.2.3. By Material Type

14.2.4. By Pay Load

14.2.5. By End User

14.2.6. By Distribution Channel

14.2.7. By Country



Chapter 15. Middle East and Africa Medical Carts Market Analysis

15.1. Key Insights

15.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn & 000' Units)

15.2.1. By Type

15.2.2. By Application

15.2.3. By Material Type

15.2.4. By Pay Load

15.2.5. By End User

15.2.6. By Distribution Channel

15.2.7. By Country



Chapter 16. South America Medical Carts Market Analysis

16.1. Key Insights

16.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn & 000' Units)

16.2.1. By Type

16.2.2. By Application

16.2.3. By Material Type

16.2.4. By Pay Load

16.2.5. By End User

16.2.6. By Distribution Channel

16.2.7. By Country



Chapter 17. Company Profile (Company Overview, Financial Matrix, Key Product landscape, Key Personnel, Key Competitors, Contact Address, and Business Strategy Outlook)

17.1. Advantech Co. Ltd

17.2. AFC Industries Inc.

17.3. Altus Inc.

17.4. Bergmann Group

17.5. Capsa Healthcare

17.6. Enovate Medical.

17.7. Ergotron Inc.

17.8. Harloff Manufacturing Co.

17.9. InterMetro Industries Corporation

17.10. ITD GmbH

17.11. Jaco Inc.

17.12. Joy Factory Inc.

17.13. McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc.

17.14. Medical Master Co., Ltd.

17.15. Midmark Corporation

17.16. Midwest Products & Engineering

17.17. Omnicell Inc.

17.18. The Bergmann Group

17.19. Waterloo Healthcare

17.20. Other Prominent Players





A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes





Advantech Co. Ltd

AFC Industries Inc.

Altus Inc.

Bergmann Group

Capsa Healthcare

Enovate Medical

Ergotron Inc.

Harloff Manufacturing Co.

InterMetro Industries Corporation

ITD GmbH, Jaco Inc.

Joy Factory Inc.

Medical Master Co., Ltd.

Midmark Corporation

Midwest Products & Engineering

Omnicell Inc.

The Bergmann Group

Waterloo Healthcare

McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc.





For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dczz1s

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Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Turning out mostly cloudy with a chance of a few showers, mainly in the afternoon and evening..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with a few passing showers.
READING, Pa.  The Berks County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to amend a resolution to ratify the temporary ban on open burning to exempt agricultural purposes.

However, the exemption is not effective until the county solicitor crafts language in the resolution to define agriculture, as it pertains to the ban.

Chief Operations Officer Kevin S. Barnhardt signed a 30-day burn ban resolution for the county which became effective on April 16 at 6 p.m.

Barnhardt's order was based on a recommendation from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, or DCNR, as well as the Berks County Department of Emergency Services.

A motion for the county commissioners to ratify the resolution appeared on the commissioner's weekly voting agenda.

Chair Christian Y. Leinbach, though, said he would not support the resolution without an exemption for agriculture.

"The problem I have is the DCNR language doesn't recognize any exception," Leinbach said. "It doesn't bar an exception, but it doesn't recognize an exception for agriculture."

"I cannot support this unless we amend it to allow an exception for ag," he continued. "This is already creating a problem, and I am acknowledging that problem for the farm community."

Leinbach noted that York County is the only other county in the state to implement a burning ban.

Christine M. Sadler, Berks County solicitor, pointed out that the ban is already in effect and that presents a problem with amending the agenda at the last minute.

Sadler asked Leinbach to consider leaving the ban status quo for this week and allowing the solicitor's office to work through the language for an amendment to be voted upon next Thursday.

Leinbach refused.

Commissioner Lucine E. Sihelnik said she appreciated Leinbach's sensitivity to the agricultural community.

"I do agree to wanting to amend this to be able to allow those specifically practicing in agriculture in the requirement of their ability to continue to do their job and what they do on working farms and working agriculture and to be able to burn," Sihelnik said.

"However, I also agree with the solicitor that I would like to see the language defined if we amend this to include agriculture, to be very specific, so that our rural communities know that if they have a small property or they might be growing something or they have a couple of animals, that is not giving them the permission (to burn)," she added.

The commissioners and Sadler eventually agreed on an amendment to the resolution to exempt agricultural uses, but the exemption will not become effective until the solicitor's office completes the defining language, which is expected Friday.

Open burning is defined as igniting and burning combustible material, including garbage, leaves twigs, wood, litter, paper, vegetative matter and any other sort of debris outside in a burn barrel, backyard fire pit or on the ground.

While the use of backyard fire pits is prohibited, the use of propane or gas stoves, charcoal briquette grills and tobacco in any form is not affected.

The ban will expire 30 days from the April 16 effective date, but could be extended by a resolution for an additional 30 days if dry conditions continue.

The resolution authorizes local police to issue citations for violations.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Bethlehem Catholic Principal Luke Wilde will leave the school to take on a new job, according to a letter from the Diocese of Allentown.

Wilde has "a unique job opportunity" outside of education. His last day at BeCa will be Friday, April 21, according to a letter to the school community from Thomas Donchez, chairperson of the school's board of directors, and Philip Fromuth, superintendent of Catholic education for the diocese.

"Mr. Wilde has given thirteen years of service to our school as teacher, administrator, and most recently, as principal," according to the statement, dated April 18. "Although we are sorry to see him go, we are grateful and thank Mr. Wilde for his invaluable service and sacrifice in support of our school, students and community."

Wilde will be available to assist with the transition to an interim leadership team at the Dewberry Avenue school, Fromuth said.

Dean of Students Barry Schultz, along with Chris Domyan, Amy Solano and other administrators will oversee the school's day-to-day operations. Father Bernard Ezaki and the Diocesan Office of Education will also provide oversight during the transition, the statement said.

"We ask for and appreciate your understanding, prayers, and support for our interim leadership team as they continue to lead the school through the remaining weeks of this academic year while, at same time, also preparing the way for an exciting new school year beginning this fall," according to the letter.

Wilde was named principal in July 2022. He started at BeCa in 2009.
ReportLinker

Accounts payable automation employs tools or processes to substitute automated processes for manual ones in versions payable. AP automation, also known as accounts payable automation, uses software to fully or partially automate the accounts payable process.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Accounts Payable Automation Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Deployment Mode, By Organization Size, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449961/?utm_source=GNW

It aims to increase the effectiveness of the funds payable workflow by digitizing the procedures utilized for receiving, processing, and storing vendor invoices.



Accounts payable automation provides a digital workflow to manage processes previously handled by an AP staff person, enabling businesses to process supplier invoices without touching them. The processing of company payments from beginning to end may be automated due to holistic accounts payable automation. Starting with software that digitizes invoice data using a scanning or capture technique, often using optical character recognition (OCR). After classifying, matching, and validating the data, the AP system sends it to the accounting system or ERP to be processed.



In addition to the anticipated cost reductions from removing human operations, accounts payable automation may result in considerable cost savings for a business. Businesses may decrease fraud risk, eliminate duplicate or incorrect payments, manage vendor portfolios, and benefit from early payment savings. Businesses wishing to automate accounts payment should carefully evaluate the various AP automation options to make sure it is the best match for their company. To achieve complete automation of AP processing and significant time and money savings, it is essential that the accounts payable automation software chosen can cover all invoice processing use cases needed by the organization.



Also, to ensure data synchronization and efficient processing, its essential to comprehend how AP automation software connects with a businesss ERP. The transmission of master data from the ERP to the AP solution is made feasible through ERP integration. The majority of AP automation systems include pre-packaged to fully managed connectors for a variety of ERP connections.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably influenced the accounts payable automation business. Since more companies and the banking sector depend on software to carry out their financial processes, accounts payable automation is rapidly expanding. Also, as a consequence of remote working, there is a greater requirement for more dynamic and remote access to corporate financial records and systems by individuals who mainly need frequent, accurate access to financial accounts to make decisions and manage financial affairs. In turn, amid the current health crisis, this has turned into one of the key development causes for the accounts payable automation market.



Market Growth Factors



Growing need for financial audit operations to be digitalized



Businesses can acquire a competitive edge and the capacity of AP departments to concentrate on more strategic activities like identifying more cost-saving possibilities. Businesses may automate their AP procedures using the sophisticated, user-friendly software platform it offers. Clients depend on the digital automation process to expand their financial operations, safeguard the vendor supply chain, liberate cash, increase efficiency, and provide insights into corporate expenditure. Thus, the market for accounts payable automation is expanding due to the increased requirement to digitize financial audit operations.



Growing need to expedite the payment procedure



The account payable system streamlines payment processes while enabling firms to maintain ties with suppliers and vendors. Account payable automation ensures accurate approval, exact allocation, quick payment, and expenditure control across the AP process, from invoice creation to receipt generation. Also, it is simple to integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP), which boosts flexibility and increases payment process effectiveness. The efficient operation of an organizations operations is ensured by accounts payable automation, which includes dashboards, account options, compliance regulations, routing rules, and approvals. As a result, the market for accounts payable automation is expanding due to the rising need for faster payment processes.



Market Restraining Factors



Data breach and cyberattack



There is a bigger chance of mistakes and mishaps when humans conduct manual chores. Employees could unintentionally communicate critical information to the wrong people or use weak passwords, for instance. Additional errors occur when staff members disclose passwords or account information or unwittingly fall for phishing schemes, in which criminals trick their victims into revealing information that might compromise personal or business data. Hence, the issues of data breaches and security are expected to hamper the accounts payable automation markets growth.



Deployment Mode Outlook



Based on deployment mode, the accounts payable automation market is segmented into on-premise and cloud. The cloud segment acquired a significant revenue share in the accounts payable automation market in 2021. This is due to the fact that accounts payable departments may be evaluated and reported on via the use of cloud-based automation tools for AP. Management may get helpful information about the effectiveness of their AP process and the ease with which their staff can follow best practices (invoice processing time and automation levels). Companies may utilize up-to-the-minute business information to make crucial choices and precisely analyze the consequences of those changes since this data is supplied in real time through the cloud.



Organization Size Outlook



On the basis of organization size, the accounts payable automation market is divided into large enterprises and SMEs. The large enterprises segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the accounts payable automation market in 2021. This is because accounts payable are crucial for establishing and maintaining confidence with suppliers and creditors in small firms. A successful accounts payable procedure can potentially result in future discounts for the company. Accounts payable are important since they might help the firm to save money. Several merchants provide discounts to customers who pay on time.



Industry Vertical Outlook



By industry vertical, the accounts payable automation market is classified into consumer goods & retail, IT & telecom, manufacturing, healthcare & lifesciences, government, BFSI and others. The BFSI segment registered the highest revenue share in the accounts payable automation market in 2021. The growth is owing to a single accounts payable automation system streamlining invoices and payment distribution between businesses and consumers (B2B and B2C). Enhance working capital, boost productivity, and reinforce controls, all while adding protection to reduce fraud risk. Program refunds may generate additional income by moving away from check payments and towards virtual cards and premium ACH.



Component Outlook



Based on the component, the accounts payable automation market is bifurcated into solution and service. The solution segment led the accounts payable automation market by generating the maximum revenue share in 2021. This is owing to automating the businesss AP operations and simplifying its systems. As a result, the finance division handles invoices for several financial systems spanning many divisions, countries, languages, and currencies. It enables decreased expenses, quicker payment cycles, less employee involvement, greater control, and enhanced supplier relationships.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the accounts payable automation market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region generated the highest revenue share in the accounts payable automation market in 2021. This is due to increased industrial influence. Many suppliers of goods and services are on the market, which creates a very competitive environment. The nations in the region has established a leading position in the world accounts payable automation market as the regions IT sector continues to expand and prosper. Companies with a lot of data and transactions realize the value of AP automation solutions to guarantee the accurate and prompt execution of transactions.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships and Acquisitions. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; SAP SE is the forerunners in the Accounts Payable Automation Market. Companies such as Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., Tipalti, Inc., Bottomline technlogies, Inc. are some of the key innovators in Accounts Payable Automation Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include SAP SE, Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., The Sage Group PLC, Comarch SA, Tipalti, Inc., Bottomline Technologies, Inc., AvidXchange Holdings, Inc., Procurify Technologies, Inc., FinancialForce.com, Inc. and Zycus, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Accounts Payable Automation Market



Partnerships, Collaboration and Agreements:



Jan-2023: FIS partnered with Trust Bank, a Singapore-based digitally native bank. Through this partnership, Trust would use the FIS Open Payments Framework consisting of real-time and traditional payments. With the help of Cloud Solution Trust would improve its payment volumes, as the bank continues to become stronger in the domestic banking sector.



Dec-2022: AvidXchange Holdings, Inc. came into partnership with Wise, a company focused on money without borders. The partnership supports multinational abilities through its latest Cross-Border payments solution. Moreover, AvidXchange would deliver its customers with the best international payment abilities through Wises market-leading platform and better-combined capabilities.



May-2022: FIS teamed up with Treasury Prime, a software development company. Under this partnership, FIS would launch the latest embedded finance portfolio. The latest API-based solution would provide FIS banking customers and their business clients latest choice when it comes to managing accounts payable, other key banking operations, and deposits.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Feb-2022: FIS took over Payrix, a provider of embedded payment solutions. This acquisition complements the strategy of FIS to broaden its e-commerce suite to businesses of all sizes, and in any industry, by embedding payment abilities on Software-as-a-Service platforms.



Jan-2022: SAP SE took over a majority stake in Taulia, a leader in distributing capital management solutions. Through this acquisition, the company aimed to Taulias deep working capital management expertise into its CFO solution portfolio to strengthen its position to become a leader across the working capital management industry.



Nov-2021: Bottomline took over Bora Payments Systems, a B2B card payment platform. With this acquisition, the company aimed to allow Paymode-X providers to leverage straight-through processing, or STP, as an approach to accept virtual card payments with the addition of new bank channel relationships to Paymode-X along with capabilities to enhance the virtual card program.



Apr-2021: Tipalti took over Approve.com, a provider of cloud procurement solutions. Under this acquisition, Tipalti would broaden its offering of financial operations suite. Both Companies would offer finance experts modern, advanced, and smooth solutions to organize manual processes which would allow their high-velocity customers.



Feb-2021: Bottomline completed its acquisition of TreasuryXpress, a vendor of cloud-based treasury management services. This acquisition aimed to allow the company to extend its leading business payments capabilities in order to offer a distinct and comprehensive solution for the overall cash management lifecycle.



Feb-2021: Bottomline completed its acquisition of TreasuryXpress, a vendor of cloud-based treasury management services. This acquisition aimed to allow the company to extend its leading business payments capabilities in order to offer a distinct and comprehensive solution for the overall cash management lifecycle.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Nov-2022: AvidXchange enhanced with cross border payment (CBP) feature on SuiteApp within Oracles NetSuites Suite Cloud platform. With this feature, customers across the United States can pay both local and international suppliers without leaving NetSuite.



Feb-2021: Bottomline introduced corporate treasury capabilities in its integrated Payments and Cash Lifecycle Platform. Through this product expansion, the company aimed to transform cash and payment management procedures into a simple and streamlined end-to-end cash lifecycle for enterprises of all sizes.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Component



 Solution



 Services



By Deployment Mode



 On-Premise



 Cloud



By Organization Size



 Large Enterprises



 SMEs



By Vertical



 BFSI



 IT & Telecom



 Government



 Manufacturing



 Healthcare & Lifesciences



 Consumer Goods & Retail



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 SAP SE



 Fidelity National Information Services, Inc.



 The Sage Group PLC



 Comarch SA



 Tipalti, Inc.



 Bottomline Technologies, Inc.



 AvidXchange Holdings, Inc.



 Procurify Technologies, Inc.



 FinancialForce.com, Inc.



 Zycus, Inc.



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449961/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. - Authorities in Northampton County are looking for a man after he and three other people were accused in a home invasion Thursday.

Anthony Santiago, 29, remains at large, according to a news release from the Northampton County District Attorney's Office.

He is facing robbery charges, in addition to three other people, who are in custody: Millito Delgado, 45, Michael Matas, 29, and Francis Ferrando, 23, the DA's office said.

Around 4 a.m. Thursday, four men conducted a home invasion in the 2000 block of Willow Park Road in Bethlehem Township, according to the DA's office.

At the time, three people were in the home. Matas and Ferrando were shot by one occupant of the house, the DA's office said. Matas suffered seven gunshot wounds to the back and is in critical but stable condition, the DA's office said. He is expected to survive.

Ferrando suffered one gunshot wound to the leg, authorities said.

The four people are charged with three counts of robbery  attempt serious bodily injury, two counts of possession of instrument of a crime, burglary, simple assault, and related charges, the DA's office said.

There is no danger to the public.

"Presently we see no danger to the public even though Santiago still remains at large. We do not feel this is a random act. We believe that the victims in this case were targeted," District Attorney Terry Houck said.

When asked about how the victims are doing, the DA said they are "physically fine."

The DA's office says the investigation is ongoing and the affidavit will remain sealed to protect the integrity of the investigation.

This was first-rate work by the Bethlehem Township Police Department. I want to thank Chief Gregory Gottschall and his officers for their immediate response and attention to detail in this case. Although there is still much to do, I am confident no stone will be unturned in our effort to apprehend the fourth male, Houck said.
HELLERTOWN, Pa. - The fate of the After School Satan Club at Saucon Valley Middle School is now in the hands of a federal judge.

The American Civil Liberties Union argues the Saucon Valley School District violated the club's first amendment rights when it revoked the club's approval, but the district argues the club violated its policies. The stakes on all of this were raised back in February when the district received a shooting threat.

On Feb. 21, shortly after word spread the ASSC had been approved at Saucon Valley Middle School, the district received a shooting threat related to the club. 20-year-old Ceu Uk from Charlotte, North Carolina was eventually arrested for that threat.

The next day, on Feb. 22, the district was shut down for safety. Then, on Feb. 24, Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty made the decision to revoke the club's approval.

"She's concerned about her community, she's concerned about her staff, the students that are in her schools," said School District Solicitor Mark Fitzgerald.

But the ACLU said that concern should not lead to a violation of the ASSC's first amendment rights.

"When other people threaten violence, as what happened here, that's not a reason to exclude the speech, because otherwise there's no free speech for anyone," said ACLU Pennsylvania Deputy Legal Director Sara Rose.

But Fitzgerald said the threat is not why the club was cancelled. It was cancelled because it didn't follow the district's advertising policy. The district requires third-party clubs to clearly state the school district does not endorse the club's activities. The district also asked the ASSC to keep the ads local. Instead, Fitzgerald said the Satanic Temple posted on their national Facebook page, and word got out all across the country.

"There were multiple postings by the Satanic Temple, and it began with an out-of-region TV station reaching out, unbeknownst to anyone in the community about the new club," said Fitzgerald.

The ACLU argues the posts did follow the policy, because they included words specifically stating the Satanic Temple sponsored the club. They want the club reinstated immediately before the end of the school year.

"We are asking the court to order the School District to allow the After School Satan Club to hold meetings in May under the current policy for clubs, and the current policy allows clubs to meet directly after school," said Rose. "Having to wait until the next school year would not be fair to the club, and would just give people who oppose the club's viewpoint more ammunition to try to fight the club next year."

The Saucon Valley School Board is planning to vote on Tuesday to change the rules for third-party clubs, to make them wait until 6 p.m. to start activities.

No word yet on when we'll get a ruling.
U. MACUNGIE TWP., Pa.  A final land development plan for the site of the former Air Products headquarters was tabled at the applicant's request during Wednesday night's meeting of the Upper Macungie Township Planning Commission at the township building.

The plan scheduled to be reviewed by the commission calls for 2.61 million square feet of warehouse redevelopment. The project, located at 7201 Hamilton Blvd., involves three warehouses consisting of 435,600 square feet; 926,250 square feet; and 1.2 million square feet.

The land became available when Air Products moved its headquarters about a mile away. The development is permitted in the Light Industrial zoning district, but it requires a special exception.

No date was given when the plan will be reviewed by the planning commission.

Twin Ponds apartments

In other news, a preliminary/final land development plan for the Twin Ponds development, located at 8739 Hamilton Blvd., was also tabled at the applicant's request.

The proposal offers 132 apartments over 22 buildings and a day care center.

During a sketch plan review on Oct. 20, 2022, planners raised concerns about traffic, specifically on Treeline Drive, and safety.

The plan will be reviewed at a future date not announced Wednesday night.

Resurrection Cemetery

In other business, the planning commission reviewed a sketch plan for a new office and construction building at Resurrection Cemetery, located at 547 N. Krocks Road.

The applicant, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown, proposes to build the facilities in Upper Macungie Township and abandon the same facilities in Lower Macungie Township.

The cemetery encompasses two townships. The changes include a facility for the storage of backhoes, dump trucks and lawn maintenance equipment to maintain the cemetery.
EASTON, Pa. - Northampton County's policy against officials and staff accepting gifts needs to be tightened, County Executive Lamont McClure said Wednesday.

"We do have an absolute gift ban, except the exceptions to the gift ban are big enough to drive a truck through," McClure said during a meeting of County Council's personnel committee.

McClure added, "I do not suggest by offering this amendment that anyone has violated our charter or our administrative code to my knowledge."

He recommended a policy similar to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's gift ban. Shapiro bars officials from accepting anything of value, beyond things such as meals in the course of business (within limits). The governor also allows gifts of minimal value such as pens and mugs.

The county's Home Rule Charter prohibits elected officials and employees from accepting any "emoluments," such as cash or items of value.

That is in conflict with the Administrative Code, which allows for exceptions, such as tickets to games and events, meals, travel expenses if an official is speaking at an event, and more, "Unless a gift of any of the following would tend to impair the impartiality and the independence of judgment of the official or employee receiving it... "

"We must close those loopholes," McClure said.

He asked council to take up the issue as soon as possible.

Shapiro's policy bars the acceptance of tickets, cash, travel and large gifts from anybody seeking to influence state actions. It does allow meals when an official is representing the state as long as the value does not exceed amounts set by the federal government. Those limits vary.

The governor's policy also allows the acceptance of "de minimis" gifts, such as plaques, pens and certificates. De minimis is a Latin term used in law to describe something as trifling or of little importance.

McClure, an attorney, defined de minimis as "any property or service the value of which is so small as to make accounting for it unreasonable or administratively impractical."

The Shapiro policy is not as strict as his predecessor's was. Gov. Tom Wolf barred all gifts. McClure said that meant the county could not even offer a visiting state official a cup of water.

Amending the rules is up to council, Northampton County's legislative body. McClure asked council to take up the issue as soon as possible.
SLATINGTON, Pa. - A man is facing charges after a drug bust in northern Lehigh County.

David Rockel, 59, was taken into custody midday Wednesday at his home Slatington while authorities were serving a search warrant, police said.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and Slatington police searched his home in the 1200 block of Fourth Street and a nearby storage unit rented by Rockel.

They found more than 8 pounds of crystal meth, worth about $370,000, as well as drug paraphernalia, packaging materials, 14 guns and a large amount of cash, police said.

Rockel is in Lehigh County Jail on charges of possession with intent to deliver/manufacture, possession of paraphernalia and persons not to possess firearms.
S. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa.  Following a public hearing, South Whitehall Township commissioners reviewed and granted final preliminary plan approval for a new use of an existing warehouse at 4741 Chapman Road.

The site's future tenant, Walgreens, will utilize 67,500 square feet for a distribution center. Sorry Robots LLC occupies the remaining 34,500 square feet.

A Walgreens spokesperson previously told the planning commission that employees at the warehouse would be responsible for filling prescriptions that a distributor picks up, reducing truck traffic to the site to a handful. The distributor then takes the medications to its facility and later distributes them to Walgreens customers.

While the new use will involve fewer truck trips than approved previously for the site, it will result in a higher employee occupancy rate, generating additional traffic beyond what was previously approved.

The township granted conditional use approval for the existing 102,500-square-foot warehouse on Oct. 16, 2019. At the time, the site was approved for 86 standard parking spaces, 24 trailer spaces, seven oversized spaces, and 24 loading docks.

The proposal has since been amended and calls for 187 standard spaces, 11 trailer spots, four oversized spaces, and 11 loading docks.

According to Walgreens spokesman Eric Friedman, two shifts of workers would be employed at the site. Each shift would be comprised of 80 employees, he said.

Walgreens employees would be responsible for filling prescriptions that a distributor picks up. The distributor takes the medications to its facility and later distributes them to Walgreens customers.

The workforce will primarily comprise pharmacists and pharmacy techs with a handful of office staff. Shifts will run from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. to midnight.

Officials granted approval subject to compliance with provisions related to part of exhibits and testimony in Wednesday's hearing and compliance with conditions outlined by township Planner Gregg Adams as part of the staff and planning commission recommendations.

One of those stipulations is a traffic study to be held six months after operations begin to ensure the area is not significantly affected.

"(The project) should be an asset to the community," Friedman said. "We hope to be here a long time."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Wednesday, Senator John Fetterman (D - PA) chaired his first subcommittee meeting since his return to the chamber after seeking treatment for depression.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry discussed the Farm Bill, specifically the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Fetterman led the hearing.

"We have to work to protect SNAP for the 21st century and I look forward to working with my colleagues to getting that done," said Fetterman.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services says SNAP helps 1.7 million Pennsylvanians put food on the table. House Republicans released a budget calling for cuts in the program.

Republican Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) said the 2023 Farm Bill will cost more than previous years.

"I think whenever we entertain any of this, we gotta make sure that we're getting value out of whatever we're proposing," said Braun.

The subcommittee heard testimony from several witnesses.

One, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said SNAP reduces food insecurity by as much as 30 percent.

A witness from the Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities said when we think about the Farm Bill, we have to be less focused on work requirements and more focused on reform that will give people a way out of poverty.

Fetterman said he's opposed to making SNAP cuts.

"It all helps Americans who fall on hard times," said Fetterman.

"I want to make sure if we're spending more, we do it efficiently," said Braun.
PORT CLINTON, Pa.  Crews were on the scene of a brush fire in Port Clinton Thursday afternoon, following a trend of several brush fires in recent days.

First responders from Berks and Schuylkill counties were still on the scene as of 5 p.m., with firefighters gathering in the area of Broad and Oak streets.

Port Clinton borough is in Schuylkill County, north of Hamburg.

Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources were also on the scene.

Initial reports indicate a power line may have sparked the fire, but there is no confirmation yet.
HAZLETON, Pa. - Pennsylvania State Police have two people in custody in connection with a deadly shooting last week in Luzerne County, and some recently-installed technology played a big role.

Troopers used the City of Hazleton's new automated license plate reading (ALPR) cameras to help find what they believe was the getaway car.

Just after 5 p.m. last Friday, shots rang out at 52 W 23rd St. in Hazle Township. At the scene, State police found two shooting victims. One of them, 18-year-old Rolando Cepeda, didn't make it.

When troopers checked a security camera at a nearby business, they saw the suspects were wearing ski masks to hide their identities, but the camera also caught the car they were riding in: a black Honda Accord. Thanks to the new ALPR camera system installed throughout Hazleton last year, that was all the information they needed.

"These cameras are probably the most useful investigative tool that a detective can have when she's approaching a case," said Holly Beilin, a spokesperson for Flock Safety, which makes the ALPR cameras.

Beilin said the cameras are motion-activated and record the license plate of every car that drives by.

"The footage is saved for 30 days, and law enforcement are able to query that data in the event that there is a crime," said Beilin.

Flock Safety said there are 44 ALPR cameras throughout Hazleton, and they cost the city about $100,000 a year to operate.

In the case of the shooting last Friday, the license plate of that black Honda Accord was caught on two cameras in Hazleton. The data from those two cameras led the police to 17-year-old Ismael Valdez-Batista of Mahanoy City. State police believe he was the getaway driver, and have charged him with homicide. Valdez-Batista also led police to arrest a boy they believe was the shooter. They have not released his name.

Beilin said, because the cameras are so effective at tracking criminals, expect to see them in more cities around the country.

"Flock Safety ALPR cameras are in around 3,000 communities in about 45 states," said Beilin.
STROUD TWP., Pa. - State police say a combative driver started a nearly 20-mile pursuit, which ended in a crash that killed one passenger and injured another. Investigators say there was an active warrant out for that drivers arrest.

At this point, troopers say they can't release exactly where the pursuit happened, though a news release listed the area as Stroud Township.

The Monroe County Coroner tells us he was called to Tobyhanna Township for the crash, where 33-year-old Lidia Burgos from Reading died.

State police say suspicion of driving under the influence, plus moving and equipment violations, were what led them to pull over a vehicle in the Poconos at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

According to investigators, the driver had an active warrant out for his arrest and wouldnt get out of his car. They say he then became combative toward troopers and sped off.

Police followed the vehicle for 19 miles, before it crashed into a wooded area.

Rescue crews used their equipment to free both the driver and a passenger from the wrecked car. They were sent to nearby hospitals.

Another passenger, Burgos, didn't make it.

It's unclear what the active arrest warrant for the driver was for.

A Monroe County District Attorney's Office detective tells us it won't have information until there are charges and that it can't share information on active investigations.

Pocono Mountain Regional Police said it could not comment since its a State Police case.

PSP said it was not available for an interview on Thursday. It noted it will share more details as they become available and as they won't jeopardize the integrity of the case.

This is a developing story. 69 News will keep you updated on air and online.
Company Logo

Global Alpha Emitter Market

Global Alpha Emitter Market

Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Alpha Emitter Market, By Type of Radionuclide, By Medical Applications, and By Geography - Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides in-depth analysis of the global alpha emitter market, and provides market size (US$ Million) and compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for the forecast period (2023-2030), considering 2022 as the base year.

Company Profiles

Bayer AG

Alpha Tau Medical Ltd.

Fusion Pharmaceuticals

Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Orano Group (Orano Med)

NOVARTIS AG (Endocyte Inc.)

Actinium Pharmaceutical Inc.

Alpha emitters play a significant role in the treatment of different types of cancer. Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) is a therapeutic option in patients with multiple micro-metastases. Targeted alpha-particle therapy (or TAT) is an in-development method of targeted radionuclide therapy of various cancer. Properties of alpha emitters have led to exert profound differences between this field and other fields of nuclear medicine.



Increase in burden of cancer, rise in geriatric population, increase in use of targeted alpha therapy (TAT) for cancer treatment, rise in awareness about the potential benefits of TAT, and increase in research and development are expected to propel the growth of the global alpha emitter market.



For instance, in July 2021, Alpha Tau Medical Ltd. and Healthcare Capital Corporation signed an agreement to further expand Alpha Tau's clinical strategy, including the pursuit of FDA (Food and Drug Administration) marketing authorization, a broad array of R&D (research and development) activities, expanding manufacturing capacity, and preparing for commercialization.



Key features of the study:

It elucidates potential revenue opportunities across different segments and explains attractive investment proposition matrices for this market.

This study also provides key insights about market drivers, restraints, opportunities, new product launches or approval, market trends, regional outlook, and competitive strategies adopted by key players.

It profiles key players in the global alpha emitter market based on the following parameters such as company highlights, products portfolio, key highlights, financial performance, and strategies.

Insights from this report would allow marketers and the management authorities of the companies to make informed decisions regarding their future product launches, type up-gradation, market expansion, and marketing tactics.

The global alpha emitter market report caters to various stakeholders in this industry including investors, suppliers, product manufacturers, distributors, new entrants, and financial analysts.

Stakeholders would have ease in decision-making through various strategy matrices used in analyzing the global alpha emitter market.

Story continues

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 171 Forecast Period 2022 - 2030 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $421.5 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 $1181.9 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 13.8% Regions Covered Global

Detailed Segmentation:

Global Alpha Emitter Market, By Type of Radionuclide:

Radium (Ra-223)

Actinium (Ac-225)

Lead (Pb-212)

Global Alpha Emitter Market, By Medical Applications:

Prostate Cancer

Bone Metastases

Ovarian Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer

Endocrine Tumors

Other Medical Applications

Global Alpha Emitter Market, By Geography:

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Middle East and Africa

South America

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7uem4a

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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CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




NORRISTOWN, Pa.  April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners learned more about the impact of child abuse in the county at Thursday morning's meeting.

Nadine Miller, Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth director, and colleagues Anika Dargan and Janet Panning from the Montgomery County Health and Human Services Office of Public Health gave the presentation.

"Last year, the office received almost 8,000 referrals or concerns for child safety or well-being," Miller said. "There's no question that child abuse or neglect can have harmful effects on victims."

Miller went on to say that childhood abuse is preventable. "The most important thing we can do is to support families before they reach a crisis," she added.

Dargan told the commissioners she was one of the nurses who provides care to pregnant women and caregivers of children under 5 years old. The two most important subject matters she addresses, Dargan continued, are shaken baby syndrome, which is when a child is being violently shaken from the shoulders or any of its limbs. The consequences, Dargan explained, can be broken bones, hearing loss, vision loss, seizures, motor dysfunction and death.

Sudden unexpected infant death syndrome is the other important area of concern. Dargan explained, "This is the death of a baby less than 1 year old that occurs during sleep or in the baby's sleeping area."

According to the National Institutes of Health, sudden unexpected death syndrome is the leading cause of death in infants from 1 months to 12 months old in the U.S.

Dargan pointed out a number of methods to reduce SUID, including placing the baby on its back to sleep; allowing the infant to sleep in its own sleeping area; using a firm and flat mattress with no bulky bedding, pillows or toys/stuffed animals in the sleeping area; leaving no bottles propped in the infant's mouth; and using pacifiers for bottle-fed babies.

Panning introduced the commissioners to the Montgomery County Maternal Early Childhood Consortium. It was formed by county agencies and nonprofits dealing with early childhood issues.

The goal, Panning said, was to create a central referral system to increase access to Montgomery County evidence-based home visiting programs. Panning maintained that home visiting programs increased parenting confidence and competence, school readiness, maternal health and child development and health.

The consortium formed a central referral system where a provider or an individual can call one number or send one email to get connected to one of seven evidence-based programs in the county.

Panning also told the commissioners about Montco Mamas. This program has as its goal the elimination of inequities surrounding race and infant mortality and support healthy births for Black women and Black families in Montgomery County.

In the future, Montco Mamas plans to address maternal mortality, instances of substance abuse, and pregnancy and loss.

Autism Awareness Month

In her remarks, Commissioner Jamila Winder noted that April is Autism Awareness Month. She explained that "autism is a complex brain disorder that often inhibits a person's ability to communicate, respond to surroundings and form relationships with others." In the U.S., she said, more than 5.4 million adults are autistic and one in every 44 children has been diagnosed with autism.

"Autistic people continue to face obstacles when seeking employment, healthcare, education and housing, and the immense contributions of people with autism are often overlooked," Winder explained. "I am proud to stand in support of all people with autism, my neighbor included."

Contracts

The commissioners approved two substantial contracts. Metropolitan Foods Incorporated, also known as Driscoll Foods, Wayne, New Jersey, and Derstine's Inc., Sellersville, were awarded a combined contract not to exceed $500,000 to provide food resources to the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition, a $620,000 contract was awarded to American Monitoring Sales Corporation, Edgartown, Massachusetts, to provide electronic offender monitoring services.
NEW YORK (AP)  New York City authorities identified a longtime employee of a parking garage that collapsed earlier this week as the lone fatality in a tragedy that is under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney and building inspectors.

The medical examiner's office said the 59-year-old man was crushed to death when the parking structure imploded Tuesday afternoon. Police identified him as Willis Moore.

The collapse shook nearby buildings as the thunderous implosion startled people all around the area and kicked up a thick plume of dust just blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Five other people were injured when the three-story building tumbled down, burying dozens of cars in tons of debris.

The City's Building Department is looking into why the century-old structure collapsed.

Inspectors had cited the property owner two decades ago for failing to properly maintain the building, finding at the time that there were cracks and defects in the concrete. A more recent inspection in fall 2013 showed no further structural issues, according to an update that the Building Department provided Wednesday.

Building owners had until the end of the year to conduct a structural inspection of the structure under a safety program launched by the city last year. The new requirements ordered an initial inspection and additional inspections at least once every six years.

Enterprise Ann Parking, which operated the garage on Ann Street, said it was cooperating with authorities in their probe. A spokesman for the company called the collapse a tragedy.

We are devastated at the loss of one of our long-time employees and our thoughts are with his family and those who were injured in the accident, the companys spokesman, Jeremy Zweig, said in a statement Wednesday night.

Fire crews recovered Moore's body late Wednesday afternoon. The medical examiner's office said he had died from blunt force trauma of head, torso, and extremities. The death was ruled an accident.

Moore's family could not be immediately reached.

Adam Cohen, who lives near the parking garage, said he regularly saw Moore when he went by the structure to walk his daughters to school. He's parked his vehicle at the garage for more than a decade.

He remembers waving to Moore on Tuesday morning, hours before the tragedy.

I know Willis was out around helping people with their cars, he said.

Another patron, Ahmed Scott, described Moore as a friendly man.

Every morning Id see him, said Ahmed Scott, one of the regulars. When I was leaving that morning  the last time we saw each other  we smiled, waved at each other."

Crews on Thursday continued demolition work, using heavy machinery to dig into the rubble.
A small town in western Australia was at the center of a once-in-a-decade phenomenon: a hybrid solar eclipse.

The spectacular event drew enthusiasts and visitors from across the country and the world.

They all traveled to the small town of Exmouth, and the surrounding Ningaloo Coast to try and get the best seat for this solar event, when the sun, the earth and the moon all aligned for one minute.

Scientists, eclipse hunters and just folks who were interested all gathered at a viewing site in town.

A local tourism authority says the town, which has a population of 3,000, was expecting about 20,000 for the event.

One eclipse hunter from the U.S. says he's witnessed around 20 eclipses.

He took an hours-long flight to Perth and drove the rest of the way to be in Exmouth to experience this one.

"So it's the three most significant planetary bodies for our existence going into perfect alignment, like three notes on a guitar: the sun which provides us all of our life energy, the Earth which nurtures us and the moon that keeps us in rhythm, all lining up. It's more powerful than anything you can ever experience," he said.

They were ready for the tourists. They've been working on supporting this event for more than a year here.

There was live music, stargazing tours and astronomy education programs for kids.

The area is hoping this eclipse will kick off a tourism boom.

Matt Woods from the Perth Observatory says events like this stir the human psyche and people just want to be a part of it.
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP)  Sudan's military ruled out negotiations with a rival paramilitary force on Thursday, saying it would only accept its surrender as the two sides continued to battle in central Khartoum and other parts of the country, threatening to wreck international attempts to broker a longer cease-fire.

A tenuous 24-hour cease-fire that began the previous day ran out Thursday evening with no word of an extension. The military's statement raised the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudan's population to the breaking point. Alarm has grown that the country's medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies.

The truce had failed to put a stop to fighting throughout the day and brought only marginal calm to some parts of the capital, Khartoum. But many residents took advantage to flee the homes where they have been trapped for days. Massive numbers of people, mostly women and children, were leaving in search of safer areas, said Atiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors Syndicate.

Thursday afternoon, the military said in a statement that it would not negotiate with its rival, the Rapid Support Forces, and would only discuss the terms of its surrender. There would be no armed forces outside (of) the military system, it said.

The demise of the truce, the second attempt this week, underscored the failure of the United States, U.N., European Union and regional powers to push Sudan's top generals to halt their campaigns to seize control of the country. Instead, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo each appear determined to win outright military victory over the other.

In a sign they expect violence to escalate, the U.S. and other countries were making preparations to evacuate their citizens in Sudan  a difficult prospect since most major airports have become battlegrounds and movement out of Khartoum to safer areas is dangerous.

The U.S. military is moving assets to a base in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti for a possible evacuation of American Embassy personnel, administration officials said. Japan plans to send military planes to Djibouti, and the Netherlands has dispatched its own to Jordan.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for the combatants to commit to a three-day cease-fire to coincide with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, beginning Friday, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. We are living a very important moment in the Muslim calendar. I think this is the right moment for a cease-fire to hold, he told reporters.

But so far direct communications to the rival generals by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Turkish president and others over the past days have been unable to secure even 24 hours of calm, much less a longer truce or negotiations to resolve the crisis. Each side's main regional allies, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have called in vain for talks.

At least 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began Saturday, the World Health Organization said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.

Through the day Thursday, gunfire could be heard constantly across Khartoum. Residents reported the heaviest fighting around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum. Military warplanes struck RSF positions at the airport and in the neighboring city of Omdurman, residents said. The military said its warplanes also struck a convoy of RSF vehicles heading to the capital, though the claim could not be independently confirmed.

Khartoum residents have been desperate for a respite after days of being trapped in their homes, with food and water running out.

Aid groups have been unable to deliver help to Sudans overwhelmed hospitals, Atiya said. Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water. Around 70% of hospitals throughout the country are out of service because of the fighting, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said, adding that at least nine hospitals were bombed.

The two sides are battling elsewhere in the country as well, and there were reports of heavy fighting in the city of Obeid, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Khartoum.

The Doctors' Syndicate said at least 26 civilians and 17 police were killed in Obeid, and that four hospitals and a church were damaged, some by airstrikes. Two markets were looted, and more than 3,300 people fled their homes, with many sheltering in a school and a sports facility, it said.

The fighting has been disastrous for a country where the United Nations says around a third of the population  some 16 million people  are in need of humanitarian aid. The U.N. childrens agency UNICEF warned that critical care has been disrupted for 50,000 severely acutely malnourished children, who need round-the-clock treatment.

Save the Children said power outages across the country have destroyed cold chain storage facilities for lifesaving vaccines, as well as the national stock of insulin and several antibiotics. Millions of children, the aid group said, are now at risk of disease and further health complications. It said 12% of the countrys 22 million children are suffering from malnutrition and are vulnerable to other diseases.

The Egyptian and Sudanese militaries said that Egypt succeeded in repatriating dozens of its military personnel who had been detained by the RSF when it attacked Merowe airport, north of the capital, early in the fighting. Egypt said its personnel were there for training and joint exercises.

The conflict has once again derailed Sudans attempt to establish democratic rule after a popular uprising helped depose long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir four years ago. Burhan and Dagalo jointly carried out a coup purging civilians from a transitional government in 2021.

The explosion of violence came after weeks of growing tensions between the two generals over a new international push for a return to civilian government.

Both sides have a long history of human rights abuses. The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudans western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

The conflict has raised fears of a spillover from the strategically located nation to its African neighbors.

Sudans fighting has caused up to 20,000 Sudanese to seek refuge in eastern Chad, the U.N. said Thursday. At least 320 Sudanese soldiers fled to Chad, where they were disarmed, said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chads defense minister. The troops were apparently fleeing from Darfur, where the RSF is the most powerful armed force.

Chad is for the moment trying to remain neutral  (but) Chad will be forced to pick sides if Sudan continues its descent into civil war, said Benjamin Hunger, Africa analyst for Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondent Fay Abuelgasim in Beirut contributed to this report.
ReportLinker

The term "cloud-native" describes creating and operating applications that use the distributed computing capabilities offered by the cloud delivery model. Cloud-native apps are created and designed to benefit from the clouds scalability, dependability, and flexibility.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Cloud Native Applications Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Deployment Mode, By Organization Size, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449939/?utm_source=GNW

One can easily bring their ideas to market due to built-in cloud-native applications. Users need responsiveness, zero downtime, a cloud-native approach to operating applications, and cutting-edge functionality. This underlines that the cloud is the foundation of the strategic transformation that accelerates the pace of business.



Due to cloud-native technologies, modern businesses may now run and create scalable applications in dynamic, contemporary environments, including hybrid clouds, private clouds, and public clouds. Many large corporations are developing massively scalable cloud-native platforms. Most businesses today integrate cutting-edge innovations like machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics into their routine operations.



Cloud-native applications are necessary for enterprises to design and run applications across public, private, and hybrid clouds at scale, given the rise in cloud computing demand and the volume of cloud traffic. As a result, companies must alter how they design, develop, and use applications to succeed in quick-moving software-driven marketplaces. Building, executing, and improving apps using well-established methods and technology for cloud computing is known as "cloud-native application development." These are applications created for cloud computing architecture.



Due to their interoperability & workload portability, cloud native applications often rely on open source and standards-based technology, which helps reduce vendor lock-in and leads to greater portability. In addition, cloud native applications also offer several advantages, like independent building up of the applications so they are managed & deployed separately, resilient architecture aids survival & remaining online regardless of the event of an infrastructure outage, and cloud native applications owing to interoperability & workload portability.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



As a result of the new insights organizations has gained regarding work-from-home (WFH) and data accessibility during the lockdown period, the demand for space & services in data centers has increased. In addition to the policy-level push for automation, the implementation of automation is increasing. Even when things return to "normal," the work style will continue to rely heavily on data centers, as demand for e-commerce, digital payments, and big data will continue to rise. These trends positively impacted the market due to the pandemic outbreak.



Market Growth Factors



Rising adoption in IT and BFSI sector



Businesses are emulating this trend, notably for telecom apps based on microservices, containers, and state-optimized design. The rising need for cloud-native systems in this business can be attributed, among other things, to the increased rate of software changes and releases. Using the integrated characteristics of the Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) layer and modifying the software architecture, businesses can also automate cloud data center resources. In addition, cost reductions, rapid implementation, and consumer involvement contribute to this markets revenue expansion.



Growing awareness regarding benefits of cloud native applications



Cloud-native applications can leverage the most recent cloud technologies and services, giving customers new functionality and features that traditional apps cannot. If a companys primary data center is collapsed or damaged, cloud-native applications can be swiftly and simply installed in a new location. Cloud-native applications can be deployed on a range of cloud platforms, allowing enterprises to select the platform that matches their needs the most effective. As users become more aware of these benefits offered by cloud native applications, the adoption is rising significantly and thus leading to market expansion.



Market Restraining Factors



Budget overruns being an obstacle to market expansion



Cloud-native application development methodologies and architectures are more sophisticated than conventional applications. As a result, cloud-native applications have more moving elements and necessitate a more complex development approach than monolithic programs built with a single codebase. Thus, organizations that adopt cloud-native must install tools and processes that allow them to handle the complexity associated with both the development and deployment of the application and management process, which increases the systems running cost. Thus, the cost overrun may hamper the market growth in the near future.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the cloud native applications market is segmented into platforms and services. A cloud-native platform is developed, optimized, and operated only in the cloud. Since the platform is designed in the cloud, cloud-based tools are rapid and flexible. This technology offers dependable performance, seamless interconnectivity, and improved business continuity. Cloud-native applications are entirely developed in the cloud and give developers new and innovative deployment methods to quickly evolve the businesses overall architecture.



Deployment Type Outlook



On the basis of deployment type, the cloud native applications market is divided into public cloud and private cloud. The private cloud segment covered a considerable revenue share in the cloud native applications market in 2021. Private cloud users can choose the hardware & software they want to acquire. Customers who use private clouds can alter servers whatever they choose and can alter software as necessary with add-ons or via custom development. Since all workloads are run behind the clients own firewall, there is better visibility over access and security management, which is the main factor supporting the segments expansion.



Organization Size Outlook



By organization size, the cloud native applications market is classified into small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. In 2021, the large enterprise segment dominated the cloud native applications market with the maximum revenue share. Large organizations were early users of CNA and related professional or managed services. Large enterprises have adopted cloud-based technologies over traditional on-premises offerings in high proportions. Many departments or teams within these organizations are responsible for distinct operations.



Vertical Outlook



Based on the vertical, the cloud native applications market is bifurcated into BFSI, IT & telecom, government & public sector, retail & ecommerce, healthcare & life sciences, manufacturing and others. The IT & telecom segment recorded a remarkable revenue share in the cloud native applications market in 2021. The growing use of Fifth Generation (5G) technologies in the telecommunications sector is a major driver driving market revenue growth. Moreover, numerous operators and manufacturers are adopting cloud-native applications due to their multiple benefits.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the cloud native applications market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2021, the North America region led the cloud native applications market by generating maximum revenue share. Along with many other cutting-edge technologies, North America ranks among the regions with the most developed edge and cloud computing infrastructure. The use of cloud technology and rising levels of digitalization have been fairly noticeable throughout the region. With public and private deployment options, IT investment in system infrastructure is dramatically moving away from conventional solutions and into the cloud. Businesses are using cloud services quickly for new initiatives or to replace outdated systems.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Microsoft Corporation and Google, LLC is the major forerunner in the Cloud Native Applications Market. Companies such as Adobe, Inc., VMware, Inc., and Infosys Limited are some of the key innovators in Cloud Native Applications Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Amazon.com, Inc., Google LLC (Alphabet, Inc.), IBM Corporation, Infosys Limited, VMware, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group, Inc.), and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)



Recent strategies deployed in Cloud Native Applications Market



Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:



Feb-2023: Infosys came into partnership with ng-voice, a complete containerized and cloud-native IMS solution provider for the telecom market. Under this partnership, the companies would work together for delivering exceptional managed services and cloud-native software solutions while promoting innovation and providing tailored customer experiences to ng-clients.



Oct-2022: Microsoft extended its partnership with Databricks, an enterprise software company. The expansion would advance Microsofts Analytics platform to an Open and Governed Data Lakehouse foundation. With the help of this foundation, customers would be able to combine their most demanding investments in business intelligence, machine learning, and artificial intelligence on a single data analytics foundation, such as an open and controlled data lakehouse. The foundation would also give customers the ability to democratize analytics data products responsibly to speed up the adoption of digital transformation inside their businesses.



Oct-2022: Oracle partnered with GitHub, a DevOps software package that can develop, protect, and operate software (OCI). The partnership enables users to run GitLabs DevOps platform on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. OCI and GitLabs DevOps platform work well together and have the following advantages: performance, platform breadth, security, value, hybrid and multi-cloud environments, and GovCloud regions.



Jul-2022: Oracle came into a partnership with Claro, a Mexican company. This partnership aimed to jointly provide Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services to public and private sector organizations and enterprises in Colombia. Under this partnership, Claro would become the host partner for an Oracle Cloud region in Colombia, which would allow Claro to provide OCI platform services with professional and managed services to assist users to adopt cloud solutions.



Jul-2022: Huawei Technologies together with Sunline, introduced the joint cloud-native digital loan solution. Developed on Huawei Cloud, this solution uses the Sunline 2020 EDSP enterprise-level microservices banking framework to create a revolutionary experience, capabilities, speed, architecture, and basis.



May-2022: Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. announced a collaboration with IBM, for providing a wide range of its software catalog as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) on AWS. The collaboration would deliver fast and easy access to IBM software that has data and AI, automation, and security & sustainability capabilities, built on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA), and runs cloud-native on AWS, to clients.



May-2022: Google Cloud, a division of Google, Inc. came into partnership with SAP SE for combining ERP, SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, and Google Workspace. These integrations would help SAP S/4HANA users working with large data sets to make use of Google Workspaces real-time collaboration features, allowing teams to access SAP data simultaneously and move projects along more effectively.



Mar-2022: VMware extended its partnership with Google Cloud for helping customers in accelerating cloud transformation and app modernization. Clients can benefit from Google Cloud VMware Engine by using the VMware Cloud Universal programme. Enterprise clients would benefit from increased financial flexibility, more options, and the opportunity to upgrade their enterprise applications in Google Cloud and speed up their cloud migrations.



Acquisition and Mergers:



Feb-2022: IBM completed the acquisition of Neudesic, a cloud services consultancy. The acquisition expanded IBMs hybrid multi-cloud services suite and further strengthen its AI and hybrid cloud strategy.



Jul-2021: Microsoft announced the acquisition of CloudKnox Security, a provider of complete visibility into privileged access. The acquisition helped Microsoft Azure Active Directory clients with continuous monitoring, granular visibility, and automated remediation of multi and hybrid cloud permissions.



Jan-2021: Citrix Systems announced an agreement to acquire Wrike, a provider of workgroup collaboration software-as-a-service (SaaS). Following the acquisition, Citrix will offer the most complete cloud-based work platform in the market, enabling all teams and employees to collaborate and complete all work types most effectively and efficiently as possible irrespective of work channel, device, or location.



Dec-2020: Google took over Actifio, an information technology company for facilitating businesses in data recovery and protection. The acquisition showcases Google Clouds dedication to assisting businesses in safeguarding workloads both locally and remotely. Actifios business continuity solutions would assist Google Cloud clients in preventing data loss and downtime due to external attacks, network failures, human errors, and other disturbances as enterprises throughout industries improve their disaster preparedness strategy and infrastructure resiliency.



Dec-2020: IBM signed an agreement to acquire Nordcloud, a company focused on application transformation, cloud implementation, and managed services. The acquisition would add in-depth expertise and will drive the clients digital transformations, as well as assist the adoption of IBMs hybrid cloud platform.



Product Launches and Product Expansions:



Jul-2022: Huawei Cloud introduced Cloud Native Core Banking Solution for offering a permanent cloud-native platform for offloading mainframes, powering digital banks, and building new core systems for traditional banks. High availability, massive concurrency, and agile application iteration are all features of the system. A disaster recovery (DR) with RPO = 0 and RTO 2 minutes serves as an example of its high availability. The GaussDB satisfies financial regulatory criteria with an intra-city AZ RTO of less than 10s.



Dec-2021: IBM launched the IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Center, a digital front door for a wide range of resources, training, tools, and ecosystem partners for enabling IBM Z clients in accelerating the modernization of their data, applications, and processes in an open hybrid cloud architecture. With the help of this center, clients can better understand how to retain their present IT infrastructure while concentrating on the design and implementation of a hybrid cloud readiness plan for their core IBM Z-based apps and data.



Mar-2021: IBM unveiled IBM Cloud Satellit that would help enterprise clients in launching consistent cloud services anywhere, in any environment, across any cloud. With the help of IBM Cloud Satellite, customers would have easier access to the companys cloud services and minimal latency, while still enjoying the same levels of security, data privacy, interoperability, and open standards seen in hybrid cloud environments. This provides industries with access to a secure and consistent set of cloud services.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Component



 Platform



 Services



By Deployment Mode



 Public Cloud



 Private Cloud



By Organization Size



 Large Enterprises



 SMEs



By Vertical



 BFSI



 IT & Telecom



 Government & Public Sector



 Manufacturing



 Healthcare & Lifesciences



 Retail & eCommerce



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Amazon.com, Inc.



 Google LLC (Alphabet, Inc.)



 IBM Corporation



 Infosys Limited



 VMware, Inc.



 Microsoft Corporation



 Oracle Corporation



 SAP SE



 Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group, Inc.)



 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449939/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress have finalized the 2023 County Deer Advisory Council meeting schedule.

These meetings, which will be held throughout the state from April 24 to May 4, can be attended in person or virtually via Zoom.

The meeting schedule, which includes details on location and Zoom access, can be found here.

The Columbia County meeting will take place on May 3 at 6 p.m. at the Columbia County Administration Building in Portage, rooms 113 and 114. It is located at 112 East Edgewater Street.

The Sauk County meeting will be held on May 1 at 6 p.m. in Plain. It will be held at the Kraemer Library and Community Center, located at 910 Main Street.

The Dodge County meeting will be held on May 2 at 7 p.m. at the Horicon DNR Auditorium in Horicon. It is located at N7725 State Road 28.

County Deer Advisory Councils are made up of volunteers who represent various stakeholder groups and Conservation Congress members. Councils meet annually to provide input and recommendations to the DNR on deer management within their area.

Councils review current county data on fawn to doe ratios; harvest trends; herd health; deer impacts on agriculture; forest health; economics; and vehicular collisions; as well as the deer hunter experience.

State figures, released by the Wisconsin DNR during the opening of gun deer season in 2022 showed that the number of deer hunters declined in 2021. Deer license sales were down 2% from the year prior, though conservation patron licenses were up 2.2%.

Information on each countys harvest and population metrics can be found here.

CDAC recommendations are reviewed and set annually so they can be adjusted as needed in response to the previous years deer harvest, winter severity, and other factors.

Following the meetings and CDAC processes, the Wisconsin DNR will bring recommendations for the 2023 hunting season to the Natural Resources Board for review on June 21.

Close Taylor Herrrick is all smiles as she views the 13-point buck that she got, from a deer stand in Marquette County, in the early morning hours Saturday -- opening day for Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer hunt. The prized buck got numerous compliments from passers-by in downtown Pardeeville. Harry Katze said this young buck was the only deer he saw Saturday as he hunted on his town of Springvale farm on the opening day of Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer season. Mark Frank of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources checks the teeth and harvests the lymph nodes of an antlerless deer Saturday at Pardeeville Sport Marine, as part of the state's voluntary effort to track the health of the deer herd, including testing for the presence of chronic wasting disease. Taking advantage of an event advertised as a "hunter's widow shopping extravaganza," Jude Braemer studies cookbooks. She's already bought the cutting board that she plans to use to butcher the deer that her husband, Matt, bagged Saturday morning. Linda Brodeur of Poynette offers information on Kids and Mentors Outdoors, or KAMO, while perusing a photo of the deer that her husband, Bob, got on the opening day of the gun deer hunt Saturday. Gun deer season begins Saturday It was a foggy, misty start to the 2014 gun deer season, but that didn't keep Columbia County hunters from bagging their quarry. Taylor Herrrick is all smiles as she views the 13-point buck that she got, from a deer stand in Marquette County, in the early morning hours Saturday -- opening day for Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer hunt. The prized buck got numerous compliments from passers-by in downtown Pardeeville. Harry Katze said this young buck was the only deer he saw Saturday as he hunted on his town of Springvale farm on the opening day of Wisconsin's nine-day gun deer season. Mark Frank of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources checks the teeth and harvests the lymph nodes of an antlerless deer Saturday at Pardeeville Sport Marine, as part of the state's voluntary effort to track the health of the deer herd, including testing for the presence of chronic wasting disease. Taking advantage of an event advertised as a "hunter's widow shopping extravaganza," Jude Braemer studies cookbooks. She's already bought the cutting board that she plans to use to butcher the deer that her husband, Matt, bagged Saturday morning. Linda Brodeur of Poynette offers information on Kids and Mentors Outdoors, or KAMO, while perusing a photo of the deer that her husband, Bob, got on the opening day of the gun deer hunt Saturday.
The past is not dead, wrote famously by William Faulkner, its not even past. History is being played out every day. Some events are big and some events are small, but all, collectively, change who we are and who we will become.

For 16 students at Baraboos Jack Young Middle School (JYMS), history, for them, will be made on April 22 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Thats because the students have been selected as state finalists for this years National History Day competition.

National History Day is an academic enrichment program for students in grades 6 to 12. Students select topics connected to an annual theme and complete their own in-depth research on the topic.

This year, the theme is Frontiers in History: People, Places, and Ideas.

JYMS students present their conclusions by creating museum-style exhibits, media documentaries, research papers, interactive websites, and dramatic performances.

When students ask me why we have to learn about history, my answer is that we arent really learning history, said Linda Chappetto, an 8th grade social studies teacher at JYMS. We are learning how to learn, how to find out, and how to tell if the information we found is reliable, said the students advisor for the National History Day competition.

Reliable information has proven to be more challenging in this divisive age. Chappetto said, The flood of information available on the internet, which seems to be increasingly divided, makes it more important than ever that students learn those skills.

When Chappetto was a student herself, her spark of interest in history came from traveling to places with her mother, like Washington, D.C., Colonial Williamsburg, and the Worlds Fair when it visited New Orleans.

Then, in high school, she said, I had some amazing history teachers who helped me find a deep passion for all the social studies.

The Baraboo teacher, who has been with the district since 2012, is hoping to pay it forward, giving guidance to JYMS students and this years state competitors.

I am always impressed, Chappetto said, at how hard they work to collect information for their projects.

Students Nina, Dylan, and Cole will present a documentary about Title IX. As part of their project, they interviewed local retired teacher Kathy Allen, who was a college student, and then, a young teacher when Title IX changes went into effect.

A documentary about womens rights was put together by Kassie, Leah, and Lily. Chappetto marveled, saying, They draw a line from a new form of dress for Victorian women, to a transportation boom, to the fight for womens rights and the freedom to travel around unescorted.

The Orphan Train: Moving Children to the Frontier is an exhibit created by JYMS students Mallory, Makennah, and Rachel. The exhibit has local ties. Some of the orphans who were taken from the East Coast were eventually resettled in Wisconsin.

Heath wrote a historical paper entitled Russian Discovery of Siberia: The Eastern Frontier. Its very exciting, Chappetto said, its the first paper we have ever had that advanced to the state level.

Baraboo students will present performances, also. Lathan and Kaya will present The Challenger Deep: Frontier of the Ocean. Many believe that the ocean is the last unexplored frontier. Chappetto likes how well the performance fits in with the years theme.

Emma and Kaylees performance is about Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria. Both students are interested in the nursing field.

The Russian space program is explored by students Yana and Amy.

The students, Chappetto said, take a unique perspective. They focus on the early victories that the Russian program enjoyed which helped the U.S. build their own space program.

Lukass project about the frontier town, Deadwood, was chosen as an alternate for the state competition.

The student did a lot of digging, Chappetto said, and even contacted the Deadwood Historical Society to get more directions to take with the research.

Participation in the National History Day competition grows year after year. This year, more than 500,000 students participated nationally.

The National History Day program in Wisconsin is coordinated by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

If JYMS students win in the coming state competition, theyll compete on the national level. That event will take place in June at the University of Maryland campus.

About 3,000 students from across the United States and overseas will compete in the national contest for awards and prizes.

Perhaps those awards and prizes will go to these Baraboo students. Regardless, history is being made.

Close Jack Young Middle School choir director Harmony Klingenmeyer receives a hug from a student after Thursday's spring concert in the school gym. Klingenmeyer is leaving the school and moving out of state after the school year. Eighth-grader Joshua Hackbarth sings and plays a drum during the Jack Young Middle School choir's performance of Toto's "Africa" Thursday in the school gym. Eighth-graders Jordan Blue and Carley Frey start out "For Good" from "Wicked" during Thursday's choir concert at Jack Young Middle School. Director Harmony Klingenmeyer showcases the sixth-grade choir during Thursday's concert at Jack Young Middle School. Jack Young Middle School spring concert Jack Young Middle School's choirs performed a spring concert Thursday under the direction of Harmony Klingenmeyer. Singers in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades performed and thanked Klingenmeyer, who is leaving her job and moving out of state after the school year. Jack Young Middle School choir director Harmony Klingenmeyer receives a hug from a student after Thursday's spring concert in the school gym. Klingenmeyer is leaving the school and moving out of state after the school year. Eighth-grader Joshua Hackbarth sings and plays a drum during the Jack Young Middle School choir's performance of Toto's "Africa" Thursday in the school gym. Eighth-graders Jordan Blue and Carley Frey start out "For Good" from "Wicked" during Thursday's choir concert at Jack Young Middle School. Director Harmony Klingenmeyer showcases the sixth-grade choir during Thursday's concert at Jack Young Middle School.
Company Logo

Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Crop Scouting Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2017-2027 By Type (Classic Crop Scouting v/s Digital Crop Scouting), By Digital Crop Scouting, By Application, and By Region" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global crop scouting market is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR in the forecast period, 2023-2027.

Companies Mentioned

Crop Quest, Inc.

EOS Data Analytics Inc.

United Prairie LLC

FieldX Inc.

BASF Digital Farming GmbH (Xarvio)

Sylvite AG

Nutrien Ag Solutions, Inc

SGS SA

Taranis

Antara AG

Crop scouting, also referred as field scouting, one of the very basic actions of traveling through a crop field while making required stops for observations. Crop scouting is performed so that a farmer can analyses the growth in their field.

This further helps in finding the problems during the growing season, the farmer can work to mitigate them, to avoid the degradation of yield at harvest time. If the problems go uncared especially during the crop growing season, it can harm the total yield which further minimizes the revenue from the sale of the crop.

Traditional methods of crop scouting include walking in the field and observing plants manually specifically the pieces of equipment are still utilized, including field notes to care about the areas that need more attention. Continuous technological advancement makes way for improvements in the facilities used in farming which supports the market growth. Additionally, the studying of pollution of soil is expected to propel the market growth in the coming years.



Increase in Adoption of Smart Phones in Agriculture is Expected to Boost the Market Growth



The escalating demand for smart phones has led to the increased demand for smart phone integration in precision agriculture which drives the market growth. Numerous companies have introduced several advanced applications compatible with all smart phones. Various farmers can monitor the field from any location and the data is stored in the cloud as backup with the aid of smart phone integration.

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Smart phones fulfil the need of the farmer as it supports connectivity utilizing Bluetooth, USB, and Wi-Fi. The significant growth in smart phone adoption has created lucrative opportunities for the global crop scouting market. With this, the rise in use of mobile devices in agriculture is the development of monitoring protocols &systems for monitoring &managing farms and farm workers which is expected to fuel the market growth in the coming years.



Government Initiatives to Promote the Crop Production Bolster the Market Growth



The relationship between the policies of the government and agricultural supply requires analysis on various levels. The approaches taken by government authorities to agricultural production are shaped by ideas of economic development, economic interests, the requirements of international agencies (such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) and regimes.

Extensive research activities on agricultural production propels the growth of the market. The enhancing focus on the national level recognizing that government policy is one of the more direct and tangible factors shaping agricultural production accelerates the market growth.

The government policies and programs that have attempted to shift agricultural production in some way to improve crop production, induce crop substitution. This further present a typology of policies which is utilized to influence agricultural production and to shape the supply of healthier agricultural commodities which are expected to stimulate the market growth in the coming years.



Report Scope:



In this report, global crop scouting market has been segmented into following categories, in addition to the industry trends which have also been detailed below:



Crop Scouting Market, By Type:

Classic Crop Scouting

Digital Crop Scouting

Crop Scouting Market, By Digital Crop Scouting:

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Remote Sensing Technology

Others

Crop Scouting Market, By Application:

Insect Scouting

Crop Disease Scouting

Weed Scouting, Others

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d6m73c

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JUNEAU  An 18-year-old man from Beaver Dam was found guilty of taking disposable vapes from a gas station on Park Avenue in Beaver Dam last year after the cashier refused to sell him cigarettes.

Sharief Williams entered a no contest plea to a felony count of theft and a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana. Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Martin De Vries accepted the plea and granted expungement if Williams completes probation.

Williams was placed on probation for 24 months with the conditions that he maintain fulltime employment and/or school, he maintain absolute sobriety and not possess any controlled substances. In addition, he may not enter any establishment whose primary business activity involves the sale of alcohol.

According to the criminal complaint:

Beaver Dam Police were called to the gas station on Aug. 1, 2022, around 3 p.m. for a possible robbery. They soon learned that the three suspects left on bikes and were seen near Chill Zone and were able to stop them about two blocks from the gas station. The three teens cooperated with officers and stopped and also admitted to being in the gas station. The other two said that they were with Williams but were not with him the entire time. They said that they went in to buy cigarettes but did not have an ID. Williams originally denied being with the other teens.

The victim who worked at the gas station identified the clothes Wiliams was wearing as belonging to the person who shoved her. She said she attempted to prevent Willams from getting behind the counter. He was allegedly able to take two vaping devices. The value of the vapes was $70.

The vapes were found in Williams shorts pocket. Williams allegedly eventually admitted that taking the items was a spur-of-the-minute decision but denied pushing the employee. The items were returned to the store employee.
COLUMBUS  The Columbus City Council was unable to choose a new city council president on Tuesday after voting led to ties to begin the new term.

There are six members of the city council: Council President Ian Gray, Amy Roelke, Sarah Motiff, Trina Reid, Adam Steiner and Molly Finkler.

The office of council president can be held by any council member, Columbus Mayor Joe Hammer said, who was presiding over his first city council meeting on Tuesday. The voting will be done by secret ballot. It is possible for someone not nominated to be elected into that position.

The first vote resulted in both Gray and Roelke as candidates for the council president. The council had three votes that were tied prior to the two candidates speaking on why they would like to be the council president.

I think maybe we need a little new leadership here, Roelke said. There have been some decisions that have not met the approval of the city. I have not always felt heard in meetings, and sometimes I think there is a little too much talking and not enough listening. I would like to be president because I would like to hear what everyone has to say and what the community has to say as well.

Roelke said she has voted in the past for things that she does not agree with but she went with how she felt her constituents would have liked her to vote.

Gray said that the council has a lot of change with a new mayor and needed some continuity with the city council. As the sitting president, Gray said he did many things behind the scenes that he felt would not be continued if he were not president, including shortening the meeting times.

I have turned our meetings from an average of 10 or 11 oclock to an average of 8 or 9 oclock, Gray said. That takes clear direction. That takes clear leadership ... not someone who is sitting on a fence. There is a reason that the president needs to be decisive, stand by their decisions, and lead a council.

An additional vote was held with a tie vote coming from the secret ballots that the council members filled out.

Motiff said that the council needs someone with experience and Gray has filled the role twice.

The council has done a great job of making progress, and I want to see that progress continue, Motiff said.

Finkler, who is the newest member of the council, said that sometimes change is good.

Sometimes the new person can ask the questions and make sure processes and procedures are being followed, Finkler said.

Gray offered to step down as president but said that they needed a new president who has leadership ability.

The council opened back up the nominations and Roelke, Motiff and Steiner. Two additional votes were held which resulted in tie votes for Roelke and Motiff.

Motiff said that she tended to look for all the facts on an issue.

I too have voted differently than I personally feel because I felt it was what my constituents would want, Motiff said.

In the end, the council agreed to have Hammer preside over the committee of the whole and vote on a new council president at their next meeting on May 2.

Discovery Charter School celebrates 15 years Discovery School001.jpg Discovery School002.jpg Discovery School003.jpg Discovery School004.jpg Discovery School005.jpg Discovery School006.jpg
A Dane County judge on Wednesday rejected a request by one of the attorneys involved in the Republican attempt to hand Wisconsins Electoral College votes to Donald Trump to disqualify the law firm suing the group.

Jim Troupis, a former Republican-appointed Dane County judge who represented Trump in a failed effort to overturn Wisconsins 2020 election results, filed the motion last summer alleging he and his wife had an ongoing attorney-client relationship with Stafford Rosenbaum attorney Johanna Allex at the time that other lawyers with the law firm brought the lawsuit against him and several others in May 2022.

Troupis and his wife retained the firm in late 2019 and worked with Allex to develop and prepare an estate plan, which involved providing the law firm with intensely private and confidential matters and information about their family, assets, and finance, according to Troupis motion.

While the estate plan was never finalized, Troupis considers himself a client of Stafford Rosenbaum. He contended the financial information provided to the law firm as part of preparing an estate plan is relevant to the lawsuit, as it seeks punitive damages from the defendants.

Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington ruled that Troupis attorney-client relationship with Allex ended in February 2020, after he paid the firm for services related to the estate plan  more than two years before the lawsuit was filed. Remington said Troupis belief that he continued to have an attorney-client relationship after that point was not reasonable.

Troupis attorney, Matthew Fernholz, argued Stafford Rosenbaum needed to formally notify Troupis it had concluded its attorney-client relationship.

Attorney Stacie Rosenzweig, who represents Stafford Rosenbaum, said Allex billed Troupis for less than nine hours of work and sent him and his wife estate plan documents in late 2019. The Troupises did not respond to the email or any follow-up correspondence, Rosenzweig said.

They went radio silent, and they went radio silent for two years, Rosenzweig said.

2022 lawsuit

The lawsuit was filed almost two years later in 2022 on behalf of a handful of Democrats, including two official presidential electors, against the 10 Republicans, as well as Boston-area lawyer Kenneth Chesebro and Troupis.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs allege the 10 Republicans broke several criminal and civil laws, including counterfeiting public records, illegally interfering with official procedures, defrauding the public and engaging in conspiracy, when they signed the official-looking documents and, by doing so, played a role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt at the nations Capitol.

Plaintiffs seek more than $2.4 million in damages, including $2,000 fines for the Republicans and their attorneys, and up to $200,000 in punitive damages for each plaintiff.

Nine of the 10 Republicans last month filed a motion seeking to have the lawsuit broken up and brought before individual courts in their counties of residence.

Remington has not yet ruled on the motion.

The slate of 10 Republicans met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign official-looking documents asserting that Trump won the state. The meeting took place on the same day that the Democratic slate of Wisconsin electors convened in the Capitol building to deliver the states 10 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden. It also occurred after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Biden had won the election and a month after Wisconsin county clerks canvassed the presidential election results.

Elections 101: Video series explains how elections are carried out in Wisconsin The Wisconsin Elections Commission put together the following series of instructional videos and accompanying lesson plans for use in high school civics classes and the general public. Elections overview An overview of elections administration in Wisconsin. Voting Security Let's take a look at how we maintain security and integrity with all of our elections. Nuts and bolts The ins-and-outs of voter processes like registering to vote and requesting a ballot to vote absentee. A Day at the Polls See what it is like to go to the polls and vote.
Lets celebrate with Mother Earth this spring. As stewards working hard to protect our home, we should also set aside time to enjoy it. Join a group or enjoy a solo adventure. Most of these ideas are near Wisconsin Dells. If you live elsewhere, though, they may inspire you to search for similar recreational opportunities in your area.
Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust plc (LON:EWI  Get Rating) passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 161.26 ($2.00) and traded as low as GBX 152.72 ($1.89). Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust shares last traded at GBX 154.20 ($1.91), with a volume of 886,374 shares changing hands.

Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.39. The firm has a market cap of 594.72 million, a P/E ratio of -112.12 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 160.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 170.65.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust

In related news, insider Caroline Roxburgh bought 8,324 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 179 ($2.22) per share, with a total value of 14,899.96 ($18,438.26). In other Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust news, insider Jonathan Simpson-Dent acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 158 ($1.96) per share, with a total value of 7,900 ($9,776.02). Also, insider Caroline Roxburgh acquired 8,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 179 ($2.22) per share, with a total value of 14,899.96 ($18,438.26). Insiders own 1.78% of the companys stock.

Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust Company Profile

Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust plc is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Baillie Gifford & Co It invests in public equity markets across the globe. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies that are operating across diversified sectors.

Further Reading

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Agnico Eagle Mines (TSE:AEM  Get Rating) (NYSE:AEM) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from C$89.00 to C$91.00 in a report released on Thursday, The Fly reports. Stifel Nicolaus price objective would suggest a potential upside of 19.86% from the companys previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. National Bank Financial upped their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$76.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Tuesday. Veritas Investment Research set a C$82.10 target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 21st. National Bankshares increased their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$76.00 to C$95.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from C$90.00 to C$84.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research note on Friday, February 17th. They set a buy rating and a C$62.00 price objective on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of C$78.71.

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Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

Shares of TSE:AEM traded down C$0.56 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$75.92. 130,295 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,951,267. Agnico Eagle Mines has a fifty-two week low of C$48.88 and a fifty-two week high of C$79.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.19. The firm has a market cap of C$34.77 billion, a PE ratio of 37.31, a P/E/G ratio of -1.52 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$68.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$67.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Agnico Eagle Mines ( TSE:AEM Get Rating ) (NYSE:AEM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The company reported C$0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.53 by C$0.02. The business had revenue of C$1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$1.91 billion. Agnico Eagle Mines had a net margin of 11.67% and a return on equity of 6.03%. As a group, analysts predict that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 2.1595896 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Agnico Eagle Mines news, Senior Officer Ammar Al-Joundi bought 8,200 shares of Agnico Eagle Mines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of C$62.17 per share, with a total value of C$509,822.70. Insiders own 0.11% of the companys stock.

About Agnico Eagle Mines

(Get Rating)

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Canada, Mexico, and Finland. It operates through Northern Business and Southern Business segments. The company primarily produces and sells gold deposits, as well as explores for silver, zinc, and copper deposits.

Further Reading

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ReportLinker

Cybersecurity encompasses many operational and information technology security-related tools, procedures, and approaches. This strategy employs preventative and reactive measures to defend data and networks against attack and compromise.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Cyber Security In Energy Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By End User, By Organization Size, By Deployment Type, By Component, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449934/?utm_source=GNW

In addition, cybersecurity employs web filtering, legacy malware protection, and advanced threat defenses to protect the user from internet-borne risks and assist companies in enforcing internet policy compliance.



Several cybersecurity solutions & services are utilized to provide security services to prevent risks and enhance the firms overall effectiveness. Cyber security in energy market has increased due to shifting patterns, expectations, and behavior in the energy sector as a result of the digitization of energy & utility services. In addition, the growing demand and requirement to safeguard information, data, and gadgets in the energy industry drive cyber security in energy market.



In addition, the rise in the likelihood of cyberattacks on the energy sector for the execution of mass operations contributes to the expansion of cyber security in energy market. This is because technological improvements in cyber security in energy market, such as the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, are anticipated to fuel the market expansion in the approaching years. As a result, the use of digital methods for various energy sector operations is anticipated to increase in the coming years.



In tandem with the modernization of power generation, transmission, and distribution systems, cyber threats are also increasing. To manage risks and extend their offers, market players are increasingly concentrating on the development of cybersecurity technology. The rise of cyber security in energy market is anticipated to be aided by these factors.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



During the pandemic, IoT devices enabled remote monitoring of room temperatures and remote management of energy use, which was incredibly advantageous for the energy industry. Cyber security has allowed the energy industry to deal with security concerns and facilitate secure information access while working remotely. Furthermore, the risk of cyberattacks has increased significantly in numerous firms during the pandemic because of the increased internet traffic, which drives the demand for cybersecurity solutions in the energy industry. So, the pandemic had a positive impact on the market.



Market Growth Factors



Increased risk of cyberattacks in energy sector



The rise in malware and phishing risks is a critical element that significantly contributes to expanding the cyber security in energy market. Moreover, during the COVID-19 outbreak, the frequency of malware attacks on the databases of big businesses grew, necessitating the need to tighten the security of databases, hence accelerating the expansion of cyber security in energy market. In addition, market participants are developing creative ways to combat such malware & phishing assaults, fueling the expansion of cyber security in energy market.



Enhanced efficiency and productivity



The ability of employees to remain productive can be all but impossible when viruses and other intrusions paralyze networks and smart devices. By implementing a range of cyber security measures, including improved firewalls, virus scanning, and automatic backups, organizations can drastically reduce violations and the amount of downtime necessary to remedy the breach. In addition, employees can learn how to spot possible email phishing scams, suspicious links, and other malicious criminal activities with education and training. As a result, this element stimulates market expansion.



Market Restraining Factors



Budget constrains among the start-ups and SMEs



The lack of financial resources impedes these businesses adoption of new technologies and corporate security solutions, resulting in an inadequate IT security architecture. Moreover, small businesses are burdened with the administration of budgeted funds for various operational difficulties and business continuity planning, leaving them with less time and resources to embrace cybersecurity solutions. Hence, cyber security in energy market may experience slower growth throughout the forecast period due to the shortage of funds among SMBs and startups.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the cyber security in energy market is segmented into solution, and services. In 2021, the solution segment dominated the cyber security in energy market with maximum revenue share. This is due to the growing demand for penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, and assuring compliance with the most stringent federal, defense, and industry security regulations.



Deployment Mode Outlook



On the basis of deployment mode, the cyber security in energy market is classified into on-premise, and cloud. In 2021, the cloud segment garnered a significant revenue share in cyber security in energy market. The rapid expansion can be due to the increasing deployment of cloud computing infrastructure and organizations migration of on-premises solutions to the cloud. Moreover, cloud-based security systems are simple and inexpensive to adopt, administer, and upgrade, which is predicted to be one of the primary factors driving market expansion.



Organization Size Outlook



By Organization size, the cybersecurity in energy market is categorized into large enterprise and small & medium sized enterprise. Since they provide essential goods and services, energy businesses are an obvious target. Due to the lack of technical expertise and corresponding specifics of this cyber world at the board level, their work is restricted to a black box in most large firms that currently employ cybersecurity officers. Large enterprises are increasingly adopting cyber security solutions as a consequence.



End User Outlook



Based on end user, the cybersecurity in energy market is bifurcated into industrial, commercial and residential. The industrial segment projected a prominent revenue share in the cyber security in energy market in 2021. Identifying vulnerabilities or opportunities within the energy sector is crucially dependent on cybersecurity experts. The industrial sectors adoption of cybersecurity is driven by the necessity to install affordable cybersecurity solutions.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the cybersecurity in energy market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA. In 2021, the North America region led the cyber security in energy market by generating maximum revenue share. Increased mobile and web usage in the energy sector is the primary factor contributing to the expansion of cybersecurity in North America. In addition, the increasing reliance on the internet and digital platforms is a significant driver driving market expansion in this region.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Acquisitions. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Accenture PLC and Hitachi, Ltd. are the forerunners in the Cyber Security In Energy Market. Companies such as IBM Corporation, Baker Hughes Company, Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. are some of the key innovators in Cyber Security In Energy Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Accenture PLC, IBM Corporation, General Electric Company, Ansaldo Energia S.p.A., Baker Hughes Company, Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi Energy Ltd.), and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Mitsubishi Power, Ltd.)



Recent Strategies Deployed in Cyber Security In Energy Market



Partnerships, Collaboration and Agreements:



Oct-2022: Accenture expanded its partnership with Google Cloud, a suite of cloud computing services providers. The partnership addresses the need of clients to build a strong digital core by using Google Cloud infrastructure in various areas like cybersecurity, data analytics, etc.



Product Launch and Product Expansions:



May-2022: GE unveiled Lifespan, a digital product suite that helps customers to optimize renewable asset performance and operations. Lifespan provides real-time command and control, and deep insights into fleet and site performance. The launch is aimed to drive improved operations and optimizing energy production.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Feb-2023: Accenture took over Morphus, a cyber defense, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence services provider. The acquisition enables the company to expand its portfolio its practice capabilities in Brazil and Latin America.



Dec-2022: IBM signed an agreement to acquire Octo, an IT modernization and digital transformation services provider. Octo complements the companys existing strengths in IT modernization and digital transformation, enhancing the ability to support federal agencies with a flexible, modern approach to digital transformation.



Aug-2022: Baker Hughes signed an agreement to acquire Quest Integrity, which delivers asset integrity and reliability management solutions. The acquisition complements the companys existing capability to help customers ensure the safety of their asset infrastructure.



Mar-2022: Baker Hughes has announced the acquisition of Qi2 Elements, an advanced robotic sensor systems designer and manufacturer. The acquisition of Qi2 Elements complements the companys existing capability in gas pipeline inspection and also offers new technology to support storage tank inspection.



Jan-2022: Accenture acquired XtremeEDA, an Ottawa-headquartered silicon design services leader. The acquisition brings the expertise of XtremeEDA to the companys Cloud First.



Nov-2021: IBM completed the acquisition of SXiQ, an Australian digital transformation services company. This acquisition aimed to bring additional hybrid and multi-cloud expertise that is at the core of open innovation for clients. SXiQ would improve IBM Consultings abilities in Australia and New Zealand to modernize applications and technology infrastructure in the cloud.



Jun-2021: Accenture acquired Sentor, a Sweden-based independent provider of cyber defense and managed security services. This acquisition aimed to expand its ability to assist customers to match this challenging cybersecurity environment.



Apr-2021: Hitachi, Ltd., took over GlobalLogic, an American digital services company providing software product design and development services. Through this acquisition, Hitachi, Ltd. would be able to expand its delivery footprints in India with the help and support of GlobalLogic. Moreover, Hitachi, Ltd would be able to grow its customer base in the Europe and US.



Jan-2021: Accenture took over Real Protect, a Brazil-based Information Security Company. This acquisition aimed to expand its cybersecurity presence and capabilities in Latin America. In addition, Real Protect would support the prevailing managed security services business of Accenture.



Apr-2020: Accenture completed the acquisition of Revolutionary Security, which focuses on providing enterprise cybersecurity for information technology and operational technology (OT) environments. Through this acquisition, the company aimed to enhance its critical infrastructure protection capabilities to offer cyber defense management.



Geographical Expansions:



Feb-2022: IBM expanded its footprint in India by opening a cyber-security center to help businesses manage the growing danger of cyberattacks. The new cyber-security center offers security response services to customers all across the world.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By End User



 Commercial



 Industrial



 Residential



By Organization Size



 Large Enterprises



 SMEs



By Deployment Type



 On-premise



 Cloud



By Component



 Solution



o Identity & Access Management



o Infrastructure Security, Governance Risk & Compliance



o Unified Vulnerability Management Service Offering



o Data Security & Privacy Service Offering



o Others



 Service



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Accenture PLC



 IBM Corporation



 General Electric Company



 Ansaldo Energia S.p.A.



 Baker Hughes Company



 Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi Energy Ltd.)



 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Mitsubishi Power, Ltd.)



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449934/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




ARGI Investment Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Kellogg (NYSE:K  Get Rating) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,655 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 3,723 shares during the quarter. ARGI Investment Services LLCs holdings in Kellogg were worth $3,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of K. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Kellogg by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 142,158 shares of the companys stock worth $9,903,000 after buying an additional 3,220 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Kellogg by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,018 shares of the companys stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. grew its stake in Kellogg by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 7,100 shares of the companys stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in Kellogg by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 29,530 shares of the companys stock worth $2,057,000 after buying an additional 2,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust grew its stake in Kellogg by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 9,950 shares of the companys stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 2,801 shares during the last quarter. 82.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Kellogg Price Performance

K stock opened at $67.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.42. Kellogg has a 1 year low of $63.74 and a 1 year high of $77.17.

Kellogg Announces Dividend

Kellogg ( NYSE:K Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.09. Kellogg had a return on equity of 32.51% and a net margin of 6.27%. The business had revenue of $3.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kellogg will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 28th. Kelloggs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.59%.

Insider Activity at Kellogg

In related news, VP Kurt D. Forche sold 3,265 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $226,460.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,942 shares of the companys stock, valued at $620,217.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Kellogg news, major shareholder Kellogg W. K. Foundation Trust sold 100,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.99, for a total transaction of $6,399,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 55,431,838 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,547,083,313.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Kurt D. Forche sold 3,265 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $226,460.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $620,217.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 628,437 shares of company stock valued at $41,982,511 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on K shares. TheStreet cut Kellogg from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Kellogg from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised Kellogg from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Kellogg from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Kellogg in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $71.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kellogg presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $71.40.

About Kellogg

(Get Rating)

Kellogg Co engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of ready-to-eat cereal and convenience foods. It operates through the following segments: North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Middle East Africa. The North America segment includes the U.S. businesses and Canada. The Europe segment consists of European countries.

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Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. (NYSE:BLX  Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the bank on Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 3rd.

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. has decreased its dividend by an average of 13.4% per year over the last three years.

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Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. Stock Performance

BLX opened at $18.94 on Thursday. The businesss 50 day moving average is $17.42 and its 200-day moving average is $16.41. The stock has a market cap of $686.20 million, a PE ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 1.16. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. has a twelve month low of $12.58 and a twelve month high of $19.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. ( NYSE:BLX Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 8.89%. The business had revenue of $53.19 million for the quarter.

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock.

Institutional Trading of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A.

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. stock. Thomas White International Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. (NYSE:BLX  Get Rating) by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 353,718 shares of the banks stock after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Thomas White International Ltd. owned 0.98% of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. worth $5,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.19% of the companys stock.

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. Company Profile

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Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A., a multinational bank, primarily engages in the financing of foreign trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates through two segments, Commercial and Treasury. It offers short and medium-term bilateral loans, structured and syndicated credits, and loan commitments; financial guarantee contracts, such as issued and confirmed letters of credit, and stand-by letters of credit; and guarantees covering commercial risk and other assets, as well as co-financing arrangements, underwriting of syndicated credit facilities, structured trade financing in the form of factoring and vendor financing, and financial leasing.

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ONEOK (NYSE:OKE  Get Rating) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $71.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, The Fly reports. Barclayss target price would indicate a potential upside of 5.50% from the stocks previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Seaport Res Ptn reaffirmed a neutral rating on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONEOK currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $74.73.

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ONEOK Price Performance

ONEOK stock opened at $66.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $29.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.64. ONEOK has a 1 year low of $50.50 and a 1 year high of $75.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

ONEOK ( NYSE:OKE Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. ONEOK had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 27.65%. The company had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that ONEOK will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in ONEOK during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 2.5% in the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,545 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 0.7% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 29,100 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,849,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the first quarter worth $106,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 1.2% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 13,066 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.16% of the companys stock.

About ONEOK

(Get Rating)

ONEOK, Inc engages in gathering, processing, fractionating, transporting, storing and marketing of natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids and Natural Gas Pipelines. The Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment offers midstream services to producers in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

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Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 447,482 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 22,166 shares during the period. Bristol-Myers Squibb accounts for approximately 1.4% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLCs holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLCs holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $32,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 1st quarter worth approximately $332,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 111.5% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,052 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 53.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 165,336 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $12,075,000 after acquiring an additional 57,444 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,997,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 338,563 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $24,725,000 after acquiring an additional 68,018 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.51% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BMY shares. Atlantic Securities upped their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, March 6th. They set a hold rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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 note on Friday, February 3rd. One research 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, Bristol-Myers Squibb currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $79.69.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of BMY stock traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $69.10. 2,280,341 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,856,846. The business has a 50 day moving average of $69.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $65.28 and a 52 week high of $81.43. The company has a market capitalization of $145.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.45.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firms revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 7.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio is currently 77.29%.

Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $835,258.27. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,721,081.67. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Giovanni Caforio sold 240,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 236,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,625,163.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $835,258.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,721,081.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Profile

(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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Bunzl plc (LON:BNZL  Get Rating)s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 2,945.56 ($36.45) and traded as high as GBX 3,160 ($39.10). Bunzl shares last traded at GBX 3,143 ($38.89), with a volume of 233,976 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a hold rating and issued a GBX 3,060 ($37.87) target price on shares of Bunzl in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Barclays reiterated an underweight rating and issued a GBX 2,750 ($34.03) target price on shares of Bunzl in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Shore Capital reiterated a buy rating on shares of Bunzl in a report on Monday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a GBX 2,800 ($34.65) target price on shares of Bunzl in a report on Thursday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Bunzl to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from GBX 3,250 ($40.22) to GBX 3,375 ($41.76) in a report on Monday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bunzl has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of GBX 2,955.83 ($36.58).

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Bunzl Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 118.76, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of 10.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,224.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.47. The companys fifty day moving average price is GBX 3,025.78 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 2,946.90.

Bunzl Increases Dividend

Insider Activity

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of GBX 45.40 ($0.56) per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Bunzls previous dividend of $17.30. Bunzls dividend payout ratio is 4,468.09%.

In related news, insider Richard Howes sold 4,909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 3,002 ($37.15), for a total value of 147,368.18 ($182,363.79). In related news, insider Richard Howes sold 4,909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 3,002 ($37.15), for a total value of 147,368.18 ($182,363.79). Also, insider Frank van Zanten sold 21,307 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 3,066 ($37.94), for a total transaction of 653,272.62 ($808,405.67). Insiders have sold a total of 81,898 shares of company stock worth $249,954,592 over the last 90 days. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Bunzl

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Bunzl plc operates as a distribution and services company in the North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers food packaging, films, labels, cleaning and hygiene supplies, and personal protection equipment to grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.

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The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (OTCMKTS:CHBAY  Get Rating)s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $37.38 and last traded at $37.38, with a volume of 0 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Chiba Bank from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th.

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Chiba Bank Price Performance

The companys 50 day simple moving average is $37.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.91.

About Chiba Bank

The Chiba Bank, Ltd. engages in the business of banking services. The company offers general banking services including deposits, loans, domestic and foreign exchange transactions; and financial services such as leasing, securities brokerage, credit cards and others. It also develops software; and provides business management and staffing services.

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Interfor (TSE:IFP  Get Rating) had its target price cut by investment analysts at CIBC from C$31.00 to C$30.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. CIBCs target price would indicate a potential upside of 28.26% from the companys current price.

IFP has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Securities raised their target price on Interfor from C$29.00 to C$31.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Interfor from C$30.00 to C$32.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th.

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Interfor Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Interfor stock traded down C$0.53 during trading on Thursday, hitting C$23.39. The companys stock had a trading volume of 108,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 246,534. The stock has a market cap of C$1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 41.10, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Interfor has a 52 week low of C$19.75 and a 52 week high of C$39.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$23.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$23.54.

Insider Transactions at Interfor

Interfor ( TSE:IFP Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported C($1.65) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C($1.07) by C($0.58). Interfor had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 32.66%. The company had revenue of C$810.36 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that Interfor will post 0.2642499 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Senior Officer Simon Bruce Luxmoore purchased 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$16.15 per share, for a total transaction of C$80,750.00. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the companys stock.

Interfor Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Interfor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells wood products in Canada, the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, and internationally. The company offers lumber products for decking, fascia and trims, framings, furniture, industrial packaging, Japan Zairai, millworks, paneling, sidings, trusses, and windows and doors.

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Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED  Get Rating) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an underweight rating on the utilities providers stock. Morgan Stanleys price target suggests a potential downside of 21.54% from the stocks previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on ED. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $92.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Consolidated Edison from $97.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Consolidated Edison from $98.00 to $92.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Consolidated Edison from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Consolidated Edison from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Consolidated Edison currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $91.08.

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Consolidated Edison Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ED opened at $98.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $93.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.93. The company has a market cap of $34.00 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 0.37. Consolidated Edison has a twelve month low of $78.10 and a twelve month high of $102.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Consolidated Edison ( NYSE:ED Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 10.59%. The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The firms revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Consolidated Edison will post 4.85 EPS for the current year.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ED. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH bought a new position in Consolidated Edison in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Consolidated Edison by 80.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 103,022 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $8,835,000 after acquiring an additional 46,088 shares during the last quarter. Karp Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Consolidated Edison during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 196,377 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $17,045,000 after purchasing an additional 18,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Consolidated Edison by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 481,221 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $41,268,000 after purchasing an additional 41,169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.95% of the companys stock.

About Consolidated Edison

(Get Rating)

Consolidated Edison, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the business of regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery. It operates through the following segments: Consolidated Edison Company of New York (CECONY), Orange and Rockland Utilities(O&R), Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses and Con Edison Transmission.

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Decisive Dividend Co. (CVE:DE  Get Rating)s share price was up 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$5.86 and last traded at C$5.84. Approximately 18,049 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 35% from the average daily volume of 13,338 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$5.80.

Decisive Dividend Trading Down 2.6 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 114.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$6.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$5.35. The firm has a market cap of C$96.05 million, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.19.

Decisive Dividend Company Profile

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Decisive Dividend Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells wood and gas burning stoves, and fireplace inserts in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. It operates in two segments, Finished Product and Component Manufacturing. The company also designs, manufactures, and markets air blast sprayers for use in agricultural industry under the Turbo Mist brand; and wastewater evaporator systems that are used in mining, oil and gas, and waste management industries.

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Eldorado Gold Co. (TSE:ELD  Get Rating) (NYSE:EGO) has received a consensus rating of Hold from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$14.21.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ELD shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Eldorado Gold from C$12.00 to C$14.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. National Bank Financial downgraded Eldorado Gold from an outperform overweight rating to a sector perform spec overwgt rating in a research note on Monday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Eldorado Gold from a buy rating to a hold rating and increased their target price for the company from C$16.00 to C$16.50 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, National Bankshares increased their target price on Eldorado Gold from C$13.50 to C$16.50 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th.

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Eldorado Gold Stock Down 2.2 %

ELD stock traded down C$0.32 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting C$14.56. The stock had a trading volume of 200,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 484,252. The firm has a market cap of C$2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 56.20 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.98, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.28. Eldorado Gold has a 52-week low of C$6.87 and a 52-week high of C$15.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$13.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$11.44.

About Eldorado Gold

Eldorado Gold ( TSE:ELD Get Rating ) (NYSE:EGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported C$0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of C$0.07 by C$0.12. Eldorado Gold had a negative return on equity of 1.44% and a negative net margin of 40.58%. The firm had revenue of C$334.27 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Eldorado Gold will post 0.3635933 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

(Get Rating)

Eldorado Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining, exploration, development, and sale of mineral products primarily in Turkey, Canada, Greece, and Romania. The company primarily produces gold, as well as silver, lead, and zinc. It holds a 100% interest in the Kisladag and Efemcukuru gold mines located in western Turkey; 100% interest in Lamaque gold mines located in Canada; and Olympias, Stratoni, Skouries, Perama Hill, and Sapes gold mines located in Greece, as well as the 80.5% interest in Certej development projects located in Romania.

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Cybersecurity mesh is a distributed architectural approach for scalable, adaptable, and reliable cybersecurity control that entails IT security design and implementation. Instead of erecting a single barrier around all devices, cyber security mesh involves constructing tiny, separate perimeters around each device and access point.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Cybersecurity Mesh Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Offering, By Vertical, By Deployment Mode, By Enterprise Size, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449933/?utm_source=GNW

It enables businesses to extend security wherever required. The cybersecurity mesh facilitates the implementation of a zero-trust architecture by safeguarding all accessible systems and data regardless of location.



Many companies invest in cybersecurity mesh to improve data security and prevent hackers from manipulating diverse network components. Cybersecurity mesh solutions are gaining acceptance, particularly because of enterprises growing security concerns and heightened awareness of sophisticated cybersecurity. Rapid economic development, increasing acceptance of cloud-based services, expanding Internet of Things (IoT) deployment, and rising need for cyber-savvy boards are driving the markets growth.



Cybersecurity mesh architecture offers a flexible and scalable approach for increasing security controls even for widely separated assets. Its versatility makes it perfect for more modular strategies and compatible with hybrid multi-cloud systems. Cybersecurity mesh allows a more composable, flexible, and robust security infrastructure. A cybersecurity mesh enables technologies to interoperate across many supported layers, such as centralized policy management, security intelligence, and identity fabric, instead of each security solution operating in isolation.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The COVID-19 outbreak significantly impacted the general behavior of customers and service providers. The temporary shutdown of production units, labor shortages, lack of resources, data breaches, and disrupted supply chain has significantly impacted corporate expansion. Several small and medium-sized enterprises across the world experienced permanent and temporary closures, and some faced temporary closures. Globally, the pandemic affected small businesses and start-ups, negatively affecting the demand for internet security products and services like cybersecurity mesh.



Market Growth Factors



Cyberspace expansion increases the demand for better security solution



Cyberspace has changed during the past few decades. Historically, corporations concentrated on safeguarding the networks perimeter, ensuring that the networks inside remained a secure, trusted environment. The pandemic has dramatically boosted organizations use of the internet. IT firms have complicated security requirements, rendering the current security architectural techniques outdated. This quickly evolving digital ecosystem needs an updated security strategy to minimize all security risks and operational burdens. The perimeter of the enterprise network has evolved. These factors are boosting market growth.



The increasing adoption of the multi-cloud based strategies



Enterprises aspire to develop a unified security posture across multi-cloud environments. Cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA) allows people and machines to connect securely from numerous locations across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, channels, and diverse application generations, safeguarding the enterprises digital assets. Hence, as CSMA safeguards the multi-cloud environment, which is becoming essential due to multi-clouds rising adoption, the growth of the cybersecurity mesh market is expected to propel.



Market Restraining Factors



Shortage of skilled workers to employ and use cybersecurity mesh solution



Companies require competent cybersecurity workers today more than ever. Thus many firms report that their board of directors advises raising headcount for IT and cybersecurity. After security administrators and architects, cloud security professionals and security operations analysts remain among the most sought-after positions in cybersecurity. Hence the shortage of skilled professionals, which is unable to meet the increasing demand for cybersecurity solutions, is expected to hinder the cybersecurity mesh market growth.



Offering Outlook



On the basis of offering, the cybersecurity mesh market is divided into solution and services. The solution segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the cybersecurity mesh market in 2021. This is owing to the fact that cybersecurity mesh solution comprises an ecosystem of security technologies for securing a distributed company. The cybersecurity mesh solution adds supplemental layers for fundamental security capabilities. It integrates composable, distributed security technologies by centralizing the data and control plane and establishing device cooperation. These solutions provide unified protection across the entire IT infrastructure, including networks, cloud, endpoints, mobile, and IoT devices.



Vertical Outlook



By vertical, the cybersecurity mesh market is classified into BFSI, healthcare, IT & ITeS, energy & utilities and others. The BFSI segment garnered a prominent revenue share in the cybersecurity mesh market in 2021. This is owing to the sensitivity of financial data, BFSI is an early user of innovative cybersecurity solutions. The banking industry is riddled with cyberattacks due to the high frequency and size of inter-organizational money transfers. It faces difficulties associated with tight regulatory and security standards while offering exceptional service to clients and others.



Enterprise Size Outlook



Based on the enterprise size, the cybersecurity mesh market is bifurcated into small & medium sized enterprises and large enterprises. The small & medium sized enterprises segment recorded a significant revenue share in the cybersecurity mesh market in 2021. This is owing to the usage of digital technology by SMEs, which increases their vulnerability to hackers. SMEs implement cybersecurity mesh solutions to safeguard their organizations from illegal access, openness, and threats. One of the primary goals of attackers who target SMEs is to get access to sensitive consumer data, such as personal and other confidential information.



Deployment Mode Outlook



By deployment mode, the cybersecurity mesh market is divided into cloud and on-premise. The cloud segment generated the highest revenue share in the cybersecurity mesh market in 2021. This is due to the fact that a third-party service provider handles all hosting and maintenance requirements in the cloud. The organization adopting and delivering cloud-based solutions leverages the pay-per-use approach. The implementation is flexible and adaptable, allowing firms to upgrade or downgrade their plans based on the development and scalability of their businesses.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the cybersecurity mesh market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region witnessed the largest revenue share in the cybersecurity mesh market in 2021. This is due to the region being one of the most advanced areas in terms of infrastructure and security technologies. In recent years, the digitization of the region has increased. There is an increase in the usage of technology such as digital payments, cloud-based apps, and the Internet of Things, which have increased complications and worries for businesses and made this region more susceptible to cyberattacks.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; IBM Corporation, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Fortinet, Inc. are the forerunners in the Cybersecurity Mesh Market. Companies such as Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Forcepoint LLC (Francisco Partners) and Zscaler, Inc. are some of the key innovators in Cybersecurity Mesh Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include IBM Corporation, Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Zscaler, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., Forcepoint LLC (Francisco Partners), Cato Networks Ltd., GCA Technology and appNovi, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Cybersecurity Mesh Market



Partnerships, Collaborations & Agreements



Mar-2023: IBM collaborated with Cohesity, a data security and data management provider. Under this collaboration, integrating data protection, data management and cyber resilience abilities from both companies, IBM would introduce its latest IBM Storage Defender solution which would consist of Cohesitys data protection as an essential part of the suite.



Sep-2022: Palo Alto Networks partnered with Wipro, an India-based Information technology company. With this partnership, the company would deliver its customers complete platforms with managed services to support customers protect the cloud, and network and broadening their edge in a way that is combined, simple, and automated.



Aug -2022: Fortinet signed an agreement with NEC Corporation; a company engaged in the integration of IT and network technologies. Under this agreement, both companies would create secure 5G networks for communication service providers (CSPs). Moreover, Fortinet would deliver complete security solutions, including FortiGate, one of the most deployed next-generation firewall and highest performing hyperscale firewall.



Mar -2022: Palo Alto Networks came into a partnership with Amazon Web Services, an online platform that provides scalable and cost-effective cloud computing solutions. This partnership aimed to launch Palo Alto Networks Cloud NGFW for AWS a controlled Next-Generation Firewall service developed to clarify securing AWS deployments allowing the enterprise to accelerate pace of innovation while outstanding safety.



Dec-2021: IBM formed a partnership with Du, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company. Under this partnership, Du would leverage IBMs security software and solutions across its Digital Trust portfolio and its Cyber Defense Centre.



Apr-2021: IBM came into a partnership with HCL Technologies, an Indian multinational information technology. Under this partnership, HCLs Cybersecurity Fusion Centres would draw upon IBMs Cloud Pak to develop a unified platform for connecting security teams, tools, and processes within the threat lifecycle.



Product Launches and Product Expansions



Sep-2022: Check Point Software Technologies released Check Point Horizon platform, an Industry-leading Security Operations Solutions and Services portfolio with prevention first approach. The launch would aim to improve defenses across the cloud, network and endpoints and secure future cyber-attacks.



Jul-2022: Fortinet introduced FortiCNP, the latest cloud-native protection offering, designed to help clients migrate to the cloud on their own. Through this launch, FortiCNPs Resource Risk Insights would produce context-rich, actionable insights that would assist prioritize the reduction of risks without slowing down a customers business.



Sep-2021: Palo Alto Networks announced the launch of Okyo Garde, an enterprise-grade ybersecurity solution offered through a premium mesh-enabled Wi-Fi 6 system. The product consists of software, hardware and security services into one easy, seamless subscription.



Mergers & Acquisition:



Oct-2021: Forcepoint took over Bitglass, a Security Service Edge (SSE) leader. Through this acquisition, Forcepoint would deliver a best-in-class SSE platform that includes a state-of-the-art Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB). This acquisition would further enable Forcepoint to become the only company delivering each & every strategic component of SSE and SASE.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Offering



 Solution



 Services



By Vertical



 IT & ITeS



 BFSI



 Healthcare



 Energy & Utilities



 Others



By Deployment Mode



 Cloud



 On-premise



By Enterprise Size



 Large Enterprises



 Small & Medium Sized Enterprises



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 IBM Corporation



 Palo Alto Networks, Inc.



 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.



 Zscaler, Inc.



 Fortinet, Inc.



 Forcepoint LLC (Francisco Partners)



 Cato Networks Ltd.



 GCA Technology



 appNovi, Inc.



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Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449933/?utm_source=GNW



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Entergy (NYSE:ETR  Get Rating) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $106.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an underweight rating on the utilities providers stock. Morgan Stanleys target price suggests a potential downside of 3.11% from the companys previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ETR. Bank of America lowered shares of Entergy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Entergy in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Entergy from $131.00 to $117.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on Entergy in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. They issued a buy rating and a $116.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Entergy from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $121.94.

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Entergy Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ETR stock opened at $109.40 on Thursday. Entergy has a twelve month low of $94.94 and a twelve month high of $126.82. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $106.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65.

Insider Activity

Entergy ( NYSE:ETR Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.65 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 8.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Entergy will post 6.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 3,890 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.42, for a total transaction of $421,753.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,656 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $179,543.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Entergy news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 3,890 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.42, for a total transaction of $421,753.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,543.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $1,326,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $968,586.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,092 shares of company stock worth $1,821,838 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.37% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 8.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,122,596 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,415,313,000 after purchasing an additional 908,932 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 86.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,633,335 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $183,750,000 after acquiring an additional 754,971 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,663,740 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,762,741,000 after acquiring an additional 650,775 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Entergy during the 4th quarter worth $70,175,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management LLC grew its position in Entergy by 6,018.4% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 505,869 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $50,906,000 after purchasing an additional 497,601 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.98% of the companys stock.

Entergy Company Profile

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Entergy Corp. is a holding company, which engages in electric power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: Utility and Entergy Wholesale Commodities. The Utility segment includes the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric power and the operations of a natural gas distribution business.

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Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT  Get Rating) had its price target trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $50.00 to $48.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services providers stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on ESNT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Essent Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Essent Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Essent Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Finally, Barclays cut Essent Group from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Three 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, Essent Group has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $45.80.

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Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $41.94 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 5.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.17. The firms 50-day moving average is $41.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.70. Essent Group has a 1 year low of $34.27 and a 1 year high of $45.01.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

Essent Group ( NYSE:ESNT Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.22). Essent Group had a return on equity of 19.28% and a net margin of 83.07%. The firm had revenue of $230.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $245.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Essent Group will post 6.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. This is a boost from Essent Groups previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Essent Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.49, for a total value of $108,725.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,575 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,155,746.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 1,072 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $48,240.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 247,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,128,185. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.49, for a total value of $108,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,575 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,155,746.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth $40,728,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,781,249 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $361,875,000 after purchasing an additional 815,259 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,395,154 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $536,829,000 after acquiring an additional 794,094 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $17,606,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,736,640 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $106,403,000 after acquiring an additional 415,855 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.07% of the companys stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

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Essent Group Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services. It offers mortgage insurance, reinsurance, and risk management products. The company was founded by Mark A. Casale on July 1, 2008 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM  Get Rating) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $114.00 to $118.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas companys stock. Morgan Stanleys price target indicates a potential upside of 1.23% from the companys current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $128.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $136.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Cowen raised their price target on shares of Exxon Mobil from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Exxon Mobil from $140.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Friday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $123.35.

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Exxon Mobil Stock Performance

XOM stock opened at $116.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $473.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.57. Exxon Mobil has a one year low of $79.29 and a one year high of $119.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Insider Activity at Exxon Mobil

Exxon Mobil ( NYSE:XOM Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $3.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $95.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.21 billion. Exxon Mobil had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 31.25%. Exxon Mobils revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Exxon Mobil will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, VP Darrin L. Talley sold 2,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.50, for a total transaction of $288,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 31,772 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,669,666. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exxon Mobil

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Exxon Mobil in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Karp Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Exxon Mobil in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Corrado Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exxon Mobil by 259.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC now owns 377 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new position in shares of Exxon Mobil in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.49% of the companys stock.

About Exxon Mobil

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Exxon Mobil Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and distribution of oil, gas, and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemical. The Upstream segment produces crude oil and natural gas. The Downstream segment manufactures and trades petroleum products.

Further Reading

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Great Ajax Corp. (NYSE:AJX  Get Rating) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 95,400 shares, an increase of 13.6% from the March 15th total of 84,000 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the companys stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 86,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Great Ajax Stock Performance

Shares of AJX stock traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $6.72. The stock had a trading volume of 82,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 82,968. Great Ajax has a fifty-two week low of $5.91 and a fifty-two week high of $11.33. The firm has a market cap of $155.44 million, a PE ratio of -5.29 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $7.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.76.

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Great Ajax Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. Great Ajaxs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -79.37%.

Institutional Trading of Great Ajax

Analyst Ratings Changes

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Great Ajax by 194.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,856 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3,205 shares during the period. Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Great Ajax in the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Great Ajax in the 4th quarter worth $80,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Great Ajax by 54.3% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,130 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 4,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Great Ajax by 502.1% in the 4th quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,341 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 25,302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.63% of the companys stock.

AJX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Great Ajax in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of Great Ajax from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Great Ajax from $11.00 to $10.50 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $12.38.

About Great Ajax

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Great Ajax is an externally managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, invests, and manages a portfolio of mortgage loans secured by single-family residences and single-family properties.

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Greene King plc (LON:GNK  Get Rating)s share price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 849.20 ($10.51) and traded as high as GBX 849.40 ($10.51). Greene King shares last traded at GBX 849.20 ($10.51), with a volume of 6,678,342 shares traded.

Greene King Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 111.89. The companys 50 day moving average is GBX 849.20 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 849.20. The company has a market capitalization of 2.63 billion and a P/E ratio of 21.94.

About Greene King

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Greene King plc operates as a pub retailer and brewer in the United Kingdom. The company operates through three segments: Pub Company, Pub Partners, and Brewing & Brands. Its brands include Greene King Local Pubs, Hungry Horse, Flaming Grill, Farmhouse Inns, and Chef & Brewer. The company is also involved in brewing, marketing, and selling beer under the Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale, and Belhaven Best brands.

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Berenberg Bank reissued their buy rating on shares of GSK (LON:GSK  Get Rating) in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a GBX 1,730 ($21.41) target price on the stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on GSK. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a neutral rating and issued a GBX 1,510 ($18.69) price objective on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a GBX 2,000 ($24.75) price objective on GSK in a research note on Monday, March 6th. UBS Group set a GBX 1,245 ($15.41) price objective on GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a GBX 1,450 ($17.94) price objective on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, Shore Capital reiterated a buy rating on shares of GSK in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 1,573.33 ($19.47).

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GSK Trading Down 0.9 %

GSK stock opened at GBX 1,472.90 ($18.23) on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 1,452.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 1,424.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 207.87. The stock has a market cap of 60.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,349.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.27. GSK has a 12 month low of GBX 1,280.92 ($15.85) and a 12 month high of GBX 2,280.50 ($28.22).

GSK Dividend Announcement

Insiders Place Their Bets

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of GBX 13.75 ($0.17) per share. This represents a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. GSKs dividend payout ratio is 5,596.33%.

In other news, insider Jonathan Symonds acquired 2,100 shares of GSK stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 1,399 ($17.31) per share, with a total value of 29,379 ($36,355.65). In other news, insider Jonathan Symonds acquired 2,100 shares of GSK stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 1,399 ($17.31) per share, with a total value of 29,379 ($36,355.65). Also, insider Emma Walmsley sold 28,576 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,487 ($18.40), for a total value of 424,925.12 ($525,832.35). Company insiders own 1.73% of the companys stock.

About GSK

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GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare.

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Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE  Get Rating) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GWRE. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Guidewire Software from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Guidewire Software from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Guidewire Software in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Guidewire Software from $67.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $83.09.

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Guidewire Software Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of GWRE stock traded down $1.32 on Wednesday, reaching $77.42. 394,183 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,471. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.66 and a quick ratio of 3.66. Guidewire Software has a one year low of $52.08 and a one year high of $95.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of -38.71 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.07.

Insider Activity

Guidewire Software ( NYSE:GWRE Get Rating ) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 6th. The technology company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.39) by ($0.17). Guidewire Software had a negative net margin of 19.19% and a negative return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $232.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $222.13 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Guidewire Software will post -1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Guidewire Software news, insider John P. Mullen sold 11,576 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.17, for a total transaction of $893,319.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 131,533 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $10,150,401.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider John P. Mullen sold 11,576 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.17, for a total transaction of $893,319.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 131,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,150,401.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Priscilla Hung sold 1,941 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.17, for a total value of $149,786.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 56,316 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,345,905.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,445 shares of company stock worth $2,037,798 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.17% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Guidewire Software by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,825 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $1,311,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its stake in shares of Guidewire Software by 6.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the technology companys stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Guidewire Software during the 1st quarter worth approximately $253,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Guidewire Software in the 1st quarter valued at $159,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in Guidewire Software by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 10,089 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $955,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter.

Guidewire Software Company Profile

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Guidewire Software, Inc engages in the provision of technology platform, which comprises software, services, and a partner ecosystem, for the global Property and Casualty insurance industry. Its products include InsuranceSuite, PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, BillingCenter, InsuranceNow, Analytics, Ecosystem, Guidewire for salesforce, and Guidewire Cloud.

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Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY  Get Rating) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $4.33, but opened at $4.46. Harmony Gold Mining shares last traded at $4.41, with a volume of 588,882 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Harmony Gold Mining in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. HSBC cut Harmony Gold Mining from a hold rating to a reduce rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Investec lowered Harmony Gold Mining from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday.

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Harmony Gold Mining Stock Up 3.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.52. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $3.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.46.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmony Gold Mining

About Harmony Gold Mining

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining during the third quarter worth approximately $553,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Harmony Gold Mining by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 57,636,837 shares of the mining companys stock worth $140,057,000 after buying an additional 544,685 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Harmony Gold Mining during the 4th quarter worth $306,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Harmony Gold Mining during the 3rd quarter worth $97,000. Finally, Exor Capital LLP increased its position in Harmony Gold Mining by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Exor Capital LLP now owns 26,664,903 shares of the mining companys stock worth $64,796,000 after buying an additional 1,500,000 shares during the period. 36.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd. engages in mining and exploration of gold. It involves building mines, open-pit operation, sales and financial management, land rehabilitation and mine closure. It operates through the following segments: Tshepong Operations, Moab Khotsong, Mponeng, Bambanani, Doornkop, Joel, Target 1, Kusasalethu, Masimong, South African Surface Operations, Mine Waste Solutions, Kalgold, and Hidden Valley.

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Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC  Get Rating) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 1,967,173 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 25% from the previous sessions volume of 1,570,858 shares.The stock last traded at $12.58 and had previously closed at $13.08.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HTGC. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Hercules Capital from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Hercules Capital from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Hercules Capital from a market perform rating to an underperform rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $14.50 to $10.50 in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Hercules Capital in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $15.14.

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Hercules Capital Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 1.41. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $13.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Hercules Capital Increases Dividend

Hercules Capital ( NYSE:HTGC Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $100.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.34 million. Hercules Capital had a net margin of 31.73% and a return on equity of 13.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hercules Capital, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.21%. This is an increase from Hercules Capitals previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 1st. Hercules Capitals dividend payout ratio is presently 205.27%.

Insider Activity at Hercules Capital

In other news, Director Wade Loo purchased 4,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.95 per share, for a total transaction of $47,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 8,059 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $96,305.05. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hercules Capital

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 2,200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,300 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN bought a new position in Hercules Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Hercules Capital by 206.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,488 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,676 shares in the last quarter. 23.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Hercules Capital

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Hercules is the largest non-bank lender to venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development in a broadly diversified variety of technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries. With over a decade of experience in venture debt, Hercules is uniquely positioned to quickly create innovative financing solutions that perfectly fit within a companys existing capital structure and map to its business objectives.

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Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS  Get Rating) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The casino operator reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.11, Briefing.com reports. Las Vegas Sands had a negative return on equity of 22.49% and a net margin of 44.57%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 124.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.0 %

Las Vegas Sands stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.36. The companys stock had a trading volume of 5,494,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,821,824. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.81, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.72. Las Vegas Sands has a 52-week low of $28.88 and a 52-week high of $60.99. The firms 50 day moving average is $56.76 and its 200 day moving average is $49.94. The company has a market cap of $45.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.57 and a beta of 1.16.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. CBRE Group upgraded Las Vegas Sands from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Finally, TheStreet raised Las Vegas Sands from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $64.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

About Las Vegas Sands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LVS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the 4th quarter worth about $164,559,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 233.1% during the 1st quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 984,120 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $38,253,000 after acquiring an additional 688,676 shares during the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,544,000. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 1st quarter valued at about $21,388,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,537,902 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $1,381,358,000 after purchasing an additional 519,620 shares during the period. 39.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

(Get Rating)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. engages in the development of destination properties. The firm operates through the Macao and Singapore geographical segments. The Macao segment handles the operations of The Venetian Macao, The Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Macao, and Sands Macao.

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ReportLinker

The application of information & communication technology (ICT) for health is known as "eHealth" widely. Medical apps, health records, and telemedicine have all used ICT extensively. E-health allows it to keep hospital patient, employee, and financial data online.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global eHealth Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Product, By End User, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449926/?utm_source=GNW

The process of keeping healthcare data has changed as a result of this. The medical team initially entered data manually. Contrarily, all patient data is currently accessible in seconds, and only a single unique identification number is needed.



eHealth has several advantages over traditional clinical data management techniques, including eliminating manual record-keeping and facilitating quick access to patient information. Additionally, it is projected that automated & interoperable healthcare information systems would optimize payment for ambulatory and inpatient healthcare providers while enhancing patient happiness, lowering healthcare costs, increasing efficiency, reducing mistakes, and improving medical care.



The main factors driving the eHealth market are the expansion of government programs promoting the use of e-health products and services, the rise in the demand for e-health solutions to manage regulatory compliance, and the shortage of healthcare workers. In contrast, more prospects in developing countries, the growth of the mHealth, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring sectors, and an increase in the adoption of e-health solutions in outpatient care facilities are anticipated to offer attractive growth opportunities for the market.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The eHealth market is being driven by ongoing improvements in mobile technology, which are assisting in spreading eHealth programs. The ability to share information across various places is made feasible by telehealth systems for healthcare practitioners. In addition, the usage of home telehealth solutions increased dramatically for IT organizations during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, many governments have published telemedicine guidelines to address the requirements of remote, difficult-to-reach populations. As a result, the eHealth market is expected to increase during the forecast period.



Market Growth Factors



Surged use in outpatient care facilities



E-health and telehealth will advance with information science, technology, medicine, and biotechnology advancements. As a result, patients and healthcare workers in the future will be much more accustomed to using cutting-edge equipment, services, and software. Also, it is becoming increasingly clear that eHealth allows healthcare professionals to improve health systems and convert them from "detect and treat" to "predict and prevent" models. As a result, activities using eHealth solutions are growing, becoming more prevalent in outpatient treatment, and are anticipated to present opportunities for the eHealth market.



Increased innovations and technological advancements



Businesses in the eHealth market are enhancing the benefits of deep medical learning to anticipate individuals risks of dementia and Parkinsons. Numerous businesses are gaining expertise in artificial medical intelligence (AI) that predicts likely patient disease patterns. Several researchers have launched research projects using medical AI to examine non-invasive interconnections between brain areas to identify mental diseases in patients at very early stages. Hence, IT businesses should engage with academics and innovators to minimize the necessity for surgical treatments in the early diagnosis of mental diseases. Possible innovations and technological advancements are predicted to support the growth of the eHealth market in the upcoming years.



Market Restraining Factors



Medical practitioners reluctance to accept innovative eHealth solutions



Physicians are restricting to adopt these systems because of their complexity & lack of user-friendliness in modern healthcare IT systems. Several doctors believe that using healthcare Technology solutions hinders their ability to communicate with patients. Also, in remote locations, issues including a lack of internet technology and a dearth of professionals accessible to offer technical assistance are to blame for doctors reluctance to utilize HCIT solutions. All of these elements are having a negative impact on how quickly healthcare businesses adopt eHealth technologies.



Product Outlook



Based on product, the eHealth market is segmented into medical apps, electronic health records (HER), telehealth, vendor neutral archive (VNA) & picture archiving & communications systems (PACS), laboratory information systems (LIS), prescribing solutions, clinical decision support systems (CDSS), Pharmacy Information Systems, and others. In 2021, the medical apps segment held the highest revenue share in the eHealth market. This is ascribed to an increase in the demand for high-quality healthcare products and services, an increase in the acceptance of mHealth practices, a surge in need for better patient safety and care, and a rise in government efforts to advance e-health. Also, the rapid uptake of tablets, smartphones, and other handheld devices is fueling the markets expansion.



End User Outlook



On the basis of end-user, the eHealth market is divided into healthcare providers, payers, healthcare consumers and others. The healthcare consumer segment covered a considerable revenue share in the eHealth market in 2021. The expansion of this segment may be attributed to a variety of developments, including the expansion of healthcare infrastructure in places like Asia-Pacific and the expansion of demands for healthcare cost-cutting measures. In addition, the segments growth is further supported by the rise in chronic sickness cases and the demand for hospice care and round-the-clock monitoring systems.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the eHealth market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. In 2021, the North America region dominated the eHealth market with the maximum revenue share. This is because there are many e-health businesses, good regulatory conditions for e-health, more people are adopting e-health solutions to reduce spiraling healthcare costs, regulatory requirements for patient safety, and many e-health businesses. The government in the region used a populace that is well-maintained digitally, the availability of supportive infrastructures, including high-speed internet, and other initiatives to fuel market expansion.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (Optum, Inc.) are the forerunners in the eHealth Market. Companies such as Cisco Systems, Inc., GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc., and Medtronic PLC are some of the key innovators in eHealth Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Medtronic PLC, IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc., Veradigm, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG), Teladoc Health, Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (Optum, Inc.), and Athenahealth, Inc. (Veritas Capital).



Recent Strategies Deployed in eHealth Market



Partnerships, Collaborations & Agreements



Feb-2023: Veradigm, formerly known as Allscripts, partnered with Jopari Solutions, Inc., a customer-focused health information technology company. This partnership would aim to offer electronic medical claim and attachment solutions for users of Payerpath, for the processing of Property & Casualty billing.



Feb-2023: Veradigm, formerly known as Allscripts, collaborated with HealthVerity, a company engaged in Identity, Privacy, Governance, and Exchange (IPGE) for real-world data. The collaboration would be aimed to develop real-world research and improve patient care for those suffering from diabetes and cardiovascular disease.



Feb-2023: Royal Philips partnered with Triheallth, an integrated healthcare delivery system company. Following this partnership, with access to advanced healthcare technologies, physicians would be able to offer better care to local and nearby communities.



Jan-2023: Siemens Healthineers India teamed up with Terumo, a global company in medical technology. The collaboration would aim to strengthen cardiac care across India through collaborative interventions in the field of physician training and development access to developed medical technologies and better insights into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.



Jan-2023: Royal Philips expanded its partnership with Masimo, a medical technology company engaged in the development and manufacturing of advanced noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. This partnership would aim to expand patient monitoring abilities in-home telehealth applications with the Masimo W1 advanced health tracking watch. Moreover, W1 would be combined with Philipss enterprise patient monitoring ecosystem to develop the forefront of telemonitoring and telehealth.



Oct-2022: GE Healthcare collaborated with Tribun Health, the leader in clinical decision solutions through digital pathology. Through this collaboration, GE Healthcare would aim to offer digital pathology departmental solutions that deliver healthcare providers an improved holistic view of patient records. Additionally, the collaboration would aim to bring a data management solution by interfacing Tribuns Health portfolio data with GE Healthcares solution.



Aug-2022: Teladoc Health came into partnership with Cloud DX, a leading remote patient monitoring platform. Under this collaboration, both companies would aim to better serve the remote monitoring requirements of patients in Canada.



Mar-2022: Teladoc Health joined Hands with Amazon, a global technology company. With this collaboration, Teledoc health would introduce voice-activated general medical virtual care through Amazon Alexa. With the launch and combining Teledoc Healths virtual first care experience with Echo Device, the company would offer an innovative and simple way for users to connect with doctors.



Sep-2021: athenahealth, Inc. partnered with AllianceChicago, a health center-controlled network. Following this partnership, companies would offer health centers across the country access to both companies comprehensive solutions of value-added services.



Jul-2021: Royal Philips collaborated with Cognizant, a world-leading professional services firm. Through this collaboration, the companies aimed to design end-to-end digital health solutions which would allow healthcare organizations & life sciences companies to enhance patient care & accelerate clinical trials.



Feb-2021: IBM Watson Health collaborated with Humana Inc., a for-profit American health insurance company. Under this collaboration, IBM Watson assistant, an AI-enabled Watson Virtual agent would enable better access to precise and helpful information about healthcare costs and benefits for Humana Employer Group.



Jan-2021: athenahealth, Inc. signed an agreement with Humana, Inc., a health and well-being company. Under this agreement, both companies would provide value-added member insights through athenaClinicals, athenahealths electronic health record (EHR) software. Additionally, Athenahealth would offer consistent data-driven insights to clinicians at the point of care, to support them assess the better treatment options for all patients.



Jan-2021: Cisco came into partnership with NTT, a global technology services company, and Siriraj Hospital, a public hospital based in Thailand. Following this partnership, companies would aim to enable quick treatment for stroke patients. Additionally, the Cisco Telepresence video conferencing system would allow doctors to completely assess the patients condition.



Product Launches and Product Expansions



Jan-2023: Teladoc Health unveiled the Teladoc Health app experience, a fully integrated healthcare experience. The launch of the latest complete digital application allows personalized whole-person care to individuals. With this product, customers would rapidly navigate across eligible services, analyze all physician-based integrated care plans and have access to care coordination capabilities with in-person providers, making sure the clinical requirements are met.



Jan-2023: Optum Rx, UnitedHealth Groups pharmacy services company, announced the launch of Price Edge, a tool that flawlessly compares accessible direct-to-consumer pricing for traditional generic drugs with insurance pricing. The product would make sure members every time get the lowest prescription drug price.



Mar-2022: GE Healthcare announced the release of the Edison Digital Health Platform, a vendor-agnostic hosting and data aggregation platform with a combined artificial intelligence engine. The launched product would enable health systems and hospitals to deploy workflow, clinical, analytics, and AI tools that enhance care and accelerate revenue.



Feb-2022: Optum Rx, UnitedHealth Groups pharmacy services company, rolled out Specialty Fusion, a specialty medication management solution. The launch aims to ease the care for patients with miscellaneous conditions and lower the cost of high-priced specialty drugs.



Nov-2021: IBM Watson Health launched IBM Imaging AI Orchestrator, a cloud-based subscription to multiple imaging AI apps. Through this launch, the company aimed to help imaging organizations mainly radiologists experience the benefits of having AI applications work seamlessly together. In addition, this latest solution would modernize the radiologists reading experience as well as reduce the need for IT and imaging system administrators.



Acquisitions and Mergers



Oct-2022: Optum combined with Change Healthcare, a healthcare technology company. The Merger would aim to achieve an easy, more intelligent, and accommodating health system for payers, care providers, and patients. Additionally, maximizing efficiency and decreasing friction would benefit the complete health system, resulting in lower costs and a better experience.



Aug-2022: Medtronic completed the acquisition of Affera, Inc., a medical technology company. This acquisition broadens the companys cardiac ablation suite to include its first-ever cardiac mapping and navigation platform.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Product



 Medical Apps



 Electronic Health Records (EHR)



 Telehealth



 Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) and Picture Archiving & Communications Systems(PACS)



 Laboratory Information Systems (LIS)



 Prescribing Solutions



 Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS)



 Pharmacy Information Systems



 Others



By End User



 Healthcare Providers



 Payers



 Healthcare Consumers



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Medtronic PLC



 IBM Corporation



 Cisco Systems, Inc.



 GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc.



 Veradigm, Inc.



 Koninklijke Philips N.V.



 Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG)



 Teladoc Health, Inc.



 UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (Optum, Inc.)



 Athenahealth, Inc. (Veritas Capital)



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449926/?utm_source=GNW



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ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MDC  Get Rating) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,380,000 shares, a decrease of 10.9% from the March 15th total of 2,670,000 shares. Currently, 4.1% of the companys stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 600,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other M.D.C. news, Director David E. Blackford sold 4,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $165,015.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $754,925.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director David E. Blackford sold 3,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.35, for a total transaction of $115,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,087 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $962,086.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David E. Blackford sold 4,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $165,015.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $754,925.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,849 shares of company stock worth $582,299. 23.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On M.D.C.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MDC. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 70.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 901 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 665.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 949 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 86.2% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 239.9% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,074 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of M.D.C. by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,320 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. 82.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

M.D.C. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MDC traded down $0.41 on Wednesday, hitting $39.40. The companys stock had a trading volume of 756,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 591,482. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.30. M.D.C. has a 1 year low of $27.04 and a 1 year high of $41.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 8.58 and a quick ratio of 2.84.

M.D.C. (NYSE:MDC  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The construction company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.45). M.D.C. had a net margin of 9.83% and a return on equity of 19.24%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that M.D.C. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

M.D.C. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.08%. M.D.C.s payout ratio is currently 26.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MDC shares. StockNews.com started coverage on M.D.C. in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Wedbush reissued a neutral rating on shares of M.D.C. in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on M.D.C. from $30.50 to $27.50 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $27.50.

About M.D.C.

(Get Rating)

M.DC Holdings, Inc engages in proving homebuilding and financial services. It operates through the following business segments: West, Mountain, and East. The West segment includes operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. The Mountain segment refers to the operations in Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.

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Mach 1 Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 20,326.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,881 shares of the information technology services providers stock after purchasing an additional 3,862 shares during the period. Mach 1 Financial Group LLCs holdings in Accenture were worth $1,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 816,734 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 319,707 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 354,513 shares in the last quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 29,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 4.1% during the third quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 5,598,625 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,440,525,000 after acquiring an additional 219,573 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.97% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, March 13th. William Blair reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $289.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Piper Jaffray Companies lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, March 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $310.00 to $327.00 in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $314.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $3.67 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $276.23. The stock had a trading volume of 481,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,399,384. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $242.80 and a 1 year high of $330.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $272.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $275.44. The firm has a market cap of $174.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.54 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 12th. Accentures payout ratio is currently 41.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 4,648 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.41, for a total transaction of $1,284,753.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,510 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $10,920,959.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $1,750,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 174,084 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $48,753,965.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 4,648 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.41, for a total transaction of $1,284,753.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,510 shares in the company, valued at $10,920,959.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,658 shares of company stock valued at $5,467,791. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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Modiv Inc. (NYSE:MDV  Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,800 shares, a growth of 34.8% from the March 15th total of 13,200 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 12,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Modiv

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MDV. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Modiv by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 307,385 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,488,000 after purchasing an additional 111,266 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Modiv by 365.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 80,380 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,174,000 after buying an additional 63,129 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Modiv by 1,706.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,186 shares of the companys stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Modiv by 851.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 10,024 shares of the companys stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 8,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in Modiv in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $298,000. 6.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MDV shares. EF Hutton Acquisition Co. I reissued a buy rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Modiv in a research report on Friday, February 24th. B. Riley lowered their price target on shares of Modiv from $19.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Modiv has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $18.90.

Modiv Stock Performance

Modiv Announces Dividend

NYSE:MDV traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.50. 15,705 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,984. Modiv has a one year low of $9.61 and a one year high of $19.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.28 million, a PE ratio of -10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of -0.17. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $11.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.69.

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.0958 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.95%. Modivs payout ratio is -115.00%.

About Modiv

(Get Rating)

Modiv Inc, (the Company) was incorporated on May 14, 2015 as a Maryland corporation. The Company was formed to primarily invest, directly or indirectly, in real estate owning entities which own single-tenant income-producing properties located in the United States, which are leased to creditworthy tenants under long-term net leases.

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MRC Global Inc. (NYSE:MRC  Get Rating) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,490,000 shares, a drop of 11.3% from the March 15th total of 1,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 689,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.9% of the companys shares are sold short.

Insider Activity at MRC Global

In related news, insider Gillian Anderson sold 5,213 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.50, for a total value of $59,949.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $304,830.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 20.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On MRC Global

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MRC Global by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,305,105 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $59,714,000 after acquiring an additional 455,224 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in MRC Global by 6.6% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,384,542 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $45,905,000 after buying an additional 393,266 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MRC Global by 0.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,406,123 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $52,477,000 after buying an additional 31,186 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in MRC Global by 12.6% in the third quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 4,231,988 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $30,428,000 after buying an additional 472,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in MRC Global by 4.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,327,044 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $23,922,000 after buying an additional 142,842 shares in the last quarter. 96.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MRC Global Stock Up 3.1 %

MRC traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.51. 839,458 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 673,470. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $795.55 million, a PE ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.84. MRC Global has a 1 year low of $7.03 and a 1 year high of $13.90.

MRC Global (NYSE:MRC  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 13th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.04. MRC Global had a return on equity of 34.84% and a net margin of 2.23%. The company had revenue of $869.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $872.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MRC Global will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of MRC Global from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of MRC Global from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of MRC Global in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company.

About MRC Global

(Get Rating)

MRC Global, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the distribution of pipes, valves, fittings, and other infrastructure products and services to the energy, industrial, and gas utility end-markets. It operates through the following geographical segments: U.S., Canada, and International. The company was founded on November 20, 2006 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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B2Gold Corp. (TSE:BTO  Get Rating) (NYSE:BTG)  Equities researchers at National Bank Financial lowered their FY2024 EPS estimates for B2Gold in a research note issued on Monday, April 17th. National Bank Financial analyst D. Demarco now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.42 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $0.50. National Bank Financial currently has a Outperform Overweight rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for B2Golds current full-year earnings is $0.39 per share.

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BTO has been the topic of several other research reports. National Bankshares boosted their target price on shares of B2Gold from C$6.50 to C$7.25 in a report on Tuesday. TD Securities reissued a buy rating and set a C$8.50 target price on shares of B2Gold in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of B2Gold from C$5.80 to C$6.50 in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Cormark decreased their target price on shares of B2Gold from C$7.00 to C$6.75 in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of B2Gold from C$7.50 to C$8.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th.

B2Gold Price Performance

B2Gold Cuts Dividend

BTO stock opened at C$5.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of C$5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 4.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. B2Gold has a 12-month low of C$3.84 and a 12-month high of C$6.20. The companys fifty day simple moving average is C$5.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$4.85.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 8th were given a $0.053 dividend. This represents a $0.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 7th. B2Golds payout ratio is 66.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at B2Gold

In other B2Gold news, Senior Officer Randall Chatwin sold 14,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$4.91, for a total value of C$68,740.00. Corporate insiders own 1.09% of the companys stock.

B2Gold Company Profile

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B2Gold Corp. operates as a gold producer with three operating mines in Mali, the Philippines, and Namibia. It operates the Fekola Mine in Mali, the Masbate Mine in the Philippines, and the Otjikoto Mine in Namibia. The company also has an 25% interest in the Calibre Mining Corp.; and approximately 19% interest in BeMetals Corp.

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NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS  Get Rating) was upgraded by Raymond James from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report issued on Thursday, The Fly reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on NS. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of NuStar Energy from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of NuStar Energy from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NuStar Energy from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of NuStar Energy from a hold rating to a buy rating and cut their price target for the company from $20.00 to $19.50 in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of NuStar Energy in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $17.90.

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NuStar Energy Stock Performance

NS stock traded down $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $15.63. The companys stock had a trading volume of 142,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,512. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.92. NuStar Energy has a 1 year low of $12.80 and a 1 year high of $17.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NuStar Energy

NuStar Energy ( NYSE:NS Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.07. NuStar Energy had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 149.25%. The firm had revenue of $429.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.77 million. Equities analysts predict that NuStar Energy will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NS. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of NuStar Energy by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 48,558 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2,827 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,661 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 35.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 786,680 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $11,344,000 after acquiring an additional 208,000 shares during the period. ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 82.8% during the 1st quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 234,000 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $3,374,000 after acquiring an additional 106,000 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of NuStar Energy by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,426,223 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $20,566,000 after acquiring an additional 239,046 shares during the period. 67.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NuStar Energy Company Profile

(Get Rating)

NuStar Energy LP engages in the transportation of petroleum products and anhydrous ammonia, and the terminalling, storage, and marketing of petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Pipeline, Storage, and Fuels Marketing. The Pipeline segment provides transportation of refined petroleum products, crude oil, and anhydrous ammonia.

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Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 226,334 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for 1.9% of Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 6,772.7% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 756 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,491.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.34% of the companys stock.

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Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock remained flat at $30.06 during midday trading on Thursday. 10,418,297 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 56,449,098. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $26.32 and a 52 week high of $40.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $240.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.32.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

Bank of America ( NYSE:BAC Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.11. Bank of America had a net margin of 23.93% and a return on equity of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $26.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Bank of Americas revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS 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 3rd were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Bank of America from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $36.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Odeon Capital Group downgraded shares of Bank of America from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $35.20 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $36.83.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

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 value of $3,600,200.58. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total value of $3,600,200.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 319,803 shares in the company, valued at $10,959,648.81. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 214,745 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.91, for a total transaction of $7,711,492.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 214,747 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,711,564.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.27% of the companys stock.

Bank of America Company 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.

Further Reading

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Range Resources (NYSE:RRC  Get Rating) had its price target cut by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $21.00 to $20.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the oil and gas exploration companys stock. Morgan Stanleys target price would suggest a potential downside of 24.04% from the stocks current price.

RRC has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Range Resources from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Range Resources in a research note on Wednesday, March 15th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of Range Resources from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Range Resources from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Range Resources from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Range Resources presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $32.53.

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Range Resources Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:RRC opened at $26.33 on Wednesday. Range Resources has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $37.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 5.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Range Resources ( NYSE:RRC Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.18. Range Resources had a net margin of 28.54% and a return on equity of 57.62%. The firm had revenue of $997.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Range Resources will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of RRC. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 12.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 45,351 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 4,987 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 31.8% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 35,865 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 8,648 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Range Resources during the 1st quarter worth about $213,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Range Resources during the 1st quarter worth about $7,059,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Range Resources by 1,102.7% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 151,710 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $4,609,000 after purchasing an additional 139,096 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.32% of the companys stock.

Range Resources Company Profile

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Range Resources Corp. engages in the exploration, development and acquisition of natural gas and oil properties in the Appalachian and Midcontinent regions. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX.

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The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK  Get Rating)  Equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn reduced their Q2 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Bank of New York Mellon in a report issued on Tuesday, April 18th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now forecasts that the bank will post earnings of $1.30 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.32. The consensus estimate for Bank of New York Mellons current full-year earnings is $4.74 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Bank of New York Mellons Q3 2023 earnings at $1.30 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $1.38 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $1.21 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $1.43 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $1.43 EPS and Q4 2024 earnings at $1.48 EPS.

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A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Bank of New York Mellon in a report on Thursday, January 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Bank of New York Mellon in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Bank of New York Mellon from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of New York Mellon from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Bank of New York Mellon from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $51.61.

Bank of New York Mellon Stock Up 0.8 %

BK opened at $45.24 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $36.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of New York Mellon has a twelve month low of $36.22 and a twelve month high of $52.26.

Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.03. Bank of New York Mellon had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of New York Mellon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in Bank of New York Mellon by 132.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 692 shares of the banks stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 97.1% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 609 shares of the banks stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 74.0% during the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 802 shares of the banks stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.29% of the companys stock.

Bank of New York Mellon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 11th. Investors of record on Friday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. Bank of New York Mellons payout ratio is 51.03%.

Bank of New York Mellon Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segment. The Securities Services segment includes Asset Servicing business, which provides global custody, fund accounting, integrated middle-office solutions, transfer agency and data and analytics solutions.

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Sepio Capital LP increased its holdings in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWF  Get Rating) by 261.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,366 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 49,469 shares during the period. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF accounts for 1.3% of Sepio Capital LPs investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sepio Capital LPs holdings in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF were worth $14,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of IWF. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 26,203 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $7,275,000 after purchasing an additional 6,665 shares in the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF in the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,211 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,724,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC lifted its stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 7,595 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,109,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF during the 1st quarter valued at $33,422,000.

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iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF stock traded down $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $245.11. 336,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,616,542. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $236.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.80. The company has a market cap of $64.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 1.07. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF has a 12-month low of $202.05 and a 12-month high of $269.48.

iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Profile

iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment returns that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 1000 Growth Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of equity securities of Russell 1000 index issuers with relatively higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth.

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NA Chairman addresses special session of Cuban parliament

National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue delivered an speech at a special plenary session of the 10th NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba and a celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the Giron Victory at the Havana Convention Palace on April 19 afternoon (local time).









NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the special plenary session of the 10th NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba at the Havana Convention Palace on April 19 afternoon (local time). (Photo: VNA)



The session, broadcast live by Cubas national TV station, saw the presence of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, President of the NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez, and all the parliamentarians of the country.



Chairman Hue expressed his honour to lead a high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese NA on an official visit to Cuba on the occasion of both countries major anniversaries, including the 62nd anniversary of the Giron Victory and the declaration of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution, 70 years since the attack on the Moncada Barracks, the 60th anniversary of Cubas establishment of the Committee for Solidarity with South Vietnam  the predecessor of the Cuba - Vietnam Friendship Association, and the 50th anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruzs first visit to Vietnam and to the liberated zone in South Vietnam during wartime.



He thanked the Cuban Party and State for giving him a chance to be the first foreign guest to deliver remarks in front of the NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba after the parliament elected a new State leadership of the Latin American nation.



He stressed that over the past more than 64 glorious years of the Cuban Revolution (since January 1959), Vietnam is proud to have 63 years of standing side by side with Cuba. On December 2, 1960, the administration led by Fidel Castro turned Cuba into the first in the Western Hemisphere to set up full diplomatic ties with Vietnam.



Hue held that the similarities in the two countries histories, aspirations, revolutionary ideals, and the heroic traditions of fighting for independence, freedom, sovereignty, and the peoples right to self-determination have connected the two peoples and created a solid foundation for the special and faithful relations between Vietnam and Cuba.



In Vietnam, people always keep in mind late leader Fidel Castros everlasting remark of For Vietnam, Cuba is willing to shed its blood as well as his braving of the various dangers to visit the liberated zone in South Vietnam in Quang Tri, located in the frontline between North and South Vietnam, on September 16, 1973. He was the first and only foreign leader to do so.





The Chairman highlighted Cubas support for Vietnam during the resistance war and trying times, stressing that Vietnam never forgets and always remembers the fraternal assistance from Cuba.



Vietnams solidarity with and support for Cuba have always been shown in a consistent and strong manner, especially via Vietnamese Party and State leaders speeches with a steadfast stance at forums of the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and international and regional events, he went on.



Not an economic superpower, yet Cuba is a superpower of humanity, he said, noting that it has provided medical services for 165 countries, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The bright example of Cuba and the development of the left-wing movements in many Latin American countries reflect the trend of social progress and national independence in the world, which is emerging strongly in the Western Hemisphere.



Chairman Hue also noted cooperation between the Vietnamese and Cuban parliaments has also been enjoying attention from both countries Party and State leaders and substantially contributing to the relations and solidarity between the two peoples.



During this visit, leaders of the two parliaments will ink a cooperation agreement to intensify parliamentary ties. Many other cooperation deals will also be signed between the countries agencies, ministries, sectors, and localities, he revealed.



Amid complex developments in the world, Vietnam and Cuba need to become even more united, work closely together, stay steadfast in their revolutionary paths, and firmly maintain the principle of independence, self-reliance, and equal cooperation to serve as the basis for flexible and creative moves in reality, the visiting leader recommended.



He wished the strong cooperation between the two parliaments and the special and exemplary solidarity between the two countries will grow even further, and both countries will jointly move forwards for the sake of peace, national independence, democracy, and socialism.



Welcoming the Vietnamese delegation, President of the NA of the Peoples Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez emphasised that Vietnam and Cuba boast a traditional friendship and unbreakable friendship. He highly valued Chairman Hues efforts in promoting the two countries special relations and parliamentary ties.



He held that amidst numerous crises and challenges in the world, countries like Vietnam and Cuba should keep contributing to peace maintenance and sustainable development, in which their legislative bodies have an important role to play./.
ReportLinker

Energy security refers to the protection of power plants and the sources of energy generation from physical and cyber-attacks to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the power plants for energy generation.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Energy Security Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Technology, By Power Plant, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449925/?utm_source=GNW

Additionally, rapid deployment of renewable energy, diversification of energy sources, enhanced energy efficiency, energy depots, and machine-usable energy types result in substantial energy security and economic benefits. Increasing pressure from the government and security compliance and regulation, as well as rising terrorism and cyber-attack threats, are driving the expansion of the energy security market.



In addition, the expansion of the energy security market is positively impacted by the rise of physical attacks and insider threats. The emergence of a new energy sector in emerging economies would create lucrative expansion prospects for the energy security market. The energy supply is vital for households and businesses. In addition, the energy supply must be inexpensive, sustainable, reliable, and secure, making energy systems a difficult task.



Digital energy systems are an evolving area that employs potent digital tools and diverse digital models to solve and manage the increasingly complex energy systems of the twenty-first century. Within the field, digital tools and models like blockchain technology and artificial intelligence are used to analyze data from various energy systems and sources to drive new control and operational strategies and business models and support critical goals such as achieving Net Zero emissions.



In addition, cloud computing enables energy applications to request access to a common pool of computing resources. It consists of social and networked enhancements to corporate intranets and other traditional software platforms large corporations use to organize communication. In contrast to conventional enterprise software, which imposes structure before encouraging usage, enterprise social software tends to encourage use before imposing structure.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The effects of COVID-19 have emphasized the need for improved risk management, increased preparedness, and higher resilience. The pandemic was a significant disruptor that provided both obstacles and possibilities for the industry. As a result of containment measures, the electricity demand decreased rapidly in numerous places. Hence, the decline in electricity demand in the initial phase of the pandemic negatively impacted the market due to the reduced utilization of the energy security solutions, but it is expected to increase with ease in restriction and demand for electricity increasing.



Market Growth Factors



Rise in regulations for safeguarding power plants



Several government authorities and power plant owners are implementing network and physical solutions such as a perimeter, microwave intrusion detection, secured communications, surveillance systems, access control systems, and detectors. These solutions are intended to thwart potential threats. In addition, network systems such as antivirus, firewall, SCADA systems, and IPS/IDS systems are implemented to prevent cybercriminals from attacking the network power plant network. The governments effort to implement security solutions to safeguard power plants from threats is projected to propel energy security adoption and market growth.



Accelerated threat of terrorists and cyber attacks



Security professionals view reputable energy security suppliers as important partners that can assist them with crucial energy security choices. When sensitive content is identified in or leading up to the cloud, energy security allows IT teams to manage potential violations on their local networks for more investigation. In addition, an extensive study on threat observations supports a business in recognizing and halting harmful conduct before it worsens. These reasons are driving the market for energy security forward.



Market Restraining Factors



Lack of sufficient funding among SMEs



The lack of financial resources hinders the adoption of new technologies and corporate security solutions by these organizations, resulting in an inadequate IT security architecture. In addition, small firms are burdened with the management of budgeted finances for a variety of operational issues and business continuity planning, leaving them with less time and resources to implement security solutions. Thus, due to the lack of capital among SMBs and startups, the market for security solutions in the energy sector may suffer slowed growth throughout the projected period.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the energy security market is segmented into solution and service. The solution segment held the highest revenue share in the energy security market in 2021. This is because preserving and enhancing the energy sectors resilience in the face of both man-made and natural disasters is an ongoing process that involves continued vigilance, contingency planning, and training which can be attained with an energy security solution. Many programs funded by governmental and private groups support the energy sectors security vision and objectives.



Technology Outlook



On the basis of technology, the energy security market is divided into physical security and network security. The network security segment procured a significant revenue share in the energy security market in 2021. This is owing to the weaknesses in the IT systems, OT infrastructure, and supply chain partners, which exposes energy firms to cyber risk. IT systems consist of the software, hardware, and technologies used to collect and process data for the enterprises business operations. OT infrastructure comprises the software, hardware, and technologies necessary to control physical equipment like pumps, motors, valves, and switches.



Power Plant Outlook



By power plant, the energy security market is classified into thermal & hydro, nuclear, oil & gas and renewable energy. The thermal & hydro segment registered the highest revenue share in the energy security market in 2021. This is due to the fact that hydropower plays a crucial role in the transition to clean energy, not just because it generates vast quantities of low-carbon electricity. Also, it has unparalleled flexibility and storage capacity. Compared to nuclear, coal, and natural gas power plants, many hydropower plants can quickly scale up and down their electricity production.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the energy security market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region led the energy security market by generating the maximum revenue share in 2021. This is due to the rising industrialization and urbanization, which are anticipated to fuel the North American power industry. In addition, throughout North America, the installation of renewable energy facilities has increased as a result of the rules for reducing countries carbon footprints. This element will give rise to the more renewable energy sources which in turn will increase the demand for energy security solutions, providing future prospects for the energy security market in North America in the projected period.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Siemens AG, Teledyne FLIR LLC (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated), ABB Ltd., Honeywell International, Inc., BAE Systems PLC, Elbit Sytems Ltd., Thales Group S.A., Hexagon AB, Lockheed Martin Corporation and AEGIS Security & Investigations Inc.



Strategies Deployed in Energy Security market



Dec-2022: Hexagon took over Qognify, a company that provides physical security and enterprise incident management software solutions. The acquisition reinforced Hexagons physical security and incident management capabilities as well as expanded its real-time monitoring and security foothold in new markets. In addition, the acquisition opened up cross-selling opportunities for its Leica BLK Series of reality capture sensors.



Nov-2022: Honeywell launched its new operational technology Cybersecurity solutions. These solutions have been created for helping customers in defending the reliability, availability, and safety of industrial control systems and operations. The offerings comprise an Advanced Monitoring and Incident Response (AMIR) dashboard and updated cyber app controls. These offerings would empower the organizations with 24/7 intelligent threat detection throughout the growing attack surface of their industrial control systems.



Mar-2022: Teledyne FLIR Defense, a part of Teledyne Technologies, introduced a new Lightweight Vehicle Surveillance System (LVSS) with revolutionary air domain awareness (ADA) and advanced counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) capabilities. The LVSS ADA C-UAS is an improved version of the field-tested LVSS platform from Teledyne FLIR that uses cutting-edge technology to detect and reduce the growing threat posed by tiny drones. To give early warning alerts and recognition, the new system makes use of a potent combination of 3D radar, EO/IR camera, and RF detection and mitigation sensors. Threats are identified and displayed concurrently, with all radar tracks positions and elevations displayed. The most potent mobile surveillance device on the market for fending off these threats is the LVSS C-UAS, which combines powerful counter-drone technologies and countermeasures.



Sep-2021: Teledyne FLIR, a part of Teledyne Technologies, made additions to its Elara R-Series Commercial Ground Security Radars and the FH-Series Multispectral Fixed Cameras, its perimeter security suite. The Elara R-Series operates as an ideal commercial radar system for industrial commercial applications whereas the FH-Series offers both video verification and intrusion detection through its high-resolution thermal and visible imaging capabilities. These features and the capacity to capture crucial details utilizing 4K imagery, greatly enhancing response times enable security professionals to accurately identify and assess situations.



May-2021: Teledyne Technologies acquired FLIR Systems, a company engaged in designing, developing, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of technologies that enhance perception and awareness. Following the combination, Teledyne FLIR offers a broad range of imaging technologies and products, from components to whole imaging systems, ranging from X-ray to infrared. Moreover, Teledyne FLIR offers a full selection of unmanned systems and imaging payloads for use in all environments, from deep space to Deep Ocean.



May-2021: Siemens Energy came into collaboration with ServiceNow, a company that develops a cloud computing platform for helping the organization in managing digital workflows for enterprise operations. The collaboration was aimed to develop a unified software service product that enables energy companies for monitoring, detect, and respond to cyber threats targeting digitally connected critical infrastructure.



Apr-2021: Thales together with Ericsson announced a partnership with EDF for bringing mobile broadband connectivity to nuclear facilities in France, both in production and under construction. The companies have partnered on CONNECT, a project to provide secure cellular connectivity to all of EDFs nuclear energy sites. The new network infrastructure was created specifically for EDF, making sure that its requirements for scalability, flexibility, and Cybersecurity are fulfilled.



Nov-2020: Hexagon AB announced the acquisition of PAS Global, an industrial control system Cybersecurity company. Following the acquisition, PAS merged with Hexagons PPM division for creating a new Cybersecurity-focused business segment in Hexagons existing business, together with providing over 500 customers throughout 1450 sites in 70 countries. The acquisition expanded Hexagons footprints and enlarged its capabilities by extending the solutions to operational technology Cybersecurity and operational risk management.



May-2019: Siemens collaborated with Chronicle for protecting the critical infrastructure of the energy sector from rising sophisticated and malicious industrial cyber threats. The cutting-edge managed service delivers new levels of protection against potential operational, commercial, and safety risks, and unlocks the analytics ecosystem.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Component



 Solution



 Services



By Technology



 Physical Security



 Network Security



By Power Plant



 Thermal & Hydro



 Renewable Energy



 Oil & Gas



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Siemens AG



 Teledyne FLIR LLC (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)



 ABB Ltd.



 Honeywell International, Inc.



 BAE Systems PLC



 Elbit Sytems Ltd.



 Thales Group S.A.



 Hexagon AB



 Lockheed Martin Corporation



 AEGIS Security & Investigations Inc.



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Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449925/?utm_source=GNW



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Cellnex Telecom, S.A. (OTCMKTS:CLLNY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 80,800 shares, a decline of 14.5% from the March 15th total of 94,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 154,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Cellnex Telecom from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Citigroup lowered shares of Cellnex Telecom from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Cellnex Telecom from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cellnex Telecom from 53.00 ($57.61) to 58.00 ($63.04) and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Cellnex Telecom has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $56.75.

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Cellnex Telecom Stock Performance

Shares of CLLNY stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $20.98. The company had a trading volume of 27,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,470. The companys fifty day moving average is $19.48 and its 200 day moving average is $17.91. Cellnex Telecom has a fifty-two week low of $13.56 and a fifty-two week high of $27.57.

Cellnex Telecom Company Profile

Cellnex Telecom SA engages in the operation of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures. Its business activities include rental of sites for telecom operators, broadcast infrastructure activity, and other network services. It operates through the following segments: Telecom Infrastructure Services, Broadcasting Infrastructure and Other Network Services.

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VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,150,000 shares, a decrease of 13.4% from the March 15th total of 5,950,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EGY shares. Roth Capital restated a buy rating on shares of VAALCO Energy in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on VAALCO Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. They set a buy rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on VAALCO Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EGY. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its stake in VAALCO Energy by 66.0% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 23,576 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 9,376 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in VAALCO Energy by 1,189.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 154,276 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 142,310 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in VAALCO Energy by 15.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 721,459 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $4,711,000 after acquiring an additional 95,474 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in VAALCO Energy by 68.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 69,286 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 28,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. bought a new position in VAALCO Energy in the first quarter valued at $944,000. Institutional investors own 31.61% of the companys stock.

VAALCO Energy Price Performance

Shares of EGY stock traded down $0.13 on Wednesday, reaching $4.27. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,282,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,518,639. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. VAALCO Energy has a 12-month low of $3.88 and a 12-month high of $8.77. The company has a market capitalization of $458.25 million, a P/E ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 1.58. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $4.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.77.

VAALCO Energy (NYSE:EGY  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The energy company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. VAALCO Energy had a return on equity of 43.34% and a net margin of 14.65%. The company had revenue of $96.59 million for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that VAALCO Energy will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VAALCO Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 24th were given a $0.0625 dividend. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 23rd. This is an increase from VAALCO Energys previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. VAALCO Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.25%.

About VAALCO Energy

(Get Rating)

VAALCO Energy, Inc engages in the acquisition, development, and production of crude oil. It operates through the following segments: Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The Gabon Segment focuses on the Offshore Gabon-Etame Marin Permit operation. The Equatorial Guinea segment deals with the Equatorial Guinea-Block P operation.

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Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its position in shares of Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Get Rating) by 51.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,714 shares of the energy companys stock after buying an additional 2,271 shares during the quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporateds holdings in Devon Energy were worth $413,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DVN. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,814,521 shares of the energy companys stock worth $2,574,437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,902,180 shares during the period. Yacktman Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Devon Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $160,242,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,173,489 shares of the energy companys stock worth $4,640,442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,042 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Devon Energy by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,141,280 shares of the energy companys stock worth $609,794,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469,557 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Devon Energy during the 1st quarter worth $85,234,000. Institutional investors own 78.08% of the companys stock.

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Devon Energy Price Performance

Shares of Devon Energy stock opened at $54.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.87 billion, a PE ratio of 6.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 2.33. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $53.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.79. Devon Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $44.03 and a 12 month high of $79.40.

Devon Energy Increases Dividend

Devon Energy ( NYSE:DVN Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The energy company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.29 billion. Devon Energy had a net margin of 31.38% and a return on equity of 52.20%. Devon Energys revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Devon Energy Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Devon Energys previous None dividend of $0.49. This represents a dividend yield of 9.3%. Devon Energys dividend payout ratio is 8.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard E. Muncrief acquired 10,000 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $53.28 per share, for a total transaction of $532,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,973,977 shares of the companys stock, valued at $105,173,494.56. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 7,179 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.77, for a total transaction of $393,193.83. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 262,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,377,015.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard E. Muncrief purchased 10,000 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $53.28 per share, for a total transaction of $532,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,973,977 shares in the company, valued at $105,173,494.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DVN has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Devon Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Devon Energy from $80.00 to $67.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Devon Energy from $77.00 to $66.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Devon Energy from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Devon Energy from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Devon Energy currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $71.40.

Devon Energy Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Devon Energy Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties. It develops and operates Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford, Heavy Oil, Barnett Shale, STACK, and Rockies Oil. The company was founded by J. Larry Nichols and John W. Nichols in 1971 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK.

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Sixt SE (ETR:SIX2  Get Rating)s stock price fell 0.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as 117.70 ($127.93) and last traded at 117.70 ($127.93). 13,748 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 49,244 shares. The stock had previously closed at 118.00 ($128.26).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a 160.00 ($173.91) price target on Sixt in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Metzler set a 140.00 ($152.17) price target on Sixt in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Hauck Aufhauser Investment Banking set a 108.00 ($117.39) price target on shares of Sixt in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. BNP Paribas set a 150.00 ($163.04) price objective on shares of Sixt in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a 145.00 ($157.61) target price on Sixt in a research report on Monday, March 6th.

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Sixt Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of 121.09 and a 200-day moving average price of 103.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 125.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a P/E/G ratio of 23.89 and a beta of 2.07.

Sixt Company Profile

Sixt SE, through its subsidiaries, provides mobility services for private and business customers in Germany and internationally. The company offers mobility service across the fields of vehicle and commercial vehicle rental, car sharing, ride hailing, and car subscriptions. It has a network of 2,115 stations.

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MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 92,031 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 8,852 shares during the period. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLCs holdings in Southern were worth $6,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,002,360 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $4,284,352,000 after buying an additional 3,653,841 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,652,372 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $6,436,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,612 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,068,549 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,424,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,036 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 57.3% in the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,062,100 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $208,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $65,112,000. 61.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total value of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at $1,832,299.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.89, for a total value of $359,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 146,284 shares in the company, valued at $10,516,356.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were 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 owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,134 shares of company stock valued at $502,179 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.37% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Southern Stock Performance

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on Southern from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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 cut shares of Southern from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Southern from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $72.43.

NYSE SO traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $72.95. The companys stock had a trading volume of 842,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,238,154. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.60. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $58.85 and a 52 week high of $80.57. The stock has a market cap of $79.63 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 5.02 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. Southerns revenue 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. This is a boost from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Southerns dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.93%.

Southern 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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Toews Corp ADV trimmed its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB  Get Rating) by 40.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,700 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,800 shares during the period. Toews Corp ADVs holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 97.1% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,707 shares of the companys stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826 shares in the last quarter. CBOE Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. CBOE Vest Financial LLC now owns 68,578 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,718,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 10,019 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 9,127 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,027,000 after buying an additional 807 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 47,651 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,363,000 after buying an additional 6,412 shares during the period. 74.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Thursday, hitting $138.85. 131,584 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,648,319. The firm has a market cap of $46.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.83. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $108.74 and a 52-week high of $144.53. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $129.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.41.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

Kimberly-Clark ( NYSE:KMB Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 264.67% and a net margin of 9.59%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $1.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $4.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clarks previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Kimberly-Clarks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 6th. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Kimberly-Clark from a sell rating to a hold rating and upped their price objective for the company from $122.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. They issued a sell rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $130.50.

About Kimberly-Clark

(Get Rating)

Kimberly-Clark Corp. engages in the manufacture and marketing of products made from natural or synthetic fibers. It operates through the following segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swim pants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, and other related products.

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W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW  Get Rating) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $537.00 to $555.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the industrial products companys stock. Morgan Stanleys price objective would indicate a potential downside of 16.60% from the companys previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded W.W. Grainger from an underperform rating to a sector perform rating and increased their price objective for the company from $502.00 to $679.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $670.00 to $750.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $695.00 to $800.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $650.00 to $730.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $691.13.

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W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

GWW opened at $665.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.36. W.W. Grainger has a 1-year low of $440.48 and a 1-year high of $709.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $669.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $605.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

W.W. Grainger ( NYSE:GWW Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $6.97 by $0.17. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 60.13% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.44 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 33.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other W.W. Grainger news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total transaction of $1,134,936.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,275 shares in the company, valued at $2,199,359. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other W.W. Grainger news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total transaction of $1,134,936.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,275 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,199,359. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 4,623 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.66, for a total value of $3,072,723.18. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,605 shares in the company, valued at $5,054,739.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,434 shares of company stock worth $38,315,317. Corporate insiders own 9.90% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 14.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 506 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the 1st quarter worth approximately $245,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the 1st quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in W.W. Grainger by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 169,500 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $114,728,000 after purchasing an additional 8,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.76% of the companys stock.

About W.W. Grainger

(Get Rating)

W.W. Grainger, Inc is a supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating products, with operations in North America, Japan, and the United Kingdom. It operates through the following segments: High-Touch Solutions N.A., Endless Assortment, and Other. The High-Touch Solutions N.A. segment is involved in value-added MRO solutions that are rooted in deep product knowledge and customer expertise.

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Wealth Effects LLC trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX  Get Rating) by 21.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,493 shares of the asset managers stock after selling 8,179 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 1.2% of Wealth Effects LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Wealth Effects LLCs holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont raised its holdings in Blackstone by 133.3% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 350 shares of the asset managers stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 62.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BX. Oppenheimer raised shares of Blackstone from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $111.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $100.00 to $94.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 14th. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. They issued an outperform rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $104.31.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $92.92. The stock had a trading volume of 2,277,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,049,419. The firm has a market cap of $65.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.50. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.72 and a 12 month high of $126.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.68 and a 200 day moving average of $86.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The asset manager reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 19.43%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 6th were issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstones previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Blackstones payout ratio is 153.59%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 40,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.37, for a total value of $4,014,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 350,005 shares of the companys stock, valued at $35,130,001.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 205,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total transaction of $6,781,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,844,228 shares of the companys stock, valued at $324,859,524. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 40,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.37, for a total transaction of $4,014,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 350,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,130,001.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 10,950,338 shares of company stock valued at $18,744,064 and have sold 140,962,716 shares valued at $1,744,783,150. Insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock.

About Blackstone

(Get Rating)

Blackstone, Inc engages in the provision of investment and fund management services. It operates through the following segments: Real Estate, Private Equity, Credit and Insurance, and Hedge Fund Solutions. The Real Estate segment includes management of opportunistic real estate funds, Core+ real estate funds, high-yield real estate debt funds, and liquid real estate debt funds.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX  Get Rating).

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Future Market Insights Global and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Market Study on Gas Pressure Regulators: Expanding Oil & Gas Industry to Boost the Growth. Industrial segment is expected to constitute a CAGR of 3.4% in the Gas Pressure Regulators Market in 2023. Increasing Popularity of Automation & Remote Monitoring in North America to Fuel the Market Growth.

NEWARK, Del, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global gas pressure regulators market size is expected to be valued at US$ 3.2 Billion in 2023. With the continual expansion of the natural gas distribution network across the globe, the overall scope for gas pressure regulators market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.4 % between 2023 and 2033, totaling around US$ 4.4 Billion by 2033.



One of the key drivers of the market growth is the increasing demand for natural gas vehicles. The use of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) is on the rise due to their environmental benefits and cost-effectiveness. This has led to an increase in the demand for gas pressure regulators, which are required to regulate the pressure of natural gas in NGVs. The increasing adoption of NGVs in the transportation sector is expected to boost the growth of the gas pressure regulators market during the forecast period.

For insights on global, regional, and country-level parameters with growth opportunities from 2023 to 2033: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-17042

Another factor driving the growth of the Gas Pressure Regulators market is the growing use of liquefied petroleum gas: LPG is used for cooking, heating, and in the transportation sector. The growth of the LPG market is driving the demand for gas pressure regulators, as they are essential for regulating the pressure of LPG and ensuring safe usage. The increasing demand for LPG in residential, commercial, and industrial applications is expected to accelerate the growth of the gas pressure regulators market in the near future.

In addition, the adoption of advanced technologies is accelerating the demand for Gas Pressure Regulators. Gas pressure regulator manufacturers are adopting advanced technologies such as IoT, AI, and ML to enhance the performance and capabilities of their products. This trend is driving the growth of the gas pressure regulators market, as companies seek to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and improve safety standards.

Story continues

Moreover, the increasing industrialization is also expected to boost the market prospects. The industrial sector is a major end-user of gas pressure regulators, and the increasing industrialization in developing countries is expected to drive the demand for these products in the near future. Industries such as oil and gas, chemical processing, and power generation require gas pressure regulators for various applications, and the growing demand for these industries is expected to boost the growth of the gas pressure regulators market.

Furthermore, the growing awareness of safety is also expected to play a significant role in driving the growth of the Gas Pressure Regulators market. There is a growing awareness of safety in various industries, particularly in the oil and gas sector, where accidents can have serious consequences. Gas pressure regulators are essential for ensuring the safe operation of gas pipelines, storage facilities, and other infrastructure, and their demand is expected to increase as companies seek to improve safety standards.

Ask an Analyst: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-17042

Besides, governments around the world are promoting the use of natural gas and other clean energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address environmental concerns. This is expected to drive the demand for gas pressure regulators, as they are essential for regulating the pressure of natural gas and ensuring safe usage. Government initiatives and policies are expected to accelerate the growth of the gas pressure regulators market in the near future.

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

Global Gas Pressure Regulators Market was valued at US$ 3.1 Billion by 2022-end

From 2018 to 2022, the market demand expanded at a CAGR of 2 .1 %

North America is expected to hold the highest market share of 3 4 . 5 % during the forecast period.

By Type, the Single-Stage Regulator segment is expected to constitute a CAGR of 3.2 % in 2033.

On the basis of End-User, the Industrial segment is expected to dominate the market with a CAGR of 3.0 % in 2033.

From 2023 to 2033, Gas Pressure Regulators services are expected to flourish at a CAGR of 3.4 %.

By 2033, the market value of Gas Pressure Regulators is expected to reach US$ 4.4 Billion.



The growth in oil & gas industry, as well as rising demand for energy-efficient solutions, are the major factors that are expected to propel the growth of the Gas Pressure Regulators market in the near future, remarks an FMI analyst.

Request for Query or Customization: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-17042

Competitive Landscape

Prominent players in the gas pressure regulators market are Essex Industries , Greggerson Gasetechnik , GMR GAS s.r.o. , V.K. Engineering Works , Emerson Electric Co. , Athena Technology , Cavagna Group , SAP INDUSTRIES , DEM Machinery Co., Ltd. , NISSAN TANAKA CORPORATION , Tewelding Engineers , Linde Group , Honeywell International, Inc. , ESKA , Shenzen Wofly Technology Co., Ltd. , Dormont , and among others.

Recent Developments:

In August 2020, Linde plc. announced the launch of its new SERIES 4 range of gas pressure regulators for industrial applications. The regulators offer improved safety, reliability, and accuracy, and are designed to operate in harsh environments.

In May 2020, The Linde Group and Beijing Green Hydrogen Technology Development Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement to jointly promote the development of China's hydrogen energy industry. The agreement includes the development and supply of gas pressure regulators for hydrogen refueling stations.

Key Segments Covered in the Gas Pressure Regulators Industry Analysis

by Type:

Single Stage Regulator

Dual Stage Regulator

Third Stage Regulator

Dual Inlet Regulator

Auto Changeover Regulator



by Type of Gas:

Fuel Gases Liquid Propane Compressed Natural Gas

Corrosive Gases

Oxidizers

Inert Gases

Toxic Gases



by End-User:

Commercial

Industrial

Household



by Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia

Oceania

Middle East & Africa



View Full Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/gas-pressure-regulators-market

About the Process Automation Division at Future Market Insights

The process automation team at Future Market Insights offers expert analysis, time-efficient research, and strategic recommendations with the objective to provide authentic insights and accurate results to help clients worldwide. With a repertoire of over 100+ reports and 1 Billion+ data points, the team has been analyzing the industry lucidly in 50+ countries for over a decade. The team provides a brief analysis on key trends including competitive landscape, profit margin, and research development efforts.

Explore FMIs Extensive Coverage on Process Automation Domain:

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About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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This photo taken on April 7, 2023 shows "No More" by Italian Artist Barbara Vaccaro displayed at an art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. [Xinhua/Yang Shiyan]

CHONGQING, April 19 (Xinhua)  Old items with an obvious imprint of traditional Chinese culture, such as quaint windows, screens and abandoned laundry boards, have become new carriers of the creative ideas of Italian artists.

As displayed during the ongoing month-long "Connecting Point" contemporary art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, dozens of artworks that blend traditional Chinese culture and trendy Italian design have appealed to even the most finicky of art fans in the city.

Decorating discarded items with graffiti, a number of Italian artists are injecting vitality with a modern touch into old memories.

Divided into halves, an old wooden window now presents itself with an armed warrior and a crowned princess common in Italian opera on one side, and a typical actress and an elder male actor from Peking Opera painted on the other side. Such a collision of different but seemingly interlinked cultural elements is a common theme at the exhibition.

This piece of art is named "Opera" and is the creation of Barbara Vaccaro, who was born in 1975 and hails from Italy's Sicily. She is committed to showing the hidden connections between China and her motherland, using everyday goods no longer used, produced or needed by Shanghai residents as conduits for her artistic expression.

Through her reuse of discarded furniture and windows, old items gain a new vision and life as if time was "sealed up."

One of her artworks, "No more," consists of three old-fashioned laundry boards, one of which even has some cracks on its surface. However, Vaccaro's paintings on these items have enriched their meanings.

"Housework, such as washing clothes, was usually the duty of Chinese women in the past. With the development of society and technology, women have freed their hands and the washboards are no longer used, which also represents the progress of Chinese women's social status and role," said Vaccaro.

This photo taken on April 7, 2023 shows "Immediacy" by Italian Artist Orlando Daga displayed at an art exhibition in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. [Xinhua/Yang Shiyan]

Orlando Daga, another exhibitor, is more interested in integrating ideas from Chinese classical works into his creations. He brought 13 pieces of artwork from his latest series, named "Window."

Traditional Chinese-style windows of different shapes and in various colors are interwoven with multiple silk threads by Daga. The window itself symbolizes the external world, while strands of silk can be seen interlacing through the window, which is indicative of the internal connection between different elements  an artistic expression of existence in traditional Chinese philosophy, said Daga.

Daga has learned more about oriental philosophies since he first came to China in 2014. The Italian soon found that many traditional Chinese philosophical works, such as "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu and the work of ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, became his main sources of inspiration.

In addition to using windows, Daga also combines colors with the Eight Diagrams in his paintings themed on water, fire and earth etc., to explore the relationship between humans and space. Different diagrams and colors are used as his major background color with blue representing lake water, while brown and yellow represent mountains. The image of people in the middle of the canvas is also often wrapped in layers of ripples, symbolizing the connection between natural elements and mankind.

"Chinese philosophy is very interesting because it gives you a different point of view about how to interpret things," he explained, adding that Chinese philosophy allows him to reflect on topics including harmony with the inner self, the outer energy of people and our relations with the universe and nature.

The exhibition, which starts from April 7 and will last until May 7, provides visitors with opportunities to appreciate the fusion of Chinese and Italian art and culture.

(Source: Xinhua)
Doctor Li Haixia (R) checks on a patient's condition at Guang'anmen Hospital, which is under the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, in Beijing, capital of China, on March 3, 2023. [Xinhua]

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua)  China unveiled a plan on Wednesday that aims to promote the culture of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) among the public.

The plan, jointly issued by eight government organs, outlines 12 tasks in the promotion of TCM culture, including strengthening the protection and conservation of TCM classics and establishing a national digital TCM museum.

It also calls for launching various forms of activities to boost TCM culture among students and promote diversified products to facilitate TCM cultural exchanges with other countries.

A total of 50 national-level venues for experiencing TCM culture will be established, according to the plan.

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. [Xinhua/Li Xueren]

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two heads of state decided to upgrade the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries to a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership."

Xi called President Bongo "an old friend" of the Chinese people. Bongo is the first African head of state visiting China after Xi was reelected as the Chinese president. It fully demonstrates the importance and high level of China-Gabon relations, said Xi.

In recent years, under the leadership of President Bongo, Gabon has been exploring a development path tailored to its national conditions and pursuing national stability and economic diversification. Significant achievements have been made in national development, Xi said.

Xi commended that Gabon has also been promoting the regional integration process and mediating hotspot issues in Africa.

Gabon has held a successful One Forest Summit and taken over as the president of the Economic Community of Central African States not long ago, Xi said, noting that Gabon's influence in the region and beyond has grown markedly.

As a sincere friend of Gabon, China wishes the country still greater progress in all its endeavors and early realization of its strategic goal toward an Emerging Gabon, said the Chinese president.

President Xi noted the 50th anniversary of China-Gabon diplomatic relations to be celebrated next year. Over the last half-century, thanks to the commitment and guidance of generations of leaders on both sides, the China-Gabon friendship has stayed rock-firm as ever, Xi said.

In a world undergoing profound changes, China and Gabon have supported each other in advancing their shared interests and upholding international fairness and justice. The strong and sustained growth of the bilateral ties serves the long-term interests of both countries and has an exemplary role to play in building a community with a shared future for humanity, said Xi.

He said that China is willing to work with Gabon to strengthen experience-sharing on state governance, deepen strategic mutual trust, and firmly support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns.

China firmly supports Gabon in pursuing a development path suited to its national realities and is willing to synergize strategies with Gabon and promote cooperation in infrastructure construction, forestry, fishery, the digital economy, and industrial park construction, Xi said.

He called on the two sides to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and strengthen cooperation in tourism, rural revitalization, poverty reduction, and agricultural development.

Xi also urged joint efforts in strategic cooperation in multilateral platforms, such as the United Nations, to safeguard global peace and development, international equity and justice, and the common interests of developing countries.

Regarding China-Africa cooperation, Xi said that China is willing to provide new opportunities to African countries through its own development and turn China-Africa practical cooperation into an example for South-South cooperation and international cooperation with Africa.

Bongo said Gabon firmly adheres to the one-China policy and supports important concepts proposed by President Xi, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Bongo said he appreciates China's valuable assistance in promoting Gabon's economic diversification and industrialization. He said that the two sides could further strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism.

Gabon looks forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China next year, consolidating and deepening friendly cooperation, and promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, said Bongo.

He added that Gabon is willing to enhance strategic coordination with China at multilateral level and push for better development and more achievements of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and Africa-China relations.

After the talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents in fields such as investment, agriculture, housing and urban construction, and climate change.

A joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the People's Republic of China and the Gabonese Republic was published.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. [Xinhua/Wang Ye]

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcoming ceremony for President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba at the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. [Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan]

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba and his wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba before the talks between Xi and Bongo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Xi held talks with Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, in Beijing on Wednesday. [Xinhua/Li Xueren]

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. [Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan]

(Source: Xinhua)
Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, meets with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2023. Sylvia is accompanying Bongo on his state visit to China. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua)  Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, met with Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, wife of President of the Gabonese Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Peng recalled with pleasure her interactions with Sylvia and their joint efforts to promote the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, and said she appreciated Sylvia's longstanding enthusiasm for public welfare.

Peng spoke about China's achievements in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and the fight against COVID-19, as well as her work as a World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Peng said that China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Gabon, share experience, promote cooperation and bring more benefits to the two peoples. She voiced confidence that under the leadership of the leaders of the two countries, bilateral cooperation in various fields will continue to deepen, and that this friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Sylvia, who is accompanying the Gabonese president on his state visit to China, thanked Xi and Peng for their hospitality and said she was impressed with China's friendly ties with Gabon.

Gabon admires China's great achievements in public health, and is willing to learn from China's successful experience and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China, she said.

Sylvia said she looks forward to having the opportunity to see more of China and to appreciate the Chinese culture and the country's development.

(Source: Xinhua)
ReportLinker

The hysterectomy is the name for the surgical surgery used to remove a womans uterus. Moreover, this procedure can treat various chronic pain disorders, infections, and some forms of cancer.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Hysterectomy Device Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Disease Type, By End User, By Surgical Approach, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449909/?utm_source=GNW

Depending on the goal of the procedure, a hysterectomy can take various forms. The entire uterus is typically removed in these operations. Hysterectomy can be used to treat uncontrollable vaginal bleeding, persistent pelvic pain, and cancer of the uterus, cervix, or ovaries.



Fibroids, which are benign tumors growing in the uterus, and uterine prolapse, which is when the uterus protrudes from the vagina through the cervix, can also be treated with it joined with adenomyosis, which is a condition in which the lining of the uterus grows into the muscles of the uterus, and pelvic inflammatory disease. A lower belly cut, commonly known as the abdomen, is used during an abdominal hysterectomy to remove the uterus, known as an open procedure.



While a woman is pregnant, the uterus, also known as the womb, is where the baby develops. The uterus is removed with a partial hysterectomy, but the wombs neck remains. The cervix is the wombs neck. Then, the uterus and cervix are removed during a complete hysterectomy. Moreover, a vaginal incision can be used to perform a hysterectomy which is called a vaginal hysterectomy. Alternatively, one might have robotic or laparoscopic surgery, which inserts long, thin equipment through tiny belly incisions.



In place of other hysterectomy procedures, one might require an abdominal hysterectomy if: the uterus is enormous; the doctor wants to examine other pelvic organs for illness symptoms; the doctor suggests an open procedure because it might be the best option for the patient, in their opinion. A hysterectomy may be the best course of treatment for uterine or cervical cancer. Other treatment options may include radiation or chemotherapy, depending on the type of cancer and its stage.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The COVID-19 pandemic presented difficulties for healthcare practitioners around the world. As a result, resources were diverted from other healthcare services, including the industry for uterine manipulator devices, to care for COVID-19 patients. Many patients experienced significant delays in receiving gynecologic surgical care during the height of the pandemic. Many parts of numerous businesses, including product demand, operations, supply chains, distribution networks, and the capacity to conduct product research and development, are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, COVID-19 is anticipated to impact the market for hysterectomy device greatly in the initial period.



Market Growth Factors



Rising prevalence of obesity



The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 has significantly grown, rising from roughly 4% in 1975 to a little over 18% in 2016. More than 124 million children and teens were obese in 2016, up from less than 1% in 1975 among those aged 5 to 19. Furthermore, women (40%) are more likely to be obese than men (35%), and womens health is majorly impacted by obesity in several distinct ways. Hence, the increasing obesity in women is expected to cause issues like fibroids, uterine cancer, or chronic pelvic pain that will increase the requirement for hysterectomies and boost the hysterectomy device market growth.



The constant advancement of devices used in hysterectomy



Medical advancements have reduced the hazards of many surgeries to the point where they are now regarded as minimally invasive procedures. These developments have made hysterectomy surgery safer and less intrusive than ever for women who require this surgical removal of the uterus. A one-inch incision concealed in the belly button can now be used to perform hysterectomies due to the recent advancements in robotic surgery technology. The single-site robotic hysterectomy offers all the advantages of minimally invasive surgery and, in most cases, results in absolutely no scarring.



Market Restraining Factors



Presence of medications and minimally invasive surgeries



The fibroids die and diminish within a few weeks to months once the blood supply is severed. This method might be better suitable for women who dont want to become pregnant shortly because studies have revealed a considerable risk of miscarriage and other pregnancy issues after this operation. Myomectomy, which allows for future pregnancies, is the surgical removal of the fibroids without removing the uterus. There is a chance of fibroid recurrence, like every other uterus-sparing operation. The availability of minimally invasive procedures, hormone therapies, and medicines might shift patients preference toward them and restrict the hysterectomy device market growth.



Disease Type Outlook



Based on disease type, the hysterectomy device market is segmented into uterine cancer, fibroids, chronic pelvic pain and others. The chronic pelvic pain segment held the highest revenue share in the hysterectomy device market in 2021. This is because it is a debilitating, persistent, chronic discomfort in a womens pelvis. Chronic pelvic discomfort is frequently accompanied by comorbidities such as irritable bowel syndrome, major depressive illness, or pelvic inflammatory syndrome. Persistent pelvic discomfort is a complicated illness with several potential causes.



End User Outlook



On the basis of end user, the hysterectomy device market is divided into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and others. The ambulatory surgical centers segment procured a substantial revenue share in the hysterectomy device market in 2021. The growth is attributed to several factors, including a high desire for outpatient treatments, an increase in the use of minimally invasive procedures, and the affordability of laparoscopic procedures performed in ambulatory surgery centers. The demand for mobile surgery facilities is anticipated to rise due to the lower risk of postoperative complications in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery.



Surgical Approach Outlook



By surgical approach, the hysterectomy device market is classified into robotic assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy, abdominal hysterectomy, vaginal hysterectomy and laparoscopic hysterectomy. The abdominal hysterectomy segment registered the highest revenue share in the hysterectomy device market in 2021. This is owing to the benefits like improving the quality of life, particularly if the patient suffers from persistent pelvic discomfort or heavy, irregular bleeding. Through a six- to eight-inch abdominal incision, the uterus is removed. The incision is either done from the navel to the pubic bone or along the top of the pubic hairline.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the hysterectomy device market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region led the hysterectomy device market by generating the maximum revenue share in 2021. This is due to several significant players and technical improvements in the region. These leading players play an essential role in acquisition strategies. Furthermore, the regions rising uterine cancer prevalence, strong consumer base, spending power, and established healthcare infrastructure are anticipated to fuel the hysterectomy device market expansion in the region.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Medtronic PLC, B. Braun Melsungen AG, ConMed Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Richard Wolf GmbH, Karl Storz SE & Co. KG, The Cooper Companies, Inc., Laborie Medical Technologies (Patricia Industries) (Investor AB), Fortimedix Surgical B.V., and Conkin Surgical Instruments Ltd.



Strategies deployed in Hysterectomy Devices Market



Feb-2023: Laborie announced the acquisition of Novonate and its LifeBubble technology, a device used to raise the foetal head, making birth easier and less traumatic for the mother and baby. Together, the companies are focused on advancing the standard of care for neonates in intensive care.



Nov-2022: Medtronic Private Limited, a division of Medtronic PLC announced the launch of the TruClear system, a mechanical hysteroscopic tissue removal for efficient and safe treatment of intra-uterine anomalies (IUA). Unlike other intrauterine abnormality therapy methods, the TruClear device eliminates intrauterine tissue manually instead of employing a high-frequency electric current. The device is intended to facilitate the treatment of intrauterine illnesses in a less invasive and efficient manner, giving patients the choice to maintain the organ and swiftly return to their regular lives.



Sep-2022: Medtronic together with CARE Hospitals Group, introduced the first gynecology (hysterectomy) procedure in the Asia Pacific leveraging the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. To provide high-quality patient care at reasonable prices, investments in technology-enabled healthcare solutions are essential. High-quality equipment, like a robotic system, aids in accuracy improvement, shortens hospital stays, and speeds up patient recuperation.



Feb-2022: CooperCompanies signed an agreement to acquire Cook Medicals Reproductive Health Business, a company engaged in manufacturing minimally invasive medical devices for obstetrics, fertility, and gynecology markets. The acquisition added delivery devices to the former companys ObGyn portfolio and would expand its international fertility footprint.



Feb-2022: Laborie acquired Clinical Innovations for continuing to support moms, babies, and medical professionals all over the world by investing in and expanding Clinical Innovations distinctive product line and specialist channels. The companys ability to serve the specific customer call point of obstetricians, gynecologists, neonatologists, and NICU and L&D nurses will be enhanced by Clinical Innovations already strong and trusted relationships with physicians and nurses.



Dec-2021: CooperCompanies acquired Generate Life Sciences, a provider of donor sperm and egg for fertility cryopreservation service, fertility treatments, and newborn stem cell storage. With this acquisition, the company would be able to offer fertility clinics and OB/GYNs an even stronger service.



May-2021: CooperSurgical took over obp Medical Corporation, a company that focuses on developing and marketing diversified products comprising single-use vaginal speculums with combined LED illumination. The acquisition complemented CooperSurgicals portfolio of OB/GYN medical devices.



Mar-2021: CooperSurgical completed the acquisition of Safe Obstetric Systems, a company engaged in manufacturing medical devices, Fetal Pillow, an FDA-approved product used to raise the foetal head, making the birth easier and less traumatic for the mother and baby, after a fully dilated caesarean section. The acquisition is a perfect fit for CooperSurgicals mission of womens healthcare advancement.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Disease Type



 Chronic Pelvic Pain



 Fibroids



 Uterine Cancer



 Others



By End User



 Hospitals



 Ambulatory Surgical Centers



 Others



By Surgical Approach



 Abdominal Hysterectomy



 Laparoscopic Hysterectomy



 Robotic-assisted Laparoscopic Hysterectomy



 Vaginal Hysterectomy



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Medtronic PLC



 B. Braun Melsungen AG



 ConMed Corporation



 Johnson & Johnson



 Richard Wolf GmbH



 Karl Storz SE & Co. KG



 The Cooper Companies, Inc.



 Laborie Medical Technologies ( Patricia Industries)(Investor AB)



 Fortimedix Surgical B.V.



 Conkin Surgical Instruments Ltd



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449909/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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Pictured here is a view of houses in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen, on June 15, 2022.
From 2002 to 2018, RHESSI observed solar flares and coronal mass ejections from its low-Earth orbit.
The Foo Fighters on stage at London's Wembley Stadium during the tribute concert for drummer Taylor Hawkins in September 2022.
Two charged with selling liquor without a license at southern Illinois club where man was shot on April 8
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Intelligent power modules (IPMs) are hybrid power devices that combine a high-speed, low-loss insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) with an improved protection circuit and gate drive. IPMs use IGBT semiconductors with high tech current sensing to provide extremely effective short-circuit or over-protection.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Intelligent Power Module Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Voltage, By Circuit Configuration, By Vertical, By Current Rating, By Power Device, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449904/?utm_source=GNW

This makes it possible to keep an eye on the current going through the power device.



In addition, IPMs integrated under-voltage or over-lockout protection strengthens the systems dependability. Lastly, the automatically built intelligent power modules are intended to minimize time to market, cost, and system size. Intelligent power modules, or IPM modules, are utilized in electrical equipment and the technology sector for the primary purposes of power control and power conservation. Concerns about global warming are anticipated to increase the significance of this issue during the predicted period.



Worldwide, machines are so adaptable, compact, and effective at what they are designed to perform that they have supplanted humans in many manual tasks. In recent years, the demand for machinery and electronic equipment has expanded dramatically, and it is anticipated that this trend will continue or possibly accelerate in the years to come. Furthermore, automation modernization in various industries, particularly process automation and control automation equipment, is also anticipated to boost the intelligent power module market.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



The spread of the pandemic has affected the worldwide supply chain, resulting in a substantial supply chain deficit. Due to a shortage of raw materials, key participants in the intelligent power module market experienced a temporary slowdown, resulting in a revenue decline for the fiscal year 2020-2021. Yet, the market is anticipated to recover and remain in the growth phase during the forecasted period. In an effort to mitigate the negative effects of covid-19, the key companies in the intelligent power module market have reduced their R&D resources and shifted their attention to next-generation technologies.



Market Growth Factors



Growing demand for EVs globally



Increasing production and sales of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are anticipated to generate tremendous opportunities for the power electronics industry in the transportation application segment. In addition, the growing number of charging stations is driving the demand for power electronic components like intelligent power modules (IPMs), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), power management integrated circuits (PMICs), and standard & power integrated modules. In light of these factors, the intelligent power module market is estimated to grow with the surging demand and manufacturing of EVs worldwide.



Rising acceptance of GaN & SiC materials in automotive & power semiconductor uses



The most significant benefit of SiC is its dramatically increased efficiency. In addition to its near-immediate adoption in energy-focused businesses, such as electric vehicles and solar energy, SiC boosts the efficiency of electronics among industries and contributes to the global reduction of carbon footprint. SiC is used in photovoltaics, uninterruptible power supplies, motor drives, and power supplies. The increased adoption of GaN & SiC materials in several applications is predicted to contribute to the market expansion significantly.



Market Restraining Factors



Slower adoption of new technologies and complex structure of IPMs may hinder growth



The businesses active in the intelligent power modules market are primarily concerned with integrating many features onto a single chip, which results in an intricate design. The designing & integration of complex devices calls for specialized skill sets, well-tested methodologies, and tool sets, all of which contribute to a rise in the devices overall cost. It is anticipated that the high price of the devices would slow the transition toward more modern technical devices, which in turn is anticipated to constrain the growth of the intelligent power module market.



Voltage Outlook



By voltage, the intelligent power module market is segmented into up to 600V, 601V to 1200V, and above 1200V. In 2021, the 600 V segment dominated the intelligent power module market with maximum revenue share. IPMs with voltage ratings up to 600 V have certain benefits, including a quicker time to market, greater dependability, and less expensive & smaller systems. IGBTs and high-voltage MOSFETs that are reliable and efficient are used in IPMs with voltage ratings up to 600 V that are designed specifically for variable frequency drives.



Current Rating Outlook



Based on current rating, the intelligent power module market is bifurcated into up to 100A, 101A to 600A, and above 600A. The 101A to 600A segment recorded a remarkable revenue share in the intelligent power module market in 2021. The power modules within 101A to 600A current rating held in achieving compact dimensions and minimizing power loss in industrial robots, machinerys converters and motor drives. Intelligent power modules with a high current rating will be in great demand due to the growth of industrial automation and robotics in the industrial sector to obtain higher productivity. As a result, the market will witness significant growth in this segment.



Circuit Configuration Outlook



On the basis of circuit configuration, the intelligent power module market is fragmented into 6-Pack, 7-Pack, bridge, and others. The bridge segment garnered a significant revenue share in the intelligent power module market in 2021. A bridge circuit is an electrical circuitry where two circuit branches, typically parallel, are "bridged" by a third branch connected to the first two branches somewhere in between. One of the intermediary bridging points is frequently modifiable when used in this way because the bridge was initially designed for laboratory measuring reasons. Nowadays, bridge circuits are used in a wide range of linear and non-linear processes, including filtering, power conversion, and instrumentation.



Power Devices Outlook



By power devices, the intelligent power module market is divided into insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), and others. The insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) segment registered the maximum revenue share in the intelligent power module market in 2021. The IGBT-based intelligent power module contains a control IC with an IGBT drive circuit & protection circuit to maintain high system dependability and facilitate peripheral circuit design.



Vertical Outlook



Based on vertical, the intelligent power module market is classified into consumer electronics, industrial, transportation, IT & telecom, and others. In 2021, the industrial segment witnessed the highest revenue share in the intelligent power module market. These modules are commonly employed for motor control applications, rectification procedures, invertor techniques, MOSFET (MetalOxideSemiconductor Field-Effect Transistor), and IGBT switches. Expanding industrialization and rising IPM use in various industrial applications are one of the primary drivers driving market expansion.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the intelligent power module market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and LAMEA. The Asia Pacific region led the intelligent power module market by generating the largest revenue share in 2021. The consumer electronics and automotive industries are expanding quickly in China, which is projected to raise demand for intelligent power modules. This expansion is being fueled by rapid infrastructural development and industrialization. In addition, more industrial activity has been seen as a result of governments emphasizing producing power from renewable sources.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Expansions. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Texas Instruments, Inc. is the forerunner in the Intelligent Power Module Market. Companies such as Infineon Technologies AG, STMicroelectronics N.V., and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation are some of the key innovators in Intelligent Power Module Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., Infineon Technologies AG, Rohm Co., Ltd., STMicroelectronics N.V., Microchip Technology Incorporated, Texas Instruments, Inc., Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (Toshiba Corporation), Renesas Electronics Corporation and ON Semiconductor Corporation.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Intelligent Power Module Market



Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:



Jul-2022: ROHM collaborated with SEMIKRON. The collaboration focuses on implementing silicon carbide inside power modules intended to use in automotive applications.



Jun-2022: Toshiba came into partnership with Farnell, an international distributor of electronic components. Through this partnership, Toshiba intends to reinforce its supply chain functions. The partnership agreement would further support Toshibas customer supply chain, as Farnell would stock more of its products.



Jun-2021: STMicroelectronics came into partnership with Renault Group, a France-based automobile manufacturer. The partnership focuses on designing, producing, and supplying STMs products and solutions intended for the power electronics systems of battery-operated hybrid vehicles of the Renault Group. The partnership would benefit STM through guaranteed large consumption of power module transistors by Renault.



Oct-2020: STMicroelectronics partnered with Sanken, a Japan-based manufacturer and marketer of electric equipment and apparatuses. The partnership involves developing intelligent power modules intended for high-voltage industrial and automotive products. Moreover, the partnership includes, together manufacturing and selling 650V/50A and 1200V/10A industrial modules. The partnership further expands STMicroelectronics STPOWER SLLIMM portfolio.



Geographical Expansions:



Mar-2023: Mitsubishi Electric expanded its footprint by setting up a new wafer facility, with the aim to enhance the silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor business. The expansion of the new plant includes manufacturing 8-inch SiC wafers and improving 6-inch wagers production.



Oct-2022: Infineon established a new facility in Cegled, Hungary, fully committed to testing and assembly of high-power semiconductor modules. The new facility enables the company to cater to the evolving demands for electromobility applications.



May-2022: Texas Instruments commenced a new manufacturing plant in Texas, United States of America. The 300-mm semiconductor wafer fabrication facilitys advanced 300-mm instruments and operations would reduce water, waste, and energy consumption.



Feb-2022: Infineon Technologies expanded its already manufacturing facility in Kulim, Malaysia. The expansion includes adding manufacturing capacities in the wide bandgap semiconductors domain. The expansion of the facility located in Malaysia perfectly complements the companys market position and presence, and further prepares the company for the advancing wide bandgap markets.



Acquisitions and Mergers:



Nov-2021: onsemi completed the acquisition of GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), a US-based technology company. The addition of GTAT improves the acquiring companys potential to secure and increase the supply of silicon carbide (SiC) and further enables onsemi to deliver end-to-end power solutions.



Apr-2020: Infineon Technologies took over Cypress Semiconductor, a US-based manufacturer of semiconductor products. The addition of Cypress is a major step in the companys strategic development. Further, the acquisition reinforces the acquiring companys focus on growth drivers.



Product Launches and Expansions:



Jan-2023: Renesas unveiled RAJ2810024H12HPD, an automotive intelligent power device. The new product is designed to securely distribute power within vehicles. The intelligent power device takes less mounting area compared to the conventional device and has the ability to recognize abnormal currents even at low loads, thereby enabling engineers to develop and build safe and accurate power control systems.



Jul-2022: Mitsubishi Electric introduced RF high-power MOSFET (RA50H7687M1) intended for use in high-frequency power amplifiers. The module delivers power output ranging, 763MHz to 870MHz band. Additionally, the new product would broaden the communication range and reduce energy consumption.



Aug-2021: Microchip launched a range of SiC-based power modules intended for aircraft electrical systems. The new modules, BL1, BL2, and BL3 use a blend of 1200V silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs and 1600V diodes, developed specifically for harsh aviation environments. The power modules are available in various output options, 75A, 145A, 50A, and 90A, topology options, full bridge, phase leg, asymmetric bridge, dual common source, etc.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Voltage



 Up To 600V



 601V - 1,200V



 Above 1,200V



By Circuit Configuration



 6-Pack



 Bridge



 7-Pack



 Others



By Vertical



 Industrial



 Consumer Electronics



 Transportation



 IT & Telecommunications



 Others



By Current Rating



 Up to 100A



 101A to 600A



 Above 600A



By Power Device



 Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)



 Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET)



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation



 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.



 Infineon Technologies AG



 Rohm Co., Ltd.



 STMicroelectronics N.V.



 Microchip Technology Incorporated



 Texas Instruments, Inc.



 Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)



 Renesas Electronics Corporation



 ON Semiconductor Corporation



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449904/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




A study by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) reveals how the UKs two-child policy for welfare benefits is negatively affecting 1.5 million children, with more than a million of those affected growing up in poverty.

Official government statistics revealed last summer that one in 12 of all UK children now live in families hit by the two-child limit. It is forecast to affect roughly 3 million children in the future.

Footprints in the Community food bank in northern England receives donations [Photo: Twitter/Footprints UK]

The 1.5 million figure includes all children in a family subject to the limit rather than only each subsequent child who is ineligible for support as a result of the policy. Additional children in the family without additional income mean less money all round.

Speaking on the report April 5, CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said, Six years to the day since this nastiest of policies came into effect, our survey is showing its devastating effects. The two-child limit makes it impossible for parents to provide their children with essentialsand the cost-of-living crisis is adding extra pain.

The two-child limit restricts child universal credit and tax credits allowances to the first two children in a family, unless the children were born before April 2017 when the policy was introduced. CPAG found that families were being deprived of up to 3,235 a year.

Exemptions apply only for those who had children in a multiple birth or children conceived due to rape or coercion. Even the exemptions themselves are reactionary as women must disclose that they were raped in order to be eligibleunder what has become known as the rape clause.

The cruel and vindictive two-child limit was introduced by Theresa Mays Conservative government as a stick to beat the poor. It was justified with the implication that the working class are frivolous welfare cheats who only have children to avoid employment and claim supposedly generous welfare benefits.

A government spokesperson responded to the CPAG report by doubling down on the Dickensian policy: The two-child policy means families on benefits are asked to make the same financial decisions as families supporting themselves solely through work, including considering our comprehensive childcare offer for working parents and child benefit for all children.

In fact, 58 percent of families affected by the limit are in work. As for childcare, the private sector is bleeding parents drya part-time nursery place (25 hours a week) costs an average of nearly 8,000 a year.

The CPAG study found zero evidence to suggest the two-child policy had affected fertility rates but plenty of proof that it was pushing very large numbers of children into or deeper into poverty.

Last year a study by academics at universities in York and Oxford found the continuation of the two-child limit during the cost-of-living crisis was creating an almost impossible context for affected families, with a risk of long-lasting harm for millions of children.

As part of their study, the CPAG took submissions from more than 3,000 parents who have taken part in an ongoing survey about the two-child limit. The researchers found that in the last year many more families had struggled to pay for basics like energy bills and food. Individual testimonies relate parents missing meals, a daily reliance upon discounted foods, children unable to join school clubs and outings and mothers financially forced to return to work when their babies are only months old.

Respondents told the CPAG:

I now find myself struggling to put food on the table. I couldnt even bear to think what will happen when I run out of oil heating which I know will happen soon... Im really, really struggling.

I work full time, my wife cares for our children and my elderly mother. We are doing everything right and yet we cant afford the basics.

We cant afford much. Literally living hand to mouth, everything has gone up. Have one meal a day as a parent so kids dont go without.

It would have been nice to be able to afford clothes and other basics. We are going to really struggle when our third child starts eating food.

Similar statements are collected under the subheadings: Children are losing out, Families going into debt, and Mental health suffers.

The study by the CPAG showed that of working families affected by the two-child limit 87 percent said the policy made it harder for them to pay for food during 2022-23, up from 78 percent a year before. The percentage for non-working households is 90 percent. For all affected families, the proportion struggling to pay energy bills rose from 73 percent to 82 percent.

The CPAG notes that while the government has provided small payments to assist with living costs for low-income households, these are made at a flat-rate and make no allowance for the number of children in a household.

Alison Garnham, CPAG chief executive, stated, The number of children in poverty rose by 350,000 last year  and the two-child limit played a big part in that rise. There is no place for this policy in a country that believes all children deserve a good start. Ministers must remove it before it does more damage to children and to family life.

Recent analysis by the Scottish government suggests that, in terms of reducing child poverty, the two-child limit would be the most cost-effective UK welfare reform to reverse.

The CPAG calculates that abolishing it would cost a mere 1.2 billion and would lift 250,000 children out of poverty, with a further 850,000 lifted from deep poverty. By way of comparison, the Tory government has already spent well in excess of 5 billion pursuing NATOs war in Ukraine against Russia and pledged billions more.
For three months, week after week, millions of French people have been rebelling against President Emmanuel Macrons pension cuts, which are opposed by the vast majority of the population. It is the largest class movement in France since May/June 1968, when a general strike paralyzed the country for weeks. The protests are continuing even after Macron has pushed the law through without a parliamentary vote and the Constitutional Councila hand-picked panel of former politicianshas approved it.

Old acquaintances: Olaf Scholz (then German labour minister) and Jorg Hofmann (then first representative of IG Metall Baden-Wurttemberg) at a union conference in July 2009 [Photo by IG Metall Baden-Wurttemberg]

The German unions are panicked by this powerful movement of French workers. There is no other way to explain their deafening silence. Although Germany and France border each other and together account for about half the economic output of the Eurozone, the German unions are avoiding the topic like the devil avoids holy water.

The May Day appeal by the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB), under the motto unbroken solidarity, does not utter a single syllable about the events in the neighbouring country. This is despite the fact that the DGBs central May Day rally, at which Social Democratic Party (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz will speak, is taking place in Cologne, less than 200 kilometres from the French border.

No reference to the events in France can be found in the publications and websites of the trade unions without an exhaustive search, and whatever reference one finds lacks any declaration of solidarity.

There is no report on the uprising in France in either the January/February or March/April issues of metallthe magazine of the IG Metall, Germanys biggest unionwhich has a print run of two million copies and is sent to all members. The only international topic covered is the Ukraine war, in which the uniondespite a few phrases about a peace policymakes clear its support for the war course pursued by NATO and the German government, including arms deliveries to Ukraine and economic sanctions against Russia.

If you go to the official website of what is, according to its own advertising, the largest trade union in the world, under the heading International you will mainly find articles about the Ukraine war and the persecution of trade unionists in Belarus. On March 11, IG Metall, together with the employers association Gesamtmetall, called for a minutes silence in the factories to jointly commemorate the victims of the war of aggression launched by Russias President Vladimir Putin.

The situation is no different on the international and European websites of IndustriALL, a federation of nearly 200 unions in the metal, chemical, mining and textile industries, with about 50 million members, headed by IG Metall boss Jorg Hofmann. Although all French trade union federations are members of IndustriALL, the mass protests in France are taking a back seat here as well.

The last entry dates from January 19, the beginning of the protests in France. In less than 20 lines, IndustriALL appeals to all governments to support their workers and create fair and decent working conditions, and calls on President Emmanuel Macron to withdraw the [pension] reform immediately.

Thats it!

The service union Verdi, which only recently sold out the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Post and is now preparing the same for 2.5 million federal and local government workers, is also cloaking itself in silence.

Unlike metall, the March edition of Verdis membership newspaper publik does carry a journalistic report on the pension protests, which presents the facts somewhat objectively. For example, it dispels the fairy tale spread by the media that after the reform, all French people will be able to retire at 64 instead of 62.

It states: However, the right to a full pension at 64 does not exist automatically in France. To qualify, employees must have paid into the system for 43 years. A full pension without deductions, regardless of the length of time paid in, is also only available in France at 67.

But Verdi officials do not want to show solidarity with the protestsnot even in non-binding terms. They are far too afraid that the willingness of the French workers to fight might infect their own members, who are fed up with the wage cuts to which Verdi officials regularly agree with their friends in government and administration.

The German unions fear is all the greater because more than a decade ago they accepted similar pension cuts to those Macron is now imposing by dictatorial means, without offering any resistance.

In 2006, the first grand coalition of the SPD and Christian Democrats (CDU) under Angela Merkel decided, on the initiative of Vice Chancellor and Labour Minister Franz Muntefering, to gradually raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 by 2031. This SPD politician and member of IG Metall for 40 years worked closely with the unions to impose this measure. Although the unions formally rejected the increase because they feared a rebellion by their members, they did everything they could to sabotage any resistance to it.

If the German unions are now keeping quiet about the uprising in France, there is more at stake than the retirement age and wage percentages. As the WSWS has pointed out, a revolutionary crisis is developing in Europe.

A mass strike movement has erupted in Europe, drawing in millions of workers from every corner of the continent, we wrote in a joint statement by the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) and its French, British and Turkish sister organizations.

What is unfolding is not a series of national trade union struggles that can be resolved by isolated negotiations with one or other capitalist government. Rather, it is an international political struggle, as workers raise similar demands in every country and are met with police crackdowns and legal threats from governments that are discredited and widely despised.

The brutality with which Macron has whipped through the pension cuts and flouted elementary democratic rules confirms this assessment. After decades of cuts in workers incomes and social provisions, and the enrichment of the oligarchs to the tune of billions, social antagonisms have reached a level of sharpness that can no longer be blunted. The systematic escalation of the war with Russia in Ukraine, the billions spent on war and armaments, and the battered financial markets are further exacerbating the crisis.

This is driving ever broader layers of workers and youth into social and political struggles, while all parties defending capitalismfrom the supposedly left, to the social-democratic and conservative, to the ultra-rightare swinging further to the right.

The unions are part of this united front against the working class. They are corporatist apparatuses, deeply integrated into the companies and the state, supporting pro-war policies, restraining and suppressing the class struggle, and being well paid for it. This is true not only in Germany, but also in France, where the unions are doing everything they can to keep the movement under control and prevent the fall of President Macron.

The dispute over pension cuts in France, which coincides with major strike movements in Britain, Greece, Portugal and numerous other countries, is the beginning of an international wave of class struggles.

France has a tradition of over 200 years of signalling revolutionary struggles throughout Europe. Even the young Marx wrote that the day of the German resurrection (meaning revolution) would be heralded by the crowing of the cock of Gaul. As early as 1789, the French Revolution sent shock waves throughout Europe. It was followed by the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 and the Paris Commune of 1871 and, in the twentieth century, by the general strikes of 1936 and 1968.

The working class and youth can only win these struggles, defend their social gains and defeat the danger of war and dictatorship by breaking with all the pro-capitalist parties and trade unions, overcoming national barriers, uniting across Europe and the world, and taking up the struggle for a socialist program and the building of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). The wealth of the super-rich, the banks and corporations must be expropriated, and production organized according to the needs of society instead of the profit interests of the rich.

The ICFI has taken the initiative to build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). As the ICFIs May Day appeal states, it is establishing a worldwide network to assist in the development of a global strategy and the tactical coordination of the class struggle against corporate power and capitalist rule. Its aim is not to apply pressure upon and reform the reactionary bureaucracies, but to transfer all decision-making and power to the rank and file.
At any given movement, NATOs war against Russia could tip into a direct shooting war between nuclear-armed powers. NATOs Article 5, committing member states to mutual defence, has repeatedly been brought close to being triggered in recent months as a result of imperialist provocations.

It has now been revealed that one of these incidents involved what would have been an air-to-air missile strike by a Russian jet against a British Royal Air Force plane. The strike did not occur only due to a technical malfunction.

A British RC-135W in 2018 [Photo by Alan Wilson / CC BY-SA 2.0

On September 29, 2022, a Russian fighter jet shot a missile at a British RC-135 spy plane engaged in hoovering up communications in the Black Sea region. According to the played-down account provided by the UK government the following month, the incident off the Russian coast was a potentially dangerous engagement and the result of a technical malfunction by the Russian Su-27 fighter.

In fact, the incident was far more serious than UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace led Parliament to believe. US military documents leaked this month described the incident as a near-shoot down.

On April 13, more information was published in the New York Times. An article headlined Miscommunication Nearly Led to Russian Jet Shooting Down British Spy Plane, U.S. Officials Say cited the leaked document and U.S. defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The sources said Russian aircraft pilots were not in visual range of the British patrol, which the Times notes is often manned with a crew of 30, but were equipped with missiles capable of hitting it.

The article explains, According to two U.S. defense officials, the Russian pilot had misinterpreted what a radar operator on the ground was saying to him and thought he had permission to fire. The pilot, who had locked on the British aircraft, fired, but the missile did not launch properly.

According to the reporters, One of the officials who was briefed on the encounter called it really, really scary.

The very near shooting down of the spy plane occurred as tensions between the major powers were at boiling pointjust 72 hours after the September 26, 2022 blowing up of the majority Russian-owned Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Russia later said it had evidence that Britain was involved in sabotage, a terrorist act against vital energy infrastructure.

Britain has already supplied billions of pounds in offensive military equipment to Ukraine, including Challenger tanks, and has trained thousands of Ukrainian troops. The Conservative government has declared its readiness to step up military support towards an expected Ukrainian spring offensive.

Such acts are carried out under conditions in which the entire region is awash with troops and devastatingly powerful weaponry on high alert. Last October, Wallace made the alarming announcement in response to the spy plane incident, hardly noted in the media, that all further spying missions conducted from the air would be escorted by an RAF Typhoon fighter jet.

With its wanton aggression, British imperialism is courting nuclear war behind the backs of the population.

But this is not enough for the most frothing warmongers in Britains ruling circles, represented in parliament by significant sections of the Tory government and opposition Labour Party. Six months after the incident, the spy plane near-shoot down is being used by these forces to demand the government take a harder line against Russia.

On Tuesday, Tobias Ellwood, a former army veteran and the Conservative chair of the Defence Select Committee, was granted an urgent question on last Septembers incident by the speaker of the House, former Labour MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Ellwood used it to accuse Wallace of concealing a Russian act of war.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood arrives at the Houses of Parliament in London, Friday March 24, 2017. [AP Photo/Matt Dunham]

Directing his comments at Minister for Armed Forces James Heappey, Ellwood asked, If a Russian Su-27 jet did deliberately attempt to fire a missile at an RAF Rivet Joint over the Black sea last September, it was an act of war, and the details should surely be publicised, not hidden away in intelligence files.

None of this was based on any conception that the public should have a real picture of the dangers of a global conflagration. Rather, Ellwood was agitating both for an escalation of the war and for even more strenuous efforts to hide the truth of what is happening.

He stated in relation to the heroic leaker of the Pentagon Papers Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 exposed a systematic US government campaign to deceive the American public about US involvement in the Vietnam War, We certainly must avoid another Daniel Ellsberg situation.

Ellwood was seeking assurancessuch as the Minister is giving us todayabout the fall-out from the scale of top-secret information that is now in the public domain and from the changes that may be considered to significantly limit the chances such an event being repeated.

He demanded, with the backing of Labour MPs, that Wallace make a full accounting of the near shooting down of the spy plane in order to create a platform to argue for the ramping up of military spending and aggression against Russiaas he has done consistently throughout the conflict and long before.

This January, Ellwood told Sky News, The army is in a dire state It is up to the Treasury and Number 10 to recognise the world is changing. We are now at war in Europe. We need to move to a war footing.

When Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month authorised a further 5 billion in military spending, taking it to 2.25 percent of GDP, Ellwood hit back that Wallace had initially demanded double that amount just to stay level after years of military spending cuts.

The rise, he said, was all smoke and mirrors. He continued: I welcome the investment in the nuclear deterrent and the replenishment of weapons stocks, but when you take that money out it leaves the MoD with about 1 billion a year, which is in effect a real terms cut.

This means our conventional forces remain hollowed out as the threats come over the hill, he added. Russia and China, said Ellwood, will be breathing a sigh of relief that we havent invested further. The situation facing Britain was very dangerous indeed, he complained, saying what was needed was more hard power.

Ellwood and his ilk are the most naked representatives of a war-crazed ruling class, with the Conservatives and Labour functioningas confirmed in the emergency question debateas a single party of war. Labour MPs made numerous interventions to back Ellwood and to proclaim the necessity of arming Ukraine to the teeth to conduct a bloody spring offensive.

Labour Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said of the latest intelligence documents leaks, Two years ago, UK classified documents on Challenger 2 tanks were similarly reported leaked from an online forum for video gaming, War Thunder. What action was taken following that leak?

He added, The secretary of state for defence is in Washington, we are told, apparently to discuss this breach, but will he make a statement to Parliament on his return to confirm the reassurances he has received on how British intelligence is handled?

Healey concluded, This is the time when the UK should be accelerating military support to Ukraine, so what assessment have the Government made of the impact of this leak on Ukrainian plans for a potential offensive?
Protests are continuing in Akron, Ohio, after the announcement that the Attorney General will not file charges against the eight police officers who brutally murdered Jayland Walker last June.

Jayland Walker [Photo: Family Photo]

Scores of protesters from throughout Akron and surrounding communities descended on the downtown courthouse within just a few hours of the Monday afternoon announcement by Ohios Attorney General Dave Yost of the grand jurys decision.

Chanting No justice, No peace and What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!, protesters marched outside the courthouse. As rush hour approached other protesters arrived driving cars around the blocks in circles, honking their horns end causing traffic jams.

As evening fell and many of the demonstrators went home, police descended on those remaining and arrested six for minor traffic violations.

On Tuesday several hundred protesters gathered outside a local church and then marched downtown chanting as they went.

Walker was killed in the early morning hours of June 27, 2022 in a hail of bullets fired by at least eight police officers who had surrounded him. Autopsy reports show that Walker was hit by at least 46 bullets. Investigators have stated that Walker had more than 60 wounds on his body.

Walker, unarmed at the time he was murdered, was one of nearly 1,200 victims of police violence in 2022, the highest number of police killings in a decade. According to PoliceViolenceReport.org, officers were charged with a crime in only nine of these cases.

The Attorney General released a selection of material gathered over the past ten months by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

A review of what was released shows that rather than an investigation of the police who murdered Walker, the report is a point-by-point justification for the police killing Walker in a hail of gunfire. This was the evidence presented to the grand jury to ensure that they would not issue any charges against any of the officers.

Walker was shot and killed by the police after he led them on a brief car chase after they had attempted to pull him over for a minor traffic violation.

The police claim that during the chase Walker fired a shot from his car. The prosecutor said this gave the police justification for using lethal force.

Yet it is clear from the video images that have been released that Walker was unarmed and may even have been trying to surrender when he was gunned down.

Repeatedly, Yost stated that police were justified in their fear for their lives. However, the video and images from that night show that officers had surrounded and were coming closer to Walkernot something they would have done if they believed that Walker could have shot them.

One officer even drove his car next to Walker in an effort to prevent him from opening the driver's door. This was clearly not something officers would do if they feared that Walker could shoot them from just a car width away.

Yost repeatedly said that officers did not know that Walker was unarmed when he left the car. Yet video and images taken from body camera video clearly show both of Walker's hands, neither of which were holding a gun.

Yost went on to say that Walker reaching his hand into his waistband was an indication that he was reaching for a gun, and that he then turned around and raised his arms towards officers as if he was firing. However, this also is not supported when one looks at the video which has been released.

Rather what appears to be happening is that Walker saw that he was surrounded by officers and, realizing he had nowhere to run, was turning around to surrender.

The second slide, which Yost used to say that Walker was pointing at the officers, shows that Walker had already been struck by a bullet and was falling over backwards with his arms flying up.

Even after he was initially shot, police continued firing an unknown number of rounds. Video shows police reloading their guns. After the shooting stopped, rather than provide medical assistance, they then handcuffed Walker.

Even the reason for the initial stop of Walker was presented in a false light. Repeatedly it was stated that Walker was seen by police driving around the neighborhood in the early morning hours. Why this is a crime was never explained. Walker, a DoorDash driver, may simply have been working at the time.

Repeatedly during the conference, the reason the officers wanted to pull Walker over was described as a broken tail light. in fact the only thing that was not working on his car was a small light over the rear license plate.

They also said that Walkers car was spotted and followed the night before by officers of a neighboring town. However, the reports on that incident describe the driver as white.

In the weeks following Walkers murder thousands of people in Akron and throughout the area took part in protests against police brutality. Police under the direction of Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, a Democrat, conducted a rampage against protesters, throwing scores of them in jail, with many being left for over 36 hours without access to their medications.

The brutalization of the working class by the police is an ongoing process. Protests and calls for police reform have not changed anything. The election of Democrats or more African American mayors and police chiefs has not reversed this trend.

This is due to the fact that the police are fundamentally an instrument to maintain the rule of the capitalist class. Under conditions of growing inequality and the growing resistance to it, expressed in strikes and protests not only in the United States but throughout the world, this means that the capitalist class must rely even more on the police and other forces of repression to attack the working class.

Only the overturn of capitalism and its replacement with socialism, a system in which the productive capacity of humanity is used not for a tiny few but is democratically controlled and used for humanity as a whole, will the need for an oppressive state apparatus be ended.
ReportLinker

The intent-based networking (IBN) refers to a smart system that automates system coordination and corporate networking chores using machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI). IBN is praised for being an improved form of conventional networking.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Intent-based Networking Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Component, By Deployment Type, By Organization Size, By Vertical, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449903/?utm_source=GNW

It is a pragmatic approach to networking where programming and specific APIs help structure, organize and plan crucial changes to the current system while enhancing accessibility and nimbleness.



The growing interest in network infrastructure management and process automation among businesses is driving the growth of the intent-based networking (IBN) market. IBNs agility and availability cut the quantity and length of outages in half, stimulating the market. Opportunities in the industry are anticipated as small- and medium-sized enterprises increase their need for IBN programming. IBN can eliminate human mistakes from business network settings, resulting in market expansion.



With the use of networking technology IBN, the IT infrastructure can be configured in accordance with a network administrators service request based on corporate intent. It continuously offers crucial network insights and modifies the hardware configuration to ensure the intention is achieved. By doing this, networking shifts from being device-centric to being business-centric. Intent-based networking (IBN) combines IT automations strength with MLs analytics to increase the IT networks adaptability in every way. IBN is a self-driving networking system.



Nowadays, most networks are managed manually, with administrators writing scripts that specify all the steps needed to complete a given task via a command line interface (CLI). Contrarily, with intent-based networking, different devices automatically comprehend intent without requiring engineers to individually modify each one.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



Due to a short halt in the manufacturing process and supply chain, COVID-19s effects on this market were only transitory. As a result, supply chains, production, and demand for IBN steadily rose once the situation improved after the pandemic. Additionally, the COVID-19 lockdown encouraged businesses to consider more sophisticated IBN tools to boost productivity. As a result, intent-based networking solutions became more necessary than ever, which promoted future industry advancement. It also increased demand for SaaS- and cloud-based services. Therefore, despite the short-term negative impact of the pandemic, it had an overall positive impact on the market.



Market Growth Factors



Rising use of connected devices and cloud based environments



The abundance of cloud services that supplement conventional enterprise data centers has made flow patterns of network traffic more complex. Many businesses are seeking ways to make their networks more cloud-platform compatible. Network automation solutions are becoming more necessary due to the growing network traffic since they improve network management and provide full network visibility throughout all environments. Therefore, as the number of connected devices and cloud-based environments expands, they create a demand for IBN tools, ensuring the markets expansion.



Increasing use of IBN owing to its advantages



Networking activities can be safe and secure for organizations. Besides that, network downtime is a major problem for many firms. Any public network may have additional downtime. However, there is less downtime with intent-based networking because of tailored networks. Intent-based networking is more in demand as a result of the requirement to boost productivity and decrease network downtime. As a result of the numerous benefits offered by the IBN tools, more companies are willing to implement IBN in their workflows. Hence, the intent-based networking (IBN) market will grow rapidly in the coming years.



Market Restraining Factors



Network administrators lack of knowledge



Many businesses, particularly SMEs, lack the necessary experienced personnel to operate the network infrastructure. So, a barrier to expanding the intent-based networking (IBN) market is the lack of knowledge among network administrators regarding how to differentiate between specific network automation solutions. Additionally, market growth is constrained by the high cost of upgrading an enterprises network from conventional systems to IBN infrastructure. Hence, all these factors are affecting the demand for IBN tools adversely and thus hamper the growth of the market.



Component Outlook



Based on component, the intent-based networking (IBN) market is categorized into solution and service. The solution segment garnered the highest revenue share in the intent-based networking (IBN) market in 2021. The market for intent-based networking (IBN) is solution-driven. Because they allow businesses to use the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for improving and automating the network configuration process, IBN solutions are crucial in decreasing the complexity of networks. IBN automation is being pushed for two reasons: the intense desire to develop a novel and highly tailored customer experience and the need to redesign business models by utilizing cutting-edge algorithms, GUIs, and network transparency to increase network efficiency.



Deployment Type Outlook



On the basis of deployment type, the intent-based networking (IBN) market is divided into cloud and on-premise. The on-premise segment garnered a remarkable growth rate in the intent-based networking (IBN) market in 2021. On-premises IBN tools are expected to witness rising demand because of their simplicity of deployment. Furthermore, companies that manage networks through old techniques find it difficult to compete with quick-thinking rivals due to digital transformation. As a result, the desire for on-premise deployment of IBN solutions has increased and strengthened the safeguards of networking components in enterprises, which is anticipated to support segments growth.



Organization Size Outlook



Based on organization size, the intent-based networking (IBN) market is segmented into SMEs and large enterprises. The large enterprises segment procured the highest revenue share in the intent-based networking (IBN) market in 2021. Intent-based networking and related services are being heavily invested in by large businesses, which have the financial money to do so to effectively manage their subscriber base. The proliferation of smart devices in major companies is the main factor controlling the segments growth. Large enterprises implement IBN solutions and services to manage and integrate these devices.



Vertical Outlook



On the basis of vertical, the intent-based networking (IBN) market is fragmented into IT & telecom, BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, retail & consumer goods, and others. The BFSI segment witnessed a considerable growth rate in the intent-based networking (IBN) market in 2021. The BFSI segment is anticipated to grow quickly in the coming years as more financial institutions adopt cutting-edge IBN solutions to hasten the rollout of their digital services and customer-centric business models to improve personalized banking experiences. In addition, since it increases its exposure to various consumers and commercial prospects, IBN solutions can help the BFSI sector offer innovative products to all branch locations.



Regional Outlook



Region wise, the intent-based networking (IBN) market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region procured the maximum revenue share in the intent-based networking (IBN) market in 2021. Because of its prospective advantages in technological improvements and its status as a developed region, the regional intent-based networking (IBN) market is anticipated to provide manufacturers with the greatest potential for financial success. Much of the growth is owed to the dominance of North American IBN solutions as well as service providers in the market.



The major strategies followed by the market participants are Acquisitions. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd and Cisco Systems, Inc. are the forerunners in the Intent-based Networking (IBN) Market. Companies such as Nokia Corporation, IBM Corporation, Wipro Limited are some of the key innovators in Intent-based Networking (IBN) Market.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Cisco Systems, Inc., Juniper Networks, Inc., IBM Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.), Hewlett-Packard enterprise Company (HP Development Company L.P.), Nokia Corporation, Wipro Limited, Gluware, Inc., Forward Networks, Inc. and NetBrain Technologies, Inc.



Recent Strategies Deployed in Intent-based Networking (IBN) Market



Partnership, Collaboration and Agreement:



Nov-2022: Juniper Networks formed a partnership with PT IndoInternetTbk (Indonet), a digital infrastructure provider, to modernize, automate, and facilitate the expansion of the network infrastructure of PT IndoInternetTbk across Indonesia.



Jul-2021: IBM teamed up with Turnium Technology Group, a leading SD-WAN vendor serving cloud. Through this collaboration, Turnium Technology Group would onboard its cloud-native SD-WAN edge solution to the IBM Cloud for Telecommunications. Additionally, this onboarding would allow Turnium to assist service providers and companies in the adoption, management, and accessibility of Edge computing applications in private and secured networks across the world by utilizing the public or private cloud, on-premises, or edge environment according to their desire.



Jun-2021: Cisco came into partnership with Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), Indias leading telecom operator. Through the partnership, Cisco aimed to automate and simplify its network to support 4G and, in the future, 5G use cases, and provide the best quality experience to its retail & enterprise customers, and users.



Nov-2020: Wipro Limited formed a partnership with Olympus, a manufacturer of optics and reprography products, to provide Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) transformation services to Olympus by leveraging Cisco technology. Through this partnership, the company aimed to provide customers like Olympus for optimizing their application experiences, secure their connectivity to multiple clouds, and accelerate their digital transformation journeys.



Nov-2020: Hewlett Packard Enterprise partnered with Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting, and business process services company. The partnership aims to provide its portfolio of hybrid cloud and infrastructure solutions as a service.



Apr-2020: Nokia entered into a five-year networking infrastructure and big data analytics agreement with Central China, a leading real estate group. Following this agreement, Nokia would deliver a wide line of solutions allowing Central China to develop state-of-the-art developments that utilizes POL, 5G connectivity, and home Wi-Fi for improved leisure, business, and quality of life.



Product Launch and Product Expansion:



Mar-2023: NetBrain Technologies, Inc, launched Problem Diagnosis Automation System (PDAS) powered by its patented Network Intent technologies. The new PDA System enables operations to define network intent without having to write a single line of code. By integrating ITSM systems with it, the PDA System responds to service incidents as they occur, reducing overall MTTR and eliminating diagnostic tedium.



Nov-2022: Gluware, Inc. revealed Gluware 5, which includes Gluware API modeling, Topology, and Gluware Service Connector features with enhanced Gluware Network Robotic Process Automation (RPA) capabilities. The new Gluware 5 would enable the users to use hyper-automation and overcome the complexity of modern networks to improve operational efficiency, business services, and digital transformation.



Mar-2022: Nokia launched Adaptive Cloud Networking, a cloud-native solution. The Adaptive Cloud Networking solution addresses the unpredictable needs of the 5G era by supercharging a service providers data center fabric and expanding its procedures to the edge clouds. The launch is aimed at offering service providers to reinforce their vital role in the 5G digital network value chain.



May-2021: Juniper Networks, Inc. released updates to its Apstra 4.0 software. The new Apstra 4.0 features connectivity templates for managing connections to attached systems and Enterprise SONiC integrations. The new capabilities of Apstra 4.0 would enable network operations teams to be effective in deployment and integration and bring cloud-like operations to the data center.



Apr-2021: NetBrain Technologies Inc unveiled NetBrain v10.0, representing a breakthrough in end-to-end network automation for ensuring network and application uptime. The NetBrain v10.0 offers no-code/low-code automation, advanced multi-cloud network support, enhanced incident collaboration, and intent-based automation at scale, for any network. The launch is aimed at making root cause diagnosis and ticket resolution easier and more accessible regardless of the network - traditional, SDN, public cloud, or hybrid.



Acquisition and Mergers:



Nov-2021: IBM acquired ReaQta, an endpoint detection and response provider. Through this acquisition, the company aimed to expand its cybersecurity threat detection and response capabilities by leveraging the endpoint security solutions of ReaQta.



Jun-2021: IBM took over Turbonomic, an Application Resource Management (ARM) and Network Performance Management (NPM) software provider. This acquisition aimed to enable IBM to become the only company providing a one-stop shop of AI-powered automation capabilities, all built on Red Hat OpenShift to run anywhere.



Jun-2021: Cisco Systems acquired Kenna Security, a software-as-a-service Vulnerability and Risk Intelligence platform. Integrating Kennas vulnerability management platform with Ciscos SecureX platforms market-leading detection and response capabilities would enable customers the ability to discover and prioritize an organizations assets with a centralized, contextual view. Furthermore, this would accelerate and simplify response with orchestration and reduce friction associated with compliance efforts.



May-2021: Cisco took over Sedona Systems, a technology company that offers a leading multi-vendor, cross-domain network controller. The acquired company would add strong talent to Cisco that would continue to enhance optical capabilities for the Mass-scale Infrastructure Group (MIG) & improve Ciscos network automation Crosswork portfolio.



Apr-2021: Wipro entered into an agreement to acquire Ampion, an Australia-located provider of cyber security, quality engineering services, and DevOps. This acquisition aimed to bring scale and market flexibility and speed to respond to the increasing demands of customers.



Feb-2021: Cisco Systems, Inc. took over IMImobile PLC, a leading global provider of cloud communications software and services that manage business-critical interactions at scale. Through this acquisition, by integrating IMImobiles solution with Webex Contact Center, Cisco would be able to deliver a Customer Experience as a Service (CXaaS) offer



Jan-2021: Juniper Networks took over Apstra, a leader in intent-based networking. With this acquisition, the company aimed to complement its strategy of providing the best-in-class experience-led offerings for the data center in each customer segment.



Sep-2020: Hewlett Packard took over Silver Peak, a leader in SD-WAN. Under this acquisition, the company aimed to integrate Silver Peak into its subsidiary, Aruba, in order to strengthen Aruba ESP. In addition, it would also facilitate the advancement of enterprise cloud transformation via a complete edge-to-cloud networking solution.



Geographical Expansions:



Apr-2022: NetBrain Technologies, Inc, expanded its footprints by opening new office in Hyderabad, India. The expansion would enable the company to access amazing talent, improve customer support capabilities, and support our follow-the-sun strategy.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Component



 Solution



 Services



By Deployment Type



 Cloud



 On-premise



By Organization Size



 Large Enterprises



 SMEs



By Vertical



 Telecom & IT



 Retail & Consumer Goods



 Manufacturing



 BFSI



 Healthcare



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Cisco Systems, Inc.



 Juniper Networks, Inc.



 IBM Corporation



 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)



 Hewlett-Packard enterprise Company (HP Development Company L.P.)



 Nokia Corporation



 Wipro Limited



 Gluware, Inc.



 Forward Networks, Inc.



 NetBrain Technologies, Inc



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 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



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On Monday, a Russian court sentenced the leading pro-NATO oppositionist Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison for his public criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The 41-year-old Kara-Murza has longstanding ties to the American ruling class and was a principal figure behind the campaign to impose the Magnitsky Act by the US Congress, as a result of which key figures aligned with the Putin regime were sanctioned. Since February 27, 2022, he has been a member of the Russian Anti-war Committee. The committee includes pro-NATO figures like Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of the leading oligarchs of the 1990s, Garry Kasparov, a long-time leader of the pro-US opposition in Russia, as well as the businessman Boris Zimin, who has also funded the activities of the US-backed Putin critic Alexei Navalny, who has also been imprisoned.

Far from being anti-war, the committee speaks for a section of the Russian oligarchy and state apparatus that advocates a reorientation of Russian foreign policy toward close collaboration with NATO, and supports the US regime-change operation in Russia.

The sentencing of Kara-Murza was based on public appearances he made in the US and other countries in 20212022. On March 15, 2022, Kara-Murza spoke before lawmakers in Arizona, denouncing the invasion of Ukraine which, in Russia, can only be referred to as a special military operation. The appearance was the basis for his being charged with public dissimenation of false information about the use of the armed forces, or the defamation of the armed forces, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence. He was arrested shortly thereafter. In the summer of 2022, another charge was added, based on Kara-Murzas activities for the Open Russia foundation that had been founded by ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Then, in October, the charge of state treason which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison was added, based on public appearances at NATO assemblies and the US Congress.

Much of the trial proceeded behind closed doors and Kara-Murzas lawyers repeatedly asked that the judge Sergei Podoprigorov be replaced, since he had personally been placed on the US Magnitsky sanctions list that had been worked out with the assistance of Kara-Murza. When the sentence was announced, diplomats from 24 countries, including all NATO members states, and the US ambassador to Russia were present.

The ruling was the first time that a now extended interpretation of the charge of state treason was applied in a criminal court in Russia. Kara-Murzas sentencing was also markedly more severe than that for any other opposition figure, including the much more prominent Alexei Navalny.

Workers must draw two conclusions from the sentencing of Kara-Murza:

First, it is an indication that, over one year into the NATO-Russia conflict in Ukraine, the infighting within the Russian oligarchy and state apparatus is becoming increasingly bitter. While Kara-Murza was less known to the publicin both Russia and the Westhe is one of the best connected Russian opposition figures, both in the Russian elites and internationally. Kara-Murza comes from a well-known family of political journalists. His father, Vladimir Kara-Murza Sr., was a prominent backer of the shock therapy under Boris Yeltsin with which the restoration of capitalism was completed in Russia after the Stalinist destruction of the Soviet Union in 1991, and later also became a member of the pro-US liberal opposition to the Putin regime.

Kara-Murza Jr. himself was good friends with the late Republican senator and war hawk John McCain, and was also an invited columnist for the Washington Post, an outlet owned by Amazons Jeff Bezos and closely aligned with the US secret services and state apparatus. By so publicly and severely going after Kara-Murza, the Kremlin no doubt seeks to send a warning message to other dissenting oligarchs and current or former state officials who either openly advocate or cautiously eye the replacement of Putin to establish a regime that is directly aligned with the imperialist powers.

While Putin is the dominant figure in the Kremlin regime, the regime itself is far from homogenous and stable. For the past year, even while finding itself in a war with NATO in Ukraine, the Kremlin has constantly vacillated between threats of escalation, including the deployment of nuclear weapons, and appeals to the imperialist powers to find a compromise. The invasion itself had been based on the disastrous miscalculation that the war could strengthen Russias position at the bargaining table with the imperialist powers. Even today, the fundamental orientation of the regime is toward finding a negotiated settlement with imperialism, without relinquishing too many of the Russian oligarchs own claims to the direct exploitation of the natural resources and the working class of the country.

However, the relentless push by the imperialist powers to escalate and broaden the war is fueling immense conflicts within the Russian ruling class. Kara-Murzas sentencing was no doubt a component of the bitter factional infighting and an expression of the growing instability of the Putin regime.

Secondly, workers must see the sentencing of Kara-Murza as a warning that the Kremlin is escalating domestic repression. While this trial was part of the factional infighting within the ruling oligarchy, the charges that were used to imprison Kara-Murzaincluding the defamation of or spreading of disinformation about the armed forcescould be used just as well to go after any left-wing critic of the Putin regimes war.

There are indications that a broader wave of repression is already ongoing. In the wake of the explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe early this month, which killed one of the most prominent pro-Kremlin war bloggers, Russias domestic secret service FSB has announced that the Ukrainian regime was actively recruiting terrorists among Russian youth.

Last week, the FSB claimed to have preempted 118 crimes of a terrorist character by teenagers and young people, who were supposedly acting on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. The press service of the FSB declared that it was fighting against an aggressive ideological and recruitment campaign by Ukrainian and Western secret services that was targeting our citizens, above all the young generation, with the aim of involving them in terrorist and extremist activities. Criminal charges against crimes of a terrorist character can be invoked solely on the basis of social media posts.

There is no question that the Ukrainian state, with the full assistance from NATO and especially the US, is funding and arming an insurgency in Russian-claimed territories in Ukraine as well as increasingly within the Russian Federation. However, the Kremlin is using this development primarily as a pretext to escalate domestic repression under conditions where among young people, in particular, left-wing opposition not only to the war but the entire capitalist system is growing rapidly.

Having emerged out of the nationalist reaction against the socialist October Revolution and the decades-long political oppression of the working class by the Stalinist bureaucracy, which culminated in the 1991 destruction of the Soviet Union and the restoration of capitalism, the Putin regime is highly sensitive to the growing anti-war sentiments in the working class and the resurgence of the class struggle internationally.

As bitter as the infighting within the ruling class and the conflict with NATO may be, the biggest fear of the Putin regime is not the coming to power of the pro-NATO faction of the oligarchy or an open confrontation with the imperialist powers, but a movement by the working class, in Russia and throughout the world, against the war and the capitalist system.
Fox Corp., the corporate owner of Fox News, agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a lawsuit triggered by the broadcast on a massive scale of slanders claiming that the companys voting machines had switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The settlement was the largest ever in a US lawsuit for defamation and comes to nearly 10 times the market value of Dominion, one of the main manufacturers of voting machines for US elections. The $787.5 million is nearly equal to the total assets under management of the comparatively small hedge fund that owns Dominion.

The lies about Dominion were one of the central pillars of the stolen election propaganda campaign launched by Trump and his political entourage after his defeat in the 2020 election. Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were repeatedly given platforms by Fox hosts like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham to spout their false claims against Dominion.

This campaign culminated in the organized assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob summoned to Washington by Trump marched from the White House and stormed the building, blocking for many hours the congressional vote to certify the Electoral College result showing Bidens victory over Trump by a margin of 306 to 232.

Foxs role in encouraging and inciting the first-ever attempt to overturn the result of a US election by force was not an issue in the lawsuit, but it shapes the response of both the corporate media and the political establishment. It no doubt contributed to the decision by Rupert Murdoch and his inner circle to settle rather than continue to fight a lawsuit they had bitterly contested right up to the day when opening arguments were to be presented to a Delaware jury.

Rupert Murdoch, left, Donald Trump, right. [AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Evan Vucci]

By settling, whatever the cost, Murdoch and his Fox News underlings avoided being put on the witness stand and compelled to give testimony that might go even further in exposing the inner workings of the principal media organ of the fascist right in America. They had already given sworn depositions to Dominion, but testifying in open court with massive media attention could have led to even more damaging revelations.

Murdoch and other top aides, as well as Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham and other fascistic hosts, had already admitted that there was no evidence to support Trumps claims of a stolen election, and that they did not believe these claims during the period, from November 2020 through January 2021, when Fox programs were providing a platform for the non-stop propagation of these claims.

The initial attempt by Murdoch to suggest an arms-length relationship with Fox News programming decisionsdespite the fact that his son Lachlan is the Fox Corp. CEOwas blown up by the release of emails and other messages in which Murdoch complained about the lack of evidence underlying the stolen election lies, but then gave permission for them to continue.

In sum, the settlement with Dominion amounts to an admission by the single largest US media empire that it systematically broadcast false statements about the 2020 elections, week after week, knowing that they were false. The obvious conclusion is that similar deliberate and massive lies are being broadcast today by the corporate media, not just about the 2020 elections, and not just by Fox News.

The settlement does not end the legal proceedings against Fox and other Trump allies relating to the election lies. Dominion is also suing Newsmax and One America Network, right-wing media rivals of Fox whose ratings increases were a concern to Fox executives in the aftermath of the 2020 election. It is also suing several of the most aggressive proponents of the slander campaign over vote-switching, including Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, and Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

A second voting machines company, Smartmatic, is also suing Fox over the same lies on the same broadcasts, seeking damages of $2.7 billion. Its suit was filed later and in New York courts, where it is moving to trial far more slowly. Smartmatic can use all the sworn depositions and court findings in the Dominion case as part of its suit.

The Fox News Network announcement of the settlement was brief, but packed with more lies and half-truths: We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOXs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues [italics added].

The italicized sentence is the critical one. Fox does not even admit publicly that the claims that Dominion voting machines rigged the election were false, only that the court ruled that to be so (which could be challenged later). It does not say who made those certain claims, which were initiated by the Trump campaign but then voiced by Fox hosts and on Fox news broadcasts.

The stage for the settlement was set by the ruling issued by Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis on March 22, which granted summary judgment to Dominion on the question of defamationmeaning that Fox could not argue that there was any truth to the claims of vote-switchingand on the question of publicationthat Fox News Network, not only its show hosts, were responsible for the false statements, and that Fox Corp. and Rupert Murdoch, not just Fox News Network, shared this responsibility.

The company thus faced the prospect of going to trial in front of a jury in Delaware, Bidens home state, deprived of its arsenal of legalistic smears and diversions, with a judge who had repeatedly indicated his determination to compel in-person testimony by Murdoch and other top company officials and on-camera personalities.

In the end, the payout was less than one-fourth of the $4.1 billion in cash-on-hand for the giant media corporation, whose annual revenues approached $19 billion last year. Foxs stock was down only slightly Wednesday, with Wall Street apparently agreeing that settling was cheaper than the continuing damage from the publicity over the case. One analyst cited in the media wrote, it isnt clear there has been much, if any, impact of these lawsuits on Fox Newss viewership and business, and concluded, The network remains a key growth driver for the overall company.
ReportLinker

Matcha tea is a form of green tea produced by harvesting and crushing young tea leaves into a beautiful green powder. Available in powdered and liquid form, it is a kind of Japanese green tea.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Matcha Tea Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Product Type, By Form, By Nature, By Distribution Channel, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449899/?utm_source=GNW

This tea has a taste that is mellow and pleasant. It is derived from the Camellia sinensis plant, gathered in China and Japan due to its climate and soil. The expansion of the matcha tea market is propelled by an increase in customer interest in adopting a healthy lifestyle and the numerous health advantages associated with matcha tea.



For instance, matcha tea aids in weight loss, alleviate headaches and physical discomfort, lowers cholesterol levels, and reduces the risk of heart attacks. Also, matcha increases metabolism, burns calories, reduces cholesterol and blood sugar, and enhances mood due to its high antioxidant content. The processes of synthesis and accumulation of physiologically active compounds, including theanine, caffeine, chlorophyll, and other catechins, are accelerated when plants are shaded throughout their development phase.



The most potent form of catechins in green tea is matcha, which includes epicatechin, epicatechin-3-gallate, epigallocatechin, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate. It is considered the highest-grade tea due to its particular chemical makeup and prized flavor, which set it apart from other tea drinks. Its health-promoting properties are attributed to its high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory chemical content.



According to research, the high catechin content in tea beverages is responsible for their high antioxidant capacity. Catechins are a type of phenolic molecule with health-promoting qualities. The health benefits of green tea are attributable to the presence of natural antioxidants known as polyphenols, which comprise up to 30% of green teas dry weight.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



During and after the pandemic, the demand for matcha tea increased due to a growing consumer awareness of the importance of health and fitness and a greater understanding of its benefits. The re-establishment of manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure has led to an increase in market demand and supply. In addition, a growing number of product advancements that provide customers with powerful antioxidants and vitamins will further stimulate market demand.



Market Growth Factors



The rising health-conscious consumers raises the demand for healthy food and beverages



Matcha is utilized in several beverages and desserts, including lattes, frappes, waffles, green tea ice cream, cupcakes, and cookies. Nonetheless, demand is increasing for matcha tea and lattes as weight watchers, and health-conscious clients reduce their consumption of sweet goodies. The rising influence of social media, where fitness-based items are sold and promoted around the world, aids the revenue growth of the matcha tea market due to its associated health benefits and the increasing number health conscious consumers.



The increasing utilization of matcha in organic skincare products



Matcha tea is used in balms, lotions, and cleansers due to the increasing demand for natural and organic skincare products. Matcha-infused skincare products are frequently lauded and sought after by influencers and skincare enthusiasts, respectively. As a result of its strong antioxidant content, matcha efficiently reduces inflammation and calms sensitive skin. The use of matcha powder in organic skin care products also adds to market growth.



Market Restraining Factors



Wider availability of substitutes with the limited standards and research for matcha tea



White tea, oolong, and herbal tea are available as matcha alternatives. Several alternatives available on the market provide comparable health advantages to matcha tea and are allegedly priced competitively. Hence, customers may switch easily to these options due to their wider availability. Thus, a lack of research and standardization of matcha tea might force consumers to opt for the broadly available alternatives, which might hinder the market growth of matcha tea.



Product Type Outlook



Based on product type, the matcha tea market is segmented into regular and flavored. The regular segment dominated the matcha tea market with maximum revenue share in 2021. This is because regular or pure matcha is used as a regular drinking tea or an ingredient in the food service, culinary, and cosmetic sectors. Increasing daily usage of wellness teas like matcha tea is promoting the demand for regular matcha tea due to its health advantages. In addition, the increase in demand for regular matcha tea from the food, cosmetics, and culinary industries to use it as a nutritious ingredient in their products, such as face cream, sweets, beverages, and cookies, is anticipated to present a growth opportunity and thereby boost the segments growth.



Form Outlook



On the basis of form, the matcha tea market is divided into powder and liquid. The liquid segment procured a substantial revenue share in the matcha tea market in 2021. This is because matcha liquid or ready-to-drink is sold in a prepared condition suitable for consumption. Ready-to-drink matcha tea, unlike matcha tea powder and brew-it-yourself, is available in bottles and may be consumed immediately after purchase. In the beverage sector, demand for ready-to-drink matcha tea is increasing rapidly since it is available in various flavors, may be chilled, and can be sweetened or unsweetened.



Nature Outlook



By nature, the matcha tea market is classified into conventional and organic. The conventional segment witnessed the largest revenue share in the matcha tea market in 2021. This is owing to its broad availability in supermarkets, specialty stores, and convenience stores. Conventional matcha tea is grown using chemicals, herbicides, and fertilizers, which gives a huge product output. In addition, this areas product catalog is broader than the organic segment, which aids the segments growth during the forecasted period.



Distribution Channel Outlook



Based on the distribution channel, the matcha tea market is bifurcated into supermarket/hypermarket, specialty store, foodservice, online store and others. The online stores segment recorded a considerable growth rate in the matcha tea market in 2021. This is because of the accessibility of matcha tea and its perks, which include information on the products health benefits and usage instructions, a time-saving feature, and the opportunity for home delivery to customers. The internet distribution channel has broadened the customer base, which has resulted in its development as an essential income source for many organizations.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the matcha tea market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The Asia Pacific region witnessed the largest revenue share in the matcha tea market in 2021. This is due to high matcha tea consumption in nations in the region that are principally responsible for the solid revenue share. Green tea powder, such as matcha, is essential in several regional dishes, especially those involving sweets, such as pudding, cakes, cookies, sweet rolls, mochi, chocolate, cookies, and ice cream. In addition, the growing population and knowledge of healthy meals are boosting sales.



The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Nestle S.A., The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., Ito En, Ltd., Tata Consumer Products Limited (Tata Group), The AOI Tea Company, Ikeda Tea World, Marukyu Koyamaen Co., Ltd., Encha Life LLC, Mizuba Tea Co. and Green Foods Corp.



Scope of the Study



Market Segments covered in the Report:



By Product Type



 Regular



 Flavored



By Form



 Powder



 Liquid



By Nature



 Conventional



 Organic



By Distribution Channel



 Supermarket/Hypermarket



 Specialty Store



 Foodservice



 Online Store



 Others



By Geography



 North America



o US



o Canada



o Mexico



o Rest of North America



 Europe



o Germany



o UK



o France



o Russia



o Spain



o Italy



o Rest of Europe



 Asia Pacific



o China



o Japan



o India



o South Korea



o Singapore



o Malaysia



o Rest of Asia Pacific



 LAMEA



o Brazil



o Argentina



o UAE



o Saudi Arabia



o South Africa



o Nigeria



o Rest of LAMEA



Companies Profiled



 Nestle S.A.



 The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.



 Ito En, Ltd.



 Tata Consumer Products Limited (Tata Group)



 The AOI Tea Company



 Ikeda Tea World



 Marukyu Koyamaen Co., Ltd.



 Encha Life LLC



 Mizuba Tea Co.



 Green Foods Corp



Unique Offerings



 Exhaustive coverage



 Highest number of market tables and figures



 Subscription based model available



 Guaranteed best price



 Assured post sales research support with 10% customization free

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06449899/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Joint Venture Partnering Terms and Agreements in Pharma, Biotech and Diagnostics 2016-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Global Joint Venture Partnering Terms and Agreements in Pharma, Biotech and Diagnostics 2016-2023 report provides comprehensive understanding and unprecedented access to the joint venture deals and agreements entered into by the worlds leading life science companies.



This report provides details of the latest joint venture agreements announced in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic sectors. Fully up to date, the report provides details of joint venture agreements from 2016.



There is an increasing willingness for parties to enter joint venture deals; such deals enable both parties to benefit from the upside of a big product win, whereas traditional licensing deals forfeit upside for near term upfront, milestone and royalty payments.



Joint venture partnering allow the parties to securitize value and reduce risk, but keep a part of the potential upside should the product reach the market. Event if the licensor does not commercialize the project they can either sell those rights to the licensee partner or another partner for an amount higher than would have been achieved at an earlier stage licensing deal.



Another reason for joint venture deals is the joint origin of a project. Drug development projects often require various scientific and technological novelties that stem from different companies. If both companies contributed to the origination of the project, then both have from the beginning a stake in the project.



The report provides a detailed understanding and analysis of how and why companies enter joint venture deals.



Understanding the flexibility of a prospective partner's negotiated deals terms provides critical insight into the negotiation process in terms of what you can expect to achieve during the negotiation of terms. Whilst many smaller companies will be seeking details of the payments clauses, the devil is in the detail in terms of how payments are triggered - contract documents provide this insight where press releases and databases do not.



This report contains a comprehensive listing of all joint venture deals announced since 2016 as recorded in the Current Agreements deals and alliances database, including financial terms where available, plus links to online copies of actual joint venture contract documents as submitted to the Securities Exchange Commission by companies and their partners.



Contract documents provide the answers to numerous questions about a prospective partner's flexibility on a wide range of important issues, many of which will have a significant impact on each party's ability to derive value from the deal.



The initial chapters of this report provide an orientation of joint venture dealmaking and business activities. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the report, whilst chapter 2 provides an analysis of the trends in joint venture as well as a discussion on the merits of the type of deal.



Chapter 3 provides an overview of the structure of joint venture deals. The chapter includes numerous case studies to enable understanding of joint venture deals.



Chapter 4 provides a review of the leading Joint venture deals since 2016. Deals are listed by headline value. Where the deal has an agreement contract published at the SEC a link provides online access to the contract via the Current Agreements deals and alliances database.



Chapter 5 provides a comprehensive listing of the top 25 most active Joint venture dealmaker companies. Each deal title links via Current Agreements deals and alliances database to an online version of the full deal record, and where available, the actual contract document, providing easy access to each deal record on demand.



Chapter 6 provides a comprehensive and detailed review of Joint venture deals organized by company A-Z, therapy, technology and industry type signed and announced since 2016 where a contract document is available. Contract documents provide an indepth insight into the actual deal terms agreed between the parties with respect to the Joint venture deal.



The appendices to the report includes a comprehensive listing of all Joint venture deals announced since 2016. Each listing is organized as an appendix by company A-Z, stage of development at signing, therapeutic area and industry type. Each deal title links via hyperlink to an online version of the deal record including, where available, the actual contract document.



The report also includes numerous table and figures that illustrate the trends and activities in Joint venture dealmaking since 2016.



In conclusion, this report provides everything a prospective dealmaker needs to know about Joint venture alliances.



Global Joint Venture Partnering Terms and Agreements in Pharma, Biotech and Diagnostics 2016-2023 includes:

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Trends in joint venture dealmaking in the biopharma industry since 2016

Case studies of real-life joint venture deals

Comprehensive listing of joint venture deals since 2016

Access to joint venture contract documents

The leading joint venture deals by value since 2016

Most active joint venture dealmakers since 2016

The leading joint venture partnering resources

Available deals and contracts are listed by:

Company A-Z

Headline value

Therapeutic area

Technology type

Analyzing actual contract agreements allows assessment of the following:

What are the precise rights granted or optioned?

What is actually granted by the agreement to the partner company?

What exclusivity is granted?

What is the payment structure for the deal?

How do milestone align with clinical stage development phases?

How are sales and payments audited?

What is the deal term?

How are the key terms of the agreement defined?

How are IPRs handled and owned?

Who is responsible for commercialization?

Who is responsible for development, supply, and manufacture?

How is confidentiality and publication managed?

How are disputes to be resolved?

Under what conditions can the deal be terminated?

What happens when there is a change of ownership?

What sublicensing and subcontracting provisions have been agreed?

Which boilerplate clauses does the company insist upon?

Which boilerplate clauses appear to differ from partner to partner or deal type to deal type?

Which jurisdiction does the company insist upon for agreement law?

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jqdimk

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.

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




DUBLIN, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Retail Point of Sale Market Research Report by Product (Fixed, Mobile), Component (Hardware, Services, Software), End-User - United States Forecast 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

The United States Retail Point of Sale Market is projected to grow with a significant CAGR in the forecast period. Economic development and substantial infrastructure development have constituted regional revenue generation.

Further, the patterns associated with domestic production, import and export, and consumption have helped market participants to analyze and capitalize on potential opportunities. Besides, the qualitative and quantitative parameters provided in the report with detailed analysis highlights the driving and restraining factors of the United States Retail Point of Sale Market.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Growing Non-Cash Transactions by Consumers in the U.S.

Increased Data Visibility Through Cloud Pos Systems

Restraints

Lack of Consumer Awareness

Opportunities

Rising Penetration of Ecommerce Platforms Across the United States

Challenges

Data Security Concerns Coupled With Lack of Standardization

Market Statistics:



The report provides market sizing and forecasts across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF; multiple currency support helps organization leaders to make better decisions. In this report, the years 2018 and 2021 are considered as historical years, 2022 as the base year, 2023 as the estimated year, and years from 2024 to 2030 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:



The report on the United States Retail Point of Sale Market identifies key attributes about the customer to define the potential market and identify different needs across the industry. Understanding the potential customer group's economies and geographies can help gain business acumen for better strategic decision-making.

Story continues

The market coverage across different industry verticals reveals the hidden truth about the players' strategies in different verticals and helps the organization decide target audience. This report gives you the composite view of sub-markets coupled with comprehensive industry coverage and provides you with the right way of accounting factors such as norms & regulations, culture, to make right coverage strategy for your market plan. This research report categorizes the United States Retail Point of Sale Market in order to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:

Based on Product, the market is studied across Fixed and Mobile.

Based on Component, the market is studied across Hardware, Services, and Software.

Based on End-User, the market is studied across Convenience Stores, Discount Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Specialty Stores, and Supermarkets & Hypermarkets.

Based on State, the market is studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

FPNV Positioning Matrix:



The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes vendors in the United States Retail Point of Sale Market. based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) and placed into four quadrants (F: Forefront, P: Pathfinder, N: Niche, and V: Vital). The United States Retail Point of Sale Market FPNV Positioning Matrix representation/visualization further aids businesses in better decision-making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:



The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market, providing the idea of revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. This provides insights on vendors performance in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. The United States Retail Point of Sale Market Share Analysis offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. The outcome reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:



The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various strategies for business growth adopted by the vendors. The news in this section covers valuable insights at various stages while keeping up with the business and engaging stakeholders in the economic debate. The United States Retail Point of Sale Market Competitive Scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected helps vendors understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitor's strengths and weaknesses, providing insights to enhance products and services.



The report answers questions such as:



1. What is the market size and forecast of the United States Retail Point of Sale Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the United States Retail Point of Sale Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the United States Retail Point of Sale Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the United States Retail Point of Sale Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the United States Retail Point of Sale Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the United States Retail Point of Sale Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the United States Retail Point of Sale Market?



Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Overview



5. Market Insights



6. Retail Point of Sale Market, by Product



7. Retail Point of Sale Market, by Component



8. Retail Point of Sale Market, by End-User



Companies Mentioned

Block, Inc.

Clover Network, LLC

Diebold Nixdorf, Inc.

Epicor Software Corporation

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

Intuit Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

NCR Corporation

NEC Corporation

Oracle Corporation

Revel Systems, Inc.

SAP SE

Toshiba Corporation

VeriFone, Inc.

Zebra Technologies Corporation

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dtzid1

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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SOURCE Research and Markets
(Bloomberg) -- A Goldman Sachs Asset Management Co. fund manager is joining bullish calls on semiconductor shares, expecting a boost from data centers and ChatGPT.

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The semiconductor industry is a growth industry, said Ichiro Kosuge, who manages the GS Japan Focused Growth Fund thats outperforming 96% of its peers this year. While we understand that the near-term outlook may be challenging, we believe data centers and automotive semiconductors will drive growth going forward.

Kosuge said hes backing companies that can keep up with the global semiconductor industrys expansion even after a decline in the number of Japanese chipmakers. Top holdings in the fund include Advantest Corp., which is up 36% this year compared with the Topixs 7.6% advance. It also owns shares of Hoya Corp. and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co.

Chip stocks have gained this year as interest in ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence services has brightened sentiment for high-end semiconductor producers. Investors such as Pictet Asset Management Ltd.s Young Jae Lee and Allianz Global Investors Benson Pan are betting on a resurgence in the sector even as memory makers struggle with a global supply glut.

Kosuge expects fundamentals for chip companies to recover in the second half of the year and into next year. The recent share-price rally has already factored that in to some extent, he said.

While the ChatGPT frenzy should propel semiconductor demand and data-center spending, these types of themes emerge from time to time, Kosuge said. Hes also focusing on factory automation and manufacturing as investment in those areas ramps up.

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Right now, we see investment in EVs and batteries expanding very significantly and, as with automation, we see a growing flow of investment in these new industries, he added.

Kosuge, who manages the fund under Goldmans 577.1 billion yen ($4.3 billion) Japan Equity Partners Strategy, has also been steadily buying shares of domestic-focused firms as inbound travel ramps up. He recently added discount store operator Pan Pacific International Holdings Corp. and increased his position in fashion retailer Shimamura Co., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

We expect to see valuation improvement for domestic-demand stocks, said Kosuge. From a future earnings perspective too, we also see attractive opportunities for a select few  but certainly not all  of these stocks.

--With assistance from Momoka Yokoyama.

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(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has been hit by additional departures in its Asia equities team, with key exits in Tokyo and Hong Kong to rival banks and hedge funds.

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Among those that left recently are managing directors Fredrik Grunberger in Hong Kong and Tomiyuki Oji and David Williams in Tokyo, according to people familiar with the matter. Oji is poised to join Nomura Holdings Inc., the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.

Alexis Tsang has also left after being named co-head of Greater China equities sales less than a year ago and has joined Millennium Capital Management. Jig Patel, chief operating officer of Asia Pacific prime services, is also leaving the US bank to take a senior regional role at Izzy Englanders more than $58 billion hedge fund firm, said the people. Patel has been with Goldman Sachs for 28 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Goldman has seen a wave of departures of veterans in its Asia equities business. Among those was Canute Dalmasse, the firms co-head of equities distribution and execution for Asia-Pacific. Four other senior executives also left over the past 12 months.

Goldman has one of the biggest pools of veteran talent in Asia for equities, which has made it a prime poaching ground for rivals.

A spokesman at the US bank declined to comment.

Revenue at the banks global equities business slid 7% to $3 billion, beating expectations, in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Grunberger joined Goldman Sachs in April 2004 and held positions including head of Asia equity cross product sales, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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Williams has been with the New York-based investment bank since 1998 and Oji since 2008, according to LinkedIn.

Goldmans equities trading in Asia Pacific has been run by Dmitri Potishko, who was recently named co-head of global flow derivatives and emerging markets trading.

(Updates with Patels pending departure in third paragraph.)

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F#cking Old invites Canadian seniors to unwrap a hard candy and have a chat about 'wrapping it up' to make sure they're F#cking Safe



Campaign partners with "Sex with Sue" documentarian Jane Johanson, daughter of Canadian Sex Expert, Sue Johanson to raise awareness about practising safer sex amidst rise in STIs in the seniors community

Jems F#cking Old (CNW Group/Jems)

TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - It's time to have 'the sex talk', but this time it's with your grandparents. This STI Awareness Month, Jems, a body-safe condom brand committed to tackling an outdated industry to include a multiplicity of gender and sexual expressions, is launching a bold new campaign to reach an unexpected audience: seniors. With sexually transmitted infections rising at a dangerous rate, 'F#cking Old' is encouraging younger Canadians who are comfortable in talking openly about sex, to speak with their elders about safer sex.

To launch the campaign, Jems has partnered with Jane Johanson, daughter of globally-recognized sex expert and beloved Canadian television personality Sue Johanson, former host of the Sunday Night Sex Show. Jane is the co-creator of the 2023 CSA award-winning documentary "Sex with Sue" and is no stranger to discussing taboo sex topics.

"Talking about sex with your parents or grandparents may be awkward, but frankly, has never been more necessary," said Johanson. "This campaign is about harnessing the power of Gen Z who talk about sex easily, and often over their vast social media networks, to bring that conversation to the older generation who often don't understand their risks."

In addition to the partnership with Ms. Johanson, TikTok creators and other social influencers, Jems has also created a collection of F#cking Old hard candies, inspired by the long-time association between hard candies and seniors. The candies, designed to help spark conversations are available for purchase at: jemsforall.com/pages/fckingold with 100 per cent of sales proceeds donated to Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights, committed to advancing and upholding sexual and reproductive health and rights globally.

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The rise of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among Canadian seniors is due to the fact that many seniors who leave long-term, monogamous relationships and re-enter the dating scene are unaware of the risks associated with STIs and hookup culture. In the past decade, STI rates for seniors over 65 have risen by 267% for chlamydia, 340% for syphilis and 388% for gonorrhea.

F#cking Old Hard Candy Box with Jems Condoms (CNW Group/Jems)

The F#cking Old assorted hard candies are each wrapped with a conversation starter around safer sex, all you have to do is pick a flavour, unwrap it, and start a conversation about 'wrapping it up'. Each one has a message inside:

"Ultimately, the candies are a sweet prompt to help bridge the gap and promote healthy sexual habits amongst seniors," says Whitney Geller and Yasemin Emory, co-founders of Jems. "Instead of your grandma giving you a hard candy, this is a chance for you to give her one and ignite a conversation about sexual health and the spread of STIs, amongst a generation who is at risk."

The candies are available in four sweet characters and will be sold in a bag or box, with the box also including Jems condoms. They include:

Bedroom Berry will spark a discussion around having a safer sex talk with your partner

Bawdy Banana will have you bonding over the importance of using protection

Pleasurable Pear will open up the conversation on knowing when to get tested

Sensual Strawberry will provide the perfect chance to discuss the joys of getting it on

Jems F#cking Old Hard Candy Wrappers (CNW Group/Jems)

Jems is a condom brand and sex-ed platform, built on the desire to create something for everyone and normalize sex and condom use. F#cking Old is an extension of Jems' commitment to making sexual wellness more inclusive for all.

F#cking Old was developed in partnership with Dentsu Creative Canada.

About Jems

Jems is a body-safe condom, made with natural latex and 100% silicone lube. With every ultra-thin condom, we are committed to tackling an outdated industry to include a multiplicity of gender and sexual expressions. Jems wants to change the way people relate to condom use and open up the conversation around safer sex practices!

About Dentsu Creative

Part of Dentsu International, Dentsu Creative is a Global Creative Network that transforms brands and businesses through the power of Modern Creativity. Led by 9,000 experts across the globe to work seamlessly together to deliver ideas that Create Culture, Shape Society and Invent the Future.

Jems logo (CNW Group/Jems)

SOURCE Jems

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2023/20/c0517.html
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When HBO released the first trailer a few days ago for its upcoming spy series based on Viet Thanh Nguyens Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer, I didnt know what to expect (as I hadnt gotten around to reading the novel yet). I certainly knew nothing about the story herein, which is focused on a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the last days of the Vietnam War who goes on to live in exile in the US. But what I can tell you is the exact moment when I went from What is this? to Okay, HBO, definitely watching.

Its right at the beginning of the trailer when Hoa Xuandes character The Captain is asked by an eager-beaver American about his time over there  So, did you kill anyone? The Captain is the spy I mentioned above, who embeds in a refugee community in Los Angeles.

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The Captain draws out his response, with a sort of dramatic flourish, and his response is intercut with intense flashbacks. With my own hands?  No. No, I never killed anyone.

Continues the American: We were all marching. We were on your side. The Captains eyes widen.

Really! And which side was that?

Uh  the side of the Vietnamese people.

The people in the north? Or the people in the south?

Well, all of them, I guess.

A soft chuckle. I guess we all look the same after all, right?  I mean, I could be Viet Cong for all you know. A spy how would you know?

He lets the silence hang there. And then laughs conspiratorially, laying one hand across his chest. Im not, of course! I love America!

Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar are the co-showrunners and executive producers, and in addition to Xuande the cast of this HBO series includes Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Ky Duyen, and Sandra Oh. Robert Downey Jr. is also an executive producer and will portray multiple characters in the series (coming in 2024). Get ready, this one is going to be truly, unforgettably, epic.

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Spy/Master HBO series

As for the second HBO spy series that I cant wait for, HBO on Wednesday gave us a trailer for Spy/Master, which is coming to the network very soon (on May 19). Its a six-part espionage drama series starring Alec Secareanu and created by Adina Sadeanu and Kirsten Peters, and its set during the height of the Cold War.

Heres the official logline for the series from HBO. The show:

covers a week in the life of fictional character Victor Godeanu, played by Secareanu (Gods Own Country, Ammonite, Happy Valley), the right-hand man and closest advisor to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. However, Godeanu is also a secret agent for the KGB and must escape Romania and Ceausescu before his cover is blown. With only one shot at staying alive, he uses a diplomatic trip to Germany as a springboard to the United States. Helped by an undercover Stasi agent and former flame played by Svenja Jung (Deutschland89), and an up-and-coming CIA agent played by Parker Sawyers (Southside with You), Godeanu must elude the KGB and his own countrys spooks, fully aware that his defection is putting his family back home in mortal danger.

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Thousands of at-risk Afghans who were promised a new life in the U.S. have been stranded in Pakistan for more than 18 months due to significant delays in visa processing. Now many are feeling betrayed as theyre running out of money and face deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

The U.S. established Priority 1 and Priority 2 (known as P1 and P2) referrals under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) in August 2021 amid the U.S. militarys withdrawal from Afghanistan and the resurgence of the oppressive Taliban. These visas were meant to help Afghans who were in danger of retaliation from the Taliban because they had collaborated with U.S. government agencies and nongovernmental organizations but were ineligible for the traditional special immigrant visa, which was primarily granted to Afghan interpreters and translators.

However, applicants had to travel to a third country for their cases to be reviewed. As a result, thousands made their way to Pakistan, the nearest viable option, with hopes of being able to go to the U.S. in a matter of months.

We sold all we had  our furniture, rugs and my jewelry  to get out of Afghanistan, said Khadija, who is being identified with a pseudonym due to safety concerns.

Khadijas husband was a driver for an American organization. He was left behind when his employer evacuated following the Taliban takeover. One day he received a call from someone claiming to be his employer, asking him to return the car and collect his last payment. He left but never returned. Khadija soon realized that the call was likely a trap set by the Taliban.

I was almost convinced that my husband had been killed, Khadija recalled. Her husband was released from Taliban captivity after 17 days, and she said the evidence of torture was clear on his body.

Khadija and her husband fled to Pakistan after they found out they were eligible for the P2 program.

But after nearly a year and a half of waiting, they still havent received any updates on their case. The uncertainty of their future weighs heavily on them as they struggle to survive in a foreign country with limited resources and little clarity on what will happen next.

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Processing P1 and P2 referrals usually takes a designated resettlement support center (RSC) 12 to 18 months. However, Afghan applicants in Pakistan still havent received the preliminary interview necessary to begin the visa application process, primarily because there is no RSC in the country.

A State Department spokesperson told HuffPost that they are not yet able to process Afghans in Pakistan with Priority 1 and Priority 2 referrals. Resettling eligible Afghans from Pakistan is a department priority, and we are exploring all options to enable USRAP processing, the spokesperson said.

The State Department declined to provide any information regarding ongoing discussions between the two countries on the issue or the duration of the processing time. In contrast to the special immigrant visa program, there is limited public information and official statistics available regarding the P1 and P2 referrals.

The U.S. government has said it is unable to offer protection or assistance to P1 and P2 applicants while they are waiting for a decision on their refugee case.

There were 45,000 applications worldwide for P1 and P2 referrals as of July 2022, according to a report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction that was released this year. Among these, 8,600 individuals with their families had left for Pakistan and were experiencing various difficulties.

The report shows that in the fiscal year 2022, the program managed to resettle a total of 1,618 Afghans, and in the ongoing fiscal year 2023, the number has reached 2,980 cases. However, all of these cases have been processed in countries other than Pakistan.

In February, a large group of Afghan applicants  frustrated by being in limbo for so long  protested in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

When I moved the group over to Pakistan, I was told it would be like a few months, but now Im being told it could be up to 24 months, Meredith Festa, who assisted dozens of Afghans with P1 and P2 referrals move to Pakistan, told HuffPost. Festa was initially an animal rescuer. She runs Paws Unite People, a nonprofit that helps abused and neglected dogs and helped U.S. soldiers bring their dogs home with them during evacuation.

Festa said the U.S. should inform applicants where they could go to have their cases processed if the government isnt able to process them in Pakistan. Applicants cant decide to return to Afghanistan because that would signal to the U.S. that they didnt feel like they were in danger, she said.

Afghans must maintain their Pakistani visas at all times or risk being deported; it takes money to get a visa and additional money to renew it every six months.

Afghan refugees protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Feb. 26 as the U.S. governments programs meant to fast-track visas for at-risk Afghans, including those who worked with U.S. organizations, drag on for months.

Afghan refugees protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Feb. 26 as the U.S. governments programs meant to fast-track visas for at-risk Afghans, including those who worked with U.S. organizations, drag on for months.

The thousands of people stranded in Pakistan are in a vulnerable position. In addition to not knowing if or when they may be granted entry to the U.S., many are struggling financially and have limited access to essential services, such as health care and education.

Were all out of money, including me, Festa said. And they havent even had their cases started yet.

Since August 2021, Festa has raised about $1.4 million that has been spent on 169 Afghans in Pakistan with P1 and P2 cases. This money has covered expenses such as obtaining national electronic IDs, passports and Pakistan visas; paying for housing, food, clothing, online classes and English lessons; and covering fines to release them from jail to avoid deportation.

If I dont come up with $12,000 in the next week, 34 people whose visas are going to expire will be in Pakistan illegally, she said. I also have $9,000 in bills this month for other expenses.

Afghans on tourist visas are not permitted to legally lease an apartment in Pakistan, and they instead have to spend money on an agent who can help them, according to Festa. Refugees are not allowed to work, she said, and kids cant go to school.

What about all the Afghans that dont have someone to help them? she said. What if they have a medical emergency?

Festa said many of the P1 and P2 applicants are women who would be in danger under the Taliban and didnt qualify for special immigrant visas.

All of the women and girls who fled Afghanistan to Pakistan to get their P1 visas processed because they wanted to work and go to school still cant work and go to school, she said.

Khadija and her husband havent had any assistance from their American employer or humanitarian groups and are using up all their savings to make ends meet. Khadijas husband is working as an unauthorized day laborer but doesnt make enough to pay for their costs in Pakistan. Three months ago, they paid a significant sum of money to extend their expired visa for another six months, but now they lack the funds to do so again. If they cant renew their visas, they could end up in jail or get deported.

We cannot go back to Afghanistan, she said. This time the Taliban will kill my husband.

Khadija said she, her husband and 7-year-old child are all experiencing severe depression. She expresses particular concern for her child, who is unable to attend school and has been confined to their home all day.

American left us behind in Afghanistan and has continued to ignore us ever since, Khadija said.

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Special prosecutors in New Mexico are dropping involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin stemming from the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust, they have confirmed.

Prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis said "new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis" ahead of the preliminary hearing on May 3 in a statement obtained by EW.

The decision "does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled," they clarified. The charges against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who worked on Rust, remain unchanged.

Baldwin's attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement to EW, "We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin, and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident."

Alec Baldwin

Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images Alec Baldwin

Lawyers for Gutierrez-Reed, who was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, said Thursday that they "fully expect" their client to be exonerated.

"The new special prosecutor team has taken a very diligent and thorough approach to the entire investigation, which we welcome and have always welcomed," attorneys Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion said in a statement to EW. "They are seeking the truth and we are also. The truth about what happened will come out, and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered."

Hutchins was killed and Rust director Joel Souza was wounded on Oct. 21, 2021, during production of the Western, when a gun being held by Baldwin discharged. The actor, who was also serving as a producer on the film, had been told the gun was "cold," meaning it did not contain live ammunition. Baldwin has also maintained that he did not pull the trigger.

Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January and pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors dropped firearm enhancement from the charges against him in February. A special prosecutor in the case stepped down last month, leading to the appointment of two new special prosecutors, Morrissey and Lewis.

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Rust producers agreed earlier this year to pay a civil fine of $100,000 for "serious" workplace safety breaches prior to the fatal shooting. Three crew members have also filed lawsuits against Baldwin and the film's producers, as have Hutchins' parents and sister.

Hutchins' widower, Matthew Hutchins, sued Baldwin and other crew members on behalf of himself and their 9-year-old son early last year, but a settlement was reached in October. As part of the settlement, Matthew Hutchins will serve as an executive producer when Rust resumes production. It is slated to do so this week in Montana. Baldwin and Souza are still attached to the film.

Additional reporting by Nick Romano.

This article was updated with a formal statement from New Mexico special prosecutors.

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One day in early December, Eva-Lilith logged into the social media platforms, forums, and other online spaces where they routinely connect with Russias increasingly marginalized LGBTQ+ community. There, they observed something chilling: farewell messages, activists expressing worry and fear, and some even outright deleting their entire digital presence.

That was the immediate panic in response to the passage of the so-called LGBT propaganda bill, which Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law in December. And in recent months, activists across Russia have told Them the law is driving anti-LGBTQ+ censorship and sentiments to alarming new levels.

A lot of ordinary people  not [only] famous activists  have started the great wave of self-censorship, said Eva-Lilith, an endocrinologist providing gender-affirming care and co-director of an initiative advocating for nonbinary Russians. They deleted their accounts, blogs, vlogs, channels, all their information about visibility.

This is the last time that I post a rainbow or this is my last post devoted to the [LGBTQ+] topic were a few of the kinds of messages that Alla Chikinda, an activist working at an organization supporting LGBTQ+ Russians whove experienced intimate partner violence, said her friends posted in early December. Because they really thought that they would not be able to talk about it anymore, ever.

Russias new bill amends and greatly expands on its notorious 2013 gay propaganda law, which aimed to stop what the government deemed propaganda directed at youth. However, the new law goes significantly further, applying to the entire Russian population. In essence, it has become a blanket legal prohibition on nearly all expressions of LGBTQ+ life  whether in public, online, in advertisements, in the media, or otherwise. Breaking it incurs heavy fines and even deportation for foreign citizens.

Since now people are not really sure what can be considered propaganda, they prefer not to do anything, not to write anything, not to post anything, said Chikinda.

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The censoring effects of the law have already rippled across Russian society. In late December, government censors took one of their first moves under the law: issuing a list of movies and shows to be removed from streaming services, including titles like Brokeback Mountain and Call Me By Your Name. The first investigation into a breach of the new law targeted independent publisher Popcorn Books. Deportations have also been ramping up: Early April brought the arrest of a gay couple famous for their TikTok account, with one of the two now awaiting deportation back to China; and in another case, a German citizen now faces deportation. And many others  including media outlets, publishers, and streaming platforms as well as people across the country  have simply decided to avoid anything LGBTQ+ related, as details around the laws implementation remain vague or unclear.

Since now people are not really sure what can be considered propaganda, they prefer not to do anything, not to write anything, not to post anything, said Chikinda, who now even struggles to find psychologists who wish to publicly comment on content her organization publishes online. This is probably [the governments] main goal. This is what they are aiming at.

Increasingly, thats the goal of neofascist politicians in Europe and America as well. From Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Floridas Governor Ron DeSantis, an international cohort of far-right leaders are driving a global wave of anti-LGBTQ+ censorship. And in many ways, theyre all working off a similar template  pursuing hateful legislation and censorship that seems to follow the playbook Putin has been pioneering in Russia for a decade. In doing so, theyre casting trans and queer people as enemies of traditional values, all to provoke outrage among core supporters and solidify political power.

Of course, not all demagogues are alike, and there are many nuances among what marginalized LGBTQ+ communities experience in different parts of the world. But many activists are focusing attention on the concerning commonalities in the anti-LGBTQ+ agenda across continents to underscore the need for international solidarity to counteract its rise.

Censorship legislation has driven a rise in hate crimes

Putins anti-LGBTQ+ playbook is more than a decade old, kicking into high gear with his return to the presidency in 2012. And by some metrics, hes succeeded in shifting public opinions on LGBTQ+ rights. By 2021, the independent pollster Levada Center found increasing polarization among the Russian population compared to a decade prior. The number of Russians who oppose equal marriage had increased from 60% to 69%, pollsters reported. By contrast, public opinion in other countries has trended in the opposite direction in that time period, with a 2022 Gallup poll finding 71% of Americans supported marriage equality.

Thats precisely the intended outcome, said Natalia Soloviova, chair of the council at the Russian LGBT Network, the national NGO advocating for LGBTQ+ rights across the country.

This law is not only about courts or fines  its about the violence in the street. Its about more hate crimes, Soloviova said. It has uncuffed the hands of the people who want to spread the violence.

And trans and queer Russians reportedly experience violence in their daily lives, according to the Russian LGBT Network. More than half of LGBTQ+ Russians reported experiencing violence or abuse, according to a survey it conducted in 2019. And extensive research into the effect of the prior law on hate crimes showed the overall number of victims increased by three times from 2013 to 2015, according to a study published in the journal Victims & Offenders.

In particular with trans issues, the global far right has figured out thats a really useful wedge issue and theyre pushing it, Marhoefer said.

More than one year into Russias war in Ukraine, key political figures and Kremlin allies have been turning up the dial even more on such hateful rhetoric, linking the passage of the new law to the Ukraine invasion and framing it as part of the broader war with the West over traditional Russian values. The special military operation takes place not only on the battlefield but also in the minds and souls of people, a senior lawmaker said of the expanded legislation. Its part of a larger campaign thats included targeting and shuttering domestic queer organizations as foreign agents, with the Kremlin attempting to shut down the Russian LGBT Network last year.

By framing trans and queer people as an internal enemy, as not Russian, Putin seems set on distracting public attention away from the drawn-out war and deepening support among his conservative base. This increasingly pushes Russias LGBTQ+ community underground. And the similar rise in censorship in other parts of the world can make it appear as if more countries are heading down a similar track.

A global far-right network promotes anti-LGBTQ+ censorship

A rising tide of censorship laws and hateful rhetoric in other countries suggests that far-right leaders across Europe and America are cribbing many of the anti-LGBTQ+ tactics Putin has employed for years to activate his base.

Its all connected, said Laurie Marhoefer, a leading trans and queer historian and the Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington, who observes that this global far right takes cues from each other, sometimes even networking directly on their hateful agendas. In particular with trans issues, the global far right has figured out thats a really useful wedge issue and theyre pushing it, they said.

The far-right intent is 360 degrees of anti-LGBTQ+ vitriol that they can use to drive engagement on social media and as a ploy to rile up voters, explained Justin Unga, director of strategic initiatives at the Human Rights Campaign. They are inflaming the most extreme elements of their fan base to gain notoriety, to build a brand that they see as politically and, to be frank, financially profitable.

Take Polands 2019 parliamentary election, in which the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) aimed to reverse their declining popularity by attacking LGBTQ+ Poles as a threat to Polish culture. In 2022, PiS passed a law that opponents have described as a Russian-style propaganda law. While that law was vetoed by President Andrzej Duda, PiS has forwarded slightly amended legislation since. Its part of a broader anti-LGBTQ+ trend in Polish politics that plays out on a local level, as well, with around 100 towns and regions declaring themselves LGBT free zones.

All of this, of course, culminates in violence.

Similarly, Hungarys prime minister, the Putin protege Viktor Orban, has made censoring queer and trans people central to his far-right government  most notably with the passage of a broad law in 2021 that bans LGBTQ+ content in schools and on childrens-focused media.

Orban takes a similar approach to Putin, claiming to be in a battle to maintain traditional Hungarian values and framing LGBTQ+ people as the enemies. Its resulted in an onslaught on basic democratic principles and human rights. He banned gender studies at Hungarian universities, shut down independent media, and most recently made a referendum on LGBTQ+ education central to the 2022 parliamentary campaign. The referendum ultimately failed to gain enough votes to be valid, though his Fidesz party won the election by a wide margin.

And across the Atlantic, many far-right Republicans are taking inspiration and even coordinating directly with their neofascist peers elsewhere. Its driving a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being pursued at the state level, with the American Civil Liberties Union tracking more than 450 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed so far in 2023 alone.

For example, last year, Orban was invited to give a keynote speech at CPAC in Dallas, a highly influential gathering in conservative circles. Orban received applause, as he invited Republicans to join his culture war directly targeting LGBTQ+ people and refugees. This May, CPAC will once again host a conference in Budapest. And Fox News host Tucker Carlson  arguably the most influential media personality in American conservatism  has what some critics have called an obsession with Hungary, repeatedly covering the country on his nightly show and traveling there to interview Orban.

One Year After Dont Say Gay, Florida Parents Say Theyre Enraged and Afraid

Gov. DeSantis anti-LGBTQ\+ crusade has left parents of queer and trans kids devastated. Many say theyre ready to move, yet many more say theyll stay and fight back.

In turn, political extremism in American society has shown a tendency in the past two decades to take root in other countries, which creates a far-right feedback loop. Sometimes this happens through direct promotion, as is the case with American evangelicals exploiting the anti-LGBTQ+ legacies of European colonialism to promote homophobia and transphobia in many parts of Africa. For example, Uganda passed a law in March that makes it illegal to identify as LGBTQ+, a moral panic that was promoted by Americans like far-right activist Scott Lively, who has previously addressed Ugandas parliament.

The current pattern of anti-LGBTQ+ authoritarianism in America has startling parallels to whats happening in other far-right regimes. Take Florida Governor and anticipated Republican 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who signed a censorship law last year that bans LGBTQ+ content from classrooms dubbed the Dont Say Gay Bill. Like Putins propaganda laws, it was drafted to be intentionally vague, opponents have said. Its only one of DeSantiss many moves to target basic human rights and free speech, including a law that censors and severely restricts discussions of race and gender in schools and businesses.

Similar to how Russias anti-LGBTQ+ efforts have targeted drag performers, who have remained defiant, Republicans in at least eight states have even proposed laws to censor and restrict drag performances. And in early March, Tennessee became the first state to officially ban drag  another example of a vague and far-reaching law sewing confusion among business owners and LGBTQ+ communities in the state.

Does that sound like America, which the same far right politicians pushing this legislation will insist is a shining beacon of freedom? Unga asked rhetorically. Or does it sound like the type of abuse of government we see in authoritarian regimes?

All of this, of course, culminates in violence, Unga continues, citing the alarming rise in anti-LGBTQ+ threats of violence across the United States. He points to white supremacists disrupting drag shows and Pride events (almost a weekly occurrence in 2022), the November mass shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ+ nightclub, and record-setting anti-trans violence, disproportionately targeting Black and brown trans women.

Its all in line with the basic fascist template, history shows

This rise in anti-LGBTQ+ censorship among far-right politicians isnt entirely new. In many ways, its a rerun of fascist history  in Europe, fascists have typically framed marginalized groups as morally threatening the traditional values of their white, cisgender, heterosexual, Christian, conservative bases.

In particular, some activists today point to the transition from the relative liberalism of Berlin in the Weimar years to Hitlers takeover in the early 1930s as a point of comparison. And in the early days of the Nazis rise, you see much of the basic template followed by todays neofascist authoritarians, said Marhoefer, whose research primarily focuses on the histories of queer and trans people in Weimar and Nazi Germany.

As they assumed power, the Nazi regime began forcefully censoring public LGBTQ+ life and violently shut down queer and trans clubs that flourished during the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, a sort of golden era for LGBTQ+ people in Berlin. It was home to key institutions such as Magnus Hirschfelds Institut fur Sexualwissenschaft, which pioneered early trans research and care.

But conservative people talking explicitly about queer people, trans people, abortion, and birth control remained really taboo in Nazi Germany, Marhoefer said.

Gayness and transness were not the wedge issues at all the way they are today, they explained. [The Nazis] were public about it, but they werent trumpeting it. Persecution of LGBTQ+ people was instead wrapped into a broader agenda of restoring traditional morality, though not a distinct wedge itself.

Importantly, Marhoefer underscores that the prevailing Allied democracies  which would continue criminalizing many LGBTQ+ identities for years  did not liberate queer people whod been legally prosecuted under the Nazi regime. Nor would they officially recognize queer men as Nazi prisoners. It took several more decades for LGBTQ+ liberation movements in Europe and America to achieve some of what LGBTQ+ people had experienced in Berlin in the 1920s.

The way we often write history is like this march from bad times to good times and from short sighted bigoted positions to more egalitarian positions. It's more complicated than that, they said. And if you see it as more complicated, it's easier to see that it could change back. Historians have noted that, for example, Tennessee's anti-drag law seems like its straight out of the 1800s.

Russian LGBTQ+ activists are not ready to give up yet

Whats different about this present onslaught of neofascist hate? LGBTQ+ liberation movements have come far in many parts of our societies, making queer and trans people more visible targets for this generation of far right demagogues, Marhoefer observed. And its a sentiment echoed by activists.

As in the United States, United Kingdom and many other countries, trans and nonbinary people in Russia are increasingly at the center of the anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, Eva-Lilith explained. It shows the great impact of transgender organizations and initiatives, they said, describing it as a sign of our rising visibility.

And despite the significant challenges they face, many LGBTQ+ Russians are now digging in their heels. While some activists have managed to flee the country, thats not an option for most, so more are stepping up to take some sort of action in their communities.

There are people who are  I cant say who are ready to fight, because its really difficult these days  but who are not ready to give up just yet.

We continue our work, said Soloviova of the Russian LGBT Network, who said theres recently been a rise in movement against the law. Activists like Soloviova have experienced more people quietly reaching out to try and determine how they can fight back against the law in such a stark new reality. In this situation, we have a lot of new activists [coming forward], actually, she said.

This Couple Vlogged About Their Gay Life in Russia. Then They Were Arrested

The arrest follows a December expansion of the country's gay propoganda law.

Perhaps understandably, a lot of reporting paints the picture of a doomsday scenario in Russia, but activist Chikinda wishes that foreign press would also report on the LGBTQ+ communitys ongoing resistance. We keep living. There is still life here. This is important to show also, she said.

And after seeing many people go dark online in December, Chikinda now sees a sense of determination among some in her networks: Not everyone is afraid. Not everyone is self-censoring themselves.

I dont want to say that there is hope, but I see that its really possible that we are going to adapt to life alongside this law as we did with the prior law, she said. There are people who are  I cant say who are ready to fight, because its really difficult these days  but who are not ready to give up just yet.

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Getting bored of drinking the same cup of coffee every single morning? There's a flavor at Trader Joe's that could completely change your coffee game.

In the most recent episode of the Inside Trader Joe's podcast, host and Trader Joe's vice president of marketing Tara Miller sat down with Trader Joe's crew member Rashinda Harris, who is the category manager for coffee, tea and beverages at the chain.

After talking about coffee supply and demand and how Harris locates the best quality beans for the brand, Miller asked the question that we all were waiting for: What's the coffee expert's favorite coffee product?

Related: I Tried Every Salad Kit at My Trader Joe'sThis Was My Favorite

"Ethiopian Blend is my favorite flavor," Harris said, specifying that she prefers drip coffee or to make her own reusable pods.

The Trader Joe's Ethiopia Small Lot Coffee Bale Mountain medium roast has listed tasting notes of cocoa nibs, strawberry and cinnamon, so we can definitely see why it's a favorite. Made with 100% Arabica whole-bean coffee, the beans are hand-picked by farmers in central Ethiopia and are sun-dried on bamboo racks, giving the coffee a sweet and fruity flavor.

Unfortunately, Harris' favorite coffee isn't available in stores anymore. Since coffee is a crop, Harris explains that the store has to rotate through products depending on what's available. Luckily, you can find a similar version, Trader Joe's Organic Fair Trade Shade Grown Ethiopian Whole Bean Coffee, on Amazon. The medium dark roast is noted to have a floral aroma and is also made with Arabica whole-bean coffee.

It's always rewarding to make your own coffee in the morning. Want to try other coffee flavors and blends at Trader Joe's? Here's a few other products that we recommend:

And if you're looking to jazz up your typical morning mug, try out these healthy coffee and tea recipes you should be making instead of buying.

Up next: Should You Drink Coffee on an Empty Stomach?
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Chinese actor Jiang Mengjie took to Weibo to share with her 8 million followers that she had been blackmailed for an explicit video taken without her permission.

On Wednesday, Jiang shared screenshots of the messages purportedly sent by the blackmailer, who threatened to send the video of her to leading film and TV companies.

The celebrity expressed to her fans that she felt angry and disgusted, along with a feeling of powerlessness upon seeing the footage of herself falling victim to upskirting, or the invasive act of taking photographs under someones skirt or dress without their consent.

Jiang became aware of the video, which she identified as being recorded "many years ago," after her staff noticed strange comments on her posts. Later, a friend living overseas sent her the video.

More from NextShark: BTS Breaks Their Own Record for Biggest YouTube Music Video Premiere With Butter

The video has been widely shared on multiple websites and online groups, with over a million views, according to Jiang.

She admitted that she was initially advised to stay silent about the video as there were concerns that speaking out could make the situation worse. However, she ultimately decided to confront the matter head on.

Shortly after reporting the incident to the police, she was informed that the suspect had been detained and that she would be notified in time of their punishment.

More from NextShark: Third-ever historical resolution by CCP paves way for Chinese President Xi Jinping to have third term

Jiang shared that while gathering evidence, she discovered that the number of individuals who were secretly recorded exceeded imagination. While some of the perpetrators blackmailed individuals with those photos, others sold them for profit, she continued.

As a public figure, maybe I can make more people pay attention to such vicious incidents by taking a stand, she wrote.

It is not our fault that we have been secretly photographed. Our lives should not be affected by this kind of thing.

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More from NextShark: Doctor Who Assaulted Evelyn Yang, Dozens of Women, Hit With New Federal Charges

Jiangs post has received over a million likes and has gained support from numerous netizens who commended her for taking a stand. They also left comments criticizing the blackmailer for their unacceptable actions.

He should be ashamed why does he think he can ruin someone for the rest of her life? commented one user.

Another said, Sisters should not suffer in silence when they encounter such a thing.

More from NextShark: SFPD Arrests Suspect in Hate Crime on Elderly Chinese Man, Searching for Second Suspect

In China, perpetrators detained for upskirting are typically sentenced to less than 10 days, resulting in many women wearing additional layers of clothing as a deterrent against these types of crimes.
At the start of Netflixs The Diplomat, Keri Russells Kate Wyler is an American ambassador set to assume that role in Afghanistan. But then a British aircraft carrier comes under terrorist attack and suddenly shes headed to London at the presidents behest.

In a moment, well want to hear what you thought of the premiere of the political intrigue drama from Debora Cahn (Homeland, Greys Anatomy). But first, a quick recap:

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Kate is married to Hal (The Man in the HighCastles Rufus Sewell), another American ambassador whos beloved and connected but who has fallen out of favor in diplomatic circles  something to do with his calling the secretary of state a war criminal? Kate is vehemently against changing her plans; shes more of an on-the-ground problem-solver than a perfectly coiffed functionary, and shes ready to do real work in Kabul. But the president makes it clear she doesnt really have a choice, so she reluctantly agrees to be the equivalent of an emotional support dog in Europe. Whats more: We soon learn that the current vice-president is planning to step down, and the United Kingdom gig is a test to see if Kate can eventually take the role except shes completely unaware of that fact.

Soon, Kate and Hal are in London, getting ushered into the massive estate that will be their home. But on her very first day of duties, she chafes at the job: The attacks death count keeps climbing, and no one is sure yet whos behind the bombing, but her schedule is full of photo ops and other frippery. The person on the receiving end of most of Kates irritation is Stuart (Chicago Meds Ato Essandoh), her right-hand man at the embassy who knows about the veep plan.

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It quickly becomes clear that a) Kate and Hal have very different styles when it comes to their work, and b) Hal is bored in his new role as trailing spouse. So he busies himself giving Kate unasked-for advice on her new job (he pushes her to flaunt convention by making a crucial diplomatic connection before the U.S. Secretary of State does, though she refuses) and meddling in affairs of state (he maneuvers things so the connection happens, anyway). And because that connection  with Englands Prime Minister (Penny Dreadfuls Rory Kinnear)  puts the Secretary of State (Station 19s Miguel Sandoval) in an awkward position, he decides to slow-roll her security clearance: a sure sign that hes thinking of having her vacate her position ASAP.

keri russell the diplomat netflix

When Stuart alerts Kate that her job is in danger, she decides to acquiesce to some of the pomp and circumstance that goes along with her role. You know who you cant fire? she asks glibly, Cinderella. So she gets dolled up, along with Hal, and consents to a photo shoot and interview for British Vogue. And in the process of making that happen, she confesses to Stuart that she and Hal are splitting up. He will get me on my feet, she says matter-of-factly, and then he will go. But when Stuart confronts Hal about this turn of events, Hal is adamant that he and Stuart together will be able to get Kate to the point where shell make a fantastic vice president  sure sounds like hes still invested, no?

But all of that will have to be tabled for now, because during the shoot, when Hal gets into a car with a woman he thinks is a stylist, she immediately puts a syringe to his neck and injects him with something, assuring him hes perfectly safe as he sit there, stunned, and the vehicle drives away.

Now its your turn. Grade The Diplomats premiere via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!

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A National Guard helicopter flies past the burning Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas on 19 April 1993 (TIM ROBERTS/AFP via Getty Images)

Thirty years ago, a lengthy standoff between FBI agents and members of a religious sect ended in fire. The Waco siege, a deadly 51-day confrontation in central Texas between law enforcement and Branch Davidians, an apocalyptic religious movement then led by David Koresh, remains one of the defining US events of the late 20th century.

The siege is the subject of a recent Netflix documentary (Waco: American Apocalypse), released on 22 March. It also made headlines when Donald Trump planned a rally there in Marcha move decried by his niece Mary Trump as a ploy to remind his cult of the infamous Waco siege of 1993, where an anti-government cult battled the FBI.

The story of the Branch Davidians begins far before the events in Waco. The groups roots date back to 1929, when Victor Houteff, a religious leader born in present-day Bulgaria founded the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Church (itself an offshoot of Seventh-day Adventism). It was under Houteff that Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists settled near Waco, at a location known as Mount Carmel.

Benjamin Roden, another religious leader, founded the Branch Davidians in 1955 -- after Houteffs death led to some reorganization and splintering. In the wake of Rodens death, his wife Lois Roden took over as leader and was eventually followed by a man named Vernon Howell. Howell, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, became head of the Mount Carmel community and soon began taking spiritual wives, several of whom were reportedly as young as 11. He ultimately changed his name to David Koresh and was the Branch Davidians leader during the Waco siege.

By February 1993, authorities suspected that weapons were being stockpiled illegally on the groups compound. The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), a law enforcement agency within the US Department of Justice, obtained a warrant to search the premises, as well as an arrest warrant for Koresh. Per the Encyclopedia Britannica, more than 70 agents from the ATF raided the compound. This led to a shootout and a two-hour confrontation, during which five Branch Davidians and four federal agents died.

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In response to the incident, the FBI sent hundreds of officials to the compound.

During the next 51 days, over 700 law enforcement personnel participated in the effort to end the standoff, reads an archived Department of Justice report. Between 250 to 300 FBI personnel were present in Waco at any given time, along with hundreds of officers and agents from other federal, state, and local agencies.

FBI agents wanted the people inside the compound to come out; they, under Koreshs directions, would not. Koresh spoke on the phone with FBI negotiators, but those conversations were protracted. 

If they had entered the building, we would all commit suicide, Kathy Schroeder, a survivor of the siege, says in Netflixs Waco: American Apocalypse. ... It wasnt a matter of, How is this affecting me as a person? Because Im not a person. Im Gods tool.

Koresh himself had been shot and was injured in multiple places, but even he wouldnt come out to seek medical assistance. Per Netflixs documentary, the FBIs tactical unit and negotiation team occasionally clashed. On 21 March, after some Branch Davidians decided to leave the compounda sign that the standoff might approach a resolutionthe FBIs Hostage Rescue Team crushed Koreshs car with a tank, a move described by former FBI negotiator Gary Noesner in the documentary as as a f*** you, done in a very in-your-face way.

This aerial shot taken 21 April 1993 in Waco shows the burnt remains of the compound (J DAVID AKE/AFP via Getty Images)

By mid-March, neither negotiations nor unorthodox tactics had produced the resolution that the FBI sought, and its agents were ill at ease in Waco, Texas Monthly wrote in 1995. By then, the standoff had taken over Waco and its surroundings.

The towns first- and second-rate hotels were bulging with guests, and when the federal lawmen went looking for housing, they found that Wacos apartment occupancy rate had been at 90 percent before the siege began, Texas Monthly wrote. ... Early in March the Tourism Division of the Texas Department of Commerce had postponed a series of television ads, reasoning that nobody would want to visit the state anytime soon, and town residents, tired of the bad jokes and quips about the wackos in Waco, began affixing to their cars stickers that read Waco Proud. As each day passed, pressure built inside and outside the ranks for a speedy end to the standoff.

A t-shirt salesman shown in a file photo dated 10 April 1993 near the Branch Davidians' compound in Waco (BOB DAEMMRICH/AFP FILES/AFP via Getty Images)

On 19 April 1993, the FBI used tear gas in an attempt to make the compound uninhabitable, forcing the Branch Davidians out. For more than five hours armored vehicles, some of which punched holes into walls, deposited 400 tear-gas canisters inside the compound; at 11:40 AM the assault ended, the Encyclopedia Britannica wrote.

Around 25 minutes later, a catastrophic fire started. The DOJ found that some of the Branch Davidians inside the compound started the blaze in three different locations, citing multiple sources of evidence, including infrared video footage and still photos.

The first indication that fire had started inside the compound appears on the aerial infrared tape, photographed from an FBI plane that had been circling over the compound during the fire. Still photographs taken from the infrared videotape establish that the fire started in three separate and nearly simultaneous points of origin, the report reads in part.

... The fire began at 12:07:41 Central Time on the second floor, front section of the building, in the southeast corner. Just over one minute later a fire that had already started was detected in the first floor, mid-section of the building in or near the dining room. By 12:09:30 the initial fire had increased in intensity, to the point of full room involvement. At 12:09:45, or just over two minutes after the start of the first fire, a third fire was detected at the first floor, right side (east side) of the building in the chapel area. This fire spread very quickly, and in less than 40 seconds it had fully involved both the chapel and the gymnasium. By 12:11:00 the fire had spread rapidly throughout the entire building.

The Branch Davidian cult compound observation tower in Waco is engulfed in flames on 19 April 1993 (TIM ROBERTS/AFP via Getty Images)

Back in 1995, PBS noted, in an FAQ accompanying an episode of the show Frontline dedicated to the siege: Although several of the surviving Branch Davidians insist that they did not start the fire, a panel of arson investigators concluded that the Davidians were responsible for igniting it, simultaneously, in at least three different areas of the compound. Unless they were deliberatley set, the probability of the three fires starting almost simultaneously was highly unlikely, according to fire experts.

Furthermore, the videotapes show the use of accelerants that strongly increased the spread of the fire. Although one Branch Davidian stated that a FBI tank had tipped over a lantern, videotapes show that the tank had struck the building a minute and a half before the fire began. Also some of the surviving Davidians clothing showed evidence of lighter fluid and other accelerants. In addition, FBI listening devices seemed to establish that the Davidians were overheard making statements such as, Spread the fuel, some six hours before the fires began.

According to the DOJ, 75 people died in the fire, including 25 children under the age of 15. In total, around 80 Branch Davidians and four federal agents died over the course of the siege, beginning with the ATF raid. Koresh died of a gunshot wound to the head.

The FBI and the ATF came under sharp criticism following the end of the siege. A number of members of Congress are featured in archive footage in Waco: American Apocalypse decrying their actions.

There is no doubt that the ATF and FBI messed up, and messed up badly at Waco, Chuck Schumer, then a Member of the House of Representatives, said. John Conyers, who was also a Representative at the time, called the events at Mount Carmel a profound disgrace to law enforcement in the United States of America.

Former FBI negotiator Gary Noesner tells Netflix in the documentary: David Koresh is ultimately responsible, but that doesnt mean we didnt make mistakes as an organization, and we did. And in Waco, we did not save every life we could. Therefore, in my mind, its a failure.

Jim Cavanaugh, a former ATF agent, shares a similar viewpoint, telling Netflix: We tried everything, but we could not overcome the hold [Koresh] had on their minds. You could not convince them to come out, because that would be a repudiation of the person they believed was God.

Texas Department of Safety Investigators and medical examiners search the rubble of the burnt-out Branch Davidian compound and mark body locations with small flags on 22 April 1993 in Waco (J DAVID AKE/AFP via Getty Images)

The legacy of the Waco siege has been linked to anti-government sentiment in the far-right. Two years after the siege, on 19 April 1995, white supremacist terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb outside the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building, a government complex in Oklahoma City. The explosion killed 168 people and injured several hundred more. McVeigh had visited Waco during the siege; in letters to The Buffalo News published prior to his execution in 2001, he described the siege as a major factor in his radicalization.

For the past three decades, [the Waco siege] has been a key element of far-right mythology: a rallying cry for armed resistance to the federal government and its representatives, Nicole Hemmer, an associate professor of history and director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency at Vanderbilt University, wrote in an opinion column for CNN in March, noting that even after Oklahoma City, Waco remained a key part of far-right lore.

In 2000, Hemmer noted, a man attended the opening of a new church at Mount Carmel, after leading a fundraising campaign for the rebuilding.

His name? Alex Jones.
Gyder Surgical

MULGRAVE, Australia, April 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gyder Surgical , an Australian MedTech company specializing in intuitive, non-invasive orthopaedic navigation solutions, today announced that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of Australia has granted regulatory approval for the GYDER Hip Navigation System, a non-invasive (Pin-less) and Image-less smart navigation system for total hip replacement surgery using the Anterior Approach.



We are excited to receive the regulatory approval from Australias TGA for the GYDER Hip Navigation System. Its a major milestone and an important step forward in our journey to bring our patented Pin-less and Image-less technology to orthopaedic surgeons in Australia and for improving patient care, said Sujit Dike , CEO of Gyder Surgical. We believe that there is a strong appetite for fast, easy-to-use and cost-effective enabling technologies that improve surgical accuracy during orthopaedic surgery.

According to the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry1, 52,787 hip replacement surgeries were performed in 2021 in Australia. Primary total hip replacement increased by 7.0% in 2021 compared to 2020, and there has been a 125.2% increase since 20031. Studies indicate that freehand placement of the acetabular cup during hip replacement is not a reliable method2. Sub-optimal positioning of the acetabular cup during total hip replacement can potentially lead to dislocations3,4, cup loosening - ultimately leading to failures, impingement, limited range of motion, excessive liner wear and osteolysis4. These complications are some of the leading causes for revision surgeries5, which impact patient experience and contribute to significant increase in healthcare costs6.

The GYDER Hip Navigation System is a computer controlled, non-invasive surgical tool to aid navigation during Total Hip Arthroplasty via the Anterior Approach. It is designed to provide real-time guidance to assist the surgeon in positioning the acetabular cup in the intended orientation during primary or revision Total Hip Arthroplasty. Improved cup placement accuracy has significant potential to reduce post-surgery complications, thereby improving patient outcomes and lowering health system cost burden4. The GYDER Hip Navigation System is unique as it does not use invasive metallic pins utilized by most existing navigation products in the market. It also does not rely on pre-operative or inter-operative imaging such as CT ( Computer Tomography ) or X-ray technology. Calibration takes only one minute, and registration is quick, making the GYDER Hip Navigation System fast and easy-to-use. It has a small footprint, seamlessly integrates into existing workflow, and is an open platform that provides surgeons flexibility to use their preferred implants. Gyder Surgical plans to commercialize the GYDER Hip Navigation System later this year.

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About Gyder Surgical

Gyder Surgical is an Australian and US based MedTech company specializing in intuitive, non-invasive orthopaedic navigation products. We believe that every patient should have access to accurate and precise surgery, no matter where they are. We are building smart technologies, in collaboration with surgeons, that work in a wide variety of care settings  Ambulatory / Outpatient Surgery Centers or large ORs in hospitals. The GYDER Hip Navigation System, our first product, is designed to assist surgeons to accurately place the acetabular cup during hip surgery.

Forward Looking Statements

This media release may contain forward-looking statements, forecasts, estimates, projections and opinions (Forward Statements). Gyder Surgical does not make any representation or warranty, whether express or implied, that such Forward Statements will be achieved or will prove to be correct. A number of factors, many of which are outside the control of Gyder Surgical, could cause actual future results and operations to vary materially from the Forward Statements. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made that the assumptions on which the Forward Statements are based may be reasonable. No audit, review or verification has been undertaken by Gyder Surgical or an independent third party of any Forward Statements or assumptions, or their reasonableness. As such, undue reliance should not be placed on any Forward Statements contained in this media release.

For more information, please visit https://www.gydersurgical.com .

References:

https://aoanjrr.sahmri.com/annual-reports-2022 Poor accuracy of freehand cup positioning during total hip arthroplasty, Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17297597/ Can some early revision total hip arthroplasties be avoided?, Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31146556/ . Current Concepts in Acetabular Positioning in Total Hip Arthroplasty, Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5525519/ Causes and Frequency of unplanned hospital readmission after total hip arthroplasty, Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23801061/ Treatment patterns and clinical and economic burden of hip dislocation following primary total hip arthroplasty in England, Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9251137/

CONTACT: Contact: pr@gydersurgical.com




Ruins of a church in Hvalsey, a Norse settlement in Greenland. Vikings built the structure around the 14th century.

The Vikings are remembered as fierce fighters, but even these mighty warriors were no match for climate change. Scientists recently found that ice sheet growth and sea level rise led to massive coastal flooding that inundated Norse farms and ultimately drove the Vikings out of Greenland in the 15th century.

The Vikings first established a foothold in southern Greenland around A.D. 985 with the arrival of Erik Thorvaldsson, also known as "Erik the Red," a Norwegian-born explorer who sailed to Greenland after being exiled from Iceland. Other Viking settlers soon followed, forming communities in Eystribygg (Eastern Settlement) and Vestribygg (Western Settlement) that thrived for centuries. (At the time of the Vikings' arrival, Greenland was already inhabited by people of the Dorset Culture, an Indigenous group that preceded the arrival of the Inuit people in the Arctic, according to the University of California Riverside ).

Around the 15th century, signs of Norse habitation in the region vanished from the archaeological record. Researchers previously suggested that factors such as climate change and economic shifts likely led the Vikings to abandon Greenland. Now, new findings show that rising seas played a key role, by submerging miles of coastline, according a new study published April 17 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Related: 1,100-year-old 'ceremonial' Viking shields were actually used in battle, study suggests

Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Europe and North America experienced a period of significantly cooler temperatures, known as the Little Ice Age. Under these chilly conditions, the Greenland Ice Sheet  a vast blanket of ice covering most of Greenland  would have become even bigger, Marisa Julia Borreggine, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, said when she presented data at an American Geophysical Union annual conference in New Orleans in December 2021.

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A rectangular digital 3D model showing the topography of part of greenland where it flooded at Viking sites.

As the ice sheet advanced, its increasing heaviness weighed down the substrate underneath, making coastal areas more prone to flooding, Borreggine said. At the same time, the increased gravitational attraction between the expanding ice sheet and large masses of sea ice pushed more seawater over Greenland's coast. These two processes could have driven widespread flooding along the coastline  "exactly where the Vikings were settled," Borreggine said.

The scientists tested their hypothesis by modeling estimated ice growth in southwestern Greenland over the 400-year period of Norse occupation and adding those calculations to a model showing sea level rise during that time. Then, they analyzed maps of known Viking sites to see how their findings lined up with archaeological evidence marking the end of a Viking presence in Greenland.

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Their models showed that from about 1000 to 1400, rising seas around Greenland would have flooded Viking settlements by as much as 11 feet (3.3 meters), affecting about 78 square miles (204 square kilometers) of coastal land, Borreggine said. This flooding would have submerged land that the Vikings used for farming and as grazing pastures for their cattle, according to the models.

However, sea level rise was probably not the only reason the Vikings left Greenland. Other types of challenges can cause even long-standing communities to collapse, and a perfect storm of external pressures  such as climate change, social unrest and resource depletion  may have spurred the Vikings to abandon their settlements for good, Borreggine said.

"A combination of climate and environmental change, the shifting resource landscape, the flux of supply and demand of exclusive products for the foreign market, and interactions with Inuit in the North all could have contributed to this out-migration," she said. "Likely a combination of these factors led to the Norse migration out of Greenland and further west."

Editor's note: Originally published on Dec. 16, 2021, following a presentation at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union. Updated on April 19, 2023, following the study's publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
A funny thing happened to the San Diego Padres after they lost superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. for the entire 2022 season.

Coming off a third-place National League MVP finish, Tatis was expected to power the Padres to the postseason and further cement his status as a franchise icon. Instead, a broken wrist suffered in a motorcycle accident sidelined him into August, just long enough for an 80-game suspension for violating Major League Baseballs performance-enhancing drug policy to hit, striking 2022 from his record altogether.

And the Padres flourished.

They won 89 games, most since 2010, and defeated the 101-win New York Mets and 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers to reach the NL Championship Series, their first playoff conquests since 1998. With slugger Juan Soto now in tow and the steady Ha-Seong Kim holding down shortstop, perhaps Tatis was superfluous to their core.

Yet 20 games into their season, its clear San Diego will most definitely need Tatis when his suspension concludes and he suits up against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday in Phoenix.

A look at how Tatis and the Padres got here, and whats next:

MLB PAYROLLS 2023: Full list of every baseball team from highest to lowest

PAID IN FULL: Who is the highest-paid outfielder in 2023?

Fernando Tatis Jr. signs autographs before a spring training game.

Is this the same team Tatis left?

Tatis last played in a major league game on Oct. 3, 2021, concluding the Padres 79-83 season while capping the San Francisco Giants 107-win campaign.

Jayce Tingler managed that game for the Padres; he was subsequently fired and replaced by Bob Melvin.

Tatis, in the first year of his 14-year, $340 million contract, started at shortstop and expected to hold that position down for at least a decade; San Diego has since signed Xander Bogaerts to a $300 million deal and booted Tatis to the outfield.

And the likes of Wil Myers, Tommy Pham and Jake Marisnick held down corner outfield spots that season; theyve been effectively replaced by Silver Slugger Soto (acquired in an August 2022 trade) and Bogaerts, whose December signing ended Tatis occasionally erratic reign at shortstop.

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On a more intangible level, it is decidedly Manny Machados ballclub.

While Tatis, still just 24, inspired many a highlight reel since his debut as a 20-year-old, it is Machado who has stayed healthy (hes played in 95% of San Diegos games since joining them in 2019) and productive (.847 OPS, 133 adjusted OPS). And now hes guaranteed even more money: San Diego signed him to an 11-year, $350 million deal in February to ensure Machado did not opt out of his previous $300 million pact after this season.

Fernando Tatis Jr. led the NL with 42 home runs in 2021.

What happened to Tatis?

He suffered what was initially described as minor injuries in a Dec. 8, 2021 motorcycle accident in the Dominican Republic, just a week after MLB locked out the players in a labor dispute that would last 99 days.

After a new collective bargaining agreement was reached in March and players reported for an abbreviated spring training, it was revealed Tatis suffered a broken left wrist in the accident  or at least one of perhaps multiple offseason incidents, as Tatis cagily answered. Regardless, surgery was required and the injury was slow to heal.

He was slated to begin a rehab assignment sometime in August, but on Aug. 12, MLB announced that Tatis tested positive for clostebol, a testosterone derivative. Tatis claimed he unknowingly ingested the banned substance in an effort to treat ringworm.

Regardless, his season was over, so Tatis went for the mega-fix, undergoing long-delayed left shoulder surgery in September and then a follow-up procedure in October on his left wrist.

He showed up to spring training healthy and ready to play  yet still needing to serve 20 games of his suspension.

Fernando Tatis Jr. playing with the El Paso Chihuahuas on April 11.

Whats Tatis been up to?

Most recently, pulverizing minor-league pitching.

Tatis crushed seven homers in eight games with San Diegos Class AA El Paso (Texas) affiliate, notching 17 hits in 33 at-bats before the Padres said, Youre good and summoned him back to San Diego.

Hes been working out pregame at Petco Park, but forced to leave before stadium gates open, per terms of his suspension. But he also got in a full spring training, and earned strong reviews for his work in right field.

How have the Padres fared without him?

Not great! Theyre just 9-11 and while winning three of four at Atlanta was impressive, theyve split or lost all their other series. Machado (.590 OPS) and Soto (.194 average, .790 OPS) are underperforming and starters Michael Wacha (6.06) and Blake Snell (6.00) have struggled.

It hasnt helped that San Diego was forced to piecemeal a right field solution while Tatis finished his suspension. A crew largely comprised of Jose Azocar, Rougned Odor, David Dahl and Brandon Dixon have combined for a .441 OPS, 29th among 30 teams in right field productivity.

Tatis can only help that. And Machados defiant words may ring true come summertime.

Id rather have this happen now than down the road, Machado said, per MLB.com, after a home loss to Atlanta on Monday. Don't jump on the bandwagon later on when we start (expletive) raking and we're doing what we're supposed to be doing."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fernando Tatis Jr. returns: Padres' suspended star is back in MLB
The actress and co-founder of Fresh Vine Wine credits ex-boyfriend Ryan Seacrest for teaching her about wine

Lester Cohen/WireImage

Julianne Hough has ex-boyfriend Ryan Seacrest to thank for her love of wine and subsequently, her wine business.

While chatting with Kelly Clarkson on Thursday's episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Hough explained that the American Idol host introduced her to vino while they were together.

"When I was 21, I actually ended up dating your former host and he's very much into wine. He's got a winery in Napa and in Italy," said Hough, now 34, while drinking a glass of her own wine brand, Fresh Vine Wine.

As a self-proclaimed "geek," Hough explains how she enjoyed Seacrest's approach to teaching her about wine. "It was like an education. I love to learn and he taught me all about how to smell, taste and swirl the glass," she said.

The pair met in 2007 when the Dancing with the Stars and American Idol sets were across the hall from each other but started dating in 2011. In an InStyle interview back in 2012, the dancer mentioned the couple's love of wine. "We always have great wine, and I can tell the difference. So I told him, 'You ruined my life because I can't go to a friend's house and drink cheap wine anymore.'"

The pair split in 2013.

Related:Nina Dobrev and Julianne Hough on Being Best Friends and Business Partners: 'We've Grown a Lot'

Hough told Clarkson on Thursday how she didn't have much experience with alcohol before meeting Seacrest because of her Mormon upbringing.

"What was so interesting is that growing up LDS, it was usually associated with partying and getting drunk," Hough said of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This is a sentiment that Clarkson relates to because she grew up Southern Baptist. "When I grew up it was no dancing, no singing," the American Idol alum explains. "Very Footloose."

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People / Getty Images

Related:Elizabeth Banks' Canned Wine Brand  Plus More Celeb-Owned Wines

Nearly a decade after their relationship ended, in 2021, Hough launched a wine company with fellow actress and best friend Nina Dobrev. Fresh Vine Wine offers lower-carb and lower-calorie wine from Napa, Calif. to reflect the friends' "holistic and balanced lifestyles."

When talking to PEOPLE about getting into the wine business, Hough said, "We could also see how people were becoming more health conscious, focusing on their holistic approaches, but they didn't want to compromise on that beautiful experience of a premium tasting wine."

Dobrev continued, "Our wine provides that to the consumer. You don't feel guilty. You can have it and have a good time and also feel good the next day and still work out and still do yoga. It's not one for the other."

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Read the original article on People.
Actress/writer and author Lilly Singh, Fremantle CEO Jennifer Mullin and World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have been added to the roster of speakers attending this years Banff World Media Festival, the event announced on Thursday.

Mullin, who has served as group CEO of Fremantle (part of the RTL Group) since 2018, is confirmed as a keynote speaker as part of Banffs Summit Series lineup. And joining the events In Conversation With sessions is Singh, whose credits include The Muppets Mayhem, The Bad Guys, Dollface and Battle of the Generations, and Bailey and Barbato, the exec producers behind RuPauls Drag Race, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Party Monster and their own streaming service WOW Presents Plus.

More from Variety

Each of these incredible individuals have changed the face of the industry in unique and important ways, said Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director of Banff World Media Festival, in a statement. Jennifer Mullin no doubt will have us rapt with her vision of what it takes to helm one of the worlds global content powerhouses. Lilly Singh is a Canadian-born superstar, and were thrilled to be able to celebrate and explore what drives her talents in front of and behind the screen. And its just impossible to quantify the good that Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have put into the world via the legendary global juggernaut that is Drag Race and many other productions.

They have changed minds and opened hearts and continue to demonstrate that beauty is about authenticity and joy, that love conquers hate, and that despite horrific efforts to the contrary in many places around the globe, the civil rights and human rights of the LGBTQ+ community must be protected, she added.

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The 44th edition of the Banff festival takes place June 11 to June 14 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

The fest, which attracts attendees from more than 50 countries, also features The Rockie Awards International Program Competition and Rockies Gala awards events, as well as fellowships and initiatives including the Banff Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media, the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative and the Indigenous Screen Summit and Pitch Forum.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes rhetoric reached new levels of absurd when she attacked Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) during a hearing on Wednesday at the Capitol.

The Georgia Republican completely derailed the House Committee on Homeland Securitys proceedings by accusing Swalwell of having a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy.

The claim is a wild distortion of Swalwells cooperation with an FBI probe of alleged spy Christine Fang. The Chinese national posed as Swalwells political supporter, and there is no evidence she and the lawmaker had a personal relationship.

Immediately, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) called for Greenes comment to be stricken from the record. Republicans voted to table the measure and let Greene continue her tirade, however.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wildly accused her Democratic colleague of having a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wildly accused her Democratic colleague of having a sexual relationship with a Chinese spy.

Next, Greene targeted Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, claiming his department was responsible for rising fentanyl deaths among young people.

After Mayorkas told Greene that his department was fighting drug traffickers, she called him a liar.

You are killing Americans with your policies, she added.

By that point, even Republicans patience was growing thin.

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) ruled that his Republican colleague had violated the rules of decorum and ordered her words stricken from the record.

Its pretty clear that the rules state you cant impugn someones character, he told Greene. Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee, and I make the ruling that we strike those words.

Recently, Greene defended the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents about the war in Ukraine. On Twitter, she claimed his arrest was part of a conspiracy against white, male, christian[s] who are antiwar.

Watch the full hearing below. Greenes remarks begin at the 2:01:00 mark.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has nominated an internal candidate to serve as the city's next health commissioner.

Michael Totoraitis most recently served as the Health Department's director of health data and evaluation.

Michael Totoraitis has been appointed commissioner of the Milwaukee Health Department by Mayor Cavalier Johnson. His nomination is subject to Common Council confirmation.

In a statement, Johnson cited Totoraitis' experience, education, character and connections across the city as reasons for his nomination.

If confirmed by the Common Council, Totoraitis would replace former Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson, who resigned earlier this year.

Gov. Tony Evers has appointed Kirsten Johnson to serve as secretary of the state Department of Health Services.

More: Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson to resign, prompting another leadership shift

More: Milwaukee health commissioner's resignation came after she was 'publicly shamed' by an alderman

Totoraitis has a doctorate in public and community health from the Medical College of Wisconsin, according to the mayor's office. He worked at Milwaukees Safe & Sound, the citys Office of Violence Prevention, Milwaukee County and the Medical College of Wisconsin before joining the Health Department in a leadership capacity about two years ago.

He was chosen after a national search, according to the mayor's office.

In a statement, Totoraitis thanked his predecessor for giving the department "a clear strategic vision."

The department has seen a series of interim and appointed commissioners since longtime health commissioner Bevan Baker was pushed out in January 2018 after a series of missteps and failures related to treating and notifying lead-poisoned children and problems in the department's cancer screening and family planning programs.

Need more help with mental health questions? The Milwaukee Resource Guide is here to help. Have something you want answered? Submit a question.

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: Michael Totoraitis nominated to serve as Milwaukee health commissioner
Update (4/21/2023): On Thursday evening, Montana Republicans began unofficially icing Rep. Zooey Zephyr out of the legislative process. After a rules committee hearing in which Republicans voted that the Speaker of the House may refuse to recognize any representative at any time, Zephyr posted a photo to Instagram showing that she was requesting to speak, but that Speaker Matt Regier refused to recognize her based on her statements Tuesday.

The right-wing Montana Freedom Caucus released statements from several legislators Thursday, claiming that Zephyrs statements were hate-filled and deeply sickening. The statement again falsely claimed that the legislation then being debated, SB 99, would protect against forced life-altering procedures. The MFC statement also falsely claimed that their motion to censure Zephyr had been overwhelmingly approved by the chamber; Zephyr was not officially censured, as no such vote took place, but is simply not being allowed to speak. Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Theresa Manzella did not immediately return Thems request for comment on Friday.

In an official statement, Zephyr called the Republican silencing gambit fundamentally undemocratic and a direct assault on the principles of our democracy.

I want to be clear: no amount of silencing tactics will deter me from standing up for the rights of the transgender community, Zephyr wrote. This year, I have lost friends to suicide, and I have listened to the heart-wrenching stories of families dealing with suicide attempts, trans youth fleeing the state, and people being attacked on the side of the road  all due to legislation like this. I will not apologize for speaking with clarity and precision about the harm these bills cause."

Montana Republicans say they want an apology, but what they really want is silence as they take away the rights of trans and queer Montanans, Zephyr added. Despite the Montana GOP's refusal to allow me to partake in debate [...] I will continue to punch in on every bill that impacts my constituents. My light is on and I am ready to speak.

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The Montana American Indian Caucus also released a statement to media outlets on Thursday, condemning Republicans and supporting Zephyr. It is our conviction that Rep. Zephyrs statement was not only within the boundaries of legislative decorum, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the Montana Constitution, caucus members wrote, but also within the boundaries of truth  bringing to the Legislature a voice for the voiceless and making noise where the Montana Freedom Caucus would prefer silence.

Original (4/20/2023): Montanas first out transgender lawmaker is hitting back after state Republicans misgendered her and demanded she be censured for speaking out against anti-trans legislation.

Zooey Zephyr, who took office in January, took no prisoners on Tuesday during floor debate over SB 99, which would ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state including puberty blockers. The bill has already passed through the legislature, but lawmakers met again this week to debate amendments proposed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who pressed for a definition of biological sex as necessarily binary and a ban preventing Medicaid or the state Childrens Health Insurance Plan from covering the costs of gender-affirming care.

During debate, Zephyr delivered a fiery speech to her colleagues, calling the prohibitions tantamount to torture and emphasizing the damage such legislation is already doing to trans minors mental health. This body should be ashamed, Zephyr added, drawing a rebuke from House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, who said the Republican caucus will not be shamed by anyone in this chamber.

If you vote yes on this bill and these amendments, Zephyr continued, then I hope the next time theres an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.

On Wednesday, Republican members of the far-right Montana Freedom Caucus went on the attack, calling for Zephyr to be officially censured in a statement posted to Twitter that repeatedly misgendered her, using the pronoun his to refer to Zephyr throughout.

The statement falsely claimed that the legislation protects children against forced life-altering and unnecessary surgeries. In reality, the bill prohibits best-practice trans medicine conducted with informed consent, while making exceptions for non-consensual surgeries performed on intersex youth. The caucus even claimed that statements like Zephyrs are exactly why tragedies such as the Covenant Christian School shooting in Nashville occurred. Republicans and conservative pundits have repeatedly weaponized the shooting over the past month to falsely claim that trans people are dangerous.

Zephyr swiftly fired back on Wednesday afternoon, saying she stood by her remarks and was not worried about the censure demand. It is disheartening that the Montana Freedom Caucus would stoop so low as to misgender me in their letter, further demonstrating their disregard for the dignity and humanity of transgender individuals, Zephyr wrote. Their call for civility and respect is hypocritical given their actions.

House Minority Leader Kim Abbott told ABC News in a statement that the Freedom Caucus demand was blatantly disrespectful, adding, I find it incredibly ironic that these legislators are making demands of others that they refuse to abide by themselves. Rep. Theresa Manzella, chair of the caucus, did not reply to Thems request for comment prior to publication.

Ultimately, I am unconcerned with the Montana Freedom Caucus call to censure me, Zephyrs statement concluded. I stood on the floor to speak on behalf of my community, and as long as I am a member of the Montana Legislature, I will never stop fighting for trans people in my state.

These actions only strengthen my commitment to promoting equality and justice for all Montanans.

Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here.

Originally Appeared on them.
"Algorithms love cliches, and there's no cliche bigger than the quest for the Holy Grail  the most overused MacGuffin ever."

So announces a character in Mrs. Davis, the new Peacock series about a nun on a quest to find the Holy Grail. The adventure-drama from Tara Hernandez (The Big Bang Theory) and Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) is a wonderfully wackadoodle work of meta  featuring a spectacular performance by Betty Gilpin  that never stops winking as it unspools a story about mothers and daughters, forgiveness, faith, and free will.

Sister Simone (Gilpin) lives a peaceful and unplugged life in Reno, Nevada at the Our Lady of the Immaculate Valley convent, run by the warmhearted Mother Superior (Margo Martindale). Unlike almost every other person on the planet, Simone refuses to engage with Mrs. Davis, a powerful AI program that provides users with "gentle guidance, structure, and unconditional care" through their ever-present earpieces. She blames the algorithm for the death of her magician father, Monty (David Arquette), and rebuffs Mrs. Davis' increasingly aggressive efforts to reach her  which are communicated through the AI's loyal user base. But Mrs. Davis will not be denied, and the program ultimately offers Simone a deal: If the nun can find and destroy the Holy Grail, the algorithm will shut itself down for good.

Mrs. Davis

Colleen Hayes/Peacock Jake McDorman as Wiley, Betty Gilpin as Simone on 'Mrs. Davis'

With this just-go-with-it premise in place, Simone embarks on her hero's journey  one that sends her straight into the path of an anti-Mrs. Davis resistance group led by her ex-boyfriend, Wiley (Jake McDorman), and his buff and bombastic Australian buddy, JQ (Chris Diamantopoulos). Their mission to annihilate the powerful AI mother figure brings Simone back in contact with her estranged mom, a withholding engineer named Celeste (Elizabeth Marvel), who is certain Monty is still alive and that Simone knows where he is. In times of extreme stress, Simone turns to her mysterious and loving mentor, Jay (Andy McQueen), who is always there to offer comfort.

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Mrs. Davis is better experienced than explained. The plot is cheerfully, doggedly weird, punctuated by elaborate set pieces (Wiley tests his endurance in Excalibattle, a Hands on a Hard Body-style competition featuring a giant replica of King Arthur's fabled sword), sight gags, and lively action-adventure sequences (a high-seas hunt for a sperm whale who's gone "a bit mental"). Showrunners Hernandez and Lindelof consistently pull the narrative rug out from under viewers with various misdirects, sending Simone and Wiley on a series of oddball detours  all the while poking fun at the very story they're telling. "Don't underestimate just how stupid this gets, sweetheart," quips Wiley, explaining his theory about why Mrs. Davis wants Simone to find the Grail.

Certain key elements of backstory, including the origins of Mrs. Davis and her connection to Simone's father, are held back longer than necessary. Still, the show largely works, simply because Simone's quest for the Holy Grail  MacGuffin or not  is so fun to watch. McDorman and Gilpin crackle with screwball-comedy chemistry, as Wiley and Simone take their bicker-banter around the globe in search of Jesus' cup. Of course, Mrs. Davis is a drama, and it delivers plenty of pathos: Wiley is forced to revisit his lingering heartbreak over Simone, who in turn must come to terms with troubling truths about her dad, as well as her mother's hurtful disapproval.

Gilpin, a seamless comedic actress with vast emotional range, is exceptional. Whether Simone is sniping at Wiley ("Dummy, focus!"), sharing a quiet moment of reflection with Jay, or arguing with an Italian baker over a cake she needs to bring to the Pope, the actress commands our devotion. Gilpin doesn't even need dialogue to dazzle. When Simone finally allows Mrs. Davis to speak to her directly through an earpiece, the camera holds on her face as she listens to the AI, whose voice we never hear. In those 30 seconds, Gilpin delivers a silent monologue with her eyes, which flutter with confusion briefly before welling up with tears of poignant understanding. "Thank you," she whispers at last.

MRS. DAVIS -- "A Baby with Wings, a Sad Boy with Wings and a Great Helmet" Episode 103

Ron Batzdorff/PEACOCK Chris Diamantopoulos on 'Mrs. Davis'

It takes a lot to stand out in an ensemble this good  I haven't even mentioned Evil's Katja Herbers as imposing Grail expert Mathilde, or The Nevers' Ben Chaplin as a brilliant scientist, or Game of Thrones' Tom Wlaschiha as a priest with an agenda  but Chris Diamantopoulos manages to do just that. Strutting through each scene as JQ, a chiseled resistance operative with a burnt sienna complexion and a husky Strine, Diamantopoulos turns every line of dialogue into a tour-de-force of bluster. "Don't give it a name!" he barks at Simone when she refers to Mrs. Davis. "Nobody calls Facebook 'Doug'!" At one point, he and Wiley have a macho standoff in the middle of the desert wearing nothing but their shoes and underwear; it is glorious.

"Your hatred of the algorithm will destroy you," Mother Superior warns Simone. "But love will set you both free." Notes Joy (Ashley Romans), a pivotal figure Simone meets toward the conclusion of her quest, "Oh yeah, algorithms are super dumb." Separate sentiments, sure, but both are programmed deep in to Mrs. Davis' code. Grade: B+

The first four episodes of Mrs. Davis premiere Thursday, April 20, on Peacock.

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The Nieuwe Instituut, The Netherlands' national museum for architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam, presents "Workwear," an exhibition celebrating this category's place in history and its wider cultural impact. Across an archive of classics, from military staples, such as the bomber jacket, to workwear silhouettes of the likes of Levi's 501 denim, the showcase explores the allure of utilitarian designs.

Eldina Begic, the exhibition's Curator, shared in an exhibition statement: "Workwear features clothing that stands for durability and solidarity. It celebrates the inspiring and empowering quality of these clothes, which is often overlooked. And the show is full of surprises in the way it connects workwear to radical ideas in art, design and politics."

Seeking to depict how everyday fashion and haute couture are undoubtedly influenced by this design philosophy, the space includes Maison Martin Margiela's Tabi boots, overalls by Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto and pieces from Helmut Lang's timeless Stellar collection. Other highlights are X-rays of Neil Armstrong's lunar landing suit, along with many other different works exploring the future of clothing.

"Workwear" is open to the public at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam until September 9. Make sure to explore the showcase in the gallery above.

Elsewhere, Louis Vuitton explores the architecture of luxury in its new book, Skin.'

Nieuwe Instituut

Museumpark 25

3015 CB Rotterdam

Netherlands
For the first time since 1964, the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year won the nation's teaching crown.

Tulsa Union High School math teacher Rebecka Peterson was named National Teacher of the Year on Wednesday morning. The Council of Chief State School Officers, the nonprofit overseeing the award program, chose Peterson from a group of five finalists.

Peterson, 35, was announced the winner on the "CBS Mornings" show with Gayle King. The Tulsa teacher said it was a "truly surreal moment" with "a lot of hyperventilating" when she learned she was to receive the national award.

"It feels amazing," Peterson said on the nationwide broadcast. "I'm so grateful to represent this incredibly powerful profession. I think my message to teachers is still like the first two words I learned in English  'Thank you.' As a child I learned from you. I believed in you. I walked alongside you. I still do."

Peterson's students achieved an 87% pass rate on the Advanced Placement calculus exam, significantly above the national average of 47%.

She said the key to academic success is a sense of trust and belonging fostered in the classroom. Peterson said she discusses her Swedish-Iranian immigrant background with her students and encourages them to meet with her one-on-one to share their own stories and struggles.

More: Oklahoman finalist for National Teacher of the Year says cooperation is key to future

Rebecka Peterson, of Union High School in Tulsa, is announced Thursday, March 3, 2022, as the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year 2022 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Without that trust in their teacher, students are "so scared to make mistakes and are so scared to fail, but that's how we learn," she previously told The Oklahoman.

She brought that approach statewide after she won the 2022 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year award. Peterson traveled the state to interview public school educators in her Teachers of Oklahoma campaign.

Everyone has a powerful story to share  listening to the stories of my students, and those of my fellow educators across Oklahoma, has helped me grow personally and professionally, Peterson said in a news release announcing her national award win. I believe that listening to one story after another has an exponential positive impact. It is an honor to be able to share the stories of our countrys brilliant students and dedicated educators as the next National Teacher of the Year.

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Peterson will spend another year out of the classroom as an ambassador of the teaching profession.

"Oklahoma is lucky to have her, and we are happy to share her talents with teachers and students across the country," state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a statement congratulating her award.

She and the other four finalists are expected to meet President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House next week.

Cindy Johnson, of Collinsville High School, left, and Juan Renteria Jr., of Truman Elementary, right, react March 3, 2022, as Rebecka Peterson, of Union High School, is announced as the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year 2022 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

In a pre-recorded video message, the first lady commended Peterson's work and her blog, One Good Thing, which records daily positive moments from the classroom. Jill Biden teaches English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College and is the first of the first ladies to maintain her career with her spouse in office.

"As both an educator and a dedicated journaler myself, I love that you share the beautiful and positive experiences occurring in your classroom to inspire others and capture what it means to be a teacher," Jill Biden said. "Thank you for showing the nation the power, purpose and the joy of our profession. The president and I are so proud of you."

Some of Peterson's former students credited her with the inspiration to become educators themselves. Union alumnus Kayden Kehe told CBS Mornings that Peterson "changed my life" when she recognized a love for teaching in him.

Former student Alyssa Fisher recalled the distinct vulnerability Peterson brought to her calculus class. Now, Fisher occupies Peterson's old classroom at Union with her own group of math students to teach.

"She had the boldness to come up to me and speak into me and said 'Alyssa, you would be so good at this job,'" Fisher said on CBS Mornings. "I just remember thinking about the way that she made me and the rest of her students feel, and its a feeling like no other."

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nurias work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma math educator crowned National Teacher of the Year
Market.Us

The availability of hard kombucha in new distribution channels such as grocery shops, health stores, and online retail has expanded its reach and accessibility to customers. Furthermore, its unique branding and marketing campaigns have helped distinguish it from other alcoholic beverages, attracting a broader audience.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Hard Kombucha Market size is expected to be worth around USD 424.1 million by 2032 from USD 54.6 million in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 23.4% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032.

The fermented tea beverage kombucha is produced through the addition of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) to a sugar and tea solution. Healthy components like antioxidants, B vitamins, organic acids, and traces of alcohol are present in the naturally carbonated beverage that is created by the cultures throughout the week-long fermentation process. It has a slightly sweet-sour flavor. Bacteria, yeast, sugar, and tea are the primary ingredients used to make hard kombucha. The rising consumption of beverages with a moderate alcohol content by consumers, particularly millennials and the younger generation, is what is driving the market demand.

Hard Kombucha Market

To get additional highlights on major revenue-generating segments, Request a Hard Kombucha Market sample report at https://market.us/report/hard-kombucha-market/request-sample/

Key Takeaway:

By product, in 2022, the Hard Kombucha market was dominated by the Plain Kombucha segment due to a change in customer preference towards fermented drinks/beverages with a health caution expected to drive demand for the product.

By Category, the conventional segment dominated the largest market share in Category analysis and accounted for the largest revenue share in the hard kombucha market in 2022.

By Distribution Channel, the offline store's segment dominated the largest market share in end-user type analysis

In 2022, North America dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 45%.

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Factors affecting the growth of the Hard kombucha industry

Several factors can have an impact on the growth of the hard kombucha industry. Some of these factors include:

Increasing distribution channels: Hard kombucha's reach and accessibility to customers have increased as a result of its availability in additional distribution channels, including grocery shops, specialist health stores, and internet retail.

Innovative flavor profiles and branding: To appeal to consumers, several hard kombucha firms develop distinctive and original flavor profiles. Also, hard kombucha is being set apart from other alcoholic beverages and drawing in a wider audience due to branding and marketing initiatives.

Increasing awareness about the health benefits of kombucha: Consumers are increasingly shifting towards healthier beverage options due to the growing health and wellness trend. Because of its probiotic and antioxidant qualities, hard kombucha is recognized as a healthier alternative to regular alcoholic beverages.

To understand how our report can bring a difference to your business strategy, Inquire about a brochure at https://market.us/report/hard-kombucha-market/#inquiry

Market Growth

A few of the elements that have driven the raise of the hard kombucha market include the expanding desire for healthier beverage options, the appeal of low-ABV beverages, the opening up of new distribution channels, as well as innovative flavoring and branding. North America region dominates the market for hard kombucha. The increasing demand for hard kombucha in North America can be attributed to some factors, like the rising requirement for healthy beverages, the presence of numerous players in the market, and increased public awareness of kombucha's health benefits.

Regional Analysis

The North American market for hard kombucha is expected to be the most lucrative, both in terms of revenue and market share, during the period 2022-2032. Customers among Gen Z, millennials, and baby boomers are among those boosting demand in the area. The market's big players are effectively advertising their products. For instance, Colony promoted its hard kombucha in November 2020 by developing a brand identity and packaging system that was rapid and successful. Also, due to their widespread appeal, these drinks have achieved acceptability among both male and female consumers, which will certainly result in an increase in their consumption in the coming year. From 2022 to 2030, the Asia Pacific market is anticipated to develop at the fastest rate among all regions. The market expansion in this area is anticipated to be boosted by rising awareness and product visibility among consumers in countries such as China, Japan, and Australia.

Have Queries? Speak to an expert or Click Here To Download/Request a Sample

Scope of the Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 54.6 million Market Size (2032) USD 424.1 million CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 23.4% North America Revenue Share 45.0% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

Emerging demand in alcohol healthier alcoholic beverages: Customers are searching for healthier alternatives to alcoholic beverages as their awareness of their health grows. Hard kombucha is seen as a healthier option due to its probiotic content and lower calorie and sugar content than conventional beer and wine.

Wide variety of flavors available: Hard kombucha is available in a variety of flavors, which appeals to customers who appreciate variety.

Increasing availability and distribution: Hard kombucha is being offered through both traditional and alternative distribution channels, including health food stores, specialty shops, and mainstream establishments like liquor stores and online retailers.

Market Restraints

High price: Hard kombucha can be more expensive than traditional beer and wine, which may deter some consumers from trying it or making regular purchases.

Low consumer awareness: Although being considered a healthier alternative to traditional beer and wine, hard kombucha competes with several other alcoholic beverages. The scale and stability of the market for these beverages may limit the possibility of hard kombucha gaining market share.

Market Opportunities

The global demand for and awareness of healthy alcoholic beverages gives hard kombucha manufacturers a chance to expand their customers and enter new markets. The hard kombucha market presents opportunities for product innovation, particularly in the development of fresh and original flavors. One strategy for producers to differentiate themselves from the competition is to introduce new products that attract customers looking for interesting and unique possibilities. Partnerships with other food and beverage companies can help in growing the market and distribution of hard kombucha.

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Report Segmentation of the Hard Kombucha Market

Product Insight

The Hard Kombucha market is segmented into Plain and Flavored segments based on the product. The segment of plain kombucha had the biggest market share. Demand for the product is anticipated to be driven by a movement in customer preference towards fermented drinks and beverages with a health emphasis. Probiotic microorganisms included in these beverages help in the treatment of digestive and inflammatory conditions. As a result, major market participants are releasing items to satisfy these needs.

Category Insight

The Hard Kombucha market is segmented into Conventional and Organic, based on category. The conventional segment has a higher revenue share. Regularly brewed hard kombucha is less expensive than organic kombucha. Common ingredients are widely accessible. Due to low prices and easy access to components, the conventional industry is anticipated to acquire the highest proportion of hard kombucha.

Distribution Channel Insight

The market for hard kombucha is divided into online platforms and offline stores based on the distribution channel. The hard kombucha market dominates offline stores as distribution channels because they make their products physically visible and accessible to customers who prefer to buy personally. As e-commerce and online shopping gain popularity, many hard kombucha companies are focusing on developing their online presence and offering direct-to-consumer sales through their websites or online marketplaces.

Recent Development of the Hard Kombucha Market

Hooch Booch, a hard kombucha brand having headquarters in Denver, Colorado, debuted in Minnesota in April 2022.

The "Strange Beast" line of strong kombuchas from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was expanded in June 2021 and now comes in ginger, lemon, and hibiscus flavors.

Lucky Booch, a new line of alcoholic kombucha, was introduced by North KC's Brewery in May 2021. It comes in four flavors: peach flower (4% ABV), lavender lemon (4% ABV), tart raspberry (7% ABV), and hops & passion (7% ABV).

For more insights on the historical and Forecast market data from 2016 to 2032 - download a sample report at https://market.us/report/hard-kombucha-market/request-sample/

Market Segmentation

Based on Product

Plain

Flavored

Based on Category

Conventional

Organic

Based on Distribution Channel

Online Platforms

Offline Stores

By Geography

North America

The US Canada Mexico



Western Europe

Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe



Eastern Europe

Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC



Latin America

Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America



Middle East & Africa

Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the hard kombucha market is evolving quickly, with new players entering the market and existing companies expanding their product offerings. Some of the key players in the hard kombucha market include:

Remedy Drinks

Jiant

Flying Embers

June Shine

Boochcraft

Kyla

Unity Vibration

Hops

Ventura Brewing

Allkind

GTs Living Foods LLC.

Buddha's Brew, Inc.

Kombrewcha

Odell Brewing Co.

Ummi kombucha

Other Market Players

Browse More Related Reports:

Kombucha Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 16.1% over the next ten years and will reach USD 17.2 billion in 2032, from USD 3.86 billion in 2022.

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Carrageenan market accounted for USD 789.94 million in 2021. This market is expected to expand at a 5.5% CAGR, from 2023 to 2032.



Non-alcoholic beverages market in the world was worth USD 857,421 million in 2021. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1% between 2023 and 2032.



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With crowds expected ahead of former President Donald Trump's visit to downtown Fort Myers, police say they will close several roads, although it's unclear which will close.

Kristin Capuzzi, spokesperson for the Fort Myers Police Department, said they will close roads near the Caloosa Sound Convention Center, 1375 Monroe St., ahead of the Lee County Republican Party's 2023 Lincoln Reagan Dinner. The dinner is slated for 6 p.m. Friday.

Joining Trump will be Lee County GOP Chair Michael Thompson, Congressman Byron Donalds, Congressman Greg Steube, and political strategist Roger Stone.

The fundraising dinner is sold out and is not open to the public.

Capuzzi said they don't expect significant traffic impact.

Related: Four things to know about Trump's appearance in Southwest Florida Friday

Related: Trump in Florida: 13 iconic photos from former president's visits to Naples, Fort Myers

Police will also assist with the Fort Myers Music Walk and the Edison Awards for Innovation, which are also happening in downtown Fort Myers Friday night.

Capuzzi said normal parking will be available for the events.

"There will be an increase in manpower for the multiple events that day into the evening," Capuzzi wrote in an emailed statement.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Former President Trump's visit to Fort Myers: Road closures expected
Rust will resume production Thursday in Montana, with work beginning 18 months after actor Alec Baldwin fired a live round which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming in New Mexico. Baldwin will return to the set just two weeks before the start of a court hearing in New Mexico to decide whether he will stand trial for a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter over the October 2021 incident.

Melina Spadone, an attorney for Rust Movie Productions, affirmed that filming would resume at Montanas Yellowstone Film Ranch set. Baldwin settled a lawsuit this past October with the late Hutchins husband, Matt Hutchins, which involved filming restarting with the same actors and with Joel Souza remaining in the directors chair.

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Souza was wounded in the shooting and under the settlement Hutchins would become an executive producer on the film. Bianca Cline, who previously lensed Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, will take over as director of cinematography.

Along with criminally related perils, the incident unleashed civil lawsuits, including one filed in early February by Halyna Hutchins parents and sister, and another filed in late February by three Rust crewmembers claiming PTSD stemming from the on-set incident. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to the above-noted charges of involuntary manslaughter.

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BuzzFeed News Closure Unites Journalists in Disgust: The Hardworking Staffers Pay the Price, as Always
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Its been a rollercoaster of a year for Shawn Spears.

After the birth of his child in January, many fans were curious to know when Shawn Spears might resume in-ring action. And on April 12, they got their answer. During the respective episode of AEW Dynamite, it was announced that Spears would make his long-awaited return the following Friday on AEW Rampage against Jungle Boy Jack Perry. Perry went on to score the victory over Spears.

Before his return was even officially announced, Shawn Speaks spoke with Chris Van Vliet about his hope of being back on AEW television. Amidst the conversation, Spears also opened up about his time away from the ring. I hope [to be back]. I hope. Ive tried, we put some feelers out there and some ideas out there, its just a matter of trying to get the wheels in motion, Spears said. Theyve been very, very good  last year was tough. I lost my mom last August. It was just, we kind of knew it was coming. But then it happened very suddenly. So that was tough, but at the same time, Cassie [Lee] was five and a half, six months pregnant. Its like Im expecting and losing at the same time.

Im in Florida, and Im trying to settle my moms estate. I have no family here, so everybodys home [in Canada]. My family doesnt come from any money. We didnt have anything growing up, so its just a matter of making sure everything is handled and taken care of. My older sister, shes doing a lot of the running around and basically, a lot of them didnt have a chance to mourn. I didnt have a chance to mourn because Im way over here and Im not with them, and then you go home quick. And then you have to get back to your wife. It was just a lot and AEW is very good about kind of allowing me that time.

During his previous hiatus, Spears did make a pair of appearances last fall. On October 12, Spears emerged before his home country of Canada to set up a six-man tag team match with himself and FTR against The Embassy (Bishop Kaun, Brian Cage & Toa Liona). After the men clashed on AEW Rampage in Toronto, Spears issued an emotional promo explaining his absence and his future.

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Reflecting on his promo, Shawn Spears admitted it felt like the most real speech hed ever delivered on the microphone. That got me pretty good but I felt like  and I think I said it  I felt like I owed people an explanation. Its the most real [promo Ive done] and I think its because I was home and because I just felt like being honest. Ive been playing pro wrestler for a very long time, and its been great and its been fun, but Im at that point now where I guess I care but I dont. Im going to say what I want, say what I feel and if people can gravitate towards it, wonderful. If people want to toss it to the side, thats fine too. I think moreso than anything else, Im going to get back to being me.

Spears said he keeps things pretty close to the vest and didnt tell anyone what he was going to say. FTRs Dax Harwood handed him the mic, calling for the hometown boy to speak. Spears said he figured he should tell people why he was gone and it was a very emotional night. He said plenty of people sent him messages about their own personal grief and it was nice to share that with them.

If you use this transcription, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.

The post Shawn Spears Reflects On His Absence From AEW, Emotional Speech In Toronto appeared first on Wrestlezone.
Wyoming transfer guard Noah Reynolds announced Wednesday that he is backing out of his intention to commit to Wisconsin. He has officially reopened his recruitment in the portal.

Reynolds originally stated on April 5 that hed be joining the Badgers in 2023 after spending two seasons with Wyoming. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 14.5 points in his second year with the Cowboys and was expected to give the Badgers a big boost in the backcourt.

Considering the fact that Wisconsin reeled in 6-foot-6 wing AJ Storr from St. Johns on Thursday (April 13), its possible that Reynolds felt like his role wouldnt be what he wanted in Madison.

Although its tough to see him change his mind, Greg Gard and his staff could now acquire an additional asset from the portal, potentially addressing their need for another big man behind Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl.

After consulting with friends and family I have decided that it is no longer in my best interest to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thank you to Coach Gard and the rest of the staff but I will be reopening my recruitment. #respectmydecision  Noah Reynolds (@noahreynolds21) April 19, 2023

Story originally appeared on Badgers Wire
Guy Ritchie's Covenant does not look like it was a fun movie to make. Set during the closing stages of America's military involvement in Afghanistan, the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as U.S. Army Sergeant John Kinley and Danish actor Dar Salim as an Afghan interpreter named Ahmed who are stranded in hostile territory after Kinley's fellow soldiers are killed in an ambush. With Kinley himself injured, Salim's character must literally drag the sergeant through Taliban territory back to safety, placing Kinley in a moral debt to the interpreter.

While director Guy Ritchie is best known for gangster comedies like Snatch and The Gentlemen, the filmmaker is happy to admit The Covenant "isn't funny." It is easy to imagine that the production was similarly laugh-free as cast and crew shot scene after scene in a hot, dusty desert. "Au contraire. It was incredibly pleasant," corrects Ritchie.

"We had a lovely time. We were in Spain. I like Spanish food and I like Spanish wine," he continues. "No, we like Spain. Jake's a wonderful chap. Dar's a wonderful chap. We had a lovely time!"

Dar Salim (left) as Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal (right) as Sgt. John Kinley in THE COVENANT

Christopher Raphael / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Dar Salim and Jake Gyllenhaal in 'The Covenant'

Ritchie, who co-wrote the film's script with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, was inspired to make the movie after watching documentaries about the plight of local interpreters in Afghanistan and Iraq. In many cases, these individuals have been essentially abandoned by American and British authorities after the troops withdrew from the respective countries.

"What I was struck by was the warmth, the sense of brotherhood between the disparate cultures," says the director. "It felt like the correct thing to do would be to honor the tacit or explicit contract. I was taken by the fact that the American administration  for all sorts of reasons, some understandable, maybe some [which] weren't  were [unable] to facilitate their deal to look after their Afghan colleagues."

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Ritchie describes the film's plot as "an amalgam of different stories from Afghanistan and Iraq, both English and American."

"There was a consistent theme of the bond that was fused between the military boots on the ground and the local assistance they received there, and how quickly that bond formed, and the complication of that bond being separated," he continues. "You could feel the pain in both parties not being able to facilitate the contract, tacit or otherwise, of being able to look after their colleagues."

The filmmaker was also attracted to the story and the genre by the same desire to test himself, which led the Brit to direct 2019's Will Smith-starring live-action remake of Aladdin.

"I've made it my business to try to be promiscuous with film," he says. "Having come along with caper-gangster films initially, I'm confident in that sphere, but you want to be challenged as a director. I've tried to cover as many genres of film as I can to keep me stimulated and to enjoy the whole process."

Jake Gyllenhaal (left) and director Guy Ritchie (right) on the set of THE COVENANT

Christopher Raphael / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Jake Gyllenhaal and Guy Ritchie on the set of 'The Covenant'

Ritchie explains that finding his two lead actors was among the most difficult parts of making The Covenant.

"It was a painful process of trying to find the appropriate actors that, A, understand the work and, B, are up for that work," the director says, with a laugh. "That's just a painful process of cherry-picking those that understand the essence of the vision. I've been following Jakes's career for 20 years or so. I've been very keen to work with him and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to collaborate. Dar has an intelligent humanity about him, and he also radiates charisma, so there's a conspiracy of characteristics that move within Dar to make him the perfect guy for that role."

Ritchie seems happy with his casting choices, both for the performances they delivered in front of the camera and for their conviviality away from it.

"They were great fun," he says. "They came with a wonderful attitude and could very swiftly shift from having a conspicuously fun time to being consummate professionals. Some of my darkest moments in filmmaking, 30 seconds before, you're laughing hysterically. You're sure it's going to contaminate the essence of the performance that the actor then has to embody and express. A great actor goes from laughing like a drain to crying a river within 10 seconds. It's an impressive thing to behold when you see that."

Gyllenhaal tells EW that he did indeed have a good time making the movie. "It was physical in different ways, but he has a wonderful crew of people, a true group of professionals who know what they're doing," he says of his director. "We had a lot of fun in between takes and in between set-ups. He knows how to make a real community around him."

Jake Gyllenhaal (left) and director Guy Ritchie (right) on the set of THE COVENANT

Christopher Raphael / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Jake Gyllenhaal and Guy Ritchie on the set of 'The Covenant'

The actors' willingness to roll with Ritchie's ideas was demonstrated when the director came up with a lengthy sequence not in the original script  Ahmed's rescue of Kinley.

"Funnily enough, that journey didn't gestate until I started filming," says Ritchie. "So what we'd do was tack onto the end of every day an extra couple of hours in order to accommodate the journey in all the different environments we were at. That journey was cobbled together over eight weeks of a couple of hours a day in every location we were in."

Ritchie is speaking to EW over Zoom from Turkey, where the prolific director is making his new movie and apparently enjoying that experience as well.

"We are shooting a film that's based on a book called The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare," says Ritchie of the project, which reunites the filmmaker with his The Man from U.N.C.L.E. star Henry Cavill. "[It's] about the first clandestine mission of World War II. We're having a lovely time! As it turns out, Turkish wine is not bad, not bad at all."

The cast of The Covenant also includes Antony Starr, Alexander Ludwig, Bobby Schofield, Emily Beecham, and Jonny Lee Miller. The film is released in theaters this weekend.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

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The climate crisis, community, wars impact on civilians, and the importance of press photography were highlighted by this years World Press Photo Contest global winners.

The four global winners announced Thursday  selected from 24 regional winners, which were chosen from more than 60,000 entries  represent the best photos and stories from the most important and urgent topics of 2022, New York Times photo editor and Global jury chair Brent Lewis said.

They also help to continue the tradition of what it is possible to do with photography, and how photography helps us to see the universality of the human condition, added Lewis, also a co-founder of Diversify Photo.

FILE- Iryna Kalinina, 32, an injured pregnant woman, is carried from a maternity hospital that was damaged during a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, on 9 March 2022. Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday, April 20, 2023, for this harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

The photo of the year was unanimously chosen to go to Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, who documented a 32-year-old injured pregnant woman, Iryna Kalinina, while on assignment for the Associated Press during the siege of Mariupol amid Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Maloletka took a harrowing photograph of Kalinina while she was being carried from a maternity hospital that was deliberately targeted by Russia. The attacks resulted in three deaths and some 17 injuries, an OSCE report concluded.

"I think it is really important that specifically a Ukrainian won the contest showing the atrocities against civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine," he said. "It is important that all the pictures we were doing in Mariupol became evidence of a war crime against Ukrainians, Maloletka told the Associated Press.

FILE- Russian army tanks move through a street on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo Europe Stories Award with this image which was part of a series of images titled The Siege of Mariupol, and won the World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday, April 20, 2023, for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

Serhiy Kralya, a civilian injured during shelling by Russian forces, rests after surgery at a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, on 11 March 2022. Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo Europe Stories Award with this image which was part of a series of images titled The Siege of Mariupol, and won the World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday, April 20, 2023, for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

Janna Goma, right, with her family settle in a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022. Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka won the World Press Photo Europe Stories Award with this image which was part of a series of images titled The Siege of Mariupol, and won the World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday, April 20, 2023, for his harrowing image of emergency workers carrying a pregnant woman through the shattered grounds of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the chaotic aftermath of a Russian attack.

World Press Photo of the Year award winner, Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, looks at his winning image of a pregnant woman being carried through the wreckage of a maternity hospital after a Russian military strike in Mariupol, Ukraine, prior to a press conference announcing the winners in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Thursday, April 20, 2023.

Kalinina, whose baby named Miron was stillborn, died.

With the vote being decided on the first anniversary of the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the jury mentioned the power of the image and the story behind it, as well as the atrocities it shows. The death of both the pregnant woman and her child summarized so much of the war, as well as the possible intent of Russia, Lewis said.

Danish photographer Mads Nissen, a two-time World Press Photo winner, won Photo Story of the Year for his series for Politiken and Panos Pictures, titled "The Price of Peace in Afghanistan," about daily life in Afghanistan in 2022.

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Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan won the Long-Term Project award for "Battered Waters" for VII Photo and National Geographic Society.

Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy won the Open Format award for "Here, The Doors Don't Know Me."

More winning images

Israeli police clash with mourners as they carry the coffin of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in east Jerusalem, on May 13, 2022. Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter who covered the Mideast conflict for more than 25 years, was shot dead two days earlier during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin. Photographer Maya Levin, for the Associated Pres, won the Asia Singles Category of the World Press Photo Contest, announced Thursday, April 20, 2023.

Anton Gladun, 22, lies on his bed at the Third City Hospital, in Cherkasy, Ukraine, on May 5, 2022. Gladun, a military medic deployed on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, lost both legs and his left arm in a mine explosion on March 27. Photographer Emilio Morenatti, Associated Press, was awarded a honourable mention in the Europe category of the World Press Photo Contest.

Camille Fine is a trending visual producer on USA TODAY's NOW team.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Climate, community, war in Ukraine: 2023 World Press Photo Contest
South Koreas presidential office confirmed that the ongoing machine gun bullets, battle tank shell, and reactive armor exports deal to Poland will continue as planned amid controversy after President Yoon Suk Yeol signaled his intentions to send weapons directly to Ukraine if a large-scale attack on civilians is carried out by Russia.

President Yoons comments were strongly criticized by Russian officials saying such actions would definitely ruin Russian-Korean relations.

In Yoon's interview with Reuters, he said that if there were to be a large-scale attack on Ukrainian civilians, a massacre or a serious violation of the laws of war by Russia, that it might be difficult for South Korea to insist only on humanitarian or financial support.

The presidential office immediately clarified that President Yoon was merely referring to a hypothetical situation and explained to reporters what South Korea does in the future will depend on Russias action.

President Yoon is expected to meet President Joe Biden at the White House for his second bilateral summit next week and the two leaders are expected to discuss a shared vision of a strong and deeply integrated U.S.-ROK Alliance that maintains peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, the White House announced on Wednesday.

South Korean companies have begun to wade into the global arms market to fill the gap in the international arms shortage. Last year, South Koreas arms exports rose to a record $17.3 billion and Hanwha Aerospace, the largest defense company in South Korea, accounts for more than half of overseas arms exports in the country, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.

PHOTO: Hanwha Aerospace is the largest defense contractor, March 16, 2023, in Changwon, South Korea. (ABC News)

In the case of Poland, South Korea currently exports tanks, fighter jets, howitzers and multiple rocket launchers as Poland has been sending its conventional weapons to Ukraine.

The arms exported to Poland include 180 K2 main battle tanks by Hyundai Rotem and Hanwha Aerospaces 672 K9 A1 self-propelled howitzers. The first 24 of Hanwhas howitzers were delivered to Polands soil last December while the company looks for ways to manufacture a portion of their product in Poland as well.

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We have 10 K2 tanks and 24 K9 howitzers on Polish soil. I emphasize that this is only the first batch of equipment that is to be delivered to Poland. There will be more deliveries next year, Mariusz Baszczak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense said during the collection of equipment from South Korea last December.

It took less than half a year for Hanwha Aerospace to land an export deal and deliver the product to Poland -- an unprecedented speed in signing and executing an arms contract since it is a process that normally takes four to five years. For Hanwha, it was the largest order from overseas.

PHOTO: Hanwha Aerospace's Multiple Rocket Launcher Chunmoo runs for a test drive, March 16, 2023, in Changwon, South Korea. (ABC News)

The Ukrainian war is draining inventory of conventional weapons, such as self-propelled guns, missiles, and shells, which are most commonly used in actual war. Since major weapons-producing countries like the U.S. and Germany have reduced production lines for conventional weapons, it will take years to meet the demand, but South Korea was ready, Chae Woo-suk, the president of the Korea Defense Industry Association, told ABC News. Poland imported new weapons to defend themselves from South Korea to cover the short supply after they have exhausted a lot of old existing weapons supporting the Ukrainian war.

A subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, Hanwha Aerospace provides most howitzers and fighting vehicles for the countrys military. As one of the few countries in the world that is technically still at war, South Koreas arsenal companies have been maintaining and upgrading the conventional weapons production to equip the more than 3.6 million army personnel.

Despite playing second fiddle in the arsenal industry to companies in the West, South Korean companies like Hanwha have a comparative advantage in their production capabilities. Hanwha explained their biggest advantage is that they can meet the demands in a shorter period of time because they are relatively free from the global logistics disturbance when assembling their howitzers and war vehicles. For instance, 92% of Hanwhas K9 howitzer parts are manufactured within South Korea.

PHOTO: Hanwha Aerospace's K9 Howitzer stands for a driving test, March 16, 2023, in Changwon, South Korea. (ABC News)

Our strong local manufacturing ecosystem has enabled us to be a key player providing high-quality weapon systems like our artillery and armored vehicles. And localization rate reaches over 80%, Dae-young Kim, Executive Vice President of Hanwha Aerospace told ABC News. Many thought that conventional weapons like battle tanks and artillery systems do not necessarily belong to the battle environment in the 21st century. But as seen in the Ukraine war, the artillery capabilities still play an essential role, and Hanwha Aerospace has strength in providing them.

Hanwhas export deal with Poland has expanded its production line in Changwon and around 50 more workers were committed to the K9 Howitzer production in March to increase production capacity to meet export demand.

It takes approximately 100 days to complete one K9 howitzer-starting from laying the foundation plate and running a road test, production manager Cha Yong-su at Hanwha Aerospace Changwon manufacturing plant, told ABC News. Skilled workers as well as the automated robots who enable the hectic schedule.

The South Korean government has reiterated its official position that they will not send Ukraine any direct lethal aid in the midst of the current controversy.

South Korea exporting arms to Poland amid controversy over lethal aid to Ukraine originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The Louisiana chapter of the Americans for Civil Liberties Union released an open letter Wednesday criticizing Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landrys call for increased regulation of content in public libraries.

Landry released a report in February on what he called sexually-explicit content in Louisianas public libraries and called for the legislature to pass new regulations that would require libraries to create a new card system that would allow parents to indicate whether their children could check out explicit materials.

Our First Amendment rights to read, explore, and debate new ideas is about more than principle, ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Alanah Odoms said in a statement. A free exchange of ideas is crucial to understanding our history and charting our path for the future. The ACLU of Louisiana offers this letter as an informative resource to those pushing back against censorship in their communities and the intolerance and exclusion that underlies it.

More:Louisiana AG releases report on 'sexually-explicit' content in public libraries

The report listed some of the books that were considered to be explicit, with several of them being about LGBTQ+ issues. Landry has repeatedly rebuffed claims that his stance is not about limiting expression of certain viewpoints, but is instead about keeping potentially explicit material and images from minors.

Many LGBTQ+ organizations in Louisiana have been critical of the move, with the Louisiana Trans Advocates saying in a statement that the potential regulations would chip away at our citizens' Freedom of Speech."

In the open letter, the ACLU of Louisiana offered information about the U.S. Constitutions protections against censorship and viewpoint discrimination. The letter also has some information about some of the books listed in Landrys report and how they deal with LGBTQ+, gender or racial issues.

We still grapple with the legacy of oppression against Black and Brown people, women and girls, and LGBTQ+ individuals, Odoms said in the statement. Suppressing information about these ideas opens the door to suppression of any others that politicians dont like. And for countless LGBTQ+ youth who face bullying, isolation, and depression in their communities, representation in books and literature can be a lifesaving refuge.

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What education topics are on the agenda for Louisiana's legislature in 2023?

Public libraries are places where young people should be able to learn about themselves and people who are different from themselves, not denied access to the diverse perspectives that books and art offer us all, Odoms said.

A bill based on Landrys recommendations has been filed for the upcoming legislative session. In addition to the card system, Senate Bill 7 by Republican Rep. Heather Cloud of Turkey Creek would require that libraries consider the community standards for the population served by the library when accepting a donation or buying materials.

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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana ACLU criticizes proposed regulations for public libraries
The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocates have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee over the state's controversial ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, the organization announced Thursday.

The suit was filed on behalf of three Tennessee families  Nashville residents Samantha and Brian Williams and their 15-year-old transgender daughter L.W.; Rebecca Roe and her 15-year-old son Ryan; and anonymous parents of a 12-year-old son. The plaintiffs also include Memphis-based Dr. Susan Lacy, who provides gender-affirming care for her patients.

Gov. Bill Lee last month signed into law the state's total ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender children, despite threats of lawsuits and pushback from major medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which support gender transition health care as evidence-based medicine.

Related: Gov. Bill Lee signs ban on gender-affirming care for minors, drag restrictions into law

The law bans medications such as puberty blockers and hormone treatments for children who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Surgeries are also banned, though they are rare in Tennessee. The law goes into effect in July, while children who currently take medications will have until March 31, 2024 to cycle off the treatment.

In the lawsuit, the families of transgender children say they would be forced to leave the state to continue receiving what they say is life-saving health care.

Samantha Williams said her daughter, L.W., struggled with constant anxiety from gender dysphoria that she feared would grow worse as she went into male puberty. The family at the recommendation of L.W.'s pediatrician and therapist met with a team of doctors at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in 2021. They opted to start puberty-delaying medications for L.W. after a series of tests and discussing the risks and possible side effects.

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Related: Tennessee legislature passes ban on gender-transition health care for minors

She said her daughter is now happy and thriving, and her mental health has improved.

I am so afraid of what this law will mean for her," Samantha Williams said in a statement. "We dont want to leave Tennessee, but this legislation would force us to either routinely leave our state to get our daughter the medical care she desperately needs or to uproot our entire lives and leave Tennessee altogether. No family should have to make this kind of choice.

State lawmakers who supported the ban said it protects children who lack the maturity to make "life-altering" medical decisions before they become adults.

The ACLU, however, argues that the ban violates the constitutional rights of adolescents and their parents and will cause severe and irreparable harm.

L.W. in a statement said she wants the law to be struck down so that she can have the freedom to live her life. The teen has been taking her medication for almost two years and is scared that her body will undergo unwanted, permanent changes if the ban is enforced, according to the lawsuit.

I dont even want to think about having to go back to the dark place I was in before I was able to come out and access the care that my doctors have prescribed for me, she said.

The suit names Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, along with the Tennessee Department of Health and other state defendants. Elizabeth Lane, a spokesperson for Skrmetti, said the office has not yet been served with the lawsuit but looks forward to reviewing the complaint.

"Mounting evidence has persuaded a growing number of countries that irreversible medical interventions are not appropriate for kids showing symptoms of gender dysphoria," she said in a statement. "The Tennessee General Assembly passed a law to protect Tennessee children from the lifelong consequences of these interventions, and we will vigorously defend that law."

The lawsuit asks a judge to declare that the ban violates the plaintiff's rights to due process and equal protection under the law. The suit also seeks an injunction to prevent the state from enforcing the ban.

Families of transgender youth, like every family, do everything they can to love and support their children and keep them safe," Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, ACLU-TN staff attorney, said in a statement. "They spend years discussing gender-affirming care with medical professionals and only proceed when such care is medically necessary. For them, its not about politics  its about the freedom to access vital, life-saving healthcare for their families."

Dr. James McKenzie, a Nashville psychiatrist who treats children with gender dysphoria, said the state law is not in line with the standard of care and the recommendations of major medical organizations in the U.S.

For the population of patients who deal with this, theyve got among the highest risk of suicide of any psychiatric patients, McKenzie said. So any law thats going to limit the treatment available to help them runs the risk of increasing the suicide rate for kids in Tennessee.

Melissa Brown and Frank Gluck contributed to the report.

Reach Kelly Puente at kpuente@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: ACLU sues Tennessee over ban on gender-affirming care for minors
Future Market Insights Global and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Hard Seltzer has a Significant Market Share Globally and is Gaining Steam among Millennials and Gen Z due to its Various Formulations, Flavors, and Taste Offerings. United States is fragmented with Subsequent breweries which are likely to contribute to a market value of US$ 17,240.0 million by 2023

NEWARK, Del, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The hard seltzer market is growing at an unprecedented pace and is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 76.87 billion by 2033, with a projected CAGR of 16.46% between 2023 and 2033.



Key Takeaways from the Hard Seltzer Market

The growing demand for hard seltzer can be attributed to various factors, including the drink's low-calorie content, refreshing and light taste, and the increasing popularity of low-alcohol drinks.

The hard seltzer market is particularly appealing to millennials and Gen Z consumers, who prioritize low-calorie and light beverages. Additionally, the expansion of consumer cultural groups and social status, the growing use of social media, and advancements in brewing technology have all contributed to the growing popularity of hard seltzers.

Find a comprehensive report summary that describes the market size and forecast along with the research methodology. The Sample report is available in PDF format @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-17027

The hard seltzer market is segmented based on ABV content, with 5.0% to 6.9% ABV hard seltzers generating the most revenue, accounting for over 52% of the market share in 2022. However, the sales of 1.0% to 4.9% ABV hard seltzers are projected to increase at a CAGR of around 24% between 2023 and 2032. It is due to the growing awareness of general well-being and the trend of moderation, particularly in the United States.

The bottle segment is expected to record a CAGR of 3.4% due to low processing costs and easy handling. Glass bottles are a popular option due to their recyclability, reusability, and durability.

The off-trade distribution channel segment is the leading segment, generating over 71.0% of global hard seltzer market sales in 2022. The segments growth in 2022 was due to factors such as the well-established infrastructure of hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and wine and spirit shops.

The on-trade distribution channel segment is projected to expand at a rate of more than 23.5% from 2022 to 2030, fueled by bars, clubs, hotels, and lounges.

Europe is expected to see a CAGR of 8.3% from 2021 to 2028 in the hard seltzer market due to various factors. These factors include the growth of new small microbreweries and the decreasing overall alcohol content and the harmful use of alcohol in the region

The United States has a fragmented market with a large number of breweries, leading to a market value of $17,240.0 million by 2023. The success of the hard seltzer market in the United States is due to multiple product launches, a diverse product portfolio, and easy availability.

Asia-Pacific region presents an exciting opportunity for hard seltzer manufacturers, with China, Japan, and India consuming more hard seltzers than other countries in the region.





Story continues

Talk with our analyst and get the complete information of report now@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-17027

Competitive Landscape

The global hard seltzer market is highly consolidated, with both large and small companies dominating the market. To remain competitive, several players are pursuing various vertical and horizontal growth strategies. These strategies include new product launches, technological innovation, and mergers and acquisitions to diversify their product offering and expand their geographical presence.

Latest Developments:

The first global marketing campaign was launched in April 2021 to capture unscripted, momentary content encouraged by Mark Anthony Brands' White Claw in collaboration with various groups of creators across the United States and worldwide.

Fellr, an Australian brand, launched two flavors of alcohol seltzer made in Australia in May 2020: Lime & Soda and Dry & Lime.

Smirnoff Seltzer launched in the United Kingdom in June 2020. This hard seltzer is available in two flavors in the United States: Smirnoff Seltzer Raspberry and Rhubarb and Smirnoff Seltzer Orange and Grapefruit.





Key Companies Profiled

Heineken N.V., Carlsberg A/S, United Breweries Holdings Limited, Devans Modern Breweries Ltd., Diageo PLC, Carlsberg India Pvt. Ltd., Anheuser-Busch InBev., B9 Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Crown Hard Seltzers India Limited (AB InBev), Radico Khaitan Ltd., Beijing Enterprises Holdings Limited, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Inc., Squatters Pubs and Craft Hard Seltzers, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., The Boston Hard Seltzer Company, Inc.

Grow your profit margin with Future Market Insights - Buy the report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/17027

Key Segments

By ABV Content:

1.0% to 4.9%

5.0% to 6.9%

Others



By Packaging:

Metal Cans

Bottle

By Distribution Channel:

Off-trade

On-trade

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ)

Japan

The Middle East & Africa (MEA)





Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | Hard Seltzer Market

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.1.1. Drivers

3.1.2. Restraints

3.1.3. Opportunity

3.1.4. Trends

View Full Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/hard-seltzer-market

Explore FMIs related ongoing Coverage on Food and Beverage Domain

Alcohol Ingredients Market Size: The market for Alcohol Ingredients is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% over the forecasted time period. According to projections, the industry would be worth US$ 2,497.2 Million by 2032.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase Enzymes Market Share: The Alcohol Dehydrogenase Enzymes market is valued at USD 695.8 Million in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, to reach a value of USD 1,302.0 Million by 2032.

Industrial Alcohol Market Value: The global industrial alcohol market size is set to be valued at US$ 110.3 Bn in 2022 and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2022 to 2032. The global market is projected to reach US$ 194.7 Bn by 2032.

Alcoholic Ice Cream Market Trends: The global Alcoholic Ice Cream market is expected to witness a market value of US$ 566.8 Million in 2023 and is expected to accumulate a market value of US$ 1,958.6 Million by registering a CAGR of 13.2% in the forecast period 2023 to 2033.

Citrus Alcohol Market Demand: The global citrus alcohol market is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 1,272 million in 2023. The market is anticipated to accelerate with a CAGR of 7.9% during the forecast period. By 2033, the valuation is projected to cross US$ 2,276.9 million.

About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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Plus, where to eat and stay during your visit.

courtesy of Virginia Tourism

Many people come to Sperryville as a way in and out of Shenandoah National Parkperhaps seeing it as an exit ramp, albeit naturally beautiful exit ramp, rather than as a destination unto itself. But the tiny, blink-and-you-miss-it town, packs a punch for those who choose to stay for the day rather than just pass through, or, better yet, set their sights on the town as a destination unto itself.

Sperryville is a jumping off point for the wealth of the Shenandoahs outdoor glories and hums with restaurants so good their reputations travel far beyond the lips the towns population of just 291. Its also here that youll find a slew of Virginias wineries and can dip your toes into the northern end of the Souths great distilling legacy. Just under two hours from Washington, DC, and touching the Skyline Drive, Sperryville is begging to be explored.

courtesy of Virginia Tourism

What To Do

Hit The Trails

Whether you want a short meander into nature or are looking for an all-day adventure, there are endless hiking possibilities in and around Sperryville and trails for hikers of all interests and ambitions. For those looking to properly earn their dinner, the Hazel River Trailhead offers a challenging 12.7 out-and-back trail, and the 7.5 mile Little Devil Stairs Loop rewards climbers with several waterfalls and sweeping vistas. Right off Sperryvilles main street (the Sperryville Pike), the Rappahannock Walking Trail is a good option for those looking for a stroll rather than a sweat.

Go For A Scenic Drive

For those looking for something a little more languid that still doesnt skimp on the views, there is nothing better than a slow sojourn on the Skyline Drive. 105-miles in total, the iconic drive winds its way through the Shenandoah National Park with overlooks at the more scenic curves looking out on the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. Enter or exit at Sperryville and make time for pictures or a picnic at Hazel Mountain Overlook and Thornton Hollow Overlook.

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courtesy of Virginia Tourism

Sample Local Libations

Virginias wine business accounts for a staggering $5 billion. But whats more, besides their blends and pours, the wineries around Sperryville draw in visitors and locals alike for their vineyards with views. While in Sperryville, make time for Quievremont Vineyard & Winery, Glen Manor Vineyards, and the slightly further away (about a 25 minute drive) Chester Gap Cellars. For those less wine inclined, visits to Pen Druid Fermentation, which makes native beers and natural ciders, and Copper Fox Distillery, which concocts bourbons, brandies, and ryes, are musts

Shop The Best Of The Shenandoah Valley

Sperryvilles compact Corner Store is what small town dreams are made of. Stop in for local produce, fresh breads, pies, and quiches, and an expertly curated selection of wines from Virginia and beyond. For a larger selection of in-season produce, head to Waterpenny Farm, which has been growing and selling organic produce for over twenty years. Possums Store Art and Artisan Gallery (a 20-minute drive away) is a must for anyone looking for unique hand-crafted pieces. Occupying the space of the former 19th century general store, Possums peddles the wares from talented local artists and makers.

Brigitte Renee Photography Pheasant Confit, White Asparagus Creme, Grapefruit Beurre Blanc from Three Blacksmiths

Where To Eat

Planning a memorable meal while in Sperryville is an activity that should not be taken for granted. Even if Sperryville were ten times its size, its dining options would be impressive.

There is nothing quite to rewarding following a long Shenandoah hike as a celebratory cocktail at FRANCIS and a pie Rappahannock Pizza Kitchen, both of which are next to the Corner Store. But you dont have to stay in that building for a great meal.

A few buildings down youll find The Three Blacksmiths, a twenty-seat husband-and-wife run restaurant that serves a fixed menu of local and seasonal dishes in a candlelit space. Thanks to its size and ardent following, getting a reservation here can be tricky but check for last-minute availability.

Five minutes down the road youll find the Restaurant at Blue Rock Inn where its four-course tasting menu by Bin Lu, formerly of Washington, D.C.s much-lauded restaurant, Pineapple & Pears, is paired with local and international wines. Patrick OConnell three Michelin starred restaurant at the Inn at Little Washington is just down the road as well.

courtesy of Virginia Tourism Blue Rock

Where To Stay

Perhaps the most well-known place to stay in the area is The Inn at Little Washington, which is about a five-minute drive away from Sperryvilles Main Street. A stay here is nothing short of legendary, but if the price tag punches too high, Blue Rock, a genteel and modern take on a country inn, located on eighty acres of vineyards and rolling hills might just be the ticket. For charming B&B options right in town, try Hopkins Ordinary and The Inn at Mount Vernon Farm.



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Read the original article on Southern Living.
Its not a surprise anymore when prominent politicians focus their energies on rabble-rousing culture war battles instead of doing the hard stuff of governing, but we still feel compelled to point out when Kansas and Missouri leaders actively mislead their constituents.

That brings us to Sen. Roger Marshall, the Kansas Republican, and his Twitter feed.

Like many conservatives, Marshall has lately made a big deal about proposed new federal regulations for gas stoves being offered by the Biden administration. The rules would simply mandate that new stoves for sale meet more stringent environmental and safety standards than the models currently on the market  but the Fox News set has treated this as a fresh opportunity for demagoguery. They havent quite resorted to youll take my stove from my cold, dead hands sloganeering, but theyve come awfully close.

Certainly, thats what Marshall seemed to suggest this week. On Tuesday, he linked to a report about his role in a group of Republican senators challenging the proposed regulations. And he posted this commentary:

I dont know about you, but Im certainly not inviting the Department of Energy into my home to inspect my kitchen appliances. #GOVERNMENTOVERREACH

With that tweet, Marshall painted a picture of government agents invading private residences to ensure that gas stoves conform to the Biden administrations standards. And that would be alarming if that was really what we could expect to happen. But its simply not true.

Just to be sure, we reached out to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is formulating the new rules. The department confirmed that the gas stove regulations would apply only to new products and only at the point of manufacture. There will be no home invasions by jack-booted agents terrifying your family because you like to cook over an open flame.

The Department of Energy proposes efficiency standards all the time  for lightbulbs, washers and dryers, refrigerators, and more, a spokesman said in a written statement. Does it mean theyre coming to ban those appliances? Of course not.

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Thats right. The stove you have in your home has almost certainly met the federal standards that already exist for such appliances. Have you seen a federal inspector in your house to look at your stove, ever?

No?

There is nothing different about this new round of regulations  except that some Republicans, including Marshall, see an opportunity to frighten their constituents.

We think there are good reasons for adopting new, better standards to regulate gas stoves in the United States. Studies suggest that the appliances often leak harmful fumes into the homes they serve, harming the health of family members and pets. There is reason to believe the new standards will save American consumers on energy costs.

But reasonable people can disagree about the issue. Whats not reasonable, however, is for Marshall to mislead and frighten the Kansans who look to him for responsible leadership.

He is far from the only regional GOP leader guilty of such demagoguery. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday blamed President Joe Biden for the protests that sprung up following the Kansas City shooting of teenager Ralph Yarl. Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt regularly fulminates on Twitter about climate alarmists despite the very real threats posed by climate change. And Sen. Josh Hawleys social media feed seems designed to keep his followers in a near-constant state of high dudgeon. Its exhausting.

Among our most prominent local Republicans, only Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas seems to have an interest in the nitty-gritty details of governing. His Twitter feed is filled with boring, normal topics such as the new Amelia Earhart museum in Atchison, Veterans Administration policies and even the rules surrounding organ transplants. He rarely tries to provoke his followers. And thats quite a relief.

Marshall, unfortunately, has not decided to follow the example of Kansas senior senator. Instead, he decided this week to unnecessarily frighten his constituents. He may profit from such demagoguery, but Kansans wont.
The Oregon Ducks landed the top-ranked player from Idaho during the 2023 class with ATH Kenyon Sadiq, one of the 100 best players in the nation.

It appears that they are going back to the well, and recent news shows that they are in a good spot to get Idahos best once again in the 2024 class.

On Sunday night, 4-star WR Gatlin Bair revealed his top five schools, keeping the Ducks in the mix along with a handful of others. Bair is rated as the No. 1 played in Idaho, as well as the No. 40 overall player in the nation, and the No. 9 WR in the 2024 class.

Bair took a visit to Eugene earlier this year, and will likely find his way out to Oregon again this summer before making his ultimate decision.

Gatlin Bairs Recruiting Profile

Twitter

BREAKING: Four-Star WR Gatlin Bair is down to 5 Schools! The 62 185 WR from Burley, ID is ranked as a Top 85 Player in the 24 Class. Bair ran a 10.18 100m at the Texas Relays  Where Should He Go?https://t.co/AFmenEMR0m pic.twitter.com/tUpH4apRdY  Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 17, 2023

Ratings

Stars Rating State Position 247Sports 4 95 ID WR 247Sports Composite 4 0.9538 ID WR Rivals 4 5.8 ID WR ESPN 4 84 ID WR On3 Recruiting 4 92 ID WR

Vitals

Height 6-foot-2 Weight 180 pounds Hometown Burley, Idaho Projected Position Wide Receiver Class 2024

Recruitment

Offered by Oregon Ducks on May 18, 2022

Visited Oregon on February 23, 2023

Top Schools

Oregon Ducks

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Michigan Wolverines

Boise State Broncos

TCU Horned Frogs

Highlights

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) endorsed former President Trumps 2024 White House bid on Wednesday, following Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) meeting with House Republicans in Washington the day before.

If we want to get our economy back on track, Donald Trump is just the guy to get it done, Buchanan said in a statement. From lowering taxes to protecting our borders to promoting America-first trade deals, President Trump has done it before and will do it again.

A source close to Buchanan said Trump personally called the congressman about the endorsement and invited him to dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday night.

Buchanan, who serves as the chair of the Florida delegation, is the latest Republican from the Sunshine State to back the former president, even as their home-state governor appears likely to launch a competing presidential bid.

Seven of the 20-member Florida Republican delegation have endorsed Trump: Buchanan and Reps. Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, John Rutherford and Greg Steube.

One member  Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.)  announced on Tuesday that she would back DeSantis. She is the third member of Congress to preemptively endorse the Florida governor.

Texas Rep. Lance Goodman (R) also announced his endorsement for Trump on Tuesday, after meeting with DeSantis.

I met with Governor DeSantis, and while he has done commendable work in Florida, there is no doubt in my mind that President Trump is the only leader who can save America from the leftist onslaught we are currently facing, Goodman tweeted.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
David Wolfe, fashion trend forecaster, artist and former creative director at The Doneger Group, passed away at his home in Visalia, California, on April 17 due to natural causes related to Parkinsons Disease. Wolfe was 82.

Everybody loved David, said Abbey Doneger, chief executive officer of The Doneger Group, the research, consulting, trend and merchandising firm. He was kind, interested, interesting, supportive, a mentor for many people throughout the industry, whether it was a young person in college or a senior business leader.

More from WWD

As the creative director of our company for 25 years, he was instrumental in the growth of our business and was a leader internally, Doneger added. Not only was he a great trend forecaster, but he was involved in all aspects of our business, from making presentations and leading seminars to taking on big projects with our corporate clients. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion and designers that he articulated in his presentations. They were always entertaining and really informative.

Wolfe was widely quoted in the media and routinely outspoken on fads and future trends. He would tackle subjects as varied as aging, demographics, shifting fashion silhouettes and color comebacks. He was equally adept at critiquing a spring season of graphic prints and ultralight fabrics to predicting the future for artificial intelligence and robotics, and in many cases, his predications came years before a trend or technology was widely adopted or discussed. Fashion insiders from every level of the industry consulted with him regularly.

Wolfe was born in Cleveland. As a child, he was interested in fashion. The Cleveland Plain Dealer once quoted him as saying: When I was in the second grade, I got into serious trouble. I not only said I wanted to be a dress designer, but I drew a picture of a hula girl with a navel. I guess I knew low-risers were coming.

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His first job was in the advertising department of Carlisles, which sold hard and soft goods, where he rose to fashion director. His interests in fashion and art, as well as travel, led him to relocate to London during the Swinging 60s. It was there that he paved his way to a career as a fashion illustrator, working for high-end designers, manufacturers and retailers. His illustrations were featured in such periodicals as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and WWD.

In the 80s, Wolfe traveled extensively and lectured frequently. His interests also led him to edit fashion magazines. Eventually, he joined The Doneger Group, where he cemented his career as a top forecaster.

Upon retiring in late 2017, Wolfe returned to his first childhood hobby, paper dolls. He illustrated more than 20 paper doll books that were published.

Wolfe is survived by his husband, Francisco Murillo; his sister, Sally Biondi, and his three children, Lynette Seebeck, Nicole Smith and Zack Wolfe.

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Click here to read the full article.
At a hearing Wednesday in which witnesses discussed the atrocities that Russians in Ukraine have reportedly committed  including using rape as a weapon of war and indiscriminately bombing civilian targets  one GOP congressman used his time to ask about President Joe Bidens son Hunter.

The query so angered one of his Democratic colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that he used his time to say he was horrified and disgusted by it.

Its sickening. Its disrespectful. This is not about Hunter Biden, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) said in response to Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perrys remark.

This is about Vladimir Putin. Its about genocide. Its about depravity. And its about war crimes. Thats why were here.

Perry is chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservatives and libertarians within the larger House Republican conference that prides itself on pushing the Republican Party ever further to the right.

At the hearing, Andriy Kostin, Ukraines prosecutor general, said the country was investigating about 80,000 reports of war crimes, including the kidnapping of about 20,000 Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia. He asked for continued U.S. logistical and financial support for the prosecution efforts.

Some House Republicans, especially among Perrys group, have been skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine. Republicans leading presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, has mused that he would have allowed Russia to keep some of Ukraines land in exchange for ending the war, a position Ukrainians overwhelmingly oppose.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday.

Perrys question, which appeared to catch Kostin off-guard, came the same day another Republican, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), had also invoked the Biden family in an unrelated hearing  and yet another high-profile Republican had disrupted an immigration hearing.

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The presidents family will wish they had thought of Switzerland, Comer said at an Oversight Committee hearing on the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, in a reference to the notorious reputation Switzerland has for bank secrecy.

Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) was reprimanded at a Homeland Security hearing for calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a liar, in violation of the decorum that is supposed to be afforded to witnesses.

Perry started his tangent by listing incidents of alleged Ukrainian corruption dating back to 2011, then said an investigation into the gas company Burisma had been halted because the CEO could not be found.

But we probably can locate Hunter Biden, he said, a reference to the younger Bidens work for the company.

What is your offices position that Burisma needs further investigation, Perry asked Kostin, and will you commit to investigating Burisma to the full extent, no matter what pushback you get and no matter who you need to call as a witness, including Americans that might be involved in the corruption and malfeasance and loss and theft of taxpayer money in your country?

After what had been an otherwise sympathetic hearing for about two hours up to that point, Kostin, the Ukrainian prosecutor, took almost 10 seconds to finally respond to Perrys question. He did so slowly, with his arms crossed.

Congressman, you started with the dates and facts. I will add one date and fact: March 2023, Kostin said.

Thats when the Council of Europes Group of States Against Corruption said that Ukraine had made enough progress to be taken off its blacklist of nations with severe corruption issues. Kostin added that a new director of a national anti-corruption bureau had also been named.

With regard to the case you have mentioned, its not, unfortunately, the topic of our committee hearing, so I am not entitled at the moment to give you more information about this case, Kostin said.

The next questioner, Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), took a shot at Perry, who had already left his seat on the committee dais by then.

I believe that you were just subjected to a diatribe from somebody who didnt actually hear the testimony earlier today, which is a shame, she told Kostin.
UCG / Universal Images Group - Getty Images

Salmon is beloved around the world for its rich flavor and health benefits . But if you buy a lot of it, be warned that the fish will probably become even more of a delicacy this year, especially wild-caught salmon. The nutrient-dense fish will come at a steep price if salmon fishing is closed this year in California, which is likely.

Based on low population forecasts for Klamath River and Sacramento River Chinook salmon this fall, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is recommending the cancellation of salmon fishing in California and a small portion of Oregon for the 2023-2024 season, which begins May 16. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must approve the proposal by May 15. This is very likely to happen, given they already took in-season actions to halt most salmon fishing south of Cape Falcon, Oregon, until then.

So what does this mean for your salmon dinners ? For one, theyll likely become more expensive.

California is really good at growing food and providingnutritionally valuable food to the American peoplesalmon is one of them, said Robin Ehlke, the PFMCs staff officer for salmon fishery management. I think it will definitely be noticed that salmons not part of anybodys meal plan.

While there will be salmon fishing further north in Washington and parts of Oregon, the majority of wild-caught Chinook salmon on the West Coast comes from California, according to Ehlke.

With a low supply of wild-caught salmon, it's only natural that the prices of farm-raised might also increase. A decline in fishing will increase prices and put a strain on people who make their living fishing, said Bryan Boches, co-founder and CEO of Safe Catch . We need to find the sustainable balance and invest in these ecosystems if we want future generations to enjoy catching salmon in California.

Californias salmon industry has an annual value of $1.4 billion and supports 23,000 jobs, according to the Golden State Salmon Association .

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A Decreasing Salmon Population

PATRICK T. FALLON - Getty Images



"Chinook salmon populations have been in a general decline," said Boches. "We have a much smaller population of Chinook salmon now than just 20 years ago."

This year, the forecast for Sacramento River Fall Chinook is less than 170,000, compared to a harvest of over 1 million fish in 1988 and 1995, according to a report from PFMC.

The last time California's salmon fishing season was canceled was in 2009. While there are several factors that determine a fluctuation of salmon populations, one of the biggest ones, according to Ehlke, is waterboth lack of it and its quality.

Salmon need cold, fresh, not fast-moving, but flowing water, she said.

The water conditions have been greatly impacted by drought. "Low water flows during drought years is exacerbated by the diversion of water for farms and cities," said Boches. "Water was also being diverted to grow crops in the desert during a time of drought. That puts a tremendous strain on river systems."

After spawning in rivers, salmon head out to the ocean for a few years before returning, so any environmental factors from three years ago are now affecting the low returns and population forecasts, according to a press release . Given past patterns of drought and rainfall, salmon populations should bounce backand return to plates.

"With the well above average rainfall weve had this year in California, hopefully that will help the overall health of fresh waterways in the state. However, these are delicate ecosystems, and sometimes too much water can also negatively affect salmon eggs and hatchlings," said Boches.

While salmon are resilient, Ehlke said it wouldnt be surprising for the numbers to be low again next year, as it will probably take a year or two for the population to recover.

Increasing hatchery production is one way to increase population, but the survival of those fish is reliant on healthy water, according to Ehlke. Currently, there's an effort to remove four Klamath River damsthe first of which would be dismantled this summer. Ehlke said this exciting development has been in the works for decades and will provide flowing water and habitat for salmon.

"As long as society comes together to protect the purity of our waterways and to utilize and monitor responsible, sustainable fishing practices, we can have a thriving ecosystem," said Boches.

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If your Delaware state tax refund still hasnt hit your bank account, youre not alone.

Many Delawareans have been wondering why their state tax refund is taking weeks to end up in their pockets. If this sounds like your current predicament, weve got some answers to help you out.

When is the Delaware state income tax deadline?

Piggy banks in Delaware might be a bit emptier now that many are still left without their state tax refunds.

The Internal Revenue Service began accepting and processing tax returns in January. They were due by April 18, unless you were granted an extension.

Delaware began processing 2022 individual state income tax returns on Jan. 23, according to the states Division of Revenue.

The filing deadline for personal state income tax is Monday, May 1.

When should I expect my Delaware state tax refund?

Although federal returns are expected to be refunded within 21 days of electronic filing, according to the IRS, Delaware state tax returns operate a bit differently.

The Delaware Division of Revenue began issuing refunds on Feb. 15 and has since seen a 5% increase in the number of refund requests.

Returns with fewer complexities may process faster than returns where inconsistencies require further manual review, said the Division of Revenue.

Tax legislation: Lawmakers pass tax relief bill that could put more money in your pocket: The Press Room

The average processing time to date for returns without any agency review has been eight days. More complex returns average 34 calendar days.

Overall, the divisions automated systems indicate that it can take 10 to 12 weeks for review, according to the Division of Revenue.

Delaware Division of Revenue using new system

Aside from data errors drawing out refund windows, the division is operating on a new system that is different than the process of review for previous years.

The second phase of the divisions new, modernized tax system, with a focus on personal income tax, was implemented in October.

As part of this new effort, the division was careful to monitor system progress to help quickly identify system anomalies and ensure proper functioning and take any additional steps needed to prevent fraud that may target new systems, said the Division of Revenue.

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We are working diligently to quickly process refunds while also working to prevent fraud and ensure the accuracy of amounts claimed, said Kathy Revel, director of revenue.

Tax filing tips

Residents are encouraged to file their taxes online at tax.delaware.gov or to go through other electronic filing programs to receive their refunds faster. Requesting refunds by direct deposit also will improve refund processing, said the Division of Revenue.

If you need a filing extension, requests must be made by May 1.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: When Delaware state tax refunds are expected, why some still wait
COVID cases are rising quickly at alarming rates in countries like India and Nepal because of the contagious XBB.1.16 COVID variant  and now it's infecting people in the U.S., too.

COVID cases are rising quickly at alarming rates in countries like India and Nepal because of the contagious XBB.1.16 COVID variant  and now it's infecting people in the U.S., too.

XBB.1.16, also referred to as arcturus, is a new COVID-19 variant thats infecting people across the globe. Like BA.5 and BQ.1 from 2022, its also an omicron subvariant.

Its labeled by the World Health Organization as a variant under monitoring, according to Jodie Guest, professor of epidemiology at Emory Universitys Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. (For reference, there are two levels of variants above this classification  variants of interest and variants of concern.)

The thing were watching the most is how fast this is doubling in countries that its in, Guest told HuffPost. Its currently being tracked in 29 countries, including the United States.

It started in India, and were seeing a 500% increase in the past month in the Southeast Asia region that includes India, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka [and] The Maldives, Guest said. Were seeing cases beginning a fairly steep uptick in the Eastern Mediterranean region as well. In the U.S., XBB.1.16 is also contributing to a sizable jump in cases.

In the United States, weve started to notice it increasing over the last month, said Matthew Binnicker, the director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Four weeks ago, [XBB.1.16] represented about 1% of all the sequenced cases, the following week it increased to a little over 2%. As of last week, it represented a little more than 7% of cases in the U.S. nationwide  though certain parts of the country are being hit with this variant harder than others.

The CDC also looks by region in the country and it looks like the most prevalent of this variant is in the Southern part of the country in states like Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, where it represents about 20% of the cases that are sequenced in that region, Binnicker added.

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And, unfortunately, new variants are often more transmissible, and that is the case for XBB.1.16. Our expectation is that this new variant  based on its doubling rate  we are anticipating that it is very transmissible, Guest said.

The symptoms of this new variant are also a little different from what weve seen in the past. How can you spot them and how can you protect yourself? Heres what to know:

Unlike other variants, red, itchy eyes are a symptom for some people.

Particularly in children, conjunctivitis  red, itchy eyes  has been a reported symptom, according to Binnicker.

Conjunctivitis is somewhat common with viral illnesses, but it seems to be a new symptom associated with this particular COVID-19 variant that we havent observed in past waves caused by previous variants of the virus, Binnicker said.

You might call this symptom pink eye or red eye, Guest added. And while this tends to be more common in pediatric COVID-19 cases, it can still happen in both adults and elderly people.

What makes this symptom a little confusing is it overlaps with a time when many folks experience red, itchy eyes due to seasonal allergies.

Depending on where you live, if youre in the United States, if youre in a place thats starting to see the pollination come out, a lot of these symptoms are really similar to what you would see with spring allergies, Guest said. And so that does bring up the need to make sure youre doing COVID tests if you have any of these symptoms.

Red, itchy eyes have been reported in children infected with XBB.1.16, but adults may experience the symptom as well.

Red, itchy eyes have been reported in children infected with XBB.1.16, but adults may experience the symptom as well.

Fevers are higher than in previous COVID variants.

While fevers have long been a sign of a COVID-19 infection, the fever associated with an XBB.1.16 infection is a little different. Were also seeing higher-grade fever, Binnicker said.

A high-grade fever is typically defined as anything above 103 degrees Fahrenheit in adults, though the exact threshold can vary, according to Dr. Ali Khan, the chief medical officer at Oak Street Health.

Patients should consult a doctor if it remains this high for greater than 24 hours, Khan said. If you have this high of a fever you may notice chills, sweating and muscle aches, Khan said.

And its easy to become dehydrated  so staying hydrated with water and other fluid replacement drinks is critical, Khan noted.

Binnicker added that if you do develop a fever, its one way to differentiate your infection from allergies. Allergies arent associated typically with a fever ... so, that would be a distinguishing feature of an infection, Binnicker added.

Otherwise, the symptoms are largely the same as with previous variants.

In addition to higher fevers and red, itchy eyes, an XBB.1.16 infection still resembles an earlier COVID-19 diagnosis, according to the experts. That means issues like a cough, scratchy throat and runny nose are all part of current infections, too, Guest said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that fatigue, body aches, headache and congestion are also signs of a COVID-19 infection.

Shortness of breath is prevalent in certain populations. The older you get, youre more likely to see some conditions with shortness of breath, Guest said. And, as we know, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing has been a common COVID-19 symptom for the past few years.

Simple measures can help protect you from a COVID-19 infection.

The measures weve used for three-plus years to protect ourselves and loved ones from COVID-19 are still the way to protect yourself from an XBB.1.16 infection.

According to Guest, you should stay up-to-date with your vaccinations, wash your hands and take a COVID-19 test if you have any of the symptoms mentioned above. Additionally, mask-wearing remains a good way to control virus spread.

These are the measures that will protect you and those you might be nearby, Guest said.

Experts are still learning about COVID-19. The information in this story is what was known or available as of publication, but guidance can change as scientists discover more about the virus. Please check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the most updated recommendations.

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The leader of a church youth group used its functions as a dating pool and a means to groom underage girls in Virginia, federal prosecutors said.

Charles Willoughby III, 39, the former youth group leader at New Life Worship Center in Norfolk, sexually abused those he groomed, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

His grooming pattern was exposed when a victim in 2018 said Willoughby sexually abused her in the back of a bus during a trip to a Bible conference in Atlanta in 2012, according to prosecutors. She was 15 at the time.

A judge has sentenced Willoughby to seven years in prison after he was convicted of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, the attorneys office announced in an April 19 news release.

McClatchy News contacted Willoughbys attorney for comment on April 20 and didnt immediately receive a response.

A New Life Worship Center spokesperson told McClatchy News after his conviction on Dec. 12 that Willoughby was immediately removed from any and all responsibilities concerning minors upon knowledge of the incident.

More victims identified after Jane Doe speaks out

Willoughby groomed multiple teenage girls while serving as a youth pastor between 2006 and 2012, prosecutors said.

He began grooming the teen he abused on the back of the bus when she was 13, court documents show.

Willoughby would text her, give her long hugs and discuss dating boys, a trial brief says. On one occasion, he took her out for a practice date to show her how she should be treated in the future, prosecutors said.

In June 2012, Willoughby, who was 28 at the time, chaperoned a bus trip to the Youth Forward Conference in Atlanta that the girl attended, according to the trial brief.

The bus left Norfolk, and Willoughby volunteered to sit in the back row, prosecutors said.

At some point during the ride, he texted the 15-year-old to come to the back of the bus to talk, then he forced her to engage in a sexual act, according to prosecutors.

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The next morning, the girl confronted Willoughby about the abuse and he blamed her, saying since she did not move away, she must have wanted it, the trial brief states.

The teen remained silent about the incident until 2018, when she told her parents about it after her mother informed her of the #MeToo movement, according to the trial brief.

As a result, more of Willoughbys victims were identified, prosecutors said.

On May 8, 2018, Virginia state police agents interviewed Willoughby, who admitted to sexually abusing Jane Doe in 2012, according to a document submitted by prosecutors ahead of his sentencing.

During trial, the court learned Jane Doe wasnt the only girl he groomed for sexual abuse, prosecutors wrote. He did this prior to, during, and after the youth conference in Georgia.

Three women who attended the church youth group stepped forward to testify that Willoughby had sexually abused them when they were underage, according to prosecutors.

Before a judge issued Willoughby his seven-year prison sentence, he asked the court to consider a three-year sentence that he felt was sufficient, according to a document submitted ahead of sentencing by his attorney.

Meanwhile, prosecutors had sought an even lengthier sentence of 14 years in prison, describing Willoughby as a predator.

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NYSIR activated the HELIXintel platform for 4,100 public schools, with 1 billion square feet of space.

BUFFALO, N.Y., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HELIXintel, a Buffalo-based software company, has teamed up with specialty insurer HSB to provide insurance technology solutions for its customers, including the New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal (NYSIR) and its more than 4,100 K-12 public schools.

HELIXintel (PRNewsfoto/HELIXintel)

HELIXintel specializes in property and equipment management through its online maintenance platform, providing tools to streamline equipment and building management.

HSB, part of Munich Re, offers equipment breakdown insurance, other specialty coverages, inspections, engineering, IoT sensor programs, and additional technology services to clients.

"Through our partnership with HSB, customers like NYSIR can lower operating costs and better manage risk," said Christa Dahlem, Chief Revenue Officer at HELIXintel. "We are proud to bring this valued service to our customers and look forward to continued success with HSB."

NYSIR, established in 1989, is the premier insurance and risk management provider for public schools in New York State. It recently collaborated with HELIXintel to deliver the HELIXintel platform for its members to mitigate equipment downtime, connect with vendors, and generate reports on available incentives and rebates that lower the cost of service, parts, and equipment.

"The HELIXintel digital platform provides tremendous value for NYSIR's member school facilities, which total more than 1 billion square feet of space," said J. Brett Carruthers, NYSIR Senior Vice President and Director of Risk Management.

"NYSIR is excited to offer our members resources to manage their property and predict and prevent equipment risk," he said. "This will help our continued mission to provide a comprehensive and cost-effective insurance program for public schools in New York State."

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Eastchester Union Free School District (UFSD) is among the schools benefiting from HELIXintel's platform. Within a week of using the platform, the school expedited repairs after a boiler failure using pre-populated property and equipment information. HELIXintel also identified more than $240,000 in incentives using this data to reduce future costs.

Learn more about the HELIXintel platform here.

Media Contact:

Tia Dabney

tia.dabney@helixintel.com

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SOURCE HELIXintel
The U.S. governments Afghanistan watchdog told lawmakers on Wednesday he cant guarantee American aid to Kabul isnt being funneled to the Taliban.

While I agree  and we all agree  Afghanistan faces a dire humanitarian and economic situation, it is critical that our assistance not be diverted by the Taliban, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko told the House Oversight Committee. Unfortunately, as I sit here today, I cannot assure this committee or the American taxpayer we are not currently funding the Taliban.

Nor can I assure you that the Taliban are not diverting the money we are sending from the intended recipients, which are the poor Afghan people, he added.

SIGAR, the independent watchdog founded in 2008 to oversee U.S. spending in Afghanistan amid what was the ongoing war, monitors the more than $8 billion allocated to the country since the American military withdrew in August 2021.

Because the U.S. has no formal ties with the Taliban, the Biden administration has attempted to funnel the money into Afghanistan via international organizations and nongovernment groups.

The process is complicated, however, by a lack of U.S. monitors in the country to make sure the humanitarian dollars are going to where theyre intended and not to the Taliban or other nefarious groups.

Speaking to lawmakers, Sopko referenced SIGARs 2023 High-Risk List report, released earlier Wednesday, which identifies the serious issues facing the billions of dollars the U.S. has pledged to the Afghan people, including Taliban interference and a lack of aggressive oversight controls.

I dont trust the Taliban as far as you can throw them. And the information were getting  is that the Taliban are already diverting funds, Sopko told lawmakers. I havent seen a starving Taliban fighter on TV. They all seem to be fat, dumb and happy. I see a lot of starving Afghan children on TV, so Im wondering where all this funding is going.

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Sopko said the problems with oversight are exacerbated by the State Department and the United States Agency for International Developments (USAID) failure to fully cooperate with SIGAR audits and other inquiries.

The lack of cooperation by State  and to a lesser extent USAID, is unprecedented in the nearly 12 years that I have been the SIGAR, said Sopko, who was appointed to his role in 2012 under the Obama administration.

He said the agencys refusal to fully cooperate has led to a significant portion of the watchdogs work, including five reports for the Oversight Committee, being hindered and delayed.

He implored lawmakers for help to stop this obfuscation and delay as we cannot abide a situation in which agencies are allowed to pick and choose what information an IG gets or who an IG can interview or what an IG may report on.

He added: If permitted to continue, it will end SIGARs work in Afghanistan but also Congresss access to independent and credible oversight of any administration.

Asked later about Sopkos claims that the State Department and USAID have refused to cooperate with his independent oversight and investigations, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed aside the accusations.

The administration has consistently provided updates and information, she told reporters.

She added that the administration consistently provided updates, as well as thousands of documents, hundreds of briefings to bipartisan members and staff, and public testimonies information to numerous inspectors general.

The hearing adds to the furor over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a deadly and disastrous event that has caused much finger-pointing in Congress as to who is most responsible for the outcome.

Lawmakers have largely fallen along party lines in assessing blame, with Republicans for months vowing to closely examine the withdrawal through congressional hearings.

The GOP did just that in March with a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing where service members and other individuals involved in the evacuation testified.

Wednesdays hearing took a different angle, inviting government watchdogs to give accounts of where humanitarian aid is going within Afghanistan.

Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) took the opportunity to condemn President Biden for poor leadership and planning ahead of the withdrawal.

Ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), meanwhile, said it was morally confused and politically cynical to lay blame at Bidens feet as the war spanned four Republican and Democratic presidential administrations.

The administration also sought to stunt expected criticism of Biden with an early Wednesday memo calling the event a political stunt on the part of Republicans. It also slammed GOP lawmakers for distracting from their own failures on solutions to evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan.

And earlier this month the Pentagon and State Department provided classified after-action review findings to Congress that placed a significant amount of blame on the Trump administration for not leaving the current White House plans to execute a withdrawal.

A summary of the findings, later released by the White House, sidestepped an admission of the administrations own mistakes in the event.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Churchgoers arrive March 19 at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 222 NW 15 in Oklahoma City.

Exit plans may be placed on hold for four of 55 Oklahoma churches seeking to end their affiliation with the United Methodist Church.

United Methodist regional affiliates like the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference are negotiating with churches that wish to withdraw from the international United Methodist Church over same-sex marriage and ordination of openly gay clergy.

St. Luke's, the largest United Methodist house of worship in the state, and three other churches  First United Methodist-Altus, Antlers United Methodist and Claremore United Methodist  had hoped to formally sever denominational ties at a disaffiliation meeting set for Saturday in Oklahoma City.

Those churches' disaffiliation plans may be in jeopardy, at least temporarily, because the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference trustee board on Thursday excluded the quartet from a list of churches that have currently met the requirements for disaffiliation. United Methodist clergy, along with lay delegates chosen by United Methodist churches across the state, will vote on the church disaffiliations at a special meeting set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at United Methodist Church of the Servant, 14343 N MacArthur. Churches will not be considered officially disaffiliated without delegates' ratification.

More: What we know: Oklahoma churches seeking to cut ties with United Methodist denomination

The 51 churches whose disaffiliation plans are one step closer to formal approval are: Arnett United Methodist; First United Methodist-Cheyenne; First United Methodist-Shattuck; Bixby First United Methodist; Heritage United Methodist-Broken Arrow, Tulsa Korean United Methodist; Will Rogers-Tulsa; New Covenant-Edmond; Edmond Chinese International United Methodist; Trinity United Methodist of Roland and Muldrow; First United Methodist- Blanchard; Asbury-Ardmore; and First United Methodist-Stigler.

Others are United Methodist churches in: Catesby; Freedom; Hammon; Hardesty; Keyes; Leedy; Quinlan; Seiling; Turpin; Mannford; Dale; Mount Zion-El Reno; Delaware; Nowata; Otterbein-Vinita; Alex; Elmore City; Maysville; Ninnekah; Wynnewood; Broken Bow; Clarita; Coalgate; Gene Autry; Howe; Madill; Stratford; Wilson; Blackwell; Braman; Covington; Fairview First; Medford; Okeene; Pond Creek; Ringwood; Elgin; and Mangum.

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What happened to the four churches?

In a letter to United Methodist churches across the state, the Rev. Joe Harris, one of the conference's leaders, said the trustee board indicated that St. Luke's, First United Methodist-Altus, Antlers United Methodist and Claremore United Methodist did not to complete a required Membership Audit & Report designed to give the conference specific post-disaffiliation plans for their church members, which is "important because it assists the local church and the annual conference in following through on the self-determination of professing members regarding their membership status."

For instance, the churches needed to provide conference leaders with information about members' potential plans to attend the disaffiliating church or attend another United Methodist church.

More: Why we stay: Preachers explain why they won't cut United Methodist ties

Thursday, Harris said the trustee board recommended that the four churches still have their disaffiliation requests considered on Saturday.

"The four churches that did not complete the necessary report have communicated their intention to complete all requirements," Harris said in his letter.

"The CBOT (Conference Board of Trustees) recommends that the Conference vote by district, first on those churches that have completed all technical requirements and second on those churches that have not but intend to complete them."

Twenty-nine Oklahoma churches received the go-ahead for formal disaffiliation at a special Oklahoma United Methodist Conference meeting in October 2022.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Exit plans of four United Methodist churches may be in jeopardy
A protester fatally shot by officers in January at the site of a controversial law enforcement training site in Atlanta, Georgia, known as "Cop City" had at least 57 gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy obtained Wednesday by CBS News.

The autopsy, conducted by the Dekalb County Medical Examiner, found that Manuel Paez Teran sustained gunshot wounds to his entire body, including his head, torso, hands and legs.

The medical examiner noted that the autopsy could not determine Teran's "body position" at the time of the shooting because of "too many variables with respect to movement of the decedent and the shooters."

"Since most shootings involving multiple gunshots are dynamic events attempts to place the decedent in any particular position at a specific point in time is fraught with potential inaccuracies," the autopsy stated.

The Teran family last month released the results of an independent autopsy it commissioned which claimed that Teran had his hands up and was sitting cross-legged at the time of the shooting.

Teran, an environmental activist, was shot and killed Jan. 18 during a protest at the site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. A Georgia state trooper was also shot and wounded during the incident.

State police have alleged that Teran was armed and shot and wounded the trooper. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) previously released a photo of the gun it alleges Teran was carrying at the time of the shooting. GBI said that forensic analysis matched the round which wounded the trooper to that gun, a Smith & Wesson Shield 9mm which was legally purchased by Teran in 2020.

The autopsy found that no "soot, stippling, searing" or "gunpower residue" were found on Teran's clothes or "around any of the gunshot wounds."

GBI has said there was no officer body camera footage of the shooting.

In a statement released Wednesday night, the Teran family said that "while the autopsy report provides additional information, it does not bring the family closer to the answers they seek."

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"Cop City" has been the site of ongoing protests over the past several months which have resulted in dozens of arrests.

 Cara Tabachnick contributed to this report.

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While some state legislatures attempt to curb the teaching of America's history of racism, a class of Rhode Island students is determined to confront it.

In the early morning hours Monday, eighth-graders from The Gordon School, a private school in East Providence, boarded a flight for Georgia, touched down in Atlanta and, after a visit to the historically Black Morehouse College  of which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was an alum  set out for Alabama by bus. The plan? A four-day tour of the South's historical sites from Montgomery to Selma.

More: RWU class looks at how race shapes the law. Could it change how law is taught nationwide?

'Walk in the shoes' of civil rights changemakers

The trip, which students view as a pivotal moment in their school careers, has been tradition for more than 20 years, launched by humanities teacher Lynn Bowman, one of the school's first Black educators.

As Head of School Noni Thomas Lopez put it, Bowman wanted to give her students "an opportunity to really walk in the shoes of the people who transformed the landscape of this country."

This year, the visit includes trips to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Civil Rights Memorial, as well as a meeting with the New Georgia Project founded by Stacey Abrams to boost voter registration, particularly among marginalized and underrepresented groups.

More: Rhode Island has more Black history than you think. Here's where to see it.

The Gordon School students Collin Mburu and Celia Bodurtha last week discuss plans for their class trip this week.

Students will also visit two historically significant churches: the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Mr. King preached, and First Baptist Church, where Freedom Riders who challenged segregation were essentially trapped as a white mob outside terrorized them nearly 62 years ago.

Collin Mburu of North Providence was in disbelief that he would be on the same ground that, decades ago, civil rights activists trod during marches from Selma to Montgomery.

"Knowing that we're going to be going to the place where it happened really just blows my mind  just knowing that I'm going to be where so many famous figures were in our history," Mburu said.

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'In another state, I could be fired for teaching this'

Teachers like Viva Sandoval are candid with students about the toll of this history and its weight today. Especially as some legislatures around the country have attempted to ban the teaching of this history, which conservatives have referred to  sometimes erroneously  as Critical Race Theory, a complex legal and academic framework that once was largely confined to discussion among graduate students. In short, it identifies systemic racism as a continuous societal harm evident in police brutality, mortality rates and more. In reality, classroom teaching about American history often may not include CRT, even though it is now being used by critics as a catch-all.

Sandoval knows what the risks would be if she were not in Rhode Island, and she's up front with her students.

More: Groups say RI's social studies curriculum will teach students to 'hate their country'

"I tell them in another state I could be fired for teaching this," she said. "I could be fired because I made somebody in the room feel uncomfortable or feel guilty."

Sandoval also feels compelled to guard against the erasure of Black history.

"I think in the face of such a blatant attack on a people and their history and their visibility [and] our national story ... it's so important to name the fact that these people and their history [are] under attack in the same way that they always have been under attack," she said.

More: 'His name is mostly forgotten': Honoring James Rhea, Journal's first Black reporter

A school with a mission for good

Unlike a traditional public school, an independent school  which falls under the private umbrella  has more academic freedom and isn't subject to stress-inducing state exams. As a result, teachers are allowed more time to explore history in careful detail.

"I think that we just went a lot more in depth," said student Celia Bodurtha of Rehoboth. "In the past, we've kind of had this surface level knowledge of all the things we've been learning about ... "

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., one of the stops on this week's Gordon School tour of significant sites in the civil-rights struggles of the mid-20th century.

Such an education, which may come at a steep cost for some parents, has a defined goal for students.

"We also have a particular mission," Thomas Lopez said. "And our mission at Gordon School includes fostering a drive in our students for positive societal impact. And so really, our approach to what happens in the classroom has to align with that mission."

Both Thomas Lopez and Sandoval are confident that in pursuing that mission, students can take on challenging and painful history. Sandoval explains to children the importance of that task with a metaphor.

"We have all of these open wounds," she said. "And there's different wounds and they all require different means to be healed, whether it's stitches or mending a bone. These wounds require different strategies  But at the end of the day, if the wound is not healed properly, intentionally, the wound will fester. And these same traumas of our past continue to come back to haunt us."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The Gordon School has students follow footsteps of civil rights leaders
A priority bill of Gov. Ron DeSantis was called discriminatory by dozens of Chinese Americans on Wednesday, with some drawing comparisons to a Nazi-era law requiring Jews to register their property with the state.

HB 1355 and its companion SB 264 would restrict ownership of land and property by those from seven countries of concern  including Cuba, Venezuela and Russia  a response to reports of a Chinese company buying farmland next to a North Dakota Air Force base last year.

Lawmakers stressed the legislation is not meant to affect anyone living in Florida. The bills would prohibit anyone living in those countries from acquiring certain land or buildings in Florida if theyre not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Foreigners from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria would be prohibited from buying property within 20 miles of a military installation or critical infrastructure, such as a seaport or wastewater treatment plant. Foreigners from those countries would not be allowed to buy agricultural land anywhere in the state.

Only foreigners from China would be prohibited from owning land statewide.

Current owners would have to register their ownership with the states Department of Economic Opportunity.

The legislation had sailed through the House and Senate with unanimous bipartisan support. The Senate passed it off the floor unanimously last week. One of the sponsors of HB 1355 is a Democrat and numerous Democratic lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors.

Shanjie Li helped state-owned China City Construction Company buy this Miami Beach property for $38.5 million in 2015. Like a related deal in Brickell, plans for a condo tower appear to have stalled out as South Floridas market for new construction dries up.

Bipartisan no longer

That bipartisan support ended Wednesday, after more than 100 Chinese Americans, permanent residents, students, professors and others packed a House committee room and told lawmakers the bill was discriminatory. Several recounted stories of racial discrimination.

Im trying to protect my family from unintended consequences that come with this bill, Baoliang Pan of Orlando told lawmakers. Many times during COVID, my wife and family were verbally assaulted by people shouting racial slurs like Chinese virus. Go back to China. 

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Several focused on the requirement to register their ownership with the state, comparing it to the 1938 law imposed by Nazi Germany requiring Jews to register their property with the government.

Are we really in 2023? Or are we in 1935? said Daniel Ettedgui, a French immigrant who runs a business that helps foreigners buy property in the United States.

Other speakers warned that the legislation would have other effects. Parents of Chinese students often buy a condo or home for their child studying in the U.S., which would be prohibited if the parents are living in China.

Lobbyist Slater Bayliss told lawmakers it would prohibit EB-5 investments, a federal program that allows foreigners to apply for green cards if they invest in commercial ventures in the U.S.

In Suwannee County, for example, a high-tech sawmill touted by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011 was partly financed by Chinese EB-5 investors.

By a broad reading of this bill, those investments would no longer be allowed in Florida, Bayliss told lawmakers.

Bill sponsors defend it

The bill sponsors on Wednesday said the public commenters were victims of misinformation because the bill doesnt apply to anyone who lives in Florida.

The only people who this bill discriminates against is the Communist Party of China, Rep. David Borrero, R-Sweetwater, told lawmakers. The only people who have worried about not being able to buy land here? Those who are not living here.

Rep. Katherine Waldron, D-Wellington, the other bill sponsor, agreed, although she said the bill will likely be amended to address the issue with Chinese students.

I think everybody in that room is probably not included in this bill, Waldron said after the committee. Were not trying to cause anybody harm who lives here.

Instead, the intent is to make the state safer, she said, citing money laundering by foreigners buying expensive properties in Florida and criminal charges filed against two men this week accused of running an unauthorized Chinese police outpost in New York City.

Chinese Americans rallying in protest

Sunny Duann, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Tampa Bay, told the Herald/Times that Chinese Americans in Florida started organizing against the bills after seeing them pass the Senate last week.

That singles out Chinese people, and thats just not fair, she said.

DeSantis said in January that he wanted lawmakers to prevent Chinese companies and nationals from buying Florida real estate. His office has made other efforts to stamp out Chinese influence, including banning local governments from using Chinese-made drones.

The extraordinary response on Wednesday prompted the committee chairperson, Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, to say that lawmakers need to communicate better with the public.

If this bill is not affecting them, we [have] got a lot of work to inform them on that, McClure said. Its tough when you have this many people come with this many concerns.

This story was updated to clarify that the proposed legislation would apply to non-residents from seven countries, not just China.
FILE: The City of Savannah draws water from Abercorn Creek and treats it for drinking water. While the land around it is largely underdeveloped, growing use of the nearby properties threatens the quality of the drinking water source.

This story has been updated to reflect the correct party requesting buffer variances and the planning board's upcoming consideration and vote on the issue, along with a corrected map of the property.

The second-round bell rang this week at the monthly meeting of Effingham County's Planning Board when a controversial warehouse project threatening the tri-county drinking water source was put back on the table.

The City of Savannah, which operates the Abercorn Creek water intake, sparred with Effingham County last year over Jacksonville-based Chesterfield LLC's proposal to develop about 100 acres of rural land along Abercorn Creek into a warehouse park for the region's booming logistics sector. City officials argued the development posed a major threat to the drinking water supply of the city as well as portions of Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties because Effingham allowed such a small buffer.

Chesterfield LLC abandoned the planned warehouse development in February of this year for unknown reasons. The company declined to comment for this story.

Background: 'This is a crisis': Proposed Effingham industrial park threatens tri-county drinking water

December 2022: Savannah, Effingham reach agreement to protect Abercorn Creek water source from development

In its place, however, Greg Coleman  acting as an agent for William Roger Spikes III et al.  seeks to complete a similar warehouse project on roughly the same piece of land as Chesterfield LLC, only slightly larger. The owner plans to use the full extent of the buffer encroachment  up to 25 feet from the property line  that the board previously approved for the property during the last development proposal. In Georgia, the approvals for buffers at property lines stay with the property even if it is sold to different owners, so the buffer near the water is already decided.

The property along Old Augusta Rd. at the center of the debate around the Abercorn Creek water intake.

The Effingham County Planning Board could not consider and vote at the meeting on rezoning the parcel because staff are awaiting final documents to be submitted on the property.

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The follow-up meeting on these variance requests will be at 1 p.m., April 19, in the planning boardroom at 804 S. Laurel St. in Springfield, Georgia, with an option to remotely access the meeting online.

City continues opposition

The Abercorn Creek water intake provides the bulk of clean drinking water to the tri-county region. During the last proposal, the City of Savannah vehemently opposed the development on the grounds that the 1.1-million-square-foot warehouse development posed too much risk to the water intake because everything from daily trucking runoff such as engine oil to an accidental spill of a contaminant on the property would flow into Abercorn Creek.

The City of Savannah went as far as threatening legal action until it negotiated with Effingham County protective measures such as berms alongside the property lines that neighbor the city's water plant, reducing the number of run-off outlets from the property's retention ponds and installing sluice gates, which help control water flow.

But with a new property owner and a new proposal in front of the Effingham County Planning Board, water advocates are back to square one arranging ways to mitigate potential pollution.

Doug Faircloth, a civil engineer with Coleman Company Inc., responded to concerns about contamination and said that any hazardous materials stored on site would go through the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, providing oversight and preventing accidents by regulating how hazardous materials are stored. An EPD spokesperson stated this is not true. EPD only oversees hazardous waste, whereas the U.S. Department of Transportation regulates the transportation of hazardous materials and OSHA, and the EPD does not oversee the storage of hazardous waste.

However, plenty of non-hazardous materials regularly transported can still pollute waterways.

What's the risk? 'No time to respond': Proposed Effingham development threatens regional drinking water supply

FILE: Abercorn Creek runs off the Savannah River into Effingham County. With booming industry in Effignahm County, City of Savannah staff said that the area around the tri-county drinking water intake is increasingly at risk of pollution.

Slimmer reaction time than ever

Environmental advocates and Savannah city officials maintain that the biggest issue with the development is sheer proximity: the closer the development is to the water intake, the less time the city has to turn off the system before pollutants enter. This 25-foot vegetative buffer is a shorter length than the average school bus. None of the commenters recommended a preferable buffer size, but emphasized the threat of runoff both from the presence of pollutants and increased pavement, which doesn't absorb water and carries pollutants to the closest waterways.

If the intake system is not turned off in time, it can cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage on top of the temporary loss of that drinking water capacity which currently serves more than 400,000 households in the region and is the only alternative to the Floridan Aquifer, which has a diminishing capacity due to saltwater intrusion.

"This site is even scarier than the last one," said Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus.

During Bonitatibus' 17 years as the riverkeeper, she has  more than once  worked on pollution events at water intakes. Her concerns about the Abercorn Creek intake have been realized elsewhere, such as when she monitored the pollution from a kaolin spill on Brier Creek near Waynesboro in 2012. The damage was immediate even though the source, a mine, was 8 miles upstream of the water intake and it cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to its water intake.

The proposed warehouse site is built on a 100-year floodplain, Bonitatibus said, a FEMA classification for areas that have a 1% chance of flooding. But the term "100-year" is a bit of a misnomer with the region regularly breaking that average due to increasingly intense hurricanes and increased flooding. She said it's not a question of if, but when heavy rains, storms and flooding will hit the area and increase the chances of runoff into the water intake.

Board vice-chair Peter Higgins pushed back, asking Bonitatibus about other contaminants in the river like the presence of tritium, a radioactive pollutant, in the Savannah River. The carcinogen leached from the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, SC, in 1991 and forced Savannah to turn the water intake off and pull from the incoming tide for two weeks. But the major difference in these two scenarios is that there are 100 miles between the Savannah River Site and the intake.

"There is no ringing the bell that you've got 12 hours to turn off the intake like you do with the tritium release or if you had a release from Augusta," Bonitatibus said. At Abercorn Creek, there wouldn't be enough time to realize there is a problem, nevertheless turn off the water intake, before critical damage occurs.

Bonitatibus urged the board to consult its lawyers to determine who could be held legally liable if a contamination does happen and causes massive costs.

Historically, in large contamination events on waterways, the companies and/or property owners are held liable. In 2011, discharges from textile manufacturer King America Finishing, Inc., later known as Milliken, caused more than 30,000 fish to die in the Ogeechee River, and while the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) entered an agreement with King America Finishing making the company spend $1 million on a "supplemental environmental project", Augusta Chronicle archives report the EPD didn't force the company to pay for restocking the river, allowed continued unpermitted discharging of contaminants and didn't levy a penalty on the company.

Laura Walker, environmental manager for the City of Savannah's Water Resources Division, also emphasized the impacts the development could incur. She said that beyond the cost of a big contamination event, water prices could go up if the water intake needs improvements to accommodate day-to-day runoff from the site. Right now, the area is a forested watershed which allows the utility to have a more basic system and for the city to provide affordable water.

"Development is going to come," Walker said. "This is our only drinking water."

Alternative options on site

Ron Feldner, Savannah's senior director of water resources, spoke in the public hearing to offer an alternative vision for the area. He said the city has considered purchasing other properties nearby to the new proposed warehouse site in order to conserve undeveloped land near the water intake and decrease the impacts of development as much as possible given the new growth in the area.

Feldner said the city reached out to a nearby landowner, Chester Porter, and his real estate broker to see if the city could purchase his land and put it into a conservation easement to protect the area around the Abercorn Creek water intake. He said the city wanted to work with Effingham County to make the land a public park and make the space accessible for education and recreation. He said the city never got a call back from Porter's broker.

Porter was present at the meeting and said he told the City of Savannah to contact his broker and contends the city made a lowball offer. He said he went with other offers that were of better value. City officials contend this is not true, and that the city never made an offer on the property.

Marisa is an environmental journalist. She can be reached at 912-328-4411 or at mmecke@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Effingham County development near tri-county water intake risks
United Nations  Finland took part in its first NATO military exercise last week as a full-fledged member of the alliance. It did so as it broke ground on a new border fence that will form part of the Western defensive bloc's newly-extended eastern flank, right on Russia's border.

Finland says it could fend off a Russian invasion with or without NATO

Kai Sauer, Finland's Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy, spoke with CBS News this week about what NATO membership means for his country, and the significance of the new border fence.

Why did Finland join NATO?

"We reacted to Russia, actually," Sauer told CBS News. "It was a reaction to an action by Russia, and the action was Russia's aggression on Ukraine."

Kai Sauer, Finland's Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy, speaks to CBS News' Pamela Falk via remote from Helsinki, Finland, May 17, 2022. / Credit: CBS News

"If you have a big neighbor who was challenging international law, the international security architecture, and breaking international law, I think the natural reaction for smaller countries is to seek protection, and to seek it in the collective defense organization  and I would emphasize the word 'defense.'"

"NATO is not an aggressor" Sauer stressed, countering a narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime pushed as a pretext for its Feb. 24, 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Here's what Finland's NATO membership means and why it matters

"Russia was ill-advised," Sauer said, in hoping that its invasion would prevent the expansion of the NATO alliance. Finland and Sweden both formally requested NATO membership as a direct reaction to the Ukraine war, and Sweden is widely expected to become the next new member later this year.

Russian officials "know full well that the Finns have had a pretty impressive military for years, and it isn't there to deter Sweden," Richard Gowan, U.N. Director for the International Crisis Group, told CBS News. "In any conflict, the Finns were always likely to end up on NATO's side in the end."

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While Finland and Russia managed relations as peaceful neighbors for decades, even after a Soviet invasion in 1939, Gowan said Russia's invasion of Ukraine "changed the public and political mood in Helsinki overnight."

Sauer himself said last year, when Finland applied for membership, that it was because of the "Russian brutal aggression in Ukraine," which quickly pushed public support in Finland for NATO membership from 20% to 70%.



What does NATO membership change?

The most direct implication of Finland's membership stems from Article 5 of the treaty that established the alliance, enshrining the concept of collective defense. It states that any attack on any member nation will be treated as an attack against all of the alliance, so now, any attack on Finland, by Russia or any other nation, would be deemed an attack on the U.S. and the other NATO nations.

"The border of NATO with Russia will basically double after we became members," Sauer said, referring to Finland's more-than-800-mile shared land border with Russia.

He said the new border fence Finland is building is intended primarily to fortify areas around border crossings, and it will stretch across about 10-20% of the total border when completed.

/ Credit: Getty/iStockphoto

While Finland wrapped up its first military exercises with the alliance last week, 10 days after becoming a full member, hosting Portuguese and German warships at Helsinki ports, Sauer noted that his country has been part of the NATO Partnership for Peace program since 1994, and has taken part in joint exercises regularly for decades.

"The Russians are clearly observing how we will behave as NATO members and, of course, the Finnish NATO membership will have certain consequences, but it is in our interests to have a good working relationship with Russia."

Finnish officials have acknowledged that the border fence is somewhat symbolic, but said it's aimed at giving Helsinki greater reaction time in the event of any military action against the country, and at preventing illegal migration.

What's next comes next?

Both Russia and Finland have said they can continue to live alongside each other as neighbors, but the Ukraine war has stalled their previous collaboration.

"You can be a NATO member and still can have a constructive relationship with a non-NATO member or neighbor," said Sauer. "Look at Norway, for instance. They have a common border with Russia. Until Ukraine, the relationship has been working quite well on a factual basis, in a polite way Of course, it's hard now with Russian aggression."

Alexander Pankin, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told reporters at the U.N. Wednesday that Russia considered Finland its "closest neighbor. I wouldn't say friend, but a very accommodative partner... who cooperated in energy."

He acknowledged that cross-border trade, including in the vital energy sector, "shrunk immensely during last year."

Gowan said it was unlikely that the Russians would overreact to Finland's NATO membership, however, describing Moscow's response thus far as "quite restrained."

"The Finns do have a knack of explaining their choices in ways that the Russians understand, even if Moscow may not like it," he said.

Russia has been left largely isolated on the world stage, as demonstrated by multiple votes at the United Nations, though binding Security Council resolutions condemning its invasion of Ukraine have been thwarted by its own council membership and that of its ally China.

"The numbers show how isolated Russia is  just a few countries actually on their on their side," said Sauer, who previously served as Finland's U.N. ambassador.

Asked if he believed Russian officials cared about their country's global standing, the Finnish diplomat said, "they should."

"They are human beings, who are even smart human beings, who have exposure to the media. They are talking to their colleagues," he said. "They should know how wrong their position is."

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Two more FBI agents took the stand in the public corruption investigation of Andrew Gillum and Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the fourth day of the trial.

Gillum, former Tallahassee mayor and the 2018 Democratic nominee for Florida governor, and Lettman-Hicks, his longtime mentor and owner of P&P Communications, are charged with illegally soliciting campaign donations and pocketing them in their own accounts. Gillum also is charged with lying to the FBI about gifts undercover FBI agents gave him during a 2016 trip to New York City.

Here are the latest developments in the trial:

Andrew Gillum trial Day 3: How agents confronted mayor at Cascades; Adam Corey's moment

Gillum Trial Day 2 opening arguments: Money as a motive or forcing the evidence?

Andrew Gillum trial Day 1: Jury selected, possible witnesses and an appeal to raise $1M

Decoding the indictment ABCs: Guide to the people, organizations in Andrew Gillum trial

Cross examination of FBI case agent in Gillum probe continues

David Markus, attorney for Andrew Gillum, continued his cross-examination of Evan Hurley, an FBI special agent who managed the corruption investigation starting around the summer of 2017, after it had been in progress for nearly two years.

Markus went through Gillums interview in June 2017 with himself and another overt, rather than undercover, FBI agent, Josh Doyle. He pointed out times Gillum appeared to be telling the truth, including acknowledging that he knew Mike Miller and Brian Butler, who posed as developers willing to pay bribes to move their projects forward.

Hes being open and forthright with you, Markus said.

About these two guys, yes, Hurley responded.

Gillum told Hurley and Doyle during his interview that the developers, whom he didnt know at the time were FBI agents, wanted guarantees in exchange for campaign donations.

Let me be very clear, Gillum said he told the purported developers, I vote when I vote.

Under redirect by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Grogan asked whether Gillum volunteered other information, including the Hamilton tickets for himself and his brother, the boat ride and dinners, all paid for by the FBI.

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He did not, Hurley replied.

Grogan asked whether it could affect the FBIs investigation if someone was truthful about things that wouldnt hurt them and untruthful about things that could hurt them.

Yes it could, Hurley said.

Officials with nonprofits at center of government's case take the stand

The government called Gail Aidinoff Scovell, former general counsel for the Open Society Foundations, to testify about a $100,000 grant that its affiliate nonprofit, Foundation to Promote Open Society, gave to the Campaign to Defend Local Solutions. Gillum formed the campaign as mayor to fight state pre-emption of local issues, including gun regulations.

Scovell testified that the National Black Justice Coalition, which Sharon Lettman-Hicks led as CEO, served as fiscal sponsor for the money because the CDLS was a campaign rather than a legal or financial entity.

She said the work of the CDLS was very important and that the nonprofit was pleased with its work.

We didnt have any indication that anything was wrong, she said, and actually we were pretty happy with the outcome of the project.

She said that while the vast majority of the nonprofits grants were spent appropriately by the recipients, there have been instances in which funds were misallocated.

During cross-examination, Alex Morris, an attorney for Lettman-Hicks, asked whether Gillum could have received payment from CDLS as a vendor.

From our perspective, it wouldnt be prohibited, she said.

Federal prosecutors allege that a total of $50,000 from the Foundation to Promote Open Society and another major grantmaking organization, the New World Foundation, was diverted through NBJC to P&P and into Gillums bank account.

Heeten Kalan, senior program director for the New World Foundation, testified that his organization also gave a total of $100,000 to CDLS. Gillum served on the NWF board from 2013 to 2017 and asked for grant money as part of his campaign to stop state preemption.

Gillum initially asked that the $100,000 grant go to the Forward Florida PAC that eventually became his soft-money account in the 2018 governors race. But NWF, which can only give to other charitable organizations, said it couldnt give to the PAC.

Forward Florida origin: Andrew Gillum's fundraising PAC took shape in city email

Former FBI special agent says he was convinced Gillum took bribes

Michael Wiederspahn, a recently retired FBI special agent who helped oversee the corruption probe in Tallahassee, testified about the Gillum familys income from 2016 to 2018. He was on the stand for hours and had several combative exchanges with defense attorneys.

Wiederspahn told jurors that when Gillum stepped down from his longtime job with the People for the American Way Foundation in 2017, it cut his family income in half. He said the familys combined income in 2017 was nearly $130,000. After house and car payments and other fixed expenses, the family had only $16,000 left over for groceries and other day-to-day expenses. That worked out to about $1,300 a month, he said.

He was living beyond his paychecks even with the P&P money, Wiederspahn said.

During cross-examination by Gillum lawyer David Markus, Wiederspahn said the FBI didnt find evidence that Gillum ever took a bribe.

You still think he took a bribe? Markus asked incredulously.

Based on his behavior on that tape, I do, Wiederspahn replied, referencing a recorded conversation between Gillum and the undercover agents.

Markus asked Wiederspahn whether he was aware that the Open Society Foundations and NWF were perfectly happy with how their grant money was spent and didnt consider themselves victims. He responded by saying the nonprofits never looked into whether the money was properly spent.

They dont check, he said. The trust people they give (grants) to.

Agent says FBI delayed charging to avoid compromising election

Both Markus and Morris, Lettman-Hicks lawyer, asked Wiederspahn about delays in the Gillum investigation, which went dormant by 2018 and didnt gear up again until 2019. The corruption investigation began in 2015, though it initially focused on former City Commissioner Scott Maddox, his aide Paige Carter-Smith and businessman John J.T. Burnette, all of whom were convicted on bribery charges.

Racing the clock: Charges against Gillum from undercover FBI operation were about to hit statute of limitations

Wiederspahn said the Gillum portion of the case was reassigned to other agents for a time while he worked the Maddox side of the investigation. He also said the FBI didnt want to interfere in the 2018 election.

We made every effort to not affect the 2018 election, he said.

Wiederspahn retired at the end of 2022 after 33 years with the FBI. He was hired not long after by U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Florida to consult on the Gillum trial. Under questioning by Morris, he said he was being paid $75 an hour for up to 1,000 hours.

Morris asked whether that job was publicly noticed and open to other applicants. It wasnt, he said. But under redirect by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan, he said he was the only person with required knowledge of the case to take on the consulting job.

Gavel to gavel coverage

While cameras and electronics are not allowed in the courtroom, stay tuned to tallahassee.com for daily updates from longtime investigative reporter Jeff Burlew (@JeffBurlew on Twitter).

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Andrew Gillum corruption Trial Day 4: Updates as agents testify
(Bloomberg) -- Homebuilders are on a roll, with the stocks rallying to the highest since January 2022, after industry bellwether D.R. Horton Inc. reported better-than-expected orders and results for the second-quarter.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The sector is making a comeback, an index tracking the industry is up 28% so far this year coming off of one of its worst years since 2018. The group fell 25% in 2022.

D.R. Horton, the nations largest homebuilder, led the group Thursday, rising 5.6% and closing at its highest level since Dec. 31, 2021.

This could support a near-term wave of upward earnings revisions for the company and the group, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Drew Reading wrote in a note. Builders are benefiting from a lack of competitive supply and a favorable response from consumers to more aggressive pricing, which hasnt materialized in the resale market.

Industry peers Lennar Corp. and KB Home also gained hitting their highest level since early 2022, as the 10-year Treasury yield, an indicator for the direction of mortgage rates, fell to about 3.5%.

Investors continued to snap up homebuilder shares despite Thursdays existing home sales print, which slumped in March after climbing in February. The latest data could be a sign that the spring homebuying rush may fizzle before it even gets started, Peter Essele, head of portfolio management at Commonwealth Financial Network wrote in a note.

With elevated prices and higher mortgage rates still plaguing a previously robust market, the prospect of a recession on the horizon means the housing market is ripe for another correction, Essele warned.

Story continues

(Updates for market close throughout.)

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California police arrested an Iowa man for the alleged killing of an 18-month-old child in Pleasant Hill in December of 2021.

U.S. Marshals and local police in California arrested Jeremy White on April 7 in Roseville, California, located about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento, on a warrant issued in Iowa, according to the Roseville Police Department and California court records.

White was allegedly one of two people at home with an 18-month-old child in December 2021 when the child received a fatal blow to the head, according to a material witness warrant for White filed in June 2022. White was the live-in boyfriend of the child's mother at the time, according to the warrant.

Police arrived at the home located on Sugarberry Lane in Pleasant Hill just after 3 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2021, where they found the 18-month-old unresponsive. After performing CPR, they transported the child to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

A preliminary investigation showed the child "died from a subdural hemorrhage to the rear of the head, caused by his head being struck by or against, a blunt object," according to the warrant. The investigation showed the child also suffered hemorrhaging behind the eyes, "indicating that the child had been severely shaken." The warrant states the medical examiner estimated that those injuries were likely sustained only a few hours prior to the child's death.

On April 7, 2022, the state Medical Examiner determined that the child's injuries were consistent with a homicide. In June 2022, police went searching for White as a suspect in the child's death.

Suspect originally said injuries were an accident

White originally told police he was alone at home when the 18-month-old child rolled off the bed during a nap, which he claimed caused the child's injuries. The child's mother had left while the child was napping to go tanning at approximately 2:55 p.m., according to the warrant.

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The warrant states White told police he was sitting in the downstairs family room when he heard a "thud" over the baby monitor connected to the child's room. He said when he went into the room, he found the child face down on the floor. The warrant states he tried to conduct a "fingers sweep" in the child's mouth when he realized the child appeared "to be having difficulty breathing." However, this led to the child "gagging, vomiting, and eventually the child stops breathing," the warrant states.

The warrant states White first called the child's mother before calling 911 to alert authorities of the child's condition.

In the months after the incident, White allegedly split from the child's mother and moved around from Tennessee to California to Hawaii, according to the warrant. The Pleasant Hill Police Department worked with the Hawaii County Police Department to locate White, whose Hawaii address turned out to be fake.

Case set for extradition hearing in California

Authorities in Roseville located White on April 7 and booked him into the Placer County Jail. Inmate records show White is ineligible for bail. Detective Paul Kuhlman of the Pleasant Hill Police Department said White is being charged with child endangerment causing death, which is a class B felony.

White has waived his right to an extradition hearing, according to Kuhlman, which means he will be extradited to Iowa before April 30. Kuhlman said the department is currently coordinating logistics on how to get White back to Iowa.

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at@francescablock3.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: California police, US Marshals arrest Iowa man for Dec. 2021 crime
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would require advance voting ballots to be delivered to officials on Election Day, eliminating the current three-day grace period for the arrival of late ballots.

Republicans had pushed the legislation as an election security measure after years of baseless allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election by former President Donald Trump and his supporters. But Kelly and other Democrats said eliminating the additional arrival time would disenfranchise voters.

As the daughter of a career Army officer, I cannot support measures that would disenfranchise members of our armed services  who fight for our freedoms, including the right to vote  from casting their own ballot, Kelly said in a statement.

This bill eliminates the three-day grace period for mail-in ballots often used by those in the military serving across the country or overseas.

Kelly also said the bill would likely result in too many rural Kansans  who may vote by mail to avoid long drives to the polls  not having their vote counted. The bill would require all advance ballots to be turned in to election authorities by 7 p.m. on Election Day, the same time polls close. Current Kansas law allows advance ballots to count if they arrive up to three business days following Election Day as long as they are postmarked on Election Day.

Republicans face a steep climb in overturning the veto. The measure passed 76-48 in the House and 23-14 in the Senate. Overriding a veto requires 84 votes in the House and 27 votes in the Senate.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, in a statement criticizing several vetoes issued by Kelly on Wednesday, said the governor signaled she wants an endless counting of ballots.

But regardless of whether Kansas eliminates the three-day grace period, the bill has no effect on the official counting of ballots. Ballots are officially counted at canvasses conducted by county election officials in the weeks after Election Day.

Results reported on election night are preliminary, unofficial totals.
The Netflix series "African Queens: Queen Cleopatra" streams in May 2023. Netflix

Egyptians have complained about a Netflix show that has a biracial actress playing Cleopatra.

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass said it was inaccurate, and one lawyer called for Egypt to block Netflix.

One expert told Insider that Cleopatra probably wasn't Black, but questioned if that matters here.

An Egyptian lawyer is asking for Netflix to be banned in his country after it was revealed that Cleopatra will be played by a biracial woman in an upcoming series.

UK actress Adele James, who is dark-skinned, was cast as the historic queen in "African Queens: Queen Cleopatra," streaming on Netflix in May.

Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud Al-Sedary filed a complaint with the public prosecutor, saying that the show violates Egypt's media laws.

He said that the streaming service "promotes Afrocentric thinking ... which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity," the BBC reported.

A leading Egyptian archaeologist also objected, claiming the casting of a dark-skinned woman misrepresents Egyptian identity and history.

Zahi Hawass denied that Cleopatra was Black in an interview with Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al-Youm, saying that her Greek origins mean she would be light-skinned.

Hawass is considered a celebrity in archaeological circles, and a figure of national pride for many Egyptians.

"Netflix is trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilization is Black," he said, per the BBC's translation.

A February article about the show on Netflix companion site Tudum discussed the casting as "a nod to the centuries-long conversation about the ruler's race."

In a comment to Insider, show spokesperson Katie Greenaway said that their researchers argue that Egypt in Cleopatra's time was "multi-cultural and multi-racial according to modern-day ways of thinking," and that "Cleopatra herself may have been of mixed heritage."

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The questions of her ethnicity means "people are all the more fascinated by her," she said.

But social media accounts for the show's producers, Westbrook and Nutopia, have been flooded by comments objecting to the casting.

And James, the actress, has shared racist and abusive messages she received on Twitter.

She responded by saying: "If you don't like the casting don't watch the show. Or do & engage in (expert) opinion different to yours."

In 2018, Egyptian-American journalist and cultural commentator Mona Eltahawy wrote for The Washington Post celebrating the depiction of Egyptian goddess Bast as a Black woman in "Black Panther."

But she said that anti-Black racism would be a major factor in the movie's reception in Egypt.

Contemporary Egypt has a significant Black minority, notably Nubians, who are estimated to number around three million.

When it comes to Cleopatra, Egyptologist and archaeologist Dr Wojciech Ejsmond, from the Polish Academy of Sciences, told Insider that "there is a general consensus amongst scholars that [she] was not Black."

He said that most existing depictions of the queen show her looking Greek. "Her father was a Ptolemaic king and the family came from Macedonia  so they were something like Greeks," Ejsmond said.

However, this isn't conclusive because the identity of Cleopatra's mother isn't known, he added.

For Ejsmond, the casting is not controversial. He said there's "nothing wrong with showing her with a dark complexion" in a fictional show.

"Because honestly we do not know ... it's possible," he added. "We're not sure how dark [she was] but, why not? It's just a TV series."

Read the original article on Insider
Galia Aida Sopher crouches next to Rafael Anibal as they admire the community garden filled with different vegetables inside Sopher's kibbutz in Israel on Monday, Dec. 14, 202. The garden came together during the pandemic.

The sunlight fell on a box-shaped building painted with colorful flowers and the faces of giraffes, lions, elephants and other animals.

The building is one of over a dozen bomb shelters in Mefalsim, a kibbutz in the south of Israel near the Israel-Gaza border.

Galia Aida Sopher, 35, her husband, two daughters and their dog Pepper live in Mefalsim, a kibbutz south of Israel.

Sopher was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico; however, she grew up in the Jewish community. After visiting Israel multiple times, she fell in love with the country and decided to move.

Shes been living near the Israel-Gaza border with her family for three years.

There wasnt a sense of belonging living in Mexico, Sopher said. I was born and raised in the Jewish community and Israel was always present in my education. I traveled here before I moved, several times with family and in educational trips as well. I fell in love with the country and the people.

Many Latinos, like Sopher, live together in a communal settlement in Israel called a kibbutz. Although these places are popular for people moving to Israel due to the low cost of building a home and lower taxes, they live near the Gaza Strip.

According to Columbia University, Latin American Jews, mainly from Argentina, have been settling in Israel since the countrys founding. Today they and their descendants number over 100,000. Since the late 1980s, thousands of non-Jewish Latin American workers, mainly from Ecuador and Colombia and mostly undocumented, have migrated to Israel.

In her day-to-day life, Sopher feels relatively safe living at the border. However, she knows danger is on the horizon.

I feel protected by the iron dome (Israel's anti-rocket system), Sopher said. "I know that our soldiers are very well trained, and I know what to do in dangerous situations, so even though it is very stressful to hear alarms, planes, sirens, bombings, etc., it is surreal to say but I don't think anything will fall on top of me.

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Galia Aida Sopher, 35, stands inside her home in Israel on Monday, Dec. 14, 2022. Sopher lives in southern Israel with her family in Mefalsim, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.

Taking it day by day

Although Sopher says feels relatively peaceful, she recognizes that the threat is imminent and she has to be alert at all times; growing up in Mexico gave her this sense of alertness that she now uses to take care of her family.

Im always aware of my surroundings, Sopher said. I learned that growing up in Mexico City, and it applies here, too; I always have to know where to run to protect myself and my family if I hear an alarm.

According to Columbia University, Latin American Jews, mainly from Argentina, have been settling in Israel since the countrys founding. Today they and their descendants number over 100,000. Since the late 1980s, thousands of non-Jewish Latin American workers, mainly from Ecuador and Colombia and mostly undocumented, have migrated to Israel.

Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government, living in the region has become increasingly dangerous.

Life revolves around sirens warning of incoming rockets and taking kids to schools that double as bomb shelters.

In late January, the people living in the kibbutz experienced a missile attack. Residents in the kibbutz mentioned this hadnt happened in their area in quite a while.

The BBC also reported two rockets were fired around midnight but were intercepted by Israel's anti-rocket Iron Dome system, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Missiles were fired at us Thursday near midnight leading to early Friday morning, said a longtime Kibbutz resident Ana Rajmilevich in January. The threats are increasing here, which is unfortunate for us.

She mentioned its more peaceful with the past government before Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahs right-wing government took over. We're taking it day by day, Rajmilevich said. With the previous government, it was peaceful for a long time.

As protestors were taken to the streets across Israel for weeks to oppose Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary, families living in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip are experiencing similar uncertainty as Rajmilevich.

Life near a war zone can be unpredictable and a sense of uncertainty always looms in the air.

Sopher said she feels 95% safe living in the kibbutz but there is that 5% that remains uncertain.

A ripped Israel flag hung from a tree inside a kibbutz in the southern part of Israel near the Israel-Gaza border on Monday, Dec. 14, 2022.

A loud alarm went off in late January, signaling an incoming missile threat.

During the night, the alarm went off, Sopher said. My husband and I ran to my daughters room with our dog Pepper, my daughters room is the security room. We stayed there until the alarm went off, listened as the iron dome neutralized the rocket, and eventually went back to sleep.

Sopher also believes that the new right-wing government led by Netanyahu will also cause tensions to rise near the border.

I am sure that because of the government coalition, Sopher said. There will soon be a new confrontation.

Although the past government led by Yair Lapid, Isreals former prime minister, was short, during that short time, things were peaceful.

Unfortunately, the old government did not last long, Sopher said. But the confrontation that took place while Yair Lapida was prime minister was much more calm and did not go on more than necessary, which is how it feels with Netanyahu.

Despite the bomb threats, loud sirens and uncertain future, Sopher loves her home and country.

Everyone has their corner of the world where they feel at home; mine is here, I welcome you with pleasure and it's also fine if it's just to visit too."

In early April, Galia and her family encountered another round of sirens; she packed her and her family's bags and left north to stay with friends during a weekend to escape the possible missile threats. She continues to stay hopeful.

Galia Aida Sopher, 35, stands outside her Israel home on Monday, Dec. 14, 2022. Sopher lives in southern Israel with her family in Mefalsim, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.

David Rodriguez Munoz is a photojournalist for the Detroit Free Press. Raised in Salinas and Aguascalientes, Mexico, he seeks to empower his community through his photographs and stories.

This story was made possible thanks to the generous help of the Fuente Latina Media Fellowship and in collaboration with the Visalia Times-Delta.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: A Latinas experience living near the Israel-Gaza border
After months of pleading with the federal government to direct more relief towards the citys migrant crisis, Mayor Adams laid into President Biden on Wednesday, saying that Biden and the White House have failed New York City.

The national government has turned its back on New York City, Adams said during a press conference at City Hall. This is in the lap of the president of the United States. The president of the United States can give us the ability to allow people to work.

Adams comments come at an inopportune time for Biden. Just last month, Biden tapped the mayor to serve as a surrogate for his reelection run.

The remarks were Adams most forceful to date on Bidens role in aiding the city, as its agencies have struggled to shoulder the burden of hundreds of migrants arriving here each day.

Since last spring, more than 55,000 migrants have come to the Big Apple, many of them seeking asylum from countries in Latin America and Africa. According to data released by the city Wednesday, more than 34,000 of them are currently receiving some sort of assistance from the city government.

All of it has placed a huge burden on the Adams administration. Since last April, the city has had to rely on more than 100 emergency shelters and eight humanitarian relief centers in response.

Adams has called on the feds to speed up the process by which migrants receive work permits and has said for months that such a policy shift represents a key piece of relieving the pressure the city has felt since last April.

On Wednesday, the mayor made his demands more specific and explicit when he called on Biden to increase the number of staffers within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and reassign USCIS officers to reduce wait times for work permits to be authorized.

He also called on Biden to expand eligibility for migrants coming from Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Sudan, South Sudan and Cameroon to receive temporary protected status, which will enable them to be authorized to work.

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The ability to work, Adams said, is the foremost concern among newly arrived migrants hes spoken with.

Theres only one thing they ask for. They dont want our free shelter. They dont want free food. They dont want free clothing. Theyre saying: Can we work? Adams, a Democrat, said. And we cant point to the failure of the Republicans handing down real immigration reform because theres real things we can do. This is in the lap of the president.

Without accelerating the work permit process, Adams said other efforts such as relocating migrants to other parts of the state cant move forward.

When we speak with our colleagues throughout New York State, they say, Listen, this is wrong what theyre doing to New York City, and we are willing to help you, but we cant have it coming to our counties and they cant work. Whos going to pick up the tab? he said. Thats why were here today. Were saying to Washington D.C. that we can do a decompression strategy.

During his remarks, Adams appeared visibly exasperated with the situation and described the White House putting him and his team off over the course of several months.

Washington, its time to respond. Enough is enough, he said. New Yorkers deserve better from our national government. They deserve better.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for a response.

Adams call on the president to increase staffing at a key federal agency also comes at an interesting time for the mayor. He and his administration have struggled to fill key roles in city agencies dedicated to providing essential services like food stamps and housing vouchers to some of the citys most vulnerable residents.

But Adams focused on the feds Wednesday, and to a lesser extent the City Council and press corps, in explaining why the city now finds itself in its current predicament. He blamed the Council for putting out rosier budget forecasts than his own budget experts have and the press for amplifying them.

That adds to the flavor that Washington is feeling  Oh, it cant be that bad, he said. Everyone needs to be on the same message based on the facts, not based on a political opinion.

City Council spokesman Rendy Desamours shot back at Adams, saying his administration has made matters worse by failing to help New Yorkers already living in homeless shelters find permanent housing.

This administrations inability to help these New Yorkers exit the shelter system is due to their refusal to remove unnecessary regulations that block people from housing vouchers, he said. The mayor cannot say they are finding efficiencies when agencies cannot perform the critical functions of processing applications for food assistance, housing vouchers and other services New Yorkers need. The real problem is that city agencies dont have the support or capacity to effectively or efficiently help New Yorkers and confront our citys challenges.

Despite the criticisms and the back and forth, the mayor reserved some praise for Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Williams was in Washington D.C. on Wednesday with members of the citys congressional delegation pushing for more relief from the federal government.

This issue did not originate when the first bus arrived at Port Authority. It is rooted in decades of inaction toward reforming our immigration infrastructure, the representatives said in a joint statement. We must implement real, achievable, sustainable changes to our federal systems of immigration to help ensure that people coming to our country for its opportunities do not find themselves arriving in a new crisis of our own inertia.

Adams and his budget director Jacques Jiha estimate the total bill for taking care of the migrants will ultimately come to $4.2 billion and that such an outlay will translate into being forced to cut key city services, something Adams says he wants to avoid.

But that stated desire didnt stop one unnamed protestor who appeared in City Hall on Wednesday from voicing concerns about proposed cuts that could soon be coming to schools and libraries in Adams next budget.

Mayor Adams, why are you cutting schools? Why are you cutting adult literacy? Why are you cutting services that asylum seekers and long-term residents rely on? she yelled during Adams press conference.

After the woman was escorted away, the mayor attempted to provide an answer.

People are still asking the question: Why are we cutting? he said. Its called $4.2 billion. Every service in this city is going to be impacted by the asylum seeker crisis.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing a good thing by launching Campaign for Democracy against authoritarian governors in Republican states like Alabama and Florida.

But what hes campaigning for is not democracy.

If democracy were his mission, hed be campaigning in California  because our state has a deficit of it.

Newsoms Campaign for Democracy  the name given to events in Republican states and to the political action committee paying for them  isnt just a misnomer. Its part of an epidemic of leaders who portray whatever they support as democracy, and their political opponents as a threat to it.

To understand the problem, lets start with a definition: Democracy is everyday people governing themselves.

But Newsoms campaign has little to do with getting together with your neighbors to practice self-government. The governor instead is leading a national campaign to confront politicians with whom he disagrees.

On the Campaign for Democracy website, the stated mission is all about conflict  patriotic Americans must go on offense, the site says, bringing the fight with an aggressive campaign to confront and defeat unAmerican authoritarianism. Who are these authoritarians? They are all extremist Republicans.

Like most Californians, I agree with the campaigns criticisms of the Republican party for bullying vulnerable people, criminalizing free speech, denying womens rights, and dehumanizing immigrants. I think its good that Newsom is offering strong words and some protections for people under right-wing attack.

But Newsoms narrow cherry-picking of targets undermines his good intentions. Democratic decline is a global problem that touches all parties, and anti-democratic authoritarians also can emerge from the political left  like Indonesias Joko Widodo or Mexicos Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

That, however, is not the greatest omission in the Campaign for Democracy. The website offers few ideas for extending democratic practice. One part of the site, called California Leadership, focuses on progressive social policies, with only a brief mention of democracy.

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Why? Perhaps because there isnt much democracy in California to defend.

For the past century, California has been centralizing power in state government in Sacramento, and reducing the power of people to govern themselves locally. Decisions about taxation and spending are especially centralized, with communities reduced to lobbying Sacramento to get their money back.

Newsom, and previous governors, have extended their powers, especially in emergencies. Accountability is hard because state government is a highly secretive entity. California agencies routinely hide data, ignore public and press questions, and refuse to provide basic information.

Meanwhile, our democratic mechanisms have become less useful. Our system of direct democracy is so costly that only the richest and most powerful people and organizations can afford to use it. The states Brown Act, an open meetings law, is now an anti-democratic gag rule limiting the ability of local officials and citizens to meet and have broad discussions.

State officials love to talk about efforts to make it easier for Californians to vote. They dont talk much about the fact that our elections are rarely competitive, or that the states most powerful entities  unions, corporations, various commissions  cant be voted out by the people.

In California, we also ignore the fact that huge shares of Californians arent eligible to vote  because they are too young, or because they are not U.S. citizens. One quarter of voting-age adults in L.A., and more than one-third in the Salinas Valley, and more than half in Central Valley towns are disenfranchised because of their citizenship.

If Newsom wanted an effort worthy of the name Campaign for Democracy, hed pursue a new constitution that provides universal suffrage and restores the power of local communities to determine their own fates.

The governor is deeply familiar with democratic innovation, as he demonstrated in his 2013 book Citizenville. But will he take on democratic reform?

The politics argue against it. Its easy to point out red-state fascism. Itd much harder to give up power, and lead a campaign to let Californians govern themselves.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Newsom's campaign is righteous, but it isn't democracy
Love and loss, fury and forgiveness are at the heart of Charise Castro Smiths El huracan (The Hurricane), a profoundly insightful and moving play now getting its belated Florida premiere at GableStage.

After a successful world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2018, El huracan had several other productions, but like nearly everything else in theater, its momentum was disrupted by the pandemic.

Thais Menendez and Gabriell Salgado play the younger versions of a magician and her assistant in El huracan at GableStage. (Photo courtesy of Magnus Stark)

But maybe the rough magic referenced in El huracan and William Shakespeares The Tempest, an inspiration for former Miamian Castro Smith, was working overtime to get it to a theater in the playwrights hometown at just the right time with just the right people involved. Certainly, the result is magical and as fine a production as youll see in South Florida all season.

El huracan is a 100-minute play in two parts, with a glamorous Cuban origin story at the beginning and a linking interlude in the middle. It is written in English, but certain words, phrases or speeches are in Spanish. Not a stretch for Miami-area audiences, but the playwright has other characters translate or restate that content.

In the first part, set in 1992, Hurricane Andrew is roaring toward Miami on its path of unfathomable destruction. In the second, 25 years have passed. Some characters have died, only to resurface as spirits; others have been born or matured or now face a frightening future.

Barbara Bonilla and James Puig are a magician-wife and her assistant-husband in Charise Castro Smiths El huracan at GableStage. (Photo courtesy of Magnus Stark)

When we first meet Valeria (Barbara Bonilla), shes a beautiful up-and-coming magician in pre-revolutionary Cuba, with the handsome Alonso (James Puig) as her assistant (the younger versions of those characters are played by Thais Menendez and Gabriell Salgado).

Then the play shifts to Miami and pre-Andrew urgency, as Valerias middle-aged daughter Ximena (Adriana Sevan) and granddaughter Miranda (Menendez) try to quickly pack Valerias most important things  the items used in her magic act, especially  to keep them safe at Ximenas.

Three things become evident: Alonso, Valerias devoted husband, is nowhere to be found; Ximena and Miranda, a student at Harvard, squabble frequently over their different agendas for Mirandas life; and Valeria is suffering from Alzheimers disease.

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Frequently, shell have conversations with her long-gone sister Alicia (Emma Garcia Seeger). Now and then, shell put on the top hat from her act, grab a huge bag and announce that shes going out (in the torrential rain) to find Alonso. Ximena diverts Valeria by saying Alonso has gone to the pharmacy and will be back soon; in fact, he left after his wifes diagnosis, unable to bear watching the woman he loved for a lifetime slowly vanish.

The middle-aged version of Adriana Sevans Ximena tries to calm Barbara Bonilla as her mother Valeria in El huracan at GableStage. (Photo courtesy of Magnus Stark)

Near the end of the first section, as Hurricane Andrew is about to pulverize so much of the world outside Ximenas home, Castro Smith expertly propels the action from lust to tragedy. Miranda and Fernando (Salgado), a neighbors son who was a high school crush, have their own Cuba Libre-fueled hurricane party, one that will have life-changing consequences.

After theyve retired to Mirandas bedroom, Valeria awakens, grabs her hat and bag, and walks out the front door into that peculiar green light that can transform the sky during hurricanes. Hers is the ultimate vanishing act, though she and Alonso surface as spirits unseen by the living after the play jumps to 2017.

Now its Ximena, fierce as ever, who is facing Alzheimers. Her Cuban cousins son Theo (Salgado) is staying with her as he takes the first steps toward forging a life in Miami. Inevitably, he has noticed her memory lapses, agitation and confusion. So an emailed SOS has gone out to Miranda, who left home the day after her grandmothers disappearance. The prodigal daughter returns to her still-furious mother, her own daughter Val (Garcia Seeger) in tow. Expect fireworks and tears.

Castro Smith, coauthor of the Oscar-winning Disney animated movie Encanto, mixes realistic dialogue with evocatively poetic imagery, sometimes crossing into the terrain of magical realism.

Thais Menendez, Emma Garcia Seeger and Barbara Bonilla are family in El huracan at GableStage. (Photo courtesy of Magnus Stark)

One small example, as Alonso is translating what Valeria says in Spanish: As old age floods your mind, hidden away boxes and trunks float to the surface. The things that the river of memory brings back to you sometimes feel random. But they are yours, and theyre home. Love is the only real magic. Although it is sometimes tricky, it is not a trick.

Miami-born director Damaso Rodriguez, who first brought El huracan to the attention of GableStage producing artistic director Bari Newport, has done a superb job of staging a piece with myriad challenges. They include time jumps, characters that are visible to some and invisible to others while making certain that lines spoken in Spanish are contextually clear. And the performances he has helped shape? They are exquisite and tonally cohesive.

Bonilla, seen last season in GableStages Boca, gets a far deeper and more intricate role as Valeria. Now and then, her portrait of a woman in the last stages of Alzheimers is endearing, but as her face goes blank, she becomes utterly heartbreaking.

Sevan played Valeria in the world premiere of El huracan at Yale Rep (and won a critics award for her performance). Her Ximena is a towering achievement, as key to Castro Smiths play as the aging magician Prospero is to The Tempest. Her exhausted, fearful, raging Ximena is an unforgettable portrait of a strong woman shattered by loss and by a disease that would rob her of her memories.

Menendez, who grew up in Miami and is based in Los Angeles, is a beguiling performer who fully inhabits the college-age Miranda (her scenes of drunken flirtation with Salgados Fernando are irresistible). She then transforms before our eyes into a middle-aged woman who is, like her mother before her, now caught between caring for an elder and raising her own daughter.

The self-assured Garcia Seeger, a recent University of Florida grad, impressively meets the challenge of playing three distinct characters. As Alicia, shes a forever-young spirit in a one-piece bathing suit and white swim cap, a source of comfort and guilt to the aging Valeria. As Val, shes lovable and curious about the family she has never met. As the neurologist Dr. Kempler, she is matter-of-fact and professional as she arrives at a diagnosis for Valeria.

As Alonso, Puig has to play notes of adoration and abandonment, defensiveness and the forever-painful realization that leaving when Valeria needed him most was the greatest mistake of his life. He conveys the complexities of his characters actions with a slight nervousness of a man who knows hes doing the wrong thing.

Salgado, who has appeared at many of the regions theaters since making his professional debut as the Creature in Zoetic Stages Frankenstein in 2021, plays two distinct supporting roles in El huracan, but both draw on the young actors comedic ability. His Fernando is a Miami hunk whos a magnet for Miranda. Theo is more serious  indicated by the glasses he wears  and funny as he switches from his Cuban Spanish to the English hes trying to acquire.

Thanks to additional donor support, GableStages budget for El huracan was larger, and it shows. Magician Andre Garre was hired to teach the cast the magic tricks specified in the script, while Jeni Hacker did the brief segments of choreography and intimacy coordination.

Set designer Frank J. Oliva has created Ximenas house as a two-story playing area with walls that, if you look closely, combine old photographs with the imagery of swirling hurricane winds. Jameelah Bailey and Constanza Celci dressed the set and gathered the props that convey place and era.

A scene from Charise Castro Smiths El huracan (The Hurricane), a profoundly insightful and moving play, at GableStage. (Photo courtesy of Magnus Stark)

Lighting designer Blanca Forzan summons a Cuban club with an explosion of brightly colored lights. Sound designer Rodolfo Ortega provides the sudden sounds of Hurricane Andrew, a faint musical underscoring and Frank Sinatra crooning Come Fly With Me. Costume designer Gema Valdes facilitates the plays time travel and provides a beautiful blue halter dress for Valeria, a costume that will link her in youth and the spirit world.

Even before Castro Smiths success with Encanto, she was focusing more on writing for film and television. The movies Oscar (she was co-director as well as co-author) took that career path to a higher level, leaving her far less time for the developmental demands of writing plays and getting them produced.

The point is this: El huracan is a made-for-Miami play. It will resonate here most deeply, and its a thoroughly engaging story being given a great production. It will be at GableStage through May 14  and then poof, like Valeria, it will be gone.

WHAT: El huracan by Charise Castro Smith

WHERE: GableStage in the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables

WHEN: 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (additional matinee May 13), through May 14 (streaming version available during regular performances April 21-May 14)

COST: $45-$75 (streaming ticket $27)

INFORMATION: 305-445-1119 or gablestage.org.

ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit source of theater, dance, visual arts, music and performing arts news.
When Tesla held its opening party for the company's Giga Texas factory last year, Elon Musk said that it will finally start selling the Cybertruck in 2023. Now, we can narrow down the timing for its launch even further. According to The Verge, Musk just told Tesla investors during its most recent earnings call that the automaker will hold a delivery event for the Cybertruck in the third quarter of the year. Tesla will start manufacturing the vehicle this summer, but volume production won't begin until 2024 like the company had previously said.

Musk reportedly told investors during the call that it "takes time to get the manufacturing line going, and this is really a very radical product." He added: "It's not made in the way that other cars are made." The production version Cybertruck Tesla showed off on stage last year had no door handles and could automatically tell if its owner is nearby and it should open its doors. It's still made out of stainless steel like the automaker initially envisioned, though, and that's more expensive than steel typically used in the industry. As The Verge notes, the electric vehicle requires special welding techniques, and its smaller components are custom-made.

The Cybertruck has been delayed several times since it was first announced back in 2019. Tesla's original and very optimistic initial launch date was 2021, but it was pushed back to 2022 and then to 2023. The vehicle's prices were originally supposed to start at $39,900 for a single-motor configuration to $70,000 for a three-motor one. Tesla warned earlier this year, however, that its final specs and pricing have yet to be determined and could be based on several factors, such as supply chain shortages and the economy.
Texas leads the nation in the number of books banned in school libraries, according to a report Thursday from PEN America, a free speech organization.

The report, called Banned in the USA State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools, found book bans rose by 28% throughout the U.S. in the first six months.

Texas and Florida led the way in banning the most books, the report showed. On Wednesday, the Texas House gave initial approval to a bill that would remove sexually explicit books from school libraries and require parental consent for some with sexual references.

In Texas, seven school districts were responsible for 438 instances of individual book bans, and in Florida, 13 districts were responsible for 357 bans. The Texas school districts listed in the report are Keller, Frisco, Belton, Conroe, Humble, Katy and Texarkana.

Almost one third of the book bans are driven by newly enacted legislation in states like Florida and Missouri that include strict policies that school districts must follow under threat of punishment. This leads to a chilling effect in which students are not exposed to as much literature, according to the report.

This is in contrast to previous years when parents or concerned citizens initiated most of the bans, according to information in the report.

The report highlights the educational censorship in Americas schools and the rapid intensification of book bans.

The heavy-handed tactics of state legislators are mandating book bans, plain and simple, said Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America. Some politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have tried to dismiss the rise in book bans as a hoax. But their constituents and supporters are not fooled. The numbers dont lie, and reveal a relentless crusade to constrict childrens freedom to read. The PEN America reports showed that 31% of the 1,477 books banned this year are about race or racism.

LGBTQ+ characters and themes were in 26% of the banned books.

The most frequently banned books include Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (banned in 15 districts), Flamer by Mike Curato (banned in 15 districts), Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (banned in 13 districts), and The Handmaids Tale: The Graphic Novel by Margaret Atwood and Renee Nault (banned in 12 districts).

PEN America is based in New York and advocates for protection of open expression in the U.S. and throughout the world, according to its web site. The organization also defends creative expression and the liberties that make it possible.
With Speaker McCarthy and President Biden barreling toward each other in a high-risk game of chicken over the debt ceiling, a bipartisan group of self-styled centrists in the House on Wednesday floated a fallback plan to use if party leaders cant make a deal to avoid a potentially disastrous default on U.S. obligations.

Split roughly equally between Democrats and Republicans, the 64-member House Problem Solvers Caucus released a proposal aimed at avoiding a default and creating a workable budget. The debt ceiling and debt crisis demand a two-party solution, caucus co-chair Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said. We must never allow our nation to default on our debt, we must never put our nations full faith and credit at risk, and we must insist on responsible budget reform measures.

The proposed debt ceiling framework would suspend the debt limit until December 31, in order to remove immediate pressure of defaulting on our national debt. This would give lawmakers enough time to finish a budget for fiscal year 2024, and to create an external commission tasked with recommending a package of measures that would stabilize deficits and debt over time. The commission would have a reporting deadline of December 31, 2024, with a vote required on its recommendations by February 28, 2025. The group also calls for the adaptation of interim deficit stabilization controls  which are not defined  for use in the 2024 budget process.

If lawmakers are able to establish the commission and satisfy certain requirements, including the use of regular order for budgeting and appropriations, by the end of this year, then the debt ceiling suspension would automatically convert to a debt ceiling increase lasting until February 2025  the amount of which will be guided by the established interim deficit stabilization controls.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the New Jersey Democrat who co-chairs the Problem Solvers Caucus, said the proposal addresses two major issues at the same time. We can both suspend the debt ceiling and help prevent our nations economy from driving off a fiscal cliff  and address our nations longer-term fiscal health, he said. Nobody should use the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip and I look forward to continuing our bipartisan work to prevent a debt crisis. We can protect Americans savings and our standing in the world.

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Uncertain future: As Bloombergs Erik Wasson notes, the Problem Solvers proposal cannot move forward without McCarthys approval. That means the plan is going nowhere for now, as McCarthy pursues his own effort to pass a bill that forces the White House to negotiate with him over spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. But if McCarthys effort fails, the bipartisan centrist plan may serve as the basis for an emergency alternative in the event that a debt crisis suddenly appears perilously close.

TD Cowen analyst Chris Krueger says that the centrists plan could help resolve a potential deadlock over how to proceed on the debt ceiling. This is the classic kick the can, which we believe will be a feature of any final bill that raises/suspends the debt, he said in a note late Wednesday.

The Problem Solvers touted their plan as a more realistic way forward. How else are we going to get 60 votes in the Senate and navigate the four-vote GOP margin? Fitzpatrick said. Its going to have to be a two-party solution. So why dont we just start on that now?

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Lawmakers and advocates pressed the Veterans Health Administration (VHA)on Tuesday over long wait times for veterans seeking treatment for substance use disorder, especially due to the particularly high suicide risk within the population.

We can figure out that paperwork later, Thomas Sauer, chief executive of Miramar Health, told a hearing of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs health subcommittee. The current VA policy of 30 days to wait to find a bed in a given region does not meet the urgent level of this crisis.

Daniel Elkins, chief of staff at The Independence Fund, an organization that supports the mental and physical independence of veterans, echoed Sauers call.

In a 30-day period, the risk of suicide or destabilization can drastically increase, so we recommend a clinically sound lesser number of days because PTSD, in conjunction with SUD [substance use disorder], requires swift intervention and services, he said.

Between 2001 and 2020, the prevalence of substance use disorder diagnoses among the VHAs recent veteran users rose from 27.9 percent to 41.9 percent, the VA reported in its 2022 annual suicide prevention report.

The overall suicide rate among that group fell by 28.7 percent over that same period; however, they were still almost twice as likely as non-users to commit suicide.

Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), the subcommittees ranking member, said there was a clear disconnect between the need and access to substance abuse care.

What Im hearing from the panel, too, as well, is that the quality of care within the VA, once a veteran gets into the VA, is very good, she said. So I think, you know, clearly something has to be done here around these access points.

Research by the VA showed in 2017 that substance use disorder sharply increased the risk of suicide for veterans. Of 4.8 million veterans studied, 8 percent of men and 3 percent of women had problems with drugs or alcohol.

And almost 20 percent of veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan as of 2019 suffered from PTSD, depression, or traumatic brain injury, which predispose individuals to substance abuse, according to the VA.

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Im saddened and Im frustrated that this is how VA has been managing care for those who have selflessly served our country, said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who chairs the subcommittee.

The most important metric of success is whether the suicide rate has gone down, and unfortunately, it has gone up, Miller-Meeks said. No veteran should be turned away when a decision is made to seek health.

Brownley noted the challenge was only compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased feelings of social isolation, anxiety, and depression and caused many adults to start or increase their use of alcohol or drugs.

Tamara Campbell, executive director of the VHAs Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, assured lawmakers that a full comprehensive continuum of care was available to veterans, from outpatient telehealth to inpatient treatment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Three downtown business and property owners, Ben Hittle, Joe Mann and Steve Mercy, updated the Yakima City Council on their efforts to draft a parking plan for downtown Yakima on Tuesday.

The city council voted 4-3 on Oct. 11 to move ahead with paid parking downtown, then delayed implementation of it two months later, voting on Dec. 6 to give downtown business owners six months to produce an alternative plan to pay for downtown infrastructure improvements.

Mann and Hittle said Tuesday they have received many alternate ideas from different business owners to generate money for sidewalk repairs, additional lighting and other needs in the downtown district.

Were still working on parking plans for downtown, ones that will generate enough revenue for repairs  while also still providing free parking for customers, Mann said.

According to the councils six-month delay, the issue of downtown parking will be discussed again in May.
RFA/Latino Community and Lower Valley Reporter

Heyo, Im Jasper. Nice to meet you. I cover a wide variety of news, but I try to focus on the Latino community and the Lower Yakima Valley. I want to sharestories and perspectives from the Yakima Valley. Im interested in economics, labor, geography and the environment, but the most important issues will always be the ones the community cares about. If you have something worth saying, Ill listen and try to write it down. Im a gosei from Northeast Los Angeles and I got my start as a student journalist and editor covering sports in the Bay Area. Im a massive soccer fan and I still love to play. I also love water in all its forms, the word copacetic and trying new things. I want to read more, and I like to cook, but Im not great at either. Have fun out there!
The Supreme Court fight over an abortion pill: What's next?

The Supreme Court initially gave itself a deadline of Wednesday to decide whether women seeking access to a widely used abortion pill would face more restrictions while a court case plays out
The U.S. housing market is expected to be a little easier to navigate for home buyers in 2023 than last year, as analysts predict a modest decline in prices due to an increase in the supply of available homes. Even so, the projected decline is less than previously thought because demand for homes has fallen only slightly.

Learn: Suze Orman Cautions Against Investing Emergency Funds in Two Common Places  Heres Why

Discover: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

In some markets, inventory remains so tight that buyers have few if any choices unless they are willing to pay premium prices. These markets include traditionally expensive cities such as New York, where demand continues to outpace supply.

Theres very little thats good [available in New York City], Kimberly Jay, an associate broker at Compass, told New York magazines Curbed website in a recent interview.

Most listings in Manhattan are either overpriced or have been sitting for months as sellers aim to get top dollar, according to brokers in the borough. Even though mortgage rates have risen sharply over the past year  something that typically leads to lower demand and prices  that hasnt been the case in certain markets. You still find bidding wars in large metro areas like New York, San Francisco and Boston.

But the problem isnt confined to big cities. As Time noted in an article last month, housing inventory across the country has been falling since the rebound from the Great Recession. This is partly because real estate investors have been buying up homes and either renting them out or holding them until their prices shoot higher.

Institutional investors aremaking this market more difficult, Peter Chabris, a real estate agent in Cincinnati, told Time. [Buying a home is] stressful, its highly competitive, and its emotionally challenging.

Investors arent the only cause of low inventory. Another factor is that more older Americans have decided to stay put instead of selling their homes and moving elsewhere. Meanwhile, homeowners who were lucky enough to lock in rock-bottom mortgage rates in 2020 and 2021 are now reluctant to sell their homes because of todays much higher rates.

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In markets where there hasnt been a lot of new construction, such as Hartford, Connecticut and Buffalo, New York, inventory is near historic lows.

I dont think Ive ever seen it this bad, Becky Koladis, a real estate agent in Hartford for 23 years, told Time. Theres just not a lot to choose from.

In December 2022, Hartford had only 1.4 months of housing supply, according to Redfin. That is down from 5.9 months less than four years earlier. In the past, economists would say that a balanced housing market has between four and six months of supply.

But we havent seen that since the bottom of the last housing market, Daryl Fairweather, Redfins chief economist, told Time.

Take Our Poll: Would You Put All of Your Savings in an Apple Savings Account?

The result is that you see very tight inventory in markets you might not normally associate with high housing demand.

A January report from Redfin found that of the 100 most-populated metro areas in the United States, those with the lowest inventory were Rochester, New York (1.2 months supply); Buffalo (1.4 months); and Allentown, Pennsylvania (1.5 months). Others on the list were Grand Rapids, Michigan; Worcester, Massachusetts; Greensboro, North Carolina.; Hartford; Boston; and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Housing Market: Expert Cautions Theres Very Little Thats Good Available Right Now
FILE PHOTO: Huawei logo is pictured on its headquarters building in Reading, Britain

By David Kirton

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies said on Thursday it is replacing internal software management systems it once sourced from U.S. vendors with its own in-house version, hailing it as a victory over U.S. curbs that once threatened its survival.

Huawei held an internal ceremony to celebrate the switch to its own 'MetaERP' (enterprise resource planning system) in Dongguan, south China on Thursday, attended by the Huawei's rotating Chairperson Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder Ren Zhengfei.

ERP software is used by companies to manage key business operations ranging from accounting to supply chain management.

"We were cut off from the old ERP system and other core operation and management systems three years ago," said Tao Jingwen, a Huawei board member and president of its quality, business process and IT management department.

"Today we are proud to announce that we have broken through that blockade, we have survived!"

The in-house Meta-ERP has been rolled out across 80% of the company's business, Huawei said in a news release.

While Tao's speech did not mention if Huawei intended to commercialise its ERP system and compete with the likes of Oracle and SAP, it provides a potential new business line for the company which has been expanding into areas in a bid to survive under U.S. pressure.

In May 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department added Huawei to a trade blacklist over alleged security concerns the company denies.

The listing and several successive rounds of trade sanctions hobbled Huawei's ability to source items made with U.S. technology.

It also cut it off from servicing and patches for ERP tools it largely purchased from Oracle Corp, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The cut off was a "massive crisis" for Huawei, Tao said in his speech, saying that the old system had been core to the company's operations for over two decades.

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"Not having access to ERP became Huawei's 'Dadu River' that blocked our way forward and threatened our very existence," Tao said, referring to a famous escape for China's Red Army during the country's civil war.

Huawei's 'meta-ERP' system is a 'cloud-native' product, which uses the company's cloud-computing systems for greater efficiency than traditional ERP products, the person said.

While the older system was like "a massive old building in disrepair," the new system has been fully tested and is processing 15 million lines of accounting entries daily, Tao said.
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Crews scrambled to restore power to thousands of residents after tornadoes plowed through Oklahoma during another deadly spring storm in the U.S., killing at least three people and damaging dozens of homes
Transparency Market Research

Global hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices market growth is driven by the increasing use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in cosmetic procedures, hyperbaric oxygen therapies are on the rise. North America accounted for a major share of the global market during the forecast period.

Wilmington, Delaware, United States, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a recent report published by Transparency Market Research, the global market for hyperbaric oxygen therapy is predicted to grow by 8.9% between 2021 and 2028. According to the forecast, the market is expected to reach an estimated valuation of USD 7.3 billion by the end of 2028.



The systematic review and meta-analysis found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is effective for healing bowel fistulas in advanced Crohn's disease. The use of HBOT for all fistula subtypes resulted in 87% clinical response, with 50% experiencing clinical remission. Amr Dokmak, MD, of Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, reports that this is the result of a closed fistula and complete cessation of drainage.

Request a Report Sample to Gain Comprehensive Insights @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=806

The FDA has approved thirteen indications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, among which are pulmonary embolisms, decompression sickness, severe anemia, burns, and brain abscesses. Regulatory approvals for a number of these indications are expected to fuel the growth of the market.

According to the FDA, hyperbaric chambers can be used to treat the following disorders as of July 2021: Air and gas bubbles in blood vessels, Anemia, Burns, Carbon monoxide poisoning, Crush injury, Decompression sickness, Gas gangrene, Hearing loss, Infection of the skin and bone, Radiation injury, Skin graft flap at risk of tissue death, Vision loss, and Wounds.

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices post to the COVID-19 outbreak can be further promoted via telehealth and eHealth mobile apps.

Monoplace HBOT devices are low-cost to operate and have the potential to grow in popularity among clinicians.

The wound healing market is expected to grow in demand for hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices.

Investments in hyperbaric oxygen facilities will increase as demand for regenerative medicines grows.

The demand for hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices is driven by carbon monoxide poisoning.



Story continues

Global Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Device Market: Key Drivers

The high incidence of acute and chronic wounds is driving the global hyperbaric oxygen therapy market. Australia suffers from a large number of chronic wounds. Australian healthcare expenditures resulting from chronic wounds amount to more than AUD $3.5 billion, approximately 2% of total national healthcare expenditures according to data published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

A collaboration between the most prominent providers of offshore, subsea, and life support solutions and researchers plans to launch next-generation multi-chamber hyperbaric oxygen therapy systems. A national hyperbaric awareness campaign and a website for multi-place hyperbaric services are being launched by hyperbaric service providers.

Share Your Specific Needs In Order To Grow Your Business

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Device Market: Regional Landscape

In 2022, the United States led the market and will continue to dominate over the forecast period. According to the American Venous Forum, over 2.5 million Americans suffer from advanced venous diseases, including skin changes and leg ulcers.

Due to the development of healthcare technology, growing healthcare expenditures by the government, and a high level of disposable income, chronic and acute wounds are on the rise and the treatment rate is also on the rise. Over the next few years, these factors are expected to have a positive impact on the market.

Increasing research and development efforts and favorable reimbursement regulations have boded well for the market in Europe. Europe's hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices market revenue is expected to rise due to an increase in government investments in healthcare.

With the high financial burdens faced by the European healthcare system, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom medical centers are providing financial incentives to hospitals in order to improve and reduce wound care costs.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Device Market: Prominent Market Players

Global markets are home to a variety of companies, from small businesses to large corporations. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices have become an important component of future technologies, which have allowed numerous companies to expand their operations. Research on the hyperbaric oxygen therapy device market examines major strategies used by key players:

Environmental Tectonics Corporation

Perry Boramedical

Sechrist Industries, Inc.

Fink Engineering Pty Ltd

Gulf Coast Hyperbarics, Inc.

HAUX-LIFE-SUPPORT

Hearmec Co., Ltd.

Hyperbaric SAC

Royal IHC

OxyHeal International, Inc.

SOS Group Global Ltd.

Medical Equipment and Consumer Goods Plant (KhSC)

Submarine Manufacturing and Products Limited (SMP Ltd.)



Key Developments

Iredell Health Foundation announced the Grateful Patients & Families Fund to three patient care projects on April 18 th , 2023. The goal of the fund is to support patients during their time of greatest need and enrich the patient and family experience at Iredell Health System. The projects supported are Care Transition Patient Advocate Projects, Radiation Therapy Blanket Warmer, and Iredell Wound Care & Hyperbaric Center Blanket Warmer.

In February 2023, Maui Health inaugurated a new outpatient center where hyperbaric oxygen therapy will be offered to patients who cannot heal wounds. Furthermore, Hawaii Medical Service Association leaders were honored and thanked for donating $1 million to support the clinic at the reception.

For In-Depth Competitive Analysis, Buy this Report Now@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=806<ype=S

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Device Market: Key Segments

Product Monoplace HBOT Devices

Multiplace HBOT Devices Application Wound Healing

Decompression Sickness

Infection Treatment

Gas Embolism Region North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. The firm scrutinizes factors shaping the dynamics of demand in various markets. The insights and perspectives on the markets evaluate opportunities in various segments. The opportunities in the segments based on source, application, demographics, sales channel, and end-use are analysed, which will determine growth in the markets over the next decade.

Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision-makers, made possible by experienced teams of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants. The proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques we use always reflect the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in all of its business reports.

Contact:

Nikhil Sawlani

Transparency Market Research Inc.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTER DOWNTOWN,

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Stiri pe aceeasi tema

- Three lorries loaded with various types of waste, coming from Poland, the Netherlands and Switzerland, were blocked from entering Romania through the border crossing points of Nadlac II and Bors II, and the Romanian authorities have ordered them to return to the respective countries.According to

- Nadlac II Border Crossing Point officers on Wednesday found 67 people from several countries who tried to illegally cross the border into Hungary hidden in a lorry and a minibus, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro

- A new shipment of humanitarian aid intended for the population of Syria that was affected by the earthquake arrived on Thursday from Romania to Beirut, Lebanon, Romania's ambassador to Syria, Dan Sandovici, told AGERPRES. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro

- Six Egyptians hiding in a truck have been stopped while attempting to illegally exit Romania through the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point (PTF), with the truck driver having been put under criminally investigated for migrant trafficking, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri.

- Border officers of the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point (PTF) have found 59 migrants trying to leave Romania illegally hidden in two lorries driven by Bulgarian drivers, who are now being investigated for migrant trafficking, the Arad Border Police informed on Tuesday. Fii la curent cu cele

- The authorities with the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point (PTF) apprehended on Friday a number of 20 migrants hidden in a van, who attempted to illegally exit Romania, in order to get to western Europe, the driver of the vehicle being under criminal investigation, told Agerpres. Fii la curent

- The final investment decision regarding the Neptun Deep project will be made in the middle of 2023 and we are closer than ever to the start of this project, said, on Thursday, in a press conference, the managing director of OMV Petrom, Cristina Verchere, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele

- Over 50 migrants have been apprehended by the Arad border policemen while attempting to illegally cross the border hiding in two trucks and a van which underwent verifications at the Nadlac II Border Crossing Point (PTF). Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro
Stiri pe aceeasi tema

- Defence Minister Tilvar to co-chair meeting of Defence ministers in B9 Format, in Warsaw.National Defence Minister Angel Tilvar will co-chair on Wednesday, alongside his counterpart from Poland Mariusz Blaszczak, a new meeting of the Defence ministers in the Bucharest 9 Format (B9), which takes place

- President Klaus Iohannis welcomes, on Wednesday, the United States ambassador to Bucharest, Kathleen Kavalec, the Presidential Administration informs in a press release to AGERPRES.The meeting will take place at the Cotroceni Palace. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro

- The agreement between the Government of Romania and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for the implementation of the provisions of the Espoo Convention in a cross-border context was approved on Wednesday by the Government in Bucharest, the Ministry of Environment informs in a press release press

- Leaders of the Bucharest 9 Format (B9) adopted on Wednesday a joint statement in which they call Russia the most significant and direct threat to NATO security, saying that in order to protect their populations and territory, the Allies will continue to reinforce their deterrence and defense posture

- President Klaus Iohannis participates on Wednesday, in Warsaw, alongside his Polish counterpart, in the extraordinary meeting of the Bucharest 9 Format (B9), where also invited are the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the NATO Secretary General, Jean Stoltenberg, according to a press

- The University of Bucharest decided to withdraw the title of Doctor Honoris Causa granted to Marshal Ion Antonescu, the decision being taken, on Wednesday, by the Senate of this higher education institution, told Agerpres. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro

- The Minister of Culture, Lucian Romascanu, signed, on Thursday, the Book of Condolences opened at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Bucharest, on which occasion he stated that "the tragedy of the Turkish people was deeply felt by the entire world." Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri.

- Patriarch Daniel received, on Wednesday, in a presentation visit, the ambassador of Georgia in Bucharest, Tamar Beruchashvili, on which occasion the "fraternal" links between the two Orthodox Churches were highlighted. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook
Imunodeficientele, explicate de patru medici romani renumiti, intr-un seminar online

Cel putin 600 de romani sufera, in prezent, de una dintre cele 480 de boli autoimune cunoscute. Pentru ca nu multi stiu ce presupun aceste afectiuni si, drept urmare, raman nediagnosticati, patru renumiti medici romani vor prezenta [citeste mai departe]
Stiri pe aceeasi tema

- Romania has the resources, the manpower and the potential to perform in the energy sector and this is the direction strongly supported by the Government, said Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Thursday, at the Victoria Palace of Government, at the signing ceremony of the declaration by Transgaz, OMV-Petrom

- Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca requested on Wednesday to all institutions in charge of meeting the standards of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to treat with "maximum priority" the activities necessary to achieve the line objectives, underscoring that, for Romania, the

- Romania is deeply engaged in promoting and implementing the European policy on equal opportunities, the European agenda on women, as well as the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, says Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri.

- Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca met, on Monday, at the Victoria Palace, with representatives of Mass Global Energy Rom, the company which acquired the Mintia Thermal Power Plant. On this occasion, the investment plan worth over 1 billion EUR, which will transform the thermal power plant into the largest

- Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca told a Thursday's press conference held in Targu Mures that he paid a visit to the most important producer of fertilizers for agriculture in Romania, Azomures, wishing to find out which company has not yet resumed production. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri.

- The Government supports the completion of the modernization and development project of the infrastructure of the Sibiu International Airport within the set deadline, because the development of the county and the entire region is closely linked to the modernization of the transport infrastructure,

- Romania's accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is one of the most important country projects for the current government, alongside a series of commitments undertaken within the PNRR, with the Executive to mark, on Thursday, through an event, one year since

- By signing a new contract between Romgaz and Socar for the delivery of natural gas, all opportunities in Romania will be used to export Azerbaijani gas to other European markets, on Thursday said Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro
Icon Media

Singapore, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Icon Media Holdings, Inc. (ICNM) is proud to announce its participation at the upcoming Sequire Investor Summit. This highly anticipated event, scheduled for April 24-26, 2023 at La Concha Resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico, promises to offer an array of exciting opportunities for funds, companies, and investors.



One of the standout highlights of this year's summit is the focus on great tax laws in Puerto Rico, which offers a unique tax-friendly environment for both funds and investors. Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights and knowledge on how to leverage this advantage to drive their business success.

The summit also promises to offer comprehensive training sessions and keynote panels on various topics. These sessions are led by top experts in the field and provide attendees with a wealth of information and insights into the latest trends, strategies, and best practices in the industry.

Icon Media Holdings, Inc. (ICNM) will present on Wednesday April 26th at 10:00 am at the Ocean Lounge.

ICNM is thrilled to participate in this year's Sequire Investor Summit and looks forward to sharing its knowledge and expertise with attendees. Join us for an exciting and informative event that promises to be a highlight of the year for funds, companies, and investors alike.

Great time for ICNM to share its investment story since the recent acquisitions." Said Mr David Chong from ICNM.

For more information about the Sequire Investor Summit, including registration details, please visit the official event website at https://puertorico.srax.com/

About Icon Media Holdings, Inc. (ICNM)

Icon Media Holdings, Inc. (ICNM) is a diversified global technology company. ICNM is the parent of Eastwin8, a Singapore-based digital network platform that enables businesses to conduct eCommerce with full integration of logistics network. Business owners can take advantage of the platform functions to plan, optimise and distribute the jobs to the logistics partners via mobile apps. Under the platform, it is easy to add "service partners" to the network so that other platform users can access the extended resources via the platform network. For paid subscribers, the platform provides additional functions such as Automatic Route Planning, Live Tracking, Private Network and many valued added services. Once the platform is further enhanced and deployed, the service partner network will expand to cross border logistics, Insurance, Fintech, Marketing, Business Transformation, IT services, Purchasing and Consultancy. The platform will also be implementing the acceptance of cryptocurrency payment in certain marketplaces / countries where cryptocurrency or other forms of digital assets are permissible. ICNM via Eastwin8 has recently acquired Kuora (China) which is the most advanced service platform for professional engineers serving the heavy industries like steel mills and coking plants in China. Kuora achieved a revenue of US$9.4m in fiscal year 2022 based on the local GAAP.

Story continues

About SRAX

SRAX Inc. (OTC: SRAX) is a financial technology company that unlocks data and insights for publicly traded companies. Through its premier investor intelligence and communications platform, Sequire , companies can track their investors behaviors and trends and use those insights to engage current and potential investors across marketing channels. For more information on SRAX, visit srax.com and mysequire.com

CONTACT

Icon Media Holdings, Inc.

www.vite.asia

email: hello@vite.asia




The fresh newsletter for the International Community in Hungary - described by readers as a "Great read each week" - is now available for your interest and use via the link below.

You can see the new edition of the Xpat E-Magazine here:

https://xpatloop.com/newsletters/2023/20-april.html



Welcome & thanks for enjoying a moment with us here

- you're together with 30,000+ fellow Xpats in the Loop.



1. Firstly here's a quick update about the St. George's Day Party* this Saturday:

There'll also be Cider & Ale for guests to taste, as well as English Gin & Whisky.

+ Cocktail Bar by Unicum, Draft Ruin Brew, and a multitude of fab Fine Wines.



* Only a few Gala Table Seats are still available, so Book Soon if you want to come.

Every Nationality is Welcome to join in, e.g. the Japanese Ambassador just confirmed.



2. You can see example events happening these days listed below and in Xpat Calendar:

E.g. Spring Half Marathon / Roger Waters Concert / King Rock-Opera / Csontvary Exhibition.



3. Also you can see the latest Movies and Specials, plus fresh News, Information & Inspiration:

E.g. New E-Mobility Sharing Service / New CEO @ BUD Airport / New Museum Opens in Budapest.



We hope you like what's in it for you below.

Yours with best wishes, Team XpatLoop



Photo: 'Spring sunrise on the Danube bank' - courtesy of Krenn Imre Photography



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Shortcut Links:



Latest News / Interviews / Directory / Calendar / New Movies / Sponsorship



Notes:



You're in good company together with thousands of expat readers + high-level locals = a cosmopolitan group of internationally-minded folks, known as the Xpat Community.



Feedback:



Your feedback is always welcome. Here are a few examples:



Brett Penny, Director, American International School of Budapest:

"Two thumbs up on XpatLoop's website and newsletter. A really great resource for us expats. Easy to navigate and loads of excellent ideas on what's on in Budapest, plus activities for the weekend. Keep up the good work!"



Sandra Knibbs, Principal at Dance Craze Academy:

"XpatLoop - great work informing us about the most compelling events in the city!"



Ephie Christodoulides, Client Manager at KPMG:

"I just wanted to say thank you for all the work you are doing on the site".



Warren Conolly, Professional Educator.

"As a fellow expat here in Hungary, I thought to say how great XpatLoop is for the community as a whole."



Dennis A. Diokno, CEO & Founding Partner, FirstMed

Thanks to XpatLoop for an excellent working relationship of over 20 years!



Frank Hegedus, Chaplain, St. Margaret's Anglican Church

Thank you for your important service during these troubling times.



John Hart, Principal, International School Of Budapest

Just a short note of deep appreciation to you all at XpatLoop. At these difficult and potentially solitary times your mailings are doing a wonderful job at keeping us expats in the loop, and ensuring that we still feel part of the vibrant community which is Budapest.



Rough Guide To Budapest, the most knowledgeable & entertaining guidebook:

"for Arts & Entertainment: The best online listings are provided by XpatLoop.com"



Lonely Planet, the worlds largest guide book publisher:

"XpatLoop: What the foreign community in Budapest is thinking and talking about."
Kam Jandu will take over as the CEO of Budapest Airport Zrt. on 1 May from the current CEO, Chris Dinsdale, who is leaving for Canada.

Kam Jandu joined the company in 2009, and over the past 14 years, with a one-year hiatus, has continuously supported the development of Ferenc Liszt International Airport with his expertise.



Budapest Airport announced at the beginning of March that current CEO Chris Dinsdale will leave the company at the end of July, to take up the position of president and CEO of the Calgary Airport Authority, which operates two airports, including Calgary International Airport in Canada.



Following consideration by the Board of Directors and shareholder approval, Kam Jandu, the current chief commercial officer, will take over as the CEO of Budapest Airport from 1 May.



Kam Jandu has in-depth knowledge of the company, having joined Budapest Airport Zrt. in 2009. Initially working as aviation director, from 2013 as chief commercial officer, he has been involved in the implementation of the companys strategic objectives.



It is partly thanks to him and his team that Budapest Airports aerial connections have improved and the number of destinations directly accessible from Budapest has increased spectacularly.



Gerhard Schroeder, chairman of the Board of Directors of Budapest Airport Zrt. said: Kam Jandu can look back on 25 years of broad experience in the aviation industry.



With him, Budapest Airport will be able to continue its successful development and further expand its role as Hungary's most important gateway. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I wish him every success in his new role.



Source: Budapest Airport
Incidents of air rage are on the rise, and in the most recent incident, a crying baby on a plane became the reason for the aggressive behavior of a passenger. The incident occurred on a Southwest Airlines plane flying to Florida. The video of the incident was recorded by one of the passengers onboard and was shared on social media. Now, the video is going viral on the internet, showing the annoyed man yelling profanities. The agitated man onboard caused trouble for both the baby's parents and the flight crew members onboard.

Fox 35 Orlando quotes a passenger saying that the plane was on its way from Fort Lauderdale to Hollywood International Airport when the incident happened. Furthermore, the unfavorable weather delayed the plane by an hour. The journey for the travellers got even longer when the plane was diverted to Orlando International Airport.

Also read: Air India Pilot Bodies Reject Revamped Compensation, Asks Members Not To Sign Structure

The video of the angry passenger was initially uploaded on TikTok and was then shared on various social media platforms. In the video, the angry passenger can be seen trading arguments with the crew members.

The crying baby (which sounds more like a toddler than a baby-baby) magically stops crying halfway through this mans rant which leads me to believe the people they were traveling with couldve done more to meet whatever need they were expressing.



40-45 minutes is excessive. pic.twitter.com/af2xsIDF3g  I Jews, Please dont close my accounts. (@LaCienegaBlvdss) April 18, 2023

When the flight crew members try to calm down the angry man, he gets even more aggressive with his words and starts yelling profanities. Furthermore, the woman sitting beside her can be seen getting upset with the yelling. Another part of the video shows the man talking to the Southwest Airlines staff after the plane landed in Orlando. By the end of the video, he can be seen escorted by the police officers out of the airport.

The video has got over 5 million views on Twitter and continues to get more. Along with these views, many social media users expressed their thoughts on the internet. While some berated the passenger for yelling, others sided with him on the issue. Commenting on the post, a social media user said, "It's bad parenting when kids fuss for that long. Poor napping, food, and emotional nurturing management. Simple as that. Also, if they normally spank the child at home to get it quiet and cannot spank it on the plane, they have conditioned it to not know how to calm down through other means."

The incident on the Southwest Airlines plane throws light on the challenges of travelling with babies. It is essential to note that the co-passengers of such passengers need to be supportive and understanding, as babies often tend to cry because of changes in the air pressure in the cabin.
New Delhi: Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Thursday announced the execution of a definitive agreement to acquire Brahmins, a traditional vegetarian, spice mix and ready-to-cook brand located in Kerala.Followed by its recent acquisition of Nirapara, the company is looking at becoming a sizable player in the packaged foods segment.

To expand and further consolidate its spices, breakfast and ready-to-cook category, Wipro has taken the route towards adding Brahmins, a homegrown legacy brand in Kerala, into its growing food business, according to a statement from Wipro Consumer.Established in 1987, Brahmins is one of the most preferred brands in its home market (Kerala), with ethnic breakfast pre-mix powders, spice mixes, straight powders (spices), wheat products such as -- pickles, dessert mixes, and others. The premium flagship products are sambar powder, and Puttu Podi which enjoy market leadership position, Wipro said in the statement.

Vineet Agrawal, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, and managing director, Wipro Enterprises, said, "We entered the food category with our first acquisition of Nirapara and within six months, we are happy to share our latest acquisition of Brahmins. In Kerala, Brahmins is a strong heritage brand leading the spice and ready-to-cook category with a significant consumer recall. I am particularly impressed by the highly competent and dedicated team... We intend to make this, our 14th acquisition, as successful as our previous ones.

"Sreenath Vishnu, MD, Brahmins, said, "I am elated that Brahmins is now a part of Wipro Consumer Care Foods Business. This will enable access to resources that will help the brand grow rapidly. We are jointly focused on developing the brand supported by local consumer insights as well as streamlining manufacturing."Anil Chugh, President, Foods Business, Wipro Consumer Care, said, "This is an exciting time for us at Wipro, as we witness the unprecedented expansion of our foods business. Spices and ready-to-cook (RTC) are big categories that are poised to grow significantly."
New Delhi: Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das is scheduled to meet the board of directors of all public sector banks next month to discuss issues related to governance and ethics. The one-day meeting organised by the Department of Supervision of the Reserve Bank of India is to be held on May 22 in Delhi, sources said.

Das will address the directors -- both whole time and independent -- on issues related to governance, ethics, and the role of the boards in assurance functionalities of the banks, besides highlighting the supervisory expectations, sources said. (Also Read: Saket Apple Store Was Six-Month Project, Took Hundreds Of Labourers To Complete)

Besides the governor, the RBI communication sent to all public sector banks said, deputy governors, executive directors from its Department of Regulation as well as Supervision will be attending the meeting.

The one-day event is designed to be an interactive one where directors, including the bank chairman, and nominee directors both from the central bank and the government, will be invited to interact with the entire RBI top brass.

The government on the recommendation of the Reserve Bank introduced many reforms in governance and provided more autonomy to the board of public sector banks in recent times.

The reforms also include an independent professional body for selection, objective and transparent selection, and allotment on the basis of merit-cum-performance.

For the appointment of whole-time directors in public sector banks and financial institutions, the government in 2016 set up Banks Board Bureau (BBB), which was transformed into Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) last year.

Guidelines for the selection of general managers and directors of public sector general insurance companies have been made part of FSIB. Besides, the government approved the proposal to separate the posts of Chairman and Managing Directors in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in 2015.

While the Chairman is non-executive, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD&CEO) is the executive head. The splitting of the posts of Chairman and Managing Director is in accordance with international best practices.

While the Chairman gives overall policy directions, MD and CEO are responsible for the day-to-day management of the bank.
NEW DELHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the judicial probe panel constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the sensational murder of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in full media glare and police presence on Saturday night visited Prayagraj on Thursday and recreated the crime scene. The UP Police personnel, SIT officials and the members of the judicial panel visited the crime pot where the two gangsters were shot dead by three shooters while being escorted by the police for a medical checkup at a hospital here.

WATCH: SIT RECREATES MURDER SCENE AT PRAYARAG HOSPITAL

#WATCH | Members of the Judicial Commission recreate the crime scene of the killing of gangster brothers Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf in UP's Prayagraj on April 15, as part of the ongoing investigation. pic.twitter.com/vVoaSWVaOZ  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

After the killing of the gangsters in police custody, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a judicial probe into the incident. Three-member judicial inquiry committee pertaining to the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother will give a report to the UP government in two months. The committee will be headed by Retired Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi of Allahabad HC, including retired IPC officer Subesh Kumar Singh and Retired District Judge Brijesh Kumar Soni.

#WATCH | Members of the Judicial Commission visited Colvin Hospital in UP's Prayagraj where gangster brothers Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were killed on April 15. pic.twitter.com/ouziUGBsNu  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

Atiq and Ashraf were killed days after Ahmed`s son Asad was killed in an encounter in Uttar Pradesh`s Jhansi. Atiq Ahmed was accused in the murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005, as well as in the killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the BSP leader`s murder, in February this year.

Three assailants - Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lavlesh Tiwar - posing as reporters had shot both dead from point-blank range while the gangsters were speaking to the media. Earlier today, three friends of Lovelesh Tiwari, the main accused in the sensational killing of gangsters Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed, were detained by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Uttar Pradesh`s Banda.

"The trio was caught at Banda railway station," officials said. The SIT team has also reached Hamirpur and Kasganj to conduct the further probe, they added.

Raids In Search Of Shaista Parveen

Uttar Pradesh Police, meanwhile, conducted raids in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of Atiq Ahmed, in Kaushambi on Wednesday. "Raids were conducted in search of Shaista Parveen, wife of gangster Atiq Ahmed. A search operation was conducted after receiving information about some criminals hiding. The operation lasted for about 2 hours. A drone camera was also used in the operation. However, the operation did not prove successful today," Samar Bahadur, ASP, Kaushambi told ANI.



Atiq-Ashraf Killed By Three Sharpshooters Posing As Reporters

Atiq and Ashraf were killed by three assailants, who posed as reporters, while the gangsters were being taken for medical checkups at Prayagraj medical college. The killers, identified as Arun Maurya, Sunny Singh and Lavlesh Tiwari, "wanted to become gangsters" and hatched a plot to kill Atiq, sources said. The police said they were in the process of ascertaining if someone else was also involved in the plan to kill Atiq and Ashraf. All three youths were arrested by the police at the scene of the shooting.

Multiple Bullets Fired At Atiq, Ashraf

Atiq was shot at least eight times, with bullet injuries found in his head, neck and chest, according to preliminary results of an autopsy conducted on his body after his sensational murder caught on camera outside a hospital in Prayagraj on April 15. Sources said on Monday three bullets pierced the body of Ashraf, Atiq`s brother, during the shootout that took outside the hospital where the police had taken them for a routine medical check-up. The gangster siblings collapsed on the spot after being shot from near-point-blank range.

According to sources, the initial post-mortem report said Atiq was shot 8 times while Ashraf took 5 bullets. "Of the eight bullets that Atiq took, one hit his head, one his neck, one each on his chest, stomach and waist," sources said. Both Atiq and Ashraf were buried on April 16 at the Kasari Masari burial ground in Prayagraj. According to the initial post-mortem report, Ashraf was shot in his neck, back and waist, with the bullets piercing his body.

Atiqs Killers Sent To 4-Day Police Custody

A CJM court in Uttar Pradesh`s Prayagraj on Wednesday remanded gangster Atiq Ahmed`s killers to four-day police custody. This comes after the Special Investigation Team filed an application in the court seeking remand for questioning for all three accused.

The district court sent them to 14-day judicial custody on April 16. During the police remand, the police will question the accused about the weapon they used to kill Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf on April 15 night, where did they get the weapon from and who gave it to them.

Atiq Ahmed Gang Member Nabbed

The UP police arrested an alleged member of the Atiq Ahmad gang, carrying a reward of Rs 50,000, on Wednesday. Asad Kalia, a resident of New Chakia, was arrested by the Kareli police on Wednesday, according to an official statement. Kalia was considered the right hand of Atiq's wife Shaista Praveen, who is wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case and is absconding.

A number of criminal cases, including an attempt to murder and under the Arms Act are pending against Kalia at the Kareli police station, it said.
New Delhi: In a surprise move, hours before the deadline for filing nomination for the Assembly polls in Karnataka, Congress MP from Bangalore Rural D K Suresh on Thursday filed his papers from the Kanakapura segment, from where his elder brother and state chief D K Shivakumar is the party's candidate. Shivakumar filed his nomination from Kanakapura on April 17. "Bangalore Rural MP D K Suresh filed his nomination today to contest the state assembly election from Kanakapura constituency," Karnataka Congress tweeted. According to Congress sources, Suresh has filed his papers, as a backup plan in the event of Shivakumar's nomination getting rejected. Shivakumar has won from Kanakapura segment thrice since 2008. The ruling BJP has fielded a senior Minister and its prominent Vokkaliga face R Ashoka from Kanakapura to take on Shivakumar.

Suresh is the lone Congress Member of Parliament from Karnataka. He had earlier said that he was not interested in coming to state politics, when speculations were rife that he may be fielded from Ramanagara, against JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

There had also been speculation that as a "retaliatory measure" to BJP's plan of fielding a strong candidate against Shivakumar in Kanakapura, Suresh may be fielded from the Padmanabhanagar segment, the other seat from where Ashoka is contesting. Shivakumar too had earlier hinted in this regard.

Cong Announces Final List Of Candidates For K'taka Polls

The Congress in the early hours on Thursday released its sixth and final list, announcing candidates for the remaining five constituencies for the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka. Today is the last day for filing nominations. The Congress has nominated B V Rajeev Gowda from Sidlaghatta, replacing sitting MLA V Muniyappa.

The other candidates announced are: Mohammed Shalam for Raichur, S Anand Kumar from C V Raman Nagar, H P Sridhar Gowda from Arkalgud and Inayath Ali from Mangalore City North. With this, the Congress has fielded candidates for all the 224 Assembly segments in the state.

The Congress on Wednesday night had announced its fifth list of three candidates, and had replaced the candidate against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Shiggaon. A day after fielding Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from Shiggaon in Haveri district, the party nominated Yasir Ahmed Khan Phatan in his place.

The party has fielded A C Srinivasa from Pulakeshinagar by denying a ticket to sitting MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, who on Wednesday filed nomination as an independent candidate after it was clear that he will not be re-nominated.
BENGALURU: With just a day left to file nominations for May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka, the ruling BJP on Wednesday released its fourth list, naming candidates for remaining two constituencies- Shivamogga and Manvi. In Shivamogga, the party has given ticket to Channabasappa, while denying it to sitting MLA and senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa's family. Eshwarappa, a former Deputy Chief Minister, had recently conveyed to the party's central leadership his wish to retire from electoral politics, and had requested it to not consider fielding him in the Assembly polls from Shivamogga. The five time MLA from the seat, however is said to have sought the ticket for his son K E Kantesh, from the assembly segment.

Senior BJP leader and MLC Ayanur Manjunath, who too was a ticket aspirant from Shivamogga, quit the party earlier today, and joined JD(S). He is now the JD(S) candidate from the segment. From Manvi, a ST reserve constituency, the party has fielded B V Nayak as the candidate. With the announcement of this list, the BJP has announced candidates for all the 224 Assembly segments in the state.

JDS Released Its Third Candidate List

Janata Dal-Secular released its third list of 59 candidates for Karnataka polls. The party announced support to Congress candidate Darshan Dhruvanarayan in Nanjanagudu constituency. Ayanur Manjunath, who resigned from BJP, to contest from Shivamogga central constituency.Raghu Achar, who joined JD(S) after quitting the Congress party, will contest from Chitradurga.

BS Bommai, Siddaramaiah File Nominations

Several senior leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Congress leader Siddaramaiah filed their nomination papers for the Karnataka assembly polls on Wednesday. BJP chief JP Nadda and Bommai also held a roadshow. People thronged the roads and waved BJP`s flags. Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep and BJP leaders were present during the roadshow. Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah filed his nomination from the Varuna assembly constituency. Siddaramaiah had earlier said that the upcoming elections will be his last and he will retire from politics. Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who resigned from the BJP over the denial of the ticket and joined Congress, also filed his nomination from the Hubli-Dharwad-Central Assembly constituency.Shettar is the second senior leader from the Lingayat community to leave the ruling BJP and join Congress in less than a week.

April 20 is the last day for filing of nominations. Voting will take place on May 10 and the counting of votes will be on May 13.
By Krishna N. Das and Tanvi Mehta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. tech giant Apple could double or triple investments in India, along with exports, over the next few years, a minister said, as the company opened a second store in the world's biggest smartphone market after China.

Apple mainly assembles iPhones in India through Taiwan contract manufacturers but plans to expand into iPads and AirPods, as it looks to cut reliance on China.

Its iPhones made up more than half of total smartphones worth about $9 billion exported from India between April 2022 and February, data from the India Cellular and Electronics Association shows.

"I am very confident that this Apple-India partnership has a lot of headroom for investments, growth, exports and jobs - doubling and tripling over coming years," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the deputy minister for information technology, told Reuters.

His comments came after a meeting on Wednesday with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in the capital, New Delhi.

Cook, who also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Apple was "committed to growing and investing across the country".

He inaugurated an Apple store in New Delhi on Thursday two days after opening its first outlet in Mumbai, the commercial capital.

"We've come here only to see Tim Cook," said Manika Mehta, 32, an Android phone user who queued at the Delhi store.

About 500 people had gathered for Cook's brief appearance, in which he spoke with fans and took selfies, as in Mumbai.

"My heart was skipping a beat," said Reeti Sahai, 45, after taking a selfie. "I'm an Apple addict. I'm drawn to Tim Cook, seeing the man he is and the journey."

Cook's visit has drawn extensive media coverage and he has been feted like a Bollywood star, with some people trying to touch his feet in a traditional gesture of respect, while others asked for his autograph.

Apple has previously faced hurdles in opening physical retail stores in the South Asian nation, but its products have been available on e-commerce websites, while its online store opened in 2020.

Story continues

The new stores open as Indian consumers increasingly look to upgrade devices to glitzier models with richer feature sets, from budget versions that typically cost less than $120.

Still, Apple's pricey phones are affordable for only a few in India, where it has a market share of just 3%.

Apple has been trying to make India a bigger manufacturing base. Its products, including iPhones, are being assembled in India by contract electronics makers Foxconn, Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp.

In January, India's trade minister said Apple wanted the country to account for up to 25% of its production versus about 5% to 7% now.

(This story has been refiled to insert Reuters Instrument Code in paragraph 1)

(Reporting By Krishna N. Das; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Clarence Fernandez)
New Delhi: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed a boundary agreement here in the national capital in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ending 51-year border disputes along the boundaries of both northeast states. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu at the North Block office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Assam shares an 804 km long boundary with Arunachal Pradesh. "Since 1972 to till date the border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh could not be resolved. Nearly 800 km boundary dispute has been ended today," Amit Shah said after the MoU was signed between the two states.

Speaking to ANI after signing the MoU, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "The signing of an MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh today to settle an inter-state boundary dispute will prove to be a milestone. This will bring peace and development to the Northeast region."

#WATCH | The signing of an MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh today to settle an inter-state boundary dispute will prove to be a milestone. This will bring peace and development to the Northeast region: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, in Delhi pic.twitter.com/EAgpXuP6rP April 20, 2023

"The border dispute was settled today by signing the MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. This is a historic movement for both states," said Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

#WATCH | The border dispute was settled today by signing the MoU between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. This is a historic movement for both states: Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu pic.twitter.com/3oOfaUeTy3  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

Though there was no dispute initially, over the years, the allegations of residents of one state encroaching on land on the other have led to disputes and violence. A suit on the issue has been pending in the Supreme Court since 1989.

In 2021, following the insistence of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, both states resolved to settle their border dispute out of court through talks.

In July last year, both states signed the Namsai Declaration, where it was agreed to bring down the number of disputed villages from 123 to 86 and resolve the boundary row by forming 12 committees, each headed by a cabinet minister, that visit disputed areas, take feedback from residents and submit reports to their respective governments.
New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday welcomes the Surat court's decision to reject Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay on his conviction in the Modi surname criminal defamation case as a slap on the face of the Gandhi family. The ruling party also hailed the Surat court order as a "victory" of the judiciary and the people. Hitting out at the Congress, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Todays judgement clarified that the constitution triumphs in India not dynastic politics. This is a slap on the face of the Gandhi family. Today, the Surat court proved that the law is the same for everyone and no one is above it. This is a blow to the arrogance of the Gandhi family and a victory for the common people of India.

Todays judgement clarified that the constitution triumphs in India not dynastic politics. This is a slap on the face of the Gandhi family. Today, Surat court proved that law is the same for everyone and no one is above it. This is a blow to the arrogance of the Gandhi family and pic.twitter.com/CJnx45kdYZ  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

The BJP leader stated that the Surat court's decision made it clear that there is the rule of the Constitution in this country, not the family. Patra also took a swipe at senior Congress MP Pramod Tiwari who had once said that the Gandhi family should be treated differently by the law, and said that ''there can't be preferential treatment for any family."

The BJP spokesperson further alleged that the Congress was "mobilising its ecosystem" after Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the case last month "to carry out a movement against the judiciary and even got statements issued against India". "The Congress ecosystem created an atmosphere that there was bias against Gandhi in a trial court judgment," Patra alleged during a press conference in the national capital soon after the Surat court pronounced its order.

Surat Court Rejects Rahul Gandhis Plea

Earlier, a court in Surat in Gujarat rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay on conviction in a defamation case that saw him being disqualified as Lok Sabha MP by observing he should have been "more careful with his words" since he was a Member of Parliament and the then president of the country's second-largest political party.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera rejected Gandhi's plea for a stay of conviction in a 2019 defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark. It said a "high standard of morality" is expected from a person like the appellant, adding that the trial court had imposed a sentence that was permissible in law.

A metropolitan magistrate court here on March 23 sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail after convicting him under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal defamation in the case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.

A day later, 52-year-old Gandhi, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, was disqualified under provisions of the Representation of the People Act.

In its order on Thursday, the additional sessions court also observed that Gandhi's removal or disqualification as MP under section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 "cannot be termed as irreversible or irreparable loss or damage." "Any defamatory words coming from the mouth of the appellant are sufficient enough to cause mental agony to an aggrieved person," the court of additional sessions judge RP Mogera said in its order.

By uttering defamatory words and comparing persons having the 'Modi' surname with thieves "would definitely have caused mental agony and harm the reputation of complainant Purnesh Modi, who is socially active and dealing in public," the court said.

Will Appeal In Higher Court: Congress

The Congress, meanwhile, said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law after a Gujarat court rejected Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case. A court in Gujarat's Surat city rejected Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in the case over his "Modi surname" remark.

"We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law. Dr A M Singhvi will brief the media on Rahul Gandhi's appeal at 4 pm," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.

His (Rahul Gandhi) application was dismissed in the lower court, we will go to the higher court: Karnataka LoP and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Surat Court rejects application for stay on Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the 2019 defamation case on 'Modi surname' remark pic.twitter.com/VLUHelJBSz April 20, 2023

Responding to questions on Gandhi's case at a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said it is a "politically motivated" case, and "We have full faith in the judiciary".
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural session of the Global Buddhist Summit in the national capital on Thursday. The event will begin at 10 am at Hotel Ashok in Delhi. The Ministry of Culture is hosting the two-day Summit with International Buddhist Confederation (IBC). The keynote speakers at the event will be Professor Robert Thurman, a leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism, and His Holiness Thich Tri Quang, the Deputy Patriarch of, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. Professor Thurman was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri Award in 2020 for his work on recovering India`s ancient Buddhist heritage.

The theme of the Global Buddhist Summit is `Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis.`"The Summit is an effort towards engaging the global Buddhist Dhamma leadership and scholars on matters of Buddhist and universal concerns, and to come up with policy inputs to address them collectively.

The discussion in the Summit will explore how the Buddha Dhamma`s fundamental values can provide inspiration and guidance in contemporary settings," the PMO stated in a release.

The Summit will witness the participation of eminent scholars, Sangha leaders, and Dharma practitioners from all over the world, who will discuss pressing global issues and look for answers in the Buddha Dhamma based on universal values, the release said.

"The discussions will be held under four themes: Buddha Dhamma and Peace; Buddha Dhamma: Environmental Crisis, Health, and Sustainability; Preservation of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition; Buddha Dhamma Pilgrimage, Living Heritage and Buddha Relics: a resilient foundation to India`s Centuries-old cultural links to countries in South, South-East and East Asia," it added.
New Delhi: Five Indian Army soldiers were killed on Thursday when their vehicle caught fire while travelling from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, news agency PTI reported. According to an Army official, the incident occurred around 3 p.m. "Today, around 1500 hours, one vehicle of the Indian Army caught fire while travelling from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in District Poonch (J&K)," PTI quoted the army official as saying.

#UPDATE | Five soldiers of the Indian Army lost their lives after an army truck caught fire in the Poonch district of Jammu & Kashmir today: PRO Defence Jammu  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

"In this tragic incident five soldiers of the Indian Army have lost their lives," he said.

It is not immediately known how the vehicle caught fire.

VIDEO | At least two jawans killed in the fire triggered by a suspected blast. The incident took place on a highway in the Bhata Dhurian area. pic.twitter.com/KxUqmdlVhG April 20, 2023

Army and police personnel have rushed to the spot, which is 90 kilometres from Poonch, they said. An official confirmation from the army is awaited.

VIDEO | Indian Army vehicle catches fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector. More details are awaited. pic.twitter.com/E4gyvthM54  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 20, 2023

More details awaited.

16 Indian Army jawans Died In Accident In North Sikkim

Earlier in December 2022, 16 Army personnel lost their lives, and four were injured in a road accident involving an Army truck at Zema, North Sikkim. The accident happened when the vehicle skidded down a steep slope while negotiating a sharp turn, Indian Army said. Three Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) were killed in a road accident at Zema when their vehicle skidded off while negotiating a sharp turn.

Army vehicle involved in accident in North Sikkim was part of three-vehicle convoy going from Chatten towards Thangu. Enroute, the vehicle skidded down a steep slope at Zema while negotiating a sharp turn, according to the Army. "In a tragic road accident, involving an Army truck on December 23 at Zema in North Sikkim, 16 bravehearts of the Indian Army have lost their lives," the Army said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he is "deeply pained" over the loss of lives of the personnel. "The nation is deeply grateful for their service and commitment. My condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for the speedy recovery of those who are injured," he said.
New Delhi: Apple Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook, who is in India these days, appreciated the Chenab Bridge  an engineering marvel  after spotting an image of the under-construction bridge at Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaws office here. As the Apple CEO walked through the office of the Rail Minister, he came across a photograph of the Chenab Bridge right outside Vaishnaw`s cabin. Seeing the photo, Cook`s instant reaction was "Wow."

Later, Union Railway Minister Vaishnaw shared a video in which he could be seen explaining to the Apple CEO the significance of the Chenab bridge which is currently under construction.

WATCH: RAIL MINISTER BRIEFING TIM COOK ON CHENAB BRIDGE

Shot on Made in India iPhone. pic.twitter.com/VWxKYnjZ2a  Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 20, 2023

Vaishnaw told Cook that the Vande Bharat train would be running on this railway bridge by December this year. "This bridge connects the northern state of Kashmir. And this bridge is about 30 metres taller if compared to the Eiffel Tower," Vaishnaw told Cook.

On this, the Apple CEO replied "Wow". Vaishnaw further said, "Again fully designed in India, we recently commissioned the railway track over it. And by December we will be running the Vande Bharat train on this." "Oh wow! that is special! Wow!" reacted Tim Cook.

Notably, Vande Bharat trains are one of the most ambitious projects of the Modi government with these semi-high-speed trains connecting the length and breadth of the country "India laid about 5,000 kilometres of new tracks. 5000 kilometres of new tracks is like setting up a completely new network equivalent to what Switzerland has. Switzerland is about 5,200 kilometres. So, it is like setting up one whole new Switzerland rail line. That is the pace with which the country is working," the Railway Minister said. Tim Cook`s response was "Thats amazing!"

Tim Cook Presented With A Replica Of Vande Bharat Train

On Wednesday evening during his meeting with the Railway Minister, the Apple CEO was presented with a special memento - a replica of the Vande Bharat train. Taking to Twitter after the meeting, Vaishnaw said "Met with Tim Cook, CEO, Apple. Discussed deepening Apple`s engagement in India across manufacturing, electronics exports, app economy, skilling, sustainability and job creation, especially for women. Jointly charting a long-term and strong relationship."

Met with @tim_cook, CEO, Apple. Discussed deepening Apples engagement in India across manufacturing, electronics exports,

app economy, skilling, sustainability and job creation especially for women. Jointly charting a long-term and strong relationship. pic.twitter.com/L7KVPjq8fk  Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 19, 2023

Apple CEO Meets PM Modi

The Apple CEO met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Minister of State for IT and Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar also met the tech giant`s CEO on Wednesday. Cook expressed confidence about a long-term working relationship with India.

An absolute delight to meet you, @tim_cook! Glad to exchange views on diverse topics and highlight the tech-powered transformations taking place in India. https://t.co/hetLIjEQEU  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 19, 2023

Tim Cook is currently in India for the launch of two Apple stores. The first was launched in Mumbai on Tuesday while the second retail store was unveiled in Delhi on Thursday.

Viewing India as its long-term market, the iPhone manufacturer has expressed interest in expansion plans, including manufacturing the latest products. Currently, the employment strength of Apple in India stands at 1 lakh. Sources said this is expected to go up to 2 lakh in the coming years.
New Delhi: The popular K-pop boy group ASTRO member Moonbin passed away on Wednesday at the age of 25. The actual reason behind his death is still unknown. Taking to Instagram, the ASTRO group shared an official statement in their local language confirming the news of Moonbin`s death.

The official statement (roughly translated in English) reads, "This is Fantagio. First of all, we would like to express our apologies for bringing you such sad and heartbreaking news. On April 19, ASTRO member Moonbin suddenly left us and became a star in the sky. Although it cannot be compared to the grief of the bereaved family who lost their beloved son and brother, the ASTRO members, as well as our fellow Fantagio artists and executives, are deeply mourning the deceased in great sadness and shock."

As per several reports, the ASTRO member was found dead at his residence by his manager who informed the police. "It is even more painful to deliver the sudden news to the fans who have supported Moonbin and sent him generous love. We are more heartbroken because we know the heart of the deceased who always loved and thought of his fans more than anyone else. We earnestly ask you to refrain from speculative and malicious reports so that the bereaved family who is deeply saddened by the sudden sad news can mourn the deceased," the statement further read. The ASTRO group enjoys a massive fan following on social media with over 5 million followers on Instagram."

According to the bereaved family`s wishes, the funeral will be held as quietly as possible with family, friends and company colleagues in attendance. Once again, we send our deep condolences to the deceased," the statement concluded.
New Delhi: A special court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre of 11 members of the Muslim community during communal riots in which former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi are among the accused, news agency ANI reported. There were a total of 86 accused in the case, but 18 of them died in the intervening period. The accused face charges under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others. The maximum penalty for these offences is death. The court of S K Baxi, special judge for Special Investigation Agency (SIT) cases, is scheduled to pronounce the verdict against 68 accused on Thursday.

2002 Gujarat riots | All accused acquitted in Naroda Gam massacre case pic.twitter.com/vwk4qryz29  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

What Happened In Naroda Gam In 2002?

Eleven persons were killed in communal violence in Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002, during a bandh called to protest the Godhra train burning a day before in which 58 passengers, mostly Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed.

The prosecution and defence examined 187 and 57 witnesses, respectively, during the trial that started in 2010 and went on for nearly 13 years with six judges successively presiding over the case, said special prosecutor Suresh Shah.

In September 2017, senior BJP leader (now Union home minister) Amit Shah appeared as a defence witness for Maya Kodnani. Kodnani, 67, had requested the court to summon him to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at Naroda Gam where the massacre took place.

Among the evidence produced by the prosecution was the video of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan as well as call details of Kodnani, Bajrangi and others during the relevant period.

When the trial started, S H Vora was the presiding judge. He was elevated to the Gujarat High Court. His successors, Jyotsna Yagnik, K K Bhatt and P B Desai, retired during the trial. Special judge M K Dave who came next was transferred, prosecutor Shah said.

"The trial (deposition of witnesses) concluded around four years ago. Arguments of the prosecution concluded and the defence was making its arguments when then special judge P B Desai retired. So arguments started afresh before judge Dave and later judge Baxi which delayed the proceedings," he said.

Kodnani, who was a minister in the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government, was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail in the Naroda Patiya riot case where 97 people were massacred. She was later discharged by the Gujarat High Court.

In the present case, she has been charged with criminal conspiracy besides rioting, murder and attempted murder. The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SIT and heard by special courts.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday the world is passing through challenges such as war, economic instability, terrorism, religious extremism, and climate change and asserted that Lord Buddha's ideas offer a solution to these problems. Addressing the inaugural session of the Global Buddhist Summit here, he said it is the need of the hour that people and nations prioritize global interests along with their interests.

The world will have to think about the poor and countries lacking resources, he said. Modi asserted that India has been following the path shown by the Buddha and cited the country extending help to others, including Turkiye after it was hit by an earthquake, to say that it has treated every human being's pain as its own.

The prime minister noted that his government has constantly endeavored to propagate the Buddha's ideas and highlight the deep links Buddhism has with his birthplace in Gujarat and his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.

The noble teachings of Gautama Buddha have impacted countless people over centuries. https://t.co/M5PuhMbbas  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 20, 2023

The summit is being hosted by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation on April 20 and 21. The theme of the two-day summit is "Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis".

The keynote speakers at the event will be Professor Robert Thurman, a leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism, and His Holiness Thich Tri Quang, the Deputy Patriarch of, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. Professor Thurman was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri Award in 2020 for his work on recovering India`s ancient Buddhist heritage.

The theme of the Global Buddhist Summit is `Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis.`"The Summit is an effort towards engaging the global Buddhist Dhamma leadership and scholars on matters of Buddhist and universal concerns, and to come up with policy inputs to address them collectively.

The discussion in the Summit will explore how the Buddha Dhamma`s fundamental values can provide inspiration and guidance in contemporary settings," the PMO stated in a release.

The Summit will witness the participation of eminent scholars, Sangha leaders, and Dharma practitioners from all over the world, who will discuss pressing global issues and look for answers in the Buddha Dhamma based on universal values, the release said.

"The discussions will be held under four themes: Buddha Dhamma and Peace; Buddha Dhamma: Environmental Crisis, Health, and Sustainability; Preservation of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition; Buddha Dhamma Pilgrimage, Living Heritage and Buddha Relics: a resilient foundation to India`s Centuries-old cultural links to countries in South, South-East and East Asia," it added.

(With PTI Inputs)
A sessions court in Gujarat's Surat on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark. A stay order from the court could have paved the way for the reinstatement of Rahul Gandhi's Parliament membership. Now, with the rejection of his plea, the former Member of Parliament from Wayanad will have to wait further for relief in the case. Some senior Congress leaders said that the party will now appeal against the order in the Gujarat High Court. Reacting to the judgement, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said that no leader has been awarded a maximum punishment of two years in a defamation case and the Congress will appeal against the order in the higher court.

Surat Court Reserved Order On April 13

The Surat court of Additional Sessions Judge RP Mogera had on April 13 reserved its verdict on Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on conviction. Rahul Gandhi had filed his plea on April 3 seeking a stay on a lower court's order sentencing him to two years in jail in the defamation case. In his plea, the former MP had had submitted that the trial court's tratment towards him in the case was harsh after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

What Is The Next Move Of Congress?

The Congress party has kept all options open in the case. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the party will continue to avail all options still available under the law. "We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law. Dr A M Singhvi will brief the media on Rahul Gandhi's appeal at 4 pm," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.

What Is The Case?

During an election rally in Kolar of Karnataka on April 13, 2019, Rahul Gandhi had said, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" Gujarat BJP MLA MLA Purnesh Modi had then filed a case against Gandhi under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. On March 23 this year, the trial court convicted Gandhi in the case while awarding him a maximum punishment of two years. The court had also granted a bail to Gandhi while allowing him 30 days to appeal against the order.

What Is Congress Party's Stand On The Issue?

The Congress party had challenged the order in the court. In his appeal agains the conviction, Rahul Gandhi's lawyer had contended that the trial in the case was not fair. Gandhi had said in his plea that if the March 23 judgment is not stayed, it will cause irreparable damage to his reputation. He contended that the excessive punishment in this case was unwarranted and has overriding political overtones. In his plea, Rahul Gandhi also termed his conviction erroneous and patently perverse.
AMRITSAR: Fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh's wife Kirandeep Kaur was stopped at the Amritsar airport by immigration officials while she was trying to board a flight to London, sources said on Thursday. She was learnt to have been questioned by the immigration authorities, they said. Singh had tied the knot with UK-based Kaur in February this year.

More than a month after a police crackdown against Singh and his aides, the radical preacher continues to remain elusive even as a manhunt to nab him is underway. Police on March 18 had launched the crackdown against Singh and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab De.' He and his associates were booked under 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.

Meanwhile, the hunt for the radical preacher entered the third day on April 17 as the state police tightened the security blanket to nab him at the earliest. According to police, Amritpal's uncle Harjit Singh and driver Harpreet Singh surrendered near a gurdwara in Mehatpur area in Jalandhar late Sunday night.

"The hunt for Amritpal is still on," Jalandhar SSP (Rural) Swarandeep Singh said. The Punjab government extended the suspension of mobile internet and SMS services till Tuesday noon. Meanwhile, Amritpal's Mercedes is learnt to have been seized by police. Earlier, two vehicles of the preacher's convoy were seized. Police on Saturday had launched a major crackdown against Amritpal and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab De'.

The elusive preacher, however, gave police the slip and escaped their dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district. Police on Sunday had conducted flag marches and searches across Punjab, arresting 34 more supporters and shifting four men in custody to a jail in far-off Assam. During the ongoing crackdown operations against elements of Amritpal-led 'Waris Punjab De' and persons attempting to disturb peace and harmony in the state, the state police has so far arrested 112 people.

The crackdown came weeks after Amritpal and his supporters barged into the Ajnala police station near Amritsar, extracting an assurance that an arrested man would be released. With the state on high alert, senior officers of Punjab police have asserted that the law and order situation is under control and appealed to the public not to lend an ear to rumours.

Police on April 16 also said that it had registered an FIR against Amritpal and his supporters for breaking through a police checkpoint and another related to the recovery of a firearm in the vehicle found in a Jalandhar village. Amritsar Rural police had also registered another FIR Saturday night under the Arms Act after the arrest of seven of the preacher's associates in that district.

The crackdown follows the FIR registered a day after the storming of the Ajnala police station on February 23. The radical preacher and his supporters were accused of spreading disharmony, attempt to murder, attacking police personnel and obstructing public servants in discharge of their duties. Six police personnel, including a superintendent of police, were injured in Ajnala. Dubai-returned Amritpal became the head of 'Waris Punjab De', which was founded by actor and activist Deep Sidhu who died in a road accident in February last year.
LONDON, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Consulting, the company that's bringing ingenuity to life, is proud to announce another year of strong growth for the year ending December 2022.

Ken Toombs, CEO, PA Consulting

In 2022, its 80th year, PA:

Generated fee income of 785 million, growing its business by 14 percent YOY and 96 percent over five years.

Launched The PA Foundation, committing to disbursing 10 million over five years, with over 1.2 million donated to 20 charities.

Donated more than 10,000 hours of its people's time and expertise to support communities where its people live and work.

Welcomed over 1,300 new colleagues, grew its partner numbers by 52, and made 815 promotions.

Welcomed two new teams to strengthen its design and innovation capabilities - Design Partners, a product design and innovation agency, and The Cambridge Group, a leading strategy consulting firm.

PA is the only company to deliver end-to-end innovation, driving significant value for clients. In the face of constant change and uncertainty in the world, clients are seeking a partner who can create opportunity from complexity. They're also recognising that capitalising on those opportunities requires fundamentally new approaches that can only be achieved by bringing together diverse teams of experts.

PA strengthened its expert ranks with more than 1,300 new colleagues, including growing its partner numbers by 52, and awarding 815 promotions.

PA also welcomed two new teams: Design Partners, an award-winning product design and innovation agency in Europe, and The Cambridge Group, a leading strategy consulting firm in the US.

PA's teams earnt critical acclaim for their exceptional design work, receiving several high-profile awards including:

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Special Achievement Award recognising their work creating industry-leading products for Nike, Microsoft, Logitech, and more.

A Red Dot Award for their work designing the Backbone One Mobile Gaming Controller.

Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards for two sustainability-led client projects. Green Boom, which has developed a sustainable way to help prevent, reduce, and clean up oil spills, and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, for leading the creation and delivery of a roadmap to put an end to plastic waste.

Story continues

In 2023, PA's newly formed team of design, engineering, and science experts will continue to work together across a global network of creative studios, research labs, and engineering centres, creating breakthrough solutions to their clients' most challenging opportunities.

Now in its 80th year, PA has a rich heritage of innovating for its clients, from start-ups with world-changing ideas, to some of the most important global companies and organisations. Delivering many world-firsts: the first self-service parking system, the world's first private digital telephone exchange, the first recordable compact discs, the first breadth-actuated metered dose inhaler, and the world's most powerful prototype handheld laser.

At each step of the way, PA has found innovative ways to enable its client to be faster and nimbler, and to create the services and products that grow clients' businesses, delight customers, and serve citizens.

2022 highlights: building a positive human future

In its 2022 Ingenuity Review, PA identifies six global shifts, which will create new and exciting opportunities for clients.

Empowered consumers

The customer has always been at the centre of commercial success. What's changed is the power that connected, informed, choice-conscious customers now wield.

In 2022, PA worked with Gjensidige - Norway's leading insurance provider  to help them meet the demand for digital, customer-centric services. PA's team designed a more cost-efficient delivery model and ways of working across countries to enable Gjensidige customers to enjoy quicker and smoother journeys.

Healthier humans

Health underpins our personal and collective experience and the way we receive care, and the way outcomes are delivered, is evolving at speed.

In 2022, PA worked with clients to create new care approaches, reflecting the shift toward more personalised care and medicines, and greater autonomy for patients. PA worked with Viscero to design a revolutionary way for people suffering arrhythmia to monitor their heartbeat that's non-intrusive and can be done without seeing a medical professional.

Future organisations

In a world where aware, alert, inclusive teams can respond to customer needs and competitor moves at pace, digital transformation is at the crux of today's future-focused agendas.

Faced with a disrupted market, Pret a Manger sought to accelerate plans to take its business online. PA teamed up with Pret to design a new digital customer experience, roll-out a new coffee subscription proposition, launch Pret's first customer loyalty programme, evolve back-office operations, and build a new data platform.

Business for better

Today, what organisations stand for matters as much as what they do. The power of a purpose that drives their 'why' as well as their 'what' is increasingly important. In the case of the Danish Diabetes Association, PA created a strategy that kept a laser focus on the Association's purpose, delivering to the population they were tasked to serve, and keeping those living with diabetes at the centre of every decision.

Safer societies

Be it our homes and families, the technologies we use, or wider geo-political uncertainty, security is the foundation of our individual and collective success.

PA's team worked with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, a specialist division of the UK Ministry of Defence, to apply quantum technologies to the process of human decision-making, enabling quicker, more informed decisions in a complex military environment.

Sustainable world

From tackling worldwide plastics use to capitalising on renewable energy classes, finding ways to make life more sustainable has never been more urgent.

Securing a prominent project to bring clean energy to America's shores was a long-held ambition for offshore wind development company, US Wind. In seamlessly pooling expertise in analytics, regulation, and energy policy, PA enabled US Wind to punch above its weight and prepare a winning bid to deliver offshore wind for the state of Maryland against tough competition.

Investing in PA people

PA is not only committed to delivering great outcomes for its clients but to making PA a great place to work. PA was thrilled to see its Women in Tech team win the 'Best Employer Network' category at the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2022 for their work to proactively build an inclusive community, provide learning and development experiences, and drive opportunities for women in STEM careers. PA also grew its internal support networks, introducing Working Families, Neurodiversity, and PA Jewish communities to better support and represent its diverse workforce.

PA people also gave back to the communities where they live and work. Through the PA in the Community programme, and The PA Foundation  which both share the mission to develop and inspire people, particularly those facing disadvantage, to be the innovators and leaders of tomorrow  PA people gave over 10,000 hours of their time and expertise. The PA Foundation distributed over 1.2 million to charity partners, supporting greater educational access, STEM, and social mobility, and has committed to disbursing 10 million over the next five years.

Ken Toombs, PA Consulting CEO says: "It has been another year of great accomplishments for PA as we've been bringing ingenuity to life. We've delivered superb results for our clients, creating lasting value for them. The impact we've been able to have is down to our brilliant team.

"We're a team of changemakers, and I'm so proud of PA's incredible accomplishments: with our clients, with one another, and in the communities where we live and work. Together, we're building a positive human future."

About PA.

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.

Our diverse teams of experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

Discover more at paconsulting.com and connect with PA on LinkedIn and Twitter.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2059349/Ken_Toombs_CEO_PA_Consulting.jpg

Cision

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Anantnag: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday slammed the BJP after the Surat court in Gujarat rejected Rahul Gandhi's plea in a defamation case, saying it is a "black day for Indian democracy. The PDP president also hit out at the ruling party for targeting the Opposition leaders, saying they are either in jail or will be sent to jail.

"Today is a black day in the democratic history of the country, which takes pride in being the mother of democracy. The way Rahul Gandhi is being treated shows that BJP wants to end democracy. They want to establish a one-party system - The BJP 'Rashtra' - by sidelining the Constitution. They want to make India a Banana republic," she told reporters here, 55 km from Srinagar.

#WATCH | Today is a black day for this country... BJP want to abolish the constitution here and run this nation on their agendas. They want to make this country BJP nation: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Anantnag pic.twitter.com/NFF8vhMyaY  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

Mehbooba Mufti further said that "BJP wants to make this country a Hindu nation and those who are speaking against BJP are being silenced by using agencies like ED, NIA, CBI etc". Mehbooba said that "when the cases like Article 370 and of Bilquis Banoo are biting the dust, Rahul Gandhis case is being heard on fast track mode to silence him and to send a strong message to whole Opposition".

The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said, "Judiciary is the last hope of the people but its role of late has given rise to questions". Look at the Article 370 petitions, they are pending for several years without a hearing, she said. "The case of Bilkis Bano is pending but Rahul Gandhi's case is being expedited," she added.

Mehbooba Mufti went on to caution that the time will come when people will rise against BJP and their policies. Mufti added that the way BJP is working against the people of the country and is benefiting only some rich in the country, the people will stand against this and defeat BJP's decisive agenda.

The PDP leader made these remarks while reacting to a Surat court rejecting Gandhi's appeal against his conviction in a criminal defamation case.

The PDP leader said it seems that the BJP was "scared" of the popularity of Gandhi "who has emerged as a credible face after the Bharat Jodo Yatra. "I am hopeful that people will rise against the misrule of the West India Company just like they did against the East India Company before 1947," she added.

Mehbooba Mufti also demanded the release of political and religious leaders on Eid.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would participate in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in India next month. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced it at a weekly media briefing here. "Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India," she said, ending weeks-long speculation if he would attend the conference in-person.

She said the Pakistan foreign minister would be attending the meeting as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited him to attend the SCO moot. "Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said.

It would be the highest level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and a possible opportunity to break the ice between the two nations. The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijing-based SCO in 2017.
New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday said that the ground situation in Sudan is very "tense" and that it is in touch with various countries to ensure the safety of Indians stranded in the violence-hit African country. Addressing a press conference, The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India is keeping a close watch on developments in Sudan.

"The situation on the ground continues to be very tense. Our focus is on ensuring the safety of the individuals," the MEA Spokesperson said while replying to questions on the Sudan crisis.

WATCH THE MEA BRIEFING ON SUDAN CRISIS

#WATCH | "The situation on the ground continues to be very tense. Our focus is on ensuring the safety of the individuals," says MEA spox on #Sudan crisis. pic.twitter.com/gDUxXZgH33  ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2023

The MEA spokesperson also informed that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to meet the UN Secretary-General in New York on the situation in Sudan. When asked whether India is looking at evacuating the Indians in Sudan, Bagchi said some plans are being worked out but it will depend on the ground situation.

EAM Jaishankar Discusses Sudan Crisis With Egyptian Counterpart

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday discussed with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, the ongoing situation in violence-hit Sudan. "Discussed the concerning situation in Sudan just now with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Deeply value his assessments and insights, as also his very helpful attitude. Agreed to remain in close touch," Jaishankar tweeted soon after his discussion with Shoukry.

The minister`s talks with his Egyptian counterpart over Sudan are part of a series of telephonic conversations he has had with foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia in the past 24 hours.

On Wednesday, Jaishankar discussed the situation in violence-hit Sudan with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). During his telephonic conversation with UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jaishankar said they had exchanged views on the situation in Sudan.

Civil War In Sudan

A violent clash has erupted in Sudan due to a power struggle between two main factions of the countrys military regime, resulting in the death of more than 250 people and leaving approximately 2,600 others injured in Khartoum and other cities. The conflict involves the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the main paramilitary force. This situation has raised the possibility of a civil war breaking out across the country.

Sudan has been under the control of a council of generals since the 2021 coup, with two military leaders at the center of the current dispute: Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is effectively the country's president and head of the armed forces, and his deputy, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who leads the RSF paramilitary group.

The two generals have differing views on the country's future direction, particularly regarding the proposed shift towards the civilian rule. Their differences have resulted in a clash that began on Saturday after weeks of power struggles between the two army units, triggered by a disagreement over the integration of the RSF into the military as part of a transition towards the civilian rule.
New Delhi: Amid indications of a widening rift within the BJP's Manipur unit where three MLAs have resigned from administrative posts within a fortnight, the state's ruling party will hold a meeting on Friday to discuss the development, sources here said. BJP MLA Paonam Brojen on Thursday became the third legislator to resign. He gave up the chairmanship of Manipur Development Society on "personal grounds." The meeting's announcement came soon after this resignation was made public. "A meeting has been scheduled at 11 am on Friday. Top leaders of the state BJP including legislators are expected to attend the meeting," a party source said.

Four Manipur BJP MLA's Camping In Delhi

Four BJP MLAs of the northeastern state are currently camping in Delhi reportedly to meet the party's central leadership and voice their grievances. Three of them have resigned from the administrative posts they were holding.

The fourth legislator has filed a complaint with the Manipur police against the BJP state Minority Morcha president for "threatening" him through a Facebook post. Their moves have caused speculation that dissension was brewing in the Biren Singh-led BJP government.

Earlier, party legislator Karam Shyam resigned on Monday from the chairmanship of Tourism Corporation Manipur Limited complaining that he had "not been assigned any responsibility". On April 8, another MLA Thokchom Radheshyaam quit as the advisor to the chief minister citing a similar grievance.

The fourth MLA, Khwairakpam Raghumani, has lodged a complaint to the state police against the president of state BJP Minority Morcha Asker Ali for a Facebook post which the legislator interpreted as a "threat" to his life.

Ali allegedly commented on the four MLAs' move to sound out the BJP's top leadership, stating "Let this be the last trip to Delhi" in Manipuri language.

In his complaint, Raghumani claimed Ali,"Has issued this statement while I am away in Delhi and he seems to be threatening that this will be my last trip to Delhi or anywhere."
New Delhi: TMC MP Mahua Moitra slammed Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday for meeting industrialist Gautam Adani. Sharing a report about their meeting on Twitter, Moitra said, "I have no fear in taking on Great Marathas. Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships." Moitra also said her tweet was not "anti-opposition unity" . "Rather it is pro-public interest," she said. Earlier in the day, Adani met Pawar at the latter's residence here amid the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the issues raised by Hindenburg Research.

The meeting, held at Pawar's residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai, lasted for nearly two hours, sources said. Earlier this month, Pawar had come out in support of the Adani group and criticised the narrative around the US short seller Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate.

Adani hamaam mein to saare hi nange hai.

I have no fear in taking on Great Marathas . Can only hope they have good sense to put country before old relationships.



And no, my tweet is not anti-opposition unity. Rather it is pro-public interest. pic.twitter.com/YVWEceJWTw  Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) April 20, 2023

Moitra Alleges Adani Tried To Meet Her

In a separate tweet, Mahua Moitra alleged that Gautam Adani tried to meet her too but she didn't entertain any such request. "Adani tried utmost to get to me & few others through his friends/ wheeler dealers. He couldnt even find the door, let alone get past it. I have nothing to discuss on 1:1 basis with Adani. I firmly believe till govt takes action no politician should engage with this man.," she said in the tweet.

Adani tried utmost to get to me & few

others through his friends/ wheeler dealers. He couldnt even find the door, let alone get past it. I have nothing to discuss on 1:1 basis with Adani.

I firmly believe till govt takes action no politician should engage with this man. April 20, 2023

Earlier this month, Pawar came out in support of the Adani Group and criticised the narrative around the Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate. "Such statements were given by other individuals earlier too and there was a ruckus in Parliament for a few days but this time out-of-proportion importance was given to the issue.

"The issues that were kept, who kept them, we had never heard of these people who gave the statement, what is the background. When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country's economy, we cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted," Pawar said.

"An individual industrial group of the country was targeted, that is what it seems. If they have done anything wrong, there should be an inquiry," the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief said.
Kolkata: Visva Bharati University in an eviction order has asked Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to vacate the 13 decimals of land which he has been allegedly occupying in an unauthorized manner by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of the last order on April 19.

Contending as per government of India advisories and CAG reports the century-old Central institution was in urgent need of getting control of encroachments and also submitting a report to the ministry, the notice said "Amartya Kumar Sen and all concerned persons are liable to be evicted from the said premises if need be, by use of such force as may be necessary."

"It is decided that 13 decimals of land having the dimension of 50 ft x 111 ft in the north-west corner of the scheduled premises is to be recovered from him," the notice said. "Thus he can lawfully occupy 1.25 acres of land only, as lesses (for the residual period of lease) in the scheduled premises. He does not have the authority to occupy 1.38 acres of land in the scheduled premises," the notice issued by Joint Registrar Asish Mahato said.

A few days back the Central University had issued another notice to Sen, whose ancestral house 'Pratichi' in Santiniketan is inhabited by the Nobel laureate during his stay in Santiniketan, giving him time till April 19 to respond to the missive and vacate the "unauthorized" portion of land or face necessary action otherwise.

The varsity had maintained that Sen's reply to the earlier showcase was fallacious and factually incorrect and Visva Bharati was the rightful owner of all these lands which had been encroached upon in past years including the 13 decimal lands occupied by Sen.

Sen has repeatedly trashed the charge saying while the 1.25 acres of land had been leased by Visva Bharati to his father for a certain period the contentious 13 decimals were bought by his father and he has all the necessary documents to prove that.
New battery-powered vehicles are becoming more expensive than petrol and diesel models - John Walton/PA Wire

Interest in electric cars has slumped as electricity prices and falling petrol costs have erased the benefits of owning a plug-in.

Searches for battery-powered vehicles have dropped by two thirds since early 2022, according to Britains biggest online car marketplace AutoTrader.

Interest has waned because of surging electricity prices and the end of Government grants for plug-in vehicles. Combined with falling petrol prices, it has narrowed the price advantage per mile of driving an electric vehicle.

High upfront costs are also proving a hurdle, given the cost of living crisis. New battery-powered cars are now on average 37pc more expensive than petrol and diesel models, AutoTrader said in its Road to 2030 report.

The company warned the Government was at risk of veering off-track from its ambition to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 unless more was done to encourage electric vehicle (EV) ownership.

Ian Plummer, commercial director of Auto Trader, said: The goal of mass adoption is at risk unless we use the tax system inventively to spur on EV purchases and accelerate demand.

Carmakers including Tesla and Ford have been cutting the price of new electric vehicles (EVs) this year amid signs of slowing demand among buyers.

Falling petrol costs and stubbornly high electricity prices have eroded the benefits of running a battery-powered car.

Heavy road users can still make savings but making the maths stack up means relying on home charging.

EV owners with a home charger can save up to 130 for every 1,000 miles by charging at off peak overnight rates, according to AutoTraders analysis. However, the savings reduce to just 40 for those using public chargers.

The Government needs to make inroads towards cheap and plentiful public charging to win buyers over, said Mr Plummer.

He said: While the extra 380m announced in March to improve charging infrastructure will help, the goal of mass adoption is at risk unless we use the tax system inventively to spur on EV purchases and accelerate demand.

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The news comes amid concerns that cars are struggling to sell in the used market as buyers have little way to tell what condition a battery is in.

More pressure could be on the way for EVs in the form of cheaper combustion cars.

Investment bank UBS has estimated that global car production will exceed sales by 6pc this year, leaving an excess of five million vehicles that will require price cuts to shift.

The Government offered drivers grants of 1,500 off plug-in cars under 32,000 but scrapped the subsidies unexpectedly last June.
The expo brings together 6000+ attendees, 300+ franchise brands and 70+ educational seminars for networking, education, business development, and fun!

GLEN ROCK, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Get ready for the ultimate franchise event of the year! MFV Expositions and Comexposium , the nation's leader in connecting the franchising world with motivated entrepreneurs for over 30 years, is inviting current and aspiring business owners from around the world to attend the world's largest franchising event - the International Franchise Expo ("IFE") taking place in New York City at the Javits Center on June 1-3, 2023. Anyone can register via the registration form .

MFV Expositions (PRNewsfoto/MFV Expositions)

The International Franchise Expo, in exclusive partnership with the International Franchise Association ("IFA") and supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce as one of a limited number of expos in the world to participate in the International Buyer Program, is the world's leading franchise show where potential franchisees can connect with large, medium-sized and emerging franchise brands to get everything you need to launch a franchise in one place.

The expo showcases a wide range of franchise brands - providing exclusive insight into rising trends and growth plans for the future of franchising, making it the ultimate epicenter for current and aspiring entrepreneurs interested in pursuing their next business endeavor. IFE brings together attendees from 120+ countries, 300+ franchise brands and 70+ educational seminars for networking, education, business development, and fun!

The must-attend event is designed to build relationships with the franchise community and other like-minded entrepreneurs. With franchise opportunities starting at investment levels as low as $10,000, IFE aims to help entrepreneurs explore opportunities and connect with franchisors. Attendees will have the chance to meet face-to-face with many of the top franchisors from every industry and learn about financing options and connect with lenders who specialize in franchise funding.

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"With the franchising industry expected to add approximately 254,000 jobs and grow financially to 860.1 billion in 2023, the International Franchise Expo brings unparalleled opportunities to learn, grow as an entrepreneur and open a business for yourself, but not by yourself," said Martin Joksimovic, president of MFV Expositions. "Hosting the world's largest franchising expo in New York City, a vibrant hub filled with an entrepreneurial spirit, is truly a privilege and an honor we don't take lightly. We look forward to welcoming attendees from around the globe to IFE and providing them with the resources and knowledge they need to succeed in franchising."

For entrepreneurs and business owners interested in franchising, IFE provides the opportunity to attend over 70+ educational seminars and learn about the latest trends and innovations in the industry. Attendees can build their own unique conference experience by selecting from a variety of seminars to attend from the three-day event's agenda here .

In addition to hosting IFE, MFV Expositions recently closed another annual Franchise Expo West, the largest franchising expo in the Western U.S., on April 1, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. The event was attended by over 2,000+ entrepreneurs, investors and franchisors, over 100 exhibitors.

"Franchise Expo West has always been a valuable event for entrepreneurs and franchisors, and this year was no exception," said Dana Stein, Business Development Manager of MFV Expositions. "The energy and enthusiasm we saw from attendees and exhibitors alike were truly inspiring, and we're thrilled to have played a role in connecting entrepreneurs with franchise opportunities that can help them achieve their business ownership goals."

Next year's Franchise Expo West will be held in Los Angeles, California, at the Los Angeles Convention Center from April 12-13, 2024.

To learn more about the International Franchise Expo in New York City, visit franchiseexpo.com/ife/ .

To learn more about MFV, visit franchiseexpo.com .

To learn more about Comexposium, visit comexposium.com .

About MFV:

MFV is the world's largest producer of franchise expos, known for its highly successful franchise events produced throughout the U.S. and around the world. The company offers face-to-face opportunities for prospective franchisees to meet franchisors looking to grow their brand. Each expo features franchise concepts representing nearly every industry and investment level, along with a robust conference program for attendees and franchisors.

About Comexposium:

Comexposium is one of the world's leading event organizers. Globally, it hosts more than 135 B2B and B2B2C events across many different sectors, including agriculture, construction, fashion, food, health, leisure, real estate, retail, security and tourism. With events in over 30 countries, Comexposium welcomes more than 3.5 million visitors and 48,000 exhibitors annually. Headquartered in France, Comexposium's employees and sales network operate in 20 countries.

Cision

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SOURCE MFV Expositions
Market.Us

The hospital segment accounted for the largest revenue share in the intracranial aneurysm market and is the most profitable. This is due to the proliferation of hospitals worldwide, the utilization of cutting-edge medical technology in operating rooms and intensive care units, and increased government funding for hospitals.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Intracranial Aneurysm Market was valued at USD 1.2 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 2.7 billion in 2032 at a CAGR of 8.8%. The prevalence of brain aneurysms is expected to increase in the future years, and minimally invasive intracranial aneurysm treatments are expected to be used more frequently. A brain aneurysm causes a cerebral artery's wall to swell.

The result is an aberrant ballooning, bleb, or widening. Risk factors for a brain aneurysm include smoking, hypertension, blood artery trauma, and genetic predisposition. Medical therapy, surgical clipping, endovascular therapy, and coiling without or with additional devices are available treatments for cerebral aneurysms.

Intracranial Aneurysm Market

Get additional highlights on major revenue-generating segments, Request an Intracranial Aneurysm Market sample report at https://market.us/report/intracranial-aneurysm-market/request-sample/

Key Takeaway:

By Type, the Endovascular coiling segment dominated the largest market share in type analysis and accounted for the largest revenue share in the Intracranial Aneurysm market in 2022.

By end-user, the hospital's sector segment dominated the largest market share in end-user analysis

In 2022, North America dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 27%.

Factors Affecting the Growth of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market?

There are several factors that can have an impact on the growth of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market. Some of these factors include:

Increasing Prevalence of Intracranial Aneurysms: The increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms is a major element propelling the market's expansion. The Brain Aneurysm Foundation estimates that 6 million Americans have unruptured brain aneurysms and that 30,000 individuals in the country suffer a ruptured brain aneurysm every year.

Advancements in Imaging Technologies: The early detection of intracranial aneurysms made possible by the development of sophisticated imaging technologies, such as computed tomography (CT) angiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and digital subtraction angiography (DSA), has helped the market expand.

Aging Population: As the risk of having intracranial aneurysms rises with age, the aging population is another important factor influencing the development of the intracranial aneurysm market. The aging populace is growing in many nations, which is anticipated to fuel market expansion.

Increasing Awareness: Intracranial aneurysms are now more frequently diagnosed and treated early thanks to rising public knowledge of their warning signs and symptoms, which has further fuelled the market's expansion.

Technological Advancements in Treatment Options: The market has expanded as a result of the creation of cutting-edge treatment choices like endovascular coiling and flow diversion. These procedures have superior results and are less invasive than standard surgical procedures

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Top Trends in Intracranial Aneurysm Market

Endovascular coiling is anticipated to continue developing steadily in the future. A catheter is used in a minimally invasive way to treat a brain aneurysm by stopping blood from entering arteries. The benefits of this technique, such as easy access to the vertebrobasilar system, the ability to treat several aneurysms in difficult-to-reach places, and its quicker recovery time than other procedures, are what is causing the segment to grow. Also, there is a good chance that the increasing number of strokes that take place worldwide will rupture blood vessels and result in cerebral aneurysms, which will promote market revenue growth.

Market Growth

Due to several factors, including the increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms, improvements in available treatments, and rising public knowledge of the condition, the global market for intracranial aneurysm treatment is predicted to expand considerably over the next few years. The growth of the intracranial aneurysm market is supported by an increase in clinical trials for the creation of drugs to treat them.

Regional Analysis

North America dominated the market for intracranial aneurysms and accounted for a Revenue share that will continue to increase due to the presence of well-established healthcare facilities, an aging population, and a high prevalence of hypertension and stroke. Furthermore, the need for less invasive procedures as well as an increasing prevalence of cerebral aneurysms is driving market development in the region. The industry is expected to experience growth due to an increasing number of initiatives introduced by various organizations. The Bee Foundation (TBF), through advanced research, is striving to raise awareness and reduce fatalities caused by brain aneurysms. For example, The Bee Foundation (TBF) is dedicated to raising awareness and decreasing brain aneurysm-related mortality through cutting-edge research. Applications are currently being accepted by TBF for a brain aneurysm.

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Scope of the Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 1.2 billion Market Size (2032) USD 2.7 billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 8.8% North America Revenue Share 27% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

The increasing prevalence of intracranial aneurysms brought on by an increase in unhealthy behaviors like excessive smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug abuse is one of the major factors driving the intracranial aneurysm market's revenue growth. The aging population, which has a greater risk of developing an intracranial aneurysm, as well as an increase in blood pressure-related disorders and trauma incidences, are all contributing to the growth of the intracranial aneurysm market.

Market Restraints

Patients without insurance or limited access to healthcare may face high costs for treating Intracranial Aneurysms. Patients may struggle to access treatment options and lack financial resources to cover necessary medical care. The general public often is unaware of the symptoms and dangers of Intracranial Aneurysms, delayed diagnosis and treatment, and patient suffering. There are alternative treatments for Intracranial Aneurysm, such as endovascular coiling and flow diversion, which can be less invasive than surgery. patients may prefer less invasive options rather than surgery, these alternatives could limit access to surgical solutions.

Market Opportunities

Due to an aging population and factors like smoking and hypertension, the prevalence of intracranial aneurysms is rising. Companies have a unique opportunity to create new devices and treatments to address this market need. Due to advances in medical technology, the treatment and diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms have become more accurate and precise. Companies now have the opportunity to develop treatments using these advances. Research and development of new treatments have seen an increase in investment. Companies now have the chance to develop devices and treatments that enhance patient outcomes while reducing the potential for complications.

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Report Segmentation of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market

Type Insight

The market for intracranial aneurysms was dominated by the endovascular coiling segment, which also generated the largest revenue share in the global market. In this most minimally invasive technique, a catheter is used to locate the brain aneurysm. The catheter is inserted into the artery with the aneurysm through the groyne area. Coils or fluids that embolise are inserted to halt the aneurysm's blood supply. Endovascular coiling has advantages over surgical clipping procedures, including better access to the vertebrobasilar system, multiple aneurysms in the distant region, and a quicker recovery time. Therefore, the benefits offered by the arterial coiling technique are promoting the segment's growth.

End User Insight

The hospital segment is most profitable in the intracranial aneurysm market and accounted for the largest revenue share. This is attributed to the growth of hospitals across the globe, the application of state-of-the-art medical technology in operating rooms and intensive care units, and higher government funding for hospitals. Hospitals frequently use cutting-edge technology to deliver excellent care. In addition to streamlining the therapeutic procedures, these tools aid in producing better, quicker, and more accurate outcomes.

Hospitals are better equipped to handle any post-operative complications because they have post-operative physical rehabilitation equipment. Intracranial aneurysm surgeries, among the most difficult and important surgeries, depending on the reliable, high-quality supplies available in the hospital.

For more insights on the historical and Forecast market data from 2016 to 2032 - download a sample report at https://market.us/report/intracranial-aneurysm-market/request-sample/



Market Segmentation

Based on Type

Surgical Clipping

Endovascular Coiling

Flow Diverters

Other Types

Based on End-User

Hospitals

Clinics

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Other End-Users

By Geography

North America

The US Canada Mexico



Western Europe

Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe



Eastern Europe

Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC



Latin America

Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America



Middle East & Africa

Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Competitive Landscape

Several major rivals in the intracranial aneurysm market concentrate on constructing medical facilities with cutting-edge technology. The main rivals comprehend and concentrate on brand-new methods that target aneurysm-specific wall mending and blood prevention. Due to the growth of the intracranial aneurysm industry, the marketplace is now more dynamic and versatile.

Braun

Delta Surgical

Evonos Gmbh & Co. KG

Integra Life-Science Holding Corporation

Medtronic PLC

Microport Scientific Corporation

Mizuho Medical Incorporation

Spiegelberg

Stryker Corporation

Terumo Global

Johnson and Johnson Services Inc.

Codman Neuro

Other Key Players

Recent Development of the Intracranial Aneurysm Market

January 2022: Codman Neuro, part of Johnson & Johnson, announced the launch of its new device, the ENVOY Transcarotid Stent System, for the treatment of carotid artery disease and intracranial aneurysms.

October 2021: Medtronic announced the launch of its Pipeline Flex Embolization Device with Shield Technology, designed to prevent brain aneurysm rupture while preserving blood flow to vital areas of the brain.

July 2021: Cerenovus, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced the launch of its new device, the EMBOTRAP III Revascularization Device, for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Browse More Related Reports:

Neurovascular devices market was valued at USD 27,100 million in 2021. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% during the forecast period.

Neurovascular Catheters Market size is expected to be worth around USD 5,988.60 million by 2032 from USD 3,072.9 million in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032.



ICAD (Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease) Pathology Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 10.84% over the next ten years and will reach USD 577.0 million in 2032, from USD 186.0 million in 2022, according to a new Market.us study.



Brain Implants Market size in 2021, was estimated to be worth USD 4.55 billion. It is anticipated to expand between 2023 and 2032 at a compound annual rate of 9.85%.



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While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (KLSE:ASTRO) share price up 17% in a single quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last five years have been less than pleasing. You would have done a lot better buying an index fund, since the stock has dropped 61% in that half decade.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

See our latest analysis for Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the five years over which the share price declined, Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 20% each year. Notably, the share price has fallen at 17% per year, fairly close to the change in the EPS. This suggests that market participants have not changed their view of the company all that much. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

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 is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad the TSR over the last 5 years was -46%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

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A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad shareholders are down 26% for the year (even including dividends). Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 2.7%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 8% per year over five years. 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. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 4 warning signs with Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (at least 1 which is significant) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

We will like Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Malaysian 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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In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it's worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. So we wouldn't blame long term International Cement Group Ltd. (SGX:KUO) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 43% over a half decade. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 34% in the last year.

With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

See our latest analysis for International Cement Group

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

International Cement Group became profitable within the last five years. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

In contrast to the share price, revenue has actually increased by 21% a year in the five year period. A more detailed examination of the revenue and earnings may or may not explain why the share price languishes; there could be an opportunity.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on International Cement Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 0.9% in the last year, International Cement Group shareholders lost 34%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 7% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand International Cement Group 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 International Cement Group , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Of course International Cement Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Singaporean 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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FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) MLM Division plant to communicate that Israel has successfully tested the Arrow-3 interceptor, the country's advanced missile defense system capable of defending against ballistic missile threats outside the atmosphere, in Be'er Ya'akov, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Israels Defense Ministry on Thursday, April 20, 2023, said it has begun talks to sell an advanced missile-defense system to Germany. (Tomer Appelbaum/Pool Photo via AP, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israels Defense Ministry on Thursday said it has begun talks to sell an advanced missile defense system to Germany. The announcement came two weeks after Israel said it was selling another missile defense system to NATOs newest member, Finland.

Although Israel has long had close economic and military ties with western European countries, the latest deals could draw the attention of Russia.

Israel has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Ukraine for fear of antagonizing Russia. It appears to be counting on the fact that the latest deals involve only defensive weapons. Israels Defense Ministry also noted that both deals would also need U.S. approval, because the systems have been jointly developed with the United States.

In Thursdays announcement, the ministry said it launched advanced negotiations this week with its German counterparts over the purchase of the Arrow 3, a system designed to intercept long-range missiles outside the atmosphere.

Germany has previously expressed interest in the system and been pushing to coordinate a European air defense system with some 15 countries.

We value the opportunity to share our capabilities with the partners and allies of the state of Israel, said Boaz Levy, chief executive of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, the primary builder of the Arrow system. Within the framework of this agreement, we further deepen our security ties between Israel and Germany.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Ministry said it had reached an agreement to sell its Davids Sling system to Finland. The system is meant to defend against medium-range aerial threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.

The deal was valued at nearly $350 million. I am confident that the cooperation between our countries will further enhance our readiness to respond to regional and global threats, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at the time.

While Israel has expressed support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, it has turned down requests to provide weapons. Instead, it has delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine and promised to deliver a sophisticated air defense warning system.

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Israel has a delicate relationship with Russia. It maintains security coordination with Russia in neighboring Syria  where Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military positions in recent years. Russia is also home to a large Jewish community.

Uzi Rubin, the former director of Israels missile defense program, said Israeli sales of missile defense systems to Ukraine are unlikely anytime soon. But he said the deal with Finland, and likely Germany, could usher in additional sales to Europe as the continent realizes it must defend itself against the big bad bear of Russia.

Europe has lived for 30 years with a kind of illusion that it has no security problems anymore, said Rubin, who is now a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. Now that the big bad bear is out hunting, everybody is scared.

___

Associated Press reporter Sam McNeil in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

SkyQuest's Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) market report provides actionable insights for individuals interested in valuable data, trends, and opportunities in a rapidly growing industry. Additionally, the report is produced and published concisely, making it accessible to various audiences, from industry experts to market readers. Finally, one can gain an in-depth understanding of the primary and secondary market drivers, providing them with a comprehensive outlook of the current market situation and future projections.

Westford, USA,, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The market for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) is set to reach a value of USD 9.2 billion by 2030, with a projected CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period (2023-2030). The market's growth is being driven by various factors, including the increasing demand for industrial automation, the rising adoption of IoT technology, advancements in wireless communication technologies, cost-effectiveness and scalability, and the growing demand for predictive maintenance.

SkyQuest reports that 67% of industrial companies plan to increase their investment in industrial automation in the next five years, and wireless sensor networks are among the top technologies being adopted to enable automation and improve efficiency in industrial processes. According to SkyQuest's latest research report, 66% of industrial companies are either implementing or planning to implement wireless sensor networks to enable real-time monitoring and control of their processes, with the primary benefits being improved efficiency, reduced downtime, and lower operational costs.

Get sample copy of this report:

https://www.skyquestt.com/sample-request/industrial-wireless-sensor-networks-market

Browse in-depth TOC on "Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) Market"

Pages - 242

Tables - 78

Figures - 75

In today's time, the industrial wireless sensor network market plays a critical role in enabling real-time monitoring and control of industrial processes, resulting in improved efficiency, reduced downtime, and lower operational costs. This market facilitates the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and supports the trend toward digital transformation in industries. Furthermore, the market is anticipated to exhibit substantial growth in the near future, underscoring its significance and relevance in modern industrial operations.

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Prominent Players in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) Market

ABB Ltd.

Analog Devices Inc.

Cisco Systems Inc.

Digi International Inc.

Emerson Electric Co.

Endress+Hauser AG

General Electric Company

Honeywell International Inc.

IBM Corporation

Infineon Technologies AG

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

NXP Semiconductors N.V.

Omron Corporation

Rockwell Automation Inc.

Schneider Electric SE

Siemens AG

STMicroelectronics N.V.

TE Connectivity Ltd.

Texas Instruments Inc.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Industrial Automation Applications to Drive Higher Sales With Improved Efficiency, and Productivity

The need for automation in several industries, such as manufacturing, automotive, and oil and gas, has led the Industrial Automation Application segment to emerge as a significant contributor to the rapid development of the Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) market in 2021, and this trend is expected to continue from 2022 to 2030. The adoption of wireless sensor networks for improved efficiency, productivity, and safety is driving this growth. An Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) survey found that 66% of respondents identified industrial automation as the primary use case for industrial wireless sensor networks.

North America is expected to become a dominant player in the Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) market, with a projected CAGR of 18.82% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2030. The high adoption rate of advanced technologies in industries, along with government initiatives promoting the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies are driving the expansion in the region. The Department of Energy (DOE) has recently established the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) to support the development and implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies, including wireless sensor networks in industries across the country.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://www.skyquestt.com/report/industrial-wireless-sensor-networks-market

Wireless Sensor Network Nodes Segment to Exhibit Strong Growth Due to Increasing Demand for Wireless Sensor Networks in Various Industries

The Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) market experienced the dominance of the Wireless Sensor Network Nodes segment in 2021, and this trend is expected to continue from 2022 to 2030. The growth is driven by the increasing demand for wireless sensor networks in the oil and gas, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, along with the adoption of IoT and Industry 4.0 technologies that support remote monitoring and predictive maintenance in industrial applications.

In addition, the Asia Pacific region has emerged as a significant market force in the IWSN market and is expected to maintain its leading position by 2030. SkyQuest forecasts significant growth in the region, with a projected CAGR of 14.97% during the forecast period. This expansion is attributed to the growing demand for air travel, an increase in the middle-income population, and the growth of aerospace and defense industries in the region. The Made in China 2025 initiative by the Chinese Government majorly focuses on the development of industrial wireless sensor networks to enhance manufacturing efficiency and competitiveness.

A comprehensive analysis of the major players in the Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) market has been recently conducted in the report. The report encompasses various aspects, including collaborations, mergers, innovative business policies, and strategies, providing valuable insights into key trends and breakthroughs in the market. Furthermore, the report scrutinizes the market share of the top segments and presents a detailed geographic analysis. Lastly, the report highlights the major players in the industry and their endeavors to develop innovative solutions to cater to the growing demand.

Key Developments in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) Market:

Intel recently launched its 13th Gen Intel Core processor family, with the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K leading the lineup as the fastest desktop processor in the world. This latest family of processors consists of six new unlocked desktop processors, featuring up to 24 cores, 32 threads, and clock speeds up to 5.8 GHz. The new desktop family, which includes 22 processors and over 125 partner system designs, offers improved application performance and platform compatibility. Enthusiasts can use the 13th Gen Intel Core processors with existing Intel 600 or new Intel 700 series chipset motherboards, along with DDR5 and DDR4 memory support.

Siemens AG has launched the Simatic RF615R, a new UHF RFID reader designed for industrial automation applications. The reader features improved flexibility, scalability, and security features, making it easier for industrial companies to integrate RFID technology into their operations. This launch is anticipated to boost the growth of the industrial wireless sensor network market, as RFID technology is often used in combination with wireless sensor networks to provide real-time monitoring and control of industrial processes.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://www.skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/industrial-wireless-sensor-networks-market

Key Questions Answered in Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) Market Report

What specific growth drivers are projected to impact the market during the forecast period?

Can you list the top companies in the market and explain how they have achieved their positions of influence?

In what ways do regional trends and patterns differ within the global market, and how might these differences shape the market's future growth?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Door Phone Market

Global BPO Business Analytics Market

Global Wireless Earphone Market

Global Wi-Fi 6 And Wi-Fi 6E Chipset Market

Global Smart Building Market

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(Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson must face new lawsuits accusing the company of selling tainted baby powder that caused cancer, a judge ruled, opening the company up to court actions that had been halted for 19 months.

Most Read from Bloomberg

US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan said Thursday the company wont have to go to trial over any talc lawsuits for at least 60 days, but new lawsuits can be filed. Kaplan also said lawyers suing on behalf of tens of thousands of people can begin preparing their cases for the first time since late 2021. The limited pause is in trials is designed to give J&Js bankrupt unit, LTL Management, time to try to win court approval of an $8.9 billion settlement.

Kaplans pause is narrower than the one sought by J&J. Lawyers for J&Js bankrupt unit tried to convince Kaplan to block all the baby powder lawsuits from going forward, just as he did after J&J first put the company into bankruptcy in 2021. That bankruptcy was dismissed earlier this month.

Kaplan said he is skeptical of J&Js effort to revive its strategy with a second bankruptcy case. The judge will likely have to decide whether to throw out the new bankruptcy case as well, should victim lawyers who reject the settlement make that request as expected.

I have more questions than answers, for now, Kaplan told both sides at a hearing held by Zoom Thursday.

Kaplans ruling is a win for claimants, who are now one step closer to being able to vote for themselves on whether to accept the proposed settlement, a spokesperson for J&J said in an emailed statement.

Earlier Arguments

Earlier this week, LTL was in court in New Jersey to argue about whether the lawsuits should restart, or remain on hold while J&J tries for the second time to use the bankrupt unit to persuade cancer victims to accept the settlement. Critics say they would rather take their claims to juries around the country to try to win verdicts against J&J.

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Lawsuits against bankrupt companies are automatically paused while a plan to repay creditors  including people who have filed lawsuits  is hashed out. LTL argued that it cannot resolve the lawsuits as part of the bankruptcy case while J&J is fighting the tens of thousands of case around the country.

J&J has long denied any link between cancer and baby powder and argues that the best way to settle the lawsuits is through a negotiated plan blessed by a bankruptcy court.

Victims allege that for decades J&J sold baby powder that contained talc contaminated with the toxic substance asbestos. Although J&J has prevailed in some cases, it has lost nearly a dozen suits over the years. One case was that went all the way to the US Supreme Court resulted in J&J being forced to pay $2.5 billion to a group of about 20 women.

The new settlement proposal is backed by as many as 80,000 claimants, company lawyer Gregory Gordon told Kaplan in federal court on Tuesday. The proposal has split the law firms representing tens of thousands of women who say say the companys baby powder gave them cancer. Holdouts have questioned the number of claimants supporting law firms say they represent and claim J&J wrongly put LTL Management back into bankruptcy just hours after its first effort was dismissed on orders from a federal appeals court.

Eventually, LTL will need to send its proposal to claimants for a vote. Should 75% of those voting back the deal, LTL would set up a trust funded with the $8.9 billion from J&J. All current and future lawsuits would then be channeled to the trust, which would use a complex set of rules to decide how much each claimant would get.

J&J said Tuesday it incurred a $6.9 billion charge attributable to the proposed talc settlement, contributing to a $68 million loss for the first quarter of 2023.

The company has said it needs Chapter 11 to resolve the talc liability, which continues to grow. John Kim, LTLs chief legal officer, testified Tuesday the the number of pending talc claims doubled between the time the second bankruptcy was filed in April and the J&J subsidiary first filed Chapter 11 in October 2021.

The talc liability is enormous, Kim said.

The new bankruptcy filing is LTL Management LLC, 23-12825, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (Trenton).

(Updates with details beginning in the first paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
logo: RETAIL COUNCIL OF CANADA (CNW Group/Retail Council of Canada)

logo: FOOD, HEALTH & CONSUMER PRODUCTS OF CANADA) (CNW Group/Retail Council of Canada)

TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Retail Council of Canada (RCC) and Food Health & Consumer Products of Canada are proud to announce that John Pigott, CEO of Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe (MLI), will be honored with the prestigious Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the retail industry.

The Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals or families who have demonstrated outstanding service and dedication to the Canadian retail and grocery industries. Recipients reflect the industry's spirit of community and trust. They have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to their company's growth and innovation, to the communities they serve, and to philanthropy.

John first started at MLI as a student in 1971 and worked summers through 1979. After graduating from the University of Western Ontario, he worked at Xerox Canada from 1980 to 1986. Returning to MLI, John was appointed Vice President in July 1986 and appointed President and CEO in June 1989. John became President and CEO of Club Coffee upon its acquisition by MLI in 2007.

John has been active for more than 37 years in a number of private company and industry boards, task forces, and associations, including: National Chair, Canadian Association of Family Business; Chair of the Young Presidents Organization, Ottawa Chapter; Director of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP) and its predecessors GPMC and FCPC, and in June 2019 John accepted the role of Vice Chair  Food at FHCP, amongst others.

"Mr. Pigott's remarkable career journey and contributions to the grocery industry make him a truly deserving recipient of the Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award," said Michael Graydon, President and CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada. "His leadership at Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe has been nothing short of exemplary, driving innovation and growth while prioritizing sustainability and quality. We are proud to recognize Mr. Pigott's outstanding achievements and contributions to the grocery industry with this esteemed award."

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"Receiving this award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Club Coffee and Morrison Lamothe teams," said John Pigott. "It is validation of our unwavering commitment to delivering great products and I look forward to continuing our legacy of excellence in the Canadian business community."

Mr. Pigott joins a distinguished list of past recipients from across Canada that include: Burnbrae Farms' Margaret Hudson, Save-On-Foods' Darrell Jones, Sobeys, Chair Emeriti, Donald and David Sobey, Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Co-Chairmen, Paul Higgins Jr. and Michael Higgins, Longo's President and CEO Anthony Longo and the Longo Family, as well as Cindy and Tina Lee of T&T Supermarkets.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will presented be to Mr. Pigott at Retail Council of Canada's Canadian Grand Prix Awards Gala on May 31, 2023, at the Toronto Congress Centre from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET.

To purchase Gala tickets visit https://rccgrandprix.ca/gala-tickets/

The Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards Gala will close the second day of Canada's biggest retail event, RCC STORE 23 (May 30 to May 31, 2023) which will feature more than 75 speakers and attract more than 2,000 retail leaders from across North America and around the globe.

Media are invited to attend.

About Morrison Lamothe and Club Coffee

Morrison Lamothe is a third-generation family business, founded in 1933 as a bakery in Ottawa, Ontario by brothers-in-law Cecil Morrison and Richard Lamothe. The company began supplying fresh bread and grew into the largest bakery in the capital city area by the 1960s. It diversified into the restaurant and catering business in the late 1940s, and then in the 1960s, into frozen food manufacturing. It acquired the Holiday Farms brand in 1984 and Northern Fine Foods in 1990. In 2005, Morrison Lamothe diversified further through its acquisition of Club Coffee, one of the largest coffee roasters in North America. In 2022, Club Coffee became a part of OFI, a new operating group born out of Olam.

About Retail Council of Canada

Retail is Canada's largest private-sector employer with over 2 million Canadians working in our industry. The sector annually generates over $85 billion in wages and employee benefits. Core retail sales (excluding vehicles and gasoline) were over $462B in 2022. Retail Council of Canada (RCC) members represent more than two-thirds of core retail sales in the country. RCC is a not-for-profit industry-funded association that represents small, medium, and large retail businesses in every community across the country. As the Voice of Retail in Canada, we proudly represent more than 54,000 storefronts in all retail formats, including department, grocery, specialty, discount, independent retailers, online merchants and quick service restaurants. www.retailcouncil.org

About Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada

FHCP is the voice of the food, health, and consumer product industry that employs more than 350,000 Canadians across businesses of all sizes that manufacture and distribute the safe, high-quality products that are at the heart of healthy homes, healthy communities, and a healthy Canada. Learn more at www.fhcp.ca and www.oneveryshelf.ca and follow us at @FHCP_PASC.

Contact:

Branka Stavric, Senior Director of Marketing and Communication, Retail Council of Canada, branka.stavric@retailcouncil.org

Anthony Fuchs, Vice President, Communications, Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, Anthony.Fuchs@fhcp.ca

John Pigott, 2023 Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award (CNW Group/Retail Council of Canada)

SOURCE Retail Council of Canada

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2023/20/c5016.html
EDMONTON, AB, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) today announced the appointment of Mr. Jon Horsman as a member of the board of directors effective July 1, 2023, for a term to expire on June 30, 2026. This announcement follows the signing of the Order in Council, O.C. 152/2023, by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta on April 20, 2023.

Jon Horsman (CNW Group/Alberta Investment Management Corporation)

"Jon Horsman understands Alberta's financial landscape like few others, having provided thoughtful financial support to Albertans and Alberta business alike for more than 20 years," said Mark Wiseman, Chair of the AIMCo Board of Directors. "I look forward to him bringing his unique perspective and investment market acumen to bear on behalf of AIMCo and its clients."

Based in Calgary, Alberta, Mr. Horsman is a seasoned executive finance and banking professional who most recently served as Senior Executive Vice President, Business, ATB Financial & CEO, ATB Capital Markets where he was responsible for the strategy, direction and leadership of ATB's presence in business markets.

"It has been my distinct privilege to support countless Albertans in service to Alberta businesses and to deliver value, expertise and advice to our customers," said Jon Horsman. "The opportunity to join the AIMCo Board and support the important role of this organization in meeting the long-term financial objectives of its clients is incredibly rewarding."

Jon started his financial service career with ATB in 2003, during which he has held increasingly senior roles  including Co-Head of Corporate Financial Services (CFS) and Chairman & CEO of AltaCorp Capital. Through his career, Jon has had responsibility for signficant capital at risk and has learned how to be succesful in mutiple market cycles.

Jon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Gonzaga University and a Master of Business Administration from the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta.

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The appointment of Mr. Horsman fills the vacancy left by Ms. Jacqueline Sheppard following her retirement from the Board of Directors on December 31, 2022.

"Jackie has been a trusted voice around the boardroom table since joining in 2018," added Wiseman. "On behalf of my fellow Board colleagues, I want to congratulate Jackie on her decision to retire and to express our deep appreciation for her commitment to AIMCo and the clients we serve."

The Order in Council also reappoints Mr. Tom Woods as a member of the board of directors, effective July 1, 2023. Mr. Woods has been a member of AIMCo's Board since October 22, 2015.

In accordance with the Alberta Investment Management Corporation Act, the Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the management of the business and affairs of AIMCo. Guided by this mandate, the Board sets the strategic direction of the Corporation and oversees the development and implementation of policies and procedures that govern the day-to-day conduct of AIMCo's business. All directors are appointed to the Board by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and are fully independent of management.

ABOUT ALBERTA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

AIMCo is among Canada's largest and most diversified institutional investment managers with $158 billion of assets under management. AIMCo invests globally on behalf of 17 pension, endowment and government fund clients in the Province of Alberta.

For more information about AIMCo please follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Alberta Investment Management Corporation Logo (CNW Group/Alberta Investment Management Corporation)

SOURCE Alberta Investment Management Corporation

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2023/20/c3689.html
Jewelry Television

Leading Jewelry Retailer Continues Partnership with Public Health Organization for Fifth Annual Initiative to Fight Lung Disease

JTV Launches 2023 Catch Your Breath Campaign in Partnership with Respiratory Health Association

During the campaign, JTV will introduce two beautiful butterfly keychains available for purchase with 50% of the selling price directly benefitting Respiratory Health Associations research and educational programs.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JTV, the national jewelry retailer and broadcast network, today is proud to announce the launch of its fifth annual Catch Your Breath campaign in partnership with Respiratory Health Association (RHA). Launching on April 21, the campaign aims to support the fight against womens lung disease through education and donation opportunities. Continuing JTVs longstanding support of the organizations mission, this initiative further carries out the companys philanthropic mission and dedication to giving back.



In this years Catch Your Breath campaign, customers will have the chance to support a worthy cause while shopping JTVs exquisite jewelry pieces. During the campaign, JTV will introduce two beautiful butterfly keychains available for purchase with 50% of the selling price directly benefitting Respiratory Health Associations research and educational programs.

Catch Your Breath Butterfly Keychains





We are thrilled to partner with Respiratory Health Association for the fifth annual Catch Your Breath campaign, said Tim Matthews, CEO of JTV. We are committed to supporting women, who are disproportionately affected by these ailments, in all aspects of their lives and look forward to continuing our partnership with Respiratory Health Association to raise awareness for this important cause. Together, we can make a real difference for those affected by respiratory illnesses.

Since 2019, JTV has partnered with Respiratory Health Association for its Catch Your Breath campaign and has raised almost $1 million to-date to support the organization's noble cause. With the initiative now in its fifth year, JTV is committed to continuing its partnership to make a positive impact on respiratory health.

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"We are thrilled to partner with JTV once again for our annual Catch Your Breath campaign, said Joel Africk, President and CEO at Respiratory Health Association. We look forward to working together to raise awareness and needed funds to help those impacted by respiratory illnesses. With JTV's support, we can continue to make great strides in the fight against lung disease and improve the lives of countless individuals and families."

Those looking to support the cause can tune in to JTV or visit jtv.com/breath to learn more about the risk factors of lung disease and for extra savings on their JTV purchase when making a donation.

To donate, call JTV's Call Center (800) 619-3000 and choose option 2 or go online at jtv.com/breath or womenslunghealth.org. To learn more about the JTV 2023 Catch Your Breath campaign and JTVs product offerings, please visit JTV.com and follow @JTV on Instagram, @jtv on Facebook, @jewelrytv on Pinterest and @jewelry on Twitter.

About JTV

JTV (Jewelry Television) is a leading retailer of jewelry and gemstones in the United States. With a proven 29-year history, JTV leverages an omni-digital strategy designed to elevate the customer experience through holistic, digitally driven touch points, including live TV programming, 24 hours a day, seven days a week to approximately 95 million U.S. and Canadian households, an industry leading mobile optimized e-commerce platform, and a robust and engaging social media presence. As part of its commitment to customer satisfaction and the development and distribution of educational content, the company employs numerous Graduate Gemologists and Accredited Jewelry Professionals. For more information, visit JTV.com and JTVs social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

About Respiratory Health

A public health leader since 1906, Respiratory Health Association (RHA) is dedicated to its mission of preventing lung disease, promoting clean air and helping people live better lives through education, research and policy change. To achieve that goal, RHA collaborates with researchers in pursuit of new treatments and cures for disease like asthma, COPD and lung cancer; empowers adults and children by teaching them skills to manage their health; delivers evidence-based tobacco cessation programs; and works with lawmakers to craft innovative policies that build a more equitable and sustainable future. Learn more at resphealth.org.

Respiratory Health Association's Catch Your Breath campaign raises awareness and funding for lung health research and programs. Catch Your Breath advocates increased funding for research to better understand lung disease  including asthma, COPD, lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis  and improve treatments. The initiative also educates the public and medical professionals about the disproportionate effects of lung disease on women. Learn more and get involved at womenslunghealth.org.

Media Contact

5W Public Relations

JTV@5wpr.com

212-999-5585

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6dcf1e12-1ebe-4660-81a3-10869f20ab2d




Kejuruteraan Asastera Berhad's (KLSE:KAB) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3x may look like a poor investment opportunity when you consider close to half the companies in the Construction industry in Malaysia have P/S ratios below 0.9x. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.

See our latest analysis for Kejuruteraanstera Berhad

How Has Kejuruteraanstera Berhad Performed Recently?

Revenue has risen firmly for Kejuruteraanstera Berhad recently, which is pleasing to see. Perhaps the market is expecting this decent revenue performance to beat out the industry over the near term, which has kept the P/S propped up. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Although there are no analyst estimates available for Kejuruteraanstera Berhad, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Are Revenue Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/S?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as steep as Kejuruteraanstera Berhad's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the industry decidedly.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 9.0% gain to the company's revenues. The latest three year period has also seen a 19% overall rise in revenue, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been respectable for the company.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 27% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it concerning that Kejuruteraanstera Berhad is trading at a P/S higher than the industry. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent revenue trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

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The Bottom Line On Kejuruteraanstera Berhad's P/S

Using the price-to-sales ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

The fact that Kejuruteraanstera Berhad currently trades on a higher P/S relative to the industry is an oddity, since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider industry forecast. When we see slower than industry revenue growth but an elevated P/S, there's considerable risk of the share price declining, sending the P/S lower. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it will place shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

You need to take note of risks, for example - Kejuruteraanstera Berhad has 4 warning signs (and 2 which don't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 19, 2023 / Kidoz Inc. (TSXV:KIDZ) (the "Company"), mobile AdTech developer and owner of the market leading Kidoz Contextual Ad Network ( www.kidoz.net ); and the Kidoz Publisher SDK, announced todayits audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022. All amounts are presented in United States dollars and are in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Financial highlights from fiscal 2022 include:

Total Revenue of $15,097,056 an increase of 21% over fiscal 2021 Total Revenue of $12,484,639

Direct Ad Tech Advertising Revenue of $14,425,918 an increase of 18% over Direct Ad Tech Advertising Revenue of $12,194,518 for fiscal 2021.

Programmatic Ad Tech Advertising Revenue of $361,394, an increase of 518% over Programmatic Advertising Revenue of $58,507 for fiscal 2021.

Sales and Marketing expenditure of $1,039,713, an increase of 62% from $641,393 in fiscal 2021

Non-Capitalized R&D expenditures of $2,496,877, an increase of 49% from $1,678,848 in fiscal 2021.

Net loss after tax of ($1,347,113), compared to a net loss after tax ($190,321) in fiscal 2021.

Adjusted EBITDA of ($231,395) compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $1,507,951 in fiscal 2021.

Cash of $2,363,530 and working capital of $4,147,176 as at December 31, 2022, compared to cash of $2,078,607 and working capital of $4,536,852 as at December 31, 2021.

Free Cash Flow as at December 31, 2022, of $433,745 compared to Free Cash Flow of $851,533 as at December 31, 2021.

For full details of the Company's operations and financial results, please refer to the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov or the Kidoz Inc. corporate website at https://investor.kidoz.net or the www.sedar.com website.

"Kidoz is the market leader in safe mobile media and our investments into our technology and sales teams continue to deliver results," stated Jason Williams, Kidoz CEO. "2022 was executed as we planned, building a business and technology platform that will complement and compete with the global leaders in advertising technology. We outperformed the Ad Tech market in 2022 by securing strong growth in a weak market and maintaining positive free cash flow. Management has identified continued weakness in the global advertising market and has begun 2023 prudently as we expect lower revenues in the first half of the year when compared to 2022. However, Kidoz's reputation with leading advertisers is strong and we are building channels to larger deals than we have ever received in the past. We expect the full year 2023 to continue our rate of growth."

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"In addition to Kidoz, we have launched Prado to complete our media offering. Prado is a fully owned division of Kidoz that is targeting the family segment of advertisers who are trying to reach markets over the age of 13 including teens and parents. The Kidoz team has high expectations for Prado as the advertising market in this segment is over 100 times larger than the market for advertising to children. However, with a larger market comes increased competition and the Prado commercial team needs time to position itself in the market and build trust and relationships. We have the knowledge that our technology for delivering high performance in-app media is strong and believe that it is only a matter of time before Prado's market position is secure and our revenue growth is enhanced."

"The Kidoz and Prado businesses are built upon an increasingly powerful technology base that is sold in over 60 countries by an experienced and engaged network of experienced agencies. Our management's expectations are high despite weakness in the overall market, and we believe we will continue to deliver exceptional financial results."

CAUTION REGARDING NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

This press release refers to "Adjusted EBITDA" which is a non-GAAP financial measure that does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is not presented in accordance with, or as an alternative to, GAAP financial measures and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America ("GAAP"). We encourage investors to review the GAAP financial measures included in the last Quarterly Form 10-Q, including our unaudited consolidated financial statements, to aid in their analysis and understanding of our performance and in making comparisons.

We use Adjusted EBITDA internally to evaluate our performance and make financial and operational decisions that are presented in a manner that adjusts from their equivalent GAAP measures or that supplement the information provided by our GAAP measures. Adjusted EBITDA is defined by us as EBITDA (net income (loss) plus depreciation expense, amortization expense, interest, stock-based compensation and impairment of goodwill), further adjusted to exclude certain non-cash expenses and other adjustments. We use Adjusted EBITDA because we believe it more clearly highlights business trends that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on GAAP financial measures, since Adjusted EBITDA eliminates from our results specific financial items that have less bearing on our core operating performance.

Our Adjusted EBITDA is reconciled as follows:

2022 2021 2020 (Loss) Income for the year $ (1,347,113 ) $ (190,321 ) $ 103,971 Depreciation and amortization 557,267 565,540 564,628 Stock awareness program 36,191 316,237 - Stock-based compensation 696,248 660,266 158,883 Gain on derivative liability - warrants (23,314 ) (60,207 ) - Interest and other income (185 ) (241 ) (1,003 ) Income tax (recovery) expense (150,489 ) 216,677 (55,243 ) Adjusted EBITDA $ (231,395 ) $ 1,507,951 $ 771,236

About Kidoz Inc.

Kidoz Inc. (TSXV:KIDZ) (www.kidoz.net) owns the leading COPPA & GDPR compliant contextual mobile advertising network that safely reaches hundreds of millions of kids, teens, and families every month. Google certified, and Apple approved, Kidoz provides an essential suite of advertising technology that unites brands, content publishers and families. Trusted by Disney, Hasbro, Lego and more, the Kidoz Contextual Ad Network helps the world's largest brands to safely reach and engage kids across thousands of mobile apps, websites and video channels. The Kidoz network does not use location or PII data tracking commonly used in digital advertising. Instead, Kidoz has developed advanced contextual targeting tools to enable brands to reach their ideal customers with complete brand safety. A focused AdTech solution provider, the Kidoz SDK and Kidoz Programmatic network have become essential products in the digital advertising ecosystem.

The Prado (www.prado.co) technology provides a leading mobile SSP (Supply-side Platform), DSP (Demand-side Platform) and Ad Exchange programmatically to the entire Ad Tech universe. By activating high-performance programmatic campaigns across thousands of apps on their network, Prado makes digital advertising more efficient and effective by simplifying the process across a connected technology platform.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this press release (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by the company) contains statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to anticipated future success of the company. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the company. For a description of additional risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, readers should read the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the SEC and the Annual Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis filed on SEDAR on April 19, 2023, and the prospectus filed under Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act on March 9, 2005 and the SB2 filed July 17, 2007, and the TSX Venture Exchange Listing Application for Common Shares filed on June 29, 2015 on SEDAR, for a more thorough discussion of the Company's financial position and results of operations, together with a detailed discussion of the risk factors involved in an investment in Kidoz Inc.

For more information contact:

Henry Bromley

CFO

ir@kidoz.net

(888) 374-2163

SOURCE: Kidoz Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/750272/Kidoz-Inc-Announces-Record-Full-Year-2022-Financial-Results-with-Total-Revenue-of-15097056




One simple way to benefit from the stock market is to buy an index fund. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. Just take a look at Kretam Holdings Berhad (KLSE:KRETAM), which is up 72%, over three years, soundly beating the market return of 12% (not including dividends).

With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

View our latest analysis for Kretam Holdings Berhad

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During three years of share price growth, Kretam Holdings Berhad moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd expect the share price to be up.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Kretam Holdings Berhad's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Kretam Holdings Berhad, it has a TSR of 84% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Kretam Holdings Berhad shareholders are down 3.5% for the year (even including dividends). Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 2.7%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 3% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Kretam Holdings Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Kretam Holdings Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here.

Story continues

We will like Kretam Holdings Berhad better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Malaysian 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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(Bloomberg) -- Montenegro prosecutors filed an indictment for Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon and his chief financial officer, Han Chang-joon, accusing the men of forging personal documents.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The authorities are also seeking to extend their detention, Dusko Milanovic, an official at the prosecutors office in the capital Podgorica, said by email, identifying the pair by their initials and nationality. The Vijesti newspaper reported the indictment earlier, using their full names.

A Montenegrin court will have to decide on the prosecutors proposal. Kwons lawyer didnt immediately answer calls from Bloomberg News.

Montenegrin officials said last month that the two men entered the country illegally and were trying to fly to Dubai using falsified travel documents when they were arrested.

Both the US and South Korea are seeking Kwons extradition from Montenegro. He was charged by US prosecutors with orchestrating a years-long cryptocurrency fraud that wiped out at least $40 billion in market value, and faces similar charges in South Korea.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Custom Market Insights

[220+ Pages Latest Report] According to a market research study published by Custom Market Insights, the demand analysis of the Global Hair Extensions Market size & share revenue was valued at approximately USD 2.9 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 3.40 Billion in 2023 and is expected to reach around USD 5.89 Billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 6.3% between 2022 and 2030. The key market players listed in the report with their sales, revenues and strategies are Jon Renau, Hairlocs, Hairdreams Haarhandels GmbH, So Cap USA, Shake-N-Go Inc, Mayvenn, Hairlux, Balmain Hair Couture, Beauty Industry Group Inc, The Gorgeous Hair, Evergreen Products Group Limited, SalonLabs Exports India Pvt Limited, Great Lengths S.p.A Societa Benefit, Perfect Locks LLC, Locks & Bonds, and others.

Austin, TX, USA, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Custom Market Insights has published a new research report titled Hair Extensions Market Size, Trends and Insights By Type (Synthetic Hair Extension, Human Hair Extension, Animal Hair Extension), By End Use (Professional, Personal), By Fitting Type (Clip-In, Micro Link, Tape-In, Glue-In), By Distribution Channel (Retail Stores, Super Markets, E-Commerce), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Analysis, Share, Outlook, and Forecast 20232030 in its research database.

According to the latest research study, the demand for global Hair Extensions Market Size & share was valued at approximately USD 2.9 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 3.40 Billion in 2023 and expected to reach a value of around USD 5.89 Billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 6.3% during the forecast period 2022 to 2030.

Mergers and Acquisitions

The hair extensions market is a highly competitive and fragmented market, with a large number of small and medium-sized companies operating globally. Mergers and acquisitions can be a key strategy for companies in this industry to expand their market share, increase their product portfolio, and gain access to new distribution channels.

Story continues

In recent years, there have been several notable mergers and acquisitions in the hair extensions market. For example, in 2019, LOreal acquired the German professional hair extensions brand, Great Lengths. In the same year, Bellami Hair, a leading hair extensions brand, was acquired by the private equity firm, ACON Investments.

Overall, M&A activity in the hair extensions market is expected to continue as companies look to consolidate their positions and gain a competitive advantage in this growing industry.

Click Here to Access a Free Sample Report of the Global Hair Extensions Market @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/request-for-free-sample/?reportid=23142





Significant Facts:

n 2021, the North American hair extensions market held a substantial share of the overall hair extensions market, and it is anticipated to exhibit significant growth at a CAGR during the forecast period. The growth in this region is attributed to the high usage and adoption of hair extensions among people of all age groups, as they are considered both functional and decorative hair accessories. The United States is the worlds largest importer of hair products, with a significant share of global imports of wigs, fake beards, and similar goods estimated at 53.6% in 2020, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).

The increasing demand for hair styling products, including hair extensions, can be attributed to the growing demand for hair products in urban areas. The rising popularity of hair extensions among people is a direct result of this trend. Furthermore, peer pressure is also an important factor that is contributing to the growth of the hair extensions market, especially among women from affluent backgrounds. These women are often under pressure to conform and be accepted by their peers, and as a result, they tend to compete with each other in terms of physical appearance and fashion, leading to a higher demand for hair extensions and other beauty products.

Request a Customized Copy of the Hair Extensions Market Report @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/

The hair extensions market is witnessing various opportunities due to the increasing use of high-end grooming products by consumers. To match their appearance with temporary trends, consumers are using more fashionable and premium grooming products. This trend presents an opportunity for businesses to create cutting-edge hair extensions and other related products. Additionally, the growing demand for multi-colored hair extensions among celebrities and artists is expected to create market expansion opportunities for new artificial hair integrations.

(A free sample of the Hair Extensions report is available upon request; please contact us for more information.)



Our Free Sample Report Consists of the following:

Introduction, Overview, and in-depth industry analysis are all included in the 2022 updated report.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak Impact Analysis is included in the package

About 220+ Pages Research Report (Including Recent Research)

Provide detailed chapter-by-chapter guidance on the Request

Updated Regional Analysis with a Graphical Representation of Size, Share, and Trends for the Year 2022

Includes Tables and figures have been updated

The most recent version of the report includes the Top Market Players, their Business Strategies, Sales Volume, and Revenue Analysis

Custom Market Insights (CMI) research methodology

(Please note that the sample of the Hair Extensions report has been modified to include the COVID-19 impact study prior to delivery.)

Request a Customized Copy of the Hair Extensions Market Report @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/request-for-customization/?reportid=23142

Report Scope

Feature of the Report Details Market Size in 2023 USD 3.40 Billion Projected Market Size in 2030 USD 5.89 Billion Market Size in 2024 USD 3.75 Billion CAGR Growth Rate 6.3% CAGR Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2023-2030 Key Segment By Type (Synthetic Hair Extension, Human Hair Extension, Animal Hair Extension), By End Use (Professional, Personal), By Fitting Type (Clip-In, Micro Link, Tape-In, Glue-In), By Distribution Channel (Retail Stores, Super Markets, E-Commerce), and Region Report Coverage Revenue Estimation and Forecast, Company Profile, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors and Recent Trends Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South & Central America Buying Options Request tailored purchasing options to fulfil your requirements for research.

Key questions answered in this report:

What is the size of the Hair Extensions market and what is its expected growth rate?

What are the primary driving factors that push the Hair Extensions market forward?

What are the Hair Extensions Industry's top companies?

What are the different categories that the Hair Extensions Market caters to?

What will be the fastest-growing segment or region?

In the value chain, what role do essential players play?

What is the procedure for getting a free copy of the Hair Extensions market sample report and company profiles?

Key Offerings:

Market Share, Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20222030

Market Dynamics  Growth Drivers, Restraints, Investment Opportunities, and Leading Trends

Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis by Types of Services, by End-User Services, and by Regions

Competitive Landscape  Top Key Vendors and Other Prominent Vendors

Directly Purchase a copy of the report [220+ Pages] @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/





Limiting Aspects:

The growth of the hair extensions market is being hindered by increasing awareness and concern for hair loss treatment. To address this issue, scientists are developing creative and innovative techniques to regrow or restore lost hair, and people are increasingly using various drugs and anti-hair loss therapies. The demand for hair transplants is also expected to rise, both on the scalp and in non-scalp locations, as people become more conscious of their appearance. Two of the most commonly used drugs for treating hair loss are minoxidil and finasteride.

List of the prominent players in the global Hair Extensions Market:

Jon Renau

Hairlocs

Hairdreams Haarhandels GmbH

So Cap USA

Shake-N-Go Inc

Mayvenn

Hairlux

Balmain Hair Couture

Beauty Industry Group Inc

The Gorgeous Hair

Evergreen Products Group Limited

SalonLabs Exports India Pvt Limited

Great Lengths S.p.A Societa Benefit

Perfect Locks LLC

Locks & Bonds

Others

Request a Customized Copy of the Hair Extensions Market Report @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/

(We customized your report to meet your specific research requirements. Inquire with our sales team about customizing your report.)

Still, Looking for More Information? Do OR Want Data for Inclusion in magazines, case studies, research papers, or Media?

Email Directly Here with Detail Information: support@custommarketinsights.com

Browse the full Hair Extensions Market Size, Trends and Insights By Type (Synthetic Hair Extension, Human Hair Extension, Animal Hair Extension), By End Use (Professional, Personal), By Fitting Type (Clip-In, Micro Link, Tape-In, Glue-In), By Distribution Channel (Retail Stores, Super Markets, E-Commerce), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Analysis, Share, Outlook, and Forecast 20232030 Report at https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/

The global Hair Extensions Market is segmented as follows:

Type

Synthetic Hair Extension

Human Hair Extension

Animal Hair Extension

End Use

Professional

Personal

Fitting Type

Clip-In

Micro Link

Tape-In

Glue-In

Distribution Channel

Retail Stores

Super Markets

E-Commerce

Click Here to Access a Free Sample Report of the Global Hair Extensions Market @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/

By Region

North America

The U.S.

Canada

Mexico

Europe

France

The UK

Spain

Germany

Italy

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

Australia

South Korea

Rest of Asia Pacific

The Middle East & Africa

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Egypt

Kuwait

South Africa

Rest of the Middle East & Africa

Latin America

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Spectacular Deals

Comprehensive coverage

Maximum number of market tables and figures

Subscription-based option offered

Best price guarantee

Free 35% or 60 hours of customization.

Free post-sale service assistance.

25% discount on your next purchase.

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Personalized market brief by author.

Click Here to Get a Free Sample Report of the Global Hair Extensions Market @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/

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Male Skincare Market : Male Skincare Market Size, Trends and Insights By Product (Shave Care, Creams & Moisturizers, Sunscreen, Cleansers & Face Wash, Others), By Source (Organic, Conventional), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Analysis, Share, Outlook, and Forecast 20222030

Anti-Aging Cosmetics Market : Anti-Aging Cosmetics Market Size, Trends and Insights By Product (Skin Care, Makeup, Hair Care, Eye Care, Others), By Distribution Channel (Supermarkets or Hypermarkets, Online Stores, Cosmetic Stores, Others), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Analysis, Share, Outlook, and Forecast 20222030

Spas and Beauty Salons Market : Spas and Beauty Salons Market Size, Trends and Insights By Spa Service (Day Spas, Club Spas, Medical Spas, Destination Spas, Mineral SpringS Spa, Resort and Hotel Spas), By Salon Service (Hair, Skin, Nail, Others), By End User (Men, Women), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Analysis, Share, Outlook, and Forecast 20222030

Wet Wipes Market : Wet Wipes Market Size, Trends and Insights By Product (Skin Antiseptic, Feminine Hygiene Wipes, Skin Care Wet Wipes, Sterile Wound Cleansing Wipes), By End-User (Hospitals, Clinics, Specialty Centers, Homecare Settings, Others), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Analysis, Share, Outlook, and Forecast 20222030

Male Grooming Products Market : Male Grooming Products Market Size, Share, Growth Analysis Report By Product (Hair Care, Skin Care, Fragrances, Others), By Distribution Channel (Online, Offline), By Application (Supermarket/Hypermarket, Convenience Stores, Pharmacy, E-commerce, Others), and By Region - Global Industry Overview, Statistical Data, Competitive Intelligence, Trends, Outlook, and Forecast 20222030

This Hair Extensions Market Research/Analysis Report Contains Answers to the following Questions.

Which Manufacturing Technology is used for Hair Extensions? What Developments Are Going On in That Technology? Which Trends Are Causing These Developments?

Who Are the Global Key Players in This Hair Extensions Market? What are Their Company Profile, Product Information, and Contact Information?

What Was the Global Market Status of the Hair Extensions Market? What Was the Capacity, Production Value, Cost and PROFIT of the Hair Extensions Market?

What Is the Current Market Status of the Hair Extensions Industry? What's Market Competition in This Industry, Both Company and Country Wise? What's Market Analysis of Hair Extensions Market by Considering Applications and Types?

What Are Projections of the Global Hair Extensions Industry Considering Capacity, Production and Production Value? What Will Be the Estimation of Cost and Profit? What Will Be Market Share, Supply and Consumption? What about imports and exports?

What Is Hair Extensions Market Chain Analysis by Upstream Raw Materials and Downstream Industry?

What Is the Economic Impact On Hair Extensions Industry? What are Global Macroeconomic Environment Analysis Results? What Are Global Macroeconomic Environment Development Trends?

What Are Market Dynamics of Hair Extensions Market? What Are Challenges and Opportunities?

What Should Be Entry Strategies, Countermeasures to Economic Impact, and Marketing Channels for Hair Extensions Industry?

Reasons to Purchase Hair Extensions Market Report

Hair Extensions Market Report provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market based on segmentation involving economic and non-economic factors.

Hair Extensions Market report outlines market value (USD) data for each segment and sub-segment.

This report indicates the region and segment expected to witness the fastest growth and dominate the market.

Hair Extensions Market Analysis by geography highlights the consumption of the product/service in the region and indicates the factors affecting the market within each region.

The competitive landscape incorporates the market ranking of the major players, along with new service/product launches, partnerships, business expansions, and acquisitions in the past five years of companies profiled.

Extensive company profiles comprising company overview, company insights, product benchmarking, and SWOT analysis for the major market players.

The Industry's current and future market outlook concerning recent developments (which involve growth opportunities and drivers as well as challenges and restraints of both emerging and developed regions.

Hair Extensions Market Includes in-depth market analysis from various perspectives through Porter's five forces analysis and provides insight into the market through Value Chain.

Click Here to Access a Free Sample Report of the Global Hair Extensions Market @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/request-for-free-sample/?reportid=23142

Reasons for the Research Report

The study provides a thorough overview of the global Hair Extensions market. Compare your performance to that of the market as a whole.

Aim to maintain competitiveness while innovations from established key players fuel market growth.

What does the report include?

Drivers, restrictions, and opportunities are among the qualitative elements covered in the worldwide Hair Extensions market analysis.

The competitive environment of current and potential participants in the Hair Extensions market is covered in the report, as well as those companies' strategic product development ambitions.

According to the component, application, and industry vertical, this study analyzes the market qualitatively and quantitatively. Additionally, the report offers comparable data for the important regions.

For each segment mentioned above, actual market sizes and forecasts have been given.

Who should buy this report?

Participants and stakeholders worldwide Hair Extensions market should find this report useful. The research will be useful to all market participants in the Hair Extensions industry.

Managers in the Hair Extensions sector are interested in publishing up-to-date and projected data about the worldwide Hair Extensions market.

Governmental agencies, regulatory bodies, decision-makers, and organizations want to invest in Hair Extensions products' market trends.

Market insights are sought for by analysts, researchers, educators, strategy managers, and government organizations to develop plans.

Request a Customized Copy of the Hair Extensions Market Report @ https://www.custommarketinsights.com/report/hair-extensions-market/



About Custom Market Insights:

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The CEO of global office furniture company MillerKnoll has apologized after comments she made about employee bonuses during a Zoom call led to a backlash.

A video clip from a company town hall showing CEO Andi Owen apparently responding to a question about bonuses has been viewed on Twitter more than 26 million times since it was posted Sunday night. And Owen's comments have been covered in numerous media reports.

"Spend your time and your effort thinking about the $26 million we need and not thinking about what you're gonna do if we don't get a bonus, alright? Can I get some commitment for that?" Owen said, apparently referencing additional sales needed to hit a corporate financial goal.

She then said, "I had an old boss who said to me one time, 'You can visit Pity City, but you can't live there.' So people, leave Pity City. Let's get it done. Thank you. Have a great day."

Reactions online were mostly negative to Owen's approach, with one person on Twitter posting: "lead. lead by example, treat people well."

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A deal at the pump: Sheetz drops price on flex fuel, offering gas for $1.85 per gallon for limited time

Kris Marubio, a spokesperson for MillerKnoll, told The Holland (Michigan) Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Wednesday that bonuses for this year have not been determined because the fiscal year doesn't end until May, and Owen's bonus hasn't been determined, either.

"We all follow the same bonus determination," she said. "It happens after financial results are reported for the full year."

Andi Owen

MillerKnoll CEO apologizes to employees in email

Blowback on the incident led Owen Wednesday to issue an apology to employees of the Zeeland, Michigan-based company via email, according to Michigan news site MLive.com and Vice.com.

Story continues

While her leaked comments seemed "insensitive," Owen said, she had hoped they served as a "rallying cry."

I want to be transparent and empathetic, and as I continue to reflect on this instance, I feel terrible that my rallying cry seemed insensitive, she said in the email, MLive.com reported. What Id hoped would energize the team to meet a challenge weve met many times before landed in a way that I did not intend and for that I am sorry.

This came after MillerKnoll issued a statement to Vice's tech news site Motherboard on Monday that said Owen would not be dissuaded by a 90-second clip taken out of context.

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CEO's 'Pity City' comments about employee bonuses rung heartless

The reference to "Pity City," riled up many online posters. Most social media viewers of the video chided Owen for being tone-deaf to the needs of employees who make far less than she does.

If a bonus isn't "a big deal, then she should not focus on her bonus and give it up!!!" said one commenter on a TikTok video clip of the CEO's comments viewed more than 560,000 times.

Owen joined the Herman Miller company as president and CEO in August 2018 after serving as Banana Republic's global president from 2014 to 2017.

Herman Miller, which makes home and office furniture including the well-known Aeron chair, acquired furniture company Knoll in July 2021 and changed the company name to MillerKnoll.

"Owen, who describes herself as a 'defender of equity and inclusion' in her private Instagram account, receives the bulk of her pay package in incentive-based compensation, like most CEOs," reported Fortune.

The company paid Owen a base salary of $1.1 million in 2022, but incentives increased her salary to nearly $5 million, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

While most online comments sided with employees, there were some who appreciated Owen's position. "Whats so wrong with that? get the company to its targets and then you can think about bonuses. A bonus is a bonus for a reason," one commenter on another version of the clip on TikTok.

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

Viral CEO clip lacked context, company says

In a statement to NPR, MillerKnoll said the clip was "taken out of context and struck a nerve."

The viral video doesn't tell the whole story, Marubio told The Sentinel.

"Ninety seconds out of a 75-minute internal meeting where we talked about a lot of positive things at the company, product launches, brand campaigns, connecting with customers and business results, was leaked," she said. "And on its own it's misleading. It doesn't represent the full 75 minutes."

In a video the MillerKnoll employee shared with The Sentinel of the company's March Town Hall, employees are told they're short about $26 million from the target number required to earn a minimum bonus payout.

"And unfortunately, that reduced profit level has put a ton of pressure on our progress toward earning a bonus payout this year," employees were told. "So, we've got a lot of work to do in Q4 to turn that around."

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Owen starts out smiling and calm in the clip. "The most important thing right now is to focus on the things we can control," she says. "None of us could have predicted COVID, none of us could have predicted supply chain, none of us could've predicted bank failures. But what we can do is stay in front of our customers."

Then, Owen starts discussing the bonus situation and talks about focusing on the $26 million target. That is followed by the "Pity City" reference and Owen saying, "Let's get it done. Thank you. Have a great day."

She then sits back and says, "Boom," and uses the mind-blown gesture.

More coverage from USA TODAY

Contact editor Cassandra Lybrink at clybrink@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter @CassLybrink. Contact reporter Mike Snider at msnider@usatoday.com and on Twitter at @mikesnider.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen apologizes for 'leave Pity City' comments
Suite of privacy-safe health segments drive targeted advertising to efficiently reach patients

PLEASANTON, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) today announced Veeva Crossix Prime Segments, a new solution helping life sciences brands improve media efficiency and better target patients by reaching more highly-qualified health audiences. Used with Veeva Crossix Reach Segments, marketers can connect with patients at any stage of the patient journey in a privacy-safe way. By leveraging Veeva Crossix Prime Segments, more efficient campaigns are delivered across channels and devices with the data to reach the right patient at the right time.

Veeva Systems (PRNewsfoto/Veeva Systems)

With data privacy embedded at its core, patented Veeva Crossix SafeMine technology ensures that Veeva Crossix Prime and Reach Segments protect patient privacy and are compliant with all laws and regulations.

"In our initial campaigns, Veeva Crossix Prime Segments reached consumers about five times more qualified than our existing scale segments," said Ari Shenkman, director of programmatic at Havas Media Group, North America. "Leveraging both Veeva Crossix Prime and Reach Segments gives us flexibility across HMG clients' programmatic buys. We can optimize between audiences to improve qualified scale and efficiencies across campaigns."

Veeva Crossix is the first to offer a complete suite of health audience segments for all advertising strategies. With health and consumer data from 300 million U.S. consumers, Veeva Crossix Consumer Segments leverages machine learning to deliver privacy-safe health audience targeting across mediums.

"Veeva Crossix Prime Segments are helping us reach and communicate with patient populations across the media landscape," said Jonathan Law, senior director, media strategy and planning at Klick Health. "Adding Veeva Crossix Prime Segments to our toolkit gives our life sciences clients an additional privacy-safe way to deliver relevant information at every stage of the patient journey  on any channel."

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"Our machine learning models for Veeva Crossix Prime Segments will help brands maximize impact and engagement with smaller patient populations most in need of a specific therapy," said Jeremy Mittler, head of Veeva Crossix Audience Segments. "With Veeva Crossix Audience Segments, brands no longer have to trade off between cost, scalability, and audience quality. They now have a wide range of targeting capabilities to reach patients at any stage of treatment."

Leading life sciences, over-the-counter, and consumer packaged goods brands  as well as hospital systems and government agencies  can drive more meaningful digital and targeted TV campaigns with Veeva Crossix Audience Segments. Advertisers can reach targeted audiences at scale while maintaining current HIPAA, state privacy law, and specific Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) guidelines.

Learn more about driving effective campaigns for highly targeted audiences at Veeva Commercial Summit in Boston, May 2-3. Life sciences industry professionals can register at veeva.com/CommercialSummit.

Additional Information

For more on Veeva Crossix Consumer Audience Segments, visit: veeva.com/AudienceSegments Connect with Veeva on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/veeva-systems

About Veeva Systems

Veeva is the global leader in cloud software for the life sciences industry. Committed to innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva serves more than 1,000 customers, ranging from the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. As a Public Benefit Corporation, Veeva is committed to balancing the interests of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, and the industries it serves. For more information, visit veeva.com.

Veeva Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding Veeva's products and services and the expected results or benefits from use of our products and services. These statements are based on our current expectations. Actual results could differ materially from those provided in this release and we have no obligation to update such statements. There are numerous risks that have the potential to negatively impact our results, including the risks and uncertainties disclosed in our filing on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023, which you can find here (a summary of risks which may impact our business can be found on pages 9 and 10), and in our subsequent SEC filings, which you can access at sec.gov.

Contact:

Alison Borris

Veeva Systems

925-226-8821

alison.borris@veeva.com

Cision

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SOURCE Veeva Systems
Inscription: long-term care insurance

A 65-year-old person today has nearly a 70% chance of requiring long-term care services at some point, according to the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Administration on Aging (AOA). Of that group, 20% will need it for over five years. So, chances are, you may also need this type of service down the line. But how will you pay for it? A long-term care insurance policy is one method to help lessen the bite of care costs. Heres how.

Consider working with a financial advisor as you prepare for the possibility that you will need to be able to pay for long-term care.

What Is Long-Term Care Insurance?

To put it briefly, long-term care insurance helps cover the costs of long-term care services, such as in an assisted living facility. Other places where a long-term care policy will reimburse you include an adult day care center, a nursing home and your own home.

Generally, eligibility starts when you can no longer perform, independently, two of the six activities of daily living (ADL): mobility, which may include being able to transfer between a wheelchair and bed; bathing or showering; using the lavatory; maintain bladder and bowel control; dressing; and eating. Then you can take advantage of a wide range of aid.

Typical health insurance doesnt cover these types of costs. And both Medicare and Medicaid have limitations, making them unreliable for the average persons long-term care.

Even long-term care insurance policies require you to pay for services out of pocket up to a certain amount of time. Afterward, the insurer begins to reimburse you. Policies may pay up to a daily limit, with a maximum lifetime limit as the cap. However, couples may get around that by using a shared care option. With this, you can pool benefits.

The rate you pay for the policy will depend on multiple factors, including your age, marital status, gender, health, coverage level and insurer.

What Does Long-Term Care Insurance Cover?

What type of long-term care long-term insurance covers depends on the policy you buy.

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However, these policies are comprehensive and will cover the expenses that Medicare doesnt. Costs that it pays for include:

In-home care

Care coordination

Assisted living facilities

Nursing home care

Adult day care services

Home modification

They may also include paying for assistance with ADLs, like bathing.

Additionally, it may cover stays in hospice care or respite care. Hospice care is generally short-term and provides emotional and physical support for the terminally ill and their families. In contrast, respite care or temporary care, gives primary caregivers a break by offering care through other facilities or professionals. While these two services address two different needs, policyholders can receive help paying for either.

Keep in mind, though, long-term care coverage doesnt pay for everything. Its designed for custodial care, not medical care costs. Certain factors may also affect your eligibility, such as a pre-existing medical condition, such as dementia or Parkinsons disease.

Its up to you to decide how much coverage you need and how much you can afford. Its crucial that you purchase within your budget. But you still want a sufficient amount of benefits to support you while you age.

Reasons to Get Long-Term Care Coverage

Consider the variety of insurance policies you already own. From homeowners to auto to life, you probably have multiple reasons why you purchased them. Likewise, there are several reasons that people see the value in long-term care coverage. Here are some ways it might impact your life for the better.

Preserves your assets

While you can get an estimate, its hard to pinpoint the exact price youll pay for long-term care. While you can find estimates, such as through the Genworth Cost of Care Survey tool, the guesswork makes it difficult to save enough.

In addition, relying on Medicare or Medicaid could leave you at a financial loss. Medicare wont help with the costs of permanent and ongoing care. Likewise, Medicaid has its limitations, namely its income guidelines and the level of care needed to qualify.

An insurance policy ensures you dont have to drain all your savings to be eligible for financial help. And, it takes the financial burden off of your family by safeguarding some of those remaining retirement assets.

Creates care options

Handicapped woman in a wheelchair outside

We all have an ideal future as we age. Purchasing a long-term care insurance policy ensures you have a safety net installed into your financial plan. It can be incredibly costly to pay for long-term care out of pocket. And while Medicaid can help pay for specific costs, such as nursing home care, when youre out of savings, it wont pay for everything. For example, it doesnt always cover assisted living options or home-based care.

Long-term care insurance ensures you can pay for the type of care you want and need when the time comes. You can use it to supplement the savings you already have.

Protects your family

Naturally, most of us would like to stay in our own homes throughout our senior years. But with the likelihood of needing long-term care, that can put a strain on our loved ones. As a result, family members, partners and friends often take on the caregiver role, which can be difficult. According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) data, one in three caregivers provides care completely alone. Many of which go unpaid despite caring for recipients with complex support and medical needs.

If youre considering long-term care insurance, think about the future you see for yourself and your potential caregiver. What does the impact look like on their life? There will be financial and emotional burdens in addition to the work.

By purchasing a policy, you ensure there are some finances to pay for outside help. That takes a weight off of your shoulders and and those of your loved ones as well.

How to Buy Long-Term Care Coverage

The options available to you may vary. Some employers offer their employees the opportunity to buy a long-term care policy through their workplace. Occasionally, this comes at a discounted group rate from their broker. While you may have to answer a few questions about your health to qualify, it may be easier or less expensive than purchasing a policy on your own.

Otherwise, you can buy coverage directly through an agent or insurance company.

If youre shopping for a policy, remember to get several quotes from varying companies. That way, you can compare your pricing options. Comparison shopping is important, regardless of whether you purchase independently or through work. The discount that may come with an employers plan may be nice, but its still possible to find competitive rates.

Its also advisable to work with an independent long-term care insurance agent who can sell products from various carriers. From there, its a matter of finding a policy to fit your needs.

Do I Need Long-Term Care Coverage?

Every persons situation is different. If you have very little funds during your senior years, you may qualify for Medicaid. This option may offer fewer choices, but it does provide funding for low-income individuals. On the other hand, if you have more than enough savings, it might be better to pay out of pocket instead.

However, if you fall between the two ends of the financial spectrum, then long-term care insurance may be worth consideration. It protects your retirement savings from pricey and unexpected medical costs, ensures choice in care and offers you and your family peace of mind.

Additionally, think about the lifestyle you live. For example, if you have no one you can rely on as a caregiver then you likely need the option of a facility. Or, if youre a woman, youll likely live longer and need longer care as a result. On average, women need 3.7 years of care, whereas men only need 2.2, according to the ACL.

The Bottom Line

Happy senior couple

Long-term care is incredibly expensive. Genworth estimates that the median costs for in-home care, assisted living facilities and nursing home facilities all exceed $50,000 per year. As a result, its wise to evaluate how you would pay for your potential long-term care needs. A long-term care insurance policy is just one method. While it offers financial and emotional protection, it may still be an additional cost youre not prepared to pay.

Long-Term Care Planning Tips

Long-term care comes with millions of questions. You can address them with an experienced financial advisor. SmartAssets free matching tool makes it easy to find a qualified, local professional, too. Simply answer a few questions and in no time you have up to three advisors who can guide you through your process. If youre ready to tackle financial planning, get started now.

Planning for long-term care is crucial to any financial plan. A high percentage of Americans will likely need this vital service at some point. So, review SmartAssets guide to creating a financial plan to make sure yours includes that possibility.

Photo credit: iStock.com/syahrir maulana , iStock.com/vgajic, iStock.com/Instants

The post Do I Need Long-Term Care Insurance? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
By Emilio Parodi and Mimosa Spencer

MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) -Europe's flourishing luxury goods industry was under scrutiny on Thursday after European Union antitrust regulators inspected Gucci's Milan headquarters this week as part of an investigation spanning several countries and companies.

The European Commission said on Tuesday that antitrust regulators had raided companies in the fashion sector in multiple EU countries, but did not name the companies involved or specify the potential breaches it was investigating.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that as part of the probe EU antitrust regulators were inspecting a facility of luxury goods company Gucci in Milan, one of the fashion capitals of the world.

The inspection of the Gucci site was aimed at possible violations of the European Union's Article 101, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The article prohibits agreements that restrict, prevent or distort competition within the EU and which have an effect on trade between EU member states.

The source identified the site at the centre of the probe as Gucci's Milan headquarters, a former airplane factory in the eastern part of Italy's fashion capital.

The site, known as the Gucci Hub, was opened in 2016 serving as headquarters for its offices in the city, worldwide showrooms, photo studios and fashion show venue, according to Gucci's website.

Kering, the French-listed owner of Gucci, late on Wednesday confirmed the inspection, adding that it was cooperating fully with the European Commission investigation into the industry.

No other Italian sites had been targeted for inspection, the source added.

A Kering spokesperson said the company had no further comment beyond Wednesday's statement. Rival LVMH also declined to comment on the raids.

Exane BNP Paribas analyst Antoine Belge said in a research note that a conversation with Kering's investor relations team had yielded little new information.

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According to Belge, the company understands the probe is part of an overall investigation involving many companies and that such inquiries can take a long time.

"These investigations are not common in luxury," he said, adding that Kering shares were unlikely to react significantly until there was further news.

Kering shares were down 0.4% at 1320 GMT on Thursday.

Companies found guilty of breaking EU rules face fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover.

A research note from Italian investment bank Equita said a potential fine of up to 10% of revenue, the worst-case scenario, would amount to 3% of Kering's market capitalisation.

The Commission said on Tuesday that the latest action was not related to other raids involving the fashion industry in the past two years.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi and Mimosa Spencer in Paris, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Emilio Parodi in Milan; writing by Keith Weir and Jo Mason; editing by Matt Scuffham, Jason Neely and Susan Fenton)
Allied Market Research

The diverse applications of machine learning to predict the efficacy and safety of potential new drugs, and reduction in time and cost involved in the drug discovery and development process by machine learning drive the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market. Based on region, North America held the largest share in 2021, contributing to nearly half of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market share.

Portland, OR , April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market garnered $1.2 billion in 2021, and is estimated to generate $26.2 billion by 2031, manifesting a CAGR of 37.9% from 2022 to 2031. The report provides an extensive analysis of changing market dynamics, major segments, value chain, competitive scenario, and regional landscape. This research offers a valuable guidance to leading players, investors, shareholders, and startups in devising strategies for the sustainable growth and gaining competitive edge in the market.

Request Sample Report: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/74979

Report coverage & details

Report coverage Details Forecast Period 20222031 Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 $1.2 billion Market Size in 2031 $26.2 billion CAGR 37.9% No. of Pages in Report 280 Segments covered Component, Enterprise size, Deployment, and Region Drivers The diverse applications of machine learning to predict the efficacy and safety of potential new drugs Reduction in time and cost involved in the drug discovery and development process by machine learning Opportunities ML is particularly useful for identifying drug candidates that have a high likelihood of success, potentially reducing the risk of failure during clinical trials Restraints High cost & complexity of data collection

Covid-19 Scenario:

The COVID-19 pandemic had a positive impact on the growth of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market, owing to the role of machine learning in drug discovery and development. Machine learning algorithms have been increasingly used in drug discovery and development for several years, and the pandemic accelerated this trend.

The urgency of finding treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 led to a rise in investment in machine learning and artificial intelligence for drug development. Machine learning was used to rapidly analyze large amounts of data related to the coronavirus and potential treatments.

With many people unable or unwilling to participate in traditional clinical trials due to COVID-19 concerns, virtual trials became more common.

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The research provides detailed segmentation of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market based on component, enterprise size, deployment, and region. The report discusses segments and their sub-segments in detail with the help of tables and figures. Market players and investors can strategize according to the highest revenue-generating and fastest-growing segments mentioned in the report.

Procure Complete Report (280 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) at:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/global-machine-learning-in-pharmaceutical-industry-market/purchase-options

Based on component, the solution segment held the highest share in 2021, accounting for more than two-thirds of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market and is expected to continue its leadership status during the forecast period. However, the services segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 39.5% from 2022 to 2031.

On the basis of enterprise size, the large enterprises segment accounted for the highest share in 2021, contributing to around three-fourths of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market, and is expected to maintain its lead in terms of revenue during the forecast period. Moreover, the SMEs segment is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 40.1% from 2022 to 2031.

Based on deployment, the cloud segment accounted for the highest share in 2021, holding more than two-thirds of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market, and is expected to continue its leadership status during the forecast period. This segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR of 40.0% during the forecast period. The report also discusses on-premise segment.

Based on region, North America held the largest share in 2021, contributing to nearly half of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market share, and is projected to maintain its dominant share in terms of revenue in 2031. In addition, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 42.4% during the forecast period. The report also analyzes the markets in Europe and LAMEA regions.

Leading market players of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market analyzed in the research include BioSymetrics Inc., Deep Genomics, Atomwise Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, IBM, cyclica inc., Cloud Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Alphabet Inc.

Enquiry Before Buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/74979

The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players of the global machine learning in pharmaceutical industry market. These players have adopted different strategies such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario.

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of " Market Research Reports " and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

CONTACT: Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1(855)550-5975 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/reports-store/information-and-communication-technology-and-media Follow Us on Blog: https://www.technologyplz.com/




Madison Metals Inc.

TORONTO, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Madison Metals Inc. (the Company or Madison) (CSE: GREN) (OTCQB: MMTLF) has issued a non-renewal notice to Neil Simon of Investor Cubed and received confirmation that their service will terminate on April 27, 2023.



About Madison Metals Inc.

Madison Metals Inc. (CSE: GREN) (OTCQB: MMTLF) is an upstream mining and exploration company focused on sustainable uranium production in Namibia and Canada. Using cutting-edge technologies and modern strategies, Madison Metals Inc. is positioned to move advanced uranium assets to market quickly.

With over 50 years of mining experience, including 22 years in Namibia, its management team has geological and financial expertise and a track record of creating shareholder value.

Additional information about Madison Metals Inc. can be found at madisonmetals.ca and on the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

For further information, please contact:

Duane Parnham

Executive Chairman & CEO

Madison Metals Inc.

+1 (416) 489-0092

ir@madisonmetals.ca

Media inquiries:

Adam Bello

Manager, Media & Analyst Relations

Primoris Group Inc.

+1 (416) 489-0092

media@primorisgroup.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the timing and amount of estimated future exploration and the anticipated use of funds by the Company that were received from the Placement.

Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, schedule, estimates, forecasts, intends, continue, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, will, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are made based upon certain assumptions and other important facts that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future.

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Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performances or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, amongst others, currency fluctuations, the global economic climate, dilution, share price volatility, competition, labour shortages, and unanticipated expenses of the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the impact the COVID 19 pandemic may have on the Companys activities and the economy in general; the impact of the recovery post COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on precious metals; receipt of necessary approvals; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future metal prices; accidents, labour disputes and shortages; environmental risks; and other risks of the mining industry.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in filings made with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities that are available on the Companys SEDAR profile page at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.




/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES./

OTTAWA, ON, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Martello Technologies Group Inc., ("Martello" or the "Company") (TSXV:MTLO), a provider of software that optimizes the Microsoft Modern Workplace, announced today the closing of the second tranche totalling CAD$600,000 (the "Second Tranche") of a non-brokered private placement of common shares in the capital of the Company ("Common Shares") for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately CAD$1,200,000 (the "Private Placement").

Martello Technologies Group Logo (CNW Group/Martello Technologies Group Inc.)

Pursuant to the Private Placement, Martello has issued 24,000,000 Common Shares at a price of CAD$0.05 per Common Share, in two tranches for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD$1,200,000, subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). The closing of the first tranche of the Private Placement (the "First Tranche") was announced on March 27, 2023.

The sole subscriber in the Private Placement is Wesley Clover International Corporation ("Wesley Clover"), a corporation controlled by Terence Matthews, Chairman of Martello, and a Control Person of the Company (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSXV). The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for general corporate and operational purposes. The Common Shares issued in the First Tranche and the Second Tranche are subject to a four-month hold, which expires on July 24, 2023 for the First Tranche and August 20, 2023 for the Second Tranche.

Martello first announced the Private Placement on February 14, 2023 as part of a larger non-brokered private placement of Common Shares for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD$2,400,000, which is expected to be completed on or before June of 2023.

The Private Placement constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of TSXV Policy 4.1 and Section 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61101") because an Insider (and associated entity of an Insider) of the Company, being Wesley Clover, has participated in the Private Placement and has acquired the number of Common Shares as is equal to CAD$1,200,000 in connection with the Private Placement. The Company has relied on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61101 in respect of the Private Placement as the fair market value (as determined under MI 61-101) of the Insider participation in the Private Placement is below 25% of the Company's market capitalization (as determined in accordance with MI 61-101).

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About Martello Technologies Group

Martello (TSXV: MTLO) is a technology company that provides monitoring solutions to optimize the Microsoft Modern Workplace. The Company's products provide actionable insight on the performance and user experience of cloud business applications, while giving IT teams and service providers control and visibility of their entire IT infrastructure. Martello's software products include Vantage DX, which provides Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams end user experience monitoring and optimization. Martello is a public company headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with employees in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region. Learn more at http://www.martellotech.com

This press release does not constitute an offer of the securities of the Company for sale in the United States. The securities of the Company have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, (the "1933 Act") as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the 1933 Act.

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.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods and includes, but is not limited to, information, statements and expectations regarding: the anticipated closing dates for each tranche of the Private Placement; the expected use of proceeds of the Private Placement; and other activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future.

Forward-looking information is neither a statement of historical fact nor assurance of future performance. Instead, forward-looking information is based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking information relates to the future, such statements are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information. Therefore, you should not rely on any of the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking information include, among others, the following:

Continued volatility in the capital or credit markets and the uncertainty of additional financing.

Our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so.

Changes in customer demand.

Disruptions to our technology network including computer systems and software, as well as natural events such as severe weather, fires, floods and earthquakes or man-made or other disruptions of our operating systems, structures or equipment.

Delayed purchase timelines and disruptions to customer budgets, as well as Martello's ability to maintain business continuity as a result of COVID-19.

and other risks disclosed in the Company's filings with Canadian Securities Regulators, including the Company's annual information form for the year ended March 31, 2021 dated January 7, 2022, which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Any forward-looking information provided by the Company in this news release is based only on information currently available and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking information, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Martello Technologies Group Inc.

Cision

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PARIS, April 20, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Maurel & Prom (Paris:MAU):

M&Ps working interest production in Q1 2023: 27,071 boepd, up 3% from Q4 2022 M&P working interest production of 15,839 bopd in Gabon, an increase of 1% compared to Q4 2022 M&P working interest production of 3,441 bopd in Angola, a decrease of 1% compared to Q4 2022 M&P working interest gas production of 46.7 mmcfd in Tanzania, an increase of 9% compared to Q4 2022



Sales of $180 million in Q1 2023, an increase of 6% from Q4 2022 Valued production of $139 million for the quarter, with an average oil price of $75.1/bbl, down 6% from Q4 2022 ($79.5/bbl) Favourable impact of the restatement of lifting imbalances and inventory revaluation ($38 million) due to the two liftings in Gabon during the period, in January and March



Strong balance sheet, continued growth operations, and return of value to shareholders Net debt of $149 million as at 31 March 2023, down $51 million for the quarter ($200 million as at 31 December 2022) Acquisition of Wentworth Resources approved by targets shareholders; transaction expected to close by Q3 2023, subject to Tanzanian regulatory approval (transaction amount already disbursed in Q4 2022) Dividend of 0.23 per share (approximately $50 million) proposed to be voted on at the M&P General Shareholders Meeting on 23 May 2023, for payment in July



Key indicators for the first quarter of 2023

Q1 2022 Q2 2022 Q3 2022 Q4 2022 Q1 2023 Change Q1 2023 vs. Q1 2022 Q4 2022 M&P working interest production Gabon (oil) bopd 14,222 13,439 15,253 15,650 15,839 +11% +1% Angola (oil) bopd 3,856 3,916 3,695 3,465 3,441 -11% -1% Tanzania (gas) mmcfd 47.3 41.4 41.3 43.0 46.7 -1% +9% Total boepd 25,966 24,257 25,824 26,283 27,071 +4% +3% Average sale price Oil $/bbl 94.2 112.0 106.9 79.5 75.1 -20% -6% Gas $/mmBtu 3.49 3.50 3.51 3.51 3.76 +8% +7% Sales Gabon $mm 127 136 140 125 99 -22% -20% Angola $mm 26 31 26 21 19 -28% -12% Tanzania $mm 16 16 18 19 18 +11% -3% Valued production $mm 170 182 184 165 136 -20% -17% Drilling activities $mm 1 1 4 7 5 Restatement for lifting imbalances and inventory revaluation $mm -40 41 -36 -1 38 Consolidated sales $mm 130 224 152 170 180 +38% +6%

M&Ps working interest production in Q1 2023 was 27,071 boepd. The average sale price of oil was $75.1/bbl for the period, a decrease of 6% from Q4 2022 ($79.5/bbl).

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The Groups valued production (income from production activities, excluding lifting imbalances and inventory revaluation) in Q1 2023 was $136 million.

The restatement of lifting imbalances, net of inventory revaluation, had a positive impact of $38 million for the quarter due to two liftings in Gabon in the period, in January and March.

After incorporating the $5 million relating to drilling activities, consolidated sales for Q1 2023 stood at $180 million.

Production activities

Gabon

M&Ps working interest oil production (80%) on the Ezanga permit in Q1 2023 was 15,839 bopd (gross production: 19,799 bopd).

The well stimulation campaign carried out between Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 has resulted in a substantial increase in the fields production potential, which is currently above 21,000 bopd. Gross production on the field was 20,608 bopd in February (M&P working interest of 16,486 bopd).

Tanzania

M&Ps working interest gas production (48.06%) on the Mnazi Bay permit in Tanzania was 46.7 mmcfd (gross production: 97.3 mmcfd) for Q1 2023, an increase of 9% compared to Q4 2022.

Angola

M&Ps working interest production (20%) from Block 3/05 was 3,441 bopd (gross production: 17,206 bopd) for Q1 2023, an increase of 1% compared to Q4 2022.

Information on the current offer for Wentworth Resources

On 23 February 2023, Wentworth Resources shareholders approved M&P's offer by voting in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and in favour of its implementation at the General Shareholders Meeting.

The completion of the acquisition of Wentworth remains subject to the approval of the Tanzanian authorities, which is expected by Q3 2023. M&P will communicate on this subject in due course.

Financial position

The cash position at 31 March 2023 was $122 million, giving available liquidity of $189 million including the available and undrawn revolving portion (compared with $138 million at 31 December 2022). This amount excludes $76 million placed in escrow as part of the offer announced on 5 December 2022 for Wentworth Resources, which is therefore already fully disbursed.

Gross debt amounted to $270 million at 31 March 2023, including $188 million in a bank loan (excluding the $67 million undrawn revolving portion) and $82 million in a shareholder loan. The first quarterly maturities on both instruments are due on 11 April 2023, for a total amount of $23 million ($19 million in bank loans and $4 million in shareholder loans).

Net debt amounted to $149 million at 31 March 2023, a decrease of $51 million compared to 31 December 2022 ($200 million).

Francais English pieds cubes pc cf cubic feet millions de pieds cubes par jour Mpc/j mmcfd million cubic feet per day milliards de pieds cubes Gpc bcf billion cubic feet baril B bbl barrel barils dhuile par jour b/j bopd barrels of oil per day millions de barils Mb mmbbls million barrels barils equivalent petrole bep boe barrels of oil equivalent barils equivalent petrole par jour bep/j boepd barrels of oil equivalent per day millions de barils equivalent petrole Mbep mmboe million barrels of oil equivalent

For more information, please visit www.maureletprom.fr/en/

This document may contain forecasts regarding the financial position, results, business and industrial strategy of Maurel & Prom. By nature, forecasts contain risks and uncertainties to the extent that they are based on events or circumstances that may or may not happen in the future. These forecasts are based on assumptions we believe to be reasonable, but which may prove to be incorrect and which depend on a number of risk factors, such as fluctuations in crude oil prices, changes in exchange rates, uncertainties related to the valuation of our oil reserves, actual rates of oil production and the related costs, operational problems, political stability, legislative or regulatory reforms, or even wars, terrorism and sabotage.

Maurel & Prom is listed for trading on Euronext Paris

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Contacts

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The debt-limit fight now heating up between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden is reminiscent of battles fought 10 and 12 years ago  only McCarthy may be staking out an even more aggressive position.

Back in 2011, when a Democratic president and congressional Republicans were embroiled in a previous showdown over raising the debt ceiling, House Speaker John Boehner set a requirement that any increase in the governments borrowing limit should be matched or exceeded by the amount of spending cuts.

Without significant spending cuts and changes to the way we spend the American peoples money, there will be no debt limit increase, Boehner told the Economic Club of New York in a May 2011 speech similar to one that McCarthy gave this week at the New York Stock Exchange. And cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given.

That dollar-for-dollar standard became known as the Boehner Rule. Then-Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) laid out the rationale in a 2011 piece for The Wall Street Journal arguing that the rule should be made permanent: If we pledge to hold all future debt-limit increases to the same dollar-for-dollar standard, we can balance the budget within a decade.

But Republicans shifted away from the rule during another debt-limit fight in 2013. Boehner early on told reporters that dollar for dollar is the plan, but Republicans later dropped the idea, shifting their emphasis from discretionary spending cuts to the mandatory side of the budget. "Dollar for dollar is difficult," Rep. Tom Price said at the time. "The discretionary spending itself is $1 trillion a year, and if you're running a $1 trillion deficit annually, it's tough to find the savings solely in discretionary spending to match the increase in debt-limit."

By February 2014, Boehners Republicans had given up entirely on extracting a price for a debt limit increase, relying on Democrats in the minority to help lift the ceiling. The Boehner Rule died today, said ABC News. And Politico explained: The sharp shift in tactics within the House and Senate GOP caucuses reflects a hardening realization after three years of partisan brinkmanship over the budget: Fighting over the debt in a crisis-like atmosphere is a political loser.

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That lesson was not embraced in all corners of the party. Boehner consistently struggled to wrangle the most conservative members of his conference, who pressured him to push for deeper spending cuts and more aggressive negotiating stances in taking on a Democratic president. He ultimately resigned in 2015 under pressure from his right flank.

McCarthy has faced similar pressures. But where the Boehner rule called for dollar-for-dollar parity in debt increases and spending cuts, McCarthy has heeded the demands of the far-right members who hold leverage over the current, narrow House GOP majority. The plan he released this week calls for about $4.5 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for about $1.5 trillion in borrowing authority, or enough to get the government through March 2024, whichever comes first. Thats a 3-to-1 ratio, in line with some conservative demands dating back a decade or more.

Still, some Republicans insist the plan doesnt go far enough and are reportedly pushing for stricter work requirements for food stamps, for example. And some of McCarthys conservative members insist this plan isnt just an opening offer in talks with Biden  its their only offer. So even if McCarthy can get 218 votes for the plan in the House, his support among hardliners could crack after the Senate and White House wind up engaged in dealmaking. Or if Democrats hold fast to their insistence that they wont negotiate, we may find out that partisan brinkmanship could cost a lot more jobs than just the speakers.

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Panel presentations highlighted healthcare roles, departments and educational requirements

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare recently presented to high school students at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis highlighting the many diverse employment opportunities within the healthcare field.

(PRNewsfoto/Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare)

"By presenting to smaller groups, the students are more engaged and ask more questions," said Dexter McKinney, director of talent planning strategies for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. "These students are looking for opportunities where they can grow their interests and excel in a job they love. Anyone in healthcare knows those opportunities are endless, especially if you want to make a difference in the lives of others."

A cross-section of departments and roles were represented during the presentation, including supply operations, community engagement, pharmacy, laboratory and cardiovascular services.

"When our students think of a hospital, they usually see a nurse or doctor," said Erica Stewart, a program director for the Boys and Girls Club. "We appreciate Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare for opening our students' minds about all the many meaningful careers that support a large healthcare system."

Several students participating in the Boys and Girls Club after-school program are learning skills that will set them apart when they begin applying for jobs.

"I'm interested in the behind-the-scenes of a hospital, especially how supplies and materials are distributed," said high school senior Cedrick Daniels. "Through the Boys and Girls Club skills training programs, I'm learning how to operate a forklift, which I know will be valuable experience for a position with the logistics team."

For employment opportunities with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, visit MethodistHealth.org/careers. To learn about Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare's career advancement opportunities for current employees, visit MethodistHealth.org/MAAP.

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About Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has been caring for patients and families regardless of their ability to pay for more than 100 years. Guided by roots in the United Methodist Church and founded in 1918 to help meet the growing need for quality healthcare in the greater Memphis area, MLH has grown from one hospital into a comprehensive healthcare system with 13,000 Associates supporting six hospitals, including nationally ranked Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient facilities, hospice residence and physician and specialty practices serving communities across the Mid-South. From transplants and advanced heart procedures to expert neurology services and compassionate cancer care, MLH offers clinical expertise with a focus on improving every life we touch.

Cision

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SOURCE Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Retail Council of Canada (RCC) is proud to announce that Serge Boulanger, who held the position of Senior Vice President, National Procurement and Corporate Brands, METRO Inc. prior to his retirement in February of this year, will be recognized with a 2023 Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes Mr. Boulanger's exceptional contributions and remarkable career in the grocery industry.

Serge Boulanger, 2023 Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award (CNW Group/Retail Council of Canada)

The Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals or families who have demonstrated outstanding service and dedication to the Canadian retail and grocery industries. Recipients reflect the industry's spirit of community and trust. They have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to their company's growth and innovation, to the communities they serve, and to philanthropy.

With an impressive career that began in marketing at METRO in 1996, Mr. Boulanger rose through the organization spearheading several impressive initiatives. He piloted in 2008, the rebranding in Ontario of the five conventional banners to the Metro brand. In 2009, he moved to the METRO's pharmacy division as Vice President and General Manager and successfully launched the Brunet Plus and Brunet Clinique banners in Quebec, as well as the "Ma Sante" program, a first in the Canadian market for online access to medical prescription history. In 2012, he was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President, National Procurement and Corporate Brands. Over the years, he added more responsibilities to its portfolio, leading Premiere Moisson Group, Phoenicia, METRO's Central Kitchen for ready-to-eat products and the partnership with JBS Food. Serge also received an environmental prize in 2007 from the Government of Quebec, a Phenix prize, for the launch of the reusable bag, now a standard in the industry.

"We are thrilled to honour Serge Boulanger with the Canadian Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award," said Diane J. Brisebois, President and CEO of Retail Council of Canada. "Mr. Boulanger's outstanding leadership, innovation, and dedication to the retail industry have left an indelible mark, and his contributions have been invaluable to the growth and success of the grocery industry in Canada."

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"It has been a privilege to be a part of this industry," said Mr. Boulanger. "I am grateful for the opportunities and experiences that have shaped my career. I am proud to have contributed to the growth and innovation in the grocery sector, and I share this recognition with my colleagues, partners, and mentors who have supported and inspired me along the way. Thank you for this honour."

Mr. Boulanger joins a distinguished list of past recipients from across Canada that include: Burnbrae Farms' Margaret Hudson, Save-On-Foods' Darrell Jones, Sobeys, Chair Emeriti, Donald and David Sobey, Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Co-Chairmen, Paul Higgins Jr. and Michael Higgins, Longo's President and CEO Anthony Longo and the Longo Family, as well as Cindy and Tina Lee of T&T Supermarkets.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Mr. Boulanger at Retail Council of Canada's Canadian Grand Prix Awards Gala on May 31, 2023, at the Toronto Congress Centre from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET.

The Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards Gala will close the second day of Canada's biggest retail event, RCC STORE 23 , (May 30 to May 31, 2023), which will feature more than 75 speakers and attract more than 2,000 retail leaders from across North America and around the globe.

Media are invited to attend.

About METRO Inc.

With annual sales of more than $19 billion, METRO Inc. is a food and pharmacy leader in Quebec and Ontario, providing employment to more than 95,000 people. Its purpose is to Nourish the health and well-being of our communities. As a retailer, franchisor, distributor, manufacturer, and provider of eCommerce services, the company operates or services a network of 975 food stores under several banners including Metro, Metro Plus, Super C and Food Basics, and 645 drugstores primarily under the Jean Coutu, Brunet, Metro Pharmacy and Food Basics Pharmacy banners. For more details, visit corpo.metro.ca.

About Retail Council of Canada

Retail is Canada's largest private-sector employer with over 2 million Canadians working in our industry. The sector annually generates over $85 billion in wages and employee benefits. Core retail sales (excluding vehicles and gasoline) were over $462B in 2022. Retail Council of Canada (RCC) members represent more than two-thirds of core retail sales in the country. RCC is a not-for-profit industry-funded association that represents small, medium, and large retail businesses in every community across the country. As the Voice of Retail in Canada, we proudly represent more than 54,000 storefronts in all retail formats, including department, grocery, specialty, discount, independent retailers, online merchants and quick service restaurants. www.retailcouncil.org

Retail Council of Canada Logo (CNW Group/Retail Council of Canada)

SOURCE Retail Council of Canada

Cision

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Microbix Biosystems Inc.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX, OTCQX: MBXBF, Microbix), a life sciences innovator, manufacturer, and exporter, announces it will be attending and presenting at the Bloom Burton & Co. Healthcare Investor Conference (the Conference) taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, North Building, on April 25th and 26th, 2023.



The Conference provides an opportunity to connect with Canadian, U.S., and international investors who are interested in the latest developments in the Canadian healthcare sector. Cameron Groome, Microbixs CEO and President, will make an in-person group presentation to investors on Wednesday, April 26 at 11:30 AM Eastern Time. Senior management will also participate in multiple one-on-one meetings with investors. Presentation slides will be posted to https://microbix.com.

About Bloom Burton & Co.

Bloom Burton & Co. is a firm dedicated to accelerating returns in the healthcare sector for investors and companies. Bloom Burton has an experienced team of medical, scientific, industry and capital markets professionals who perform a deep level of diligence, which combined with a creative and entrepreneurial approach, assists its clients in achieving monetization events. Bloom Burton and its affiliates provide capital raising, M&A advisory, equity research, business strategy and scientific consulting, as well as advisory on direct investing, company creation and incubation services. Bloom Burton Securities Inc. is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and is also a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).

About Microbix Biosystems

Microbix creates proprietary biological products for human health, with over 100 skilled employees and annualized sales targeting C$ 2.0 million per month. It makes a wide range of critical ingredients and devices for the global diagnostics industry, notably antigens for immunoassays and its laboratory quality assessment products (QAPs) that support clinical lab proficiency testing, enable assay development and validation, or help ensure the quality of clinical diagnostic workflows. Its antigens drive the antibody tests of approximately 100 diagnostics makers, while QAPs are sold to clinical laboratory accreditation organizations, diagnostics companies, and clinical laboratories. Microbix QAPs are now available in over 30 countries, distributed by 1WA (Oneworld Accuracy Inc.), Alpha-Tec Systems, Inc., Diagnostic International Distribution SpA., Labquality Oy, The Medical Supply Company of Ireland, Neo-Science Equipment LLC, R-Biopharm AG, SDT Molecular Pte Ltd, Seegene Canada Inc., and Thomas Scientific LLC. Microbix is ISO 9001 and 13485 accredited, U.S. FDA registered, Australian TGA registered, Health Canada establishment licensed, and provides CE marked products.

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Microbix also applies its biological expertise and infrastructure to develop other proprietary products and technologies, most notably viral transport medium (DxTM) to stabilize patient samples for lab-based molecular diagnostic testing and Kinlytic urokinase, a biologic thrombolytic drug used to treat blood clots. Microbix is traded on the TSX and OTCQX, and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking information, as such term is defined in applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, all discussion of Bloom Burton & Co., its abilities, or its conference, the products of Microbix, Microbixs business and business results, goals or outlook, risks associated with financial results and stability, development projects such as those referenced herein or in its corporate presentation, regulatory compliance and approvals, sales to foreign jurisdictions, engineering and construction, production (including control over costs, quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery), foreign currency and exchange rates, maintaining adequate working capital or raising further capital on acceptable terms or at all, and other similar statements concerning anticipated future events, conditions or results that are not historical facts. These statements reflect managements current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Companys control. Accordingly, actual future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and represent the Companys judgement as of the date of this new release, and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking information.

Please visit https://microbix.com or www.sedar.com for recent Microbix news and filings.

For further information, please contact Microbix at:

Cameron Groome,

CEO

(905) 361-8910 Jim Currie,

CFO

(905) 361-8910 Deborah Honig,

Investor Relations

Adelaide Capital Markets

(647) 203-8793

ir@microbix.com

Copyright  2023 Microbix Biosystems Inc.

Microbix, DxTM, Kinlytic, and QAPs are trademarks of Microbix Biosystems Inc.




Company Logo

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Number Of Cars Sold Worldwide From 2019 To 2022 With A 2023 Forecast In Million U

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Number Of Cars Sold Worldwide From 2019 To 2022 With A 2023 Forecast In Million U

Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Millimeter Wave Technology Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The millimeter wave technology market is expected to register a CAGR of 34.56% over the forecast period.



Key Highlights

Millimeter wave technology accommodates a massive increase in data demands from connected homes, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) devices, cloud gaming systems, self-driving vehicles, IoT sensors, and other cloud-connected devices.

The possibility of such high-speed communication was demonstrated in 2016 with the then-latest 802.11ad Wi-Fi standard, which operated at 60 GHz. It is currently being considered by standard-setting organizations, like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and others, as the way to bring "5G" into the mass market by allocating more bandwidth to deliver faster, higher-quality video and multimedia content and services. With the current market scenario changed, owing to the development and evolution of new technologies, the millimeter wave is on the brink of being an integral part of the next-generation network.

According to Ericsson, 5G subscriptions are expected to surge globally between 2019 and 2027, rising from over 12 million to over 4 billion. Subscriptions are predicted to be highest in South East Asia, North East Asia, India, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Millimeter-wave, also known as very high frequency (VHF) or extremely high frequency (EHF) by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), is extensively preferred for high-speed wireless broadband communications.Many countries are not waiting for 5G regulations and specifications to be finalized at the WRC-19; they are already taking steps toward commercial 5G New Radio (NR), with a particular focus on the spectrum range 26.5 to 29.5GHz (the 28GHz band).

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The initial adoption of millimeter wave is expected to be more in North America and the European region, as the standards are more defined. Multiple types of research are happening in this market domain. Across Asia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea are expected to adopt mmWave 5G in the near term. In contrast, European counterparts such as Denmark, Malta, and France have already adopted the technology.

Several telecom providers announced the continuing and addition of 5G deployment projects amid the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak. For example, Baicells, a leading supplier of turnkey long-term evolution (LTE) and 5G solutions for carriers, companies, and communities, and Helium Deploy, a supplier of Helium 5G Solution packages, announced a collaboration in October 2022 to offer the Helium Network possibility to the international community. Helium Deploy will spend USD 9.5 million on Baicells Nova430H DeWi radios as part of the cooperation to address worldwide demand.

Millimeter Wave Technology Market Trends

Antennas & Transceiver Hold Significant Market Share

The millimeter waves operate at very high frequencies and tend to cover a range of 1mm to 10mm; hence, they do not travel far. With shorter wavelengths, the 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz, and 92-95 GHz (70/80/90 GHz) bands are permitted to use smaller antennas, compared to similar circumstances for the lower bands. This also gives directivity and high gain.

With these antennas susceptible to easy blockage, usage of boosters and multiple mm-based antennas has been among the potential solution. Additionally, market players are developing antennas for millimeter wave to gain a competitive edge.

For example, AGC Inc. (AGC), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals, and high-tech materials developed a transparent antenna for fixed wireless access - customer premises equipment (FWA-CPE) that can be installed on indoor window glass for the improvement of indoor communication areas in the 5G millimeter wave (28GHz) band. AGC will continue optimizing performance and confirming reliability, aiming to commercialize the antenna in 2024.

Pharrowtech, a leader in designing and developing millimeter wave (mmWave) hardware and software for next-generation wireless applications, raised USD 18.40 million Series A funding round to continue developing next-generation 60 GHz wireless RF transceivers and antenna technology. The funding will enable Pharrowtech to accelerate the deployment of its recently launched 60 GHz CMOS radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) PTR1060 and phased array antenna radio-frequency module (RFM) PTM1060 for 5G unlicensed fixed wireless access, wireless infrastructure, and consumer applications. The capital raised will also be used to ensure best-in-class customer support, expand Pharrowtech's operations in the United States, and grow its engineering and business teams to drive the product roadmap and fuel further growth.

Millimeter wave technology has profoundly impacted the radar sensors' evolution and offered significant capabilities and efficiency improvements. The automobile industry is expected to benefit from this development. The increasing automatic emergency braking (AEB) applications in the 77 GHz radar market indicate the opportunities held in the market. In collaboration with end-users of the market, innovation is expected to lead to the adoption of advanced products, to reduce the development to the market time of these millimeter wave antennas.

Due to the widespread implementation of the devices in industries such as security and telecommunications, the segment will likely continue its dominance during the projection. Both the telecommunications and defense industries are growing globally, and demand from both industries is expected to rise dramatically in the future.

North America is Expected to Hold Major Market Share

In the North American region, the telecom services providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, have been tapping into the millimeter wave frequencies to roll out commercial 5G services. The adoption needs the impetus from the standard-setting organizations to support further development of 5G. The US Federal Communications Commission (USFCC) has been directing the same by spectrum launch as it gains momentum, and innovation is further witnessed across 5G and cellular antennas.

Mobile operators have started to focus on active antennas and millimeter wave. At the same time, multiple startups in the region are expected to grow, with Airways, Lightpointe, and Fractal Antennas being such instances. Vendor-related activity is likely to spur across millimeter wave 5G networks in terms of intellectual property.

Businesses in the region are pursuing a variety of techniques to achieve a competitive advantage. For example, Keysight Technologies, Inc., a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, signed a three-party agreement with NTT DOCOMO, Inc., and NTT to advance the development of key technologies expected to drive the innovation necessary for 6G. With 5G deployment underway, research on enabling technologies for 6G - the next generation of wireless communications - is gaining momentum.

Verana Networks, a developer of innovative 5G radio-access networks (RAN) solutions for mmWave spectrum, announced it would conduct field trials of its ground-breaking 5G mmWave integrated access and backhaul (IAB) solution with Verizon. Verana's mmWave 5G small cells can provide wireless backhaul to other Verana 5G small cells while providing 5G access to smartphones and fixed wireless access (FWA) devices. Verana's scalable, multi-hop IAB solution reduces the number of fiber backhaul links required to build a mmWave 5G network by more than 90% - reducing CapEx and OpEx, while increasing flexibility in site selection and the speed of network rollout.

The adoption of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and high definition (HD) resolutions has led to colossal-sized content generation and is expected to motivate further the service providers and the stakeholders in the market to upgrade their communication infrastructure. Additionally, investments in the self-driving car market, the automobile industry for connected cars' future, and industry 4.0 are expected to drive millimeter wave technology in the supporting infrastructure across North America.

Millimeter Wave Technology Industry Overview



The millimeter wave technology market is competitive. With the proliferation of 5G, the market is expected to expand and attract more significant players, including Siklu Communication, Ltd, E-band communications LLC (Axxcss Wireless Solutions, Inc.), Millimeter Wave Products Inc., Ducommun Incorporated, and NEC Corporation, among others. The landscape is expected to experience several collaborations in the near future among telecom service providers and companies producing millimeter wave products. Some of the key developments in the market are mentioned below.



In May 2022, Singtel was appointed by Micron Technology to deploy its 5G millimeter wave solutions with localized edge core at the semiconductor manufacturer's 3D NAND flash memory fabrication plant in Singapore. Micron is the first company in Singapore to pilot 5G by deploying a millimeter wave campus solution with edge core on-premises for industry 4.0 manufacturing applications.

The customized solutions will be deployed at Micron's cleanroom to support the development of a variety of digitally enabled and enhanced applications - from automated visual inspections of individual chips to augmented reality (AR) for operations and maintenance.



Moreover, in August 2022, HFCL Limited entered into an agreement with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. for HFCL's design and development of 5G millimeter wave fixed wireless access (FPA) customer premise equipment (CPE) products. In continuation with its 5G product strategy, HFCL is expanding its 5G product portfolio by launching product development of 5G mmWave FWA CPE products for India and global markets.



Key Topics Covered:



1 INTRODUCTION



2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4 MARKET INSIGHT



5 MARKET DYNAMICS

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Proliferation of Wireless Backhaul of Base Stations

5.1.2 Evolution of 5G is Expected to Drive the Market

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Need for Manufacturing of Compatible Components and Rising Cost of Components

5.2.2 Technological Vulnerabilities Leading To Reduced Wave Strength



6 MARKET SEGMENTATION



7 COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE



8 INVESTMENT ANALYSIS



9 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ifmw36

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WHITEHORSE, YT, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Minto Metals Corp. (TSXV: MNTO) ("Minto" or the "Company") addresses the Inspector's Direction issued on April 18, 2023 (the "Direction") to the Company by the Minister of Energy Mines and Resources, Government of Yukon.

Minto Metals Corp. Logo (CNW Group/Minto Metals Corp.)

Pursuant to section 35(1) of the Waters Act, SY 2003, c. 19, the Direction has been issued to Minto on the grounds that water has been and is being used in contravention of the conditions of Minto's water licence and directing the Company to take action to protect the environment during this year's spring freshet. Specifically, the Company has been directed to immediately begin transferring water from the current water storage facilities to the Minto North Pit, another on-site pit to ensure safe storage prior to treatment, if the total storage capacity in the tailings storage facility ("TSF") falls below 300,000 cubic metres, among other things. When the water transfer to Minto North Pit commences, the Company must also temporarily cease all deposition of tailings into the TSF until water volumes from spring freshet have decreased and the water storage capacity in the TSF has recovered, which may result in a temporary suspension of the milling operations. No further depositions of tailings is permitted without written approval from the inspector. The Direction including all of the measures to be taken by the Company can be found here: Inspector's direction to Minto Metals Corp, April 18, 2023 | Government of Yukon.

In a statement issued by John Streicker, the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Mr. Streicker states, " While transferring water to this pit is not part of the current water license, the risk is low as it was previously mined, and offers the best choice to protect the integrity of water and tailings storage facilities in advance of the spring snow melt."

Chris Stewart, President & CEO of Minto comments, "Minto is committed to strong environmental stewardship which we demonstrated last year by temporarily shutting our milling operation down for a total of six weeks to handle the excess water we received during spring freshet. With our investment into the water treatment plant over the past twelve months, we are in a much better position to treat and discharge larger volumes of water coming into spring freshet this year. We will continue to work with the Yukon Government and Selkirk First Nation to ensure our mine operates responsibly. Although water treatment is very capital intensive, we are prepared to allocate the necessary resources to ensure any water events do not put the Company out of compliance with this order."

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In 2022, $8 million was invested in the Water Treatment Plant ("WTP") and this year the Company is allocating another $12 million on upgrading and operating the WTP on site. In addition, Minto is in the process of commissioning a second WTP to double the output capacity as the Company prepares to enter spring freshet. Every effort is being made to treat and discharge water in order to maintain the freeboard above the 300,000 cubic metre threshold.

Over 1.4 million cubic metres of water was discharged in a safe and compliant manner in 2022, which constitutes more than double what was cumulatively discharged over the prior 7 years. The snow pack last season was 417% above normal, and there was no environmental impact by the Company as a result of Minto's commitment to protecting the environment and diligently taking every step possible to mitigate any potential risks. Minto is confident that it can once again safely navigate the freshet season in 2023.

In an effort to identify all potential scenarios and potential environmental risk, Minto has been working openly with the Yukon Government and Selkirk First Nation in a trilateral forum since 2021. Minto remains aligned with the importance of protecting the environment and if required moving water to Minto North as per the Direction.

About Minto Metals Corp.

Minto operates the producing Minto mine located within the traditional territory of the Selkirk First Nation in the Minto Copper Belt of the Yukon. The Minto mine has been in operation since 2007 with underground mining commencing in 2014. Since 2007, approximately 500Mlbs of copper have been produced from the Minto mine. The current mine operations are based on underground mining, a process plant to produce high-grade copper, gold, and silver concentrate, and all supporting infrastructure associated with a remote location in Yukon. The Minto property is located west of the Yukon River, about 20 km WNW of Minto Landing, the latter on the east side of the river, and approximately 250 road-km north of the City of Whitehorse, the capital city of Yukon.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws, which we refer to collectively as "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements and information regarding possible events, conditions, or results of operations that are based upon assumptions about future conditions and courses of action. All statements and information other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "seek", "expect", "anticipate", "budget", "plan", "estimate", "continue", "forecast", "intend", "believe", "predict", "potential", "target", "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" and similar words or phrases (including negative variations) suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking statements or assumptions in this press release include, but are not limited to: the potential investment and development of the WTP and the commissioning of a second WTP.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but are not limited to: the ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms and in a timely manner or at all; failure to comply with the Direction; the inability to upgrade the WTP or commission a second WTP; the ability to allocate the necessary resources to mitigate any risks with respect to spring freshet; the inability to transfer water to the Minto North Pit, if required; the ability; risks related to the Company's operations that are subject to environmental hazards; no labour disputes or disruptions, no flooding, ground instability, geotechnical failure, fire, failure of the plant; general business, economic, competitive, political and social and international conflict uncertainties; the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions; risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk, social unrest or international conflict; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; changes in laws; risks related to the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 including, but not limited to, its impact on general economic conditions, and the ability to obtain financing as required; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time, including those risk factors set out in the Company's MD&A and annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2022. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact Information:

Tania Barreto, CPIR,

Director, Investor Relations,

info@mintometals.com,

604 759 4666

SOURCE Minto Metals Corp.

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New mortgage brokerage franchise in Hayward, California provides homebuyers and refinancers competitive rates and access to local professionals that understand the market

HAYWARD, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Motto Mortgage, the first-and-only national mortgage brokerage franchise in the United States focused on transparency and compliance, has a new office in Hayward, California. Motto Mortgage Golden Standard is now open and serving all markets throughout the Golden State and Texas.

Motto Mortgage is a different kind of mortgage network. Each office is independently owned, operated and licensed. (PRNewsfoto/Motto Mortgage)

Motto Mortgage Golden Standard will hold a grand opening celebration on Monday, May 1 from 6  8 p.m. at its office located at 781 W. Tennyson Rd in Hayward. All in the community are invited to attend and join in on the celebrations, hosted in partnership with RE/MAX Synergy Group. Guests will enjoy music and refreshments, tour the new office space, and meet and mingle with the team.

Motto Mortgage Golden Standard is a customer-first, full-service mortgage brokerage established by Shadi Alkhudari. Shadi has 16 years of experience in the real estate and finance industry. He's committed to providing exceptional service and expertise to his clients, whether they are a first-time homebuyer or a seasoned investor.

"We are thrilled to be open for business in Hayward and we are looking forward to personally introducing ourselves to the community at our grand opening event. Motto Mortgage Golden Standard offers an advantageous alternative to the traditional mortgage bankers currently operating in Hayward," said Shadi Alkhudari. "We provide the scope, scale and support of a large retail lender, while offering the flexibility, autonomy and exceptional service of a local mortgage broker that knows how to navigate the intricacies of the home buying process in your market."

Shadi will also serve as the mortgage loan originator for the office. He and his team of experienced mortgage professionals are dedicated to helping customers navigate the complexities of the mortgage process and find the best solution for each customer's needs. "We believe that owning a home is not just a financial investment, but also a personal and emotional one. It is a place where memories are made, families are raised, and dreams are realized. We are honored to be a part of your home buying journey and look forward to helping you achieve your homeownership goals," said Alkhudari.

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Loan originators in the Motto Mortgage network have access to competitive loans from various wholesale lenders and work hard to give homebuyers choices  because no loan is one-size-fits-all. A digital mortgage experience is available for borrowers who would prefer to conduct business remotely.

Each Motto Mortgage franchise is independently owned, operated and licensed. For more information about the grand opening celebration or to speak with a loan originator, please contact Motto Mortgage Golden Standard at 510-868-0000.

About Motto Mortgage Golden Standard:

Motto Mortgage Golden Standard (NMLS #2394985) is a locally owned and operated full-service mortgage brokerage serving all of California and Texas, located at 781 W. Tennyson Rd, Hayward, CA 94544. To learn more, please visit www.MottoMortgageGoldenStandard.com or call 510-868-0000.

Shadi Alkhudari: NMLS #2394985

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SOURCE Motto Mortgage
PHILADELPHIA, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- myCIO Wealth Partners LLC (myCIO), one of the largest independent registered investment advisors (RIA) in the country reports assets under management (AUM) over $12 billion as of December 31, 2022, representing growth of 1.41% during 2022. The increase in AUM is 100% due to organic growth and not the result of acquiring other RIAs.

myCIO Crosses Over $12 Billion of AUM as of December 31, 2022

myCIO now provides Financial Counseling services to more than 50 current and former Chairman, CEOs and Presidents of S&P and Fortune 500 companies and their families.

"Given 2022 performance of capital markets was negative across many asset classes, it is especially gratifying to see our overall AUM increased for the year. Our 2022 AUM growth is attributed to client performance and new business referrals. Unlike many RIAs whose focus has been on serial acquisitions of other RIAs, we have kept our focus on client service and our organic growth has been a cornerstone of our success." said David Lees, Senior Partner.

About myCIO Wealth Partners, LLC

Based in Philadelphia, myCIO is a Comprehensive, Independent and Objective (CIO) financial advisory firm founded in 2005 and as of December 31, 2022, has over $12 billion in investment assets. The firm provides comprehensive, objective advice regarding financial, tax and estate planning, asset allocation and investment management to entrepreneurs, senior corporate executives, families, endowments, trusts and retirement plans. For more information, please visit www.myciowp.com.

Disclaimers

The information contained in this material should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell any security or investment. Actual events or results may differ materially from the views and forward-looking statements included in this material. Recipients should not rely on any information in this material. This material contains commercial information and intellectual property of myCIO. It is intended only for the person to whom it has been furnished and under no circumstances may a copy be transmitted to any person other than the authorized recipient. Any reproduction or disclosure of the contents of this material, in whole or in part, and any re-use of this material by non-intended or non-authorized recipients, in each case, without the prior written consent of myCIO is prohibited.

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SOURCE myCIO Wealth Partners
Nabors connects Corva to its universal rig controls and automation platform, SmartROS 

Apps built and developed in Corva can monitor and control any rig equipped with SmartROS

Enables exploration and production (E&P) companies to standardize their automation technology stack fleetwide, regardless of rig manufacturer

Empowers all drilling contractors to offer capital-light automation solutions, grow revenues and add value to customers

HOUSTON and HAMILTON, Bermuda, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Corva and Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR, "Nabors") today announced a strategic technology partnership to provide a first-of-its-kind digital and automation offering to the global drilling industry.

Corva I Nabors

Integrating Corva's industry leading App Store and Dev Center with Nabors' SmartROS universal drilling rig controls and automation system is expected to deliver solutions that rapidly scale process and machine automation, enhance remote project oversight and streamline data exchange and collaboration across any AC rig fleet.

Today's Myriad Solutions Limit the Scale and Efficiency of Digital and Automated Rig Solutions

Drilling engineers are inundated with redundant digital solutions and rig control systems to run automated well programs. In addition, clear gaps have emerged in the ability to manage communication between office, cloud and edge solutions. Together, Nabors and Corva seek to simplify the execution of automation on any AC rig. E&P companies can now design custom apps and deploy them across their rig fleet, regardless of the rig provider. In turn, drilling contractors can generate new revenues while bringing added value to their customers and crews.

Nabors' Digital and Automation Platform is Deployable on Any Rig, Regardless of Manufacturer

SmartROS is the platform for the digitization and automation of drilling processes. With SmartROS, drilling contractors can deploy advanced automation to elevate their people, performance and customers without an expensive rig upgrade. The system is developed for drillers by drillers and can be scaled easily across fleets, regardless of rig and equipment manufacturer. Current deployments of SmartROS include more than 124 Nabors rigs in the Lower 48, Latin America and the Middle East, as well as 15 non-Nabors rigs.

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Nabors' high performance digital infrastructure platform, RigCLOUD, enables edge computing for remote operations. This provides additional flexibility in deploying advisory automation apps to non-SmartROS enabled rigs.

Bringing Rig Controls to Corva's Industry Leading App Store

Corva features more than 100 Apps and Dashboards that automate, monitor and optimize drilling processes. This revolutionary suite encompasses a number of cutting-edge applications including Predictive Drilling, a state-of-the-art machine learning technology that enhances rotary drilling performance. Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, Corva's Predictive Drilling has provided meticulously designed data visualizations to 27,000 wells, covering a staggering 596 million feet. This advanced technology empowers users to streamline drilling processes and unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency. With this game-changing suite of tools, this partnership is set to transform the drilling industry, positioning itself as a trailblazer in the development and implementation of next-generation drilling technologies.

Combining the Best of Both Worlds  Apps and Universal Rig Controls

Using SmartROS, Corva extends rig control and real-time data pipelines from the wellsite to the E&P company's back office and mobile devices, enabling customers to drill safer and more effectively. Equipped with Nabors Smart Suite of drilling automation products, RigCLOUD Edge infrastructure, and Corva Apps and Dev Center, this integration empowers onsite and remote users to interact, analyze, and collaborate in powerful new ways.

Overall, this exclusive partnership between Corva and Nabors bridges the gap between Edge and Cloud solutions while improving the return on investment for end-users, with no disruption to current workflows, and creates the best of both worlds' situation for the office and drillers alike.

Management Comments

Ryan Dawson, founder, and CEO of Corva, said: "Through this partnership, Corva and Nabors are creating a unified solution that addresses current industry gaps, touching everyone involved in drilling a well and elevating their experience on the rig or in the office. This collaboration is aimed at providing our customers a new world of possibilities for drilling automation and team communication by pairing best-in-class rig control systems and data pipelines with Corva's App Store, advanced machine learning and physics-based models, and industry-leading user experience."

Subodh Saxena, Senior Vice President of Nabors Drilling Solutions, said: "Integrating our universal rig controls and automation system with Corva's App Store provides the industry a one-stop shop for deploying automation across rig fleets. This creates an unparalleled ecosystem of digital and automation solutions that delivers consistent and repeatable results during the well construction process. In addition, both E&P companies and drilling contractors can standardize on a technology stack that is capital light and empowers them to raise the performance outcomes to the next level across multiple rigs."

About Corva

Headquartered in Houston, Corva is the App Store for Energy, empowering operators and service companies to build solutions at the speed of business. The software developer pioneered a first-of-its-kind cloud-based platform to monitor drilling, completions, and geoscience operations in real time, avoid hazards, maximize crew performance, and drive quantifiable financial efficiencies. Corva's platform supports wellsite operations worldwide on hundreds of rigs and from remote operations centers. Accelerating the expansion of its app store, Corva Dev Center enables customers or third-party developers to rapidly create low-code app solutions with capital efficiency to support their operational needs, reducing development cycles from months to days. For more information, please visit www.corva.ai .

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) is a leading provider of advanced technology for the energy industry. With operations in more than 15 countries, Nabors has established a global network of people, technology and equipment to deploy solutions that deliver safe, efficient and responsible energy production. By leveraging its core competencies, particularly in drilling, engineering, automation, data science and manufacturing, Nabors aims to innovate the future of energy and enable the transition to a lower-carbon world. Learn more about Nabors and its energy technology leadership: www.nabors.com .

Contacts

Corva Media Contact:

Danielle Rockwell

+1 713-397-9137

danielle.rockwell@corva.ai





Nabors Media Contact:

Brian Brooks

+1 281-775-4370

brian.brooks@nabors.com





Nabors Investor Contacts:

William C. Conroy

+1 281-775-2423

william.conroy@nabors.com





Kara K. Peak

+1 281-775-4954

kara.peak@nabors.com





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SOURCE Nabors Industries Ltd.
VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Nevada King Gold Corp. (TSX-V: NKG) (OTCQX: NKGFF) ("Nevada King" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from nine vertical reverse circulation ("RC") holes recently completed at its Atlanta Gold Mine Project located 264km northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the prolific Battle Mountain Trend.

Selected Highlights:

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes AT22HG-18 257.6 291.2 33.5 2.35 363.0 Bottomed in Mineralization Includes 259.1 269.8 10.7 5.27 1084.1

AT22NS-50 89.9 108.2 18.3 3.68 27.1

Includes 93.0 99.1 6.1 7.09 33.1

AT22NS-47 64.0 89.9 25.9 2.04 27.8

AT22NS-49 62.5 88.4 25.9 3.73 46.1

Includes 67.1 74.7 7.6 6.33 28.8



Table 1: Highlight holes released today along Section 22-10N. Mineralization occurs along sub-horizontal horizons generally dipping gently westward; true mineralized thickness in vertical holes is estimated to be between 85% and 95% of reported drill intercept length.

Selected highlight intervals released today all average >2.0 g/t gold and contain significant silver intervals, including 1,084 g/t Ag over 10.7m in hole AT22HG-18.

Today's holes on Section 22-10N were drilled across the 150m-wide high-grade feeder zone comprising the Atlanta Mine Fault Zone (" AMFZ "), which lies between the East Atlanta and West Atlanta Faults (see Figure 1). These vertical holes continue to advance northward the high-grade gold mineralization concentrated along a series of sub-parallel, fault-bounded graben blocks previously identified and reported to the south in Sections 22-5N through 22-9N.

Shown in Figure 2, the high-grade silver intercept in AT22HG-18 occurs along the western side of the West Atlanta Fault on the eastern edge of a 150m-wide mineralized zone now identified as the West Atlanta Graben Target. This down-dropped block hosts thick mineralization within the volcanic section above the contact with the basal Eureka Quartzite unit. AT22HG-18 intercepted 1,084 g/t Ag over 10.7m within 33.5m of 2.35 g/t Au and 363.0 g/t Ag and bottomed in mineralization at 291.2m depth where it was lost in a strongly fractured zone.

Compared to nearby historical holes, the Company's vertical holes returned higher gold grades. For example, angle hole AR-2 returned 22.9m @ 1.72 g/t Au, while Nevada King's AT23NS-50 returned 18.3m @ 3.68 g/t Au. Further east, angle RC hole KR97-4 reported 29m grading 0.81 g/t Au, while AT22NS-89 returned 41.2m @ 0.94 g/t Au and AT22NS-90 returned 39.7m @ 0.82 g/t Au, (Table 3).

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Cal Herron, Exploration Manager of Nevada King, comments, "As our fence-drilling progresses northward along the AMFZ we see the same pattern of structural offsets and styles of mineralization repeated from previous fences. To date, the lateral continuity in both gold grade and thickness is fairly uniform all along the southern third portion (approx. 160 metres) of the AMFZ. Unexpectedly and astonishly, this section also host a thick and very high-grade silver intercept, returning over 1000 g/t Ag over 10.7m within a 33.5m zone averaging over 360 g/t Ag in hole AT22HG -18. There are no historical drill intercepts of this tenor anywhere near this part of the property. AT22HG-18 drilled into the eastern margin of the West Graben Target very close to the West Atlanta Fault, which may account for the high silver grade. The only other hole drilled into the West Graben along this section line was Goldfield's AR-1, but this hole just got into mineralized volcanics before it was lost and did not go deep enough to penetrate the higher-grade silica breccia horizon. Further west of AR-1 there are no historical holes that went deep enough to tap into mineralization, so Nevada King has ample room in which to expand the high-grade mineralization hit in AT22HG-18 westward into essentially untested territory. It is hits like this that have added a westward-directed vector to the Company's overall exploration strategy at Atlanta. Drill-defining mineralization hosted along the AMFZ is certainly important, particularly with respect to raising the overall gold/silver grade, but the large West Graben area holds promise for significantly adding tonnage and ounces."

Figure 1. Location map for holes reported in this news release along drill section22-08N relative to the perimeter of the historical Atlanta Pit and footprint of the Gustavson 2020 NI 43-101 resource. Shallow drillholes on the mine dumps have been removed from the plot for clarity. (CNW Group/Nevada King Gold Corp.)

Figure 2. Cross section 22-09N looking north across the southern portion of the Atlanta Mine Fault Zone. Higher grade mineralization is concentrated within narrow fault blocks formed between the East Atlanta and Nevada King Faults. (CNW Group/Nevada King Gold Corp.)

Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes AT22HG-18 257.6 291.2 33.5 2.35 363.0 Bottomed in mineralization includes 259.1 269.8 10.7 5.27 1,084.1

AT22NS-89 172.3 213.4 41.2 0.94 67.8 Bottomed in mineralization AT22NS-90 182.9 222.6 39.7 0.82 52.3

AT23NS-48 91.5 112.8 21.3 1.26 35.1

AT22NS-50 89.9 108.2 18.3 3.68 27.1

includes 93.0 99.1 6.1 7.09 33.1

AT22NS-47 64.0 89.9 25.9 2.04 27.8

AT22NS-49 62.5 88.4 25.9 3.73 46.1

Including 67.1 74.7 7.6 6.33 28.8

AT22NS-43 0.0 27.4 27.4 1.97 25.1 Bottomed in mineralization AT22NS-43A 3.0 30.5 27.4 1.01 21.2 Offset of 43

Table 2. All holes reported today along Section22 10N. Mineralization occurs along sub-horizontal horizons generally dipping gently westward; true mineralized thickness in vertical holes is estimated to be between 85% and 95% of reported drill intercept length.





Hole No. From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes AT21-60 0 6.1 6.1 0.19 10.6

AT21-65 3.0 51.8 48.8 2.32 32.9

AR-1 283.5 303.4 19.9 0.41 16.2 Bottomed in mineralization AR-2^ 182.9 205.8 22.9 1.72 47.0

KR97-4^ 221.0 250 29.0 0.81 66.1 Bottomed in mineralization 90-2 135.7 173.8 38.1 0.99 90.4



Table 3. Previously reported and historic holes used in Section 22-10N. AT21 series hole was drilled by Nevada King in 2021. KR97 series hole was drilled by Kinross in 1997. AR series holes were drilled by Goldfields in 1990. "90" series hole drilled by Bobcat in 1990. Mineralization occurs along sub-horizontal horizons generally dipping gently westward; true mineralized thickness in vertical holes is estimated to be between 85% and 95% of reported drill intercept length.

^Denotes angle hole.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Calvin R. Herron, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101").

About Nevada King Gold Corp.

Nevada King is the third largest mineral claim holder in the State of Nevada, behind Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick/Newmont) and Kinross Gold. Starting in 2016 the Company has staked large project areas hosting significant historical exploration work along the Battle Mountain trend located close to current or former producing gold mines. These project areas were initially targeted based on their potential for hosting multi-million-ounce gold deposits and were subsequently staked following a detailed geological evaluation. District-scale projects in Nevada King's portfolio include (1) the 100% owned Atlanta Mine, located 100km southeast of Ely, (2) the Lewis and Horse Mountain-Mill Creek projects, both located between Nevada Gold Mines' large Phoenix and Pipeline mines, and (3) the Iron Point project, located 35km east of Winnemucca, Nevada.

The Company is well funded with cash of approximately $7.25 million as of April 2023.

The Atlanta Mine is a historical gold-silver producer with a NI 43-101 compliant pit-constrained resource of 460,000 oz Au in the measured and indicated category (11.0M tonnes at 1.3 g/t) plus an inferred resource of 142,000 oz Au (5.3M tonnes at 0.83 g/t). See the NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources titled "Atlanta Property, Lincoln County, NV" with an effective date of October 6, 2020, and a report date of December 22, 2020, as prepared by Gustavson Associates and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

NI 43-101 Mineral Resources at the Atlanta Mine

Resource Category Tonnes (000's) Au Grade (ppm) Contained Au

Oz Ag Grade (ppm) Contained Ag

Oz Measured 4,130 1.51 200,000 14.0 1,860,000 Indicated 6,910 1.17 260,000 10.6 2,360,000 Measured + Indicated 11,000 1.30 460,000 11.9 4,220,000 Inferred 5,310 0.83 142,000 7.3 1,240,000

Please see the Company's website at www.nevadaking.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operations and activities of Nevada King, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things, the Company's exploration plans and the Company's ability to potentially expand mineral resources and the impact thereon. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Nevada King, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation, the ability to complete proposed exploration work given the global COVID-19 pandemic, the results of exploration, continued availability of capital, and changes in general economic, market and business conditions. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these items. Nevada King does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Nevada King Gold Corp. (CNW Group/Nevada King Gold Corp.)

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SOURCE Nevada King Gold Corp.

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Nokia Corp (NYSE: NOK) reported a first-quarter FY23 net sales growth of 10% year-on-year (9% in constant currency) to 5.86 billion.

Network Infrastructure sales grew 13% Y/Y in CC. Cloud and Network Services sales increased by 3% Y/Y in CC, while Nokia Tech declined 22% Y/Y as a long-term licensee exercised an option.

Mobile Networks sales grew by 13% Y/Y in CC as 5G deployments in India ramped up.

Margins: Gross margin declined by 310 bps to 37.5%. Comparable gross margin decreased by 300 bps to 37.7%, driven by the Nokia Technologies option exercise.

The operating margin increased by 70 bps to 7.3%, and the comparable operating margin declined by 270 bps to 8.2%.

EPS was 0.05, and comparable EPS was 0.06.

Nokia held 4.3 billion in cash and equivalents and used 0.1 billion in free cash flow.

Dividend: The board proposed a quarterly dividend of 0.03 per share (up from the current 0.02 per share).

Buyback : Nokia's second 300 million phase of the share buyback program started in January 2023 and will end by Dec. 21, 2023.

FY23 Outlook: Nokia reiterated a net sales guidance of 24.6 billion - 26.2 billion (2% - 8% growth in constant currency).

Nokia reiterates a comparable operating margin of 11.5% - 14.0%.

Price Action: NOK shares traded lower by 8.23% at $4.23 on the last check Thursday.

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This article Nokia Margins Suffer In Q1 Due To Mixed Segmental Performance; Boosts Dividend originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - NorZinc Ltd. (the "Company" or "NorZinc") is pleased to announce it has completed construction of Phase 1 of the All-Season access Road ("ASR") to its Prairie Creek Mine located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. This represents a significant milestone for the Company achieving the first land access to the Prairie Creek Mine in over 40 years.

The ASR alignment runs 170km from Liard Highway 7 to the Prairie Creek Mine and will ultimately consist of a 5m wide single lane road to support the resupply of the Prairie Creek Mine and for concentrate transportation to Liard Highway 7. The ASR will cross the Liard River near Nahanni Butte and will utilize conventional barge during non-winter operations and ice bridge Prairie Creek All-Season Road Project 2 during winter operations.

Phase 1 ASR construction, also known as the Pioneer Winter Road ("PWR"), included a mulched trail followed by typical and non-typical winter road construction. The PWR was constructed to allow access to the Phase 2 ASR alignment in order to complete various geotechnical studies to gather information on permafrost and ground conditions among other objectives. These studies were completed by land and helicopter assisted field teams and included ground penetrating radar, test pitting and bore hole drilling, the latter of which is expected to be substantially complete by the end of this month.

"Completion of Phase 1 of the ASR marks a significant milestone for the Company, not only in providing seasonal land access to the Prairie Creek Mine, but it also demonstrates the hard work and investment we have made to the Project, our team and the community," said Rohan Hazelton, President & CEO, NorZinc. "The Company is grateful for the support provided by its First Nations partners, especially Naha Dehe Dene Band and Liidlii Kue First Nation, whose ongoing assistance in working with key stakeholders, as well as direct and indirect participation in the project as employees, contractors, and vendors, has been integral to the completion of this venture."

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Ice Bridge Crossing over Liard River (CNW Group/NorZinc Ltd.)

Winter Road at kilometer 25.8 (CNW Group/NorZinc Ltd.)

Excavator cutting side slope at kilometer 134.2 (CNW Group/NorZinc Ltd.)

In parallel with construction of Phase 1 of the ASR, the Company has been actively working with both territorial and federal regulatory authorities towards completion and approval of the required Management Plans for Phase 2 ASR construction, which represents the final step to completion of the fully operational year-round access road to the Prairie Creek Project.

The second phase of the ASR will include installation of bridges and culverts, and other road construction activities to complete the ASR, which the Company expects to commence in 2024.

About NorZinc

NorZinc Ltd. is a privately held mining company headquartered in Vancouver, BC. The Company is focused on the development of its high-grade zinc, silver and lead Prairie Creek Project located in Canada's Northwest Territories.

The Company has an experienced Leadership team along with an established site infrastructure and is dedicated to responsible mining in the communities in which it operates.

Cautionary Statement  Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation, All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that discusses predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding the business and operations of NorZinc Ltd. In making the forward- looking statements contained in this press release, NorZinc has made certain assumptions, including, but not limited to the completion of Phase 1 of the ASR, the permits to complete Phase 2 of the ASR and the construction of Phase 2 of the ASR. Although NorZinc believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, NorZinc disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

NorZinc Ltd. logo (CNW Group/NorZinc Ltd.)

SOURCE NorZinc Ltd.

Cision

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AB Novaturas

The biggest tour operator in the Baltics, Novaturas Group, has introduced a new business strategy for 2023-2025. The company, having successfully survived the downturn of the tourism industry, has raised ambitious goals for growth and regional leadership, focusing on four main areas: technological advancement, improvement of traveler experience & choices, more sustainable trips and involvement of the whole team.

"The last few years were difficult for the tourism industry, however, we were able to successfully navigate the rapidly changing environment and even increase the trust in our company. We see the upcoming period as the period of sustainable growth for the whole group and an opportunity to fulfill a significant upward jump in quality - we aim to strengthen our leadership even further and to be a tour operator that makes it easy to travel with. The new strategy outlines this ambitious road ahead of us and reflects our priorities in order to create more value for travelers, our staff, partners and shareholders," says Vitalij Rakovski, CEO of Novaturas Group .

Technology will enable a wider selection of trips

According to the CEO, one of the main areas where Novaturas will invest in the next three years will be the introduction and employment of technological solutions and automated tools.

"Organized tourism is still viewed as one of the least digitalized tourism areas in the whole world, and Lithuania is not an exception. However, we at Novaturas seek to be at the forefront of the new developments. Rapid digitalisation can give us a competitive advantage, create additional comforts and give more choices to travelers, says Rakovski.

In the near future, the company is planning to present a renewed website, where it will be much easier for travelers to select and book their trips. Novaturas notes that the demand for trips booked online is growing, so its imperative to ensure the best possible user experience and to match it with a high quality service.

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Yet another goal is to increase the variety of trips offered by consolidating the supply of flights and hotels  a dynamic packaging solution will be used for this goal.

Reacting to an especially dynamic environment and growing competition in the market, we will seek to employ pricing tools that are based on algorithms, which will allow the company to offer better prices to clients and to increase shareholder earnings.

Dynamic packaging works like this: we will be able to offer travelers not only pre-packaged trips, as we are doing now, but to adjust to individual needs of our clients. For example, by using automation, we will be able to offer not only charter flights but also regular flights, and clients will be able to choose basically any hotel, not only the ones that constantly appear on our lists. That means that in the long run we will be able to significantly expand the selection of destinations including the ones serviced by airlines conducting regular flights. We will also be able to significantly increase the choice of travel dates, lengths and accommodation variety. These travel offers will be formatted digitally, based on the needs of a client, explains the CEO of Novaturas Group.

He adds that technological and other kinds of business expansion solutions will help transform the activity of the company from a traditional travel operator to an integrated one.

More punctual flights, broader service scope

Rakovski also emphasized that the company has identified another crucial facet of its strategy, which is to enhance the customer experience.

The pandemic outbreak has created significant disruptions in the market, causing travelers to face several inconvenient service disruptions. Airline punctuality has considerably plummeted, and the quality of service has endured severe setbacks. In contrast, the demand for travel has recovered faster than the industry could bring back the necessary competencies and workforce to ensure service quality. Therefore, our goal is to further improve the travel experience - ensuring high flight punctuality, appropriate hotel offerings, and impeccable service," underlined Rakovski.

The company operating throughout all the Baltic states is already working in this direction. For instance, last year, Novaturas implemented significant changes in the aviation sector in Estonia and Latvia. In Estonia, the company introduced flights using the new generation Boeing 737 aircraft, while in Latvia, it expanded its cooperation with airBaltic, which operates flights using new aircraft that ensures higher comfort and lower emissions.

Another improvement in customer experience is the continued service expansion. "The latest market trends indicate that travelers expect more convenience, safety, and personalization options from tour operators. We are adhering to such expectations with the launch of several offers for instance, weve introduced a minimum price guarantee for the winter season, an additional punctuality guarantee, while rolling out offers for comfort seekers, such as private transfers to and from hotels in Antalya. Our aim is ongoing expansion of similar value added services, both free and paid, in the foreseeable future," says Rakovski.

Environmentally friendly flights and hotels

The new Novaturas Group strategy identifies sustainability as one of the priority focus areas."Its only natural that concerns about the environment and our future are growing. More than 80% of travelers are interested to learn how they could travel more sustainably, but lack of understanding persists regarding the best course of action. Therefore, as a market leader, we will take proactive actions to reduce our environmental impact and provide information to travelers on ways they can contribute to sustainability," says Rakovski.

According to him, the company aims to achieve its environmental goals by reducing its CO2 emissions. The most significant contribution to this will be made through new partnerships with airlines that use modern, fuel-efficient aircraft and the partial application of an emissions offsetting mechanism.

In addition to more environmentally friendly flights, Novaturas will provide travelers with clearer information about hotels that adhere to sustainability standards, as well as prioritize traveler education.

Will remain the center of competence

The fourth component of the new strategy is employee engagement. According to the company's CEO, the team and employees in tourism sector companies are the foundation of successful results as well as business expansion, therefore their well-being and motivation are one of the most important strategic directions.

The company is striving to be an attractive employer by taking real action, such as offering organizational structure and encouraging professional growth and talent development.

We are the only tour operator in the Baltics which conducts all of its operations from Lithuania  from charter flights and hotel selection to technological solutions and client service. While other tour operators in our country sell trips that have been packaged in other countries, we create everything locally in Lithuania and we have teams in all Baltic countries. So we will keep investing in our staff, young talents, and developing their abilities and know-how, in order to keep our position as a center of competence and to preserve this unique feature that we have, concludes Rakovski.

Strategic direction Strategic guideline Technology driven EBITDA: 5-8 million EUR Customer experience NPS  50 Sustainable travel Less CO2 People engagement eNPS:  30





About the company

Novaturas Group is the largest tour operator in the Baltic States, offering summer and winter package holidays by plane to more than 30 destinations worldwide and more than 100 tours.

Vygantas Reifonas

CFO of AB Novaturas

+370 687 21603




OTTAWA, ON, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - OCM Auto Financing Group Ltd. (OCM), an Ottawa-based sub-prime auto lender, is pleased to announce that it has recently increased its fund size to $100 million. This amount is a combination of funds received from accredited investors through a series of debenture offerings, as well as from a senior lender, CWB Maxium Financial Inc., which is part of the Canadian Western Bank (CWB) Financial Group of companies.

OCM logo (CNW Group/OCM Auto Financing Group Ltd.)

This new credit facility will significantly increase OCM's ability to expand its rapidly growing sub-prime auto financing business. "This facility with an established Canadian bank becoming our senior lender speaks to the quality and sustainability of our existing business model, and the confidence the bank has in our ability to continue to grow our business," said OCM CEO, Andrew Abraham.

Initially, OCM was financed primarily through a series of debentures purchased by accredited investors. "Since the inception of the fund, more than 95% of our original investor base is still invested with us today. We are thankful for the trust our initial investors showed in us and we look forward to them continuing to be an important part of our future growth," said Abraham.

OCM serves a large number of auto dealers in Ontario and Quebec. Demand for loans for pre-owned vehicles remains high from individuals who may not qualify for financing from traditional banks and OCM is proud to be able to provide financing to these individuals.

About the OCM Auto Financing Group Ltd.

Started in Ottawa in 2018, OCM Auto Financing Group Ltd. provides loans for pre-owned vehicles to individuals who cannot access bank financing. OCM works with auto dealers in Ontario and Quebec to assist them in completing sales transactions with their customers. A network of in-person OCM dealer representatives helps expedite approvals of loans that meet OCM's rigorous creditworthiness standards.

The sub-prime auto financing industry in Canada is governed by a set of stringent rules and regulations at both the provincial and federal level.

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SOURCE OCM Auto Financing Group Ltd.

Cision

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NEW YORK, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE: OUT) announced today that it will report results for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2023 after the market closes on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. The earnings announcement will be available in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, www.OUTFRONT.com.

OUTFRONT Media Logo. (PRNewsFoto/OUTFRONT Media Inc.)

The Company will host a conference call to discuss the results on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference call number is 866-580-3963 (U.S. callers) and 786-697-3501 (International callers) and the password for both is Outfront.

Live and replay versions of the conference call will be webcast in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, www.OUTFRONT.com.

About OUTFRONT Media Inc.

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location, and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America. Through its technology platform, OUTFRONT will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.

Contacts:





Investors

Media Stephan Bisson

Courtney Richards Investor Relations

PR & Events Specialist (212) 297-6573

(646) 876-9404 stephan.bisson@OUTFRONT.com

courtney.richards@OUTFRONT.com

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SOURCE OUTFRONT Media Inc.
Workers are prioritizing problem solving, leadership and teamwork as the best skills to land their future job

HOBOKEN, N.J., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Globally, workers are focused on developing their human skills, even as they see a future dominated by technology-driven work and automation, according to a new study from Pearson, the world's leading learning company. For the latest edition of the Pearson Skills Outlook series, Pearson partnered with Google to examine how and why people in the US, UK, India, and Brazil are looking to upskill as they face a rapidly changing economy.

Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8898452-pearson-skills-outlook/

Pearson Skills Outlook Shows Employees Are Preparing for a Tech Focused World by Sharpening Their Human Skills

Pearson Skills Outlook: Employee View, the survey of 4,000 workers across those four labor markets, revealed that people are most interested in careers in the tech and business-related fields such as e-commerce, software services, data science, and financial services. However, they believe that they will need to focus on human skills to land these jobs or advance in their current role. They believe human skills  like problem solving, leadership, and teamwork  are the most attractive to employers now and in the future.

These are the top two human skills that workers in each market are actively prioritizing developing and maintaining to advance their careers:

US: Problem solving; Decision making

UK : Problem solving; Teamwork

Brazil : Teamwork; Leadership

India: Teamwork; Data processing

Looking to the future, the top two skills workers want to train for remain focused on human skills in markets other than India:

US: Leadership; Entrepreneurial skills and Project management [Tie]

UK: Leadership; Problem solving

Brazil: Language skills; Leadership

India: Problem solving; Coding / Programming, Data processing, and Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning [Tie]

The report also signals that in non-English speaking countries, learning English is emerging as a key skill for employees to advance in their careers, according to 85 percent of Indians and 77 percent of Brazilians.

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"This valuable new research shows that job seekers are prioritizing human skills at a time when machine learning and artificial intelligence are having an increasing influence on work," said Mike Howells, president of Pearson Workforce Skills. "Human skills are proving critical to personal and organizational success, and workers are motivated to sharpen and develop those skills to stay competitive and advance their careers."

The study also found that the majority of workers (73 percent of Americans, 68 percent of British, 89 percent of Indians and 70 percent of Brazilians) also say they prefer to learn via their employer. And an even higher number expect their employer will increase or maintain learning and development opportunities.

In a world where people are living and working longer, and having multiple careers, the Skills Outlook series provides guidance to employers, employees, and job seekers on where they should focus their training, education, and learning. While Pearson's second Skills Outlook report, conducted in September 2022, examined skilling through an employees' lens, the first study identified the most in-demand skills from an employer's perspective.

Notes to Editors

Methodology:

Pearson partnered with Google to examine how and why people in the US, UK, India, and Brazil are looking to upskill as they face a rapidly changing economy.

The fieldwork was conducted by Ipsos in these four countries between 30 August and 23 September 2022. The survey included 4,000 workers (employed or unemployed and entering the workforce in the next 18 months), balanced to be representative of the population, who are interested in or actively upskilling/reskilling/in an education program, and who will be in the workforce in the next 5-10 years.

For further information see:

https://plc.pearson.com/en-US/insights/pearson-skills-outlook-employee-view

Contact

Joe Wiggins, Joe.Wiggins@pearson.com

About Pearson

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to add life to a lifetime of learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. That's why our c.20,000 Pearson employees are committed to creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact. We are the world's leading learning company, serving customers in nearly 200 countries with digital content, assessments, qualifications, and data. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. Visit us at pearsonplc.com.

Pearson_Logo

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SOURCE Pearson Education
PeopleScout identified as a global leader for the fifth time in a row, recognized for innovation in service and technology

CHICAGO, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PeopleScout has been recognized as a Leader, the highest rating, in every category of NelsonHall's global 2023 NEAT Vendor Evaluation for RPO and Total Talent. The categories include Innovation in Service and Innovation in Technology/Tools as well as an Overall rating.

Jeanine Crane-Thompson, Principal HR Research Analyst at NelsonHall, said: "PeopleScout's broad range of RPO and talent solutions, underpinned by its deep consulting expertise and technology innovation, were instrumental in its placement as a Leader in this year's NEAT, consolidating its position as a key RPO & Total Talent player."

NEAT is NelsonHall's vendor evaluation and assessment tool, offering companies around the world a comprehensive assessment of vendors' offerings and capabilities. The NEAT for RPO allows strategic sourcing managers to assess the capability of vendors across a range of criteria and business situations to identify the best performing vendors overall, and with specific capability in technology/tools innovation and services innovation.

"As our clients' strategic advisorswhether it be in developing a compelling and authentic employer brand, creating a seamless candidate experience or implementing the right recruitment tech stackwe have an unwavering commitment to supporting their unique workforce needs," said Rick Betori, PeopleScout President. "This recognition from NelsonHall is evidence of that commitment, and the breadth and sophistication of the services we provide."

Highlights from NelsonHall's evaluation of PeopleScout on the 2023 NEAT Vendor Evaluation include the company's:

Broad range of existing and new RPO and talent solutions, including those offered across the TrueBlue family of brands, providing more comprehensive solutions and business synergy opportunities

Deep expertise in Talent Advisory services, notably employer branding, assessment, recruitment marketing and consulting for the future of work

An established proprietary technology platform, Affinix, and demonstrated innovation within the next-generation platform including:

Continued focus on service delivery excellence

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A Leader designation on the NEAT vendor evaluation is based on a combination of analyst assessments and feedback from the RPO vendor's clients. Interviews with clients focus on measuring the vendor's ability to deliver immediate benefit as well as evaluating the vendor's suitability to meet future requirements.

Learn more about PeopleScout's 2023 NelsonHall NEAT Vendor Evaluation by downloading the full report .

About NelsonHall

NelsonHall is the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organizations understand the 'art of the possible' in digital operations transformation. With analysts in the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, and India, NelsonHall provides buy-side organizations with detailed, critical information on markets and vendors (including NEAT assessments) that helps them make fast and highly informed sourcing decisions. And for vendors, NelsonHall provides deep knowledge of market dynamics and user requirements to help them hone their go-to-market strategies. NelsonHall's research is based on rigorous, all-original research, and is widely respected for the quality, depth, and insight of its analysis.

About PeopleScout

PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company, is a leading RPO provider managing talent solutions that span the global economy, with end-to-end MSP and talent advisory capabilities supporting total workforce needs. PeopleScout boasts 96% client retention managing the most complex programs in the industry. The company's thousands of forward-looking talent professionals provide clients with the edge in the people business by consistently delivering now while anticipating what's next. Affinix, PeopleScout's proprietary talent acquisition platform, empowers faster engagement with the best talent through an AI-driven, consumer-like candidate experience and optimizes the talent process through data and actionable insights. Leveraging the power of data gleaned from engaging millions of candidates and contingent associates every year, PeopleScout has served clients in more than 70 countries with headquarters in Chicago, Sydney and London and global delivery centers in Toronto, Montreal, Bristol, Krakow, Gurgaon and Bangalore. For more information, please visit www.peoplescout.com.

Press Contact

Taylor Winchell

Senior Manager, External Communications

pr@trueblue.com

1-253-680-8291

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SOURCE PeopleScout
MUHC Foundation

Recognizing the healing power of art, RBCs gift will help bring beauty to the halls of the MUHC while preserving its history

Recognizing the healing power of art, RBCs gift will help bring beauty to the halls of the MUHC while preserving its history.

(L-R) Peter Kruyt, Marc Parent, Nadine Renaud-Tinker, Dr. Rhian Touyz, Dr. Jonthan Meakins, Catherine Farish, Jean Charest, Norman Steinberg

MONTREAL, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The relationship between art, healing, and health is deep and long-standing. In a health care environment, art is indispensable in helping patients recover, and is behind moments of joy and inner peace for patients and their loved ones. A new $300,000 gift from RBC to the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation will support the MUHCs RBC Art and Heritage Centre to bring the healing power of art to patients.



Our long-standing partnership with the Montreal University Health Centre is rooted in our mutual desire and deep commitment to supporting the health of our communities. In addition to preserving the history of the hospital, the RBC Art & Heritage Centre will allow patients, their visitors, and staff to bask in the present moment and let their minds wander into a space of calm and peace. At any point in life, we have been, or will be, patients. Having such an outlet within the MUHC creates an environment for patients and families alike to focus on getting better, says Nadine Renaud-Tinker, President, RBC in Quebec.

The RBC Art and Heritage Centre holds an extensive art collection and historical objects that detail the rich medical history of Montreal. It curates permanent and rotating art exhibitions by local contemporary artists at all sites of the MUHC. Its exhibits create a welcoming and healing environment for the MUHCs patients, staff and visitors.

Art is an important part of the hospital environment, and it plays several roles. It has a healing componentits good for patients and their familiesand it has a major benefit for staff. They work in an environment that is humanized, not just long white corridors with nothing on them. RBCs continued support of the Art and Heritage Centre ensures we can continue to bring art to the MUHC community.

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Dr. Jonathan Meakins, Director, RBC Art and Heritage Centre

RBC has been a steadfast supporter of the MUHC for many years. In Fall 2022, RBC made a transformative $2 million gift to prepare young health care professionals at the MUHC to lead long, healthy and fulfilling careers through the Young Professionals Development Program.

The MUHC takes pride in helping its patients get well, and that journey includes creating a beautiful environment in which our patients can convalesce. The RBC Art and Heritage Centre is one of the ways RBC supports the MUHC, but it is an important aspect of the hospitals overall work, and we thank RBC for its generosity.

Peter Kruyt, Chair, MUHC Board of Directors

On April 18, RBC and the MUHC Foundation celebrated the gift with a special event. A vernissage cocktail at the atrium of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre displayed the captivating and one-of-a-kind artistry of renowned printmaker Catherine Farish. The exhibit, Geomancy, is an eclectic merging of art and nature.

During the event, Nadine Renaud-Tinker, Quebec Regional President of RBC, announced the major donation alongside many of the RBCs executive leadership team. Thanks to RBCs generous gift, the event marked the RBC Art and Heritage Centres first exhibit on public display since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

I am so grateful to Nadine and the RBC leadership team for their transformative support of the MUHC Foundation. Nadine joined the MUHC Foundation board last fall, and she is truly dreaming big with us to improve the health of Quebecers.

Marc Parent, Co-Chair, MUHC Foundation Dream Big Campaign; President and CEO, CAE

There are so many aspects to health and well-being, and RBC recognizes how powerful art can be as a tool for healing, and as a way to inspire and invigorate the MUHCs committed, talented staff. I look forward to many beautiful art exhibits to come.

Jean Charest, Co-Chair, MUHC Foundation Dream Big Campaign; Partner, McCarthy Tetrault

RBCs gift supports the MUHC Foundations $200 million Dream Big Campaign to change the course of lives and medicine.

About the McGill University Health Centre Foundation

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation raises funds to support excellence in patient care, research and teaching at the McGill University Health Centre, one of the top university hospitals in Canada. Our Dream Big Campaign to change the course of lives and medicine is raising millions of dollars to solve humanitys deadliest puzzles: infectious diseases; end cancer as a life-threatening illness; fix broken hearts through innovative cardiac care; detect the silent killersovarian and endometrial cancersearly; create the best skilled health care teams in Canada; and much more. We are rallying our entire community to solve the worlds most complex health care challenges. https://muhcfoundation.com

Tarah Schwartz

Vice-President, Communications & Marketing

McGill University Health Centre Foundation

tarah.schwartz@muhc.mcgill.ca

Kelly Albert

Senior Communications Officer

McGill University Health Centre Foundation

kelly.albert@muhc.mcgill.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e9bcf351-3ac4-4573-874d-0ed3577860ed




By Gilles Guillaume and Silvia Aloisi

PARIS (Reuters) -Renault does not plan to drastically cut prices on its electric vehicles, including the recently launched Megane E-Tech, and follow U.S. rival Tesla in what the French carmaker's finance chief on Thursday called a downward "spiral".

Tesla late on Wednesday posted its lowest quarterly gross margin in two years, missing market estimates, after slashing prices aggressively in markets including the United States, China and Europe to spur demand and fend off rising competition.

Tesla shares were down 6.6% in U.S. pre-market trade and fell 7% in Germany on Thursday, weighing on the sector and pushing Renault stock down by a similar amount amid fears of a looming price war.

Renault brand CEO Fabrice Cambolive said earlier this week the brand would be reviewing prices worldwide, calling Tesla's price cuts a warning and a challenge to the whole industry.

But group finance chief Thierry Pieton said Renault did not need to follow Tesla's move, even though the Tesla Model 3 in France now starts at 41,990 euros ($46,017) after last week's price cut, compared with 42,000 euros for the Megane electric.

"There is no big incentive to go and cut the prices...and go in a spiral that some of our competition is following," he told analysts. "If it results in the short term in slightly lower volumes, so be it."

He said demand for EV models had been softer in January and February after a reduction in government subsidies in several countries last year, but March was strong.

CLOSING THE GAP

Analysts said Renault may have to cave in on the pricing front, which would impact margins.

"Renault may be forced to lower its prices and find new efficiencies via its new manufacturing plants in northern France," said Orwa Mohamad at Third Bridge.

"Advanced software and cost are going to be the key differentiators in the EV market over the next few years," the analyst added, noting that Renault's recent partnership with Qualcomm aimed to close the gap with Tesla on the software front.

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Renault ranked as the third EV brand for sales in Europe behind Tesla and Volkswagen last year.

First-quarter revenues grew 30% in the first quarter to 11.5 billion euros, above market expectations, thanks to a rebound in sales following four years of consecutive declines and higher prices imposed in 2022.

Boosted by demand for several premium models, including recently launched Arkana and Austral SUVs, the group posted a 14.1% increase in sales over the period to 535,000 units.

The carmaker, which was hit harder than most rivals by the COVID-19 crisis and a global chip shortage, is in the middle of a turnaround and is betting on premium cars and electric vehicles to boost profits.

It is renegotiating a long-standing alliance with Japan's Nissan and plans to list its EV unit later this year.

It is also ramping up the launch of new models to spur growth. It plans to launch an SUV version of its Espace minivan and a restyling of its best seller Clio city car this year, and 12 new models in 2024.

($1 = 0.9127 euros)

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Although, when we looked at Chin Hin Group Berhad (KLSE:CHINHIN), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Chin Hin Group Berhad, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.031 = RM33m  (RM2.0b - RM971m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Thus, Chin Hin Group Berhad has an ROCE of 3.1%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Trade Distributors industry average of 8.9%.

View our latest analysis for Chin Hin Group Berhad

roce

In the above chart we have measured Chin Hin Group Berhad's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Chin Hin Group Berhad.

So How Is Chin Hin Group Berhad's ROCE Trending?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Chin Hin Group Berhad doesn't inspire confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 11%, but since then they've fallen to 3.1%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

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Another thing to note, Chin Hin Group Berhad has a high ratio of current liabilities to total assets of 48%. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

The Bottom Line

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Chin Hin Group Berhad. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 1,194% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

One more thing: We've identified 3 warning signs with Chin Hin Group Berhad (at least 2 which shouldn't be ignored) , and understanding these would certainly be useful.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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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LISBON, PORTUGAL / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Rumi Finance , a groundbreaking decentralized finance (DeFi) company that seeks to transform the Asset Management landscape, is excited to announce the upcoming launch of its groundbreaking DeFi platform, designed to cater both institutional and DeFi native investors. The platform is built on a robust blockchain technology architecture that enables users to capitalize on highly profitable and secure cross-chain strategies, while incorporating advanced risk management tools and optimization features.

Rumi Finance, Thursday, April 20, 2023, Press release picture

Rumi Finance has developed a comprehensive suite of DeFi primitives, including liquidity provisioning, staking, lending, and more, which allows users to access a wide range of investment opportunities. The platform also utilizes automation and optimization tools to enhance the risk-adjusted nature of its strategies, ensuring a secure and high-performance experience for users. Key features include impermanent loss hedging, active liquidity range optimization for AMMs, automated debt management, and automated portfolio optimization.

Risk management is a central focus for Rumi Finance, and the company has developed a state-of-the-art risk engine to manage positions effectively. The platform offers real-time monitoring, alerting frameworks, and incident response automation to maintain the highest level of security and stability for its users.

The company has also developed DeFi Blue, a platform built on Rumi's base layer, tailored specifically for institutional investors looking to enter the DeFi space securely and compliantly. DeFi Blue offers a user-friendly interface, custom strategies, whitelisted vaults and sophisticated risk management features, ensuring that institutional clients can confidently invest in DeFi opportunities.

"Our mission is to make wealth creation opportunities accessible for everyone, and we think DeFi is the path to achieve this," said Diego Lijtmaer, co-founder and CEO of Rumi Finance. "By incorporating advanced risk management practices, optimization tools, and a comprehensive suite of platform components, we're confident that Rumi Finance will become a benchmark in the DeFi Asset Management space, for both Institutional and retail investors."

Story continues

For more information about Rumi Finance and the upcoming launch, please visit www.rumi.finance .

About Rumi Finance

Rumi Finance is an innovative decentralized finance platform offering an all-in-one solution for DeFi asset management. The platform provides secure, high-performing yield strategies for retail and institutional investors, focusing on advanced risk management and optimization tools. Rumi Finance is transforming the DeFi landscape by providing superior, risk-adjusted investment opportunities in the DeFi ecosystem.

For Media Inquiries, Please contact Nassib Ghannam at press@rumi.finance

For Investor Inquiries, Please contact Paul Lijtmaer at investors@rumi.finance

Media Details

Company Name: Rumi Finance

Business Mail: press@rumi.finance

Website: https://www.rumi.finance/

City and Country: Lisbon, Portugal

SOURCE: Rumi Finance





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(Bloomberg) -- Russias oil exports to India are continuing without any hiccup as the nations users become more adept at arranging cargoes to feed burgeoning nationwide demand, according to the head of a giant new refinery project thats backed by local processors and crude heavyweight Saudi Arabia.

Most Read from Bloomberg

It is beneficial for everybody that the Russian oil doesnt go out of market and it flows to some part of the world, Mukesh Surana, chief executive officer of Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., told Bloomberg Television. The crude is coming to India without much hassle but there are ways and means to ensure that, if there are hassles, they can be taken care of, he added.

India has emerged as a major market for redirected Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine, with western nations shunning its crude and refined products. In a bid to ensure that the oil keeps flowing to other nations but Moscows revenues are crimped, the US pioneered a mechanism to cap prices if users wanted access western services such as insurance. India said this month it would explore buying Russian crude oil near or past the cap if needed.

The majority of Russian oil that India buys is Urals grade, which comes from the west of the country, and is still below the price-cap level, Surana said. Payments can be made in different currencies including dollars, rubles and rupees, and at present, the situation has not triggered any concerns, he added.

Ratnagiri Refinery is building a 60-million-ton project on Indias west coast. The venture  which is not yet in operation  has been backed by state-owned refiners Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. are also partners.

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Surana, a former chairman of Hindustan Petroleum, said oil demand would expand at a robust pace. Diesel consumption was up strongly this month on agricultural-sector demand and jet-fuel usage was also picking up, he added.

Imports of Russian oil hit a record of 1.65 million barrels a day in March, with refiners lapping up discounted barrels, according to Vortexa Ltd.

India initially was not importing a lot of oil from Russia but of late, I think almost 30% to 35% of oil is flowing from Russian market, Surana said.

--With assistance from Menaka Doshi, Haslinda Amin and Anand Menon.

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
LUTZ, Fla., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sara Dodds is the new president of BayCare's St. Joseph's Hospital-North in Lutz, Fla. The appointment was effective April 16. Dodds, the hospital's operations director, has been serving as interim president since Jan. 2, the latest in a long line of steps she's made in building a career at BayCare. St. Joseph's Hospital-North is one of 16 BayCare not-for-profit hospitals in the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions.

Sara Dodds

The appointment was announced by Kimberly Guy, BayCare co-chief operating officer.

"It is exciting to have an opportunity to promote such an amazing internal talent who has just grown through increased responsibility and demonstrated strength as a leader," Guy said. "She has done a wonderful job as interim these past three months, including being instrumental in opening our new Behavioral Health unit. She is one of BayCare's own."

She succeeds Tom Garthwaite, president of BayCare's Winter Haven Hospital and Winter Haven Women's Hospital. St. Joseph's Hospital-North will begin a search for a new operations director.

She's been in a leadership position at St. Joseph's Hospital-North since 2016 when she led clinical decision support. In 2017, she became operations director overseeing areas that include quality of patient care and finance. She has a reputation for working closely with all departments, a particularly important trait as she led the hospital's $76-million expansion completed in 2020, which doubled the hospital's beds to more than 200 and increased services.

More recently, she's had a leading role in the addition of a 24-bed inpatient psychiatric unit at St. Joseph's Hospital-North. The St. Joseph's Hospital-North Unit for Psychiatry and Medical Services (UPM) simultaneously treats patients for both medical and psychiatric diagnoses and opened this month.

Dodds has been with BayCare since 2004 when she started at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa as a patient care technician while attending nursing school. She became an RN at St. Joseph's Hospital in 2005 and an original team member at St. Joseph's Hospital-North when it opened in 2010. At St. Joseph's Hospital-North, she's been a charge nurse (a nurse supervising a unit) and nurse manager before her director and interim president positions. She has a master of science degree in nursing leadership.

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"I have had the pleasure of working with this incredible team and medical staff since the day St. Joseph's Hospital-North opened its doors," Dodds said. "I am looking forward to continuing to serve St. Joseph's Hospital-North and this community in my new role as we grow better together. I feel that I know every inch of this hospital from my long time here and that will greatly assist me in my new position."

Dodds is a 2021 graduate of the Leadership Tampa program of the Tampa Bay Chamber and a board member of The Florida Orchestra and FiCare Credit Union. Dodds, a Lutz resident, is also a member of the Philanthropic Women of St. Joseph's Hospitals.

In 2021, she was named to Tampa Bay Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list honoring 40 young professionals in the local area under the age of 40.

About St. Joseph's Hospital-North

St. Joseph's Hospital-North opened in February 2010 to bring high-quality health care services to North Tampa in an environment designed to help patients heal. St. Joseph's Hospital-North features all private patient suites and offers emergency care, surgical services, GI endoscopy, imaging, intensive care, obstetrics, cardiac catheterization, interventional radiology and more in a peaceful, relaxing and family-centered environment. Located just north of Tampa in Lutz, the all-digital, state-of-the-art facility is specially designed to make patients and visitors as comfortable as possible during their hospital experience.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sara-dodds-named-st-josephs-hospital-north-president-301803463.html

SOURCE St. Joseph's Hospital-North
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Telecom Co. agreed to buy a portfolio of tower assets from United Group for 1.22 billion ($1.3 billion) as the carrier expands in Europe.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The state-backed firms Tawal infrastructure arm will pay cash for a portfolio of more than 4,800 towers in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, according to a statement Thursday. Bloomberg News reported earlier that it was nearing an agreement to buy the assets from United Group, which is backed by buyout firm BC Partners.

Tawal, which is making its first foray into Europe through the acquisition, already owns more than 16,000 towers. Middle Eastern telecom operators flush with cash have recently started stepping up their overseas investments, with Emirates Telecommunications Group Co. emerging as the biggest shareholder in Vodafone Group Plc with a roughly $4 billion stake.

We are delighted to have successfully crystallized the value of our tower assets in a deal that enables us to delever and navigate global macroeconomic pressures, United Group Chief Executive Officer Victoriya Boklag said in the statement.

Acquisitions of digital infrastructure assets have been heating up in Europe. Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom AG both agreed to sell multibillion-dollar stakes in their tower businesses to investment firms last year, while Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. reached a deal this month to acquire data center operator Data4.

After news of the United Group divestment, the companys euro bonds due 2026 rose the most since they were first issued. They gained 6 cents on the euro to 85 cents, according to CBBT pricing compiled by Bloomberg, and the companys other bonds also advanced.

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised United Group on the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2023.

--With assistance from Giulia Morpurgo.

(Updates with bond move in penultimate paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
CBI 2.jpg

The Confederation for British Industry (CBI) has reported a new criminal allegation to police as the crisis at the organisation deepens.

Britains top business lobby group said on Thursday that it provided new information to City of London police pertaining to an unspecified serious criminal offence.

It is understood that the information is separate to an allegation of rape that is claimed to have taken place at a 2019 staff party, which is already being investigated by law enforcement.

The CBI said: Late yesterday afternoon the CBI was made aware of additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence. We have passed that information immediately to the police, with whom we are liaising closely and who have asked us not to comment further on potentially criminal matters.

The City of London police last week opened a criminal investigation following reports of a sexual misconduct at the CBI, including one allegation that a female employee was raped at a 2019 boat party.

The scandal has prompted ministers to pause engagement with the group, which claims to represent 190,000 businesses including much of the FTSE 100.

On Thursday, a Downing Street spokesman said that there were no plans for any engagement with the CBI while their internal processes are ongoing.

Law firm Fox Williams has been hired by the CBI to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations. The business group said it was expecting the results imminently.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 21, 2022 Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) director general Tony Danker addresses the annual CBI conference at the Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham. - Britain's main business lobby group, the CBI, has sacked Director General Tony Danker following a probe into allegations of sexual misconduct, it announced on April 11, 2023. "Tony Danker is dismissed with immediate effect following the independent investigation into specific complaints of workplace misconduct against him," the Confederation of British Industry said in a statement. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images) - OLI SCARFF/AFP

A spokesman for the CBI said: We are anticipating findings from Fox Williams on the matters it has been looking at imminently. The board will be communicating its response to this and other steps we are taking to bring about the wider change that is needed early next week.

Recognising the need for confidentiality, we urge anyone, including the media, who has further information in relation to any alleged offence to also report that to the police.

Earlier this week, Tony Danker, the CBIs former director general, claimed he had been thrown under a bus by the lobby group and said he was considering legal action against his ex-employer.

Mr Danker was fired last week over separate misconduct allegations, including sending unprompted messages to staff on social platforms.

Brian McBride, the CBIs president, has challenged Mr Dankers selective version of events, saying: The board lost its trust and confidence in his ability to lead the organisation and represent the CBI in public.
MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Security Token Advisors (STA) is announcing the official launch of its new research portal and community platform called the "STA Success Network." As a leading consulting firm for tokenization, the recent rise in adoption has led the company to adopt a new approach to serve the growing industry. With the STA Success Network, members have access to a weekly intelligence email, analyst calls with the research team, a member portal filled with a comprehensive resource library and community posting/ messaging tools, and the ability to contribute to STM.co, among other publications.

Security Token Advisors, Thursday, April 20, 2023, Press release picture

Since helping its first client in 2017, Security Token Advisors has facilitated the tokenization of numerous assets and securities types across multiple geographies. Supporting over 40 clients in the last 5 years, the team has developed a massive repository of information including multi-industry case studies, tokenization guides, and tailored educational resources to support issuers. Meeting with dozens of partners across the industry, the team has an established track record in the industry, including having support from leading experts in the field. Herwig Konings, CEO and Founder, believes the launch comes at a critical time for the industry and says "With tokenization entering an era where financial institutions across the globe are embracing the technology, we believe it's time to bring together the leading players and issuers to learn from each other and establish best practices while taking advantage of key network effects that will accelerate adoption. Instead of supporting clients directly with premium consulting services as we have done exclusively, the STA Success Network will aggregate all of this intelligence in one place, accessible at any time. Powered by online software and weekly curated events, anyone exploring tokenization can find everything they need to start their journey and stay plugged into the evolving $80 billion industry."

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Since launching early access a few weeks ago, the STA team has been circulating weekly insights, hosting analyst calls, connecting members with synergistic opportunities, and tailoring the resource library to meet demand. Peter Gaffney, Head of Research, sees the Success Network as an optimal outsourced research group for investment banks, capital advisory firms, private equity shops, equity research groups, and asset managers in general. "It seems the general consensus is that tokenization will sweep the capital markets. We all see the headlines. And, we're currently at an inflection point where many of these banks and advisory firms are gearing up to provide services to their big clients in the private markets who will want the faucet turned on as soon as they're ready to jump in. The Success Network acts as that research and intel one-stop-shop connecting the dots for these banks, broker-dealers, and capital market players from both a retail and an institutional perspective. So far we're pleased with the feedback and response, already seeing members from some of the biggest household names in finance join."

With over 100 members, the STA Success Network already features members ranging from financial professionals to technology experts and active tokenization pioneers. A list of some featured members includes the following:

Law Firms - Sosnow & Associates, Winston & Strawn, and Zuber Lawler

Brokerage Firms - Dalmore Group, EquityShift, Oasis Pro Markets, Rialto Markets, Securitize Markets, and tZERO

Technology Providers - Coinbase, Blockstation, DigiShares, LombardWorks, Securitize, Securrency, Tokeny and tZERO

Blockchain Protocols - Accumulate, Avalanche, and Provenance

Token Issuers - Fairchild Acquisition, recently SEC approved Reg A+ issuer Freeport, and XY Labs

Coinbase's Head of Asset Allocators & Tokenization, Anthony Bassili, embraced the idea and has already invited several colleagues to participate. He says "The programming STA has is fantastic, offering plenty of opportunities to jump into specific topics to discuss with industry leaders and the STA team directly. By bringing the industry together in the STA network, we are seeing more collaboration and activity across companies. It's great to see STA leading the market today in tokenization education, thought leadership and content."

The STA Success Network will continue to feature new benefits such as access to a Real Estate tokenization course, exclusive paid research complementary to members, VIP tickets to events by Security Token Market, discounts to industry resources, and more value-adds for industry participants. Further expansion of the resource library, media syndication partnerships, and collaborations with academia will also be a focus.

About Security Token Advisors, LLC

Since 2017, Security Token Advisors has been the original consulting firm dedicated to security tokens exclusively, assisting asset owners ranging from business owners and family offices with large real estate portfolios to governments and sovereign funds in executing a successful securitization leveraging blockchain technology. These engagements consist of leading an asset owner through the process of tokenizing an asset, beginning with token structuring and working with applicable vendors, including legal support, broker-dealer engagements, and investor relations strategies. STA's experienced team has worked through many tokenized securities issuances and has worked with a wide variety of asset classes and jurisdictions, featuring a vetted vendor network of over 40 service providers.

Media Contact

Organization: Security Token Advisors

Contact Person: Jackson Blau

Website: https://securitytokenadvisors.com

Email: jackson@securitytokenadvisors.com

City: Miami

State: Florida

Country: United States

SOURCE: Security Token Advisors





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The Sherwin-Williams Company's (NYSE:SHW) stock rose 3.5% last week, but insiders who sold US$1.0m worth of stock over the last year are probably in a more advantageous position. Holding on to stock would have meant their investment would be worth less now than it was at the time of sale. Thus selling at an average price of US$235, which is higher than the current price, may have been the best decision.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Sherwin-Williams

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Sherwin-Williams

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Bryan Young, for US$607k worth of shares, at about US$221 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$234. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 25% of Bryan Young's holding.

In total, Sherwin-Williams insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Sherwin-Williams Insiders Are Selling The Stock

Over the last three months, we've seen notably more insider selling, than insider buying, at Sherwin-Williams. In that time, insider Bryan Young dumped US$607k worth of shares. On the flip side, Chairman & CEO John Morikis spent US$500k on purchasing shares (as mentioned above) . Generally this level of net selling might be considered a bit bearish.

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Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that Sherwin-Williams insiders own 0.3% of the company, worth about US$186m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Sherwin-Williams Insider Transactions Indicate?

The insider sales have outweighed the insider buying, at Sherwin-Williams, in the last three months. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. But it is good to see that Sherwin-Williams is growing earnings. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Sherwin-Williams (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

Of course Sherwin-Williams 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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By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Automakers keen to make a splash at the Shanghai auto show showed off vehicles boasting features from crystal balls to in-car karaoke systems and 3D dashboards, as competition to attract drivers heats up in the world's largest auto market.

At the first such showcase in China since the country's COVID-19 curbs ended, Zeekr, a premium electric vehicle (EV) brand owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, highlighted how its newly released X model SUV has seats that can massage passengers.

Many other Chinese brands showed off dashboard touch screens that allow users to sing karaoke or play games on the go, popular pursuits for consumers in a market where nimble domestic automakers have stolen a march on traditional Western brands that once dominated.

Polestar, a premium EV maker founded by Volvo and Geely, presented its Polestar 4 SUV coupe, set to go into production at the end of this year, which does away altogether with a rear window, instead relying on HD cameras mounted to its roof to show drivers what's behind them.

The feature maximises visibility and space for passengers in the back seat of the vehicle, Polestar said.

Popular video game engine company Unity showed how it is helping companies like Li Auto transform their dashboard display into a 3D game-like interface, as well as displaying its version of the cockpit of the future at the auto show.

Chinese automakers have been grabbing market share from foreign rivals in recent years in part by courting drivers with tailored lifestyle services and by releasing new models more quickly. They have also been extremely aggressive in coming up with innovations.

And while European carmakers commonly charge additional fees for features such as side view mirrors that retract when cars are parked, Chinese automakers tend to throw these features in for free, adding value to their already lower price points.

"So many new vehicles, so many new Chinese vehicles looking very good," said Patrick Koller, chief executive of French auto parts supplier Faurecia. Koller also noted the interior of many new Chinese models had completely done away with buttons in favour of voice and movement activation.

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"The electronics in China is more of a consumer-driven electronics, this means you are looking for a 'Wow!' effect," he said.

Foreign automakers also put their best foot forward.

South Korean giant Hyundai's high-end Genesis brand, a relative newcomer to the Chinese market, turned heads by putting a crystal ball in the centre console of its EV GV60 model, according to Markus Henne, the brand's CEO in China.

The "sphere", as Genesis calls it, lights up when the car starts is turned on, giving drivers a visual cue in lieu of the traditional engine noise absent in an EV, and can also be used to change gears.

"It's really been eaten up by Chinese consumers," Henne said.

But while speed at which automakers were introducing new features and models was exciting, Faurecia's Koller struck a cautionary note, citing the costs involved.

"To be honest I'm a little bit concerned about this speed and the renewing of vehicles on a very short cycle. This costs a fortune and it doesn't give you the time to really mature innovations and technology," Koller said.

(Reporting by Casey Hall, Zhang Yan, Xihao Jiang in Shanghai and Josh Ye in Hong Kong; Editing by Brenda Goh and Kenneth Maxwell)
Key Insights

The considerable ownership by individual investors in Singapore Post indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy

A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 46% ownership

Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

If you want to know who really controls Singapore Post Limited (SGX:S08), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And public companies on the other hand have a 37% ownership in the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Singapore Post, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Singapore Post

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Singapore Post?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Singapore Post already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Singapore Post's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Singapore Post. Singapore Telecommunications Limited is currently the company's largest shareholder with 22% of shares outstanding. With 15% and 2.2% of the shares outstanding respectively, Alibaba Group Holding Limited and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Singapore Post

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Singapore Post Limited. It has a market capitalization of just S$1.2b, and the board has only S$4.9m worth of shares in their own names. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 54% stake in Singapore Post, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 37% of the Singapore Post shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Singapore Post better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Singapore Post you should know about.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Companies covered in this report are AGRIVI, Agroptima S.L., CropX, Inc., Hexagon Agriculture, Kubota Corporation, Climate LLC (Bayer AG), AgriCircle, Augmenta, Yara International ASA, Ec2ce, Ag Leader Technology

Jersey City, NJ, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of a market assessment report on the "Global Smart Farming Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Application (Precision Farming, Livestock Monitoring & Management, Aquaculture) And Product Type (Hardware, Software, And Services)- Market Outlook And Industry Analysis 2031"

The global smart farming market is estimated to reach over USD 13.80 billion by 2031, exhibiting a CAGR of 15.19% during the forecast period.

The key factors driving demand during the projected period are increasing automation of commercial greenhouses and increasing the use of the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) concept in greenhouses in order to produce a greater yield and maintain optimum growth conditions. Growers recognize the potential benefits of growing plants in a greenhouse, resulting in commercial greenhouses' development.







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Cultivators have turned away from traditional lighting systems and towards LED grow lights, which can be readily integrated into a CEA setup. Although LED growth lights are expensive, they are an excellent choice for indoor farming due to their long-term energy efficiency benefits. Smart agriculture uses innovative technologies to help farmers grow crops more efficiently. Increasing technological advances and the adoption of fresh technologies are two major factors propelling the global smart agriculture market ahead.

Recent Developments:

In March 2021, DeLaval introduced the RC700 and RC550 robot collectors for solid flooring with the purpose of improving cow comfort. They are capable of handling any manure intake technology.

Story continues

List of Prominent Players in the Smart Farming Market:

Ag Leader Technology

AgriCircle

AGRIVI

Agroptima S.L.

AquaManager

Augment

BASF SE

Cargill, Incorporated

Climate LLC (Bayer AG)

CNH Industrial N.V.

Connecterra B.V.

CropX, Inc.

Deere & Company

Ec2ce

FarmFacts

Hexagon Agriculture

Intellias

Kubota Corporation

OneSoil

Proagrica (LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group)

Signify Holding

Syngenta AG

Topcon Corporation

Trimble Inc.

Yara International ASA

365FarmNet





Get Customized Report @ https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/customisation/1660





Smart Farming Market Report Scope:

Report Attribute Specifications Market size value in 2022 USD 3.92 Bn Revenue forecast in 2031 USD 13.80 Bn Growth rate CAGR CAGR of 15.19 % from 2023 to 2031 Quantitative units Representation of revenue in US$ Billion, and CAGR from 2023 to 2031 Historic Year 2019 to 2022 Forecast Year 2023-2031 Report coverage The forecast of revenue, the position of the company, the competitive market statistics, growth prospects, and trends Segments covered Application And Product Type Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S.; Canada; U.K.; Germany; China; India; Japan; Brazil; Mexico; The UK; France; Italy; Spain; China; Japan; India; South Korea; Southeast Asia; South Korea; Southeast Asia

Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Governments in both emerging and established nations are always attempting to expand the global smart agriculture market. The governments of such regions are substantially investing in R&D operations to support the development of the smart agriculture business. Furthermore, market participants are conducting research in order to put new items into the market. As a result, increasing R&D activities will drive the growth of the worldwide smart agriculture market over the forecast period.

Challenges:

The information and data gathered through smart agriculture software, and solutions are highly confidential and critical. The data collected by smart agriculture instruments assist farmers in making more informed decisions. As a result, this information must be appropriately controlled. However, there are no strong data management standards or guidelines. As a result, growing worries over data management are posing a significant impediment to the growth of the worldwide smart agriculture industry.

Regional Trends:

The North American smart farming market is expected to register a major market share in terms of revenue and is projected to boost at a high CAGR in the near future. The growing government initiatives and advantageous guidelines for agricultural improvement are associated with the rise of the North American smart agriculture business. Furthermore, this region's government is providing subsidies and tax incentives to support the expansion of the smart agriculture sector. All of these factors are propelling the North American smart agriculture industry to new heights. Additionally, increasing government initiatives for the agriculture industry are propelling the Asia-Pacific smart agriculture market forward.





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Segmentation of Smart Farming Market-

By Application-

Precision Farming Yield Monitoring and Crop Scouting or Forecasting Precision Planting Precision Spraying Precision Fertilization Precision Irrigation Farm Management Others

Livestock Monitoring & Management

Aquaculture

Others

By Product-

Hardware

Software Software Type Farm Operation Management Software Hardware Control Application Software Data and Predictive Analytics Software Deployment Type On-Premises Cloud-Based

Services

By Region-

North America-

The US

Canada

Mexico

Europe-

Germany

The UK

France

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific-

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Southeast Asia

Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America-

Brazil

Argentina

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa-

GCC Countries

South Africa

Rest of the Middle East and Africa

About Us:

InsighAce Analytic is a specializing in market research and consulting services that helps in building business strategies. Our mission is to provide high quality insights with using data analytics techniques and visualization tools that drives the disruption and innovation in market research industry. Our expertise is in providing syndicated and custom market intelligence reports with in-depth analysis and key market insights in a timely and cost-effective manner.

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Man stealing money

Receiving an inheritance could provide an unexpected (or anticipated) financial windfall. Theres just one thing you may have to contend with  people attempting to steal what youve inherited. Inheritance theft is sometimes a very real problem for people who inherit money, property or other assets. Inheritance theft laws exist to protect heirs and beneficiaries. If youre set to receive an inheritance or have received one that was stolen from you, its important to understand what legal rights you may have for getting those assets back. A financial advisor can help you with estate planning to minimize conflicts after your death.

What Is Considered Inheritance Theft?

Inheritance theft can take different forms, with some being more obvious and others being more subtle. Some common examples of inheritance theft or inheritance hijacking include:

An executor of a will who steals or attempts to hide assets from the estate inventory

A trustee who diverts assets from a trust for their own use or benefit

Executors or trustees who charge excessive fees for their services

Abuse of power of attorney status

Use of coercion or undue influence to force a will-maker or trust grantor to change the terms of their will or trust

Fraud or forgery related to the will or trust document or the destruction of said documents

Inheritance theft can also happen on a more personal level. Say you and your sister share caregiving duties for your aging mother. Your sister has access to your mothers bank accounts and without your knowledge, withdraws a large amount of cash from them while your mother is still living.

Meanwhile, your mother names you as executor of her will. Once she passes away, you begin creating an inventory of her assets only to discover that money is missing from her bank accounts. If you and your sister were supposed to have inherited those assets jointly, this could constitute a violation of your states inheritance theft laws.

If youre ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Story continues

Is Stealing Inheritance a Crime?

Attorney in a law library

People who commit inheritance theft, whether its an executor, trustee, beneficiary or someone else, may be subject to both criminal and civil penalties. For example, a trustee who embezzles money from someones estate can be charged with a felony or misdemeanor, depending on state laws. They can also be sued by the beneficiaries of the trust for breach of fiduciary duty.

Likewise, a caregiver who steals money from someones bank accounts or coerces them into signing over other assets could be charged with a felony or misdemeanor crime. Typically, whether a felony or misdemeanor charge is brought depends on the nature of the theft and the value of what was stolen. Felony convictions can result in a prison sentence while the punishment for misdemeanor convictions is typically jail time and/or fines.

The injured parties, i.e. someones heirs or beneficiaries, may also choose to pursue a civil claim against someone they believe has stolen their inheritance. Going back to the previous example, you may decide to sue your sister for the money that was taken from your mothers bank account. If you win a judgment, theyd be forced to repay your share of those assets along with your attorneys fees.

Inheritance Theft Laws

Each state has different laws regarding inherited assets but theyre all designed to do the same thing: Protect the rights of people who inherit assets.

State inheritance theft laws typically cover four distinct aspects:

Who has committed the inheritance theft (i.e. a family member, friend, caretaker, etc.)

When the theft occurred (i.e. before or after the owner of the assets passed away)

What was stolen (i.e. bank accounts, real estate, jewelry, etc.)

How the theft occurred

As far as the how goes, its important to remember that inheritance theft can take many different forms. One of the most common examples involves elder financial abuse, in which someone takes advantage of an elderly persons weakened physical or mental state to steal from them. This is something to be aware of if you have aging parents and someone else is their primary caregiver.

What Can You Do If Someone Steals Your Inheritance?

If you believe someone has stolen your inheritance, its important to review inheritance theft laws in your state. Again, each state has different guidelines regarding:

What constitutes inheritance theft

Who has the standing to bring a civil claim or file a criminal complaint in connection with a stolen inheritance

Legal grounds for successfully pursuing an inheritance theft claim

Penalties and remedies for inheritance theft

Talking with an experienced estate planning attorney can help you determine if you have standing and grounds to file a claim for inheritance theft. Your attorney may advise you to take certain steps to develop a case, including:

Taking an inventory of the estates assets

Reviewing estate documents, such as wills or trusts, to look for any potential signs of fraud or forgery

Verifying the validity of will or trust documents

In the case of a larger estate, it may be necessary to hire a forensic accountant. Forensic accountants specialize in examining financial documents, which may be helpful if youre struggling to create a paper trail in order to provide inheritance theft.

You could also reach out directly to the person that you believe stole the inheritance, though your attorney may or may not advise this. If the person is aware that youre pursuing a civil claim or criminal case against them, they may be willing to return any stolen assets to avoid legal trouble. If your request is unsuccessful then you may have no choice but to pursue a civil or criminal case.

The Bottom Line

Gavel with justice scale

Inheritance theft laws can help to preserve your rights to an estate if you believe your inheritance was stolen from you. You can also take steps to preserve your own estate for your heirs by drafting a valid last will and testament, creating a trust and choosing trustworthy individuals to act as your executor, trustee and power of attorney.

Estate Planning Tips

Consider talking to a financial advisor about what to do if someone steals your inheritance or how you can protect your heirs and beneficiaries from theft. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors in your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If youre ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

If you disagree with the way an executor or trustee is managing an estate, you could take steps to remove them  even if no theft has occurred. And there may be situations where you might feel it necessary to contest someones will or a trust if you believe that its in some way invalid or that a breach of fiduciary duty has occurred on the part of the trust. In those situations, it may be helpful to talk with an estate planning attorney to discuss whether you might be able to challenge a will or trust.

Photo credit: iStock.com/venuestock, iStock.com/PeopleImages, iStock.com/Pattanaphong Khuankaew

The post Understanding Inheritance Theft Laws appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
Elon Musk's Starship rocket has blown up around four minutes after blasting off in an explosive end to its first launch.

Although the rocket stages failed to separate the launch will be considered a win for SpaceX, heralding a new age of heavy space flight.

Mr Musk previously suggested the mission risked ending in a fireball, but said the launch would go down as a success if the Starship rocket managed to get off the launch pad.

The 390ft rocket, which has been picked by NASA for its return to the lunar surface, took off shortly after 2.33pm.

Starship was supposed to blast 150 miles into the atmosphere, before cruising for around an hour and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

However, the mission ended early after the separation of the first and second stages of the rocket appeared to fail. The rocket reached a height of around 25 miles above the earth, before entering a spin and self-destructing after its "automated flight termination" system activated.

Kate Tice, a SpaceX engineering manager, said the rocket had suffered a "rapid unscheduled disassembly".

Mr Musk said the company had "learned a lot for next test launch in a few months".

SpaceX blasts off - Shutterstock

The super heavy Starship rocket has been picked by the US space agency for its 2025 Artemis III Moon mission, the first time mankind will return to the Moon's surface since the Apollo programme ended in 1972.

04:38 PM

Thank you for joining us

That's all from us for today. While Elon Musk's Starship mission may not have gone entirely as planned, it certainly did not fail to entertain.

04:33 PM

SpaceX races to be ready for NASA Moon mission

Elon Musk's SpaceX is racing to get its Starship rocket ready for a planned NASA mission to the Moon as early as 2025, and while today's launch will provide valuable data it was not a total success.

Story continues

The rocket got off the launch pad, but did not to reach its planned altitude and the planned separation of the first and second stages of the vehicle failed.

Still, many in the space industry have hailed the first proper launch of Starship, the company's 394ft super heavy rocket, as a success.

Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, congratulated Mr Musk. He said: "Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test - and beyond."

Experts in the UK space industry said Mr Musk appeared to be following the company's "fail fast" mantra in an effort to learn rapidly from its mistakes.

Rob Adlard, chief executive of UK launch company Gravitilab, said: "Its an example of the test and fail fast approach by SpaceX."

He added: "NASA had many failures of large rockets en route to the Saturn V successes." However, SpaceX is moving even faster than the government agency in its rocket attempts. The space organisation would have had "more risk-averse testing," Adlard says.

Mark Boggett, of Seraphim Capital, said: "Failures like this one are a necessary setback on the path to success. SpaceX has proven they can iterate quickly to build reliable, capable rockets."

The mission was always due to the end with the destruction of SpaceX's Starship rocket, but such endeavours are nonetheless expensive. Mr Musk has estimated the development of the super heavy rocket to cost anywhere between $2bn and $10bn.

But the company has a huge financial cushion, having raised more than $10bn in total funding.

Still, the company will not want too many set backs. With NASA aiming to return man to the Moon as early as December 2025, Mr Musk needs to prove his rocket is safe for human use and can survive in the hostile atmosphere of space. Today's mission shows that is still some way off.

03:57 PM

Space fans watch the rocket mission

SpaceX launch - Reuters

People watch as SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket lifts off from the company's Boca Chica - Reuters

SpaceX - Reuters

03:33 PM

SpaceX staff crack out the champagne

The team at SpaceX reportedly cracked out the bubbly and chanted "go Starship" after the rocket's explosion.

Inside Starbase, staff gathered to watch the live stream of the rocket launch like hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Meanwhile, space fans lined the shore at South Padre Island, Texas, to watch the Starship rocket head towards space.

As excitement built, there were audible groans as SpaceX's broadcast team announced the countdown clock had been stopped around a minute before launch, amid fears of another delay.

However, those moans soon turned to cheers as the clock restarted and Starship ignited shortly after 2.33pm.

The fired up and blasted off to 2,000kpmh. Having reached around 25 miles above the earth, a problem emerged.

The rocket was supposed to separate, with its first and second stages splitting. Its booster rocket would then fall back to earth and into the Gulf of Mexico.

That separation failed, sending the rocket into a spin. Broadcasters on the stream went quiet as they watched uneasily.

"This does not appear to be a nominal situation," SpaceX's principal engineer, John Insprucker, said.

Seconds later, the rocket detonated over the ocean.

However, staff still celebrated. The team cheered even as the rocket blew up. Engineers reportedly sprayed champagne on one another and chanted the rocket's name.

"As we promised an exciting end to the Starship inaugural test flight," said Kate Tice, SpaceX's livestream host.

03:13 PM

Elon Musk congratulates the SpaceX team

Despite ending in an explosion, the launch is likely to be viewed as a partial success by SpaceX.

The company managed to get its super heavy rocket off the ground for the first time and on its way towards space.

However, its Starship second stage failed to separate from its booster rocket, ending in the rocket self-destructing.

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!



Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

03:09 PM

Starship's first launch attempt: in pictures

A frame grab from a handout livestream video released by SpaceX showing preparations for the launch of inaugural test flight of Starship on the second attempt at the SpaceX launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, USA, 20 April 2023 - Shutterstock

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket lifts off - Reuters

Starship - Shutterstock

Starship blasts into the sky above Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas - AP

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, self-destructs after its launch from the company's Boca Chica - Reuters

Starship - AP

Starship Elon Musk - Shutterstock

02:50 PM

'Rapid unscheduled disassembly'

SpaceX has said its rocket suffered from a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" as it attempted to reach space for the first time.

On Twitter, the company said: "As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.

"Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and todays test will help us improve Starships reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary

"Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship!"

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft self-destructs after liftoff from the company's Boca Chica launchpad - Reuters

02:44 PM

Starship blows up over the ocean

Elon Musk's first attempt to send the company's Starship rocket into space has ended with a bang.

The rocket made it about three minutes into its mission, but the first and second stages of the launch vehicle failed to separate.

The Starship and its Super Heavy booster appear to have then gone into a tailspin. The rocket's booster body is supposed to "flip" while at high altitude, but after about four minutes, the mission ended in a fireball.

02:38 PM

Starship rocket separation fails and ends in explosion

At three minutes, the booster rocket, Super Heavy, appears to have failed to separate, ending in an explosion high in the atmosphere.

Starship on top of its booster rocket moments before the explosion

The SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test - AFP

02:34 PM

Blast off!

The rocket is away, after one minute and 30 seconds is still intact and is heading into the atmosphere, now more than 18 kilometres high...

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket lifts off from the company's Boca Chica - SpaceX/Reuters

02:33 PM

Countdown begins again

The launch is back on - 20 seconds...

02:31 PM

Launch holding at T-minus 40 seconds

John Insprucker, SpaceX's chief engineer, says the SpaceX team is performing some final checks after pressurisation of the rocket came in slightly lower than expected.

The rocket has around a one hour launch window in which to get the mission going.

It looks like the rocket is about to release and the countdown will continue.

02:29 PM

Hold up... launch delayed

The SpaceX ground team has called a hold on the rocket launch and the clock has stopped... we are waiting to see if there is an issue or if the countdown will restart.

02:27 PM

T-minus 1 minute

Final checks now. The rocket seconds from launch...

02:24 PM

Into the final minutes before launch

10 minutes to launch https://t.co/To555HzMKB  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

02:17 PM

Engine chilling ahead of blast off

Starships Raptor engines are chilling down in preparation for liftoff  SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

02:11 PM

Weather looking good for take-off, says SpaceX

John Insprucker, SpaceX's principal engineer, says "we are looking good" in the minutes before launch.

The current ground wind speed is around 18 miles per hour, well within Starship's launch limits, although it has been picking up.

The rocket will continue loading propellant until just a couple of minutes before lift-off.

02:05 PM

How Starship's rocket mission will play out

The two-stage Starship will blast off in around 25 minutes, lighting up its 33 raptor engines. Around three minutes into its ascent the first stage will disconnect, and its the six second stage engines, while ignite. The first stage will come down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The second stage, the Starship rocket that will one day carry cargo and crew, will coast for about an hour 150 miles high and then crashing down into the Pacific Ocean.

Ultimately, the two stages will be able to land "softly" back on land, but for now, they will come down with a hard landing in the sea after launch.

02:00 PM

Starship on track to launch: Musk

Starship on track to launch in ~37 mins  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

01:55 PM

SpaceX's livestream begins

SpaceX's livestream of the first launch of Starship has kicked off - will second time by the charm for Elon Musk?

01:38 PM

The largest rocket ever launched

SpaceX's Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster make it the largest rocket ever to attempt to launch.

Towering 394ft high above the Texas shoreline, the rocket is made up of two stages: the 230ft booster and 164ft Starship second stage.

All told, the rocket weighs 5,000 tonnes and is capable of lifting a 250 tonne payload into space.

The rocket generates 17 million pounds of thrust when it blasts off, more than double that of the Saturn V rockets that took man to the Moon.

01:14 PM

The latest images from Boca Chica

The SpaceX Starship, seen from South Padre Island, Texas, sits on the launchpad as it is readied for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023. - AFP

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, left, and Haley Esparza, right, ride horseback as they visit SpaceX's Starship - AP

SpaceX - Reuters

Jose Cabrera, a technician with SpaceX, awaits the launch of Starship this morning - AP

12:57 PM

Up in flames: how past SpaceX launches ended with a bang

SpaceX delayed its initial launch plan on Monday after finding a fault with a valve. The hold up may have been for a good reason. Past launches have ended spectacularly in a ball of fire. Here is how the company's past Starship tests have performed:

12:55 PM

How SpaceX's Starship is transforming spaceflight

Since founding SpaceX in 2002, Elon Musk has shaken up the sector by launching hundreds of privately operated rockets into orbit.

The company's current generation of Falcon 9 rockets are designed to be reusable, featuring a booster than can return to earth and land safely, saving on costs.

The Starship is similarly built with reusability in mind. Starship will take off later today consisting of two stages. The first is its Super Heavy booster, which is 230 ft tall and has 33 engines, powered by a mix of liquid oxygen and Methane generating 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the moon.

After about three minutes, this stage will separate and the top half of the craft, Starship, will fire up its six raptor engines.

Ultimately, these rocket parts are designed to be utilitsed again. However, for now, both will splash down into the ocean as part of today's test.

11:37 AM

'All systems green' for SpaceX launch

Good morning and welcome to our Starship launch live blog.

We will be bringing you the latest updates from the latest SpaceX mission, which after Monday's delayed launch is due to go head some time around 2.28pm today, or 8.28am local time.

Elon Musk, SpaceX's billionaire chief executive, has said "all systems currently green for launch" ahead of the second attempt to get the world's most powerful rocket off the ground and into space.

You will be able to watch the progress of the mission on the livestream which will be included in this article shortly.

Here is the latest from SpaceX and Musk on the ground in Boca Chica, Texas:
FILE - A water meter stands in a dry wetland in Donana natural park, southwest Spain, on Oct. 19, 2022. Spain's Prime Minister and the European Union's Environment Commissioner on Thursday April 20, 2023 slammed an "illegal" plan by right-wing lawmakers to expand water rights for farmland around some ofEurope's most important wetlandsamid aprolonged drought. The bill's critics say this would effectively offer an amnesty to farmers already using illegal wells to tap into the Donana aquifer to grow berries for export across Europe. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

MADRID (AP)  Spains Prime Minister and the European Unions environmental chief on Thursday slammed a plan by right-wing lawmakers to expand water rights for farmland around some of Europe's most important wetlands amid a prolonged drought.

The center-right Popular Party and far-right Vox movement first proposed rezoning land around Andalusia's Donana national park in March, and regional lawmakers backed the plan last week. The bills critics say this would effectively offer an amnesty to farmers already using illegal wells to tap into the Donana aquifer to grow strawberries, blueberries and raspberries for export across Europe.

EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius warned in a written missive Thursday that the bloc would use all the means available to ensure Spain complied with a 2021 European Court of Justice ruling that condemned it for breaching EU rules on excessive water extraction in Donana.

The EU has sent repeated follow-ups to ensure compliance on environmental rules since then, and the approval of irrigation rights for 800 hectares of extra land around the UNESCO World Heritage site could incur a hefty fine.

Spain's center-left Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez later visited the conservation area, which is home to rare species including the Iberian lynx. Sanchez urged Andalusian politicians to get back on track with European law and stop this outrage." He reminded local lawmakers that Spanish taxpayers would foot the bill for any EU-issued fines, as some view the Donana plan as a way to win farmers' votes ahead of local elections on May 28.

His comments received a swift rebuke from Andalusia's regional leader Juanma Moreno, who said the central government had failed to invest in updating agricultural infrastructure to avoid water leaks. He urged Sanchez to offer money, attention and respect" to resolve the situation.

Water levels in reservoirs fed by the Guadalquivir River Basin, where Donana is situated, are currently at 25% of their total capacity due to back-to-back years of elevated temperatures and low rainfall. Farmers in the region have had their water allowance for irrigation cut by more than a third amid Andalusia's worst drought in almost three decades.

Story continues

Spanish conservationists warned this month that half of the nature reserve's lakes have already disappeared, threatening the survival of freshwater turtles native to the Iberian peninsula, along with dragonflies and eels. Images of flamingos stumbling over cracked, dried up mud have shocked many in Spain. The site is also an important transit point for many migratory bird species.

The land around Donana has become a major agricultural center for farmers who in previous decades shifted over from low-water crops like olives and grains to water-thirsty berries to boost revenues.

Farmers demanding water rights are owners of lands that were deemed non-irrigable when in 2004 an agreement was struck to manage farming activity around the reserve. Since then, the berry boom led to an estimated 1,000-2,000 illegal wells popping up nearby, according to studies carried out by environmental group WWF.

Spain's Agriculture Minister Luis Planas bluntly called the irrigation plan "illegal" earlier this week, saying politicians were promising access to water that does not exist in that area. The proposal, he added, risked serious reputational damage for Spain among its export partners, particularly Germany, which buys up a third of Spain's berries.

(Donana) is our heritage and therefore this government is going to do everything necessary so that this absolutely incomprehensible and absolutely irrational initiative never comes to fruition, Planas said.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF) (the "Company", "Stillwater" or "SWCM") is pleased to announce that Wolfgang Maier, Ph.D., a recognized world expert geologist in magmatic mineral deposits, has joined the Company as Senior Geological Advisor.

Figure 1 - Stillwater Critical Minerals personnel at Stillwater West in August 2022 (L-R): Dr. Wolfgang Maier, Senior Geological Advisor, Dr. Danie Grobler, Vice-President Exploration, and Greg Johnson, Chairman of the Board

Dr. Maier has more than 25 years of global experience in mafic-ultramafic igneous systems and the formation of magmatic ore deposits, including deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements ("PGE"), and chromium. He has authored and co-authored 144 publications which have received 5,175 citations to date and has been a contributing author or editor of several books, monographs, and geological maps. Dr. Maier studied geology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany and at Rhodes University, South Africa, including doctoral studies on the Bushveld Complex in 1992. He taught igneous petrology and economic geology at the Universities of Pretoria (South Africa), University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (Canada), UWA (Australia), and Oulu (Finland) before joining Cardiff University in 2013 where he is currently a professor with the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. In addition to his work studying the formation of magmatic ore deposits including PGE, Ni-Cu, Cr, and V-Ti-Fe deposits, Dr. Maier is also interested in increasing the sustainability of both exploration and mining.

Dr. Wolfgang Maier commented, "I am very impressed with the potential of the Stillwater project and excited to contribute to the exceptional team assembled by Stillwater Critical Minerals. During my site visit in 2022, I was impressed by the relatively underexplored nature of the lower Stillwater complex, which is surprising as the Stillwater Igneous Complex hosts the highest-grade platinum group element reef system in the world and the lower Stillwater complex shows similar exceptional PGE tenor within the more broadly mineralized nickel, copper, cobalt and chromium enriched lower magmatic stratigraphy. I look forward to further collaboration as SWCM focuses on expansion of their current resources and follows up on its exciting high-grade discovery holes in 2023. The potential for continued discovery of these important battery metals along with significant PGEs at Stillwater is outstanding."

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Dr. Danie Grobler, Stillwater Critical Minerals' Vice-President of Exploration, stated, "We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Maier to the technical team at Stillwater in follow-up to his extended tour of the project last year. During his career, Dr Maier has worked on and published papers about most of the economically important layered mafic-ultramafic intrusives globally. Dr Maier's extensive scientific understanding of these important critical metal deposits complements our experienced exploration team as we prioritize high-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group element mineralized zones within the lower part of the Stillwater layered magmatic stratigraphy. We are currently finalizing our exploration plans for 2023 which will focus on continued expansion drilling at the resource areas. Particular focus is planned for targets adjacent to high-grade discovery intersects such as CM2021-05 at Chrome Mountain which intersected 13.2 meters of high-grade nickel sulphide grading 2.31% Ni, 0.35% Cu, 0.115% Co and 1.51 g/t PGEs+Au within 400.8 meters of continuous mineralization, and CZ2021-01 at Iron Mountain, which intersected 4.6 meters grading 0.96% Ni, 0.49% Cu, 0.073% Co and 0.87 g/t PGEs+Au within 367.6 meters of continuous mineralization."

About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSX.V: PGE | OTCQB: PGEZF) is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the recent addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper, and chromium, and the on-going production of platinum group and other metals by neighboring Sibanye-Stillwater. An expanded NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January 2023, delineates a compelling suite of critical minerals contained within five Platreef-style nickel and copper sulphide deposits at Stillwater West, which host a total of 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt, and 3.8 million ounces of palladium, platinum, rhodium, and gold, and remains open for expansion along trend and at depth.

Stillwater Critical Minerals also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Treasury Metals' development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinums Wellgreen deposit in Canadas Yukon Territory.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director - Stillwater Critical Minerals

Email: info@criticalminerals.com Phone: (604) 357 4790

Web: http://criticalminerals.com Toll Free: (888) 432 0075

Quality Control and Quality Assurance

2021 drill core samples were analyzed by ACT Labs in Vancouver, B.C. Sample preparation: crush (< 7 kg) up to 80% passing 2 mm, riffle split (250 g) and pulverize (mild steel) to 95% passing 105 m included cleaner sand. Gold, platinum, and palladium were analyzed by fire assay (1C-OES) with ICP finish. Selected major and trace elements were analyzed by peroxide fusion with 8-Peroxide ICP-OES finish to insure complete dissolution of resistate minerals. Following industry QA/QC standards, blanks, duplicate samples, and certified standards were also assayed.

Mr. Mike Ostenson, P.Geo., is the qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and he has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Group Ten believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Group Ten and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/750421/Stillwater-Critical-Minerals-Appoints-Dr-Wolfgang-Maier-as-Senior-Geological-Advisor




Taiwan's Starlux pushes Airbus on deliveries as it adds long-haul routes Starlux flight attendants receive emergency landing and slide trainings at their center in Taoyuan

By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Starlux Airlines Co Ltd is pushing Airbus SE to speed up deliveries as it seeks to expand its routes beyond Asia to keep up with booming post-pandemic demand, the carrier's chief executive said.

Starlux, Taiwan's newest full-service airline, launched its first flights in 2020 and serves destinations including Tokyo, Bangkok, Macau, Hanoi and Singapore.

The all-Airbus operator competes against the island's long-established carriers China Airlines Ltd and Eva Airways Corp, which are expanding and updating their own fleets with Boeing Co 787s.

Starlux took delivery of the first of 18 A350s in October as it expands operations to long-haul routes from Taipei, starting with Los Angeles next week.

The airline, which also operates the A330neo, expects to receive five widebody jets next year, but that is not enough to keep pace with strong post-pandemic demand, CEO Glenn Chai told Reuters at the company's headquarters in Taipei.

"We have been pushing Airbus to provide the aircraft as soon as possible, but their production rate is not able at the moment to return to pre-pandemic levels," he said.

North America is the focus for now with Starlux launching San Francisco before the end of the year, Chai added. The airline is targeting transit passengers given the small size of its domestic market.

"New York is a must - it's the largest city in North America, but it depends on aircraft deliveries," he said. "The headache for us is Airbus can't hand them over."

Airbus said it was in "direct contact with all our customers" but declined to comment on talks with individual airlines. The planemaker has reaffirmed production targets for 2024 and beyond.

Chai said Starlux, which reported a net loss of T$5.3 billion ($173.75 million) last year, aimed to have a fleet of 39 planes in the "first phase" and then expand to 50, with Boeing Co jets a consideration depending on pricing.

Story continues

"We welcome Boeing to take part in the price quotation process," he said. "We absolutely are not ruling them out."

While its initial long-haul focus is on North America, it plans to eventually fly to Europe and Australia, Chai added.

($1 = 30.5030 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Market.Us

According to Market.us, the market for thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) is expected to grow steadily in the coming years, driven by a surge in demand in sectors such as automotive and aerospace. TPVs are favored for their lightweight and high-strength properties.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Thermoplastic Vulcanizates market size is projected to surpass around USD 4 billion by 2032 from USD 2.1 Billion in 2022, and it is poised to reach a registered CAGR of 6.8% from 2023 to 2032. Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs), a type of thermoplastic elastomer, blend the qualities of thermoplastics and vulcanized rubber. They are created by mixing a polymer phase, typically made of polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene, with a vulcanized rubber phase, typically made of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) or natural rubber. (PE). TPVs offer processing simplicity, recyclability, and design freedom of thermoplastics while also exhibiting the elasticity and toughness of vulcanized rubber. They are used in many different uses, such as building materials, consumer goods, industrial machinery, and automotive parts.

Sports Technology





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Key Takeaway:

Based on the processing method, the injection molding method is dominant in the market due to its precision in creating complex shapes and accurate dimensions.

By application, the automotive segment is emerged as dominant in the market with a market share of 58% .

From end-user industries, it is seen that TPVs are widely used in the construction industry for applications such as seals, gaskets, roofing materials, and weatherstripping.

In 2022, North America dominated the market with the highest revenue share of 33% .

The APAC segment is expected to grow with a higher CAGR because of urbanization, infrastructure development, and rapid industrialization.



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Factors affecting the growth of the Thermoplastic Vulcanizates industry?

There are several factors that can have an impact on the growth of the thermoplastic vulcanizates industry. Some of these factors include:

Increasing Demand for Lightweight Materials: Industries such as automotive and aerospace are striving to reduce product weight to improve fuel economy and performance, driving up demand for lightweight materials like TPVs.

Growing Demand for Sustainable Materials: TPVs are recyclable, making them an attractive option for environmentally conscious consumers and industries. As demand for sustainable materials continues to increase, TPVs may become even more popular.

Technological Advancements: Technological advancements have made manufacturing TPVs much simpler, as well as improved their properties such as heat resistance and mechanical strength. As this trend continues to develop, the TPV industry is expected to experience growth.

Government Regulations: Government initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainability could encourage the demand for TPVs, as they are an environmentally friendly material.

Fluctuations in Raw Material Prices: The prices of raw materials used to manufacture TPVs, such as polypropylene and EPDM rubber, can fluctuate depending on market conditions. These changes could impact the cost of TPVs and negatively affect their growth within the industry.

To understand how our Thermoplastic Vulcanizates Market report can bring a difference to your business strategy, Inquire about a brochure at https://market.us/report/thermoplastic-vulcanizates-market/#inquiry

Top Trends in The Global Thermoplastic Vulcanizates Market

The thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) market is experiencing several trends that will shape its future growth trajectory. One major development is the increasing demand for lightweight and high-performance materials across various end-use industries. TPVs boast properties like elasticity, toughness, and chemical resistance that make them ideal for use in industries such as automotive, consumer goods, and construction.

Another trend in manufacturing is an increasing focus on sustainability and circular economy principles. Thermal power velocimeters (TPVs), which are fully recyclable and offer an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional materials that are hard to recycle or dispose of, make TPVs attractive options for companies seeking to reduce their environmental impact.

The Asia-Pacific region is witnessing a trend towards rapid industrialization, urbanization, and infrastructure development that is driving demand for high-quality and long-lasting materials such as TPVs. Forecasts anticipate this region will become the largest and fastest-growing market for TPVs due to its expanding manufacturing sector, rising disposable incomes, and expanding population. Additionally, the healthcare industry is witnessing an increasing trend toward using innovative and biocompatible materials in medical devices and equipment - such as TPVs. TPVs boast several benefits like biocompatibility, sterilization resistance, and good chemical resistance that make them suitable for applications like medical tubing or surgical instruments.

Market Growth

In the upcoming years, the market for thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) is anticipated to expand steadily for a number of reasons. In sectors like automotive and aerospace, TPVs are growing in demand as lightweight and high-strength materials. Because TPVs are recyclable and ecologically friendly, demand is rising as sustainability becomes more and more of a priority. Additionally, the market is expanding due to its adaptability in industries like consumer goods, healthcare, and building. Thanks to technological advancements, TPVs now have better mechanical power and heat resistance. Government rules aimed at lowering carbon pollution and promoting sustainability may also increase demand for these TPVs.

Regional Analysis

North America currently dominates the market with a 33% share, but Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region for TPVs due to factors such as rapid industrialization, urbanization, and infrastructure development in countries like China, India, and Japan. Furthermore, there are numerous major automotive manufacturers located here which creates an additional demand for TPVs within this industry.

North America and Europe have established markets for TPVs, with established end-use industries like automotive, consumer goods, and construction. These regions boast high levels of innovation and technological breakthroughs which spur demand for high-performance materials such as TPVs.

Latin America and the Middle East and Africa are emerging markets for TPVs, with increasing demand for durable, high-quality materials across a variety of end uses. These regions are expected to experience significant growth over the coming years due to their expanding manufacturing sectors, rising disposable incomes, and expanding populations.

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Scope of the Report

Report Attribute Details Market Value (2022) USD 2.1 Billion Market Size (2032) USD 4 Billion CAGR (from 2023 to 2032) 6.8% North America Revenue Share 33% Historic Period 2016 to 2022 Base Year 2022 Forecast Year 2023 to 2032

Market Drivers

The thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) market is being driven by several factors, including an increasing need for lightweight and high-strength materials in industries such as automotive and aerospace. TPVs are ideal for these tasks due to their lightweight design and superior strength, which can reduce fuel consumption and enhance performance. The growing concern with sustainability is another driving factor of the TPV market, as these units are recyclable and eco-friendly, making them attractive to both consumers and businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprints. TPVs are also highly versatile and capable of being applied in a variety of applications such as healthcare, construction, and consumer goods - another factor driving demand for them. Technological progress has enabled the production of TPVs with improved properties, such as increased heat resistance and greater mechanical strength, which have further added to their appeal. Furthermore, government regulations designed to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainability are expected to further stimulate demand for TPVs in the coming years.

Market Restraints

The thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) market is expected to experience growth, yet several factors could hinder its progress. One such issue is the cost of TPVs when compared with other materials like thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) or traditional rubber. TPVs tend to be costlier than their alternatives, which could hinder their adoption in certain industries or applications. Furthermore, the TPV market remains relatively small compared to other materials markets, potentially restricting its overall growth potential. Another factor that could impact the TPV market is the supply of raw materials, particularly EPDM rubber - an essential component. Changes in EPDM rubber prices or availability could adversely affect TPV costs and availability. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable effect on many industries, including the TPV market, due to disruptions to supply chains and decreased demand in certain fields. However, as demand for sustainable and high-performance materials continues to increase as the crisis subsides, analysts anticipate continued growth for this market in the long term.

Market Opportunities

The thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) market presents several opportunities for growth in the coming years. One major opportunity is the increasing demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly materials, which is driving interest in TPVs due to their recyclability and low environmental impact. This trend is expected to continue as consumers and industries increasingly prioritize sustainability. Additionally, the versatility of TPVs means they can be used in a wide range of applications, including automotive, healthcare, construction, and consumer goods, creating opportunities for growth in multiple industries. Advancements in technology and manufacturing processes are also presenting opportunities to develop TPVs with improved properties and reduced costs, which could further expand their market appeal. Moreover, the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China and India, presents a significant opportunity for the TPV market due to the growing demand for lightweight materials in the automotive industry and increasing industrialization in the region. Finally, collaborations and partnerships between TPV manufacturers and end-users could help expand the market and create new opportunities for growth in the coming years.

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Report Segmentation of the Thermoplastic Vulcanizates Market

Processing Method Insight

The industry is dominated by the injection molding technique. Plastic pellets are melted during the production process of injection molding, and the molten plastic is then injected into a mold cavity. This TPV material is pushed through the mold cavity at high pressure before cooling to create the finished part. Due to its accuracy in producing complicated shapes and precise dimensions, injection molding is a commonly used processing technique for thermoplastic valves (TPVs). On the other hand, extrusion entails forcing liquid material through a die to produce a single continuous profile or tube. A common method for creating profiles, tubing, and sheet components is extrusion.

Application Insight

The automotive segment accounts for 58% of the market share, making up of parts like seals, gaskets, weatherstripping and interior trim. Thanks to their superior weather ability, minimal compression set, and long-term durability they are perfect for automotive uses. In consumer goods like toys or sporting goods, TPVs are commonly employed due to their extraordinary flexibility, softness, and elasticity - perfect for uses requiring a soft touch or grip.

End User Insight

In the building sector, TPVs are frequently used for things like seals, gaskets, roofing materials, and weatherstripping. They are ideal for building work due to their excellent weather ability, UV resistance, and long-term durability. Due to their chemical resistance, biocompatibility, and sterilization compatibility, TPVs are also used in healthcare in applications like tubing, connectors, and seals on medical devices, making them the ideal option for medical usage.

Recent Development of the Thermoplastic Vulcanizates Market

In 2021: DuPont introduced a revolutionary TPV compound made from recycled materials that provide superior performance while decreasing its environmental footprint. This material offers advantages while helping reduce material waste.

In 2020: Teknor Apex introduced a new TPV compound specifically designed for automotive interior applications. This compound boasts superior scratch resistance, surface finish, and color stability.

For more insights on the historical and Forecast Thermoplastic Vulcanizates Market data from 2016 to 2032 - download a sample report at https://market.us/report/thermoplastic-vulcanizates-market/request-sample/

Market Segmentation

Based on the Processing Method

Injection Molding

Extrusion

Based on the Application

Automotive

Fluid Handling

Consumer Goods

Medical

Footwear

Other

Based on the End User

Automotive

Building and Construction

Consumer Goods

Healthcare

Other End-user Industries

By Geography

North America

The US Canada Mexico



Western Europe

Germany France The UK Spain Italy Portugal Ireland Austria Switzerland Benelux Nordic Rest of Western Europe



Eastern Europe

Russia Poland The Czech Republic Greece Rest of Eastern Europe

APAC China Japan South Korea India Australia & New Zealand Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Rest of APAC



Latin America

Brazil Colombia Chile Argentina Costa Rica Rest of Latin America



Middle East & Africa

Algeria Egypt Israel Kuwait Nigeria Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates Rest of MEA



Competitive Landscape

Many significant players are working in the highly competitive global thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) market. Companies are actively involved in R&D to create new TPV products and uses, and they compete on price, product innovation, and quality. It's anticipated that key TPV players will continue to invest in R&D initiatives to satisfy the growing demand for novel materials across various end-use sectors.

Some of the major players include:

JSR Corporation

Exxon Mobil Corp

RTP Company

DuPont de Nemours Inc

Mitsui Chemicals Inc

Celanese Corp

Lyondell Basell Industries Holdings B V

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp

Ravago Manufacturing

KUMHO POLYCHEM

Avient Corporation

FM Plastics

Elastron TPE

LCY GROUP

Other Key Players

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LONDON  Despite ageing being the key demographic trend and the stuff of fixation for macro analysts, the scant global line-up of ETFs addressing the theme have failed to fork much lightning since their belated arrival seven years ago.

The inverted population pyramids discussion returned to the fore last year as China announced its population fell for the first time in 60 years while those assumed to be of working age  16 to 59 years  accounted for just over 60% of its overall population, according to Chinas National Bureau of Statistics.

Worryingly, this did not owe to rising birth rates, with a 2021 survey by Chinas Communist Youth League finding having one or no children has become the social norm in China as a hangover of the one-child policy.

The worlds second-largest economy is just the latest to flag such concerns over demographic change, with over 65s already making up more than 20% of the population in Japan, Germany, Italy and Greece and already outnumbering children under the age of five globally, according to World Bank data.

Set against an irrefutable macro backdrop, it is reasonable to assume investable opportunities in the theme would thrive, however, just three Europe and US-listed ETFs offer exposure and have captured only $856m assets collectively.

This article first appeared in ETF Insider, ETF Stream's monthly ETF magazine for professional investors in Europe. To read the full article, click here.





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CANTON, Ohio, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TimkenSteel Corp. (NYSE: TMST), a leader in high-quality specialty steel, manufactured components, and supply chain solutions, will release its 2023 first-quarter financial results on Thursday, May 4, after the market closes on the New York Stock Exchange.

TimkenSteel Corporation Logo. (PRNewsFoto/TimkenSteel Corporation)

The company will provide live Internet listening access to its conference call with the financial community scheduled for Friday, May 5, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. EDT. The live conference call will be broadcast at investors.timkensteel.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available at investors.timkensteel.com.

ABOUT TIMKENSTEEL CORPORATION

TimkenSteel (NYSE: TMST) manufactures high-performance carbon and alloy steel products from recycled scrap metal in Canton, OH, serving demanding applications in mobile, energy and a variety of industrial end markets. The company is a premier U.S. producer of alloy steel bars (up to 16 inches in diameter), seamless mechanical tubing and manufactured components. In the business of making high-quality steel for more than 100 years, TimkenSteel's proven expertise contributes to the performance of our customers' products. The company employs approximately 1,700 people and had sales of $1.3 billion in 2022. For more information, please visit us at www.timkensteel.com.

Cision

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SOURCE TimkenSteel Corp.
Highlights

Channel Sampling of New Trenches Planned to Assist in Drill Targeting

Next Phase of Drilling Set to Commence

Crushing Complete for Bulk Sample

Initial Duplicate Sampling of Bulk Crush Material Returning Consistent Gold Values 15 samples range between 1.11 and 2.18 g/t Au, averaging 1.64 g/t Au



CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2023 / Tocvan Ventures Corp. (the "Company") (CSE:TOC)(OTCQB:TCVNF)(FSE:TV3), is pleased to provide an update on operational plans for 2023 at both Pilar and El Picacho gold-silver projects in Sonora, Mexico. At Pilar, with the bulk sample process ongoing, results from the test will be provided as available. Initial sampling of crush reject or duplicate material from the first two-days of crushing blended material has returned consistent gold values. Samples were submitted to local certified lab, LTM. In total, 15 samples were collected averaging 1.64 g/t Au (see Table 1 for full results). An additional 101 samples have been submitted to ALS for full Fire Assay and ICP analysis to evaluate gold and silver; results are pending. Trenching at Pilar for the excavation of the bulk sample has opened up new ground and uncovered old workings along key high-grade structures. The Company plans to conduct systematic channel sampling across each of these new areas to guide drill targeting and provide important geochemical information of the surface mineralization which will be used in future resource estimation.

Pilar is permitted for 83 drill pads, totaling a minimum of 10,000-meters of drilling across the property to continue to evaluate expansion potential of the known area of mineralization. Over half of the Pilar property has yet to be systematically drilled with follow-up on several new parallel zones to the Main Zone required. The Company will also look to identify new water sources for future use, past drilling has intersected temporary artesian wells that could provide a local source of water. In addition, key environmental information will be compiled for upcoming permit application for mine development. At El Picacho, initial reconnaissance drilling at the Jabali target is planned along with step-out drilling at the new discovery area at the San Ramon target. El Picacho is currently permitted for 14,000-meters of drilling and 2,000-meters of trenching.

Story continues

"Results from the bulk sample material being crushed are showing very consistent gold grades above the regional average of mines in the area" stated Brodie Sutherland, CEO. "With the bulk sample progressing we are now planning for the next phase of exploration and drilling at both Pilar and El Picacho. New surface exposure at Pilar from trenching will provide key information of surface mineralization and with systematic channel sampling can be tied into future resource estimates. This will assist in future drill targeting at Pilar as we look to expand the known footprint of mineralization even further. Across both of our projects we are currently permitted for over 24,000-meters of drilling, which we will look to utilize as we move both projects forward with imminent drilling."

About the Bulk Sample

Over 1,400 tonnes of oxide-gold material have been extracted from select areas exposed at surface across the project area, focusing on the Main Zone and 4-T Trends where preliminary column leach studies have returned promising head-grade and recovery results. Bulk Sample material will be prepared for processing by heap-leach method at a private mining operation less than 25 kilometers to the west of Pilar. Information from the sample will aim to provide a more detailed account of expected head-grade and recovery percentage of gold along with providing key information to optimize future production facilities. The information provided from the sample will be used for planning in coordination for permitting of full-scale mine and process facilities on-site at Pilar.

Crush Reject Sampling Results

A total of 15 were collected during the first two-days of crushing for the bulk sample. Results are showing very consistent grades averaging 1.64 g/t Au with a range between 1.11 and 2.18 g/t Au. Samples were collected from the conveyor belt over select intervals of time. Bulk Sample material was blended from different trench areas. An additional 101 samples have been collected over the past week and submitted to ALS for Fire Assay and ICP analysis. Results are pending.

Sample ID Au g/t 332651 2.17 Duplicate 1.80 332653 1.79 332654 1.89 332657 1.71 332658 1.83 332659 1.83 332660 2.18 332662 1.42 332663 1.25 332664 1.36 332665 1.53 332666 1.19 332667 1.11 332668 1.16 332669 1.99

Table 1. Summary of Results from Reject Duplicate Samples from On-site Crushing of Bulk Sample Material. Samples were collected during the first two-days of crushing.

Photo 1. Crusher circuit processing Pilar Bulk Sample Material.

OTC Markets Group, Inc., Thursday, April 20, 2023, Press release picture

OTC Markets Group, Inc., Thursday, April 20, 2023, Press release picture

Photo 2 & 3. Above, Heap Leach Pile. Below, Site visit by LTM personnel.

OTC Markets Group, Inc., Thursday, April 20, 2023, Press release picture

Diagnostic Leach Study Summary

Full results from the Diagnostic Leach Study are available on the Company's website and in the March 29th news release. A summary is provided below.

Sample ID Location Head Screen Assay Gravity Concentrate Assay Total Recoverable by Gravity and Agitated Cyanide Leach Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au (%) Ag (%) 494741 Main Zone (Surface) 6.2 23 76.2 237 95 78 494743 Main Zone (Surface) 8.2 68 117.0 1152 98 97 494745 Main Zone (Surface) 2.7 9 35.6 82 97 90 494747 4-T (Surface) 20.4 74 290.3 568 98 85 494749 Main Zone (Drill Core) 24.9 9 231.1 53 99 73

Table 2. Summary of Results from the Precious Metals Diagnostic Leach Study completed by LTM.

Annual General Meeting

The Company is please to announce its Annual General Meeting will be held on May 15, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. MST. The Company encourages all shareholders to attend.

Stock Options

The Company announces it has approved the grant of 400,000 incentive stock options to directors, and consultants of the Company. The options vest quarterly over a one-year period following the grant date, are exercisable at a price of $0.72, and expire on April 20, 2028.

About the Pilar Property

The Pilar Gold-Silver property has recently returned some of the regions best drill results. Coupled with encouraging gold and silver recovery results from metallurgical test work, Pilar is primed to be a potential near-term producer. Pilar is interpreted as a structurally controlled low-sulphidation epithermal system hosted in andesite rocks. Three primary zones of mineralization have been identified in the north-west part of the property from historic surface work and drilling and are referred to as the Main Zone, North Hill and 4-T. The Main Zone and 4-T trends are open to the southeast and new parallel zones have been recently discovered. Structural features and zones of mineralization within the structures follow an overall NW-SE trend of mineralization. Mineralization extends along a 1.2-km trend, only half of that trend has been drill tested so far. To date, over 23,000 m of drilling has been completed.

2022 Phase III Diamond Drilling Highlights include ( all lengths are drilled thicknesses ): 116.9m @ 1.2 g/t Au, including 10.2m @ 12 g/t Au and 23 g/t Ag 108.9m @ 0.8 g/t Au, including 9.4m @ 7.6 g/t Au and 5 g/t Ag 63.4m @ 0.6 g/t Au and 11 g/t Ag, including 29.9m @ 0.9 g/t Au and 18 g/t Ag

2021 Phase II RC Drilling Highlights include ( all lengths are drilled thicknesses ): 39.7m @ 1.0 g/t Au, including 1.5m @ 14.6 g/t Au 47.7m @ 0.7 g/t Au including 3m @ 5.6 g/t Au and 22 g/t Ag 29m @ 0.7 g/t Au 35.1m @ 0.7 g/t Au

2020 Phase I RC Drilling Highlights include ( all lengths are drilled thicknesses ): 94.6m @ 1.6 g/t Au, including 9.2m @ 10.8 g/t Au and 38 g/t Ag; 41.2m @ 1.1 g/t Au, including 3.1m @ 6.0 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag ; 24.4m @ 2.5 g/t Au and 73 g/t Ag, including 1.5m @ 33.4 g/t Au and 1,090 g/t Ag

15,000m of Historic Core & RC drilling. Highlights include: 16.5m @ 53.5 g/t Au and 53 g/t Ag 13.0m @ 9.6 g/t Au 9.0m @ 10.2 g/t Au and 46 g/t Ag



61.0m @ 0.8 g/t Au

About the El Picacho Property

The El Picacho Gold-Silver property is interpreted as an orogenic gold system within the regional Caborca Orogenic Gold Belt known for producing gold mines that include La Herradura (>10 Moz Au) and San Francisco (>3 Moz Au). The project is 140 kilometers north of Hermosillo and only 18 kilometers southwest of the producing San Francisco Mine. The Project totals 24 square kilometers of area showing similarities in geology and structure as the San Francisco Mine. Five primary zones of mineralization have been identified across the property totalling over six kilometers of prospective trends. Surface sampling and historic workings have identified high-grade gold and silver values. Recently the Company completed its first drill program at El Picacho, confirming its model and hitting significant gold mineralization In a step-out to historic workings. Drill hole SRA-22-010, intersected 44.2-meters of 0.6 g/t Au, including 12.2-meters of 2.0 g/t Au and 7 g/t Ag. As exploration and drilling continues, Tocvan believes this provide an excellent opportunity for discovery of a muti-million ounce district.

About Tocvan Ventures Corp.

Tocvan is a well-structured exploration development company. Tocvan was created in order to take advantage of the prolonged downturn in the junior mining exploration sector, by identifying and negotiating interest in opportunities where management feels they can build upon previous success. Tocvan has approximately 39 million shares outstanding and is earning 100% into two exciting opportunities in Sonora, Mexico: the Pilar Gold-Silver project and the El Picacho Gold-Silver project. Management feels both projects represent tremendous opportunity to create shareholder value.

Brodie A. Sutherland, P.Geo., CEO for Tocvan Ventures Corp. and a qualified person ("QP") as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Composite samples were shipped for sample preparation and analysis to LTM in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

The LTM Hermosillo facilities are ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 certified. Gold was analyzed using 30-gram nominal weight fire assay with atomic absorption spectroscopy finish. Control samples comprising certified reference samples and blank samples were systematically inserted into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company's robust quality assurance / quality control protocol. A full report from the Diagnostic Leach Study is available on the Company website for review.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Offering. Such forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

These forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business. Management believes that these assumptions are reasonable. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks related to the speculative nature of the Company's business, the Company's formative stage of development and the Company's financial position. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

For more information, please contact:

TOCVAN VENTURES CORP.

Brodie A. Sutherland, CEO

820-1130 West Pender St.

Vancouver, BC V6E 4A4

Telephone: 1 888 772 2452

Email: ir@tocvan.ca

SOURCE: Tocvan Ventures Corp.





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While Elon Musk worries about too few babies and climate activists predict an overpopulation crisis, the United Nations is warning that the bigger threat could be alarmism on either side of the population debate.

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Clashing fears of overpopulation and underpopulation are pushing countries to act to either lower, increase, or stabilize their birth rates, according to a new report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) published Wednesday.

But reasonable concerns could be morphing into population alarmism, according to the report, risking potentially dangerous new policies that might undermine yearslong efforts to improve basic human rights and gender equality.

This alarmism poses real risks, the report said. One, that population anxiety will distract us from serious but solvable problems, and two, that population anxiety will become a rationale for denying the rights and bodily autonomy of women and girls.

Over- or underpopulation?

Concerns about population have hit a fever pitch recently. When the world population exceeded 8 billion people in November, fears of overpopulation spread in sub-Saharan Africa, where eight countries will account for more than half of global population growth from now to 2050, according to the UN.

Officials in the region say the demographic struggles stem from population growing faster than economies, and that countries lack enough time and resources to build the infrastructure and food systems necessary to ensure every citizen has access to enough resources.

But at the same time, stalling birth rates in the developed world that fell even lower during the COVID-19 pandemic have sparked fears of the opposite phenomenon: underpopulation. Tesla and Twitter CEO Musk is among the more vocal advocates of higher birth rates, arguing that economies and civilization could collapse if the world runs out of enough young people. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far, he tweeted last year while confirming he had recently fathered twins, his eighth and ninth children.

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The two doomsday scenarios have elicited a range of policy reactions. Countries with fast-rising populations like Nigeria have recently overhauled their policies to expand access to family counseling and planning. Meanwhile, birth control has become much harder to access in wealthier European nations including Croatia and Poland.

Population rhetoric risks

It is true that birth rates in many countries, including the U.S., have for several decades been below the replacement rate needed to maintain population levels. This has sparked fears of looming economic catastrophe, as not enough young workers are entering the labor force in developed countries to replace the rising number of retirees. The situation could, in turn, lead to economic trouble as public spending on health care, long-term care, and pensions increases.

But while reasonable solutions to these problems exist, the UN report found that the burden of slowing birth rates tends to largely fall on women who choose to delay having a family or avoid it altogether. The blame, in many contexts, is laid at the feet of women, who are often castigated for rejecting marriage and motherhood, the report said, adding that in many parts of the world declining population is fueling policies that call for a return to a submissive model of femininity and traditional family and gender values.

The report found that recent policy changes in countries such as Poland and Turkey have not only limited access to contraceptives, they also reduce paid government services for counseling and reproductive health care and cut back on sex education in schools.

The UN also warned against conflating demographic adjustments as the only remedy to global issues such as climate change, saying that overpopulation and underpopulation risk becoming a scapegoat for many problems. Instead, the report recommended voluntary family planning services, education on reproductive health, and expanded access to birth control and abortion as ways to fix demographic issues without impeding human rights.

The UN cautioned against enforced, top-down decisions prescribing fertility rates, as economic benefits would likely be at the expense of equality, human rights, and progress, and could limit the essential goal of empowering women and girls to exercise choice over their own bodies and futures.

It isnt the first time the UN has warned population alarmism could worsen demographic issues. Last year, as the global population neared the 8 billion mark, UNFPA executive director Natalia Kanem said rising population was not a cause for fear, and that history showed population control policies ranging from restrictions on contraceptives to forced sterilization are often ineffective and even dangerous.

We cannot repeat the egregious violations of human rightsthat rob women of their ability to decide whether [or] when to become pregnant, if at all. Population alarmism: It distracts us from what we should be focused on, she said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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TORONTO, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Tundra, a global staffing leader hiring talent for the world's most recognizable brands, is revolutionizing the renewable energy sector as the first company to provide top-tier talent for green energy projects across North America. Tundra's diverse talent communities allow companies access to the largest community of highly qualified "green-collar" candidates. Tundra's unique talent acquisition strategies provide world-class organizations with curated talent pools of engineers, skilled trades, and project managers who have experience developing and supporting renewable energy projects.

Tundra Green Staffing Solutions is dedicated to hiring top green-collar talent for sustainable and ESG focused businesses. Ahead of Earth Day, we want to celebrate Tundra's new Green Staffing Initiative. (CNW Group/Tundra Technical Solutions)

Tundra's long-standing experience in the industry has led to an annual power generation capacity of over 3,000 MW, powering more than half a million homes by hiring talent for organizations like Borea, Enbridge, Demand Renewables, Hatch, and many more. The global staffing leader has been instrumental in leading the way toward a more sustainable future by supplying talent for some of North America's largest wind and solar projects, including Travers and Whitla.

Peter Basso, CEO of Demand Renewables, understands the difficulties sustainable businesses face when searching for skilled candidates. "Finding the right skilled labor candidate to fill open roles and satisfy new market demands has been a challenge, and Tundra has stepped up and provided this service for us as we expand into new markets domestically and internationally," Basso said.

Tundra's Green Staffing Initiative has empowered companies like Demand Renewables and Borea to overcome their talent challenges and expand their reach into new markets. Tundra's dedicated green energy recruiters are skilled at identifying top talent with site-based experience, passion for renewable energy, and specialized expertise. As a company committed to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, Tundra is working to reduce emissions and promote sustainability through internal initiatives such as paperless processing, electric vehicle fleets, and LEED-certified buildings.

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Chelsea Million, Talent Adviser at Borea Construction, has first-hand experience working with Tundra's recruiters. "Tundra has been a trusted partner of ours. They have always provided us with quality candidates in a timely manner. Their large, nationwide network in the renewables sector helped us tackle tough challenges when we needed talent the most," she said.

Discover how Tundra's commitment to sustainability and ESG principles goes beyond staffing. Visit us to learn more about our mission to build a better, greener future."

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SOURCE Tundra Technical Solutions

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Future Market Insights Global and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Ground mounted system segment is likely to lead the United Kingdom market over the forecast period 2023 to 2033. The photovoltaic mounting system industry in the United Kingdom will grow at an 8.4% CAGR between 2023 and 2033

NEWARK, Del, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United Kingdom photovoltaic mounting system market size is set to increase from US$ 730.9 million in 2023 to US$ 1643.8 million by 2033. Overall sales of photovoltaic mounting systems in the United Kingdom will surge at 8.4% CAGR through 2033.



Ground mounted PV systems segment will continue to dominate the United Kingdom market. While sales of rooftop mounted PV systems will outpace both ground mounted and carport mounted ones over the next ten years.

Growing demand for renewable energy and government initiatives to promote clean energy are key factors driving the market.

Find a Comprehensive Report Summary that Describes the Market Size and Forecast along with the Research Methodology. The Sample Report is Available in PDF format @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-17055

In recent years, the United Kingdom has become a lucrative market for photovoltaic mounting system manufacturers. This is due to rising adoption of renewable energy sources and favorable government initiatives.

These initiatives include the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) scheme, which provides financial incentives for homeowners and businesses to install renewable energy systems, including photovoltaic mounting systems.

The Renewable Energy Association (REA) is also playing a significant role in promoting the use of renewable energy in the United Kingdom.

The combination of government incentives and the efforts of industry bodies such as the REA will continue to drive the adoption of photovoltaic systems in the United Kingdom. This in turn will support the expansion of the United Kingdom photovoltaic mounting system market.

Further, development of novel photovoltaic mounting systems is likely to boost the United Kingdom market through 2033.

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Key Takeaways from the United Kingdom Photovoltaic Mounting System Market Study

Photovoltaic mounting system sales in the United Kingdom will surge at 8.4% CAGR through 2033.

By 2033, the United Kingdom market value will exceed US$ 1,643.8 million.

Based on product type, ground mounted photovoltaic system segment will hold around 59 % market share during the estimated period.

In terms of sales channel, B2C is likely to account for more than 37 % of the United Kingdom market.

By end use, residential segment will thrive at 9.3% CAGR over the next ten years.



Adoption of photovoltaic mounting systems in the United Kingdom is being pushed by rising demand for renewable energy and government initiatives & incentives. Concerns regarding high costs of initial investment could deter a sizeable chunk of buyers. To this end, manufacturers would find substantial opportunity in creating cost-effective and durable products for the United Kingdom market.  says a lead Future Market Insights (FMI) analyst

For Additional Information or Customization on this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-17055

Competitive Landscape

Leading manufacturers and providers of photovoltaic mounting systems include Unirac Inc., Schletter Inc., SunPower Corporation, Mounting Systems GmbH, and Renusol GmbH.

These companies offer a wide range of PV mounting systems, including rooftop, ground-mounted, and floating systems, and are continuously innovating their products to stay ahead in the market.

In January 2022 , K2 Systems announced that it had launched a new mounting system for commercial rooftop installations called the TriCon 2.0. This system is designed for high flexibility and adaptability to accommodate a wide range of solar cells.





In October 2021, GSE Integration announced that it had supplied its PV mounting systems for a 14.5 MW solar project in the UK. Not only was this more efficient than any of their previously designed systems, it also offered improved performance.



Key Companies Profiled

SunPower Corporation

Bauder Ltd

Armacell UK Ltd

EcoFasten Solar

Hilti (Great Britain) Ltd

K2 Systems Ltd.

Sunfixings Ltd.

Sunsquare Ltd

BayWa r.e. UK Ltd

Clenergy

Flexisolar

Mounting System GmbH

Schletter Group





Ask an Analyst @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-17055

Find More Valuable Insights

The research report analyzes the market demand trends of photovoltaic mounting systems. The United Kingdom Market estimation and growth projection are based on factors such as end-use industries development, COVID-19 crisis impact, replacement ratio, and adoption rate of photovoltaic mounting systems.

As per Future Market Insights (FMI) research scope, the photovoltaic mounting system market has been studied and segmented based on product type, technology, material type, sales channel, and end use. The report provides qualitative and quantitative information on various players in this market. This report also tracks the market by both, the supply side and demand side.

United Kingdom Photovoltaic Mounting System Market Segmentation

By Product Type:

Rooftop

Ground Mounted

Carport Mounting Structure



By Sales Channel:

Business to business(B2B)

Business to Customer(B2C)

By Material Type:

Aluminum

Steel

Others



By Technology:

Fixed

Tracking

By End Use:

Residential

Commercial Offices Recreational Areas Educational Institution Hospitality Healthcare Facilities Others

Industrial

Municipal and Government Facilities

Others



Buy Now: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/17055

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary | United Kingdom Photovoltaic Mounting System Market

1.1. United Kingdom Market Outlook

1.2. Demand Side Trends

1.3. Supply Side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Key Market Trends

3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.2. Product Innovation / Development Trends

4. Key Success Factors

4.1. Product Adoption / Usage Analysis

4.2. Product USPs / Features

4.3. Strategic Promotional Strategies

5. Market Demand Analysis 2018 to 2022 and Forecast, 2023 to 2033

5.1. Historical Market Volume (Units) Analysis, 2018 to 2022

5.2. Current and Future Market Volume (Units) Projections, 2023 to 2033

5.3. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis

Insights on the Market Contribution of Various Segments, including Country- and Region- Full Access on this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/united-kingdom-photovoltaic-mounting-system-market

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About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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UPSIDE made history last year with its landmark FDA "green light" for its whole-textured chicken, which it will begin selling commercially as a cultivated chicken filet once it completes the USDA process





Today, the company announced a mouth-watering array of follow-on products, including chicken sausages, chicken sandwiches, and dumplings, that leverage UPSIDE's process for cultivating ground meat products from real animal cells and demonstrate the versatility of its cultivated meat portfolio





UPSIDE Foods also announced that it has developed a breakthrough chicken cell line that eliminates the need for platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF), one of the most expensive components of cell culture media, as part of the the development of its ground meat portfolio, in the company's latest step towards greater scalability of its processes

BERKELEY, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- UPSIDE Foods , the leading cultivated meat, poultry and seafood company, today announced a new range of consumer products made from real animal cells. Pending regulatory review, these cultivated ground meat products will broaden UPSIDE's commercial portfolio to include a range of delicious options, such as chicken sausages, chicken sandwiches and dumplings. In addition, UPSIDE announced that it has developed a breakthrough chicken cell line for use in suspension cell culture that could substantially reduce the cost of production for these ground meat products.

UPSIDE Foods Chicken Breakfast Sandwich.

UPSIDE Foods has been committed to developing a diverse range of delicious products since its founding in 2015, with the ultimate goal of providing consumers with the meat they love in a new and better way. This includes the development of both whole-textured products, such as chicken filets, and ground meat products with simpler textures that can be scaled up quickly and at a lower cost. The company will initially be launching at a small scale with its cultivated chicken filet, followed by this next generation of products.

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UPSIDE has also achieved critical breakthroughs in its ground meat product portfolio, including developing a chicken cell line that does not require platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF), one of the most expensive ingredients used to support cell growth. Since introducing the world's first cultivated beef meatball in 2016, the company has been committed to refining its production methods for its ground products. In December 2021, UPSIDE announced the development of an animal componentfree cell feed for some of its products , further demonstrating its dedication to producing meat in a way that's sustainable and humane.

"For us to realize the impact that we want to have, we've always known that we need to provide a portfolio that matches the diversity of formats and forms that consumers expect," said Dr. Uma Valeti, CEO and Founder of UPSIDE Foods. "Our first consumer product, a cultivated chicken filet, demonstrates our ability to deliver the experience of eating a more complex and textured meat product. On the other hand, our ground products are extremely versatile and enable us to explore a range of exciting formats and flavor experiences, while also allowing us to scale faster and make cultivated meat more accessible. Both are exquisite and equally delicious, and we can't wait for people to try them."

"Our breakthrough in developing a PDGF-independent cell line represents a major scientific achievement in the production of cultivated meat," said Kevin Kayser, SVP of Research and Development at UPSIDE Foods. "By eliminating the most expensive growth factor in our process, we're able to dramatically reduce cost and increase scale. We look forward to leveraging the insights gained to drive future innovations and continue to work towards making all of our products more delicious, affordable, humane, and sustainable."

UPSIDE's ground meat products will be made up of real animal cells, along with other ingredients like herbs, vegetables, spices, and plant-based proteins. The regulatory process for UPSIDE's ground products, which are based on cells grown in a suspension culture, will be separate from that of its first product, an adherent tissue-based process for which the company received a landmark first in the world "green light" from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year. That product is currently undergoing review by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for remaining approvals. Meanwhile, UPSIDE will continue working with both FDA and USDA to bring its next generation of products to market.

About UPSIDE Foods

Based in Berkeley, CA, UPSIDE Foods grows meat, poultry and seafood directly from animal cells. These products are not vegan or vegetarianthey are delicious meat, made without the need to raise and slaughter billions of animals. Founded as the world's first cultivated meat company in 2015, UPSIDE Foods has achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including being the first company to produce multiple species of meat (beef, chicken and duck), and to receive a "green light" from FDA for a cultivated meat product. The company believes that people shouldn't have to choose between the foods they love and a thriving planet, and is working to build a better food system with access to delicious, humane, and sustainable meat, poultry, and seafood. UPSIDE Foods has won various industry awards, including New York Times' Good Tech Awards, FastCo's Next Big Thing in Tech, and the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation by the National Association for Business Resources. UPSIDE Foods has raised a total of $608 million, including from the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG), Baillie Gifford, Bill Gates, Cargill, Future Ventures, John Doerr, John Mackey, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Norwest, Richard Branson, Softbank, Temasek, Threshold, Tyson Foods, and others. For more information, please visit www.upsidefoods.com.

Media Contact

Brooke Whitney

media@upsidefoods.com

UPSIDE Foods logo (PRNewsfoto/UPSIDE Foods)

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SOURCE UPSIDE Foods
BALTIMORE, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Urology Care Foundation, the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation and official foundation of the American Urological Association, is pleased to announce Daniela Orozco Rendon, BS, from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, as the first recipient of The Boston Scientific Medical Student Innovation Fellowship Award.

Urology Care Foundation

This award supports the education of medical students from racial and ethnic backgrounds underrepresented in urologic research who would like to invest one year during medical school to engage in innovative research training. One awardee is chosen each year to learn under a mentor urologist and gain exposure to research in the field of urology.

"We are excited about this new program. This new research fellowship provides mentoring for students of diverse backgrounds and will ultimately help launch productive careers," said Harris M. Nagler, MD, FACS, president of the Urology Care Foundation. "Thank you to Boston Scientific, for its support and donation that fosters this amazing opportunity to offer medical students a chance to start a career in research and learn from urology leaders."

Daniela's project, titled 'Real Time Non-Invasive Monitoring of Erectile Dysfunction for Hispanic Men Receiving Testosterone Replacement Therapy,' will take place at Baylor College of Medicine mentored by Mohit Khera, MD, MBA, MPH, starting in July 2023. With host institutions matching Urology Care Foundation funds, the awardee will receive a stipend for the 12-month research project, continuing education resources, and the unique opportunity to interact with the research and development operations of the award sponsor via an organized site visit.

"We are honored to support medical student education through this fellowship with the Urology Care Foundation, which was designed to help cultivate more diversity in our field and support the future of urology," said Ron Morton, JR, MD, FACS, Chief Medical Officer, Urology, Boston Scientific. "We look forward to seeing the result of this research and the greater understanding it may bring to treatment for Hispanic men with erectile dysfunction."

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Click here for more information about The Boston Scientific Medical Student Innovation Fellowship Award: https://www.auanet.org/research-and-data/research-awards/aua-funding/boston-scientific-medical-student-innovation-fellowship

About the Urology Care Foundation: The Urology Care Foundation is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation, and the official foundation of the American Urological Association. Partnering with physicians, researchers, healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, families and the public, the Foundation supports and improves urologic clinical care by funding research, developing patient education and pursuing philanthropic support. To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation and its programs visit: www.urologyhealth.org.

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology and has more than 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy.

Media Contact:

Corey Del Bianco, Corporate Communications and Media Relations Manager

410-689-4033, cshegda@auanet.org

The Urology Care Foundation is pleased to announce Daniela Orozco Rendon from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College as the first recipient of the Boston Scientific Medical Student Innovation Fellowship Award.

American Urological Association (PRNewsFoto/American Urological Association)

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Episode Available Beginning Today, April 20

DENVER, April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ursa Major, America's leading privately funded company that focuses solely on rocket propulsion, is proud to share that founder and CEO Joe Laurienti was featured on the popular podcast "How I Build This" with Guy Raz. The episode covers topics including:

Founder and CEO Joe Laurienti

How the United States government has been relying on rocket engines that are made in Russia for the past several decades.

Joe's passion and aptitude for building and "tinkering" with electronics and machines since childhood.

How Ursa Major can help the government and private space companies address their rocket engine supply problems, in part by using 3D printing.

What it's like to walk through the aerospace industry's infamous "Valley of Death."

The episode is available broadly beginning today on NPR One , Apple Podcasts , Wondery , Audible , and on public radio stations across the country.

Connect with Ursa Major on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

About Ursa Major

Ursa Major is America's leading privately funded company focusing solely on rocket propulsion, bringing high-performance, staged combustion engines to market for space launch and hypersonic applications. Ursa Major customers, ranging from "New Space" startups to enterprise-level aerospace leaders and the U.S. government, get to flight faster, more reliably, and cost-effectively. The company employs the most sought-after engineers from top space programs and universities. Headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, Ursa Major was named one of the best places to work by Built in Colorado three years in a row. For more information, visit www.ursamajor.com. For downloadable images and videos, visit https://www.ursamajor.com/media/downloadable-assets.

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SOURCE Ursa Major
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Growing Preference and Demand for Electronic Health Records is Uplifting the USA Electronic Health Records Market. Benefits associated with digital transformation, the rise of virtual care caused by COVID-19, and the availability of cloud services, are some of the key trends in this market

NEWARK, Del, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Future Market Insights latest industry analysis, the market size for the USA Electronic Health Records (EHR) Market is expected to reach US$ 9.1 Billion in 2023. It is projected to exhibit growth at a CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period, with an estimated market size of ~US$ 15.3 Billion in 2033.

Significant developments in networking and computer technology have altered how doctors practice medicine and expanded treatment options. One of the factors that have molded the industry and will continue to do.

It is also anticipated that increasing demand from consumers for the centralization and simplification of healthcare management will fuel the market for electronic health records. The centralization of health information management is driven by a value-based strategy that aims to reduce waste, standardize procedures, reduce costs, and enhance care quality to satisfy patients.

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In terms of technology, AI has already begun to show its value in the medical science field. AI can quickly evaluate large volumes of data and identify the patterns and trends present in that data, enabling it to give clinicians recommendations for clinical diagnoses. To increase their capabilities, businesses are now exploring ways to combine voice capabilities with AI.

Doctors might ask an AI system precise questions about patients by using natural language to communicate with it. AI algorithms would evaluate data from the EHR and compare it to anticipated outcomes, notifying clinicians of any potential health concerns immediately. A doctor's capacity for multitasking will only be enhanced and increased through the usage of speech systems in conjunction with AI.

Story continues

Acquisitions and mergers significantly accelerate a manufacturers ability to capture a significant share of the market.

Key Takeaways from Market Study

EHR Software dominated the market with a 63.3 % market share in the solution segment of the USA electronic health records market in 2022, as EHR helps providers better manage care for patients and provide better health care.

The Hospitals segment dominated the market in 2022 with a share of 32.8% of the end-user category of the USA electronic health records market as EHRs

make it simpler for patients and providers to exchange digital data. EHRs assist medical workers in identifying patients more rapidly, lowering medical errors, and providing safer care. EHRs facilitate patient and provider communication as well as healthcare utility.

Midwest USA dominates among the five zones, with a market share of 24.2% in 2022.



Improved Role & Application of EHR in Healthcare Information Systems and Increasing Engagement of Healthcare Practitioners to EHR Service Providers is set to propel the Electronic Health Records Market across the USA, says an analyst of Future Market Insights.

Speak to our Research Expert @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-17050

Market Competition

A rising number of mergers and acquisitions by market participants are having a positive effect on the market and will contribute to its expansion in the years to come. These transactions aim to bring to market effective infrastructure intended to improve the timelines for the implementation of electronic health records.

MEDHOST introduced MEDHOST Anesthesia Experience, a new anesthesia management solution, in March 2022. All fundamental components of anesthetic care are supported by the solution throughout the perioperative workflow.

Healthcare Resource Group, Inc. was acquired by the company on March 1, 2022. (HRG). As the need for outsourced revenue cycle operations from healthcare firms rises, the merger of HRG and TruBridge presents a substantial opportunity to utilize their distinct capabilities.

In November 2022, MEDITECH announced that Canadian users of Expanse, a leading platform for the digital care journey, can now easily integrate with SeamlessMD. With the use of digital, evidence-based pre- and post-care plans, doctors will be able to keep tabs on their patients before, during, and after hospitalization for conditions like surgery, cancer, pregnancy, mental health, and chronic care.



What Does the Report Cover?

Future Market Insights offers a unique perspective and actionable insights on the USA electronic health records market in its latest study, presenting a historical demand assessment of 2017 to 2022 and projections for 2023 to 2033. The USA electronic health records market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present a complete market intelligence approach to the reader.

The research study is based on the solution (EHR software {cloud-based EHR, on-premise EHR),} and services {consulting, implementation, support & maintenance), and end-user (cardiothoracic, hospitals, specialty clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic labs, diagnostic imaging centers, payers, and others) and across five zones of the USA

Key Companies Profiled:

Epic Systems Corporation

Cerner Corporation

Medhost Inc.

Computer Programs and Systems, Inc.

Allscripts

Medhost

Netsmart Technologies Inc.

Athena health

Harris Healthcare

eClinicalWorks

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Key Market Segments Covered in USA Electronic Health Records Industry Research

Solution:

EHR Software Cloud-based EHR On-premise EHR

Services Consulting Implementation & Integration Support & Maintenance





End User:

Hospitals

Specialty Clinics

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Diagnostic Labs

Diagnostic Imaging Centers

Payers

Others



Table of Content

1. Market- Executive Summary | Electronic Health Records (EHR) Market

1.1. Market Outlook

1.2. Demand Side Trends

1.3. Supply-Side Trends

1.4. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

2.3. Inclusion and Exclusion

3. Key Market Trends

3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.2. Key Innovation / Development Trends

4. Value Added Insights

4.1. Cyber Attacks in Healthcare

4.2. Top Threats Against Electronic Health Records

4.3. Key Promotional Strategies, by Manufacturers

4.4. Regulatory Scenario

4.5. New Product Launches

4.6. PESTLE Analysis

4.7. Key Inclusions

4.7.1. Penetration of Third-party Wound Care Software by Vendors in

4.7.2. Number of Wound Care Clinics in & Percentage Adoption of Third-Party Wound Care Software

4.7.3. Annual number of Inpatient discharges, Inpatient visits by department, Annual Number of Outpatient Wound Care visits

5. Market Background

5.1. Macro-Economic Factors

5.1.1. Healthcare IT Spending Outlook, By & Global

5.1.2. per-Capita Healthcare Expenditure

Complete TOC with Report Preview @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/usa-electronic-health-records-market

Have a Look at Related Research Reports in the Healthcare Domain:

Electrosurgery Generators Market Size - The global electrosurgery generator market is expected to enjoy a valuation of US$ 1.6 Billion in 2023, and further expand at a CAGR of 7.7% to reach a valuation of ~US$ 3.4 Billion by the end of the year 2033.

Drug Designing Tools Market Share - The drug designing tools market is anticipated to expand its roots at a steady CAGR of 8.7% during the forecast period. The market is likely to hold a revenue of US$ 3.1 billion in 2023 while it is anticipated to cross a value of US$ 7.1 billion by 2033.

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Cold Plasma Market Trends - According to FMI estimates, the net worth of total cold plasma to be sold globally could generate US$ 2469.5 million in revenue in 2023. Furthermore, the global cold plasma market size is expected to increase to US$ 9380.9 million by 2033 at a CAGR of 14.3%.

Aspiration & Biopsy Needles Market Forecast - According to FMI, the aspiration & biopsy needles market size is estimated to reach US$ 1,405.2 million by 2033. Over the forecast period, the market is assessed to trail at a CAGR of 6.1%. In 2023, the market is expected to reach US$ 777.29 million.

About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in Dubai, and has delivery centers in the UK, U.S., and India. FMI's latest market research reports and industry analysis help businesses navigate challenges and make critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. A team of expert-led analysts at FMI continuously tracks emerging trends and events in a broad range of industries to ensure that our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.

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Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Veterinary Ultrasound Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2018-2028F Segmented By Type (2D Ultrasound, Doppler Ultrasound, 3D/4D Ultrasound), By Mobility, By Technology, By Animal Type, By Application, By End User, By Region and Competition" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Global Veterinary Ultrasound Market is anticipated to witness impressive growth during the forecast period.

This can be ascribed to the growing prevalence of various pet-related diseases like cancer. Additionally, the growing number of veterinary clinics and hospitals across the region and the rising uptake of pet care and insurance domain has significantly increased the demand for veterinary ultrasound across different parts of the globe.

Additionally, growing awareness pertaining to animal health and safety remains a primary contributor to the adoption of ultrasound, helping fuel the market growth through 2028.

Besides, increasing disposable income and growing government schemes, combined with various other initiatives across countries for animal healthcare, are further expected to support the veterinary ultrasound market during the forecast period. Furthermore, the growing prevalence of cardiovascular disorders, along with the rapidly increasing pet population, is further expected to increase the demand for veterinary ultrasound procedures, thereby supporting market growth.



The Increasing Companion Animal Population is Fueling the Market Growth.



Worldwide, the number of companion animals and their adoption rate have both increased sharply. Keeping a companion animal is related to superior health outcomes, including fewer cardiac arrhythmias, normalized blood pressure, less anxiety, more psychological stability, and better overall well-being, according to many studies.

The demand for pet care goods and services is anticipated to increase due to the growing pet population worldwide, which will subsequently fuel the expansion of the veterinary ultrasound market throughout the course of the projected period. According to the National Pet Owners Survey (2021-2022) conducted by the American Pet Products Association (APPA), 70% of US households, which accounts for approximately 90.5 million families, own a pet. Emerging countries such as Brazil, China, Japan, and Mexico also have significant growth in pet ownership.



Growing Awareness about Pet Healthcare is Driving the Market Growth



The increasing need for animal diagnostics for various issues such as pregnancy-related problems, organ enlargement, foreign body ingestion, and internal injuries has resulted in an increase in animal healthcare expenditure, which will further boost the market growth during the forecast period. The rising demand for better animal healthcare is a factor likely to drive the global veterinary ultrasound market. North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific are likely to be key markets for the growth of veterinary ultrasound.

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Moreover, increasing support from the government in terms of insurance and investments in the veterinary healthcare industry is also supporting the growth of the veterinary ultrasound market in the forecast period. In 2017, around 1,010 out of 100,000 cats and 508 out of 100,000 dogs seen at Banfield Hospitals had intestinal parasites. This statistic showed a low prevalence of health conditions among cats and dogs in the U.S. in 2017.

Report Scope:



In this report, global veterinary ultrasound market has been segmented into the following categories, in addition to the industry trends, which have also been detailed below:



Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By Type:

2D Ultrasound

Doppler Ultrasound

3D/4D Ultrasound

Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By Mobility:

Stationary

Portable

Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By Technology:

Digital Imaging

Contrast Imaging

Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By Animal Type:

Companion Animals

Livestock Animals

Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By Application:

Obstetrics & Gynecology

Cardiology

Orthopedics

Others

Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By End User:

Veterinary Hospitals & Clinics

Academic & Research Institutes

Others

Veterinary Ultrasound Market, By Region:

North America

United States

Mexico

Canada

Europe

France

Germany

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Asia Pacific

China

India

South Korea

Japan

Australia

South America

Brazil

Argentina

Colombia

Middle East & Africa

South Africa

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Egypt

Turkey

Key Topics Covered:



1. Product Overview



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Voice of Customer



5. Global Veterinary Ultrasound Market Outlook



6. North America Veterinary Ultrasound Market Outlook



7. Europe Veterinary Ultrasound Market Outlook



8. Asia-Pacific Veterinary Ultrasound Market Outlook



9. South America Veterinary Ultrasound Market Outlook



10. Middle East and Africa Veterinary Ultrasound Market Outlook



11. Market Dynamics



12. Market Trends & Developments



13. Competitive Landscape



14. Strategic Recommendations



A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes

Siemens Healthineers AG

Esaote SpA

GE Healthcare

Shimadzu Corporation

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd.

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation

SonoScape Medical Corp

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Diagnostic Imaging Systems, Inc.

IMV Imaging (UK) Limited

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vqkej7

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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REPORTSINSIGHTS CONSULTING PVT LTD

The global viral inactivation market is projected to witness an increase in growth at a staggering CAGR of 12.3% during the forecast period of 2023-2030. Such growth is attributed to the increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals, the rising incidence of viral diseases, growing awareness about the safety of biologics, and technological advancements in viral inactivation.

New York, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a recent report by Reports Insights, the viral inactivation market is poised for healthy expansion and is estimated to reach US$ 1,208.22 million by 2030. The market, which was worth US$ 536.4 million in 2022, is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12.3% during the period 2023-2030. The report highlights the major role of viral inactivation in the production of biopharmaceuticals that helps to eliminate any potential viral contamination and reduce risks of serious adverse effects in patients. Reports Insights' research study also offers insights into the market's regional outlook, competitive landscape, emerging technologies, and market segmentation in the viral inactivation market.

The demand for vaccines and biologics is expected to witness an increase in the future due to the rising incidence of infectious diseases and the aged population. This will lead to increased demand for viral inactivation technologies, as they are critical in the production of safe and effective vaccines and biologics.

Advancements in viral inactivation technologies are expected to lead to the development of new and more effective methods of viral inactivation. For instance, the usage of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and microwave irradiation has shown promising results in inactivating viruses. As these technologies continue to improve, they will offer new opportunities for growth in the viral inactivation market.

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Many pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing their manufacturing processes to contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) to reduce costs and increase efficiency. This trend is expected to drive the growth of the viral inactivation market, as CMOs will require viral inactivation technologies to meet the demands of their clients.

Story continues

Regulatory authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have set stringent guidelines for the production of vaccines and biologics. These guidelines require that the final products are free from all infectious agents, including viruses. As a result, there is a growing demand for viral inactivation technologies that meet such regulatory requirements.

The large investments by the pharmaceutical industry in research and development to manufacture new therapies and vaccines are expected to create favorable circumstances for market growth in coming years. Such investment is expected to drive the growth of the viral inactivation market, as these new therapies and vaccines will require effective viral inactivation technologies.





Viral Inactivation Market Growth Drivers:

Rising incidences of viral diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, and influenza boost the demand for viral inactivation technologies to help prevent the large-scale spread of such diseases.

Increased usage of biologics due to growing awareness about the importance of ensuring drug safety fuels the demand for viral inactivation to eliminate any potential viral contamination that could lead to serious adverse effects in patients.

Growing expenditures on technological advancements to develop effective and efficient viral inactivation techniques such as ultraviolet (UV) light and solvent/detergent (S/D) treatments accelerate the market growth in terms of effectiveness in viral inactivation.

Restraints

High costs of viral inactivation processes due to the requirement for specialized equipment limit the wide adoption due to budget constraints among various businesses in terms of capital expenditures.

Strict rules and guidelines by authoritative bodies in terms of safety concerns related to the manufacturing of vaccines and biologics also hinder the market growth.

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Report Attributes Report Details Market Size By 2030 US$ 1,208.22 Million Forecast Period 2023-2030 Market Size By 2022 US$ 536.4 million

CAGR (2023-2030) 12.3% Base Year 2022 Study Timeline 2017-2030 Key Players Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Sigma-Aldrich (Merck KGaA), VWR International, LLC, Pall Corporation (Danaher Corporation), Rad Source Technologies, Sartorius AG, Texcell, WuXi Biologics, Macopharma By Method Solvent/Detergent Inactivation



Pasteurization (Heating)

Acidic pH Inactivation By Product Kits



Reagents

Systems

Services By Application Blood & Blood Products

Stem Cell Products

Tissue & Tissue Products

Vaccines, and Therapeutics

Cellular & Gene Therapy Products By End Use Contract Research Organizations

Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies

Academic Research Institutes

Others By Geography North America

Asia-Pacific

South America

Europe

Middle East & Africa

Key Market Takeaways



In the context of Asia Pacific, rising numbers of chronic and autoimmune diseases and increased government funding for development of technologically advanced healthcare infrastructure are anticipated to support the market growth.

The global viral inactivation market size is projected to reach over USD 1,208.22 Million by 2030 with a staggering CAGR of 12.3% during the forecast period (2023-2030).

Based on method, the solvent/detergent inactivation segment contributed the highest shares to the viral inactivation market statistics in 2022.

By product, the kits segment is projected to account for a significant shares contribution to the market growth during the forecast period

In the context of application, the vaccines and therapeutics segment contributed the largest shares to the market growth in 2022.

Based on the end use, the contract research organizations (CROs) segment accounted for the highest share contribution to the market statistics in 2022.

North America dominates the market of viral inactivation with the highest market share contribution. The factors attributing to such favorable growth in the North American region are prevalence of advanced technologies for biopharmaceutical production combined with high expenditures by public and private ventures on healthcare.

Recent Developments



In May 2022, Pall Corporation collaborated with RD-Biotech, a Contract Research Organization (CRO) that specializes in producing plasmid DNA (pDNA) for early-phase clinical trials. The partnership will provide single-use solutions and purification technology to support the production of large quantities of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-grade pDNA that meets industrial standards. Also, this collaboration aims to meet the increasing demand for gene and mRNA-based therapies, which has accelerated due to the development of COVID-19 vaccines and the numerous therapeutic opportunities in the drug development pipeline.

In May 2022, Yposkesi, a subsidiary of SK pharmteco, is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) that specializes in producing cell and gene therapies. The demand for viral vector production is constantly increasing, and Yposkesi intends to capitalize on its expertise in suspension cell culture by investing 5 million Euros in a new 1,000-liter manufacturing platform. This platform is expected to allow for the production of large quantities of high-quality vectors that are essential for gene therapy treatments.

Find What You Need With Our Detailed Table Of Contents (TOC) & Summary Of Viral Inactivation Market @ https://www.reportsinsights.com/industry-forecast/global-viral-inactivation-market-statistical-analysis-673856

Competitive Landscape

As per the research, the market comprises leading companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Sigma-Aldrich (Merck KGaA), VWR International, LLC, and Pall Corporation (Danaher Corporation). The viral inactivation market is a rapidly growing segment of the biopharmaceutical industry which includes a wide range of products and services such as viral inactivation systems, viral filtration systems, and viral inactivation reagents. Further, the market is characterized by intense competition among market players in terms of product and service differentiation to gain a competitive edge.

List of Major Viral Inactivation Market Players

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Sigma-Aldrich (Merck KGaA)

VWR International, LLC

Pall Corporation (Danaher Corporation)

Rad Source Technologies

Sartorius AG

Texcell

WuXi Biologics

Macopharma

Global Viral Inactivation Market Segmentation:

By Method Solvent/Detergent Inactivation Pasteurization (Heating) Acidic pH Inactivation

By Product Kits Reagents Systems Services

By Application Blood & Blood Products Stem Cell Products Tissue & Tissue Products Vaccines and Therapeutics Cellular & Gene Therapy Products

By End Use Contract Research Organizations Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies Academic Research Institutes Others



Key Questions Covered in the Viral Inactivation Market Report

What are some of the key market players with a strong presence in market circumstances for the viral inactivation market?

Among multiple segments of the viral inactivation market, which segment is expected to contribute the largest share from 2023 to 2030?

What is the predicted market valuation for viral inactivation in 2030?

What micro and macro environmental factors will impact the growth trajectory of the viral inactivation market?

What are the key trends that drive the growth of the viral inactivation market from 2023 to 2030?

Which region is expected to offer creative opportunities for the increased market presence of viral inactivation during the forecast period?

Discover More With Reports Insights Library Of Others Research Reports:-

Viral Testing Market Size, Growth, By Regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East And Africa), Analysis, Trend and Forecast (2022-2028)

Blood Bank Reagents Market Analysis By Regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East And Africa), Size, Growth, Trend and Forecast with Impact Analysis of COVID-19 (2022-2028)

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Antiviral Market Size, Regional Trends, Growth, By Regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East And Africa), Segment Analysis, Key Technology Landscape, Market Dynamics, and Forecast (2023-2030)

Viral Vector Manufacturing Market Size, Regional Trends, Growth, By Regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East And Africa), Segment Analysis, Key Technology Landscape, Market Dynamics, and Forecast (2022-2030)

Antiviral Drugs Market Size, Regional Trends, Growth, By Regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East And Africa), Segment Analysis, Key Technology Landscape, Market Dynamics, and Forecast (2022-2030)

About Reports Insights Consulting Pvt Ltd

ReportsInsights Consulting Pvt Ltd. is the leading research industry that offers contextual and data-centric research services to its customers across the globe. The firm assists its clients to strategize business policies and accomplish sustainable growth in their respective market domains. The industry provides consulting services, syndicated research reports, and customized research reports. Topnotch research organizations and institutions to comprehend the regional and global commercial status use the data produced by ReportsInsights Consulting Pvt Ltd. Our reports comprise in-depth analytical and statistical analysis on various industries in foremost countries around the globe.

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Virtualware (EPA:MLVIR) went public today in Euronext Paris

Virtualware (EPA:MLVIR) went public today in Euronext Paris, in a ceremony presided by the company's founders, Unai Extremo and Sergio Barrera.

PARIS, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spanish technology company Virtualware has debuted today on the Paris stock exchange with a valuation of more than 27 million euros and at a price of six euros per share.

The shares of the company, founded in 2004, which today develops virtual reality solutions for major industrial, educational and healthcare conglomerates, will now be listed on the Access segment of Euronext Paris.

The listing ceremony took place this morning at an event held at the Euronext building in La Defense in Paris, and was presided by the company's two founders, CEO Unai Extremo and CTO Sergio Barrera.

Representing Euronext was Pablo Perez-Orive, listing manager for Euronext in Spain.

The company, which last year recorded sales of more than 3.2 million euros and a net profit of more than 400,000 euros, has offices in Bilbao, Spain, and Hamilton, Canada, and has worked throughout its history on more than 500 projects in more than 33 countries.

As Unai Extremo explained after the bell-ringing, "Virtualware's listing marks a turning point after 20 years of hard work and dedication, consolidating our success so far and setting a solid path for the future," said Unai Extremo, CEO of Virtualware. "This achievement underscores the strength of our company and positions us to take advantage of even more growth and expansion opportunities in the years to come."

The listing represents more than two years of work, with the participation of a large part of the almost 50 employees of the corporation. British firm Pedrosa acted as IPO coordinator, while Solventis participated as listing sponsor and Banc Sabadell was the agent bank. Virtualware shares will be traded in the fixing mode, with execution two days after the crossing of each purchase and sale transaction.

Euronext is the pan-European stock exchange that groups together the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Oslo, Milan and Dublin.

Story continues

Virtualwares flagship product VIROO, the worlds pioneering VR as a Service (VRaaS) platform, makes Virtual Reality accessible to companies and institutions of all sizes and sectors.

VIROO is an all-in-one digital solution that enables the development and deployment of multi-user Virtual Reality applications remotely and is already used by more than 40 companies and institutions worldwide, including GE Hitachi, Ontario Power Generation, Gestamp, ADIF, the Spanish Ministry of Defense, El Retono Technological University, and EAN University.

VIROO aims to become the standard for developing industrial and educational Virtual Reality applications worldwide.

DISCLAIMER

This press release contains statements regarding the future of Virtualware 2007 S.A. and its innovations. Statements regarding the future may be accompanied by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "wait," "anticipate," "pretend," "power," "plan," "potential," the use of future time and other terms of similar meaning. You don't need to put any undue reliance on these claims. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements, including uncertainty of the company's commercial success, ability to protect our intellectual property rights, and other risks. These statements are based on current beliefs and forecasts and refer only to the date of this press release. The company assumes no obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements, regardless of whether new information, future events or any other circumstance arise.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/225f9d6a-500e-4ace-939f-549374f53544

CONTACT: Contact details: Pedrosa IR ir@pedrosa.uk




VANCOUVER, BC, April 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Vizsla Copper Corp. (TSXV: VCU) (OTCQB: VCUFF) (FRANKFURT: 97E0) ("Vizsla Copper" or the "Company") is pleased to report additional results from an interpretation of a high-definition aeromagnetic geophysical survey recently completed over the Southeast deposit ("Southeast") on the Company's 65,252-hectare Woodjam Project ("Woodjam"). Woodjam is prospective for copper-gold porphyry mineralization and is located 55 kilometres east of Williams Lake, BC (Figure 1).

HIGHLIGHTS

Southeast deposit remains open: High-grade areas of porphyry-related copper and gold mineralization at Southeast (e.g., 144.9m of 1.21% Cu and 0.55 g/t Au; WJ 08-84) remain open, both laterally and at depth.





Recent drilling results : Drilling completed at Southeast by Consolidated Woodjam Copper in 2021 intersected strong zones of copper and gold mineralization (e.g., 142.4m averaging 0.56% Cu and 0.23 g/t Au; SE21-089).





Similar nearby magnetic features are untested: Inverted geophysical models generated from the newly acquired aeromagnetic survey data suggest that untested targets remain  particularly immediately southeast of the deposit.

"The Southeast deposit contains the majority of the copper-gold porphyry-related historical resources at the Woodjam project," commented Steve Blower, Vice President of Exploration. "The deposit is open for expansion and there are look-a-like features nearby that have yet to be drilled. Our exploration team is very eager to evaluate these targets."

SOUTHEAST DEPOSIT

The Southeast deposit is a large porphyry-related copper and gold deposit within the prospective Takomkane batholith; a large, composite body of early Jurassic calc-alkaline intrusive rocks. At Southeast, copper and gold mineralization is best developed above and on the northwest flank of a broad magnetic high anomaly which strengthens with depth (Figures 2 and 3). The deposit includes zones of considerable high-grade copper and gold mineralization. For example, recent drilling in 2021 intersected 142.4m @ 0.71% CuEq (0.56% Cu and 0.23 g/t Au) in the last hole of the program and earlier drilling in 2008 intersected 144.9m @ 1.57 % CuEq (1.21% Cu and 0.55 g/t Au). Further drilling and modelling are required to better constrain the controls and orientations of the higher grade zones.

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Highlights from previous drilling at Southeast are shown in Table 1, below. A historical mineral resource estimate is summarized in Table 2.

Table 1  Southeast Deposit Drilling Highlights

Drill hole From (m) To (m) Int. (m) Au (g/t) Cu (%) AuEq (g/t) CuEq (%) SE21-089 115.6 258.0 142.4 0.23 0.56 1.08 0.71 SE11-062 100.6 211.1 110.5 0.17 0.45 0.86 0.56 and 256.5 462.4 205.9 0.18 0.57 1.05 0.69 WJ08-084 125.9 485.0 359.1 0.28 0.70 1.34 0.88 inc 166.7 311.6 144.9 0.55 1.21 2.41 1.57

Note: Cueq and Aueq are calculated with prices of US$1,800/oz Au and US$4.00/lb Cu.

Table 2 Historical Mineral Resource Estimate for the Southeast Deposit, Effective Date May 30, 2013

Deposit Category Tonnage Grade Metal Content



M tonnes % Cu g/t Au M lbs Cu 000 oz Au Southeast1,2 Inferred 221.7 0.31 0.05 1,507 383.7



Notes: 1. Source: "NI 43-101 Technical Report for Woodjam Property, Horsefly, British Columbia, Canada", prepared by Susan Lomas, P.Geo. of Lions Gate Geological Consulting inc. (LGGC). and issued on December 16, 2022. The historical mineral resource estimate was prepared for Goldfields and Consolidated Woodjam Copper with an effective date of May 30, 2013. The NSR calculation used US$1,650/oz Au, US$3.90/lb Cu and recoveries of 56% Au and 64% Cu. The Southeast Historical Estimate was reported within a resource limiting pit shell based on a price assumption of US$1,650/oz Au and US$3.90/lb Cu. 2. Historical Estimates are considered historical in nature and as such are based on prior data and reports prepared by previous property owners. The reader is cautioned not to treat them, or any part of them, as current mineral resources or reserves. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the Historical Estimates as current resources and Vizsla Copper is not treating the Historical Estimates as current resources. In addition, mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

EXPLORATION POTENTIAL AT THE SOUTHEAST DEPOSIT

High-grade porphyry-related copper and gold zones at Southeast remain open laterally and at depth. Further, limited drilling has been completed peripheral to the deposit and several target areas are evident in the recently completed, high-definition aeromagnetic survey results. The cross-section in Figure 3 shows a good example of a look-a-like magnetic feature immediately southeast of the Southeast deposit. Here, a broad magnetic high anomaly that strengthens with depth is very similar to that present at the Southeast deposit. The top and flanks of this feature are interpreted to be highly prospective for porphyry-related copper and gold mineralization but have yet to be drilled.

NEXT STEPS

Inverted models of the data continue to be refined by Kyle Patterson, P.Geo., of Convolutions Geoscience Corp. Targets continue to be ranked and prioritized ahead of core drilling programs planned for later in the year. In addition, Geotech Ltd. has been contracted to complete an airborne Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic ("ZTEM") survey over an area like that covered by the aeromagnetic survey. Targets from the magnetic gradient inversions and the ZTEM survey will be the primary focus for the upcoming drilling programs.

Figure 1  Woodjam Location Map

Figure 1  Woodjam Location Map (CNW Group/Vizsla Copper Corp.)

Figure 2  Southeast Deposit Area Plan Map

Figure 2  Southeast Deposit Area Plan Map (CNW Group/Vizsla Copper Corp.)

Figure 3  Southeast Deposit Cross Section

Figure 3  Southeast Deposit Cross Section (CNW Group/Vizsla Copper Corp.)

The Woodjam Project

The 65,252-hectare Woodjam Project is located 55 kilometres east of the community of Williams Lake in an area characterized by a low elevation, flat to gently undulating landscape that is well accessed by logging roads. Geologically, the project is located within the prolific Quesnel Terrane  a large regional depositional belt commonly dominated by alkalic volcanic units and related volcaniclastic lithologies. The Quesnel terrane hosts both alkaline and calc-alkaline porphyry copper+/-gold+/-molybdenum deposits, including the Copper Mountain, New Afton, Highland Valley, Gibraltar, Mount Polley, Mount Milligan and Kemess mines.

To date, six zones of porphyry-related mineralization (Megabuck, Deerhorn, Takom, Three Firs, Southeast, Megaton) have been identified at the Woodjam Project by drilling (95,092 metres in 281 holes since 2009 and a further 114 holes, 30,092 metres predominantly from 1998). These six mineralized zones form a cluster approximately 5 kilometres in diameter.

About Vizsla Copper

Vizsla Copper is a Cu-Au-Mo focused mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The Company is focused on its flagship Woodjam project, located within the prolific Quesnel Terrane, 55 kilometers east of the community of Williams Lake, British Columbia. It has two additional copper exploration properties, the Blueberry and Carruthers Pass projects, well situated amongst significant infrastructure in British Columbia. The Company's growth strategy is focused on the exploration and development of its copper properties within its portfolio in addition to value accretive acquisitions. Vizsla Copper's vision is to be a responsible copper explorer and developer in the stable mining jurisdiction of British Columbia, Canada and is committed to socially responsible exploration and development, working safely, ethically and with integrity.

Vizsla Copper is a spin-out of Vizsla Silver (TSX.V: VZLA) (NYSE: VZLA) and is backed by Inventa Capital Corp., a premier investment group founded in 2017 with the goal of discovering and funding opportunities in the resource sector. Additional information about the Company is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and the Company's website (www.vizslacopper.com).

Qualified Person

The Company's disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Ian Borg, P.Geo., Senior Geologist for Vizsla Copper. Mr. Borg is a Qualified Person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, without limitation, planned exploration activities. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof.

Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, including among others, that the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the anticipated cost of planned exploration activities, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Company's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others: negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of additional financing, no known mineral reserves or resources, the limited operating history of the Company, the influence of a large shareholder, aboriginal title and consultation issues, reliance on key management and other personnel, actual results of exploration activities being different than anticipated, changes in exploration programs based upon results, availability of third party contractors, availability of equipment and supplies, failure of equipment to operate as anticipated; accidents, effects of weather and other natural phenomena and other risks associated with the mineral exploration industry, environmental risks, changes in laws and regulations, community relations and delays in obtaining governmental or other approvals.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.

Vizsla Copper Corp. Logo (CNW Group/Vizsla Copper Corp.)

SOURCE Vizsla Copper Corp.

Cision

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Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO James Gorman apologized to analysts on Wednesday for having a cold while discussing the companys first-quarter results. What those results also confirmed is that a key source of revenue for Wall Street is ailing, too.

Investment banking fees in the first quarter dropped 24% at the bank from the year-earlier period as deal making dried up amid a rapid rise in interest rates, economic uncertainty, and the failures of two sizable regional banks in March.

And it wasn't just Morgan Stanley that reported a slowdown in the most glamorous service Wall Street firms provide. All of the major banks that advise on mergers or IPO underwriting reported drops in fee revenue during the quarter when compared with the same period a year earlier.

The largest decrease of 26% belonged to Goldman Sachs (GS), which typically outdoes its rivals when it comes to M&A advisory work, followed by a 25% drop at Citigroup (C) and a 20% drop at Bank of America (BAC). Even JPMorgan Chase (JPM) saw investment banking revenue down 19%. All are down even more when compared to the same period in 2021.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman acknowledged to analysts Wednesday that underwriting and M&A "remain very subdued" but "these are revenues delayed, not dead."

Goldman CEO David Solomon said in a conference call with analysts on Tuesday that he expects "big strategic" deal activity in the second half of the year.

Other firms across the world had similar problems in the first quarter. Global M&A volume sank to its lowest level in 11 years during the first quarter, according to Dealogic, down 48% from the first quarter of 2022.

"Just when many thought a corner had been turned, global dealmaking plumbed another low in the first quarter," Dealogic said in its report about the quarter.

It wasn't long ago that deal making was responsible for helping Wall Street churn out record profits. The last boom came in 2021, when CEOs used surging markets as a reason to buy other companies, go public, or take on new debt.

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Then came a year that most of Wall Street would like to forget.

In 2022, three major stock averages fell by the most since 2008 and bonds had their worst year on record. Inflation reached its highest level in four decades, triggering an aggressive series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

All of that new economic uncertainty curbed the optimism needed from the corporate clients that are the lifeblood of Wall Street's investment banking business. As a result, bonuses were slashed and jobs were cut.

In January Goldman Sachs let go of roughly 3,000 employees, or 6% of its workforce. Morgan Stanley also cut 1,600 members of its staff in December, according to reports, or roughly 2% of its workforce.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he expects deal making to pick up during the second half of the year. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The slump in investment banking during the first three months of 2023 contributed to a larger profit drop of 18% at Goldman. Trading revenues also fell 13%, including a 17% drop in fixed-income trading. Bank of America, by contrast, actually increased its fixed-income trading revenue from a year ago by 27%.

Solomon, Goldman's CEO, said the company's fixed-income trading drop is partly because of "significant outperformance" in the year-ago quarter. The company still collected revenues from that business of $4 billion.

JMP Securities' Devin Ryan told Yahoo Finance Goldman now has some chances to do what it has done before: win new business amid a tumultuous time.

"Goldman has navigated a lot of crises over its history and through those crises it takes market share," he said.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman told analysts he expects the possibility of a "modest recession." (AP Photo/Bertha Wang)

At Morgan Stanley, the investment-banking slowdown contributed to a larger 19% profit drop at the firm. Its CEO, Gorman, said the company is "seeing a growing M&A pipeline and some spring-like signs of new issuance emerging. That said, it largely remains a back half 2023 and full year 2024 story."

He predicted 2023 would end on a "constructive" note for his firm.

"It kind of reminds me of that Rolling Stones song: 'You can't always get what you want. But you get what you need.' I think about Morgan Stanley coming out of this and we're kind of getting what we need," he said, citing "decent revenue, decent earnings."

"I think we're very well positioned on a go-forward basis."

Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Wall Street has high hopes for Netflix as it sees 'big opportunities' in the coming crackdown on password sharing

Netflix. SOPA Images/Getty Images.

Netflix is preparing to crackdown on password sharing in the US over the next couple of months.

Wall Street is cheering the move as it could help add subscribers and grow revenue.

"Password sharing should be a solid subscriber, revenue and operating income driver moving forward," BofA said.

Netflix is about to crackdown on password sharing in the US over the next two months, and Wall Street is cheering the move.

The streaming giant has estimated that more than 100 million households access Netflix without paying for it, and after a series of trials and tests of attempting to convert those households in countries outside of the US, the company feels like it has a good handle on a rollout in its biggest market: the US.

Netflix had originally planned to launch the password sharing crackdown measures in the first-quarter, but a wave of backlash from its US consumers on the initial plans led the company to postpone its rollout.

But after successful tests in cracking down on password sharing in Latin America and Canada, the company feels like it has a solid strategy to convert more of its biggest fans into paying customers. And Wall Street is very excited.

That's because the strategy could be a meaningful growth driver for Netflix's business, according to a Tuesday note from Bank of America.

"Password sharing should be a solid subscriber, revenue and operating income driver moving forward. Initial Canadian results revealed paid memberships and revenue growth accelerating relative to the US," BofA's Jessica Reif Ehrlich said.

And while there is expected to be a period of churn of subscribers following the rollout of the password sharing measures, it should "significantly" increase the longer-term monetization potential for Netflix, Ehrlich said.

The program in Canada started with Netflix requiring its users to set a location for its membership that is typically determined by the household's IP address. Anyone that tries to access the account from outside the authorized location will be unable to do so.

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Netflix will offer plenty of options for password sharing households to start paying their share, with the ability for members to add other users outside of their household for a fee.

Alternatively, Netflix has built a lineup of different priced membership tiers for those users who might now need to start paying their own way. These include an advertising-based subscription that costs $7 per month, and JPMorgan expects the combination of an ad-supported tier and password sharing measures to help boost growth and the stock price.

"Paid sharing and advertising remain big opportunities and important drivers of both revenue and subs going forward, with paid sharing the bigger revenue contributor in 2023, and ads in 2024," JPMorgan said in a Wednesday note.

"Overall we continue to believe that more than 30 million of the 100 million non-paying households globally can become extra members or new subscribers, and that could be conservative," the bank said.

Bank of America and JPMorgan both reiterated their "buy" rating for the stock with price objectives of $410 and $380, respectively, representing potential upside of as much as 28% from current levels.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Its been a rough year for cannabis company stocks, even as more states in the US move to legalize or decriminalize marijuana.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Roundhill Cannabis ETF (WEED) has declined 72% to an all-time low close since its launch one year ago on 420 Day  an unofficial pot holiday  as the stocks it holds have lost investors nearly $12 billion in value. The MJ PurePlay 100 Index, which includes 100 cannabis-related stocks, has shed 65% in the same timeframe.

Pot stocks have struggled this year after the industry was dealt a major blow in December when legislation that wouldve allowed more banks to work with legal cannabis companies was taken out of a roughly $1.7 trillion funding measure. It was the third failed attempt to attach the legislation, called the SAFE Banking Act, to a bill last year.

Without the passage of SAFE, banks are largely prohibited from working with marijuana-linked companies because the substance is illegal on the federal level. This forces many companies to work in cash or invent ways around the banking system. The pot lobby will make its case on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Cannabis companies are also subject to the same tough market, potentially weakening economic outlook and rising interest-rate environment thats weighing on other stocks. Curaleaf Holdings Inc., for instance, has cut some staff, had a New Jersey license renewal declined - a move that was quickly reversed- and this week said it misstated revenue in 2022 and 2021 financial statements, adding to the 61% drop from a year earlier.

Still, Wall Street is still largely bullish on cannabis companies and the industry in the long-term. Curaleaf has 15 buy ratings, 2 holds and 0 sells, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Thats because if regulatory hurdles go away, the stocks would be poised for growth, said Gerald Pascarelli of Wedbush, adding that it may take years.

But looking at the relative valuations of the stocks, how new the industry is and the growth prospects, theres certainly upside, he said.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Russia's long-time UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin dies in New York

Russia's long-time ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died "suddenly" in New York on Monday, a day before his 65th birthday, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

GALLERY

Moscow (dpa) - "A great diplomat, an extraordinary person," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a post on her Facebook page. "We have lost a loved one."Churkin, who had served in the post for more than a decade, died at work, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement."We express our deepest condolences to Vitaly Churkins family and friends," the Foreign Ministry said.Churkin, a career diplomat, had previously served as Russias ambassador to Canada and Belgium before taking up the post at the UN in 2006.s Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft says he was "absolutely devastated" at the news that his Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, had died. Churkin was a "friend and colleague," a "diplomatic giant and wonderful character," Rycroft writes on Twitter. Britains mission to the UN calls Churkin a pillar of the United Nations Security Council and sends its "deepest condolences to his family and colleagues," according to a post on Twitter.Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley offers her condolences on the death of her Russian counterpart. "Ambassador Vitaly Churkin showed himself to be a gracious colleague," Haley says. "We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advocated his countrys positions with great skill," says Haley, who took up the post last month. The US ambassador says the United States sends its condolences "to lift up his family and to the Russian people."is grieving after learning of the death of Churkin. "The head of state highly valued Churkins professionalism and diplomatic talent," spokesman Dmitry Peskov says in comments carried by state media. The president expressed his condolences to Churkins loved ones, the Kremlin says in a statement on its website.
West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (West Red Lake Gold or WRLG or the Company) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTC: WRLGF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Derek Teevan as Vice President, Community, and Mr. Maurice Mostert as Vice President, Technical Services.



Mr. Teevan is a respected executive with an extensive background in resource development from permitting through to operations. Derek has been involved with building diamond to gold mines overseeing over two billion in capital projects. He also spent time with Detour Gold Corporation (now Agnico Eagle Mines) as the SVP, Community Affairs. Along with his direct experience and family ties in Red Lake, he brings a proven track record of building government, employee and Indigenous partners engagement and support. With a keen understanding of public policy, Mr. Teevans strategic leadership has resulted in reduced regulatory burdens, while maximizing opportunities to reduce costs.

Mr. Mostert is a well-regarded expert in his field as a seasoned mining engineer. He brings with him over 20 years of experience in consulting and business leadership combined with a solid background in underground mining. Maurice holds a masters degree in mining engineering and a degree in Business Administration. He is a proud member of the CIM, a Fellow of the SAIMM, and a professional engineer registered in the province of British Columbia. Maurice started his career in the ultra-deep goldmines of the Witwatersrand in South Africa with Gold Fields. Maurice went on to work for SRK Consulting in Johannesburg where he had the privilege to work with and get to know two of the founding members. More recently he was the Area Manager of Western Canada for Mining Plus Canada Consulting Ltd., overseeing all operations within that area. Maurice has also done a wide variety of independent consulting for an array of mining companies globally, most recently supporting the underground operations for Evolution Mining at the neighboring Red Lake Complex. His work experience has allowed him to effectively work with diverse groups of all sizes. The Company looks to leverage Maurices proven track record of delivering successful projects as he oversees the technical strategy for the advancement of the Madsen mine in Red Lake, Ontario.

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Tom Meredith, CEO, stated, We are very fortunate to have attracted this level of talent. Not only does it serve as a testament to the quality of our assets, but it is also a glowing endorsement of the future vision for the Company. Derek and Maurices contributions will be instrumental in the growth of West Red Lake Gold.

West Red Lake Golds Rowan Property presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) inferred mineral resource of 2,790,700 tonnes at an average grade of 9.2 grams per tonne Au containing 827,462 ounces of gold with a cut-off grade of 3.8 grams per tonne Au (NI 43-101 Technical Report authored by John Kita, P.Eng., filed December 31, 2022 on sedar.com). The inferred resource is located in the area of the historic underground Rowan Mine site and situated within a 1.8 kilometer strike length portion of the regional scale Pipestone Bay St Paul Deformation Zone.

ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES

West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and dedicated to creating value for its shareholders by discovering new gold mines in the highly productive Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada. This district has yielded 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world's richest gold deposits. The Company recently entered into a binding agreement to acquire the Madsen Gold Mine and its associated 47 Km2 highly prospective land package. WRLG also holds an extensive property position spanning 3,100 hectares in West Red Lake, including three former gold mines - Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit - that are wholly owned by the Company. The West Red Lake Project covers a 12-kilometer strike length along the Pipestone Bay St. Paul Deformation Zone, and WRLG plans to continue exploring this property along strike and to depth aggressively in 2023.

ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

Tom Meredith

Tom Meredith

Chief Executive Officer

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Amandip Singh, VP Corporate Development

Tel: 416-203-9181

Email: asingh@wrlgold.com

or visit our website at https://www.westredlakegold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements". When used in this document, the words "anticipated", "expect", "estimated", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information. These statements are based on current expectations of management, however, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward- looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date hereof, except as required by securities laws.




Company Logo

Dublin, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Worldwide MNO Directory 2023-2024" directory has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Worldwide Mobile Network Operators (MNO) Directory 2023-2024 (Q4 2022) latest edition will help telecom service providers interested in doing business with mobile network operators throughout the globe.

The latest Worldwide MNO Directory features 740+ operators from over 217+ countries.

The product is known among industry stalwarts as the most trusted resource for gaining backdoor access to decision-makers holding influential positions within mobile operator businesses. The 2023 special edition offers a new design and almost 3 times the number of management contacts as compared to the older edition. Over the past 15 years, Directories by the analyst have paved way for telecom vendor businesses to connect with mobile operators/service providers and enabled thousands of business connections and collaborations to flourish.

The Worldwide MNO Directory is carved out as a niche product that specifically helps 'service providers to mobile operators obtain and gain new business. Featuring important operator business info to contacts of key executives holding influential roles, Directory offers the following information for any mobile operator business across the globe:

Operator Details - Registered Name, Brand, Region

Market Share (%), Ownership, Group Information

Business Details - Network portfolio (2G, 3G, LTE, 4G, 5G, LTE-Advanced, etc.), no. of Subscribers, Market Share, Network Penetration, Technologies offered, Contact Details, Key Executives (5-10 on average)

Online presence - website/URL

CXO/Management/Decision-Makers/Influencer contacts

Formats Available - PDF & Excel

What's special about the 2023-2024 edition:

Worldwide coverage: 740+ Operators from over 217+ countries

100% Anti-Spam US Law, European GDPR compliant

Whopping 6500+ CXO/Management/Decision-making contacts: Up to 300% more contacts than previous edition

Available in PDF & Excel: New user friendly PDF & campaign friendly XLS design

First time with detailed Executive Summary & Questions Answered: Giving clear and precise understanding of the worldwide telecom market to corporates.

1-Update free of cost within 1st year of purchase

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Executive Summary:

Key Questions Answered by the Analyst



The analyst of the report speaks about the state of the mobile network operator (MNO) industry, where it's heading, the impact of the pandemic, growth opportunities, innovation, and challenges telecoms face as we head into the future.

1. What are the emerging trends? What would be the analyst's advice to mobile network operators (MNOs) looking to grow in near future?

The answer is Operators must build offerings not around but throughout the Digital Lifestyle of Consumers, and simply 'forget' monetizing their investments by selling Voice, Data, and few OTT offerings. Although connectivity is becoming a commodity and unlimited or more than sufficient data is taken for granted, network quality - both the experience and the service - will still be a differentiator in my opinion. Content is increasingly relevant, though it is increasingly costly. Yet many customers are willing to pay for a better experience and brand bonding. That way you also send a strong message to your existing clientele. And keeping them informed that you are "at it" is as important as planning.

Through work with operator clients, five main strategies for boosting revenue growth have been identified. Their potential varies, and some are long-term bets, while others are short-term, nonstructural measures.

2. Are operators making any money these days? Who according to the analyst may be booking profits and how can other MNOs imitate them? Any specific operator cases that might have turned things around would be helpful for readers of the report.

The telecom market in Europe, North America, and advanced countries in the Asia Pacific, and the Middle East have saturated now. Consequently, the industry has been witnessing fierce competition between mobile operators and negative revenue growth. The industry went into a consolidation phase in recent years and we witnessed several exits, mergers and acquisitions across the globe.

Now, the number of active MNOs in almost every country is fairly good (average 3 operators per country). However, the exponential growth and adoption of OTT services, from WhatsApp to YouTube to Vimeo to Netflix to Amazon Prime Video to so many, has left operators in a very unprecedented situation.

It has:

Increasingly commoditised network services, reducing margins

Forced operators to invest more in their network to meet the growing demand

And as we see it, Operators are facing the following challenges:

Reduced margin not allowing them to innovate

They practically can't offer the OTT of consumers' choice - it's changing so frequently

Even partnerships with OTTs are not really effective enough for operators

Partnership with OTTs is not a long-term solution

A ranking of top ten players on the basis of revenue or subscriber or profitability is not really important when their survival can be easily challenged by any startup OTT. Yet, I can give you a few operators that are either coping with these challenges really well or have put their strategic efforts commendably.

3. What's the status of 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G world over? What do you think the priorities of operators are or should be vis a vis growth moving forward?

LTE became the prime agenda of operators to enable consumers to experience the full benefit of mobile Internet. The current priority of operators is to achieve the full potential of 4G LTE while they have already started working on 5G and beyond. Africa however is lagging far behind the rest of the world. Many African countries have lower LTE footprint and adoption. While smartphone penetration has crossed 50% on the continent, this overplays its significance as most of the countries in the region are running on legacy 2G and 3G speeds, which do not allow video streaming or anything beyond basic web browsing.

4. Where are operators spending the most? What is slowing them down?

Most of the investments are focused on network expansion, modernisation, and capacity improvement. The exponential growth in demand for data is observed; however, operators have failed to become the prime beneficiary despite billions of investments in 4G network in the past 10 years.

As for 'what's slowing them down' is huge expectations and commensurate amount of effort and capital it would take to make customers happy in toto. And why not, 21st century is all about that. Yet do not forget the Operators world over still continue to spend a substantial amount of their profits into keeping things running.

5. What is keeping operators excited?

As in previous years, operators will continue to invest in 4G and 4G+ mobile networks. Not because they are excited but the exponential growth in data traffic is forcing them to do so. This new investment in 4G and 4G+ addresses two needs, the increase of the network coverage, and the improvement in capacity.

6. What is the analyst's take on where the industry might be heading towards in the next 2-3-or-5 years?

As people, society, industry, and governments move into the future with more effective digital tools, advanced technologies, and automation like never before - telecom players must lead the charge. Capturing opportunities earliest before wide-scale penetration will be the key to meeting the expectations and future needs of the consumers.

The analyst laid out a four-pillar program that can help operators become the prime beneficiaries of their investment in the network, uplift their position across the value chain and maximise their RoI.

For more information about this directory visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/bl9t75

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Juliet Del Rio moved in with her college boyfriend straight after graduation  but the relationship didnt last, leaving Del Rio to pack her things, grab her cat and stay at a friends before finding a new home.

She estimates she saved around $1,000 a month by splitting expenses while renting a studio apartment in Queens, New York with her ex back in 2017.

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We considered ourselves as serious as you can be as a senior in college, she recounts. And it was easier for us to get approved with two incomes.

About 80% of Gen Z and 76% of millennials were motivated to live with their partners due to money and logistics, according to a new survey from Realtor.com.

However, around 4-in-10 said they ended up regretting the move.

My parents had advised me against it, Del Rio admits. But when you're 22, you [think you] know everything.

Aside from broken hearts, couples have to be prepared for the financial implications of losing a valued roomie who helps you cover the bills.

Living alone is too expensive for many Americans

With mortgage rates still well over 6% and the national median rent close to $2,000 a month, its far more financially feasible for young Americans to get a roommate.

In many cases, this roommate often ends up being a romantic partner.

Del Rios first job out of college initially paid her $15 an hour, so she wouldnt have been able to afford New York rent on her own, and wanted a place close to where she worked.

She figured it would be easier to live with someone she was already comfortable with, rather than hunt for a roommate. The couple split the $1,575 rent evenly and divided other expenses, like utilities and groceries, between themselves.

Story continues

U.S. Census Bureau data indicates over 11% of Americans aged 18 to 24 lived with a romantic partner they were not legally married to last year  the highest rate on record.

Roughly a third of Gen Z respondents in the Realtor.com survey said they were able to save over $1,000 a month by doing this, with 37% of millennials reporting the same.

As for what factors contributed to the move, younger generations were most motivated by the prospect of splitting the rent or mortgage and other household bills, compared to Gen X and baby boomers.

Before you move in

Before moving in together, you need to have a discussion about your finances, says Elaine King, a certified financial planner based in Miami, Florida.

She recommends starting the conversation by laying out your financial goals and money habits  like paying off your student debt, or the amount of money you typically spend on a night out.

You should be open about your income and how much you each can contribute to household expenses.

Start splitting [expenses] in proportion to your income. So if one person makes $60/hour and the other $40/hour, that should be a 60/40 split, King advises. If youre buying a home together, she says you could apply the same logic to the down payment.

King notes you should also have discussions around what will happen if one of you gets a pay bump or loses their job, and how youd factor the change in income into your financial planning.

Although Del Rio agreed to divide the rent evenly with her ex, he made significantly more money than she did.

After the lease on their first apartment was up, they moved into a duplex in Brooklyn that cost $2,300 a month (at this time, Del Rio was making $45,000 a year)  and broke up three months later.

Read more: Owning real estate for passive income is one of the biggest myths in investing  answer these 2 quick questions to find out how you can actually make it work

How to protect your finances in the event of a breakup

Del Rio ended up relocating to Bayonne, New Jersey about a month later. While the New Jersey side was more affordable than New York, the costs of her new studio apartment still added up to nearly $2,000 a month  almost double what she paid when she lived with her ex.

However, she notes that her savings from when she lived with her ex helped her afford a security deposit and the first months rent. Without it, she says she mightve been couch surfing for much longer.

King recommends couples come up with some sort of exit clause to prepare for the worst case scenario, to tackle things like whos going to move out and how. Including a payment plan can be useful, especially if youve purchased a home together and one person needs to buy out the other persons share.

Nearly a third of the Realtor.com survey respondents who have moved in with a partner signed a contract outlining what would happen in the event of a break-up. Younger respondents were significantly more likely to have done so, according to the data.

She advises putting these stipulations in writing before you even sign the deed, and consulting an attorney or having a financial planner mediate.

While many relationships end with bad blood, King suggests telling the other person 30 to 60 days in advance when you expect to move out, to give them time to prepare for the financial aftermath.

Like Del Rio, you should also stash some money in an emergency fund that will allow you to cover a few months of expenses.

Del Rio, who now works as an adjunct professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recently bought a home with her current partner. She says as children of divorced parents, theyve both seen what can happen when you blend all your finances together without considering what might happen after a split or divorce.

They made sure both their names were on the deed of the house, and they have separate savings accounts in addition to their joint account.

Always keep in mind that you have to protect yourself, she emphasizes.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
A man who caused a fatal crash in Caroline County in late 2021 while speeding and driving drunk was ordered Wednesday to serve four years in prison.

Austin J. Stefko, 30, of Woodford, was sentenced by Judge Sarah Deneke to 10 years with six years suspended. He had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated involuntary manslaughter, a charge that carries the possibility of up to 20 years in prison.

Barbara Bates, 52, was heading home on Dec. 22, 2021, when Stefkos Chrysler Sebring crossed the centerline and crashed into her Volkswagen Passat. The crash took place on Macedonia Road just south of Woodson Lane, not far from the new home Bates had recently moved into with her husband.

Prosecutor Ben Heidt said Stefko was traveling more than 70 mph in a 35 mph zone when he entered Bates path. Asked by police at the scene if hed been drinking, Stefko replied, Ive had a lot to drink tonight, sir.

Stefkos blood-alcohol content was determined to be .21, more than two times the legal limit. A half-empty bottle of liquor was recovered from his vehicle.

A number of Bates family members were in court Wednesday to express their dismay over her loss. Heidt argued that Stefko deserved a harsh sentence, pointing out his poor driving record and the fact that he was unlicensed at the time of the crash.
After almost 10 years of talking about the need for a new fire and rescue station in Dahlgren, the King George County Board of Supervisors agreed unanimously on Tuesday to buy land with frontage on two major roads.

The supervisors will pay Oakland Baptist Church $340,000 for 3.15 acres of land on the corner of U.S. 301 and State Route 218, or Windsor Drive. The property is an open lot between 301 and the Four Seasons Daycare Center.

Theres a lot of strategic advantages to having a fire and rescue station there, Chief David Moody told supervisors on Tuesday. This is going to serve the county and Dahlgren District for many, many years to come.

Its taken that long to find a suitable location. In 2014, county officials hotly debated which to do first: build a new fire station in the rural Shiloh District, which doesnt have any such facilities, or replace the aging Dahlgren station.

For years, the county has operated from two separate buildings on the busy Dahlgren Road. Theres one building for fire apparatus and another for rescue, and fire officials have said for almost a decade that neither was built to accommodate round-the-clock operations.

In addition, Dahlgren Road can turn into a parking lot during morning and evening rush hour as almost 10,000 workers take that route to get to Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. Buses and teachers also use the road to get to Potomac Elementary School.

In 2016, supervisors directed county staff to proceed with all means necessary to find a site near the intersection of routes 301 and 218, according to county documents. While several locations were identified, none included a willing seller until the Oakland Baptist agreement.

Supervisor Cathy Binder stressed on Tuesday that the church was a willing seller, as she alluded to a June 2017 controversy in which the supervisors considering using eminent domain to take land for a new station.

King George proposed condemning 10 acres of farmland owned by Al Reed, who was 83 at the time and walked to the podium using a cane. He gave the board a heart-wrenching account of the work hed put into the place and trouble he had, including his house being set on fire and cows shot and killed, because people told him they didnt want a Black man to live there.

Other speakers at the same June 2017 public hearing suggested the board would be committing political suicide to take his land.

The proposal was dropped and Moody and his staff sought other options. They started negotiating with Oakland officials more than three years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Moody said.

The vacant lot is familiar to first-responders as its used as a landing spot for medical helicopters.

The new Dahlgren fire and rescue station will include a helipad and be able to accommodate a ladder truck, Moody said. In addition, its design would be copied to Co. 4, whenever King George decides to build a station in the Shiloh District.

There is $20 million budgeted in the countys capital improvement plan, which includes long-term goals for updating or replacing a localitys infrastructure. Theres $10 million tentatively scheduled for fiscal year 24 and another $10 million in FY 27.

Supervisor TC Collins thanked Moody for sealing the deal, saying he appreciated him getting that finally done after all these years.

Collins was welcomed back after a serious accident on March 30. Collins was stopped on State Route 3 in front of the county administration building, waiting to turn left to attend a budget workshop between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board.

The driver of a 2018 Chevy Silverado, heading toward Collins, crossed the center line and hit him head-on, said Sgt. Jessica Shehan of the Virginia State Police. The Silverado driver was charged with reckless driving and failure to maintain control.

Collins was driving a 1967 AMC Rambler, which also was hit by a Chevy Silverado in line behind him.

Collins thanked fellow board members, county staff and the community for the well-wishes, visits and overwhelming support.

Im still recovering at home, he said. I do have a broken back so youll see me limping around here.
The bankrupt franchise owner of Lincoln's Burger King restaurants has received court permission to close some of them.

Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, which filed a bankruptcy petition last month in Utah, where it is based, received permission from the court last week to close more than two dozen locations in seven states.

Included among the store closings were the Burger King locations at 2504 O St. and 4230 N. 27th St. in Lincoln, as well as the location in York.

Before the closings, the company owned nine locations in Lincoln as well as locations in Beatrice, Hastings and York.

When it filed its original bankruptcy petition, Meridian said it had no plans to close any of its 116 locations. However, in the new filing seeking the closures, the company said that after a performance evaluation, "the debtors management team and advisers have determined it is appropriate to cease operations and close certain of the restaurants."

The filing also said that "it is possible, if not likely" that other locations may be closed.

Meridian said in its bankruptcy filing that its original founder had acquired many Burger King restaurants with lower-than-average sales, hoping to improve their results. Instead, according to court documents, those stores' smaller profit margins made them more sensitive to recent rises in labor and other costs. The company said some of its restaurants operate at a loss and have done so for several years.

Meridian acquired the Nebraska Burger Kings and several in Kansas in 2018 from Horizon Holdings.

Company officials could not be reached for comment Monday morning.

Lincoln restaurants that have closed in the past year Egg & I - October Amigos - December Zesto - August Green Flash - November Tornado Crepes - December Lazzari's Teriyaki Madness - August Fresh Healthy Cafe - November Old Chicago - March 1 Village Inn - March BurgerFi - March Runza - June Chuck E. Cheese - June Jimmy's Egg - June Zoup! - June Sebastian's Table - September Red Lobster - September Valentino's - October Praire Plate - October Taco John's - October Dino's - November Nitro Burger - January La Paloma - April Burrito Express - April The Parthenon - June Rutabagas - December Big Sal's - June Brewsky's South - December Boxcar BBQ - June Juice Stop - May Grannyweavs - June
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israels Defense Ministry on Thursday said it has begun talks to sell an advanced missile defense system to Germany. The announcement came two weeks after Israel said it was selling another missile defense system to NATOs newest member, Finland.

Although Israel has long had close economic and military ties with western European countries, the latest deals could draw the attention of Russia.

Israel has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Ukraine for fear of antagonizing Russia. It appears to be counting on the fact that the latest deals involve only defensive weapons. Israels Defense Ministry also noted that both deals would also need U.S. approval, because the systems have been jointly developed with the United States.

In Thursdays announcement, the ministry said it launched advanced negotiations this week with its German counterparts over the purchase of the Arrow 3, a system designed to intercept long-range missiles outside the atmosphere.

Germany has previously expressed interest in the system and been pushing to coordinate a European air defense system with some 15 countries.

We value the opportunity to share our capabilities with the partners and allies of the state of Israel, said Boaz Levy, chief executive of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, the primary builder of the Arrow system. Within the framework of this agreement, we further deepen our security ties between Israel and Germany.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Ministry said it had reached an agreement to sell its Davids Sling system to Finland. The system is meant to defend against medium-range aerial threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.

The deal was valued at nearly $350 million. I am confident that the cooperation between our countries will further enhance our readiness to respond to regional and global threats, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at the time.

While Israel has expressed support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, it has turned down requests to provide weapons. Instead, it has delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine and promised to deliver a sophisticated air defense warning system.

Israel has a delicate relationship with Russia. It maintains security coordination with Russia in neighboring Syria  where Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian military positions in recent years. Russia is also home to a large Jewish community.

Uzi Rubin, the former director of Israels missile defense program, said Israeli sales of missile defense systems to Ukraine are unlikely anytime soon. But he said the deal with Finland, and likely Germany, could usher in additional sales to Europe as the continent realizes it must defend itself against the big bad bear of Russia.

Europe has lived for 30 years with a kind of illusion that it has no security problems anymore, said Rubin, who is now a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. Now that the big bad bear is out hunting, everybody is scared.

Associated Press reporter Sam McNeil in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israels Defense Ministry says it has begun talks to sell an advanced missile defense system to Germany. The announcement came two weeks after Israel said it was selling another missile defense system to NATOs newest member, Finland. Israel has long had close economic and military ties with western European countries, but these latest deals could draw the attention of Russia. Israel has repeatedly rebuffed requests to sell arms to Ukraine for fear of antagonizing Russia. It appears to be counting on the fact that the latest deals involve only defensive weapons. Israels Defense Ministry also noted that both deals would also need U.S. approval, because the systems have been jointly developed with the United States.
WAYNE  A former Winside Public Schools art teacher was sentenced Monday to 180 days in jail for having sexual contact with a student.

Judge Ross Stoffer also placed Rachel McPhillips, 29, of Norfolk, on two years' probation.

McPhillips pleaded no contest in February in Wayne County Court to amended charges of disturbing the peace and attempted child abuse. She had initially been charged with third-degree sexual assault and child abuse.

McPhillips was arrested a year ago for having sexual contact from September 2021 through April 2022 with a male student who was then age 15 and turned 16 during that time period.

McPhillips was the first of two Winside teachers accused of having inappropriate contact with a student in the past year.

Cali Heikes, 26, of Winside, was arrested in January and faces charges of first-degree sexual abuse by a school employee and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse by a school employee. Heikes is accused of having sexual contact with a 16-year-old male student.
News

Lithuania: Students stop university from using only proprietary authentication

on: 2023-04-18

Vilnius Tech officials attempted to enforce the use of proprietary two factor identification (2FA) methods. Some students were concerned the methods would compromise privacy and could not be run in their devices, and proposed an alternative way to get the authentication. Finally, the university reversed its decision.

Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU), a public university in Lithuania, recently attempted to make 2FA methods mandatory for access to its platforms. The problem came when some students noticed that the available methods would make the platforms inaccessible to those who did not wish to use proprietary tools. Students using phones run by Free Software would lose access to their university tools, such as email. So they demanded open standards and Free Software. After weeks of student complaints, and with no official explanation, the measure was reversed. In a symbolic act, one student even hacked the universitys GitLab instance and reported it to the IT department.

University attempted to lock out students who use Free Software phones

On 14th February an email was sent out to all students and staff, instructing them to configure 2FA within two weeks, or they would not be able to access university services. What raised concerns was that the system set up by VGTU only allowed two options for 2FA, Microsoft Authenticator (app notifications) and SMS.

While there is nothing wrong with enforcing 2FA, the methods mandated by VGTU are proprietary and privacy-compromising. Microsoft Authenticator is proprietary software, meaning that users are not allowed to study, share, and improve the code without restriction. In addition, the app was only available on two platforms: Android with Google Play services or iOS, meaning that people using alternative Free Software App stores were locked out. The alternative SMS option required users to share their phone number and personal information with Microsoft, which also made students uncomfortable.

No way to evade it

Several students demanded that VGTU also allow open standards and Free Software. The app passwords option, which is normally built into Microsoft Authenticator, was not available. This would have allowed students to access their university email from other clients without 2FA. The Configure app without notifications option, which would have allowed the use of other password managers/authenticators, was also unavailable. Since the university disabled alternatives, the only option for the university community was reliance upon Microsoft.

Some students contacted the IT Helpdesk requesting that the TOTP (time-based one-time password) option be enabled. However, the IT department claimed that their systems were not designed to support such authentication. The department stated that two-factor authentication options were currently available, SMS and the Microsoft app, and that the use of TOTP could be considered in the future. In short, the IT department did not listen to these students demands.

"This university has a bad habit of enforcing proprietary software and doing little research on the free alternatives. Free software has always been better and easier to use. It's hard to study when you can't agree with invasive EULAs," states Zehra Irem Kuyucu, one of the affected students.

Raising the anti-discrimination argument to the university community

The students then went on to raise their concerns to other members of the university community, including the Deputy Manager, the Students Office, and the Department of Information Technologies. They pointed out that the study agreement did not require them to have a working phone running Google Play services or iOS. According to Lithuanian law, educational institutions cannot discriminate against students on the basis of their social status or beliefs, and the University's 2FA restrictions could discriminate against students who refuse or are unable to install a proprietary application on their personal devices.

Silent victory: access to services, student GitLab hack

After students who could not configure 2FA had been blocked for about a week, the university community was able to access their email again on 27 March. No one was notified of the change. The university didnt offer a one-time password option for 2FA.

Zehra, one of the frontrunners in demanding alternative access without Microsoft services.

A few days later, one of the students, Zehra Irem Kuyucu, even went one step further. She resorted to drastic measures by hacking the university's GitLab instance. She explained that she wanted to teach what their infrastructure is worth, as another bad habit they have is poor security, despite authoring articles about it. Then she sent an email to the IT department with security advice. She has, on other occasions, also reported problems regarding other parts of their infrastructure, such as HTTP plain-text authentication or poor wireless network security.

Conclusion

The use of two factor identification methods helps to secure devices and data but it should be implemented in a way that is not locking anyone out. VGTU's mandate for 2FA only gave the option of using proprietary software, raising concerns to some students who did not want to compromise their privacy. The university's decision to disable options that would have allowed students to access their university email using other clients without 2FA was unfair, as it left students with no options but to use Microsoft Authenticator or to share their phone number and personal information with Microsoft. The IT department's refusal to enable TOTP as an option was also not satisfactory, as it meant that students who did not have devices compatible with Microsoft Authenticator were discriminated against. While the university claimed that TOTP use would be considered in the future, there was no timeline for when this would happen.

After students who could not configure 2FA had been blocked for about a week, the university silently retreated. The university community was able to access their email again on 27 March.

Discuss this
The U.S. needs to work faster to deter and detect threats in space, the secretary of the Air Force said Wednesday in Colorado Springs as he announced plans to speed up research and development efforts.

"Space isnt just a warfighting domain, it is the warfighting domain," said Secretary Frank Kendall to an international audience gathered at Space Symposium.

Kendall said he planned to back legislation that would allow the research and development of projects for space defense to start without waiting for Congressional budgetary approval. He noted the early phases of projects are not very expensive and could help the U.S. stay competitive as China invests heavily in space. For example, a Chinese satellite has successfully moved another satellite out of its orbit.

"We live in both dynamic and dangerous times," Kendall said.

Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman also called for speedy innovation and greater investment into training, saying he asked for $300 million in the 2024 Department of Defense budget to improve training and testing infrastructure, including better simulations. Some of that investment could be seen in Colorado Springs, home to Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases.

"Now is not the time to allow for any measure of complacency," said Saltzman, who called on the Space Force, industry partners and allies to pivot to meet the new challenges.

A big part of change can be attracting and retaining new talent that will drive real change and innovation, he said. While the Space Force is almost four years old, one-third of the enlisted guardians have only served in Space Force.

To prepare them to counter potential attacks, Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting said that guardians can complete some exercises in simulation mode on the systems they use every day, but rarely can those systems emulate current threats.

He would like them to have simulations that show them the indications of a satellite under attack, such as jamming that block necessarily communications, and allow them to respond.

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"We have struggled to do that. ... We owe our guardians and airmen better training," he said.

Saltzman said in the most recent large-scale space training exercise, 14 companies participated to help understand what the Space Force is looking to achieve.

The Space Force also needs to improve its ability to find and track objects in space, Saltzman said, noting that after a rocket broke up it took a couple of days to put information together about the event.

"There are some challenges with how long it takes to get the data and make sense of it," he said.

The objects Space Force will need to manage is set to multiply as the U.S. sends up hundreds of new satellites as part of an effort to diversify U.S. missile warning and missile tracking, a focus for Buckley Space Force Base.

At the same time, The Washington Post reported earlier this month that China is planning to launch 13,000 new satellites.

Still, Kendall said the U.S. is not in a cold war with China because of the global economic ties that exist and while war is not impossible, deterrence can succeed.

"The economic consequences of aggression may not be worth the cost," Kendall said.
The U.S. and its allies are facing a deadline in space  the International Space Station will be taken out of orbit in January 2031, so the four companies planning to build commercial replacements must have their stations in operation by then to avoid a gap between them.

The stakes are high, said Brent Sherwood, a top executive with Blue Origin, which is a partner with Broomfield-based Sierra Space in Orbital Reef, one of the four planned commercial stations. Failure to replace the current station would give China the only presence in low-Earth orbit, a region of space below 1,200 miles above the Earth where scientists perform experiments, observation and manufacturing through 3D printing.

Blue Origin and Sierra Space hope to be up and operating two years before the ISS reaches (its) end of life and avoid a gap, Sherwood said. The reason that it is so important to avoid a gap is that during the previous gap (before the ISS began operating in 2000)  eight years  we were able to buy access from a partner. Now we dont have a partner, just an adversary. I hope we dont abandon LEO (low-Earth orbit) for human spaceflight and habitation.

Sherwood, Blue Origins director of advanced programs development, made his comments during a panel discussion on commercial stations Wednesday at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort during a part of the Space Symposium focused on change in the space industry.

Another panel member, Mike Gold, chief growth officer of commercial space company Redwire, echoed and amplified Sherwoods warning about the danger of not having a replacement for the ISS ready before it is scheduled to stop operating.

America cant cede LEO to China. Thats what we are in danger of today and we have been through that with the launch gap (when NASA and private space players had to use rockets from Russia and other nations to reach space), Gold said. It is a geopolitical issue. If we cant offer these LEO seats (on commercial stations), we will be sending customers to China. The national security implications of failing at Artemis (NASAs mission to return to the moon) or LEO would be huge.

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Getting commercial stations built and operating by then is a tough bet, Sherwood said, since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration doesnt have a lot of money to help private companies with the huge upfront engineering and other costs to meet the looming deadline.

While the agency signed contracts in 2021 with Orbital Reef, Northrop Grumman and Nanoracks (now called Voyager Space) totaling $415.6 million to develop commercial stations, and gave Axiom Space to build modules for the ISS that will later be used in its own station, fewer companies are expected to get a second round of contracts later in this decade to continue development.

Investors are spooked by uncertainty and this (project) is filled with uncertainty. There needs to be a very special investor to put money into this and that set is pretty small. Moving humanity into space in a long game, Sherwood said.

Each of the four companies are planning stations that would be far more than the platform for scientific experiments that the ISS has been. Orbital Reef calls its station a business park in space that could be used for zero-gravity manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, electronic components and artificial body parts as well as to host space tourists and scientists. Some will include inflatable components, and most are expected to be built for future expansion.

We are building future infrastructure for millions of people to live and work in space for the benefit of mankind, Sherwood said. We are building a mixed-use business park and providing common infrastructure for future tenants.

Tejpaul Bhatia, chief revenue officer of Axiom Space, said he doesnt yet believe there is a market for commercial space stations, but added that all four companies are racing to figure out if there is demand there. If we (generate) so much value up there, cost will become irrelevant.
A 50-year-old veteran was convicted Tuesday on multiple charges related to the shooting of two Pueblo County sheriffs deputies in 2021.

A jury found Eddie Lovins guilty of two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and criminal mischief in the amount $1,000-$5,000 in the incident that left two sheriffs deputies injured in a New Years Day standoff in 2021. He will be sentenced at a hearing on June 23.

Law enforcement attempted to contact Lovins at his home regarding threats he allegedly made about blowing up Tennessee state office buildings, according to previous reporting by The Gazette.

Lovins opened fire at emergency response personnel including deputies, a fire fighter and a Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer on the afternoon on Jan. 1, 2021. Bullets struck one deputy in the head and another in the shoulder. Both deputies have since recovered, the Sheriffs Office said.

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Lovins was subdued with a bean bag round, or flexible baton round, and arrested, the sheriffs office said. He told deputies his home in Pueblo West was wired with explosives, but none were found, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Court records show Lovins was originally charged with 10 counts in the incident, all of which he pleaded not guilty to by reason of insanity. He was acquitted of five of the charges and convicted of the other five.
As much of Colorado saw near-record snowfalls likely to boost the amount of water available to municipalities across the state this spring and summer, Colorado Springs is expecting average levels of water yield, storage and snow runoff this year.

But those are comfortable figures Colorado Springs Utilities officials said Wednesday put the city in adequate shape when it comes to water supply.

For us locally, unfortunately our particular water systems that we rely on were really closer to average this year, said Colorado Springs Utilities water conveyance planning supervisor Kalsoum Abbasi.

We can expect to see a typical inflow to our reservoirs. ... So really, were just where we want to be as far as water supply goes.

Colorado Springs sources most of its water from the Colorado River Basin, which as of Monday had about 129% of its usual snowpack, Abbasi told the Utilities board, which is also the City Council. The Arkansas River Basin, another water source for the city, had a low figure of about 85% of its normal snowpack, she said.

More snowpack can help Utilities store more water.

Obviously, more snow is better. More runoff is better. We always like to see those high flows, Abbasi said in an interview.

The citys average runoff is about 110,000 acre-feet a year from all of its water sources, she said. An acre-foot of water is enough to cover an acre of land to a depth of about one foot and is considered the amount needed by a family of four for about a year.

Utilities customer demand, she said, is about 72,000 acre-feet a year.

Local weather conditions in March were also especially dry, Abbasi said, so there was less precipitation to collect and store.

According to a presentation she gave the Utilities board on Wednesday, Colorado Springs had just 0.08 inches of precipitation last month, only 10% of normal precipitation levels. Precipitation between Jan. 1 and March 31 was 67% of normal levels, she said.

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Officials expect higher chances of below-average precipitation across southern Colorado over the next three months, as well as higher chances of above-average temperatures, according to a board memo from Utilities CEO Travas Deal.

Still, Utilities officials predict 94% of average yield from the citys water collection system this year, Abbasi said.

In 2021 and 2022, there was about 84% of average yield, according to a staff pre sentation.

Storage across Colorado Springs water system, which includes 25 reservoirs, is about 72% of capacity, Abbasi said. Thats slightly below the citys 30-year long-term average of about 74% of capacity.

Its enough for Utilities to serve its customers for more than 2 years before runoff levels potentially add to the citys water supply, she said.

Having an average runoff and an average yield this year sets us up pretty nicely, Abbasi said.

Abbasi said after a dry winter residents can start watering their landscapes if they havent already done so, but should be mindful of low overnight temperatures that can freeze water pipes and sprinkler systems.

As part of Colorado Springs regular water conservation efforts, residents may water up to three days a week.

Beginning May 1 through Oct. 15, residents may only water before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. to reduce evaporation.

For more information on the citys water-wise rules and available tools, tips and rebates, visit csu.org/Pages/WaterWiseRules.aspx.
The Gageby Creek fire has more than doubled in size, burning 4,450 acres of brush and grasslands in southeast Colorado, according to a social media post Thursday from the Bent County Sheriff's Office.

The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control took the lead Thursday on fighting the fire, which was 40% contained, according to the Sheriff's Office.

No businesses or homes have been lost in the blaze, which burned at least 1,700 acres by Wednesday afternoon.

The fire forced residents to evacuate Fort Lyon Wednesday night. Authorities lifted the evacuation order just after 11 p.m. Wednesday. The Las Animas Fire Department began night operations around 11:30 p.m. and monitored the fire throughout the night.

A second fire that sparked north of the Bent/Kiowa line near County Road 14 was reported Wednesday night around 9:15 p.m. Kiowa County fire was working the blaze with mutual aid and one structure was evacuated.

A multiagency response has been fighting the flames with support from three air tankers, the Canon City helitack team and local responders.

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Thick tamarisk and grasses have burned, and some habitat of the rare and threatened black rail bird species also burned, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. People are asked to avoid the area of County Road JJ west of Hasty.

The fire originally closed Highway 50 between Las Animas and Lamar before reopening late afternoon Tuesday. The highway closed again briefly Wednesday due to smoke between Las Animas and McClave but reopened within the hour based on updates from the Sheriff's Office.

On Tuesday, Parks and Wildlife said people should stay out of the park and surrounding areas due to the wildfire that erupted near the John Martin Reservoir.

Crews battled the blaze amid red flag conditions Wednesday, but lower wind and temps are expected Thursday with possible rain and snow Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Las Animas, the seat of Bent County, is about 120 miles southeast of Colorado Springs.
As Ukraine emerges from the coldest winter months amid the ongoing Russian invasion, some Ukrainians have credited their lives to a nonprofit organization in Colorado Springs. Ukrainian refugee Yana Malyk championed Ukraine Power last year after the war forced her to flee her home in Luhansk.

The Gazette has covered Malyks grassroots nonprofit before, but her work is far from over.

Thanks to  all the generators and all the heaters Ukraine Power has supplied to Ukraine, we were able to live through the winter, said Yana Litvinova through a translator in a video call from Ukraine. She is the head of the Starobilsk military administration in the Luhansk region.

Litvinova was one of four Ukrainians who called into a video presentation at an event on April 12 at the Union Printers Home, which aimed to connect the Colorado Springs community with people on the ground in the war-torn county. The event was held in a cold, dark underground auditorium to mimic the experience of many Ukrainians in bomb shelters.

Beyond gratitude for power and heat, those on the ground appealed for funds to support other needs.

Nataliia Ponomarova, an English teacher who formerly taught Malyk and her daughters, shared via the video call that her school is operating remotely to teach around 500 children: 90 in occupied territories, 90 displaced and 300 refugees in other countries. Many of these students only have smartphones and struggle to access their education, Ponomarova said.

As you can imagine, these kids are facing lots of problems as they were running very fast from their places. They didnt have the chance to take all their gadgets with them, she said. As a teacher, I see every lesson the struggle.

Malyk said she keeps track of needs and new needs in a list that gets updated based on conversations with those directly on the ground: Ukrainian leaders, who are also her friends.

As a successful Ukrainian businesswoman, Malyk brought her contacts and experience from the 2014 Russian invasion with her to the United States after weeks of being on the run with her family.

"Were successful because we exactly know what they need because, you saw today, I have good friends and that was just four friends. I have a lot in Ukraine who tell me, they call me and tell me: Yana, we need heaters, we need generators, we need lamps, we need power banks.'"

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With funds raised since December 2022, Malyk and a Colorado Springs family hosting her and her two daughters have been able to send generators, space heaters, propane tanks and batteries to Ukraine  providing power to hubs that supply Wi-Fi and charging stations in areas like Luhansk that have gone dark since Russias invasion last year.

Marc Luckett, Ukraine Power treasurer and part of Malyks host family, said they exceeded their $10,000 goal for the Union Printers Home event by raising $13,000 to support ongoing needs in Ukraine.

The shipments of supplies into occupied territories, where Malyk is from and still has family, is facilitated by the Ukrainian military and police beyond the front lines where thousands are living in the cold and dark.

There have been around 5,000 missile attacks on civilian infrastructure since last year, but with sights on brighter days, Ukrainians are already looking forward to rebuilding cities, homes and lives taken by the war.

The situation on the ground is difficult.  Nevertheless, we are starting to get prepared for the rebuilding of our region, said governor of the Luhansk regional military administration, Oleksii Smirnov, via translator on April 12. After the victory, we have to reconstruct the whole region because the whole region is destroyed totally and there is nothing left.

Oleksandr Kolomijtsev is the head of the Department for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure in Dnepropetrovsk and another one of Malyks connections who spoke to supporters in Colorado from Ukraine last week. He said rebuilding Ukrainian infrastructure could be completed in two years with enough funding.

By itself, Ukraine wont be able to handle this to manage that, so were hoping that the whole world will help and together well be able to recover, he said via a translator during the video call.

While Malyk and her family have found a welcoming home in Colorado Springs and have a local Ukrainian community of around 100 people, she said they look forward to the day when they can return to their home.

"You every day want to come back home."
The community center at Inside Out Youth Services, a nonprofit organization catering to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, was closed for Thanksgiving break when on Nov. 19 a shooter killed five people inside a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs and injured another 22 patrons and employees.

The youth center hasnt reopened since.

Immediately, there was concern that the mass shooting could spawn copycat actions and the center would be targeted, said Liss Smith, spokesperson for Inside Out.

Colorado Springs police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security reached out to the organization to help thwart potential intrusion, she said.

While the organization received an outpouring of support from around the nation and countries such as New Zealand and England, Smith said negative online comments from anti-LGBTQ+ groups began appearing in earnest.

Social media threats got so bad that Inside Out had to delete its Twitter account, Smith said, because we could not keep up with the hateful messages and harassment.

The threats did not warrant police intervention, according to Colorado Springs police Lt. Pam Castro.

Police recorded no calls for service to the Inside Out address east of downtown in the past year, she said.

Inside Out has been holding virtual programs and off-site weekly in-person get-togethers, such as at libraries or at other organizations like Food to Power.

The organization serves between 100 and 200 youths in a quarter, Smith said, and has provided 190 free therapy sessions since November.

A lot of our young folks dont really have a safe space at home or school, she said. Inside Out is one of the few places they can truly feel like they can be themselves without judgment.

Its lifesaving to have that collective community to be connected to.

Office renovations by volunteers from Lowes home improvement store to improve security and make the area "more fun" are nearly complete, Smith said.

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Additional safety training for staff and up to 70 volunteers also is being conducted, she said.

The community center will reopen this month in phases, Smith said, at first for three days a week and working up to five days, Monday through Friday, its typical schedule.

The organization has had security practices in place for years, she said, including a locked double-door entrance.

Also, only vetted adults have been able to volunteer, with the goal of creating a secure and confidential safe space, where teens and young adults ages 13-24 can congregate.

Unfortunately, it hasnt been enough for this new movement, Smith said.

Experts in anti-LGBTQ+ extremism and cybersecurity and physical safety practices have advised the group on how to move forward with safety being top-of-mind, she said.

The organization has contracted with a security company to provide on-site workers, the address is being removed from online sites, along with employees names.

Were reupping the vetting, taking volunteers only by referral and not having applications online, Smith said.

Adult volunteers can still contact the organization via email, social media or its website, she said, as clients need trusted adults and intergenerational connectedness they may not get elsewhere.

Were not going to rush it; we know how important it is to do it right, Smith said.

Nearly three months after the Club Q shooting, the local LGBTQ+ community is still in mourning, she said.

People dont know what it feels like to be targeted in that way and to lose people we knew and loved, Smith said. Thats the history of the LGBTQ community  grieving, coming together, being resilient.

Theres sadness, anger, fear and overall a sense we have to come together, a sense well change things. Well turn hate into love.
SANAA (Reuters) -At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as residents gathered at a school to receive cash donations distributed by merchants during Ramadan, witnesses and the Houthi administration said on Thursday.

Hundreds of people crowded to receive the alms, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, two witnesses involved in the rescue effort told Reuters.

"When the door opened, there was a big rush by people wanting to reach the school yard first and some people began falling on the steps leading to the entrance," one medic said.

Two thirds of the population need help in the war-torn country, which was impoverished even before the conflict erupted eight years ago.

The Houthi health ministry said 77 people were injured, including 13 in a critical condition, in the charge that occurred during the distribution of the cash collected in the final days of the Muslim fasting holy month before the Eid al Fitr festivities.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, head of the group's supreme revolutionary committee, said on Twitter that merchants had gathered "several days'" worth of registered individuals to distribute aid to at one go at a school, the entrance to which is off a narrow road with steps leading up to the gate.

A video posted by Houthi television on Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety. Security staff fought to push people back and control the crowd.

Another video after the stampede showed scores of discarded shoes, a crutch and clothing on the steps of the building, and forensic investigators in protective white suits sorting through personal belongings.

'GREAT TRAGEDY'

The two merchants responsible for organising the donation event had been detained and an investigation was under way, the interior ministry said.

"We are experiencing a great tragedy, a large number of our citizens have died during this stampede," said Abdulaziz Bin Habtour, the prime minister of the Houthi movement, de facto authorities in north Yemen.

In remarks published by the group's media centre, he said measures would be taken to "find a serious solution so it does not happen again". The president of the supreme judicial council said the necessary legal measures would be taken.

Yemen has been mired in an eight-year conflict that pits a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia against the Iran-aligned Houthi group. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, wrecked the economy and pushed millions into hunger.

The United Nation's World Food Programme feeds 13 million in Yemen but funding shortfalls have reduced its activities.

An expired U.N.-brokered truce has delivered a year of relative calm, the longest stretch in the conflict, and Saudi Arabia and the Houthis are engaged in talks in parallel to U.N. efforts to establish a permanent ceasefire.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis months after the group ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa. The conflict has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Riyadh and Tehran in March agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016 and prisoner exchanges this month between the two sides have raised hopes of a resolution to the conflict.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher in Cairo; Mohammed Alghobari in Aden and the Yemen team in Sanaa; Writing by Andrew Mills, Michael Perry and Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Stephen Coates and Alison Williams)
Speaking to union workers in Maryland on Wednesday, President Joe Biden took aim at House Republicans' request that he negotiate spending cuts in exchange for a debt limit hike as he sought to defend his work on the economy.

Biden relied on several misleading claims during an address aimed largely at discrediting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and the GOP plan McCarthy unveiled earlier in the afternoon.

HOUSE GOP TAKES AX TO DEMOCRATIC CLEAN ENERGY CREDITS WITH DEBT CEILING PROPOSAL

Here are some of the instances in which Biden stretched the truth.

'Putin's war in Ukraine has disrupted energy supplies and food supplies, causing the price of everything from eggs to wheat to go up'

While the Russian invasion of Ukraine did affect grain prices last year, the spike in the cost of eggs has little to do with Ukraine.

Experts say a deadly outbreak of bird flu killed a record number of chickens and led to a shortage of eggs starting in 2022.

That led egg prices to climb at least 60% last year and contributed to higher costs for other kinds of food products that count eggs among their ingredients.

Biden has misleadingly cited the war in Ukraine in other contexts, such as while defending the rise in gas prices, but his efforts to connect the egg shortage to Ukraine are particularly far-fetched.

'In my first two years in office, I brought the deficit down by a record $1.7 trillion'

This is a common claim Biden has made when defending his administration's record on the economy.

Biden did indeed lower the deficit during his first two years in office  but not because he focused on fiscal responsibility.

Instead, the deficit fell because much of the unprecedented pandemic spending that began in 2020 under Biden's predecessor expired, such as the end of enhanced unemployment benefits.

Spending still remains well above pre-pandemic levels under the Biden administration.

'Under my plan, no one earning less than $400,000 has seen nor will see as long as I'm president a single solitary penny raised in their taxes'

Biden has maintained this line about taxes since the days of the 2020 campaign.

Regarding individual income tax brackets, Biden has not violated that pledge nor proposed a change that would.

But his proposed increases to corporate tax rates have caused some Republicans in the past to accuse him of pushing tax increases that would effectively tax people making less than $400,000 a year.

That's because, some experts note, corporations would pass the higher tax burden on to their workers in the form of lower wages or layoffs and to their customers in the form of higher prices for goods or services.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that workers and customers feel at least some, if not a significant share, of all corporate tax burdens.

'MAGA Republicans in Congress want to defund the FBI and the police'

Republicans are essentially unanimous in opposing defunding the police under any circumstances.

Not even Trump-aligned Republicans have proposed cutting funding to police.

Former President Donald Trump has called on congressional Republicans to cut FBI funding in retaliation for the multiple investigations he has faced since leaving office.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has indeed floated the idea of threatening FBI and Justice Department funding but not specifically related to Trump.

Instead, Jordan has said House Republicans should consider using the "power of the purse" to hold the Justice Department to account on politically sensitive issues, such as its alleged disparate treatment of pro-abortion protesters and anti-abortion protesters.

'MAGA Republicans in Congress have introduced a bill that could take food assistance away from 10 million kids, people, 4 million children, and put them at risk of going hungry'

The House Republican plan would expand work requirements to more people receiving food assistance, which could in theory result in some people being dropped from the program if they don't actively look for a job and try to stay on the program.

But that doesn't mean millions of people would lose their access to benefits overnight. The GOP proposal would simply raise the age at which existing work requirements would apply.

House Republicans are also pushing to end what they describe as loopholes that allow some states to waive existing requirements for people hoping to receive food assistance.

Roughly 42.5 million people rely on the food assistance benefits provided by the federal government. For Biden's claim to come true, that means nearly 1 in 4 recipients of the benefits would have to fail to meet work requirements that already apply to recipients up to age 49. The GOP proposal would raise that age to 65.

The Trump tax cuts 'overwhelmingly helped the super [wealthy],' 'and that tax cut ballooned the deficit by over 40%'

Both of these claims about the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are misleading at best.

First, those tax cuts reduced the tax burden for most households. People earning under $50,000 saw a modest tax cut, and virtually everyone making above $50,000 saw a substantial tax decrease.

While wealthy people did also receive a reduction in their taxes, as did corporations, the tax cuts by design helped most taxpayers.

The claim that the tax cuts are responsible for ballooning the national debt by 40% is also inaccurate.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The national debt did indeed grow by nearly 40% on Trump's watch, by $7.8 trillion, but again, pandemic-related spending was responsible for much of that growth,

The Tax Policy Institute estimated that the Trump tax cuts would add $1.9 trillion to the deficit over a decade, far less than the 40% increase over three years that Biden claimed.

Original Location: Fact check: Biden makes misleading claims when slamming House GOP debt ceiling proposal

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Nearly two-thirds of Republicans believe Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should resign, according to a new poll.

McConnell, 81, returned to the Senate on Monday after a month out of action because he suffered a concussion and a rib fracture from a fall in a Washington, D.C., hotel. Despite his return, however, concerns remain over his health and age, according to an Economist/YouGov poll.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., boards an elevator after attending a closed door briefing about leaked highly classified military documents, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Jacquelyn Martin/AP

TWO-THIRDS OF DEMOCRATS BELIEVE FEINSTEIN SHOULD RESIGN: POLL

The poll, taken April 15-18, found that 64% of Republicans believe McConnell should resign, along with an equal percentage of Democrats. Roughly 63% of respondents and 68% of voters agreed.

The poll also found that more ideological conservatives and Trump voters believed McConnell should resign than ideological liberals and Biden voters, respectively.

Despite the growing public opinion calling for his resignation, McConnell has so far shown no signs of stepping down.

"I want to thank all my colleagues for their warm wishes shared over the past few weeks," McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. "Suffice to say this isn't the first time being hardheaded served me very well," he quipped with a laugh.

The Senate minority leader has been busy since his return, juggling debates over the debt ceiling limit, blocking Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) proposal to temporarily replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and punching back against Democratic concerns over Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's recent gift-receiving scandal.

McConnell is one of three prominent senators to have been out of action for an extended period for health issues, with the other two being Feinstein and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who returned the same day as McConnell after a two-months-long hospital stay for treatment for clinical depression.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

A separate Economist/YouGov poll found that nearly an equivalent percentage of respondents that believed McConnell should resign believe Feinstein should resign. Results for Fetterman were more mixed, with only a majority of Republicans believing he should resign.

The Economist and YouGov polled 1,500 United States residents aged 18 and over, with a margin of error of +/- 3.2%.

Original Location: Nearly two-thirds of Republicans believe McConnell should resign, poll shows

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has been absent from the Senate since early March, when she was hospitalized with shingles, leaving Democrats unable to advance several of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees.

Feinstein's absence coincided with absences from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who was hospitalized in early March with a concussion, and freshman Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who checked himself into the hospital to be treated for depression. McConnell and Fetterman returned to the Senate after Congress returned from recess earlier this week, leaving Feinstein as the lone missing link.

SENATE DEMOCRATS STUCK WITH FEINSTEIN DILEMMA AFTER JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SWAP FAILS

Feinstein's absence means Democrats no longer hold their slim majority in the Senate, slowing down the work of the chamber's Judicial Committee, on which the California Democrat sits. The Judicial Committee is tasked with vetting Biden's judicial nominees before they appear before the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

There are 15 judicial nominees waiting to be approved by the Judicial Committee whose confirmations must wait in limbo until Feinstein returns. Although Feinstein has requested to be temporarily removed from the panel to speed things along, Republicans have refused to agree to such a move.

Here are the 15 nominees waiting for a confirmation vote as Feinstein recovers:

Charnelle Bjelkengren for the Eastern District of Washington

Charnelle Bjelkengren was recommended to Biden by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

Bjelkengren currently serves as a judge on the Spokane County Superior Court, and she became the first black woman to be elevated to that court when she was nominated in 2019. If confirmed to the new position, she would become the first black woman to serve as a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

Some Republicans have remained skeptical of her nomination, especially after the judge struggled to answer lawmakers' questions about the purpose of Article Five of the Constitution, which outlines the procedures to amend the founding document.

Orelia Merchant for the Eastern District of New York

Orelia Merchant was nominated in September to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Merchant appeared before the Judicial Committee for her nomination hearing on Jan. 25, but her nomination has remained largely stalled since then.

Merchant served as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York from 2002 to 2019. Before that, she worked as the assistant regional counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency from 1998 to 2002.

Since 2019, Merchant has served as the chief deputy attorney general for state counsel in the New York State Attorney General's Office, overseeing more than 8,000 active cases in state and federal court on behalf of the Empire State.

Michael Farbiarz for the District of New Jersey

Michael Farbiarz was nominated by Biden for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in January, appearing before the committee for a confirmation hearing on Jan. 25. Farbiarz has a lengthy legal career, serving as a law clerk, assistant U.S. attorney, as well as a professor.

Farbiarz is best known for his prosecution of a group of Somali pirates who seized a U.S. container ship in the Indian Ocean in 2009. That incident was portrayed in the 2013 film Captain Phillips.

Robert Kirsch for the District of New Jersey

Also in New Jersey, Robert Kirsch was nominated for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, likewise appearing for a hearing before the Judicial panel on Jan. 25.

Kirsch served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey from 1997 to 2010, where he mainly focused on white-collar crimes. Since then, Kirsch was appointed to serve as a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court for Union County.

Marian Gaston for the Southern District of California

Marian Gaston was nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in late January before appearing for her nomination hearing on Feb. 15. Gaston was nominated to replace the seat vacated by Judge William Hayes, who was elevated to senior status in August 2021.

Gaston currently serves as a San Diego County Superior Court judge after she was appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) in 2015. Before that, Gaston worked as a public defender at the San Diego County Public Defender's Office.

Wesley Hsu for the Central District of California

Wesley Hsu was nominated by Biden to sit on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in January and appeared for his confirmation hearing on Feb. 15.

Hsu currently serves as a judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California after being elected in 2017. He was later reelected in 2018, and his current term is set to expire in January 2025.

Monica Ramirez Almadani for the Central District of California

Monica Ramirez Almadani was nominated to sit on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in January and appeared for a hearing on Feb. 15. She awaits a vote from the committee to advance her to the full Senate for consideration.

Ramirez Almadani has a lengthy career in law, serving as a civil rights litigator, prosecutor, and law school professor. Most recently, Ramirez Almadani served as the president and CEO of Public Counsel, which is the largest pro bono public interest law firm in the country.

Michael Delaney for the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Hampshire

Michael Delany was nominated to sit on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Hampshire and appeared for his hearing on Feb. 15. However, Delaney faces an uphill battle as he has faced scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans for his handling of a sexual assault case at a New Hampshire boarding school.

Delaney has also come under scrutiny after signing a legal brief in 2005 that was sent to the Supreme Court defending a law in New Hampshire that required minors to tell their parents before obtaining an abortion. That law was later repealed in 2007.

At the time, Delaney defended the law because he said it did not "present a substantial obstacle to any woman's right to choose an abortion." During his hearing, Delaney told the committee he did not write the brief and had very limited involvement in the case that prompted it.

Jeffrey Cummings for the Northern District of Illinois

Biden nominated Jeffrey Cummings to serve as district court judge for the Northern District of Illinois in January. Cummings appeared before the Judiciary Committee for a hearing on Feb. 15.

Cummings served as counsel to former President Barack Obama before he was elected to the Senate in 2004. Cummings has served as a magistrate judge since February 2019.

LaShonda Hunt for the Northern District of Illinois

LaShonda Hunt was nominated in January to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois after being recommended by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chairs the Judiciary Committee.

Hunt works as a bankruptcy judge in the Northern District of Illinois after serving as the general counsel of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services. She also has experience working as the chief legal counsel of the Illinois Department of Corrections and as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.

Amanda Brailsford for the District Court of Idaho

Biden nominated Amanda Brailsford to serve as a district judge for the District Court of Idaho in January. She appeared for a hearing before the Judiciary Committee on March 22.

Brailsford was recommended by Sens. Michael Crapo (R-ID) and James Risch (R-ID) to replace Judge B. Lynn Winmill, who was elevated to senior status in August 2021. If confirmed, Brailsford would become the first woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.

Kato Crews for the District Court of Colorado

Kato Crews was nominated to become a U.S. district judge for the District Court of Colorado in February and appeared for a hearing on March 22. He serves as a magistrate judge for the Court of Colorado, where he has worked since 2018.

Crews came under some scrutiny during his nomination hearing before the Judicial panel after Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) asked him about the Brady motion, which is a decades-old legal doctrine that allows defendants to request prosecutors to turn over evidence that could be favorable to them. Crews struggled to define the doctrine when asked.

Jeremy Daniel for the Northern District of Illinois

Jeremy Daniel is one of the most recent nominees, as he was nominated to sit on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in March and held his confirmation hearing earlier this week on Tuesday.

Daniel served in the Marine Corps before being honorably discharged in 2000. Since then, he's worked in a variety of legal roles. Most recently, he's served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois since 2014.

Brendan Hurson for the District of Maryland

Hurson is another recent nominee, being nominated to serve as a district judge in March and appearing for his committee hearing on Tuesday.

Hurson serves as a magistrate judge for the District of Maryland after being appointed in February 2022. Before that, he spent years as a public defender in Maryland.

Darrel Papillion for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Biden nominated Darrel Papillion to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in March, and he also appeared before the Judicial Committee for his hearing on Tuesday.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Papillion is among those who are likely to receive bipartisan support for his nomination, already garnering support from Republicans such as Kennedy, who praised the nominee during his hearing as being a "lawyer's lawyer."

Throughout his legal career, Papillion has specialized in cases advocating injured workers and sex abuse victims, as well as those affected by voter disenfranchisement.

Original Location: The 15 judges Biden cannot confirm while Feinstein is out of the Senate

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A top anti-abortion organization is calling out former President Donald Trump for what it's saying is a "morally indefensible position."

The Susan B. Anthony List once maintained a great relationship with Trump, even hosting him as a keynote speaker at its annual gala in 2018.

WATCH: PENCE REITERATES 'PRO-LIFE' STANCE, WANTS ABORTION PILL 'OFF THE MARKET'

But now, SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said, "We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions."

The statement, released on Thursday, comes in response to a recent comment on U.S. abortion policy from Trump's campaign.

"President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level," the Trump campaign told the Washington Examiner.

"Republicans have been trying to get this done for 50 years, but were unable to do so. President Trump, who is considered the most pro-life President in history, got it done. He will continue these policies when re-elected to the White House. Like President Reagan before him, President Trump supports exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother," it continued.

President Donald Trump looks out at the audience during a speech at the Susan B. Anthony List 11th Annual Campaign for Life Gala at the National Building Museum, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Andrew Harnik/AP

The campaign did not provide further comment on the backlash from SBA List.

In SBA's release, Dannenfelser continued, stating that "President Trump's assertion that the Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion solely to the states is a completely inaccurate reading of the Dobbs decision and is a morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate to hold."

"Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth, even brutal late-term abortions in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. The only way to save these children is through federal protections, such as a 15-week federal minimum standard when the unborn child can feel excruciating pain," she continued.

Notably, Trump was the first sitting president to ever attend the March for Life, which he did in 2020. "They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those that have no voice, and we will win because we know how to win," he told the crowd at the time. "Together we are the voice for the voiceless."

Abortion has emerged as an important issue in the 2024 Republican primary. While several expected candidates have reiterated anti-abortion beliefs, reports have indicated that the Trump campaign believes a federal abortion ban could be a losing issue.

Recently, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who has not announced a 2024 bid but is nonetheless polling in second place at 24%, signed a six-week ban on abortion in Florida.

Trump has been quick to attack DeSantis, who appears to be his chosen nemesis in the primary battle, but has remained mum on the ban.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who recently launched an exploratory committee for a possible 2024 bid, said that he would sign the most conservative legislation on abortion if he were commander in chief.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Trump's former vice president and potential 2024 candidate, Mike Pence, reiterated his staunch anti-abortion beliefs in a recent interview.

A spokesperson for Pence told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that "Mike Pence is pro-life and he doesn't apologize for it. The Dobbs decision gave a second chance in the fight for Life, and he's not going to rest or relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the country."

Original Location: Top anti-abortion organization calls out Trump for 'morally indefensible position'

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Ever since a scary clown made your first balloon animal at a birthday party, youve known squeezing it doesnt pop it. It just bulges out someplace else.

And yet, when the scary clown is government, and it attempts to put the squeeze on campaign contributions, we all tell ourselves it will get the money out of politics  and we laud it as campaign finance reform.

In reality, it only pushes the money someplace else. Usually, its someplace thats harder to track and account for  but it influences an election all the same. The candidates campaign no longer spends it or answers for it; instead, a special-interest group spends it  and answers to no one. It becomes dark money, in political parlance.

That has been the law in Colorado for decades regarding campaigns for state office  limiting the amount of political contributions to candidates for Legislature, governor and the like. And it has failed miserably.

Shadowy independent committees moved in and took the money that the candidates no longer were allowed to take  splurging it on a whole new wave of attack ads we now regard as standard fare every election season. The mudslinging has turned off voters who, in turn, do their best to tune out the ads. And  guess what  overall campaign spending has soared.

Reform it aint.

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Now  perhaps, because misery loves company  state lawmakers are trying to foist the same failure on Colorados cities. As reported this week in Colorado Politics, House Bill 23-1245 would cap donations to candidates from individuals and political parties at $400 and donations from small-donor committees like unions at $4,000 in municipal elections.

Denver would be exempt from the legislation as it already, unwisely, has adopted its own contribution limits along with a related boondoggle that uses tax dollars to fund campaigns. Other cities, however  from Aurora to Grand Junction, Pueblo to Fort Collins and beyond  would be under the states thumb. Even Colorado Springs, though a home-rule city like Denver, likely would have to bow to the new limits if passed because it currently has none of its own.

To say the least, the bill represents yet another trampling of local control. On the heels of Gov. Jared Polis pending plan to bulldoze local zoning rules in favor of a statewide land-use standard, this latest usurpation of local power is all the more of an outrage. Dissenting Republican lawmakers made that point in debate in the state House on Tuesday.

More fundamentally, though, HB 1245 is simply bad policy at any level of government. To repeat, it has done absolutely nothing to get the money out of state politics, and it will do the same for local politics. Even as the bills backers bemoaned the recent, record-breaking campaign spending in the first-round mayoral elections in Denver and Colorado Springs on April 4, both cities elections in fact underscored the bills obliviousness to reality.

Under Denvers recently adopted campaign-contribution limits, the candidates in the current mayoral race raised $10.7 million  compared to $4.6 million total in its 2019 race, before the limits were enacted. And there still are weeks of fund-raising to go before the June 6 runoff vote. In Colorado Springs municipal election, meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by independent political groups touting some candidates and smearing others. Those groups wouldnt and, constitutionally, couldnt be curbed by HB 1245. Theyre beyond its reach.

The Houses Democratic majority passed the bill anyway and sent it to the Senate. After all, its reform, right?
Legislation that sought to ban so-called "assault weapons" died early Thursday morning after three Democrats joined the Colorado House Judiciary Committee's Republicans to kill the bill on a 7-6 vote.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, Democratic Reps. Bob Marshall of Highlands Ranch, Said Sharbini of Westminster and Marc Snyder of Colorado Springs voted down the legislation along with their Republican colleagues after a pair of amendments to ban bump stocks and rapid-fire trigger activators were lost.

A subsequent vote to postpone the bill indefinitely drew one additional Democratic vote from Rep. Lindsay Daugherty of Arvada.

The nearly 15-hour hearing, which kicked off Wednesday morning, drew a 2023 record 522 witnesses seeking to testify.

The bill  sponsored by Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver  has divided the Democrats' Gun Violence Prevention Caucus, with leading members, such as Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, believing other measures, such as his proposal to improve the red flag law, are better solutions to gun violence.

When Democratic lawmakers unveiled a package of four gun control bills on Feb. 23, the assault weapons ban was notably not among them. Nor did lawmakers mention it.

In addition, Gov. Jared Polis is also believed to be opposed to an assault weapons ban.

Those who support gun control measures claim it's an issue better addressed at the federal level, such as the ban that existed for a decade that started in the Clinton administration.

Under HB 1230, "assault weapons"  a nonspecific term  is defined in several ways:

a semiautomatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine, along with modifications, such as a pistol grip, a detachable stock, a flash suppressor or a grenade launcher;

a semiautomatic rifle with a fixed large-capacity magazine or a semiautomatic pistol with the same list of possible modifications;

a semiautomatic shotgun, including those that can accept the same modifications;

a semiautomatic firearm that can accept a belt ammunition feeding device or a semiautomatic firearm modified to be operable as an "assault weapon" as defined in the bill

Ban on 'bump stocks'

But the final bill that emerges might be markedly different than its introductory version.

Epps announced early on in Wednesday's hearing that she is considering an amendment to remove all the firearms identified in the bill  except for a ban on "bump stocks," an attachment that allows a semiautomatic rifle to fire like a machine gun.

A bump stock allowed the Las Vegas shooter who killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 others in 2017 to fire rapidly into the crowd at a country music concert.

However, as of press time, Epps had not asked for committee approval of the amendment.

A federal ban on bump stocks, implemented under the Trump administration, is on hold pending court appeals.

House Republicans decried the decision to bring forward an amendment that no one knew about, saying the hundreds of witnesses opposed to the measure would not have an opportunity to address what the bill could ultimately look like.

House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, noted that a record number of people have signed up to oppose the measure. He called Epps' plan to change the bill without warning an insult to the witnesses.

"The result remains uncertain, but we're seeing a pushback ... (against) a radical agenda of disarming our citizens," he said.

But Lynch also asked why lawmakers are "wasting more time" on the issue of gun control.

He said while lawmakers spend another full day on a gun bill, what's being left behind with just 18 days left in the 2023 session are issues affecting every Coloradan, such as proposals to make things safer so they don't worry about crime or address the housing crisis.

"We're spending inordinate amounts of time on an issue that we've beat to death this session. We're running out of time," he said.

'The body is essentially blown apart'

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Witnesses in support of the measure, who included representatives of the nation's biggest gun control groups, testified on what an "assault weapon" does to the human body.

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann told the committee that she prosecutes the worst things people do to each other.

"I go to homicide scenes and I see the terrible results of injuries caused by handguns. But at least with handguns, theres an entry wound and an exit wound and the body is generally intact other than those small wounds," McCann said. "If a person is killed by an assault weapon, the body is essentially blown apart."

Assault weapons are designed for killing, not for self-defense," added Peter Gurfein of Giffords Gun Owners for Safety. "The damage done by high velocity shells by these firearms is horrific and disproportionately used in mass shootings."

He added, "There is no evidence that owning an assault weapon makes people safer."

Students from East High School, who have marched on the state Capitol several times in the wake of the March 7 shooting that injured two administrators, also testified. Authorities later found the 17-year-old suspect dead. They believe he committed suicide.

Norah Krause, a 14-year-old freshman at East High, said she's becoming all too familiar with the insides of the state Capitol. She now considers herself a survivor of gun violence and mass shootings, including incidents involving assault weapons.

The debate, she said, has become political, with Democrats versus Republicans instead of life versus death or graduation versus funerals.

"I've sent texts that I thought would be my last," she told the committee.

Her 10-year-old brother is scared for her to go to school because he thinks she won't come back, she said, adding, "I should not have to grow up this quickly. I should be worrying about insignificant things like a bio test, friend drama, or whether to get Chipotle or Starbucks for lunch. I should not have to come here every week to tell you guys to do your job."

Instead, she said, her school experiences are ruining her love of learning.

"I can't keep going through this," Krause said. "I don't deserve it. My friends don't deserve it. My brother doesn't deserve it."

Opponents warn of lawsuits

Among the hundreds of opponents, Daniel Fenalson of the Colorado State Shooting Association said the bill will not stop any shooting, including at the school where he, too, became a survivor. The bill would only create more victims, he said, including victims of domestic violence who want to defend themselves.

That testimony also came, and was echoed by others, with a warning: lawsuits will follow.

Adam Dill of Boulder County pointed out the costs for the state of defending such lawsuits will be immense.

"We must consider the financial burden of a lengthy battle," he told the committee members.

Disarming citizens will make them more vulnerable to crime, particularly for people of color, women, LGBTQ and those with disabilities, added Carynn Rudolph-Porter, who owns Goliath Tactical Firearms Training.

"As a Black, lesbian woman, a mother, a survivor of sexual assault, a disabled veteran, a social worker, and a certified firearms instructor, I believe that this proposed ban is detrimental to the greater community and a violation of our human right," she said.

Several gun store owners also spoke in opposition, claiming the bill is intended to put them out of business. One said the bill is based on a lack of familiarity about what "assault weapons" are and added that HB 1230 will turn law-abiding citizens, including firearms dealers, into criminals.

The bill also drew opposition from five county sheriffs, including Sheriff Darren Weekly of Douglas County, who said the bill would make commonly owned firearms illegal to purchase, sell or transfer.

"We must not compromise individual liberties under the guise of safety," Weekly said.

As of press time, witnesses are still testifying on the bill and the hearing is expected to continue late into the night.
A federal judge has dismissed a former law student's claims against the Denver County Court, acknowledging by all accounts the student's semester in the courthouse did not go well, but that his allegations of disability-related retaliation were not viable.

Ethan West-Helmle graduated from the University of Denver's law school several months after failing an externship with the Denver District Attorney's Office. He was assigned to a specific courtroom in Denver County Court where, as described in court documents, he grew frustrated with the presiding magistrate and she was equally frustrated with him  allegedly to the point of banning West-Helmle from her courtroom.

West-Helmle filed a lawsuit against the DA's office, the university, the county court and Magistrate Melissa Trollinger Annis, accusing them of disability discrimination based on a prior stroke that affected his work performance, and of retaliating against him when he alerted the Colorado Attorney General's Office to the discrimination.

On April 14, U.S. District Court Judge Ramyond P. Moore rejected West-Helmle's retaliation claims against the Denver County Court. Moore cited multiple reasons, including West-Helmle's failure to credibly link his 2018 report of discrimination to any vindictive response by Annis.

There was evidence, Moore wrote, "that neither Annis nor any agent or employee of Courtroom 4C received any notice about Plaintiffs March 2018 complaint or communicated with Plaintiffs professors that he should not pass his externship."

In an email, West-Helmle, who represented himself in court, implied he would be appealing the judge's order.

"This judge is retiring, and he goes out with a bang," he said. "There is not a finer case to survive Raymond Moores tenure. If the 10th Circuit does not see past his shenanigans, then the Supreme Court will."

Moore will become a part-time senior judge in June. There is no indication he will cease presiding over West-Helmle's case at that time.

West-Helmle's lawsuit and supporting documents portrayed a frustrating experience for everyone working in Annis' courtroom, 4C, during the fall of 2017.

West-Helmle was one of multiple externs assigned to 4C to work on criminal prosecutions. In his telling, a prosecutor made fun of his unusual typing technique, which was the product of his stroke. Then Annis flew "into an outrage" when he asked a question about a statement she made. In mid-October, West-Helmle's supervisor told him Annis had "banned" him from 4C, allegedly by saying, "This is my COURT, MY ROOM, MYYYYY RULES!!"

His supervisor ultimately recommended to DU that he receive a failing grade. Consequently, the university failed West-Helmle for his externship.

In March 2018, West-Helmle sent a notice of his intended lawsuit to the attorney general's office, which he claimed made its way to the Denver County Court. Unidentified persons then allegedly contacted the university, resulting in a committee upholding West-Helmle's failing grade on appeal.

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That series of events, West-Helmle alleged, stemmed from his stroke-caused disability and a failure to accommodate him as federal law requires.

Evidence in the case corroborated the difficulties West-Helmle encountered in courtroom 4C, including another extern's description of Annis' belligerence. But a more complete picture of West-Helmle's own performance also emerged:

 There were "concerns he was advising defendants improperly, making misrepresentations to the court, and had an inability to justify some of the (plea) offers he was making," wrote Chief Deputy District Attorney Christine A. Washburn in a report addressing West-Helmle's application to the bar

 Deputy District Attorney Ashley Daly Morgan wrote in an email that she was "very concerned with how our office is being represented in 4C," after Annis gave her a "laundry list" of problems with DU's externs

 Annis threw West-Helmle out of her courtroom because of "how he was engaging with others," which included raising his voice and using "derogatory language about his supervisors," wrote DU employee Christopher Engle-Newman

 After West-Helmle wrote in an email that he wanted to "punish" his supervisors, the chair of the committee that heard West-Helmle's appeal said he would "not permit my Committee to serve this function for you"

In 2021, U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak recommended dismissing several of West-Helmle's claims. Because Annis barred West-Helmle from her courtroom pursuant to her role as a judge, she had immunity from being sued. Further, West-Helmle had not shown he was a person with a disability under federal law, nor had he apparently asked for an accommodation from the DA's office.

Moore, the district judge, agreed with Varholak's recommendation. While Annis was entitled to immunity, Moore indicated the Denver County Court could still be held liable if other employees were involved in any retaliation. He waited for the evidence to shine more light on what occurred.

In late 2022, the Denver County Court asked for a ruling in its favor, noting the information now showed West-Helmle's allegations of retaliation stemmed solely from Annis' conduct, for which she had immunity.

Moreover, "DCC did not retaliate against Plaintiff because Magistrate Annis was not informed by the AGs Office about the Notice (of a lawsuit)," wrote the Denver City Attorney's Office. "Likewise, there is no evidence that any communication from Magistrate Annis or anyone affiliated with the DCC played any part in DU upholding Plaintiffs failing grade."

Moore agreed on all fronts and dismissed the Denver County Court from the lawsuit. The only remaining claim is West-Helmle's allegation that DU violated federal law against disability discrimination.

The case is West-Helmle v. Denver County Judiciary et al.
Gov. Jared Polis' signature housing bill on Tuesday night advanced past its first legislative hurdle, winning a 4-3 party-line vote from the Colorado Senate Local Government and Housing Committee.

But committee testimony, as well as conversations around the Senate, show the bill has split the Democratic caucus. And its next stop in Senate Appropriations could be just as tough, depending on who's on the committee that day.

The appropriations panel's next meeting is scheduled for Friday morning, and Senate Bill 213 could be on the agenda.The committee's membership when the bill comes up could play a critical role.

The panel is chaired by Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, with Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, as vice-chair. Both have told Colorado Politics they are "no" votes on the bill as introduced, but as of Wednesday had not seen the changes made to the measure Tuesday night.

City councils in Bridges and Zenzinger's districts have voiced strong opposition to the measure. Those include local governments in Englewood, Lone Tree, Sheridan, Greenwood Village and Arvada.

But Bridges is expected to be excused Friday, leaving Zenzinger in the chair. Bill sponsor Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, is also expected to sit on the committee Friday, replacing Sen. James Coleman, D-Denver.

Moreno told Colorado Politics Wednesday he was unaware of any plan to remove Zenzinger from the committee, and that he would have a conversation with her on her position on the bill.

SB 213 was heavily changed by Democratic amendments on Tuesday to begin to address concerns from Democrats that could make or break the bill. But even with the amendments, two committee Democrats indicated they will need to see more changes to support the bill before final passage.

The committee adopted 18 amendments and rejected two. Among those rejected was a strike-below offered by Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, that would have stripped a provision allowing the state to impose zoning and other requirements on municipalities, as well as rural and resort communities.

That's led opponents to claim the bill is unconstitutional, because it would conflict with 50 years of Supreme Court decisions that protect the right of local governments to set their own land use and zoning regulations.

The amendments adopted Tuesday did not move opponents off that position.

Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, told Colorado Politics last night he is still hopeful for an "win-win" situation, as presented in Kirkmeyer's amendment.

"Nothing is changed. The bill, even in its pre-amended version, is an unconstitutional preemption that tramples local control," Bommer said. "So if the proponents and the governor want to see something that does more housing now, they need to look real hard" at the Kirkmeyer amendment.

"We want it to succeed," he added. "We want it to work. But they've put this bill on a collision course with the courts."

While the hours-long hearing was delayed while committee Democrats negotiated behind closed doors over amendments, Moreno said standing in opposition to "local government friends" was "not an easy place to be."

He told the committee that the work on SB 213 doesn't stop Tuesday.

"There will be further fine-tuning to address very valid concerns," Moreno said.

The most consequential of the Democratic amendments offered Tuesday removed the bill's section on "middle housing" and replaced it with a section on "corridors and centers requirements."

Middle housing, as defined in the introduced version, include townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes and sixplexes and "cottage clusters," defined as four detached housing units with a common courtyard.

Middle housing is still included in the new section, but with sixplexes removed. Moreno also claimed the new section would remove state preemption from that section of the bill, and would change middle housing to a minimum standard for transit-oriented communities.

The amendment, however, raised concerns among the Republicans on the panel, all of whom are former county commissioners. The GOP members talked at length about the lack of a public process and citizen input on land use decisions, saying those are often a hallmarks of county and municipal land use hearings.

The Department of Local Affairs would be required under the amendment to developed model codes, based on recommendations from a 13-memer "multi-agency advisory committee." The multi-agency committee, made up of gubernatorial appointees from several state agencies, would also have the ability to employ a "public hearing and comment process" in developing those recommendations.

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Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, a former Logan County commissioner, pointed out that those hearings would be led by bureaucrats, not elected officials who are responsible to their constituents and voters.

Other amendments were offered in order to win support from the two wavering committee Democrats.

For Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, that meant protection for the affordable housing efforts already underway, or other aspects of the bill that would produce undesired results.

He said he is proud of the work being done in mountain towns such as Vail, Craig, Eagle, Steamboat Springs, Blackhawk, Central City and Silverthorne, pointing out that has been supported by the General Assembly.

His main concern is whether the bill would disincentivize the work already happening, or worse, would get in the way of those efforts.

The amendments added Tuesday night, he said, will give rural communities credit for what they're already doing, without mandates from the state.

The amendments also removed as requirements for resort communities accessory dwelling units, known as "granny flats" or in-law apartments, and as defined are stand-alone units on existing single-home property. Roberts said ADUs could wind up as short-term rentals in those resort communities, which isn't the intention of the legislation.

He also told the committee he wants guarantees, which aren't in the bill yet, that there would be no more transmountain diversions in order to supply water to Front Range communities that would be covered under the bill.

One amendment adopted Tuesday aligns SB 213 with the state water plan. Under that amendment, local governments covered under the bill would be required to develop a "water supply element," to include water supplies and conservation policies as a condition of approval for the development.

Rural resort communities also were exempted from developing housing needs plans, under another amendment adopted by the committee.

Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, said she also has big concerns with the bill centering on how it addresses displacement  moving people out of their communities through gentrification or other means.

Gonzales won approval for an amendment that would identify communities that are vulnerable to displacement, tied to the bill's affordability strategies. The amendment stated that urban municipalities would be provided with tools to prevent displacement from high-risk communities. Another amendment requires a displacement analysis, in conjunction with community groups with experience in working with displaced individuals.

She said once the bill was introduced, she gathered people who "live, eat, breathe and sleep zoning, affordable housing, displacement mitigation work" in her district to evaluate the policy outlined in the bill, and to craft amendments to address the gaps.

The work should not just include affordable housing for teachers who want to live where they teach, she said, but for renters who find themselves vulnerable to homelessness, as well as the chronically homeless.

She said there's "still more work to do on this," including more strategies to combat displacement and to accurately include the full range of affordability strategies.

Finally, the bill as amended will include a 10-year sunset review, one of the few to win support from the entire committee.

Kirkmeyer, a former Weld County commissioner and formerly executive director of the Department of Local Affairs under Gov. Bill Owens, told the committee prior to them rejecting her amendment on a party-line vote that SB 213 "will never get us to affordable housing."

"All it will do is preempt local government and tell citizens they cant decide the character of their local community," she said. "Well either end up with urban sprawl or no affordable housing at all...this bill is not good public policy."

There were aspects of her amendment that got favorable comments from committee Democrats, including the idea of a statewide housing summit. But that would have to allow local governments to be a partner with the state, rather than operating under a statewide mandate, she told Colorado Politics Wednesday.

That said, she told the committee that there is still a chance to do something good on the affordable housing issue. But if SB 213 is what they end up with, the end result will be an unconstitutional measure that sets the state up for lawsuits.

To that, Sen. Tony Exum, Sr., D-Colorado Springs, said if the bill is found unconstitutional, they'll head back to the drawing board.
Editors note: A proposal drafted in response to the governors original proposal came from a coalition of environmental groups, not the Colorado River Water Conservation District, although the district provided input on the proposal.

When Gov. Jared Polis in January delivered his State of the State address, water was the among most mentioned topics, trailing only housing on the list of subjects the governor touched on most.

House Rep. Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, echoed the sentiment in her opening day remarks, noting water was going to be among the biggest issues of the session.

But with 18 days to go in the 120-day session, the bill to address the crisis on the Colorado River does not match the lofty proposal hinted at in January. Instead, its a bill to set up a task force.

The bill surfaced from the ashes of two competing draft proposals.

Both the effort from a coalition of environmental groups and the governors office sought to acquire water rights on the Western Slope for the benefit of the Colorado River. But neither proposal won any friends from water rights holders, particularly in agriculture, which owns the most senior and the bulk of the states water rights.

Are you kidding? Running a bill on a deal this big this late in the session? said Don Ament, a former state senator and ag commissioner who learned about the competing proposals recently in a meeting of the Colorado Water Congress.

Nobody in ag knows about this, and all of a sudden the governor wants to run a bill that would allow the state to acquire water rights, Ament said, indicating Polis doesnt have those kinds of friends in the ag industry.

Thats due to four years of fights between Polis and the ag community over a variety of issues. Ag producers have grumbled increasingly loudly about various appointments to state boards and agencies they say are hostile toward ag interests and dont understand the industry.

The draft proposals go back at least several months. The governors came out first, and what became known as the collaborative proposal from the coalition of environmental groups followed a couple of weeks later.

Both intend to deal with issues of compact compliance tied to the Colorado River, which starts in Rocky Mountain National Park and travels through seven states in the United States and two more in Mexico, ending at Baja California.

The river supplies water to 40 million people in the region, but more than 20 years of drought and unrealistic estimates of how much water the Colorado could supply have left the rivers two largest lakes at critically low levels. Thats endangering hydroelectric power at the two dams that operate on the Colorado.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the river, has stepped in with mandates to the states to come up with a solution. But a seven-state solution has so far been elusive. The bureau issued a recent environmental impact statement that doesnt pick a solution, but that could change this summer.

Austin Vincent of Colorado Farm Bureau told Colorado Politics the concern with both proposals is that ag was never at the table.

Early on, not having us at the table, nor having a robust conversation gave us concern because we werent allowed to tell ags side of the story. Instead we were told what agriculture should agree to, he said.

Any program that seeks to take water out of the Colorado must be voluntary, temporary and incentive-based, he said. That comes out of the demand management idea the Colorado Water Conservation Board looked at but put on pause two years ago. Vincent said he wants to ensure the water is directed to beneficial use and to address compact issues, and that any water not needed for that purpose stays here.

This is a policy we need to do right, Vincent said. Any water for demand management should go to compact issues ... and making sure the water gets to where it needs to go, like Lake Powell.

When asked if a bill on the Colorado River is still coming in the 2023 session, Polis spokesman Conor Cahill said Wednesday: We appreciate the funding the General Assembly provided toward critical water projects in the budget, and we continue to have conversations with stakeholders and members of the General Assembly about the long term vision for the Colorado River Basin.

The Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado Water Conservation Board both refused to talk about the proposals, instead referring to the governors statement.

Those competing proposals are now on the scrap heap, multiple stakeholders told Colorado Politics.

Whats left standing is legislation on a task force that will study the issue of drought security  the new name for demand management  during the summer and fall, sponsored by McCluskie and Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Chair Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, both Western Slope lawmakers.

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The ag community isnt particularly enthralled with the task force idea, because the 15-member task force envisioned in the bill will include only a maximum of two ag representatives, according to the bill.

Under the proposal, the task force would include:

The executive director of the Department of Natural Resources or their designee (likely to be from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which authored the governors proposal).

The attorney general or designee.

One representative each from the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Native American tribes.

One representative each from the Colorado River Water Conservation District and the Southwestern River Water Conservation District.

Three members appointed by the Senate President, including an operator of a major trans-mountain diversion project, a Western Slope local government representative and a representative of an environmental organization.

Three members appointed by the House Speaker, to include another representative of an environmental organization and an ag producer in either the Colorado or San Juan river basins, while the third isnt specifically identified.

One member each appointed by the Senate and House minority leaders: One would be an ag producer also from the Colorado or San Juan, while the other would represent an industrial water user.

Notably, the task force excludes ag producers from the Eastern Plains. While Eastern Plains ag doesnt own water rights on the Colorado, they do own rights on the South Platte, which gets substantial water from the Colorado River.

Sen. Byron Pelton, a Sterling Republican who is a co-sponsor on the task force bill, is also not thrilled about the lack of Eastern Plains representation, believing its because no one understands the importance of the Colorado to the Eastern Plains.

We get 235,000 acre-feet of water every year from the Colorado into the South Platte, and we need to be sure we protect that water right for the South Platte, Pelton said Thursday. Its meaningful for agriculture to have this water, and we have to have it to keep our economy growing.

Mike Camblin, a rancher in Moffat County who holds water rights on the Colorado, said hes seen the proposals from the governor and the environmental groups. As to the idea of selling water rights, hes a solid no on that idea, which he said smacks of buy and dry. Camblin is a member of the Colorado Cattlemens Association.

Camblin, however, is not opposed to something voluntary, temporary and compensated, such as what was in the Upper Basins system conservation pilot program a couple of years ago. The Colorado Water Conservation Board restarted that program earlier this year with $125 million in federal funds, although at only $150 per acre foot of water, thats far below its true value, according to Camblin.

The governors proposal has made Colorado ag water the most valuable in the five-state region, Camblin said, potentially pushing the cost that much higher.

McCluskie is willing to consider a better balance on the task force.

While there have been conversations going on, she and Roberts wanted to be sure the process is done right, and that it focuses on being inclusive, she said Thursday.

For those of us who live on the Western Slope, the river is part of our communities, tradition and culture, she said.

We need to be heard, we need to have a place in the (federal) decision making on what happens next, whether intrastate or interstate, McCluskie added.

She said they want to make sure the process recognizes voices from both river districts, ag, and outdoor recreation, which all depend so heavily on the river.

Please know that its our goal to make sure everyone is included, and as the bill moves through the Senate, and we have not achieved the right balance, I welcome hearing and talking about it, McCluskie said.
For decades, a relatively few, huge U.S. satellites have patrolled from orbit to detect threats such as ballistic missiles. While still critical, American defense marked a shift in March when the first 10 of hundreds of planned military satellites launched from California.

As experts from around the world converge on Colorado Springs for the Space Symposium this coming week, managing and protecting tens of thousands of smaller, cheaper satellites, both military and commercial, projected to go into space is set to be major topic.

In the coming years, the large numbers of new satellites also means Colorado Springs companies will have plenty of work as demand for operators, ground infrastructure and support services grow.

"Colorado Springs represents an epicenter of satellite operations," said Frank Backes, a senior vice president for Kratos Space Federal based in town. Kratos provides ground infrastructure, such as antennas, for satellites globally.

The U.S. is shifting its space strategy to detect ballistic and hypersonic missiles among other threats as China and Russia ramp up their capabilities in space. For example, China launched a missile in 2021 that maneuvered late in flight as a hypersonic guide vehicle, showing an ability to move around radar, said Space Force Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations, for operations, cyber and nuclear. She described the Chinese as launching just as much into orbit as the U.S. and "pushing past us" in some cases in capability, during a recent event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

China and Russia have also both blown up satellites with missiles, demonstrating the threat they could pose to satellites that provide critical infrastructure, such as communications, navigation and imagery.

The Space Force wants to deter anti-satellites missiles by sending up hundreds of satellites so that an individual satellite would not provide an attractive target.

"It will cost more to shoot down a single satellite than it will to build and launch that single satellite," said Derek Tournear, the director of the Space Development Agency, at the Mitchell Institute event.

The Space Development Agency, a civilian group within Space Force, is in charge of the new proliferated military satellite constellations of smaller, cheaper units. One type of satellite the agency is launching costs about $15 million, he said.

In contrast, a traditional military satellite launched last year was one of two in a $1.86 billion contract and weighed 5,000 pounds.

The satellite was the last addition to a constellation of satellites, known as the Space-Based Infrared System, operated by Buckley Space Force Base guardians, who are charged with detecting missile launches, space liftoffs and nuclear detonations.

Maj. Matt Garcia, the operations officer for the launch and test team for the satellite, was working at Buckley the day of the launch on Aug. 4 and spoke with the team at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida about the readiness of the ground infrastructure to talk to the satellite. He was also involved with the months of testing run from Buckley.

It was just such a thrill personally, said Garcia, an Air Force officer. It is still very much a human story and a human endeavor.

While the work went smoothly, it still took daily miracles, such as rewriting the schedule for launch after another unrelated mission saw changes in its timeline, he said.

The satellite was transferred into regular operations in March and currently the 2nd Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Space Force Base is using it to detect threats such as the ballistic missiles launched by Iran three years ago, Garcia said. The satellite was designed to last 12 years, but will likely last longer, he said.

The satellite was launched to geosynchronous orbit, 22,236 miles above the Earth. At that orbit, only three satellites are needed to see almost the whole planet, Backes said.

The new cheaper satellites will go up to 1,200 miles or less, known as the low-earth orbit, and the military will need many, many more of them to replicate the work of satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

However, they can be developed much more quickly compared to the large traditional satellites.

The first Space-Based Infrared System satellite was launched in 2011 and that long timeline gives other nations an opportunity to develop threats, Backes said. Now that's changing.

"We are absolutely showing we have the ability to shorten our timelines and respond fairly quickly," Backes said.

The new satellites the Space Development Agency just launched went from order to orbit in 27 months, Tournear said.

The 10 satellites that went up in March will be joined by an additional 18 and that set will demonstrate the new operational concepts, Tournear said.

In about 18 months, the agency plans to start launching another 150 satellites that will do, in part, missile warning and missile tracking. They will be ready for Space Force operations in 2025, he said.

The agency plans to launch hundreds of satellites and go out to contract regularly with companies to give more businesses the opportunity to build units.

Of the 10 satellites in the first launch, York Space Systems, a Denver company, made eight. Last year the company announced it would build another 42 satellites as part of a $382 million contract.

Tournear expects to keep the prices on satellites fixed and rely on the industry to provide additional capabilities, similar to the iterative improvements in cell phones.

The satellites will be run from new Space Operations Centers staffed by contractors at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, Jonathan Withington and agency spokesman said in an email. The centers will answer to Space Operations Command, with headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base.

In addition to expanding the military network, the Space Development Agency wants to tighten the working relationship between its satellites and commercial satellites, Tournear said.

Commercial satellites already provide constant services to the military, such as supplying imagery; however, that has become a point of conflict in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

If the U.S. classified satellites as critical infrastructure, in the same way, it classifies the power grid as critical infrastructure, the military would be obligated to respond to such attacks. But right now its a gray area, Backes said.

He expects one of the main conversations at Space Symposium to focus on managing satellites used both by business and for defense.
The fifth edition of Space Resources Week is taking place between 19 and 21 April 2023 as a 3-day hybrid conference connecting thought leaders from space agencies, research institutes, start-ups, and industry (both terrestrial and space).

ESRIC/LSA Kathryn Hadler, Director of ESRIC Group photo ESRIC/LSA Space Resources Week 2023 ESRIC/LSA Space Resources Week 2023 ESRIC/LSA Space Resources Week 2023 ESRIC/LSA Panel ESRIC/LSA Speech by Franz Fayot ESRIC/LSA Franz Fayot meets with the delegation of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) ESRIC/LSA Franz Fayot, ministre de lEconomie ESRIC/LSA Franz Fayot, ministre de lEconomie ESRIC/LSA (from left to right) Mathias Maurer, Astronaut of ESA ; Franz Fayot, Minister of the Economy; Mathias Link, LSA ESRIC/LSA Franz Fayot, ministre de lEconomie

The event organised by the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) together with the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), European Space Agency (ESA), and the Luxembourg Institute of Science & Technology (LIST), took to the stage more than 70 speakers from key institutions in front of an audience of more than 1350 people (450 on-site and 900 online). Amongst the speakers were Franz Fayot, Luxembourg Minister of the Economy, and German Astronaut and Materials Scientist, Matthias Maurer, as well as key representatives from ESA, NASA and KIGAM.

"With only two years since the creation of ESRIC, we are happy to see the community growing and contributing to a strong, international space resources ecosystem", says Kathryn Hadler, Director of ESRIC.

The multidisciplinary community attending the Space Resources Week 2023 was able to see some of the latest technologies displayed, such as the 1:1 scale of the lander developed in the ESA Argonaut project.

The audience further had the opportunity to discover the work of partner organisations, companies and agencies, such as OffWorld, Polimak, DoraHacks, Ispace, the UK Space Agency, Robominers, EURO2MOON and the University of Luxembourg's SNT department, as well as an art exhibition courtesy to the Moon Gallery foundation.

Collaboration between ESRIC and KIGAM

Building on the exchanges during Luxembourg's economic mission to Korea end of 2022, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between ESRIC  powered by LSA, ESA and hosted at the LIST  and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) during the conference.

"We are delighted to see this partnership between Luxembourg and Korea being taken to the next level and establish a stronger collaboration between the two national institutes", says Luxembourg Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot.

ESA-ESRIC Space Resources Challenge

Following the success of the first Space Resources Challenge held in the Netherland and in Luxembourg between November 2021 and September 2022, the five finalist teams presented their lessons learnt on the first day of the event.

The winners of the 200.000 development contract with ESA, and 300.000 contract with ESRIC allocated in the framework of the competition, a consortium between FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik and Team Glimpse which was led by ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have also been announced at this occasion.

"ESA is committed to drive innovation in lunar resource extraction and the ESA-ESRIC Space Resources Challenge is one of the initiatives that aims to generate new ideas and technologies from the community", says Melchiorre Conti, Space Resources Engineer ESA

Commercialization activities

During the second day of the conference, as part of the commercialization session, a wide range of international start-ups and ventures will share their experience. Amongst them, the five early-stage ventures that are currently being pre-incubated in the ESRIC Start-up Support Programme, the first world-wide programme entirely dedicated to space resources.

"With this annual event, ESRIC is contributing to the market consolidation of space resources, with new ventures shaping the future of commercial activities, aiming to make the Lunar Economy a reality", states Lari Cujko, ESRIC Start-up Support Programme Lead.

Press release by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA)
GREENSBORO  Without comment, the Greensboro City Council approved at least $240,000 in incentives for a British aerospace manufacturer to build a maintenance facility here.

Marshall USA, a subsidiary of Marshall Aerospace, has proposed building the $50 million facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport. The company has said it would create up to 240 jobs, according to city documents.

The average wage for the new full-time positions would be approximately $73,250 with additional benefits and no new jobs will pay below $15 per hour, the documents say.

The company expects to create the new jobs by Dec. 31, 2027. The incentive grant would expire if the new jobs are not created and the investment is not made by that date.

Marshall USA also is eligible for an additional $250 incentive per job for any new employee whose permanent address is located in an Impact Zone or who is hired through NCWorks Career Centers.

The company would be paid in five annual installments after the new jobs are created and the investment is confirmed.

Marshall Yandle, the citys economic development manager, said that Marshall USA also would be required to host a job fair for each of its hiring phases.

The city included a claw-back provision that requires the new jobs be maintained for a certain period of time (not yet specified) and at least $50 million in capital investment expended.

The new facility would allow the company to better meet the C-130 aircraft maintenance requirements of the U.S. military, documents say.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners plans to hold a similar public hearing at its 5:30 p.m. meeting on Thursday. The county would offer up to $308,879 in incentives, plus a $124,000 local matching fund utility grant. The board meets at the Old County Courthouse, 301 W. Market St.

A state Commerce Department incentive package also is likely from the Job Development Grant program.
As a kid growing up in western North Carolina in the 1970s, Six Flags over Georgia and Disney World were distant dreams, places visited only by a very few lucky classmates who returned with thrilling tales of The Great American Scream Machine or a Polaroid of the family shaking the oversized mitt of the worlds most famous mouse.

The rest of us, we had Carowinds, a little more scaled down, a little more blue collar but only a two-hour activity bus ride away.

The park, located on the North Carolina-South Carolina line, turns 50 this year.

It opened when I was 8 years old and I remember the surrounding hoopla in the pages of the newspaper, which we bought daily from the machine outside the Wee Mart convenience store because the carrier wouldnt deliver to the end of our gravel road.

There must have been a complaint form filed somewhere that said mean dogs and mean young uns.

By the second or third year the park was open, a trip to Carowinds was undoubtedly the highlight of any school year if your class was lucky enough to go or the subject of a what I did on my summer vacation essay when school resumed in the fall:

Me, my brother, my momma, my daddy, Uncle Phil and Aunt Lucy went to Carowinds in July.

I stood in two states at the same time and threw a penny in the wishing well and wished it wasnt so danged hot. I think the wishing well is broken.

We stood in line for an hour-and-a-half to ride Thunder Road. It is a big roller coaster. My brother ate two hot dogs and cotton candy while we stood in line. Then we got on Thunder Road.

One thing I learned on the trip is dont eat two hot dogs and cotton candy while standing in line for Thunder Road. They had to close it down for 20 minutes and bring in a hose.

A good time was had by all. The end.

The parks amphitheater, the Palladium, played host to plenty of touring rock acts in the 70s and 80s, most notably for me, Jimmy Buffett.

I discovered Buffett between my sixth- and seventh-grade year thanks to a bootleg double 8-track of the live album You Had to Be There.

This guy, I told my friends, sings about drunken bears, the ocean and cheeseburgers. Weve got to go see him.

And we did, finding a slightly older friend with a car and a learners permit to drive us. The car broke down on the way back, but my grandma, who had moved to Charlotte after Grandpa Charlie died, took us in and fed us while my uncle fixed the car.

We made it home and we made it back to Buffett every year until he outgrew the Palladium.

Around 20 years ago, I took my kid to Carowinds because I believe every 6-year-old child should have the opportunity to stand in line, bake in the blistering sun and listen to his or her father talk about how much better it was in the old days.

Six Flags and Disney? They still got nothing on this place, kid.

She claims I tricked her into riding a rip-roaring rapids water plunge by saying it was just a lazy river ride. I can neither confirm nor deny.

So, in 50 years, Carowinds has been a part of different stages of my life, from kid to dad and all that happened in between.

Maybe this year, feeling nostalgic, I will go back and pay tribute by standing in line, baking in the blistering sun and tossing a penny in the old wishing well if it hasnt been replaced by a virtual bitcoin wishing machine.

Or, better yet, I can sit back, reminisce and keep that next visit as a distant dream.
GREENSBORO  Greensboro police have identified a pedestrian who died after being struck by a vehicle Saturday night on West Gate City Boulevard.

The victim was Nehemias Mendez-Montejo, 22, of Mexico, police said in a news release on Thursday.

The incident took place in the 2600 block of the road, just before 11 p.m.

According to police, a pedestrian ran in front of a vehicle driven by Jamarian Hamilton, 20, of Concord, as Hamilton was traveling east on West Gate City Boulevard.

Mendez-Montejo was taken to a local hospital and ultimately died of injuries from the collision. The next-of-kin have been notified of the death.

Police are continuing to investigate.
A Douglas fir beetle outbreak has resulted in the loss of more than 1,000 trees on Mount Helena, and the city of Helenas Open Lands Division is working this spring to address the outbreak that has affected trees throughout the citys open spaces.

On April 17 and 18, city staff attached 900 pheromone capsules to trees on the north face of Mount Helena to deter beetles from infesting new trees this summer, according to a city news release sent Tuesday.

"We've been dealing with it all along, but this is certainly the worst we've had it," Helena Open Lands Manager Brad Langsather said in an interview Wednesday. "Our concern is that we just lost some beautiful trees in a picturesque setting. ... We just don't want to lose anymore trees."

He said the outbreak has resulted in losses throughout the city's open lands system, but where the Douglas fir beetles differ from the pine bark beetles, aside from the preference in tree species, is that the former's infestations tend to be site specific, with mortality concentrated in epicenters.

He said heavy, wet snowstorms in 2017 severely weakened trees on the landscape, and the Douglas fir beetles took advantage. The open lands crew has been tracking the ongoing infestations since then.

The capsules are filled with Methylcycohexenone (MCH), which is a pheromone produced by Douglas fir beetles to indicate that a tree is fully occupied, which causes beetles to continue looking for space to inhabit.

Continuous searching for an unprotected tree exhausts beetle fat stores to the point of mortality, or redistributes them throughout the landscape, which helps reduce the number of attacks from Douglas fir beetles in individual trees, the city's news release states.

Langsather said the capsules are stapled into trees five to six feet off the ground and about 30 to 40 feet apart throughout a systematic grid.

He said pets will not be affected by the capsules because of the height at which they are attached and that humans will not be able to pick up the odor unless they are adjacent to a capsule.

The city asks that citizens do not remove the capsules from the trees.

"It's crucial that the capsules not be tampered with," Langsather said.

He said three types of Douglas fir beetles are now active in the South Hills: pole, engraver and flatheaded fir borer beetles.

City staff noted an increase in debarked Douglas fir on Mount Helena and Mount Ascension since 2021 when Helena experienced an extremely dry and hot summer. The outbreak mirrors what is being seen throughout the Rocky Mountain West.

Langsather said the infestation is much more noticeable to citizens this year because the woodpeckers have caught on.

He said the largest concentration of the Douglas fir beetles is along the Prairie Trail switchbacks, where the birds have completely stripped the trees of bark in search of the beetles.

The Open Lands division will continue working with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to monitor the outbreak. Trees that have died due to bark beetle infestation will be removed, starting this fall, and piled for burning, according to the news release.
Helena artist Richard Swansons newest sculpture, The Lady Beckons, settles onto her pedestal first thing Friday morning at the entrance to The Myrna Loy.

Her arrival has been much-anticipated.

Long has The Myrna Loy struggled to gain more visibility for its unique jailhouse arts venue, tucked onto North Ewing Street, across from the Courthouse.

And the scarlet, willowy lady - with her graceful, dancing curves and bold Myrna Loy sign  definitely invites a closer admiring look.

A dedication of the sculpture is6 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at The Myrna Loy, 15 N. Ewing (before the jazz concert by the Brandon Goldberg Quintet at 7:30 p.m.)

Shes the latest of Swansons large public art sculptures in Helena.

And shes a welcome addition at The Myrna Loys front door and the Rodney Street neighborhood.

At 15 feet high, plus her 3-foot-high pedestal, the steel lady is not about to be ignored.

Its no accident she has a dancelike sway to her.

Her spirits in keeping with The Myrna Loy, which offers a lively program of innovative film and performing arts.

And The Lady was born immersed in music.

Swanson loves to listen to jazz as he works in his large Boulder Avenue warehouse studio.

Hes drawn to dance, having collaborated with several dance companies most recently with Cohesion Dance Projects Resonance.

Swansons studio is a treasure trove of fascinating floating, teetering, expressive shapes ranging from a pile of large straw tops that once cavorted across the hills near Drummond, to a diverse assortment of abstract curved sculptures poised in unlikely balance  as if caught in mid-swirling movement for a frozen second.

A lot of my work in here was done to jazz and Keith Jarrett, Swanson said as he relaxed in a wicker rocking chair in his studio last Thursday, surrounded by decades of his creations.

It just seemed to have the right vibe that was integral to creating a lot of these pieces.

Theyre so joyful. So playful.

One imagines the frolicsome shapes partying after hours.

The Lady Beckons joins other spirited Swanson creations around town.

The inspiring Soar, which suggests a flock of birds taking wing, greets visitors at the door of Helena College University of Montana building on North Roberts Street.

Red Shift Rocker alights at the front of the Holter Museum of Art.

Flamenco, an ethereal red swirl, dances skyward at The Myrna Loys north corner.

Vertices Vortices, makes its home at the Archie Bray Foundation, and an airy, exhilarating Jabberwocky, sets sail from the ceiling of the Lewis & Clark Library.

For a very different take on Swansons sculptures, see an exhibit of his small sculptures in a display case in the Lewis & Clark Library through the month of May.

Theyve been his regular studio companions over the years.

Ive just enjoyed having them around so much. He wanted to share them with a wider audience.

I began this series of small metal sculptures in 2013 after a decade of creating monumental public sculptures, he wrote in an email. The intimate scale of this series makes possible a level of spontaneity harder to achieve at a large scale. This manifests itself in freer use of color, form, line and sometimes pure whimsy. I think of them as akin to lyrical poetic phrases that suggest a story or dream fragment.

Swanson, one of Helenas most recognized and gifted artists, fell into art by chance.

He was pursuing a masters degree in psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine, and a friend urged Richard and his wife, Penny, to join him in trying ceramics.

Swanson resisted. Hed always pursued math and science and never took an art class at his Minnesota high school thinking it too intimidating.

Well, Im going, said Penny. So, Richard tagged along.

I fell in love with it.

It was a very nonthreatening way for me to get into art. It really taught me shape and volume  and balance.

I really give credit to pottery for developing my aesthetic.

A short time later, Richard and Penny were teaching in Boulder, Colorado, and wound up living across the street from the Boulder Potters Guild that just happened to have an opening. There, he learned the skills he needed to launch his art career.

His passion for clay brought him to the Archie Bray Foundation as a resident artist in 1974.

Hes been voraciously exploring art ever since, constantly pushing boundaries and re-inventing himself.

He earned an M.F.A. at the University of Montana, Missoula, in sculpture in 1994 and later took two welding classes to get the skills he needed to make his ideas.

Despite his love for pottery, and enthusiastic fans of his voluptuous, nude teapots, he didnt stop there.

He dove wholeheartedly into all manner of sculpture ever exploring new materials from burdock to straw, canola seeds, barbed wire, nylon, sheet metal, steel, peat moss, sawdust, mattress ticking and much more.

He never got stuck during an art career spanning more than five decades.

Thats what Im proudest of myself for  just keeping exploring new ideas. My most treasured feedback from sculpture is people telling me how much joy there is in it.

At the dedication, Swanson will share how The Lady Beckons started out as a wisp of a suggestion of an idea and grew into her statuesque persona.

He is amazing, said The Myrna Loy Executive Director Krys Holmes, noting his hundreds of hours of work on the sculpture, from the design to guiding all the fabrication steps and work with contractors.

Its really good to celebrate his work and have this monumental piece as the physical identity of The Myrna Loy. Its pretty exciting.

His artistic presence is so rich and such an important part of Helenas creative life.

The dedication will be a great opportunity to celebrate his work and the generosity of spirit it takes to bring a project like this to fruition.
A Missoula distillery that currently consumes about 200,000 pounds of Montana-grown grains every year will use a state grant to buy and install a second still.

Ryan Montgomery, who owns Montgomery Distillery on Front Street with his wife, Jenny, said a $50,000 Growth Through Agriculture grant from the Montana Department of Agriculture will allow the business to eventually double its production of vodka, rye whiskey, bourbon, gin, aquavit and other spirits.

I think I probably should have pulled the trigger a lot sooner for increasing production because we just run out, we sell everything we can make and then we run out halfway through the month, Ryan Montgomery explained. Its been that way for a few years now.

The funding comes in the form of a matching grant, so the Montgomerys are actually investing quite a bit more than $50,000 in the expansion.

On Wednesday, Montana Department of Agriculture director Christy Clark and her staff visited the distillery as part of the departments Value-Added Ag Tour to promote and highlight businesses across the state that are using raw agricultural products to add revenue.

Montgomery Distillery is one of the few spirit-makers in the state that uses 100% Montana grains. In fact, they get their grains from a family-owned farm near Lewistown. So, instead of exporting the grain out of state to be made into another product, its value is increased exponentially in Montana because it is processed into a spirit.

Were just always looking to showcase value-added businesses, Clark explained. You know, anybody that adds value to our agricultural products. Because were such a raw commodity state, we have so much room to grow in this sector. And our governor especially is very focused on growing business as well. And the state of Montana and ag being our biggest industry, it just makes sense to put a lot of focus on value-added ag businesses.

If fact, Montgomery said it was an earlier Growth Through Agriculture loan that helped the couple buy the original still for the business. He said they wouldnt have been able to be where they are today without the loan or the grant.

The Growth Through Agriculture grant and loan program was established by the Legislature in the early 2000s and is funded through a variety of sources, including interest on the states coal severance tax, according to Andy Fjeseth, the bureau chief for the states Ag Development and Marketing Bureau.

Growth through Agriculture is kind of our flagship grant program, Fjeseth said "Its meant to really help folks in the industry and kind of in our food and ag world in Montana.

Many businesses can hit a production cap because they cant afford a specialized, expensive piece of equipment, like a tractor or a cold-storage freezer or a greenhouse or a still. The state reckons that if they can help businesses expand, that means more production and more use of agricultural products.

The maximum award is a $100,000 loan and a $50,000 grant, and businesses all over the Missoula area have utilized the program, including a honeyberry farm in the Bitterroot Valley and an herbal tea farm in the Mission Valley.

The grants are not need-based, meaning theres no cap on how big a business can be to apply, but Fjeseth said they are highly competitive.

Typically in the fall we receive concept papers and then all these awards are made by the Ag Development Council, which is a governor-appointed council thats attached to the department, he said.

Recently, theyve added a market development program that includes grants up to $5,000 and a business acceleration program that includes a $20,000 cost-share program. Theres also a student loan assistance program.

Every year, they award between $800,000 and $1 million in grants.

For more information visit agr.mt.gov/GTA.
The state health department has approved an administrative rule that will require those seeking abortions covered by Medicaid to get pre-authorization to show the procedure is medically necessary and limit who can provide abortions covered by Medicaid.

The rule will take effect May 1, and lawmakers appear close to passing the same requirements into law with the support of Republican legislators advancing a bill through the session.

The rule was submitted to the Secretary of States office on Monday, and will be posted in the next issue of the states administrative rules publication April 28.

Only one person spoke in support of the rule during a hearing in January, while more than two dozen people opposed it.

The department said the rule was meant to ensure that abortions paid for by Montana taxpayers under Medicaid are truly medically necessary, in accordance with the law." Those opposed said it would cause serious harm to women by delaying or making inaccessible necessary medical care. It would also limit abortions to only be provided by physicians.

Opponents said it would serve as a de facto ban on abortion access for lower-income Montanans covered by Medicaid. It could also delay care because of the timeline necessary for a pre-authorization, opponents said, making abortion impossible, more expensive, or more dangerous.

The federal Hyde Amendment limits federal money from paying for abortions covered by Medicaid, except in the case of rape, incest or if the life of a mother is at risk. But a 1995 court ruling in Montana found the state must use its own funds to cover abortions deemed medically necessary for Medicaid patients. The state has long defined what counts as medically necessary in administrative rule.

Pre-viability abortions are legal in Montana under a state Supreme Court order dating back to 1999. In 2021, the states Republican-majority Legislature used the budget process to create a study of abortions for those covered by Medicaid. That came in addition to several other bills limiting access to abortion care around the state. Several of those laws are on hold in court challenges. Many new bills advancing in this year's session also seek to limit access to the procedure.

The state Senate on Wednesday gave its initial approval to a bill that would do the same thing as the administration rule, but enact it through law.

House Bill 544, from from Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Bozeman, cleared a second reading vote in the Senate on a 32-18 vote.

Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, carried the bill in the Senate. She told lawmakers that the bill would require preauthorization for abortions like what is required for some other procedures. She also said abortion has become a process of birth control later in pregnancy up to partial-birth procedures.

However, only 1.3% of abortions happen after 21 weeks gestation or later, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Doctors who testified against abortion limitations this session say those are nearly always in situations of tragic pregnancy outcomes.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, spoke against the bill, calling it redundant.

The bill was referred to the Senate Finance and Claims Committee, where it will be voted on again before moving back to the Senate floor for final approval if its not amended.

The Senate also gave initial approval Wednesday to legislation that would ban any public funds from paying for abortions, except in the case of rape, incest, physical disorder or other situations.

House Bill 862 is from Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula. It passed the Senate on an initial vote 31-19 and was also directed to the finance committee for consideration.
Republicans on a Senate committee voted down a bill Tuesday that would have instituted a resident bonus point system for the Smith River permit lottery.

The Senate Fish and Game Committee voted 4-8 against House Bill 846 with all Democrats for the bill and all Republicans against. The bill was then tabled.

HB 846 had previously advanced easily through the House, passing on a vote of 97-2 before hitting the Senate. It would have created a system where for each year a resident applied for a float permit, they could purchase a bonus point to increase their odds the following year.

Committee chair Sen. Steve Hinebauch, R-Wibaux, referred to conversations with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks before encouraging the committee to vote the measure down.

This bill has caused us some concern, some people Ive talked to in the department say its hard to, if you treat certain people different than other people, like out of state people different than in state people, you dont have to treat them exactly the same, but if you dont allow them the opportunity its going to be a problem, he said.

FWP did not publicly oppose the bill, only appearing as an informational witness on HB 846. In response to a question from the committee, Hope Stockwell who leads the departments parks and outdoor recreation division said FWP currently has sufficient funding to manage the Smith River.

FWP spokesperson Greg Lemon said the department found legal concerns with the bill after last weeks hearing in the Senate and contacted Hinebauch.

We believed there were constitutional rights issues if you treated differently residents and nonresident opportunities, he said.   We missed the legal concern, but once we realized it we approached Sen. Hinebauch.

Lemon said the agency believes the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board currently has the authority to create a bonus point system should it choose to do so.

HB 846 was introduced following the second highest number of applications on record to float the Smith for 2023. The river is the only waterway requiring a permit to float and a steady increase in applications including from nonresidents has pushed the drawing odds increasingly lower.
The state House on Wednesday approved a bill removing counties from the equation when it comes to compensating people who were wrongfully convicted.

Supporters said the new dynamic should help avoid protracted and costly litigation over the compensation claims. House Bill 423, from Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, also realigns the process as lawmakers originally intended. The House OK'd amendments to the bill on a 58-42 vote Wednesday and on a 81-17 vote Thursday sent it to the governor.

When the Legislature passed the initial compensation package during the 2021 Legislature, Gov. Greg Gianforte sent the bill back with an amendatory veto to put counties on the hook for 75% of the compensation. Without the change, Gianforte would not approve the bill. So the House, having worked on the proposal for two years and seeking to ink some measure into law, reluctantly obliged.

The 2021 bill established a compensation plan of $60,000 per year wrongfully imprisoned and $25,000 for each year the person spent under probation or parole, as well as a $5,000 transition assistant grant for people who are released from prison. In order to collect the claim, a person still must provide a "proffer of actual innocence" to a district court.

The only case to test the new program so far is staged in Missoula County, where Cody Marble seeks compensation for his 15 years in and out of prison on a rape conviction the county attorney's office later said "lacks integrity."

Missoula County officials, facing potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation claims from Marble, have since reversed course, now arguing in court filings Marble's conviction was sound.

"This is the fix to that," Sen. Barry Usher, R-Yellowstone County, argued on the Senate floor last week. Usher was among the legislators who developed the initial compensation program in conjunction with the Montana Innocence Project in the two years leading up to the 2021 session.

Rep. Bill Mercer, a Billings Republican and former federal prosecutor, had successfully grafted counties back into the process with an amendment to HB 423 earlier this session. Last week, the Senate passed the bill with an amendment that once again stripped them off.

In arguing against the Senate amendment reversing his own, Mercer during Wednesday's House debate contended local jurisdictions that investigated and prosecuted the cases that resulted in wrongful convictions should remain liable.

"In the arc of the cases where there has been litigation based upon wrongful convictions, with the exception of one case, the liability that has resulted from that litigation has always been placed upon counties," he said.

Mercer also warned Gianforte could again return the bill with the same choice as last session: keep counties on the hook or the bill would be vetoed.

Usher, however, indicated on the Senate floor last week Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras had OK'd removing counties from the process during negotiations before the session to fix components of the process on display in Marble's case.

"(We) found some problems in the last two years, we got some stakeholders together  lieutenant governor, (Montana) Innocence Project, (Department of Justice), counties, everybody  negotiated to make the fixes that we needed," Usher said.

The Governor's Office did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email seeking clarity on Gianforte's position on the bill as passed by the House.
The Legislature and executive branch are at odds over a bill that would change the relationship between the Legislative Audit Division and Legislative Audit Committee and the state agencies they inspect.

In advocating for Senate Bill 73 earlier this month, Sen. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, said the constitutionally mandated audit committee and legislative auditor over the past years have more frequently seen state agencies drag their feet and obfuscate when auditors ask for certain types of information to conduct audits. The bill cleared the Legislature on Thursday and is on its way to the governor for consideration.

McGillvrays bill would clarify what information agencies must turn over to auditors. Previously, agencies in some cases have delayed by saying data contains private details. For agencies that do not comply, directors could see their jobs at risk under the bill.

Thats how serious this is, McGillvray in a hearing for the bill.

The Legislative Audit Division conducts audits looking at how state agencies perform, as well as required financial audits. Past audits have detected fraud and abuse of state resources. McGillvray said the division is critical to ensuring tax dollars are used properly.

Sen. Denise Hayman, D-Bozeman, spoke in support of the bill in early April during a committee hearing. She heads the Legislative Audit Committee.

No matter whos in charge, whoever it is politically  we should have an agency that we, every one of us, can turn to and depend on, and know that its not a political agency, Hayman said. Audit is that agency.

But the bill saw strong opposition from the governors director of the Department of Administration and chief operating officer, Misty Ann Giles.

In early March, Giles raised concerns about privacy protections for some materials auditors may request, such as employee health information or personnel records.

We do not support wide-sweeping authority and requirements to turn over private data at any time, Giles told lawmakers.

The director didnt dispute past kerfuffles between auditors and agencies.

I know weve tried to be a good broker, Giles said. I am sure there has been a lot of mischief in the years between agencies and (auditors).  However, I do know we try to work with them.

Giles raised concerns shes had with the audit process, such as the audit division not returning inadvertently disclosed health care records and requesting access to emails she said would require her to violate a state Supreme Court order to provide.

That request was for the entire email box of an elected official and their attorney, Giles' agency lawyer, Don Harris, said in a committee hearing.

Those emails are not mine to give, Harris said, citing a state Supreme Court order from 2021 that required lawmakers to return emails they obtained by going to DOA instead of the generating branch of government. DOA had the emails through its function as the states IT department.

While agencies and auditors have generally figured out how to work with each other for more than five decades, the bill from McGillvray changes that tone, Harris testified.

What has changed is that the legislative auditor now claims the right to access confidential, private information, and if the agency fails to provide that information, my director or her boss, the governor, could be charged with a crime or removed from office for trying to protect your confidential, personal, private information, Harris said.

Angus Maciver, legislative auditor and division director, disputed some of DOAs concerns during the hearing, saying agencies have for decades recognized the auditors ability to obtain information that was related to employee records.

Over the last five or six years, agencies have walked us right up to the line of delaying turning over data, he said. In one case, with the Department of Corrections, an agency outright refused. But even delays impair audit work, Maciver said.

The idea that we can just wait for a month, three months, six months, nine months, in one case 11 months, to access data, its as good as an outright refusal, he said. After enough time has elapsed, that data  we cannot use it as part of our work. The auditing standards dont allow us to rely on something thats been under the custody of the agency for that long and for us not knowing what's happened to it.

Those are the kind of circumstances weve been increasingly, unfortunately, seeing, and that is what I believe prompted the (Legislative) Audit Committee to bring forward this bill.

Macivers answer to a question from a committee member hit at the role audits play in the balance of power between branches.

Auditing is a constitutional responsibility. Its a constitutional responsibility of this branch (the legislative) of government, not that branch of government (the executive), Maciver said. It's not their place to assume that audit power on your behalf. You have to be able to do this. You have to have co-equal access to that information as a co-equal branch of government.

Giles disputed the bill would solve any of the problems raised about delays in turning over data, however.

Were pretty at odds with the auditor on this bill, but I think if the Legislature really wanted to have a (timing) conversation, the executive branch would welcome that because we do want to be a good partner. We do expect people to be responsive, but we don't support the wide-sweeping door this opens, using terms like wherever and criminal penalties and giving that access just permanently over to the auditors, Giles said.
William Conner runs a cannabis grow operation in Missoula County outside the city limits, where regulations on businesses like his are more relaxed. Even though Conner said Missoula County is one of the hardest counties for cannabis operators to get established, he also said the restrictions are easy enough to navigate.

Now, however, Missoula County is pondering the possibility of adding more rules for businesspeople like Conner.

More or less it seems pretty good here, he said.

With new changes that could go into effect this summer, unzoned county land could see the addition of two new parameters for cannabis businesses. New dispensaries would not be allowed to set up shop within 500 feet of another dispensary, and new grow operations would have to meet an energy efficiency standard.

Only new or expanding businesses would be subject to the added regulations.

Luckily for Conner, his business already installed all-LED lights at his grow operation. He said the lights save power and produce better products.

I think thats an OK thing, he said of the countys energy efficient requirement. But he added, I think they should listen to the cannabis growers a little more.

The county, meanwhile, believes the new standards go a long way toward the long-term success of cannabis cultivators, according to Jennie Dixon with Planning, Development and Sustainability.

On Tuesday at a Planning Board meeting, Dixon said the county sought to propose the most reasonable regulations to achieve county goals.

Those goals include energy initiatives, which cannabis growers could fulfill by either using approved grow lights or 100% renewable electricity.

Those stipulations are almost identical to the regulations already in place in the zoned parts of Missoula County. Glazing requirements, which exist in more urban areas, arent proposed for the more rural unzoned lands.

Enforcement of the new rules would happen when businesses apply for their annual license renewal from the Montana Department of Revenue, which checks with local zoning and land use departments.

The new regulations are on their way to be adopted July 1, when the state would open up business licenses to new cannabis operators. Previously, licenses were only available to pre-existing cannabis businesses.

So far, in the countys outreach efforts, community members have been largely in support of the new rules, Dixon reported. The Planning Board on Tuesday was also unanimously supportive.

Board Member Dave Loomis said he liked how the regulations help the county meet its goals with simplicity.

A lot of weeds could be gone into, he noted.

The next opportunity to see the regulations will be a Missoula County Commission meeting on May 4. A page for the proposed rules is also available online at Missoula County Voice, Missoula's online engagement platform.
On April 13, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr was sitting in the basement of Montanas Capitol building reflecting on her time as one of the states first two openly transgender legislators. She wondered whether she needed to display more anger over anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, or whether she should focus on promoting more of what she called transgender joy.

The thing that keeps me up at night is, am I doing a good job for my community? Zephyr said.

Five days later, the anger bubbled over as Zephyr spoke against amendments from Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte to Senate Bill 99, which would prohibit minors with gender dysphoria from receiving certain medical and surgical treatments. Zephyr said the lawmakers who voted for the measure should be ashamed.

That prompted Republican Majority Leader Sue Vinton to speak: We will not be shamed by anyone in this chamber.

Then the only thing I will say is: If you vote yes on this bill, and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time theres an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands, Zephyr replied.

The Montana Freedom Caucus, a conservative group of lawmakers, released a statement calling for Zephyrs censure for using inappropriate and uncalled-for language. The release and a Freedom Caucus post on Twitter used male pronouns to refer to Zephyr, leading to fresh outrage by LGBTQ+ supporters accusing Republicans of deliberately misgendering her.

Two days later, Republican House Speaker Matt Regier would not allow Zephyr to speak during a debate on another bill, saying she had committed a breach of decorum.

With two weeks to go in the legislative session, Republican lawmakers, who are in the majority, are sponsoring anti-LGBTQ+ bills. There are at least four related measures, including the bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Many similar bills are being heard in conservative-led statehouses across the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union has tracked more than 460 anti-LGBTQ+ bills so far in 2023 legislative sessions.

Back in the Capitol on April 13, Zephyr stopped at a storytelling event presented by drag performers on the second floor. Parents, children and supporters sat in folding chairs and on the floor while drag performers read stories.

Zephyr was visibly emotional. A short time later, former Democratic lawmaker Moffie Funk, who also attended the storytelling event, approached Zephyr to thank her for her work.

I have just been so impressed to see the way Rep. Zephyr has handled questions on the floor, just keeps her calm, stays cool, and is so powerful in her words and so powerful in the way she represents her community and Montana, Funk said.

Before the session, Zephyr said she had a goal of changing at least one persons heart on LGBTQ+ issues.

One lawmaker who typically votes in favor of anti-transgender bills told Zephyr about having read something about her in a far-right blog and said, That doesnt sound like Zooey; she wouldnt do that. The lawmaker, whom Zephyr didn't name, subsequently stopped reading the blog.

Proponents of measures like SB 99 and House Bill 359, a bill that would have banned minors from drag shows and ban events like drag storytelling in public schools or libraries, frame the legislation as necessary to protect children.

In a small victory for LGBTQ+ supporters, HB 359 was amended to remove references to drag performers and now would prohibit minors from attending adult-oriented shows.

Democratic Rep. SJ Howell, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and their, has been working at the Capitol for a decade, first as a lobbyist and now as a lawmaker representing Missoula. In all their work, Howell said, its very clear that relationships matter. Progress is a long game, and it may take years to pass legislation that promotes the rights and recognition of transgender and nonbinary people, Howell said.

One thing that could hinder that progress is the national debate over anti-LGBTQ+ policy proposals.

Erin Reed, who describes herself as a queer writer and content creator, has been tracking the LGBTQ+ bills nationwide and is also Zephyrs partner of almost a year.

Four years ago, the debate playing out in statehouses was over transgender rights in sports, Reed said, but thats shifted. Now, a third of the bills target health care  like gender-affirming hormone therapy, mostly related to minors  and the rest focus on banning drag shows or the use of preferred pronouns and bathrooms, or targeting the rights of transgender people in insurance coverage and workplace protections.

But beyond the flood of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, at least 15 states have passed LBGTQ+ protections, Reed estimated.

Howell said its challenging being a state representative trying to focus on Montana when so much focus has been on this national issue.

Personally, Howell said, they came to the legislature to build relationships and make good policy, and they see many of their colleagues as friends.

When the mutual respect isnt present, it can be deeply frustrating and harmful, and we can do better as a body, Howell said.

Republican Rep. Neil Duram sits between Zephyr and Howell on the House Judiciary Committee, which has heard all the LGBTQ+ bills this session. He said having both in the legislature better represents Montana.

If it was just me, and 99 other people like me on the House floor, we may not set the best policy for the people of Montana, Duram said.

Duram spoke during a House floor session discussing House Bill 361, which would allow classmates to refer to a transgender student by their birth name or gender assigned at birth, unless it crossed into bullying. He said hes enjoyed getting to know Judiciary seatmate Zephyr and that hell make sure people arent inflicting bullying behavior.

Duram voted for HB 361. He said his decision was encouraged by his community.

And, ultimately, thats where my conscience is going to sit, he said.

On the morning of April 13, Howell and Zephyr were hearing testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on a bill that would define sex in Montana law, Senate Bill 458. The vibe in the room felt heavy.

Sen. Carl Glimm, sponsor of SB 458, said the bill seeks to define the terms sex, male, and female in state law. Glimm said the bill was necessary because people conflate sex and gender and maintained the bill wasnt about gender fluidity or expression.

Gender is obviously something different than biological sex. Biological sex is immutable and that means you cant change it, and theres only two biological sexes, Glimm said. You may claim to be able to change your gender or express your gender in a different way, but you can never change your biological sex.

LGBTQ+ advocates, like the Montana Human Rights Network, say that by defining people as simply male and female, the bill would legislate transgender, nonbinary and intersex people out of existence. The Montana Human Rights Network said the definitions used in SB 458 were based on an unscientific and archaic understanding of basic biology.

About an hour after the hearing, people gathered outside the Capitol in an April snowstorm for a drag show.

Performers lip-synced for a crowd ranging from kids to college students to retired folks who were waving rainbow-colored flags and carrying umbrellas.

As Rise Up by Andra Day played in the background, Katie Fire Thunder said she came to the drag show from Bozeman to show her allyship with the LGBTQ+ community.

Fire Thunder called this sessions anti-LGBTQ+ bills disgusting, and said they dont represent Montana or what young people care about. But having both Zephyr and Howell serving in the Capitol has made a major difference, Fire Thunder said.

When things are really hard and theres all these hateful people, theyre a little glimmer of hope, Fire Thunder said.

Kole Burdick, 20, also of Bozeman, said it's important to uplift queer people and show moments of queer joy, and commended Zephyr and Howell for their work.

I think theyve been working really hard to protect our community and keep our community safe, and I really appreciate them for that, Burdick said.
A bill that wouldve given tribal communities a say in broadband projects on reservations was struck down in the Senate on Tuesday.

After COVID-19 exposed the digital divide, the federal government invested billions in grants that bring high-speed internet to rural and tribal communities. Tribes in Montana have received more than $100 million to get these projects off the ground. But too often, according to Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, who sponsored the bill, private broadband companies fail to collaborate with tribes.

House Bill 804 stated that if a broadband development occurred on a reservation, then an agency, political subdivision of the state and a tribal government should provide oversight of private internet service provider development.

Running Wolf said in the bills first committee hearing that the legislation would ensure providers dont abuse their services on reservations. Patrick Yawakie, a lobbyist for the Blackfeet Nation, said telecommunications companies often "cut corners by installing unsafe, outdated internet equipment."

3 Rivers Communications, a nonprofit telecommunications company in Fairfield, this spring preliminarily settled a class action lawsuit with the Blackfeet Nation for about $9 million. Plaintiffs alleged the company withheld capital credits from its Browning Exchange members.

House Bill 804 passed the House with 94 yes votes in March, and it easily cleared the Senate Committee on Energy and Telecommunications shortly thereafter.

The bill also passed its second reading in the Senate on Monday. Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby, urged his colleagues to support the legislation, saying it creates participation with Montana tribes when in the past, it didnt exist.

Tribal lands are some of the most underserved and unserved lands in the state, he said.

Sixty-two percent of homes on the Fort Peck Reservation and 58% of homes on the Rocky Boy Reservation have broadband access, compared to 85% of homes in the U.S.

Small said the bill promotes collaboration, allowing businesses and tribes to coexist with each other, get along and try to finish up some of these projects.

In the bills second reading, 29 senators voted for the bill and 21 opposed it. HB 804 failed its third reading in the Senate on Tuesday with 20 senators supporting the bill and 30 opposing it.

Running Wolf said the bill would've strengthened collaboration between the state and tribes.

"It was a courtesy bill," he said. "It was about relationship-building. It just goes to show that's not on the agenda this session. We tried our best."

As tribes receive more money for broadband projects, Running Wolf urged Indigenous communities to make sure they "have a seat at the table."

"No one's looking out for you," he said.
The MT Public Service Commission (PSC) is hearing NorthWestern's request to increase electric base rates for small business and residential customers, by 28%.

I can advise you the advocacy We the People are getting is minuscule.

The PSCs role:  regulate the operation of public utilities; ensure these utilities provide adequate service at reasonable rates; balance the interests of customers (We the People) being mindful of the utilities need to invest in adequate infrastructure and to provide its shareholders a fair return; finally, when services are provided by private monopolies like NWE, our interests must be protected.

We the People have an advocate, the Montana Consumer Counsel (MCC). Jason Brown with MCC is representing our interests? Prior to this hearing, MCC worked with other NWE customers (Walmart, federal agencies and their Large Customer Group (LCG) allowing NWE to introduce to the PSC Commissioners a Proposed Rate Settlement. MCC felt this backroom deal, a 28% increase for us compared to 16-18% for Walmart, is in our best interests?

The purpose of MCC  Represent Montana consumer interests in proceedings before the PSC. What has MCC declared so far: NWE has under-collected from its residential customers and the requested rate increase is warranted. MCC is We the Peoples only paid advocate; the PSC Commissioners sorta, but they must also be mindful of NWEs interests. MCC, our advocate, is neglecting to ask any NWE witness any questions. Im appalled.

A group of customers not privy to the proposed settlement, learned about its details last Tuesday when a NWE VP explained who was going to pay what. One of the parties not in on the deal was 350 Montana; this organization's focus is reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations by advocating for alternative energy sources. Monica Tranel (working pro-bono) for 350 Montana, has almost single-handedly held NWEs feet to the fire for We the People. $169,000,000 increase! 28% increase!! A monopoly!! Outrageous!

This is a David versus Goliath encounter (were not Goliath). Ive counted six NWE attorneys rotating at their table, introducing their VPs who are their witnesses, these attorneys then routinely disrupt Ms. Tranel's questions with tons of objections. Thankfully, PSC President Brown often overrules. Inexcusably, some Commissioners have been entirely absent, others present but by Zoom. Remember, this rate increase request is historic; We the People deserve better  full in-person attendance of Commissioners is a minimal expectation.

While MCC is AWOL, consumer advocates were plentiful Friday and PSC President Brown allowed time for public comment. A group from Bozeman (Gallatin Valley Sunrise), including college students(5 roommates), graduates, workers, testified. Affordability was an issue, as was their interest in encouraging NWE and the PSC to move rapidly and smartly to renewables.

Last Friday it was easy to determine where PSC Commissioner Bukacek was leaning in her deliberations; while questioning a NWE VP, the two solved a math problem for the five college students renting the home in Bozeman. Based upon current NWE electric rates and applying this proposed 28% base rate increase, each student would see only a $1/month increase in their share of the bill. This was the crux of remarks Commissioner Bukacek made over the course of Fridays entire hearing. I dont (you shouldnt) trust her math. FYI, five students renting a home in Kalispell where Commissioner Bukacek lives, wont be affected by this NWE rate increase.

We the People ... speak up; our PSC Commissioners and MCC must do their job. Its ridiculous that Ms. Tranel and 350 Montana are our biggest (only) advocates. FYI  theres another huge increase request already on the drawing board.
DECATUR  It may seem that free water falls from the sky on a rainy day, but water is a finite resource.

From Canada to Mexico, the same water is used and reused thousands of times, Ashley Bailey, director of compliance and innovation at the Sanitary District of Decatur, told Stephen Decatur Middle School students on Thursday.

I'm never drinking tap water again, said seventh grade student Rakem Hill, making a face.

Instead, he said, he'd drink juice.

The Sanitary District, on 100 acres in the west end of Decatur, sanitizes and disinfects an average of 40 million gallons of what is flushed down toilets, shower drains and washing machines into the city's sewers daily. When there's been a lot of rain or snow that has melted, Bailey said, the facility can process up to 125 million gallons a day.

Decatur Public Schools students in seventh and eighth grade are visiting the facility this week to learn how it all works.

Kent (Newton, executive director) came to me last summer and wanted to partner to get our students exposed to water treatment, safe water, those types of habits, said Ashley Grayned, executive director of innovative programs and strategic planning for Decatur schools. Last fall, he and his team went out to the high schools and some of the science classes and did presentations that were hands-on and engaging. Today we have our middle school students getting a tour of the facility, getting some hands-on opportunities and things like that.

As business partners come to the district with such ideas, Grayned said, the district tries to accept as many chances as possible to get students out into the community, to learn about how things work and to get exposure to new ideas for careers.

Newton gave the students an introduction before splitting them up into two groups for tours and, after lunch, the groups traded places and toured the other half of the facility. One thing he warned them about was to give a wide berth to the Canada geese, who nest on the property and are especially touchy right now because they have eggs in their nests. Another warning was stay far back from the tanks with gray water in them because that water hasn't been treated, or is in the process of being treated, and is toxic until the process is complete. Students kept a safe distance from both geese and water tanks.

I thought it was cool, said Helena Orwako, an eighth grader. I didn't know this was here.

The Sanitary District is its own independent entity, and answers to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which in turn answers to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Bailey said. The 60 employees have to follow strict procedures for cleansing the sewer water and each step is critical.

People sometimes confuse the city of Decatur's water treatment plant with the Sanitary Department, she said, but the city takes water from Lake Decatur and treats it to make it safe to drink and cook with, while the Sanitary Department deals with the sewer system.

Close Herald & Review/Mark Roberts Don Giger, an operations supervisor at Decatur's water treatment plant, outlines several ways in which the plant monitors water flow and levels Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts One of four large water basins at the Decatur Water Treatment Plant on Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts James Wingfield, a lab technician at Decatur's water treatment plant, runs a test to check chemical levels in the water Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. On average, the plant treats up to 21 million gallons of water per day. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts Three water faucets run three different types of water inside a lab at Decatur's water treatment plant Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. The entire filtration process usually takes 16-18 hours. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts An area inside the Decatur water treatment plant where lime, in powder form, is added to the water for purification. Photo taken Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. Decatur Water Treatment Plant Herald & Review/Mark Roberts Don Giger, an operations supervisor at Decatur's water treatment plant, outlines several ways in which the plant monitors water flow and levels Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts One of four large water basins at the Decatur Water Treatment Plant on Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts James Wingfield, a lab technician at Decatur's water treatment plant, runs a test to check chemical levels in the water Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. On average, the plant treats up to 21 million gallons of water per day. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts Three water faucets run three different types of water inside a lab at Decatur's water treatment plant Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL. The entire filtration process usually takes 16-18 hours. Herald & Review/Mark Roberts An area inside the Decatur water treatment plant where lime, in powder form, is added to the water for purification. Photo taken Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Decatur, IL.
DECATUR  A court hearing Thursday into the child sex and porn allegations faced by Decatur couple Douglas and Kelly Nichols outlined the sheer volume of video and other images involved in the cases.

And prosecutors in the hearing also hinted at how the cases might be pursued, suggesting that the interests of the couple might not be best served by having the same defense counsel, as they do now.

Douglas R. Nichols, 54, denies four counts of criminal sexual assault, or rape, of a girl aged under 18. He also denies eight charges alleging aggravated criminal sexual abuse and 12 charges of the possession of child porn that portrayed the lewd exhibition of childrens bodies.

Kelly J. Nichols, 52, denies 18 counts accusing her of the possession of child porn featuring the lewd exhibition of images of children.

Defense attorney Courtney Anderson asked Circuit Judge Lindsey Shelton for more time while the prosecution hands over copies of the evidence.

States Attorney Scott Rueter told the judge there was a lot of material to sort through with everything from video to other electronically stored images and even police body cam videos to process.

In this case we have quite a number and I had tendered a list of what we have available to counsel for them to let me know which videos they wanted in order to ease-up the discovery process, Rueter added.

And last week I got a list of what they would like to have and it will take a little bit of time to get all that downloaded.

The judge agreed to allow more time for the copying and transfer of evidence to be completed.

It was at this point in the hearing that Rueter raised the subject of whether the Nichols couple should be represented by the same counsel. Anderson is working alongside fellow attorney Andrew Wessler from the Bolen, Robinson & Ellis law firm in Decatur.

Rueter said the issue of continuing joint representation was a question that perhaps ought to be under consideration, raising the possibility that the future legal interests of the couple might not lie with having the same lawyers. Different legal representation might also preclude some future grounds for appeal if one of the defendants later claimed their defense had been compromised by being represented by the same firm as their co-defendant.

I dont know how much defense counsel has thought about it, obviously, but do you want to at least start the process of thinking about it? Rueter asked as he and Anderson stood in front of the judge.

I obviously dont know what will happen in the cases, or what the approach will be, but I think defense counsel does need to think about representing both clients if there is potential conflict between the clients; I bring it up for thought," Rueter added.

Andersons response was brief: I dont think there is an issue at this point, she told the judge.

Shelton made no comment on the subject and told both sides to be back in court for a pretrial hearing June 1.

Later on Thursday, attorney Wessler with the law firm  which refers to itself as BRE Law  issued the following statement: At BRE Law, we would like to remind the public that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. It is the right to every citizen to have access to a fair and just trial in the court of law.

We strongly condemn the dissemination of unverified and false allegations that circulate through the media, online, and members of the public. We, the attorneys at BRE Law, have dedicated our careers to upholding the rule of law and will always fight on behalf of our clients in order to find the truth.

We call upon the media and members of the community to exercise restraint and show respect for our country's legal process in order to reach a just and fair conclusion. We stand firmly with our clients and remain committed to providing them with the highest level of legal representation.

2023 mugshots from the Herald & Review Lourash Hirstein Phillip Gehrken Joseph A. Williams Jetrevius O. Jarrett Edwards King-Woods
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 61F. SSE winds shifting to W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 73F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Two men and two teens have been charged in connection with a shooting that left a 17-year-old seriously injured Tuesday afternoon.

One suspect is not in custody as of Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to the Hickory Police Department.

The shooting happened shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday near the Camden Meadow Apartments on First Street SW. During the investigation, it was determined that two groups of males, included the injured teenager, were shooting at each other, Hickory police said in a news release on Wednesday.

Kaleef Hassan Carpenter, 25, is charged with possession of firearm by felon. Carpenter was on probation for two previous convictions on the same charge that occurred in 2022, Hickory police said.

Hickory police are searching for 20-year-old Jonathon Jahiem White on a charge of discharging a firearm in the city limits in connection to Tuesdays shooting, Hickory police said.

One 17-year-old male has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and breaking and entering. He was on probation for a weapons charge in connection to a shooting that occurred in Mecklenburg County, Hickory police said.

A second 17-year-old male has been charged with breaking and entering, Hickory police said.

The third 17-year-old, who was shot, remains hospitalized and has not been charged as of 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Charges are anticipated, Hickory police said.

On Tuesday at approximately 1:45 p.m., Hickory police received a call from a female stating that she heard gunshots near the Camden Meadows apartments.

Upon arrival, officers located a 17-year-old male inside an apartment with a single gunshot wound. Catawba County EMS responded and treated the 17-year-old male prior to him being airlifted with life-threatening injuries to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

He was listed as in serious but stable condition on Wednesday.
Science movie night

The Catawba Science Center is hosting a free movie night on Thursday. The showing will be of the 2014 science-fiction movie Interstellar.

The showing will be at the Carolina Theater in downtown Hickory. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The movie will begin at 7 p.m.

In addition to the movie, attendees will have the chance to explore the stranger side of space with hands-on activities and conversation with Elise Weaver, the director of undergraduate astronomy labs at Appalachian State University.

The Carolina Theater is at 222 1st Ave. NW, in Hickory.

The showing is part of the science centers adult programs series Science After Dark.

Symphony concert

The Western Piedmont Symphony presents Masterworks: The New Colossus featuring violinist Kinga Augustyn and music composed by Nkeiru Okoye, Erich Korngold, and Peter Boyer. The concert will be on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at P.E. Monroe Auditorium on the Hickory campus of Lenoir-Rhyne University.

The Western Piedmont Symphony will perform works informed by the immigrant and refugee experience.

Voices Shouting Out by Nkeiru Okoye was written as a response to the events of 9/11. This piece is a bridge between different cultures to bring people together in times of crisis.

World-renowned violinist Kinga Augustyn, a recently naturalized citizen herself, will join the symphony in Erich Wolfgang Korngolds Concerto for Violin in D major, op.35. Korngold and his wife came to Hollywood in 1935 to escape the rise of fascism in Europe. Korngold wrote film scores throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

The final piece is a multi-media presentation of Peter Boyers Ellis Island: The Dream of America. Actors will be portraying seven immigrants who came through Ellis Island between the 1910s and 1940s. The orchestra will play music inspired by their stories. The piece ends with Emma Lazarus poem, The New Colossus, which is the inscription at the foot of the Statue of Liberty.

Ticket prices range from $25 to $45. The P.E. Monroe Auditorium is at 775 Sixth St. NE in Hickory.

RockyFest 2023

RockyFest 2023 is on Saturday at Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area in Alexander County. The free event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., features live old-time and bluegrass music, food, arts and crafts vendors. There are also free rock-climbing sessions, childrens activities and more.

Live music will be performed on stage under the tent. Bands include Carolina Cowboys and Maggie at 10 a.m., The Blue Ridge Girls at 11 a.m., Slate Mountain Ramblers at noon, Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee at 1 p.m., Crooked Road Ramblers at 2 p.m. and New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters at 3 p.m.

Attendees can also join the fun by participating in flatfoot dancing or by bringing their own instrument to play in the picking tent.

Free rock-climbing sessions will be offered throughout the day with 75 openings available. Registration must be completed online on a first-come, first-served basis. Click on the Eventbrite button at rockyfacepark.com/rockyfest.

Food vendors include Teens & Deens Country Kitchen, Lost Highway Pizza, the Vashti Ice Cream Man and The Super Snack Shop.

Childrens activities will include a variety of inflatables, games and a trackless train, which are all free of charge. Face painting and a balloon artist will also be available for a small fee.

The Hiddenite Arts & Heritage Center will have a heritage fair at the event, featuring demonstrations and hands-on activities such as candle making, rope making and wood carving.

Parking will be available at Rocky Face Baptist Church, the old Rocky Face Baptist Church, the Rocky Face Park multipurpose building and a field across the street. Greenway Public Transportation is providing shuttles to bring attendees to and from the event area.

Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area is at 3451 Rocky Face Church Road in Hiddenite.

Truck and tractor pull

The Sugar Loaf Fire Department is hosting a truck and tractor pull on Saturday.

The event will start at 6 p.m. The gates will open at 4 p.m. The event will take place at 296 Old Wilkesboro Road Extension in Taylorsville. The event site is one half mile from Teens & Deens Country Kitchen on N.C. 16.

 Compiled by Sarah C. Johnson
ACS Fellow Brian Finn, former head of IBM Australia and a long-standing supporter of ACS and the Australian technology community, has passed away aged 82.

Born in England, Brian joined IBM in 1959 after deciding a career as a clerk would be too boring. After stints in New Delhi running the corporations South Asian business and Hong Kong to manage the South-East Asian markets, he came to Australia in 1980 to head IBMs Australian and New Zealand operations.

During his thirteen years as IBM Australias Chief Executive Officer, Brian played a key role in developing the nations technology sector including working with the Hawke government to build IBMs Wangaratta personal computing manufacturing facility that became one of the organisation's major production centres for East Asia.

He also chaired the 1991 the Australian Education Council Review of Post-Compulsory Education and Training, which focused on giving young people pathways other than university to build their skills while remaining in the education system.

In recognition of his work, Brian was made an officer of the Order of Australia in 1990 for services to Business, Industry and Education.

Following his retirement to the Gold Coast in 1993, Brian remained active in the Australian IT sector and with the ACS Queensland branch. He was a tireless advocate for building Australias business and technology skills base.

ACS Queensland Branch Chair Beau Tydd paid his respects to Brian, saying: Im deeply saddened on Brians passing. I was fortunate to spend a great deal of time with Brian over the past 2 years and I have cherished his stories and his guiding hand.

He was a great champion for the Australian technology sector and for ensuring young Australians have the skills to compete in the 21st Century. Brians legacy will continue to inspire and resonate with all those who knew him or were influenced by his work.

We honour his memory and the indelible impact he made on Australia, IBM, and the world and to individuals like me. Vale my friend.

His achievements included:

 An Honorary Doctor of Education from University of Wollongong on 4 January, 2004.

 A 35-year career with IBM, after 2 years with the British Army, holding roles with the company in the UK, Austin, New Delhi, Hong Kong and Sydney.

 Served as Chief Executive of IBM Australia from 1980 to 1993 and Chairman from 1991 to 1998, making him a critical leader in IBM Australias 90 Years of service in Australia.

 Held directorships of other Australian companies such as Telstra and adjunct Professorships at two universities.

 Chaired the Australian National Training Authority and the Council of the National Science and Technology Centre.

Brian was profiled by ACS Information Age last year where he discussed his career and advocacy in retirement.
CONCORD  At 7:03 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, the Concord Fire Department responded to a reported commercial structure fire at 525 Pitts School Road NW in Concord.

Fire apparatus and personnel arrived on the scene within three minutes and saw smoke and flames in the structure. Firefighters used two hose lines to extinguish the fire, and performed a search, ventilation, salvage and overhaul to look for any hidden fires. The incident was brought under control within 19 minutes of units being dispatched.

In total five Engine Companies, three Ladder Companies, one Rescue Company, four Battalion Chiefs and one Safety Officer responded with a total of 37 firefighters.

Concord Fire Department was assisted by Harrisburg Fire Department and Charlotte Fire Department.

No employees were present at the time of the fire, and there were no reported injuries.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Photo: The Canadian Press The Ontario Courthouse in Toronto is photographed on Monday, May 2, 2022. The Ontario Superior Court has dismissed a constitutional challenge from seven youth activists who argued the province is discriminating against young people by setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets dangerously low, putting their futures at risk. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

The Ontario Superior Court has dismissed a constitutional challenge from seven youth activists who argued the province is discriminating against young people by setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets dangerously low, putting their futures at risk.

In a decision issued last week, Justice Marie-Andree Vermette called the youths  all aged between 15 and 27  remarkable young people committed to fighting climate change. But while she voiced sympathy about their concerns for the future in light of scientific evidence on the impacts of climate change, she did not find Ontario's policy breached their Charter rights.

"While it would be difficult not to be sympathetic to the concerns expressed by the applicants about their future in light of the evidence filed in this case, this court cannot, based on the current state of the law, find violations of the Charter in this case," she wrote in a 52-page decision.

She found that the young activists made a compelling case that the existential threat of climate change imposes on their Charter rights to life and security, but lay blame with climate change itself, rather than provincial policy.

The lawsuit, backed by Ecojustice environmental lawyers, dates back to 2018 when the newly elected Progressive Conservative government repealed a law from the former Liberal government that had established a cap-and-trade system for reducing emissions. That law had set a target of reducing emissions 37 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The Tories replaced that target with one to reduce emissions 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, which the government argued in court was to balance "a healthy economy with a healthy environment."

The revised target will allow for an additional 200 million tonnes of emissions, the youths' experts had said. The lawsuit alleged the "dangerously high level of greenhouse gas emissions" violates sections of the charter on life and security of the person, as well as discrimination based on age.

The Ontario government had previously asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing against "judicial control over environmental and climate policy." There is no constitutional right requiring a government to take certain actions now to avoid future climate-related harms, government lawyers said in written arguments.

Ontario did not dispute human-caused climate change and its risks to public health, but argued that the province's emissions represent less than one per cent of the global total and is therefore not statistically significant.

Vermette rejected that argument, finding Ontario's inaction to further reduce greenhouse gases is contributing to global warming and is connected to the future hardship the youths may face as a result.

"While Ontario's contribution to global warming may be numerically small, it is real, measurable and not speculative," she wrote. "Every tonne of CO2 emissions adds to global warming and leads to a quantifiable increase in global temperatures that is essentially irreversible on human timescales."

Ecojustice said in a statement that Vermette's ruling still offered optimism as it established Ontario's target falls short of the scientific consensus of what's necessary to confront climate change.

She also found the case justiciable, setting a precedent that Canadian courts can hear Charter-based cases that challenge specific laws or state actions, such as climate targets and plans.

The seven youth activists will appeal the decision at the Ontario Court of Appeal, Ecojustice said.

Around the world, legal challenges are becoming a powerful tool for young people to hold their governments accountable for climate action," said Ecojustice lawyer Danielle Gallant.

"While this decision is disappointing, we remain inspired by the courage and determination of these young applicants to advocate for a better, safer future for us all. We remain behind them to support their fight, to the Court of Appeal and beyond.

Ottawa-based Alex Neufeldt, one of the young applicants, said Vermette's decision proves the Ford government is causing climate harm that will impact future generations.

"We are the ones who will have to suffer through the tomorrow the Ford government's policies are creating today," said Neufeldt. "That's why, despite this setback, we're continuing our fight to hold the Ford government accountable for climate action."

Andrew Kennedy, spokesman for Ontario's Attorney General, said the provincial government is leading the country's progress on emission reductions through actions that include investing in electric vehicle production and building the largest public transit expansion in Canadian history.

"We are pleased with the decision dismissing the constitutional challenge," said Kennedy, adding it would be inappropriate to comment further due to the case being in an appeal period.
Storage vendor Seagate Technologies has agreed to pay a fine of US$300 million (A$447.3 million) to settle a charge brought against it by the US Department of Commerce of shipping hard drives valued at US$1.1 billion to Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies.

In a statement, Seagate said the fine would be paid in instalments of US$15 million over five years beginning on 31 October.

The charges, of violating American export regulations by shipping hard drives to Huawei, were raised by the Bureau of Industry and Security and were first reported in October last year.

The company was named in a report issued in October 2021 by Republican members of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

As iTWire, Seagatea letter about the proposed charges in August 2022, and responded, claiming that it had not committed any such act.

Huawei was placed on the BIS Entity List in 2019, over unproven claims that it posed a danger to US national security. The sale of the drives took place between August 2020 and September 2021.

Seagate has now changed its stance, and agreed to settle the matter by paying the fine.

The two other main hard drive manufacturers, Toshiba and Western Digital, were found to be in compliance with the strictures put in place in 2019.
COMPANY NEWS: Safe Security, the leader in AI-based cyber risk management SaaS platforms, today announced the close of a US$50 million Series B round led by Sorenson Capital, with participation from Eight Roads, venture capital arm of Fidelity Investments, Telstra Ventures, WTI, and all existing investors.

This round brings the companys total funding to over US$100 million.

With the current macroeconomic climate, cybersecurity teams are re-evaluating their cybersecurity investments, which are flush with point solutions that do not provide holistic cyber risk visibility and points of attack exposure.

Alongside this financial pressure, external cyber regulation and guidelines stemming from the White House and regulatory bodies, like the SEC and the National Cyber Strategy, are forcing organisations across every industry to rethink their cyber risk management strategies.

Legacy solutions are ill equipped to respond to these new requirements for real time, data-driven cyber risk management. These legacy solutions require organisations to manage multiple spreadsheets and aggregate results, which are highly manual and subjective. They simply do not work. A new approach is now required.

Tailwinds from regulators, cyber insurance and boards to understand and quantify cyber risk in an aggregated and granular manner are propelling Safe into this exponential growth phase," said Safe Security CEO and co-founder Saket Modi.

Despite economic headwinds, Safe has been growing over 200% for three consecutive years. We are seeing companies across all industries requiring a new approach to quantifying cyber risk in a way that can be communicated across internal stakeholders, boards, government regulations, cyber insurance underwriters, and across the third-party vendor ecosystem.

As we enter this next milestone in the companys journey, we are focusing on continuing to innovate ahead of the market and lead the charge with the industrys only real time, data-driven platform for managing and mitigating cyber risk.

Telstra Ventures partner Marcus Bartram said Saket is very strong founder who has attracted a great team, customers and investors. We are excited to be working with them and help them scale to be a durable, large company that is solving a hard problem in the security market today, helping CISOs understand, manage and quantify dynamic cyber-risk across their organisation.

The Safe Security platform is the industrys first AI driven, real-time solution for managing and mitigating cyber risk. With this new data driven approach, Safe provides organisations an aggregated view of enterprise cyber risk, and cybersecurity teams gain visibility across their entire attack surface, technology, people and third parties.

This visibility enables organisations to move away from a reactive state and take on a predictive posture to understand the likelihood of different cyber risk scenarios. Using Safes predictive data models, co-developed with MIT, customers are empowered to translate the bits and bytes of cyber risk into dollars and cents.

Safe is the only cyber risk platform that allows CISOs to evaluate their cyber controls efficacy, mapped with the MITRE ATT&CK and D3FEND frameworks. As well as providing an easy to understand view of enterprise cyber risk for CEOs and CFOs.



Discover Financial Services CISO Shaun Khalfan said Discover treats cyber risk as one of the top risks that can have a material impact to our business, and the journey to manage that risk starts from knowing where it stands at any given time.

The Safe platform provides us with a much easier onboarding experience and objectively showcases the risk of business-critical applications and assets. I think cyber risk quantification platforms like Safe will soon become a must-have for security/business leaders and board members for publicly traded companies.

About Safe Security

Safe Security is the leader in cyber risk management SaaS platforms.

It has redefined cyber risk measurement and management with its real time, data driven approach that empowers enterprises, boards, regulators and cyber insurance carriers to understand cyber risk in an aggregated and granular manner.

Using Safes predictive AI driven data models, co-developed with MIT, customers are now empowered to translate the bits and bytes of cyber risk into dollars and cents so that they can prioritise their cyber investments to most effectively mitigate their risk and understand the return on security investments. Having raised over $100m, Safe is growing over 200% year-over-year and serves some of the largest global enterprises.

About Telstra Ventures

Telstra Ventures identifies whats next, right now. Telstra Ventures serves extraordinary leaders and helps them achieve their dreams. In our first ten years, 92 investments have generated 34 liquidity events including Auth0, BigCommerce, Box, Cloopen, CrowdStrike, DocuSign, Rancher, Skillz, Snap, and Whispir. To date, our Revenue Acceleration Platform has driven greater than US$500 million in revenue for our portfolio companies, extending their reach across Australia, Asia, UK and the US. In 2022 , we announced the close of our third fund, bringing funds under management to US$1 billion. To see our full portfolio and learn more, visit www.telstraventures.com.
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Steven Spielberg thanked Tom Cruise for insisting to Paramount that his last Top Gun movie not be streamed until its run in the theaters was over. He said it saved the movie industry. Moving forward Tom Cruise's next movie will be shot in outer space or, as Scientologists call it, the Old Country.

 The Hollywood Reporter ran an article about older stars dating young women in the wake of all the publicity generated by Leonardo DiCaprio from dating women half his age. People magazine reported that Al Pacino is fifty years older than his fiancee. They are planning an open-casket wedding.

 Transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney became a woke star thanks to the Bud Light boycott over her image on the cans. Her face was also on the cartons. I saw it and just assumed it was a Surgeon General's warning that if you drink too many Bud Lights you may wake up next to a woman with a penis.

 Budweiser released a series of patriotic ads starring the Clydesdales Monday. They are desperate to retrieve the customers they lost when they decided to put a Transgender on the Bud Light cans. The greatest day of my life was the day I discovered I don't need alcohol in order to make bad decisions.

 Chicago teens went wild looting the shopping district en masse Sunday. The kids used Instagram to time the surprise meet-up and the mob was looting stores and smashing cars well before the cops arrived. The five-second rule for food dropped onto the floor doesn't work if you have a two-second dog.

 Elon Musk gave an interview to Tucker Carlson Monday in which the billionaire industrialist and innovator warned that AI could get recklessly out of control and cause civilization to collapse. I recently bought a book titled How to Overcome Artificial Intelligence. I saw it advertised on Facebook.

 The AARP set up a Fraud Watch Network to help its members avoid online shopping scams that involve scammers pretending to be legitimate sellers. The bargains they offer prey on human greed. I sure hope the diamond bracelet I just ordered for my girlfriend is real, otherwise I'm out twenty bucks.

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 Vladimir Putin responded calmly on Russian TV to President Biden's referring to Putin as a war criminal. The past isn't pretty here. The Cold War-trained leader came to power under suspicious circumstances, commandeered the media, cut free speech and sent troops into Ukraine, and so did Putin.

 Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg gave a speech in which he blamed racist roads for the higher percentage of minority car wrecks and pedestrian injuries. He's the first Democrat to accuse roads of being racist. Well glory be, at last they can sue something for reparations that's not my asphalt.

 The State Department sent envoys to Allies to soothe any anger over revelations in the Pentagon's leaked classified material. It was discovered in plain sight online. The Pentagon leaker is kicking himself for not leaving the classified documents strewn all over the garage where they would be secure.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Speaking about the recent intelligence leak of classified documents by a member of the U.S. military, President Joe Biden downplayed the significance, remarking, "There's nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of that is of great consequence."

While it makes sense that the president would attempt to soft-pedal the fallout, the truth is that the Biden administration, Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community still don't know the extent of what information is "out in the wild," to use a term for classified information that has been put into public view. Most media organizations have access to about 50 documents, but the leak may comprise "hundreds and hundreds" of intelligence assessments, so our understanding of what happened and what is at risk may continue to evolve.

When a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman named Jack Teixeira leaked these documents on Discord, an online gaming platform, he significantly compromised U.S. national security and that of other nations, such as Ukraine, in both the short and long term.

In the near term, Ukraine is going to have to tweak its battlefield approach, revisiting operational plans and preparing for a potential Russian response that targets Ukrainian weaknesses exposed in the leaked documents, especially air defense. There must be a palpable sense of betrayal among Ukrainian units fighting courageously for survival, knowing that their safety was endangered by a young man's desire to show off to his friends.

Another immediate-term objective will be for the United States military and intelligence community to review security clearance access and be far more restrictive in who can access highly sensitive, classified information. More troubling than the leak is that these documents were circulating online across platforms for weeks before the U.S. government finally became aware of the breach.

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Over the longer term, there are real effects on our relationship with crucial allies such as South Korea and Israel, both of whom were quite likely shocked by revelations of U.S. spying on highly sensitive conversations. While all countries know that it happens, being presented with the evidence at the same time as the rest of the world can feel like a gut punch.

The documents included an assessment of Taiwan's ability to defend itself in the face of a Chinese invasion. The classified documents suggested that the mainland's People's Liberation Air Force would easily establish air superiority against an overmatched Taiwan, which lacks the air defense systems to detect Chinese missile launches accurately. There are concerns that the documents could embolden Beijing to accelerate plans to invade Taiwan, seeing a short window of time before Taipei can build its military capabilities as an effective deterrent.

Some rifts with allies are less consequential but will still take effort to repair. When former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden released troves of classified documents in 2013, it was revealed that the U.S. was spying on then-Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The relationship between Washington and Berlin never fully recovered while Merkel remained in office.

The latest case is unusual because of the motive. Typically, intelligence services consider the motivations using an acronym known as MICE (money, ideology, coercion, ego). This probably fits into that last category, but even in that case, it's nontraditional when compared with some other infamous cases motivated by ego  for example, Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who spied for the Soviet Union because he felt unappreciated by the U.S. bureau, passed over for several promotions.

In spite of the high-profile leaks that have occurred over the last decade, most people still don't realize how easy it is for something like this to occur, even with the tremendous damage inflicted on the U.S. national security apparatus. The United States spends so much time, energy and resources on counter-terrorism, chasing jihadis around the globe and operating a global counter-terrorism campaign.

But insider threats can be just as nefarious, especially because the effect lasts longer than the event itself. And to protect against the latter, the U.S. government seems content that preventive measures for safeguarding classified information barely go beyond hourlong online training modules offered several times per year.

As a "cyber transport systems journeyman," Teixeira eded access to certain classified systems. But he has no reason to have access to sensitive documents about tactical developments on the battlefield in Ukraine. Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder stated that Department of Defense officials are reviewing "a variety of factors" in terms of how classified material is safeguarded and will look at ways to update distribution lists and assess how and where intelligence is shared.

But instead of being treated as merely a nuisance, the insider threat must be taken more seriously. This should include a wholesale reevaluation of how individuals are screened for security clearances as well as a revaluation of compartmentalization  who should have access or "need to know" about specific programs, operations and plans.

The truth is that we don't yet know how serious the consequences of this leak could be, but early indications are that there will be serious fallout. The U.S. government needs to get to work on preventing future leaks and must do so immediately, with the same sense of urgency as other pressing national security threats.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Los Angeles Times

(TNS)

Colin P. Clarke is the director of research at the Soufan Group, an intelligence and security consulting firm in New York City.
MATTOON  It is not uncommon for students to enroll in college and attend classes for a few semesters before pausing their education.

"Life has a propensity for throwing wrenches into students' academic careers, and hence earning power," said Ikemefuna Ike Nwosu, vice president for academic services at Lake Land College.

Lake Land and Eastern Illinois University leaders gathered on Thursday to announce and sign an agreement aimed at providing those students, academically recognized as stop-outs, with a pathway for completing their higher education. Eligible students will have the opportunity to earn an associate's degree at Lake Land and then transfer to Eastern to earn a bachelors.

Under the agreement, the two schools will work together to identify and reach out to Eastern students who have paused their education but whose academic history demonstrates a strong likelihood of completing their studies.

Jay Gatrell, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Eastern, estimated during the agreement signing in Lake Land's Foundation and Alumni Center that there are approximately 500 students in the community college's 4,000-square-mile district that would be eligible to earn degrees through this new program.

"That credential will be transformation, not only for them, but their families, their communities and their neighbors," Gatrell said.

Nwosu said a recent Illinois Community College Board study of Lake Land's district reported that an individual with an associate's alone will earn $550,000 more during their lifetime than someone without a degree.

A trend analysis by Lake Land found that the district is on par with the state average for residents having associate's degrees but is 17.8% below the average for bachelor's degrees, Nwosu said. He noted that a recent study reported that an increase of about 1% in the number of people earning bachelor's degrees has a net positive impact on their area economy.

"The economic growth of the region is tied to education," Nwosu said.

Lake Land reported that stop-outs can be common even in routine years, but the number of students in Illinois and across the nation who have put their educations on hold rose significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a response, colleges and universities are working with the Illinois Board of Higher Education and Illinois Community College Board to enhance degree completion and retention rates, with an enhanced focus on adult students. Lake Land and Eastern's new agreement is aimed at helping meet and exceed those state goals.

"The impetus for this program came out of really an innovative and adaptable idea about how we can get more students to become graduates of Lake and get their associate's degrees and go out for baccalaureate degrees," said Eastern's President David Glassman.

To be eligible, paused students must not have been enrolled at either Lake Land or Eastern for the past two semesters, have not earned an associate or a bachelors degree, have completed at least 45 hours of undergraduate work with a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher, and be in good standing with the student conduct policies.

Eligible students will be invited to enroll in Lake Land to complete an associate degree. Upon completion, participants will be encouraged to enroll in an online or in-person Eastern program to complete a bachelors. Benefits unique to the partnership include enhanced credit and transcript transfers, in addition to specialized financial supports from Eastern.

"Lake Land College and Eastern Illinois University have a long history of partnering together, especially in transfer degrees," Bullock said. "We are excited to partner together today to further enhance the ability of our residents to achieve an education right here in Coles County."
The Harvest Market is no longer just a market or just a co-op. Twin City Catering Co. moved into the space in March and now has been offering hot lunches to go five days a week.

Harvest Market opened in October as a for-profit affiliate of the nonprofit SHARE, Inc. in a project spearheaded by the Rev. Gary Williams and the Rev. Willard Bass Jr.

Williams and Bass opened the store to help with food deserts in our community, and they set up the market to operate both as a regular grocery store and as a co-op.

As part of their construction plans for the store, they installed a large commercial kitchen with the idea that they would contract with a chef to independently run some form of restaurant.

It took some time, but Williams and Bass eventually met Shanta Hauser-Faison, a popular caterer and the woman behind Rosey Blooms Collard Greens, a local product sold in area stores and online.

Hauser-Faison worked for more than 10 years as a chef in hotels, in particular doing a lot of hotel event catering, and she eventually branched out on her own, opening Twin City Catering Co.

I was the first chef at the Enterprise Center, Hauser-Faison said, using the centers shared-use commercial kitchen. At first, much of her catering was for events at the center, but gradually her business has grown  as has the demand for renting space in the centers kitchen.

I had gotten to the point where I had outgrown the Enterprise Center, but in the restaurant business its hard to find a space  and it costs so much to upgrade a kitchen, she said.

Hauser-Faison said she is grateful for the opportunity the Enterprise Center gave her to help her business grow, but for a while she had been looking for a bigger and better location where she didnt have to share kitchen time or space. And thats what Harvest Market offered her.

Twin City Catering Co. Cafe is open for lunch five days a week, offering hot meals to go. But its just one of the ways Hauser-Faison is using the space. She now manufactures Rosey Blooms Collard Greens and does all of the cooking for her catering jobs there.

The kitchen is very large by restaurant standards. Hauser-Faison now has a separate dishwashing room, a walk-in cooler and even a walk-in freezer  all things she didnt have before. She also has the space all to herself  unlike the Enterprise Center, where many caterers and others shared the kitchen, renting blocks of time here and there.

For the cafe, Hauser-Faison is preparing one or two entrees each day, along with four or five sides. The offerings change from day to day, but generally follow a weekly schedule. The cafes current menu has chicken Alfredo and turkey Salisbury steak on Tuesdays, wings on Wednesdays, salmon and stewed beef on Thursdays, and rosemary chicken and roasted pork chops on Saturdays. On Fridays, we try to change it up. We usually have a theme. We did Italian one week. We did Asian. We did Caribbean jerk, Hauser-Faison said.

Twin City Catering Co. Cafe Address: 635A Peters Creek Parkway (West Salem Shopping Center), Winston-Salem, N.C. 27103 Phone: 336-283-3299, ext. 210 Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday Website: twincitycateringco.com Instagram: @twincitycateringcocafe

The sides change, too, but we always try to have sweet-potato casserole, because we dont make desserts.

Sides may include cabbage, pan-fried corn, mixed sauteed vegetables, collards, mac n cheese, green beans and more.

Most of the food is sold by the pound at a price of $7.99, but there are some exceptions. The Friday specials typically go for $8.99 a pound.

And when salmon is featured, a plate costs $13.99 with rice, two sides and sweet tea.

Wings also are priced separately: $6.99 for six or $11.99 for 12. And Hauser-Faison usually offers several flavors, including honey, jerk, Buffalo and lemon pepper.

Theres also a cold case that, depending on the day, may include such items as cucumber salad and chicken salad.

We make everything fresh from scratch the day of, Hauser-Faison said. What isnt sold off the hot line that day is packaged and chilled and placed in a refrigerated case for sale in the next day or so. Were closed on Sunday and Monday, but people can still come in (to the market) and get something then, Hauser-Faison said.

She also has been making arrangements to donate any older but still fresh food to local nonprofits that help feed those in need.

Though Harvest Market is still new and trying to develop a customer base, Hauser-Faison said she has been busy.

Because I have so many (catering) clients, they are coming to us, once they find out were here, she said. And a lot of people who work in the strip center are coming in, too. Some of them are coming in every day, and were already getting to know their names. So, I think Harvest Market is starting to get more traffic.

The arrangement could be a win-win for both the market and cafe, and having the cafe certainly could help Harvest Market stand out among competing grocery stores.

For Hauser-Faison, the arrangement offers her a chance to diversify and expand her businesses. She said she already has hired six people, including two dishwashers and an assistant to check her emails and keep her on track. She has even hired her husband, Cedrik Faison, who has his own brand-development business (and designed the Rosey Bloom logo and packaging).

He brought me flowers the first day (the cafe was open), and hes been here ever since, she said with a laugh.

Now, Cedrik Faison is often working the counter, helping customers so his wife can concentrate on all her other tasks.

Hauser-Faison has catering jobs booked into October, she said, but shes still getting requests every week.

And she has plans to boost production of collard greens from 500 jars a month to 2,000 or 3,000 jars. Big box stores have reached out to us, but we couldnt meet their numbers before because we didnt have the kitchen space.

She now has a kitchen where she can simultaneously operate and expand these businesses.

We have the hot food for the grocery store. We have the kitchen for the catering. And we also have a manufacturing space to make the collard greens  so its like three entities in one location.
Q: Ive noticed that it seems as though more people are not picking up after their dog while walking through my neighborhood. What if anything can be done?

N.P.

Answer: There are very few things worse than finding dog poop, usually on the bottom of your shoe, that an irresponsible dog owner didnt pick-up.

In addition to being a nuisance, dog poop left behind is dangerous.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dog waste contains nitrogen and phosphorus, which can deplete oxygen that fish, and other water-based life need to survive, as well as encourage the growth of harmful algae. It is also considered a significant source of pathogens like fecal coliform, a disease-causing bacterium.

And yes, its against the law to leave it in Winston-Salem under Winston-Salem Municipal Ordinance 6-12.

On city property or in a street it shall be unlawful for the owner of a dog to permit the dog to leave its feces on city property or in a city street as defined in section 2-1. When the identity and contact information of the violator can be reasonably ascertained by the city, then the city may issue a notice of violation and take enforcement action against the violator sending all notices and invoices required by section 62-3 to the violator.

A violation of this section shall constitute a nuisance, which nuisance shall be abated in accordance with section 62-3.

Section 62-3 spells out that the assistant city manager/public works or his authorized representative have the authority to send the violation to the owner and how much it will cost the owner for abatement of the violation. The cost is based on the equipment and personnel required to clean up the mess.

Also, if the fine is not paid, section 62-3 authorizes that a lien may be placed on the owners property.

Annie Sims, a spokeswoman for the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office, explained what to do if you see someone not picking up the poop.

If you see someone not cleaning up after their dog and can identify the owner, you can call the Winston-Salem Police Department non-emergency number as this is a violation of the Winston-Salem City Ordinance, she said.

The WSPD non-emergency number is 336-773-7700.

So, dog owners, please pick up after your dog. Its the best thing for you, the dog, the neighbors, and the environment.

Shredding events

Main Street United Methodist Church, 306 S. Main St., Kernersville, Saturdays shredding event has been canceled.

Fairview Moravian Church, 6550 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem, the Womens Fellowship will have an After-Tax Day Shredding Event from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot. A donation of $5 per bag or box is requested.

New Philadelphia Moravian Church, 4440 Country Club Road, Winston-Salem, Saturdays shredding event has been canceled.

New Hope United Methodist Church, 5125 Shattalon Drive, Winston-Salem, will have its annual community shred day from 9 a.m. to noon May 7. Donations of $5 a bag are requested.
Local leaders and lawmakers believe theyve reached a compromise that would keep Smith Reynolds airport inside the Winston-Salem city limits, while creating tax breaks for owners of airplanes and other property at the airport.

Heading off what could have been a bruising fight between Winston-Salem and Forsyth County officials, the compromise would be designed to give airport property owners a 50% cut in the taxes they pay to the city and county.

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines announced the compromise late Wednesday afternoon, with Don Martin, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, chiming in with a prediction that the move would make the airport more competitive.

That was all the county really wanted in asking the state to remove the airport from the city limits, county officials said earlier. They said that because airplane owners had to pay both city and county taxes, it put Smith Reynolds Airport at a competitive disadvantage with other airports around the area and state.

The move to de-annex the airport was met with opposition from people speaking for the neighborhoods that surround the airport, who said that taking the airport out of the city limits would make them more vulnerable to disruptions caused by airport operations.

With Boom Supersonic coming to the Triad with a manufacturing plant, local officials see economic development potential at the airport, which also has a Forsyth Technical Community College airport maintenance training center on site.

The announcement of a compromise did not spell out any exact details of the tax arrangement proposed.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth and three other Forsyth County lawmakers had filed a bill in the current session of the North Carolina General Assembly to remove the airport from the city boundaries.

Lambeth will now file a substitute bill to create an airport zone with the special tax arrangements.

Joines said he is pleased that the compromise allows the city to work more closely with citizens in the Northeast Ward to address recent environmental concerns. He emphasized that this bill does not put any of the nearby residents at a disadvantage in any way.

As part of this arrangement, the city has agreed to work with the county to find an immediate solution to the erosion problems that are threatening a number of residents who live close to the airport, Joines said.

Residents have endured soil erosion and flooding along Brushy Fork Creek, which runs through and near the airports property and in some residents backyards.

Residents say Brushy Fork Creek began eating away at their back yards at an unprecedented rate shortly after the airport clear-cut 250 acres of trees behind their homes in 2015.

After the Journal reported about serious issues with erosion at the airport, airport officials and county officials applied for a $320,000 state grant to cover much of the cost to stabilize a section of Brushy Fork Creek.

But residents have expressed worries that the grant may not be approved, and point out that even if it is, work likely wouldnt begin until 2024.

Joines said the compromise demonstrates the ability of elected officials to address concerns around a sensitive issue. Lambeth said he was pleased that the city and county were able to reach the compromise.

Martin said that the move offers long-term advantages for the airport.

Forsyth County believes that as we become more competitive, additional aircraft and investment will be made at Smith Reynolds, Martin said.
A trimmed-down version of a bill to expand the Winston-Salem City Council is making its way through the halls of the North Carolina General Assembly, creating the prospect of a nine-member council with one at-large member starting in 2024.

The state House passed the measure Wednesday after it got approval from both the local government and rules committees. The measure will now be moving to the state Senate.

Whats different about the version of the bill that passed Wednesday is that it would add only one new at-large member to the Winston-Salem City Council, in contrast to a previous version that would have added two additional at-large members.

When state lawmakers first proposed adding new at-large members in 2019, they proposed a mix of three at-large members and five members representing wards for the city.

Currently, the city council has eight members, each elected only by the voters who live in their particular wards. That sets the city apart from the other large North Carolina cities, which all have various numbers of at-large representatives.

If the General Assembly approves the one-member expansion, it would take effect in the 2024 election cycle. Residents of the eight city wards would continue to vote on those they want to represent them on the council, but all city voters would get to weigh in on the new at-large seat.

In committee on Tuesday, Lambeth portrayed the council expansion as one backed by the city council, but Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said thats only true in a sense.

I talked to the other council members, Joines said. In general the council feels like everything is OK the way it is, but if there was additional at-large representation, one would be more appropriate than two.

The proposal to create additional at-large seats met with a blistering response locally, when advanced in 2019 by Lambeth and then-Rep. Debra Conrad. Their bill proposed not only reducing the number of city wards from eight to five, but drawing the lines for the new wards in a way that would have forced three female Black Democratic members of the council into one district.

The uproar led to a meeting between Joines and Lambeth and the forging of a deal: The creation of an 11-member panel to look at how the council was structured. That panel came up with the recommendation that the council keep eight members elected by ward, but add two additional members elected at large.

Lambeth introduced the bill for the two additional members in 2021, but it was not acted on that year.

Lambeth said Wednesday that the expansion of the city council was also endorsed by Greater Winston-Salem Inc. Mark Owens, the president and chief executive of the chamber of commerce organization, said the group still stands by its endorsement of two additional at-large seats, as recommended by the 11-member study panel.

If the state legislature has negotiated with city officials to deviate from the recommended number of at-large seats, our organization still champions the original findings as the best path forward, Owens said.

Joines said the feeling among council members was that expanding the board to 10 members would make the council a little too unwieldly and too large.
Photo: The Canadian Press A U.S. Navy L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13 drone boat and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC John Scheuerman transit the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. The U.S. Navy sailed its first drone boat through the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies where American sailors often faces tense encounters with Iranian forces. (Information Systems Technician 1st Class Vincent Aguirre/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

The U.S. Navy sailed its first drone boat through the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies where American sailors often faces tense encounters with Iranian forces.

The trip by the L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13, a 13-meter (41-foot) speedboat carrying sensors and cameras, drew the attention of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but took place without incident, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins. Two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, the USCGC Charles Moulthrope and USCGC John Scheuerman, accompanied the drone.

The trip saw the drone safely pass with the accompanying ships through the strait, a busy waterway between Iran and Oman which at its narrowest is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

The Iranians observed the unmanned surface vessel transiting the strait in accordance with international law, Hawkins told The Associated Press. He said an Iranian drone and at least one Houdong-class fast-attack vessel operated by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard observed the MAST-13 drone.

The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet patrols Mideast waters, particularly the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, to keep open the waterways for international trade, as well as protect American interests and allies. However, Iran views the Navy's presence as an affront, comparing it to its forces running patrols in the Gulf of Mexico.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the drone's voyage, citing the AP. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

The 5th Fleet launched a special drone task force last year, aiming to have a fleet of some 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, operating in the region with Americas allies.

Iran briefly seized several of the American drones being tested in the region in late August and early September, though there hasn't been any similar incident since.

The MAST-13 now is operating in the Gulf of Oman, where a maritime shadow war has played out as oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces and suspicious explosions have struck vessels in the region, including those linked to Israeli and Western firms. Iran has denied involvement in the explosions, despite evidence from the West to the contrary.

The MAST-13's video feeds can transmit images back to shore and to ships at sea, helping sailors see ships before approaching them, Hawkins said. That can come in handy, particularly as the Navy and Western allies have increasingly seized weapons it believes were from Iran bound for Yemen.

It puts more eyes out on the water, enabling us to better monitor what is happening, Hawkins said.
Requirements

Among the operational requirements for a mobile salon are:

* Must be equipped with a functional sink and toilet facilities and must maintain an adequate supply of clean water and wastewater storage capacity.

* The mobile salon must be safely parked in a legal parking spot at all times while patrons are present.

* The owner must maintain a permanent business address at which records of appointments, itineraries, license numbers and vehicle identification numbers for each mobile salon being operated shall be kept and made available for verification and inspection.
Our son called the other day and said, "Do you remember what you always used to tell me when I was growing up?"

My mother's heart nearly pounded out of my chest. This was unbelievable. He actually remembers something I used to say. This is a lifetime high in a mother's life, because when you are in the active stage of mothering you are pretty sure every single thing you say goes in one ear and out the other, like a wind tunnel.

My only hope was the wind tunnel would occasionally fritz out and something would stick. I didn't care what. Something. Anything.

Now here he is, 41, married, father of five, gainfully employed, making a FaceTime call that keeps breaking up to ask if I remember what I used to tell him all the time as a kid.

Tissue, please. Oh, just give me the whole box.

If only someone else were in the room to witness this.

What was it he remembers? What was it I used to tell him over and over?

I used to say, "Muddy boots stay in the garage."

"When I say, take a shower, I mean take a shower; don't just run the water and make me think you're taking a shower!"

"No more live snakes from the creek in the aquarium."

"Open a door for a woman, even if she smacks you."

"Choose your friends wisely."

"As you grow older, the less you answer to us and the more you answer to God."

He was trying to show me something with the camera, but the call kept breaking up.

He hung up and called back, and the signal finally held.

"What was it I used to tell you?" I asked.

"Remember? You used to say if I could catch it, I could keep it," he replied.

It was ringing a bell. Actually, it was setting off alarms.

I did often say, "If you can catch it, you can keep it."

Just as there are indoor dogs and outdoor dogs, there are indoor boys and outdoor boys. He was an outdoor boy. He chased rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, deer and wild turkeys, and I cheered him on, "If you can catch it, you can keep it!" The boy stayed outdoors for hours at a time, sometimes even days, running his heart out, chasing wildlife.

He was exhilarated thinking he could bring home any animal he could catch, and I enjoyed knowing he had no chance of catching a wild animal with his bare hands.

"Well, it finally happened," he says, panning the camera down to a tiny gray squirrel nestled in his gloved hand. It was a little guy with big beady eyes and a fluffy gray tail, gnawing on a nut it held with its teeny tiny paws. It was adorable. It also had fleas, which is why he said he had to hang up to give it a flea bath.

The baby had been abandoned and couldn't have fallen into better hands.

The entire family took turns adoring Chip for an afternoon, then Chip was taken to a wildlife sanctuary the next day. It was good they were able to part with him before they made a bed for him in the house and set a plate for him at the dinner table.

It was a short dream but a dream come true. It may have been a dream come true for the squirrel, too. The sanctuary he went to is named "Utopia."

____

Lori Borgman is a columnist, author and speaker. Her book "What Happens at Grandma's Stays at Grandma's" is now available. Email her at lori@loriborgman.com.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Yellow daffodils are everywhere in Warsaw this week, a symbol of remembrance for the 1943 uprising by Jews in the city's ghetto against Nazi German occupiers.

There are the real daffodils that residents and visitors to the Polish capital place on memorials to honor Holocaust victims, and little paper daffodils worn on lapels.

The presidents of Germany, Israel and Poland wore them Wednesday when they led official commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the uprising, on the site of the former ghetto.

Even members of the European Parliament wore them in Strasbourg, France, as lawmakers paid tribute to the Jewish victims.

Someone seeing the six-petaled flower badges for the first time might confuse them with the yellow Star of David that the Nazis forced Jews to wear in Germany and some occupied countries, as a prelude to deporting them to ghettos and death camps.

But those displaying them in Warsaw associate them with memory, respect and a communal coming together by people of all backgrounds to honor the Jewish victims of the ghetto and Holocaust victims more broadly. That idea is captured by the slogan of the official daffodil campaign, which is "remembering together."

The campaign was initiated by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in 2013 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

That year volunteers handed out 50,000 paper daffodil pins in the city.

The museum, which is located on the site of the former ghetto in Warsaw, printed 450,000  the number of Jews who were imprisoned in the ghetto at the peak of its overcrowding, in the spring of 1941. For the first time, volunteers handed them out in five other Polish cities in addition to Warsaw.

A POLIN museum employee, Ewa Budek, came up with the idea, and the paper flowers were designed by Helena Czernek, a Polish Jewish designer with the MI POLIN studio who was 26 at the time. They can be opened up in what Czernek described Thursday as a symbolic opening of remembrance of a traumatic history and a symbol of spring.

They are by now a tradition. TV presenters wear them each April 19, the anniversary of the uprising. And this year Polish airline LOT said its crews wore them.

The daffodils have helped spread knowledge about the Jewish revolt in a city where the Warsaw Uprising, a 1944 revolt by the entire city against the Germans, is better known and commemorated more widely.

For me it is amazing that I could use my skills to be part of this development, Czernek, who usually designs mezuzahs and other Judaica, told The Associated Press.

She said she did not chose her design specifically to evoke a yellow Star of David, though she recognizes the resemblance. The association is not as direct as some might assume because Jews in Warsaw were forced by the Nazis to wear white armbands with blue stars on them, and not yellow badges like in Germany.

The daffodils are linked to Marek Edelman, a commander of the uprising who died in 2009 who every year on the anniversary of the uprising placed yellow flowers, mostly daffodils but sometimes tulips, in memory of his lost comrades and others who were murdered.

The Warsaw ghetto was razed to the ground by the Nazis and new buildings were put up in its place after the war.

Anna Witkiewicz, a 47-year-old local resident, stood alone in contemplation before the memorial on Thursday, still wearing the daffodil she put on the day before as she and her friends commemorated the victims.

She said it was a symbol that made her feel a sense of belonging with the large numbers of Jews who once inhabited the area and others mourning the tragic loss, adding: Its impossible not to wear this flower this day.
OMAHA  Three Omaha Public Schools students were safely evacuated from a school bus before it became engulfed in flames Thursday morning near Cunningham Lake.

According to OPS spokesperson Bridget Belvins, the fire started between 7 and 7:30 a.m. as the bus was traveling along Lake Cunningham Road near 83rd Street. Belvins said the bus driver noticed smoke and immediately evacuated students from the bus.

Dramatic video posted to Twitter shows the bus completely engulfed by fire as black smoke billowed into the sky.

Bus fire per my mom pic.twitter.com/OZCNlmP7tH  k8t (@TCUHusker) April 20, 2023

The bus was owned and operated by Student Transportation of America. A replacement bus responded to transport the students.

"Our district has been in contact with the students' families and will provide support as needed," Belvins said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Photos: Brush fire near N.P. Dodge Park sends up large plume of smoke
Three weeks after the Legislature approved a mid-session rules change in an attempt to stop an ongoing filibuster, the chair of the Rules Committee said he would consider further changes to the rules this year.

Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard told lawmakers he planned to hold a hearing of the Rules Committee before the Legislature adjourns in early June to consider major changes to the rules governing the unicameral systems proceedings.

In fact, we may start at page one and rewrite the whole book, Erdman said in a floor speech. There will be rule changes and they will be significant.

Its unlikely the Legislature would set aside time to change its rules this year, however. Speaker John Arch, who sets the agenda each day, said there wouldnt be time to do it in the waning days of the 90-day session.

But the speaker added he believed there would be considerable discussion during the interim that could lead to some proposed changes being brought before lawmakers in 2024.

Voicing frustration with the lack of progress lawmakers have made by Day 66, Erdman said the committee would consider rules proposals that try to apply common sense.

He also took aim at the senators who have worked within the existing rules to slow down the legislative session, and said other Nebraskans watching the session may decide against running for the Legislature in the future to avoid wasting time in Lincoln.

For nearly two months, Omaha Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh and Megan Hunt have brought the Legislature to a crawl using procedural motions after a bill (LB574) prohibiting transgender youth from obtaining puberty blockers, hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery was advanced to the floor.

In the closing hours of first-round debate on Sen. Kathleen Kauths priority bill, opponents filed a flurry of priority motions which allowed them to jump to the front of the speaking queue, effectively keeping supporters from speaking.

Shortly after, Erdman proposed suspending the rules adopted at the start of the session in order to change a rule limiting the number of motions that could be offered during each round of debate. The Legislature approved the change on a largely party-line vote on Day 51.

And in response, senators quickly filed motions to stake a claim on each bill. Cavanaugh, Hunt and Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad filed more than 740 motions on the bills that had been advanced to the floor to continue the filibuster.

Erdman on Thursday criticized Cavanaugh as disrespecting the Legislature as an institution by continuing to chew up time each day, which he said also required legislative staff, sergeants-at-arms, and members of the Nebraska State Patrol to work long hours each day.

The western Nebraska lawmaker also contrasted the current filibuster to those frequently started by former Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who would often hold up progress for several hours before letting work continue, saying Chambers knew when to let things go.

Cavanaugh, however, said Chambers gave opponents of LB574 his blessing and indicated she and others had consulted with the long-time state senator on their strategy.

While she indicated she planned to continue the effort started in February, Cavanaugh said she had worked with other lawmakers to allow their bills to be amended onto other legislation, which has allowed some measures to advance  albeit slowly.

Cavanaugh also told the Legislature any change would not prevent her from continuing her filibuster. It would only further hurt the institution, she added.

Im not going to stop doing what Im doing until something changes, Cavanaugh said.

Top Journal Star photos for April 2023
The leader of an organization pushing for stronger gun laws in Nebraska was banned from the Capitol on Wednesday for shouting at lawmakers after passage of a bill allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

Melody Vaccaro, executive director of Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, is also barred from the Capitol grounds after she yelled shame at members of the Legislature moments after the final reading vote on a bill (LB77) from Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon.

Brewers bill, which is often referred to as constitutional carry by gun rights activists, would allow Nebraskans 21 and older to carry a concealed weapon without first completing a gun safety class and paying a $100 permit fee.

The measure also eliminates local ordinances related to firearms, which drew opposition from city and policy leaders in Lincoln and Omaha in a committee hearing earlier this session. Brewer said 25 other states have similar laws in place now and he believed Nebraskans wanted a similar law.

In a phone interview, Vaccaro said she anticipated the Legislature would pass LB77 and send the bill to the desk of Gov. Jim Pillen, but said the sight of fourth graders touring the Capitol and watching the legislative proceedings upset her more than she expected.

I watched all these fourth graders come and go, and I just kept thinking about those Covenant kids, those Uvalde kids, they were in fourth grade, too, Vaccaro said, referring to recent mass shootings at schools in Tennessee and Texas. It is shameful.

In 2020, gun violence became the leading cause of death for U.S. children under the age of 18, surpassing car crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shortly after the final vote was recorded, Vaccaro, who was among more than two dozen members of Nebraskans Against Gun Violence and Moms Demand Action sitting in the north balcony of the legislative chamber, rose to her feet and yelled shame several times at senators.

Vaccaro was led out of the chamber by a sergeant-at-arms and uniformed security and taken to the Capitol security office, where she was notified that she would be banned from the building and grounds for life and later escorted from the building.

You have been Banned and Barred from the Nebraska State Capitol and the Nebraska State Capitol Grounds, the trespass warning ban and bar notice read. You are not to enter the Nebraska State Capitol or the Nebraska State Capitol grounds except for scheduled appointments to conduct business.

The notice also states that should Vaccaro wish to come to the Capitol, she is required to schedule an appointment. If she would show up unannounced, Vaccaro could be arrested or cited for trespassing as well as failure to obey the lawful order of the Nebraska State Patrol.

Wednesday evening, the patrol said an appeals process for the ban exists under state law, and that the procedure for filing an appeal -- as well as the duration of the existing ban -- would be communicated to Vaccaro directly.

The ban handed down by the Nebraska State Patrol raised questions among lawmakers about whether or not it violated Vaccaros First Amendment rights and ability to participate in the democratic process.

Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue said there have been several reactions from spectators in the balconies this year, and added none had resulted in people being banned from the building.

Blood said while she understood why Vaccaro had the reaction she did, she didnt agree with it. She also added that it was inappropriate for other senators in the chamber to laugh and for anyone to be barred from attending future proceedings.

I just wanted to make sure we got on record today that we are not always fair and balanced, and to me, the optics are we decide punishment based on who we like and dont like, and thats not what the spirit of the unicameral is supposed to be about, Blood said.

The rules of the Legislature give the presiding officer authority to clear the galleries or the lobby in the case of disturbance or disorderly conduct, but do not outline any penalties for citizens who do so.

The ACLU of Nebraska said it was aware of the situation but doesnt comment on individual cases unless they involve its own clients.

We are always concerned about government efforts limiting speech, spokesman Sam Petto said in an email. When and if we can share more, we will.

Earlier on Wednesday, Vaccaro said she had more questions than answers if she could no longer observe the Legislature or its committees in person, or participate in any rallies or protests on Capitol grounds.

Several senators indicated they were looking into the matter, but they didnt have any immediate answers, she said.

Well see what (their) office finds out, Vaccaro said. I feel like all the people who would know are in the Capitol, which I am banned from coming to without an appointment.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
Lawmakers reached a compromise to advance a bill that hopes to keep roughly 10,000 Nebraska families eligible for food assistance.

The state Health and Human Services Committee advanced LB84 out of committee in a 6-0 vote Thursday. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Jen Day of Omaha, will continue the income eligibility level for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at 165% of the federal poverty level until 2025.

SNAP, also known as food stamps, aids low-income families dealing with food insecurity. In Nebraska, the income threshold to qualify for the program is set to drop to 130% of the federal poverty level at the end of September. Day estimated the change would cut about 10,000 families out of the program.

LB84 is Day's priority bill. She said Nebraska is in the midst of a food insecurity crisis, with local food banks struggling with growing demand. The OpenSky Policy Institute said in a tweet Thursday that SNAP provides aid to about 170,000 Nebraskans.

In the weeks before Thursday's vote, Day and her allies have criticized the lack of action on the bill and questioned the Legislature's priorities in how her fellow lawmakers are allocating the high revenues available for the upcoming state budget.

After the bill advanced, Day expressed gratitude for committee members coming together to move the bill forward.

"You honestly did make Senator Day's day," she said.

LB84 was stalled mainly because of concerns about cost, although some committee members including HHS Chair Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair had some philosophical issues with the SNAP program as well.

The bills original fiscal note estimated LB84 would cost the state roughly $544,000 in its first year, and about $680,000 in its second year. Day worked with the Legislative Fiscal Office to find the needed money.

Under the amendment, state money for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will be used to continue the program's current income eligibility level. The money was available because federal pandemic relief money had replaced other planned state spending.

The shift in funding allocation was added to LB84 Thursday. Hansen said he still has issues with the bill, even with the funding amendment, but he wanted to respect the compromise that Day worked out.

Photos: The business of governing in Nebraska in 2023
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on Thursday announced an $18.75 million settlement of a 12-year dispute over state trooper salary and retirement benefits that impacts 28 years of payroll.

The announcement follows on the heels of Gov. Jim Pillen's support for a 22% increase in salaries for members of the Nebraska State Patrol.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit originally filed in 2011 over increases in the contribution rates state troopers were required to make to the state pension fund.

According to the suit, the Legislature approved several increases over the years that raised the troopers' pension contribution rate from 8% in the 1990s to 19% by 2011. The suit alleged that the increases were unconstitutional.

Joining Hilgers at a news conference, the governor praised the settlement, describing the patrol as "the gold standard" of law enforcement and "the safety of Nebraskans as the highest priority."

Pillen said he is pleased to "get this lawsuit behind us."

Hilgers said the settlement will benefit more than 400 current and former members of the patrol and suggested that the governor's budget proposal already has demonstrated his support for troopers by its significant increase in salaries.

"We have their backs," he said. "It's time to put this to bed."

"It's a morale boost," Col. John Bolduc, superintendent of the State Patrol, said.

"It's a demonstration of support for troopers," he said, coming from "an administration that supports law enforcement and the State Patrol."

On hand for the news conference were Sen. Robert Clements of Elmwood, chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee; Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, a committee member; and Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, chairman of the Business and Labor Committee, who will shepherd the claims bill through the Legislature.

Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly and participants in the lawsuit also attended the event hosted by the attorney general.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
OMAHA  Nebraskans may not hear it, but theres thunder coming from Offutt Air Force Base this week.

The U.S. Strategic Command is wrapping up Global Thunder 23, a training drill involving thousands of military personnel across the United States, including 2,500 military and civilian staff at StratComs Offutt headquarters.

StratCom stages as many as 400 training events each year.

But Global Thunder is easily the biggest event on StratComs calendar, with Minuteman ICBM teams and ballistic missile submarine crews on alert, and bombers, fighters, tankers and reconnaissance aircraft flying missions.

If youre a missileer or a bomber pilot, this is your big event, said Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, a StratCom spokesman. Theyre doing things pretty much every day. But this is the Super Bowl.

Although StratComs headquarters is the nerve center for Global Thunder 23, not a lot of activity is visible at Offutt.

(People around Omaha) should not see anything different, said J.B. Miller, who as StratComs J7 director of joint training, exercises and assessments plays a lead role in running the drill.

Thats because few of the operational military units use the airfield  although the Offutt-based E-4B Nightwatch airborne command post jets are participating. Navy E-6B jets, which can send messages to Trident submarines as well as duplicate StratComs command-and-control suite (the Looking Glass mission), have also touched down at Offutt since Global Thunder began April 11.

Miller said his staff has been planning Global Thunder for a full year. The scenarios are meant to be realistic.

We watch whats going on in the world, he said, but its not tied to real-world events.

Global Thunder is typically held once a year, but the last one was in the fall of 2021  before the Russian invasion of Ukraine ramped up tensions between Russia and the United States.

This is a double-edged sword, said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Hinson, a former deputy commander at StratCom. You dont want to do things to provoke Russia, in this case, to think we are doing anything other than an exercise.

Miller said StratCom informs Russia of nuclear exercises directly as required by treaty and makes certain the event is well-publicized.

Theres no surprises. We tell them its Global Thunder. Theres no question what were doing, Miller said.

During a low point in U.S.-Soviet relations in late 1983  soon after President Ronald Reagans description of the USSR as an evil empire and the Russian shootdown of a Korean airliner  elements of the Soviet military mistook a NATO exercise in Europe called Able Archer as a pretext for a real attack.

Only years later did Americans learn the two countries came close to a nuclear exchange.

They thought it was a sneak attack, said Hans Kristensen, director of nuclear information for the Federation of American Scientists, an arms-control group. With an exercise, theres an intrinsic risk of misinterpretation.

He noted that StratComs brief press release announcing the exercise explicitly stated that Global Thunder 23 is not in response to actions by any nation or other actors.

The increasing use of web-based flight tracking sites like FlightAware.com, FlightRadar24.com, and Globe.adsbexchange.com allows anyone with a computer or a smartphone to watch the aviation piece of a top-secret exercise unfold online.

Military aircraft can go dark, as plane watchers call it, by not turning on the transponders that broadcast their locations. But some, if not all, of the participating planes do tell the world where they are flying.

Sunday was a particularly busy day for Global Thunder. Evergreen Intel, a self-described aviation buff and flight tracker with more than 146,000 Twitter followers, tweeted a map early Sunday afternoon showing more than 30 aircraft currently airborne apparently connected to the exercise. That included 10 B-52s, 16 refueling tankers, four E-6Bs, and one E-4B.

Its an interesting window for the public, Kristensen said. Obviously, they want to be seen.

Global Thunder is running for more than a week, 24/7, at a command that also must constantly be on the lookout for real threats.

StratComs underground command post is the nerve center for both real-world vigilance and Global Thunder role-players.

It makes it a little tougher when we have things going on in the real world, Miller said. We split the people watching real time (events). Other people are doing the exercise events.

Hinson remembers well the day real-world terror did break in on a StratCom exercise, and ultimately, forced its cancellation.

On Sept. 11, 2001, when he was StratComs deputy, Hinson was at his desk when Islamist terrorists flew hijacked civilian airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

We go into a hold mode, make sure everybody knows that were connected to everybody else in our command, Hinson said. We were going through all sorts of mental gymnastics as far as what might be going on at any of our locations.

That day, he ended up briefing President George W. Bush, who stopped at Offutt on Air Force Ones circuitous route from Sarasota, Florida, back to Washington, D.C.

Not exactly what he had planned for.

While some may find it unsettling that StratCom and its associated units are actively practicing for Armageddon, Hinson said the public should be reassured.

A lot of this is trying to prevent an actual war, he said. People should be comforted, knowing that we practice for these things. We dont overreact.

Photos: Offutt runway opens after 18-month reconstruction
KEARNEY  An 80-year-old woman died Thursday as a result of injuries sustained in a Kearney house fire.

The Kearney Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to a residence in western Kearney at 4:17 a.m. Kearney Police Department officers and a CHI Health Good Samaritan ambulance also responded to the location. The fire was generally contained within one room of the home, but a woman, identified as 80-year-old Diana Hill, was outside the home, being administered CPR by a family member.

Emergency crews administered first aid and then transported Hill to Good Samaritan Hospital.

Investigators were later notified that Hill died at the hospital from injuries sustained in the fire. A preliminary investigation by the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office and Kearney Volunteer Fire Department indicated a cigarette may have been lit in close proximity to a medically prescribed oxygen delivery system.

Foul play is not suspected.

This case remains under investigation by the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department and the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office, with assistance from the Kearney Police Department

12 of the deadliest disasters in Nebraska history The Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888, 235 deaths Easter tornado of 1913, 103 deaths Republican River Flood of 1935, 94 deaths Braniff Airways crash in 1966, 42 deaths Floods of 1950, 25 deaths Blizzard of 1949, 20+ deaths 1976 Fremont hotel explosion, 20 deaths 1913 Yutan tornado, 20 deaths Dewey hotel fire of 1913, 20 deaths 1947 Republican River flood, 13 deaths 1913 Berlin tornado, 12 deaths Millard hotel fire of 1933, 7 deaths 1930s Dust Bowl, deaths estimated in the thousands Video: Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888